CARTOUCHE, LOUIS DOMINIQUE BOURGUIGNON. 1693-1721. Collection of 76 official court records relating to the arrests, trials, sentences and executions of Cartouche and members of his criminal gang. WITH: 62 documents, including official arrest and sentencing records, relating to crimes committed in France in the 17th and 18th centuries. Various places and publishers, 1721-22. 138 documents in total. Various sizes, mostly 4to (247 x 177 mm). Bound together in one volume, 18th century mottled calf, gilt spine, leather label, light wear. Minor foxing, a few leaves repaired. Manuscript notations on a few leaves. Provenance: Theodore NoÎl du Payrat. 1761-1832 (manuscript label reading 'Ex libris C. T. Noel du Payrat' on front pastedown, referring either to French jurist Pierre or a member of his family; see below). An extraordinary collection of 17th and 18th century French legal documents and other papers on specific crimes committed in France during this period. Over half the documents relate to the arrests, trials and punishments of Louis Dominique Bourguignon, called Cartouche, and his notorious 'Cours des Miracles' gang of criminals. One of France's most famous outlaws, Cartouche has been portrayed (and romanticized) in countless stories, plays, songs and films, including the 1962 film 'Cartouche,' starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Claudia Cardinale. His crimes and those of his followers are exhaustively detailed in this collection, which consists chiefly of documents issued by the Cour de Parlement de Paris, the ancien regime's primary legislative and judicial body. Cartouche was the son of a wine merchant. After expulsion from school, he became the head of a gang in Normandy, then served for a time as a police informant before joining the army. Upon leaving the army, Cartouche and some of his fellow soldiers formed a new criminal gang, headquartered in the Cours des Miracles, a notorious Parisian slum. The Cours des Miracles gang, which appears to have had over one hundred members (both male and female), was an early example of organized crime in France: Cartouche had himself elected leader, and punished challenges to his authority with death. Members of Cartouche's gang terrorized the city with almost daily robberies and murders; they were especially feared for their attacks on carriages traveling from Versailles to Paris. Betrayed by one of his accomplices, Cartouche was arrested on January 6, 1721 and thrown into prison. Believing that his gang would rescue him, he at first refused to divulge any information to the authorities, even when subjected to the question extraordinaire, a particularly brutal form of judicial torture. Cartouche was scheduled to be executed on November 27, 1721, and hoped for rescue up until the last minute; however, when he finally realized his gang had broken faith with him, he begged the officiating priest for a reprieve so that he, in turn, could betray his former associates. On November 28, after making his confession, Cartouche was broken on the wheel (rompu vif), the standard execution for robbers and brigands in 18th-century France. Document no. 6 in our collection, dated November 26, 1721, records the death sentence given to Cartouche and seven of his associates by the Cour de Parlement de Paris. After Cartouche's execution, most of the remaining Cours des Miracles gang members were arrested and tried for their crimes, which included murder, armed robbery, breaking and entering, stealing from churches and royal residences, receiving stolen goods, and harboring other criminals. These proceedings, which took place at the Cour de Parlement de Paris in the summer and fall of 1722, are recorded in documents 8-86 in our list (except for documents 12, 15, 62 & 85). The sentences included hanging, being burned alive, the wheel, branding, whipping, the stocks, banishment and the galleys. Of the remaining documents in this collection, the most interesting are a defense of the notorious Marquise de Brinvilliers (no. 1), executed in 1676 for poisoning her family; the arrest records of Robert-Francois Damiens (no. 130), drawn and quartered in 1757 for attempting to stab Louis XV, and of Damiens's family (no. 131), arrested and punished for their association with him; and a record of the judgment against the famous French smuggler and bandit Louis Mandrin (no. 122). The remaining documents record arrests and punishments for diverse crimes, including theft, pimping, infanticide, fraud, heresy, and refusing a dying person the last rites. This remarkable collection on crime may have been assembled by Pierre Theodore Noîl du Payrat, seigneur de Razat (1761-1832), jurist, King's counsel, acting procurer general of the Parlement of Paris, delegate from the Dordogne to the États generaux in 1789, and member of the Council of Five Hundred. Noîl de Peyrat's descendants still maintain the Chateau de Razat and its important library of books on jurisprudence. A complete listing of the items in this collection can be made available on request. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing