Audrey Hepburn said:

PARIS IS ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA. 🌹🌹🗼🌹🌹

Very short dictionary.

Right bank = Paris North of the Seine River. Rive Droit

Left bank = Paris South of the Seine River. Rive Gauche

Arrondissement = The divisions of Paris. There are 20 and they all have distinct characteristics. These sections of Paris start at the most ancient neighborhood of Paris (Île de la Cité) and spiral out and around this island and Île Saint-Louis. 

Marie = Administration building that is found in each arrondissement. They are like city hall except that they are responsible only for the arrondissement where they are located. 

Flâner = To loaf about, to stroll around aimlessly.

Flâneur = A man who is a loafer, a man who strolls with no other motivation besides walking around.

Flâneuse = A woman who is a loafer, a woman who strolls with no other motivation besides walking around.

Napoléon I = Napoléon Bonaparte

Once Julius Caesar subdued the Celtic Parisii, the Romans built a fine city that they called Lutetia. There are remains of the Roman city of Lutetia underneath the Parvis of Notre Dame Cathedral. Everyone can see them by visiting the Archeological Crypt Museum near ground zero in front of the cathedral. After  the Roman takeover of the region, they called the island "Lutetia Parisiurum". This name meant "Marsh of the Parisii People." About 400 years after these events with Julius Ceasar fighting against the Gaul tribes for control of the area, we now find Julian becoming Caesar, emperor of Rome, right here in Lutetia. So if he called the village (by now a full fledged Roman city) Louchetia, then all the above possible names are probably correct at one time or another. The sojourn and actions of Emperor Julian are actually the major part of the corroborated history with evidence that we have for the first 500 years or so concerning Lutetia. There is little else. Emperor Julian would reside in Lutetia for the winter months during the military campaigns he was conducting around France. He wrote a book or journal called the Misopogon and he called Lutetia, "the little darling city" where one will see the "old virtues" still being practiced. 

There is another important event that has been recorded from Lutetia during this time which Hilaire Belloc wrote about. He wrote; "Here he kept for a few months his quasi-pagan court, and from that circle produced the first book ever published in Paris-- a shorter edition of Galen, by one Oribasius, a doctor." Much happened in Lutetia after the reign of emperor Julian because other emperors followed him, such as Valentinan and Gratian.

The best evidence we have of these years of Roman rule on L'île de la Cité are the things they made that still exist. Around the year 20 CE, the Sailors Guild erected a limestone monument outside of a temple. On it were carvings of Gallic and Roman gods. It was discovered by construction workers underneath Notre Dame Cathedral in 1710. It can now be seen in the Musée de Cluny. This museum is very appropriate for the monument because it is in a medieval building. I imagine that this is one of the oldest buildings in Paris because it is a medieval building that is still standing. Rue Saint-Jacques is even older. I do not know what the Romans called it but it was their main road leading south. By 200 CE, they had built their Forum, the Arénes de Lutèce, and their viaduct called Thermes de Cluny both of which still exist in part. The museum is in a former Abbey of the Cluny monks and the Thermes de Cluny are connected to it with a huge frigidorium that was also built by the Romans. It seems we have the first suburb of Lutetia Parisiurum being built up around these grand edifices. 

Before Paris became Christian,  there were several saints and emperors (besides Julius Ceaser) who stayed there. There were; Bishop Saint Denis,  Sainte Genevieve, Julien the Apostate who later became Roman Emperor, Roman Emperor Valentinian I, and Saint Martin of Tours that I know about. Then around 250 CE, Lutetia Parisiurum began to become Christian. There are a few important people and events from the next century or 2 but there is much legend and hagiography mixed with the history. Saint Denis, Saint Genevieve, and Clovis are a few of the main characters of this period.

Saint Denis was in  Lutetia Parisiurum by 225 CE (I surmise) although the year of his birth is not known. He was martyred in the year 250. He sought to bring Christianity to the region and hagiography states that he was decapitated (for his faith and preaching) on the hill that became known as martyrs' hill (Montmartre) and he then picked up his head and walked with it in his arms for about 6 miles while his head continued to preach about repentance. There are many depictions of this throughout Paris, even on Notre Dame Cathedrals' facade. 

