Jean Daniel Abraham DAVEL (ID #I12814)
(male)
- TITLES/'DIT' NAMES/OCCUPATIONS: The famous "Major Davel"
- BAPTISM: 20 OCT 1670, Morrens, Vaud, Switzerland
- DEATH: 24 APR 1723, Vidy, Vaud, Switzerland
Father: François DAVEL (d. 15 FEB 1676)
Mother: Marie LANGIN (bp. 2 OCT 1642, d. MAY 1716)
He was first a notary, but soon entered military service. After a distinguished career spanning over thirty years, including a notable role in the second War of Villmergen in 1712, he retired to his family estate at Cully. He soon saw that peacetime had not improved the situation of his homeland. He felt he must do something, but he feared the consequences. He hesitated, he tried to dissuade himself. He later told his friends, "I fasted, I prayed with much devotion and preserverance; I humbly asked pardon from God that it would please him to turn me away from this design, if it did not contribute to the well-being of my country, and to lead me in such a way that I would do nothing contrary to his will. But, far from finding myself changed, I felt myself being led and forced by a superior power."
Once he had realized that his way was set, he began to lay plans in January, 1723. He was in charge of the local militia for the "Four Parishes of Lavaux"; he would summon them for their annual military training at the end of March. He had told his officers he was afraid the troops had developed some bad habits. Rather than drilling them for short sessions, he would drill them longer, but less often. He had his officers make preparations to drill the militia at Vernex beginning March 25. Then he ordered them to assemble at Cully on March 31. Up to this point, even the officers believed this was only a review of the troops. Davel mounted his horse, formed the contingent of about 600 men into columns headed by dragoons, and set off for Lausanne, scarcely 10 km away.
The sight of a smart column of troops in full gear startled the citizens of Lausanne. The highest city officials were out of town; at this time of year, just before Easter, lucrative appointments were made in Bern for the coming year, and all those who could had traveled there so as not to miss out on any opportunity for personal profit. Those who were left asked Davel what was going on. "Ne gendarmez vous pas", he told them (no need to call out the police)—it was just a review of the troops. The march continued right into the square in front of the Cathedral., where a large crowd quickly gathered. Davel left his troops there, while he took his officers with him to the town hall, where the members of the Inner Council who were still in town had already gathered spontaneously.
In the antechamber, he talked to the officials who were present. He had something to say to the council, he told them. It would all be explained by a manifesto that he gave them to read. (At that moment, his officers were hearing about this for the first time as well.) The officials were dumbfounded, but they made the excuse that they needed first to speak to the council before introducing him into the council chambers. They withdrew into the chambers, while Davel explained his plans to his officers in the antechamber.
Inside the council chambers, the Bursar opened the session by renewing the oath of loyalty to Their Excellencies of Bern, and then swearing the councillors to absolute secrecy regarding what they were about to hear. Davel was then escorted into the council chambers, where he was warmly welcomed. He was offered a seat, but he refused, and then addressed the council:
"Noble, Illustrious, and Most Honored Lords!
