Paris: history to 1815

The history of Paris, as the permanent capital of France, is inextricably bound with that of the French nation. Its outstanding architecture, intellectual facilities, and wealth of art treasures, mirrors the evolution of French culture and reflects the city's status as a symbol of prestige, power, and well‐being. See also France: history to 1515, France: history 1515–1815. For the later history of Paris, see Paris: history from 1815.

Early and Roman period
Before the arrival of the Romans, the largest of the islands on the River Seine (now known as the Île de la Cité and the nucleus of modern Paris), was the capital of the Parisii, a small group of Gallic Celts. First inhabited around 300 BC, the settlement was named louk‐teih‘place of the marsh’. In 53 BC the victorious army of Julius Caesar built a camp on the site, naming the island Lutetia Parisiorum or Lutetia, and with the consolidation of Roman rule in Gaul, the settlement began to spread onto the left bank. It grew into a city large enough to contain massive arenas (excavated in 1856), but by the end of the 3rd century, barbarian invasions and the decline of Roman control had forced the citizens back to the island. Paris became the capital of Constantius I (Constantius Chlorus), for the year (305–6) that he was emperor of Western Roman Empire; he had controlled the provinces of Gaul, Britain, and Spain since 293 and had a palace in the city. The only remaining vestiges of the Gallo‐Roman city are some parts of a Roman baths in the Hôtel Cluny, and an amphitheatre in Rue Monge.

Christianity was introduced towards the end of the 3rd century, when St Denis and his companions, Rusticus and Eleutherius, were sent to Paris by the pope; St Martin continued their work in the 4th century. The city became known as Paris in 360. In 410 Paris joined the league of Armorica, northwest Gaul. Attila, king of the Huns, attempted to enter Paris in 451 during his attack on the Western Roman Empire 450–452, but was reputedly halted by the prayer of St Geneviève, who became patron saint of the city.

Paris under the Frankish dynasties
The late 5th century saw the expansion of the Franks, a Germanic people, into Gaul. Paris was captured by the Merovingian king Clovis I, and became the capital of his kingdom in 508. He frequently resided in the city and built the basilica of Saints Peter and Paul after his conversion to Christianity. In 511 his son commissioned the cathedral of St‐Etienne, now the site of Notre Dame. Chilperic I removed the capital from Paris in 567 and, except for the brief but brilliant reign of Dagobert I the Great (622–38), who made Paris capital of a reunited Frankish empire, the political development of Paris was subdued for the remainder of Merovingian rule.

The Frankish Carolingian dynasty under Charlemagne (Charles I, or Charles the Great) succeeded the Merovingians in 768. Paris had grown slowly under previous Frankish kings, although the civil power of the church had greatly increased with the foundation of several richly endowed monasteries, particularly on the left bank, and trade and the guilds were flourishing. Charlemagne made Paris a county, and it became a duchy under Charles II (Charles the Bald), king of the West Frankish Kingdom from 843. In 845 Norsemen sailed up the Seine and laid the city to waste, sacking its monasteries and churches. They remained in occupation, withstanding a 54‐month siege led by Bishop Gozlin and Count Eudes from 885, but they were routed by Eudes in 892.

The first Capetians
Paris became the permanent capital of France under the Capetians, a line commencing with Hugh Capet, comte de Paris, in 987. Their palace was on the Île de la Cité, on the site of what is now the Palais de Justice; the towers of the old prison of the Conciergerie are its sole remains. Henry I, ruling 1031–60, rebuilt the church of St‐Martin des Champs, which had been burned by the Norsemen.

Expansion in the 12th and 13th centuries
The boundaries of the city were pushed forward during the reign of Louis VI (Louis the Fat, 1108–37), with a second line of ramparts enclosing the faubourgs of the left bank (suburbs or former villages such as Faubourg St‐Germain). Prestigious buildings, including the great abbey of St‐Victor and a nunnery at Montmartre, were erected. Between 1180 and 1213, Philip II (Philip Augustus) began the construction of a third wall, 2.5 m/8 ft thick, pierced by 24 gates, and fortified by about 500 towers. He also built the Louvre, a moated fortress guarding the western approaches of the city. The paving of the streets was initiated and two great warehouses at the old market at Champeaux, the origin of Les Halles, were commissioned. In 1182 the Early Gothic choir of the cathedral of Notre Dame was completed, its foundation stone having been laid in 1163 by Pope Alexander III; building continued on the cathedral until the end of the 13th century. Louis IX (St Louis, king of France 1226–70), established the magnificent Sainte‐Chapelle, a medieval masterpiece with vast expanses of stained glass held by elegant columns; it was built to house holy relics purchased from the Byzantine Empire. Other foundations included numerous monasteries and abbeys, as well as the Hôtel Dieu.

