{{Short description|Lunatic asylum in France}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}} {{update|date=September 2013}} [[File:Hôpital Esquirol St Maurice Val Marne 5.jpg|thumb|Esquirol Hospital]] {{Psychology sidebar}} '''Charenton''' was a [[lunatic asylum]] founded in 1645 by the Frères de la Charité (Brothers of Charity) in Charenton-Saint-Maurice, now [[Saint-Maurice, Val-de-Marne|Saint-Maurice]], [[Val-de-Marne]], [[France]].
Charenton was first under monastic rule, then [[Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul|Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul]] took over the asylum after their founding. Although the town itself was the location of the headquarters of the French [[Huguenots]] in the 1500s and 1600s, the founders of Charenton were [[Catholic]]. At the time, many hospitals and asylums were Catholic institutions after the [[Council of Trent]] and the [[Counter-Reformation]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Medicine and Society in Early Modern Europe|last=Lindemann|first=Mary|year=2010|isbn=9780521732567|location=Cambridge, United Kingdom |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]}}</ref>
Charenton was known for its humanitarian treatment of patients, especially under its director the [[Abbé de Coulmier]] in the early 19th century. He showed a remarkable aptitude for understanding [[Psychoanalytic theory]]. He used the technique of art therapy to help patients manifest their madness through physical art forms.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.charentonmacerations.com/2010/11/15/thename/|title=De Sade and The Insane Beauty of Charenton|last=Bender|first=Douglas|date=15 November 2010|website=Charenton Macerations|access-date=17 February 2017}}</ref>
Now merged under a new official name with the neighboring general hospital, the psychiatric hospital was known as the '''Esquirol Hospital''' ({{langx|fr|l'Hôpital Esquirol}} or ''{{lang|fr|Établissement public de santé Esquirol}}''), after [[Jean-Étienne Dominique Esquirol]] who directed the institution in the 19th century. The 1845 structure's architect was [[Émile Gilbert]].<ref name="Esquirol">{{cite web |url=http://www.serpsy.org/psy_levons_voile/hopital/Charenton_hospital.html |title=The Esquirol Hospital |access-date=24 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161007065354/http://www.serpsy.org/psy_levons_voile/hopital/Charenton_hospital.html# |archive-date=7 October 2016 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
== History == Charenton was founded as a hospital for the poor on 13 September 1641 by the [[Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John of God|Frères de la Charité]] after receiving a donation from Sébastien Leblanc, an advisor to [[Louis XIII]]. Initially the hospital consisted of a single house containing 5 beds.<ref name="Esquirol"/> Starting September 1660 the mentally ill were required to be cared for in hospitals as per a government mandate. Care at Charenton shifted to reflect this change, prioritizing care for more privileged members of the population with mental symptoms. Demand for care grew throughout the 18th century and the Frères de la Charité acquired additional land, including the area of [[Saint-Maurice, Val-de-Marne|Charenton Saint-Maurice]], to ensure there was sufficient space for more patients.
In 1804 [[François Simonnet de Coulmiers]] became the director of the asylum, which was named the "Maison Nationale de Charenton" at the time.<ref name="Beleyme 2016">{{cite web|last1=Beleyme|first1=Marie|title=François Simmonet de Coulmiers (1741-1818) – D51 (tombe disparue)|url=http://perelachaisehistoire.fr/francois-simmonet-de-coulmiers-1741-1818-d51-tombe-disparue/|website=Père-Lachaise 1804-1824 – Naissance Du Cimetière Moderne|access-date=25 March 2017|language=fr|date=5 November 2016}}</ref> [[Jean-Étienne Dominique Esquirol]] became the chief physician of the hospital in 1826.<ref name="CousinGarrabeMorozov2008">{{cite book|last1=Cousin|first1=Francois-Regis|last2=Garrabe|first2=Jean|last3=Morozov|first3=Denis|title=Anthology of French Language Psychiatric Texts – Collection Les empêcheurs de penser en rond|year=2008|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=9780470986721|page=55|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C0dlVGlvGsMC&pg=PA55|access-date=25 March 2017}}</ref>
== Practices == Later on in the 18th century, hospitals and asylums shifted away from brutal treatments to more humane solutions, later including [[psychotherapy]].
