Brittany’s Alcatraz

As the trade in and out of Morlaix port gradually declined, defending the Bay was no longer a military priority, and the Château du Taureau’s role as a strategic defence eventually became redundant.

Consequently, from 1721 - even before the fortress had truly been completed - it was repurposed to be used as a prison. Being surrounded by sea made Taureau an automatic ‘high-security’ location, the double defence of water plus thick granite walls would be enough to thwart any escape attempt: hence its reputation as the Alcatraz of Brittany. Anyone who tried to get out would meet a watery end - as was the case for prisoner Sébastien Trévou, who drowned in 1793.

Who was imprisoned here? In the days before the French Revolution, the country had a curious legal loophole known as ‘Lettres de cachet’, by which aristocrats could write to the King and ask for a special letter from him, signed and sealed, giving his permission to imprison someone without trial. Most often, the people imprisoned were simply the black sheep of the family, someone who might cause a scandal either by being drunk, gambling, committing adultery or wanting to marry someone unsuitable. The family could get a letter from the King and throw their inconvenient relative in one of the 11 cells at the Château du Taureau, keeping them out of the way. The living costs for each prisoner were paid by the family, and if they stopped paying, the prisoner was simply set free!

The prison guards at the time were various soldiers ineligible for active service, perhaps because of injury, age or health problems.

Blanqui: the final prisoner

During the French Revolution, the Château continued to be a prison, run by the Brest artillery, but the prisoners were a little different: there were noblemen, priests, Girondins then Montagnards, not necessarily criminals but people whose ideas went against those newly in power. From that point on, Taureau became the place of exile for countless political prisoners, the last of whom was the political activist Louis Auguste Blanqui in 1871.

Illustration : Inventaire général, ADAGP