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
Pierre-Augustin Hulin once, when the mob attacked them near the church of St. Louis. The mob finally forced their way past the convoy on the Place de Grève, when it was near its destination. A cook named Denót or Desnot killed De Launay, royalist provost Jacques de Flesselles was killed too. Although five were lynched, most of the Bastille's defenders were escorted safely to the Hôtel de Ville. The governor's head was severed and carried around the city on a pike. On the next day, July 15, 1789, Hulin was appointed company commander of the "Volontaires de la Bastille", an armed force