History of Paris: From Caesar to St.Louis

As an historian who knows and loves Paris well, Maurice Druon decided he should write the biography of the city in her youth. With him we trace events from the moment when Julius Caesar altered the destiny of the world by choosing a little fishing village as a camping site, to the time when Paris had replaced Rome as the center of civilized Europe, and had taken her place as a capital city.

Maurice Druon takes us through the Paris of Julian the Apostate, of Brunhilda, Pepin, Charlemagne, the Carolingians and the Capets. He tells us of its saints and its martyrs, its poets and philosophers. And as he guides us through the dark ages and medieval centuries we can follow the development of landmarks and institutions now familiar to us-the cathedrals, the schools and monuments, the palaces and public buildings. Here is new insight into the public Paris and a fascinating revelation of the sources of the particular Parisian temperament.