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Bernard-René Jourdan De Launay
Bernard René Jourdan, marquis de Launay (8/9 April 1740 – 14 July 1789) was the French governor of the Bastille. He was the son of a previous governor, and commander of the Bastille's garrison when the prison-fortress in Paris was stormed on 14 July 1789. Early life The marquis Bernard-René Jordan de Launay was born on the night of 8/9 April 1740 in the Bastille where his father, René Jourdan de Launay, was governor. At the age of eight he was appointed to an honorary position in the King's Musketeers (''mousquetaires du roi''). He subsequently entered the French Guards (''gardes-françaises''), a regiment permanently stationed in Paris except in time of war. In 1776 de Launay succeeded M. de Jumilhac as Governor of the Bastille. As was the custom with many senior positions under the Ancien Régime, the marquis purchased the office of governor from his predecessor as a form of investment. The thirteen years that he spent in this position were uneventful, though on 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Governor Of The Bastille
The Bastille or Bastille Saint-Antoine was completed in 1383. The commander of the Bastille was its governor, and was previously called ''capitaine''. History In 1367, King Charles V ordered the construction of the ''fort et bastide Saint Anthoine lez Paris'', literally fort and bastide of Saint Anthony close to Paris, which will later take the name of ''Bastille''. The works will be completed twenty years later, in 1387, under the reign of Charles VI. The first captain-governor Fernand Bournon, ''La Bastille, histoire et description'', Paris, Imprimerie Nationale, 1843, . was a close aquaintaince of the King, already chamberlain under the two previous reigns: Jehan de La Personne, knight, viscount of Acy, lord of Beu and Nesle-en-Tardenois, chamberlain of the King. He is quoted in numerous documents between 1386 and November 1404, date of his death that are now held in the department of manuscripts of the Bibliothèque nationale de France. The last governor to hold this positio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grenadier
A grenadier ( , ; derived from the word ''grenade'') was originally a specialist soldier who threw hand grenades in battle. The distinct combat function of the grenadier was established in the mid-17th century, when grenadiers were recruited from among the strongest and largest soldiers. By the 18th century, the grenadier dedicated to throwing hand grenades had become a less necessary specialist, yet in battle, the grenadiers were the physically robust soldiers who led assaults, such as storming fortifications in the course of siege warfare. Certain countries such as France ( Grenadiers à Cheval de la Garde Impériale) and Argentina ( Regiment of Mounted Grenadiers) established units of Horse Grenadiers and for a time the British Army had Horse Grenadier Guards. Like their infantry grenadier counterparts, these horse-mounted soldiers were chosen for their size and strength ( heavy cavalry). Today, the term is also used to describe a soldier armed with a grenade launcher, a wea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hôtel De Ville, Paris
The Hôtel de Ville (, ''City Hall'') is the city hall of Paris, France, standing on the Place de l'Hôtel-de-Ville – Esplanade de la Libération in the 4th arrondissement. The south wing was originally constructed by François I beginning in 1535 until 1551. The north wing was built by Henry IV and Louis XIII between 1605 and 1628. It was burned by the Paris Commune, along with all the city archives that it contained, during the Commune's final days in May 1871. The outside was rebuilt following the original design, but larger, between 1874 and 1882, while the inside was considerably modified. It has been the headquarters of the municipality of Paris since 1357. It serves multiple functions, housing the local government council, since 1977 the Mayor of Paris and her cabinet, and also serves as a venue for large receptions. History The original building In July 1357, Étienne Marcel, provost of the merchants (i.e. mayor) of Paris, bought the so-called ''maison aux pili ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacques De Flesselles
Jacques de Flesselles (; 11 November 173014 July 1789) was a French official and one of the early victims of the French Revolution. Early life Jacques de Flesselles was born in Paris in 1730 of a family of middle-class origins, which had recently achieved nobility status. His father, also Jacques de Flesselles, was a financial official who had served as a royal adviser. The younger Jacques de Flesselles followed a similar career path. Career Following appointments as Intendant of Moulins in 1762 and of Rennes in 1765, de Flesselles served as Intendant of Lyon (1768–1784) where he won respect as a reform-minded royal official. Motivated by a personal interest in scientific development, he sponsored a Montgolfier balloon in 1784, named the Flesselles in his honour. On 21 April 1789, de Flesselles became the last provost of the merchants of Paris, a post roughly equivalent to mayor. Three months later he faced a chaotic situation as widespread disturbances broke out and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Chronicle Of The French Revolution
''Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution'' is a book by the historian Simon Schama, published in 1989, the bicentenary of the French Revolution. "The terror," declared Schama in the book, "was merely 1789 with a higher body count; violence ... was not just an unfortunate side effect ... it was the Revolution's source of collective energy. It was what made the Revolution revolutionary." In short, “From the very beginning ..violence was the motor of revolution.” Schama considers that the French Revolutionary Wars were the logical corollary of the universalistic language of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, and of the universalistic principles of the Revolution which led to inevitable conflict with old-regime Europe. Reception Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm has described the book in 1990 as being "exceptionally stylish and eloquent" and "extremely well-read." Nevertheless, he considered ''Citizens'' to be, above all, a political denunciation of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simon Schama
