Lettres de cachet
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Lettres de cachet were letters signed by the king of France, countersigned by one of his ministers, and closed with the royal seal. They contained orders directly from the king, often to enforce actio
A lettre de cachet of 1703 (reign of Louis XIV), opening De par le roy ("In the name of the King...")
Lettre de cachet ordering Jean-François Marmontel's detention at the Bastille, signed by Louis XV and minister Louis Phélypeaux in 1759
Alexandre Manette
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Doctor Alexandre Manette is a character in Charles Dickens' 1859 novel A Tale of Two Cities. He is Lucie's father, a brilliant physician, and spent eighteen years "in secret" as a prisoner in the Bast
Lettres de cachet
…of a young lady who has run away, tries to use a lettre de cachet to obligate her to be returned to him so he can force her into marriage. Doctor Alexandre Manette, in Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, was thrown into the Bastille prison by means of a lettre de cachet. In addition, Charles Darnay suspected…
T2C. Dr Manette making shoes in his cell