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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/29820-8.txt b/29820-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0d36239 --- /dev/null +++ b/29820-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9839 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Cathedrals of Northern France, by Francis Miltoun + +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: The Cathedrals of Northern France + +Author: Francis Miltoun + +Illustrator: Blanche McManus + +Release Date: August 27, 2009 [EBook #29820] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CATHEDRALS OF NORTHERN FRANCE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Chuck Greif and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + + + + + +_The Cathedral Series_ + +_The following, each 1 vol., library 12mo, cloth, gilt top profusely +illustrated. $2.50_ + +_The Cathedrals of Northern France BY FRANCIS MILTOUN_ + +_The Cathedrals of Southern France BY FRANCIS MILTOUN_ + +_The Cathedrals of England BY MARY J. TABER_ + +_The following, each 1 vol., library 12mo, cloth, gilt top, profusely +illustrated. Net, $2.00_ + +_The Cathedrals and Churches of the Rhine BY FRANCIS MILTOUN_ + +_The Cathedrals of Northern Spain BY CHARLES RUDY_ + +_L. C. PAGE & COMPANY +New England Building, Boston, Mass._ + +[Illustration: NOTRE DAME ... _de NOYON_] + + + + +THE CATHEDRALS OF NORTHERN FRANCE + +By FRANCIS MILTOUN + +WITH EIGHTY ILLUSTRATIONS, +PLANS, AND DIAGRAMS, + +By BLANCHE McMANUS + +[Illustration] + +BOSTON + +L. C. Page and Company + +MDCCCCIIII + +_Copyright, 1903_ +BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY + +(INCORPORATED) + +_All rights reserved_ + +Published October, 1903 + +Colonial Press + +Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co. + +Boston, Mass., U. S. A. + + +_THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR AND ARTIST TO THE GENIUS OF +RACE WHICH MADE POSSIBLE THE EXISTENCE OF THESE ARCHITECTURAL +"GLORIES OF FRANCE"_ + + + + +APOLOGIA + + +_"There are two ways of writing a book of travel: to recount the journey +itself or the results of it." This is also the case with regard to any +work which attempts to purvey topographical or historical information of +a nature which is only to be gathered upon the spot; and, when an +additional side-light is shown by reason of the inclusion, as in the +present instance, of the artistic and religious element, it becomes more +and more a question of judicious selection and arrangement of fact, +rather than a mere hazarding of opinions, which, in many cases, can be +naught but conjecture, and may, in spite of any good claim to +authoritativeness, be misunderstood or perverted to an inutile end, or, +what is worse, swallowed in that oblivion where lies so much excellent +thought, which, lacking either balance or timeliness, has become +stranded, wrecked, and practically lost to view because of its +unappropriate and unattractive presentation._ + +_To-day, the purely technical writer may have little hope of immortality +unless he is broad-minded enough to take a cultivated interest in many +matters outside the ken of his own particular sphere. The best-equipped +person living could not produce a new "Dictionary of Architecture," and +expect it to fill any niche that may be waiting for such a work, unless +he brought to bear, in addition to his own special knowledge, something +of the statistician, something of the professed compiler, and, if +possible, a little of the not unimportant knowledge possessed by the +maker and seller of books, meaning--the publisher. Given these +qualifications, it is likely that he will then produce an ensemble as +far in advance of what otherwise might have been as is the modern +printing machine, as a factor in the dissemination of literature, as +compared with the ancient scribes working to the same end._ + +_The sentimentalist and rhapsodist in words and ideas is a dwindling +factor at the present day, and a new presentation of fact is +occasionally to be met with in the printed page. The best "book of +travel" within the knowledge of the writer, and perhaps one of the +slightest in bulk ever written in the English language, is Stevenson's +"Inland Voyage"--here were imagination, appreciation, and a new way of +seeing things, and, above all, enthusiasm; and this is the formula upon +which doubtless many a future writer will build his reputation, though +he may never reach the significant heights expressed by Stevenson in the +picturesque wording of his wish to be made Bishop of Noyon._ + +_This apparent digression into a critical estimate of the making of +books is but another expression of the justification of the writer in +the attempt herein made to set forth in attractive and enduring form +certain facts and realities with regard to the grand and glorious group +of cathedrals of Northern France._ + +_They have appeared as demanding something more than the conventional +guide-book, or even technical estimates as to their perfections, and the +belief is that the gathering together, after this fashion, of the +contemporary information not always to the hand of the general reader +presents an attraction as appealing and deserving of a place on the +book-shelf as would be an avowed reference work, or a volume made to +sell on the strength of its bulk or ornateness, or, lacking these +questionable attributes, presented in the guise of a whilom text-book, +the sole province of which is to impart "knowledge" after a certain +well recognized and set pattern._ + +_It is believed that, regardless of much that has been said and written +anent the subject, the fact remains that some considerable numbers of +persons may be supposed to exist who would be glad of a further +suggestion which would make possible an acquaintance with the cathedrals +of France as a part of their own personal experience. To all such, then, +it is to be hoped this book will appeal._ + +F. M. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + +Introduction 11 + +PART I. TRANSITION EXAMPLES + +I. Introductory 41 + +II. Notre Dame de Laon 43 + +III. Notre Dame de Noyon 49 + +IV. Notre Dame de Soissons 54 + + +PART II. THE GRAND GROUP + +I. Introductory 61 + +II. Notre Dame d'Amiens 64 + +III. St. Pierre de Beauvais 70 + +IV. Notre Dame de Rouen 79 + +V. Basilique de St. Denis 93 + +VI. Notre Dame de Paris 101 + +VII. St. Julien; Le Mans 113 + +VIII. Notre Dame de Chartres 123 + +IX. Notre Dame de Reims 132 + + +PART III. THE CATHEDRALS OF THE LOIRE + +I. Introductory 147 + +II. St. Croix d'Orleans 150 + +III. St. Louis de Blois 156 + +IV. St Gatien de Tours 163 + +V. St. Maurice d'Angers 173 + +VI. St. Pierre de Nantes 183 + + +PART IV. CENTRAL FRANCE + +I. St. Etienne d'Auxerre 191 + +II. St. Etienne de Bourges 199 + +III. St. Cyr and St. Juliette de Nevers 209 + +IV. St. Mammes de Langres 218 + +V. Notre Dame d'Auxonne 220 + + +PART V. EAST OF PARIS + +I. Introductory 223 + +II. Notre Dame de Boulogne-sur-Mer 231 + +III. Notre Dame de Cambrai 234 + +IV. Notre Dame de St. Omer 237 + +V. St. Vaast d'Arras 242 + +VI. St. Etienne de Toul 247 + +VII. St. Etienne, Chalons-sur-Marne 251 + +VIII. St. Dié 254 + +IX. St. Lazare d'Autun 257 + +X. St. Bénigne de Dijon 262 + +XI. Notre Dame de Senlis 266 + +XII. St. Etienne de Meaux 270 + +XIII. St. Pierre de Troyes 274 + +XIV. St. Etienne de Sens 279 + + +PART VI. WESTERN NORMANDY AND BRITTANY + +I. Introductory 285 + +II. Notre Dame d'Evreux 288 + +III. Notre Dame d'Alençon 296 + +IV. St. Pierre de Lisieux 301 + +V. Notre Dame de Séez 305 + +VI. Notre Dame de Bayeux 310 + +VII. Notre Dame de St. Lo 315 + +VIII. Notre Dame de Coutances 321 + +IX. St. Pierre d'Avranches 326 + +X. St. Sol, Dol-de-Bretagne 329 + +XI. St. Malo and St. Servan 335 + +XII. Tréguier 339 + +XIII. St. Brieuc 342 + +XIV. St. Pol de Leon 345 + +XV. St. Corentin de Quimper 348 + +XVI. Vannes 351 + + +APPENDICES + +I. The Architectural Divisions of France 353 + +II. A List of the Departments of France 356 + +III. The Church in France 359 + +IV. A List of the Larger French Churches + Which Were at One Time Cathedrals 362 + +V. Chronology of the Chief Styles and Examples of Church Building 365 + +VI. Dimensions and Chronology 366 + +VII. The French Kings from Charlemagne Onward 383 + +VIII. Measurements of the Cathedrals at Amiens and Salisbury 384 + +IX. French Metres Reduced to English Feet 385 + +X. A Brief Glossary of Architectural Terms 386 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE + +Notre Dame de Noyon _Frontispiece_ + +Notre Dame de Laon 43 + +Notre Dame de Noyon 47 + +Notre Dame d'Amiens 64 + +St. Pierre de Beauvais 70 + +Notre Dame de Rouen 77 + +Basilique de St. Denis 91 + +Oriflamme of St. Denis 100 + +Notre Dame de Paris 101 + +Notre Dame de Paris from the River 107 + +St. Julien; Le Mans 111 + +Notre Dame de Chartres 123 + +Notre Dame de Reims 132 + +St. Croix d'Orleans 150 + +St. Louis de Blois 156 + +St. Gatien de Tours 161 + +Flying Buttress, St. Gatien de Tours 170 + +St. Maurice d'Angers 171 + +St. Pierre de Nantes 183 + +St. Etienne d'Auxerre 191 + +St. Etienne de Bourges 197 + +St. Cyr and St. Juliette de Nevers 209 + +St. Mammes de Langres 218 + +Nancy 227 + +Boulogne, St. Omer, Arras 229 + +Notre Dame de Cambrai 236 + +St. Etienne de Toul 247 + +St. Etienne, Chalons-sur-Marne 251 + +St. Dié 254 + +St. Lazare d'Autun 257 + +St. Bénigne de Dijon 262 + +Notre Dame de Senlis 266 + +St. Etienne de Meaux 270 + +St. Pierre de Troyes 274 + +St. Etienne de Sens 279 + +Notre Dame d'Evreux 289 + +Window Framing--Evreux 295 + +Notre Dame d'Alençon 296 + +St. Pierre de Lisieux 299 + +Notre Dame de Séez 305 + +Notre Dame de Bayeux 310 + +Notre Dame de St. Lo 315 + +Notre Dame de Coutances 319 + +St. Pierre d'Avranches 326 + +Column of St. Pierre d'Avranches 328 + +St. Samson, Dol-de-Bretagne 329 + +St. Malo and St. Servan.--Tréguier 333 + +St. Brieuc 342 + +St. Corentin de Quimper 348 + +Notre Dame d'Amiens (diagram) 366 + +Map of Angers 367 + +St. Etienne de Bourges (diagram) 370 + +Notre Dame de Laon (diagram) 372 + +St. Julien, le Mans (diagram) 373 + +Map of Nantes 374 + +Notre Dame de Noyon (diagram) 375 + +Notre Dame de Paris (diagram) 376 + +Notre Dame de Reims (diagram) 377 + +Flying Buttresses, Reims 377 + +Notre Dame de Rouen (diagram) 378 + +Basilique de St. Denis (diagrams) 380 + +Map of Tours 381 + +Charles VII. 383 + +Ground Plan 386 + +Cross Section 387 + +Interior 388 + +Cross Section 389 + + + + +_The Cathedrals of Northern France_ + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +An attempt to enumerate the architectural monuments of France is not +possible without due consideration being given to the topographical +divisions of the country, which, so far as the early population and the +expression of their arts and customs is concerned, naturally divides +itself into two grand divisions of influences, widely dissimilar. + +Historians, generally, agree that the country which embraces the +Frankish influences in the north, as distinct from that where are spoken +the romance languages, finds its partition somewhere about a line drawn +from the mouth of the Loire to the Swiss lakes. Territorially, this +approaches an equal division, with the characteristics of architectural +forms well nigh as equally divided. Indeed, Fergusson, who in his +general estimates and valuations is seldom at fault, thus divides +it:--"on a line which follows the valley of the Loire to a point between +Tours and Orleans, then southwesterly to Lyons, and thence along the +valley of the Rhône to Geneva." + +With such a justification, then, it is natural that some arbitrary +division should be made in arranging the subject matter of a volume +which treats, in part only, of a country or its memorials; even though +the influences of one section may not only have lapped over into the +other, but, as in certain instances, extended far beyond. As the peoples +were divided in speech, so were they in their manner of building, and +the most thoroughly consistent and individual types were in the main +confined to the environment of their birth. A notable exception is found +in Brittany, where is apparent a generous admixture of style which does +not occur in the churches of the first rank; referring to the imposing +structures of the Isle de France and its immediate vicinity. The "Grand +Cathedrals" of this region are, perhaps, most strongly impressed upon +the mind of whoever takes something more than a superficial interest in +the subject as the type which embodies the loftiest principles of +Gothic forms, and, as such, they are perhaps best remembered by that +very considerable body of persons known as intelligent observers. + +The strongest influences at work in the north from the twelfth century +onward have been in favour of the Gothic or pointed styles, whilst, in +the south, civic and ecclesiastical architecture alike were of a +manifest Byzantine or Romanesque tendency. No better illustration of +this is possible than to recall the fact that, when the builders of the +fifteenth century undertook to complete that astoundingly impressive +choir at Beauvais, they sought to rival in size and magnificence its +namesake at Rome, which, under the care of the Pontiff himself, was then +being projected. Thus it was that this thoroughly Gothic structure of +the north was to stand forth as the indicator of local influences, as +contrasted with the Italian design and plans of the St. Peter's of the +south. + +A discussion of the merits of any territorial claims as to the inception +of what is commonly known as Gothic architecture, under which name, for +the want of a more familiar term, it shall be referred to herein, is +quite apart from the purport of this volume, and, as such, it were best +ignored. The statement, however, may be made that it would seem clearly +to be the development of a northern influence which first took shape +after a definite form in a region safely comprehended as lying within +the confines of northeastern France, the Netherlands, and the northern +Rhine Provinces. Much has been written on this debatable subject and +doubtless will continue to be, either as an arrow shot into the air by +some wary pedant, or an equally unconvincing statement, without proof, +of some mere follower in the footsteps of an illustrious, but behind the +times, expert. It matters not, as a mere detail, whether it was brought +from the East in imperfect form by the Crusaders, and only received its +development at the hands of some ingenious northerner, or not. Its +development was certainly rapid and sure in the great group which we +know to-day in northern France, and, if proof were wanted, the existing +records in stone ought to be sufficiently convincing to point out the +fact that here Mediæval Gothic architecture received its first and most +perfect development. The _Primaire_: the development of the style +finding its best example at Paris. The _Secondaire_: the +Perfectionnement at Reims, and its Apogee at Amiens. The _Tertiaire_: +practically the beginning of the decadence, in St. Ouen at Rouen, only +a shade removed from the debasement which soon followed. As to the +merits or demerits of the contemporary structures of other nations, that +also would be obviously of comparative unimportance herein except so far +as a comparison might once and again be made to accentuate values. + +The earliest art triumphs of the French may well be said to have been in +the development and _perfectionnement_ of Mediæval (Gothic) +architecture. Its builders planned amply, wisely, and well, and in spite +of the interruptions of wars, of invasions, and of revolutions, there is +nowhere to be found upon the earth's surface so many characteristic +attributes of Mediæval Gothic architecture as is to be observed in this +land, extending from the Romanesque types of Fréjus, Périgueux and +Angoulême to that classical degeneration commonly called the +Renaissance, a more offensive example of which could hardly be found +than in the conglomerate structure of St. Etienne du Mont at Paris, or +the more modern and, if possible, even more ugly Cathedral Churches at +Arras, Cambrai, or Rennes in the north. + +There may be attractive Italian types in existence out of Italy; but +the fact is that, unless they are undoubted copies of a thoroughly +consistent style to the very end, they impress one as being out of place +in a land where the heights of its own native style are so exalted. + +Gothic, regardless of the fact as to whether it be the severe and +unornamental varieties of the Low Countries or the exaggerations of the +most ornately flamboyant style, appears not only to please the casual +and average observer, but the thorough student of ecclesiastical +architecture as well. It has come to be the accepted form throughout the +world of what is best representative of the thought and purpose for +which a great church should stand. + +With the Renaissance we have not a little to do, when considering the +cathedrals of France. Seldom, if ever, in the sixteenth century did the +builder or even the restorer add aught but Italian accessories where any +considerable work was to be accomplished. Why, or how, the Renaissance +ever came into being it is quite impossible for any one to say, _sans +doubt_, as is the first rudimentary invention of Gothic itself. Perhaps +it was but the outcome of a desire for something different, if not new; +but in the process the taste of the people fell to a low degree. +Architecture may be said to have been all but divorced from life, and, +while the fabric is a dead thing of itself, it is a very living and +human expression of the tendencies of an era. The Renaissance sought to +revive painting and sculpture and to incorporate them into architectural +forms. Whether after a satisfactory manner or not appears to have been +no concern with the revivers of a style which was entirely unsuited in +its original form to a northern latitude. That which answered for the +needs and desires of a southern race could not be boldly transplanted +into another environment and live without undergoing an evolution which +takes time, a fact not disproven by later events. + +The Italians themselves were the undoubted cause of the debasement of +the classical style, evidences having crept into that country nearly a +hundred years before the least vestiges were known in either France or +Germany, the Netherlands, or England, and which, though traceable, had +left but slight impress in Spain. It is doubtless not far wrong to +attribute its introduction into France as the outcome of the wanderings +in Italy of Charles VIII., in the latter years of the XV. century. As a +result of this it is popularly supposed that it was introduced into the +domestic architecture of the nobles who had accompanied the king. Here +it found perhaps its most satisfying expression; in those magnificent +châteaux of the Loire, and the neighbourhood of Tours and Blois, ever a +subject for sentimental praise. One would not seek to pass condemnation +upon the application of revived classic features where they were but the +expression of an individual taste, as in a chateau whose owner so chose +to build and embellish it. Certainly no more splendid edifices of their +kind are known than the magnificent establishments at Blois, Chenonceau, +Chambord, or Chaumont. The style appears, however, out of place; an +admixture meaningless in itself and in its application when, with a +Gothic foundation bequeathed them, builders sought to incorporate into a +cathedral such palpable inconsistencies as was frequently done. + +The building of the châteaux was perhaps the first anti-Gothic step in +France and proved to be an influence which spread not slowly, as to +decorative detail at least, and soon of itself established a decided +non-Gothic type. + +It was but natural that the cathedral builders should have followed to +some extent this new influence. The Church was ever seeking to +strengthen its popularity, the bishops ensconced themselves in their +cathedral cities as snugly as did a feudal lord in his castle, and their +emulation of wealth outside of the Church was but an effort to keep +their status on a plane with that of the other power which also demanded +allegiance of the people. It is to be regretted that they did not pass +this manifestation by, or at least not encumbered an otherwise +consistent Gothic fabric with superimposed meaningless detail. Such +decorative embellishments as are represented by the tomb of Louis XII. +at St. Denis, and the tombs of the cardinals at Rouen, may be considered +characteristic, though they bear earlier dates by some twenty years than +the south portal of Beauvais, which is thoroughly the best of Gothic, or +St. Maclou at Rouen, which, though highly florid, is without a trace of +anti-Gothic. The extreme (though not a cathedral church) may be seen at +St. Etienne du Mont, wherein the effort is made to incorporate large +masses of pseudo-classical decoration with Gothic, and, alas, with sad +effect. + +For the most part, the Gothic cathedrals of France, as such, while +closely related to each other in their design and arrangements, have +little to do with those which lie without the confines of the country, +either in general features or in detail. The type is distinctively one +which stands by its own perfections. In size, while in many instances +not having the length of nave of several in England, they have nearly +always an equal, if not a greater, width and an almost invariably +greater height, though not equal in superficial area to St. Peter's in +Italy, the Dom at Cologne, or even the cathedral at Seville in Spain. + +Such Romanesque types as are to be seen to the northward of the Loire +are mostly found in the smaller churches of Brittany, while the early +transition type, so familiar throughout the Netherlands, is, in France, +usually seen in the neighbourhood of the frontiers of the Low Countries. + +"Les Grandes Cathédrales" of the north are distinctly those of Paris, +Amiens, Reims, Rouen, Beauvais, and Chartres; and it is to them that +reference must continually be made; while the severely plain transitory +types of Noyon or Soissons, or the more effective development of Laon, +and the flamboyant structures of Troyes and Nantes, at least lean toward +the decadence. + +The difficulty of assigning ranks to these monumental cathedrals is made +the greater by reason of the fact that to-day it is with but one people +that we have to reckon, so far as their temperament and environment is +concerned. Since feudal times the movement has ever been toward one +nation, one people, and one view, different from that presented in the +middle ages. + +For centuries after the break of Roman power it had been mostly one +local influence against another which prevented perfect cohesion to any +national spirit, and thus it was that the tendencies of the cathedral +builders, though Roman as to their teaching and religion, and doubtless, +in many instances, with regard to their birth as well, followed no +special style until the era of Gothic development. Unconsciously, +transitory types crept in, until suddenly throughout northern Europe +there bloomed forth within less than a century of time the so-called +Gothic in all its splendour, and with scarce a century between the +commencement and the completion of some of the most notable of the +group. The Romanesque types which still lingered in Brittany, though +well worthy of special consideration to-day, are unimportant and in a +way insignificant when compared with the grand group. + +To most of us it will be impossible to conjure up any more significant +thought with regard to mediæval church architecture than that fostered +by the memories of acquaintanceship with these examples of north France; +an opinion which is further strengthened when it is also recalled that +they are representative of the first really national artistic +expression. For this reason alone, if for no other, the hasty critics +who have so handily claimed precedence elsewhere, might profitably +review the facts of the circumstance which led to so universal an +adoption of the full-blown style in the twelfth and thirteenth +centuries. + +The Romanesque peoples were confined southwards of mid-France at the +time of the withdrawal of the Roman legions, while, in the north, the +conquering Franks sought to wipe out every vestige of their past +influence; hence it may be considered that the new manner of building +had everything in favour of its speedy growth. It was thus definitely +assured of a warm welcome, and, following in the footsteps of Clovis +himself, the rulers were more than willing to aid what they believed +might be a strengthening influence, politically, as well as morally. + +The style may be justly said to be a natural and growthful expression of +a race, and more significant than all else is the fact that nowhere, +not even on the Rhine, which with northern France claims the origin of +the style, is to be found any single example equalling in any like +measure the perfections of "Les Grandes Cathédrales Françaises," though +it be recalled that in many instances the German buildings were planned +and often erected by French architects and artisans. + +Among the two thousand or more "Monuments Historiques" paternally cared +for by the French government and under the direct control of the +Ministry of Public Instruction and the Beaux Arts, none are of the +relative importance, historically or artistically, of the Grand +Cathedrals. Certain objects, classed as megalithic and antique remains, +may be the connecting links between the past and the present by which +the antiquarian weaves the threads of his historical lore; but neither +these nor the _reliques_ which have been dug from the ground or untombed +from later constructive elements, all of which are generously included +in the general scheme by the Department of Beaux Arts, which has +provided a fund for their preservation and care, have one tithe of the +appealing interest which these great churches bespeak on behalf of the +contemporary life of the times in which they were built, reflecting as +they do many correlated events, and forming, in the interweaving of the +history of their inception and construction, an epitome of well-nigh all +the contemporary events of their environment, as well as the greater +parts which they may have played in general affairs of state. + +The best example of a part so played is that of the cathedral at Reims, +which saw the crowning within its walls of nearly every monarch of +France from the time of Philippe Augustus (1173) to that of Charles X. +(1823). The monarchs of France, a long and picturesque line, have ever +sought to ally the Church on their side, and right well they have been +served, not ignoring, of course, certain notable lapses. In the main, +however, the rulers and the people alike, whatever may have been the +periodical dissensions, combined the forces which made possible the +projection and erection of these noble examples of an art which, in the +Gothic forms at least, here came to its greatest and most interesting +phase. + +Invasion, revolution, and the stress of weather and time, all played +their part in the general desecrations which sooner or later followed; +far the most serious of these visible damages reflected upon us to-day +being the malpractices occurring at the Revolution, whether at the hands +of a _sans culotte_ or of the most respectable of bourgeois, led away by +the excitement of revolt. The depredations were irreparable; they razed, +burned, or ruthlessly shattered shrines, statues, or even reliquaries, +as at Reims, where the Sainted Ampulla, which contained the miraculous +oil brought by a dove from heaven, now preserved in reconstructed +fragments in the sacristy, was dashed to pieces in a fury of +uncontrollable wrath. + +The paucity of sculptured decoration in certain places only too plainly +designed for it is, too, frequently painfully apparent. Such sculptured +decoration and glass as were easily to hand met with perhaps the most +ready spoliation, while here and there, from some miraculous reason, a +gem was left entire, though likely enough in a bruised and shattered +setting. + +This is what befell most of the great churches, and, for this reason, +any work treating of these architectural glories of France must make due +allowance in hazarding opinions as to the merit or lack of merit of any +particular example as it now exists, as compared with what it may have +been as it once was, or had it been completed in accordance with the +original design. + +In local and cathedral archives much valuable and interesting +information exists, treating in this very manner such embellishments as +may to-day be lacking; but unfortunately such facts are often buried in +a mass of other irrelevant material which would make its discovery +unusually difficult to any but a very learned local antiquarian. In this +same connection, also, there is a dearth of illustrative material which +can be depended upon as to minutiæ or accuracy of detail. Hence it is +possible to deal only with such general facts as may be supported by the +best contemporary information based upon the researches of others. It +may be well to note here, however, a fact which is often overlooked, +namely, that the written records of France are not only very complete +and exhaustive, but, with respect to Paris itself, to cite an example, +the documentary history, consecutive and exact, from the time of the +decline of Roman power is preserved intact,--a record which is perhaps +not so true of any other large city in Europe. + +In dealing with the cathedrals of the north, territorially, we have to +consider those examples which are generally accepted as being all that +a cathedral church should be. Of the first rank are those gathered not +far from the confines of the mediæval Isle of France. They too, are best +representative of the true Gothic spirit, while the southernmost +examples, those of Dijon and Besançon, are of manifest Romanesque or +Byzantine conception. Each, too, is somewhat reminiscent of the early +German manner of building, the latter in respect to the double apse, +which is often found across the Rhine, but seldom seen in France. The +most northerly of all is at St. Omer, where are the somewhat battered +remains of a satisfactory Gothic cathedral, although Amiens, not far to +the south, is perhaps the ideal cathedral when considered from a general +point merely. For the western representative, a line running due west +from Paris almost into the Atlantic finds at Quimper, a small port +fifteen miles from the sea, the Cathedral of St. Corentin, which, though +not as lofty, is more of the manner of building of the Isle of France +than one might suppose would be the case here in this outpost of +Brittany, where are found so many evidences of Romanesque influences, +retained long after they had been given over elsewhere. + +Such, then, are the extremes of latitude and of architectural style +which combine to give variety to the interest which is always aroused by +the contemplation of the masterworks of any of the arts, where outside +and contiguous influences have something in common therewith. + +As a type to admire, there is no doubt but that the cathedral that +possesses an apsidal termination of the easterly or choir end, as is +nearly the universal custom in France, has charms and beauties which may +be latent, but which are simply winning, when it comes to picturing the +same structure with the squared-off ends so common in England. + +It was Stevenson, was it not, who wrote of the satisfaction with which +one always looks upon the east end of a French cathedral, "flanging out +as it often does in sweeping terraces, and settling down broadly upon +the earth as though it were meant to stay." Certainly nothing of the +sort is to be more admired than the rare view of the choir buttresses of +Notre Dame at Paris, likened unto "kneeling angels with half-spread +wings;" the delicate and symmetrical choir buttresses of Amiens; the +sheer fall of Beauvais; or the triply effective termination of the +one-time cathedral of Noyon, which falls away in three gracefully +gentle slopes to the ground. Again Stevenson's power as a descriptive +writer lingers in our memory. He says, of no cathedral in particular, +"where else is to be found so many elegant proportions growing one out +of the other, and all together in one?... Though I have heard a +considerable variety of sermons, I have never yet heard one that was so +expressive as a cathedral. 'Tis the best preacher itself, preaches day +and night, not only telling you of man's art and aspirations in the +past, but convicting your own soul of ardent sympathies; or rather, like +all good preachers, it sets you preaching to yourself,--and every man is +his own doctor of divinity in the last resort." + +To best estimate the charms and values of these architectural monuments +one should consider; first, the history and topography of their +environment,--_i. e._ as to why and when they may have been planned and +built; secondly, their personality, as it were,--who were their +founders, their patrons, their bishops; thirdly, the functions in which +they may have partaken, any significant events which may have passed +within their walls or centred within their sees; and fourthly, the +artistic beauties of their fabric and its embellishments. + +In most cases all of these values are so interwoven and indissolubly +linked with the growth of the structure itself from its very earliest +foundations that it is hardly possible to detail this information in +true chronological order. The picturesque and romantic elements, of +which there is not a little; the sordid and baneful, of which we may +wish there were less; and the splendid ceremonials of Church and State; +all go to make up a chronicle which no account, of even a special +nature, could afford to neglect. + +The picturesque elements of the conversion and baptism of Clovis by St. +Remi at Reims in 496, where, on the site of the present cathedral, he +was adjured to "revere that which thou didst burn and burn that which +thou didst revere," and the crowning on the same spot of Charles VII. in +1429 through the efforts of the Maid, well represent these phases. The +meanness and the unjustness of her later trial and condemnation in the +Abbey Church of St. Ouen at Rouen is another. The affairs of state +consist chiefly of the coronation ceremonies which mostly took place at +Reims, and present a splendid record. Of the monarchs from 1173 onwards +who were not here crowned, Henry IV. was crowned at Chartres; Napoleon +I., at Paris; Louis Philippe, Louis XVIII., and Napoleon III. were not +crowned at all. + +Throughout this continuity of state events these great churches were +performing their natural functions of the dissemination of the Word. +Jealousies and bickerings took place, to be sure, but in the main there +was harmony, if rivalry did exist; else it were not possible that so +many of these splendid monuments would have endured to remind us of +their past as well as present existence. + +Certain of the sees were merged into greater ones, and others were +abandoned altogether. In this connection there is a curious circumstance +with regard to the one-time Bishop of Bethléem, who, driven from the +Holy Land, was given a see at Clamecy, which see comprehended only the +village in which he resided. What remains of the former cathedral is now +an adjunct to a hotel. The rearrangement of political divisions of +France after the Revolution was the further excuse for establishing but +one diocese to a department, until to-day there are but eighty-four +sees, administered by sixty-seven bishops and seventeen archbishops. + +The itinerary of the conventional tour of the Continent usually keeps +well to the beaten track, and so does the conventional traveller. He +does not always get over to Reims, and often does not stop _en route_ at +Amiens; seldom visits Beauvais, and, unless he specially sets out to +"tour" Brittany, a popular enough amusement of the lean of purse in +these days, knows little of the unique charms of Tréguier, Quimper, or +even of Le Mans, with its sublime choir, or of Evreux. As for even a +nodding acquaintance with Noyon or Soissons, two of the most +convincingly beautiful and impressive transitory types, they might as +well be in the wilds of Kamchatka, though they are both situated in a +region well travelled on all sides; while Laon, not far distant, is +hardly known at all, except as a way station _en route_ to Switzerland. +The cathedrals of mid-France are, it is to be feared, even less known +than would on first thoughts seem probable. A certain amount of +sentimentality attaches itself to the châteaux of the Loire, and some +acquaintance with their undeniable pleasing attributes is the portion of +most travellers; but, again, such cathedral cities as Besançon, Nantes, +and Langres are off the well-worn road, and their cathedrals might be +myths so far as a general acquaintance with them is concerned; while +the splendid churches of Bourges, Nevers, and Autun are likewise +practically unknown to the casual traveller. + +Tours, Orleans, and Chartres alone appear to be the only recognized +representatives of this section of France which have hitherto attracted +due attention. + +With the southland this volume does not deal; that is a subject to be +considered quite by itself,--and significantly, more real interest has +been shown with respect to the architectural monuments of Avignon, +Arles, Nîmes, Le Puy, Périgueux, Carcassonne, and Poitiers than to those +of the Midi. Is it that the days of cheap travel and specially conducted +tours, when ten or fifteen guineas will take one to the Swiss or Italian +lakes, or e'en to Rome and Florence, has caused this apparent neglect of +the country lying between? Certainly our forefathers travelled more +wisely, but then prices and means of locomotion were on quite a +different scale in those days, and not infrequently they were obliged to +confine their travels and observations to more restricted areas. + +Perhaps the most lucid arrangement of architectural species is that +given by De Caumont's "Abécêdaire d'Architecture," which divides the +country ethnologically into Brittany; Normandy; Flanders, including +Artois and Picardy; Central France (the Isle of France, Champagne, +Orleanois, Main, Anjou, Touraine, and Berri); and Burgundy, +comprehending the former divisions of Franche Comté, Lorraine, Alsace +(now Belfort), Nivernois, Bourbonnois, and Lyonnois. Of the above +divisions, only that of the Isle of France with La Brie was originally +held by the Crown. The political divisions throughout France now number +eighty-seven departments, taking their names from the principal +topographical features, and replacing in 1790 the thirty-two mediæval +provinces, each of which had their own characteristics of social and +political life, and of which each in turn progressed, stagnated, or fell +backward according to local or periodical conditions. Both the arts of +peace and of war have left an ineradicable impress. In the thirteenth +century the various provinces became welded together into one perfect +whole under Philippe Augustus and the sainted Louis, but retained to no +small extent, even as they do unto to-day, their distinctive local +characteristics. + +Because of its cathedrals alone, the Isle of France stands preëminent +among the provinces for each of the thirteen provincial styles of +architecture which are allocated by the Société des Monuments +Historiques. A comparatively small and unified province, it comprehends +within and contiguous to its borders more of the attributes and +principles of a consistent Mediæval architectural style than is +elsewhere to be observed. From Rouen on the west to Reims on the east, +northward to Amiens and southwesterly to Chartres, are grouped the show +pieces of the world's Gothic architecture. Not alone with the respect to +the Grand Cathedrals is this region so richly endowed, but also because +of the smaller and less important, but no less attractive or interesting +examples of Noyon, Senlis, Laon, Soissons, with their one-time cathedral +churches and other varied ecclesiastical and secular edifices. + +Beauvais, Gisors, Gourney, Cires-les-Mello, Creil, Royamont, +Nogent-les-Vierges, Villers-St.