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eventVerified

Voltaire is sent to the Bastille by lettre de cachet

In May 1717 Arouet was imprisoned in the Bastille by lettre de cachet over verses against the Régent. In the causal graph this event weakens the driver Personal-Data Protection.

Sources: [1][2]

Read the full account

In May 1717 Arouet was imprisoned in the Bastille by lettre de cachet over verses against the Régent. He is the victim; the welfare sign is still a rights harm in the system he later courted.

Context

Arbitrary royal detention is a data-and-body control path. He left to become Voltaire on the stage of Oedipe (1718).

Voltaire is not the sole author of every later object, law, or museum label that uses the name. Shared work with courts, excavators, printers, spouses, officials, and later states does not erase a documented role, and it does not make an ancient person the signer of a twentieth-century statute.

Why it matters

A lettre de cachet is not a jury.

A lettre de cachet is not a jury.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Voltaire

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.24 · verified

    Dated act under Voltaire as author, investor, or campaigner. Printers, kings, and lawyers share labour.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

    1. FactVoltaire is sent to the Bastille by lettre de cachet
    2. weakensDriverPersonal-Data Protection

    impact weight 0.35 · Effect from 16 May 1717 · verified

    A lettre de cachet is not a jury.

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.Britannica — VoltaireEncyclopaedia Britannica · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.Archives nationales (France)Archives nationales · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, and museums are not converted into extra lifetime acts. That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself. Confidence is stated on the impact path. A later English edition is not a recovered autograph. If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here. Confidence is stated on the impact path.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorVoltaire
  2. contributed toFactVoltaire is sent to the Bastille by lettre de cachet
  3. weakensDriverPersonal-Data Protection

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). Voltaire is sent to the Bastille by lettre de cachet. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/vo-bastille-1717

https://factrail.ai/facts/vo-bastille-1717

Accessed 16 October 2026.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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