 |
Edmond-Louis-Alexis Dubois de Crancé, dit Dubois-Crancé
b. 17 Oct 1747, Charleville (now Charleville-Mézières), Ardennes [1]
d. 29 Jun 1814, Rethel, Ardennes |
| Title: |
Président de la Convention nationale (President of the National Convention) |
| Term: |
21 Feb 1793 - 7 Mar 1793 |
| Chronology: |
21 Feb 1793,
elected, session of the Convention, Salle du Manège, Paris [2] |
|
22 Feb 1793,
assumed the chair, session of the Convention, Salle du Manège, Paris [2] |
|
7 Mar 1793,
ceased to exercise the functions of office upon the election of a successor [3] |
| Biography: |
| Born in the family of a noble with multiple relations among the military; was educated in a Jesuit school in Charleville; admitted to the company of royal musketeers (1762); left military service when the musketeers were disbanded (1775); was made lieutenant of guardsmen (maréchaux de France) in Champagne; elected (1789) as a representative of the Third Estate of Vitry-le-François to the États-Généraux (Estates-General); joined the Paris National Guard (1789) and was made a battalion commander (1791); served as a deputy of the Assemblée nationale (National Assembly) (1789-1791); was actively involved in discussions of the military reform; promoted to lieutenant colonel (1792); joined the Armée du Midi and was made adjudant général colonel (1792); elected to the Convention nationale (National Convention) by several départements, opted for the Ardennes (1792-1795); sat among the Montagnards and grew close to Georges Danton; voted for the death sentence in the trial of King Louis XVI; served on the war committee; was sent on a number of missions to the départements; served as President of the National Convention (21 Feb 1793 - 7 Mar 1793); promoted to brigadier general, and then to major-general (1793); was named representative on mission to direct the siege of Lyons (1793), but failed to achieve results and was recalled together with his colleagues (6 Oct 1793); was ordered to be arrested by a decree of the National Convention (15 Oct 1793), revoked shortly thereafter (19 Oct 1793); excluded from the Jacobin Club at the instance of Maximilien Robespierre; supported the coup of 9 Thermidor, Year II (27 Jul 1794); served as a member of the Comité de salut public (Committee of Public Safety) (5 Dec 1794 - 4 Apr 1795); elected (15 Oct 1795) to the Corps législatif and selected to sit in the Conseil des Cinq-Cents (Council of Five Hundred) as a representative of Mayence [Mainz] (1795-1797); was designated for replacement by lot (5 Mar 1797) and left the Council by 20 May 1797; served as inspector general of the infantry with the Army of Mainz (Armée de Mayence) in 1798; appointed minister of war (14 Sep 1799 - 11 Nov 1799); retired from politics after the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire, Year VIII (9 Nov 1799 - 10 Nov 1799). |
| Biographical sources: "L'armée et la Révolution : Dubois-Crancé (Edmond-Louis-Alexis) : mousquetaire, constituant, conventionnel, général de division, ministre de la guerre : 1747-1814", by Th. Iung (Paris: G. Charpentier et Cie, 1884), 2 vols. (web site);
Dictionnaire des Conventionnels, 212-214;
Dictionnaire des parlementaires français 1789-1889, 2:422-425. |
| Elections: |
| Candidate |
Vote (21 Feb 1793) |
| 1st round |
2nd round |
| Edmond-Louis-Alexis Dubois de Crancé |
209 |
200 |
| Arnaud Gensonné |
193 |
180 |
| Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau, dit Guyton-Morveau |
7 |
- |
| Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat, marquis de Condorcet |
4 |
- |
| Marc-(Marie-)David Alba, dit Alba-Lasource |
3 |
- |
| Denis-Toussaint Lesage |
3 |
- |
| Jean-Paul Marat |
2 |
- |
| Pierre-Louis Prieur, dit Prieur de la Marne |
2 |
- |
| Auguste Bon-Joseph (de) Robespierre, dit Robespierre jeune |
1 |
- |
| Nicolas-Léonard-François Buzot |
1 |
- |
| Jacques-Alexis Thuriot de la Rosière |
1 |
- |
| Jean-Marie Collot, dit Collot d'Herbois |
1 |
- |
| voters/absolute majority |
427/214 |
380/191 |
|
| Source of electoral results: Archives parlementaires - Série 1, 59:69. |
| |
| [1] |
Although some sources may disagree with regard to the date of birth of Dubois de Crancé, a copy of his act of baptism is found in "L'armée et la Révolution : Dubois-Crancé (Edmond-Louis-Alexis)", op. cit., 62-63. The date of birth might be induced from the statement that he was provisionally baptised ("ondoyé") 17 Oct 1747: "L'an de grâce mil sept cent quarante-sept, le 24 octobre, je, Jean Jacquemart, curé-doyen de Charleville, soussigné, ai suppléé les cérémonies du baptême au fils de messire Germain Dubois, seigneur de Crancé, écuyer, conseiller du Roy, commissaire ordonnateur des guerres au département de la Meuse, frontière de Champagne et du pays Messin, et de dame Remiette Fagnier de Mardeuil, ses pères et mère, mariés ensemble, lequel a été ondoyé le dix-sept du présent avec la permission de M. le grand vicaire, par moi susdit curé, on lui a imposé les noms d'Edmon-Louis-Alexis;" |
| [2] |
Archives parlementaires - Série 1, 59:69. |
| [3] |
Archives parlementaires - Série 1, 59:691. |
