Paris

History Early History Julius conquered in 52 B.C. It was then a fishing village, called Parisiorum (the were a Gallic tribe), on the Île de la Cité. Under the Romans the town spread to the left bank and acquired considerable importance under the later emperors. The vast catacombs under and the baths (now in the Cluny Mus.) remain from the Roman period. Legend says that St. Denis, first bishop of Paris, was martyred on (hence the name) and that in the 5th cent. St. Geneviève, the patron saint of Paris, preserved the city from destruction by the Huns. On several occasions in its early history Paris was threatened by barbarian and Norman invasions, which at times drove the inhabitants back to the Île de la Cité. and several other Merovingian kings made Paris their capital; under it became a center of learning. In 987, , count of Paris, became king of . The Capetians firmly established Paris as the French capital. The city grew as the power of the French kings increased. In the 11th cent. the city spread to the right bank. During the next two centuries—the reign of Philip (1180–1223) is especially notable for the growth of Paris—streets were paved and the city walls enlarged; the first (a fortress) and several churches, including Notre-Dame, were constructed or begun; and the schools on the left bank were organized into the Univ. of Paris. One of them, the Sorbonne, became a fountainhead of theological learning with Albertus Magnus and St. Thomas Aquinas among its scholars. The university community constituted an autonomous borough; another was formed on the right bank by merchants ruled by their own provost. In 1358, under the leadership of the merchant provost Étienne Marcel, Paris first assumed the role of an independent commune and rebelled against the dauphin (later Charles V). During the period of the Hundred Years War the city suffered civil strife (see Armagnacs and Burgundians), occupation by the English (1419– 36), famine, and the Death. During the Renaissance The Renaissance reached Paris in the 16th cent. during the reign of Francis I (1515–47). At this time the Louvre was transformed from a fortress to a Renaissance palace. In the Wars of Religion (1562–98), Parisian Catholics, who were in the great majority, took part in the massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day (1572), forced Henry III to leave the city on the Day of Barricades (1588), and accepted Henry IV only after his conversion (1593) to Catholicism. Cardinal Richelieu, Louis XIII's minister, established the French Academy and built the Palais Royal and the . During the Fronde, Paris once again defied the royal authority. Louis XIV, distrustful of the Parisians, transferred (1682) his court to Versailles. Parisian industries profited from the lavishness of Versailles; the specialization in luxury goods dates from that time. J. H. Mansart under Louis XIV and François Mansart, J. G. Soufflot, and J. A. Gabriel under Louis XV created some of the most majestic prospects of modern Paris. The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries During the late 17th and the 18th cent. Paris acquired further glory as the scene of many of France's greatest cultural achievements: the plays of Molière, Racine, and Corneille; the music of Lully, Rameau, and Gluck; the paintings of Watteau, Fragonard, and Boucher; and the salons where many of the philosophes of the Enlightenment gathered. At the same time, growing industries had resulted in the creation of new classes—the bourgeoisie and proletariat—concentrated in such suburbs ( faubourgs ) as Saint- Antoine and Saint-Denis; in the opening events of the , city mobs stormed the (July, 1789) and hauled the royal family from Versailles to Paris (Oct., 1789). Throughout the turbulent period of the Revolution the city played a central role. to the Commune Napoleon (emperor, 1804–15) began a large construction program (including the building of the , the Vendôme Column, and the arcaded ) and enriched the city's museums with artworks removed from conquered cities. In the course of his downfall Paris was occupied twice by enemy armies (1814, 1815). In the first half of the 19th cent. Paris grew rapidly. In 1801 it had 547,000 people; in 1817, 714,000; in 1841, 935,000; and in 1861, 1,696,000. The revolutions of July, 1830, and Feb., 1848, both essentially Parisian events, had repercussions throughout Europe. Culturally, the city was at various times the home or host of most of the great European figures of the age. Balzac, Hugo, Chopin, Berlioz, Liszt, Wagner, Delacroix, Ingres, and Daumier were a few of the outstanding personalities. The grand outline of modern Paris was the work of Baron Georges Haussmann, who was appointed by Napoleon III. The great avenues, boulevards, and parks are his work. During the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71), Paris was besieged for four months by the Germans and then surrendered. After the Germans withdrew, Parisian workers rebelled against the French government and established the Commune of Paris, which was bloodily suppressed. Under the Third Republic With the establishment of the Third French Republic and relative stability, Paris became the great industrial and transportation center it is today. Two epochal events in modern cultural history that took place in Paris were the first exhibition of impressionist painting (1874) and the premiere of Stravinsky's Sacre du Printemps (1913). In World War I the Germans failed to reach Paris. After 1919 the outermost city fortifications were replaced by housing developments, including the Cité Universitaire, which houses thousands of students. During the 1920s, Paris was home to many disillusioned artists and writers from the United States and elsewhere. German troops occupied Paris during World War II from June 14, 1940, to Aug. 25, 1944. The city was not seriously damaged by the war. Contemporary Paris Paris was the headquarters of NATO from 1950 to 1967; it is the headquarters of UNESCO and the European Space Agency. A program of cleaning the city's major buildings and monuments was completed in the 1960s. The city was the scene in May, 1968, of serious disorders, beginning with a student strike, that nearly toppled the Fifth Republic. In 1971, Les Halles, Paris's famous central market, called by Zola the "belly" of Paris, was dismantled. Construction began immediately on Chatelet Les-Halles, Paris's new metro hub, which was completed in 1977. The des Halles, a partially underground, multistory commercial and shopping center, opened in 1979. Other developments include the Georges Pompidou National Center for Art and Culture, built in 1977, which includes the National Museum of Modern Art. The Louvre underwent extensive renovation, and EuroDisney, a multibillion dollar theme and amusement park, opened in the Parisian suburbs in 1992. A number of major projects in the city were initiated by President François Mitterrand (1981–95); they include the new Bibliothèque Nationale, the glass pyramid at the Louvre, de la Défense, Arab Institute, Bastille Opera, and Cité de la Musique.

