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diff --git a/12538-0.txt b/12538-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e869fb8 --- /dev/null +++ b/12538-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8990 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12538 *** +ACCOUNT OF A TOUR IN NORMANDY Volume II by Dawson Turner + +LETTERS FROM NORMANDY, + +ADDRESSED +TO THE REV. JAMES LAYTON, B.A. +OF +CATFIELD, NORFOLK. + +UNDERTAKEN CHIEFLY FOR THE PURPOSE OF INVESTIGATING THE ARCHITECTURAL +ANTIQUITIES OF THE DUCHY, WITH OBSERVATIONS ON ITS HISTORY, ON THE +COUNTRY, AND ON ITS INHABITANTS. + +ILLUSTRATED +WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS. + +CONTENTS. + +LETTER XIV. + +Ducler--St. Georges de Bocherville--M. Langlois + +LETTER XV. + +Abbey of Jumieges--Its History--Architectural Details--Tombs of Agnes +Sorel and of the Enervez + +LETTER XVI. + +Gournay--Castle of Neufmarché--Castle and Church of Gisors + +LETTER XVII. + +Andelys--Fountain of Saint Clotilda--La Grande Maison--Château +Gaillard--Ecouis + +LETTER XVIII. + +Evreux--Cathedral--Abbey of St. Taurinus--Ancient History + +LETTER XIX. + +Vicinity of Evreux--Château de Navarre--Cocherel--Pont-Audemer-- +Montfort-sur-Risle--Harfleur--Bourg-Achard--French Wedding + + +LETTER XX. + +Moulineaux--Castle of Robert the Devil--Bourg-Theroude--Abbey of +Bec--Brionne + +LETTER XXI. + +Bernay--Broglie--Orbec--Lisieux--Cathedral--Ecclesiastical History + +LETTER XXII. + +Site and Ruins of the Capital of the Lexovii--History of +Lisieux--Monasteries of the Diocese--Ordericus Vitalis--M. +Dubois--Letter from the Princess Borghese + +LETTER XXIII. + +French Police--Ride from Lisieux to Caen--Cider--General Appearance +and Trade of Caen--English resident there + +LETTER XXIV. + +Historians of Caen--Towers and Fortifications--Château de la +Gendarmerie--Castle--Churches of St. Stephen, St. Nicholas, St. +Peter, St. John, and St. Michel de Vaucelles + +LETTER XXV. + +Royal Abbeys of the Holy Trinity and St. Stephen--Funeral of the +Conqueror, Exhumation of his Remains, and Destruction of his Monument + +LETTER XXVI. + +Palace of the Conqueror--Heraldic Tiles--Portraits of William and +Matilda--Museum--Public Library--University--Academy--Eminent +Men--History of Caen + +LETTER XXVII. + +Vieux--La Maladerie--Chesnut Timber--Caen Stone--History of +Bayeux--Tapestry + +LETTER XXVIII. + +Cathedral of Bayeux--Canon of Cambremer--Cope of St. Regnobert--Odo + +LETTER XXIX. + +Church and Castle of Creully--Falaise--Castle--Churches--Fair of +Guibray + +LETTER XXX. + +Rock and Chapel of St. Adrien--Pont-de-l'Arche--Priory of the two +Lovers--Abbey of Bonport--Louviers--Gaillon--Vernon + +APPENDIX I. + +APPENDIX II. + +INDEX. + + + + +LIST OF PLATES. + +Plate 26 Sculpture upon a capital in the Chapter-House at St. Georges + +Plate 27 M. Langlois + +Plate 28 Musicians, from the Chapter-House at St. Georges + +Plate 29 Distant View of the Abbey of St. Jumieges + +Plate 30 Ancient trefoil-headed Arches in ditto + +Plate 31 Distant of the Castle of Gisors + +Plate 32 Banded Pillar in the Church of ditto + +Plate 33 Distant View of Château Gaillard + +Plate 34 Gothic Puteal, at Evreux + +Plate 35 Leaden Font at Bourg-Achard + +Plate 36 Ancient Tomb in the Cathedral at Lisieux + +Plate 37 Head-Dress of Females, as Caen + +Plate 38 Tower in the _Château de Calix_, at ditto + +Plate 39 Tower and Spire of St. Peter's Church, at ditto + +Plate 40 Sculpture upon a Capital in ditto + +Plate 41 Tower of St. John's Church, at Caen + +Plate 42 Monastery of St. Stephen, at ditto + +Plate 43 Fireplace in the Conqueror's Palace, at Ditto + +Plate 44 Profile of M. Lamouroux + +Plate 45 Figure from the Bayeux Tapestry + +Plate 46 Sculpture at Bayeux + +Plate 47 Ornaments in the Spandrils of the Arches in Bayeux Cathedral + +Plate 48 Castle of Falaise + +Plate 49 Elevation of the West Front of _La Délivrande_ + +Plate 50 Font at Magneville + + + + +LETTERS FROM NORMANDY. + + + + +LETTER XIV. + +DUCLER--ST. GEORGES DE BOCHERVILLE--M. LANGLOIS. + + +(_Ducler, July_, 1818.) + +You will look in vain for Ducler in the _livre des postes_; yet this +little town, which is out of the common road of the traveller, becomes +an interesting station to the antiquary, it being situated nearly +mid-way between two of the most important remains of ancient +ecclesiastical architecture in Normandy--the abbeys of St. Georges de +Bocherville and of Jumieges.--The accommodation afforded by the inns at +Bocherville and Jumieges, is but a poor substitute for the hospitality +of the suppressed abbeys; and, as even the antiquary must eat and +perhaps sleep, he who visits either St. George or the holy Virgin, will +do well to take his _fricandeau_ and his bed, at the place whence I am +writing. + +At a period when the right bank of the Seine from Harfleur to Rouen +displayed an almost uninterrupted line or monastic buildings, Ducler +also boasted of a convent[1], which must have been of some importance, +as early as the middle of the seventh century.--King Childeric IInd, +granted the forest of Jumieges to the convent of the same name and that +of St. Vandrille; and St. Ouen was directed by the monarch to divide the +endowment between the two foundations. His award did not give +satisfaction to St. Philibert, the abbot of Jumieges, who maintained +that his house had not received a fair allotment. The proposition was +stoutly resisted by St. Lambert, abbot of St. Vandrille; and the dispute +was at length settled by the saints withdrawing their claims, and ceding +the surplus land to the abbey of Ducler. St. Denys was the patron of +this abbey; and to him also the present parochial church is dedicated: +it is of Norman architecture; the tower is surrounded by a row of +fantastic corbels; and a considerable quantity of painted glass yet +remains in the windows. The village itself (for it is nothing more than +a village, though honored by French geographers with the name of a +_bourg_), consists of a single row of houses, placed immediately under +the steep chalk cliff which borders the Seine. The face of the cliff is +also indented by excavations, in which the poorer inhabitants dwell, +almost like the Troglodytes of old. The situation of Ducler, and that of +the two neighboring abbeys, is delightful in summer and in fine weather. +In winter it must be cold and cheerless; for, besides being close to a +river of so great breadth, it looks upon a flat marshy shore, whence +exhalations copiously arise. The view from our chamber window this +morning presented volumes of mist rolling on with the stream. The tide +was setting in fast downwards; and the water glided along in silent +rapidity, involved in clouds. + +The village of Bocherville, or, as it is more commonly called, of St. +Georges, the place borrowing its name from the patron saint of the +abbey, lies, at the distance of about two leagues from Rouen. The road +is exceedingly pleasing. Every turning presents a fresh view of the +river; while, on looking back, the city itself is added to the +landscape; and, as we approach, the abbey-church is seen towering upon +the eminence which it commands. + +The church of St. Georges de Bocherville, called in old charters _de +Baucherville_, and in Latin _de Balcheri_ or _Baucheri villa_, was built +by Ralph de Tancarville, the preceptor of the Conqueror in his youth, +and his chamberlain in his maturer age. The descendants of the founder +were long the patrons and advocates of the monastery. The Tancarvilles, +names illustrious in Norman, no less than in English, story, continued +during many centuries to regard it as under their particular protection: +they enriched it with their donations whilst alive, and they selected it +as the spot to contain their remains when they should be no more. + +The following portion of the charter, which puts us in possession of the +indisputable æra of the erection of the church, is preserved by +Mabillon[2]. It is the Conqueror who speaks.--"Radulfus, meus magister, +aulæque et cameræ princeps, instinctu divino tactus, ecclesiam +supradicti martyris Georgii, quæ erat parva, re-edificare a fundamentis +inchoavit, et ex proprio in modum crucis consummavit." + +The Monarch and his Queen condescended to gratify a faithful and +favorite servant, by endowing his establishment. The corpse of the +sovereign himself was also brought hither from St. Gervais, by the monks +and clergy, in solemn procession, before it was carried to Caen[3] for +interment. + +Ralph de Tancarville, however, was not fortunate in the selection of +the inmates whom he planted in his monastery. His son, in the reign of +Henry Ist, dismissed the canons for whom it was first founded, and +replaced them by a colony of monks from St. Evroul. Ordericus Vitalis, +himself of the fraternity of St. Evroul, commemorates and of course +praises the fact. Such changes are of frequent occurrence in +ecclesiastical history; and the apprehension of being rejected from an +opulent and well-endowed establishment, may occasionally have +contributed, by the warning example, to correct the irregularities of +other communities. A century later, the abbot of St. Georges was +compelled to appeal to the pope, in consequence of an attempt on the +part of his brethren at St. Evroul, to degrade his convent into a mere +cell, dependent upon theirs.--The chronicle of the abbey is barren of +events of general interest; nor do its thirty-one abbots appear to have +been men of whom there was much more to be said, than that they arrived +at their dignity on such a year, and quitted it on such another. Of the +monks, we are told that, in the fifteenth century, though their number +was only eight, the dignitaries included, the daily task allotted them +was greater than would in any of the most rigid establishments, in +latter days, have been imposed upon forty brethren in a week! + +Inconsiderable as is the abbey, in an historical point of view, the +church of St. Georges de Bocherville is of singular importance, inasmuch +as it is one of the land-marks of Norman architecture. William, in his +charter, simply styles himself _Dux Normannorum_; it therefore was +granted a few years before the conquest. The building has suffered +little, either from the hands of the destroyers, or of those who do +still more mischief, the repairers; and it is certainly at once the most +genuine and the most magnificent specimen of the circular style, now +existing in Upper Normandy.--The west front is wholly of the time of the +founder, with the exception of the upper portion of the towers that +flank it on either side. In these are windows of nearly the earliest +pointed style; and they are probably of the same date as the +chapter-house, which was built in the latter part of the twelfth +century. The effect of the front is imposing: its general simplicity +contrasts well with the rich ornaments of the arched door-way, which is +divided into five systems of mouldings, all highly wrought, and +presenting almost every pattern commonly found in Norman buildings. A +label encircles the whole, the inner edge of which is indented into +obtuse pyramids, erroneously called lozenges. The capitals of the +columns supporting the arch are curiously sculptured: upon the second to +the left, on entering, are Adam and Eve, in the act of eating the +forbidden fruit; upon the opposite one, is represented the Flight into +Egypt. Normandy does not contain, I believe, a richer arch; but very +many indeed are to be seen in England, even in our village churches, +superior in decoration, though not, perhaps, in size; for this at St. +Georges is on a very large scale: on each side of it is a smaller blank +arch, with a single moulding and a single pillar. Two tiers of +circular-headed windows of equal size fill up the front.--The rest of +the exterior may be said to be precisely as it was left by the original +builders, excepting only the insertion of a pointed window near the +central tower. + +The inside is at least equally free from modern alterations or +improvements. No other change whatever is to be traced in it than such +as were required to repair the injuries done it during the religious +wars; and these were wholly confined to a portion of the roof, and of +the upper part of the wall on the south side of the nave. The groined +roof, though posterior to the original date of the building, is perhaps +of the thirteenth century. The nave itself terminates towards the east +in a semi-circular apsis, according to the custom of the times; and +there, as well as at the opposite extremity of the building, it has a +double tier of windows, and has columns more massy than those in the +body of the church. The aisles end in straight lines; but, within, a +recess is made in the thickness of the wall, for the purpose of +admitting an altar. Both the transepts are divided within the church, at +a short distance from their extremities, into two stories, by a vaulted +roof of the same height as the triforium.--M. Le Prevost, who has very +kindly communicated to me the principal part of these details, has +observed the same to be the case in some other contemporary buildings in +Normandy. On the eastern side of each transept is a small chapel, +ending, like the choir, in a semi-circular apsis, which rises no higher +than the top of the basement story. A cable moulding runs round the +walls of the whole church within.--You and I, in our own country, have +often joined in admiring the massy grandeur of Norman architecture, +exemplified in the nave of Norwich cathedral: at St. Georges I was still +more impressed by the noble effect of semi-circular arcades, seen as +they are here on a still larger scale, and in their primitive state, +uninterrupted and undebased by subsequent additions. + +On closer examination, the barbarous style of the sculpture forces +itself upon the eye. Towards the western end of the building the +capitals are comparatively plain: they become more elaborate on +approaching the choir. Some of them are imitations or modifications (and +it may even be said beautiful ones) of the Grecian model; but in general +they are strangely grotesque. Many represent quadrupeds, or dragons, or +birds, and commonly with two bodies, and a single head attached to any +part rather than the neck. On others is seen "the human form divine," +here praying, there fighting; here devouring, there in the act of being +devoured; not uncommonly too the men, if men they must be called, are +disfigured by enormous heads with great flapping ears, or loll out an +endless length of tongue.--One is almost led to conceive that Schedel, +the compiler of the _Nuremberg Chronicle_, had a set of Norman capitals +before his eyes, when he published his inimitable series of monsters. +His "homines cynocephali," and others with "aures tam magnas ut totum +corpus contegant," and those again whose under lips serve them as +coverlids, may all find their prototypes, or nearly so, in the carvings +of St. Georges. + +The most curious sculptures, however, in the church, are two square +bas-reliefs, opposite to one another, upon the spandrils of the arches, +in the walls that divide the extremities of the transepts into different +stories[4]. They are cut out of the solid stone, in the same manner as +the subjects on the block of a wood-engraving: one of these tablets +represents a prelate holding a crosier in his left hand, while the two +fore-fingers of the right are elevated in the act of giving the +blessing; the other contains two knights on horseback, jousting at a +tournament. They are armed with lance and buckler, and each of them has +his head covered with a pointed helmet, which terminates below in a +nasal, like the figures upon the Bayeux tapestry.--This coincidence is +interesting, as deciding a point of some moment towards establishing the +antiquity of that celebrated relic, by setting it beyond a doubt that +such helmets were used anterior to the conquest; for it is certain that +these basso-relievos are coeval with the building which contains them. + +This church affords admirable subjects for the pencil. It should be +drawn in every part: all is entire; all original; the corbel-stones that +support the cornice on the exterior are perfect, as well along the choir +and nave, as upon the square central steeple: each of the sides of this +latter is ornamented with a double tier of circular arches. The +buttresses to the church are, like those of the chapel of St. Julien, +shallow and unbroken; and they are ranged, as there, between the +windows. At the east end alone they take the shape of small +semi-cylindrical columns of disproportionate length. + +[Illustration: Sculpture upon a capital in the Chapter-House at St. +Georges] + +The monastic buildings, which were probably erected about the year +1700, now serve as a manufactory. Between them and the church is +situated the chapter-house, which was built towards the end of the +twelfth century, at a period when the pointed architecture had already +begun to take place of the circular style. Its date is supplied in the +_Gallia Christiana_, where we read, that Victor, the second abbot, +"obiit longævus dierum, idibus Martii, seu XVIII calendas Aprilis, ante +annum 1211; sepultusque est sub tabulâ marmoreâ in capitulo quod +erexerat." + +We found it in a most ruinous and dilapidated state, yet extremely +curious; indeed not less so than the church. Its front to the west +exhibits a row of three semi-circular arches, with an ornament on the +archivolt altogether different from what I recollect to have seen +elsewhere[5]. The inside corresponds in profuse decoration with this +entrance; but the arches in it are all pointed. An entablature of +beautiful workmanship is carried round the whole building, which is now +used as a mill: it was crowded with dirty children belonging to the +manufactory; and the confusion which prevailed, was far from being +favorable to the quiet lucubrations of an antiquary. In no part of the +church is the sculpture equally curious; and it is very interesting to +observe the progress which this branch of the art had made in so short a +time. Two or three of the capitals to the arches in front, seem to +include one continued action, taken apparently from the history of +Joshua. Another capital, of which I send you a sketch from the pencil of +M. Le Prevost, is a great curiosity. The group which it contains, is +nearly a duplicate of the supposed statue of William the Conqueror at +Caen. In all probability it represents some legendary story, though the +subject is not satisfactorily ascertained. Against the pillars that +support these arches, were affixed whole-length figures, or cariatides, +in alto-relievo. Three of them still remain, though much mutilated; two +women and a man. They hold in their hands labels, with inscriptions that +fall down to their feet in front. One of the females has her hair +disposed in long braided tresses, which reach on either side to her +girdle. In this respect, as well as in the style of the sculpture and +costume, there is a resemblance between these statues and those on the +portals at St. Denys and at Chartres, as well as those formerly on that +of St. Germain des Prés, at Paris, all which are figured by Montfaucon +in his _Monumens de la Monarchie Française_, and are supposed by him to +be of the times of the Merovingian or Carlovingian dynasty; but +subsequent writers have referred them to the eleventh or twelfth +century. + +[Illustration: M. Langlois] + +It was in this chapter-house that M. Langlois[6] found, among a heap of +stones, a most interesting capital, that had formerly been attached to a +double column. By his kindness, I inclose you two drawings of it. One of +them shews it in its entire form as a capital; the other exhibits the +bas-relief carved upon it[7]. + +[Illustration: Bas-relief on capital] + +The various injuries sustained by the building, render it impossible to +ascertain the spot which this capital originally occupied; but M. Le +Prevost supposes that it belonged to some gate of the cloister, which is +now destroyed. A more curious series of musical instruments is, perhaps, +no where to be found; and it is a subject upon which authors in general +are peculiarly unsatisfactory. I am told that, in an old French romance, +the names of upwards of twenty are enumerated, whose forms and nature +are quite unknown at the present day; while, on the other hand, we are +all of us aware that painting and sculpture supply figures of many, for +which it would be extremely difficult or impossible to find names[8]. + +[Illustration: Musicians, from the Chapter-House at St. Georges] + +The chapter-house, previously to the revolution, contained a +tomb-stone[9], uninscribed and exhibiting only a sculptured sword, under +which it was supposed that either Ralph de Tancarville himself, the +founder of the abbey, or his grandson, William, lay interred. It is of +the latter that the records of the monastery tell, how, on the fifth day +after he girded himself with the military belt, he came to the church, +and deposited his sword upon the altar, and subsequently redeemed it by +various donations, and by confirming to the monks their right to the +several benefices in his domain, which had been ceded to them by his +grandfather.--Here then, I quit you: in a few days I shall have paid my +devotions at the shrine of Jumieges:--meanwhile, in the language of the +writers of the elder day, I close this sheet with. + + EXPLICIT FELICITER Stus. GEORGIUS DE BOCHERVILLA; + DEO GRATIAS. + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: _Histoire de la Haute Normandie_, II. p. 266. VOL. II.] + +[Footnote 2: _Ann. Benedict._ III. p. 674, 675.--This charter was not +among the archives of the monastery; but I am informed by M. Le Prevost, +that several are still in existence, most of them granted by the family +of the founder, but some by Kings of England. One of the latter is by +Richard Coeur de Lion, and his seal of red wax still remains appended to +it, in fine preservation. The seal, on one side, represents the king +seated upon his throne, with a pointed beard, having his crown on his +head, and a sword in one hand, and sceptre in the other: on the other +side, he is on horseback, with his head covered with a cylindrical +helmet, surmounted with a very remarkable crest, in the form of a fan: +on his shield are plainly distinguishable the three lions of +England.--From among the charters granted by the Tancarville family, M. +Le Prevost has sent me copies of two which have never yet been printed; +but which appear to deserve insertion here. One is from Lucy, daughter +of William de Tancarville, and grand-daughter of Ralph, the +chamberlain.--"Notum sit Ricardo de Vernon and Willelmo Camerario de +Tancarvilla, et veteribus et juvenibus, quòd Lucia, filia Willelmi, +Camerarii de Tancarvilla, pro animâ suâ et pro animabus antecessorum +suorum, ad ecclesiam Sti. Georgii de Bauchervilla dedit molendinum de +Waldinivilla, quod est subter aliud molendinum et molendinum de +Waldinval, liberè et quietè, et insupèr ecclesiam de Seonvilla, salvâ +elemosinâ Roberti sacerdotis in vitâ suâ, si dignus est habendi eam. Et +post mortem Willelmi capellani sui de Sancto Flocello, ad ecclesiam +suprà dictam dedit decimam de vavassoribus de Seolvilla, quam dedit in +elemosinâ habendam Willelmo capellano totâ vitâ bene et in pace et +securè, et decimas de custodiis totius terre sue que est in +Constantino.--Ego Lucia do hanc elemosinam pro animâ meâ et pro +antecessoribus ad ecclesiam Sanctii Georgii; et qui auferet ab eâ et +auferetur ab eo regnum Dei. Amen.--Testibus, Ricardo de Haia et Matille +uxore suâ et Nigello de Chetilivilla et hominibus de Sancto +Flocello."--To this is added, in a smaller hand-writing, probably the +lady's own autograph, the following sentence:--"Et precor vos quòd +ecclesia Sancti Georgii non decrescatur in tempore vestro pro Dei amore +et meo de elemosinis patris mei neque de meis."--There is still farther +subjoined, in a different hand-writing, and in a much paler ink:--"Hæc +omnia Ricardus de Vernon libenter concessit."--The other charter was +granted by William the Younger, and details a curious custom +occasionally observed in the middle ages, in making donations:-- + +"Universis sancte ecclesie fidelibus. Willelmus junior camerarius in +domino salutem. Notum sit presentibus et futuris, quod ego Willelmus +junior camerarius quinto die post susceptum militie cingulum veni apud +Sanctum Georgium, ibique cum honorificâ processione suscepérunt me Abbas +Ludovicus et monachi cum magno gaudio letantes; et ibi obtuli gladium +meum super altare Sti. Georgii, et tunc consilio et admonitione sociorum +meorum nobilium virorum qui mecum venerant, scilicet Roberti des Is, +dapiferi mei, et Rogerii de Calli, et Johannis de Lunda, et aliorum +plurium, redemi gladium meum per dona et confirmationem plurium +ecclesiarum, quas ipso die concessi eisdem meo dono, et, sicut avus +meus, fundator illius monasterii dederat, confirmavi; scilicet ecclesiam +de Abetot et ecclesiam de Espretot cum decimâ, et ecclesiam Sancti +Romani cum duabus partibus decime, et similitèr ecclesiam de +Tibermaisnil: confirmavi etiam dona militum meorum et amicorum quæ +dederunt ipso die abbatie in perpetuam elemosynam, Rogerius de Calli +dedit XX Sot. annuatìm; Robertus de Mortùomari X Sot.; Robertus des Is X +solidos; Johannes de Lunda, cognatus meus X Sot.; Andreas de Bosemuneel +X solidos, vel decimam de una carrucatura terre ... Humfridus de +Willerio X solid.; Willelmus de Bodevilla X acras terre; Garinus de Mois +V solid.; Adam de Mirevilla X solid.; Robert. de Fuschennis X solid.; +Lesra de Drumara I acram terre."] + +[Footnote 3: The following are the words of Ordericus Vitalis, upon the +subject: + +"Religiosi tandem viri, Clerici et Monachi, collectis viribus et intimis +sensibus, processionem ordinaverunt: honestè induti, crucibus et +thuribus, ad Sanctum Georgium processerunt, et animam Regis, secundum +morem sanctæ Christianitatis Deo commendaverunt."--_Duchesne, Scriptores +Normanni_, p. 661.] + +[Footnote 4: See _Cotman's Architectural Antiquities of Normandy_, t. +10. f. A. and B.] + +[Footnote 5: See _Cotman's Architectural Antiquities of Normandy_, t. +11. last figure.] + +[Footnote 6: My readers will join with me, I trust, in thanks to M. +Langlois, for his drawings; and will not be sorry to see, accompanying +his sketch of the bas-relief, a spirited one of himself. Normandy does +not contain a more ardent admirer of her antiquities, or one to whom she +is more indebted for investigating, drawing, and publishing them. But, +to the disgrace of Rouen, his labors are not rewarded. All the +obstacles, however opposed by the "durum, pauperies, opprobium," have +not been able to check his independent mind: he holds on his course in +the illustration of the true Norman remains; and to any antiquary who +visits this country, I can promise a great pleasure in the examination +of his port-folio.] + +[Footnote 7: Its size at top is fourteen inches and a half, by six +inches and two-thirds.] + +[Footnote 8: This difficulty, in the present instance, has yielded to +the extensive researches of Mr. Douce, who has afforded assistance to +me, which, perhaps, no other antiquary could have bestowed. He has +unravelled all the mysteries of minstrelsy with his usual ability; and I +give the information in his own words, only observing that the numbers +begin from the left.--"No. 1 was called the _violl_, corresponding with +our _Viol de Gamba_. As this was a larger violin, though the sculptor +has not duly expressed its comparative bulk, I conceive it was either +used as a tenor or base, being perfectly satisfied, in spite of certain +doubts on the subject, that counterpoint was known in the middle +ages.--No. 2 is the largest instrument of the kind that I have ever +seen, and it seems correctly given, from one part of it resting on the +figure, No. 3, to support it. Twiss mentions one that he saw sculptured +on the cathedral, at Toro, five feet long. The proper name of it is the +_rote_, so called from the internal wheel or cylinder, turned by a +winch, which caused the _bourdon_, whilst the performer stopped the +notes on the strings with his fingers. This instrument has been very +ignorantly termed a _vielle_, and yet continues to be so called in +France. It is the modern Savoyard _hurdy-gurdy_, as we still more +improperly term it; for the hurdy-gurdy is quite a different instrument. +In later times, the _rote_ appears to have lost its rank in concert, and +was called the _beggar's lyre_.--No. 4 is evidently the _syrinx_, or +_Pan's pipe_, which has been revived with so much success in the streets +of London.--Twiss shewed me one forty years ago, that he got in the +south of France, where they were then very common.--No. 5 is an +instrument for which I can find no name, nor can I immediately call to +memory any other representation of it. It has some resemblance to the +old Welsh fiddle or _crowth_; but, as a bow is wanting, it must have +been played with the fingers; and I think the performer's left hand in +the sculpture does seem to be stopping the strings on the upper part, or +neck, a portion of which has been probably broken off.--I suspect it to +be the old _mandore_, whence the more modern _mandolin_. The rotundity +of the sounding-board may warrant this conjecture.--No. 6 was called the +_psalterion_, and is of very great antiquity, (I mean as to the middle +ages).--Its form was very diversified, and frequently triangular. It was +played with a _plectrum_, which the performer holds in his right +hand.--No. 7 is the _dulcimer_, which is very common in sculpture. This +instrument appears, as in the present case, to have been sometimes +played with the fingers only, and sometimes with a _plectrum_.--No. 8 is +the real _vielle_, or _violin_, of very common occurrence, and very +ancient.--No. 9 is a female tumbler, or _tomllesterre_, as Chaucer calls +them. This profession, so far as we can depend on ancient +representation, appears to have exclusively belonged to women.--No. 10. +A _harp_ played with a _plectrum_, and, perhaps, also with the left hand +occasionally.--No. 11. The figure before the suspended _bells_ has had a +hammer in each hand with which to strike them, and the opposite, and +last, person, who plays in concert with him, has probably had a harp, as +is the case in an ancient manuscript psalter illumination that I have, +prefixed to the psalm _Exaltate Deo_.--I have seen these bells suspended +(in illumination to the above psalm) to a very elegant Gothic frame, +ascending like the upper part of a modern harp."] + +[Footnote 9: _Gallia Christiana_, XI. p. 270.] + +[Illustration: Distant View of the Abbey of St. Jumieges] + + + + +LETTER XV. + +ABBEY OF JUMIEGES--ITS HISTORY--ARCHITECTURAL DETAILS--TOMBS OF AGNES +SOREL AND OF THE ENERVEZ. + + +(_Ducler, July_, 1818) + +The country between Ducler and Jumieges is of much the same character +with that through which we had already travelled from Rouen; the road +sometimes coasting the Seine, and sometimes passing through a +well-wooded country, pleasantly intermingled with corn-fields. In its +general appearance, this district bears a near resemblance to an English +landscape; more so, indeed, than in any other part of Normandy, where +the features of the scenery are upon a larger scale. + +The lofty towers of the abbey of Jumieges are conspicuous from afar: the +stone of which they are built is peculiarly white; and at a distance +scarcely any signs of decay or dilapidation are visible. On a nearer +approach, however, the Vandalism of the modern French appears in full +activity. For the pitiful value of the materials, this noble edifice is +doomed to destruction. The arched roof is beaten in; and the choir is +nearly levelled with the ground. Two cart-loads of wrought stones were +carried away, while we were there; and the workmen were busily employed +in its demolition. The greater part, too, of the mischief, appears +recent: the fractures of the walls are fresh and sharp; and the +fresco-paintings are unchanged.--Had the proud, abbatial structure but +been allowed to have existed as the parochial church of the village, +the edifice might have stood for ages; but the French are miserably +deficient in proper feeling; and neither the historical recollections +connected with Jumieges, nor its importance as a monument of +architectural antiquity, could redeem it from their tasteless +selfishness. In a few years, its very ruins will have perished; and not +a wreck will remain of this ancient sanctuary of religion and of +learning. + +It was in the year 654 or 655, that St. Philibert, second abbot of +Rebais, in the diocese of Meaux, founded this monastery. He selected the +site upon which the present building stands, a delightful situation, in +a peninsula on the right bank of the Seine. This peninsula, and the +territory extending from Ducler to Caudebec, had been granted to him for +this purpose by Clovis IInd, or, more properly speaking, by Bathilda, +his queen; for the whole administration of affairs was in reality under +her guidance, though the reins of state were nominally held by her +feeble husband. The territory[10] had previously borne the name of +Jumieges, or, in Latin, Gemeticum, a term whose origin has puzzled +etymologists. Those who hold it disgraceful to be ever at a loss on +points of this nature, and who prefer displaying a learned to an +unlearned ignorance, derive Gemeticum, either from _gemitus_, because, +"pro suis offensis illìc gemunt, qui in flammis ultricibus non erunt +gemituri;" or from _gemma_, conformably to the following distich,-- + + + "Gemmeticum siquidem a gemmâ dixere priores; + Quòd reliquis gemmæ, præcelleret instar Eoæ." + + +The ground upon which the abbey was erected was previously occupied by +an ancient encampment. The author of the Life of St. Philibert, who +mentions this circumstance, has also preserved a description of the +original church. These authentic accounts of edifices of remote date, +which frequently occur in hagiology, are of great value in the history +of the arts[11].--The bounty of the queen was well employed by the +saint; and the cruciform church, with chapels, and altars, and shrines, +and oratories, on either side, and with its high altar hallowed by +relics, and decked out with gold and silver and precious stones, shews +how faithfully the catholics, in their religious edifices of the present +day, have adhered to the models of the early, if not the primitive, ages +of the church. + +Writers of the same period record two facts in relation to Jumieges, +which are of some interest as points of natural history.--Vines were +then commonly cultivated in this place and neighborhood;--and fishes of +so great a size, that we cannot but suppose they must have been whales, +frequently came up the Seine, and were caught under the walls of the +monastery.--The growth of the vine is abundantly proved: it is not only +related by various monkish historians, one of whom, an anonymous writer, +quoted by Mabillon, in the _Acta Sanctorum ordinis Sancti Benedicti_, +says, speaking of Jumieges, "hinc vinearum abundant botryones, qui in +turgentibus gemmis lucentes rutilant in Falernis;" but even a charter +of so late a date as the year 1472, expressly terms a large tract of +land belonging to the convent, the vineyard[12].--The existence of the +English monastic vineyards has been much controverted, but not +conclusively. Whether these instances of the northern growth of the +vine, as a wine-making plant, do or do not bear upon the question of the +supposed refrigeration of our climate by the increase of the Polar ice, +must be left to the determination of others.--The whale-fishery of +Jumieges rests upon the single authority of the _Gesta Sancti +Philiberti_: the author admits, indeed, that it is a strange thing, "et +a sæculo inauditum;" but still he speaks of it as a fact that has fallen +under his own knowledge, that the monks, by means of hooks, nets, and +boats, catch sea-fish[13], fifty feet in length, which at once supply +their table with food, and their lamps with oil. + +The number of holy men who originally accompanied St. Philibert to his +new abbey, was only seventy; but they increased with surprising +rapidity; insomuch, that his successor, St. Aicadras, who received the +pastoral staff, after a lapse of little more than thirty years from the +foundation of Jumieges, found himself at the head of nine hundred monks, +besides fifteen hundred attendants and dependants of various +denominations. + +During all these early ages, the monastery of Jumieges continued to be +accounted one of the most celebrated religious houses in France. Its +abbots are repeatedly mentioned in history, as enjoying the confidence +of sovereigns, and as charged with important missions. In their number, +was Hugh, grandson of Pépin le Bref, or, according to other writers, of +Charlemagne. Here also, Tassilo, Duke of Bavaria, and his son, Theodo, +were compelled to immure themselves, after the emperor had deposed them; +whilst Anstruda, daughter of Tassilo, was doomed to share his imperial +bed. + +An æra of misfortune began with the arrival of the Normans. It was in +May, in the year 841, that these dreadful invaders first penetrated as +far as Rouen, marking their track by devastation. On their retreat, +which almost immediately succeeded, they set fire to Jumieges, as well +as to the capital. In their second invasion, under Ironside and +Hastings, the "fury of the Normans" was poured out upon Neustria; and, +during their inroad, they levelled Jumieges with the ground[14]. But the +monks saved themselves: they dispersed: one fled as far as St. Gall; +others found shelter in the royal abbey of St. Denis; the greater part +re-assembled in a domain of their own, called Haspres, in Flanders, +whither they carried with them the bodies of St. Aicadrus and St. Hugh: +there too they resided till the conversion of their enemies to +Christianity. + +The victorious fleet of Rollo first sailed in triumph up the Seine, in +the year 876. According to three monkish historians, Dudo of St. +Quintin, William of Jumieges, and Matthew of Westminster, the chieftain +venerated the sanctity of Jumieges, and deposited in the chapel of St. +Vast, the corpse of the holy virgin, Hameltruda, whom he had brought +from Britain. They also tell us that, on the sixth day after his +baptism, he made a donation of some lands to this monastery.--The +details, however, of the circumstances connected with the first, +diminish its credibility; and Jumieges, then desolate, could scarcely +contain a community capable of accepting the donation. But under the +reign of the son and successor of Rollo, the abbey of Jumieges once more +rose from its ashes. Baldwin and Gundwin, two of the monks who had fled +to Haspres, returned to explore the ruins of the abbey: they determined +to seclude themselves amidst its fire-scathed walls, and to devote their +lives to piety and toil.--In pursuing the deer, the Duke chanced to +wander to Jumieges, and he there beheld the monks employed in clearing +the ground. He listened with patience to their narration; but when they +invited him to partake of their humble fare, barley-bread and water, he +turned from them with disdain. It chanced, however, that immediately +afterwards, he encountered in the forest a boar of enormous size. The +beast unhorsed him, and he was in danger of death. The peril he regarded +as a judgment from heaven; and, as an expiation for his folly, he +rebuilt the monastery. So thoroughly, however, had the Normans +_demonachised_ Neustria, that William Longa Spatha was compelled to +people the abbey with a colony from Poitou; and thence came twelve +monks, headed by Abbot Martin, whom the duke installed in his office in +the year 930. William himself also desired to take refuge from the +fatigues of government in the retirement of the monastery; and though +dissuaded by Abbot Martin, who reminded him that Richard, his infant, +son still needed his care, he did not renounce his intention:--but his +life and his reign were soon ended by treachery. + +This second æra of the prosperity of Jumieges was extremely short; for +the prefect, whom Louis d'Outremer, King of France, placed in command at +Rouen, when he seized upon the young Duke Richard, pulled down the +walls of this and of all the other monasteries on the banks of the +Seine, to assist towards the reparation and embellishment of the seat of +his government. But from that time forward the tide of monastic affairs +flowed in one even course of prosperity; though the present abbatial +church was not begun till the time of Abbot Robert, the second of that +name, who was elected in 1037. By him the first stone of the foundation +was laid, three years after his advancement to the dignity; but he held +his office only till 1043, when Edward the Confessor invited him to +England, and immediately afterwards promoted him to the Bishopric of +London.--Godfrey, his successor at Jumieges, was a man conversant with +architecture, and earnest in the promotion of learning. In purchasing +books and in causing them to be transcribed, he spared neither pains nor +expence. The records of the monastery contain a curious precept, in +which he directs that prayers should be offered up annually upon a +certain day, "pro illis qui dederunt et fecerunt libros."--The inmates +of Jumieges continued, however, to increase in number; and the revenues +of the abbey would not have been adequate to defray the expences of the +new building, had not Abbot Robert, who, in 1050, had been translated to +the see of Canterbury, supplied the deficiency by his munificence, and, +as long as he continued to be an English prelate, remitted the surplus +of his revenues to the Norman abbey. He held his archiepiscopal dignity +only one year, at the expiration of which he was banished from England: +he then retired to Jumieges, where he died the following spring, and was +buried in the choir of the church which he had begun to raise. At his +death, the church had neither nave nor windows; and the whole edifice +was not completed till November, in the year 1066. In the following July +the dedication took place. Maurilius, Archbishop of Rouen, officiated, +in great pomp, assisted by all the prelates of the duchy; and William, +then just returned from the conquest of England, honored the ceremony +with his presence. + +I have dwelt upon the early history of this monastery, because Normandy +scarcely furnishes another of greater interest. In the _Neustria Pia_, +Jumieges fills nearly seventy closely-printed folio pages of that +curious and entertaining, though credulous, work.--What remains to be +told of its annals is little more than a series of dates touching the +erection of different parts of the building: these, however, are worth +preserving, so long as any portion of the noble church is permitted to +have existence, and so long as drawings and engravings continue to +perpetuate the remembrance of its details. + +The choir and extremities of the transept, all of pointed architecture, +are supposed to have been rebuilt in 1278.--The Lady-Chapel was an +addition of the year 1326.--The abbey suffered materially during the +wars between England and France, in the reigns of our Henry IVth and +Henry Vth: its situation exposed it to be repeatedly pillaged by the +contending parties; and, were it not that the massy Norman architecture +sufficiently indicates the true date, and that we know our neighbors' +habit of applying large words to small matters, we might even infer that +it was then destroyed as effectually as it had been by Ironside: the +expression, "lamentabilitèr desolata, diffracta et annihilata," could +scarcely convey any meaning short of utter ruin, except to the ears of +one who had been told that a religious edifice was actually _abimé_ +during the revolution, though he saw it at the same moment standing +before him, and apparently uninjured.--The arched roof of the choir +received a complete repair in 1535: that of the nave, which was also in +a very bad state, underwent the same process in 1688; at the same time, +the slender columns that support the cornice were replaced with new +ones, and the symbols of the Evangelists were inserted in the upper part +of the walls. These reparations are managed with a singular perception +of propriety; and though the manner of the sculpture in the symbolic +figures, is not that of a Gothic artist, yet they are most appropriate, +and harmonize admirably with the building. + +[Illustration: Symbols of the Evangelists] + +You must excuse me that, now I am upon this subject, I venture to +"travel somewhat out of the record," for the sake of proposing to you a +difficulty which has long puzzled me:--the connection which Catholic +divines find between St. Luke's Bull and the word Zecharias;--for it +appears, by the following distich from the Rhenish Testament, that some +such cause leads them to regard this symbol as peculiarly appropriate to +the third Evangelist:-- + + + "Effigies vituli, Luca, tibi convenit; extat + Zacariæ in scriptis mentio prima tuis."-- + + +[Illustration: Figures of effigies] + +An antiquary might be perplexed by these figures, the drawings whereof I +now send you. He would find it impossible to suppose the +exquisitely-sculptured images and the slender shafts with richly-wrought +capitals, of the same date as the solid simple piers and arches all +around; and yet the stone is so entirely the same, and the workmanship +is so well united, that it would require an experienced eye to trace the +junction. In the middle of the sixteenth century, the central tower was +also found to need reparation; and the church, upon this occasion, +sustained a lasting injury, in the loss of its original spire, which was +of lead, and of great height and beauty. It was taken down, under +pretence of its insecurity; but in reality the monks only wished to get +the metal. This happened in 1557, under Gabriel le Veneur, Bishop of +Evreux, the then abbot. Five years afterwards the ravages of the +Huguenots succeeded: the injury done to Jumieges by these sectaries, was +estimated at eighty thousand francs; and the library and records of the +convent perished in the devastation. + +The western front of the church still remains almost perfect; and it is +most singular. It consists, of three distinct parts; the central +division being nearly of equal width to the other two conjointly, and +projecting considerably beyond them. The character of the whole is +simplicity: the circular door-way is comparatively small, and entirely +without ornament, except a pillar on each side; the six circular-headed +windows over the entrance, disposed in a double row, are equally plain. +Immediately above the upper tier of windows, is a projecting chequered +cornice; and, still higher, where the gable assumes a triangular form, +are three lancet-shaped apertures, so extremely narrow, that they +resemble the loop-holes of a dungeon rather than the windows of a +church. In each of the lateral compartments was likewise originally a +door-way, and above it a single window, all of the same Norman style, +but all now blocked up. These compartments are surmounted with short +towers, capped with conical spires. The towers appear from their style +and masonry to be nearly coeval with the lower part of the building, +though not altogether so: the southern is somewhat the most modern. They +are, however, so entirely dissimilar in plan from the rest of the front, +that we cannot readily admit that they are a portion of the original +design. Nor are they even like to each other. Both of them are square at +their bases, and preserve this form to a sufficient height to admit of +two tiers of narrow windows, separated from each other by little more +than a simple string-course. Above these windows both become octagon, +and continue so to the top; but in a very different manner. The northern +one has obtuse angles, imperfectly defined; the southern has four +projecting buttresses and four windows, alternating with each other. The +form of the windows and their arrangement, afford farther marks of +distinction. The octagon part is in both turrets longer than the square, +but, like it, divided into two stories. + +The central tower of the church, which was large and square, is now +reduced to a fragment: three of its sides are gone; the western remains +sufficiently perfect to shew what the whole was when entire. It +contained a double tier of arches, the lower consisting of two, which +were large and simple, the upper of three, divided by central shafts and +masonry, so that each formed a double window. All of them were +circular-headed, but so far differed from the architecture of the nave, +that they had side-pillars with capitals. + +The church[15] was entered by a long narrow porch.--The nave is a fine +specimen of Norman architecture, but is remarkable in that style for one +striking peculiarity, that the eight wide circular arches on either +side, which separate it from the aisles, are alternately supported by +round pillars and square piers; the latter having semi-cylindrical +columns applied to each of their sides. The capitals are ornamented with +rude volutes. The arches in the triforium are of nearly the same width +as those below, but considerably less in height. There is no archivolt +or moulding or ornament. Above these there is only one row of windows, +which, like all the rest, are semi-circular headed; but they have +neither angular pillars, nor mouldings, nor mullions. These windows are +rather narrow externally, but within the opening enlarges considerably. +The windows in the upper and lower tiers stand singly: in the +intermediate row they are disposed by threes, the central one separated +from the other two by a single column.--The inside of the nave is +striking from its simplicity: it is wholly of the eleventh century, +except the reparations already mentioned, which were made in 1688.--The +choir and Lady-Chapel are nearly demolished; and only some fragments of +them are now standing: they were of pointed architecture, and posterior +to the nave by at least two centuries. + +A smaller church, dedicated to St. Peter, stood near the principal one, +with which it was connected by means of a corridor of pointed arches. +There are other instances of two churches being erected within the +precincts of one abbey, as at Bury St. Edmund's. St. Peter's was a +building at least of equal antiquity with the great church. But it had +undergone such alterations in the year 1334, during the prelacy of the +twenty-seventh abbot, William Gemblet, that little of the original +structure remained. He demolished nearly the whole of the nave, for the +sake of adding uniformity to the cloisters of the monastery.--M. Le +Prevost, however, is of opinion, that the ruins of Jumieges contain +nothing more interesting to an antiquary than the west end of the +portion of building, which subsequently served as the nave. It is a mass +of flint-work; and he considers it as having belonged to the church that +existed before the incursion of the Normans. + +The cloisters, which stood to the south-west of St. Peter's, are now +almost wholly destroyed.--To the west of them is a large hall or +gallery, known by the name of _la Salle des Chevaliers_. It is entered +by two porches, one towards the north-west, the other towards the +south-west[16], both full of architectural beauty and curiosity. I know +of no authority for their date; but, from the great variety and richness +of their ornaments, and the elegant taste displayed in the arrangement +of these, I should suppose them to have been erected during the latter +half of the twelfth century: one of the arches is unquestionably +pointed, though the cusp of the arch is very obtuse. The slight sketch +which accompanies this letter, represents a fragment of the inner +door-way of the south-west porch, and may enable you to form your own +judgment upon the subject. + +[Illustration: Sketch of fragment of inner door-way] + +The stones immediately over the entrance are joggled into each other, +the key-stone having a joggle on either side.--I have not observed this +peculiarity in any other specimen of Norman masonry.--Between these +porches apartments, along the interior of which runs a cornice, +supported by grotesque corbels, and under it a row of windows, now +principally blocked up, disposed in triplets, a trefoil-headed window +being placed between two that are semi-circular, as seen in the +accompanying drawing. The date of the origin of the trefoil-headed arch +has been much disputed: these perhaps are some of the earliest, and they +are unquestionably coeval with the building. + +[Illustration: Ancient trefoil-headed Arches in Abbey of Jumieges] + +The stupid and disgraceful barbarism, which is now employing itself in +the ruins of Jumieges, has long since annihilated the invaluable +monuments which it contained.--In the Lady-Chapel of the conventual +church was buried the heart of the celebrated Agnes Sorel, mistress of +Charles VIIth, who died at Mesnil, about a league from this abbey, +during the time when her royal lover was residing here.--Her death was +generally attributed to poison; nor did the people hesitate in +whispering that the fatal potion was administered by order of the Queen. +Her son, the profligate tyrant Louis XIth, detested his father's +concubine; and once, forgetting his dignity and his manhood, he struck +the _Dame de Beauté_.--The statue placed upon the mausoleum represented +Agnes kneeling and offering her heart to the virgin; but this effigy had +been removed before the late troubles: a heart of white marble, which +was at the foot of the tomb, had also disappeared. According to the +annals of the abbey, they were destroyed by the Huguenots. The tomb +itself, with various brasses inlaid upon it, remained undisturbed till +the period of the revolution, when the whole memorial was removed, and +even her remains were not suffered to rest in peace. The slab of black +marble which covered them, and which bore upon its edges the French +inscription to her memory, is still in existence; though it has changed +its place and destination. The barbarians who pillaged the convent sold +it with the rest of the plunder; and it now serves as a threshold to a +house near the Mont aux Malades, at Rouen[17]. The inscription, which is +cut in very elegant Gothic characters, is as follows: a part of it is, +however, at present hidden by its position:--"Cy gist Agnes Surelle, +noble damoiselle, en son vivant Dame de Roqueferriere, de Beaulté, +d'Yssouldun, et de Vernon sur Seine, piteuse entre toutes gens, qui de +ses biens donnoit largement aux gens d'église et aux pauvres; qui +trespassa le neuvieme jour de Fevrier, l'an de grace 1449.--Priez Dieu +pour elle."--It is justly to be regretted, that some pains are not taken +for the preservation of this relic, which even now would be an ornament +to the cathedral.--The manor-house at Mesnil, where the fair lady died, +still retains its chimneys of the fifteenth century; and ancient +paintings are discernible on the walls. + +The monument in the church of St. Peter, generally known by the name of +_le tombeau des énervez_, was of still greater singularity. It was an +altar-tomb, raised about two feet above the pavement; and on the slabs +were carved whole-length figures, in alto-relievo, of two boys, each +about sixteen years of age, in rich attire, and ornamented with diadems, +broaches, and girdles, all copiously studded with precious stones. +Various traditions concerning this monument are recorded by authors, and +particularly at great length by Father du Plessis[18].--The nameless +princes, for such the splendor of their garb denotes them to have been, +were considered, according to a tradition which prevailed from very +early times, as the sons of Clovis and Bathilda, who, in the absence of +their father, were guilty of revolt, and were punished by being +hamstrung; for this is the meaning of the word _énervez_.--According to +this tradition, the monks, in the thirteenth century, caused the +monument to be ornamented with golden fleurs-de-lys, and added the +following epitaph:-- + + + "Hic in honore Dei requiescit stirps Clodovei, + Patris bellica gens, bella salutis agens. + Ad votum matris Bathildis poenituere, + Scelere pro proprio, proque labore patris."-- + + +Three other lines, preserved by Yepez, in his chronicle, refer to the +same tale, but accuse the princes of a crime of deeper die than mere +rebellion against parental authority:-- + + + "Conjugis est ultus probrum; nam in vincula tradit + Crudeles natos, pius impietate, simulque + Et duras pater, o Clodovee, piusque maritus." + + +Mabillon supposed the tomb to have been erected for Tassilo and his son; +but I do not know how this conjecture is to be reconciled to the +appearance of the statues, both representing persons of equal age. An +examination of the grave at the time of the destruction of the abbey, +might have afforded some interesting results; though, had any discovery +been made, it would have been but a poor reward for the desolation which +facilitated the research. + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 10: Immediately on the opposite side of the Seine, are +extensive turf-bogs, which are of rare occurrence in this part of +France; and in them grows the _Andromeda polifolia_, a plant that seems +hitherto to have been discovered no where else in the kingdom.] + +[Footnote 11: The following particulars relative to the territory of +Jumieges, as well as the church, are curious: they are copied from an +extract from the Life of St. Philibert, as given in the _Neustria Pia_, +p. 262.--"Congruè sanè locus ille _Gemmeticus_ est dictus, quippe qui +instar gemmarum multivario sit decore conspicuus. Videas illic arborum +comas sylvestrium, multigenos arborum fructus, solum fertile, prata +virentia, hortorum flores suaveolentes, bortis gravidas vîtes, humum +undique cinctam aquis, pascua pecorum uberrima, loca venationi apta, +avium cantu circumsonantia. Sequana fluvius illic cernitur late ambiens: +et deindè suo pergeus cursu, uno duntaxat commeantibus aditu relicto. +Ibi mare increscens nunc eructat: nunc in sinum suum revolutum, navium +fert compendia, commercia plurimorum. Nihil illic deest; quicquid +vehiculis pedestribus, et equestribus plaustris, et ratibus +subministratur, abunde suppetit. Illic castrum condidere antiqui; ibi +stant, in acie, illustria castra Dei: ibi præ desiderio paradisi +suspirantes gemunt, quibus postea opus non erit, in flammis ultricibus, +nihil profuturos edere gemitus. Ibi denique almus sacerdos, Philibertus, +multiplici est laude et prædicatione efferendus: qui instar Patriarchæ +Jacob, in animabus septuaginta, demigravit in hanc eremum, addito grege +septemplici, propter septiformem gratiam spiritus sancti. Ibi enim eius +prudentia construxit mÅ"nia quadrata, turrita mole surgentia; claustra +excipiendis adventantibus mirè opportuna. In his domus alma fulget; +habitatoribus digna. Ab Euro surgit Ecclesia, crucis effigie, cujus +verticem obtinet Beatissima Virgo Maria; Altare est ante faciem lectuli, +cum Dente sanctiss, patris _Philiberti_, pictum gemmarum luminibus, auro +argentoque comptum: ab utroque latere, _Joannis_ et _Columbani_ Aræ dant +gloriam Deo; adherent verò a Boreâ, _Dyonisii_ Martyris, et _Germani_ +Confessoris, ædiculæ; in dextrâ domus parte, sacellum nobile extat _S. +Petri_; a latere habens _S. Martini_ oratorium. Ad Austrum est S. Viri +cellula, et petris habens margines; saxis cinguntur claustra camerata: +is decor cunctorum animos oblectans, eum inundantibus aquis, geminus +vergit ad Austrum. Habet autem ipsa domus in longum pedes ducentos +nonaginta, in latum quinquaginta: singulis legere volentibus lucem +transmittunt fenestræ vitreæ: subtus habet geminas ædes, alteras +condendis vinis, alteras cibis apparandis accommodatas."] + +[Footnote 12: Allusions to the cultivation of the vine at Jumieges, as +then commonly practised, may be found in many other public documents of +the fifteenth century: but we may come yet nearer our own time; for we +know that, in the year 1500, there was still a vineyard in the hamlet of +Conihoult, a dependence upon Jumieges, and that the wine called _vin de +Conihoult_, is expressly mentioned among the articles of which the +charitable donations of the monastery consisted.--We are told, too, that +at least eighteen or twenty acres, belonging to the grounds of the abbey +itself, were used as a vineyard as late as 1561.--At present, I believe, +vines are scarcely any where to be seen in Normandy, much north of +Gaillon.] + +[Footnote 13: In a charter belonging to the monastery, granted by Henry +IInd, in 1159, (see _Neustria Pia_, p. 323) he gives the convent, +"integritatem aquæ ex parte terræ Monachorum, et _Graspais_, si fortè +capiatur."--The word _Graspais_ is explained by Ducange to be a +corruption of _crassus piscis_. Noel (in his _Essais sur le Département +de la Seine Inférieure_, II, p. 168) supposes that it refers +particularly to porpoises, which he says are still found in such +abundance in the Seine, nearer its mouth, that the river sometimes +appears quite black with them.] + +[Footnote 14: The following account of the destruction of the monastery +is extracted from William of Jumieges. (See _Duchesne's Scriptores +Normanni_, p. 219)--"Dehinc Sequanica ora aggrediuntur, et apud +_Gemmeticum_ classica statione obsidionein componunt.... In quo +quamplurima multitudo Episcoporum, seu Clericorum, vel nobilium +laïcorum, spretis secularibus pompis, collecta, Christo Regi militatura, +propria colla saluberrimo iugo subegit. Cuius loci Monachi, sive incolæ, +Paganorum adventum comperientes, fugâ lapsi quædam suarum rerum sub +terra occulentes, quædam secum asportantes, Deo juvante evaserunt. +Pagani locum vacuum reperientes, Monasterium sanctæ Mariæ sanctíque +Petri, et cuncta ædificia igne iniecto adurunt, in solitudinem omnia +redigentes. Hac itaque patrata eversione, locus, qui tauto honoris +splendore diu viguerat, exturbatis omnibus ac subuersis domibus, cÅ"pit +esse cubile ferarum et volucrum: maceriis in sua soliditate in sublime +porrectis, arbustisque densissimis; et arborum virgultis per triginta +fermè annorum curricula ubique a terra productis."] + +[Footnote 15: The following are the proportions of the building, in +French feet:-- + + Length of the church..................265 + Ditto of the nave.....................134 + Width of ditto.........................62 + Length of choir........................43-1/2 + Width of ditto.........................31 + Length of Lady-Chapel..................63 + Width of ditto.........................27 + Height of central tower...............124 + Ditto of western towers...............150 + +] + +[Footnote 16: Mr. Cotman has figured this porch, (_Architectural +Antiquities of Normandy_, t. 4) but has, by mistake, called it "_An Arch +on the West Front of the Abbey Church_."] + +[Footnote 17: See a paper by M. Le Prevost in the _Précis Analitique des +Travaux de l'Académie de Rouen_, 1815, p. 131.] + +[Footnote 18: _Histoire de la Haute Normandie_, II, p. 260.] + + + + +LETTER XVI. + +GOURNAY--CASTLE OF NEUFMARCHÉ--CASTLE AND CHURCH OF GISORS. + + +(_Gisors, July_, 1818) + +We are now approaching the western frontiers.