Charles-Henri Sanson, full title Chevalier Charles-Henri Sanson de Longval, was the royal executioner of France during the reign of King Louis XVI, as well as high executioner of the First French Republic. He administered capital punishment in the city of Paris for over forty years. By his own hand he executed nearly 3,000 people, including Robert-François Damiens, who attempted to assassinate King Louis XV. Sanson would later execute King Louis XVI.
Imaginary portrait of Charles-Henri Sanson by Eugène Lampsonius in "An Episode during the Terror" by Balzac.
The "bourreau" under Louis XVI
Execution of Louis XVI
Execution of Robespierre July 28, 1794; Sanson is figure # 4
An executioner, also known as a hangman or headsman, is an official who effects a sentence of capital punishment on a condemned person.
Symbolic robed figure of a medieval public executioner at Peter and Paul Fortress, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Photograph (hand-coloured), original dated 1898, of the lord high executioner of the former princely state of Rewah, Central India, with large executioner's sword (Tegha sword)
Depiction of a public execution in Brueghel's The Triumph of Death 1562–1563
Stylised depiction of public execution of pirates in Hamburg, Germany, 10 September 1573
