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education appears to have been almost a sudden impulse, as the immediate
descendants of Hugh Capet could not read or write, but were obliged to
make a mark as the signature to their edicts, whilst those who possessed
that accomplishment were styled clerks. Although much brilliance was
shed over the reign of Louis the Sixth by the learning of Abelard and
the professors who followed him, yet soon after the barbarous custom was
introduced of trial by combat; the idea might probably have been
suggested by Louis having challenged Henry the First of England to
decide their differences in a single encounter. Although Lewis the Fat
was so bulky as to have obtained the cognomen by which he was always
designated, he was one of the most active kings of France; constantly
harrassed by perpetual wars with his neighbours and nobles, which he
carried on personally and generally successfully, he first undertook the
fortifying of Paris and is supposed to have constructed the greater and
the lesser Chatelet, two towers on the opposite sides of the Seine,
although many authors pretend that they were of a much more ancient
date; he also built walls round a certain portion of the suburbs, which
by that time had become part of Paris. It was said of Lewis VI, "He
might have been a better king, a better man he could not." He died in
1137.

In the succeeding reign of Louis VII, surnamed the Younger, many
privileges were granted to the Parisians which greatly increased the
prosperity of the city; several public buildings were erected, amongst
the rest an hospital which was the first ever built in Paris. But
according to the descriptions of all authors who wrote at that period
upon the subject, the streets were in a filthy condition in many parts
of the city, and the names which have long since been changed were as
dirty and indecent; some were absolutely ridiculous; as Did you find me
Hard, Bertrand Sleeps, Cut Bread, John Bread Calf (alluding to the leg);
the last still exists, as also Bad Advice, Bad Boys, etc. It was in this
reign that the first crusade from France took place, and Louis VII was
followed by 200,000 persons, and after various encounters with the
Saracens, he owed his preservation to his own personal prowess; he was
divorced from his Queen Eleanor, who afterwards married Henry II of
England, and proved herself a detestable character in both kingdoms.
Louis VII abolished one law which had long disgraced France, allowing
the of