Everything about Robert Fran Ois Damiens totally explained
Robert-François Damiens (
1715-
1757) was a
Frenchman who attained notoriety by unsuccessfully attempting the assassination of
Louis XV of France in
1757. He was the last person to be executed in France with the traditional and gruesome form of death penalty used for
regicides, which was
drawing and quartering.
Damiens was born in 1715 in La Thieuloye, a village near
Arras in Artois, and enlisted in the army at an early age. After his discharge, he became a
domestic servant at the college of the
Jesuits in
Paris, and was dismissed from this as well as from other employments for misconduct, earning him the epithet of
Robert le Diable (Robert the Devil). During the disputes of
Pope Clement XI with the
Parlement of Paris, Damien's mind seems to have been excited by the
ecclesiastical ferment which followed the refusal of the clergy to grant the sacraments to the
Jansenists and
Convulsionnaires; and he appears to have thought that peace would be restored by the death of the King. He, however, asserted, perhaps with truth, that he only intended to frighten the King without wounding him severely.
On
January 5,
1757, as the King was entering his carriage, Damiens rushed forward and stabbed him with a knife, inflicting only a slight wound. He made no attempt to escape, and was apprehended at once. He was then
tortured so as to have him divulge his
accomplices or those who had sent him. This was unsuccessful. He was condemned as a
regicide by the
Parlement of Paris, and sentenced to be
drawn and quartered, by horses at the
Place de Grève. Before the torture, he said "the day will be hard". He was tortured first with red-hot pincers; his hand, holding the knife used in the attempted assassination, was burned using
sulphur; molten wax, lead, and boiling oil. Horses were then harnessed to his arms and legs for his dismemberment. Damien's limbs and ligaments didn't separate easily; after some hours, representatives of the Parlement ordered the executioner and his aides to cut Damiens' joints. Damiens was then dismembered, to the applause of the crowd. His torso, apparently still living, was then burnt at the stake. He is viewed by some people as the
Guy Fawkes of France, since both of these men tried to kill their Kings but failed and were brutally executed.
After his death his house was razed to the ground, his brothers and sisters were ordered to change their names, and his father, wife, and daughter were banished from France.
Damiens' execution is described and discussed at length in the introduction to
Michel Foucault's study of systems of punishment,
Discipline and Punish. There is also a description of the death of Damiens in
Peter Weiss' play
Marat/Sade. The incident figures prominently in
H.H. Ewers' frame-tale "The Execution of Damiens". The execution was witnessed by famous 18th-century adventurer
Giacomo Casanova, who included a scandalous account in his memoirs..
Notes and references
» :
In-line:
Further Information
Get more info on 'Robert Fran Ois Damiens'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://robert-fran__ois_damiens.totallyexplained.com">Robert-François Damiens Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
