Jean Théophile Victor Leclerc, a.k.a. Jean-Theophilus Leclerc and Theophilus Leclerc d'Oze (1771 – 1820
), was a radical French revolutionary, publicist, and soldier. After
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 ...
was assassinated, Leclerc assumed his mantle.
Leclerc was the son of a civil engineer and joined the
National Guard
National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards.
Nat ...
in
Clermont-Ferrand
Clermont-Ferrand (, ; ; oc, label=Auvergnat (dialect), Auvergnat, Clarmont-Ferrand or Clharmou ; la, Augustonemetum) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population ...
at the outbreak of revolution in 1789.
He then went to
Martinique
Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in th ...
as a merchant's agent. However, his militant pro-revolutionary stance brought him into conflict with the planter aristocracy, who soon expelled him for revolutionary propaganda in 1791.
He returned to metropolitan France and joined the 1st battalion of
Morbihan
Morbihan ( , ; br, Mor-Bihan ) is a department in the administrative region of Brittany, situated in the northwest of France. It is named after the Morbihan (''small sea'' in Breton), the enclosed sea that is the principal feature of the coastli ...
in which he served until February 1792, when he left for Paris to defend seventeen grenadiers accused, in Martinique, of being revolutionaries. He successfully defended them in front of the
Jacobin Club
, logo = JacobinVignette03.jpg
, logo_size = 180px
, logo_caption = Seal of the Jacobin Club (1792–1794)
, motto = "Live free or die"(french: Vivre libre ou mourir)
, successor = Pa ...
and the
revolutionary national assembly. On April first that year he made a speech before the Jacobin Club calling for the execution of
King Louis XVI
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) 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 just before he was e ...
and
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child a ...
.
Leclerc returned to his military duties with the
Army of the Rhine
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
, and was sent on an unsuccessful spy mission across the
Rhine
), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source1_coordinates=
, source1_elevation =
, source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein
, source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source2_coordinates=
, so ...
in southwest Germany. It seems that he betrayed by Dietrich, the mayor of
Strasbourg
Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...
. In November 1792, he fought at the
Battle of Jemappes
The Battle of Jemappes (6 November 1792) took place near the town of Jemappes in Hainaut, Austrian Netherlands (now Belgium), near Mons during the War of the First Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars. One of the first major off ...
. In February 1793 he was transferred to the General Staff of the newly restructured
Army of the Alps
The Army of the Alps (''Armée des Alpes'') was one of the French Revolutionary armies. It existed from 1792–1797 and from July to August 1799, and the name was also used on and off until 1939 for France's army on its border with Italy.
1792 ...
, in
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
. It was there that he joined the ''Club Central'' and he was sent to Paris as a special deputy from Lyon.
Leclerc took an extremely radical revolutionary position. He was even expelled from the
Jacobin Club
, logo = JacobinVignette03.jpg
, logo_size = 180px
, logo_caption = Seal of the Jacobin Club (1792–1794)
, motto = "Live free or die"(french: Vivre libre ou mourir)
, successor = Pa ...
for being too radical. He was a founding member of
Les Enragés (literally "the Angry Ones") who opposed Jacobian leniency. In 1793, he married
Pauline Léon
Pauline Léon (28 September 1768 – 5 October 1838) was an influential woman during the French Revolution. She played an important role in the Revolution, driven by her strong feminist and anti-royalist beliefs. Along with her friend Claire Lacomb ...
, who together with
Claire Lacombe
Claire Lacombe (4 August 1765-2 May 1826) was a French actress and revolutionary. She is best known for her contributions during the French Revolution. Though it was only for a few years, Lacombe was a revolutionary and a founding member of the S ...
had founded the ''Société des Républicaines Révolutionnaires'' a radical & revolutionary feminist organization which was banned the following year. He and his wife published a broadsheet called ''L'Ami du peuple par Leclerc'' starting in 1793, which advocated a radical purging of the army, the creation of a revolutionary army made up exclusively of the partisans of 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 the execution of all the suspected anti-revolutionaries. His publishing activities ceased with his arrest in April, 1794. After his release in August 1794, he and his wife maintained a low profile until his death some time after 1804.
References
* Tulard, Jean; Fayard, Jean-François; and Fierro, Alfred (1987) ''Histoire et dictionnaire de la Révolution française 1789–1799'' R. Laffont, Paris, ;
* Lasky, Melvin J. (1989) ''On the Barricades and Off'' Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, NJ, ;
* Levy, Darline Gay (ed.) (1980) ''Women in Revolutionary Paris, 1789–1795'' University of Illinois, ;
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leclerc, Jean Theophile Victor
1771 births
1796 deaths
18th-century essayists
18th-century French male writers
Enragés
French male essayists
Newspaper editors of the French Revolution
People from Loire (department)