Jean François Rewbell

Background

Jean-François Rewbell was born in Colmar, Haut-Rhin, France on October 8, 1747.

Career

He was president of the order of avocats in Colmar, and in 1789 was elected deputy to the States-General by the Third Estate of the bailliage of Colmar-Schlestadt. In the Constituent Assembly his oratorical gifts, legal knowledge and austerity of life gave him much influence. During the session of the Legislative Assembly he exercised the functions of procureur syndic and was subsequently secretary-general of the department of Haut-Rhin. In the Convention he was a zealous promoter of the trial of Louis XVI, but was absent on mission at the time of the king's condemnation. He took part in the reactionary movement which followed the fall of Robespierre. The moderation he displayed caused his election by seventeen departments to the Council of Five Hundred. Appointed a member of the Directory on the 16th of October 1795, he became its president in 1796, and retired by ballot in 1799. He then entered the Council of Ancients. After the coup d'etat of 18 Brumaire he retired from public life, and died at Colmar on the 23rd of November 1807.

Achievements

• Rue Alphonse Renard, in western Ixelles, is named in his honor. In addition, the mineral renardite was named in his honor in 1928.

Politics

He took part in the Thermidorian Reaction movement which led to the fall of Maximilien Robespierre, and became a member of the reorganised Committee of Public Safety and of the Committee of General Security. In early 1795, he assisted Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès in negotiating the surrender of the Batavian Republic to the French Republic. His moderation caused his election by seventeen départements to the Council of Five Hundred.