François Chabot was a French revolutionary born in Saint-Geniez, France, on October 23, 1756. In childhood, he entered the Capuchin order. His interest in politics led him to be elected to the Legislative Assembly, where he sat at the far left along with Claude Bazire and Antoine Christophe Merlin in what was called the “Cordelier Trio”.
The Casuistry treatises he perused prepared him for the confessional he claimed to have corrupted his morals. On the suppression of the monasteries, though still a priest, he gave himself up to the most scandalous excess. The Bishop of Blois nominated him as his vicar-general and got him chosen deputy to the national convention for the department of Loire-et-Cher.
In this capacity, François Chabot displayed the bitterest animosity against the king and his ministers. All deputies allied with moderate policies and labored to overturn the throne. On August 10, 1792, he preached in the church of the Faubourg St. Antoine and urged the most violent incitements to insurrection. On the following day, he saved some priests and Abbe Sicard, the celebrated teacher of the deaf and dumb, from the fury of the populace.
His party, after occupying the highest seats at the national convention, was designated the Mountain, which they have since retained. Chabot converted the Cathedral of Notre Dame into the Temple of Reason. His party eventually suspected him, mainly because of his marriage to a young, sweet Austrian woman. He also displayed favoritism toward his two brothers-in-law, who sought to enrich themselves in general disorder.
Along with several other deputies, he was accused of appropriating the effects of the former East India Company. He vainly tried to save himself by reminding Robespierre of his services. When he saw that he was lost, he swallowed poison but suffered such excruciating pains that he took an antidote to remove them. Three days later, he was guillotined. His brothers-in-law shared his fate.
The two men implicated by François Chabot in the East India Company scandal, Claude Basire and Fabre d’Eglantine, were also executed, along with Chabot’s brother Junius Frey. François Chabot died on April 5, 1794, in France at age 38.
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