school of Paris. The center of international art until after World War II, Paris was a mecca for artists who flocked there to participate in the most advanced aesthetic currents of their time. The school of Paris is not one style; the term describes many styles and movements. The practitioners and adherents of fauvism, cubism, and orphism all belonged to the school of Paris, as well as many artists whose styles fit into no one category. After the war, when New York City challenged Paris's preeminence in the art world, the school of Paris continued to produce major figures and styles in art: Jean Dubuffet and the Art Brut school are recent examples.

plaster of Paris: see gypsum.

Paris, University of, at Paris, France; founded 12th cent., confirmed 1215 by papal bull. It was suppressed during the French Revolution and replaced in 1808 by an academy of the Université Impériale. In 1890 it was reestablished as a university. The student riots of 1968, which paralyzed Paris for weeks, centered around the university and led to radical changes. In 1970 the university was divided into 13 universities, and further reforms followed under the Higher Education Act of 1983. The new universities are state institutions enjoying academic and financial autonomy, operated under the jurisdiction of the minister of education and financed by the state. Each institution has a different focus and scale, appropriate to its status as an autonomous "unit of teaching and research." Paris IX, for example, which focuses on business and computer sciences, has some 6,000 students, while Paris I, with a more general curriculum, enrolls over 35,000. Traditionally, the Univ. of Paris accounts for one third of France's entire university population.

Paris, Treaty of, any of several important treaties, signed at or near Paris, France.

The Treaty of 1763

The Treaty of Paris of Feb. 10, 1763, was signed by Great Britain, France, and Spain. Together with the treaty of Hubertusburg, it terminated the Seven Years War. France lost its possessions on the North American continent by ceding Canada and all its territories east of the Mississippi to Great Britain, and by ceding W Louisiana to its ally, Spain, in compensation for Florida, which Spain yielded to Great Britain. France retained the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon and recovered Guadeloupe and Martinique in the West Indies from Great Britain, in exchange for which it ceded Grenada and the Grenadines to the English.

In East India the French were permitted to return to their posts, but they were forbidden to maintain troops or build forts in Bengal; India thus virtually passed to Great Britain. In Africa France yielded Senegal to Great Britain. Cuba and the Philippines were restored to Spain. In Europe the French and Spanish returned Minorca to Great Britain, and France withdrew its troops from Germany. From this treaty dated the colonial and maritime supremacy of Great Britain.

The Treaty of 1783

By the Treaty of Paris of Sept. 3, 1783, Great Britain formally acknowledged the independence of the United States, and the warring European powers, Britain against France and Spain, with the Dutch as armed neutrals, effected a large-scale peace settlement. The preliminary Anglo-American articles (which went unchanged) were signed on Nov. 30, 1782, after months of tortuous negotiations, in which the chief American plenipotentiaries, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay, acquitted themselves so well that their achievement has been labeled "the greatest triumph in the history of American diplomacy."

France and Spain signed separate preliminary articles with Great Britain on Jan. 20, 1783, and the Dutch and British signed theirs on Sept. 2, 1783. These preliminary agreements (except the Anglo-Dutch one, which was not ratified by both powers until June, 1784) were signed as definitive treaties on Sept. 3, 1783.

The Anglo-American settlement fixed the boundaries of the United States. In the Northeast the line extended from the source of the St. Croix River due north to the highlands separating the rivers flowing to the Atlantic from those draining into the St. Lawrence River, thence with the highlands to lat. 45°N, and then along the 45th parallel to the St. Lawrence. From there the northern boundary followed a line midway through contiguous rivers and lakes (especially the Great Lakes) to the northwest corner of the Lake of the Woods, thence "due west" to the sources of the Mississippi (which were not then known).

The Mississippi, south to lat. 31°N, was made the western boundary. On the south the line followed the 31st parallel E to the Chattahoochee River and its junction with the Flint River, then took a straight line to the mouth of the St. Marys River, and from there to the Atlantic. The navigation of the Mississippi was to be open to the citizens of both nations.

Another section of the treaty granted Americans fishing rights off Newfoundland and the privilege of curing fish in the uninhabited parts of Labrador, Nova Scotia, and the Magdalen Islands, but not in Newfoundland. A third part provided that creditors of either side would be unimpeded in the collection of lawful debts. In a fourth section the American government promised to recommend to the several states that they repeal their confiscation laws, provide for restitution of confiscated property to British subjects, and take no further proceedings against the Loyalists.

