Maximilien Marie Isidore de Robespierre was born in Arras on 6th May 1758 into an essentially lower-middle class family. His father, Francois, was a lawyer and his mother, Jacqueline, came from a family of brewers. Maxime was the oldest child, though others followed:- Charlotte (1760) Henriette (1761) and Augustin 'Bonbon' (1763). Jacqueline was ill however with tuberculosis and died in childbirth in 1764. The fifth child, a little girl, died too a few days later. Maxime's father then abandoned the family, began travelling and died in Germany in 1777. After his disappearance the children were split up. Maxime and Augustin went to live with their mother's family, the Carrauts, while the girls were left with their father's family,
Maxime was hit hard by the loss of his mother and his father's departure left him the head of the family. This responsibilty made him quite a serious child. Maxime was quiet and shy and preferred solitude, surrounded by nature, to socialising with others although we know from Charlotte that he was naturally of a gay disposition. He dedicated himself to study and, thanks to the Bishop of Arras, was awarded a grant to study at the Louis-le-Grand school in Paris.
Maxime spent 12 years, from 1769 onwards, studying in the capital and at the school he first met Camille Desmoulins, a fellow pupil. While there he received news that his younger sister, Henriette, had died. He needed to finish his studies and find work so that he could support his remaining brother and sister. Throughout his life Maxime looked out for them. For instance he managed to arrange things so that Augustin could continue his grant, taking his place at Louis-le-Grand.
Maxime was a diligent pupil and received many honours at the school. He was without doubt the poorest of the boys there but he was also one of the brightest. In 1775 he was chosen to read a poem in Latin to the recently crowned Louis XVI and his wife. The day of the speech the rain poured down. The king and queen were late and Maxime stood, getting drenched as he waited. Eventually the carriage pulled up but he never saw the figures inside. He began to read yet before he had finished the king signalled the carriage on. He never forgot this experience, though he more or less excused the king at the time.
On 15th May 1781 he left the school with a bachelors degree in law and returned to Arras where he began working as a lawyer. It was during his years working in Arras that he first began to acquire his title of "l'incorruptible". This was because he tended to take cases that he felt merited his attention rather than those that would earn him more glory. He saw himself as there to help the people rather than himself. He upheld truth and honour. Charlotte came to join him and they had a house together. Augustin had meanwhile gone off to Louis-le-Grand to study.
Maxime was a good lawyer and, on 9th March 1782, he was made Tribunal Episcopal. A case of note was that of the Paratonnerre, in which he defended the ideals and principals outlined by the philosophers of the Enlightenment. The works of these men, and in particular Jean Jacques Rousseau, remained important to him throughout his life. Rousseau was in many ways responsible for shaping Maxime's political ideas.