The Sodomy Consultant of Paris

Through the 1720s in Paris, the morals bureau of the Lieutenancy General of Police tracked so-called sodomites through the gardens and alleyways of the city, arresting and imprisoning several hundred people. How did the morals police learn enough about this “sodomitical subculture” to police it effectively? This article demonstrates the central role played by Nicolas Théru, a grammar regent at the Collège Mazarin from 1688 until his retirement in 1732. By day this abbot taught teenage boys Latin, but by night he managed information collected firsthand and secondhand to help police arrest queer men. While such activities may seem surprising for a teacher, they fit the collège's imperial mission for the ethical instruction of elite provincial youth following absolutist conquest. The case illustrates how modern policing of sodomy emerged from the moral aims of higher-education institutions under absolutism.