On January 21, 1793, King Louis XVI of France was executed by guillotine, becoming one of those monarchs who lost their lives by court verdict.
At all times and eras, the life of the ruling monarchs was full of dangers. Even in those countries where the reigning person was deified, there was no guarantee that ambitious relatives or associates would not try to vacate the throne with the help of poison or a stranglehold.
Riots and revolutions also did not promise anything good to the monarchs - the rebellious masses were always not averse to bleeding the main symbol of the hated regime.
Much less often the monarchs ascended the scaffold by a court verdict. Nevertheless, history knows many examples when reprisals against deposed sovereigns were committed in accordance with the letter of the law.
Mary Stuart
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Mary Stuart became Queen of Scots when she was six days old after her father, King James V, died. By that time, there were no male heirs, and the newborn Mary was proclaimed empress.
Mary I Stuart.
The fate of Scotland and Mary herself was decided by the regents, who in the summer of 1543, when the queen was only a few months old, concluded the Greenwich Treaty, according to which Mary was to marry the son of King Henry VIII of England, Prince Edward, which meant, in fact, the unification of Scotland and England under the rule of one royal dynasty.
However, soon a war broke out between England and Scotland, in which King Henry II of France took the side of the Scots. After that, the hand and heart of the little queen were promised to the heir to the French throne, Francis.
In 1558, Mary Stuart became the wife of Francis, and in 1559, after the death of Henry II, and Queen of France. At the same time, Mary Stuart also had rights to the English throne, which by that time was occupied by her cousin, Elizabeth I.
Wedding of Mary Stuart and heir to the French throne Francis. 1558 g.
But soon Mary's happiness began to change. Her husband died a year later at the age of 16. France had enough of its claimants to the throne, so the 18-year-old Scottish queen was returned to her homeland, where confrontation between various political parties was in full swing. Some recognized the authority of Mary, others did not. Nevertheless, the queen's supporters managed to establish her power for a while. In 1565, Mary married a second time - to her cousin Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. This marriage, in which Mary had a son, Jacob, finally upset the fragile balance of power in Scotland. The Queen's opponents began to revolt one after another.
Mary's husband, Lord Darnley, suddenly died under mysterious circumstances. This happened when the queen began to actually openly express her affection for James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, who then became her third husband.
Whether Maria was involved in the death of her legal spouse or not is not known for certain. But her opponents accused the queen of adultery and murder of her husband, raising a rebellion against the "criminal and adulteress."
Mary Stuart and Lord Darnley. 1565 g.
In June 1567, the army of Mary Stuart was defeated, and the queen herself was forced to abdicate in favor of her son. Then the deposed Queen of Scots fled to England, hoping for the help of her cousin Elizabeth.
Elizabeth I, however, did not support Mary in the fight for the Scottish crown. She was extremely embarrassed by the fact that Mary Stuart did not abandon her claims to the English throne, which, however, she did not say aloud.
Deprived of her crown, friends, and son, Mary Stuart lived under surveillance at Sheffield Castle. She did not want to come to terms with her fate and fell into the trap, being drawn into a provocative correspondence, in which it was a question of an allegedly impending conspiracy to overthrow Elizabeth and enthrone Mary Stuart.
The correspondence fell into the hands of Elizabeth, who brought her cousin to justice. The English royal court found Mary Stuart guilty of high treason and sentenced her to death.
Execution of Mary Stuart. Artist - Alexander Denis Abel-de-Piojol.
On February 8, 1587, the 44-year-old Scottish Queen was beheaded by an executioner at Fotheringay Castle. After the death of Elizabeth I, the English throne passed to the son of Mary Stuart, who became king of England and Scotland under the name of James I. In 1612, by his order, the remains of his mother were transferred to Westminster Abbey, where they were buried in the immediate vicinity of the grave of Queen Elizabeth.
Charles I
The fate of Mary Stuart was shared by her grandson, King Charles I of England. The second son of James I, Charles, became the heir to the English throne after the unexpected death of his older brother, Prince Henry.
