Raymond Des�ze

Raymond Romain, Comte Des�ze (1760-1828) was a French advocate, who, together with Fran�ois Tronchet, defended Louis XVI, when the king was brought before the Convention for trial. Though he had to prepare his defence arguments practically overnight, he pled the king's case for three hours, arguing eloquently yet discreetly that the revolution spare his life. Nevertheless, the case was lost, and the king was sent to the guillotine. Des�ze himself was also imprisoned during the revolution, but he managed to elude the scaffold. Upon the return of the Bourbons he was made a peer.