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Paris

capital and most populous city in France

170 dated entries naming Paris, drawn from 155 separate years between 2254 BCE and 2025 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

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23rd century BC

  • 2254 BCEc. 2254 BC – 2218 BC: The Stela of Naram-Sin, probably from Sippar, discovered in Susa (modern Shush, Iran), was made. It is now in the Musée du Louvre, Paris.source

18th century BC

  • 1750 BCEc. 1750 BC: Investiture of Zimrilim (Zimrilim, King of Mari, before the Goddess Ishtar), facsimile of a wall painting on mud plaster from the Zimrilim palace at Mari (modern Tell Hariri, Syria), Court 106, is made. It is now in Musée du Louvre, Paris.source

3rd century

  • 250Possible date – Denis, a bishop of Paris, is martyred by beheading.source
  • 272Saint Denis, first Bishop of Paris, and two of his disciples are beheaded on the road to the Temple of Mercury that stands atop a hill outside of the city. The hill will later be called Montmartre (Mountain of Martyrs) in Lutetia (modern Paris).source

4th century

  • 360February – Julian, Roman Caesar, is proclaimed emperor in Lutetia (modern Paris).source
  • 364February 26 – Valentinian I is proclaimed Emperor by officers of the Roman army at Nicaea in Bithynia. He addresses the soldiers (who threaten to riot) in a speech. He founds the Valentinianic dynasty and rules the Western portion of the Roman Empire, from Caledonia (Scotland) to the Rhine frontier, ensuring it a few years of relative security. He settles in Lutetia (Paris) and establishes a militia to defend the region.source
  • 365November 1 – The Alamanni cross the Rhine and invade Gaul. Emperor Valentinian I moves to Paris to command the army and defend the Gallic cities.source

6th century

  • 502Genevieve, patron saint of Paris (approximate date)source
  • 508King Clovis I fails in an effort to take the walled city of Carcassonne (Southern Gaul). He establishes Paris (Lutetia) as his capital and gets baptized, making Roman Catholicism the official religion of the Kingdom of the Franks.source
  • 511November 27 – King Clovis I dies at Paris (Lutetia) at age 45, and is buried in the Abbey of St. Genevieve. The Merovingian dynasty is continued by his four sons (Theuderic I, Chlodomer, Childebert I and Chlothar I), who divide the Frankish Kingdom and rule from the capitals at Metz, Orléans, Paris and Soissons, respectively.source
  • 531Clotilde returns with the Frankish army and dies on the journey home. She is buried in Paris alongside her father Clovis I.source
  • 542King Childebert I and his brother Chlothar I invade Visigothic Spain. They capture Pamplona, but Zaragoza withstands a siege and the Franks retreat to Gaul. From this expedition Childebert brings back to Paris a relic, the tunic of Saint Vincent.source
  • 561November 29 – King Chlothar I ("the Old") dies at Compiègne at age 64. The Merovingian dynasty is continued by his four sons (Charibert I, Guntram, Sigebert I and Chilperic I), who divide the Frankish Kingdom and rule from the capitals at Paris, Orléans, Reims and Soissons, respectively.source
  • 564Samson of Dol, one of seven founder saints of Brittany, attends a council in Paris and witnesses several royal decrees (approximate date).source
  • 573King Sigibert I goes to war against his half brother Chilperic I of Neustria at the urging of his wife, Brunhilda. He appeals to the Germans on the right bank of the Rhine for help, and they obligingly attack the environs of Paris and Chartres.source
  • 584September – King Chilperic I is stabbed to death while returning from a hunt near Chelles, after a 23-year reign over a territory extending from Aquitaine, to the northern seacoast of what later will be France. His wife Fredegund, who has paid for his assassination, seizes his wealth, flees to Paris with her son Chlothar II, and persuades the nobles to accept him as legitimate heir while she serves as regent, continuing her power struggles with Guntram, king of Burgundy, and her sister Brunhilda, queen mother of Austrasia.source
  • 597Queen Fredegund defeats her old rival Brunhilda of Austrasia, who supports the claims of her grandsons Theudebert II and Theuderic II to the Frankish throne, against those of Fredegund's son Chlothar II. She dies a few months later at Paris and is buried in the Basilica of Saint Denis.source

7th century

  • 604December 25 – Battle of Ėtampes: Theuderic II, with the aid of Berthoald, defeats the Frankish forces under King Chlothar II of Neustria, at Étampes (near Paris).source
  • 651The Hôtel-Dieu de Paris is founded by bishop Landry (Landericus). It becomes the first major hospital in Paris.source

