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THE TRIAL 
 
 KSAWCJS T*iAWAU'l»AC ; 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 flburber of Iking 1benr\> 
 tbe Great. 
 
This Edition is limited to 2j$ small-paper and 75 
 large-paper copies. 
 
Bibliotheca Curtosa 
 
 THE TRIAL 
 
 M 
 
 OF 
 
 jfrancts IRavatllac 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 ^liurdcr of ^Kling ^Eficnry 
 ths <S>reat, 
 
 Together with an account of his Torture and 
 Execution, extracted and translated 
 from the Registers of the Par- 
 liament of Paris, 1610. 
 
 ©tJitfll bl> 
 
 EDMUND GOLDSMID, F.R.H.S., 
 
 F.S.A. (Scot.) 
 
 PRIVATELY PRINTED, EDINBURGH. 
 
 1885. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
tK5.4/ 
 (&Q<oTQ. 
 
 Tl\e Trial of Francis 
 Jjkvkillad, 1610. 
 
 —<-S-o-S<— 
 
 Jnterrogatorics ejblblteb to tbe ZlccuseD 
 ot tbc TBhurber of tbc late Iking, on tbc 
 I7tb of /Ibag, 1610, at tbe suit of tbe 
 attorneg=G5eneral, bp Scbillcs be 
 Ibarlag, tfirst ©resident; IRtcboIas 
 ©otier, ©resident; 3obn Courtin and 
 ©rosper DUauin, Counsellors of our 
 HorO tbe Iking in bis Court of ©arlia= 
 ment, Commissioners appointed bn 
 tbe said Court for tbat purpose. 
 
 'J'llE prisoner is sworn; and asked his name, 
 age, rank, and place of abode? 
 
 He said, that his name was Francis Ravaillac, 
 born and dwelling at Angouleme, between thirty - 
 one and thirty-two years of age. 
 
 He was asked if he was married? 
 
6 
 
 THE TRIAL OF 
 
 He answered, No. 
 
 Whether he ever had been married? 
 
 He answered, No. 
 
 How he had spent his youth? and to what he 
 had applied himself? 
 
 He said, that he had been employed in soliciting 
 lawsuits in this court. 
 
 Whether he had been bred up to the practice of 
 the law ? 
 
 He said, that he had solicited lawsuits for 
 fourteen years; that he lodged at the Rats, 
 opposite to the Green Pillar, in Harp-street, at a 
 cobler’s; and near the three pair of beads, in 
 Calendar-street. 
 
 How long he had been in this city the last 
 journey ? 
 
 He said, about three weeks. 
 
 Whether he has had any intention to go back 
 again? 
 
 He said, Yes. 
 
 How far he had gone back ? 
 
 He said, he had gone beyond the town of 
 d’Estampes, at the sign of the Ecce homo. 
 
 He was asked, what made him return ? 
 
 He said, a desire to kill the king. 
 
 He was asked, what was his motive ? 
 
 He answered, that amongst other reasons there 
 was this, that the king had not, as he was able to 
 do, brought back the followers of the pretended 
 
FRANCIS RAVAILLAC. 
 
 reformation to the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman 
 church. 
 
 He was asked, what other reasons he had? 
 
 He answered that he was come to this city to 
 speak to the king, and admonish him to bring 
 back those of the pretended reformed religion to 
 the Catholic church; and for that purpose he had 
 been several times at the Louvre to meet with his 
 majesty; that he had been at madame d’Angou- 
 leme’s to get somebody to introduce him; and 
 likewise at the house of the cardinal Du Perron, 
 to whom he never spoke, but only to his chaplains, 
 whose names he could not tell, but should know 
 them if he saw them; that he spoke of it to Father 
 Daubigny, a Jesuit, in his last journey, which was 
 before Christmas; he spoke of it to the parson of 
 Saint-Severin, and to the Father Saint Mary 
 Magdalen, provincial of the Feuillants. 
 
 It was asked him, where he spoke to Father 
 Daubigny? 
 
 He said, he spoke to him in the church in Saint- 
 Anthony’s-street at the conclusion of mass. 
 
 He was asked, at what time he talked to him? 
 
 He said, that he set out from his own country 
 thirteen days before Christmas; that he was four¬ 
 teen days in company to this city; that three or 
 four days after his arrival, he went to the house of 
 the Jesuits near Saint Antony’s gate, where the 
 said Father Daubigny said mass; after which, he 
 
8 
 
 THE TRIAL OF 
 
 desired one of the lay-brothers to procure him 
 the means of speaking to the said Daubigny; 
 which he did; and he told him several visions 
 which had preceded the meditations that he had 
 made by the permission of his provincial Francis 
 Mary Magdalen of the Feuillants. 
 
 He was asked, why he used the expression, My 
 provincial? 
 
 He said, because the said Mary Magdalen had 
 received him as lay brother at the Feuillants. 
 
 It was asked, how long he had worn the habit 
 of Feuillant? and why he had quitted it? 
 
 He said, that he had worn it about six weeks; 
 and they had taken it from him because he had 
 visions in his meditations. 
 
 On being asked again about it, he said he had 
 desired it again, but it was refused him on account 
 of the said meditations. 
 
 Upon this, he began to weep, and said, God 
 had given him that habit, and his grief was, that 
 they would not restore it to him. 
 
 He was asked, if he knew the superior, and his 
 name? 
 
 He said, that he did not know him nor his 
 name; but that he had asked for the habit again, 
 only because it being our Lord’s pleasure that he 
 should continue in the world, from which it was 
 his wish to retire, he resolved to serve as a lay- 
 brother. 
 
FRANCIS RAVAILLAC. 
 
 9 
 
 This he uttered with tears. 
 
 He said, that he had a great deal of uneasiness, 
 in not having staid with the Feuillanls in the 
 favour of God. 
 
 He was asked, what visions he had spoke of to 
 Father Daubigny? 
 
 He said, that he had told him, that while he 
 was a prisoner for debt at Angoulcme he had 
 visions, representing fire, sulphur, and incense; 
 and being released from prison, the S aturday after 
 Christmas, having at night made his meditation, 
 as was his custom, in bed, with his hands clasped, 
 and his feet crossed, he felt his face and his mouth 
 covered with something which he could not 
 discern, because it was midnight; and being in 
 that state, he felt in himself a desire to sing the 
 Psalms of David; he begun the psalm, Dixit 
 Dominus, and sung it through; and afterwards, 
 Miserere, and De Profundis, at full length; and 
 that it seemed to him, that he had a trumpet in his 
 mouth, which made a sound as loud as that which 
 is made in war. 
 
 The next day in the morning, as soon as he got 
 out of bed, having made his meditation on his 
 knees, and recollected in God, as his manner was, 
 he sat down in a low chair before the hearth, and 
 having combed his head, it being not yet light, he 
 perceived one of the sticks yet on fire; and having 
 finished dressing himself, he found part of a 
 
10 
 
 THE TRIAL OF 
 
 bundle of twigs which he put to the stick that had 
 kept fire, and kneeling down upon the ground, set 
 himself to blow it, when immediately, on both 
 sides of his face, both to the right and to the left, 
 he saw, by the glimmering of the fire which was 
 produced by his breath, hosts like those which are 
 used at the communion of Catholics in the Church 
 of God; and below his face, at the right side of 
 his mouth, he saw a roll of the same size with 
 that which the priest elevates at the celebration 
 of divine service. Of this revelation he gave an 
 account to Father Daubigny, who, fearing that 
 his head was disordered, told him, that he was 
 not to think of all this, but to tell his beads, and 
 pray to God: but that he was determined in 
 his own mind to address himself to some great 
 man to speak to the king. 
 
 It was inquired, if he had asked Daubigny 
 whether, if he should have visions that incited 
 him to kill the king, he ought to confess them? 
 
 He answered, that he had said nothing to him 
 but what he had already told, except that his 
 purpose was to speak to the king to drive out all 
 the followers of the pretended reformed religion, 
 and convert them to the Roman Catholic church. 
 
 It was asked, what Daubigny said to this? 
 
 He said, that he should put all these things 
 out of his head, say his prayers, and tell his 
 beads. 
 
FRANCIS RAVAILLAC. II 
 
 It was asked, whether he had no other conver¬ 
 sation with him? and whether he never saw him 
 but that time ? 
 
