Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/550

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PARIS


498


PARIS


Paris was piven over to factions, the university soupht enorgotically to restore peace; and under Louis XIV, when the Spaniards had cros.sc<i the Soniine and threatened the capital, it placed two hundred men at the kin^i's disjiosal and ofTered the Master of Arts degree gratuitously to scholars who should jiresent certificates of service in the army (Jourdain, "Hist. de I'Univers. de Paris au XVII" et XVIII sieele", 132-34; "Archiv. du ministere de rinstruction pub- lique").

The ancient university was to disappear with an- cient France under the Revolution. On 1.5 Sept., 1793, petitioned by the Department of Paris and several de- partmental groups, the National Convention decided that indei)en<iently of the primary schools, already the objects of its solicitude, "there should be established in the Republic three progressive degrees of instruc- tion; the first for the knowledge indispensable to ar- tisans and workmen of all kinds; the second for further knowledge necessary to those intending to embrace the other professions of society ; and the third for those branches of instruction the study of which is not within tlic reach of all men". Measures were to be taken immediately: "For means of execution the de- partment and the municipality of Paris are authorized to consult with theComtuitteeof Public Instruction of the National Convention, in order that these establish- ments .shall be put in action by 1 November next, and consequently colleges now in operation and the facul- ties of theology, medicine, arts, and law are sup- pressed throughout the Republic". This was the death-sentence of the university. It was not to be re- stored after the Revolution had subsided, any more than those of the provinces. All were replaced by a single centre, viz., the University of France. The lapse of a century brought the recognition that the new system was less favourable to study, and it was sought to restore the old system, but without the faculty of theology.

Rashdall, Universiiies of Europe in the Middle Ages, I (Oxford, 1893); Denifle, Die Universitalen . . . (Berlin. 1SS5); Deni- FLE AND CuATELAiN. ChaTlulaHum Univ. Paris (Paris, 1889-97); DU BouLAY. Hist. Univ. Paris (Paris, 1665-73) ; Crevier. Hist, de I' Univ. de P. (Paris. 1761); Thurot. De I' organisation de Ven- aeignement dans f Univ. de P. (Paris, 1850); Jourdain, Hist, de I' Univ. de P. au IT et au 18' sieele (Paris, 1866); Raleigh, The Univ. of Paris (Oxford. 187.3); Feret, La Faculti de thf.ol. et ses lioeleurs les plus celebres (Paris, 1894-1909). See also bibliography under University. P. FeHET.

Paris, Alexis-Paulin, philologist, b. at Avenay, Marne, France, 25 March, 1800; d. 13 Feb., 1881. Hav- ing finished his classical studies at Reims, he was sent by his father to Paris to study law, but devoted most of his time to literature. In 1824 he published "Apologie de I'Ecole Romantique", in which he ad- vocated the imitation of Byron and the study of medieval art. Besides contributing articles to vari- ous literary reviews, he translated Byron's complete works (13 vols., Paris, 1827-32). In 1828 he ob- tained a clerkship in the manuscript department of the King's Library (now known as the Bibliotheque Nationale), and was afterwards promoted to the rank of assistant librarian. He took advantage of his position to pursue his research work on medieval literature, and publish a few old epics, "Berte aux Grans Pids" (Paris, 1831), "Garin le Loherain" (1835), and a collection of popular songs under the title of "Romancero Frangais" (Paris, 1833). He then turned to historical writings, publishing in 1833 "M6moire sur la Relation Originale des Voyages de Marco Polo", and from 183<) to 1840, the "Grandes Chroniques de Saint Denis". His most important work as a librarian, was his book on "Les Manuscrits Frangais de la Bibliotheque du Roi" (Paris, 1836-48), which is not a mere catalogue, but a lengthy disser- tation on the authors and contents of the MSS.

In recognition of his achievements, he was elected to the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-lettres in


1.S37 and soon after w;is iii;ide a member of the com- mittee entrusted with the task of continuing the "Ilisloire lilleraire de la France", a most valuable public;itioti, begun in the eighteenth century by the Benedictines. In 1S.')3 a chair of medieval literature was created for him in the College de France, .ind for nineteen years he lectured in a most sdiohirly iiKinner on the origins of the French language, the old French epics or "Chansons de Geste", the novels of the Round Table, and the early French theatre. Medieval literature appealed to him, because he found in it a naive but strong expression of his rcHgious faith. Busy as he was with the preparation of his lectures, he found time to publish, with dissertations and anno- tations, such works as "Historiettes de Tallemand des Reaux" (9 vols., Paris, IStiO), "Aventures de Mattre Renart et d'Ysengrin" (Paris, 1861), "Recueil com- plet des Poemes de St-Pavin" (1861), "Romans de la Table Ronde" (1868-77), "Le Livre du Voir Dit", by Guillaume de Machault (1867). He resigned his chair in the College de France in 1872.

Paris, Paulin Paris ei la littcrature fran^aise du moyen dfje in Romania, XI (1882),

Louis N. Delamarre.

Paris, Ga.ston-Bruno-Paclin, a French philolo- gist, son of Pauhn, b. at Avenay (Marne), 9 August, 1839; d. at Cannes, 6 March, 1903. After graduating from the College RoUin, Paris, he studied at the Universities of Gottingen and Bonn, where he was a pupil of the celebrated philologist Diez. On his re- turn, while taking courses at the Ecole des Chartes, he studied hiw :ind literature at the LTniversity of Paris, obtaining the degree of doctor in literature in 1865. He taught for a while French grammar in a private school, and was appointed professor of languages at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, and soon after was made director of that section of the school, a position he retained till his death. In 1872, he suc- ceeded his father as professor of medieval literature at the College de France and was made director of the college in 1895. A year later, he was elected to the French Academy, taking the seat made vacant by the death of Alexandre Dumas, Jr. For more than thirty years he was regarded as the highest authority in France on philology of the Romance languages. By his vast erudition, his scientific methods, and his patient re- searches in that new field, he made his name famous throughout Europe. His lectures were attended by enthusiastic crowds gathered from all parts of the world. His salon, where he used to receive every Sunday his friends, pupils, and distinguished foreign scholars, was one of the most celebrated in Paris. Because of his sojourn in Protestant universities and the influence of Renan, he lost for a time his religious faith, but towards the end of his life he returned to the sentiments of his childhood and was buried in the Church. Among his numerous publications, without mentioning his contributions to the "Revue critique" and "Romania", which he founded, the former in 1865, the latter in 1872, the chief to be cited are: "Etude sur le role de I'accent latin dans la langue frangaise" (Paris, 1862); "De Pseudo-Turpino" (Paris, 1865), a Latin thesis for the doctorate; "His- toire poetique de Charlemagne" (Paris, 1866); "La vie de saint Alexis" (texts of the eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries); "Dissertation critique sur le poeme latin Ligurius" (Paris, 1873); "Le petit Poucet, la grande Ourse" (Paris, 1875); "Les contcs orientaux dans la litterature du moyen dge" (Paris, 1875); "Les miracles deNotre-Dame par Personnages" (Paris, 1877); "Le myst^re de la Pas- sion par Arnoul Gr<5ban" (1878); "Deux Redactions du roman des sept sages de Rome" (Paris, 1879); "Aucassin et Nicolette" (Paris, 1878); "Poetes et Penseurs" (Paris, 1893) etc.

Masson, Diseours de riception d V Academic frangaise (Pans, 1904); Romania (April, 1903); ToDD, Gaston Paris in Modern