In 1625 Charles I ascended the English throne. His policy can hardly be considered balanced and reasonable - for a quarter of a century of rule, the king, striving for absolutism, spoiled relations with almost all layers of English society. Predatory taxes, ruinous wars, ill-conceived religious reforms led to the fact that in 1637 a large-scale uprising broke out in Scotland. The king was ready to make concessions, but the political crisis only grew and in 1642 escalated into a full-scale civil war in England.
Charles I.
On July 14, 1645, the royal army was defeated at the Battle of Nesby. Charles fled to Scotland, where he was actually in the position of a prisoner. In 1647, the Scots gave the monarch to the English Parliament for £ 400,000.
But even after that, neither Charles I himself, nor his moderate opponents could even think that the king was waiting for the block.
The head of the parliamentary army, Oliver Cromwell, was ready to conclude an agreement with Charles, which allowed the king to remain in power, but the monarch, not feeling the seriousness of his position, did not accept the terms, continuing secret negotiations with various political forces.
The fact that the deposed king continues to intrigue became known to the radical officers of the parliamentary army. Expelling the moderates from parliament, they achieved a trial against Charles I. The verdict in such conditions was not in doubt. On January 30, 1649, Charles I ascended the scaffold at Whitehall. Before his death, the monarch made a speech in defense of absolutism, after which the executioner deprived him of his head. After the execution, the head was sewn to the body and the remains were taken to Windsor, where they were buried.
The trial of Charles the First.
Louis XVI
When in 1789 the insurgent Parisians marched to storm the Bastille, King Louis XVI of France exclaimed: "But this is a riot!" “No, Your Majesty, this is a revolution,” one of the close associates corrected the monarch.
Louis XVI is perhaps the most famous of the monarchs who ascended the scaffold. The French king, who gained power at a time when the era of absolutism was drawing to a close, was not able to understand the seriousness of the changes taking place around. That is why in the first period of the Great French Revolution, when it was only about limiting the rights of the monarch, and not about dethroning him, Louis made a fatal mistake, planning to "punish the rabble" and return everything to square one.
Louis XVI.
On the night of June 21, 1791, the king and his family secretly left for the border, hoping, with the help of other monarchs, to restore the old order in France.
The king was recognized and returned to Paris under escort. His authority in the eyes of the people collapsed. Moreover, even after returning to Paris, the king did not stop contacts with foreign counter-revolutionaries.
As a result, the king was deposed and in January 1793 brought to trial on charges of conspiracy against the freedom of the nation and in a number of attempts on the security of the state. The king was tried by the Convention, which on January 20, 1793, by 383 votes to 310, sentenced him to death.
The trial of Louis XVI.
The case was not put on the back burner, and on January 21, 1793, Louis XVI ascended the scaffold. Before his execution, he said: “I am dying innocent, I am innocent of the crimes of which I am accused. I am telling you this from the scaffold, preparing to appear before God. And I forgive everyone who is responsible for my death."
Louis XVI, figuratively speaking, became a "victim of progress" - he became the first monarch to be beheaded by the guillotine.
azn Louis XVI
Joachim Murat
Not everyone knows that one of Napoleon's brightest generals was rewarded with a royal crown. In 1808, the marshal became king of Naples.
This step did a disservice to both Napoleon and Murat. The French emperor, who during the Napoleonic wars conquered many European thrones for his relatives and associates, very quickly realized that he had made a serious mistake. The newly-minted monarchs began to weave intrigues against the benefactor, greatly complicating his life.
Murat, married to Napoleon's sister, was no exception.
Joachim Murat.
In 1814, the king of Naples concluded a secret treaty with Austria and sided with Napoleon's opponents. True, Murat did not show activity, trying to bargain for the best conditions for himself now from the coalition, then from Napoleon.
The French emperor wrote to his protege: “The title of king has ripped your head off. If you want to keep it, put yourself right and keep your word."
After the defeat of Napoleon and his exile to the island of Elba, the fate of the king of Naples hung in the balance - the victors were deciding whether to recognize his legitimacy.
