West façade of Saint Denis

The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Denis (French: Cathédrale royale de Saint-Denis, or simply Basilique Saint-Denis, previously the Abbaye de Saint-Denis) is a large medieval abbey church in the commune of Saint-Denis, now a northern suburb of Paris. The abbey church was created a cathedral in 1966 and is the seat of the Bishop of Saint-Denis, Pascal Michel Ghislain Delannoy. The building is of unique importance historically and architecturally.

The site originated as a Gallo-Roman cemetery, in late Roman times - the archeological remains still lie beneath the cathedral; the people buried there seem to have had a faith that was a mix of Christian and pre-Christian beliefs and practices^[1]. Around 475 St. Genevieve purchased some of the land and built a church. In the 7th century, the earlier church was replaced by a much grander construction, on the orders of Dagobert I; it is claimed that Dagobert also moved the body of Saint Denis, a patron saint of France, to the building.

The church became a place of pilgrimage and the burial place of the French Kings, nearly every king from the 10th to the 18th centuries being buried there, as well as many from the previous centuries. (It was not used for the coronations of kings, this role being designated to the Cathedral of Reims; however, queens were commonly crowned there.) "Saint-Denis" soon became the abbey church of a growing monastic complex. In the 12th century the Abbot Suger rebuilt portions of the abbey church using innovative structural and decorative features that were drawn from a number of other sources. In doing so, he is said to have created the first truly Gothic building.^[2] The basilica's 13th century nave is also the prototype for the Rayonnant Gothic style, and provided an architectural model for cathedrals and abbeys of northern France, England and other countries.

Background[link]

Saint Denis is a patron saint of France and, according to legend, was the first bishop of Paris. Legend says that he was decapitated on the Hill of Montmartre. To account for his tomb being at Saint Denis, several miles away, legend states that Denis carried his head to the site of the current church, thereby indicating where he wanted to be buried.

According to related legends a martyrium was subsequently erected on the site of his grave; the high altar, of the churches later built on the site, were said to be located immediately above the martyrium of St. Denis. Archeologique excavations have revealed a very large pit immediately under the alter, rather than a tomb; in the pit are animal bones and Roman pot fragments, but it does not contain a body^[3] - it is not a grave. The pit is on public display in the crypt archeologique (in situ).

Dagobert's church[link]

15th century painting by the Master of Saint Giles, showing St Denis saying mass before Charlemagne or Charles Martel with what is thought to be a largely accurate view of the abbey with a crux gemmata given by Charles the Bald and gold altar frontal, both destroyed in the Revolution.

Dagobert, the king of the Franks (reigned 628 to 637), refounded the church as the Abbey of Saint Denis, a Benedictine monastery. Dagobert also commissioned a new shrine to house the saint's remains, which was created by his chief councillor, Eligius, a goldsmith by training. It was described in an early vita of Saint Eligius:

Above all, Eligius fabricated a mausoleum for the holy martyr Denis in the city of Paris with a wonderful marble ciborium over it marvelously decorated with gold and gems. He composed a crest [at the top of a tomb] and a magnificent frontal and surrounded the throne of the altar with golden axes in a circle. He placed golden apples there, round and jeweled. He made a pulpit and a gate of silver and a roof for the throne of the altar on silver axes. He made a covering in the place before the tomb and fabricated an outside altar at the feet of the holy martyr. So much industry did he lavish there, at the king's request, and poured out so much that scarcely a single ornament was left in Gaul and it is the greatest wonder of all to this very day.^[4]

None of this work survives.

Architecture[link]

The choir

The north transept rose shows the Creation.

The Basilica of St Denis is an architectural landmark as it was the first major structure of which a substantial part was designed and built in the Gothic style. Both stylistically and structurally it heralded the change from Romanesque architecture to Gothic architecture. Before the term "Gothic" came into common use, it was known as the "French Style" (Opus Francigenum).

As it now stands, the church is a large cruciform building of "basilica" form, that is, it has a central nave with lower aisles and clerestory windows. It has an additional aisle on the northern side formed of a row of chapels. The west front has three portals, a rose window and one tower, on the southern side. The eastern end, which is built over a crypt, is apsidal, surrounded by an ambulatory and a chevet of nine radiating chapels. The basilica retains stained glass of many periods (although most of the panels from Suger's time have been removed for long-term conservation and replaced with photographic transparencies), including exceptional modern glass, and a set of twelve misericords.

The Carolingian church[link]

Little is known about the earliest buildings on the site. The first church mentioned in the chronicles was begun in 754 under Pepin the Short and completed under Charlemagne, who was present at its consecration in 775. Most of what is now known about the Carolingian church at St Denis resulted from a lengthy series of excavations begun under the American art historian Sumner McKnight Crosby in 1937.^[5] The building was about 60m long, with a monumental westwork, single transepts, a crossing tower and a lengthy eastern apse over a large crypt (parts of which survive). According to one of the Abbey's many foundation myths a leper, who was sleeping in the nearly-completed church the night before its planned consecration, witnessed a blaze of light from which Christ, accompanied by St Denis and a host of angels emerged to conduct the consecration ceremony himself. Before leaving, Christ healed the leper, tearing off his diseased skin to reveal a perfect complexion underneath. A mishapen patch on a marble column was said to be the leper's former skin, which stuck there when Christ discarded it. Fantastical though they may seem now, the popularity of such myths in medieval accounts go some way to explaining why any redevelopment of the original church was a sensitive matter and why Suger found it necessary to go to such lengths to justify his changes. Having been consecrated by Christ, the fabric of the building was itself regarded as sacred.^[6]

The Early Gothic rebuilding[link]

Abbot Suger (circa 1081-1151), friend and confidant of French kings and Abbot of St Denis from 1122, began work around 1135 on the rebuilding and enlarging of the abbey to which he had been given as an oblate at the age of 10. In his famous account of the work undertaken during his administration, Suger was careful to explain and justify his decision to rebuild the church, complaining at length about the parlous state of the old structure and its inability to cope with the crowds of pilgrims visiting the shrine of St Denis, particularly

...on special days such as the feast of the blessed Denis [...] when the narrowness of the place forced women to run to the altar on the heads of men as on a pavement with great anguish and confusion.^[7]

It is important to emphasise that Suger was the patron of the rebuilding of St Denis but not the architect, as was often assumed in the 19th and early 20th centuries.^[8] In fact it appears that two distinct architects, or master masons, were involved in the 12th century changes. Both remain anonymous but their work can be distinguished on stylistic grounds. The first, who was responsible for the initial work at the western end, favoured conventional Romanesque capitals and moulding profiles with rich and individualised detailing. His successor, who completed the western facade and upper stories of the narthex, before going on to build the new choir, displayed a more restrained approach to decorative effects, relying on a simple repertoire of motifs, which may have proved more suitable for the lighter Gothic style that he helped to create.^[9]

First phase - the westwork, c.1135-40[link]

Tympanum and lintel of the central portal, showing Last Judgement iconography (c.1135, restored 1839)

Suger began his rebuilding project at the western end of St Denis, demolishing the old Carolingian westwork, with its single, centrally located door. He extended the old nave westwards by an additional four bays and added a massive western narthex, incorporating a new façade and three chapels on the first floor level. This new westwork, 34m wide and 20m deep, featured three great doorways, the central one larger than those either side, reflecting the relative sizes of the nave's central vessel and lateral aisles within. This tripartite arrangement was clearly influenced by the late 11th century façades of the abbey churches of St Etienne and La Trinité in Caen, 150 miles to the west, with which it also shared a three story elevation and flanking towers (of which only the south tower survives, its partner having been dismantled following clumsy repairs in the 1840s).