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History of Paris

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Left image: Traces (on the pavement) of the Roman wall in Ile de la Cité, Rue de la Colombe.

Right image: Notice about the archaeological discovery in 1898.

Hôtel de , a remain of the medieval city of Paris The , France, spans over 2,000 years, during which time the city grew from a small Gallic settlement to the capital

and primate city of France. It further developed into a center of art, medicine, science, fashion, tourism, high culture and high

finance, becoming one of the world's major global cities.

Contents

[hide]

 1 Ancient place

 2

o 2.1 The Capetians

o 2.2 The Valois

 3 Early modern era

o 3.1 The Bourbons

o 3.2 The Enlightenment

 4 Modern Paris

o 4.1 The French Revolution

o 4.2 Paris in the 19th century

o 4.3 Economy

o 4.4 Politics

o 4.5 Haussmann's renovation of Paris

o 4.6 The Siege of Paris and the Commune

o 4.7 The Belle Époque

 5 20th century

o 5.1 First World War

o 5.2 Second World War

o 5.3 Post-war Paris

 6 21st century

 7 See also

 8 References

 9 Further reading

o 9.1 To 1600

o 9.2 1600-1900

o 9.3 Since 1900

o 9.4 Historiography  10 External links

Ancient place[edit]

Coins of the Parisii (Metropolitan Museum of Art).

It is believed that a settlement on the site of modern-day Paris was founded in about 250 BC by a Celtic tribe called the Parisii, who

established a fishing village near the river . The Île de la Cité was traditionally assumed to be the location of the settlement,

but this theory has been recently brought into question. Recent archeological finds indicate that the Paris region's largest pre-

Roman settlement may have been in the present-day suburb of .[1]

Paris's lands were prosperous, and occupied a strategic position for controlling river shipping and commerce. The area came

under Roman control after the revolt of 52 BC when led a Celtic uprising against the Romans under Caesar. The town

sided with the rebels and was said to have contributed 8,000 men to Vercingetorix's army. It was garrisoned by Vercingetorix's

lieutenant Camulogenus, whose army camped on the Mons Lutetius (where the Panthéon is now situated). The Romans crushed

the rebels at nearby and took control of the entire region. By the end of the same century, the Île de la Cité and Left

Bank Sainte Geneviève Hill became the centre of a new Roman settlement called Lutetia.

Julian the Apostate crowned in the , in February 360.

Under Roman rule, the town was thoroughly Romanised and grew considerably. It was, however, not the capital of its province,

Lugdunensis Senona—that role was played by Agedincum (modern Sens, Yonne). It was Christianised in the 3rd century when St Denis became the city's first bishop. The process was not entirely peaceful—in about 250 St Denis and two companions were arrested and decapitated on the hill of Mons Mercurius, thereafter known as Mons Martis (Martyrs' Hill, now Montmartre).

Lutetia, a Celtic name that may mean "dwelling surrounded by waters"[citation needed], was renamed Paris in 212[citation needed] after the local tribe, a sub tribe of the Senons, but the rest of the 3rd and 4th century was wracked by war and civil unrest. The city came under attack from barbarian invaders, prompting the construction of a defensive city wall. In 357, the Emperor Constantine's nephew

Julian arrived in Paris to become the city's new governor. Although his uncle had declared Christianity the official religion of the

Empire, Julian "the Apostate" strove to roll back its advance. He became emperor in 361 but died in battle only two years later.

