Collège du Plessis
The Collège du Plessis in Paris' Rue Saint-Jacques was a higher educational institute in the immediate vicinity of the Sorbonne and the Collège royal . Its origins go back to the High Middle Ages , when it was still a "hotel" (accommodation for the elderly, the needy, the sick, strangers and pilgrims). Geoffroy Baluçon , a Breton aristocrat from Plessis , had it turned into a school towards the end of his life (he died in 1332), where forty scholarship holders were taught free of charge. A new building took place shortly before the middle of the 17th century under Cardinal Richelieu , whose real name was Armand Jean du Plessis (although his family came from Poitou ).
During the French Revolution , the premises of the Collège were used as a prison, especially during the Jacobean "Terreur" phase . Above all, prisoners from the surrounding provincial towns were housed in it, where there were neither revolutionary tribunals nor sheep. While cells were available in the cellars for the male prisoners, the female prisoners were locked in the attic; from there several of these women threw themselves to their death in the face of certain convictions. As the number of incarcerations increased, there was a shortage of space and the wall separating the Sorbonne was torn down in order to expand the prison. After the end of the terror in 1794, the Collège got its original function back, but was integrated into the Sorbonne .