THE HISTORY OF THE GUILLOTINE
BOBBY ANALOG
matter how you slice it, removing the head of another human being is
tedious, messy and difficult.
Leave to the oh-so-civilized French to come up with a solution to this
problem.
Since heavy bladed weapons debuted around the time of the Bronze Age,
beheading has been a favorite means of merciful capital punishment
(relative to, say, crucifixion). For centuries, this was mostly
accomplished using an axe or sword.
But "merciful" decapitation was difficult work, requiring specialists
with strong sword arms and precise aim. If the head doesn't come off on
the first stroke, things can get ugly.
Innovative inventors occasionally turned their attention to machines
that would streamline the process of dislocating the head from the
shoulders. While some of their efforts were perfectly functional, none
of them really caught on outside of limited regional uses.
A French doctor named Joseph Ignace Guillotin, elected as a legislator
shortly after the start of the French Revolution, felt that the nation's
current methods of execution hanging and beheading by sword were cruel
and unusual.
First, Guillotin proposed that capital punishment be abolished entirely.
Unfortunately, there was a revolution going on, so that just wasn't
gonna happen. As a compromise, and out of the purest humanitarian
impulses, Guillotin proposed in late 1789 that all executions be
performed using a beheading machine, which he felt was the most merciful
method available.
Dr. Antoine Louis, the leading doctor of the day, designed a device to
carry out the new law. Proud of his work, Louis called this device the
louisette. But everyone else called it the guillotine, since the initial
proposal was Guillotin's.
In yet another example of why it never pays to do anything nice for
anyone, the humanitarian and fervent opponent of the death penalty would
be remembered by posterity as the guy who chopped people's heads off.
Just to add injury to insult, it's not at all clear that the guillotine
is an especially merciful means of execution. Some have estimated that a
decapitated head could remain conscious for up to 30 seconds after being
removed, offering the victim a truly unique perspective on the world for
those last few moments.
Although most credible accounts place the total duration of
consciousness after decapitation at less than seven seconds, speculation
to the contrary has been fueled by grotesque anecdotes about heads
blinking or even trying to speak after being removed. Needless to say,
there are no firsthand accounts to illuminate the subject.
As mentioned earlier, there was a revolution going on. The French
Revolution made the American Revolution look like a day at the park.
After centuries of monarchy, feudalism and virtual theocracy, the French
threw out virtually every major institution of daily life, with bloody
exuberance.
The country became mired in intrigues, as the revolutionaries and the
noble class tried to carve out new roles in the new order. After several
false starts, the Revolution really got underway in 1792, when the
monarchy was decisively ousted. Thousands of royalists were rounded up
and jailed; about 2,000 were killed during riots, when angry mobs
stormed the jails.
The Revolutionaries, now firmly entrenched in the seats of power,
immediately abandoned their high, idealistic aspirations of democracy
and human rights in favor of rule by terror, and terror by guillotine.
Originally proposed as a humane form of execution, the guillotine
instead became a grisly public spectacle used to cow enemies of the
regime.
Under the iron fist of Maximilien Robespierre, thousands were marched to
the guillotine. Those who weren't executed were forced to participate in
such absurdities as an all-new metric calendar and a bizarre made-up
religion called the Cult of the Supreme Being, a fucked-up fascist
spirituality based around a nameless deity whom Robespierre described as
"He who bathes with delicious tears the eyes of the son pressed to the
bosom of his mother."
Arguably, the guillotine was serving its original humanitarian purpose
by delivering its victims from the clutches of this lunatic, although
those people being beheaded might beg to differ.
The first official execution by guillotine took place in April 1792, its
subject a petty armed robber. But there were bigger and better things
ahead. In August, the Revolutionary crackdown began, and thousands of
subversives were rounded up and executed in public spectacles.
The guillotine itself was simply a sharp, heavy blade suspended by a
rope and pulley system. Frills were added later, such as a stockade
fitting for the head, a spring-loaded switch to set the blade in motion
and a safety lock.
The victim's neck was placed below the blade, and the blade dropped from
a height. A basket was usually placed under the victim's head to catch
the noggin, although heads (being round) did have a tendency to roll
away anyway.
Unless, of course, someone was waiting there to grab it. One
enterprising young woman named Marie Grosholz was a wax-model maker with
a vision and connections within the Revolution. As the French royalty
were executed one by one, she decided to preserve their visages for
posterity by molding death masks from their decapitated heads.
Later, Marie would be best known by her married name, under which she
launched the now famous Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, which exhibited the
spoils of her labor. Marie molded the heads of some of the guillotine's
most famous victims, including Queen Marie Antoinette and Robespierre,
who fell victim to his own success in 1794.
Although the guillotine's glory days came during the height of the
French Revolution, its history hardly ended there. After its initial
success in France, the machine was exported to other nations. Although
similar devices had already been used throughout Europe, the guillotine
proper became very popular in Germany, especially in Nazi Germany, where
it was used for tens of thousands of executions during Hitler's tenure.
The French themselves continued to use the device for nearly two
centuries. The last public execution by guillotine was performed in
1939, but the device continued in use until 1977. In 1981, the French
banned capital punishment, effectively bringing the guillotine's reign
of terror to an end.
(That's assuming, of course, that no one decides to mount a revival,
which is probably not a safe assumption, given what we know about human
history. We'll get back to you.)
Timeline
10 Oct 1789 After failing his effort to get the death penalty
abolished, French Assemblyman Joseph Ignace Guillotin proposes a law
stipulating that executions be performed only by machine decapitation.
3 June 1791 Decapitation becomes the legally mandated form of
execution in France.
25 April 1792 The first official execution by guillotine is
performed.
21 January 1793 Deposed King Louis XVI guillotined.
16 Oct 1793 Deposed French queen Joséphe Jeanne Marie Antoinette
sits in an open cart, enduring three hours of public ridicule as she is
slowly driven around the streets of Paris. Finally, she is taken to the
guillotine. Before she loses her head, Antoinette tells the crowd:
"Farewell, my children, forever. I go to your Father."
28 July 1794 Maximilien Robespierre, former leader of the French
Revolution, falls victim to his own favorite method of execution.
4 May 1854 Joseph Tussaud returns to London with the well-used blade of
the guillotine he purchased from Clement Sanson, the last in a line of
Sansons who held the office of Executioner of Paris for over 150 years.
The blade is now part of Tussaud's Wax Museum collection.
17 June 1939 Last public execution by guillotine in France.
10 Sept 1977 Last execution by guillotine in France.
--
Rob Cypher
robcypher.livejournal.com
Usenet vet '96 to infinity....
iL_weReo
KRS
> sits in an open cart, enduring three hours of public ridicule as she is
> slowly driven around the streets of Paris. Finally, she is taken to the
> guillotine. Before she loses her head, Antoinette tells the crowd:
> "Farewell, my children, forever. I go to your Father."
> 28 July 1794 � �Maximilien Robespierre, former leader of the French
> Revolution, falls victim to his own favorite method of execution.
> 4 May 1854 � � �Joseph Tussaud returns to London with the well-used blade of
> the guillotine he purchased from Clement Sanson, the last in a line of
> Sansons who held the office of Executioner of Paris for over 150 years.
> The blade is now part of Tussaud's Wax Museum collection.
> 17 June 1939 � �Last public execution by guillotine in France.
> 10 Sept 1977 � �Last execution by guillotine in France.
>
> --
> Rob Cypher
> robcypher.livejournal.com
> Usenet vet '96 to infinity....
Where was the guillotine placed during the public execution in 1939?
Was it still at Place de la Condorde?
Thanks.
P