 He answered, No. 
 
 Why did he choose to address himself to Dau¬ 
 bigny rather than to any other? 
 
 He answered, that it was because, when he was 
 turned out of the Feuillants, he had a mind to 
 become a Jesuit, or to entreat him to speak to his 
 provincial to replace him among the Feuillants; 
 but that, not having found him the first time, one 
 of the lay-brethren told him, that they never 
 receive into their house those who had been in 
 another order. 
 
 He said farther, that not having been able to 
 speak to the king, he went back to the Jesuits to 
 speak a second time to the said Daubigny, and 
 spoke to him as he has already said, and shewed 
 him a little knife on which there was a heart and 
 a cross, telling him, that the heart of the king 
 should be disposed to make war amongst the 
 Huguenots. 
 
 He was asked, what hindered him from speak¬ 
 ing to the king ? 
 
 He said, that it was the grand provost who had 
 given him the torture with the gun while he was 
 kept prisoner at the Hotel de Retz. 
 
 He was asked to whom he had applied him¬ 
 self that he might speak with the king ? 
 
12 
 
 1 HE TRIAL OF 
 
 He said, to the archers, and they carried him to 
 speak to the provost, who told him that the king 
 was sick. 
 
 He was asked, when he was at the Louvre? 
 
 He said, that it was after Christmas, and some 
 two or three days afterwards he met his majesty 
 near St. Innocents in his coach, and, desiring to 
 speak to him, he cried out in these words,— Sire, 
 I speak to you in the name of our Lord Jesus , and 
 of the Holy Virgin; but the king put him back 
 with a little stick, and would not hear him. He 
 then considered of retiring into his own country, 
 and went away. And, being at Angouleme, he 
 went to look for Friar Gilles there, who had been 
 formerly visitor of the Franciscan friars in Paris, 
 to whom he confessed his visions and meditations, 
 telling him that he saw it to be the will of our 
 Lord to bring back the followers of the pretended 
 reformation to the Catholic church: that the 
 visitor told him he need not doubt of it. A few 
 days afterwards, and the first Sunday in Lent, he 
 went to mass at the monastery of the Franciscan 
 friars in Angouleme, where he reconciled himself 
 with God, made his confession to a friar of the 
 order, whose name he does not know, and in his 
 confession told the voluntary murder. 
 
 He was desired to explain w'hat he meant by 
 the word voluntary? 
 
 He said, his meaning was, that he returned 
 
FRANCIS RAVAILLAC. 
 
 13 
 
 into this city with an intention to murder the 
 king, which, nevertheless, he did not tell his 
 confessor, who did not desire the meaning of 
 these words. 
 
 Upon being farther questioned, he said, that he 
 had then lost that intention, but that, when he 
 returned to this city, he resumed his intention. 
 
 He was asked, when he came to this city? 
 
 He said that he travelled on foot, and arrived 
 eight days after his setting out. 
 
 He was asked, how he had employed himself 
 during his stay in Paris. 
 
 He said, that he lodged at the Three Half 
 Moons, in the suburbs St. James; and afterwards, 
 that he might be near the Louvre, he went to 
 lodge at the Three Pigeons in the suburb St. 
 Honore; from thence he went to take a lodging 
 at an inn, near the quinzevingts* but, there being 
 too many guests there, he was refused; upon 
 which he took up a knife that lay upon a table, 
 not upon account of his being refused a lodging, 
 but because it seemed to him a very fit one for the 
 execution of his design, and he kept it for some 
 days, or three weeks, in a bag in his pocket. 
 
 He farther said, that, having desisted from his 
 intention, he set out upon his journey home, and 
 went as far as Estampes; that, as he was walking, 
 
 A hospital for three hundred patients. 
 
14 
 
 THE TRIAL OF 
 
 he broke the point of the knife against a cart near 
 the garden of Chanteloup, and, coming opposite 
 to the Ecce Homo, in the suburb of Estampes, he 
 again took it into his head to kill the king, and, 
 no longer resisting the temptation as he had done 
 formerly, he returned to Paris with that resolution, 
 because the king did not convert the followers of 
 the pretended reformation, and because he had 
 heard it reported, that the king intended to make 
 war upon the pope, and transfer the seat of the 
 holy see to Paris. 
 
 He was then asked, where he lodged? and who 
 procured him lodgings in this city? 
 
 He said, that he sought for an opportunity to 
 kill the king; and that, for this purpose, he sharp¬ 
 ened, with a stone, the point of the knife, which 
 had been broke, and waited till the queen was 
 crowned, and come back to the city, supposing 
 that there would not be so much confusion in 
 France, if he killed the king after her coronation, 
 as if he had done it before. 
 
 He was told, that, since he deferred killing the 
 king through a hope that there would be fewer 
 commotions after the coronation, the said corona¬ 
 tion could not prevent the troubles which the 
 king’s death must necessarily bring along with it. 
 
 He said, that he submitted that to the will of 
 God. 
 
 He was asked, where he went to meet the king? 
 
FRANCIS RAVAILLAC 
 
 15 
 
 He said, that he went to the Louvre, where he 
 had been several times since he had resolved upon 
 killing him ; that he went there last Wednesday, 
 and intended to kill him between the two gates, 
 as he was going into his coach; that he followed 
 him as far as St. Innocent’s, near the place where 
 he happened to meet him before, when he would 
 not speak to him; and observing that the coach 
 was stopt by two carts, and that his majesty 
 turned his face and leaned towards that side where 
 monsieur d’Epernon sat, he struck him twice in 
 the side with his knife, passing his arm above the 
 coach-wheel. 
 
 He was asked, what was his own opinion of the 
 action he had committed? 
 
 He said, that he thought he had committed a 
 great fault, for which he asked pardon of God, of 
 the queen, the dauphin, the whole court, and of 
 every one who was injured by it. 
 
 We shewed him the knife, which lay before us: 
 it was double-edged at the point, with the handle 
 made of a stag’s horn. He acknowledged it to be 
 the same with which he had stabbed the king, and 
 that it was immediately taken from him by a gen¬ 
 tleman on horseback. 
 
 He was told, that he could have no reason for 
 committing so wicked and traitorous an act, and 
 that he had certainly been incited to it by some 
 other person? 
 
THE TRIAL OF 
 
 16 
 
 He said, that no person whatever had incited 
 him to do it, but the common discourse among the 
 soldiers, who said, that if the king, who would 
 not tell his design to any one, intended to make 
 war upon the holy father, that they would not 
 assist him, although they were to die for it: that 
 for this cause he yielded to the temptation which 
 prompted him to kill the king, because he made 
 war against God, inasmuch as the pope is God, 
 and God the pope. 
 
 He was asked, what time it was that he heard 
 this discourse amongst the soldiers ? 
 
 He said, that it was after he went to lodge at 
 the Three Half Moons. 
 
 It was objected to him, that he was guilty of a 
 falsehood in declaring that to be the cause of his 
 committing the parricide, because he had said 
 before, that, having laid aside his design of 
 killing the king, he set out on his journey to his 
 own country; and that, when he came to 
 Estampes, he resumed that design, upon the 
 discourse of the soldiers. 
 
 He answered, that he had spoke to them be¬ 
 fore, notwithstanding which he had altered his 
 intention ; but when he came to Estampes, he 
 resumed it, upon remembering what the soldiers 
 had said to him. 
 
 He desired us to shew him a paper which he 
 had about him at the time he was seized, whereon 
 
FRANCIS RAVAILLAC. 
 
 17 
 
 was painted the arras of France, with a lion on 
 each side; one holding a key, the other a sword. 
 We showed this paper to him and he acknow¬ 
 ledged it to be the same which he had brought 
 with him from Angouleme, with an intention to 
 kill the king. 
 
 lie was asked, whether, when he was at the 
 house of a man whose name was Beliard, he had 
 heard the said Beliard say, that the pope’s nuncio 
 had told the king, in the name of his holiness, 
 that, if he made war, he w’ould excommunicate 
 him. 
 
 He said, Yes; and also that his majesty had 
 answered, that it was his predecessors who had 
 placed the popes upon the throne; and that, if 
 the holy father should excommunicate him, he 
 would dispossess him of it; whereupon he resolved 
 to kill the king, and with that intention he wrote 
 these lines over the two lions: 
 
 Ne souffre pas qu' on fasse en ta presence 
 Au nom de Dieu aucunne irreverence. 
 
 Do not suffer the name of God to be profaned 
 in thy presence. 
 
 He was asked, whether the knife, when he took 
 it off the table, had the same handle that it has 
 now? 
 
 He said, No: that the handle was of whalebone, 
 which, being broke, he gave the knife to his land 
 lord’s brother, whose name was John Barbier, ;i 
 B 
 
i8 
 
 THE TRIAL OF 
 
 turner by trade, living in the suburb of St. James, 
 and desired him to put a handle of horn upon it; 
 but he did not tell him why he preferred that to 
 any other. 
 
 He was asked, if this Beliard was of the pre¬ 
 tended reformed religion ? 
 
 He said, No; that he was a Catholic: neverthe¬ 
 less he held that discourse with him which put it 
 into his head to kill the king. 
 
 He was told, that he ought not to have taken so 
 wicked and abominable a resolution upon the 
 discourse of one man only. 
 
 He said, he had taken a resolution to kill the 
 king, not only upon what he had heard this man 
 say, but also upon the discourse of the soldiers at 
 Paris, and that of the sieur de St. Georges, among 
 others, who said, that, if the king would make war 
 upon the holy father, he would obey him, being 
 thereto obliged,: and that, if the king did wrong 
 he only was to answer for it. 
 
 We shewed him a heart of Cost-mary root, 
 which he acknowledged to have been taken from 
 him; and he said, it had been given him by Mon¬ 
 sieur Guillebaut, canon of Angouleme, to cure 
 him of a fever, saying, that there was within it a 
 little bit of wood of the real holy cross, consecrated 
 by the Capuchin friars, which had that virtue; 
 and for that purpose he sent Mary Moreau, his 
 landlady, to the Capuchins for it, and ever since 
 he had worn it about his neck. 
 
FRANCIS RAVAILLAC. 19 
 
 We ordered it to be opened in his presence; but 
 there was no wood to be found in the inside. 
 
 Upon which he said, that it was not him who 
 was deceived, but the person who gave it him. 
 
 We shewed him a pair of beads, which, he said, 
 he had bought in St James’s Street seven or eight 
 days ago; that he had said his prayers with them, 
 and wore them ever since constantly. 
 
 He was asked, what persons he kept company 
 with after he had resumed his intention to kill the 
 king ? 
 
 He said, he kept company with none but the 
 friars of his own country, who are at the convent 
 of the Dominican friars, whither he used to go to 
 hear mass and vespers. 
 
 He was asked, what discourse he had with them, 
 and if he had spoke to them of his visions ? 
 
 He said, that he had told them what he had 
 told to others. 
 
 He was asked, if he was acquainted with a man 
 whose name was Colletet, and what discourse they 
 had had together ? 
 
 He said, that he knew him only by lodging in 
 the same room with him ; that they lay together, 
 but that he had not spoke to him of his design. 
 
 He was asked, if he had had any discourse with 
 any other friars ? 
 
 He said, not in this last journey. 
 
 If he had had any discourse with a Franciscan 
 friar of Angouleme ? 
 
20 
 
 THE TRIAL OF 
 
 He said, Yes; but that he had not spoke to 
 him of his enterprise and of his imaginations. 
 
 He was told, that he did not say the truth ; for 
 that he had spoke to him of his imaginations, ask¬ 
 ing his opinion whether he, who had such imagi¬ 
 nations, ought to declare them to his confessor. 
 
 To this he answered, that he had not spoke to 
 a Franciscan of his own co.untry, but to another 
 whom he met near Bourg de La-Royire, with 
 whom he joined company ; and because he had no 
 acquaintance in this city he gave him part of his 
 own lodgings, and carried letters from his friends 
 to procure him admission into the convent: that 
 he also carried his bundle for him, and that the 
 name of this friar was Le-Febure. 
 
 It was observed to him, that, during the reading 
 of his examination, when the wounds he had given 
 the king were mentioned, he had asked pardon of 
 God for that crime, but that the true means to 
 obtain it, was to acknowledge the truth; that his 
 pretence for committing that action was so slight, 
 that he must certainly have been prompted to it 
 by some one who was concerned in the success of 
 that miserable stroke, of which we feel the effects. 
 
 He said, that, since he had been under confine¬ 
 ment, he had been urged by several persons to 
 make this confession, and even by the archbishop 
 of Aix; but that he had been prompted by no 
 person whatever, but by his own desires; and that, 
 
FRANCIS RAVAILLAC. 21 
 
 however he might be tormented, he should never 
 say any thing else; that, if torments could have 
 forced him to confess, he had suffered sufficiently 
 by the torture which a Huguenot of his own 
 private authority gave him, when he kept him 
 prisoner at the Hotel de Retz, by which he had 
 the bone of his thumb broke. 
 
 He was told, that he had been chosen to commit 
 this action as a proper instrument of mischief; he 
 whose whole life had been wicked, and who had 
 begun with using a father and a mother ill, and 
 reducing them to beggary. 
 
 He said, that it would not be found so; and 
 that his father and mother, who were still living, 
 would witness the contrary, as well as the people 
 where he dwelt; that he had been indeed accused 
 and condemned for it, but it was by false witnesses; 
 for he was innocent. 
 
 He was asked, when he was at Brussels? 
 
 He said, that he was never out of the kingdom; 
 and that he did not know where Brussels is. 
 
 This examination being read to the said Ravail- 
 lac, he persisted in his answers, and signed his 
 name 
 
 Ravaillac. 
 
 a? 
 
 i<*w*nV‘n1i 
 
22 
 
 THE TRIAL OF 
 
 £fie lEiamtnation taken next ifflorntng, at tfjc 
 palate, be us tf»c Commissioners, ttjc dfirst 
 ^resitirnt tiring sick. 
 
 The prisoner being sent for as before, and his 
 oath taken, 
 
 He was asked, what was his rank and condition? 
 and if he had a father or a mother alive? 
 
 He said, that he is a practitioner of the law, 
 and that, before his confinement, he employed 
 himself in instructing youth; and that his father 
 is likewise a practitioner of the law, and that his 
 mother is separated from his father. 
 
 We having again ordered his examination to be 
 read to him, he persisted in his answers, without 
 adding or diminishing any thing, except only that 
 he omitted saying, as he did now, that he had been 
 carried to the commission of that crime, because 
 the king would not permit justice to be done upon 
 the Huguenots for the attempt they made last 
 Christmas to murder all the Catholics, for which 
 attempt many of the Huguenots had been taken 
 prisoners, and brought into this city; yet he had 
 been told by several persons, were not punished. 
 
 He was told, that this was false; and that, 
 although he heard it he should not have believed 
 
FRANCIS RAVAILLAC. 
 
 2 
 
 it, nor have been induced to commit a deed so 
 wicked and abominable. 
 
 He said, that this was one of the circumstances 
 which helped to strengthen the temptation. 
 
 He was told, that it was the advice and instruc¬ 
 tion of others which strengthened it. 
 
 He said, that no one was engaged in the design 
 but himself. 
 
 He was asked, if he lived in the same country 
 with his father and mother ? 
 
 He said, that he had lived with his father and 
 mother, but that his father neither loved him nor 
 his mother. 
 
 He was asked, how he maintained himself? 
 
 He said, that he had eighty scholars, and that, 
 with what he gained from them, he supported 
 himself in the journeys he had made to this city ? 
 
 He was asked if his father aud mother observed 
 his conduct ? 
 
 He said, that his father had not lived with them 
 these six years; that he hated him; and that he 
 had lived with his mother only, his sisters having 
 likewise left her. 
 
 He was asked, what means he had of living? 
 
 He said, that his father and mother lived upon 
 alms, and he himself upon what he gained from 
 his scholars, one of whom gave him bacon, another 
 flesh, another corn, wine, &c., and by what his 
 friends furnished him with. 
 
24 
 
 THE TRIAL OF 
 
 He was asked, who were his friends ? 
 
 He said, that they were the fathers and mothers 
 of his scholars. 
 
 He was asked, why he did not stay in his own 
 country, since he could get a livelihood there? 
 
 He said that he thought he should prefer the 
 honour of God to all things. 
 
 He was told, that it was not for the honour of 
 God to kill his king, but that it was an act of the 
 devil. 
 
