https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=55&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1755&output=atom <![CDATA[Execution Ballads]]> 2024-03-28T22:10:56+11:00 Omeka https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/items/show/1185 <![CDATA[Complainte et epitaphe de Madame Lescombat]]> 2020-01-14T13:15:18+11:00

Title

Complainte et epitaphe de Madame Lescombat

Synopsis

On this date in 1755, Henri Mongeot was broken on the wheel for assassinating the husband of his adulterous lover, Marie.

Louis Alexandre Lescombat was a Paris architect; the betrayal of his flighty wife Marie Catherine Taperet was all the talk of Paris after her lover Mongeot slew the husband whilst out on a walk in December of 1754 — then summoned the watch to present a bogus self-defense claim.

This tactic has been known to work when the killer enjoys sufficient impunity; perhaps a respectable bourgeois like Lescombat could have done it to Mongeot — but when the horny 23-year-old busts up the family home with one blade and then the other, it’s La Mort de Lescombat, a tragedy.

For the widow, one good betrayal would deserve another: Mongeot faithfully avoided implicating her in the murder but when he discovered on the very eve of his death that she was already making time with a new fellow, he summoned the judge and revenged himself by exposing her incitement to the crime. His evidence would doom her to follow him many months later, after the sentence was suspended long enough for the widow Lescombat to deliver a son.

Joining Mongeot on the scaffold this date was a 15-year-old heir to the family executioner business apparently conducting just his second such sentence — Charles-Henri Sanson, the famed bourreau destined in time to cut off the head of the king and queen. Mongeot makes a passing appearance in the 19th century Memoirs of the Sansons; in it, Charles-Henri’s grandson remarks from the family notes that “Mdme. Lescombat … was confronted with him [i.e., her doomed lover] at the foot of the scaffold. She was remarkably handsome, and she tried the effect of her charms on her judges, but without avail.”

Set to tune of...

air des Pendus

Transcription

Complainte sur Madame Lescombat.
Sur l’Air des pendus.

Quelle nouveauté est-ce aujourd’hui!
Quel bruit entend-on dans Paris!
L’on voit le monde qui s’amasse
Dans les Carfours & dans les Places,
Qui s’entredisent, allons voir ça,
L’on va pendre la Lescombat.

Monsieur, faut que vous l’appreniez,
C’est une femme éfrontée
Qui fit assassiner son homme
Par son Faraut, elle en personne.
Aujourd’hui elle est condamnée
D’être pendue & étranglée.

Maître Charlot vient d’arriver,
Sitôt il la fut saluer.
La corde au col, dit-il, Madame
Je vous jure dessus mon ame,
Aujourd’hui il nous faut danser,
Ma Salle est déjà préparée.

Pourquoi donc m’en vouloir, Charlot?
Tôt ou tard je ferai ton lot.
Si de quelques mois je differe,
Ne sçais tu pas qu’il est vulgaire,
Que quand on est prêt de mourir,
Adieu la joye & les plaisirs.

A ce discours aussi courtois
Charlot qui est un bon grivois,
Lui dit: dans quelque mois Madame,
Je vous ferai danser un branle
Je vous ferai cabrioler
Un Menuet & un Passepied.

Console-toi aussi Charlot,
Car cela ne sera pas de sitôt,
Remporte tout ton équipage;
Je ne veux point aller au Bal,
Ou bien par ma foi si j’y vas,
Ce ne sera que dans quatre mois.

Avant de danser un Menuet,
Tu sçais que les Cabriolets
Sont les voitures les plus commodes
Et même les plus à la mode,
Pour dedans ta Salle danser,
Il faut tous deux dedans rouler.

Mais sache que je suis appuyée
D’un puissant Seigneur étranger,
Comme il est Anglois sans doutance,
Et qu’il a beaucoup de finance,
Le bruit court par tous dans Paris,
Qu’il me pourra sauver la vie.

