![Plate with image of execution of Louis XVI](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Plate_with_image_of_execution_of_Louis_XVI.jpg)
The execution of
Louis XVI
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...
by
guillotine
A guillotine is an apparatus designed for efficiently carrying out executions by beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secured with stocks at t ...
, a major event of the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
, took place publicly on 21 January 1793 at the ''Place de la Révolution'' ("Revolution Square", formerly ''Place Louis XV'', and renamed ''
Place de la Concorde
The Place de la Concorde () is one of the major public squares in Paris, France. Measuring in area, it is the largest square in the French capital. It is located in the city's eighth arrondissement, at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées.
...
'' in 1795) in Paris. At
a trial on 17 January 1793, the
National Convention
The National Convention (french: link=no, Convention nationale) was the parliament of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for the rest of its existence during the French Revolution, following the two-year Nationa ...
had convicted
the king of
high treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
in a near-unanimous vote; while no one voted "not guilty", several deputies abstained. Ultimately, they condemned him to death by a
simple majority. The execution was performed four days later by
Charles-Henri Sanson
Charles-Henri Sanson, full title ''Chevalier Charles-Henri Sanson de Longval'' (15 February 1739 – 4 July 1806), was the royal executioner of France during the reign of King Louis XVI, as well as High Executioner of the First French Republic. He ...
, then High Executioner of the
French First Republic
In the history of France, the First Republic (french: Première République), sometimes referred to in historiography as Revolutionary France, and officially the French Republic (french: République française), was founded on 21 September 1792 ...
and previously royal executioner under Louis.
Often viewed as a turning point in both French and European history, Louis' death inspired various reactions around the world. To some, his death at the hands of his former subjects symbolised the long-awaited end of an unbroken thousand-year period of
absolute monarchy
Absolute monarchy (or Absolutism as a doctrine) is a form of monarchy in which the monarch rules in their own right or power. In an absolute monarchy, the king or queen is by no means limited and has absolute power, though a limited constitut ...
in France and the true beginning of democracy within the nation, although Louis would not be the last king of France. Others (even some who had supported major political reform) condemned the execution as an act of senseless bloodshed and saw it as a sign that France had devolved into a state of violent, amoral chaos.
Louis' death emboldened revolutionaries within France, who would continue to alter the country's political and social structure radically over the next several years. Nine months after Louis' death, his wife
Marie Antoinette, herself the former queen of France, met her own death at the guillotine at the same location in Paris.
Journey to the Place de la Révolution
Louis XVI
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...
awoke early in the morning. After dressing with the aid of his valet
Jean-Baptiste Cléry
Jean-Baptiste Cléry (1759–1809) was the personal valet to King Louis XVI.
Biography
Before the Revolution
First serving as secretary of the Victoire de Rohan, Princess of Guéménée, he was made valet of the dauphin (who would become Louis ...
, he went to meet with the
non-juring Irish priest
Henry Essex Edgeworth
Henry Essex Edgeworth (174522 May 1807), also known as L'Abbé Edgeworth de Firmont, was an Irish Catholic priest and confessor of Louis XVI.
Life
He was born in Edgeworthstown, County Longford, Ireland, the son of Robert Edgeworth, the Church o ...
to make his confession. He heard his last Mass, served by Cléry, and received Communion. The Mass requisites were provided by special direction of the authorities. On Edgeworth's advice, Louis avoided a last farewell scene with his family. At 7 o'clock he confided his last wishes to the priest. His
royal seal
A seal is a device for making an impression in wax, clay, paper, or some other medium, including an embossment on paper, and is also the impression thus made. The original purpose was to authenticate a document, or to prevent interference with ...
was to go to the Dauphin and his wedding ring to the Queen. After receiving the priest's blessing, he went to meet
Antoine Joseph Santerre
Antoine Joseph Santerre (16 March 1752 in Paris6 February 1809) was a businessman and general during the French Revolution.
Early life
The Santerre family moved from Saint-Michel-en-Thiérache to Paris in 1747 where they purchased a brewery know ...
, Commander of the Guard. A green carriage waited in the second court. He seated himself in it with the priest, with two militiamen sitting opposite them. The carriage left the
Temple
A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
at approximately 9 o'clock. For more than an hour the carriage, preceded by drummers playing to drown out any support for the King and escorted by a cavalry troop with drawn sabres, made its way through Paris along a route lined with 80,000 men-at-arms (soldiers of the
National Guard
National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards.