 He said, that it was a wicked temptation, which 
 did not proceed from God, but was a punishment 
 to him for his sins. 
 
 He was asked, if he was not filled with horror 
 at the commission of an act so abominable, and of 
 so fatal consequence to all France? 
 
 lie said, that he was sorry for having com¬ 
 mitted it, but that since it was done he implored 
 God to give him grace, that he might be able to 
 continue to death in good faith, lively hope, and 
 perfect charity; and that he hoped God was more 
 merciful, and his will to save him more powerful, 
 than the act which he had committed was to damn 
 him. 
 
 He was told, that he could not be in the grace 
 of God, after having committed so wicked an 
 action. 
 
 He said, that he hoped our all-powerful Lord 
 would not make him suffer for it. 
 
FRANCIS RAVAILLAC. 
 
 25 
 
 He was told, that he ought not to hope for the 
 mercy of God, unless he acknowledged the truth, 
 and declared who the persons were who had 
 incited and persuaded him to so wicked a deed. 
 
 He said, that his only reason for committing it 
 was, what he had declared before at his examina¬ 
 tion. 
 
 He was asked, if he had imparted his intention 
 to any one ? 
 
 He said, that he had not to any person whatever. 
 
 He was told, that he was too mean and incon¬ 
 siderable a person to have conceived such a design, 
 and that he must have been advised and supported 
 by others. 
 
 He said, that no person had advised him. 
 
 He was told, that he was so much the more 
 wicked, if he undertook such an enterprise without 
 being advised to it; therefore he would do well to 
 declare who were his advisers. 
 
 To this he answered, that the reason why he did 
 not declare this pernicious intention to priests, and 
 nren who have the care of souls, was, that he was 
 well assured if he had declared to them his design 
 of killing the king, it was their duty to seize his 
 person, and put him into the hands of justice ; 
 since, whenever the public is concerned, priests 
 are obliged to reveal all confessions; for this 
 reason therefore he would not open himself to any 
 person, through a fear that he might be punished 
 
26 
 
 THE TRIAL OF 
 
 with death, as well for his intention of killing the 
 king, as if he had really^ done it, for which he 
 asked pardon of God. 
 
 He was told, that the church commands, that 
 all evil thoughts should be revealed in confession, 
 and to neglect it is a deadly sin. 
 
 He said, that he acknowledged this. 
 
 He was told, that he had "mentioned it. 
 
 He said, he had not. 
 
 He was asked, if he had spoken of it to a Fran¬ 
 ciscan friar ? 
 
 Fie said, No. 
 
 He was told, that he did not speak the truth> 
 for that he had mentioned it to a Franciscan friar, 
 asking him, whether, if a man had strange visions, 
 such as to kill the king, he ought to declare them 
 in his confession ? 
 
 He said, that it was true he had consulted a 
 friar upon this head, but did not tell him that he 
 would do it. 
 
 He was asked, who it was that he consulted? 
 
 He said, a young Franciscan friar, named Le- 
 Febure, to whom he put this question, Whether if 
 a man was assaulted with a temptation, such as 
 to kill a king, and should confess it to the peni¬ 
 tentiary, he should be under a necessity of reveal¬ 
 ing it ? but being interrupted by another friar, 
 he could not know the friar’s opinion concerning 
 the case that he put to him. 
 
FRANCIS RAVAILLAC. 
 
 27 
 
 He was told, that he did not say the truth, and 
 that the Franciscan did make him an answer ; and 
 he was asked, if he would believe the Franciscan 
 if he owned it? 
 
 He said, that he would not believe him; but 
 that it was his opinion, that if the friar had given 
 him an answer, it was, that he ought to reveal his 
 imaginations; but he was interrupted, and there¬ 
 fore would not give him an answer; neither did 
 he, the accused, propose the question to him, as 
 if he was the man who had the temptation, but in 
 general, as if it should happen to any man. 
 
 He was told, that he did not acknowledge the 
 truth, and that he did declare his intentions to 
 him. 
 
 He said, that it was very unlikely that he 
 should do so; that he had applied, as well to lay¬ 
 men as to others, even to an equerry belonging to 
 Queen Margaret, whose name was De-Ferrare; he 
 declared his visions to him, and entreated him to 
 procure him an opportunity to speak to the king; 
 that the equerry answered, he must first have 
 proofs that he was a good man, and one who was 
 fit to speak to the king: to which he, the accused, 
 made answer, that he thought he was good enough 
 to speak to the king. He added, that probably 
 if he had spoke to his majesty, he would have 
 lost his temptation. That he afterwards applied 
 to the secretary of madame d’Angouleme, who 
 
28 
 
 THE TRIAL OF 
 
 told him that the king was sick; yet he went again 
 to the house of the cardinal Du-Perron, where he 
 had the answer he formerly repeated, That he 
 would do better to return to his own house. 
 
 He was told, that that was good counsel, and 
 he ought to have followed it. 
 
 He said, that it was true, but he was so weakened 
 by his sins that he had no power over himself; 
 and that the devil made him fall into this tempta¬ 
 tion. 
 
 He was told, that the devil made use of others 
 to tempt him. 
 
 He said, that no man had ever spoke to him on 
 the subject. 
 
 He was told, that he could not hope for the 
 grace of God, unless he discharged his conscience. 
 
 He said, that he had some fears, but he also had 
 great hopes of the grace of God. 
 
 He was told, that he could not expect it but by 
 declaring the truth. 
 
 He said, that if he had been employed by any 
 one in France, or by a foreigner, and should be so 
 abandoned by God as to die without declaring it, 
 he should not believe that he would be saved, or 
 that there would be any paradise for him, because 
 abissus abissunt, &c. as he had learned of the 
 preachers of our Lord; that one abyss of sins leads 
 into others; that it was to double his crime, that 
 the king, more especially the queen, the whole 
 
FRANCIS RAVAILLAC. 
 
 29 
 
 house of France, the court, the nobility, and all 
 the people, should, on his account, be induced to 
 offend God, while their minds remained in a per¬ 
 petual inquietude, suspecting, unjustly, sometimes 
 one, sometimes another, of their subjects; none of 
 whom, he believed, were so imprudent, as to 
 entertain a thought of being disloyal to their 
 princes. 
 
 He was told, that if that was his opinion, he 
 ought the more readily to declare who had per¬ 
 suaded him to the crime. 
 
 He said, that no Frenchman, foreigner, or any 
 other, had ever advised, persuaded, or spoke to 
 him on this subject; neither had he, the accused, 
 ever mentioned it to any one : he was not so 
 wicked as to have committed that deed for any 
 other cause than what he had declared to us, 
 namely, that he believed the king intended to 
 make war upon the pope. 
 
 He was told, that this was a false pretence. 
 
 He said, that he was very sorry for what he had 
 done, and that he earnestly begged of every one 
 to lay aside their suspicions of his having been set 
 on to murder the king, and to believe that he only 
 was concerned in that deed ; and that they would 
 not look with an evil eye, or bear any one ill will, 
 since he alone was guilty. 
 
 He was asked, if he had ever been in ser¬ 
 vice ? 
 
30 
 
 THE TRIAL OF 
 
 He said, that he had served the late Monsieur 
 Rosieres, a counsellor of Angouleme ; and that he 
 had lived likewise with some attorneys, who were 
 now dead. 
 
 He was asked, if he had ever served any 
 nobleman, as a page, footman, or valet de 
 chambre? 
 
 He said, that he had not; but when he lived 
 with Counsellor Rosieres, as his clerk, he likewise 
 served him as a valet de chambre. 
 
 He was asked, if he had seen the corona¬ 
 tion last Tuesday, and if he had followed the 
 king? 
 
 He said, he had not. 
 
 He was asked, if he had been on the road to 
 Saint-Denis? 
 
 He said, not this last journey, but at Christmas 
 last, when he went to beg alms of the bakers. 
 
 He was asked, if he had been there last week ? 
 
 He said, he had not gone farther than Saint- 
 Jean-en-Greve, and le Pont Notre-Dame. 
 
 He was asked, if he had any magical characters 
 about him? and who had given them to him? 
 
 He said, he should have thought it a wicked 
 thing to have them. 
 
 His examination beingread to him, he persisted 
 in his answers, and signed his name, 
 
 Ravaillac. 
 
