Jean-Antoine Courbis (28 January 1752, Tournon – 11 May 1795, Nîmes) was a French lawyer and revolutionary.

Life

A merchant's son, he was a lawyer to the

Parliament of Toulouse The Parliament of Toulouse (french: Parlement de Toulouse) was one of the '' parlements'' of the Kingdom of France, established in the city of Toulouse. It was modelled on the Parliament of Paris. It was first created in 1420, but definitely est ...

and became procurer for the sénéchaussée of Nîmes in

1785 Events January–March * January 1 – The first issue of the ''Daily Universal Register'', later known as '' The Times'', is published in London. * January 7 – Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries ...

. An elector and from 1790 a member of Nîmes' Amis de la Constitution club, he became a municipal officer on 27 March 1791, dominated by revolutionary merchants. Even so, he joined 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 . T ...

and in October 1792 joined the Société populaire, mainly made up of textile workers. In November 1792 he was elected procurer-syndic for the district of Nîmes. In the

Federalist revolts The Federalist revolts were uprisings that broke out in various parts of France in the summer of 1793, during the French Revolution. They were prompted by resentments in France's provincial cities about increasing centralisation of power in Pa ...

in the Midi in June and July 1793, he hid. In September that year the représentants Rovère and Poultier made him mayor of Nîmes and president and member of the committee for revolutionary surveillance for Le Gard. They also offered him the presidency of the criminal tribunal but he refused it. The rigour with which he pursued the federalists led to his dismissal and arrest on 28 December 1793 at the request of représentant Boisset. Even so, 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 Nationa ...

reappointed him to his roles at the request of Jean Borie on 11 March the following year. He led the local Jacobins and - supported by the popular society of Nîmes - violently pursued former federalists, deserters and those who had broken the

General maximum The Law of the General Maximum (french: Loi du Maximum général) was instituted during the French Revolution on 29 September 1793, setting price limits and punishing price gouging to attempt to ensure the continued supply of food to the French ...

law. He also ensured the Gard tribunal was renewed on 15 May 1794 - in it he condemned 17 local figures to death on 19 July 1794, including Jean Valz and all the federalist-era members of the municipal council. On 7 August 1794 he was dismissed and arrested as a supporter of Robespierre. He remained in prison until the

First White Terror The White Terror (french: Terreur Blanche) was a period during the French Revolution in 1795 when a wave of violent attacks swept across much of France. The victims of this violence were people identified as being associated with the Reign of T ...

. On the night of 11 May 1795, unknown armed men forced the citadel gates and massacred him and two other Jacobins, Jean Allien, the former keeper of the Capucins prison, and Moulin, the former inspector of military transport. Courbis and Allien's bodies were later found in the courtyard and Moulin's in a dungeon.

Sources

*Anne-Marie Duport, « Courbis Jean Antoine »,

Albert Soboul Albert Marius Soboul (27 April 1914 – 11 September 1982) was a historian of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods. A professor at the Sorbonne, he was chair of the History of the French Revolution and author of numerous influential ...

(dir.), ''Dictionnaire historique de la Révolution française'', Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 1989 (rééd. Quadrige, 2005, p. 306-307)

References

Bibliography

* Anne Marie Duport, ''Terreur et révolution: Nîmes en l'an II, 1793-1794'', présentation de Michel Vovelle, J. Touzot, 1987, 397 pages * Hippolyte Fajon,
Pièces et documents officiels pour servir à l'histoire de la Terreur à Nîmes et dans le département du Gard
', Nîmes, Soustelle, 1867 *Michael L. Kennedy, ''The Jacobin clubs in the French Revolution, 1793-1795'', Berghahn Books, 2000, 312 pages, *Gwynne Lewis, ''The Second Vendée: The Continuity of Counter-revolution in the Department of the Gard, 1789-1815'', Clarendon Press, 1978 * Albert Mathiez, ''Girondins et Montagnards'', Firmin-Didot, 1930, 305 pages * François Rouvière, ''Histoire de la Révolution Française dans le Département du Gard'', 3 volumes, A. Catélan, 1887-1889

External links

Mayors of Nimes (1790-present)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Courbis, Jean-Antoine 1752 births 1795 deaths 18th-century French lawyers People who died in prison custody during the French Revolution People from Tournon-sur-Rhône