How to Pronounce Louis-Antoine de Saint-Just

Meaning and Context

Louis-Antoine de Saint-Just, born in 1767 and executed by guillotine in 1794, was a radical Jacobin leader and a principal architect of the French Revolution's most militant phase. Elected as the youngest deputy to the National Convention in 1792, he became a close ally of Maximilien Robespierre and a formidable member of the Committee of Public Safety, the de facto war cabinet during the Revolution. Saint-Just is often termed the "Archangel of Terror" for his unwavering, fanatical zeal in defending the Republic, authoring harsh laws like the Ventôse Decrees, and serving as a key representative on mission to the revolutionary armies. His eloquent yet ruthless speeches, which famously declared "no freedom for the enemies of freedom," embodied the ideological fervor and Jacobin terror that characterized the Reign of Terror. His legacy remains a complex study in revolutionary idealism, political violence, and the centralization of state power during a period of national crisis and foreign war.

Common Mistakes and Alternative Spellings

The standard and correct spelling is Louis-Antoine de Saint-Just. Common variations and errors often arise from attempts to anglicize or simplify the French orthography. Frequent misspellings include omitting the hyphen to render "Louis Antoine," which is incorrect for the given name. The particle "de" is sometimes incorrectly capitalized as "De" at the start of a sentence or omitted entirely. The surname is most commonly misspelled as "St. Just" or "Saint Just" (without the hyphen), which are Anglicized approximations. Other typographical errors involve the first name, such as "Lewis" or "Luis," or mistakes with the suffix like "Saint-Juste" or "Saint-Justs." When writing in English, the full name is best preserved in its original format to ensure historical accuracy and proper SEO indexing.

Example Sentences

Historians often cite Louis-Antoine de Saint-Just's icy demeanor and uncompromising speeches as quintessential expressions of revolutionary purity.

During the trial of King Louis XVI, Saint-Just argued vehemently that the monarch should be executed not for crimes, but simply for having been a king.

As a representative on mission with the Army of the Rhine, he imposed strict discipline and revolutionary fervor upon the generals, famously declaring that "the vessel of the Revolution can arrive in port only on a sea reddened with torrents of blood.

" His theoretical work, Fragments on Republican Institutions, outlined a vision for a Spartan-like virtuous republic, a blueprint he never lived to see implemented.

The fall of Robespierre on 9 Thermidor led immediately to the arrest and execution of Saint-Just, who met his end with the same stoic silence that had defined his political life.

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