Calas affair

E190094

The Calas affair was an 18th-century French legal case involving the wrongful execution of Protestant merchant Jean Calas, which became a symbol of religious intolerance and judicial injustice and inspired Voltaire’s campaign for civil rights and legal reform.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Calas affair canonical 3

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf historical event
judicial scandal
legal case
advocatedBy Voltaire
charge murder of Marc-Antoine Calas
country Kingdom of France
dateOfExecution 1762-03-10
endTime 1765
executionMethod breaking on the wheel
hasCause anti-Protestant prejudice
religious intolerance
hasEffect campaign for legal reform
criticism of judicial torture
debate on religious tolerance
hasTheme abuse of judicial power
civil rights
freedom of religion
judicial injustice
religious intolerance
inspired Voltaire’s campaign for civil rights
Voltaire’s campaign for religious tolerance
critique of the Ancien Régime judiciary
judicialAuthority Parlement of Paris
Parlement of Toulouse
laterAssessment wrongful conviction
legalIssue religious discrimination
unfair trial
use of torture in judicial procedure
legalStatus miscarriage of justice
location Toulouse
mainSubject Jean Calas
movement Age of Enlightenment
surface form: Enlightenment
notableWorkAbout Relation de la mort du chevalier de La Barre et du procès des Calas
Traité sur la tolérance
outcome execution of Jean Calas
posthumous exoneration of Jean Calas
religionInvolved Protestantism
Roman Catholicism
significantPerson Anne-Rose Calas
Armand II de Montmorin
Donat Calas
Jean Calas
Louis XV of France
Jean Calas
surface form: Marc-Antoine Calas

Jean Calas
surface form: Pierre Calas

Voltaire
Élie de Beaumont
startTime 1761

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Jean Calas notableFor Calas affair