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History 2091:
The History of Paris:
The “City of Light” from Julius Caesar to Jacques Chirac, 50 BCE – 2000 CE
SYLLABUS
Summer 2016
Troy Tice M/T/W/TH 14h30-18h
Office: Starbucks, 90 Rue Saint-Dominique Combes 505
Office Hours: M/T/W/TH 13h30-14h20
and by appointment
E-mail: ttice@aup.edu
Course Description
Paris. The “City of Light” is many things to many people, and always has been. Some are
enchanted by its glittering boulevards, fashionable boutiques and gourmet restaurants – the very
definition of chic. For others, its magnetic pull lies in its history and monuments: the soaring
medieval vaults of Notre-Dame Cathedral, for instance, or the treasures of the Musée du Louvre.
By holding this syllabus in your hands and by being in this place, you to0 have felt the draw of
Paris. This course, through its examination of the history of the “City of Light,” seeks to help you
understand why.
It is divided into two parts. The first covers the history of Paris from its origins as a Celtic fishing
village up to the cusp of the French Revolution. This is an exciting historical journey where we
will meet – among other Parisians – (English!) criminals on a fourteenth-century crime spree; an
eyewitness to the horror of the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in Paris during the French
Wars of Religion; coffee-sipping philosophes like Voltaire; and kings from Philip Augustus to

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Louis XIV. The second part of the course covers the history of Paris from the Revolution to the
present. In addition to the blood-thirsty sans-culottes of the Revolution and the rioting students
of 1968, the second half of our historical journey will introduce us to bohemian painters and
writers, the first department store shoppers, and the most famous of city-planners: Baron
Haussmann. Although attention will be given to the growth of the city over time, this course
focuses on understanding how Parisians of all eras conceived the urban environment around
them – its monuments, neighborhoods, etc – as well as themselves. Hence, it prioritizes a critical
yet empathetic reading of sources written by or about past Parisians – what historians call primary
sources – in order to reconstruct their social, intellectual, religious, political and cultural worlds.
Course Promises
This course makes a set of promises to you (assuming you fulfill the requirements below). By the
end of the course you should be able:
 To describe the major social, intellectual, religious, political and cultural shifts that have
occurred among Parisianssince the Middle Ages.
 To read like historians, that is to say, to approach primary and secondary sources both
with empathy and a well-honed critical eye.
 To express your ideas and interpretations in a clear and cogent manner, both in written
assignments and in class discussions.
Course Requirements
Lectures, Discussions and Visits
Each class session consists of a lecture, a discussion, and a visit to a monument or
museum in Paris. The lecture provides the necessary historical background, while the discussion
allows you to share your thoughts and interpretations of the readings with your classmates. Be
sure to ALWAYS have the day’s readings on hand when you come to class. Although I will get the
discussion going with different activities, I strongly recommend taking stock of your thoughts
beforehand, perhaps by jotting down some questions the readings raised for you. As far as
classroom etiquette is concerned, please be respectful of your fellow classmates. Turn off all
electronic devices – including laptops – before class begins. On visits, please be considerate of
others touring the site.
Attendance is required for ALL lectures, discussions,and visits, and will be monitored. Due to the
intensive class schedule, two or more absences will automatically result in your receiving an “F” in
the course. If you know in advance that you will have to miss a class for a medical or religious
reason, please let me know in writing ASAP.

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Grading
Your grade in the course will be based on the following criteria:
(1) Attendance, but most importantly, engaged and active participation in discussion – 30%
(2) Two in-class essays -- 35%
(3) One book review (3-5 pages) –- 35%
Texts
REQUIRED:
John Merriman, Massacre: The Life and Death of the Paris Commune of 1871 (Yale UP, 2014)*
Articles and primary sources available on Blackboard.
*The book may be downloaded through the library website under “Find Ebooks and Reference
Materials.” Should you wish to consult a physical copy, it is easily findable on Amazon.fr.
RECOMMENDED:
Colin Jones, Paris: Biography of a City (Penguin Books,2006) **
**A copy of the book will be available on reserve in the library.