-Pol, indeed nearly every village and +town within the royal domain, present values and comparisons which place +nearly all of its contemporary structures, be they large or small, at a +grand height above those of other less prolific sections. Lest it be +thought that this statement is drawn largely, and that fineness and +balance of estimate are lacking, it suffices to state that it is not +alone from study and research, but from frequent personal intimacies +that the region has ever proved an inexhaustible store of architectural +values, and one which most well-known authorities, with one accord, +place in the very first rank. + +Arthur Young, than whom no more perspicuous observer has ever chronicled +his impressions, wrote (1704) that to see the best of France, the part +most varied in topography, and resourceful and attractive in its +monuments, one should land at Havre and follow the sinuosity of the +Seine to Paris, thence the highroad to Moulins and on to the Rhône at +Valence, an outline which somewhat approaches the limitations of +territory of which this book treats. To be sure, he wrote of economic +and agricultural conditions, and he mostly made his pertinent +observations on land holdings, stock keeping, and hedgerows, or rather +that lack of them which is so apparent throughout France; but these +details of themselves only suggest more complete evidences of the +existing forces which indicate the growth of the wealth and power which +has made this region so rich in its architectural memorials of the +past, and which ought to more than compensate for any lack of scenic +grandeur. + +It is to be regretted, of course, that none of these larger cathedrals +are to be seen to-day in their completely perfected forms. To what +extent would not the glories of Reims, of Amiens, of Beauvais, or of +Rouen, be enhanced, were it possible for us to even imagine their +splendour, were they possessed of the symmetry and well-favoured +situation of the Dom at Cologne? And so it is that we can but feel +regret when we mentally note the lack of nave at Beauvais, of spires at +Bourges, and, yet again, regret even with more pain the monstrousness of +the cast-iron _flêche_ which has been added to the central tower at +Rouen. But these are after all minor imperfections--seldom, if ever, in +aught but pleasurable anticipation, do we see in the masterpieces of art +or nature a perfect unity; so why seek to negative their virtues by +futile criticism? It would seem to be all-sufficient that such details, +sins of omission or commission, should be noted merely, that we may pass +on to other charms which must compel our allegiance. + +When we visit the cathedrals of the Isle of France, we are at once in +the midst of the best examples of French Gothic architecture, or of +French Mediæval architecture, if the phrase is to be preferred. + + + + +_PART I_ + +_Transition Examples_ + + + + +I + +INTRODUCTORY + + +Soissons, with Noyon and Laon, all within perhaps thirty miles of one +another, may be said to best represent the nurturing and development of +the early Gothic of France. These simple and somewhat plain types +exemplify the style which was in vogue at the same time in the Low +Countries. It is good Gothic, to be sure,--at least, good as to its +planning,--but without that ornateness or lightness known to-day as +characteristic of the distinctive French type, which so early developed +boldly and beautifully. + +One observes the resemblances in style between the notable cathedral at +Tournai, in Belgium, the neighbouring types of French Flanders, and the +cathedrals of this trinity of French towns lying contiguous thereto, +Noyon itself being for long interdependent with the see of Tournai. +Nevertheless, it is a beautiful type which was cradled here in the +country called, by Cæsar, Suessiones; and difficult it would be to +attempt to assign preëminence to any one edifice. + +Noyon, without a doubt, has the greatest charm of environment, and is of +itself in every way a pleasing and satisfying example of what should +most truly inspire and impress us in a cathedral. Stevenson describes it +as being "the happiest inspiration of mankind, a thing as specious as a +statue at the first glance, yet, on examination, as lively and +interesting as a forest in detail. The height of its spires cannot be +taken by trigonometry: they measure absurdly short, but how tall they +are to the admiring eye.... I sat outside of my hotel and the sweet +groaning thunder of the organ floated out of the church like a +summons";--and much more of the same sort, all of which tells us that, +once we find ourselves on a plane of intimacy with a great church, we +continually receive new impressions and inspirations, and it is in this +vein that one who has known this group of simple but fascinating +churches on their own ground, so to put it, can but seek to convey the +idea that it is good that we have such contrasting types as a relief and +an antidote to an appetite which otherwise might become sated. + + + + +[Illustration: _CATHEDRAL of NOTRE DAME LAON_] + +II + +NOTRE DAME DE LAON + + +For over twelve hundred years, until the see was abolished at the +Revolution, Laon was the seat of a bishop who in point of rank was +second only to the primate at Reims. Crowning the apex of a long +isolated hill, upon which the entire town, now a fortress of the third +class, is situated, the cathedral of Notre Dame de Laon, still so called +locally, has endured since the beginning of the twelfth century, and may +be considered a thoroughly representative transition example. + +The present structure is on the site of one burned in 1112, and during +comparatively recent years has been entirely restored. + +Its crowning glory is in the disposition and number of its fine group of +towers: two flank the western façade, and are rectangular at the base, +dwindling to a smaller polygon, which is flanked with corner belfries +and pierced by a tall lancet in the central structure, showing a +wonderful lightness and open effect. A curious and unique feature of +these towers is the addition of four oxen in carven stone perched high +aloft in the belfries. These sculptured animals may be merely another +expression of symbols of superstition, and if so are far more pleasing +than some of the hideous and monstrous gargoyles ofttimes seen. Two +other towers, each 190 feet in height, adjoin the transepts, to each of +which is attached a double-storied, apsidal, ancient chapel. Two +similarly projected towers are lacking. The lantern is square, with a +shallow, conical, modern roof. + +In the transition type Romanesque influences were evidently dying hard. +The Gothic was seldom full blown, and at Laon shows but the merest trace +of pointedness to the arches of the western façade, either in the +portals or in the higher openings. + +The lack of a circular termination to the choir is but another +indication of a link with a transitory past; an undeniably false note +and one very unusual in France, the choir being of the squared-off +variety so common in England. This may be coincident with the English +custom of the time, or it may be directly due to a local English +influence;--most probably the latter, inasmuch as an English prelate +held the see for a time, and the city, in the early fifteenth century, +was for a number of years in English hands. It is significant that in +some of the smaller churches of the diocese is to be noted the same +treatment. + +The rose windows of both the eastern and western façades are Gothic in +inception and treatment, and are unusually acceptable specimens of these +supreme efforts of the French mediæval builders, the glass therein being +distinctly good, though perhaps not remarkable. + +The transepts are rectangular and, with the ensemble of the entire +structure, were their towers completed, there would be produced, not +only a unique example, but a towering effect only a degree less +interesting than the perfectly proportioned pyramidal form so much +admired in the perfectly developed Gothic. + +The interior is equally attractive with the exterior, and, though the +church is not by any means of remarkable dimensions, it presents in its +appropriate disposition of detail a far more roomy and pleasing +arrangement than many a larger example. + +The transepts are divided into a nave and side aisles, the columns which +partition them, like those of the nave proper, being cylindrical and of +massive proportions, which, however, lighten as they rise to the +vaulting. They are unusually symmetrical when viewed together, the +capitals of the lower series being ornately carved, each of a varying +design. + +Above the aisles are lofty galleries. The nave chapels were added in the +sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The stained glass, like that of the +rose windows, is in the nave distinctly good, particularly that of the +lower range on the southerly side. The pulpit, of carved wood of the +Renaissance period, is not of the importance and quality of this class +of work to be seen across the Rhine border. + +The former Bishop's palace, adjoining the left of the choir, is now the +Palais de Justice. A few remains of a former Gothic cloister are to be +remarked, surrounded by the later construction. + + + + +[Illustration: _Notre Dame de Noyon_] + +III + +NOTRE DAME DE NOYON + + +In Notre Dame at Noyon, Notre Dame at Laon, and the cathedral at +Tournai, is to be noted the very unusual division of the interior +elevation into four ranges of openings, this effect being only seen at +Paris and Rouen among the large cathedrals. Noyon and Laon borrowed, +perhaps, from Tournai, where building was commenced at least a century +before either of the French examples first took form. It is perhaps not +essential that such an arrangement be made in order to give an effect of +loftiness, which might not otherwise exist; indeed, it is a question if +the reverse is not actually the case, though the effect is undeniably +one of grandeur. Soissons, too, may rightly enough be included in the +group, though the points of resemblance in this case are confined to the +rising steps to either transept, coupled with the joint possession of +circumambient aisles, and at least the suggested intent of circular +apsidal terminations to the transepts; though it appears that here this +plan was ultimately changed and one transept finished off with the usual +rectangular ending. + +In this Noyon plainly excels, and there is found nowhere else in France +the perfect trefoil effect produced by the apsidal terminations of both +transepts and choir. So far as the transepts are concerned, they are of +the manner affected by the builders on the Rhine, notably in the Minster +at Bonn, at Cologne, and again at Neuss in the neighbourhood of Cologne. +With Noyon apparently nothing is lacking either in the perfections of +its former cathedral or in its immediate environment. The country round +about is thoroughly agricultural, and free from the soot and grime of a +manufacturing community. Amid a setting at once historic and romantic, +it has for neighbours the châteaux of Coucy and Perrifonds, with +Compiègne and Chantilly not far distant. The town is unprogressive +enough, and the vast barge traffic of the Oise sidles by, not a mile +away, as if it were all unconscious of the existence of any signs of +modern civilization. As a matter of fact, it hardly is modern. The +accommodation for the weary traveller is of a satisfying and gratifying +quality, as the comparatively few visitors to the place well know. The +city is an ancient foundation, having been known as the Noviodunum of +the Romans. Here Charlemagne was crowned King of the Franks in 768, and +Hugh Capet elected king in 987; and here, in an important stronghold of +Catholicism, as it had long been, Calvin was born in 1509. + +Altogether there is much to be found here to charm and stimulate our +imagination. As a type the cathedral stands preëminent. As to detail and +state of preservation, they, too, leave little to be desired, though the +appreciative author of a charming and valuable work treating of a good +half hundred or more of the "architectural glories of France" bemoans +the lack of a satisfying daily "Office." This may be a fault, possibly, +if such be really the case. The fabric of the church has stood the wear +and tear of time and stress exceeding well. Built in the eleventh and +twelfth centuries, it is a thoroughly harmonious and pleasing whole, and +we can well believe all that may have been said of it by the few able +critics who have passed judgment upon its style, as well as the +sentiment conveyed by the phrase that it is "one of the most graceful +and lovable of all the cathedrals of France." The bishopric was +suppressed after the Revolution, and the church is now a dependency of +the Bishop of Beauvais. + +The elongated belfry towers are perhaps the first and most noticeable +feature; secondly, the overhanging porch with its supporting frontal +buttresses; thirdly, the before-mentioned tri-apsidal effect of the +easterly end; and, last but not least, the general grouping of the whole +structure in combination with the buildings which are gathered about its +haunches, though with no suspicion of a detracting element as in some +sordid and crowded cities, where, in spite of undeniable +picturesqueness, is presented a squalor and poverty not creditable +either to the city of its habitation or to the cathedral authorities +themselves. From every point of vantage the steeples of Notre Dame de +Noyon add the one ingredient which makes a unity of the entire +ensemble,--a true old-world atmosphere, a town seen in not too apparent +a state of unrepair and certainly not a degenerate. + +The interior presents no less striking or noble features. It is not +stupendous or remarkably awesome; but it is grand, with a subtleness +which is inexpressible. Round and pointed arches are intermixed, and +there is a notable display of the round variety in the upper ranges of +the quadrupled elevation of the nave, the lightness, which might +otherwise have been marred, being preserved through the employment of a +series of simple lancets in the clerestory of the choir. Rearward of the +south transept are the chapter-house and the scanty remains of a Gothic +cloister, where a somewhat careworn combination of the forces of nature +and art have culminated in giving an unusually old-world charm to this +apparently neglected gem, as well representative of early French Gothic +as any in existence to-day. + + + + +IV + +NOTRE DAME DE SOISSONS + + +Soissons, the other primitive example, is at once a surprise and a +disappointment. From the railway, on entering the town, one is highly +impressed with the grouping of a sky-piercing, twin-spired structure of +ample and symmetrical proportions; and at some distance therefrom is +seen another building, possibly enough of less importance. Curiously, it +is the cathedral which is the less imposing, and, until one is well up +with the beautifully formed spires, he hardly realizes that they +represent all that is left of the majestic Abbey of _St. Jean des +Vignes_, where Becket spent nine long years. It is a mere bit of stage +scenery, with height and breadth, but no thickness. It is a pity that +such a charming structure as this noble building must once have been is +now left to crumble. The magnificent rose window, or rather the circular +opening which it once occupied, is now but a mere orifice, of great +proportions, but destitute of glazing. The entire confines of the +building, which crowns a slight eminence at the entrance of the town, +are now given over to the use of the military authorities. + +A little to the right lies the one-time cathedral of Notre Dame, +Soissons being another of the ci-devant bishoprics suppressed after the +Revolution by the redistribution which gave but one diocese to a +Department. Though not unpleasing, its façade is marred by its lack of +symmetry, while the tower, which rises on the right 215 feet, is not +sufficiently striking to redeem what otherwise is an ordinary enough +ensemble. The tower to the left was never raised above where it now +ends, and the façade, lacking the charm which the edifice might +otherwise have had, were the towers as complete and well proportioned as +are those of a later date which grace the remains of the old abbey, will +be for ever wanting until this completion be carried out. + +Romanesque is plainly noticeable in mixture with the early Gothic. The +three portals are not remarkable, or uniform, and are severely plain, +and, though of a noticeable receding depth, are bare and unpeopled. A +well-proportioned rose window, though not so large as many in the +greater cathedrals, has graceful radiating spokes and good glass. This +is flanked by two unpierced lancet-pointed window-frames which but +accentuate the plainness of the entire façade. Above is an arcaded +gallery which was intended to cross the entire front, but which now +stops where the gable joins the northerly tower. Restoration has been +carried on, not sparingly, but in good taste, with the result that, in +spite of its newness at the present writing, it appears as a consistent +and thoroughly conscientious piece of work, and not the mere patchwork +that such repairs usually suggest. + +The guide-books tell one that Soissons is famous for its trade in +haricot beans, and incidentally for the beans themselves, and for the +great number of sieges which it has undergone, the last being that +conducted by the Germans, who took possession in October, 1870, after a +bombardment of three days. + +Fergusson makes the statement, which is well taken, that the Cathedral +of Notre Dame de Soissons, while not in any sense meriting the term +magnificent, presents, in its interior arrangements, at least, a most +symmetrical and harmonious ensemble. A curious though not unpleasing +effect is produced by the blackened pointing of the interior masonry, +of piers, walls, and vaulting alike. An unusual feature is the +circumambient aisles to the transepts and the suggestion that a trefoil +apsidal termination was originally thought of, when the rebuilding was +taken in hand in the twelfth century. The transept is so completed on +the south side, which possesses also an ancient portal, and, with the +two at Noyon so done, presents a feature which is as much a relief from +the usual rectangle as are the rounded choirs of Continental churches a +beauty in advance of the accepted English manner of treatment of this +detail. + +The choir rises loftily above the transepts and nave, and, while the +general proportions are not such as to suggest undue narrowness, the +effect is of much greater height than really exists. This, too, is +apparent when viewing the abside itself. + +The Chapel of the Rosary in the north transept is overtopped by an +effective arrangement of perpendicular window-framing, supporting a +beautiful rose window of the spoke variety. It is safe to say that, had +the entire space provided been glazed, the effect of lighting would have +been unique among the cathedrals of the world. + +The only other decorative embellishments are some tapestries, a few +well-preserved tombs, and an "Adoration" supposed to be by Rubens, which +is perhaps more likely to be genuine, because of the situation of the +church near unto Flanders, than many other examples whose claims have +even less to support them. + + + + +_PART II_ + +_The Grand Group_ + + + + +I + +INTRODUCTORY + + +Expert opinion, so called, may possibly differ as to just what, or what +not, cathedrals of France should be included in this term. The French +proverb known of all guide-book makers should give a clue as to those +which at least may not be left out. + + "Clocher de Chartres, Nef d'Amiens + Choeur de Beauvais et Portale de Reims." + +Rouen, Paris, and Le Mans should be included, as well possibly as the +smaller but no less convincing examples at Séez, Sens, Laon, and Troyes, +as being of an analogous manner of building, and, by all that goes to +make up the components of a really great church, Bourges might well be +considered in the same group. For practical and divisional purposes it +is perhaps well to compose an octette of the churches of the Isle of +France and those lying contiguous thereto, Paris, Beauvais, St. Denis, +Amiens, Reims, Rouen, Chartres, and Le Mans, which may be taken together +as representative of the greatest art expression of the Gothic builders, +as well as being those around which centred the most significant events +of Church and State. To attempt to catalogue even briefly the charms and +notable attributes of even the first four, would require more than the +compass of several volumes the size of the present, whereas the attempt +made herein is merely to lead with as little digression as possible up +to the chief glories for which they are revered, and to suggest some of +the many important and epoch-making events intimately associated +therewith. More would be impossible, manifestly, unless the present work +were to transcend the limitations which were originally planned for it, +hence it is with no halting assertion that we enter boldly upon that +chronology or résumé which, in a way, presents a marshalled array of +correlated facts which the reader may care to follow in further detail +in the list of bibliographical references included at the end of the +volume. + +Certain facts relating to the history and the architectural features +generally of these great cathedrals are known to all, and are chronicled +with more or less completeness in many valuable and authoritative +works, ranging from the humble though necessary guide-book to the +extensive if not exhaustive architectural work of reference. The facts +given herein are such, then, as are often overlooked in the +before-mentioned classes of works, and as such are presented, not so +much with the avowed object of imparting information, as to remind the +reader of the wealth of interest that exists with relation to these +shrines of religious art. This seems to be the only preamble possible to +the chapters which attempt to even classify these magnificent buildings, +wherein much is attempted and so little accomplished in recounting their +varied attractions. Let this explanation stand, therefore, for any +seeming paucity of description which may exist. + + + + +[Illustration: _Le Bon Dieu d'Amiens_] + +II + +NOTRE DAME D'AMIENS + + +The ever impressive Cathedral of Notre Dame d'Amiens is in most English +minds the _beau ideal_ of a French cathedral. It is contemporary with +Salisbury in period, at least, but it has little to remind one of the +actual features of this edifice. Often associated therewith, as a +similar type, it has little in reality in common, except that each is +representative of a supreme style. Beyond this it is hard to see how any +expert, archæologist, antiquary, or what not, would seek to discover +relationship between two such distinct types. Salisbury is the ideal +English cathedral as to situation, surroundings, and general charm and +grace. This no one would attempt to deny; but, in another environment, +how different might it not appear,--as for instance placed beside +Amiens, where in one particular alone, the mere height of nave and +choir, it immediately dwindles into insignificance. Under +such conditions its graceful spire becomes dwarfed and attenuated. Need +more be said?--The writer thinks not, since the present work does not +deal with the comparative merits of any two cathedrals or of national +types; but the suggestion should serve to demonstrate how impossible it +is for any writer, however erudite he may be, to attempt to assign +precedence, or even rank, among the really great architectural works of +an era. This observation is true of many other examples of art +expression. + +[Illustration: NOTRE DAME _d'AMIENS_ ...] + +The cathedral at Amiens is dedicated to the Virgin, and is built in the +general form of a Latin cross. Over the principal doorway of the south +portal, on one of the upper plinths, may be seen the inscription which +places the date of the present edifice. + + [+] En l'an`[=q]ue l'Incarnati[=o] valait mcc et xx. Ro....rs, ifu: + rimisit: le première piere: iasis,... le cors.... Robert... + +The work was undertaken by one Robert de Luzarche, in the episcopate of +Evrard de Fouilloy, the forty-fifth Bishop of Amiens, whose tomb may be +seen just within the western doorway, and occupies the site of other +structures which had been variously devastated by fire or invasion in +850, 1019, 1137, and 1218. For fifty years the work went on +expeditiously under various bishops and their architects. "Saint" Louis, +Blanche of Castille, Philippe the Hardy, and the city fathers all aided +the work substantially, and the fabric speedily took on its finished +form. Through the later centuries it still preserved its entity, and +even during the Revolution its walls escaped destruction and defilement +through the devotion of its adherents. + +In later days important work and restoration has been carried out under +the paternal care and at the expense of the state; and the city itself +only recently contributed 45,000 francs for the clearing away of +obstructing buildings. + +A French writer has said, "It is only with the aid of a Bible and a +history of theology that it is possible to elucidate the vast +iconographic display of the marvellous west front of the cathedral at +Amiens." Like Reims, its three portals of great size are peopled with a +throng of statues. The central portal, known as the Porche du Souvenir, +contains the statue of the Good God of Amiens; that on the right is +called after the Mère de Dieu, and that on the left for St. Fermin the +Martyr. Above the gables is the "Gallery of Kings," just below the +enormous rose windows. Above rise the two towers of unequal loftiness, +and lacking, be it said, thickness in its due proportion. The carven +figures in general are not considered the equal in workmanship of those +at Reims, though the effect and arrangement is similar. For a complete +list of them, numbering some hundreds on this façade alone, the reader +must refer to some local guide-book, of which several are issued in the +city. + +The south portal, the _Portal de la Vierge dorée_ or _Portal de Saint +Honoré_, shares company with the west façade in its richness of +sculpture and its rose window and its gable. Here also are to be seen +the supporting buttresses which spring laterally from the wall of the +transept and cross with those which come from the choir. + +The north portal, on the side of the Bishop's Palace, does not show the +same richness as the others, though perhaps more than ordinarily ornate. + +The spire above the transept crossing is a work of the sixteenth +century, and is perhaps more remarkable than its rather diminutive +appearance, in contrast with the huge bulk of the edifice, would +indicate. + +The extreme height of nave and choir (147 feet), adds immeasurably to +the grand effect produced by the interior, a height in proportion to +breadth nearly double that usual in the English cathedrals. The vaulting +is borne aloft by over one hundred columns. The natural attribute of +such great dimension is a superb series of windows, a promise more than +fulfilled by the three great rose windows and the lofty clerestory of +nave and choir. The sixteenth century glass is exceedingly profuse and +brilliant. + +The lateral chapels of the nave were added subsequent to the work of the +early builders, all being of the sixteenth century, while the eleven +choir chapels are of the thirteenth century, all with very ornate iron +grilles, which are a feature only second to a remarkable series of +"choir stalls," numbering over one hundred, showing a wonderful variety +of delicate carved figures of the sixteenth century, the work of one +Jean Turpin, the subjects being mainly Biblical. + +A stone screen with elaborate sculptures in high relief surrounds the +choir, that on the south representing the legend of St. Firmin, the +patron of Picardy, and that on the north, scenes connected with the life +of John the Baptist. In a side chapel dedicated to St. John reposes the +alleged head of John the Baptist. Others have appeared elsewhere from +time to time, but as they are not now recognized as being genuine, and +the said apostle not being hydra-headed, it is possible that there will +be those who will choose to throw the weight of their opinions in favour +of the claim of Amiens. + +The flying buttresses at Amiens are not of the singular lightness +associated with this notably French characteristic; they are in the +main, however, none the less effective for that, and assuredly, so far +as the work which they have to perform is concerned, it was doubtless +necessary that they should be of more than ordinary strength. + +The view of the ensemble from the river shows the massiveness and +general proportions in a unique and superb manner. Amiens is not +otherwise an attractive city, a bustle of grand and cheap hotels, +decidedly a place to be taken _en route_, not like Beauvais, where one +may well remain as long as fancy wills and not feel the too strong hand +of progress intruding upon his ruminations. + + + + +III + +ST. PIERRE DE BEAUVAIS + + +Beauvais is by no means an inaccessible place, though how often have we +known one who could not tell in what part of France it was situated. Of +course, being "off the line" is sufficient excuse for the majority of +hurried travellers to pass it by, but, leaving this debatable point out +of the question, let us admit, for the nonce, that it is admirably +located if one only chooses to spend a half-day or more in visiting the +charmingly interesting city and its cathedral, or what there is of it, +for it exists only as a luminous height _sans_ nave, _sans_ tower, and +_sans_ nearly everything, except a choir of such immensity that to see +it is to marvel if not to admire. It is indeed as Hope has said, "a +miracle of loftiness and lightness; appearing as if about to soar into +the air." + +[Illustration: ST. PIERRE ... _de BEAUVAIS_] + +How many readers, who recognize the charms for which the cathedral is +most revered, know that it was intended to rank as the +St. Peter's of the north, and like its Roman prototype, was to surpass +all other contemporary structures in size and magnificence. This was +marked out for it when, in the middle sixteenth century, the builders of +its central spire, which fell shortly after, sought to rival the Italian +church in a vast Gothic fabric which should be the dominant northern +type in contra-distinction to that of the south. This of itself, were +there no other contributory interests, which there are to a very great +degree, should be all-sufficient to awaken the desire on the part of +every one who journeys Parisward to obtain a more intimate acquaintance +with this great work. Here was an instance of ambition overleaping +itself,--exceeding by far the needs and conditions of its environment +and like many another ill-planned venture, it fell to ruin through a +lack of logic and mental balance. To-day we see a restored fabric, +lacking all the attributes of a great church except that which is +encompassed by that portion lying eastward of the nave proper, its frail +buttresses knitted together by iron rods, its piers latterly doubled in +number, and many more visible signs of an attempt to hold its walls and +roofs up to the work they have to perform. + +The present structure, in so far as certain of its components go, was +commenced within five years of Amiens (1225), which calls to mind the +guide-book comparison, which seems so appropriate that it must really +have previously originated from some other source,--Amiens, "a giant in +repose;" Beauvais, "a Colossus on tiptoe." + +Its designer built not wisely, nor in this case too well, for before the +end of the century the roof had fallen, and this after repeated +miscalculations and failures. At this time the intermediate piers of the +choir were built and a general modified plan adopted. + +Ruskin's favourite simile, with respect to St. Pierre de Beauvais, was +that no Alpine precipice had the sheer fall of the walls of this +choir,--or words to that effect, which is about as far-fetched as many +other of his dictums, which have since been exploded by writers of every +degree of optimism and pessimism. Certainly it is a great height to +which this choir rises, one hundred and fifty-three feet it has been +called, which probably exceeds that of Amiens by a dozen or more feet, +though authorities (_sic_) vary with regard to these dimensions, as +might be supposed; but it is no more like unto a wall of rock than it +is to a lighthouse. + +With the crumbling of the sixteenth-century spire on Ascension Day, +1573, restoration of the transepts was undertaken and work on the nave +resumed, which only proceeded, however, to the extent of erecting one +bay to the westward, which stands to this day, the open end filled in +with scantling, weather proofing, and what not,--a bare, gaunt, ugly +patch. Had it been possible to complete the work on its original +magnificent lines, it would have been the most stupendous Gothic fabric +the world has ever known. + +Not entirely without beauty, in spite of its great proportions, it is +more with wonder than admiration that one views both its details and +proportions. Though it is perhaps unfair to condemn its style as +unworthy of the Augustan age of French architecture, surely the ambition +with which the work was undertaken was a laudable one enough, and it is +only from the fact that it spells failure in the eyes of many who lack +initiative in their own make-up, that it only qualifiedly may be called +a great work. + +The choir, which now dates from 1322, perforce looks unduly short, by +reason of the absence of a nave to add to the effect of horizontal +stability; and the great height of the adjoining transept; but the +chevet and buttresses are certainly a marvel of grace and towering +forms. + +The portals of the transept are of the period of Francis I., with +flowing lines and ornate decorations--"having passed the severity and +ethical standards of maturity, and progressed well along the path to +senility," as a vigorous Frenchman has put it. True enough in its +application is this livid sentiment,--perhaps,--but its jewel-like south +portal, like the "_gemmed_" west front of Tours, forms an attractive +enough presentment to please most observers who do not delve too deeply +into cause and effect. The north portal is less ornate, but its +beautifully carved doors are by the same hand as that which worked the +opposite portal. The ornamental stonework here is unusual, suggesting an +arrangement which may or may not have been intended as a representation +of the "Tree of Jesse." In any case it is a remarkable work of flowing +Gothic "branches," which, though mainly lacking its intended +interspersed figures, is not only unique among exterior decorations, +but appears as a singularly appropriate treatment of a grand doorway. + +Adjoining the choir on the right is a sacristy occupying a small +structure, and to the westward is a fragmentary edifice known as the +_Basse OEuvre_,--one of the oldest existing buildings in France; a +Romano-Byzantine work, variously stated as of the sixth to eighth +century and forming a portion of the original church which occupied the +site of the present Cathedral. + +The general impressiveness of this great church--the memory which most +of us will carry away--is caused by its immensity, its loftiness, and +the general effect of lightness. These form an irresistible galaxy of +features which can hardly fail to produce a new and startling sensation +upon any observer. + +As to decorative embellishments, the church is by no means lacking. The +coloured glass, typical of the best period of the art, is luxurious and +extensive; that contained in the north and south transept rose windows +being the exceedingly beautiful work of Le Prince, a celebrated +sixteenth-century artist. + +Numerous side chapels surround the ambulatory of the choir, and on the +west wall of the transept are hung the eight tapestries after the +sixteenth-century Raphael cartoons now at South Kensington. These +tapestries are, it is to be presumed, late copies, since, of the two +early sets woven at Arras, one is preserved in the Vatican and the other +at the Museum at Berlin. A modern fresco of Jeanne Hachette, a local +Amazon, adorns one of the choir chapels. A modern astronomical clock, +with numerous dials, striking figures, and crowing cocks, is placed near +the north transept. It might naturally be supposed that in our day the +canons of good taste would plead against such a mere "curio" being +housed in a noble church. + +The former Bishop's Palace, dating from the fourteenth to sixteenth +centuries, is now the Palace of Justice. The present episcopal residence +is immediately to the north of the Cathedral and is modern. + +As a tapestry-making centre Beauvais ranks with the famous Gobelin +Manufactory at Paris. + + + + +[Illustration: _Notre Dame de Rouen_] + +IV + +NOTRE DAME DE ROUEN + + +Rouen, of all the mediæval cities of France, is ever to the fore in the +memories of the mere traveller for pleasure. In no sense are its charms +of a negative quality, or few in number. Quite the reverse is the case; +but the city's apparent attraction is its extreme accessibility, and the +glamours that a metropolis of rank throws over itself; for it must not +be denied that a countrified environment has not, for all, the appealing +interest of a great city. It is to this, then, that Rouen must accredit +the throngs of strangers which continually flock to its doors from the +Easter time to late autumn. In addition there are its three great +churches, so conveniently and accessibly placed that the veriest tyro in +travel can but come upon them whichever way he strolls. Other monuments +of equal rank there are, too, and altogether, whether it be the mere +hurried pecking of a bird of passage, or the more leisurely attack of +the studiously inclined, Rouen offers perhaps much greater attractions +than are possessed by any other French city of equal rank. + +So closely, too, have certain events of English history been interwoven +with scenes and incidents which have taken place here, that the wonder +is that it is not known even more intimately by that huge number of +persons who annually rush across France to Switzerland or Italy. + +Chroniclers of the city's history, its churches, and its institutions +have not been wanting, in either French or English; and even the +guide-books enlarge (not unduly) upon its varied charms. Once possessing +thirty-two churches, sixteen yet remain; quite one-half of which may be +numbered to-day as of appealing interest. _En passant_, it may be stated +that here at Rouen, in both Notre Dame and the Abbey Church of St. Ouen, +is found that gorgeous functionary, commonly called "the Suisse," who +seeks your gold or a portion thereof, in return for which he will favour +you by opening an iron wicket into the choir, an incumbrance unnoticed +elsewhere, except at Paris and St. Denis. + +The late Gothic church of St. Ouen, where the Maid of Orleans received +her fatal sentence, shows a wonderful unity of design even as to its +modern western towers; a consistency not equally the possession of the +neighbouring cathedral, or even of most great churches. Altogether, this +grand building is regarded as an unparallelled example of the +realization of much that is best of Gothic architecture at its greatest +height. In its central tower alone--which may or may not be suggestive +of a market-basket, accordingly as you will take Ruskin's opinion, or +form one of your own--is the least evidence of the developed flamboyant +found. Its interior is clean-cut and free of obstruction; the extreme +length of its straight lines, both horizontal and perpendicular, +entirely freed from chapel or choir screen, embrace and uphold its +"walls of glass" in an unequalled manner. + +In strong contrast to this expressively graceful style is the +ultraflorid type of St. Maclou, the other of that trinity of +architectural splendours, which, with the Cathedral of Notre Dame, form +the chief ecclesiastical monuments of the city. St. Maclou, which dates +from the early fifteenth century, though not of the grand proportions of +either of the other great churches, being rather of the type of the +large parish church as it is known in England, holds one spellbound by +the very daring of its ornaments and tracery, but contains no trace of +non-Gothic. The French passion for the curved line is nowhere more +manifest than here (and in the west front of Notre Dame), where flowing +tracery of window, doorway, portal, and, in general, all exterior +ornament, is startling in its audacity. To view these two contrasting +types before making acquaintance with the Cathedral of Notre Dame +itself, is to prepare oneself for a consideration in some measure of a +combination of the charms of both, woven into one fabric. Nowhere, at +least in no provincial town of France, are to be found such a +categorical display of ecclesiastical architectural details as here. + +Rouen has from the second century been an important seat of +Christianity. St. Nicaise, not to be confounded with him of the same +name of Reims, first held a conversion here and was shortly followed by +St. Mellor, who founded the city's first church, on the site of the +present cathedral. In succeeding centuries this foundation gradually +took shape and form until, with the occupation by the Norsemen under +Rollo, was founded a dynasty which fostered the development of theology +and the arts in a manner previously unknown. The cathedral was enlarged +at this time, and upon his death in 930 Rollo was interred therein, as +was also his son in 943. Richard the Fearless followed with further +additions and enlargements, his son Richard being made its forty-third +archbishop. From this time on, the great church-building era, Christian +activities were notably at work, here as elsewhere, and during the +prolific eleventh century great undertakings were in progress; so much +so that what was practically a new church received its consecration, and +dedication to Our Lady, in 1063, in the presence of him who later was to +be known as the Conqueror. To-day it stands summed up thus--a grand +building, rich, confused, and unequal in design and workmanship. + +The lower portion of the northwest tower, called the _Tour St. Romain_, +is all that is left of the eleventh-century building, the remainder of +which was destroyed by fire in 1200. Rebuilding followed in succeeding +years and shows work of many styles. Additions, repairs, and +interpolations were incorporated with the fragment of the tower, so that +the structure as we now know it stood complete with the early thirteenth +century. Viollet-le-Duc is the authority for the statement that the +apse and transept, chapels, choir, and two doorways of the west façade +were quite complete before the influence of the perfected Gothic of the +Isle of France was even felt. One Enguerrand was the chief designer of +the new church, assisted by Jean d'Andeli as master mason. The early +century saw the nave chapels built, having been preceded by the _Portail +aux Libraires_, a sort of cloistered north entrance, still so referred +to, one of the most charming and quiet old-world retreats to be found +to-day even within the hallowed precincts of a cathedral. The _Portail +de la Calende_ did not follow until a century later, when the _Tour St. +Romain_ was completed to its roof; at which time was also added the +screen or arcade which separates the _Portail aux Libraires_ from the +street. + +This century, too, saw the beginning of the famous _Tour de Beurre_, +built mostly by the contributions of those who paid for the indulgence +of being allowed to eat butter during Lent. Its foundation was laid in +1487 under Archbishop Robert de Croixmore, and it was completed under +Cardinal d'Amboise in 1507. A chapel at the base of the tower is +dedicated to St. Stephen. The ornate decorations of the west front, +added by Georges d'Amboise, are mainly of the sixteenth century and form +no part of the original plan or design. It borders upon the style we +have since learned to decry, but it is, at least, marvellous as to the +skill with which its foliaged and crocketed pinnacles and elaborate +traceries are worked. Ruskin was probably right in this estimate at +least,--"The central gable is the most exquisite piece of pure +flamboyant style extant." At the present day this west front is +undergoing such restoration and general repair that the entire gable, +rose window, and part of the flanking towers are completely covered with +a most hideous array of scaffolding. + +The central spire as it exists to-day, in reality an abomination of +abominations, is naturally enough admired by all when first viewed from +afar. It certainly looks not dwarfed, or even fragile, but simply +delicate, and withal graceful, an opinion which ultimate association +therewith speedily dispels. It must be one of the very first examples of +modern iron or steel erection in the world, dating from 1827, following +three former spires, each of which was burned. The architect responsible +for this monstrosity sought to combine two fabrics in incoherent +proportions. More than one authority decries the use of iron as a +constructive element, and Chaucer's description of the Temple of Mars in +the Knight's Tale reads significantly: + + "Wrought all of burned steel... + Was long and straight and ghastly for to see." + +The great part of the exterior of this remarkable church is closely +hidden by a rather squalid collection of buildings. Here and there they +have been cleared away, but, like much of the process of restoration, +where new fabric is let into the old, the incongruity is quite as +objectionably apparent as the crumbling stones of another age. _Notre +Dame de Rouen_ is singularly confined, but there seems no help for it, +and it is but another characteristic of the age in which it was +built,--that the people either sought the shelter of churchly +environment, or that the church was only too willing to stretch forth +its sheltering arms to all and sundry who would lie in its shadow. + +In an assignment of ranking beauty to its external features, the +decorative west front must manifestly come first; next the _Portail aux +Libraires_, with its arcaded gateway and the remains of the booksellers' +stalls which still surround its miniature courtyard; then, perhaps, +should follow the _Tour St. Romain_ and the _Portail de la Calende_, +with its charmingly recessed doorway and flanking lancet arches. The +sculptured decorations of all are for the most part intact and +undisfigured. The gable of the southern doorway rises pointedly until +its apex centres with the radiated circular window above, which, by the +way, is not of the exceeding great beauty of the other two rose windows, +which rank with those at Reims and Chartres as the _beaux ideals_ of +these distinctly French achievements. + +The interior, viewed down the nave, and showing its great length and +that of the choir, impresses one with a graver sense of unity in the +manner of building than is possible to conceive with regard to the +exterior. The height and length both approximate that of St. Ouen, and, +though the nave rises only to ninety-eight feet, an effect of greater +loftiness is produced by the unusual quadripartite range of openings +from pavement to vaulting: two rows of arches opening into the aisles +before the triforium itself is reached. The lantern at the crossing +supports the ironwork spire, and admits light to the centre of the +church, only to a small degree, however. The south transept, like that +of the north, with its ample double aisles, is of great width, and, were +the framing of the great rose window of less angularity, it would indeed +produce a remarkable effect of grandeur. The other windows, and the +arcading of the triforium, are singularly graceful; not lacking either +strength or firmness, though having no glass of great rarity or +excellence. In this transept is the altar of St. Romain, a +seventeenth-century work of little pretensions. + +The north transept contains two features which give it immediate +precedence over any other, when viewed from within: its gracefully +traceried rose window and fine glass, and the delightful stone staircase +leading to the chapter library. Mere description cannot do this stairway +justice. Renaissance it certainly is, and where we might wish to find +nothing but Gothic ornament, it may prove somewhat of a disappointment; +but it is magnificent. Its white marble balustrading gleams in the +strong light thrown from the western transept window and gives an +unmistakable note of richness and sonority. It was built late in the +fifteenth century under orders of Cardinal d'Estonteville. The upper +doorway leads to the treasury, and that of the first landing to the +chamber in which were formerly kept the bibliographical treasures, now +housed in the special building which forms the western wall of the +outside court. + +The north and south aisles of the nave are broken into by a series of +chapels, the chief of which are the Chapel to St. Stephen in the base of +the _Tour de Beurre_ and _du Petit St. Romain_, where an abbé or curé +speaking the English tongue is often to be found. On the south side is a +chapel containing the tomb of William Longsword, second Duke of +Normandy, and son of Rollo. + +The great attraction of the choir, far more than its beauties of +architectural forms, shown in its graceful columns and deep graven +capitals, will be, for most visitors, its array of elaborate monuments, +including those of Pierre and Louis de Breze, of whom the former, the +Grand Seneschal of Normandy under Charles VII., fell at Monthery, and +was buried here in 1465. More pretentious is the tomb of Louis, his +grandson, erected by his wife Diane de Poitiers, with a significant +inscription which the curious may be pleased to figure out for +themselves. This noble monument is one of those examples hesitatingly +attributed to Jean Goujon. The _pièce de résistance_ is the Renaissance +tomb of the Cardinals d'Amboise. Georges I. was memorialized in 1556 by +his nephew Georges II., who in turn came to share the same tomb. Both +their kneeling figures are beautifully chiselled, and the whole erection +is gorgeously representative of the late sixteenth-century monumental +work, little in keeping with the Gothic fabric which houses it, but +characteristic of the changing thought