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Paris in the 17th century was the largest city in Europe, with a population of half a million, matched in size only by London. It was ruled in turn by three monarchs; Henry IV, Louis XIII, and Louis XIV, and saw the building of some of the city's most famous parks and monuments, including the Pont Neuf, the Palais Royal, the newly joined Louvre and Tuileries Palace, the Place des Vosges, and the Luxembourg Garden. It was also a flourishing center of French science and the arts; it saw the founding of the Paris Observatory, the French Academy of Sciences and the first botanical garden in Paris, which also became the first park in Paris open to the public. The first permanent theater opened, the Comédie-Française was founded, and the first French opera and French ballets had their premieres. Paris became the home of the new Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, and of some of France's most famous writers, including Pierre Corneille, Jean Racine, La Fontaine and Moliere. Urban innovations for the city included the first street lighting, the first public transport, the first building code, and the first new aqueduct since Roman times. ==Paris under Henry IV== At the end of the 16th century, Paris was the last fortress of the besieged Catholic League, defended by the soldiers of the King of Spain and the fervently Catholic population. The royalist army of Henry IV had defeated the Catholic League on the battlefield, and Henry's soldiers were bombarding Paris from the heights Montmartre and Montfaucon, but, lacking heavy artillery he could not break through the massive walls of the city. He decided instead upon a dramatic gesture to win over the Parisians; on July 25, 1593, at the Abbey of Saint-Denis, Henry IV formally renounced his Protestant faith. In the following weeks, the support for the Catholic League melted away. The Governor of Paris and the Provost of the merchants secretly joined Henry's side, and on March 2 the leader of the League, Charles de Mayenne, fled the city, followed by his Spanish soldiers. On March 22, 1594, Henry IV triumphantly entered the city, ending a war that had lasted for thirty years. Once established in Paris, Henry worked to reconcile himself with the leaders of the Catholic Church. He decreed toleration of the Protestants with the Edict of Nantes, and imposed an end to the war with Spain and Savoy. To govern the city, he named Francois Miron, a loyal and energetic administrator, as the new lieutenant of the Chatelet (effectively the chief of police) from 1604 until 1606, and then as Provost of the Merchants, the highest administrative post, from 1606 until 1612. He named Jacques Sanguin, another effective administrator, to be Provost of the Merchants from 1606 to 1612. Paris had suffered greatly during the wars of religion; a third of the Parisians had fled; the population was estimated to be 300,000 in 1600. Many houses were destroyed, and the grand projects of the Louvre, the ''Hôtel de Ville'', and the Tuileries Palace were unfinished. Henry began a series of major new projects to improve the functioning and appearance of the city, and to win over the Parisians to his side. The Paris building projects of Henry IV were managed by his forceful superindent of buildings, a Protestant and a general, Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully. Henry IV recommenced the construction of the Pont Neuf, which had been begun by Henry III in 1578, but had stopped during the wars of religion. It was finished between 1600 and 1607, and was the first Paris bridge without houses and with sidewalks. Near the bridge, he built ''La Samaritaine'' (1602–1608), a large pumping station which provided drinking water, as well as water for the gardens of the Louvre and the Tuileries Gardens. Henry and his builders also decided to add an innovation to the Paris cityscape; three new residential squares, modeled after those in Italian Renaissance cities.. On the vacant site of the old royal residence of Henri II, the ''Hôtel des Tournelles'', he built an elegant new residential square surrounded by brick houses and an arcade. It was built between 1605 and 1612, and was named ''Place Royale'', renamed ''Place des Vosges'' in 1800. In 1607, he began work on a new residential triangle, Place Dauphine, lined by thirty-two brick and stone houses, near the end of the ''Île de la Cité''. A third square, Place de France, was planned for a site near the old Temple, but was never built. Place Dauphine was Henry's last project for the city of Paris. The more fervent factions of the Catholic hierarchy in Rome and in France had never accepted Henry's authority, and there were seventeen unsuccessful attempts to kill him. The eighteenth attempt, on May 14, 1610 by François Ravaillac, a Catholic fanatic, while the King's carriage was blocked in traffic on rue de la Ferronnerie, was successful. Four years later, a bronze equestrian statue of the murdered king was erected on the bridge he had constructed at the ''Île de la Cité'' western point, looking toward Place Dauphine. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Paris in the 17th century」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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