Vidocq, François-Eugène

(1775-1857)

   police official

   Born in Arras, François-Eugène Vidocq was sentenced to eight years at Brest for counterfeiting, but escaped after three years. He was imprisoned a number of other times for robbery and then, in 1809, turned police agent and became the first chief of the Sûreté, the famed Parisian detective bureau. He retired in 1827 to establish a paper factory but, unsuccessful, he returned to the police in 1832. He was forced to resign because he was involved in a theft. His Mémoires, which were perhaps the most important stimulus for the development of detective fiction, appeared in an initial volume in 1828. in this and subsequent installations, Vidocq describes his exploits and his methods of investigation in great detail and gives remarkable accounts of the criminal world of the period and its mores, language, and argot. Vidocq was the inspiration for the character Vautrin in several novels by honoré de balzac, including Splendeurs et Misères des courtisanes.