diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old')
88 files changed, 60199 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/old/12538-0.txt b/old/12538-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..356ae38 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8991 @@ +*** 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 *** diff --git a/old/12538-h/12538-h.htm b/old/12538-h/12538-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f27340c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/12538-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,11268 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="fr" lang="fr"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Account Of A Tour In Normandy - Volume II, By Dawson Turner</title> +<style type="text/css"> + + P { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em;} + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%;} + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .note {margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} /* footnote */ + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + right: 100%; + font-size: 8pt; + color: black} /* page numbers */ + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem p.i2 {margin-left: 2em;} + .poem p.i4 {margin-left: 4em;} + .poem p.i1 {margin-left: 1em;} + .poem .caesura {vertical-align: -200%;} + p.r {text-align: right;} + .ctr {text-align: center;} + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none;} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none;} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none;} + a:hover {color:red} + ul.none {list-style-type:none} + +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12538 ***</div> + +<h1>Account Of A Tour In Normandy - Volume II</h1> + +<h3>Dawson Turner</h3> + +<h2>LETTERS FROM NORMANDY,</h2> + +<h4>ADDRESSED</h4> + +<h3>TO THE REV. JAMES LAYTON, B.A.</h3> + +<h4>OF</h4> + +<h3>CATFIELD, NORFOLK.</h3> + +<h5>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.</h5> + +<h5>ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS.</h5> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XIV"><b>LETTER XIV.</b></a></p> + +<p>Ducler--St. Georges de Bocherville--M. Langlois</p> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XV"><b>LETTER XV.</b></a></p> + +<p>Abbey of Jumieges--Its History--Architectural +Details--Tombs of Agnes Sorel and of the Enervez</p> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XVI"><b>LETTER XVI.</b></a></p> + +<p>Gournay--Castle of Neufmarché--Castle and +Church of Gisors</p> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XVII"><b>LETTER XVII.</b></a></p> + +<p>Andelys--Fountain of Saint Clotilda--La Grande +Maison--Château Gaillard--Ecouis</p> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XVIII"><b>LETTER XVIII.</b></a></p> + +<p>Evreux--Cathedral--Abbey of St. Taurinus--Ancient +History</p> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XIX"><b>LETTER XIX.</b></a></p> + +<p>Vicinity of Evreux--Château de +Navarre--Cocherel--Pont-Audemer-- +Montfort-sur-Risle--Harfleur--Bourg-Achard--French +Wedding</p> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XX"><b>LETTER XX.</b></a></p> + +<p>Moulineaux--Castle of Robert the +Devil--Bourg-Theroude--Abbey of Bec--Brionne</p> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XXI"><b>LETTER XXI.</b></a></p> + +<p> +Bernay--Broglie--Orbec--Lisieux--Cathedral--Ecclesiastical +History</p> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XXII"><b>LETTER XXII.</b></a></p> + +<p>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</p> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XXIII"><b>LETTER XXIII.</b></a></p> + +<p>French Police--Ride from Lisieux to +Caen--Cider--General Appearance and Trade of +Caen--English resident there</p> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XXIV"><b>LETTER XXIV.</b></a></p> + +<p>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</p> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XXV"><b>LETTER XXV.</b></a></p> + +<p>Royal Abbeys of the Holy Trinity and St. Stephen--Funeral +of the Conqueror, Exhumation of his Remains, and Destruction of his +Monument</p> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XXVI"><b>LETTER XXVI.</b></a></p> + +<p>Palace of the Conqueror--Heraldic Tiles--Portraits of +William and Matilda--Museum--Public +Library--University--Academy--Eminent +Men--History of Caen</p> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XXVII"><b>LETTER XXVII.</b></a></p> + +<p>Vieux--La Maladerie--Chesnut Timber--Caen +Stone--History of Bayeux--Tapestry</p> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XXVIII"><b>LETTER XXVIII.</b></a></p> + +<p>Cathedral of Bayeux--Canon of Cambremer--Cope of St. +Regnobert--Odo</p> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XXIX"><b>LETTER XXIX.</b></a></p> + +<p>Church and Castle of +Creully--Falaise--Castle--Churches--Fair of +Guibray</p> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XXX"><b>LETTER XXX.</b></a></p> + +<p>Rock and Chapel of St. Adrien--Pont-de-l'Arche--Priory +of the two Lovers--Abbey of +Bonport--Louviers--Gaillon--Vernon</p> + +<p><a href="#APPENDIX_I"><b>APPENDIX I.</b></a></p> + +<p><a href="#APPENDIX_II"><b>APPENDIX II.</b></a></p> + +<p><a href="#INDEX"><b>INDEX.</b></a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="LIST_OF_PLATES"></a>LIST OF PLATES.</h2> + +<p><a href="#plate_26"><b>Plate 26</b></a> Sculpture upon a capital +in the Chapter-House at St. Georges +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_27"><b>Plate 27</b></a> M. Langlois +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_28"><b>Plate 28</b></a> Musicians, from the +Chapter-House at St. Georges +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_29"><b>Plate 29</b></a> Distant View of the +Abbey of St. Jumieges +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_30"><b>Plate 30</b></a> Ancient trefoil-headed +Arches in ditto +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_31"><b>Plate 31</b></a> Distant of the Castle of +Gisors +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_32"><b>Plate 32</b></a> Banded Pillar in the +Church of ditto +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_33"><b>Plate 33</b></a> Distant View of +Château Gaillard +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_34"><b>Plate 34</b></a> Gothic Puteal, at +Evreux +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_35"><b>Plate 35</b></a> Leaden Font at +Bourg-Achard +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_36"><b>Plate 36</b></a> Ancient Tomb in the +Cathedral at Lisieux +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_37"><b>Plate 37</b></a> Head-Dress of Females, +as Caen +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_38"><b>Plate 38</b></a> Tower in the +<i>Château de Calix</i>, at ditto +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_39"><b>Plate 39</b></a> Tower and Spire of St. +Peter's Church, at ditto +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_40"><b>Plate 40</b></a> Sculpture upon a Capital +in ditto +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_41"><b>Plate 41</b></a> Tower of St. John's +Church, at Caen +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_42"><b>Plate 42</b></a> Monastery of St. +Stephen, at ditto +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_43"><b>Plate 43</b></a> Fireplace in the +Conqueror's Palace, at Ditto +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_44"><b>Plate 44</b></a> Profile of M. +Lamouroux +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_45"><b>Plate 45</b></a> Figure from the Bayeux +Tapestry +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_46"><b>Plate 46</b></a> Sculpture at Bayeux +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_47"><b>Plate 47</b></a> Ornaments in the +Spandrils of the Arches in Bayeux Cathedral +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_48"><b>Plate 48</b></a> Castle of Falaise +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_49"><b>Plate 49</b></a> Elevation of the West +Front of <i>La Délivrande</i> +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_50"><b>Plate 50</b></a> Font at Magneville +</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_1"><span class="pagenum">[Page 1]</span></a><a name="LETTERS_FROM_NORMANDY"></a> <a name="Account_Of_A_Tour_In_Normandy" id="Account_Of_A_Tour_In_Normandy"></a></p> + +<h2>LETTERS</h2> + +<h4>FROM</h4> + +<h2>NORMANDY</h2> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="LETTER_XIV"></a>LETTER XIV.</h2> + +<h4>DUCLER--ST. GEORGES DE BOCHERVILLE--M. LANGLOIS.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Ducler, July</i>, 1818.)</p> + +<p>You will look in vain for Ducler in the <i>livre des postes</i>; +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 <i>fricandeau</i> and his +bed, at the place whence I am writing.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1"><sup>[1]</sup></a>, <a name="Page_2"><span class="pagenum">[Page 2]</span></a>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 <i>bourg</i>), 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 <a name="Page_3"><span class="pagenum">[Page 3]</span></a>setting in fast downwards; and +the water glided along in silent rapidity, involved in clouds.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The church of St. Georges de Bocherville, called in old charters +<i>de Baucherville</i>, and in Latin <i>de Balcheri</i> or +<i>Baucheri villa</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2"><sup>[2]</sup></a>. It is the Conqueror <a name="Page_4"><span class="pagenum">[Page 4]</span></a>who +speaks.--"Radulfus, meus magister, aulæque et +cameræ princeps, instinctu divino tactus, ecclesiam +supradicti martyris Georgii, quæ erat parva, re-edificare a +<a name="Page_5"><span class="pagenum">[Page 5]</span></a>fundamentis inchoavit, et ex +proprio in modum crucis consummavit."</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3"><sup>[3]</sup></a> for interment.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_6"><span class="pagenum">[Page 6]</span></a></p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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 <i>Dux +Normannorum</i>; it therefore <a name="Page_7"><span class="pagenum">[Page 7]</span></a>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 <a name="Page_8"><span class="pagenum">[Page 8]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_9"><span class="pagenum">[Page 9]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Nuremberg Chronicle</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>The most curious sculptures, however, in the church, are two +square bas-reliefs, opposite to one another, <a name="Page_10"><span class="pagenum">[Page 10]</span></a>upon the +spandrils of the arches, in the walls that divide the extremities +of the transepts into different stories<a name="FNanchor4"></a><a +href="#Footnote_4"><sup>[4]</sup></a>. 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_11"><span class="pagenum">[Page 11]</span></a></p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_26" id="plate_26"> +</a><img src="images/plate_26.png" height="336" width="439" alt="Sculpture upon a capital in the Chapter-House at St. Georges" /></p> + +<p>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 <i>Gallia Christiana</i>, 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."</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5"><sup>[5]</sup></a>. 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 <a name="Page_12"><span class="pagenum">[Page 12]</span></a>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 <i>Monumens de la Monarchie +Française</i>, 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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_27"></a> +<img src="images/plate_27.png" height="526" width="340" alt="M. Langlois" /></p> + +<p>It was in this chapter-house that M. Langlois<a name="FNanchor6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6"><sup>[6]</sup></a> found, +among a heap of stones, a most interesting capital, that had +formerly been attached to a double column. By his <a name="Page_13"><span class="pagenum">[Page 13]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7"><sup>[7]</sup></a>.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="picture_08"><br/> +</a><img src="images/picture_08.png" height="372" width="388" alt="Bas-relief on capital" /></p> + +<p>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, <a name="Page_14"><span class="pagenum">[Page 14]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8"><sup>[8]</sup></a>.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_15"><span class="pagenum">[Page 15]</span></a></p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_28"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_28.png" height="293" width="781" alt="Musicians, from the Chapter-House at St. George" /></p> + +<p>The chapter-house, previously to the revolution, contained a +tomb-stone<a name="FNanchor9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9"><sup>[9]</sup></a>, 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, +<a name="Page_16"><span class="pagenum">[Page 16]</span></a>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.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="ctr">EXPLICIT FELICITER Stus. GEORGIUS DE +BOCHERVILLA;</p> + +<p class="ctr">DEO GRATIAS.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor1">[1]</a> +<i>Histoire de la Haute Normandie</i>, II. p. 266. VOL. II.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor2">[2]</a> <i>Ann. +Benedict.</i> 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:--</p> + +<p>"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."</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor3">[3]</a> The +following are the words of Ordericus Vitalis, upon the subject:</p> + +<p>"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."--<i>Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni</i>, p. +661.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor4">[4]</a> See +<i>Cotman's Architectural Antiquities of Normandy</i>, t. 10. f. A. +and B.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor5">[5]</a> See +<i>Cotman's Architectural Antiquities of Normandy</i>, t. 11. last +figure.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor6">[6]</a> 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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor7">[7]</a> Its size +at top is fourteen inches and a half, by six inches and +two-thirds.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor8">[8]</a> 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 <i>violl</i>, +corresponding with our <i>Viol de Gamba</i>. 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 +<i>rote</i>, so called from the internal wheel or cylinder, turned +by a winch, which caused the <i>bourdon</i>, whilst the performer +stopped the notes on the strings with his fingers. This instrument +has been very ignorantly termed a <i>vielle</i>, and yet continues +to be so called in France. It is the modern Savoyard +<i>hurdy-gurdy</i>, as we still more improperly term it; for the +hurdy-gurdy is quite a different instrument. In later times, the +<i>rote</i> appears to have lost its rank in concert, and was +called the <i>beggar's lyre</i>.--No. 4 is evidently the +<i>syrinx</i>, or <i>Pan's pipe</i>, 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 <i>crowth</i>; 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 <i>mandore</i>, whence the +more modern <i>mandolin</i>. The rotundity of the sounding-board +may warrant this conjecture.--No. 6 was called the +<i>psalterion</i>, 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 <i>plectrum</i>, which +the performer holds in his right hand.--No. 7 is the +<i>dulcimer</i>, 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 <i>plectrum</i>.--No. 8 +is the real <i>vielle</i>, or <i>violin</i>, of very common +occurrence, and very ancient.--No. 9 is a female tumbler, or +<i>tomllesterre</i>, 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 <i>harp</i> played +with a <i>plectrum</i>, and, perhaps, also with the left hand +occasionally.--No. 11. The figure before the suspended +<i>bells</i> 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 +<i>Exaltate Deo</i>.--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."</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor9">[9]</a> <i>Gallia +Christiana</i>, XI. p. 270.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_17"><span class="pagenum">[Page 17]</span></a></p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_29"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_29.png" height="329" width="636" alt="Distant View of the Abbey of St. Jumieges" /></p> + + +<h2><a name="LETTER_XV"></a>LETTER XV.</h2> + +<h4>ABBEY OF JUMIEGES--ITS HISTORY--ARCHITECTURAL +DETAILS--TOMBS OF AGNES SOREL AND OF THE ENERVEZ.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Ducler, July</i>, 1818)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a +name="Page_18"><span class="pagenum">[Page 18]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10"><sup>[10]</sup></a> 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 <i>gemitus</i>, +because, "pro suis offensis illìc gemunt, qui in <a name="Page_19"><span class="pagenum">[Page 19]</span></a>flammis +ultricibus non erunt gemituri;" or from <i>gemma</i>, conformably +to the following distich,--</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Gemmeticum siquidem a gemmâ dixere priores;</p> + +<p> Quòd reliquis gemmæ, præcelleret instar +Eoæ."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11"><sup>[11]</sup></a>.--The bounty of the <a +name="Page_20"><span class="pagenum">[Page 20]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Acta Sanctorum +ordinis Sancti Benedicti</i>, says, speaking of Jumieges, "hinc +vinearum abundant botryones, qui in turgentibus gemmis lucentes +rutilant in Falernis;" but even a charter <a name="Page_21"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 21]</span></a>of so late a date as the +year 1472, expressly terms a large tract of land belonging to the +convent, the vineyard<a name="FNanchor12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12"><sup>[12]</sup></a>.--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 +<i>Gesta Sancti Philiberti</i>: 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<a name="FNanchor13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13"><sup>[13]</sup></a>, fifty feet in length, which at +once supply their table with food, and their lamps with oil.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_22"><span class="pagenum">[Page 22]</span></a></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor14"></a><a +href="#Footnote_14"><sup>[14]</sup></a>. But the monks <a name="Page_23"><span class="pagenum">[Page 23]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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. <a name="Page_24"><span class="pagenum">[Page 24]</span></a>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 +<i>demonachised</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_25"><span class="pagenum">[Page 25]</span></a>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 <a name="Page_26"><span class="pagenum">[Page 26]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>I have dwelt upon the early history of this monastery, because +Normandy scarcely furnishes another of greater interest. In the +<i>Neustria Pia</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_27"><span class="pagenum">[Page 27]</span></a>scarcely convey any meaning +short of utter ruin, except to the ears of one who had been told +that a religious edifice was actually <i>abimé</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="picture_09"><br/> +</a><img src="images/picture_09.png" height="218" width="377" alt="Symbols of the Evangelists" /></p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_28"><span class="pagenum">[Page 28]</span></a>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:--</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Effigies vituli, Luca, tibi convenit; extat</p> + +<p> Zacariæ in scriptis mentio prima tuis."--</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="picture_10"><br/> +</a><img src="images/picture_10.png" height="271" width="378" alt="Figures of effigies" /></p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_29"><span class="pagenum">[Page 29]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_30"><span class="pagenum">[Page 30]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_31"><span class="pagenum">[Page 31]</span></a></p> +<p>The church<a name="FNanchor15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15"><sup>[15]</sup></a> 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 <a name="Page_32"><span class="pagenum">[Page 32]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>la Salle des +Chevaliers</i>. It is entered by two porches, one towards the +north-west, the other towards the south-west<a name="FNanchor16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16"><sup>[16]</sup></a>, both +full of architectural beauty and curiosity. I know of no authority +for their date; but, <a name="Page_33"><span class="pagenum">[Page 33]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="picture_11"><br/> +</a><img src="images/picture_11.png" height="245" width="257" alt="Sketch of fragment of inner door-way" /></p> + +<p>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 <a +name="Page_34"><span class="pagenum">[Page 34]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_30"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_30.png" height="316" width="700" alt="Ancient trefoil-headed Arches in Abbey of Jumieges" /></p> + +<p>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 <i>Dame de +Beauté</i>.--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 <a name="Page_35"><span class="pagenum">[Page 35]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17"><sup>[17]</sup></a>. 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.</p> + +<p>The monument in the church of St. Peter, generally known by the +name of <i>le tombeau des énervez</i>, 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<a name="FNanchor18"></a><a +href="#Footnote_18"><sup>[18]</sup></a>.--<a name="Page_36"><span class="pagenum">[Page 36]</span></a>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 <i>énervez</i>.--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:--</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i1">"Hic in honore Dei requiescit stirps Clodovei,</p> + +<p class="i4">Patris bellica gens, bella salutis agens.</p> + +<p class="i1"> Ad votum matris Bathildis poenituere,</p> + +<p class="i4">Scelere pro proprio, proque labore +patris."--</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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:--</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i1">"Conjugis est ultus probrum; nam in vincula +tradit</p> + +<p class="i1"> Crudeles natos, pius impietate, simulque</p> + +<p class="i1"> Et duras pater, o Clodovee, piusque +maritus."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor10">[10]</a> +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 <i>Andromeda polifolia</i>, a plant that seems +hitherto to have been discovered no where else in the kingdom.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor11">[11]</a> 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 <i>Neustria +Pia</i>, p. 262.--"Congruè sanè locus ille +<i>Gemmeticus</i> 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 mœnia 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 <i>Philiberti</i>, pictum gemmarum luminibus, auro +argentoque comptum: ab utroque latere, <i>Joannis</i> et +<i>Columbani</i> Aræ dant gloriam Deo; adherent verò a +Boreâ, <i>Dyonisii</i> Martyris, et <i>Germani</i> +Confessoris, ædiculæ; in dextrâ domus parte, +sacellum nobile extat <i>S. Petri</i>; a latere habens <i>S. +Martini</i> 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."</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor12">[12]</a> +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 <i>vin de Conihoult</i>, 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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor13">[13]</a> In a +charter belonging to the monastery, granted by Henry IInd, in 1159, +(see <i>Neustria Pia</i>, p. 323) he gives the convent, +"integritatem aquæ ex parte terræ Monachorum, et +<i>Graspais</i>, si fortè capiatur."--The word +<i>Graspais</i> is explained by Ducange to be a corruption of +<i>crassus piscis</i>. Noel (in his <i>Essais sur le +Département de la Seine Inférieure</i>, 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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor14">[14]</a> The +following account of the destruction of the monastery is extracted +from William of Jumieges. (See <i>Duchesne's Scriptores +Normanni</i>, p. 219)--"Dehinc Sequanica ora aggrediuntur, et +apud <i>Gemmeticum</i> 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, cœpit 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."</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor15">[15]</a> The +following are the proportions of the building, in French +feet:--</p> + +<table summary="Dimensions of Church"> +<tr> +<td>Length of the church</td> +<td align="center">265</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Ditto of the nave</td> +<td align="center">134</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Width of ditto</td> +<td align="center">62</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Length of choir</td> +<td align="center">43½</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Width of ditto</td> +<td align="center">31</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Length of Lady-Chapel</td> +<td align="center">63</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Width of ditto</td> +<td align="center">27</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Height of central tower</td> +<td align="center">124</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Ditto of western towers</td> +<td align="center">150</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor16">[16]</a> Mr. +Cotman has figured this porch, (<i>Architectural Antiquities of +Normandy</i>, t. 4) but has, by mistake, called it "<i>An Arch on +the West Front of the Abbey Church</i>."</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor17">[17]</a> See a +paper by M. Le Prevost in the <i>Précis Analitique des +Travaux de l'Académie de Rouen</i>, 1815, p. 131.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor18">[18]</a> +<i>Histoire de la Haute Normandie</i>, II, p. 260.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_37"><span class="pagenum">[Page 37]</span></a></p> + +<h2><a name="LETTER_XVI"></a>LETTER XVI.</h2> + +<h4>GOURNAY--CASTLE OF NEUFMARCHÉ--CASTLE AND +CHURCH OF GISORS.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Gisors, July</i>, 1818)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The tract known by modern topographers, under the names of the +<i>arrondissemens</i> of Gournay and of Andelys, constituted one of +the general divisions of ancient Normandy, the <i>Pays de Bray</i>. +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 <i>fromage de +Neufchâtel</i> 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'.</p> + +<p>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, <a name="Page_38"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 38]</span></a>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 <i>dégagée</i>, 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 name="Page_39"><span class="pagenum">[Page 39]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_40"><span class="pagenum">[Page 40]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19"><sup>[19]</sup></a>, 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<a name="FNanchor20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20"><sup>[20]</sup></a>, 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 <a name="Page_41"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 41]</span></a>this siege with minuteness +in his <i>Philippiad</i>, 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;--</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Non procul hinc vicum populosâ genta superbum,</p> + +<p> Divitiis plenum variis, famâque celebrem,</p> + +<p> Rure situm piano, munitum triplice muro,</p> + +<p> Deliciosa nimis speciosaque vallis habebat.</p> + +<p> Nomine GORNACUM, situ inexpugnabilis ipso,</p> + +<p> Etsi nullus ei defensor ab intus adesset;</p> + +<p> Cui multisque aliis præerat Gornacius HUGO.</p> + +<p> Fossæ cujus erant amplæ nimis atque +profundae</p> + +<p> Quas sic Epta suo repleret flumine, posset</p> + +<p> Nullus ut ad muros per eas accessus haberi.</p> + +<p> Arte tamen sibi REX tali pessundedit ipsum.</p> + +<p> Haud procul a muris stagnum pergrande tumebat,</p> + +<p> Cujus aquam, pelagi stagnantis more, refusam</p> + +<p> Urget stare lacu sinuoso terreus agger,</p> + +<p> Quadris compactus saxis et cespite multo.</p> + +<p> Hunc REX obrumpi medium facit, effluit inde</p> + +<p> Diluvium immensum, subitâque voragine tota</p> + +<p> Vallis abit maris in speciem, ruit impete vasto</p> + +<p> Eluvies damnosa satis, damnosa colonis.</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> +<p> Municipes fugiunt ne submergantur, et omnis</p> + +<p> Se populus villâ viduat, vacuamque relinquit.</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> +<p> Armis villa potens, muris munita virisque,</p> + +<p> Arte capi nullâ metuens aut viribus ullis,</p> + +<p> Diluvio capitur inopino....</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> +<p> REX ubi GORNACUM sic in sua jura redegit,</p> + +<p> Indigenas omnes revocans ad propria, pacem</p> + +<p> Indicit populis libertatemque priorem;</p> + +<p> Deinde re-ædificat muros....</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><a name="Page_42"><span class="pagenum">[Page 42]</span></a></p> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The name of Hugo de Gournay is enrolled amongst those who +followed the conqueror into England, and who held lands <i>in +capite</i> from him in this country<a name="FNanchor21"></a><a +href="#Footnote_21"><sup>[21]</sup></a>. 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 <a name="Page_43"><span class="pagenum">[Page 43]</span></a>in very early times in our own +county, where their possessions were extensive and valuable.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22"><sup>[22]</sup></a>.</p> + +<p>Gournay has now no other remains of antiquity, except the +collegiate church of St. Hildebert<a name="FNanchor23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23"><sup>[23]</sup></a>, 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, <a name="Page_44"><span class="pagenum">[Page 44]</span></a>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 <i>fess wavy</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24"><sup>[24]</sup></a> speak of the village as being +defended by a <a name="Page_45"><span class="pagenum">[Page 45]</span></a>fortress, in the reign of +William the Conqueror. The church, too, with its semi-circular +architecture, attests the antiquity of the station.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_46"><span class="pagenum">[Page 46]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25"><sup>[25]</sup></a>, 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 <a name="Page_47"><span class="pagenum">[Page 47]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26"><sup>[26]</sup></a>. The monarchs, actuated by +religious zeal, took up the cross, and mutually pledged themselves +to suspend for <a name="Page_48"><span class="pagenum">[Page 48]</span></a>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; <i>gules</i>, a cross engrailed +<i>or</i><a name="FNanchor27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27"><sup>[27]</sup></a>. 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 <i>golden +gate</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_49"><span class="pagenum">[Page 49]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_31"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_31.png" height="473" width="692" alt="Distant of the Castle of Gisors" /></p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_50"><span class="pagenum">[Page 50]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_32"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_32.png" height="503" width="352" alt="Banded Pillar in the Church of Gisors" /></p> + +<p>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 <i>swinish multitude</i>, +<a name="Page_51"><span class="pagenum">[Page 51]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor19">[19]</a> +<i>Histoire de la Haute Normandie</i>, I, p. 18.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor20">[20]</a> +<i>Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni</i>, p. 1046.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor21">[21]</a> +<i>Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni</i>, p. 1129.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor22">[22]</a> +<i>Histoire de la Haute Normandie</i>, I. p. 20.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor23">[23]</a> See +<i>Cotman's Architectural Antiquities of Normandy, plates</i> +38-41.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor24">[24]</a> +<i>Ordericus Vitalis</i>, in <i>Duchesne's Scriptores Normanni</i>, +p. 490, 491, 606.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor25">[25]</a> +<i>Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni</i>, p. 865.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor26">[26]</a> Some +writers say that the real cause of their meeting was to settle a +difference of long standing.--Hoveden, as quoted in the +<i>Concilia Normannica</i>, 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 +cœlo. 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."</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor27">[27]</a> In +1555, an addition was made to this coat of a chief <i>azure</i>, +charged with three fleurs-de-lys, <i>or</i>, by the command of +Henry IInd of France, to commemorate his public entry into +Gisors.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_52"><span class="pagenum">[Page 52]</span></a></p> + +<h2><a name="LETTER_XVII"></a>LETTER XVII.</h2> + +<h4>ANDELYS--FOUNTAIN OF SAINT CLOTILDA--LA GRANDE +MAISON--CHÂTEAU GAILLARD--ECOUIS.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Ecouis, July</i>, 1818)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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, +<i>Andilegum</i><a name="FNanchor28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28"><sup>[28]</sup></a>. The derivation of this name has +afforded employment to etymologists. The syllable <i>and</i> +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 <a name="Page_53"><span class="pagenum">[Page 53]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29"><sup>[29]</sup></a>. However, we must not forget +that the fair Elfleda, and the rosy Ælfgiva, were so taught +in the convent, as to be <a name="Page_54"><span class="pagenum">[Page 54]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_55"><span class="pagenum">[Page 55]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>Andelys possesses a valuable specimen of ancient domestic +architecture. The <i>Great House</i><a name="FNanchor30"></a><a +href="#Footnote_30"><sup>[30]</sup></a> 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 <i>Place de la Pucelle</i>, 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 <a name="Page_56"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 56]</span></a>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 <i>great house</i> 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.</p> + +<p>The French, in speaking of Andelys, commonly use the plural +number, and say, <i>les Andelys</i>, 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 <i>le +Grand Andelys</i>.</p> + +<p>As the French seldom neglect the memory of their eminent men, I +was rather disappointed at not finding <a name="Page_57"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 57]</span></a>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 +<i>Deluge</i> 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 <a name="Page_58"><span class="pagenum">[Page 58]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_33"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_33.png" height="439" width="752" alt="Distant View of Château Gaillard" /></p> + +<p>I doubt, however, whether we should have travelled hither, had +we not been attracted by the celebrity of the castle, called +<i>Château Gaillard</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_59"><span class="pagenum">[Page 59]</span></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 <i>talus</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_60"><span class="pagenum">[Page 60]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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:--</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i1">"Huic natura loco satis insuperabile per se</p> + +<p class="i1"> Munimeu dederat, tamen insuperabiliorem</p> + +<p class="i1"> Arte quidem multa Richardus fecerat illum.</p> + +<p class="i1"> Duplicibus muris extrema clausit, et altas</p> + +<p class="i1"> Circuitum docuit per totum surgere turres,</p> + +<p class="i1"> A se distantes spatiis altrinsecus +æquis;</p> + +<p class="i1"> Eruderans utrumque latus, ne scandere +quisquam</p> + +<p class="i1"> Ad muros possit, vel ab ima repere valle.</p> + +<p class="i1"> Hinc ex transverso medium per planitiei</p> + +<p class="i1"> Erigitur murus, multoque labore cavari</p> + +<p class="i1"> Cogitur ipse silex, fossaque patere +profunda,</p> + +<p class="i1"> Faucibus et latis aperiri vallis ad instar;</p> + +<p class="i1"> Sic ut quam subito fiat munitio duplex</p> + +<p class="i1"> Quæ fuit una modo muro geminata +sequestro.</p> + +<p class="i1"> Ut si forte pati partem contingeret istam</p> + +<p class="i1"> Altera municipes, queat, et se tuta tueri.</p> + +<p class="i1"> Inde rotundavit rupem, quæ celsior +omni</p> + +<p class="i1"> Planitie summum se tollit in aera sursum;</p> + +<p class="i1"> Et muris sepsit, extremas desuper oras</p> + +<p class="i1"> Castigansque jugi scrupulosa cacumina, +totum</p> + +<p class="i1"> Complanat medium, multæque capacia +turbæ</p> + +<p class="i1"> Plurima cum domibus habitacula fabricat +intus.</p> + +<p class="i1"> Umboni parcens soli, quo condidit arcem.</p> + +<p class="i1"> Hic situs iste decor, munitio talis honorem</p> + +<p class="i1"> Gaillardæ rupis per totum prædicat +orbem."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><a name="Page_61"><span class="pagenum">[Page 61]</span></a></p> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a +name="Page_62"><span class="pagenum">[Page 62]</span></a>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</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>".... vitreo daturus</p> + +<p> Nomina ponto."--</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_63"><span class="pagenum">[Page 63]</span></a></p> +<p>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<a name="FNanchor31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31"><sup>[31]</sup></a>, 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 <a name="Page_64"><span class="pagenum">[Page 64]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_65"><span class="pagenum">[Page 65]</span></a>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:--</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Armis præcinctus, mentisque charactere cinctus,</p> + +<p> Dux fuit in bellis, Anglis virtute rebellis."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32"><sup>[32]</sup></a>, that +no allusion should be made to Marigni's <a name="Page_66"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 66]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor33"></a><a +href="#Footnote_33"><sup>[33]</sup></a>."--In the church at +Ecouis, was formerly the following epitaph, whose obscurity has +given rise to a variety of traditions:--</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Ci gist le fils, ci gist la mere,</p> + +<p> Ci gist la soeur, ci gist le frère,</p> + +<p> Ci gist la femme, et le mari;</p> + +<p> Et ci ne sont que deux ici<a name="FNanchor34"></a><a +href="#Footnote_34"><sup>[34]</sup></a>."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Other inscriptions of the same nature are said to have existed +in England. Goube<a name="FNanchor35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35"><sup>[35]</sup></a> 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.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor28">[28]</a> Andelys +is also called in old deeds <i>Andeleium</i> and +<i>Andeliacum</i>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor29">[29]</a> "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 <i>Andilegum</i> +monasterio."--<i>Bede, Hist</i>. lib. III. cap. 8.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor30">[30]</a> +<i>Cotman's Architectural Antiquities of Normandy</i>, 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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor31">[31]</a> +<i>Monstrelet, Johnes' Translation</i>, II. p. 242.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor32">[32]</a> 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.--<i>Histoire de la +Haute Normandie</i>, II. p. 338.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor33">[33]</a> +<i>Montfaucon, Monumens de la Monarchie Française</i>, II. +p. 220.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor34">[34]</a> In a +collection of epitaphs printed at Cologne, 1623, under the title of +<i>Epitaphia Joco-seria</i>, 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."</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor35">[35]</a> +<i>Histoire du Duché de Normandie</i>, III. p. 15.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_67"><span class="pagenum">[Page 67]</span></a></p> + +<h2><a name="LETTER_XVIII"></a>LETTER XVIII.</h2> + +<h4>EVREUX--CATHEDRAL--ABBEY OF ST. +TAURINUS--ANCIENT HISTORY.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Evreux, July</i>, 1818.)</p> + +<p>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,--</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Και +ϰεραμευς +ϰεραμει +Φϑονεει +ϰαι τεϰτονι +τεϰτων."--</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>[English. Not in Original: The potter is jealous of the potter, +as the builder is jealous of the builder.]</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36"><sup>[36]</sup></a>, by +which he was allowed to burn the city and <a name="Page_68"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 68]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37"><sup>[37]</sup></a>, 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, <a name="Page_69"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 69]</span></a>both bear witness to this +fact--the latter in the following lines:--</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"... irarum stimulis agitatus, ad omne</p> + +<p> Excidium partis adversæ totus inardens,</p> + +<p> Ebroicas primò sic incineravit, ut omnes</p> + +<p> Cum domibus simul ecclesias consumpserit +ignis."--</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38"><sup>[38]</sup></a>.--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 <a name="Page_70"><span class="pagenum">[Page 70]</span></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.</p> + +<p>Ducarel<a name="FNanchor39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39"><sup>[39]</sup></a> 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, <a name="Page_71"><span class="pagenum">[Page 71]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The building is dedicated to the Virgin: it claims for its first +bishop, Taurinus, a saint of the third century, <a name="Page_72"><span class="pagenum">[Page 72]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40"><sup>[40]</sup></a>. 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 <a name="Page_73"><span class="pagenum">[Page 73]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41"><sup>[41]</sup></a>. 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 <a name="Page_74"><span class="pagenum">[Page 74]</span></a>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 +<i>bottle</i> in its centre, and four smaller ones at the corners; +and he took care to provide funds for the perpetuation of this +<i>rebus</i>.</p> + +<p>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 <i>puteal</i>, which stands near the north +portal. It is apparently of the same æra as that part of the +church.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_34"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_34.png" height="433" width="586" alt="Gothic Puteal, at Evreux" /></p> + +<p>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 +<a name="Page_75"><span class="pagenum">[Page 75]</span></a>of +their respective establishment.--The monks of St. Taurinus +contended, that their abbey was expressly mentioned by William of +Jumieges<a name="FNanchor42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42"><sup>[42]</sup></a> 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 name="Page_76"><span class="pagenum">[Page 76]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43"><sup>[43]</sup></a>. 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 <a name="Page_77"><span class="pagenum">[Page 77]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="picture_12"><br/> +</a><img src="images/picture_12.png" height="299" width="313" alt="Vessel for holy water" /></p> + +<p>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 <a +name="Page_78"><span class="pagenum">[Page 78]</span></a>of +this precious relic; but its existence here was formally verified +at the end of the seventeenth century, by the opening of the +<i>châsse</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_79"><span class="pagenum">[Page 79]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Old Evreux</i>, is the +<i>Mediolanum Aulercorum</i> 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 <i>Commentaries</i>, speaks in +general terms of the <i>Aulerci Eburovices</i>, who are admitted to +have been the ancient inhabitants of this district, and whose name, +especially as modified to <i>Ebroici</i> and <i>Ebroi</i>, 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 +<a name="Page_80"><span class="pagenum">[Page 80]</span></a><i>Mediolanum Aulercorum</i> 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<a name="FNanchor44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44"><sup>[44]</sup></a>.</p> + +<p>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, <i>super +Ittonum fluvium sitam</i> possidebat et salubritèr +illuminabat<a name="FNanchor45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45"><sup>[45]</sup></a>."</p> + +<p>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 +<a name="Page_81"><span class="pagenum">[Page 81]</span></a>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 <a name="Page_82"><span class="pagenum">[Page 82]</span></a>sceptre, +but as an honorable testimony to the memory of his unfortunate +brother:--</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Attamen Ebroïcam studio majore reformans</p> + +<p> Armis et rebus et bellatoribus urbem,</p> + +<p> Pluribus instructam donavit amore Johanni,</p> + +<p> Ut sibi servet eam: tamen arcem non dedit illi.</p> + +<p> Ille dolo plenus, qui patrem, qui modo fratrem</p> + +<p> Prodiderat, ne non et Regis proditor esset,</p> + +<p> Excedens siculos animi impietate Tyrannos,</p> + +<p> Francigenas omnes vocat ad convivia quotquot</p> + +<p> Ebroïcis reperit, equites simul atque clientes,</p> + +<p> Paucis exceptis quos sors servavit in arce.</p> + +<p> Quos cum dispositis armis fecisset ut una</p> + +<p> Discubuisse domo, tanquam prandere putantes,</p> + +<p> Evocat e latebris armatos protinus Anglos,</p> + +<p> Interimitque viros sub eadem clade trecentos,</p> + +<p> Et palis capita ambustis affixit, et urbem</p> + +<p> Circuit affixis, visu mirabile, tali</p> + +<p> Regem portento quærens magis angere luctu:</p> + +<p> Talibus obsequiis, tali mercede rependens</p> + +<p> Millia marcharum, quas Rex donaverat illi.</p> + +<p class="i2">Tam detestanda pollutus cæde Johannes</p> + +<p> Ad fratrem properat; sed Rex tam flagitiosus</p> + +<p> Non placuit fratri: quis enim, nisi dæmone +plenus,</p> + +<p> Omninoque Deo vacuus, virtute redemptus</p> + +<p> A vitiis nulla, tam dira fraude placere</p> + +<p> Appetat, aut tanto venetur crimine pacem?</p> + +<p> Sed quia frater erat, licet illius oderit actus</p> + +<p> Omnibus odibiles, fraternæ foedera pacis</p> + +<p> Non negat indigno, nec eum privavit amore,</p> + +<p> Ipsum qui nuper Regno privare volebat."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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, <a name="Page_83"><span class="pagenum">[Page 83]</span></a>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 <i>Duché pairie</i>, 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, <a name="Page_84"><span class="pagenum">[Page 84]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>Evreux, at present, is a town containing about eight thousand +inhabitants, a great proportion of whom are persons of independent +property, or <i>rentiers</i>, 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<a name="FNanchor46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46"><sup>[46]</sup></a>: in both cases it is attributed, +I know not with what justice, to an abrupt change in the +stratification of the soil.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor36">[36]</a> This +curious transaction, which took place in the year 1119, is related +with considerable <i>näiveté</i> 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."</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor37">[37]</a> +<i>Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni</i>, p. 309.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor38">[38]</a> +<i>Gallia Christiana</i>, XI. p. 606.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor39">[39]</a> From +the manner in, which Ducarel speaks of these statues, +(<i>Anglo-Norman Antiquities</i>, 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 <i>Histoire du Comté d'Evreux</i>, 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."</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor40">[40]</a> 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 +<i>Gobelinus</i>, 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 c. homines baptizati sunt. Octo cæci illuminati, et +quatuor multi sanati, aliique plures ex diversis infirmitatibus in +nomine Domini sunt curati."</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor41">[41]</a> +<i>Masson de St. Amand, Essais Historiques sur Evreux</i>, I. p. +77.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor42">[42]</a> +<i>Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni</i>, p. 279.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor43">[43]</a> 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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor44">[44]</a> <i>Le +Brasseur, Histoire du Comté d'Evreux</i>, p. 4.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor45">[45]</a> +<i>Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni</i>, p. 555.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor46">[46]</a> +<i>Goube, Histoire du Duché de Normandie</i>, III. p. +223.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_85"><span class="pagenum">[Page 85]</span></a></p> + +<h2><a name="LETTER_XIX"></a>LETTER XIX.</h2> + +<h4>VICINITY OF EVREUX--CHÂTEAU DE +NAVARRE--COCHEREL--PONT-AUDEMER +--MONTFORT-SUR-RISLE--HARFLEUR--BOURG-ACHARD--FRENCH +WEDDING.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Bourg-Achard, July</i>, 1818.)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_86"><span class="pagenum">[Page 86]</span></a>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: <a name="Page_87"><span class="pagenum">[Page 87]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_88"><span class="pagenum">[Page 88]</span></a>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 +<i>History of Evreux</i>. 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 <a name="Page_89"><span class="pagenum">[Page 89]</span></a>Druids, the Normans, or the +Huns, he decides, though with some hesitation, in favor of the last +of these opinions.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Risle</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47"><sup>[47]</sup></a>, 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.</p> + +<p>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, <a name="Page_90"><span class="pagenum">[Page 90]</span></a>and the +hides prepared at Pont-Audemer are thought to be the best in +France.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_91"><span class="pagenum">[Page 91]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48"><sup>[48]</sup></a>, "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."</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor49"></a><a +href="#Footnote_49"><sup>[49]</sup></a>. 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.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_92"><span class="pagenum">[Page 92]</span></a></p> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>At but a short distance from Pont-Audemer, higher up the Risle, +lies the yet smaller town of Montfort, near <a name="Page_93"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 93]</span></a>which are still to be +traced, the ruins of a castle,<a name="FNanchor50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50"><sup>[50]</sup></a> 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 <i>Hugh with a beard</i>, the owner of Montfort at the +time of the conquest, and one of the Conqueror's attendants at the +battle of Hastings.</p> + +<p>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 <i>bon jour</i>; 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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_94"><span class="pagenum">[Page 94]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_95"><span class="pagenum">[Page 95]</span></a>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</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Pendono intorno in lungo ordine i voti,</p> + +<p> Che vi portaro i creduli divoti."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_96"><span class="pagenum">[Page 96]</span></a>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 <i>Maris Stella</i>, and she is κατ' +εξοχην [English. Not in Original: +pre-eminently, especially, above all] the protectress of +Normandy.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51"><sup>[51]</sup></a>; and even now, when the relic +has been <a name="Page_97"><span class="pagenum">[Page 97]</span></a>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 +<i>bénitier</i> 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<a name="FNanchor52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52"><sup>[52]</sup></a>, 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 <a +name="Page_98"><span class="pagenum">[Page 98]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53"><sup>[53]</sup></a>.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_35"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_35.png" height="411" width="474" alt="Leaden Font at Bourg-Achard" /></p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_99"><span class="pagenum">[Page 99]</span></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 +<a name="Page_100"><span class="pagenum">[Page 100]</span></a>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.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor47">[47]</a> +<i>Masson de St. Amand, Essais Historiques sur Evreux</i>, I. p. +39.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor48">[48]</a> +<i>Johnes' Translation</i>, 8vo, IV. p. 292.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor49">[49]</a> See +<i>Britten's Architectural Antiquities</i>, III. t. 2.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor50">[50]</a> +<i>Goube, Histoire de Normandie</i>, III. 249.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor51">[51]</a> +<i>Histoire de la Haute Normandie</i>, II. p. 319.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor52">[52]</a> Mr. +Gough, (See <i>Archæologia</i>, 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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor53">[53]</a> See +<i>Concilia Normannica</i>, II. pp. 56, 117, 403, 491, 508, +&c.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_101"><span class="pagenum">[Page 101]</span></a></p> +<h2><a name="LETTER_XX"></a>LETTER XX.</h2> + +<h4>MOULINEAUX--CASTLE OF ROBERT THE +DEVIL--BOURG-THEROUDE--ABBEY OF BEC--BRIONNE.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Brionne, July</i>, 1818.)</p> + +<p>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 <i>la +petite culture</i>: 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 <a name="Page_102"><span class="pagenum">[Page 102]</span></a>from +frequent expressions of surprise how it is that every person here +is enabled to tell the limits of his own property.</p> + +<p>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 <a +name="Page_103"><span class="pagenum">[Page 103]</span></a>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 +<i>Antiquarian Repertory</i>, from Harold's chapel, in Battle +Abbey<a name="FNanchor54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54"><sup>[54]</sup></a>.</p> + +<p>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 <i>gestes</i> 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; <a name="Page_104"><span class="pagenum">[Page 104]</span></a>and the fact is not destitute +of probability, as its position is bold and commanding.</p> + +<p>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, <i>Burgus Thuroldi</i>, +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<a name="FNanchor55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55"><sup>[55]</sup></a>.--The church of +Bourg-Theroude, <a name="Page_105"><span class="pagenum">[Page 105]</span></a>which was collegiate before the +revolution, is at present uninteresting in every point of view.</p> + +<p>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:--</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"The pilgrim who journeys all day,</p> + +<p class="i2">To visit some far distant shrine;</p> + +<p> If he bear but a relic away,</p> + +<p class="i2">Is happy, nor heard to repine."--</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And <i>happiness</i> 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 <i>relics</i> on a similar +<i>pilgrimage</i>.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_106"><span class="pagenum">[Page 106]</span></a></p> +<p>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<a name="FNanchor56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56"><sup>[56]</sup></a> 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, <a name="Page_107"><span class="pagenum">[Page 107]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>History of Upper Normandy</i>, 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<a name="FNanchor57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57"><sup>[57]</sup></a>.--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.</p> + +<p>Sammarthanus, author of the <i>Gallia Christiana</i>, says, in +speaking of Bec, that, whether considered as to religion or +literature, there was not, in the eleventh century, <a name="Page_108"><span class="pagenum">[Page 108]</span></a>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 <a name="Page_109"><span class="pagenum">[Page 109]</span></a>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!</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58"><sup>[58]</sup></a>, 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; <a name="Page_110"><span class="pagenum">[Page 110]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_111"><span class="pagenum">[Page 111]</span></a></p> +<p>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<a name="FNanchor59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59"><sup>[59]</sup></a>, which faced the high <a name="Page_112"><span class="pagenum">[Page 112]</span></a>altar, +was destroyed, after having been stripped of its silver +ornaments.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_113"><span class="pagenum">[Page 113]</span></a></p> +<p>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<a name="FNanchor60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60"><sup>[60]</sup></a> carved +upon it. His epitaph has more merit than the general class of +monumental inscriptions:--</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Hunc spectans tumulum, titulo cognosce sepultum;</p> + +<p class="i2">Est via virtutis nôsse quis ipse fuit.</p> + +<p> Dum quater hic denos ævi venisset ad annos,</p> + +<p class="i2">Quæ fuerant secli sprevit amore Dei.