FRANCE, Premier République. Consulat. Napoléon Bonaparte, with Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès and Charles-François Lebrun. Consuls, 1799-1804. Æ Medal (59.5mm, 100.5 g, 12h). Column of the Department of the Seine. By Gatteaux. Dually dated 14 July 1789 25 Messidor L’An 8 ([AD 1800/1]
in Roman numerals). BONAPARTE PREMIERE CONSUL CAMBACERES SEC
D. CONSU
L. LEBRUN TROIS
E. CONSU
L., jugate bust of the three Consuls right; CONSTITUTION DE LA REPB. FRAN
C/ AN VIII. in exergue / GUERRE DE LA LIBERTÉ LE LIBERTÉ LE DEPARTEMENT DE LA SEINE À SES BRAVES, COLONNE/ DÉPARTEMENTALE/ —/ LUCIEN BONAPARTE/ ETANT MINISTRE DE L’INTERIEUR/ N.TH.B. FROCHOT PRÉFET DU/ DÉP
T. DE LA SEINE A POSÉ LA P
RE/ XI ANS A PRES LE XIV JUILLET. MDCCLXXXIX. Bramsen 64; Julius 840. EF, underyling red, minor marks.
On 11 July 1789, Louis XVI dismissed the finance minister Jacques Necker, champion of the lower classes. This action spurred spurred the city of Paris into the beginnings of an uprising. The newly-founded Bourgeois Militia, having first armed themselves with muskets from the Hôtel des Invalides, sought additional weapons and ammunition in the Bastille, a medieval castle, prison, and armory in the heart of Paris. On 14 July, a large crowd of militia, complemented by other frustrated bourgeoisies, gathered outside the fortress and demanded its surrender. As the commander of the facility refused to meet their demands, the crowd stormed the fortress and fired upon the defenders, marking the beginning of the bloody French Revolution.