The major innovation in the façade at St Denis is the way the unknown architects have chosen to emphasise the divisions between the different parts, with massive vertical buttresses separating the three doorways and with horizontal string-courses and window arcades clearly marking out the vertical divisions. As well as its obvious influence on subsequent west façade designs, this clear delineation of parts is a common theme in the development of Gothic architecture and a marked departure from earlier Romanesque designs. Also innovative was the rose window at the centre of the upper story of the west portal (destroyed during the Revolution - the current window is a 19th century replacement). Although small circular windows (oculi) within triangular tympana were common on the west facades of Italian Romanesque churches, this was probably the first example of a rose window within a square frame, which was to become a dominant feature of the Gothic facades of northern France (soon to be imitated at Chartres Cathedral and many others).^[10] The overall design of the façade has an obvious resemblance to a Roman city gatehouse (an impression strengthened by the buttresses and by the crenellations around the top), which helps to emphasise the traditional notion of great churches as earthly embodiments of the Heavenly City, as described in the Book of Ezekiel.

The tympanum of the portal of the north transept depicts the martyrdom of St Denis

Some of Montfaucon's drawings of the Old Testament jamb figures from the west façade (destroyed 1771)

Among the many influential features of the new façade were the tall, thin statues of Old Testament prophets and kings attached to columns (jamb figures) flanking the portals (destroyed in 1771 but recorded in Montfaucon's drawings). These were also adopted at the cathedrals of Paris and Chartres, constructed a few years later, and became a feature of almost every Gothic portal thereafter. Above the doorways, the central tympanum was carved with a Last Judgement scene; Christ enthroned, displaying his wounds with the dead emerging from their tombs below. Scenes from the martyrdom of St Denis were carved above the south (right hand) portal, while above the north portal was a mosaic (lost), even though this was, as Suger put it 'contrary to the modern custom'. Of the original sculpture, very little remains, most of what is now visible being the result of rather clumsy restoration work in 1839.^[11]. Some fragments of the original sculptures survive in the collection of the Musée de Cluny. The portals themselves were sealed by gilded bronze doors, ornamented with scenes from Christ's Passion and clearly recording Suger's patronage with the following inscription;

For the glory of the church which nurtured and raised him, Suger strove for the glory of the church, Sharing with you what is yours, oh martyr Denis. He prays that by your prayers he should become a sharer in Paradise. The year when it was consecrated was the one thousand, one hundred and fortieth year of the Word.^[12]

On the lintel below the great tympanum showing the Last Judgement, beneath a carved figure of the kneeling Abbot, was inscribed the more modest plea;

Receive, stern Judge, the prayers of your Suger, Let me be mercifully numbered among your sheep.

Suger's western extension was completed in 1140 and the three new chapels in the narthex were consecrated on 9th June of that year.

Second phase - the new choir, 1140-44[link]

The axial chapel of the Virgin, part of the choir wanted by Suger.

On completion of the west front, Abbot Suger moved on to the reconstruction of the eastern end, leaving the Carolingian nave in use. He wanted a choir (chancel) that would be suffused with light. To achieve his aims, Suger's masons drew on the several new elements which evolved or had been introduced to Romanesque architecture: the pointed arch, the ribbed vault, the ambulatory with radiating chapels, the clustered columns supporting ribs springing in different directions and the flying buttresses which enabled the insertion of large clerestory windows.

It was the first time that these features had all been drawn together. Erwin Panofsky argued that Suger was inspired to create a physical representation of the Heavenly Jerusalem, however the extent to which Suger had any aims higher than aesthetic pleasure has been called into doubt by more recent art historians on the basis of Suger's own writings.

The new structure was finished and dedicated on June 11, 1144, in the presence of the King.^[13] The Abbey of St Denis thus became the prototype for further building in the royal domain of northern France. Through the rule of the Angevin dynasty, the style was introduced to England and spread throughout France, the Low Countries, Germany, Spain, northern Italy and Sicily.^[14][15]

The Rayonnant rebuilding of the nave[link]

The glazed triforium of St Denis is a notable feature of Rayonnant Gothic

In 1231, Abbot Odo Clement began work on the rebuilding of the Carolingian nave, which remained sandwiched incongruously between Suger's far more up-to-date Gothic works to the east and west. From the start it appears that Abbot Odo, with the approval of the Regent Blanche of Castille and her son, the young King Louis IX, planned for the new nave and its large crossing to have a much clearer focus as the French 'royal necropolis'. That plan was fulfilled in 1264 when the bones of 16 former kings and queens were relocated to new tombs arranged around the crossing - 8 Carolingian monarchs to the south and 8 Capetians the north.^[16] These tombs, featuring life-like carved recumbent effigies or gisants lying on raised bases, were badly damaged during the French revolution though all but two were subsequently restored by Viollet le Duc in 1860.

The dark romanesque nave, with its thick walls and small window openings, was rebuilt using the very latest techniques, in what is now known as Rayonnant Gothic. This new style, which differed from Suger's earlier works as much as they had differed from their Romanesque precursors, reduced the wall area to an absolute minimum. Solid masonry was replaced with vast window openings filled with brilliant stained glass (all destroyed in the Revolution) and interrupted only by the most slender of bar tracery - not only in the clerestory but also, perhaps for the first time, in the normally dark triforium level. The upper facades of the two much-enlarged transepts were filled with two spectacular 12m-wide rose windows.^[17] As with Suger's earlier rebuilding work, the identity of the architect or master mason is unknown. Although often attributed to Pierre de Montreuil, the only evidence for his involvement is an unrelated document of 1247 which refers to him as 'a mason from Saint-Denis'.^[18]

The Valois Mortuary Chapel[link]

A plan of circa 1700 by Félibien shows a large mortuary chapel in the form of a domed colonnaded "rotunda", adjoining the north transept of the basilica and containing the tomb of the Valois.^[19]

Burial site[link]

The nave

The abbey is where the kings of France and their families were buried for centuries and is therefore often referred to as the "royal necropolis of France". All but three of the monarchs of France from the 10th century until 1789 have their remains here. Some monarchs, like Clovis I (465-511), were not originally buried at this site. The remains of Clovis I were exhumed from the despoiled Abbey of St Genevieve which he founded.

The abbey church contains some fine examples of cadaver tombs. The effigies of many of the kings and queens are on their tombs, but during the French Revolution, these tombs were opened by workers under orders from revolutionary officials. The bodies were removed and dumped in two large pits nearby and dissolved with lime. Archaeologist Alexandre Lenoir saved many of the monuments from the same revolutionary officials by claiming them as artworks for his Museum of French Monuments.

The bodies of the beheaded King Louis XVI, his wife Marie Antoinette of Austria, and his sister Madame Élisabeth were not initially buried in Saint-Denis, but rather in the churchyard of the Madeleine, where they were covered with quicklime. The body of the Dauphin, who died of an illness, was buried in an unmarked grave in a Parisian churchyard near the Temple.