Roman rule in northern effectively collapsed in the 5th century. In 451, the region was invaded by Attila the Hun, prompting fears that Paris would be attacked. According to legend, the city was saved by the piety of Sainte Geneviève and her followers, whose prayers for relief were answered when Attila's march turned away from Paris to the south. St. Geneviève remains Paris's patron saint to this day.

Medieval manuscript showing the faculty meeting at theUniversity of Paris

Middle Ages[edit]

Map of Paris in 508 AD, at the time of the first Frankish kings, as drawn in 1705.

The city's escape from Attila proved a short-lived reprieve, as it was attacked and overrun in 464 by Childeric I(Childeric the Frank).

His son Clovis I made the city his capital in 508 and was buried there on his death in 511, alongside St. Geneviève.

By this time, Paris was a typically crowded early medieval city with timber buildings alongside surviving Roman remains. According to the chronicler Gregory of , it suffered a disastrous fire in 585. The city grew beyond the boundaries of the Île de la Cité, with suburbs being established on both banks of the river.

The Merovingian kings died out in 751, to be replaced by the Carolingians. Pépin was proclaimed king of the in 751, to be succeeded by Charlemagne, who moved the capital of his Holy from Paris toAachen. Paris was twice attacked by Vikings who had sailed down the Seine, in 845 and 885. During the second attack, its inhabitants sought the assistance of Robert

I of France, and his brother Odo, Count of Paris. Odo led the defense of the city in opposition to the ten-month Viking siege and became co-ruler of the Empire with . His grandnephew Hugh Capet was elected King of France (or — literally "the land of the Franks") in 987. He made Paris his capital and founded the Capetian .[2]

The Capetians[edit]

Paris circa 1180.

Remains of the wall of Philip II Augustusbuilt around Paris, today in rue des Jardins-Saint-Paul.

Paris circa 1223.

Evolution of the city from 1422 to 1589.

A perspective drawing of Paris in 1630.

The French kings initially controlled little more than Paris and the surrounding region, the Île-de-France, but over the next two centuries they steadily expanded their territory and power. Paris itself developed an increasing degree of importance as a royal capital, an ecclesiastical and cultural centre. The cathedral school developed into the , around 1150; it later became theSorbonne. It was one of the first universities in Europe, and across northern Europe later universities were typically modeled after its system of faculty governance. As early as the 12th century, the distinctive character of the city's districts was emerging. The Île de la Cité, on which the Cathedral of Notre Dame building began in 1163, was the centre of government and religious life; the Left Bank (south of the Seine) was the centre of learning, focusing on the various Church-run schools established there; and the Right Bank (north of the Seine) was the centre of commerce and finance. A league of merchants, the Hanse parisienne, was established and quickly became a powerful force in the city's affairs.

Under the rule of Philip II Augustus, who took the throne in 1180, a number of major building works were carried out in Paris. He built the wall of Philippe Auguste and began the construction of the Palais du Louvre, as well as paving streets and establishing a covered market at Les Halles(where it would remain until 1969). His grandson Louis IX, renowned for his extreme piety (and later canonised as St Louis) established the city as a major centre of pilgrimage in the 13th century with the construction of the Sainte-Chapelle on the Île de la Cité, and the completion of the cathedral of Notre Dame and the Basilica of St Denis. The latter was one of the finest medieval Gothic religious buildings ever constructed and was built to house Louis's most precious possession—the (alleged) Crown of Thorns, purchased from the bankrupt Byzantine

Empire at an extortionate price.

The Valois[edit]

The Direct Capetian line died out in 1328, leaving no male heir. Edward III of England claimed the French throne by virtue of his descent (via his mother) from Philip IV of France. This was rejected by the French barons, who supported the rival claim of Philippe of Valois (Philip VI of France). The Hundred Years' War thus began, followed swiftly by the arrival of the Black Death.

Paris's history in the was thus punctuated by outbreaks of plague, political violence and popular uprisings. In January

1357, Étienne Marcel, the Provost of Paris, led a merchants' revolt in a bid to curb the power of the monarchy and obtain privileges for the city and the , which had met for the first time in Paris in 1347. After initial concessions by the Crown, the city was retaken by royalist forces in 1358 and Marcel and his followers were killed.

In the aftermath of the revolt, Charles V of France took steps to guard against a recurrence; a new wall was constructed around the city to guard against exterior enemies while the grim fortress of the Bastille was built to control the city's restless population. Another revolt, this time over excessive taxation, broke out in 1382 under Charles VI of France but was quickly and violently suppressed.

