Antoine Pierre Joseph Marie Barnave Barnave, Antoine Pierre
Joseph Marie (äNtwänˈ pyĕr zhōzĕfˈ märēˈ bärnävˈ) [key],
1761–93, French revolutionary. A member of the States-General of
1789 from Grenoble, he was a brilliant speaker and leader of the
Jacobins. After Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette fled to Varennes
in 1791, Barnave believed that the king might finally be
persuaded to accept a constitutional government, thereby
avoiding the impending political anarchy. He began a
correspondence with Marie Antoinette, encouraging her to convert
the monarchy to the Revolution; this correspondence was later
used as evidence of Barnave's treasonous activities. In July,
1791, he spoke in the assembly in favor of the restoration of
the king as a constitutional monarch and appealed for an end to
the Revolution. He retired to Grenoble, and was tried for
treason and guillotined (1793). His history of the French
Revolution, written during his imprisonment, is considered a
major work that tried to put the Revolution into a bro