Allez vous, Madame, penser
Que vous serez pendu & étranglée.
Si l’on vous donne votre grace,
Ça seroit faire un grand outrage.
Ayant fait tuer votre Mari
Par Mongeot votre Favori.

Je veux, & cela sera fait,
Etre pendue en Mantelet.
Il est vraie, c’est chose assurée,
Que l’on dit à ma renommée,
Quand on pendra la Lescombat
Pour la voir tout Paris viendra.

Madame, il me le faut donc payer,
Est-ce ainsi que vous me renvoyez?
Ma foi je vous le dis sans honte,
Ce sera toujours pour votre compte,
Puisque près ou loin vous viendrez
Mes outils je vais remporter.

Avec Permission.

Method of Punishment

hanging

Crime(s)

murder

Date

Execution Location

Paris, Place de Greve

Printing Location

Paris

URL

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Catherine_Taperet
]]>
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/items/show/1184 <![CDATA[Chanson nouvelle sur Madame Lescombat.<br /> Sur l’air du Danger.<br /> ]]> 2021-03-25T15:52:23+11:00

Title

Chanson nouvelle sur Madame Lescombat.
Sur l’air du Danger.

Synopsis

On this date in 1755, Henri Mongeot was broken on the wheel for assassinating the husband of his adulterous lover, Marie.

Louis Alexandre Lescombat was a Paris architect; the betrayal of his flighty wife Marie Catherine Taperet was all the talk of Paris after her lover Mongeot slew the husband whilst out on a walk in December of 1754 — then summoned the watch to present a bogus self-defense claim.

This tactic has been known to work when the killer enjoys sufficient impunity; perhaps a respectable bourgeois like Lescombat could have done it to Mongeot — but when the horny 23-year-old busts up the family home with one blade and then the other, it’s La Mort de Lescombat, a tragedy.

For the widow, one good betrayal would deserve another: Mongeot faithfully avoided implicating her in the murder but when he discovered on the very eve of his death that she was already making time with a new fellow, he summoned the judge and revenged himself by exposing her incitement to the crime. His evidence would doom her to follow him many months later, after the sentence was suspended long enough for the widow Lescombat to deliver a son.

Joining Mongeot on the scaffold this date was a 15-year-old heir to the family executioner business apparently conducting just his second such sentence — Charles-Henri Sanson, the famed bourreau destined in time to cut off the head of the king and queen. Mongeot makes a passing appearance in the 19th century Memoirs of the Sansons; in it, Charles-Henri’s grandson remarks from the family notes that “Mdme. Lescombat … was confronted with him [i.e., her doomed lover] at the foot of the scaffold. She was remarkably handsome, and she tried the effect of her charms on her judges, but without avail.”

Set to tune of...

air du Danger

Transcription

O Mort, t’es trop cruelle,
Tu me livres un combat,
Et quoique je sois belle,
Faut y sauter le pas;
Sans différer,
Faut perdre la santé,
Chose assurée,
Au cabriolet j’irai.

Je partirai sans doute
Dans quelque jours d’ici:
Faut que je me résoude
A ne plus voir Paris;
C’est aujourd’hui
Qu’il me faut perdre la vie,
Sans plus tarder,
Je me vois condamnée.

Me voilà donc jugée,
La chose est décidée,
Et par mon Favori
J’ai fait tuer mon Mari,
Qui m’aimoit bien.
Ah! quel fâcheux destin
Que j’ai commis,
Pour plaire à mon ami.

Cela est tout abus,
Faut que je sois pendue.
Adieu, Ville de Paris,
Puisqu’il me faut partir
En mantelet,
Ayant un air coquet,
Tout le monde charmé
De me voir cabrioler.

Il me faut donc mourir
Pour vous faire plaisir.
Adieu, tous mes Amis,
Et mes Parens aussi.
Quel grand chagrin,
Moi qui vous aimois bien,
Dans votre coeur
Pour vous quel deshonneur.

