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
Pierre-Marie-Charles de Bernard du Grail de la Villette Pierre-Marie-Charles de Bernard du Grail de la Villette Pierre-Marie-Charles de Bernard du Grail de la Villette (24 February 1804 – 6 March 1850), better known simply as Charles de Bernard, was a French writer. He was born in Besançon, member of a very ancient family of the Vivarais, was educated at the college of his native city, and studied for the law in Dijon and at Paris. He was awarded a prize by the Académie des Jeux Floraux for his "Une fête de Neron" in 1829. This first success in literature did not prevent him aspiring to the Magistrature, when