migr nobility

Members of the French nobility who fled France during the French Revolution. In exile, mainly in England, many migrs plotted against the Revolutionary government, seeking foreign help to restore the old regime. In response, Revolutionary leaders in France decreed that those migrs who did not return by January 1792 were liable to death as traitors, and their property was confiscated. Napoleon granted the great majority of migrs amnesty in 1802. During the Bourbon Restoration they were an important force in French politics.