The city was subsequently punished by having its earlier privileges withdrawn.

Civil war broke out in France after the assassination of Louis of Valois, Duke of Orléans by the in

1407 (a plaque marks the spot on the rue des Francs Bourgeois in quarter). John the Fearless' agents fled the scene of the crime to the Tower of John the Fearless(now on rue Etienne Marcel) Struggles ensued between the Burgundian and parties for control of the capital and the person of the king. John the Fearless, whose power was initially in the ascendant, arranged for theologians of the University of Paris to present a defence of the murder of Louis of Orléans, which was presented as a tyrannicide due to the duke's undue influence on Charles VI. John the Fearless's power in Paris came to an end in 1409 with the revolt of Simon Caboche, although he was to retake the city in 1417 until his assassination in 1419.

In the ensuing chaos, the Plantagenets captured Paris in 1420. In 1422, of England died at the de Vincennes, just outside the city. Charles VII of France tried but failed to retake the city in 1429, despite the assistance of (who was wounded in the attempt). Two years later, Henry VI of England was crowned King of France at Notre-Dame. French persistence paid off in 1436 when Charles finally managed to retake the city in April after several failed sieges.

Early modern era[edit]

With the recapture of the city in 1436, the Valois monarchs and sought to impose their authority on the city through the construction of various grandiose ecclesiastical and secular monuments, including churches and mansions. However, the later

Valois dynasty largely abandoned Paris as a place of residence. Over the following century the city's population more than tripled. King Francis I had probably the greatest impact of any Valois monarch, transforming the Louvre and establishing a glittering court including such notables as Leonardo da Vinciand Benvenuto Cellini.

Paris was, however, not spared from the religious violence affecting the rest of the country as Protestantism gained ground in defiance of an increasingly harsh Catholic backlash. Paris was a predominantly Catholic city — so much so that Ignatius

Loyola founded the Society of Jesusthere in 1534 — but it also had a growing Protestant population. The rival religious factions pursued an increasingly bloodthirsty feud, with religiously-inspired assassinations and burnings at the stake.

Matters came to a head on 23 August 1572 with the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre, when Catholic mobs killed about 3,000

Protestants on the instructions of King Charles IX.[citation needed]

His successor, King Henry III, attempted to find a peaceful solution but the city's population turned against him and forced him to flee on 12 May 1588, the so-called Day of the Barricades (as this was the first time in Paris's history that a revolt had utilised barricades as opposed to simple chains in defence of the city).[3] Paris was from this point ruled by a group known as the Seize (so called because each member represented one of the sixteen quartiers of the city). This group had formed in secret several years earlier, and was motivated to revolt primarily by frustration with the existing system of civic government which prevented the advancement of their careers, and by the desire to defend the traditional privileges of the city, which the Valois kings, and Henry III in particular) had eroded.[4] Nevertheless, the nobility, and particularly the duke of Guise, played a crucial role in the revolt which drove out the king,[5] as did the Parisian crowd manning the barricades.

On 23 December 1588, Henry III had the Duke of Guise and his brother the Cardinal of Guise assassinated at the Estates of Blois, which further enraged his opponents in Paris. At this time, the printing presses of Paris produced huge numbers of libels against the king and his policies.[6] The first of August 1589, Henry III was assassinated by a fanatical Dominican monk, Jacques Clément, bringing the Valois line to an end.

However, Paris, along with the other towns of the Holy Union (or ) held out against Henry IV until 1594. After his victory over the Holy Union at the on 14 March 1590, Henry IV proceeded to lay siege to Paris, greatly to the distress of the population. Immense poverty was experienced, prices rose dramatically as wages stagnated, huge numbers of religious processions were led by the clergy and confraternities to pray for Paris's salvation. These devotions might be said to form an early stage of the Catholic Reformation in Paris. The siege was eventually lifted on 30 August 1590, but economic conditions remained difficult in Paris throughout the . This situation led to popular protests such as that of the 'Pain ou Paix' where protesters demanded either cheap bread or that the civic government made peace with Henry IV.

Gradually, the power of the Seize was diminished as the nobility of the Holy Union, principally the duke of Mayenne and the duke of

Nemours, governor of Paris, took power in the city. They called the Estates General in 1593 to attempt to find an alternative solution to the succession and prevent Henry IV from becoming king (he had not yet proceeded to his ). However, the attempt stumbled over the lack of a viable heir, despite the attempts by Spanish ambassadors to have the Infanta crowned (arguing that the constitutional law that the monarch must be Catholic was more important than that declaring the monarch must be male). The year

1593 saw the decline of the League across France, and in Paris two important literary works were published - the Satire