Paris

From the 13th century until the early 18th century, Paris—the capital city of France and the official residence of the kings—was the largest city in Europe. Many scholars have provided in-depth studies on the urban life and the ordinary life of the Parisians, at city-wide or district level. But the metropolis also played a prominent political, cultural, and economic role, both for the kingdom and for the rest of the world. Therefore, the history of the city as a civic community is inextricably interwoven with the history of the French state. Historians have usually stressed the limitations the state imposed on the city’s autonomy. But at the same time, Parisian elites are often considered as the main agent of centralization. Yet when it comes to describing what the consequences are of the special position of Paris, scholars differ on what the pertinent scale of analysis should be. They also disagree on issues pertaining to the link between the growing prominence of Paris and the national government: to what extent was it determined by the city’s own importance rather than by a process of centralization? By embracing the notion of capital city, many historians endeavor to articulate both the global and the local scales of the metropolis.