Saint Genevieve was born in Nanterre which is about 9 miles to the north west of the island about where La Défense business district now stands. She was born in 419 and died in 512. She is greatly revered by the French and she was actually made the Patron Saint of Paris. Her gravesite is in another of the very first buildings (that still exist more or less intact) that had been constructed in that first suburb of L'île de Cité, Saint Etienne du Mont. The bridges of the main Roman road that crossed the island had fortifications on the banks on either side of the Seine River which were an integral part of Lutetia Parisiurum but the homes that were being built around Saint Etienne du Mont and Thermes de Cluny were like a village. With the rise of Christianity, there arose other such villages around the island; Saint Germain des Prés (originally called Saint-Vincent until after  the first bishop of Paris, Saint-Germain was interred there), Saint-Germain L'Auxerrois, Saint Paul, and Saint Marcel. Around these churches rose communities that were like satellite communities to L'île de la Cité. The most ancient would have been the Basilique des Apôtres and St. Etienne du Mont. Basilique des Apôtres would become Basilica of Saint Genevieve. This became the Pantheon after the French Revolution of 1789.

Germanic tribes started invading the Roman communities along the Seine River and the population decided to retreat back onto L'île de la Cité. They decided to build a wall around a good part of the island and the Roman amphitheater suffered greatly from it because a large portion of the amphitheater was taken apart so its stones could be used for the wall. Moving back onto L'île de la Cité, the people destroyed the bridges and built the wall mostly enclosing the eastern side of the island. The wall that they built was about 22 feet or 8 meters high about 8 feet or 2.7 meters wide. No portions of that wall exists today but its location where rue de la Colombe exists can be seen with the double row of cobblestones in the street. The width of the wall can easily be seen in front of 6 rue de la Colombe.

Besides the Germanic tribes attacking Lutetia Parisiurum, there were also the Vikings and the Franks. It was the Franks who eventually subdued all of what is now France. Clovis I was the first to become king of this new kingdom.  He was born in Belgium and his father was Childeric I (the king who founded Saint-Vincent church in 453). In 486 CE  he defeated all of Roman Gaul. In 511, he makes Lutetia Parisiurum his capital city and renamed it simply "Paris ".  His dynasty is known as the Merovingian Dynasty. Clovis I died shortly after he made Lutetia Parisiurum his capital city and renamed it Paris. After his death, his 4 sons divided his kingdom into Austrasia, Neustria, Burgandy, and Aquitaine. Paris, along with Orléans and Tours, were major cities of Neustria. Their Merovingian dynasty lasted until 751 when Pepin the Short deposed Childeric III. The new dynasty of Pepin the Short is known as the Carolingian Dynasty. 

The most famous king of the Carolingian dynasty is well known even to me 😄, Charlemagne which is the French version of Charles the Great. He was the son of Pepin the Younger. He united a good portion of Europe and even became Holy Roman Emperor. He ruled France from 768 until 771 as co-ruler with his younger brother until his younger brother (Carloman) died. Pope Leo III crowned him as Holy Roman Emperor on Christmas day in the year 800. Did they already celebrate Christmas by the year 800? I guess that would be interesting to research. Anyway, Charlemagne is also called the Father of Europe and he became devoted to the Catholic church, helping to spread Christianity throughout Europe forcing tribes to convert to Christianity. Louis the Pious became Holy Roman Emperor after his father, Charlemagne, died of old age. The Vikings started rising up and attacking his territory in great numbers because of how Charlemagne had subdivided their Saxon territory that made up what is now called Scandinavia. During this time, the Parisians built another wall on the north bank of the Seine River around what is now Rue de Rivoli and Rue de l'Arbre-Sec. Rue de Rivoli passes along the north side of where the Louvre Museum is now. Rue de l'Arbre-Sec (dry tree street😄) runs along the east side of the ancient Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois church which is just east of the Louvre Museum. Finally, Charles the Simple (Charles III who ruled from 893-923) made a treaty with the Viking chieftain Rollo who later became Rollo of Normandy after becoming Christian, marrying into a noble French family, and showing loyalty to the defense of Paris. These events are actually depicted in the not 100% accurate TV series "Vikings ". Another interesting event in Paris at this time was the creation of a Fun Fair that still exists. It was created in 957 by King Lothair ( or Lothaire) and is now called Foire du Trône.

Between 870 and 990, under the leadership of Charles the Bald, Bishop Gozlin, and Hugh Capet, the bridges Grand Pont and Petit Pont were built and rebuilt and reinforced, defenses strengthened, sieges by the Vikings were repelled, and a siege by Roman Emperor Otto II was also repelled. By the year 1000, the city of Paris was stronger and had hope for the future again.

