The Wall of Philip Augustus is the oldest city wall of Paris (France) whose plan is accurately known. Partially integrated into buildings, more traces of it remain than of the later fortifications.

History

The wall was built during the struggles between

Philip II of France Philip II (21 August 1165 – 14 July 1223), byname Philip Augustus (french: Philippe Auguste), was King of France from 1180 to 1223. His predecessors had been known as kings of the Franks, but from 1190 onward, Philip became the first French m ...

(called Philip Augustus) and the Anglo-Norman House of Plantagenet. The French king, before leaving for the

Third Crusade The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt by three European monarchs of Western Christianity (Philip II of France, Richard I of England and Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor) to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by ...

, ordered a stone wall to be built to protect the French capital in his absence.

Origin

The walls were fortified from 1190 to 1213, built under the command of Philip Augustus whom also contributed to the cost of building the wall. Any incoming attack from France's main military threat, the English, would arrive from the western end of the Seine and so the western limit of the wall was placed next to the king's royal palace, the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

. The building of the wall also had the intention to discourage further urban expansion and to stimulate the usage of undeveloped land within the walls. This area of land also had the potential to sustain a growing food supply to sustain the population in the event of a siege. The wall was however never militarily put to the test.

Evolution

Despite the construction during the 14th century of Charles V's wall encircling Philip Augustus' wall on the Right Bank, the latter wall was not demolished. On the

Right Bank In geography, a bank is the land alongside a body of water. Different structures are referred to as ''banks'' in different fields of geography, as follows. In limnology (the study of inland waters), a stream bank or river bank is the terrai ...

, Charles' wall in effect left the earlier wall in disuse and redundant. In 1434, it was still considered strong enough and thick enough for a cart to be driven on top. However, Charles V's wall did not extend to the Left Bank, so the Philip Augustus' old wall was strengthened by: * Excavating a large

ditch A ditch is a small to moderate divot created to channel water. A ditch can be used for drainage, to drain water from low-lying areas, alongside roadways or fields, or to channel water from a more distant source for plant irrigation. Ditches ar ...

in front of the wall and using the spoil behind the wall to reinforce it; * Digging a back-ditch which merged with the main one on some sections of the wall; * Flooding those parts of the ditch that were at the same level as the Seine. Flood water was kept in the ditches by means of locks on the river banks; * Removal of the

battlement A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interv ...

s on the towers and replacing them with conical roofs; * Strengthening of the gates with a barbican, a bridge/ drawbridgeFrench: "un pont dormant et un pont-levis" and a portcullis; * A ''

chemin de ronde A ''chemin de ronde'' (French, "round path"' or "patrol path"; ), also called an allure, alure or, more prosaically, a wall-walk, is a raised protected walkway behind a castle battlement. In early fortifications, high castle walls were difficul ...

'' was built along some sections of the wall for easier movement of artillery.

Destruction

In 1533,

Francis I Francis I or Francis the First may refer to: * Francesco I Gonzaga (1366–1407) * Francis I, Duke of Brittany (1414–1450), reigned 1442–1450 * Francis I of France (1494–1547), King of France, reigned 1515–1547 * Francis I, Duke of Saxe-Lau ...

demolished the Right Bank gates and authorised the leasing of the land enclosed by the wall without authorising the demolition of the wall itself. From the second half of the 16th century, these lands were sold to individuals, and often the cause of the dismantling of large sections of the wall. The Left Bank wall followed the same path under Henry IV. In 1590, he preferred digging ditches beyond the city outskirts to once again modernising the wall. The ditches near the Seine were used as open sewers and caused health problems so in the 17th century they were filled and replaced by covered galleries. The last remaining gates, unsuited to ever-increasing traffic, were razed in the 1680s when the wall became completely invisible.

