1.
Police
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A police force is a constituted body of persons empowered by the state to enforce the law, protect property, and limit civil disorder. Their powers include the use of force. Law enforcement, however, constitutes part of policing activity. Policing has included an array of activities in different situations, in some societies, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, these developed within the context of maintaining the class system and the protection of private property. Many police forces suffer from police corruption to a greater or lesser degree, the police force is usually a public sector service, meaning they are paid through taxes. Alternative names for police force include constabulary, gendarmerie, police department, police service, crime prevention, protective services, law enforcement agency, members may be referred to as police officers, troopers, sheriffs, constables, rangers, peace officers or civic/civil guards. As police are often interacting with individuals, slang terms are numerous, many slang terms for police officers are decades or centuries old with lost etymology. One of the oldest, cop, has largely lost its slang connotations and this is derived from πόλις, city. Law enforcement in ancient China was carried out by prefects for thousands of years since it developed in both the Chu and Jin kingdoms of the Spring and Autumn period, in Jin, dozens of prefects were spread across the state, each having limited authority and employment period. Under each prefect were subprefects who helped collectively with law enforcement in the area, some prefects were responsible for handling investigations, much like modern police detectives. The concept of the system spread to other cultures such as Korea. In ancient Greece, publicly owned slaves were used by magistrates as police, in Athens, a group of 300 Scythian slaves was used to guard public meetings to keep order and for crowd control, and also assisted with dealing with criminals, handling prisoners, and making arrests. Other duties associated with modern policing, such as investigating crimes, were left to the citizens themselves, in the Roman empire, the army, rather than a dedicated police organization, provided security. Local watchmen were hired by cities to some extra security. Magistrates such as fiscal and quaestors investigated crimes. There was no concept of public prosecution, so victims of crime or their families had to organize and their duties included apprehending thieves and robbers and capturing runaway slaves. The vigiles were supported by the Urban Cohorts who acted as a heavy-duty anti-riot force, in medieval Spain, Santa Hermandades, or holy brotherhoods, peacekeeping associations of armed individuals, were a characteristic of municipal life, especially in Castile. These organizations were intended to be temporary, but became a fixture of Spain
2.
Limoges
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Limoges is a city and commune, the capital of the Haute-Vienne department and the administrative capital of the Limousin in west-central France. Limoges is known for its medieval and Renaissance enamels on copper, for its 19th-century porcelain and for its oak barrels which are used for Cognac, some are even exported to wineries in California. Scarce remains of settlements have been found in the area of Limoges. The city proper was founded as Augustoritum by the Romans, around 10 BC, the foundation was part of the reorganization of the province by the emperor Augustus, hence the new name. The Roman city included an amphitheatre measuring 136 x 115 metres, a theatre, according to tradition, a temple consecrated to Venus, Diana, Minerva and Jupiter was located near the modern cathedral. The city was on the typical Roman square plan, with two main crossing in the centre. It had a Senate and a currency of its own, a sign of its importance in the imperial age, Limoges was evangelized by Saint Martial, who came to the city around 250 with two companions, Alpinianus and Austriclinienus. However, in the late 3rd century it was increasingly abandoned, the population was concentrated instead in a more easily fortifiable site, the modern Puy Saint-Étienne, which is the centre of the modern Limoges. Starting from the 11th century, thanks to the presence of the Abbey of St. Martial and its large library, Limoges became a flourishing artistic centre. It was home to an important school of music composition. In the 13th century, at the peak of its splendour, the town proper, with a new line of walls encompassing the Vienne River, inhabited mainly by clerks and workers. It has a bridge on the Vienne river named after Saint-Étienne, built by the bishops, sacked in 1370, it never recovered entirely. The castle, with 12 meter-high walls, including the abbey and controlled by the abbot, traces of the walls can still be seen in the city centre. Outside the lines of walls were the popular quarters, in 1370, Limoges was occupied by Edward, the Black Prince, who massacred some 300 residents, perhaps a sixth of the normal population, with another 60 members of the garrison of 140 dead as well. The city and castle were united in 1792 to form the city of Limoges. During the French Revolution several religious edifices, considered symbols of the Ancien Régime, were destroyed by the population, some years later the porcelain industry started to develop, favoured by the presence of kaolinite which was discovered near Limoges in 1768. Factories in Limoges and St Junien still produce luxury leather shoes, gloves, in the 19th century Limoges saw strong construction activity, which included the destruction and rebuilding of much of the city centre. The unsafe conditions of the population is highlighted by the outbreak of several riots, including that of July–November 1830
3.
