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
Marguerite de Launay, baronne de Staal of the kind has ever been. "Dans cet art enjoué de raconter", says Sainte-Beuve, "Madame de Staal est classique". Besides her "Mémoires" Mme de Staal left two excellent short comedies, performed at the court of Sceaux, and some letters, the answers to which are in some cases extant, and show, as well as the references of contemporaries, that the writer did not exaggerate her own charm. Her "Mémoires" were translated by Selina Bathurst (1877) and by Cora H. Bell (1892). See the edition (1877) of her "Mémoires" by M. de Lescure. Marguerite de Launay, baronne de Staal Marguerite Jeanne Cordier