François-Antoine, comte de Boissy d’Anglas
Date of Birth
December 8, 1756
Date of Death
October 20, 1826
About
A Protestant lawyer and deputy from the Ardèche, Boissy d’Anglas emerged as an important figure in the Convention after Thermidor. During the rising of 1 Prairial Year III, he remained in the chair as armed demonstrators occupied the chamber and the deputy Féraud was killed. Later accounts and paintings celebrated him as having saluted Féraud’s severed head, making the scene one of the best-known images of the Thermidorian Convention. As rapporteur for the Commission of Eleven, Boissy presented the Constitution of Year III, which established a two-chamber legislature and the five-member Directory.