Bernard-René Jourdan de Launay Bernard-René Jourdan de Launay Bernard René Jourdan, marquis de Launay (1740–1789) was the French governor of the Bastille, the son of a previous governor, and commander of its garrison when the prison-fortress in Paris was stormed on 14 July 1789 ("see Storming of the Bastille"). The marquis Bernard-René Jordan de Launay was born on the night of 8/9 April 1740 in the Bastille where his father, René Jourdan de Launay, was governor. At the age of eight he was appointed to an honorary position in the King's Musketeers ("mousquetaires du roi"). He subsequently entered the French Guards ("gardes-françaises"), a regiment
Chateau and Seigneurie de Launay the latter being a royal vassalage. In 1455 the Seigneurie of Launay passed to Jehan de Bernay who, like Pierre de Milon, was Seneschal to Montfort. Letters from 1509, 1510, and 1527 make reference to Pierre de Bernay (likely the son of Jehan) as Seigneur de Launay. A rather melodramatic history involving Pierre survives in several sources. In 1523 de Bernay hid Gabrielle d’ Harcourt (age 14 years) at Launay on behalf of his friend Comte (count) Charles de Coesmes, Seigneur de Lucé. Charles was widowed when Gabrielle's older sister, his first wife, died a few months earlier. According to