</p> + +<p> Mutans ergò vices, mundi de milite miles</p> + +<p class="i2">Fit Christi subito, Monachus ex laïco.</p> + +<p> Hinc sibi, more patrum, socians collegia fratrum,</p> + +<p class="i2">Curâ, quâ decuit, rexit eos, aluit.</p> + +<p> Quot quantasque vides, hic solus condidit ædes,</p> + +<p class="i2">Non tàm divitiis quàm fidei +meritis.</p> + +<p> Quas puer haud didicit scripturas postea scivit,</p> + +<p class="i2">Doctus ut indoctum vix sequeretur eum.</p> + +<p> Flentibus hunc nobis tulit inclementia mortis</p> + +<p class="i2">Sextilis quinâ bisque die decimâ.</p> + +<p> Herluine pater, sic cœlica scandis +ovantèr;</p> + +<p class="i2">Credere namque tuis hoc licet ex meritis."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><a name="Page_114"><span class="pagenum">[Page 114]</span></a></p> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a name="Page_115"><span class="pagenum">[Page 115]</span></a>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."</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_116"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 116]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_117"><span class="pagenum">[Page 117]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_118"><span class="pagenum">[Page 118]</span></a>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.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor54">[54]</a> Vol. +III. p. 187.--The engraving in the <i>Antiquarian +Repertory</i> was made from a drawing in the possession of the late +Sir William Burrell, Bart.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor55">[55]</a> The +word <i>Turold</i>, 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, (<i>Monumens de la Monarchie +Française</i>, I. p. 378.) that he is the person thus +denominated. But M. Lancelot, in the <i>Mémoires de +l'Académie des Inscriptions</i>, 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 <i>Histoire de la +Haute Normandie</i>, 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 +<i>Turold</i> 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: <i>Signum Turoldi +Constabularii</i>. 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."</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor56">[56]</a> This +tower is figured, but very inaccurately, by Gough, in his <i>Alien +Priories</i>, 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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor57">[57]</a> +<i>Alien Priories</i>, I. p. 24.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor58">[58]</a> "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."--<i>Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni</i>, p. +519.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor59">[59]</a> 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 Cœnobio +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."--<i>Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni</i>, p. 305.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor60">[60]</a> +<i>Histoire de la Haute Normandie</i>, II. p, 281.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_119"><span class="pagenum">[Page 119]</span></a></p> + +<h2><a name="LETTER_XXI"></a>LETTER XXI.</h2> + +<h4> +BERNAT--BROGLIE--ORBEC--LISIEUX--CATHEDRAL--ECCLESIASTICAL +HISTORY.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Lisieux, July</i>, 1818.)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_120"><span class="pagenum">[Page 120]</span></a>we were unable to decipher a +single word. The capital itself is fanciful and not devoid of +elegance.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="picture_13"><br/> +</a><img src="images/picture_13.png" height="277" width="308" alt="Capital" /></p> + +<p>The convent was placed under the immediate protection of the +sovereign, by virtue of an ordinance issued by Philip Augustus<a +name="FNanchor61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61"><sup>[61]</sup></a>, +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 <a name="Page_121"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 121]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62"><sup>[62]</sup></a> 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."</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_122"><span class="pagenum">[Page 122]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_123"><span class="pagenum">[Page 123]</span></a>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 <i>hic jacet</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>arrondissement</i>, and <a name="Page_124"><span class="pagenum">[Page 124]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="picture_14"><br/> +</a><img src="images/picture_14.png" height="299" width="210" alt="Head-dress of females of Bernay" /></p> + +<p>On our road between Bernay and Orbec, we stopped at the village +of Chambrais, more commonly called Broglie. <a name="Page_125"><span class="pagenum">[Page 125]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63"><sup>[63]</sup></a>. 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 <a name="Page_126"><span class="pagenum">[Page 126]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_127"><span class="pagenum">[Page 127]</span></a>country, +we passed several flocks of sheep, the true <i>moutons du pays</i>, +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.</p> + +<p>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 <a +name="Page_128"><span class="pagenum">[Page 128]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>boulevards</i>; 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 <a name="Page_129"><span class="pagenum">[Page 129]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_130"><span class="pagenum">[Page 130]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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, <a name="Page_131"><span class="pagenum">[Page 131]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_132"><span class="pagenum">[Page 132]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64"><sup>[64]</sup></a>.--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 <a name="Page_133"><span class="pagenum">[Page 133]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_36"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_36.png" height="512" width="356" alt="Ancient Tomb in the Cathedral at Lisieux" /></p> + +<p>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, <i>Les Monumens +Français</i>, under the title of <i>Two Armed Warriors, in +the Nave of the Cathedral at Lisieux</i>; 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 <a name="Page_134"><span class="pagenum">[Page 134]</span></a>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 +<i>Collège de Lisieux</i> at Paris, that of Peter Cauchon in +the Lady-Chapel, and all the rest, were destroyed during the +revolution.</p> + +<p>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 (<i>damnabilis negligentia</i>) 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.</p> + +<p>It is rather extraordinary, that no one of the Lexovian bishops +was ever admitted by the church into the catalogue <a name="Page_135"><span class="pagenum">[Page 135]</span></a>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.--<a name="Page_136"><span class="pagenum">[Page 136]</span></a>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 +<i>Placitum Spathæ</i>, 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 <a name="Page_137"><span class="pagenum">[Page 137]</span></a>traditions rests solely upon +the authority of Anthony Mallet<a name="FNanchor65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65"><sup>[65]</sup></a> but it obtained general credence +till within the last three years, when a very well-informed writer, +in the <i>Mercure de France</i>, and subsequently in the article +<i>Hennuyer</i> in the <i>Bibliographie Universelle</i>, espoused, +and has apparently established, the opposite opinion.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_138"><span class="pagenum">[Page 138]</span></a>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.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor61">[61]</a> This +ordinance is preserved by Du Monstier in the <i>Neustria Pia</i>, +p. 400.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor62">[62]</a> 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."--<i>Neustria Pia</i>, p. 398.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor63">[63]</a> The +following are the dimensions of the building, in English +feet:--</p> + +<table summary="Dimensions of building in feet"> +<tr> +<th> </th> +<th align="center">LENGTH.</th> +<th align="center">WIDTH.</th> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Nave</td> +<td align="right">54</td> +<td align="right">15</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Choir</td> +<td align="right">45</td> +<td align="right">15</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>North aisle</td> +<td align="right">7</td> +<td align="right"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>South ditto</td> +<td align="right">15</td> +<td align="right"> </td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor64">[64]</a> +<i>Anglo-Norman Antiquities</i>, p. 47.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor65">[65]</a> "Sed ne +quid omittam eorum etiam quæ unum Antonium <i>Mallet</i> +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."--<i>Gallia +Christiana</i>, p. 802.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_139"><span class="pagenum">[Page 139]</span></a></p> +<h2><a name="LETTER_XXII"></a>LETTER XXII.</h2> + +<h4>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.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Lisieux, July</i>, 1818.)</p> + +<p>Lisieux represents one of the most ancient capitals of the +primitive tribes of Gaul. The Lexovii, noticed by Julius +Cæsar, in his <i>Commentaries</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>The capital of the Lexovii was called the <i>Neomagus</i> or +<i>Noviomagus Lexoviorum</i>; 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 <i>chaussée</i> 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 <i>les Tourettes</i>, about three-quarters of +a mile from the former town. The character of these foundations was +of a nature to excite curiosity: they were <a name="Page_140"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 140]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66"><sup>[66]</sup></a>, +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.</p> + +<p>Such vestiges prove that Neomagus must have been a place of +importance; and, like the other Gallo-Roman <a name="Page_141"><span class="pagenum">[Page 141]</span></a>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 <i>Secunda Lugdunensis</i>, which +thence obtained, in the <i>Notitia Imperii</i>, the title of the +<i>Littus Saxonicum</i>.--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 <i>Itinerary of +Antoninus</i>, no mention of it is to be found in the curious +chart, known by the name of the <i>Tabula Peutingeriana</i>, formed +under the reign of Theodosius the Great; so that it then appears to +have been completely swept away and forgotten.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Lexovium</i> or <i>Lexobium</i>: in the +eleventh century, when Ordericus Vitalis composed his history, it +was called <i>Luxovium</i>; and soon after it became +<i>Lixovium</i>, and <i>Lizovium</i>, which, gallicised, naturally +passed into <i>Lyzieulx</i>, or, as it is now written, +<i>Lisieux</i>. 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 <a name="Page_142"><span class="pagenum">[Page 142]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67"><sup>[67]</sup></a>, while +he himself exercised despotic authority over the inhabitants. At +length, he purchased peace and forgiveness, by opening <a name="Page_143"><span class="pagenum">[Page 143]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor68"></a><a +href="#Footnote_68"><sup>[68]</sup></a> of the king's son, William +Adelin, with Matilda, daughter of Fulk, earl of Anjou.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_144"><span class="pagenum">[Page 144]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Philippiad</i>, 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 <a name="Page_145"><span class="pagenum">[Page 145]</span></a>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."</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69"><sup>[69]</sup></a>: 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 <i>Alien Priories</i>, <a name="Page_146"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 146]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>The third abbey, that of St. Evrau or St. Evroul, called in +Latin, <i>Monasterium Uticense</i>, 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 <a name="Page_147"><span class="pagenum">[Page 147]</span></a>surrounding district to +contribute their assistance for the purpose.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>humanities</i> 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 <i>Ecclesiastical History</i>, 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, <a name="Page_148"><span class="pagenum">[Page 148]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_149"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 149]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>History of Lisieux</i>, 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, <a name="Page_150"><span class="pagenum">[Page 150]</span></a>whilst he superintends an +edition of the <i>Vaux-de-Vires</i>, or <i>Vaux de villes</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_151"><span class="pagenum">[Page 151]</span></a></p> + +<div class="blkquot"> +<p>Madame et tres chere Sœur,</p> + +<p>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 sœur 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 sœur que tous nos vœux +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 sœur 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.</p> + +<p>je vous remercie ma tres chere sœur 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 sœur <a name="Page_152"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 152]</span></a>soyés assés +bonne pour Conserver un souvenir a une sœur 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,</p> + +<p>Madame et tres chere Sœur</p> + +<p>de V.M.</p> + +<p>La plus attachée</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="picture_15"><br/> +</a><img src="images/picture_15.png" height="158" width="326" alt="Autograph of the Princess Borghese" /></p> + +<p>Pitti le 18 janvier 1811</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor66">[66]</a> See +<i>Magazin Encyclopédique, for</i> 1802, III. p. 504.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor67">[67]</a> 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 <i>Concilia Normannica</i>, 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."</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor68">[68]</a> +Sandford, in his <i>Genealogical History of the Kings of +England</i>, 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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor69">[69]</a> +<i>Annal</i>, IV. p. 599.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_153"><span class="pagenum">[Page 153]</span></a></p> +<h2><a name="LETTER_XXIII"></a>LETTER XXIII.</h2> + +<h4>FRENCH POLICE--RIDE FROM LISIEUX TO +CAEN--CIDER--GENERAL APPEARANCE AND TRADE OF +CAEN--ENGLISH RESIDENT THERE.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Caen, August</i>, 1818.)</p> + +<p>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 <i>caffé au +lait</i>, 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 <i>honnête hôtel</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_154"><span class="pagenum">[Page 154]</span></a>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 +<i>arrondissement</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70"><sup>[70]</sup></a>. To judge from all official +proceedings, it seems as if we were walking upon a smothered <a +name="Page_155"><span class="pagenum">[Page 155]</span></a>volcano, and yet we are told by +every body that there is not the slightest room for apprehension of +any kind.</p> + +<p>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 "<i>Coupe Gorge</i>." 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 <a name="Page_156"><span class="pagenum">[Page 156]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Vin Huet</i>. 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, <i>rue +de la Cervoisiere</i>, 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 <a name="Page_157"><span class="pagenum">[Page 157]</span></a>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,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Raris sylva locis facit umbram, vinea nusquam:</p> + +<p> Indigenis potus Thetidi miscetur avena,</p> + +<p> Ut vice sit vini multo confecta labore."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And the same author likewise tells us, that the Normans of his +time were cider-drinkers--</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"... <i>Siceræque</i> potatrix</p> + +<p> Algia tumentis ...</p> + +<p> Non tot in autumni rubet Algia tempore <i>pomis</i></p> + +<p> Unde liquare solet <i>siceram</i> sibi <i>Neustria</i> +gratam."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>Coccus</i>, too, which has caused so much destruction among our +orchards at home, is fortunately still unknown here.</p> + +<p>The only place at which we stopped between Lisieux and Caen, was +Croissanville, a poor village, but one that <a name="Page_158"><span class="pagenum">[Page 158]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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, +<i>sarrazin</i>, 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, <i>had-razin</i>, signifying <i>red-corn</i>, +of which words <i>sarrazin</i> may fairly be regarded a corruption, +as <i>buck-wheat</i>, in our own tongue, ought unquestionably to be +written <i>beech-wheat</i>; a term synonymous to what it is called +in Latin and German. The present name may well appear inexplicable, +to those <a name="Page_159"><span class="pagenum">[Page 159]</span></a>who are unacquainted with the +Anglo-Saxon and its cognate dialects.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_160"><span class="pagenum">[Page 160]</span></a></p> +<p>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 <a name="Page_161"><span class="pagenum">[Page 161]</span></a>to avoid a navigation, which is +at all times dangerous, and in case of war peculiarly exposed.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_37"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_37.png" height="471" width="680" alt="Head-Dress of Females, at Caen" /></p> + +<p>The <i>grand cours</i> 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 <i>vice versâ</i>. 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 <i>coiffure</i> 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 name="Page_162"><span class="pagenum">[Page 162]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Sis meæ sedes utinam senectæ:"--</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_163"><span class="pagenum">[Page 163]</span></a>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.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor70">[70]</a> The +following were among the articles of the decree:--"No +individual to leave his <i>arrondissement</i> 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."</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_164"><span class="pagenum">[Page 164]</span></a></p> +<h2><a name="LETTER_XXIV"></a>LETTER XXIV.</h2> + +<h4>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.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Caen, August,</i> 1818.)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>naïveté</i> 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 +<a name="Page_165"><span class="pagenum">[Page 165]</span></a>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, <i>"L'heur de grace +use l'oubli,"</i> itself an anagram upon his name, bespeaks and +insures the good will of the reader.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor71"></a><a +href="#Footnote_71"><sup>[71]</sup></a>, 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 <a name="Page_166"><span class="pagenum">[Page 166]</span></a>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 <i>Philippiad</i>, puts +Caen in competition with Paris,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Villa potens, opulenta situ, spatiosa, decora,</p> + +<p> Fluminibus, pratis, et agrorum fertilitate,</p> + +<p> Merciferasque rates portu capiente marino,</p> + +<p> Seque tot ecclesiis, domibus et civibus ornans,</p> + +<p> Ut se Parisio vix annuat esse minorem."--</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Caen is designated in Duke Richard's charter, by the appellation +of "in Bajocensi comitatu villa quæ dicitur <i>Cathim</i>, +super fluvium Olnæ."--From <i>Cathim</i>, came +<i>Cahem</i>; and <i>Cahem</i>, in process of time, was gradually +softened into <i>Caen</i>. The elision that took place in the first +instance, is of a similar nature to that by which the Italian words +<i>padre</i> and <i>madre</i>, have been converted into +<i>père</i> and <i>mère</i>; 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 <i>Cadomus</i> or <i>Cadomum</i>.--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 <i>Cadomus</i> is a +corruption from <i>Caii domus</i>, fully and sufficiently proving +that the town was built by Julius Cæsar.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_167"><span class="pagenum">[Page 167]</span></a></p> +<p>Robert Wace states, in his <i>Roman de Rou</i>, that, at the +time immediately previous to the conquest of England, Caen was an +open town.--</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Encore ert Caen sans Châtel,</p> + +<p> N'y avoit mur, ny quesnel."--</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>A proof of the antiquity of the fortifications may perhaps be +found in the name of the tower called <i>la Tour Guillaume le +Roi</i>, 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 <i>Tour +au Massacre</i>, which is situated at the confluence of the Orne +and Odon. The <a name="Page_168"><span class="pagenum">[Page 168]</span></a>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 +<i>la Tour Machart</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>Caen contains another castellated building, which might easily +mislead the studious antiquarian. The <i>Château de +Calix</i>, 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 <a name="Page_169"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 169]</span></a>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 <i>cordelière</i>, 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 +<i>Château de la Gendarmerie</i>. 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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_38"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_38.png" height="544" width="355" alt="Tower in the Château de Calix, at Caen" /></p> + +<p><a name="Page_170"><span class="pagenum">[Page 170]</span></a></p> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,</p> + +<p>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, <a name="Page_171"><span class="pagenum">[Page 171]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor72"></a><a +href="#Footnote_72"><sup>[72]</sup></a>. The <a name="Page_172"><span class="pagenum">[Page 172]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_173"><span class="pagenum">[Page 173]</span></a>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--</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Truth will survive when merry jokes are past;</p> + +<p> For rising merit must buoy up at last."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_174"><span class="pagenum">[Page 174]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>St. Etienne le Vieil</i>; 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.</p> + +<p>Attached to the wall of the choir of this church is still to be +seen an equestrian statue<a name="FNanchor73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73"><sup>[73]</sup></a>, 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, <a name="Page_175"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 175]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_176"><span class="pagenum">[Page 176]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_177"><span class="pagenum">[Page 177]</span></a>introduction of the Norman, and +gothic styles<a name="FNanchor74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74"><sup>[74]</sup></a>." 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_39"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_39.png" height="532" width="340" alt="Tower and Spire of St. Peter's Church, at Caen" /></p> + +<p>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, <a name="Page_178"><span class="pagenum">[Page 178]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_40"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_40.png" height="469" width="309" alt="Sculpture upon a Capital in St. Peter's Church at Caen" /></p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_179"><span class="pagenum">[Page 179]</span></a>buried here; and De +Bourgueville has preserved his epitaph, which recounts among his +other merits, that</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Et par luy, et par sa devise</p> + +<p> Fut la tour en sa voye mise</p> + +<p> D'estre faicte si noblement."--</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_180"><span class="pagenum">[Page 180]</span></a>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 <i>Chevalier et la Charette</i>. According to the +usual fate of ancient sculpture, the <i>marguilliers</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_41"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_41.png" height="482" width="324" alt="Tower of St. John's Church, at Caen" /></p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_181"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 181]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>In the suburb of Vaucelles, the church of St. Michael contains +some architectural features of great curiosity<a name="FNanchor75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75"><sup>[75]</sup></a>. 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.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor71">[71]</a> +<i>Huet, Origines de Caen</i>, p. 12.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor72">[72]</a> Upon +this subject, Huet has an extraordinary observation, (<i>Origines +de Caen</i>, 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 <i>Origines Eccleslasticæ</i>, 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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor73">[73]</a> +<i>Cotman's Architectural Antiquities of Normandy</i>, t. 20.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor74">[74]</a> +<i>Antiquities of Ireland</i>, p. 151.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor75">[75]</a> See +<i>Cotman's Architectural Antiquities of Normandy</i>, t. 18, +19.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_182"><span class="pagenum">[Page 182]</span></a></p> +<h2><a name="LETTER_XXV"></a>LETTER XXV.</h2> + +<h4>ROYAL ABBEYS OF THE HOLY TRINITY AND ST. STEPHEN--FUNERAL +OF THE CONQUEROR, EXHUMATION OF HIS REMAINS, AND DESTRUCTION OF HIS +MONUMENT.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Caen, August</i>, 1818.)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_183"><span class="pagenum">[Page 183]</span></a>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, <i>l'abbaye aux +hommes</i>, and <i>l'abbaye aux dames</i>.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76"><sup>[76]</sup></a>. 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.</p> + +<p>The noble church<a name="FNanchor77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77"><sup>[77]</sup></a> is now used as a work-house for +the department. At the revolution it became national property, and +it remained unappropriated, till, upon the <a name="Page_184"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 184]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_185"><span class="pagenum">[Page 185]</span></a>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 <i>Fort of +the Trinity, at Caen</i>, at one hundred francs per annum, are yet +extant.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_186"><span class="pagenum">[Page 186]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_187"><span class="pagenum">[Page 187]</span></a>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 <a name="Page_188"><span class="pagenum">[Page 188]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="picture_16"><br/> +</a><img src="images/picture_16.png" height="293" width="353" alt="Fac-simile of seal" /></p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_189"><span class="pagenum">[Page 189]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>The inquiry, however, will not be discontinued<a name="FNanchor78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78"><sup>[78]</sup></a>: there +are still hopes of success, especially in the crypt, which <a name="Page_190"><span class="pagenum">[Page 190]</span></a>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.--<a name="Page_191"><span class="pagenum">[Page 191]</span></a>Round it runs a stone bench, as +in the subterraneous chapel in St. Gervais, at Rouen.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Gallia Christiana</i>, she was devoted by her +parents to this holy office, upon the very day of the dedication of +the convent, in July 1066.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The annual income of the monastery of the Trinity is stated by +Gough, in his <i>Alien Priories</i>, 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 <a name="Page_192"><span class="pagenum">[Page 192]</span></a>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</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Lands and livings, many a rood,</p> + +<p> Had gifted the shrine for their soul's repose."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_193"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 193]</span></a>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 <i>in commendam</i> +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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_42"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_42.png" height="337" width="574" alt="Monastery of St. Stephen, at Caen" /></p> + +<p>The monastic buildings now serve for what, in the language of +revolutionary and imperial France, was called a +<i>Lycée</i>, 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 <i>tout-ensemble</i>. 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 <a name="Page_194"><span class="pagenum">[Page 194]</span></a>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 <a name="Page_195"><span class="pagenum">[Page 195]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>The building is now undergoing a thorough repair, at the expence +of the town. No other revenues, at present, belong to it, except +the <i>sous</i> which are paid for chairs during mass.</p> + +<p>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 <i>barbaric</i> 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 <a name="Page_196"><span class="pagenum">[Page 196]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_197"><span class="pagenum">[Page 197]</span></a>altar is still to be seen the +flat stone, placed there in 1742, in memory of the Conqueror, and +bearing the epitaph--</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="picture_17"><br/> +</a><img src="images/picture_17.png" height="434" width="293" alt="Epitaph in memory of the Conqueror" /></p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>QUI REXIT RIGIDOS NORMANNOS ATQUE BRITANNOS</p> + +<p>AVDACTER VICIT FORTITER OBTINVIT</p> + +<p>ET CENOMANENSES VIRTVTE COERCVIT ENSES</p> + +<p>IMPERIIQVE SVI LEGIBUS APPLICVIT</p> + +<p>REX MAGNVS PARVA JACET HIC VILLELMVS IN VRNA</p> + +<p>SVFFICIT HÆC MAGNO PARVA DOMVS DOMINO</p> + +<p>TER SEPTEM GRADIBVS SE VOLVERAT ATQUE DVOBVS</p> + +<p>VIRGINIS IN GREMIO PHOEBVS ET HIC OBIIT</p> + +<p>ANNO MLXXXVII</p> + +<p>REQVIESCEBAT IN SPE CORPVS BENEFICIENTISSIMI</p> + +<p>FVNDATORIS QVVM A CALVINIANIS ANNO MDLXII</p> + +<p>DISSIPATA SVNT EIVS OSSA VNVM EX EIS A VIRO NOBILI</p> + +<p>QVI TVM ADERAT RESERVATVM ET A POSTERIS ILLIVS</p> + +<p>ANNO MDCXLII RESTITVTVM IN MEDIO CHORO DEPOSITVM</p> + +<p>FVERAT MOLE SEPVLCHRALI DESVPER EXTRVCTA HANC</p> + +<p>CEREMONIARVM SOLEMNITATE MINVS ACCOMMODAM</p> + +<p>AMOVERVNT MONACHI ANNO MDCCXLII REGIO</p> + +<p>FVLTI DIPLOMATE ET OS QVOD VNVM SVPERERAT</p> + +<p>REPOSVERVNT IN CRYPTA PROPE ALTARE</p> + +<p>IN QVO IVGITER DE BENEDICTIONIBVS METET</p> + +<p>QVI SEMINAVIT IN BENEDICTIONIBVS</p> + +<p>FIAT FIAT</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_198"><span class="pagenum">[Page 198]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_199"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 199]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_200"><span class="pagenum">[Page 200]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a +name="Page_201"><span class="pagenum">[Page 201]</span></a>concluded in haste, and the +assembly, struck with horror, returned to their homes.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_202"><span class="pagenum">[Page 202]</span></a>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;--</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"... quæ gratia currûm</p> + +<p> Armorumque fuit vivis, quæ cura nitentes</p> + +<p> Pascere equos, eadem sequitur tellure repostos."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_203"><span class="pagenum">[Page 203]</span></a>daggers: the vibration proved +that it was not filled by the corpse; and nothing more was wanted +to seal its destruction.</p> + +<p>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, "<i>et bien peu réformez!</i>"--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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_204"><span class="pagenum">[Page 204]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79"><sup>[79]</sup></a>."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor76">[76]</a> +<i>Anglo-Norman Antiquities</i>, p. 45.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor77">[77]</a> See +<i>Cotman's Architectural Antiquities of Normandy</i>, t. +24-33.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor78">[78]</a> A +detailed account of the proceedings on this occasion, is given in +the <i>Journal Politique du Département du Calvados</i>, 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:--</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Ce tombeau renfermant les dépouilles mortelles</p> + +<p> de l'illustre Fondatrice de cette Abbaye,</p> + +<p> renversé pendant les discordes civiles,</p> + +<p> et déplacé depuis une longue série +d'années,</p> + +<p> a été restauré, conformément +au voeu des</p> + +<p> amis de la religion, de l'antiquité et des +arts,</p> + +<p class="i4">1819.</p> + +<p> Casimir, comte de Montlivault, conseiller d'état, +préfet.</p> + +<p> Léchaudé d'Anisy, directeur de +l'Hospice."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor79">[79]</a> +<i>Hist. Normannorum Scriptores</i>, p. 662.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_205"><span class="pagenum">[Page 205]</span></a></p> +<h2><a name="LETTER_XXVI"></a>LETTER XXVI.</h2> + +<h4>PALACE OF THE CONQUEROR--HERALDIC TILES--PORTRAITS OF +WILLIAM AND MATILDA--MUSEUM--PUBLIC +LIBRARY--UNIVERSITY--ACADEMY--EMINENT +MEN--HISTORY OF CAEN.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Caen, August</i>, 1818.)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_206"><span class="pagenum">[Page 206]</span></a>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 <i>Lay of the Last Minstrel</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_43"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_43.png" height="579" width="445" alt="Fireplace in the Conqueror's Palace, at Caen" /></p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_207"><span class="pagenum">[Page 207]</span></a>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."</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_208"><span class="pagenum">[Page 208]</span></a>were +represented on the pavement; for though the number of emblazoned +tiles was considerable, the rest were all repetitions<a name="FNanchor80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80"><sup>[80]</sup></a>. 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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_209"><span class="pagenum">[Page 209]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81"><sup>[81]</sup></a>, and are supposed by him, +probably with reason, to be coeval with the personages they +represent. <a name="Page_210"><span class="pagenum">[Page 210]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_211"><span class="pagenum">[Page 211]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_212"><span class="pagenum">[Page 212]</span></a>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, <a +name="Page_213"><span class="pagenum">[Page 213]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_214"><span class="pagenum">[Page 214]</span></a></p> +<p>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 <i>Sacred Geography</i>; Graindorge, who had published +<i>De Principiis Generationîs</i>; Huet, a man seldom +mentioned, without the epithet <i>learned</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_215"><span class="pagenum">[Page 215]</span></a>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 <i>Historia +Plantarum</i>; 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.--</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Enfin, Malherbe vint, et le premier en France</p> + +<p> Fit sentir dans les vers une juste cadence:</p> + +<p> D'un mot mis en sa place enseigna le pouvoir,</p> + +<p> Et reduisit la muse aux règles du devoir.</p> + +<p> Par ce sage écrivain, la langue repareé,</p> + +<p> N'offrit plus rien de rude à l'oreille +épureé.</p> + +<p> Les stances avec grâce apprirent à +tomber,</p> + +<p> Et le Vers sur le Vers n'osa plus enjamber."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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, <a name="Page_216"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 216]</span></a>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 <i>Le Roman de Rou et des +Normans</i>, written in French verse. He dedicated this romance to +our Henry IInd, who rewarded him with a stall in the cathedral at +Bayeux.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_44"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_44.png" height="419" width="323" alt="Profile of M. Lamouroux" /></p> + +<p>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 <i>Classification +of the Submersed Algæ</i>, have been honored with admission +in the <i>Mémoires du Muséum d'Histoire +Naturelle</i>, and have procured him the distinction of being +elected into the National Institute: his subsequent publication on +the <i>Corallines</i>, is an admirable <a name="Page_217"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 217]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>Crocodilus Cadomensis</i>.</p> + +<p>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, <i>à +l'instar</i> 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, <a name="Page_218"><span class="pagenum">[Page 218]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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, <a name="Page_219"><span class="pagenum">[Page 219]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Lansquenets</i> 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 <a name="Page_220"><span class="pagenum">[Page 220]</span></a>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,--</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Seditione, dolis, scelere, atque libidine, et irâ,</p> + +<p> <i>Iliacos</i> extra muros peccatur et intra."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor80">[80]</a> +Engravings of the same tiles, and of some others, chiefly with +fanciful patterns, are to be found in the <i>Gentleman's +Magazine</i> 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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor81">[81]</a> +<i>Monumens de la Monarchie Française</i>, I. p. 402, t. +55.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_221"><span class="pagenum">[Page 221]</span></a></p> +<h2><a name="LETTER_XXVII"></a>LETTER XXVII.</h2> + +<h4>VIEUX--LA MALADERIE--CHESNUT TIMBER--CAEN +STONE--HISTORY OF BAYEUX--TAPESTRY.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Bayeux, August</i>, 1818.)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_222"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 222]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82"><sup>[82]</sup></a>. 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<a +name="FNanchor83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83"><sup>[83]</sup></a>. +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 <a name="Page_223"><span class="pagenum">[Page 223]</span></a>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 <i>Vieux</i> originally denoted a ford; and the +word <i>Vé</i>, 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 <i>Tabula Peutingeriana</i>, and with what Ptolemy relates of +certain towns adjoining the Viducassian territory, will support him +in the assertion, that Vieux was the ancient <i>Augustodurum</i> +the Viducassian capital; and that Bayeux was probably the site of +<i>Arigenus</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>la Maladerie</i>, a name derived from the +lazar-house in it, the <i>Léproserie de Beaulieu</i>, +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, <a name="Page_224"><span class="pagenum">[Page 224]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_225"><span class="pagenum">[Page 225]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>In former days this stone was exported in great quantity to our +own country. Stow, in his <i>Survey of London</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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, <i>arden</i>, 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 <a name="Page_226"><span class="pagenum">[Page 226]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>Bretteville</i> itself; but the term must have <a name="Page_227"><span class="pagenum">[Page 227]</span></a>some +signification in Normandy, at least eleven villages in the duchy +being so called.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:--</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">"Doctor potentum rhetorum,</p> + +<p>Tu Bajocassis stirpe Druidarum satus;"</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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 <i>de la +chesnaye</i>, thus commemorating by the epithet, the oaks that +formed the holy grove. Near it stood the famous temple of Mount +Phaunus, which <a name="Page_228"><span class="pagenum">[Page 228]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Næomagus Viducassium</i>.--The term +<i>Viducasses</i> or <i>Biducasses</i> was in early ages changed to +<i>Bajocasses</i>; and the city, following the custom that +prevailed in Gaul, took the appellation of <i>Bajocæ</i>, or, +as <a name="Page_229"><span class="pagenum">[Page 229]</span></a>it was occasionally written, of +<i>Baiæ</i> or <i>Bagicæ</i>. Its name in French has +likewise been subject to alterations.--During the twelfth and +thirteenth centuries, it was <i>Baex</i> and <i>Bajeves</i>; in the +fourteenth <i>Bajex</i>; in the sixteenth <i>Baieux</i>; and soon +afterwards it settled info the present orthography.</p> + +<p>Pursuing the history of Bayeux somewhat farther, we find this +city in the <i>Notitia Galileæ</i> holding the first rank +among the towns of the <i>Secunda Lugdunensis</i>. 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 <i>HBAJOCAS</i>, and +silver pieces, coined by Charles the Bald, with the legend +<i>HBAJOCAS-CIVITAS</i>, are mentioned by Le Blanc. Bayeux was also +in those times, one of the head-quarters of the high functionaries, +entitled <i>Missi Dominici</i>, 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 <i>Aula +Regio</i>.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_230"><span class="pagenum">[Page 230]</span></a>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 <i>Otlingua Saxonia</i>, 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 <i>Saxones Bajocassini</i>, whom the early +Norman historians style <i>Saisnes de Bayeux</i>. 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 <i>Estelan</i>, you will have +little difficulty in recognizing <i>East-land: Cape la Hogue</i> +will readily suggest the idea of a lofty promontory; its +appellation being derived from the German adjective, <i>hoch</i>, +still written <i>hoog</i>, in Flemish: the Saxon word for the +Almighty enters into the family names of <i>Argot</i>, +<i>Turgot</i>, <i>Bagot</i>, <i>Bigot</i>, &c.; and, not to +multiply examples, the quaking sands upon the sea-shore are to the +present hour called <i>bougues</i>, an evident corruption of our +own word <i>bogs</i>.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_231"><span class="pagenum">[Page 231]</span></a></p> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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; <a name="Page_232"><span class="pagenum">[Page 232]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>After these troubles, Bayeux enjoyed a temporary tranquillity; +and, according to the celebrated historical tapestry and to the +<i>Roman de Rou</i>, 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 <a name="Page_233"><span class="pagenum">[Page 233]</span></a>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.<a name="FNanchor84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84"><sup>[84]</sup></a> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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, <a name="Page_234"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 234]</span></a>was demolished in 1773; +and, as the poet of Bayeux has sung<a name="FNanchor85"></a><a +href="#Footnote_85"><sup>[85]</sup></a>,--</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"... Gaulois, Romains, Saxons,</p> + +<p> Oppresseurs, opprimés, colliers, faisceaux, +blasons,</p> + +<p> Tout dort. Du vieux château la taciturne +enceinte</p> + +<p> Expire. Par degrés j'ai vu sa gloire +éteinte.</p> + +<p> J'ai marché sur ses tours, erré dans ses +fossés:</p> + +<p> Tels qu'un songe bientôt ils vont être +effacés."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And in truth, they are so effectually <i>effaced</i>, that not a +single vestige of the walls and towers can now be discovered.</p> + +<p>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,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"... des siècles respecté,</p> + +<p> En peignant des héros honore la beauté."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>The very curious piece of historical needle-work, now generally +known by the name of the <i>Bayeux tapestry</i>, <a name="Page_235"><span class="pagenum">[Page 235]</span></a>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 <i>Monumens de la Monarchie +Française</i><a name="FNanchor86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86"><sup>[86]</sup></a>, and a paper inserted in the +<i>Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions</i><a +name="FNanchor87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87"><sup>[87]</sup></a>, +have figured and described this celebrated specimen of ancient art. +Montfaucon's plates were afterwards republished by Ducarel<a name="FNanchor88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88"><sup>[88]</sup></a>, with +the addition of a short dissertation and explanation, by an able +antiquary of our own country, Smart Lethieuilier.</p> + +<p>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 name="Page_236"><span class="pagenum">[Page 236]</span></a>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 +<i>private</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_45"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_45.png" height="480" width="285" alt="Figure from the Bayeux Tapestry" /></p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89"><sup>[89]</sup></a>, 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 <a name="Page_237"><span class="pagenum">[Page 237]</span></a>surname of +<i>Beauclerk</i>.--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 <i>an English work</i>.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90"><sup>[90]</sup></a>.--<i>First</i>, 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.--<i>Secondly</i>, 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, <i>Thirdly</i>, +that the Norman banner is, invariably, <i>Argent</i>, a Cross, +<i>Or</i>, in a Bordure <i>Azure</i>; and that this is repeated +over and over again, as it is in the war against Conan, as <a name="Page_238"><span class="pagenum">[Page 238]</span></a>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 <i>Monument of the +Conquest of England</i>; following, therein, M. Lancelot, and +speaking of it as an unfinished work, whereas, it is in fact an +<i>apologetical history of the claims of William to the crown of +England, and of the breach of faith and fall of Harold</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_239"><span class="pagenum">[Page 239]</span></a>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 <i>a very long piece of cloth, embroidered +with figures and writing, representing the conquest of England</i>, +without any reference to the royal artist or the donor.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_240"><span class="pagenum">[Page 240]</span></a>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 <i>le toile de Saint Jean</i>; 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 +<i>Conqueror</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <a +name="Page_241"><span class="pagenum">[Page 241]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_242"><span class="pagenum">[Page 242]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor82">[82]</a> 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 <i>Torigny marble</i>, 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 +<i>Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions</i>. 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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor83">[83]</a> +<i>Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions</i>, XXI. +p. 489.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor84">[84]</a> +<i>Archæologia</i>, XVII. p. 911.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor85">[85]</a> +<i>Bayeux et ses Environs, par M. Delauney</i>, p. 12.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor86">[86]</a> I. p. +371-379; pl. 35-49, and II. p. 1-29; pl. 1-9.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor87">[87]</a> VI. p. +739, and VIII. p. 602.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor88">[88]</a> +<i>Anglo-Norman Antiquities</i>, Appendix, No. 1.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor89">[89]</a> +<i>Archæologia</i>, XVII. p. 85.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor90">[90]</a> +<i>Archæologia</i>, XVIII. p. 359.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_243"><span class="pagenum">[Page 243]</span></a></p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_46"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_46.png" height="550" width="340" alt="Sculpture at Bayeux" /></p> + +<h2><a name="LETTER_XXVIII"></a>LETTER XXVIII.</h2> + +<h4>CATHEDRAL OF BAYEUX--CANON OF CAMBREMER--COPE OF ST. +REGNOBERT--ODO.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Bayeux, August</i>, 1818.)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>But, however unattractive Bayeux may be in other respects, so +long as the cathedral is suffered to stand, <a name="Page_244"><span class="pagenum">[Page 244]</span></a>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,--</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Primitùs hic pastor templi fuit hujus et auctor,</p> + +<p> Catholicamque fidem Normannis attulit idem."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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 <i>History of Bayeux</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_245"><span class="pagenum">[Page 245]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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, <a name="Page_246"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 246]</span></a>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 <i>History of the Diocese</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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, <a name="Page_247"><span class="pagenum">[Page 247]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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, <a name="Page_248"><span class="pagenum">[Page 248]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_249"><span class="pagenum">[Page 249]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="picture_18"><br/> +</a><img src="images/picture_18.png" height="187" width="310" alt="Curious border of heads" /></p> + +<p>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 <i>niello</i>.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="picture_19"><br/> +</a><img src="images/picture_19.png" height="165" width="279" alt="Joints which form the pattern" /></p> + +<p>With the sixth arch of the nave begins the pointed style. The +capitals of the pillars are complicated, and the <a name="Page_250"><span class="pagenum">[Page 250]</span></a>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.--<a name="Page_251"><span class="pagenum">[Page 251]</span></a>There +are so many peculiarities both in the arrangement and in the +details of this cathedral<a name="FNanchor91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91"><sup>[91]</sup></a>, 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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_47"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_47.png" height="409" width="380" alt="Ornaments in the Spandrils of the Arches in Bayeux Cathedral" /></p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_252"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 252]</span></a>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 <i>misereres</i>, 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.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_253"><span class="pagenum">[Page 253]</span></a></p> +<p>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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="picture_20"><br/> +</a><img src="images/picture_20.png" height="259" width="342" alt="Capital of pillar" /></p> + +<p>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 name="Page_254"><span class="pagenum">[Page 254]</span></a>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.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"En l'an mil quatre cens et douze</p> + +<p> Tiers jour d'Avril que pluye arrouse</p> + +<p> Les biens de la terre, la journée</p> + +<p> Que la Pasques fut célébrée</p> + +<p> Noble homme et révérend père</p> + +<p> Jehan de Boissy, de la mère</p> + +<p> Eglise de Bayeux Pasteur</p> + +<p> Rendi l'âme à Son Créateur</p> + +<p> Et lors en foillant la place</p> + +<p> Devant le grant autel de grâce</p> + +<p> Trova l'on la basse chapelle</p> + +<p> Dont il n'avoit esté nouvelle</p> + +<p> Ou il est mis en sépulture</p> + +<p> Dieu veuille avoir son âme en cure,--Amen."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_255"><span class="pagenum">[Page 255]</span></a>must also add, that the initial +letters are colored red and blue, so that the whole bears a near +resemblance to a manuscript page.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Quarta dies Pasche fuerat cum Clerus ad hujus</p> + +<p class="i2">Que jacet hic vetule venimus exequias:</p> + +<p> Letitieque diem magis amisisse dolemus</p> + +<p class="i2">Quam centum tales si caderent vetule."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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 <i>chère amie</i> of Robert, Earl of +Gloucester, illegitimate son to Henry Ist.</p> + +<p>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 <a +name="Page_256"><span class="pagenum">[Page 256]</span></a>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.--</p> + +<div class="blkquot"> +<p>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.</p> +</div> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_257"><span class="pagenum">[Page 257]</span></a>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:--</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Signa te, signa, temerè me tangis et angis;</p> + +<p> Roma tibi subito motibus ibit amor."--</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_258"><span class="pagenum">[Page 258]</span></a>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 +<i>chasuble</i> 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.</p> + +<p>St. Regnobert, who was one of the most illustrious bishops of +Bayeux, is placed second on the list, in the <i>History of the +Diocese</i>; but in the <i>Gallia Christiana</i> <a name="Page_259"><span class="pagenum">[Page 259]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92"><sup>[92]</sup></a>; 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.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Iste <i>Lascivus</i> patiens vocari,</p> + +<p> Nomen indignum probitate vitae</p> + +<p> Abnuit nunquam; quia gratum ad aures</p> + +<p> Esset amicas."--</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_260"><span class="pagenum">[Page 260]</span></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.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_261"><span class="pagenum">[Page 261]</span></a></p> +<p>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 <i>moneta capituli</i>; and +on the obverse, with the letter V, surrounded by the word +<i>Bajocensis</i>. The eagle was probably adopted, in allusion to +the arms of the see, which were, <i>gules</i>; an eagle displayed +with two heads, <i>or</i><a name="FNanchor93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93"><sup>[93]</sup></a>.--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 <a +name="Page_262"><span class="pagenum">[Page 262]</span></a>chorister took the crozier in +his hands, during the first vespers, at the verse in the +<i>Magnificat</i>, "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.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor91">[91]</a> The +following are the dimensions of the church, in French measure, +according to Béziers.</p> + +<table summary="Dimensions of the church"> +<tr> +<th> </th> +<th>FEET.</th> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Height of the central tower</td> +<td align="right">224</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Ditto of the two western ditto</td> +<td align="right">230</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Length of the interior of the church </td> +<td align="right">296</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Width of ditto</td> +<td align="right">76</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Height of ditto</td> +<td align="right">76</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Length of the nave</td> +<td align="right">140</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Width of ditto</td> +<td align="right">38</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Ditto of side-aisles</td> +<td align="right">17</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Ditto of chapels</td> +<td align="right">15</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Length of the transepts</td> +<td align="right">113</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Width of ditto</td> +<td align="right">33</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Length of the choir</td> +<td align="right">118</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Width of ditto</td> +<td align="right">36</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor92">[92]</a> 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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor93">[93]</a> In its +origin, the <i>Baiocco</i> 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 +<i>Boynke</i>, or the Squire; but we think that our etymology is +the most natural one.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_263"><span class="pagenum">[Page 263]</span></a></p> +<h2><a name="LETTER_XXIX"></a>LETTER XXIX.</h2> + +<h4>CHURCH AND CASTLE OF +CREULLY--FALAISE--CASTLE--CHURCHES-FAIR OF +GUIBRAY.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Falaise, August</i>, 1818.)</p> + +<p>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.