The History Blog » Blog Archive » The Bastille: Living hell and 5-star hotel The Bastille: Living hell and 5-star hotel A new exhibit at the Arsenal Library branch of the French National Library called “ La Bastille, or a Living Hell ” is putting on display archives and artifacts of life inside the Bastille , fortress, prison and symbol of royal injustice whose destruction launched a revolution. The prison archives were thrown into ditches by the Parisians who stormed the Bastille on the 14th of July 1789. Nine years passed before the administrator of the Arsenal Library was able to get his hands on them, and there they remained generating surprisingly little interest for the next couple hundred years. This exhibit is the first time the archives and artifacts have been gathered together for a comprehensive look at how prisoners in the Bastille really lived, as opposed to the fictional representations of revolutionary misinformation and propaganda. The high profile prisoners like Voltaire and the Marquis de Sade actually led a pretty cushy existence, complete with suites of rooms, their own furniture and dinner parties with outside guests. Even the poor prisoners — forgers, printers, Huguenots — lived in far more comfortable conditions than prisoners in any other prison in Paris.

They each had their own cells and the prison could only hold a maximum of 50 prisoners, so there wasn’t anything like the squalor and horror that characterized most prisons. They were still in a 14th century fortress, though, locked behind 3 triple-locked doors, with highly restricted, censored communications and enforced secrecy. Prisoners were sent to the Bastille by secret order of the King. There was no trial, not even any explanation of the charges. People were not put in the Bastille for crimes such as theft or murder. They were there for troubling the social order. This included Protestants, homosexuals, prostitutes, traitors, and anyone who dared say anything against the king or his reign — which meant most of the prisoners were authors, publishers and book peddlers. Life inside the Bastille had its limitations, and communications with the outside world were strictly controlled. One prisoner sent a message on his handkerchief written out of coffee and soot, on display in the exhibit. Another smuggled his out in a cheese. One prisoner sewed a message onto a piece of cloth, claiming his innocence and asking whoever found it to help him. “Secret is the word that defines this prison.

Prisoners who left the Bastille would have to sign a register promising to never talk about the prisoners they saw in the Bastille or what they lived through,” Dutray said. One story in the archives describes a terminally ill Protestant woman who was sent to the Bastille. Her daughter was allowed to accompany her even though the daughter was not technically under arrest. She remained by her mother’s side, hiding the truth of how ill her mother was from her captors to ensure she would not be forcibly converted to Catholicism, until her death. Once the woman died, officials didn’t want to release the daughter because she might talk, so they just kept her prisoner in the Bastille for a few years until finally sending her to a convent for the newly converted. It was that secrecy which fed the rumors of torture and dark doings that would make the Bastille a symbol of royal abuse and a primary revolutionary target. When 8000 people stormed it on what would become known as Bastille Day, they found only 7 prisoners inside and a cache of gunpowder and weapons. They released the prisoners, dumped the archives, killed the governor and some of the guards, and the next day began to demolish the fortress itself.

Today there are only a few stones of it left on Boulevard Henri IV, a miniature sculpture of the fortress carved out of one the building stones, a door and a few keys. Two of those keys are on display at the Arsenal Library exhibit. One of them is part of the permanent collection of Mount Vernon . The Marquis de Lafayette presented the key to the west portal of the Bastille to George Washington along with a sketch of the fortress. In a letter dated March 17, 1790, he wrote “Give me leave, my dear General to present you with a picture of the Bastille, just as it looked a few days after I had ordered its demolition, with the main key of the fortress of despotism. It is a tribute, which I owe, as a son to my adoptive father, as an Aide-de-Camp to my General, as a Missionary of liberty to its Patriarch.” This entry was posted on Saturday, November 27th, 2010 at 10:23 PM and is filed under Modern(ish) , Museums . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. 14th July 1789 – the Storming of the Bastille | Dorian Cope presents On This Deity by Jim Bliss The Storming of the Bastille, by Jean-Pierre Houël Today we celebrate, though not without a small note of reservation, the Storming of the Bastille in Paris on this day in 1789. Commemorated with a public holiday in France, Bastille Day has come to mark the beginning of The French Revolution. Of course, France has had a number of significant revolutions – notably the July Revolution of 1830 and the revolution in 1848 that gave rise to the Second Republic – but it is the one that began in 1789 and lasted a full decade that has earned the definite article. It is The French Revolution. The Bastille (or Bastion de Saint-Antoine) was originally a fortress built in the 1370s – during the Hundred Years’ War – to protect eastern Paris.

