Thomas de Mahy, Marquis de Favras (26 March 1744 – 18 February 1790), was a French aristocrat and supporter of the House of Bourbon during the French Revolution. Often seen as a martyr of the Royalist cause, Favras was executed for his part in "planning against the people of France" under the Count of Provence.
Early life, family and education
Born in Favras near Blois, he belonged to an impoverished family whose nobility dated from the 12th century.
Career
At age 17, he was a captain of dragoons, and saw some service in the closing campaign of the Seven Years' War. In 1772 he became a first lieutenant in the of King Louis XVI's younger brother, the Count of Provence. Unable to meet the expenses of his rank, which was equivalent to that of a colonel in the army, he retired in 1775.
In 1787, he was authorized to raise a "patriotic legion" to help the Dutch Republic against the Stadtholder William V and his Prussian allies. In the course of a trial that lasted nearly two months, witnesses disagreed about the facts concerning the case and evidence was lacking. Even Sylvain Maréchal, the anarchist editor of the republican newspaper Révolutions de Paris, admitted that the evidence against Favras was insufficient. However, an armed attempt to free him by some Royalists on 26 January, which was thwarted by La Fayette, aroused the suspicion of the Parisians, and on 18 February 1790, in spite of a notable defense plea, Favras was sentenced to be hanged. His sentence was carried out in the Place de Grève the next day – a measure which was received with enthusiasm by members of the Parisian population, since it was the first instance when no distinction in the mode of execution was allowed between noble and commoner.
Last words
Upon the reading of his death warrant, he supposedly remarked, "I see that you have made three spelling mistakes." However, this version appears to derive from a five-act play Marion de Lorme by Victor Hugo, written in 1828 and performed in 1831. Ferdinand Rothschild gives the quotation as "Permit me to point out that you have made three mistakes in spelling". One source says merely that "Favras then quietly corrects the spelling and punctuation errors made by the clerk in his statement".
Legacy
Favras was generally regarded as a martyr to the Royalist cause for his refusal to implicate the Count of Provence, and Madame de Favras was given a pension by Louis XVI. She left France with her children. Her son Charles de Favras later served in the Habsburg and the Imperial Russian armies. Under the Bourbon Restoration, Charles received an allowance from Louis XVIII. Favras' daughter Karoline de Mahy (1787–1865) married in 1805, to Rudolf von Stillfried-Rattonitz (1764–1833).