15. The Court of Miracles Was the Name of the Parisian Slums
Cour des Miracles was the French word, meaning Court of Miracles, for the network of slums throughout Paris. The best known of the slums laid between the rue (street) de Caire and the rue Réamur and was called the Grand Court of Miracles, or simply Grand Court. However, thanks to the careful documentation of the slums by French historian Henri Sauval, we now know that far more than the Grand Court existed and, in reality, the Court of Miracles was an extensive network of slums that ran through Paris in its entirety.
Perhaps as ironic as the name Court of Miracles for a slum is the fact that the shining Palace of Versailles, home of the Sun King Louis XIV, sat amidst the poverty and desperation of the Court. The number of people living within the slums multiplied greatly during the reign of Louis XIV as desperate laborers and farmers left the barren countryside seeking a source of income in the city.
The refugees to the city soon found that no paid work was available for them through honest means, and most ended up forced into one of the Court’s numerous slums. There, they would end up having to engage in begging, theft or prostitution to survive. Thieving was easily the most stable and profitable of the three, as the thieves had a hierarchical and well-organized structure throughout the city.