"We must not hesitate any longer to bear witness to Their Excellencies of our feelings of gratitude for the paternal care that they have taken to lead us and govern us; we would be guilty of abusing their protection if we did not embrace the proper and efficacious opportunities to express them; they have made clear their weariness and boredom in this regard; it is time that we be emancipated and that we ourselves work for our own leadership: that is the first motive for the movement that I have begun and that I plan to pursue just to the point of its perfection. Receive, Noble, Illustrious, and Most Honored Lords, my excuses as legitimate, that I have delayed until now to effect the task of your full and entire liberty: it was not through any inattention that I failed to render my assistance, but the conjunctions were not favorable and well assured; it would not do to undertake this raising of shields lightly and so hastily arranged; my greatest care has been to expose no one in this country to risk, and I have been alone in taking this first step, as you can see from the astonishment of my own officers. Happy and excellent day, in which we see the solid foundation of our full, entire, and assured deliverance from the domination of Bern, without the effect of using steel and fire that cause such emotion among the most intrepid! Alas! what has become of this sovereign and redoubtable power of Their Excellencies? I looked for it, but could no longer find it. It has fallen, from this moment, and will never return, the domination of this powerful Bern. They have no recourse but to wait for their German subjects to follow our example by turning their arms against them. Will they find help in the Canton of Fribourg their neighbor, that they have irritated to the supreme degree? Will they have help from the Canton of Soleure? The same causes of indignation will serve as their answer. The Canton of Zurich, prudent and wise, will not venture their troops to have them cut off in the Canton of Bern, to be slashed and reduced to being unable to advance nor to retreat. Thus, at the first blow for our deliverance, we see it firm and inextinguishable, without spilling blood. The most agreeable moment of my life, in which I have the honor of congratulating you, Noble, Illustrious, and Most Honored Lords, for your full, perfect, entire, and assured deliverance, stripped of all fears and alarms! We should not, however, neglect the ordinary and appropriate measures of an elite troup on the frontiers with orders to be ready with a general armament. I await, Noble, Illustrious, and Most Honored Lords, only for your consent and approval on this first step, and to be granted, on your behalf, the command of the troops that will be requested equally from the other cities of the Pays de Vaud, to render myself in person in the most exposed places, to prove to you that having begun this great task, nothing in the world will turn me away from it until its perfection. I will be brief, leaving to your consideration to supply all that is needed in the present juncture, on which, for its veritable conclusion, we implore God's benediction."
Then he proceeded to read his manifesto, which the authorities of Bern tried to suppress by cutting it out of the council minutes. But the historian Tillier managed to locate it and published it, over a hundred years after it was first heard by the councillors. It is easy to see why Bern was upset; Davel pulled no punches. After the events, an investigation in Bern showed that there was merit in almost all of the criticisms. Recommendations were made, but not much evidence has been found that they were implemented.
"Manifesto:"
"Noble, Illustrious, and Sovereign Lords. A moment of just attention and serious reflection on your conduct toward the Pays de Vaud will convince you, by yourselves, that it is by your inequality, presumption, and tyrannical goverment that you have been overthrown from sovereignty over the Pays de Vaud, which has taken the resolution no longer to recognize any order on your part, without any menace or promise of any sort whatever ever being able to change that.
"We will fix our boundaries at the bridge of Guminen, having not extended the plan for our deliverance to the point of disquieting you in your capital, which will remain as it is under your control, at least if you do not give us cause, by your armament; in that case, we will follow the law of war.
"Don't flatter yourselves, Illustrious Lords, that your own forces have been the reason for our boundaries! for, if our plan had extended to the point of entering your capital, you would have seen us lined up in front of your town hall, without encountering any opposition, knowing very well your weakness and lack of precaution in military matters.
"Our design for the present is fixed on discharging you from occupying the Pays de Vaud, which you have abused and which you have reduced to an insupportable state of extremity.
"You have been warned, by letters and anonymous writings, of the unworthy conduct of your baillifs, with offers to come before you with evidence of our just complaints and accusations: that produced a letter to your Treasurer, to investigate, and he was fully convinced. Beyond that, there has been only an imperious continuation of embezzlement, fees, and exhorbitant fines that have so beaten down the citizens and residents, that it is surprising that it has been able to go on until today.
"You have rendered all civil, political, and ecclesiastical offices, dependant on your baillifs, venal to the highest and last bidder.
"You have sent in baillifs to administer justice, who have not the slightest inkling nor study of the law.
"Your baillifs and sovereign chambers multiply and undertake the trials of the cities, the public, and individuals, to infinity. The has been no change or amelioration: each year is worse, from whence it has finally come down to the most pernicious domination.
"You introduce each year some new tax or toll, and you charge public and private property for repairs to all the major highways and rural roads.
"You have ruined commerce, where your little capacity for government has made almost all the good currency leave the country.
"The rights and privileges of several cities in the Pays de Vaud have at one time or another been absorbed...