Nat ...
and
sans-culottes
The (, 'without breeches') were the common people of the lower classes in late 18th-century France, a great many of whom became radical and militant partisans of the French Revolution in response to their poor quality of life under the . T ...
).
In the neighbourhood of the present-day ''rue de Cléry'',
the Baron de Batz, a supporter of the Royal family who had financed the
flight to Varennes, had summoned 300 Royalists to enable the King's escape. Louis was to be hidden in a house in the ''rue de Cléry'' belonging to the
Count of Marsan
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
. The Baron leaped forward calling "Follow me, my friends, let us save the King!", but his associates had been denounced and only a few had been able to turn up. Three of them were killed, but de Batz managed to escape.
At 10 o'clock, the carriage arrived at ''Place de la Révolution'' and proceeded to an area where a scaffold had been erected, in a space surrounded by guns and drums, and by a crowd carrying pikes and bayonets.
Execution
After initially refusing to permit Sanson and his assistants to bind his hands together, Louis XVI relented when Sanson proposed to use his handkerchief instead of rope. The executioner's men cut the king's hair, removed his shirt's collar, and followed him up the scaffold. Upon the platform, Louis proclaimed his innocence to the crowd and expressed his concern for the future of France. He tried to give an extensive speech, but a drum roll was ordered by
Antoine Joseph Santerre
Antoine Joseph Santerre (16 March 1752 in Paris6 February 1809) was a businessman and general during the French Revolution.
Early life
The Santerre family moved from Saint-Michel-en-Thiérache to Paris in 1747 where they purchased a brewery know ...
and the resulting noise made his final words difficult to understand.
The executioners fastened him to the guillotine's bench (''bascule''), positioning his neck beneath the device's yoke (''lunette'') to hold it in place, and the blade swiftly decapitated him. Sanson grabbed his severed head out of the receptacle into which it fell and exhibited it to the cheering crowd. According to one witness report, the blade did not sever his neck but instead cut through the back of his skull and into his jaw.
[ Stephen Clarke, ''The French Revolution & what went wrong'', Century, 2018, p.452, .] Some accounts state that members of the crowd rushed towards the scaffold with handkerchiefs to dip them in his blood and keep as souvenirs.
Witness quotes
Henry Essex Edgeworth
Edgeworth, Louis' Irish confessor, wrote in his memoirs:
Press of the day
The 13 February issue of the ''Thermomètre du jour'' ('Daily Thermometer'), a moderate Republican newspaper, described the King as shouting "I am lost!", citing as its source the executioner,
Charles-Henri Sanson
Charles-Henri Sanson, full title ''Chevalier Charles-Henri Sanson de Longval'' (15 February 1739 – 4 July 1806), was the royal executioner of France during the reign of King Louis XVI, as well as High Executioner of the First French Republic. He ...
.
Charles-Henri Sanson
The executioner
Charles-Henri Sanson
Charles-Henri Sanson, full title ''Chevalier Charles-Henri Sanson de Longval'' (15 February 1739 – 4 July 1806), was the royal executioner of France during the reign of King Louis XVI, as well as High Executioner of the First French Republic. He ...
responded to the story by offering his own version of events in a letter dated 20 February 1793. The account of Sanson states:
In his letter, published along with its French mistakes in the ''Thermomètre'' of Thursday, 21 February 1793, Sanson emphasises that the King "bore all this with a composure and a firmness which has surprised us all. I remained strongly convinced that he derived this firmness from the principles of the religion by which he seemed penetrated and persuaded as no other man."
Henri Sanson
![Hinrichtung Ludwig des XVI](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Hinrichtung_Ludwig_des_XVI.png)
In his
Causerie
Causerie (from French, "talk, chat") is a literary style of short informal essays mostly unknown in the English-speaking world. A causerie is generally short, light and humorous and is often published as a newspaper column (although it is not defin ...
s,
Alexandre Dumas
Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where '' '' is French for 'father', to distinguish him from his son Alexandre Dumas fils), was a French writer ...
refers to a meeting circa 1830 with Henri Sanson, eldest son of Charles-Henri Sanson, who had also been present at the execution.
Henri Sanson was appointed Executioner of Paris from April 1793, and would later execute Marie Antoinette.
