René Hérault
Encyclopedia
René Hérault, Seigneur de Fontaine-l'Abbé et de Vaucresson (April 23, 1691 – August 2, 1740), simply known as René Hérault, and sometimes as René Hérault de Vaucresson, was a French magistrate and administrator who served as Lieutenant General of Police of Paris
from 1725 to 1739.
, he was the son of a tax collector
, Louis Hérault (1645-1724), and his wife Jeanne Charlotte Guillard de la Vacherie.
René Hérault started his career in 1712, at the age of 21, as King's Advocate (a position similar to Advocate General
) at the Châtelet
of Paris
, the city's civil and criminal court. On February 3, 1718 he became Chief Prosecutor (procureur général) at the Grand Conseil
, a higher court of justice. He also became maître des requêtes
, and on March 23, 1722 he was appointed intendant
of the généralité
of Tours
. He showed his administrative ability during a famine
in his généralité, and so on August 28, 1725 he was appointed Lieutenant General of Police of Paris, i.e. head of the Paris Police
, succeeding Nicolas Ravot d'Ombreval
, who succeeded him as intendant of the généralité of Tours.
In 1728, he ordered for the first time in History that street name signs be posted at the corner of streets. This was generalized by his decree of July 30, 1729, which demanded that all owners with houses at the beginning and end of the streets put stone tablets engraved with the street names on the exterior walls of their houses. The stone tablets were sealed within the facades. He also tried to introduce a numbering system for houses and buildings, but this failed due to opposition from the aristocracy
whose members refused to have the front gate of their imposing mansions "disfigured" by number plaques and who also argued that numbering aristocratic mansions and the dwellings of lower class people alike was a repulsive egalitarian measure which infringed on the status of the privileged classes.
During his time in office, he was quite tough on the Jansenists
, for which he was attacked virulently by the Nouvelles ecclésiastiques, an underground newspaper which he could never close down. He notably put an end to the troubles caused by the convulsionaries of the Saint-Médard
graveyard (a group of Jansenists claiming that miracles took place in this graveyard) in 1732.
He also fought against Freemasonry
which had been newly introduced to France from England. He issued an order, that tavern-keepers and restaurant-keepers were not to give accommodation to Masonic lodge
s at all, under penalty of being closed down for six months and assessed a fine of 3,000 livres
(approx. US$15,000 in 2006). In order to discredit Freemasonry, he obtained a copy of the secret Masonic ritual from a luxury prostitute, one of whose clients was an important Freemason, and he had it published in 1737 in salacious French newspapers. Laughter from the public upon hearing of the ridiculous secret rituals was a great embarrassment for French Freemasons and significantly hindered the penetration of Freemasonry in France for several years. René Hérault also established a large network of spies and informants in Paris and in the French provinces, and like many other Lieutenant Generals of Police of Paris in the 18th century, he was particularly disliked for his secret police
.
of the généralité
of Paris and conseiller d'État
. He died in office on August 2, 1740 in Paris, at the age of 49.
(1690-1760), then intendant
of the généralité
of Valenciennes
, who later became Controller-General of Finances
(France's Finance Minister) and gave his name to the Seychelles
archipelago.
René Hérault was the grandfather of French Revolution
politician Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles
, son of Colonel
Jean-Baptiste Martin Hérault de Séchelles (1737-1759), himself son of René Hérault and his second wife Hélène Moreau de Séchelles. Most authors, however, consider that René Hérault was not the actual biological grandfather of Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles. The real biological grandfather was Louis Georges Érasme de Contades
(1704-1793), Marshal of France
, who had an affair with Hélène Moreau de Séchelles during her marriage to René Hérault, and who later took care of Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles after the early death of his father at the Battle of Minden
in 1759 where Contades was commanding the French army.
René Hérault was also the grandfather of the famous Duchess of Polignac
, friend and confidante of Queen Marie Antoinette
. The Duchess of Polignac was the daughter of Jeanne Charlotte Hérault (1726-1753 or 1756), herself the daughter of René Hérault and his first wife.
Finally, the other daughter of René Hérault and his first wife, Louise Adélaïde Hérault (1722-1754), was married by her father in 1738 to Claude-Henri Feydeau de Marville, who succeeded René Hérault as Lieutenant General of Police of Paris in 1739.
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
from 1725 to 1739.
Origins and early career
Born in RouenRouen
Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...
, he was the son of a tax collector
Tax collector
A tax collector is a person who collects unpaid taxes from other people or corporations. Tax collectors are often portrayed in fiction as being evil, and in the modern world share a somewhat similar stereotype to that of lawyers....
, Louis Hérault (1645-1724), and his wife Jeanne Charlotte Guillard de la Vacherie.