--Gournay, Gisors, and +Andelys, the objects of our present excursion, are disposed nearly in a +line between the capitals of France and Normandy; and whenever war broke +out between the two states, they experienced all the glory, and all the +afflictions of warfare. This district was in fact a kind of debatable +land; and hence arose the numerous strong holds, by which the country +was once defended, and whose ruins now adorn the landscape. + +The tract known by modern topographers, under the names of the +_arrondissemens_ of Gournay and of Andelys, constituted one of the +general divisions of ancient Normandy, the _Pays de Bray_. It was a +tract celebrated beyond every other in France, and, from time +immemorial, for the excellence of the products of its dairies. The +butter of Bray is an indispensable requisite at every fashionable table +at Paris; and the _fromage de Neufchâtel_ is one of the only two French +cheeses which are honored with a place in the bill of fare at Véry's at +Grignon's, or at Beauvilliers'. + +The females of the district frequently passed us on the road, carrying +their milk and eggs to the provincial metropolis. Accustomed as we are +to the Norman costume, we still thought that the many-colored attire +and long lappetted cap, of the good wife, of Bray, in conjunction with +her steed and its trappings, was a most picturesque addition to the +surrounding scenery. The large pannier on either side of the saddle +leaves little room for the lady, except on the hinder parts of the poor +beast; and there she sits, perfectly free and _dégagée_, without either +pillion or stirrup, showing no small portion of her leg, and +occasionally waving a little whip, ornamented in the handle with tufts +of red worsted.--We had scarcely quitted the suburbs of Rouen before we +found ourselves in Darnétal, a place that has risen considerably in +importance, since the revolution, from the activity of its numerous +manufacturers. Its population is composed entirely of individuals of +this description, to whose pursuits its situation upon the banks of the +Robec and Aubette is peculiarly favorable: the greater part of the goods +manufactured here are coarse cloths and flannels. Before the revolution, +the town belonged to the family of Montmorenci.--The rest of the ride +offered no object of interest. The road, like all the main post-roads, +is certainly wide and straight; but the French seem to think that, if +these two points are but obtained, all the rest may be regarded as +matter of supererogation. Hence, very little attention is paid to the +surface of the highways: even on those that are most frequented, it is +thought enough to keep the centre, which is paved, in decent repair: the +ruts by the side are frequently so deep as to be dangerous; and in most +cases the cross roads are absolutely impassable to carriages of every +description, except the common carts of the country.--There is nothing +in which England has a more decided superiority over France than in the +facility of communication between its different towns; and there is also +nothing which more decidedly marks a superiority of civilization. +English travellers, who usually roll on the beaten track to and from the +capital, return home full of praises of the French roads; but were they +to attempt excursions among the country-towns and villages, their +opinion would be wofully altered.--The forest of Feuillée extends about +four leagues on each side of the road, between Rouen and Gournay. It +adds little to the pleasantness of the ride: the trees are planted with +regularity, and the side-branches are trimmed away almost to the very +tops. Those therefore who expect overhanging branches, or the green-wood +shade, in a French forest, will be sadly disappointed. On the contrary, +when the wind blows across the road, and the sun shines down it, such a +forest only adds to the heat and closeness of the way. + +The country around Gournay is characterized by fertility and abundance; +yet, in early times, the rich valley in which it is situated, was a +dreary morass, which separated the Caletes from the Bellovacences. A +causeway crossed the marshes, and formed the only road of communication +between these tribes; and Gournay arose as an intermediate station. +Therefore, even prior to the Norman æra, the town was, from its +situation, a strong hold of note; and under the Norman dukes, Gournay +necessarily became of still greater consequence, as the principal +fortress on the French frontier; but the annexation of the duchy to the +crown of France, destroyed this unlucky pre-eminence; and, at present, +it is only known as a great staple mart for cheese and butter. Nor is +it advantageously situated for trade; as there is no navigable river or +means of water-carriage in its vicinity. The inhabitants therefore look +forward with some anxiety to the completion of the projected canal from +Dieppe. + +Gournay is a small, clean, and airy place. The last two circumstances +are no trifling recommendation to those who have just escaped from the +dirt and closeness of Rouen. Its streets are completely those of a +country town: the intermixture of wood and clay in the houses gives them +a mean aspect, and there are scarcely two to be found alike, either in +size, shape, color, or materials.--The records of Gournay begin in the +reign of Rollo. That prince gave the town, together with the Norman +portion of the Pays de Bray, to Eudes[19], a nobleman of his own nation, +to be held as a fief of the duchy, under the usual military tenure. In +one of the earliest rolls of Norman chieftains[20], the Lord of Gournay +is bound, in case of war, to supply the duke with twelve soldiers from +among his vassals, and to arm his dependants for the defence of his +portion of the marches. Hugh, the son of Eudes de Gournay, erected a +castle in the vicinity of the church of St. Hildebert, and the whole +town was surrounded with a triple wall and double fosse. The place was +inaccessible to an invading enemy, when these fosses were filled with +the waters of the Epte; but Philip Augustus caused the protecting +element to become his most powerful auxiliary. Willelmus Brito +relates his siege with minuteness in his _Philippiad_, an heroic poem, +devoted to the acts and deeds of the French monarch.--After advancing +through Lions and Mortemer, Philip encamped before Gournay, thus +described by the historical bard;-- + + + "Non procul hinc vicum populosâ genta superbum, + Divitiis plenum variis, famâque celebrem, + Rure situm piano, munitum triplice muro, + Deliciosa nimis speciosaque vallis habebat. + Nomine GORNACUM, situ inexpugnabilis ipso, + Etsi nullus ei defensor ab intus adesset; + Cui multisque aliis præerat Gornacius HUGO. + Fossæ cujus erant amplæ nimis atque profundae + Quas sic Epta suo repleret flumine, posset + Nullus ut ad muros per eas accessus haberi. + Arte tamen sibi REX tali pessundedit ipsum. + Haud procul a muris stagnum pergrande tumebat, + Cujus aquam, pelagi stagnantis more, refusam + Urget stare lacu sinuoso terreus agger, + Quadris compactus saxis et cespite multo. + Hunc REX obrumpi medium facit, effluit inde + Diluvium immensum, subitâque voragine tota + Vallis abit maris in speciem, ruit impete vasto + Eluvies damnosa satis, damnosa colonis. + * * * * * + Municipes fugiunt ne submergantur, et omnis + Se populus villâ viduat, vacuamque relinquit. + * * * * * + Armis villa potens, muris munita virisque, + Arte capi nullâ metuens aut viribus ullis, + Diluvio capitur inopino............... + * * * * * + REX ubi GORNACUM sic in sua jura redegit, + Indigenas omnes revocans ad propria, pacem + Indicit populis libertatemque priorem; + Deinde re-ædificat muros............. + + +In 1350, after the death of Philip of Valois, Gournay was again +separated from France, and given as a dower to Blanche of Navarre, the +widow of that prince, who held it forty-eight years, when, after her +death, it reverted to the crown. At the commencement of the following +century, the town fell, with the rest of the kingdom, into the +possession of the English; and once more, upon the demise of our +sovereign, Henry Vth, formed part of the dower of the widowed queen. On +her decease, it devolved upon her son; but a period of eleven years had +scarcely elapsed, when the laws of conquest united it for a third time +to the crown of France, in 1449.--From that period to the revolution, it +was constantly in the possession of different noble families of the +kingdom. + +The name of Hugo de Gournay is enrolled amongst those who followed the +conqueror into England, and who held lands _in capite_ from him in this +country[21]. Hugo was a man of eminent valor, and his services were +requited by the grant of many large possessions; but, after all his +military actions, he sought repose in the abbey of Bec, which had been +enriched by his piety. His son, Girald, who married the sister of +William, Earl Warren, accompanied Robert, Duke of Normandy, into the +Holy Land; and the grandson of Girald was in the number of those who +followed Richard Coeur-de-Lion in a similar expedition, and was +appointed his commissioner, to receive the English share of the spoil, +after the capture of Acre. He was also among the barons who rose against +King John. Their descendants settled in very early times in our own +county, where their possessions were extensive and valuable. + +It was in Gournay that the unfortunate Arthur, heir to the throne of +England, received the order of knighthood, together with the earldoms of +Brittany, Poitou, and Angers, from Philip Augustus, immediately +previously to entering upon the expedition, which ultimately ended with +his death; and, according to tradition, it was on this occasion that the +town adopted for its arms the sable shield, charged with a knight in +armor, argent[22]. + +Gournay has now no other remains of antiquity, except the collegiate +church of St. Hildebert[23], which was founded towards the conclusion of +the eleventh century, though it was scarcely completed at the end of the +thirteenth. Hence the discrepancy of style observable in the +architecture of its different parts. The west front, in which the +windows are all pointed, was probably one of the last portions +completed. The interior is principally of semi-circular architecture, +with piers unusually massy, and capitals no less fanciful and +extraordinary than those already noticed at St. Georges. Here, however, +we have fewer monsters. The ornaments consist chiefly of foliage, and +wreaths, and knots, and chequered work, and imitations of members of the +antique capital. Some of the pillars, instead of ending in regular +capitals, are surmounted by a narrow projecting rim, carved with +undulating lines. It has been supposed that this ornament, which is +quite peculiar to the church of St. Hildebert, is a kind of +hieroglyphical representation of water.--Perhaps, it is the chamber of +Sagittarius; or, perhaps, it is a _fess wavy_, to which the same +signification has been assigned by heralds.--If this interpretation be +correct, the symbol is allusive to the ancient situation of the town, +built in the midst of a marsh, intersected by two streams, the Epte and +the St. Aubin. + +While we were on the point of setting out from Gournay, we had the +pleasure of meeting Mr. Cotman, who landed a few days since at Dieppe, +and purposes remaining in Normandy, to complete a series of drawings +which he began last year, towards the illustration of the architectural +antiquities of the duchy. He has joined our party, and we are likely to +have the advantage of his society for some little time. + +The village of Neufmarché, about a league from Gournay, on the right +bank of the Epte, still retains a small part of its castle, built by +Henry Ist, to command the passage of the river, and to serve as a +barrier against the incursions of the French. Its situation is good, +upon an artificial hill, surrounded by a fosse; and the principal +entrance is still tolerably entire. But the rest is merely a shapeless +heap of ruins: the interior is wholly under the plough; and the +fragments of denudated walls preserve small remains of the coating of +large square stones, which formerly embellished and protected them. +Neufmarché, in the days of Norman sovereignty, was one of the strong +holds of the duchy. The chroniclers[24] speak of the village as being +defended by a fortress, in the reign of William the Conqueror. The +church, too, with its semi-circular architecture, attests the antiquity +of the station. + +Long before we reached Gisors, we had a view of the keep of the castle, +rising majestically above the town, which is indeed at present "une +assez maussade petite ville, qui n'a guère qu'une rue." From its +position and general outline, the castle, at first view, resembles the +remains of Launceston, in Cornwall. It recalled to my mind the +impressions of surprise, mixed with something approaching to awe, which +seized me, when the first object that met my eyes in the morning (for it +was late and dark when I reached Launceston) was the noble keep, +towering immediately above my chamber windows, and so near, that it +appeared as if I had only to open them and step into it. I do not mean +to draw a parallel between the castles of Launceston and Gisors, and +still less am I about to inquire into the relationship between the +Norman and the Cornish fortresses. The lapse of twenty years has +materially weakened my recollection of the latter, nor would this be a +seasonable opportunity for such a disquisition: but the subject deserves +investigation, the result of which may tend to establish the common +origin of both, and to dissipate the day-dreams of Borlase, who longed +to dignify the castellated ruins of the Cornish peninsula, by ascribing +them to the Roman conquerors of Britain. + +Gisors itself existed before the tenth century; but its chief celebrity +was due to William Rufus, who, anxious to strengthen his frontiers +against the power of the kings of France, caused Robert of Bellême to +erect this castle, in 1097. Thus then we have a certain date; and there +is no reason to believe, but that the whole of what is left us is really +of the same æra, or of the following reign, in which it is known that +the works were greatly augmented; for Henry Ist was completely a +castle-builder. He was a prince who spared no pains in strengthening and +defending the natural frontiers of his province, as the fortresses of +Verneuil, Tillières, Nonancourt, Anet, Ivry, Château-sur-Epte, Gisors, +and many others, abundantly testify. All these were either actually +built, or materially strengthened by him.--This at Gisors, important +from its strength and from its situation, was the source of frequent +dissentions between the sovereigns of England and France, as well as the +frequent witness of their plighted faith, and the scene of their +festivities.--In 1119, a well-known interview took place here, between +Henry Ist and Pope Calixtus IInd, who had travelled to France for the +purpose of healing the schisms in the church, and who, after having +accomplished that task, was desirous not to quit the kingdom till he had +completed the work of pacification, by reconciling Henry to Louis le +Gros, and to his brother, Robert. The speech of our sovereign upon this +occasion, as recorded by Ordericus Vitalis[25], is a valuable document +to the English historian: it sets forth, at considerable length, his +various causes of grievance, whether real, imaginary, or invented, +against the legal heir to our throne.--After a lapse of thirty-nine +years, Louis le Jeune succeeded in annexing Gisors to the crown of +France; but he resigned it to our Henry IInd, only three years +subsequently, as a part of the marriage portion of his daughter, +Margaret. It then remained with our countrymen till the conquest of the +duchy by Philip Augustus; previously to which event, that sovereign and +Henry met, in the year 1188, under an elm near Gisors, on the road to +Trie, upon receiving the news of the capture of Jerusalem by the Sultan +Saladin[26]. The monarchs, actuated by religious zeal, took up the +cross, and mutually pledged themselves to suspend for a while their +respective differences, and direct their united efforts against the +common foe of the christian faith, Legends also tell that, during the +conference, a miraculous cross appeared in the air, as if in +ratification of the compact; and hence the inhabitants derive the +armoria bearing of the town; _gules_, a cross engrailed _or_[27]. In +1197, Philip embellished Gisors with new buildings; and he retired +hither the following year, after the battle of Courcelles, a conflict, +which began by his endeavor to surprise Richard Coeur-de-Lion, but which +ended with his total defeat. He had well nigh lost his life during the +flight, by his horse plunging with him, all armed as he was, into the +Epte.--He took refuge in Gisors; and the _golden gate_ of the town +commemorated his gratitude. With eastern magnificence, he caused the +entire portal to be covered with gold; and the statue of the Virgin, +which surmounted it, received the same splendor. + +During the wars between France and England, in the fifteenth century, +Gisors was repeatedly won and lost by the contending parties. In later +and more peaceable times, it has been only known as the provincial +capital of the bailiwick of Gisors, and of the Norman portion of the +Vexin. + +The castle consists of a double ballium, the inner occupying the top of +a high artificial mound, in whose centre stands the keep. The whole of +the fortress is of the most solid masonry. Previously to the discovery +of cannon, it could scarcely be regarded otherwise than as impregnable, +for the site which it occupies is admirably adapted for defence; and the +walls were as strong as art could make them.--The outer walls were of +great extent: they were defended by two covered ways, and flanked by +several towers, of various shapes.--In the inclosed sketch, you will +observe a circular tower, which is perhaps more perfect than any of the +rest. The two entrances which led to the inner wards, were defended by +more massy towers, strengthened with portcullises and draw-bridges. + +[Illustration: Distant of the Castle of Gisors] + +The conical mound is almost inaccessible, on account of its steepness. +The summit is inclosed by a circular wall of considerable height, +pierced with loop-holes, and strengthened at regular intervals with +buttresses, most of which are small and shallow, and resemble such as +are found in the Norman churches. Those, however, which flank the +entrance of the keep, are of a different character: they project so +boldly, that they may rather be considered as bastions or solid +turrets.--The dungeon rises high above all the rest, a lofty octagon +tower, with a turret on one side of the same shape, intended to receive +the winding staircase, which still remains, but in so shattered a state, +that we could not venture to ascend it. The shell of the keep itself is +nearly perfect, and is also varied in its outline with projecting +piers.--Within the inner ballium, we discovered the remains of the +castle-chapel. More than half, indeed, of the building is destroyed, but +the east end is standing, and is tolerably entire. The roof is vaulted +and groined: the groins spring from short pillars, whose capitals are +beautifully sculptured with foliage; The architecture of the whole is +semi-circular; but I should apprehend it to be posterior to any part of +the fortress.--The inside of the castle serves at this time for a +market-hall: the fosse, now dry and planted with trees, forms a +delightful walk round the whole. + +[Illustration: Banded Pillar in the Church of Gisors] + +We were much disappointed by the church of Gisors; in the illustration +of the details of which, Millin is very diffuse. The building is of +considerable magnitude; its proportions are not unpleasing, and it +contains much elaborate sculpture; but the labor has been ill bestowed, +having been lavished without any attention to consistency. It is +throughout a jumble of Roman and Gothic, except that the exterior of the +north transept is wholly Gothic. Some of the little figures which +decorate it are very gracefully carved, especially in the drapery. A +pillar in the south aisle, entwined by spiral fillets, is of great +singularity and beauty. The dolphin is introduced in each pannel, and +the heraldic form of this fish harmonizes with the gentle curve of the +field upon which it is sculptured. A crown of fleurs-de-lys surrounds +the columns at mid-height. These symbols, as I believe I observed on a +former occasion, are often employed as ornaments by the French +architects. The church, which is dedicated to the twin saints, St. +Gervais and St. Protais, is the work of different æras, but principally +of the latter half of the sixteenth century, a time when, as a Frenchman +told me, "l'on commença à bâtir dans le beau style Romain."--The man who +made the observation was of the lower order of society, one of the +_swinish multitude_, who, in England, never dream about styles in +architecture. I mention the circumstance, for the sake of pointing out +the difference that exists in these matters between the two countries. + +Here, every man, gentle or simple, educated or uneducated, thinks +himself qualified and bound to deliver his opinion on objects connected +with the fine arts; and though such opinions are of necessity commonly +crude, and sometimes absurd, they, on the other hand, frequently display +a degree of feeling, and occasionally of knowledge, that surprises you. +It may be true indeed, as Dr. Johnson said, with some illiberality, of +our brethren across the Tweed, that though "every man may have a +mouthful, no one has a belly full;" but it still marks a degree of +national refinement, that any attention whatever is bestowed upon such +subjects. This smattering of knowledge, accompanied with the constant +readiness to communicate it, is also agreeable to a stranger. Except in +a few instances at Rouen, I never failed to find civility and attention +among the French. To the ladies of our nation they are uniformly polite +though occasionally their compliments may appear of somewhat a +questionable complexion; as it happened to a female friend of mine to be +told, while drawing the church of St, Ouen, "qu'elle avait de l'esprit +comme quatre diables." + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 19: _Histoire de la Haute Normandie_, I, p. 18.] + +[Footnote 20: _Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni_, p. 1046.] + +[Footnote 21: _Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni_, p. 1129.] + +[Footnote 22: _Histoire de la Haute Normandie_, I. p. 20.] + +[Footnote 23: See _Cotman's Architectural Antiquities of Normandy, +plates_ 38-41.] + +[Footnote 24: _Ordericus Vitalis_, in _Duchesne's Scriptores Normanni_, +p. 490, 491, 606.] + +[Footnote 25: _Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni_, p. 865.] + +[Footnote 26: Some writers say that the real cause of their meeting was +to settle a difference of long standing.--Hoveden, as quoted in the +_Concilia Normannica_, I. p. 92, tells us, that Henry was upon the point +of sailing for England, when tidings were brought him that Philip had +collected a great force, with which he threatened to lay Normandy waste, +unless the British monarch surrendered to him Gisors with its +dependencies, or caused his son Richard, Count of Poitou, to marry +Alice, sister of the French king;--"Quod cùm regi Angliæ constaret, +reversus est in Normanniam; et, accepte colloquio inter ipsum et Regem +Franciæ inter Gisortium et Trie, XII. Kalendas Februarii, die S. Agnetis +V. et Martyris, convenerunt illuc cum Archiepiscopis, et Episcopis et +Comitibus, et Baronibus regnoram suorum. Cui colloquio interfuit +Archiepiscopus Tyri, qui repletus spiritu sapientiæ et intellectus, miro +modo prædicavit verbum Domini coram regibus et principibus. Et convertit +corda eorum ad crucem capiendam; et qui priùs hostes erant, illo +prædicante, et Deo co-operante, facti sunt amici in illa die, et de manu +ejus crucem receperunt: et in eadem hora apparuit super eos signum +crucis in cÅ"lo. Quo viso miraculo, plures catervatim ruebant ad +susceptionem crucis. Prædicti verò reges in susceptionem crucis, ad +cognoscendum gentem suam, signum sibi et suis providerunt. Rex namque +Franciæ et gens sua receperunt cruces rubeas et Rex Angliæ cum gente sua +suscepit cruces virides: et sic unusqnisque ad providendum sibi et +itineri suo necessaria, reversus est in regionem suam."] + +[Footnote 27: In 1555, an addition was made to this coat of a chief +_azure_, charged with three fleurs-de-lys, _or_, by the command of Henry +IInd of France, to commemorate his public entry into Gisors.] + + + + +LETTER XVII. + +ANDELYS--FOUNTAIN OF SAINT CLOTILDA--LA GRANDE MAISON--CHÂTEAU +GAILLARD--ECOUIS. + + +(_Ecouis, July_, 1818) + +Our evening journey from Gisors to Andelys, was not without its +inconveniences.--The road, if road it may be called, was sometimes +merely a narrow ravine or trench, so closely bordered by trees and +underwood, that our vehicle could scarcely force its way; and sometimes +our jaded horses labored along a waggon-way which wound amidst an +expanse of corn-fields. Our postilion had earnestly requested us to +postpone our departure till the following morning; and he swore and +cursed most valiantly during the whole of his ride. On our arrival, +however, at Andelys, a few kind words from my companions served to +mitigate his ire; and as their eloquence may have been assisted by a few +extra sous, presented to him at the same time, his nut-brown countenance +brightened up, and all was tranquillity. + +Andelys is a town, whose antiquity is not to be questioned: it had +existence in the time of the venerable Bede, by whom it is expressly +mentioned, under its Latin appellation, _Andilegum_[28]. The derivation +of this name has afforded employment to etymologists. The syllable _and_ +enters, as it is said, into the composition of the names of sundry +places, reported to be founded by Franks, and Saxons, and Germans; and +therefore it is agreed that a Teutonic origin must be assigned to +Andelys. But, as to the import of this same syllable, they are all of +them wholly at a loss.--The history of Andelys is brief and unimportant, +considering its antiquity and situation. It was captured by Louis le +Gros in the war which he undertook against Henry Ist, in favour of +Clito, heir of the unfortunate Duke Robert; and his son, Louis le Jeune, +in 1166, burned Andelys to the ground, thus revenging the outrages +committed by the Anglo-Normans in France: in 1197, it was the subject of +the exchange which I have already mentioned, between Richard +Coeur-de-Lion and Walter, Archbishop of Rouen; and only a few years +afterwards it passed by capitulation into the possession of Philip +Augustus, when the murder of Arthur of Brittany afforded the French +sovereign a plausible pretext for dispossessing our worthless monarch of +his Norman territory. + +What Andelys wants, however, in secular interest, it makes up in +sanctity. Saint Clotilda founded a very celebrated monastery here, which +was afterwards destroyed by the Normans.--If we now send our ripening +daughters to France, to be schooled and accomplished, the practice +prevailed equally amongst our Anglo-Saxon ancestors; and we learn from +Bede, that Andelys was then one of the most fashionable +establishments[29]. However, we must not forget that the fair Elfleda, +and the rosy Ælfgiva, were so taught in the convent, as to be fitted +only for the embraces of a celestial husband--a mode of matrimony which +has most fortunately become obsolete in our days of increasing +knowledge and civilization. + +After the destruction of the monastery by the Normans, it was never +rebuilt; yet its sanctity is not wholly lost. At the behest of Clotilda, +the waters of the fountain of Andelys were changed into wine for the +relief of the weary labourer, and the tutelary saint is still worshipped +by the faithful. + +It was our good fortune to arrive at Andelys on the vigil of the +festival of Saint Clotilda. The following morning, at early dawn, the +tolling bell announced the returning holiday; and then we saw the +procession advance, priests and acolytes bearing crosses and consecrated +banners and burning tapers, followed by a joyous crowd of votaries and +pilgrims. We had wished to approach the holy well; but the throng +thickened around it, and we were forced to desist. We could not witness +the rites, whatever they were, which were performed at the fountain; and +long after they had concluded, it was still surrounded by groups of +women, some idling and staring, some asking charity and whining, and +some conducting their little ones to the salutary-fountain. Many are the +infirmities and ailments which are relieved through the intercession of +Saint Clotilda, after the patient has been plunged in the gelid spring. +A Parisian sceptic might incline to ascribe a portion of their cures to +cold-bathing and ablution; but, at Andelys, no one ever thought of +diminishing the veneration, inspired by the Christian queen of the +founder of the monarchy. Several children were pointed out to us, +heretical strangers, as living proofs of the continuance of miracles in +the Catholic church. They had been cured on the preceding anniversary; +for it is only on Saint Clotilda's day that her benign influence is shed +upon the spring. + +Andelys possesses a valuable specimen of ancient domestic architecture. +The _Great House_[30] is a most sumptuous mansion, evidently of the age +of Francis Ist; but I could gain no account of its former occupants or +history. I must again borrow from my friend's vocabulary, and say, that +it is built in the "Burgundian style." In its general outline and +character, it resembles the house in the _Place de la Pucelle_, at +Rouen. Its walls, indeed, are not covered with the same profusion of +sculpture; yet, perhaps, its simplicity is accompanied by greater +elegance.--The windows are disposed in three divisions, formed by +slender buttresses, which run up to the roof. They are square-headed, +and divided by a mullion and transom.--The portal is in the centre: it +is formed by a Tudor arch, enriched with deep mouldings, and surmounted +by a lofty ogee, ending with a crocketed pinnacle, which transfixes the +cornice immediately above, as well as the sill of the window, and then +unites with the mullion of the latter.--The roof takes a very high +pitch.--A figured cornice, upon which it rests, is boldly sculptured +with foliage.--The chimneys are ornamented by angular buttresses.--All +these portions of the building assimilate more or less to our Gothic +architecture of the sixteenth century; but a most magnificent oriel +window, which fills the whole of the space between the centre and +left-hand divisions, is a specimen of pointed architecture in its best +and purest style. The arches are lofty and acute. Each angle is formed +by a double buttress, and the tabernacles affixed to these are filled +with statues. The basement of the oriel, which projects from the flat +wall of the house, after the fashion of a bartizan, is divided into +compartments, studded with medallions, and intermixed with tracery of +great variety and beauty. On either side of the bay, there are flying +buttresses of elaborate sculpture, spreading along the wall.--As, +comparatively speaking, good models of ancient domestic architecture are +very rare, I would particularly recommend this at Andelys to the notice +of every architect, whom chance may conduct to Normandy.--This building, +like too many others of the same class in our own counties of Norfolk +and Suffolk, is degraded from its station. The _great house_ is used +merely as a granary, though, by a very small expence, it might be put +into habitable repair. The stone retains its clear and polished surface; +and the massy timbers are undecayed.--The inside corresponds with the +exterior, in decorations and grandeur: the chimney-pieces are large and +elaborate, and there is abundance of sculpture on the ceilings and other +parts which admit of ornament. + +The French, in speaking of Andelys, commonly use the plural number, and +say, _les Andelys_, there being a smaller town of the same name, within +the distance of a mile: hence, the larger, all inconsiderable as it is, +and though it scarcely contains two thousand inhabitants, is dignified +by the appellation of _le Grand Andelys_. + +As the French seldom neglect the memory of their eminent men, I was +rather disappointed at not finding any tribute to the glory of Poussin, +nor any object which could recal his name.--The great master of the +French school was born at Andelys, in 1594, of poor but noble parents. +The talents of the painter of the _Deluge_ overcame all obstacles. Young +Poussin, with barely a sufficiency to buy his daily bread, found means +of making his abilities known in the metropolis to such advantage, as +enabled him to proceed to Rome, where the patronage of the Cavaliere +Marino smoothed his way to that splendid career, which terminated only +with his life.--And yet I doubt if the example of Poussin has, on the +whole, been favorable to the progress of French art. Horace Walpole, in +his summary of the excellencies and defects of great painters, observed +with much justice, that "Titian wanted to have seen the antique; Poussin +to have seen Titian." The observation referred principally to the +defective coloring, which is admitted to exist in the greater part of +the works of the painter of Andelys. But Poussin, considered as a model +for imitation, and especially as a model for the student, is liable to a +more serious objection.--He was a total stranger to real +nature:--classical taste, indeed, and knowledge, and grace, and beauty, +pervade all his works; but it is a taste, and a knowledge, and a grace, +and a beauty, formed solely upon the contemplation of the antique. +Horace's adage, that "decipit exemplar vitiis imitabile," has been +remarkably verified in the case of Poussin; and I am mistaken, if the +example set by him, which has been rigorously followed in the French +school, even down to the present day, has not contributed more than any +thing else to that statuary style in forms, and that coldness in +coloring, which every one, who is not born in France, regrets to see in +the works of the best of their artists.--The learned Adrian Turnebus was +also a native of Andelys; and the church is distinguished as the +burial-place of Corneille. + +[Illustration: Distant View of Château Gaillard] + +I doubt, however, whether we should have travelled hither, had we not +been attracted by the celebrity of the castle, called _Château +Gaillard_, erected by Richard Coeur-de-Lion, in the immediate vicinity +of Le Petit Andelys.--Our guide, a sturdy old dame, remonstrated +strongly against our walking so far to look at a mere heap of stones, +nothing comparable to the fine statue of Clotilda, of which, if we would +but have a little patience, we might still procure a sight.--Our +expectations respecting the castle were more than answered. Considered +as to its dimensions and its situation, it is by far the finest +castellated ruin I ever saw. Conway, indeed, has more beauty; but +Château Gaillard is infinitely superior in dignity. Its ruins crown the +summit of a lofty rock, abruptly rising from the very edge of the Seine, +whose sinuous course here shapes the adjoining land into a narrow +peninsula. The chalky cliffs on each side of the castle, are broken into +hills of romantic shape, which add to the impressive wildness of the +scene. The inclosed sketch will give you an idea, though a very faint +one, of the general appearance of the castle at a distance. Towards the +river, the steepness of the cliff renders the fortress unassailable: a +double fosse of great depth, defended by a strong wall, originally +afforded almost equal protection on the opposite side. + +The circular keep is of extraordinary strength; and in its construction +it differs wholly from any of our English dungeon-towers.--It may be +described as a cylinder, placed upon a truncated cone. The massy +perpendicular buttresses, which are ranged round the upper wall, from +which they project considerably, lose themselves at their bases in the +cone from which they arise. The building, therefore, appears to be +divided into two stories. The wall of the second story is upwards of +twelve feet in thickness. The base of the conical portion is perhaps +twice as thick.--It seldom happens that the military buildings of the +middle ages have such a _talus_ or slope, on the exterior face, agreeing +with the principles of modern fortification, and it is difficult to +guess why the architect of Château Gaillard thought fit to vary from the +established model of his age. The masonry is regular and good. The +pointed windows are evidently insertions of a period long subsequent to +the original erection. + +The inner, ballium is surrounded by a high circular wall, which consists +of an uninterrupted line of bastions, some semi-circular and others +square.--The whole of this part of the castle remains nearly perfect. +There are also traces of extensive foundations in various, directions, +and of great out-works. Château Gaillard was in fact a citadel, +supported by numerous smaller fortresses, all of them communicating with +the strong central hold, and disposed so as to secure every defensible +post in the neighborhood. The wall of the outer ballium, which was built +of a compact white and grey stone, is in most places standing, though in +ruins. The original facing only remains in those parts which are too +elevated to admit of its being removed with ease.--Beneath the castle, +the cliff is excavated into a series of subterraneous caverns, not +intended for mere passages or vaults, as at Arques and in most other +places, but forming spacious crypts, supported by pillars roughly hewn +out of the living rock, and still retaining every mark of the workman's +chisel. + +It will afford some satisfaction to the antiquary to find, that the +present appearance of the castle corresponds in every important +particular with the description given by Willelmus Brito, who beheld it +within a few years after its erection, and in all its pride. Every +feature which he enumerates yet exists, unaltered and unobliterated:-- + + + "Huic natura loco satis insuperabile per se + Munimeu dederat, tamen insuperabiliorem + Arte quidem multa Richardus fecerat illum. + Duplicibus muris extrema clausit, et altas + Circuitum docuit per totum surgere turres, + A se distantes spatiis altrinsecus æquis; + Eruderans utrumque latus, ne scandere quisquam + Ad muros possit, vel ab ima repere valle. + Hinc ex transverso medium per planitiei + Erigitur murus, multoque labore cavari + Cogitur ipse silex, fossaque patere profunda, + Faucibus et latis aperiri vallis ad instar; + Sic ut quam subito fiat munitio duplex + Quæ fuit una modo muro geminata sequestro. + Ut si forte pati partem contingeret istam + Altera municipes, queat, et se tuta tueri. + Inde rotundavit rupem, quæ celsior omni + Planitie summum se tollit in aera sursum; + Et muris sepsit, extremas desuper oras + Castigansque jugi scrupulosa cacumina, totum + Complanat medium, multæque capacia turbæ + Plurima cum domibus habitacula fabricat intus. + Umboni parcens soli, quo condidit arcem. + Hic situs iste decor, munitio talis honorem + Gaillardæ rupis per totum prædicat orbem." + + +The keep cannot be ascended without difficulty. We ventured to scale +it; and we were fully repaid for our labor by the prospect which we +gained. The Seine, full of green willowy islands, flows beneath the rock +in large lazy windings: the peninsula below is flat, fertile, and well +wooded: on the opposite shores, the fantastic chalky cliffs rise boldly, +crowned with dark forests. + +I have already once had occasion to allude to the memorable strife +occasioned by the erection of Château Gaillard, which its royal founder +is reported to have so named by way of mockery. In possession of this +fortress, it seemed that he might laugh to scorn the attacks of his +feudal liege lord.--The date of the commencement of the building is +supposed to have been about the year 1196, immediately subsequent to the +treaty of Louviers, by which, Richard ceded to Philip Augustus the +military line of the Epte, and nearly the whole of the Norman Vexin. By +an express article of the treaty, neither party was allowed to repair +the fortifications of Andelys; and Philip was in possession of Gisors, +as well as of every other post that might have afforded security to the +Normans. Thus the frontiers of the duchy became defenceless; but +Richard, like other politicians, determined to evade the spirit of the +treaty, adhering nevertheless to its letter, by the erection of this +mighty bulwark.--The building arose with the activity of fear. Richard +died in 1199, yet the castle must have been completely habitable in his +life-time, for not a few of his charters are dated from Château +Gaillard, which he terms "his beautiful castle of the rock."--Three +years only had elapsed from the decease of this monarch, when Philip +Augustus, after having reduced another castle, erected at the same time +upon an island opposite the lesser Andelys, encamped before Château +Gaillard, and commenced a siege, which from its length, its horrors, and +the valor shewn on either side, has ever since been memorable in +history.--Its details are given at great length by Father Daniel; and Du +Moulin briefly enumerates a few of the stratagems to which the French +King was obliged to have recourse; for, as the reverend author observes, +"to have attempted to carry the place by force, would have been to have +exposed the army to certain destruction; while to have tried to scale +the walls, would have required the aid of Dædalus, with the certainty of +a fall, as fatal as that of Icarus;" and without the poor consolation of + + + ".... vitreo daturus + Nomina ponto."-- + + +The castle, commanded by Roger de Lacy, defied the utmost efforts of +Philip for six successive months.--So great was its size; that more than +two thousand two hundred persons, who did not form a part of the +garrison, were known to quit the fortress in the course of the siege, +compelled to throw themselves upon the mercy of the besiegers. But they +found none; and the greater part of these unfortunate wretches, +alternately suppliants to either host, perished from hunger, or from the +weapons of the contending parties. At length the fortress yielded to a +sudden assault. Of the warriors, to whose valor it had been entrusted, +only thirty-six remained alive. John, ill requiting their fidelity, had +already abandoned them to their fate. + +Margaret of Burgundy, the queen of Louis Xth, and Blanche, the consort +of his brother, Charles le Bel, were both immured in Château Gaillard, +in 1314. The scandalous chronicle of those times will explain the causes +of their imprisonment. Margaret was strangled by order of her husband. +Blanche, after seven years' captivity, was transferred to the convent of +Maubuisson, near Pontoise, where she continued a recluse till her +death--In 1331, David Bruce, compelled to flee from the superior power +of the third Edward, found an asylum in Château Gaillard; and here, for +a time, maintained the pageantry of a court.--Twenty-four years +subsequently, when Charles the Bad, king of Navarre, was sent as a +captive from Rouen to Paris, he was confined here, during one night, by +order of the dauphin, who had made him his prisoner by treachery, whilst +partaking of a banquet.--In the following century Château Gaillard +braved the victorious arms of Henry Vth; nor was it taken till after a +siege of sixteen months. The garrison only consisted of one hundred and +twenty men; yet this scanty troop would not have yielded, had not the +ropes, by which they drew up their water-buckets[31], been worn out and +destroyed.--During the same reign, it was again taken and lost by the +French, into whose hands it finally fell in 1449, when Charles VIIth +commanded the siege in person. Even then, however it stood a long siege; +and it was almost the last of the strong-holds of Normandy, which held +out for the successors of the ancient dukes. After the re-union of the +duchy, it was not destroyed, or suffered to fall into decay, like the +greater number of the Norman fortresses: during the religious wars, it +still continued to be a formidable military post, as well as a royal +palace; and it was honored by the residence of Henry IVth, whose father, +Anthony of Bourbon, died here in 1562.--Its importance ceased in the +following reign.--The inhabitants of the adjacent country requested the +king to order that the castle should be dismantled. They dreaded, lest +its towers should serve as an asylum to some of the numerous bands of +marauders, by whom France was then infested. It was consequently +undermined and reduced to its present state of ruin. + +We did not again attempt to pay our devotions at the shrine of Saint +Clotilda, and we found no interesting object in the church of Andelys +which could detain us. We therefore proceeded without delay to Ecouis, +where we were assured that the church would gratify our curiosity.--This +building has an air of grandeur as it is seen rising above the flat +country; and it is of a singular shape, the ground-plan being that of a +Greek cross. The exterior is plain and offers nothing remarkable: the +interior retains statues of various saints, which, though not very +ancient or in very good taste, are still far from being inelegant. Saint +Mary, the Egyptian, who is among them, covered with her tresses, which +may easily be mistaken for a long plaited robe, is a saint of unfrequent +occurrence in this part of France. In the choir are several tomb-stones, +with figures engraved upon them, their faces and hands being inlaid with +white marble.--In this part of the building also remains the tomb of +John Marigni, archbishop of Rouen, with his effigy of fine white marble, +in perfect preservation. The face is marked with a strong expression of +that determined character, which he unquestionably possessed. When he +was sent as an ambassador to Edward IIIrd, in 1342, he made his +appearance at the English court in the guise of a military man, and not +as a minister of peace; and we may doubt whether his virtues qualified +him for the mitre. If even a Pope, however, in latter days, commanded a +sculptor to pourtray him with a sword in his hand, the martial tendency +of an archbishop may well be pardoned in more turbulent times. The +following distich, from his epitaph, alludes to his achievements:-- + + + "Armis præcinctus, mentisque charactere cinctus, + Dux fuit in bellis, Anglis virtute rebellis." + + +The unfortunate Enguerrand de Marigni, brother of the archbishop, and +lord treasurer under Philip the Fair, was the founder of this church. At +the instigation of the king's uncle, Enguerrand was hanged without +trial, and his family experienced the most bitter persecution. His body, +which had at first been interred in the convent of the Chartreux, at +Paris, was removed hither in 1324; and his descendants obtained +permission, in 1475, to erect a mausoleum to his memory. But the king, +at the same time that he acceded to their petition, added the express +condition[32], that no allusion should be made to Marigni's tragical +end. The monument was destroyed in the revolution; but the murder of the +treasurer is one of those "damned spots," which will never be washed out +of the history of France.--Charles de Valois soon felt the sting of +remorse; and within a year from the wreaking of his vengeance, he caused +alms to be publicly distributed in the streets of Paris, with an +injunction to every one that received them, "to pray to God for the +souls of Enguerrand de Marigni, and Charles de Valois, taking care to +put the subject first[33]."--In the church at Ecouis, was formerly the +following epitaph, whose obscurity has given rise to a variety of +traditions:-- + + + "Ci gist le fils, ci gist la mere, + Ci gist la soeur, ci gist le frère, + Ci gist la femme, et le mari; + Et ci ne sont que deux ici[34]." + + +Other inscriptions of the same nature are said to have existed in +England. Goube[35] supposes that this one is the record of an incestuous +connection; but we may doubt whether a less sinful solution may not be +given to the enigma. + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 28: Andelys is also called in old deeds _Andeleium_ and +_Andeliacum_.] + +[Footnote 29: "Seculo septimo, cum pauca essent in regione Anglorum +monasteria, hunc morem in illâ gente fuisse, ut multi ex Britanniâ, +monastiae conversationis gratiâ, Francorum monasteria adirent, sed et +filias suas eisdem erudiendas ac sponso coelesti copulandas mitterent, +maximè in Brigensi seu S. Farae monasterio, et in Calensi et in +_Andilegum_ monasterio."--_Bede, Hist_. lib. III. cap. 8.] + +[Footnote 30: _Cotman's Architectural Antiquities of Normandy_, plate +15.--In a future portion of his work, Mr. Cotman designs devoting a +second plate exclusively to the oriel in the east front of this +building.] + +[Footnote 31: _Monstrelet, Johnes' Translation_, II. p. 242.] + +[Footnote 32: The letter of this stipulation appears to have been +attended to much more than its spirit for at the top of the monument +were five figures:--Our Savior seated in the centre, as if in the act of +pronouncing sentence; on either side of him, an angel; and below, +Charles de Valois and Enguerrand de Marigni; the former on the right of +Christ, crowned with the ducal coronet; the other, on the opposite side, +in the guise and posture of a suppliant, imploring the divine vengeance +for his unjust fate.--_Histoire de la Haute Normandie_, II. p. 338.] + +[Footnote 33: _Montfaucon, Monumens de la Monarchie Française_, II. p. +220.] + +[Footnote 34: In a collection of epitaphs printed at Cologne, 1623, +under the title of _Epitaphia Joco-seria_, I find the same monumental +inscription, with the observation, that it is at Tournay, and with the +following explanation.--"De pari conjugum, posteà ad religionem +transeuntium et in eâ præfectorum. Alter fuit Franciscanus; altera verò +Clarissa."] + +[Footnote 35: _Histoire du Duché de Normandie_, III. p. 15.] + + + + +LETTER XVIII. + +EVREUX--CATHEDRAL--ABBEY OF ST. TAURINUS--ANCIENT HISTORY. + + +(_Evreux, July_, 1818.) + +Our journey to this city has not afforded the gratification which we +anticipated.--You may recollect Ducarel's eulogium upon the cathedral, +that it is one of the finest structures of the kind in France.--It is +our fate to be continually at variance with the doctor, till I am half +inclined to fear you may be led to suspect that jealousy has something +to do with the matter, and that I fall under the ban of the old Greek +proverb,-- + + + "Îsαι ϰεÏαμεÏ...Ï, ϰεÏαμει ΦÏ'ονεει ϰαι Ï,,εϰÏ,,ονι Ï,,εϰÏ,,Ï?ν."-- + + +[English. Not in Original: The potter is jealous of the potter, as the +builder is jealous of the builder.] + +As for myself, however, I do hope and trust that I am marvellously free +from antiquarian spite.--And in this instance, our expectations were +also raised by the antiquity and sanctity of the cathedral, which was +entirely rebuilt by Henry Ist, who made a considerate bargain with +Bishop Audinus[36], by which he was allowed to burn the city and its +rebellious inhabitants, upon condition of bestowing his treasures for +the re-construction of the monasteries, after the impending +conflagration. The church, thus raised, is said by William of +Jumieges[37], to have surpassed every other in Neustria; but it is +certain that only a very small portion of the original building now +remains. A second destruction awaited it. Philip Augustus, who desolated +the county of Evreux with fire and sword, stormed the capital, sparing +neither age nor sex; and all its buildings, whether sacred or profane, +were burnt to the ground. Hoveden, his friend, and Brito, his +enemy, both bear witness to this fact--the latter in the following +lines:-- + + + "... irarum stimulis agitatus, ad omne + Excidium partis adversæ totus inardens, + Ebroicas primò sic incineravit, ut omnes + Cum domibus simul ecclesias consumpserit ignis."-- + + +The church, in its present state, is a medley of many different styles +and ages: the nave alone retains vestiges of early architecture, in its +massy piers and semi-circular arches: these are evidently of Norman +workmanship, and are probably part of the church erected by Henry.--All +the rest is comparatively modern.--The western front is of a debased +Palladian style, singularly ill adapted to a Gothic cathedral. It is +flanked with two towers, one of which ends in a cupola, the other in a +short cone.--The central tower, which is comparatively plain and +surmounted by a high spire, was built about the middle of the fifteenth +century, during the bishopric of the celebrated John de Balue, who was +in high favor with Louis XIth, and obtained from that monarch great +assistance towards repairing, enlarging, and beautifying his church. The +roof, the transept towards the palace, the sacristy, the library, and a +portion of the cloisters, are all said to have been erected by +him[38].--The northern transept is the only part that can now lay claim +to beauty or uniformity in its architecture: it is of late and bastard +Gothic; yet the portal is not destitute of merit: it is evidently copied +from the western portal of the cathedral at Rouen, though far inferior +in every respect, and with a decided tendency towards the Italian style. +Almost every part of it still appears full of elaborate ornaments, +though all the saints and bishops have fled from the arched door-way, +and the bas-relief which was over the entrance has equally disappeared. + +Ducarel[39] notices four statues of canons, attached to a couple of +pillars at the back of the chancel.--We were desirous of seeing +authentic specimens of sculpture of a period at least as remote as the +conquest; and, as the garden belonging to the prefect, the Comte de +Goyon, incloses this portion of the church, we requested to be allowed +to enter his grounds. Leave was most obligingly granted, and we received +every attention from the prefect and his lady; but we could find no +traces of the objects of our search. They were probably destroyed during +the revolution; at which time, the count told us that the statues at the +north portal were also broken to pieces. At Evreux, the democrats had +full scope for the exercise of their iconoclastic fury. Little or no +previous injury had been done by the Calvinists, who appear to have been +unable to gain any ascendency in this town or diocese, at the same time +that they lorded it over the rest of Normandy. Evreux had been fortified +against heresy, by the piety and good sense of two of her bishops: they +foresaw the coming storm, and they took steps to redress the grievances +which were objects of complaint, as well as to reform the +church-establishment, and to revise the breviary and the +mass-book.--Conduct like this seldom fails in its effect; and the +tranquil by-stander may regret that it is not more frequently adopted by +contending parties. + +The interior of the cathedral is handsome, though not peculiar. Some +good specimens of painted glass remain in the windows; and, in various +parts of the church, there are elegant tabernacles and detached pieces +of sculpture, as well in stone as in wood. The pulpit, in particular, is +deserving of this praise: it is supported on cherubs' heads, and is well +designed and executed. + +The building is dedicated to the Virgin: it claims for its first bishop, +Taurinus, a saint of the third century, memorable in legendary tale for +a desperate battle which he fought against the devil. Satan was sadly +drubbed and the bishop wrenched off one of his horns[40]. The trophy was +deposited in the crypt of his church, where it long remained, to amuse +the curious, and stand the nurses of Evreux in good stead, as the means +of quieting noisy children.--The learned Cardinal Du Perron succeeded to +St. Taurinus, though at an immense distance of time. He was appointed by +Henry IVth, towards whose conversion he appears to have been greatly +instrumental, as he was afterwards the principal mediator, by whose +intercession the Pope was induced to grant absolution to the monarch. +The task was one of some difficulty: for the court of Spain, then +powerful at the Vatican, used all their efforts to prevent a +reconciliation, with a view of fomenting the troubles in France.--Most +of the bishops of this see appear to have possessed great piety and +talent. + +I have already mentioned to you, that the fraternity of the Conards was +established at Evreux, as well as at Rouen. Another institution, of +equal absurdity, was peculiar, I believe, to this cathedral[41]. It bore +the name of the Feast of St. Vital, as it united with the anniversary of +that saint, which is celebrated on the first of May: the origin of the +custom may be derived from the heathen Floralia, a ceremony begun in +innocence, continued to abomination. At its first institution, the feast +of St. Vital was a simple and a natural rite: the statues of the saints +were crowned with garlands of foliage, perhaps as an offering of the +first-fruits of the opening year. In process of time, branches were +substituted for leaves, and they were cut from the growing trees, by a +lengthened train of rabble pilgrims.--The clergy themselves headed the +mob, who committed such devastation in the neighboring woods, that the +owners of them were glad to compromise for the safety of their timber, +by stationing persons to supply the physical, as well as the religious, +wants of the populace. The excesses consequent upon such a practice may +easily be imagined: the duration of the feast was gradually extended to +ten days; and, during this time, licentiousness of all kinds prevailed +under the plea of religion. To use the words of a manuscript, preserved +in the archives of the cathedral, they played at skittles on the roof of +the church, and the bells were kept continually ringing. These orgies, +at length, were quelled; but not till two prebendaries belonging to the +chapter, had nearly lost their lives in the attempt.--Hitherto, indeed, +the clergy had enjoyed the merriment full as well as the laity. One +jolly canon, appropriately named Jean Bouteille, made a will, in which +he declared himself the protector of the feast; and he directed that, on +its anniversary, a pall should be spread in the midst of the church, +with a gigantic _bottle_ in its centre, and four smaller ones at the +corners; and he took care to provide funds for the perpetuation of this +_rebus_. + +The cathedral offers few subjects for the pencil.--As a species of +monument, of which we have no specimens in England, I add a sketch of a +Gothic _puteal_, which stands near the north portal. It is apparently of +the same æra as that part of the church. + +[Illustration: Gothic Puteal, at Evreux] + +From the cathedral we went to the church of St. Taurinus. The proud +abbey of the apostle and first bishop of the diocese retains few or no +traces of its former dignity. So long as monachism flourished, a contest +existed between the chapter of the cathedral and the brethren of this +monastery, each advocating the precedency of their respective +establishment.--The monks of St. Taurinus contended, that their abbey +was expressly mentioned by William of Jumieges[42] among the most +ancient in Neustria, as well as among those which were destroyed by the +Normans, and rebuilt by the zeal of good princes. They also alleged the +dispute that prevailed under the Norman dukes for more than two hundred +years, between this convent and that of Fécamp, respecting the right of +nominating one of their own brethren to the head of their community, a +right which was claimed by Fécamp; and they displayed the series of +their prelates, continued in an uninterrupted line from the time of +their founder. Whatever may have been the justice of these claims, the +antiquity of the monastery is admitted by all parties.--Its monks, like +those of the abbey of St. Ouen, had the privilege of receiving every new +bishop of the see, on the first day of his arrival at Evreux; and his +corpse was deposited in their church, where the funeral obsequies were +performed. This privilege, originally intended only as a mark of +distinction to the abbey, was on two occasions perverted to a purpose +that might scarcely have been expected. Upon the death of Bishop John +d'Aubergenville in 1256, the monks resented the reformation which he had +endeavoured to introduce into their order, by refusing to admit his body +within their precinct; and though fined for their obstinacy, they did +not learn wisdom by experience, but forty-three years afterwards shewed +their hostility decidedly towards the remains of Geoffrey of Bar, a +still more determined reformer of monastic abuses. Extreme was the +licentiousness which prevailed in those days among the monks of St. +Taurinus, and unceasing were the endeavors of the bishop to correct +them. The contest continued during his life, at the close of which they +not only shut their doors against his corpse, but dragged it from the +coffin and gave it a public flagellation. So gross an act of indecency +would in all probability be classed among the many scandalous tales +invented of ecclesiastics, but that the judicial proceedings which +ensued leave no doubt of its truth; and it was even recorded in the +burial register of the cathedral. + +The church of St. Taurinus offers some valuable specimens of ancient +architecture.--The southern transept still preserves a row of Norman +arches, running along the lower part of its west side, as well as along +its front; but those above them are pointed. To the south are six +circular arches, divided into two compartments, in each of which the +central arch has formerly served for a window. Both the lateral ones are +filled with coeval stone-work, whose face is carved into lozenges, which +were alternately coated with blue and red mortar or stucco: distinct +traces of the coloring are still left in the cavities[43]. To the +eastern side of this transept is attached, as at St. Georges, a small +chapel, of semi-circular architecture, now greatly in ruins. The +interior of the church is all comparatively modern, with the exception +of some of the lower arches on the north side.--A strange and whimsical +vessel for holy water attracted our attention. I cannot venture to guess +at its date, but I do not think it is more recent than the fourteenth +century. + +[Illustration: Vessel for holy water] + +The principal curiosity of the church, and indeed of the town, is the +shrine, which contained, or perhaps, contains, a portion of the bones of +the patron saint, whose body, after having continued for more than three +hundred years a hidden treasure, was at last revealed in a miraculous +manner to the prayers of Landulphus, one of his successors in the +episcopacy.--The cathedral of Chartres, in early ages, set up a rival +claim for the possession of this precious relic; but its existence here +was formally verified at the end of the seventeenth century, by the +opening of the _châsse_, in which a small quantity of bones was found +tied up in a leather bag, with a certificate of their authenticity, +signed by an early bishop.--The shrine is of silver-gilt, about one and +a half foot in height and two feet in length: it is a fine specimen of +ancient art. In shape it resembles the nave of a church, with the sides +richly enchased with figures of saints and bishops. Our curious eyes +would fain have pried within; but it was closed with the impression of +the archbishop's signet.--A crypt, the original burial place of St. +Taurinus, is still shewn in the church, and it continues to be the +object of great veneration. It is immediately in front of the high +altar, and is entered by two staircases, one at the head, the other at +the foot of the coffin. The vault is very small, only admitting of the +coffin and of a narrow passage by its side. The sarcophagus, which is +extremely shallow, and neither wide nor long, is partly imbedded in the +wall, so that the head and foot and one side alone are visible.