Around 970, there was the dynasty of Hugh the Great and Hugh Capet. Hugh the Great was the son of Robert  the  Strong who dominated over a weak and eroding Paris after many years of attacks and sieges. Hilaire Belloc wrote of Paris at this time; "The Norman invasions left behind them confusion and wreckage. Men wondered in the worst of the siege whether the order of things had not changed forever; they doubted whether the empire and the Christian name would stand. As the tide of the sea-men ebbed northward again, the city looked around at desolation only. The mark of the flood was on the ruin of burnt abbeys and on the broken walls; dead men were still unburied in the fields, but the town still stood." It was a Paris in this condition that a military leader of unknown origin like Robert the Strong could create a new dynasty of rulers over Paris. 

Hugh Capet was elected king in 987 and lived in a castle built where the Palais de Justice now stands. It is now part of the complex that includes the Concierge fortress and Saint Chapelle today, but he and the other Capetian kings spent more time in Orleans and Vincennes. Robert the Pious ruled from 996 to 1031 and he remained in Paris much longer than did his predecessors. He had the palace rebuilt and also had chapel Saint Nicholas built where Saint Chappelle is now located. 

Reconstruction of several churches like Saint Germain des Prés and Saint Martin des Champs Priory began. In 1014, they began building a new nave for Saint-Germain des Prés and King Henry I commissioned the reconstruction of Saint-Martin des Champs in 1060. The 2 buildings of this complex that still exist  today were the nave and  the priory refectory. This is where the last trial by combat was held. I wrote about this trial by combat in more detail earlier. It was between Jean de Carrouges and Jacques Le Gris. These 2 buildings that still exist are now the Musée des Arts et Métiers and they are  very Gothic and very impressive.

Work also begins on some of the most well known buildings of Paris.  And the new architectural style that originated in northern France, the Gothic, is in vouge. We have the Basilica Royal de Saint Denis, which was completed around 1144, the Cathedral of Notre Dame, (replacing  Èglise Etienne which stood in its location previously), begun in 1163 and completed in 1345, and the Louvre which was begun in 1190 and  completed many times 😃😃😃.

Students began to arrive into Paris to study at the Episcopal school of Notre Dame church around 1010. Paris also acquired more importance in France because, in 1112, King Louis VI raised the status of the Basilica of Saint Denis resulting in Paris becoming the De facto Capital of the Capetians Kings,  overshadowing Orleáns. I guess that is why so many royal personalities have been interred there. Also , in 1113. Petit Pont was rebuilt and Grand Pont was completed. Grand Pont is now known as Pont au Change.

Around 1120, many teachers and their students moved from the cloister of the first Notre Dame Cathedral, which was becoming too crowded, to the area around Saint Etienne du Mont church on Montagne Saint Genevieve, where the Roman Forum used to be located. Their gathering there for academics began what would eventually become known as the Latin Quarter of Paris where many colleges and universities,  some non existing and others still going strong today, were created. 

In 1137, Champeaux (little fields) is created as a market place to replace the market area of Place de Grève which surrounded Hôtel de Ville area. This area was the location of Maison aux Piliers before Hôtel de Ville. In 1183, 2 market buildings were built at Champeaux and this market place would latter become the famous Les Halles. The Holy Innocents Cemetery was also established in this area. In fact, the modern Les Halles shopping mall and Place Joachim-du-Belly are located there now . It was first used for individual sepulchers but eventually contained mass graves with pits that could hold about 1,500 corpses. When the pits were no longer sufficient to hold any more bodies, there were charnel houses built along the wall of the cemetery. The skeletons would be excavated then placed into the charnel houses. Then the pits could be used again. There was also a mural painted on the back wall of the cemetery that was called the Danse Macabre. It endured until 1669 when the wall it was on was destroyed because the street behind it was widened. Because of overuse, the skeletons had to be removed and reburied  below ground in what are now the much visited Paris Catacombs . There was also a fountain in the midst of this cemetery called the Fountain of the Innocents and it still exists. 