René Hérault started his career in 1712, at the age of 21, as King's Advocate (a position similar to Advocate General
Advocate General
An Advocate General is a senior law officer of a country or other jurisdiction, usually charged with advising the courts or Government on legal matters.-India:In India, an Advocate General is a legal adviser to a state government...
) at the Châtelet
Grand Châtelet
The Grand Châtelet was a stronghold in Ancien Régime Paris, on the right bank of the Seine, on the site of what is now the Place du Châtelet; it contained a court and police headquarters and a number of prisons....
of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, the city's civil and criminal court. On February 3, 1718 he became Chief Prosecutor (procureur général) at the Grand Conseil
Grand Conseil
The term Grand Conseil or Great Council refers two different institutions during the Ancien Régime in France. It also is the name of parliaments in several Swiss cantons.-Part of the King's Council:...
, a higher court of justice. He also became maître des requêtes
Maître des requêtes
Masters of Requests are high-level judicial officers of administrative law in France and other European countries that have existed in one form or another since the Middle Ages.-Old Regime France:...
, and on March 23, 1722 he was appointed intendant
Intendant
The title of intendant has been used in several countries through history. Traditionally, it refers to the holder of a public administrative office...
of the généralité
Généralité
Recettes générales, commonly known as généralités , were the administrative divisions of France under the Ancien Régime and are often considered to prefigure the current préfectures...
of Tours
Tours
Tours is a city in central France, the capital of the Indre-et-Loire department.It is located on the lower reaches of the river Loire, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. Touraine, the region around Tours, is known for its wines, the alleged perfection of its local spoken French, and for the...
. He showed his administrative ability during a famine
Famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
in his généralité, and so on August 28, 1725 he was appointed Lieutenant General of Police of Paris, i.e. head of the Paris Police
Prefecture of Police
The Prefecture of Police , headed by the Prefect of Police , is an agency of the Government of France which provides the police force for the city of Paris and the surrounding three suburban départements of Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, and Val-de-Marne...
, succeeding Nicolas Ravot d'Ombreval
Nicolas Ravot d'Ombreval
Nicolas Jean-Baptiste Ravot, seigneur d'Ombreval was a French magistrate and administrator who served as Lieutenant General of Police of Paris from 1724 to 1725.-Biography:...
, who succeeded him as intendant of the généralité of Tours.
Lieutenant General of Police of Paris
As Lieutenant General of Police, René Hérault ordered that the sewage works and refuse dumps be relocated from the city of Paris into suburbs further afield. He also initiated the practice of sprinkling streets with water during summer heat waves to prevent fires.In 1728, he ordered for the first time in History that street name signs be posted at the corner of streets. This was generalized by his decree of July 30, 1729, which demanded that all owners with houses at the beginning and end of the streets put stone tablets engraved with the street names on the exterior walls of their houses. The stone tablets were sealed within the facades. He also tried to introduce a numbering system for houses and buildings, but this failed due to opposition from the aristocracy
French nobility
The French nobility was the privileged order of France in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern periods.In the political system of the Estates General, the nobility made up the Second Estate...
whose members refused to have the front gate of their imposing mansions "disfigured" by number plaques and who also argued that numbering aristocratic mansions and the dwellings of lower class people alike was a repulsive egalitarian measure which infringed on the status of the privileged classes.
During his time in office, he was quite tough on the Jansenists
Jansenism
Jansenism was a Christian theological movement, primarily in France, that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination. The movement originated from the posthumously published work of the Dutch theologian Cornelius Otto Jansen, who died in 1638...
, for which he was attacked virulently by the Nouvelles ecclésiastiques, an underground newspaper which he could never close down. He notably put an end to the troubles caused by the convulsionaries of the Saint-Médard
Saint-Médard
Saint-Médard may refer to:* Saint-Médard, Charente* Saint-Médard, Charente-Maritime* Saint-Médard, Haute-Garonne* Saint-Médard, Gers* Saint-Médard, Indre* Saint-Médard, Lot* Saint-Médard, Moselle* Saint-Médard, Pyrénées-Atlantiques...
graveyard (a group of Jansenists claiming that miracles took place in this graveyard) in 1732.
He also fought against Freemasonry
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
which had been newly introduced to France from England. He issued an order, that tavern-keepers and restaurant-keepers were not to give accommodation to Masonic lodge
Masonic Lodge
This article is about the Masonic term for a membership group. For buildings named Masonic Lodge, see Masonic Lodge A Masonic Lodge, often termed a Private Lodge or Constituent Lodge, is the basic organisation of Freemasonry...
s at all, under penalty of being closed down for six months and assessed a fine of 3,000 livres
Livre tournois
The livre tournois |pound]]) was:#one of numerous currencies used in France in the Middle Ages; and#a unit of account used in France in the Middle Ages and the early modern period.-Circulating currency:...