--A +portion of the monastic buildings of St. Taurinus now serves as a +seminary for the catholic priesthood. + +The west front of the church of St. Giles is not devoid of interest. +Many other churches here have been desecrated; and this ancient building +has been converted into a stable. The door-way is formed by a fine +semi-circular arch, ornamented with the chevron-moulding, disposed in a +triple row, and with a line of quatrefoils along the archivolt. Both +these decorations are singular: I recollect no other instance of the +quatrefoil being employed in an early Norman building, though +immediately upon the adoption of the pointed style it became exceedingly +common; nor can I point out another example of the chevron-moulding thus +disposed. It produces a better effect than when arranged in detached +bands. The capitals to the pillars of the arch are sculptured with +winged dragons and other animals, in bold relief. + +These are the only worthy objects of architectural inquiry now existing +in the city. Many must have been destroyed by the ravages of war, and by +the excesses of the revolution.--Evreux therefore does not abound with +memorials of its antiquity. But its existence as a town, during the +period of the domination of the Romans, rests upon authority that is +scarcely questionable. It has been doubted whether the present city, or +a village about three miles distant, known by the name of _Old Evreux_, +is the _Mediolanum Aulercorum_ of Ptolemy. His description is given with +sufficient accuracy to exclude the pretensions of any other town, though +not with such a degree of precision as will enable us, after a lapse of +sixteen centuries, to decide between the claims of the two sites. Cæsar, +in his _Commentaries_, speaks in general terms of the _Aulerci +Eburovices_, who are admitted to have been the ancient inhabitants of +this district, and whose name, especially as modified to _Ebroici_ and +_Ebroi_, is clearly to be recognized in that of the county. The +foundations of ancient buildings are still to be seen at Old Evreux; and +various coins and medals of the upper empire, have at different times +been dug up within its precincts. Hence it has been concluded, that the +_Mediolanum Aulercorum_ was situated there. The supporters of the +contrary opinion admit that Old Evreux was a Roman station; but they say +that, considering its size, it can have been no more than an encampment: +they also maintain, that a castle was subsequently built upon the site +of this encampment, by Richard, Count of Evreux, and that the +destruction of this castle, during the Norman wars, gave rise to the +ruins now visible, which in their turn were the cause of the name of the +village[44]. + +It is certain that, in the reign of William the Conqueror, the town +stood in its present situation: Ordericus Vitalis speaks in terms that +admit of no hesitation, when he states that, in the year 1080, "fides +Christi Evanticorum, id est Evroas, urbem, _super Ittonum fluvium sitam_ +possidebat et salubritèr illuminabat[45]." + +In the times of Norman sovereignty, Evreux attained an unfortunate +independence: Duke Richard Ist severed it from the duchy, and erected it +into a distinct earldom in favor of Robert, his second son. From him the +inheritance descended to Richard and William, his son and grandson; +after whose death, it fell into the female line, and passed into the +house of Montfort d'Amaury, by the marriage of Agnes, sister of Richard +of Evreux.--Nominally independent, but really held only at the pleasure +of the Dukes of Normandy, the rank of the earldom occasioned the misery +of the inhabitants, who were continually involved in warfare, and +plundered by conflicting parties. The annals of Evreux contain +the relation of a series of events, full of interest and amusement to us +who peruse them; but those, who lived at the time when these events were +really acted, might exclaim, like the frogs in the fable, "that what is +entertainment to us, was death to them."--At length, the treaty of +Louviers, in 1195, altered the aspect of affairs. The King of France +gained the right of placing a garrison in Evreux; and, five years +afterwards, he obtained a formal cession of the earldom. Philip Augustus +took possession of the city, to the great joy of the inhabitants, who, +six years before, had seen their town pillaged, and their houses +destroyed, by the orders of this monarch. The severity exercised upon +that occasion had been excessive; but Philip's indignation had been +roused by one of the basest acts of treachery recorded in +history.--John, faithless at every period of his life, had entered into +a treaty with the French monarch, during the captivity of his brother, +Coeur-de-Lion, to deliver up Normandy; and Philip, conformably with this +plan, was engaged in reducing the strong holds upon the frontiers, +whilst his colleague resided at Evreux. The unexpected release of the +English king disconcerted these intrigues; and John, alarmed at the +course which he had been pursuing, thought only how to avert the anger +of his offended sovereign. Under pretence, therefore, of shewing +hospitality to the French, he invited the principal officers to a feast, +where he caused them all to be murdered; and he afterwards put the rest +of the garrison to the sword.--Brito records the transaction in the +following lines, which I quote, not only as an historical document, +illustrative of the moral character of one of the worst sovereigns that +ever swayed the British sceptre, but as an honorable testimony to the +memory of his unfortunate brother:-- + + + "Attamen Ebroïcam studio majore reformans + Armis et rebus et bellatoribus urbem, + Pluribus instructam donavit amore Johanni, + Ut sibi servet eam: tamen arcem non dedit illi. + Ille dolo plenus, qui patrem, qui modo fratrem + Prodiderat, ne non et Regis proditor esset, + Excedens siculos animi impietate Tyrannos, + Francigenas omnes vocat ad convivia quotquot + Ebroïcis reperit, equites simul atque clientes, + Paucis exceptis quos sors servavit in arce. + Quos cum dispositis armis fecisset ut una + Discubuisse domo, tanquam prandere putantes, + Evocat e latebris armatos protinus Anglos, + Interimitque viros sub eadem clade trecentos, + Et palis capita ambustis affixit, et urbem + Circuit affixis, visu mirabile, tali + Regem portento quærens magis angere luctu: + Talibus obsequiis, tali mercede rependens + Millia marcharum, quas Rex donaverat illi. + Tam detestanda pollutus cæde Johannes + Ad fratrem properat; sed Rex tam flagitiosus + Non placuit fratri: quis enim, nisi dæmone plenus, + Omninoque Deo vacuus, virtute redemptus + A vitiis nulla, tam dira fraude placere + Appetat, aut tanto venetur crimine pacem? + Sed quia frater erat, licet illius oderit actus + Omnibus odibiles, fraternæ foedera pacis + Non negat indigno, nec eum privavit amore, + Ipsum qui nuper Regno privare volebat." + + +The vicissitudes to which the county of Evreux was doomed to be subject, +did not wholly cease upon its annexation to the crown of France. It +passed, in the fourteenth century, into the hands of the Kings of +Navarre, so as to form a portion of their foreign territory; and early +in the fifteenth, it fell by right of conquest under English +sovereignty.--Philip the Bold conferred it, in 1276, upon Louis, his +youngest son; and from him descended the line of Counts of Evreux, who, +originating in the royal family of France, became Kings of Navarre. The +kingdom was brought into the family by the marriage of Philip Count of +Evreux with Jane daughter of Louis Hutin, King of France and Navarre, to +whom she succeeded as heir general. Charles IIIrd, of Navarre, ceded +Evreux by treaty to his namesake, Charles VIth of France, in 1404; and +he shortly after bestowed it upon John Stuart, Lord of Aubigni, and +Constable of Scotland.--Under Henry Vth, our countrymen took the city in +1417, but we were not long allowed to hold undisturbed possession of it; +for, in 1424, it was recaptured by the French. Their success, however, +was only ephemeral: the battle of Verneuil replaced Evreux in the power +of the English before the expiration of the same year; and we kept it +till 1441, when the garrison was surprised, and the town lost, though +not without a vigorous resistance.--Towards the close of the following +century, the earldom was raised into a _Duché pairie_, by Charles IXth, +who, having taken the lordship of Gisors from his brother, the Duc +d'Alençon, better known by his subsequent title of Duc d'Anjou, +recompenced him by a grant of Evreux. Upon the death of this prince +without issue, in 1584, Evreux reverted to the crown, and the title lay +dormant till 1652, when Louis XIVth exchanged the earldom with the Duc +de Bouillon, in return for the principality of Sedan. In his family it +remained till the revolution, which, amalgamating the whole of France +into one common mass of equal rights and laws, put an end to all local +privileges and other feudal tenures. + +Evreux, at present, is a town containing about eight thousand +inhabitants, a great proportion of whom are persons of independent +property, or _rentiers_, as the French call them. Hence it has an air of +elegance, seldom to be found in a commercial, and never in a +manufacturing town; and to us this appearance was the more striking, as +being the first instance of the kind we had seen in Normandy. The +streets are broad and beautifully neat. The city stands in the midst of +gardens and orchards, in a fertile valley, watered by the Iton, and +inclosed towards the north and south by ranges of hills. The river +divides into two branches before it reaches the town, both which flow on +the outside of the walls. But, besides these, a portion of its waters +has been conducted through the centre of the city, by means of a canal +dug by the order of Jane of Navarre. This Iton, like the Mole, in Kent, +suddenly loses itself in the ground, near the little town of Damville, +about twenty miles south of Evreux, and holds its subterranean course +for nearly two miles. A similar phenomenon is observable with a +neighboring stream, the Risle, between Ferrière and Grammont[46]: in +both cases it is attributed, I know not with what justice, to an abrupt +change in the stratification of the soil. + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 36: This curious transaction, which took place in the year +1119, is related with considerable _näiveté_ by Ordericus Vitalis, p. +852, as follows:--"Henricus Rex rebellibus ultrà parcere nolens, pagum +Ebroicensem adiit, et Ebroas cum valida manu impugnare coepit. Sed +oppidanis, qui intrinsecus erant, cum civibus viriliter repugnantibus, +introire nequivit. Erant cum illo Ricardus filius ejus, et Stephanus +Comes nepos ejus, Radulfus de Guader, et maxima vis Normannorum. Quibus +ante Regem convocatis in unnm, Rex dixit ad Audinum Episcopum. "Videsne, +domine Præsul, quòd repellimur ab hostibus, nec eos nisi per ignem +subjugare poterimus? Verùm, si ignis immittitur, Ecclesiæ comburentur, +et insontibus ingens damnum inferetur. Nunc ergo, Pastor Ecclesiæ, +diligentèr considera, et quod utilius prospexeris providè nobis insinua. +Si victoria nobis per incendium divinitùs conceditur, opitulante Deo, +Ecclesiæ detrimenta restaurabuntur: quia de thesauris nostris commodos +sumptus gratantèr largiemur. Unde domus Dei, ut reor, in melius +reædificabuntur." Hæsitat in tanto discrimine Præsul auxius, ignorat +quid jubeat divinæ dispositioni competentius: nescit quid debeat magis +velle vel eligere salubrius. Tandem prudentum consultu præcepit ignem +immitti, et civitatem concremari, ut ab anathematizatis proditoribus +liberaretur, et legitimis habitatoribus restitueretur. Radulfus igitur +de Guader a parte Aquilonali primus ignem injecit, et effrenis flamma +per urbem statim volavit, et omnia (tempos enim autumni siccum erat) +corripuit. Tunc combusta est basilica sancti Salvatoris, quam +Sanctimoniales incolebant, et celebris aula gloriosæ virginis et matris +Mariæ, cui Præsul et Clerus serviebant, ubi Pontificalem Curiam +parochiani frequentabant. Rex, et cuncti Optimales sui Episcopo pro +Ecclesiarum combustione vadimonium supplicitèr dederunt, et uberes +impensas de opibus suis ad restaurationem earum palam spoponderunt."] + +[Footnote 37: _Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni_, p. 309.] + +[Footnote 38: _Gallia Christiana_, XI. p. 606.] + +[Footnote 39: From the manner in, which Ducarel speaks of these statues, +(_Anglo-Norman Antiquities_, p. 85.) he leaves it to be understood, that +they were in existence in his time; but it is far from certain that this +was the case; for the whole of his account of them is no more than a +translation from the following passage in Le Brasseur's _Histoire du +Comté d'Evreux_, p. 11.--"Le Diocèse d'Evreux a été si favorisé des +grâces de Dieu, qu'on ne voit presqu'aucun temps où l'Hérésie y ait +pénétré, même lorsque les Protestans inondoient et corrompoient toute la +France, et particulierement la Normandie. On ne peut pas cependant +desavoüer qu'il y a eu de temps en temps, quelques personnes qui se sont +livrées à l'erreur; et l'on peut remarquer quatre Statuës attachées à +deux piliers au dehors du chancel de l'Eglise Cathédrale du côté du +Cimetiere, dont trois représentent trois Chanoines, la tête couverte de +leurs Aumuces selon la coûtume de ce temps-là, et une quatrième qui +représente un Chanoine à un pilier plus éloigné, la tête nuë, tenant sa +main sur le coeur comme un signe de son repentir; parce que la tradition +dit, qu'aïant été atteint et convaincu du crime d'hérésie, le Chapitre +l'avoit interdit des fonctions de son Bénéfice; mais qu'aïant ensuite +abjuré son erreur, le même Chapitre le rétablit dans tous ses droits, +honneurs, et privileges: cependant il fut ordonné qu'en mémoire de +l'égarement et de la pénitence de ce Chanoine, ces Statuës demeureroient +attachées aux piliers de leur Eglise, lorsqu'elle fût rébâtie des +deniers de Henry I. Roy d'Angleterre, par les soins d'Audoenus Evêque +d'Evreux."] + +[Footnote 40: This was not the first, nor the only, contest, which was +fought by Taurinus with Satan. Their struggles began at the moment of +the saint's coming to Evreux, and did not even terminate when his life +was ended. But the devil was, by the power of his adversary, brought to +such a helpless state, that, though he continued to haunt the city, +where the people knew him by the name of _Gobelinus_, he was unable to +injure any one.--All this is seriously related by Ordericus Vitalis, (p. +555.) from whom I extract the following passage, in illustration of what +Evreux was supposed to owe to its first bishop.--"Grassante secundâ +persecutione, quæ sub Domitiano in Christianos furuit, Dionysius +Parisiensis Episcopus Taurinum filiolum suum jam quadragenarium, +Præsulem ordinavit; et (vaticinatis pluribus quæ passurus erat) +Ebroicensibus in nomine Domini direxit. Viro Dei ad portas civitatis +appropinquanti, dæmon in tribus figmentis se opposuit: scilicet in +specie ursi, et leonis, et bubali terrere athletam Christi voluit. Sed +ille fortiter, ut inexpugnabilis murus, in fide perstitit, et coeptum +iter peregit, hospitiumque in domo Lucii suscepit. Tertia die, dum +Taurinus ibidem populo prædicaret, et dulcedo fidei novis auditoribus +multùm placeret, dolens diabolus Eufrasiam Lucii filiam vexare coepit, +et in ignem jecit. Quæ statim mortua est; sed paulò pòst, orante Taurino +ac jubente ut resurgeret, in nomine Domini resuscitata est. Nullum in ea +adustionis signum apparuit. Omnes igitur hoc miraculum videntes subitò +territi sunt, et obstupescentes in Dominum Jesum Christum crediderunt. +In illa die cxx. homines baptizati sunt. Octo cæci illuminati, et +quatuor multi sanati, aliique plures ex diversis infirmitatibus in +nomine Domini sunt curati."] + +[Footnote 41: _Masson de St. Amand, Essais Historiques sur Evreux_, I. +p. 77.] + +[Footnote 42: _Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni_, p. 279.] + +[Footnote 43: For this observation, as well as for several others +touching Evreux and Pont-Audemer, I have to express my acknowledgments +to Mr. Cotman's memoranda.] + +[Footnote 44: _Le Brasseur, Histoire du Comté d'Evreux_, p. 4.] + +[Footnote 45: _Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni_, p. 555.] + +[Footnote 46: _Goube, Histoire du Duché de Normandie_, III. p. 223.] + + + + +LETTER XIX. + +VICINITY OF EVREUX--CHÂTEAU DE NAVARRE--COCHEREL--PONT-AUDEMER +--MONTFORT-SUR-RISLE--HARFLEUR--BOURG-ACHARD--FRENCH WEDDING. + + +(_Bourg-Achard, July_, 1818.) + +Evreux is seldom visited by the English; and none of our numerous +absentees have thought fit to settle here, though the other parts of +Normandy are filled with families who are suffering under the sentence +of self-banishment. It is rather surprising, that this town has not +obtained its share of English settlers: the air is good, provisions are +cheap, and society is agreeable. Those, too, if such there be, who are +attracted by historical reminiscences, will find themselves on +historical ground. + +The premier viscount of the British parliament derives his name from +Evreux; though, owing to a slight alteration in spelling and to our +peculiar pronunciation, it has now become so completely anglicised, that +few persons, without reflection, would recognize a descendant of the +Comtes d'Evreux, in Henry Devereux, Viscount of Hereford. The Norman +origin of this family is admitted by the genealogists and heralds, both +of France and of England; and the fate of the Earl of Essex is +invariably introduced in the works of those authors, who have written +upon Evreux or its honors. + +It would have been unpardonable to have quitted Evreux, without rambling +to the Château de Navarre, which is not more than a mile and half +distant from the town.--This Château, whose name recals an interesting +period in the history of the earldom, was originally a royal residence. +It was erected in the middle of the fourteenth century by Jane of +France, who, with a very pardonable vanity, directed her new palace to +be called Navarre, that her Norman subjects might never forget that she +was herself a queen, and that she had brought a kingdom as a marriage +portion to her husband. Her son, Charles the Bad, a prince whose +turbulent and evil disposition caused so much misfortune to France, was +born here. Happy too had it been for him, had he here closed his eyes +before he entered upon the wider theatre of the world! During his early +days passed at Navarre, he is said to have shewn an ingenuousness of +disposition and some traits of generosity, which gave rise to hopes that +were miserably falsified by his future life.--The present edifice, +however, a modern French Château, retains nothing more than the name of +the structure which was built by the queen, and which was levelled with +the ground, in the year 1686, by the Duc de Bouillon, the lord of the +country, who erected the present mansion. His descendants resided here +till the revolution, at which time they emigrated, and the estate became +national property. It remained for a considerable period unoccupied, and +was at last granted to Joséphine, by her imperial husband. At present, +the domain belongs to her son, Prince Eugene, by whom the house has +lately been stripped of its furniture. Many of the fine trees in the +park have also been cut down, and the whole appears neglected and +desolate. His mother did not like Navarre: he himself never saw it: the +queen of Holland alone used occasionally to reside here.--The principal +beauty of the place lies in its woods; and these we saw to the greatest +advantage. It was impossible for earth or sky to look more lovely.--The +house is of stone, with large windows; and an ill-shaped dome rises in +the centre. The height of the building is somewhat greater than its +width, which makes it appear top-heavy; and every thing about it is +formal; but the noble avenue, the terrace-steps, great lanthorns, iron +gates, and sheets of water on either side of the approach, are upon an +extensive scale, and in a fine baronial style.--Yet, still they are +inferior to the accompaniments of the same nature which are found about +many noblemen's residences in England.--The hall, which is spacious, has +a striking effect, being open to the dome. Its sides are painted with +military trophies, and with the warlike instruments of the four quarters +of the globe. We saw nothing else in the house worthy of notice. It is +merely a collection of apartments of moderate size; and, empty and dirty +as they were, they appeared to great disadvantage. In the midst of the +solitude of desolation, some ordinary portraits of the Bouillon family +still remain upon the walls, as if in mockery of departed greatness. + +We were unable to direct our course to Cocherel, a village about sixteen +miles distant, on the road to Vernon, celebrated as the spot where a +battle was fought, in the fourteenth century, between the troops of +Navarre, and those of France, commanded by Du Guesclin.--I notice this +place, because it is possible that, if excavations were made there, +those antiquaries who delight in relics of the remotest age of European +history, might win many prizes. A tomb of great curiosity was discovered +in the year 1685; and celts, and stone hatchets, and other implements, +belonging, as it is presumed, to the original inhabitants of the +country, have been found beneath the soil. Many of these are described +and figured by the Abbé de Cocherel, in a paper full of curious +erudition, subjoined to Le Brasseur's _History of Evreux_. The hatchets +resembled those frequently dug up in England; but they were more +perfect, inasmuch as some of them were fastened in deers' horns, and had +handles attached to them; thus clearly indicating the manner in which +they were used.--The place of burial differed, I believe, in its +internal arrangement from any sepulchral monument, whether Cromlech, +Carnedd, or Barrow, that has been opened in our own country. Three sides +of it were rudely faced with large stones: within were contained about +twenty skeletons, lying in a row, close to each other, north and south, +their arms pressed to their sides. The head of each individual rested on +a stone, fashioned with care, but to no certain pattern. Some were +fusiform, others wedge-shaped, and others irregularly oblong. In +general, the stones did not appear to be the production of the country. +One was oriental jade, another German agate. In the tomb were also a few +cinerary urns; whence it appears that the people, by whom it was +constructed, were of a nation that was at once in the habit of burning, +and of interring, their dead. From these facts, the Abbé finds room for +much ingenious conjecture; and, after discussing the relative +probabilities of the sepulchre having been a burying-place of the Gauls, +the Jews, the Druids, the Normans, or the Huns, he decides, though with +some hesitation, in favor of the last of these opinions. + +From Evreux we went by Brionne to Pont-Audemer: at first the road is +directed through an open country, without beauty or interest; but the +prospect improved upon us when we joined the rapid sparkling _Risle_, +which waters a valley of great richness, bounded on either side by +wooded hills.--Of Brionne itself I shall soon have a better opportunity +of speaking; as we purpose stopping there on our way to Caen. + +A few miles before Brionne, we passed Harcourt, the ancient barony of +the noble family still flourishing in England, and existing in France. +It is a small country town, remarkable only for some remains of a +castle[47], built by Robert de Harcourt, fifth in descent from Bernard +the Dane, chief counsellor, and second in command to Rollo. The blood of +the Dane is in the present earl of Harcourt: he traces his lineage in a +direct line from Robert, the builder of the castle, who accompanied the +Conqueror into England, and fell in battle by his side. + +Pont-Audemer is a small, neat, country town, situated upon the Risle, +which here, within ten miles of its junction with the Seine, is enlarged +into a river of considerable magnitude. But its channel, in the +immediate vicinity of the town, divides into several small streams; and +thus it loses much of its dignity, though the change is highly +advantageous to picturesque beauty, and to the conveniences of trade. +Mills stand on some of these streams, but most of them are applied to +the purposes of tanning; for leather is the staple manufacture of the +place, and the hides prepared at Pont-Audemer are thought to be the best +in France. + +From Brionne the valley of the Risle preserves a width of about a mile, +or a mile and half: at Pont-Audemer it becomes somewhat narrower, and +the town stretches immediately across it, instead of being built along +the banks of the river.--The inhabitants are thus enabled to avail +themselves of the different streams which intersect it. + +Tradition refers the origin, as well as the name of Pont-Audemer, to a +chief, called Aldemar or Odomar, who ruled over a portion of Gaul in the +fifth century, and who built a bridge here.--These legendary heroes +abound in topography, but it is scarcely worth while to discuss their +existence. In Norman times Pont-Audemer was a military station. The +nobility of the province, always turbulent, but never more so than +during the reign of Henry Ist, had availed themselves of the opportunity +afforded by the absence of the monarch, and by his domestic misfortunes, +to take up arms in the cause of the son of Robert. Henry landed at the +mouth of the Seine, and it was at Pont-Audemer that the first conflict +took place between him and his rebellious subjects. The latter were +defeated, and the fortress immediately surrendered; but, in the early +part of the fourteenth century, it appears to have been of greater +strength: it had been ceded by King John of France to the Count of +Evreux, and it resisted all the efforts of its former lord during a +siege of six weeks, at the end of which time his generals were obliged +to retire, with the loss of their military engines and artillery. This +siege is memorable in history, as the first in which it is known that +cannon were employed in France.--Pont-Audemer, still in possession of +the kings of Navarre, withstood a second siege, towards the conclusion +of the same century, but with less good fortune than before. It was +taken by the constable Du Guesclin, and, according to Froissart[48], +"the castle was razed to the ground, though it had cost large sums to +erect; and the walls and towers of the town were destroyed." + +St. Ouen, the principal church in the place, is a poor edifice. It +bears, however, some tokens of remote age: such are the circular arches +in the choir, and a curious capital, on which are represented two +figures in combat, of rude sculpture.--A second church, that of Notre +Dame des Prés, now turned into a tan-house, exhibits an architectural +feature which is altogether novel. Over the great entrance, it has a +string-course, apparently intended to represent a corbel-table, though +it does not support any superior member; and the intermediate spaces +between the corbels, instead of being left blank, as usual, are filled +with sculptured stones, which project considerably, though less than the +corbels with which they alternate. There is something of the same kind, +but by no means equally remarkable, over the arcades above the west +door-way of Castle-Acre Priory[49]. Neither Mr. Cotman's memory, nor my +own, will furnish another example.--The church of Notre Dame des Prés is +of the period when the pointed style was beginning to be employed. The +exterior is considerably injured: to the interior we could not obtain +admission. + +The suburbs of Pont-Audemer furnish another church dedicated to St. +Germain, which would have been an excellent subject for both pen and +pencil, had it undergone less alteration. The short, thick, square, +central tower has, on each side, a row of four windows, of nearly the +earliest pointed style; many of the windows of the body of the church +have semi-circular heads; the corbels which extend in a line round the +nave and transepts are strangely grotesque; and, on the north side of +the eastern extremity, is a semi-circular chapel, as at St. +Georges.--The inside is dark and gloomy, the floor unpaved, and every +thing in and about it in a state of utter neglect, except some dozen +saints, all in the gayest attire, and covered with artificial flowers. +The capitals of the columns are in the true Norman style. Those at St. +Georges are scarcely more fantastic, or more monstrous.--Between two of +the arches of the choir, on the south side of this church, is the effigy +of a man in his robes, coifed with a close cap, lying on an altar-tomb. +The figure is much mutilated; but the style of the canopy-work over the +head indicates that it is not of great antiquity. The feet of the statue +rest upon a dog, who is busily occupied in gnawing a marrow-bone.--Dogs +at the base of monumental effigies are common, and they have been +considered as symbols of fidelity and honor; but surely the same is not +intended to be typified by a dog thus employed; and it is not likely +that his being so is a mere caprice of the sculptor's.--There is no +inscription upon the monument; nor could we learn whom it is intended to +commemorate. + +At but a short distance from Pont-Audemer, higher up the Risle, lies the +yet smaller town of Montfort, near which are still to be traced, the +ruins of a castle,[50] memorable for the thirty days' siege, which it +supported from the army of Henry Ist, in 1122; and dismantled by Charles +Vth, at the same time that he razed the fortifications of Pont-Audemer. +The Baron of Montfort yet ranks in our peerage; though I am not aware +that the nobleman, who at present bears the title, boasts a descent from +any part of the family of _Hugh with a beard_, the owner of Montfort at +the time of the conquest, and one of the Conqueror's attendants at the +battle of Hastings. + +From Pont-Audemer we proceeded to Honfleur: it was market-day at the +place which we had quitted, and the throng of persons who passed us on +the road, gave great life and variety to the scene. There was scarcely +an individual from whom we did not receive a friendly smile or nod, +accompanied by a _bon jour_; for the practice obtains commonly in +France, among the peasants, of saluting those whom they consider their +superiors. Almost all that were going to market, whether male or female, +were mounted on horses or asses; and their fruit, vegetables, butchers' +meat, live fowls, and live sheep, were indiscriminately carried in the +same way. + +About a league before we arrived at Honfleur, a distant view of the +eastern banks of the river opened upon us from the summit of a hill, and +we felt, or fancied that we felt, "the air freshened from the wave." As +we descended, the ample Seine, here not less than nine miles in width, +suddenly displayed itself, and we had not gone far before we came in +sight of Honfleur. The mist occasioned by the intense heat, prevented us +from seeing distinctly the opposite towns of Havre and Harfleur: we +could only just discern the spire of the latter, and the long projecting +line of the piers and fortifications of Havre. The great river rolls +majestically into the British Channel between these two points, and +forms the bay of Honfleur. About four miles higher up the stream where +it narrows, the promontories of Quilleboeuf and of Tancarville close the +prospect.--Honfleur itself is finely situated: valleys, full of meadows +of the liveliest green, open to the Seine in the immediate vicinity of +the town; and the hills with which it is backed are beautifully clothed +with foliage to the very edge of the water. The trees, far from being +stunted and leafless, as on the eastern coast of England, appear as if +they were indebted to their situation for a verdure of unusual +luxuriancy. A similar line of hills borders the Seine on either side, as +far as the eye can reach. + +It was unfortunate for us, that we entered the town at low water, when +the empty harbor and slimy river could scarcely fail to prepossess us +unfavorably. The quays are faced with stone, and the two basins are fine +works, and well adapted for commerce. This part of Honfleur reminded us +of Dieppe; but the houses, though equally varied in form and materials, +are not equally handsome.--Still less so are the churches; and a +picturesque castle is wholly wanting.--In the principal object of my +journey to Honfleur, my expectations were completely frustrated. I had +been told at Rouen, that I should here find a very ancient wooden +church, and our imagination had pictured to us one equally remarkable +as that of Greensted, in Essex, and probably constructed in the same +manner, of massy trunks of trees. With the usual anticipation of an +antiquary, I imagined that I should discover a parallel to that most +singular building; which, as every body knows, is one of the greatest +architectural curiosities in England. But, alas! I was sadly +disappointed. The wooden church of Honfleur, so old in the report of my +informant, is merely a thing of yesterday, certainly not above two +hundred and fifty years of age; and, though it is undeniably of wood, +within and without, the walls are made, as in most of the houses in the +town, of a timber frame filled with clay. There is another church in +Honfleur, but it was equally without interest. Thus baffled, we walked +to the heights above the town: at the top of the cliff was a crowd of +people, some of them engaged in devotion near a large wooden crucifix, +others enjoying themselves at different games, or sitting upon the neat +stone benches, which are scattered plentifully about the walks in this +charming situation. The neighboring little chapel of Notre Dame de Grace +is regarded as a building of great sanctity, and is especially resorted +to by sailors, a class of people who are superstitious, all the world +over. It abounds with their votive tablets. From the roof and walls + + + "Pendono intorno in lungo ordine i voti, + Che vi portaro i creduli divoti." + + +Among the pictures, we counted nineteen, commemorative of escape from +shipwreck, all of them painted after precisely the same pattern: a +stormy sea, a vessel in distress, and the Virgin holding the infant +Savior in her arms, appearing through a black cloud in the corner,--In +the Catholic ritual, the holy Virgin, is termed _Maris Stella_, and she +is καÏ,,' εξοÏ?ην [English. Not in Original: pre-eminently, especially, +above all] the protectress of Normandy. + +Honfleur is still a fortified town; but it does not appear a place of +much strength, nor is it important in any point of view. Its trade is +inconsiderable, and its population does not amount to nine thousand +inhabitants. But in the year 1450, while in the hands of our countrymen, +it sustained a siege of a month's duration from the king of France; and, +in the following century, it had the distinction, attended with but +little honor, of being the last place in the kingdom that held out for +the league. + +From Honfleur we would fain have returned by Sanson-sur-Risle and +Foullebec, at both which villages M. Le Prevost had led us to expect +curious churches; but our postillion assured us that the roads were +wholly impassable. We were therefore compelled to allow Mr. Cotman to +visit them alone, while we retraced a portion of our steps through the +valley of the Risle, and then took an eastern direction to Bourg-Achard +in our way to Rouen. + +Bourg-Achard was the seat of an abbey, built by the monks of Falaise, in +1143: it was originally dedicated to St. Lô; but St. Eustatius, the +favorite saint of this part of the country, afterwards became its +patron. Before the revolution, his skull was preserved in the sacristy +of the convent, enchased in a bust of silver gilt[51]; and even now, +when the relic has been consigned to its kindred dust, and the shrine to +the furnace, and the abbey has been levelled with the ground, there +remains in the parochial church a fragment of sculpture, which evidently +represented the miracle that led to Eustatius' conversion.--The knight, +indeed, is gone, and the cross has disappeared from between the horns of +the stag; but the horse and the deer, are left, and their position +indicates the legend.--The church of Bourg-Achard has been materially +injured. The whole of the building, from the transept westward, has been +taken down; but it deserves a visit, if only as retaining a _bénitier_ +of ancient form and workmanship, and a leaden font. Of the latter, I +send you a drawing. Leaden fonts are of very rare occurrence in +England[52], and I never saw or heard of another such in France: indeed, +a baptismal font of any kind is seldom to be seen in a French church, +and the vessels used for containing the holy water, are in most cases +nothing more than small basins in the form of escalop shells, affixed to +the wall, or to some pillar near the entrance.--It is possible that +the fonts were removed and sold during the revolution, as they were in +our own country, by the ordinance of the houses of parliament, after the +deposition of Charles Ist; but this is a mere conjecture on my own part. +It is also possible that they may be kept in the sacristy, where I have +certainly seen them in some cases. In earlier times, they not only +existed in every church, but were looked upon with superstitious +reverence. They are frequently mentioned in the decrees of +ecclesiastical councils; some of which provide for keeping them clean +and locked; others for consigning the keys of them to proper officers; +others direct that they should never be without water; and others that +nothing profane should be laid upon them[53]. + +[Illustration: Leaden Font at Bourg-Achard] + +As we were at breakfast this morning, a procession, attended by a great +throng, passed our windows, and we were invited by our landlady to go to +the church and see the wedding of two of the principal persons of the +parish, We accepted the proposal; and, though the same ceremony has been +witnessed by thousands of Englishmen, yet I doubt whether it has been +described by any one.--The bride was a girl of very interesting +appearance, dressed wholly in white: even her shoes were white, and a +bouquet of white roses, jessamine, and orange-flowers, was placed in her +bosom.--The mayor of the town conducted her to the altar. Previously to +the commencement of the service, the priest stated aloud that the forms +required by law, for what is termed the civil marriage, had been +completed. It was highly necessary that he should do so; for, according +to the present code, a minister of any persuasion, who proceeds to the +religious ceremonies of marriage before the parties have been married by +the magistrate, is subject to very heavy penalties, to imprisonment, and +to transportation. Indeed, going to church at all for the purpose of +marriage, is quite a work of supererogation, and may be omitted or not, +just as the parties please; the law requiring no other proof of a +marriage, beyond the certificate recorded in the municipal registry. +After this most important preliminary, the priest exhorted every one +present, under pain of excommunication, to declare if they knew of any +impediment: this, however, was merely done for the purpose of keeping up +the dignity of the church, for the knot was already tied as fast as it +ever could be. He then read a discourse upon the sanctity of the +marriage compact, and the excellence of the wedded state among the +Catholics, compared to what prevailed formerly among the Jews and +Heathens, who degraded it by frequent divorces and licentiousness. The +parties now declared their mutual consent, and his reverence enjoined +each to be to the other "comme un époux fidèle et de lui tenir fidélité +en toutes choses."--The ring was presented to the minister by one of the +acolytes, upon a gold plate; and, before he directed the bridegroom to +place it upon the finger of the lady, he desired him to observe that it +was a symbol of marriage.--During the whole of the service two other +acolytes were stationed in front of the bride and bridegroom, each +holding in his hands a lighted taper; and near the conclusion, while +they knelt before the altar, a pall of flowered brocade was stretched +behind them, as emblematic of their union. Holy water was not forgotten; +for, in almost every rite of the Catholic church, the mystic +sanctification by water and by fire continually occurs.--The ceremony +ended by the priest's receiving the sacrament himself, but without +administering it to any other individual present. Having taken it, he +kissed the paten which had contained the holy elements, and all the +party did the same: each, too, in succession, put a piece of money into +a cup, to which we also were invited to contribute, for the love of the +Holy Virgin.--They entered by the south door, but the great western +portal was thrown open as they left the church; and by that they +departed. + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 47: _Masson de St. Amand, Essais Historiques sur Evreux_, I. +p. 39.] + +[Footnote 48: _Johnes' Translation_, 8vo, IV. p. 292.] + +[Footnote 49: See _Britten's Architectural Antiquities_, III. t. 2.] + +[Footnote 50: _Goube, Histoire de Normandie_, III. 249.] + +[Footnote 51: _Histoire de la Haute Normandie_, II. p. 319.] + +[Footnote 52: Mr. Gough, (See _Archæologia_, X. p. 187.) whose attention +had been much directed to this subject, seems to have known only four +fonts made of lead, in the kingdom;--at Brookland in Kent, Dorchester in +Oxfordshire, Wareham in Dorsetshire, and Walmsford in Northamptonshire; +but there are in all probability many more. We have at least four in +Norfolk. He says, "they are supposed to be of high antiquity; and that +at Brookland may have relation to the time of Birinus himself. To what +circumstance the others are to be referred, or from what other church +brought, does not appear."--The leaden fonts which I have seen, have all +been raised upon a basis of brick or stone, like this at Bourg-Achard, +and are all of nearly the same pattern.] + +[Footnote 53: See _Concilia Normannica_, II. pp. 56, 117, 403, 491, 508, +&c] + + + + +LETTER XX. + +MOULINEAUX--CASTLE OF ROBERT THE DEVIL--BOURG-THEROUDE--ABBEY OF +BEC--BRIONNE. + + +(_Brionne, July_, 1818.) + +Having accomplished the objects which we had proposed to ourselves in +Rouen and its vicinity, we set out this morning upon our excursion to +the western parts of the province. Our first stage, to Moulineaux, was +by the same road by which we returned a few days ago from Bourg-Achard. +It is a delightful ride, through the valley of the Seine, here of great +width, stretching to our left in an uninterrupted course of flat open +country, but, on our right hand, bordered at no great distance by the +ridge of steep chalky cliffs which line the bank of the river. The road +appears to have been a work of considerable labor: it is every where +raised, and in some places as high as fifteen feet above the level of +the fields on either side.--Agriculture in this district is conducted, +as about Paris, upon the plan called by the French _la petite culture_: +the fields are all divided into narrow strips; so that a piece of not +more than two or three acres, frequently produces eight or ten different +crops, some of grain, others of culinary vegetables, at the same time +that many of these portions are planted with apple and cherry trees. The +land is all open and uninclosed: not a fence is to be seen; nor do there +even appear to be any balks or head-marks. Strangers therefore who come, +like us, from a country entirely inclosed, cannot refrain from frequent +expressions of surprise how it is that every person here is enabled to +tell the limits of his own property. + +Moulineaux is a poor village, a mere assemblage of cottages, with mud +walls and thatched roofs. But the church is interesting, though +desecrated and verging to ruin. Even now the outside alone is entire. +The interior is gutted and in a state of absolute neglect.--The building +is of the earliest pointed style: its lancet-windows are of the plainest +kind, being destitute of side pillars: in some of the windows are still +remains of handsome painted glass.--Either the antiquaries in France are +more honest than in England, or they want taste, or objects of this kind +do not find a ready market. We know too well how many an English church, +albeit well guarded by the churchwardens and the parson, has seen its +windows despoiled of every shield, and saint, and motto; and we also +know full well, by whom, and for whom, such ravages are committed. In +France, on the contrary, where painted glass still fills the windows of +sacred buildings, now employed for the meanest purposes, or wholly +deserted, no one will even take the trouble of carrying it away; and the +storied panes are left, as derelicts utterly without value.--The east +end of the church at Moulineaux is semi-circular; the roof is of stone, +handsomely groined, and the groinings spring from fanciful corbels. On +either side of the nave, near the choir, is a recess in the wall, carved +with tabernacle-work, and serving for a piscina. Recesses of this kind, +though of frequent occurrence in English churches, do not often appear +in France. Still less common are those elaborate screens of carved +timber, often richly gilt or gorgeously painted, which separate the nave +from the chancel in the churches of many of our smaller villages at +home. The only one I ever recollect to have seen in France was at +Moulineaux.--I also observed a mutilated pillar, which originally +supported the altar, ornamented with escalop shells and fleurs-de-lys in +bold relief. It reminded me of one figured in the _Antiquarian +Repertory_, from Harold's chapel, in Battle Abbey[54]. + +Immediately after leaving Moulineaux, the road winds along the base of a +steep chalk hill, whose brow is crowned by the remains of the famous +castle of Robert the Devil, the father of Richard Fearnought. Robert the +Devil is a mighty hero of romance; but there is some difficulty in +discovering his historical prototype. Could we point out his _gestes_ in +the chronicle, they would hardly outvalue his adventures, as they are +recorded in the nursery tale. Robert haunts this castle, which appears +to have been of great extent, though its ruins are very indistinct. The +walls on the southern side are rents, and covered with brush-wood; and +no architectural feature is discernible. Wide and deep fosses encircle +the site, which is undermined by spacious crypts and subterraneous +caverns.--The fortress is evidently of remote, but uncertain, antiquity: +it was dismantled by King John when he abandoned the duchy. The +historians of Normandy say that it was re-fortified during the civil +wars; and the fact is not destitute of probability, as its position is +bold and commanding. + +Bourg-Theroude, our next stage, is one of those places which are +indebted to their names alone for the little importance they possess. At +present, it is a small assemblage of mean houses, most of them inns; but +its Latin appellation, _Burgus Thuroldi_, commemorates no less a +personage than one of the preceptors of William the Conqueror, and his +grand constable at the time when he effected the conquest of +England.--The name of Turold occurs upon the Bayeux tapestry, +designating one of the ambassadors dispatched by the Norman Duke to Guy, +Earl of Ponthieu; and it is supposed that the Turold there represented +was the grand constable[55].--The church of Bourg-Theroude, which was +collegiate before the revolution, is at present uninteresting in every +point of view. + +About half way from this place to Brionne, we came in sight of the +remains of the celebrated abbey of Bec, situated a mile and half or two +miles distant to our right, at the extremity of a beautiful valley. We +had been repeatedly assured that scarcely one stone of this formerly +magnificent building was left upon another; but it would have shewn an +unpardonable want of curiosity to have passed so near without visiting +it: even to stand upon the spot which such a monastery originally +covered is a privilege not lightly to be foregone:-- + + + "The pilgrim who journeys all day, + To visit some far distant shrine; + If he bear but a relic away, + Is happy, nor heard to repine."-- + + +And _happiness_ of this kind would on such an occasion infallibly fall +to your lot and to mine. A love for botany or for antiquities would +equally furnish _relics_ on a similar _pilgrimage_. + +As usual, the accounts which we had received proved incorrect. The +greater part of the conventual edifice still exists, but it has no kind +of architectural value. Some detached portions, whose original use it +would be difficult now to conjecture, appear, from their wide pointed +windows, to be of the fifteenth century. The other buildings were +probably erected within the last fifty years.--The part inhabited by the +monks is at this time principally employed as a cotton-mill; and, were +it in England, nobody would suspect that it ever had any other +destination. Of the church, the tower[56] only is in existence. I find +no account of its date; though authors have been unusually profuse in +their details of all particulars relating to this monastery. I am +inclined to refer it to the beginning of the seventeenth century, in +which case it was built shortly after the destruction of the nave. Its +character is simple, solid elegance. Its ornaments are few, but they are +selected and disposed with judgment. Each corner is flanked by two +buttresses, which unite at top, and there terminate in a crocketed +pinnacle. The buttresses are also ornamented with tabernacles of saints +at different heights; and one of the tabernacles upon each buttress, +about mid-way up the tower, still retains a statue as large as life, of +apparently good workmanship. They were fortunately too high for the +democrats to destroy with ease. The height of the tower is one hundred +and fifty feet, as I found by the staircase of two hundred steps, which +remains uninjured, in a circular turret attached to the south side. The +termination of this turret is the most singular part of the structure: +it is surmounted by a cap, considerably higher than the pinnacles, and +composed, like a bee-hive, of a number of circles, each smaller than the +one below it. A few ruined arches of the east end of the church, and of +one of the side chapels are also existing. The rest is levelled with the +ground, and has probably been in a great measure destroyed lately; for +piles of wrought stones are heaped up on all sides. + +If historical recollections or architectural beauty could have proved a +protection in the days of revolution, the church of Bec had undoubtedly +stood. Ducarel, who saw it in its perfection, says it was one of the +finest gothic structures in France; and his account of it, though only +an abridgement of that given by Du Plessis, in his _History of Upper +Normandy_, is curious and valuable.--Mr. Gough states the annual income +of the abbey at the period of the revolution, to have exceeded twenty +thousand crowns. Its patronage was most extensive: the monks presented +to one hundred and sixty advowsons, two of them in the metropolis; and +thirty other ecclesiastical benefices, as well priories as chapels, were +in their gift[57].--Its possessions, as we may collect from the various +charters and donations, might have led us to expect a larger revenue. +The estates belonging to the monastery in England, prior to the +reformation, were both numerous and valuable. + +Sammarthanus, author of the _Gallia Christiana_, says, in speaking of +Bec, that, whether considered as to religion or literature, there was +not, in the eleventh century, a more celebrated convent throughout the +whole of Neustria. The founder of the abbey was Hellouin, sometimes +called Herluin, a nobleman, descended by the mother's side from the +Counts of Flanders, but he himself was a native of the territory of +Brionne, and educated in the castle of Gislebert, earl of that district. +Hellouin determined, at an early age, to withdraw himself from the court +and from the world: it seems he was displeased or affronted by the +conduct of the earl; and we may collect from the chroniclers, that it +was not a very easy task in those times for an individual of rank, +intent upon monastic seclusion, to carry his purpose into effect, and +that still greater difficulties were to be encountered if he wished to +put his property into mortmain. Hellouin was obliged to counterfeit +madness, and at last to come to a very painful explanation with his +liege lord; and, when he finally succeeded in obtaining the permission +he craved, his establishment was so poor, that he was compelled to take +upon himself the office of abbot, from an inability to find any other +person who would accept it.--The monkish historians lavish their praises +upon Hellouin. They assign to him every virtue under heaven; but they +particularly laud him for his humility and industry: all day long he +worked as a laborer in the building of his convent, whilst the night was +passed in committing the psalter to memory. At this period of his life, +a curious anecdote is recorded of him: curious in itself, as +illustrative of the character of the man; and particularly curious, in +being quoted as matter of commendation, and thus serving to illustrate +the feelings of a great body of the community.--His mother, who shared +in the pious disposition of her son, had attached herself to the convent +to assist in the menial offices; and one day, while she was thus +engaged, the building caught fire, and she perished in the flames; upon +which, Hellouin, though bathed in tears, lifted up his hands to heaven, +and gave thanks to God that his parent had been burned to death in the +midst of an occupation of humility and piety! + +During the life of Hellouin, the abbey was twice levelled with the +ground: on each occasion it rose more splendid from its ruins, and on +each the site was changed, till at length it was fixed upon the spot +from which its ruins are now vanishing. The whole of Normandy would +scarcely furnish a more desirable situation. Under the prelacy of +Hellouin, Bec increased rapidly in celebrity, and consequently in the +number of its inmates: it was principally indebted for this increase to +an accidental circumstance. Lanfranc, a native of Pavia, a lawyer in +Italy, but a monk in France, after having visited various monasteries, +and distinguished himself by defending the doctrine of the real +presence, then impugned by Berengarius, established himself here in the +year 1042, and immediately opened a school, which, to judge from the +language of Ordericus Vitalis[58], seems to have been the first ever +known in Normandy. Scholars from France, from England, and from +Flanders, hastened to place themselves under his care; his fame, +according to William of Malmesbury, went forth into the outer parts of +the earth; and Bec, under his auspices, became a most celebrated resort +of literature. To borrow the more copious account given by William of +Jumieges--"report quickly spread the glory of Bec, and of its abbot, +Hellouin, through every land. The clergy, the sons of dukes, the most +eminent schoolmasters, the most powerful of the laity, and the nobility, +all hastened hither. Many, actuated by love for Lanfranc, gave their +lands to the convent. The abbey was enriched with ornaments, with +possessions, and with noble inmates. Religion and learning increased; +property of all kinds abounded; and the monks, who but a few years +before, could scarcely command sufficient ground for the site of their +own building, now saw their estates extend for many miles in a +lengthening line."--Promotion followed the fame of Lanfranc, who soon +became abbot of the royal monastery of St. Stephen, at Caen, and thence +was translated to the archiepiscopal see of Canterbury. + +It was the rare good fortune of Bec, that the abbey furnished two +successive metropolitans to the English church, both of them selected +for their erudition, Lanfranc and Anselm. It is not a little remarkable, +too, that both were Italians. Lanfranc, whilst archbishop of Canterbury, +presided in the year 1077, at the dedication of the third church built +at Bec. We may judge how far the abbey had at that time increased in +consequence; for five bishops, one of them brother to the Conqueror, +honored the ceremony with their presence; and the nobles and ladies of +France, Normandy, and England crowded to the spot, to refresh their +bodies by the pleasures of the festival, and their souls by endowments +to the convent. + +In the fifteenth century, when our Henry Vth brought his victorious +armies into France, the monks of Bec were reduced to a painful +alternative. It was apprehended by the French monarch, that the +monastery might be converted into a dépôt by the English; and they were +commanded either to demolish the church, or to fortify it against the +invaders. They naturally regarded the latter as the lesser evil; and the +consequence was, that the abbey was scarcely put into a state of +defence, when it was attacked by the enemy, and, after sustaining a +siege for a month, was obliged to surrender. A great part of the +monastic buildings were levelled to the ground; and the fortifications +which had been so strangely affixed to them were also razed: meanwhile +the monks suffered grievously from the contending parties: their +sacristy was plundered; their treasury emptied; and they were themselves +exposed to a variety of personal hardships. At the same time, also, the +tomb of the Empress Maud[59], which faced the high altar, was destroyed, +after having been stripped of its silver ornaments. + +Considering the number of illustrious persons who were abbots or +patrons of Bec, and who had been elected from it to the superintendance +of other monasteries, the church does not appear to have been rich in +monuments. We read indeed of many individuals who were interred here +belonging to the house of Neubourg, a family distinguished among the +benefactors of the convent; and the records of the abbey speak also of +the tomb of Richard of St. Leger, Bishop of Evreux; but the Empress was +the only royal personage who selected this convent as the resting-place +for her remains; and she likewise appears to have been the only eminent +one, except Hellouin, the founder, who lay in the chapter-house, under a +slab of black marble, with various figures of rude workmanship[60] +carved upon it. His epitaph has more merit than the general class of +monumental inscriptions:-- + + + "Hunc spectans tumulum, titulo cognosce sepultum; + Est via virtutis nôsse quis ipse fuit. + Dum quater hic denos ævi venisset ad annos, + Quæ fuerant secli sprevit amore Dei. + Mutans ergò vices, mundi de milite miles + Fit Christi subito, Monachus ex laïco. + Hinc sibi, more patrum, socians collegia fratrum, + Curâ, quâ decuit, rexit eos, aluit. + Quot quantasque vides, hic solus condidit ædes, + Non tàm divitiis quàm fidei meritis. + Quas puer haud didicit scripturas postea scivit, + Doctus ut indoctum vix sequeretur eum. + Flentibus hunc nobis tulit inclementia mortis + Sextilis quinâ bisque die decimâ. + Herluine pater, sic cÅ"lica scandis ovantèr; + Credere namque tuis hoc licet ex meritis." + + +In number of inmates, extent of possessions, and possibly, in +magnificence of buildings, other Norman monasteries may have excelled +Bec: none equalled it in the prouder honor of being a seminary for +eminent men and especially for those destined to the highest stations in +the church. Lanfranc and Anselm were not the only two of its monks who +were seated on the archiepiscopal throne at Canterbury. Two others, +Theobald and Hubert obtained the same dignity in the following century; +and Roger, the seventh abbot of Bec, enjoyed the still more enviable +distinction of having been unanimously elected to fill the office of +metropolitan, but of possessing sufficient firmness of mind to resist +the attractions of wealth, and rank, and power. The sees of Rochester, +Beauvais, and Evreux were likewise filled by monks from Bec; and it was +here that many monastic establishments, both Norman and foreign, found +their pastors. Three of our own most celebrated convents, those of +Chester, Ely, and St. Edmund's Bury, received at different epochs their +abbots from Bec; and during the prelacy of Anselm, the supreme pontiff +himself selected a monk of this house as the prior of the distant +convent of the holy Savior at Capua.--The village of Bec, which adjoins +the abbey, is small and unimportant. + +I was returning to our carriage, when a soldier invited me to walk to a +part of the monastic grounds (for they are very extensive) which is +appropriated to the purpose of keeping up the true breed of Norman +horses. The French government have several similar establishments: they +consider the matter as one of national importance; and, as France has +not yet produced a Duke of Bedford or a Mr. Coke, the state is obliged +to undertake what would be much better effected by the energy of +individuals.--A Norman horse is an excellent draft horse: he is strong, +bony, and well proportioned. But the natives are not content with this +qualified praise: they contend that he is equally unrivalled as a +saddle-horse, as a hunter, and as a charger. In this part of the country +the present average price of a hussar's horse is nineteen pounds; of a +dragoon's thirty-four pounds; and of an officer's eighty pounds.--These +prices are considered high, but not extravagant. France abounds at this +time in fine horses. The losses occasioned by the revolutionary wars, +and more especially by the disastrous Russian campaign, have been more +than compensated by five years of peace, and by the horses that were +left by the allied troops. An annual supply is also drawn from +Mecklenburg and the adjacent countries. Importations of this kind are +regarded as indispensable, to prevent a degeneration in the stock. A +Frenchman can scarcely be brought to believe it possible; that we in +England can preserve our fine breed of horses without having recourse to +similar expedients; and if at last, by dint of repeated asseverations, +you succeed in obtaining a reluctant assent, the conversation is almost +sure to end in a shrug of the shoulders, accompanied with the +remark--"Ah, vous autres Anglais, vous voulez toujours voler de vos +propres ailes." + +As we approached Brionne, the face of the country became more uneven; +and we passed an extensive tract of uncultivated chalk hills, resembling +the downs of Wiltshire.--Brionne itself lies in a valley watered by the +Risle: the situation is agreeable, and advantageous for trade. The +present number of its inhabitants does not amount to two thousand; and +there is no reason to apprehend that the population has materially +decreased of late years. But in the times of Norman rule, Brionne was a +town of more importance: it had then three churches, besides an abbey +and a lazar-house. At present a single church only remains; and this is +neither large, nor handsome, nor ancient, nor remarkable in any point of +view. We found in it a monument of the revolution, which I never saw +elsewhere, and which I never expected to see at all. The age of reason +was a sadly irrational age.--The tablet containing the rights and duties +of man, disposed in two columns, like the tables of the Mosaic law, is +still suffered to exist in the church, though shorn of all its +republican dignity, and degraded into the front of a pew. + +On the summit of a hill that overhangs the town, stood formerly the +castle of the Earls of Brionne; and a portion of the building, though it +be but an insignificant fragment, is still left. The part now standing +consists of little more than two sides of the square dungeon, The walls, +which are about fifty feet in height, appear crumbling and ragged, as +they have lost the greater part of their original facing. Yet their +thickness, which even now exceeds twelve feet, may enable them to bid +defiance for many a century, to "the heat of the sun, and the furious +winter's rages."