Mon Pere, aussi ma Mere,
Je vous fais mes adieux.
Quelle douleur amere
De voir devant vos yeux
Un tel objet!
Que vous avez de regret
De votre enfant
Que vous aimiez tendrement.

Et le jour de ma mort
Tout Paris y viendra,
Les filles, aussi les femmes
S’empresseront pour cela
De tous côtés,
Ils seront étouffés
Pour contempler
Ma charmante beauté.


Au supplice arrivée;
A la Ville je monterai,
Sera pour faire pester
Ceux que seront charmés,
Sans plus târder,
C’est pour m’y voir danser,
Chose assurée,
Menuet & Passepied.

Avant de rendre l’ame,
Son coeur s’en va disant:
Priez pour moi, mes Dames,
Que Jesus tout-puissant,
Et que pour cette nuit
Je sois en paradis,
Je prierai Dieu
Pour vous dedans les cieux.

Et vous, jeunes fillettes,
Qui êtes à marier,
Ne prenez point un homme
Et sans que vous l’aimiez;
C’est que je vous le dis,
J’ai fait tuer mon Mari,
Ne l’aimant pas,
Me voilà au trépas.

FIN

Avec Permission

Method of Punishment

hanging

Crime(s)

murder

Date

Execution Location

Paris, Place de Greve

URL

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Catherine_Taperet
]]>
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/items/show/1025 <![CDATA[La complainte de Mandrin]]> 2020-01-14T13:15:19+11:00

Title

La complainte de Mandrin

Synopsis

Louis Mandrin ( February 11, 1725 - May 26, 1755) was a French brigand (highwayman) from Dauphiné.
Mandrin has been called the Robin Hood of France. He became famous for his rebellion against the Ferme générale, the tax collecting agency of the French ancien régime (royal government). In his time, government taxes were levied on salt ( the gabelle), tobacco, and farming. The tax collectors, called fermiers, or (tax) farmers, were in charge of collecting all taxes for the king, but the total amount of the tax to be paid by the population was not specified; the tax collectors needed to pay only the pre-agreed amount to the king, but could exact unspecified sums themselves. Many of them were greedy and became wealthy and powerful through their exactions from the poor. The tax collectors were therefore hated by the people.

Louis Mandrin was born at Saint-étienne-de-Saint-Geoirs, Dauphiné, a border province, in 1725. His family was well established in the region, but was no longer as prosperous as in the past. Louis's father, a horse merchant, died when Louis was 17, leaving nine children. Louis, the eldest, hecame head of the family.

Mandrin's first run-in with the fermiers was in 1748. He was under contract to supply to French army in Italy with "100 mules minus three." Unfortunately, crossing the Alps was difficult and most of the animals died on the way to their destination, Saint-étienne-de-Saint-Geoirs. Mandrin had only 17 mules left when he arrived, and they were in such a sorry state that the tax collectors refused to pay him.

Five years later, on July 27, 1753, Mandrin and his friend Benoît Brissaud were involved in a brawl and their opponents were killed. Brissaud was sentenced to death and Mandrin to the galleys. Mandrin managed to flee but Brissaud was caught and hanged in Breuil square (now Place Grenette) in Grenoble. On the same day, Mandrin's brother Pierre was hanged for counterfeiting. Mandrin declared a personal war against the tax collectors.

Mandrin joined a gang of smugglers operating in the Cantons of Switzerland, France, and Savoy, which was then a sovereign state. They trafficked mainly in tobacco. Mandrin soon became head of this gang - a small army of some 300 men which he led and organised like a military regiment. They had warehouses for weapons and stolen goods in Savoy, and Mandrin believed himself out of the reach from the French authorities. During 1754 he organised six military-style campaigns. He and his men targeted only the most unpopular tax collectors, which gained them huge support from the local population. Mandrin bought goods (cloth, hides, tobacco, canvas and spices) in Switzerland, which he then resold in French towns without paying the Ferme Générale any of the tax due. The population was delighted with such bargains. Soon the French government passed laws forbidding the population to buy these smuggled goods. Mandrin reacted to the ban by going to Rodez and forcing Ferme Générale employees to buy his goods at gunpoint.

The Ferme générale, exasperated by Mandrin's growing popularity, obtained help from the Royal Army, but Mandrin took refuge in Savoy, near Pont-de-Beauvoisin. The tax collectors then decided to enter the Duchy illegally, disguising their 500 men as peasants. Mandrin was betrayed by of two of his men, and the tax collectors seized him at a fortified farm in Rochefort-en-Novalaise. When the King of Savoy, Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia, learned of the French intrusion into his territory, he immediately wrote to the French King Louis XV demanding that the prisoner be turned over to him, and the French King agreed. However, the tax collectors were so eager to be rid of Mandrin that they had hurried through his trial and execution before the king's message reached them.

Mandrin was tried on May 24, 1755, and sentenced to be broken on the wheel, a penalty reserved for serious offenders, in Valence, Drôme on May 26. He was executed on May 26, 1755, in front of 6,000 onlookers, many of them sympathetic. His arms, legs and stomach were hit and broken with an iron bar and he was then hoisted on a wheel with his arms and legs under him. Mandrin endured the torture without a cry. After eight minutes, he was strangled to put an end to his suffering. His broken body was put on display. Many angry and sympathetic notes were left near the body. It was the beginning of the legend.

Mandrin's struggle against the injustice of the Ancien Régime was discussed across Europe and the cause taken up by Voltaire (who compared him with the king of Prussia)[3][4] and Turgot. A popular ballad arose, the Complainte de Mandrin, that was sung throughout France and is still known today. Its author remains unknown.

Extremely popular during his life, Mandrin remains famous to this day, in his native Dauphiné, in the Savoie and to a lesser degree, in the rest of France. A major film was made about him in 2011.

Set to tune of...

The music of this ballad, which dates to the year of Mandrin's execution, 1755, is excerpted from an opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau, composed in 1733 : Hippolyte et Aricie. It was then covered anonymously under the title by which it is still known. The text was also published as an appendix to a book titled Précis de la vie de Louis Mandrin ("Treatise on the Life of Louis Mandrin").

Transcription

Nous étions vingt ou trente,
Brigands dans une bande
Tous habillés de blanc,
A la mod' de...vous m'entendez
Tous habillés de blanc
A la mode des marchands.

La premire volerie,
Que je fis dans ma vie
C'est d'avoir goupillé,
La bourse d'un...Vous m'entendez,
C'est d'avoir goupillé,
La bourse d'un curé.

J'entrai dedans sa chambre,
Mon Dieu qu'elle était grande
J'y trouvais mille écus,
Je mis la main...Vous m'entendez,
J'y trouvais mille écus,
Je mis la main dessus.

J'entrai dedans une autre,
Mon Dieu qu'elle était haute
De rob's et de manteaux,
J'en chargeai trois...Vous m'entendez,
De rob's et de manteaux,
J'en chargeai trois chariots.

Je les portai pour vendre,
A la foire de Hollande
J' les vendis bon marché,
Ils n' m'avaient rien...Vous m'entendez,
J'les vendis au marché,
Ils n' m'avaient rien coùté.

Ces Messieurs de Grenoble,
Avec leurs longues robes,
Et leurs bonnets carrés,
M'eurent bientôt...Vous m'entendez,
Et leurs bonnets carrés,
M'eurent bien jugé.

Ils m'ont jugé à pendre,
Ah ! c'est dur à entendre
A pendre et étrangler,
Sur la plac' du...Vous m'entendez,
A pendre et étrangler,
Sur la place du Marché.

Monté sur la potence,
Je regardai la France
J'y vis mes compagnons,
A l'ombre d'un...Vous m'entende
J'y vis mes compagnons,
A l'ombre d'un buisson.

