François Antoine de Boissy d'Anglas

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François Boissy d'Anglas
Francois Boissy d-Anglas.jpg
François Boissy d'Anglas by François Dumont (1795, Louvre Palace)
Peer of France
In office
August 1815 –20 October 1826
Monarch Louis XVIII
Charles X
Member of Conservative Senate
In office
18 February 1804 –14 April 1814
Monarch Napoleon I
Member of the Council of Five Hundred
In office
2 November 1795 –5 September 1797
Constituency Ardèche
Member of National Convention
In office
20 September 1792 –2 November 1795
Constituency Ardèche
Member of the Estates-General
for the Third Estate
In office
7 January 1789 –9 July 1789
Constituency Annonay
Personal details
Born(1756-12-08)8 December 1756
Saint-Jean-Chambre, France
Died20 October 1826(1826-10-20) (aged 69)
Paris, France
Nationality French
Political party Girondist (1792–1793)
Maraisard (1793–1795)
Clichyens (1795–1797)
Independent (1799–1826)
Spouse(s)
Marie-Françoise Michel(m. 1766–1828)
; his death
Children4 children
ProfessionWriter, lawyer

François-Antoine, Count of the Empire (1756–1826) was a French writer, lawyer and politician during the Revolution and the Empire.

French Revolution Revolution in France, 1789 to 1798

The French Revolution was a period of far-reaching social and political upheaval in France and its colonies beginning in 1789. The Revolution overthrew the monarchy, established a republic, catalyzed violent periods of political turmoil, and finally culminated in a dictatorship under Napoleon who brought many of its principles to areas he conquered in Western Europe and beyond. Inspired by liberal and radical ideas, the Revolution profoundly altered the course of modern history, triggering the global decline of absolute monarchies while replacing them with republics and liberal democracies. Through the Revolutionary Wars, it unleashed a wave of global conflicts that extended from the Caribbean to the Middle East. Historians widely regard the Revolution as one of the most important events in human history.

First French Empire Empire of Napoleon I of France between 1804–1815

The First French Empire, officially the French Empire, was the empire of Napoleon Bonaparte of France and the dominant power in much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. Although France had already established an overseas colonial empire beginning in the 17th century, the French state had remained a kingdom under the Bourbons and a republic after the Revolution. Historians refer to Napoleon's regime as the First Empire to distinguish it from the restorationist Second Empire (1852–1870) ruled by his nephew as Napoleon III.

Contents

Biography

Early career

Boissy d'Anglas in his youth. AduC 183 Boissy d'Anglas (F.A., 1756-1826).JPG
Boissy d'Anglas in his youth.

Born to a Protestant family in Saint-Jean-Chambre, Ardèche,[ citation needed ] he studied Law and, after literary attempts, became a lawyer to the parlement of Paris. [1]

Saint-Jean-Chambre Commune in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France

Saint-Jean-Chambre is a commune in the Ardèche department in southern France.

Parlement Ancien Régime justice court

A parlement, in the Ancien Régime of France, was a provincial appellate court. In 1789, France had 13 parlements, the most important of which was the Parlement of Paris. While the English word parliament derives from this French term, parlements were not legislative bodies. They consisted of a dozen or more appellate judges, or about 1,100 judges nationwide. They were the court of final appeal of the judicial system, and typically wielded much power over a wide range of subject matter, particularly taxation. Laws and edicts issued by the Crown were not official in their respective jurisdictions until the parlements gave their assent by publishing them. The members were aristocrats called nobles of the gown who had bought or inherited their offices, and were independent of the King.

In 1789 he was elected by the Third Estate of the sénéchaussee of Annonay as deputy to the Estates-General. He was one of those who induced the Estates-General to proclaim itself a National Assembly on 17 June 1789, and approved, in several speeches, of the storming of the Bastille and of the taking of the royal family to Paris (October 1789). [1]

Estates of the realm broad social orders of the hierarchically conceived society recognised in the Middle Ages and Early Modern period in Christian Europe

The estates of the realm, or three estates, were the broad orders of social hierarchy used in Christendom from the medieval period to early modern Europe. Different systems for dividing society members into estates developed and evolved over time.

