Robert-François Damiens

and His Attack on Louis XV

Who is Robert damiens?

•Born on January 9th , 1715•Joined the army in an early age•Became a domestic servant at the college of Jesuits in Paris

His attack on Louis XV

• Time: Place:Time At the cold night of January 5th, 1757

Place Outside of Palace of VersaillesAction When the king was about to get on his carriage,

Robert Damiens rushed to him and stabbed him with a penknife

Results• King Louis XV was hardly wounded because

he was wearing thick winter clothes• Damiens was immediately arrested and was

interrogated• Sentenced to an execution• Family members banished from France

Robert Damiens’ execution

• Charged as a Regicide• Execution set at 7 o’clock on March 28th, 1757• Legs compressed, hands burned with sulfur,

pinched by hot pincers, poured by hot oil and melted lead

• Quarterd by 4 hourses

The motivation of the assasination attempt

• Has not been clearly explained• Historians think he is mentally unstable• From his reactions during the interrogation,

some interpreted that he is a religious fanatic• The French Catholic regarded Jansenism as a

heresy, which aroused his anger

Robert Damiens in Candide

• Voltaire criticized religious fanaticism- the cause of the attack

• Reference:P.85 when Candide asked why strangers should be arrested

• In the abbé’s reply, he mentions “ Because a beggar from Artois heard some people talking nonsense, and that was enough to make him try to commit a parricade…... and like several others that have been committed in other years and other months by other beggars who had heard people talking nonsense”

• The “other beggars “ he mentions include Robert Damiens

ReferencesContent:

• “HistoryThe Big Dates.” <i>1757 Assassination Attempt of Damiens against Louis XV</i>. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2015. &lt; http://en.chateauversailles.fr/history/the-significant-dates/most-important-dates/assassination-attempt-of-damiens-against-louis-xv&gt; .

• "Robert-François Damiens." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert-Fran%C3%A7ois_Damiens.

• Voltaire, and Eric Palmer. Candide, Or, All for the Best: The 1759 Nourse (London) Translation, Revised. Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview, 2009. Print.

• Walton, Geri. "18th and 19th Century: Assassination Attempt of King Louis XV by Robert-François Damiens." 18th and 19th Century: Assassination Attempt of King Louis XV by Robert-François Damiens. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015. http://18thcand19thc.blogspot.tw/2014/07/assassination-attempt-of-king-louis-xv.html .

References of images• Robert Damiens: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert-Fran%C3%A7ois_Damiens • Penknife: http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photos-penknife-

image22294998 • Attck on Louis XV:

http://detourlists.com/25-boldest-assassination-attempts-ever/ • Interrogation: http

://punktx30.deviantart.com/art/The-Interrogation-Agent-Concept-Art-383982780

• Pincers: https://www.google.com.tw/search?hl=zh-TW&biw=1219&bih=634&site=imghp&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=pincer&oq=pincer&gs_l=img.3..0l5j0i30l5.18683.20537.0.20746.6.6.0.0.0.0.106.517.4j2.6.0....0...1c.1.64.img..0.6.515.lyImYY2fNtc#imgrc=G5GfS7nQ8VXNXM%3A

• Execution: http://tasedoom.jimdo.com/2012/06/20/robert-francois-damiens-execution/

• Religious Fanatic: http://aattp.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/religious-fanatic-1024x571.jpg