es of the nobility in the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries (Fig. 51). We find, for instance, in Sauval's
"History and Researches of the Antiquities of the City of Paris," that the
abodes of the kings of the first dynasty had been transformed into
Palaces of Justice by Philip le Bel; the same author also gives us a vivid
description of the Chateau du Louvre, and the Hotel St. Paul, which the
kings inhabited when their court was in the capital. But even without
examining into all the royal abodes, it will suffice to give an account of
the Hotel de Boheme, which, after having been the home of the Sires de
Nesles, of Queen Blanche of Castille, and other great persons, was given
by Charles VI., in 1388, to his brother, the famous Duke Louis of Orleans.

[Illustration: Fig. 51.--The Knight and his Lady.--Costumes of the Court
of Burgundy in the Fourteenth Century; Furnished Chamber.--Miniature in
"Othea," Poem by Christine de Pisan (Brussels Library).]

"I shall not attempt," says Sauval, "to speak of the cellars and
wine-cellars, the bakehouses, the fruiteries, the salt-stores, the
fur-rooms, the porters' lodges, the stores, the guard-rooms, the
wood-yard, or the glass-stores; nor of the servants; nor of the place
where _hypocras_ was made; neither shall I describe the tapestry-room, the
linen-room, nor the laundry; nor, indeed, any of the various conveniences
which were then to be found in the yards of that palace as well as in the
other abodes of the princes and nobles.

"I shall simply remark, that amongst the many suites of rooms which
composed it, two occupied the two first stories of the main building; the
first was raised some few steps above the ground-floor of the court, and
was occupied by Valentine de Milan; and her husband, Louis of Orleans,
generally occupied the second. Each of these suites of rooms consisted of
a great hall, a chamber of state, a large chamber, a wardrobe, some
closets, and a chapel. The windows of the halls were thirteen and a half
feet[A] high by four and a half wide. The state chambers were eight
'toises,' that is, about fifty feet and a half long. The duke and
duchess's chambers were six 'toises' by three, that is, about thirty-six
feet by eighteen; the others were seven toises and a half square, all
lighted by long and narrow windows of wirework with trellis-work of iron;
the wainscots and the ceilings were made of Irish wood, the same as at the
Louvre."

[Footnote A: French feet.]