Abstract: In 1757, Robert-François Damiens injured Louis XV by stabbing him with a penknife. The authorities and the press described the attack as an extraordinary event carried out by a fanatic who had nothing to do with the tensions that were shaking the country. However, the official version of the event did not silence the bad discourses that applauded the audacity of the unsuccessful regicide./nThis failed assassination attempt can be framed in a long history which shows how some of the strategical choices made by the authorities of the Ancien Rég...
(read more)