In the treaty with France, Britain relinquished the restrictions that had been imposed on the French naval port of Dunkirk, but aside from minor adjustments in the West Indies and Africa, the territorial dispositions made in the Treaty of Paris of 1763 were generally continued. Spain, however, in its treaty with Britain, reacquired the Floridas in America and the island of Minorca in the Mediterranean, while the British retained Gibraltar.

The Treaty of 1814

The Treaty of Paris of May 30, 1814, was concluded between France on the one hand and Great Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia on the other after the first abdication of Napoleon I. France was confined to its boundaries of 1792. No indemnity was exacted, and England returned all the French colonies save Tobago, St. Lucia, and Mauritius. Britain also kept Malta. A general conference was to be called for the territorial settlement in Europe (see Vienna, Congress of). The leniency of the treaty to defeated France was chiefly due to the diplomatic skill of Talleyrand, who had engineered the restoration of Louis XVIII on the French throne.

The Treaty of 1815

After Napoleon's return, his defeat at Waterloo, and his second abdication, a new peace treaty was signed at Paris on Nov. 20, 1815. This treaty was much sterner than the one of the previous year. France was reduced to the boundary of 1790, was required to pay 700 million francs in reparations, and was made to pay for the maintenance of an Allied army of occupation in NE France, which was to remain for a maximum of five years. All the provisions of the treaty of 1814 not expressly revoked were to remain binding, as was the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna. On the same day Great Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia renewed the Quadruple Alliance.

Other Treaties

For the Treaty of Paris of 1856, see Paris, Congress of. For the Treaty of Paris of 1898, see Spanish-American War. After World War I several treaties were signed in 1919 and 1920 in or near Paris (see Versailles, Treaty of; Saint-Germain, Treaty of; Neuilly, Treaty of; Trianon, Treaty of; Sèvres, Treaty of). Again, after World War II, peace treaties were signed in Paris in 1947 between the Allies and Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Finland. Each treaty is a separate document.

Paris, Paulin (Alexis Paulin Paris), 1800-1881, French scholar. He was noted for his research in medieval French literature and for initiating the systematic study of Romance philology. His studies include Les Manuscrits françois de la Bibliothèque du Roi (7 vol., 1836-48) and Les Romans de la Table ronde (5 vol., 1868-77). His son, Bruno Paulin Gaston Paris, 1839-1903, was a noted Romance philologist. Carrying on the work his father began, he edited the Revue critique, founded the journal Romania, and wrote critical and historical works on literature.

Paris, Pact of: see Kellogg-Briand Pact.

Paris, Matthew: see Matthew of Paris.

Paris, Louis Philippe Albert d'Orléans, comte de: see Orléans, family.

Paris, Declaration of, 1856, agreement concerning the rules of maritime warfare, issued at the Congress of Paris. It was the first major attempt to codify the international law of the sea. Conflicting methods used in dealing with property at sea had demonstrated the need for uniformity, while the respect paid to neutral rights in the Crimean War indicated that common principles of action would be accepted by the great powers. Four principles were enunciated by the declaration: privateering would no longer be considered legal; a neutral flag would protect the goods of an enemy, except for contraband of war; neutral goods, with the exception of contraband of war, would not be liable to capture when under the enemy's flag; a blockade would be binding only if it prevented access to the coast of the enemy. At first the United States refused to accept the declaration, claiming that privateers were necessary if a nation did not have a strong navy. However, the United States accepted the declaration during the Civil War and the Spanish-American War. At the beginning of World War I prize courts recognized the declaration, but submarine warfare and extensive lists of contraband negated its principles. Part of its aims were restated in 1909 in the Declaration of London, but technological advances made many of its provisions inapplicable in 20th-century warfare.

