The description of the interior of this palace, or group of palaces, reads like a page out of the “Arabian Nights.” One large hôtel (one of three houses the King gave the Queen) was used for her horses, _coches_, and the grooms and people belonging to her stables. The _conciergerie_, _lingerie_, _tapisserie_, _pâtisserie_, _pelleterie_, _fruiterie_, _lavandrie_, _saucisserie_, _panneterie_, _épicerie_, _taillerie_, _maison du four_, _jeux de paumes_, _garde-manger_, _celliers_, _caves_, _cuisines charbonnerie fauconnerie_, &c., must have formed a little town in themselves. Silk, velvet, tapestry, Spanish leather, and cloth of gold covered the walls, floors, and seats. The furniture, massive and picturesque in form, was ornamented with rich carving, illumination, gold or gems. The beams of the ceiling were decorated with gold _fleurs-de-lis_. The rooms were heated with stoves (_étuves_) and huge fires on open hearths, with magnificent chimney pieces of stone sculptured often with colossal statues and figures of animals. The washing basins and all the dinner services, &c., used by the royal family were of gold or silver. All the numerous apartments of the different princes, princesses, and great personages had chapels, galleries, bath-rooms, &c., attached to them. The room of the King’s jewels was brilliant with gold, silver, and precious stones.
To say nothing of the art treasures of gold, jewels, and illuminations, what would not a lover of art and antiquity in our own day give for one of the long oak benches, for instance, ending in handles like those of baskets, carved all over with birds and animals, and mounted on many carved columns--especially for the one called “the old bench of St. Louis,” which stood in the King’s dining room at the Louvre.
It was in their favourite hôtel de St. Paul, or as it is called in old writings, St. Pol, that Charles and Jeanne principally lived, and here were born the Dauphin and all their younger children.
The birth of the Princess Marie took place on the 27th of February, 1370, and her godmothers were Jeanne, daughter of Philippe VI. and Queen Blanche, and the Dame d’Albret, sister of the Queen.