--</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="picture_21"><br/> +</a><img src="images/picture_21.png" height="132" width="631" alt="Rabelais hand-writing" /></p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_264"><span class="pagenum">[Page 264]</span></a>off, as we were told, some +works of great rarity from this collection, has enumerated more +than one instance of the kind in his <i>Bibliographical +Decameron</i>; 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, <i>Thomae +Wotton et amicorum</i>.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_265"><span class="pagenum">[Page 265]</span></a></p> +<p>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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_48"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_48.png" height="378" width="507" alt="Castle of Falaise" /></p> + +<p>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, <a name="Page_266"><span class="pagenum">[Page 266]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>The name <i>Falaise</i>, 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, <i>fels</i>, a rock, in which conjecture I find I am +borne out by Adelung: <i>falesia</i>, in modern Latinity, and +<i>falaise</i>, in French, signify a rocky shore. Hence, Brito, at +the commencement of his relation of the siege by Philip Augustus, +says,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Vicus erat scabrâ circumdatus undique rupe,</p> + +<p> Ipsius asperitate loci Falæsa vocatus,</p> + +<p> Normannæ in medio regionis, cujus in altâ</p> + +<p> Turres rupe sedent et mœnia; sic ut ad illam</p> + +<p> Jactus nemo putet aliquos contingere posse."--</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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, <a name="Page_267"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 267]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_268"><span class="pagenum">[Page 268]</span></a>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, <i>harlot</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_269"><span class="pagenum">[Page 269]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_270"><span class="pagenum">[Page 270]</span></a>ramparts, and on every side +they groupe themselves with picturesque beauty. It is said that the +municipality intend to <i>restore</i> 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<a name="FNanchor94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94"><sup>[94]</sup></a>.</p> + +<p>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 <i>rus in +urbe</i>: 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.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_271"><span class="pagenum">[Page 271]</span></a></p> +<p>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, <i>dungeon</i>, or, as it is +written in French, <i>donjon</i>, is nothing but a corruption of +<i>Domus Julii</i>! 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 <i>Recherches +Historiques sur Falaise</i>, "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 +<i>Felé</i>, the cat of Diana, or from the less pure source +of <i>Phaloi-Isis</i>; 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 <a name="Page_272"><span class="pagenum">[Page 272]</span></a>fantastic figures,) or was at +least appropriated by the Celtic priesthood to typify the sun, or +moon, or stars.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95"><sup>[95]</sup></a>; 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 <a name="Page_273"><span class="pagenum">[Page 273]</span></a>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, <a name="Page_274"><span class="pagenum">[Page 274]</span></a>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 <i>Gautiers</i>, 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: <a name="Page_275"><span class="pagenum">[Page 275]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_276"><span class="pagenum">[Page 276]</span></a></p> +<p>The people of Falaise are commonly supposed to be Normans +κατ εξοχην [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 +<a name="Page_277"><span class="pagenum">[Page 277]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_278"><span class="pagenum">[Page 278]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_279"><span class="pagenum">[Page 279]</span></a></p> +<p>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 <i>bray</i>, 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</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Tis more to curb than urge the generous steed,</p> + +<p> Restrain his fury, than provoke his speed."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor94">[94]</a> 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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor95">[95]</a> +<i>Recherches Historiques sur Falaise</i>, p. XIX. and XXIX.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_280"><span class="pagenum">[Page 280]</span></a></p> + +<h2><a name="LETTER_XXX"></a>LETTER XXX.</h2> + +<h4>ROCK AND CHAPEL OF ST. +ADRIEN--PONT-DE-L'ARCHE--PRIORY OF THE TWO +LOVERS--ABBEY OF +BONPORT--LOUVIERS--GAILLON--VERNON.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Mantes, August</i>, 1818)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>détour</i> by Bernay; but the straight road from +Lisieux to Brionne is altogether without interest.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_281"><span class="pagenum">[Page 281]</span></a>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, <a name="Page_282"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 282]</span></a>from the blue flowers of +the <i>Viola Rothomagensis</i>: the <i>Isatis Tinctoria</i>, the +<i>true Woad</i>, 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 +<i>Reseda luteola</i>, or, <i>Dyer's woad</i>, is much cultivated +in the neighborhood, as is the <i>Teasel</i> for the use of the +cloth manufactory.</p> + +<p>Pont-de-l'Arche, though now a small mean town, may boast of high +antiquity, if it be rightly believed to be the ancient +<i>Pistae</i>, 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 <i>Pontem +Arcis</i>; 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<a name="FNanchor96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96"><sup>[96]</sup></a> account of the town. The plate +attached to that account, represents one of the towers as still +standing.--Though deprived of its citadel, <a name="Page_283"><span class="pagenum">[Page 283]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>At a short distance from the bridge, to the left, looking +towards Paris, is the <i>Colline des deux amans</i>, 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<a name="FNanchor97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97"><sup>[97]</sup></a>. But the traditionary tale +connected with this convent, forms the subject of one of the lays +of <i>Mary of France</i>; and it has been elegantly translated by +the late Mr. Ellis, in the introduction to his <i>History of our +Ancient Metrical Romances</i>;--Du Plessis<a name="FNanchor98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98"><sup>[98]</sup></a> is, +however, of opinion, that the name of the priory is nothing more +than a corruption from the words, <i>deux monts</i>, in allusion to +the twin hills, on one of which it stands; or, if <i>lovers</i> +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.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_284"><span class="pagenum">[Page 284]</span></a></p> +<p>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 <i>ex +voto</i>. 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<a name="FNanchor99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99"><sup>[99]</sup></a>, the +foundation, and hence the name. I ought, however, to add, that no +record of the kind is preserved in the <i>Neustrta Pia</i>, 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<a name="FNanchor100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100"><sup>[100]</sup></a>. 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 name="Page_285"><span class="pagenum">[Page 285]</span></a><i>a cunning woman</i> 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 <i>its +own accord</i>, when she arrives at the verse beginning, "and the +word was made flesh<a name="FNanchor101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101"><sup>[101]</sup></a>."--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 +<i>Willemin</i> in his very beautiful <i>Monumens Français +inédits</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_286"><span class="pagenum">[Page 286]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_287"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 287]</span></a>in quality to any other +in France. Spanish wool is almost exclusively used for the +purpose.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_288"><span class="pagenum">[Page 288]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a name="Page_289"><span class="pagenum">[Page 289]</span></a>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 +<i>Benedictus</i> at <i>Laudes</i>, so that the anthem, <i>Traditor +autem</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_290"><span class="pagenum">[Page 290]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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, <a name="Page_291"><span class="pagenum">[Page 291]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The royal palace, formerly here, is now wholly swept away; and +of the ancient fortifications there remains little <a name="Page_292"><span class="pagenum">[Page 292]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102"><sup>[102]</sup></a>.--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.</p> + +<p>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, +<i>La Couture du Pré de Giverny</i>, 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 <a name="Page_293"><span class="pagenum">[Page 293]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_49"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_49.png" height="524" width="314" alt="Elevation of the West Front of La Délivrande" /></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_294"><span class="pagenum">[Page 294]</span></a>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!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor96">[96]</a> +<i>Antiquités Nationales</i>, IV. No. 48.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor97">[97]</a> +<i>Antiquités Nationales</i>, II. No. 17.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor98">[98]</a> +<i>Histoire de la Haute Normandie</i>, II. p. 332.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor99">[99]</a> +<i>Histoire d'Evreux</i>, p. 161.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor100">[100]</a> +<i>Antiquités Nationales</i>, IV. No. 40.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor101">[101]</a> This +mode of divination by the Bible and key, is also to be found among +the superstitions of our own country.--See <i>Ellis' edition +of Brand's Popular Antiquities</i>, II. p. 641.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor102">[102]</a> +<i>Ducarel's Anglo-Norman Antiquities</i>, p. 93.--Respecting +Vernon, see also <i>Millin, Antiquités Nationales</i>, III. +No. 26, in which four plates, and near fifty pages of letter-press, +are devoted to this town.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_295"><span class="pagenum">[Page 295]</span></a></p> + +<h2><a name="APPENDIX_I"></a>APPENDIX I.</h2> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="blkquot"> +<p>The printing of this work was just concluded, when the author +was favored with drawings, accompanied with short descriptions, of +the chapel of our <i>Lady of the Délivrande</i>, 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.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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. <a name="Page_296"><span class="pagenum">[Page 296]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_297"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 297]</span></a>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 <i>History of +Anglo-Norman Poetry</i>, 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 <i>frisure</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_298"><span class="pagenum">[Page 298]</span></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.</p> + +<p>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 <a +name="Page_299"><span class="pagenum">[Page 299]</span></a>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 <a name="Page_300"><span class="pagenum">[Page 300]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_301"><span class="pagenum">[Page 301]</span></a></p> + + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_50"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_50.png" height="380" width="640" alt="Font at Magneville" /></p> + + +<h2><a name="APPENDIX_II"></a>APPENDIX II.</h2> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>G.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h4>END OF THE SECOND VOLUME.</h4> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="INDEX"></a>INDEX.</h2> + +<p><b>A</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Abbey</i>, of Ardennes, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> + +<li>--Bec, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + +<li>--Bernay, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> + +<li>--Bonport, <a href="#Page_284">284</a></li> + +<li>--Cormeilles, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> + +<li>--Ducler, <a href="#Page_1">1</a></li> + +<li>--Jumieges, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> + +<li>--Preaux, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> + +<li>--St. Evroul, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> + +<li>--St. Georges de Bocherville, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> + +<li>--St. Stephen, at Caen, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> + +<li>--St. Taurinus, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> + +<li>--Trinity at Caen, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Academy of Druids</i>, at Bayeux, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Academy of Sciences</i>, at Caen, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Agnes Sorel</i>, buried at Jumieges, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> + +<li>--her statue destroyed by the Huguenots, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> + +<li>--her tomb destroyed at the revolution, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> + +<li>--inscription upon, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Amphitheatre, Roman</i>, found near Lisieux, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Amyot, Mr</i>. his paper on the Bayeux tapestry, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Andelys</i>, origin of the name, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + +<li>--history of, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> + +<li>--seat of an early monastery, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> + +<li>--great house at, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> + +<li>--birth-place of Poussin, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Andromeda polifolia</i>, found near Jumieges, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury</i>, a monk at Bec, <a +href="#Page_110">110</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Aqueduct, Roman</i>, remains of, at Vieux, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Archbishops of Rouen</i>, their palace at Gaillon, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Arches, trefoil-headed</i>, early specimen of, at Jumieges, +<a href="#Page_33">33</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Ardennes</i>, abbey of, near Caen, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Arlette, mother of the Conqueror</i>, native of Falaise, <a +href="#Page_268">268</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Arnulf</i>, bishop of Lisieux, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Arthur, Prince</i>, knighted at Gournay, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Asselin</i>, forbids the interment of the Conqueror, <a +href="#Page_200">200</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Audinus, bishop of Evreux</i>, authorizes Henry Ist to burn +the city, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Augustodurum</i>, probably the site of, at Vieux, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>B</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Bailiffs</i>, first established in Normandy under Philip +Augustus, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Baiocco of Naples</i>, named after Bayeux, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bas-relief</i>, in the church of St. Georges de Bocherville, +<a href="#Page_9">9</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Baudius</i>, professor of law for a short time at Caen, <a +href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bayeux</i>, seat of an academy of Druids, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> + +<li>--Roman relics found near, but no Druidic, <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> + +<li>--a Roman station, <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> + +<li>--probably the Næomagus Viducassium, <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> + +<li>--its ancient name, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> + +<li>--its importance under the early French kings, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> + +<li>--its history, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> + +<li>--the place where the Norman princes were educated, <a +href="#Page_231">231</a></li> + +<li>--castle, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> + +<li>--situation, population, and trade, <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> + +<li>--tapestry, <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li> + +<li>--cathedral, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bayeux, Roman</i>, probably destroyed by the Saxons, <a +href="#Page_229">229</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bec, abbey of</i>, its present state, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + +<li>--former income and patronage, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + +<li>--church described by Du Plessis, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + +<li>--founded by Hellouin, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> + +<li>--history, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> + +<li>--seminary for eminent men, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Belenus</i>, worshipped near Bayeux, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Berengarius</i>, his tenets impugned by Lanfranc, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> + +<li>--of Brionne, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bernay</i>, abbey of, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> + +<li>--church, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li> + +<li>--burial-ground, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li> + +<li>--population and trade, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> + +<li>--costume of the females, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bernieres</i>, church of, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Blanche, wife of Charles the Bel</i>, confined in +Château Gaillard, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bochart</i>, one of the founders of the academy at Caen, <a +href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Boileau</i>, his eulogium on Malherbe, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bonport</i>, abbey of, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Borghese, Princess of</i>, original letter by, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bouillon, Duke of</i>, Lord of Evreux, at the revolution, <a +href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bourg-Achard</i>, seat of an abbey, dedicated to St. +Eustatius, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> + +<li>--leaden font, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bourg-Theroude</i>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bourgueville</i>, his antiquities of Caen, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li> + +<li>--present at the exhumation of the Conqueror's remains, 303.</li> + +<li><i>Boy, bishop</i>, annually elected at Caen, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bretteville l'Orgueilleuse</i>, church of, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Brionne</i>, situation of, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> + +<li>--seat of the council which condemned the tenets of +Berengarius, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> + +<li>--castle, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Brito</i>, his account of the siege of Gournay, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> + +<li>--of Château Gaillard, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> + +<li>--of the murder of the French garrison of Evreux, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> + +<li>--of Caen, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Broglie</i>, church of, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bruce, David</i>, a resident in Château Gaillard, <a +href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Buck-wheat</i>, much cultivated in Lower Normandy, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + +<li>--etymology of its French name, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>C</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Caen</i>, arrival at, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> + +<li>--distant view of, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li> + +<li>--trade and population, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li> + +<li>--situation, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> + +<li>--grand cours, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> + +<li>--costume of females, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> + +<li>--house-rent, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> + +<li>--foundation, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> + +<li>--described by Brito, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> + +<li>--etymology of the name, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> + +<li>--fortifications, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + +<li>--Château de Calix, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li> + +<li>--castle, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> + +<li>--chapel in the castle, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> + +<li>--hospital, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li> + +<li>--royal abbeys, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> + +<li>--college, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> + +<li>--palace, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li> + +<li>--museum, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li> + +<li>--library, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li> + +<li>--universities, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> + +<li>--men of eminence, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> + +<li>--academy, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> + +<li>--Malherbe, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li> + +<li>--history, <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li> + +<li>--neighborhood abundant in fossil remains, <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li> + +<li>--seen from the road leading to La Délivrande, <a +href="#Page_295">295</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Caen-stone</i>, large quarries of, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + +<li>--formerly much used in England, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Cambre</i>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Cambremer, Canon of</i>, tale respecting, at Bayeux, <a +href="#Page_255">255</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Cannon</i>, first used in France, at the siege of Pont +Audemer, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Canons</i>, four statues of, at Evreux, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Castle</i>, of Bayeux, <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> + +<li>--Brionne, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> + +<li>--Caen, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> + +<li>--Creully, <a href="#Page_264">264</a></li> + +<li>--Falaise, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> + +<li>--Gisors, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> + +<li>--Montfort, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> + +<li>--Neufmarché, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Cathedral of Bayeux</i>, founded by St. Exuperius, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li> + +<li>--history, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li> + +<li>--described, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> + +<li>--crypt, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> + +<li>--stripped of its relics, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> + +<li>--revenue, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> + +<li>--right of mintage, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Cathedral of Evreux</i>, often destroyed, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li>--its present state, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> + +<li>--little injured by the Huguenots, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> + +<li>--founded by St. Taurinus, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Cathedral of Lisieux</i>, now the parish church of St. +Peter, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> + +<li>--described, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> + +<li>--remarkable tomb in, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Cauchon, Peter</i>, bishop of Lisieux, president at the +trial of Joan of Arc, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Cecily</i>, daughter of the Conqueror, abbess at Caen, <a +href="#Page_191">191</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Chapel</i>, subterranean, in Bayeux cathedral, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> + +<li>--in the castle at Caen, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> + +<li>--in the castle at Falaise, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li> + +<li>--of St. Adrian, <a href="#Page_281">281</a></li> + +<li>--of La Délivrande, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Chapel in the castle at Caen</i>, built fronting the east, +<a href="#Page_171">171</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Chapels</i>, stone-roofed, in Ireland, of Norman origin, <a +href="#Page_176">176</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Charles the Bad</i>, born in the Château de Navarre, +<a href="#Page_86">86</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Charters</i>, of the abbey of St. Georges de Bocherville, <a +href="#Page_4">4</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Château de Navarre</i>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Château Gaillard</i>, its situation, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> + +<li>--described, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> + +<li>--account of, by Brito <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> + +<li>--history, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Château de Calix</i>, at Caen, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Chesnut-timber</i>, formerly much used in Normandy, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Church</i>, of the abbey of Bec, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + +<li>--Bernieres, <a href="#Page_299">299</a></li> + +<li>--Bernay, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li> + +<li>--Bretteville l'Orgueilleuse, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + +<li>--Broglie, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> + +<li>--Creully, <a href="#Page_264">264</a></li> + +<li>--Ducler, <a href="#Page_1">1</a></li> + +<li>--Ecouis, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> + +<li>--Falaise, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></li> + +<li>--Gisors, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + +<li>--Gournay, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + +<li>--Jumieges, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> + +<li>--St. Peter's at ditto, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> + +<li>--Louviers, <a href="#Page_287">287</a></li> + +<li>--Moulineaux, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li>--Pont Audemer, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> + +<li>--Pont-de-l'Arche, <a href="#Page_285">285</a></li> + +<li>--St. Germain de Blancherbe, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + +<li>--St. Gervais, at Falaise, <a href="#Page_277">277</a></li> + +<li>--St. Georges de Bocherville, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> + +<li>--St. Giles, at Evreux, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> + +<li>--St. James, at Lisieux, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li> + +<li>--St. John, at Caen, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li> + +<li>--St. Michael, at ditto, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> + +<li>--St. Nicholas, at ditto, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> + +<li>--St. Peter, at ditto, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + +<li>--St. Stephen's abbey, at ditto, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> + +<li>--Trinity, at ditto, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> + +<li>--Trinity at Falaise, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></li> + +<li>--Vernon, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Cider</i>, the common beverage, in Normandy, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> + +<li>--first introduced by the Normans, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Cocherel</i>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Coins, golden</i>, struck at Bayeux, under the first French +kings, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Colline des deux amans</i>, priory of, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Cormeilles</i>, abbey of, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Corneille</i>, buried at Andelys, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Costume</i>, at Bernay, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> + +<li>--at Caen, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Coupe gorge</i>, colony established at, by Napoléon, +<a href="#Page_155">155</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Creully</i>, castle, <a href="#Page_264">264</a></li> + +<li>--church, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Crocodile fossil</i>, found near Caen, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Croissanville</i>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>D</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Dalechamps</i>, native of Caen, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li> + +<li><i>D'Amboise, Cardinal</i>, built the palace at Gaillon, <a +href="#Page_290">290</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Darnétal</i>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.</li> + +<li><i>De Boissy</i>, bishop of Bayeux, his epitaph, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>.</li> + +<li><i>De la Rue, Abbé</i>, professor of history at Caen, <a +href="#Page_213">213</a></li> + +<li>--is preparing an account of Caen, <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li> + +<li>--his paper on the Bayeux tapestry, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Douce, Mr.</i>, his illustration of the sculpture at St. +Georges de Bocherville, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Douvre</i>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Dubois Louis</i>,</li> + +<li>--his discoveries among the ruins of Old Lisieux, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> + +<li>--preserved the original M.S. of Ordericus Vitalis, <a +href="#Page_149">149</a></li> + +<li>--is preparing the history of Lisieux, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Ducarel</i>, his description of a pavement in the palace at +Caen, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Ducler</i>, convent, <a href="#Page_1">1</a></li> + +<li>--parish church, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Du Perron</i>, cardinal, bishop of Evreux, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Du Plessis</i>, his opinion as to Turold on the Bayeux +tapestry, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> + +<li>--description of the abbey church of Bec, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>E</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Ecouis, church of</i>, burial-place of John and Enguerrand +de Marigny, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> + +<li>--singular epitaph, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Epitaph</i>, enigmatical at Ecouis, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li>--of John de Boissy, <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li> + +<li>--on the exterior of Bayeux cathedral, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Evreux</i>, destroyed by Henry Ist, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li>--cathedral, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li>--abbey of St. Taurinus, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> + +<li>--history, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> + +<li>--present appearance, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Evreux, Old</i>, a Roman station, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>F</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Falaise</i>, situation of, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li> + +<li>--etymology of the name, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> + +<li>--castle, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> + +<li>--Talbot's tower, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li> + +<li>--chapel in castle, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li> + +<li>--history, <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li> + +<li>--firmly attached to the League, <a href="#Page_274">274</a></li> + +<li>--fortifications, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li> + +<li>--inhabitants <i>true Normans</i>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></li> + +<li>--population and trade, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></li> + +<li>--churches, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Fastolf, Sir John</i>, governor of Caen, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Flambart, Ralph</i>, bishop of Durham, seizes Lisieux, <a +href="#Page_142">142</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Fleury, Cardinal</i>, abbot at Caen, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Fonts</i>, seldom seen in French churches, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Font</i>, curiously sculptured, at Magneville, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Font, leaden</i>, at Bourg-Achard, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>G</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Gaillon</i>, vineyards near, <a href="#Page_289">289</a></li> + +<li>--present state of, <a href="#Page_289">289</a></li> + +<li>--ceded to the archbishop of Rouen, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li> + +<li>--made by the treaty of Louviers the frontier town of the +Duchy, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Gisors</i>, castle, appearance of, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> + +<li>--history, <a href="#Page_45">54</a></li> + +<li>--place of interview between Henry IInd, and Philip +Augustus, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> + +<li>--arms of the town, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> + +<li>--castle, described, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> + +<li>--church of, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + +<li>--banded column in the church, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Glass painted</i>, at the abbey of Bonport, <a href="#Page_285">285</a></li> + +<li>--in the church of Pont de l'Arche, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Gournay</i>, origin of, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> + +<li>--present appearance, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> + +<li>--history, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> + +<li>--siege described by Brito, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> + +<li>--arms of, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + +<li>--place where Prince Arthur was knighted, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + +<li>--church, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + +<li>--remarkable sculpture on the capitals, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Gournay, Hugo de</i>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Guibray</i>, fair of, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Gurney, Hudson</i>, his paper on the Bayeux tapestry, <a +href="#Page_237">237</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>H</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Harcourt</i>, castle of, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Hellouin</i>, founder of the abbey of Bec, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> + +<li>--his epitaph, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Hennuyer, John</i>, bishop of Lisieux, said to have saved +the Huguenots, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Henry Ist</i>, kept prisoner by Robert at Bayeux, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li> + +<li>--destroyed the city, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>.</li> + +<li><i>History, ecclesiastical, of Ordericus Vitalis</i>, materials +for a new edition of, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> + +<li>--original manuscript, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> + +<li>--manuscript copies, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Holy Trinity</i>, church of, at Falaise, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Honfleur</i>, situation of, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> + +<li>--described, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Horses, Norman</i>, present price of, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Hospital at Caen</i>, founded in the thirteenth century, <a +href="#Page_174">174</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Hoveden</i>, his account of the interview between Henry +IInd, and Philip Augustus, near Gisors, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Hubert, archbishop of Canterbury</i>, a monk of Bec, <a +href="#Page_114">114</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Hubert, M.</i>, discovered the site of the Neomagus +Lexoviorum, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Huet</i>, his <i>Origines de Caen</i>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> + +<li>--one of the founders of the academy at Caen, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Huguenots</i>, destroy the tomb and violate the remains of +the Conqueror, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Hume, David</i>, his opinion on the Bayeux tapestry, <a +href="#Page_237">237</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Hypocaust, Roman</i>, found at Vieux, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>I</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Inscription</i>, on the font at Magneville, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>.</li> + +<li><i>John, King</i>, murders the French garrison of Evreux, <a +href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Isatis tinctoria</i>, cultivated in France under +Napoléon, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Jumieges, abbey of</i>, its foundation, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> + +<li>--original building, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> + +<li>--history, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li>--church, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> + +<li>--Salle des Chevaliers, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> + +<li>--church of St. Peter, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> + +<li>--monuments, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Ivory chest</i>, in Bayeux cathedral, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>K</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Knights, Templars</i>, house of, at Louviers, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>L</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Lamouroux, M</i>. professor of natural history at Caen, <a +href="#Page_213">213</a></li> + +<li>--his publications, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Lanfranc</i>, settled at Bec, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> + +<li>--first schoolmaster in Normandy, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> + +<li>--first abbot of St. Stephen's, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Langevin, M</i>., author of the history of Falaise, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Langlois, M</i>., his portrait, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> + +<li>--his work on Norman Antiquities, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Le Beuf, Abbé</i>, his opinion of Vieux, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Le Brasseur</i>, his account of the statues of four canons +at Evreux, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Léproserie de Beauîleu</i>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Letter, original</i>, from Princess Borghese, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Library, public</i>, at Caen, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Lisieux</i>, situation and trade of, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + +<li>--its see suppressed in 1801, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + +<li>--cathedral, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> + +<li>--tomb in cathedral, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> + +<li>--town probably founded in the sixth century, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> + +<li>--ancient names of, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> + +<li>--history of, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> + +<li>--church of St. Jacques, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Littleton, Lord</i>, his opinion of the Bayeux tapestry, <a +href="#Page_237">237</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Louviers</i>, treaty of, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> + +<li>--population, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li> + +<li>--church, <a href="#Page_287">287</a></li> + +<li>--house of knights templars, <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li> + +<li>--history, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>M</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Magneville</i>, font at, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Malherbe</i>, native of Caen, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Mallet, Anthony</i>, his statement of Hennuyer's saving the +Calvinists, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Maréchal de Belle Isle</i>, his monument, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Margaret of Burgundy</i>, immured in Château Gaillard, +<a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Marigny, Enguerrand de</i>, buried at Ecouis, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> + +<li>--his mausoleum destroyed at the revolution, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Marriage ceremony</i>, in France, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Matilda, wife of the Conqueror</i>, supposed portrait of, <a +href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + +<li>--her seal <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> + +<li>--buried in the church of the Trinity, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li> + +<li>--her tomb destroyed by the Huguenots, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li> + +<li>--her remains lately found and new tomb raised, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Maud, Empress</i>, her expostulations with her father as to +the place of her burial, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Mazarine, Cardinal</i>, abbot of St. Stephen's, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Melons</i>, cultivated on a large scale, near Lisieux, <a +href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Misereres</i>, sculptured, in Bayeux cathedral, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Misletoe</i>, commonly hung over inn-doors, near Caen, <a +href="#Page_227">227</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Money</i>, struck by the chapter of Bayeux, how marked, <a +href="#Page_261">261</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Montfaucon</i>, his engravings of the portraits of the +Conqueror and his family, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Montfort</i>, castle of, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Moulineaux</i>, church of, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Mount Phaunus</i>, temple of, near Bayeux, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Museum</i>, at Caen, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Musicians</i>, sculptured at St. Georges de Bocherville, <a +href="#Page_14">14</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>N</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Napoléon</i>, establishment formed by him at the pass +of <i>Coupe Gorge</i>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li> + +<li>--his attempt to make a naval station at Caen, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Navarre, kings of</i>, lords of Evreux, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Navarre, Château de</i>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Næomagus Viducassium</i>, probably the modern Bayeux, +<a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Neomagus Lexoviorum</i>, site of, lately discovered, <a +href="#Page_139">139</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Neufmarché</i>, castle of, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Normandy</i>, divided anew, under Philip Augustus, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Notre Dame de la Délivrande</i>, chapel of, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>O</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Odo, bishop of Bayeux</i>, rebuilds the cathedral, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> + +<li>--his life and character. <a href="#Page_259">259</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Ordericus Vitalis</i>, his account of the destruction of +Evreux, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li>--his account of St. Taurinus, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> + +<li>--sketch of his life, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> + +<li>--his ecclesiastical history, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> + +<li>--his reflections on the death of the Conqueror, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Ornaments</i> on the spandrils of the arches in Bayeux +cathedral, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Oxen</i>, breed of, near Caen, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>P</b></p> + +<p>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Paintings, fresco</i>, in Bayeux cathedral. <a href="#Page_251">251</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Passports</i>, regulations respecting, in France. <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Patye, John, Canon of Cambremer</i>, legend concerning, at +Bayeux. <a href="#Page_255">255</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Pays de Bray</i>. <a href="#Page_37">37</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Pistae</i>, the site of, occupied by Pont de l'Arche. <a +href="#Page_282">282</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Pont Audemer</i>, its situation, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> + +<li>--history, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> + +<li>--churches, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Pont de l'Arche</i>, seat of a palace under Charles the +Bald, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></li> + +<li>--origin of the name, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></li> + +<li>--church, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Portraits</i>, of the Conqueror and family, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Poussin</i>, born at Andelys, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> + +<li>--if his example has been favorable to French art, <a +href="#Page_57">57</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Preaux</i>, abbey of, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Priory, des deux Amans</i>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>R</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Rabelais</i>, his autograph, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Reseda luteola</i>, cultivated near Rouen, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Richelieu, Cardinal</i>, abbot of St. Stephen's at Caen, <a +href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Roads in France</i>, compared with those in England, <a +href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Robert the Devil</i>, his castle near Moulineaux, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Romance</i>, subjects borrowed from, sculptured on a capital +in St. Peter's, at Caen, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Rupierre, William of, Bishop of Lisieux</i>, resists the +power of King John, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>S</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>St. Adrian</i>, Chapel of, near Rouen, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Clotilda</i>, her fountain, at Andelys, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> + +<li>--still worshipped there, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Evroul</i>, abbey of, founded by William de Gerouis, <a +href="#Page_146">146</a></li> + +<li>--residence of Ordericus Vitalis, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Georges de Bocherville</i>, abbey of, founded by Ralph +de Tancarville, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> + +<li>--its history, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> + +<li>--abbey church described, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> + +<li>--sculpture in ditto, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + +<li>--chapter-house, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Germain</i>, church of, at Pont Audemer, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Germain de Blancherbe</i>, church of, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Gervais</i>, church of, at Falaise, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Giles</i>, church of, at Evreux, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Jacques</i>, church of at Lisieux, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. John</i>, church of, at Caen, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Lascivus</i>, bishop of Bayeux, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Lupus</i>, bishop of Bayeux, so called from destroying +the wolves, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Maimertus</i>, subterranean chapel dedicated to, in +Bayeux cathedal, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Michael</i>, church of, in the suburb of Vaucelles, at +Caen, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Nicholas</i>, church of at Caen, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> + +<li>--its roof like those of the Irish stone-roofed chapels, +<a href="#Page_176">176</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Peter</i>, church of at Caen, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + +<li>--sculpture upon the capital of one of the columns, <a +href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Philibert</i>, founder of Jumieges, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Regnobert</i>, bishop of Bayeux, his chasuble kept in +the cathedral, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li> + +<li>--domestic animals blessed on his feast-day, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Stephen</i>, church of, at Caen, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Stephen</i>, abbey of, at Caen, its privileges, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> + +<li>--now used as the college, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Stephen, abbey church of</i>, at Caen, described, <a +href="#Page_194">194</a></li> + +<li>--formed on the the Roman model, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> + +<li>--burial-place of the Conqueror, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Taurinus</i>, founder of Evreux cathedral, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> + +<li>--his fight with the devil, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> + +<li>--his shrine, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> + +<li>--crypt, in which he was buried, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Taurinus, abbey of</i> at Evreux, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> + +<li>--its privileges, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> + +<li>--ancient architecture in the church, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> + +<li>--crypt, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Vitalis</i>, his feast celebrated annually at Evreux, <a +href="#Page_73">73</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Ursinus</i>, privileges enjoyed by the Canons, at +Lisieux, on his vigil and feast-day, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Saxons</i>, established about Bayeux, where many words from +their language still exist, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Screens</i>, of rare occurrence in French churches, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Sculpture</i>, in the abbey church of St. Georges de +Bocherville, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + +<li>--in the chapter-house of the same abbey, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> + +<li>--in the abbey church of Jumieges, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> + +<li>--on the capitals in the church at Gournay, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + +<li>--on a capital in the abbey church at Bernay, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> + +<li>--over the high altar at Bernay, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li> + +<li>--on a tomb in Lisieux cathedral, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> + +<li>--on a capital in St. Peter's at Caen, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> + +<li>--on the capitals of the pillars in the crypt at Bayeux +cathedral, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Seal</i>, supposed to belong to Matilda, wife of the +Conqueror, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Sheep</i>, Norman breed of, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Siege</i>, of Château Gaillard, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Statues</i>, in the chapter-house of the abbey of St. +Georges de Bocherville, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> + +<li>--of William the Conqueror, at Caen, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Stothard, C.A.</i>, his drawings of the Bayeux tapestry, <a +href="#Page_235">235</a></li> + +<li>--his opinion on its antiquity, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.</li> + +<li><i>String-course</i>, remarkable, in the church of <i>Notre +Dame des Prés</i>, at Pont Audemer, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Superstitions</i>, still remaining in Normandy, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>T</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Tancarville, Ralph</i>, chamberlain to the Conqueror, and +founder of the abbey of St. Georges de Bocherville, <a href="#Page_3">3x</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Tapestry, Bayeux</i>, accounts of, published by Montfaucon +and Lancelot, <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li> + +<li>--referred by them to Matilda, Queen of the Conqueror, <a +href="#Page_236">236</a></li> + +<li>--figure from, <a href="#Page_236">236</a></li> + +<li>--its antiquity denied by Lord Littleton, Hume, and the +Abbé de la Rue, <a href="#Page_236">236</a></li> + +<li>--when first described, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> + +<li>--reasons for believing in its antiquity, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> + +<li>--formerly kept at the cathedral, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> + +<li>--exhibited during the revolution at Paris, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> + +<li>--described, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Tassillon</i>, confined at Jumieges, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Tassilly</i>, ancient tombs found at, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury</i> a monk of Bec, <a +href="#Page_114">114</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Thomas à Becket</i>, retired during his disgrace to +Lisieux, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Tiles, painted</i>, in the palace at Caen, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li> + +<li>--supposed to prove the antiquity of heraldic bearings, <a +href="#Page_209">209</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Tombeau des énervez</i>, at Jumieges, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Tombs, ancient</i>, at Cocherel, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li> + +<li>--in Lisieux cathedral, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> + +<li>--at Tassilly, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Torigny marble</i>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Trinity Holy, abbey of the</i>, at Caen, when built, <a +href="#Page_182">182</a></li> + +<li>--used as a fortress as well as a nunnery, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> + +<li>--its income, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + +<li>--privileges, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Trinity Holy, church of the abbey of the</i>, at Caen, now a +work-house, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> + +<li>--described, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> + +<li>--its spires destroyed by Charles, King of Navarre, <a +href="#Page_184">184</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Turnebus</i>, Adrian, native of Andelys, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Turold</i>, founder of Bourg-Theroude, represented on the +Bayeux tapestry, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>U</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>University of Caen</i>, founded by Henry VIth, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> + +<li>--abolished and restored by Charles VIIth, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> + +<li>--esteemed the third in France, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>V</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Vernon</i>, its situation, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></li> + +<li>--formerly the seat of a royal palace, <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> + +<li>--church, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Vieux</i>, a Roman station, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li> + +<li>--etymology of the name, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Vines</i>, formerly cultivated at Jumieges, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> + +<li>--also at Caen and Lisieux, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>W</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Wace</i>, a resident at Caen, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Whales</i>, formerly caught near Jumieges, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</li> + +<li><i>William the Conqueror</i>, his statue at Caen, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> + +<li>--supposed figure of him on a capital in the church of the +abbey of the Trinity, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + +<li>--buried in the abbey-church of St. Stephen, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> + +<li>--his epitaph, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + +<li>--his death and burial, and the disturbance of his +remains, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> + +<li>--his palace at Caen, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li> + +<li>--fresco-paintings of him and his family, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> + +<li>--born at Falaise, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> + +<li>--receives the homage of the English, as successor to +Edward, at Bayeux, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</li> + +<li><i>William of Jumieges</i>, his account of the attachment of +the Empress Maud to Bec, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12538 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/picture_08.png b/old/12538-h/images/picture_08.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c954c96 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/picture_08.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/picture_09.png b/old/12538-h/images/picture_09.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9178377 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/picture_09.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/picture_10.png b/old/12538-h/images/picture_10.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c2b7358 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/picture_10.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/picture_11.png b/old/12538-h/images/picture_11.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..88a4ec7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/picture_11.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/picture_12.png b/old/12538-h/images/picture_12.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d04c205 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/picture_12.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/picture_13.png b/old/12538-h/images/picture_13.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..49a02ea --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/picture_13.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/picture_14.png b/old/12538-h/images/picture_14.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a9adaee --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/picture_14.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/picture_15.png b/old/12538-h/images/picture_15.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d48be94 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/picture_15.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/picture_16.png b/old/12538-h/images/picture_16.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2019e5f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/picture_16.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/picture_17.png b/old/12538-h/images/picture_17.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c86fefe --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/picture_17.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/picture_18.png b/old/12538-h/images/picture_18.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c97d081 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/picture_18.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/picture_19.png b/old/12538-h/images/picture_19.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..487e170 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/picture_19.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/picture_20.png b/old/12538-h/images/picture_20.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b702850 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/picture_20.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/picture_21.png b/old/12538-h/images/picture_21.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9aae2c4 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/picture_21.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/plate_26.png b/old/12538-h/images/plate_26.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..338beec --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/plate_26.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/plate_27.png b/old/12538-h/images/plate_27.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..43088fc --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/plate_27.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/plate_28.png b/old/12538-h/images/plate_28.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5e528f5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/plate_28.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/plate_29.png b/old/12538-h/images/plate_29.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f30b898 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/plate_29.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/plate_30.png b/old/12538-h/images/plate_30.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f13df0d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/plate_30.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/plate_31.png b/old/12538-h/images/plate_31.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4f83456 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/plate_31.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/plate_32.png b/old/12538-h/images/plate_32.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a241441 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/plate_32.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/plate_33.png b/old/12538-h/images/plate_33.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ea51fe6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/plate_33.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/plate_34.png b/old/12538-h/images/plate_34.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d1832a9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/plate_34.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/plate_35.png b/old/12538-h/images/plate_35.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e5701c6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/plate_35.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/plate_36.png b/old/12538-h/images/plate_36.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9cdb951 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/plate_36.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/plate_37.png b/old/12538-h/images/plate_37.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..091293a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/plate_37.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/plate_38.png b/old/12538-h/images/plate_38.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..eceacc4 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/plate_38.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/plate_39.png b/old/12538-h/images/plate_39.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c25d00f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/plate_39.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/plate_40.png b/old/12538-h/images/plate_40.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cdc5307 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/plate_40.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/plate_41.png b/old/12538-h/images/plate_41.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d2980d1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/plate_41.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/plate_42.png b/old/12538-h/images/plate_42.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..98d7125 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/plate_42.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/plate_43.png b/old/12538-h/images/plate_43.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5ff1ff0 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/plate_43.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/plate_44.png b/old/12538-h/images/plate_44.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..88e7787 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/plate_44.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/plate_45.png b/old/12538-h/images/plate_45.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ae3101a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/plate_45.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/plate_46.png b/old/12538-h/images/plate_46.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8ea1885 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/plate_46.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/plate_47.png b/old/12538-h/images/plate_47.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..975fac4 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/plate_47.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/plate_48.png b/old/12538-h/images/plate_48.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..70d4c18 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/plate_48.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/plate_49.png b/old/12538-h/images/plate_49.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5974ea9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/plate_49.png diff --git a/old/12538-h/images/plate_50.png b/old/12538-h/images/plate_50.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6fd66a4 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12538-h/images/plate_50.png diff --git a/old/old/12538-8.txt b/old/old/12538-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c812ad9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/12538-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9424 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Account of a Tour in Normandy, Vol. II. +(of 2), by Dawson Turner + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Account of a Tour in Normandy, Vol. II. (of 2) + +Author: Dawson Turner + +Release Date: June 6, 2004 [EBook #12538] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOUR IN NORMANDY, VOL. II. *** + + + + +Produced by Carlo Traverso, David Cavanagh and Distributed +Proofreaders Europe, http://dp.rastko.net. This file was produced +from images generously made available by the Bibliotheque nationale +de France (BnF/Gallica) at http://gallica.bnf.fr. + + + + + +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 Neufmarch--Castle and Church of Gisors + +LETTER XVII. + +Andelys--Fountain of Saint Clotilda--La Grande Maison--Chteau +Gaillard--Ecouis + +LETTER XVIII. + +Evreux--Cathedral--Abbey of St. Taurinus--Ancient History + +LETTER XIX. + +Vicinity of Evreux--Chteau 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--Chteau 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 Chteau 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 _Chteau 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 Dlivrande_ + +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 ra of the erection of the church, is preserved by +Mabillon[2]. It is the Conqueror who speaks.--"Radulfus, meus magister, +aulque et camer princeps, instinctu divino tactus, ecclesiam +supradicti martyris Georgii, qu 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 longvus dierum, idibus Martii, seu XVIII calendas Aprilis, ante +annum 1211; sepultusque est sub tabul marmore 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 Prs, at Paris, all which are figured by Montfaucon +in his _Monumens de la Monarchie Franaise_, 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, qud Lucia, filia Willelmi, +Camerarii de Tancarvilla, pro anim su et pro animabus antecessorum +suorum, ad ecclesiam Sti. Georgii de Bauchervilla dedit molendinum de +Waldinivilla, quod est subter aliud molendinum et molendinum de +Waldinval, liber et quiet, et insupr ecclesiam de Seonvilla, salv +elemosin Roberti sacerdotis in vit su, si dignus est habendi eam. Et +post mortem Willelmi capellani sui de Sancto Flocello, ad ecclesiam +supr dictam dedit decimam de vavassoribus de Seolvilla, quam dedit in +elemosin habendam Willelmo capellano tot vit bene et in pace et +secur, et decimas de custodiis totius terre sue que est in +Constantino.--Ego Lucia do hanc elemosinam pro anim me et pro +antecessoribus ad ecclesiam Sanctii Georgii; et qui auferet ab e et +auferetur ab eo regnum Dei. Amen.--Testibus, Ricardo de Haia et Matille +uxore su 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 qud +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:--"Hc +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 honorific processione susceprunt 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 decim, et ecclesiam Sancti +Romani cum duabus partibus decime, et similitr ecclesiam de +Tibermaisnil: confirmavi etiam dona militum meorum et amicorum qu +dederunt ipso die abbatie in perpetuam elemosynam, Rogerius de Calli +dedit XX Sot. annuatm; Robertus de Mortomari 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: honest induti, crucibus et +thuribus, ad Sanctum Georgium processerunt, et animam Regis, secundum +morem sanct 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 illc gemunt, qui in flammis ultricibus non erunt +gemituri;" or from _gemma_, conformably to the following distich,-- + + + "Gemmeticum siquidem a gemm dixere priores; + Qud reliquis gemm, prcelleret instar Eo." + + +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 sculo 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 Ppin 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 ra 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 ra 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, "lamentabilitr 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 _abim_ +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 + Zacari 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 Beaut_.--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 Beault, +d'Yssouldun, et de Vernon sur Seine, piteuse entre toutes gens, qui de +ses biens donnoit largement aux gens d'glise 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 nervez_, 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 _nervez_.--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.--"Congru san 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 vtes, humum +undique cinctam aquis, pascua pecorum uberrima, loca venationi apta, +avium cantu circumsonantia. Sequana fluvius illic cernitur late ambiens: +et deind 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 pr 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 prdicatione efferendus: qui instar Patriarch +Jacob, in animabus septuaginta, demigravit in hanc eremum, addito grege +septemplici, propter septiformem gratiam spiritus sancti. Ibi enim eius +prudentia construxit mœnia quadrata, turrita mole surgentia; claustra +excipiendis adventantibus mir 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_ Ar dant +gloriam Deo; adherent ver a Bore, _Dyonisii_ Martyris, et _Germani_ +Confessoris, dicul; in dextr 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 fenestr vitre: subtus habet geminas des, 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 aqu ex parte terr Monachorum, et _Graspais_, si fort +capiatur."--The word _Graspais_ is explained by Ducange to be a +corruption of _crassus piscis_. Noel (in his _Essais sur le Dpartement +de la Seine Infrieure_, 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 +lacorum, spretis secularibus pompis, collecta, Christo Regi militatura, +propria colla saluberrimo iugo subegit. Cuius loci Monachi, sive incol, +Paganorum adventum comperientes, fug lapsi qudam suarum rerum sub +terra occulentes, qudam secum asportantes, Deo juvante evaserunt. +Pagani locum vacuum reperientes, Monasterium sanct Mari sanctque +Petri, et cuncta dificia igne iniecto adurunt, in solitudinem omnia +redigentes. Hac itaque patrata eversione, locus, qui tauto honoris +splendore diu viguerat, exturbatis omnibus ac subuersis domibus, cœpit +esse cubile ferarum et volucrum: maceriis in sua soliditate in sublime +porrectis, arbustisque densissimis; et arborum virgultis per triginta +ferm 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 _Prcis Analitique des +Travaux de l'Acadmie de Rouen_, 1815, p. 131.] + +[Footnote 18: _Histoire de la Haute Normandie_, II, p. 260.] + + + + +LETTER XVI. + +GOURNAY--CASTLE OF NEUFMARCH--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 Neufchtel_ is one of the only two French +cheeses which are honored with a place in the bill of fare at Vry'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 _dgage_, 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 Darntal, 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 Feuille 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 ra, 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 populos genta superbum, + Divitiis plenum variis, famque 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 prerat Gornacius HUGO. + Foss cujus erant ampl 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, subitque voragine tota + Vallis abit maris in speciem, ruit impete vasto + Eluvies damnosa satis, damnosa colonis. + * * * * * + Municipes fugiunt ne submergantur, et omnis + Se populus vill viduat, vacuamque relinquit. + * * * * * + Armis villa potens, muris munita virisque, + Arte capi null 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-dificat 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 Neufmarch, 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. +Neufmarch, 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 gure 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 Bellme 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 ra, 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, Tillires, Nonancourt, Anet, Ivry, Chteau-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 ras, but principally +of the latter half of the sixteenth century, a time when, as a Frenchman +told me, "l'on commena btir 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 cm regi Angli constaret, +reversus est in Normanniam; et, accepte colloquio inter ipsum et Regem +Franci 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 sapienti et intellectus, miro +modo prdicavit verbum Domini coram regibus et principibus. Et convertit +corda eorum ad crucem capiendam; et qui pris hostes erant, illo +prdicante, 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 cœlo. Quo viso miraculo, plures catervatim ruebant ad +susceptionem crucis. Prdicti ver reges in susceptionem crucis, ad +cognoscendum gentem suam, signum sibi et suis providerunt. Rex namque +Franci et gens sua receperunt cruces rubeas et Rex Angli 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--CHTEAU +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 lfgiva, 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 Chteau Gaillard] + +I doubt, however, whether we should have travelled hither, had we not +been attracted by the celebrity of the castle, called _Chteau +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 +Chteau 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 Chteau 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. Chteau 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 quis; + 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 + Qu fuit una modo muro geminata sequestro. + Ut si forte pati partem contingeret istam + Altera municipes, queat, et se tuta tueri. + Inde rotundavit rupem, qu celsior omni + Planitie summum se tollit in aera sursum; + Et muris sepsit, extremas desuper oras + Castigansque jugi scrupulosa cacumina, totum + Complanat medium, multque capacia turb + Plurima cum domibus habitacula fabricat intus. + Umboni parcens soli, quo condidit arcem. + Hic situs iste decor, munitio talis honorem + Gaillard rupis per totum prdicat 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 Chteau 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 Chteau +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 Chteau +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 Ddalus, 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 Chteau 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 Chteau 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 Chteau 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 prcinctus, 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 frre, + 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 ill gente fuisse, ut multi ex Britanni, +monastiae conversationis grati, Francorum monasteria adirent, sed et +filias suas eisdem erudiendas ac sponso coelesti copulandas mitterent, +maxim 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 Franaise_, 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, poste ad religionem +transeuntium et in e prfectorum. Alter fuit Franciscanus; altera ver +Clarissa."] + +[Footnote 35: _Histoire du Duch 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,-- + + + "Και ϰεραμευς ϰεραμει Φϑονεει ϰαι τεϰτονι τεϰτων."-- + + +[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 advers totus inardens, + Ebroicas prim 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 ra 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 Fcamp, respecting the right of +nominating one of their own brethren to the head of their community, a +right which was claimed by Fcamp; 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 _chsse_, 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. Csar, +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 salubritr 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 Ebrocam 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 + Ebrocis 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 qurens magis angere luctu: + Talibus obsequiis, tali mercede rependens + Millia marcharum, quas Rex donaverat illi. + Tam detestanda pollutus cde Johannes + Ad fratrem properat; sed Rex tam flagitiosus + Non placuit fratri: quis enim, nisi dmone 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, fratern 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 _Duch pairie_, by Charles IXth, +who, having taken the lordship of Gisors from his brother, the Duc +d'Alenon, 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 Ferrire 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 _nivet_ by Ordericus Vitalis, p. +852, as follows:--"Henricus Rex rebellibus ultr 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 Prsul, qud repellimur ab hostibus, nec eos nisi per ignem +subjugare poterimus? Verm, si ignis immittitur, Ecclesi comburentur, +et insontibus ingens damnum inferetur. Nunc ergo, Pastor Ecclesi, +diligentr considera, et quod utilius prospexeris provid nobis insinua. +Si victoria nobis per incendium divinits conceditur, opitulante Deo, +Ecclesi detrimenta restaurabuntur: quia de thesauris nostris commodos +sumptus gratantr largiemur. Unde domus Dei, ut reor, in melius +redificabuntur." Hsitat in tanto discrimine Prsul auxius, ignorat +quid jubeat divin dispositioni competentius: nescit quid debeat magis +velle vel eligere salubrius. Tandem prudentum consultu prcepit 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 glorios virginis et matris +Mari, cui Prsul et Clerus serviebant, ubi Pontificalem Curiam +parochiani frequentabant. Rex, et cuncti Optimales sui Episcopo pro +Ecclesiarum combustione vadimonium supplicitr 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 +Comt d'Evreux_, p. 11.--"Le Diocse d'Evreux a t si favoris des +grces de Dieu, qu'on ne voit presqu'aucun temps o l'Hrsie y ait +pntr, mme lorsque les Protestans inondoient et corrompoient toute la +France, et particulierement la Normandie. On ne peut pas cependant +desavoer qu'il y a eu de temps en temps, quelques personnes qui se sont +livres l'erreur; et l'on peut remarquer quatre Status attaches +deux piliers au dehors du chancel de l'Eglise Cathdrale du ct du +Cimetiere, dont trois reprsentent trois Chanoines, la tte couverte de +leurs Aumuces selon la cotume de ce temps-l, et une quatrime qui +reprsente un Chanoine un pilier plus loign, la tte nu, tenant sa +main sur le coeur comme un signe de son repentir; parce que la tradition +dit, qu'aant t atteint et convaincu du crime d'hrsie, le Chapitre +l'avoit interdit des fonctions de son Bnfice; mais qu'aant ensuite +abjur son erreur, le mme Chapitre le rtablit dans tous ses droits, +honneurs, et privileges: cependant il fut ordonn qu'en mmoire de +l'garement et de la pnitence de ce Chanoine, ces Status demeureroient +attaches aux piliers de leur Eglise, lorsqu'elle ft rbtie des +deniers de Henry I. Roy d'Angleterre, par les soins d'Audoenus Evque +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 secund +persecutione, qu sub Domitiano in Christianos furuit, Dionysius +Parisiensis Episcopus Taurinum filiolum suum jam quadragenarium, +Prsulem ordinavit; et (vaticinatis pluribus qu passurus erat) +Ebroicensibus in nomine Domini direxit. Viro Dei ad portas civitatis +appropinquanti, dmon 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 prdicaret, et dulcedo fidei novis auditoribus +multm placeret, dolens diabolus Eufrasiam Lucii filiam vexare coepit, +et in ignem jecit. Qu statim mortua est; sed paul pst, orante Taurino +ac jubente ut resurgeret, in nomine Domini resuscitata est. Nullum in ea +adustionis signum apparuit. Omnes igitur hoc miraculum videntes subit +territi sunt, et obstupescentes in Dominum Jesum Christum crediderunt. +In illa die cxx. homines baptizati sunt. Octo cci 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 Comt d'Evreux_, p. 4.] + +[Footnote 45: _Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni_, p. 555.] + +[Footnote 46: _Goube, Histoire du Duch de Normandie_, III. p. 223.] + + + + +LETTER XIX. + +VICINITY OF EVREUX--CHTEAU 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 Chteau de Navarre, which is not more than a mile and half +distant from the town.--This Chteau, 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 Chteau, 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 Josphine, 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 Abb 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 Abb 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 Prs, 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 Prs 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 κατ' εξοχην [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. L; 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 _bnitier_ +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 poux fidle et de lui tenir fidlit +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 _Archologia_, 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 dpt 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 nsse quis ipse fuit. + Dum quater hic denos vi venisset ad annos, + Qu fuerant secli sprevit amore Dei. + Mutans erg vices, mundi de milite miles + Fit Christi subito, Monachus ex laco. + Hinc sibi, more patrum, socians collegia fratrum, + Cur, qu decuit, rexit eos, aluit. + Quot quantasque vides, hic solus condidit des, + Non tm divitiis qum fidei meritis. + Quas puer haud didicit scripturas postea scivit, + Doctus ut indoctum vix sequeretur eum. + Flentibus hunc nobis tulit inclementia mortis + Sextilis quin bisque die decim. + Herluine pater, sic cœlica 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 +Franaise_, I. p. 378.) that he is the person thus denominated. But M. +Lancelot, in the _Mmoires de l'Acadmie 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 t faite par ordre de la Reine Mathilde +femme du Conqurant, pour reprsenter les circonstances principales de +cette mmorable expdition, on lit distinctement le mot _Turold_ ct +d'un des Ambassadeurs, que Guillaume avoit envoiez au Comte de Ponthieu; +et je ne doute nullement que ce Turold ne soit le mme que le +Conntable. Le savant Auteur des Antiquitez de notre Monarchie croit +cependant que ce mot doit se rapporter un Nain qui tient deux chevaux +en bride derriere les Ambassadeurs; et il ajoute que ce Nain devoit tre +fort connu la Conr du Duc de Normandie. On avoue que si c'est lui en +effet qui doit s'appeller Turold, il devoit tenir aussi la Cour de son +Prince un rang distingu; sans quoi on n'auroit pas pris la peine de le +dsigner par son nom dans la tapisserie. On avoue encore que le nom de +Turold est plac l de maniere qu'on peut la rigueur le donner au Nain +aussi bien qu' l'un des deux Ambassadeurs; et comme le Nain est +appliqu tenir deux chevaux en bride, on pourrait croire enfin que +c'est le Conntable, dont les titres de l'Abbae de Facan nous ont +appris le nom: _Signum Turoldi Constabularii_. Mais le Nain est trs-mal +habill, il a son bonnet sur la tte, et tourne le dos au Comte de +Ponthieu, pendant que les deux Ambassadeurs noblement vtus regardent ce +Prince en face, et lui parlent dcouverts: trois circonstances qui ne +peuvent convenir, ni au Conntable du Duc, ni 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 adhsit; nec doctor inveniebatur, donec provisor +omnium, Deus, Normannicis oris Lanfrancum appulit. Fama periti illius +in tot ubertim innotuit Europ, unde ad magisterium ejus multi +convenerunt de Franci, de Wasconi, de Britanni, necne +Flandri."--_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 Prs, 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 Grcus +aut Arabs, voluptate traheretur eadem. Credimus autem, et credere fas +est, quissimum judicem omnium non solm in futuro, verumetiam in +prsenti seculo, illi centuplum redditurum, quod seruis suis manu sicut +larga, ita devota gratantr impendit. Ad remunerationem ver instantis +temporis pertinere non dubium est, qud, miserante Deo, sopita adversa +valetudine, sanctitatem refouit, et Monachos suos, Monachos Beccenses, +qui pr omnibus, et super omnes pro ipsius sospitate, jugi labore +supplicandi decertando pene defecerant, aura prosper valetudinis ejus +afflatos omnin redintegravit.--Nec supprimendum illud est silentio, +im, ut ita dicatur, uncialibus literis exaratum, seculo venturo +transmittendum; qud antequam convalesceret postulaverat patrem suum, ut +permitteret eam in Cœnobio Beccensi humari. Quod Rex primo abnuerat, +dicens non esse dignum, ut filia sua, Imperatrix Augusta, qu semel et +iterm in urbe Romulea, qu caput est mundi, per manus summi Pontificis +Imperiali diademate processerat insignita, in aliquo Monasterio, lict +percelebri et religione et fama, sepeliretur; sed ad civitatem +Rotomagensium, qu 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 ltam, nisi compos +voluntatis su 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 frequentis et devotis supplicationes pro +ipsis Deo offeruntur. Victus itaque pater ipsius August pietate et +prudentia fili, 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 prfixum est, sanitati integerrim +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 Alenon, 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 +pice;" others that "C'est une pice 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 Marchal 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 ra, 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 Orlans 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 Napolon, 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, studios +adornavi, honorific dedicavi, et cultoribus necessariisque divino +servitio vasis aliisque apparatibus copios 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 Orlans. +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 Franais_, 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 _Collge 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 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 Chteau +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 Spath_, +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, qu 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 aqu frigidae, qui, juxta Evangelicum verbum, suo +pollet munere. Non erg 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 solummod coelestibus reddant +intentos, qui coelestis Regis assiduo constituuntur invigilare obsequio, +participes fiant ejusmodi beneficii omnimod."--_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 qu unum Antonium +_Mallet_ habent auctorem, anno 1572, cum prorex urbis Lexoviensis +Livarotus a Carolo rege literas accepisset, quibus qui Lexovii infecti +erant hresi occidi omnes jubebantur per eos dies quibus princeps +civitas cruore ejus insani hominum commaduerat, easque communicasset +episcopo: Neque sum passurus, inquit prsul, 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, prsul consignatum manu sua +scriptum tradidit, fidem datam confirmans. Qua illico publicata +clementia, et ad errantes oves perlata, sollicitudine prsulis +vigilantis circa gregis commissi sibi salutem et conservationem, rediere +sensim in ecclesi 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 Csar, 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 _chausse_ 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 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 Orlans, 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 Prs 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 Napolon, he held the office of librarian of +Alenon, 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 Napolon.--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 Sœur, + +je recois par le Prince Aldobrandini la lettre de V.M. et la belle tasse +dont elle a daign, le charger pour moi au nom de L'empereur, je +remercie mille fois votre aimable bont, et j'ose vous prier ma tres +chere sœur 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 sant, sur votre belle grossesse, je ne +me lasse pas de les interroger, et je suis heureuse d'apprendre que vous +vous ports tres bien, que rien ne vous fatigue, et que vous avs la +plus belle grossesse qu'il soit possible de desirer, combien je desire +chere sœur que tous nos vœux soient exaucés, ne croyés cependant pas +que si vous nous donns une petite Princesse je ne l'aimerais pas. non, +elle nous serait chere, elle resemblerait a V.M. elle aurait sa douceur, +son amabilit, et ce joli caractere qui la fait cherir de ceux qui out +le bonheur de la Conaitre--mais ma chère sœur j'ai tort de m'apesantir +sur les qualits dont serait doue cette auguste princesse, vous nous +donners d'abord un prince un petit Roi de Rome, jugs 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 sœur 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 sœur soyés assés +bonne pour Conserver un souvenir a une sœur qui vous est tendrement +attache. Napolon ne cesse de lire la lettre pleine de bont que V.M. a +daign 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 Sœur + +de V.M. + +La plus attache + +[Illustration: Autograph of the Princess Borghese] + +Pitti le 18 janvier 1811 + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 66: See _Magazin Encyclopdique, 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 +prvaluerunt. Ceteris ferventis institit Yvo Carnotensis Antistes, +conculcat disciplin ecclesiastic zelo succensus; in tantum ut +Neustriacos Prsules quasi desides ac pusillanimes coarguere veritus non +sit: sed ea erat Ecclesi 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 htel, and seated ourselves +quietly before the _caff 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 +tes sous arrt."--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 _honnte htel_, 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 Htel 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 Napolon +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."--Napolon 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 Napolon 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 Napolon 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-- + + + "... _Sicerque_ 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 Napolon, 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 vers_. 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 Htel 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 me sedes utinam senect:"-- + + +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 Htel 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--CHTEAU 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 _navet_ 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 qu dicitur _Cathim_, super fluvium +Oln."--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 _pre_ and _mre_; +and the alteration in the latter case continued to be indicated by the +diresis, 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 Csar. + +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 Chtel, + 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 _Chteau 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 Abb 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 _cordelire_, +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 _Chteau 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 _Chteau 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 Abb 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 +Htel 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 antiquit 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 Napolon, 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 ra. 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 +Eccleslastic_, 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, +Napolon 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, "fminam prudenti 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 Abb 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 Abb 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 Orlans, 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 _Lyce_, 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 ra 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 HC 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 Hod, 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;-- + + + "... qu gratia currm + Armorumque fuit vivis, qu cura nitentes + Pascere equos, eadem sequitur tellure repostos." + + +The bees that adorned the imperial mantle of Napolon 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 Chtillon 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 rformez!_"--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 Dpartement 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 dpouilles mortelles + de l'illustre Fondatrice de cette Abbaye, + renvers pendant les discordes civiles, + et dplac depuis une longue srie d'annes, + a t restaur, conformment au voeu des + amis de la religion, de l'antiquit et des arts, + 1819. + Casimir, comte de Montlivault, conseiller d'tat, prfet. + Lchaud 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 Abb 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 Angoulme, 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 Abb 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 +clat 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 acm 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 Abb 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 Abb 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 +Generations_; Huet, a man seldom mentioned, without the epithet +_learned_ being attached to his name; and Halley and Mnage, 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 rgles du devoir. + Par ce sage crivain, la langue repare, + N'offrit plus rien de rude l'oreille pure. + Les stances avec grce apprirent 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 Alg_, have been +honored with admission in the _Mmoires du Musum 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 Abb de la Rue, as he is preparing a +work on the subject, _ 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. L, 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 Crcy. + +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 ir, + _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 Franaise_, 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 Dlivrande, 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 Abb +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 +_V_, which is most probably a corruption from it, retains this +signification in Norman French.--The Abb, 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 _Lproserie +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 Prmonstratensian 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 Csar. 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 Abb le Beuf, most antiquaries +still believe that Bayeux was the city called by Ptolemy the _Nomagus +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 _Bajoc_, or, as it was +occasionally written, of _Bai_ or _Bagic_. 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 Galile_ 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 Abb 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, opprims, colliers, faisceaux, blasons, + Tout dort. Du vieux chteau la taciturne enceinte + Expire. Par degrs j'ai vu sa gloire teinte. + J'ai march sur ses tours, err dans ses fosss: + Tels qu'un songe bientt ils vont tre effacs." + + +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 sicles respect, + En peignant des hros honore la beaut." + + +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 Franaise_[86], and a paper inserted in the _Mmoires de +l'Acadmie 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 Abb 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 Abb'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 sop 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 Abb +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 Abb 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 Abb 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 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 Napolon +Bonapart; 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, Bonapart 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 Abb Le Beuf has made it +the subject of a distinct paper in the _Mmoires de l'Acadmie 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: _Mmoires de l'Acadmie des Inscriptions_, XXI. p. 489.] + +[Footnote 84: _Archologia_, 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: _Archologia_, XVII. p. 85.] + +[Footnote 90: _Archologia_, 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,-- + + + "Primits 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 Dlivrande; 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 Abb Bziers, 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 Bziers, 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 Marchal 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 journe + Que la Pasques fut clbre + Noble homme et rvrend pre + Jehan de Boissy, de la mre + Eglise de Bayeux Pasteur + Rendi l'me Son Crateur + Et lors en foillant la place + Devant le grant autel de grce + Trova l'on la basse chapelle + Dont il n'avoit est nouvelle + Ou il est mis en spulture + Dieu veuille avoir son me 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 _chre +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, temer 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, qud Corbeliensis civitas pignus sacri corporis vindicavit. +Teneant illi tabernaculum beat anim in cineribus suis; nos ipsam +teneamus animam in virtutibus suis: teneant illi ossa, nos merita: apud +illos videatur remansisse quod terr 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 Bziers. + + 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 scabr circumdatus undique rupe, + Ipsius asperitate loci Falsa vocatus, + Normann in medio regionis, cujus in alt + Turres rupe sedent et mœnia; 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 Csar 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 _Fel_, 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 dextr."--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 κατ εξοχην +[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 Fel, 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 _dtour_ 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 Napolon, 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 Franais +indits_. 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 Chteau 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 Chteau 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 Pr 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 Marchal de Belle Isle, were destroyed during the reign +of jacobinism and terror. The portraits, however, of the Marshal and of +the Duc de Penthivre, 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 Bernires 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 Dlivrande_] + +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: _Antiquits Nationales_, IV. No. 48.] + +[Footnote 97: _Antiquits Nationales_, II. No. 17.] + +[Footnote 98: _Histoire de la Haute Normandie_, II. p. 332.] + +[Footnote 99: _Histoire d'Evreux_, p. 161.] + +[Footnote 100: _Antiquits 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, Antiquits 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 Dlivrande_, 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 Dlivrande, 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 chteau, and a fragment of his domain. +Cambre is also the residence of the Abb de la Rue, by whom the Marquis +was educated. When they both took refuge in England, the Abb was the +only protector of his pupil, who now returns the honorable obligation. +It is well known that the Abb 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 Abb, as may be anticipated, are of great value; they +relate almost wholly to the history of the duchy. The chteau 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 Dlivrande, +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 Dlivrande 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 +Dlivrande, six or eight church spires may be counted, all within a +league's distance. By the advice of the Abb 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. L, 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 Nomagus 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 Chteau 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 Chteau Gaillard, + of the murder of the French garrison of Evreux, + of Caen. +_Broglie_, church of. +_Bruce, David_, a resident in Chteau 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, + Chteau 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 Dlivrande. +_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, + Neufmarch. +_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 Dlivrande. +_Chapel in the castle at Caen_, built fronting the east +_Chapels_, stone-roofed, in Ireland, of Norman origin +_Charles the Bad_, born in the Chteau de Navarre +_Charters_, of the abbey of St. Georges de Bocherville +_Chteau de Navarre_ +_Chteau Gaillard_, its situation + described + account of, by Brito + history +_Chteau 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 Napolon +_Creully_, castle + church +_Crocodile fossil_, found near Caen +_Croissanville_ + + +D. + +_Dalechamps_, native of Caen +_D'Amboise, Cardinal_, built the palace at Gaillon +_Darntal_ +_De Boissy_, bishop of Bayeux, his epitaph. +_De la Rue, Abb_, + 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 Napolon, +_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, Abb_, his opinion of Vieux, +_Le Brasseur_, his account of the statues of four canons at Evreux, +_Lproserie de Beauleu_, +_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, +_Marchal de Belle Isle_, his monument, +_Margaret of Burgundy_, immured in Chteau 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. + +_Napolon_, 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, Chteau de_, +_Nomagus Viducassium_, probably the modern Bayeux, +_Neomagus Lexoviorum_, site of, lately discovered, +_Neufmarch_, castle of, +_Normandy_, divided anew, under Philip Augustus, +_Notre Dame de la Dlivrande_, 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 Chteau 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 Prs_, 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 Abb 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 Becket_, retired during his disgrace to Lisieux, +_Tiles, painted_, in the palace at Caen, + supposed to prove the antiquity of heraldic bearings, +_Tombeau des nervez_, 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 of Account of a Tour in Normandy, Vol. +II. (of 2), by Dawson Turner + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOUR IN NORMANDY, VOL. II. *** + +***** This file should be named 12538-8.txt or 12538-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/5/3/12538/ + +Produced by Carlo Traverso, David Cavanagh and Distributed +Proofreaders Europe, http://dp.rastko.net. This file was produced +from images generously made available by the Bibliotheque nationale +de France (BnF/Gallica) at http://gallica.bnf.fr. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's +eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, +compressed (zipped), HTML and others. + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over +the old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed. +VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving +new filenames and etext numbers. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000, +are filed in directories based on their release date. If you want to +download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular +search system you may utilize the following addresses and just +download by the etext year. + + https://www.gutenberg.org/etext06 + + (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, + 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90) + +EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are +filed in a different way. The year of a release date is no longer part +of the directory path. The path is based on the etext number (which is +identical to the filename). The path to the file is made up of single +digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename. For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: + https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + + diff --git a/old/old/12538-8.zip b/old/old/12538-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6d1e9d1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/12538-8.zip diff --git a/old/old/12538.txt b/old/old/12538.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..928590e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/12538.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9424 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Account of a Tour in Normandy, Vol. II. +(of 2), by Dawson Turner + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Account of a Tour in Normandy, Vol. II. (of 2) + +Author: Dawson Turner + +Release Date: June 6, 2004 [EBook #12538] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOUR IN NORMANDY, VOL. II. *** + + + + +Produced by Carlo Traverso, David Cavanagh and Distributed +Proofreaders Europe, http://dp.rastko.net. This file was produced +from images generously made available by the Bibliotheque nationale +de France (BnF/Gallica) at http://gallica.bnf.fr. + + + + + +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 Neufmarche--Castle and Church of Gisors + +LETTER XVII. + +Andelys--Fountain of Saint Clotilda--La Grande Maison--Chateau +Gaillard--Ecouis + +LETTER XVIII. + +Evreux--Cathedral--Abbey of St. Taurinus--Ancient History + +LETTER XIX. + +Vicinity of Evreux--Chateau 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--Chateau 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 Chateau 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 _Chateau 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 Delivrande_ + +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 aera of the erection of the church, is preserved by +Mabillon[2]. It is the Conqueror who speaks.--"Radulfus, meus magister, +aulaeque et camerae princeps, instinctu divino tactus, ecclesiam +supradicti martyris Georgii, quae 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 longaevus dierum, idibus Martii, seu XVIII calendas Aprilis, ante +annum 1211; sepultusque est sub tabula marmorea 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 Pres, at Paris, all which are figured by Montfaucon +in his _Monumens de la Monarchie Francaise_, 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, quod Lucia, filia Willelmi, +Camerarii de Tancarvilla, pro anima sua et pro animabus antecessorum +suorum, ad ecclesiam Sti. Georgii de Bauchervilla dedit molendinum de +Waldinivilla, quod est subter aliud molendinum et molendinum de +Waldinval, libere et quiete, et insuper ecclesiam de Seonvilla, salva +elemosina Roberti sacerdotis in vita sua, si dignus est habendi eam. Et +post mortem Willelmi capellani sui de Sancto Flocello, ad ecclesiam +supra dictam dedit decimam de vavassoribus de Seolvilla, quam dedit in +elemosina habendam Willelmo capellano tota vita bene et in pace et +secure, et decimas de custodiis totius terre sue que est in +Constantino.--Ego Lucia do hanc elemosinam pro anima mea et pro +antecessoribus ad ecclesiam Sanctii Georgii; et qui auferet ab ea et +auferetur ab eo regnum Dei. Amen.--Testibus, Ricardo de Haia et Matille +uxore sua 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 quod +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:--"Haec +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 honorifica processione susceperunt 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 decima, et ecclesiam Sancti +Romani cum duabus partibus decime, et similiter ecclesiam de +Tibermaisnil: confirmavi etiam dona militum meorum et amicorum quae +dederunt ipso die abbatie in perpetuam elemosynam, Rogerius de Calli +dedit XX Sot. annuatim; Robertus de Mortuomari 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: honeste induti, crucibus et +thuribus, ad Sanctum Georgium processerunt, et animam Regis, secundum +morem sanctae 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 illic gemunt, qui in flammis ultricibus non erunt +gemituri;" or from _gemma_, conformably to the following distich,-- + + + "Gemmeticum siquidem a gemma dixere priores; + Quod reliquis gemmae, praecelleret instar Eoae." + + +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 saeculo 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 Pepin 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 aera 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 aera 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, "lamentabiliter 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 _abime_ +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 + Zacariae 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 Beaute_.--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 Beaulte, +d'Yssouldun, et de Vernon sur Seine, piteuse entre toutes gens, qui de +ses biens donnoit largement aux gens d'eglise 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 enervez_, 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 _enervez_.--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.--"Congrue sane 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 vites, humum +undique cinctam aquis, pascua pecorum uberrima, loca venationi apta, +avium cantu circumsonantia. Sequana fluvius illic cernitur late ambiens: +et deinde 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 prae 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 praedicatione efferendus: qui instar Patriarchae +Jacob, in animabus septuaginta, demigravit in hanc eremum, addito grege +septemplici, propter septiformem gratiam spiritus sancti. Ibi enim eius +prudentia construxit mA"nia quadrata, turrita mole surgentia; claustra +excipiendis adventantibus mire 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_ Arae dant +gloriam Deo; adherent vero a Borea, _Dyonisii_ Martyris, et _Germani_ +Confessoris, aediculae; in dextra 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 fenestrae vitreae: subtus habet geminas aedes, 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 aquae ex parte terrae Monachorum, et _Graspais_, si forte +capiatur."--The word _Graspais_ is explained by Ducange to be a +corruption of _crassus piscis_. Noel (in his _Essais sur le Departement +de la Seine Inferieure_, 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 +laicorum, spretis secularibus pompis, collecta, Christo Regi militatura, +propria colla saluberrimo iugo subegit. Cuius loci Monachi, sive incolae, +Paganorum adventum comperientes, fuga lapsi quaedam suarum rerum sub +terra occulentes, quaedam secum asportantes, Deo juvante evaserunt. +Pagani locum vacuum reperientes, Monasterium sanctae Mariae sanctique +Petri, et cuncta aedificia igne iniecto adurunt, in solitudinem omnia +redigentes. Hac itaque patrata eversione, locus, qui tauto honoris +splendore diu viguerat, exturbatis omnibus ac subuersis domibus, cA"pit +esse cubile ferarum et volucrum: maceriis in sua soliditate in sublime +porrectis, arbustisque densissimis; et arborum virgultis per triginta +ferme 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 _Precis Analitique des +Travaux de l'Academie de Rouen_, 1815, p. 131.] + +[Footnote 18: _Histoire de la Haute Normandie_, II, p. 260.] + + + + +LETTER XVI. + +GOURNAY--CASTLE OF NEUFMARCHE--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 Neufchatel_ is one of the only two French +cheeses which are honored with a place in the bill of fare at Very'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 _degagee_, 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 Darnetal, 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 Feuillee 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 aera, 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 populosa genta superbum, + Divitiis plenum variis, famaque 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 praeerat Gornacius HUGO. + Fossae cujus erant amplae 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, subitaque voragine tota + Vallis abit maris in speciem, ruit impete vasto + Eluvies damnosa satis, damnosa colonis. + * * * * * + Municipes fugiunt ne submergantur, et omnis + Se populus villa viduat, vacuamque relinquit. + * * * * * + Armis villa potens, muris munita virisque, + Arte capi nulla 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-aedificat 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 Neufmarche, 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. +Neufmarche, 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 guere 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 Belleme 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 aera, 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, Tillieres, Nonancourt, Anet, Ivry, Chateau-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 aeras, but principally +of the latter half of the sixteenth century, a time when, as a Frenchman +told me, "l'on commenca a batir 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 cum regi Angliae constaret, +reversus est in Normanniam; et, accepte colloquio inter ipsum et Regem +Franciae 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 sapientiae et intellectus, miro +modo praedicavit verbum Domini coram regibus et principibus. Et convertit +corda eorum ad crucem capiendam; et qui prius hostes erant, illo +praedicante, 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 cA"lo. Quo viso miraculo, plures catervatim ruebant ad +susceptionem crucis. Praedicti vero reges in susceptionem crucis, ad +cognoscendum gentem suam, signum sibi et suis providerunt. Rex namque +Franciae et gens sua receperunt cruces rubeas et Rex Angliae 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--CHATEAU +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 AElfgiva, 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 Chateau Gaillard] + +I doubt, however, whether we should have travelled hither, had we not +been attracted by the celebrity of the castle, called _Chateau +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 +Chateau 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 Chateau 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. Chateau 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 aequis; + 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 + Quae fuit una modo muro geminata sequestro. + Ut si forte pati partem contingeret istam + Altera municipes, queat, et se tuta tueri. + Inde rotundavit rupem, quae celsior omni + Planitie summum se tollit in aera sursum; + Et muris sepsit, extremas desuper oras + Castigansque jugi scrupulosa cacumina, totum + Complanat medium, multaeque capacia turbae + Plurima cum domibus habitacula fabricat intus. + Umboni parcens soli, quo condidit arcem. + Hic situs iste decor, munitio talis honorem + Gaillardae rupis per totum praedicat 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 Chateau 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 Chateau +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 Chateau +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 Daedalus, 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 Chateau 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 Chateau 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 Chateau 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 praecinctus, 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 frere, + 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 illa gente fuisse, ut multi ex Britannia, +monastiae conversationis gratia, Francorum monasteria adirent, sed et +filias suas eisdem erudiendas ac sponso coelesti copulandas mitterent, +maxime 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 Francaise_, 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, postea ad religionem +transeuntium et in ea praefectorum. Alter fuit Franciscanus; altera vero +Clarissa."] + +[Footnote 35: _Histoire du Duche 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,-- + + + "IsI+-I I deg.I muII+-I1/4I muI...I, I deg.I muII+-I1/4I muI I|I'I?I1/2I muI muI I deg.I+-I I"I muI deg.I"I?I1/2I I"I muI deg.I"I%I1/2."