Bordeaux
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Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France. The municipality of Bordeaux proper has a population of 243,626, together with its suburbs and satellite towns, Bordeaux is the centre of the Bordeaux Métropole. With 749,595 inhabitants and 1,178,335 in the area, it is the fifth largest in France, after Paris, Lyon, Marseille and Lille. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture of the Gironde department and its inhabitants are called Bordelais or Bordelaises. The term Bordelais may also refer to the city and its surrounding region, Bordeaux is the worlds major wine industry capital. It is home to the main wine fair, Vinexpo. Bordeaux wine has been produced in the region since the 8th century, the historic part of the city is on the UNESCO World Heritage List as an outstanding urban and architectural ensemble of the 18th century. After Paris, Bordeaux has the highest number of preserved buildings of any city in France. In historical times, around 300 BC it was the settlement of a Celtic tribe, the Bituriges Vivisci, the name Bourde is still the name of a river south of the city. In 107 BC, the Battle of Burdigala was fought by the Romans who were defending the Allobroges, a Gallic tribe allied to Rome, the Romans were defeated and their commander, the consul Lucius Cassius Longinus, was killed in the action. The city fell under Roman rule around 60 BC, its importance lying in the commerce of tin, later it became capital of Roman Aquitaine, flourishing especially during the Severan dynasty. In 276 it was sacked by the Vandals, further ravage was brought by the same Vandals in 409, the Visigoths in 414 and the Franks in 498, beginning a period of obscurity for the city. In the late 6th century, the city re-emerged as the seat of a county and an archdiocese within the Merovingian kingdom of the Franks, the city started to play a regional role as a major urban center on the fringes of the newly founded Frankish Duchy of Vasconia. Around 585, a certain Gallactorius is cited as count of Bordeaux, the city was plundered by the troops of Abd er Rahman in 732 after storming the fortified city and overwhelming the Aquitanian garrison. After Duke Eudess defeat, the Aquitanian duke could still save part of its troops, the following year, the Frankish commander descended again over Aquitaine, but clashed in battle with the Aquitanians and left to take on hostile Burgundian authorities and magnates. In 745, Aquitaine faced yet another expedition by Charles sons Pepin and Carloman against Hunald, Hunald was defeated, and his son Waifer replaced him, who in turn confirmed Bordeaux as the capital city. During the last stage of the war against Aquitaine, it was one of Waifers last important strongholds to fall to King Pepin the Shorts troops. Next to Bordeaux, Charlemagne built the fortress of Fronsac on a hill across the border with the Basques, in 778, Seguin was appointed count of Bordeaux, probably undermining the power of the Duke Lupo, and possibly leading to the Battle of Roncevaux Pass that very year
4.
Pierre Mignard
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Pierre Mignard, called Le Romain to distinguish him from his brother Nicolas Mignard, was a French painter. He was born at Troyes, and came of a family of artists, he needs to be distinguished from his nephew Pierre. In 1630 he left the studio of Simon Vouet for Italy, where he spent twenty-two years, having found favor with the king, Louis XIV, Mignard pitted himself against Charles Le Brun and declined to enter the Academy of which Le Brun was the head. Mignard also opposed the authority of the Academy, Mignard spent most of his time painting portraits. Among his models were Turenne, Molière, Bossuet, Maintenon, La Vallière, Sévigné, Montespan, with the death of Le Brun in 1690, the situation changed. Mignard succeeded to all the posts held by his opponent and he died in 1695 at Paris as he was about to begin work on the cupola of the Invalides. His best compositions have been engraved by Audran, Edelinck, Masson, Poilly, there is a good selection of works by Pierre, Nicolas, and Pierre II in Avignon at the Musée Calvet. French Baroque and Classicism List of paintings by Pierre Mignard This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh. Media related to Pierre Mignard at Wikimedia Commons
5.