While this issue was being decided, Napoleon fled from Elba and again seized power in France. The famous "100 days" began. Murat again decided to go over to the other side and declared war on Austria, but was very quickly defeated.
Then Murat decided to go to France and again join Napoleon's troops, but the emperor did not accept him. The defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo actually put an end to Murat's royal ambitions. He took refuge in Corsica with a small group of supporters. Austria condescendingly gave him a chance to meet his old age with dignity, issuing a passport to Murat with the condition of renouncing him the title of king and obeying Austrian laws, giving him the title of count and residence in Bohemia.
Joachim Murat en route to Corsica.
But Murat decided to do what Napoleon had done earlier. He decided to land in Naples with the expectation that the locals would support him. However, ships with supporters of Murat fell into a storm, and in the end he abandoned his plans.
8 October 1815 Murat with 28 soldiers in full uniform landed in Calabria near the town of Pizzo. This penchant for special effects cost him his life. Soon he was detained by the gendarmes, who placed him in prison. During interrogations, Murat argued that he had landed without the intention of making an uprising, driven by a storm. This was almost true - at the time of the landing, there was no talk of an uprising. But unfortunately for Murat, in his belongings they found a proclamation calling for an uprising, which they forgot to destroy during the landing.
On October 13, 1815, a military court sentenced Murat to be shot with immediate execution. Standing in front of the soldiers, Murat kissed the medallion with the portrait of his wife and commanded: "Save your face, aim at the heart!" Then he was shot with a volley of 12 guns.
The execution of Joachim Murat.
Maximilian I
Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph von Habsburg, the younger brother of the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph, at the age of 22 became the commander of the empire's fleet. This was not a nominal position - Maximilian devoted a lot of time to the development of the fleet, the construction of new bases, and scientific research.
With a political career, things turned out much worse. In 1857, he was appointed Viceroy of Lombardy, but two years later, his elder brother Franz Joseph removed him from office, outraged by the Viceroy's excessive liberalism.
Maximilian, married to the Belgian princess Charlotte, had no children of their own. The couple adopted the grandchildren of the Mexican Emperor Agustin Iturbide.
This happened after Maximilian, with the support of the French emperor Napoleon III, was proclaimed emperor of Mexico in 1863.
Maximilian I.
Agustin Iturbide, whose grandchildren were adopted by Maximilian, was the first emperor of Mexico. The struggle against opponents of the monarchical system ended with the death penalty for him in 1824.
By the time Maximilian I became emperor, the situation in Mexico had not changed at all, and the monarchy had more than enough opponents, unlike supporters.
In fact, the power of Maximilian I rested only on the bayonets of the French troops.
The liberal emperor wrote letters to his main enemy, the leader of the Republicans, Benito Juarez, with a proposal to join forces in bringing the country out of the crisis.
The policy of Maximilian I really did not differ much from the policy of the Republicans, which insanely irritated the conservatives who were betting on him. On the other hand, the Republicans did not agree to reconciliation with the monarch.
When the American Civil War ended, the United States began to support the Republicans, while France withdrew its troops from Mexico. It became clear that the power of Maximilian I was about to collapse. The emperor, however, decided to gather his army. In order to enlist the support of the Conservatives in the Mexican army, he supported a number of their initiatives, including a proposal to shoot on the spot for Republican supporters captured in arms. Perhaps it was this last decision that cost the emperor his life.
The execution of Maximilian I and the generals loyal to him.
Surrounded with the remnants of his army, he was captured. The liberal views of the 34-year-old emperor were known all over the world, so prominent politicians and public figures urged Benito Juarez to pardon the deposed monarch. Juarez, however, put the fate of the emperor in the hands of a military court, which sentenced to death "Maximilian of Habsburg, who calls himself Emperor of Mexico."
On June 19, 1867, Maximilian I, along with the generals Miguel Miramon and Thomas Mejia, who remained loyal to him, were shot on the Las Campanas hill.
The body of the executed emperor was delivered to his homeland, in Austria, and buried in the Imperial Crypt of the Vienna Kapuzinerkirche.
Andrey Sidorchik