Palais du Grand Prieur du Temple

By Thirza Vallois

Paris Kiosque - April 1998 - Volume 5, Number 4
Copyright (c) 1998 Thirza Vallois - used with permission
Excerpted from "Around and About Paris"

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Dear Reader - While many of the Hôtels of the Marais still stand, often as museums, others have disappeared, notably the Palais du Grand Prieur du Temple, next to the medieval fortified compound of the Temple, all of which has been wiped out from the earth and, sadly too, from the memory of today's Parisians:

The Palais du Grand Prieur was the court of the illegitimate sons of royalty who, like Philippe Duc de Vendôme, the grandson of Henri IV and Gabrielle d'Estrées, led a life of debauchery, but also of literary and artistic brilliance. The Grand Prior, for example, granted La Fontaine an annual pension of 600 francs. After the court's transfer to Versailles it became an alternative court where "gathered those who had nothing to hope for from the King", we are told by Horace Walpole. Louis XVI (who had called his cousing Philippe d'Orléans, the landlord of the Palais-Royal, a shopkeeper) was equally contemptous of the Grand Prior, the Prince de Conti, his "cousin the lawyer". Horace Walpole, on the other hand described him as "handsome, of royal port and amiable" but also as arrogant, dissolute and prodigal. The Grand Prior reputedly kept 4,000 rings in one of his drawers, a farewell token from each repudiated mistress; but some claimed he had added may himself. His favourite, the Comtesse de Boufflers, l'Idole du Temple, reigned suprieme over his scintillating court, to which the 10-year-old Mozart was introduced on his second visit to the capital. Ollivier's famouse painting of him in the drawing-room playing the harpsichord to an inattentive audience is evidence of the Temple's lack of deep artistic commitment.

On 13 August 1792, a sumptuous dinner was served in the same room. The guests on this occasion were the Royal family and their retenue, virtually the prisoners of the Commune of Paris. The King was addressed as Monsieur and everyone was treated courteously during the sham celebration; but as soon as dinner was over the royal couple, their two children and the King's sister were locked up in the Tower of the Temple, while the other women were transferred to the prison of La Force (now in the 4th arrondissement), unknown to the people of Paris. This was the beginning of the tragic extinction of the Royal family. On 21 September 1792, at the foot of the small tower of the Temple, Superintendent Lubin reiterated the proclamation abolishing the monarchy, announced earlier in the day by Danton before the Convention. The King was kept in the main tower of the Temple till his execution on 21 January 1793 and the Queen till the next summer, when she was transferred to the Conciergerie. The 14-year-old Princess was exchanged with the Austrian authorities for five Republican prisoners and the seven-year-old Dauphin was torn away from his family and left to vegetate in a dark cell in total isoltion, till his presumed death on 8 June 1795. He was carried to the cemetery of Sainte-Marguerite (now in the 11th arr.) for burial, but rumours persisted that somebody else's body had been laid there in his stead. When in 1894 it was decided to dig up the remains and examine the bones, they proved indeed to have belonged to an 18-year-old youth. Nevertheless, the mystery of the Temple child has never been resolved, which explains how 43 characters could pretend to the throne of France! It was Napoleon who got hold of the throne instead, whereupon he prudently razed the Temple Tower to the ground, the Royalists having made it their shrine. The original Romanesque church of the Temple and its churchyard soon met the same fate. Only the Grand Prior's Palace was still standing when the Princess Royal returned to the tragic site during the Restoration, there to pray and plant a weeping willow. Used by the Ministry of religion at the time of Napoleon, as a convent during the Restoration and as a military barracks during the Second Republic, it was torn down by Napoleon III in 1853.

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Thirza Vallois brings Paris to life in a way that enthralls her readers and provides them with a detailed knowledge of the city which exceeds that of most Parisians, while her fast moving style disguises a depth of historical fact that is normally only found in academic tomes. Writer William Boyd wrote in The Spectator: "I think we can safely toss all other Paris guidebooks aside....There can be no higher praise than when I say they come close to the world's greatest guidebook, J. Link's "Venice for Pleasure" and they should soon achieve similar legendary status." The French Ambassador to the UK wrote: "I am convinced that this guide will constitute from now on, for the British lovers of Paris, a reference book which will have the success it deserves." Around and About Paris may be ordered here.

A long time resident of Paris, she currently lives just three hours outside of Paris in London, and may be contacted via thirzavallois@iliadbooks.demon.co.uk.