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CHARLES JEAN BAPTISTE SANSON
CHILD EXECUTIONER
1719-1778
Charles Jean Baptiste Sanson, born in France 13 April 1719 son of Charles and Anne-Marthe Dubut,
inherited the post of official executioner at only 7 years old in 1726. The Sanson Family, was a family of Executioners who practiced in Paris from 1688-1847 and the little boy's father was the chief executioner of Paris from 1699 to his death in 1726. Little Charles Jean Baptiste, being the eldest son, was too young to assume this hereditary office, but the child had to solemnly watch every beheading conducted by his deputy François Prudhomme, (who becomes his stepfather) until he turned 20 years old, at which time he was of age to wield the official axe of France.
Mostly executed during that time, were heretics and highway robbers and many of the executions were more torture than anything else. The French particularly fond of the wheel, which slowly breaks your back and the torture bed, to encourage confessions. Other duties included severing body parts such as the hands of thieves.
Charles Jean Baptiste married Madeleine Tronson (c1715-c1740) at a young age, in 1737 in Paris and they had a son, Charles-Henri Sanson born February 15, 1739. Charles then remarried a Jeanne Gabrielle Berger, in Etampes in 1741. Charles' 2nd wife Jeanne, was the daughter of the Sens executioner and granddaughter of the executioner of Etampes. Charles and Jeanne, had three sons together, Charles Gabriel Nicolas, who was an Executioner between 1745-1800, Pierre Charles and Joseph Claude SANSON.
Serving as executioner of Paris until 1754, Charles Jean Baptiste had a stroke which left him paralyzed and prevented him from doing his job. He then had to pass down the office to his son Charles-Henri. As Charles-Henri was only 15 at the time, he had to resort again to the assistance of François Prudhomme (Vannes executioner). He moved to Brie-Comte-Robert, in Seine-et-Marne but was basically an invalid. After Charles Jean Baptiste was widowed, he returned to live in Paris.
Following the resignation of his father, Charles-Henri officially became the executioner of the "City, provost and Vicomté" of Paris, and the same year (1778) executioner of the King's Court at Versailles, the "provost Hotel Roy "load exerted thus far by his uncle Charles Gabriel Nicolas Sanson.
Charles Jean Baptiste Sanson died on August 4, 1778 and his son Charles-Henri, was the executioner during the French Revolution with the new invention of 'the guillotine' which he used on Louis XVI, Robespierre and Danton.
A child of 7 years of age, Charles Jean Baptiste Sanson who was subjected to witness horrific torture and executions at such a tender age, would certainly by today's theories of psychologists be, 'emotionally
damaged' and predisposed to behaving a certain way.
As the Occupation of being an executioner was a duty which was imposed upon them through their lineage and not their choice of jobs, this family seemed to have survived quite well through it all.
Reference
Memoirs of the Sansons, from private notes & documents, 1688-1847
inherited the post of official executioner at only 7 years old in 1726. The Sanson Family, was a family of Executioners who practiced in Paris from 1688-1847 and the little boy's father was the chief executioner of Paris from 1699 to his death in 1726. Little Charles Jean Baptiste, being the eldest son, was too young to assume this hereditary office, but the child had to solemnly watch every beheading conducted by his deputy François Prudhomme, (who becomes his stepfather) until he turned 20 years old, at which time he was of age to wield the official axe of France.
Mostly executed during that time, were heretics and highway robbers and many of the executions were more torture than anything else. The French particularly fond of the wheel, which slowly breaks your back and the torture bed, to encourage confessions. Other duties included severing body parts such as the hands of thieves.
Charles Jean Baptiste married Madeleine Tronson (c1715-c1740) at a young age, in 1737 in Paris and they had a son, Charles-Henri Sanson born February 15, 1739. Charles then remarried a Jeanne Gabrielle Berger, in Etampes in 1741. Charles' 2nd wife Jeanne, was the daughter of the Sens executioner and granddaughter of the executioner of Etampes. Charles and Jeanne, had three sons together, Charles Gabriel Nicolas, who was an Executioner between 1745-1800, Pierre Charles and Joseph Claude SANSON.
Serving as executioner of Paris until 1754, Charles Jean Baptiste had a stroke which left him paralyzed and prevented him from doing his job. He then had to pass down the office to his son Charles-Henri. As Charles-Henri was only 15 at the time, he had to resort again to the assistance of François Prudhomme (Vannes executioner). He moved to Brie-Comte-Robert, in Seine-et-Marne but was basically an invalid. After Charles Jean Baptiste was widowed, he returned to live in Paris.
