Hébert, Jacques René (1757–1794)

French revolutionary. At the outbreak of the Revolution he soon became one of the extremist leaders, propagating his views in Le Père Duchesne, which he edited (1790–94) and in various pamphlets, such as ‘La Lanternemagique’ (1790). He joined the Club of the Cordeliers in 1791 and became a member of the Paris Commune in 1792. He took part in the September massacres and sat on the commission which judged Marie Antoinette. He inaugurated the ‘Worship of Reason’, the followers of which were called Hebertists or Enrages, but was arrested by his rival, Robespierre, and guillotined. Hébert was born at Alençon, France.