In 1804, after the [[Marquis de Sade]] was transferred from the [[Bastille]], director François Simonnet de Coulmier, a Catholic priest, employed the use of psycho-drama therapy by allowing patients to organize and act in their own plays.<ref>De Saussure, Raymond. "Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences." ''[[Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences]]'', vol. 3, no. 3, 1948, pp. 452–452.</ref> Coulmier was known for using this and other forms of psychotherapy rather than the inhumane treatments employed at other facilities to encourage alternative forms of expression. However, his psychodrama therapy came under fire by Esquirol and others who criticized him for employing a fruitless treatment and turning the patients into an exhibit to the public.<ref name="Schaeffer2000">{{cite book|last1=Schaeffer|first1=Neil|title=The Marquis de Sade: A Life|year=2000|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]|isbn=0674003926|page=486|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zyiEW5XZ_poC&pg=PA486|access-date=24 March 2017}}</ref>
Despite the tendency to use more humane therapies, not all patients necessarily lived pleasant lives in the asylum. [[Hersilie Rouy]], a thirty-nine-year old French musician, was admitted to Charenton and complained of the subpar living conditions and "tortuous therapy" that also made women more vulnerable to mismanagement by the institution.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Matlock|first=Jann|year=1991|title=Doubling out of the Crazy House: Gender, Autobiography, and the Insane Asylum System in Nineteenth-Century France|jstor=2928774|journal=[[Representations]]|volume=34|issue=34|pages=166–195|doi=10.1525/rep.1991.34.1.99p0054v}}</ref>
== Famous prisoners == Famous prisoners were held in the Charenton asylum including [[Jean Henri Latude]], the [[Comte de Sanois]], and the [[Marquis de Sade]] (from 1801 until his death in 1814 at the age of 74). Sade was arrested without a trial and was later transferred to Charenton.
The French Baroque composer [[Jean-Joseph Mouret]] was sent to Charenton by order of the king in 1738 and died there a few months later. [[Pierre Gaveaux]] was a French operatic tenor and composer who was sent to Charenton in 1819 until his death in 1825. The noted Belgian-born [[musicology|musicologist]] and composer [[Jérôme-Joseph de Momigny]] also died at the Charenton asylum, in 1842. The [[caricature|caricaturist]] [[André Gill]] died there in 1885. Poet [[Paul Verlaine]] was interned in 1887 and again in 1890. Artist [[Charles Meryon]] died at the asylum in 1868. Composer [[François Devienne]] died in the asylum in 1803. The mathematician [[André Bloch (mathematician)|André Bloch]] spent the last three decades of his life there, and mathematician [[Joseph-Émile Barbier]] also stayed there before being found and brought back into academia by [[Joseph Bertrand]].<ref>{{MacTutor|id=Barbier|title=Joseph Émile Barbier}}</ref> At the time, many believed that with a degree of insanity came the ability to be more creative and have "access to greater truths."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Asylum Therapeutics, 1750-1950s|last=De Young|first=Mary|location=Jefferson, North Carolina |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]]|year=2015|isbn=978-0786468973}}</ref>
== Significant physicians of Charenton == [[Antoine Laurent Bayle|Antoine Laurent Jessé Bayle]] was a French physician who practiced at Charenton. In 1822, his research using postmortem evidence concluded that general paresis of the insane, or GPI, resulted from chronic inflammation of a brain area. This challenged the established belief at the time that the mental and physical symptoms, such as paralysis, were present before the inflammation, not as a result of a larger disease.<ref>Nitrini, Ricardo. "The Cure of One of the Most Frequent Types of Dementia: A Historical Parallel." ''Ovid''. N.p., July 2005. Web. 1 March 2017.</ref>