--Nearly the half of one of the sides, which is seventy +feet long, is occupied by three flat Norman buttresses, of very small +projection. No arched door-way, no window remains; nor any thing, except +these buttresses, to give a distinct character to the architecture: the +hill is so overgrown with brush-wood, that though traces of foundation +are discernible in almost every part of it, no clear idea can be formed +of the dimensions or plan of the building. Its importance is +sufficiently established by its having been the residence of a son or +brother of Richard IInd, Duke of Normandy, on whose account, the town of +Brionne, with the adjacent territory, was raised into an earldom. +Historians speak unequivocally of its strength. During the reign of +William the Conqueror, it was regarded as impregnable. This king was +little accustomed to meet with disappointment or even with resistance; +but the castle of Brionne defied his utmost efforts for three successive +years. Under his less energetic successor, it was taken in a day. Its +possessor, Robert, Earl of Brionne, felt himself so secure within his +towers, that he ventured, with only six attendants, to oppose the whole +army of the Norman Duke; but the besiegers observed that the fortress +was roofed with wood; and a shower of burning missiles compelled the +garrison to surrender at discretion.--The castle was finally dismantled +by the orders of Charles Vth. + +Brionne is known in ecclesiastical history as the place where the +council of the church was held, by which the tenets of Berengarius were +finally condemned. It appears that the archdeacon of Angers, after some +fruitless attempts to make converts among the Norman monks, took the +bold resolution of stating his doctrines to the duke in person; and that +the prince, though scarcely arrived at years of manhood, acted with so +much prudence on the occasion, as to withhold any decisive answer, till +he had collected the clergy of the duchy. They assembled at Brionne, as +a central spot; and here the question was argued at great length, till +Berengarius himself, and a convert, whom he had brought with him, +trusting in his eloquence, were so overpowered by the arguments of their +adversaries, that they were obliged to renounce their errors. The +doctrine of the real presence in the sacrament, was thus +incontrovertibly established; and it has from that time remained an +undisputed article of faith in the Roman Catholic church. + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 54: Vol. III. p. 187.--The engraving in the _Antiquarian +Repertory_ was made from a drawing in the possession of the late Sir +William Burrell, Bart.] + +[Footnote 55: The word _Turold_, in the tapestry, stands immediately +over the head of a dwarf, who is holding a couple of horses; and it has +therefore been inferred by Montfaucon, (_Monumens de la Monarchie +Française_, I. p. 378.) that he is the person thus denominated. But M. +Lancelot, in the _Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions_, VI. p. 753, +supposes Turold to be the ambassador who is in the act of speaking; and +this seems the more probable conjecture. The same opinion is still more +decidedly maintained by Father Du Plessis, in his _Histoire de la Haute +Normandie_, II. p. 342.--"Sur une ancienne tapisserie de l'Eglise de +Baieux, que l'on croit avoir été faite par ordre de la Reine Mathilde +femme du Conquérant, pour représenter les circonstances principales de +cette mémorable expédition, on lit distinctement le mot _Turold_ à côté +d'un des Ambassadeurs, que Guillaume avoit envoiez au Comte de Ponthieu; +et je ne doute nullement que ce Turold ne soit le même que le +Connétable. Le sçavant Auteur des Antiquitez de notre Monarchie croit +cependant que ce mot doit se rapporter à un Nain qui tient deux chevaux +en bride derriere les Ambassadeurs; et il ajoute que ce Nain devoit être +fort connu à la Conr du Duc de Normandie. On avoue que si c'est lui en +effet qui doit s'appeller Turold, il devoit tenir aussi à la Cour de son +Prince un rang distingué; sans quoi on n'auroit pas pris la peine de le +désigner par son nom dans la tapisserie. On avoue encore que le nom de +Turold est placé là de maniere qu'on peut à la rigueur le donner au Nain +aussi bien qu'à l'un des deux Ambassadeurs; et comme le Nain est +appliqué à tenir deux chevaux en bride, on pourrait croire enfin que +c'est le Connétable, dont les titres de l'Abbaïe de Facan nous ont +appris le nom: _Signum Turoldi Constabularii_. Mais le Nain est très-mal +habillé, il a son bonnet sur la tête, et tourne le dos au Comte de +Ponthieu, pendant que les deux Ambassadeurs noblement vêtus regardent ce +Prince en face, et lui parlent découverts: trois circonstances qui ne +peuvent convenir, ni au Connétable du Duc, ni à toute autre personne de +distinction qui auroit tenu compagnie, ou fait cortege aux +Ambassadeurs."] + +[Footnote 56: This tower is figured, but very inaccurately, by Gough, in +his _Alien Priories_, I. p. 22.--The cupola which then surmounted it is +now gone; and the cap to the turret, which served as the staircase, has +strangely changed its shape.] + +[Footnote 57: _Alien Priories_, I. p. 24.] + +[Footnote 58: "Nam antea, sub tempore sex ducum vix ullus Normannorum +liberalibus studiis adhæsit; nec doctor inveniebatur, donec provisor +omnium, Deus, Normannicis oris Lanfrancum appulit. Fama peritiæ illius +in totâ ubertim innotuit Europâ, unde ad magisterium ejus multi +convenerunt de Franciâ, de Wasconiâ, de Britanniâ, necne +Flandriâ."--_Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni_, p. 519.] + +[Footnote 59: A question always existed, whether the Empress was really +buried here, or at the abbey of Ste Marie des Prés, at Rouen. Hoveden +expressly says, that she was interred at Rouen: the chronicle of Bec, on +the other hand, is equally positive in the assertion that her body was +brought to Bec, and entombed with honor before the altar of the Virgin. +The same chronicle adds that, in the year 1273, her remains were +discovered before the high altar, sewed up in an ox's hide.--Still +farther to substantiate their claim, the monks of Bec maintained that, +in 1684, upon the occasion of some repairs being done to this altar, the +bones of the empress were again found immediately under the lamp (which, +in Catholic churches, is kept constantly burning before the holy +sacrament,) and that they were deposited once more in the ground in a +wooden chest, covered with lead.--The Empress was a munificent endower +of monasteries, and was at all times most liberal towards Bec. William +of Jumieges says, that it would be tedious to enumerate the presents she +made to the abbey, but that the sight of them gave pleasure to those +strangers who have seen the treasures of the most noble churches. His +remarks on this matter, and his account of her arguments with her +father, on the subject of her choice of Bec, as a place of her +interment, deserve to be transcribed.--"Transiret illac hospes Græcus +aut Arabs, voluptate traheretur eadem. Credimus autem, et credere fas +est, æquissimum judicem omnium non solùm in futuro, verumetiam in +præsenti seculo, illi centuplum redditurum, quod seruis suis manu sicut +larga, ita devota gratantèr impendit. Ad remunerationem verò instantis +temporis pertinere non dubium est, quòd, miserante Deo, sopita adversa +valetudine, sanctitatem refouit, et Monachos suos, Monachos Beccenses, +qui præ omnibus, et super omnes pro ipsius sospitate, jugi labore +supplicandi decertando pene defecerant, aura prosperæ valetudinis ejus +afflatos omninò redintegravit.--Nec supprimendum illud est silentio, +imò, ut ita dicatur, uncialibus literis exaratum, seculo venturo +transmittendum; quòd antequam convalesceret postulaverat patrem suum, ut +permitteret eam in CÅ"nobio Beccensi humari. Quod Rex primo abnuerat, +dicens non esse dignum, ut filia sua, Imperatrix Augusta, quæ semel et +iterùm in urbe Romulea, quæ caput est mundi, per manus summi Pontificis +Imperiali diademate processerat insignita, in aliquo Monasterio, licèt +percelebri et religione et fama, sepeliretur; sed ad civitatem +Rotomagensium, quæ metropolis est Normannorum, saltem delata, in +Ecclesia principali, in qua et majores ejus, Rollonem loquor et +Willelmum Longamspatam filium ipsius, qui Neustriam armis subegerunt, +positi sunt, ipsa et poneretur. Qua deliberatione Regis percepta, illi +per nuncium remandavit, animam suam nunquam fore lætam, nisi compos +voluntatis suæ in hac duntaxat parte efficeretur.--O femina macte +virtutis et consilii sanioris, paruipendens pompam secularem in corporis +depositione! Noverat enim salubrius esse animabus defunctorum ibi +corpora sua tumulari, ubi frequentiùs et devotiùs supplicationes pro +ipsis Deo offeruntur. Victus itaque pater ipsius Augustæ pietate et +prudentia filiæ, qui ceteros et virtute et pietate vincere solitus erat, +cessit, et voluntatem, et petitionem ipsius de se sepelienda Becci fieri +concessit. Sed volente Deo ut præfixum est, sanitati integerrimæ +restituta convaluit."--_Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni_, p. 305.] + +[Footnote 60: _Histoire de la Haute Normandie_, II. p, 281.] + + + + +LETTER XXI. + +BERNAT--BROGLIE--ORBEC--LISIEUX--CATHEDRAL--ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. + + +(_Lisieux, July_, 1818.) + +Instead of pursuing the straight road from Brionne to this city, we +deviated somewhat to the south, by the advice of M. Le Prevost; and we +have not regretted the deviation. + +Bernay was once celebrated for its abbey, founded in the beginning of +the eleventh century, by Judith, wife of Richard IInd, Duke of Normandy. +Some of the monastic buildings are standing, and are now inhabited: they +appear to have been erected but a short time before the revolution, and +to have suffered little injury.--But the abbey church, which belonged to +the original structure, is all desolate within, and all defaced without. +The interior is divided into two stories, the lower of which is used as +a corn market, the upper as a cloth hall. Thus blocked up and +encumbered, we may yet discern that it is a noble building: its +dimensions are grand, and in most parts it is a perfect specimen of the +semi-circular style, except the windows and the apsis, which are of +later dates. The pillars in the nave and choir are lofty, but massy: the +capitals of some of them are curiously sculptured. On the lower member +of the entablature of one capital there are still traces of an +inscription; but it is so injured by neglect and violence, that we were +unable to decipher a single word. The capital itself is fanciful and not +devoid of elegance. + +[Illustration: Capital] + +The convent was placed under the immediate protection of the sovereign, +by virtue of an ordinance issued by Philip Augustus[61], in 1280, at +which time Peter, Count of Alençon, attempted to establish a claim to +some rights affecting the monastery. He alleged a grant from a former +monarch to one of his predecessors, by whom he asserted that the convent +had been founded; and, in support of his claim, he urged its position +within the limits of his territory. The abbot and monks resisted: they +gave proof that the abbey of Bernay was really founded by the duchess; +and therefore the king, after a full and impartial hearing, decided +against the count, and declared that the advocation of the monastery was +thenceforth to belong to himself and his successors in the dukedom for +ever.--Judith died before the convent was entirely built, and the task +of completing it devolved upon her widowed husband, whose charter, +confirming the foundation, is still in existence. It begins by a recital +of the pious motives[62] which urged the duchess to the undertaking; it +expressly mentions her death while the building was yet unfinished; and, +after detailing the various lands and grants bestowed on the abbey, it +concludes by denouncing the anger of God, and a fine of two hundred +pounds weight of gold upon those who disturb the establishment, "that +they may learn to their confusion that the good deeds of their +ancestors, undertaken for the love of God, are not to be undone with +impunity." + +The parochial church at Bernay is uninteresting. The sculptures, +however, which adorn the high altar, are relics saved from the +destruction of the abbey of Bec. The Virgin Mary and Joseph are +represented, contemplating the infant Jesus, who is asleep. The statues +are all of the natural size. We saw many grave-stones from the same +abbey, nine or ten feet long, and covered with monumental figures of the +usual description, indented in the stone. These memorials were standing +by the side of the church door, not for preservation, but for sale! And +at a small chapel in the burial-ground near the town, we were shewn +twelve statues of saints, which likewise came from Bec. They are of +comparatively modern workmanship, larger than life, and carved in a +good, though not a fine, style. In the same chapel is kept the common +coffin for the interment of all the poor at Bernay. + +The custom of merely putting the bodies of persons of the lower class +into coffins, when they are brought to the burial-ground, and then +depositing them naked in their graves, prevails at present in this part +of France as it did formerly in England.--In a place which must be the +receptacle for many that were in easy, and for not a few that were in +affluent, circumstances, it was remarkable that all lay indiscriminately +side by side, unmarked by any monumental stone, or any sepulchral +record.--Republican France proscribed distinctions of every description, +and those memorials which tended to perpetuate distinctions beyond the +limits of mortal existence, were naturally most unpardonable in the eyes +of the apostles of equality. But doctrines of this nature have fallen +into disrepute for more than twenty years; and yet the country +church-yard remains as naked as when the guillotine would have been the +reward of opposition to the tenets of the day. There are few more +comfortless sights, than such a cemetery: it looks as if those by whom +it is occupied regarded death as eternal sleep, and thought that the +memory of man should terminate with the close of his life. However +unlettered the muse, however hackneyed the rhyme, however misapplied +the text, it is consolatory to see them employed. Man dwells with a +melancholy satisfaction upon the tomb-stones of his relations and +friends, and not of them alone, but of all whom he has known or of whom +he has heard.--A mere _hic jacet_, with the name and years of him that +sleeps beneath, frequently recals the most lively impressions; and he +who would destroy epitaphs would destroy a great incitement to +virtue.--In other parts of France tomb-stones, or crosses charged with +monumental inscriptions, have re-appeared: at Bernay we saw only two; +one of them commemorated a priest of the town; the other was erected at +the public expence, to the memory of three gendarmes, who were killed at +the beginning of the revolution, and before religion was proscribed, in +the suppression of some tumult. + +At less than a mile from Bernay, in the opposite direction, is another +church, called Notre Dame de la Couture, a name borrowed from the +property on which it stands. We were induced to visit it, by the +representation of different persons in the town, who had noticed our +architectural propensities. Some assured us that "C'est une belle +pièce;" others that "C'est une pièce qui n'est pas vilaine;" and all +concurred in praising it, though some only for the reason that "les +processions vont tout autour du choeur."--We found nothing to repay the +trouble of the walk. + +Bernay contains upwards of six thousand inhabitants, the greater part of +whom are engaged in manufacturing coarse woollen and cotton cloths; and +the manufactures flourish, the goods made being principally for home +consumption. It is the chief place of the _arrondissement_, and the +residence of a sub-prefect.--Most of the houses are like those at Rouen, +merely wooden frames filled with mortar, which, in several instances, is +faced with small bricks and flints, disposed in fanciful patterns: here +and there the beams are carved with a variety of grotesque figures. The +lower story of all those in the high street retires, leaving room for a +wooden colonnade, which shelters the passenger, though it is entirely +destitute of all architectural beauty. The head-dress of the females at +Bernay is peculiar, and so very archaic, that our chamber-maid at the +inn appeared to deserve a sketch, full as much as any monumental effigy. + +[Illustration: Head-dress of females of Bernay] + +On our road between Bernay and Orbec, we stopped at the village of +Chambrais, more commonly called Broglie. Before the revolution, it +belonged to the noble family of that name, and it thence derived its +familiar appellation. The former residence of the Seigneurs of Broglie, +which is still standing, apparently uninjured, upon an adjoining +eminence, has lately been restored to the present Maréchal Duc de +Broglie. It looks like an extensive parish work-house, or like any thing +rather than a nobleman's seat.--The village church is very ancient and +still curious, though in parts considerably modernized. Unlike most +churches of great antiquity, it is not built in the form of a cross, but +consists only of a nave and choir, with side-aisles and an apsis, all on +a small scale[63]. Towards the north, the nave is separated from the +aisle by some of the largest and rudest piers I ever saw. They occupy +full two-thirds of the width of the intervening arches, which are five +feet wide, elliptic rather than semi-circular, and altogether without +ornament of any kind. Above each of these arches is a narrow, +circular-headed window, banded with a cylindrical pilaster; and, in most +instances, a row of quatrefoils runs between the pillar and the window. +The bases of the windows rest upon a string-course that extends round +the whole building; and on this also, alternating with the windows, rest +corbels, from which spring very short, clustered columns, intended to +support the groinings of the roof. On the south side, the massy piers +have been pared into comparatively slender pillars; and the arches are +pointed, as are all the lower windows in the church.--The font is of +stone, and ancient: it consists of a round basin, on a quadrangular +pedestal, like many in England.--The west front of the church is +peculiar. It is entered by a very wide, low, semi-circular door-way, of +rude architecture, and quite unornamented. Above is a window +corresponding with those in the clerestory; and, still higher, a row of +interlaced arches, also semi-circular. A pointed arch, the receptacle +for the statue of a saint, surmounts the whole; but this is, most +probably, of a later æra, as evidently are the two lateral +compartments, which terminate in slender spires of slate, and are +separated from the central division by Norman buttresses. + +We stopped to dine at Orbec, a small and insignificant country town, +formerly an appendage of the houses of Orléans and Navarre, with the +title of a barony; but, more immediately before the revolution, the +domain of the family of Chaumont. Its church is a most uncouth edifice: +the plan is unusual; the entrance is in the north transept, which ends +in a square high tower. + +Bernay, Orbec, and Lisieux, communicate only by cross roads, scarcely +passable by a carriage, even at this season of the year. From Orbec to +Lisieux the road runs by the side of the Touques, which, at Orbec, is no +more than a rivulet. The beautiful green meadows in the valley, appear +to repay the great care which is taken in the draining and irrigating of +them. They are every where intersected by small trenches, in which the +water is confined by means of sluices.--In this part of the country, we +passed several flocks of sheep, the true _moutons du pays_, a large +breed, with red legs and red spotted faces. Their coarse wool serves to +make the ordinary cloth of the country, but is inapplicable to any of a +finer texture. To remedy this deficiency, and, if possible, improve the +local manufactures, some large flocks of Merino sheep were imported at +the time when the French occupied Spain; and they are said to thrive. +But it is only of late years that any attempts, have been made of the +kind.--The Norman farmer, however careful about the breed of his horses, +has altogether neglected his sheep; and this is the more extraordinary, +considering that the prosperity of the province is inseparably connected +with that of the manufactures, and that much of the value of the produce +must of necessity depend upon the excellence of the material. His pigs +are the very perfection of ugliness: it is no hyperbole to say, that, in +their form, they partake as much of a greyhound as of an English +pig.--These animals are sure to attract the gaze of our countrymen; and +poor Trotter, in his narrative of the journey of Mr. Fox, expressed his +marvel so often, as to call down upon himself the witty vengeance of one +of our ablest periodical writers. + +Melons are cultivated on a great scale in the country about Lisieux. +They grow here in the natural soil, occupying whole fields of +considerable size, and apparently without requiring any extraordinary +pains.--As we approached the city, the meadows, through which we passed, +were mostly occupied as extensive bleaching-grounds. Lisieux is an +industrious manufacturing town. Its ten thousand inhabitants find their +chief employment in the making of the ordinary woollen cloths, worn by +the peasantry of Normandy and of Lower Brittany. Linen and flannels are +also manufactured here, though on a comparatively trifling scale. For +trade of this description, Lisieux is well situated upon the banks of +the Touques, a small river, which, almost immediately under the walls of +the town, receives the waters of a yet smaller stream, the Orbec. A +project is in agitation, and it is said that it may be carried into +effect at an inconsiderable expence, of making the Touques navigable to +Lisieux. At present, it is so no farther than the the little town of the +same name as the river; and even this derives no great advantage from +the navigation; for, however near its situation is to the mouth of the +stream, it is approachable only by vessels of less than one hundred tons +burthen.--It was at Touques that Henry Vth landed in France, in the +spring of 1417, when the monarch, flushed with a degree of success as +extraordinary as it was unexpected, quitted England with the +determination of returning no more till the whole kingdom of France +should be subjugated. + +The greater part of the houses in Lisieux are built of wood; and many of +them are old, and most of them are mean; yet, on the whole, it is +picturesque and handsome. Its streets are spacious, and contain several +large buildings: it is surrounded with pleasant _boulevards_; and its +situation, like that of most other Norman towns, is delightful.--In +consequence of the revolution, the city has lost the privilege of being +an episcopal see. Even when Napoléon, by virtue of the concordat of +1801, restored the Gallican church to its obedience to the the supreme +Pontiff, the see of Lisieux was suppressed. The six suffragan bishops of +ancient Normandy were at that time reduced to four, conformably to the +number of the departments of the province; and Lisieux and Avranches +merged in the more important dioceses of Bayeux and Coutances. + +The cathedral, now the parish church of St. Peter, derived, however, one +advantage from the revolution. Another church, dedicated to St. Germain, +which had previously stood immediately before it, so as almost to block +up the approach, was taken down, and the west front of the cathedral was +made to open upon a spacious square.--Solid, simple grandeur are the +characters of this front, which, notwithstanding some slight anomalies, +is, upon the whole, a noble specimen of early pointed architecture.--It +is divided into three equal compartments, the lateral ones rising into +short square towers of similar height. The southern tower is surmounted +by a lofty stone spire, probably of a date posterior to the part below. +The spire of the opposite tower fell in 1553, at which time much injury +was done to the building, and particularly to the central door-way, +which, even to the present day, has never been repaired.--Contrary to +the usual elevation of French cathedrals, the great window over the +principal entrance is not circular, but pointed: it is divided into +three compartments by broad mullions, enriched with many mouldings. The +compartments end in acute pointed arches.--In the north tower, the whole +of the space from the basement story is occupied by only two tiers of +windows. Each tier contains two windows, extremely narrow, considering +their height; and yet, narrow as they are, each of them is parted by a +circular mullion or central pillar. You will better understand how high +they must be, when told that, in the southern tower, the space of the +upper row is divided into three distinct tiers; and still the windows do +not appear disproportionately short. They also are double, and the +interior arches are pointed; but the arches, within which they are +placed, are circular. In this circumstance lies the principal anomaly in +the front of the cathedral; but there is no appearance of any disparity +in point of dates; for the circular arches are supported on the same +slender mullions, with rude foliaged capitals, of great projection, +which are the most distinguishing characteristics of this style of +architecture. + +The date of the building establishes the fact of the pointed arch being +in use, not only as an occasional variation, but in the entire +construction of churches upon a grand scale, as early as the eleventh +century.--Sammarthanus tells us that Bishop Herbert, who died in 1049, +began to build this church, but did not live to see it completed; and +Ordericus Vitalis expressly adds, that Hugh, the successor to Herbert, +upon his death-bed, in 1077, while retracing his past life, made use of +these words:--"Ecclesiam Sancti Petri, principis apostolorum, quam +venerabilis Herbertus, praedecessor meus, coepit, perfeci, studiosè +adornavi, honorificè dedicavi, et cultoribus necessariisque divino +servitio vasis aliisque apparatibus copiosè ditavi."--Language of this +kind appears too explicit to leave room for ambiguity, but an opinion +has still prevailed, founded probably upon the style of the +architecture, that the cathedral was not finished till near the +expiration of the thirteenth century. Admitting, however, such to be the +fact, I do not see how it will materially help those who favor the +opinion; for the building is far from being, as commonly happens in +great churches, a medley of incongruous parts; but it is upon one fixed +plan; and, as it was begun, so it was ended.--The exterior of the +extremity of the south transept is a still more complete example of the +early pointed style than the west front: this style, which was the most +chaste, and, if I may be allowed to use the expression, the most severe +of all, scarcely any where displays itself to greater advantage. The +central window is composed of five lancet divisions, supported upon +slender pillars: massy buttresses of several splays bound it on either +side. + +The same character of uniformity extends over the interior of the +building. On each side of the nave is a side-aisle; and, beyond the +aisles, chapels. The pillars of the nave are cylindrical, solid, and +plain. Their bases end with foliage at each corner, and foliage is also +sculptured upon the capitals. The arches which they support are +acute.--The triforium is similar in plan to the part below; but the +capitals of the columns are considerably more enriched, with an obvious +imitation of the antique model, and every arch encircles two smaller +ones. In the clerestory the windows are modern.--The transepts appear +the oldest parts of the cathedral, as is not unfrequently the case; +whether they were really built before the rest, or that, from being less +used in the services of the church, they were less commonly the objects +of subsequent alterations. They are large; and each of them has an aisle +on the eastern side. The architecture of the choir resembles that of the +nave, except that the five pillars, which form the apsis, are slender +and the intervening arches more narrow and more acute.--The Lady-Chapel, +which is long and narrow, was built towards the middle of the fifteenth +century, by Peter Cauchon, thirty-sixth bishop of Lisieux, who, for his +steady attachment to the Anglo-Norman cause, was translated to this see, +in 1429, when Beauvais, of which he had previously been bishop, fell +into the hands of the French. He was selected, in 1431, for the +invidious office of presiding at the trial of the Maid of Orléans. +Repentance followed; and, as an atonement for his unrighteous conduct, +according to Ducarel, he erected this chapel, and therein founded a high +mass to the Holy Virgin, which was duly sung by the choristers, in +order, as is expressed in his endowment-charter, to expiate the false +judgment which he pronounced[64].--The two windows by the side of the +altar in this chapel have been painted of a crimson color, to add to the +effect produced upon entering the church; and, seen as they are, through +the long perspective of the nave and the distant arches of the choir, +the glowing tint is by no means unpleasing.--The central tower is open +within the church to a considerable height: it is supported by four +arches of unusual boldness, above which runs a row of small arches, of +the same character as the rest of the building; and, still higher, on +each side, are two lancet-windows.--The vaulting of the roof is very +plain, with bosses slightly pendant and carved. + +[Illustration: Ancient Tomb in the Cathedral at Lisieux] + +At the extremity of the north transept is an ancient stone sarcophagus, +so built into the wall, that it appears to have been incorporated with +the edifice, at the period when it was raised. The style of the +medallions which adorn it will be best understood by consulting the +annexed sketch, which is very faithful, though taken under every +possible disadvantage. The transept is now used as a school; and the +little filthy imps, who are there taught to drawl out their catechisms, +continued swarming round the feverish artist, during the progress of the +drawing. The character of the heads, the crowns, and the disposition of +the foliage, may be considered as indicating that it is a production, at +least of the Carlovingian period, if it be not indeed of earlier date. I +believe it is traditionally supposed to have been the tomb of a saint, +perhaps St. Candidus; but I am not quite certain whether I am accurate +in the recollection of the name.--Above are two armed statues, probably +of the twelfth or thirteenth centuries. These have been engraved by +Willemin, in his useful work, _Les Monumens Français_, under the title +of _Two Armed Warriors, in the Nave of the Cathedral at Lisieux_; and +both are there figured as if in all respects perfect, and with a great +many details which do not exist, and never could have existed, though at +the same time the draftsman has omitted the animals at the feet of the +statues, one of which is yet nearly entire.--This may be reckoned among +the innumerable proofs of the disregard of accuracy which pervades the +works of French antiquaries. A French designer never scruples to +sacrifice accuracy to what he considers effect.--Willemin describes the +monuments as being in the nave of the church. I suspect that he has +availed himself of the unpublished collection of Gaignat, in this and +many other instances. It is evident that originally the statues were +recumbent; but I cannot ascertain when they changed their position.--No +other tombs now exist in the cathedral: the brazen monument raised to +Hannuier, an Englishman, the marble that commemorated the bishop, +William d'Estouteville, founder of the _Collège de Lisieux_ at Paris, +that of Peter Cauchon in the Lady-Chapel, and all the rest, were +destroyed during the revolution. + +The diocese of Lisieux was a more modern establishment than any other in +Normandy. Even those who are most desirous to honor it by antiquity, do +not venture to date its foundation higher than the middle of the sixth +century. Ordericus Vitalis, a monk of the province, suggests with some +reason that we ought not to be hasty in forming our judgment upon these +subjects; for that, owing to the destruction caused by the Norman +pirates and the abominable negligence (_damnabilis negligentia_) of +those to whom the care of the records of religious houses had +subsequently been intrusted, many documents had been irretrievably +lost.--The see of Lisieux was also peculiarly unfortunate, in having +twice been in a state of anarchy, and on each occasion for a period of +more than a century. The series of its prelates is interrupted from the +year 670 to 853, and again from 876 to 990. + +It is rather extraordinary, that no one of the Lexovian bishops was ever +admitted by the church into the catalogue of her saints. Many of them +were prelates of unquestionable merit. Freculfus, in the ninth century, +was a patron of literature, and himself an author; Hugh of Eu, grandson +of Richard, Duke of Normandy, was one of the most illustrious +ecclesiastics of his day; Gilbert is described by Ordericus Vitalis as +having been a man of exemplary charity, and deeply versed in all +sciences, though it is admitted that he was somewhat too much addicted +to worldly pleasures, and not averse from gambling; and Arnulf, whose +letters and epigrams are preserved among the manuscripts of the Vatican, +was a prelate who would have done honor to St. Peter's chair.--All these +were bishops of Lisieux, during the ages when canonization was not +altogether so unfrequent as in our days. Arnulf particularly +distinguished himself by taking a leading part in the principal +transactions of the times. He accompanied the crusaders to the holy land +in 1147; five years subsequently he officiated at the marriage of Henry +Plantagenet with Eleanor of Guyenne, the repudiated wife of Louis le +Jeune, which was performed in his cathedral; he assisted at the +coronation of the same king, by whom he was shortly afterwards employed +in a mission of great importance at Rome; and he interposed to settle +the differences between that sovereign and Thomas à Becket; and though +he espoused the part of the prelate, he had the good fortune to retain +the favor of the monarch. A life thus eventful ended with the conviction +that all was vanity!--Arnulf, disgusted with sublunary honors, abdicated +his see and retired to a monastery at Paris, where he died.--One of the +immediate successors of this prelate, William of Rupierre, was the +ambassador of Richard Coeur-de-Lion to the Pope; and he pleaded the +cause of his sovereign against Walter, Archbishop of Rouen, on the +occasion of the differences that originated from the building of Château +Gaillard. He also resisted the power usurped by King John within the +city and liberties of Lisieux, and finally obtained a sentence from the +Norman court of exchequer, whereby the privileges of the dukes of the +province were restricted to what was called the _Placitum Spathæ_, +consisting of the right of billetting soldiers, of coining money, and of +hearing and determining in cases of appeal. The decision is honorable +both to the independence of the court, and the vigor of the prelate.--In +times nearer to our own, a bishop of Lisieux, Jean Hennuyer, obtained a +very different distinction. Authors are strangely at variance whether +this prelate is to be regarded as the protector or the persecutor of the +protestants. All agree that his church suffered materially from the +excesses of the Huguenots, in 1562, and that, on the following year, he +received public thanks from the Cardinal of Bourbon, for the firmness +with which he had opposed them; but the point at issue is, whether, +after the massacre of St. Bartholomew, ten years subsequently, he +withstood the sanguinary orders from the court to put the Huguenots to +the sword, or whether he endeavored, as far as lay in his power, to +forward the pious labor of extirpating the heretics, but was himself +effectually resisted by the king's own lieutenant.--Sammarthanus tells +us that the first of these traditions rests solely upon the authority +of Anthony Mallet[65] but it obtained general credence till within the +last three years, when a very well-informed writer, in the _Mercure de +France_, and subsequently in the article _Hennuyer_ in the +_Bibliographie Universelle_, espoused, and has apparently established, +the opposite opinion. + +We visited only one other of the churches in Lisieux, that of St. +Jacques, a large edifice, in a bad style of pointed architecture, and +full of gaudy altars and ordinary pictures. On the outside of the stalls +of the choir towards the north is some curious carving; but I should +scarcely have been induced to have spoken of the building, were it not +for one of the paintings, which, however uninteresting as a piece of +art, appears to possess some historical value. It represents how the +bones of St. Ursinus were miraculously translated to Lisieux, under the +auspices of Hugh the Bishop, in 1055; and it professes, and apparently +with truth, to be a copy, made in the seventeenth century, from an +original of great antiquity. The legend relating to the relics of this +saint, is noticed by no author with whom I am acquainted, nor do I find +him mentioned any where in conjunction with the church of Lisieux, or +with any other Norman diocese.--But the extraordinary privilege granted +to the canons of the cathedral, of being Earls of Lisieux, and of +exercising all civil and criminal jurisdiction within the earldom, upon +the vigil and feast-day of St. Ursinus, in every year, is most probably +connected with the tradition commemorated by the picture. The actual +existence of the privilege, in modern times, we learn from Ducarel; who +also details at length the curious ceremonies with which the claim of it +was accompanied. The exercise of these rights was confirmed by a compact +between the canons and the bishop, who, prior to the revolution, united +the secular coronet of an earl with the episcopal mitre, and bore +supreme sway in all civil and ecclesiastical polity, during the +remaining three hundred and sixty-three days in the year. + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 61: This ordinance is preserved by Du Monstier in the +_Neustria Pia_, p. 400.] + +[Footnote 62: The preamble of the charter is as follows:--"Nulli dubium +videri debet futuros esse haeredes Regni coelestis, et cohaeredes Dei, +qui Christum haeredem sui facientes, eorum, quæ in hujus vitae +peregrinatione, quasi a quadam paterna haereditate possident, locis ea +Divino cultui deditis mancipare non dubitant. Ad quam rem, nostram +firmat fidem calix aquæ frigidae, qui, juxta Evangelicum verbum, suo +pollet munere. Non ergò divini muneris gratia privari credendi sunt, qui +Ecclesiasticis obsequiis, etsi officio non intersunt, rerum tamen suarum +admistratione, Divini officii sustentant ministros: ea spe temporalem +subministrantes alimoniam, ut sic solummodò coelestibus reddant +intentos, qui coelestis Regis assiduo constituuntur invigilare obsequio, +participes fiant ejusmodi beneficii omnimodò."--_Neustria Pia_, p. 398.] + +[Footnote 63: The following are the dimensions of the building, in +English feet:-- + + LENGTH. WIDTH. + Nave 54 15 + Choir 45 15 + North aisle 7 + South ditto 15 + +] + +[Footnote 64: _Anglo-Norman Antiquities_, p. 47.] + +[Footnote 65: "Sed ne quid omittam eorum etiam quæ unum Antonium +_Mallet_ habent auctorem, anno 1572, cum prorex urbis Lexoviensis +Livarotus a Carolo rege literas accepisset, quibus qui Lexovii infecti +erant hæresi occidi omnes jubebantur per eos dies quibus princeps +civitas cruore ejus insaniæ hominum commaduerat, easque communicasset +episcopo: Neque sum passurus, inquit præsul, oves meas, et quamquam +evagatas Christi caula, meas tamen adhuc, necdum desperatas, gladio +trucidari. Referente contra prorege imperio se mandatoque urgeri +principis; quod si posthabeatur, omnem esse periculi aleam in caput suum +moriendique necessitatem redituram: Et polliceor, inquit episcopus, illa +te eximendum, postulantique cautionem, præsul consignatum manu sua +scriptum tradidit, fidem datam confirmans. Qua illico publicata +clementia, et ad errantes oves perlata, sollicitudine præsulis +vigilantis circa gregis commissi sibi salutem et conservationem, rediere +sensim in ecclesiæ sinum omnes quotquot Lexovii per ea tempora novum +istud fataleque delirium dementarat, nec ultra ibidem diu visi qui a +recta fide aberrarent."--_Gallia Christiana_, p. 802.] + + + + +LETTER XXII. + +SITE AND RUINS OF THE CAPITAL OF THE LEXOVII--HISTORY OF +LISIEUX--MONASTERIES OF THE DIOCESE--ORDERICUS VITALIS--M. +DUBOIS--LETTER FROM THE PRINCESS BORGHESE. + + +(_Lisieux, July_, 1818.) + +Lisieux represents one of the most ancient capitals of the primitive +tribes of Gaul. The Lexovii, noticed by Julius Cæsar, in his +_Commentaries_, and by other authors, who were almost contemporary with +the Roman conqueror, are supposed by modern geographers to have occupied +a territory nearly co-extensive with the bishopric of Lisieux; and it +may be remarked, that the bounds of the ancient bishoprics of France +were usually conterminal with the Roman provinces and prefectures. + +The capital of the Lexovii was called the _Neomagus_ or _Noviomagus +Lexoviorum_; and no doubt ever was entertained but that the present city +occupied the same site, till an accidental discovery, in the year 1770, +proved the contrary to be the fact.--About that time a _chaussée_ was +formed between Lisieux and Caen; and, in the course of some excavations, +which were made under the direction of M. Hubert, the superintending +engineer, for the purpose of procuring stone, the laborers opened the +foundations of some ruined buildings scattered over a field, called _les +Tourettes_, about three-quarters of a mile from the former town. The +character of these foundations was of a nature to excite curiosity: they +were clearly the work of a remote age, and various specimens of ancient +art were dug up amongst the ruins. The extent of the foundations, which +spread over a space four times as large as the plot occupied by modern +Lisieux left no doubt but that Danville, and all other geographers, must +have been mistaken with respect to the position assigned by them to the +ancient Neomagus. M. Hubert drew a plan of the ruins, and accompanied it +with an historical memoir; but unfortunately he was a man little capable +of prosecuting such researches; and though M. Mongez, in his report to +the National Institute[66], eulogized the map as exact, and the memoir +as excellent, they were both of them extremely faulty. It was reserved +for M. Louis Dubois, of whom I shall have occasion to speak again before +I close this letter, to repair the omissions and rectify the mistakes of +M. Hubert, and he has done it with unremitting zeal and extraordinary +success. The researches of this gentleman, among the remains of Neomagus +Lexoviorum, have already brought to light a large number of valuable +medals, both in silver and bronze, as well as a considerable quantity of +fragments of foreign marble, granite, and porphyry, some of them +curiously wrought. The most important of his discoveries has been +recently made: it is that of a Roman amphitheatre, in a state of great +perfection, the grades being covered only by a thin layer of soil, which +a trifling expence of time and labor will effectually remove. + +Such vestiges prove that Neomagus must have been a place of importance; +and, like the other Gallo-Roman cities, it would probably have +maintained its honors under the Franks; but about the middle of the +fourth century, the Saxons, swarming from the mouths of the Elbe and +Weser, laid waste the coasts of Belgium and of Neustria, and finally +established themselves in that portion of northern Gaul called the +_Secunda Lugdunensis_, which thence obtained, in the _Notitia Imperii_, +the title of the _Littus Saxonicum_.--In the course of these incursions, +it is supposed that Neomagus was utterly destroyed by the invaders. None +of the medals dug up within the precincts of the town, or in its +neighborhood, bear a later date than the reign of Constantine; and, +though the city is recorded in the _Itinerary of Antoninus_, no mention +of it is to be found in the curious chart, known by the name of the +_Tabula Peutingeriana_, formed under the reign of Theodosius the Great; +so that it then appears to have been completely swept away and +forgotten. + +The new town of Lisieux and the bishopric most probably arose together, +towards the close of the sixth century; and the city, like other +provincial capitals in Gaul, took the name of the tribe by whom the +district had been peopled. It first appears in history under the +appellation of _Lexovium_ or _Lexobium_: in the eleventh century, when +Ordericus Vitalis composed his history, it was called _Luxovium_; and +soon after it became _Lixovium_, and _Lizovium_, which, gallicised, +naturally passed into _Lyzieulx_, or, as it is now written, _Lisieux_. +The city was ravaged by the Normans about the year 877, in the course of +one of their predatory excursions from Bayeux: it again felt their +vengeance early in the following century, when Rollo, after taking +Bayeux by storm, sacked Lisieux at the head of his army on his way to +Rouen. The conqueror was not put in possession of the Lexovian territory +by Charles the Simple till 923, eleven years after the rest of Neustria +had been ceded to him. + +United to the duchy, Lisieux enjoyed a short respite from the calamities +of war; nor does it appear to have borne any prominent part in the +transactions of the times. The name, indeed, of the city occurs as the +seat of the council held for the purpose of degrading Malgerius from the +primacy of Normandy; but, except on this occasion, Lisieux is scarcely +mentioned till the first year of the twelfth century, when it was the +seat of rebellion. Ralph Flambart, bishop of Durham, a prelate of +unbounded arrogance, had fled from England, and joined Duke Robert, then +in arms against his brother. Raising the standard of insurrection, he +fixed himself at Lisieux, took forcible possession of the town, and +invested his son, only twelve years old, with the mitre[67], while he +himself exercised despotic authority over the inhabitants. At length, he +purchased peace and forgiveness, by opening the gates to his lawful +sovereign, after the battle of Tinchbray.--In the middle of October, in +the same year, Henry returned to Lisieux, and there held an assembly of +the Norman nobility and prelates, who proclaimed peace throughout the +duchy, enacted sundry strict regulations to prevent any infringement of +the laws, and decreed that Robert, the captive duke, should be consigned +to an English prison.--Two years subsequently, another council was also +assembled at Lisieux, by the same sovereign, and for nearly the same +objects; and again, in 1119, Henry convened his nobles a third time at +Lisieux, when this parliament ratified the peace concluded at Gisors, +six years previously, and witnessed the marriage[68] of the king's son, +William Adelin, with Matilda, daughter of Fulk, earl of Anjou. + +Historical distinction is seldom enviable:--in the wars occasioned by +the usurpation of Stephen, Lisieux once more obtained an unfortunate +celebrity. The town was attacked in 1136, by the forces of Anjou, under +the command of Geoffrey Plantagenet, husband of the Empress Maud, joined +by those of William, Duke of Poitiers; and the garrison, consisting of +Bretons, seeing no hope of effectual resistance or of rescue, set fire +to the place to the extreme mortification of the invaders, who, in the +language of the chronicles of the times, "when they beheld the city and +all its wealth a prey to the flames, waxed exceedingly wroth, at being +deprived of the spoil; and grieved sorely for the loss of the booty +which perished in the conflagration."--The town, however, was not so +effectually ruined, but that, during the following year, it served King +Stephen as a rallying point, at which to collect his army to march +against his antagonist.--In 1169, it was distinguished by being selected +by Thomas à Becket, as the place of his retirement during his temporary +disgrace. + +History from this time forward relates but little concerning Lisieux. +Though surrounded with walls during the bishopric of John, who was +promoted to the see early in the twelfth century, the situation of the +town, far from the coast or from the frontiers of the province, rendered +the inhabitants naturally unwarlike, and caused them in general to +submit quietly to the stronger party.--Brito, in his _Philippiad_, says +that, when Philip Augustus took Lisieux, in 1213, the Lexovians, +destitute of fountains, disputed with the toads for the water of the +muddy ditches. His mentioning such a fact is curious, as shewing that +public fountains were at that early period of frequent occurrence in +Normandy.--Our countrymen, in the fifteenth century, acted with great +rigor, to use the mildest terms, towards Lisieux. Henry, after landing +at Touques, in 1417, entered the town, in the character of an enraged +enemy, not as the sovereign of his people: he gave it up to plunder; and +even the public archives were not spared. The cruelty of our English +king is strongly contrasted by the conduct of the Count de Danois, +general of the army of Charles VIIth, to whom the town capitulated in +1449. Thomas Basin, then bishop, negociated with such ability, that, +according to Monstrelet, "not the slightest damage was done to any +individual, but each peaceably enjoyed his property as before the +surrender." + +The most celebrated monasteries within the diocese of Lisieux were the +Benedictine abbeys of Bernay, St. Evroul, Preaux, and +Cormeilles.--Cormeilles was founded by William Fitz-Osborne, a relation +to William the Conqueror, at whose court he held the office of sewer, +and by whom he was promoted to the earldom of Hereford. Its church and +monastic buildings had so far gone to ruin, in the last century, as to +call forth a strong remonstrance from Mabillon[69]: they were afterwards +repaired by Charles of Orléans, who was appointed abbot in 1726.--The +abbey of Preaux is said to have existed prior to the invasion of the +Normans; but its earliest records go no farther back than the middle of +the eleventh century, when it was restored by Humphrey de Vetulis, who +built and inclosed the monastery about the year 1035, at which time Duke +Robert undertook his pilgrimage to the Holy Land. This abbey, according +to the account given by Gough, in his _Alien Priories_, presented to +thirty benefices, and enjoyed an annual revenue of twenty thousand +livres.--Among its English lands which were considerable, was the priory +of Toft-Monks in our own immediate vicinity: the name, as you know, +remains, though no traces of the building are now in existence. + +The third abbey, that of St. Evrau or St. Evroul, called in Latin, +_Monasterium Uticense_, was one of the most renowned throughout +Normandy. The abbey dates its origin from St. Evroul himself, a +nobleman, who lived in the reign of Childebert, and was attached to the +palace of that monarch, "from which," to use the words of the +chronicles, "he made his escape, as from shipwreck, and fled to the +woods, and entered upon the monastic life."--The legend of St. Ebrulfus +probably savors of romance, the almost inseparable companion of +traditional, and particularly of monastic, history: it is safer, +therefore, to be contented with referring the foundation of the +monastery to the tenth century, when William Gerouis, after having been +treacherously deprived of his sight and otherwise maimed, renounced the +world; and, uniting with his nephews, Hugh and Robert de Grentemaisnil, +brought considerable possessions to the endowment of this abbey. The +abbey was at all times protected by the especial favor of the kings of +France. No payment or service could be demanded from its monks; they +acknowledged no master without their own walls, besides the sovereign +himself; they were entitled to exemption from every kind of burthen; and +they had the privilege of being empowered to castellate the convent, and +to compel the people of the surrounding district to contribute their +assistance for the purpose. + +St. Evroul, however, principally claims our attention, as the sanctuary +where Ordericus Vitalis, to use his own expressions, "delighted in +obedience and poverty."--This most valuable writer was an Englishman; +his native town being Attingesham, on the Severn, where he was born in +the year 1075. He was sent to school at Shrewsbury, and there received +the first rudiments, both of the _humanities_ and of ecclesiastical +education. In the tenth year of his age, his father, Odelerius, +delivered the boy to the care of the monk Rainaldus. The weeping father +parted from the weeping son, and they never saw each other more. +Ordericus crossed the sea, and arrived in Normandy, an exile, as he +describes himself, and "hearing, like Joseph in Egypt, a language which +he understood not." In the eleventh year of his age, he received the +tonsure from the hands of Mainerius, the abbot of St. Evroul. In the +thirty-third year of his age, he was ordained a priest; and +thenceforward his life wore away in study and tranquillity. Aged and +infirm, he completed his _Ecclesiastical History_, in the sixty-seventh +year of his age; and this great and valuable work ends with his +auto-biography, which is written in an affecting strain of simplicity +and piety.--The Ecclesiastical History of Ordericus is divided into +parts: the first portion contains an epitome of the sacred and profane +history of the world, beginning with the incarnation, and ending with +Pope Innocent IInd. The second, and more important division, contains +the history of Normandy, from the first invasion of the country, down +to the year 1141.--Though professedly an ecclesiastical historian, yet +Ordericus Vitalis is exceedingly copious in his details of secular +events; and it is from these that his chronicle derives its importance +and curiosity. It was first published by Duchesne, in his collection of +Norman historians, a work which is now of rare occurrence, and it has +never been reprinted. + +Valuable materials for a new edition were, however, collected early in +the eighteenth century, by William Bessin, a monk of St. Ouen; and +these, before the revolution, were preserved in the library of that +abbey. Bessin had been assisted in the task by Francis Charles Dujardin, +prior of St. Evroul, who had collated the text, as published in the +collection of Norman historians, with the original manuscript in his own +monastery, to which latter Duchesne unfortunately had not access, but +had been obliged to content himself with a copy, now in the Royal +Library at Paris. It is to be hoped, that the joint labors of Bessin and +Dujardin may still be in existence, and may come to light, when M. +Liquet shall have completed the task of arranging the manuscripts in the +public library at Rouen. The manuscript which belonged to St. Evroul, +and was always supposed to be an autograph from the hands of Ordericus +Vitalis himself, was discovered during the revolution among a heap of +parchments, thrown aside as of no account, in some buildings belonging +to the former district of Laigle. It is now deposited in the public +library of the department of the Orne, but unfortunately, nearly half +the leaves of the volume are lost. The earliest part of what remains is +towards the close of the seventh book, and of this only a fragment, +consisting of eight pages, is left. The termination of the seventh book, +and the whole of the eighth are wanting. From the ninth to the +thirteenth, both of these inclusive, the manuscript is perfect. A page +or two, however, at the end of the work, which contained the author's +life, has been torn out.--At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the +manuscript was complete; for it is known that, at that time, a monk of +St. Evroul made a transcript of it, which extended through four volumes +in folio. These volumes were soon dispersed. Two of them found their way +to Rouen, where they were kept in the library of St. Ouen: the other two +were in that of the abbey of St. Maur de Glandefeuille, on the Loire. A +third, though incomplete, copy of the original manuscript was also known +to exist in France before the revolution. It formerly belonged to +Coaslin de Camboret, Bishop of Metz, by whom it was presented, together +with four thousand manuscripts, to the monks of St. Germain des Prés at +Paris. But the greater part of the literary treasures of this abbey fell +a prey to the flames in July, 1793, and it is feared that the copy of +Ordericus perished at that time. + +The original code from St. Evroul, was discovered by M. Louis Dubois, +whom I have already mentioned in connection with the ruins of Neomagus. +He is an antiquary of extensive knowledge and extraordinary zeal. His +_History of Lisieux_, which he has long been preparing for the press, +will be a work of great curiosity and interest. The publication of it is +for the present suspended, whilst he superintends an edition of the +_Vaux-de-Vires_, or _Vaux de villes_, of Olivier Basselin, an early +Norman poet. Meanwhile, M. Dubois still continues his researches among +the foundations of the ancient city, from which he has collected a +number of valuable relics. Some of the most pleasant and instructive +hours of my tour have been spent in his society; and, whilst it was +under his guidance that I visited the antiquities of Lisieux, his +learning assisted me in illustrating them. M. Dubois likewise possesses +a large collection of original autograph letters, which I found much +pleasure in perusing. + +During the reign of Napoléon, he held the office of librarian of +Alençon, a situation that afforded him the opportunity of meeting with +many literary curiosities of this nature. Among others, which thus fell +into his hands, was the following letter, written by the Princess +Borghese, sister to the Emperor, and addressed to the Empress +Marie-Louise, by whom it was received, while on a tour through the +western departments. I annex a transcript of this epistle; for, although +it has no immediate connection with the main subject of our +correspondence, it yet is a very singular contribution towards the +private history of the dynasty of Napoléon.--The odd mixture of +caudle-cup compliment and courtly flattery, is sufficiently amusing. I +have copied it, word for word, letter for letter, and point for point; +for, as we have no other specimen of the epistles of her imperial +highness, I think it right to preserve all the peculiarities of the +original; and, by, way of a treat for the collectors of autographs, I +have added a fac-simile of her signature. + +Madame et tres chere SÅ"ur, + +je recois par le Prince Aldobrandini la lettre de V.M. et la belle tasse +dont elle a daigné, le charger pour moi au nom de L'empereur, je +remercie mille fois votre aimable bonté, et j'ose vous prier ma tres +chere sÅ"ur d'être aupres de L'empereur l'interprete de ma reconnaissance +pour cette marque de souvenir.--je fais parler beaucoup le Prince et la +Princesse Aldobrandini sur votre santé, sur votre belle grossesse, je ne +me lasse pas de les interroger, et je suis heureuse d'apprendre que vous +vous portés tres bien, que rien ne vous fatigue, et que vous avés la +plus belle grossesse qu'il soit possible de desirer, combien je desire +chere sÅ"ur que tous nos vÅ"ux soient exaucés, ne croyés cependant pas +que si vous nous donnés une petite Princesse je ne l'aimerais pas. non, +elle nous serait chere, elle resemblerait a V.M. elle aurait sa douceur, +son amabilité, et ce joli caractere qui la fait cherir de ceux qui out +le bonheur de la Conaitre--mais ma chère sÅ"ur j'ai tort de m'apesantir +sur les qualités dont serait douée cette auguste princesse, vous nous +donnerés d'abord un prince un petit Roi de Rome, jugés combien je le +desire nos bons toscans prient pour vous, ils vous aiment et je n'ai pas +de peine a leur inspirer ce que je sens si vivement. + +je vous remercie ma tres chere sÅ"ur de l'interest que vous prenez a mon +fils, tout le monde dit qu'il ressemble a L'empereur. cela me Charme il +est bien portant a present, et j'espere qu'il sera digne de servir sous +les drapeaux de son auguste oncle.--adieu ma chere sÅ"ur soyés assés +bonne pour Conserver un souvenir a une sÅ"ur qui vous est tendrement +attachée. Napoléon ne cesse de lire la lettre pleine de bonté que V.M. a +daigné lui ecrire, cela lui a fait sentir le plaisir qu'il y avait a +savoir lire, et l'encourage dans ses etudes--je vous embrasse et suis, + +Madame et tres chere SÅ"ur + +de V.M. + +La plus attachée + +[Illustration: Autograph of the Princess Borghese] + +Pitti le 18 janvier 1811 + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 66: See _Magazin Encyclopédique, for_ 1802, III. p. 504.] + +[Footnote 67: This transaction appears to have been peculiarly flagrant: +a long detail of the circumstances, accompanied by several letters, very +characteristic of the feeling and church-government of the times, is +preserved in the _Concilia Normannica_, p. 520.--The account concludes +in the following words:--"Exhorruit ad facinus, non Normannia solum et +Anglia, quibus maledicta progenies notissima erat, sed et universa +Gallia, et a singulis ad Apostolicum Paschalem delatum est. Nec tamen +utrique simul ante quinquienniuin sordes de domo Dei propulsare +prævaluerunt. Ceteris ferventiùs institit Yvo Carnotensis Antistes, +conculcatæ disciplinæ ecclesiasticæ zelo succensus; in tantum ut +Neustriacos Præsules quasi desides ac pusillanimes coarguere veritus non +sit: sed ea erat Ecclesiæ sub ignavo Principe sors per omnia +lamentabilis, ut ipsemet postmodum cum laude non invitus agnovit."] + +[Footnote 68: Sandford, in his _Genealogical History of the Kings of +England_, says, that this marriage was solemnized at Luxseul, in the +county of Burgundy; but he refers for his authority to Ordericus +Vitalis, by whom it is stated to have been at Luxovium, the name by +which he always calls Lisieux; and he, in the same page, mentions the +assembly of the nobles also held there.] + +[Footnote 69: _Annal_, IV. p. 599.] + + + + +LETTER XXIII. + +FRENCH POLICE--RIDE FROM LISIEUX TO CAEN--CIDER--GENERAL APPEARANCE AND +TRADE OF CAEN--ENGLISH RESIDENT THERE. + + +(_Caen, August_, 1818.) + +Our reception at Caen has been somewhat inauspicious: we had scarcely +made the few necessary arrangements at the hôtel, and seated ourselves +quietly before the _caffé au lait_, when two gens-d'armes, in military +costume, stalked without ceremony into the room, and, taking chairs at +the table, began the conversation rather abruptly, with "Monsieur, vous +êtes sous arrêt."--My companions were appalled by such a salutation, and +apprehended some mistake; but the fact turned out to be, that our +passport did not bear the signature of the mayor of Rouen, and that this +ignorance of the regulations of the French police had subjected us to so +unexpected a visit. It was too late in the day for the deficiency to be +then supplied; and therefore, after a few expostulations, accompanied +with observations, on their part, that we had the good fortune to have +fixed ourselves at an _honnête hôtel_, and did not wear the appearance +of suspicious persons, the soldiers took their leave, first exacting +from me a promise, that I would present myself the next morning before +the proper officer, and would in the meanwhile consider myself a +prisoner upon my parole. + +The impression which this occurrence could not fail to make upon our +minds, was, that the object of the gens-d'armes had been either to +extort from us money, or to shew their consequence; but I have since +been led to believe that they did no more than their duty.