Antoine-François Momoro (; 1756 – 24 March 1794) was a French printer, bookseller and politician during the French Revolution. An important figure in the
Cordeliers
The Society of the Friends of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen ( ), mainly known as Cordeliers Club ( ), was a Populism, populist List of political groups in the French Revolution, political club during the French Revolution from 1790 to 179 ...
club and in Hébertisme, he is the originator of the phrase ''″Unité, Indivisibilité de la République;
Liberté, égalité, fraternité
(; French for , ), is the national motto of France and the Republic of Haiti, and is an example of a tripartite motto. Although it finds its origins in the French Revolution, it was then only one motto among others and was not institutio ...
ou la mort″'', one of the mottoes of the
French Republic
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
.
Life
"First Printer of Liberty"
Momoro's family was originally from Spain but settled in the
Franche-Comté
Franche-Comté (, ; ; Frainc-Comtou dialect, Frainc-Comtou: ''Fraintche-Comtè''; ; also ; ; all ) is a cultural and Provinces of France, historical region of eastern France. It is composed of the modern departments of France, departments of Doub ...
region of eastern France. Antoine-François Momoro studied in his home town and moved to Paris while still very young. He showed a particular talent as a
typographer
Typography is the art and technique of Typesetting, arranging type to make written language legibility, legible, readability, readable and beauty, appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, Point (typogra ...
and he was admitted to the Parisian printers' guild in 1787. He was one of many publishers in the French capital, but he established his credentials quickly by issuing his own highly regarded printer's manual, ''Traité élémentaire de l'imprimerie, ou le manuel de l'imprimeur'' (1793). The outbreak of the Revolution and the declaration of the
freedom of the press
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic Media (communication), media, especially publication, published materials, shoul ...
in August 1789 massively boosted his output and would change his destiny.
An open opponent of even a constitutional monarchy and of the Roman Catholic religion, Momoro keenly threw himself into the revolutionary cause and put his abilities at the service of the new ideas. At the start of the Revolution he bought up several presses, opened a press at 171 rue de la Harpe and launched himself into politics. His initial output remained cautious however, as shown by his refusal, in June 1789, to be the first publisher of ''La France Libre'' by Camille Desmoulins. He won the exclusive concession to typography and printing from the
Paris Commune
The Paris Commune (, ) was a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris on 18 March 1871 and controlled parts of the city until 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard (France), Nation ...
and became secretary to the ''Société des droits de l'homme'', which later became the '' Club des Cordeliers'', whose journal he published as well as becoming one of its loudest orators.
Momoro was also among the signatories of the anti-monarchical petition which led to the
Champ de Mars massacre
The Champ de Mars massacre took place on 17 July 1791 in Paris at the Champ de Mars against a crowd of republican protesters amid the French Revolution. Two days before, the National Constituent Assembly issued a decree that King Louis XVI w ...
, an event that would end in formalizing the split between the moderates and extremists. In the wake of this affair, which led to his imprisonment until September 1791, Momoro resumed his printing activities under his self-given title of "first printer of the national liberty", publishing Jacques-René Hébert's radical 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 gu ...
''.
Radicalization
A member of the section du Théâtre-Français, in June 1792 he, Danton and Chaumette wrote and signed a declaration which suppressed the distinction between passive and active citizens in the section. He then took an active part in the insurrection of 10 August 1792. He more and more supported the ''enragés'' more than the more moderate indulgents. He was elected by the section to the Directoire du département de Paris and it was then that he and mayor Pache inscribed the motto ''Unité, Indivisibilité de la République; Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité ou la mort'' on the façades of all public buildings. After a recruiting mission in Calvados and Eure, he returned to Paris where he was made president of the section du Théâtre-Français.
He took an active part in dechristianisation and was a principal proponent of the
Cult of Reason
The Cult of Reason () was France's first established State religion, state-sponsored secular religion, atheistic religion, intended as a replacement for Catholicism, Roman Catholicism during the French Revolution. After holding sway for barely ...
