• About Me

European Royal History

~ The History of the Emperors, Kings & Queens of Europe

European Royal History

Tag Archives: French Guards

July 14, 1789: The Storming of the Bastille

14 Tuesday Jul 2020

Posted by liamfoley63 in Kingdom of Europe, Royal Castles & Palaces, This Day in Royal History

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

American Revolution, Duke of Orleans, Estates General, finance minister, French Guards, French Revolution, Governor of the Bastille, Jacques Necker, July 14 1789, Louis Philippe II of Orleans, Louis Philippe III of Orléans, Louis XVI of France and Navarre, Marquis de Launay, National Constituent Assembly, Palace of Versailles, The Storming of the Bastille

The Storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris, France, on the afternoon of July 14, 1789.

The medieval armory, fortress, and political prison known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the centre of Paris. The prison contained only seven inmates at the time of its storming but was seen by the revolutionaries as a symbol of the monarchy’s abuse of power; its fall was the flashpoint of the French Revolution.

59F6C559-06B1-43B2-BAC2-95A4DFE0111F

Background

During the reign of Louis XVI of France and Navarre, France faced a major economic crisis. This crisis was caused in part by the cost of intervening in the American Revolution and exacerbated by a regressive system of taxation. On May 5, 1789, the Estates General of 1789 convened to deal with this issue, but were held back by archaic protocols and the conservatism of the second estate: representing the nobility who made up less than 2% of France’s population.

On June 17, 1789, the third estate, with its representatives drawn from the commoners, reconstituted themselves as the National Assembly, a body whose purpose was the creation of a French constitution. The king initially opposed this development, but was forced to acknowledge the authority of the assembly, which renamed itself the National Constituent Assembly on July 9.

On July 11, 1789, Louis XVI—acting under the influence of the conservative nobles of his privy council—dismissed and banished his finance minister, Jacques Necker (who had been sympathetic to the Third Estate) and completely reconstructed the ministry.

3C1A2FF3-12BD-471B-B618-213F297DD01E
Jacques Necker, finance minister

News of Necker’s dismissal reached Paris on the afternoon of Sunday, July 12. The Parisians generally presumed that the dismissal marked the start of a coup by conservative elements. Liberal Parisians were further enraged by the fear that a concentration of Royal troops—brought in from frontier garrisons to Versailles, Sèvres, the Champ de Mars, and Saint-Denis—would attempt to shut down the National Constituent Assembly, which was meeting in Versailles. Crowds gathered throughout Paris, including more than ten thousand at the Palais-Royal.

During the public demonstrations that started on July 12, the multitude displayed busts of Necker and of Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, then marched from the Palais Royal through the theater district before continuing westward along the boulevards. The Royal commander, Baron de Besenval, fearing the results of a blood bath amongst the poorly armed crowds or defections among his own men, then withdrew the cavalry towards Sèvres.

Meanwhile, unrest was growing among the people of Paris who expressed their hostility against state authorities by attacking customs posts blamed for causing increased food and wine prices. The people of Paris started to plunder any place where food, guns and supplies could be hoarded. That night, rumors spread that supplies were being hoarded at Saint-Lazare, a huge property of the clergy, which functioned as convent, hospital, school and even as a jail.

An angry mob broke in and plundered the property, seizing 52 wagons of wheat, which were taken to the public market. That same day multitudes of people plundered many other places including weapon arsenals. The Royal troops did nothing to stop the spreading of social chaos in Paris during those days.

746ED5F4-1518-469A-A1E3-A036C24DE078

The regiment of Gardes Françaises (English: French Guards) formed the permanent garrison of Paris and, with many local ties, was favourably disposed towards the popular cause. This regiment had remained confined to its barracks during the initial stages of the mid-July disturbances. With Paris becoming the scene of a general riot, Charles Eugene, Prince of Lambesc (Marshal of the Camp, Proprietor of the Royal Allemand-Dragoons), not trusting the regiment to obey his order, posted sixty dragoons to station themselves before its dépôt in the Chaussée d’Antin.

The future “Citizen King”, Louis-Philippe III, duc d’Orléans, witnessed these events as a young officer and was of the opinion that the soldiers would have obeyed orders if put to the test. He also commented in retrospect that the officers of the French Guards had neglected their responsibilities in the period before the uprising, leaving the regiment too much to the control of its non-commissioned officers.

4525FEA2-044D-4F57-B4C9-9F393FA243F8
Louis-Philippe, duc d’Orléans (1793) future King of the French.

On the morning of July 14, 1789, the city of Paris was in a state of alarm. The partisans of the Third Estate in France, now under the control of the Bourgeois Militia of Paris (soon to become Revolutionary France’s National Guard), had earlier stormed the Hôtel des Invalides without meeting significant opposition.

At this point, the Bastille was nearly empty, housing only seven prisoners: four forgers; James F.X. Whyte, a “lunatic” imprisoned at the request of his family; Auguste-Claude Tavernier, who had tried to assassinate Louis XV thirty years before; and one “deviant” aristocrat, the Comte de Solages, imprisoned by his father using a lettre de cachet (while the Marquis de Sade had been transferred out ten days earlier).

The high cost of maintaining a garrisoned medieval fortress, for what was seen as having a limited purpose, had led to a decision being made shortly before the disturbances began to replace it with an open public space. Amid the tensions of July 1789, the building remained as a symbol of royal tyranny.

The crowd gathered outside around mid-morning, calling for the surrender of the prison, the removal of the cannon and the release of the arms and gunpowder. Two representatives of the crowd outside were invited into the fortress and negotiations began, and another was admitted around noon with definite demands.