Memorial to King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette, sculptures by Edme Gaulle and Pierre Petitot

Napoleon Bonaparte reopened the church in 1806, but allowed the royal remains to be left in their mass graves. During Napoleon's exile in Elba, the restored Bourbons ordered a search for the corpses of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. The few remains, a few bones that were presumably the king's and a clump of greyish matter containing a lady's garter, were found on January 21, 1815, brought to Saint-Denis and buried in the crypt. In 1817 the mass graves containing all the other remains were opened, but it was impossible to distinguish any one from the collection of bones. The remains were therefore placed in an ossuary in the crypt of the church, behind two marble plates with the names of the hundreds of members of the succeeding French dynasties that were interred in the church duly recorded.

King Louis XVIII, upon his death in 1824, was buried in the center of the crypt, near the graves of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. The coffins of royal family members that died between 1815 and 1830 were also placed in the vaults. Under the direction of architect Viollet-le-Duc, famous for his work on Notre-Dame de Paris, church monuments that were taken to the Museum of French Monuments were returned to the church. The corpse of King Louis VII, who had been buried at the Abbey at Saint-Pont and whose tomb had not been touched by the revolutionaries, was brought to Saint-Denis and buried in the crypt. In 2004 the mummified heart of the Dauphin, the boy that would have been Louis XVII, was sealed into the wall of the crypt.

Burials[link]

Charles I of Naples (or Anjou).

Tomb of Charles Martel.

Henry I in background, Robert II, John I d. 1316 and Jeanne d. 1349

Tombs of Henry II of France and his wife Catherine de' Medici.

Tomb of Leon V of Armenia.

Tomb of Philip IV.

Saint Denis Basilica - (From left clockwise) Gisants Bertrand du Guesclin, Charles VI, Isabeau of Bavaria, Louis de Sancerre, Charles V, Jeanne de Bourbon

Kings[link]

All but three of the Kings of France are buried in the basilica, as well as a few other monarchs. The remains of the earlier monarchs were removed from the destroyed Abbey of St Genevieve. Some of the prominent of these are:

• Clovis I (465 - 511)
• Childebert I (496 - 558)
• Arégonde (c.515 - c.573)
• Fredegonde (Wife of Chilperic I of Neustria) (? - 597)
• Dagobert I (603 - 639)
• Clovis II (635 - 657)
• Charles Martel (686 - 741)
• Pippin the Younger (714 - 768) and his wife Bertrada of Laon (726-783)
• Carloman I King of the Franks (c.751 - 771)
• Charles the Bald (823 - 877) (his monument was melted down) and his wife, Ermentrude of Orléans (823 - 869)
• Carloman (866 - 884)
• Robert II the Pious (972–1031) and Constance of Arles (c. 986 - 1032)
• Henry I (1008–1060)
• Louis VI (1081–1137)
• Louis VII (1120–1180) and Constance of Castile (1141–1160)
• Philip II Augustus (1180–1223)
• Charles I of Naples (1226–1285), king of the Two Sicilies (1266–85). An effigy covers his heart burial.
• Philip III the Bold (1245–1285)
• Philip IV the Fair (1268–1314) and Isabella of Aragon (1247 – 1271)
• Leo V of Armenia (1342–1393)
• Louis XII of France (1462–1515)
• Francis I (1494–1547)
• Henry II (1519–1559) and Catherine de' Medici (1519 – 1589)
• Francis II (1544 – 1560)
• Charles IX (1550–1574) (no monument)
• Henry III (1551–1589), also King of Poland (heart burial monument)
• Henry IV (1553–1610)
• Louis XIII (1601 – 1643)
• Louis XIV (1638 – 1715)
• Louis XV (1710 – 1774),
• Louis XVI (1754 – 1793) and Marie Antoinette (1755 – 1793)
• Louis XVII (1785–1795) (Only his heart. His body was dumped into a mass grave)
• Louis XVIII (1755–1824)

Other royalty and nobility[link]

• Nicolas Henri, Duke of Orléans (1607–1611), son of Henry IV,
• Gaston, Duke of Orléans (1608–1660), son of Henry IV,
  • Marie de Bourbon, Duchess of Montpensier (1605–1627), wife of Gaston,
  • Marguerite of Lorraine (1615–1672), Duchess of Orléans and second wife of Gaston,
  • Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans (1627–1693), la Grande Mademoiselle,
  • Marguerite Louise d'Orléans (1645–1721), Grand Duchess of Tuscany,
  • Jean Gaston d'Orléans, (1650–1652), Duke of Valois,
  • Marie Anne d'Orléans, (1652–1656), Mademoiselle de Chartres
• Henrietta Maria of France (1609–1669), queen consort of Charles I of Scotland and England,
• Philippe of France, Duke of Orléans, (1640–1701), brother of Louis XIV,
  • Princess Henrietta of England (1644–1670), first wife of Philippe,
  • Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate (1652–1722), second wife of Philippe,
• Marie Thérèse of Austria (1638–1683), consort of Louis XIV,
  • Louis of France (1661–1711), le Grand Dauphin,
  • Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria (!660-1690), Dauphin of France, wife of Louis,
  • Princess Anne Élisabeth of France (1662), daughter of Louis XIV,
  • Princess Marie Anne of France (1664), daughter of Louis XIV,
  • Marie Thérèse of France (1667–1672), daughter of Louis XIV,
  • Philippe Charles, Duke of Anjou (1668–1671), Duke of Anjou, son of Louis XIV
  • Louis François of France (1672), Duke of Anjou, son of Louis XIV,
• Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (1674–1723), Regent of France,
• Louis of France (1682–1712), Duke of Burgundy,
  • Marie Adélaïde of Savoy (1685–1712), Duchess of Burgundy,
  • Louis of France (1704–1705), Duke of Brittany,
  • Louis of France (1707–1712), Duke of Brittany,
• Charles of France (1686–1714), Duke of Berry,
  • Marie Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans (1693–1714), Duchess of Berry,
  • Na (not baptized) d'Alençon (1711)
  • Charles d'Alençon(1713) Duke of Alençon,
  • Marie Louise Élisabeth d'Alençon (1714)
• Marie Leszczyńska (1703–1768), consort of Louis XV,
  • Louise Élisabeth of France (1727–1759), Duchess of Parma,
  • Henriette of France (1727–1752), daughter of Louis XV and twin of the above,
  • Louise of France (1728–1733), daughter of Louis XV,
  • Louis of France (1729–1765), Dauphin of France,
    • Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain (1726–1746), first wife of above,
    • Maria Josepha of Saxony (1731–1767), second wife of Louis,
  • Philippe of France (1730–1733), Duke of Anjou,
  • Princess Marie Adélaïde of France (1732–1800), daughter of Louis XV,
  • Princess Victoire of France (1733–1799), daughter of Louis XV,
  • Princess Sophie of France (1734–1782), daughter of Louis XV,
  • Princess Louise Marie of France (1737–1787), daughter of Louis XV,
  • Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France (1781–1789), first son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette
  • Princess Sophie Hélène Béatrice of France (1786–1787), second daughter of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette
• Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne (1611–1675), Maréchal General de France.