and influence of its time. Six +symbolical figures of the virtues form a lower course, while the canopy +is surmounted by nineteen figures of apostles, saints, etc. In 1793 the +ashes of these great prelates were scattered to the winds, but the +effigies and their setting fortunately remained uninjured. Other +archbishops of the cathedral are buried in the choir, and the heart of +Richard Coeur de Lion once rested here, as did also the bodies of his +brother Henry, and John, Duke of Bedford. + +The choir stalls, mostly the work of Flemish wood-carvers, are notable +examples. + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration: _Basilique de St. Denis_] + + + + +V + +BASILIQUE DE ST. DENIS + + +The Basilica of St. Denis, so-called to-day, built over the remains of +the martyred St. Denis, is in a way the counterpart of the Cathedral of +Reims, in that it also is intimately associated with the Kings of +France. In the former they were, almost without exception, crowned; and +here, at St. Denis, are the memorials of their greatness, and in many +cases their actual tombs. Thus far and no farther may the similarity be +said to exist. The old Abbey of St. Denis has little in common, +architecturally, with the grand Cathedral of Notre Dame de Reims. Of the +two, St. Denis is much the older foundation, and from the point of view +of romance and sentiment holds perhaps the premier place, as well. + +The history of the city is one of the most interesting and diversified +of all in the domain of the Kings of France. A Benedictine abbey was +founded here in the reign of Dagobert I., and, under the Carlovingian +dynasty, immediately took on political as well as devout significance. +The Abbot of St. Denis journeyed to Rome in 751 A. D. and secured for +Pepin the papal confirmation of his kingship. Pope Stephen took refuge +here from the Lombards in 754 A. D., during which time he anointed the +king's sons, Charles and Charlemagne; upon the consecration of which act +Pepin handed over to his sons the right and title to his dominions. + +Upon the advice of the Abbot Suger, Louis VI. adopted the _Oriflamme_, +or standard of St. Denis, as the banner of the Kings of France, and, for +long after, its red and gold colourings hung above the altar,--only to +be removed when the king should take the field in person. + +Abélard, of famed romance, was a monk of the abbey in the twelfth +century; and, in the absence of the sovereign (Louis VII.) in the Holy +Land during the mid-century, the Abbé Suger administered full well the +affairs of the kingdom. This renowned abbot and true lover of art died +in 1151 at St. Denis. + +In 1429 "the Maid of Orleans" here delivered up her arms; and a century +and a half later that sturdy Protestant, Henry, abjured the faith to +which he had hitherto so tenaciously clung. In this church, too, the +great Napoleon married Marie Louise in 1810; and his later namesake, +some fifty years after, erected a mausoleum in the crypt, known as the +_Caveau Imperial_, the burial vault of his dynasty, which, however, has +never been so used. + +Such in brief is the record of some of the more important affairs of +church and state, which are identified with this fine old cathedral. The +usual books of reference give lengthy lists of the various tombs and +monuments which exist. It is a pity, however, that, in spite of the +laudable ambition of preserving here, in a sort of kingly Valhalla, the +memory of the rulers of a past age, it has degenerated, in turn, to a +mere show-place, with little enough of the real sentiment remaining to +satisfy the seriously inclined, who perforce would wish to be reminded +in some more subtle way than by a mere "rush around the exhibits," which +is about all the half-hourly, personally conducted excursions, with +appropriate fees to be delivered up here and there, amounts to. But for +this, there would still be some of the charm and reverence which such a +noble memorial should inspire, in spite of the fact that revolution and +desecration have played more than a usual share in the general +derangement of the original plans. + +Up to the time of Henry IV., the monarchs were mostly interred in +separate tombs, but, following him, his immediate successors were buried +in a common vault. During the Revolution, the Convention decreed that +the royal tombs should be destroyed, and so they mostly were,--the +bodies dug up and interred, if so the process can be called, in a common +grave. In 1817 Louis XVIII. caused the remains of his ancestors, as well +as Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette, to be transferred here from the +Madeleine, and in turn he himself was buried here, as well as the Duc de +Berry and several of his children. The preservation of such of the tombs +as survived the many vicissitudes to which they were put, is due to the +fact that many of them were at one time removed to the Musée des +Petits-Augustines, now the Palace des Beaux Arts, at Paris; but in 1817 +Louis XVIII. ordered them to be replaced in the crypt of St. Denis; not, +however, on the sites which they formerly occupied, but in an arbitrary +manner which only the great abilities of M. Viollet-le-Duc, who +undertook their rearrangement and restoration, were able to present in +some coherent manner for the marvel of future generations. There are now +therein over fifty monuments and tombs, besides various statues, +medallions, and other memorials. + +From an architectural point of view, we have to consider the _Basilique +de St. Denis_ no longer a cathedral, as one of the earliest Gothic +examples in France, though at first glance little enough of the true +Gothic feeling is apparent. About the year 275 a chapel was built here +above the grave of St. Dionysius, the first Bishop of Paris. This was +followed by a large _basilica_, ultimately given over to the uses of +monks of the Benedictine order. Evidences of this former construction +are supposed by archæologists to still remain, but little, earlier than +the structure of the Abbé Suger, meets the eye to-day. Strong is the +trace of the development from the Romanesque façade, completed in 1140, +to pure Gothic construction of a century later. In this church is +commonly supposed to be exhibited for the first time, bearing in mind +that the date of its consecration was 1144, a complete system of +buttresses accompanying the pointed arch of the vaulting, though in +conjunction with semicircular vaulting in the choir aisles. + +The west façade is the most notable part of Suger's building. It +contains three deeply recessed round arched portals, decorated with +sculpture, but so disfigured, or at least modified from their original +forms in an attempt to replace the ravages of time and spoliation, that +one can not well judge of their original merit. The south portal shows +symbolical figures of the months and of "St. Dionysius in Prison;" the +central doorway a "Last Judgment," and the "Wise and Foolish Virgins;" +while the north portal depicts "St. Dionysius on His Way to Martyrdom," +and "The Signs of the Zodiac." + +A curious and unusual effect of the upper portion of this grim façade, +like a similar work at Dol-de-Bretagne, is a range of battlements which +were erected for defensive purposes in the fourteenth century. The nave +rises high above this, surmounted by a statue of St. Denis. Above the +lateral portals of the façade are two towers, that on the right rising +two stages above the embattled crest, while that on the left stops at +that level. The spire with which it was formerly surmounted was ruined +by lightning early in the nineteenth century. + +The choir, with its radiating chapels, is of a Romanesque order, with +the Gothic attribute of the flying buttress in a high degree of +development. + +A general restoration was carried out in the thirteenth century by the +successors of Suger, the Abbés Eudes Clement and Matthieu de Vendôme, in +the best Gothic of the time; and it is to their excellently planned work +that the general fine effect of the present interior arrangements may +properly enough be accredited, though for a fact it seldom is so. A +later restoration, the removing of the ruin wrought by the Revolution, +did not succeed so well. It was not until the really great work of +Viollet-le-Duc, under Napoleon III., that this grand building finally +took on again an acceptable form. + +The general interior arrangements, though to-day apparently subservient +to the common attributes of a show-house with its innumerable guides, +functionaries, and fees, are simple and impressive so far as structural +elements are concerned. As for decorations, they are mostly to be found +in that gorgeous array of monuments and tombs before mentioned. The +entrance proper, or vestibule, is of Suger's era and is gloomy and dull, +in strong contrast with the noble and impressive nave, which contains +thirty-seven enormously high windows and a handsome triforium gallery. +This portion dates from the thirteenth century, or immediately following +Suger's régime. The excellent stained glass is modern. The transepts are +mere rudimentary elements, suggested only by the interior arrangement of +the piers, and are simple and impressive. + +[Illustration: _Oriflamme of St. Denis_] + + + + +[Illustration: NOTRE DAME _de PARIS_...] + +VI + +NOTRE DAME DE PARIS + + +Of all the cathedrals of France, Notre Dame de Paris is most firmly +impressed on the minds of English speaking people. At least, it is more +familiarly known by all who visit that delectable land, and perhaps +rightly so. Poets have sung its praises, and writers of all ranks have +used it in well-nigh every possible fashion as an accessory; indeed, +books almost without number have been written about it, and around it. +This is as it should be, for perhaps no great church is more worthy, or +more prolific in material. For those who would probe deeply into its +story, there is but one way to acquire an intimate knowledge +thereof,--to undertake a course of reading and study in some such way as +a lawyer sets about reading up on a great case. By no other method could +be acquired a tithe of the commonly known facts regarding its past +history; hence the impossibility of attempting to deal fully in a few +pages with this great church, even in a perfunctory manner. The most +that can be safely ventured upon, is to recount some of the facts. + +How many have really noticed that none of the diagrams, which show the +ground-plan of this cathedral, indicate the existence of any transepts? +Take, for instance, that which accompanies this volume, which, it may be +said, is drawn correctly,--beyond the omission of a couple of pillars on +either side of the nave, there is nothing to break into the long +parallelogram-like structure, with an apsidal termination. As a matter +of fact, there are a pair of very beautiful transepts, as most +photographs of the exterior, and drawings of the interior, show. They +are, too, in no way attenuated, and are only lost in the ground-plan by +reason of the fact that they follow the very unusual arrangement of not +extending laterally beyond the ample width of the nave and its chapelled +aisles. The south transept façade, with the portal dedicated to St. +Stephen, and two magnificent rose windows, is unquestionably more +pleasing than the west façade itself as to design and arrangement. + +Begun in 1163 and consecrated in 1182, the church has undergone many +vicissitudes, changes, and restorations. It has fared ill on many +occasions; perhaps the greatest defilement being that which befell it +during the Revolution, when it was not only foully desecrated, its +statues and other imagery despoiled, but the edifice was actually doomed +to destruction. This fortunately was spared to it, but in the same year +(1793) it became a "Temple of Reason," one of those fanatical exploits +of a set of madmen who are periodically let loose upon the world. +Mysticism, palaverings, and orgies unspeakable took place between its +walls, and it only became sanctified again when Napoleon caused it to be +reopened as a place of divine worship. Again, three-quarters of a +century later, it fell into evil times--when it was turned into a +military rendezvous by the Communards of '71. In turn, they too +retreated, leaving the church, as they supposed, to the mercy of the +flames which they had kindled. Fortunately these were extinguished and +the building again rescued from an untoward fate. + +The thirteenth-century façade is usually accredited the finest part of +the church. It comes upon one as rather plain and bare after the +luxuriance of Amiens, Reims, or Rouen. As a model and design, however, +it has served its purpose well, if other examples, variously +distributed throughout England and France, are considered. Its lines, in +fact, are superb and vary little in proportion or extent from what must +perforce be accepted as ideal. Its portals are of good design, and so +also is such sculpture as survived the ravages of the past, though the +outlines of the doorways are severely plain. A series of modern +sculptured effigies of the kings, replacing those destroyed at the +Revolution, forms a plain horizontal band across the entire front; a +none too graceful or pleasing arrangement of itself. A rose window +forty-two feet in width occupies the centre of the next stage, flanked +by two blunt-pointed windows rather bare of glass. Above is an arcaded +gallery of small pointed arches in pairs, also extending across the +entire front. The balustrade, above, holds a number of grotesque +creatures carved in stone. They may be gargoyles, but are not, however, +in this case, of the spout variety, being some of those erections of a +superstitious age which were so frequently added to a mediæval building; +though whether as a mere decoration, or with greater significance, +authorities do not seem to agree. The two uncompleted square towers +overtop all, pierced by the two great lancets, which, with respect to +mere proportions, are unusual if not unique. + +The spire above the crossing is a wooden structure covered with lead, +and dates only from the middle of the nineteenth century. Both the north +and south transepts contain magnificent rose windows of even larger +dimensions than that of the west façade. The doorway of the south +transept is ornamented with effective ironwork, but otherwise the +exterior presents no remarkable features. + +To the artist's eye the gem of the building is undoubtedly the fine +grouping and ensemble of the flying buttresses at the rear of the choir. +Most persons, so gifted, have tried their prentice, or their master, +hands at depicting this grand marshalled array of "folded wings," and, +but for the gruesome morgue at its foot, which ever intrudes into the +view, one might almost say it is the most idyllic and most specious view +of a great cathedral that it were possible to have. Were it not for this +charming view of these buttressed walls, with the river flowing at their +feet, the Isle de la Cité would be indeed a gloomy spot, with its lurid +historical past, and its present gruesome association with the "house of +the dead." Indeed, it has been questioned as to whether the choir and +chevet of Notre Dame de Paris is not the most beautiful extant. The Isle +de la Cité was the ancient island village of the Parisii. + +A sixteenth-century Dutch writer (De Sauteuil) has delivered himself of +these few lines concerning the Seine at this point: + +"When first it enters the metropolis it ambitiously stays its rapid +course, and, being truly enamoured with the place, forgets its way, is +uncertain whither to flow, and winds in sweet meanders through the town; +thence filling the pipes with its waters. That which was once a river, +joys to become a fountain." + +To carry the suggestion of contrast still farther one should read Hugo's +"Notre Dame" on the spot. It will give a wonderful and whimsical +conception of those weird gargoyles and devils, which have only to be +seen to awaken a new interest in what this great writer has put forth. +For another sensation, pleasant or otherwise, one might look up a copy +of Méyron's wonderful etching of the same subject, or refer to a most +excellent monograph, written not many years since, entitled "The Devils +of Notre Dame." The interior shows the earliest example wherein the +double aisles of the nave are continued around the choir, and the first +introduction of the quadruple range of openings from the pavement to +the vaulting. The aisles and nave are of almost equal height. + +The choir, besides being merely apsided, is, in fact, a true semicircle, +a sufficiently unusual arrangement in an early Gothic church to be +remarked; and, in addition, is exceedingly narrow and lofty. The glass +of the rose windows is of old and gorgeous quality, it having escaped +destruction in Revolutionary times, whereas that of the lower range of +windows was mostly destroyed. + +The choir stalls are of excellent wooden carving, but the high altar is +modern, dating only from 1874. The choir screen, of the fourteenth +century, shows twenty-three reliefs in stone, once richly gilded, but +now tarnished and dull. + +[Illustration: _Notre Dame de Paris from the River_] + + +ST. LOUIS DE VERSAILLES + +Allied with the see whose jurisdiction includes the Diocese of the +Department of the Seine, should be considered that of Seine and Oise, +which has its bishop's throne esconced in the Cathedral of St. Louis at +Versailles. To all intents and purposes the town is one of those +conglomerate units which go to make up the "traveller's Paris." More can +hardly be said with due regard to the magnificent edifices with which +this cathedral must naturally be classed. The other attractions of this +"court suburb" are so appealing to the sentimentally inclined that it is +to be feared that such will have little eye for the very minor +attractions of the cathedral. The Trianons, the "Grandes Eaux" and the +"Petites Eaux" are all in all to the visitor to Versailles. + +As a matter of fact and record, the Cathedral of St. Louis must be +mentioned, if only to be dismissed in a word. Bourasée refers to it as +"a thing cold, unfeeling, and without life." Truthfully, it is a +remarkably ugly building of the middle eighteenth century, with no +details of note and no memorials worthy of even a passing regard, except +a monument to the Duc de Berry, who died in 1820. What embellishment is +given to the interior, is accounted for by the exceeding ruddy glow shed +by the contemporary coloured glass of the none too numerous windows. + + + + +[Illustration: _St. Julien; Le Mans_] + +VII + +ST. JULIEN; LE MANS + + +Le Mans, like Chartres, sprang from an ancient Celtic hill fort, and, +through successive stages, has since grown to a Roman, a mediæval, and +finally a modern city. It crowns the top of a very considerable +eminence, the like of which, says Professor Freeman, does not exist in +England. Like Chartres, too, it has always retained the balance of power +which has made it the local civil and ecclesiastical capital of its +province. It is, too, more closely associated in English minds than is +Chartres, forming as it did a part of the dominion of a common +sovereign; also by reason of being the birthplace of Henry II., and the +burial-place of Queen Berengaria, the wife of Richard Coeur-de-Lion. + +Le Mans stands, without doubt, in advance of Chartres in the importance +and number of its secondary churches, as well as its ecclesiastical, +civil, and military establishments in general. In spite of all this, +the city has never ranked as of supreme importance as a European city; +nor did it ever attain the rank in Gallic times, that the events which +have been woven around it would seem to augur. To-day it is a truly +characteristic, large, provincial town of little or no importance to the +outside world. Self-sufficient as to its own importance, and the events +around which its local life circles, it gives little indication of ever +becoming more of a metropolis than it now is; indeed the census figures +would indicate that the department, of which it is the capital, has +remained stationary as to the numbers of its population, since the +Revolution. + +Writers have endeavoured to carry the similarity to English interests +and conditions still farther than the events of history really go to +prove, and have declared that Maine and England should have united in +repelling their common invader. Endeavour has also been made to trace +similarity between the communistic principles of days gone by, which +took form here and at Exeter across the Channel, and have even remarked +the similarity of the topographical features of the surrounding +landscape, wherein the country round about differs so from other parts +of France, being here rolling, hilly, and wooded, as in certain parts +of England; and even stretching a point to include the hedgerows, which, +it must be admitted, are more in evidence in Maine than elsewhere in +France. But these observations apparently prove nothing except that the +majority of persons probably know very little of the real conditions +which exist in the provinces of France, preferring rather that their +journeyings afield should follow more the well-worn road of their +compatriots. + +The Cathedral of St. Julien well represents the two distinct epochs in +which church architecture, as it remains to us to-day, was practised +here, and shows, to well-nigh the fullest expression possible, the two +principal transformations of Christian architecture. + +As the Angevin style partakes so closely of northern and southern types +intermixed, so the distinctive architectures of Maine, if such there be, +may be said to favour the styles of both Normandy and Anjou; at least so +far as the cathedral at Le Mans shows a combination of Angevin and +Norman detail. The really distinctive southern influence is to be noted +in the Romano-Byzantine nave, the exterior of which, so far as the +western front is concerned, is far more notable in the rigidness and +austerity of its lines, than by any richness of ornamentation or +decoration. Nothing could be more simply plain than this portal, and the +wall and gable which surmount it. A large bare window, of the variety of +that at Angers, stands above the doorway, which, itself, lacks all +attempt at embellishment. What decoration the façade bears is after the +true Byzantine manner, of the nature of brickwork displayed and set into +the wall in geometrically angular fashion. What sculpture there is, two +grotesque animals on either of the buttresses which flank the façade, is +of minor account. This, then, is the extent of the detail of this severe +western façade, the grand portal of the usually accepted great church +being entirely lacking and evidently not thought of as a desirable +detail when this portion of the structure was erected. It has nothing of +the prodigious art expression of the frontispieces of the grand Gothic +churches of the north, or of the less poverty-stricken Byzantine +decoration of its own Meridional portal, which, in so far as the style +can be said to take on richness of form, shows the transition tendencies +of the early twelfth century. This doorway is surmounted by a tympanum, +ornamented by a figure of the Saviour surrounded by the four +Evangelists, a subject which has always proved itself a highly +successful and popular ecclesiastical symbol, and one which in this +case, as in most others, is well made use of. All the figures have +suffered considerably from the ravages of time, but retain much of their +interest and charm in spite of such mutilation. A tower of Romanesque +foundation, but of fifteenth and sixteenth century completion, flanks +this south transept. + +The ranking portion of this interesting church is its choir, larger in +superficial area than the entire cathedrals of Noyon or Soissons. Both +from inside and out, it is all that one's imagination could possibly +invent. Its great proportions are as harmonious and graceful as the +lines of a willow-tree; in fact, as to general effect, it may be set +down as a thing of extraordinary grandeur, worthy to rank with Beauvais +or Amiens, and yet different from either, of a quality its very own. At +the commencement of the thirteenth century the canons obtained, from +Philip Augustus, permission to extend their church beyond the city walls +in an easterly direction, and then it was that this wonderful choir took +shape. The work was undertaken in 1217 and was completed soon after the +middle of the same century, and the body of St. Julien, the first +apostle to Le Mans, for whom the church was named, was placed therein by +Geoffroy de Loudon, then bishop, who decorated the windows of the choir +with the magnificent glass with which they are still set. + +From a certain distance to the eastward the cathedral at Le Mans +presents a view of the choir, unique in all the world. Other greater +ones there are, if mere height be concerned, and others with more +perfect appendages; but none give the far-spreading effect of encircling +chapels, or are possessed of high springing buttresses of more grace or +beauty than are seen here. He was a rash man who ranked the flying +buttresses as a sign of defective construction, indicating structural +weakness, meaningless and undecorative ornament, and what not. Few have +agreed with this dictum, and few ever will after they have seen Paris, +Beauvais, and Le Mans. + +The interior is one of great interest; the nave, even in its early +forms, is none the less attractive because of its austerity. It is, as a +matter of fact, far more interesting here than in its exterior, the +swarthy circular pillars holding aloft arches with just a suspicion of +the ogival style, with narrow, low, and disproportionately small +windows in the aisles, where are also a series of strengthening pillars +of black and white stone, presenting again a reminiscence of the +southern manner, or at least recalling the slate and stone of Angers. In +the choir, with its girdling chapels and double ambulatory, we come upon +the most impressive portion of all. Slightly orientated from the east +and west, it presents by itself, like Beauvais, nearly all of the +attributes of a great church. The columns, arcades, and windows +throughout are all of an unusual elegance and grace, the vaulting rising +with much daring to a remarkable height, which must approach one hundred +and ten or more feet, and the equal of certain other "popularly notable" +buildings. + +The rose window of the south of the transept is a remarkable example of +these masterpieces of the French builder. The framing and the glass with +which it is set is of the richest quality, though it dates only from the +fifteenth century. The organ case is here found in the south transept, +an unusual arrangement in a French church, where it is usually placed +over the western doorway. The vaulting, too, is much loftier here than +in the nave. The aisles of this remarkable choir have the further +unusual attribute of three ranges of openings, while the clerestory, +only, rises above, but with great and imposing beauty. There are a few +funeral monuments of more than ordinary interest, including that of +Queen Berengaria, wife of Richard, the Lion-Hearted, brought from the +Abbey de l'Epau in 1821; a sarcophagus and statue in white marble of +Charles of Anjou, Count of Maine, King of Jerusalem and Sicily (d. +1472), and the mausoleum of Langey du Bellay. In the north aisle are a +number of fifteenth or sixteenth century tapestries. The former bishop's +palace was burned by the Germans in 1871. + + + + +[Illustration: _Notre Dame de Chartres._] + +VIII + +NOTRE DAME DE CHARTRES + + +Aside from their wonderful, though non-similar, cathedrals, Chartres and +Le Mans, its neighbour, have much in common. Both have been possessed of +a brilliant array of counts and prelates, both grew from a Celtic +village to their present grand proportions through a series of +vicissitudes, wars, and conquests, until to-day each is preëminent +within its own sphere, and has become not only a centre of +ecclesiastical affairs, but of civil life as well. + +The Counts of Chartres and of Blois, in the middle ages, were a powerful +race of men, and should ever be associated with profound respect in +English minds by the fact that here was the birthplace of Adela, the +mother of King Stephen of Blois, and of Henry, Bishop of Winchester. + +As for local conditions to-day, Chartres, while having grown to the +state which it now occupies through events which have made it a city of +mark, remains a somnolescent, sparsely built town, with little +suggestion of the progress of modernity. More frequently mentioned in +the note-books of the traveller than Le Mans, it offers perhaps no +greater charms. To be sure, its cathedral, by reason of its open +situation and the charming quality and effect produced by its spires and +its one hundred and thirty windows of coloured glass, at once places it +at the very head amongst the great "show pieces" of France; but it is in +connection with Le Mans, scarcely eighty miles away and so little known, +that it ought really to be studied and considered; which as a matter of +fact it seldom is. The city is hardly in keeping with what we are wont +to associate with the environment of a great cathedral, though this of +itself in no way detracts from its charms. The weekly cattle-market +takes place almost before its very doors, and the battery of hotels +which flank the open square present the air of catering more to the need +of the husbandman than to the tourist;--not a wholly objectionable +feature, either. + +Beyond such evidences as an occasional sign-board announcing the fact +that the hostelry possesses a _garage_, _fosse_, or what not for the +necessitous requirements of the automobilist, the inns remain much as +they always were, mere _bourgeoise_ caravansaries. + +The Cathedral of Notre Dame de Chartres jumps full into view immediately +on leaving the railway station, though here it is to be noted that no +delineation has ever been made by modern hand which shows its façade in +its entirety. The roofs of the houses and shops around its base indicate +no special squalor or poverty, as is the case with regard to some +Continental churches, and there is a picturesque grouping of firs and +poplars to the left which adds considerably to an already pleasing +prospect. The whole grouping is, perhaps, none the less attractive than +if the façade, with those extraordinarily beautiful non-contemporary +spires, stood quite unobstructed. In fact, it is doubtful if many a +monumental shrine might not lose considerably, were it taken from its +environment and placed in another which might not suit its graces so +well. + +These really fascinating spires, famed of all writers, archæologists, +and painters alike, are the _clef_ by which the whole harmony is +sounded. One cannot but echo, and reëcho, all that has been said of +them, though in a quandary as to which of the two is the more +beautiful: the plain, simple, symmetrical, older spire, or that +wonderful work of Texier's, replacing another burned in 1506, which +rises in gently sculptured and tapered ranges to a height which exceeds +its companion by some twenty-five feet. No more appropriate or +convincing wording could be given of it than by quoting Fergusson's +estimate, which sums it up as being "the most beautifully designed spire +in Europe, surpassing even Strasburg and Antwerp." + +It is rather a pity that from no suitably near-by point can one obtain a +full view of the effect of the western façade. One poor little house +seems ever to thrust itself into the ensemble, though it is to-day +apparent that certain others, which must have cut into the front still +more, have been cleared away. Clearly, with all its charm and beauty of +detail, it is for its great and general excellencies that the cathedral +at Chartres most impresses itself upon the memory. + +Visitors to-day will have no easy task in locating Lowell's "little +pea-green inn," in which he indited the lines, "A Day in Chartres;" as +appreciative and graceful an estimate of an inanimate thing as ever was +made in verse: + + "The Grecian gluts me with its perfectness + Unanswerable as Euclid, self-contained, + The one thing finished in this hasty world. + But ah! this other, this that never ends, + Still climbing, luring fancy still to climb, + As full of morals, half divined, as life, + Graceful, grotesque, with ever new surprise + Of hazardous caprices, sure to please, + Heavy as nightmare, airy light as fern, + Imagination's very self in stone." + +Among the other attractions of the west façade is the Porte Royale, so +called, the central doorway which was only opened for the entrance of +the sovereign. It is decorated with the "signs of the zodiac" and +"symbols of the months." Next in point of richness are the grandly +effective north and south porches, with their triple doorways or +portals, setting back some twenty feet from their jambs, which, as at +Noyon, and in the smaller church at Louviers, are pierced with a +transverse passage. + +The north porch, with its range of three open-sided and deeply recessed +doorways, has unmistakably debased tendencies, but is filled with +sculptured statuary of more than ordinarily effective disposition, more +remarkable for magnitude and ornateness than for finesse of skill and +workmanship, or even as a detail of good taste. + +The life-size statues of all three recesses are held aloft by pedestals, +on pillars of twisted and of spiralled trunks, a formation reviled by +Ruskin, but producing an effect much more pleasing than some galleries +of effigies we have seen, where the figures appear as if hung up by the +hair of their heads, or are clinging to the walls by invisible spurs at +their heels, or, as is not infrequently the case, are standing or hung +on nothing, as though they were graven of some bewitched magnetic stone. +Here for the first time is seen, in the sculptured figures of the three +great portals, the plastic forms which were to add so greatly to the +Gothic architecture: male and female saints, Evangelists, and Apostles +in great array, all somewhat more than life-size. Only one adverse +impression is cast: that of petrifaction. The figures, almost without +exception, appear as integral parts of the architectural fabric, rather +than as added ornament. They are most ungainly, tall, stiff, and +column-like, much more so than similar works at Reims, or at Amiens, +where the sculpture has something of the vigour and warmth of life. + +The south porch, erected in the reign of Henry I. by Jean Cormier, +partly from donations of Matilda, queen of the Norman Conqueror, +contains a series of _basso relievos_,--seen also in the arches of the +choir,--manifestly not of good Gothic principle, and one which is the +very antithesis of the northern spirit, as the name itself implies. + +The earliest portion of the existing church, the crypt, is that of a +timber-roofed structure burned in 1020. It was erected early in the +eleventh century by Fulbert, the famous Bishop of Chartres, also +remembered--possibly revered--as being the prolific letter-writer of his +time. + +John of Salisbury was bishop in the next century, and under him were +built the lower stages of the western façade and towers. In this church +Edward III. called for the help of Heaven to aid his plans, and here +Henry of Navarre was crowned King of France, a change of venue from +Reims, where so many previous and subsequent coronations were held. + +The interior gives a deal of the thrill for which one should always be +prepared. The gloom, so apparent at first, slowly brightens as the eye +becomes accustomed to the finely filtered light, which penetrates +through the gorgeous coloured glass, a feature which ranks with the +spires as a vivid impression to be carried away. Nearly all of this +glass is of equal worth and attractiveness, being, with the exception of +three windows of a late date, and a few uncoloured ones, all of the +gorgeous thirteenth-century variety. + +The whole mass of the clerestory throughout gives the effect of windows +heavily hung with tapestries through which the outside light pierces in +minute rays. This comparison is made advisedly, inasmuch as, regardless +of the quality and value of the glass, it is composed mainly of those +minute and fragmentary particles often more rich in colour than design. + +There is little doubt but that the result of the deep rich blue, claret, +and orange gives a first effect of insufficient lighting which would try +an artist or photographer sorely, though not a detracting element in +churches which would often appear cold and unconvincing were such an +attribute lacking. There are also three magnificent rose windows of +great size (thirty to forty feet), containing equally good glass. + +A double ambulatory surrounds the seven-chapeled choir, which is further +enclosed by a magnificent sculptured stone screen begun in the sixteenth +century by Texier, who designed the marvellous north spire. The _Vierge +du Pilier_ of the north choir aisle, a fifteenth-century shrine, is the +subject of great local veneration. The treasury contains a _relique_ in +the form of the veil of the Virgin, supposed to have been presented by +Charlemagne to Princess Irene. + +Other interior details of note are an eleventh-century font; the large +crypt beneath the choir; the unequal level of the pavement of nave and +choir; and the maze, which still exists in the nave. This last feature +is a winding circular path some forty odd feet in diameter, and, in all, +perhaps a thousand feet long. As a penance in place of a pilgrimage to +Jerusalem, "the journey of the maze" was performed by the penitent on +his knees--taking perhaps an hour or more, according to the size and +length of the path, which varied with different churches where they +formerly existed. The other most notable example in France is at St. +Quentin, northeast of Paris. + + + + +IX + +NOTRE DAME DE REIMS + + +The very ancient city of Reims, now the capital of the Department of the +Marne, was a large centre of population when it first fell under the +sway of the Romans. During Cæsar's occupation it was known as +Duroctorum, in the Præfecture of the Gauls. + +A powerful metropolis and a faithful adherent of the Romans, the city +early attained prominence as a centre of Christianity. St. Sixte +preached the word here shortly after the first bishopric was founded, +after capture by the Vandals in 406 A. D. The city was practically razed +by Attila, who afterward met defeat at Chalons. During the Roman Empire +it was the most important town of the Province of Belgica Secunda, later +becoming known as the capital of the Remi, the name given to the people +inhabiting the country round about. + +[Illustration: NOTRE DAME _de REIMS_ ...] + +In 508 A. D. the Franks under Childeric captured the city, and in 720 A. +D. Charles Martel captured it from Bishop Rigobert. Here, too, Pope +Stephen had his famous interview with Pepin, and attended the crowning +of Louis le Débonnaire in 816 A. D. In 744 it was made an archbishop's +see, with suffragans at Amiens, Beauvais, Chalons, and Soissons. It is +to-day the ecclesiastical capital of France--the Archbishop of Reims +being the metropolitan prelate. + +Clovis, son of Childeric, King of the Ripuarian Franks, in 496 A. D. +conquered the last Roman stronghold at Soissons, and, having married a +Burgundian princess, Clotilda, was induced to accept Christianity. He +was accordingly baptized here by St. Remi on Christmas Day, 496 A. D. + +Leo III. met Charlemagne here; a council was held in 1119 A. D. by +Calixtus II. in an attempt to reconcile Henry I. and Louis le Gros; and, +later, another, to excommunicate another Henry. + +Succeeding years saw a continuity of archbishops, who achieved by their +religious works a world-wide fame and glory. In these early days they +held the temporal as well as spiritual power of the cities, and in some +instances even coined their own specie. + +In spite of the changes of the times and conditions of life, the +ancient capital of Belgica Secunda still remains the chief city of the +Departments of the Marne, Ardennes, and Aisne. Its ecclesiastical and +secular monuments, headed by the grand Cathedral of Notre Dame, form an +array which is well worthy of such extended consideration as the +traveller or student can give. The Benedictine Abbey, the Church of St. +Remi, is likewise notable in all of its dimensions and details. Its +construction dates from 1162-1506, though the remains of a former +tenth-century structure are made use of therein. Its chief treasure is +the tomb of St. Remi, a wonderful Renaissance funeral monument of +imposing proportions. Another monumental feature of more than unusual +note, is the magnificent Roman arch of the former fortress of Porte +Mars. This truly majestic specimen of the work of the Roman builder is +supposed to have been erected by Agrippa in 25 B. C., in honour of +Augustus, although another authority puts it as late as the period of +Julian, 361 A. D. At any rate, it has stood the rigours of a northern +clime as well as any Roman memorial extant; indeed, has seen fall all +its contemporaries of the city, for at one time Reims was possessed of +no less than three other gateways, bearing the pagan nomenclature of +Ceres, Mars, and Venus. + +The various other memorials of the city are on a no less grand scale, +but the average person will hardly have eyes and ears for more than a +contemplation of the wealth of splendour to be seen in its overpowering +cathedral. Of the glorious group of monumental churches of northern +France, the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Reims, if not admittedly the most +beautiful and memorable Gothic edifice in all France, needs but little +qualifying comment. It has a preëminence which has been generally +conceded, and even elaborately endorsed, by most observers qualified to +pass opinion hereon. Contemplation of the wealth of detail, and of the +disposition of its wonderful west front, no less than of its general +excellencies, can but compel the decision that in its exterior, at +least, the Cathedral of Reims is the peer of any existing Gothic fabric. +Though less huge than Strasburg or Cologne, and lacking the doubled tier +of flying buttresses of the latter, it is altogether the most splendid +and well-proportioned Gothic mass extant. The diminishing or pyramidal +effect of the towers and gable of this west façade is an exemplification +of the true symmetry of Gothic form. Lofty, and not closely hemmed in +by surrounding structures, it looms, from any adjacent view-point, fully +two-thirds of its decorated splendour above the general skyline round +about. Aside from modern adulation we have the praise of an early +historian, who delivers himself thus: + +_"Decor et majestes praeclarissime hugus structurae omnem scribendi +peritiam longe superat, ob elegantum omnibus est admirationi, at que +sibi similem non habet in tota Gallia."