Post by Catsmate on Jul 8, 2016 11:39:04 GMT
If emperors, kings and dictators can sleep well, why shouldn’t an executioner?
Charles-Henri Sanson [attrib.]
Charles-Henri Sanson [attrib.]
An interesting bunch whom a time traveller might encounter, hopefully in a social rather than occupational setting…
It started in 1688 when one Charles-Louis Sanson received a commission from King Louis XIV of France, better known as the Sun King. He was appointed Royal Executioner, a position that would be held by his family for six generations, despite such minor squabbles as the French Revolution.
Sanson I has been an army officer (serving in the regiment of the Marquis de la Boissier), born near Rouen, and assistant to the former executioner Pierre Jouenne, whose daughter he married in 1675. His appointment by King Louis was due to the mishandling of an execution by the former holder of the position.
- Being drunk is often a disadvantage in a job; being drunk while attempting to decapitate someone with a large sword, in front of a crowd, is a major (and embarrassing) problem.
- It's said that Charles-Louis had seduced his future wife when he father arrived and his introduction to the family and profession wasn't voluntary.
- A different account states that Mademoiselle Jouanne nursed him after a fall from a horse.
[II]
Next the role passed to Charles-Louis’s son, Charles Sanson II, in 1703 when his father retired (he died peacefully in 1707). Previously Charles II had assisted his father. The second generation saw the execution of a few notables, including the notorious gang leader Louis Dominique Bourguignon (known as ‘Cartouche’ or cartridge) who was gruesomely executed in 1721 by breaking on the wheel. From most accounts Charles II wasn't well suited to the job of executioner, described as a "mild-mannered and gentle man" but he performed the role of torturer and executioner to provide for his family.
Charles II died in 1726 and was interred in St. Lawrence with great pomp.
[III]
The third generation of Sansons, Charles Jean-Baptiste, was only seven when his father died and didn’t take up his profession until 1739 (when he reached majority). In the interim his mother acted as “regent” and the role of executioner was carried out by her second husband, François Prudhomme.
Charles III married twice, his first wife died after a few years and bore him a son Charles-Henri (more on him later). His second wife was Jeanne Gabrielle Berger, daughter of the executioner of Sens and granddaughter of the executioner of Etampes. They had fifteen children, nine of whom survived infancy.
Yep it did run in the family.
Charles III was attacked and partially paralysed in 1754. While officially holding the post, most of the work was carried out by Charles-Henri, assisted by his step-grandfather François Prudhomme. One of his most notorious cases was that of the attempted regicide Robert-François Damiens. Damiens was the last man in France to die by drawing and quartering; after torture his limbs were torn off by horses and his (possibly still living) body burned. Charles-Henri assisted his uncle Nicolas-Charles-Gabriel Sanson (executioner of Reims) in that case.
Charles III resigned in 1777 and died in 1778. That same year Charles-Henri was formally oppointed Royal Executioner and received the traditional blood-red coat.
[IV]
Charles-Henri Sanson was the second longest serving of the family, and the best known. He ran the family business carefully, exploiting his privileges for best effect, though he had never wanted to be an executioner and had initially studied medicine (and later dissected many of those he killed) and produced herbal potions as a hobby.
- For example it was his right to take a handful of provisions each day from every merchant in the Paris food market; Charles-Henri dispatched his assistants with capacious wooden scoops to bring back the food, which he used, stored or resold for profit.
- He was also well known for his elegant manner and elaborate dress, though when he was prohibited from wearing blue (sumptuary laws reserved it for noblemen) he managed to make his signature deep green extremely fashionable. Members of the royal court, who began dressing à la Sanson.
In 1789 the French Revolution began and while Charles-Henri wasn’t much of a Monarchist he was concerned about the climate. Some of the revolutionaries (including Robespierre) favoured ending the use of the death penalty, and he was personally accused of harbouring a Royalist pamphleteer in his home. He sued some of his accusers and won in court, but this didn’t help with his financial problems. In the early days of the Revolution there were few jobs for him, and he was constantly harassed by creditors.
The in 1793 the Reign of Terror began and suddenly there was work aplenty for the Sanson dynasty.
A new tool was instituted for execution; the "national razor" as it became known proposed by Doctor Joseph Guillotin as a humane method of execution.
The Sansons welcomed the development, and participated in the testing of the machine; not out of compassion, but because it was cheaper and more efficient than rope and sword.
"Monsieur de Paris" as he was better known used the device to kill 2,794 people (out of his total of 2,918 executions). Somewhat ironically his total included his former patrol, Louis XVI, and numerous revolutionaries as the different factions vied for power; Danton, Robespierre, Saint-Just, Hébert, and Desmoulins were among them.
Charles-Henri retired from his position in 1795 and was succeeded by his son Henri. He died in 1806.
[V]
Henri Sanson hadn’t expected to inherit his father’s position, it should have gone to his eldest brother Gabriel who’d been their father’s principal assistant. However Gabriel had died in 1792
- He slipped off a scaffold as he displayed a severed head to the crowd.
[VI]
Henry-Clément Sanson held the position of Royal Executioner of the City of Paris under King Louis-Philippe I from 1840 to 1847. He was disgraced by his lifestyle (drunken and dissolute, unlike his forebears) especially his pawning of the family owned guillotine. A week after he pawned it an execution order was issued and he lacked the funds to reclaim it...
The city authorities were not amused. After they pair for it's return, the execution was performed and Sanson dismissed. A sad end to the family business.
Game use.
Hopefully the PCs won't be the subjects of the family's professional skills...
1. A social encounter.
Quite possibly the PCs don't know of the family and it's profession. Hence they may encounter one of them in a more-or-less friendly social setting, unaware of why others are wary of them.
Perhaps one of the PCs is recruited as an assistant?
2. Background colour.
Public executions were a popular spectacle, with huge crowds for some of them. PCs wanderung Paris (or other cities) may find themselves amongst the masses of people and forced to watch the gruesome proceedings.
Or they may be trying to pursue someone, and encounter one of the Sansons, their assistants and the carts with their equipment.
3. Family history.
During the Revolution especially it was common to 'tip' the executioners to ensure proceedings went well. In a hanging especially there is a lot of scope for a prolonged and painful death.
The Sansons were reputed to have amassed a collection of jewellry formerly belonging to the executed aristocrats. Perhaps there's something amonst the collection that the PCs need.
Now they have to infiltrate a close-knit family of professional killers to find it.
- The Carter Dickson novel The Red Widow Murders used some of this reputation as background.
4. Escape!
Escaping 'Madame Guillotine' is a popular theme in historical films. But what if the PCs need to do just that, rescue someone (another PC? A time traveller?) who's about to be executed.
Infiltrating the execution party is one option, if they can inveigle themselves into the Sansons and handle the work.
Links.
An account of the failed execution of Jean Louschart in 1788
An account of the execution of two of those killed for the Lyon ail-coach robbery
Memoirs of the Sansons
Comments? Ideas? Suggestions?