Old and New Paris: Its History, Its People, and Its Places, v. 1Edwards, H. Sutherland (Henry Sutherland)
History
Old and New Paris: Its History, Its People, and Its Places, v. 1
Edwards, H. Sutherland (Henry Sutherland)
Paris (France) -- Description and travel; Paris (France) -- History
Each of the towers was designated by a particular name, according to
its history, or the purpose it was intended to serve. The Big Tower was
also called the Ferrand Tower, from the Count of Flanders having been
confined in it; and there were also the Library Tower, where Charles
V. had brought together 959 volumes, which formed the nucleus of the
National Library; the Clock Tower, the Horseshoe Tower, the Artillery
Tower, the Sluice Tower, the Falcon Tower, the Hatchet Tower, the tower
of the Great Chapel, the tower of the Little Chapel, the Tournament
Tower (where the king took up his position to see tournaments and
jousts), besides others. Charles V. added to the Louvre a number of
buildings for tradespeople and domestics, whose services had to be
dispensed with when the Louvre was purely a military building. Such
names as pantry, pastry, saucery, butlery, were given to the different
buildings and departments by the bakers, the pastry-cooks, the makers of
sauces, and the keepers of the wine.
The gardens of the Louvre, though not very extensive, were greatly
admired. Here were to be seen aviaries, a menagerie of wild beasts, and
lists for different kinds of sports and combats. Charles VI., who lived
by preference at the Hôtel St. Pol, increased the fortifications of the
Louvre, and sacrificed to that end the gardens of the king and queen on
the side of the river. The succeeding kings until the time of Francis
I. occupied themselves very little with the Louvre, and scarcely ever
resided there.
During this first period of its history, from Philip Augustus until
Francis I., the Louvre was the scene of numerous historical events. In
1358, during the captivity of King John in England, the citizens of
Paris, in support of the deputies of the communes in the States-General,
besieged and took the Louvre, driving away the governor, and carrying
off to the Hôtel de Ville all the arms and ammunition they could find
in the arsenal of the fortress. Soon afterwards the governor, Pierre
Gaillard, was decapitated by order of the Dauphin Regent for making
so poor a defence. It was at the Louvre, moreover, in 1377, that the
Emperor of Germany, Charles IV., allied himself with Charles V. of
France, to make war upon England.
Under the reign of Charles VI., in 1382, while the king was engaged in
suppressing an insurrection in Flanders, the Parisians, in their turn,
revolted, and proposed to destroy alike the fortress of the Louvre, and
that other fortress, destined five centuries later to fall beneath the
first blows of the Revolution. They were counselled, however, by one of
their leaders to spare both prison and palace; and the advice was sound,
for after quieting the turbulent Flemings, the king returned to Paris
more powerful than ever.
In 1399, Andronicus, and in 1400, Manuel Palæologus, both Emperors of
Constantinople, were entertained at the Louvre, as were also, in 1415,
Sigismund, Emperor of Germany, and, in 1422, the King and Queen of
England.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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