Paris, Congress of, 1856, conference held by representatives of France, Great Britain, the Ottoman Empire (Turkey), Sardinia, Russia, Austria, and Prussia to negotiate the peace after the Crimean War. In the Treaty of Paris (Mar. 30, 1856), Russia agreed to the neutralization of the Black Sea, which was to be closed to war vessels and opened to the merchant marines of all nations. The Danubian principalities (Moldavia and Walachia, after 1859 called Romania) were recognized as quasi-independent states under Ottoman suzerainty; to them Russia ceded the left bank of the mouth of the Danube and part of Bessarabia. The lower Danube was placed under an international commission. The boundaries of Russia and the Ottoman Empire in Asia were restored to their prewar limits (to the detriment of Russia). The Ottoman Empire became a member of the European concert, and its integrity was guaranteed; the sultan in turn promised to improve the status of his Christian subjects. Several principles of international law were adopted by the congress in the Declaration of Paris. The provisions of the treaty were altered (1878) by the Congress of Berlin.

Paris green, also called Schweinfurt green, an extremely poisonous, bright green powder that was formerly used extensively as a pigment (e.g., in wallpaper) and that is sometimes used as an insecticide or to kill plant fungi; it must be used with great caution because of its poisonous nature. Chemically it is a copper acetoarsenite that may be prepared from arsenic trioxide and copper acetate.

Paris Peace Conference, 1919: see Versailles, Treaty of.

Paris Pacts, four international agreements signed in Paris on Oct. 23, 1954, to establish a new international status for West Germany. Since the end of World War II, West Germany had been occupied by Allied forces and lacked its own means of defense. By 1950 fear of possible Soviet aggression in Europe had convinced many that West Germany should be rearmed. However, the prospect of a rearmed and once again powerful Germany caused adverse reactions in France. To prevent autonomous German power, France suggested (1951) the establishment of a European Defense Community (EDC) in which all the West European nations would combine their armies to form a unitary European force under joint command. Unstable political conditions in France, however, caused the plan for the EDC to be rejected by the French National Assembly in Aug., 1954. At a conference held in London in Sept.-Oct., 1954, the foreign ministers of Belgium, Canada, France, Great Britain, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the United States, and West Germany reached agreement on an alternative to the EDC, and this plan was implemented by the four Paris treaties.

The first treaty ended the occupation of West Germany and restored its full sovereignty, while providing for Allied troops to remain in the country. By the second agreement, the Brussels Treaty of 1948 was expanded to include West Germany and Italy, thereby creating the Western European Union. Signed by the Brussels powers (Belgium, France, Great Britain, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands) and by West Germany and Italy, this agreement allowed West Germany to start upon a limited rearmament program, although it banned that nation's development of certain weapons, such as large warships and nuclear devices. In the third pact, West Germany was accepted into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) by a protocol signed by NATO members and West Germany. The fourth pact was a Franco-German agreement providing for a "European status" for the Saarland. This agreement, however, was rejected by the Saarlanders in a popular referendum, as a result of which the Saarland later became a West German state.

Paris, city (1999 pop. 2,115,757; metropolitan area est. pop. 11,000,000), N central France, capital of the country, on the Seine River. It is the commercial and industrial focus of France and a cultural and intellectual center of international renown. The city possesses an indefinable unity of atmosphere that has fascinated writers, poets, and painters for centuries. Paris is sometimes called the City of Light in tribute to its intellectual preeminence as well as to its beautiful appearance.

Paris is the center of many major newspapers and periodicals, as well as all the major French radio and television stations. Elegant stores and hotels, lavish nightclubs, theaters, and gourmet restaurants help make tourism the biggest industry in Paris. Other leading industries manufacture luxury articles, high-fashion clothing, perfume, and jewelry. Heavy industry, notably automobile manufacture, is located in the suburbs. About one quarter of the French labor force is concentrated in the Paris area.

Transportation Facilities

Situated in the center of the Paris basin (see Île-de-France), and only 90 mi (145 km) from the English Channel, the city handles a great volume of shipping. Orly and Charles de Gaulle airports (the latter opened in 1974) and many major railroad stations make Paris one of the great transportation centers of western Europe. The Paris metro (subway), built in 1900, was modernized and extended during the 1970s. There are now 16 principal metro lines and a high-speed express subway system servicing the suburbs. The system's hub, Chatelet Les-Halles, is perhaps the largest, busiest underground station in the world. Paris is also the hub of the national rail system, with high-speed trains connecting it to most major European cities.

