BASTILLE

The 'Bastille' () 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 with a definite article (''la Bastille'' in French, ''the Bastille'' in English), it refers to the prison.

Contents

Early history of the Bastille

Storming

Demolition

The area today

Prisoners in Bastille

In fiction

References

External links

Early history of the Bastille

The Bastille was built as the 'Bastion de Saint-Antoine' during the Hundred Years' War under Charles V of France. The Bastille originated as the Saint-Antoine gate, but from 1370-1383, this gate was extended to create a fortess, to defend the east end of Paris and the Hôtel Saint-Pol royal palace. After the war, it was reused as a state prison and (King Louis XIII was the first king to send prisoners there).
The Bastille was built as an irregular rectangle with 8 towers, 68 meters (223 feet) long, 27 meters (88 feet) wide, with towers and walls 24 meters (78 feet) high, surrounded by a broad moat. Originally there were two courtyards inside and residential buildings against the walls. Pairs of towers on the east and west facades served as gates through which the rue Saint-Antoine passed. In the 1400s, these were blocked up, and a new city gate was created to the north on the present day rue de la Bastille. A bastion on the eastern approaches was built later. A significant military feature of the building was that the walls and towers were of the same height and connected by a broad terrace. This enabled soldiers on the wall head to rapidly move to a threatened sector of the fortress without having to descend inside the towers, as well as allowing placement of artillery. A similar provision can be seen today at Château de Tarascon.

Storming

Main articles: Storming of the Bastille


The Bastille had a sinister reputation as a prison for political dissenters and became a symbol of royal power and oppression. 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. 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.
When the riotors had gotten inside the Bastille, they collected cartridges and gun powder for their weapons and then freed the seven prisoners. Later, the governor and the guards of the Bastille were beheaded.

Demolition

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 in number. 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.

Prisoners in Bastille

★ Marquis de Sade

★ Voltaire

In fiction

★ Comte de Rochefort (''The Three Musketeers'', ''Twenty Years After'')

★ Doctor Alexander Manette (''A Tale of Two Cities'')

★ Mr. Thénardier (''Les Miserables'')

References

★ Atlas de Paris au Moyen Âge, , Phillipe, Lorentz, Parigramme, ,

External links

★ Satellite view of the ''Place de la Bastille'' place today

★ Remains of the Bastille - photo of the salvaged remains with brief description

★ ''À bas la Bastille!'': how ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' has written about the Bastille in various editions since 1768.

★ http://members.klosterneuburg.net/handerle/BASTILLE.HTM