François-Noël Babeuf

Born

23 November 1760

Died

27 May 1797

A land surveyor and compiler of seigneurial registers before the Revolution, Babeuf turned his knowledge of feudal tenure into a case against landed property, setting out a scheme for a single land tax and common cultivation in his Cadastre perpétuel of 1789. He edited a succession of papers, the last and best known being the Tribun du peuple, in which he demanded the restoration of the constitution of 1793 and equality of enjoyment as well as of rights. Imprisoned repeatedly, he formed with Buonarroti, Darthé and others a secret directory to overturn the government by insurrection. Betrayed by an informer, he was arrested in May 1796 and tried before the high court at Vendôme. On hearing his sentence he stabbed himself in the courtroom, and was carried dying to the scaffold the following day, 27 May 1797.

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