Gabriel Nicolas of Reynie

Gabriel Nicolas of Reynie (1625 with Limoges, France - 1709 with Paris, France) is the first general Lieutenant of police force of Paris.

Resulting from a poor and badly provided family of dress, Gabriel Nicolas makes a rich person marriage in 1645 and takes then the name of Reynie, poor Fief of 200 pounds annual income. Magistrate with the Présidial of Angouleme, then president with that of Bordeaux, it resists the Fronde, is used as intendant to the governor of Guyenne, the duke of Épernon, which makes known it at the court.

Reynie manages the fortune of the duke of Épernon without forgetting his: in 1661, it buys for 320 000 pounds a load of Master of the requests to the the Council of the king. He is had a presentiment of by Colbert to inaugurate the new load of lieutenant of police force of Paris in 1667, load which he assumes during thirty years. Reynie becomes adviser of State in 1680.

“The police force consists in ensuring the rest of the public and the private individuals, to protect the city from what can cause disorders”. The edict which Colbert presents to Louis XIV in March 1667 has resulted from the evolution of French manners for a few centuries as regards public safety. It considers an comprehensive approach of criminality and constitutes the founding document of the police force under the old mode by clarifying a situation inherited the Moyen-âge.

The purpose of the load of Lieutenant of police force which it institutes is to create an autonomous capacity taking care of the good walk of the city, some pressure which it can undergo. Paris is the first city concerned with this measurement. Nicolas of Reynie is there the first general lieutenant of police force, charges that it occupies of March 1667 in January 1697. Consider then main requests with the Council of State, it has a complete knowledge of the institutions. All the general lieutenants who succeed to him have a similar formation. Named by the king, the lieutenant of police force is revocable AD nutum . If the edict confers to the lieutenant of police force certain missions (the fight against the delinquency, the fire, the flood; the economic police force, of manners, etc), it lets Nicolas Reynie organize it his administration by gathering under its authority the old institutions.

The police chiefs inspectors in Châtelet become police superintendents, their number is changed to 48. Distributed between the 17 districts of Paris, they give an account daily of their activity to the general lieutenant. Nicolas of Reynie also counts on a network of remunerated indicators: flies in freedom and sheep in prison. He can also require the forces of the army, either the Maréchaussée of Ile-de-France, or the Garde of Paris (approximately a thousand of guards of the doors and walls of Paris). Especially, the general lieutenant of police force is pressed on desks (trades, markets, schools, files, etc).

He restores the royal authority by putting at the step the governor of Paris, the holders of strongholds wedged in Paris, the Parliament up to that point accustomed to take stops of payment as regards police force, the provost of the merchants and the Parisian municipality.

Reynie is also Juge or Procureur in large extraordinary Procès, such as that of the knight of Rohan decapitated for conspiracy, or that of the Affaire of the poisons.

At that time, four “police forces” are competed with in Paris: police chiefs, archers and free of the guet, the company of the criminal lieutenant and prévôté of the Island. He reorganizes these police forces and takes them under its cut. They are charged to ensure the safety of the streets of Paris, to supervise the Parisian medium of then and the truffer of indicators.

Reynie represses the impression and the hawking of the seditious writings, crimes which he judges itself directly and very severely. Responsible for the execution of the lettre de cachets, it takes part in the high policy when it ensures the corn supply of Paris, or when it directs persecutions against the Protestant .

It is as thanks to its muscular methods as Paris becomes the cleanest city of the Europe of this time (financed by the tax known as of the Boues and lanterns) and that it eradic the course of the miracles. One owes him public lighting (from where the expression of “Paris City of Light”), which was used to make the streets surer, the first rules of circulation and parking, the Pavage of the streets and the Water conveyance.

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