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Bastille

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For Bastille Linux, a hardening application, see Bastille Linux.
File:Bastille2.jpg
The Bastille

The Bastille (48°51′12″N 2°22′9″E / 48.85333°N 2.36917°E / 48.85333; 2.36917) was a prison in Paris, known formally as Bastille Saint-Antoine—Number 232, Rue Saint-Antoine—best known today because of the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, which along with the Tennis Court Oath is considered the beginning of the French Revolution. The event was commemorated one year later by the Fête de la Fédération. The French national holiday, celebrated annually on July 14 is officially the Fête Nationale, and officially commemorates the Fête de la Fédération, but it is commonly known in English as Bastille Day. Bastille is a French word meaning "castle" or "stronghold"; used as a single word ("la Bastide" in French), it refers to the prison.

Early history of the Bastille

Built from 1370 to 1383 as part of the defences of Paris, the structure was converted into a prison in the 17th century[dubious – discuss] by Charles VI. At that time it primarily housed political prisoners, but also religious prisoners, "seditious" writers, and young rakes held at the request of their families. It began to acquire a poor reputation when it became the main prison for those taken under lettres de cachet issued by the Bourbon kings.

By the late 18th century, the building was made up of eight close-packed towers, around 24 m (80 feet) high, surrounding two courtyards and the armoury. The prisoners were held within the five- to seven-story towers, each having a room around 4.6 m (15 feet) across and containing various articles of furniture.(yup! thats riiiiiight!!!!) The infamous cachots—the oozing, vermin-infested subterranean cells—were no longer in use. The governor of the prison was given a daily allowance per prisoner, the amount depending on their status—from nineteen livres per diem for scientists and academics down to three for commoners. In terms of standards, there were many worse prisons in France, including the dreaded Bicêtre, also in Paris. However, in terms of popular literary accounts, the Bastille was a place of horror and oppression—a symbol of autocratic cruelty.

Storming

Main article: Storming of the Bastille
Prise de la Bastille, by Jean-Pierre-Louis-Laurent Houel

The confrontation between the commoners and the ancien régime ultimately led to the people of Paris storming the Bastille on July 14, 1789, following several days of disturbances. At this point, the jail was nearly empty, with only seven inmates: four counterfeiters, two madmen, and a young aristocrat who had displeased his father. The regular garrison consisted of about 80 invalides (veteran soldiers no longer capable of service in the field) under Governor Bernard-René de Launay. They had however been reinforced by a detachment of 32 grenadiers from one of the Swiss mercenary regiments summoned to Paris by the Monarchy shortly before 14 July.

A crowd of around 1,000 people gathered outside around mid-morning, calling for the surrender of the prison, the removal of the guns and the release of the arms and gunpowder. Two people chosen to represent those gathered were invited into the fortress and slow negotiations began.

In the early afternoon, the crowd broke into the undefended outer courtyard and the chains on the drawbridge to the inner courtyard were cut. A spasmodic exchange of gunfire began; in mid-afternoon the crowd was reinforced by mutinous Gardes Françaises of the Royal Army and two cannons. De Launay ordered a ceasefire; despite his surrender demands being refused, he capitulated and the vainqueurs swept in to liberate the fortress at around 5:30.

Ninety-eight attackers and one defender had died. De Launay was seized and dragged towards the Hôtel de Ville, but was stabbed to death by the mob in the street outside the Hôtel. Several of De Launay's officers were also killed. The gardes francais intervened to protect the Swiss soldiers and invalides of the garrison, though two of the latter were reported to have been lynched. The officer commanding the Swiss detachment later prepared a detailed account of the fall of the fortress which, perhaps unfairly, laid blame on De Launay for indecisive behavior.

Historical assessment

Many historians believe that the storming of the Bastille was more important as a rallying point and symbolic act of rebellion than any practical act of defiance. No less important in the history of France, it was not the image typically conjured up of courageous French patriots storming a towering fortress and freeing hundreds of oppressed peasants. The act of telling this false version of the events began on July 17 1789 with the publication of the Révolutions de Paris. This publication contained a colourful description of the attack and an entirely false description of the many prisoners freed.

