Blanche Monnier (French pronunciation: ​[blɑ̃ʃ mɔnje]; 1 March 1849 – 13 October 1913), often known in France as la Séquestrée de Poitiers[lower-alpha 1] (roughly, "The Confined Woman of Poitiers"),[1] was a woman from Poitiers, Vienne, France, who was secretly kept locked in a small room by her aristocratic mother for 25 years. She was eventually found by police, then middle-aged and in an emaciated and filthy condition; according to officials, Monnier had not seen any sunlight for her entire captivity.[2]