Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Gobel (1 September 1727 – 13 April 1794) was a French Catholic cleric and politician of the Revolution. He was executed during the Reign of Terror. Biography Gobel was born in the town of Thann in Alsace to a lawyer to the Sovereign Council of Alsace and tax collector for the Seigneury of Thann. After outstanding success in his early schooling in Porrentruy, he studied at the Jesuit college in Colmar, then theology in the German College in Rome, from which he graduated in 1743. Clerical career Gobel was ordained a Catholic priest in 1750 and then became a member of the cathedral chapter of the Prince-Bishop of Basel, Simon Nikolaus Euseb von Montjoye-Hirsingen, based in Porrentruy, In 1771 he was appointed the auxiliary bishop of the diocese for the section that was situated in French territory, being named by the Holy See as a titular bishop in partibus of Lydda. He consecrated the next Prince-Bishop, Friedrich Ludwig Franz von Wangen zu Geroldseck, on 3 March 1776. Found to have been living beyond his means, he was relieved of his duties by Wangen zu Geroldseck's successor, Franz Joseph Sigismund von Roggenbach, in 1782. After this he began to espouse "reformist" ideas. His political life began when he was elected deputy to the Estates-General of 1789 by the clergy of the Bailiwick of Huningue. The turning-point of his life was Gobel's action in taking the oath of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy (3 January 1791), in favour of which he had declared himself since 5 May 1790. The document gave the appointment of priests to the electoral assemblies, and, after taking the oath, Gobel had become so popular that he was elected constitutional bishop in several dioceses. He chose the Archbishopric of Paris, and in spite of the difficulties which he had to encounter before he could enter into possession, he took up office on 17 March 1791 and was consecrated on 27 March by eight bishops, including Charles Maurice de Talleyrand. This action was rejected by the Holy See, which has never recognized him as a legitimate holder of the office, and continues to hold the canonical archbishop, Antoine-Eléonore-Léon Le Clerc de Juigné, as the legitimate Archbishop of Paris during that period. Politics On 8 November 1792, Gobel was appointed administrator of Paris. His public display of anti-clericalism was most likely a careful tactic to ensure the sympathy