-- + + +[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 adversae totus inardens, + Ebroicas primo 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 aera 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 Fecamp, respecting the right of +nominating one of their own brethren to the head of their community, a +right which was claimed by Fecamp; 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 _chasse_, 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. Caesar, +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 salubriter 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 Ebroicam 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 + Ebroicis 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 quaerens magis angere luctu: + Talibus obsequiis, tali mercede rependens + Millia marcharum, quas Rex donaverat illi. + Tam detestanda pollutus caede Johannes + Ad fratrem properat; sed Rex tam flagitiosus + Non placuit fratri: quis enim, nisi daemone 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, fraternae 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 _Duche pairie_, by Charles IXth, +who, having taken the lordship of Gisors from his brother, the Duc +d'Alencon, 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 Ferriere 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 _naeivete_ by Ordericus Vitalis, p. +852, as follows:--"Henricus Rex rebellibus ultra 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 Praesul, quod repellimur ab hostibus, nec eos nisi per ignem +subjugare poterimus? Verum, si ignis immittitur, Ecclesiae comburentur, +et insontibus ingens damnum inferetur. Nunc ergo, Pastor Ecclesiae, +diligenter considera, et quod utilius prospexeris provide nobis insinua. +Si victoria nobis per incendium divinitus conceditur, opitulante Deo, +Ecclesiae detrimenta restaurabuntur: quia de thesauris nostris commodos +sumptus gratanter largiemur. Unde domus Dei, ut reor, in melius +reaedificabuntur." Haesitat in tanto discrimine Praesul auxius, ignorat +quid jubeat divinae dispositioni competentius: nescit quid debeat magis +velle vel eligere salubrius. Tandem prudentum consultu praecepit 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 gloriosae virginis et matris +Mariae, cui Praesul et Clerus serviebant, ubi Pontificalem Curiam +parochiani frequentabant. Rex, et cuncti Optimales sui Episcopo pro +Ecclesiarum combustione vadimonium suppliciter 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 +Comte d'Evreux_, p. 11.--"Le Diocese d'Evreux a ete si favorise des +graces de Dieu, qu'on ne voit presqu'aucun temps ou l'Heresie y ait +penetre, meme lorsque les Protestans inondoient et corrompoient toute la +France, et particulierement la Normandie. On ne peut pas cependant +desavoueer qu'il y a eu de temps en temps, quelques personnes qui se sont +livrees a l'erreur; et l'on peut remarquer quatre Statues attachees a +deux piliers au dehors du chancel de l'Eglise Cathedrale du cote du +Cimetiere, dont trois representent trois Chanoines, la tete couverte de +leurs Aumuces selon la coutume de ce temps-la, et une quatrieme qui +represente un Chanoine a un pilier plus eloigne, la tete nue, tenant sa +main sur le coeur comme un signe de son repentir; parce que la tradition +dit, qu'aiant ete atteint et convaincu du crime d'heresie, le Chapitre +l'avoit interdit des fonctions de son Benefice; mais qu'aiant ensuite +abjure son erreur, le meme Chapitre le retablit dans tous ses droits, +honneurs, et privileges: cependant il fut ordonne qu'en memoire de +l'egarement et de la penitence de ce Chanoine, ces Statues demeureroient +attachees aux piliers de leur Eglise, lorsqu'elle fut rebatie des +deniers de Henry I. Roy d'Angleterre, par les soins d'Audoenus Eveque +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 secunda +persecutione, quae sub Domitiano in Christianos furuit, Dionysius +Parisiensis Episcopus Taurinum filiolum suum jam quadragenarium, +Praesulem ordinavit; et (vaticinatis pluribus quae passurus erat) +Ebroicensibus in nomine Domini direxit. Viro Dei ad portas civitatis +appropinquanti, daemon 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 praedicaret, et dulcedo fidei novis auditoribus +multum placeret, dolens diabolus Eufrasiam Lucii filiam vexare coepit, +et in ignem jecit. Quae statim mortua est; sed paulo post, orante Taurino +ac jubente ut resurgeret, in nomine Domini resuscitata est. Nullum in ea +adustionis signum apparuit. Omnes igitur hoc miraculum videntes subito +territi sunt, et obstupescentes in Dominum Jesum Christum crediderunt. +In illa die cxx. homines baptizati sunt. Octo caeci 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 Comte d'Evreux_, p. 4.] + +[Footnote 45: _Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni_, p. 555.] + +[Footnote 46: _Goube, Histoire du Duche de Normandie_, III. p. 223.] + + + + +LETTER XIX. + +VICINITY OF EVREUX--CHATEAU 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 Chateau de Navarre, which is not more than a mile and half +distant from the town.--This Chateau, 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 Chateau, 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 Josephine, 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 Abbe 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 Abbe 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 Pres, 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 Pres 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 II+-I"' I muI3/4I?II.I1/2 [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. Lo; 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 _benitier_ +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 epoux fidele et de lui tenir fidelite +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 _Archaeologia_, 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 depot 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 nosse quis ipse fuit. + Dum quater hic denos aevi venisset ad annos, + Quae fuerant secli sprevit amore Dei. + Mutans ergo vices, mundi de milite miles + Fit Christi subito, Monachus ex laico. + Hinc sibi, more patrum, socians collegia fratrum, + Cura, qua decuit, rexit eos, aluit. + Quot quantasque vides, hic solus condidit aedes, + Non tam divitiis quam fidei meritis. + Quas puer haud didicit scripturas postea scivit, + Doctus ut indoctum vix sequeretur eum. + Flentibus hunc nobis tulit inclementia mortis + Sextilis quina bisque die decima. + Herluine pater, sic cA"lica scandis ovantA"r; + 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 +Francaise_, I. p. 378.) that he is the person thus denominated. But M. +Lancelot, in the _Memoires de l'Academie 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 ete faite par ordre de la Reine Mathilde +femme du Conquerant, pour representer les circonstances principales de +cette memorable expedition, on lit distinctement le mot _Turold_ a cote +d'un des Ambassadeurs, que Guillaume avoit envoiez au Comte de Ponthieu; +et je ne doute nullement que ce Turold ne soit le meme que le +Connetable. Le scavant Auteur des Antiquitez de notre Monarchie croit +cependant que ce mot doit se rapporter a un Nain qui tient deux chevaux +en bride derriere les Ambassadeurs; et il ajoute que ce Nain devoit etre +fort connu a la Conr du Duc de Normandie. On avoue que si c'est lui en +effet qui doit s'appeller Turold, il devoit tenir aussi a la Cour de son +Prince un rang distingue; sans quoi on n'auroit pas pris la peine de le +designer par son nom dans la tapisserie. On avoue encore que le nom de +Turold est place la de maniere qu'on peut a la rigueur le donner au Nain +aussi bien qu'a l'un des deux Ambassadeurs; et comme le Nain est +applique a tenir deux chevaux en bride, on pourrait croire enfin que +c'est le Connetable, dont les titres de l'Abbaie de Facan nous ont +appris le nom: _Signum Turoldi Constabularii_. Mais le Nain est tres-mal +habille, il a son bonnet sur la tete, et tourne le dos au Comte de +Ponthieu, pendant que les deux Ambassadeurs noblement vetus regardent ce +Prince en face, et lui parlent decouverts: trois circonstances qui ne +peuvent convenir, ni au Connetable du Duc, ni a 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 adhaesit; nec doctor inveniebatur, donec provisor +omnium, Deus, Normannicis oris Lanfrancum appulit. Fama peritiae illius +in tota ubertim innotuit Europa, unde ad magisterium ejus multi +convenerunt de Francia, de Wasconia, de Britannia, necne +Flandria."--_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 Pres, 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 Graecus +aut Arabs, voluptate traheretur eadem. Credimus autem, et credere fas +est, aequissimum judicem omnium non solum in futuro, verumetiam in +praesenti seculo, illi centuplum redditurum, quod seruis suis manu sicut +larga, ita devota gratanter impendit. Ad remunerationem vero instantis +temporis pertinere non dubium est, quod, miserante Deo, sopita adversa +valetudine, sanctitatem refouit, et Monachos suos, Monachos Beccenses, +qui prae omnibus, et super omnes pro ipsius sospitate, jugi labore +supplicandi decertando pene defecerant, aura prosperae valetudinis ejus +afflatos omnino redintegravit.--Nec supprimendum illud est silentio, +imo, ut ita dicatur, uncialibus literis exaratum, seculo venturo +transmittendum; quod antequam convalesceret postulaverat patrem suum, ut +permitteret eam in CA"nobio Beccensi humari. Quod Rex primo abnuerat, +dicens non esse dignum, ut filia sua, Imperatrix Augusta, quae semel et +iterum in urbe Romulea, quae caput est mundi, per manus summi Pontificis +Imperiali diademate processerat insignita, in aliquo Monasterio, licet +percelebri et religione et fama, sepeliretur; sed ad civitatem +Rotomagensium, quae 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 laetam, nisi compos +voluntatis suae 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 frequentius et devotius supplicationes pro +ipsis Deo offeruntur. Victus itaque pater ipsius Augustae pietate et +prudentia filiae, 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 praefixum est, sanitati integerrimae +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 Alencon, 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 +piece;" others that "C'est une piece 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 Marechal 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 aera, 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 Orleans 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 Napoleon, 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, studiose +adornavi, honorifice dedicavi, et cultoribus necessariisque divino +servitio vasis aliisque apparatibus copiose 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 Orleans. +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 Francais_, 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 _College 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 a 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 Chateau +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 Spathae_, +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, quae 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 aquae frigidae, qui, juxta Evangelicum verbum, suo +pollet munere. Non ergo 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 solummodo coelestibus reddant +intentos, qui coelestis Regis assiduo constituuntur invigilare obsequio, +participes fiant ejusmodi beneficii omnimodo."--_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 quae unum Antonium +_Mallet_ habent auctorem, anno 1572, cum prorex urbis Lexoviensis +Livarotus a Carolo rege literas accepisset, quibus qui Lexovii infecti +erant haeresi occidi omnes jubebantur per eos dies quibus princeps +civitas cruore ejus insaniae hominum commaduerat, easque communicasset +episcopo: Neque sum passurus, inquit praesul, 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, praesul consignatum manu sua +scriptum tradidit, fidem datam confirmans. Qua illico publicata +clementia, et ad errantes oves perlata, sollicitudine praesulis +vigilantis circa gregis commissi sibi salutem et conservationem, rediere +sensim in ecclesiae 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 Caesar, 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 _chaussee_ 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 a 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 Orleans, 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 Pres 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 Napoleon, he held the office of librarian of +Alencon, 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 Napoleon.--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 SA"ur, + +je recois par le Prince Aldobrandini la lettre de V.M. et la belle tasse +dont elle a daigne, le charger pour moi au nom de L'empereur, je +remercie mille fois votre aimable bonte, et j'ose vous prier ma tres +chere sA"ur d'Atre 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 sante, sur votre belle grossesse, je ne +me lasse pas de les interroger, et je suis heureuse d'apprendre que vous +vous portes tres bien, que rien ne vous fatigue, et que vous aves la +plus belle grossesse qu'il soit possible de desirer, combien je desire +chere sA"ur que tous nos vA"ux soient exaucA(C)s, ne croyA(C)s cependant pas +que si vous nous donnes une petite Princesse je ne l'aimerais pas. non, +elle nous serait chere, elle resemblerait a V.M. elle aurait sa douceur, +son amabilite, et ce joli caractere qui la fait cherir de ceux qui out +le bonheur de la Conaitre--mais ma chA"re sA"ur j'ai tort de m'apesantir +sur les qualites dont serait douee cette auguste princesse, vous nous +donneres d'abord un prince un petit Roi de Rome, juges 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 sA"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 sA"ur soyA(C)s assA(C)s +bonne pour Conserver un souvenir a une sA"ur qui vous est tendrement +attachee. Napoleon ne cesse de lire la lettre pleine de bonte que V.M. a +daigne 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 SA"ur + +de V.M. + +La plus attachee + +[Illustration: Autograph of the Princess Borghese] + +Pitti le 18 janvier 1811 + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 66: See _Magazin Encyclopedique, 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 +praevaluerunt. Ceteris ferventius institit Yvo Carnotensis Antistes, +conculcatae disciplinae ecclesiasticae zelo succensus; in tantum ut +Neustriacos Praesules quasi desides ac pusillanimes coarguere veritus non +sit: sed ea erat Ecclesiae 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 hotel, and seated ourselves +quietly before the _caffe 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 +etes sous arret."--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 _honnete hotel_, 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 Hotel 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 Napoleon +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."--Napoleon 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 Napoleon 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 Napoleon 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-- + + + "... _Siceraeque_ 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 Napoleon, 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 versa_. 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 Hotel 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 meae sedes utinam senectae:"-- + + +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 Hotel 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--CHATEAU 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 _naivete_ 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 quae dicitur _Cathim_, super fluvium +Olnae."--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 _pere_ and _mere_; +and the alteration in the latter case continued to be indicated by the +diaeresis, 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 Caesar. + +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 Chatel, + 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 _Chateau 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 Abbe 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 _cordeliere_, +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 _Chateau 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 _Chateau 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 Abbe 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 +Hotel 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 antiquite 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 Napoleon, 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 aera. 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 +Eccleslasticae_, 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, +Napoleon 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, "faeminam prudentiae 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 Abbe 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 Abbe 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 Orleans, 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 _Lycee_, 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 aera 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 HAEC 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 Hode, 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;-- + + + "... quae gratia currum + Armorumque fuit vivis, quae cura nitentes + Pascere equos, eadem sequitur tellure repostos." + + +The bees that adorned the imperial mantle of Napoleon 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 Chatillon 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 reformez!_"--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 Departement 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 depouilles mortelles + de l'illustre Fondatrice de cette Abbaye, + renverse pendant les discordes civiles, + et deplace depuis une longue serie d'annees, + a ete restaure, conformement au voeu des + amis de la religion, de l'antiquite et des arts, + 1819. + Casimir, comte de Montlivault, conseiller d'etat, prefet. + Lechaude 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 Abbe 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 Angouleme, 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 Abbe 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 +eclat 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 acme 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 Abbe 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 Abbe 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 +Generationis_; Huet, a man seldom mentioned, without the epithet +_learned_ being attached to his name; and Halley and Menage, 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 regles du devoir. + Par ce sage ecrivain, la langue reparee, + N'offrit plus rien de rude a l'oreille epuree. + Les stances avec grace apprirent a 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 Algae_, have been +honored with admission in the _Memoires du Museum 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 Abbe de la Rue, as he is preparing a +work on the subject, _a 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. Lo, 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 Crecy. + +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 ira, + _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 Francaise_, 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 Delivrande, 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 Abbe +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 +_Ve_, which is most probably a corruption from it, retains this +signification in Norman French.--The Abbe, 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 _Leproserie +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 Praemonstratensian 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 Caesar. 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 Abbe le Beuf, most antiquaries +still believe that Bayeux was the city called by Ptolemy the _Naeomagus +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 _Bajocae_, or, as it was +occasionally written, of _Baiae_ or _Bagicae_. 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 Galileae_ 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 Abbe 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, opprimes, colliers, faisceaux, blasons, + Tout dort. Du vieux chateau la taciturne enceinte + Expire. Par degres j'ai vu sa gloire eteinte. + J'ai marche sur ses tours, erre dans ses fosses: + Tels qu'un songe bientot ils vont etre effaces." + + +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 siecles respecte, + En peignant des heros honore la beaute." + + +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 Francaise_[86], and a paper inserted in the _Memoires de +l'Academie 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 Abbe 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 Abbe'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 AEsop 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 Abbe +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 Abbe 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 Abbe 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 a 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 Napoleon +Bonaparte; 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, Bonaparte 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 Abbe Le Beuf has made it +the subject of a distinct paper in the _Memoires de l'Academie 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: _Memoires de l'Academie des Inscriptions_, XXI. p. 489.] + +[Footnote 84: _Archaeologia_, 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: _Archaeologia_, XVII. p. 85.] + +[Footnote 90: _Archaeologia_, 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,-- + + + "Primitus 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 Delivrande; 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 Abbe Beziers, 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 Beziers, 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 Marechal 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 journee + Que la Pasques fut celebree + Noble homme et reverend pere + Jehan de Boissy, de la mere + Eglise de Bayeux Pasteur + Rendi l'ame a Son Createur + Et lors en foillant la place + Devant le grant autel de grace + Trova l'on la basse chapelle + Dont il n'avoit este nouvelle + Ou il est mis en sepulture + Dieu veuille avoir son ame 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 _chere +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, temere 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, quod Corbeliensis civitas pignus sacri corporis vindicavit. +Teneant illi tabernaculum beatae animae in cineribus suis; nos ipsam +teneamus animam in virtutibus suis: teneant illi ossa, nos merita: apud +illos videatur remansisse quod terrae 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 Beziers. + + 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 scabra circumdatus undique rupe, + Ipsius asperitate loci Falaesa vocatus, + Normannae in medio regionis, cujus in alta + Turres rupe sedent et mA"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 Caesar 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 _Fele_, 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 dextrae."--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 II+-I" I muI3/4I?II.I1/2 +[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 Fele, 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 _detour_ 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 Napoleon, 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 Francais +inedits_. 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 Chateau 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 Chateau 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 Pre 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 Marechal de Belle Isle, were destroyed during the reign +of jacobinism and terror. The portraits, however, of the Marshal and of +the Duc de Penthievre, 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 Bernieres 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 Delivrande_] + +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: _Antiquites Nationales_, IV. No. 48.] + +[Footnote 97: _Antiquites Nationales_, II. No. 17.] + +[Footnote 98: _Histoire de la Haute Normandie_, II. p. 332.] + +[Footnote 99: _Histoire d'Evreux_, p. 161.] + +[Footnote 100: _Antiquites 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, Antiquites 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 Delivrande_, 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 Delivrande, 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 chateau, and a fragment of his domain. +Cambre is also the residence of the Abbe de la Rue, by whom the Marquis +was educated. When they both took refuge in England, the Abbe was the +only protector of his pupil, who now returns the honorable obligation. +It is well known that the Abbe 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 Abbe, as may be anticipated, are of great value; they +relate almost wholly to the history of the duchy. The chateau 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 Delivrande, +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 Delivrande 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 +Delivrande, six or eight church spires may be counted, all within a +league's distance. By the advice of the Abbe 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. Lo, 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 Naeomagus 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 Chateau 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 Chateau Gaillard, + of the murder of the French garrison of Evreux, + of Caen. +_Broglie_, church of. +_Bruce, David_, a resident in Chateau 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, + Chateau 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 Delivrande. +_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, + Neufmarche. +_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 Delivrande. +_Chapel in the castle at Caen_, built fronting the east +_Chapels_, stone-roofed, in Ireland, of Norman origin +_Charles the Bad_, born in the Chateau de Navarre +_Charters_, of the abbey of St. Georges de Bocherville +_Chateau de Navarre_ +_Chateau Gaillard_, its situation + described + account of, by Brito + history +_Chateau 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 Napoleon +_Creully_, castle + church +_Crocodile fossil_, found near Caen +_Croissanville_ + + +D. + +_Dalechamps_, native of Caen +_D'Amboise, Cardinal_, built the palace at Gaillon +_Darnetal_ +_De Boissy_, bishop of Bayeux, his epitaph. +_De la Rue, Abbe_, + 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 Napoleon, +_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, Abbe_, his opinion of Vieux, +_Le Brasseur_, his account of the statues of four canons at Evreux, +_Leproserie de Beauileu_, +_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, +_Marechal de Belle Isle_, his monument, +_Margaret of Burgundy_, immured in Chateau 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. + +_Napoleon_, 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, Chateau de_, +_Naeomagus Viducassium_, probably the modern Bayeux, +_Neomagus Lexoviorum_, site of, lately discovered, +_Neufmarche_, castle of, +_Normandy_, divided anew, under Philip Augustus, +_Notre Dame de la Delivrande_, 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 Chateau 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 Pres_, 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 Abbe 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 a Becket_, retired during his disgrace to Lisieux, +_Tiles, painted_, in the palace at Caen, + supposed to prove the antiquity of heraldic bearings, +_Tombeau des enervez_, 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 of Account of a Tour in Normandy, Vol. +II. (of 2), by Dawson Turner + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOUR IN NORMANDY, VOL. II. *** + +***** This file should be named 12538.txt or 12538.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/5/3/12538/ + +Produced by Carlo Traverso, David Cavanagh and Distributed +Proofreaders Europe, http://dp.rastko.net. This file was produced +from images generously made available by the Bibliotheque nationale +de France (BnF/Gallica) at http://gallica.bnf.fr. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's +eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, +compressed (zipped), HTML and others. + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over +the old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed. +VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving +new filenames and etext numbers. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000, +are filed in directories based on their release date. If you want to +download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular +search system you may utilize the following addresses and just +download by the etext year. + + https://www.gutenberg.org/etext06 + + (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, + 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90) + +EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are +filed in a different way. The year of a release date is no longer part +of the directory path. The path is based on the etext number (which is +identical to the filename). The path to the file is made up of single +digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename. For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: + https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + + diff --git a/old/old/12538.zip b/old/old/12538.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..79fbc0d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/12538.zip diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-0.txt b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..44f5aff --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9364 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of Account of a Tour in Normandy, Vol. II. (of 2), by Dawson Turner + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you +will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before +using this eBook. + +Title: Account of a Tour in Normandy, Vol. II. (of 2) + +Author: Dawson Turner + +Release Date: June 6, 2004 [eBook #12538] +[Most recently updated: May 2, 2023] + +Language: English + +Produced by: Carlo Traverso, David Cavanagh and Distributed Proofreaders Europe + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ACCOUNT OF A TOUR IN NORMANDY, VOL. II. *** + + + + +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,-- + + + "Και ϰεÏαμευς ϰεÏαμει Φϑονεει ϰαι τεϰτονι τεϰτων."-- + + +[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 κατ' εξοχην [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 κατ εξοχην +[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 ACCOUNT OF A TOUR IN NORMANDY, VOL. II. *** + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the +United States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ +concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, +and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following +the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use +of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for +copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very +easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation +of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project +Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may +do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected +by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark +license, especially commercial redistribution. + +START: FULL LICENSE + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project +Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full +Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at +www.gutenberg.org/license. + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project +Gutenberg™ electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™ +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or +destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your +possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a +Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound +by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the +person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph +1.E.8. + +1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this +agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™ +electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the +Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection +of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual +works in the collection are in the public domain in the United +States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the +United States and you are located in the United States, we do not +claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, +displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as +all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope +that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting +free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™ +works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the +Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easily +comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the +same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when +you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are +in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, +check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this +agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, +distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any +other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no +representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any +country other than the United States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other +immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear +prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work +on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the +phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, +performed, viewed, copied or distributed: + + This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and + most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no + restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it + under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this + eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the + United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where + you are located before using this eBook. + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is +derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not +contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the +copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in +the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are +redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project +Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply +either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or +obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™ +trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any +additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms +will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works +posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the +beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™ +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg™ License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including +any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access +to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format +other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official +version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website +(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense +to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means +of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain +Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the +full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works +provided that: + +• You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed + to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has + agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid + within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are + legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty + payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in + Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg + Literary Archive Foundation.” + +• You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™ + License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all + copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue + all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™ + works. + +• You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of + any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of + receipt of the work. + +• You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project +Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than +are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing +from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of +the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set +forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project +Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™ +electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may +contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate +or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or +other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or +cannot be read by your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right +of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium +with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you +with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in +lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person +or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second +opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If +the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing +without further opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you “AS-IS”, WITH NO +OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of +damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement +violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the +agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or +limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or +unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the +remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in +accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the +production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™ +electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, +including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of +the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this +or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or +additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any +Defect you cause. + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™ + +Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of +computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It +exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations +from people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™'s +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future +generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see +Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at +www.gutenberg.org + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by +U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, +Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up +to date contact information can be found at the Foundation's website +and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without +widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND +DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular +state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To +donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project +Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be +freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and +distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of +volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in +the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not +necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper +edition. + +Most people start at our website which has the main PG search +facility: www.gutenberg.org + +This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-0.zip b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..428878b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-0.zip diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h.zip b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..409e349 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h.zip diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/12538-h.htm b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/12538-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b08b5f9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/12538-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,11728 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="fr" lang="fr"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Account Of A Tour In Normandy - Volume II, By Dawson Turner</title> +<style type="text/css"> + + P { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em;} + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%;} + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .note {margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} /* footnote */ + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + right: 100%; + font-size: 8pt; + color: black} /* page numbers */ + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem p.i2 {margin-left: 2em;} + .poem p.i4 {margin-left: 4em;} + .poem p.i1 {margin-left: 1em;} + .poem .caesura {vertical-align: -200%;} + p.r {text-align: right;} + .ctr {text-align: center;} + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none;} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none;} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none;} + a:hover {color:red} + ul.none {list-style-type:none} + +</style> +</head> +<body> + +<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Account of a Tour in Normandy, Vol. II. (of 2), by Dawson Turner</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Account of a Tour in Normandy, Vol. II. (of 2)</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Dawson Turner</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: June 6, 2004 [eBook #12538]<br /> +[Most recently updated: May 2, 2023]</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Carlo Traverso, David Cavanagh and Distributed Proofreaders Europe</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ACCOUNT OF A TOUR IN NORMANDY, VOL. II. ***</div> + +<h1>Account Of A Tour In Normandy - Volume II</h1> + +<h3>Dawson Turner</h3> + +<h2>LETTERS FROM NORMANDY,</h2> + +<h4>ADDRESSED</h4> + +<h3>TO THE REV. JAMES LAYTON, B.A.</h3> + +<h4>OF</h4> + +<h3>CATFIELD, NORFOLK.</h3> + +<h5>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.</h5> + +<h5>ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS.</h5> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XIV"><b>LETTER XIV.</b></a></p> + +<p>Ducler—St. Georges de Bocherville—M. Langlois</p> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XV"><b>LETTER XV.</b></a></p> + +<p>Abbey of Jumieges—Its History—Architectural +Details—Tombs of Agnes Sorel and of the Enervez</p> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XVI"><b>LETTER XVI.</b></a></p> + +<p>Gournay—Castle of Neufmarché—Castle and +Church of Gisors</p> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XVII"><b>LETTER XVII.</b></a></p> + +<p>Andelys—Fountain of Saint Clotilda—La Grande +Maison—Château Gaillard—Ecouis</p> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XVIII"><b>LETTER XVIII.</b></a></p> + +<p>Evreux—Cathedral—Abbey of St. Taurinus—Ancient +History</p> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XIX"><b>LETTER XIX.</b></a></p> + +<p>Vicinity of Evreux—Château de +Navarre—Cocherel—Pont-Audemer— +Montfort-sur-Risle—Harfleur—Bourg-Achard—French +Wedding</p> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XX"><b>LETTER XX.</b></a></p> + +<p>Moulineaux—Castle of Robert the +Devil—Bourg-Theroude—Abbey of Bec—Brionne</p> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XXI"><b>LETTER XXI.</b></a></p> + +<p> +Bernay—Broglie—Orbec—Lisieux—Cathedral—Ecclesiastical +History</p> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XXII"><b>LETTER XXII.</b></a></p> + +<p>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</p> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XXIII"><b>LETTER XXIII.</b></a></p> + +<p>French Police—Ride from Lisieux to +Caen—Cider—General Appearance and Trade of +Caen—English resident there</p> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XXIV"><b>LETTER XXIV.</b></a></p> + +<p>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</p> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XXV"><b>LETTER XXV.</b></a></p> + +<p>Royal Abbeys of the Holy Trinity and St. Stephen—Funeral +of the Conqueror, Exhumation of his Remains, and Destruction of his +Monument</p> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XXVI"><b>LETTER XXVI.</b></a></p> + +<p>Palace of the Conqueror—Heraldic Tiles—Portraits of +William and Matilda—Museum—Public +Library—University—Academy—Eminent +Men—History of Caen</p> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XXVII"><b>LETTER XXVII.</b></a></p> + +<p>Vieux—La Maladerie—Chesnut Timber—Caen +Stone—History of Bayeux—Tapestry</p> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XXVIII"><b>LETTER XXVIII.</b></a></p> + +<p>Cathedral of Bayeux—Canon of Cambremer—Cope of St. +Regnobert—Odo</p> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XXIX"><b>LETTER XXIX.</b></a></p> + +<p>Church and Castle of +Creully—Falaise—Castle—Churches—Fair of +Guibray</p> + +<p><a href="#LETTER_XXX"><b>LETTER XXX.</b></a></p> + +<p>Rock and Chapel of St. Adrien—Pont-de-l'Arche—Priory +of the two Lovers—Abbey of +Bonport—Louviers—Gaillon—Vernon</p> + +<p><a href="#APPENDIX_I"><b>APPENDIX I.</b></a></p> + +<p><a href="#APPENDIX_II"><b>APPENDIX II.</b></a></p> + +<p><a href="#INDEX"><b>INDEX.</b></a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="LIST_OF_PLATES"></a>LIST OF PLATES.</h2> + +<p><a href="#plate_26"><b>Plate 26</b></a> Sculpture upon a capital +in the Chapter-House at St. Georges +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_27"><b>Plate 27</b></a> M. Langlois +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_28"><b>Plate 28</b></a> Musicians, from the +Chapter-House at St. Georges +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_29"><b>Plate 29</b></a> Distant View of the +Abbey of St. Jumieges +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_30"><b>Plate 30</b></a> Ancient trefoil-headed +Arches in ditto +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_31"><b>Plate 31</b></a> Distant of the Castle of +Gisors +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_32"><b>Plate 32</b></a> Banded Pillar in the +Church of ditto +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_33"><b>Plate 33</b></a> Distant View of +Château Gaillard +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_34"><b>Plate 34</b></a> Gothic Puteal, at +Evreux +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_35"><b>Plate 35</b></a> Leaden Font at +Bourg-Achard +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_36"><b>Plate 36</b></a> Ancient Tomb in the +Cathedral at Lisieux +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_37"><b>Plate 37</b></a> Head-Dress of Females, +as Caen +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_38"><b>Plate 38</b></a> Tower in the +<i>Château de Calix</i>, at ditto +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_39"><b>Plate 39</b></a> Tower and Spire of St. +Peter's Church, at ditto +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_40"><b>Plate 40</b></a> Sculpture upon a Capital +in ditto +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_41"><b>Plate 41</b></a> Tower of St. John's +Church, at Caen +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_42"><b>Plate 42</b></a> Monastery of St. +Stephen, at ditto +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_43"><b>Plate 43</b></a> Fireplace in the +Conqueror's Palace, at Ditto +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_44"><b>Plate 44</b></a> Profile of M. +Lamouroux +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_45"><b>Plate 45</b></a> Figure from the Bayeux +Tapestry +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_46"><b>Plate 46</b></a> Sculpture at Bayeux +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_47"><b>Plate 47</b></a> Ornaments in the +Spandrils of the Arches in Bayeux Cathedral +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_48"><b>Plate 48</b></a> Castle of Falaise +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_49"><b>Plate 49</b></a> Elevation of the West +Front of <i>La Délivrande</i> +</p> + +<p><a href="#plate_50"><b>Plate 50</b></a> Font at Magneville +</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_1"><span class="pagenum">[Page 1]</span></a><a name="LETTERS_FROM_NORMANDY"></a> <a name="Account_Of_A_Tour_In_Normandy" id="Account_Of_A_Tour_In_Normandy"></a></p> + +<h2>LETTERS</h2> + +<h4>FROM</h4> + +<h2>NORMANDY</h2> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="LETTER_XIV"></a>LETTER XIV.</h2> + +<h4>DUCLER—ST. GEORGES DE BOCHERVILLE—M. LANGLOIS.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Ducler, July</i>, 1818.)</p> + +<p>You will look in vain for Ducler in the <i>livre des postes</i>; +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 <i>fricandeau</i> and his +bed, at the place whence I am writing.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1"><sup>[1]</sup></a>, <a name="Page_2"><span class="pagenum">[Page 2]</span></a>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 <i>bourg</i>), 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 <a name="Page_3"><span class="pagenum">[Page 3]</span></a>setting in fast downwards; and +the water glided along in silent rapidity, involved in clouds.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The church of St. Georges de Bocherville, called in old charters +<i>de Baucherville</i>, and in Latin <i>de Balcheri</i> or +<i>Baucheri villa</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2"><sup>[2]</sup></a>. It is the Conqueror <a name="Page_4"><span class="pagenum">[Page 4]</span></a>who +speaks.—"Radulfus, meus magister, aulæque et +cameræ princeps, instinctu divino tactus, ecclesiam +supradicti martyris Georgii, quæ erat parva, re-edificare a +<a name="Page_5"><span class="pagenum">[Page 5]</span></a>fundamentis inchoavit, et ex +proprio in modum crucis consummavit."</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3"><sup>[3]</sup></a> for interment.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_6"><span class="pagenum">[Page 6]</span></a></p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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 <i>Dux +Normannorum</i>; it therefore <a name="Page_7"><span class="pagenum">[Page 7]</span></a>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 <a name="Page_8"><span class="pagenum">[Page 8]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_9"><span class="pagenum">[Page 9]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Nuremberg Chronicle</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>The most curious sculptures, however, in the church, are two +square bas-reliefs, opposite to one another, <a name="Page_10"><span class="pagenum">[Page 10]</span></a>upon the +spandrils of the arches, in the walls that divide the extremities +of the transepts into different stories<a name="FNanchor4"></a><a +href="#Footnote_4"><sup>[4]</sup></a>. 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_11"><span class="pagenum">[Page 11]</span></a></p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_26" id="plate_26"> +</a><img src="images/plate_26.png" height="336" width="439" alt="Sculpture upon a capital in the Chapter-House at St. Georges" /></p> + +<p>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 <i>Gallia Christiana</i>, 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."</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5"><sup>[5]</sup></a>. 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 <a name="Page_12"><span class="pagenum">[Page 12]</span></a>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 <i>Monumens de la Monarchie +Française</i>, 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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_27"></a> +<img src="images/plate_27.png" height="526" width="340" alt="M. Langlois" /></p> + +<p>It was in this chapter-house that M. Langlois<a name="FNanchor6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6"><sup>[6]</sup></a> found, +among a heap of stones, a most interesting capital, that had +formerly been attached to a double column. By his <a name="Page_13"><span class="pagenum">[Page 13]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7"><sup>[7]</sup></a>.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="picture_08"><br/> +</a><img src="images/picture_08.png" height="372" width="388" alt="Bas-relief on capital" /></p> + +<p>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, <a name="Page_14"><span class="pagenum">[Page 14]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8"><sup>[8]</sup></a>.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_15"><span class="pagenum">[Page 15]</span></a></p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_28"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_28.png" height="293" width="781" alt="Musicians, from the Chapter-House at St. George" /></p> + +<p>The chapter-house, previously to the revolution, contained a +tomb-stone<a name="FNanchor9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9"><sup>[9]</sup></a>, 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, +<a name="Page_16"><span class="pagenum">[Page 16]</span></a>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.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="ctr">EXPLICIT FELICITER Stus. GEORGIUS DE +BOCHERVILLA;</p> + +<p class="ctr">DEO GRATIAS.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor1">[1]</a> +<i>Histoire de la Haute Normandie</i>, II. p. 266. VOL. II.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor2">[2]</a> <i>Ann. +Benedict.</i> 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:—</p> + +<p>"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."</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor3">[3]</a> The +following are the words of Ordericus Vitalis, upon the subject:</p> + +<p>"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."—<i>Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni</i>, p. +661.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor4">[4]</a> See +<i>Cotman's Architectural Antiquities of Normandy</i>, t. 10. f. A. +and B.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor5">[5]</a> See +<i>Cotman's Architectural Antiquities of Normandy</i>, t. 11. last +figure.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor6">[6]</a> 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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor7">[7]</a> Its size +at top is fourteen inches and a half, by six inches and +two-thirds.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor8">[8]</a> 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 <i>violl</i>, +corresponding with our <i>Viol de Gamba</i>. 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 +<i>rote</i>, so called from the internal wheel or cylinder, turned +by a winch, which caused the <i>bourdon</i>, whilst the performer +stopped the notes on the strings with his fingers. This instrument +has been very ignorantly termed a <i>vielle</i>, and yet continues +to be so called in France. It is the modern Savoyard +<i>hurdy-gurdy</i>, as we still more improperly term it; for the +hurdy-gurdy is quite a different instrument. In later times, the +<i>rote</i> appears to have lost its rank in concert, and was +called the <i>beggar's lyre</i>.—No. 4 is evidently the +<i>syrinx</i>, or <i>Pan's pipe</i>, 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 <i>crowth</i>; 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 <i>mandore</i>, whence the +more modern <i>mandolin</i>. The rotundity of the sounding-board +may warrant this conjecture.—No. 6 was called the +<i>psalterion</i>, 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 <i>plectrum</i>, which +the performer holds in his right hand.—No. 7 is the +<i>dulcimer</i>, 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 <i>plectrum</i>.—No. 8 +is the real <i>vielle</i>, or <i>violin</i>, of very common +occurrence, and very ancient.—No. 9 is a female tumbler, or +<i>tomllesterre</i>, 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 <i>harp</i> played +with a <i>plectrum</i>, and, perhaps, also with the left hand +occasionally.—No. 11. The figure before the suspended +<i>bells</i> 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 +<i>Exaltate Deo</i>.—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."</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor9">[9]</a> <i>Gallia +Christiana</i>, XI. p. 270.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_17"><span class="pagenum">[Page 17]</span></a></p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_29"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_29.png" height="329" width="636" alt="Distant View of the Abbey of St. Jumieges" /></p> + + +<h2><a name="LETTER_XV"></a>LETTER XV.</h2> + +<h4>ABBEY OF JUMIEGES—ITS HISTORY—ARCHITECTURAL +DETAILS—TOMBS OF AGNES SOREL AND OF THE ENERVEZ.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Ducler, July</i>, 1818)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a +name="Page_18"><span class="pagenum">[Page 18]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10"><sup>[10]</sup></a> 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 <i>gemitus</i>, +because, "pro suis offensis illìc gemunt, qui in <a name="Page_19"><span class="pagenum">[Page 19]</span></a>flammis +ultricibus non erunt gemituri;" or from <i>gemma</i>, conformably +to the following distich,—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Gemmeticum siquidem a gemmâ dixere priores;</p> + +<p> Quòd reliquis gemmæ, præcelleret instar +Eoæ."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11"><sup>[11]</sup></a>.—The bounty of the <a +name="Page_20"><span class="pagenum">[Page 20]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Acta Sanctorum +ordinis Sancti Benedicti</i>, says, speaking of Jumieges, "hinc +vinearum abundant botryones, qui in turgentibus gemmis lucentes +rutilant in Falernis;" but even a charter <a name="Page_21"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 21]</span></a>of so late a date as the +year 1472, expressly terms a large tract of land belonging to the +convent, the vineyard<a name="FNanchor12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12"><sup>[12]</sup></a>.—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 +<i>Gesta Sancti Philiberti</i>: 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<a name="FNanchor13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13"><sup>[13]</sup></a>, fifty feet in length, which at +once supply their table with food, and their lamps with oil.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_22"><span class="pagenum">[Page 22]</span></a></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor14"></a><a +href="#Footnote_14"><sup>[14]</sup></a>. But the monks <a name="Page_23"><span class="pagenum">[Page 23]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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. <a name="Page_24"><span class="pagenum">[Page 24]</span></a>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 +<i>demonachised</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_25"><span class="pagenum">[Page 25]</span></a>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 <a name="Page_26"><span class="pagenum">[Page 26]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>I have dwelt upon the early history of this monastery, because +Normandy scarcely furnishes another of greater interest. In the +<i>Neustria Pia</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_27"><span class="pagenum">[Page 27]</span></a>scarcely convey any meaning +short of utter ruin, except to the ears of one who had been told +that a religious edifice was actually <i>abimé</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="picture_09"><br/> +</a><img src="images/picture_09.png" height="218" width="377" alt="Symbols of the Evangelists" /></p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_28"><span class="pagenum">[Page 28]</span></a>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:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Effigies vituli, Luca, tibi convenit; extat</p> + +<p> Zacariæ in scriptis mentio prima tuis."