Table of contents:
- 1. The French do not call their national holiday "Bastille Day"
- 2. Bastille was originally a gate fortress
- 3. The British took the Bastille
- 4. Bastille was not always a prison
- 5. Cardinal de Richelieu was the first to use the Bastille as a state prison
- 6. Voltaire sat in the Bastille
- 7. In fact, Voltaire was jailed twice
- 8. The man in the iron mask was indeed a prisoner in the Bastille
- nine. Aristocrats sent unwanted relatives to the Bastille
- 10. The Marquis de Sade wrote "120 Days of Sodom" in the Bastille
- 11. Before the revolution, prisoners in the Bastille were treated well
- 12. The government thought about the destruction of the Bastille long before 1789
- 13. On the site of the destroyed Bastille there was a guillotine
- 14. George Washington was presented with the key to the Bastille
- 15. A monument to an elephant was erected on the spot
Video: 15 little-known facts about the Bastille - one of the darkest prisons in the world
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
In 1789, Parisians and rebel soldiers broke into the French Bastille, freeing prisoners and seizing an ammunition depot. This event quickly became a symbol of the French Revolution, which led to the overthrow of the absolute monarchy. Before that, the Bastille had a terrible reputation. Real legends circulated about the terrible conditions in which the prisoners were kept, about torture and murder in the fortress-prison. In our roundup of 15 facts about the Bastille and its famous prisoners.
1. The French do not call their national holiday "Bastille Day"
Bastille Day is a national holiday in France and is also celebrated in Francophone countries around the world. But the French themselves call this day simply and unpretentiously - "National holiday" or "July 14".
2. Bastille was originally a gate fortress
The Bastille was built as a gateway fortress to protect the eastern side of Paris from British and Burgundian troops during the Hundred Years War. The first stone was laid in 1370, and the fortifications were completed over the years. During the reign of Henry IV (1589 - 1610), the royal treasury was kept in the Bastille.
3. The British took the Bastille
After the British victory under the leadership of Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt during the Hundred Years War, the British occupied Paris. The French capital was under occupation for 15 years, starting in 1420. British troops were stationed at the Bastille, Louvre and Château de Vincennes.
4. Bastille was not always a prison
Bastille began to be used as a prison-fortress only after the Hundred Years War. Prior to this, the French monarchs received high-ranking guests there.
5. Cardinal de Richelieu was the first to use the Bastille as a state prison
Cardinal Richelieu (whom Alexander Dumas recalled in his novel The Three Musketeers), after Louis XIII came to power, proposed using the Bastille as a state prison for dignitaries. Many of them were imprisoned for political or religious reasons. The Sun King Louis XIV also constantly threw his enemies or disliked people into prison.
6. Voltaire sat in the Bastille
François-Marie Arouet, now better known as the writer Voltaire, was imprisoned in the Bastille for 11 months in 1717 for satirical poetry against the regent and his daughter. In prison, he wrote his first play and took the pseudonym Voltaire.
7. In fact, Voltaire was jailed twice
Voltaire's reputation not only did not suffer from his imprisonment in the Bastille, but on the contrary - he brought him popularity in certain circles. At the age of 31, Voltaire was already rich and popular, but again came to the Bastille in 1726. The reason was a quarrel and a duel with an aristocrat - Chevalier de Rohan-Chabot. In order not to sit in prison "before the trial", Voltaire chose to leave France for England.
8. The man in the iron mask was indeed a prisoner in the Bastille
In 1998, Leonardo DiCaprio starred in the film The Man in the Iron Mask, based on the novel of the same name by Alexandre Dumas. The film was very popular, but few people know that the movie hero had a real prototype - Eustache Dauger. True, the mask on his face, which he wore throughout his 34-year imprisonment, was not iron, but made of black velvet.
nine. Aristocrats sent unwanted relatives to the Bastille
People could be sent to the Bastille only on the basis of the Lettre de cachet (an order for the extrajudicial arrest of a person in the form of a letter with the royal seal), and the prison served to "ensure public discipline." There were frequent cases when a father could send his disobedient son to prison, a wife could punish her husband, who raised his hand against her, and an adult daughter could surrender her “distraught mother” to the royal guard.
10. The Marquis de Sade wrote "120 Days of Sodom" in the Bastille
The Marquis de Sade spent many years in prison. He spent ten years in the Bastille, writing Justine (his first published book) and The 120 Days of Sodom. The manuscript of the last book was written in tiny letters on scraps of paper that were smuggled into the Bastille.
11. Before the revolution, prisoners in the Bastille were treated well
There were legends about torture in the Bastille, its casemates and infernal machines, with which people were dismembered. But it is known for certain that before the revolution, some prisoners enjoyed special benefits. The king decided to pay prisoners a daily subsistence allowance of ten livres. This was enough to provide them with decent food and living conditions. Often the prisoners asked to be fed 5 livres, and the other half of the amount was handed out after serving the sentence. For example, during his second imprisonment in the Bastille, Voltaire received five to six visitors a day. Moreover, he even served a day longer than he was supposed to in order to settle some personal affairs.
12. The government thought about the destruction of the Bastille long before 1789
The government could not help but pay attention to the growing unpopularity of the Bastille, so there was talk of closing the prison even before 1789, although Louis XVI was against it. In 1784, the city architect Korbe proposed a plan to demolish the 400-year-old fortress and completely rebuild the quarter.
13. On the site of the destroyed Bastille there was a guillotine
In June 1794, the revolutionaries exhibited a guillotine on the Place de la Bastille. At that time, terror was raging in Paris, and Maximilian Robespierre sought to introduce a non-Catholic religion into society, which, however, unlike the controversial cult of the Revolution of Reason, assumed the preservation of the concept of deity. On this very guillotine, Robespierre was executed in July 1794. True, by that time the guillotine had been moved to Revolution Square.
14. George Washington was presented with the key to the Bastille
The Marquis de Lafayette, who was friends with George Washington, sent him one of the keys to the Bastille during the American Revolution. Today, this key can be seen at the Mount Vernon Presidential Residence Museum.
15. A monument to an elephant was erected on the spot
After the destruction of the Bastille, Napoleon decided to erect a monument on this site and announced a competition. Of all the projects presented, he chose the most unusual option - a monument-fountain in the shape of an elephant. The height of the bronze elephant was supposed to be 24 meters, and they were going to cast it from cannons captured from the Spaniards. Only a wooden model was built, which stood in Paris from 1813 to 1846.
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