[Gutenberg 42722] • Historic Paris

CHAPTER I THREE PALACES

THE LOUVRE

THE LOUVRE has existed on the selfsame site from the earliest days of the history of Paris and of France. It began as a rough hunting-lodge, erected in the time of the rois faineants —the " do-nothing " kings : a primitive hut-like construction in the dark wolf-haunted forest to the north of the settlement on the islets of the Seine, called LeuteMa, the city of mud, on account of its marshy situation, or Loutouchezi, the watery city, by its Gallic settlers, by the Romans Lutetia Parisiorum—the Paris of that long-gone age. The name Louvre, therefore, may possibly be derived from the Latin word lupus, a wolf. More probably its origin is the old word leouare, whence lower, louvre : a habitation. Lutetia grew in importance, and the royal hunting-lodge in its vicinity was made into a fortress. The city m of mud was soon known by the tribe name only, Parisii-Paris, and the Louvre, freed from surrounding forest trees, came within the city bounds. It was gradually enlarged and strengthened. A white circle in the big court shows the site of the famous gate between two

Grosses Tours built in the time of the warrior-king Philippe-Auguste. Twelve towers of smaller dimensions were added by Charles V. Each tower had its own special battalion of soldiers. The inner chambers of each had their special use. In the Tour du Tresor, the King kept his money and portable objects of great value. In the Tour de la Bibliotheque were stored the books of those days, first collected by King Charles V, and which formed the nucleus of the National Library. Charles V made many other additions and adornments, and the first clocks known in France were placed in the Louvre in the year 1370. About the same time a primitive stove —a chauffe-poele —was first put up there. The grounds surrounding the fortress were laid out with care, the chief garden stretching towards the north. A menagerie was built and peopled ; nightingales sang in the groves. The palace became a sumptuous residence. Sovereigns from foreign lands were received by the Kings of France with great pomp in " Notre Chostel du Louvre, oil nous nous tenons le plus souvent quand noussommes en notre ville de Paris"

The Louvre was the scene of two of the most important political events of the fourteenth century. In the year 1303, when Philippe-le-Bel was King, the second meeting of that imposing assembly of barons, prelates and lesser magnates of the realm which formed, as a matter of fact, the first etats generaux took place there. In 1358, at the time of the rising known as the Jacquerie, fitienne Marcel, Prevot des Marchands, made the Louvre his headquarters. In the fourteenth century a King of England held his court there : Henry V, victorious after Agincourt, kept Christmas in great state in Paris at the Louvre.

The royal palaces of those days, like great abbeys, were fitted with everything that was needed for their upkeep and the sustenance of their staff. Workmen, materials, provisions were at hand, all on the premises. A farm, a Court of Justice, a prison were among the most essential elements of palace buildings and domains. Yet the Louvre with its prestige and its immense accommodation

LE VIEUX LOUVRE

was never inhabited continuously by the Kings of France, and in the sixteenth century the Palace was so completely abandoned as to be on the verge of ruin. Then Francois I, looking forward to the state visit of the Emperor Charles-Quint, sent workmen in haste and in vast numbers to the Louvre, to repair and enlarge. Pierre Lescot, the most distinguished architect of the day, took the great task in hand. The Grosse Tour had already been razed to the ground. The ancient walls to the south and west were now knocked down.