--We have +several acquaintance among the English who reside here, and we find from +the whole of them, that the utmost strictness is practised in all +matters relating to passports, and not less towards natives than +foreigners. No Frenchman can quit his _arrondissement_ unprovided with a +passport; and the route he intends to take, and the distance he designs +to travel, must also be specified. A week or two ago the prefect of the +police himself was escorted back to Caen, between a couple of +gens-d'armes, because he inadvertently paid a visit to a neighboring +bathing-place without his passport in his pocket. This is a current +story here: I cannot vouch for its authenticity; however it is certain, +that since the discovery of the late plot contrived by the ultras, a +plot whose existence is generally disbelieved, the French police is more +than usually upon the alert. + +When I presented myself at the Hôtel de Ville, to redeem my promise, a +recent decree was pointed out to me, containing a variety of regulations +which shew extraordinary uneasiness on the part of the government, and +which would seem to indicate that they are in possession of intelligence +respecting projects, that threaten the public tranquillity[70]. To judge +from all official proceedings, it seems as if we were walking upon a +smothered volcano, and yet we are told by every body that there is not +the slightest room for apprehension of any kind. + +This interruption has thrown me out of the regular course of my +narration.--My last letter left me still at Lisieux, from which city to +Caen the road lies through a tract of country altogether without +interest, and in most places without beauty. During the first half of +the ride, we could almost have fancied ourselves at home in +Norfolk.--About this part of the way, the road descends through a hollow +or dale, which bore the ominous name of "_Coupe Gorge_." When Napoléon +was last in Normandy, he inquired into the origin of the +appellation.--The diligences, he was answered, "had often been stopped +and robbed in this solitary pass."--Napoléon then said, "If one person +can be made to settle here, more will follow, for it is conveniently +situated between two good towns. Let the prefect buy a little plot of +ground and build a house upon it, and give it to an old soldier, upon +condition that he shall constantly reside in it with his family." The +orders of Napoléon were obeyed. The old soldier opened an inn, other +houses arose round it, and the cut-throat pass is now thoroughly secure. +The conductor and the post-boy tell the tale with glee whilst they drive +through the hamlet; and its humble dwellings will perhaps recal the +memory and fame of Napoléon Buonaparte when the brazen column of the +grand army, and the marble arch of the Thuilleries, shall have been long +levelled with the ground.--As to the character of the landscape, I must +add, that though it makes a bad picture, there are great appearances of +care in the agriculture, and of comfort in the population. The country, +too, is sufficiently well wooded; and apple and pear trees every where +take the place of the pollard oaks and elms of our hedge-rows. + +Norman cider is famous throughout France: it is principally, however, +the western part of the province that produces it. Throughout the whole +of that district, the lower classes of the inhabitants scarcely use any +other beverage. Vines, as I have already had occasion to mention, were +certainly cultivated, in early times, farther to the north than they are +at present. The same proofs exist of vineyards in the vicinity of Caen +and Lisieux, as at Jumieges. Indeed, towards the close of the last +century, there was still a vineyard at Argence, only four miles +south-east of Caen; and a kind of white wine was made there, which was +known by the name of _Vin Huet_. But the liquor was meagre; and I +understand that the vineyard is destroyed.--Upon the subject of the +early use of beer in Normandy, tradition is somewhat indistinct. The +ancient name of one of the streets in Caen, _rue de la Cervoisiere_, +distinctly proves the habit of beer-drinking; and, when Tacitus speaks +of the beverage of the Germans, in his time, as "humor ex hordeo vel +frumento in quandam similitudinem vini corruptus," it seems highly +improbable but that the same liquor should have been in use among the +cognate tribes of Gaul. Brito, however, expressly says of Flanders, that +it is a place where, + + + "Raris sylva locis facit umbram, vinea nusquam: + Indigenis potus Thetidi miscetur avena, + Ut vice sit vini multo confecta labore." + + +And the same author likewise tells us, that the Normans of his time were +cider-drinkers-- + + + "... _Siceræque_ potatrix + Algia tumentis ... + Non tot in autumni rubet Algia tempore _pomis_ + Unde liquare solet _siceram_ sibi _Neustria_ gratam." + + +Huet is of opinion, that the use of cider was first introduced into +Neustria by the Normans, who had learned it of the Biscayans, as these +latter had done from the inhabitants of the northern coast of Africa. + +We did not find the Norman cider at all palatable: it is extremely sour, +hard, and austere. The inhabitants, however, say that this is not its +natural character, but is attributable to the late unfavorable seasons, +which have prevented the fruit from ripening properly.--The apple-tree +and pear-tree in Normandy, far from being ugly, and distorted, and +stunted in their growth, as is commonly seen in England, are trees of +great beauty, and of extreme luxuriance, both in foliage and +ramification. The _Coccus_, too, which has caused so much destruction +among our orchards at home, is fortunately still unknown here. + +The only place at which we stopped between Lisieux and Caen, was +Croissanville, a poor village, but one that possesses a degree of +historical interest, as the spot where the battle was fought between +Aigrold, King of Denmark, and Louis d'Outremer, King of France; a battle +which seated Richard Fearnought upon the throne of Normandy.--The +country about Croissanville is an immense tract of meadow-land; and from +it the Parisian market draws a considerable proportion of its supplies +of beef. The cattle that graze in these pastures are of a large size, +and red, and all horned; very unlike those about Caen, which latter are +of small and delicate proportions, with heads approaching to those of +deer, and commonly with black faces and legs. + +From Croissanville to Caen the road passes through a dead flat, almost +wholly consisting of uninclosed corn-fields, extending in all +directions, with unvaried dull monotony, as far as the eye can reach. +Buck-wheat is cultivated in a large proportion of them: the inhabitants +prepare a kind of cake from this grain, of which they are very fond, and +which is said to be wholesome. Tradition, founded principally upon the +French name of this plant, _sarrazin_, has given rise to a general +belief, that buck-wheat was introduced into France by the Moors; but +this opinion has, of late, been ably combated. The plant is not to be +found in Arabia, Spain, or Sicily; the countries more particularly +inhabited by Mahometans; and in Brittany, it still passes by the Celtic +appellation, _had-razin_, signifying _red-corn_, of which words +_sarrazin_ may fairly be regarded a corruption, as _buck-wheat_, in our +own tongue, ought unquestionably to be written _beech-wheat_; a term +synonymous to what it is called in Latin and German. The present name +may well appear inexplicable, to those who are unacquainted with the +Anglo-Saxon and its cognate dialects. + +In the midst of this level country, in which even apple-trees are +scarce, stands the ancient capital of Lower Normandy, extending from +east to west in so long a line, that on our approach it appeared to +cover as much ground as Rouen, which is in fact double its size.--From a +distance, the view of Caen is grand; not only from the apparent +magnitude of the town, but from the numerous spires and towers, that, +rising from every part of it, give it an air of great importance. Those +of the abbeys of St. Stephen and the Trinity, at opposite extremities, +constitute the principal features in the view.--The same favorable +impressions continue when you enter the town. The streets are wide, and +the houses of stone; and a stone city is a pleasing sight to eyes long +accustomed to the wooden buildings of Rouen, Bernay, and +Lisieux.--Besides, there is a certain degree of regularity in the +construction of the buildings, and some care is taken in keeping them +clean.--Lace-making is the principal occupation of females of the lower +class in Caen and the neighborhood; the streets, as we passed along, +were lined almost uninterruptedly on either side, with a row of +lace-makers; and boys were not uncommonly working among the women. It is +calculated that not fewer than twenty thousand individuals, of all ages, +from ten or twelve years old and upwards, are thus employed; and the +annual produce of their labor is estimated at one hundred and seventy +thousand pounds sterling. Caen lace is in high estimation for its beauty +and quality, and is exported in considerable quantities. + +The present population of Caen amounts to about thirty-one thousand +individuals. The town, no longer the capital of Lower Normandy, is still +equally distinguished as the capital of the department of the Calvados. +The prefect resides here; and the royal court of Caen comprises in its +jurisdiction, not only the department more especially appertaining to +it, but also those of the Manche and the Orne.--The situation of the +town, though at the confluence of the Orne and the Odon, is not such as +can be regarded favorable to extensive trade. The united rivers form a +stream, which, though navigable at very high tides for vessels of two +hundred tons burthen, will, on other occasions, admit only of much +smaller ones; while the channel, nearer to its mouth, is obstructed by +rocks that render the navigation difficult and dangerous. Many plans +have been projected and attempted for the purpose of improving and +enlarging the harbor, but little or no progress has yet been made. +Vauban long since pointed out the mouth of the Orne as singularly well +adapted for a naval station; and Napoléon, in pursuance of this idea, +actually commenced the excavation of a basin under the walls of the +town, and intended to deepen the bed of the river, thinking it best to +make a beginning in this direction. All idea, however, of prosecuting +such a plan is for the present abandoned.--Other engineers have proposed +the junction of the Orne with the Loire by means of a canal, which would +be of the greatest importance to France, not only by facilitating +internal commerce, but by saving her vessels the necessity of coasting +Capes Finisterre, and la Hogue, and thus enabling them to avoid a +navigation, which is at all times dangerous, and in case of war +peculiarly exposed. + +For minor purposes, however, for mills and manufactories of different +kinds, Caen is certainly well situated; being in almost every direction +intersected with streams, owing to the repeated ramifications of the +Odon, some of which are artificial, and of as early a date as the +eleventh century. The same circumstance contributes materially to the +pleasantness of the town; for the banks of the river are in many places +formed into walks, and crowned by avenues of noble trees. + +[Illustration: Head-Dress of Females, at Caen] + +The _grand cours_ at Caen is almost as fine a promenade as that at +Rouen. On Sunday evening it was completely crowded. The scene was full +of life and gaiety, and very varied. All the females of the lower rank, +and many of the higher orders, were dressed in the costume of the +country, which commonly consists of a scarlet gown and deep-blue apron, +or _vice versâ_. Their hair, which is usually powdered, is combed +entirely back from every part of their faces, and tucked up behind. The +snow-white cap which covers it is beautifully plaited, and has longer +lappets than in the Pays de Caux. Mr. Cotman sketched the _coiffure_ of +the chamber-maid, at the Hôtel d'Espagne, in grand costume, and I send +his drawing to you.--The men dress like the English; but do not +therefore fancy that you or I should have any chance of being mistaken +for natives, even if we did not betray ourselves by our accent. Here, as +every where else, our countrymen are infallibly known: their careless +slouching gait is sure to mark them; and the police keep a watchful eye +upon them. Caen is at present frequented by the English: those indeed, +who, like the Virgilian steeds, "stare loco nesciunt," seldom shew +themselves in Lower Normandy; but above thirty British families have +taken up their residence in this town: they have been induced to do so +principally by the cheapness of living, and by the advantages held out +for the education of their children. A friend of mine, who is of the +number of temporary inhabitants, occupies the best house in the place, +formerly the residence of the Duc d'Aumale; and for this, with the +garden, and offices, and furniture of all kinds, except linen and plate, +he pays only nine pounds a month. For a still larger house in the +country, including an orchard and garden, containing three acres, well +stocked with fruit-trees, he is asked sixty pounds from this time to +Christmas. But, cheap as this appears, the expence of living at +Coutances, or at Bayeux, or Valognes, is very much less. + +Were I obliged to seek myself a residence beyond the limits of our own +country, I never saw a place which I should prefer to Caen. I should not +be tempted to look much farther before I said, + + + "Sis meæ sedes utinam senectæ:"-- + + +The historical recollections that are called forth at almost every turn, +would probably have some influence in determining my choice; the noble +specimens of ancient architecture which happily remain, unscathed by +wars and Calvinists and revolutions, might possibly have more; but the +literary resources which the town affords, the pleasant society with +which it abounds, and, above all, the amiable character of its +inhabitants, would be my great attraction.--At present, indeed, we have +not been here sufficiently long to say much upon the subject of society +from our own experience; but the testimony we receive from all quarters +is uniform in this point, and the civilities already shewn us, are of a +nature to cause the most agreeable prepossessions. It is not our +intention to be hurried at Caen; and I shall therefore reserve to my +future letters any remarks upon its history and its antiquities. To a +traveller who is desirous of information, the town is calculated to +furnish abundant materials. + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 70: The following were among the articles of the decree:--"No +individual to leave his _arrondissement_ without a passport.--No person +to receive a stranger in his house, or suffer one to quit it, without +apprising the police.--The inhabitants to carry their arms of all kinds +to the Hôtel de Ville.--No plays to be performed, except first approved +by the officers of the police.--The manager of the theatre to give +notice every Friday to the mayor, of the pieces intended to be acted the +following week.--The actors to read nothing, and say nothing, which is +not in the play.--The performance to begin precisely at six, and close +at ten.--Only a certain interval to be allowed between the different +pieces, or between the acts of each.--Every person to be uncovered, +except the soldiers on duty.--No weapons of any kind, nor even sticks or +umbrellas, to be taken into the theatre."] + + + + +LETTER XXIV. + +HISTORIANS OF CAEN--TOWERS AND FORTIFICATIONS--CHÂTEAU DE LA +GENDARMERIE--CASTLE--CHURCHES OF ST. STEPHEN, ST. NICHOLAS, ST. PETER, +ST. JOHN, AND ST. MICHEL DE VAUCELLES. + + +(_Caen, August,_ 1818.) + +France does not abound in topographical writers; but the history and +antiquities of Caen have been illustrated with singular ability, by men +to whom the town gave birth, and who have treated their subject with +equal research and fidelity--these are Charles de Bourgueville, commonly +called the Seigneur de Bras, and the learned Huet, Bishop of Avranches. + +De Bourgueville was a magistrate of Caen, where he resided during almost +the whole of the sixteenth century. The religious wars were then raging; +and he relates, in a most entertaining and artless manner, the history +of the events of which he was an eye-witness. His work, as is justly +observed by Huet, is a treasure, that has preserved the recollection of +a great variety of the most curious details, which would otherwise have +been neglected and forgotten. Every page of it is stamped with the +character of the author--frankness, simplicity, and uprightness. It +abounds in sound morality, sage maxims, and proofs of excellent +principles in religion and politics; and, if the writer occasionally +carries his _naïveté_ to excess, it is to be recollected that the book +was published when he was in his eighty-fifth year, a period of life +when indulgence may reasonably be claimed. He died four years +subsequently, in 1593.--In Huet's work, the materials are selected with +more skill, and are digested with more talent. The author brought to his +task a mind well stored with the learning requisite for the purpose, and +employed it with judgment. But he has confined himself, almost wholly, +to the description of the town; and the consequence is, that while the +bishop's is the work most commonly referred to, the magistrate's is that +which is most generally read. The dedication of the former to the town +of Caen, does honor to the feelings of the writer: the portrait of the +latter, prefixed to his volume, and encircled with his quaint motto, +_"L'heur de grace use l'oubli,"_ itself an anagram upon his name, +bespeaks and insures the good will of the reader. + +The origin of Caen is uncertain.--Its foundation has been alternately +ascribed to Phoenicians, Romans, Gauls, Saxons, and Normans. The +earliest historical fact connected with the town, is recorded in an old +chronicle of Normandy[71], written in 1487, by William de Talleur, of +Rouen. The author, in speaking of the meeting between Louis d'Outremer, +King of France, and Richard Ist, Duke of Normandy, about the year 945, +enumerates Caen among the good towns of the province. Upon this, Huet +observes that, supposing Caen to have been at that time only recently +founded, it must have acquired importance with much rapidity; for, in +the charter, by which Richard IIIrd, Duke of Normandy, granted a dowery +to Adela, daughter of Robert, King of France, whom he married in 1026, +Caen is not only stated as one of the portions of the dower, but its +churches, its market, its custom-house, its quay, and its various +appurtenances are expressly mentioned; and two hundred years afterwards, +Brito in his _Philippiad_, puts Caen in competition with Paris, + + + "Villa potens, opulenta situ, spatiosa, decora, + Fluminibus, pratis, et agrorum fertilitate, + Merciferasque rates portu capiente marino, + Seque tot ecclesiis, domibus et civibus ornans, + Ut se Parisio vix annuat esse minorem."-- + + +Caen is designated in Duke Richard's charter, by the appellation of "in +Bajocensi comitatu villa quæ dicitur _Cathim_, super fluvium +Olnæ."--From _Cathim_, came _Cahem_; and _Cahem_, in process of time, +was gradually softened into _Caen_. The elision that took place in the +first instance, is of a similar nature to that by which the Italian +words _padre_ and _madre_, have been converted into _père_ and _mère_; +and the alteration in the latter case continued to be indicated by the +diæresis, which, till lately, separated the two adjoining +vowels.--Towards the latter part of the eleventh century, Caen is +frequently mentioned by the monkish historians, in whose Latin, the town +is styled _Cadomus_ or _Cadomum_.--And here ingenious etymologists have +found a wide field for conjecture: Cadomus, says one, was undoubtedly +founded by Cadmus; another, who hesitates at a Phoenician antiquity, +grasps with greater eagerness at a Roman etymon, and maintains that +_Cadomus_ is a corruption from _Caii domus_, fully and sufficiently +proving that the town was built by Julius Cæsar. + +Robert Wace states, in his _Roman de Rou_, that, at the time +immediately previous to the conquest of England, Caen was an open +town.-- + + + "Encore ert Caen sans Châtel, + N'y avoit mur, ny quesnel."-- + + +And Wace is a competent witness; for he lived during the reign of Henry +Ist, to whom he dedicated his poem. Philip de Valois, in 1346, allowed +the citizens to surround the town with ditches, walls, and gates. This +permission was granted by the king, on the application of the +inhabitants, Caen, as they then complained, being still open and +unfortified. Hence, the fortifications have been considered to be the +work of the fourteenth century, and, generally speaking, they were +unquestionably, of that time; but it is equally certain, that a portion +was erected long before. + +A proof of the antiquity of the fortifications may perhaps be found in +the name of the tower called _la Tour Guillaume le Roi_, which stands +immediately behind St. Peter's, and was intended to protect the river at +the extremity of the walls, dividing the town from the suburb of +Vaugeux. This tower is generally supposed to be the oldest in the +fortifications. Its masonry is similar to that of the wall with which it +is connected, and which is known to have been built about the same time +as the abbey of St. Stephen. The appearance of it is plain, massy, and +rugged; and it forms a picturesque object. Such also is the _Tour au +Massacre_, which is situated at the confluence of the Orne and Odon. The +tower in question is said to have received its gloomy title from a +massacre, of which our countrymen were guilty, at the time when the town +was taken in 1346. There is, however, reason to believe that this tale +is a mere fiction. Huet, at the same time that he does not venture so +far to oppose popular belief, as altogether to deny the truth of the +story of the massacre, adds, that the original name of the tower was _la +Tour Machart_, and suspects its present appellation to be no more than a +corruption of the former one. Renauld Machart was bailiff of Caen two +years prior to the capture of the place by Edward IIIrd; and the +probability is, that the tower was erected by him in those times of +alarm, and thus took his name. It has been supposed that the figure +sculptured upon it, may also be intended for a representation of Machart +himself. + +Caen contains another castellated building, which might easily mislead +the studious antiquarian. The _Château de Calix_, as it is sometimes +called, is situated at the extremity of the suburb known by that name; +and the curious inhabitants of Caen usually suppose that it was erected +for the purpose of commanding the river, whilst it flowed in its +ancient, but now deserted, bed; or, at least, that it replaces such a +fortification. According to the learned Abbé de la Rue, however, and he +is a most competent authority, no real fortification ever existed here; +but the castle was raised in conformity to the caprice of Girard de +Nollent, the wealthy owner of the property, who flourished towards the +beginning of the sixteenth century.--Girard de Nollent's mansion is now +occupied by a farmer. It has four fronts. The windows are +square-headed, and surrounded by elegant mouldings; but the mullions +have been destroyed. One medallion yet remains over the entrance; and it +is probable that the walls were originally covered with ornaments of +this kind. Such, at least, is the case with the towers and walls, which, +surrounding the dwelling, have given it a castellated aspect. The +circular tower nearest the gate forms the subject of the accompanying +sketch: it is dotted on all sides with busts in basso-relievo, enclosed +in medallions, and of great diversity of character. One is a frowning +warrior, arrayed in the helmet of an emperor of the lower empire; +another, is a damsel attired in a ruff; a third, is a turbaned turk. The +borders of the medallions are equally diversified: the _cordelière_, +well known in French heraldry, the vine-leaf, the oak-leaf, all appear +as ornaments. The battlements are surmounted with two statues, +apparently Neptune, or a sea-god, and Hercules. These heathen deities +not being very familiar to the good people of Caen, they have converted +them, in imagination, into two gens-d'armes, mounting guard on the +castle; and hence it is frequently called the _Château de la +Gendarmerie_. Some of the busts are accompanied by inscriptions--"Vincit +pudicitiam mors;" "Vincit amor pudicitiam;" "Amor vincit mortem;" and +all seem to be either historical or allegorical. The battlements of the +curtain-wall are ornamented in the same manner. The farther tower has +less decoration, and is verging to decay. I have given these details, +because the castle of Calix is a specimen of a style of which we have no +fair parallel in England, and the workmanship is far from being +contemptible. + +[Illustration: Tower in the _Château de Calix_, at Caen] + +In the Rue St. Jean is a house with decorations, in the same style, but +more sumptuous, or, perhaps I ought rather to say, more perfect. Both of +them are most probably of nearly the same date: for it was principally +during the reigns of Charles VIIIth and Louis XIIth, that the practice +prevailed in France, of ornamenting the fronts of houses with +medallions. The custom died away under Francis Ist. + +I must now return to more genuine fortifications.--When the walls of +Caen were perfect, they afforded an agreeable and convenient promenade +completely round the town, their width being so great, that three +persons might with ease walk abreast upon them. De Bourgueville tells us +that, in his time, they were as much frequented as the streets; and he +expatiates with great pleasure upon the gay and busy prospect which they +commanded, + +The castle at Caen, degraded as it is in its character by modern +innovation, is more deserving of notice as an historical, than as an +architectural, relic. It still claims to be ranked as a place of +defence, though it retains but few of its original features. The +spacious, lofty, circular towers, known by the names of the black, the +white, the red, and the grey horse, which flanked its ramparts, have +been brought down to the level of the platform. The dungeon tower is +destroyed. All the grandeur of the Norman castle is lost; though the +width of its ditches, and the thickness of its walls, still testify its +ancient strength. I doubt whether any castle in France covers an equal +extent of ground. Monstrelet and other writers have observed, that this +single fortress exceeded in size the towns of Corbeil or of Montferrand; +and, indeed, there are reasons for supposing that Caen, when first +founded, only occupied the site of the present castle; and that, when it +became advisable to convert the old town into a fortress, the +inhabitants migrated into the valley below. Six thousand infantry could +be drawn up in battle-array within the outer ballium; and so great was +the number of houses and of inhabitants enclosed within its area, that +it was thought expedient to build in it a parochial church, dedicated to +St. George, besides two chapels. + +One of the chapels is still in existence, though now converted to a +store-house; and the Abbé de la Rue considers it as an erection anterior +to the conquest, and, belonging to the old town of Caen. Its choir is +turned towards the west, and its front to the east.--The religious +edifices upon the continent do not preserve the same uniformity as our +English ones, in having their altars placed in the direction of the +rising sun; but this at Caen is a very remarkable instance of the +position of the entrance and the altar being completely reversed[72]. +The door-way is a fine semi-circular arch: the side pillars supporting +it are very small, but the decorations of the archivolt are rich: they +consist principally of three rows of the chevron moulding, enclosed +within a narrow fillet of smaller ornaments, approaching in shape to +quatrefoils. Collectively, they form a wide band, which springs from +flat piers level with the wall, and does not immediately unite with the +head of the inner arch. The intermediate space is covered by a +reticulated pattern indented in the stone. Above the entrance is a +window of the same form, its top encircled by a broad chequered band, a +very unusual accompaniment to this style of architecture. The front of +the chapel presents in other respects, a flat uniform surface, unvaried, +except by four Norman buttresses, and a string-course of the simplest +form, running round the whole building, at somewhat less than +mid-height. The sides of the chapel are lighted by a row of +circular-headed windows, with columns in the angles; and between these +windows are buttresses, as in the chapel of the lazar-house of St. +Julien, at Rouen. + +Huet endeavours to prove that the first fortress which was built at +Caen, was erected by William the Conqueror, who frequently resided here +with his Queen Matilda, and who was likely to find some protection of +this nature desirable, as well to guard his royal residence against the +mutinous disposition of the lords of the Bessin, as to command the +navigation of the Orne. The castle was enlarged and strengthened by his +son Henry; but it is believed that the four towers, just mentioned, and +the walls surrounding the keep, were added by our countrymen, during +that short period when the Norman sceptre was again wielded by the +descendants of the Norman dukes. Under Louis XIIth and Francis Ist, the +whole of the castle, but particularly the dungeon, underwent great +repairs, by which the original form of the structure was entirely +changed.--From that period history is silent respecting the fortress. I +cannot, however, take leave of it without reminding you, that Sir John +Fastolf, whilom our neighbour at Castor, was for some time placed in +command here, as Lieutenant to the Regent Duke of Bedford. You, who are +acquainted with the true character of the knight, need scarcely be told, +that even his enemies concur in bearing testimony to his ability, his +vigilance, and his valor: it is to be regretted that he has not met with +equal justice at home. Not one individual troubles himself about +history, whilst a thousand read the drama; and the stains which +Shakspeare's pen has affixed to the name of Fastolf, are of a nature +never to be wiped away; thus disproving the distich of the satyrist, who +indeed, by his own works, has effectually falsified his own maxim, +that-- + + + "Truth will survive when merry jokes are past; + For rising merit must buoy up at last." + + +As usual, the buildings dedicated to religion are far more numerous and +valuable than the relics of military architecture. Of these, the first +which salutes the stranger who enters by the great high road, is the +Hôtel Dieu, which is almost intact and unaltered. The basement story +contains large and deep pointed arches, ornamented with the chevron +moulding, disposed in a very peculiar manner.--From the style of the +building, there is every reason to believe that it is of the beginning +of the thirteenth century, at which time William, Count of Magneville, +appropriated to charitable purposes the ground now occupied by this +hospital, and caused his donation to be confirmed by a bull from Pope +Innocent IIIrd, dated in April, 1210. + +The abbeys, the glories of Caen, will require more leisure: at present +let us pass on to the parochial churches. Of these, the most ancient +foundation is _St. Etienne le Vieil_; and tradition relates that this +church was dedicated by St. Renobert, bishop of Bayeux, in the year +350.--But, though the present edifice may stand upon the site of an +ancient one, there would be little risk in affirming, that not one stone +of it was laid upon another till after the year 1400. The building is +spacious, and its tower is not devoid of beauty. The architecture is a +medley of debased gothic and corrupted Roman; but the large pointed +windows, decorated by fanciful mouldings and scroll-work, have an air of +richness, though the component parts are so inharmonious. + +Attached to the wall of the choir of this church is still to be seen an +equestrian statue[73], part of the celebrated group supposed to +represent William the Conqueror making his triumphal entry into Caen. A +headless horse, mounted by a headless rider, and a figure, which has +lost all shape and form, beneath the feet of the steed, are all that now +remain; but De Bourgueville, who knew the group when perfect, says, that +there likewise belonged to it a man and woman upon their knees, as if +seeking some explanation for the death of their child, or +rather, perhaps, in the act of imploring mercy.--I have already pointed +out the resemblance between these statues and the bas-relief, of which I +have sent you a sketch from St. Georges. One of the most learned +antiquaries of the present time has found a prototype for the supposed +figure of the Duke, among the sculptures of the Trajan column. But this, +with all due deference, is far from a decisive proof that the statue in +question was not intended for William. Similar adaptations of the +antique model, "mutato nomine," frequently occur among the works of the +artists of the middle ages; and there is at least a possibility that, +had the face been left us, we might have traced some attempt at a +portrait of the Norman Duke. Upon the date of the sculpture, or the +style of the workmanship, I dare not venture an opinion. There are +antiquaries, I know, (and men well qualified to judge,) who believe it +Roman: I have heard it pronounced from high authority, that it is of the +eleventh century, others suspect that it is Italian, of the thirteenth +or fourteenth centuries; whilst M. Le Prevost and M. De Gerville +maintain most strenuously that it is not anterior to the fifteenth. De +Bourgueville certainly calls it "une antiquité de grand remarque;" but +we all know that any object which is above an hundred years old, becomes +a piece of antiquity in the eye of an uncritical observer; and such was +the good magistrate. + +The church of St. Nicholas, now used as a stable, was built by William +the Conqueror, in the year 1060, or thereabouts. Desecrated as it is, it +remains entire; and its interior is remarkable for the uniformity of the +plan, the symmetry of the proportions. All the capitals of the pillars +attached to the walls are alike; and those of the arches, which very +nearly resemble the others, are also all of one pattern. In the +side-aisles there is no groining, but only cross vaulting. The vaulting +of the nave is pointed, and of late introduction. Round the choir and +transepts runs a row of small arches, as in the triforium.--The west end +was formerly flanked by two towers, the southern of which only remains. +This is square, and well proportioned: each side contains two lancet +windows. The lower part is quite plain, excepting two Norman buttresses. +The whole of the width of the central compartment, which is more than +quadruple that of either of the others, is occupied below by three +circular portals, now blocked up.--Above them are five windows, disposed +in three tiers. In the lowest are two not wider than loop-holes: over +these two others, larger; another small one is at the top. All these +windows are of the simplest construction, without side pillars or +mouldings.--The choir of the church ends in a semi-circular apsis, +divided into compartments by a row of pillars, rising as high as the +cornice: in the intercolumniation are windows, and under the windows +small arches, each of which has its head hewn out of a single +stone.--The roof of the choir is of stone, and the pitch of it is very +high. + +Here, then, we have the exact counterpart of the Irish stone-roofed +chapels, the most celebrated of which, that of Cormac, in Cashel +Cathedral, appears, from all the drawings and descriptions I have seen +of it, to be altogether a Norman building. Ledwich asserts that "this +chapel is truly Saxon, and was erected prior to the introduction of the +Norman, and gothic styles[74]." If, we agree with him, we only obtain a +proof that there is no essential difference between Norman and Saxon +architecture; and this proposition, I believe, will soon be universally +admitted. We now know what is really Norman; and a little attention to +the buildings in the north of Germany, may terminate the long-debated +questions, relative to Saxon architecture and the origin of the +stone-roofed chapels in the sister isle. + +In the burial-ground that surrounds the church of St. Nicholas, are +several monumental inscriptions, all of them posterior to the +commencement of the reign of Napoléon, and all, with one single +exception, commemorative of females. The epitaphs are much in the same +tone as would be found in an English church-yard. The greater part, +however, of the tomb-stones, are uninscribed. They are stone coffins +above-ground, sculptured with plain crosses, or, where they have been +raised to ecclesiastics, with an addition of some portion of the +sacerdotal dress. + +[Illustration: Tower and Spire of St. Peter's Church, at Caen] + +Among the churches of comparatively modern erection, St. Peter deserves +most attention. From every part of the town and neighborhood, its lofty +spire, towering above the surrounding buildings, forces itself upon your +view. It is not easy to carry accurate ideas of height in the memory; +but, as far as recollection will serve me, I should say that its +elevation is hardly inferior to that of the spire of Salisbury +cathedral. I have no hesitation in adding, that the proportions of the +tower and spire of the church at Caen, are more pleasing. Elegance, +lightness, and symmetry, are the general characters of the whole, though +the spire has peculiar characters of its own.--The tower, though built a +century later than that of Salisbury, is so much less ornamented, that +it might be mistaken for an earlier example of the pointed style. The +lowest story is occupied wholly by a portal: the second division is +surrounded by pointed arches, beneath crocketed gables: the third is +filled by four lancet arches, supported by reeded pillars, so lofty, +that they occupy nearly two-thirds of the entire height of the tower. +The flanking arches are blanks: the two middle ones are pierced into +windows, divided by a central mullion. The balustrade at the top of the +tower is of a varied pattern, each side exhibiting a different tracery. +Eight crocketed pinnacles are added to the spire, which is octangular, +and has a row of crockets at each angle. From the base to the summit it +is encircled, at regular distances, with broad bands of stone-work, +disposed like scales; and, alternating with the bands, are perforations +in the form of cinquefoils, quatrefoils, and trefoils, diminishing as +the spire rises, but so disposed, that the light is seen distinctly +through them. The effect of these perforations was novel and very +pleasing. + +[Illustration: Sculpture upon a Capital in St. Peter's Church at Caen] + +This tower and spire were built in the year 1308, under the directions +of Nicolle L'Anglois, a burgher of Caen, and treasurer of the +church.--How far we are at liberty to infer from his name, as Ducarel +does, that he was an Englishman, may admit of some doubt. He was buried +here; and De Bourgueville has preserved his epitaph, which recounts +among his other merits, that + + + "Et par luy, et par sa devise + Fut la tour en sa voye mise + D'estre faicte si noblement."-- + + +But the name of the architect who was employed is unrecorded.--The rest +of the church was erected at different periods: the northern aisle in +1410; the opposite one some time afterwards; and the eastern extremity, +with the vaulted roof of the choir and aisles, in 1021.--With this +knowledge, it is not difficult to account for the diversity of styles +that prevails in the building.--The western front contains much good +tracery, and well disposed, apparently as old as the tower.--The +exterior of the east end, with its side-chapels, is rather Italian than +gothic.--The interior is of a purer style: the five arches forming the +apsis are perhaps amongst the finest specimens of the luxuriant French +gothic: roses are introduced with great effect amongst the tracery and +friezes, with which the walls are covered. The decorations of the +chapels round the choir, although they display a tendency towards +Italian architecture, are of the most elaborate arabesque. The niches +are formed by escalop shells, swelling cylinders of foliage, and +scrolls: some of the pendants from the roofs are of wonderfully varied +and beautiful workmanship.--The nave has nothing remarkable, saving the +capital of one of the side pillars. Its sculptures, with the exception +of one mutilated group, have been drawn by Mr. Cotman.--The subjects are +strangely inappropriate, as the ornaments of a sacred edifice. All are +borrowed from romance.--Aristotle bridled and saddled by the mistress +of Alexander. Virgilius, or, as some say, Hippocrates, hanging in the +basket. Lancelot crossing the raging flood.--The fourth, which is not +shewn in the sketch, is much defaced, but seems to have been taken from +the _Chevalier et la Charette_. According to the usual fate of ancient +sculpture, the _marguilliers_ of the parish have so sadly encumbered it +with white-wash, that it is not easy to make out the details; and a +friend of mine was not quite certain whether the bearded figure riding +on the lion, was not a youthful Cupid. No other of the capitals has at +present any basso-relievo of this kind; but I suspect they have been +chopped off. The church suffered much from the Calvinists; and +afterwards, during the revolution, when most of the bas-reliefs of the +portal were destroyed. + +[Illustration: Tower of St. John's Church, at Caen] + +The neighboring church of St. John appears likewise to be the work of +the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. This building and St. Peter's +agree in general character: their towers are nearly the counterparts of +each other. But, in St. John's, the great tower is placed at the west +end of the edifice, the principal portal being beneath it. This is not +very usual in the Norman-gothic churches, though common in England. The +tower wants a spire; and, at present, it leans considerably out of the +perpendicular line, so that some apprehensions are entertained for its +safety. It was originally intended that the church should also be +surmounted by a central tower; and, as De Bourgueville says, the +beginning was made in his time; but it remains to the present day +incomplete, and has not been raised sufficiently high to enable us to +form a clear idea of the design of the architect, though enough remains +to shew that it would have been built in the Romanizing-gothic +style.--The inside is comparatively plain, excepting only the arches in +the lower open part of the tower. These are richly ornamented; and a +highly-wrought balustrade runs round the triforium, uniform in its +pattern in the nave and choir, but varying in the transepts.--In the +other ecclesiastical buildings at Caen, we saw nothing to interest +us.--The chapel of St. Thomas l'Abattu, which, according to Huet, "had +existed from time immemorial," and which, to judge from Ducarel's +description and figure, must have been curious, has now entirely +disappeared. + +In the suburb of Vaucelles, the church of St. Michael contains some +architectural features of great curiosity[75]. The circular-headed +arches in the short square tower, and in a small round turret that is +attached to it, are unquestionably early Norman, and are remarkable for +their proportions, being as long and as narrow as the lancet windows of +the following æra. It would not be equally safe to pronounce upon the +date of the stone-roofed pyramid which covers this tower. The north +porch is entered by a pointed arch, which, though much less ornamented, +approaches in style to the southern porch of St. Ouen, and, like that, +has its inner archivolt fringed with pendant trefoils. The wall above +the arch rises into a triangular gable, entirely covered with waving +tracery, the only instance of the kind which I have seen at Caen. + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 71: _Huet, Origines de Caen_, p. 12.] + +[Footnote 72: Upon this subject, Huet has an extraordinary observation, +(_Origines de Caen_, p. 186.) "that, in the early times of Christianity, +it was customary for all churches to front the east or north, or some +intermediate point of the compass."--So learned and careful a writer +would scarcely have made such a remark without some plausible grounds; +but I am at a loss where to find them. Bingham, in his _Origines +Eccleslasticæ_, I. p. 288, says, "that churches were so placed, that +the front, or chief entrances, were towards the west, and the sanctuary +or altar placed towards the east;" and though he adduces instances of a +different position, as in the church of Antioch, which faced the east, +and that of St. Patrick, at Sabul, near Down in Ulster, which stood from +north to south, he cites them only as deviations from an established +practice.] + +[Footnote 73: _Cotman's Architectural Antiquities of Normandy_, t. 20.] + +[Footnote 74: _Antiquities of Ireland_, p. 151.] + +[Footnote 75: See _Cotman's Architectural Antiquities of Normandy_, t. +18, 19.] + + + + +LETTER XXV. + +ROYAL ABBEYS OF THE HOLY TRINITY AND ST. STEPHEN--FUNERAL OF THE +CONQUEROR, EXHUMATION OF HIS REMAINS, AND DESTRUCTION OF HIS MONUMENT. + + +(_Caen, August_, 1818.) + +The two royal abbeys of Caen have fortunately escaped the storms of the +revolution. These buildings are still standing, an ornament to the town, +and an honor to the sovereign who caused them to be erected, as well as +to the artist who planned, and to the age which produced them. As models +of architecture they are the same land-marks to the history of the art +in Lower Normandy, as the church of St. Georges is in the upper division +of the province. Their dates are equally authenticated; and the +characteristic features in each are equally perfect. + +Both these noble edifices rose at the same time, and from the same +motive. William the Conqueror, by his marriage with Matilda, daughter of +Baldwin, Earl of Flanders, had contracted an alliance proscribed by the +degrees of consanguinity. The clergy inveighed against the union; and +they were supported in their complaints by Lanfranc, then resident at +Bec, whose remonstrances were so uncourtly and strenuous, that the duke +banished him from the province. It chanced that the churchman, while in +the act of obedience to this command, met the sovereign. Their interview +began with recriminations: it ended with reconciliation; and Lanfranc +finally engaged to undertake a mission to the supreme Pontiff, who, +considering the turbulent disposition of the Normans, and that a better +end was likely to be answered by peaceable than by hostile measures, +consented to grant the necessary dispensation. At the same time, by way +of penance, he issued an injunction that the royal pair should erect two +monasteries, the one for monks, the other for nuns. And in obedience to +this command, William founded the abbey of St. Stephen, and Matilda, the +abbey of the Holy Trinity; or, as they are usually called at Caen, +_l'abbaye aux hommes_, and _l'abbaye aux dames_. + +The approach to the monastery of the Trinity is through a spacious +gate-tower, part of the original structure. Over the rent and shapeless +door-way are three semi-circular arches, upon the capitals of which is +distinctly observable the cable-moulding, and along the top of the tower +runs a line of the same toothed ornament, remarked by Ducarel at +Bourg-Achard, and stated by him to have been considered peculiar to +Saxon architecture[76]. The park that formerly environed the abbey +retains its character, though abandoned to utter neglect. It is of great +extent, and is well wooded. The monastic buildings, which are, as usual, +modern, are mostly perfect.--A ruined wall nearly in front of the +church, with a chimney-piece, perhaps of Norman workmanship, belonged to +the old structure. Such part of the chimney wall as was exposed to the +flame is built of large tiles, placed diagonally. All other vestiges of +the ancient apartments have been removed. + +The noble church[77] is now used as a work-house for the department. At +the revolution it became national property, and it remained +unappropriated, till, upon the institution of the Legion of Honor, +Napoléon applied it to some purpose connected with that body, by whom it +was lately ceded for it present object. But, if common report may be +credited, it is likely soon to revert to its original destination. The +restoration may be easily effected, as the building has sustained but +little injury. A floor has been thrown across the nave and transept, +dividing them into two stories; but in other respects they are +unaltered, and divine service is still performed in the choir. + +A finer specimen of the solid grandeur of Norman architecture is +scarcely to be found any where than in the west front of this church. +The corresponding part of the rival abbey of St. Stephen is poor when +compared to it; and Jumieges and St. Georges equally fail in the +comparison. In all of these, there is some architectural anomaly: in the +Trinity none, excepting, indeed, the balustrade at the top of the +towers; and this is so obviously an addition of modern times, that no +one can be misled by it. This balustrade was erected towards the +beginning of the seventeenth century, when the oval apertures and +scrolls seen in Ducarel's print were introduced. Anciently the towers +were ornamented with very lofty spires. According to some accounts, +these were demolished, because they served as land-marks to the English +cruizers, being seen far out at sea; but other accounts state, that the +spires were pulled down by Charles, King of Navarre, who was at war with +his namesake, Charles Vth, then Dauphin and Regent. The abbey at that +time bore the two-fold character of nunnery and fortress.--Strangely +inconsistent as this union may appear, the fact is undoubted. Even now a +portion of the fosses remains; and the gate-way indicates an approach +to a fortified place. Ancient charters likewise expressly recognize the +building in both capacities: they endow the abbey for the service of +God; and they enjoin the inhabitants of the adjacent parishes to keep +the fortifications in repair against any assaults of men. Nay, letters +patent, granted by Charles Vth, which fix the salary of the captain of +the _Fort of the Trinity, at Caen_, at one hundred francs per annum, are +yet extant. + +I shall attempt no description of the west front of this monastery, few +continental buildings being better known in England. The whole remains +as it was in the time of Ducarel, except that the arches of entrance are +blocked up, and modern windows have been inserted in the door-ways.--The +north side of the church is quite concealed by the cloisters and +conventual buildings. The southern aisle has been plastered and patched, +and converted into a range of work-shops, so that its original elevation +is wholly obliterated. But the nave, which rises above, is untouched by +innovation. The clerestory range is filled by a row of semi-circular +headed windows, separated by intervening flat buttresses, which reach to +the cornice. Each buttress is edged with two slender cylindrical +pilasters; and each window flanked by two smaller arches, whose surfaces +are covered with chequer-work. The arch of every window has a key-stone, +formed by a grotesque head.--Above the whole is a corbel-table that +displays monsters of all kinds, in the form of beasts, and men scarcely +less monstrous.--The semi-circular east end is divided in its elevation +into three compartments. The lower contains a row of small blank arches: +in each of the other two is a window, of a size unusually large for a +Norman building, but still without mullions or tracery; its sides +ornamented with columns, and its top encircled with a broad band of +various mouldings. The windows are separated by cylindrical pillars, +instead of buttresses.--In the upper part of the low central tower are +some pointed arches, the only deviations of style that are to be found +in the building. To the extremity of the southern transept has been +attached a Grecian portico, which masks the ancient portal. Above is a +row of round arches, some of which are pierced into windows. + +Of the effect of the nave and transept within, it is difficult now to +obtain a correct idea, the floor intervening to obstruct a general +view.--High arches, encircled with the embattled moulding below; above +these, a wide billeted string-course, forming a basis for a row of +smaller arches, without side-pillars or decoration of any kind; then +another string-course of different and richer patterns; and over this, +the triforium, consisting also of a row of small arches, supported by +thick pillars;--such is the elevation of the sides of the nave; and the +same system is continued with but small variation in the transepts. But, +notwithstanding the general uniformity of the whole, no two compartments +are precisely alike; and the capitals are infinitely varied. It is +singular to see such a playfulness of ornament in a building, whose +architect appears, at first view, to have contemplated only grandeur and +solidity.--The four arches which support the central tower are on a +magnificent scale. The archivolts are encircled by two rows of lozenged +squares, indented in the stone. The rams, or rams' heads, upon the +capitals of these piers, are peculiar. The eastern arch rises higher +than the rest, and is obtusely pointed; yet it seems to be of the same +date with its circular companions.--So exquisite, however, is the +quality of the Caen stone, that no opinion drawn from the appearance of +the material, ought to be hazarded with confidence. Seven centuries have +elapsed since this church was erected, and there is yet no difference to +be discovered in the color of the stone, or the sharpness of the work; +the whole is as clean and sharp as if it were but yesterday fresh from +the chisel. The interior of the choir has not been divided by the +flooring; and the eastern extremity, which remains perfect, shews the +original design. It consists of large arches, disposed in a double tier, +so as to correspond with the windows of the apsis, and placed at a short +distance from the wall; but without any Lady-Chapel beyond. The pillars +that support these arches are well proportioned: the sculptures on their +capitals are scarcely less grotesque than those at St. Georges; but, +barbarous as they are, the corners of almost every capital are finished +with imitations, more or less obvious, of the classical Ionic +volute.--Among the sculptures is a head resting upon two lions, which +has been fancied to be a representation of the Conqueror himself; whilst +a faded painting of a female, attired as a nun, on the north side of the +altar, is also commonly entitled a portrait of the foundress.--Were any +plausible reason alleged for regarding the picture as intended to bear +even an imaginary resemblance to Matilda, I would have sent you a copy +of it; but there appear no grounds to consider it as +authentic.--Willing, however, to contribute a mark of respect to a +female, styled by William of Malmesbury, "fæminam prudentiæ speculum, +pudoris culmen," and, by way of a companion to the rough sketch of her +illustrious consort, in the initial letter in the library at Rouen, I +add the fac-simile of a seal, which, by the kindness of a friend has +fallen into my hands. It has been engraved before, but only for private +distribution; and, if a suspicion should cross your mind, that it may +have belonged to the Empress Maud, or to Matilda, wife to Stephen, I can +only bespeak your thanks to me, for furnishing you with a likeness of +any one of these ladies. + +[Illustration: Fac-simile of seal] + +Matilda was interred in the middle of this choir; and, according to +Ordericus Vitalis, a monument of exquisite workmanship, richly +ornamented with gold and precious stones, and bearing a long inscription +in letters of gold, was raised to her memory. Her effigy was afterwards +added to the monument; the whole of which was destroyed in 1652, by the +Calvinists, who tore open the Queen's coffin, and dispersed her remains. +After a lapse of an hundred and forty years, the royal bones were again +collected, and deposited in this church. At the same time, the splendid +monument was replaced by a plain altar-tomb, which existed till the +revolution, when all was once more swept away. The marble slab, +inscribed with the original epitaph, alone remained entire, and was +carried to the abbey church of St. Stephen's, where it still forms a +part of the pavement in a chapel. The letters are finely sculptured and +perfectly sharp. However, it is not likely to continue there long; for +Count de Montlivault, the prefect of the department, has already caused +a search to be made for Matilda's remains, and he intends to erect a +third monument to her memory. The excavations for this purpose have +hitherto been unsuccessful: the Count met with many monumental stones, +and many coffins of various kinds, but none that could be mistaken for +the desired object; for one of the inscriptions on the late monument +expressly states, that the Queen's bones had been wrapped in a linen +cloth, and enclosed in a leaden box. + +The inquiry, however, will not be discontinued[78]: there are still +hopes of success, especially in the crypt, which corresponds in its +architecture with the church above. It is filled with columns placed in +four ranges, each standing only four feet from the other, all of elegant +proportions, with diversified capitals, as those in the choir.--Round +it runs a stone bench, as in the subterraneous chapel in St. Gervais, at +Rouen. + +Founded by a queen, the abbey of the Trinity preserved at all times a +constitution thoroughly aristocratical. No individual, except of noble +birth, was allowed to take the veil here, or could be received into the +community. You will see in the series of the abbesses the names of +Bourbon, Valois, Albret, Montmorenci, and others of the most illustrious +families in France. Cecily, the Conqueror's eldest daughter, stands at +the head of the list. According to the _Gallia Christiana_, she was +devoted by her parents to this holy office, upon the very day of the +dedication of the convent, in July 1066. + +The black marble slab which covered her remains, was lately discovered +in the chapter-house. A crozier is sculptured upon it. It is delineated +in a very curious volume now in the possession of the Abbé de la Rue, +which contains drawings of all the tombs and inscriptions that formerly +existed in the abbey. + +The annual income of the monastery of the Trinity is stated by Gough, in +his _Alien Priories_, at thirty thousand livres, and that of the +monastery of St. Stephen, at sixty thousand; but Ducarel estimates the +revenue of the former at seventy thousand, and of the latter at two +hundred thousand; and I should not doubt but that the larger sums are +nearest the truth; indeed, the grants and charters still in existence, +or noticed by historians, would rather lead to the supposition that the +revenues must have been even greater. Parsimony in the endowment of +religious buildings, was not a prevailing vice in the eleventh and +twelfth centuries. Least of all was it likely that it should be +practised in the case of establishments, thus founded in expiation of +the transgressions of wealthy and powerful sinners. Page after page, in +the charters, is filled with the list of those, who, with + + + "Lands and livings, many a rood, + Had gifted the shrine for their soul's repose." + + +The privileges and immunities enjoyed by these abbeys were very +extensive. Both of them were from their origin exempted by Pope +Alexander IInd, with the consent of Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, from all +episcopal jurisdiction; and both had full power, as well spiritual as +ecclesiastical, over the members of their own communities, and over the +parishes dependent upon them; with no other appeal than to the +archbishop of Rouen, or to the Pope. Express permission was likewise +given to the abbot of St. Stephen's, by virtue of a bull from Pope +Clement VIIth, to wear a gold mitre studded with precious stones, and a +ring and sandals, and other episcopal ornaments. + +Many of the monuments and deeds of the greater abbey are now in the +prefecture of the department. The original chartulary or register was +saved by the Abbé de la Rue, and is at this time preserved in his +valuable collection. The charters of the Trinity were hid, during the +revolution, by the nuns, who secreted them beneath the tiling of a barn. +They were discovered there not long since; but damp and vermin had +rendered them wholly illegible. + +Lanfranc, whose services at Rome well deserved every distinction that +his sovereign could bestow, was the first abbot of St. Stephen's. Upon +his translation to the see of Canterbury, he was succeeded by William, +who was likewise subsequently honored with an archiepiscopal mitre. The +third abbot, Gislebert, was bishop of Evreux; and, though the series was +not continued through an uninterrupted line of equal dignity, the office +of abbot of this convent was seldom conferred, except upon an individual +of exalted birth. Eight cardinals, two of them of the noble houses of +Medici and Farnese, and three others, still more illustrious, the +cardinals Richelieu, Mazarine, and Fleury, are included in the list, +though in later times the abbacy was held _in commendam_ by these +powerful prelates, whilst all the internal management of the house +devolved upon a prior. Amongst the abbots will also be found Hugh de +Coilly, grandson of King Stephen, Anthony of Bourbon, a natural son of +Henry IVth of France, and Charles of Orléans, who was likewise of royal +extraction.--St. Stephen was selected as the patron of the abbey, in +consequence of the founder having bestowed upon it the head of the +protomartyr, together with one of his arms, and a phial of his blood, +and the stone with which he was killed. + +[Illustration: Monastery of St. Stephen, at Caen] + +The monastic buildings now serve for what, in the language of +revolutionary and imperial France, was called a _Lycée_, but which has +since assumed the less heathen appellation of a college. They constitute +a fine edifice, and, seen from a short distance, in conjunction with the +east end of the church, they form a grand _tout-ensemble_. The abbey +church, from this point of view, has somewhat of an oriental character: +the wide sweep of the semi-circular apsis, and the slender turrets and +pyramids that rise from every part of the building, recal the idea of +a Mahometan mosque. But the west end is still more striking than the +east; and if, in the interior of the church of the Trinity, we had +occasion to admire the beautiful quality of the Caen stone, our +admiration of it was more forcibly excited here: notwithstanding the +continual exposure to wind and weather, no part appears corroded, or +discolored, or injured. A character of magnificence, arising in a great +measure from the grand scale upon which it is built, pervades this +front. But, to be regarded with advantage, it must be viewed as a whole: +the parts, taken separately, are unequal and ill assorted. The +simplicity of the main division approaches to meanness. Its three +door-ways and double tier of windows appear disproportionally small, +when contrasted with the expanse of blank wall; and their returns are +remarkably shallow. The windows have no mouldings whatever, and the +pillars and archivolts of the doors are very meagre. The front consists +of three compartments, separated by flat buttresses; the lateral +divisions rising into lofty towers, capped with octagon spires. The +towers are much ornamented: three tiers of semi-circular arches surround +the upper divisions; the arches of the first tier have no mouldings or +pillars; the upper vary in pattern, and are enriched with pillars and +bands, and some are pierced into windows.