The next major defensive wall that was built for Paris was that of King Philip Augustus. Many remnants of this wall can still be seen throughout Paris. It took approximately 20 years to build it. Paris was one of the last northern European cities to build such a major wall like this one. Hilaire Belloc wrote that "If Paris had never since the Romans given herself a new defense, it was because a kind of doubt hung over the nature of the city." He also wrote that "...by its building a certain kind of seal and termination was put upon the first stage in the development of the city." The commission to build this wall was made around 1190 and Philip Augustus did not stay in Paris to oversee the construction of it. He had departed Paris for a crusade. He also commissioned the building of the Louvre Fortress. So a good portion of Philip Augustus' plans were being executed while he was out fighting during the third crusade. The right bank portion of the wall was completed in 1208. The left bank portion of the wall was completed in 1213. Hilaire Belloc wrote, "Starting from the river, just where the Rue du Louvre joins the quay, it went northward to the site of the Oratoire; thence a long curve east and north took it in a slant across what are now the streets north of St. Eustache; it ran east and west for a little way, about on the line of the Rue de l'Ours, then curved down southward to the river, just within the site of the present Rue St. Paul and excluding the church of that name. It thus reached the river about opposite the middle of the Isle St. Louis." The wall was at least 25 feet or 8 meters high and 9 feet or 3 meters wide. It had 70 guard towers with especially large towers at the Seine River. With the chains that they stretched across the river in the evenings, the defense of the city appeared to be quite formable. These would be the main defense of Paris for about 150 years. Many portions of the wall and many of the towers have been incorporated into the building of homes or shops. There are maps showing the perimeter of the wall so I hope to follow the walls' path next time in Paris. There are some really interesting portions of this wall and evidence of a few towers to take photos of. I especially would love to take a photo of the Tour de Jean-Sans-Peur. It was built in 1409 and has a visible portion of the wall supporting it. The tower is at 16 rue Étienne Marcel and is very photogenic. I have a book called Curiosities Of Paris. The author is Dominique Lesbros. The third chapter of the book is; On The Trail Of The City Walls. Included in this chapter is a good map that shows the perimeter of Paris that the creation of this wall provided. The whole chapter is actually a clear, easy to follow walk along the former path of the wall. It is suggested that one might prefer to use a bicycle (en vélo) than walk but a walker and hiker like me will walk. I did  see the portion of the foundation of the original Louvre fortress in the basement of the museum but I  do not remember if I made a photo of it. 

Philip Augustus was known to have commissioned other works like the rebuilding of the palace that later became the Concierge prison where Queen Marie Antoinette was imprisoned, paving many of the main streets (with  cobblestone) that had not been improved since the Romans created them, enclosing the Cemetery of the Innocents, and arranging for the Les Halles to become an official  city market rather than just a swamp surrounded farmers market that it was before . 

After 1200

Around 1200, the rise of the University as a legal institution occured. At this time, houses were being built for the students in the clos Garlande area that the abbot of Saint Genevieve had purchased. Clos de Garlande is the area along the ancient Roman road  Rue Garlande that borders on Place Maubert. The name of Quai des l'Ecoles and Place des l'Ecoles recall the time when students gathered around their teachers in the cloisters of monastic halls near churches like Saint Germain l'Auxerrois and Saint-Germain. Quai des l'Ecoles partly became Rue du Petit-Bourbon and then in 1868 Quai des l'Ecoles, Quai de Petit-Bourbon, and Quai du Louvre were all merged together with the name Quai du Louvre. One of the most important Universities was that of Abby Saint Genevieve. Many clerks and clerics were trained here; clerks for the government administration and clerics for the church. One scholar here was Pierre Abelard who lived from 1079-1142. It seems he had quite an illustrious career having  instructed some 5,000 students but he got himself embroiled in a scandal by having a romantic relationship with the nun, Héloise. The church punished Pierre Abelard by castrating and exiling him. Saint Genevieve does not exist anymore but the church it was built adjacent to DOES still  stand. It is Saint Etienne du Mont. This church contains the shrine of the patron saint of Paris, Saint Genevieve. It also has the shrines of Blaise Pascal, Jean Racine, and Jean-Paul Marat. In the chapter about the later middle ages of his book "Paris ", Hilaire Belloc wrote; "The College Montaigu lay just south-west of Saint Etienne du Mont, so that I must in passing  mention this church and its neighbor, the Abbey of Saint Genevieve. Saint Etienne was rebuilt during the Renaissance and it is difficult to define the character of this earlier church. It was presumably designed - as Saint Genevieve had been- during the thirteenth century, and both replaced the primitive Merovingian Basilica that had suffered or perhaps been destroyed in the sieges of the ninth century. It ought, one would imagine, to have rendered insignificant by the presence of so great a neighbor as the shrine of the Patron Saint of Paris, but for some reason or other, though the 2 churches actually touched,the less known one maintained a certain importance of its own. At present, of course, since the destruction of Saint Genevieve and the secularization of the Pantheon, it takes a special place in Paris, and serves a kind of combination of it's old purpose and that of the Metropolitan Abbey."