—</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="picture_10"><br/> +</a><img src="images/picture_10.png" height="271" width="378" alt="Figures of effigies" /></p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_29"><span class="pagenum">[Page 29]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_30"><span class="pagenum">[Page 30]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_31"><span class="pagenum">[Page 31]</span></a></p> +<p>The church<a name="FNanchor15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15"><sup>[15]</sup></a> 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 <a name="Page_32"><span class="pagenum">[Page 32]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>la Salle des +Chevaliers</i>. It is entered by two porches, one towards the +north-west, the other towards the south-west<a name="FNanchor16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16"><sup>[16]</sup></a>, both +full of architectural beauty and curiosity. I know of no authority +for their date; but, <a name="Page_33"><span class="pagenum">[Page 33]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="picture_11"><br/> +</a><img src="images/picture_11.png" height="245" width="257" alt="Sketch of fragment of inner door-way" /></p> + +<p>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 <a +name="Page_34"><span class="pagenum">[Page 34]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_30"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_30.png" height="316" width="700" alt="Ancient trefoil-headed Arches in Abbey of Jumieges" /></p> + +<p>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 <i>Dame de +Beauté</i>.—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 <a name="Page_35"><span class="pagenum">[Page 35]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17"><sup>[17]</sup></a>. 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.</p> + +<p>The monument in the church of St. Peter, generally known by the +name of <i>le tombeau des énervez</i>, 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<a name="FNanchor18"></a><a +href="#Footnote_18"><sup>[18]</sup></a>.—<a name="Page_36"><span class="pagenum">[Page 36]</span></a>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 <i>énervez</i>.—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:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i1">"Hic in honore Dei requiescit stirps Clodovei,</p> + +<p class="i4">Patris bellica gens, bella salutis agens.</p> + +<p class="i1"> Ad votum matris Bathildis poenituere,</p> + +<p class="i4">Scelere pro proprio, proque labore +patris."—</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i1">"Conjugis est ultus probrum; nam in vincula +tradit</p> + +<p class="i1"> Crudeles natos, pius impietate, simulque</p> + +<p class="i1"> Et duras pater, o Clodovee, piusque +maritus."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor10">[10]</a> +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 <i>Andromeda polifolia</i>, a plant that seems +hitherto to have been discovered no where else in the kingdom.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor11">[11]</a> 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 <i>Neustria +Pia</i>, p. 262.—"Congruè sanè locus ille +<i>Gemmeticus</i> 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 mœnia 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 <i>Philiberti</i>, pictum gemmarum luminibus, auro +argentoque comptum: ab utroque latere, <i>Joannis</i> et +<i>Columbani</i> Aræ dant gloriam Deo; adherent verò a +Boreâ, <i>Dyonisii</i> Martyris, et <i>Germani</i> +Confessoris, ædiculæ; in dextrâ domus parte, +sacellum nobile extat <i>S. Petri</i>; a latere habens <i>S. +Martini</i> 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."</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor12">[12]</a> +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 <i>vin de Conihoult</i>, 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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor13">[13]</a> In a +charter belonging to the monastery, granted by Henry IInd, in 1159, +(see <i>Neustria Pia</i>, p. 323) he gives the convent, +"integritatem aquæ ex parte terræ Monachorum, et +<i>Graspais</i>, si fortè capiatur."—The word +<i>Graspais</i> is explained by Ducange to be a corruption of +<i>crassus piscis</i>. Noel (in his <i>Essais sur le +Département de la Seine Inférieure</i>, 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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor14">[14]</a> The +following account of the destruction of the monastery is extracted +from William of Jumieges. (See <i>Duchesne's Scriptores +Normanni</i>, p. 219)—"Dehinc Sequanica ora aggrediuntur, et +apud <i>Gemmeticum</i> 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, cœpit 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."</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor15">[15]</a> The +following are the proportions of the building, in French +feet:—</p> + +<table summary="Dimensions of Church"> +<tr> +<td>Length of the church</td> +<td align="center">265</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Ditto of the nave</td> +<td align="center">134</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Width of ditto</td> +<td align="center">62</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Length of choir</td> +<td align="center">43½</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Width of ditto</td> +<td align="center">31</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Length of Lady-Chapel</td> +<td align="center">63</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Width of ditto</td> +<td align="center">27</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Height of central tower</td> +<td align="center">124</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Ditto of western towers</td> +<td align="center">150</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor16">[16]</a> Mr. +Cotman has figured this porch, (<i>Architectural Antiquities of +Normandy</i>, t. 4) but has, by mistake, called it "<i>An Arch on +the West Front of the Abbey Church</i>."</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor17">[17]</a> See a +paper by M. Le Prevost in the <i>Précis Analitique des +Travaux de l'Académie de Rouen</i>, 1815, p. 131.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor18">[18]</a> +<i>Histoire de la Haute Normandie</i>, II, p. 260.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_37"><span class="pagenum">[Page 37]</span></a></p> + +<h2><a name="LETTER_XVI"></a>LETTER XVI.</h2> + +<h4>GOURNAY—CASTLE OF NEUFMARCHÉ—CASTLE AND +CHURCH OF GISORS.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Gisors, July</i>, 1818)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The tract known by modern topographers, under the names of the +<i>arrondissemens</i> of Gournay and of Andelys, constituted one of +the general divisions of ancient Normandy, the <i>Pays de Bray</i>. +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 <i>fromage de +Neufchâtel</i> 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'.</p> + +<p>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, <a name="Page_38"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 38]</span></a>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 <i>dégagée</i>, 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 name="Page_39"><span class="pagenum">[Page 39]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_40"><span class="pagenum">[Page 40]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19"><sup>[19]</sup></a>, 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<a name="FNanchor20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20"><sup>[20]</sup></a>, 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 <a name="Page_41"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 41]</span></a>this siege with minuteness +in his <i>Philippiad</i>, 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;—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Non procul hinc vicum populosâ genta superbum,</p> + +<p> Divitiis plenum variis, famâque celebrem,</p> + +<p> Rure situm piano, munitum triplice muro,</p> + +<p> Deliciosa nimis speciosaque vallis habebat.</p> + +<p> Nomine GORNACUM, situ inexpugnabilis ipso,</p> + +<p> Etsi nullus ei defensor ab intus adesset;</p> + +<p> Cui multisque aliis præerat Gornacius HUGO.</p> + +<p> Fossæ cujus erant amplæ nimis atque +profundae</p> + +<p> Quas sic Epta suo repleret flumine, posset</p> + +<p> Nullus ut ad muros per eas accessus haberi.</p> + +<p> Arte tamen sibi REX tali pessundedit ipsum.</p> + +<p> Haud procul a muris stagnum pergrande tumebat,</p> + +<p> Cujus aquam, pelagi stagnantis more, refusam</p> + +<p> Urget stare lacu sinuoso terreus agger,</p> + +<p> Quadris compactus saxis et cespite multo.</p> + +<p> Hunc REX obrumpi medium facit, effluit inde</p> + +<p> Diluvium immensum, subitâque voragine tota</p> + +<p> Vallis abit maris in speciem, ruit impete vasto</p> + +<p> Eluvies damnosa satis, damnosa colonis.</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> +<p> Municipes fugiunt ne submergantur, et omnis</p> + +<p> Se populus villâ viduat, vacuamque relinquit.</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> +<p> Armis villa potens, muris munita virisque,</p> + +<p> Arte capi nullâ metuens aut viribus ullis,</p> + +<p> Diluvio capitur inopino....</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> +<p> REX ubi GORNACUM sic in sua jura redegit,</p> + +<p> Indigenas omnes revocans ad propria, pacem</p> + +<p> Indicit populis libertatemque priorem;</p> + +<p> Deinde re-ædificat muros....</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><a name="Page_42"><span class="pagenum">[Page 42]</span></a></p> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The name of Hugo de Gournay is enrolled amongst those who +followed the conqueror into England, and who held lands <i>in +capite</i> from him in this country<a name="FNanchor21"></a><a +href="#Footnote_21"><sup>[21]</sup></a>. 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 <a name="Page_43"><span class="pagenum">[Page 43]</span></a>in very early times in our own +county, where their possessions were extensive and valuable.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22"><sup>[22]</sup></a>.</p> + +<p>Gournay has now no other remains of antiquity, except the +collegiate church of St. Hildebert<a name="FNanchor23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23"><sup>[23]</sup></a>, 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, <a name="Page_44"><span class="pagenum">[Page 44]</span></a>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 <i>fess wavy</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24"><sup>[24]</sup></a> speak of the village as being +defended by a <a name="Page_45"><span class="pagenum">[Page 45]</span></a>fortress, in the reign of +William the Conqueror. The church, too, with its semi-circular +architecture, attests the antiquity of the station.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_46"><span class="pagenum">[Page 46]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25"><sup>[25]</sup></a>, 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 <a name="Page_47"><span class="pagenum">[Page 47]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26"><sup>[26]</sup></a>. The monarchs, actuated by +religious zeal, took up the cross, and mutually pledged themselves +to suspend for <a name="Page_48"><span class="pagenum">[Page 48]</span></a>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; <i>gules</i>, a cross engrailed +<i>or</i><a name="FNanchor27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27"><sup>[27]</sup></a>. 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 <i>golden +gate</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_49"><span class="pagenum">[Page 49]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_31"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_31.png" height="473" width="692" alt="Distant of the Castle of Gisors" /></p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_50"><span class="pagenum">[Page 50]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_32"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_32.png" height="503" width="352" alt="Banded Pillar in the Church of Gisors" /></p> + +<p>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 <i>swinish multitude</i>, +<a name="Page_51"><span class="pagenum">[Page 51]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor19">[19]</a> +<i>Histoire de la Haute Normandie</i>, I, p. 18.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor20">[20]</a> +<i>Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni</i>, p. 1046.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor21">[21]</a> +<i>Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni</i>, p. 1129.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor22">[22]</a> +<i>Histoire de la Haute Normandie</i>, I. p. 20.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor23">[23]</a> See +<i>Cotman's Architectural Antiquities of Normandy, plates</i> +38-41.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor24">[24]</a> +<i>Ordericus Vitalis</i>, in <i>Duchesne's Scriptores Normanni</i>, +p. 490, 491, 606.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor25">[25]</a> +<i>Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni</i>, p. 865.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor26">[26]</a> Some +writers say that the real cause of their meeting was to settle a +difference of long standing.—Hoveden, as quoted in the +<i>Concilia Normannica</i>, 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 +cœlo. 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."</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor27">[27]</a> In +1555, an addition was made to this coat of a chief <i>azure</i>, +charged with three fleurs-de-lys, <i>or</i>, by the command of +Henry IInd of France, to commemorate his public entry into +Gisors.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_52"><span class="pagenum">[Page 52]</span></a></p> + +<h2><a name="LETTER_XVII"></a>LETTER XVII.</h2> + +<h4>ANDELYS—FOUNTAIN OF SAINT CLOTILDA—LA GRANDE +MAISON—CHÂTEAU GAILLARD—ECOUIS.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Ecouis, July</i>, 1818)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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, +<i>Andilegum</i><a name="FNanchor28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28"><sup>[28]</sup></a>. The derivation of this name has +afforded employment to etymologists. The syllable <i>and</i> +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 <a name="Page_53"><span class="pagenum">[Page 53]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29"><sup>[29]</sup></a>. However, we must not forget +that the fair Elfleda, and the rosy Ælfgiva, were so taught +in the convent, as to be <a name="Page_54"><span class="pagenum">[Page 54]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_55"><span class="pagenum">[Page 55]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>Andelys possesses a valuable specimen of ancient domestic +architecture. The <i>Great House</i><a name="FNanchor30"></a><a +href="#Footnote_30"><sup>[30]</sup></a> 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 <i>Place de la Pucelle</i>, 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 <a name="Page_56"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 56]</span></a>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 <i>great house</i> 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.</p> + +<p>The French, in speaking of Andelys, commonly use the plural +number, and say, <i>les Andelys</i>, 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 <i>le +Grand Andelys</i>.</p> + +<p>As the French seldom neglect the memory of their eminent men, I +was rather disappointed at not finding <a name="Page_57"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 57]</span></a>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 +<i>Deluge</i> 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 <a name="Page_58"><span class="pagenum">[Page 58]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_33"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_33.png" height="439" width="752" alt="Distant View of Château Gaillard" /></p> + +<p>I doubt, however, whether we should have travelled hither, had +we not been attracted by the celebrity of the castle, called +<i>Château Gaillard</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_59"><span class="pagenum">[Page 59]</span></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 <i>talus</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_60"><span class="pagenum">[Page 60]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i1">"Huic natura loco satis insuperabile per se</p> + +<p class="i1"> Munimeu dederat, tamen insuperabiliorem</p> + +<p class="i1"> Arte quidem multa Richardus fecerat illum.</p> + +<p class="i1"> Duplicibus muris extrema clausit, et altas</p> + +<p class="i1"> Circuitum docuit per totum surgere turres,</p> + +<p class="i1"> A se distantes spatiis altrinsecus +æquis;</p> + +<p class="i1"> Eruderans utrumque latus, ne scandere +quisquam</p> + +<p class="i1"> Ad muros possit, vel ab ima repere valle.</p> + +<p class="i1"> Hinc ex transverso medium per planitiei</p> + +<p class="i1"> Erigitur murus, multoque labore cavari</p> + +<p class="i1"> Cogitur ipse silex, fossaque patere +profunda,</p> + +<p class="i1"> Faucibus et latis aperiri vallis ad instar;</p> + +<p class="i1"> Sic ut quam subito fiat munitio duplex</p> + +<p class="i1"> Quæ fuit una modo muro geminata +sequestro.</p> + +<p class="i1"> Ut si forte pati partem contingeret istam</p> + +<p class="i1"> Altera municipes, queat, et se tuta tueri.</p> + +<p class="i1"> Inde rotundavit rupem, quæ celsior +omni</p> + +<p class="i1"> Planitie summum se tollit in aera sursum;</p> + +<p class="i1"> Et muris sepsit, extremas desuper oras</p> + +<p class="i1"> Castigansque jugi scrupulosa cacumina, +totum</p> + +<p class="i1"> Complanat medium, multæque capacia +turbæ</p> + +<p class="i1"> Plurima cum domibus habitacula fabricat +intus.</p> + +<p class="i1"> Umboni parcens soli, quo condidit arcem.</p> + +<p class="i1"> Hic situs iste decor, munitio talis honorem</p> + +<p class="i1"> Gaillardæ rupis per totum prædicat +orbem."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><a name="Page_61"><span class="pagenum">[Page 61]</span></a></p> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a +name="Page_62"><span class="pagenum">[Page 62]</span></a>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</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>".... vitreo daturus</p> + +<p> Nomina ponto."—</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_63"><span class="pagenum">[Page 63]</span></a></p> +<p>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<a name="FNanchor31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31"><sup>[31]</sup></a>, 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 <a name="Page_64"><span class="pagenum">[Page 64]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_65"><span class="pagenum">[Page 65]</span></a>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:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Armis præcinctus, mentisque charactere cinctus,</p> + +<p> Dux fuit in bellis, Anglis virtute rebellis."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32"><sup>[32]</sup></a>, that +no allusion should be made to Marigni's <a name="Page_66"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 66]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor33"></a><a +href="#Footnote_33"><sup>[33]</sup></a>."—In the church at +Ecouis, was formerly the following epitaph, whose obscurity has +given rise to a variety of traditions:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Ci gist le fils, ci gist la mere,</p> + +<p> Ci gist la soeur, ci gist le frère,</p> + +<p> Ci gist la femme, et le mari;</p> + +<p> Et ci ne sont que deux ici<a name="FNanchor34"></a><a +href="#Footnote_34"><sup>[34]</sup></a>."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Other inscriptions of the same nature are said to have existed +in England. Goube<a name="FNanchor35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35"><sup>[35]</sup></a> 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.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor28">[28]</a> Andelys +is also called in old deeds <i>Andeleium</i> and +<i>Andeliacum</i>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor29">[29]</a> "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 <i>Andilegum</i> +monasterio."—<i>Bede, Hist</i>. lib. III. cap. 8.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor30">[30]</a> +<i>Cotman's Architectural Antiquities of Normandy</i>, 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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor31">[31]</a> +<i>Monstrelet, Johnes' Translation</i>, II. p. 242.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor32">[32]</a> 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.—<i>Histoire de la +Haute Normandie</i>, II. p. 338.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor33">[33]</a> +<i>Montfaucon, Monumens de la Monarchie Française</i>, II. +p. 220.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor34">[34]</a> In a +collection of epitaphs printed at Cologne, 1623, under the title of +<i>Epitaphia Joco-seria</i>, 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."</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor35">[35]</a> +<i>Histoire du Duché de Normandie</i>, III. p. 15.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_67"><span class="pagenum">[Page 67]</span></a></p> + +<h2><a name="LETTER_XVIII"></a>LETTER XVIII.</h2> + +<h4>EVREUX—CATHEDRAL—ABBEY OF ST. +TAURINUS—ANCIENT HISTORY.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Evreux, July</i>, 1818.)</p> + +<p>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,—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Και +ϰεραμευς +ϰεραμει +Φϑονεει +ϰαι τεϰτονι +τεϰτων."—</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>[English. Not in Original: The potter is jealous of the potter, +as the builder is jealous of the builder.]</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36"><sup>[36]</sup></a>, by +which he was allowed to burn the city and <a name="Page_68"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 68]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37"><sup>[37]</sup></a>, 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, <a name="Page_69"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 69]</span></a>both bear witness to this +fact—the latter in the following lines:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"... irarum stimulis agitatus, ad omne</p> + +<p> Excidium partis adversæ totus inardens,</p> + +<p> Ebroicas primò sic incineravit, ut omnes</p> + +<p> Cum domibus simul ecclesias consumpserit +ignis."—</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38"><sup>[38]</sup></a>.—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 <a name="Page_70"><span class="pagenum">[Page 70]</span></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.</p> + +<p>Ducarel<a name="FNanchor39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39"><sup>[39]</sup></a> 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, <a name="Page_71"><span class="pagenum">[Page 71]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The building is dedicated to the Virgin: it claims for its first +bishop, Taurinus, a saint of the third century, <a name="Page_72"><span class="pagenum">[Page 72]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40"><sup>[40]</sup></a>. 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 <a name="Page_73"><span class="pagenum">[Page 73]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41"><sup>[41]</sup></a>. 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 <a name="Page_74"><span class="pagenum">[Page 74]</span></a>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 +<i>bottle</i> in its centre, and four smaller ones at the corners; +and he took care to provide funds for the perpetuation of this +<i>rebus</i>.</p> + +<p>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 <i>puteal</i>, which stands near the north +portal. It is apparently of the same æra as that part of the +church.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_34"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_34.png" height="433" width="586" alt="Gothic Puteal, at Evreux" /></p> + +<p>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 +<a name="Page_75"><span class="pagenum">[Page 75]</span></a>of +their respective establishment.—The monks of St. Taurinus +contended, that their abbey was expressly mentioned by William of +Jumieges<a name="FNanchor42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42"><sup>[42]</sup></a> 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 name="Page_76"><span class="pagenum">[Page 76]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43"><sup>[43]</sup></a>. 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 <a name="Page_77"><span class="pagenum">[Page 77]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="picture_12"><br/> +</a><img src="images/picture_12.png" height="299" width="313" alt="Vessel for holy water" /></p> + +<p>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 <a +name="Page_78"><span class="pagenum">[Page 78]</span></a>of +this precious relic; but its existence here was formally verified +at the end of the seventeenth century, by the opening of the +<i>châsse</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_79"><span class="pagenum">[Page 79]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Old Evreux</i>, is the +<i>Mediolanum Aulercorum</i> 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 <i>Commentaries</i>, speaks in +general terms of the <i>Aulerci Eburovices</i>, who are admitted to +have been the ancient inhabitants of this district, and whose name, +especially as modified to <i>Ebroici</i> and <i>Ebroi</i>, 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 +<a name="Page_80"><span class="pagenum">[Page 80]</span></a><i>Mediolanum Aulercorum</i> 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<a name="FNanchor44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44"><sup>[44]</sup></a>.</p> + +<p>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, <i>super +Ittonum fluvium sitam</i> possidebat et salubritèr +illuminabat<a name="FNanchor45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45"><sup>[45]</sup></a>."</p> + +<p>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 +<a name="Page_81"><span class="pagenum">[Page 81]</span></a>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 <a name="Page_82"><span class="pagenum">[Page 82]</span></a>sceptre, +but as an honorable testimony to the memory of his unfortunate +brother:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Attamen Ebroïcam studio majore reformans</p> + +<p> Armis et rebus et bellatoribus urbem,</p> + +<p> Pluribus instructam donavit amore Johanni,</p> + +<p> Ut sibi servet eam: tamen arcem non dedit illi.</p> + +<p> Ille dolo plenus, qui patrem, qui modo fratrem</p> + +<p> Prodiderat, ne non et Regis proditor esset,</p> + +<p> Excedens siculos animi impietate Tyrannos,</p> + +<p> Francigenas omnes vocat ad convivia quotquot</p> + +<p> Ebroïcis reperit, equites simul atque clientes,</p> + +<p> Paucis exceptis quos sors servavit in arce.</p> + +<p> Quos cum dispositis armis fecisset ut una</p> + +<p> Discubuisse domo, tanquam prandere putantes,</p> + +<p> Evocat e latebris armatos protinus Anglos,</p> + +<p> Interimitque viros sub eadem clade trecentos,</p> + +<p> Et palis capita ambustis affixit, et urbem</p> + +<p> Circuit affixis, visu mirabile, tali</p> + +<p> Regem portento quærens magis angere luctu:</p> + +<p> Talibus obsequiis, tali mercede rependens</p> + +<p> Millia marcharum, quas Rex donaverat illi.</p> + +<p class="i2">Tam detestanda pollutus cæde Johannes</p> + +<p> Ad fratrem properat; sed Rex tam flagitiosus</p> + +<p> Non placuit fratri: quis enim, nisi dæmone +plenus,</p> + +<p> Omninoque Deo vacuus, virtute redemptus</p> + +<p> A vitiis nulla, tam dira fraude placere</p> + +<p> Appetat, aut tanto venetur crimine pacem?</p> + +<p> Sed quia frater erat, licet illius oderit actus</p> + +<p> Omnibus odibiles, fraternæ foedera pacis</p> + +<p> Non negat indigno, nec eum privavit amore,</p> + +<p> Ipsum qui nuper Regno privare volebat."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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, <a name="Page_83"><span class="pagenum">[Page 83]</span></a>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 <i>Duché pairie</i>, 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, <a name="Page_84"><span class="pagenum">[Page 84]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>Evreux, at present, is a town containing about eight thousand +inhabitants, a great proportion of whom are persons of independent +property, or <i>rentiers</i>, 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<a name="FNanchor46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46"><sup>[46]</sup></a>: in both cases it is attributed, +I know not with what justice, to an abrupt change in the +stratification of the soil.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor36">[36]</a> This +curious transaction, which took place in the year 1119, is related +with considerable <i>näiveté</i> 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."</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor37">[37]</a> +<i>Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni</i>, p. 309.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor38">[38]</a> +<i>Gallia Christiana</i>, XI. p. 606.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor39">[39]</a> From +the manner in, which Ducarel speaks of these statues, +(<i>Anglo-Norman Antiquities</i>, 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 <i>Histoire du Comté d'Evreux</i>, 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."</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor40">[40]</a> 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 +<i>Gobelinus</i>, 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 c. homines baptizati sunt. Octo cæci illuminati, et +quatuor multi sanati, aliique plures ex diversis infirmitatibus in +nomine Domini sunt curati."</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor41">[41]</a> +<i>Masson de St. Amand, Essais Historiques sur Evreux</i>, I. p. +77.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor42">[42]</a> +<i>Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni</i>, p. 279.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor43">[43]</a> 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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor44">[44]</a> <i>Le +Brasseur, Histoire du Comté d'Evreux</i>, p. 4.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor45">[45]</a> +<i>Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni</i>, p. 555.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor46">[46]</a> +<i>Goube, Histoire du Duché de Normandie</i>, III. p. +223.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_85"><span class="pagenum">[Page 85]</span></a></p> + +<h2><a name="LETTER_XIX"></a>LETTER XIX.</h2> + +<h4>VICINITY OF EVREUX—CHÂTEAU DE +NAVARRE—COCHEREL—PONT-AUDEMER +—MONTFORT-SUR-RISLE—HARFLEUR—BOURG-ACHARD—FRENCH +WEDDING.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Bourg-Achard, July</i>, 1818.)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_86"><span class="pagenum">[Page 86]</span></a>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: <a name="Page_87"><span class="pagenum">[Page 87]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_88"><span class="pagenum">[Page 88]</span></a>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 +<i>History of Evreux</i>. 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 <a name="Page_89"><span class="pagenum">[Page 89]</span></a>Druids, the Normans, or the +Huns, he decides, though with some hesitation, in favor of the last +of these opinions.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Risle</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47"><sup>[47]</sup></a>, 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.</p> + +<p>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, <a name="Page_90"><span class="pagenum">[Page 90]</span></a>and the +hides prepared at Pont-Audemer are thought to be the best in +France.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_91"><span class="pagenum">[Page 91]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48"><sup>[48]</sup></a>, "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."</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor49"></a><a +href="#Footnote_49"><sup>[49]</sup></a>. 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.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_92"><span class="pagenum">[Page 92]</span></a></p> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>At but a short distance from Pont-Audemer, higher up the Risle, +lies the yet smaller town of Montfort, near <a name="Page_93"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 93]</span></a>which are still to be +traced, the ruins of a castle,<a name="FNanchor50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50"><sup>[50]</sup></a> 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 <i>Hugh with a beard</i>, the owner of Montfort at the +time of the conquest, and one of the Conqueror's attendants at the +battle of Hastings.</p> + +<p>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 <i>bon jour</i>; 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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_94"><span class="pagenum">[Page 94]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_95"><span class="pagenum">[Page 95]</span></a>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</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Pendono intorno in lungo ordine i voti,</p> + +<p> Che vi portaro i creduli divoti."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_96"><span class="pagenum">[Page 96]</span></a>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 <i>Maris Stella</i>, and she is κατ' +εξοχην [English. Not in Original: +pre-eminently, especially, above all] the protectress of +Normandy.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51"><sup>[51]</sup></a>; and even now, when the relic +has been <a name="Page_97"><span class="pagenum">[Page 97]</span></a>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 +<i>bénitier</i> 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<a name="FNanchor52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52"><sup>[52]</sup></a>, 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 <a +name="Page_98"><span class="pagenum">[Page 98]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53"><sup>[53]</sup></a>.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_35"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_35.png" height="411" width="474" alt="Leaden Font at Bourg-Achard" /></p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_99"><span class="pagenum">[Page 99]</span></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 +<a name="Page_100"><span class="pagenum">[Page 100]</span></a>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.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor47">[47]</a> +<i>Masson de St. Amand, Essais Historiques sur Evreux</i>, I. p. +39.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor48">[48]</a> +<i>Johnes' Translation</i>, 8vo, IV. p. 292.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor49">[49]</a> See +<i>Britten's Architectural Antiquities</i>, III. t. 2.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor50">[50]</a> +<i>Goube, Histoire de Normandie</i>, III. 249.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor51">[51]</a> +<i>Histoire de la Haute Normandie</i>, II. p. 319.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor52">[52]</a> Mr. +Gough, (See <i>Archæologia</i>, 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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor53">[53]</a> See +<i>Concilia Normannica</i>, II. pp. 56, 117, 403, 491, 508, +&c.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_101"><span class="pagenum">[Page 101]</span></a></p> +<h2><a name="LETTER_XX"></a>LETTER XX.</h2> + +<h4>MOULINEAUX—CASTLE OF ROBERT THE +DEVIL—BOURG-THEROUDE—ABBEY OF BEC—BRIONNE.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Brionne, July</i>, 1818.)</p> + +<p>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 <i>la +petite culture</i>: 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 <a name="Page_102"><span class="pagenum">[Page 102]</span></a>from +frequent expressions of surprise how it is that every person here +is enabled to tell the limits of his own property.</p> + +<p>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 <a +name="Page_103"><span class="pagenum">[Page 103]</span></a>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 +<i>Antiquarian Repertory</i>, from Harold's chapel, in Battle +Abbey<a name="FNanchor54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54"><sup>[54]</sup></a>.</p> + +<p>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 <i>gestes</i> 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; <a name="Page_104"><span class="pagenum">[Page 104]</span></a>and the fact is not destitute +of probability, as its position is bold and commanding.</p> + +<p>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, <i>Burgus Thuroldi</i>, +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<a name="FNanchor55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55"><sup>[55]</sup></a>.—The church of +Bourg-Theroude, <a name="Page_105"><span class="pagenum">[Page 105]</span></a>which was collegiate before the +revolution, is at present uninteresting in every point of view.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"The pilgrim who journeys all day,</p> + +<p class="i2">To visit some far distant shrine;</p> + +<p> If he bear but a relic away,</p> + +<p class="i2">Is happy, nor heard to repine."—</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And <i>happiness</i> 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 <i>relics</i> on a similar +<i>pilgrimage</i>.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_106"><span class="pagenum">[Page 106]</span></a></p> +<p>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<a name="FNanchor56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56"><sup>[56]</sup></a> 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, <a name="Page_107"><span class="pagenum">[Page 107]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>History of Upper Normandy</i>, 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<a name="FNanchor57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57"><sup>[57]</sup></a>.—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.</p> + +<p>Sammarthanus, author of the <i>Gallia Christiana</i>, says, in +speaking of Bec, that, whether considered as to religion or +literature, there was not, in the eleventh century, <a name="Page_108"><span class="pagenum">[Page 108]</span></a>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 <a name="Page_109"><span class="pagenum">[Page 109]</span></a>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!</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58"><sup>[58]</sup></a>, 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; <a name="Page_110"><span class="pagenum">[Page 110]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_111"><span class="pagenum">[Page 111]</span></a></p> +<p>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<a name="FNanchor59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59"><sup>[59]</sup></a>, which faced the high <a name="Page_112"><span class="pagenum">[Page 112]</span></a>altar, +was destroyed, after having been stripped of its silver +ornaments.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_113"><span class="pagenum">[Page 113]</span></a></p> +<p>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<a name="FNanchor60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60"><sup>[60]</sup></a> carved +upon it. His epitaph has more merit than the general class of +monumental inscriptions:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Hunc spectans tumulum, titulo cognosce sepultum;</p> + +<p class="i2">Est via virtutis nôsse quis ipse fuit.</p> + +<p> Dum quater hic denos ævi venisset ad annos,</p> + +<p class="i2">Quæ fuerant secli sprevit amore Dei.</p> + +<p> Mutans ergò vices, mundi de milite miles</p> + +<p class="i2">Fit Christi subito, Monachus ex laïco.</p> + +<p> Hinc sibi, more patrum, socians collegia fratrum,</p> + +<p class="i2">Curâ, quâ decuit, rexit eos, aluit.</p> + +<p> Quot quantasque vides, hic solus condidit ædes,</p> + +<p class="i2">Non tàm divitiis quàm fidei +meritis.</p> + +<p> Quas puer haud didicit scripturas postea scivit,</p> + +<p class="i2">Doctus ut indoctum vix sequeretur eum.</p> + +<p> Flentibus hunc nobis tulit inclementia mortis</p> + +<p class="i2">Sextilis quinâ bisque die decimâ.</p> + +<p> Herluine pater, sic cœlica scandis +ovantèr;</p> + +<p class="i2">Credere namque tuis hoc licet ex meritis."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><a name="Page_114"><span class="pagenum">[Page 114]</span></a></p> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a name="Page_115"><span class="pagenum">[Page 115]</span></a>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."</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_116"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 116]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_117"><span class="pagenum">[Page 117]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_118"><span class="pagenum">[Page 118]</span></a>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.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor54">[54]</a> Vol. +III. p. 187.—The engraving in the <i>Antiquarian +Repertory</i> was made from a drawing in the possession of the late +Sir William Burrell, Bart.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor55">[55]</a> The +word <i>Turold</i>, 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, (<i>Monumens de la Monarchie +Française</i>, I. p. 378.) that he is the person thus +denominated. But M. Lancelot, in the <i>Mémoires de +l'Académie des Inscriptions</i>, 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 <i>Histoire de la +Haute Normandie</i>, 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 +<i>Turold</i> 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: <i>Signum Turoldi +Constabularii</i>. 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."</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor56">[56]</a> This +tower is figured, but very inaccurately, by Gough, in his <i>Alien +Priories</i>, 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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor57">[57]</a> +<i>Alien Priories</i>, I. p. 24.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor58">[58]</a> "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."—<i>Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni</i>, p. +519.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor59">[59]</a> 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 Cœnobio +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."—<i>Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni</i>, p. 305.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor60">[60]</a> +<i>Histoire de la Haute Normandie</i>, II. p, 281.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_119"><span class="pagenum">[Page 119]</span></a></p> + +<h2><a name="LETTER_XXI"></a>LETTER XXI.</h2> + +<h4> +BERNAT—BROGLIE—ORBEC—LISIEUX—CATHEDRAL—ECCLESIASTICAL +HISTORY.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Lisieux, July</i>, 1818.)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_120"><span class="pagenum">[Page 120]</span></a>we were unable to decipher a +single word. The capital itself is fanciful and not devoid of +elegance.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="picture_13"><br/> +</a><img src="images/picture_13.png" height="277" width="308" alt="Capital" /></p> + +<p>The convent was placed under the immediate protection of the +sovereign, by virtue of an ordinance issued by Philip Augustus<a +name="FNanchor61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61"><sup>[61]</sup></a>, +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 <a name="Page_121"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 121]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62"><sup>[62]</sup></a> 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."</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_122"><span class="pagenum">[Page 122]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_123"><span class="pagenum">[Page 123]</span></a>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 <i>hic jacet</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>arrondissement</i>, and <a name="Page_124"><span class="pagenum">[Page 124]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="picture_14"><br/> +</a><img src="images/picture_14.png" height="299" width="210" alt="Head-dress of females of Bernay" /></p> + +<p>On our road between Bernay and Orbec, we stopped at the village +of Chambrais, more commonly called Broglie. <a name="Page_125"><span class="pagenum">[Page 125]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63"><sup>[63]</sup></a>. 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 <a name="Page_126"><span class="pagenum">[Page 126]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_127"><span class="pagenum">[Page 127]</span></a>country, +we passed several flocks of sheep, the true <i>moutons du pays</i>, +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.</p> + +<p>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 <a +name="Page_128"><span class="pagenum">[Page 128]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>boulevards</i>; 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 <a name="Page_129"><span class="pagenum">[Page 129]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_130"><span class="pagenum">[Page 130]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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, <a name="Page_131"><span class="pagenum">[Page 131]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_132"><span class="pagenum">[Page 132]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64"><sup>[64]</sup></a>.—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 <a name="Page_133"><span class="pagenum">[Page 133]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_36"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_36.png" height="512" width="356" alt="Ancient Tomb in the Cathedral at Lisieux" /></p> + +<p>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, <i>Les Monumens +Français</i>, under the title of <i>Two Armed Warriors, in +the Nave of the Cathedral at Lisieux</i>; 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 <a name="Page_134"><span class="pagenum">[Page 134]</span></a>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 +<i>Collège de Lisieux</i> at Paris, that of Peter Cauchon in +the Lady-Chapel, and all the rest, were destroyed during the +revolution.</p> + +<p>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 (<i>damnabilis negligentia</i>) 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.</p> + +<p>It is rather extraordinary, that no one of the Lexovian bishops +was ever admitted by the church into the catalogue <a name="Page_135"><span class="pagenum">[Page 135]</span></a>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.—<a name="Page_136"><span class="pagenum">[Page 136]</span></a>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 +<i>Placitum Spathæ</i>, 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 <a name="Page_137"><span class="pagenum">[Page 137]</span></a>traditions rests solely upon +the authority of Anthony Mallet<a name="FNanchor65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65"><sup>[65]</sup></a> but it obtained general credence +till within the last three years, when a very well-informed writer, +in the <i>Mercure de France</i>, and subsequently in the article +<i>Hennuyer</i> in the <i>Bibliographie Universelle</i>, espoused, +and has apparently established, the opposite opinion.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_138"><span class="pagenum">[Page 138]</span></a>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.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor61">[61]</a> This +ordinance is preserved by Du Monstier in the <i>Neustria Pia</i>, +p. 400.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor62">[62]</a> 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."—<i>Neustria Pia</i>, p. 398.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor63">[63]</a> The +following are the dimensions of the building, in English +feet:—</p> + +<table summary="Dimensions of building in feet"> +<tr> +<th> </th> +<th align="center">LENGTH.</th> +<th align="center">WIDTH.</th> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Nave</td> +<td align="right">54</td> +<td align="right">15</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Choir</td> +<td align="right">45</td> +<td align="right">15</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>North aisle</td> +<td align="right">7</td> +<td align="right"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>South ditto</td> +<td align="right">15</td> +<td align="right"> </td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor64">[64]</a> +<i>Anglo-Norman Antiquities</i>, p. 47.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor65">[65]</a> "Sed ne +quid omittam eorum etiam quæ unum Antonium <i>Mallet</i> +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."—<i>Gallia +Christiana</i>, p. 802.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_139"><span class="pagenum">[Page 139]</span></a></p> +<h2><a name="LETTER_XXII"></a>LETTER XXII.</h2> + +<h4>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.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Lisieux, July</i>, 1818.)</p> + +<p>Lisieux represents one of the most ancient capitals of the +primitive tribes of Gaul. The Lexovii, noticed by Julius +Cæsar, in his <i>Commentaries</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>The capital of the Lexovii was called the <i>Neomagus</i> or +<i>Noviomagus Lexoviorum</i>; 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 <i>chaussée</i> 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 <i>les Tourettes</i>, about three-quarters of +a mile from the former town. The character of these foundations was +of a nature to excite curiosity: they were <a name="Page_140"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 140]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66"><sup>[66]</sup></a>, +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.</p> + +<p>Such vestiges prove that Neomagus must have been a place of +importance; and, like the other Gallo-Roman <a name="Page_141"><span class="pagenum">[Page 141]</span></a>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 <i>Secunda Lugdunensis</i>, which +thence obtained, in the <i>Notitia Imperii</i>, the title of the +<i>Littus Saxonicum</i>.—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 <i>Itinerary of +Antoninus</i>, no mention of it is to be found in the curious +chart, known by the name of the <i>Tabula Peutingeriana</i>, formed +under the reign of Theodosius the Great; so that it then appears to +have been completely swept away and forgotten.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Lexovium</i> or <i>Lexobium</i>: in the +eleventh century, when Ordericus Vitalis composed his history, it +was called <i>Luxovium</i>; and soon after it became +<i>Lixovium</i>, and <i>Lizovium</i>, which, gallicised, naturally +passed into <i>Lyzieulx</i>, or, as it is now written, +<i>Lisieux</i>. 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 <a name="Page_142"><span class="pagenum">[Page 142]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67"><sup>[67]</sup></a>, while +he himself exercised despotic authority over the inhabitants. At +length, he purchased peace and forgiveness, by opening <a name="Page_143"><span class="pagenum">[Page 143]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor68"></a><a +href="#Footnote_68"><sup>[68]</sup></a> of the king's son, William +Adelin, with Matilda, daughter of Fulk, earl of Anjou.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_144"><span class="pagenum">[Page 144]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Philippiad</i>, 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 <a name="Page_145"><span class="pagenum">[Page 145]</span></a>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."</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69"><sup>[69]</sup></a>: 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 <i>Alien Priories</i>, <a name="Page_146"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 146]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>The third abbey, that of St. Evrau or St. Evroul, called in +Latin, <i>Monasterium Uticense</i>, 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 <a name="Page_147"><span class="pagenum">[Page 147]</span></a>surrounding district to +contribute their assistance for the purpose.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>humanities</i> 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 <i>Ecclesiastical History</i>, 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, <a name="Page_148"><span class="pagenum">[Page 148]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_149"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 149]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>History of Lisieux</i>, 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, <a name="Page_150"><span class="pagenum">[Page 150]</span></a>whilst he superintends an +edition of the <i>Vaux-de-Vires</i>, or <i>Vaux de villes</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_151"><span class="pagenum">[Page 151]</span></a></p> + +<div class="blkquot"> +<p>Madame et tres chere Sœur,</p> + +<p>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 sœur 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 sœur que tous nos vœux +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 sœur 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.</p> + +<p>je vous remercie ma tres chere sœur 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 sœur <a name="Page_152"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 152]</span></a>soyés assés +bonne pour Conserver un souvenir a une sœur 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,</p> + +<p>Madame et tres chere Sœur</p> + +<p>de V.M.</p> + +<p>La plus attachée</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="picture_15"><br/> +</a><img src="images/picture_15.png" height="158" width="326" alt="Autograph of the Princess Borghese" /></p> + +<p>Pitti le 18 janvier 1811</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor66">[66]</a> See +<i>Magazin Encyclopédique, for</i> 1802, III. p. 504.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor67">[67]</a> 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 <i>Concilia Normannica</i>, 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."</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor68">[68]</a> +Sandford, in his <i>Genealogical History of the Kings of +England</i>, 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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor69">[69]</a> +<i>Annal</i>, IV. p. 599.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_153"><span class="pagenum">[Page 153]</span></a></p> +<h2><a name="LETTER_XXIII"></a>LETTER XXIII.</h2> + +<h4>FRENCH POLICE—RIDE FROM LISIEUX TO +CAEN—CIDER—GENERAL APPEARANCE AND TRADE OF +CAEN—ENGLISH RESIDENT THERE.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Caen, August</i>, 1818.)</p> + +<p>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 <i>caffé au +lait</i>, 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 <i>honnête hôtel</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_154"><span class="pagenum">[Page 154]</span></a>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 +<i>arrondissement</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70"><sup>[70]</sup></a>. To judge from all official +proceedings, it seems as if we were walking upon a smothered <a +name="Page_155"><span class="pagenum">[Page 155]</span></a>volcano, and yet we are told by +every body that there is not the slightest room for apprehension of +any kind.</p> + +<p>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 "<i>Coupe Gorge</i>." 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 <a name="Page_156"><span class="pagenum">[Page 156]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Vin Huet</i>. 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, <i>rue +de la Cervoisiere</i>, 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 <a name="Page_157"><span class="pagenum">[Page 157]</span></a>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,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Raris sylva locis facit umbram, vinea nusquam:</p> + +<p> Indigenis potus Thetidi miscetur avena,</p> + +<p> Ut vice sit vini multo confecta labore."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And the same author likewise tells us, that the Normans of his +time were cider-drinkers—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"... <i>Siceræque</i> potatrix</p> + +<p> Algia tumentis ...</p> + +<p> Non tot in autumni rubet Algia tempore <i>pomis</i></p> + +<p> Unde liquare solet <i>siceram</i> sibi <i>Neustria</i> +gratam."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>Coccus</i>, too, which has caused so much destruction among our +orchards at home, is fortunately still unknown here.</p> + +<p>The only place at which we stopped between Lisieux and Caen, was +Croissanville, a poor village, but one that <a name="Page_158"><span class="pagenum">[Page 158]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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, +<i>sarrazin</i>, 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, <i>had-razin</i>, signifying <i>red-corn</i>, +of which words <i>sarrazin</i> may fairly be regarded a corruption, +as <i>buck-wheat</i>, in our own tongue, ought unquestionably to be +written <i>beech-wheat</i>; a term synonymous to what it is called +in Latin and German. The present name may well appear inexplicable, +to those <a name="Page_159"><span class="pagenum">[Page 159]</span></a>who are unacquainted with the +Anglo-Saxon and its cognate dialects.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_160"><span class="pagenum">[Page 160]</span></a></p> +<p>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 <a name="Page_161"><span class="pagenum">[Page 161]</span></a>to avoid a navigation, which is +at all times dangerous, and in case of war peculiarly exposed.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_37"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_37.png" height="471" width="680" alt="Head-Dress of Females, at Caen" /></p> + +<p>The <i>grand cours</i> 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 <i>vice versâ</i>. 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 <i>coiffure</i> 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 name="Page_162"><span class="pagenum">[Page 162]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Sis meæ sedes utinam senectæ:"—</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_163"><span class="pagenum">[Page 163]</span></a>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.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor70">[70]</a> The +following were among the articles of the decree:—"No +individual to leave his <i>arrondissement</i> 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."</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_164"><span class="pagenum">[Page 164]</span></a></p> +<h2><a name="LETTER_XXIV"></a>LETTER XXIV.</h2> + +<h4>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.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Caen, August,</i> 1818.)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>naïveté</i> 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 +<a name="Page_165"><span class="pagenum">[Page 165]</span></a>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, <i>"L'heur de grace +use l'oubli,"</i> itself an anagram upon his name, bespeaks and +insures the good will of the reader.