The Hébertists (french: Hébertistes), or Exaggerators (french: Exagérés) were a radical revolutionary political group associated with the populist journalist Jacques Hébert, a member of the

Cordeliers The Society of the Friends of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (french: Société des Amis des droits de l'homme et du citoyen), mainly known as Cordeliers Club (french: Club des Cordeliers), was a populist political club during the French R ...

club. They came to power during the

Reign of Terror The Reign of Terror (french: link=no, la Terreur) was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the First Republic, a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervour, ...

and played a significant role in the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

. The Hébertists were ardent supporters of the dechristianization of France and of extreme measures in service of the Terror, including the

Law of Suspects :''Note: This decree should not be confused with the Law of General Security (french: Loi de sûreté générale), also known as the "Law of Suspects," adopted by Napoleon III in 1858 that allowed punishment for any prison action, and permitted the ...

enacted in 1793. They favoured the direct intervention of the state in economic matters in order to ensure the adequate supply of commodities, advocating the national requisition of wine and grain.Schama, 806 The leaders went to the

guillotine A guillotine is an apparatus designed for efficiently carrying out executions by beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secured with stocks at th ...

on 24 March 1794.

Rise to popularity

The rise in power of the Hébertists can be largely attributed to the popularity of Hébert's newspaper, ''

Le Père Duchesne ''Le Père Duchesne'' (; "Old Man Duchesne" or "Father Duchesne") was an extreme radical newspaper during the French Revolution, edited by Jacques Hébert, who published 385 issues from September 1790 until eleven days before his death by guill ...

''. This newspaper, which purported to present the frank opinions of Père Duchesne, a fictional working-class furnace-maker, had a large following amongst the

sans-culottes The (, 'without breeches') were the common people of the lower classes in late 18th-century France, a great many of whom became radical and militant partisans of the French Revolution in response to their poor quality of life under the . The ...

. The government-funded distribution of ''Le Père Duchesne'' to the French armies, a policy arranged by the Hébertist Minister of War

Jean Baptiste Noël Bouchotte Jean Baptiste Noël Bouchotte (25 December 1754 – 8 June 1840) was a minister in the French government. He was born in Metz. At the outbreak of the Revolution he was a captain of cavalry, and his zeal led to his being made colonel and given the ...

in 1793, widened support and sympathy for Hébertist ideas. On 24 May 1793, the newly appointed

Commission of Twelve {{Use dmy dates, date=July 2020 During the French Revolution, the Extraordinary Commission of Twelve (''Commission extraordinaire des Douze'') was a commission of the French National Convention charged with finding and trying conspirators. It was k ...

ordered the arrest of Hébert, who had been using ''Le Père Duchesne'' to incite violence against members of the

Girondin The Girondins ( , ), or Girondists, were members of a loosely knit political faction during the French Revolution. From 1791 to 1793, the Girondins were active in the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention. Together with the Montagnard ...

faction. The tremendous public outcry and civil unrest which ensued rapidly resulted in Hébert's release. However, rioting continued, culminating in a series of insurrections. On 31 May 1793, a large crowd of sans-culotte agitators surrounded the

National Convention The National Convention (french: link=no, Convention nationale) was the parliament of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for the rest of its existence during the French Revolution, following the two-year National ...

in an attempt to force its accession to their demands, namely the dissolution of the Commission of Twelve, the arrest of a list of Girondin deputies, a tax on the rich and the restriction of suffrage to sans-culottes.Furet, 127. The Commission was abolished, but on 2 June 1793 the crowds—now supported by National Guard forces headed by Hébertist and newly appointed Commandant-General

François Hanriot François Hanriot (2 December 1759 – 28 July 1794) was a French Sans-culotte leader, street orator, and commander of the Garde Nationale during the French Revolution. He played a vital role in the Insurrection of 31 May – 2 June 1793 and sub ...

