Louis Antoine de Saint-Just

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just
Saint-Just by Prud'hon, 1793 (Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon)
Member of the National Convention
In office 20 September 1792 – 27 July 1794
Constituency	Aisne
36th President of the National Convention
In office 19 February 1794 – 6 March 1794
Preceded by	Joseph-Nicolas Barbeau du Barran
Succeeded by	Philippe Rühl
Member of the Committee of Public Safety
In office 30 May 1793 – 27 July 1794
Personal details
Born	(1767-08-25)25 August 1767 Decize, Kingdom of France
Died	28 July 1794(1794-07-28) (aged 26) Paris, French Republic
Cause of death	Execution by guillotine
Political party	The Mountain
Signature

Louis Antoine Léon de Saint-Just^[a] (French pronunciation: [sɛ̃ʒyst]; 25 August 1767 – 9 Thermidor, Year II [28 July 1794]), sometimes nicknamed the Archangel of Terror,^[1][2][3] was a French revolutionary, political philosopher, member and president of the French National Convention, a Jacobin club leader, and a major figure of the French Revolution. As the youngest member elected to the National Convention, Saint-Just belonged to the Mountain faction. A steadfast supporter and close friend of Robespierre, he was swept away in his downfall during 9th Thermidor.

Renowned for his eloquence, he stood out for the uncompromising nature and inflexibility of his principles advocating equality and virtue, as well as for the effectiveness of his missions during which he rectified the situation of the Army of the Rhine and contributed to the victory of the republican armies at Fleurus. Politically combating the Girondins, the Hebertists, and then the Indulgents, he pushed for the confiscation of the property of the enemies of the Republic for the benefit of poor patriots. He was the designated speaker for the Robespierrists in their conflicts with other political parties in the National Convention, launching accusations and requisitions against figures like Danton or Hébert. To prevent the massacres for which the sans-culottes were responsible in the departments, particularly in Vendée, or to centralize repression (a point still unclear), he had the departmental revolutionary tribunals abolished and consolidated all procedures at the Revolutionary Tribunal of Paris.

He was also a political theorist, and notably inspired the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1793, the Constitution of Year I,^[4] he also authored works on the principles of the French Revolution.

On the 9th Thermidor, he defended Robespierre against accusations made by Barère and Tallien. Arrested alongside him, he remained silent until his death the following day, when he was guillotined on the Place de la Révolution with the 104 Robespierrists executed, at the age of 26. His body and head were then thrown into a mass grave.

The dark legend surrounding this figure, and Robespierrists in general, persisted in historical research until the second half of the 20th century, before gradually being reassessed from that period onward by more recent historians. Until then, he was perceived as cruel, bloodthirsty, and having a wild and violent sexuality.^[5]

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