8th century

  • 717March 21 – Battle of Vincy: Charles Martel invades Neustria and defeats the forces of King Chilperic II at Vincy, near Cambrai. He pursues him and his mayor of the palace Ragenfrid to Paris, before turning back to deal with his stepmother Plectrude at Cologne, to turn over half the wealth of his late father Pepin of Herstal. Charles allows both Plectrude and his nephew Theudoald (who at eleven was still a little child) to live (a gesture uncommon for the time), and obliges her to accept his sovereignty.source
  • 732Summer – Eudes of Aquitaine heads for the Frankish city of Reims, to warn Charles Martel, Merovingian mayor of the palace, of the Umayyad invasion in Gaul, and ask for his support against the invaders. The two leaders meet near Paris; Charles issues a 'general ban' to raise an army, which includes large numbers of Austrasians, Neustrians, and Burgundians. Meanwhile, Arabians ravage the cities of Périgueux, Saintes, and Angoulême, then sack the basilica of Saint-Hilaire outside Poitiers.source
  • 752June – Stephen II recognizes the Carolingian dynasty as legitimate rulers of the Frankish Kingdom. He travels to Paris and appeals for Frankish support against the Lombards.source
  • 754July 28 – Pope Stephen II re-consecrates Pepin III (the Short) as king of the Franks, at the Basilica of Saint-Denis outside Paris, bestowing upon him the additional title of Patricius of the Romans. This marks the first recorded crowning of a civil ruler by a pope. Pepin assumes the role of ordained protector of the Catholic Church.source
  • 767Pepin III receives a Byzantine delegation at his court in Gentilly (southern suburbs of Paris). They discuss foreign policy regarding Italy, and Byzantine Iconoclasm.source
  • 783April 30 – Hildegard, wife of King Charlemagne, dies in childbirth after her ninth confinement in less than 12 years of marriage. His mother, Bertrada of Laon, dies in the summer and is buried with great ceremony beside her husband Pepin the Short, in the Abbey of St. Denis (modern-day Paris).source

9th century

  • 816October 28 – Beggo, count of Toulouse and Parissource
  • 857A Danish Viking fleet raids the cities of Dorestad, Paris and Orléans. Others sail up the Oise River, ravaging Beauvais and the abbey of Saint-Germer-de-Fly (approximate date).source
  • 861Summer – Viking raiders sack the cities of Paris, Cologne, Aachen, Worms and Toulouse.source
  • 885November 25 – Siege of Paris: Viking forces, under the Norse chieftains Sigfred and Sinric, sail up the River Seine for eastern France, with a fleet of 300 longships (10,000 men). They appear before Paris, and offer to spare the city if they are allowed free passage, by paying them tribute (Danegeld). Their request is denied.source

10th century

  • 936June 19 – At Laon, Louis IV, the 14-year old son of the late King Charles the Simple, is crowned King of West Francia after being recalled from Wessex by Hugh the Great, count of Paris. Hugh, whose father, King Robert I, was killed in battle near Soissons in 923, is given the title Duke of the Franks and becomes the second most powerful man in the West Frankish Kingdom. The crowning of Louis IV follows the death of King Rudolph I at Auxerre earlier in the year.source
  • 939Hugh the Great, count of Paris, rebels against King Louis IV ("d'Outremer") and gains support from William I, duke of Normandy. Hugh, along with Herbert II, count of Vermandois, Arnulf I, count of Flanders and William pay homage to King Otto I (ruler of the East Frankish Kingdom), and support him in his struggle against Louis.source
  • 944Raymond III (or Pons I), count of Toulouse, travels to Nevers (southeast of Paris) to declare his fidelity to king Louis IV ("d'Outremer"). He is granted the title 'prince of the Aquitanians' by the king.source
  • 946Summer – King Otto I invades the West Frankish Kingdom with an expeditionary force, but his armies are not strong enough to take the key cities of Laon, Reims and Paris. After three months, Otto ends his campaign without defeating his rival Hugh the Great. He manages to depose Hugh of Vermandois from his position as archbishop of Reims, restoring Artald of Reims to his former office.source
  • 954September 10 – King Louis IV (d'Outremer) dies after a hunting accident (near his palace in Corbeny). He is succeeded by his 13-year-old son Lothair III under the guardianship of Hugh the Great, count of Paris.source
  • 956June 16 – Hugh the Great, count of Paris, dies at Dourdan. He is succeeded by his eldest son Hugh Capet, who is recognized as Duke of the Franks by his cousin Lothair III, king of the West Frankish Kingdom.source
  • 977Fall – Otto II invades the West Frankish Kingdom accompanied by Charles and ravages the cities of Reims, Soissons (where he halts at the Abbey of Saint Médard for devotions) and Laon. Lothair III escapes and flees to Paris, where he is besieged by imperial forces. Charles is proclaimed 'King of the Franks' by Dietrich I, bishop of Metz, at Laon.source
  • 979June 8 – Louis V, nicknamed le Fainéant (the Do-Nothing), is crowned as the co-emperor of West Francia at Paris by his father, King Lothair. Upon Lothair's death on March 2, 986, Louis becomes the sole ruler.source
  • 996October 24 – King Hugh I Capet dies in Paris after a 9-year reign and is interred in the Basilica of St. Denis. He is succeeded by his 24-year-old son Robert II (the Pious) as king of France. Robert tries (during his reign) to increase his power, by pressing his claim of feudal lands that become vacant. This results in many territorial disputes.source

