Pierre-Louis Bentabole
| Pierre Louis Bentabole | |
|---|---|
Plotting the downfall of Robespierre at the Jacobin Club
|
|
| Born |
4 June 1756 Landau, Haut Rhin |
| Died | 22 April 1798 (aged 41) Paris, France |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
| Political party |
Cordeliers Thermidorian |
| Spouse(s) | Adelaide Charlotte Chabot |
Pierre Louis Bentabole (or Bentabolle) was a revolutionary Frenchman, born in Landau Haut Rhin on 4 June 1756 and died in Paris on 22 April 1798. As lawyer, he presided practiced in the district of Hagenau and Saverne; he was deputy of the Bas-Rhin to the National Convention on 4 September 1792. He voted to execute Louis XVI. On 6 October 1794, he was appointed to the Committee of Public Safety.
Bentabole was the son of a military contractor who made his fortune providing food for the military during the Seven Years' War. He studied law and was a lawyer in Colmar before the French Revolution. On 4 September 1792, he was elected to the National Convention for the Bas-Rhin, by 293 votes out of 386 possible.
In 1792, he stood with the radical revolutionaries in Paris. In October, he urged the Convention to seek the death penalty for the King. At the trial of Louis XVI, he unhesitatingly voted for the King's death: "I see Louis stained with the blood of his victims, for the peace of my country, for his happiness, I voted for the death." A bitter enemy of the Girondins , he attacked them vehemently during the question of a plebiscite on whether to execute the King.
True to the revolutionary ideals, Bentabole aligned with the Montagnards and he was one of its most ardent enthusiasts. He was faithful friend of Jean-Paul Marat; through this friendship with the so-called L'Ami du peuple, (Friend of the People, the title of one of Marat's pamphlets), Bentabole acquired the nickname "Marat Cadet". The death of Marat on 14 July 1793, brought some of the internal frictions of the Montagnards to head, principally between Bentabole and the powerful Robespierre. On the day following Marat's assassination, the Convention rushed to praise Marat for his fervor and revolutionary diligence. Robespierre did not join in the praise, simply calling for an inquiry into the circumstances of his death. The Convention discussed at length the plans for Marat's funeral, to be held in his honor; it would necessarily be an affair of State, and, because of Marat's poverty, would have to be at the State's expense. Robespierre was no great supporter of Marat, saw no need for a public funeral, fearing, perhaps that it would arouse popular anger or provoke violence, as the funeral of Claude Lazowski had earlier in the year. The dispute between Bentabole and Robespierre continued; Robespierre saw no need neither to bury the body need Mirabeau; Bentabole insisted.
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