Philippe-François-Joseph Le Bas
Encyclopedia
Philippe-François-Joseph Le Bas (4 November 1762, Frévent
Frévent
Frévent is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:A farming town situated in the valley of the Canche river, west of Arras, at the junction of the D946, the D939 and the D941 roads.-History:...

, Pas-de-Calais - 28 July 1794, Paris) was a French revolutionary.

Life

The son of a notary, intendant to the prince de Rache, avocat to the parliament of 1789, companion and collaborator of Saint-Just, in 1792 Le Bas was elected député to the National Convention
National Convention
During the French Revolution, the National Convention or Convention, in France, comprised the constitutional and legislative assembly which sat from 20 September 1792 to 26 October 1795 . It held executive power in France during the first years of the French First Republic...

 for the Pas-de-Calais, sitting among the Montagnards
The Mountain
The Mountain refers in the context of the history of the French Revolution to a political group, whose members, called Montagnards, sat on the highest benches in the Assembly...

. A discrete, cold and loyal representative, he voted for king Louis XVI's death and against the sentence at his trial (against the people's appeal). Le Bas and Duquesnoy
Ernest Dominique François Joseph Duquesnoy
Ernest Dominique François Joseph Duquesnoy was a French revolutionary.-Life:The son of a farmer, he served time as a private in the dragoons then moved to farming and raising his large family...

 were delegated to the armée du Nord in August 1793, and Le Bas proceeded with the arrest of generals Richardot and O'Moran for inability. A member of the Committee of General Security
Committee of General Security
The Committee of General Security was a French parliamentary committee which acted as police agency during the French Revolution that, along with the Committee of Public Safety, oversaw the Reign of Terror....

, he was among those close to Robespierre, Couthon , and Saint-Just - who had a brief & discreet relation with his sister Henriette.

He and Saint-Just were made the Convention's commissioners to the armies and set out on this mission to eastern France, where he reorganised the army after its reverses at Wissembourg
Wissembourg
Wissembourg is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in northeastern France.It is situated on the little River Lauter close to the border between France and Germany approximately north of Strasbourg and west of Karlsruhe. Wissembourg is a sub-prefecture of the department...

. Saint-Just and Le Bas were also later sent to reorganise the armée du Nord by the Committee of Public Safety
Committee of Public Safety
The Committee of Public Safety , created in April 1793 by the National Convention and then restructured in July 1793, formed the de facto executive government in France during the Reign of Terror , a stage of the French Revolution...

 in the face of an attempted return by Austrian forces after - it was this reorganisation that made possible the victory at Fleurus
Battle of Fleurus (1794)
In the Battle of Fleurus on 26 June 1794, the army of the First French Republic under General Jean-Baptiste Jourdan faced the Coalition Army commanded by Prince Josias of Coburg in the most decisive battle of the Flanders Campaign in the Low Countries during the French Revolutionary Wars...

.

Faithful to Robespierre to the bloody end on 9 Thermidor, when Augustin Robespierre
Augustin Robespierre
Augustin Bon Joseph de Robespierre was the younger brother of French Revolutionary leader, Maximilien Robespierre....

 demanded that he shared his brother's fate, Le Bas demanded that he share the fate of Saint-Just, committing suicide by pistol just as the anti-robespierristes under Barras and Léonard Bourdon
Léonard Bourdon
Louis Jean Joseph Léonard Bourdon de la Cronière was a French politician of the French Revolution. He was president of the National Constituent Assembly and substitute for the procureur of the Commune de Paris.- Bibliography :* Michael J. Sydenham, Leonard Bourdon. The Career of a Revolutionary...

 broke into the Hôtel de Ville (where Le Bas had taken refuge with Maximilien Robespierre, Augustin Robespierre, St-Just and Couthon).

Marriage and issue

He married Elisabeth Duplay, daughter of Maurice Duplay
Maurice Duplay
Maurice Duplay was a French carpentry contractor and revolutionary in the French Revolution. He was landlord to Robespierre....

, Robespierre's landlord in Paris, and their son was Philippe Le Bas
Philippe Le Bas
Philippe Le Bas was a French hellenist, archaeologist and translator. He was the son of Philippe Le Bas and Elisabeth Duplay, the daughter of Robespierre's landlord Maurice Duplay. He was only 6 weeks old when his father committed suicide on Robespierre's fall on 27 July 1794 in the Thermidorian...

 (1794-1860), who would be Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte's preceptor until 1827 then director of the library of the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...

 (from 1844 to 1860), a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
The Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres is a French learned society devoted to the humanities, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the Institut de France.-History:...

 (1838-60) and president of the Institut de France
Institut de France
The Institut de France is a French learned society, grouping five académies, the most famous of which is the Académie française.The institute, located in Paris, manages approximately 1,000 foundations, as well as museums and chateaux open for visit. It also awards prizes and subsidies, which...

(from 1858).
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