The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Book 10, Chapter 5 Summary & Analysis

The Bastille was a famously secure prison in Paris where political traitors were kept. The existence of the Bastille suggests that the French monarchy is oppressive and corrupt, and that people do not have freedom of speech and can be locked up for their political opinions. The fact that Louis XI prefers to sleep in the Bastille, rather than the Louvre (which was a royal hotel at the time and is now a famous art gallery), suggests that he is afraid of losing his power and wants to be protected from the populace, who may rebel against him.

Olivier le Daim was a real historical figure and a famously devious politician who was involved in many intrigues alongside Louis XI. His nickname translates to “Olivier the Bad” because of his ruthless style of government, which reinforces the point that the nobility was extremely corrupt in medieval France.  

Louis XI was a famously frugal monarch. However, although he saved money (which was collected from the people in taxes) by cutting back on the nobility’s expenses, he did not use this money to benefit the populace and, instead, spent it on wars and political disputes with other nations. This suggests that medieval France is extremely corrupt and that both the ambitious king and the greedy nobles try to take as much money from the people as they can, even if their reasons are different.

Louis XI was a famously frugal monarch and wanted to cut back on the nobility’s power. In the medieval period, nobles got their wealth through taxes that were taken from the people and allocated to them by the king. However, Louis XI would rather give money to the people because the people are more numerous than the nobles and, therefore, more powerful in a group. Louis XI is afraid of the populace, who may rebel against him if they mobilize in large numbers. Louis XI also wants the populace to fear him, however, and he accomplishes this by spending money on public execution. This suggests that he does not care about the people; he simply wants to maintain his power over them by giving them what they want. Although people were, of course, afraid of being executed, public executions were a popular form of entertainment in the medieval period and there was a public demand for them. Hugo suggests that a brutal king who murders his people breeds a brutal populace who fear the king but want to see others murdered.

The Bastille was a vast fortress in which political prisoners were incarcerated. The architectural design of the Bastille, with its many tunnels, contributes to its function as a place that is hard to escape from. In the French Revolution, in 1789, a mob of Parisians stormed the Bastille, freed the prisoners, and overthrew the monarchy.

Louis XI is very proud of his power and his ability to torture and imprison people. This suggests that the monarchy in medieval France is very cruel and is interested in frightening and controlling the populace rather than helping them.

This incident makes it clear that Louis XI doesn’t care much at all about his people; he doesn’t even remember when he imprisons prominent figures for treason.

Louis XI is an oppressive monarch. Not only can he imprison people at will, he also oppresses people financially because he does not provide enough for them to eat and live on and then punishes them if they complain. Because medieval society was so oppressive, riots and rebellions among the people were common.

Louis XI does not care about the people but wants to use them to get his own way and maintain his power. He feels that the bailiffs, who control districts of Paris, are competitors for his power. Louis XI knows that, when the people mobilize in large numbers, they are powerful and might kill or overthrow the bailiff for him. This suggests that Louis XI is a controlling and power-hungry monarch who is only willing to give the people freedom if doing so suits his own goals.

Capital punishment was common in the medieval period and Louis XI sentences people to death indiscriminately, regardless of whether they are guilty or not. Although Gringoire has orchestrated the riot, he now pretends that he is an innocent bystander who has simply been caught up in the revolt, a choice that highlights how Gringoire’s lack of passion can lead him to immoral behavior like lying.

Gringoire’s words strike a chord with the king because, although Louis XI wants to be feared by the people, he also knows that, to a certain extent, he must keep the people happy, because otherwise they may turn on him. This suggests that even the most powerful monarchs fear the people because the people greatly outnumber the ruling classes.

Louis XI dislikes the bailiffs because he feels they are competitors for his power; he wants to shrink the nobility and keep all the money and power for himself. Coictier’s behavior demonstrates the way that nobles took advantage of their social system and tried to constantly take money from the king. Coictier knows that the king isn’t really sick, but selling him cures is the easiest way for Coictier to get what he wants.

In the medieval period, nobles relied on the king for wealth and social status, which the king could allocate. But clearly, Louis XI doesn’t give out positions based on qualifications or worthiness; he ready to let Coictier’s nephew take charge of the justice system as a reward for his uncle. This scene highlights just how corrupt Paris’s ruling classes and justice system really are.

While Louis XI looks down on the people, Jacques Coppenole knows that people in large numbers, especially those who have legitimate grievances with unjust and oppressive rulers, can be surprisingly powerful. Coppenole is a tradesman rather than a noble by birth, and he represents the gradual development of democracy and decline of the nobility in Europe as the medieval period gives way to the Renaissance.

Coppenole refers to a skirmish in Burgundy where the people did not just riot but organized an army to fight the nobles. This suggests that ordinary people in large groups can be a powerful force to bring down injustice. Coppenole’s mention of the “people’s hour” —when the people will reclaim their freedom from the oppressive reign of the monarchy—foreshadows the French Revolution in 1789, when a group of Parisians stormed the Bastille, freed the prisoners, and overthrew and executed the monarchy. It is ironic that Louis XI uses the Bastille as a prison for the people and protection for himself because, one day, the people will use the Bastille to imprison monarchs.

Nobles like Olivier were in constant competition for power and wealth in the medieval period, which is why he’s pleased to see the king himself threatened. Louis XI knows that large groups of ordinary people are extremely powerful and that, although the monarchy is the ruling class, he may not be able to suppress large numbers of people who are mobilized against him.

Louis XI is afraid of the people because he is a cruel and unjust monarch and he fears that, because of this, they want to overthrow him. He is willing to use violence to suppress them, which demonstrates that he does not care about the people themselves, but only about maintaining his power. Rym’s comment suggests that, before the advent of democracy in Europe, kings controlled the populace by oppressing them with violence and then pandering to their demands when the people finally rebelled against this violent treatment.

Gothic cathedrals like Notre Dame were symbolic in the medieval period because they represented the king’s power, which was joined to the Church’s. Although, as the king, Louis XI has almost unlimited power, according to medieval religious beliefs he still answers to the will of God—which the church symbolizes—and cannot foresee his destiny. Louis XI’s power is also limited by his mortality and his ill health, which suggests that, no matter how powerful someone is, they are still subject to the course of time and fate.