Talk:Lettres de cachet

message: As far as I can tell there is nothing relevant in our Michel Foucault article, so I dropped that article from "See also". If Foucault wrote on the topic (maybe in Discipline and Punish? I don't remember it particularly, but I read that 20 years ago) it probably belongs in the 'pedia somewhere, maybe here, but just a "see also" to his name isn't much use to a reader. - Jmabel | Talk 17:33, 11 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Michel Foucault 

message: I guess it is in the nature of these things, that there are no statistics available, but would it be possible to give a clearer idea as to how often they were used? Amirada (talk) 18:24, 17 December 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: How widespread?

message: "In the case of organized bodies lettres de cachet were issued for the purpose of preventing assembly or to accomplish some other definite act. The provincial estates were convoked in this manner, and it was by a lettre de cachet (in this case, a lettre de jussipri), or by showing in person in a lit de justice, that the king ordered a parlement to register a law in the teeth of its own refusal to pass it." cOULS SOMEOME TRANSLATE THIS INTO eNGLISH PLEASE? aT VERY LEATS, PUT THE EXPLAINATION OF THESE TERMS ("convoked", "lit de justice" AND "the king ordered a parlement to register a law in the teeth of its own refusal to pass it" MOST IGINIFICATLY) IN PARENTHISIS BEHIND IT.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.30.163.79 (talk) 21:37, 22 August 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  SIMPLE ENGISH PLEASE 

message: The text qualifies the Lettres de Cachet as "a silent weapon against political adversaries or dangerous writers." Though I read similar statements many times, they seem quite void of substance (I only know the XVIIIth century), parroting unsubstantial rumours created after the Revolution - most rumours go back to XIXth century texts, not written by historians. Actually, have there been cases, or is it part of the Black Legend of the Ancien Régime? I took the liberty to add the reasons for the Lettre de Cachet to the list of victims in the lemma - they are just ordinary criminals or people having caused serious disorder. Dangerous writers ? Voltaire was considered dangerous, as he had proferred death menaces against de prince de Rohan. He was never jailed for his ideas. I could find no writer jailed for his ideas or philosophical convictions (I only know the XVIIIth century, it is true that some Jansenists under Louis XIV have been jailed). Can you ? Ok, I do not consider gross slander (e.g. Voltaire claiming the regent to be a poisoner and incestuous with his daughter; or Marmontel slandering against the duke d'Aumont, who filed a complaint) as a ideology or philosophy; nor can pornography be considered as such.Between 1659 and 1789 a 1000 people were jailed for "faits de lettres" (8 per year, slanderers, pornographers, vies privées (that is pornographical biographies of existing people), or insulting writings and pamphlets all confounded. You can still get in jail for some of those. Tell me, how many people were really jailed for politics or philosophy, and who? Riyadi (talk) 11:53, 22 September 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  A silent weapon against political adversaries or dangerous writers