--Twelve pinnacles equally full +of arches, some pointed, others semi-circular, surround each spire. +Similar pinnacles rise from the ends of the transepts and the +choir.--The central tower, which is short and terminates in a conical +roof, was ruined by the Huguenots, who undermined it, thinking that its +fall would destroy the whole building. Fortunately, however, it only +damaged a portion of the eastern end; the reparations done to which have +occasioned a discrepancy of style, that is injurious to the general +effect. But the choir and apsis were previously of a different æra from +the rest of the edifice. They were raised by the Abbot Simon de +Trevieres, in the beginning of the fourteenth century.--I am greatly +mistaken, if a real Norman church ever extended farther eastward than +the choir. + +The building is now undergoing a thorough repair, at the expence of the +town. No other revenues, at present, belong to it, except the _sous_ +which are paid for chairs during mass. + +A friend, who is travelling through Normandy, describes the interior in +the following manner; and, as I agree with him in his ideas, I shall +borrow his description:--"Without doubt, the architect was conversant +with Roman buildings, though he has Normanized their features, and +adopted the lines of the basilica to a _barbaric_ temple. The Coliseum +furnished the elevation of the nave;--semi-circular arches surmounted by +another tier of equal span, and springing at nearly an equal height from +the basis of the supporting pillars. The architraves connecting the +lower rows of pillars are distinctly enounced. The arches which rise +from them have plain bold mouldings. The piers between each arch are of +considerable width. In the centre of each pier is a column, which +ascends as usual to the vault. These columns are alternately simple and +compound. The latter are square pilasters, each fronted by a +cylindrical column, which of course projects farther into the nave than +the simple columns; and thus the nave is divided into bays. This system +is imitated in the gothic cathedral, at Sens. The square pilaster ceases +at about four-fifths of its height: then two cylindrical pillars rise +from it, so that, from that point, the column becomes clustered. Angular +brackets, sculptured with knots, grotesque heads, and foliage, are +affixed to the base of these derivative pillars. A bold double-billeted +moulding is continued below the clerestory, whose windows adapt +themselves to the binary arrangement of the bays. A taller arch is +flanked by a smaller one on the right or the left side, as its situation +requires. These are supported by short massy pillars: an embattled +moulding runs round the windows. + +"In the choir the arches become pointed, but with Norman mouldings: the +apsis is a re-construction. In that portion of the choir, which seems +original, there are pointed windows formed by the interlacing of +circular arches: these light the gallery. + +"The effect produced by the perspective of the interior is lofty and +palatial. The ancient masonry of the exterior is worthy of notice. The +stones are all small, perhaps not exceeding nine or twelve inches: the +joints are about three-quarters of an inch." + +At the north-west angle of the nave has been built a large chapel, +comparatively a modern erection; and in the centre of this lies +Matilda's gravestone.--There is no other chapel to the nave, and, as +usual, no monument in any portion of the church; but in front of the +high altar is still to be seen the flat stone, placed there in 1742, in +memory of the Conqueror, and bearing the epitaph-- + +[Illustration: Epitaph in memory of the Conqueror] + + + QUI REXIT RIGIDOS NORMANNOS ATQUE BRITANNOS + AVDACTER VICIT FORTITER OBTINVIT + ET CENOMANENSES VIRTVTE COERCVIT ENSES + IMPERIIQVE SVI LEGIBUS APPLICVIT + REX MAGNVS PARVA JACET HIC VILLELMVS IN VRNA + SVFFICIT HÆC MAGNO PARVA DOMVS DOMINO + TER SEPTEM GRADIBVS SE VOLVERAT ATQUE DVOBVS + VIRGINIS IN GREMIO PHOEBVS ET HIC OBIIT + ANNO MLXXXVII + REQVIESCEBAT IN SPE CORPVS BENEFICIENTISSIMI + FVNDATORIS QVVM A CALVINIANIS ANNO MDLXII + DISSIPATA SVNT EIVS OSSA VNVM EX EIS A VIRO NOBILI + QVI TVM ADERAT RESERVATVM ET A POSTERIS ILLIVS + ANNO MDCXLII RESTITVTVM IN MEDIO CHORO DEPOSITVM + FVERAT MOLE SEPVLCHRALI DESVPER EXTRVCTA HANC + CEREMONIARVM SOLEMNITATE MINVS ACCOMMODAM + AMOVERVNT MONACHI ANNO MDCCXLII REGIO + FVLTI DIPLOMATE ET OS QVOD VNVM SVPERERAT + REPOSVERVNT IN CRYPTA PROPE ALTARE + IN QVO IVGITER DE BENEDICTIONIBVS METET + QVI SEMINAVIT IN BENEDICTIONIBVS + FIAT FIAT + + +The poetical part of this epitaph was composed by Thomas, archbishop of +York, and was engraved upon the original monument, as well as upon a +plate of gilt copper, which was found within the sepulchre when it was +first opened. Many other poets, we are told by Ordericus Vitalis, +exercised their talents upon the occasion; but none of their productions +were deemed worthy to be inscribed upon the tomb. The account of the +opening of the vault is related by De Bourgueville, from whom it has +been already copied by Ducarel; but the circumstances are so curious, +that I shall offer no apology for telling a twice-told tale. From +Ordericus Vitalis also we may borrow some details respecting the funeral +of the Conqueror, which, though strictly appertaining to English +history, have never yet, I believe, appeared in an English dress. + +In speaking of the church of St. Gervais at Rouen, I have already +briefly alluded to the melancholy circumstances by which the death of +this monarch was attended. The sequel of the story is not less +memorable. + +The king's decease was the signal for general consternation throughout +the metropolis of Normandy. The citizens, panic struck, ran to and fro, +as if intoxicated, or as if the town were upon the point of being taken +by assault. Each asked counsel of his neighbor, and each anxiously +turned his thoughts to the concealing of his property. When the alarm +had in some measure subsided the monks and clergy made a solemn +procession to the abbey of St. Georges, where they offered their prayers +for the repose of the soul of the departed Duke; and archbishop William +commanded that the body should be carried to Caen, to be interred in the +church of St. Stephen, which William had founded. But the lifeless king +was now deserted by all who had participated in his munificence and +bounty. Every one of his brethren and relations had left him; nor was +there even a servant to be found to perform the last offices to his +departed lord. The care of the obsequies was finally undertaken by +Herluin, a knight of that district, who, moved by the love of God and +the honor of his nation, provided at his own expence, embalmers, and +bearers, and a hearse, and conveyed the corpse to the Seine, whence it +was carried by land and water to the place of its destination. + +Upon the arrival of the funeral train at Caen, it was met by Gislebert, +bishop of Evreux, then abbot of St. Stephen's, at the head of his monks, +attended with a numerous throng of clergy and laity; but scarcely had +the bier been brought within the gates, when the report was spread that +a dreadful fire had broken out in another part of the town, and the +Duke's remains were a second time deserted. The monks alone remained; +and, fearful and irresolute, they bore their founder "with candle, with +book, and with knell," to his last home. Ordericus Vitalis enumerates +the principal prelates and barons assembled upon this occasion; but he +makes no mention of the Conqueror's son, Henry, who, according to +William of Jumieges, was the only one of the family that attended, and +was also the only one worthy of succeeding to such a father.--Mass had +now been performed, and the body was about to be committed to the +ground, "ashes to ashes, dust to dust," when, previously to this closing +part of the ceremony, Gislebert mounted the pulpit, and delivered an +oration in honor of the deceased.--He praised his valor, which had so +widely extended the limits of the Norman dominion; his ability, which +had elevated the nation to the highest pitch of glory; his equity in +the administration of justice; his firmness in correcting abuses; and +his liberality towards the monks and clergy; then, finally, addressing +the people, he besought them to intercede with the Almighty for the soul +of their prince, and to pardon whatsoever transgression he might have +been guilty of towards any of them.--At this moment, one Asselin, an +obscure individual, starting from the crowd, exclaimed with a loud +voice, "the ground upon which you are standing, was the site of my +father's dwelling. This man, for whom you ask our prayers, took it by +force from my parent; by violence he seized, by violence he retained it; +and, contrary to all law and justice, he built upon it this church, +where we are assembled. Publicly, therefore, in the sight of God and +man, do I claim my inheritance, and protest against the body of the +plunderer being covered with my turf."--The appeal was attended with +instant effect; bishops and nobles united in their entreaties to +Asselin; they admitted the justice of his claim; they pacified him; they +paid him sixty shillings on the spot by way of recompence for the place +of sepulture; and, finally, they satisfied him for the rest of the land. + +But the remarkable incidents doomed to attend upon this burial, were not +yet at an end; for at the time when they were laying the corpse in the +sarcophagus, and were bending it with some force, which they were +compelled to do, in consequence of the coffin having been made too +short, the body, which was extremely corpulent, burst, and so +intolerable a stench issued from the grave, that all the perfumes which +arose from all the censers of the priests and acolytes were of no avail; +and the rites were concluded in haste, and the assembly, struck with +horror, returned to their homes. + +The latter part of this story accords but ill with what De Bourgueville +relates. We learn from this author, that four hundred and thirty years +subsequent to the death of the Conqueror, a Roman cardinal, attended by +an archbishop and bishop, visited the town of Caen, and that his +eminence having expressed a wish to see the body of the duke, the monks +yielded to his curiosity, and the tomb was opened, and the corpse +discovered in so perfect a state, that the cardinal caused a portrait to +be taken from the lifeless features.--It is not worth while now to +inquire into the truth of this story, or the fidelity of the +resemblance. The painting has disappeared in the course of time: it hung +for a while against the walls of the church, opposite to the monument; +but it was stolen during the tumults caused by the Huguenots, and was +broken into two pieces, in which state De Bourgueville saw it a few +years afterwards, in the hands of a Calvinist, one Peter Hodé, the +gaoler at Caen, who used it in the double capacity of a table and a +door.--The worthy magistrate states, that he kept the picture, "because +the abbey-church was demolished." + +He was himself present at the second violation of the royal tomb, in +1572; and he gives a piteous account of the transaction. The monument +raised to the memory of the Conqueror, by his son, William Rufus, under +the superintendance of Lanfranc, was a production of much costly and +elaborate workmanship: the shrine, which was placed upon the mausoleum, +glittered with gold and silver and precious stones. To complete the +whole, the effigy of the king had been added to the tomb, at some +period subsequent to its original erection.--A monument like this +naturally excited the rapacity of a lawless banditti, unrestrained by +civil or military force, and inveterate against every thing that might +be regarded as connected with the Catholic worship.--The Calvinists were +masters of Caen, and, incited by the information of what had taken place +at Rouen, they resolved to repeat the same outrages. Under the specious +pretext of abolishing idolatrous worship, they pillaged and ransacked +every church and monastery: they broke the painted windows and organs, +destroyed the images, stole the ecclesiastical ornaments, sold the +shrines, committed pulpits, chests, books, and whatever was combustible, +to the fire; and finally, after having wreaked their vengeance upon +eyery thing that could be made the object of it, they went boldly to the +town-hall to demand the wages for their labors.--In the course of these +outrages the tomb of the Conqueror at one abbey, and that of Matilda at +the other, were demolished. And this was not enough; but a few days +afterwards, the same band returned, allured by the hopes of farther +plunder. It was customary in ancient times to deposit treasures of +various kinds in the tombs of sovereigns, as if the feelings of the +living passed into the next stage of existence;-- + + + "... quæ gratia currûm + Armorumque fuit vivis, quæ cura nitentes + Pascere equos, eadem sequitur tellure repostos." + + +The bees that adorned the imperial mantle of Napoléon were found in the +tomb of Childeric. A similar expectation excited the Huguenots, at Caen. +They dug up the coffin: the hollow stone rung to the strokes of their +daggers: the vibration proved that it was not filled by the corpse; and +nothing more was wanted to seal its destruction. + +De Bourgueville, who went to the spot and exerted his eloquence to check +this last act of violence, witnessed the opening of the coffin. It +contained the bones of the king, wrapped up in red taffety, and still in +tolerable preservation; but nothing else. He collected them, with care, +and consigned them to one of the monks of the abbeys who kept them in +his chamber, till the Admiral de Châtillon entered Caen at the head of +his mercenaries, on which occasion the whole abbey was plundered, and +the monks put to flight, and the bones lost. "Sad doings, these," says +De Bourgueville, "_et bien peu réformez!_"--He adds, that one of the +thigh-bones was preserved by the Viscount of Falaise, who was there with +him, and begged it from the rioters, and that this bone was longer by +four fingers' breadth than that of a tall man. The bone thus preserved, +was re-interred, after the cessation of the troubles: it is the same +that is alluded to in the inscription, which also informs us that a +monument was raised over it in 1642, but was removed in 1742, it being +then considered as an incumbrance in the choir. + +With this detail I close my letter. The melancholy end of the Conqueror, +the strange occurrences at his interment, the violation of his grave, +the dispersion of his remains, and the demolition and final removal of +his monument, are circumstances calculated to excite melancholy emotions +in the mind of every one, whatever his condition in life. In all these +events, the religious man traces the hand of retributive justice; the +philosopher regards the nullity of sublunary grandeur; the historian +finds matter for serious reflection; the poet for affecting narrative; +the moralist for his tale; and the school-boy for his theme.--Ordericus +Vitalis sums the whole up admirably. I should spoil his language were I +to attempt to translate it; I give it you, therefore, in his own +words:--"Non fictilem tragoediam venundo, non loquaci comoedia +cachinnantibus parasitis faveo: sed studiosis lectoribus varios eventus +veraciter intimo. Inter prospera patuerunt adversa, ut terrerentur +terrigenarum corda. Rex quondam potens et bellicosus, multisque populis +per plures Provincias metuendus, in area jacuit nudus, et a suis, quos +genuerat vel aluerat, destitutus. Aere alieno in funebri cultu indiguit, +ope gregarii pro sandapila et vespilionibus conducendis eguit, qui tot +hactenus et superfluis opibus nimis abundavit. Secus incendium a +formidolosis vectus est ad Basilicam, liberoque solo, qui tot urbibus et +oppidis et vicis principatus est, caruit ad sepulturam. Arvina ventris +ejus tot delectamentis enutrita cum dedecore patuit, et prudentes ac +infrunitos, qualis sit gloria carnis, edocuit[79]." + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 76: _Anglo-Norman Antiquities_, p. 45.] + +[Footnote 77: See _Cotman's Architectural Antiquities of Normandy_, t. +24-33.] + +[Footnote 78: A detailed account of the proceedings on this occasion, is +given in the _Journal Politique du Département du Calvados_, for March +21, and May 6, 1819.--The first attempt at the discovery of Matilda's +coffin, was made in March, 1818, and was confined to the chapter-house: +the matter then slept till the following March, when Count de +Montlivault, attended by the Bishop of Bayeux, Mr. Spencer Smythe, and +other gentlemen, prosecuted his inquiries within the church itself, and, +immediately under the spot where her monument stood, discovered a stone +coffin, five feet four inches long, by eleven inches deep, and varying +in width from twenty inches to eleven. Within this coffin was a leaden +box, soldered down; and, in addition to the box, the head of an effigy +of a monk, in stone, and a portion of a skull-bone filled with aromatic +herbs, and covered with a yellowish-white membrane, which proved, upon +examination, to be the remains of a linen cloth. The box contained +various bones, that had belonged to a person of nearly the same height +as Matilda is described to have been. No doubt seemed to remain but that +the desideratum was discovered. The whole was therefore carefully +replaced; and the prefect ordered that a new tomb should be raised, +similar to that which was destroyed at the revolution; and that the +slab, with the original epitaph, should be laid on the top; that copies +of the former inscription, stating how the queen's remains had been +re-interred by the abbess, in 1707, should be added to two of the sides; +that to the third should be affixed the ducal arms of Normandy; and that +the fourth should bear the following inscription:-- + + + "Ce tombeau renfermant les dépouilles mortelles + de l'illustre Fondatrice de cette Abbaye, + renversé pendant les discordes civiles, + et déplacé depuis une longue série d'années, + a été restauré, conformément au voeu des + amis de la religion, de l'antiquité et des arts, + 1819. + Casimir, comte de Montlivault, conseiller d'état, préfet. + Léchaudé d'Anisy, directeur de l'Hospice." + + +The ceremony of the re-interment was performed with great pomp on the +fifth of May; and the Bishop of Bayeux pronounced a speech on the +occasion, that does him credit for its good sense and affecting +eloquence.] + +[Footnote 79: _Hist. Normannorum Scriptores_, p. 662.] + + + + +LETTER XXVI. + +PALACE OF THE CONQUEROR--HERALDIC TILES--PORTRAITS OF WILLIAM AND +MATILDA--MUSEUM--PUBLIC LIBRARY--UNIVERSITY--ACADEMY--EMINENT +MEN--HISTORY OF CAEN. + + +(_Caen, August_, 1818.) + +Within the precincts of the abbey of St. Stephen are some buildings, +which do not appear to have been used for monastic purposes. It is +supposed that they were erected by William the Conqueror, and they are +yet called his palace. Only sixty years ago, when Ducarel visited Caen, +these remains still preserved their original character. + +He describes the great guard-chamber and the barons' hall, as making a +noble appearance, and as being perhaps equally worth the notice of an +English antiquary as any object within the province of Normandy. The +walls of these rooms are standing, but dilapidated and degraded; and +they have lost their architectural character, which, supposing Ducarel's +plate to be a faithful representation, must have been very decisive. It +is scarcely possible to conceive how any man, with such a specimen of +the palace before his eyes, could dream of its being coeval with the +Norman conquest: every portion is of the pointed style, and even of a +period when that style was no longer in its purity. Possibly, indeed, +other parts of the edifice may have been more ancient; such certainly +was the "Conqueror's kitchen," a singular octagon building, with four +tall slender chimneys capped with perforated cones. This was destroyed +many years ago; but Ducarel obtained an original drawing of it, which he +has engraved. Amongst the ruins there is a chimney which perhaps +belonged to this building.--The guard-chamber and barons' hall are noble +rooms: the former is one hundred and ninety feet in length and ninety in +breadth. You remember how admirably the _Lay of the Last Minstrel_ opens +with a description of such a hall, filled with knights, and squires, and +pages, and all the accompaniments of feudal state. I tried, while +standing by these walls, to conjure up the same pictures to my +imagination, but it was impossible; so desolate and altered was every +thing around, and so effectually was the place of baronial assemblage +converted into a granary. The ample fire-place still remains; but, cold +and cheerless, it looks as if had been left in mockery of departed +splendor and hospitality. I annex a sketch of it, in which you will also +see a few scattered tiles, relics of the magnificent pavement that once +covered the floor. + +[Illustration: Fireplace in the Conqueror's Palace, at Caen] + +This pavement has been the subject of much learned discussion; because, +if the antiquity of the emblazoned tiles could be established, (which it +certainly cannot) we should then have a decisive proof of the use of +armorial bearings in the eleventh century. Nearly the whole of these +tiles are now removed. After the abbey was sold, the workmen entirely +destroyed the tiles, breaking them with their pick-axes. The Abbé de la +Rue, however, collected an entire set of them; and others have been +preserved by M. Lair, an antiquary of Caen.--Ducarel thus describes the +pavement when perfect: "The floor is laid with tiles, each near five +inches square, baked almost to vitrification. Eight rows of these +tiles, running from east to west, are charged with different coats of +arms, said to be those of the families who attended Duke William in his +invasion of England. The intervals between each of these rows are filled +up with a kind of tessellated pavement, the middle whereof represents a +maze or labyrinth, about ten feet in diameter, and so artfully contrived +that were we to suppose a man following all the intricate meanders of +its volutes, he could not travel less than a mile before he got from one +end to the other. The remainder of the floor is inlaid with small +squares of different colors, placed alternately, and formed into draught +or chess-boards, for the amusement of the soldiers while on guard." + +Such is the general description of the floors of this apartment: with +regard to the date of the tiles, Ducarel proceeds to state that "it is +most probable the pavement was laid down in the latter part of the reign +of King John, when he was loitering away his life at Caen, with the +beautiful Isabel of Angoulême, his queen; during which period, the +custom of wearing coats of arms was introduced."--Common tradition +assigns the tiles to higher date, making them coeval with the conquest; +and this opinion has not been without supporters. It was strenuously +defended by Mr. Henniker Major, who, in the year 1794, printed for +private distribution, two letters upon the subject, addressed to Lord +Leicester, in which he maintained this opinion with zeal and laborious +research. To the letters were annexed engravings of twenty coats of +arms, the whole, as he observes, that were represented on the pavement; +for though the number of emblazoned tiles was considerable, the rest +were all repetitions[80]. The same observation was found in the +inscription attached to a number of the tiles, which the monks kept +framed for public inspection, in a conspicuous part of the monastery; +and yet some of the armorial bearings in this very selection, differ +from any of those figured by Mr. Henniker Major. The Abbé de la Rue has +also many which are not included in Mr. Henniker Major's engravings. In +one of the coats the arms are quartered, a practice that was not +introduced till the reign of Edward IIIrd. The same quarterings are also +found upon an escutcheon, placed over the door that leads to the +apartment. This door is a flattened arch, with an ogee canopy, the +workmanship probably of the fourteenth century. + +To the same date I should also refer the tiles; and possibly the whole +palace was built at that period. There are no records of its erection; +no document connects its existence with the history of the duchy; no +author relates its having been suffered to fall into decay. So striking +an absence of all proof, and this upon a point where evidence of +different kinds might naturally have been expected, may warrant a +suspicion how far the building was ever a royal palace, according to the +strict import of the town. A friend of mine supposes that these +buildings may have been the king's lodgings. During the middle ages it +was usual for monarchs in their progresses, to put up at the great +abbeys; and this portion of the convent of St. Stephen may have been +intended for the accommodation of the royal guests. + +The assigning of a comparatively modern date to the pavement, does not +necessarily interfere with the question as to the antiquity of heraldic +bearings. The coats of arms which are painted upon the tiles may have +been designed to represent those of the nobility who attended Duke +William on his expedition to England: it is equally possible that they +embraced a more general object, and were those of the principal families +of the duchy--De Thou gives his suffrage in favor of the former opinion, +but Huet of the latter; and the testimony of the bishop must be allowed, +in this case, to outweigh that of the president.--Huet also says, that +it is matter of notoriety that the tiles were laid down towards the +close of the fourteenth century. He mentions, however, no authority for +the assertion; and less credit perhaps will be given to it than it +deserves, from his having stated just before, that the abbey and palace +were contemporary structures. + +Upon the outside wall of a chapel that is supposed to have belonged to +the same palace, were ancient fresco paintings of William and Matilda, +and of their sons, Robert and William Rufus. They are engraved by +Montfaucon[81], and are supposed by him, probably with reason, to be +coeval with the personages they represent. The figures are standing upon +animals, the distribution of which is the most remarkable circumstance +connected with the portraits. To the king is assigned a dog; to the +queen a lion: the eldest son has the same symbol as his father; the +younger rests upon a two-bodied beast, half swine, half bird, the bodies +uniting in a female head.--Upon the same plate, Montfaucon has given a +second whole-length picture of the conqueror, which represents him with +the crown upon his head, and the sceptre in his hand. Considering the +costume, he observes with justice that it cannot have been painted +earlier than the latter part of the fourteenth century. Ducarel, who, as +usual, has copied the Benedictine's engravings, says that, in his time, +the same portrait existed in fresco over a chimney-piece in the porter's +lodge.--We saw two copies of it; the one in the sacristy of the abbey +church, the other in the museum, an establishment which may, without +injustice to the honors of Caen, be dismissed with the brief +observation, that, though three rooms are appropriated to the purpose, +there is a very scanty assortment of pictures, and their quality is +altogether ordinary. + +The public library is a handsome apartment, one hundred and thirty feet +in length, and it contains about twenty thousand volumes, mostly in good +condition; but a great proportion of the books are of a description +little read, being old divinity. To the students of the university, this +establishment is of essential service; and on this account it is to be +regretted, that the very scanty revenue with which it is endowed, +amounting only to twelve hundred francs per annum, prevents the +possibility of any material increase to the collection, except in the +case of such books as the liberality of the state contributes. And these +are principally works of luxury and great expence, which might +advantageously be exchanged for the less costly productions of more +extensive utility. We inquired in vain after manuscripts and specimens +of early typography. None were to be found; and yet they might surely +have been expected here; for a public library has existed in Caen from +an early part of the last century, and, previous to the revolution, it +was enriched with various donations. M. de Colleville presented to it +the whole of the collection of the celebrated Bochart; Cavelier, printer +to the university, a man known by several treatises on Roman +antiquities, added a donation of two thousand volumes; and Cardinal de +Fleury, who considered it under his especial protection, gave various +sums of money for the purchase of books, and likewise provided a salary +for the librarian. I suspect that no small proportion of the more +valuable volumes, have been dispersed or stolen. Round the apartment +hang portraits of the most eminent men of Caen: tablets are also +suspended, for the purpose of commemorating those who have been +benefactors to the library; but the tablets at present are blank. + +For its university Caen is indebted to Henry VIth, who, anxious to give +éclat and popularity to British rule, founded a college by letters +patent, dated from Rouen, in January, 1431. The original charter +restricted the objects of the university to education in the canon and +civil law; but, five years subsequently, the same king issued a fresh +patent, adding the faculties of theology and the arts; and, in the +following year, he still farther added the faculty of medicine.--To +give permanency to the work thus happily begun, the states of Normandy +preferred their petition to Pope Eugene IVth, who issued two bulls, +dated the thirtieth of May, 1437, and the nineteenth of May, 1439, by +which the new university received the sanction of the holy see, and was +placed upon the same footing as the other universities of the kingdom. +The Bishop of Bayeux was at the same time appointed chancellor; and +sundry apostolical privileges were conceded, which have been confirmed +by subsequent pontiffs.--Thus Normandy, as is admitted by De +Bourgueville, owed good as well as evil to her English sovereigns; but +Charles VIIth had no sooner succeeded in expelling our countrymen from +the province, than jealousy arose in his breast, at finding them in +possession of such a title to the gratitude of the people, and he +resolved to run the risk of destroying what had been done, rather than +lose the opportunity of gratifying his personal feeling. The university +was therefore dissolved in 1450, that a new one might hereafter be +founded by the new sovereign. The king thought it necessary to vary in +some degree from the example of his predecessor; and for this purpose he +had recourse to the extraordinary expedient of abolishing the faculty of +law. A petition, however, from the states, induced him to replace the +whole upon its original footing in 1452, and it continued till the time +of the revolution to have all the five faculties, and to be the only one +in France that retained them. Two years only intervened between the +dates of the patents issued by Charles VIIth, upon the subject of this +university; yet there is a remarkable difference in their language. The +first of them, which is obviously intended to disparage Caen, styles it +a large town, scantily inhabited, without manufactures or commerce, and +destitute of any great river to afford facilities towards the transport +of the produce of the country. The second was designed to have an +opposite tendency; and in this, the people of Caen are praised for their +acuteness, and the town for its excellent harbor and great rivers. The +patent also adds, that the nearest university, that of Paris, is fifty +leagues distant. + +In the estimation, at least, of the inhabitants, the university of Caen +ranks at present the third in France; Paris and Strasbourg being alone +entitled to stand before it. The faculty of law retains its old +reputation, and the legal students are quite the pride of the +university. Since the peace, many young jurisprudents from Jersey and +Guernsey have resorted to it. Medical students generally complete their +education at Paris, where it is commonly considered in France, that, +both in theory and practice, the various branches of this faculty have +nearly attained the acmè of perfection. The students, who amount to just +five hundred, are under the care of twenty-six professors, many of them +men of distinguished talents. The Abbé de la Rue fills the chair of +history; M. Lamouroux, that of the natural sciences. They receive their +salaries wholly from the government; their emoluments continue the same, +whether the students crowd to hear their courses, or whether they +lecture to empty benches. It is strictly forbidden to a student to +attempt to make any remuneration to a professor, or even to offer him a +present of any kind. The whole of the dues paid by the scholars go to +the state; and the state in its turn, defrays the expences of the +establishment. + +There is likewise at Caen an Academy of Sciences, Arts and Belles +Lettres, which has published two volumes; not, strictly speaking, of its +Transactions, but exhibiting a brief outline of the principal papers +that have been read at the meetings. The antiquarian dissertations of +the Abbé de la Rue, which they contain, are of great merit; and it is +much to be regretted, that they have not appeared in a more extended +form. A chartered academy was first founded here in the year 1705; and +it continued to exist, till it was suppressed, like all others +throughout France, at the revolution. The present establishment arose in +1800, under the auspices of General Dugua, then prefect of the +department, who had been urged to the task by the celebrated Chaptal, +Minister of the Interior.--Some interesting, letters are annexed to the +second part of the poems of Mosant de Brieux, in which, among much +curious information relative to Caen, he describes the literary meetings +that led to the foundation of the first academy. The town at that time +could boast an unusual proportion of men of talents. Bochart, author of +_Sacred Geography_; Graindorge, who had published _De Principiis +Generationîs_; Huet, a man seldom mentioned, without the epithet +_learned_ being attached to his name; and Halley and Ménage, authors +almost equally distinguished, were amongst those who were associated for +the purposes of acquiring and communicating information. + +Indeed, Caen appears at all times to have been fruitful in literary +characters. Huet enumerates no fewer than one hundred and thirty-seven, +whom he considers worthy of being recorded among the eminent men of +France. The greater part of them are necessarily unknown to us in +England; and allowance must be made for a man who is writing upon a +subject, in which self-love may be considered as in some degree +involved; the glory of our townsmen shining by reflection upon +ourselves. A portion, however, of the number, are men whose claims to +celebrity will not be denied.--Such, in the fifteenth century, were the +poets John and Clement Marot; such was the celebrated physician, +Dalechamps, to whom naturalists are indebted for the _Historia +Plantarum_; such the laborious lexicographer, Constantin; and, not to +extend the catalogue needlessly, such above all was Malherbe. The medal +that has been struck at Caen in honor of this great man, at the expence +of Monsieur de Lair, bears for its epigraph, the three first words of +Boileau's eulogium--"Enfin Malherbe vint."--The same inscription is also +to be seen upon the walls of the library. So expressive a beginning +prepares the reader for a corresponding sequel; and I should be guilty +of injustice towards this eminent writer, were I not to quote to you the +passage at length.-- + + + "Enfin, Malherbe vint, et le premier en France + Fit sentir dans les vers une juste cadence: + D'un mot mis en sa place enseigna le pouvoir, + Et reduisit la muse aux règles du devoir. + Par ce sage écrivain, la langue repareé, + N'offrit plus rien de rude à l'oreille épureé. + Les stances avec grâce apprirent à tomber, + Et le Vers sur le Vers n'osa plus enjamber." + + +Wace and Baudius, though not born at Caen, have contributed to its +honor, by their residence here. Baudius was appointed to the +professorship of law in the university, by the President de Thou; but he +disagreed with his colleagues, and soon removed to Leyden, where he +filled the chair of history till his death. Some of his earlier letters, +in the collection published by Elzevir, are dated from Caen. His Iambi, +directed against his brethren of this university, are scarcely to be +exceeded for severity, by the bitterest specimens of a style +proverbially bitter. Their excessive virulence defeated the writer's +aim; but there is an elegance in the Latinity of Baudius, and a degree +of feeling in his sentiments, which will ensure a permanent existence to +his compositions, and especially to his poems.--He it was who called +forth the severe saying of Bayle, that "many men of learning render +themselves contemptible in the places where they live, while they are +admired where they are known only by their writings."--Wace was a native +of Jersey, but an author only at Caen. The most celebrated of his works +is _Le Roman de Rou et des Normans_, written in French verse. He +dedicated this romance to our Henry IInd, who rewarded him with a stall +in the cathedral at Bayeux. + +[Illustration: Profile of M. Lamouroux] + +Quitting the departed for the living, I send you a profile of M. +Lamouroux, the professor of natural history at this university, to whom +we have been personally indebted for the kindest attention. His name is +well known to you, as that of a man who has, perhaps, deserved more than +any other individual at the hands of every student of marine Botany. His +treatises upon the _Classification of the Submersed Algæ_, have been +honored with admission in the _Mémoires du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle_, +and have procured him the distinction of being elected into the National +Institute: his subsequent publication on the _Corallines_, is an +admirable manual, in a very difficult branch of natural history; and he +is now preparing for the press, a work of still greater labor and more +extensive utility, an arrangement of the organized fossils found in the +vicinity of Caen. + +The whole of this neighborhood abounds in remains of the antediluvian +world: they are found not only in considerable quantity, but in great +perfection. In the course of last year; a fossil crocodile was dug up at +Allemagne, a village about a mile distant, imbedded in blue lias. Other +specimens of the same genus, comprising, as it appears, two species, +both of them distinct from any that are known in a living state, had +previously been discovered in a bed of similar hard blue limestone, near +Havre and Honfleur, as well as upon the opposite shores of England. But +the Caen specimen is the most interesting of any, as the first that has +been seen with its scales perfect; and the naturalists here have availed +themselves of the opportunity thus afforded them, to determine it by a +specific character, and give it the name of _Crocodilus Cadomensis_. + +The civil and ecclesiastical history of Caen will be amply illustrated +in the forthcoming volumes of the Abbé de la Rue, as he is preparing a +work on the subject, _à l'instar_ of the Essays of St. Foix. In the +leading events of the duchy, we find the town of Caen had but little +share. It is only upon the occasion of two sieges from our countrymen, +the one in 1346, the other in 1417, that it appears to have acted a +prominent part. The details of the first siege are given at some length +by Froissart.--Edward IIIrd, accompanied by the Black Prince, had landed +at La Hogue; and, meeting with no effectual resistance, had pillaged the +towns of Barfleur, Cherbourg, Carentan, and St. Lô, after which he led +his army hither. Caen, as Froissait tells us, was at that time "large, +strong, and full of drapery and all other sorts of merchandize, rich +citizens, noble dames and damsels, and fine churches." In its defence +were assembled the Constable of France, with the Counts of Eu, Guignes, +and Tancarville. But the wisdom of the generals was defeated by the +impetuosity of the citizens. They saw themselves equal in number to the +invaders, and, without reflecting how little numerical superiority +avails in war against experience and tactics, they required to be led +against the foe. They were so, and were defeated. The conquerors and +conquered entered the city pell-mell; and Edward, enraged at the +citizens for shooting upon his troops from the windows, issued orders +that the inhabitants should be put to the sword, and the town burned. +The mandate, however, was not executed: Sir Godfrey de Harcourt, with +wise remonstrances, assuaged the anger of the sovereign, and diverted +him from his purpose.--Immense were the riches taken on the occasion. +The English fleet returned home loaded with cloth, and jewels, and gold, +and silver plate, together with sixty knights, and upwards of three +hundred able men, prisoners. This gallant exploit was shortly afterwards +followed by the decisive battle of Crécy. + +Caen suffered still more severely upon the occasion of its second +capture; when Henry IVth marched upon the town immediately after landing +at Touques. The siege was longer, and the place, taken by assault, was +given up to indiscriminate plunder. Even the churches were not spared: +that of the Holy Sepulchre was demolished, and, among its other +treasures, a crucifix was carried away, containing a portion of the real +cross, which, as we are told, testified by so many miracles its +displeasure at being taken to England, that the conquerors were glad to +restore it to its original destination. + +From this time to the year 1450, our countrymen kept undisturbed +possession of Caen. In the latter year they capitulated to the Count de +Dunois, after a gallant resistance. But though the town has +thenceforward remained, without interruption, subject to the crown of +France, it has not therefore been always free from the miseries of +warfare. A dreadful riot took place here in 1512, occasioned by the +disorderly conduct of a body of six thousand German mercenaries, whom +Louis XIIth introduced, by way of garrison, to guard against any sudden +attack from Henry VIIIth. The character given by De Bourgueville of +these _Lansquenets_ is, that they were "drunkards who guzzle wine, +cider, and beer, out of earthen pots, and then fall asleep upon the +table." Three hundred lives were lost upon this occasion, on the part of +the Germans alone.--In the middle of the same century, happened the +civil wars, originating in the reformation: and in the course of these, +Caen suffered dreadfully from the contending parties. Friend and foe +conspired alike to its ruin: what was saved from the violence of the +Huguenots, was taken by the treachery of the Catholics, under the +plausible pretext of its being placed in security. Thus, after the +Calvinists had already seized on every thing precious that fell in their +way, the Duke de Bouillon, the governor of the town, commanded all the +reliquaries, shrines, church-plate, and ecclesiastical ornaments, to be +carried to him at the castle; and he had no sooner got them into his +possession, than "all holy, rich, and precious, as they were, he caused +them to be melted down, and converted into coin to pay his soldiers; and +he scattered the relics, so that they have never been seen +more."--Loosen but the bands of society, and you will find that, in all +ages of the world, the case has been nearly the same; and, as upon the +banks of the Simoeis, so upon the plains of Normandy,-- + + + "Seditione, dolis, scelere, atque libidine, et irâ, + _Iliacos_ extra muros peccatur et intra." + + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 80: Engravings of the same tiles, and of some others, chiefly +with fanciful patterns, are to be found in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ +for March 1789, LIX. p. 211, plates 2, 3. The subjects of the latter +plate are those tiles which were hung in a gilt frame, on the walls of +the cloister of the abbey, with an inscription, denoting whence they +were taken.] + +[Footnote 81: _Monumens de la Monarchie Française_, I. p. 402, t. 55.] + + + + +LETTER XXVII. + +VIEUX--LA MALADERIE--CHESNUT TIMBER--CAEN STONE--HISTORY OF +BAYEUX--TAPESTRY. + + +(_Bayeux, August_, 1818.) + +Letters just received from England oblige us to change our course +entirely: their contents are of such a nature, that we could not prolong +our journey with comfort or satisfaction. We must return to England; +and, instead of regretting the objects which we have lost, we must +rejoice that we have seen so much, and especially that we have been able +to visit the cathedral and tapestry of Bayeux. + +At the same time, I will not deny that we certainly could have wished to +have explored the vicinity of Caen, where an ample harvest of subjects, +both for the pen and pencil, is to be gathered; but the circumstances +that control us would not even allow of a pilgrimage to the shrine of +our Lady of la Délivrande, on the border of the English Channel, or of +an excursion to the village of Vieux, in the opposite +direction.--Antiquaries have been divided in opinion, concerning the +nature and character of the buildings which anciently occupied the site +of this village.--The remains of a Roman aqueduct are still to be seen +there, and the foundations of ancient edifices are distinctly to be +traced. In the course of the last century, a gymnasium was likewise +discovered, of great size, constructed according to the rules laid down +by Vitruvius, and a hypocaust, connected with a fine stone basin, twelve +feet in diameter, surrounded by three rows of seats. Abundance of +medals of the upper empire, among others, of Crispina, wife to Commodus, +and Latin inscriptions and sarcophagi, are frequently dug up among its +ruins[82]. Hence, a belief has commonly prevailed that during the Roman +dominion in Gaul, Vieux was a city, and that Caen, which is only six +miles distant, arose from its ruins. This opinion was strenuously +combated by Huet; yet it subsequently found a new advocate in the Abbé +Le Beuf[83]. The bishop contends that the extent of the buildings rather +denotes the ruins of a fortified camp, than of a city; and he therefore +considers it most probable, that Vieux was the site of an encampment, +raised near the Orne, for the purpose of defending the passage of the +river, at the point where it was crossed by the military road that led +from the district of the Bessin, to that of the Hiesmois.--Portions of +the causeway, may still be traced, constructed of the same kind of brick +as the aqueduct; and the name of the village so far tends to corroborate +the conjecture, that _Vieux_ originally denoted a ford; and the word +_Vé_, which is most probably a corruption from it, retains this +signification in Norman French.--The Abbé, at the same time that he does +not pretend to contradict the argument deduced from etymology, maintains +that a careful comparison of the position of Vieux, with the distances +marked on the _Tabula Peutingeriana_, and with what Ptolemy relates of +certain towns adjoining the Viducassian territory, will support him in +the assertion, that Vieux was the ancient _Augustodurum_ the Viducassian +capital; and that Bayeux was probably the site of _Arigenus_ another of +the towns of that tribe.--The red, veined marble of Vieux is much +esteemed in France; as are also the other marbles of this department, +which vary in color from a dull white, through grey, to blue. The +quarries, as is generally believed, were first opened and worked by the +Romans. Vieux marble is to be seen at Paris, where it was employed by +Cardinal Richelieu, in the construction of the chapel of the Sorbonne. + +At about a mile from Caen, on the road to Bayeux, stands the village of +St. Germain de Blancherbe, more commonly called in the neighborhood _la +Maladerie_, a name derived from the lazar-house in it, the _Léproserie +de Beaulieu_, founded by Henry IInd, in 1161.--Robert Du Mont terms the +building a wonderful work. It was a princely establishment, designed for +the reception of lepers from all the parishes of Caen, except four, +whose patients had an especial right to be admitted into a smaller +hospital in the same place. The great hospital is now used as a house of +correction. Seen from the road, it appears to be principally of modern +architecture though still retaining a portion of the ancient structure; +the same, probably, as is mentioned by Ducarel, who says, that "part of +the magnificent chapel, which was considered as the parish church for +the lepers, and ruined by the English, is turned into a large common +hall for the prisoners, and separated from the other part, which is made +into a chapel, by means of an iron gate, through which they may have an +opportunity of hearing mass celebrated every morning."--Within the +village street stands a desecrated church of the earliest Norman style, +with a very perfect door-way. The present parish church, though chiefly +modern, deserves attention on account of the west front, which is wholly +of the semi-circular style, and is somewhat curious, from having two +Norman buttresses, that rise from a string-course at the top of the +basement story, (in which the arched door-way is contained,) and are +thence continued upwards till they unite with the roof. The decorations +round its southern entrance are also remarkable: they principally +consist of a very sharp chevron moulding, interspersed with foliage and +various figures. + +The quarries in this village, and in that of Allemagne, on the opposite +side of the Orne, supply most of the free-stone, for which Caen has, +during many centuries, been celebrated. Stone of the finest quality is +found in strata of different thickness, at the depth of about sixty feet +below the surface of the ground. If worked much lower, it ceases to be +good. It is brought up in square blocks, about nine feet wide, and two +feet thick, by means of vertical wheels, placed at the mouths of the +pits. When first dug from the quarry, its color is a pure and glossy +white, and its texture very soft; but as it hardens it takes a browner +hue, and loses its lustre. + +In former days this stone was exported in great quantity to our own +country. Stow, in his _Survey of London_, states that London Bridge, +Westminster Abbey, and several others of our public edifices were built +with it. Extracts from sundry charters relative to the quarries are +quoted by Ducarel, who adds that, in his time, though many cargoes of +the stone were annually conveyed by water to the different provinces of +the kingdom, the exportation of it out of France was strictly +prohibited, insomuch that, when it was to be sent by sea, the owner of +the stone, as well as the master of the vessel on board of which it was +shipped, was obliged to give security that it should not be sold to +foreigners.--We omitted to inquire how far the same prohibitions still +continue in force. + +At but a short distance from St. Germain de Blancherbe, stands the +ruined abbey of Ardennes, now the residence of a farmer; but still +preserving the features of a monastic building. The convent was founded +in 1138, for canons of the Præmonstratensian order. Its Celtic name +denotes its antiquity, as it also tends to prove that this part of the +country was covered with timber. The word, _arden_, signified a forest, +and was thence applied, with a slight variation in orthography, to the +largest forest in England, and to the more celebrated forest in the +vicinity of Liege. According to tradition, the Norman ardennes +consisted: of chesnut-trees. De Bourgueville tells us that timber of +this description is the principal material of most of the houses in the +town. John Evelyn relates the same of those in London; and in our own +counties wherever a village church has been so fortunate as to preserve +its ancient timber cieling, the clerk is almost sure to state that the +wood is chesnut. Either this tree therefore must formerly have abounded +in places where it has now almost ceased to exist, or oak timber must +have been commonly mistaken for it: and we may equally adopt both these +conjectures. The yew and the service, as well as the chesnut, are +occasionally mentioned in old charters, and are admitted by botanists to +be indigenous in England. I should doubt, however, if any one of them +could now be found in a wild state; and there is a fashion in planting +as well as in every thing else, which renders peculiar trees more or +less abundant at different times. + +About half way between Caen and Bayeux, is the village of Bretteville +l'Orgueilleuse, the lofty tower of whose church, perforated with long +lancet windows, and surmounted by a high spire, excites curiosity. +Churches are numerous in this neighborhood, and there is no other part +of Normandy, in which, architecturally considered, they are equally +deserving of notice. Scarcely one is to be seen that is not marked by +some peculiarity. I know not why Bretteville acquired the epithet +attached to its name; and I am equally at a loss for the derivation of +the word _Bretteville_ itself; but the term must have some +signification in Normandy, at least eleven villages in the duchy being +so called. + +The first part of the road to Bayeux passes through a flat and open +district, resembling that on the other side of Caen; in the remaining +half, the country is enclosed, with a more varied surface. Apple-trees +again abound; and the old custom of suspending a bush over the door of +an inn is commonly practised here. For this purpose misletoe is almost +always selected. Throughout the whole of this district and the +neighboring province of Brittany, the ancient attachment of the Druids +to misletoe continues to a certain degree to prevail. The commencement +of the new year is hailed by shouts of "au gui; l'an neuf;" and the +gathering of the misletoe for the occasion is still the pretext for a +merry-making, if not for a religious ceremony. + +Bayeux was the seat of an academy of the Druids. Ausonius expressly +addresses Attius Patera Pather, one of the professors at Bordeaux, as +being of the family of the priesthood of this district:-- + + + "Doctor potentum rhetorum, + Tu Bajocassis stirpe Druidarum satus;" + + +And tradition to this hour preserves the remembrance of the spot that +was hallowed by the celebration of their mystic rites. This spot, an +eminence adjoining the city, has subsequently served for the site of a +priory dedicated to St. Nicholas _de la chesnaye_, thus commemorating by +the epithet, the oaks that formed the holy grove. Near it stood the +famous temple of Mount Phaunus, which was flourishing in the beginning +of the fourth century, and, according to Rivet, was considered one of +the three most celebrated in Gaul. Belenus was the divinity principally +worshipped in it; but, according to popular superstition, adoration was +also paid to a golden calf, which was buried in the hill, and still +remains entombed there. Even within the last fifty years, two laborers +have lost their lives in a fruitless attempt to find this hidden +treasure. Tombs, and urns, and human bones, are constantly discovered; +yet neither Druidic temples, nor pillars of stone, nor cromlechs or +Celtic remains of any description exist, at least, at present, in the +neighborhood of Bayeux. + +Roman relics, however, abound. The vases and statues dug up near this +city, have afforded employment to the pen and the pencil of Count +Caylus, who, judging from the style of art, refers the greater part of +them to the times of Julius and Augustus Cæsar. Medals of the earliest +emperors have likewise frequently been detected among the foundations of +the houses of the city; and even so recently as in the beginning of the +present century, mutilated cippi, covered with Latin inscriptions, have +been brought to light. These discoveries all tend to shew the Roman +origin of Bayeux, and two Roman causeways also join here; so that, +notwithstanding the arguments of the Abbé le Beuf, most antiquaries +still believe that Bayeux was the city called by Ptolemy the _Næomagus +Viducassium_.--The term _Viducasses_ or _Biducasses_ was in early ages +changed to _Bajocasses_; and the city, following the custom that +prevailed in Gaul, took the appellation of _Bajocæ_, or, as it was +occasionally written, of _Baiæ_ or _Bagicæ_. Its name in French has +likewise been subject to alterations.--During the twelfth and thirteenth +centuries, it was _Baex_ and _Bajeves_; in the fourteenth _Bajex_; in +the sixteenth _Baieux_; and soon afterwards it settled info the present +orthography. + +Pursuing the history of Bayeux somewhat farther, we find this city in +the _Notitia Galileæ_ holding the first rank among the towns of the +_Secunda Lugdunensis_. During the Merovingian and Carlovingian +dynasties, its importance is proved by the mint which was established +here. Golden coins, struck under the first race of French sovereigns, +inscribed _HBAJOCAS_, and silver pieces, coined by Charles the Bald, +with the legend _HBAJOCAS-CIVITAS_, are mentioned by Le Blanc. Bayeux +was also in those times, one of the head-quarters of the high +functionaries, entitled _Missi Dominici_, who were annually deputed by +the monarchy for the promulgation of their decrees and the +administration of justice. Two other cities only in Neustria, Rouen and +Lisieux, were distinguished with the same privilege.--Nor did Bayeux +suffer any diminution of its honors, under the Norman Dukes: they +regarded it as the second town of the duchy, and had a palace here, and +frequently made it the seat of their _Aula Regio_. + +The destruction of the Roman Bayeux is commonly ascribed, like that of +the Roman Lisieux, to the Saxon invasion. No traces of the Viducassian +capital are to be found in history, subsequently to the reign of +Constantine; no medals, no inscriptions of a later period, have been dug +up within its precincts. During the earliest incursions of the Saxons +in Gaul, they seem to have made this immediate neighborhood the seat of +a permanent settlement. The Abbé Le Beuf places the district, known by +the name of the _Otlingua Saxonia_, between Bayeux and Isigny; and +Gregory of Tours, in his relation of the events that occurred towards +the close of the sixth century, makes repeated mention of the _Saxones +Bajocassini_, whom the early Norman historians style _Saisnes de +Bayeux_. Under the reign of Charlemagne, a fresh establishment of Saxons +took place here. That emperor, after the bloody defeat of this valiant +people, about the year 804, caused ten thousand men, with their wives +and children, to be delivered up to him as prisoners, and dispersed them +in different parts of France. Some of the captives were colonized in +Neustria; and, among the rest, Witikind, son of the brave chief of the +same name, who had fought so nobly in defence of the liberty of his +country, had lands assigned to him in the Bessin. Hence, names of Saxon +origin commonly occur throughout the diocese of Bayeux; sometimes alone +and undisguised, but more frequently in composition. Thus, in _Estelan_, +you will have little difficulty in recognizing _East-land: Cape la +Hogue_ will readily suggest the idea of a lofty promontory; its +appellation being derived from the German adjective, _hoch_, still +written _hoog_, in Flemish: the Saxon word for the Almighty enters into +the family names of _Argot_, _Turgot_, _Bagot_, _Bigot_, &c.; and, not +to multiply examples, the quaking sands upon the sea-shore are to the +present hour called _bougues_, an evident corruption of our own word +_bogs_. + +When, towards the middle of the same century, the Saxons were succeeded +by the Normans, the country about Bayeux was one of the districts that +suffered most from the new invaders. Two bishops of the see, Sulpitius +and Baltfridus, were murdered by the barbarians; and Bayeux itself was +pillaged and burned, notwithstanding the valiant resistance made by the +governor, Berenger. This nobleman, who was count of the Bessin, was +personally obnoxious to Rollo, for having refused him his daughter, the +beautiful Poppea, in marriage. But, on the capture of the town, Poppea +was taken prisoner, and compelled to share the conqueror's bed. Bayeux +arose from its ruins under the auspices of Botho, a Norman chieftain, to +whom Rollo was greatly attached, and who succeeded to the honors of +Berenger. By him the town was rebuilt, and filled with a Norman +population, the consequence of which was, according to Dudo of St. +Quintin, that William Longa-Spatha, the successor of Rollo, who hated +the French language, sent his son, Duke Richard, to be educated at +Bayeux, where Danish alone was spoken. And the example of the Duke +continued for some time to be imitated by his successors upon the +throne; so that Bayeux became the academy for the children of the royal +family, till they arrived at a sufficient age to be removed to the +metropolis, there to be instructed in the art of government. + +The dignity of Count of the Bessin ceased in the reign of William the +Conqueror, in consequence of a rebellion on the part of the barons, +which had well nigh cost that sovereign his life. From that time, till +the conquest of Normandy by the French, the nobleman, who presided over +the Bessin, bore the title of the king's viscount; and, under this +name, you will find him the first cited among the four viscounts of +Lower Normandy, in the famous parliament of all the barons of this part +of the duchy, convened at Caen by Henry IInd, in 1152.--When Philip +Augustus gained possession of Normandy, all similar appointments were +re-modelled, and viscounts placed in every town; but their power was +restricted to the mere administration of justice, the rest of their +privileges being transferred to a new description of officers, who were +then created, with the name of bailiffs. The bailiwicks assigned to +these bore no reference to the ancient divisions of the duchy; but the +territorial partition made at that time, has ever since been preserved, +and Caen, which was honored by Philip with a preference over Bayeux, +continues to the present day to retain the pre-eminence. + +After these troubles, Bayeux enjoyed a temporary tranquillity; and, +according to the celebrated historical tapestry and to the _Roman de +Rou_, this city was selected for the place at which William the +Conqueror, upon being nominated by Edward, as his successor to the crown +of England, caused Harold to attend, and to do homage to him in the name +of the nation. The oath was taken upon a missal covered with cloth of +gold, in the presence of the prelates and grandees of the duchy; and the +reliques of the saints were collected from all quarters to bear witness +to the ceremony. Bayeux was also the spot in which Henry Ist was +detained prisoner by his eldest brother, and it suffered for this +unfortunate distinction; for Henry had scarcely ascended the English +throne, when, upon a shallow pretext, he advanced against the city, laid +siege to it, and burned it to the ground; whether moved to this act of +vengeance from hatred towards the seat of his sufferings, or to satisfy +the foreigners in his pay, whom the length of the siege had much +irritated. He had promised these men the pillage of the city, and he +kept his word; but the soldiers were not content with the plunder: they +set fire to the town, and what had escaped their ravages, perished in +the flames.