IV. WHY IS THE CITY SO GRAND?

PARIS HAS NO MOUNTAINS, NO SEACOAST AND ITS RIVER IS UNIMPRESSIVE: ITS ALLURE COMES FROM THE ROYAL IMPRINT AND FEAR OF INSURRECTION.

Ce chapitre explore une majesté à taille humaine, don oublié des rois. Elle culminent par une ligne droite crée vers 1675, qui en joignant le palais du Louvre et l'horizon symbolise une puissance sans fin. Les capitales construites plus tard la copie. 

This chapter explores majesty on a human scale, forgotten gift of kings. Their innovations culminate in a straight line created toward 1675 that by connecting the Louvre palace with the horizon, symbolizes the endless power of kings. Capitals built later copy it.

        Claude Abron

The story of the monarchy's collapse will be familiar, with one exception. The rest is new.

The royal model

• A parade route changes course

• The milestones' meanings

• A design inconceivable elsewhere

• The royal imprint blossoms

• The curtain falls

• "I have no tears left to cry"

• A modern royal city

• Have the kings become subversive? 

*     *     *

Next,
4.1. 

A parade route changes course

IV.1. A PARADE ROUTE CHANGES COURSE

MENU: 4.1. PARADE RT CHANGES COURSE 

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

(WITH THE ENTRY OF LOUIS XIII IN 1610) 

Starting there 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 north of the city, where the kings were buried. Then they marched down the trade and pilgrimage route to enter town by the trade-route  gate: 

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

In the early 17th century, the entry point was transferred to the Bastille fortress, on the eastern edge of town:

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

Significance of changing the route

• From "joyous" to "royal" entry

• The path that linked kings with their ancestors

• The importance of the Saint-Denis Basilica

• Detour: Right-wing extremists use medieval imagery

• The church where "Gothic" architecture began

• France's first straight street and point of focus  

• Drop the ancestors, hail power!

• Revolt at la Bastille

• Detour: Love wins out — alas

  

*     *     *

Next,
4.1.1.

From "joyous" to "royal" entry

4.1.1. FROM "JOYOUS" TO "ROYAL" ENTRY

"JOYOUS ENTRIES" BROUGHT 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. Taking place at the same sites meant permanence:

"Performances for the Entry of Isabeau of Bavaria"

# # #

Changes came with monarchy's growing strength:

• In the 16th century, mythology affirmed superiority over rising capitalists:

   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. Parades began at Bastille or nearby and there were no halts or performances —  the king was the show.

• At the same time the meeting-place was moved farther into the countryside. The change reflects the growing number of participants and so the growth of the economy, the underlying reason for stronger royal power (discussed in History from Fresh Perspectives). It took place step by step:

• In 1610, participants of Louis XIII's entry met in front of the gate next to the Bastille fortress.

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 to celebrate Protestant defeat began farther outside the rampart.

  Zoom

Notice the imaginary Roman dress (please click and scroll down).

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

                                                                                                                                   Zoom

To grasp the import of changing the starting-point,

start with that of the original route.

*    *    *

Next,
4.1.2.

The path that linked kings with their ancestors

4.1.2. THE PATH THAT LINKED KINGS WITH THEIR ANCESTORS

THE SAINT-DENIS BASILICA* HARBORS THE MONARCHS' TOMBS 

*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 city's first important insurrection (in 1358) and settled in the fortress of the Louvre.

     Claude Abron

Ending at Notre-Dame 

underscored the sacredness of monarchy. 

*    *    *

Next,

4.1.3.

Importance of the Saint-Denis Basilica

4.1.3. IMPORTANCE OF THE SAINT-DENIS BASILICA

 

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

(TOWARD 250)

   

*A Christian missionary, he was the first bishop of the Paris region and with Joan of Arc, is France's most famous 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:

Adapted from a Google map

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, Paris 9th, 19th century

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

A modern statue

That path, a trade route, is one tangible aspect of the legend. Others: 

• The saint holds his head in his hands: Decapitation is difficult and executioners might try a number of times before the head was actually severed.

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

Saint-Denis, une ville au Moyen Âge

Gallo-Roman tombs found near the church.

*    *    *

Next,

4.1.4. 

Detour:

Right-wing extremists' medieval imagery

4.1.4. 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 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 

# # #

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.

# # #

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 altar separates the public from the chevet, the most sacred part of a church. 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.

# # #

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

And pointed-arch architecture,

which gives Saint-Denis its full importance.

 

*     *     *

Next,

4.1.5. 

Detour: 

Right-wing extremists use medieval imagery