Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne

Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne
Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne
	Billaud-Varenne portrayed by Jean-Baptiste Greuze, c. 1790 (Dallas Museum of Art)
26th President of the National Convention
	In office; 5 September 1793 – 19 September 1793
Preceded by	Maximilien Robespierre
Succeeded by	Pierre Joseph Cambon
Member of the National Convention
	In office; 7 September 1792 – 26 October 1795
Constituency	Seine
Member of the Committee of Public Safety
	In office; 6 September 1793 – 1 September 1794
Personal details
Born	Jacques Nicolas Billaud; 23 April 1756; La Rochelle, Kingdom of France
Died	3 June 1819 (aged 63); Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Political party	The Mountain
Spouse	Anne-Angélique Doye
Alma mater	University of Poitiers
Occupation	Lawyer, politician
Nickname	"The Tiger"

Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne (French pronunciation: [ʒak nikɔla bijo vaʁɛn]; 23 April 1756 – 3 June 1819), also known as Jean Nicolas or by his nicknames, the Righteous Patriot or the Tiger, was a French lawyer and a major figure in the French Revolution. A close associate of Georges Danton and Maximilien Robespierre, he was one of the most militant members of the Committee of Public Safety, and is often considered a key architect of the Reign of Terror.

Billaud-Varenne subsequently broke with Robespierre, partly due to their ideological conflicts relating to the centralization of power. Ultimately he played a major role in Robespierre's downfall on 9 Thermidor, an act for which he later expressed remorse. After Thermidor, Billaud-Varenne was part of the Crêtois, the last group of deputies from The Mountain. He presided over the persecution of Louis-Marie Turreau and Jean-Baptiste Carrier for their actions during the War in the Vendée.

Billaud-Varenne was later arrested during the Thermidorian Reaction. Deported to Cayenne without trial, he married a black ex-slave, refused Napoleon's pardon there and finally died in Port-au-Prince in 1819.

Billaud-Varenne was one of the central figures of the first part of the French Revolution, but he remains little studied or little understood.

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