Leboucher
Speaking to
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...
in 1840, a man called Leboucher, who had arrived in Paris from Bourges in December 1792 and was present at the execution of Louis XVI, recalled vividly:
Louis-Sébastien Mercier
In ''Le nouveau Paris'',
Mercier
Mercier is French for ''notions dealer'' or ''haberdasher'', and may refer to:
People
* Agnès Mercier, French curler and coach
*Annick Mercier (born 1964), French curler
*Amanda H. Mercier (born 1975), American Judge
* Armand Mercier, (1933–20 ...
describes the execution of Louis XVI in these words:
Jacques de Molay
A popular but apocryphal legend holds that as soon as the guillotine fell, an anonymous
Freemason leaped on the scaffolding, plunged his hand into the blood, splashed drips of it onto the crown, and shouted, "''
Jacques de Molay
Jacques de Molay (; c. 1240–1250 – 11 or 18 March 1314), also spelled "Molai",Demurger, pp. 1-4. "So no conclusive decision can be reached, and we must stay in the realm of approximations, confining ourselves to placing Molay's date of birth ...
, tu es vengé!''" (usually translated as, "Jacques de Molay, thou art avenged"). De Molay (died 1314), the last
Grand Master of the Knights Templar
The grand master of the Knights Templar was the supreme commander of the holy order, starting with founder Hugues de Payens in 1118. Some held the office for life while others resigned life in monasteries or diplomacy. Grand masters often led ...
, had reportedly cursed Louis' ancestor
Philip the Fair, after the latter had sentenced him to
burn at the stake
Death by burning (also known as immolation) is an execution and murder method involving combustion or exposure to extreme heat. It has a long history as a form of public capital punishment, and many societies have employed it as a punishment f ...
based on false confessions. The story spread widely and the phrase remains in use today to indicate the triumph of reason and logic over "religious superstition".
Burial in the cemetery of the Madeleine
The body of Louis XVI was immediately transported to the old
Church of the Madeleine
, other name =
, native_name =
, native_name_lang = French
, image = Madeleine Paris.jpg
, landscape =
, imagesize =
, caption =
, imagelink ...
(demolished in 1799), since the legislation in force forbade burial of his remains beside those of his father, the Dauphin
Louis de France, at Sens. Two curates who had sworn fealty to the Revolution held a short memorial service at the church. One of them, Damoureau, stated in evidence:
On 21 January 1815 Louis XVI and his wife's remains were re-buried in the
Basilica of Saint-Denis
The Basilica of Saint-Denis (french: Basilique royale de Saint-Denis, links=no, now formally known as the ) is a large former medieval abbey church and present cathedral in the commune of Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris. The building ...
where in 1816 his brother, King
Louis XVIII
Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...
, had a funerary monument erected by
Edme Gaulle.
Today
The area where Louis XVI and later (16 October 1793)
Marie Antoinette were buried, in the churchyard of St. Mary Magdaleine's, is today the "Square Louis XVI" greenspace, containing the classically self-effacing
Expiatory Chapel completed in 1826 during the reign of Louis' youngest brother
Charles X
Charles X (born Charles Philippe, Count of Artois; 9 October 1757 – 6 November 1836) was King of France from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. An uncle of the uncrowned Louis XVII and younger brother to reigning kings Louis XVI and Lou ...
. The crypt altar stands above the exact spot where the remains of the Royal couple were originally laid to rest. The chapel narrowly escaped destruction on politico-ideological grounds during the violently
anti-clerical period at the beginning of the 20th century.
Bibliography
*
Necker, Anne Louise Germaine, ''Considerations on the principal events of the French Revolution'' (1818)
* Hugo, Victor, ''The Memoirs of Victor Hugo'' (1899)
* Thompson, J.M., ''English Witnesses of the French Revolution'' (1938)
Paul and Pierrette Girault de Coursac
Paul Girault de Coursac (4 December 1916 – 16 March 2001) and Pierrette Girault de Coursac (''née'' Rachou; 11 November 1927 – 14 March 2010) were two French historians who specialised in the lives of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette.
Views
...
have written a number of works on Louis XVI, including:
* ''Louis XVI, Roi Martyr'' (1982) Tequi
* ''Louis XVI, un Visage retrouvé'' (1990) O.E.I.L.
Notes
External link
{{DEFAULTSORT:Louis 16, Execution
1793 events of the French Revolution
Louis XVI
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...
Louis XVI
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...
Louis XVI
18th century in Paris
Public executions