Charles-Gilbert Romme (26 March 1750 – 17 June 1795) was a French

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

and

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

who developed the French Republican Calendar.

Biography

Charles Gilbert Romme was born in Riom,

Puy-de-Dôme Puy-de-Dôme (; oc, label=Auvergnat, lo Puèi de Doma or ''lo Puèi Domat'') is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in the centre of France. In 2019, it had a population of 662,152.Auvergne Auvergne (; ; oc, label= Occitan, Auvèrnhe or ) is a former administrative region in central France, comprising the four departments of Allier, Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal and Haute-Loire. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Au ...

region of France, where he received an education in medicine and mathematics. After spending five years in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, he went to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

to become the tutor of Paul Stroganoff. He returned to Paris in 1788 and entered political life. He was a member of the Masonic lodge,

Les Neuf Sœurs La Loge des Neuf Sœurs (; The Nine Sisters), established in Paris in 1776, was a prominent French Masonic Lodge of the Grand Orient de France that was influential in organising French support for the American Revolution. A "Société des Neuf Sœ ...

. Elected on 10 September 1791 to the Legislative Assembly, Romme aligned himself with the

Girondist 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 ...

s, but after his election to 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 ...

on 6 September 1792, he sided with the

Montagnards Montagnard (''of the mountain'' or ''mountain dweller'') may refer to: * Montagnard (French Revolution), members of The Mountain (''La Montagne''), a political group during the French Revolution (1790s) ** Montagnard (1848 revolution), members of t ...

. He voted in favour of the death sentence for

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 ...

. Later, in the events leading up to the Reign of Terror, he was arrested by Girondist supporters and was imprisoned in Caen for two months. During his tenure in National Convention, Romme served in the (''Comité de l’instruction Publique''), where he presented his report on the republican calendar on 17 September 1793 and then developed an agricultural almanac based on the new calendar. Aware of their military importance, he also was an early supporter of semaphore telegraphs. He served as president of the Convention from 21 November to 6 December 1793. Because he was on an assignment to organise gun production for the navy, he had no hand in the coup of 9 Thermidor ''an II'' (27 July 1794), which resulted in the fall of the Robespierre (and ultimately led to the return of the Girondists). When rioting

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 ...

, demanding bread and the Jacobin constitution, violently occupied the Convention on 1 Prairial ''an III'' (20 May 1795), Romme supported their demands. This insurrection was quickly put down however, and he and other Montagnards were arrested. While waiting for their trial, the defendants agreed to commit suicide in case of a death sentence. On 29 Prairial (17 June), Paris, France, Romme and five others were sentenced 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 t ...

. With a knife hidden by Jean-Marie Goujon, he stabbed himself repeatedly while on the staircase leading from the courtroom, and died — his last words are reported to have been "I die for the republic". In ''Romme le Montagnard'' (1833), Marc de Vissac described Romme as a small, awkward and clumsy man with an ill complexion and a dull orator but also as possessing a pleasant and instructive style of conversation.

References

Sources

A biography of Romme

The French Revolution (Thomas Carlyle)

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Romme, Gilbert 1750 births 1795 deaths People from Riom People of the French Revolution Occitan people Les Neuf Sœurs Presidents of the National Convention