[84] In 1356, under the reign of Edward IIIrd, Bayeux +experienced nearly the same fate from our countrymen; and in the +following century it again suffered severely from their arms, till the +decisive battle of Formigny, fought within ten miles of the city, +compelled Henry VIth to withdraw from Normandy, carrying with him +scarcely any other trophies of his former conquests, than a great +collection of Norman charters, and, among the rest, those of Bayeux, +which are to this hour preserved in the tower of London. + +During the subsequent wars occasioned by the reformation, this town bore +its share in the common sufferings of the north of France. The horrors +experienced by other places on the occasion were even surpassed by the +outrages that were committed at Bayeux; but it is impossible to enter +into details which are equally revolting to decency and to humanity. + +Of late years, Bayeux has been altogether an open town. The old castle, +the last relic of its military character, a spacious fortress flanked by +ten square towers, was demolished in 1773; and, as the poet of Bayeux +has sung[85],-- + + + "... Gaulois, Romains, Saxons, + Oppresseurs, opprimés, colliers, faisceaux, blasons, + Tout dort. Du vieux château la taciturne enceinte + Expire. Par degrés j'ai vu sa gloire éteinte. + J'ai marché sur ses tours, erré dans ses fossés: + Tels qu'un songe bientôt ils vont être effacés." + + +And in truth, they are so effectually _effaced_, that not a single +vestige of the walls and towers can now be discovered. + +Bayeux is situated in the midst of a fertile country, particularly rich +in pasturage. The Aure, which washes its walls, is a small and +insignificant streamlet, and though the city is within five miles of the +sea, yet the river is quite useless for the purposes of commerce, as not +a vessel can float in it. The present population of the town consists of +about ten thousand inhabitants, and these have little other employment +than lace-making.--Bayeux wears the appearance of decay: most of the +houses are ordinary; and, though some of them are built of stone, by far +the greater part are only of wood and plaster. In the midst, however, of +these, rises the noble cathedral; but this I shall reserve for the +subject of my next letter, concluding the present with a few remarks +upon that matchless relic, which, + + + "... des siècles respecté, + En peignant des héros honore la beauté." + + +The very curious piece of historical needle-work, now generally known by +the name of the _Bayeux tapestry_, was first brought into public notice +in the early part of the last century, by Father Montfaucon and M. +Lancelot, both of whom, in their respective publications, the _Monumens +de la Monarchie Française_[86], and a paper inserted in the _Mémoires de +l'Académie des Inscriptions_[87], have figured and described this +celebrated specimen of ancient art. Montfaucon's plates were afterwards +republished by Ducarel[88], with the addition of a short dissertation +and explanation, by an able antiquary of our own country, Smart +Lethieuilier. + +These plates, however, in the original, and still more in the copies, +were miserably incorrect, and calculated not to inform, but to mislead +the inquirer. When therefore the late war was concluded and France +became again accessible to an Englishman, our Society of Antiquaries, +justly considering the tapestry as being at least equally connected with +English as with French history, and regarding it as a matter of national +importance, that so curious a document should be made known by the most +faithful representation, employed an artist, fitted above all others for +the purpose, by his knowledge of history and his abilities as a +draughtsman, to prepare an exact fac-simile of the whole. Under the +auspices of the Society, Mr. C.A. Stothard undertook the task; and he +has executed it in the course of two successive visits with the greatest +accuracy and skill. The engravings from his drawings we may hope shortly +to see: meanwhile, to give you some idea of the original, I +enclose a sketch, which has no other merit than that of being a faithful +transcript. It is reduced one half from a tracing made from the tapestry +itself. By referring to Montfaucon, you will find the figure it +represents under the fifty-ninth inscription in the original, where "a +knight, with a _private_ banner, issues to mount a led horse." His +beardless countenance denotes him a Norman; and the mail covering to his +legs equally proves him to be one of the most distinguished characters. + +[Illustration: Figure from the Bayeux Tapestry] + +Within the few last years this tapestry has been the subject of three +interesting papers, read before the Society of Antiquaries. The first +and most important, from the pen of the Abbé de la Rue[89], has for its +object the refutation of the opinions of Montfaucon and Lancelot, who, +following the commonly received tradition, refer the tapestry to the +time of the conquest, and represent it as the work of Queen Matilda and +her attendant damsels. The Abbé's principal arguments are derived from +the silence of contemporary authors, and especially of Wace, who was +himself a canon of Bayeux;--from its being unnoticed in any charters or +deeds of gift connected with the cathedral;--from the improbability that +so large a roll of such perishable materials would have escaped +destruction when the cathedral was burned in 1106;--from the unfinished +state of the story;--from its containing some Saxon names unknown to the +Normans;--and from representations taken from the fables of Æsop being +worked on the borders, whereas the northern parts of Europe were not +made acquainted with these fables, till the translation of a portion of +them by Henry Ist, who thence obtained his surname of +_Beauclerk_.--These and other considerations, have led the learned Abbé +to coincide in opinion with Lord Littleton and Mr. Hume, that the +tapestry is the production of the Empress Maud, and that it was in +reality wrought by natives of our own island, whose inhabitants were at +that time so famous for labors of this description, that the common mode +of expressing a piece of embroidery, was by calling it _an English +work_. + +The Abbé shortly afterwards found an opponent in another member of the +society, Mr. Hudson Gurney, who, without following his predecessor +through the line of his arguments, contented himself with briefly +stating the three following reasons for ascribing the tapestry to +Matilda, wife to the Conqueror[90].--_First_, that in the many buildings +therein pourtrayed, there is not the least appearance of a pointed arch, +though much pointed work is found in the ornaments of the running +border; whilst, on the contrary, the features of Norman architecture, +the square buttress, flat to the walls, and the square tower surmounted +by, or rather ending in, a low pinnacle, are therein frequently +repeated.--_Secondly_, that all the knights are in ring armour, many of +their shields charged with a species of cross and five dots, and some +with dragons, but none with any thing of the nature of armorial +bearings, which, in a lower age, there would have been; and that all +wear a triangular sort of conical helmet, with a nasal, when represented +armed.--And, _Thirdly_, that the Norman banner is, invariably, _Argent_, +a Cross, _Or_, in a Bordure _Azure_; and that this is repeated over and +over again, as it is in the war against Conan, as well as at Pevensey +and at Hastings; but there is neither hint nor trace of the later +invention of the Norman leopards.--Mr. Gurney's arguments are ingenious, +but they are not, I fear, likely to be considered conclusive: he +however, has been particularly successful in another observation, that +all writers, who had previously treated of the Bayeux tapestry, had +called it a _Monument of the Conquest of England_; following, therein, +M. Lancelot, and speaking of it as an unfinished work, whereas, it is in +fact an _apologetical history of the claims of William to the crown of +England, and of the breach of faith and fall of Harold_, in a perfect +and finished action.--With this explanation before us, aided by the +short indication that is given of the subjects of the seventy-two +compartments of the tapestry, a new light is thrown upon the story. + +The third memoir is from the pen of Mr. Amyot, and concludes with an +able metrical translation from Wace. It is confined almost exclusively +to the discussion of the single historical fact, how far Harold was +really sent by the Confessor to offer the succession to William; but +this point, however interesting, in itself, is unconnected with my +present object: it is sufficient for me to shew you the various sources +from which you may derive information upon the subject. + +Supposing the Bayeux tapestry to be really from the hands of the Queen, +or the Empress, (and that it was so appears to me proved by internal +evidence,) it is rather extraordinary that the earliest notice which is +to be found of a piece of workmanship, so interesting from its author +and its subjects, should be contained in an inventory of the precious +effects deposited in the treasury of the church, dated 1476. It is also +remarkable that this inventory, in mentioning such an article, should +call it simply _a very long piece of cloth, embroidered with figures and +writing, representing the conquest of England_, without any reference to +the royal artist or the donor. + +Observations of this nature will suggest themselves to every one, and +the arguments urged by the Abbé de la Rue are very strong; and yet I +confess that my own feelings always inclined to the side of those who +assign the highest antiquity to the tapestry. I think so the more since +I have seen it. No one appears so likely to have undertaken such a task +as the female most nearly connected with the principal personage +concerned in it, and especially if we consider what the character of +this female was: the details which it contains are so minute, that they +could scarcely have been known, except at the time when they took place: +the letters agree in form with those upon Matilda's tomb; and the +manners and customs of the age are also preserved.--Mr. Stothard, who is +of the same opinion as to the date of the tapestry, very justly +observes, that the last of these circumstances can scarcely be +sufficiently insisted upon; for that "it was the invariable practice +with artists in every country, excepting Italy, during the middle ages, +whatever subject they took in hand, to represent it according to the +costume of their own times." + +Till the revolution, the tapestry was always kept in the cathedral, in a +chapel on the south side, dedicated to Thomas à Becket, and was only +exposed to public view once a year, during the octave of the feast of +St. John on which occasion it was hung up in the nave of the church, +which it completely surrounded. From the time thus selected for the +display of it, the tapestry acquired the name of _le toile de Saint +Jean_; and it is to the present day commonly so called in the city. +During the most stormy part of the revolution, it was secreted; but it +was brought to Paris when the fury of vandalism had subsided. And, when +the first Consul was preparing for the invasion of England, this ancient +trophy of the subjugation of the British nation was proudly exhibited to +the gaze of the Parisians, who saw another _Conqueror_ in Napoléon +Bonaparté; and many well-sounding effusions, in prose and verse, +appeared, in which the laurels of Duke William were transferred, by +anticipation, to the brows of the child and champion of jacobinism. +After this display, Bonaparté returned the tapestry to the municipality, +accompanied by a letter, in which he thanked them for the care they had +taken of so precious a relic. From that period to the present, it has +remained in the residence appropriated to the mayor, the former +episcopal palace; and here we saw it. + +It is a piece of brownish linen cloth, about two hundred and twelve feet +long, and eighteen inches wide, French measure. The figures are worked +with worsted of different colors, but principally light red, blue, and +yellow. The historical series is included between borders composed of +animals, &c. The colors are faded, but not so much so as might have been +expected. The figures exhibit a regular line of events, commencing with +Edward the Confessor seated upon his throne, in the act of dispatching +Harold to the court of the Norman Duke, and continued through Harold's +journey, his capture by the Comte de Ponthieu, his interview with +William, the death of Edward, the usurpation of the British throne by +Harold, the Norman invasion, the battle of Hastings, and Harold's death. +These various events are distributed into seventy-two compartments, each +of them designated by an inscription in Latin. Ducarel justly compares +the style of the execution to that of a girl's sampler. The figures are +covered with work, except on their faces, which are merely in outline. +In point of drawing, they are superior to the contemporary sculpture at +St. Georges and elsewhere; and the performance is not deficient in +energy. The colors are distributed rather fancifully: thus the fore and +off legs of the horses are varied. It is hardly necessary to observe +that perspective is wholly disregarded, and that no attempt is made to +express light and shadow. + +Great attention, however, is paid to costume; and more individuality of +character has been preserved than could have been expected, considering +the rude style of the workmanship. The Saxons are represented with long +mustachios: the Normans have their upper lip shaven, and retain little +more hair upon their heads than a single lock in front.--Historians +relate how the English spies reported the invading army to be wholly +composed of ecclesiastics; and this tapestry affords a graphical +illustration of the chroniclers' text. Not the least remarkable feature +of the tapestry, in point of costume, lies in the armor, which, in some +instances, is formed of interlaced rings; in others, of square +compartments; and in others, of lozenges. Those who contend for the +antiquity of Duke William's equestrian statue at Caen, may find a +confirmation of their opinions in the shape of the saddles assigned to +the figures of the Bayeux tapestry; and equally so in their cloaks, and +their pendant braided tresses. + +The tapestry is coiled round a cylinder, which is turned by a winch and +wheel; and it is rolled and unrolled with so little attention, that if +it continues under such management as the present, it will be wholly +ruined in the course of half a century. It is injured at the beginning: +towards the end it becomes very ragged, and several of the figures have +completely disappeared. The worsted is unravelling too in many of the +intermediate portions. As yet, however, it is still in good +preservation, considering its great age, though, as I have just +observed, it will not long continue so. The bishop and chapter have +lately applied to government, requesting that the tapestry may be +restored to the church. I hope their application will be successful. + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 82: The most interesting relic of Roman times yet found at +Vieux, is a cippus of variegated marble, about five feet high by two +feet wide, and bearing inscriptions upon three of its sides. It +generally passes in France by the name of the _Torigny marble_, being +preserved at the small town of the latter name, whither it was carried +in 1580, the very year when it was dug up. The Abbé Le Beuf has made it +the subject of a distinct paper in the _Mémoires de l'Académie des +Inscriptions_. This cippus supported a statue raised in honor of Titus +Sennius Sollemnis, a Viducassian by birth, and one of the high priests +of the town. The statue was erected to him after his death, in the +Viducassian capital, upon a piece of ground granted by the senate for +the purpose, in pursuance of a general decree passed by the province of +Gaul. The inscriptions set forth the motives that induced the nation to +bestow so marked a distinction upon a simple individual; and, in the +foremost rank of his merits, they place the games which he had given to +his fellow-citizens, during four successive days.] + +[Footnote 83: _Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions_, XXI. p. 489.] + +[Footnote 84: _Archæologia_, XVII. p. 911.] + +[Footnote 85: _Bayeux et ses Environs, par M. Delauney_, p. 12.] + +[Footnote 86: I. p. 371-379; pl. 35-49, and II. p. 1-29; pl. 1-9.] + +[Footnote 87: VI. p. 739, and VIII. p. 602.] + +[Footnote 88: _Anglo-Norman Antiquities_, Appendix, No. 1.] + +[Footnote 89: _Archæologia_, XVII. p. 85.] + +[Footnote 90: _Archæologia_, XVIII. p. 359.] + +[Illustration: Sculpture at Bayeux] + + + + +LETTER XXVIII. + +CATHEDRAL OF BAYEUX--CANON OF CAMBREMER--COPE OF ST. REGNOBERT--ODO. + + +(_Bayeux, August_, 1818.) + +Excepting the tapestry and the cathedral, Bayeux, at this time, offers +no objects of interest to the curious traveller. Its convents are either +demolished, or so dilapidated or altered, that they have lost their +characteristic features; and its eighteen parish churches are now +reduced to four. We wandered awhile about the town, vainly looking after +some relic of ancient art, to send you by way of a memento of Bayeux. At +length, two presented themselves--the entrance of the corn-market, +formerly the chapel of St. Margaret, a Norman arch, remarkable for the +lamb and banner, an emblem of the saint, sculptured on the transom +stone; and a small stone tablet, attached to an old house near the +cathedral. The whimsical singularity of the latter, induced us to give +it the preference. It may possibly be of the workmanship of the +fourteenth century, and possibly much later. In all probability, it owes +its existence merely to a caprice on the part of the owner of the +residence, whose crest may be indicated by the tortoises which surmount +the columns by way of capitals. Still there is merit in the performance, +though perhaps for nothing so much as for the accurate resemblance of +peeled wood; and this I never saw imitated with equal fidelity in stone. + +But, however unattractive Bayeux may be in other respects, so long as +the cathedral is suffered to stand, the city will never want interest. +It is supposed that the first church erected here was built by St. +Exuperius otherwise called St. Suspirius, or St. Spirius, who, according +to the distich subjoined to his portrait, formerly painted on one of the +windows of the nave, was not only the earliest bishop of the diocese, +but claimed the merit of having introduced the Christian faith into +Normandy,-- + + + "Primitùs hic pastor templi fuit hujus et auctor, + Catholicamque fidem Normannis attulit idem." + + +St. Exuperius lived in the third century, and his efforts towards the +propagation of the gospel were attended with so great success, that his +successor, St. Regnobert, was obliged to take down the edifice thus +recently raised, and to re-construct it on a more enlarged scale, for +the purpose of accommodating the increasing congregation. Regnobert is +likewise reported to have built the celebrated chapel on the sea-coast, +dedicated to our Lady de la Délivrande; and the people believe that a +portion at least, of both the one and the other of these original +edifices, exists to the present day. The Abbé Béziers, however, in his +_History of Bayeux_, maintains, and with truth, that St. Regnobert's +cathedral was destroyed by the Normans; and he adds that, immediately +after the conversion of Rollo, another was raised in its stead on the +same spot, and that this latter was one of those which the chieftain +most enriched by his endowments at the period of his baptism. + +A dreadful fire, in the year 1046, reduced the Norman cathedral to +ashes; but the episcopal throne was then filled by a prelate who wanted +neither disposition nor abilities to repair the damage. Hugh, the third +bishop of that name, son to Ralph, Count of the Bessin, who, by the +mother's side, was brother to Duke Richard Ist, presided at that time +over the see of Bayeux. Jealous for the honor of his diocese, the +prelate instantly applied himself to rebuild the cathedral; but he lived +to see only a small progress made in his work. It was finished by a +prelate of still greater, though evil celebrity, the unruly Odo, brother +to the Conqueror, who, for more than fifty years, continued bishop of +this see, and by his unbounded liberality and munificence in the +discharge of his high office, proved himself worthy of his princely +descent. The Conqueror and his queen, attended by their sons, Robert and +William, and by the archbishops of Canterbury and York, as well as by +the various bishops and barons of the province, were present at the +dedication of the church, which was performed in 1077, by John, +Archbishop of Rouen. Odo, on the occasion, enriched his church with +various gifts, one of which has been particularly recorded. It was a +crown of wood and copper, sixteen feet high and thirty-eight feet in +diameter, covered with silver plates, and diversified with other crowns +in the shape of towers; the whole made to support an immense number of +tapers, that were lighted on high festivals. This crown was suspended in +the nave, opposite the great crucifix; and it continued to hang there +till it was destroyed by the Huguenots, in 1562. + +It is doubtful how much, or indeed if any portion, of the church erected +by Odo be now in existence. Thirty years had scarcely elapsed from the +date of its dedication, when, as I have already mentioned to you, the +troops of Henry Ist destroyed Bayeux with fire. The ruin was so +complete, that for more than fifty years, no attempt was made to +re-construct the cathedral; but it remained in ashes until the year +1157, when bishop, Philip of Harcourt, determined to restore it. A +question has arisen whether the oldest part of what is now standing, be +the work of Philip or of Odo. The lapse of eighty years in those early +times, would perhaps occasion no very sensible difference in style; and +chroniclers do not afford the means of determining, if, at the time when +Bayeux suffered so dreadfully in 1106, the church was actually burned to +the ground, or only materially damaged. In the _History of the Diocese_ +we are merely told that Philip, having, by means of papal bulls, happily +succeeded in regaining possession of all the privileges, honors, and +property of the see, began to rebuild his cathedral in 1159, and +completed it with great glory and expence.--From that time forward, we +hear no more of demolition or of re-edification; but the injuries done by +the silent lapse of ages, and the continued desire on the part of the +prelates to beautify and to enlarge their church, have produced nearly +the same effect as fire or warfare. The building, as it now stands, is a +medley of various ages; and, in the absence of historical record, it +would be extremely difficult to define the several portions that are to +be assigned to each. + +The west front is flanked by two Norman towers, bold and massy, with +semi-circular arches in the highest stories. The spires likewise appear +ancient, though these and the surrounding pinnacles are all gothic. The +northern one, according to tradition, was built with the church; the +southern, in 1424. They both greatly resemble those of the abbey-church +of St. Stephen at Caen. But the whole centre of this front, and indeed +both the sides also, as high as the roof, is faced by a screen divided +into five compartments. In the middle is a large, wide, pointed arch, +with a square-headed entrance beneath. North and south of this are deep +arches, evidently older, but likewise pointed, having their sides above +the pillars, and the flat arched part of the door-way, filled with small +figures. The door-ways themselves are arches that occupy only one half +of the width of those which enclose them. In the two exterior +compartments the arches are unpierced, and are flanked by a profusion of +clustered pillars. Over each of the four lateral arches, rises a +crocketed pyramid: the central one is surmounted by a flat balustrade, +above which, behind the screen, is a large pointed window, and over it a +row of saints, standing under trefoil-headed arches, arranged in pairs, +the pediment terminating above each pair of arches in a pyramidal +canopy. + +The outside of the nave is of florid gothic, but it is not of a pure +style; nor is the southern portal, which, nevertheless, considered as a +whole, is bold and appropriate. On each side of the door-way were +originally three statues, whose tabernacles remain, though the saints +have been torn out of the niches. Over the door is a bas-relief, +containing numerous figures disposed in three compartments, and +representing some legendary tale, which our knowledge of that kind of +lore would not enable us to decipher.--The exterior of the choir is +likewise of pointed architecture: it is considerably more simple, and +excels, in this respect, the rest of the church. But even here there is +a great want of uniformity: some of the windows are deeply imbedded in +the walls; others are nearly on a level with their surface.--The cupola, +which caps the low central tower, is wretchedly at variance with the +other parts of the building. It was erected in the year 1714, at the +expence of the bishop, Francis de Nesmond; and it is, as might be +expected from a performance of that period, rather Grecian than gothic. +Whichever style it may be termed, it is a bad specimen of either. And +yet, such as it is, we are assured by Béziers, that it was built after +the designs of a celebrated architect of the name of Moussard, and that +it excited particular attention, and called forth loud praises, on the +part of the Maréchal de Vauban, who was, probably, a better judge of a +modern fortification, than of a gothic cathedral. + +The interior of the church consists of a wide nave, with side-aisles, +and chapels beyond them. The first six piers of the nave are very massy, +and faced with semi-circular pillars supporting an entablature. The +arches above them are Norman, encircled with rich bands, composed +chiefly of the chevron moulding and diamonds. On one of them is a +curious border of heads, as upon the celebrated door-way at Oxford; but +the heads at Bayeux are of much more regular workmanship and more +distinctly defined. Had circumstances allowed, I would have sent you an +accurate drawing of them; but our time did not permit such a one to be +made, and I must beg of you to be contented with the annexed slight +sketch. + +[Illustration: Border of heads] + +The wall above the arches is incrusted with a species of tessellated +work of free-stone, of varied patterns, some interwoven, others +reticulated, as seen in the sketches: the lines indented in the stones, +as well as the joints which form the patterns, are filled with a black +cement or mastich, so as to form a kind of _niello_. + +[Illustration: Tessellated work of free stone] + +With the sixth arch of the nave begins the pointed style. The capitals +of the pillars are complicated, and the carving upon them is an evident +attempt at an imitation of the Grecian orders. In this part of the +church there is no triforium; but a row of small quartrefoils runs +immediately above the ornaments of the spandrils; and above the +quatrefoils is a cornice of an antique pattern, which is surmounted by a +light gallery in front of the windows of the clerestory, the largest +windows I remember to have seen in a similar situation. They extend +almost from the roof to the line of the old Norman basement. Their +magnitude is rendered still more remarkable by their being arranged in +pairs, each separate pair inclosed within a pointed arch, and its +windows parted only by a clustered pillar. The very lofty arches that +support the central tower, are likewise pointed; as are those of the +transepts, the choir, the side-aisles, and the chapels. In short, +excepting the arches immediately beneath the northern and southern +towers, which are most probably relics of Odo's cathedral, the part of +the nave, which I first described, is all that is left above-ground of +the semi-circular style; and this is of a very different character from +whatever else I have seen of Norman architecture. The circular ornaments +inserted in the spandrils of the arches of the choir, possess, as a +friend of mine observes, somewhat of the Moorish, or, perhaps, Tartarian +character; being nearly in the style of the ornaments which are found in +the same situation in the Mogul mosques and tombs, though here they have +much more flow and harmony in the curves. Some are merely in bas-relief: +in others the central circles are deeply perforated, whilst the ribs are +composed of delicate tracery.--There are so many peculiarities both in +the arrangement and in the details of this cathedral[91], that it is +quite impossible to convey an adequate idea of them by a verbal +description; and I can only hope that they will be hereafter made +familiar to the English antiquarian by the pencil of Mr. Cotman or Mr. +Stothard. + +[Illustration: Ornaments in the Spandrils of the Arches in Bayeux +Cathedral] + +The screen that separates the nave from the choir is Grecian, and is as +much at variance with the inside of such a church, as the cupola, which +is nearly over it, is with the exterior.--Upon the roof of the choir, +are still to be seen the portraits of the first twenty-one bishops of +Bayeux, each with his name inscribed by his side. The execution of the +portraits is very rude, particularly that of the twelve earliest, whose +busts are represented. The artist has contented himself with exhibiting +the heads only, of the remaining nine. Common tradition refers the whole +of these portraits to the time of Odo; but it is hardly necessary to +observe, that the groined and pointed vaulting is subsequent to his +date.--Bayeux cathedral abounded in works of this description of art: +the walls of the chapels of the choir were covered with large +fresco-paintings, now nearly obliterated.--It is believed, and with +every appearance of probability, that the Lady-Chapel was erected at a +time posterior to the rest of the building; but there is no certain +account of its date. Before the revolution, it served as a burial-place +for some of the bishops of the see, and for a duke of the noble family +of Montemart. Their tombs ornamented the chapel, which now appears +desolate and naked, retaining no other of its original decorations, than +a series of small paintings, which represent the life of the Holy +Virgin, and are deserving of some attention from the character of +expression in the faces, though the drawing in general is bad. Over the +altar is a picture, in which an angel is pointing out our Savior and the +Virgin to a dying man, whose countenance is admirable.--The stalls of +the choir display a profusion of beautiful oak carving; and beneath them +are sculptured _misereres_, the first which we have observed in +Normandy.--Very little painted glass is to be found in any part of the +church; but the glazing of the windows is composed of complicated +patterns. This species of ornament was introduced about the time of +Louis XIVth; and Felibien, who has given several pattern plates in his +treatise on architecture, observes, that it was intended to supply the +place of painted glass, which, as it was then thought, excluded the +light. + +Beneath the choir is a subterraneous chapel dedicated to St. Maimertus, +otherwise called St. Manvieu. Its character is so similar to that of the +crypt at the abbey of the Holy Trinity at Caen, that there would be +little risk in pronouncing it to be part of Odo's church. It is +supported on twelve pillars, disposed in two rows, the last pillar of +each row being imbedded in the wall. The capitals of the pillars are +carved, each with a different design from the rest. Their sculpture +bears a strong resemblance to some of what is seen in similar situations +in the Egyptian temples; indeed, so strong, that a very able judge tells +me he has been led to suspect that the model might have been introduced +by an anchorite from the desert. Take the following as a specimen. + +[Illustration: Capital of pillar] + +The walls of the crypt are covered with paintings, probably of the +fifteenth century; but those upon the springing of the arches above the +pillars, appear considerably older. Each spandril contains an angel, +holding a trumpet or other musical instrument. The outlines of these +figures are strongly drawn in black.--Upon the right-hand side, on +entering the chapel, is the altar-tomb of John de Boissy, who was bishop +at the beginning of the fifteenth century; and, on the opposite side, +stands that of his immediate predecessor, Nicolas de Bosc. Their +monuments were originally ornamented with bas-reliefs and paintings, all +which were mutilated and effaced during the religious wars. De Boissy's +effigy, however, remains, though greatly injured; and the following +epitaph to his memory is preserved in a perfect state, over the only +window that gives light to this crypt. The inscription is curious, as +recording the discovery of the chapel, which had been forgotten and +unknown for centuries. + + + "En l'an mil quatre cens et douze + Tiers jour d'Avril que pluye arrouse + Les biens de la terre, la journée + Que la Pasques fut célébrée + Noble homme et révérend père + Jehan de Boissy, de la mère + Eglise de Bayeux Pasteur + Rendi l'âme à Son Créateur + Et lors en foillant la place + Devant le grant autel de grâce + Trova l'on la basse chapelle + Dont il n'avoit esté nouvelle + Ou il est mis en sépulture + Dieu veuille avoir son âme en cure,--Amen." + + +This inscription is engraved as prose: verse is very frequently written +in this manner in ancient manuscripts, which custom, as Joseph Ritson +conjectured, arose "from a desire of promoting the salvation of +parchment." I must also add, that the initial letters are colored red +and blue, so that the whole bears a near resemblance to a manuscript +page. + +There is another epitaph, engraved in large letters, upon the exterior +of the southern tower, which is an odd specimen of the spirit of the +middle ages. It is supposed to have been placed there in the twelfth +century. + + + "Quarta dies Pasche fuerat cum Clerus ad hujus + Que jacet hic vetule venimus exequias: + Letitieque diem magis amisisse dolemus + Quam centum tales si caderent vetule." + + +Some authors contend, that the old lady alluded to was the mistress of +one of the Dukes of Normandy: others believe her to have been the _chère +amie_ of Robert, Earl of Gloucester, illegitimate son to Henry Ist. + +Till lately, there was an epitaph within the church, which, without +containing in itself any thing remarkable, strange, or mysterious, had a +legend connected: with it, that supplied the verger with an +inexhaustible fund of entertainment for the curious and the credulous. +The epitaph simply commemorated John Patye, canon of the prebend of +Cambremer, who died in 1540; but upon the same plate of copper with the +inscription, was also engraved the Virgin, with John Patye at her feet, +kneeling, and apparently in the act of reading from a book placed on a +fald-stool. Behind the priest stood St. John the Baptist, the patron +saint of the prebend, having one hand upon his votary's neck, while with +the other he pointed to a lamb.--In all this, there was still nothing +remarkable: unfortunately, however, the artist, wishing perhaps to add +importance to the saint, had represented him of gigantic stature; and +hence originated the story, which continues to the present day, to +frighten the old women, and to amuse the children of Bayeux.-- + + Once upon a time, the wicked canons of the cathedral murdered their + bishop; in consequence of which foul deed, they and their successors + for ever, were enjoined, by way of penance, annually to send one of + their number to Rome, there to chaunt the epistle at the midnight + mass. In the course of revolving centuries, this vexatious duty fell + to the turn of the canon of Cambremer, who, to the surprise of the + community, testified neither anxiety nor haste on the + occasion.--Christmas-eve arrived, and the canon was still in his + cell: Christmas-night came, and still he did not stir. At length, + when the mass was actually begun, his brethren, more uneasy than + himself, reproached him with his delay; upon which he muttered his + spell, called up a spirit, mounted him, reached Rome in the twinkling + of an eye, performed his task, and, the service being ended, he + stormed the archives of the Vatican, where he burned the compulsory + act, and then returned by the same conveyance to Bayeux, which he + reached before the mass was completed, and, to the unspeakable joy of + the chapter, announced the happy tidings of their deliverance. + +So idle and unmeaning is the tale, that I should scarcely have thought +it worth while to have repeated it, but for the Latin distich, which, as +the story goes, was extemporized by the demon, at the moment when they +were flying over the Tuscan sea, and by which he sought to mislead his +rider, and to cause him to end his journey beneath the deep.--The sense +of the verses is not very perspicuous, but they are remarkable for +reading forwards and backwards the same; and though to you they may +appear a childish waste of intellect, you will, I am sure, admit them to +be ingenious, and they may amuse some of the younger members of your +family:-- + + + "Signa te, signa, temerè me tangis et angis; + Roma tibi subito motibus ibit amor."-- + + +I must dismiss the canon of Cambremer, by stating, that I am informed by +a friend, that the same story is also found in the lives of sundry other +wizards and sorcerers of the good old times. + +Bayeux cathedral, like the other Neustrian churches, has been deprived +of its sainted relics, and its most precious treasures, in consequence +of the successive spoliations which have been inflicted upon it by +heathen Normans, heretical Calvinists, and philosophical jacobins. The +body of St. Exuperius was carried, in the ninth century, for safety to +Corbeil, and the chapter have never been able to recover it: that of St. +Regnobert was in after times stolen by the Huguenots. Many are the +attempts that have been made to regain the relics of the first bishop of +the see; but the town of Corbeil retained possession, whilst the +Bajocessians attempted to console themselves by antithetical +piety.--"Referamus Deo gratias, nec inde aliquid nos minus habere +credamus, quòd Corbeliensis civitas pignus sacri corporis vindicavit. +Teneant illi tabernaculum beatæ animæ in cineribus suis; nos ipsam +teneamus animam in virtutibus suis: teneant illi ossa, nos merita: apud +illos videatur remansisse quod terræ est, nos studeamus habere quod +coeli est: amplectantur illi quod sepulchre, nos quod Paradiso +continetur. Meminerit et beatior ille vir, utrique quidem loco, sed huic +speciali se jure deberi."--St. Regnobert's _chasuble_ is however, left +to the church, together with his maniple and his stole, all of them +articles of costly and elaborate workmanship. They were found in his +coffin, when it was opened by the Calvinists; and they are now worn by +the bishop, on the anniversary of the saint, as well as on five other +high festivals, during the year; at which times, the faithful press with +great devotion to kiss them. When not in use, they are kept in an ivory +chest, magnificently embossed with solid silver, and bearing an +inscription in the Cufic character, purporting that whatever honor men +may have given to God, they cannot honor him so much as He deserves. +Father Tournemine, the Jesuit, is of opinion, that this box was taken by +the French troops, under Charles Martel, in their pillage of the Saracen +camp, at the time of the memorable defeat of the infidels; and that it +was afterwards presented to Charles the Bald, whose queen, Hermentrude, +devoted it to the pious purpose of holding the relics of Regnobert, in +gratitude for a cure which the monarch had received through the +intercession of the saint. But this is merely a conjecture, and it is +not improbable but that the chest may have been brought from Sicily, +which abounded with Arabic artificers, at the time when it was occupied +by the Normans. + +St. Regnobert, who was one of the most illustrious bishops of Bayeux, is +placed second on the list, in the _History of the Diocese_; but in the +_Gallia Christiana_ he stands twelfth in order. It was customary before +the revolution, and it possibly may be so at present, for the +inhabitants of the city, upon the twenty-fourth of October, the +anniversary of his feast, to bring their domestic animals in solemn +procession to the church, there to receive the episcopal benediction, in +the same manner as is practised by the Romans with their horses, on the +feast of St. Anthony.--St. Lupus, the fourth bishop, and St. Lascivus, +the tenth, are remarkable for their names. St. Lupus is said to have +been so called from his having destroyed the wolves in the vicinity of +Bayeux[92]; and the other is reported to have been descended from the +same person, whom Ausonius addresses in the following stanza, which has +likewise been applied to this bishop. + + + "Iste _Lascivus_ patiens vocari, + Nomen indignum probitate vitae + Abnuit nunquam; quia gratum ad aures + Esset amicas."-- + + +But neither among her ancient nor her modern prelates can Bayeux boast +of a name equally distinguished as that of Odo. Many were unquestionably +the misdeeds of this great man, and many were probably his crimes, but +no one who wore the episcopal mitre, ever deserved better of the see. As +a statesman, Odo bore a leading part in all the principal transactions of +the times: as a soldier, he accompanied the Conqueror to England, +fought by his side at Hastings, and by his eloquence and his valor, +contributed greatly to the success of that memorable day. Nor was +William tardy in acknowledging the merits of his brother; for no sooner +did he find himself seated firmly on the throne, than he rewarded Odo +with the earldom of Kent, and appointed him his viceroy in England, +whilst he himself crossed the channel, to superintend his affairs in +Normandy. But the mind which was proof against difficulties, yielded, as +too commonly happens, to prosperity. Nothing less than the papacy could +satisfy the ambition of Odo: he abused the power with which he was +invested in a flagrant manner; and William, finally, disgusted with his +proceedings, arrested him with his own hand, and committed him prisoner +to the old palace at Rouen, where he continued till the death of the +monarch.--The sequel of the story is of the same complexion: more plots, +attended now with success, and now with disgrace; till at length the +prelate resolved to expiate his sins by a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, +and died on his journey, at Palermo.--Such was Odo in his secular +character: as a churchman, historians unanimously agree that he was most +zealous for the honor of his diocese, indefatigable in re-building the +churches which time or war had destroyed, liberal in endowments, +munificent in presents, and ever anxiously intent upon procuring a +supply of able ministers, establishing regular discipline, and reforming +the morals of the flock committed to his charge. + +The Bishop of Bayeux has at all times claimed the distinction of being +regarded the first among the suffragan bishops of the Norman church. In +the absence of the archbishop, he presides at, the ecclesiastical +assemblies and councils. His revenue, before the revolution, was +estimated at one hundred thousand livres: per annum. The see, in point +of antiquity, even contests for the priority with Rouen. From time +immemorial, the chapter has enjoyed the right of mintage; and they +appear to have used it till the year 1577, at which time their coin was +so much counterfeited, that they were induced to recal it by public +proclamation. Their money, which was of the size of a piece of two sous, +was stamped, on one side, with a two-headed eagle, and the legend +_moneta capituli_; and on the obverse, with the letter V, surrounded by +the word _Bajocensis_. The eagle was probably adopted, in allusion to +the arms of the see, which were, _gules_; an eagle displayed with two +heads, _or_[93].--Another privilege of the chapter was, that no person +of illegitimate birth could be allowed to hold place in it, under any +pretext or dispensation whatever.--Among their peculiar customs, they +imitated that of the see of Rouen, in the annual election of a +boy-bishop upon Innocents'-day; a practice prevalent in many churches in +Spain and Germany, and notoriously in England at Salisbury. The +young chorister took the crozier in his hands, during the first vespers, +at the verse in the _Magnificat_, "He has put down the mighty from their +seats, and has exalted the humble and meek;" and he resigned his dignity +at the same verse in the second vespers.--The ceremony was abolished in +1482. + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 91: The following are the dimensions of the church, in French +measure, according to Béziers. + + FEET. + Height of the central tower 224 + Ditto of the two western ditto 230 + Length of the interior of the church 296 + Width of ditto 76 + Height of ditto 76 + Length of the nave 140 + Width of ditto 38 + Ditto of side-aisles 17 + Ditto of chapels 15 + Length of the transepts 113 + Width of ditto 33 + Length of the choir 118 + Width of ditto 36 + +] + +[Footnote 92: A new St. Lupus is now wanted for the see; for wolves are +by no means extinct in the neighborhood of Bayeux. We saw a tame one, +kept near the cathedral, which had been taken in the woods, about a year +ago, when it was quite young. Wild boars are likewise found in +considerable numbers, and the breed is encouraged for the purposes of +hunting.] + +[Footnote 93: In its origin, the _Baiocco_ of Naples seems to have been +the two-penny piece of Bayeux, its denomination being abbreviated from +the last word in the legend. It has been supposed that the coin was +struck and named by lusty Joan, as a token of her affection towards a +Frisick warrier, who, in his own country, was called the _Boynke_, or +the Squire; but we think that our etymology is the most natural one.] + + + + +LETTER XXIX. CHURCH AND CASTLE OF +CREULLY--FALAISE--CASTLE--CHURCHES-FAIR OF GUIBRAY. + + +(_Falaise, August_, 1818.) + +Previously to quitting Bayeux, we paid our respects to M. Pluquet, a +diligent antiquary, who has been for some time past engaged in writing a +history of the city. His collections for this purpose are extensive, and +the number of curious books which he possesses is very considerable. +Amongst those which he shewed to us, the works relating to Normandy +constituted an important portion. His manuscript missals are numerous +and valuable. I was also much pleased by the inspection of an old copy +of Aristophanes, which had formerly belonged to Rabelais, and bore upon +its title-page the mark of his ownership, in the hand-writing of the +witty, though profligate, satirist himself. M. Pluquet's kindness +allowed me to make the tracing of the signature, which I send you.-- + +[Illustration: Rabelais hand-writing] + +Such an addition as we here find to Rabelais' name, denoting that the +owner of a book considered it as being the property of his friends +conjointly with himself, is not of uncommon occurrence. Our friend, Mr. +Dibdin, who had been here shortly before us, and had carried off, as we +were told, some works of great rarity from this collection, has +enumerated more than one instance of the kind in his _Bibliographical +Decameron_; and the valuable library of my excellent friend, Mr. +Sparrow, of Worlingham, contains an Erasmus, which was the property of +Sir Thomas Wotton, and bears, stamped upon its covers, _Thomae Wotton et +amicorum_. + +From Bayeux we returned to Caen, by way of Creully, passing along bad +roads, through an open, uninteresting country, almost wholly cropped +with buck-wheat.--The barony of Creully was erected by Henry Ist, in +favor of his natural son, the Earl of Gloucester: it was afterwards held +by different noble families, and continued to be so till the time of the +revolution. At that period, it gave a title to a branch of the line of +Montmorenci, whose emigration caused the domain to be confiscated, and +sold as national property; but the baronial castle is still standing, +and displays, in two of its towers and in a chimney of unusual form, a +portion of its ancient character: the rest of the building is modernized +into a spruce, comfortable residence, and is at this time occupied by a +countryman of our own, General Hodgson. + +The church at Creully is one of the most curious we have seen. The nave, +side-aisles, and choir, are all purely Norman, except at the +extremities. The piers are very massy; the arches wide and low; the +capitals covered with rude, but most remarkable sculpture, which is +varied on every pillar. Round the arches of the nave runs a band of the +chevron ornament; and over them is a row of lancet windows, devoid of +ornament, and sunk in a wall of extraordinary thickness. Externally, all +is modernized. + +The view of Caen, on entering from this direction, is still more +advantageous than that on the approach from Lisieux. Time would not +allow of our making any stop at the town on our return: we therefore +proceeded immediately to Falaise, passing again through an open and +monotonous country, which, thoughtfully cultivated, has a most dreary +aspect from the scantiness of its population. We saw, indeed, as we went +along, distant villages, thinly scattered, in the landscape, but no +other traces of habitations; and we proceeded upwards of five leagues on +our way, before we arrived at a single house by the road-side. + +[Illustration: Castle of Falaise] + +Falaise appeared but the more beautiful, from the impression which the +desolate scenery of the previous country had left upon our minds. The +contrast was almost equally pleasing and equally striking, as when, in +travelling through Derbyshire, after having passed a tract of dreary +moors, that seems to lengthen as you go, you suddenly descend into the +lovely vallies of Matlock or of Dovedale. Not that the vale of Falaise +may compete with those of Derbyshire, for picturesque beauty or bold +romantic character; but it has features exclusively its own; and its +deficiency in natural advantages is in some measure compensated, by the +accessories bestowed by art. The valley is fertile and well wooded: the +town itself, embosomed within rows of lofty elms, stretches along the +top of a steep rocky ridge, which rises abrupt from the vale below, +presenting an extensive line of buildings, mixed with trees, flanked +towards the east by the venerable remains of the castle of the Norman +Dukes, and at the opposite extremity, by the church of the suburb of +Guibray, planted upon an eminence. Near the centre stands the principal +church of Falaise, that of St. Gervais; and in front of the whole +extends the long line of the town walls, varied with towers, and +approached by a mound across the valley, which, as at Edinburgh, holds +the place of a bridge. + +The name _Falaise_, denotes the position of the town: it is said to be a +word of Celtic origin; but I should rather suppose it to be derived from +the Saxon, and to be a modification of the German word, _fels_, a rock, +in which conjecture I find I am borne out by Adelung: _falesia_, in +modern Latinity, and _falaise_, in French, signify a rocky shore. Hence, +Brito, at the commencement of his relation of the siege by Philip +Augustus, says, + + + "Vicus erat scabrâ circumdatus undique rupe, + Ipsius asperitate loci Falæsa vocatus, + Normannæ in medio regionis, cujus in altâ + Turres rupe sedent et mÅ"nia; sic ut ad illam + Jactus nemo putet aliquos contingere posse."-- + + +The dungeon of Falaise, one of the proudest relics of Norman antiquity, +is situated on a very bold and lofty rock, broken into fantastic and +singular masses, and covered with luxuriant vegetation. The keep which +towers above it is of excellent masonry: the stones are accurately +squared, and put together with great neatness, and the joints are small; +and the arches are turned clearly and distinctly, with the key-stone or +wedge accurately placed in all of them. Some parts of the wall, towards +the interior ballium, are not built of squared free-stone; but of the +dark stone of the country, disposed in a zigzag, or as it is more +commonly called, in a herring-bone direction, with a great deal of +mortar in the interstices: the buttresses, or rather piers, are of small +projection, but great width. The upper story, destroyed about forty +years since, was of a different style of architecture. According to an +old print, it terminated with a large battlement, and bartizan towers at +the angles. This dungeon was formerly divided into several apartments; +in one of the lower of which was found, about half a century ago, a very +ancient tomb, of good workmanship, ornamented with a sphynx at each end, +but bearing no inscription whatever. Common report ascribed the coffin +to Talbot, who was for many years governor of the castle; and at length +an individual engraved upon it an epitaph to his honor; but the fraud +was discovered, and the sarcophagus put aside, as of no account. The +second, or principal, story of the keep, now forms a single square room, +about fifty feet wide, lighted by circular-headed windows, each divided +into two by a short and massy central pillar, whose capital is +altogether Norman. On one of the capitals is sculptured a child leading +a lamb, a representation, as it is foolishly said, of the Conqueror, +whom tradition alleges to have been born in the apartment to which this +window belonged: another pillar has an elegant capital, composed of +interlaced bands. + +Connected with the dungeon by a stone staircase is a small apartment, +very much dilapidated, but still retaining a portion of its original +facing of Caen stone. It was from the window of this apartment, as the +story commonly goes, that Duke Robert first saw the beautiful Arlette, +drawing water from the streamlet below, and was enamoured of her charms, +and took her to his bed.--According to another version of the tale, the +earliest interview between the prince and his fair mistress, took place +as Robert was returning from the chace, with his mind full of anger +against the inhabitants of Falaise, for having presumed to kill the deer +which he had commanded should be preserved for his royal pastime. In +this offence the curriers of the town had borne the principal share, and +they were therefore principally marked out for punishment. But, +fortunately for them, Arlette, the daughter of one Verpray, the most +culpable of the number, met the offended Duke while riding through the +street, and with her beauty so fascinated him, that she not only +obtained the pardon of her father and his associates, but became his +mistress, and continued so as long as he lived. From her, if we may give +credence to the old chroniclers, is derived our English word, _harlot_. +The fruit of their union was William the Conqueror, whose illegitimate +birth, and the low extraction of his mother, served on more than one +occasion as a pretext for conspiracies against his throne, and were +frequently the subject of personal mortification to himself.--The walls +in this part of the castle are from eight to nine feet thick. A portion +of them has been hollowed out, so as to form a couple of small rooms. +The old door-way of the keep is at the angle; the returns are reeded, +ending in a square impost; the arch above is destroyed. + +Talbot's tower, thus called for having been built by that general, in +1430 and the two subsequent years, is connected with the keep by means, +of a long passage with lancet windows, that widen greatly inwards. It is +more than one hundred feet high, and is a beautiful piece of masonry, +as perfect, apparently, as on the day when it was erected, and as firm +as the rock on which it stands. This tower is ascended by a staircase +concealed within the substance of the walls, whose thickness is full +fifteen feet towards the base, and does not decrease more than three +feet near the summit. Another aperture in them serves for a well, which +thus communicates with every apartment in the tower. Most of the arches +in this tower have circular heads: the windows are square.--The walls +and towers which encircle the keep are of much later date; the principal +gate-way is pointed. Immediately on entering, is seen the very ancient +chapel, dedicated to St. Priscus or, as he is called in French, St. +Prix. The east end with three circular-headed windows retains its +original lines: the masonry is firm and good. Fantastic corbels surround +the summit of the lateral walls. Within, a semi-circular arch resting +upon short pillars with sculptured capitals, divides the choir from the +nave. In other respects the building has been much altered.--Henry Vth +repaired it in 1418, and it has been since dilapidated and restored.--A +pile of buildings beyond, wholly modern in the exterior, is now +inhabited as a seminary or college. There are some circular arches +within, which shew that these buildings belonged to the original +structure. + +Altogether the castle is a noble ruin. Though the keep is destitute of +the enrichments of Norwich or Castle Rising, it possesses an impressive +character of strength, which is much increased by the extraordinary +freshness of the masonry. The fosses of the castle; are planted with +lofty trees, which shade and intermingle with the towers and ramparts, +and on every side they groupe themselves with picturesque beauty. It is +said that the municipality intend to _restore_ Talbot's tower and the +keep, by replacing the demolished battlements; but I should hope that no +other repairs may take place, except such as may be necessary for the +preservation of the edifice; and I do not think it needs any, except the +insertion of clamps in the central columns of two of the windows which +are much shattered[94]. + +From the summit we enjoyed a delightful prospect: at our feet lay the +town of Falaise, so full of trees, that it seemed almost to deserve the +character, given by old Fuller to Norwich, of _rus in urbe_: the distant +country presented an undulating outline, agreeably diversified with +woods and corn-fields, and spotted with gentlemen's seats; while within +a very short distance to the west, rose another ridgy mass of bare brown +rock, known by the name of Mont Mirat, and still retaining a portion of +the intrenchments, raised by our countrymen when they besieged Falaise, +in 1417.--By this eminence the castle is completely commanded, and it is +not easy to understand how the fortress could be a tenable position; as +the garrison who manned the battlements of the dungeon and Talbot's +tower, must have been exposed to the missiles discharged from the +catapults and balistas planted on Mont Mirat. + +The history of the castle is inseparably connected with that of the +town: its origin may safely be referred to remote antiquity, the time, +most probably, of the earliest Norman Dukes. If, however, we could agree +with the fanciful author just quoted, it would claim a much earlier +date. The very fact of its having a dungeon-tower, he maintains to be a +proof of its having been erected by Julius Cæsar inasmuch as the word, +_dungeon_, or, as it is written in French, _donjon_, is nothing but a +corruption of _Domus Julii_! More than once in the course of this +correspondence, I have called your attention to the fancies, or, to +speak in plain terms, the absurdities, of theoretical antiquaries. The +worthy priest, to whom we are indebted for the _Recherches Historiques +sur Falaise_, "out-herods Herod." Writers of this description are +curious and amusing, let their theories but rest upon the basis of fair +probability. Even when we reject their reasonings, we are pleased with +their ingenuity; and they serve, to borrow an expression from Horace, +"the purpose of a whetstone." But M. Langevin has nothing farther to +offer, than gratuitous assertion or vague conjecture; and yet, upon the +faith of these, he insists upon our believing, that the foundation of +Falaise took place very shortly after the deluge; that its name is +derived from _Felé_, the cat of Diana, or from the less pure source of +_Phaloi-Isis_; that the present site of the castle was that of a temple, +dedicated to Belenus and Abraxas; and that every stone of remarkable +form in the neighborhood, was either so shapened by the Druids, +(notwithstanding it is the character of rocks, like those at Falaise, to +assume fantastic figures,) or was at least appropriated by the Celtic +priesthood to typify the sun, or moon, or stars. + +Various tombs, stone-hatchets, &c., have been dug up at Tassilly, a +village within six miles of Falaise, and fragments of mosaic pavements +have been discovered in the immediate vicinity of the castle[95]; but +history and tradition are alike silent as to the origin of these +remains.--The first historical mention of Falaise is in the year 1027; +during the reign of the fifth Norman Duke, Richard IIIrd, at which +period this town was one of the strong holds of the duchy, and afforded +shelter to Robert, the father of the Conqueror, when he rebelled against +his elder brother. Falaise on that occasion sustained the first of the +nine sieges, by which it has procured celebrity in history.--Fourteen +years only elapsed before it was exposed to a second, through the +perfidy of Toustain de Goz, Count of Hiesmes, who had been intrusted +with the charge of the castle, and who, upon finding that his own +district was ravaged by the forces of the King of France, voluntarily +offered to surrender to that monarch the fortress under his command, on +condition that his territory, the Hiesmois, should be spared. But Duke +William succeeded in retaking the place of his birth before the traitor +had an opportunity of introducing the troops of his new ally.--In the +years 1106 and 1139, Falaise opposed a successful resistance to the +armies of Henry Ist, and of Geoffrey Plantagenet. Upon the first of +these occasions, the Count of Maine, the general of the English forces, +retired with shame from before the walls; and Henry was foiled in all his +attempts to gain possession of the castle, till the battle of Tinchbray +had invested him with the ducal mantle, and had induced Robert himself +to deliver up the fortress in person to his more fortunate brother. On +the second occasion, Robert Marmion, lord of the neighboring barony of +Marmion le Fontenay, a name equally illustrious in Norman and in English +story, held Falaise for Eustace of Boulogne, son to Stephen, and twice +repelled the attacks of the husband of the Empress Maud.--The fourth +siege was conducted with different success, by Philip Augustus: for +seven days the citizens quietly witnessed the preparations of the French +monarch; and then, either alarmed by the impending conflict, or +disgusted by the conduct of their own sovereign, who had utterly +deserted them, they opened their gates to the enemy.--In 1417 the case +was far otherwise, though the result was the same. Henry Vth attacked +Falaise upon the fourth of November, and continued to cannonade it till +the middle of the following February; and, even then, the surrender was +attributed principally to famine. Great injuries were sustained by the +town in the course of this long siege; but, to the credit of our +countrymen, the efforts made towards the reparation of them were at +least proportionate. The fortifications were carefully restored; the +chapel was rebuilt and endowed afresh; Talbot's tower was added to the +keep; and a suite of apartments, also named after that great captain, +was erected in the castle.