2. Origins of the Bastille Formerly Chastel Saint-Antoine and Bastion de Saint-Antoine. Built between 1356 and 1383, during the Hundred Year’s War. Originally was a fortress th defend the east side of Paris and the Hôtel Saint-Pol royal palace. Was first used as a prison by King Louis XIII after the war.
3. Architecture Was an irregular rectangle that was 70m wide x 30m long with 25m high walls. Walls surrounding the two courtyards and the armory. Had eight 24m tall towers which were embedded in the walls, each holding 5-7 prisoners each.
4. Storming The list of vainqueurs de la Bastille has 954 names,and the total of the crowd was probably fewer than one thousand. They ordered the removal of the guns (that they be destroyed of given to them), it is unclear as all information that remains is that they demanded the guns be thrown from the walls. Two representatives from the San Antoine entered the Bastille for negotiations. At approx. 1:30 the people became impatient, surged the outer courtyard, and then cut the chains to get into the inner courtyard(the chains were attached to a draw bridge, which ended up killing a man when it fell.)
5. Alternative Theories The governor, Marquis De Launay, ordered cannon fire upon the attackers, killing women and children, although as the accounts come from the attackers it is hard to know if this is true it seems that the deputies of the Bastille continued to call for ceasefire, but the people ignored them. at 3:00 PM, the attackers began to grow, as dissenters from the Royal guard began to join the people and fight.A substantial force of Royal Army troops encamped on the nearby Champs de Mars did not intervene. At 5:00 the Marquis ordered ceasefire and passed his proposal for a ceasefire to the people through a hole in the gate. The people ignored it and broke in.
6. Aftermath One attacker died. Ninety- Eight defenders died. The Marquis was taken to a hotel, where then he was repeatedly stabbed before his head mounted. The three officers of the permanent Bastille garrison were also killed by the crowd; surviving police reports detail their wounds and clothing. Two of the invalides of the garrison were lynched. The army defending the Bastille consisted of 8 cannons, 80 French soldiers, and 30 Swiss soldiers.
7. Grounds for Arrest Prisoners were sent by Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIII to the Bastille mainly for political and religious reasons. Prisoners were arrested on the grounds of King Louis XIII’s secret warrant, denying the arrested a trial, to be told their charges, or to be told of their punishment. This secret warrant was called a lettres-de-cachet.
8. Famous People of the Bastille Marduis de Sade- imprisoned for his works, Justine and Juliette in 1801 by Napoleon. René Auguste Constantin- imprisoned on charges of treason. Armand de Vignerot du Plessis- arreste three times. 1711- wrongdoings of his stepfather; 1716- consequence of a duel; 1719- for his part in the Cellamare Conspiracy.
9. The Man in the Iron Mask Possibly the most famous Bastille prisoner, the man in the iron mask was arrested and put in many prisons. In 1669, he was arrested as Eustache Dauger. In 1703, he died under the name of Marchioly. The actual identy of this man was heavily debated by writers such as Voltaire and Alexander Dumas.
10. Identity Speculation In his Questions sur I’Encyclopédie, Voltaire poses the idea that the man of the iron mask was actually the older, illegitimate brother of Louis XIV. This idea was followed up by Alexander Dumas’s Three Muskateers saga, where the prisoner was required to wear an iron mask, and was the twin brother of Louis XIV.
11. Shrouded in Mystery When prisoners left the Bastille (if they left at all), they were made to swear an oath that they would not tell of what they had seen or how they had been treated within the Bastille. This Mystique is what caused many French citizens to fear the Bastille more than other, more traditional prisons.
12. Life in the Bastille The Bastille was very different than the king made it out to be. Until 1701, many of the rooms lacked furniture. Wealthy prisoners were allowed to bring their own furniture and even their own servants. Meal portions were large, and many prisoners were allowed to roam the grounds freely. On rare occasion, prisoners were rumored to have been allowed to visit paris on parole.