By the 17th century the expansion of the city meant the Bastille was no longer on the outskirts where it could serve as an effective fortification against attackers, and Louis XIII re-purposed it as a prison. For the next hundred and fifty years the Bastille provided French royalty with a secure facility into which political prisoners and social agitators could be thrown with little or no regard for legal due process. As such, in the eyes of many it soon came to represent the oppression of the monarchy and although it only contained seven prisoners on July 14th 1789, the Storming of the Bastille was a hugely symbolic act, demonstrating the rejection of arbitrary royal privilege by the people of Paris. Although history has chosen to locate the start of The French Revolution on this day, the decision to storm the gates of the Bastille was not a spontaneous one taken in isolation. It was merely the first explosive outburst of a society in which anger and disillusionment had been brewing for some time. Indeed, the monarchy was well aware of this gathering storm and earlier that year, on May 5th, King Louis XVI convened the Estates-General for the first time in 175 years.

This was an assembly of representatives of the three ‘Estates’ (the monarchy – the First Estate; the church – the Second Estate; the common people – the Third Estate) and it aimed to stave off public unrest by finding solutions to the severe economic and social problems facing France at the time. However, the Estates-General soon collapsed with the Third Estate quickly realising they had little real power to affect change via this forum. It was essentially a talking shop aimed at providing the illusion of participation in the political process and so, on June 17th they broke from the discussions and formed the National Assembly. Although less dramatic that the Storming of the Bastille a month later, it could be argued that this was the first truly revolutionary act by Les Communes and set the course for the days, months and years to come. During the following four weeks, the relationship between the First and Third Estates grew increasingly strained, with the Church – having carefully gauged which way the wind was blowing – reluctantly taking the side of the people. On June 20th the king placed guards around the building used by the fledgling National Assembly.

Members of the Assembly, sensing the onset of confrontation, made their way to a nearby tennis court owned by Louis and convened a meeting there instead. While the formation of the National Assembly had been a contentious act, the oath sworn by the members on June 20th – which later became known as the Tennis Court Oath – was the first direct challenge to the authority of the monarch. The Oath consisted of several commitments and assertions; firstly that the Assembly would continue to meet despite royal prohibition; secondly that political power ultimately derived from the Third Estate; and thirdly that they would continue to oppose the monarchy until a national constitution had been drawn up which enshrined that basic principle. It was the Tennis Court Oath that led to the direct confrontation between the First and Third Estates which boiled over on July 14th. For although Louis initially offered concessions and sought to defuse an increasingly tense situation, the defiant nature of the Oath inspired both revolutionaries and conservatives to action.

On the one hand, the fact that the monarchy was openly rejected in such a manner made it easier for others to do so; on the other hand, conservative forces within the king’s court saw the Oath as evidence that their authority was being undermined and anarchy was lurking just around the corner. A number of historians have suggested that Louis XVI was actually more liberal than many in his own court, and was prepared to meet many of the demands of the National Assembly. However, his son had died just two weeks prior to the Tennis Court Oath distracting him from matters of state and allowing more conservative elements within the First Estate to gain power. Which is why troops flying the Royal Standard began to arrive in Paris within days of the Oath. Many of these soldiers were foreign mercenaries as the loyalty of French troops to the monarchy had begun to waver, with orders to detain political opponents of Louis being ignored. Sporadic rioting began as a reaction to the presence of Swiss and German troops on the streets and despite royal assurances that no direct action would be taken against the National Assembly, the tension was mounting.

On July 11th, Louis XVI’s privy council dismissed the Minister of Finance, Jacques Necker, who was the staunchest ally of the Third Estate within government and who had been attempting to restructure the French economy in a manner favourable to them. This was the final straw for many, as it represented the complete disenfranchisement of the Third Estate, and by the morning of July 14th the stage had well and truly been set for The French Revolution. So it was that a crowd of about 1,000 revolutionaries gathered at the gates of the Bastille demanding entry. Although there were only seven prisoners to be liberated (none of whom had any political significance), there was a far greater prize lurking within the walls of the old fortress. For as well as the symbolism of occupying that hated prison, the building was also being used as an armoury and contained almost 15,000kg of gunpowder… exactly the kind of cache that could kick-start a widespread revolution. Although there were only a handful of defenders, they were better armed than the angry mob and what started as an attempt by the terrified guards to peacefully relinquish control of the prison turned into a battle.