The physician Jean-Étienne Dominique Esquirol used [[leeches]], tepid baths, [[vomiting|emetic purging]], [[laxatives]], and exercise at Charenton, in addition to psychotherapy.<ref name="Esquirol1838">{{cite book|last1=Esquirol|first1=Etienne|title=Des maladies mentales considérées sous les rapports médical, hygiénique et médico-légal|volume=2|date=1838|publisher=J.-B. Baillière|pages=159, 818, 849|language=fr|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M1pHAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA159}}</ref> Louis-Florentin Calmeil, who succeeded Esquirol as director, also used leeching as a way to treat monomania.<ref name="Quetel2014">{{cite book|last1=Quétel|first1=Claude|title=Histoire de la folie, de l'antiquité à nos jours|year=2014|publisher=Tallandier|isbn=9791021002265|page=242|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vq1SCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT242|access-date=24 March 2017|language=fr}}</ref>
== ''Marat/Sade'' == {{main|Marat/Sade (film)|Marat/Sade}} ''[[Marat/Sade|The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade]]'', which is usually simplified to ''Marat/Sade'', is a play written by [[Peter Weiss]] in which Sade directs a play featuring the inmates as actors. During his time at Charenton, Sade did direct plays at the facility. ''Marat/Sade'' depicted the controversy surrounding Sade, in which French officials criticized the asylum for giving him an elevated status though a lunatic and prisoner. These plays were considered a form of treatment thought to help cure patients by opening up new paths for expressing suppressed feelings.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=White|first=John|year=1968|title=History and Cruelty in Peter Weiss's "Marat/Sade"|jstor=3723254|journal=The Modern Language Review|volume=63|issue=2|pages=437–448|doi=10.2307/3723254}}</ref> Though these treatments were controversial, they spread from Charenton to other asylums in Europe.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=John J. |last1=Baeza |first2=Brent E. |last2=Turvey |date=May 1999 |title=Sadistic Behavior: A Literature Review |publisher=[[Knowledge Solutions Library]] Electronic Publication |url=http://www.corpus-delicti.com/sadistic_behavior.html |access-date=March 25, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170129173516/http://www.corpus-delicti.com/sadistic_behavior.html |archive-date=29 January 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
The play has been reprised in many forms and forums. The 1967 film adaptation featured many of the original players, and utilized the long version of the play's name in its opening credits, although this was frequently shortened to ''Marat/Sade'' in publicity materials. The [[screenplay]] was written by [[Adrian Mitchell]]. [[Peter Brook]] directed a cast that included [[Ian Richardson]], [[Patrick Magee (actor)|Patrick Magee]], [[Glenda Jackson]], [[Michael Williams (actor)|Michael Williams]], [[Freddie Jones]] and [[Clifford Rose]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allbusiness.com/services/amusement-recreation-services/4581168-1.html |title=Variety review of the film |publisher=Allbusiness.com |date=20 February 2007 |access-date=1 February 2012}}</ref>
== See also == * [[Quills (film)|''Quills'' (film)]], a film set at Charenton and featuring Coulmier and de Sade.
== Gallery == <gallery> Image:Hôpital Esquirol.JPG|Esquirol Hospital <br />(19th century) Image:Chapelle hôpital Esquirol.JPG|The hospital's chapel </gallery>
==References== ===Notes=== {{Reflist|group=upper-alpha}}
===Citations=== {{reflist|30em}}
== External links == * [https://web.archive.org/web/20161007065354/http://www.serpsy.org/psy_levons_voile/hopital/Charenton_hospital.html History and description]
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[[Category:1645 establishments in France]] [[Category:Psychiatric hospitals in France]] [[Category:Hospitals in Val-de-Marne]] [[Category:Hospitals established in the 17th century]]