Construction of the wall

The Philip Augustus' wall enclosed an area of 253 hectares; its length was 2,500 metres on the Left Bank and 2,600 on the Right Bank.John W. Baldwin: ''Paris, 1200'', Aubier, historical collection, 2006, pp. 43–51 The west side was the weakest point of the defence against Norman threat. Near the Seine, Philip Augustus built the Louvre castle with a fortified

donjon A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in ...

and ten defensive towers surrounded by a moat. The construction cost was slightly more than 14,000

livres The (; ; abbreviation: ₶.) was one of numerous currencies used in medieval France, and a unit of account (i.e., a monetary unit used in accounting) used in Early Modern France. The 1262 monetary reform established the as 20 , or 80.88 gr ...

during the roughly twenty years of the construction: representing about 12 percent of the king's annual revenues in the 13th century.

City wall

The wall was between six and eight metres high, including the parapet, about three meters thick at the base. It was made from two walls of large ashlar-faced limestone blocks, reinforced with an infill of rough-hewn stone rubble and mortar. The wall was topped with a crenellated two-metre wide ''chemin de ronde''.

Towers and bastions

The wall had 77 semi-circular towers (flat and integrated into the curtain wall on the town side) at 60-metre intervals. Each stood 15 metres high, with a six-metre diameter, and one-metre thick walls. The bases were vaulted but the higher floors were wooden planked. Four huge bastion towers – 25 metres high with a ten-metre diameter – stood at the points where the wall met the Seine. Their purpose was to defend the city against assault from the river; heavy chains could be stretched across the river to prevent access. On the west side these were: * The

Tour du coin The tour du coin (or tour de la conférence) was one of the corner towers of the ancient wall of Philippe Auguste in Paris, built between 1190 and 1209. The ''Tour du Coin'' of the wall of Philippe-Auguste This is one of the four main towers o ...

, Right Bank, near the Louvre (Quai François Mitterrand) * The

Tour de Nesle The Tour de Nesle () was one of the four large guard towers on the old city wall of Paris, constructed at the beginning of the 13th century by Philip II of France and demolished in 1665. The tower was situated on the left (south) bank of the S ...

, Left Bank (Quai de Conti) On the east side: * The Tour Barbeau, Right Bank (Quai Célestins) * La Tournelle, Left Bank (Quai de la Tournelle)

Gates and posterns

Fifteen large gates opened onto the roads leading to France's main cities. At first, they were identical: an ogival gate closed with two wooden panels set into two 15-metre high and eight-metre diameter towers. Inside the gates two portcullis completed the construction. Simple

postern A postern is a secondary door or gate in a fortification such as a city wall or castle curtain wall. Posterns were often located in a concealed location which allowed the occupants to come and go inconspicuously. In the event of a siege, a postern ...

s – piercing the wall – were added to improve traffic flow. They could be walled up in times of danger (as could the less used or less defensible gates). However, some posterns were intended to be defended.

Traces of the wall

Philip Augustus' walls run through the 1st, 4th,

5th Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five. Fifth or The Fifth may refer to: * Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth" * Fifth column, a political term * Fifth disease, a contagious rash tha ...

and 6th

arrondissements of Paris The City of Paris is divided into twenty '' arrondissements municipaux'', administrative districts, more simply referred to as ''arrondissements'' (). These are not to be confused with departmental arrondissements, which subdivide the larger F ...

. * Left Bank: it is possible to see traces of the wall in the streets along its outer side. These are: rue des Fossés-Saint-Bernard, rue du Cardinal-Lemoine, rue Blainville, rue de l'Estrapade, rue des Fossés-Saint-Jacques, rue Malebranche,

rue Monsieur-le-Prince Rue Monsieur-le-Prince is a street of Paris, located in the 6th arrondissement. It is named after the Prince of Condé, whose palace bordered it. From 1793 to 1805 the street was called ''Rue de la Liberté''. The street features in the title of ...

, rue de l'Ancienne Comédie, rue Mazarine. * Right Bank: Not all traces have completely disappeared. Parts of the wall can still be seen in Rue Charlemagne. It started from the Seine at the level of the current

Pont des Arts The Pont des Arts or Passerelle des Arts is a pedestrian bridge in Paris which crosses the River Seine. It links the Institut de France and the central square (''cour carrée'') of the Palais du Louvre, (which had been termed the "Palais des Ar ...

with the Grosse Tour du Louvre Foundations remain beneath the

Cour Carrée The Cour Carrée (Square Court) is one of the main courtyards of the Louvre Palace in Paris. The wings surrounding it were built gradually, as the walls of the medieval Louvre were progressively demolished in favour of a Renaissance palace. Cons ...