Œ‚ Compagnons de misre,
Allez dire à ma mre,
Qu'ell' ne m' reverra plus,
J' suis un enfant...Vous m'entendez,
Qu'ell' ne m'reverra plus,
J' suis un enfant perdu.

Method of Punishment

breaking on the wheel

Crime(s)

smuggling, murder

Gender

Date

Execution Location

Valence, Drôme

Notes

Popular song; found everywhere.
]]>
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/items/show/975 <![CDATA[CHANSON sur la vie de LOUIS MANDRIN; ]]> 2020-01-08T17:36:34+11:00

Title

CHANSON sur la vie de LOUIS MANDRIN;

Subtitle

augmentée de sa Mort. Sur l'air des Pendus.

Set to tune of...

air des Pendus

Transcription

OR, écoutez, jeunes & vieux,
L'histoire d'un homme fameux,
Qui fait tant parler de sa vie,
Et qui par sa grande industrie
De paysan devint un Monsieur,
C'est ce qui lui porta malheur.

Il naquit donc en Dauphiné,
Mandrin qu'on a déja roué,
Pays si fertile en grands hommes.
Avouons-le tant que nous sommes;
Que tous les gens qui y sont nés
Y voient bien plus loin que leur nez.

Qui fut sa mere? on le sçait bien;
son pere en lui fit un Vaurien:
Mais enfin, quel qu'il dùt être,
On lui donna de très-bons maîtres,
Qui le firent en peu de mois
Un vrai madré des plus adroits.

Il n'avoit pas encore huit ans,
Qu'il montroit déja des talens
Beaucoup au-dessus de son âge:
Tous les enfans de son Village,
Ils l'appelloient le fin Renard.
Mais il courut de grands hazards.

Hélas! nous le sçavons bien tous
Que le mérite a des Jaloux:
A Grenoble ainsi qu'à Valence;
Mandrin en fit l'expérience;
Je m'en vais vous dire comment:
Ecoutez attentivement.

L'an mil sept cent cinquante-deux
Antoine le cadet des deux,
De Louis il étoit le frere,
Pour certaine fâcheuse affaire,
Fut pendu très-réellement
Par ordre exprès du Parlement.

Le même jour Louis, hélas!
Fut roué, mais il n'y étoit pas;
Car il le fut en effigie,
Et si pour conserver sa vie,
Il n'eùt pris la fuite bien fort,
Il auroit été mis à mort.

Elu Chef de Contrebandiers,
A tous nos Seigneurs les Fermiers
Il se mit à faire la guerre,
Et sur les eaux & sur la terre.
Dieu préserve ses serviteurs
De la potence & des voleurs.

On l'a vu dedans Montbrison
A Bourg, à Clugny près Mâcon,
Qui sont des pays de Cocagne,
Et bien meilleurs que l'Allemagne,
Enfiler avec grand fracas
Les Commis & les Chapon gras.

Il massacroit de tout côté,
De personne il n'avoit pitié,
Et les Dames toutes tremblantes
S'enfuyoient avec leurs Servantes.
Il ne craignoit Dieu ni le Roi,
Le méchant n'avoit point de foi.

Allant aux Bureaux de Tabac,
Il en grapilloit plus d'un sac
Qu'il vendoit à cent sols la livre,
Il pilloit or, argent & cuivre;
Aux Fermiers donnoit ses billets,
Qui les trouvoient assez mauvais.

Tôt ou tard le Dieu Souverain
Punit un homme libertin.
Il permit qu'aux portes de France,
Mandrin, dormant sans défiance,
Fut pris miraculeusement.
Dieu lui pardonne au Jugement.

Par des Gardes il fut enlevé,
Qui le tinrent très-resserré.
On le conduisit à Valence,
Lieu remarquable dans la France.
Quand il y fut emprisonné,
Il parut un peu étonné.

La Justice avec grand raison
Le fit présenter à question,
Pour lui faire avouer ses crimes,
Au Puy, Beaune, Autun, ses victimes;
Mais l'impoli fit un gros pet
Pour dernier coup de pistolet.

