Obs. Forms: 4, 6 tornel, 6 tornelle, 6–7 tournel, 7 tornil, tournell, 6–8 tournelle; also 5 turnelle. [a. OF. tornele, F. tournelle, according to Hatz.-Darm. deriv. of tour TOWER, influenced by tourner to turn.] A small tower; a turret. With capital T, name in the 16–18th c. of the building in Paris in which the criminal court sat; hence applied to this court, its prison, and other courts.
a. 1400. Siege of Troy, 1015, in Archiv neu. Spr., LXXII. 33. Vche tornel of þe toun þey gonne assaile.
1532. Yatton Churchw. Acc. (Som. Rec. Soc.), 147. Payd to R. Grenefelde for poyntyng a tornelle of ye cherche ijs. viijd.
1586. T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad. (1589), 646. There also is the Tournel, or place where criminall actions are judged, and the Treasure-Chamber for causes touching the Kings revenues.
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., IX. xvi. § 29. All runne to the Bastile. The Tournels are presently seized, and all approaches vnto the Bastile are soone wonne.
1689. trans. Jurien’s Past. Lett., ii. 43. I was carried to the Tournel, where they put the persons condemned to the Gallies.
1771. Ann. Reg., 102. Eleven members of the great council, who composed part of the great chamber and the Tournelle of the new parliament, have resigned their places.