The centralization of the state, civic government, and the prestige of the burghers of Paris were also enhanced during this period. Before venturing on crusade, Philip II entrusted the keeping of his will to the city of Paris, and chose six of its burghers to advise his council on economic issues. Louis IX established the parlement as the chief legal tribunal of France, which he housed in the royal palace of the Cité, and to which also ceded a measure of responsibility for the city's administration. The burghers of Paris were permitted to use their own law officers instead of the royal guard and, in 1260, the Paris watermen's guild was granted control over river traffic and associated taxation. Government officials were increasingly appointed from the ranks of the staunchly royalist and anti‐clerical bourgeoisie of Paris. Commercial activity was centred around the riverside quay of the Place de Grève on the right bank, now the site of the Hôtel de Ville.

By the beginning of the 13th century, Paris had become the intellectual centre of Europe, its schools and colleges having developed around the rich monasteries of St‐Germain‐des‐Prés and Ste‐Geneviève. Before 1200 lecturing had been restricted to the Île de la Cité by the Chancellor of Notre Dame, but in 1210 the masters of the arts withdrew to the Rue du Fouarre on the left bank of the Seine, and the Latin Quarter was established, Latin being the common language of the students until 1789. The faculty of the arts was the largest in the university, with a curriculum based on philosophy, music, mathematics, and astronomy. It had originally been intended as a prologue to the study of theology, but many of the masters preferred its intellectual freedom. A papal licence of 1215 allowed the various schools to organize during the first half of the 13th century, giving the University of Paris a cohesive character, and its united defiance against restrictions by the church and city cemented corporate spirit. In 1228 a mass exodus to other European universities resulted in the reduction of the church's jurisdiction, and in 1255 the university dissolved itself, leading to the exclusion of the friars from the faculty of arts. Notable figures in the evolution of the university included the philosopher Peter Abelard (1079–c. 1142), and Robert de Sorbon, who founded the theological college of the Sorbonne in 1253.

Dissension and war in the 14th and 15th centuries
During his feud with Pope Boniface VIII over taxation of the clergy, Philip IV (Philip the Fair) summoned the States General for the first time to discuss the question of the temporal supremacy of the pope in 1302. Meeting in his palace on the Cité, it comprised the first (noble), second (clerical), and third (commons) estates of French society, and was regarded as an organ for royal policy.

In 1337, during the reign of Philip VI (1328–50), the Hundred Years' War began between England and France, a series of conflicts lasting until 1453. Most of the fighting took place away from the capital, but Paris came under threat in 1346 when the faubourgs were destroyed. In 1356 Étienne Marcel, Provost of the Paris merchants, led the first civil uprising against the monarchy, demanding greater autonomy for the city. He allowed the English into Paris in 1357, but the revolt collapsed with his murder in 1358. Order was partly restored at the accession of Charles V (Charles the Wise) in 1364, a great builder and art patron, who reconquered most of France by 1380. He reinforced Paris with a fourth wall and the castle of St‐Antoine (the Bastille) to defend its eastern flank. Civil war between the dukes of Orléans and Burgundy (1410–1435), and a renewal of hostilities with the English in 1415, clouded the reign of Charles VI (Charles the Mad, 1380–1422), who suffered mental instability from 1392. Rivalry between the Armagnacs of the Orléans party and Burgundians divided Paris into two factions, and in 1418 the court abandoned the city. In 1422 the Burgundians allowed the English to occupy Paris, and it became the centre of English government over northern France until they were driven out of the city in 1446. During the English occupation Joan of Arc attempted to relieve Paris in 1429, and Henry VI of England was crowned king of France in Notre Dame.

Throughout the 14th and early 15th centuries, the University of Paris had grown as a political power, claiming to be above all secular jurisdiction, but in 1499 Louis XII revoked its powers of cessation (suspension of teaching) and its liberties were curtailed.

