Served in gendarmerie, studied law; practice as an advocate at Anet; nominated prosecutor general syndic for the Eure-et-Loir département; elected to the Assemblée nationale (National Assembly) (1791-1792); member of the Jacobin club; appointed to the military committee of the Assembly; served as vice president (10 Jul 1792 - 23 Jul 1792, 11 Aug 1792 - 19 Aug 1792) and president (19 Aug 1792 - 2 Sep 1792) of the National Assembly; elected to the Convention nationale (National Convention) (1792-1794); took seat with the Montagnards; elected President of the National Convention (4 Oct 1792 - 18 Oct 1792); sent on a military mission to the army of general Dumouriez in Belgium (1792); was appointed a member of the Comité de salut public (Committee of Public Safety) (7 Apr 1793 - 10 Jul 1793); responsible for conducting war affairs; retrospectively accused of conspiring with Dumouriez to overthrow the National Convention; arrested (31 Mar 1794) and sentenced to death (5 Apr 1794) along with Georges Danton, Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles, Camille Desmoulins and others.