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Lot #294
Antoine Quentin Fouquier-Tinville

The prosecutor who helped engineer the Reign of Terror sends an unfortunate doctor to the guillotine

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Description

The prosecutor who helped engineer the Reign of Terror sends an unfortunate doctor to the guillotine

French revolutionary and public prosecutor of the Revolutionary Tribunal (1746–1795). He personified the ruthlessness of the Reign of Terror and claimed among his victims Marie Antoinette and Georges Danton. DS in French, signed “A. Q. Fouquier,” one page, 7.5 x 10. Roughly translated, this document sealed the fate of one unfortunate Jean Baptiste Ruffat, a doctor originally from Toulouse in the Haute-Garonne department of France. Brought before the Tribunal, the 40-year-old Ruffat was condemned and his assets seized at the height of the Reign of Terror. On 11 Messidor An II of the Revolutionary Calendar (June 29, 1794), the doctor was guillotined. In very good condition, with central horizontal and vertical folds, the vertical fold passing through a single letter of signature, rough edges, small strip of old tape along reverse of top edge, and a uniform block of toning from previous display. As a result of Robespierre’s insistence on associating terror with virtue, his efforts to make the republic a morally united patriotic community became equated with endless bloodshed. After sentencing an estimated 13,000-40,000 people to death, Fouquier-Tinville met the same fate with the fall of Robespierre. Pre-certified PSA/DNA.

Auction Info

  • Auction Title: Fine Autographs and Artifacts
  • Dates: #452 - Ended May 13, 2015





This item is Pre-Certified by PSA/DNA
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