Architecture in Paris in the Second Half of the Fourteenth Century : the Middle Ages Seen trougth the Eyes of Accountants
Résumé
Art historians agree that the court of the Valois Kings and princes did much to support artistic and architectural creation at the end of the 14th century. The uneasy peace which followed the signing of the treaty of Brétigny (1361) allowed Charles V then Charles VI to launch a great number of ambitious projects in Paris. They renewed and developed buildings dating from the reigns of their predecessors Philip Augustus, Louis IX and Philip the Fair. Charles V fortified the northern extension of the city and worked on the Bastille which guarded access from the east He also renovated the Louvre and the Palais de la Cité while guarding a particular place in his heart for his Paris residence , the Hôtel Saint-Paul . His crowning achievement however was the completion of the donjon of Vincennes and the construction of its outer defences.Major projects were set in motion by the great Royal princes: Jean, Duke de Berry, Philip the Bold, Louis of Anjou and Louis of Orléans. Major provincial towns saw the construction of sumptuous buildings displaying the glory of the reigning family. Paris, centre of power par excellence, also benefited from their prodigality. The younger princes undertook to restore their private mansions for example. Thus the emergence of the Valois dynasty and the renewed importance of Royal power was made manifest in stone. The King encouraged great figures beyond the Valois family, Beauvais and La Grange for example, to take an active part in the revival and the enrichment of Parisian architecture, followed thereafter by the entire aristocracy, both lay and church.