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GUILLOTINE

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 695 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GUILLOTINE , the See also:

instrument for inflicting See also:capital See also:punishment by decapitation, introduced into See also:France at the See also:period of the Revolution. It consists of two upright posts surmounted by a See also:cross See also:beam, and grooved so as to See also:guide an oblique-edged See also:knife, the back of which is heavily weighted to make it fall swiftly and with force when the See also:cord by which it is held aloft is let go. Some ascribe the invention of the See also:machine to the Persians; and previous to the period when it obtained notoriety under its See also:present name it had been in use in See also:Scotland, See also:England and various parts of the See also:continent. There is still preserved in the antiquarian museum of See also:Edinburgh the See also:rude guillotine called the " See also:maiden " by which the See also:regent See also:Morton was decapitated in 1581. The last persons decapitated by the Scottish " maiden " were the See also:marquis of See also:Argyll in 1661 and his son the See also:earl of Argyll in I685. It would appear that no similar machine was ever in See also:general use in England; but until 165o there existed in the See also:forest of Hardwick, which was coextensive with the See also:parish of See also:Halifax, See also:West See also:Riding, See also:Yorkshire, a mode of trial and See also:execution called the gibbet See also:law, by which a felon convicted of See also:theft within the See also:liberty was sentenced to be decapitated by a machine called the Halifax gibbet. A See also:print of it is contained in a small See also:book called Halifax and its Gibbet Law (1708), and in See also:Gibson's edition of See also:Camden's Britannia (1722). In See also:Germany the machine was in general use during the See also:middle ages, under the name of the Diele, the Hobel or the Dolabra. Two old See also:German engravings, the one by See also:George Penez, who died in 1550, and the other by Heinrich See also:Aldegrever, with the date 1553, represent the See also:death of a son of See also:Titus See also:Manlius by a similar instrument, and its employment for the execution of a Spartan is the subject of the See also:engraving of the eighteenth See also:symbol in the See also:volume entitled Symbolicae quaestiones de universo genere, by See also:Achilles Bocchi (1555). From the x3th See also:century it was used in See also:Italy under the name of Mannaia for the execution of criminals of See also:noble See also:birth. The Chronique de See also:Jean d'Anton, first published in 1835, gives See also:minute details of an execution in which it was employed at See also:Genoa in 1507; and it is elaborately described by Pere Jean See also:Baptiste Labat in his Voyage en Espagne et en Italie en 1730. It is mentioned by Jacques, viscomte de Puysegur, in his Memoires as in use in the See also:south of France, and he describes the execution by it of See also:Marshal See also:Montmorency at See also:Toulouse in 1632.

For about a century it had, how-ever, fallen into general disuse on the continent; and Dr Guillotine, who first suggested its use in See also:

modern times, is said to have obtained his See also:information regarding it from the description of an execution that took See also:place at See also:Milan in 1702, contained in an See also:anonymous See also:work entitled Voyage historique et politique de Suisse, d'Italie, et d'Allemagne. Guillotine, who was See also:born at See also:Saintes, May 28, 1738, and elected to the Constituent See also:Assembly in 1789, brought forward on the 1st See also:December of that See also:year two propositions regarding capital punishment, the second of which was that, " in all cases of capital punishment it shall be of the same See also:kind—that is, decapitation--and it shall be executed by means of a machine." The reasons urged in support of this proposition were that in cases of capital punishment the See also:privilege of execution by decapitation should no longer be confined to the nobles, and that it was desirable to render the See also:process of execution as See also:swift and painless as possible. The debate was brought to a sudden termination in peals of See also:laughter caused by an indiscreet reference of Dr Guillotine to his machine, but his ideas seem gradually to have leavened the minds of the Assembly, and after various debates decapitation was adopted as the method of execution in the penal See also:code which became law on the 6th See also:October 1791. At first it was intended that decapitation should be by the See also:sword, but on See also:account of a memorandum by M. See also:Sanson, the executioner, pointing out the expense and certain other inconveniences attending that method, the Assembly referred the question to a See also:committee, at whose See also:request Dr See also:Antoine See also:Louis, secretary to the See also:Academy of Surgeons, prepared a memorandum on the subject. Without mentioning the name of Guillotine, it recommended the See also:adoption of an instrument similar to that which was formerly suggested by him. The Assembly decided in favour of the See also:report, and the See also:contract was offered to the See also:person who usually provided the See also:instruments of See also:justice; but, as his terms were considered exorbitant, an agreement was ultimately come to with a German of the name of See also:Schmidt, who, under the direction of M. Louis, furnished a machine for each of the See also:French departments. After satisfactory experiments had been made with the machine on several dead bodies in the See also:hospital of Bicetre, it was erected onthe Place de Greve for the execution of the highwayman Pelletier on the 25th See also:April 1792. While the experiments regarding the machine were being carried on, it received the name Louisette or La Petite Louisan, but the mind of the nation seems soon to have reverted to Guillotine, who first suggested its use; and in the See also:Journal See also:des revolutions de See also:Paris for 28th April 1792 it is mentioned as la guillotine, a name which it thenceforth See also:bore both popularly and officially. In 1795 the question was much debated as to whether or not death by the guillotine was instantaneous, and in support of the negative See also:side the See also:case of See also:Charlotte See also:Corday was adduced whose countenance, it is said, blushed as if with indignation when the executioner, holding up the See also:head to the public gaze, struck it with his fist. The connexion of the instrument with the horrors of the Revolution has hindered its introduction into other countries, but in 1853 it was adopted under the name of Fallschwerl or Fallbeil by the See also:kingdom of See also:Saxony; and it is used for the execution of sentences of death in France, See also:Belgium and some parts of Germany.

It has often been stated that Dr Guillotine perished by the instrument which bears his name, but it is beyond question that he survived the Revolution and died a natural death in 1814. See Sedillot, Reflexions historiques et physiologiques sur le supplice de la guillotine (1795) ; See also:

Sue, See also:Opinion sur le supplice de la guillotine, (1796); See also:Reveille-Parise, Etude biographique sur Guillotine (Paris, 1851) ; See also:Notice historique et physiologique sur le supplice de la guillotine (Paris, 183o) ; Louis See also:Dubois, Recherches historiques et physiologiques sur la guillotine et details sur Sanson (Paris, 1843); and a See also:paper by J. W. See also:Croker in the Quarterly See also:Review for December 1843, reprinted separately in 185o under the See also:title The Guillotine, a See also:historical See also:Essay.

End of Article: GUILLOTINE

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