Billaud-Varenne, Jean Nicolas [key], 1756–1819, French revolutionary. A violent antimonarchist in the Convention, the revolutionary national assembly, he and Jean Marie Collot d'Herbois were the two members of the ultrarevolutionary Hebértists (see Hébert, Jacques René) faction to sit on the Committee of Public Safety. A consumate politician, he survived the execution of Hébert, sucessfully intruiged against Georges Danton, and helped bring about the downfall of Robespierre on 9 Thermidor. He was deported to French Guiana for his role in the Reign of Terror. He refused an amnesty offered by Napoleon Bonaparte (later Emperor Napoleon I). Ultimately he went to Haiti, where he died.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: French History: Biographies
