François-Nicolas Vincent (; born 1766 or 1767; died 24 March 1794) was the Secretary General of the War Ministry in the

First French Republic In the history of France, the First Republic (), sometimes referred to in historiography as Revolutionary France, and officially the French Republic (), was founded on 21 September 1792 during the French Revolution. The First Republic lasted u ...

, and a significant figure in the French Revolution. A member of the Cordelier Club, he is best known as a radical

sans-culottes The (; ) were the working class, common people of the social class in France, lower classes in late 18th-century history of France, France, a great many of whom became radical and militant partisans of the French Revolution in response to their ...

leader and prominent member of the Hébertist faction.

Leadership

The son of a prison concierge and a native

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

ian, Vincent worked as a lawyer's clerk and is believed to have lived in substantial poverty until 1792, at which point he became an active participant in the radical Revolutionary effort. The youngest of the men to follow

Jacques Hébert Jacques René Hébert (; 15 November 1757 – 24 March 1794) was a French journalist and leader of the French Revolution. As the founder and editor of the radical newspaper ''Le Père Duchesne'', he had thousands of followers known as ''the ...

, Vincent, along with fellow Hébertist

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 lead ...

, took the Revolution to the country, becoming revolutionaries-on-a-mission. Upon his return to Paris, Vincent became more active in the Cordelier Club and was soon elected Orator. After this advancement, Vincent was eventually made General Secretary of the War Ministry under Jean Baptiste Noël Bouchotte. It is this job that allowed Vincent to bring more power to the sans-culottes.

Downfall

Jacques Hébert, writer and publisher of the ''La Pere Duchesne'', led Vincent, among others, on a campaign against what they deemed the soft 'moderation' of the

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 ...

, along with attempts to aid in the 'de-Christianization' of

France 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 ...

. Vincent supported the overthrow of

Maximilien 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 ferv ...

and when he and his fellow Hébertists became active enough in their opposition, Robespierre reacted with an arrest and trial for 'treasonous activity'. The Hébertists, along with some of their close friends and companions, were charged with attempting to overthrow the Committee of Public Safety to ensure the re-establishment of the

monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, reigns as head of state for the rest of their life, or until abdication. The extent of the authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutio ...

and conspiring with foreigners to take down the Republic. No physical evidence was given to support these allegations but, even so, Vincent and his fellow Hébertists were found guilty and sentenced to death. On 24 March 1794, at the age of twenty-seven, François-Nicolas Vincent was beheaded at the

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 ...

along with Hébert, Ronsin, Momoro, and the other leaders of the Hébertist faction.Doyle, 1989; p.270. , "The trial took place on 21–4 March, its result a foregone conclusion. Among those who went to the scaffold with Pere Duchesne on the afternoon of the twenty-fourth were Vincent, Ronsin, and the leader of section Marat, Momoro."

References

*Andress, David. ''The Terror: The Merciless War for Freedom in Revolutionary France''. (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006) *Andress, David. ''French Society in Revolution 1789-1799''. (Manchester University Press, 1999) *Brown, Howard G. ''War, Revolution, and the Bureaucratic State: Politics and Army Administration in France 1791-1799''. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995) *Furet, François, and Mona Ozouf. ''A Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution''. (Harvard University Press, 1989) *McNamara, Charles B. "The Hebertists; study of a French Revolutionary 'faction' in the reign of terror, 1793-1794". (New York : Fordham University, 1974). {{DEFAULTSORT:Vincent, Francois-Nicolas 1760s births 1794 deaths Year of birth uncertain Politicians from Paris Hébertists French people executed by guillotine during the French Revolution