Philippe Fabre d'Églantine
Like many artists, Fabre was rather vain, and when one of his poems won the Wild Rose Prize, he added this distinction (Églantine) to his name. The Montagnard was not condemned for political reasons but sentenced to death for criminal offenses. He had indeed been involved in fraud and forgeries. That he had to appear before the court together with Danton and his associates was the result of a skillful maneuver by the committees, who sought to place Danton in a bad light. Fabre d’Églantine went down in history as one of the creators of the Republican Calendar. While Romme devised the calendar’s system, Fabre developed the names of the months and days. Thus, the day of his execution fell on Sextidi, the 16th of Germinal, Year II of the Republic.
JK
1750 - 1794
- July 29, 1750 · Birth in Carcassonne.
- 1770 · Fabre joins a travelling theatre troupe.
- September 1792 · Deputy to the National Convention for the department of the Seine.
- October 24, 1793 · Fabre presents his proposal on the names of the months and days of the Republican Calendar to the Convention. The new designations are established by law.
- January 12, 1794 · Fabre is arrested at the instigation of the Committee of Public Safety because of his involvement in the affair of the East India Company.
- April 2, 1794 · The trial against him and other defendants (including Danton) begins before the Revolutionary Tribunal.
- April 5, 1794 · Execution on the Place de la Révolution in Paris.
Quotes
The priests had assigned every day of the year to the commemoration of a supposed saint; this catalogue of names was neither useful nor logical, it was a register of lies, fraud, and charlatanism.
Fabre in justification of a new calendar system, October 1793.
They have stolen a comedy from me that has nothing to do with my trial—let them keep it!
After his death sentence, Fabre worried about his play The Malta Orange
. He feared that Collot d'Herbois would pass it off as his own.
He kept mistresses, rode in carriages, and mingled with bankers of every nationality.
Albert Mathiez, 1922
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External links
Le Moniteur
Septidi, 17 Germinal, l'an 2 de la République Française une et indivisible
(April 6, 1794)
