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Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership with IHeartRadio.

Nicola Jacques Peltier was a French highwayman who rode and robbed the streets around Paris in the 18th century.

He was born in 1756, but he didn't come to the attention of French authorities until October of 1791

after he was accused of a violent robbery, assaulting a passerby and stealing money and valuables.

Some accounts add murder to that list of ill deeds done that night.

Overall, there was nothing that stood out about his criminal career. But what does stand out,

if not his crimes, is that his execution was the first use of the guillotine on April 25, 1792.

Welcome to criminalia. I'm Maria Tremarky. And I'm Holly Fry. There is no doubt that

there are many infamous English highwomen with stories to talk about. In fact, we have put several

on the historical hot seat this season. But Nicola Jacques Pelletier, the highwayman in the spotlight for this episode,

was not one of them. So let's talk about French highway robbery. As you may imagine,

the gig was not all that different from country to country. Highway robbery in France, like many

places in Europe, was a crime shaped by the time. Historians consider economic hardship,

social unrest, and geographical factors all to have played a role in the rise of Briggins.

The romanticized image of the gallant highwayman is often associated with England, and thanks to the

power of the Robin Hood trope, you might assume most, if not every

highwayman took from the rich to give to the poor. France also had its share of notorious figures

and crimes related to highway robbery, some who were also, allegedly, a lot like Robin Hood.

Highwayman Louis Dominique Burgugnion, known as Cartouche, for instance,

was at the top of the robber game, and he was known as the leader of the gang called the Cour de Miracle.

They preyed on the Versailles-Paris trade route in the early 18th century.

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