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001 76902
003 UtSlPG
005 20260610134800.0
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007 cr n
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040 _aUtSlPG
041 7 _aen
_2iso639-1
050 4 _aDC
100 1 _aDavenport, R. A.
_q(Richard Alfred),
_d1777?-1852
245 1 4 _aThe history of the Bastile, and of its principal captives
264 1 _aSalt Lake City, UT :
_bProject Gutenberg,
_c2025
300 _a1 online resource :
_bmultiple file formats
336 _atext
_btxt
_2rdacontent
337 _acomputer
_bc
_2rdamedia
338 _aonline resource
_bcr
_2rdacarrier
500 _aRelease date is 2025-09-20
508 _aCharlene Taylor and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)
520 _a"The history of the Bastile, and of its principal captives" by R. A. Davenport is a historical account written in the early 19th century. It examines the notorious Paris state prison, detailing its origins, structure, administration, the machinery of lettres de cachet, the daily realities of confinement, and the stories of prominent prisoners across successive French reigns, with a clear moral stance against arbitrary power. The opening of the work sets its scope and purpose: the author admits space constraints, promises accuracy and fairness, and aims to unite information with engagement. It then outlines the book’s breadth via a detailed contents list and a plan of the fortress, before Chapter I gives a close, almost architectural tour of the Bastile—its courts, towers, dungeons, rooms, meagre furnishings, food allowances and abuses, the tiny library, and chapel niches—alongside an explanation of lettres de cachet, their uses and abuses, and the secrecy that shrouded arrests, correspondence, illness, death, and burial. Vivid particulars include corrupt provisioning, the suppression of letters, bans on tools and even compasses, night-time isolation, medical delays, refusal to permit wills, and the masking of identities after death; a first-person narrative of an eight-month inmate illustrates the routine of arrest, processing, confinement, limited exercise, controlled reading, and ultimate release with none of his letters delivered. Chapter II begins the chronological history: the term “Bastile,” early Paris bastiles, the founding efforts of Stephen Marcel and later enlargements by Hugh Aubriot (whose downfall to university and clerical hostility and brief liberation during a popular rising are recounted), then political imprisonments under Charles VI, including Noviant and La Rivière, the fall of Montaigu, and the factional struggle between Burgundians and Armagnacs centered in Paris. It closes amid the rise and peril of Provost Peter des Essarts—his seizure of the Bastile and the Burgundian-orchestrated popular siege—where the excerpt breaks off. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
534 _pOriginally published:
_cLondon: Thomas Tegg and Son, 1838
653 _aBastille -- History
653 _aPrisons -- France -- History
653 _aPolitical crimes and offenses -- France
856 4 _uhttps://archive.org/details/historyofbastile00daveuoft/page/n5/mode/2up
856 4 0 _uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76902
999 _c117627
_d117627