Fr : version française / En: english version

.mheu, Historical Museum of the Urban Environment

All roads lead to Rome

Sheltered by the ramparts

Belleforest's map of Paris

Pont Neuf

Paris, an open-plan city

Haussmann: Minister of Paris

Everything's connected!

Rue Passagère

In a roundabout fashion...

Lining the streets

Processions

From the League to the Fronde

Taking to the streets

Forward march!

The resilient Republic!

Let the party begin!

The Boulevard of Crime

The carnival

Industrious street life

Colporteurs

The central market

Paving the way...

It's a dirty job...

Standing firm

Let there be light!

Sleep soundly, good people!

The beat goes on...

Colporteurs

Many traders were not so well-off: these were the colporteurs (peddlers) who carried their wares on their backs and vaunted the merits of their merchandise in a loud voice to attract patrons.

Persecuting the peddlers

Informers had a habit of targeting the colporteurs, the people selling the only books still worth reading in France, and banned as a result. They were horribly treated; every police informant was out to hunt down the poor peddlers, who had no idea what they were selling, and would even hide The Bible under their coats if the Lieutenant de Police dared to forbid the Holy Book. The unfortunate were locked up in the Bastille prison for selling futile pamphlets that would quickly be forgotten, and were sometimes made to wear an iron collar.

Postmen given the task of weeding out such publications often made extra money on the side by distributing them to a select few, single handedly earning more than 30 colporteurs.

Extract from Louis-Sébastien Mercier's Tableaux de Paris, 1783. (Free translation from the French)

Hawkers of books and literature enjoyed great success by selling the Bibliothèque Bleue, the precursor to modern-day easy-reading material typically found in airports. However, the authorities were suspicious of these vendors, since they also were liable to sell pamphlets mocking the incumbent government; the trade was therefore strictly monitored.

The colporteur
anonymous, Ecole Français

Voulez Ouyr les Cris de Pari

Voulez Ouyr les Cris de Paris is the name of a song for four voices without accompaniment, released in 1530. Following a short intro during which the singers ask the listener if he wishes to "ouyr les cris de Paris" (hear the cries of Paris), Janequin introduces some 40 shouts from traders and traveling salesmen.

Many of these cries aim to hawk vegetables such as lettuce, sorrel, spinach, rutabaga and turnips while others peddle matches, hoops and candles. The song ends with a short coda inviting the listener to hear more: "If you want to hear more, get out and wander!"

Clément Janequin

A priest and composer born circa 1485 in Châtellerault, Clément Janequin began his career in music as a singing teacher to local choirboys.

Ronsard claimed he studied with Josquin des Prés. Although he was ordained as a priest in 1523, he made a name for himself more through his profane music (La Bataille de Marignan, La Chasse, Le Chant des Oiseaux).

Janequin composed over 250 songs and mastered the art of polyphonic singing, which paved the way for descriptive music. Clément Janequin moved often, wherever the mood took him, finally settling in Paris, where he worked as composer to the king. He died in 1558.

.The street

Colporteurs