. The wall then went north, then north-east to include the Église Saint-Eustache and to east at the level of the rue Étienne-Marcel and the rue aux Ours. The walls joined the rue Saint-Antoine at the end of the rue Francois Miron. Walls crossed the Ile Saint-Louis, then divided into two small islands. Downstream of the Seine, the wall ended at the

near the

(Right Bank), and the

(formerly ''Tour Hamelin'') on the Left Bank. Upstream, a barrage of heavy chains across the river linked the Tour Barbeau (Right Bank) to the Tour Loriaux (on the island), linked itself to the Tournelle (Left Bank). Chains rested on rafts moored to piles driven deep into the river.

City gates

At the time of its construction, eleven main gates were laid out. Four other main gates, as well as numerous posterns, were added to reflect the city's growth. The main gates were flanked with towers, and either vaulted or left open to the sky, with gabled roofs and portcullis.

Left Bank gates

Initially, there were only five gates on the Left Bank: * Porte Saint-Germain (renamed Porte de Buci in 1352) (rue Saint-André-des-Arts, near the rue Dauphine) * Porte Gibard, Porte d'Enfer, or Porte Saint-Michel (at the corner of

boulevard Saint-Michel Boulevard Saint-Michel () is one of the two major streets in the Latin Quarter of Paris, the other being Boulevard Saint-Germain. It is a tree-lined boulevard which runs south from the Pont Saint-Michel on the Seine and Place Saint-Michel, cross ...

and

) * Porte Saint-Jacques ( rue Saint-Jacques heading south towards Chartres and

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and rue Soufflot ''Ruta graveolens'', commonly known as rue, common rue or herb-of-grace, is a species of ''Ruta'' grown as an ornamental plant and herb. It is native to the Balkan Peninsula. It is grown throughout the world in gardens, especially for its bluis ...

) * Porte Bordet or Porte Bordelles, or Porte Saint-Marcel (rue Descartes, near the rue Thouin) * Porte Saint-Victor heading east (rue des Écoles, near the rue du Cardinal-Lemoine) In 1420, a new gate was built near

Saint-Germain-des-Prés Saint-Germain-des-Prés () is one of the four administrative quarters of the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France, located around the church of the former Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Its official borders are the River Seine on the no ...

: Porte des Cordeliers (at the corner of the rue Monsieur-le-Prince and the rue Dupuytren). It was sometimes called Porte de Buci, named after an older gate further north. Finally, at the end of the 13th century, a postern was built east of the Porte Saint-Jacques, the Porte Papale ("Pope's gate") or Porte Sainte-Geneviève at the end of the current rue d'Ulm.

Right Bank gates

At first, there were six gates on the Right Bank: * Porte Saint-Honoré (

rue Saint-Honoré The rue Saint-Honoré is a street in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. It is named after the collegial situated in ancient times within the cloisters of Saint-Honoré. The street, on which are located a number of museums and upscale bou ...

, at the level of the rue de l'Oratoire) * Porte Montmartre (

rue Montmartre Boulevard Montmartre is one of the four grands boulevards of Paris. It was constructed in 1763. Contrary to what its name may suggest, the road is not situated on the hills of Montmartre. It is the easternmost of the grand boulevards. History ...

, near the rue Étienne-Marcel) * Porte Saint-Denis or Porte aux Peintres ( rue Saint-Denis, at the junction of the rue de Turbigo and the impasse des Peintres). It should not be confused with the

Porte Saint-Denis The Porte Saint-Denis ( en, St. Denis Gate) is a Parisian monument located in the 10th arrondissement, at the site of one of the gates of the Wall of Charles V, one of Paris' former city walls. It is located at the crossing of the Rue Saint-De ...

in Charles V's wall, rebuilt under Louis XIV and still extant today. * Porte Saint-Martin (rue Saint-Martin, near the rue du Grenier-Saint-Lazare). It should not be confused with the

Porte Saint-Martin The Porte Saint-Martin ( en, St. Martin Gate) is a Parisian monument located at the site of one of the gates of the now-destroyed fortifications of Paris. It is located at the crossing of Rue Saint-Martin, Rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin and the '' g ...

of the

wall of Charles V The wall of Charles V, built from 1356 to 1383 is one of the city walls of Paris. It was built on the right bank of the river Seine outside the wall of Philippe Auguste. In the 1640s, the western part of the wall of Charles V was demolished and ...

