
Le Roi des Thunes (English: "The King of Beggars") (1740-19 January 1791) was the unacknowledged, illegitimate son of a minor French nobleman who rose to a position of power in the Cour des Miracles district sometime in the late 1770s. His fate was unknown, but in an unpublished letter dated early February 1791, the Marquis de Sade remarked "the King is dead, and none of his miracles can now save him". Since King Louis XVI of France would not be executed for almost two more years, it is suspected that it may refer to Le Roi des Thunes.
Biography[]
"Le Roi des Thunes" was born in the slums of Paris, France and became a thief, as his nickname suggests. He lived in the sewers in seclusion from the public. Le Roi des Thunes was the leader of the Cour des Miracles counter-society of criminals, beggars, and thieves that lived in the slums, and wore stolen clothing from aristocrats. He was known for his cruelty, often amptutating or torturing people in his cesspool of scum and villainy.
The King of Beggars was not allowed to be inducted fully into the Templar Order because Grand Master Francois de la Serre said that he had no need for the "intrigues of rats", but he assisted in De la Serre's assassination in 1789 and Francois-Thomas Germain made Le Roi des Thunes a member of the order for his assistance in the plot. Now a Templar affiliate, he was a part of the Templar conspiracy to take over France during the French Revolution.
Death[]
However, Le Roi des Thunes was not to last long. Assassin Order initiate Arno Dorian, who had just come back from assassinating fellow conspirator Charles Gabriel Sivert, arrived at the Cour des Miracles and tailed Aloys la Touche, a former tax collector-turned-thief, to the hideout. He interrogated la Touche and found out the location of the King of Beggars, and left la Touche chained to a wall. La Touche was eventually rescued by one of Le Roi des Thunes' men and ran to warn the King of Beggars, who sat in his throne in the sewers as guards defended the upper levels. Dorian succeeded in killing all of the guards before finishing Le Roi des Thunes off.