V.1. MAJESTY ON A HUMAN SCALE, FORGOTTEN GIFT OF KINGS

MENU: Majesty on a human scale

FRANCE'S 17TH-CENTURY KINGS USED URBAN DESIGN AND MONUMENTS TO EMPHASIZE THEIR GROWING POWER

France's first straight street leads to the 12th century Basilica of Saint-Denis and royal mausoleum:

 

Paris's first straight street (toward 1600) looks back to it. It leads to a statue of a king on horseback:

Rue de Birague (former rue Royale)

The Grand Axis (toward 1675) symbolizes the infinite power of monarchy.

Claude Abron

The design appears throughout Paris. As well, many foreign capitals have adopted it to highlight their most important buildings or monuments

Those innovations stem from a uniquely powerful monarchy and could not have been born elsewhere.

Yet they go unnoticed.

Main topics

• A parade route changes course

• The milestones' meanings

• A design inconceivable elsewhere

• The royal imprint blossoms

• The curtain falls

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4.1.1. 
A parade route changes course

IV.1.1. A PARADE ROUTE CHANGES COURSE

MENU: 4.1.1. A parade route changes course

ROYAL ENTRIES MOVE FROM THE SAINT-DENIS GATE THAT LED TO THE KINGS' TOMBS, TO BASTILLE AND THE ROYAL PRISON 

(FROM 1610, WITH THE ENTRY OF LOUIS XIII) 

Starting at the gate recalled the ancestors and implied that kingship would not change.

Starting at the prison announced that it would be more muscular. 

           Paris in 1530 / zoom

In medieval times participants (heralds, authorities, guild members, troops) met at the Saint-Denis Basilica, where the kings were buried. Then they marched down the trade and pilgrimage route to enter town by the Saint-Denis gate: 

Entry of Charles V in Paris by Jean Fouquet (entry 1364, illumination toward 1450) / zoom

In the early 17th century, entries began at the Bastille fortress, on another side of town:

         The Royal Entry of Louis XIV, August 27, 1660 by Maurice Leloir, 1931

The entries' difference 

and kings' innovations on the new route

• From "joyous" to "royal" entry

• The path that linked kings with their ancestors

• The importance of the Saint-Denis Basilica

• The church where "Gothic" architecture began

• Detour: Right-wing extremists use medieval imagery

• France's first straight street and point of focus  

• Drop the ancestors, hail power!

• Revolt at la Bastille

• Detour: Love wins out — unfortunately

  

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From "joyous" to "royal" entry

FROM "JOYOUS" TO "ROYAL" ENTRY

MEDIEVAL "JOYOUS ENTRIES" WERE PARADES THAT UNITED KINGS AND SUBJECTS AROUND RULERS' CORONATIONS, WEDDINGS, VICTORIES OR VISITS 

-- Parisian entries described: Annales, 1986 (in French)

They were happy moments. Notice the fool:  

     The Entry of  Queen Isabeau of Bavaria  to Paris on August 22 1389,  "Froissart's Chronicles" / zoom  

Trumpets. Banners. Tapestries or sumptuous cloths hang from windows. Quarrels about precedence. Free-flowing wine. 

Halts for performances meant fun. Their taking place at the same sites meant permanence:

 Zoom (please scroll down)

Histoires de Paris  (please scroll down.)

Entry of Isabel of Bavaria, 1389 

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Changes came with monarchy's growing strength:

• In the 16th century, mythology affirmed kings' superiority:

The Entry of  Henri II, King of France, in Rouen, October 1 1550, 1557, zoom

Notice the white horse.

• In the 17th, the name became royal entries. The parades began at Bastille and there were no halts or performances —  the king was the show.

• Moving the meeting-place farther into the countryside reflects the growing number of participants, and so the growth of town and economy, background of stronger royal power (discussed in History from Fresh Perspectives, as here).

• In 1610, participants of Louis XIII's entry meet in the space in front of the door next to the Bastille.

The Entry of Louis XIII in 1610 / zoom (please scroll down)

Louis XIII, age eight, wears adult dress as all children did.

• In 1628 the entry that celebrates the defeat of the Protestants comes together outside town (the smaller hill is above modern Belleville). Another engraving shows the meeting-place at place des Vosges, the first royal square, a few steps from the fortress. Either way, the space is larger.

  Zoom

Notice the Roman dress.

• In 1660 Louis XIV's entry unites so many people that it comes together far to the east, where place de la Nation is now (please scroll down).