12th century

  • 1113Peter Abelard, a French scholastic philosopher, opens his school in Paris, on the heights of Montagne Sainte-Geneviève (approximate date).source
  • 1115Hugh of Saint Victor, French theologian and writer, joins the Victorines (at the Augustinian Abbey of St. Victor) in Paris.source
  • 1131October 13 – The 15-year-old Philip, eldest son of King Louis VI (the Fat) of France, dies when his horse trips over a black pig that darts out of a dung heap unexpectedly at a market in Paris.source
  • 1134May 13 – The Saint-Denis basilica, near Paris, is damaged by a fire. This will give the opportunity to the French abbot Suger to rebuild it in a new style, which will open the Gothic period of architecture.source
  • 1136The Basilica of Saint-Denis is completed to designs by Abbot Suger in Paris, France.source
  • 1137August 1 – Louis VI dies of dysentery at Paris after a 29-year reign. He is succeeded by Louis Capet (known as Louis VII) as King of France. During his accession the burgesses of Orléans and Poitiers revolt – who wish to organise communes (creating independent city-states).source
  • 1144June 11 – The Basilica of St. Denis near Paris is completed, and consecrated in the presence of Louis VII – as the first Gothic church.source
  • 1150The University of Paris (known as the Sorbonne) is founded. The first doctorate degree is awarded in Paris.source
  • 1180Alexander Neckam becomes a lecturer in Paris and begins writing De Natura Rerum, one of the earliest Western European works to mention chess (approximate date).source
  • 1181King Philip II (Augustus) annuls all loans made by Jews to Christians, and takes a percentage for himself. A year later, he confiscates all Jewish property and expels the Jews from Paris.source
  • 1182Spring – King Philip II (Augustus) confiscates all the lands and buildings of the Jews and expels them from Paris. The measures are profitable in the short-term – the ransoms alone bringing in 15,000 marks and enriching Christians at the expense of Jews. Ninety-nine Jews are burned alive in Brie-Comte-Robert.source
  • 1200The University of Paris receives its charter, from Philip II. He issues a diploma "for the security of the scholars of Paris", which affirms that students are subject only to ecclesiastical jurisdiction.source
  • 1200Spring – Boniface I, Marquis of Montferrat, sends envoys to Venice, Genoa and other city-states to negotiate a contract for transport to the Levant. Meanwhile, Boniface and various nobles are mustering an expeditionary army (mainly forces from France and the Holy Roman Empire) at Paris. On February 23, Baldwin IX, count of Flanders and his brother Henry of Flanders take the cross at Bruges (modern Belgium), and agree to take part in the Fourth Crusade called by Pope Innocent III (see 1199).source

13th century

  • 1202Spring – King Philip II of France ("Augustus") summons John, King of England ("Lackland") to Paris to answer his charges against the Lusignans. On April 28, failing to attend Philip's court, John is declared to be a 'rebel' and to have forfeited the areas of Aquitaine, Poitou and Anjou. Philip tries to mediate the political problems between John and the Lusignans (who are charged with treason) but this is ignored by John. The lands are given to Arthur of Brittany. Philip supports Arthur's claim to the English throne and betrothes his 4-year-old daughter Marie.source
  • 1223July 14 – Philip II, King of France dies of a fever while traveling to Paris. He is succeeded by his son Louis "the Lion", who takes the name King Louis VIII.source
  • 1229March 6 – University of Paris strike: Students begin to riot, after a dispute over a bill with a tavern proprietor. Queen Blanche of Castile demands retribution, and allows the city guard to punish the student rioters. She puts an economic strain upon the student quarter of Paris (the Latin Quarter), where Latin is commonly heard in the streets.source
  • 1239King Louis IX of France ("the Saint") holds a parlement (or "court of law") at Paris, for the first time recorded in Ancien Régime France.source
  • 1248August 12 – King Louis IX of France ("the Saint") leaves Paris together with his wife, Queen Margaret of Provence, and her sister Beatrice of Provence. Two of Louis' brothers, Charles of Anjou and Robert of Artois, are also present. He is followed by his cousins, Hugh IV of Burgundy and Peter Mauclerc, both are veterans of the Barons' Crusade.source
  • 1257Louis IX of France ("the Saint") confirms the foundation by his chaplain Robert de Sorbon of the College of Sorbonne in Paris, giving a formal college (and still-common name) to the already existing University of Paris.source
  • 1287September – Rabban Bar Sauma arrives in Paris, and is received in an audience by King Philip IV (the Fair). He spends one month at the royal court, during his stay, Philip himself escorts him around the Sainte-Chapelle (or Holy Chapel) to see the collection of Passion relics by late King Louis IX (the Saint). Philip gives Bar Sauma many presents and sends one of his noblemen, Gobert de Helleville, to return with him to Mongol lands. In response, he attempts to form a military alliance with France and England.source
  • 1295October 23 – The first treaty forming the Auld Alliance ("Old Alliance"), between Scotland and France against England, is signed in Paris by Kings John Balliol and Philip IV.source