The Storming of the Bastille, 14 July 1789

10:30 Due to the pressure of the crowd, the voters of Paris came together outside the town hall and sent a delegation to Bernard-Rene Jordan de Launay. They attempted to make him distribute powder and balls to the Parisians who were trying to form a middle-class militia. The delegation was received pleasantly, but no supplies were received.

11:30 A second delegation led by the knight Jacques Alexis Thuriot and Louis Ethis de Corny, is sent to the Bastille without result. The crowd armed with stolen rifles piled up with the invalids in front of the Bastille.

13:30 The defenders of the Bastille (82 invalids and 32 detached Swiss soldiers of the regiment of Salis-Samade) opened fire on order from the governor.

14:00 A third delegation is sent to the Bastille.

15:30 A detachment of 61 French guards commanded by Pierre Hulin, former sergeant of the Swiss guards, arrives in front of the Bastille with five cannons. These guns are put in position against the doors and drawbridge of the Bastille. The Bastille capitulates.

17:00 The crowd invades the Bastille, delivers the seven prisoners of common right who were locked up there, seizes the powder and the balls, takes along to the Town hall, the garrison of the Bastille. On the way, the governor, Bernard-Rene Jordan de Launay is killed and several invalids are put to death. One hundred attackers had been killed and 73 wounded. The importance of the storming of the Bastille was strongly exaggerated by the romantic historians, who wanted to make it a symbol of the founding of the Republic. A thousand people at most made a band of rioters, which wanted to invade the building to acquire weapons.

Notable prisoners

1792 Plan of the Bastille

In fiction

Demolition

Place de la Bastille, with the July Column in the center, and the Opéra Bastille on the right.

The propaganda value of the Bastille was quickly seized upon, notably by the showy entrepreneur Pierre-François Palloy, "Patriote Palloy." The fate of the Bastille was uncertain, but Palloy was quick to establish a claim, organising a force of demolition men around the site on the 15th. Over the next few days many notables visited the Bastille and it seemed to be turning into a memorial. But Palloy secured a license for demolition from the Permanent Committee at the Hôtel de Ville and quickly took complete control.

Palloy secured a fair budget and his crew grew . Palloy had control over all aspects of the work and the workers, even to the extent of having two hanged for murder. He put much effort into continuing the site as a paying attraction and producing a huge range of souvenirs, including much of the rubble. The actual demolition proceeded apace - by November, 1789, the structure was largely demolished.

The area today

The former location of the fort is currently called the place de la Bastille. It is home to the Opéra Bastille. The large ditch (fossé) behind the fort has been transformed into a marina for pleasure boats, the Bassin de l'Arsenal, to the south, and a covered canal, the Canal Saint Martin, extending north from the marina beneath the vehicular roundabout that borders the location of the fort.

Some undemolished remains of one tower of the fort were discovered during excavation for the Métro (rail mass-transit system) in 1899, and were moved to a park a few hundred metres away, where they are displayed today. The original outline of the fort is also marked on the pavement of streets and sidewalks that pass over its former location, in the form of special paving stones. A cafe and some other businesses largely occupy the location of the fort, and the rue Saint Antoine passes directly over it as it opens onto the roundabout of the Bastille.

Notes

  1. ^ Template:Fr icon 5 septembre 1661: D'Artagnan arrête le surintendant Fouquet, Renaissance et Réforme on herodote.net. Accessed 16 Ocotber 2006.
  2. ^ "Bastille", Encyclopedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition (1911): "According to the usual account, which one is tempted to ascribe to the popular love of poetical justice, the first who was incarcerated within its walls was the builder himself, Hugues Aubriot." Reproduced online at 1911encyclopedia.org, accessed 16 October 2006.
  3. ^ "James Douglas Morton", Encyclopedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition (1911) Reproduced online at 1911encyclopedia.org, accessed 16 October 2006.
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