--Met. Rememsis Hist. Dom. +Guliol. Marlot S. Nicasii Rem. Prioris, Tom ii. p. 470._ + +Following the preaching of St. Remi, and the murder of St. Nicaise, who +founded a church on this site in 400 A. D., Ebo, bishop in 818 A. D., +laid the foundations of a new church, Louis I. granting that such +material as might be needed be taken from the city wall. To assist, the +sovereign also sent his architect, Rumaldi. In 847 A. D. Archbishop +Nicman secured a renewal of the privileges, and in the presence of the +king the building was consecrated in 862 A. D. The western entrance was +ornamented with graven statues of Louis I., the patron, Pope Stephen, +and the archbishop himself. + +This entire fabric succumbed to fire on the 6th of May, 1210, and the +present structure rests merely on the remains of the ancient crypt, +which in a measure survived. Few visible remains of this ancient +foundation are to-day visible. The new church reared itself rapidly +under the immediate supervision of the Archbishop Alberic de Humbert. +The choir, begun within two years of the fire, made such progress as to +allow of the high altar being ceremoniously dedicated within three +years; and, before the middle of the century, the records tell us that +the main body of the church was entirely completed. The right tower was +uncompleted at this time, but was finished by Cardinal Philastre in +1430, up to which time intermittent labour had evolved a superlative +combination of constructive and decorative excellencies. The extreme +lightness of the west front is brought more and more to impress itself +upon one by reason of the consistent disposition of the excellency and +delicacy of its sculptured ornament. + +This western front, from the grand portals upward, is the _apogee_ of +French Gothic ornament,--at once the admiration and boast of all France. +Here is no mixture or confusion of style, in design or decoration. The +pointed arches of window and doorway are of the accepted "best manner," +the heavy detail is placed low and rises gracefully to the "Gallery of +Kings," a grand succession of stone effigies of royalties from Clovis to +Charles VII., a decorative arrangement not made use of elsewhere to +anything like a similar extent, a fact which of itself stamps the +cathedral as the royal church of France. Conceived by one Gaucher, the +portals are not only superior to all others in richness, depth, and +quality of the sculpture shown in the hundreds of figures with which +they are peopled, but are of exceedingly true and appropriate +dimensions, taken in relation with the other parts of their setting. +Immediately above the gable of the central portal is a wonderful rose +window, of the spoke variety, containing thirty-four sections,--of +immense size and nearly forty feet across. This "most perfect rose," +designed by Bernard de Soissons, may well be credited as one of the +masterworks of architectural decoration in all the world. Flanking this +great window on either side are two open lancet arches, while above is +the "Gallery of Kings" before mentioned. The twin mullioned towers on +either side rise for two hundred and sixty-seven feet. Light and airy, +they depend for their effect of grace and symmetry entirely upon +structural design, lacking sculptured ornament of any kind. Formerly +they possessed spires of a great height, which, however, were destroyed +by fire in the fifteenth century. + +"Were all its original attributes complete," says Fergusson, "we should +have the _beau ideal_, externally, of a cathedral." This is probably an +adaptation of Viollet-le-Duc's estimate, which he expresses thus: "This +west façade is the most splendid conception of the thirteenth +century,--Paris, like Laon, being really a transition example, Amiens +representative of different epochs, Chartres a mere reunion of +fragments, and Bourges and Rouen a _mélange_ of three centuries." + +The south transept portal, which is of great breadth, contains statues +of the Archbishops of Reims, and one of Clovis. A similar doorway on the +north side, though now walled up, contains, in the tympanum, a fine +sculptured "Last Judgment," while the transept itself houses one of +those great clocks so frequently met with in Continental churches,--in +this instance said to be the oldest running time-piece in existence. + +Seven flying buttresses, between the transept and the west front, flank +the nave, each holding aloft an elegantly canopied niche containing a +full-length winged figure, a further unique arrangement being a similar +figure which caps or pinnacles the outer piers, from which the +buttresses spring. Above the point of contact of the buttresses with the +main body, runs an effective balustrade of small pointed arches, while +the abside shows, again, a wonderful combination of the buttress as a +decorative and utile feature, combined. + +The exterior may be summed up briefly as being the most gorgeously +peopled and decorated structure of its age--as though it were expressly +designed to show off this great throng of statues to the best possible +advantage. Taken collectively, the series forms, says one writer, "the +most complete and magnificent collection of mediæval iconography +extant." The figures were originally perhaps as many as five thousand, +representing nearly all the families of mankind. + +In size the Cathedral of Reims ranks third among the four largest in +France, being exceeded only by Amiens and Chartres, while Paris is +slightly smaller. + +The interior presents by no means the awe-inspiring grandeur of the +exterior mass, and is possibly inferior to both Amiens and Chartres, +and though well disposed, lacks the lightness of Cologne or Beauvais. A +first impression rather indicates large proportions of length, breadth, +and height in the nave, though these dimensions are not actually of the +greatest. The transepts, including their aisles, are, however, of an +extreme width, but very short; and the absence of side chapels, either +here or in the nave, produces a regularity of outline unusually +convincing. + +The nave piers, of which there are ten on either side, with two window +piercings, are of a manifestly heavy order, the capitals unusually so, +being very deep and weighty with carving in high relief. The triforium +is severely plain, being a mere shallow gallery of small pointed arches. +The nave itself is, moreover, somewhat gloomy, when contrasted with the +brilliant lighting of the aisles, caused by the peculiar arrangement of +plain and coloured glass, the former filling the windows of the +clerestory and the latter those of the aisles, the reverse being the +case with the opposite ranges. The aisles have no chapels between the +rather low windows, but groups of clustered columns against the walls. +The vaulting is deep, with simple ribs, coloured with a blue ground +spangled with stars and _fleurs-de-lys_. The choir is surrounded by +seven chapels. + +There are ten columns in the choir, all with beautifully wrought +capitals. The pavement here is composed of marble taken from Libergier's +abbey church of St. Nicaise, from which edifice, since destroyed, was +transferred the tomb of Jovinus, the Roman prefect of Reims, who became +converted in 366 A. D. The sarcophagus consists of a huge block of +marble, nine feet by four, with a figure of Jovinus, "lion hunting on +horseback," carved in high relief. The roof of the choir is curiously +constructed of wood, of chestnut, say the authorities, as no spiders are +found. The high altar, as reconstructed by Poncelet Paroissien in 1550, +was a very beautiful affair if old prints, usually none too reliable as +to detail, are regarded. It was, however, destroyed during the middle of +the eighteenth century. + +The glass of the rose window dates in part from the period of the +greatest richness (thirteenth century). + +The sepulchral monuments, aside from the sarcophagus of Jovinus, are +to-day practically _nil_, having been swept away during the terrors of +the Revolution. Two interesting effigies still remain, however, near +the western doorway, a figure of a mailed knight and an abbess. + +Among the real riches of the Cathedral are the remarkable and unique +tapestries; well preserved, and of the finest quality of design and +texture. Fourteen, by Lenoncourt, date from 1530-70; those in the south +aisle, the Pepersacks, the gift of Abbé Lorraine, from 1640; and the +modern Gobelins of the nineteenth century, the gift of the government. +The "Tresor," which includes the church plate, most of which appears to +have endured the ravages of invasion and wars, is truly magnificent and +intrinsically of great value. The chief of these are: the chalice of St. +Remi, of the eleventh century; a reliquary containing a thorn from the +Holy Crown; the marble font in which Clovis was baptized in 496 A. D.; +the chasuble of Louis XIII., and the _Sainte Ampoule_, which contained +the holy oil brought by a dove from heaven for use at the conversion of +Clovis, now a mere fragment enclosed in a modern setting, after having +been ruthlessly shattered by a _sans-culotte_ in 1793. + +Adjoining the Cathedral, on the right, is the Episcopal Palace, which, +with its dependencies, occupies a hectare or more of ground. In the +first courtyard is the modern library building, which houses the +cathedral's rich bibliographical treasures. Further, through a gateway, +is a structure, in itself a grand building, of the time of Louis XIV. +The right wing was constructed by Le Tellier in 1690. This portion is +now occupied as a dwelling by the archbishop. At the end of the furthest +courtyard is "The House of the Kings," a truly grand establishment, so +called in the official documents because it was the _logement_ of the +monarchs who visited the city on affairs of state. This recalls to mind +not the least notable of the functions performed by the great cathedral +itself. + +With four exceptions all the Kings of France, from Clovis to Charles X., +here first entered into their kingly state. The monarchs of France were +a long and picturesque line, and the ceremonies attendant upon their +coronations were accordingly imposing and magnificent. The culmination, +for theatrical splendour and effect, was doubtless that of Charles VII., +who, through the efforts of the "Maid," here came into his own. It was a +splendid, if gaudy, pageant, and the most memorable event among that +long series which only ended with the coronation of Charles X. in 1823. + + + + +_PART III_ + +_The Cathedrals of the Loire_ + + + + +I + +INTRODUCTORY + + +The Loire Valley for its whole length may, in every sense, be well +considered the dividing-line between northern and southern influences. +The romance and sentiment which cradled itself here could only have +emanated from the more languid south, and from vastly differing +conditions to those of the colder north. The admiration usually bestowed +upon the attractions of its domestic architectural forms is, no doubt, +fully merited; albeit that the cathedrals of these wealthy and powerful +communities are, no one can possibly deny, if not of a mongrel type, at +least of a degenerate one. It is perhaps hardly fair to note such an +expression without qualification where it is applied to St. Gatien at +Tours, which is really a delightfully picturesque structure; or to St. +Maurice, at Angers, which is unique as to its charm of situation, and +one of the most interesting churches anywhere to be found. But the fact +is that the general plan and design is not only open here to much just +criticism, but is not of the order of consistency which alone entitles +an architectural monument to rank as truly great. In no instance, from +Orleans to Nantes, are the cathedrals of these cities possessed of the +consistent array of charms which would entitle them to a proportionate +share of the admiration which is usually accorded to the great domestic +establishments, the Chateaux of Blois, Chenonceau, Chambord, Langeais, +or Loches. + +The climatic conditions of this region hardly more than intimate the +suggestion of the southland, but there is to be seen in the vineyards, +and indeed in things that grow, generally, a notable tendency toward a +luxuriance that is not found northward of this valley. Productive, +prosperous, influential, and possessed of historical and sentimental +associations as a touring ground far beyond any other section of France, +the Valley of the Loire at once takes rank as the land _par excellence_ +where the traveller can be sure of a maximum of pleasure and profit; and +one worthy in every way of as prolonged study and sojourn as one's +possibilities and circumstances will allow. + +The towns group themselves naturally _en suite_ in the following order: +Orleans, Blois, Tours, Angers, and Nantes, and are so considered in the +pages that follow. + + + + +[Illustration: _CATHEDRAL of Ste CROIX ORLEANS_] + +II + +ST. CROIX D'ORLEANS + + +The association of Orleans, in English minds, mostly rests upon the +events connected with the siege. Its history in the past has been mainly +that of bloody warfare and massacre. As the Genabum of Gallia, it was +burned by Cæsar in 52 B. C. in revenge for a previous massacre of the +Romans. By Aurelian it was rebuilt and named Aurelianum, the progenitor +of its present nomenclature. St. Aignan in 451 secured the safety of the +city to the cause of Christianity by warding off Attila's attack. +Clovis captured it in 498, but at his death it became the capital of an +independent kingdom which was afterward, in 613, united with that of +Paris. Activities no less extensive or vivid followed, till the English +besieged the city in 1429, only retiring before the conquering hosts led +by the Maid of Orleans on the 7th of May; the Huguenots held it as a +stronghold under Coligny; and latterly the Germans occupied it, were +driven out, and again reoccupied it as a base in 1870-71. Such, in +brief, is a partial record of its troubles and trials, with scarce a +reference to a Christian or religious motive, if we except Attila's +unsuccessful attack and Coligny's Protestant fervour. + +The almost legendary part played by Jeanne d'Arc should suffice to +impress indelibly upon the mind the chief event in connection with any +city with which her name and fame were associated. + +In the third century seven bishops were sent out from Rome, to extend +the influence of the Church, to Tours, Orleans, Toulouse, Narbonne, +Paris, Limoges, and Auvergne; though, in spite of the success with which +they met, and the zeal with which they worked, their meetings were +chiefly held in the houses of their more opulent converts, and church +building at the time appears not to have been so much desired as the +dissemination of the Word itself. Since its occupation by the Germans in +"'71," great contrasting elements have sprung up. Nowhere, not even in +the "up-to-date" Rhine cities of Germany, is better exemplified the +trend of the age in which we live. There are notable indications of its +modernity in the architecture of public and private buildings, many +streets and boulevards of the city being laid out anew and bisecting the +older portions. + +The Cathedral of St. Croix, of widely contrasting styles and eras, forms +a pleasing enough key-note to it all, in spite of its garish crudities. +At its best, when viewed from the bridge which spans the well-nigh dry +bed of the Loire, it composes well with what is at all times a pleasing +prospect, and is set off to great advantage by the fringe of green +boulevard along the river bank,--a fine enough setting for an +architectural monument of whatever rank, be it new or old, consistent or +conglomerate. As for the classification of the architectural style of +the cathedral itself, it is an unprincipled mixture of components, but +little related to each other. The southern influence is apparent, alike +in the scanty remains of the Romanesque, and the restored Renaissance +portions, while Gothic peeps out here and there, in no mean proportions, +as though it were misplaced and out of its true environment. The +cathedral, which was destroyed in 1567 by the Huguenots, in spite of the +admonitions of the Condés, is still visible in the fragments of the +choir aisles, the fourteenth-century chapels appearing to have been +uninjured. This much remains of the Gothic of Henry IV.'s time. The late +seventeenth-century work is a manifest expression of the debasement of +Gothic, and such other additions as were made in the reigns of the Louis +carry the vulgarities still further, the acme being reached in the +pseudo-classical north and south porches, which are sepulchral-looking +of themselves, and not even of the most admired variety of the species. +The most that can be remarked, considering all the distinctive features, +is the fact that this cathedral is the only Gothic church, so ranking, +that is not of Mediæval growth, a fact which may well account for its +unsatisfactory style. + +The façade follows the usual enough arrangement of three portals, though +very ugly ones, flanked by rising towers on either side. In this case +these doorways are of the nondescript variety commonly accepted as base +Gothic, but hardly warranting even such a term of endearment. They are +in fact flamboyant as to their lines, though of a remarkable poverty as +to further embellishment, if we bar a series of misplaced armorial +blazonings. + +Topping the gables of the portals are a series of circular apertures, +with framing of a sort, but without glass,--a poor imitation of what a +rose window might be at its worst. Above is an arcaded gallery of nine +graceful arches, the first really attractive ornament of this debased +façade. The towers, finished so late as 1789 by M. Paris, the king's +architect, rise loftily some two hundred and eighty feet, with ranges of +slight columns and perpendicular lines, which give the grand and +imposing effect of height of which the cathedral is undeniably +possessed, and which, when viewed from down the Rue Jeanne d'Arc, is +without doubt impressive,--far more so than greater intimacy will +sustain. + +The nave, of a height of one hundred feet, is flanked by double aisles, +and in appearance is every way superior to the exterior. + +No remarkable art treasures are to be seen, if we except a series of +sculptured Stations of the Cross beneath the windows, and the Gothic +altars of the transepts. + + + + +[Illustration: _CATHEDRAL of S. LOUIS BLOIS_] + +III + +ST. LOUIS DE BLOIS + + +Regardless of the sentiment which attaches itself to Blois by reason of +its magnificent chateau, and in spite of its undeniably picturesque and +interesting environment, it hardly takes sufficient rank as a cathedral +city to warrant more than a passing consideration. As it is, one cannot +get from under the shadow of its overpowering attraction, and, in spite +of the poverty and depressing qualities of the Cathedral of St. Louis, +perhaps no place in the Loire valley has more claim upon the attention +of the enthusiastic tourist. The wonderful chateau is all that has been +said of it, and more. The picturesqueness of the city's streets of +stairs, and its general up and down hill situation, offering charming +vistas, unique in a city of the north, are, except for its size, really +more suggestive of Genoa or Naples. In the general ensemble of the city, +the Loire is an attraction of itself, when viewed from across that +wonderful stone bridge, the first public work endowed by Louis XV. But +even then, the awkward and uninteresting cathedral does not enter into +the view with that liveliness and impressiveness which we are wont to +associate with such an environment. In short, it must be set down that +in the lack of pleasing qualities in its cathedral, is found Blois' +greatest disappointment. + +The tourist _pur sang_ will care little about this. He usually rushes in +and out during the daylight, and recalls but little except the +fascinating staircase of the chateau attributed, as to its spiral +formation, to Da Vinci; the ornamental chimney-pieces; and the fact that +historical events of the past have intermingled inextricably the +gruesome stories of the royal houses which bore respectively the arms of +hedgehog and salamander. This only, with perhaps the memory that at one +time or another a certain event took place involving the use of some +forty odd daggers. + +Perhaps, after all, it would be an embarrassment of riches did the town +possess a cathedral, or even other monuments, to vie with this +spectacular attraction which, from every view-point realizes the ideal +of our imagination, as to just what a chateau and its history might be. + +From near or far the cathedral shows no charm of outline. Its ridgepole +is marred by three unusually obtrusive "lightning conductors," which +could hardly have been more offensive had they been turned into those +lath-like crosses which are seen elsewhere. Its tower is a monstrosity, +with an egg-shaped protuberance which is neither shapely nor impressive, +while the southern range of the nave and aisle, when viewed laterally, +shows a bareness and poverty of design unusual and painful. The +ensemble, from this point, is one of a certain impressiveness. It could +hardly be otherwise, with the situation which it commands, even were it +the grossest thing that ever took shape in architecture. Its +irregularities and inconsistencies, and the great variety of outline +shown by the roof-tops of the town, perhaps, make up in a measure for +the lack of individual beauties in the church itself. + +There is this much to be said, however, for the functions which this +church performs. If all were as much made use of by the market-day +peasants, streaming in from the surrounding country, who, with their +jugs, market-baskets, and what not, in their hands, enter the building, +say a short prayer or two, and toddle out again, there would doubtless +be fewer churches with a poverty-stricken air and more of a better and +more prosperous class. + +The greater part of the cathedral which originally stood on this site +was destroyed during the Revolution, and that which was afterward reared +here was merely a restoration by Mansard, who, it is to be presumed, +made such use as was possible of what remained. + +The interior, most will agree, is no more remarkable than the exterior +adornments; in fact the same paucity of plan and of detail appears from +one end to the other, inside and out. The aisles are astonishingly low; +the choir and nave, each unusually short. There are no transepts, and +there is no triforium whatever, no chapels of any remarkable beauty, and +little glass that is even passable. On the walls of the nave, beneath +the low clerestory windows, are a series of four carven Renaissance +marble panels, with other blanks suggesting the ultimate addition of +similar sepulchral-looking ornaments. Such, in brief, is a résumé of the +attractions, or rather the lack of them, as it will strike the average +person. It is perhaps no small wonder that the traveller who desires to +study architectural forms, or to sketch them, should prefer the less +holy precincts of the chateau, where every facility is offered for the +pursuance thereof, to that more "blessed ground," covered by the +cathedral, which offers little enough in itself, and that little under a +surveillance which makes one regret that the feudal times are not still +with us,--when we might vent our spleen and anger upon any who offend +us. + + + + +[Illustration: _St. Gatien de Tours_] + +IV + +ST. GATIEN DE TOURS + + +The _soi-disant_ provincial metropolis of Mr. James' appreciative +favour, the capital of old Touraine, is possessed of great and many +charms for the seeker after new things. He may be passionately fond of +churches; if so, the trinity here to be seen, and the history of their +founders and prelates, and the important part which they played in +church affairs, will edify him greatly. If romance fills his or her +mind, there is no more convenient centre than Tours from which to "_do_" +the châteaux of the Loire. If it be French history, or the study of +modern economic or commercial conditions, the past activities and +present prosperity of the city will give much food for thought. If to +literature one's mind turns, there is the association with Balzac's +birth in the Rue Royale, and his delightful picturings of the city's +environment in the "Curé de Tours," "Le Lys dans la Vallée," and "La +Grenadière." Says Balzac of the habitant: "...He is a listless and +unobliging individual." But the sojourner for a day will probably not +notice this, and, if he should, must simply make allowance, and think +with Henry James of the other memories of "this land of Rabelais, +Descartes, and Balzac; of good dinners, good company, and good houses." +To link the city still closer with letters, the first printing-press in +Touraine was set up here in 1496. Nicolas Jensen, famed as the foremost +Venetian printer of his time, was born in the neighbourhood and was at +one time "Master of the Mint" at Tours. Christopher Plantin, the head of +the famous Antwerp family of printers, likewise was born in the near-by +suburb of St. Avertin près Tours. + +Climatically, Touraine appears to linger between the rigours of the +north and the mildness of the southland; at least we are conscious of +another atmosphere, made apparent by such evidences as palms and prunes +growing in the open. + +Tours, says her historian, has ever employed the pure French in her +spoken and written word; "patois and provincialisms have no place +here." + +St. Martin of Tours erected a church here, in honour of St. Peter and +Paul, as a sort of antidote to the many pagan temples which he had +caused to be destroyed. His successors built several others round about +the city, but they appear to have been all of small size until, in the +fifth century, Perpetus, Bishop of Tours in the reign of Childeric, +caused to be built a more splendid church to replace that which Briceius +had erected over the tomb of St. Martin. This, in turn, was rebuilt by +the celebrated Gregory of Tours, or so ordered by him; until finally in +the seventh century the abbey church of St. Martin of Tours became a +place of pilgrimage for all the Turones. To-day, nought remains of this +great church but the two towers, which have been bisected by the running +of a street throughout the old nave of the church; and thus they stand +as silent sentinels of the means through which Tours arose to its +ecclesiastical dignity. The Tour St. Martin or "de l'Horloge" is of the +twelfth century, and the other, called the Tour de Charlemagne, being +the burial-place of his wife Luitgarde, is, in its lower portions, of +the eleventh century. + +The Cathedral of St. Gatien, which should be greatly endeared to the +English people, was commenced by Henry II. in 1170, the choir being the +earliest portion. The transepts followed in the next century, and the +façade as late as the fifteenth, or the beginning of the sixteenth, +century. Of manifestly Renaissance tendency, this façade for sheer charm +and picturesqueness must rank with the best, with the qualifying +statement added that it offends against many consistent artistic and +architectural principles. It is certainly an effective type, although +perhaps not warranting the statement of a certain monarch, whose art +training may to some degree have been wanting, that it was a "jewel in a +gemmed setting." An exceedingly picturesque and attractive pair of +towers rise, through no less than three different styles, to the +inverted egg-cups, which in a purer example might perhaps prove less +pleasing, but which in the present case seem at least to be imbued with +something of the Oriental or Mediterranean influence, not yet fallen +before the actual decadence. Another peculiarity of this charmingly +toned west front is that the rose window is of a peculiar lozenge shape, +"neither square nor round," as one authority puts it. This, of itself, +is decidedly not a graceful arrangement; but the proportions are ample +and the glass is good, so its deficiencies may in a measure be said to +be overbalanced by its merits; and, for that matter, as it is only seen +in its minutia of detail from the inside, where the excellent coloured +glass is seen at its best, it hardly detracts from the general fine +effect of the exterior façade. The western doorways are thoroughly +Renaissance, both inside and out, while the portals themselves offer a +livid suggestion as to what they might have been, were all the bare +niches and blocks filled and mounted with worthy statues. The effect +would have been an undeniable approach to the best matured Gothic, and +would have enhanced greatly this already highly interesting façade. The +buttresses of the choir follow the accepted forms of grace and +effectiveness, and, while not numerous or remarkable as to size, each +springs to a supporting pier gracefully pinnacled and gargoyled. One +instance of the functions of this valuable adjunct to the towering forms +taken by most Gothic structures, is a buttress which springs, +unsymmetrically enough, from the north transept. This rather ungainly +limb flies out like the tentacles of an octopus, grasps a small building +on the opposite side of a narrow roadway, and forms a support to the +irregular construction of the north transept. This was perhaps +necessary as a means of bracing the transept wall, which it might not +have been possible to accomplish otherwise. + +The interior presents the unusual feature of the omission of the organ +case from over the western doorway, the organ being in this instance in +the south transept, as at Le Mans. The wall space centered upon the nave +proper is entirely given over to the lozenge-shaped "rose," which, in +spite of its rather heavy framing and kaleidoscopic and patchworky +glass, is withal effective beyond many more gracefully formed openings, +where the glass is either too severely plain, or worked into a supposed +design, which, by reason of its minute particles, is undecipherable. The +design and arrangement of a series of lancets supporting the lozenge +would be remarkable, were it in company with the best glass of the +middle ages. It depicts an "Adoration" in which kings, saints, and +bishops are modelled brilliantly, and with evidence of much good +drawing, a detail often wanting in old, or, for that matter, modern +glass. + +The glass of the choir, on the other hand, is far better in arrangement, +and shows deep, rich particles which are only at their best in the work +of the early period here shown. In this glass are depicted the arms of +St. Louis, Blanche of Castile, and of the City of Tours. The choir +itself widens out from the crossing of the transept, causing that +deviation between the piers of nave and choir which made necessary the +ungainly flying buttress of the north wall. + +The aisles of the nave are of no great width and are fringed with a +series of chapels of which only one, that of the Sacred Heart, is in any +way remarkable. The radiating chapels of the choir are more interesting, +notably the lady-chapel, which contains old glass removed thither from +the church of St. Julien, the subject of one of Turner's rhapsodies in +his "Seine and Loire." + +The clerestory of the nave consists of plain glass only; and on the +triforium alone, of exceedingly graceful arcaded columns, depends the +beauty of the upper ranges. + +The chief treasure of artistic value and moment is unquestionably the +tomb of the children of Charles VIII. and Anne of Brittany, by whose +early deaths the throne passed to the Valois branch of the Orleans +family. This remarkable monument is of the early sixteenth century and, +according to the report of the _Commission des Monuments Historiques_, +is the work of Guillaume Regnault, a statement which is much more likely +to be correct than the usual guide-book information, which in some +instances credits it to Goujon, and in others to a local apprentice of +his, named Juste. On a Renaissance sarcophagus lie the two tiny +effigies, in white marble, surrounded by guardian angels and other +symbolical figures. The base bears escutcheons of the Dauphins of +France, the arms and two inscriptions referring to the princes and their +birth. + +[Illustration: _Flying Buttress, St. Gatien de Tours_] + + + + +[Illustration: _St. Maurice d'Angers_] + +V + +ST. MAURICE D'ANGERS + + +Historically and romantically, Angers, the former capital of Anjou, is +possessed of a past (which may be said to have actively commenced in +989) that cannot fail to arrest and hold one's attention. Capital of the +Dukes of Anjou, and the home of Margaret of Anjou, daughter of René, who +married Henry VI. of England; likewise the cradle of the first +Plantagenets; and immortalized by Shakespeare's King John, who +soliloquizes anent "The flinty ribs of this contemptuous town." With all +this, Angers has perhaps a supreme claim for English consideration. In +spite of all this, and the added attraction of a "real castle," such as +is seldom found outside the children's fairy-tale books, not to mention +the Cathedral of St. Maurice,--of which more anon,--Angers leaves one +with the impression that very much is wanting in order to merit +preëminence in the classification of those memories which a traveller +is wont to store up as a result of his travels and observations. Perhaps +it is the city's pitiful attempt to be gay, to be modern, to undertake +pretentious improvements,--all of which appear to fail utterly in their +purpose. These things cannot be unless they are of a spontaneous growth, +which here they apparently are not. Not that the city still merits the +opprobrious (_sic_) term of "Black Angers" with which most writers and +all makers of guide-books are pleased to refer to it,--it hardly does. +In fact it is doubtful as to just what the term originally meant. +Perhaps it was merely a reference to the gloom caused by the extensive +use in the construction of its buildings of the black slate in which the +neighbourhood abounds;--at any rate the expression is one of undoubted +antiquity. + +The two chief attractions are the cathedral and the castle, both +"historical monuments." The latter, as before noted, is the ideal +military stronghold of our early imagination; and if age, magnitude, and +the general air of good preservation, count for anything, it must be one +of the most impressive monuments of its class still to be seen. +Originally its wall, now minus battlements, fronted close upon the +river. It is surrounded by a dry yawning _fosse_, formerly a moat, and +possesses no less than seventeen enormous and perfectly formed towers, +each perhaps eighty feet in height, banded near the top in white and +black stripes. Hardly more than a circling wall to-day, it has stood +well the test of time since it was erected by Philip Augustus and +completed under St. Louis in 1180. Little remains of the Renaissance +portion originally occupied by the Counts of Anjou. Its charm lies +rather in its exterior, the interior confines resembling more a +lumber-yard than anything else,--not worth spending one's time upon, +under the present facilities which are offered for its inspection. One +small structure within the walls is notable as being that in which King +René was born. It is recorded that Wellington received a part of his +military education in Angers. If so, it is probable that he studied this +military defence with some care and minuteness. To us, at least, who +have not been educated with respect to military fortification, it seems +to fill all demands that are likely to be made upon a building of its +class. Doubtless it could have been besieged successfully, and even +battered through to the extent of allowing the outside foe to enter, but +it would probably have been at a fearful cost, and it is possible that +the attempt would be given up before any surrender took place. Such +would appear to an outsider to be the lines on which these magnificent +works of feudal times were built. + +One should not speak slightingly of the Cathedral of St. Maurice, though +it comes upon one who journeys from the north, as a thing apart from +anything he has met before; so much so that he is hardly likely to be +able to judge it dispassionately until he has turned his impressions of +it many times over in his mind. + +The Angevine style, seen here, is representative of but a very +restricted area. The _Société des Monuments Historiques_ defined it as +"a small district on both sides of the Loire between Normandy and +Acquitaine." It is suggestive of the Roman manner, far more than the +Gothic; though the primitiveness shown in the long, upright lines of the +west front of this cathedral marks it at once as something different +from either Romanesque or Transition,--though Transition it must be, +unless we delimit the confines of that useful term. In any case, it +points unto heaven in a truly devout manner, is not debased in any +particular, and, if not a consistent style, has many of the good +qualities of both. The Cathedral of St. Maurice is best seen from a +point of view which will exaggerate its height, its slimness, and its +straight and upright lines; but even this does not appear to work out to +its disadvantage, in spite of the new note it strikes. It is an +interesting work when viewed from any distance sufficient to throw its +outline well into the air. From across the Maine, it is charming; from +the foot of the stairwayed street which runs downwards from its western +portal, it is picturesque and irresistible, while from any other +view-point in the town, it is grand. + +The easterly end is dwarfed by close-lying houses, picturesque enough in +themselves; but the gracefulness of the buttress is wanting. The south +side is, here and there, broken into by additions and interpolations, +none apparently of a contemporary era. It offers a grand effect for an +artist who would study gray walls and crumbling roofs, but the lack of +uniformity will offend most people. + +The façade of the west is the most effective feature, so far as +genuineness is concerned. It towers to the sky, its needle-pointed +spires overtopping a crooked street which rises sharply from the river. +There is but one portal, and that is centred with a curious Romanesque +arch half-way across its height, above which is a bas-relief of great +size. The sculpture of this portal, while not as excellent as that seen +in the Isle of France, is of an unusual richness and execution. The next +range is unique among west fronts, being a large central window, but +slightly pointed and little removed from the Romanesque. It is bare of +coloured glass, and is decidedly not an attractive feature. On each side +of this great window are a series of blunt pointed lancets, which form a +sort of arcade which otherwise relieves the bareness which would exist. +Immediately above is a row of niches which hold eight armour-clad +knights of the fifteenth century, inferior perhaps, in execution, to the +sculpture of the portal, but producing an effect, when viewed from the +ground, undeniably fine. It is a detail as interesting, in its way, as +the long "Gallery of the Kings" at Reims. Above rise the slim spires, +with an octagonal cupola superimposed over a central structure, which +looks to this day as though it were originally intended as one of a +battery of three uniform spires. The general plan of this façade is the +masterpiece of design of the building, and, except for the ludicrously +diminutive clock-face, could withstand nobly the cavil of the most +exacting pedant who ever read or studied architectural forms, solely out +of books. In the immediate foreground falls the before mentioned street +of steps. Many old tumble-down houses have recently been cleared away, +and, at the present writing, the view from this point is one which has +apparently not previously existed, and one which it is to be hoped will +not be marred by the erection of any so-called modern improvements. + +The interior fills no accepted formula of architectural expression, save +that it is of the manner common to Anjou, the borderland between the +Gothic aisled and the great and aisle-less southern naves, but it holds +one's interest none the less. Perhaps, after all, it is the quality to +interest, quite as much as that to please, which is the standard by +which one makes estimates and forms opinions. There is a not very long +nor very wide nave and choir, neither with aisles, and both with a +vaulting which gives the appearance of being much lower than it really +is, quite the contrary impression to that received from contemplation of +the exterior. The bishop's throne sets midway on the right of the nave. +Each bay of the side walls of the nave is composed of a wide pointed +arch resting immediately upon the ground and filled with stone instead +of glass; reminiscent of a similar effect in the Church of Notre Dame de +la Cloture at Le Mans. The true windows of the nave rise in pairs above +this arch, and contain rich, though somewhat fragmentary, glass of the +thirteenth century. As characteristic of the Angevine style, there is no +triforium or clerestory, and hence, it is claimed, no necessity for +flying buttresses, the support being accomplished by less graceful, if +as effective, heavy square piers built into the outer wall. + +The transepts are not pronounced as to length or breadth, their chief +beauty being their rose windows. + +The choir, of the twelfth century, shows an interpolated and elaborately +flamboyant doorway of a much later period. + +An ornate oaken pulpit of none too good Renaissance carving is in the +nave, and the organ case over the western doorway is supported on the +shoulders of a series of huge, grotesque, but monstrously human, wooden +caryatides. This, with the gigantic, high canopied carven wood pulpit, +one of the most extraordinary in the country, forms a relief to coldly +chiselled stone, certainly;--but few will consider their charms such as +would warrant counting them amongst ecclesiastical treasures. + +The fourteenth-century tapestries from Arras (or Paris) were made for +King René and by him given to the cathedral. They represent scenes from +the Apocalypse, and, though having suffered somewhat from the +depredations of the Revolution, still exhibit evidences of rare +qualities of workmanship in their design and colouring. + +The _bénitier_ of _verd-antico_ marble supported by figures of lions is +a Byzantine work of the eastern empire, given to the cathedral by King +René. + +The Dukes of Anjou and Margaret of Anjou were buried here, but the tomb +of the latter was desecrated and destroyed during the Revolution. Aside +from these, no other monuments of note are to be seen. + +The Bishop's Palace, of the twelfth century, standing high beside the +cathedral, was restored by Viollet-le-Duc and reflects a mediæval +splendour unseen elsewhere in the city, with respect to any great or +small domestic establishment. + +The Maison Barrault in the Logis Barrault, built by a former mayor of +the city, one time Chancellor of Brittany, was the scene of the +magnificent entertainment offered Cæsar Borgia in 1497. Afterwards it +became the residence of Marie de Medicis; later, a monastic +establishment, then a seminary, and lately simply an ordinary private +school. Says one writer, "No wonder its remains should be so scanty and +ill preserved." + + + + +[Illustration: _CATHEDRAL of St. PIERRE NANTES_] + +VI + +ST. PIERRE DE NANTES + + +As a city of commercial and strategic importance, no one will deny that +Nantes is supreme in the Loire valley; that its relations with the +affairs of Church and State are equally important, is a debatable point. +True, the edict in favour of Protestant worship, fathered by Henry IV., +was a momentous and significant event; but the revocation, and the +subsequent massacres of the rascally Carrier, well-nigh wiped that out. +The history of the city is one long record of warfare and bloodshed. +Though holding the command of the Loire, the city has ever been more +closely identified with Brittany. Here, in its frowning tenth-century +castle, which fronts upon the river immediately in the foreground of the +Cathedral of St. Pierre, with which it forms an unusual grouping of +ecclesiastical and military architecture (M. H.), lived at one time or +another, most of the Kings of France, from Charles VIII. downward. Here, +too, Anne of Brittany was born, and here she married Charles VIII., thus +uniting the Duchy of Brittany with the crown of France. Her subsequent +marriage, in the chapel of the castle, with Louis XII., made for ever +impossible the future independence of the city. + +Following the edict came the Revolution; and, as if the preliminary +horrors of massacres and atrocities, which spread to Orange in Vaucluse +and to Arras in Picardy, were not of sufficient stringency, the +"Noyades," or drownings, carried off the poor unfortunates, a boatload +at a time, until it is estimated that perhaps nine thousand were thus +cruelly murdered,--women, children, royalty, and the clergy alike. The +wrath which spent itself seemed to know no rank. The guillotine, +disease, and famine finished the work, so that the population of the +city was, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, immeasurably +inferior in numbers to what it had been a decade before. The details of +these significant events are recounted quite fully enough by historians +generally; but, in reality, it has little to do with the aspect of the +city as it exists to-day, which, if not one of great splendour, partakes +in no small measure of the attributes of a large metropolis, amply +planned, beautifully laid out, and possessing, in addition to the +characteristics of Brittany with which it has been so long identified, +not a little of the influences and attributes of the south. + +Immediately to the rear of the chateau is the Cathedral of St. Pierre, +ancient as to its foundation, and grand as to its general effect, both +inside and out, though its exterior is marred by its uncompleted towers. +Lofty, but of heavy proportions, St. Pierre de Nantes would, at first +sight, appear to offer much that goes to make a satisfying +ecclesiastical building. As a matter of fact, it fails in many +particulars to realize any ideal which we have come to admire. The +western façade is more indebted to the rich and reasonably ornate +portals for its undeniable impressiveness, than to the gable of towers, +which have crumbled exceedingly from the effects of wind and weather, +rather than of great age, since they date only from the fifteenth +century. + +The choir rests on the remains of an older church, hardly to be seen +to-day in any appreciable evidence, in that restoration and rebuilding +have been so extensively carried on. + +The windows throughout are but weak decorative elements, and lack +tracery and glass of a decorative quality, an obvious detraction in any +great architectural work. The south transept shows indications of four +successive periods of construction, and contains the best glass in the +church; otherwise it is severely plain. + +The interior is by no means as incoherent as the exterior, the height of +the nave, one hundred and thirty feet, giving an otherwise +unapproachable grandeur; though this admirable dimension is qualified to +no small degree by a triforium of a luxurious florid growth, little in +keeping with the other attributes of firmness and strength. + +The chapels throughout are bare and uninteresting so far as their altars +or decorative embellishments are concerned,--what they may be at some +future time, if the _Art Nouveau_ gets a foothold in church decoration, +is fearful to contemplate. Paintings, none too common in French +churches, are here somewhat in excess of customary numbers, though, as +to quality or interest, in no church in France can they vie with those +of the great churches of Italy or Flanders. + +Like the neighbouring city of Tours, Nantes has in its cathedral, for +its _pièce de résistance_, a magnificent sepulchral monument, the tomb +of François