Points of Interest

Paris is divided into roughly equal sections by the Seine. On the right (northern) bank are the Bois de Boulogne, Arc de Triomphe, the old Bibliothèque nationale, Élysée Palace, Grand Palais, Georges Pompidou National Center for Art and Culture (see Beaubourg), Place de la Concorde, Opéra, Comédie Française, Louvre, Palais de Chaillot, Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Grande Arche de la Défense, Champs Élysées, and other great streets, sites, and boulevards. In the eastern part of the right bank is the Museum of the Art and History of Judaism, the Place de la Bastille and the Bastille Opera; to the north is Montmartre, the highest area in Paris, topped by the Church of Sacré-Cɶur. Much of the right bank, which has many of the most fashionable streets and shops, has a stately air. At night many monuments and boulevards are floodlit. In the city's northeastern outskirts is the Parc de la Villette, home of the large Cité de la Musique, opened in the early 1990s, and the planned site of a number of performance and exhibition spaces.

The left bank, with the Sorbonne, the French Academy, the Panthéon (see under pantheon), the Luxembourg Palace and Gardens, the Jardin des Plantes (site of the National Natural History Museum), the Chamber of Deputies, the Quai d'Orsay, and the Hotel des Invalides, is the governmental and to a large extent the intellectual section. The Latin Quarter, for nearly a thousand years the preserve of university students and faculty; the Faubourg Saint-Germain section, at once aristocratic and a haven for students and artists (the celebrated Café des Deux Magots and Café de Flore are there); and Montparnasse are the most celebrated left-bank districts. The Eiffel Tower stands by the Seine on the Champ-de-Mars. In SE Paris, also on the left bank, is Paris Rive Gauche, a former industrial area redeveloped with a variety of newer buildings and renovations, many by prominent architects; the new Bibliothèque nationale (opened 1998) is there.

The historical nucleus of Paris is the Île de la Cité, a small boat-shaped island largely occupied by the huge Palais de Justice and the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris. It is connected with the smaller Île Saint-Louis, occupied by elegant houses of the 17th and 18th cent. Characteristic of Paris are the tree-lined quays along the Seine (famed, on the left bank, for their open-air bookstalls), the historic bridges that span the Seine, and the vast tree-lined boulevards that replaced the city walls. Skyscrapers, apartment complexes, and highways have been added to the Paris scene in recent years.

Government and People

Paris is divided into 20 arrondissements (districts or boroughs), each of which has a local council and a mayor, but most of the power is held by the mayor of the City of Paris who is chosen by the city's council. Paris and its suburbs together make up the eight departments of the Île-de-France administrative region, which is governed by an elected assembly, chairman (or president), and supervisor and overseen by a prefect appointed by the state.

Immigrants to France now constitute nearly 20% of Paris's population. The majority of these are Algerian, Moroccan, and Tunisian. Large groups of Indochinese have also immigrated to Paris. About 75% of all Parisians live in the suburbs due to high costs and a high population density in the city. New towns have been built, consolidating suburban areas, and a great deal of manufacturing and other industry takes place in the suburbs.

History

Early History

Julius Caesar conquered Paris in 52 B.C. It was then a fishing village, called Lutetia Parisiorum (the Parisii were a Gallic tribe), on the Île de la Cité. Under the Romans the town spread to the left bank and acquired considerable importance under the later emperors. The vast catacombs under Montparnasse and the baths (now in the Cluny Mus.) remain from the Roman period. Legend says that St. Denis, first bishop of Paris, was martyred on Montmartre (hence the name) and that in the 5th cent. St. Geneviève, the patron saint of Paris, preserved the city from destruction by the Huns. On several occasions in its early history Paris was threatened by barbarian and Norman invasions, which at times drove the inhabitants back to the Île de la Cité.

Clovis I and several other Merovingian kings made Paris their capital; under Charlemagne it became a center of learning. In 987, Hugh Capet, count of Paris, became king of France. The Capetians firmly established Paris as the French capital. The city grew as the power of the French kings increased. In the 11th cent. the city spread to the right bank. During the next two centuries—the reign of Philip Augustus (1180-1223) is especially notable for the growth of Paris—streets were paved and the city walls enlarged; the first Louvre (a fortress) and several churches, including Notre-Dame, were constructed or begun; and the schools on the left bank were organized into the Univ. of Paris. One of them, the Sorbonne, became a fountainhead of theological learning with Albertus Magnus and St. Thomas Aquinas among its scholars. The university community constituted an autonomous borough; another was formed on the right bank by merchants ruled by their own provost. In 1358, under the leadership of the merchant provost Étienne Marcel, Paris first assumed the role of an independent commune and rebelled against the dauphin (later Charles V). During the period of the Hundred Years War the city suffered civil strife (see Armagnacs and Burgundians), occupation by the English (1419-36), famine, and the Black Death.

