Joseph Chalier

Joseph Chalier (1747–1793) was a French lawyer and revolutionary politician who was active in Lyon.

While in this position he organized the national guard, applied the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, and engineered the finances of the city so that the rich were heavily taxed and the poor relatively spared.

[1] For making a nocturnal domiciliary perquisition, Chalier was denounced in front of the Legislative Assembly by the département of Rhône-et-Loire.

Working with other revolutionary clubs and communes in the city, he led the Jacobins to arrest a great number of Royalists during the nights of the 5th and 6 February 1793.

Soon after, the revolutionary forces during the "reign of terror" held his memory in high esteem, as a martyr for Liberty.