, rebuilt under Louis XIV and also still extant today. * Porte Saint-Antoine, or Porte Baudet, or Porte Baudoyer (rue Saint-Antoine, at the level of the rue de Sévigné) * Porte du Louvre between the fortress of

and the

, linking the wall to the Seine. Two posterns were built between the Porte Saint-Antoine and the Seine, as well as the Barbette postern (rue Vieille-du-Temple, between the rue des Blancs-Manteaux and the rue des Francs-Bourgeois) During the 13th century, other posterns were added: * Poterne Coquillière (rue Coquillière, near the rue Jean-Jacques-Rousseau) * Poterne d'Artois (

rue Montorgueil Rue Montorgueil () is a street in the 1st arrondissement and 2nd arrondissement (in the Montorgueil-Saint Denis-Les Halles district) of Paris, France. Lined with restaurants, cafés, bakeries, fish stores, cheese shops, wine shops, produce stan ...

) * Poterne Beaubourg. The last gate was added in 1280: * Porte du Temple (rue du Temple, between the rue de Braque and the

rue Rambuteau The Rue Rambuteau is a street in Paris, France, named after the Count de Rambuteau who started the widening of the road prior to Haussmann's renovation of Paris. The philosopher Henri Lefebvre lived on the street and observed from his window the ...

)

Remaining sections

Some sections of the wall remain visible: * n°9–11 Rue du Louvre: it is possible to see the inner side of a tower and its base. It was rediscovered when a ventilation shaft was dug during the construction of the

Paris Métro Line 14 Paris Métro Line 14 (French: ''Ligne 14 du métro de Paris'') is one of the sixteen lines on the Paris Métro. It connects the stations Mairie de Saint-Ouen and Olympiades on a north-west south-east diagonal via the three major stations of G ...

(Meteor). * n°57–59 Rue des Francs-Bourgeois: this is the narrow entrance to Credit Municipal de Paris. From the street, a brick tower is visible: it was built in the 19th century on medieval foundations. Two lines are drawn on the pavement of the courtyard, following the line of the curtain wall. * At the corner of rue Charlemagne and rue des Jardins-Saint Paul may be seen the longest part (60 metres) of the wall as well as a quarter of the Tour Montgomery, named after the captain of the

Scottish guard The Scottish Guards () was a bodyguard unit founded in 1418 by the House of Valois, Valois Charles VII of France, to be personal bodyguards to the French monarchy. They were assimilated into the ''Maison du Roi'' and later formed the first compan ...

of Henry II who was jailed after accidentally killing the king during a

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

. This tower defended the Poterne Saint-Paul and is linked to another restored tower in the middle of the sports ground by a 7.6-metre-high ( curtain wall). * n°1–5

rue Clovis ''Ruta graveolens'', commonly known as rue, common rue or herb-of-grace, is a species of '' Ruta'' grown as an ornamental plant and herb. It is native to the Balkan Peninsula. It is grown throughout the world in gardens, especially for its bl ...

: one of the best kept parts of the curtain wall is visible. However, the original walk is not accessible to the public.

References

Bibliography

* Danielle Chadych et Dominique Leborgne: ''Atlas de Paris'', Parigramme, 2002, . * Jacques Hillairet: ''Dictionnaire historique des rues de Paris''. * John W.Baldwin: ''Paris, 1200'', Aubier, collection historique, 2006, . *''This page is a translation of its French equivalent.''

External links

*
Website about Philip Augustus with a detailed list of the vestiges of the wall
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wall Of Philip Ii Augustus, Paris 1190 establishments in Europe 1190s establishments in France Fortifications of Paris Geography of Paris Urban planning in France City walls in France Military history of France 12th-century fortifications Philip II of France