Post by Catsmate on Jan 9, 2020 11:16:34 GMT
The Paris Blood Riots of 1750.
It was actually a bit more complicated than the wiki paragraph suggests but the riots and unrest over the supposed kidnapping of children to be drained of blood is a fascinating historical oddity.
Firstly a note about the police. Policing in France was, and is, complicated with multiple organisations.
In the eighteenth century Paris had two different police forces; the Garde de Paris and the Guet Royal (the Royal watchmen) under the common command of the Lieutenant General of Police (in 1740 an office held by Nicolas René Berryer1, wiki, a stubborn and brutal man)
The Garde de Paris was about five hundred men in strength, around a quarter mounted, and was more of a military gendarmarie.
The watch was smaller, about 150 strong, with (in 1750) nineteen posts around the city. The Garde de Paris were typically former soldiers from outside Paris, while the Guet were Parisians. Both were considered corrupt, known for taking bribes.
The whole business seems to have started in December 1749 when a Royal Decree was issued to clear the Parisian streets of "tramps, layabouts, rascals and other vagabonds2". Beyond this was the famine of 1747-8 which increased food prices, deprived many of work and sent many to the cities. Between that December and April 1750 the police, especially the Garde, enforced the decree with vigour (probably because they were paid based on the numbers of arrests made). However Parisians often sided with the "vagabonds" and in those months at least fifteen violent affrays occurred.
In late April or early May rumours spread that the police were taking children off the streets and holding them until their parents paid ransoms. A Parisian lawyer named Barbier noted in his diary (on 16MAY):
Things came to a head on May Day when a constable, named Sébastien le Blanc, attempted to arrest a group of teenagers who were playing Faubourg Saint-Laurent. People objected and intervened, some soldiers joined in, weapons were drawn and blows were exchanged. The Garde escaped with the children in a wagon and took them to the Châtelet prison.
Over the following two weeks similar incidents occurred with violence and injuries.
On 16MAY events truly erupted; a Garde wagon, carrying troops, was traveling along the rue des Nonnains-d'Hyères (in the Marais district) when a local woman accused them of planning to abduct children. A crowd gathered, the wagon was blocked and a riot (involving scores local people and some soldiers) blew up, leaving one guardsman dead and several injured. The guardsamen scattered and hid in various shops, hunted by the irate locals. A perfect situation to drop some oddly dressed strangers into.
Following this there were other, smaller incidents; strangers3 being attacked by suspicious crowds, posters warning of abduction were distributed and people armed and organised. Lone guardsmen were attacked and several times people had to take refuse in watch posts or the residences of officials. Though these were sometimes besieged by crowds, perhaps several thousands strong.
So, what about the blood? Well to return to M. Barbier's diary he noted a belief among the people that there was:
The leprous prince being Louis XV himself.
The king was extremely unpopular with the ordinary people, existing in a shut-off world of luxury and self-indulgence.
On 22MAY much of the city of Paris erupted into violence, with at least six districts involved. ten of thousands of people were involved; public buildings were attacked and some burned, shops looted for weapons and many injured.
The next day a guardsman named Labbé was seen trying to arrest a boy on the Pont Marie bridge. A crowd gathered rapidly, the boy freed, and Labbé was chased through the city. Despite the intervention of the Garde and gunfire the mob dragged the unfortunate Labbé away and beat him to death. His body was dragged to Berryer's house which was besieged; he escaped
More than twenty others died that day and hundreds were injured.
After this violence calm returned to the city quite quickly.
An enquiry was ordered but, rather than blaming Berryer and the police, the riots were blamed on organised criminals, bands of 'disreputable persons', and (interestingly) some mysterious men dressed all in black who mingled with the crowds and whipped up trouble.
Three rioters were sentenced to death, and despite an attempt by the mob to free them, publicly hanged.
Game use.
1. Background.
If a part of time travellers arrive in Paris in the first half of 1750 they could easily get swept up in events. Arrested, attacked, separated (did they bring super-phones) and standing out in clothes, manner and accent they're natural targets for the mob. Do they intervene to stop the killings?
2. Starting things.
Maybe the PCs were the ones actually responsible for the riots? Did they let something slip that spread through Paris and mutated into the tales of blood being drained from children? Was someone discussing Elizabeth Báthory in a tavern? Did the Doctor reminiscence unwisely about the clockwork robots harvesting human organs?
3. Alien influences.
Or maybe someone was performing Sinister Experiments in 1750 Paris. The Clockwork Droids spring to mind (maybe a couple got stranded there?) as do the Cybermen (remember the Limehouse Lurker and its need for blood?) or someone mutated by Zygma energy in need of infusions. But then again it could have been an alien scout performing weird science on human test subjects, experiments of the Rani or many other possibilities.
Now the PCs have to stop them, while avoiding being killed by the paranoid mob, possibly suborned or mind controlled police, the paranoid king's agents or meddling too much with the run-up to the French Revolution.
Comments? Ideas? Suggestions?
1. Who'd gotten the job through the intervention of his friend, Madame de Pompadour. I wonder if she told him stories of a strange fireplace inspector? Certainly Berryer was involved in actions against several of her enemies and keeping her correspondence with the king secret.
