A Brief past of Guillotine

pch24.pl 1 year ago

The guillotine is not a French invention. However, the French gave its final form and civilian rights. 5 centuries before the Revolution, hundreds and thousands of people in England, Germany and Italy were cut off by a akin device called Halifax Gibbet (Halifax bar) or the Maiden (nine, maid, maiden).

From historical sources, we learn that Pragilotin was beheaded in Naples in 1268 by 16-year-old Konrad, Duke of Swabia, and titular King of Sicily and the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the last of the mighty Hohenstauf family. A beautiful and promising young man died with an indispensable friend Frederick von Baden erstwhile he came to claim his inheritance.

Many papers were preserved from the execution of the Cenci household in Italy in 1599, to which Pragilotin, called there was besides utilized mannaia (tasak), as Stendhal writes in a collection of stories Italian Chronicle.

The tragic past of Konrad and Cencich became firmly established in the memory of the posterity, and works of large art were created on their canvas: portraits, statues, operas, poems and books. These stories live to this day, but they no longer inspire the same emotions as they did a 100 years ago. Germany's death of Konrad is among the top crimes in their history.

The beheading was considered the most humane way to execute the conviction of death, and if the sword was utilized for this, specified death was considered glorious, reserved for the well-born. The common was lost by slow hanging, breaking wheels, melting, smoking at the stake, quartering and many another cruel ways.

The designer of the modern guillotine was the French surgeon Dr. Antoine Louis, and the contractor of the Tobias Schmidt prototype, a German harpsichord producer. So she was first named fondly Louisette or Louison. Supposedly Louis XVI wished to see Dr. Louis's task and after a professional discussion – the king was an excellent locksmith – introduced a crucial improvement. The guillotine knife according to Dr. Louis' first plan was somewhat oval. The king proposed to give him the form of a triangle.

The applicant of the usage of guillotine was the physician, Dr. Joseph Guillotin – prof. of anatomy, physiology and pathology at the University of Paris. He meant decent death without suffering. – This is the surest, fastest and least barbarous way to execute a death sentence. – convinced delegates in the National Assembly.

Dr. Guillotin was the author of very progressive proposals for changes in the penal code at the time. The same kind of crime was to be punished by a conviction regardless of the social position of the offender and could not defile the name of anyone else. Especially protected must be the good name of the criminal household if it had nothing to do with the crime. The defendant's property could not be confiscated, and his body was to be given to his family, etc.

The construction of the guillotine had nothing to do with it and protested erstwhile it was named after him. Name la veuve (a widow, given by the Paris people, did not accept.

He besides protested the executioner of Paris – he did not learn his trade to pull the trigger cord of the knife. Then, however, he appreciated the advantages of the guillotine, as the victim was immobilized in the telescope of the machine, and with the sword cut off even a tiny movement of the convict could turn the execution into a nightmare. The viewers protested the first executions – for them the fun lasted besides short. Then, however, erstwhile the number of convicts reached 30–60 per day, both the executioner and the audience were satisfied. The revolutionary authorities tried it first on sheep and calves, then on dead prisoners.

The first victim of the guillotine was Pelletier, a thief and murderer, beheaded in the square de Grève in April 1792, then any more “enemies of the people” were cut off. The communicative noted their names: Louis Collenot d’Angremont, accused of organizing a force of daring to defend the king during the Paris mob attack on the Tuileries Palace, Arnaud de La Porte – trusted financial advisor to Louis XVI and Barnabé Farman Durosoy – author of respective theatre plays and a royalist writer "Paris newspaper". The trials were successful and revolutionary authorities considered it a democratic and humane tool to kill people. First and foremost, it is efficient and quick, and it will shortly be necessary. Besides, all convicts will be treated equally. Thus the leaders of the Revolution realized 1 of their slogans: Égalité (Equation). Whatever their origins, the aristocrats and the poor, they will all be cut off in the same way. In the another 2 slogans of the Revolution: Liberté (Freedom), and in peculiar Fraternité They did not keep their word. In the first slogan of the Revolution was the 4th term: ou la Mort"or death."

The first authoritative guillotine of the Republic stood in the square du Carrousel, then it was installed in the square of the Revolution – erstwhile called Louis XV Square, and present the square de La Concorde; in the square de La Nation – first called Place du Thrône, which was added at the time of the Revolution a associate of the Renversé (Plac of the Broken Throne), in the square de Grève – present the Place de l’Hôtel de Ville, and in the place of the demolished Bastille – present the Place de La Bastille. The most crucial executions were performed at the Revolution Square. Dr. Guillotin himself almost lost his life. Robespierre’s fall saved him.

The guillotine found approval on both sides of the barricade, although the Republicans praised it more, calling it the “vengeful avenger of the people”, “the axe of the nation”, “the sword of the republic”, “the patriotic cutter”, “the razor of equality”, etc.

The revolutionary authorities have issued instructions to all departments to equip themselves with akin fixed and portable devices. The guillotine was so popular that it besides began to be produced as a toy for children and jewelry for fashionable ladies.

In June 1939, the last public execution in France took place, but guillotines were utilized until 1977. In 1981, the death punishment was abolished in this country. Gilotine has besides been utilized in a number of European countries, and in peculiar in national socialist Germany, where more than 16,000 sentences have been executed on criminals and political prisoners. On 1 day at the end of planet War II, 75 prisoners were beheaded in the prison of Wroclaw in 90 minutes. It was a evidence of all time, but the Germans don't brag about it.

People were always curious in how long the head was alive after being cut down. past records many stories freezing blood in the veins, including the fact that the heads of enemies after falling into the bag bite each other. During the Revolution, there were people among the victims who dated friends that would wink at them after being cut, and they reportedly blinked and made snots. Many witnesses swore that Charlotte Corday's cheek blushed with outrage erstwhile a hangman, after cutting that brave girl off, took her head out of the bag and slapped her. any authors keep that during this time a red ray of the setting sun fell on her, but it turns out that during her execution there was a slight rain.

In the late 19th century, 3 doctors, after obtaining the consent of the convict, examined his head immediately after beheading and could not find any consequence to external stimuli. The face of the lost individual expressed surprise alternatively than pain. present we know that the head inactive lives about 13 seconds, as long as there is adequate oxygen in the brain. However, it is very likely that the victim is unconscious immediately.

Andrzej Marceli Cisek

This text is part of the book “Freedom, Equality, Genocide. Lies and crimes of the French Revolution”, which was published by the FRONDA publishing house.