On the bridges of mediaeval Paris

A 14th-century illuminated manuscript, The Life of St. Denis, in the Bibliothèque Nationale, contains thirty remarkable illustrations of contemporary life as it flourished on the Seine and on the Paris bridges. Virginia Wylie Egbert is the first to focus attention on the bridge scenes in the lower third of the illuminations and to relate them in a systematic way to the social life of the period. In an effort to determine how realistic the bridge scenes are in their portrayal of everyday life, the author has gone to mediaeval writings and documents. Her telling quotations range from peddler's street cries to a description of attempts to reduce pollution in the streets of Paris. In her introduction, Mrs. Egbert gives an account of the manuscript and discusses its style and relationship to a small group of other manuscripts.