Gallery[link]

• 

  The choir

• 

  The clerestory windows

• 

  The choir at sunset

• 

  Tomb of Louis XII and Anne de Bretagne

• 

  Tomb of Dagobert I

• 

  Detail from the 12th-c. Life of Christ window

• 

  Depiction of the Trinity over the main entrance

• 

  Fulrad, Abbot of Saint-Denis

See also[link]

• Cathedral diagram

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Félibien, Michel. 1973. Histoire de l'abbaye royale de Saint-Denys en France: Lettre-préf. de M. le Duc de Bauffremont. Introd. de Hervé Pinoteau. 1. [Nachdr. d. Ausg. Paris, 1706]. - 1973. - 524 S. Paris: Éd. du Palais Royal.
• Saint-Denis Cathedral, Alain Erlande-Brandenburg, Editions Ouest-France, Rennes

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Basilique Saint-Denis or Tombs in Saint-Denis

• Detailed list of members of the French Royal families buried in Saint Denis Basilica
• The Treasures of Saint Denis - scholarly article from 1915 on the important and mostly destroyed treasures
• L'Internaute Magazine: Diaporama (French)
• Satellite image from Google Maps
• Saint-Denis, a town in the Middle Ages
• Photos of tombs and the Basilica (French)

Coordinates: 48°56′08″N 2°21′35″E / 48.93556°N 2.35972°E / 48.93556; 2.35972

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2012)

Saint-Denis
Saint Denis Basilica
Paris and inner ring departments
Location within Île-de-France region  Saint-Denis
Administration
Country	France
Region	Île-de-France
Department	Seine-Saint-Denis
Arrondissement	Saint-Denis
Intercommunality	Plaine Commune
Mayor	Didier Paillard
Statistics
Land area1	12.36 km2 (4.77 sq mi)
Population2	105,749  (2009)
- Density	8,556 /km2 (22,160 /sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	93066/ 93200, 93210 (La Plaine)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Coordinates: 48°56′11″N 2°21′17″E / 48.9364°N 2.3547°E / 48.9364; 2.3547

Saint-Denis (French pronunciation: [sɛ̃ dəni]) is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 9.4 km (5.8 mi) from the centre of Paris. Saint-Denis is a subprefecture (French: sous-préfecture) of the department of Seine-Saint-Denis, being the seat of the arrondissement of Saint-Denis.^{[citation needed]}

Saint-Denis is home to the royal necropolis of the Basilica of Saint Denis and was also the location of the associated abbey. It is also home to France's national stadium, the Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup.^{[citation needed]}

Saint-Denis is a formerly industrial suburb currently reconverting its economic base. Inhabitants of Saint-Denis are called Dionysiens.^{[citation needed]}

Name[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Until the 3rd century, Saint-Denis was a large settlement called Catcolacus or Catculliacum, probably meaning "estate of Catullius", a Gallo-Roman landowner. About 250 CE, the first bishop of Paris, Saint Denis, was martyred on Montmartre hill and buried in Catolacus. Later,^[when?] his grave became a shrine and a pilgrimage center, with the building of the Abbey of Saint Denis, and the settlement was renamed^[when?] Saint-Denis.^{[citation needed]}

In 1793, during the French Revolution, Saint-Denis was renamed Franciade in a gesture of rejection of religion. In 1803, however, under the Consulate of Napoléon Bonaparte, the city reverted to its former name of Saint-Denis.^{[citation needed]}

History[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

During its history, Saint-Denis has been closely associated with the French royal house; starting from Dagobert I, almost every French king was buried in the Basilica.^{[citation needed]}

However, Saint-Denis is older than that. In the 2nd century, there was a Gallo-Roman village named Catolacus on the location that Saint-Denis occupies today. Saint Denis, the first bishop of Paris and patron saint of France, was martyred in about 250 and buried in the cemetery of Catolacus. Denis' tomb quickly became a place of worship.^{[citation needed]}

Sainte Geneviève, around 475, had a small chapel erected on Denis' tomb, by then a popular destination for pilgrims.^{[citation needed]}

It was this chapel that Dagobert I had rebuilt and turned into a royal monastery. Dagobert granted many privileges to the monastery: independence from the bishop of Paris, the right to hold a market, and, most importantly, he was buried in Saint-Denis; a tradition which was followed by almost all his successors.

During the Middle Ages, because of the privileges granted by Dagobert, Saint-Denis grew very important. Merchants from all over Europe (and indeed from the Byzantine Empire) came to visit its market.^{[citation needed]}

In 1140, Abbot Suger, counselor to the King, granted further privileges to the citizens of Saint-Denis. He also started the works of enlargement of the basilica that still exists today, often cited as the first example of Gothic Architecture.^[1] The new church was consecrated in 1144.^{[citation needed]}

Saint-Denis suffered heavily in the Hundred Years' War; of its 10,000 citizens, only 3,000 remained after the war.^{[citation needed]}

Battle of Saint-Denis (1567)

Saint-Denis 1830

During the French Wars of Religion, the Battle of Saint-Denis was fought between Catholics and Protestants on 10 November 1567. The Protestants were defeated, but the Catholic commander Anne de Montmorency was killed. In 1590, the city surrendered to Henry IV, who converted to Catholicism in 1593 in the abbey of Saint-Denis.^{[citation needed]}

King Louis XIV started several industries in Saint-Denis: weaving and spinning mills and dyehouses. His successor, Louis XV, whose daughter was a nun in the Carmelite convent, took a lively interest in the city: he added a chapel to the convent and also renovated the buildings of the royal abbey.^{[citation needed]}

Maison d'éducation de la Légion d'honneur de Saint-Denis.

During the French Revolution, not only was the city renamed "Franciade" from 1793 to 1803, but the royal necropolis was looted and destroyed. The remains were removed from the tombs and thrown together; during the French Restoration, since they could not be sorted out anymore, they were reburied in a common ossuary.^{[citation needed]}

The last king to be interred in Saint-Denis was Louis XVIII. After France became a republic and an empire, Saint-Denis lost its association with royalty.^{[citation needed]}

On 1 January 1860, the city of Paris was enlarged by annexing neighboring communes. On that occasion, the commune of La Chapelle-Saint-Denis was disbanded and divided between the city of Paris, Saint-Denis, Saint-Ouen, and Aubervilliers. Saint-Denis received the north-western part of La Chapelle-Saint-Denis.^{[citation needed]}

During the 19th century, Saint-Denis became increasingly industrialized. Transport was much improved: in 1824 the Canal Saint-Denis was constructed, linking the Canal de l'Ourcq in the northeast of Paris to the River Seine at the level of L'Île-Saint-Denis, and in 1843 the first railway reached Saint-Denis. By the end of the century, there were 80 factories in Saint-Denis.^{[citation needed]}

The presence of so many industries also gave rise to an important socialist movement. In 1892, Saint-Denis elected its first socialist administration, and by the 1920s, the city had acquired the nickname of la ville rouge, the red city. Until Jacques Doriot in 1934, all mayors of Saint-Denis were members of the Communist Party.^{[citation needed]}

During the Second World War, after the defeat of France, Saint-Denis was occupied by the Germans on 13 June 1940. There were several acts of sabotage and strikes, most notably on 14 April 1942 at the Hotchkiss factory. After an insurgency which started on 18 August 1944, Saint-Denis was liberated by General Leclerc on 27 August 1944.^{[citation needed]}

After the war, the economic crisis of the 1970s and 1980s hit the city, which was heavily dependent on its heavy industry.^{[citation needed]}

The Stade de France and the district of La Plaine

During the 1990s, however, the city started to grow again. The 1998 FIFA World Cup provided an enormous impulse; the main stadium for the tournament, the Stade de France, was built in Saint-Denis, along with many infrastructural improvements, such as the extension of the metro to Saint-Denis-Université.^{[citation needed]}

Rue Gabriel Péri, a pedestrian zone in Saint-Denis, in 2012.

