Maximilien de Robespierre

2016-02-08T17:38:46Z

183.87.166.203: Restoring earlier piece of information with citations

{{Era|ACU|Ubook|EH|Templars}}
{{WP-REAL|Maximilien Robespierre}}
{{Stub}}
{{Quote|It is wisdom, above all, that our guilty enemies want to drive from the Republic. To wisdom alone does it belong to consolidate the prosperity of Empires. It is for her to guarantee the fruits of our courage.|Maximilien de Robespierre, in a speech during the 'Festival of the Supreme Being', 1794.}}
{{Character Infobox
|image = ACU Robespierre Render.png
|birth = 6 May 1758<br>{{Wiki|Arras}}, [[France|Kingdom of France]]
|death = 28 July 1794 (aged 36)<br>[[Paris]], French Republic
|affiliates = [[Templars]]<br>[[Jacobins]]
|appear = ''[[Assassin's Creed: Unity]]''<br>[[Assassin's Creed: Unity (novel)|''Unity'' novel]]
|voice = [[Bruce Dinsmore]]}}
'''Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre''' (1758 – 1794) was a [[France|French]] lawyer, politician and notable figure of the [[French Revolution]]

Initially a provincial lawyer, he was elected a deputy at the [[Estates-General of 1789]]. As the French Revolution broke out, he aligned himself with the increasingly radical [[Jacobins|Jacobin Club]] and was recruited into the [[Templars|Templar Order]] by [[Grand Master]] [[François-Thomas Germain]]. In late 1793, Robespierre and the newly-founded [[Committee of Public Safety]] started the [[Reign of Terror]]<nowiki>, persecuting and often executing thousands of perceived counter-revolutionaries. In addition, he abolished [[slavery]] in France.<ref>''[[Assassin's Creed: Initiates]]'' – [[Eseosa's Codex|Letters to the Dead]]</ref> Due to the rising tyranny of Robespierre, he and his supporters were overthrown and executed by </nowiki>[[guillotine]] in the [[Thermidorian Reaction]] of 1794.

'

==Biography==
===Early life===
Robespierre was born in {{Wiki|Arras}} in 1758 as the eldest of four children. His mother died when he was six, and his father abandoned the family afterwards, forcing Robespierre to take on the responsibility of raising his siblings.<ref name="AE">''[[Assassin's Creed Unity: Abstergo Entertainment - Employee Handbook]]''</ref> In the meantine, he himself was raised in large part by the teachers at the Oratorian College of Arras which he attended. A hard-working pupil, he acquired a passion for [[Rome|Roman]] history, to which he would refer almost obsessively in his later speeches.<ref name="ACU">''[[Assassin's Creed: Unity]]''</ref> At the age of 11, he was given a scholarship at the {{Wiki|Lycée Louis-le-Grand}}, the most prestigious university in France.<ref name="AE"/>

===Revolutionary beginnings===
After completing his education as a lawyer, Robespierre was admitted to the Arras bar. Although he was seemingly destined for a modest life as a provincial lawyer, a financial crisis broke out in France, leading [[Louis XVI of France|King Louis XVI]] to convene the Estates-General. On 20 April 1789, Robespierre was elected the fifth out of eight Third Estate deputies for the province of {{Wiki|Artois}}.<ref name="ACU"/> He became a critic of the monarchy and advocated societal reform,<ref name="AE"/> and founded the [[National Assembly]] along with other deputies such as the [[Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau|Comte de Mirabeau]], [[Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès]] and the [[Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette|Marquis de Lafayette]]. During this period, he was also recruited into a radical faction of the Templar Order, led by François-Thomas Germain.<ref name="ACU"/>

In 5 May 1789, Robespierre and his fellow Templars attended a private party at the [[Palace of Versailles]]. The party was secretly to host the induction of the [[Élise de la Serre|daughter]] of the Order's Grand Master, [[François de la Serre]], into the Order. On that same night however, de la Serre was murdered in a coup d'etat led by Germain. Germain's Templars plotted to instigate a widespread revolution across France. They sought to empower the middle class instead of the nobility, and by creating a capitalist society, it would be more easy for the Templars to control humanity.<ref name="ACU"/>

Robespierre took up residence in Paris, and would only return to Arras once. He joined the newly-founded Jacobin Club and became noted for his unflinching principles and conviction, as well as being a talented speaker who frequently appeared at various galleries, in spite of his harsh voice and Artois accent.<ref name="ACU"/> He spoke over 5000 times at the National Assembly and gave eloquent arguments against the king's right to veto legislation and religious discrimnation, while also defending the rights of the common people. Mirabeau, who was briefly president of the Jacobin Club, said of him, "He will go far. He believes everything he says".<ref name="AE"/> Little is known of Robespierre's private life, other than the fact that he had an elegant, but unluxurious lifestyle, preferring to study frequently and maintain good company. His extreme distrust often offended supplicants, although his disinterest in popularity only made him more respected as a political figure.<ref name="ACU"/>

At a Templar meeting at the Hotel de Beauvais, Robespierre was busy giving a speech to his fellow revolutionaries to abolish the death penalty. As such, he was unable to attend to the meeting. After the meeting was over, he met up with Germain and [[Aloys la Touche]]. La Touche was placed under Robespierre's services, where he was tasked to spread revolutionary terror in [[Versailles]].