II., the last Duc de Bretagne, and Marguerite de Foix, his +second wife, erected to their memory by their daughter Anne. This +remarkable mausoleum was executed in 1502-07, after designs of Jehan +Perréal, by Michel Colomb and his pupils, Regnault and Jean de Chartres, +with the assistance of Jérôme de Fiesole, who contributed the ornamental +portion. It fortunately escaped demolition at the Revolution, and was +brought hither and placed in the south transept from the Eglise des +Carmes in 1817. It is a wonderful exemplification of the very best +quality of Renaissance. The main portion of the tomb is of marble, with +black mouldings somewhat shattered in places, but not so much so as to +affect the contour or design. The effigies lie recumbent upon a slab, +their feet resting on a lion and a greyhound, upheld by a series of +miniature figures of the twelve apostles in niches of red marble. At +the corners are four nearly life-size figures, depicting Justice, with +sword and scales, said to be a portrait of the Duchess Anne; Power, +strangling the dragon of Heresy; Prudence, a double face, showing also +Wisdom, with mirror and compass; and Temperance, bearing a curb-bit and +a lantern. A tablet at the head bears the figures of St. Louis and +Charlemagne, and one at the foot, those of St. Francis of Assisi and +Ste. Marguerite, the patrons of the duke and duchess. + + + + +_PART IV + +Central France_ + + + + +[Illustration: ST. ETIENNE _d'AUXERRE_] + +I + +ST. ETIENNE D'AUXERRE + + +The entrance to the Burgundian city of Auxerre is more or less confused +if one would, at the first glance, attempt to recognize its cathedral +from among the three fine churches which in true mediæval fashion loom +up over the river Yonne; not that the entrance is not pleasing: the +reverse is actually the case, though one's way into the town lies +through newly made roads. However, upon contemplation of the pleasant +prospect of town and river, he would be an uninspired person indeed who +would not be able to pick out the Cathedral of St. Etienne, with its +singular reddish brown roof, from among its less imposing neighbours. It +is the central building of the three, and it rises majestically above +all, enhanced by the fine grouping of its one lone tower. + +As a type to admire, the cathedral, be it said, is not of a superlative +quality; but as a thing of beauty in many of its details and because of +its aforesaid commanding situation, it is one not to be ignored when the +really fine gems of mediæval treasures are catalogued. It is another of +those types, so far as its choir is concerned, which rise to a loftiness +of soaring height, which, in later days, degenerated, or were lost +altogether in the fabric of the transepts and nave. The height of the +choir is perhaps not so great as it really appears, when gauged by its +sheer rise from the river level; but such is the suggestion, at least, +which, after all, is what the eye and certain other of our senses +admire, quite as much as a professed expert classification. + +The western front is of unusual appearance in that the southern tower +glances off into the angle of the gable in most curious fashion; not +beautiful, nor as originally intended to remain, but so it is, and +offers at least a comparison of how a lofty gable looks when it lacks +towers of an appropriate height. At the right of this low tower of the +façade, hidden behind a wall, is a thoroughly Pagan doorway, which might +well pass unobserved, did one not actually stumble upon it unawares. It +is a curious reminder of other days and other ways, and how it became an +adjunct of this mediæval church the local records fail to state. The +three main portals of the façade, as that of the transept, are somewhat +bare of ornament, though the main tympanum and the spring of the arch +are fairly filled. These portals are of the late thirteenth century, and +exhibit no traces of the debasement which subsequently entered into the +upper ranges of the tower and lateral portals. + +Both the transepts and the west front contain rose windows of good, +though not remarkable design, and each is exceedingly generous in size. +The interior, generally, does not give the effect of the great height +suggested from the rear view of the choir overhanging the river front; +but both nave and choir are of unusual width, and so also is the +clerestory, which is lofty, and set with rare old glass of the most +splendid and valuable quality, in the main the gift of Bishop de +Villeneuve in 1220. + +The choir terminates with the usual apse, which is further elongated by +the far-reaching lady-chapel, which adjoins the main fabric in a +graceful and unusual manner. The north tower was completed as late as +the sixteenth century, and that of the south was left unfinished,--as it +is to-day. The gable and its portals are highly decorated with statues, +niches, and crockets. + +Around the aisles of nave and choir is a curiously suggested arcade with +an overhanging balustrade ornamented with a series of indifferently +sculptured heads. The bosses of many of the intersecting groins of the +vaults are coloured with questionable effect. There are also many +visible evidences of coloured wall decorations, which might perhaps as +well have been left covered, inasmuch as they have suffered exceedingly +in the attempted restoration; so much so, that it is impossible to say +whether they ever approached acceptable perfection; possibly not, as +they are supposed to date only from the period when much of this class +of work was of none too good a quality. + +The triforium of the nave is gracefully balustraded, and the choir +stands apart from the nave, separated by an elaborate eighteenth century +iron _grille_. The ambulatory of the choir sets three steps lower than +the nave, though the platform is on the same level. The crypt beneath +the choir, so often the only existing remains of an earlier church, is +here grandly in evidence, and dates from the eleventh century at least. + +There are a few interesting tombs of former Bishops of Auxerre and +others of local celebrity. + +On the whole the charm of Auxerre and its cathedral must be admitted to +lie in its general surroundings and immediate environment, quite as much +as because of any remarkably distinctive features of a superlative +quality in the cathedral itself, though an undeniable wealth of +picturesque detail exists. + +The conventional guides speak of it as "highly interesting," and so it +is, with its Romanesque remains, its ungainly façade, its three fine but +weather-worn doorways, and its charming river view. + +Beside the cathedral stands the old-time Episcopal Palace with its fine +arcaded Romanesque gallery overlooking the river, where the prelates +took their "constitutionals," safely guarded from wind and weather. +To-day this grand building represents the officialdom of the local +Préfecture. + +Two other noble ecclesiastical monuments are to be seen here, the Church +of St. Germain, or rather, the fragment which was spared by the +Huguenots, now being used as an adjunct to a hospital; and the Church of +St. Pierre. The latter is the most appalling example of a Renaissance +building which one is likely to meet with, and shows in its remarkable +façade, in sheer perversion of misdirected labour, the grossness of +pseudo-classicism, which quite entitles it to rank with that other +equally abominable example in Paris, St. Eustache. + +The _portail_ of this remarkable church, locally so called, though in +reality it is only a detached gateway, far from the church building +itself, is a wonderful Italian suggestion, now mellowed and weathered +and undeniably charming in colour in spite of its being so manifestly +out of its environment. + + + + +[Illustration: _St. Etienne de Bourges_] + +II + +ST. ETIENNE DE BOURGES + + +The Cathedral of St. Etienne de Bourges partakes of the same honours +which are accorded to the premier quartette of the Isle of France. +Nearly contemporary with Paris and Laon, this cathedral steps into its +rank with a grandeur and firmness that in a less stolid or more ornate +edifice is often wanting. It retains certain of its Romanesque features, +perhaps unduly pronounced; likewise it has certain attributes of +Burgundian luxuriance; but withal it presents the highly developed +Gothic tendency to a far greater degree than either. Although not far to +the south of Paris, Bourges is thoroughly of another climatic +environment, which not only shows itself in the changed conditions of +life, but in the manner of building as well. + +The great transeptless church of St. Etienne is another of those soaring +monuments which rise skyward and hold the eye whenever one is in its +vicinity. Standing on an eminence of not very great height, it +dominates, from every point of view, the plain which surrounds the city +and reminds one of Noyon or Laon in its comparative isolation. Not +because its domicile is not a place of some magnitude, but rather +because the neighbouring houses lie so huddled in a valley or plain, +does the city give the impression of being of less size than it really +is. + +The view from the railway on entering the town is, as it has been called +by some imaginative Frenchman, "but the _hors d'oeuvre_ of the +architectural feast to follow," and on drawing still closer, it composes +grandly with the swift-flowing little river lined with the tall slim +trees which are so distinguished a feature of a French landscape. + +Like Beauvais, Amiens, and, in only a slightly lesser degree, Le Mans, +the sheer fall of the nave and choir from ridge to ground startles one +by its exaggeration of perpendicular lines. Though by no means of the +great height of these other examples, its great size first impresses one +as its distinguishing feature. It sits, too, on the edge of a beautiful +wooded park which, in conjunction with the modern Episcopal Palace, +forms an ensemble of stone and verdure not often to be seen as the +environment of a French cathedral. The gardens are quite open to the +public and are set forth with clipped hedges, trees, and monumental +stone work of no mean order. + +Bourges is another of those ancient foundations of mid-France where +Romish influences died hard, and Gothic, as a perfected type, never, as +it were, attained its majority. Here, the mixture of style is notable; +pointed and rounded arches intermingled, apparently indiscriminately, +with thoroughly Gothic supports, mullions, and piers. These, with the +characteristically Renaissance north and south porches, with their +carven doorways, all go to complete a series of typically fashioned +details, each true to its own age. Such a combination of varying virtues +should give the student, or the seeker after new sensations, something +more to think about than a mere catalogue of consistent charms; for it +cannot be denied that this church, standing aloof from any other single +type, is a marvel of grandeur and impressiveness, whatever may be its +failings when dessicated by the theorist or the archæologist. + +It is unlikely that Saracen or even Moorish influences were ever at work +so far north as this; but there is an unquestionable tendency in much +of the debased decoration of this church to more than suggest a +similarity to both. It is, of course, not Gothic, as we know it, nor +Byzantine, _pur sang_, and it is certainly not Italian, but something +quite different. It is, perhaps, worthy of record that the inverted +horseshoe arch more nearly approximates what is commonly considered the +Moorish form; or, to give it a wider _locale_, Mediterranean, at least. +The polygonal turrets which flank the towers and the chapels of the +abside look, too, not unlike a sub-tropical feature, possibly Saracen. +Such details are markedly noticeable here, and it is because of features +such as these that one is minded to consider the church as something +quite different from anything seen elsewhere. + +To carry the argument still farther, if these details are to be +considered in any sense Gothic, or any outgrowth thereof, it certainly +augurs much for the possibility of this style having come originally +from the East, or at least the Mediterranean countries. It has been +claimed before now by English and French writers alike, that it may have +developed from the arts of the Moors of Spain, or that it may have grown +up from a primitive style in vogue in the Far East. The comment is given +without further elaboration; but here, at least, we see some basis for +the claim that Gothic is but a transplanted flower after all, and that +it developed so boldly only from the seed's having been blown hither +from some other land, and finding a favourable soil in which to take +root and flourish. + +Without transepts, the long flank of the nave and choir is singularly +beautiful, broken into at regular intervals by buttresses which, if not +remarkable examples, are at least graceful, though so light that they +have been visibly stayed by iron rods, as is frequently the case +elsewhere, at Beauvais particularly, where the whole fabric appears to +be hung together by wires. + +The actual inception of the cathedral is attributed to Rudolphe de +Turenne, forty-sixth Archbishop of Bourges. Of his known work only the +round-arched crypt remains, upon which foundation the present grand pile +was reared. + +The west front possesses a quintette of portals, deeply recessed, but of +a decidedly mixed Gothic and Renaissance treatment as to decoration. +Such a range of elaborated doorways is hardly to be found in such +luxuriance elsewhere, though the fact that there are five in all, +standing grandly in a row, is perhaps not unique of itself. They are +profusely decorated with sculptured forms of angels, saints, and kings. +The tympanum of the central portal contains a "Last Judgment," +remarkable alike for its magnitude and workmanship. Throughout, these +portals vary in date of their construction, their treatment, and their +excellencies, but in general they are homogeneous and convincing. In the +gables of three are circular piercings which open into a sort of +vestibule or porch; but these are entirely without glass. Another unique +feature of this western front is a curious lofty double-storied +structure, a chapel-like building, of whose functions most will remain +in ignorance. It is connected with the main body of the church by a long +tentacle-like ligature through which, says Henry James, "the groaning of +the organ or the pealing of bells must be transmitted with distressing +clearness." + +The hybrid tower on the extreme left, with many round-arched windows and +much florid ornament, is familiarly called the "Tour de Beurre," and, as +its compeer at Rouen, was built from the contributions of those who were +willing to forego themselves the luxury of butter. To the right is a +much less imposing tower, but one that is much more true as to its +style. It rises scarcely above the central gable, and helps to +exaggerate the lack of uniformity of the façade, a condition much +deplored by the true Gothic builder, though whether such varying detail +does not after all make a more interesting, and perhaps as edifying a +work for pleasurable contemplation, is an open question. There is, in +any event, a marvellous power in this massive west front to confirm +one's opinion that it is a comprehensive and yet varied thing. Another +curious feature of this front is a pair of overlying buttresses of no +apparent purpose as to staying power, since the wall space which they +flank is of no inordinate height. The window space, though, is ample; +and, though mostly in blank to-day, at a future time those blanks might +be broken out; hence the necessity for these extra props. + +The interior gives, likewise, a grand impression, one of vaster +magnitude than in reality exists. The length is probably exaggerated by +reason of the lack of transepts; but its breadth, including nave and +aisle, is unusually great, and the height is further magnified by the +fact that the aisles themselves have three ranges of openings, above +which, in the nave, rise the triforium and clerestory,--surely alone a +sufficiently unusual arrangement to account the church as of remarkable +planning. Its great beauty may be said to be the magnificent proportions +throughout, rather than the preëminent intrinsic value of any specific +detail. + +The rose window of the west end, though of grand proportions, appears to +fail utterly as a supreme effort because of the flatness and depression +given to its circumferential outline. Like that of St. Gatien at Tours +it is of an uncertain lozenge shape, while the effect is further +lessened by the mediocrity of its glass and framing. + +The general appearance of the interior is one of symmetrical grandeur, +wherein the effect of each dimension is probably enlarged, but with a +fine and consistent proportion. Its conventional embellishments are not +unduly ornate; though, for that matter, they do not give the impression +of being wanting to any great degree either in quality or quantity. In +no particular, however, is the sculptured form of figure or foliage of +that excellence and magnitude of that of the cathedral at Reims or at +Amiens. + +The magnificent proportions of the choir well merit the term of +"Burgundian opulence." Its termination opens with an amplitude often +wanting in even a larger building, the piers being wide apart, without +screening, which heightens still more its generous proportions. + +The two picturesque cardinal's hats, with cord and tassels, have long +been pendant from the vault of the choir, and are now dimmed in colour +and thick deep with dust, seemingly destined to fall of sheer old age +and decrepitude. Further particulars concerning this picturesque detail +are wanting only from the lack of any one in attendance from whom one +might get this information,--perhaps some reader of these lines may be +more fortunate. + +On the pavement of the nave is a brass rule, inlaid diagonally from the +north to the south wall. Its original use appears to be clothed in some +obscurity, one informative person stating that it is the line of +departmental division, and another that it marks the meridian of Paris, +which is shown on all French navigation charts. Its real purpose is +evidently topographical rather than of religious or symbolical +significance. + +An ardent French writer deplores the fact that there is no monument +here to show respect for Louis XI., who was born at Bourges and baptized +in the cathedral; a pity, perhaps, and certainly a subject worthy of the +consideration of "the powers that be." + + + + +[Illustration: _CATHEDRAL of S. CYR & Ste. JULIETTE NEVERS_] + +III + +ST. CYR AND ST. JULIETTE DE NEVERS + + +A unique experience is one's first contemplation of the "gay little city +of Nevers" from the Pont du Loire, with the none too large Cathedral of +St. Cyr and St. Juliette crowning, as it were, the apex of a series of +steep rises from the Loire, which, even at this distance from the sea, +still retains its ample breadth. Said Arthur Young in his plain and bald +phraseology, "Nevers makes a fine appearance." Here, on the very +threshold of the southland, it is something of a shock to be brought at +once into intimate association with Italian influences and types of +architecture; for, be it recalled, Nevers has been truly "an Italian +stronghold in the midst of France," with little to remind one, but its +speech, that it is merely a provincial French market-town. Nevers was +the seat of the Italian Dukes and Counts of Nièvre, who built the ducal +palace, the _ci-devant_ chateau, now the Palace of Justice. Here, later, +dwelt the nephew of the great Mazarin, who said his king "had a heart +more French than his speech." Through his efforts the Nivernais was +incorporated with the French crown in 1669. + +This fine turreted, towered, and decorated building, with its sculpture +attributed to Goujon, is to-day, in appearance at least, what it was in +the past,--the typical urban domestic establishment of grand proportions +and splendid appointments; though it may hardly be said to vie with such +masterpieces as Chambord, Chenonceau, or Blois. Nor, for that matter, is +the town itself entitled to rank, as to its events of historical +importance or the fame or personality of its bishops or counts, with +either Chartres or Le Mans, both of which it somewhat approaches in +point of size. + +Aside from its many and varied charms, which have been duly set forth +by most writers on the French provinces who have had anything whatever +to say about it, Nevers should be doubly endeared to all makers of +guide-books and students of ecclesiastical architecture, from the fact +that the Abbé Bourassé, Honorary Canon of Nevers, here wrote and +dedicated to his bishop, Mgr. Dufêtre, a work treating of the French +cathedrals which will ever rank as one of the most delightfully written +and useful books of its class. This fact perhaps is hardly to be +reckoned as of historical moment, but pertinent to the plan of the +present work nevertheless. + +Nowhere, not even in Provence or Acquitaine, are to be noted more +significant tendencies toward a southern influence in the matter of +civil and ecclesiastical building. True, many of the minor structures +have to-day descended unto base uses, and many of their perfections and +beauties are therefore sunk below the surface. For instance, where a +palace has become a warehouse, or a church been turned into a stable, or +been given over to the uses of a wine factor. + +Before even considering the cathedral itself,--dedicated to the hero of +the legendary tale concerning St. Cyrus, who, depicted as a naked child +riding astride a wild boar, was able to turn the infuriated beast from a +certain King Charles (further designation not given) and preserve him +from danger,--it is well to know that most authorities agree in giving +habitation here to one of the most perfect Romanesque churches in all +northern Europe, that of St. Etienne, built in 1063-96, and consecrated +in the latter year by Ivor, Bishop of Chartres. Of the century +contemporary with this fine work, as yet hardly spoiled by any offensive +restorations, are two columns, in the easterly portion of the Cathedral +of St. Cyr, which bear the date of 1024. From this foundation the lover +of churches will rear for himself an exceedingly interesting and +uncommon type. + +Not of the first rank, St. Cyr has the power to hold one's attention far +more closely and interestingly than many of greater worth and magnitude; +and its environment, from every point of view, composes itself into a +picture which it would be hard to duplicate. The grouping of the chevet +of the choir with the low roofs of the town lying at its base, and the +gardens of the ducal chateau in the immediate foreground, forms an +unusually varied combination of the picturesque. + +The wealth of Nevers in architectural monuments would be notable in a +town many times its size. The Port de Paris, a not especially attractive +Renaissance gateway, guards the northerly, and the Port du Croux the +westerly, end of the town. This latter groups nobly with the west end +and tower of the cathedral, and is of itself a monument of the first +rank, being so designated by the _Commission des Monumentes +Historiques_. A feudal defence, square, broad-based, turreted, flanked +with circular watch-towers, and still further strengthened by a barbican +which once held a portcullis, this wonderfully effective barrier more +than suggests the mediæval stronghold. Two other towers of the ancient +_enceinte_ still remain, the Tour Gougin, and the Tour St. Eloi. + +Intimate acquaintance with the cathedral shows a blending, not +offensive, but in no slight manner, of the Romanesque, early and late +Gothic, and finally Renaissance styles. Nevertheless there is an +apparent cohesiveness often lacking in a larger work, or in one built +within a shorter period of time. One distinctly northern feature there +is; namely, the singular effect given by the double apse of the nave and +choir, reminiscent mainly of the Rhine builders, that of the eastern +end being much the older. The half-obliterated frescoes of the domed +vaulting of the western apse indicate that it was completed after the +pure Italian manner at a considerably later time than the opposite end. +It is hardly a beautiful or even a necessary feature to either the +exterior or interior of a great church, and, fortunately, is unusual in +France, though common enough in Germany, notably at Mainz, Worms, and +Treves. The most remarkable interior effect, aside from this western +apse, is that of the lofty Gothic arches, springing high above the +Romanesque arches of the nave, and naturally of a much later date. +Certainly this must be, so far as the respective proportions of each are +concerned, an entirely unique feature. Notable evidences are to be seen +of frescoes, probably the work of some Italian hand, both on the screen +and in the domed apse. They have apparently been whitewashed over many +times, but remorse, if tardily, has evidently come lately, and such +restoration or renovation as has been possible, has been undertaken. + +A dainty and diminutive spiral stairway, suggestive of having been +modelled on the lines of the grand spirals at Chambord or Blois, and +half enclosed in the surrounding wall, leads to the Chapter Room above. +The eastern apse, and the crypt beneath, are the earliest parts readily +to be observed and are probably the remains of the Romanesque structure +built by Hugh II. early in the eleventh century, after the common type +of the Auvergnat and Angevine churches. + +Perhaps the best workmanship to be noted is that of the +thirteenth-century chapels surrounding the choir. Reclus, a French +authority, has declared that the ornamental foliage here is not only +really admirable as to itself, but is the "perfection of imitation," and +extends this commendation also to the work on the pillars and capitals +of the north doorway by which the church is usually entered. + +The interior generally is brilliant and pleasing, though good glass is +mostly wanting, and the uninterrupted flood of light detracts measurably +from the warmth and geniality suggested by the memory of Bourges, +Chartres, or Auxerre. The rose window over the western apse is pitifully +weak and quite lacking in effectiveness. + +A canopied _baldacchino_ rises above the altar and, being of stone +treated in a graceful Gothic manner, is an ornament much more in good +taste than the hideous mahogany or oaken serpentine atrocities which are +often erected. + +It is impossible to come into close contact with the exterior of this +cathedral except by approaching it from the eastern end. West front +there is none. As one has said, "It possesses merely a western end." The +western tower, of two non-contemporary orders of Gothic (fourteenth and +fifteenth centuries), whether viewed from near or far, is far more +pleasing than any other general exterior feature. The chevet of the +choir extends, as it were, well into the nave, there being no transepts. +This is evidently a local custom, recalling the neighbouring cathedrals +at Bourges and Auxerre. + +The sculptured decoration of the later portion is exceedingly well +disposed, and of such magnitude and numbers as to lack that poverty in +the ensemble often apparent in a more pretentious work. + +The Church of St. Etienne in Nevers, so thoroughly Roman in inception of +design and execution of detail, indicates more vividly than any other +example that might possibly be taken, the shortness of time in which the +Gothic development actually took place. With Notre Dame at Paris full +in mind, it is well to recall that these accepted perfect examples of +two contrasting types are scarce a hundred and fifty miles apart, and, +in point of time, but sixty years. What an exemplification this surely +is of the transition which came to the art of church building in the +twelfth century; what extraordinary rapidity of conception and +development, and how narrow were the confines of the true Gothic spirit, +indigenous only to the royal domain, which alone produced the churches +which fully merit the concisely expressed definition of Gothic: "A +manner of building maintained (sustained) by a system of thrust and +counter thrust." + + + + +[Illustration: _CATHEDRAL of S. MAMMÈS LANGRES_] + +IV + +ST. MAMMES DE LANGRES + + +Langres is reminiscent of but one other cathedral city in the north of +France; like Laon, it occupies and fortifies the crest of a long drawn +out hill, or, to give it dignity, it had perhaps best be called in the +language of the native "de la montagne de Langres," since from its apex, +it is truly dominant of a wide expanse of horizon. + +Of the Burgundian transition type, the Cathedral at Langres, dedicated +to St. Jean the Evangel and St. Mammes, is in many ways a remarkable +architectural work, but contaminated beyond cure by two overbearing +Greco-Roman towers and a portal of the mid-eighteenth century. As a +relief, there adjoins the main body of the church, on the southeast, one +of those masterworks of the supreme Gothic era,--a canon's cloister of +an exceeding thirteenth-century beauty. In other respects, the exterior +is of little note except as to its wonderful degree of prominence in the +general grouping of the roofs of the town, when the city is viewed from +below. + +The interior spreads itself out in severe and imposing lines with hardly +a remarkable feature in either transepts or nave. The organ-loft, a +Calvary, and a marble statue of the Virgin, by Lescornel, a sculptor of +Langres, and a few modern sculptured monuments, are the only decorative +attributes to be seen, if we except the Renaissance Chapelle des Fonts +Baptismaux with its sculptured vaulting on the left. + +The symmetrical choir is in itself the true charm of St. Mammes. It has +a fine ambulatory, and a range of eight monolithic columns, removed, +says tradition, from an ancient Pagan temple. Their capitals are +ornamented with carven foliage, grimacing heads, and fantastic animals. + +A sixteenth-century screen surrounds the choir, but is more like unto a +triumphal arch than a churchly accessory. + +The high altar is a comparatively modern work, as may be supposed, and +dates only from 1810. + +On the right of the choir is an elaborate Roman doorway, and preserved +in the Chapter Room are five paintings depicting the "Chaste Susanne." A +remarkable collection of reliques is shown by the sacristan, in the +Chapelle des Reliques. + + + + +V + +NOTRE DAME D'AUXONNE + + +The small town of Auxonne, lying between Dijon and Besançon, is seldom +thought of in connection with a cathedral church. There is little there +to compel one's attention beyond the fact that the Church of Notre Dame, +of the fourteenth-sixteenth century, is an interesting enough example of +a minor edifice which at one time was classed as a cathedral. + +The church is mainly Gothic and has the unusual arrangement of a +Romanesque tower rising above the transept. + + + + +_PART V + +East of Paris_ + + + + +I + +INTRODUCTORY + + +No arbitrary territorial arrangement can be made to include with +exactness each and every ecclesiastical division, but, since the Royal +Domain and the immediately adjacent territory includes the major portion +of what are commonly accepted as the Grand Cathedrals, it has been +thought permissible, in the present case, to make a further subdivision +which shall include Boulogne and St. Omer, north of Paris; eastward to +the Rhine and southward to include Dijon and Besançon. A topographer +might not make such a division or arrangement of territory; but no other +seems possible which shall include the region lying between the extremes +of Besançon and Boulogne. + +The local characteristics or architectural types differ widely within +these limits, both as to style and excellence. In one way, only, have +they advanced under conditions of unity, that of the establishment of a +Christian church, but, otherwise, now favouring the northern influence +and now the southern. The frontier provinces have, as a natural course, +been subject to many retarding influences which have been wanting +elsewhere; for invasion from without may be depended upon to be as +baneful for the preservation of a nation's art treasures as a revolution +from within. The Christian element early forced its way among the +Franks, and Clovis, at the solicitation of his Christian queen and her +bishop, was not averse to adopting what he might otherwise have regarded +as a superstition. His conversion at Reims not only fostered and +propagated Christianity, but gave an impetus to the foundation and +building of churches in a most generous fashion. + +The region to the eastward of Paris, which has played no unimportant +part in the history of France, while prolific as to varied types of +church building, possesses but one example of the very first rank,--and +that, as a style which typifies Gothic art, may be said to rank supreme +over all others,--Notre Dame de Reims. As the seat of the Metropolitain, +and the City of Coronations, it was allied closely with early affairs of +Church and State. + +The principles and manner adopted by Guillaume of Sens in his great +works early affected the style here, as seen by the many transition +examples, just as the influence of the Monk of St. Bénigne of Dijon +caused the round-arched species of the west of France. At all events the +primitive Gothic influences were early at work and in a measure absorbed +the Romanesque tendencies which had flourished previously. + +The most notable exception, an example of the distinctly southern type, +is at Besançon, which has a remarkable array of contrasting style, with +the Romanesque, though not of the best, predominating. + +With the cathedrals in the extreme northerly section we have little to +do,--in fact there is little that can be said. St. Omer is possessed of +a wonderful old church which at one time ranked as a cathedral, and +which has glimpses here and there of very good Gothic. There are also, +in this otherwise not very interesting city, two other church buildings +worthy of more than an ordinary amount of attention, the ruins of the +Abbey of St. Bertin and the Church of St. Denis. + +Boulogne-sur-Mer has a modern pseudo-classical structure built well into +the nineteenth century. It is more notable as a monument to the +industry of the man who brought about its erection, taking the place of +a former structure burnt during the Revolution, than as a satisfactory +example of a great church. The same may be said with equal truth of the +atrocious Renaissance and Pagan structures to be seen at Cambrai and +Arras, though the conditions under which they were built differ. At +Cambrai, however, the present building replaces a former structure +levelled by fire. + +Chalons-sur-Marne,--dear to every French patriot as being renowned for +the manufacture of flags, a suffragan of Reims, has a remarkable +cathedral of Romanesque foundation of the fifth to the seventh +centuries. Its warlike record, from 273 A. D., when Aurelian vanquished +Tetricus, to the occupation by the Germans in 1871, is one long +succession of military affairs. To-day the city is the domicile of the +most important army corps of France. + +These towns, with Nancy, Toul, and St. Dié in the valley of the Moselle, +complete the list of those cities which by any stretch of territorial +boundaries could be classed under the head of "East of Paris." + +It may be a debatable point as to whether Strasbourg and Metz might not +have been included; the writer is inclined to think that they might have +been, though their interests and influences have always been more +Teutonic than Gallic,--still, they are thoroughly Germanized to-day, +and, as we cannot interrupt the march of time, and the present volume +will otherwise approach the limits originally set out for it, they must +perforce be omitted. + +[Illustration: _CATHEDRAL NANCY_] + + + + +[Illustration: _BOULOGNE_] + +[Illustration: _St. OMER_] + +[Illustration: _ARRAS_] + +II + +NOTRE DAME DE BOULOGNE-SUR-MER + + +Boulogne-sur-Mer is one of those neglected tourist points through which +the much travelled person usually rushes en route to some other place. +It perhaps hardly warrants further consideration except for the history +of its past, and its intimate association with certain events which +might seriously have affected the history of England. It is, however, an +interesting enough place to-day, if one cares for the bustle and rush of +a seaport and fishing town,--not very cleanly, and overrun with +tea-shops and various establishments which cater only to the cockney +abroad, who gathers here in shoals during the summer months. There is, +too, a large colony of resident English, probably attracted by its +nearness to London, and possibly for purposes of retrenchment, for there +is no question but that the franc, of twenty per cent. less value than +the shilling, accomplishes quite as much as a purchasing power. This +must be quite a consideration with _pater-familias_ with a limited +income derived from Consols or some other traditionally "excellent +investment." + +Most travellers are familiar with what attractions Boulogne really does +offer, but few if any would consider its very modern and ugly cathedral +one of them. + +Perched in the centre of the _Haute-Ville_, overlooking the city and +port, the Cathedral of Notre Dame exists to-day more as a monument to +the energy and devotion of its founder than as a notable architectural +work. It follows no particular style, except that it is Italian of the +most debased general type, though no doubt parts of it meet the +dimensions and formulas laid down by accepted good examples in its +native land. There is no doubt but that its domed cupola is manifestly +out of place, though this detail is the only feature which gives the +cathedral any distinction. + +A Gothic church stood here up to the Revolution, and the building of the +present structure was devotedly undertaken to replace its loss by a +doubtless earnest man, who, in his zeal, sought to build after what he +considered a newer if not a better style. Parts of the crypt are of the +ancient twelfth century church; but the structure above dates from +1827-66. + +Its façade, of a poor classical order, is flanked by two slight cupola +towers equally meaningless and insignificant. Surmounting the central +dome is a colossal statue of the Virgin. + +The interior is in no way remarkable or interesting. There are a few +monuments and a gorgeous high altar of precious marbles, mosaic, and +bronze, the gift of Prince Alex Torlonia. The lady-chapel is still +resorted to as a place of pilgrimage by the seafaring and fisher folk of +the neighbourhood. + +A modern reproduction of a sarcophagus from the catacombs at Rome forms +the tomb of Mgr. Haffreingue (1871). + + + + +III + +NOTRE DAME DE CAMBRAI + + +Cambrai is one of that quartette of cathedral cities of northern France +which in no sense take rank as ecclesiastical shrines of even ordinarily +interesting, much less beautiful, attributes. Of the other three, Arras, +St. Omer, and Boulogne, St. Omer alone is possessed to-day of anything +approaching the great Gothic churches which were spread broadcast +throughout France during the five centuries of church building in the +middle ages. + +In manners and customs, and indeed in speech to some extent, these +cities all partake somewhat of the _locale_ of those of the Low +Countries. These attributes, which have retained their original +identities across the borders, were for many centuries, and even so late +as the seventeenth century, existent in French Flanders. Curiously +enough, in none of these cities are any of the primitive Gothic types to +be noted in the cathedral churches, though many possess their +olden-time belfries and watch towers, preserved to-day with something of +the local pride which evinces itself elsewhere with respect to +cathedrals. It is possible that this is due to the fact that this great +industrial centre of northern France is more given to the arts of +manufacture than to the devotion of church-going or even of church +building. Another notable and almost universal feature of these cities +are the Renaissance or Romanesque gateways,--silent reminders to-day of +the mediæval communities which they once protected, and of the warlike +invasions of the past. + +The Cathedral of Notre Dame de Cambrai is on the site of an older abbey +church, which was of the same ugly style as the present edifice itself, +but which dated, however, only from the early eighteenth century. The +present building is said to furnish a replica, of the vintage of 1859, +of the tasteless and crude style of the earlier building. There are +statues therein of Fenelon, Bishop Belmas, by David d'Angers, and of +Cardinal Regnier; and a series of grisaille windows, after originals by +Rubens, by Geeraerts of Anvers. + +The chimes of Cambrai rank among the most noted in Europe. They are +composed of thirty-nine bells and produce a carillon, "very agreeable," +says a French authority. They certainly do,--the author can endorse this +from a personal knowledge,--and they have not as yet descended to such +banalities as popular military marches. The largest bell, given by +Fenelon in 1786, weighs 7,500 kilos. + + + + +[Illustration: Notre Dame de Cambrai] + +IV + +NOTRE DAME DE ST. OMER + + +Under Baldwin of Hainault, Artois, including St. Omer, was ceded to the +kingdom of France as late as the mid-seventeenth century. Few minor +churches are possessed of the galaxy of charms and attractions of the +_ci-devant_ Cathedral of Notre Dame at St. Omer. Hardly in the accepted +forms of good taste are the Byzantine slabs of marble stuck upon the +walls here and there, as in a museum; the Renaissance screens; the +overpowering organ case; the votive offerings and tablets without +number; and the alleged wonderful astronomical clock, with its colossal +wooden figures of the sixteenth century,--all of which go to compose a +heterogeneous mass more interesting as to occasional detail than as a +thorough expression of saintly temperament. + +The decorative scheme is carried still further by the large number of +paintings with which the church is hung; a tribute none too common in +France, and more usually associated with the Flemish churches of nearly +every rank. A reflection of their preëminence in this respect is +naturally enough visible in French Flanders. + +"The Descent from the Cross," attributed to Rubens, appears likely +enough to be a genuine master, but it has been so roughly restored by +overpainting, that it is to-day of impaired value. + +St. Omer, among all the group of northeast France, presents a true +Gothic example in its great Basilique de Notre Dame, and it is a pity +that its further development was along lines which indicate a trend, at +least, toward debasement. This is plainly to be noted in the tracery of +the lower and clerestory windows of nave and aisles. + +Its enormous tower covers nearly the entire western end of nave and +aisles, in much the same way as those of some of the fortified churches +of the south. Its Gothic is of the true perpendicular style, however, +and, with the general grand proportions of the building, gives that +immensity and massiveness which is associated only with a church of the +first rank. The _arcs-boutant_ of the nave are hardly deserving of +mention as such, though they are manifestly sturdy props which perform +their functions in perhaps as efficacious a manner as many more graceful +and delicate specimens elsewhere. There is just a suggestion of a +central tower, which, as is often the case in France, has dwindled to a +mere cupola, if it had ever previously grown to a greater height. The +transepts are of imposing dimensions, that on the south having an +enormous rose of perhaps thirty-five feet in diameter, with an +elaborately carved portal below, which contains a "Last Judgment" in the +tympanum. The choir, chevet, and chapels, while existent to a visible +and very beautiful degree, are somewhat overshadowed by the great size +of the transepts. There is this to be said, however: that the choir, a +restoration of our own day, presents, as to style, the type of Gothic +purity at its height. It has five radiating chapels, not including that +of Notre Dame des Miracles, which adjoins the south transept and +contains innumerable votive tablets. For the rest, except for the fact +that the interior partakes of a mere collection of curios and relics, it +is in general no less imposing in its proportions than the exterior. The +clerestory windows, however, are of ill proportions for so grand a +structure, being short and squat; and here, as elsewhere throughout the +building, is to be found only modern glass. + +The great bell of the western tower weighs 8,500 kilos. + +Chief among the notable accessories and reliques is the monolithic tomb +of St. Erkembode, bishop of the one-time see of Thérouanne, period +725-37. The sarcophagus itself, dating from the same century, was +brought here from the original site. The tomb of St. Omer was restored +in the thirteenth century and shows a remarkable sculptured group of +Christ, the Virgin, and St. John, called the "Great God of Thérouanne." +It was saved from the ruin of the church at Thérouanne, which was +destroyed with the greater part of the town in 1533 by Charles V., in +revenge for the "loss of three bishoprics," as history states. At this +time the sees of St. Omer