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
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