Almost 100 revolutionaries died that day with the loss of just one soldier, though a further eight were later executed for their part in the killing. And so the Bastille fell, sparking a revolution that would last for the next ten years. A revolution that soared to the heights of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, yet plumbed the depths of the savage Reign of Terror. A revolution that essentially heralded the end of feudalism in Europe, but which simultaneously ushered in the Napoleonic Wars and a new era of modern imperialism. Which is why at this point, I must sound that small note of reservation mentioned in the first line. Although the Third Estate referred to themselves as ‘the commons’, in reality they represented the emerging capitalist class and not the common man… the peasantry. So although the masses would indeed join the fight, there is a sense in which – for much of the time at least – they were being manipulated and exploited by one social elite in their bid to replace another. Yes, The French Revolution saw a fundamental shift in European society with the downfall of feudalism.

However, despite the high ideals outlined in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, it was as much about securing the rights of Private Capital as it was about the Rights of Man. And now, almost two and a quarter centuries later, the entrenched power of International Finance Capitalism and the tyranny of the “Free Market” are as much a legacy of those ten chaotic years at the end of the 18th century as are the UN Declaration of Human Rights and the spread of representative democracy. The French Revolution did not replace the rule of The King with the rule of The People. It merely replaced bloodlines with accumulated wealth. Which, if it’s a step in the right direction, can only be seen as a very small one. It’s a journey as yet incomplete. A job we need to finish. Without the wars and the reign of terror, if possible, but so long as an unaccountable elite controls the affairs of man, the ideals of Liberté, égalité, fraternité remain but a fleeting illusion.

French revolutionaries storm Bastille - Jul 14, 1789 - HISTORY.com French revolutionaries storm Bastille Publisher A+E Networks Parisian revolutionaries and mutinous troops storm and dismantle the Bastille, a royal fortress that had come to symbolize the tyranny of the Bourbon monarchs. This dramatic action signaled the beginning of the French Revolution , a decade of political turmoil and terror in which King Louis XVI was overthrown and tens of thousands of people, including the king and his wife Marie Antoinette, were executed. The Bastille was originally constructed in 1370 as a bastide, or “fortification,” to protect the walled city of Paris from English attack. It was later made into an independent stronghold, and its name–bastide–was corrupted to Bastille. The Bastille was first used as a state prison in the 17th century, and its cells were reserved for upper-class felons, political troublemakers, and spies. Most prisoners there were imprisoned without a trial under direct orders of the king. Standing 100 feet tall and surrounded by a moat more than 80 feet wide, the Bastille was an imposing structure in the Parisian landscape.

By the summer of 1789, France was moving quickly toward revolution. There were severe food shortages in France that year, and popular resentment against the rule of King Louis XVI was turning to fury. In June, the Third Estate, which represented commoners and the lower clergy, declared itself the National Assembly and called for the drafting of a constitution. Initially seeming to yield, Louis legalized the National Assembly but then surrounded Paris with troops and dismissed Jacques Necker, a popular minister of state who had supported reforms. In response, mobs began rioting in Paris at the instigation of revolutionary leaders. Bernard-René Jordan de Launay, the military governor of the Bastille, feared that his fortress would be a target for the revolutionaries and so requested reinforcements. A company of Swiss mercenary soldiers arrived on July 7 to bolster his garrison of 82 soldiers.

The Marquis de Sade, one of the few prisoners in the Bastille at the time, was transferred to an insane asylum after he attempted to incite a crowd outside his window by yelling: “They are massacring the prisoners; you must come and free them.” On July 12, royal authorities transferred 250 barrels of gunpowder to the Bastille from the Paris Arsenal, which was more vulnerable to attack. Launay brought his men into the Bastille and raised its two drawbridges. On July 13, revolutionaries with muskets began firing at soldiers standing guard on the Bastille’s towers and then took cover in the Bastille’s courtyard when Launay’s men fired back. That evening, mobs stormed the Paris Arsenal and another armory and acquired thousands of muskets. At dawn on July 14, a great crowd armed with muskets, swords, and various makeshift weapons began to gather around the Bastille. Launay received a delegation of revolutionary leaders but refused to surrender the fortress and its munitions as they requested. He later received a second delegation and promised he would not open fire on the crowd.

To convince the revolutionaries, he showed them that his cannons were not loaded. Instead of calming the agitated crowd, news of the unloaded cannons emboldened a group of men to climb over the outer wall of the courtyard and lower a drawbridge. Three hundred revolutionaries rushed in, and Launay’s men took up a defensive position. When the mob outside began trying to lower the second drawbridge, Launay ordered his men to open fire. One hundred rioters were killed or wounded. Launay’s men were able to hold the mob back, but more and more Parisians were converging on the Bastille. Around 3 p.m., a company of deserters from the French army arrived. The soldiers, hidden by smoke from fires set by the mob, dragged five cannons into the courtyard and aimed them at the Bastille. Launay raised a white flag of surrender over the fortress. Launay and his men were taken into custody, the gunpowder and cannons were seized, and the seven prisoners of the Bastille were freed. Upon arriving at the Hotel de Ville, where Launay was to be arrested by a revolutionary council, the governor was pulled away from his escort by a mob and murdered.

The capture of the Bastille symbolized the end of the ancien regime and provided the French revolutionary cause with an irresistible momentum. Joined by four-fifths of the French army, the revolutionaries seized control of Paris and then the French countryside, forcing King Louis XVI to accept a constitutional government. In 1792, the monarchy was abolished and Louis and his wife Marie-Antoinette were sent to the guillotine for treason in 1793. By order of the new revolutionary government, the Bastille was torn down. On February 6, 1790, the last stone of the hated prison-fortress was presented to the National Assembly. Today, July 14–Bastille Day–is celebrated as a national holiday in France. Related Videos Bastille - History Dictionary Color Print from ca. 1889 Musï¿½e national des Arts et Traditions Populaires However, the Bastille was a fortress in Paris located at the St Antoine gate. It was also used as an arsenal and a prison. Thus, by extension, the word bastille can sometimes also refer to a prison.

About the Bastille in Paris The Bastille had eight towers, which were 73 feet high and six feet thick. It was armed with 15 cannons, and connected with walls that were 10 feet wide. A 25 ft deep moat surrounded the Bastille. The moat was dry, except during floods of the Seine. Here she stands: The Bastille Next to the St Antoine Gate, Paris Wiki Map Location of the Bastille - Paris 1789 Map of Paris in 1789. Click to enlarge And here is the floor plan: Layout of the Bastille in 1789 (after Pierre-Franï¿½ois Palloy) The Towers of the Bastille Each tower had its name. The Chapel Tower and the Treasury Tower were built first. Soon after, the Liberty Tower and the Bertaudiï¿½re Tower were built. Then added were the Corner Tower and the Well Tower, and lastly the County Tower and the Basiniï¿½re Tower. Although the same height, the towers of the Bastille did not have the same number of floors.

Treasury and Chapel had only two floors and no dungeons, whereas Liberty and Bertaudiï¿½re had three floors and dungeons. The four corner towers, Corner, Well, County, and Basiniï¿½re, had five floors of jail cells. Here is more on the towers, and the legend of the layout of the Bastille above: 1 Corner Tower. Obviously, this tower received its name from its location at the corner of rue Saint-Antoine. 2 Chapel Tower. In the fifteenth century, the chapel of the Bastille was set up in this tower. It was afterwards transferred to a spot between Liberty Tower and Bertaudiï¿½re Tower. 3 Treasury Tower, so named when Henry IV stored his savings here in order to create a state treasury. Outside, between Chapel and Treasury Tower, was still visible the arch that was the first gate of Saint-Antoine. 4 County Tower. The origin of the name of this tower is unknown. 5 Well Tower. The well of the Bastille had been dug at the foot of this tower. 6 Liberty Tower.

The name of this tower was given in a slightly sarcastic spirit around 1380, when the Parisians demanded freedom and at the same time the provost of Paris, Hugues Aubriot, was locked up. At the floor of this tower was the interrogation room, which might or might not have ceased to be used as such when During the 16th and the 17th century, the Bastille was expanded. The Bastille had been occasionally used as a prison from the beginning. It was transformed into a state prison in 1417. The Bastille became a fortress of great importance. Under Louis XI , who lived 1423-1483, the Bastille was considered to be the key to the capital. All eight towers were complete in 1553. Later, when the faubourg or suburb of Saint-Antoine was built, the Bastille was surrounded by houses and completely lost its military value. It henceforth became Paris' most fortified arsenal and prison, which meant that at this point the citizens grew to fear and hate the Bastille as a constant reminder of a threat to their liberties.

Most notorious were the underground dungeons that were basically graves only with a tad more oxygen. The Bastille was fully converted into a prison during the seventeenth century, and especially with Richelieu , who lived 1585-1642, it was in regular use. Under Louis XIV , who ruled 1643-1715, the Bastille prison cells were in good demand. Protestants, followers of Cornelius Otto Jansen, spies, unwanted nobles, bourgeois, merchants, assassins, thieves, magicians, booksellers, peddlers, men of letters, anyone accused of treason or lese-majesty (any offence against the sovereign authority) and other culprits whose public prosecution might have triggered too many raised eyebrows, populated the Bastille. During the second half of Louis XIV's reign, quite a few people ended up in the Bastille without having done anything. All that was needed to put your enemy or relative of choice away — for a limited time or forever ï¿½ was a Lettre de Cachet, a Letter of Seal, which was a document with the king's signature, co-signed by a Secretary of State, and made official by the royal seal.

Under Louis XIV, more than 80,000 lettres de cachet were signed. This document was a final verdict without the option of an appeal. No trial, no hearing, no questions asked. Welcome to royal absolutism. See also Famous Prisoners of the Bastille Famous prisoner in 1717 was who had made fun of Philippe II, the duke d'Orlï¿½ans, and who was consequently given solitary time to re-think his mockery. In 1741, the Bastille housed 71 prisoners. In 1755, it were 50. Under Louis XVI , the last king before the Revolution , the Bastille booked less traffic. The annual admission was approx. 16 new prisoners, many of which didn't stay for long. One of the last prisoners at the Bastille was the Marquis de Sade (picture left,) who stayed at this address from 1784 to 1789. De Sade was transferred away ten days before all hell broke loose.

Fall of the Bastille July 14, 1789 Collection De Vinck / BnFs Storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789 Generally feared, the Bastille was a symbol of royal tyranny and arbitrary rule. Already on the night of June 30, 1789, there was some talk of seizing this fortress. Now, word had spread that on the night of July 12, 1789, ammunition had been transferred to the Bastille. On the evening of July 13, 1789, some shots were being exchanged between the mob and the guards of the Bastille. The Bastille was stormed by the revolutionaries on July 14, 1789. Defending the Bastille were 32 Swiss and 82 Invalides (pensioners,) all in all a garrison of 114 men.

Led, of course, by the prison governor, Bernard Jordan de Launay, whose head was going to be on a pike later that day, the first of many more to come during the course of the On that day, July 14, 1789, only seven prisoners were held at the Bastille, four of which for counterfeiting, and one completely nuts. Storm of the Bastille — July 14, 1789 Painting by Unknown Artist ï¿½ Rï¿½union des musï¿½es nationaux French Revolution . The upkeep of the Bastille had been expensive. This fact and the recent revolutionary events made the monarchy decide to tear down the entire structure. Dismantling of the Bastille commenced immediately and was entrusted to the contractor Pierre-Franï¿½ois Palloy. Many volunteers pitched in enthusiastically and the Bastille was completely bulldozed by 1790. Hubert Robert sketched a painting of the Destruction of the Bastille, dramatically drawing the Bastille much larger than it actually was, which, in turn, gave its demolition much more significance. See his painting in the right column.

As in the case of the Fall of the Berlin Wall , many souvenirs were taken from the Bastille. Pieces of brick were sent all across the country, triggering much patriotic happiness wherever they were received. In summary, if you are planning a visit to the ruins of the Bastille, don't. They don't exist. The Bastille Today What's left of the Bastille is the outline of the structure, marked in the pavement. Here is a photo of the corner Rue Saint-Antoine / Boulevard Beaumarchais. Outline of the Bastille in the Pavement at the corner of Rue Saint-Antoine and Place de la Bastille Photo: Tangopaso / Wiki Outline of the Bastille Over Google Satellite Map Just to give us an idea. Own work, so let's not get excited. In 1899, during construction work for the Metro, some remains of the Liberty Tower were found and brought to the park just down the road on Boulevard Henry IV.

Here they are: Remains of the Bastille — What's Left of the Tower of Liberty Photo: FLLL / Wiki And just in case you were wondering, the plaque reads: "Vestiges des fondations Tour de la Libertï¿½ dï¿½couverts en 1899 et transportï¿½s sur cet emplacement In other words, Vestiges of the foundations of the Bastille Liberty Tower Discovered in 1899 and brought here The Place de la Bastille In 1793, the Bastille square was adorned with a fountain. Later, Napoleon decided that something a little bit more monumental should be erected there in order to commemorate the anniversary of his coming to power. Hence, from 1814 to 1846, the center of the Place de la Bastille was occupied by a gigantic plaster elephant fountain. The idea was to replace it with a bronze elephant, but after Napoleon's defeat the project was not followed through. After the Revolution of 1830, the entire elephant project was completely canceled in favor of the July Column.

Postcard from 1906-1924: Paris ï¿½ La Place de la Bastille With the July Column, or Colonne de Juillet Ministï¿½re de la culture The above July Column still stands today in the center of the Place de la Bastille. It commemorates the Revolution of 1830, not the By the way, the water that runs underneath the Place de la Bastille is the Saint-Martin Canal. Celebrating July 14 The commemoration of July 14, 1789, was abandoned until the Third Republic, spearheaded by Gambetta, sought to celebrate the foundation of the regime. Since 1880, July 14 is Bastille Day, but officially called the Quatorze Juillet, or Fourteenth of July. It is a national holiday in France with military parades, fireworks, dance, live music, food, and whatever else entertainment the French soul can come up with. The festival begins on the evening of July 13 with a torchlight procession. Hence, from a symbol of repression the Bastille became a symbol of liberty.

To be technically correct, the July 14 festivities commemorate the Fï¿½te de la Fï¿½dï¿½ration or Celebration (Festival) of the Federation of July 14, 1790, the first anniversary of the Storm of the Bastille. See also 100,000 Parisians at the Champ-de-Mars for the Festival of the Federation Prï¿½sidence de la Rï¿½publique Prï¿½sidence de la Rï¿½publique And here are some shots from the July, 2011 parade: Parade July 14, 2011, Paris: The President of the Republic and the Chief of Staff of the Army on board the command car.

ï¿½ ECPAD Parade July 14, 2011, Paris: L'ï¿½cole militaire interarmes (EMIA) & L'ï¿½cole militaire du corps technique et administratif (EMCTA) ï¿½ ECPAD Parade July 14, 2011, Paris: The Patrouille of the French Air Force ï¿½ ECPAD Parade July 14, 2011, Paris: French Cavalry ï¿½ ECPAD :: The First Prisoner at the Bastille Ironically, its founder became its first prisoner. When Charles V died in 1380, the provost Hugues Aubriot lost his greatest supporter and protector. Aubriot's political enemies imprisoned him at the Bastille in 1381. He then was transferred to the For-l'ï¿½vï¿½que prison, where thanks to the Maillotin Uprising, Aubriot managed to escape. The Maillotins wanted him as their leader, but he kindly declined and took the opportunity to leave town with the quickness.

:: Famous Prisoners at the Bastille The list of captives is long. Among the most famous prisoners of the Bastille were, in addition to the already mentioned Voltaire and de Sade , Antoine de Chabanne, the Duke de Nemours, the Marï¿½chal de Biron, Fouquet, Pï¿½lisson, Rohan, Lally-Tollendal, the Marï¿½chal Duke de Richelieu, the Abbot de Bucquoy, Latude, and the famous prisoner in the iron mask. :: Treatment of the Prisoners at the Bastille The treatment of the prisoners was as arbitrary as their condemnation, often depending on the greed level of the prison guards. But not always. Many prisoners of the nobility enjoyed great favors due to orders from higher places. They could keep their officers, their secretaries, and their servants. They were allowed to promenade in the garden, their table was well served, and the prison governor addressed them hat in hand. Other, more unfortunate, souls were left to rot in the dungeons, their identity long forgotten and their letters never mailed.

Some were chained up by hands and feet, and — if really unlucky ï¿½ during the flood of the Seine, up to their necks in water. :: The Death of the Marquis de Launay The name of the person who cut off the head of the Marquis de Launay, last prison governor of the Bastille, on July 14, 1789, was Desnot, a butcher or a pastry cook. Either way, the man brought his own trusty kitchen knife to the event. The events of July 14, 1789, took place as follows: De Launay was surrounded by a mob who was foaming at the mouth. By then, it was each man for himself and hand combat. De Launay dished out and managed to place a crisp kick in Desnot's crotch. That was all the mob needed and they let it hail all sorts of sharp and blunt objects upon de Launay, following up with a few pistol shots for good measure. Desnot was given the honor. He cut off de Launay's head, put it on a pike, and used it as a very inspiring lead parade mascot.

Musï¿½e du Louvre Dï¿½partement des Arts Graphiques :: The Elephant of the Place de la Bastille Above aquarelle is the latest draft of the fountain of the elephant for the Place de la Bastille, drawn by French architect Jean-Antoine Alavoine, who lived 1776-1834. Napoleon had it envisioned to be cast in bronze. An interior staircase would lead to the top. However, a temporary plaster elephant was all the Parisians would ever see. After Napoleon's defeat, the monument was rotting away, much to the delight of the city's rats. Musï¿½e des Beaux-arts, Rouen :: Monet's Rue Saint-Denis Like its twin painting The Rue Montorgueil, Claude Monet's Rue Saint-Denis is often thought to depict a July 14 celebration. Not so. In fact, this painting illustrates the celebration of the Exposition Universelle, Paris' Universal Exposition and World Fair, on June 30, 1878. The fair took place every 11 years.

The one in 1878 was the third fair of its kind and was held from May 1 to October 31, 1878, at the Champ de Mars. Famous exhibit, by the way, was the finished head of the Statue of Liberty. Here she gazes: Statue of Liberty Head at Expo in Paris 1878 Library of Congress The Storming of the Bastille: HistoryWiz French Revolution by Hans-Jurgen Lusebrink The Bastille was a medieval fortress with 8 towers, which at the time of the French Revolution housed only a few common criminals. Taken from the French word ‘bastide’, meaning fortress, the Bastille was constructed to defend the eastern wall of Paris in 1382. But because it had previously been used to house political prisoners, it had long been a symbol of royal tyranny. Cardinal Richelieu, acting for King Louis XIII, had imprisoned enemies of the king. Prisoners were arrested by a secret warrant issued by the King called a lettres-de-cachet. They were not given a trial, nor informed of the charges, but simply held in secret.

If they were released they were instructed not to reveal any thing they had seen or experienced inside the prison. This was long before the reign of Louis XVI, but the mystique of secrecy and terror made it a focus of the anger of the Parisian mob. The Storming of the Bastille", Visible in the center is the arrest of Bernard René Jourdan, Marquis De Launay 1789, Jean-Pierre Houël (1735-1813) On July 14, 1789, the Paris mob was able to get hold of 3000 rifles and a few cannon. They went to the Bastille in search of more weapons and ammunition. The fortress was only weakly guarded with 30 Swiss Guards and 85 Invalides. The mob, joined by some of the King's soldiers, stormed the Bastille. The commander Marquis De Launay tried to surrender, but the mob would not accept it. He was killed as they poured through the gates. No guard was left alive Later in the day the prisoners were released.

There were only seven: two were convicted forgers; one was a loose-living aristocrat put in prison by his own father. Nevertheless it was a great symbolic event, one which is still celebrated in France every year. liberated prisoners parading later in the day Storming of the Bastille Storming of the Bastille Share Intro On 14 July 1789, a state prison on the east side of Paris, known as the Bastille, was attacked by an angry and aggressive mob. The prison had become a symbol of the monarchy’s dictatorial rule, and the event became one of the defining moments in the Revolution that followed. This article reporting the events of 14 July was published in an English newspaper called The World, a few days after the event took place. A medieval fortress, the Bastille’s eight 30-metre-high towers, dominated the Parisian skyline. When the prison was attacked it actually held only seven prisoners, but the mob had not gathered for them: it had come to demand the huge ammunition stores held within the prison walls. When the prison governor refused to comply, the mob charged and, after a violent battle, eventually took hold of the building.

The governor was seized and killed, his head carried round the streets on a spike. The storming of the Bastille symbolically marked the beginning of the French Revolution, in which the monarchy was overthrown and a republic set up based on the ideas of ‘Liberté, égalité, fraternité’ (the French for liberty, equality and brotherhood). In France, the ‘storming of the Bastille’ is still celebrated each year by a national holiday.

Question: How many prisoners were locked in the Bastille in Paris when it was stormed by the people in 1789?
Answer: Seven