FRANCIS RAVAILLAC. 
 
 31 
 
 Underneath which he wrote these lines :— 
 
 Que toujours en mon cceur , 
 
 Jesus soil le vainqueur. 
 
 In my heart let Jesus be always conqueror. 
 
 Father James Daubigny, priest of the college of 
 Jesuits, was this day sent for into court by us 
 the commissioners, in the presence of Ravaillac; 
 both of them acknowledged the oaths they had 
 taken. 
 
 The said Ravaillac acknowledged, that the said 
 Father Daubigny was the person whom he had 
 heard say mass some time after last Christmas, in 
 their church in St. Antony’s street; that having 
 been told he was the friend of Father Mary 
 Magdalen the Feuillant, he went to seek him, to 
 entreat him to procure his admission into that 
 order; that after mass was over, he spoke to him by 
 means of a lay-brother, and declared to him, that 
 he had had great visions and imaginations, import¬ 
 ing that the king ought to reduce the followers of 
 the pretended reformation; and that he shewed 
 the said Daubigny a little knife, whereon was a 
 heart and a cross; believing, that the king ought 
 to bring back the followers of the pretended 
 reformation to the Catholic and Roman church. 
 The said Daubigny replied, that all this was 
 
32 
 
 THE TRIAL OF 
 
 false, and that he had never seen the said Ravail- 
 lac. 
 
 The said Ravaillac answered, By the same token 
 you gave me a penny, which you asked of one that 
 was near you. 
 
 To this the said Daubigny answered, that the 
 prisoner was a very bad man; and after having 
 committed so wicked an action, he had sins 
 enough to answer for, without being the cause of 
 an hundred thousand others, which might be 
 committed. 
 
 The prisoner was then told, that if he had any 
 objections to make to Father Daubigny, he must 
 make them immediately. 
 
 He said, that he had none ; that he looked 
 upon the said Father Daubigny to be an honest 
 man, a g)od religious, and that he would believe 
 him. 
 
 In like manner, the said Daubigny being told of 
 the ordinance, that he must make his objections 
 to the prisoner immediately, for they would not 
 afterwards be received. 
 
 He said, that he had nothing else to say, but 
 that the prisoner was a very wicked man, and had 
 uttered several falsehoods. 
 
 The examination of the said Daubigny being 
 read in the presence of the said Ravaillac, he, the 
 said Daubigny, persisted in his answers, and 
 declared that they were true. 
 
FRANCIS RAVAILLAC. 33 
 
 But the said Ravaillac declared, that he had 
 spoke to the said Daubigny ; that he went to look 
 for him when he came out of the Louvre, and told 
 him that he had temptations; and that when he 
 was in prison making his meditations, by permis¬ 
 sion of Father Mary Magdalen, his hands and feet 
 had sent forth a stench of sulphur and fire ; which 
 were proofs of the existence of a purgatory, con¬ 
 trary to the erroneous opinion of heretics; that he 
 had visions of the sacred hosts on each side of his 
 face, having before sung the Psalms of David; 
 and, in a word, that he had related all those 
 circumstances to him which he had declared to us 
 the day before in his examination; and that the 
 said Daubigny said to him, in answer, that he, the 
 said Ravaillac, ought to apply to some great men 
 to admonish the king: however, since he had not 
 done it, it was more proper for him to pray to 
 God, he being of opinion, that those visions he 
 spoke of were merely imaginary, and the effects 
 of a disordered brain, as might be perceived by 
 his looks; that he ought to eat good soup, go to 
 his own country, tell his beads, and pray to 
 God. 
 
 To this the said Daubigny replied, that these 
 were all dreams and lies. 
 
 We having caused the questions that were put 
 to the said Ravaillac concerning the said Daubigny, 
 with his answers, to be read to him in the presence 
 c 
 
34 
 
 THE TRIAL OF 
 
 of Daubigny, the said Ravaillac persisted in his 
 answers, and declared that they were true. 
 
 The said Daubigny replied, that all which the 
 said Ravaillac had deposed against him was false, 
 as he had before declared to us. 
 
 Upon this, Ravaillac, being farther questioned, 
 replied, that he had never seen the said Daubigny 
 but that one time. 
 
 Their examination being read to them, they 
 persisted in their answers, and signed their names. 
 
 CTfic Examination tafcm on tfjr 19tf) of tfje saitr 
 montf) of j®ag, in tfjc jWorning, at tf»c 
 palace, bg us tljc Commissioners. 
 
 The said Ravaillac being brought into court, 
 and his oath taken, he was required to declare who 
 those persons were that had prompted him to so 
 wicked an undertaking. 
 
 He said, that all which now remained for him to 
 declare was, his intention and earnest desire to 
 free himself from the load of his sins; that the 
 whole nation was, upon his account, led to believe 
 that he had been bribed by the enemies of France 
 to kill the king, or by foreign kings and princes, 
 who were desirous of aggrandizing themselves, as 
 was too common among the kings and great poten¬ 
 tates of the earth, who do not consider whether 
 their motive for making war is agreeable to the 
 
FRANCIS RAVAILLAC 
 
 35 
 
 will of God; or else through a covetous desire of 
 appropriating unjustly to themselves the territories 
 of other princes; but that the truth was, he, the 
 prisoner, had not been incited to that action by any 
 person whatever; for if he could have been so 
 wicked as to have committed it for money, or for 
 the interest of foreigners, he would have acknow¬ 
 ledged it in the presence of God, before whom he 
 now maintained the truth : that he therefore 
 entreated the queen, the court, and the whole 
 nation, to believe him and not to charge his soul 
 with the crime they commit, in supposing he was 
 prompted to that parricide by any other; for that 
 this sin would fall heavy on him the prisoner, for 
 being the cause of the uncertainty they were in 
 which gave rise to their suspicions; and he there¬ 
 fore implored them to lay those suspicions aside, 
 since no one but himself was able to judge of the 
 fact, and it was such as he had confessed. 
 
 It was remonstrated to him, that, since he had 
 neither been injured in his person or goods by any 
 command or ordinance of the king’s, it was not 
 probable he would make an attempt upon his 
 sacred person, whom he knew to be God’s anointed, 
 unless he had been persuaded to it by some other 
 persons, and had received money from them; he 
 being a poor man, in want of the necessaries of 
 life, and the son of parents who lived upon alms. 
 
 He said, that it is sufficiently proved to the court 
 
36 
 
 THE TRIAL OF 
 
 through the course of his examination, if he had, 
 through the force of money, or by the persuasions 
 of persons who were ambitious of the sceptre of 
 France, been prevailed upon to murder the king, 
 he would not have come three times expressly from 
 Angouleme to Paris, which were a hundred leagues 
 distant from each other, to admonish the king to 
 bring back the followers of the pretended reforma¬ 
 tion to the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman church, 
 as being persons who acted contrary to the will of 
 God and his church; for a man who could be so 
 wicked as to suffer himself to be corrupted, through 
 avarice, to assassinate his prince, would not have 
 come three several times to admonish him as he 
 had done; and that, since he had committed this 
 parricide, the sieur de La-Force, captain of the 
 guards, has acknowledged that he, the prisoner, 
 had been at the - Louvre, and earnestly entreated 
 him to procure him the means of speaking to the 
 king; and that the said sieur de La-Force told him 
 he was a furious Papist, asking him if he knew 
 monsieur D’Epernon, to which he, the prisoner, 
 replied, that he did know monsieur D’Epernon, 
 and that he himself was not a furious Papist; but 
 that, when he hachtaken the habit in the monastery 
 of St. Bernard, Father Francis de St. Peter was 
 appointed to be his spiritual father; and, since he 
 was a true Roman, and Apostolic Catholic, he 
 was desirous of living and dying such: and he 
 
FRANCIS RAVAILLAC. 
 
 37 
 
 entreated the said sieur de La-Force to bring him 
 to the speech of the king; for he durst not declare 
 to him the temptation he had so long had to kill the 
 king; all he wanted was to tell it to his majesty, 
 to the end that he might no longer be troubled 
 with this bad intention. 
 
 He was asked, whether, when he took those 
 journeys to advise the king to make war upon the 
 followers of the pretended reformation, he 
 designed, in case his majesty had not complied 
 with his desires, to have committed the wicked act 
 he had done. 
 