--The resistance made by the English garrison +of Falaise in 1450, at the time when we were finally expelled from the +duchy, was far from equal to that which the French, had previously +shewn. Vigour was indeed displayed in repeated sallies, but six days +sufficed to put the French general in possession of the place. +Disheartened troops, cooped up in a fortress without hope of succour, +offer but faint opposition; and Falaise was then the last place which +held out in Normandy, excepting, only Domfront and Cherbourg, both which +were taken almost immediately afterwards.--Falaise, from this time +forwards, suffered no more from foreign enemies: the future miseries of +the town were inflicted by the hands of its own countrymen. In common +with many other places in France, it was doomed to learn from hard +experience, that "alta sedent civilis vulnera dextræ."--Instigated by +the Count de Brissac, governor of the town, and one of the most able +generals of the league, the inhabitants were immoveable in their +determination to resist the introduction of tenets which they regarded +as a fatal variance from the Catholic faith. The troops of Henry IIIrd, +in alliance with those of his more illustrious successor, were vainly +brought against Falaise in 1589, by the Duc de Montpensier; a party of +enthusiastic peasants, called _Gautiers_, from the name of a neighboring +village, where their association originated, harassed the assailants +unremittingly, and rendered such effectual assistance to the garrison, +that the siege was obliged to be raised.--But it was only raised to be +renewed at the conclusion of the same year, by Henry of Bourbon, in +person, whom the tragical end of his late ally had placed upon the +throne of France. Brissac had now a different enemy to deal with: he +answered the king's summons to surrender, by pleading his oath taken +upon the holy sacrament to the contrary; and he added that, if it should +ultimately prove necessary for him to enter into any negotiation, he +would at least delay it for six months to come. "Then, by heavens!" +replied Henry, "I will change his months into days, and grant him +absolution;" and; so saying, he commenced a furious cannonade, which +soon caused a breach, and, in seven days, he carried the town by +assault. Brissac, who, on the capture of the fortress, had retired into +the keep, found himself shortly afterwards obliged to capitulate; and I +am sorry to add, that the terms which he proposed and obtained, were not +of a nature to be honorable to his character. The security of his own +life and of that of seven of his party, was the principal stipulation in +the articles. The rest of the garrison were abandoned to the mercy of +the conqueror, who contented himself with hanging seven of them in +memorial of the seven days of the siege; but, if we may believe the +French historians, always zealous for the honor of their monarchs, and +especially of this monarch, Henry selected the sufferers from among +those, who, for their crimes, had, subjected themselves to the pain of +death. + +From these various attacks, but principally from those of 1417 and 1589, +the fortifications of Falaise have suffered materially; and since the +last no care has been taken to repair them. The injuries sustained at +that period, and the more fatal, though less obvious ones, wrought by +the silent operation of two centuries of neglect, have brought the walls +and towers to their present state of dilapidation. + +The people of Falaise are commonly supposed to be Normans καÏ,, εξοÏ?ην +[English. Not in Original: pre-eminently, especially, above all]; and +when a Norman is introduced upon the French stage, he calls himself a +Falesian, just as any Irishman, in an English farce, is presumed to come +from Tipperary. The town in the French royal calendar is stated to +contain about fourteen thousand inhabitants; but we are assured that the +real number does not exceed nine thousand. Its staple trade is the +manufacture of stockings, coarse caps, and lace. The streets are wide; +and the public fountains, which are continually playing, impart a +freshness, which, at the present burning season, is particularly +agreeable.--The town now retains only four churches, two within its +precincts, and two in the suburbs. The revolution has deprived it of +eight others. Of those which are now standing, the most ancient is that +situated near the castle, and dedicated to the Holy Trinity. Langevin +assures us that it was built upon the ruins of the temple of Felé, Isis, +Belenus, and the heavenly host of constellations, and that in the fifth +century it changed its heathen for its Christian patrons. The oldest +part (a very small one it is) of the present structure, appertains to a +building which was consecrated in 1126, by the Archbishop of Rouen, in +the presence of Henry Ist, but which was almost entirely destroyed by +the cannonade in the fifteenth century. An inscription in gothic +letters, near the entrance, relates, that after this desolation, a +beginning was made towards the re-building of the church, "in 1438, a +year of war, and death, and plague, and famine;" but it is certain that +not much of the part now standing can be referred even to that period. +The choir was not completed till the middle of the sixteenth century, +nor the Lady-Chapel till the beginning of the following one. +Architecturally considered, therefore, the church is a medley of various +styles and ages. + +The larger church, that of St. Gervais and St. Protais, is said to have +been originally the ducal chapel, and to stand in the immediate vicinity +of the site of the Conqueror's palace, now utterly destroyed. According +to an ancient manuscript, this church was consecrated at the same time +as that of the Trinity. The intersecting circular-headed arches of its +tower are curious. The Norman corbel-table and clerestory windows still +remain; and the exterior of the whole edifice promises a gratification +to a lover of architectural antiquity, which the inside is little +calculated to realize.--An invading army ruined the church of the +Trinity; civil discord did the same for that of St. Gervais. The +Huguenots, not content with plundering the treasure, actually set fire +to the building, and well nigh consumed it: hence, the choir is the work +of the year 1580, and the southern wall of the nave is a more recent +construction. + +We see Falaise to a great advantage: every inn is crowded; every shop is +decked out; and the streets are full of life and activity; all in +preparation for the fair, which commences in three days, on the +fifteenth of this month, the anniversary of the Assumption of the Holy +Virgin. This fair, which is considered second to no other in France, +excepting that of Beaucaire, is held in the suburbs of Guibray, and +takes its name from the place where it is held. For the institution, +Falaise is indebted to William the Conqueror; and from it the place +derives the greatest share of its prosperity and importance. During the +fourteen days that the fair continues, the town is filled with the +neighboring gentry, as well as with merchants and tradesmen of every +description, not only from the cities of Normandy, but from Paris and +the distant provinces, and even from foreign countries. The revolution +itself respected the immunities granted to the fair of Guibray, without, +at the same time, having the slightest regard, either to its royal +founder, or its religious origin.--An image of the Virgin, discovered +under-ground by the scratching and bleating of a lamb, first gave the +stamp of sanctity to Guibray. Miraculous means had been employed for the +discovery of this statue; miraculous powers were sure to be seated in +the image. Pilgrims crowded from all places to witness and to adore; and +hawkers, and pedlars, and, as I have seen inscribed upon a hand-bill at +Paris, "the makers of he-saints and of she-saints," found Guibray a +place of lucrative resort. Their numbers annually increased, and thus +the fair originated.--We are compelled to hasten, or we would have +stopped to have witnessed the ceremonies, and joined the festivities on +the occasion. Already more than one field is covered with temporary +buildings, each distinguished by a flag, bearing the name and trade of +the occupant; already, too, the mountebanks and showmen have taken their +stand for the amusement of the company, and the relaxation of the +traders; and, what is a necessary consequence of such assemblages, you +cannot stir without being pestered with crowds of boys, proffering their +services to transport your wares. + +The church of Guibray, like the others of Falaise, offers specimens of +Norman architecture, strangely altered and half concealed by modern +innovations. In the first syllable of the name of the place, you will +observe the French word for misletoe, and may thence infer, and probably +not without reason, the antiquity of the station; the latter syllable, +albeit in England sheep are not wont to _bray_, is supposed by the pious +to have reference to the bleating of the lamb, which led to the +discovery of the miraculous image.--Etymology is a wide district in a +pleasant country, strangely intersected by many and deceitful paths. He +that ventures upon the exploring of it, requires the utmost caution, and +the constant control of sober reason: woe will be sure to betide the +unfortunate wight, who, in such a situation, gives the reins to fancy, +and suffers imagination to usurp the place of judgment, without +reflecting, as has been observed by the poet on a somewhat similar +occasion, that + + + "Tis more to curb than urge the generous steed, + Restrain his fury, than provoke his speed." + + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 94: The outline of the castle is egg-shaped; and the following +are its dimensions, in French measure, according to M. +Langevin.--Length, 720 feet; mean width, 420; quantity of ground +contained within the walls, two acres and a perch.] + +[Footnote 95: _Recherches Historiques sur Falaise_, p. XIX. and XXIX.] + + + + +LETTER XXX. ROCK AND CHAPEL OF ST. ADRIEN--PONT-DE-L'ARCHE--PRIORY OF +THE TWO LOVERS--ABBEY OF BONPORT--LOUVIERS--GAILLON--VERNON. + + +(_Mantes, August_, 1818) + +The last letter which I wrote to you, was dated from Falaise. Look in +the map and you will see that you now receive one from a point +completely opposite. In four days we have passed from one of the most +western towns of the province, to a place situated beyond its eastern +frontier; and in four more, we may almost hope to be with you again. In +this hasty journey we travelled through a district which has not yet +become the subject of description to you; and though we travelled with +less comfort of mind, than in the early part of our tour, I am yet +enabled to send you a few details respecting it. + +From Falaise we went in a direct line to Croissanville: the road, which +we intended to take by St. Pierre sur Dive to Lisieux, was utterly +impracticable for carriages. From Croissanville to Rouen we almost +retraced our former steps: we did not indeed again make a _détour_ by +Bernay; but the straight road from Lisieux to Brionne is altogether +without interest. + +There are two ways from Rouen to Paris: the upper, through Ecouis, +Magny, and Pontoise; the lower, by the banks of the Seine. Having +travelled by both of them before, we could appreciate their respective +advantages; and we knew that the only recommendation of the former was, +that it saved some few miles in distance; while the latter is one of +the most beautiful rides in France, and the towns, through which it +passes, are far from being among the least interesting in Normandy. In +such an alternative, there was no difficulty in fixing our choice, and +we proceeded straight for Pont-de-l'Arche. The chalk cliffs, which +bounded the road on our left, for some distance from Rouen, break near +the small village of Port St. Ouen, into wild forms, and in one spot +project boldly, assuming the shape of distinct towers. These projections +are known by the name of the rock of St. Adrien; thus called from the +patron saint of a romantic chapel, a place of great sanctity, and of +frequent resort with pilgrims, situated nearly mid-way up the +cliff.--The chapel is indeed little more than an excavation, and is +altogether so rude, that its workmanship affords no clue to discover the +date of the building. Its south side and roof are merely formed of the +bare rock. To the north it is screened by an erection, which, were it +not for the windows and short square steeple, might easily be mistaken +for a pent-house. The western end appears to display some traces of +Norman architecture. The hill, which leads to this chapel, commands a +view of Rouen, the most picturesque, I think, of all that we have seen +of this city, so picturesque from various points. You can scarcely +conceive the eagerness with which we endeavored to catch the last +glimpse, as the prospect gradually vanished from our sight, or the +pleasure with which we still dwell, and shall long continue so to do, +upon the recollection. All round the chapel, the bare chalk is at this +time tinged with a beautiful glow, from the blue flowers of the _Viola +Rothomagensis_: the _Isatis Tinctoria_, the _true Woad_, is also common +on the steep sides of the cliff. This plant, which is here indigenous, +became, during the reign of Napoléon, an object of attention with the +government, as a succedaneum for indigo, at the same time that beet-root +was destined to supply the continent with sugar, and salsafy, or parched +wheat, to hold the place of coffee. The restoration of peace has caused +the Isatis to be again neglected; but the _Reseda luteola_, or, _Dyer's +woad_, is much cultivated in the neighborhood, as is the _Teasel_ for +the use of the cloth manufactory. + +Pont-de-l'Arche, though now a small mean town, may boast of high +antiquity, if it be rightly believed to be the ancient _Pistae_, the +seat of the palace erected by Charles the Bald, in which that sovereign +convened councils in the years 861 and 869, and held assemblies of his +nobles in 862 and 864; and from which, his edicts promulgated in those +years, are dated. The same monarch also built here a magnificent bridge, +defended at one extremity by a citadel upon a small island.--From this +there seems every reason to believe that the town has derived its name; +for, in a diploma issued by our Henry IInd, he calls the place _Pontem +Arcis_; and its present appellation is nothing but its Latin name +translated into French. The fortress at the head of the bridge was +demolished about thirty years ago, at the time when Millin published +his[96] account of the town. The plate attached to that account, +represents one of the towers as still standing.--Though deprived of its +citadel, Pont-de-l'Arche retains to the present day its walls, flanked +by circular towers; and its bridge, which is the lowest stone bridge +down the Seine, is a noble one of twenty-two arches, through which the +river at a considerable depth below, rolls with extraordinary rapidity. +In the length of this bridge are some mills, which are turned by the +stream; and the current is moderated under one of the arches, by a lock +placed on the down-stream side, into which barges pass, and so proceed +with security; The bridge, with its mills, forms a very picturesque +object. + +At a short distance from the bridge, to the left, looking towards Paris, +is the _Colline des deux amans_, formerly surmounted by the priory of +the same name. Of the history of the monastery nothing is known with +certainty, nor is even the date of its foundation ascertained, though it +is stated by Millin to be one of the most ancient in Normandy[97]. But +the traditionary tale connected with this convent, forms the subject of +one of the lays of _Mary of France_; and it has been elegantly +translated by the late Mr. Ellis, in the introduction to his _History of +our Ancient Metrical Romances_;--Du Plessis[98] is, however, of opinion, +that the name of the priory is nothing more than a corruption from the +words, _deux monts_, in allusion to the twin hills, on one of which it +stands; or, if _lovers_ must have any thing to do with the appellation, +he piously suggests that divine love may have been intended, and that +the parties were no other than our Savior and the Virgin, whose images +were placed over the door of the conventual church. + +On the opposite side of the bridge of Pont-de-l'Arche, stand the +remains of a far richer abbey, that of Bonport, of the Cistertian order, +founded by Richard Coeur-de-Lion, in 1190, as an _ex voto_. The monarch, +then just in possession of his crown, was indulging with his courtiers +in the pleasures of the chace, and, carried away by the natural +impetuosity of his temper, had plunged in pursuit of the deer into the +Seine, whose rapid current brought his life into imminent danger; and he +accordingly vowed, if he escaped with safety, to erect a monastery upon +the spot where he should reach the shore. Hence, according to Le +Brasseur[99], the foundation, and hence the name. I ought, however, to +add, that no record of the kind is preserved in the _Neustrta Pia_, nor +even by Millin, who has described and figured such of the monastic +buildings and monuments as had been spared at the early part of the +revolution[100]. Another view of the ruins has since been published by +Langlois, in the first number of a work which was intended to have +comprised a long series of Norman antiquities, but was discontinued for +want of encouragement. The author, whose portrait I have sent you in the +course of this correspondence, is himself a native of Pont-de-l'Arche, +and has subjoined to his fas-ciculus a couple of plates, illustrative of +the costume and customs of the neighborhood.--In one of these plates, an +itinerant male fortune-teller is satisfying a young peasant as to the +probability of her speedy marriage, by means of a pack of cards, from +which he has turned up the king and queen and ace of hearts. In the +other, _a cunning woman_ is solving a question by a book and key. The +poor girl's sweetheart is an absent soldier, and fears and doubts are +naturally entertained for his safety. To unlock the mysteries of fate, +the key is attached to the mass-book, and suspended from the tip of the +finger of the sybil, who reads the first chapter of the gospel of St. +John; and the invocation is answered by the key turning of _its own +accord_, when she arrives at the verse beginning, "and the word was made +flesh[101]."--A fine rose-window in the church of the abbey of Bonport, +and two specimens of painted glass from its windows, the one +representing angels holding musical instruments, supposed to be of the +thirteenth century, the other containing a set of male and female heads +of extraordinarily rich color, probably executed about a century later, +are given by _Willemin_ in his very beautiful _Monumens Français +inédits_. In the same work, you will likewise find two still more +interesting painted windows from Pont-de-l'Arche; some boatmen and their +wives in the Norman costume of the end of the sixteenth century, and a +citizen of the town with his lady, praying before a fald-stool, bearing +the date, 1621. + +The church of Pont-de-l'Arche, though greatly dilapidated, is a building +worth notice, in a fine style of the decorated gothic. The nave is very +lofty; the high altar richly carved and gilt; the oak pulpit embossed +with saints; and the font covered with curious, though not ancient, +sculpture. Rich tracery abounds in the windows, which are also filled +with painted glass, some of it of very good quality. Scripture history +and personages occupy, as usual, the principal part; but in one of the +windows we noticed a representation of the Seine full of islands, and +the town of Pont-de-l'Arche, with a number of persons quitting it with +their horses, baggage, &c. in apparent confusion. So shattered, however, +is the window, that the story is no longer intelligible in its details; +and fragments, quite illegible, are all that remain of the inscriptions +formerly beneath it. It is probable, that the intention of the artist +was to give a picture of the miseries experienced by the inhabitants at +the burning of the town by our troops under Edward IIIrd.--On the south +side of the church the buttresses are enriched with canopies and other +sculpture; and there was originally a highly-wrought balustrade, +ornamented with figures of children, a part of which +remains.--Pont-de-l'Arche claims the merit of having been the first town +in France, which acknowledged Henry IVth as its lawful sovereign, after +the assassination of his predecessor, in 1589. + +On leaving this place, we passed through the forest of the same name, an +extensive tract covered with young trees, principally beech, oak, and +birch. The soil, a mixture of chalk and gravel, is poor, and offers but +little encouragement to the labors of the plough. All around us, the +distant prospect was pleasantly varied with gentle hills, upon one of +which, nearly in front, we soon saw Louviers, a busy manufacturing town, +of about seven thousand inhabitants, who are chiefly employed in making +the fine cloth of the district, which is considered superior in quality +to any other in France. Spanish wool is almost exclusively used for +the purpose. + +Throughout the vicinity of Louviers, are the most undoubted symptoms of +commercial prosperity; new houses every where erecting, and old ones +undergoing improvement. But the streets of the town itself are, as +usual, dirty and narrow, and the people of the lower orders more than +commonly ragged and beggarly. It was impossible to mistake the nature of +their occupations; so many of them had their faces and hands, and every +part of their limbs and bodies that was visible, died of a bright +blue.--The church at Louviers is very much injured, but very handsome; +and though reduced to a nave with its four aisles it is still a spacious +edifice. The south porch, which projects boldly in the form of a +galilee, is scarcely to be excelled as a specimen of pointed +architecture at its highest pitch of luxuriant beauty. Yet, even in +this, the saints have been torn from their pedestals by the wanton +violence of the Calvinists or democrats. The central tower is square and +short: it is, however, handsome. Two windows, very similar to those of +the tower of St. Romain, in Rouen cathedral, light it on either side; +and saints, placed under canopies, ornament the angles behind the +buttresses.--The great western door is closed, and the front defaced: +the eastern end, likewise, is altogether modern.--Within, the same kind +of architecture prevails as in the exterior, but the whole is so +concealed, and degraded by ornaments in the worst of taste, and by +painted saints in the most tawdry dresses, that the effect is +disgusting. I never saw so great an array of wretched representations of +the heavenly host: the stone images collected round the holy sepulchre, +are even worse than those at Dieppe. Near the chapel of the sepulchre, +however, are four bas-reliefs, attached to the wall, exhibiting +different events in our Savior's life of good execution, and not in had +taste: an open gallery of fillagree stone-work, under the central tower +on the south side, is an object really deserving of admiration. + +M. Langlois has engraved the gable end of an old house at Louviers, said +to have belonged to the Knights Templars. We found it used as an +engine-maker's shop; and neither within nor without, could we discover +any thing to justify his opinion, that it is a building of the twelfth +or thirteenth century. On the contrary, the windows, which are double, +under a flatly-pointed arch, and are all of them trefoil-headed, would +rather cause it to be considered as erected two centuries later. + +The town of Louviers, though never fortified, is noticed on several +occasions in history. It was the seat of the conferences between Richard +Coeur-de-Lion and Philip Augustus, which ended in the treaty of 1195, +defining new limits to Normandy.--It was, as I have already mentioned, +one of the items of the compensation made by the same Duke to the +Archbishop of Rouen, for the injury done to the church, by the erection +of Château Gaillard.--During the wars of Edward IIIrd, "Louviers," to +use the language of old Froissart, "after the battle of Caen, was soon +entered by the Englishmen, as it was not closed; and they over-ran, and +spoiled, and robbed it without mercy, and won great riches; for it was +the chief place in all Normandy for drapery, and was full of +merchandize."--And, in the subsequent warfare of the fifteenth century, +this town, like the others in the duchy, was taken by our countrymen, +under Henry Vth, and lost by them under his successor.--Hither the +Norman parliament retired when the Huguenots were in possession of +Rouen; and here they remained till the recapture of the capital.--It was +probably owing in a great measure to this circumstance, that Louviers +was induced to distinguish itself by a devoted attachment to the party +of the league, for which it suffered severely in 1591, when it was +captured and pillaged by the royalists shortly after their victory at +Ivry. The town was then taken through the treachery of a priest of the +name of Jean de la Tour, who received, as a recompence, a stall in the +cathedral at Evreux, but was so much an object of abhorrence with his +brethren, that he scarcely ever ventured to appear in his place. During +the holy week, however, he attended; and it once happened, that while he +was so officiating, all the canons contrived to leave the church towards +the close of the psalm, which immediately precedes the _Benedictus_ at +_Laudes_, so that the anthem, _Traditor autem_, which is sung with that +hymn, necessarily fell to the part of de la Tour, who found himself +compelled to chaunt it, to his own extreme confusion, and the infinite +amusement of the congregation. Irritated and mortified, the poor priest +preferred his complaints to the king; but it was one thing to love the +treason, and another to love the traitor; and his appeal obtained no +redress. + +From Louviers our next stage was Gaillon, on our road to which we passed +some vineyards, the most northern, I believe, in Normandy. The vines +cultivated in them are all of the small black cluster grape; and the +wine they produce, I am told, is of very inferior quality,--No place +can appear at present more poverty-stricken than Gaillon; but the case +was far otherwise before the glories of royal and ecclesiastical France +were shorn by the revolution. Ducarel, who visited this town about the +year 1760, dwells with great pleasure upon the magnificence of its +palace and its Carthusian convent and church. Of the palace the remains +are still considerable; and, after having been suffered to lie in a +state of ruin and neglect from an early period in the revolution, they +are now fitting up as a prison. The long inscription formerly over the +gate might with great propriety be replaced by the hacknied phrase, "Sic +transit gloria mundi;" for the vicissitudes of the fortune of noble +buildings are strikingly illustrated by the changes experienced by this +sumptuous edifice, long proverbial throughput France for its splendor. + +Philip Augustus conferred the lordship of Gaillon upon one of his +captains of the name of Cadoc, as a reward for his activity in the +conquest of Normandy. Louis IXth afterwards, early in the thirteenth +century, ceded the town in perpetuity to the Archbishop of Rouen. St. +Louis here received by way of exchange the Château of Pinterville, which +he bestowed upon William d'Aubergenville, whose uncle, the Bishop of +Evreux, had, while chancellor of France, done much service to him and to +Queen Blanche, his mother. From that time to the revolution the +archbishops had their country seat at Gaillon, and enjoyed the sole +right of trying civil and criminal causes within the town and its +liberties. Their palace, which was destroyed during the wars of Henry +Vth, in 1423, was rebuilt about a century afterwards by the munificence +of the first cardinal Georges d'Amboise, one of whose successors in the +prelacy, Colbert, expended, as it is said, more than one hundred +thousand livres towards the embellishment of it.--Another archbishop, +the Cardinal of Bourbon, founded the neighboring monastery, in the year +1571. The conventual church was destroyed by fire, through the +carelessness of some plumbers, shortly after Ducarel visited it; and +with it perished the celebrated monument of one of the counts of Bourbon +Soissons, said to have been a master-piece of sculpture. + +The limits assigned to Normandy by the treaty of Louviers, made Gaillon +a frontier town of the duchy; and here therefore I should take my leave +of you, but that, in the prouder days of its history, Vernon was +likewise swayed by the ducal sceptre. Vernon also seems peculiarly +connected with England, from the noble family of the same name still +flourishing, agreeably to their well-known punning motto, on your side +of the water. This motto is in the highest degree inapplicable to the +present state of the town, whose old and ruinous appearance looks as if +it had known neither improvement nor repair for centuries. Better things +might have been expected from the situation of Vernon, on the banks of +the Seine, in a singularly beautiful valley, and from its climate, which +is reported to be so extraordinarily healthy, that instances of +individuals attaining in it the age of one hundred are not unfrequent. + +The royal palace, formerly here, is now wholly swept away; and of the +ancient fortifications there remains little more than a tower, +remarkable for the height and thickness of its walls, a part of the +castle, which, in the reign of Henry IInd, was held by the service of +sixteen knights for its defence[102].--Prior to the revolution, Vernon +contained five religious houses, three of them founded by St. Louis, who +is said to have regarded this town with peculiar favor, and probably on +that account assigned it as a jointure to his queen, an honor which it +has received upon more than one other occasion. + +The present parish church of Vernon was collegiate. It was founded about +the year 1052, by William of Vernon, and was endowed by him, at the time +of its dedication, with the property called, _La Couture du Pré de +Giverny_, and with a fourth part of the forest of Vernon, all which the +dean and canons continued to enjoy till the revolution. This William +appears to have been the first of the family who adopted the surname of +Vernon. His son, Richard, by whom the foundation was formally confirmed, +attended the Conqueror to England, and obtained there considerable +grants. One of their descendants ceded the town in 1190 to the King of +France, accepting in return other lands, according to a treaty still +preserved in the royal library at Paris. The tombs of the founder, and +of his namesake, Sir William de Vernon, constable of England, who died +in 1467, and of many others of the family, among the rest the stately +mausoleum of the Maréchal de Belle Isle, were destroyed during the reign +of jacobinism and terror. The portraits, however, of the Marshal and of +the Duc de Penthièvre, both of them very indifferent performances, were +saved, and are now kept in the sacristy. The only monument left to the +church is that of Marie Maignard, whose husband, Charles Maignard, was +Lord of Bernières and president of the parliament of Normandy. She died +in 1610. Her effigy in white marble, praying before a fald-stool, has +also been spared. + +[Illustration: Elevation of the West Front of _La Délivrande_] + +The church itself is a spacious building, consisting of a nave and two +aisles, with chapels beyond, separated by lofty pointed arches, +supported on clustered pillars, to each of which is still attached a +tabernacle; but the statues have been destroyed. The choir is altogether +in a different style of architecture: that portion of it which +immediately surrounds the altar, is early Norman, and most probably +belonged to the original structure. Its arches vary remarkably in width. +The most narrow among them are more decidedly horseshoe-shaped, than any +others which I recollect to have seen.--The west front, though much +mutilated, is still handsome. It is flanked by two small, very short +turrets, richly ornamented.--The square central tower, capped by a +conical roof, does not even equal the height of the nave, which is +greatly superior to that of the choir.--Upon an eminence in the +immediate vicinity of Vernon, are the remains of a Roman encampment. + +With Vernon we quitted ancient Normandy: our ride thence to Mantes has +been delightful; and this town, for the excellence of its buildings, for +neatness, and for a general air of comfort, far excels any other which +we have seen in the north of France. The name of Mantes also recals the +memory of the Duc de Sully, and recals that of the Conqueror, whose +life fell a sacrifice to the barbarous outrage of which he was here +guilty.--But, I now lay down my pen, and take my leave of Normandy, +happy, if by my correspondence during this short tour, I have been able +to impart to you a portion of the gratification which I have myself +experienced, while tracing the ancient history, and surveying the +monuments of that wonderful nation, who, issuing from the frozen regions +of the north, here fixed the seat of their permanent government, became +powerful rivals of the sovereigns of France, saw Sicily and the fairest +portion of Italy subject to their sway, and, at the same time that they +possessed themselves of our own island, by right of conquest, imported +amongst us their customs, their arts, and their institutions, and laid +the basis of that happy constitution, under which, by the blessing of +God, Britain is at this moment the pride and envy of the world! + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 96: _Antiquités Nationales_, IV. No. 48.] + +[Footnote 97: _Antiquités Nationales_, II. No. 17.] + +[Footnote 98: _Histoire de la Haute Normandie_, II. p. 332.] + +[Footnote 99: _Histoire d'Evreux_, p. 161.] + +[Footnote 100: _Antiquités Nationales_, IV. No. 40.] + +[Footnote 101: This mode of divination by the Bible and key, is also to +be found among the superstitions of our own country.--See _Ellis' +edition of Brand's Popular Antiquities_, II. p. 641.] + +[Footnote 102: _Ducarel's Anglo-Norman Antiquities_, p. 93.--Respecting +Vernon, see also _Millin, Antiquités Nationales_, III. No. 26, in which +four plates, and near fifty pages of letter-press, are devoted to this +town.] + + + + +APPENDIX I. + + * * * * * + + The printing of this work was just concluded, when the author was + favored with drawings, accompanied with short descriptions, of the + chapel of our _Lady of the Délivrande_, near Caen, and of an ancient + font at Magneville, near Valognes. For the former he is indebted to + Mr. Cohen, to whom he has so often in the course of the work, had + occasion to express his obligations; for the latter, to M. de + Gerville, an able antiquary at Valognes. Both these subjects are of + such a nature, that he is peculiarly happy to be able to add them to + his imperfect account of the Antiquities of Normandy: the whole duchy + does not contain a religious building more celebrated for its + sanctity than the chapel; and while ancient fonts of any description + are rare in the province, he doubts if another is to be found like + that of Magneville, ornamented with sculpture and an inscription. + + * * * * * + +Some historians suppose, that the country situated between Caen and the +sea, formed at least, a part of the Saxon shore of Neustria. Amongst the +other ancient buildings which are found in this district, the chapel of +Notre Dame de la Délivrande, to which the Normans have resorted in +pilgrimage during the last eight hundred years, is, perhaps, the most +remarkable. + +When the philosophers of the revolution envied the religious enjoyments +of the common man, all pilgrimages were forbidden, and the road leading +to our Lady's Chapel, and which, indeed, is the only high road in this +part of the country, became almost impassable. Under the Emperor it was +thoroughly repaired, and, as they say, by his especial order; and since +the accession of the present French king, the fathers of the mission, +who lose no favorable opportunity of fostering the spirit of devotion, +have erected roods and tabernacles, at due distances, all along the way +side. + +After leaving Caen, the traveller will not fail to linger on the little +hill which he ascends just after passing by the first crucifix. Hence he +enjoys a lovely prospect, such as delighted the old masters. In the +foreground is the lofty cross, standing on a quadrangular pyramid of +steps. The broken hollow path bending upwards round the base, is always +occupied by a grotesque group of cripples and beldames, in rags and +tatters, laughing and whining and praying. The horizon is bounded by +long lines of grey and purple hills, nearer are fields and pastures, +whilst the river glitters and winds amidst their vivid tints. Nearer +still, the city of Caen extends itself from side to side, terminated at +each extremity by the venerable abbeys of William and Matilda. There are +no traces of work-shops and manufactories, or of their pollution; but +the churches with their towers and spires rise above the houses in bold +architectural masses, and the city assumes a character of quiet monastic +opulence, comforting the eye and the mind. + +About four miles farther on from Caen, we reached Cambre, one of the +many seignories which belonged to the very noble family of Mathan. There +was a Serlo de Mathan, who appears as a witness to one of the +Conqueror's charters, and the family is now represented by the present +Marquis, who has recovered his château, and a fragment of his domain. +Cambre is also the residence of the Abbé de la Rue, by whom the Marquis +was educated. When they both took refuge in England, the Abbé was the +only protector of his pupil, who now returns the honorable obligation. +It is well known that the Abbé has devoted his life to the investigation +of the antiquities both of Normandy and of the Anglo-Normans. Possessing +in a high degree the acute and critical spirit of research which +distinguished the French archaiologists of the Benedictine school, we +have only to regret, that the greater part of his works yet remain in +manuscript. His _History of Anglo-Norman Poetry_, which is quite ready +for the press, would be an invaluable accession to our literature; but +books of this nature are so little suited to the taste of the French +public, that, as yet, he has not ventured upon its publication. The +collections of the Abbé, as may be anticipated, are of great value; they +relate almost wholly to the history of the duchy. The château escaped +spoliation. The portraits of the whole line of the Mathans, from the +first founder of the race, in his hauberk, down to the last Marquis, in +his _frisure_, are in good preservation; and they are ancient specimens +of the sign-post painting usually found in old galleries. The Marquis +has also a finely-illuminated missal, which belonged to a Dame de +Mathan, in the fourteenth century, and which has been carefully handed +down in the family, from generation to generation. + +The church of Douvre, the next village, is rather a picturesque +building. The upper story of the tower has two pointed windows of the +earliest date. A pediment between them rests on the archivolt on either +side. This is frequently seen in buildings in the circular style. The +other stories of the tower, and the west front of the church are Norman; +the east end is in ruins. The British name of the village may afford +ground for much ethnigraphical and etymological speculation. + +Saint Exuperius is said to have founded the Chapel of La Délivrande, +some time in the first century. The tradition adds, that the chapel was +ruined by the Northmen,--and the statue of the Virgin, which now +commands the veneration of the faithful, remained buried until the +appointed time of resuscitation, in the reign of Henry Ist, when it was +discovered, in conformity to established usage and precedent in most +cases of miraculous images, by a lamb. Baldwin, Count of the Bessin and +Baron of Douvre, was owner of the flock to which the lamb belonged. The +Virgin would not remain in the parish church of Douvre, in which she was +lodged by the Baron, but she returned every night to the spot where she +was disinterred. Baldwin therefore understood that it was his duty to +erect a chapel for her reception, and he accordingly built that which is +now standing, and made a donation of the edifice to the Bishop of +Bayeux, whose successor receives the mass-pennies and oblations at this +very day. Some idea of the architecture of the building may be formed +from the inclosed sketch of the western front. During the morning mass, +the chapel was crowded with women, young and old, who were singing the +litany of the Virgin in a low and plantive tone. A hymn of praise was +also chaunted. It was composed by the learned Bishop Huet, and it is +inscribed upon a black marble tablet, which was placed in the chapel by +his direction. The country women of the Saxon shore possess a very +peculiar physiognomy, denoting that the race is unmixed. The +Norman-Saxon damsel is full and well made, her complexion is very fair, +she has light hair, long eyelashes, and tranquil placid features; her +countenance has an air of sullen pouting tenderness, such as we often +find in the women represented in the sculptures and paintings of the +middle ages. And all the girls are so much alike, that it might have +been supposed that they all were sisters. As to our Lady, she is gaily +attired in a Cashemire shawl, and completely covered with glaring amber +necklaces and beads, and ribband knots, and artificial flowers. Many +votive offerings are affixed round her shrine. The pilgrim is +particularly desired to notice a pair of crutches, which testify the +cure of their former owner, who lately hobbled to the Virgin from +Falaise, as a helpless cripple, and who quitted her in perfect health. +Of course the Virgin has operated all the usual standard miracles, +including one which may be suspected to be rather a work of +supererogation, that of restoring speech to a matron who had lost her +tongue, which had been cut out by her jealous husband. Miracles of every +kind are very frequently performed, yet, if the truth must be told, they +are worked, as it were, by deputy, for the real original Virgin suffered +so much during the revolution, that it has been thought advisable to +keep her in the sacristy, and the statue now seen is a restoration of +recent workmanship. In order to conciliate the sailors and fishermen of +the coast, the Virgin has entered into partnership with St. Nicholas, +whose image is impressed on the reverse of the medal representing her, +and which is sold to the pilgrims. + +The country about La Délivrande is flat, but industriously cultivated +and thickly peopled. The villages are numerous and substantial. From a +point at the extremity of the green lane which leads onward from La +Délivrande, six or eight church spires may be counted, all within a +league's distance. By the advice of the Abbé de la Rue, we proceeded to +Bernieres, which is close to the sea. The mayor of the commune offered +his services with great civility, and accompanied us to the church, +which, as he told us, was built by Duke William. We easily gave credit +to the mayor's assertion, as the interior of the nave is good Norman. +The pillars which support the groining of the roof are square; this +feature is rather singular. The tower and spire are copied from Saint +Peter, at Caen. Those of Luc, Courseilles, Langrune, and the other +neighboring villages, are upon the same model. Many instances of the +same kind of affiliation occur at home, which shew how easily a fashion +was set in ecclesiastical architecture. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: Font at Magneville] + + + + +APPENDIX II. + + * * * * * + +The most remarkable among the ancient inscriptions found in that part of +Normandy, which is now comprised in the Department of La Manche, are +upon an ancient altar, at Ham, on a medallion attached to the outside of +the church of Ste. Croix, at St. Lô, and upon the font at Magneville, +near Valognes. The first of these has generally been referred to the +seventh century; the second seems to be of the ninth; and the last may +with safety be considered as of the latter part of the tenth, or +beginning of the eleventh, at which period, the choir of the church of +Magneville appears also to have been erected. Of the sculpture upon the +font, as well as of the inscription, an accurate idea may be formed, +from the annexed drawing: the most remarkable character of the +inscription seems to be in its punctuation. The letters upon the altar, +at Ham, touch one another, and there is no separation of any kind +between the words: here, on the contrary, almost all the words are +divided by three or four points placed in a perpendicular direction, +except at the end of the phrases, where stops are wholly wanting. At +Ham, also, the letters are cut into the stone, while at Magneville they +are drawn with a brush, with a kind of black pigment. + +G. + + + + +INDEX. + + +A. + +_Abbey_, of Ardennes, + Bec, + Bernay, + Bonport, + Cormeilles, + Ducler, + Jumieges, + Preaux, + St. Evroul, + St. Georges de Bocherville, + St. Stephen, at Caen, + St. Taurinus, + Trinity at Caen. +_Academy of Druids_, at Bayeux. +_Academy of Sciences_, at Caen. +_Agnes Sorel_, buried at Jumieges, + her statue destroyed by the Huguenots, + her tomb destroyed at the revolution, + inscription upon. +_Amphitheatre, Roman_, found near Lisieux. +_Amyot, Mr_. his paper on the Bayeux tapestry. +_Andelys_, origin of the name, + history of, + seat of an early monastery, + great house at, + birth-place of Poussin. +_Andromeda polifolia_, found near Jumieges. +_Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury_, a monk at Bec. +_Aqueduct, Roman_, remains of, at Vieux. +_Archbishops of Rouen_, their palace at Gaillon. +_Arches, trefoil-headed_, early specimen of, at Jumieges. +_Ardennes_, abbey of, near Caen. +_Arlette, mother of the Conqueror_, native of Falaise. +_Arnulf_, bishop of Lisieux. +_Arthur, Prince_, knighted at Gournay. +_Asselin_, forbids the interment of the Conqueror. +_Audinus, bishop of Evreux_, authorizes Henry Ist to burn the city. +_Augustodurum_, probably the site of, at Vieux. + + +B. + +_Bailiffs_, first established in Normandy under Philip Augustus, +_Baiocco of Naples_, named after Bayeux, +_Bas-relief_, in the church of St. Georges de Bocherville, +_Baudius_, professor of law for a short time at Caen, +_Bayeux_, seat of an academy of Druids, + Roman relics found near, but no Druidic, + a Roman station, + probably the Næomagus Viducassium, + its ancient name, + its importance under the early French kings, + its history, + the place where the Norman princes were educated, + castle, + situation, population, and trade, + tapestry, + cathedral, +_Bayeux, Roman_, probably destroyed by the Saxons, +_Bec, abbey of_, its present state, + former income and patronage, + church described by Du Plessis, + founded by Hellouin, + history, + seminary for eminent men, +_Belenus_, worshipped near Bayeux, +_Berengarius_, his tenets impugned by Lanfranc, + condemned by the council of Brionne, +_Bernay_, abbey of, + church, + burial-ground, + population and trade, + costume of the females, +_Bernieres_, church of, +_Blanche, wife of Charles the Bel_, confined in Château Gaillard, +_Bochart_, one of the founders of the academy at Caen, +_Boileau_, his eulogium on Malherbe, +_Bonport_, abbey of, +_Borghese, Princess of_, original letter by, +_Bouillon, Duke of_, Lord of Evreux, at the revolution, +_Bourg-Achard_, seat of an abbey, dedicated to St. Eustatius, + leaden font, +_Bourg-Theroude_, +_Bourgueville_, his antiquities of Caen, + present at the exhumation of the Conqueror's remains, +_Boy, bishop_, annually elected at Caen, +_Bretteville l'Orgueilleuse_, church of, +_Brionne_, situation of, + seat of the council which condemned the tenets of Berengarius, + castle, +_Brito_, his account + of the siege of Gournay, + of Château Gaillard, + of the murder of the French garrison of Evreux, + of Caen. +_Broglie_, church of. +_Bruce, David_, a resident in Château Gaillard. +_Buck-wheat_, + much cultivated in Lower Normandy, + etymology of its French name. + + +C. + +_Caen_, + arrival at, + distant view of, + trade and population, + situation, + grand cours, + costume of females, + house-rent, + foundation, + described by Brito, + etymology of the name, + fortifications, + Château de Calix, + castle, + chapel in the castle, + hospital, + royal abbeys, + college, + palace, + museum, + library, + universities, + men of eminence, + academy, + Malherbe, + history, + neighborhood abundant in fossil remains, + seen from the road leading to La Délivrande. +_Caen-stone_, + large quarries of, + formerly much used in England. +_Cambre_. +_Cambremer, Canon of_, tale respecting, at Bayeux. +_Cannon_, first used in France, at the siege of Pont Audemer. +_Canons_, four statues of, at Evreux. +_Castle_, of Bayeux, + Brionne, + Caen, + Creully, + Falaise, + Gisors, + Montfort, + Neufmarché. +_Cathedral of Bayeux_, founded by St. Exuperius, + history, + described, + crypt, + stripped of its relics, + revenue, + right of mintage. +_Cathedral of Evreux_, often destroyed, + its present state, + little injured by the Huguenots, + founded by St. Taurinus. +_Cathedral of Lisieux_, now the parish church of St. Peter, + described, + remarkable tomb in. +_Cauchon, Peter_, bishop of Lisieux, president at the trial of Joan of Arc. +_Cecily_, daughter of the Conqueror, abbess at Caen. +_Chapel_, subterranean, in Bayeux cathedral, + in the castle at Caen, + in the castle at Falaise, + of St. Adrian, + of La Délivrande. +_Chapel in the castle at Caen_, built fronting the east +_Chapels_, stone-roofed, in Ireland, of Norman origin +_Charles the Bad_, born in the Château de Navarre +_Charters_, of the abbey of St. Georges de Bocherville +_Château de Navarre_ +_Château Gaillard_, its situation + described + account of, by Brito + history +_Château de Calix_, at Caen +_Chesnut-timber_, formerly much used in Normandy +_Church_, of the abbey of Bec + Bernieres + Bernay + Bretteville l'Orgueilleuse + Broglie + Creully + Ducler + Ecouis + Falaise + Gisors + Gournay + Jumieges + St. Peter's at ditto + Louviers + Moulineaux + Pont Audemer + Pont-de-l'Arche + St. Germain de Blancherbe + St. Gervais, at Falaise + St. Georges de Bocherville + St. Giles, at Evreux + St. James, at Lisieux + St. John, at Caen + St. Michael, at ditto + St. Nicholas, at ditto + St. Peter, at ditto + St. Stephen's abbey, at ditto + St. Stephen, at ditto + Trinity, at ditto + Trinity at Falaise + Vernon +_Cider_, the common beverage, in Normandy + first introduced by the Normans +_Cocherel_ +_Coins, golden_, struck at Bayeux, under the first French kings +_Colline des deux amans_, priory of +_Cormeilles_, abbey of +_Corneille_, buried at Andelys +_Costume_, at Bernay + at Caen +_Coupe gorge_, colony established at, by Napoléon +_Creully_, castle + church +_Crocodile fossil_, found near Caen +_Croissanville_ + + +D. + +_Dalechamps_, native of Caen +_D'Amboise, Cardinal_, built the palace at Gaillon +_Darnétal_ +_De Boissy_, bishop of Bayeux, his epitaph. +_De la Rue, Abbé_, + professor of history at Caen, + is preparing an account of Caen, + his paper on the Bayeux tapestry. +_Douce, Mr._, his illustration of the sculpture at + St. Georges de Bocherville. +_Douvre_. +_Druids_, academy of, at Bayeux. +_Dubois Louis_, + his discoveries among the ruins of Old Lisieux, + preserved the original M.S. of Ordericus Vitalis, + is preparing the history of Lisieux. +_Ducarel_, his description of a pavement in the palace at Caen. +_Ducler_, + convent, + parish church. +_Du Perron_, cardinal, bishop of Evreux. +_Du Plessis_, + his opinion as to Turold on the Bayeux tapestry, + description of the abbey church of Bec. + + +E. + +_Ecouis, church of_, + burial-place of John and Enguerrand de Marigny, + singular epitaph. +_Epitaph_, + enigmatical at Ecouis, + of John de Boissy, + on the exterior of Bayeux cathedral. +_Evreux_, + destroyed by Henry Ist, + cathedral, + abbey of St. Taurinus, + history, + present appearance. +_Evreux, Old_, a Roman station. + + +F. + +_Falaise_, + situation of, + etymology of the name, + castle, + Talbot's tower, + chapel in castle, + history, + firmly attached to the League, + fortifications, + inhabitants _true Normans_, + population and trade, + churches. +_Fastolf, Sir John_, governor of Caen. +_Flambart, Ralph_, bishop of Durham, seizes Lisieux. +_Fleury, Cardinal_, abbot at Caen. +_Fonts_, seldom seen in French churches. +_Font_, curiously sculptured, at Magneville. +_Font, leaden_, at Bourg-Achard. + + + + +G. + +_Gaillon_, vineyards near, + present state of, + ceded to the archbishop of Rouen, + made by the treaty of Louviers the frontier town of the Duchy, +_Gisors_, castle, appearance of, + history, + place of interview between Henry IInd, and Philip Augustus, + arms of the town, + castle, described, + church of, + banded column in the church, +_Glass painted_, at the abbey of Bonport, + in the church of Pont de l'Arche, +_Gournay_, origin of, + present appearance, + history, + siege described by Brito, + arms of, + place where Prince Arthur was knighted, + church, + remarkable sculpture on the capitals, +_Gournay, Hugo de_, +_Guibray_, fair of, +_Gurney, Hudson_, his paper on the Bayeux tapestry, + + +H. + +_Harcourt_, castle of, +_Hellouin_, founder of the abbey of Bec, + his epitaph, +_Hennuyer, John_, bishop of Lisieux, said to have saved the Huguenots, +_Henry Ist_, kept prisoner by Robert at Bayeux, + destroyed the city, +_History, ecclesiastical, of Ordericus Vitalis_, + materials for a new edition of, + original manuscript, + manuscript copies, +_Holy Trinity_, church of, at Falaise, +_Honfleur_, situation of, + described, +_Horses, Norman_, present price of, +_Hospital at Caen_, founded in the thirteenth century, +_Hoveden_, his account of the interview between Henry IInd, + and Philip Augustus, near Gisors, +_Hubert, archbishop of Canterbury_, a monk of Bec, +_Hubert, M._, discovered the site of the Neomagus Lexoviorum, +_Huet_, his _Origines de Caen_, + one of the founders of the academy at Caen, +_Huguenots_, destroy the tomb and violate the remains of the Conqueror, +_Hume, David_, his opinion on the Bayeux tapestry, +_Hypocaust, Roman_, found at Vieux, + + +I. + +_Inscription_, on the font at Magneville, +_John, King_, murders the French garrison of Evreux, +_Isatis tinctoria_, cultivated in France under Napoléon, +_Jumieges, abbey of_, its foundation, + original building, + history, + church, + Salle des Chevaliers, + church of St. Peter, + monuments, +_Ivory chest_, in Bayeux cathedral, + + +K. + +_Knights, Templars_, house of, at Louviers, + + +L. + +_Lamouroux, M_. professor of natural history at Caen, + his publications, +_Lanfranc_, settled at Bec, + first schoolmaster in Normandy, + first abbot of St. Stephen's, +_Langevin, M_., author of the history of Falaise, +_Langlois, M_., his portrait, + his work on Norman Antiquities, +_Le Beuf, Abbé_, his opinion of Vieux, +_Le Brasseur_, his account of the statues of four canons at Evreux, +_Léproserie de Beauîleu_, +_Letter, original_, from Princess Borghese, +_Library, public_, at Caen, +_Lisieux_, situation and trade of, + its see suppressed in 1801, + cathedral, + tomb in cathedral, + town probably founded in the sixth century, + ancient names of, + history of, + church of St. Jacques, +_Littleton, Lord_, his opinion of the Bayeux tapestry, +_Louviers_, treaty of, + population, + church, + house of knights templars, + history, + + + + +M. + +_Magneville_, font at, +_Malherbe_, native of Caen, +_Mallet, Anthony_, his statement of Hennuyer's saving the Calvinists, +_Maréchal de Belle Isle_, his monument, +_Margaret of Burgundy_, immured in Château Gaillard, +_Marigny, Enguerrand de_, buried at Ecouis, + his mausoleum destroyed at the revolution, +_Marriage ceremony_, in France, +_Matilda, wife of the Conqueror_, supposed portrait of, + her seal + buried in the church of the Trinity, + her tomb destroyed by the Huguenots, + her remains lately found and new tomb raised, +_Maud, Empress_, her expostulations with her father as to the place +of her burial, +_Mazarine, Cardinal_, abbot of St. Stephen's, +_Melons_, cultivated on a large scale, near Lisieux, +_Misereres_, sculptured, in Bayeux cathedral, +_Misletoe_, commonly hung over inn-doors, near Caen, +_Money_, struck by the chapter of Bayeux, how marked, +_Montfaucon_, his engravings of the portraits of the Conqueror +and his family, +_Montfort_, castle of, +_Moulineaux_, church of, +_Mount Phaunus_, temple of, near Bayeux, +_Museum_, at Caen, +_Musicians_, sculptured at St. Georges de Bocherville, + + +N. + +_Napoléon_, establishment formed by him at the pass of _Coupe Gorge_, + his attempt to make a naval station at Caen, +_Navarre, kings of_, lords of Evreux, +_Navarre, Château de_, +_Næomagus Viducassium_, probably the modern Bayeux, +_Neomagus Lexoviorum_, site of, lately discovered, +_Neufmarché_, castle of, +_Normandy_, divided anew, under Philip Augustus, +_Notre Dame de la Délivrande_, chapel of, + + + + +O. + +_Odo, bishop of Bayeux_, rebuilds the cathedral, + his life and character. +_Ordericus Vitalis_, his account of the destruction of Evreux, + his account of St. Taurinus, + sketch of his life, + his ecclesiastical history, + his reflections on the death of the Conqueror +_Ornaments_ on the spandrils of the arches in Bayeux cathedral. +_Oxen_, breed of, near Caen. + + +P. + +_Paintings, fresco_, in Bayeux cathedral. +_Passports_, regulations respecting, in France. +_Patye, John, Canon of Cambremer_, legend concerning, at Bayeux. +_Pays de Bray_. +_Pistae_, the site of, occupied by Pont de l'Arche. +_Pont Audemer_, its situation, + history, + churches. +_Pont de l'Arche_, seat of a palace under Charles the Bald, + origin of the name, + church. +_Portraits_, of the Conqueror and family. +_Poussin_, born at Andelys, + if his example has been favorable to French art. +_Preaux_, abbey of. +_Priory, des deux Amans_. + + +R. + +_Rabelais_, his autograph. +_Reseda luteola_, cultivated near Rouen. +_Richelieu, Cardinal_, abbot of St. Stephen's at Caen. +_Roads in France_, compared with those in England. +_Robert the Devil_, his castle near Moulineaux. +_Romance_, subjects borrowed from, sculptured on a capital in St. Peter's, +at Caen. +_Rupierre, William of, Bishop of Lisieux_, resists the power of King +John. + + +S. + +_St. Adrian_, Chapel of, near Rouen. +_St. Clotilda_, her fountain, at Andelys + still worshipped there. +_St. Evroul_, abbey of, founded by William de Gerouis, + residence of Ordericus Vitalis. +_St. Georges de Bocherville_, abbey of, founded by Ralph de Tancarville, + its history, + abbey church described + sculpture in ditto + chapter-house. +_St. Germain_, church of, at Pont Audemer. +_St. Germain de Blancherbe_, church of. +_St. Gervais_, church of, at Falaise. +_St. Giles_, church of, at Evreux. +_St. Jacques_, church of at Lisieux. +_St. John_, church of, at Caen. +_St. Lascivus_, bishop of Bayeux. +_St. Lupus_, bishop of Bayeux, so called from destroying the wolves. +_St. Maimertus_, subterranean chapel dedicated to, in Bayeux cathedal. +_St. Michael_, church of, in the suburb of Vaucelles, at Caen. +_St. Nicholas_, church of at Caen + its roof like those of the Irish stone-roofed chapels. +_St. Peter_, church of at Caen + sculpture upon the capital of one of the columns. +_St. Philibert_, founder of Jumieges. +_St. Regnobert_, bishop of Bayeux, his chasuble kept in the cathedral, + domestic animals blessed on his feast-day. +_St. Stephen_, church of, at Caen. +_St. Stephen_, abbey of, at Caen, its privileges + now used as the college. +_St. Stephen, abbey church of_, at Caen, described + formed on the the Roman model + burial-place of the Conqueror. +_St. Taurinus_, founder of Evreux cathedral + his fight with the devil, + his shrine + crypt, in which he was buried. +_St. Taurinus, abbey of_ at Evreux + its privileges + ancient architecture in the church + crypt. +_St. Vitalis_, his feast celebrated annually at Evreux. +_St. Ursinus_, privileges enjoyed by the Canons, at Lisieux, on his vigil +and feast-day. +_Saxons_, established about Bayeux, where many words from their language +still exist. +_Screens_, of rare occurrence in French churches. +_Sculpture_, in the abbey church of St. Georges de Bocherville, + in the chapter-house of the same abbey, + in the abbey church of Jumieges, + on the capitals in the church at Gournay, + on a capital in the abbey church at Bernay, + over the high altar at Bernay, + on a tomb in Lisieux cathedral, + on a capital in St. Peter's at Caen, + on the capitals of the pillars in the crypt at Bayeux cathedral, +_Seal_, supposed to belong to Matilda, wife of the Conqueror, +_Sheep_, Norman breed of, +_Siege_, of Château Gaillard, +_Statues_, in the chapter-house of the abbey of St. Georges de Bocherville, + of William the Conqueror, at Caen, +_Stothard, C.A._, his drawings of the Bayeux tapestry, + his opinion on its antiquity, +_String-course_, remarkable, in the church of _Notre Dame des Prés_, at +Pont Audemer, +_Superstitions_, still remaining in Normandy, + + +T. + +_Tancarville, Ralph_, chamberlain to the Conqueror, and founder of the +abbey of St. Georges de Bocherville, +_Tapestry, Bayeux_, accounts of, published by Montfaucon and Lancelot, + referred by them to Matilda, Queen of the Conqueror, + figure from, + its antiquity denied by Lord Littleton, Hume, and the Abbé de la Rue, + when first described, + reasons for believing in its antiquity, + formerly kept at the cathedral, + exhibited during the revolution at Paris, + described, +_Tassillon_, confined at Jumieges, +_Tassilly_, ancient tombs found at, +_Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury_ a monk of Bec, +_Thomas à Becket_, retired during his disgrace to Lisieux, +_Tiles, painted_, in the palace at Caen, + supposed to prove the antiquity of heraldic bearings, +_Tombeau des énervez_, at Jumieges, +_Tombs, ancient_, at Cocherel, + in Lisieux cathedral, + at Tassilly, +_Torigny marble_, +_Trinity Holy, abbey of the_, at Caen, when built, + used as a fortress as well as a nunnery + its income + privileges. +_Trinity Holy, church of the abbey of the_, at Caen, now a work-house, + described, + its spires destroyed by Charles, King of Navarre. +_Turnebus_, Adrian, native of Andelys. +_Turold_, founder of Bourg-Theroude, represented on the Bayeux tapestry. + + +U. + +_University of Caen_, founded by Henry VIth, + abolished and restored by Charles VIIth, + esteemed the third in France. + + +V. + +_Vernon_, its situation, + formerly the seat of a royal palace, + church. +_Vieux_, a Roman station, + etymology of the name. +_Vines_, formerly cultivated at Jumieges, + also at Caen and Lisieux. + + +W. + +_Wace_, a resident at Caen. +_Whales_, formerly caught near Jumieges. +_William the Conqueror_, his statue at Caen, + supposed figure of him on a capital in the church of the abbey + of the Trinity, + buried in the abbey-church of St. Stephen, + his epitaph, + his death and burial, and the disturbance of his remains, + his palace at Caen, + fresco-paintings of him and his family, + born at Falaise, + receives the homage of the English, as successor to Edward, at Bayeux. +_William of Jumieges_, his account of the attachment of the Empress + Maud to Bec. + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12538 *** |