===The Reign of Terror===
{{Quote|My old friend, you are an enemy of the State. Look what [[François Hanriot|Hanriot]] found among your papers...|Maximilien de Robespierre, to [[Georges Danton]], 1794.}}
During his Reign of Terror, Robespierre was instrumental in the trials and executions of several leading figures, including King [[Louis XVI of France]], his queen [[Marie Antoinette]], fellow lawyer [[Georges Danton]], the chemical pioneer [[Antoine Lavoisier]], among countless other nobles, royals, and fellow politicians that the revolutionaries considered to be traitors. Robespierre then visited his former friend Danton, and taunted him with discovered letters, containing the names of Danton's supporters. However, by executing Danton who was considered a hero of the revolution, it had cost Robespierre his popularity.

While Danton's execution was ongoing, Robespierre was absent from his house, apparently ill. The guards believed that his illness was caused by the stress of having to execute his former friends, including Desmoulins. The Assassins took the opportunity to infiltrate Robespierre's house and steal Danton's confiscated letters.

When the Templars discovered incriminating evidence of [[Mirabeau|Mirabeau's]] correspondences with the deceased King, Robespierre took the opportunity to expose this evidence to the public, coupled with other forms of slander. This publicly disgraced Mirabeau, and the Templars infiltrated the [[Pantheon]] to claim Mirabeau's relics, hoping to find any information on the Assassins.

Robespierre's personal spy, [[Didier Paton]], soon became aware of the existence of the Templar Order, and its manipulation of the government. Paton then reported his findings to Robespierre. However, what Paton didn't know was that Robespierre was also a Templar, and had Paton arrested and sentenced to execution. Fortunately for Paton, he was rescued by the Assassins.

Aside from his revisions to France's political system, Robespierre also made changes to the religious system as well. On 7 May 1794, Robespierre supported a decree passed by the Convention that established an official religion, known historically as the Cult of the Supreme Being. He then hosted the Festival of the Supreme Being, whereby Robespierre's followers commemorated his Deist beliefs. According to Élise de la Serre, Robespierre's Deism was a loose interpretation of the Templar doctrine, serving merely as Templar propaganda.

===Downfall===
{{Quote|Monsieur Robespierre, take care that you do not allow your personal ambitions to come before the Great Work. That which we do, we do not for our own glory, but to remake the world in de Molay's image. |Germain in a letter to Robespierre, 1794.}}
[[File:ACU The Supreme Being 9.png|thumb|250px|left|Robespierre giving a speech at the Festival of the Supreme Being]]
In 1794, Robespierre hosted the Festival, attended by many citizens of Paris; it was here that Élise and the [[Assassins|Assassin]] [[Arno Dorian]] orchestrated Robespierre's downfall. As he gave a speech to the audience, Élise spiked Robespierre's drink with powdered ergot, causing Robespierre to experience random hallucinations and give the audience the belief that he was insane and unstable.

At the same time, Arno stole letters containing the names of several members of the National Convention, who were to be victims of Robespierre's mass executions. He then snuck these letters to several of Robespierre's critics. Upon the discovery of the lists, the members of the National Convention deemed that Robespierre had gone too far.

On 27 July 1794, Robespierre was deposed and arrested by the Convention, who declared him and his followers outlaws, and were thus sentenced to execution. However, soldiers of the Jacobin Club freed Robespierre, allowing him to escape from his captors and flee to his hideout at the [[Hôtel de Ville]] with the rest of his collaborators. Unbeknownst to him, he was pursued by both Arno and Élise, who aimed to procure Germain's location from him. At his hideout, Robespierre desperately tried to contact Germain for safety. However, Germain believed that Robespierre and his Reign of Terror had served their purpose, instead abandoning his last follower.
[[File:ACU The Fall of Robespierre 4.jpg|thumb|240x240px|Robespierre being interrogated after being shot in his jaw]]
Cornered, Robespierre was confronted by Arno, who attempted to coax the Grand Master's location from him, though Robespierre refused to talk, prompting a vengeful Élise to shoot him in the face with her pistol, shattering his jaw. Staggered and fearful of his life, Robespierre weakly wrote down Germain's location. As Arno and Elise made their escape, the French Army had overpowered the Jacobin soldiers and took the wounded Robespierre into custody once more.

Robespierre was executed the next day by the guillotine, bringing an end to his Reign of Terror.

==Trivia==
*The render of Robespierre used in the game is based largely on Madame Tussaud's mask (which also served as the basis of a widely criticized <ref>https://revolutioninfiction.wordpress.com/2014/03/15/making-medical-myths-the-case-of-maximilien-robespierre-by-peter-mcphee/</ref> 3D reconstruction, mostly because Tussaud's death masks are generally considered fakes). The actual Robespierre wore green glasses <ref>https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MaxRobespierre_Best.jpg</ref>, powdered his face and dressed in flamboyant green and blue outfits.

==Gallery==
<gallery captionalign="center" position="center" spacing="small" widths="180">
ACU Maximilien de Robespierre - Concept Art.jpg|Concept art of Robespierre
RobespierrePortrait.jpg|A portrait of Robespierre
ACU The Supreme Being 7.png|Robespierre drinking wine spiked with powdered ergot
ACU The Fall of Robespierre 3.jpg|Robespierre protected by the Commune
ACU The Fall of Robespierre 5.jpg|Robespierre is recaptured
ThermidorExecution.jpg|The execution of Robespierre
PW Tussaud.jpg|A copy of Robespierre's death mask
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{ACU}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robespierre, Maximilien de}}
[[Category:1758 births]]
[[Category:1794 deaths]]
[[Category:Individuals]]
[[Category:Frenchmen]]
[[Category:Philosophers]]
[[Category:Scholars]]
[[Category:Lawyers]]
[[Category:Journalists]]
[[Category:National Assembly]]
[[Category:National Convention]]
[[Category:Committee of Public Safety]]
[[Category:Montagnards]]
[[Category:Templars]]
[[Category:Parisian Templars]]

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Maximilien de Robespierre