 Fabre d'Églantine, detail from an oil painting by Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725-1805) in the Louvre, Paris |
Philippe (-François-Nazaire) Fabre dʼÉglantine (1750-1794)
Born July 28, 1750 in Carcassonne, France and died on April 5, 1794 in Paris, France. He was a political drama satirist and prominent figure in the French Revolution. Fabre, a well–known poet and playwright, took an active role in the dechristianization movement that was getting under way in the fall of 1793. During a period known as "The Terror," he went to the guillotine, April 1794, supposedly for financial fraud but really for opposing Robespierre’s policies. Serving in the position of deputy in the National Convention, he voted for the execution of King Louis XVI. From statements made by Fabre during sessions on statutes and law, he and other deputies expressed favor toward the suppression of women's direct involvement in the French Revolution.
dʼÉglantine was a surname he added after having made the false claim to have won a golden eglantine in a literary competition.
Some of his writings include
A poem, Étude de la nature, in 1783; "Study of Nature".
The most celebrated of his comedies, Le Phillinte de Molière in 1790, which was a sequel to Molière's Misanthrope. The major characters are drawn as a politically dangerous aristocrat and virtuous Republicans.
A song, Il pleut, il pleut, bergère, which translates, "It's raining, it's raining, shepherdess"). The song is still popular in France.
Fabre had little knowledge of astronomy yet was in charge of the committee that drew up the Republican's calendar. Fabre became the victim of the guillotine in 1794 after arousing the animosities of Maximilian Robespierre for being too moderate in his views.
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