Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/310

288 PARIS Sully to lay the first stone of Notre Dame de Paris, a cathedral on a grander scale than any previously under taken. Paris still possesses the Roman nave of St Germain-des- Pres, preserved when the building was rebuilt in the 12th century; the Pointed choir, consecrated in 1163; and the entire cathedral of Notre Dame, which, completed sixty years later, underwent various modifica tions down to the beginning of the 14th century. The sacristy is modern ; the site previous to 1831 was occupied by the episcopal palace, also built by Maurice de Sully, who by a new street had opened up this part of the island. Philip Augustus may be considered the second founder of Paris. He seldom quitted it save for his military expeditions, and he there built for himself, near St Ger main FAuxerrois, the Louvre, the royal dwelling par excel lence, whose keep was the official centre of feudalism. He created or organized a regular system of administration with its headquarters at Paris ; and under his patronage the public lectures delivered at Pre-aux-Clercs were regu lated and grouped under the title of a university in 1200. This university, the most famous and nourishing in Christendom, considerably augmented the local population, and formed as it were a new town on the left side of the river, where the important abbeys of St Genevieve, St Germain-des-Pres, and St Victor, and a vast Carthusian monastery already stood. Colleges were erected to receive the students of the different countries, and became the great meeting-place of the studious youth of all Europe. Returning to their native lands, where rank and honours awaited them, the pupils of the Paris university spread abroad the name and prestige of France ; and sometimes they took home with them, or afterwards sent for, French artists, to whose wanderings must be ascribed the astonishing propagation in other countries of Pointed architecture. The right side of the river, where commerce and in dustry had taken up their abode, and where the Louvre, the abbey of St Martin, and a large number of secondary religious establishments were already erected, became a centre of activity at least as important as that on the left. The old suburbs, too, were now incorporated with the town and enclosed in the new line of fortifications con structed by Philip Augustus, which, however, did not take in the great abbeys on the left side of the river, and thus obliged them to build defensive works of their own. Philip Augustus issued from the Louvre a celebrated order that the streets of the town should be paved. Not far from his palace, on the site of the present Halles Cen- trales, he laid out an extensive cemetery and a market-place, which both took their name from the Church of the Innocents, a building of the same reign, destroyed at the Revolution. Fountains were placed in all the quarters. As for the lighting of the town, till the close of the 16th century the only lamps were those in front of the madonnas at the street corners. But the first "illumination" of Paris occurred under Philip Augustus : on his return from a victorious expedition to Flanders in 1214 he was welcomed by the. Parisians as a conqueror ; and the public rejoicings lasted for seven days, "interrupted by no night," says the chronicler, alluding to the torches and lamps with which the citizens lighted up the fronts of their houses. Ferrand, count of Flanders, the traitor vassal, was dragged behind the king to the dungeons of the Louvre, whose doors closed on him for ever. In 1226 there was held at Paris a council which, by excommunicating Raymond VII., count of Toulouse, helped to prepare the way for the most important treaty which had as yet been signed in the capital. By this treaty (12th April 1229) Blanche of Castile obtained from Raymond VII. a great part of his possessions, while the remainder was secured to the house of Capet through the marriage of Alphonse of Poitiers, brother of St Louis, with Jeanne, the last natural heiress of Languedoc. In affection for his capital St Louis equalled or even surpassed his grandfather Philip, and Paris reciprocated his goodwill. The head of the administration was at that time the provost of Paris, a judiciary magistrate and police functionary whose extensive powers had given rise to the most flagrant abuses. Louis IX. reformed this office and filled it with the judge of greatest integrity to be found in his kingdom. This was the famous Etienne Boileau, who showed such vigilance and uprightness that the capital was completely purged of evil-doers ; the sense of security thus produced attracted a certain number of new inhabit ants, and, to the advantage of the public revenue, increased the value of the trade. It Avas Etienne Boileau who, by the king s express command, drew up those statutes of the com mercial and industrial guilds of Paris which, modified by the necessities of new times and the caprice of princes, remained in force till the Revolution. St Louis caused a partial restoration of St Germain PAuxerrois, his parish church (completed in the 15th century, and deplorably altered under Louis XV.) ; and, besides preferring the palace of La Cite" to the Louvre, he entirely rebuilt it, and rendered it one of the most comfort able residences of his time. Of this edifice there still remain, among the buildings of the present Palais de Justice, the great guard room, the kitchens with their four enormous chimneys, three round towers on the quay, and, one of the marvels of the Middle Ages, the Sainte Chapelle, erected in 1248 to receive the crown of thorns sent from Constantinople. This church, often imitated during the 13th and 14th centuries, is like an immense shrine in open work ; its large window s contain admirable stained glass of its own date, and the basements are adorned inside with pictures recently restored. It has a lower story ingeni ously arranged, which served as a chapel for the palace servants. The Sainte Chapelle was designed by Pierre dc Montereau, one of the most celebrated architects of his time, to w 7 hom is attributed another marvel still extant, the refectory of the abbey of St Martin, now occupied by the library of the Conservatoire des Arts et des Metiers. This incomparable artist was buried in the abbey of St Germain- des-Pres, where, too, he had raised magnificent buildings now no longer existing. Under St Louis, Robert de Sorbon, a common priest, founded in 1253 an unpretending theological college which afte rwards became the celebrated faculty of the Sorbonne, whose decisions were well-nigh as authoritative as those of Rome. The capital of France had but a feeble share in the communal movement which in the north characterizes the llth, 12th, and 13th centuries. Placed directly under the central power, it was never strong enough to force con cessions ; and in truth it did not claim them, satisfied with the advantages of all kinds secured for it by its political position and its university. And, besides, the privileges which it did enjoy, while they could be revoked at the king s pleasure, were of considerable extent. Its inhabit ants were not subjected to forced labour or arbitrary imposts, and the liberty of the citizens and their com merce and industry were protected by wise regulations. The university and all those closely connected with it pos sessed the fullest rights and liberties. There was a muni cipal or bourgeois militia, which rendered the greatest service to Philip Augustus and St Louis, but afterwards became an instrument of revolt. The communal adminis tration devolved on echevins or jures, who, in conjunction with the notables, chose a nominal mayor called provost of the merchants (prcvot des marchands). The powers of this official had been grievously curtailed in favour of the