The Templars and the Parisian Builders 109side the gates, the Saint Germain des Pres land outside the gates, the
Saint Benoit Cloister, the Saint Eloi land on Ile de la Cite, the Saint
Symphorien land, the Saint Denis de la Chastre land in the city, the
Ostel Dieu land, the Dougnans land, the Saint Merri Cloister, the Sainte
Opportune Cloister, the Saint Honnoure Cloister, the Saint Germain
l'Auxcerrois Cloister, the Saint Martin land outside the gates, the
Temple land outside the gates, the Saint Eloi land in the old
Tisseranderie, the Saint Victor land at the crossroads of the Temple, and
several easements in the city of Paris."^7 Saint Jean de Latran can also be
added to this list.
It should be noted that the Temple's right of asylum applied only to
its lands outside the city walls. These were the very terms laid out in the
1279 accord. But certain parts of the privileged enclaves listed above
that were located within Paris entered into the Templars' possession. It
is certain that the right of asylum necessarily followed the right of pos-
session. Ultimately, of course, the right of asylum, which was so wide-
spread in Paris during the Middle Ages, gradually disappeared. At the
end of the Ancien Regime, there was no spot other than the Enclos of
the Temple that existed stricto sensu as a sure place of asylum.
The right of craft and trade exemptions was much more excep-
tional. It existed in the censive districts of the Hospitallers of Saint John
and the large Benedictine abbeys: Saint Germain des Pres, Saint Martin
des Champs, Saint Eloi, the Enclos of the Quinze Vingts, and the rue
Nicaise (Tuileries). But in these jurisdictions, where asylum was more
or less limited in fact or in law, it was gradually beaten down com-
pletely by royal power as well as by city and community authorities. To
avoid competition from free craftsmen "outside the walls," the Parisian
bourgeois periodically pushed back the enceinte of the cite. This prac-
tice hindered the settling of the suburbs, especially the Faubourg Saint
Germain.* Only the Temple granted and had the power to guarantee a
very extensive franchise to craftsmen.
The right of franchise allowed the exercise of any craft or commerce
* Seine Prefecture, Commission d'Extension de Paris Apercu historique, 1913, 12, 16,- A 1548 edict banned all new construction in the faubourgs [suburban areas], where
"an infinite number of folk" were looking to settle "in order to enjoy the franchises and
exemptions that were accorded to the inhabitants of these faubourgs."