In Russian and many other languages, the famous execution tool was called from the name of the French doctor Joseph Ignas Gilloten. But did he invented the guillotine?

The guillotine in our minds is inextricably linked with the Great French Revolution of 1789 and a terror that followed it. It was on the guillotine that King Louis XVI and his wife Maria-Antoinette were executed. The main revolutionaries themselves soon became the victims of the guillotines: Robespierre and Danton. The last time in France it was used recently - in 1977. Similar devices were used in other European countries - for example, in Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and Greece. And although the people appeared a variety of nicknames: “national razor”, “patriotic reproach”, “widow” - the name formed from the surname of the doctor Guilloten became generally accepted.

The very idea of a car for chopping off the head of a person sentenced to death was invented long before the Great French Revolution. For example, a similar design Described In the novel of the beginning of the 13th century. In the real world, the first prototype of the device appeared In the same XIII century in Britain, and a car very similar to the guillotine called "Virgin" used In Edinburgh from 1565 to 1710. Now it can be seen in the National Museum of Scotland.

"Virgin" - one of the prototypes of guillotine

After the revolution, France discussed a change in the method of execution towards the more humane, because before convicted wheels were or hung. Supporters of the reform insisted that the goal of execution is not causing pain, but deprivation of life, so we must strive to minimize suffering. Deading using an ax or sword depended too much on the skill of the executioner and often required several blows. A special committee led by the royal doctor Antoine Louis was to make a final decision on the reform.

It is Louis who attribute the creation of the design of the device, and the prototype of the Strasbourg Court Lakyant and German engineer Schmidt constructed the prototype. In the irony of history, according to some evidence, Louis XVI, who recommended using a braid blade instead of a crescent form, also gave his advice. On April 25, 1792, guillotine was first tested in action - it was executed on it by the robber Nicolas Jacques Pelletier. By the way, at first the device was called Luizette - namely by the name of its creator Antoine Louis.

What does the guilloten have to do with it? The fact is that it was he who was one of the main supporters of the introduction of a more humane execution and the development of a special device for this. Another argument was the establishment of equality between all executed, because before the peasants were hung, and the aristocrats were executed with a sword. The car was offered to use regardless of who was sentenced. On December 1, 1789, Gilloten made a speech to the National Assembly, where he used the phrase “my car” - apparently, with this the tradition began to call such a device a guillotine. The doctor’s family was so embarrassed that she even asked the French government to rename the device.

At the same time, in general, Guillothen was an enemy of the death penalty. He hoped that the painless decapitation would make the execution much less popular the pastime among onlookers. Contrary to another LegendAssociated with his name, Gilloten was not at all executed with the help of a machine, the introduction of which supported. He died of natural causes in old age in 1814.