biography
pronunciation:
[kalahs]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1698–1762)
|
| biography:
| Huguenot merchant, born in Lacabarède, France. In 1761 he was accused, on the flimsiest evidence, of murdering his eldest son (a suicide) in order to prevent him becoming a Roman Catholic. He was found guilty, and executed by being broken on the wheel. Voltaire, at the request of Calas's widow, led a campaign for religious toleration and legal reform which resulted in a revision of the trial. The parlement at Paris in 1765 declared Calas and all his family innocent, and paid compensation to them. |
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