Fronde
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The Fronde was a series of civil wars in France between 1648 and 1653, occurring in the midst of the Franco-Spanish War, which had begun in 1635. The king confronted the opposition of the princes, the nobility, the law courts, and most of the French people. The Fronde was divided into two campaigns, the Fronde of the parlements and the Fronde of the nobles, the timing of the outbreak of the Fronde des parlements, directly after the Peace of Westphalia that ended the Thirty Years War, was significant. A. Lloyd Moote argues that Cardinal Mazarin blundered into the crisis, the Fronde represented the final attempt of the French nobility to do battle with the king, and they were humiliated. The long-term result was to strengthen Royal authority, but to weaken the economy, the Fronde facilitated the emergence of absolute monarchy. The French word fronde means sling, Parisian crowds used slings to smash the windows of supporters of Cardinal Mazarin, the Fronde in the end provided an incentive for the establishment of royalist absolutism, since the disorders eventually discredited the feudal concept of liberty. The pressure that saw the traditional liberties under threat came in the form of extended and increased taxes as the Crown needed to recover from its expenditures in the recent wars. The costs of the Thirty Years War constrained Mazarins government to raise funds by means, the impôts, the taille. The nobility refused to be so taxed, based on their old liberties, or privileges, and the brunt fell upon the bourgeoisie. When Louis XIV became king in 1643, he was only a child, most historians consider that Louiss later insistence on absolutist rule and depriving the nobility of actual power was a result of these events in his childhood. The military record of the first Fronde is almost blank, the noble faction demanded the calling of an assembly of the Estates General. The nobles believed that in the Estates-General they could continue to control the element as they had in the past. The royal faction, having no army at its disposal, had to release the prisoners. But Frances signing of the Peace of Westphalia allowed the French army to return from the frontiers, the two warring parties signed the Peace of Rueil after little blood had been shed. From then on the Fronde became a story of intrigues, half-hearted warfare in a scramble for power and control of patronage, the military operations fell into the hands of war-experienced mercenaries, led by two great, and many lesser, generals. The peace of Rueil lasted until the end of 1649, the princes, received at court once more, renewed their intrigues against Mazarin. On 14 January 1650, Cardinal Mazarin, having come to an understanding with Monsieur Gondi and Madame de Chevreuse, suddenly arrested Condé, Conti, the war which followed this coup is called the Princes Fronde. This time it was Turenne, before and afterwards the most loyal soldier of his day, listening to the promptings of Madame de Longueville, he resolved to rescue her brother Condé, his old comrade in the battles of Freiburg and Nördlingen
6.
Jean-Baptiste Colbert
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Jean-Baptiste Colbert was a French politician who served as the Minister of Finances of France from 1665 to 1683 under the rule of King Louis XIV. His relentless hard work and thrift made him an esteemed minister and he achieved a reputation for his work of improving the state of French manufacturing and bringing the economy back from the brink of bankruptcy. Historians note that, despite Colberts efforts, France actually became increasingly impoverished because of the Kings excessive spending on wars, Colbert worked to create a favourable balance of trade and increase Frances colonial holdings. He also founded royal tapestry works at Gobelins and supported those at Beauvais, Colbert worked to develop the domestic economy by raising tariffs and by encouraging major public works projects. Colbert also worked to ensure that the French East India Company had access to markets, so that they could always obtain coffee, cotton, dyewoods, fur, pepper. In addition, Colbert founded the French merchant marine, Colbert issued more than 150 edicts to regulate the guilds. One such law had the intention of improving the quality of cloth, the edict declared that if the authorities found a merchants cloth unsatisfactory on three separate occasions, they were to tie him to a post with the cloth attached to him. Colberts father and grandfather operated as merchants in his birthplace of Reims and he claimed to have Scottish ancestry. A general belief exists that he spent his youth at a Jesuit college, working for a Parisian banker. Before the age of 20, Colbert had a post in the war office, Colbert spent some time as an inspector of troops, eventually becoming the personal secretary of Le Tellier. In 1647, through means, Colbert acquired the confiscated goods of an uncle. In 1648, he and his wife Marie Charron, received 40,000 crowns from an unknown source, in 1657, he purchased the Barony of Seignelay. Colbert was recommended to King Louis XIV by Mazarin, while Cardinal Mazarin was in exile, Louis trust in Colbert grew. In 1652 Colbert was asked to manage the affairs of the Cardinal while he was away and this new responsibility would detach Colbert from his other responsibility as commissaire des guerres. Although Colbert was not a supporter of Mazarin in principle, he would defend the cardinals interests with unflagging devotion. Colberts earliest recorded attempt at tax reform came in the form of a mémoire to Mazarin, showing that of the taxes paid by the people, the paper also contained an attack upon the Superintendent Fouquet. The postmaster of Paris, a spy of Fouquets, read the letter, in 1661, Mazarin died and Colbert made sure of the Kings favour by revealing the location of some of Mazarins hidden wealth. In short, Colbert acquired power in every department except that of war, a great financial and fiscal reform at once claimed all his energies
7.