Sir Simon Michael Schama (; born 13 February 1945) is an English historian specialising in art history, Dutch history, Jewish history, and French history. He is a University Professor of History and Art History at Columbia University. He first came to public attention with his history of the French Revolution titled ''Citizens'', published in 1989. In the United Kingdom, he is perhaps best known for writing and hosting the 15-part BBC television documentary series '' A History of Britain'' broadcast between 2000 and 2002. Schama was knighted in the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours List. Early life and education Schama was born in Marylebone, London. His mother, Gertie (née Steinberg), was from an Ashkenazi Lithuanian Jewish family (from Kaunas, present-day Lithuania), and his father, Arthur Schama, was of Sephardi Jewish background (from Smyrna, present-day İzmir in Turkey), later moving through Moldova and Romania. In the mid-1940s, the family moved to Southend-on-Se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Goldhammer
Arthur Goldhammer (born November 17, 1946) is an American academic and translator. Early life Goldhammer studied mathematics at MIT, gaining his PhD in 1973. Career Since 1977 he has worked as a translator. He is based at the Center for European Studies at Harvard. Goldhammer is a four-time winner of the French-American Foundation translation prize, including for his translations of Alexis de Tocqueville's '' The Ancien Régime and the French Revolution'' and ''Democracy in America''. Goldhammer's translation of Thomas Piketty's book ''Capital in the Twenty-First Century'' became a ''New York Times'' best-seller. Personal life Goldhammer lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Works translated * ''The institutions of France under the absolute monarchy, 1598-1789'' by Roland Mousnier, 2 vols, 1979–1984. * ''The three orders: feudal society imagined'' by Georges Duby, 1980. * ''Time, work & culture in the Middle Ages'' by Jacques Le Goff, 1980. * ''The Arabs'' by Maxime Rodin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
François Furet
François Furet (; 27 March 1927 – 12 July 1997) was a French historian and president of the Saint-Simon Foundation, best known for his books on the French Revolution. From 1985 to 1997, Furet was a professor of French history at the University of Chicago. Furet was elected to the Académie française in March 1997, just three months before he died in July. Biography Born in Paris on 27 March 1927 into a wealthy family, Furet was a bright student who graduated from the Sorbonne with the highest honors and soon decided on a life of research, teaching and writing. He received his education at the Lycée Janson de Sailly and at the faculty of art and law of Paris. In 1949, Furet entered the French Communist Party, but he left the party in 1956 following the Soviet invasion of Hungary. After beginning his studies at the University of Letters and Law in his native Paris, Furet was forced to leave university in 1950 due to a case of tuberculosis. After recovering, he sat for the ''a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Rudé
George Rudé (8 February 1910 – 8 January 1993) was a British Marxist historian, specializing in the French Revolution and " history from below", especially the importance of crowds in history.George Rudé (1964). ''The Crowd in History. A Study of Popular Disturbances in France and England, 1730–1848''. New York: Wiley & Sons. Early life Born in Oslo, the son of Jens Essendrop Rude, a Norwegian engineer, and Amy Geraldine Elliot, an English woman educated in Germany, Rudé spent his early years in Norway. After World War I, his family moved to England, where he was educated at Shrewsbury School and Trinity College, Cambridge. A specialist in modern languages, he taught at Stowe and St. Paul's schools. After completing university, Rudé took a trip to the Soviet Union with friends. When he returned he was a "committed Communist and anti-Fascist", despite his family's fairly conservative political views. Career In 1935 Rudé joined the British Communist Party. Communism ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drawbridge
A drawbridge or draw-bridge is a type of moveable bridge typically at the entrance to a castle or tower surrounded by a moat. In some forms of English, including American English, the word ''drawbridge'' commonly refers to all types of moveable bridges, such as bascule bridges, vertical-lift bridges and swing bridges, but this article concerns the narrower historical definition of the term where the bridge is used in a defensive structure. As used in castles or defensive structures, drawbridges provide access across defensive structures when lowered, but can quickly be raised from within to deny entry to an enemy force. Castle drawbridges Medieval castles were usually defended by a ditch or moat, crossed by a wooden bridge. In early castles the bridge might be designed to be destroyed or removed in the event of an attack, but drawbridges became very common. A typical arrangement would have the drawbridge immediately outside a gatehouse, consisting of a wooden deck wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norman Hampson
Norman Hampson (8 April 1922 – 8 July 2011) was an English historian, Professor of History at the University of York from 1974 to 1989. He was a leading authority on the history of the French Revolution, known for challenging the orthodoxies of the dominant "French school" of revolutionary studies. He wrote an authoritative work on the social history of the Revolution. Life He was born in Leyland, Lancashire, the son of Frank Hampson, a clerk, and his wife Jane Fazackerley. He was educated at Manchester Grammar School, and matriculated at University College, Oxford in 1940, to read modern history. Hampson volunteered in 1941, and his service to 1945 in the Royal Navy included two years as liaison officer with a corvette of the Free French Navy. After the war he returned as a history student to University College, graduating in 1947. He then submitted a doctorate at the Sorbonne, on the French navy in Year II. From 1948 until 1967 Hampson was on the staff in departments of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hôtel Des Invalides
The Hôtel des Invalides ( en, "house of invalids"), commonly called Les Invalides (), is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans, the building's original purpose. The buildings house the Musée de l'Armée, the military museum of the Army of France, the Musée des Plans-Reliefs, and the Musée d'Histoire Contemporaine. The complex also includes the former hospital chapel, now national cathedral of the French military, and the adjacent former Royal Chapel known as the , the tallest church building in Paris at a height of 107 meters. The latter has been converted into a shrine of some of France's leading military figures, most notably the tomb of Napoleon. History Louis XIV initiated the project by an order dated 24 November 1670, as a home and hospital for aged and disabled () soldiers. The initial ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