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor71"></a><a +href="#Footnote_71"><sup>[71]</sup></a>, 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 <a name="Page_166"><span class="pagenum">[Page 166]</span></a>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 <i>Philippiad</i>, puts +Caen in competition with Paris,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Villa potens, opulenta situ, spatiosa, decora,</p> + +<p> Fluminibus, pratis, et agrorum fertilitate,</p> + +<p> Merciferasque rates portu capiente marino,</p> + +<p> Seque tot ecclesiis, domibus et civibus ornans,</p> + +<p> Ut se Parisio vix annuat esse minorem."—</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Caen is designated in Duke Richard's charter, by the appellation +of "in Bajocensi comitatu villa quæ dicitur <i>Cathim</i>, +super fluvium Olnæ."—From <i>Cathim</i>, came +<i>Cahem</i>; and <i>Cahem</i>, in process of time, was gradually +softened into <i>Caen</i>. The elision that took place in the first +instance, is of a similar nature to that by which the Italian words +<i>padre</i> and <i>madre</i>, have been converted into +<i>père</i> and <i>mère</i>; 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 <i>Cadomus</i> or <i>Cadomum</i>.—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 <i>Cadomus</i> is a +corruption from <i>Caii domus</i>, fully and sufficiently proving +that the town was built by Julius Cæsar.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_167"><span class="pagenum">[Page 167]</span></a></p> +<p>Robert Wace states, in his <i>Roman de Rou</i>, that, at the +time immediately previous to the conquest of England, Caen was an +open town.—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Encore ert Caen sans Châtel,</p> + +<p> N'y avoit mur, ny quesnel."—</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>A proof of the antiquity of the fortifications may perhaps be +found in the name of the tower called <i>la Tour Guillaume le +Roi</i>, 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 <i>Tour +au Massacre</i>, which is situated at the confluence of the Orne +and Odon. The <a name="Page_168"><span class="pagenum">[Page 168]</span></a>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 +<i>la Tour Machart</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>Caen contains another castellated building, which might easily +mislead the studious antiquarian. The <i>Château de +Calix</i>, 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 <a name="Page_169"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 169]</span></a>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 <i>cordelière</i>, 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 +<i>Château de la Gendarmerie</i>. 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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_38"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_38.png" height="544" width="355" alt="Tower in the Château de Calix, at Caen" /></p> + +<p><a name="Page_170"><span class="pagenum">[Page 170]</span></a></p> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,</p> + +<p>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, <a name="Page_171"><span class="pagenum">[Page 171]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor72"></a><a +href="#Footnote_72"><sup>[72]</sup></a>. The <a name="Page_172"><span class="pagenum">[Page 172]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_173"><span class="pagenum">[Page 173]</span></a>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—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Truth will survive when merry jokes are past;</p> + +<p> For rising merit must buoy up at last."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_174"><span class="pagenum">[Page 174]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>St. Etienne le Vieil</i>; 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.</p> + +<p>Attached to the wall of the choir of this church is still to be +seen an equestrian statue<a name="FNanchor73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73"><sup>[73]</sup></a>, 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, <a name="Page_175"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 175]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_176"><span class="pagenum">[Page 176]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_177"><span class="pagenum">[Page 177]</span></a>introduction of the Norman, and +gothic styles<a name="FNanchor74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74"><sup>[74]</sup></a>." 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_39"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_39.png" height="532" width="340" alt="Tower and Spire of St. Peter's Church, at Caen" /></p> + +<p>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, <a name="Page_178"><span class="pagenum">[Page 178]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_40"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_40.png" height="469" width="309" alt="Sculpture upon a Capital in St. Peter's Church at Caen" /></p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_179"><span class="pagenum">[Page 179]</span></a>buried here; and De +Bourgueville has preserved his epitaph, which recounts among his +other merits, that</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Et par luy, et par sa devise</p> + +<p> Fut la tour en sa voye mise</p> + +<p> D'estre faicte si noblement."—</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_180"><span class="pagenum">[Page 180]</span></a>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 <i>Chevalier et la Charette</i>. According to the +usual fate of ancient sculpture, the <i>marguilliers</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_41"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_41.png" height="482" width="324" alt="Tower of St. John's Church, at Caen" /></p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_181"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 181]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>In the suburb of Vaucelles, the church of St. Michael contains +some architectural features of great curiosity<a name="FNanchor75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75"><sup>[75]</sup></a>. 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.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor71">[71]</a> +<i>Huet, Origines de Caen</i>, p. 12.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor72">[72]</a> Upon +this subject, Huet has an extraordinary observation, (<i>Origines +de Caen</i>, 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 <i>Origines Eccleslasticæ</i>, 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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor73">[73]</a> +<i>Cotman's Architectural Antiquities of Normandy</i>, t. 20.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor74">[74]</a> +<i>Antiquities of Ireland</i>, p. 151.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor75">[75]</a> See +<i>Cotman's Architectural Antiquities of Normandy</i>, t. 18, +19.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_182"><span class="pagenum">[Page 182]</span></a></p> +<h2><a name="LETTER_XXV"></a>LETTER XXV.</h2> + +<h4>ROYAL ABBEYS OF THE HOLY TRINITY AND ST. STEPHEN—FUNERAL +OF THE CONQUEROR, EXHUMATION OF HIS REMAINS, AND DESTRUCTION OF HIS +MONUMENT.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Caen, August</i>, 1818.)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_183"><span class="pagenum">[Page 183]</span></a>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, <i>l'abbaye aux +hommes</i>, and <i>l'abbaye aux dames</i>.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76"><sup>[76]</sup></a>. 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.</p> + +<p>The noble church<a name="FNanchor77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77"><sup>[77]</sup></a> is now used as a work-house for +the department. At the revolution it became national property, and +it remained unappropriated, till, upon the <a name="Page_184"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 184]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_185"><span class="pagenum">[Page 185]</span></a>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 <i>Fort of +the Trinity, at Caen</i>, at one hundred francs per annum, are yet +extant.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_186"><span class="pagenum">[Page 186]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_187"><span class="pagenum">[Page 187]</span></a>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 <a name="Page_188"><span class="pagenum">[Page 188]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="picture_16"><br/> +</a><img src="images/picture_16.png" height="293" width="353" alt="Fac-simile of seal" /></p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_189"><span class="pagenum">[Page 189]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>The inquiry, however, will not be discontinued<a name="FNanchor78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78"><sup>[78]</sup></a>: there +are still hopes of success, especially in the crypt, which <a name="Page_190"><span class="pagenum">[Page 190]</span></a>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.—<a name="Page_191"><span class="pagenum">[Page 191]</span></a>Round it runs a stone bench, as +in the subterraneous chapel in St. Gervais, at Rouen.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Gallia Christiana</i>, she was devoted by her +parents to this holy office, upon the very day of the dedication of +the convent, in July 1066.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The annual income of the monastery of the Trinity is stated by +Gough, in his <i>Alien Priories</i>, 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 <a name="Page_192"><span class="pagenum">[Page 192]</span></a>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</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Lands and livings, many a rood,</p> + +<p> Had gifted the shrine for their soul's repose."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_193"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 193]</span></a>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 <i>in commendam</i> +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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_42"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_42.png" height="337" width="574" alt="Monastery of St. Stephen, at Caen" /></p> + +<p>The monastic buildings now serve for what, in the language of +revolutionary and imperial France, was called a +<i>Lycée</i>, 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 <i>tout-ensemble</i>. 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 <a name="Page_194"><span class="pagenum">[Page 194]</span></a>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 <a name="Page_195"><span class="pagenum">[Page 195]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>The building is now undergoing a thorough repair, at the expence +of the town. No other revenues, at present, belong to it, except +the <i>sous</i> which are paid for chairs during mass.</p> + +<p>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 <i>barbaric</i> 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 <a name="Page_196"><span class="pagenum">[Page 196]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_197"><span class="pagenum">[Page 197]</span></a>altar is still to be seen the +flat stone, placed there in 1742, in memory of the Conqueror, and +bearing the epitaph—</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="picture_17"><br/> +</a><img src="images/picture_17.png" height="434" width="293" alt="Epitaph in memory of the Conqueror" /></p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>QUI REXIT RIGIDOS NORMANNOS ATQUE BRITANNOS</p> + +<p>AVDACTER VICIT FORTITER OBTINVIT</p> + +<p>ET CENOMANENSES VIRTVTE COERCVIT ENSES</p> + +<p>IMPERIIQVE SVI LEGIBUS APPLICVIT</p> + +<p>REX MAGNVS PARVA JACET HIC VILLELMVS IN VRNA</p> + +<p>SVFFICIT HÆC MAGNO PARVA DOMVS DOMINO</p> + +<p>TER SEPTEM GRADIBVS SE VOLVERAT ATQUE DVOBVS</p> + +<p>VIRGINIS IN GREMIO PHOEBVS ET HIC OBIIT</p> + +<p>ANNO MLXXXVII</p> + +<p>REQVIESCEBAT IN SPE CORPVS BENEFICIENTISSIMI</p> + +<p>FVNDATORIS QVVM A CALVINIANIS ANNO MDLXII</p> + +<p>DISSIPATA SVNT EIVS OSSA VNVM EX EIS A VIRO NOBILI</p> + +<p>QVI TVM ADERAT RESERVATVM ET A POSTERIS ILLIVS</p> + +<p>ANNO MDCXLII RESTITVTVM IN MEDIO CHORO DEPOSITVM</p> + +<p>FVERAT MOLE SEPVLCHRALI DESVPER EXTRVCTA HANC</p> + +<p>CEREMONIARVM SOLEMNITATE MINVS ACCOMMODAM</p> + +<p>AMOVERVNT MONACHI ANNO MDCCXLII REGIO</p> + +<p>FVLTI DIPLOMATE ET OS QVOD VNVM SVPERERAT</p> + +<p>REPOSVERVNT IN CRYPTA PROPE ALTARE</p> + +<p>IN QVO IVGITER DE BENEDICTIONIBVS METET</p> + +<p>QVI SEMINAVIT IN BENEDICTIONIBVS</p> + +<p>FIAT FIAT</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_198"><span class="pagenum">[Page 198]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_199"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 199]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_200"><span class="pagenum">[Page 200]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a +name="Page_201"><span class="pagenum">[Page 201]</span></a>concluded in haste, and the +assembly, struck with horror, returned to their homes.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_202"><span class="pagenum">[Page 202]</span></a>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;—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"... quæ gratia currûm</p> + +<p> Armorumque fuit vivis, quæ cura nitentes</p> + +<p> Pascere equos, eadem sequitur tellure repostos."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_203"><span class="pagenum">[Page 203]</span></a>daggers: the vibration proved +that it was not filled by the corpse; and nothing more was wanted +to seal its destruction.</p> + +<p>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, "<i>et bien peu réformez!</i>"—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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_204"><span class="pagenum">[Page 204]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79"><sup>[79]</sup></a>."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor76">[76]</a> +<i>Anglo-Norman Antiquities</i>, p. 45.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor77">[77]</a> See +<i>Cotman's Architectural Antiquities of Normandy</i>, t. +24-33.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor78">[78]</a> A +detailed account of the proceedings on this occasion, is given in +the <i>Journal Politique du Département du Calvados</i>, 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:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Ce tombeau renfermant les dépouilles mortelles</p> + +<p> de l'illustre Fondatrice de cette Abbaye,</p> + +<p> renversé pendant les discordes civiles,</p> + +<p> et déplacé depuis une longue série +d'années,</p> + +<p> a été restauré, conformément +au voeu des</p> + +<p> amis de la religion, de l'antiquité et des +arts,</p> + +<p class="i4">1819.</p> + +<p> Casimir, comte de Montlivault, conseiller d'état, +préfet.</p> + +<p> Léchaudé d'Anisy, directeur de +l'Hospice."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor79">[79]</a> +<i>Hist. Normannorum Scriptores</i>, p. 662.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_205"><span class="pagenum">[Page 205]</span></a></p> +<h2><a name="LETTER_XXVI"></a>LETTER XXVI.</h2> + +<h4>PALACE OF THE CONQUEROR—HERALDIC TILES—PORTRAITS OF +WILLIAM AND MATILDA—MUSEUM—PUBLIC +LIBRARY—UNIVERSITY—ACADEMY—EMINENT +MEN—HISTORY OF CAEN.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Caen, August</i>, 1818.)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_206"><span class="pagenum">[Page 206]</span></a>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 <i>Lay of the Last Minstrel</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_43"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_43.png" height="579" width="445" alt="Fireplace in the Conqueror's Palace, at Caen" /></p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_207"><span class="pagenum">[Page 207]</span></a>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."</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_208"><span class="pagenum">[Page 208]</span></a>were +represented on the pavement; for though the number of emblazoned +tiles was considerable, the rest were all repetitions<a name="FNanchor80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80"><sup>[80]</sup></a>. 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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_209"><span class="pagenum">[Page 209]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81"><sup>[81]</sup></a>, and are supposed by him, +probably with reason, to be coeval with the personages they +represent. <a name="Page_210"><span class="pagenum">[Page 210]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_211"><span class="pagenum">[Page 211]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_212"><span class="pagenum">[Page 212]</span></a>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, <a +name="Page_213"><span class="pagenum">[Page 213]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_214"><span class="pagenum">[Page 214]</span></a></p> +<p>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 <i>Sacred Geography</i>; Graindorge, who had published +<i>De Principiis Generationîs</i>; Huet, a man seldom +mentioned, without the epithet <i>learned</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_215"><span class="pagenum">[Page 215]</span></a>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 <i>Historia +Plantarum</i>; 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.—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Enfin, Malherbe vint, et le premier en France</p> + +<p> Fit sentir dans les vers une juste cadence:</p> + +<p> D'un mot mis en sa place enseigna le pouvoir,</p> + +<p> Et reduisit la muse aux règles du devoir.</p> + +<p> Par ce sage écrivain, la langue repareé,</p> + +<p> N'offrit plus rien de rude à l'oreille +épureé.</p> + +<p> Les stances avec grâce apprirent à +tomber,</p> + +<p> Et le Vers sur le Vers n'osa plus enjamber."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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, <a name="Page_216"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 216]</span></a>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 <i>Le Roman de Rou et des +Normans</i>, written in French verse. He dedicated this romance to +our Henry IInd, who rewarded him with a stall in the cathedral at +Bayeux.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_44"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_44.png" height="419" width="323" alt="Profile of M. Lamouroux" /></p> + +<p>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 <i>Classification +of the Submersed Algæ</i>, have been honored with admission +in the <i>Mémoires du Muséum d'Histoire +Naturelle</i>, and have procured him the distinction of being +elected into the National Institute: his subsequent publication on +the <i>Corallines</i>, is an admirable <a name="Page_217"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 217]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>Crocodilus Cadomensis</i>.</p> + +<p>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, <i>à +l'instar</i> 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, <a name="Page_218"><span class="pagenum">[Page 218]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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, <a name="Page_219"><span class="pagenum">[Page 219]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Lansquenets</i> 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 <a name="Page_220"><span class="pagenum">[Page 220]</span></a>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,—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Seditione, dolis, scelere, atque libidine, et irâ,</p> + +<p> <i>Iliacos</i> extra muros peccatur et intra."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor80">[80]</a> +Engravings of the same tiles, and of some others, chiefly with +fanciful patterns, are to be found in the <i>Gentleman's +Magazine</i> 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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor81">[81]</a> +<i>Monumens de la Monarchie Française</i>, I. p. 402, t. +55.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_221"><span class="pagenum">[Page 221]</span></a></p> +<h2><a name="LETTER_XXVII"></a>LETTER XXVII.</h2> + +<h4>VIEUX—LA MALADERIE—CHESNUT TIMBER—CAEN +STONE—HISTORY OF BAYEUX—TAPESTRY.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Bayeux, August</i>, 1818.)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_222"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 222]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82"><sup>[82]</sup></a>. 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<a +name="FNanchor83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83"><sup>[83]</sup></a>. +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 <a name="Page_223"><span class="pagenum">[Page 223]</span></a>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 <i>Vieux</i> originally denoted a ford; and the +word <i>Vé</i>, 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 <i>Tabula Peutingeriana</i>, and with what Ptolemy relates of +certain towns adjoining the Viducassian territory, will support him +in the assertion, that Vieux was the ancient <i>Augustodurum</i> +the Viducassian capital; and that Bayeux was probably the site of +<i>Arigenus</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>la Maladerie</i>, a name derived from the +lazar-house in it, the <i>Léproserie de Beaulieu</i>, +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, <a name="Page_224"><span class="pagenum">[Page 224]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_225"><span class="pagenum">[Page 225]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>In former days this stone was exported in great quantity to our +own country. Stow, in his <i>Survey of London</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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, <i>arden</i>, 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 <a name="Page_226"><span class="pagenum">[Page 226]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>Bretteville</i> itself; but the term must have <a name="Page_227"><span class="pagenum">[Page 227]</span></a>some +signification in Normandy, at least eleven villages in the duchy +being so called.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">"Doctor potentum rhetorum,</p> + +<p>Tu Bajocassis stirpe Druidarum satus;"</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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 <i>de la +chesnaye</i>, thus commemorating by the epithet, the oaks that +formed the holy grove. Near it stood the famous temple of Mount +Phaunus, which <a name="Page_228"><span class="pagenum">[Page 228]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Næomagus Viducassium</i>.—The term +<i>Viducasses</i> or <i>Biducasses</i> was in early ages changed to +<i>Bajocasses</i>; and the city, following the custom that +prevailed in Gaul, took the appellation of <i>Bajocæ</i>, or, +as <a name="Page_229"><span class="pagenum">[Page 229]</span></a>it was occasionally written, of +<i>Baiæ</i> or <i>Bagicæ</i>. Its name in French has +likewise been subject to alterations.—During the twelfth and +thirteenth centuries, it was <i>Baex</i> and <i>Bajeves</i>; in the +fourteenth <i>Bajex</i>; in the sixteenth <i>Baieux</i>; and soon +afterwards it settled info the present orthography.</p> + +<p>Pursuing the history of Bayeux somewhat farther, we find this +city in the <i>Notitia Galileæ</i> holding the first rank +among the towns of the <i>Secunda Lugdunensis</i>. 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 <i>HBAJOCAS</i>, and +silver pieces, coined by Charles the Bald, with the legend +<i>HBAJOCAS-CIVITAS</i>, are mentioned by Le Blanc. Bayeux was also +in those times, one of the head-quarters of the high functionaries, +entitled <i>Missi Dominici</i>, 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 <i>Aula +Regio</i>.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_230"><span class="pagenum">[Page 230]</span></a>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 <i>Otlingua Saxonia</i>, 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 <i>Saxones Bajocassini</i>, whom the early +Norman historians style <i>Saisnes de Bayeux</i>. 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 <i>Estelan</i>, you will have +little difficulty in recognizing <i>East-land: Cape la Hogue</i> +will readily suggest the idea of a lofty promontory; its +appellation being derived from the German adjective, <i>hoch</i>, +still written <i>hoog</i>, in Flemish: the Saxon word for the +Almighty enters into the family names of <i>Argot</i>, +<i>Turgot</i>, <i>Bagot</i>, <i>Bigot</i>, &c.; and, not to +multiply examples, the quaking sands upon the sea-shore are to the +present hour called <i>bougues</i>, an evident corruption of our +own word <i>bogs</i>.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_231"><span class="pagenum">[Page 231]</span></a></p> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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; <a name="Page_232"><span class="pagenum">[Page 232]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>After these troubles, Bayeux enjoyed a temporary tranquillity; +and, according to the celebrated historical tapestry and to the +<i>Roman de Rou</i>, 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 <a name="Page_233"><span class="pagenum">[Page 233]</span></a>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.<a name="FNanchor84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84"><sup>[84]</sup></a> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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, <a name="Page_234"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 234]</span></a>was demolished in 1773; +and, as the poet of Bayeux has sung<a name="FNanchor85"></a><a +href="#Footnote_85"><sup>[85]</sup></a>,—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"... Gaulois, Romains, Saxons,</p> + +<p> Oppresseurs, opprimés, colliers, faisceaux, +blasons,</p> + +<p> Tout dort. Du vieux château la taciturne +enceinte</p> + +<p> Expire. Par degrés j'ai vu sa gloire +éteinte.</p> + +<p> J'ai marché sur ses tours, erré dans ses +fossés:</p> + +<p> Tels qu'un songe bientôt ils vont être +effacés."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And in truth, they are so effectually <i>effaced</i>, that not a +single vestige of the walls and towers can now be discovered.</p> + +<p>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,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"... des siècles respecté,</p> + +<p> En peignant des héros honore la beauté."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>The very curious piece of historical needle-work, now generally +known by the name of the <i>Bayeux tapestry</i>, <a name="Page_235"><span class="pagenum">[Page 235]</span></a>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 <i>Monumens de la Monarchie +Française</i><a name="FNanchor86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86"><sup>[86]</sup></a>, and a paper inserted in the +<i>Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions</i><a +name="FNanchor87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87"><sup>[87]</sup></a>, +have figured and described this celebrated specimen of ancient art. +Montfaucon's plates were afterwards republished by Ducarel<a name="FNanchor88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88"><sup>[88]</sup></a>, with +the addition of a short dissertation and explanation, by an able +antiquary of our own country, Smart Lethieuilier.</p> + +<p>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 name="Page_236"><span class="pagenum">[Page 236]</span></a>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 +<i>private</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_45"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_45.png" height="480" width="285" alt="Figure from the Bayeux Tapestry" /></p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89"><sup>[89]</sup></a>, 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 <a name="Page_237"><span class="pagenum">[Page 237]</span></a>surname of +<i>Beauclerk</i>.—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 <i>an English work</i>.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90"><sup>[90]</sup></a>.—<i>First</i>, 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.—<i>Secondly</i>, 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, <i>Thirdly</i>, +that the Norman banner is, invariably, <i>Argent</i>, a Cross, +<i>Or</i>, in a Bordure <i>Azure</i>; and that this is repeated +over and over again, as it is in the war against Conan, as <a name="Page_238"><span class="pagenum">[Page 238]</span></a>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 <i>Monument of the +Conquest of England</i>; following, therein, M. Lancelot, and +speaking of it as an unfinished work, whereas, it is in fact an +<i>apologetical history of the claims of William to the crown of +England, and of the breach of faith and fall of Harold</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_239"><span class="pagenum">[Page 239]</span></a>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 <i>a very long piece of cloth, embroidered +with figures and writing, representing the conquest of England</i>, +without any reference to the royal artist or the donor.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_240"><span class="pagenum">[Page 240]</span></a>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 <i>le toile de Saint Jean</i>; 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 +<i>Conqueror</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <a +name="Page_241"><span class="pagenum">[Page 241]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_242"><span class="pagenum">[Page 242]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor82">[82]</a> 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 <i>Torigny marble</i>, 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 +<i>Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions</i>. 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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor83">[83]</a> +<i>Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions</i>, XXI. +p. 489.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor84">[84]</a> +<i>Archæologia</i>, XVII. p. 911.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor85">[85]</a> +<i>Bayeux et ses Environs, par M. Delauney</i>, p. 12.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor86">[86]</a> I. p. +371-379; pl. 35-49, and II. p. 1-29; pl. 1-9.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor87">[87]</a> VI. p. +739, and VIII. p. 602.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor88">[88]</a> +<i>Anglo-Norman Antiquities</i>, Appendix, No. 1.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor89">[89]</a> +<i>Archæologia</i>, XVII. p. 85.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor90">[90]</a> +<i>Archæologia</i>, XVIII. p. 359.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_243"><span class="pagenum">[Page 243]</span></a></p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_46"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_46.png" height="550" width="340" alt="Sculpture at Bayeux" /></p> + +<h2><a name="LETTER_XXVIII"></a>LETTER XXVIII.</h2> + +<h4>CATHEDRAL OF BAYEUX—CANON OF CAMBREMER—COPE OF ST. +REGNOBERT—ODO.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Bayeux, August</i>, 1818.)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>But, however unattractive Bayeux may be in other respects, so +long as the cathedral is suffered to stand, <a name="Page_244"><span class="pagenum">[Page 244]</span></a>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,—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Primitùs hic pastor templi fuit hujus et auctor,</p> + +<p> Catholicamque fidem Normannis attulit idem."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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 <i>History of Bayeux</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_245"><span class="pagenum">[Page 245]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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, <a name="Page_246"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 246]</span></a>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 <i>History of the Diocese</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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, <a name="Page_247"><span class="pagenum">[Page 247]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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, <a name="Page_248"><span class="pagenum">[Page 248]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_249"><span class="pagenum">[Page 249]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="picture_18"><br/> +</a><img src="images/picture_18.png" height="187" width="310" alt="Curious border of heads" /></p> + +<p>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 <i>niello</i>.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="picture_19"><br/> +</a><img src="images/picture_19.png" height="165" width="279" alt="Joints which form the pattern" /></p> + +<p>With the sixth arch of the nave begins the pointed style. The +capitals of the pillars are complicated, and the <a name="Page_250"><span class="pagenum">[Page 250]</span></a>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.—<a name="Page_251"><span class="pagenum">[Page 251]</span></a>There +are so many peculiarities both in the arrangement and in the +details of this cathedral<a name="FNanchor91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91"><sup>[91]</sup></a>, 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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_47"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_47.png" height="409" width="380" alt="Ornaments in the Spandrils of the Arches in Bayeux Cathedral" /></p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_252"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 252]</span></a>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 <i>misereres</i>, 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.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_253"><span class="pagenum">[Page 253]</span></a></p> +<p>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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="picture_20"><br/> +</a><img src="images/picture_20.png" height="259" width="342" alt="Capital of pillar" /></p> + +<p>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 name="Page_254"><span class="pagenum">[Page 254]</span></a>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.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"En l'an mil quatre cens et douze</p> + +<p> Tiers jour d'Avril que pluye arrouse</p> + +<p> Les biens de la terre, la journée</p> + +<p> Que la Pasques fut célébrée</p> + +<p> Noble homme et révérend père</p> + +<p> Jehan de Boissy, de la mère</p> + +<p> Eglise de Bayeux Pasteur</p> + +<p> Rendi l'âme à Son Créateur</p> + +<p> Et lors en foillant la place</p> + +<p> Devant le grant autel de grâce</p> + +<p> Trova l'on la basse chapelle</p> + +<p> Dont il n'avoit esté nouvelle</p> + +<p> Ou il est mis en sépulture</p> + +<p> Dieu veuille avoir son âme en cure,—Amen."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_255"><span class="pagenum">[Page 255]</span></a>must also add, that the initial +letters are colored red and blue, so that the whole bears a near +resemblance to a manuscript page.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Quarta dies Pasche fuerat cum Clerus ad hujus</p> + +<p class="i2">Que jacet hic vetule venimus exequias:</p> + +<p> Letitieque diem magis amisisse dolemus</p> + +<p class="i2">Quam centum tales si caderent vetule."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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 <i>chère amie</i> of Robert, Earl of +Gloucester, illegitimate son to Henry Ist.</p> + +<p>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 <a +name="Page_256"><span class="pagenum">[Page 256]</span></a>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.—</p> + +<div class="blkquot"> +<p>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.</p> +</div> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_257"><span class="pagenum">[Page 257]</span></a>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:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Signa te, signa, temerè me tangis et angis;</p> + +<p> Roma tibi subito motibus ibit amor."—</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_258"><span class="pagenum">[Page 258]</span></a>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 +<i>chasuble</i> 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.</p> + +<p>St. Regnobert, who was one of the most illustrious bishops of +Bayeux, is placed second on the list, in the <i>History of the +Diocese</i>; but in the <i>Gallia Christiana</i> <a name="Page_259"><span class="pagenum">[Page 259]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92"><sup>[92]</sup></a>; 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.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Iste <i>Lascivus</i> patiens vocari,</p> + +<p> Nomen indignum probitate vitae</p> + +<p> Abnuit nunquam; quia gratum ad aures</p> + +<p> Esset amicas."—</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_260"><span class="pagenum">[Page 260]</span></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.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_261"><span class="pagenum">[Page 261]</span></a></p> +<p>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 <i>moneta capituli</i>; and +on the obverse, with the letter V, surrounded by the word +<i>Bajocensis</i>. The eagle was probably adopted, in allusion to +the arms of the see, which were, <i>gules</i>; an eagle displayed +with two heads, <i>or</i><a name="FNanchor93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93"><sup>[93]</sup></a>.—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 <a +name="Page_262"><span class="pagenum">[Page 262]</span></a>chorister took the crozier in +his hands, during the first vespers, at the verse in the +<i>Magnificat</i>, "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.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor91">[91]</a> The +following are the dimensions of the church, in French measure, +according to Béziers.</p> + +<table summary="Dimensions of the church"> +<tr> +<th> </th> +<th>FEET.</th> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Height of the central tower</td> +<td align="right">224</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Ditto of the two western ditto</td> +<td align="right">230</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Length of the interior of the church </td> +<td align="right">296</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Width of ditto</td> +<td align="right">76</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Height of ditto</td> +<td align="right">76</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Length of the nave</td> +<td align="right">140</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Width of ditto</td> +<td align="right">38</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Ditto of side-aisles</td> +<td align="right">17</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Ditto of chapels</td> +<td align="right">15</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Length of the transepts</td> +<td align="right">113</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Width of ditto</td> +<td align="right">33</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Length of the choir</td> +<td align="right">118</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Width of ditto</td> +<td align="right">36</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor92">[92]</a> 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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor93">[93]</a> In its +origin, the <i>Baiocco</i> 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 +<i>Boynke</i>, or the Squire; but we think that our etymology is +the most natural one.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_263"><span class="pagenum">[Page 263]</span></a></p> +<h2><a name="LETTER_XXIX"></a>LETTER XXIX.</h2> + +<h4>CHURCH AND CASTLE OF +CREULLY—FALAISE—CASTLE—CHURCHES-FAIR OF +GUIBRAY.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Falaise, August</i>, 1818.)</p> + +<p>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.—</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="picture_21"><br/> +</a><img src="images/picture_21.png" height="132" width="631" alt="Rabelais hand-writing" /></p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_264"><span class="pagenum">[Page 264]</span></a>off, as we were told, some +works of great rarity from this collection, has enumerated more +than one instance of the kind in his <i>Bibliographical +Decameron</i>; 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, <i>Thomae +Wotton et amicorum</i>.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_265"><span class="pagenum">[Page 265]</span></a></p> +<p>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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_48"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_48.png" height="378" width="507" alt="Castle of Falaise" /></p> + +<p>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, <a name="Page_266"><span class="pagenum">[Page 266]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>The name <i>Falaise</i>, 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, <i>fels</i>, a rock, in which conjecture I find I am +borne out by Adelung: <i>falesia</i>, in modern Latinity, and +<i>falaise</i>, in French, signify a rocky shore. Hence, Brito, at +the commencement of his relation of the siege by Philip Augustus, +says,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Vicus erat scabrâ circumdatus undique rupe,</p> + +<p> Ipsius asperitate loci Falæsa vocatus,</p> + +<p> Normannæ in medio regionis, cujus in altâ</p> + +<p> Turres rupe sedent et mœnia; sic ut ad illam</p> + +<p> Jactus nemo putet aliquos contingere posse."—</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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, <a name="Page_267"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 267]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_268"><span class="pagenum">[Page 268]</span></a>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, <i>harlot</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_269"><span class="pagenum">[Page 269]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_270"><span class="pagenum">[Page 270]</span></a>ramparts, and on every side +they groupe themselves with picturesque beauty. It is said that the +municipality intend to <i>restore</i> 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<a name="FNanchor94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94"><sup>[94]</sup></a>.</p> + +<p>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 <i>rus in +urbe</i>: 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.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_271"><span class="pagenum">[Page 271]</span></a></p> +<p>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, <i>dungeon</i>, or, as it is +written in French, <i>donjon</i>, is nothing but a corruption of +<i>Domus Julii</i>! 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 <i>Recherches +Historiques sur Falaise</i>, "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 +<i>Felé</i>, the cat of Diana, or from the less pure source +of <i>Phaloi-Isis</i>; 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 <a name="Page_272"><span class="pagenum">[Page 272]</span></a>fantastic figures,) or was at +least appropriated by the Celtic priesthood to typify the sun, or +moon, or stars.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95"><sup>[95]</sup></a>; 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 <a name="Page_273"><span class="pagenum">[Page 273]</span></a>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, <a name="Page_274"><span class="pagenum">[Page 274]</span></a>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 <i>Gautiers</i>, 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: <a name="Page_275"><span class="pagenum">[Page 275]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_276"><span class="pagenum">[Page 276]</span></a></p> +<p>The people of Falaise are commonly supposed to be Normans +κατ εξοχην [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 +<a name="Page_277"><span class="pagenum">[Page 277]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_278"><span class="pagenum">[Page 278]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_279"><span class="pagenum">[Page 279]</span></a></p> +<p>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 <i>bray</i>, 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</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Tis more to curb than urge the generous steed,</p> + +<p> Restrain his fury, than provoke his speed."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor94">[94]</a> 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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor95">[95]</a> +<i>Recherches Historiques sur Falaise</i>, p. XIX. and XXIX.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_280"><span class="pagenum">[Page 280]</span></a></p> + +<h2><a name="LETTER_XXX"></a>LETTER XXX.</h2> + +<h4>ROCK AND CHAPEL OF ST. +ADRIEN—PONT-DE-L'ARCHE—PRIORY OF THE TWO +LOVERS—ABBEY OF +BONPORT—LOUVIERS—GAILLON—VERNON.</h4> + +<p class="r">(<i>Mantes, August</i>, 1818)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>détour</i> by Bernay; but the straight road from +Lisieux to Brionne is altogether without interest.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_281"><span class="pagenum">[Page 281]</span></a>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, <a name="Page_282"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 282]</span></a>from the blue flowers of +the <i>Viola Rothomagensis</i>: the <i>Isatis Tinctoria</i>, the +<i>true Woad</i>, 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 +<i>Reseda luteola</i>, or, <i>Dyer's woad</i>, is much cultivated +in the neighborhood, as is the <i>Teasel</i> for the use of the +cloth manufactory.</p> + +<p>Pont-de-l'Arche, though now a small mean town, may boast of high +antiquity, if it be rightly believed to be the ancient +<i>Pistae</i>, 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 <i>Pontem +Arcis</i>; 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<a name="FNanchor96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96"><sup>[96]</sup></a> account of the town. The plate +attached to that account, represents one of the towers as still +standing.—Though deprived of its citadel, <a name="Page_283"><span class="pagenum">[Page 283]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>At a short distance from the bridge, to the left, looking +towards Paris, is the <i>Colline des deux amans</i>, 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<a name="FNanchor97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97"><sup>[97]</sup></a>. But the traditionary tale +connected with this convent, forms the subject of one of the lays +of <i>Mary of France</i>; and it has been elegantly translated by +the late Mr. Ellis, in the introduction to his <i>History of our +Ancient Metrical Romances</i>;—Du Plessis<a name="FNanchor98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98"><sup>[98]</sup></a> is, +however, of opinion, that the name of the priory is nothing more +than a corruption from the words, <i>deux monts</i>, in allusion to +the twin hills, on one of which it stands; or, if <i>lovers</i> +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.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_284"><span class="pagenum">[Page 284]</span></a></p> +<p>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 <i>ex +voto</i>. 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<a name="FNanchor99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99"><sup>[99]</sup></a>, the +foundation, and hence the name. I ought, however, to add, that no +record of the kind is preserved in the <i>Neustrta Pia</i>, 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<a name="FNanchor100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100"><sup>[100]</sup></a>. 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 name="Page_285"><span class="pagenum">[Page 285]</span></a><i>a cunning woman</i> 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 <i>its +own accord</i>, when she arrives at the verse beginning, "and the +word was made flesh<a name="FNanchor101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101"><sup>[101]</sup></a>."—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 +<i>Willemin</i> in his very beautiful <i>Monumens Français +inédits</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_286"><span class="pagenum">[Page 286]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_287"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 287]</span></a>in quality to any other +in France. Spanish wool is almost exclusively used for the +purpose.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_288"><span class="pagenum">[Page 288]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a name="Page_289"><span class="pagenum">[Page 289]</span></a>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 +<i>Benedictus</i> at <i>Laudes</i>, so that the anthem, <i>Traditor +autem</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_290"><span class="pagenum">[Page 290]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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, <a name="Page_291"><span class="pagenum">[Page 291]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The royal palace, formerly here, is now wholly swept away; and +of the ancient fortifications there remains little <a name="Page_292"><span class="pagenum">[Page 292]</span></a>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<a name="FNanchor102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102"><sup>[102]</sup></a>.—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.</p> + +<p>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, +<i>La Couture du Pré de Giverny</i>, 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 <a name="Page_293"><span class="pagenum">[Page 293]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_49"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_49.png" height="524" width="314" alt="Elevation of the West Front of La Délivrande" /></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_294"><span class="pagenum">[Page 294]</span></a>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!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="note">Footnotes:</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor96">[96]</a> +<i>Antiquités Nationales</i>, IV. No. 48.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor97">[97]</a> +<i>Antiquités Nationales</i>, II. No. 17.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor98">[98]</a> +<i>Histoire de la Haute Normandie</i>, II. p. 332.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor99">[99]</a> +<i>Histoire d'Evreux</i>, p. 161.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor100">[100]</a> +<i>Antiquités Nationales</i>, IV. No. 40.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor101">[101]</a> This +mode of divination by the Bible and key, is also to be found among +the superstitions of our own country.—See <i>Ellis' edition +of Brand's Popular Antiquities</i>, II. p. 641.</p> +</div> + +<div class="note"> +<p><a name="Footnote_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor102">[102]</a> +<i>Ducarel's Anglo-Norman Antiquities</i>, p. 93.—Respecting +Vernon, see also <i>Millin, Antiquités Nationales</i>, III. +No. 26, in which four plates, and near fifty pages of letter-press, +are devoted to this town.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_295"><span class="pagenum">[Page 295]</span></a></p> + +<h2><a name="APPENDIX_I"></a>APPENDIX I.</h2> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="blkquot"> +<p>The printing of this work was just concluded, when the author +was favored with drawings, accompanied with short descriptions, of +the chapel of our <i>Lady of the Délivrande</i>, 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.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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. <a name="Page_296"><span class="pagenum">[Page 296]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_297"><span +class="pagenum">[Page 297]</span></a>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 <i>History of +Anglo-Norman Poetry</i>, 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 <i>frisure</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <a name="Page_298"><span class="pagenum">[Page 298]</span></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.</p> + +<p>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 <a +name="Page_299"><span class="pagenum">[Page 299]</span></a>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 <a name="Page_300"><span class="pagenum">[Page 300]</span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_301"><span class="pagenum">[Page 301]</span></a></p> + + +<p class="ctr"><a name="plate_50"><br/> +</a><img src="images/plate_50.png" height="380" width="640" alt="Font at Magneville" /></p> + + +<h2><a name="APPENDIX_II"></a>APPENDIX II.</h2> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>G.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h4>END OF THE SECOND VOLUME.</h4> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="INDEX"></a>INDEX.</h2> + +<p><b>A</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Abbey</i>, of Ardennes, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> + +<li>—Bec, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + +<li>—Bernay, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> + +<li>—Bonport, <a href="#Page_284">284</a></li> + +<li>—Cormeilles, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> + +<li>—Ducler, <a href="#Page_1">1</a></li> + +<li>—Jumieges, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> + +<li>—Preaux, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> + +<li>—St. Evroul, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> + +<li>—St. Georges de Bocherville, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> + +<li>—St. Stephen, at Caen, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> + +<li>—St. Taurinus, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> + +<li>—Trinity at Caen, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Academy of Druids</i>, at Bayeux, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Academy of Sciences</i>, at Caen, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Agnes Sorel</i>, buried at Jumieges, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> + +<li>—her statue destroyed by the Huguenots, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> + +<li>—her tomb destroyed at the revolution, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> + +<li>—inscription upon, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Amphitheatre, Roman</i>, found near Lisieux, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Amyot, Mr</i>. his paper on the Bayeux tapestry, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Andelys</i>, origin of the name, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + +<li>—history of, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> + +<li>—seat of an early monastery, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> + +<li>—great house at, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> + +<li>—birth-place of Poussin, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Andromeda polifolia</i>, found near Jumieges, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury</i>, a monk at Bec, <a +href="#Page_110">110</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Aqueduct, Roman</i>, remains of, at Vieux, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Archbishops of Rouen</i>, their palace at Gaillon, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Arches, trefoil-headed</i>, early specimen of, at Jumieges, +<a href="#Page_33">33</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Ardennes</i>, abbey of, near Caen, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Arlette, mother of the Conqueror</i>, native of Falaise, <a +href="#Page_268">268</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Arnulf</i>, bishop of Lisieux, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Arthur, Prince</i>, knighted at Gournay, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Asselin</i>, forbids the interment of the Conqueror, <a +href="#Page_200">200</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Audinus, bishop of Evreux</i>, authorizes Henry Ist to burn +the city, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Augustodurum</i>, probably the site of, at Vieux, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>B</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Bailiffs</i>, first established in Normandy under Philip +Augustus, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Baiocco of Naples</i>, named after Bayeux, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bas-relief</i>, in the church of St. Georges de Bocherville, +<a href="#Page_9">9</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Baudius</i>, professor of law for a short time at Caen, <a +href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bayeux</i>, seat of an academy of Druids, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> + +<li>—Roman relics found near, but no Druidic, <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> + +<li>—a Roman station, <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> + +<li>—probably the Næomagus Viducassium, <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> + +<li>—its ancient name, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> + +<li>—its importance under the early French kings, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> + +<li>—its history, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> + +<li>—the place where the Norman princes were educated, <a +href="#Page_231">231</a></li> + +<li>—castle, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> + +<li>—situation, population, and trade, <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> + +<li>—tapestry, <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li> + +<li>—cathedral, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bayeux, Roman</i>, probably destroyed by the Saxons, <a +href="#Page_229">229</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bec, abbey of</i>, its present state, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + +<li>—former income and patronage, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + +<li>—church described by Du Plessis, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + +<li>—founded by Hellouin, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> + +<li>—history, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> + +<li>—seminary for eminent men, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Belenus</i>, worshipped near Bayeux, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Berengarius</i>, his tenets impugned by Lanfranc, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> + +<li>—of Brionne, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bernay</i>, abbey of, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> + +<li>—church, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li> + +<li>—burial-ground, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li> + +<li>—population and trade, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> + +<li>—costume of the females, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bernieres</i>, church of, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Blanche, wife of Charles the Bel</i>, confined in +Château Gaillard, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bochart</i>, one of the founders of the academy at Caen, <a +href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Boileau</i>, his eulogium on Malherbe, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bonport</i>, abbey of, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Borghese, Princess of</i>, original letter by, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bouillon, Duke of</i>, Lord of Evreux, at the revolution, <a +href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bourg-Achard</i>, seat of an abbey, dedicated to St. +Eustatius, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> + +<li>—leaden font, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bourg-Theroude</i>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bourgueville</i>, his antiquities of Caen, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li> + +<li>—present at the exhumation of the Conqueror's remains, 303.