Louis XV of France survives an assassination attempt

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Louis XV of France survives an assassination attempt by Robert-François Damiens, the last person to be executed in France by drawing and quartering, the traditional and gruesome form of capital punishment used for regicides.

January 5 1757


King Louis XV of France


On 5 January 1757, as the King was entering his carriage at the Palace of Versailles, Damiens rushed past the King's bodyguards and stabbed him with a penknife, inflicting only a slight wound. He made no attempt to escape, and was apprehended at once. Louis XV's thick winter clothes were protective, and the knife penetrated less than half an inch into his chest. The writer Voltaire described the wound as "fortunately scarcely more significant than a pinprick".


Robert-François Damiens

Nevertheless, Louis was bleeding and called for a confessor to be brought to him, as he feared he might die; when the Queen ran to Louis' side, he asked forgiveness for his numerous affairs.


Robert_Francois_Damiens_before_the_judges.jpg

Damiens was arrested on the spot and taken away to be tortured to force him to divulge the identity of any accomplices or those who had sent him. This effort was unsuccessful.[citation needed] He was tried and condemned as a regicide by the Parlement of Paris, and sentenced to be drawn and quartered by horses at the Place de Grève.


Robert-François Damiens
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert-Fran%C3%A7ois_Damiens