Throughout the centuries, there have been many people who were considered to have been
regicides, or King killers.
Following the end of the English Civil War, Oliver Cromwell and those who signed the death
warrant of King Charles I were considered to have been regicides, and later Charles
II would seek to execute those who put his father to death, which resulted in the exhumation
of Cromwell and his dead body being dragged through the streets of London before it was
hacked to pieces.
But inside of France, there was a bloody history of executions with the French Revolution,
but over 150 years before the Revolution broke out, there was unrest against the French monarchy.
There was one French man who in 1610, managed to assassinate the French King Henry IV.
However following his, he was subjected to a horrific execution where he was literally
torn to pieces by horses.
Join us today as we look at Francois Ravaillac’s execution, and as always to support our channel,
please make sure to subscribe.
Francois Ravaillac was born around 1578 in Angouleme, and his family were considered
well off and educated.
His grandfather was the prosecutor of the local area and was responsible for law and
order, but his two uncles were also canons of the local cathedral.
They were well thought off, however his father Jean was a very violent man who attracted
a significant amount of controversy, and public scandal.
His actions caused legal issues for the family, but Francois’ mother was known for being
a strong and very pious Catholic woman.
But Francois Ravaillac began to work as a servant inside of a house, and he later became
a school teacher and an educator.
But he became incredibly obsessed by religion and he was a very strong catholic, and he
tried to become a member of the Feuilliant order, but he managed to initially get in
but he was then told to leave as it was said he was ‘prey to visions.’
He then also applied in 1606 to become part of the Society of Jesus, and was also rejected
for this.
The followers of this were known as Jesuits, and throughout many countries they were believed
to have been dangerous, and Elizabeth I would sentence a number of jesuits to death, and
a few prominent ones such as John Gerrard were even imprisoned inside of the Tower of
London.
But in 1609, Ravacillac stated that he had experienced a vision and in this he had been
told to try and convince the French King Henry IV to convert the Huguenots to Catholicism.
With this vision, Francois then made three separate trips between Pentecost 1609 and
May 1610 to visit the King in Paris to tell him of these vision and he lodged with Charlotte
du Tillet, the Mistress of a powerful member of the French nobility.
But of course Ravaillac was refused a meeting with the Kings and frustrated by this, he
then tried to force the issue.
At the time he believed that Henry IV’s decision to invade the Spanish Netherlands
was a declaration of war against the Vatican, the Pope and also the Catholic Church and
he took great offence by this.
Because of this, he then became to formulate a plan to kill the French King.
At this time, Henry IV had reigned for around 21 years, and he was seen as an active ruler
who did some good for the French people.
He helped to bring an end to corruption and he encouraged education as well as promoting
farming, and he tried to bring together Protestants and Catholics in his kingdom, bringing an
end to the French Wars of Religion.
But he had been the target of 12 assassination attempts before, however Francois Ravaillac
the Catholic Zealot would be successful in his attempt.
On the 14th May 1610, Ravaillac was waiting in the Rue De La Ferronerie in Paris, and
as he waited the King’s carriage went past him.
As the King crossed his path, Ravaillac emerged from the crowd, and the carriage was stopped
because of a blockage in the street.
He then drew his knife, and stabbed Henry IV to death.
It was said, His coach, entering from St Honoré to Ferronnerie Street, was blocked on one
side by a cart filled with wine and on the other by a cart filled with hay...
Ravaillac climbed on the wheel of the above-named coach and with a knife trenchant on both sides
stabbed him between the second and third ribs’ The Duke of Montbazon who was riding with
the King at the time was also wounded by Ravaillac, but the assassin was immediately grabbed by
the King’s guards, and he was taken to the Hotel de Retz, as there was an incredibly
angry crowd gathering, and it was believed that he would be lynched by them.
He was then moved to the Conciergerie, a prison in Paris, and he was then during his imprisonment
tortured a number of times.
The guards wanted him to name any accomplices, and were convinced that he didn’t work alone,
but Ravaillac was insistent that he was a lone assassin, and that he was not part of
a wider conspiracy.
He was shown to have been a man who studied the King’s movements, and he knew that the
King’s carriage would get blocked at that specific moment, and he knew that he could
strike.
The King at the time was visiting an ill duke, and he was about to make final preparations
for military action in the disputed succession to Julich Cleves-Berg following the death
of the Duke.
Ravaillac it’s believed learned of these plans, and it would have brought France into
a war with the Catholic Habsburg dynasty, and it’s believed that when he heard this
his mind was made up.
He said, ‘He had seen that the King wanted to make war on the Pope, in order to transfer
the Holy See to Paris.’
But at the start of his interrogation he said, ‘I know very well he is dead.
I saw the blood on my knife and the place where I hit him.
But I have no regrets at all about dying, because I’ve done what I came to do.’
With this he was sentenced to death, and he was considered a disgusting regicide who had
shown a significant degree of planning in his attack to kill the French King.
On the 27th May 1610 his execution would be carried out in front of a huge crowd.
He was sentenced to a horrific ordeal, and before his execution was tortured once more
in front of the thousands who had gathered.
Before he was executed, he was scalded with burning sulphur, molten lead and boiling oil
and resin, and his flesh had been cut open by pincers, and this was incredibly painful,
and his screams would have been heard for miles.
However his death sentence would be completely barbaric.
As he was seen as a regicide and the worst form of criminal, he was subjected to a harrowing
execution.
He was to be drawn and quartered, but would be pulled apart by horses.
Following his torture, his limbs were tied to four horses, who then when the executioner
was ready were driven off in different directions, and his limbs were ripped from his body.
This was incredibly brutal, and there would have been very little left of him.
But following his execution, his family were placed under a great amount of shame, and
his parents were forced into exile, and his family had to change their names, never using
the surname Ravaillac again.
But Francois Ravaillac was a disturbed individual who devoted himself to his faith to the point
where he had visions that he had been sent to kill the French King.
He was clearly a man who was ill, and who made a brutal mark on history.
If he had been accepted into the Jesuits or the other orders then chances are he could
have been reformed, but he went down a dark path of assassination in which he’s remembered
today for being the man who killed King Henry IV.
But his execution was one which was truly barbaric, being literally ripped to pieces
by horses.
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