Storming of the Bastille of gunpowder to the Bastille for safer storage. At this point, the Bastille was nearly empty, housing only seven prisoners: four forgers, two "lunatics" and one "deviant" aristocrat, the Comte de Solages (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 regular garrison consisted
Governor of the Bastille 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". 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 was a close aquaintaince of the King, already chamberlain under the two previous reigns: Jehan de La Personne, knight, viscount