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Origin and history

Philippe Auguste's enclosure is a defensive system built in Paris between the late 12th and early 13th centuries (1190–1215). Commanded by the king before his departure for the third crusade, this stone wall was intended to protect the capital from attacks by the Plantagenets, especially from the north and west. A total length of 5,385 metres (2,850 m on the right bank, 2,535 m on the left bank), it covered 253 hectares and housed approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Its route, still partially identifiable, structured medieval urban development, with streets backed by the rampart like rue Jean-Jacques-Rousseau or filled ditches that became arteries (rue des Fossés-Saint-Bernard).

The construction was jointly financed by the Paris Crown and the Parisian bourgeois, at an estimated cost of over 15,000 pounds. The right bank, given priority because of the Norman threat, was completed between 1190 and 1209, while the left bank, less exposed, was completed between 1200 and 1215. The enclosure included 73 semi-cylindrical towers, 14 main doors (including the Saint-Honoré gate at Nos. 146–150 on the eponymous street), and later added poternes to respond to population growth. Its wall, 4 to 6 metres thick and 6 to 9 metres high, was surmounted by a crenelated round road.

In the 14th century, Charles V's enclosure partially replaced it on the right bank, but that of Philippe Auguste remained in use, reinforced by ditches and barbacans. It was gradually dismantled from the sixteenth century, its stones reused for private constructions. Today, 20 portions classified as historical monuments remain, such as the remains visible at 146–150 rue Saint-Honoré (1st arrondissement), or the courtine of 60 meters rue des Jardins-Saint-Paul (4th). These physical traces testify to its founding role in the expansion of Paris, then becoming the largest city in medieval Europe with 250,000 inhabitants in the 14th century.

The enclosure also marked the social and economic evolution of the city. Philippe Auguste transferred the Saint-Ladre fair to the Champeaux district (future Halles), and encouraged the subdivision of the abbatial fences on the left bank, promoting the emergence of the University. The gates, like that of Saint-Honoré, became places of commercial and military control, while the ditches, filled in the seventeenth century for reasons of hygiene, became covered sewers. Its urban heritage persists in the oblique orientation of certain streets (rue des Francs-Bourgeois) or the administrative boundaries of the current boroughs.

Among the remarkable defensive elements, four 25-metre-high river towers (the Coin tower, Nesle tower, Barbeau tower, Saint-Bernard tower) made it possible to stretch chains across the Seine to block navigation. The gates, like that of Saint-Antoine demolished in 1382 to fluidize traffic, reflect the city's constant adaptation to its growth. Archived remains, such as the Montgomery Tower (rue des Jardins-Saint-Paul) or the visible foundations on Rue d'Arras, offer an overview of this medieval military architecture, now scattered throughout the urban fabric.

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