A court of miracles
A den of beggars and thieves
A disreputable or sordid place
All those who have read Victor Hugo's Notre-Dame de Paris remember the Court of Miracles, which he describes as follows:
It was indeed in that dreadful Court of Miracles, where no honest man had ever penetrated at such an hour; a magic circle in which the officers of the Châtelet (…) who ventured there crumbled to pieces; a city of thieves, a hideous sore on the face of Paris (…) this stream of vice, begging, and vagrancy (…) a monstrous hive (…) a lying hospital (…) It was a vast, irregular, and poorly paved square (…) It was like a new world, unknown, unheard of, misshapen, crawling, teeming, fantastic.
The place he mentions here actually existed in Paris from the Middle Ages until the 17th century[1]. It was frequented by thieves, murderers, and beggars pretending to be disabled, and was rarely visited by the bourgeoisie and the constabulary, as this lawless zone was a true death trap for them[2].
And if it was called that, it was because of the numerous "miracles" that took place there every day; indeed, as they returned to their favorite neighborhood, the maimed beggars and those afflicted with various disabilities who, just minutes before, had evoked pity from passersby, suddenly began to walk normally, regain their sight, or recover a limb that had been amputated just a little while earlier.
If the first meaning of the expression is clear, given its origin, the second is merely a simple extension of it.
Until the police lieutenant of Louis XIV decided to clean up the place and drive out its very particular population (he reportedly sent 60,000 beggars to the galleys).
In fact, there were several poorly frequented no-man's-lands in Paris, but the most famous was in the present-day 2nd arrondissement, on the Rue Réaumur side.
After a brief stop in front of a café where two Africans appeared to be arguing, the team enters the square under construction. The atmosphere is like a slum. A dozen or so outcasts are lying on mattresses surrounded by bottles of alcohol and plastic bags. Homeless people, crack addicts…
Le Parisien – Article dated September 19, 2006
Have a good day
Marylena