François Ravaillac

François Ravaillac
François Ravaillac brandishing his dagger, in a 17th-century engraving
Born	1578 Angoulême, France
Died	27 May 1610 Paris, France
Criminal charge	Regicide
Criminal penalty	Tortured and dismembered

François Ravaillac (French pronunciation: ​[fʁɑ̃swa ʁavajak]; 1578 – 27 May 1610) was a French in the courts of Angoulême and a regicide. An occasional tutor and Catholic zealot, he murdered King Henry IV of France in 1610.

Ravaillac was born at Angoulême of an educated family: his grandfather François Ravaillac, was prosecutor of Angoulême, and two of his uncles were canons of the Cathedral of Angoulême. His father Jean Ravaillac was a violent man whose many misdeeds were a public scandal and caused legal difficulties; his mother Françoise Dubreuil (sister of the canons) was known for her Catholic piety. The son Ravaillac began work as a servant, later becoming a school teacher. Obsessed by religion, he sought admission to the ascetic Feuillants order, but after a short probation, he was dismissed as being "prey to visions". An application in 1606 for admission to the Society of Jesus was also unsuccessful.

In 1609, Ravaillac claimed to have experienced a vision instructing him to convince King Henry IV to convert the Huguenots to Catholicism. Between Pentecost 1609 and May 1610, Ravaillac made three separate trips to Paris to tell his vision to the king, and lodged with Charlotte du Tillet, mistress of Jean Louis de Nogaret de La Valette, duc d'Épernon. Unable to meet the king, Ravaillac interpreted Henry's decision to invade the Spanish Netherlands as the start of a war against the Pope. Determined to stop him, he decided to kill the king.

On 14 May 1610, Ravaillac lay in wait in the Rue de la Ferronnerie in Paris (now south of the Forum des Halles); when the king passed, his carriage was halted by a blockage in the street, and Ravaillac stabbed Henry to death. Pierre de l'Estoile, the chronicler, stated of the king: