Pierre François Lacenaire (20 December 1803 – 9 January 1836) was a French

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

er and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

Biography

Pierre Francois Lacenaire Phrenological bust

Lacenaire was born in

Francheville, Rhône Francheville (; ) is a commune in the Metropolis of Lyon, region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, eastern France. Geography Francheville is a western suburb of Lyon. Surrounding communes *In the Metropolis of Lyon: ** Craponne **Lyon **Sainte-Foy-lès ...

é le 28 frimaire an XII (20 décembre 1803),, sous le Consulat, à Lyon, 62 rue Pas Étroit (actuelle rue du Bât-d'Argent), d'après la version française , near the city of

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

in eastern France. His parents were Jean-Baptiste Lacenaire, an honest and successful

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...

merchant, and Marguerite Gaillard. Upon finishing his education with excellent results, he enlisted in the

French Royal Army The French Royal Army () was the principal land force of the Kingdom of France. It served the Bourbon dynasty from the reign of Louis XIV in the mid-17th century to that of Charles X in the 19th, with an interlude from 1792 to 1814 and another du ...

, eventually deserting in 1829 at the time of the

Morea expedition The Morea expedition () is the name given to the land intervention of the French Army in the Peloponnese between 1828 and 1833, at the time of the Greek War of Independence, with the aim of expelling the Ottoman-Egyptian occupation forces from ...

during the

Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. In 1826, the Greeks were assisted ...

. He then became a criminal and was in and out of prison, which was, as he called it, his "criminal university." While in prison, Lacenaire wrote a satirica
poem
"Petition of a Thief to a King, his Neighbor." He also wrote an article titled "The Prisons and the Penal Regime" for a

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

. To aid him in committing his crimes, Lacenaire recruited two

henchmen A henchman is a loyal employee, supporter, or aide to some powerful figure engaged in nefarious or criminal enterprises. Henchmen are typically relatively unimportant in the organisation: minions whose value lies primarily in their unquestioning ...

, Pierre Victor Avril (whom he had met while in prison) and Hippolyte François. On 14 December 1834, Lacenaire and Avril murdered Jean-François Chardon with an axe, while suffocating Chardon's mother in her bed at ''Passage du Cheval-Rouge'',

Poissy Poissy () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yvelines Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. Inhabitan ...

. In the months between the beginning of his trial for a double murder and his execution, he wrote '' Memoirs, Revelations and Poems''. During his trial, he fiercely defended his crimes as a valid protest against social injustice. He turned the courtroom into a theatre and his prison cell into a literary

salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...

. He made a lasting impression on

French culture The culture of France has been shaped by Geography of France, geography, by History of France, historical events, and by foreign and internal forces and groups. France, and in particular Paris, has played an important role as a center of high ...

and upon several writers, such as Balzac and

Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. He is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in both Russian and world literature, and many of his works are considered highly influenti ...

. He was executed on the

guillotine A guillotine ( ) is an apparatus designed for effectively carrying out executions by Decapitation, beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secur ...

at the age of 32.

In literature and film

* His hand, severed after death, was the subject of a poem by

Théophile Gautier Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic. While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and rema ...

. *

Dostoyevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. He is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in both Russian and world literature, and many of his works are considered highly influenti ...

read about Lacenaire's case. There are some similarities between his crime and

Raskolnikov Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov ( pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform rus, Родион Романович Раскольников, Rodión Románovich Raskólʹnikov, rədʲɪˈon rɐˈmanəvʲɪtɕ rɐˈskolʲnʲɪkəf) is the fictional protago ...

's crime in ''

Crime and Punishment ''Crime and Punishment'' is a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. It was first published in the literary journal '' The Russian Messenger'' in twelve monthly installments during 1866.

''. In another of his novels, ''

The Idiot ''The Idiot'' (Reforms of Russian orthography, pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform ) is a novel by the 19th-century Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. It was first published serially in the journal ''The Russian Messenger'' in 1868–1869. The titl ...

'', Radomsky mentions Lacenaire when discussing Ippolit's suicide attempt with the prince Myshkin, “''… But beware of those home-bred Lacenaires of ours. I repeat, crime is all too usual a refuge for mediocre, impatient, and greedy nonentities of that sort. ''”' In the same conversation between Radomsky and the prince 'the dozen' is referred to indicating the Lacenaire murders. *He is depicted in the French film ''

Children of Paradise ''Children of Paradise'' (, ) is a two-part French romantic drama film by Marcel Carné, produced under war conditions in 1943, 1944, and early 1945 in both Vichy France and Occupied France. Set in the theatrical world of 1830s Paris, it tell ...

'' (''Les Enfants du Paradis'', 1945), directed by

Marcel Carné Marcel Albert Carné (; 18 August 1906 – 31 October 1996) was a French film director. A key figure in the poetic realism movement, Carné's best known films include ''Port of Shadows'' (1938), ''Le Jour Se Lève'' (1939), ''Les Visiteurs du Soi ...

from a script by

Jacques Prévert Jacques Prévert (; 4 February 1900 – 11 April 1977) was a French poet and screenwriter. His poems became and remain popular in the French-speaking world, particularly in schools. His best-regarded films formed part of the Poetic realism, poetic ...

, where his stance as a loner and a rebel is stressed. In the film, Lacenaire (

Marcel Herrand Marcel Herrand (; 8 October 1897 – 11 June 1953) was a French stage and film actor best remembered for his roles in swashbuckling or historical films. He appeared in over 25 films between 1932 and 1952, but Herrand's best remembered role i ...

) refers to himself as a bold criminal and a social rebel, but his actual criminal activities mostly stay outside the film's narrative. *Philosopher

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault ( , ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French History of ideas, historian of ideas and Philosophy, philosopher who was also an author, Literary criticism, literary critic, Activism, political activist, and teacher. Fo ...

believed Lacenaire's notoriety among Parisians marked the birth of a new kind of lionized

outlaw An outlaw, in its original and legal meaning, is a person declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, all legal protection was withdrawn from the criminal, so anyone was legally empowered to persecute or kill them. ...

(as opposed to the older folk hero), the bourgeois romantic criminal, and eventually to the detective and

true crime True crime is a genre of non-fiction work in which an author examines a crime, including detailing the actions of people associated with and affected by the crime, and investigating the perpetrator's Motive (law), motives. True crime works often ...

genres of literature.Foucault, Michel: Discipline and punish *There is a French film called ''Lacenaire'' (1990) starring

Daniel Auteuil Daniel Auteuil (; born 24 January 1950) is a French actor and director who has appeared in a wide range of film genres, including period dramas, romantic comedies, and crime thrillers. In 1996 he won the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Fest ...

. *The work of Enamels and Cameos is referenced in ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' by Oscar Wilde. Wilde makes mention of two poems: "Lacenaire" and "On the Laggons". Chapter 14, Barnes and Noble edition, 2003.

References

Bibliography

*Birmingham, Kevin. 2021. '' The Sinner and the Saint: Dostoevsky and the gentleman murderer who inspired a masterpiece.'' New York: Penguin. *

External links

*
Poems by Lacenaire (English translation)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lacenaire, Pierre Francois 1803 births 1836 deaths French people executed for murder People convicted of murder by France People from Lyon 19th-century French criminals People executed by the July Monarchy by guillotine Poètes maudits