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SCHEDULE OF READINGS AND VISITS
Part One: From Gallic Paris to the Cusp of the Revolution
(Towers of Notre-Dame de Paris, 13th c.)
Wed, 29 June: Introduction
[Visit: Musée de Cluny]
Readings: William Chester Jordan, “Richard the Englishman and his Gang,”
in From England to France: Felony and Exile in the High Middle Ages, pp.
105-12.
Primary Documents: Excerpts from Jean de Jandun, Treatise on the Praises
of Paris
Thurs, 30 June: Medieval Paris
[Visit: Notre Dame Cathedral]
Readings: Natalie Zemon Davis, “The Rites of Violence: Religious Riot in
Sixteenth-Century France,” Past & Present 59 (1973): 51-91.
Primary Documents: Eyewitness account of the Saint Bartholomew’s Day
Massacre.
(Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, 1572)
Mon, 4 July: Renaissance Paris
[Visit: Fontaine des Innocents; Saint-Eustache]
Readings: Colin Jones, “The Mythic Present of the Sun King,” in The Great
Nation: France from Louis XV to Napoleon 1715-99,pp. 1-6. Andrew Trout,
“Louis XIV’s Paris: A Panoramic View,” in City on the Seine: Paris in the
Time of Richelieu and Louis XIV, pp. 3-18.

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Primary Documents: Excerpts from the memoirs of the Duc de Saint-
Simon; Maps of the Palace of Versailles.
Tues, 5 July: Le Grand Siècle
[Visit: Pont-Neuf; Place des Vosges]
Readings: Jones, “Points of Light,” In The Great Nation, pp. 178-86;
Primary Sources: Excerpts from Jean La Rond D'Alembert, Preliminary
Discourse to the Encyclopedia of Diderot.
(Title page of Tome One of the Encyclopedia, 1752)
Wed, 6 July: Le Siècles des Lumières
[Visit: Palais Royale; Le Procope]
Thurs, 7 July: In-Class Essay 1
[Visit: Musée Carnavalet]
Readings:
Primary Documents: Excerpts from Abbé Sieyès, What is the Third Estate?;
Excerpts from Thomas Jefferson’s correspondence from Paris; The
Marseillaise; The Levée en Masse; Excerpts from Maximilian Robespierre,
Justification of the Use of Terror.
Part Two: From the Revolution to the Present Day
(Execution of Lous XVI, January 21, 1793)
Mon, 11 July: Revolutionary and Napoleonic Paris
[Visit: Place de la Concorde; Arc de Triomphe de Carrousel]
Readings: David P. Jordan, “Haussmann and Haussmannisation: The
Legacy for Paris,” French Historical Studies 27 (2004): 87-113.

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Primary Sources: Maps of Paris
Tues, 12 July: Paris from the Restoration to the Second Empire
[Visit: Palais Garnier; the Grands Boulevards; Le Printemps]
Readings: Henri Loyrette, “The Eiffel Tower,” in Realms of Memory: The
Construction of the French Past, vol. 3, pp. 348-74.
(Perspective of Boulevard de la Chapelle, c. 1900)
Wed, 13 July: La Belle Époque
[Visit: Eiffel Tower; Pont Alexandre III; Grand Palais and Petit Palais]
Readings: Richard D. E. Burton, “Operation Spring Breeze: Rue des Rosiers,
Vel’ d’ Hiv’, Drancy (July-August 1942),” in Blood in the City: Violence and
Revelation in Paris, 1789-1945, pp. 206-31.
Primary Sources: Excerpts from Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast.
Thurs, 14 July: No Class – Fête nationale (Bastille Day)
(General de Gaulle in Paris after the liberation of the city, August 1944)
Mon, 18 July: The World Wars
[Visit: Père Lachaise]
Readings: Keith Reader, What Happened in May 1968
Primary Sources: Excerpts from Le Monde, May 1968; Photographs and
posters.
Tues, 19 July: Modern Paris
[Visit: Centre Georges-Pompidou; Forum des Halles; Bastille Opera]

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Wed, 20 July: In-Class Essay 2
[Visit: Musée du Louvre]
Fri, 22 July: Book Review sent to me via e-mail by 12h