Mysteries of the Court of Miracles

These novels were followed in Britain with George W.M. Reynolds's Mysteries of London and Mysteries of the Court of London. Just as the character of Pierre Gringoire does in Hugo's novel, let us venture into the Court of Miracles to see the types of characters which await us. Although Gringoire is face-to-face with the dregs of medieval Parisian society, the diverse population of the Court of Miracles paradoxically represents a kind of racial and religious utopia where all are welcome, provided they abide by the laws of the Court of Miracles and contribute to the underworld society in which they live. Hugo did not fall into the trap of romanticizing the delinquents and criminals of the Court of Miracles. As the passage above makes clear, the people of the Court of Miracles are the worst of the worst, and it seems that gypsies are the dominant social group. The limited suggestion in Notre Dame de Paris that the Court of Miracles might be egalitarian is dispelled when it is revealed that they are perfectly content with the existence of social hierarchies within their own for there exists a King of the Court of Miracles who keeps his court in a rickety tavern-it is to this tavern that Gringoire is dragged and brought before the king. Reynolds, who translated many of Hugo's poems and was a big admirer of him, did indeed create his own underworld in The Mysteries of London to resemble the gypsy-led Court of Miracles.