and Boulogne were founded. + +The near-by Palace of Justice, built by Mansart in 1680 and enlarged for +its present use in 1840, was the former Episcopal Palace. + +St. Omer has also two other grand churches, St. Sepulchre, of the +fourteenth century, and the ruins of St. Bertin (1326-1520), which, +before the Revolution, with St. Ouen at Rouen, and the collegiate church +at San Quentin, was reckoned as one of the most beautiful Gothic abbeys +in France. To-day it is a magnificent ruin, its huge tower (built in +1431) and portions of the nave and crossing being all that remain. It +was considered the finest church in the Low Countries, and for size, +purity, and uniformity of style it ranked with the best of its +contemporaries. + + + + +V + +ST. VAAST D'ARRAS + + +The capital of ancient Flanders was removed from Arras to Ghent when +Artois was ceded to France, and thus it was that the city became French, +as it were, but slowly, its Low Country traditions and customs clinging +closely to it until a late day. The former Cathedral of Notre Dame +ranked as a grand example of the ogival style of the fourteenth century, +in which it was built, and gave to the city of the "tapestry makers" the +distinction of possessing a church composed of much that was best of the +architecture of a fast growing art. Such was the mediæval rank to which +the cathedral at Arras had attained. The new Cathedral of St. Vaast, +dating from 1755 to 1833, is of the Grecian style of temple building, +little suited to the needs of a Christian church. The crucial plan +consecrated by catholic usages of centuries is not however wholly +abandoned. There is something of a suggestion of the Latin cross in its +design, but its abside faces toward the southeast rather than due south, +with its principal entrance to the northwest, a sufficiently unusual +arrangement, where most French churches are duly orientated, to be +remarked, particularly as there is little that can be said in praise of +the structure. The interior follows the general plan of the Corinthian +order; the windows, neither numerous nor of sufficiently ample +dimensions to well serve their purpose, number nine only in the choir, +and five on each side of the nave. + +There are, to the abside, seven collateral chapels, some of which +contain passable sculptured monuments, removed from the old abbey of St. +Vaast, a foundation erected in the sixth century and reconstructed by +Cardinal de Rohan in 1754. The remains of the old abbey buildings have +been built around and incorporated in the present Episcopal Palace, the +extensive Musée, and Bibliotheque; and are situated immediately to the +right of the façade of the cathedral. + +The grisaille glass seen in the interior is unusual, but mediocre in the +extreme. + +There are, however, some good statues in white marble in the Chapelle de +St. Vaast, while in another chapel, given by Cardinal de la Tour +d'Auvergne, is one equally good of Charles Borromée. + +There are four great statues at the extremities of the transepts, +representing the four evangelists; and three others in the choir, of +Faith, Hope, and Charity. + +In the north transept, also, are two triptychs of the Flemish school, by +Bellegambe, a native of Douai (1528). + +The Abbé Bourassé, in his charming work on the cathedrals of France, +says, plainly, and without fear or favour: "We have tried to speak +impartially of all species of architecture--but why do we not admire the +Cathedral of Arras? It is against all traditions of '_notre art +catholique_.' We contend that this is not good. What, say you, can we +praise? It is a great work--of the stone-mason; you should study it from +some distance. It is without life, without movement, without dignity." + +Whatever may be the faults of its cathedral, Arras is, nevertheless, an +interesting city,--modernized, to be sure, by boulevards laid out along +the old fortifications. The Citadel of Vauban (1670), called ironically +"_la belle inutile_," may be classed as a worthless, if not wholly +unpicturesque, ruin, though ranking, when built, as among the most +wonderful fortifications of the times. The wave of Renaissance which +swept northward has left its ineradicable marks here. The Hôtel de Ville +is a remarkable specimen of that art of overloading ornament upon a +square hulk, and making it look like a wedding-cake; though, truth to +tell, coming upon it after the chilliness of the cathedral itself, it is +a cheerful antidote. Dating from 1510, at which time was built the +curious Gothic façade of seven arches, each different as to size and +spring. The added wings in elaborate Renaissance are of the late +sixteenth century and rank among the most effective examples of the +style in France. A belfry surmounts all, 240 feet in height, the +"_joyeuse_" of which weighs nearly nine tons. + +Arras may perhaps be most revered for its tapestries, its workers taking +rank with those of the famous manufactories at Paris and Beauvais. +Indeed, it would appear as though experts knew not to which of these +three centres to assign precedence, both Arras and Paris claiming the +honour of having set up the first looms. It is an ancient art, as the +work of craftsmen goes, and more than one writer who has studied deeply +the fascinating intricacies of _haute_ and _basse lisse_, of colour, +texture, design, and what not, has not hesitated to proclaim the city as +having been the grandest centre of tapestry-making which the world has +ever known; and regret can but be universal that it came to an end when +its citizens were put to the sword by Louis XI. + + + + +[Illustration: _TOUL_] + +VI + +ST. ETIENNE DE TOUL + + +Annexed to France, in company with Metz and Verdun, in 1556, Toul, +situated on the left bank of the Moselle, is to-day ranked as a fortress +of the first order. "Can be seen in two hours"--such is the description +usually given by the guide-books to the city which contains, in its +one-time Cathedral St. Etienne, an example which, with respect to the +decorative tracery of its façade savants have declared the equal even of +Reims. + +One of the three former bishoprics of Lorraine, Toul is none too ample +to merit the cognomen of a large town. It once held within its walls, +beside the Cathedral, the Church of St. Gengoult, and several parish +churches and monasteries. Shorn to-day of some of these dignities, with +its bishopric removed to Nancy, it ranks as a military and strategic +stronghold rather than a centre of churchly domination. Since Metz and +Strasbourg were given over to the Germans, Toul's former fortress has +been greatly strengthened. + +The cathedral itself may truly be said to bear the characteristics of +both the German and French manner of building, the western or later end +being a superb front, after the French manner, and the easterly or +earlier end having a simple apse and long narrow windows, in the German +fashion. A comparison has been made by Professor Freeman between the +western façade of this church and Notre Dame de Reims. He says, "We are +daring enough to think that, simply as a design, the west front of Toul +outdoes that of Reims; though it will be hardly needful to prove that, +as a whole, Reims far outdoes that of Toul." Quite non-committal, to be +sure, as was this charming writer's way; but, of itself, a sort of +preparation to the observer for the beauties which he is to behold. Here +is the case of a superb richness having been added to a plainer body, +and by no means inharmoniously done. The gable is nearly perfect as to +its juxtaposition. The towers are higher in proportion than at Reims, +giving the effect of being the finished thing as they stand, though +lacking spires or pinnacles. The walls are of those just proportions in +relation to the window piercings which is again French, as contrasted +with a neighbouring example at Metz, where the reverse is the case. + +The city was the seat of a bishop as early as the sixth century, and its +government was under his control until 1261, when it became a free +commune. Finally it was conquered by Henry II., and its future assured +to France by the Treaty of Westphalia. + +The cathedral dates in part from Romanesque remains of the tenth +century, but its entire interior arrangements were much battered during +the Revolution. + +The choir and transept are of the best of thirteenth-century building, +while the nave and side aisles are of the century following. Two towers, +which flank the magnificent façade, rise for nearly two hundred and +fifty feet, and are the work of Jacquemin de Commercy in the fifteenth +century. Adjoining the right aisles are the very beautiful Gothic +cloisters of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. They form a +rectangular enclosure, 225 feet by 165 feet, and are made up of +twenty-four sections of four arches, each with clustered columns. + +A fine sculptured altarpiece, "The Adoration of the Shepherds," is in +the Chapelle de la Creche, entered from the cloister. + +The present Hôtel-de-Ville was formerly the bishop's palace. + + + + +[Illustration: _North Portal Cathedral Chalons-sur-Marne_] + +VII + +ST. ETIENNE, CHÂLONS-SUR-MARNE + + +Chalons is perhaps first of all famed as the scene of Attila's great +defeat in the fifth century, one of the world's fifteen decisive +battles. + +The Cathedral of St. Etienne is not usually considered to be a +remarkable structure; but it is thoroughly typical and characteristic of +a _locale_, which stamps it at once with a mark of genuineness and +sincerity. Of early primitive Gothic in the main, it shares interest +to-day with the four other churches of the city, not overlooking Notre +Dame de l'Epine, some five miles distant to the northward, one of the +most perfectly designed and appointed late Gothic churches which the +world has ever known. It has been called a "miniature cathedral," using +the term, it may be supposed, in the sense of referring only to a +magnificently ornate church. It is indeed worth a pilgrimage thither to +see this true gem of architecture in a wholly undefiled countrified +setting. + +The Cathedral at Chalons-sur-Marne follows somewhat the traditions of +the German manner of building, at least so far as a certain plainness +and lack of ornate decoration in the main body of the church is +concerned; likewise in the arrangement of its towers, which lie to the +eastward of the transepts; and further with respect to its decidedly +Teutonic arrangement of the rounded columns, or, more properly, pillars, +of its nave. + +In general this thirteenth-century church is in the best style of its +era; but the west front presents an incongruous seventeenth-century +addition in the whilom classical style of that day, bad as to its art, +and apparently badly welded into conjunction with the older portion. The +aisles and clerestory windows are of the later decorated period of +Gothic, and present, whether viewed from without or from within, an +exceedingly fine appearance. + +Probably the finest and most pleasing impression of the whole structure +is that obtained of the interior, with its pillars of nave and choir, of +the massive order made familiar in the Rhine churches. A reasonable +share of twelfth to sixteenth century glass is still left as its +portion, and the general arrangement of the choir, prolonged, as it is, +well into the nave, gives a certain majesty to this portion of the +church which is perhaps not warranted when we take into consideration +that it must perforce dwarf the nave itself. The arrangement, though not +common, is by no means an unusual one, and it is recalled also, that it +is so employed at Reims. + +Situated near the frontier, Chalons-sur-Marne has ever been subject to +that inquietude which usually befalls a border city. German influences +have ever been noticeable, and, even to-day, the significant fact is to +be noted that a curé will hear confessions in German, and that services +are held in that tongue on "Saturdays in St. Joseph's Chapel." + +The Episcopal Palace, behind the cathedral, contains a collection of +some sixty paintings, the gift, in 1864, of the Abbé Joannes. + + + + +[Illustration: _S. DIÉ_] + +VIII + +ST. DIÉ + + +St. Dié gets its name, by the corruption of Dieudonné, from St. +Deodatus, who founded a monastery here in the seventh century. It was +built, as was many another great cathedral, in accordance with the +custom of erecting a church over the body or relic of a saint whom it +was especially desired to honour; usually one of local importance, a +patron or a devotee. + +The town is perhaps the most inaccessible and "out-of-the-way" place +which harbours a cathedral in all northern France. We might perhaps +except St. Pol-de-Leon and Tréguier in Brittany, neither of which is on +a railway, whereas St. Dié is, but at the very end. When you get there +and want to go on, not back, you simply journey on foot, or awheel if +you can find a conveyance, and take up with another "loose end" of +railway some fifteen miles away, which will take you southward, should +you be going that way. If not, there appears to be nothing for it, but +to retrace your steps whence you came. + +The cathedral (locally "La Grande Eglise," it only having been made a +cathedral so recently as 1777) has a fine Romanesque nave of the +eleventh century, with choir and aisles of good Gothic, after the +accepted Rhine manner of building. + +The portal, of red sandstone, is of inferior thirteenth-century +workmanship, with statues of Faith and Charity on either side. The +façade is flanked by two square towers. + +The interior is curiously arranged with a cordon of sculpture, high in +the vaulting. The capitals of the pillars are likewise ornamented with +highly interesting and ornately sculptured capitals. The choir, as is +most usual, is the masterpiece of the collection, the windows, in +particular, being of the purest ogival style. + +In the first chapel, on the right, is a painting, "The Martyrdom of St. +Sebastian," and behind the choir is an ancient work commemorative of +"_Le Peste de St. Dié_." + + + + +[Illustration: ST. LAZARE _d'AUTUN_] + +IX + +ST. LAZARE D'AUTUN + + +This ancient episcopal city has ever been devoted to the cause of +Christianity. "Nowhere," says a French historian, "has the Church +enjoyed more repute than here." The Dukes of Burgundy, its bishops and +people alike, joined in a fervour of labour and zeal to assure its +permanence and progress. In addition, the Gallo-Roman remains point to a +former city of proud attainments. The fine Roman walls, beautifully +jointed, _sans_ cement, are distinctly traceable for a circuit of +perhaps three miles around the city. Other interesting remains are two +fine gateways, commonly referred to as triumphal arches, which they +probably were not, the Porte d'Arroux and the Porte St. Andre; the ruins +of an amphitheatre; and a tower assigned to a former temple of Minerva. +All these, and more, are found inside the old walls; while, without, are +remains of an aqueduct, of a tower dedicated to Janus, and a Roman +bridge crossing the river Torenai. It may be interesting for an +Englishman to recall that the Bishop of Autun, who often presided over +the National Assembly, pleaded in vain with George III. for the +adoption, in England, of the French metric system. + +During the destruction of a former building, St. Nazaire, which at one +time performed the functions of a cathedral, the bishops held their +offices in the chapel of the chateau of the Dukes of Burgundy; but, upon +the removal of the residence of the house of Burgundy to Dijon, +transferred their services to the present edifice, which had by that +time been completed. + +The Cathedral of St. Lazare is a charmingly graceful, though not great, +structure, mainly of the style "_ogivale premier_," its early Lombard +work of the nave and west front being of the foundation of Robert I., +Duke of Burgundy. This vast western portal is encased in a great +projective porch, a feature indigenous apparently to Burgundy, and +commonly referred to as the "Burgundian narthex." Following come the +chapels and spires, of exceeding grace and beauty, of the third +_ogivale_ style. + +The interior enrichments, like the western doorway, with its Romanesque +sculptures, take rank with the best in Burgundy. The delicately carved +rood-loft, or jube, the small sculptures of the choir and nave, and the +flamboyant chapels of the fifteenth to seventeenth century, challenge +minute attention from those who would study decorative detail _in +extenso_. The capitals of certain columns in the nave have fluted +pilasters in imitation of the antique, but are most curiously ornamented +with grotesque and fantastic human figures on a background of foliage. + +The choir, of early pointed style, in its actual disposition and +arrangement, may be included in that classification which comprehends +some of its more important northern compeers, though, as a matter of +fact, it lacks their magnitude. Indeed, the building is one of the +smallest cathedrals in all France. The exterior offers an imposing and +picturesque ensemble, with its crocketed spire rising some two hundred +and fifty or more feet above the roof-tops of the ancient city. + +Nearer inspection shows a certain incoherence of construction, +particularly in reference to the evidences of garish crudities in the +work done under Robert I. in 1031-76, in contrast to the later pointed +work. + +The doorway of the lateral southern wing is ornamented with a series of +grossly exaggerated columns, in imitation of the antique, with the +addition of an apse, which contrastingly shows work of a late flamboyant +order. + +The spire itself is the masterwork of the entire structure, and, unlike +those which surmount many another church, appears not to have suffered +the dangers of fire. As a fifteenth-century work, it merits special +mention. Rising abruptly from a heavy square base, the pyramid is very +acute, and is ornamented at the angles with foliaged crockets, basely +called stone cauliflowers by unimaginative persons. One might say, with +the gentle Abbé Bourassé, that the "ornamentation breaks into sky and +cloud with an exceedingly agreeable effect, far beyond that of a +straight line." The inconsistency lies only in the juxtaposition of the +two western transition towers, which have hardly enough of the Gothic in +them to merit the name. + +The lower windows of the nave are of good flamboyant style, with a sort +of Romanesque triforium, and a simple round-headed window in each bay of +the clerestory, which is the more poor in treatment and effect in that +it holds no notable glass. There are none of those distinctly northern +accessories, the great rose windows, and the whole reeks of distinctly a +milder atmosphere. There is a luxuriance of decoration in the many +chapels of different epochs. + +The exterior, in general, is of excessive simplicity; but, if it is not +to be placed among those cathedrals and churches accredited the most +notable and most beautiful, it will, at least, take rank as one of the +most ancient to be seen to-day, and has the further benefit of a +glorious environment and association with the past. + + + + +[Illustration: _CATHEDRAL of S. BÉNIGNE DIJON_] + +X + +ST. BÉNIGNE DE DIJON + + +The power and wealth of the Dukes of Burgundy, whose influence extended +northward to the Netherlands, where they often held court at Ghent and +Bruges, were, in a way, responsible for the opulence and splendour of +the life of the day. So, too, Burgundian architecture became a term +synonymous for the amplitude and grandeur with which many of its +institutions were endowed. + +The reign of Philippe le Bon, with that of Charles the Bold, the most +ambitious prince who ever graced his line, was the Augustan age of +Burgundian art. It was the dream of the latter to reincarnate the old +Burgundian kingdom by annexing Lorraine and subduing the advancing Swiss +Confederacy, an ambition which failed, like many others as, or more, +worthy. The conquered duke was killed at Nancy, and was finally buried +in Notre Dame at Bruges. + +The Cathedral of St. Bénigne is an outgrowth from the old abbey church, +from which the Italian monk, Guillaume, set forth to found that +remarkable series of monasteries in Normandy and Brittany. It is said, +too, that he crossed the Channel, and had a large share in the works +which were erected at that period in the south of England. The bishop's +throne has been established in this church only since the Revolution, +caused by the destruction of his former cathedral. The early foundations +of the old abbey date far back into antiquity, but the present cathedral +dates only from the thirteenth century. Commonly considered as of Gothic +style, it is in every way more suggestive of the late Romano-Byzantine +type, or at least of the early transition. There is, to be sure, no +poverty of style; but there is an air of stability and firmness of +purpose on the part of its builders, rather than any attempt to either +launch off into something new or untried, or even to consistently remain +in an old groove. + +As a fact, it is not a very grand building. Its choir is small, and its +transepts short. In its plan, at least, it resembles the Byzantine form +much more than the elongated Gothic, where every proportion seems to +reach out to its utmost extent. + +The west façade is truly fine in the disposition of its parts and +arrangements. It suggests, more than anything, a traditional local +style, favouring nothing else to any remarkable degree except the German +solidity so often to be noted in eastern France. The towers are firmly +set with unfrequent pointed openings. The central portal and vestibule +are deep, and rich with a sculptured "Martyrdom of St. Peter" and a +delightfully graceful arcade just above the portal arch, and another +crossing the gable and joining the towers in a singularly effective +manner. A somewhat heavy but rich pointed window of three lights, +surmounted by a quatrefoil rose, with a slight needle-like spire which +rises just above the gable, completes the ensemble. + +The earlier work, seen at its best in the interior, is that of the choir +and transepts, where again the distinguishing features are local. In +the transepts the arches open directly on the side chapels, the southern +arm being gorgeous with brilliant glass. The windows of choir and +transepts throughout are richly traceried and set. The choir itself is +destitute of either ambulatory or chapels. + +A lantern is placed at the crossing, supported by gracefully foliaged +shafts. + +The nave is of a much later period, and is not of the richness of the +portion lying to the eastward. The windows of the clerestory, in +particular, will not be considered of the excellence of those of either +transept or choir. + +The south tower encloses the tombs of Jean sans Peur and Philippe le +Hardi. The crypt contains the tomb of St. Bénignus. + + + + +[Illustration: _CATHEDRAL of NOTRE DAME SENLIS_] + +XI + +NOTRE DAME DE SENLIS + + +"Truly rural" is a term which may well be applied to the situation of +Senlis, the ancient Civitas Sylvanectensium of the Romans. Quaint and +attractive to the eye is the entrance to the town from the railway, with +its low-lying roofs, over which tower the spires of the ancient +Cathedral of Notre Dame and the Church of St. Pierre. It forms a +heterogeneous mass of stone, to be sure, and one which looks little +enough, at first glance, like the delicate and graceful cathedral which +makes up the mass in part. It is, in reality, a confused jumble of +towers and turrets which meets the eye, and it takes some little +acquaintance with the details thereof to separate the cathedral from the +adjacent church. + +The proximity of the sees of Beauvais, Amiens, and Paris perhaps +accounts for the lack of importance attached to this cathedral. As for +the structure itself, among the minor cathedrals of France, Senlis, with +Séez and Coutances, must ever rank as the peers of that order, with +respect to the grace and beauty of their spires. It may be doubted if +even the spires of Chartres are to be considered as more beautiful than +the diminutive single example to be seen here, particularly when grouped +with its surrounding environment. Individually, as well, its grace and +beauty might even take that rank. The demarcation between the base of +the tower and the gently dwindling spire is almost entirely eliminated, +without the slightest tendency toward debasement in the steeple, which +too often is merely a series of superimposed, meaningless, and +unbeautiful details. Latter-day builders, who want a model for the spire +of a moderate-sized Gothic church, could, it would seem, hardly do +better than to make a replica of this graceful example. + +In its façade, the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Senlis partakes largely of +the characteristics of the primitive lowland types, reminiscent, at +least, of Noyon or Soissons, and, as such, it may properly be considered +and compared with them. + +The transepts of the north and south are not grand members, but they are +compact and graceful, and the façade of the southern arm is of a highly +ornate character, bespeaking a wealth of ambition, if not of ability, on +the part of the architect. + +The interior, in spite of the lack of sculptured ornament, shows no +paucity of style, and, except that it is of the bijou variety, might +take rank at once as representative of Gothic style at its best. Under +these conditions, the nave is naturally confined, and lacks a certain +grandeur both as to width and height. + +The choir is of true, though not lofty, proportions, the aisles +appearing perhaps too low, if anything, for the height of the nave, +which otherwise appears exceedingly generous with respect to the extent +of its triforium and clerestory. + +The transepts, though shallow, are possessed of unusually amplified +aisles, there being, as a matter of fact, two in that portion which +adjoins the nave on the west, a sufficiently unusual arrangement to +warrant comment. The rose windows of the transepts have graceful design +and good framing, though the glass is not of the splendour which we +associate with the most pleasing examples seen elsewhere. + + + + +XII + +ST. ETIENNE DE MEAUX + + +To the eastward of Paris, one first finds the true country atmosphere at +Meaux, famous for its bishops, its grist-mills, and its generally +charming environment. + +The picturesque little city is situated on the Marne, some thirty miles +from Paris, amid a verdure which, if not luxuriant, is, at least, a +"fringe of green" that is appealing alike to local pride, and to the +artist or stranger within the gates. It is an ancient bishopric (now +suffragan of Paris), founded in 375 A. D. + +[Illustration: ST. ETIENNE _de MEAUX_] + +The Cathedral of Saint Etienne de Meaux is called by the French the +"Child of Amiens," and it would have all the dignity of its mother had +but the nave received the same development as the choir. Its general +dimensions are restrained, and it shows in no way any remarkable +architectural ensemble; but, for all that, its power to please is none +the less great. Lacking a certain symmetry, in itself no great fault, +the exterior gives the impression of being to-day much less grand and +imposing than was really planned. Battled by wind and weather, its outer +walls have that scarred and aged look which is a beauty in itself. There +are two towers, one of which is unfinished and capped with an ugly and +angular slate roof, so low that it hardly exists at all, so far as +forming a distinct feature of the façade is concerned. Its companion, +however, rises boldly and in graceful lines to a generous height above +the gable. + +The interior plan is regular and simple, with a nave of five bays, the +first two from the west being divided into the infrequent quadruple +range of openings, while the remainder consist of the usual triforium +and clerestory only. The double aisles of the nave are of unusual +height, in order to admit of this double range of openings. + +The transepts, if transepts they can be considered, are very shallow, +being merely the depth of the double aisles of the nave and choir, and +are bare and unadorned so far as any notable sculpture or glass is +concerned, though the arched windows which hold the plain glass are of +grand proportions and excellent design as to their framing. + +The triforium, throughout, is an arcaded cloister-like effect of slight +arches, supported by slender columns, with a series of glazed windows +behind. It would be a notable and wholly charming arrangement were the +glass of these windows rich in colour, or even old in design. + +There is an air of singular lightness, if not actually of grace, +throughout the entire nave and choir, superinduced, perhaps, by the +recent whitening and pointing of the masonry; but the not infrequent +bulging piers, particularly those nearest to the transept crossing, give +a suggestion of ungainliness if not of actual insecurity. + +The columns of the choir, supporting a series of firm and gracefully +poised arches, are of unusual height, something over forty feet, it +would appear,--producing a harmony of form and elegance which again +reminds one of Amiens. + +There are here copies of the nine Raphael tapestry cartoons, the +originals of which are preserved at South Kensington, also of frescoes +by Guido Reni and Domenichino. + +The chief artistic, if not architectural, charm to be seen within the +purlieus of the cathedral is that of the ancient chapter-house, across a +narrow way, to the right of the church itself. This gem of mediæval +building is perhaps not remarkable as to any of the principles which it +sets forth in its manner of construction, but it takes one back some +hundreds of years, a sheer plunge far beyond the age of the most +prominent features of the main church, and gives a thrill somewhat akin +to the emotion which one feels when he comes across a single leaf torn +from an old illuminated manuscript. This charming ruin, for it is hardly +more than that, being a mere lumber-room, shows in the weathered look of +its covered stairway nearly all of the qualities which the painter loves +to depict,--colour, texture, and, above all, that indescribable charm +which artistic folk, and others who can see as they do, call life. + +Clearly, the Cathedral of St. Etienne de Meaux, as an interesting +shrine, may be classed well at the head of the secondary cathedrals of +the third Gothic period. + + + + +[Illustration: CATHEDRAL OF SAINT PIERRE TROYES] + +XIII + +ST. PIERRE DE TROYES + + +To the thorough student of English history, Troyes is perhaps first +recalled as being the birthplace of the treaty "_decreeing for ever a +common sovereign for England and France_," a treaty which, it is minded, +"stood no while." Again, some dubious antiquary has put it forward as +the home of that variety of weights "which are not avoirdupois." + +The Counts of Champagne had, in the once well-walled city, both a castle +and a palace. Olden-time houses, good Gothic woodwork and Renaissance +stonework, are here in abundance; also, according to the authority of +Fergusson, a well-nigh perfect Gothic church in St. Urbain; likewise a +great cathedral,--rather ugly as to its general outline. All these are +possessed by Troyes, and to-day the reminders and remains of each and +all are exceedingly vivid and substantial. + +Certain cathedrals of France show plainly the different phases and +developments of the art of building through which they have passed; +others indicate little, if any, deviation from a certain accepted style. +St. Pierre de Troyes is of the first category. Here is Gothic in all its +variations. Its environment, too, is characteristic of the many varying +moods through which its constituency has passed. A truly mediæval city +in the picturesqueness of its older portions, Troyes is famed alike in +affairs of Church and State. The dimensions of the Cathedral at Troyes, +which approach those of the grand group, and the general majesty of its +interior only further this opinion. + +The main body covers the none too frequent arrangement of five aisles, +which, following through the transept, continue, with the double pair on +each side, to likewise girdle the choir. The splendour of immensity is +further enhanced by its large windows, including two rose openings set +with old glass, and the general richness of its sculptured decorations. +The abside of the choir is ranked among the best Gothic works of the +time. + +The choir, begun in 1206, is composed of thirteen arcades, symbolical of +Christ and the twelve apostles, from the chief of whom the cathedral +takes its name. The windows of the triforium are large and divided into +four compartments. The general disposition of the choir, with its +radiating chapels, is superb; and it is exactly this satisfying, though +perhaps undefinable, quality that is ofttimes lacking in an originally +well-planned work which fails to inspire one. The choir contains an iron +_grille_ of the thirteenth century, of very beautiful workmanship, and +is surrounded by five hexagonally sided chapels. + +The principal portion of the nave, erected in the fourteenth, fifteenth, +and sixteenth centuries, interrupted now and again by war and civil +distractions, bears indelible impress of its continued centuries of +growth. + +The principal façade of the fifteenth century--accredited to one Martin +Chambige and erected just after the nave took form--is of the richness +of Gothic only just previous to its decline. There are three portals, +which are bare of sculptured figures, as indeed is the whole west front. +In arrangement, it resembles the frontispieces of certain of the grand +cathedrals, and, though lacking their sculptured ornateness, is +thoroughly satisfying as a decorative frontage. Had it been executed +fifty years later, it would be hard to imagine to what depths its lines +might not have fallen. As it is, the upper ranges of the tower suggest +the thought. The windows of the aisle and of the clerestory of the nave, +when viewed from the exterior, are grandly traceried and gracefully +coupled by a series of light, firm buttresses, which rise, only from the +gables of the lower set, over the low-lying roof to the spring of the +arch of the upper range. St. Pierre de Troyes suggests, in a mild way, +the "sheer glass walls" so frequently referred to by adulous French +critics when chanting the praises of the highly developed lightness of +their indigenous style. This is further accentuated when one notes the +glazed triforium, a decorative feature reminiscent of that at Séez, +Nevers, Tours, and St. Ouen at Rouen. + +Troyes is one of those prominent cathedral cities of Catholic France +whereof the churchman deplores the fact that its men are not of the +church-going class, and that its congregations are mostly of the fair +sex. Be this as it may, except in Brittany, where the whole population +appears unusually devout, the stricture is probably true in a great +measure of all of the north of France; and, be it here said, recent +political edicts will doubtless not tend to increase the propaganda of +piety. + +The north gable, with its portal and rose window, is of the fifteenth +century, and, with the "lustrous rose" of the south transept, forms a +pair of brilliant jewels which are hardly excelled elsewhere, not even +by the encircled splendour of the forty-foot openings at Reims and +Amiens, the equally extensive one of the north transept at Rouen, or, +most splendid of all, the galaxy at Chartres. These marvels of French +ingenuity and invention are nowhere more splendidly proportioned or +embellished than at Troyes, and are equally attractive viewed from +either within or without. + +The chief "_tresor_" consists of a series of wonderful mediæval +enamels. + + + + +[Illustration: CATHEDRAL OF SAINT ETIENNE SENS] + +XIV + +ST. ETIENNE DE SENS + +Says the Abbé Bourassé, "One of the most beautiful titles to glory in a +church is the antiquity of its foundation," hence, most French +antiquaries who have written upon the subject of the celebrated +Cathedral of St. Etienne of Sens have enlarged upon its "glorious +antiquity." To prove or verify the fact as to whether St. Savinien or +St. Potentien was the first to preach Christian religion here would be a +laborious undertaking. Evidences and knowledge of Roman works are not +wanting, and early Christian edifices of the Romanesque order must +naturally have followed. One learns that an early church on this site +was entirely destroyed by fire in 970, and that a new edifice had +progressed so far that it was dedicated in 997. This, in turn, was +mostly rebuilt, and, two hundred years later (1168), took the form of +the present cathedral. It was completed, in a rather plain and heavy +ogival style, under the capable direction of the William who came to +Canterbury, in response to a call, to rebuild the choir of that English +church in 1174. It is this link, and possibly a sight of the vestments +of À Becket, now preserved among the "_tresor_" of Sens, that binds its +memory with English contemporary life. Whatever may be the contentions +waged as to the claims of English Gothic, it is universally and +unimpeachably admitted that Guillaume de Sens rebuilt that famous choir +of Canterbury, and built it well, and of a newer order of design than +any previous work in England. So let it stand. + +Taken by itself, the Cathedral at Sens is a high example of Christian +art. When, however, it is compared with the grand group, it is relegated +immediately to the second rank. The interior, far more than the +exterior, shows a visible disparity of unified style. Romano-Byzantine, +transition, and ogival are all found in the nave and choir, with the +flamboyant, of the fifteenth century, in the ornamental tracery of the +windows of the transepts. + +Some visible remains of the earlier structure are shown, built into the +eleventh century walls. Of the same period are other evidences of a +former erection, to be noted in the aisles. The transept and the greater +part of the nave are of the century following, and of the early +thirteenth, and finally the three arcades, by which the nave is entered, +are something very akin to the full-blown Renaissance of the fifteenth +century. + +The general plan is symmetrical, and severe, only the twenty chapels +being ungracefully disposed. Ten of these are in the choir and ten in +the nave. For the antiquary, versed in religious archæology, the +Cathedral of Sens would appear, from the very inconsistencies and +exuberance of its style, to be of great interest. The fragments that +remain of its former magnificent glass, the sculptured monuments, and +the tombs and curiosities of the "_tresor_," which escaped Revolutionary +spoliation, all combine in a glorious attraction for one who has the +time and inclination to delve into the reminiscence of history and +association of a past age. + +The glass of the choir, and of the chapel of St. Savinien, is of the +thirteenth century. The colour is exceedingly brilliant, lively, and +harmonious, with the iridescence of a mosaic of precious stones. + +The sixteenth-century glass, none the less than the framing itself, of +the grand rose windows of the north and south transepts, is equally +remarkable as to design and colour. The former represents the +"Glorification of Jesus Christ," and the latter "Events in the Life of +St. Etienne." + +The "_tresor_" of the cathedral is very numerous and is considered the +richest in all France. The most notable are a reliquary of gold, set +with sapphires and pearls, containing a fragment of the True Cross, +given by Charlemagne in the year 800; four magnificent tapestries of the +time of Charles V., representing the "Adoration of the Magi;" and the +pontifical robes of St. Thomas (à Becket), chasuble, aube, stole, +manipule, cordon, two mitres, and two collars. This courageous +archbishop, persecuted by Henry II., took refuge in Sens in 1162. An +elaborate tomb (of the eighteenth century), by Constant, is the +mausoleum of the Dauphin, father of Louis XVI. + + + + +_PART VI_ + +_Western Normandy and Brittany_ + + + + +I + +INTRODUCTORY + + +Most people who have read Ruskin, and most people have done so--in the +past, will undoubtedly concur with his dictum that Rouen's "associated +Norman cities," Bayeux, Caen, Coutances, St. Lo, Lisieux, and Dieppe, +run the entire gamut of mediæval architectural notes; or, as Ruskin +himself has put it, "from the Romanesque to the flamboyant." He might +well have added, the Renaissance and the pseudo-classicism of a later +day. + +Beauties there are in this region, galore; and the examples which no +longer exist, but of which the records tell, point to a still larger +aggregate. + +Who thinks to-day of Coutances as of being a "cathedral town?" And yet, +there is within it, as to the general effect of situation and the +magnitude of its towering pinnacles, an edifice which perhaps outranks +all but the very greatest. Most likely no thought is given it at all, +except that Coutances is somewhere on the railway line between Cherbourg +and Paris, or that it is near unto Bayeux; also possessed of a +magnificent cathedral, but whose greatest fame lies in a certain false +sentiment associated with its famous tapestry. Not that this great work +is to be decried,--far from it, but the spirit with which it is so often +viewed should be a matter of scorn for every broad-minded traveller. + +Lisieux, too, has a wealth of attraction for those who fondly admire +reeking picturesqueness and old timbered houses, though its cathedral +will not please. + +Pugin could not resist depicting many of these delightful old houses of +Lisieux in his book on Normandy, though, unlike Ruskin, he had no eye +for its cathedral; most of us will not have. + +So much, then, as a plea for a more sincere and thorough appreciation of +the charms of western Normandy. It is cheap; accessible, and has a +practically inexhaustible store of treasure for the traveller or student +of limited time or money, but who will not make of it the usual mere +"bank-holiday" scamper. The same applies also to Brittany, which is +treated elsewhere, with this proviso, that the tourist afoot or awheel +is far better equipped than he who has to depend upon steam and the +rail, two at least of Brittany's cathedrals being "off the line." + + + + +II + +NOTRE DAME D'EVREUX + + +The Cathedral at Evreux is another of those edifices which gives one its +best impression when first seen upon entering the city. Charmingly, +possibly romantically, situated, it lies in a shallow valley with all +the picturesqueness of its varied style limned against the sky in truly +impressionistic fashion. This impression, when viewed from the slight +eminence by which the railway enters the town, is a vista of rambling +roofs and a long, sloping street running gently down to the very foot of +the structure, which, set about and interspersed with verdure, as it is +in the spring and summer months, warrants one in counting his +introduction to this charmingly attractive, though non-consistent, type +of church, as one of the events which will live in memory for years. + +[Illustration: _Notre Dame d'Evreux_] + +If towering spires and pinnacles were a _sine qua non_ for a great and +imposing architectural style, this church would at once rank as one +of the most delightful examples extant; for these very features, albeit +they are mostly of what we have come to accept as a debased form of art, +are nevertheless possessed of a grandeur and magnificence which in many +worthy examples are entirely lacking. The pair of western towers, of +Romanesque foundation, were developed, not in what one knows as Gothic, +but of the manifest and offensive pseudo-classic order. They are capped, +however, with something more akin to Moorish or an Eastern termination +than Italian. The spire which surmounts the central crossing is, without +question, a reminiscence of much that has been accepted as good Gothic +form in the great central-towered English churches. Up to a certain +point this can hardly be denied; but this rather weak, effeminate spire, +which forms such an unusual attribute of a French cathedral, more than +qualifies its right to a place in the first rank of spires. As for the +rest of the exterior, it is a _mélange_ of nearly every known +architectural style. Undeniably fine in parts, like "the curate's egg," +if a time-worn simile may be permitted, it forms an ensemble which would +preclude its ever being accorded unqualified praise from even the most +liberal-minded and optimistic enthusiast. + +By far the most coherent view to be had near by is that from the gardens +of the Archbishop's Palace immediately to the rearward of the choir. +Here the clipped trees, the warm coloured wall, along which the vines +are trained, and what was once a canal, or moat, in the foreground, +combine to present a singularly artistic and pleasing composition. + +The north transept, of Bishop le Veneur, is of the superlative degree of +its era (early sixteenth century), bordering upon the profusion of +splayed ornament which so soon after turned to dross, but standing, as +it does, of itself, clearly defined. The gulf was finally crossed when, +less than a half-century later, the incongruous west front with its +ill-mannered towers was built,--in itself a subject worth a deal of +study from the artist who would picture graven stone, but contrasting +unfavourably enough with the heights to which French ecclesiastical +architecture