Renaissance Paris: Between Splendor and Death

The Renaissance only arrived in France in 1494, when Charles VIII (r. 1483-1498), son of Louis XI, invaded Italy. Following the invasion, the king of France fell under the spell of Italian Renaissance art and brought Italian artists back with him, who began decorating his palaces.

However, under his reign and that of his successor, Louis XII (r. 1498-1515), Renaissance art could mostly be found in the Loire Valley, while Paris itself remained medieval in character. The Renaissance arrived in Paris in full force only under the reign of Francis I (r. 1515-1547). You can still find his emblem, the salamander, hidden in a few spots around the city (try to spot it at Place Léopold-Achille in the Marais, or on the Rue Hirondelle near the Fontaine Saint-Michel).

Several palaces and houses from this era still stand in Paris, the most famous being the new Louvre Palace, whose construction Francis I began about a year before his death. The building work continued under his son, Henri II (r. 1547-1559), and nearly every king and emperor of France who came after added a wing of their own.

Another example of Renaissance architecture in Paris is the Fontaine des Innocents, not far from the Centre Pompidou, which serves as a reminder of an old cemetery that stood on the site until the late 18th century. Beyond the grand building projects, Francis I’s reign is also remembered for a cultural flowering of poetry and prose. If you want a taste of that cultural richness, try reading the books of François Rabelais. The enjoyment is guaranteed.

Alongside the building boom, Francis I’s reign is also known for two revolutions that changed France forever. The first was the Edict of Villers-Cotterêts of 1539, which made the French language the official language of the kingdom (replacing Latin, which had been used in all official documents until then).

The second revolution was not initiated by the king, and it reached France from the German principalities, but its impact on the following century would prove decisive. This was, of course, the Protestant Reformation, begun by Martin Luther (1483-1546), which gained considerable popularity in France, especially among the elite.

French Protestants were known as Huguenots. At the start of Francis I’s reign, they were treated with relative tolerance, but as time went on, the king came to see them as a threat and persecuted them (several prominent Huguenots of the era were burned at the stake at Place Maubert). Despite the persecution, the Huguenot movement continued to grow, and in response, the Catholic League was formed, with the stated goal of destroying the Huguenots and keeping France Catholic.

The Wars of Religion: internal rifts and brutality

Francis I and his son, Henri II, were strong kings, and despite the rising religious tension of their era, they managed to keep internal peace. In 1559, Henri II even reached a peace agreement with Spain, ending 65 years of French involvement in Italy.

But during the peace celebrations, Henri II was killed in a jousting accident, and the barrel of religious gunpowder France had been sitting on exploded. Henri II had four sons, three of whom reigned after him: Francis II (r. 1559-1560), a sickly boy who died at 16, and his two brothers, Charles IX (r. 1560-1574) and Henri III (r. 1574-1589). In practice, the one who ruled the kingdom was their mother, Catherine de’ Medici (1519-1589).

Into the power vacuum this created, the Huguenots and the Catholics were both drawn, and France plunged into a series of bloody civil wars that dragged on, with intervals, for nearly 40 years.

The most famous and brutal event of this period was the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre (August 1572), which took place just days after the wedding of Henri, King of Navarre, leader of the Huguenots, and Marguerite de Valois, daughter of the king of France and sister of King Charles IX. The marriage was meant to put an end to the conflict, but the leaders of the Catholic faction, encouraged by Catherine de’ Medici, decided to seize the opportunity to wipe out the top Huguenot leadership that had gathered in Paris.

The signal to begin the massacre was given by the ringing of the bell at the Église Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois, next to the Louvre. A frenzied Catholic mob poured into the streets and slaughtered thousands of Protestants over the following days. Despite the horror, the massacre failed to destroy the Huguenot movement, and the civil war continued (Henri, King of Navarre, himself survived the massacre thanks to his wife’s intervention).

In 1588, the Duke of Guise, leader of the Catholic League, was assassinated on the orders of King Henri III. In response, the king himself was assassinated by a fanatical Catholic monk in 1589. On his deathbed, Henri III named his brother-in-law, Henri, King of Navarre, as his successor, and he became King Henri IV (r. 1589-1610). Paris, which had been an extreme Catholic stronghold, refused to accept the authority of a Huguenot king, and the civil war went on.

Henri IV was forced to besiege Paris. Although the city came to the brink of starvation, it did not surrender. Finally, in 1593, Henri IV decided to convert to Catholicism, an act to which the famous line “Paris is well worth a Mass” is attributed. Only this way was the king able to enter the city and win over its residents, and a few years later he ended the Wars of Religion with the Edict of Nantes (1598), which granted rights to Protestants.

Henri IV rebuilds Paris

When Henri IV entered Paris in 1594, he found a city shattered and wounded. Together with his capable finance minister, the Duc de Sully, he set about rebuilding France as a whole and Paris in particular. His stated goal was that every peasant in his kingdom should have “a chicken in the pot every Sunday.” Beyond his economic reforms, Henri IV launched grand building projects in Paris and left behind several monuments, some of which brought about an urban revolution.

First, Henri IV continued construction of the Louvre Palace (the wing he built stands on the southwestern side of the palace). The king also built the Pont Neuf (“the new bridge”), the first bridge in Paris built without houses on it, which was a revolution in urban planning. Finally, the king built two royal squares: Place Dauphine, right next to the Pont Neuf, and Place des Vosges, which also marked a revolution in city planning.

Henri IV planned another square, even grander, called Place de France, which was meant to be built in the northern part of the Marais. The plan never came to fruition, because the king was assassinated by a Catholic fanatic in 1610, while stuck in a traffic jam on the Rue de la Ferronnerie.

Recommended films about Renaissance Paris

Episodes from “Once Upon a Time”

The only episode relevant to this period is the one about the Renaissance, which, although it mostly takes place in Italy, describes toward its end the special relationship between Leonardo da Vinci and King Francis I:

More interesting films about the period

The first film I recommend is “La Reine Margot,” based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas, which tells the story of Marguerite de Valois and Henri of Navarre (later Henri IV) against the backdrop of the Wars of Religion.

The second film, “The Return of Martin Guerre,” isn’t set in Paris, but it’s a wonderful film set in 16th-century France, about a soldier presumed dead who returns to his village to find his wife doesn’t recognize him.

Want to read more about the history of Paris?

Feel free to move on to the next chapter in the history of Paris series and learn about other eras in the history of the City of Light.