Le Juge pardonna le coup;
Pour de sa bouche sçavoir tout,
Mandrin avoua ses offenses.
Mon ami, fais en pénitene:
Si tu meurs aussi criminel,
Tu feras un péché mortel.

Or donc Monsieur le Juge en pleurs,
Parloit comme un Prédicateur:
Mais Mandrin s'amusoit à boire,
Au lieu de changer & de croire
Une troupe de gens pieux
Qui venoient lui parler de Dieu.

Une Dame de grand renom,
Qui les visitoit en prison,
L'exhortoit à sauver son ame;
Mais l'Impie lui dit: Madame:
Allant d'ici en Paradis,
Combien compte-t'on de Logis?

Le Malheureux ne vouloit point
Se confesser en bon Chrétien;
Il blasphémoit comme un Corsaire,
Il envoyoit faire lanlaire
Petits collets, grands capuchons,
Sans y mettre trop de façons.

Alors on dit que Monseigneur,
Qui se connoit en Directeur,
Lui en choisit un fort habile,
Depuis peu venu à la Ville.
Mon Pere, lui dit-il, je veux
Que vous meniez Mandrin aux Cieux.

Le Saint homme obéit d'abord.
Il dit à Mandrin qu'il a tort.
Mon enfant, ta cause est jugée;
Tu vois ta fortune changée;
Tu pourrois bien être roué,
Et même perdre la santé.

Je n'oserai jamais te voir
Dans la peine & le désespoir.
Tu seras en grandes détresses,
Il faut donc que tu te confesses;
Sinon, je t'assures aussitôt
Que tu mourras en huguenot.

Par la grace du Saint Esprit,
Alors Mandrin se convertit;
Il se confessa tout de suite:
Son Confesseur plein de mérite,
Sur l'Acte de Contrition,
Lui donna l'Absolution.

Il embrassa de tout son coeur
Le Bourreau son Exécuteur.
En passant devant une Eglise,
Quoiqu'il n'eùt rien que sa chemise,
Il fit la génuflexion,
Tant il avoit de dévotion.

Il fut conduit à l'échafaut,
Que l'on avoit dressé bien haut;
Sur la croix soudain on le couche:
Le Bourreau n'ouvroit pas la bouche,
Mais le Per lui dit, mon fils,
Tu souperas en Paradis.

Enfin le Bourreau lui cassa
Les os des jambes & des bras,
Avec ceux des reins & des cuisses.
Et Mandrin pendant ses supplices,
Prioit bien fort l'Agneau Paschal,
Et disoit qu'on lui faisoit mal.

Quand il eut les membres rompus,
Sur la roue il fut étendu.
A la fin par miséricorde,
On lia son cou d'une corde,
Par ordre de Monsieur Levet,
Pour qu'on lui coupât le sifflet.

Or prions tous dévotement
Dieu & ses Saints semblablement,
Qu'ils nous préservent de mal faire,
Tant que nous serons sur la terre,
De peur de tomber en Enfer
Avec Judas & Lucifer.

Peuple Chrétien, qui m'écoutez:
De cet exemple profitez.
Ne faites plus la Contrebande,
Pleurez vos fautes qui sont grandes,
Et vous pourrez comme Mandrin
Faire une glorieuse fin.

FIN.
















Method of Punishment

breaking on the wheel

Crime(s)

smuggling, murder

Gender

Date

Execution Location

Valence

Notes

Wikipedia: Louis Mandrin ( February 11, 1725 - May 26, 1755) was a French brigand (highwayman) from Dauphiné.

