A little while back, the subject here was the guillotine and it’s rise to prominence during the French Revolution. I didn’t mention that a famous couple were executed with the popular new execution tool.
During the French Revolution, the French masses were in revolt — their target was the nobility. King Louis XVI, who had formerly been the absolute monarch of France, was reduced in stature during the revolution and tried to flee the country with his wife, Marie Antoinette. They were unsuccessful in their attempt and didn’t make it very far — the king was branded a traitor, so his trial was just a formality. The guilty verdict was never in doubt. Because the court proceedings dragged on and lacked any element of suspense, bored spectators in the gallery ate little snacks and passed around wine and brandy. Outside, at the local cafes, the disorderly crowd took bets on the outcome of the trial.
King Louis XVI was sentenced to death by the guillotine after he was found to have been conspiring with other countries and engaging in counter-revolutionary acts — he was found guilty of treason. On the day of his execution, Louis XVI, who had become very “portly,” walked from his prison cell to a large green carriage. The possession, that included 1.200 guards, made its way to a huge square packed with spectators. His chubbiness, the king, was guided to the guillotine that was operated by Charles Sanson, the city executioner, whose father had preceded him in the office and whose son would follow him. Apparently the king had one too many French pastries over the years and when the blade came down, his neck was so fat that his head “did not fall at the first stroke.” The crowd rushed forward to dip their handkerchiefs or pieces of paper into Louis’ royal blood — I guess a perfect souvenir for such an important day.
Even before the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette, the Austrian-born queen, was the most hated person in France. She was known — and widely disliked — as a person with perverse, despicable habits. Some of which included plotting to starve the poor, sending money Austria (France’s hated arch-rival,) and indulging her unquenchable sexual appetite for both men and women. The failed attempt to flee the country with the king only served to fuel the people’s hatred and suspicion of their queen. Whether any of the charges levied against her were true or not really didn’t matter. She was found guilty of treason just like her husband and condemned to death.
Nine months after Louis’ death, Henri Sanson, the son of the man who pulled the rope on the king’s guillotine entered Marie’s cell and escorted her to a tumbril (a small cart used to carry political prisoners to the guillotine.) When climbing the scaffold, she stepped on the executioner’s foot. She apologized, saying “Monsieur, I beg your pardon. I did not do it on purpose.” They were the last words she spoke.
The guillotine remained France’s state method of capital punishment well into the 20th century — the machine’s 189-year reign only officially came to an end in September of 1981, when France abolished capital punishment for good.
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