</li> + +<li><i>Boy, bishop</i>, annually elected at Caen, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bretteville l'Orgueilleuse</i>, church of, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Brionne</i>, situation of, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> + +<li>—seat of the council which condemned the tenets of +Berengarius, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> + +<li>—castle, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Brito</i>, his account of the siege of Gournay, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> + +<li>—of Château Gaillard, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> + +<li>—of the murder of the French garrison of Evreux, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> + +<li>—of Caen, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Broglie</i>, church of, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bruce, David</i>, a resident in Château Gaillard, <a +href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Buck-wheat</i>, much cultivated in Lower Normandy, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + +<li>—etymology of its French name, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>C</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Caen</i>, arrival at, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> + +<li>—distant view of, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li> + +<li>—trade and population, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li> + +<li>—situation, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> + +<li>—grand cours, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> + +<li>—costume of females, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> + +<li>—house-rent, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> + +<li>—foundation, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> + +<li>—described by Brito, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> + +<li>—etymology of the name, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> + +<li>—fortifications, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + +<li>—Château de Calix, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li> + +<li>—castle, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> + +<li>—chapel in the castle, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> + +<li>—hospital, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li> + +<li>—royal abbeys, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> + +<li>—college, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> + +<li>—palace, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li> + +<li>—museum, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li> + +<li>—library, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li> + +<li>—universities, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> + +<li>—men of eminence, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> + +<li>—academy, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> + +<li>—Malherbe, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li> + +<li>—history, <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li> + +<li>—neighborhood abundant in fossil remains, <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li> + +<li>—seen from the road leading to La Délivrande, <a +href="#Page_295">295</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Caen-stone</i>, large quarries of, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + +<li>—formerly much used in England, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Cambre</i>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Cambremer, Canon of</i>, tale respecting, at Bayeux, <a +href="#Page_255">255</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Cannon</i>, first used in France, at the siege of Pont +Audemer, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Canons</i>, four statues of, at Evreux, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Castle</i>, of Bayeux, <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> + +<li>—Brionne, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> + +<li>—Caen, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> + +<li>—Creully, <a href="#Page_264">264</a></li> + +<li>—Falaise, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> + +<li>—Gisors, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> + +<li>—Montfort, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> + +<li>—Neufmarché, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Cathedral of Bayeux</i>, founded by St. Exuperius, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li> + +<li>—history, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li> + +<li>—described, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> + +<li>—crypt, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> + +<li>—stripped of its relics, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> + +<li>—revenue, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> + +<li>—right of mintage, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Cathedral of Evreux</i>, often destroyed, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li>—its present state, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> + +<li>—little injured by the Huguenots, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> + +<li>—founded by St. Taurinus, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Cathedral of Lisieux</i>, now the parish church of St. +Peter, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> + +<li>—described, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> + +<li>—remarkable tomb in, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Cauchon, Peter</i>, bishop of Lisieux, president at the +trial of Joan of Arc, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Cecily</i>, daughter of the Conqueror, abbess at Caen, <a +href="#Page_191">191</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Chapel</i>, subterranean, in Bayeux cathedral, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> + +<li>—in the castle at Caen, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> + +<li>—in the castle at Falaise, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li> + +<li>—of St. Adrian, <a href="#Page_281">281</a></li> + +<li>—of La Délivrande, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Chapel in the castle at Caen</i>, built fronting the east, +<a href="#Page_171">171</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Chapels</i>, stone-roofed, in Ireland, of Norman origin, <a +href="#Page_176">176</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Charles the Bad</i>, born in the Château de Navarre, +<a href="#Page_86">86</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Charters</i>, of the abbey of St. Georges de Bocherville, <a +href="#Page_4">4</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Château de Navarre</i>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Château Gaillard</i>, its situation, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> + +<li>—described, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> + +<li>—account of, by Brito <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> + +<li>—history, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Château de Calix</i>, at Caen, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Chesnut-timber</i>, formerly much used in Normandy, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Church</i>, of the abbey of Bec, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + +<li>—Bernieres, <a href="#Page_299">299</a></li> + +<li>—Bernay, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li> + +<li>—Bretteville l'Orgueilleuse, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + +<li>—Broglie, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> + +<li>—Creully, <a href="#Page_264">264</a></li> + +<li>—Ducler, <a href="#Page_1">1</a></li> + +<li>—Ecouis, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> + +<li>—Falaise, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></li> + +<li>—Gisors, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + +<li>—Gournay, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + +<li>—Jumieges, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> + +<li>—St. Peter's at ditto, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> + +<li>—Louviers, <a href="#Page_287">287</a></li> + +<li>—Moulineaux, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li>—Pont Audemer, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> + +<li>—Pont-de-l'Arche, <a href="#Page_285">285</a></li> + +<li>—St. Germain de Blancherbe, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + +<li>—St. Gervais, at Falaise, <a href="#Page_277">277</a></li> + +<li>—St. Georges de Bocherville, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> + +<li>—St. Giles, at Evreux, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> + +<li>—St. James, at Lisieux, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li> + +<li>—St. John, at Caen, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li> + +<li>—St. Michael, at ditto, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> + +<li>—St. Nicholas, at ditto, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> + +<li>—St. Peter, at ditto, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + +<li>—St. Stephen's abbey, at ditto, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> + +<li>—Trinity, at ditto, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> + +<li>—Trinity at Falaise, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></li> + +<li>—Vernon, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Cider</i>, the common beverage, in Normandy, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> + +<li>—first introduced by the Normans, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Cocherel</i>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Coins, golden</i>, struck at Bayeux, under the first French +kings, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Colline des deux amans</i>, priory of, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Cormeilles</i>, abbey of, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Corneille</i>, buried at Andelys, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Costume</i>, at Bernay, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> + +<li>—at Caen, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Coupe gorge</i>, colony established at, by Napoléon, +<a href="#Page_155">155</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Creully</i>, castle, <a href="#Page_264">264</a></li> + +<li>—church, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Crocodile fossil</i>, found near Caen, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Croissanville</i>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>D</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Dalechamps</i>, native of Caen, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li> + +<li><i>D'Amboise, Cardinal</i>, built the palace at Gaillon, <a +href="#Page_290">290</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Darnétal</i>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.</li> + +<li><i>De Boissy</i>, bishop of Bayeux, his epitaph, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>.</li> + +<li><i>De la Rue, Abbé</i>, professor of history at Caen, <a +href="#Page_213">213</a></li> + +<li>—is preparing an account of Caen, <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li> + +<li>—his paper on the Bayeux tapestry, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Douce, Mr.</i>, his illustration of the sculpture at St. +Georges de Bocherville, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Douvre</i>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Dubois Louis</i>,</li> + +<li>—his discoveries among the ruins of Old Lisieux, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> + +<li>—preserved the original M.S. of Ordericus Vitalis, <a +href="#Page_149">149</a></li> + +<li>—is preparing the history of Lisieux, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Ducarel</i>, his description of a pavement in the palace at +Caen, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Ducler</i>, convent, <a href="#Page_1">1</a></li> + +<li>—parish church, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Du Perron</i>, cardinal, bishop of Evreux, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Du Plessis</i>, his opinion as to Turold on the Bayeux +tapestry, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> + +<li>—description of the abbey church of Bec, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>E</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Ecouis, church of</i>, burial-place of John and Enguerrand +de Marigny, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> + +<li>—singular epitaph, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Epitaph</i>, enigmatical at Ecouis, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li>—of John de Boissy, <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li> + +<li>—on the exterior of Bayeux cathedral, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Evreux</i>, destroyed by Henry Ist, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li>—cathedral, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li>—abbey of St. Taurinus, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> + +<li>—history, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> + +<li>—present appearance, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Evreux, Old</i>, a Roman station, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>F</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Falaise</i>, situation of, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li> + +<li>—etymology of the name, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> + +<li>—castle, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> + +<li>—Talbot's tower, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li> + +<li>—chapel in castle, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li> + +<li>—history, <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li> + +<li>—firmly attached to the League, <a href="#Page_274">274</a></li> + +<li>—fortifications, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li> + +<li>—inhabitants <i>true Normans</i>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></li> + +<li>—population and trade, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></li> + +<li>—churches, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Fastolf, Sir John</i>, governor of Caen, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Flambart, Ralph</i>, bishop of Durham, seizes Lisieux, <a +href="#Page_142">142</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Fleury, Cardinal</i>, abbot at Caen, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Fonts</i>, seldom seen in French churches, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Font</i>, curiously sculptured, at Magneville, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Font, leaden</i>, at Bourg-Achard, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>G</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Gaillon</i>, vineyards near, <a href="#Page_289">289</a></li> + +<li>—present state of, <a href="#Page_289">289</a></li> + +<li>—ceded to the archbishop of Rouen, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li> + +<li>—made by the treaty of Louviers the frontier town of the +Duchy, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Gisors</i>, castle, appearance of, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> + +<li>—history, <a href="#Page_45">54</a></li> + +<li>—place of interview between Henry IInd, and Philip +Augustus, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> + +<li>—arms of the town, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> + +<li>—castle, described, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> + +<li>—church of, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + +<li>—banded column in the church, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Glass painted</i>, at the abbey of Bonport, <a href="#Page_285">285</a></li> + +<li>—in the church of Pont de l'Arche, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Gournay</i>, origin of, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> + +<li>—present appearance, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> + +<li>—history, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> + +<li>—siege described by Brito, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> + +<li>—arms of, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + +<li>—place where Prince Arthur was knighted, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + +<li>—church, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + +<li>—remarkable sculpture on the capitals, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Gournay, Hugo de</i>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Guibray</i>, fair of, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Gurney, Hudson</i>, his paper on the Bayeux tapestry, <a +href="#Page_237">237</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>H</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Harcourt</i>, castle of, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Hellouin</i>, founder of the abbey of Bec, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> + +<li>—his epitaph, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Hennuyer, John</i>, bishop of Lisieux, said to have saved +the Huguenots, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Henry Ist</i>, kept prisoner by Robert at Bayeux, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li> + +<li>—destroyed the city, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>.</li> + +<li><i>History, ecclesiastical, of Ordericus Vitalis</i>, materials +for a new edition of, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> + +<li>—original manuscript, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> + +<li>—manuscript copies, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Holy Trinity</i>, church of, at Falaise, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Honfleur</i>, situation of, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> + +<li>—described, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Horses, Norman</i>, present price of, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Hospital at Caen</i>, founded in the thirteenth century, <a +href="#Page_174">174</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Hoveden</i>, his account of the interview between Henry +IInd, and Philip Augustus, near Gisors, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Hubert, archbishop of Canterbury</i>, a monk of Bec, <a +href="#Page_114">114</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Hubert, M.</i>, discovered the site of the Neomagus +Lexoviorum, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Huet</i>, his <i>Origines de Caen</i>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> + +<li>—one of the founders of the academy at Caen, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Huguenots</i>, destroy the tomb and violate the remains of +the Conqueror, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Hume, David</i>, his opinion on the Bayeux tapestry, <a +href="#Page_237">237</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Hypocaust, Roman</i>, found at Vieux, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>I</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Inscription</i>, on the font at Magneville, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>.</li> + +<li><i>John, King</i>, murders the French garrison of Evreux, <a +href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Isatis tinctoria</i>, cultivated in France under +Napoléon, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Jumieges, abbey of</i>, its foundation, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> + +<li>—original building, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> + +<li>—history, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li>—church, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> + +<li>—Salle des Chevaliers, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> + +<li>—church of St. Peter, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> + +<li>—monuments, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Ivory chest</i>, in Bayeux cathedral, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>K</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Knights, Templars</i>, house of, at Louviers, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>L</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Lamouroux, M</i>. professor of natural history at Caen, <a +href="#Page_213">213</a></li> + +<li>—his publications, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Lanfranc</i>, settled at Bec, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> + +<li>—first schoolmaster in Normandy, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> + +<li>—first abbot of St. Stephen's, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Langevin, M</i>., author of the history of Falaise, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Langlois, M</i>., his portrait, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> + +<li>—his work on Norman Antiquities, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Le Beuf, Abbé</i>, his opinion of Vieux, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Le Brasseur</i>, his account of the statues of four canons +at Evreux, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Léproserie de Beauîleu</i>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Letter, original</i>, from Princess Borghese, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Library, public</i>, at Caen, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Lisieux</i>, situation and trade of, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + +<li>—its see suppressed in 1801, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + +<li>—cathedral, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> + +<li>—tomb in cathedral, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> + +<li>—town probably founded in the sixth century, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> + +<li>—ancient names of, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> + +<li>—history of, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> + +<li>—church of St. Jacques, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Littleton, Lord</i>, his opinion of the Bayeux tapestry, <a +href="#Page_237">237</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Louviers</i>, treaty of, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> + +<li>—population, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li> + +<li>—church, <a href="#Page_287">287</a></li> + +<li>—house of knights templars, <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li> + +<li>—history, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>M</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Magneville</i>, font at, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Malherbe</i>, native of Caen, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Mallet, Anthony</i>, his statement of Hennuyer's saving the +Calvinists, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Maréchal de Belle Isle</i>, his monument, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Margaret of Burgundy</i>, immured in Château Gaillard, +<a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Marigny, Enguerrand de</i>, buried at Ecouis, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> + +<li>—his mausoleum destroyed at the revolution, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Marriage ceremony</i>, in France, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Matilda, wife of the Conqueror</i>, supposed portrait of, <a +href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + +<li>—her seal <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> + +<li>—buried in the church of the Trinity, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li> + +<li>—her tomb destroyed by the Huguenots, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li> + +<li>—her remains lately found and new tomb raised, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Maud, Empress</i>, her expostulations with her father as to +the place of her burial, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Mazarine, Cardinal</i>, abbot of St. Stephen's, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Melons</i>, cultivated on a large scale, near Lisieux, <a +href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Misereres</i>, sculptured, in Bayeux cathedral, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Misletoe</i>, commonly hung over inn-doors, near Caen, <a +href="#Page_227">227</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Money</i>, struck by the chapter of Bayeux, how marked, <a +href="#Page_261">261</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Montfaucon</i>, his engravings of the portraits of the +Conqueror and his family, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Montfort</i>, castle of, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Moulineaux</i>, church of, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Mount Phaunus</i>, temple of, near Bayeux, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Museum</i>, at Caen, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Musicians</i>, sculptured at St. Georges de Bocherville, <a +href="#Page_14">14</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>N</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Napoléon</i>, establishment formed by him at the pass +of <i>Coupe Gorge</i>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li> + +<li>—his attempt to make a naval station at Caen, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Navarre, kings of</i>, lords of Evreux, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Navarre, Château de</i>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Næomagus Viducassium</i>, probably the modern Bayeux, +<a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Neomagus Lexoviorum</i>, site of, lately discovered, <a +href="#Page_139">139</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Neufmarché</i>, castle of, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Normandy</i>, divided anew, under Philip Augustus, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Notre Dame de la Délivrande</i>, chapel of, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>O</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Odo, bishop of Bayeux</i>, rebuilds the cathedral, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> + +<li>—his life and character. <a href="#Page_259">259</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Ordericus Vitalis</i>, his account of the destruction of +Evreux, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li>—his account of St. Taurinus, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> + +<li>—sketch of his life, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> + +<li>—his ecclesiastical history, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> + +<li>—his reflections on the death of the Conqueror, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Ornaments</i> on the spandrils of the arches in Bayeux +cathedral, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Oxen</i>, breed of, near Caen, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>P</b></p> + +<p>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Paintings, fresco</i>, in Bayeux cathedral. <a href="#Page_251">251</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Passports</i>, regulations respecting, in France. <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Patye, John, Canon of Cambremer</i>, legend concerning, at +Bayeux. <a href="#Page_255">255</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Pays de Bray</i>. <a href="#Page_37">37</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Pistae</i>, the site of, occupied by Pont de l'Arche. <a +href="#Page_282">282</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Pont Audemer</i>, its situation, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> + +<li>—history, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> + +<li>—churches, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Pont de l'Arche</i>, seat of a palace under Charles the +Bald, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></li> + +<li>—origin of the name, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></li> + +<li>—church, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Portraits</i>, of the Conqueror and family, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Poussin</i>, born at Andelys, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> + +<li>—if his example has been favorable to French art, <a +href="#Page_57">57</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Preaux</i>, abbey of, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Priory, des deux Amans</i>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>R</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Rabelais</i>, his autograph, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Reseda luteola</i>, cultivated near Rouen, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Richelieu, Cardinal</i>, abbot of St. Stephen's at Caen, <a +href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Roads in France</i>, compared with those in England, <a +href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Robert the Devil</i>, his castle near Moulineaux, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Romance</i>, subjects borrowed from, sculptured on a capital +in St. Peter's, at Caen, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Rupierre, William of, Bishop of Lisieux</i>, resists the +power of King John, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>S</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>St. Adrian</i>, Chapel of, near Rouen, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Clotilda</i>, her fountain, at Andelys, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> + +<li>—still worshipped there, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Evroul</i>, abbey of, founded by William de Gerouis, <a +href="#Page_146">146</a></li> + +<li>—residence of Ordericus Vitalis, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Georges de Bocherville</i>, abbey of, founded by Ralph +de Tancarville, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> + +<li>—its history, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> + +<li>—abbey church described, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> + +<li>—sculpture in ditto, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + +<li>—chapter-house, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Germain</i>, church of, at Pont Audemer, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Germain de Blancherbe</i>, church of, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Gervais</i>, church of, at Falaise, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Giles</i>, church of, at Evreux, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Jacques</i>, church of at Lisieux, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. John</i>, church of, at Caen, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Lascivus</i>, bishop of Bayeux, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Lupus</i>, bishop of Bayeux, so called from destroying +the wolves, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Maimertus</i>, subterranean chapel dedicated to, in +Bayeux cathedal, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Michael</i>, church of, in the suburb of Vaucelles, at +Caen, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Nicholas</i>, church of at Caen, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> + +<li>—its roof like those of the Irish stone-roofed chapels, +<a href="#Page_176">176</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Peter</i>, church of at Caen, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + +<li>—sculpture upon the capital of one of the columns, <a +href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Philibert</i>, founder of Jumieges, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Regnobert</i>, bishop of Bayeux, his chasuble kept in +the cathedral, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li> + +<li>—domestic animals blessed on his feast-day, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Stephen</i>, church of, at Caen, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Stephen</i>, abbey of, at Caen, its privileges, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> + +<li>—now used as the college, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Stephen, abbey church of</i>, at Caen, described, <a +href="#Page_194">194</a></li> + +<li>—formed on the the Roman model, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> + +<li>—burial-place of the Conqueror, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Taurinus</i>, founder of Evreux cathedral, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> + +<li>—his fight with the devil, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> + +<li>—his shrine, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> + +<li>—crypt, in which he was buried, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Taurinus, abbey of</i> at Evreux, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> + +<li>—its privileges, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> + +<li>—ancient architecture in the church, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> + +<li>—crypt, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Vitalis</i>, his feast celebrated annually at Evreux, <a +href="#Page_73">73</a>.</li> + +<li><i>St. Ursinus</i>, privileges enjoyed by the Canons, at +Lisieux, on his vigil and feast-day, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Saxons</i>, established about Bayeux, where many words from +their language still exist, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Screens</i>, of rare occurrence in French churches, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Sculpture</i>, in the abbey church of St. Georges de +Bocherville, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + +<li>—in the chapter-house of the same abbey, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> + +<li>—in the abbey church of Jumieges, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> + +<li>—on the capitals in the church at Gournay, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + +<li>—on a capital in the abbey church at Bernay, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> + +<li>—over the high altar at Bernay, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li> + +<li>—on a tomb in Lisieux cathedral, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> + +<li>—on a capital in St. Peter's at Caen, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> + +<li>—on the capitals of the pillars in the crypt at Bayeux +cathedral, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Seal</i>, supposed to belong to Matilda, wife of the +Conqueror, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Sheep</i>, Norman breed of, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Siege</i>, of Château Gaillard, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Statues</i>, in the chapter-house of the abbey of St. +Georges de Bocherville, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> + +<li>—of William the Conqueror, at Caen, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Stothard, C.A.</i>, his drawings of the Bayeux tapestry, <a +href="#Page_235">235</a></li> + +<li>—his opinion on its antiquity, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.</li> + +<li><i>String-course</i>, remarkable, in the church of <i>Notre +Dame des Prés</i>, at Pont Audemer, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Superstitions</i>, still remaining in Normandy, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>T</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Tancarville, Ralph</i>, chamberlain to the Conqueror, and +founder of the abbey of St. Georges de Bocherville, <a href="#Page_3">3x</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Tapestry, Bayeux</i>, accounts of, published by Montfaucon +and Lancelot, <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li> + +<li>—referred by them to Matilda, Queen of the Conqueror, <a +href="#Page_236">236</a></li> + +<li>—figure from, <a href="#Page_236">236</a></li> + +<li>—its antiquity denied by Lord Littleton, Hume, and the +Abbé de la Rue, <a href="#Page_236">236</a></li> + +<li>—when first described, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> + +<li>—reasons for believing in its antiquity, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> + +<li>—formerly kept at the cathedral, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> + +<li>—exhibited during the revolution at Paris, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> + +<li>—described, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Tassillon</i>, confined at Jumieges, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Tassilly</i>, ancient tombs found at, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury</i> a monk of Bec, <a +href="#Page_114">114</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Thomas à Becket</i>, retired during his disgrace to +Lisieux, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Tiles, painted</i>, in the palace at Caen, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li> + +<li>—supposed to prove the antiquity of heraldic bearings, <a +href="#Page_209">209</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Tombeau des énervez</i>, at Jumieges, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Tombs, ancient</i>, at Cocherel, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li> + +<li>—in Lisieux cathedral, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> + +<li>—at Tassilly, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Torigny marble</i>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Trinity Holy, abbey of the</i>, at Caen, when built, <a +href="#Page_182">182</a></li> + +<li>—used as a fortress as well as a nunnery, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> + +<li>—its income, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + +<li>—privileges, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Trinity Holy, church of the abbey of the</i>, at Caen, now a +work-house, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> + +<li>—described, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> + +<li>—its spires destroyed by Charles, King of Navarre, <a +href="#Page_184">184</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Turnebus</i>, Adrian, native of Andelys, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Turold</i>, founder of Bourg-Theroude, represented on the +Bayeux tapestry, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>U</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>University of Caen</i>, founded by Henry VIth, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> + +<li>—abolished and restored by Charles VIIth, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> + +<li>—esteemed the third in France, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>V</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Vernon</i>, its situation, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></li> + +<li>—formerly the seat of a royal palace, <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> + +<li>—church, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Vieux</i>, a Roman station, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li> + +<li>—etymology of the name, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Vines</i>, formerly cultivated at Jumieges, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> + +<li>—also at Caen and Lisieux, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<p><b>W</b>.</p> + +<ul class="none"> +<li><i>Wace</i>, a resident at Caen, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Whales</i>, formerly caught near Jumieges, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</li> + +<li><i>William the Conqueror</i>, his statue at Caen, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> + +<li>—supposed figure of him on a capital in the church of the +abbey of the Trinity, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + +<li>—buried in the abbey-church of St. Stephen, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> + +<li>—his epitaph, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + +<li>—his death and burial, and the disturbance of his +remains, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> + +<li>—his palace at Caen, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li> + +<li>—fresco-paintings of him and his family, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> + +<li>—born at Falaise, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> + +<li>—receives the homage of the English, as successor to +Edward, at Bayeux, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</li> + +<li><i>William of Jumieges</i>, his account of the attachment of +the Empress Maud to Bec, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<hr style="width: 75%;" /> + +<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ACCOUNT OF A TOUR IN NORMANDY, VOL. II. ***</div> +<div style='text-align:left'> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ +concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, +and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following +the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use +of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for +copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very +easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation +of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project +Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away—you may +do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected +by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark +license, especially commercial redistribution. +</div> + +<div style='margin-top:1em; font-size:1.1em; text-align:center'>START: FULL LICENSE</div> +<div style='text-align:center;font-size:0.9em'>THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE</div> +<div style='text-align:center;font-size:0.9em'>PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project +Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full +Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at +www.gutenberg.org/license. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™ +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or +destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your +possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a +Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound +by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person +or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this +agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™ +electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the +Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection +of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual +works in the collection are in the public domain in the United +States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the +United States and you are located in the United States, we do not +claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, +displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as +all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope +that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting +free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™ +works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the +Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easily +comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the +same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when +you share it without charge with others. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are +in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, +check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this +agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, +distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any +other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no +representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any +country other than the United States. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other +immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear +prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work +on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the +phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, +performed, viewed, copied or distributed: +</div> + +<blockquote> + <div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> + This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most + other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions + whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms + of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online + at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you + are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws + of the country where you are located before using this eBook. + </div> +</blockquote> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is +derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not +contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the +copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in +the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are +redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project +Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply +either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or +obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™ +trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any +additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms +will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works +posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the +beginning of this work. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™ +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg™ License. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including +any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access +to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format +other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official +version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website +(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense +to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means +of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain +Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the +full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works +provided that: +</div> + +<div style='margin-left:0.7em;'> + <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> + • You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed + to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has + agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid + within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are + legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty + payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in + Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg + Literary Archive Foundation.” + </div> + + <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> + • You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™ + License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all + copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue + all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™ + works. + </div> + + <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> + • You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of + any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of + receipt of the work. + </div> + + <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> + • You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works. + </div> +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project +Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than +are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing +from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of +the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set +forth in Section 3 below. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project +Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™ +electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may +contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate +or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or +other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or +cannot be read by your equipment. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right +of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium +with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you +with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in +lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person +or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second +opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If +the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing +without further opportunities to fix the problem. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO +OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of +damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement +violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the +agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or +limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or +unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the +remaining provisions. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in +accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the +production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™ +electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, +including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of +the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this +or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or +additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any +Defect you cause. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™ +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of +computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It +exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations +from people in all walks of life. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’s +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future +generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see +Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by +U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, +Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up +to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website +and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact +</div> + +<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without widespread +public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND +DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state +visit <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/donate/">www.gutenberg.org/donate</a>. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To +donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate +</div> + +<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project +Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be +freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and +distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of +volunteer support. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in +the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not +necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper +edition. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Most people start at our website which has the main PG search +facility: <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. +</div> + +</div> + +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_08.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_08.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c954c96 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_08.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_09.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_09.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9178377 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_09.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_10.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_10.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c2b7358 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_10.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_11.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_11.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..88a4ec7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_11.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_12.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_12.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d04c205 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_12.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_13.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_13.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..49a02ea --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_13.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_14.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_14.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a9adaee --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_14.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_15.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_15.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d48be94 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_15.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_16.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_16.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2019e5f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_16.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_17.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_17.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c86fefe --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_17.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_18.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_18.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c97d081 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_18.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_19.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_19.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..487e170 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_19.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_20.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_20.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b702850 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_20.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_21.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_21.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9aae2c4 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/picture_21.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_26.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_26.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..338beec --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_26.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_27.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_27.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..43088fc --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_27.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_28.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_28.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5e528f5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_28.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_29.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_29.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f30b898 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_29.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_30.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_30.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f13df0d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_30.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_31.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_31.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4f83456 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_31.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_32.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_32.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a241441 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_32.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_33.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_33.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ea51fe6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_33.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_34.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_34.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d1832a9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_34.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_35.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_35.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e5701c6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_35.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_36.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_36.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9cdb951 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_36.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_37.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_37.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..091293a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_37.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_38.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_38.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..eceacc4 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_38.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_39.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_39.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c25d00f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_39.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_40.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_40.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cdc5307 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_40.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_41.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_41.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d2980d1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_41.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_42.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_42.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..98d7125 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_42.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_43.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_43.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5ff1ff0 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_43.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_44.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_44.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..88e7787 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_44.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_45.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_45.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ae3101a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_45.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_46.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_46.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8ea1885 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_46.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_47.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_47.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..975fac4 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_47.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_48.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_48.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..70d4c18 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_48.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_49.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_49.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5974ea9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_49.png diff --git a/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_50.png b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_50.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6fd66a4 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/old-2024-04-09/12538-h/images/plate_50.png |
