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 14 July 1789, which along with the Tennis Court Oath is considered the beginning of the French Revolution. A prison, penitentiary, or correctional facility is a place in which individuals are physically confined or interned and usually deprived of a range of Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city The Storming of the Bastille in Paris occurred on 14 July 1789. Events 1223 - Louis VIII becomes King of France upon the death of his father Philip II of France. Year 1789 ( MDCCLXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The Tennis Court Oath (serment du jeu de paume was a pivotal event during the French Revolution. The French Revolution (1789–1799 was a period of political and social upheaval in the History of France, during which the French governmental structure previously an The event was commemorated one year later by the Fête de la Fédération. The Fête de la Fédération of the 14 July 1789 was a huge feast and official event to celebrate the establishment of the short-lived Constitutional The French national holiday, celebrated annually on 14 July is officially the Fête Nationale, and officially commemorates the Fête de la Fédération, but it is commonly known in English as Bastille Day. The National Day is a designated date on which celebrations mark the Nationhood of a Nation or non-sovereign Country. Events 1223 - Louis VIII becomes King of France upon the death of his father Philip II of France. Bastille Day is the French national holiday, celebrated on 14 July each year. 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. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people A castle is a defensive structure seen as one of the main symbols of the Middle Ages.
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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 Hundred Years' War (Guerre de Cent Ans was a prolonged conflict lasting from 1337 to 1453 between two royal houses for the French throne vacant with the extinction of the senior Charles V ( 21 January 1338 – 16 September 1380) called the Wise, was King of France from 1364 to his death and a member 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, with Louis XIII the first king to send prisoners there. For the cognac see Louis XIII de Rémy Martin. Louis XIII ( September 27, 1601 – May 14, 1643)
The Bastille was built as an irregular rectangle with 8 towers, 70 metres (220 feet) long, 30 metres (90 feet) wide, with towers and walls 25 metres (80 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 bastion is a structure projecting outward from the main enclosure of a Fortification, situated in both corners of a straight wall (termed curtain with the shape 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. Tarascon, sometimes referred to as Tarascon-sur-Rhône, is a town and commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône
Storming
The archives of the Bastille show that it largely held common criminals (forgers, embezzlers, swindlers, etc. The Storming of the Bastille in Paris occurred on 14 July 1789. Jean-Pierre-Louis-Laurent Hoüel (1735-1813 was a French painter engraver and draftsman ), as well as people imprisoned for religious reasons (Protestants and Convulsionists) and those responsible for printing or writing forbidden pamphlets [1]. People of high rank were sometimes held there too, and so the prison (which could only hold a little over 50 people) was far less sordid a place than most of the Parisian prisons. But the secrecy maintained around the Bastille and its prisoners gave it a sinister reputation.
However the confrontation that led to the people of Paris storming the Bastille on 14 July 1789, following several days of disturbances, resulted from the fact that gunpowder and arms had been stored there, and the people (whose fears had been raised by a number of rumors) demanded access to these - the later idea that they wanted to free the prisoners (only 7 of whom remained) has been discounted. Events 1223 - Louis VIII becomes King of France upon the death of his father Philip II of France. Year 1789 ( MDCCLXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The regular garrison consisted of about 80 invalides (veteran soldiers no longer capable of service in the field) under Governor Bernard-René de Launay. Bernard René Jourdan, marquis de Launay (1740-1789 was a French governor of the Bastille, the son of a previous governor and commander of They had however been reinforced by a detachment of 32 grenadiers from one of the Swiss mercenary regiments summoned to Paris by the King shortly before 14 July. A grenadier (derived from the word Grenade) was originally a specialized soldier first established as a distinct role in the mid to late 17th century for the throwing of grenades Swiss mercenaries were soldiers notable for their service in foreign armies especially the armies of the Kings of France, throughout the Early Modern period of European
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 drawbridge is a type of Movable bridge typically associated with the entrance of a Castle. A spasmodic exchange of gunfire began; in mid-afternoon the crowd was reinforced by mutinous Gardes Françaises of the Royal Army and two cannons. The Gardes Françaises (French Guards was one of the two non-ceremonial infantry regiments in the "Maison du Roi" (Household troops of the French Army under 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 rioters had entered the Bastille, they collected cartridges and gun powder for their weapons and then freed the seven prisoners (which they had to do by breaking down the doors, since the keys had already been taken off and paraded through the streets). Later, the governor and some of the guards of the Bastille were killed under chaotic circumstances, despite having surrendered under a flag of truce, and their heads paraded on pikes.
