Legendre, Louis

(1752-1797)

   political figure

   Born in Versailles, Louis Legendre was a butcher in Paris who joined the revolution of 1789 and took part in the storming of the bastille (July 14) and in the Revolutionary Days of October 5 and 6 of that same year. A member of the jacobin and cordeliers clubs, he helped formulate the petition that was brought to the Champ de Mars and led to the downfall of King louis XVI (July 17, 1791). On June 20, 1792, he took the leadership of the revolutionary movement with antoine santerre and others. A Montagnard deputy to the Convention, he voted for the death of the king. After joining with the Committee of Public Safety, he separated himself from georges danton, then in turn opposed maximilien Robespierre and, during the Thermidorian Convention went over to the reaction, closing the Jacobin Club and suppressing the uprising of 1 Prairial Year III (May 20, 1795).