. It was his wife, Sophie Momoro (née Fournier), who played the part of the
Goddess
A goddess is a female deity. In some faiths, a sacred female figure holds a central place in religious prayer and worship. For example, Shaktism (one of the three major Hinduism, Hindu sects), holds that the ultimate deity, the source of all re ...
at the "Festival of Reason" on 20 Brumaire, Year II (10 November 1793).
He was sent into the
Vendée
Vendée () is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.Charles-Philippe Ronsin at the siege of the état-major at
Saumur
Saumur () is a Communes of France, commune in the Maine-et-Loire Departments of France, department in western France.
The town is located between the Loire and Thouet rivers, and is surrounded by the vineyards of Saumur itself, Chinon, Bourgu ...
, in a mission to ensure the army fighting against the
revolt
Rebellion is an uprising that resists and is organized against one's government. A rebel is a person who engages in a rebellion. A rebel group is a consciously coordinated group that seeks to gain political control over an entire state or a ...
there was well supplied. On his return to Paris, in a long ''Rapport sur la politique de la Vendée fait au comité de Salut Public'', he explained the reasons for setbacks to Ronsin's strategy in the Vendée and defended General Rossignol, contributing to his rehabilitation.
When Marat was assassinated on 13 July 1793 by
Charlotte Corday
Marie-Anne Charlotte de Corday d'Armont (27 July 1768 – 17 July 1793), known simply as Charlotte Corday (), was a figure of the French Revolution who assassinated revolutionary and Jacobins, Jacobin leader Jean-Paul Marat on 13 July 1793. Cor ...
, Momoro aspired to succeed him as champion of the people and their cause. He persuaded the Cordeliers to go ahead with the publication of the ''
L'Ami du Peuple
''L'Ami du peuple'' (, ''The Friend of the People'') was a newspaper written by Jean-Paul Marat during the French Revolution. "The most celebrated radical paper of the Revolution", according to historian Jeremy D. Popkin, ''L’Ami du peuple ...
'' at his press.
Fall
After working for the fall of the Girondists in the struggle between the commune and the convention, he participated in attacks on Danton,
Robespierre
Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (; ; 6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) was a French lawyer and statesman, widely recognised as one of the most influential and controversial figures of the French Revolution. Robespierre fer ...
Committee of Public Safety
The Committee of Public Safety () was a committee of the National Convention which formed the provisional government and war cabinet during the Reign of Terror, a violent phase of the French Revolution. Supplementing the Committee of General D ...
. Pushed onwards by a report by Saint-Just to the Convention denouncing the "complot de l'étranger" woven by the Indulgents and Exagérés, the committee decided on the arrest of the Hébertistes on 13 March 1794. The
Revolutionary Tribunal
The Revolutionary Tribunal (; unofficially Popular Tribunal) was a court instituted by the National Convention during the French Revolution for the trial of political offenders. In October 1793, it became one of the most powerful engines of ...
condemned Momoro to death, and he loudly replied "You accuse me, who has given everything for the Revolution!" He was
guillotine
A guillotine ( ) is an apparatus designed for effectively carrying out executions by Decapitation, beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secur ...
d with Hébert,
Ronsin
Ronsin (or: Ronsen) is a village in the Kogho Department of Ganzourgou Province in central Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, To ...
,
Vincent
Vincent (Latin: ''Vincentius'') is a masculine given name originating from the Roman name ''Vincentius'', which itself comes from the Latin verb ''vincere'', meaning "to conquer."
People with the given name Artists
*Vincent Apap (1909–2003) ...
and other leading Hébertistes ( Cloots, Jean Conrad de Kock) the following afternoon, 4 Germinal, Year II (24 March 1794).Doyle, William (1989) ''The Oxford History of the French Revolution'' Clarendon Press; . See p.270: "Among those who went to the scaffold... on the afternoon of the twenty-fourth... asthe leader of section Marat, Momoro." Their death of was a sort of carnival, a pleasant spectacle according to Michelet's witnesses.