Fourquier-Tinville, Antoine-Quentin

(1746-1795)

   magistrate, political figure

   Born in Hérouel, Aisne, Antoine Quentin Fourquier-Tinville embraced the ideas of the revolution of 1789 and in 1793 was named public prosecutor of the Revolutionary Tribunal. As such, he became the symbol of the pitiless rigor and cruelty of the Terror. Connected to the cordeliers faction and the ultra-revolutionaries, he was denounced under the Thermidorian Convention and, after a long trial, was condemned to death and executed.