Histories of the architecture and urban landscape of medieval Paris have often concentrated on the impressive works of patronage of male rulers, for example Louis IX (1214–1270) and Charles V (1338–1380). But the paradigms we inherit are inflected with centuries of male-focused policies, histories, and social conceptions, often leading scholars to overlook or even erase women’s important contributions to the cityscape of Paris. This project seeks to undo this erasure and demonstrate that women, their bodies, their commissions, and their interactions were not only there, but were simply everywhere. It was not at all exceptional to see their marks on the urban landscape, their presence in work spaces, their bodies in processions in the streets, their tombs in the chapels of ecclesiastical spaces, and their generosity on display throughout the city. By mapping these sites, the many women patrons, workers, residents, and monastics come into view together.
Collège de Navarre
The Collège de Navarre was erected between 1309-1315 under the testamentary orders of Queen Jeanne de Navarre et Champagne (1273–1305), wife of Philippe IV (1268-1314). That this institution displayed female support of education on such a monumental scale adds to the innovative nature of the commissions. A mother’s role in the education of her children was one that these queens’ saintly and learned ancestor, Louis IX, had frequently espoused.
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Collège de Bourgogne
The Collège de Bourgogne was built according to the wishes of a deceased queen–Jeanne de Bourgogne et Artois, daughter-in-law to Jeanne de Navarre, and wife of Philippe V, and it was dedicated in 1333.
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Hôtel de Nesle (Jeanne de Bourgogne et Artois)
Jeanne de Bourgogne had inherited her hotel, known as the Hôtel de Nesle, before she was queen when she and her husband Philippe were still just countess and count of Burgundy. It was to this residence, located on the banks of the Seine in a tower of the city wall, that she retired after her husband’s death in 1322. In later years, the Hôtel de Nesle and Hôtel de Navarre were described as two of the most lovely residences in Paris.
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Hôtels de Navarre, Evreux
The Hôtel de Navarre was located on the rue Saint-André-des-Arts, near the porte de Bucy and the porte de Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Jeanne de Navarre had kept a separate household from her husband’s and resided in this hotel of the kings of Navarre when in Paris. In later years, the Hôtel de Navarre was described as one of the most lovely residences in Paris, enabling Jeanne de Navarre to fund the foundation of the Collège de Navarre for the most part from its sale.
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Hôtel d’Artois (Mahaut d’Artois and Jeanne de Bourgogne et Artois)
Mahaut d'Artois owned the Hôtel d'Artois and generously donated land from the site for the Hôpital Saint-Jacques-aux-Pèlerins. On February 18, 1319, Mahaut's daughter, Jeanne de Bourgogne et Artois, queen of France and wife of Philippe V, laid the fist stone for the foundation of the hôpital.
Later, during Jeanne's 1330 funeral procession, her body would have passed by her former Hôtel d’Artois (now the residence of her daughter and heir, Jeanne de France, countess of Artois and Burgundy (1308–49)).
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Le Temple
Queen Clémence de Hongrie (1293-1328), wife of Louis X, resided at this estate after the death of her husband in 1316. Her post-mordem inventory records rich collections of jewels, plate, textiles, reliquaries, and figural metalwork.
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The Jacobins
A major Dominican church in Paris, numerous medieval women chose this as a burial site.
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The Cordeliers
The Cordeliers was the popular name of the male Franciscanmonastic house representing the order in Paris. It is the site of what we are calling a burial line of women.
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Sainte-Chapelle
Marie de Brabant’s (1255-1322) 1274 marriage to Philippe III recorded by Guillaume de Nangis–the first to take place in the recently completed Sainte-Chapelle–attracted noble guests (described in elegant detail) from across Europe.
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The Cordelières (St-Marcel/Lourcine)
Women’s monastic houses were in many ways the equivalents of the college for men, and of course women patronized monastic houses for women in Paris. The Cordelières, or the Filles de Saint Claire de la pauvreté Notre-Dame, was such an institution patronized by Queen Marguerite de Provence (1221–1295), widow of Louis IX, and her daughter Blanche de la Cerda (1252–1320).
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The Béguinage
Founded by Louis IX after returning from crusade in 1254, by the end of his reign around four hundred women lived at the main beguinage on the Right Bank.
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Saint-Antoine-des-Champs
Founded in the twelfth century as a home for repentant sex workers, Saint-Antoine-des-Champs later featured a church dedicated to the anchorite Saint Antoine. Louis IX attended its dedication in 1233. When Louis acquired the relics of the passion, the abbey of Saint-Antoine-des-Champs had the honor of housing them for a night in 1239. Jeanne de France and Bonne de France were both buried at this site in 1360.
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Silk Production
Mapping the concentrations of workers in the silk industry, where non-elite women were central figures, helps to highlight neighborhoods where women including Beguines and many others featured prominently.
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1318 Procession from the (former) Porte Saint-Denis to Saint-Magloire
Queen Clémence de Hongrie (1293–1328), Queen Jeanne de Bourgogne et Artois (1292–1330), Blanche de Bretagne (1271–1327), Mahaut d’Artois (1268–1329), and Pernelle de Sully, Countess de Dreux (c. 1285–1338) participated in a solemn procession on July 9, 1318. Torrential rains had ruined crops and washed out roads and bridges, and chroniclers recorded people starving in the streets.The procession began at the great Porte Saint-Denis, wound through streets decorated for the event along the rue Oues and then right down the rue Salle-au-Comte, entering Saint-Magloire through the cemetery in the back. The pace was slow with stops along the route to sing and pray. Clerics transferred the arm bone of Saint Magloire from an older wooden reliquary to a beautiful new silver-gilt one, and then the women each offered gifts like jeweled and enameled clasps, silk textiles, and silver-gilt lamps upon the altar.
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Hôpital Saint-Jacques-aux-Pélerins
On February 18, 1319, Jeanne de Bourgogne et Artois, as queen of France and wife of Philippe V, laid the first stone for the foundation of the new Hôpital Saint-Jacques-aux-Pèlerins to accommodate pilgrims on their way to or from Santiago de Compostela and to provide a place to meet and worship for the local Confrèrie dedicated to Saint Jacques. During the dedication, Queen Jeanne was surrounded by her mother, Mahaut d’Artois, and three of Jeanne’s four daughters and some accounts say each one in turn laid an additional stone.
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Les Halles des Champeaux
As it is today, Paris was a hub for fashion in the fourteenth century, and an exciting primary-source account describes such delectable textiles that were available in a multi-story mall with vendors offering a wide variety of clothes and adornments, perhaps even purses like the one mentioned here.
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View All Locations
Foundations
- Collège de Navarre
- Collège de Bourgogne
- Hôpital Saint-Jacques-aux-Pélerins
Residences
- Hôtel de Nesle (Jeanne de Bourgogne et Artois)
- Hôtels de Navarre, Evreux
- Hôtel d’Artois (Mahaut d’Artois and Jeanne de Bourgogne et Artois)
- Le Temple
Burials
- The Jacobins
- The Cordeliers
Processions
- Sainte-Chapelle
- 1318 Procession from the (former) Porte Saint-Denis to Saint-Magloire
Women's Monastic Houses
- The Cordelières (St-Marcel/Lourcine)
- The Béguinage
- Saint-Antoine-des-Champs
Material Culture Sites
- Silk Production
- Les Halles des Champeaux
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