Governor of the Bastille of Acy, lord of Beu and Nesle-en-Tardenois, chamberlain of the King. He is quoted in numerous documents between 1386 and November 1404, date of his death that are now held in the department of manuscripts of the Bibliothèque nationale de France . The last governor to hold this position, the unfortunate Bernard-René de Launay, appointed in 1776, was beheaded on 14 July 1789 and replaced by a provisional governor during the demolition of the building. At the end of the Ancien Régime, the governor of the Bastille was reduced to being a subordinate of the lieutenant-general of police. He could
Bernard-René Jourdan de Launay him by stabbing him repeatedly with their knives, swords and bayonets and shooting him once. The actual killing was reported to have taken place near the Hôtel de Ville when the struggling de Launay, desperate and abused, cried out "Enough! Let me die." and kicked an unemployed cook named Desnot in the groin. After the killing, Launay's head was sawn off by Mathieu Jouve Jourdan, a butcher. It was fixed on a pike to be carried through the streets for some hours before being thrown in the Seine the next day. Three officers of the Bastille's permanent garrison and two