—returned. Hanriot threatened to set fire to the Convention if the offending Girondin deputies were not expelled. Ultimately, the arrest of twenty-nine Girondins was decreed, marking the end of the Girondin faction's political power.Furet, 128. Following the assassination of

Jean-Paul Marat Jean-Paul Marat (; born Mara; 24 May 1743 – 13 July 1793) was a French political theorist, physician, and scientist. A journalist and politician during the French Revolution, he was a vigorous defender of the ''sans-culottes'', a radical ...

by a Girondin sympathizer in July 1793, Hébert positioned himself as Marat's natural successor in the affections of those who had shared the dead man's ultra-revolutionary beliefs.Furet, 141. The Hébertists' popularity grew. Their evident and increasingly destabilizing influence was disturbing to many less extreme revolutionary politicians, including leading Montagnard figures such as

Georges Danton Georges Jacques Danton (; 26 October 1759 – 5 April 1794) was a French lawyer and a leading figure in the French Revolution. He became a deputy to the Paris Commune, presided in the Cordeliers district, and visited the Jacobin club. In Augus ...

and

Maximilien Robespierre Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (; 6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) was a French lawyer and statesman who became one of the best-known, influential and controversial figures of the French Revolution. As a member of the Esta ...

—the latter of whom especially disapproved of the Hébertists'

atheism Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...

.Furet, 141.

Accusations and denouncement

Over the course of October 1793, a number of accusations were leveled against prominent Hébertists by

Fabre d'Églantine Philippe François Nazaire Fabre d'Églantine (, 28 July 1750 – 5 April 1794), commonly known as Fabre d'Églantine, was a French actor, dramatist, poet, and politician of the French Revolution. He is best known for having invented the names of ...

, a friend and supporter of Danton. Fabre claimed to have discovered a foreign plot in which Stanislas-Marie Maillard and

Anacharsis Cloots Jean-Baptiste du Val-de-Grâce, baron de Cloots (24 June 1755 – 24 March 1794), better known as Anacharsis Cloots (also spelled Clootz), was a Prussian nobleman who was a significant figure in the French Revolution. Perhaps the first to advoca ...

, among others, were implicated as agents. This succeeded in casting suspicion on the Hébertist faction. However, Fabre himself was rapidly revealed to have been acting in part as part of an elaborate attempt to conceal his own involvement in a scandal surrounding the liquidation of the

French East India Company The French East India Company (french: Compagnie française pour le commerce des Indes orientales) was a colonial commercial enterprise, founded on 1 September 1664 to compete with the English (later British) and Dutch trading companies in the ...

and his credibility was thereby diminished. In December 1793, the journalist

Camille Desmoulins Lucie-Simplice-Camille-Benoît Desmoulins (; 2 March 17605 April 1794) was a French journalist and politician who played an important role in the French Revolution. Desmoulins was tried and executed alongside Georges Danton when the Committee o ...

—whose political opinions had long been aligned with those of Danton and Robespierre—began publishing a journal, ''

Le Vieux Cordelier ''Le Vieux Cordelier'' () was a journal published in France between 5 December 1793 and 3 February 1794. Its radical criticism of ultra-revolutionary fervor and repression in France during the Reign of Terror contributed significantly to the downfa ...

'', aimed in part at the discrediting of the Hébertist faction. The journal's title alluded to the fact that the

Cordeliers Club The Society of the Friends of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (french: Société des Amis des droits de l'homme et du citoyen), mainly known as Cordeliers Club (french: Club des Cordeliers), was a populist political club during the French ...

, formerly a moderate revolutionary society dominated by the policies of Danton, had become overrun by sans-culotte Hébertists and their sympathizers. Desmoulins attacked Hébert for bringing the

French Republic France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

into disrepute through his writings, claiming that "when the tyrants of Europe wish dto vilify the Republic, to make their slaves believe that France is covered with the darkness of barbarism, that Paris ..is peopled with Vandals", they reprinted ''Le Père Duchesne''.Claretie, 271. He also mocked Hébert for having pretended to be a "man of the people" and a representative of the sans-culottes—when in fact he had profited handsomely from the contracts his follower Bouchotte had secured to distribute ''Le Père Duchesne'' to the armies.Schama, 811. In turn, Hébert accused Desmoulins of hypocrisy, pointing out that his current opposition to violence and extremism (in addition to attacking ultra-revolutionary excesses, Desmoulins had called for an end to the Terror) stood in sharp contrast to his support for such tactics in a 1789 pamphlet, ''Discours de la lanterne aux Parisiens,'' which had advocated the execution of those opposed to

revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

. The vitriolic exchange continued throughout the winter of 1793–1794, ultimately contributing to the downfall of both Desmoulins and Hébert.

