III. WHY IS A CITY WITH NO NATURAL BEAUTY SO GRAND?

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

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Next,
III.1.
Majesty on a human scale, forgotten gift of kings

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

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

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

Rue de Birague

Paris's first straight street leads to a statue of a king on horseback.

Claude Abron

The Grand  Axis symbolizes the infinite power of monarchy. It set a pattern specific to Paris that many foreign capitals adapt.

The urban designs stem from a uniquely powerful monarchy and could not have been born elsewhere, yet they go unnoticed.

In brief

• A parade route changes course

• The milestones' meanings

• The royal imprint blossoms

• The curtain falls

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Next,
3.1.1. 
A parade route changes course

III.1.1. A PARADE ROUTE CHANGES COURSE

MENU: 3.1.1. A parade route changes course

THE ROYAL ENTRIES ARE TRANSFERRED FROM THE SAINT-DENIS GATE THAT LED TO THE KINGS' TOMBS TO THEIR PRISON AT BASTILLE.

(From the entry of Louis XIII in 1610)

Recalling the ancestors implied that kingship would not change, while starting at the prison announced more muscular rule. 

   Adapted from a map of 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 kings' innovations align along that route.  

In brief

• From "joyous" to "royal" entries

• The path that linked kings with their ancestors

• The importance of the Saint-Denis Basilica

• The church where "Gothic" architecture began

• France's first straight street and point of focus  

• Drop the ancestors, hail power!

• Revolt at la Bastille

• Love wins out — unfortunately

  

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Next,
From "joyous" to "royal" entry

FROM "JOYOUS" TO "ROYAL" ENTRY

MEDIEVAL "JOYOUS ENTRIES" 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

Entry of Isabel of Bavaria, 1389 

# # #

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

• In the 17th, the name became royal entries. There were no halts or performances because the king was the show. They began at the Bastille. 

• Moving the meeting-place farther into the countryside reflects the growing number of participants, and so of the growing town and economy, background of growing 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)

He is shown small because he is only eight years old. He wears adult attire 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.

# # #

To grasp the significance of changing the starting-point,

understand the meaning of the original route.

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Next,
The path that linked kings with their ancestors

THE PATH THAT LINKED KINGS WITH THEIR ANCESTORS

THE SAINT-DENIS BASILICA* HARBORS THE TOMBS OF THE MONARCHS (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 Louvre, which was then a fortress.

     Claude Abron

Ending at Notre-Dame 

underlined the sacredness of monarchy. 

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Next,

The importance of the Saint-Denis Basilica

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SAINT-DENIS BASILICA

HEIGHTS ARE OFTEN HALLOWED AND THE MONTMARTRE HILLTOP WAS THE SITE OF A SHRINE: SO THAT IS WHERE ROMANS BEHEADED FRANCE'S FIRST BISHOP, SAINT DENIS

(Toward 250)

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

 In paintings that recall the event the hill usually appears:

  The Crucifixion and Episodes of the Life of 

Saint Denis, retable of Saint Denis by 

Henri Bellechose, 1416,  zoom

Legend has Denis take up his head and still preaching, continue along the path. He is usually shown holding his head in his hands:

Western tympanum, Saint-Denis basilica

Corey Frye

Facade of Notre-Dame Cathedral

Zoom (please scroll down)

Saint-Germain Abbey,  Auxerre

 Zoom

Saint Trinity church, Paris (19th century) 

 Impasse Girardon, 18th  (in Montmartre) / Trip Advisor

A modern statue

The church was built on the site where he was said to have collapsed and died, and the town of Saint-Denis grew up around it:

Adapted from a Google map

# # #

The legend's tangible origins, besides the height already being a sacred site:

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

• The path was a trade route.

• 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

# # #

BMFTV / zoom

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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Next,
The church where "Gothic" architecture began

THE CHURCH WHERE "GOTHIC" ARCHITECTURE BEGAN

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

CONTEMPT, WHILE "POINTED ARCHHITECTURE" EVOKES

THE REVOLUTION IN BUILDING THAT FIT THE GROWING CITIES' SECULAR NEEDS.

 IT 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 towns 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...

Claude Abron

Saint-Amand Montron, early 11th century

...pointed arches meet at keystones, to carry stones' weight to pillars that take it to the ground... 

Claude Abron 

Soissons, early 13th century

...while flying buttresses reinforce the walls :

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

# # #

But the churches fell down.

Then 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.

# # #

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