 He said, he did not intend it in that case: for he 
 should have laid aside his design, and have thought 
 that it was better to make him that remonstrance 
 than to kill him. 
 
 It was objected to him, that he had not changed 
 his wicked intention, since, after his last journey 
 from Angouleme, in Easter, he had not sought for 
 an opportunity to speak to the king, which was a 
 proof that he left Angouleme with a resolution to 
 do what he had done. 
 
 He said, it was true. 
 
 He was asked, if from Easter-day to that on 
 which he left Angouleme, he had received the holy 
 communion? 
 
 He said, he had not; and that he received it the 
 first Sunday in Lent; but that he had, neverthe¬ 
 less, caused the holy sacrifice of the mass to be 
 
38 
 
 THE TRIAL OF 
 
 celebrated in St. Paul’s church at Angouleme, 
 which was his parish church, as acknowledging 
 himself unworthy of the most holy and august 
 sacrament, full of mystery and incomprehensible 
 virtue, because he was troubled with the tempta¬ 
 tion which prompted him to kill the king, and 
 would not in such a state approach the precious 
 body of his God. 
 
 It was objected to him, that, since he perceived 
 he was not worthy of that mystery which he called 
 incomprehensible, he could not assist with any 
 devotion at that holy sacrifice celebrated by the 
 priest, of which all Christians participate, receiving 
 spiritually that which he who consecrates receives 
 actually. 
 
 To this he was silent. He continued some time 
 pensive and in thought, and then said, that he did 
 not know well what to answer to their remon¬ 
 strance : but afterwards he said, that he remembered 
 it was his great affection for the most holy sacra¬ 
 ment of the altar which induced him to have it 
 celebrated: and that he hoped he should partici¬ 
 pate of the communion by means of his mother, 
 who was going to receive her God in that sacrifice; 
 because he was always of opinion, that she was 
 more pious, and had more love for her God than he 
 had. Saying this, he shed many tears. 
 
 He was told, that he could have no reverence 
 for, nor any faith in the holy communion and sacri- 
 
FRANCIS RAVAILLAC. 
 
 39 
 
 flee of the mass, since he had, for a long time, 
 been under the influence of the devil, and been 
 accustomed to invoke demons, whom he caused to 
 appear to him, when he lodged in this city, about 
 four years ago. 
 
 He said, he never invoked demons. 
 
 He was asked, if he knew a man named Dubois, 
 born in Limoges? and if they lodged in Limoges, 
 and lay in the same room? 
 
 He said, yes; they lodged at the sign of the 
 Rats, opposite to the Green Pillar in Harp Street. 
 
 He was asked, if he would believe the evidence 
 of Dubois? 
 
 He said, Yes, he would. 
 
 He was asked, if, as he lay in bed with Dubois, 
 he did not use some magical incantation invoking 
 the demons? and in what manner? 
 
 He said, this was so far from being true, that he 
 did not even lie in the same room with Dubois, 
 but in a garret above where Dubois lay: about 
 midnight, Dubois, repeating Credo in Deum , 
 earnestly entreated him, several times, to come 
 down; saying, Ravaillac, my friend, come down ; 
 and crying aloud, My God, have mercy upon me: 
 thereupon he, the prisoner, would have gone down 
 to know why he cried out in such a manner, but 
 was prevented by some persons in the room, who 
 were terrified at the cries of Dubois; but going 
 down to Dubois some time afterwards, Dubois 
 
40 
 
 THE TRIAI. OF 
 
 told him, a black dog of a monstrous size, and very 
 terrible, had appeared to him, and laid its two 
 fore-paws upon his bed; and the terror this vision 
 threw him into made him utter those cries and 
 entreat that he, the prisoner, would come into his 
 room and stay with him. He advised Dubois to 
 have recourse to the celebration of the sacrifice of 
 the altar, in order to get rid of his dreadful visions, 
 and to cause mass to be said tfie next morning; and 
 they went accordingly the next morning to the 
 convent of the Franciscan friars, and caused mass 
 to be said, to draw down the grace of God upon 
 them, and to preserve them from the incursions 
 of the devils, the common enemies of mankind. 
 
 It was objected to him, that it was not at all 
 probable that Dubois should call to him, who lay 
 up-stairs; or that his voice could be made out so 
 far. 
 
 He answered, nothing was more likely, it being 
 one of the properties of the voice to ascend; but 
 since the court would not believe him, the truth 
 would be attested by persons who were in the 
 room, and prevented him from going to Dubois, 
 viz.: his landlady, Mary Moiseau, and a cousin of 
 hers, named Jean Le-Blond, who came in on 
 account of the great noise they heard, and for 
 which he had quitted the room of Dubois, where 
 he had lain before. 
 
 He was told, he felt no desire to get rid of his 
 
FRANCIS RAVAILLAC. 
 
 4 
 
 temptation, and would not receive the communion 
 on Easter-day, lest it should alter his purpose. 
 
 He said, his reason for not receiving the com¬ 
 munion was, because he resolved, on Easter-day, 
 to kill the king, and upon that account he would 
 not really, and, in fact, receive the precious body 
 of our Lord; but desired to hear mass before sett¬ 
 ing out, believing the sacrament, which his mother 
 received that day, would be sufficient for both, as 
 he then and now begged, and would to death 
 implore God, to be made partaker of all holy 
 communions partaken of by good men in the 
 Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Church, receiving 
 in the faith the precious body of our Redeemer; 
 and to be made partaker of it, as believing him¬ 
 self a member of one only Jesus Christ. 
 
 He was told that, having resolved upon so wicked 
 an act, he was in a state of mortal sin, and in danger 
 of damnation, and could not partake of God’s 
 grace and the communion of good Christians as 
 long as he continued in so wicked an intention; 
 and should have altered it to be in God’s grace, as 
 a good Catholic and Christian. 
 
 He said, no one could doubt that the devil, 
 inventor of lies, was the prompter, against God’s 
 will ; but now, owing to the remonstrance of 
 the court, he acknowledged he could or would 
 not resist so great a temptation, it being out 
 of men’s power to prevent so wicked an action, 
 
42 
 
 THE TRIAL OF 
 
 he suppressed or concealed no particulars, but 
 declared every detail; trusting for pardon and 
 remission of all sins to God, the all good 
 and merciful; for God could save, provided con¬ 
 fession were made and absolution received, far 
 better than men could injure ; weeping, he prayed 
 the Holy Virgin Mary, Monsieur St. Peter, Mon¬ 
 sieur St. Francis, Monsieur St. Bernard, and all 
 the Celestial Court of Paradise, to be his advo¬ 
 cates and intercessors with His Most Sacred 
 Majesty, to interpose His cross between his soul 
 and Hell; and so trusted to be made partaker of 
 the merits of our Saviour Christ’s passion, most 
 humbly imploring him to give him grace to con¬ 
 tinue associated with the merits of all those trea¬ 
 sures he gave to the apostolic power on earth, 
 when he said, “ Thou art Peter,” &c. 
 
 His examination being read to him, he persisted 
 in his answers, and signed his name, 
 
 Ravaillac. 
 
FRANCIS RAVAILLAC. 
 
 43 
 
 ©n tfje 17tf) of fHag 1610, tn tfjr fHotntng, 
 at tf)c $alarr. STfje confrontation of tjc 
 SUaitncssrs before us, 3rf)inrs Ur faring, 
 litnigfit, .ifi rot PrcsitJrnt; Kirtiolas 
 IPotier, ^resilient. Urosprr ISabitt anti 
 Jofjn (ffourtin, (Counsellors, &c. 
 
 Paul Noster, exempt of the guards, was 
 confronted with the prisoner ; they acknowledged 
 the oath they had taken. 
 
 The accused said, the witness was his captor, 
 and the witness, that the accused was the prisoner 
 he took. 
 
 The prisoner was told, if he had any objections 
 to make against the witness, he must make them 
 immediately, according to the ordinance of the 
 realm. 
 
 He said he had none. 
 
 The deposition of this witness being read to 
 him, he persisted in it; and the prisoner acknow¬ 
 ledging that it was true, both signed it. 
 
 The prisoner was then confronted with James 
 de Pluviers, Esq. of St Michael. 
 
 The oath idem, &c. 
 