During the Renaissance

The Renaissance reached Paris in the 16th cent. during the reign of Francis I (1515-47). At this time the Louvre was transformed from a fortress to a Renaissance palace. In the Wars of Religion (1562-98), Parisian Catholics, who were in the great majority, took part in the massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day (1572), forced Henry III to leave the city on the Day of Barricades (1588), and accepted Henry IV only after his conversion (1593) to Catholicism. Cardinal Richelieu, Louis XIII's minister, established the French Academy and built the Palais Royal and the Luxembourg Palace. During the Fronde, Paris once again defied the royal authority. Louis XIV, distrustful of the Parisians, transferred (1682) his court to Versailles. Parisian industries profited from the lavishness of Versailles; the specialization in luxury goods dates from that time. J. H. Mansart under Louis XIV and François Mansart, J. G. Soufflot, and J. A. Gabriel under Louis XV created some of the most majestic prospects of modern Paris.

The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

During the late 17th and the 18th cent. Paris acquired further glory as the scene of many of France's greatest cultural achievements: the plays of Molière, Racine, and Corneille; the music of Lully, Rameau, and Gluck; the paintings of Watteau, Fragonard, and Boucher; and the salons where many of the philosophes of the Enlightenment gathered. At the same time, growing industries had resulted in the creation of new classes—the bourgeoisie and proletariat—concentrated in such suburbs (faubourgs) as Saint-Antoine and Saint-Denis; in the opening events of the French Revolution, city mobs stormed the Bastille (July, 1789) and hauled the royal family from Versailles to Paris (Oct., 1789). Throughout the turbulent period of the Revolution the city played a central role.

Napoleon to the Commune

Napoleon (emperor, 1804-15) began a large construction program (including the building of the Arc de Triomphe, the Vendôme Column, and the arcaded Rue de Rivoli) and enriched the city's museums with artworks removed from conquered cities. In the course of his downfall Paris was occupied twice by enemy armies (1814, 1815). In the first half of the 19th cent. Paris grew rapidly. In 1801 it had 547,000 people; in 1817, 714,000; in 1841, 935,000; and in 1861, 1,696,000. The revolutions of July, 1830, and Feb., 1848, both essentially Parisian events, had repercussions throughout Europe. Culturally, the city was at various times the home or host of most of the great European figures of the age. Balzac, Hugo, Chopin, Berlioz, Liszt, Wagner, Delacroix, Ingres, and Daumier were a few of the outstanding personalities. The grand outline of modern Paris was the work of Baron Georges Haussmann, who was appointed prefect by Napoleon III. The great avenues, boulevards, and parks are his work. During the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), Paris was besieged for four months by the Germans and then surrendered. After the Germans withdrew, Parisian workers rebelled against the French government and established the Commune of Paris, which was bloodily suppressed.

Under the Third Republic

With the establishment of the Third French Republic and relative stability, Paris became the great industrial and transportation center it is today. Two epochal events in modern cultural history that took place in Paris were the first exhibition of impressionist painting (1874) and the premiere of Stravinsky's Sacre du Printemps (1913). In World War I the Germans failed to reach Paris. After 1919 the outermost city fortifications were replaced by housing developments, including the Cité Universitaire, which houses thousands of students. During the 1920s, Paris was home to many disillusioned artists and writers from the United States and elsewhere. German troops occupied Paris during World War II from June 14, 1940, to Aug. 25, 1944. The city was not seriously damaged by the war.