"You have so worked to debase the lords-vassals and persons in charge in the country, that it is not possible to write of anything more unworthy and abject. If a baillif writes to a châtelain to send him his accounts, it is by a public edict, where he is menaced with execution if he is not satisfied right away. The same thing is practiced toward the tax collectors, who are ordered in an impossibly short time to return the "Lods" and "Censes", under the same threats, besides the menace of losing their jobs.
"Your commissaires, instructed about your intentions, have subjected to fief and feudal taxes all those who could not defend themselves.
"You have prevented, as much as you possibly could, the officers from the Pays de Vaud who have chosen to bear arms for the neighboring Sovereigns from rising in the ranks, and when their merit is known to you and they are on their way to almost inevitable advancement, you have created misadventures for them, to take away their means of advancing, so that your citizens of Bern can have all the high offices. However, in spite of your efforts, there remain five or six officers bearing the grades of Lieutenant Colonel, Major, and Captain, who, by their long service and capacity, would be general officers, if you had not stopped them in their tracks.
"You have followed a generally disapproved course of conduct with respct to the clergy, through the alleged reforms that your secular deputies, whose lives are not above reproach, have undertaken. The Academy of Lausanne was once held to be flourishing and well staffed. There is still a sublime mind there that has shined in foreign courts and has brought back the prize of honors, and who, instead of receiving the marks of distinction, was the first to be targeted and exposed to the pressing order to sign your Articles, which he could not prevent from happening, by consideration of the public safety. This once-flourishing Academy has felt the weight of your absurd and savage domination.
"You have been requested for many years to make simple repairs to the vicarages and churches. The Treasurers who come to the country limit themselves to visiting the wine cellars, and don't allow even a quarter-hour to attend to the repairs of a church where it rains on the head of the minister and the congregation.
"All the property of the Church, which had been consecrated to the divine service, has been reunited under the domain of Their Excellences. The first usage of it is destined for secular pensions. The small change is assigned to Messieurs the professors and ministers.
"You dismiss and appoint the pastors and ministers in the most frivolous manner that could be expressed; you forget that this type of character should not be thus manipulated.
"A multitude of other complaints and irregularities present themselves, unworthy of a sovereign toward his subjects, that I do not list here: I refer to the individual examination of each Lord member of the Sovereignty the care to reflect on their conduct toward the subjects; to recognize and to admit that it is with just right and reason that the Pays de Vaud throws off their tyrannical domination, haughty and insupportable even to their own allies; and having themselves first violated the oaths that they are obliged to swear toward their subjects, before their subjects swear their own loyalty, they remain guilty of violating the oaths of the sovereigns, a violation that discharges the subjects from the oaths that they have sworn.
"Undertake, Illustrious Sovereigns, wise and solid reflections on the present event, which appears to leave you yet a little remainder of sovereignty if you know how to use it well. You will no longer be so occupied with trials, and you will have some moments to think more clearly than you have done, and to employ your life better than to pass it entirely among trials and intrigues of funds and offices.
"Recognize your weakness in being unable to dodge the blow. All your great arsenal, artillery, munitions of war and treasures, are here rendered useless. There remain to you, as the saying goes, only the reading of the present manifest: neither arms, nor legs, nor courage. You should not dare to employ your German subjects against us: they would join us, to transport your treasures out of the capital and to make a just division of them, and then to follow the example of our deliverance.
"You cannot hope for any help from the neighboring cantons, which you have irritated and offended to a supreme degree. The Canton of Zurich, prudent and wise, the same as the other cantons, will not venture their troops to engage them in areas where they would be cut off without being able to advance nor to retreat. Apart from the principal reason of our good right, they are not unaware of the equilibrium of the cantons.
"And as to the manner in which we have now resolved to act in this regard, we send back in complete safety, respect, and honesty the wives and children of the baillifs and other Bernese who are in the Pays de Vaud.