Following the resignation of his father, Charles-Henri officially became the executioner of the "City, provost and Vicomté" of Paris, and the same year (1778) executioner of the King's Court at Versailles, the "provost Hotel Roy "load exerted thus far by his uncle Charles Gabriel Nicolas Sanson.
Charles Jean Baptiste Sanson died on August 4, 1778 and his son Charles-Henri, was the executioner during the French Revolution with the new invention of 'the guillotine' which he used on Louis XVI, Robespierre and Danton.
A child of 7 years of age, Charles Jean Baptiste Sanson who was subjected to witness horrific torture and executions at such a tender age, would certainly by today's theories of psychologists be, 'emotionally
damaged' and predisposed to behaving a certain way.
As the Occupation of being an executioner was a duty which was imposed upon them through their lineage and not their choice of jobs, this family seemed to have survived quite well through it all.
Reference
Memoirs of the Sansons, from private notes & documents, 1688-1847
Roots
Ripley's Believe it or Not! (The Evening Independent, Oct. 1937
Sanson Family
In the Sanson memoirs, Henri Sanson is described as a kindly Church going family man. Excerpt from the Memoirs- 'the porter gave me a letter'....It was My Dismissal ! A strange and indefinable sentiment took possession of me. I raised my eyes to the portraits of my ancestors I placed on (my Mother's) lap the message from the Minister of Justice. She read it, and turning towards me her kindly eyes : Blessed be this day, my son! she said. It frees you from the inheritance of your fathers.' ....I remained speechless with such emotion as I could not control, she added : ....'You are the last of your race. Heaven has only given you daughters ; I was always thankful for it.' Henry Sanson (The last exocutioner) |
Memoirs of the Sansons, from private notes & documents,1688-1847 Tastefully edited by Henry Sanson (1876) the last executioner. It's not a book of horrors, but contains historical information & also the feelings of Henry as relating to his Ancestors. http://archive.org/stream/memoirsofsanson |
Under the Reign of Louis XIV, Charles Sanson, former officer near Rouen, becomes Executioner after his marriage to Marguerite Jouenne in 1675, Marguerite, was also the daughter of an executioner. With Charles' appointment, began the long line of executioners in Paris. The couple had a son Charles, in 1681.
Charles then married the sister of his stepmother (sister of the 2nd wife of his father), Anne Marthe Dubut (2nd sister of the executioner of Melun).
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Widowed in 1685, Charles left Rouen and settled in Paris where a year later, he became the executioner of Paris, replacing Nicolas Levasseur, who was dismissed for pimping on September 24 1688.
Charles Sanson II (son of Charles and Marguerite Jouenne, his first wife) born 1681, became the official executioner of Paris in 1707, after the death of his father.
The Castle of Brie-Comte-Robert in Seine-et-Marne was built at the end of the 12th century
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Dubut, his stepmother's sister. No astonishment need be felt at both father and son espousing two sisters......
In our unfortunate profession, we could hardly choose our wives out of our own sphere......
Thus, by this marriage, Sanson de Longval's widow became the sister- in-law of her stepson, and the person Charles Sanson married was previously, in some degree, his aunt.
10. MEMOIRS OF THE SANSONS
In our unfortunate profession, we could hardly choose our wives out of our own sphere......
Thus, by this marriage, Sanson de Longval's widow became the sister- in-law of her stepson, and the person Charles Sanson married was previously, in some degree, his aunt.
10. MEMOIRS OF THE SANSONS
"The Great Sanson"
Charles-Henri, son of Charles Jean Baptiste Sanson, was known as "The Great Sanson"
He was first raised in a convent school at Rouen, until in 1753 a father of another student recognized Charles-Henri's father as the executioner and he had to leave the school, much to the regret of the principal, in order to not ruin the school's reputation. He was apprenticed with his father for twenty years, and was sworn into the office on December 26, 1778, despite, really wanting to become a doctor of medicine. In his free time he liked to play the violin and cello and on January 10, 1765, he married his second wife, Marie-Anne Jugier. They had two sons: Henri (1767–1830), who became his official successor, and Gabriel (1769–1792), who also worked in the family business.
He was first raised in a convent school at Rouen, until in 1753 a father of another student recognized Charles-Henri's father as the executioner and he had to leave the school, much to the regret of the principal, in order to not ruin the school's reputation. He was apprenticed with his father for twenty years, and was sworn into the office on December 26, 1778, despite, really wanting to become a doctor of medicine. In his free time he liked to play the violin and cello and on January 10, 1765, he married his second wife, Marie-Anne Jugier. They had two sons: Henri (1767–1830), who became his official successor, and Gabriel (1769–1792), who also worked in the family business.
Charles-Henri, executed Louis XVI, who arrived at his execution in his own coach. Even though he was not a royalist, Charles-Henri still hesitated before he executed the King.
Louis was born at Versailles on 23 August 1754. In 1770, he married Marie Antoinette, daughter of the emperor and empress of Austria, a match intended to consolidate an alliance between France and Austria.
Henri remained the official executioner of Paris for 47 years. Only six months after he started, Henri executed Marie Antoinette.
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Charles-Henri Sanson put on the blood-red coat of the master executioner in 1757 and held the position for 38 years. He performed 2918 executions. He executed Louis XVI on Jan. 21, 1793 at the Place de la Revolution which is now Place de la Concorde. He was assisted by his two sons, Gabriel, the youngest, who was to take over from his father and Henri. The position fell to the older son, Henri (1767-1840) who took over in April, 1793, after Gabriel's fatal accident.
http://arollingcrone.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/execut Charles-Henri's son Gabriel, the youngest, was supposed to eventually take over the job, but Gabriel “died after slipping off a scaffold as he displayed a severed head to the crowd,”
In September 1792, the new National Convention abolished the monarchy and declared France a republic. Louis was found guilty of treason and executed at the guillotine on 21 January 1793. Marie Antoinette was executed nine months later.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/louis |
The Guillotine
Dr. Joseph Ignace Guillotin was a physician and a deputy of the National Assembly of France, an early stage of the Revolutionary government. He recognized and promoted the guillotine's use in 1789. Dr. Guillotin believed this swift method of execution would reform capital punishment in keeping with human rights. Other Assembly members rejected his championing of the guillotine with laughter.
In 1792, Charles-Henri Sanson recommended reconsideration of the guillotine and Dr. Antoine Louis (the secretary of the Academy of Surgeons) supported him. In April 1792, Tobias Schmidt (a German piano maker) built the first working model in less than a week.
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Guillotine.aspx
When the guillotine prototype was tested for the first time on April 17 1792
Sanson inspected it himself
Sanson inspected it himself
The guillotine continued to be used long after the Revolution and remained France's standard method of judicial execution until the abolition of capital punishment in 1981. The last person guillotined in France was Hamida Djandoubi, on 10 September 1977
Tests were done on straw bales and then on live sheep and finally on human cadavers, showed the speed and efficiency of the technique. Sanson and inspectors were fully satisfied with the results. The same week, the Assembly approved the findings and on 25 April 1792, Sanson inaugurated the era of the guillotine during the execution of Nicolas Jacques Pelletier thief on the Strike Place.
Anatole Deibler is arguably the most famous French executioner. He performed his trade from 1885 to 1939. He executed 395 men but not a single woman in a career that extended over
54 years. |
After Charlotte Corday was decapitated by the guillotine, many stories were told, of blinking eyelids, moving eyes, movement of the mouth, even an expression of "unequivocal indignation" on the face of the decapitated woman, when her cheek was slapped. Charlotte Corday was a young woman who sacrificed her life to kill Reign of Terror tyrant Jean-Paul Marat, a fanatic responsible for the September Massacres of 1792. Charlotte had been a sympathizer to the Girondins, a political party during the French Revolution, and after their defeat by Marat, she decided to take matters into her own hands.
http://www.heritage-history.com/index.php?c Henri's son, Henry-Clement Sanson (Charles Henri’s grandson), took over the job in 1840 and served until 1847. He was the sixth and last in the dynasty of executioners.
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Sanson Grave
Charles-Henri Sanson died July 4, 1806, and was buried in Montmartre Cemetery in Paris.
Sanson Family
http://www.genea77-shage.info/sommaire/celebrites |
Charles-Henri Sanson
http://www.digplanet.com/wiki/Charles |
A Recent Find
A calling-card-sized photo that could have been taken any time from 1854 to 1900, this photographer is listed as “Samson” in Liege, Belgium. On the reverse side, were some words in French- “Louise Samson, Descendent of Sanson who decapitated Louis XVI, King of France.”
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The Executioner’s Granddaughter
http://arollingcrone.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/execut |