The negotiations dragged on while the crowd grew and became impatient. Around 1:30 pm, the crowd surged into the undefended outer courtyard. A small party climbed onto the roof of a building next to the gate to the inner courtyard and broke the chains on the drawbridge, crushing one vainqueur as it fell.

Soldiers of the garrison called to the people to withdraw, but in the noise and confusion these shouts were misinterpreted as encouragement to enter. Gunfire began, apparently spontaneously, turning the crowd into a mob. The crowd seems to have felt that they had been intentionally drawn into a trap and the fighting became more violent and intense, while attempts by deputies to organise a cease-fire were ignored by the attackers.

The firing continued, and after 3:00 pm, the attackers were reinforced by mutinous gardes françaises, along with two cannons. A substantial force of Royal Army troops encamped on the Champ de Mars did not intervene. With the possibility of mutual carnage suddenly apparent, Governor de Launay ordered a cease-fire at 5:00 pm.

A letter offering his terms was handed out to the besiegers through a gap in the inner gate. His demands were refused, but Launay nonetheless capitulated, as he realised that with limited food stocks and no water supply his troops could not hold out much longer. He accordingly opened the gates to the inner courtyard, and the vainqueurs swept in to liberate the fortress at 5:30 pm.

Ninety-eight attackers and one defender had died in the actual fighting, a disparity accounted for by the protection provided to the garrison by the fortress walls. Luanay was seized and dragged towards the Hôtel de Ville in a storm of abuse. Outside the Hôtel, a discussion as to his fate began. The badly beaten Launay shouted “Enough! Let me die!” and kicked a pastry cook named Dulait in the groin. Launay was then stabbed repeatedly and died.

An English traveller, Doctor Edward Rigby, reported what he saw, “[We] perceived two bloody heads raised on pikes, which were said to be the heads of the Marquis de Launay, Governor of the Bastille, and of Monsieur Flesselles, Prévôt des Marchands. It was a chilling and a horrid sight! … Shocked and disgusted at this scene, [we] retired immediately from the streets.”

The three officers of the permanent Bastille garrison were also killed by the crowd; surviving police reports detail their wounds and clothing.

Returning to the Hôtel de Ville, the mob accused the prévôt dès marchands (roughly, mayor) Jacques de Flesselles of treachery, and he was assassinated on the way to an ostensible trial at the Palais-Royal.

42EB6D3E-477D-4EBC-872C-B93D44D7297C
Louis XVI, King of France and Navarre

King Louis XVI first learned of the storming only the next morning through the Duke of La Rochefoucauld. “Is it a revolt?” asked Louis XVI. The duke replied: “No sire, it’s not a revolt; it’s a revolution.”

At Versailles, the Assembly remained ignorant of most of the Paris events, but eminently aware that the Marshal de Broglie stood on the brink of unleashing a pro-Royalist coup to force the Assembly to adopt the order of June 23, and then to dissolve. Noailles apparently was first to bring reasonably accurate news of the Paris events to Versailles. M. Ganilh and Bancal-des-Issarts, dispatched to the Hôtel de Ville, confirmed his report.

By the morning of 15 July, the outcome appeared clear to the king as well, and he and his military commanders backed down. The twenty three regiments of Royal troops concentrated around Paris dispersed to their frontier garrisons.

Aftermath

Nonetheless, after this violence, nobles – little assured by the apparent and, as it was to prove, temporary reconciliation of king and people – started to flee the country as émigrés. Among the first to leave were the comte d’Artois (the future Charles X of France) and his two sons, the prince de Condé, the prince de Conti, the Polignac family, and (slightly later) Charles Alexandre de Calonne, the former finance minister. They settled at Turin, where Calonne, as agent for the count d’Artois and the prince de Condé, began plotting civil war within the kingdom and agitating for a European coalition against France.

Recent Posts

  • March 28, 1727: Birth of Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria
  • March 26, 1687: Birth of Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, Queen in Prussia and Electress of Brandenburg. Part II.
  • The Life of Langrave Friedrich II of Hesse-Cassel
  • Princess Stephanie, the Hereditary Grand Duchess of Luxembourg has safely delivered a healthy baby boy
  • Was He A Usurper? King Richard III. Part III

Archives

  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • June 2017
  • April 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012

From the E

  • Abdication
  • Art Work
  • Assassination
  • Bishop of Rome and the Catholic Church
  • Charlotte of Great Britain
  • coronation
  • Count/Countess of Europe
  • Crowns and Regalia
  • Deposed
  • Duchy/Dukedom of Europe
  • Elected Monarch
  • Empire of Europe
  • Execution
  • Famous Battles
  • Featured Monarch
  • Featured Noble
  • Featured Royal
  • From the Emperor's Desk
  • Grand Duke/Grand Duchy of Europe
  • Happy Birthday
  • Imperial Elector
  • In the News today…
  • Kingdom of Europe
  • Morganatic Marriage
  • Principality of Europe
  • Queen/Empress Consort
  • Regent
  • Restoration
  • Royal Annulment
  • Royal Bastards
  • Royal Birth
  • Royal Castles & Palaces
  • Royal Death
  • Royal Divorce
  • Royal Genealogy
  • Royal House
  • Royal Mistress
  • Royal Palace
  • Royal Succession
  • Royal Titles
  • royal wedding
  • This Day in Royal History
  • Treaty of Europe
  • Uncategorized
  • Usurping the Throne

Like

Like

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 420 other subscribers

Blog Stats

  • 1,046,386 hits

Blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • European Royal History
    • Join 420 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • European Royal History
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...