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 measures, and cleaning and lighting the streets. With the Revolution, the city administration suddenly found itself without a royal master. On 15 July 1789, immediately after the fall of the Bastille, the astronomer Bailly was proclaimed the first modern mayor of Paris. The old city government was abolished on 15 August, and a new municipal assembly created, with three hundred members, five from each of sixty Paris districts. On 21 May 1790, the National Assembly reorganized the city government, replacing the sixty districts with forty-eight sections. each governed by sixteen "commissaires" and a "comissiaire" of police. Each section had its