BASTILLE, originally any fortified building forming part of a system of defence or attack. The name, which is derived from the old French bastir, to build, was especially applied to several of the principal points in the ancient fortifications of Paris. In the reign of King John, or even earlier, the gate of Saint Antoine was flanked by two towers ; and about 1369 Hugues Aubriot, at the command of Charles V., changed it into a regular bastille or fort by the addition of six others, the whole united by thick walls and surrounded by a ditch 2 5 f t. wide. Exten sions and alterations were afterwards effected ; but the building remained substantially what it was made by the provost, a four square gloomy structure, with eight towers. As the ancient forti fications of the city were superseded, the use of the word bastille as a general designation died out, and it became restricted to the castle of St. Antoine. The building had originally a military purpose, and it appears as a fortress on several occasions in French history. When Charles VII. retook Paris from the English in 1436, his opponents in the city took refuge in the Bastille, but the want of provisions obliged them to capitulate. In 1588 the duke of Guise took possession of it, and soon afterwards shut up the whole parlement within its walls, for having refused their adherence to the League. When Henry IV. became master of Paris he committed the command of the Bastille to Sully, and there he deposited his treasures. On Jan. 13, 1649, the Bastille capitulated to the forces of the Fronde which, by the terms of the treaty made with the court in March, remained in possession of it till Oct. 2I, 1651.
Very early, however, the Bastille was used for the custody of state prisoners, and it was ultimately more of a prison than a fortress. According to popular tradition the first who was incar cerated within its walls was the builder himself, Hugues Aubriot. It was not till the reign of Louis XIII. that it became recognized as a regular place of confinement ; but from that time till its destruction it was frequently filled with men and women of every condition. Prisoners were detained without trial on lettres de cachet to satisfy personal animosities. But the most notorious use of the Bastille was to imprison those who criticized the government or persons in power. It was this which made it so hated and caused its capture by the revolutionary forces on July 14, 1789, to be regarded as symbolizing the downfall of despotism.
The treatment of prisoners in the Bastille varied greatly in different cases. The prisoners were divided into two main classes, those detained on grounds of precaution or by way of admoni tory correction, and those who lay under presumption or proof of guilt. The former were subject to no investigation or judgment, and the length of their imprisonment depended on the will of the king; the latter were brought to trial in the ordinary courts or before special tribunals—though even in such cases as these it was possible for a man to grow old in the prison without being tried at all. Until convicted, the prisoner was registered in the king's name, and—except in the case of state prisoners of impor tance, who were often kept in absolute isolation—he enjoyed a certain degree of comfort and freedom. Visitors were admitted under restrictions ; games were allowed, and, for a long time at least, exercise in open parts of the interior. Food was abundant and good, at least for the better class of prisoners. When the prisoner was convicted his name was transferred to the register of the "commission," and he became exposed to numerous hard ships, and even barbarities, which, however, belonged not so much to the special organization of the Bastille as to the general system of criminal justice then in force.
Among the more distinguished personages who were confined in this fortress during the reigns of Louis XIV., XV. and XVI., were the famous Man of the Iron Mask (see IRON MASK), Foucquet, the marshal Richelieu, Voltaire, Lally-Tollendal and the Cardinal de Rohan. While the system of imprisonment by lettres de cachet—which were often given in blank to favoured courtiers and sometimes even sold by Ministers—cannot be too strongly condemned, it is unnecessary to believe all the tales of horror which found currency during the Revolution, and which historical evidence tends to modify, and even in many cases to refute altogether. Much light has been shed on the history of the Bastille from its own records. These documents were flung out into the courts of the building by the revolutionary captors, and after suffering grievous diminution and damage were stored up and forgotten in the vaults of the library of the (so-called) Arsenal. Here they were discovered in 184o by Francois Ravais son, who edited them for publication.
At the time of its capture only seven prisoners were found in the Bastille, which, soon after, was razed to the ground by order of the new municipality of Paris. The site of the building is now marked by a column of bronze, dedicated to the memory of the patriots of July 1789 and 183o.
See the Memoirs of Linguet (1783) , and Latude (ed. by Thierry, tome iii. 18mo, ; Delort, Histoire de la detention des philos ophes a la Bastille (1829) ; Francois Ravaisson, Les Archives de la Bastille (i866-86) ; G. Lecocq, La Prise de la Bastille (1881) ; F. Bournon, La Bastille (1893) ; Fr. Funck-Brentano, Les Lettres de cachet a Paris, etude suivie d'une liste des prisonniers de la Bastille