As I told you in Post 268, me and Mum had lots of plans for the last few months of the year 2000. One of these was four days away in October on a coach-tour to Paris for just the two of us.
It was the first time Mum had been back there since the spring of 1966, when she’d been studying A-level French at school and had been lucky enough to get a place on a special short course at the Sorbonne for A-level students.
It was toward the end of March when she went that time and accommodation was at a boys’ boarding school near the university, while the boys who studied there had gone home for the Easter holidays. To say it was basic would be kind, though the food was good and plentiful and she had a good time. She even won a prize for an essay she wrote about her impressions of Paris during her eight-day stay in the city.
But what she didn’t put in her essay was that at that time some parts of Paris – like many other places in the rest of Europe – looked to be in need of a bit of Tender Loving Care (also known as TLC). She thought this was because it was only just over 20 years after the end of World War II in Europe and there’d been other, more important, things to do in that time rather than make everywhere look good for tourists again.
By the time we went, however, 34 more years had passed and everything was different – including our accommodation which this time was in a proper hotel where we had a proper bedroom and an en suite bathroom with a proper loo. (At the boarding-school, her “bedroom” was a cubicle with just curtains to separate it from its neighbours and the only furniture was a single bed and a chest of drawers. There wasn’t even a chair – and I won’t tell you what she said about the loos!)
Most of our first day was taken up with travelling, going by coach from Leeds to Dover, getting the ferry to Calais, then getting back on the coach for the rest of the journey to Paris, arriving in the early evening. That left us just nice time to check in to the hotel, find our room, unpack and have a little rest before going down for dinner – then we had an early night, ahead of a hectic day’s sight-seeing.
After all these years I can’t remember which order we saw things in, so I’m going to have to tell you about them as I think of them, starting with Notre Dame Cathedral.
The building of this famous cathedral started in 1163 on the Ile de Cite in the river Seine in the heart of Paris.
It was completed by 1260, but went through many modifications in the centuries that followed.
As it’s probably the most famous church in France and situated in the capital city, I thought that most, if not all, of the kings of France would have been crowned there and I was surprised when Mum said that actually none of them were.
I was even more surprised when she told me that, although no French kings of France had been crowned at Notre Dame, it had been the scene of two coronations.
The first was during the so-called Hundred Years War (though, as it started in 1337 and didn’t end until 1453, it actually lasted for 116 years and the fighting didn’t go on every day or even every year).
During this time, England was trying to claim the throne of France – and France was trying to prevent this. England saw the possibility of success after their victory over the French at the battle of Agincourt in 1415 when Henry V, king of England, came to an agreement (called the Treaty of Troyes) with Charles VI, king of France, whereby Henry would marry Charles’ daughter, Catherine of Valois, and, when Charles died, Henry would become king of France as well as king of England.
As Charles VI was 16 years older than he was, Henry V was naturally looking forward to becoming king of France, but unfortunately for him he died unexpectedly on August 31st 1422, leaving his nine-month-old son to succeed him as Henry VI of England. And, when Charles VI died on October 21st 1422, this Henry became king of France as well.
He was crowned king of England in Westminster Abbey on November 6th 1429…
…and two years later, on December 6th 1431, he was crowned king of France at Notre Dame in Paris, which was under English control at the time.
But although Henry VI claimed to be king of France, there was also a French king of France. This was Charles VII, son and legitimate heir of Charles VI, and slowly but surely over the next two decades he reclaimed his kingdom. By 1453 he driven the English out of all but a little bit of France around Calais, bringing an end to both the Hundred Years War and Henry VI’s time as King of France.
More than three centuries passed before there was another coronation in Notre Dame. This was on December 2nd 1804 when Napoleon Bonaparte had himself crowned as Emperor of France.
At the time he seemed unstoppable, but his rule came to an end with his defeat at the battle of Waterloo in 1815.
Now Mum says I’ve written more than enough for today, however, so I’ll have to tell you more about Notre Dame and other places we visited in Paris in my next post. Meanwhile, take care, stay safe – and I’ll be back again soon!
Follow my next blog: 271. MY MUM THE STORY-TELLER – PART ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-SIX
05/08/2023
Wilf the bear-faced blogger 