Outlaws- daring men and women- who chose the wrong side of law, have many a time commanded a respect and adulation denied to many a kings and monarchs. They have rather made them envious and certainly angry.
The legend of Robin Hood of the 13th/14th Century England fascinates all of us as a gripping, exciting and moving tale created and carried on by balladeers. His character, always admired, often idolized and never disliked, became indelible part of public memory and a glorious highlight of folk lore. Indeed, his is as fetching and as enduring a legacy as that of Elizabeth I or William the Conqueror.
A few hundred years later, across the Channel, in France, there existed an outlaw who endeared himself to the masses and is still held in high esteem and respect. He was Louis Mandrin, the French Robin Hood. A popular ballade, Complainte de Mandrin, is still sung throughout France celebrating the life and deeds of this man.
The Law and Smuggler that Challenged the Law
He was a French smuggler and outlaw who became a folk hero in 18th-century France. He was known for his conflict with the tax collectors and smuggled goods to avoid paying their taxes. Mandrin led a group of smugglers, over 300 in strength, that brought goods from Switzerland to France.
In those years, trading of goods like tobacco from America, calico cloth from India, spices and hides was a state monopoly and the King decided to impose a heavy tax on them to be collected through Ferme Generale, the state tax authority.
The King had outsourced the tax levied on such products to these tax collectors(Fermiers), who were supposed to pay to the King a pre-agreed amount but in turn levied extortionist taxes from the population. Mandrin began to brings these goods (cloth, hides, tobacco, canvas and spices) from Switzerland and sold them in France without paying taxes to fermiers. The masses were delighted with such bargains, but this made him the bete-noire of the Ferme Generale.
He set his warehouses for weapons and stolen goods in Savoy, a neighbouring sovereign state, thus cleverly keeping out of reach of French authorities. But he was ruthless with unscrupulous and unpopular tax collectors, those who were greedy and corrupt, taking a slice as they collected money supposedly for the King. They were hated by the French people. Mandrin became immensely popular and the favourite of the masses.
Eventually the tax collectors managed to arrest Mandrin, and despite an order for his release they hurried his execution. In fact, King Louis XV had agreed to turn him over to the King of Savoy, but the tax collectors rushed through his trial even before the order of release reached them. This only made him more popular as a Robin Hood-like figure in France, particularly among the poor and working class.
The best account of his life can be gleaned from a 2014 book written by Michael Kwass, titled,’ Contraband: Louis Mandrin and the Making of a Global Underground’
“France’s economic system was tailor-made for an enterprising outlaw like Mandrin”, he writes. “As French subjects began to crave colonial products, King Louis XIV lined the royal coffers by imposing a state monopoly on tobacco from America and an embargo on calico cloth from India. Vigorous black markets arose through which traffickers fed these exotic goods to eager French consumers.”
The Making of a Robin Hood
Mandrin was born in 1725 in a French border province of Dauphine’. His father, a horse merchant, died when Louis was 17, leaving behind nine children. Louis, the eldest, became responsible for them as the new head of the family, making a living as best he could.
His first brush with tax collectors was when he, very young then, undertook to supply a 100 mules to French Army in Italy. Crossing the Alps, many of them died. The remaining 17 mules that he could offer, however, were, not accepted by tax collectors being in unsound health. Actually, Mandrin could not gratify them. A couple of years later, another tragedy struck him. Louis’s brother was hanged for alleged counterfeiting.
Wronged and enraged but powerless against the might of state, the die was cast. Seeking revenge, he began to wage war against the tax collectors. He joined a gang of smugglers and was soon appointed their leader.
In his book, ‘Noted French Trials (1882)’, Horace Williams Fuller wrote: “A solemn oath was imposed upon all the members of the band, in which they swore against the government officers an undying hatred, and death, if they interposed any obstacles in the way of their success. The number of recruits increased rapidly.”
But Mandrin was a principled outlaw. He had ordered his men to avoid violence unless they had the opportunity to direct it against the tax collectors. He created a vast smuggling network along a north-south corridor of France, shifting mainly tobacco and cotton, but anything else of value.
Michael Kwass wrote: “Vigorous black markets arose through which traffickers fed exotic goods to eager French consumers. Flouting the law with unparalleled panache, Mandrin captured widespread public attention to become a symbol of a defiant underground.”
He had a short life, as most outlaws have. He was captured, put on trial and convicted. He was to face a horrific public execution intended to demonstrate and establish king’s absolute authority but also to prevent any possibility of reprieve.
Horrific Execution of a Hero
He was sentenced to be tortured and executed by being “broken on the wheel”. This involved his arms, legs and stomach being hit and broken with an iron bar and then being hoisted on a wheel with his arms and legs under him for 8 minutes. He was then strangled to death to finally end his life. The execution witnessed by over 6,000 spectators, shook the conscience of the masses, as they silently helplessly grieving witnessed this savage barbaric execution.
An autobiographical work, Authentic Memoirs Of The Life And Exploits Of Mandrin (1755), describes, how his sentence was delivered:
“For the Crimes proved against him, we have condemned Louis Mandrin to be delivered to the Execution of Justice, to be stripped to his Shirt, with a Rope about his Neck, and a Writing affixed to him, containing these Words in large Characters, ‘The Chief of Smugglers of Criminals guilty of High Treason, of Assassins, Robbers, and Disturbers of the Public Peace,’ holding in his Hand a lighted Wax Candle of the Weight of two Pounds, before the Cathedral Church of Valence in Dauphiny, where the said Mandrin, bare-headed and kneeling, shall declare with a loud Voice, that he begs Pardon of God, of the King, and the Officers of Justice, for all the Crimes and Villainies by him committed.
“He shall then be taken to the Place of Execution, and there have his Arms, Legs, Thighs, and back broken while alive, on a Scaffold prepared for that Purpose, and at length be put on a Wheel with his Face turned towards Heaven, where he is to end his Life.”.
He was executed on May 26, 1755, just two days after his conviction and sentence on May 24. He was just 30.
A Lingering Legacy
His death may have gone unnoticed then, but the quiet sympathy that swept the masses led to a simmering discontent and resentment, building up the outrage, anger and rebellion against the monarchy.
Michael Kwass commented: “The spectacle only cemented Mandrin’s status as a rebel folk hero in an age of mounting discontent. Amid cycles of underground rebellion and agonising penal repression, the memory of Mandrin inspired ordinary subjects and Enlightenment philosophers alike to challenge royal power and forge a movement for radical political change.”
The seeds of discontent and disaffection sprouted soon. His struggle against the injustices of Ancien Regime, (Royal Government) was discussed across Europe. Voltaire compared him with the King of Prussia.
The French revolution was set to begin within a short few years.
scribo ad LX 