 The prisoner was then confronted with Jerome 
 de La-Robye, equerry to the king. 
 
 The oath idem, &c. 
 
 The prisoner was then confronted with Gamaliel 
 Edovart, one of the king’s footmen. 
 
44 
 
 THE TRIAL OF 
 
 The oath idem, &c. 
 
 The prisoner said, he knew him to be one of the 
 king’s footmen, but he did not know the person 
 who seized him after the act; and being put in 
 mind of the ordinance, he said, he had no objec¬ 
 tion to make to him. 
 
 The prisoner was then confronted with Peter 
 Dubois. 
 
 The oath idem, &c. 
 
 The prisoner acknowledged that what he said 
 was true; but it was by his advice that witness 
 had been to mass at the convent of the Franciscan 
 friars, at which he likewise was present. 
 
 They both signed their names. 
 
 
 
 •K 
 
torture ant> E>eatb of 
 IRavatllac 
 
 /Haij 27, 1610, tbc (Court sat tit tf)c 2lftrr= 
 noon in tf)c (fffiambrr Ur 3La=15rubrttr. 
 
 We the presidents, and several of the counsellors 
 being present, the prisoner, Francis Ravaillac, was 
 brought into court, who having been accused and con¬ 
 victed of parricide committed on the person of the 
 late king, he was ordered to kneel, and the clerk of 
 the court pronounced the sentence of death given 
 against him ; as likewise that he should be put to the 
 torture to force him to declare his accomplices. 
 
 His oath being taken, he was exhorted to redeem 
 himself from the torments preparing for him, by 
 acknowledging the truth, and declaring who those 
 persons were that had persuaded, prompted, and 
 
46 
 
 THE TRIAL OF 
 
 abetted him, in that most wicked action, and to whom 
 he had disclosed his intention of committing it. 
 
 He said, by the salvation I hope for, no one but 
 myself was concerned in this action. 
 
 He was then ordered to be put to the torture of 
 the brodequin,* and the first wedge being drove, he 
 cried out, “ God have mercy upon my soul, and pardon 
 the crime I have committed : I never disclosed my 
 intention to any one.” This he repeated as he had 
 done in his interrogation. 
 
 When the second wedge was drove, he said with 
 loud cries and shrieks, “ I am a sinner, I know no 
 more than I have declared, by the oath I have taken, 
 and by the truth which I owe to God and the court : 
 all I have said was to the little Franciscan, which I 
 have already declared : I never mentioned my design in 
 confession, or in any other way : I never spoke of it to 
 the visitor of Angouleme, nor revealed it in confession 
 in this city. I beseech the court not to drive my soul 
 to despair.” 
 
 The executioner continuing to drive the second 
 wedge, he cried out, “ My God, receive this penance 
 as an expiation for the great crimes I have committed 
 in this world: Oh God ! accept these torments in 
 satisfaction for my sins. By the faith I owe to God, 
 
 * The brodequin is a strong wooden box, made in the form of 
 a boot, just big enough to contain both the legs of the criminal, 
 which being put therein, a wooden wedge is then driven with a 
 mallet between his knees, and alter that is forced quite through, 
 a second wedge is applied in the same manner. 
 
FRANCIS RAVAILLAC. 
 
 47 
 
 I know no more than what I have declared. Oh! do 
 not drive my soul to despair.” 
 
 The third wedge was then drove lower, near his 
 feet, at which a universal sweat covered his body, and 
 he fainted away. The executioner forced some wine 
 into his mouth, but he could not swallow it, and, 
 being quite speechless, he was released from the 
 torture, and water thrown upon his face and hands. 
 Some wine being forced down his throat, his speech 
 returned, and he was laid upon a mattress in the same 
 place, where he continued till noon. When he had 
 recovered his strength, he was conducted to chapel 
 by the executioner j and Messieurs Fillesasqs and 
 Gamaches, two doctors of the Sorbonne, being sent 
 for, his dinner was given him; but before the divines 
 entered into a conference with him, the clerk 
 admonished him to think of his salvation, and confess 
 by whom he had been prompted, persuaded, and 
 abetted in the wicked action he had committed, and 
 so long designed to commit; it not being probable, 
 that he should of himself have conceived and exe¬ 
 cuted it, without communicating it to any other. 
 
 He said, that if he had known more than what he 
 had declared to the court, he would not have con¬ 
 cealed it, well knowing, that in this case he could not 
 have the mercy of God, which he hoped for and ex¬ 
 pected ; and that he would not have endured the tor¬ 
 ments he had done, if he had any farther confession 
 to make. He said, he acknowledged that he had 
 
48 
 
 THE TRIAL OF 
 
 committed a great crime, to which he had been incited 
 by the temptation of the devil ; that he entreated the 
 king, the queen, the court, and the whole kingdom, to 
 pardon him, and to cause prayers to be put up to God 
 for him, that his body might bear the punishment for 
 his soul. And being many times admonished to reveal 
 the truth, he only repeated what he had said before. 
 He was then left with the doctors, that they might 
 perform the duties of their office with him. 
 
 A little after two o’clock the clerk of the court was 
 sent for by the divines, who told him, that the con¬ 
 demned had charged them to send for him that he 
 might hear and sign his confession, which he desired 
 might be revealed, and even printed, to the end that it 
 might be known to the whole world ; which confes¬ 
 sion the said doctors declared to have been, that no one 
 had been concerned with him in the act he had com¬ 
 mitted ; that he had not been solicited, prompted, or 
 abetted, by any other person whatever, nor had dis¬ 
 covered his design to any one ; that he acknowledged 
 he had committed a great crime, for which he hoped 
 to have the mercy of God, which was still greater 
 than his sins, but which he could not hope to obtain if 
 he concealed any thing. 
 
 Hereupon the clerk asked the condemned if he was 
 willing that his confession should be known and 
 revealed ? and, as above, admonished him to acknow¬ 
 ledge the truth for the salvation of his soul. He then 
 declared upon his oath, that he had said all he knew, 
 
FRANCIS KAVA1LLAC. 
 
 49 
 
 and that no one had incited him to commit the 
 murder. 
 
 At three o’clock he came from the chapel ; and as 
 he was carrying out of the Conciergerie, the prisoners 
 in great numbers thronged about him, with loud cries 
 and exclamations, calling him traitor, wicked wretch, 
 detestable monster, damned vi'lain, and the like j they 
 would have struck him had they not been hindered 
 by the archers and the other officers of justice, who 
 kept them off by force. 
 
 When he was put into the tumbril, the crowd was 
 so great, that it was with the utmost difficulty the 
 archers and officers of justice could force themselves a 
 passage ; and as soon as the prisoner appeared, that 
 vast multitude began to cry out, as above, wicked 
 wretch, traitor, &c. 
 
 The enraged populace continued their cries and 
 exclamations till he arrived at the Greve ; where, 
 before he was taken out of the tumbril to mount the 
 scaffold, he was again exorted to reveal his accom¬ 
 plices £ but he persisted in h’.s former declaration, that 
 he had none ; again imploring pardon of the young 
 king, the queen, and the whole kingdom, for the 
 crime he had committed. 
 
 When he had ascended the scaffold, the two doctors 
 comforted him, and exhorted him to acknowledge the 
 truth ; and after performing the duties of their func¬ 
 tion, the clerk approached him, and urged him to 
 think of his salvation now at the close of his life, and 
 D 
 
So 
 
 THE TRIAL OK 
 
 1 1 confess all he knew ; to which he only answered as 
 he had done before. 
 
 The fire being put to his right hand, holding the 
 knife with which he had stabbed the king; he cried 
 out, “ Oh God ! ” and often repeated, “Jesu Maria !’’ 
 while his breast, &c., were tearing with red-hot 
 pincers, he renewed his cries and prayers ; during 
 which, being often admonished to acknowledge the 
 truth, he persisted in denying that he had any accom¬ 
 plices. The furious crowd continued to load him 
 with execrations, crying, that he ought not to have a 
 moment’s respite. Afterwards, by intervals, melted 
 lead and scalding oil were poured upon his wounds ; 
 during which he shrieked aloud, and continued his 
 cries and exclamations. 
 
 The doctors again admonished him, as likewise the 
 clerk, to confess, and were preparing to offer up pub¬ 
 licly the usual prayers for the condemned ; but imme¬ 
 diately the people, with great tumult and disorder, 
 cried out against it, saying, that no prayers ought to 
 be made for that wicked wretch, that damned mon¬ 
 ster. So that the doctors were obliged to give over. 
 Then the clerk remonstrating to him that the indig¬ 
 nation of the people was a judgment upon him which 
 ought to induce him to declare the truth, he persisted 
 to answer as formerly, saying, I only was concerned in 
 the murder. 
 
 He was then drawn by four horses, for half an hour, 
 by intervals. 
 
FRANCIS RAVAILLAC. 
 
 5 
 
 Being again questioned and admonished, he per¬ 
 sisted in denying that he had any accomplices ; while 
 the people of all ranks and degrees, both near and at a 
 distance, continued their exclamations, in token ot 
 their great grief for the loss of their king. Several 
 persons set themselves to pull the ropes with the 
 utmost eagerness ; and one of the noblesse, who was 
 near the criminal, alighted off his horse, that it might 
 be put in the place of one which was tired with drawing 
 him. At length, when he had been drawn for a full 
 hour by the horses, without being dismembered, the 
 people, rushing on in crowds, threw themselves upon 
 him, and with swords, knives, sticks, and other 
 Weapons, they struck, tore, and mangled his limbs ; 
 and, violently forcing them from the executioner, they 
 dragged them through the streets with the utmost 
 eagerness and rage, and burnt them in different parts 
 of the city. 
 
 iMai) 21 , 1610. 
 
 The jailer caused the court to be informed, that he 
 had heard the prisoner say something of consequence ; 
 upon which he was sent for, and the oath being 
 administered to him, 
 
 He said, that the evening before, carrying the 
 prisoner's supper to him, with one of his men, the two 
 archers who guarded him being present, he asked the 
 prisoner where he was when the king went out of 
 the Louvre ? To which the prisoner replied, that he 
 
52 
 
 1 HE TRIAL 01' 
 
 was sitting in the hall among the t'ootmen : and being 
 again asked, why he committed such an action ? the 
 
 prisoner answered, “ Because of a great —-but 1 
 
 will not tell you, but I will tell the court to-morrow ; 
 and I could not help doing it, as I shall prove by my 
 body.” 
 
 Then -, archer of the provost of 1’Hotel, 
 
 being sent for, the oath was administered to him. 
 
 He repeated what the jailer had said, adding, that 
 the prisoner said, that his mother had a mark like 
 his ; for which reason he could not avoid doing what 
 he did ; and that, perceiving the king’s coach to stop, 
 he saw a vision, which said to him, “Now is the 
 time.” 
 
 Then was heard upon oath —-, archer, like¬ 
 
 wise of the provost of 1’ Hotel. 
 
 He also repeated what the jailer had said, adding, 
 that the prisoner saick he was under the necessity of 
 committing that action, by a mark which he and his 
 mother had, that it came from heaven, and that he 
 would declare it to the court, &c. 
 
 ^cntfiirr of SOratf) against jfrancts Habatllar, 
 iltlag 28, 1610. (Pxtractfti front tfjc 
 Kegistm of tfje parliament. 
 
 The court, consisting of the great chambers of the 
 Tournelle and the Edict, being assembled, and having 
 seen the criminal proceedings, formed by the presi- 
 
FRANCIS RAVAILLAC., 
 
 53 
 
 dents and counsellors in that behalf, appointed by 
 commission at the requisition of the king’s attorney- 
 general, against Francis Ravaidac, a practitioner of the 
 law of the city of Angouleme, prisoner in the 
 Conciergerie of the palace ; as also the information 
 made against him, the interrogatories, confessions, 
 answers, and cross-examinations of witnesses, and the 
 state of the case by the king’s attorney-general ; and 
 the said Ravaillac having been heard and examined by 
 the said court, touching the matters laid to his charge ; 
 anil touching the verbal process of the interrogatories 
 administrated to him on the rack ; which, by order of 
 the said court, he underwent on the 25 th of this 
 month, for discovery of his accomplices : on considera¬ 
 tion of the whole, 
 
 The said court hath declared, and doth declare, the 
 saW Ravaillac duly attainted of the crime of high 
 treason, divine and human, in the highest degree, for 
 the most wicked, most abominable, and most detest¬ 
 able parricide, committed on the person of the late 
 king, Henry IV., of good and laudable memory, for 
 reparation whereof, the court hath condemned, and 
 doth condemn him, to make the amende honorable before 
 the principal gate of the church of Paris, whither he 
 shall be carried and drawn in a tumbril in his shirt, 
 bearing a lighted torch of two pound weight, and that 
 he shall there say and declare, that wickedly and trai¬ 
 torously he hath committed the aforesaid most wicked, 
 most abominable, and most detestable parricide, and 
 
54 
 
 THE TRIAL OK 
 
 murdered the said lord the king, by stabbing him twice 
 in the body with a knife; that he repents of the same, 
 and begs pardon of God, the king, and the laws: from 
 thence he shall be carried to the Greve, and, on a 
 scaffold to be there erected, the flesh shall be torn with 
 red-hot pincers from his breasts, his arms, and thighs, 
 and the calves of his legs ; his right hand, holding the 
 knife wherewith he committed the aforesaid parricide, 
 shall be scorched and burned with flaming brimstone ; 
 and on the places where the flesh has been torn with 
 pincers, melted lead, boiling oil, scalding pitch, with wax 
 and brimstone melted together, shall be poured: after 
 this, he shall be torn in pieces by four horses, his limbs 
 and body burnt to ashes, and dispersed in the air. His 
 goods and chattels are also declared to be forfeited 
 and confiscated to the king. And it is farther ordained 
 that the house in which he was born shall be pulled 
 down to the ground, the owner thereof being previously 
 indemnified), and that no other building shall ever here¬ 
 after be erected on the foundation thereof: and that 
 within fifteen days after the publication of this present 
 sentence, his father and mother shall, by sound of 
 trumpet, and public proclamation in the city of 
 Angouleme, be banished out of the kingdom, and for¬ 
 bid ever to return, under the penalty of being hanged 
 and strangled, without any farther form or process at 
 law. The court has also forbidden, and doth forbid, 
 his brothers, sisters, uncles, and others, from hence¬ 
 forth to bear the said name of Ravaillac, enjoining 
 
FRANCIS RAVAILLAC. 
 
 55 
 
 them to change it to some other, under the like 
 penalties, and ordering the substitute of the king’s 
 attorney-general to cause this present sentence to be 
 published and carried into execution, under pain of being 
 answerable for the same; and before the execution 
 thereof, the court doth order, that the said Ravaillac 
 shall again undergo the torture, for the discovery of 
 his accomplices. 
 
 Pronounced and executed the 27th day of May, 
 1610. 
 
 VolSIN. 
 
 lEittart from tfjr ISfgtstrrs of ^Parliament. 
 
 The court, consisting of the great chambers of the 
 Tournelle and the Edict, being assembled, and pro¬ 
 ceeding to judgment on the criminal process extra¬ 
 ordinary, formed at the requisition of the king’s 
 attorney-general, on account of the most wicked, most 
 cruel, and most detestable parricide, committed on the 
 sacred person of the late king Henry IV., and having 
 thereupon heard the king’s said attorney-general ; 
 hath ordered, and doth order, that, at the instance of 
 the dean and syndic of the faculty of divinity, the said 
 faculty shall be assembled, as soon as may be, to 
 deliberate : and having heard the tenor of the decree 
 of the said faculty of the 13th of December 1413, and 
 the resolution founded on the opinion of one hundred 
 forty-one doctors of the said faculty, since confirmed 
 
56 THE TRIAL OF FRANCIS KAVAII.LAC. 
 
 by the council of Constance ; That it is not lawful for 
 any one, whoever he be, to make any attempt on the sacred 
 persons of kings, and other sovereign princes. The said 
 decree thereon to be made by the said assembly, shall 
 be subscribed by all the doctors of the said faculty, 
 who shall have been present at the deliberations ; and 
 also by all the bachelors, who are members of the 
 body of divinity ; which said decree being communi¬ 
 cated to the said attorney-general, and produced to 
 this court, such order shall be made thereon as reason 
 shall require. 
 
 Done in parliament, the 27th May 1610. 
 
 
 finis. 
 

 
 
 

 
 A *•?