By 1200, Montagne Saint-Genevieve was quite crowded with the teachers and their students. Many students were from poor families and were being housed in collegia pauperum magistrorum where they slept and ate. There were conflicts between the students and the townspeople of the surrounding neighborhoods. Eventually, King Philip II became involved and began the process of organizing the teachers and students into a formal and legal corporation that Pope Innocent III recognized as a university. Pope Innocent III actually studied here himself. Because they used Latin for the studies, the neighborhood became known as the Latin Quarter and it is still called that. In 1257, Robert de Sorbon opened a part of the university that became the most famous college of the university system. He was the chaplain to King Louis IX and the college bears his name to this day; Sorbonne University. Many well known people taught and studied here such as  Roger Bacon, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Saint Bonaventure, and Cardinal Richelieu (who became the headmaster there in 1622).

Between 1242 and 1248 the Sainte-Chapelle was built on the site of the previous chapel (dedicated to Saint Nicholas). Louis IX (Saint Louis) wanted an elaborate Royal chapel where holy relics like the crown of thorns could be kept. King Philip IV (1285-1314) reconstructed the adjacent fortress into a palace with a private walled garden at the end of Îl de la Cité. He had a dock built there so he could travel by boat between the newly reconstructed palace with the Royal Sainte-Chappelle, the  Louvre fortress, and the Tour Nesle which stood next to where the Paris Institute is now located. The Palace that stood adjacent to the Royal Sainte-Chappelle is the enormous Concierge today.

"Louvre" may come from the meaning of "block house" which makes sense because it served the purpose of standing with a defensive tower just outside the south wall of Paris and as a safe residence for the royal family. The present phase of construction on the Louvre fortress was being completed at the kings' own expense around 1200. In his book (published in 1900) "Paris ", Hilaire Belloc wrote about the tower; "The first of these designs is especially evident in the high Tower built over the river ("the corner tower " as they call it in the middle ages), with a chain stretched right across the stream to the Tour de Nesle on the far side..." 😀 He refers to the Seine River on the south side of Île de la Cité as a stream even though the island was a bit smaller and the river was wider during Roman occupation. 

King Philip IV (1285-1314) is the one who first had the Louvre reconstructed from a fortress into a royal residence. By 1254, several aristocrats started to build townhouses and mansions in a neighborhood near the Louvre. I believe that one of the first to do this was Alphonse de Poitiers who was a brother of King Louis IX.

Originally a hunting lodge in what was the Bois de Vincennes was located here. It was used by King Louis VII around 1150.  King Philip Augustus and King Louis IX both expanded the buildings of the hunting lodge around 1250.. Their activities paved the way for the commission of King Charles V that created the castle we see today.

In 1274, King Philippe III (Philip the Bold) was married at this castle . In 1284, King Philippe IV (Philip the Fair) was married here also. King Louis X died here in 1316. King Philippe V died at this castle in 1322. King Charles IV died here in 1328.

One example of such a townhouse (hôtel particular), is Hôtel de Sens. It was built for the archbishops of Sens. It still stands looking much like it did in 1841, after it underwent a reconstruction. It was first built around 1345 but that building was destroyed then rebuilt in 1475, also as a residence for the archbishops of Sens. Many prelates lived there and one, Nicolas de Pellevé, even died there. It is now a French National Heritage site, since 1862, and is now owned by the city of Paris with the Forney Art Library located there. Definitely visit this location to make a photo of its facade because of a cannonball that is lodged in the wall above the entrance...🙂 The address is 7 Rue des Nonnmains d'Hyères in the 4th arrondissement. 

I thought that it would be nice to stay in a hotel that is located in a hôtel particular of the 14th century but the only possible location I found  is Le Temple de Jeanne at 125 Rue Saint Antoine in the 4th arrondissement. It looks like a really beautiful, newer hotel but I can not find any information about how much of the original building of this location actually still exists . I will probably stay at this hotel when I want to live in the Marais neighborhood because it does look like a great place to stay with reasonable prices. It is the area of Rue Saint Paul and Rue Charles V. It has a theme from Queen Jeanne de Bourbon inspiration by architect Pascal Reynaud and Sarah Lauferon who created a really lovely space.