14th century

  • 1302April 10 – The first meeting of the Estates General in France is convened King Philip IV ("Philip the Fair") at the Notre-Dame in Paris. During the assembly, all three classes – the French nobles, clergy, and commons – discuss the conflict between Philip and Pope Boniface VIII over the papal legate, Bernard Saisset – who is accused to raise a rebellion of Occitan independence, associated with Navarre, under the banner of the County of Foix.source
  • 1302May 18 – Flemish militia kill 2,000 French soldiers in the course of the Matins of Bruges, after Pieter de Coninck and Jan Breydel call on soldiers to kill all of the French occupiers of the city in Flanders. The French Governor of Flanders, Jacques de Châtillon, escapes with a handful of soldiers while disguised as a priest. He arrives in Paris to bring the news of the massacre to King Philip the Fair, who sends an army to capture the city.source
  • 1306July 22 – The Great Exile of 1306: King Philip IV of France turns his attentions to Italian bankers and orders the Jews to be exiled in France. The Jewish quarter in Paris is cleared and goods are confiscated – to regain money spent on expanding the domains of Flanders and Gascony. Meanwhile, rumors of a secret initiation ceremony of the Knights Templar create distrust, and Philip – while being deeply in debt to the Order for loans from his war against England, uses this distrust for political and religious motivations against the Templars.source
  • 1307October 13 – King Philip IV of France orders the arrest of all members of the Knights Templar in France. The Templars, together with their Grand Master Jacques de Molay, are imprisoned, interrogated, and tortured into confessing heresy. In Paris, the king's inquisitors torture some 140 Templars, most of whom eventually make confessions. Many are subjected to "fire torture": their legs are fastened in an iron frame and the soles of their feet are greased with fat or butter. Unable to withstand these tortures, many Templars eventually confess.source
  • 1308King Philip IV of France purchases Hôtel de Nesle in Paris and builds one of the earliest indoor tennis courts there.source
  • 1310May 12 – In France, 54 members of the Knights Templar are burned at the stake for heresy at Paris, on orders of King Philip IV of France (Philip the Fair). Pope Clement V attempts to take control of the situation by issuing a papal bull, to assert the Church's authority over the matter and demands Philip turn over the Templars and their property to ecclesiastical officials, who will then try the Templars for charges themselves. (→ Trials of the Knights Templar)source
  • 1312March 22 – Pope Clement V, under pressure from King Philip IV of France, officially disbands the Order of the Knights Templar at the Council of Vienne, issuing the bull Vox in excelso. The Order's property and monetary assets are given to a rival order, the Knights Hospitaller. Meanwhile, Jacques de Molay, last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, is held in prison in Paris, where he is forced to commit false confessions.source
  • 1314December 3 – The state funeral and burial of King Philip IV takes place at the Basilica of Saint-Denis near Paris.source
  • 1315April 30 – Enguerrand de Marigny, who had been the Chief Minister of France during the reign of King Philip IV of France, is hanged at the Gibbet of Montfaucon in Paris on orders of Philip's successor, King Louis X.source
  • 1322January 3 – Charles IV the Fair, the last member of the House of Capet and younger brother of King Philip V, becomes the new King of France upon Philip's death at Longchamp Abbey, near Paris. After Charles assumes the throne, he refuses to release his wife Blanche of Burgundy, who is imprisoned for adultery with a Norman knight, from prison, and asks that the marriage be annulled.source
  • 1369Charles V of France orders Hugues Aubriot to construct the fortress of the Bastille in Paris.source
  • 1369January 25 – King Charles of France sends a summons to Edward the Black Prince, who is residing at Bordeaux, demanding that Edward appear before the King in Paris to answer for Edward's assessment of taxes on the people of Aquitaine. The Black Prince reportedly responds with the threat "We will willingly attend at Paris on the day appointed since the King of France sends for us, but it shall be with our helmet on our head and 60,000 men in our company".source
  • 1369May 9 – At a meeting of the Estates General in Paris, the delegates approve the resumption of hostilities between France and England.source
  • 1370Hugues Aubriot begins construction of the fortress of the Bastille in Paris.source
  • 1378January 6 – At the Great Hall of the Conciergerie in Paris, King Charles V of France hosts the Banquet of the Three Kings with his uncle, Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and the Emperor's son, Wenzel the Idle, King of the Romans as his guests (along with 800 German and French knights), to celebrate the friendship between the nations. The banquet, held on the day of the Feast of the Epiphany, has three courses, with 10 dishes in each course.source
  • 1382March 3 – The Mailottins massacre takes place in Paris when revenue agents for King Charles VI arrive at the Les Halles market to collect taxes. The agents are killed by a mob of almost 500 merchants, and the number of people involved increases to several thousand, with the rioters seizing a large store of iron mallets (mallots) at the Place de Greve. Armed with heavy weapons, the mallotins begin attacking and looting churches, businesses, government offices and homes of wealthy people and then attack the Jewish section of city. An estimated 30 people are killed by the mob.source
  • 1383Construction of the Bastille fortress is completed in Paris, France.source

