Reading comprehension: The guillotine

Compréhension de l’écrit – Entraînement – B2

Durée indicative : 25 minutes

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The guillotine

The guillotine is one of European history's most bloody icons. Although designed with the best of intentions, this hugely recognisable machine soon became associated with events that have overshadowed both its heritage and its development: the French Revolution.

Yet, despite such a high profile and chilling reputation, histories of la guillotine remain muddled, often differing on quite basic details. This article explains, not just the events that brought the guillotine to prominence, but also the machine's place in a broader history of decapitation which, as far as France is concerned, finished only recently.

Although older narratives may tell you that the guillotine was invented in the late 18th century, most recent accounts recognise that similar 'decapitation machines' have a long history. The most famous, and possibly one of the earliest, was the Halifax Gibbet, a monolithic wooden structure which was supposedly created from two fifteen foot high uprights capped by a horizontal beam. The blade was an axe head, attached to the bottom of a four and a half foot wooden block that slid up and down via grooves in the uprights. This device was mounted on a large, square, platform. The Halifax Gibbet was certainly substantial, and may date from as early as 1066, although the first definite reference is from the 1280's. Executions took place in the town's Market Place on Saturdays, and the machine remained in use until April 30th, 1650.

Another early example is immortalised in the picture 'The execution of Murcod Ballagh near to Merton in Ireland 1307'. As the title suggests, the victim was called Murcod Ballagh, and he was decapitated by equipment which looks remarkably similar to the later French guillotines. Another, unrelated, picture depicts the combination of a guillotine style machine and a traditional beheading. The victim is lying on a bench, with an axe head held above his neck by some sort of mechanism. The difference lies in the executioner, who is shown wielding a large hammer, ready to strike tAhe mechanism and drive the blade down. If this device existed, it may have been an attempt to improve the accuracy of the impact.

There were many other machines, including the Scottish Maiden - a wooden construction based directly on the Halifax Gibbet, dating from the mid 16th century - and the Italian Mannaia, which was famously used to execute Beatrice Cenci, a woman whose life is obscured by clouds of myth. Beheading was usually reserved for the wealthy or powerful as it was considered to be nobler, and certainly less painful, than other methods; the machines were similarly restricted. However, the Halifax Gibbet is an important, and often overlooked, exception, because it was used to execute anyone breaking the relevant laws, including the poor. Although these decapitation machines certainly existed, they were generally localised, with a design and use unique to their region; the French guillotine was to be very different.

The French Revolution began in 1789, a process which was to convulse France, re-shaping the country's social, cultural and political makeup; the legal system was reviewed immediately. On October 10th 1789 - the second day of the debate about France's penal code - Dr. Guillotin proposed six articles to the new Legislative Assembly, one of which called for decapitation to become the sole method of execution in France. This was to be carried out by a simple machine, and involve no torture. It is unclear whether the doctor was an advocate of capital punishment, or someone who wanted it to be, ultimately, abolished. Guillotin presented an etching that illustrated one possible device, resembling an ornate, but hollow, stone column with a falling blade, operated by an effete executioner cutting the suspension rope. The machine was also hidden from the view of large crowds, according with Guillotin's view that execution should be private and dignified. This suggestion was rejected; some accounts describe the Doctor being laughed, albeit nervously, out of the Assembly.

Narratives often ignore the other five reforms: one asked for a nationwide standardisation in punishment, while others concerned the treatment of the criminal's family, who were not to be harmed or discredited; property, which was not to be confiscated; and corpses, which were to be returned to the families. When Guillotin proposed his articles again on December 1st 1789, these five recommendations were accepted, but the beheading machine was, again, rejected.

The situation developed in 1791, when the Assembly agreed - after weeks of discussion - to retain the death penalty; they then began to discuss a more humane and egalitarian method of execution, as many of the previous techniques were felt to be too barbaric and unsuitable. Beheading was the preferred option, and the Assembly accepted a new, albeit repetitive, proposal by the Marquis Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau, decreeing that "Every person condemned to the death penalty shall have his head severed". Guillotin's notion of a decapitation machine began to grow in popularity, even if the Doctor himself had abandoned it. Traditional methods like the sword or axe could prove messy and difficult, especially if the executioner missed or the prisoner struggled; a machine would not only be fast and reliable, but it would never tire. France's main executioner, Charles-Henri Sanson, championed these final points.

The Assembly - working through Pierre-Louis Roederer, the Procureur général - sought advice from Doctor Antoine Louis, the Secretary of the Academy of Surgery in France, and his design for a quick, painless, decapitation machine was given to Tobias Schmidt, a German Engineer.

The final testing took place at a hospital in Bicêtre, where three carefully chosen corpses - those of strong, stocky men - were successfully beheaded. The first execution took place on April 25th, 1792. Further improvements were made, and an independent report to Roederer recommended a number of changes, including metal trays to collect blood; at some stage the famous angled blade was introduced and the high platform abandoned, replaced by a basic scaffold.

This improved machine was accepted by the Assembly, and copies were sent to each of the Departments. In the aftermath of Pelletier's execution the contraption became known as the 'Louisette' or 'Louison', after Dr. Louis; however, this name was soon lost, and other titles emerged. At some stage, the machine became known as the Guillotin, after Dr. Guillotin - whose main contribution had been a set of legal articles - and then finally 'la guillotine'. It is also unclear precisely why, and when, the final 'e' was added, but it probably developed out of attempts to rhyme Guillotin in poems and chants.

Historians have debated whether The Terror would have been possible without the guillotine, and its widespread reputation as a human, advanced, and altogether revolutionary, piece of equipment. Although water and gunpowder laid behind much of the slaughter, the guillotine was a focal point: did the population accept this new, clinical, and merciless machine as their own, welcoming its common standards when they might have balked at mass hangings and separate, weapon based, beheadings? Given the size and death toll of other European incidents within the same decade, this might be unlikely; but whatever the situation, la guillotine had become known across Europe within only a few years of its invention.

The history of the guillotine does not end with the French Revolution. Many other countries adopted the machine, including Belgium, Greece, Switzerland, Sweden and some German states; French colonialism also helped to export the device abroad.

Finally, and contrary to legend, Doctor Joseph Ignace Guillotin was not executed by his own machine; he lived until 1814, and died of biological causes.

Source: Title : The Guillotine Author : Mary Bellis http://europeanhistory.about.com/cs/frenchrevolution/ a/Guillotine.htm