The Plain, French la Plaine, also called le Marais (“the Marsh”), in the French Revolution, the centrist deputies in the National Convention (1792–95). They formed the majority of the assembly’s members and were essential to the passage of any measures. Their name derived from their place on the floor of the assembly; above them sat the members of the Mountain, or the Montagnards. Led by Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès, the Plain initially voted with the moderate Girondins but later joined the Montagnards in voting for the execution of Louis XVI. In 1794 they helped overthrow Maximilien de Robespierre and other extreme Jacobins (see Jacobin Club).
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French Revolution, the revolutionary movement that shook France between 1787 and 1799 and reached its first climax there in 1789. Hence the conventional term “Revolution of 1789,” denoting the end of the ancien régime in France and serving also to distinguish that event from the…
National Convention, assembly that governed France from September 20, 1792, until October 26, 1795, during the most critical period of the French Revolution. The National Convention was elected to provide a new constitution for the country after the overthrow of the monarchy (August 10, 1792). The Convention…
Montagnard, (French: “Mountain Man” ) any of the radical Jacobin deputies in the National Convention during the French Revolution. Noted for their democratic outlook, the Montagnards controlled the government during the climax of the Revolution in 1793–94. They were so called because as deputies they sat on the higher benches…
Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès, churchman and constitutional theorist whose concept of popular sovereignty guided the National Assembly in its struggle against the monarchy and nobility during the opening months of the French Revolution. He later played a major role in organizing the…
Girondin, a label applied to a loose grouping of republican politicians, some of them originally from the départementof the Gironde, who played a leading role in the Legislative Assembly from October 1791 to September 1792 during the French Revolution. Lawyers, intellectuals and journalists, the Girondins attracted…