What is the first thing you think of, whenever you hear about the French Revolution? Is it ‘a lot of people were killed? ” ‘What was it all about? “A Tale of Two Cities’ novel? ‘Complete Madness, ‘Well, it was the French’ (Most Americans will know what that means) or was it the ‘guillotine’?? Pushing aside abject horror, the fact is, not all of the French people who were condemned to death, were executed by the guillotine. A good many more were executed by firing squads, drownings, hangings, murder, or died by what ever means in massacres.
Not all of the charged victims were put to death as punishment for their ‘crimes’ Some were exiled, or faced years in a dark and skanky dungeon, some in chains.
Most of the condemned had little fanfare at their executions. A crowd jeering, then a cheer when it was over, and on to the next victim. Did you know that people condemned to death for assassination attempts on ’cause celebre’ (such as Robespierre), had the distinction of wearing ‘une chemise rouge’, a red shirt of some kind, on their way to the guillotine.. Was this to showcase their crime as more important than the others?
Not all executions were recorded. Not all genealogical information surrounding the condemned were available. For example, if the victim was sentenced as a ‘brigand of the Vendée, you might find very little genealogical information.
You can discover the names and identities of what is available of the unfortunate victims of the French Revolution between 1792-1796 here. Search for ancestors, historical figures, victims and villains, all information indexed from Louis M. Prudhomme’s books (1796). ‘Dictionnaire des individus envoyés à la mort judiciairement: révolutionnairement et contre-révolution, pendand la révolution France ‘ Volumes I and II,
updated 14 Mar 2024
Search The Database
- Enter name to search, & click the magnifying glass
- Click on a Name in Results Page
- Form Page will pop-up
- All recorded information will be displayed
- Not sure of the spelling? Enter the first 3 letters
- This is a MASSIVE ONGOING PROJECT (check back regularly)
This is what you may find
What you need to know
- Last Name
- First Name
- Age
- Profession & Position
- Military
- Place of Birth (village & department)
- Place of Residence (village & department)
- Charges against the Accused
- Date of Trial & Execution
- Town or Department of Trial & Execution
- Extra info
- This is a MASSIVE ONGOING PROJECT (check back regularly)
- All the data is in French (you’ll need an online translator)
- There will be mistakes of spelling, or French cities in wrong departments (ex: Lyon in department of Seine)
- The database is from 1792-1796
- Blanks fields means there was no recorded information
- ‘Natif’ doesn’t necessarily mean a person was born in that town (ex: natif de Nismes, but né Lyon, Rhône)
- Last names (nom) can have slight spelling variations. (Ex: Clavier/Claviere/Clavierre)
Completed:
Names Beginning with:
A, B, E, F, I, J, K, N, O, Q, U, V, W, Z
Partially Completed:
Names Beginning with:
T, C, D, G, H, L, M, S
Source and Citations: Prudhomme, L. M. (1796). Dictionnaire des individus envoyés à la mort judiciairement: révolutionnairement et contre-révolution, pendant la révolution France Tome Premier (Volumne I ) & Tome II (volumne II )Google Books