Billaud-Varenne, 1756-1819

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 massacres during the War in the Vendée, which ended by their execution. Billaud-Varenne was later arrested during the Thermidorian Reaction. Deported to Cayenne without trial, he married a black ex-slave named Brigitte, 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.