"Forbidding all citizens of Bern who are presently in this country, to re-enter without a new permission from the sole commander of the troops, under pain of death without recourse nor forgiveness, even for those who reside in the city of Bern, without exception nor under any pretext. You will send us also our citizens who find themselves among you, escorted just to the bridge of Guminen, where, on both sides, we will keep our respective guards at each end, as a suspension of arms, until the women, children, and citizens of both parties have been sent back and until we have had time to deploy our army, at which time we will not refuse the honor of combat, if you wish."
If Davel was disappointed by the lack of an affirmative response, he did not show it. He was escorted from the council chambers to the antechamber, accompanied by two of the officials, to await the decision of the council. There followed a long and stormy debate, during which the most urgent plans were made. When the debate was over, Davel was told that everything had been arranged; he and his troops would be given lodgings in the city, and there would be a banquet that night for him and his officers. They made their way to the square in front of the Cathedral to see to the lodgings. The councillors in charge managed to place the officers and the soldiers in such a way that they would be scattered across the city and would not be able to regroup during the night while the city gates were closed. Various missions were dispatched secretly to Bern, to surrounding towns, and to raise the local troops without Davel or his troops suspecting anything was amiss. The banquet went off without a hitch, and Davel was shown to his quarters, finally retiring at midnight. During the night, the troops of Lausanne took their positions without a sound. By dawn, all of the plans of Davel and of the city officials were in place, and Davel prepared to mounted his horse to lead his troops to Moudon, the next stop on his planned insurrection. Just at that moment—whether in his room or as he emerged onto the street is not clear from the accounts of the time—, Major Jean Pierre DesCombes (1670-1744, his uncle Salomon DesCombes 1641-1692 had married Major Davel's aunt Jeanne Elizabeth Langin), Captain of the city, spoke up: "Monsieur le Major! You are my prisonner!" It was all over in an instant.
With Davel in prison, the inquiry began the same day, April 1, 1723. Davel was summoned before the court on April 3, where he calmly answered all questions put to him. He had acted alone; all the reasons for his actions were clearly stated in his manifesto. During breaks in the proceedings, all the officials, the nobles, the clergy, the elite of the city gathered in solemn assemblies to proclaim their undying loyalty to Their Excellencies of Bern, hoping thus to prevent any retribution from that quarter.
The inquiry continued, until Davel gave a most peculiar statement that seemed to make all that had preceded appear even more bizarre than it already was.
"Monday, April 5, etc. Requested and urged to say and indicate what led him to undertake this project and to lead it to the point where it has come, on which the said Davel said:
"The year before I entered military service, thirty-five years ago, I was called to the vocation in which I am laboring today. That year, being at Cully with my mother, at the time of the grape harvest, a young girl with a very beautiful face, who was staying with us for the harvest, told my mother that her son would die within three days, and urged her to warn me. My mother showed me the mortification she felt in telling me this news, urging me to prepare for death, which I received calmly. I spent these three days preparing myself by reading and prayers. When the third night arrived, I was in my bed, my soul in a state of tranquility, and my heart profoundly elevated toward God, when there appeared to me a light that filled me with ecstasy and joy. At that moment, the harvest girl told my mother to go knock on the door to my room, without going in, to find out if I was dead. My mother did this and called my by name. But I did not answer, being at the height of my ecstasy. So my mother went back to tell the harvest girl that I had not answered; a few minutes later, she told my mother, 'Go back, I think he will answer now, but don't go in.' She did so; and when she knocked and called my name, I answered her: 'I'm fine, and please, mother, leave me in peace.' A few minutes later, the harvest girl and my mother entered my room; the girl brought me a roast that she gave me to eat and that I found had such an exquisite taste that I wanted to share it with my mother, but the unknown harvest girl said no. I felt so well, that I told her she should leave me alone. At that she answered sweetly: 'For the moment, you will not die.' She stayed with us in the house three more days, with my mother, under the pretext of helping prepare the meals, since all the servants had been sent out to work in the vineyards; the meals were always promptly served at the required times. And as this girl was extraordinarily beautiful, and once she had gone down to the wine press, some of the workers approached her and wanted to kiss her, but they were not able to do so, as she always evaded them. What surprised them was the ease with which she got away. By the time I was back on my feet, the Unknown was still in the house. She told me, 'Because I know you want to go abroad, you might be pleased to know your fortune. I known a little about these things.' But having no faith in such things, I did not want to give her my hand. 