Bernard-René Jourdan de Launay permanently stationed in Paris except in time of war. In 1776 de Launay succeeded M. de Jumilhac as Governor of the Bastille. As was the custom with many senior positions under the Ancien Régime, the marquis purchased the office of governor from his predecessor as a form of investment. The thirteen years that he spent in this position were uneventful, though on 19 December 1778 he reportedly made the mistake of failing to fire the cannon of the Bastille as a salute on the birth of a daughter (Madame Royale) to King Louis XVI. In August 1785 he was given
Bernard-René Jourdan de Launay of their veterans were also lynched while two of the Swiss were unaccounted for. However the majority of the defenders were escorted through the mob by French Guards who had joined the attackers, and eventually released. The history writer Simon Schama describes de Launay as a "reasonably conscientious if somewhat dour" functionary who treated prisoners more humanely than his predecessors had done. The Marquis de Sade who had been transferred from the Bastille to another prison shortly before 14 July, commented that de Launay was "a so-called marquis whose grandfather was a servant". The officer commanding the Swiss detachment sent