Contemporary Paris

Paris was the headquarters of NATO from 1950 to 1967; it is the headquarters of UNESCO. A program of cleaning the city's major buildings and monuments was completed in the 1960s. The city was the scene in May, 1968, of serious disorders, beginning with a student strike, that nearly toppled the Fifth Republic. In 1971, Les Halles, Paris's famous central market, called by Zola the "belly" of Paris, was dismantled. Construction began immediately on Chatelet Les-Halles, Paris's new metro hub, which was completed in 1977. The Forum des Halles, a partially underground, multistory commercial and shopping center, opened in 1979. Other developments include the Georges Pompidou National Center for Art and Culture, built in 1977, which includes the National Museum of Modern Art. The Louvre underwent extensive renovation, and EuroDisney, a multibillion dollar theme and amusement park, opened in the Parisian suburbs in 1992. A number of major projects in the city were initiated by President François Mitterrand (1981-95); they include the new Bibliothèque Nationale, the glass pyramid at the Louvre, Grande Arche de la Défense, Arab Institute, Bastille Opera, and Cité de la Musique.

Paris, city (1990 pop. 24,699), seat of Lamar co., E Tex., in the Red River valley; settled 1824. It is a processing center for the rich farms of the blackland region, which produces cotton, grain, and livestock. There are various light manufactures. The city developed after the arrival of the railroad in 1876, and it was rebuilt after its destruction by fire in 1916.

Paris or Alexander, in Greek mythology, son of Priam and Hecuba and brother of Hector. Because it was prophesied that he would cause the destruction of Troy, Paris was abandoned on Mt. Ida, but there he was raised by shepherds and loved by the nymph Oenone. Later he returned to Troy, where he was welcomed by Priam. Paris was chosen to settle a dispute among the goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, all of whom claimed possession of the apple of discord, a golden fruit inscribed "to the fairest." It had been thrown among the guests at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis by Eris, who sought revenge because she had not been invited. Hera tried to bribe Paris with royal greatness and riches, and Athena offered him success in war, but Paris awarded the apple to Aphrodite, who promised him Helen, the most beautiful of women. With Aphrodite's help he abducted Helen from King Menelaus of Sparta; thus he brought on the Trojan War. In the war Paris killed Achilles, but was himself fatally wounded by Philoctetes.

Notre-Dame de Paris [Fr.,=Our Lady of Paris], cathedral church of Paris, a noble achievement of early Gothic architecture in France. It stands upon the Île de la Cité, a small island in the Seine. The cornerstone was laid in 1163 by Pope Alexander III. The high altar was consecrated 20 years later, and the nave was completed except for the roofing in 1196. However, in 1230 the nave was reconstructed and the present flying buttresses were added. Soon after, chapels were installed between the buttresses, which radically altered not only the plan but the entire aesthetic of the building. The towers were finished c.1245, but the building was not completed until the beginning of the 14th cent. Among the master builders are the names Jehan de Chelles, Pierre de Montreuil, Pierre de Chelles, and Jehan Rave. The plan consists of a wide central nave rising 110 ft (34 m) high and flanked by double aisles, with a transept of slight projection from the main body. The aisles continue around the east end, which, with the projecting chapels, forms a chevet. Three sculptured portals are deeply recessed in the majestic west front. Above them a row of sculptures in niches extends across the facade, and over this, in the center, is the huge traceried rose window. In the French Revolution rioters converted the cathedral into a "Temple of Reason" and destroyed the sculptures of the west facade. Skillful restorations were begun in 1845 by Viollet-le-Duc.

Matthew of Paris or Matthew Paris, d. 1259, English historian, a monk of St. Albans. He became the historiographer of the convent after the death (c.1236) of Roger of Wendover. The first part of his Chronica majora [great chronicle], a history of the world, is largely a reworked version of Wendover's chronicle. However, the second part, from 1235 to 1259, is original and valuable because its material was carefully collected from eyewitnesses or written from personal knowledge. Paris was an excellent stylist and narrator, and in his rewriting of Wendover's chronicle he formulated the hostile image of King John that has been copied by historians until very recent times. The standard edition of this work is by H. R. Luard (7 vol., 1872-83); a translation by J. A. Giles (1852-54) begins with 1235. Paris wrote a history of England, the Chronica minora [little chronicle], also called the Historia Anglorum, largely taken from the great chronicle but with some added material.

Matthew Paris: see Matthew of Paris.

Gibson, Paris, 1830-1920, American pioneer and politician, b. Brownfield, Maine. After serving in the Maine legislature he moved to Minneapolis, where he built the first flour mill and started woolen mills. By 1879 he was in Fort Benton, Mont., where he became a sheep raiser. Realizing the industrial value of the great falls of the Missouri River, he promoted and planned the city of Great Falls, becoming its first mayor. He was a pioneer in power mining, railroading, and sheep raising in Montana. As U.S. Senator (1901-5) he urged progressive Western views on conservation, reclamation, and homestead legislation.

