APTER V

_Paris under Philip Augustus and St. Louis_

During twenty-eight years of the reign of Louis VII. no heir to the
crown was born. At length, on the 22nd of August, 1165, Adelaide of
Champagne, his third wife, lay in child-bed and excited crowds
thronged the palace in the Cite. The king, "afeared of the number of
his daughters and knowing how ardently his people desired a child of
the nobler sex," was beside himself with joy when the desire of his
heart was held up to him; curious eyes espied the longed-for heir
through an aperture of the door and in a moment the good news was
spread abroad. There was a sound of clarions and of bells and the city
as by enchantment shone with an aureole of light. An English student
roused by the uproar and the glare of what seemed like a great
conflagration leapt to the window and beheld two old women hurrying by
with lighted tapers. He asked the cause. They answered: "God has given
us this night a royal heir, by whose hand your king shall suffer shame
and ill-hap." This was the birth of Philip le Dieu-donne--Philip sent
of Heaven--better known as Philip Augustus. Under him and Louis IX.
mediaeval Paris, faithfully reflecting the fortunes of the French
Monarchy, attained its highest development.

When Philip Augustus took up the sceptre at fifteen years of age, the
little realm of the Isle de France was throttled by a ring of great
and practically independent feudatories, and in extent was no larger
than half-a-dozen of the eighty-seven departments into which France is
now divided. The English king held the mouths of all the great rivers
and all the great cities, Rouen, Tours, Bordeaux. In thirty years
Philip had burst through to the sea, subdued the Duke of Burgundy and
the great counts, wrested the sovereignty of Normandy, Brittany and
Maine from the English Crown, won Poitou and Aquitaine, crushed the
emperor and his vassals in the memorable battle of Bouvines, and
become one of the greatest of European monarchs. The king, who had
owed his life to the excellence of his armour,[48] was received in
Paris with a frenzy of joy. The whole city came forth to meet him,
flowers were strewn in his path, the streets were hung with tapestry,
Te Deums sung in all the churches, and for seven days and nights the
popular enthusiasm expressed itself in dance, in song and joyous
revel. It was the first national event in France. The Count of
Flanders was imprisoned in the new fortress of th