The Hotel de Sens Caught in the Crossfire, 1830

On 28 July 1830, the Hôtel de Sens, one of Paris' only remaining residences dating from the Middle Ages, was caught in the crossfire between barricaded revolutionaries and the troops of King Charles X.

Check out the cannon shot still embedded in the facade above the 1^st floor mullioned window:  a très cool souvenir from Les Trois Glorieuses of 27-29 July 1830.

Built more than 300 years before the Glorious Revolution (1474 to 1519), the Hôtel de Sens was once the home of the Archbishops of Sens. The architecture of the Hôtel boasts both late Gothic and early Renaissance features as well as many medieval defensive elements:

• surveillance turrets;
• a square tower used as the dungeon;
• an arched entryway with chutes from which defenders could pour scalding water or oil on would-be invaders.

In 1605, King Henri IV's ex-wife, Queen Margot, moved into the Hôtel de Sens. She was notorious for her many love affairs and is rumored to have collected the hair of her lovers to make her wigs.

From 1689-1743 the Hôtel de Sens became a stagecoach office. Sometime thereafter, it reverted once again to the Archbishops of Paris. 

That is, until the July Revolution of 1830.



Les Trois Glorieuses - The Three Glorious July Days

The barricades were thrown up no less than eight times between 1827 and 1849 in Paris' Faubourg St. Antoine. In 1830, street battles between the people and the king's forces resulted in Les Trois Glorieuses (July 27-29), three days of insurrection that would send then King Charles X packing and bring down the Bourbon Monarchy forever...

Once Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled on St. Helena, in 1815, the monarchy held by the Bourbon family since 1553, and thought to have ended with the beheading of Louis XVI in 1793, was restored. The next eldest brother of Louis XVI came to the throne as Louis XVIII*.  Louis XVIII ruled as a constitutional monarch for 10 years, until 1824. When he died, the crown passed to his younger brother, the Comte d'Artois, who became King Charles X. The period of their combined rule (1814-1830) is known as the Bourbon Restoration.

Now Louis XVIII was fairly agreeable about ruling under a constitution. But his brother, the Comte d'Artois, was an "ultra-Royalist" and as soon as he became king, he began to roll back the civic gains of the preceding 40 years. He passed laws intended to increase the power of the nobility and clergy once again. On 6 July 1830 he sought to suspend the Constitution. And on 25 July he issued four ordinances powerful enough to launch French society back to its pre-Revolution days altogether: He repealed the freedom of the press as well as universal male suffrage. Under Charles X, whose ordinances also called for a September election that year, only wealthy land-owners would, once again, be allowed the vote.

The people erupted. Students, poor, working class, and petty bourgeois alike stood shoulder to shoulder as they heaved paving stones, felled trees, furniture, even tipped carriages, anything that would serve to barricade Paris' narrow eastern streets against the king's advancing troops. For three "glorious" days they fought nobly to defend the gains of their fore-fathers. At the end of the third day, Paris erupted again, but this time in cheers as Charles X abdicated and fled France forever.

The king left his native land with instructions to make his 10-year-old grandson king, and that his cousin Louis-Philippe, duc d'Orleans, should rule as regent until the king's 13th birthday. But Louis-Philippe ignored these wishes and on August 9 colluded with the Chamber of Deputies to become the next (and last) King of the French.

So in 1830 France still had a monarch, but rule had shifted from the Bourbon to the Orleans branch of the royal family, something the Orleans had long desired. Their power, however, would last only as long as the next revolution...

*Louis XVII, first son of Louis XVI, died in captivity in 1795 at the age of 11, a victim of the French Revolution.

Images:
Ingres, Jean Auguste Dominique, King Charles X of France and of Navarre in Coronation Robes, 1829.

Delacroix, Eugene Ferdinand Victor, Liberty Leading her People, 1830.