The Cavalier of the Apocalypse
Page 47
TERMS
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Commissaire: A high-level official of the eighteenth-century Parisian police force, above the inspectors, combining the functions of an investigator and a preliminary judge. Prerevolutionary commissaires served as examining magistrates, questioning witnesses and suspects and determining whether or not a case should be pursued; they reported directly to the royal lieutenant of police (the city's chief of police).
Faubourg: A suburb or, less precisely, a neighborhood at the edge of the medieval center of a city; areas of Paris such as the faubourg St. Germain, the faubourg St. Marcel, and so on, were so named in the Middle Ages, when they were parishes lying outside the twelfth-century walls, but by the eighteenth century they were well within the city limits. Neither they, nor the numbered administrative districts of prerevolutionary Paris, bear any relation to the modern arrondissements.
Guard: Prerevolutionary Paris had several separate companies of foot soldiers and guardsmen, each with a different title, status, and function, who maintained small posts throughout the city and were supposed to patrol the streets at night. For simplicity's sake, I have used the general term of "the Guard" for all of them.
H?tel: Can mean a hostelry, a large public building (h?tel de ville, city hall; h?tel-Dieu, charity hospital), or a large private town house or mansion (h?tel particulier). To avoid confusion, I have used the French form, with the circumflex over the O, whenever referring to a mansion or municipal hall, and the unaccented English word when referring to public accommodations.
Inspector: In prerevolutionary Paris, a police official in charge of maintaining a district of the city, under a commissaire; an inspector usually had some particular specialty in city administration and/or regulation, not necessarily related to crime or investigation.
L?se-majest?: High treason, specifically a malicious attempt on the person (by physical attack) or the character (by insult, slander, or libel) of the king or queen.
Ma?tre d'h?tel: A high-ranking house servant, equivalent to butler or steward.
Money: The standard unit of prerevolutionary French currency was the livre, although there was no one-livre coin. Twenty sous (which were further divided into the small change of copper deniers and liards) made up a livre; six livres a silver ?cu; twenty-four livres a gold louis d'or. The franc, introduced in 1795 during the Revolution, was worth about the same as the livre and eventually replaced it. A prerevolutionary sou was worth roughly $1 (U.S.) in buying power today.
Monseigneur: "My lord" (much more formal and deferential than "monsieur" used as a form of address, which is equivalent to "sir"); used only to address high churchmen and very high-ranking noblemen.
Police: The duties of the police of eighteenth-century Paris, particularly before the Revolution, extended far beyond the prevention and investigation of crime, the maintenance of public order, and the system of covert informers and enforcers necessary to an absolute monarchy. Essentially city administrators, they supervised all kinds of public affairs that today, in a large European or American city, would be managed by various departments of health, sanitation, public welfare, housing, trade, the fire department, and more, directing even public morals (regulation of prostitutes) and strict censorship of printing and publishing.
Subinspector: Before the Revolution, a police agent, often recruited from among petty criminals, who worked either openly or clandestinely and reported to a district inspector; roughly corresponding to something between a confidential informant and an undercover investigator assisting a detective in a modern police force.
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