Paris in the 18th century were both used for high-ranking political prisoners, and had relatively luxurious conditions. The last three prisoners at the Chateau de Vincennes, the Marquis de Sade and two elderly and insane noblemen, were transferred to the Bastillle in 1784. The Bastille, begun in 1370, never held more than forty inmates; At the time of the Revolution, the Bastille had just seven prisoners; four counterfeiters, the two elderly noblemen, and a man named Tavernier, half-mad, accused of participation in an attempt to kill Louis XV thirty years earlier. Priests and other religious figures who committed crimes or other offenses were tried by
Paris in the 18th century hour of first prayers so they could sleep longer, and to have the right to wear more attractive robes. The church in Paris also had great difficulty recruiting new priests among the Parisians; of 870 priests ordained in Paris between 1778 and 1789, only one-third were born in the city. The Catholic diocese of Paris also was having financial problems late in the century. It was unable to pay for the completion of the south tower of the church of Saint-Sulpice. though the north tower was rebuilt between 1770 and 1780; the unfinished tower is still as it was in