15th century

  • 1409October 7 – Jean de Montagu, Grand Master of France and a leading advisor to the mentally unstable King Charles VI of France, is arrested on orders of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy. Montagu is publicly beheaded 10 days later at the Gibbet of Montfaucon in Paris.source
  • 1410November 2 – A temporary halt to the Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War in France is reached with the signing of a truce at Bicêtre, near Paris.source
  • 1413December 18 – The betrothal ceremony of Prince Charles of France (age 10), son of King Charles VI, to Marie of Anjou (age 9), daughter of Louis, Duke of Anjou, takes place at the Palais du Louvre in Paris. The two will marry in 1422.source
  • 1416March 1 – Sigismund arrives in Paris to reach an agreement with the French government, but is unable to because of difficulty in reaching a conclusion satisfactory to both its Orleanist and Burgundian factions.source
  • 1418May 29 – Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War: John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, captures Paris, forcing King Charles VI to flee from the violence of John's partisans.source
  • 1419May 29 – King Henry V of England is betrothed to Princess Catherine of Valois, the 17-year-old daughter of King Charles VI of France, in negotiations in the neutral site of Pontoise, north of Paris, during a halt to hostilities in the war between the two kingdoms. Henry and Catherine will marry a little more than a year later, on June 2, 1420.source
  • 1422October 21 – King Charles VI of France passes away at the age of 53 after years of mental illness, and rival groups fight over who his successor will be. In Paris, Henry VI of England, the 10-month old son of the late French regent, England's King Henry V, and grandson of King Charles VI, is proclaimed King Henri II of France. In Bourges, the Dauphin Charles, eldest son of King Charles VI, is proclaimed as King Charles VII.source
  • 1427August 17 – The first band of Gypsies visits Paris, according to an account of the citizens of Paris.source
  • 1429September 8 – Joan of Arc leads an unsuccessful attack on Paris, and is wounded.source
  • 1436April 17 – Hundred Years War: Paris is recaptured from the English by French forces.source
  • 1437February 13– In France, English troops led by the Earl of Shrewsbury capture the town of Pontoise, less than 18 mi from Paris, and threaten the royal capital before being forced to abandon their position.source
  • 1437November 12 – King Charles VII of France and his son Prince Louis ride into Paris for the first time in 17 years after the royal family had fled from the invasion by the Duke of Burgundy in 1420.source
  • 1441June 6 – The siege of Pontoise is started by with 5,000 troops led by King Charles VII of France and Arthur de Richemont, Duke of Brittany, to capture a 1,200 member English Army garrison located on the Île-de-France near Paris. The siege continues for three months until the garrison surrenders.source

16th century

  • 1534August 15 – Ignatius of Loyola and six others take the vows that lead to the establishment of the Jesuits (the Society of Jesus), in Montmartre, near Paris.source
  • 1546September 8 – The first Protestant Huguenot church in France, established by Pierre LeClerc and Etienne Mangin at Meaux 25 mi from Paris, is seized by the French Army and its 60 members are arrested. Ten women are released and 50 others put on trial for heresy. LeClerc, Mangin and 12 others are burned at the stake on October 8.source
  • 1549May 15 – King Henri II of France makes a triumphant return to Paris after suppressing the Revolt of the Pitauds in Bordeaux.source
  • 1566May 1 – Charles IX, King of France, completes his grand tour of his kingdom, returning to Paris a little more than 27 months and 2500 mi km after his departure on January 24, 1564.source
  • 1588July 15 – At Rouen, King Henry III of France gives in to the latest demands of the Catholic League and the Duke of Guise, and signs the Edict of Union, agreeing not to allow French Protestants to participate in government, in return for being able to return to Paris.source