Although the city was beset by strife for much of the century, some notable building work and renovations were completed. When the new ramparts erected by Charles V surrounded the first structures of the right bank, the Louvre lost its defensive role and was transformed by the king into a sumptuous palace. Other foundations during his reign included the first royal library and the beautiful chapel of Vincennes. In the reign of Charles VIII (1483–98), the Petit Pont and the Pont Notre Dame were rebuilt over the Seine. The houses on the new Pont Notre Dame were the first in Paris to be numbered; the bridge replaced a previous wooden construction, and was completed in 1499.

16th‐century religious persecution and renaissance
The protestant Huguenots were severely persecuted during the reigns of Francis I (1515–47) and Henry II (1547–59), and religious wars broke out during the regency of Charles IX (1560–70), which was dominated by his mother Catherine de Médicis (Caterina de' Medici). They culminated in the Massacre of St Bartholomew in August 1572, when over 3,000 Huguenots in Paris were murdered by the Roman Catholics; many of them were aristocrats visiting the capital for the wedding of the Protestant king Henry of Navarre (later Henry IV) to the sister of Charles IX. The slaughter spilled out into the provinces, and over 25,000 people are believed to have been killed. Henry was imprisoned at Court, but escaped in 1576 to lead the Huguenots. He succeeded Charles IX as the first Bourbon king of France in 1589, but his coronation was delayed until his conversion to Catholicism in 1593, reputedly saying ‘Paris is worth a Mass’. Religious conflict was avoided by his tolerance towards protestantism.

Building proceeded in 16th‐century Paris on a grand scale, frequently incorporating Renaissance architecture based on the revival of classical styles begun in 15th‐century Italy. Francis I, a great patron of the arts, restored his court to Paris in 1528, and brought a number of Italian artists to France, including Leonardo da Vinci. He commissioned the construction of the Louvre des Valois in 1528 (completed 1546), and the Hôtel de Ville, and founded the Collège de France. Catherine de Médicis built the Petite Galerie on the south of the Louvre, and began the palace of the Tuileries in 1564. Henry IV elaborated a vast scheme for finishing the Tuileries, quadrupling the size of the Louvre, and joining the two palaces by continuing the Grande Galerie to the west. Towards the end of his reign, he also introduced systematic planning and public building programmes for the development of the city, a new trend symbolizing the power of his bureaucracy. Restrictions on domestic building outside the 12th‐century ramparts to prevent the avoidance of taxes, had caused severe overcrowding and a huge strain on the city's water and sewage systems. Building regulations were set down, streets and squares were laid out, and the Hôtel de Ville almost completed. He also built the northern portion of the Pont Neuf in 1598, the first bridge to be unimpeded by dwellings, and incorporated two islets of the Cité with the island. During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Marais became a fashionable aristocratic district, with numerous great hôtels or mansions.

Political conflict and public building in the 17th century
After Henry IV's initiatives towards city planning in the first decade of the 17th century, the reign of his son Louis XIII (1610–1643) continued the trend at a measured pace. In 1614 he laid the foundation stone of the first bridge from the Île St Louis to the right bank, and building began on the island. The Luxembourg Palace and gardens, built by his mother Marie de Médicis (Maria de' Medici) in the style of the Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens of her native Florence, was begun in 1615. Cardinal Richelieu commissioned in 1624 the completion of Henry IV's scheme for the enlargement of the Louvre, and also had built the Hôtel Richelieu, which was later extended by Anne of Austria and renamed the Palais‐Royal. In 1635 Richelieu also founded the Acadèmie Française, a literary society and one of the five academies of the Institut de France.

Disapproval of the administration of Mazarin, chief minister during Louis XIV's minority, culminated in the revolt of the Fronde (1648–52). Attempts by the Paris parlement to limit royal power resulted in the arrest of its leaders, and a city uprising in 1648–49. Order in the form of absolute monarchy was eventually restored by the royal army.

