marthajefferson:history meme : 08/∞ men | Les S A N S O N , executioners fro
marthajefferson:history meme : 08/∞ men | Les S A N S O N , executioners from father to sonAlthough being a vital part of the social order, executioners were pariahs who seemed in some ways a world apart. At church they were given their own pew ; at the bakery, they had a specific bread apart from others ; executioners married into other executioners’ families…This was the reality of the Sanson dynasty for almost two centuries.It began when, in 1675, Charles Sanson married the daughter of an executioner in Normandy, and thus started working alongside his father-in-law. Moving to Paris, Charles was officialy tasked with his first ‘solo’ execution in 1688 and became the official executioner of the french capital, starting a job that will remain in his family for generations.Upon his death in 1695, the patriarch passed the office to his son, also named Charles II (1681–1726). Then, the third Sanson to follow was Charles Jean-Baptiste Sanson (1719–1778) and served all his life as High Executioner. His eldest son, Charles-Henri —known as “The Great Sanson”— sworn into the office in 1778. Charles-Henri Sanson became the most prolific executioner of the family: firstly Royal Executionner of France for the King, he became High executioner of the Revolution. Contributing to the design of the notorious guillotine, he executed over 3000 convicted people.Charles-Henri’ son, Henri, succeeded his father in 1795, for 35 years. After his death, his son Henri-Clément followed, and was the sixth and last in the dynasty of executioners, serving until 1847. The long list of people executed by the Sanson includes: Robespierre, Danton, the bandit Cartouche, Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, the fourth Bonapartist sergeants, Lavoisier, or Charlotte Corday. -- source link