'Since you don't want to show me your hand, I'll look at your forehead.' At that, I pulled my hat down over my head. 'You don't need to lower your hat, I have seen enough already.' Then, she told me that I had recently come from Germany, and she told me, to gain my confidence, some of the things that had happened to me at Interlacken, while I was in transit. That surprised me greatly. 'So, she told me, you should not be afraid to hear about your good fortune; you have a lucky physiognomy; yes, more lucky than you might think. There's nothing bad in what I will do.' Then, she took an egg and cracked it on my forehead. 'You will see something that you will like, and that it is necessary for you to know.' And then she opened this egg and put it in a glass of water. She made me see what would happen to me for the rest of my life, and started by showing me the figure of a little person in the water, holding a feather in my hand, and explained that that was me who was represented by this figure, and that that was the way I would enter military service. When this little figure had gone, there was another that was a dead person: 'Your first function in the army will thus be to enter as a secretary; the person under whom you will serve will be someone notable, who will like you, but he will die soon after.' In effect, I began my service in the Piedmont, under Colonel d'Aubrecan, who received me the all the signs of good will, friendship, and distinction that one could show to a person of my rank, and soon after, Mr. d'Aubrecan died, which I regretted greatly. However, I continued to be the secretary of the same company, for about a year. The Unknown pointed out to me in the same glass of water, a man with a flag, and told me, 'that's you who will have this post.' Further, she showed me the figure of a horseman. 'That's you who will have many assignments in the army, where you will manage large sums of money and you will do well in the service.' That's what happened, just as this Unknown had said. She predicted further that I would never be wounded, and that I would return to this country at a time where there were some good opportunities to distinguish myself. She then predicted the war in Switzerland, in 1712, where I would serve, but I would not be the leader, and that, however, this war would be conducted through my channel, and as if I were in charge, and that I would have (as I did) some singular and surprising successes in the enterprises in which I found myself...
"After these words, which surprised his judges, Davel answered their new questions: 'There is no personal reason in what I have undertaken. I find myself content and tranquil in my position, having received from Their Excellencies all sorts of honors and benefits. I have indeed remarked that there is a general discontent. But no one has induced me to this conclusion, unless a superior force that has led me, and which I have not been able to resist.' "
For the rest, adds the session minutes, the said Davel spoke with much firmness, and with as much moderation and freedom of spirit as if it were an ordinary conversation.
Davel bore up cheerfully through the whole ordeal, including torture, until the final verdict rendered by the city council and then transmitted to Their Excellencies in Bern for the final sentence. It was not insignificant that he was found guilty by his countrymen, doing their solemn duty to uphold the government imposed on them. He maintained his composure even when led to the block to be executed at Vidy on April 24, where a monument now stands, one of many expressions of admiration and respect that finally surfaced so long after his death.
That day, after a calm night, Davel received a visit from the two pastors who would accompany him. He asked them not too stay too long. "Have you any doubts, any scruples?" asked one of them. "None, nothing troubles me, nothing causes me the least disquiet; I have never spent a more peaceful, more agreeable night." One of the clergymen tried to say something about the indiginity of the execution... But Davel interrupted him: "Why should I worry about being seen in Lausanne in the posture of a criminel, when Our Lord likewise traversed the city of Jerusalem on his way to Calvary to be sacrificed with two brigands?"
After having eaten as usual, he was conducted at noon before his judges, who had gathered in the courtyard of the castle. He saluted them with grace, but without ostentation; he took his appointed seat, to hear the reading of the sentence and of his death warrant. He rose and said:
"I receive with respect the sentence that it has pleased Their Excellencies to pronounce against me. I submit to it as to a decree from God himself, and I am ready to submit to it for the glory of my Creator."