Since 2000, Saint-Denis works together with seven neighbouring communes (Aubervilliers, Villetaneuse, Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, Épinay-sur-Seine, L'Île-Saint-Denis (since 2003), Stains (since 2003) and La Courneuve (since 2005) in Plaine Commune.^{[citation needed]}

In 2003, together with Paris, Saint-Denis hosted the second European Social Forum.

Heraldry[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

• Motto : Saint Denys Montjoie !
• the arms of Saint-Denis are blazoned : Azure semé de lys Or (=France Ancient).

• 

  Arms of Saint-Denis

• 

  Arms on the front of the post office, rue de la République

Demographics[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Immigration[link]

Transport[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

RER B at La Plaine - Stade de France

Saint-Denis is served by four stations on Paris Métro Line 13: Carrefour Pleyel, Saint-Denis - Porte de Paris, Basilique de Saint-Denis (in the center of town, near the Saint Denis Basilica), and Saint-Denis – Université.^{[citation needed]}

Saint-Denis is also served by La Plaine – Stade de France station on Paris RER line B, which is the closest station to the Stade de France.^{[citation needed]}

Finally, Saint-Denis is also served by two stations on Paris RER line D: Stade de France – Saint-Denis and Saint-Denis. This last station, historically the only rail station in Saint-Denis before the arrivals of the Métro and the RER, serves also as an interchange station for the Transilien Paris – Nord suburban rail line.^{[citation needed]}

Crime[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Saint-Denis is infamous in France for its crime rate. It has 350.71 criminal incidents per 1000 inhabitants, far higher than the national average (83 per 1000) and even higher than the crime rate of the Seine-Saint-Denis department (95.67 per 1000). Police efficiency has been reported as very low with only 19.82% of crimes solved by the police.^{[citation needed]}

Education[link]

Saint-Denis has 29 public écoles maternelles.^[2] Saint-Denis has 30 public écoles élémentaires, with one of those schools (École Élémentaire Maria Casarès) being an intercommunal school.^[3] Saint-Denis has eight public collèges.^[4] Saint-Denis has Lycée Bartholdi, Lycée Paul Éluard, Lycée Suger, and Lycée d’application de l’E.N.N.A.^[5]

Saint-Denis has one private elementary, middle, and high school (Ensemble scolaire Jean-Baptiste de La Salle et Notre-Dame de la Compassion) and one private middle and high school (Collège et lycée Saint-Vincent de Paul).^[4][5]

Personalities[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Points of interest[link]

• Musée Bouilhet-Christofle
• Basilica of St Denis
• Stade de France

Twin cities[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• INSEE

Paris portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Saint-Denis

• City council website (French)
• Saint-Denis, a town in the Middle Ages

v t e  Communes in the Metropolitan Area of Paris Population over 2 million City of Paris Population over 100,000 Argenteuil Boulogne-Billancourt Montreuil Saint-Denis Population over 75,000 Asnières-sur-Seine Aulnay-sous-Bois Champigny-sur-Marne Colombes Courbevoie Créteil Nanterre Rueil-Malmaison Saint-Maur-des-Fossés Versailles Vitry-sur-Seine Population over 50,000 Antony Aubervilliers Le Blanc-Mesnil Bondy Cergy Chelles Clamart Clichy Drancy Épinay-sur-Seine Évry Fontenay-sous-Bois Issy-les-Moulineaux Ivry-sur-Seine Levallois-Perret Maisons-Alfort Neuilly-sur-Seine Noisy-le-Grand Pantin Sarcelles Sartrouville Sevran Villejuif Population over 25,000 Alfortville Athis-Mons Bagneux Bagnolet Bezons Bobigny Bois-Colombes Brunoy Cachan Charenton-le-Pont Châtenay-Malabry Châtillon Chatou Le Chesnay Choisy-le-Roi Clichy-sous-Bois Conflans-Sainte-Honorine Corbeil-Essonnes La Courneuve Draveil Élancourt Ermont Franconville Fresnes Gagny La Garenne-Colombes Garges-lès-Gonesse Gennevilliers Gonesse Goussainville Grigny Guyancourt L'Haÿ-les-Roses Herblay Houilles Le Kremlin-Bicêtre Livry-Gargan Malakoff Mantes-la-Jolie Massy Meaux Melun Meudon Montigny-le-Bretonneux Montrouge Les Mureaux Neuilly-sur-Marne Nogent-sur-Marne Noisy-le-Sec Palaiseau Le Perreux-sur-Marne Pierrefitte-sur-Seine Plaisir Poissy Pontault-Combault Pontoise Puteaux Rambouillet Ris-Orangis Romainville Rosny-sous-Bois Saint-Cloud Saint-Germain-en-Laye Saint-Ouen Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Sannois Savigny-sur-Orge Savigny-le-Temple Stains Sucy-en-Brie Suresnes Taverny Thiais Trappes Tremblay-en-France Vanves Vigneux-sur-Seine Villemomble Villeneuve-Saint-Georges Villepinte Villiers-le-Bel Villiers-sur-Marne Vincennes Viry-Châtillon Yerres Population under 25,000 1,460 other communes

v t e Communes of the Seine-Saint-Denis department Aubervilliers Aulnay-sous-Bois Bagnolet Le Blanc-Mesnil Bobigny Bondy Le Bourget Clichy-sous-Bois Coubron La Courneuve Drancy Dugny Épinay-sur-Seine Gagny Gournay-sur-Marne L'Île-Saint-Denis Les Lilas Livry-Gargan Montfermeil Montreuil Neuilly-Plaisance Neuilly-sur-Marne Noisy-le-Grand Noisy-le-Sec Pantin Les Pavillons-sous-Bois Pierrefitte-sur-Seine Le Pré-Saint-Gervais Le Raincy Romainville Rosny-sous-Bois Saint-Denis Saint-Ouen Sevran Stains Tremblay-en-France Vaujours Villemomble Villepinte Villetaneuse

Saint Denis of Paris
Saint Denis, holding his head. statue at the left portal of Notre Dame.
Bishop and Martyr
Born	3rd century AD Italy
Died	c. 250, 258,[1] or 270 Montmartre, Paris, France
Honored in	Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church
Major shrine	Saint Denis Basilica
Feast	October 9
Attributes	carrying his severed head in his hands; a bishop's mitre; city; furnace[2]
Patronage	France; Paris; against frenzy, strife, headaches, hydrophobia, possessed people, rabies

Saint Denis (also called Dionysius, Dennis, or Denys) is a Christian martyr and saint. In the third century, he was Bishop of Paris. He was martyred in connection with the Decian persecution of Christians, shortly after A.D. 250. After his head was chopped off, Denis is said to have picked it up and walked ten kilometres (six miles), preaching a sermon the entire way, making him one of many cephalophores in hagiology. He is venerated in the Roman Catholic Church as patron of Paris, France and as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. The medieval and modern French name "Denis" derives from the ancient name Dionysius.

