SANSCULOTTE

French Sans-culotte (without knee breeches), in the French Revolution, any of the ill-clad and ill-equipped volunteers of the Revolutionary army or, later, any of the ultrademocrats of the Revolution. Sansculottes were for the most part men of the poorer classes or leaders of the populace, but during the Reign of Terror public functionaries and persons of good education styled themselves citoyens sans-culotte (citizens sansculotte). The distinctive costume of the typical sansculotte was the pantalon (long trousers)in place of the culotte worn by the upper classesas well as the carmagnole (short-skirted coat), the red cap of liberty, and sabots (wooden shoes). The influence of the sansculottes ceased with the reaction that followed the fall of Robespierre (July 1794), and the name itself was proscribed. In the Republican Calendar the complementary days at the end of the year were at first called Sans-culottides; this name was, however, suppressed by the National Convention when the constitution of the year III (1795) was adopted, that of jours complmentaires (complementary days) being substituted.