onts of wood crossed the arms of the Seine. On the
site of the old pagan temple to Jupiter by the market-place stood the
church Our Lady: to the south-east stood the church of St. Stephen.
The devotion of the _Nautae_ had been transferred from Apollo to St.
Nicholas, patron of shipmen, Mercury had given place to St. Michael,
and to each of those saints oratories were erected. Other churches and
oratories adorned the island, dedicated to St. Gervais, and St. Denis
of the Prison (_de la chartre_), by the north wall where, abandoned
by his followers, the saint was visited by his divine Lord, who
Himself administered the sacred Host. A nunnery dedicated to St. Eloy,
where three hundred pious nuns diffused the odour of Jesus Christ
through the whole city, occupied a large site opposite the west front
of Notre Dame. Near by stood a hospital, founded and endowed a century
before by St. Landry, bishop of Paris, for the sick poor, which soon
became known as the Hostel of God (_Hotel Dieu_). The old Roman palace
and basilica had been transformed into the official residence and
tribunal of justice of the Frankish kings. On the south bank stood the
church and monastery of St. Julien le Pauvre. A new Frankish city was
growing on the north bank, bounded on the west by the abbey of St.
Vincent le Rond, and on the east by the abbey of St. Lawrence. Houses
clustered around the four great monasteries, and suburbs were in
course of formation. The Cite was still largely inhabited by opulent
merchants of Gallo-Roman descent, who were seen riding along the
streets in richly decorated chariots drawn by oxen.

[Footnote 28: The term Cite (_civitas_) was given to the old Roman
part of many French towns.]

Charlemagne during his long reign of nearly half a century (768-814)
was too preoccupied with his noble but ineffectual purpose of
cementing by blood and iron the warring races of Europe into a united
_populus Christianus_, and establishing, under the dual lordship of
emperor and pope, a city of God on earth, to give much attention to
Paris. He did, however, spend a Christmas there, and was present at
the dedication of the church of St. Denis, completed in 775 under
Abbot Fulrad. It was a typical Frankish prince whom the Parisians saw
enthroned at St. Denis. He had the abundant fair hair, shaven chin and
long moustache we see in the traditional pictures of Clovis. Above
middle height, with large, bright piercing eyes, which, when he was
ange