(approx. US$15,000 in 2006). In order to discredit Freemasonry, he obtained a copy of the secret Masonic ritual from a luxury prostitute, one of whose clients was an important Freemason, and he had it published in 1737 in salacious French newspapers. Laughter from the public upon hearing of the ridiculous secret rituals was a great embarrassment for French Freemasons and significantly hindered the penetration of Freemasonry in France for several years. René Hérault also established a large network of spies and informants in Paris and in the French provinces, and like many other Lieutenant Generals of Police of Paris in the 18th century, he was particularly disliked for his secret police
Secret police
Secret police are a police agency which operates in secrecy and beyond the law to protect the political power of an individual dictator or an authoritarian political regime....
.
Death
On December 30, 1739, René Hérault left the Lieutenancy General of Police, where he was replaced by his son-in-law Claude-Henri Feydeau de Marville, and he was appointed intendantIntendant
The title of intendant has been used in several countries through history. Traditionally, it refers to the holder of a public administrative office...
of the généralité
Généralité
Recettes générales, commonly known as généralités , were the administrative divisions of France under the Ancien Régime and are often considered to prefigure the current préfectures...
of Paris and conseiller d'État
Conseiller d'État
A French Councillor of State is a high-level government official of administrative law in the Council of State of France.-Under the Old Regime:...
. He died in office on August 2, 1740 in Paris, at the age of 49.
Family
In 1719 René Hérault married Marguerite Durey de Vieuxcourt (1700-1729). In 1732 he married again to Hélène Moreau de Séchelles (1715-1798), the daughter of Jean Moreau de SéchellesJean Moreau de Séchelles
Jean Moreau de Séchelles was a French official and politician.Made a maître des requêtes 13 October 1719, he was the intendant of Hainaut in Valenciennes from 1727 to 1743...
(1690-1760), then intendant
Intendant
The title of intendant has been used in several countries through history. Traditionally, it refers to the holder of a public administrative office...
of the généralité
Généralité
Recettes générales, commonly known as généralités , were the administrative divisions of France under the Ancien Régime and are often considered to prefigure the current préfectures...
of Valenciennes
Valenciennes
Valenciennes is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.It lies on the Scheldt river. Although the city and region had seen a steady decline between 1975 and 1990, it has since rebounded...
, who later became Controller-General of Finances
Controller-General of Finances
The Controller-General of Finances was the name of the minister in charge of finances in France from 1661 to 1791. The position replaced the former position of Superintendent of Finances , which was abolished with the downfall of Nicolas Fouquet.- History :The term "contrôleur général" in...
(France's Finance Minister) and gave his name to the Seychelles
Seychelles
Seychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar....
archipelago.
René Hérault was the grandfather of French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
politician Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles
Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles
Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles was a French judge and politician who took part in the French Revolution.-Origins and early career:...
, son of Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
Jean-Baptiste Martin Hérault de Séchelles (1737-1759), himself son of René Hérault and his second wife Hélène Moreau de Séchelles. Most authors, however, consider that René Hérault was not the actual biological grandfather of Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles. The real biological grandfather was Louis Georges Érasme de Contades
Louis Georges Érasme de Contades
Louis Georges Érasme de Contades was the 6th Marquis de Contades and Seigneur de Montgeoffroi. He was a Marshal of France and a major battlefield commander during the Seven Years' War. He notably commanded the French forces at the 1759 Battle of Minden.He was born to Gaspard de Contades and his...
(1704-1793), Marshal of France
Marshal of France
The Marshal of France is a military distinction in contemporary France, not a military rank. It is granted to generals for exceptional achievements...
, who had an affair with Hélène Moreau de Séchelles during her marriage to René Hérault, and who later took care of Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles after the early death of his father at the Battle of Minden
Battle of Minden
The Battle of Minden—or Thonhausen—was fought on 1 August 1759, during the Seven Years' War. An army fielded by the Anglo-German alliance commanded by Field Marshal Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, defeated a French army commanded by Marshal of France Louis, Marquis de Contades...
in 1759 where Contades was commanding the French army.
René Hérault was also the grandfather of the famous Duchess of Polignac
Gabrielle de Polastron, duchesse de Polignac
Yolande Martine Gabrielle de Polastron, Duchess of Polignac was the favourite of Marie Antoinette, whom she first met when she was presented at the Palace of Versailles in 1775, the year after Marie Antoinette became the Queen of France...
, friend and confidante of Queen Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
. The Duchess of Polignac was the daughter of Jeanne Charlotte Hérault (1726-1753 or 1756), herself the daughter of René Hérault and his first wife.
Finally, the other daughter of René Hérault and his first wife, Louise Adélaïde Hérault (1722-1754), was married by her father in 1738 to Claude-Henri Feydeau de Marville, who succeeded René Hérault as Lieutenant General of Police of Paris in 1739.