Regicide murdered, or attempted to murder, the king) was especially hard, even in regard to the harsh judicial practices of pre-revolutionary France. As with many criminals, the regicide was tortured so as to make him tell the names of his accomplices. However, the method of execution itself was a form of torture. Here is a description of the death of Robert-François Damiens, who attempted to kill Louis XV: In "Discipline and Punish", the French philosopher Michel Foucault cites this case of Damiens the Regicide as an example of disproportionate punishment in the era preceding the "Age of Reason". The classical school
Thomas Lister (regicide) Thomas Lister (regicide) Thomas Lister (1597–1668) was colonel in the Parliamentary army during the English Civil War and an MP. He was appointed a judge at the trial of Charles I, but on the restoration escaped with a light punishment. Lister was born in 1597, the eldest son of William and Griselle Lister (née Rivett). He grew up at the family home, Coleby Hall in Lincolnshire and was admitted to Gray's Inn 1616. In 1622, he married Margaret Armine. On the outbreak of the English Civil War, Lister was arrested by a party of 60 royalist troopers led by the