Louis Legendre

Louis Legendre (22 May 1752 – 13 December 1797) was a French politician of the Revolution period.

Born at Versailles, he was keeping a butcher's shop in Saint Germain, Paris, by 1789. He was an ardent supporter of the ideas of the Revolution and a leader of the Storming of the Bastille; a close friend of Georges Danton, Legendre was a member of the Jacobin Club, and one of the founders of the club of the Cordeliers. In spite of his diction problems and lack of education, he became a noted orator.

He was present in the crowd that demanded the removal of King Louis XVI on Champ de Mars in July 1791 (and during the subsequent massacre ordered by Jean Sylvain Bailly). Louis Legendre also took part in the 10th of August Attack on the Tuileries Palace (1792).

Deputy for the Seine département to the National Convention, he joined the non-affiliated group led by Jean-Paul Marat, and voted for the execution of Louis XVI. He was sent on missions to Lyon (in February 1793, before the town revolted) and to the Seine-Inférieure (from August to October 1793). Upon his return from Lyon, he was singled out as a moderate by the Jacobins, but became an adversary of the Girondists after clashes with Count Lanjuinais - as a member of the Committee of General Security during the Reign of Terror, he contributed to the downfall of the group; he was excluded by the Cordeliers after Jacques Hébert accused him of favoring Maximilien Robespierre.