Medieval Information

Joseph-Ignace Guillotin (1738 - 1814) was a French physician president of the Chamber of Provinces (1755, founder of the academy of medicine and deputy of the French Assembly.

It was Dr. Joseph-Ignace who argued for a way to make capital punishment as quick and painless as possible. It wasn't him who invented the guillotine - nor did he die in it - but his name is used to reffer to the deadly machine for unknown reasons since the early 1800's.

Related Resources:

-The Guillotine
-Medieval Torture