This article is devoted to the consideration of issues of self-defense of the population of Paris as the capital of the Kingdom of France during the Hundred Years War. Elements of territorial organization in the form of blocks, armament of citizens, and the presence of iron chains to block streets in case of threat were identified. The article indicates the symbolic meaning of these elements, which were the material expression of urban freedoms. It was also concluded that the king, his family and associates were not the complete masters of Paris precisely because the townspeople had means of self-defense. For this reason, King Charles V obtained from the Parisians the right to build the Bastide of Saint-Antoine, which, along with the Louvre, began to serve as a shelter for the royal family in case of danger. The actions of the royal authorities to gradually restrict the freedoms of the residents of Paris are also analyzed using the example of reducing the elements of their self-defense.