Charles-Michel of the Sword , known as the abbot of the Sword , born with Versailles the November 25th 1712 and died in Paris the December 23rd 1789, is one hearing which fought and succeeded in imposing on the opinion the fact that the deaf persons are people like the others.

He initiated research on a language of signs methodical usable by the people reached of Surdité, in order to bind these signs with the written French, but its error was to want to compare the syntactic structure of French to that of gestural of the deaf persons, like very precisely underlined it Ferdinand Berthier.

As opposed to what some still believe, it is not the Abbot of the Sword which educated deaf persons, even with gestures. On the other hand, it is the regrouping of the deaf pupils in his institution and the need to communicate between them which supported and improved the French Langue of the signs (LSF), the natural language of the deaf persons. The failure of the teaching of the language of methodical signs of the abbot of the Sword shows that it is vain to want to teach with the deaf persons without taking account of their cultural identity. It practiced also the techniques of demutisation and adapted to the French language the techniques developped at the point in Spain by Juan de Pablo Bonet, in England by John Wallis and at the Netherlands by Johann Conrad Amman. He opposed to his method to that two other tutors of deaf persons: Jacob Rodrigue Péreire in France and Samuel Heinicke in Germany.

The methodical signs are not either close to what one can call the French signed, because they were created artificially.

In 1791, two years after its death, the National Assembly recognized it while issuing that its name would be registered like benefactor of humanity and that the deaf persons would profit from the Human rights.

Its tomb is in the church Saint-Roch with Paris.

The institute which it had created exists always today, but it changed. It ensures a teaching in LSF. It is about one of the four National institutes for young deaf persons, located street Saint-Jacob at Paris, the others being with Metz, Chambéry and Bordeaux.

Works

• Four Letters on the education of the deaf persons , Paris, Butard, 1774
• Institution of the deaf persons and dumb men by the way of the methodical signs Paris: Nyon the Elder one, 1776. * true manner of informing the deaf persons and dumb men, confirmed by an long experience Paris: Nyon the elder one, 1784. * Art to teach with speaking to the deaf persons and to dumb men about birth , Paris, J. - B. Baillière and wire, 1820. * Dictionary of deaf-mute the , Paris, 1896

With the cinema

• In 1996, the actor Jacques Mathou interpreted the role of the abbot of the Sword in the film Ridicule of Patrice Leconte.