OF SIX MEDLEVAL WOMEN 



which had been the home of the French kings 

 since the days of Philip Augustus, found no 

 favour in his sight as a place of residence, and 

 he quickly set about building the sumptuous 

 Hotel de St. Paul, in what is now known as the 

 " Quartier de TArsenal." The Louvre he destined 

 for official functions, for an arsenal, and for his 

 library. To form a library was no new thing in 

 Paris. Some thirty years earlier Richard de 

 Bury, Bishop of Durham (1333) and sometime 

 Chancellor of England, speaks of his frequent 

 ambassadorial visits to " Paris, the Paradise of 

 the World, with its delightful libraries, where 

 the days seemed ever few, for the greatness 

 of our love." And he adds, " unfastening our 

 purse-strings, we scattered money with joyous 

 heart, and purchased inestimable books." But 

 whilst it is true that Charles's predecessors had 

 collected books, none before had thought of 

 forming a library for public use, and Charles's 

 work, as M. Delisle remarks, was really the 

 first germ of the Bibliotheque Nationale. 1 

 To collect books was one of his greatest delights, 

 and he spared no trouble or money to make his 

 library as complete as possible. This taste for 

 books he may have inherited from his father, 

 King John, who, learning to read from a beautiful 

 Book of Hours, early acquired a love of books 

 from his mother, Jeanne of Burgundy. Charles 

 also loved to lend or make presents of books, 



1 L. Delisle, Recherches sur la Rbraire de Charles V, Paris, 

 1907. 



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