(rough translation)
Composed of two twin towers and a passage under ogival arcade, the most attended doors of the southernmost part
of the Philippe-Auguste enclosure opened here: located at the outlet of a large daily axis of circulation,
it connected the principal meridian street of the other Petit-Pont to the road of Etampes and Orleans.
It was thus vital to maintain its opening, despite of the disorders which affected the city, after the death of Charles V,
last of the Valois dynasty. Whereas the majority of the others (portes) were regularly walled, the Porte Saint-Jacques
was even equipped with a drawbridge during the summer of 1417, vis-a-vis with the Burgundian threat.
After the failures wiped by Joan of Arc on right bank, it was here that the troops of Jehan Villiers of Isle-Adam
penetrated the city on the dawn of April 13, 1436. Thanks to Parisians to the mowing down of the English occupation,
Charles VII could thus make a solemn entry in his reconquered capital.
http://www.philippe-auguste.com/uk/