Claude-Antoine Prieur

Claude-Antoine Prieur

Claude-Antoine Prieur-Duvernois (born December 2, 1763 in Auxonne , Département Côte-d'Or , † August 11, 1832 in Dijon ) was an officer, scientist and politician during the French Revolution . To avoid confusion with the politician Pierre Louis Prieur de la Marne , he was called Prieur de la Côte-d'Or.

Life

Claude Antoine Prieur-Duvernois was born the son of a tax collector. He attended the military school in Mézieres, where officers for the genius corps were trained.

In September 1791 Prieur was elected to the legislature by the department of Côte-d'Or. He sided with the Montagne and dealt with military issues. After the fall of the monarchy (August 10, 1792), the legislature sent him, together with Carnot , to the Rhine Army to report to the troops about the events in Paris and to obtain their approval.

Prieur was elected to the National Convention in September 1792 (again by his home department) and in autumn 1792 worked as a representative in Mission in the departments of Jura, Doubs and Ain. He voted in January 1793 for the death of Louis XVI. and accompanied Romme to Caën in May 1793 . There they counteracted the federalist efforts of the Girondins .

On August 14, 1793, Prieur was elected to the Welfare Committee. He advocated, but only temporarily, a state-controlled economy, the arming of the people and the exercise of terror. The capable engineer officer Prieur was responsible for the armaments industry in the welfare committee and supervised the work of the foundries, arms factories and powder mills. On February 1, 1794, he founded the “Special Commission for Weapons and Gunpowder”, whose powers were not limited to the manufacture of cannons, small arms or ammunition, but also included mining. In a mine near Meudon (not far from Paris), Prieur conducted several experiments with the aim of both increasing the range of the guns and increasing the effectiveness of the explosives.

After the overthrow of 9th Thermidor II (July 27, 1794), Prieur was one of the founders of the École polytechnique . He played a leading role in the standardization of weights and measures, which the National Convention finally introduced in France on March 24, 1795. From October 1795 to spring 1798 Prieur was a member of the Council of Five Hundred. After the coup d'état of 18th Brumaire VIII (9/10 November 1799), the Prieur, who had meanwhile been promoted to colonel, withdrew from political life. He chose Dijon as his place of residence, turned to scientific studies and was raised to the rank of count by Napoleon I in 1808 . Claude-Antoine Prieur-Duvernois, known as Prieur de la Côte-d'Or, died on August 11, 1832 in Dijon.

literature

• Bernd Jeschonnek: Revolution in France 1789 to 1799. A lexicon . Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-05-000801-6 .
• Walter Markov , Albert Soboul : 1789. The great French revolution. Urania-Verlag, Leipzig / Jena / Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-332-00261-9 .