La journée sera rude

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n                 I mentioned Robert-FrançoisnDamiens in the piece on Encyclopaedias the other day, and yesterday’s talk ofnmurder and mutilation brought him again to mind. 

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nDamiens was born in northernnFrance on January 9^th 1715, and after service in the Army andnseveral menial and serving jobs, all of which he was dismissed from, he wasnreduced to selling “… balls to take spots out of clothes”. Described as a “…nvery superstitious enthusiastical sort of a man,” he is said to have fallennunder the influence of ‘popish priests’ and had been encouraged by them toncommit regicide. 

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nOn January 5^th 1757, as King Louis XV of France wasnapproaching his carriage at Versailles, Damiens came forward with a knife whichnhad two blades of different sizes and struck at the King, catching him with onenblade between the fourth and fifth ribs. At first, the King thought he had beennpunched, but when he put his hand to the place, he saw blood and cried out, “ Inam wounded, seize him, but do not hurt him.” The thickness of his winternclothes had turned the blade, leaving little more than a scratch, although thenKing was concerned that he may have been poisoned. It is reported that thenwound had healed within two weeks. 

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nDamiens was arrested and tortured, butnrevealed neither accomplices nor motives, although he hinted that the life ofnthe Dauphin was still in danger. An attempt at regicide was judged to be asngrave a crime as regicide itself, the penalty for which was death. Damiens wasnsentenced by the Parlement of Paris and on the morning of March 28^thn1757, with concern that the wounds of his torture had started to ‘mortify’, henwas dragged in a tumbrel, with a candle weighing two-pounds in his hands, firstnto the gates of the principal Church of Paris, where he was made to confess hisncrime, then dragged to the Place de Grève, the place of execution in old Paris. 

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nHe was taken up onto a scaffold, and the flesh of his arms, legs, thighs andnbreast was torn from him with red-hot pincers. Molten lead, melted wax, boilingnoil and burning pitch were poured into the wounds, and the right hand withnwhich he had committed the crime was covered with blazing sulphur. 

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nThenexecutioner, Sanson, attached four horses to his limbs, to pull Damiens apart,nbut four horses were not enough, so two more were added. Even then, thenprisoner remained whole, so Sanson and his assistant drew their knives andnbegan to hack at the thigh joints. Eventually the legs came away, so the samenwas done with the shoulders, until the arms also came away. Damiens’ body,nstill said to be alive, was then thrown onto a pyre and burned to ashes, whichnwere scattered on the wind. The house in which he had been born was purchasednand wiped from the face of the earth, with orders that nothing should ever benbuilt there again. All his belongings, possessions and furniture were forfeitnto the King. His brothers and sisters were ordered to change their names; hisnfather, wife and daughter were banished forever from France. 

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nRobert-FrançoisnDamiens was the last man to be drawn and quartered in France.

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nCasanova was in Paris in 1757,nand rented rooms overlooking the Place de Grève, from where, with male friendsnand female companions, he watched the execution, writing later in his Memoirs :n- “On March the 28th, the day of Damien’s martyrdom, I went to fetch the ladiesnin good time; … we had the courage to watch the dreadful sight for four hours.nThe circumstances of Damien’s execution are too well known to render itnnecessary for me to speak of them; indeed, the account would be too long a one,nand in my opinion such horrors are an offence to our common humanity.

nDamien was a fanatic, who, withnthe idea of doing a good work and obtaining a heavenly reward, had tried tonassassinate Louis XV; and though the attempt was a failure, and he only gaventhe king a slight wound, he was torn to pieces as if his crime had beennconsummated.

nWhile this victim of the Jesuitsnwas being executed, I was several times obliged to turn away my face and tonstop my ears as I heard his piercing shrieks, half of his body having been tornnfrom him, but the Lambertini and the fat aunt did not budge an inch. Was itnbecause their hearts were hardened? They told me, and I pretended to believenthem, that their horror at the wretch’s wickedness prevented Them feeling thatncompassion which his unheard-of torments should have excited.”

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