Governor of the Bastille nine years after his birth. He was a Black Musketeer of the King, officer in the Gardes Françaises until 1763-1764, then captain of a cavalry regiment. During the Storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789, De Launay was arrested and escorted to the town hall by one of the leaders of the Revolution, Pierre-Augustin Hulin. In the Place de Greve the furious crowd attacked the escort, assaulting and eventually beheading Governor Launay. After the capture of the fortress, Prosper Soulès assumed the interim duties of acting commander. Governor of the Bastille The Bastille or Bastille Saint-Antoine was completed in
Marguerite de Launay, baronne de Staal poverty compelled her to enter the household of the duchesse du Maine at the Château de Sceaux in the capacity of lady-in-waiting. Her literary talent soon manifested itself in the literary court of the duchesse, and secured for her, among other friendships, the somewhat undesirable admiration of the abbé Chaulieu. The duchesse is said, on the somewhat dubious authority of her lady-in-waiting, to have been not a little jealous of her attendant. Enough, however, is known of the duchesse's imperious and capricious temper to make it improbable that her service was agreeable. Mlle de Launay, however, enjoyed a large share