The funereal procession was set in motion, Davel walked with a firm step, between his friends, Messieurs de Pont and de Bionnens, conversing with them, and greeting the people that he knew that he saw in the windows along the streets where he passed. Arriving at Vidy, David asked the Lieutanant-Baillival to permit him to address a discourse to the people. This request was granted, "on the promise that he made, not to say anything against the Sovereign that would make a bad impression on the people." However, eight drummers received the order to play a drum roll if Davel went back on his promise. The Lieutenant-Baillival de Loys made him swear, in the presence of God, to whom he was about to return his soul, that he had no accomplices. "I have hidden nothing of my plan," answered Davel, "I am absolutely alone in this affair, as anyone has been able to convince himself from the way in which I have always spoken to my interrogators." Mr. de Loys confided effusively how deeply moved he was by his misfortune. "My end is most happy, Monsieur, and I feel a great satisfaction inside me."
Followed by the two ministers, and the second pastor of Lausanne, Mr. de Saussure, Davel, with a firm step, climbed the steps of the burial ground, and said to the clergymen: "As I am offering God the sacrifice of my life, I should to it with care, giving it appropriate attention, and not hurry myself in this important occasion." He advanced to the foot of the scaffold and spoke in these terms to the immense crowd that surrounded him:
"This is the finest day of my life! Happy day, when I can speak to you with an open heart, without having any more troubles to fear, being read to return my soul into the hands of my Creator, and to make of it a sacrifice for his glory! Which will turn to the advantage of my sovereign lords, and to the well-being of the people who have submitted themselves to them.
"I urge you, whoever you may be who hear me, to avoid lawsuits scrupulously, which are so contrary to the spirit of christianity. This country is infested with them more than any other, by the fault of those who should be setting things straight, who, far from trying to suppress them, foment them for their particular interests, in making these suits drag on; as do also certain lawyers and prosecutors, who blow up storms of discord, that push people to undertake these suits, which prevent compromise, and give birth to a thousand incidents to prolong these suits that they are involved in, and that even auction off their homeland. Through these suits, the estates of individuals are dissipated, and even resources of the towns, that might have been better employed in helping the poor, or for the education of the children of a number of families that find themselves in necessity.
"The misery of the country, caused by these lawsuits, has reduced the peasants to a very great indigence. They have been obliged to go into debt, and their creditors, without the least compassion, take away from them the things that are most necessary for life. Immediately after the harvest, they find themselves robbed of the fruits of their labor, and after consuming themselves, during several months, with plowing and planting their lands, the hay they have gathered is taken from their barns. Sometimes they don't even let them finish the harvest, they take it right out of their fields. They even take the forage for the livestock. They even wait sometimes until they are in their beds, and then make forced entry into their houses, and take everything down to their clothes, their linens, and their bed covers. Those are some of the examples I have seen. This sort of forced entry was introduced in this country not long ago, and it has been permitted too easily. They hardly allow the peasants a bit of something to eat in the bitterness of their soul. They have not a moment of joy nor repose, and don't get one good meal in the course of an entire year, while the authors of their miseries live in opulence, diverting themselves at their expense, and putting on sumptuous festivals. These miserable poor have only the single Baptism as a mark of their christianity. They are treated an something else entirely, like beasts and mindless animals.
"What is it, Messieurs, that could have brought such evils that reign in our country, and lead to such desolation? It is in part the little religion that can be seen in you, even on those occasions when you should make it more evident. How little attention is paid during the sermons! It is only custom that is holding you back. Most don't know, when they leave church, what the subject was, nor a word of what the minister said.
