Robespierre was suffering from organ-destroying disorder when he was executed, say scientists
Scientists say French revolutionary was suffering from organ-destroying disorder
He was riddled with jaundice, pock-marked, bloody and twitchy.
A new scientific analysis shows French revolutionary Maximilien de Robespierre was probably suffering from an organ-destroying immune disorder called sarcoidosis when he was executed by guillotine in 1794.
After reconstruction and examination of the death mask of the leader of the "reign of terror", forensic scientists Philippe Charlier and Philippe Froesch gave a retrospective diagnosis of the disease in which the body starts to attack its own tissues and organs.
"Several clinical signs were described by contemporary witnesses," the scientists wrote in The Lancet medical journal.
These included vision problems, nose bleeds - described in medical history documents which told of how he "covered his pillow of fresh blood each night" - jaundice - "yellow coloured skin and eyes" - continuous tiredness and recurrent leg ulcers.
"He also had permanent eye and mouth twitching," the scientists wrote, adding that "the symptoms worsened between 1790 and 1794". Robespierre was 36 when he was executed.