had just previously soared. Here is offered the one unified +Renaissance façade of a French cathedral, welded, as it were, in +unworthy fashion, to a fabric with which it has nothing in common. The +stone-mason here superseded the craftsman; and, with the termination of +the reign of François I., and following with that of Henry II., came the +flowering rankness of a degenerate weed, leaving, as evidence of its +contaminating influence in this one example alone, traces of nearly +every classical order, from the simple Doric column to a hybrid which +shall be unnamed. + +The interior presents a general array of incongruities quite as +remarkable as those of the exterior. The nave is very narrow; but the +choir widens out perhaps a dozen feet on either side, adding +immeasurably to an effect which is far more impressive than might +otherwise be supposed. + +The nave itself shows many varieties of building, ranging from the +Gothic of the early twelfth to the late fifteenth centuries; the lower +part and the easterly bays are Romanesque, or what perhaps has been +popularly accepted as Norman, and date from 1125; the remainder and the +triforium are of a century later. + +The choir is of the decorated species of the early fourteenth century, +with its arcaded triforium glazed, whereas in the nave it is without +glass. The lady-chapel, of the time of Louis XI., shows that inevitable +mark of degeneracy, the "_fleur-de-lys_," in the elaborated tracery of +the window framing. The glass here is, however, excellent, in effect at +any rate, with its gorgeous figures of knights, angels, and peers of +France, drawn with a masterly skill which is often lacking in even more +precious glass. + +The chapel screens, some twenty in all, are wondrously turned and carved +of wood. This leads one to venture the thought that the similar +decorative embellishments of the Renaissance châteaux of the Loire +country were slowly creeping northward, and leaving their impress upon +the work of the ecclesiastical builder and decorator. Certainly, the +numerous fine examples of the art of the wood-carver, to be seen in this +cathedral, bespeak much for the decorative quality of wood, when used +considerately in conjunction with stone. + +There are two rose windows, of the petal species, unquestionably fine as +to framing, but leaving little space for the effect of the glass, which +they hold only in small proportion. + +The "treasury," alone, is enclosed with iron bars, and a _grille_ of +graceful late flowing ironwork forms the screen of the choir. Altogether +the Cathedral at Evreux will be remembered quite as much for its +wonderful array of wooden and iron _grilles_ as for any other of the +specific details among its mass of general attributes. + +[Illustration: _Window Framing--Evreux_] + + + + +[Illustration: _Notre Dame d'Alençon_] + +III + +NOTRE DAME D'ALENÇON + + +This former capital of the duchy of the same name is a sleepy, +countrified French town, with little but its reputedly valuable and +beautiful lace to commend it to the average observer. + +As a cathedral town, of even secondary rank, it will fall far short of +any preconceived ideas which one may be possessed of concerning it, +though its Cathedral of Notre Dame is in many ways one of those +irresistible shrines, which at least promise, and often fulfil, a great +deal more than their lack of magnitude indicates. + +Its façade, lacking the conventional towers, advances well into the +roadway, as a sort of forward porch; as at Louviers near by. This porch +is very ornate, with decorations of the late Gothic period of flowing +tracery. + +After all, it is an incongruous sort of a building, in that only this +porch and its squat central tower, which is nought but a mere cupola, +are in the least decorative. + +The nave, the choir and chevet, and chapels, are all of a bareness which +only exaggerates the floridness of these other appendages. The nave +itself is but one hundred and ten feet long, and perhaps a scant thirty +wide, and dates from the fourteenth century. It contains good glass of +the same period, which luckily escaped the spoliation of the Revolution. + +The choir is more modern, and much plainer in treatment, and is but +fifty-five feet in length and of the same width as the nave. + +There are no transepts; in short, the chief and most interesting +features of the church are the before mentioned details, which, +unquestionably bordering upon the debasement of Gothic art, are in every +way attractive, with lightness and colour, if such an expression may be +applied to gray stone. + +Certainly the play of sunlight on gracefully carven stone is indicative +of a brilliancy which might be termed an effect of colour; and it is +with respect to that quality that the west façade of Notre Dame +d'Alençon appeals; more than as an otherwise grand or even highly +interesting structure. + + + + +[Illustration: _St. Pierre de Lisieux_] + +IV + +ST. PIERRE DE LISIEUX + + +Lisieux, the city of the Lexavii, taken by Cæsar and besieged by +Geoffrey Plantagenet; its old houses; its crooked streets and +picturesque decay; with its former Cathedral of St. Pierre (M. H.), +memorable as the marriage place of Henry III. and Eleanor of Guienne; +all go to make up the formula of one of the stock sights of Normandy. + +It is scarcely an attractive town, in spite of its picturesque +sordidness, made the more so by the smoke arising from many belching +factory chimneys. In fact, one has difficulty in thinking of it as a +cathedral town at all; and, as such, it hardly claims more than a brief +résumé of its important features. A much more interesting, impressive, +and commanding church is that of St. Jacques, which at least has the +stamp of a personality, which in the cathedral itself is entirely +wanting, so far as one's latent sympathies are concerned. In spite of +the purity of that which is Gothic in its fabric, it has little of that +quality which arouses admiration, and which, regardless of the edict of +a certain seer and prophet, is mostly that for which we revere a great +monument,--its power to sway us impressively. + +Mr. Ruskin has taken great pains to commend the southern portal as being +"one of the most quaint and pleasing doors in all Normandy,"--a +non-committal enough statement, most will admit, and one with which we +are not obliged to agree. A broader-minded observer would have said that +the main body of the church presents a unity of design, very unusual in +a mediæval work,--excelled by no other example in France. The greater +part of the nave, choir, and transepts is the work of one epoch only; +and, as some writers have it, of one man, Bishop Odericus Vitalis, who +died shortly after its completion, in the latter part of the eleventh +century. As a style, it may be said to be either the last of the +transition or of the very earliest Gothic. Certainly this is something +in its favour; but the general charm of its immediate surroundings is +lacking, and the effect of its interior, with the diminutive windows of +the nave and clerestory, does not tend to satisfy, or even gratify, one +with the sense of pleasure which perhaps its more creditable features +deserve. These are not wholly wanting; for, of course, one must not +forget that doorway of Ruskin's nor the quite idyllic proportions of the +nave with its uniform massive pillars. + +The lady-chapel was founded in the fifteenth century by the rascally +Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais, who, with his brother, prelate of +Winchester, so gleefully burned Joan of Arc. This much he did in +expiation of "_his false judgment_," though, except as a memorial of his +significant remorse, the chapel itself would hardly be remarkable. The +clerestory of nave and choir is considerably later. The transepts vary +as to their windows, and the triforium arches are here at a different +level from those in the nave. + +The general exterior view of the cathedral is hardly satisfactory from +any point. On three sides it is almost entirely hemmed in by surrounding +structures, and the frontage, on the great open Place Thiers, is the +first and the last opportunity of an unobstructed view. As the Abbé +Bourassé wrote of the Cathedral at Arras, it is best seen from a +distance, about that, we should say, from which the accompanying drawing +was made. The gardens of the Sous-Prefecture, formerly the Bishop's +Palace, should form in a way a cool green setting for the church; but, +as a matter of fact, they do nothing of the sort, since the enormous +mass of a none too good Renaissance façade extends along quite +two-thirds of the length of the cathedral on the north, and blankets it +thoroughly, scarcely more than the rather stubby tower of the west front +being visible above the roof of the other structure. + +Lisieux apparently never ranked as an important see, but depended for +the prominence which it attained previous to the Revolution, when the +see was abolished, on its association with Rouen, to which it was +attached. The neighbouring Cathedrals of Séez, Bayeux, and Coutances far +outrank St. Pierre de Lisieux in size, beauty, and importance. + + + + +[Illustration: NOTRE DAME _de SÉEZ_ ...] + +V + +NOTRE DAME DE SÉEZ + + +The ancient Civitas Sagiorum of the Romans is now a bishopric, suffragan +of Rouen. This ancient Gallic stronghold, which fared hardly in the +Anglo-Norman wars, presents to-day the impression of being a town +somewhat smaller than the usual small town of France. It also has this +advantage,--it is comparatively unknown to tourists, and likewise to +some map-makers; all of which is decidedly in its favour. Seldom is Séez +included in the itinerary of the tourist, even though it is situated in +the heart of the "popular province." + +Except for the fact that its charming cathedral is not of the generous +proportions first impressed upon one, it is difficult to realize that +such a noble architectural memorial should so often be overlooked and +apparently neglected by those who might find a great deal of pleasure, +and incidental profit, from a contemplation thereof. + +As a town of celebrated history, Séez is of far more relative rank than +its cathedral, which, in spite of its many beauties and charm of detail, +has suffered perhaps more than any other in France, and yet kept a +fairly pure early Gothic style; referring to the many additions and +repairs made necessary by crumbling walls and sinking foundations. + +The worst that has arisen from this unhappy state of affairs is, not +that there has been any serious admixture of style, but rather that one +gross interpolation has been foisted upon an otherwise symmetrical +whole,--the enormous advancing buttresses which flank the portal of the +western façade; an addition of the fourteenth century, neither graceful +nor decorative, and only made necessary by a tottering wall. A pity it +is that some other equally effective method was not adopted. + +The cathedral is, in a way, a satisfying representation of the cathedral +of our imagination. From a distance, at least, and in comparison with +the low-lying structures round about, it certainly appears as of great +proportions, uniform and complete in itself. Immediate contact with it +somewhat dispels these charms. + +All things considered, one finds here, in this idyllic, countrified +setting, a very attractive and fairly consistent Mediæval Gothic church +of the epoch contemporary with that of the best work of the northern +builders, showing unmistakable evidence of having been laid down on good +lines, and after a good design, in spite of the structural defects of +its foundations. From any direction it may be viewed across a quarter of +a mile of ploughed fields. The great national highroad, from the Channel +to Bordeaux, passes straight as a die through the town, and the +cross-country line of the _Chemin de-Fer de Ouest_ ambles slowly +northward or southward; with little occurring to break the quietude of +local ease. The native is for the most part engaged in garnering from +his truck farm, or in carrying its product to the railway, to be +transported to market, and pays little attention to the stray traveller +who occasionally wanders in to study the architectural offering of the +town. + +A completed church was here in 1050, having been erected by a monk, Azon +by name. This was burned to the ground in an attempt to drive out a +robber band which had taken shelter therein. Leo IX. engaged Yves, Count +of Bellêne and the Bishop of Alençon, to rebuild it, and restore its +former splendour. This was in the twelfth century, but, later, owing to +the insecure foundations, it was pulled down and rebuilt again. Now +nothing remains of the former twelfth and thirteenth century work but +the lady-chapel of the choir. + +The interior of the nave is, at present, entirely filled with +scaffolding, which looks as though it might not be removed for years. As +a restorative policy this is commendable and was necessary, but it +detracts from one's intimate acquaintance with details. About the only +lasting impression of the nave that can now be obtained is that its +proportions are superb, and that its cylindrical pillars, with their +foliaged capitals, would be notable anywhere. + +In general effect the choir is charming, having gone through the +restorative process and apparently suffered little thereby. It presents +the unusual basilica form of setting the altar forward on a platform +raised a few steps. + +The transepts are of quite idyllic proportions, each possessing an ample +rose window which makes up in design and framing what it may lack in the +quality of glass with which it is set. These transepts, too, have +undergone the usual restoration, and have come safely through with +little sad effect. It is to be hoped that these continued restorations +will be carried out with the same good taste, and in a like consistent +manner. If so, there will be presented for the delectation of +generations of the near future one of the most pleasing of the smaller +cathedrals in all France. The triforium of the choir, and of the nave so +far as it can be observed through the obstructing scaffolding, is +singularly light and graceful, and the window framing throughout, though +entirely lacking notable glass, is of manifest good design. + +In fine, then, the general effect of the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Séez +is one of lightness and grace, and it may be considered as an +extraordinarily fine architectural monument, in spite of the anomalies +of its west front. + +The twin spires rise gracefully for perhaps two hundred and fifty feet, +and are after the best manner of the great Gothic builders; of true +proportions, and of the dwindling pyramidal form so much approved. + +The façade, between the towers and the extraordinary buttresses, is +completely filled with an ample Gothic portal, which, though entirely +destitute of sculpture, or indeed carving of any sort, offers a +significant opportunity for some future efforts in this direction. + + + + +[Illustration: _CATHEDRAL of NOTRE DAME BAYEUX_] + +VI + +NOTRE DAME DE BAYEUX + + +The magnificently impressive Cathedral of Notre Dame is perhaps less +intimately associated with Bayeux in the average mind than is the +wonderful story-telling tapestry which is domiciled in the same city. As +for this treasure of the past, it is a subject so vast, and of such +great significance, in both history and art, that it has many times been +made the subject of weighty consideration. A well-known English amateur, +the Honourable E. J. Lowell, has stated that popular tradition has +credited it as the handiwork of Matilda, Queen of William the +Conqueror, who worked it to commemorate his glorious achievements. If +this be really so, the queen was probably assisted largely by the ladies +of her court, as the extensive work, measuring some hundred and sixty +odd feet, could hardly have been accomplished single-handed. Professor +Freeman assigns it to a similar period, but worked, as he thinks, by +English workmen, for Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, the Conqueror's +half-brother. + +A previous acquaintance with the great cathedrals of the Isle of France +will tend somewhat to nullify the effect which is produced by Notre Dame +de Bayeux, although, in point of size and general arrangements, at +least, it fulfils its functions perhaps more acceptably than many a more +renowned edifice. Its situation, on the side of a steep slope, produces +a curious effect, first, with respect to the choir chevet, which is thus +shown as rather gaunt and bare in its lower elongated stages, though +undeniably a fine work in itself; secondly, in the general interior view +where, from the western entrance, one comes upon the nave pavement a +dozen or more steps below the portal, and again meets with the same +effect further on at the transept crossing. There would appear to have +been no other way but this of placing above ground what might otherwise +have been the crypt; adding immeasurably to the fine appearance of the +interior, the nave and choir appearing to lengthen out interminably by +reason of the western elevation from which they are viewed. + +A portion of the western towers, and the crypt which is beneath the +choir, are thought to date from as early as the eleventh century, having +been built by Odo, the half-brother of William the Norman. The +splendidly proportioned Norman nave, with its decorated spandrels and +archivolts, a worthy decorative embellishment developed before the days +of coloured glass, possesses that bright and fresh appearance which is +usually associated with a recent work, whereas, as a matter of fact, it +can hardly be, in its five circular arches at least, later than the late +eleventh or early twelfth century. If it were true that modern +restorative processes commonly disfigured no more than this, it is a +pity that the dust and cobwebs, and a little of the grime of ages, were +not more often removed. Here is the very excess of dog-tooth, arabesque, +and grotesque carving, never found in connection with a building which +is constructively decorative. Here also is an ornate frieze of no great +depth and possessing none of the beauties of the two other distinct +elements. As there is no triforium in the nave proper, this decoration +is, of course, intended merely as a relief to a bareness which, on +account of the generous height, would otherwise exist. + +In the choir, the triforium, which is omitted in the nave, springs into +being in beautiful and ornate form. The lower arches, with the supports, +the attributed work of an English architect, are of the usual Gothic +form, in contra-distinction to the rounded heads of those of the nave. +The clerestory, though delicate and graceful, is somewhat curtailed from +the dimensions of that of the west end of the church. + +The transepts are unusually bright and cheerful, with a series of +windows more beautifully designed than those of either the choir or +nave. The choir stalls are of oak, carved in the best manner of the +Renaissance. + +The charming tower group of this cathedral is as effective, perhaps, as +any among all the northern churches. The central belfry, albeit of a +base, though pretentious, rococo design, follows no accepted style, but +adds imposingly to the general outline. (Its height is over three +hundred feet.) In this tower, as in the window tracery, the +_fleur-de-lys_, always a sign of the decadent in Gothic style, is to be +seen. The western towers, with their spires, follow the truest pyramidal +form, and, though carrying both pointed and round-arched openings, are +in every way representative of the best work of their period. The +northwesterly tower has an elongated turret, extending from the lower +ranges, which, when seen from a distance over the roof of the nave, +appears as a protuberance not unlike a dove-cote. This contains the +spiral staircase up which visitors are earnestly implored, by the +caretaker, to wend their way and participate in the view from the +heights above. This view, though undeniably wider in range than are most +elevated view-points, is hardly of interest to one who seeks the +beauties of the structure itself. There are three porches on the west +façade, all fairly well filled with foliaged ornament and bas-reliefs. +They are of the thirteenth century, and of a thoroughly florid order. + +Included in the "_tresor_" are two gifts from St. Louis, the chasuble of +St. Regnobert, and an ivory and enamel casket. + + + + +[Illustration: _CATHEDRAL of NOTRE DAME SAINT LO_] + +VII + +NOTRE DAME DE ST. LO + + +This picturesquely situated city of the Cotentin, St. Lo, is so named +from the Bishop St. Laud, who lived in the neighbourhood in the sixth +century. Later, it became a Huguenot stronghold, and was ably, though +unsuccessfully, defended by Colombiers. It forms, with its former +Cathedral of Notre Dame crowning its height, another of those ensembles +which will always linger in the memory of the traveller who first comes +upon it clad in spring and summer verdure. The rippling Vire at its very +feet gives at once the note; it not only binds and enwraps it like the +setting of a precious stone, but adds that one feature which, lacking, +would be a chord misplaced. Perhaps no other cathedral in all France, +with regard to its bijou setting, certainly no other so accessible to +the English tourist, has more dainty charm than this not very grand, but +graceful, church at St. Lo. Its towers, though not uniform as to size, +are of apparently the same gradual proportions, and, if not the most +impressive, are at least the most beautiful in Normandy. They rise high +above the wooded crest which encircles their base in true picture-book +fashion. The attraction of the river, here, is unusual, in that it +presents no accustomed "slummy" picturesqueness, but winds slowly, amid +its green, to the very base of the cliff which upholds the chief portion +of the town and its cathedral. + +The façade presents a _mélange_ of the work of at least three epochs, a +not unusual feature in some of the smaller cathedrals. It has a mean +little house built into its northwest corner, a crude and ugly +clock-face stuck unmeaningly on its façade, and a general air of +dilapidation, with respect to the statues originally contained in its +archivolts and niches, which, to say the least, is not creditable to +those who have been responsible for its care. It would seem that so +lively and important a centre of local activity might have devoted a +little more thought and care to the maintenance of this charming +building. + +Built up from a foundation of which but little, if any portion, visibly +remains, Notre Dame shows a debasement of design and decoration of its +façade which is not only not admirable, but is, in addition, sadly +disfigured. The one detail, for the most part good in style, is a not +unduly florid arcade, which plainly indicates its superiority over the +rest of the building. + +On the north side is an open-air pulpit of stone overhung with a canopy, +a highly interesting detail, though, of course, not a unique one. Unable +to command admiration as an absolute novelty, it is assuredly a charming +feature, and is delicately and profusely sculptured. It suggests much in +conjunction with the busy life of the rather squalid neighbouring +market-place, whose only picturesque attribute is when it is crowded +with the gaiety of a market or a fête day. By far the most compelling +interest in the building, after an inspection of its interior, is the +view to be had from a distance. + +The nave is late Gothic, and widens out in curious fashion toward the +east; otherwise the interior arrangements are not remarkable. One +bulbous chapel on the south side supplants the usual transept. + +There is no triforium either in choir or nave, the lighting principally +being effected by the large windows of the aisles. + +It is pertinent to recall here that one of Charlemagne's own foundations +of the ninth century, destroyed by the barbarians, was situated near by, +the famous Abbey of St. Croix. + + + + +[Illustration: _Notre Dame de Coutances_] + +VIII + +NOTRE DAME DE COUTANCES + + +Like many another town of western Normandy, like Falise, Domfront, St. +Lo, Granville, Avranches, and Mont St. Michel itself, Coutances rises +high above the surrounding plain and stands dominant in the landscape +for miles on either hand. Of perhaps more magnitude, as to area, than +any of the other examples, the city has the added attribute of three +towered ecclesiastical edifices, which rise nobly in varying stages far +over the neighbouring roof-tops of the town itself and the tree-clad +slopes which embank it. + +The oldest of the Norman Gothic cathedrals, and that which partakes the +most of local character, is Notre Dame de Coutances. Certain French +archæologists have said that the main body of the church is actually +that of the eleventh century. It is more likely, however, that none of +the building at present in view is earlier than the thirteenth century, +the epoch during which contemporaneous Gothic first grew to its +maturity. In any event, such building and construction was going on from +1208 to 1233 as would indicate that it was the entire present edifice +which was being planned at that time. In this case it is quite possible +that the rebuilding was going on slowly, foot by foot, in a manner which +not only encompassed and absorbed the older building, but in reality +eradicated every vestige of it. Says a French writer of enthusiasm, "The +Cathedral of Coutances, as it now stands, is one of the most noble and +grand religious edifices in France, with all the qualities of a monument +of the first order, of perfect dimension, beauty of plan, unity of +workmanship, and distinction of form." Any one of these attributes, were +it literally so, might well turn a commonplace structure into an +unapproachable masterpiece. In a measure, all of his eulogy is quite +true, and the pity is that more do not know of its fascination and +charm. + +The façade of the Cathedral of Notre Dame is of the indigenous +Norman-Gothic type. The fine towers, in addition to combining the +symmetrical elements of Gothic, have, each, as well, a flanking +towerlet, attached to their outer sides, enclosing a spiral stairway. +These extend to quite the full height of the tower proper; and, though +by no means a wholly attractive feature, are not as offensive as might +at first be supposed. It is doubtful, in fact, if the general strength +and impressiveness of the entire structure would not be impaired were +the arrangements otherwise. + +The present ogival structure is built on the remains of a Romanesque +church erected by a famous Bishop of Coutances, Geoffroy de Montbray, +with funds supplied by Guillaume Bras-de-Fer, Odon, Roger, Onfroy, and +Robert, sons of Tancrede-de-Hauteville, the Norman conquerors of Sicily +and Calabria, whose names have been given fabled prominence in more than +one epic poem. The early structure was consecrated in 1056, in the +presence of William, then Duke of Normandy, a few years before he became +the Conqueror. Supposedly none of this former church remains; in fact, +what fragments, if any, exist, are doubtless covered in the present +foundations. + +Mainly, the present structure is thirteenth-century work, with a +lady-chapel of the fourteenth century. + +An unusual, and exceedingly beautiful, effect is given by the Gothic +window mullions, between the chapels, in reality a series of +geometrical window-frames, without glass. No florid ornament either +inside or out is to be found to offend against accepted ideals. In +short, "the whole is of a piece complete." The parapets of triforium and +clerestory, with foliaged carvings, are about the only ornate +decorations to be seen. + +The central tower, of great proportions, but incomplete as to the +addition of a spire, is a marvel of strength and power. Its interior, +elaborately decorated, forms a lantern at the crossing. Here, as at +Bayeux, the choir is raised a few steps above its aisles, giving a +certain impressiveness beyond what might otherwise exist. + +The interior, generally, is admirable. Clustered columns, as they are +commonly called,--in reality they are clustered pillars, if word +derivations are to be considered,--separate both nave and choir from the +aisles; and, in case of the choir, a series of elongated circular +pillars are coupled, one behind the other, an unquestionably unique +arrangement. + +The transepts are practically non-existent, as the widening does not +extend beyond the extent of the nave chapels. This leaves the +ground-plan, at least, a mere parallelogram with a rounded eastern end. + +Notre Dame de Coutances is one of the few really great Gothic churches +not possessing an example of those French masterworks, the rose window. + +Again referring to the fine tower group, it is probably true that, were +the huge central tower properly spired, the ensemble would rival Laon in +regard to its impressive situation and elaborate pinnacles. + +St. Pierre, of the fifteenth century, and St. Nicolas, of the +fourteenth, complete the trinity of fine churches which Coutances +possesses. The latter contains the unusual arrangement in a Continental +church of pews in place of chairs, although formerly, it is said, this +feature was not uncommon in Normandy. + +The somewhat considerable remains of a Roman acqueduct, near by, are +sufficiently remarkable to warrant passing consideration, even by the +"mere lover of churches." + +[Illustration] + + + + + +IX + +ST. PIERRE D'AVRANCHES + + +There is little to recount concerning the See of Avranches. Its +bishopric and its cathedral were alike destroyed during the parlous +times of the bickerings and ravages of Royalists and Republicans of the +Revolutionary period. All that remains to-day is a trifling heap of +stones which would hardly fill a row-boat,--a fragment of a shaft on +which is a tablet reading: + + "ON THIS STONE, + HERE AT THE DOOR OF THE CATHEDRAL OF AVRANCHES, + AFTER THE MURDER OF THOMAS À BECKET, + ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, + HENRY II., + KING OF ENGLAND AND DUKE OF NORMANDY, + RECEIVED ON HIS KNEES, + FROM THE LEGATES OF THE POPE, + THE APOSTOLIC ABSOLUTION, + ON SUNDAY, 22D MAY 1172." + +At its feet is another slab, the aforementioned door-step, on which, +before the papal legate, the remorseful monarch did penance before his +later expiation at Canterbury. + +A little farther on is a small heap consisting of shafts and capitals of +columns, a stone sarcophagus and a brass plate stating that they are the +"Derniers restes de la cathédrale d'Avranches; commencée vers 1090 et +consacrée par l'eveque Turgis en 1121." The nave having fallen in, the +rest of the edifice had to be taken down in 1799. + +Because of its picturesque environment and situation, Avranches is +perhaps a more than ordinarily attractive setting for a shrine, and it +is well worthy of the attention of the passing traveller, in spite of +its ancient cathedral being now but a heap of stones. Apart from this +it is of little interest, and hence, to most, it will probably remain, +in the words of a French traveller, a mere "silhouette in the distance." + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration: _CATHEDRAL of S. SAMSON DOL_] + +X + +ST. SAMSON, DOL-DE-BRETAGNE + + +The one-time Cathedral of St. Samson, at Dol, is, says an unusually +expressive Frenchman, "a grand, noble, and severe church, now widowed of +its bishops. Its aspect is desolate and abandoned, as if it were but a +ruin _en face sur la grande place_, of itself, but a mere desert of +scrub." This is certainly a vivid and forceful description of even a +wholly unprepossessing shrine. This St. Samson is not, and due allowance +should be made for verbal modelling which, in many cases, is but the +mere expression of a mood _pro tempo_. There is, however, somewhat of +truth in the description. About the granite walls there is a grimness +and gauntness of decay; of changed plans and projects; of devastation; +of restoration; and, finally, of what is, apparently, submission to the +inevitableness of time. + +The enormous northwesterly tower is stopped suddenly, with the daylight +creeping through its very framework. Its façade is certainly bare of +ornament, and gives a thorough illustration of paucity of design as well +as of detail. There is, indeed, nothing in the west façade to compel +admiration, and yet there is a fascination about it that to some will be +irresistible. + +A sixteenth-century porch, of suggested Burgundian style, forms the main +entrance to the church, and is situated midway along the south side. +Almost directly opposite, on the north, is the curiously contrasting +feature of a crenelated battlement, a reminder of the time when the +church was doubtless a temporal as well as a spiritual stronghold. + +The interior, as the exterior, is gloomy and melancholy. One has only to +contemplate the collection of ludicrously slender clustered columns of +the nave, bound together with markedly visible iron strands, to realize +the real weakness of the means by which the fabric has been kept alive. + +The nave itself is of true proportions, and, regardless of the severity +of its lines, and the ludicrous pillars, is undeniably fine in effect. + +A curiously squared choir-end, but with the small apsed lady-chapel +extending beyond, is another of those curious details which stand out in +a way to be remarked in a French church. In this squared end, and above +the arch made by the pillars of the choir aisle, is a large pointed +window filled with ancient glass which must have been inserted soon +after the church was reconstructed after the fire in the twelfth +century. + +The general effect of the nave and aisles is one of extreme narrowness, +which perhaps is not so much really the case when actual measurements +are taken. + +In general, the church is supposed by many to resemble the distinct type +of Gothic as it is known across the Channel; and, admitting for the +nonce that possibly many of the Brittany structures were the work of +English builders, this church, in the absence of any records as to who +were its architects, may well be counted as of that number. + +The stalls of the choir are of delicately carved wood, before which is +placed a monumental bishop's throne, with elaborate armorial +embellishments. A Renaissance tomb of the sixteenth century, by a pupil +of Michel Colomb, now much injured in its sculptured details of angels +and allegorical figures, is locally considered the "show-piece" of the +church. + + + + +[Illustration: _S. MALO & S. SERVAN_] + +[Illustration: _TRÉGUIER_] + +XI + +ST. MALO AND ST. SERVAN + + +Welshmen throughout the world rejoice that it was one of their +countrymen, a monk of the sixth century, who gave his name as founder to +the "walled city of St. Malo by the sea." With its outlying and +contiguous towns of St. Servan, Dinan, and Paramé, St. Malo is a +paradise for the mere lover of pleasure resorts. Further, with respect +to the first three places mentioned, there is present not a little of +the romance and history of the past, reflected as it were in a modern +mirror. Not but that the old town of St. Malo, within the walls, is +ancient and picturesque enough, and dirty, too, if one be speciously +critical; but the fact is that the modern Pont Roulant, and the omnific +toot of the steam-tram, ever present in one's sight and hearing, are +forcible reminders of the march of time. + +St. Servan, so far as its cathedral is concerned, may be dismissed in a +word. The ancient see of St. Pierre d'Aleth had, at one time, its +dignity vested in a bishop who enthroned himself in a cathedral, the +remains of which exist to-day only as a fragment built into the +fortifications. The bishopric was removed in 1142 to St. Malo. + +With St. Malo a difference exists. Its cathedral, now degenerated to a +parish church, is a Gothic work mainly of the fifteenth century, and, +regardless of its unimposing qualities, is one of those fascinating old +buildings which, in its environment and surroundings, appeals perhaps +more largely to us as a component of a whole than as a feature to be +admired by itself. The church, safely sheltered from the ravage of gale +and storm, sits amid narrow winding streets, whose buildings are so +compressed as to rise to heights unusual in the smaller Continental +towns. + +The edifice is mainly of the fifteenth century, but has been variously +renovated and restored. Gothic, Renaissance, and the transition between +the two are plainly discernible throughout. Perhaps the best art to be +noted is that found in the interior of the choir, with its fine +triforium and clerestory windows above. Here, again, is to be observed +the squared east end of the English contemporary church, a further +reminder, if it be needed, of the influences which were bound to be more +or less exchanged with regard to the arts and customs of the time, on +both shores of _La Manche_. + +A few features of passing interest are here, an ivory crucifix, a few +tombs, and some indifferent paintings. + +The spire is modern, but gives a suggestion, at least, in viewing the +city from a distance, of something of what a mediæval walled seaport, +with its population huddled close beneath the shadow of the church, and +within the city walls, must have been like. The best example of this +which ever existed in mediæval France, and which exists to-day in a more +than ordinary remarkable state of preservation, is the famous Mount St. +Michel, a few miles only to the eastward, and famed of all, historian, +ecclesiast, artist, and mere pleasure-seeker, alike. Most writers are +pleased to refer to the confiding attitude of mine host, who conducts +the principal hostelry on the Mount, and who guilelessly asks the wary +traveller (ofttimes they _are_ wary) what he has partaken of during his +stay, and makes up the account accordingly. This is, perhaps, not the +least of attributive charms, though it should be a minor one where this +wonderful and real Mount, which takes its name from legendary St. +Michel, is concerned. Indeed, leaving the cathedrals at Rouen, Chartres, +and Le Mans out of the question, it is doubtful if the Abbey of Mont St. +Michel is not the chief remaining architectural glory of the middle +ages, west of Paris. + +It is but a short distance from St. Malo to St. Servan, but what a +difference! It is called by the French themselves the daughter of St. +Malo,--the "faubourg grown into a city." + +Rabida's "Bretagne" states that there are "nombreux des Anglais à St. +Servan, des jeunes gens vivant dans les pensions brittaniques--des +familles venant l'été faire en Bretagne une cure d'economies pour +l'hiver." Continuing, this discerning author says: "Bathers, bicyclists, +golfists, promenaders, and excursionists abound." Better then let them +hold forth here to their hearts' content; there is little that the lover +of churches will gain from what remains to-day of the town's former +Cathedral of St. Pierre. + + + + +XII + +TRÉGUIER + + +This old cathedral city, at the junction of two small streamlets, a +short distance from the sea, lies perhaps a dozen miles away from the +nearest railway. With St. Pol de Leon and St. Brieuc it is, in local +characteristics and customs alike, a something apart from any other +community in northern France. The Bretons are commonly accredited as +being a most devout race, and certainly devotion could take no more +marked turn than the many evidences here to be seen in this "land of +Calvaries." St. Brieuc is a bishopric, suffragan of Rennes, whose +cathedral is a hideous modern structure of the early nineteenth century +quite unworthy as a shrine; but Tréguier's power waned with the +Revolution. Its fourteenth-century church, however, is sufficiently +remarkable by reason of its situation and surroundings, none the less +than in its fabric, to warrant a deviation from well-worn roads in +order to visit it. Chiefly of a late period, it possesses in the Tour de +Hasting, named after the Danish pirate (though why seems obscure), which +enfolds the north transept, a work of the best eleventh-century class. +This should place the church, at once, within the scope of the +designation of a "transition" type. In this tower the windows and +pilasters are of the characteristic round variety of the period. The +south porch is the most highly developed feature as to Mediæval style, +but the attraction lies mainly in its ensembled massiveness, with its +two sturdy towers and a ridiculously spired south _clocher_. Beyond a +certain grimness of fabric the church fails, not a little, to impress +one with even simple grandeur, even when one takes into consideration +the charms of its florid but firmly designed cloister, which, with the +church itself, is classed by the _Département des Beaux Arts_ as one of +the twenty-three hundred "_Monumentes Historiques_." Nevertheless, the +building proves more than ordinarily gratifying, though by no stretch of +the imagination could it be classed as grand. + +Loftiness and grandeur are equally lacking in the interior, and there is +great variation of style with respect to the pillars of nave and choir. +This is also the case with the windows, which play the gamut from the +severe round-headed Romanesque to the latest flamboyant development, a +feature which not only disregards most conventions, but, as every one +will admit, most flagrantly offends, with sad results, against the +general constructive elements. A plain triforium, in the nave, blossoms +out, in the south transept and choir, in no hesitating manner, into +exceeding richness. The choir has an apsidal termination and contains +carved wooden stalls which are classed as work of the mid-seventeenth +century, though appearing much more time-worn. + +The really popular attribute of the church lies in the reconstructed +monument to St. Yves, the patron saint of advocates, and commonly +considered the most popular in all the Brittany calendar. + +Born near Tréguier in 1253, St. Yves' "unheard-of probity and +consideration for the sick and the poor" gained such general respect +that, with his death on the nineteenth of May, 1303, there was +inaugurated a great feast which to-day is yearly celebrated, and all +grieving against a real or fancied wrong have recourse promptly to the +supposedly just favour of this universal patron of the law. + + + + +[Illustration: S. BRIEUC] + +XIII + +ST. BRIEUC + + +Unlike many of the smaller towns which contain cathedral churches, St. +Brieuc is a present day bishopric; hence the Cathedral takes on, +perhaps, more significance than it would, were it but an example of a +Mediæval church. + +In reality it is not a very wonderful structure, and the guide-books +will tell one practically nothing about it. The town itself is a dull +place, a tidal port, at some little distance from the sea, which flushes +in upon it twice during the round of the clock. + +A monastery was founded here in the fifth century by St. Brieuc, from +whom the town itself and the present cathedral take their name. He was a +Celtic monk from Wales, who, upon being expelled from his native land, +located his establishment here, on the site of a former Gallo-Roman +town. The patronal feast of St. Brieuc is held each year on the first of +May and is a curious survival of a mediæval custom. + +Some remains of an early church are built into the choir walls, but in +the main this not very grand edifice is of the thirteenth and fourteenth +centuries. + +The tower, with its loopholes, would supposedly indicate that the church +was likewise intended as somewhat of a fortification. The apse is +rounded in the usual form, and on either side extend transepts to the +width of two bays. + +Within, the Cathedral is more attractive than without. The elements of +construction and embellishment, while perhaps not ranking with those of +the really great churches, are sufficiently vivid and lively to indicate +that the work was consciously and enthusiastically undertaken. The +lady-chapel is of the thirteenth century, and the transept rose is of +the fifteenth, as is also the Chapel of St. Guillaume, named for the +monk of Dijon who built so many of the monasteries throughout Brittany +and who, it is to be presumed, planned or built the original structure, +the remains of which are found in the present choir. + +The windows throughout are either of not very good modern glass, or of +plain leaded lights, which, in the majority of cases, may be considered +as no less an attraction. An elaborate rose is in the western gable. + +There are, in the church, various monuments and tombs to former +bishops. + + + + +XIV + +ST. POL DE LEON + + +In the midst of that land which furnishes the south of England with most +of its cauliflowers, artichokes, onions, and asparagus, truly off the +beaten track, in that it is actually off the line of railway, is the +strange and melancholy city of St. Pol de Leon, its _clochers_ +dominating, by day at least, both land and sea. It contains the famous +"Kreisker," a name which sounds as though it were Dutch or North German, +which it probably is along with other place names on the near-by coast, +such as Grouin, St. Vaast, Roscoff, and La Hougue. + +The tower and spire of this wonderful "Kreisker" rise boldly, from the +transept crossing, in remarkable fashion, and as a marvel of +construction may be said to far outrank the cathedral structure itself. +"Curious and clever" well describes it. As for the former