The Hunchback of Notre Dame

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

by

Victor Hugo

Louis XI is the King of France and is an old man in the period in which the novel is set. Louis XI is depicted as a stingy and vicious king who only cares about power and suppressing the populace. He has grown bitter in his old age and is obsessed with his health. This makes him gullible and he bestows money and favors on his doctor, Jacques Coictier, who exaggerates Louis’s condition and promises to cure him from his ailments in exchange for these riches. Louis XI is merciless with political prisoners—he keeps one man in a cage for 14 years because he has allegedly committed treason—and spends large amounts of money on public torture and execution as, he believes, this keeps the people in line. He is susceptible to flattery and lets Gringoire go when Gringoire is brought before him during the riot at Notre Dame, because Gringoire begs for mercy by appealing to the King’s vanity. Louis XI is also superstitious and afraid of losing his power. He visits Frollo (under the false name of Compere Tourangeau) to learn about astrology (although the Archdeacon does not believe in astrology) and is terrified by the idea that the people may turn against him. This is suggested to him by the Flemish ambassador, Jacques Coppenole, during the riot at Notre Dame. The historical figure of Louis XI died one year after the events in the novel.

Louis XI/Compere Tourangeau Quotes in The Hunchback of Notre Dame

The The Hunchback of Notre Dame quotes below are all either spoken by Louis XI/Compere Tourangeau or refer to Louis XI/Compere Tourangeau. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Gothic Architecture, History, and Art Theme Icon
).
Book 3, Chapter 2 Quotes

Most of these privileges, be it remarked in passing—and there were better ones than this—had been extorted from the king by revolts and mutinies. Such is the immemorial pattern. The king only lets go when the people snatches.

Related Characters: Louis XI/Compere Tourangeau
Page Number: 134
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 5, Chapter 1 Quotes

‘No,’ said the archdeacon, seizing Compere Tourangeau by the arm, and a spark of enthusiasm rekindling in his lifeless pupils, ‘No, I don’t deny science. I have not crawled all this time on my belly with my nails in the earth, along the countless passages of the cavern without glimpsing, far ahead of me, at the end of the unlit gallery, a light, a flame, something, doubtless the reflection from the dazzling central laboratory where the wise and the patient have taken God by surprise.’

Related Characters: Claude Frollo (speaker), Louis XI/Compere Tourangeau, Jacques Coictier
Related Symbols: Gold, Notre Dame
Page Number: 184
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 5, Chapter 2 Quotes

Firstly, it was the thought of a priest. It was the alarm felt by the priesthood before a new agent: the printing-press. It was the terror and bewilderment felt by a man of the sanctuary before the luminous press of Gutenberg. It was the pulpit and the manuscript, the spoken and the written word, taking fright at the printed word; something like the stupor felt by a sparrow were it to see the angel legion unfold its six million wings. It was the cry of the prophet who already hears the restless surge of an emancipated mankind, who can see that future time when intelligence will undermine faith, opinion dethrone belief and the world shake off Rome.

Related Characters: Claude Frollo, Louis XI/Compere Tourangeau, Jacques Coictier
Related Symbols: Notre Dame
Page Number: 189
Explanation and Analysis:
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Louis XI/Compere Tourangeau Quotes in The Hunchback of Notre Dame

The The Hunchback of Notre Dame quotes below are all either spoken by Louis XI/Compere Tourangeau or refer to Louis XI/Compere Tourangeau. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Gothic Architecture, History, and Art Theme Icon
).
Book 3, Chapter 2 Quotes

Most of these privileges, be it remarked in passing—and there were better ones than this—had been extorted from the king by revolts and mutinies. Such is the immemorial pattern. The king only lets go when the people snatches.

Related Characters: Louis XI/Compere Tourangeau
Page Number: 134
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 5, Chapter 1 Quotes

‘No,’ said the archdeacon, seizing Compere Tourangeau by the arm, and a spark of enthusiasm rekindling in his lifeless pupils, ‘No, I don’t deny science. I have not crawled all this time on my belly with my nails in the earth, along the countless passages of the cavern without glimpsing, far ahead of me, at the end of the unlit gallery, a light, a flame, something, doubtless the reflection from the dazzling central laboratory where the wise and the patient have taken God by surprise.’

Related Characters: Claude Frollo (speaker), Louis XI/Compere Tourangeau, Jacques Coictier
Related Symbols: Gold, Notre Dame
Page Number: 184
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 5, Chapter 2 Quotes

Firstly, it was the thought of a priest. It was the alarm felt by the priesthood before a new agent: the printing-press. It was the terror and bewilderment felt by a man of the sanctuary before the luminous press of Gutenberg. It was the pulpit and the manuscript, the spoken and the written word, taking fright at the printed word; something like the stupor felt by a sparrow were it to see the angel legion unfold its six million wings. It was the cry of the prophet who already hears the restless surge of an emancipated mankind, who can see that future time when intelligence will undermine faith, opinion dethrone belief and the world shake off Rome.

Related Characters: Claude Frollo, Louis XI/Compere Tourangeau, Jacques Coictier
Related Symbols: Notre Dame
Page Number: 189
Explanation and Analysis: