Fouch�, Joseph, Duc d'Otrante 1763-1829
French revolutionary politician

Born in Nantes, he was a member of a Catholic teaching order before 1789, then was elected to the National Convention (1792), then becoming an extreme revolutionary. He was noted for his zealous support of attacks on the Christian religion, and for his part in the bloody suppression of opposition at Lyons. He then turned against Robespierre, being one of the main organizers of the Thermidor coup. Appointed chief of police in 1799, he helped to bring Napoleon I to power, and retained the post until 1815, surviving all the rapid changes of 1814-15. The First Empire gave him his titles of nobility and great wealth. He was banished in 1816.

Bibliography: Hubert Cole, Fouch�, the Unprincipled Patriot (1971)