THE TOPOGRAPHICAL EVOLUTION OF THE 
CITY OF PARIS 1 
By Edward R. Smith, B.A. 
Reference Librarian, Avery Architectural Library, Columbia University 
II.— The Medieval City 
I F we reckon the medieval life of France 
from the conversion of Clovis at the battle 
of Tolbiac in 496 to the invasion of Italy by 
Charles VIII. in 1494, the period is one 
thousand years — about one half the historic 
existence of the City of Paris. 'These cen¬ 
turies are so rich in event, in romance, in 
artistic production of all kinds, that to give 
an adequate description of them is, of course, 
impossible. Our purpose is 
not so broad. Attempting, 
as we do, to cast our atten¬ 
tion upon one phase of a 
vast subject, we may be able 
to make intelligible the im¬ 
pression which is received. 
When Clovis centered in 
himself the rapacious im¬ 
pulses which led to the in¬ 
vasion of Gallo-Roman ter¬ 
ritory by the Francs, he 
found a decadent, but still 
splendid, civilization ; large 
cities, fine roads, efficient 
general and local organiza¬ 
tion, and above all a power¬ 
ful religious hierarchy, which 
had replaced, to a great ex¬ 
tent, the central imperium of 
Rome. He was a savage, 
undoubtedly, but broad enough in his in¬ 
telligence to appreciate existing conditions, 
and to use forces which lay at hand. 
EARLY TERRITORIAL DIVISIONS OF PARIS 
The City of Paris came to Clovis (481 — 
511) with his wife Clotilde in 493. In the 
division of territory which followed his death, 
Paris became the capital of his son Childebert 
(511-558). Childebert was deeply religious 
in medieval fashion, and, acting under the in¬ 
fluence of Saint-Germain, bishop of Paris (55 5- 
574), left his mark indelibly upon the city. 
'There is still in existence, and published 
1 Continued from the August number of House and Garden. 
THE OLDEST KNOWN SEAL OF 
THE PREVOTE DES MARCHANDS 
From “ Histoire de Paris" — Yriarte 
by Lasteyrie in his Cartulaire general de 
Paris , the charter, dated December 6, 558, 
which may or may not be authentic, by 
which Childebert founded the Benedictine 
Abbey of Saint-Vincent et Saint-Croix, called, 
after the bishop’s death, Saint-Germain. It 
was later named Saint-Germain-des-Pres {a 
pratis , in the fields), to distinguish it from 
Saint-Germain-TAuxerrois near the Louvre. 
The vast estate given to the 
abbey comprised, in the 
ninth century, the region 
from the Petit-Pont to the 
Tour Eiffel and as far back 
from the river as the Cime- 
tiere du Mont Parnasse, four 
thousand meters east and west 
and two thousand eight hun¬ 
dred meters north and south, 
an area which became later 
the bourg and faubourg Saint- 
Germain. An interesting 
part of this territory was the 
so-called Clos de Laas , or 
Lias , old French for grange, 
or farm, which is supposed 
to have replaced, almost pre¬ 
cisely, the gardens of the 
Palais des Thermes described 
in our first article. That is, 
the region, roughly, between the Place Saint- 
Michel and the Institut, the river and the 
Boulevard Saint-Germain. Its chief monu¬ 
ment was the Church of Saint-Andre-des- 
Arts. 'The Rue Saint-Andre-des-Arts was 
cut through early in the Middle Ages, and 
still remains the most important thorough¬ 
fare of this region. 
The property in the immediate vicinity of 
the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Pres was 
protected by a strong wall, and this enclosure 
or clos was filled with fine buildings. The 
only one of these which survives is the abbey 
church, the most important example of the 
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