17th century

  • 1610May 14 – King Henry IV of France is assassinated in Paris by François Ravaillac, a French Catholic activist who resents the Protestant monarch's decision to launch a war against the Catholic Spanish Netherlands. Ravaillac rushes up to a horse-drawn carriage and stabs King Henry in the chest. Henry's 8-year-old son becomes King Louis XIII, with Henry's widow, Marie de' Medici, governing France as queen regent.source
  • 1637January 5 – Pierre Corneille's tragicomedy Le Cid is first performed, in Paris, France.source
  • 1639April – Italian-born Cardinal Mazarin, apostolic nuncio to Paris and adviser to Cardinal Richelieu, is naturalized French by letters patent; in December, he leaves the service of Rome to enter that of King Louis XIII of France.source
  • 1652July 2 – The Battle of the Faubourg St Antoine is fought east of Paris between French Parliamentarians (led by Louis, Grand Condé) against the army of King Louis XIV, commanded by the Viscount of Turenne, with neither side prevailing.source
  • 1653February 3 – Cardinal Mazarin returns to Paris from exile.source
  • 1665February 15 – Molière's comedy Dom Juan ou le Festin de pierre, based on the Spanish legend of the womanizer Don Juan Tenorio and Tirso de Molina's Spanish play El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra, premieres in Paris at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal.source
  • 1666June 4 – Molière's comedy of manners The Misanthrope is premièred at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris by the King's Players with himself in the title role.source
  • 1667August 18 – In an effort to prevent narrow streets from being blocked from all light by tall buildings, the city of Paris enacts its first building code limiting the height of new construction. Buildings may be no taller than eight toise – 15.6 m – tall. In 1783, rules are implemented to consider the width of the street.source
  • 1670November 24 – Louis XIV inaugurates the construction of Les Invalides, a veterans' hospital in Paris.source
  • 1670October 14 – Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, a five-act comedy and ballet authored by Molière, is given its first performance, presented before King Louis XIV at the Château de Chambord. Public performances begin on November 23 at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris.source
  • 1671December 30 – The Académie royale d'architecture is founded by Louis XIV of France in Paris as the world's first school of architecture.source
  • 1671January 17 – The ballet Psyché, with music composed by Jean-Baptiste Lully, premieres before the royal court of King Louis XIV at the Théâtre des Tuileries in Paris.source
  • 1674January 19 – The tragic opera Alceste, by Jean-Baptiste Lully, is performed for the first time, presented by the Paris Opera company at the Theatre du Palais-Royal in Paris.source
  • 1677The population of Paris first exceeds 500,000.source
  • 1677Jules Hardouin Mansart begins la place Vendôme in Paris (it is completed in 1698).source
  • 1679March 12 – Catherine Deshayes Monvoisin, commonly called "La Voisin" and the suspected killer of over 1,000 people in France by poisoning, is arrested outside of the Church of Notre-Dame-de-Bonne-Nouvelle in Paris and imprisoned at Vincennes for the next 11 months. After her conviction, she is publicly burned at the stake on February 22, 1680.source
  • 1680August 24 – Comédie-Française is founded by decree of Louis XIV as La maison de Molière in Paris.source
  • 1686The Café Procope, which remains in business in the 21st century, is opened in Paris by Procopio Cutò, as a coffeehouse.source
  • 1696December 19 – Jean-François Regnard's verse comedy Le Joueur ("The Gamester") premieres in Paris.source
  • 1697July 28 – The opera Vénus et Adonis, composed by Henri Desmarets with libretto by Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, receives its first performance, premiering at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris.source
  • 1697October 24 – The first opéra-ballet, combining elements of both mediums of entertainment, is performed as L'Europe galante makes its debut at the Salle du Palais-Royal in Paris. Composed by André Campra, with libretto by Antoine Houdar de la Motte, the opera and ballet is conducted by Marin Marais.source
  • 1699October 11 – The opera Marthésie, première reine des Amazones (Marthesia, First Queen of the Amazons), composed by André Cardinal Destouches, is performed for the first time, premiering at Fontainebleau near Paris.source