Fall from power

Following the February 1794 recall of Hébertist deputy

Jean-Baptiste Carrier Jean-Baptiste Carrier (, 16 March 1756 – 16 December 1794) was a French Revolutionary and politician most notable for his actions in the War in the Vendée during the Reign of Terror. While under orders to suppress a Royalist counter-revolutio ...

from Nantes, where he had been engaged in mass executions to suppress the Vendéen revolts, the Hébertists attempted to stage a popular revolt, hoping to mimic that which had led to the downfall of the Girondins. On 4 March 1794, Carrier and Hébert veiled the bust of Liberty at the Cordeliers Club, declaring according to ritual a state of insurrection. They had hoped to demand that the National Convention expel Robespierre and his Montagnard supporters.Scurr, 306. However, the city of Paris did not rise and the

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended ...

failed to provide military support for the coup. The Hébertists were denounced by

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just Louis Antoine Léon de Saint-Just (; 25 August 17679 Thermidor, Year II 8 July 1794, was a French revolutionary, political philosopher, member and president of the French National Convention, a Jacobin club leader, and a major figure of the Fre ...

and Robespierre, and the leaders of the faction were arrested on 13 March 1794.Scurr, 306. Some twenty of them, including

, Pierre-Ulric Dubuisson,

Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Gobel Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Gobel (1 September 1727 – 13 April 1794) was a French Catholic cleric and politician of the Revolution. He was executed during the Reign of Terror. Biography Gobel was born in the town of Thann in Alsace to a lawyer ...

, Jean Conrad de Kock, Antoine-François Momoro,

Charles-Philippe Ronsin Charles-Philippe Ronsin (1 December 1751 – 24 March 1794) was a French general of the Revolutionary Army of the First French Republic, commanding the large Parisian division of ''l'Armée Révolutionnaire''. He was an extreme radical leader ...

François-Nicolas Vincent François-Nicolas Vincent (born 1766 or 1767; died 24 March 1794) was the Secretary General of the War Ministry in the First French Republic, and a significant figure in the French Revolution. A member of the Cordelier Club, he is best known as a ...

and Hébert himself were tried before the

Revolutionary Tribunal The Revolutionary Tribunal (french: Tribunal révolutionnaire; unofficially Popular Tribunal) was a court instituted by the National Convention during the French Revolution for the trial of political offenders. It eventually became one of the ...

and convicted on 24 March 1794. They went to the guillotine that same evening. Pierre Gaspard Chaumette followed a few days later, followed by Hébert's widow. Other Hébertists, including

Joseph Le Bon Joseph Le Bon (29 September 1765 – 10 October 1795) was a French politician. Biography He was born at Arras. He became a priest in the order of the Oratory, and professor of rhetoric at Beaune. He adopted revolutionary ideas, and became a c ...

François Chabot François Chabot (23 October 1756 – 5 April 1794) was a French politician. Early life Born in Saint-Geniez-d'Olt (Aveyron), Chabot became a Capuchin friar in Rodez before the French Revolution, while continuing to be attracted to the works ...

and

, were to also fall victim to the guillotine on various dates in 1794 and 1795.

Notable Hébertists

* Jacques-Claude Bernard *

* Pierre Gaspard Chaumette *

* Pierre-Ulric Dubuisson *

* Jacques Hébert * Jean Conrad de Kock * Stanislas-Marie Maillard *

(supporter) * Antoine-François Momoro * Jacob Pereira *

Gallery

File:Hebert-1.jpg, Jacques Hébert File:Pierre-Gaspard Chaumette.jpg, Pierre-Gaspard Chaumette File:FrancoisChabot.jpg,

File:Jean-Baptiste-Joseph_Gobel_(1727-1794),_French_cleric_and_politician.jpg,

File:Antoine-François Momoro.jpg, Antoine-François Momoro

References

* Claretie, Jules (1876). ''Camille Desmoulins and His Wife: Passages from the History of the Dantonists''. London: Smith, Elder, & Co. * Furet, François (1992). ''Revolutionary France, 1770-1880''. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. *

Schama, Simon Sir Simon Michael Schama (; born 13 February 1945) is an English historian specialising in art history, Dutch history, Jewish history, and French history. He is a University Professor of History and Art History at Columbia University. He f ...

(1989). '' Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. * Scurr, Ruth (2006). ''Fatal Purity: Robespierre and the French Revolution''. New York: Owl Books.