• This summer,

    20 Minutes

    tells the story of the great figures of the police and the gendarmerie.

  • The second part of our series is devoted to Gabriel-Nicolas de la Reynie, who was entrusted with the office of lieutenant general of police in 1667.

  • Legend has it that King Louis XIV asked him to liquidate the court of miracles, a district located in the heart of Paris that is home to thieves, bandits and beggars.

The Sun King is appalled. On August 24, 1665, Louis XIV was in his palace, in the Louvre, when he learned of the assassination of Jacques Tardieu and his wife, Marie Ferrier, in their hotel in the City. Tardieu was his criminal lieutenant. As such, he was in charge of ensuring the safety of Parisians, of arresting murderers and vagabonds. But the observation is clear for the sovereign: there reigns in Paris a growing feeling of insecurity which undermines his royal authority. The watch, this citizen militia made up of men who patrol every night, does not have the necessary means to contain the gangs of thugs who attack the bourgeoisie. Worse. Located in the current 2nd arrondissement, an entire district is home to thieves, prostitutes, and beggars: the great court of miracles.

“Men, women, children… tens of thousands of people lived there,” says Christophe Soullez, police specialist and co-author of the book

3 minutes to understand the 50 greatest criminal stories in our history

*.

They live in community, have their laws, their own language, slang.

Their leader, called "the king of thunes" or "the great Coësre", directs all the beggars in the country who obey his lieutenants, the cagous.

False sick and false cripples, who rely on the compassion of good people to survive, regain their health as soon as they return to court… as if by a miracle.

"No go zone"

This “no go zone”, as Fox News would have described it today, located between rue des Forges and rue de Damiette, is totally beyond the control of the king. In 1630, his father, Louis XIII, had tried to cut a street to cross it. But the masons had been threatened, even murdered, and the project had to be abandoned. For Louis XIV, this is too much. He realizes that the system is running out of steam. “He will ask Colbert [one of his main ministers] to create a commission to lead to a reform of the Parisian police. Colbert will propose to him, by the edict of March 15, 1667, to appoint a new lieutenant general of police, ”continues Christophe Soullez. To this function is appointed Gabriel-Nicolas de la Reynie, 42, master of requests to the King's Council.

It's a small revolution.

From now on, a distinction is made between the judicial function, entrusted to the civilian lieutenant, and the police, which is responsible for the Reynie.

The latter immediately took a series of measures aimed at improving the efficiency of the police.

It recruits new agents, sets up networks of indicators - the flies -, reforms the lookout by setting up night patrols with always different routes.

It is also responsible for fighting fires and unsanitary streets, and preventing flooding.

We also owe him the creation of a real network of public lanterns.

A tenacious legend

From the start, de la Reynie wanted to make his mark. The king entrusted him with a mission: to put an end to the great court of miracles for good. According to legend, the lieutenant general of police went there one winter, in 1667, and announced to everyone that the district had to be evacuated. He promises it: the last twelve will be hanged or sent to the galleys. The threat is bearing fruit and the inhabitants leave this lawless zone without delay. The places will later be taken over by the blacksmiths. Did the events really take place like this? "It is in any case one of his feats of arms, it is perhaps also for that that he held this charge more than thirty years", observes Christophe Soullez.

Gabriel Nicolas de La Reynie, who resigned in 1697, died on June 14, 1709 at the age of 84.

The office of lieutenant general of police, it will last until the Revolution.

“We are going to put an end to it because we consider that this institution is much too close to the central power, that it served the king.

This is when the police will be entrusted to the mayors, which will be the case for many years, ”underlines Christophe Soullez.

Nevertheless, the institution created by Colbert continued to develop until the creation, in 1800, by Bonaparte, of the police headquarters.

* 3 minutes to understand the 50 greatest criminal stories in our history, by Christophe Soullez and Alain Bauer, Le Courrier du Livre editions, 160 pages, 19.90 euros

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