Jacques Roux

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jacques Roux (21 August 1752 – 10 February 1794) was the radical leader of the Enragés faction during the French Revolution. He was one of the first priests to accept the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. His radicalism and his surname caused him to be called "the Red Priest". His demands on price and tax reglementation increased his popular support and political influence. He became a member of the 1792 Paris Commune (French Revolution) and took a major role in the 1793 Paris uprising which removed the Girondist government. Before Louis XVI was sent to be guillotined, he asked Roux to pass a parcel with some personal belongings to his wife, to which Roux replied 'I am not here to run errands, I am here to send you to the scaffold. '

He spoke out in the National Convention against "commercial aristocracy", considering it to be worse than the nobility or clergy. Deserted by former associates during the Reign of Terror, he was arrested under the Law of Suspects in September 1793. Roux was condemned to death at the Revolutionary Tribunal but before his execution stabbed himself and was carried away to Bicêtre Hospital where he died.^[1] Many believe Roux's suicide to be an odd decision on his part. His death came at the height of the terror so he would have most probably been considered a martyr of the revolution had he died defiant in his ideology but instead has largely been forgotten.