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"...The Day Will Be Hard."




On January 5, 1757, as the King was entering his carriage, Robert-Francois 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, on 28 March 1757, he said "the day will be hard".[cite this quote] 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 were poured into his wounds. Horses were then harnessed to his arms and legs for his dismemberment. Damiens' limbs and ligaments did not 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.



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.



A hard day, indeed.

Comments

  1. AnonymousSeptember 29, 2009 at 8:34 PM

    Yeah? Well I got a headache and aspirin ain't helpin.

    ReplyDelete

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