Rue Saint-Nicaise Conspiracy
- When
- 1800–1801
- Where
- Rue Saint-Nicaise, Paris; Paris; France; Unspecified; Place de Grève, Paris (Saint-Régeant's execution)
- Episodes
- 6
The Plot of the rue Saint-Nicaise, or machine infernale plot, was a Royalist assassination attempt on First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte in Paris on 24 December 1800. Napoleon and Joséphine narrowly escaped; five people died and twenty-six were injured. The bomb was made by Chouan François-Joseph Carbon, and the subsequent arrests and executions struck both Royalist and Jacobin suspects.
Episodes
- Earlier arrests of exclusif suspects
In November 1800 police arrested Metge and the chemist Chevalier, whose explosives experiments raised bomb suspicions later disproven for the rue Saint-Nicaise device.
- Explosion of the machine infernale
Royalist plotters detonated a bomb on Napoleon's route through Paris on Christmas Eve 1800; he escaped but five died and twenty-six were injured.
- Exile of 130 Jacobins
Twelve days after the attempt, Napoleon and the other Consuls exiled 130 Jacobins from France on January 4, 1801.
- Carbon identified as bomb maker
On January 8, 1801, Carbon was identified by Lamballe, who sold or rented the cart, and by the blacksmith who shod the mare.
- Executions of Chevalier and Saint-Régeant
Chevalier, innocent of the machine infernale, was executed January 11, 1801; Saint-Régeant was guillotined April 20, 1801 at the Place de Grève.
- Guillotining of the conspirateurs des poignards
On January 30, 1801, the four conspirateurs des poignards, convicted of plotting to murder the First Consul, were guillotined.
Background and detail
Background. The plot followed the conspiration des poignards of 10 October 1800 and formed one of many Royalist and Catholic plots against Napoleon. Earlier, on 16 and 17 Brumaire (November 7–8, 1800), Paris police had arrested exclusif suspects including the agitator Metge and the chemist Chevalier, who had experimented with explosives, though the machine infernale was not his bomb.
The Attempt. On the late afternoon of 3 Nivôse Year IX (Christmas Eve, 24 December 1800), Carbon harnessed a mare to a cart carrying a large wine cask containing the machine infernale and, with Limoëlan, drove to the Porte Saint-Denis. Limoëlan, positioned in the Place du Carrousel, panicked and failed to signal Saint-Régeant in the rue Saint-Nicaise, costing him a minute or two of preparation. Napoleon's carriage, driven by a drunken man named César, passed the rue Saint-Nicaise into the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré; Napoleon and Joséphine narrowly escaped, but five people were killed and twenty-six injured.
Aftermath and Reprisals. Napoleon did not sleep after the explosion, deciding to go ahead immediately without giving the enemy a minute to kill him. On 14 Nivôse Year IX (January 4, 1801) he and his fellow Consuls Cambacérès and Lebrun exiled 130 Jacobins. Carbon was identified on 18 Nivôse (January 8, 1801) by Lamballe, who had sold or rented the cart, and by the blacksmith who had shod the mare. Chevalier, who had not made the bomb, was executed on 21 Nivôse (January 11, 1801), and Saint-Régeant was guillotined on 30 Germinal (April 20, 1801) at the Place de Grève; Limoëlan escaped to the United States.
People involved
- Napoleon Bonaparte · First Consul of France and target of the assassination attempt
- Joséphine · Napoleon's wife, who narrowly escaped the attempt
- François-Joseph Carbon · Older Chouan who made the machine infernale
- Pierre Robinault de Saint-Régeant · Conspirator and supporter of Louis XVIII, executed 20 April 1801
- Limoëlan · Conspirator who drove the cart with Carbon and later escaped to the United States
- Chevalier · Chemist suspected of bomb-making; executed despite not having made the machine infernale
- Ceracchi · Conspirateur des poignards, guillotined on 30 January 1801
- Aréna · Conspirateur des poignards, guillotined on 30 January 1801
- Topino-Lebrun · Conspirateur des poignards, guillotined on 30 January 1801
- Demerville · Conspirateur des poignards, guillotined on 30 January 1801
Sources
- Plot of the rue Saint-Nicaise Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-14
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.