The “Martyrs of Prairial”

In May 1795, at the height of a social crisis fuelled by famine and unemployment, a crowd of men and women stormed and occupied the Convention chamber. They demanded ‘bread and the 1793 Constitution’, which had never been implemented. Some of the most radical Montagnard deputies supported and organised the insurgents’ demands. Eventually, the Convention was rescued during the night by the National Guard. A few days later, judicial repression began: six of the Montagnard deputies who had taken part in the uprising were sentenced to death. They chose to stab themselves to death as they left the court. The survivors were executed by the guillotine. They were known as the ‘Martyrs of Prairial’ (Prairial being Mai/June in the revolutionnary calendar).