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To grasp the significance of changing the starting-point,

understand the meaning of the original route.

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The path that linked kings with their ancestors

THE PATH THAT LINKED KINGS WITH THEIR ANCESTORS

THE SAINT-DENIS BASILICA* HARBORS THE MONARCHS' TOMBS (ALL EXCEPT THREE)

*Basilica: from "king" in Greek. A basilica is a church of special significance. 

Basilica web site

By starting at the Saint-Denis gate the route connected the tombs with Notre-Dame Cathedral... 

            The Funerary Cortege of Marie-Thérèse in 1684 by Adam-François van der Meulen / zoom

 

     Claude Abron

And so originally with the palace, which was in its shadow.*

*Until the king fled the first important insurrection (in 1358) and settled in the fortress of the Louvre.

     Claude Abron

Ending at Notre-Dame 

underlined the sacredness of monarchy. 

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The importance of the Saint-Denis Basilica

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SAINT-DENIS BASILICA

 

THE LEGEND: THE CHURCH IS BUILT ON THE SITE WHERE SAINT DENIS* COLLAPSES AND DIES

(TOWARD 250)

   

*Christian missionary, first bishop of the Paris region, martyr 

Heights are often hallowed, and the site for beheading Denis and his two companions was a Roman shrine:

View of the Montmartre Hilltop (detail) by Lucien Marchais, 1902 / Sotheby's

Legend has him pick up his head and still preaching, continue along the path, a trade route:

Adapted from a Google ma

The hill appears in paintings about the event:

  The Crucifixion and Episodes of the Life of 

Saint Denis, retable of Saint Denis by 

Henri Bellechose, 1416,  zoom

He is shown holding his head in his hands:

Western tympanum, Saint-Denis basilica

Corey Frye

Facade of Notre-Dame Cathedral

Zoom (please scroll down)

Abbey of Saint-Germain, Auxerre

 Zoom

Church of the Holy Trinity, 9th, 19th century

 Impasse Girardon, 18e (near the Basilica) / Trip Advisor

A modern statue 

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Other tangible aspects of the legend: 

• Saint Denis's head in his hands: Decapitation is difficult and executioners might try a number of times before the head was actually severed.

• The spot where Denis is said to have collapsed was a Gallo-Roman cemetery:

Saint-Denis, a Medieval Town (in French)

Gallo-Roman tombs found near the church.

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Another way in which the past lives on:

When in 2021 a royalist slapped President Macron while crying,

"Montjoie ! Saint-Denis! Down with the Macronie!," 

he was repeating the battle cry of France's medieval knights.

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Detour:

Right-wing extremists use medieval imagery

THE CHURCH WHERE "GOTHIC" ARCHITECTURE BEGAN

"GOTHIC" —  OR "BARBARIAN" — IS A 16TH- CENTURY TERM OF CONTEMPT

It would be better named "pointed arch architecture," which began at Saint-Denis. 

-- This page adopts the ideas of  Notre-Dame of Paris by Allan Temko, 1957

When Crusaders described arches seen in Syria...

Procession in Jaffa by Gustave Bauenfried, 1890, zoom 

Attempts to adopt them immediately began. The aim was not to reach toward Heaven as layers did already... 

Claude Abron

Angoulême, early 12th century 

But to obtain the uninterrupted interior space necessary for the meetings, classes, conferences, etc., which the towns that were springing up everywhere required and that much greater height allowed:

Conference at Notre-Dame by Henri Ladordaire, 1845, anonymous / zoom 

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While round arches collapse under weights of stone, pointed arches meet at keystones, to carry stones' weight to pillars that take it to the ground:

Claude Abron

Saint-Amand Montron, early 11th century

Claude Abron 

Soissons, early 13th century

And flying buttresses reinforce the walls:

Saint-Eustache, the last Gothic church in Paris, 1532-62

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But the churches fell down.

Then suddenly at Saint-Denis arches stayed stable even when built around the chevet's curve:

(In 1164)

Internet, no photographer named

The chevet, the most sacred part of a church, is separated from the public by the altar. In the Middle Ages it faced east toward Jerusalem and the rising sun, symbol of Resurrection.

The colossal churches immediately spread throughout Christendom, becoming the symbols of the new towns:

         In The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo, 1854 ed.

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Characteristics of Western culture: The Greek heritage, Roman law, the Judeo-Christian tradition...

And pointed-arch architecture,

which gives Saint-Denis its full importance.

 

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Next,

France's first straight street and point of focus