he king charged the _prevote_ of Paris to pay to the prior and
the monks of Saint-Denis de la Chartre thirty sous parisis for the
privilege of building on their land, and he commenced the construction
of the Louvre. The site had long been occupied by a sort of suburban
house of entertainment, and the king resolved to erect a strong chateau,
commanding the Seine. This chateau was square, the thick walls pierced
with small windows and loopholes arranged without order, surrounded by
wide and deep ditches, and completed by a great tower rising in the
middle. Over the pointed roof floated the royal banner, and within were
confined the State prisoners, and the royal treasures, crown-jewels, and
_Tresor des Chartres_. In 1200, this indefatigable monarch conceived the
idea of uniting all the different schools established in Paris under one
head, but the corporation of the Universite was not constituted until
twelve years later.

The life and reign of Louis VIII, son of Philippe-Auguste and father of
Saint-Louis, have recently been made the subject of special research by
M. Petit-Dutaillis, whose history may serve to give his short reign of
three years a greater importance in the eyes of subsequent students than
it has received. He surrounded himself with the same political advisers
that had served his father, and was inspired by the same political and
administrative principles: the death of King John and the birth of the
infant Henry III caused his expedition to England, while still Dauphin,
to fail, and in his attempt to unite the crowns of Hugues Capet and of
William the Conqueror he had against him the influence of the Pope. His
energetic and persevering obstinacy won for him the surname of "the
Lion;" and, moreover, he was haunted "by those visions of sanctity and
of power to which the clerical and classical education gave birth, the
sole general ideas which enlightened and enlarged the darkened and
narrow brains of the men of the Middle Ages." The French historians are
of the opinion that it was to his father's victory of Bouvines that
England was indebted for her Magna Charta.

His entry into Paris after his coronation at Reims is described
enthusiastically by the chroniclers of the times. "The whole city
turned out before him; the poets chanted odes in his praise, the
musicians filled the air with the sound of the vielle [hurdy-gurdy!], of
fifes, of tambours, of the psalterion and of the harp." Another admires
the richn