20 Vendémiaire
An CCXXXV
Antoine Barnave
Barnave was one of the most outstanding orators of the National Assembly. As a determined advocate for the citizens, he called for an end to the Ancien Régime. Yet his encounter with Marie Antoinette turned him into a defender of the monarchy. When the king's flight failed at Varennes in June 1791, the Assembly tasked him with accompanying the royal family on their return to Paris. During the journey, he had extensive conversations with the queen. This unhappy but intelligent and charming woman fascinated him – and shortly afterwards he began a secret correspondence with her. Barnave hoped to save the court through a constitution. Had he perhaps even fallen in love? The answer remains unknown to this day. After the storming of the Tuileries, the republicans discovered the secret correspondence and arrested him. Marie Antoinette died on the guillotine in October 1793; Barnave followed her a month later.
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1761 - 1793
- October 22, 1761 · Antoine-Pierre-Joseph-Marie Barnave is born into a Protestant family in Grenoble. His father is a lawyer.
- January 1789 · Barnave is elected as a deputy of the Third Estate for the province of Dauphiné to the Estates-General.
- June 22, 1791 · Together with Jérôme Pétion and Latour-Maubourg, Barnave is tasked with escorting the royal family back to Paris after their failed flight to Varennes. During the journey, he gets to know Marie Antoinette personally and grows closer to the court.
- July 1791 · Barnave begins a secret correspondence with Marie Antoinette. He tries to win the court's support for a new constitution.
- July 15, 1791 · In a speech before the National Assembly, Barnave defends the king's inviolability. He calls for an end to the Revolution on the basis of a constitutional monarchy.
- January 1792 · Barnave ends his secret correspondence with Marie Antoinette and leaves Paris for Grenoble.
- August 19, 1792 · After the king's overthrow, Barnave's secret correspondence with the court is discovered in Paris. Barnave is arrested in Grenoble.
- November 18, 1793 · After more than a year of imprisonment in Grenoble and at Fort Barraux, Barnave is transferred to the Conciergerie in Paris.
- November 28, 1793 · The Revolutionary Tribunal sentences Barnave to death for
conspiracy against the liberty and sovereignty of the people
. - November 29, 1793 · Executed in Paris.
Quotes
Was this blood really so pure?
Barnave in the National Assembly on the lynching of two high-ranking officials of the Ancien Régime, 23 July 1789.
It is part of our plan that she [Marie Antoinette] should attain a prominent position befitting her character.
Barnave in a secret letter to Marie Antoinette, September 1791.
So this is the reward for all I have done for liberty.
Barnave's last words.
Le Moniteur
The people or the court?
External links
