They lived, they died. Why does it matter now? Why did these people have to die? What is the historical importance? It was shocking; yes, It was terrifying; yes, it happened long ago, yes, but we remember Robespierre, Saint-Just, Danton, Carrier and other key players of the French Revolution. The majority of people who died were peasants of meager means, if any income at all. They came from all classes, upper-class, lower-class, tradesmen, and peasants, all died without ‘faces’. We don’t know anything about the victims, except as phantoms of the past. No one knew their names1, where they lived, worked for a living, had families, and a place in society, even scoundrels played their part. Now, they are forgotten. We will never know all the names and the true amount of the tens of thousands of victims who died in sieges, massacres, and murders across France, of which were never recorded. Jeri Walton’s excellent article draws on Louis Prud’homme recordings. It is estimated there were 32,000 deaths, while documented executions were counted as 10,224 in Nantes alone. However, there are some a discrepancies of numbers from Prudhomme’s Nantes’ record of deaths from other sources.
After extensive statistical research by Greer of the total amount of people who were judged, and sentenced to death for all of French departments combined was 16,5942 , Keep in mind, those are the ones recorded, not the number who were murdered and massacred acrossed France. willy-nilly.
In Prudhomme’s volumes , you will find the names, the dates of executions, places of executions, and varying genealogical information for your French genealogy research.. You can find an ever growing searchable database here So let us put a face to these victims of the French Revolution and attached the human element to help us know them better.