Commune of Paris, insurrectionary governments in Paris formed during (1792) the French Revolution and at the end (1871) of the Franco-Prussian War. In the French Revolution, the Revolutionary commune, representing urban workers, tradespeople, and radical bourgeois, engineered the storming of the Tuileries and the arrest of the king. During the reign of terror, several leaders of the commune, such as Hébert, were executed (1794), and when the moderates gained control of the Convention (1794-95), they broke the commune's power. At the end (1871) of the Franco-Prussian War and the fall of Napoleon III's empire, Parisians opposed the national government, headed by Adolphe Thiers, and the National Assembly at Versailles, as too conservative, too royalist, and too ready to accept a humiliating peace with Prussia. Thiers, after failing to disarm the Parisian national guard, fled (Mar., 1871) to Versailles, and the Parisians elected a municipal council, the commune of 1871. The Communards, whose aims included economic reforms, expressed many shades of political opinion—followers of Louis Blanqui, of Pierre Proudhon, and of the Marxist First International as well as radical republicans of the 1793 Jacobin tradition, such as Louis Delescluze. While the victorious Prussians affected neutrality outside the city, the Versailles troops began a siege of Paris (Apr. 11) to regain national control. The fighting, which intensified over five weeks, culminated in Bloody Week (21-28 May), during which the Versailles troops entered the city despite the desperate but ineffective defense of the communards, who threw up barricades, shot hostages (including the archbishop of Paris), and burned the Tuileries palace, the city hall, and the palace of justice. On May 28 the commune was finally defeated. Severe reprisals followed, resulting in more than 18,000 Parisians dead and almost 7,000 deported. Communes were also formed and suppressed in other cities in 1871, notably in Saint-Étienne, Le Creusot, and Marseilles, and memories of the bloody Paris repression embittered political relations between radicals and conservatives for many years afterward.

Bordone, Paris, 1500-1571, Venetian painter of the Renaissance; pupil of Titian. Skillful in his use of color, he was particularly interested in variations of texture in fabric, as seen in his numerous portraits (Brera, Milan; National Gall., London; Louvre; Uffizi; and Vienna). Bordone's conception of space changed from a precise rendering of architectural settings in his famous Fisherman Presenting the Ring to the Doge (Academy, Venice) to a more contorted mannerist treatment in Christ and the Doctors (Gardner Mus., Boston) and the Gloria (Academy, Venice). He created many sensual mythological paintings, including Diana and Minerva at the Forge of Vulcan (National Gall. of Art, Washington, D.C.).

Quick-setting gypsum plaster consisting of a fine white powder, calcium sulfate hemihydrate, which hardens when moistened and allowed to dry. It is made by heating gypsum to 250–360°F (120–180°C). Used since ancient times, plaster of paris is so called because of its preparation from the abundant gypsum found in Paris. It is used to make molds and casts for ceramics and sculptures, to precast and hold ornamental plasterwork on ceilings and cornices, and for orthopedic bandages (casts). In medieval and Renaissance times, gesso (plaster of paris mixed with glue) was applied to wood panels, plaster, stone, or canvas to provide the ground for tempera and oil painting.

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Second oldest European university (after the University of Bologna), founded circa 1170 in France. It grew out of the cathedral schools of Notre-Dame and, with papal support, soon became a great centre of Christian orthodox teaching. In the medieval period its professors included St. Bonaventure, Albertus Magnus, and Thomas Aquinas. Its most celebrated early college was the Sorbonne, founded circa 1257. The university declined somewhat under the impact of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. With the French Revolution and Napoleon's reforms, teaching became more independent of religion and politics. By the mid-20th century the university had again become a preeminent scientific and intellectual centre. In May 1968 a Sorbonne student protest grew into a serious national crisis. This led to decentralizing reforms, the old university being replaced in 1970 by a system in Paris and its suburbs called the Universities of Paris I–XIII.

