THE PALAIS DE JUSTICE
The history of Paris and of France, from the earliest days of their
story, is connected with the Palais de Justice on the western point of
the island on the Seine. The palace stands on the site of the habitation
of the rulers of Lutetia in the days of the Romans, of the first
Merovingian and of the first Capetian kings. The present building, often
reconstructed, restored, enlarged, dates in its foundations and some
other parts from the time of Robert le Pieux. King Robert built the
Conciergerie. Under Louis IX the palace was again considerably enlarged;
the kitchens of St. Louis are an interesting feature in the palace as we
know it. In 1434, Charles VII gave up the palace to the Parliament. It
met in the great hall above St. Louis’ kitchens, and round an immense
table there law tribunals assembled. For the French Parliament of those
times was in some sort a great law-court. Guizot describes it as: “la
cour souveraine du roi, la cour suprême du royaume.” Known in its
earliest days as “Le Conseil du Roi,” its members were the grandees of
the kingdom: vassals, prelates, officers of State, and it was supposed
to follow the King wherever he went, though as a matter of fact it
rarely moved from Paris. When, in course of time, it was considered
desirable that its members should all be able not only to read but to
write, the great nobles of that age declared they were not going to
change their swords for a writing-desk and many withdrew, to be replaced
by men of lesser rank but greater skill in other directions than that of
arms, and who came to be regarded as the _noblesse de la robe_--distinct
from _la noblesse de l’épee_.
[Illustration: LA TOUR DE L’HORLOGE, LES “TOURS POINTUES” DE LA
CONCIERGERIE ET LE MARCHÉ AUX FLEURS]
The big hall of that day and other adjacent halls and passages were
burnt down more than once in olden times, and burnt down again in 1871,
when the Communards wrought havoc on so many fine old buildings of their
city. The most thrilling incidents, the most stirring events in the
history of the Nation had some point of connection with that ancient
palace--often a culminating point. And within those grim walls where the
destinies of men and women of all conditions and ranks were determined,
where tragedy held its own, scenes in lighter vein were not unknown in
ancient days. Mystery plays were often given there, and every year in
the month of May, reputed a “merry month,” even in the Palais de
Justice, the company of men of law known as the “basoche,” planted a
May-tree in the courtyard before the great entrance doors--hence the
name “la Cour de Mai.” It is a tragic courtyard despite its name, for
the Conciergerie prison opened into it; through the door of what is now
the Buvette du Palais--a refreshment-room--men and women condemned to
death passed, in Revolution days, while other men and women, women
chiefly, crowded on the broad steps above to see the laden _charrettes_
start off for the place of execution.
[Illustration: LA SAINTE-CHAPELLE]
The Sainte-Chapelle, that wondrous piece of purest Gothic architecture,
the work of Pierre de Montereau (1245-48) built for the preservation of
sacred relics brought by Louis IX on his return from the Holy Land,
vividly recalls the days when the palace was a royal habitation. Its
upper story was in direct communication with the royal dwelling-rooms;
the lower story was for the palace servants and officials. During the
Revolution the chapel was devastated and used as a club and a
flour-store. The Chambre des Comptes, a beautiful old building in the
courtyard of the Sainte-Chapelle, was destroyed by fire in 1737. Its big
arch was saved and forms part of the Musée Carnavalet (_see_ p. 81). A
chief feature of the _chapelle_ is its exquisite stained glass.
The enlarging of the Palais in recent times (1908) swept away
surrounding relics of bygone ages. Some vestiges of past days still
remain in Rue de Harlay opposite the Palais, to the west--Nos. 20, 54,
52, 68, 74. The buildings of the boulevard du Palais and Rue de Lutèce,
on its eastern side, arrondissement IV, are all modern on ancient
historic sites.
Place Dauphine dates from 1607. It was built as a triangular _place_,
its name referring to the son of Henri IV. In earlier ages, the site
formed two islets, on one of which, l’îlot des Juifs, Jacques de Morlay,
Grand Master of the Templars, suffered death by burning in 1314. A
fountain stood on the Place to the memory of General Desaix, erected by
public subscription, carted away in the time of the first Republic, and
set up at Riom. Painters excluded from the Salon used to exhibit their
work here each year, in the open air, on Corpus Christi day. Some of the
houses still show seventeenth-and eighteenth-century vestiges. No. 28,
now much restored, was Madame Roland’s early home. The writer Halévy
died at 26 (1908).
The Quays of the island bordering the Palais north and south both date
from the sixteenth century. Both have been curtailed by the enlargement
of the Palais. On Quai des Orfèvres, the goldsmith’s quay, from the
first the jewellers’ quarter, still stands the shop once owned by the
jewellers implicated in the affair of the “_Collier de la Reine_.” The
Quai de l’Horloge is still the optician’s quarter and was known in olden
days as Quai des Morfondus, on account of the blasting winds which swept
along it--and do so still in winter-time. The palace clock in the fine
old tower built in the thirteenth century, restored after the ravages of
the Revolution in the nineteenth, from which the quay takes its present
name, is a successor of the first clock seen in France, set up there
about the year 1370. There, too, hung in olden days a great bell rung as
a signal on official occasions, and which perhaps rang out the
death-knell of the Huguenots even before the sounding of the bell at
St-Germain l’Auxerrois, on the eve of St. Bartholomew’s Day, 1572.