"This negligence comes perhaps also from the fact that Messieurs the ministers don't apply themselves to write good sermons. They don't work as they should for the instruction of the people, and particularly of the youth, who remain, because of this, in crass ignorance. These gentlemen ordinarily content themselves to enjoy their benefices without putting out the effort to fulfill their functions as they should. And how could they, being themselve, for the most part, ignorant, and spending more time in debauchery than in rendering themselves knowledgeable and capable of teaching? Their bad examples make us lose sight of all the fruit of their preaching, and contribute much toward irrelgion. I except from this a some few, a fairly small number, who merit general approbation, but who can't all by themselves remedy all of these disorders. The people don't even have time to go to their sermons, by the quantity of lawsuits that they have become involved in against their will, or that they have undertaken through an evil penchant for mischief. A person who has someone on his back thinks of nothing else, and is incapable of paying the necessary attention to the affairs of religion. In this state, they have no business going to communion, emptied of all feelings of piety and brotherly love.
"From the same principle, come as well the disorder and confusion that reign during the divine service, since when the interior has no role to play, it is impossible that the exterior will feel anything. With regard to the praises of God, how are they sung? Is there the least rule, the least music, or anything that would be useful in exciting and sustaining devotion, even though this is one of the most considerable aims of the divine service, and that through which one would best mark the elevation of his heart toward God? With what indecent postures is this duty acquitted, without the magistrates taking any action to bring a remedy? This part of the christian cult is so important, I cannot too strongly urge you to give it new and more serious attention, in order to correct your actions in this regard. [At the beginning of the Reformation, this was one of the regions where music was entirely removed from church services. It was gradually restored, and by the middle of the 18th Century, there was again some signing of psalms and even a few pipe organs had been installed. Apparently, Davel was not impressed.]
"Their Excellencies, our sovereign lords, have turned over to the cities and communes the property of the church, to serve for the maintenance of the sacred edifices and the support of the schoolmasters, as well as the care and the health of the poor, some of whom perish for want of instruction. But, instead of following this praiseworthy and pious intention, instead of properly repairing the churches, as the majesty of the place requires, these cities and communes have let the temples fall into ruin, redirecting these properties of the churches for their own purposes, and making their profit from them; the directors split the greatest part among themselves, using what remains to augment the pensions of the people in charge, who are often unworthy of it, while they let honest folks suffer. Not content to have taken over sacred property, they bully the people further, letting them be condemned to pay large fines for trivial faults. If they don't pay right away, even more so when they are unable to pay, they send avid prosecutors after them, cruel and without mercy, who confiscate their property, their flocks, everything in their houses, and thus reduce them to a misery more sad and dreadful than death.
"Messieurs the students, you are destined for the Holy Ministry. But in what manner do some among you prepare yourselves for a career of such importance, and which requires such a great sanctity? It is by an unregulated and scandalous life, which proves that they have no calling for that career. You don't apply yourselves soon enough to the divine service. You negelect your studies, to give yourself over to debauchery. You take no care to learn music, which is so useful in singing the praises of the Lord. The sacred canticles are an essential part of religion, and serve infinitely to elevate our souls toward God. I urge you therefore to prepare yourselves for the Holy Ministry with as much diligence as possible, so that you will one day be in a state to combat with success all these disorders and the loosening of morals.
"All you who hear me, seek to acquit yourselves better of your duty, each one according to his profession and his situation, and to surpass each other in meriting, by a christian life, the approbation of your Creator, in order that, when you will be at the point of death, as I am now, your conscience will not reproach you for your failings, and you will not be reduced to fear.
"As regards my detention, the suffering that I have endured until now, and the death that I am going to receive, I don't blame anyone. I wish no misfortune in particular for Messieurs of Lausanne. They have followed their consciences, just as I have followed the Vocation to which I was called by God. I assure you that I am thrilled by how it has turned out for me, and that I find myself only too happy to use the occasion to glorify God for the volontary sacrifice that I make to him of my life. My heart is penetrated by the joy that God has given me the grace to be a chosen instrument in his hand, in service for the designs of his Providence. I do not doubt that my death will produce excellent effects, whether for the good of the people, or for that of Their Excellencies, who have recognized the fidelity of their subjects. After that, I hope, and I am persuaded, that the abuses that I have just enumerated for you will be redressed.