Life[link]

Beheading of Denis and of his companions, tympanum of the north portal of the Basilica of St Denis.

Gregory of Tours^[3] states that Denis was bishop of the Parisii and was martyred by being beheaded by a sword. The earliest document giving an account of his life and martyrdom, the "Passio SS. Dionysii Rustici et Eleutherii" dates from c. 600, is mistakenly attributed to the poet Venantius Fortunatus, and is legendary. Nevertheless, it appears from the Passio that Denis was sent from Italy to convert Gaul in the third century, forging a link with the "apostles to the Gauls" reputed to have been sent out under the direction of Pope Fabian. This was after the persecutions under Emperor Decius had all but dissolved the small Christian community at Lutetia.^[4] Denis, with his inseparable companions Rusticus and Eleutherius, who were martyred with him, settled on the Île de la Cité in the River Seine. Roman Paris lay on the higher ground of the Left Bank, away from the river.

Martyrdom[link]

Denis, having alarmed the pagan priests by his many conversions, was executed by beheading on the highest hill in Paris (now Montmartre), which was likely to have been a druidic holy place. The martyrdom of Denis and his companions is popularly believed to have given it its current name, derived from the Latin mons martyrium "The Martyrs' Mountain",^[1] although in fact the name is more likely to derive from mons mercurei et mons martis, Hill of Mercury and Mars.^[5] After his head was chopped off, Denis is said to have picked it up and walked ten kilometres (six miles) from the summit of Mont Mars (now Montmartre), preaching a sermon the entire way, making him one of many cephalophores in hagiology. Of the many accounts of this martyrdom, this is noted in detail in the Golden Legend and in Butler's Lives Of The Saints.^[6] The site where he stopped preaching and actually died was marked by a small shrine that developed into the Saint Denis Basilica, which became the burial place for the kings of France. Another account has his corpse being thrown into the Seine, but recovered and buried later that night by his converts.^[2]

Veneration[link]

Late Gothic statue of Saint Denis, limestone, formerly polychromed (Musée de Cluny)

Veneration of Saint Denis began soon after his death. The bodies of Saints Denis, Eleutherius, and Rusticus were buried on the spot of their martyrdom, where the construction of the saint's eponymous basilica was begun by Saint Geneviève, assisted by the people of Paris.^[7] Her Vita Sanctae Genovefae attests the presence of a shrine near the present basilica by the close of the fifth century, though the names of Rusticus and Eleutherius are non-historical. The successor church was erected by Fulrad, who became abbot in 749/50 and was closely linked with the accession of the Carolingians to the Merovingian throne.

In time, the "Saint Denis", often combined as "Montjoie! Saint Denis!" became the war-cry of the French armies. The oriflamme, which became the standard of France, was the banner consecrated upon his tomb. His veneration spread beyond France when, in 754, Pope Stephen II, who was French, brought veneration of Saint Denis to Rome. Soon his cultus was prevalent throughout Europe.^[7] Abbot Suger removed the relics of Denis, and those associated with Rustique and Eleuthére, from the crypt to reside under the high altar of the Saint-Denis he rebuilt, 1140-44.^[8]

The feast of Saint Denis was added to the Roman Calendar in the year 1568 by Pope Pius V, though it had been celebrated since at least the year 800. St Denis' feast day is celebrated on October 9.^[2]

In traditional Catholic practice, Saint Denis is honored as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. Specifically, Denis is invoked against diabolical possession and headaches^[9] and with Sainte Geneviève is one of the patron saints of Paris.

Companions[link]

Last Communion and Martyrdom of Saint Denis, by Henri Bellechose, 1416, which shows the martyrdom of both Denis and his companions

9 October is celebrated as the feast of Saint Denis and also of his companions, a priest named Rusticus and a deacon, Eleutherius, who were martyred alongside him and buried with him.

Confusion with Dionysus the Areopagite[link]

Since at least the ninth century, the legends of Dionysus the Areopagite and Denis of Paris have been often confused. Around 814, Louis the Pious brought certain writings attributed to Dionysus the Areopagite to France, and since then it became common among the French legendary writers to argue that Denis of Paris was the same Dionysus who was a famous convert and disciple of Saint Paul.^[7] The confusion of the personalities of Saint Denis, Dionysus the Areopagite, and pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, the author of the writings ascribed to Dionysius brought to France by Louis, was initiated through an Areopagitica written in 836 by Hilduin, Abbot of Saint-Denis, at the request of Louis the Pious. "Hilduin was anxious to promote the dignity of his church, and it is to him that the quite unfounded identification of the patron saint with Dionysius the Areopagite and his consequent connexion with the apostolic age are due."^[10] Hilduin's attribution had been supported for centuries by the monastic community at Abbey of Saint-Denis and one of origins of their pride. In Historia calamitatum, Pierre Abelard gives a short account of the strength of this belief and the monastery's harsh opposition to challenges to their claim. Abelard jokingly pointed out a possibility that the founder of the Abbey could have been another Dionysius, who is mentioned as Dionysius of Corinth by Eusebius. This irritated the community so much that eventually Abelard left in bitterness. As late as the sixteenth century, scholars might still argue for an Eastern origin of the Basilica of Saint-Denis: one was Godefroi Tillman, in a long preface to a paraphrase of the Letters of the Areopagite, printed in Paris in 1538 by Charlotte Guillard.^[11] Historians today^[12] do not dispute this point.^[4]

Depiction in art[link]

Denis' headless walk has led to his being depicted in art decapitated and dressed as a Bishop, holding his own mitred head in his hands.^[7] Handling the halo in this circumstance poses a unique challenge for the artist. Some put the halo where the head used to be; others have Saint Denis carrying the halo along with the head. Even more problematic than the halo was the issue of how much of his head Denis should be shown carrying. Throughout much of the Middle Ages, the Abbey of St Denis and the canons of Notre-Dame Cathedral were in dispute over ownership of the saint's head. The Abbey claimed that they had the entire body, whilst the Cathedral claimed to possess the top of his head which, they claimed, had been severed by the executioner's first blow.^[13] Thus while most depictions of St Denis show him holding his entire head, in others, the patrons have shown their support for the Cathedral's claim by depicting him carrying just the crown of his skull, as, for example in the mid 13th century window showing the story at Le Mans Cathedral (Bay 111).^[14]

Notes[link]

Further Reading[link]

• Drinkwater, J.F. (1987). The Gallic Empire : separatism and continuity in the north-western provinces of the Roman Empire, A.D. 260-274. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden. ISBN 3-515-04806-5. 
• Gregory of Tours (1988). Glory of the martyrs. Raymond Van Dam, trans. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. ISBN 0-85323-236-9. 
• Lacaze, Charlotte (1979). The "Vie de Saint Denis" Manuscript. New York: Garland. 
• Van Dam, Raymond (1985). Leadership and community in late antique Gaul. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-05162-9. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Denis de Paris

• The Life, Miracles and Martyrdom of St. Denis (Dionysius, Dennis, Denys) Bishop & Martyr of the Church
• Catholic Encyclopedia: St. Denis
• St. Denis and Companions provides information about their feast on October 9

The French Revolution
The storming of the Bastille, 14 July 1789
Participants	French society
Location	France
Date	1789–1799
Result	A cycle of royal power being limited by uneasy constitutional monarchy—then abolition and replacement of the French king, aristocracy and church with a radical, secular, democratic republic—in turn becoming more authoritarian, militaristic and property-based. Radical social change to forms based on Enlightenment principles of citizenship and inalienable rights, as well as nationalism and democracy. Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte Armed conflicts with other European countries

The French Revolution (French: Révolution française; 1789–1799), was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France that had a major impact on France and indeed all of Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years. French society underwent an epic transformation, as feudal, aristocratic and religious privileges evaporated under a sustained assault from radical left-wing political groups, masses on the streets, and peasants in the countryside.^[1] Old ideas about tradition and hierarchy – of monarchy, aristocracy and religious authority – were abruptly overthrown by new Enlightenment principles of equality, citizenship and inalienable rights.

