Sieyès, a vicar general without devotion, published in January 1789 a pamphlet entitled What Is the Third Estate? Its success was immediate and national, and the question opened the Revolution. A deputy for the Third Estate, he tipped the Estates General into a National Assembly, voted for the king's death, then effaced himself so thoroughly under the Terror that Robespierre nicknamed him the mole. He then prepared the 18 Brumaire.
The story
Robespierre called him “the mole of the Revolution”. Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès, a priest turned deputy, had voted for the king's death, then made himself so scarce under the Terror that he seemed to be tunnelling underground. He came out of it alive, and was twice elected to the Committee of Public Safety, the revolutionary government that had sent so many of his colleagues to the guillotine.
Born at Fréjus in 1748 and vicar general of Chartres by 1787, he was a churchman without devotion, a reader and a maker of definitions. In January 1789 Qu'est-ce que le Tiers État ? — What is the Third Estate? — appeared: an immediate national success, and the opening question of the Revolution. Elected deputy for the Third Estate by Paris, he played a decisive part in turning the Estates-General into a National Assembly, and co-founded the Jacobin Club.
A Director in May 1799, he prepared the coup of 18 Brumaire with Bonaparte and came out of it a provisional consul — but his draft constitution displeased the general, who pushed him away from real power. President of the Senate in 1800, count of the Empire in 1809, banished as a regicide in 1815, he lived in exile from 1816 to 1830 and came home only after the Trois Glorieuses, the July revolution of 1830.
He died in 1836. His chapel in Division 30 carries reliefs of mirrors wreathed in serpents — a rare motif, which speaks of prudence as much as of vanity. The inscription, for its part, comes down to a single word, carved without its accent: “SIEYES”.
The grave
A chapel adorned with bas-reliefs depicting mirrors with snakes — a rare motif, evoking prudence as much as vanity. The inscription, for its part, is the briefest imaginable for a man of this stature: a single word, “SIEYES”, carved without the accent. Neither the abbé, nor the deputy of the Third Estate, nor the provisional consul, nor the Count of the Empire. The author of What Is the Third Estate? rests beneath six letters.
On site, do not miss
The bas-reliefs of the chapel: mirrors adorned with snakes, a rare decoration in Père-Lachaise. And the epitaph reduced to a single word: “SIEYES”.
Visitors' questions
Where is Sieyès's grave?
In Division 30, avenue des Acacias, first row, beneath a chapel decorated with bas-reliefs of mirrors entwined with serpents. The inscription comes down to a single word, carved without its accent: “SIEYES”.
Marshal KellermannWhat did Sieyès write in 1789?
Qu'est-ce que le Tiers État ? — What Is the Third Estate? — in January: a pamphlet that was a national success overnight, and gave the Revolution its opening question. Paris elected him a deputy of the Third Estate within months.
Jean-Baptiste SayWhy “the mole of the Revolution”?
The phrase is Robespierre's: under the Terror, Sieyès effaced himself so completely that he seemed to be tunnelling underground. He had nonetheless voted for the king's death, and was back in office by 1795, on the Committee of Public Safety.
Prosper EnfantinWhat part did he play in the coup of 18 Brumaire?
He prepared it with Bonaparte and came out of it a provisional consul. But his draft constitution displeased the general, who eased him away from real power: Sieyès was made president of the Senate in 1800, then a Count of the Empire in 1809.
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