"It is now the most excellent, the most glorious day of my life. It is for me a day of triumph, what crowns and that surpasses the most brilliant things that have happened to be up to now. I am giving up very little to achieve such great fortune. A few years that I might still have to live, are nothing by comparison with the happiness that I am going to enjoy. I feel inside of me the love of God, and his help, that sustains me in these last moments, after having led me and protected me, during the whole course of my life. I pray to God that my death will be useful and helpful to you for the redress, not only of all the abuses that I have noted for you, but also of all those that I have indicated to Messieurs the ministers, and that they will take care to explain to you."
After this discourse, pronounced in the midst of a profound silense, the pastor de Saussure, charged with addressing the people, before the execution, as ancient custom dictates, approached Davel and asked himif he felt any animosity towards Messieurs of Lausanne.
"I declare before God and before the world, answered Davel, that I wish no ill on anyone, and that I have absolutely no animosity toward Messieurs of Lausanne, because God alone has controlled everything that has happened to me, having preserved me in an infinity of perious occasions, in order to use me for the benefit of his people. I credit him with the infinite actions of grace through which, not having sufficiently glorified him during my life, I wish that I may glorify him in my death."
Mr. de Saussure pressed the hand of the martyr, and pronounced an address, in which he recalled the christian virtues of Davel, his military virtues, and his most noble sentiments, that had engaged him in giving liberty to his compatriots, by freeing them from the yoke of dependence. Then, taking as his text the words of Solomon, that there is a way that appears right to man, but from which issues the ways of death, "to this way, said the orator, he has been conducted to terminate his life with a violent and premature end. It has exposed him to a death from which the consequences would be infinitely more fearful if our reason did not lead us to conceive the hope of pardon, of grace, and of mercy in favor of one who has formed these plans and engages in these projects against his prince." Mr. de Saussure followed his address with a prayer to which Davel listened on bent knee. "Your prayers," he said as he arose, "are granted, for God assures me that I will feel his grace, and inspires in me every confidence in his goodwill that I may need."
Davel bade farewell to the clergymen, who dissolved in tears. He himself took off his coat, with as much dispassion as if he was putting himself to bed... He spoke to the executioner, looking at him with a confident eye. He seated himself on the platform, helped to remove his shirt... He braced himself firmly on the support, while they covered his eyes, and, in the blink of an eye, the executioner from Moudon separated his head from his shoulders... After his death, the noble face of the martyr kept his natural expression of peace and calm.
There have been many attempts to find a rational explanation for Davel's behavior, which remains, however, inexplicable but nevertheless fascinating. But perhaps the most bizarre part of his story happened after his death: his severed head was stolen, dissected, preserved in salt, recovered in the course of an investigation of counterfeit money, burned, and then the ashes buried with the rest of his body. The other aspect of his story that has occasioned so much discussion is his place in history: did he have any effect on his contemporaries, or did his otherwise insignificant plot only gain its current esteem later, after the actual revolution had already occurred?
The remarkable story of Davel's head was investigated by historian Olivier F. Dubuis and published by the magazine of the Université de Lausanne, Allez-savoir!, as "Le major Davel avait perdu la tête : Voici comment et par qui elle fut volée" (No. 10, January, 1998). Prof. Dubuis has published the full account in his Le faux-monnayage dans le Pays de Vaud, 1715-1750 : Crime et repression, Lausannne: Editions Zebre, 1999.
A full account of the remarkable affair of "le Major Davel" is available in our transcription of Auguste Verdeil's Histoire du Canton de Vaud.
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_François DAVEL _____|
| (.... - 1676) m 1665|
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| |_____________________|
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|--Jean Daniel Abraham DAVEL
| (.... - 1723)
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| _Philibert LANGIN ___|
| | (.... - 1655) |
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|_Marie LANGIN _______|
(.... - 1716) m 1665|
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|_Magdelaine MAYOR ___|
(.... - 1654) |
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