Jean-Baptiste Carrier - Representative To Nantes

Representative To Nantes

In October and November 1793 Jean Carrier assumed his most famous role as a republican representative to Nantes. In a twenty page letter to his fellow republicans, Carrier promised not to leave a single counter-revolutionary or monopolist (in reference to hoarders and aristocratic land owners) at large in Nantes. His vigorous action was endorsed by the Committee of Public Safety, and in the following days Carrier undertook the task of drowning the majority of resistance in the Loire. These horrific executions, especially of priests and nuns, as well as women and children, known as the Drownings at Nantes (Noyades) along with his increasing haughty demeanor, gained Carrier a reputation for wanton cruelty. In his mission to Normandy he had been very moderate, and it has been suggested that his mind had become unbalanced by the atrocities committed by the Vendean and royalist armies. He is quoted as being "...one of those inferior and violent spirits, who in the excitement of civil wars become monsters of cruelty and extravagance." As Carrier's violent actions continued, more of the French people began to question his true motives. His paranoia eventually pushed him to ransack public storehouses, mills, and bake houses in an effort to find "military" resistance evidenced in hidden weapons, artillery, and gun powder. Finding little contraband, he nevertheless burned down buildings of every kind in what he identified as "revolting districts."