Francois Simonet de Coulmier and the History of Hospital at Charenton

The Facility’s Beginning and Coulmier’s Arrival

The House of Charenton was built between 1641 and 1645 by monks as an old people’s home of five beds.  It was originally dubbed the Charity Our Lady of Peace.

It does not seem that Charenton was intended to receive the “lunatic” population for which it would become so well known. But, in September 1660, on order of the Parliament of Paris, the mentally ill were introduced into the facility, where they were treated and housed in nearby buildings. This is considered to be the first legislation ever created to ensure the specialized health care of mental patients.

Nevertheless, common convicts, not to mention political prisoners, were housed there shortly afterward. This would continue to be the case throughout, and even after, the French Revolution.

 

The Revolutionary Period

In 1792, a law ordering the suppression of the religious orders’ involvement in healthcare initiated the closing of the Charenton. In July, 1795 the final evacuation was completed and the boarders were dispersed.  After that, the house was plundered, before being transformed into a prison. But, in 1797, the establishment was reopened as an asylum.

The direction of the facility was entrusted to the Abbot of Coulmier. At that time, only 16 beds were available.  Coulmier immediately set out to reform Charenton, segregating the patients by sex and by diagnosis.  There are separate wards for hypochondria (debilitating illness without cause), melancholia (depression), folly (bizarre ideation), mania (unusual and dangerous behavior), and idiocy (brain injuries and mental retardation with behaviors that otherwise represented no danger to others).  A “lock-down unit” was also designated for those deemed to be “wild, agitated, and disruptive.” By 1805 more than 1000 patients would be housed in Charenton.

Almost immediately, Francois Simonet de Colmier began to draw the ire of the medical community.  One objection to this new regisseur is the fact that he has no medical degree, which was quite uncommon for one in this position.  Further showing himself the upstart, Coulmier, who had been a priest from 1764-1789, brought about change in the therapeutic treatment of the inmates.  Along with his medical director, Dr. Jean-Baptiste Joseph Gastaldy, he implemented what was termed “moral treatment.”

At that time, the standard protocol for mental patients was a regimen that included diet, bleeding, purgatives, and antispasmodics.  Diagnosis and individual needs were not taken into account.  As can be seen with his classification of patients according to their particular maladies, Coulmier began observing not only behaviors, but also social histories. Plans of care were constructed according to what is now characterized as “the whole person approach.”

Charenton, though contributing greatly to the modern techniques of therapeutic treatment, still made use of the prevailing medical techniques, however.  To those they added hydrotherapy, which was generally conducted through showers, but also came in the form of the “surprise bath,” which was administered to blindfolded patients.  These approaches so shocked visiting veterinary student Hippolyte de Colins, that he reported them as “terror baths.” 

Nevertheless, the committee that oversaw healthcare in France was less concerned with the hydrotherapy than the art therapy.  Coulmier built an actual theatre on the second floor of Charenton’s main building.  Though the house seated only 200, the rest of the space was comparable to anything the Boulevard Theatres of Paris had to offer.  Not only did socialites attend performances there, but well-known actors were also frequently featured as “guest artists.”  This concerned the powers-that-be because of its potential to excite the patients.

The Arrival of Sade

With performances held once a month, Coulmier was happy to receive a new inmate who would help to bring greater quality to the stagings.  This was none other than the Marquis de Sade.  Sade wrote, directed, acted in, and helped construct sets for shows during his sentence.  As a man of the theatre prior to his incarceration, he no doubt found it to be quite a pleasing artistic distraction—especially compared to his previous incarcerations in which he was often deprived of books, paper, ink, and pens.

At the age of 63, Sade was placed in Charenton by Napoleon.  His family had arranged the accommodations and paid a sum of 3000 francs per year for his stay.  The diagnosis given to the marquis— “libertine dementia”—was invented to justify his placement. However, most agree that his presence there, as opposed to the Biecetre, the prison from which he was transferred, had more to do with politics than pathology.

Besides their love of the theatrical, Coulmier and Sade shared an affinity for the libertine life—although the abbe was not known to indulge in the cruel form of sexuality for which the marquis is known.  They became fast friends and Coulmier was reprimanded on several occasions for allowing Sade to leave the premises.  Ironically and dubiously, it was reported that the aging former-noble was given furlough to attend mass!

Sade would remain in Charenton until his death at the end of that year. After his death, the marquis’ eldest son, Claude-Armand de Sade visited the asylum to take charge of the old man’s personal effects.  Over 200 notebooks full of writing of every sort were stored there.  Claude-Armand, mortified by his father’s reputation, had them all burned.  Fortunately, Coulmier’s tenure ended in April 1814 (the same year as Napoleon’s  abdication), so it was under another directeur’s hand that these priceless documents were destroyed. 

Final Word on Coulmier

Though he was known to give a personal touch to the therapy of the patients at Charenton, Coulmier ultimately lost his position under a scandal involving missing patient records.  It is even said that no records at all were kept on some of the persons who passed through the facility.  Perhaps, however, his dismissal was—as with so many things in France during those tumultuous decades—politcal.  As a known supporter of the Napoleon, the man who named himself Emperor of France, Coulmier would certainly have fallen from favor after the leader’s demise. 

Unlike portrayals of Coulmier in film, most notably those of Clifford Rose in Peter Brooks’ film version of Marat/Sade and Joaquin Phoenix in Phillip Kauffman’s Quills, the director of Charenton was neither tall, nor as young (he was 60 at the time Sade arrived) as many might expect.  In fact, Coulmier is said to have suffered from some form of dwarfism, which, some have conjectured, may have been one of his reasons for his identification with the Emperor.  As a point of clarification, however, it is best to note that Napoleon’s lack of physical stature is a myth for; at five feet seven inches, he was of average height.