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(1763) Treaty concluding the Seven Years' War (including the French and Indian War). It was signed by Britain and Hanover on one side and France and Spain on the other. France renounced to Britain the mainland of North America east of the Mississippi, its conquests in India since 1749, and four West Indian islands. Britain restored to France four other West Indian islands and the West African colony of Gorée (Senegal). In return for recovering Havana and Manila, Spain ceded Florida to Britain and received Louisiana from the French.

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or Pact of Paris

(1928) International agreement not to use war as an instrument of national policy. It was conceived by Aristide Briand, who hoped to engage the U.S. in a system of protective alliances to guard against aggression from a resurgent Germany. The U.S. secretary of state, Frank Kellogg, proposed a general multilateral treaty, and the French agreed. Most states signed the treaty, but its lack of enforceability and exceptions to its pacifist pledges rendered it useless. See also Pact of Locarno.

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(1919–20) Meeting that inaugurated the international settlement after World War I. It opened on Jan. 12, 1919, with representatives from more than 30 countries. The principal delegates were France's Georges Clemenceau, Britain's David Lloyd George, the U.S.'s Woodrow Wilson, and Italy's Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, who with their foreign ministers formed a Supreme Council. Commissions were appointed to study specific financial and territorial questions, including reparations. The major products of the conference were the League of Nations; the Treaty of Versailles, presented to Germany; the Treaty of Saint-Germain, presented to Austria; and the Treaty of Neuilly, presented to Bulgaria. The inauguration of the League of Nations on Jan. 16, 1920, brought the conference to a close. Treaties were subsequently concluded with Hungary (Treaty of Trianon, 1920) and Turkey (Treaties of Sèvres, 1920, and Lausanne, 1923).

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or Commune of Paris

(March 18–May 28, 1871) Insurrection of Paris against the French government. After France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War and the collapse of the Second Empire, the republican Parisians feared that the conservative majority in the National Assembly would restore the monarchy. On March 18 the National Guard in Paris resisted orders to disarm, and after municipal elections were won by the revolutionaries, they formed the Commune government. Factions included the so-called Jacobins, who wanted the Paris Commune to control the revolution (as its namesake had in the French Revolution); the Proudhonists, socialist followers of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon who supported a federation of communes; and the Blanquistes, socialist followers of Auguste Blanqui who demanded violent action. Government forces quickly suppressed communes elsewhere in France, then entered Paris on May 21. In a week of fierce fighting, they crushed the Communards, who had set up barricades in the streets and burned public buildings, including the Tuileries Palace. About 20,000 insurrectionists and 750 government troops were killed. In the aftermath, the government took harsh repressive action; 38,000 suspects were arrested and more than 7,000 were deported.

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City (pop., 2005 est.: 2,153,600; metro. area, 9,854,000), river port, capital of France. It is now located on both banks of the Seine River. The original settlement from which Paris evolved, Lutetia, was in existence by the late 3rd century BC on an island in the Seine. Lutetia was captured and fortified by the Romans in 52 BC. During the 1st century AD the city spread to the left bank of the Seine. By the early 4th century it was known as Paris. It withstood several Viking sieges (885–87) and became the capital of France in 987, when Hugh Capet, the count of Paris, became king. The city was improved during the reign of Philip II, who formally recognized the University of Paris circa 1200. In the 14th–15th centuries its development was hindered by the Black Death and the Hundred Years' War. In the 17th–18th centuries it was improved and beautified. Leading events of the French Revolution took place in Paris (1789–99). Napoleon III commissioned Georges-Eugène Haussmann to modernize the city's infrastructure and add several new bridges over the Seine. The city was the site of the Paris Peace Conference, which ended World War I. During World War II Paris was occupied by German troops. It is now the financial, commercial, transportation, artistic, and intellectual centre of France. The city's many attractions include the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame de Paris, the Louvre, the Panthéon, Pompidou Centre, and the Paris Opéra, as well as boulevards, public parks, and gardens.

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(1163–circa 1350) Gothic cathedral on the Île de la Cité in Paris. Probably the most famous Gothic cathedral, Notre-Dame is a superb example of the Rayonnant style. Two massive Early Gothic towers (1210–50) crown the western facade, which is divided into three stories and has doors adorned with Early Gothic carvings and surmounted by a row of figures of Old Testament kings. The single-arch flying buttresses at the eastern end are notable for their boldness and grace. Its three great rose windows, which retain their 13th-century glass, are of awe-inspiring beauty.

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