The word seneschal can have several different meanings, all of which reflect certain types of supervising or administering in a historic context. Most commonly, a seneschal was a senior position filled by a court appointment within a royal, ducal, or noble household during the Middle Ages and early Modern period – historically a steward or majordomo of a medieval great house. In a medieval royal household, a seneschal was in charge of domestic arrangements and the administration of servants, which, in the medieval period particularly, meant the seneschal might oversee hundreds of laborers, servants and their associated responsibilities, and have a great deal of power in the community, at a time when the much of the local economy was often based around the wealth and responsibilities of such a household.

Annonay Commune in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France

Annonay is a French commune in the north of the Ardèche department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southern France. It is the most populous commune in the Ardèche department although it is not the capital which is the smaller town of Privas.

Boissy d'Anglas demanded that strict measures be taken against the Royalists who were conspiring in Southern France, and published some pamphlets on financial issues. During the Legislative Assembly, he was procureur-syndic for the directory of the département of Ardèche. [1]

Southern France geographic region

Southern France, also known as the South of France or colloquially in French as le Midi, is a defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin, Spain, the Mediterranean Sea and Italy. It includes: Nouvelle-Aquitaine in the west, Occitanie in the centre, the southern parts of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in the northeast, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur in the southeast, as well as the island of Corsica in the southeast. Monaco and Andorra are sometimes included in definitions of Southern France although they are principalities.

Pamphlet unbound booklet containing text

A pamphlet is an unbound book. Pamphlets may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a leaflet or it may consist of a few pages that are folded in half and saddle stapled at the crease to make a simple book.

Syndic officer of government with varying powers

Syndic is a term applied in certain countries to an officer of government with varying powers, and secondly to a representative or delegate of a university, institution or other corporation, entrusted with special functions or powers.

During the Revolution

Elected to the National Convention, he sat in the centre, le Marais, voting in the trial of Louis XVI for his detention until deportation should be judged expedient for the state. He was then representative on mission to Lyon, charged with investigating frauds in connection with the supplies of the Army of the Alps. [1]

National Convention Single-chamber assembly in France from 21 September 1792 to 26 October 1795

The National Convention was the first government of the French Revolution, following the two-year National Constituent Assembly and the one-year Legislative Assembly. Created after the great insurrection of 10 August 1792, it was the first French government organized as a republic, abandoning the monarchy altogether. The Convention sat as a single-chamber assembly from 20 September 1792 to 26 October 1795.

Centrism describes a political outlook or specific position

In politics, centrism—the centre or the center —is a political outlook or specific position that involves acceptance or support of a balance of a degree of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy, while opposing political changes which would result in a significant shift of society strongly to either the left or the right.

Louis XVI of France King of France and Navarre

Louis XVI, born Louis-Auguste, was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as citizen Louis Capet during the four months before he was guillotined. In 1765, at the death of his father, Louis, son and heir apparent of Louis XV, Louis-Auguste became the new Dauphin of France. Upon his grandfather's death on 10 May 1774, he assumed the title "King of France and Navarre", which he used until 4 September 1791, when he received the title of "King of the French" until the monarchy was abolished on 21 September 1792.

Although he had been close to several Girondists, Boissy d'Anglas escaped arrest after François Hanriot's insurrection of 2 June 1793,[ citation needed ] and he was one of several centrist deputies who supported Maximilien Robespierre during the early stages of the Reign of Terror. However, he was gained over by the members of The Mountain hostile to Robespierre, and his support, along with that of some other leaders of the Marais, made possible the Thermidorian Reaction. [1]

François Hanriot French general and revolutionary

François Hanriot was a French Jacobin leader and street orator of the Revolution. He played a vital role in the Insurrection and subsequently the fall of the Girondins.

