Paris

Political Struggles.

The Black Death and the Hundred Years' War interrupted the prosperity of Paris in the 13th and early 14th centuries. The political life of the city began in the 14th century; in the time of Etienne Marcel it was for a time a revolutionary commune, and it subsequently felt the effects of the reconstruction policy of Charles V. This king rebuilt the Louvre, which he made into a magnificent palace, though he still preferred to live in the Hotel Saint-Paul. He also built a new line of fortifications to contain the part of the town on the right bank which had outgrown that on the left. The number of gates in the old rampart had already been increased because the town on the right bank had spread beyond it. The new fortification, described in terms of modern Paris, started from the Pont du Carrousel, crossed the square of that name, and cut through the south-east of the Palais-Royal to reach the place des Victoires. Thence it ran almost in a straight line to the Porte Saint-Denis, and thence to the place de la Bastille, following the direction of the main boulevards, but a little farther to the west. It had six gates: Saint-Honore, Montmartre, Saint-Denis, Saint-Martin, Temple and Saint-Antoine, where there was a large bastide or fortress to protect the gate. This was the Bastille, built in 137o on the western part of what is now the place de la Bastille, captured by the populace on July 14, 1789, and then destroyed. In the east the rampart enclosed the marshes of the Temple, and conse quently this part of Paris was formerly known as the Marais (marsh). Other bridges were built in addition to the Pont au Change and the Petit-Pont: the Pont Saint-Michel about 138o, and in 1413 the Pont Notre-Dame, so called by Charles VI.

Paris was again troubled by revolutionary agitation in 1382 as a result of the imposition of taxes; the revolt of the Maillotins was repressed with great severity in Jan. 1383. As a result, Paris lost its municipal regime, which was not restored until 1412. Further disturbances were caused by the struggle between the Burgundians and the Armagnacs, which followed on the madness of Charles VI. Paris fell into the hands of each party in turn, was subjected to the violent rule of the butchers and skinners under Caboche, became involved in revolution, called in Capeluche and his bands, and fell into a state of starvation. The English invasion and the Anglo-Burgundian alliance made matters worse. The English entered Paris, and the duke of Bedford, at the Hotel des Tournelles, acted as regent for the young Henry VI., king of England and France (1422). Joan of Arc attempted in vain to recapture Paris in 1429. It was not until 1436 that the capital once more came into the possession of the king of France, Charles VII. These successive disturbances resulted in greatly reducing the population of Paris and in intro ducing foreign elements. Its prosperity suffered greatly.

Francis I. made extensive alterations in the Louvre so as to make it suitable for the royal palace (1528). In his reign the town increased in size; and it began to be adorned with build ings in the Renaissance style. A new Hotel de Ville was begun, and at the same time Saint-Eustache and Saint-Etienne-du Mont were rebuilt, as well as Saint-Merri and Saint-Gervais; but in the two latter churches the Gothic style survived. The

population of the suburbs increased. The Faubourg Saint-Ger main, under the influence of the neighbourhood of the Louvre, became an aristocratic quarter. The need of a new enclosing wall made itself felt ; the lines of this were laid down in the i6th century, but it was not built until the reign of Louis XIII., and then only on the right bank of the river. It was in the reign of Francis I. that Protestantism was introduced into Paris and the royal authority made its first efforts to stamp it out.

Renaissance and Reformation.

Henry II.'s solemn entry into his capital in 1549 marks the triumph of the Renaissance in Paris. Jean Goujon's.Fontaine des Innocents dates from the same year. Modern Paris now came into existence. Work on the Louvre was continued, and Catherine de Medici began the con struction of the Tuileries in 1564. It was as though temples were being built to the new divinity, the monarch. Towards the end of the 16th century the gardens of the Tuileries began to be the meeting-place of the polite world ; this was a custom of Renais sance origin. The influence of the court spread over Paris, and with it the Renaissance spirit. Increased refinement of manners was the result. The Pont-Neuf, which was begun in 1577 and completed under Henry IV., was the first classical bridge to be built in Paris. Quays were constructed in the 16th century, and an effort began to be made to set out the streets in line. It was the king's wish that new houses should have their façades made of stone and not of wooden beams and plaster. Paris began to wear the external characteristics of the capital of the absolute monarchy. The first theatre was built in 1548; it was known as the Theatre de l'HOtel de Bourgogne, in the rue Francaise.

The wars of religion did not spare the capital; on the Day of Barricades (May 12, 1588) it parted company with king Henry III., and was besieged by Henry IV. Poverty and hunger prevailed, and Paris was given over to the terrorism of the Sixteen —adherents of the Ligue representing the 16 districts. On March 22, the city once more came under the authority of its sovereign; and the monarchical era, which coincides with the classical age, entered upon its course. Henry IV. built the place Royale (place des Vosges) and the place Dauphine, as well as the quai de l'Horloge and the quai des Orfevres. The building of the place Royale resulted, under Louis XIII., in the building over of the marshes which formerly lay to the north of it ; the whole became the aristocratic quarter of Paris during the 17th century. The Pont-Neuf, on which a statue of Henry IV., the first statue to be erected in a public place in Paris, was set up in 1614, became one of the centres of the life of the city. It was also in the reign of Henry IV. that the work of joining the Louvre to the Tuileries, begun in 1566, was completed, the hospital of Saint Louis was built for plague patients, and a supply of spring water, which had been brought to the right bank at the end of the 12th century, was carried over to the Ile de la Cite. The left bank was not supplied with spring water until the reign of Louis XIII.