Wall of Charles V

The wall of Philippe Auguste was created at the beginning of the 13th century and enclosed 253 hectares with houses and vegetable and vine fields allowing people to protect from a possible military siege.

But decades later, the fields had been replaced by homes and crops had been pushed outside the city walls.

Furthermore, with the Hundred Years War, it became necessary to build a new enclosure to protect the capital of France.

Étienne Marcel, provost of the merchants, began to build a moat from 1356, a few hundred yards beyond the wall of Philippe Auguste.

King Charles V, from 1358, ordered the fortification and the addition of a large and deep ditch that would be filled by the river Seine.