Origins The Fouquier de Tinville family, now known as Fouquier d'Hérouel, descends from an old bourgeois family from the vicinity of
Saint-Quentin, in the present-day
department of
Aisne. In the 18th century, Éloy Fouquier de Tinville, lord of Tinville, Hérouel, Auroir, and Foreste, was a farmer and a royal officer in
Péronne.
Early career Antoine Fouquier de Tinville was born in
Hérouel on 10 June 1746, and was baptized two days later (which often leads to confusion regarding his birthdate). He was the second of five siblings. His father, Éloy Fouquier de Tinville, In 1775 Fouquier-Tinville married Geneviève-Dorothée Saugnier, his cousin, with whom he would have five children (two twins). He was widowed seven years later. Four months after his wife's death, he remarried Henriette Jeanne Gérard d'Arcourt, with whom he would spend the rest of his life. They had three children together. In early 1791
freedom of defence became the standard; any citizen was allowed to defend another. From the beginning, the authorities were concerned about this experiment's future. Derasse suggests it was a "collective suicide" by the lawyers in the Assembly. In criminal cases, the expansion of the right gave priority to the spoken word. Little is known of the part he played at the outbreak of the Revolution. According to himself, he was part of the
National Guard at its formation. He was active in the political committee of his section in 1789. In September 1791 former "advocates" lost their title, their distinctive form of dress, their status, and their profession orders and adapted their practices to the new political and legal situation.
Public accuser in the
Revolutionary Tribunal. When the Revolutionary Tribunal of Paris was created by the
National Convention on 10 March 1793, and
Fauré refused, Fouquier was appointed on 15 March as
public accuser, an office that he filled from the end of the month until 1 August 1794. The documents were sent by the
Committee of General Security to the public accuser, who examined them, summarized the facts, grouped the grievances, quoted the incriminating words or writings, and mentioned the denials of the accused. In a word, he drew up his
indictment. Fouquier was known for his radicalism. On 29 July he accused
Jacques-Bernard-Marie Montané, president of the tribunal, of being insufficiently radical. On 17 September the
Law of Suspects was introduced. On 26 September 1793
Martial Herman was appointed as president and
René-François Dumas as vice president;
Coffinhal and
Joachim Vilate were each appointed as one of the judges and
jurors, Adrien Nicolas Gobeau as substitute of the public accuser Fouquier lived at
Rue Saint-Honoré but moved to
Place Dauphine and then to
:fr:Quai de l'Horloge both on
Île de la Cité. An apartment between the towers of the
Conciergerie was the home of Fouquier-Tinville. He lived there with his wife and twins while conducting the trials in the
courtroom. His activity in the Conciergerie and the
Palace of Justice earned him the reputation of one of the most sinister figures of the Revolution. His office as public accuser arguably reflected a need to display the appearance of legality during what was essentially political command, more than a need to establish actual guilt. On 29 October 1793, Fouquier-Tinville sent a letter to the National Convention, which was later used during his trial. In the letter, he wrote: He did not align with any specific political movement, keeping his distance from factions such as the
Jacobins, and he did not maintain any particular relationships with leaders from the
Montagnards, such as Maximilien Robespierre, as reported by Antoine Boulant. ==Grande Terreur==