French archivist and revolutionary (1740?1804)
Armand Gaston Camus
Armand-Gaston Camus
(2 April 1740 – 2 November 1804),
French
revolutionist
, was a successful lawyer and
advocate
before the
French Revolution
. He was the son of Pierre Camus, a lawyer in the
Parlement of Paris
.
Camus is considered the founder of the
Archives Nationales
, as in 1789 he was appointed as archivist of its predecessor, the Commission des archives of the Assembly (
Estates-General
). He served in this role until his death.
French Revolution
[
edit
]
In 1789 Camus was elected by the
Third Estate
of
Paris
to the
Estates-General
; he attracted attention by his speeches against social inequalities.
[1]
He was one of the
National Assembly's
earliest presidents (28 October – 11 November 1789), and he was the most frequent speaker: no one addressed the Assembly more times than he did (more than 600 times);
d'Andre
is second at 497, and
le Chapelier
third at 447. Camus was so frequently called upon to speak mostly because of his expertise in
canon law
.
Camus was appointed on 14 August 1789 as archivist to the Commission des archives of the Assembly; the commission was the immediate precursor to the
Archives Nationales
.
He would retain these functions until his death.
He helped to write and voted for the
Civil Constitution of the Clergy
, worked to end the practice of paying
annates
to the papacy, and promoted the annexation of the
Vaucluse
by France. On 30 July 1791, he obtained the abolition of titles of nobility.
[
citation needed
]
Elected to the
National Convention
by the
departement
of
Haute-Loire
,
[1]
he was on a
mission
outside Paris during the
judgment of Louis XVI
. But, he wrote on 13 January 1793 that he voted for "death without appeal and without reprieve".
On his return, Camus was
sent to Belgium
as one of five commissioners of the convention, to the
Armee du Nord
commanded by
General C. F. Dumouriez
. The general was in an extremely precarious position, and was suspected of plotting to betray the Revolution. The suspicions were confirmed when Dumouriez delivered Camus with his colleagues to the
Austrians
(3 April 1793).
After thirty-three months of captivity, Camus was exchanged for
Marie Therese of France
in November 1795. He played an inconspicuous role in the
Council of Five Hundred
, refusing positions in the Ministry of Finance or of Police. He was restored to the office of archivist in 1796 and became absorbed in literary work. He remained an austere
republican
, refusing to take part in the
Napoleonic
regime.
[1]
External links
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
Artists
| |
---|
People
| |
---|
Other
| |
---|