Sur une ténébreuse affaire : l'incarcération de l'abbé de Prades à Magdebourg

Jean-François Combes-Malavialle : Light on a sombre affair : the abbé de Prades's imprisonment at Magdebourg. This is a sort of appeal for review, not of a non-existent trial, but of serious accusations which have come down to us despite the absence of evidence and the gradual diminution of the charges made by the royal plaintiff himself. Prades's imprisonment at Magdebourg in 1757 is looked at from around the beginning of the Seven Years' War (August 1756), after the disastrous retrait from Kohlin (June 1757) and just before and after the victory at Rossbach (November 1757). An unknown document, combined with neglected or badly-exploited ones, also underlines psychological factors concerning the relations between the King, his lector, Prince Henry and Prince August-William ; the fact that the abbé was on good terms with the latter was frowned on by the king. It is here that we should look for the reasons for his incarceration, rather than seeking non-existent material evidence, confessions or witnesses.Combes-Malavialle Jean-François. Sur une ténébreuse affaire : l'incarcération de l'abbé de Prades à Magdebourg. In: Dix-huitième Siècle, n°25, 1993. L'Europe des Lumières. pp. 337-353