Mathurin Milan, hospitalised in Charenton on 31st August 1707:
”His insanity took the form of hiding from his family, leading a dubious life in the countryside, facing lawsuits and crippling debt, his sorry state of mind led him down unfamiliar paths, convinced he was capable of doing the most important jobs.”
Moved by these words, Michel Foucault unearthed this sentence from the Archives de La Bastille. Here is an imaginary and thorough account of the life and fall of this man, randomly selected from an endless list of names forgotten by history.
Mathurin was a huge man who was simultaneously gentle and violent. He secretly plants the bulb of a tulip breaking virus from which he hopes to benefit financially.
This flower leads to his downfall.
We follow chapters in his life incorporating various outbursts and scenes, how he is feared and admired. One day his family writes a lettre de cachet requesting his incarceration.
Without his knowledge the court draws up a list of his episodes of disruption and ridiculous complaints, as well as his secret life in the marshes.
He is instructed to settle down, so Mathurin prays and receives communion. In vain.
During his final trial, the one concerning the tulip bulb, he defies the judges and devours the flower in front of them.
Gilles Deroo Marianne Pistone
