Policing in the revolutionary era

Question 1

In the French context during the 18th and 19th centuries what did ‘police’ come to relate to?

Answer 1

The task of management and good order of urban areas

Question 2

In 1667 the lieutenant of the Paris police acquired the responsibility for what two things?

Answer 2

For supervising street lighting and street cleaning

Question 3

What were the marshals of the police army put in place to protect?

Answer 3

The rural population

Question 4

What did King Francis I issue between 1536 and 1544 to police in France?

Answer 4

Systematic measures

Question 5

What did the marshals of the French army do?

Answer 5

They roamed the countryside to catch military and civilian offenders and to use their sentencing power to inflict punishment, for which there was no appeal

Question 6

What did King Louis XIV create in 1667?

Answer 6

The first modern and efficient system of policing by appointing a lieutenant a police

Question 7

What range of functions did the lieutenant carry out?

Answer 7

• Supervised markets, food supply and commerce
• He was a judge
• And he reported to the King on concerning matters that may threaten state security

Question 8

Until 1720 growth was slow, Claude Le Blanc rationalise different companies into?

Answer 8

A national system

Question 9

What were the tasks of the Marcechaussee?

Answer 9

-Patrolling roads, fairs and festivals to apprehend criminals, vagrants, and deserters

Question 10

Who were each company commanded by?

Answer 10

A prevot-general

Question 11

What were the prevots and lieutenants also known as?

Answer 11

Magistrates - who heard cases in their own courts

Question 12

What were the cases that magistrates heard about and concerned about?

Answer 12

• The quality of the accused

- The nature of the crime

Question 13

True or false? Positions in the French police force had to be brought and could be passed down from father to son?

Answer 13

True

Question 14

The pay for generals and lieutenants in the French police poor was poor so what other job did many of them have?

Answer 14

Many of them were also innkeeper

Question 15

By 1750 the commissioners of the French system controlled how many troops?

Answer 15

About 1,000

Question 16

What was the most important position within the French police force in 1750

Answer 16

Inspector

Question 17

What was each inspector assigned to work in?

Answer 17

A department with specialist responsibilities ranging from surveillance of prostitutes to surveillance of the book trade

Question 18

While the salary for inspectors was minimal it could be supplemented by what?

Answer 18

Bribes

Question 19

What were French inspectors assisted by?

Answer 19

Mouches (literally flies) who were undercover spies or informants

Question 20

How effective were informers?

Answer 20

Very effective because people believed that informers were everywhere which was a useful deterrent

Question 21

How many men did the lieutenant general in Paris have under his command?

Answer 21

3,000

Question 22

In other towns outside or Paris the provision of men for patrols was dependant on what?

Answer 22

What the town was willing to finance

Question 23

Who did rural France continue to be patrolled by?

Answer 23

The Marcechaussee, which consisted on 4,000 armed men whose job was to keep the roads safe

Question 24

What was the system of police in Paris established by Louis XIV regarded as?

Answer 24

A model by a number of other European monarchs

Question 25

Joseph II, established a system in the territories under Austrian rule which included what?

Answer 25

The Austrian, Netherlands and parts of Italy

Question 26

Who did most of Italy, western Germany as well as the low countries found themselves policed by?

Answer 26

Gendarmes

Question 27

Where was smuggling and banditry prevalent?

Answer 27

On border areas like the Rhineland and parts of Italy

Question 28

Where was the system of police commissioner exported to?

Answer 28

Napoleons empire where it helped restore peace to small towns and villages

Question 29

What happened after Napoleon to French policing?

Answer 29

-Elements of the French system were taken up

Question 30

In other areas of France policing in the 19th century followed the model established in London by who?

Answer 30

Sir Robert Peel in 1829 - the Metropolitan Police

Question 31

What did the revolutionaries abolish and why?

Answer 31

They abolished the system established in 17th century, because it allowed spying and prying into people’s lives

Question 32

Why was The General Ministry of police in 1796 established?

Answer 32

Established in response to the governments concerns about popular disorder and as a means of establishing a stronger and more centralised police force.

Question 33

What was abolished in 1790 and what did they replace it with?

Answer 33

The rural militarised police force and replaced with the Gendarmerie Nationale

Question 34

Under Napoleon what were the requirements to join the police?

Answer 34

Several years military service, clean record, literature, numerate, and around six foot

Question 35

Why did the police under Napoleon gain a bad reputation?

Answer 35

Because they were brutal, which meant they became unpopular

Question 36

How many departments did the Ministry have?

Answer 36

Six including the secret police, censorship, prison surveillance, food prices, police accounts and the secretariat

Question 37

True or false: A police commissioner was appointed to every town with a population of over 5,000 and a general to cities with over 100,000

Answer 37

True

Question 38

Who was the independent prefecture de police headed by?

Answer 38

Francois Vidocq. in charge of 150 men