Born in
Sommesous (
Marne), Prieur practised as a lawyer at
Châlons-sur-Marne until 1789, when he was elected to the
States-General. He became secretary to the
National Constituent Assembly, and the violence of his attacks on the
ancien régime won him the pun nickname of
Crieur de la Marne ("Shouter of the Marne"). In 1791, he became vice-president of the criminal tribunal of
Paris. Re-elected to the
Convention, he was sent to
Normandy, where he directed bitter reprisals against the supporters of
Federalism. He voted for the death of
King Louis XVI, and as a member of the Committees of National Defence and of
Public Safety he was despatched in October 1793 to
Brittany, where he established the local version of the
Reign of Terror. In May 1794 he became president of the Convention. The
Thermidorian Reaction drove him into hiding from May 1795 until the
amnesty proclaimed in the autumn of that year. He took no part in public affairs under the
Directory, the
Consulate or the
Empire, and in 1816, after the
Bourbon Restoration, he was banished as a
regicide. Prieur died in
Brussels in 1827. == References ==