Maximilien Robespierre French revolutionary lawyer and politician

Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre was a French lawyer and politician who was one of the best known and most influential figures of the French Revolution. As a member of the Constituent Assembly and the Jacobin Club, he campaigned for universal manhood suffrage, and the abolition of both celibacy for the clergy and of slavery. Robespierre was an outspoken advocate for the citizens without a voice, for their unrestricted admission to the National Guard, to public offices, and for the right to carry arms in self-defence. Robespierre played an important part in the agitation which brought about the fall of the French monarchy in August 1792 and the summoning of a National Convention.

Reign of Terror Period during the French Revolution

The Reign of Terror, or The Terror, refers to a period during the French Revolution after the First French Republic was established in which multiple massacres and public executions occurred in response to revolutionary fervor, anti-clerical sentiment, and frivolous accusations of treason by Maximilien Robespierre and his Committee of Public Safety.

Boissy d'Anglas was then elected a member of the Committee of Public Safety, and charged with the superintendence of the provisioning of Paris. He presented the report supporting the decree of 3 Ventôse of the year III (February 1795), which established freedom of religion. In the critical days of Germinal and of Prairial of the year III, he was noted for his courage. [1]

On 12 Germinal, the day of insurrection of 12 Germinal year III, he was in the tribune, reading a report on the food supplies, when the hall of the Convention was invaded; when they withdrew he quietly continued where he had been interrupted. During Insurrection of 1 Prairial, he was presiding over the Convention, and remained in his post despite insults and menaces of the insurgents. When the head of the deputy, Jean-Bertrand Féraud, was presented to him on the end of a pike, he saluted it impassively. [1]

Under the Directory

Boissy saluting Feraud's head by Alexandre-Evariste Fragonard (1831) 1prairial anIII.jpg
Boissy saluting Féraud's head by Alexandre-Évariste Fragonard (1831)

He was protractor of the committee which drew up the Constitution of the Year III which established the French Directory; his report shows apprehension of a return of the Reign of Terror, and presents reactionary measures as precautions against the re-establishment of " tyranny and anarchy ". This report, the proposal that he made (27 August 1795) to lessen the severity of the revolutionary laws, and the eulogies he received from several Paris sections suspected of Royalism, resulted in his being obliged to justify himself (15 October 1795). [1]

As a member of the Council of Five Hundred, Boissy d'Anglas became more and more suspected of Royalism himself. He presented a measure in favour of full liberty for the press, which at that time was almost unanimously reactionary, protested against the outlawry of returned émigrés , spoke in favour of the deported priests and attacked the Directory. Accordingly, he was proscribed immediately after the 18 Fructidor coup, and lived in Great Britain until the establishment of the French Consulate. [1]

Later life

In 1801 he was made a member of the Tribunate, and in 1805 a senator of the Empire. In 1814 he voted for Napoleon's abdication, which won for him a seat in the Chamber of Peers after the First Bourbon Restoration. [1] However, during the Hundred Days he returned to serving Napoleon. [1] After the defeat at Waterloo and the subsequent abdication of Napoleon, 1815 Boissy d'Anglas was one of the five commissioners sent by the Provisional Government to try to negotiate peace terms with the Duke of Wellington and Prince Blücher. [2] For his disloyalty to Louis XVIII, on the Second Restoration, he was for a short while excluded. [1]

In the Chamber he still sought to obtain liberty for the press —a theme upon which he published a volume of his speeches (Paris, 1817). He was a member of the Institut de France from its foundation, and in 1816, after its reorganization, became a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. He published in 1819–1821 a two-volume Essai sur la vie et les opinions de M. de Malesherbes . [1]

Family and children

He married Marie-Françoise Michel (Nîmes, 6 January 1759 – Bougival, 21 March 1850) on 11 March 1776 in Vauvert. They had four children:

Notes

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References

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