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 Old French Prisons. gave it to Charles de Valois et d'Alencon, son of Philippe-le-Hardi. The counts d'Alencon continued to occupy it till 1 390, when Charles VI purchased it on account of its contiguity to the Culture-Sainte-Catherine, where tournaments were frequently held. This hotel afterwards belonged to the kings of Navarre and the counts de Tancarville. Cardinal de Meudon bought it in 1559, and commenced its reconstruction, which was finished by Cardinal de Birague,

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vee; the other retained its former name, and its entrance in the Rue du Roi de Sicile. In 1780, the Hotel de la Force was con verted into a prison for debtors, and persons charged with civil offenses. It is now used for the detention of prisoners previous to trial. The Prison de la Force consists of three piles of building, each of which has a preau, or separate court. During the tumults at Paris in January,

THE GREAT CHATELET. chancellor of France, at whose death, in 1583, it was sold to the Marshal de Roquelaure, and afterwards to Francois d'OrleansLongueville, Count de Saint Paul, who called it Hotel de Saint Paul. It was afterwards bought by the Minister de Chavigny, upon the marriage of whose granddaughter with the Duke de la Force, it became the prop erty of the latter and took his name. Towards the end of the reign of Louis XIV, this edifice was divided into two parts, one of which took the name of Hotel de Brienne, and had its entrance in the rue Pa-

1792, the Prison de la Force was set on fire by a lawless mob, but the flames were soon extinguished. On the 3d of September, 1792, and the four following days, one hun dred and sixty prisoners, among whom were three priests and the Princess de Lamballe, were massacred in this prison. Prisons de l'Eveque de Par1s. The bishop of Paris, being a temporal as well as a spiritual lord, had two prisons; one was that of the For l'Eveque, his temporal