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PÉTION, Jérôme

Jérôme Pétion, dit Pétion de Villeneuve

b. 2 Jan 1756, Chartres, Eure-et-Loir [1]
d. 18 [?] Jun 1794, Saint-Magne-de-Castillon, near Saint-Émilion, Gironde [2, p. 198]

Title: Président de l'Assemblée nationale (President of the National Assembly)
Term: 4 Dec 1790 - 21 Dec 1790
Chronology: 4 Dec 1790, election as president proclaimed by the National Assembly, session of the Assembly, Salle du Manège, Paris [4, vol. XXI, pp. 216-217]
5 Dec 1790, assumed the chair as President of the National Assembly for the first time, session of the Assembly, Salle du Manège, Paris [4, vol. XXI, p. 220]
21 Dec 1790, expiration of term; successor elected and proclaimed [4, vol. XXI, p. 624]
Names/titles: Président de la Convention nationale (President of the National Convention) (20 Sep 1792 - 4 Oct 1792) [see details]
Biography:
Born in the family of an avocat and judge at the Présidial court in Chartres; attended the collège of Chartres along with Jacques-Pierre Brissot; pursued a career in law, practicing in Chartres; was made subdelegate to the intendant of Orléans in the 1780s; his work, Les Lois civiles et l'administration de la justice, was forbidden by the censors in France and was published in London (1782); elected (20 Mar 1789) representative of the Third Estate to the États-Généraux (Estates-General) from the bailliage of Chartres; deputy of the Assemblée nationale (National Assembly) (1789-1791); showed himself a radical leader; was elected President of the Assembly (4 Dec 1790 - 21 Dec 1790); served as president of the criminal tribunal of Paris (1791); appointed one of three commissioners sent to Varennes to escort King Louis XVI and his family back to Paris (21 Jun 1791) after an attempt to flee the country; president of the Jacobin Club (3 Aug 1791 - 29 Aug 1791, 24 Sep 1792 - 8 Oct 1792); elected president of the criminal Tribunal of Paris (15 Jun 1791); elected (16 Nov 1791) mayor of Paris and served from 18 Nov 1791 to 15 Oct 1792; allowed the mob to overrun the Tuileries Palace and to insult the royal family (20 Jun 1792); was suspended (6 Jul 1792) from his functions; reinstated by the National Assembly (13 Jul 1792); headed the delegation of the Parisian sections, demanding the deposition of Louis XVI in the presence of the National Assembly (3 Aug 1792); elected (5 Sep 1792) to the Convention nationale (National Convention) as a representative of the département of Eure-et-Loir (1792-1793); served as first elected President of the National Convention (20 Sep 1792 - 4 Oct 1792); served as a member of the constitution committee (from 24 Sep 1792); re-elected as mayor of Paris (4 Oct 1792); remained neutral in the early period of the Convention, but remained closer to the Girondins; voted for the death sentence in the trial of Louis XVI; in a Montagnard coup d'état, was put on a list of the deputies subject to arrest (2 Jun 1793); placed under custody in Paris, but escaped (23 Jun 1793); discharged as a member of the Convention and replaced by an alternate (14 Jul 1793); arrived to Caen, where led an insurrection against the Convention; escaping the arrest, fled to Gironde; was found dead (26 Jun 1794) in a field near Saint-Émilion. Biography source: [3; 5]

Elections:

Candidate Votes (4 Dec 1790)
Jérôme Pétion, dit Pétion de Villeneuve 261
Rœderer 80
blank/invalid 136
voters 477
Election results : [3, vol. XXI, p. 217]

[1] Baptismal record confirming 2 Jan 1756 as his birth date and 3 Jan 1756 as the date of baptism was published by Kuscinski [3, p. 485].
[2] "La proscription des Girondins (1793-1795)", by Claude Perroud (Paris: F. Alcan, 1917)
[3] Dictionnaire des Conventionnels,
[4] Archives parlementaires. Série 1, .
[5] Dictionnaire des parlementaires français 1789-1889,
Image: portrait by Jean-Urbain Guérin, 1792.