2. Which could include the PCs.
3. Which could also include the PCs.
May 16 [1750]– Two weeks after police in Paris arrest six teenagers for gambling in the suburb of Saint-Laurent, rioting breaks out when a rumor spreads that plainclothes policemen are hauling off small children between the ages of five to ten years old, in order to provide blood to an ailing aristocrat. Over the next two weeks, rioting breaks out in other sections of Paris. Police are attacked, including one who is beaten to death by the mob, until order is restored and police reforms are announced.
Wikipedia.
Wikipedia.
Firstly a note about the police. Policing in France was, and is, complicated with multiple organisations.
In the eighteenth century Paris had two different police forces; the Garde de Paris and the Guet Royal (the Royal watchmen) under the common command of the Lieutenant General of Police (in 1740 an office held by Nicolas René Berryer1, wiki, a stubborn and brutal man)
The Garde de Paris was about five hundred men in strength, around a quarter mounted, and was more of a military gendarmarie.
The watch was smaller, about 150 strong, with (in 1750) nineteen posts around the city. The Garde de Paris were typically former soldiers from outside Paris, while the Guet were Parisians. Both were considered corrupt, known for taking bribes.
The whole business seems to have started in December 1749 when a Royal Decree was issued to clear the Parisian streets of "tramps, layabouts, rascals and other vagabonds2". Beyond this was the famine of 1747-8 which increased food prices, deprived many of work and sent many to the cities. Between that December and April 1750 the police, especially the Garde, enforced the decree with vigour (probably because they were paid based on the numbers of arrests made). However Parisians often sided with the "vagabonds" and in those months at least fifteen violent affrays occurred.
In late April or early May rumours spread that the police were taking children off the streets and holding them until their parents paid ransoms. A Parisian lawyer named Barbier noted in his diary (on 16MAY):
For a week now people have been saying that police constables in disguise are roaming around various quarters of Paris, abducting children, boys and girls from five or six years old to ten or more, and loading them into the carriages which they have ready waiting nearby.’
Over the following two weeks similar incidents occurred with violence and injuries.
On 16MAY events truly erupted; a Garde wagon, carrying troops, was traveling along the rue des Nonnains-d'Hyères (in the Marais district) when a local woman accused them of planning to abduct children. A crowd gathered, the wagon was blocked and a riot (involving scores local people and some soldiers) blew up, leaving one guardsman dead and several injured. The guardsamen scattered and hid in various shops, hunted by the irate locals. A perfect situation to drop some oddly dressed strangers into.
Following this there were other, smaller incidents; strangers3 being attacked by suspicious crowds, posters warning of abduction were distributed and people armed and organised. Lone guardsmen were attacked and several times people had to take refuse in watch posts or the residences of officials. Though these were sometimes besieged by crowds, perhaps several thousands strong.
So, what about the blood? Well to return to M. Barbier's diary he noted a belief among the people that there was:
...a leprous prince whose cure required a bath in human blood, and there being no blood purer than that of children, these were seized so as to be bled from all their limbs.
The king was extremely unpopular with the ordinary people, existing in a shut-off world of luxury and self-indulgence.
On 22MAY much of the city of Paris erupted into violence, with at least six districts involved. ten of thousands of people were involved; public buildings were attacked and some burned, shops looted for weapons and many injured.
The next day a guardsman named Labbé was seen trying to arrest a boy on the Pont Marie bridge. A crowd gathered rapidly, the boy freed, and Labbé was chased through the city. Despite the intervention of the Garde and gunfire the mob dragged the unfortunate Labbé away and beat him to death. His body was dragged to Berryer's house which was besieged; he escaped
More than twenty others died that day and hundreds were injured.
After this violence calm returned to the city quite quickly.
An enquiry was ordered but, rather than blaming Berryer and the police, the riots were blamed on organised criminals, bands of 'disreputable persons', and (interestingly) some mysterious men dressed all in black who mingled with the crowds and whipped up trouble.
Three rioters were sentenced to death, and despite an attempt by the mob to free them, publicly hanged.
Game use.
1. Background.
If a part of time travellers arrive in Paris in the first half of 1750 they could easily get swept up in events. Arrested, attacked, separated (did they bring super-phones) and standing out in clothes, manner and accent they're natural targets for the mob. Do they intervene to stop the killings?
2. Starting things.
Maybe the PCs were the ones actually responsible for the riots? Did they let something slip that spread through Paris and mutated into the tales of blood being drained from children? Was someone discussing Elizabeth Báthory in a tavern? Did the Doctor reminiscence unwisely about the clockwork robots harvesting human organs?
3. Alien influences.
Or maybe someone was performing Sinister Experiments in 1750 Paris. The Clockwork Droids spring to mind (maybe a couple got stranded there?) as do the Cybermen (remember the Limehouse Lurker and its need for blood?) or someone mutated by Zygma energy in need of infusions. But then again it could have been an alien scout performing weird science on human test subjects, experiments of the Rani or many other possibilities.
Now the PCs have to stop them, while avoiding being killed by the paranoid mob, possibly suborned or mind controlled police, the paranoid king's agents or meddling too much with the run-up to the French Revolution.
Comments? Ideas? Suggestions?
1. Who'd gotten the job through the intervention of his friend, Madame de Pompadour. I wonder if she told him stories of a strange fireplace inspector? Certainly Berryer was involved in actions against several of her enemies and keeping her correspondence with the king secret.
2. Which could include the PCs.
3. Which could also include the PCs.
