- History of All Kings -

The All Kings is located in the former Convent church of the Grands Augustins, established in 1263 by Saint-Louis. Over the centuries, this convent saw the rise of French history’s greatest monarchs.

Since the year 1263, the history of the Church of the Convent of the Grands-Augustins has been intertwined with the great history of France. Built in 1263 on the initiative of King Saint Louis (1263-1792), the Augustinian convent has been providing exceptional testimony to the major events marking the history of France over several centuries.

 

Among the 52 kings and queens of France who frequenting this place, King Philippe le Bel organized his very first meetings with the dignitaries of the Clergy. In 1368, King Charles V built the massive columns of the church visible around you. Queen Catherine de Medici, wife of Henri II, regularly visited this place to pray and meditate at the burial place of her daughter Jeanne de Valois, who was buried in the choir of the church, exactly under your feet. This symbol of French royalty is not only the scene of mythical reconciliations and betrayals, it also is a place of disputes. As a matter of fact, in 1559, the Calvinist magistrate Anne de Bourg holded a diatribe here against the royal policy of Henry II suppressing heretics. King Henry II immediately had him arrested, imprisoned and sentenced.to death in this place.

 

The Church of the Couvent des Grands-Augustins also housed the Order of Knights of the Holy Spirit, founded by Henry III on the evening of 31st December 1578. These walls then became both the nerve and spiritual center of this most prestigious order of chivalry in the French Monarchy. Four hundred thirty-one knights were being knighted here, in front of the altar visible on the lower floor, Bible in hand, by the kings of France themselves: Henri III, Henri IV, Louis XIII, Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI, all successively Commanders of the Order. Among the mythical knights knighted in this place are: Vauban, La Rochefoucauld, Chateaubriand, Richelieu, the Grand Condé, Saint-Simon, Talleyrand, the Polish king Jan Sobieski and so on...

 

When Henri IV was murdered in Paris by Ravaillac on May 14th 1610, his eight-year-old son the future Louis XIII, was studying at the school of the Convent of the Grands-Augustins. He immediately got exfiltrated and protected by the Royal Guard, then enthroned King of France and Navarre facing the altar of the Church of the Couvent des Grands-Augustins, visible in the heart of the All Kings. That same day, his mother Marie de Medici was named Regent of France.

 

Starting from 1615, The Convent of the Grands-Augustins hosts assembly places for the Parliament, the Chamber of Accounts or Justice or the general assemblies of the Clergy of France. The historic columns, the enthronement altar - which remained undamaged within All Kings Paris - and three tombs all survived the acts of destruction of the Revolution, thus constituting the last vestiges of this era. A sundial and thousand-year-old fleur-de-lys engravings remain in the inner courtyard of All Kings Paris. Last but not least, the legendary writer Colette settled here from 1893 to December 1899.

 

It is also in this place that Queen Catherine of Medici of Italian descent, an illustrious historical figure of the All Kings, first brought pasta to France to the table of King Henry II. Precisely in 1553. The All Kings is the testimony to this drastic/major change in the French gastronomy.

 

Located in the heart of this royal historic site, All Kings Paris offers gourmet pasta within this emblematic setting of French royalty, throughout Europe and the world.