Affair of the Poisons
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The Affair of the Poisons was a major murder scandal in France which took place in 1677–1682, during the reign of King Louis XIV of France. During it, a number of prominent members of the aristocracy were implicated and sentenced on charges of poisoning, the scandal reached into the inner circle of the king. It led to the execution of 36 people, there were also rumours that she had poisoned poor people during her visits in hospitals. After being accused she fled, but was arrested in Liège, brinvilliers was tortured and confessed, was sentenced to death, and on 17 July was tortured with the water cure, beheaded, and her body burned at the stake. Her alleged accomplice Sainte-Croix did not face charges because he had died of causes in 1672. The sensational trial drew attention to a number of mysterious deaths. Prominent people, including Louis XIV, became alarmed that they might be poisoned, the affair proper opened in February 1677 after the arrest of Magdelaine de La Grange on charges of forgery and murder. La Grange appealed to François Michel Le Tellier, Marquis of Louvois, Louvois reported to the king, who told Gabriel Nicolas de la Reynie, who, among other things, was the chief of the Paris police, to root out the poisoners. La Reynie sought to calm the king, the subsequent investigation of potential poisoners led to accusations of witchcraft, murder and more. Authorities rounded up a number of fortune tellers and alchemists who were suspected of selling not only divinations, séances and aphrodisiacs, but also inheritance powders. Some of them confessed under torture and gave lists of their clients. The most famous case was that of midwife Catherine Deshayes Monvoisin or La Voisin, La Voisin implicated a number of important individuals in the French court. Questioned while intoxicated, La Voisin claimed that Montespan had bought aphrodisiacs and performed black masses with her in order to gain and she had worked with a priest named Étienne Guibourg. There was no evidence beyond her confessions, but bad reputations followed these people afterwards, eleanor Herman, in her book Sex with Kings, claims that the police, given reports of babies bones, uncovered the remains of 2,500 infants in La Voisins garden. However, Anne Somerset disputes this in her book The Affair of the Poisons, also involved in the scandal was Eustache Dauger de Cavoye, the eldest living scion of a prominent noble family. Cavoye was disinherited by his family when, in an act of debauchery, upon his disinheritance, he opened a lucrative trade in inheritance powders and aphrodisiacs. He mysteriously disappeared after the ending of Louiss official investigation in 1678. Because of this and his name, he was suspected of being the Man in the Iron Mask
8.
Cour des miracles
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Cour des miracles was a French term which referred to slum districts of Paris, France where the unemployed migrants from rural areas resided. They held the usual refuge of all those wretches who came to conceal in this corner of Paris, sombre, dirty, muddy, the latter served as inspiration for Victor Hugos Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. In pre-modern Paris a large portion of the population relied on begging for its survival, since those with a clear handicap could expect more alms, a number of beggars faked terrible injuries and diseases. By the time came back to their homes in the slum. A beggar who had pretended to be blind or crippled the whole day could see or walk again once back in the slum and this phenomenon gave the generic name to these areas where so many miracles occurred every day, courts of miracles. Regularly the people of the Court of Miracles were thought to have organized a counter-society devoted to crime and thievery with its own hierarchy, however, this is a common theme at the time and is likely to have been little else than a literary fantasy. For instance, the archissupots were meant to be students in charge of teaching the local slang to the new recruits. The relationship between outlaws and the student world in the 17th century – a time of crisis – has however commonly been observed, the 17th century historian Henri Sauval claimed that the area was a great cul-de-sac which was stinking, muddy, irregular and unpaved. As crime and destitution worsened, Parisian authorities sought to reduce these areas, gabriel Nicolas de la Reynie was tasked in 1667 with utilising the fledgling Prefecture of Police to curb the growth of crime in the areas. By 1750, a new tactic of improving health and social care became prominent over law enforcement, the last vestiges of the old cour des miracles were eliminated with the redevelopment of the Filles-Dieu site during the French Revolution and the Haussmannisation of the area in the 19th century. Paris, The Biography of a City
9.
Jean Louis de Nogaret de La Valette
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Jean Louis de Nogaret de La Valette, created Duke of Épernon, was a powerful member of the French nobility at the turn of the 16th century. He was deeply involved in plots and politics throughout his life and he was born at Caumont in Gascony, the son of Jean de Nogaret de La Valette and Jeanne de Saint-Lary de Bellegarde. His father and grandfather being both military men, it was natural that young Jean Louis would choose a soldiers life. He fought on the Catholic side in the French Wars of Religion, at the Siege of La Rochelle, he first came to the notice of the duc dAnjou, by December 1578, Nogaret had been accepted into Henris most intimate circle of favourites, Les Mignons. In 1581, Henry sold him the town of Épernon, at the time raising it to the rank of a duchy thus creating Nogaret the first duc dÉpernon. At the death of the duc de Joyeuse he was awarded the titles of Admiral of France, Governor of Normandy, of Caen, Jean Louis de Nogaret de La Valette married Jane De St Lary De Bellegarde in September of 1551 in France. With his second wife, Anne Castelet de Monier, he had a son, Jean-Louis, after the assassination of Henri III in 1589, Épernon opposed the accession of Henry of Navarre and attempted to install an independent government in Provence. His attempt failed and in 1596 he was obliged to submit himself to the king and he played a large part in the immediate acceptance of Henris widow, Marie de Medici, as regent, her son Louis XIII being then too young to rule. The duc dÉpernon was active in government until 1618 or so, in 1617, he participated in the persecution and he was named military governor of Guienne in 1622, where he lived quietly for more than ten years in the Château de Cadillac. In 1634, however, his relationship with Henri de Sourdis led to a public altercation in which Épernon struck Sourdis. Furious, Sourdis demanded his excommunication and Épernon was disgraced and exiled and he gave up his post at Guienne in 1638 and died in the Château de Loches in January 1642 at the age of 88. Jean Louis and his wife Marguerite were buried at Saint-Blaise de Cadillac, the tomb, built of marble and surmounted by a winged female figure in bronze, was inspired by the great royal tombs at Basilica of Saint Denis and by the monument of Anne de Montmorency. Through his son Pierres granddaughter Anne Catherine de La Valette and her husband Daniel Collot-dEscury, Seigneur de Landauran, the arms of the Duke of Épernon are a white castle on a blue field, surmounted by three gold fleur-de-lis. Bernard de Nogaret de La Valette dÉpernon Guillaume de Nogaret Jean Parisot de la Valette Entre-deux-mers Jean Louis de Nogaret de la Valette Encyclopædia Britannica, p.669
10.
Madame de Brinvilliers
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Marie-Madeleine-Marguerite dAubray, Marquise de Brinvilliers was a French aristocrat accused of three murders. She was convicted on the strength of letters written by her dead lover and her alleged accomplice Sainte-Croix had died of natural causes in 1672, so could not be charged. There were also rumours that Brinvilliers had poisoned poor people during her visits to hospitals, in 1675, on being accused, Brinvilliers fled to England, the Netherlands, and finally a convent near Liège, where she was arrested by a policeman pretending to be a priest. On 17 July 1676, she was tortured with the water cure and she was then beheaded, and her body was burned at the stake. Her trial and the scandal which followed it launched the Affair of the Poisons, robert Brownings 1846 poem The Laboratory imagines an incident in her life. Her capture and burning is mentioned in The Oracle Glass by Judith Merkle Riley, also the poisoning of the poor is echoed by the character, Genevieves. The plot of the novel The Burning Court by John Dickson Carr concerns a murder that appears to be the work of the ghost of Marie dAubray Brinvilliers, there have been two musical treatments of her life. A musical comedy called Mimi - A Poisoners Comedy written by Allen Cole, Melody A. Johnson, the Sailor Moon musical Kessen / Transylvania no Mori, included a character known as De Brinvilliers-sensei. She was a vampire who posed as a teacher who tested her students about various poisons. Margarita Blankenheim, a based on the Vocaloid Hatsune Miku, was based after the woman. A song sung by Hatsune Miku known as Gift from the Princess who Brought Sleep describes Margaritas actions, attribution Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Brinvilliers, Marie Madeleine Marguerite dAubray, Marquise de. Wood, James, ed. Brinvilliers, Marquise de, london and New York, Frederick Warne. Anne Somerset - The Affair of the Poisons, Murder, Infanticide, and Satanism at the Court of Louis XIV