Massive building schemes instituted during the long reign of Louis XIV (1638–1715), resulted in the large‐scale demolition of parts of medieval Paris. During the king's minority the Collège des Quatre‐Nations (1661) was founded, now the Hôtel Quai Conti, home to the Institut de France; and the Hôtel Mazarin, formerly the Bibliothèque Nationale. Louis XIV finished the north wing and river front of the Louvre, and completed the two domed churches of St‐Louis des Invalides and the Val‐de‐Grace. He also commissioned the Hôtel des Invalides as a home for wounded and elderly soldiers. Boulevards were laid out from the Madeleine to the Bastille, and the Porte St‐Martin and Porte St‐Denis were transformed into triumphal arches. During his reign the court resided at Versailles, 24 km/15 mi southwest of Paris, a magnificent baroque palace constructed 1666–87 on the site of his father's hunting lodge; Versailles became the seat of French government from 1682 to 1789.

The French Revolution
With the removal of the court, the citizens of Paris lost their loyalty to the person of the king. The increasing remoteness of the monarchy from the capital was signified by the reduction of royal building works during the reigns of Louis XV (1715–74) and Louis XVI (1774–1792). Throughout the long rule of Louis XV nothing was done towards the completion of the Louvre, although he erected the massive Panthéon to St Geneviève in 1744 in gratitude for his relief from a serious illness, and created the Place Louis XV (now Place de la Concorde). The Faubourg St‐Germain became the favoured district for the wealthy at the beginning of the 18th century, but the centre of the city remained squalid and overcrowded. Efforts were made to improve conditions in the years preceding the Revolution, with the introduction of pavements, better sewerage, and the dismantling of the medieval housing cluttering the bridges. In 1786 building of the fifth circuit, the wall of the Fermiers Généraux, commenced; three of its 57 toll‐gates survive, situated in Place Stalingrad, Place Denfert‐Rochereau, and Place de la Nation.

On 14 July 1789 the storming and destruction of the Bastille signalled the start of the French Revolution, the principal events of which took place in Paris. Attempts by the States General to establish constitutional control over Louis XVI had foundered in disagreement, and led to the formation of a National Assembly by the third (commons) estate. The king retaliated with repressive measures and arrests, and the attack on the Bastille, a state prison, was undertaken in the mistaken belief that it held numerous political prisoners. The right‐wing republican Girondins took control and, after the failure of Louis XVI's bid to escape the city in 1791, the royal family was incarcerated in the Tuileries Palace. In 1792 the Parisian mob stormed the palace, and the extremist republican Jacobins, led by Robespierre, seized power. Having deposed the king, they proclaimed the first French Republic, and condemned the royal family for treason. In the following years, known as the Reign of Terror, thousands of executions took place on the guillotines of the Place de la Concorde, including those of Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette in 1793. The city regained a degree of calm under the Directory (1795–99), a five‐man ruling executive, and the period of neglect and destruction came to an end.

Napoleonic Paris
In 1795 Napoleon Bonaparte suppressed a royalist uprising in Paris, opening fire from the steps of the church of St‐Roche as royalists marched against the Convention. After commanding a series of military campaigns in Italy, Egypt, and Syria, he returned to Paris in 1799 and carried out a coup against the Directory, establishing himself as the First Consul of a dictatorship. He became emperor in 1804, being crowned Napoleon I in Notre Dame in the presence of Pope Pius VII.

Napoleon undertook to modernize Paris, and glorify the city with grand monuments, prestigious architecture, and cultural treasures plundered during the expansion of his empire. His planners drove 60 new streets through the city, and constructed quays on the south bank of the Seine and the Pont des Arts. The colonnade to the Louvre, now a museum, was restored, and the four facades of the Cour Napoleon quadrangle completed. Two triumphal arches were erected: one in the Place de Carrousel and a second, the Arc de Triomphe, in the Place de l'Étoile (now Place Charles de Gaulle). The Arc de Triomphe, with its magnificent group sculpture of La Marseillaise (1833) by François Rude, was finished during the reign of Louis Philippe. In 1814 Napoleon ordered the church of the Madeleine, begun in 1764, to be completed as a ‘Temple of Glory’, although it became a Roman Catholic church when construction ended in 1842. During his administrative reforms, France was divided into 90 départements, and Paris was placed within the département of the Seine.

The Allies occupied Paris in 1814, and Napoleon was replaced by Louis XVIII. After a brief return in 1815, Napoleon was exiled to the island of St Helena, but his body was returned to Paris after his death in 1840, and interred in the Hôtel des Invalides.

For the later history of Paris, see Paris: history from 1815.