18th century

  • 1703March 21 – Jeanne Guyon is freed from the Bastille in Paris after more than seven years imprisonment for heresy.source
  • 1706August 18 – King Louis XIV of France makes his last visit to Paris, and gets an update on the construction of the veterans' hospital at the Dome des Invalides, which he had commissioned more than 35 years earlier.source
  • 1708December 14 – The première of Electre by Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon takes place in Paris.source
  • 1709A collapsible umbrella is introduced in Paris.source
  • 1716May 20 – John Law founds the Banque Générale Privée in Paris.source
  • 1737March 16 – In Paris, representatives of Spain and Portugal sign an armistice bringing an end to the Spanish–Portuguese War over the area now occupied by the nation of Uruguay and the area now occupied by the state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. The news does not reach the fighting parties until five months later.source
  • 1749November 12 – In response to the increasing number of starving people moving into Paris from rural parts of France, King Louis XV issues an ordinance that "all the beggars and vagabonds who shall be found either in the streets of Paris, or in churches or church doorways, or in the countryside around Paris, of whatever age or sex, shall be arrested and conducted into prisons, to stay there as long as shall be necessary."source
  • 1750August 20 – French astronomer Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille, by way of the Foreign Minister, the Marquis de Puisieulx and Netherlands ambassador to Paris Mattheus Lestevenon, sends a letter that ultimately persuades the States-General of the Dutch Republic to allow and partially finance Lacaille's stellar trigonometry mission to the Cape of Good Hope. The expedition departs Lorient on October 21.source
  • 1750October 14 – The Louvre Museum is created in Paris four years after art critic Lafond de Saint-Yenne calls on the King to allow the display of the royal art collection to the general public. Abel-François Poisson, the Marquis de Marigny, arranges for the display of 110 of the Crown's paintings at the Palais du Luxembourg.source
  • 1760April 30 – Swiss mathematician Daniel Bernoulli presents a paper at the French Academy of Sciences in Paris in which "a mathematical model was used for the first time to study the population dynamics of infectious disease."source
  • 1764March 15 – The day after his return to Paris from a nine-year mission, French explorer and scholar Anquetil Du Perron presents a complete copy of the Zoroastrian sacred text, the Zend Avesta, to the Bibliothèque Royale in Paris, along with several other traditional texts. In 1771, he publishes the first European translation of the Zend Avesta.source
  • 1765It is believed that the first true restaurant opens in Paris, where a tavern-keeper named Boulanger sells cooked dishes at an all-night place on the Rue Bailleul.source
  • 1765March 9 – After a public campaign by the writer Voltaire, judges in Paris posthumously exonerate Jean Calas of murdering his son. Calas had been tortured and executed in 1762 on the charge, though his son may have committed suicide.source
  • 1782October 18 – John Adams returns to Paris as the first United States Minister to France.source
  • 1784April 27 – The Marriage of Figaro, written by playwright Pierre Beaumarchais as a sequel to The Barber of Seville, premieres at the Comédie-Française in Paris.source
  • 1784September 19 – In France, the Robert brothers (Anne-Jean Robert and Nicolas-Louis Robert) and a Mr. Collin-Hullin (whose first name is lost to history) become the first people to fly more than 100 km or 100 miles in the air, lifting off from Paris and landing 6 hours and 40 minutes later near Bethune after a journey of 186 km.source

19th century

  • 1812October 23 – Malet coup of 1812: General Claude François de Malet attempts unsuccessfully to overthrow the Napoleonic régime in Paris.source
  • 1815June 26 – Napoleonic Wars: Wellington's advancing Allied Army takes Péronne, Somme, on its way to Paris.source
  • 1819August 25 – Salon of 1819 opens in Paris. Amongst the exhibits is The Raft of the Medusa.source
  • 1820February 13 – The Assassination of the Duke of Berry takes place in Paris. The Duke of Berry, nephew of Louis XVIII, is stabbed to death while attending the Paris Opera.source
  • 1827May 20 – Zarafa, the first giraffe to be seen in Europe for over three centuries, arrives in Marseille as a gift from the Ottoman Viceroy of Egypt, Mehmet Ali Pasha, to King Charles X of France. The giraffe then begins a 50-day journey to Paris, walking with its handlers toward Paris where it will arrive on July 9.source
  • 1832February 26 — Frédéric Chopin made his highly anticipated Paris debut on at the Salle Pleyel. The concert featured his own Piano Concerto in E Minor and Variations on 'Là ci darem la mano', and was attended by the city's musical and cultural elite, including Franz Liszt and Felix Mendelssohn. The concert would catapult him as one of the most popular composers in not only Paris but all of Europe.source
  • 1832June 5–6 – The June Rebellion in France, anti-monarchist riots led chiefly by local students and workers, breaks out in Paris.source
  • 1836February 29 - Giacomo Meyerbeer's opera, Les Huguenots is performed for the first time in Paris, France.source
  • 1853December 14 – Compagnie Générale des Eaux, predecessor of Vivendi and Veolia, a global media conglomerate, is founded in Paris, France.source
  • 1855May 15 – The Exposition Universelle (an early World's fair) officially opens in Paris (continues to November 15).source
  • 1861May 17 – A 7-day working men's package holiday to Paris, organised by Thomas Cook, sets out from London Bridge station.source
  • 1875March 3 – Bizet's Carmen is first performed at the Opéra-Comique, Paris, France, three months before the composer's death.source
  • 1881October 13 – Determined to bring about the revival of the Hebrew language as a way of unifying Jews, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda has what is believed to be the first conversation in Modern Hebrew, with friends living in Paris.source
  • 1887February 24 – The first international telephone line in Europe is opened to the public between Brussels and Paris.source
  • 1893October 10 – The first car number plates appear in Paris, France.source
  • 1899April 20 – Catulle Mendès' controversial ballet Le Cygne premieres at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, but is considered by critics to be too sexually explicit.source
  • 1899May 24 – Jules Massenet's Cendrillon, the first opera based on the fairy tale of Cinderella, premieres in Paris at the Opéra-Comique in Paris.source
  • 1900December 17 – The Prix Guzman, first and only prize ever offered for communication with extraterrestrial life, is announced in Paris. A prize of 100,000 francs is provided, except for communication with Mars, which is considered too easy.source

