- "Let me out of here! Hold on, Damiens! I'm coming! Death to the tyrant!"
- ―Auguste Tavernier calling out to Robert-François Damiens, 1789.[src]
Auguste Tavernier
Auguste-Claude Tavernier (29 December 1725 – unknown) was a French anti-royalist and a prisoner of the Bastille from 1757 to 1789.
Biography
In 1757, Tavernier plotted with Robert-François Damiens to assassinate King Louis XV of France. Damiens failed to kill Louis, and was executed, while Tavernier was imprisoned in the Bastille and declared insane.[1]
On 14 July 1789, the Bastille was stormed by rioting Parisians. While Tavernier insisted that he see Damiens, the guards locked him inside his cell.[2] The rioters eventually freed Tavernier, however he was soon transferred to the Charenton insane asylum.[1]