Demolition
The propaganda value of the Bastille was quickly seized upon, notably by the showy entrepreneur Pierre-François Palloy, "Patriote Palloy. The vast Carnavalet Museum, devoted to the history of Paris, occupies two adjoining mansions (the Hôtel Le Peletier de St-Fargeau and the Hôtel Carnavalet Propaganda is a concerted set of messages aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of large numbers of people " 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.
Pierre-François Palloy secured a fair budget and his crew grew in number. He had control over all aspects of the work and the workers, even to the extent of having two hanged for murder. Palloy 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. The Place de la Bastille is a square in Paris, where the Bastille prison stood until the ' Storming of the Bastille ' and its subsequent physical destruction It is home to the Opéra Bastille. L’Opéra de la Bastille (Bastille Opera is a modern Opera house in Paris, France. 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. For other uses of this word see Marina (disambiguation. A marina is a sheltered Harbor where Boats and Yachts Canals are artificial channels for water There are two types of canals water conveyance canals which are used for the conveyance and delivery of water and Waterways Canal Saint-Martin is a 45km long Canal in Paris, France. Geography It stretches from the Square Frédérick Lemaître
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 meters away, where they are displayed today. Year 1899 ( MDCCCXCIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common 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.
In fiction
- Comte de Rochefort (The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After)
- Doctor Alexander Manette (A Tale of Two Cities)
- Mr. Thénardier (Les Miserables)
In Popular Culture
- The Rush song, Bastille Day, is about the storming of the Bastille. The Comte de Rochefort is a secondary but important fictional character in Alexandre Dumas ' D'Artagnan Romances. The Three Musketeers ( Les Trois Mousquetaires) is a Novel by Alexandre Dumas père. Twenty Years After ( Vingt ans après) is a novel by Alexandre Dumas père. Doctor Alexandre Manette is a character in Charles Dickens ' Novel, A Tale of Two Cities. A Tale of Two Cities (1859 is the second Historical novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the The Thénardiers (commonly referred to as Thénardier and Madame Thénardier are two of the primary villains in Victor Hugo 's novel Les Misérables Les Misérables (pronounced /le miːzeʁabl(ə translated variously from French as The Miserable Ones, The Wretched Rush is a Canadian rock band originally formed in August 1968 in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, currently comprised of "Bastille Day" is the first song from Rush 's third album Caress of Steel.
References
- Lorentz, Phillipe; Dany Sandron (2006). Atlas de Paris au Moyen Âge. Paris: Parigramme, 238 pp. ISBN 2840964023.
- ^ "Archives de la Bastille" collected by francais Ravaisson Mollien, printed by Paris : A. Durand et Pedone-Lauriel, 1866-1904
External links
- Welcome to the Bastille - fun facts, myths and more about the Bastille
- Satellite view of the Place de la Bastille place today - NOTE: The actual Bastille was not at the current Place, but slightly to the west of it (left in the photo), right where the rue Saint-Antoine ends.
- Remains of the Bastille - photo of the salvaged remains of one tower, with a brief description
- À bas la Bastille!: how the Encyclopædia Britannica has written about the Bastille in various editions since 1768.
- http://members.klosterneuburg.net/handerle/BASTILLE.HTM
Dictionary
Bastille
-proper noun
- A prison in France, the storming of which in 1789 CE began the French Revolution.
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