History of France
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The French Revolution began in 1789 with the convocation of the Estates-General in May. The first year of the Revolution saw members of the Third Estate proclaiming the Tennis Court Oath in June, the assault on the Bastille in July, the passage of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in August, and an epic march on Versailles that forced the royal court back to Paris in October. The next few years were dominated by tensions between various liberal assemblies and a right-wing monarchy intent on thwarting major reforms.

A republic was proclaimed in September 1792 and King Louis XVI was executed the next year. External threats also played a dominant role in the development of the Revolution. The French Revolutionary Wars started in 1792 and ultimately featured spectacular French victories that facilitated the conquest of the Italian Peninsula, the Low Countries and most territories west of the Rhine – achievements that had defied previous French governments for centuries.

Internally, popular sentiments radicalized the Revolution significantly, culminating in the rise of Maximilien Robespierre and the Jacobins and virtual dictatorship by the Committee of Public Safety during the Reign of Terror from 1793 until 1794 during which between 16,000 and 40,000 people were killed.^[2] After the fall of the Jacobins and the execution of Robespierre, the Directory assumed control of the French state in 1795 and held power until 1799, when it was replaced by the Consulate under Napoleon Bonaparte.

After the Napoleonic Wars and ensuing rise and fall of Napoleon's First French Empire, a restoration of absolutist monarchy was followed by two further successful smaller revolutions (1830 and 1848). This meant the 19th century and process of modern France taking shape saw France again successively governed by a similar cycle of constitutional monarchy (1830–48), fragile republic (Second Republic) (1848–1852), and empire (Second Empire) (1852–1870). The modern era has unfolded in the shadow of the French Revolution. The growth of republics and liberal democracies, the spread of secularism, the development of modern ideologies and the invention of total war^[3] all mark their birth during the Revolution.

Causes[link]

The government of King Louis XVI of France faced a fiscal crisis in the 1780s.

Adherents of most historical models identify many of the same features of the Ancien Régime as being among the causes of the Revolution. Economic factors included hunger and malnutrition in the most destitute segments of the population, due to rising bread prices (from a normal 8 sous for a four-pound loaf to 12 sous by the end of 1789),^[4] after several years of poor grain harvests. Bad harvests (caused in part by extreme weather from El Niño along with volcanic activity at Laki and Grímsvötn in 1783–1784), rising food prices, and an inadequate transportation system that hindered the shipment of bulk foods from rural areas to large population centers contributed greatly to the destabilization of French society in the years leading up to the Revolution.

Another cause was the state's effective bankruptcy due to the enormous cost of previous wars, particularly the financial strain caused by French participation in the American Revolutionary War. The national debt amounted to some 1,000–2,000 million^{[citation needed]} livres. The social burdens caused by war included the huge war debt, made worse by the loss of France's colonial possessions in North America and the growing commercial dominance of Great Britain. France's inefficient and antiquated financial system was unable to manage the national debt, something which was both partially caused and exacerbated by the burden of an inadequate system of taxation. To obtain new money to head off default on the government's loans, the king called an Assembly of Notables in 1787.

Meanwhile, the royal court at Versailles was seen as being isolated from, and indifferent to, the hardships of the lower classes. While in theory King Louis XVI was an absolute monarch, in practice he was often indecisive and known to back down when faced with strong opposition. While he did reduce government expenditures, opponents in the parlements successfully thwarted his attempts at enacting much needed reforms. Those who were opposed to Louis' policies further undermined royal authority by distributing pamphlets (often reporting false or exaggerated information) that criticized the government and its officials, stirring up public opinion against the monarchy.^[5]

Many other factors involved resentments and aspirations given focus by the rise of Enlightenment ideals. These included resentment of royal absolutism; resentment by peasants, laborers and the bourgeoisie toward the traditional seigneurial privileges possessed by the nobility; resentment of the Church's influence over public policy and institutions; aspirations for freedom of religion; resentment of aristocratic bishops by the poorer rural clergy; aspirations for social, political and economic equality, and (especially as the Revolution progressed) republicanism; hatred of Queen Marie-Antoinette, who was falsely accused of being a spendthrift and an Austrian spy; and anger toward the King for firing finance minister Jacques Necker, among others, who were popularly seen as representatives of the people.^[6]

Pre-revolution[link]

Financial crisis[link]

Caricature of the Third Estate carrying the First Estate (clergy) and the Second Estate (nobility) on its back.

Louis XVI ascended to the throne amidst a financial crisis; the state was nearing bankruptcy and outlays outpaced income.^[7] This was because of France’s financial obligations stemming from involvement in the Seven Years War and its participation in the American Revolutionary War.^[8] In May 1776, finance minister Turgot was dismissed, after he failed to enact reforms. The next year, Jacques Necker, a foreigner, was appointed Comptroller-General of Finance. He could not be made an official minister because he was a Protestant.^[9]

Necker realized that the country's extremely regressive tax system subjected the lower classes to a heavy burden,^[9] while numerous exemptions existed for the nobility and clergy.^[10] He argued that the country could not be taxed higher; that tax exemptions for the nobility and clergy must be reduced; and proposed that borrowing more money would solve the country's fiscal shortages. Necker published a report to support this claim that underestimated the deficit by roughly 36 million livres, and proposed restricting the power of the parlements.^[9]

This was not received well by the King's ministers, and Necker, hoping to bolster his position, argued to be made a minister. The King refused, Necker was fired, and Charles Alexandre de Calonne was appointed to the Comptrollership.^[9] Calonne initially spent liberally, but he quickly realized the critical financial situation and proposed a new tax code.^[11]

The proposal included a consistent land tax, which would include taxation of the nobility and clergy. Faced with opposition from the parlements, Calonne organised the summoning of the Assembly of Notables. But the Assembly failed to endorse Calonne's proposals and instead weakened his position through its criticism. In response, the King announced the calling of the Estates-General for May 1789, the first time the body had been summoned since 1614. This was a signal that the Bourbon monarchy was in a weakened state and subject to the demands of its people.^[12]

Estates-General of 1789[link]

The Estates-General was organized into three estates: the clergy, the nobility, and the rest of France.^[13] On the last occasion that the Estates-General had met, in 1614, each estate held one vote, and any two could override the third. The Parlement of Paris feared the government would attempt to gerrymander an assembly to rig the results. Thus, they required that the Estates be arranged as in 1614.^[14] The 1614 rules differed from practices of local assemblies, where each member had one vote and third estate membership was doubled. For example, in the Dauphiné the provincial assembly agreed to double the number of members of the third estate, hold membership elections, and allow one vote per member, rather than one vote per estate.^[15]

The "Committee of Thirty," a body of liberal Parisians, began to agitate against voting by estate. This group, largely composed of the wealthy, argued for the Estates-General to assume the voting mechanisms of Dauphiné. They argued that ancient precedent was not sufficient, because "the people were sovereign."^[16] Necker convened a Second Assembly of Notables, which rejected the notion of double representation by a vote of 111 to 333.^[16] The King, however, agreed to the proposition on 27 December; but he left discussion of the weight of each vote to the Estates-General itself.^[17]

Elections were held in the spring of 1789; suffrage requirements for the Third Estate were for French-born or naturalised males only, at least 25 years of age, who resided where the vote was to take place and who paid taxes.