20th century

  • 1902May 12 – Brazilian aeronaut Augusto Severo de Albuquerque Maranhão and Georges Saché, his French mechanic, are killed when Severo's airship Pax catches fire and explodes a little over 1,000 ft above Paris. Severo and Saché are both killed upon impact with the ground.source
  • 1904Global cosmetics companies are founded in Paris (France): Coty, by François Coty, and Garnier, by Alfred Amour Garnier.source
  • 1905April 5 – The body of John Paul Jones, "Father of the American Navy", is located in Paris almost 113 years after his death.source
  • 1905October – Fauvist artists, led by Henri Matisse and André Derain, first exhibit their works, at the Salon d'Automne in Paris.source
  • 1919January 25 – The League of Nations is founded in Paris, France.source
  • 1925May 16 – The first modern performance of Claudio Monteverdi's opera Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (1639/40) takes place in Paris.source
  • 1945August 25 – Paris marks the first anniversary of its liberation.source
  • 1959June 19 – Anne Hidalgo, French politician, Mayor of Paris (2014–present)source
  • 1961November 14 – The Yves Saint Laurent luxury fashion brand is founded in Rue La Boetie, Paris (France), by Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé.source
  • 1962June 3 – Air France Flight 007 (a Boeing 707) crashes on take-off at Orly Airport in Paris; 130 of 132 people on board are killed, 2 flight attendants survive. Most victims are cultural and civic leaders of Atlanta.source
  • 1971July 3 – Jim Morrison, lead singer of The Doors, dies of a heart failure at the age of 27 in the bathtub of his apartment on the 3rd floor of the Rue Beautreillis 17 in Paris, France.source
  • 1978March 11 – Claude François, French entertainer born 1939, dies by electrocution in his home in Paris.source
  • 1991October 23 – In Paris, the Vietnam-backed government of the state of Cambodia signs an agreement with the Khmer Rouge to end the civil war and bring the Khmer Rouge into power despite its role in the Cambodian genocide. The deal ends the Cambodian–Vietnamese War and results in the creation of the UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia.source

21st century

  • 2015January 7 – Two gunmen belonging to Al-Qaeda's Yemen branch kill 12 people and injure 11 more at the Paris headquarters of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, prompting an anti-terrorism demonstration attended by over a million people and more than 40 world leaders.source
  • 2016May 19 – EgyptAir Flight 804 crashes into the Mediterranean Sea en route from Paris to Cairo, killing all 66 people on board.source
  • 2017September 13 – The International Olympic Committee awards Paris and Los Angeles the right to host the 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympics, respectively.source
  • 2018December 1–8 – France experiences its worst civil unrest since the protests of 1968 due to the yellow vests movement. Protests in Paris morph into riots, with hundreds of people injured and thousands arrested; over 100 cars are burned, the Arc de Triomphe is vandalized and numerous other tourist sites are closed, both in the capital and elsewhere in the country.source
  • 2022May 28 – Spanish club Real Madrid beat English club Liverpool 1–0 to win the UEFA Champions League final played at the Stade de France in Paris, France.source
  • 2024July 26 – August 11 – The 2024 Summer Olympics are held in Paris, France. The controversial opening ceremony and the boxing match of Luca Hámori and Imane Khelif spark international debate.source
  • 2025October 19 – 2025 Louvre heist: Pieces of the French Crown Jewels are stolen during a robbery from the Galerie d'Apollon of the Louvre in Paris.source

Named in the same entries