Mandrin has been called the Robin Hood of France. He became famous for his rebellion against the Ferme générale, the tax collecting agency of the French ancien régime (royal government). In his time, government taxes were levied on salt ( the gabelle), tobacco, and farming. The tax collectors, called fermiers, or (tax) farmers, were in charge of collecting all taxes for the king, but the total amount of the tax to be paid by the population was not specified; the tax collectors needed to pay only the pre-agreed amount to the king, but could exact unspecified sums themselves. Many of them were greedy and became wealthy and powerful through their exactions from the poor. The tax collectors were therefore hated by the people.

Louis Mandrin was born at Saint-étienne-de-Saint-Geoirs, Dauphiné, a border province, in 1725. His family was well established in the region, but was no longer as prosperous as in the past. Louis's father, a horse merchant, died when Louis was 17, leaving nine children. Louis, the eldest, hecame head of the family.

Mandrin's first run-in with the fermiers was in 1748. He was under contract to supply to French army in Italy with "100 mules minus three." Unfortunately, crossing the Alps was difficult and most of the animals died on the way to their destination, Saint-étienne-de-Saint-Geoirs. Mandrin had only 17 mules left when he arrived, and they were in such a sorry state that the tax collectors refused to pay him.

Five years later, on July 27, 1753, Mandrin and his friend Benoît Brissaud were involved in a brawl and their opponents were killed. Brissaud was sentenced to death and Mandrin to the galleys. Mandrin managed to flee but Brissaud was caught and hanged in Breuil square (now Place Grenette) in Grenoble. On the same day, Mandrin's brother Pierre was hanged for counterfeiting. Mandrin declared a personal war against the tax collectors.

Mandrin joined a gang of smugglers operating in the Cantons of Switzerland, France, and Savoy, which was then a sovereign state. They trafficked mainly in tobacco. Mandrin soon became head of this gang - a small army of some 300 men which he led and organised like a military regiment. They had warehouses for weapons and stolen goods in Savoy, and Mandrin believed himself out of the reach from the French authorities. During 1754 he organised six military-style campaigns. He and his men targeted only the most unpopular tax collectors, which gained them huge support from the local population. Mandrin bought goods (cloth, hides, tobacco, canvas and spices) in Switzerland, which he then resold in French towns without paying the Ferme Générale any of the tax due. The population was delighted with such bargains. Soon the French government passed laws forbidding the population to buy these smuggled goods. Mandrin reacted to the ban by going to Rodez and forcing Ferme Générale employees to buy his goods at gunpoint.

The Ferme générale, exasperated by Mandrin's growing popularity, obtained help from the Royal Army, but Mandrin took refuge in Savoy, near Pont-de-Beauvoisin. The tax collectors then decided to enter the Duchy illegally, disguising their 500 men as peasants. Mandrin was betrayed by of two of his men, and the tax collectors seized him at a fortified farm in Rochefort-en-Novalaise. When the King of Savoy, Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia, learned of the French intrusion into his territory, he immediately wrote to the French King Louis XV demanding that the prisoner be turned over to him, and the French King agreed. However, the tax collectors were so eager to be rid of Mandrin that they had hurried through his trial and execution before the king's message reached them.

Mandrin was tried on May 24, 1755, and sentenced to be broken on the wheel, a penalty reserved for serious offenders, in Valence, Drôme on May 26. He was executed on May 26, 1755, in front of 6,000 onlookers, many of them sympathetic. His arms, legs and stomach were hit and broken with an iron bar and he was then hoisted on a wheel with his arms and legs under him. Mandrin endured the torture without a cry. After eight minutes, he was strangled to put an end to his suffering. His broken body was put on display. Many angry and sympathetic notes were left near the body. It was the beginning of the legend.

Mandrin's struggle against the injustice of the Ancien Régime was discussed across Europe and the cause taken up by Voltaire (who compared him with the king of Prussia)[3][4] and Turgot. A popular ballad arose, the Complainte de Mandrin, that was sung throughout France and is still known today. Its author remains unknown.

Extremely popular during his life, Mandrin remains famous to this day, in his native Dauphiné, in the Savoie and to a lesser degree, in the rest of France. A major film was made about him in 2011.

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