Pour être électeur du tiers état, il faut avoir 25 ans, être français ou naturalisé, être domicilié au lieu de vote et compris au rôle des impositions.^[18]

Strong turnout produced 1,201 delegates, including: "291 nobles, 300 clergy, and 610 members of the Third Estate."^[17] To lead delegates, "Books of grievances" (cahiers de doléances) were compiled to list problems.^[13] The books articulated ideas which would have seemed radical only months before; however, most supported the monarchical system in general. Many assumed the Estates-General would approve future taxes, and Enlightenment ideals were relatively rare.^[14][19]

Pamphlets by liberal nobles and clergy became widespread after the lifting of press censorship.^[16] The Abbé Sieyès, a theorist and Catholic clergyman, argued the paramount importance of the Third Estate in the pamphlet Qu'est-ce que le tiers état? ("What is the Third Estate?"), published in January 1789. He asserted: "What is the Third Estate? Everything. What has it been until now in the political order? Nothing. What does it want to be? Something."^[14][20]

The meeting of the Estates General on 5 May 1789 in Versailles.

The Estates-General convened in the Grands Salles des Menus-Plaisirs in Versailles on 5 May 1789 and opened with a three-hour speech by Necker. The Third Estate demanded that the verification of deputies' credentials should be undertaken in common by all deputies, rather than each estate verifying the credentials of its own members internally; negotiations with the other estates failed to achieve this.^[19] The commoners appealed to the clergy who replied they required more time. Necker asserted that each estate verify credentials and "the king was to act as arbitrator."^[21] Negotiations with the other two estates to achieve this, however, were unsuccessful.^[22]

National Assembly (1789)[link]

The National Assembly taking the Tennis Court Oath (sketch by Jacques-Louis David).

On 10 June 1789, Abbé Sieyès moved that the Third Estate, now meeting as the Communes (English: "Commons"), proceed with verification of its own powers and invite the other two estates to take part, but not to wait for them. They proceeded to do so two days later, completing the process on 17 June.^[23] Then they voted a measure far more radical, declaring themselves the National Assembly, an assembly not of the Estates but of "the People." They invited the other orders to join them, but made it clear they intended to conduct the nation's affairs with or without them.^[24]

In an attempt to keep control of the process and prevent the Assembly from convening, Louis XVI ordered the closure of the Salle des États where the Assembly met, making an excuse that the carpenters needed to prepare the hall for a royal speech in two days. Weather did not allow an outdoor meeting, so the Assembly moved their deliberations to a nearby indoor real tennis court, where they proceeded to swear the Tennis Court Oath (20 June 1789), under which they agreed not to separate until they had given France a constitution.^[25]

A majority of the representatives of the clergy soon joined them, as did 47 members of the nobility. By 27 June, the royal party had overtly given in, although the military began to arrive in large numbers around Paris and Versailles. Messages of support for the Assembly poured in from Paris and other French cities.^[25]

National Constituent Assembly (1789–1791)[link]

Storming of the Bastille[link]

By this time, Necker had earned the enmity of many members of the French court for his overt manipulation of public opinion. Marie Antoinette, the King's younger brother the Comte d'Artois, and other conservative members of the King's privy council urged him to dismiss Necker as financial advisor. On 11 July 1789, after Necker published an inaccurate account of the government's debts and made it available to the public, the King fired him, and completely restructured the finance ministry at the same time.^[26]

Many Parisians presumed Louis's actions to be aimed against the Assembly and began open rebellion when they heard the news the next day. They were also afraid that arriving soldiers – mostly foreign mercenaries – had been summoned to shut down the National Constituent Assembly. The Assembly, meeting at Versailles, went into nonstop session to prevent another eviction from their meeting place. Paris was soon consumed by riots, chaos, and widespread looting. The mobs soon had the support of some of the French Guard, who were armed and trained soldiers.^[27]

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 26 August 1789

On 14 July, the insurgents set their eyes on the large weapons and ammunition cache inside the Bastille fortress, which was also perceived to be a symbol of royal power. After several hours of combat, the prison fell that afternoon. Despite ordering a cease fire, which prevented a mutual massacre, Governor Marquis Bernard de Launay was beaten, stabbed and decapitated; his head was placed on a pike and paraded about the city. Although the fortress had held only seven prisoners (four forgers, two noblemen kept for immoral behavior, and a murder suspect), the Bastille served as a potent symbol of everything hated under the Ancien Régime. Returning to the Hôtel de Ville (city hall), the mob accused the prévôt des marchands (roughly, mayor) Jacques de Flesselles of treachery and butchered him.^[28]

The King, alarmed by the violence, backed down, at least for the time being. The Marquis de la Fayette took up command of the National Guard at Paris. Jean-Sylvain Bailly, president of the Assembly at the time of the Tennis Court Oath, became the city's mayor under a new governmental structure known as the commune. The King visited Paris, where, on 17 July he accepted a tricolore cockade, to cries of Vive la Nation ("Long live the Nation") and Vive le Roi ("Long live the King").^[29]

Necker was recalled to power, but his triumph was short-lived. An astute financier but a less astute politician, Necker overplayed his hand by demanding and obtaining a general amnesty, losing much of the people's favour.

As civil authority rapidly deteriorated, with random acts of violence and theft breaking out across the country, members of the nobility, fearing for their safety, fled to neighboring countries; many of these émigrés, as they were called, funded counter-revolutionary causes within France and urged foreign monarchs to offer military support to a counter-revolution.^[30]

By late July, the spirit of popular sovereignty had spread throughout France. In rural areas, many commoners began to form militias and arm themselves against a foreign invasion: some attacked the châteaux of the nobility as part of a general agrarian insurrection known as "la Grande Peur" ("the Great Fear"). In addition, wild rumours and paranoia caused widespread unrest and civil disturbances that contributed to the collapse of law and order.^[31]

Working toward a constitution[link]

On 4 August 1789, the National Constituent Assembly abolished feudalism (although at that point there had been sufficient peasant revolts to almost end feudalism already), in what is known as the August Decrees, sweeping away both the seigneurial rights of the Second Estate and the tithes gathered by the First Estate. In the course of a few hours, nobles, clergy, towns, provinces, companies and cities lost their special privileges.