La Bièvre was one of 18th-century Paris' seven major districts, consisting of the Saint-Jacques, Saint-Marcel, and Panthéon subdistricts in the south-east of the city. Named after the Bièvre river that ran through it, the district was marked by poverty and a lack of city guards during the French Revolution; this left thugs free to extort the local merchants and use the multitude of tanneries and workshops as cover for smuggling operations. However, the Panthéon was permanently under guard, and the Saint-Jacques and Panthéon districts were less lawless than Saint-Marcel.