Jac'obins, the most famous of the clubs of the French Revolution. When the States-General assembled at Versailles in 1789, a club was formed by a number of deputies from Brittany, called the Club Breton. On the removal of the court and national assembly to Paris it acquired importance and rapidly increased. It adopted the name of Societe des Amis de la Constitution, but as it met in a hall of the former Jacobin convent in Paris, it was called the Jacobin Club. It gradually became the controlling power of the Revolution, and its influence spread over France, hundreds of branch societies being established. The Jacobins were foremost in the insurrectionary movements of June 20 and August 10,1792, and they originated the formidable Commune of Paris. For a while they ruled supreme, and the Convention itself was but their tool. Robespierre was their most influential member; they ruled through him during the Reign of Terror and were overthrown after his downfall in 1794. The term Jacobin is now often used to designate any one holding extreme views in politics.