Born Jan. 3, 1756, in Chartres; died June 20, 1794, in Saint-Emilion, Gironde. Figure of the French Revolution. Lawyer. Deputy of the Third Estate at the Estates General of 1789.
Pétion de Villeneuve gained fame as a spokesman of the left wing of the Constituent Assembly. A member of the Jacobin Club, he later joined the Girondins. He served as mayor of Paris from November 1791 to September 1792. He became a member of the Convention in September 1792. After the popular uprising of May 31-June 2, 1793, and the establishment of the Jacobin dictatorship, Pétion de Villeneuve was expelled from the Convention together with the other Girondins. He participated in the Girondin rebellion in the summer of 1793 and committed suicide when the uprising failed.