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Bastille Day Theme

Marjorie with a French flag behind her

Bastille Day is the name given in English-speaking countries to the French National Day, which is celebrated on the 14th of July each year. In France, it is formally called La Fête Nationale (The National Celebration) and commonly le quatorze juillet (the fourteenth of July). It commemorates the 1790 Fête de la Fédération, held on the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789; the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille fortress-prison was seen as a symbol of the uprising of the modern nation, and of the reconciliation of all the French inside the constitutional monarchy which preceded the First Republic during the French Revolution. Festivities and official ceremonies are held all over France. The oldest and largest regular military parade in Europe is held on the morning of 14 July, on the Champs-Élysées avenue in Paris in front of the President of the Republic, French officials and foreign guests.

The Storming of the Bastille

On 19 May 1789, Louis XVI convened the Estates-General to hear their grievances. The deputies of the Third Estate representing the common people (the two others were the Catholic Church and nobility) decided to break away and form a National Assembly. On 20 June the deputies of the Third Estate took the Tennis Court Oath, swearing not to separate until a constitution had been established. They were gradually joined by delegates of the other estates; Louis XVI started to recognize their validity on 27 June. The assembly renamed itself the National Constituent Assembly on 9 July, and began to function as a legislature and to draft a constitution.

In the wake of the 11 July dismissal of Jacques Necker, the people of Paris, fearful that they and their representatives would be attacked by the royal military and seeking to gain ammunition and gunpowder for the general populace, stormed the Bastille, a fortress-prison in Paris which had often held people jailed on the basis of lettres de cachet, arbitrary royal indictments that could not be appealed. Besides holding a large cache of ammunition and gunpowder, the Bastille had been known for holding political prisoners whose writings had displeased the royal government, and was thus a symbol of the absolutism of the monarchy. As it happened, at the time of the siege in July 1789 there were only seven inmates, none of great political significance.

When the crowd—eventually reinforced by mutinous gardes françaises—proved a fair match for the fort’s defenders, Governor de Launay, the commander of the Bastille, capitulated and opened the gates to avoid a mutual massacre. However, possibly because of a misunderstanding, fighting resumed. Ninety-eight attackers and just one defender died in the actual fighting, but in the aftermath, de Launay and seven other defenders were killed, as was the ‘prévôt des marchands’ (roughly, mayor) Jacques de Flesselles.

Shortly after the storming of the Bastille, on 4 August feudalism was abolished and on 26 August, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen proclaimed.

Members

Now, time for a quick shout out to everyone on Atlas Quest from France!

lafleurdelys

Letterboxing Cities

Here are all of the cities in France we’ve hit with letterboxes!

Mystery Boxes (5) Normandy Aix-en-Provence Amboise (2) Amiens Angers (3) Annecy (2) Arles (2) Auvers-sur-Oise (2) Avignon (2) Blois (2) Bonsecours Bordeaux (6) Carnac Chambord Chamonix (2) Chartres Châteauneuf-du-Pape Chenonceaux (2) Chenonceaux Chinon Colleville-sur-Mer Creissels Deauville Erquy Fontainebleau (2) Gif-sur-Yvette Giverny (2) Honfleur La Roche LEscalet (2) Lille Lourdes Lyon (2) Macau (2) Manosque Marly-le-Roi Marne-la-Vallée Marseille (2) Montpellier Moustiers-Sainte-Marie Nantes Nice Pampelonne Paris (77) Plévenon (2) Pludual Pont Du Gard Rambouillet Remy Rouen Saint Julien-le-Montagnier Sarlat-la-Canéda St-Denis St-Tropez (2) Strasbourg (3) Talloires Toulouse (5) Uhart-Cize Valensole Vernon Vers-Pont-du-Gard
Total Letterboxes: 171
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