cathedral over +which the Kreisker throws its shadow, it is one of those majestic +twin-towered structures not usually associated with what, when compared +with the larger French towns, must perforce rank as a mere village. + +There is much to be said in favour of these little-known near-by places, +namely, that the charm of their attractions amply repays one for any +special labour involved in getting to them, with the additional +advantage, regardless of the fact that a stranger appears somewhat to +the native as a curiosity, that they are "good value for the money +paid." Perhaps the cheapest Continental tour, of say three weeks, that +could be taken, amid a constantly changing environment, if one so +choose, would comprehend this land of Calvaries. + +The two cathedral towers of early Gothic flank a generous porch. There +is good glass throughout the church, the circular "rose" of the transept +being a magnificent composition in a granite framing. The nave is of +thirteenth-century Gothic, from the south aisle of which projects a +large chapel dedicated to St. Michael. The double-aisled choir is +garnished with sculptured stalls of the fifteenth century, and, +separated from its aisles by a stone screen, is of much larger +proportions than the nave, and likewise of a later epoch of building. +The apse is flamboyant, as are also the windows of the south transept. +In the chapels are various vaults and tombs, remarkably well preserved, +but of no special moment. In one of these chapels, however, is a curious +painting in the vaulting, representing a "Trinity" possessing three +faces, disposed in the form of a trefoil with three eyes only. A ribbon +or "_banderalle_" bears an inscription in Gothic characters; in the +Breton tongue, "_Ma Donez_" (Mon Dieu). + + + + +XV + +ST. CORENTIN DE QUIMPER + + +"C'est Quimper, ce mélange du passé et du présent." A true enough +description of most mediæval cities when viewed to-day; but with no +centre of habitation is it more true than of this city by the +sea,--though in reality it is not by the sea, but rather of it, with a +port always calm and tranquil. It takes rank with Brest as the western +outpost of modern France. + +For centuries unconquered, and possessing an individuality of its very +own, this now important prefecture has much to remind us of its past. +History, archæology, and "mere antiquarian lore" abound, and, in its +grandiose Cathedral of St. Corentin, one finds a large subject for his +appreciative consideration. + +[Illustration: ST. CORENTIN _de QUIMPER_ ...] + +It is of the robust and matured type that familiarity has come to regard +as representative of a bishopric; nothing is impoverished or +curtailed. Its fine towers with modern spires, erected from the proceeds +of a "butter tax," are broad of base and delicately and truly +proportioned. Its ground-plan is equally worthy, though the choir is not +truly orientated. Its general detail and ensemble, one part with +another, is all that fancy has told us a great church should contain, +and one can but be prepared to appreciate it when it is endorsed, and +commented on, by such ardent admirers as De Caumont, Viollet-le-Duc, +Corroyer, and Gonsé, those four accomplished Frenchmen, who probably +knew more concerning Mediæval (Gothic) architecture than all the rest of +the world put together. + +From the thirteenth to the fifteenth century there grew up here a work +embracing the ogival and the flamboyant, neither in an undue proportion, +but as well as in any other single structure known. This well shows the +rise, development, and apogee of the style which we commonly call +Gothic, but which the French prefer to call "ogival," and which should +really, if one is to fairly apportion credit where it is due, be best +known as French Mediæval architecture. + +Its west façade, with its generous lines, is strongly original. The two +towers, pierced with enormously heightened lancets, are indubitably +graceful and impressive, while a flanking pair of flying buttresses, +with their intermediate piers, form an unusual arrangement in the west +front of a French cathedral. + +Above the western gable is a curiously graven effigy of King Grollo in +stone. + +Considered as a whole, the exterior is representative of the best +contemporary features of the time, but contains few if any which are so +distinctly born of its environment as to be otherwise notable. + +The interior vies with the outer portion of the fabric in the general +effect of majesty and good design. The triforium is remarkably beautiful +and is overtopped by a range of clerestory windows which to an +appreciable extent contain good early glass. The easterly end is the +usual semicircular apse. + +Among the relics of the Cathedral is a crucifix which is supposed to +emit drops of blood when one perjures himself before it. It is, perhaps, +significant that the people of Finistère, the department which claims +Quimper as its capital, have the repute of being honest folk. + +The Bishops of Quimper were, by virtue of the gift of _le roi Grodlon le +Grave_, the only seigneurs of the city during the middle ages. + + + + +XVI + +VANNES + + +Vannes was the ancient capital of the Celtic tribe of the Veneti, its +inhabitants being put to rout by Cæsar in 57 B. C. Afterward it became +the Roman town of Duriorigum, and later reverted back to a corruption of +its former name. Christianity having made some progress, a council was +held, and a bishop appointed to the city, and from that time onward its +position in the Christian world appears to have been assured. For +centuries afterward, however, it was the centre of a maelstrom of +internal strife, in which Armoricans, Britons, Franks, and Romans appear +to have been inextricably involved. Then came the Northmen, who burned +the former Cathedral of St. Peter. This was rebuilt in the eleventh +century, and in no small measure forms the foundation of the present +structure, which to-day is the seat of a bishop, suffragan of Rennes. + +From this early architectural foundation, to the most florid and +flamboyant of late Gothic, is pretty much the whole range of Mediæval +architectural style. By no means has a grand or even fine structure +resulted. The old choir, suffering from the stress of time, was pulled +down and rebuilt as late as 1770. Thus, this usually excellently +appointed and constructed detail is here of no worthy rank whatever. The +nave and transepts were completed within the hundred years following +1452, and show the last flights of Gothic toward the heights from which +it afterward fell. Transformation and restoration have frequently been +undertaken, with the result that nowhere is to be seen perhaps greater +inconsistencies. The latest of these examples of a perverted industry is +seen in the nineteenth-century additions to the tower and the west +façade. The result is not, be it said, to the credit of its projectors. + + +THE END. + + + + +_Appendices_ + + + + +I + +_The Architectural Divisions of France_ + + +It is quite possible to construct an ethnographic map of a country from +its architectural remains,--but there must always be diverse and varying +opinions as to the delimitation of one school, as compared with another +lying contiguous thereto. + +One may wander from province to province, and continually find +reminders, of another manner of building, from that which is recognized +as the characteristic local species. This could hardly be otherwise. In +the past, as in the present, imitators were not few, and if the adoption +of new, or foreign, ideas was then less rapid, it was no less sure. +Still, in the main, there is a cohesiveness and limitation of +architectural style in France; which, as is but natural to suppose, is +in no way more clearly defined than by the churches which were built +during the middle ages, the earliest types retaining the influence of +massive forms, and the later again debasing itself to a heavy classical +order, neither a copy of anything of a pre-Gothic era, or a happy +development therefrom. Between the two, in a period of scarcely more +than three hundred years, there grew up and developed the ingenious and +graceful pointed style, in all its fearlessness and unconvention. + +Political causes had, perhaps, somewhat to do with the confining of a +particular style well within the land of its birth, but on the other +hand, warfare carried with it invasion and conquest of new sections, and +its followers, in a measure, may be said to have carried with them +certain of their former arts, accomplishments, and desires; and so grew +up the composite and mixed types which are frequently met with. + +There are a dozen or more architectural styles in what is known as the +France of to-day. The Provençal (more properly, says Fergusson, it +should be called "Gallia Narbonese,") one of the most beautiful and +clearly defined of all; the Burgundian, with its suggestion of +luxuriance and, if not massiveness, at least grandeur; the Auvergnian, +lying contiguous to both the above, with a style peculiarly its own, +though of an uncompromising southern aspect; Acquitanian, defining the +style which lies between Provence, the Auvergnat and the Pyrénées, and a +type quite different from either. The Angevinian, which extends +northward from Limoges to Normandy and Brittany, and northeasterly +nearly to Orleans, is a species difficult to place--it partakes largely +of southern influence, but is usually thought to merit a nomenclature of +its own, as distinct from the type found at Anjou. Turning now to the +northern or Frankish influence, as distinct from the Romance countries; +Brittany joins to no slight degree influences of each region; Normandy +partakes largely of the characteristics of the type of Central France, +which is thoroughly dominated by that indigenous to the Isle of France, +which species properly might include the Bourbonnais and Nivernoise +variants, as being something of a distinct type, though resembling, in +occasional details, southern features. This list, with the addition of +French Flanders, with its Lowland types, completes the arrangement, if +we except Alsace and Lorraine, which favour the German manner of +building rather more than any of the native French types. + + + + +II + +_A List of the Departments of France, and of the Ancient Provinces from +which they have been evolved._ + + +_Provinces and date of _Départements_ _Chefs-Lieux_ +union with France_ + +Ile de France, with La Seine Paris +Brie, etc. Always held Seine-et-Oise Versailles +by the Crown Seine-et-Marne Melun + Oise Beauvais + Aisne Laon + +Picardie. Louis XIV, 1667 Somme Amiens + +Artois and Boulonnais. Pas-de-Calais Arras +1640 + +Flandre and Hainault Nord Lille +Français. Louis XIV. +1667-1669 + +Normandie. Philippe Seine-Inférieure Rouen +Auguste, 1204 Eure Evreux + Calvados Caen + Orne Alençon + Manche Saint-Lo + +Bretagne. François I. Ille-et-Vilaine Rennes +1532 Côtes-du-Nord Saint-Brieux + Finisterre Quimper + Morbihan Vannes + Loire-Inférieure Nantes + +Orléanais. Louis XII. Loiret Orleans +1498 Loir-et-Cher Blois + +Beauce and Pays Chartrain Eure-et-Loire Chartres + +Maine. Louis XI. 1481 Sarthe Le Mans + Mayenne Laval + +Anjou. Louis XI. 1481 Maine-et-Loire Angers + +Touraine. Henri III. 1584 Indre-et-Loire Tours + +Poitou. Charles VI. 1416 Vendée Bourbon-Vendée + Deux-Sèvres Niort + Vienne Poitiers + +Berri. Philippe I. 1100 Indre Châteauroux + Cher Bourges + +Marche. François I. 1531 Creuse Guéret + +Limousin. Charles V. Haute-Vienne Limoges +1370 Corrèze Tulle + +Angoumois. Charles V. Charente Angoulême +1370 + +Saintonge and Aunis. Charente-Inférieure La Rochelle +1370 + +Guienne and Gascogne. Dordogne Périgueux + Charles VII. 1451 Gironde Bordeaux + Lot-et-Garonne Agen + Lot Cahors + Tarn-et-Garonne Montauban + Aveyron Rodez + Gers Auch + Hautes-Pyrénées Tarbes + Landes Mont-de-Marsan + +Béarn and French Navarre. Basses-Pyrénées Pau + Louis XIII. + +Comté de Foix. Louis XIII. Ariège Foix + +Roussillon. 1659 Pyrénées-Orientales Perpignan + +Languedoc. John, 1361 Haute-Garonne Toulouse + Tarn Albi + Aude Carcassonne + Hérault Montpellier + Gard Nîmes + +Vivarais Ardèche Privas + +Gévaudan Lozère Mende + +Velay Haute-Loire Le Puy + +Comtat Venaissin, Orange, Vaucluse Avignon + etc. Louis XIV. 1713 + +Provence. Louis XI. 1481 Bouches-du-Rhône Marseille + Var Draguignan + Basses-Alpes Digne + +Dauphiné. Philippe de Isère Grenoble + Valois, 1343 Drôme Valence + Hautes-Alpes Gap + +Lyonnais and Beaujolais Rhône Lyon + +Forez Loire St. Etienne + +Auvergne. Philippe Auguste, Puy-de-Dôme Clermont +1210 Cantal Aurillac + +Bourbonnais. Louis XII. Allier Moulins +1505 + +Nivernais. Charles VII. Nièvre Nevers +1457 + +Bresse, Bugey, etc. Ain Bourg + +Bourgogne (duché). Louis Saône-et-Loire Mâcon +XI. 1477 Côte-d'Or Dijon + Yonne Auxerre + +Comté de Bourgogne, or Doubs Besançon +Franche-Comté. Peace Jura Lons-le-Saulnier +of Nimeguen, 1678 Haute-Saône Vesoul + +Champagne. Philippe le Aube Troyes. +Bel, 1284 Marne Chalons-sur-Marne + Haute-Marne Chaumont + Ardennes Mézières + +Lorraine.[*] On the death Meurthe and Moselle Nancy +of Stanislas Leczinsky, Meuse Bar-le-Duc +1766 Vosges Epinal + +Alsace.[*] Louis XIV. 1648 Territory of Belfort Belfort + Haut-Rhin Colmar + +Corsica. 1794. Corse Ajaccio + +Comté de Nice. 1861 Alpes Maritimes Nice + +Savoy Savoie Chambéry + Haute-Savoie Annecy + +[*] The greater part of these provinces as they formerly stood +were ceded to Germany, May 10, 1871. + + + + +III + +_The Church in France_ + + +_La France Catholique_ is to-day divided into eighty-four dioceses, +administered, as to spiritual affairs, by seventeen archbishops and +sixty-seven bishops. To each diocese is attached a seminary for the +instruction of those who aspire to the priesthood. Each chief town of a +canton has its _curé_, each parish its _desservant_. + +_Archbishops and Bishops_ _Dioceses_ + +PARIS Seine + + Chartres Eure-et-Loire + + Meaux Seine-et-Marne + + Orleans Loiret + + Blois Loir-et-Cher + + Versailles Seine-et-Oise + +CAMBRAI Nord + + Arras Pas-de-Calais + +LYON-ET-VIENNE Rhône, Loire + + Autun Saône-et-Loire + + Langres Haute-Marne + + Dijon Côte-d'Or + + Sainte Claude Jura + + Grenoble Isère + +BOURGES Cher-et-Indre + + Clermont Puy-de-Dôme + + Limoges Haute-Vienne et Creuse + + Le Puy Haute-Loire + + Tulle Corrèze + + Saint Flour Cantal + +ALBI Tarn + + Rodez Aveyron + + Cahors Lot + + Meude Lozère + + Perpignan Pyrénées-Orientales + +BORDEAUX[*] Gironde + + Agen Lot-et-Garonne + + Angoulême Charente + + Poitiers Vienne-et-Deux Sèvres + + Périgueux Dordogne + + La Rochelle Charente-Inférieure + + Luçon Vendée + +AUCH Gers + + Aire Landes + + Tarbes Hautes-Pyrénées + + Bayonne Basses-Pyrénées + +TOULOUSE-NARBONNE Haute-Garonne + + Montauban Tarnè-et-Garonne + + Pamiers Ariège + + Carcassonne Aude + +ROUEN Seine-Inférieure + + Bayeux Calvados + + Evreux Eure + + Séez Orne + + Coutances Manche + +SENS ET AUXERRE Yonne + + Troyes Aube + + Nevers Nièvre + + Moulins Allier + +REIMS Arr. de Reims-et-Ardennes + + Soissons Aisne + + Chalons-sur-Marne Marne except Arrond. de Reims + + Beauvais Oise + + Amiens Somme + +TOURS Indre-et-Loire + + Le Mans Sarthe + + Angers Maine-et-Loire + + Nantes Loire-Inférieure + + Laval Mayenne + +AIX, ARLES, AND EMBRUN Bouches-du-Rhône except Marseilles + + Marseilles Arr. de Marseilles + + Fréjus and Toulon Var + + Digne Basses-Alpes + + Gap Hautes-Alpes + + Nice Alpes-Maritimes + + Ajaccio Corse + +BESANÇON Doubs et Haute-Saône + + Verdun Meuse + + Belley Ain + + St. Dié Vosges + + Nancy Meurthe + +AVIGNON Vaucluse + + Nîmes Gard + + Valence Drôme + + Viviers Ardèche + + Montpellier Hérault + +RENNES Ille-et-Vilaine + + Quimper Finisterre + + Vannes Morbihan + + St. Brieuc Côtes-du-Nord + +CHAMBÉRY + + Annecy Haute-Savoie + + Tarentaise Val-de-Tarentaise (Savoie) + + Maurienne Val-de-Maurienne (Savoie) + +[*] The Archbishop of Bordeaux has three suffragans outside +France: St. Denis and La Reunion, St. Pierre and Fort de France +(Martinique), Basseterre (Guadaloupe). + + + + +IV + +_A List of the Larger French Churches which were at one time Cathedrals +and usually referred to as such._ + + +NOTE.--Those marked H. M. are classed as Les Monuments Historiques by La +Commission de la Conservation des Monuments Historiques. + +Agde _Hérault_ H. M. + +Alais _Garde_ + +Alençon _Orne_ Notre Dame H. M. + +Alet _Aude_ Notre Dame H. M. + +Apt _Vaucluse_ H. M. + +Arles _Bouches-du-Rhône_ St. Trophimus H. M. + +Arras St. Vaast + +Auxerre _Yonne_ St. Etienne H. M. + +Auxonne _Côte-d'Or_ Notre Dame + +Avranches _Manche_ (remains only) H. M. + +Bazas _Gironde_ St. Jean H. M. + +Bethléem (There was once a Bishop of + Bethléem whose see was the + village of Clamecy only, but + no cathedral.) + +Béziers _Hérault_ St. Nazaire H. M. + +Boulogne _Pas-de-Calais_ Notre Dame + +Bourg _Ain_ Notre Dame + +Brioud _Haute-Loire_ H. M. + +Cambrai Notre Dame + +Carcassonne _Aude_ St. Nazaire H. M. + +Carpentras _Vaucluse_ St. Siffrein H. M. + +Castres _Tarn_ St. Benonit + +Cavaillon _Vaucluse_ St. Véran H. M. + +Condom _Gers_ H. M. + +Conserons _Ariège_ (See St. Lizier) + +Die _Drôme_ H. M. + +Dinan _Côtes-du-Nord_ St. Saveur H. M. + +Dol _Ille-et-Vilaine_ St. Samson H. M. + +Elne _Pyrénées-Orientales_ H. M. + +Embrun _Hautes-Alpes_ H. M. + +Glandèves _Basses-Alpes_ (Bishopric transferred + to Entrevaux) + +Grasse _Alpes-Maritimes_ (Bishopric in XIVth + century) + +Laon _Aisne_ Notre Dame H. M. + +Lavaur _Tarn_ (Bishopric in XIVth + century) + +Lectours _Gers_ (Bishopric in Xth century) + +Lescar _Basses-Pyrénées_ H. M. + +Lisieux _Calvados_ St. Pierre + +Lodeve _Hérault_ St. Fulcran H. M. + +Lombez _Gers_ H. M. + +Mâcon _Saône-et-Loire_ St. Vincent H. M. + +Mallezais _Vendée_ + +Mirepoix _Ariège_ (Bishopric in XIVth + century) + +Noyon _Oise_ Notre Dame H. M. + +Oloron _Basses-Pyrénées_ H. M. + +Orange _Vaucluse_ Notre Dame + +Périgueux _Dordogne_ St. Etienne + +St. Bertrand _Haute-Garonne_ H. M. +de Comminges + +St. Dié _Vosges_ + +St. Lizier _Ariège_ H. M. + +St. Lo _Manche_ Notre Dame H. M. + +St. Malo _Ille-et-Vilaine_ + +Ste. Marie _Basses-Pyrénées_ + +St. Omer _Pas-de-Calais_ Notre Dame H. M. + +St. Papoul _Aude_ H. M. + +St. Paul Trois _Drôme_ H. M. +Chateaux + +St. Pol de Leon _Finisterre_ H. M. + +St. Servan _Ille-et-Vilaine_ St. Pierre d'Aleth + +Sarlat _Dordogne_ H. M. + +Séez _Orne_ Notre Dame H. M. + +Senez _Basses-Alpes_ H. M. + +Senlis _Oise_ Notre Dame H. M. + +Sisteron _Basses-Alpes_ + +Soissons _Aisne_ Notre Dame H. M. + St. Gervais + St. Protais + +Tarbes _Hautes-Pyrénées_ Eglise de la Séde H. M. + +Toul _Meurthe_ St. Etienne H. M. + +Toulon _Var_ Ste. Marie-Majeur + +Tréguier _Côtes-du-Nord_ H. M. + +Uzès _Gard_ St. Thierry + +Vabres _Aveyron_ + +Vaiso _Vaucluse_ H. M. + +Versailles _Seine-et-Oise_ St. Louis + +Vence _Alpes-Maritimes_ H. M. + +Vienne _Isère_ St. Maurice H. M. + + + + +V + +_Chronology of the chief styles and examples of church building in the +north of France from the Romano-Byzantine period to that of the +Renaissance_ + + +1050-1075 Nevers St. Etienne Distinct round-arch +1075-1100 Bayeux Notre Dame style + Caen St. Etienne + +1125-1150 Autun St. Lazare Pointed arch in + St. Denis (choir) vaulting and +1150-1175 Angers St. Maurice larger works, with + Paris Notre Dame the retaining of + Sens St. Etienne the round in the + smaller + +1200-1225 Reims Notre Dame General adoption + Auxerre St. Etienne of the ogival + Troyes Sts. Peter and Paul style + +1225-1250 Amiens Notre Dame The completed + Dijon St. Bénigne ogival style + Bourges St. Etienne +1250-1275 Noyon Notre Dame (cloisters) +1300-1325 Rouen Notre Dame (lady-chapel) +1350-1375 Chartres Notre Dame + +1425-1450 Auxerre St. Etienne (N. transept) Introduction of + Renaissance detail +1450-1475 Evreux Notre Dame (transepts in Italy and + and tower) elaboration of + Gothic in France + +1475-1500 Rouen Notre Dame (S. W. Renaissance firmly + tower) grafted in Italy + Nevers St. Etienne (S. porch) and gradually +1500-1525 Beauvais St. Pierre (S. transept) appearing in the + Chartres Notre Dame (N. W. Gothic of France + spire) + +1525-1550 Beauvais St. Pierre (N. transept) + Amiens Notre Dame (flêche) + +1550-1575 Beauvais St. Pierre (central tower Renaissance firmly + since destroyed) established +1600-1625 Orleans Ste. Croix + + + + +VI + +_Dimensions and Chronology_ + + +NOTRE DAME D'AMIENS + +[Illustration: _Notre Dame d'Amiens_] + +_Dimensions_ + +Length of nave and choir, 469 feet + +Width including transepts, 214 feet + +Width of nave, 59 feet + +Width of aisles, 33-1/2 feet + +Height of nave, 141 or 147 feet, estimated variously + +Height of aisles, 65 feet + +Length of choir, 135 feet + +Width of nave including aisles, 150 feet + +Length of transepts, 194 feet + +Width of transepts, 36 feet, 6 inches + +Height of spire, 422 feet + +Superficial area, 70,000 square feet (approx.) + +_Chronology_ + +Nave and choir, 1220-1288 + +Choir stalls, 1520 + +Western towers completed, 1533 + +Lateral chapels of nave, XVIth century + +Choir chapels, XIIIth century + + +ST. MAURICE D'ANGERS + +[Illustration] + +_Dimensions_ + +Length of nave and choir, 300 feet + +Width of transepts, 40 feet + +Height of transepts, 80 feet + +Height of nave, 110 feet + +Width of nave, 53 feet + +Height of spires, 225 feet + +_Chronology_ + +Lower walls, Romano-Byzantine + +Main body completed, 1240 + +Choir, XIIth century + +Bishop's Palace, XIIth century + +Arras tapestries, XIVth century + +Choir doorway, XIIIth century + +(Recently restored by Viollet-le-Duc) + + +ST. VAAST D'ARRAS + +_Dimensions_ + +Length of nave and choir, 302 feet + +Height of nave, 66-1/2 feet + +Width of nave, 49 feet + +Height of tower, 154 feet + +_Chronology_ + +Former Cathedral of Notre Dame begun, end of XIIth century + +Former Cathedral of Notre Dame completed, 1499 + +Present Cathedral of St. Vaast, 1755-1833 + +Triptych of Bellegambe in present Cathedral, 1528 + +Former Abbey of St. Vaast, now Episcopal Palace since 1754 + + +ST. LAZARE D'AUTUN + +_Dimensions_ + +Height of spire, 325 feet + +_Chronology_ + +Transition portion constructed by Robert I., +Duke of Burgundy, 1031-1076 + +Spire, XVth century + +Sculpture of choir, XVIth century + +Flamboyant chapels, XVIth century + + +AUXERRE + +_Chronology_ + +Crypt (remains of early work), XIth century + +Choir and glass, 1215-1234 + +Western portals, XIIIth century + +Nave, 1334-1373 + +North transept, 1415-1513 + +N. W. tower, 1525-1530 + +Iron _grille_ of choir, XVIIIth century + + +NOTRE DAME DE BAYEUX + +_Dimensions_ + +Central belfry, 300 feet + +Length interior, 335 feet + +Height interior, 74 feet, 9 inches + +Height of western towers, 252 feet + +_Chronology_ + +Odo's crypt, XIth century + +Circular arches of nave, late XIth or early XIIth century + +Portals of west façade, XIIIth century + +Chasuble of St. Regnobert, gift of St. Louis, 1226 + +Date of tapestry (in inventory of church property), 1476 + + +ST. PIERRE DE BEAUVAIS + +_Dimensions_ + +Height of nave, 150 feet + +Height of original spire, which fell in 1573, 486 feet + +Area of choir, about 28,000 square feet + +_Chronology_ + +The Basse OEuvre, VIth to VIIIth centuries + +Present building begun, 1225 + +Dedicated, 1272 + +Roof fell, 1284 + +South transept begun, 1500 + +North transept begun, 1530 + +North transept finished, 1537 + +Central spire fell, 1573 + +Ancient Bishop's Palace, now Palais de Justice, +XIVth to XVIth centuries + + +ST. ETIENNE DE BOURGES + +[Illustration: _St. Etienne de Bourges_] + +_Dimensions_ + +Length, 405 feet + +Width, 135-1/2 feet + +Height of nave, 124-1/2 feet + +Height of inner aisle, 66 feet + +Height of outer aisle, 28 feet + +Height north tower, 217-1/2 feet + +Height south tower, 176 feet + +Superficial area, 73,170 square feet (approx.) + +_Chronology_ + +Dedicated, 1324 + +Sepulchre, 1336 + +Crypts, XIIth century + +North tower, 1508-1538 + +Tower St. Etienne completed, 1490 + +Tower St. Etienne fell, 1506 + +Choir stalls, 1760 + + +ST. ETIENNE DE CHÂLONS-SUR-MARNE + +_Chronology_ + +Tower next north door, Romano-Byzantine + +Part of nave and choir, Ogival primaire + +Aisle and chapels of apse, XIVth century + +Apse restored, after fire, in 1672 + + +NOTRE DAME DE CHARTRES + +_Dimensions_ + +Length nave and choir, 430 feet + +Width, 110 feet + +Length nave only, 121 feet + +Width nave, 46 feet + +Width nave aisles, 19 feet + +Height nave, 106 feet + +Length transepts, 202 feet + +Width transepts, 70 feet + +Height of north spire, 403 feet + +Height of south spire, 365 feet + +Rose window, diameter, 40 to 43 feet + +Area, 65,000 square feet (approx.) + +_Chronology_ + +Wooden church burned, 1020 + +Crypt under chevet of choir, 1029 +(only remains of original church) + +Work of rebuilding stopped, 1048 + +South portal erected, 1060 + +Work aided by Matilda, queen of William I., 1083 + +Lower portion of main body built, 1100-1150 + +Western towers, 1145 + +Fire damaged greater part, 1194 + +Vaulting completed, 1220 + +Porches of transepts added, 1250 + +Building consecrated, October 17, 1260 + +Sacristy and screen in crypt, XIIIth century + +North spire burned, 1506 + +Texier's spire erected, 1507-1515 + +Texier's spire repaired, 1629 + +South spire repaired, 1754 + +Belfry and roof burned (vaulting unharmed), 1836 + + +NOTRE DAME D'EVREUX + +_Dimensions_ + +Length, 368 feet, 6 inches + +Transept, length, 112 feet + +Transept, width, 23 feet + +_Chronology_ + +Church consecrated, 1076 + +Church burnt, 1119 + +Northwest tower foundations laid, 1352 + +Northwest tower completed, 1417 + +North transept, XVIth century + +Nave, early XIIth to late XVth century + +Choir, XIVth century + +Lady-chapel, XIIIth century + + +NOTRE DAME DE LAON + +[Illustration: _Laon_] + +_Dimensions_ + +Length of nave and choir, 351 feet + +Height of nave, 80 feet + +Width of nave, 67 feet, 7 inches + +Length of transepts, 174 feet + +Width of transepts, 35 feet, 9 inches + +Height of western towers, 173 feet + +Height of southwest tower and spire (formerly), 328 feet + +Western circular window, 26 feet + +Superficial area, 44,000 square feet (approx.) + +_Chronology_ + +Original church burned, 1112 + +New edifice begun, 1114 + +Entirely rebuilt, 1190 + +General restoration, 1851 + + +ST. JULIEN, LE MANS + +[Illustration: _LE MANS_] + +_Dimensions_ + +Length of nave and choir, 369 feet + +Width of nave and aisles, 78 feet + +Width of choir, 123 feet + +Height of choir, 108 feet + +Area of choir, 30,000 square feet (approx.) + +Length of transept, 178 feet + +Width of transept, 32 feet + +_Chronology_ + +West façade, XIth century + +Transition, south portal, XIIth century + +Nave and transepts reconstructed, XIIth century + +Church extended beyond city walls, XIIIth century + +Choir rebuilt, 1200 + +Choir restored, 1858 + +Coloured glass, XIIIth, XIVth, XVth centuries + +Rose window, south transept, XVth century + +Former Bishop's Palace destroyed by Germans, 1871 + + +ST. ETIENNE DE MEAUX + +_Dimensions_ + +Height of nave, 109 feet + +Length of nave, 275 feet + +Length of transepts, 120 feet + +_Chronology_ + +Bishopric founded, 375 A.D. + +Choir in part, XIIth century + +Restored, 1852 + + +ST. PIERRE DE NANTES + +[Illustration] + +_Dimensions_ + +Height of western towers, 270 feet + +Height of nave, 130 feet + +_Chronology_ + +Remains of choir contains, XIIth century + +Romanesque church rebuilt, XVth century + +West front, 1434-1500 + +North transept and choir only completed in XIXth century + +Tomb of François II. and Marguerite de Foix, 1507 + +Later restoration, 1852 + + +NOTRE DAME DE NOYON + +[Illustration: _Noyon_] + +_Dimensions_ + +Length, 338 feet + +Width of nave and aisles, 64 feet, 10 inches + +Height of nave, 74 feet, 6 inches + +Height of aisles, 28 feet, 9 inches + +Height of choir, 26 feet, 3 inches + +Height of towers, 200 feet + +Superficial area, 30,000 square feet (approx.) + +_Chronology_ + +First constructed, 989 + +Burnt, 1131 + +Rebuilding undertaken, 1137-1150 + +Choir, transepts, and nave completed, 1167-1200 + +Timber work burnt, 1293 + +Chapter-house built, XIIIth century + +Five bays of cloister built, XIVth century + +Restored under governmental supervision, 1840 + + +ST. CROIX D'ORLEANS + +_Dimensions_ + +Height of towers, 280 feet + +Height of nave, 100 feet + +_Chronology_ + +First bishops sent from Rome, IIIrd century + +Cathedral destroyed by Huguenots, 1567 + +Chapels of nave which still remain, XIVth century + +Late Gothic mainly of XVIIth century + +Western towers completed, 1789 + + +NOTRE DAME DE PARIS + +[Illustration: _Paris_] + +_Dimensions_ + +Length, 390 feet + +Width, 144 feet + +Height of nave, 102 feet + +Diameter of rose windows in transept, 36 feet + +Superficial area, 64,100 square feet + +_Chronology_ + +Founded by Bishop de Sully, 1160-1170 + +High altar dedicated, 1182 + +Interior completed (approx.), 1208 + +West front, 1223-1230 + +Western towers, 1235 + +Transept portals, 1257 + + +NOTRE DAME DE REIMS + +[Illustration: _Reims_] + +[Illustration: _Flying Buttresses, Reims_] + +_Dimensions_ + +Western towers, 267 feet + +Area, 65,000 feet (approx.) + +_Chronology_ + +First stone laid, 1212 + +First portion dedicated, 1215 + +Chapter takes possession of choir, 1244 + +Nave commenced, 1250 + +Transept and abside ornamented, 1295 + +South tower begun and completed, 1380-1391 + +Coronation of Charles VII., 1427 + +Southwest tower completed by Philastre, 1430 + +Tapestries added to choir, 1444 + +Belfry of the Angel built, 1497 + +Gable of the Assumption and Zodiac, 1408 + +Reëstablishment of grand altar, 1547 + +Repairs to portals and vaulting, 1610 + +Cathedral becomes national property, 1790 + +Exterior repairs and restoration, 1811 + +General restorations, 1840 + +2,083,411 francs voted by Chamber for restorations, 1875 + +Gifts of Gobelin tapestries, 1848 + + +NOTRE DAME DE ROUEN + +[Illustration: _Notre Dame Rouen_] + +_Dimensions_ + +Length of nave and choir, 450 feet + +Width, including transepts, 177 feet + +Width of nave and aisles, 105 feet + +Length of choir only, 118 feet + +Height of nave, 92 feet + +Height of central spire, 480 feet + +Height of Tour de Beurre, 252 feet + +Height of Tour St. Romain, 246 feet + +Area (originally), 53,000 square feet + +_Chronology_ + +First church founded on site of cathedral by St. Mellar, VIIth century + +Cathedral enlarged under Rollo, who was buried therein in 930 + +Consecrated and dedicated, 1063 + +Tour St. Romain, remains of, XIth century + +Destroyed by fire, 1200 + +New building completed, XIIIth century + +Portail de la Calende, XIVth century + +Tour de Beurre laid, 1487 + +Tour de Beurre completed, 1507 + +Flamboyant west front, XVIth century + +Altar of St. Romain, XVIIth century + +Tomb of the Cardinals, 1556 + +Central spire, 1823 + +Restoration of west front, 1897 + + +ST. ETIENNE DE SENS + +_Dimensions_ + +Length, 384 feet + +Width, 124 feet + +Height, 98 feet + +Area, 44,000 square feet + +_Chronology_ + +Relique of True Cross given by Charlemagne, 800 A. D. + +Early church destroyed by fire, 970 + +New church dedicated, 997 + +Present building completed, 1168 + +Choir rebuilt, 1174 + +Present transept and nave, XIIth and XIIIth centuries + +Glass in chapel of St. Savinien, XIIIth century + +Glass of rose windows, XVIth century + +Mausoleum of the Dauphin, XVIIIth century + + +BASILIQUE DE ST. DENIS + +_Dimensions_ + +Length of nave and choir, 354 feet + +Width, 133 feet + +Clerestory windows (height), 33 feet + +_Chronology_ + +Chapel first built above grave of St. Dionysius the martyr, 275 A. D. + +Benedictine abbey first founded here in reign of Dagobert, 628 + +Pope Stephen took refuge here, 754 + +Romanesque façade, 1140 + +Consecration of the building, 1144 + +Nave, XIIIth century + +Abbot Suger died, 1151 + +General restoration by Suger's successors, XIIIth century + +Crenelated battlement added to façade, XIVth century + +Spire burned by lightning, XIXth century + +General restoration by Viollet-le-Duc, 1860 + +Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette reinterred here (removed from +the Madeleine), 1817 + +[Illustration: CRYPT S. DENIS] + +[Illustration: S DENIS] + + +NOTRE DAME DE ST. OMER + +_Dimensions_ + +The great bell of tower weighs 8,500 kilos. + +_Chronology_ + +Bishopric founded, 1533 + +Astronomical clock, XVIth century + +Tomb of St. Erkembode, VIIIth century + +Tomb of St. Omer restored, XIIIth century + +Former Episcopal Palace, now Palais de Justice, 1680 + + +ST. GATIEN DE TOURS + +[Illustration] + +_Dimensions_ + +Length of nave and choir, 256 feet + +Width, 95 feet + +_Chronology_ + +Choir begun, 1170 + +Tour Charlemagne, XIth century + +Tour St. Martin, XIIth century + +Transepts, 1316 + +West façade, 1430-1500 + +Southwest tower, 1507 + +Tomb of children of Charles VIII., 1483 + + +ST. PIERRE DE TROYES + +_Dimensions_ + +Length, 394 feet + +Width, 168 feet + +Height, 96 feet + +Height northwest tower, 202 feet + +_Chronology_ + +Apse and chapels, 1206-1223 + +Choir and transepts, 1314-1315 + +Iron _grille_ of choir, XIIIth century + +Church consecrated, 1430 + +West façade, XVth century + +Nave constructed during XIVth, XVth, XVIth centuries + +North gable, XVth century + +Tower St. Pierre, 1559-1568 + +Northwest tower demolished by lightning, 1700 + +Vaulting of transepts fell, 1840 + +Restoration of choir and transepts, 1840 + + + + +VII + +_The French Kings from Charlemagne Onward_ + + + A. D. + +Charlemagne 768 + +Louis le Débonnaire 814 + +Charles le Chauve 840 + +Louis II., le Bègue 877 + +Louis III. 879 + +Carloman 879 + +Charles le Gros 884 + +Eudes 887 + +Charles III., the Simple 893 + +Robert I. 922 + +Rodolf of Burgundy 923 + +Louis IV., the Stranger 936 + +Lothaire 954 + +Louis V., le Fainéant 986 + +Hugh Capet 987 + +Robert II., the Wise 996 + +Henry I. 1031 + +Philip I., l'Amoureux 1060 + +Louis VI., le Gros 1108 + +Louis VII., le Jeune 1137 + +Philip Augustus 1180 + +Louis VIII., the Lion 1223 + +Louis IX., the Saint 1226 + +Philip III., the Hardy 1270 + +Philip IV., the Fair 1285 + +Louis X., Hutin 1314 + +John I. 1316 + +Philip V. 1316 + +Charles IV., le Bel 1322 + +Philip VI., de Valois 1328 + +John II., the Good 1350 + +Charles V., le Sage 1364 + +Charles VI., the Beloved 1380 + +Charles VII., the Victorious 1422 + +Louis XI. 1461 + +Charles VIII. 1483 + +Louis XII., of Orleans 1498 + +Francis I. 1515 + +Henry II. 1547 + +Francis II. 1559 + +Charles IX. 1560 + +Henry III. 1574 + +Henry IV., the Great 1589 + +Louis XIII., the Just 1610 + +Louis XIV., le Grand 1643 + +Louis XV. 1715 + +Louis XVI. 1774 + +Revolutionary Tribunal 1793 + +Directory 1795 + +Napoleon, Consul 1799 + +Napoleon I., Emperor 1804 + +Louis XVIII. 1814 + +Charles X. 1824 + +Louis Philippe 1830 + +Republic 1848 + +Napoleon III., Emperor 1852 + +Republic 1870 + +[Illustration: CHARLES VII] + + + + +VIII + +_Measurements of the Cathedrals at Amiens and Salisbury_ + +(_Whittington_) + + + _Amiens_ _Salisbury_ + _French feet_ _English feet_ + +Length east to west 415 452 +Length west door to choir 220 246 +Length behind choir, including lady-chapel 63 65 +Length transepts north to south 182 210 +Width nave 42.9 34.5 +Width transept 42.9 +Width side aisles 18 17.5 +Width windows 41 48 +Width nave and side aisles 78.9 102 +Width west front 150 115 +Height vault, nave 132 84 +Height vault, choir 129 +Height west towers 210 +Height chapels 60 +Height side aisles, nave 60.8 +Height side aisles, choir 57.8 38 +Distance between pillars 16 +Height grand arches 78 78 +Number of pillars 46 +Number of chapels 25 +Length of choir 130 140 + +(The old French foot is the equal of 1.06576 English feet.) + +The above comparative measurements are given as being of the +contemporary types of English and French cathedrals, being nearly +approximate to each other as to the date of their erection and +measurements. The figures themselves are transcribed from a little-known +but thoroughly conscientious work by G. D. Whittington, entitled +"Contributions to an Ecclesiastical Survey of France." + + + + +IX + +_French Metres Reduced to English Feet_ + + +Metres English feet and Metres English feet and Metres English feet and + decimal parts decimal parts decimal parts + + 1 3.281 20 65.618 300 984.270 + + 2 6.562 30 98.427 400 1312.360 + + 3 9.843 40 131.236 500 1640.450 + + 4 13.123 50 164.045 600 1968.539 + + 5 16.404 60 196.854 700 2296.629 + + 6 19.685 70 229.663 800 2624.719 + + 7 22.966 80 262.472 900 2952.809 + + 8 26.247 90 295.281 1000 3280.899 + + 9 29.528 100 328.090 + + 10 32.809 200 656.180 + + + + +X + +_A Brief Glossary of architectural terms, with popular definitions, as +applied to the components which compose the principal features of a +cathedral church_ + + +[Illustration: NO. 1. GROUND PLAN] + +A Lady-chapel The principal chapel, usually behind the + high altar, at the extremity or eastern end + of choir, dedicated to Our Lady (Notre + Dame) + +B Transept The middle portion of a church, which projects + at right angles with the main body + of nave and choir + +C Porch Usually the vestibule or receding doorway + +D Lantern or crossing Where the transept crosses and joins choir + and nave, usually with windows, if a lantern + proper + +E Choir That portion of the edifice in which are + stalls for the choristers, and chapter, also + containing the _Maître d'Autel_ + +F Ambulatory The aisles or colonnade which surround + the choir + +G Chapels Literally a small place of worship containing + an altar. In a great church, which + may contain several, they are usually + dedicated to male and female saints + +H Nave The main body of a church, extending from + the choir to the principal façade; _i. e._ + that part between the outer aisles + +I Aisles The lateral passage on either side of the + nave and separated therefrom by piers + or pillars + +J Portal Literally, the framework of a doorway + +K Abside The domed easterly end of a church + +L Sacristy The apartment in which is kept the church + plate and vestments + +[Illustration: NO. 2. CROSS SECTION] + +A Nave aisle vaulting The arched roof of stone + +B Nave vaulting The arched roof of stone + +C Flying buttress A supporting outside prop of the thrust + variety. Notably a distinguishing feature + of mediæval Gothic architecture + +D Side aisle The passage which flanks the nave + +E Buttress pier The outer support of a flying buttress + +F Pinnacle On towers, buttress piers, gables, etc. + +G Gargoyle A projecting water-spout carved grotesquely + +H Niche A recess in a wall, or surmounting a pier; + primarily to hold a statue + +[Illustration: NO. 3. INTERIOR] + +A Clerestory The upper range of windows of the nave; + rising above the adjoining portions + +B Triforium Literally, a blind window--a range of + openings, or possibly an arcade-effect + only, coming below the clerestory and + above the lower arches of the nave + +C Arch (between nave and ai + Joining the piers or pillars which separate + nave from aisles + +D Pillars (of nave) Commonly called pillars, columns, and + piers, but more often are literally pillars, + being made up of blocks of stone one + upon another + +E Vaulting The stone arched roof + +F West wall Here, in the true Gothic church, is usually + found a rose window, though often obscured + by the organ case + +G Arcaded gallery A feature frequently seen in the interior of + great churches, as distinct from the triforium. + Either decorative or of practical + value + +H Pavement The floor, always of stone, and often of + marble or mosaic + +[Illustration: NO. 4. CROSS SECTION] + +A Flying buttresses A thrust support, or prop, extending from + the main fabric to an outer pier + +B Timber roof The timber or scantling above the nave, + which supports the outer tiled or leaden + roofing + +C Nave The main body of a church + +D Aisle The passage which flanks the nave + +E Outer aisle A second or outer passage flanking the nave + +F Stairway to roof of aisle + Stairways from the interior pavement, leading + to triforium, belfry, or roof + +G Crypt In reality a lower or subterranean church + or chapel; from _crypta_, to hide + +H Buttress pier The outer support of a flying buttress, or + one lying directly against the wall which + it strengthens + + + + +INDEX + + +Abélard, 94. + +Acquitaine, 176, 211. + +Adela, mother of King Stephen of Blois, 121. + +Agrippa, 134. + +Aisne, Department of the, 134. + +Alençon, Bishop of, 307. + +Alençon, Notre Dame d', 296-298. + +Amboise, Cardinal d', 84, 90. + +Amboise, Georges d', 85, 90. + +Amiens, 32, 35, 37, 61, 62, 117, 129, 133, 200, 267, 272, 278. + +Amiens, Bishop of, 65. + +Amiens, Cathedral at, 140, 141, 384. + +Amiens, Flying buttresses at, 67. + +Amiens, Notre Dame d', 64, 69, 72, 366, 367. + +"Ampoule, Sainte," The, 25, 143. + +Angers, 119, 149. + +Angers, Bishop's Palace at, 181. + +Angers, Castle at, 175. + +Angers, David d', 235. + +Angers, St. Maurice d', 147, 173-182, 367, 368. + +Angevine Churches, The, 215. + +Angevine details at Le Mans, 115. + +Angevine style of architecture, The, 176, 180. + +Angoulême, 15. + +Anjou, 115. + +Anjou, Counts of, 175. + +Anjou, Dukes of, 173, 181. + +Anjou, Margaret of, 173. + +Anne of Brittany, 169, 184. + +Anne, Duchess (_see also_ Anne of Brittany), 188. + +Antwerp, 126. + +Architectural divisions of France, 34. + +Ardennes, Department of the, 134. + +Arles, 33. + +Arras, 15, 184, 226. + +Arras, Belfry at, 245; + Citadel of, 244; + Hôtel de Ville, 245. + +Arras, St. Vaast d', 242-246, 368. + +Artois, 237, 242. + +Assisi, St. Francis of, 188. + +Attila, 132. + +Attila, Attack on Aurelianum, 150. + +Attila, Defeat at Chalons, 251. + +Augustus, 134. + +Aurelian, 150, 226. + +Autun, 33, 257, 258. + +Autun, St. Lazare d', 257-261, 368. + +Auvergne, 151. + +Auvergnat Churches, The, 215. + +Auxerre, 215. + +Auxerre, Bishops of, 194. + +Auxerre, Episcopal Palace at, 195. + +Auxerre, St. Etienne d', 191-196, 369. + +Auxonne, Notre Dame d', 220. + +Avignon, 33. + +Avranches, 321. + +Avranches, Notre Dame de, 326-328. + +Azon, 307. + + +Baldwin of Hainault, 237. + +Balzac, 164. + +Bayeux, 285. + +Bayeux, Odo, Bishop of, 311, 312. + +Bayeux, Notre Dame de, 310-314, 369. + +Bayeux, Tapestry of, 310, 311. + +Beauvais, 13, 19, 20, 32, 35, 37, 61, 69, 117-119, 133, 200, 267. + +Beauvais, Bishop of, 52, 303. + +Beauvais, Romano-Byzantine work at, 75. + +Beauvais, Cathedral of St. Pierre, 28, 70-76, 140, 369. + +Beaux Arts, Département de, 23, 340. + +Beaux Arts, Palais des, 96. + +Becket, St. Thomas à, 54, 280, 282, 327. + +Bedford, Duke of, 90. + +Belgica, Secunda, 132. + +Bellegambe, 244. + +Bellêne, Count of, 307. + +Belmas, Bishop, 235. + +Benedictine Abbey at St. Denis, 93. + +Berengaria, Queen, 113, 120. + +Bernard de Soissons, 138. + +Berry, Duc de, 96, 108. + +Besançon, 27, 32, 223, 225. + +Bethléem, Bishop of, 31. + +Bishop's Palace, The (Amiens), 67. + +Bishop's Palace, The, at Beauvais, 76. + +"Black Angers," 174 (_see_ Shakespeare on Angers). + +Blanche of Castile, 66, 169. + +Blois, 18, 149, 210, 215. + +Blois, Chateau of, 157. + +Blois, Counts of, 121. + +Blois, King Stephen of, 121. + +Blois, St. Louis de, 156. + +Bonn, Minster at, 50. + +Borgia, Cæsar, 182. + +Borromée, 244. + +Boulogne-sur-Mer, 223, 225. + +Boulogne-sur-Mer, Notre Dame de, 231-233. + +Bourassé, Abbé, 108, 211, 260, 279, 303. + +Bourges, 33, 37, 61, 215. + +Bourges, St. Etienne de, 139, 199-208, 370. + +Brest, 348. + +Bretagne, Duc de, 187. + +Briceius, 165. + +Brittany, 12, 20, 27, 32. + +Brittany, Chancellor of, 182. + +Brittany, Duchy of, 184. + +Bruges, 262. + +Burgundy, 258, 259, 262. + +Byzantine influences at Bourges, 202. + +Byzantine tendencies, 13; + conception, 27. + + +Caen, 285. + +Cæsar, burned Orleans, 150. + +Calixtus II., 133. + +Calvin (John), 51. + +Cambrai, 15, 226. + +Cambrai, Notre Dame de, 234-236. + +Capet, Hugh, 51. + +Carcassonne, 33. + +Carlovingian Dynasty, The, 94. + +Carrier, 183. + +Cathedrals, The Grand, 23. + +Cathedrals of the North, 26. + +"Caveau Imperial," The, at St. Denis, 95. + +Chalons (sur Marne), 132, 133, 226. + +Chalons-sur-Marne, St. Etienne de, 251-253, 371. + +Chambidge, Martin, 276. + +Chambord, 18, 210, 214. + +Champagne, Counts of, 274. + +Chancellor of Brittany, 182. + +Chantilly, Chateau of, 50. + +Charlemagne, 51, 133, 282. + +Charlemagne, Tour de, 165. + +Charles of Anjou, 120. + +Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, 262-263. + +Charles (King), 212. + +Charles V., 240, 282. + +Charles VII., 30, 138, 144. + +Charles VIII., 17, 169, 184. + +Charles X., 24, 144. + +Chartres, 20, 30, 33, 35, 61, 62, 113, 210, 215, 278, 338. + +Chartres, Celtic foundation of, 124. + +Chartres, Counts of, 121. + +Chartres, Details at, 87. + +Chartres, Jean de, 187. + +Chartres, Notre Dame de, 121, 139, 140, 141, 371. + +Chartres, Spires of Cathedral at, 125, 267. + +Chaste Susanne, Painting of, 220. + +Chateau of the Italian Dukes (at Nevers), 210. + +Chateaux of the Loire, 18, 32, 148. + +Chaucer's "Temple of Mars," 86. + +Chaumont, 18. + +Chenonceau, 18, 210. + +Childeric, 132, 133. + +Cires-les-Mello, 35. + +Clamecy, 31. + +Clement, Eudes, 99. + +Clotilda, wife of Clovis, 133. + +Clovis, 22, 30, 138, 139, 143, 144, 224. + +Clovis, Baptism of, 133. + +Coligny, 151. + +Cologne, Apse-sided transepts at, 50. + +Cologne, Cathedral at, 20, 37, 135, 141. + +Colomb, Michel, 187, 332. + +Colombiers, 315. + +Commercy, Jacquemin de, 250. + +Commission des Monuments Historiques, 35, 170, 176, 213. + +Compiègne, Chateau of, 50. + +Condés, The, 153. + +Constant, 282. + +Cormier, Jean, 129. + +Corroyer, 349. + +Coucy, Chateau of, 50. + +Coutances, 267, 285, 286, 321. + +Coutances, Notre Dame de, 321-325. + +Creil, 35. + +Croixmore, Abp. Robert de, 84. + +Crusaders, The, 14. + + +Dagobert I., 93. + +D'Arc, Jeanne, 151, 303. + +Dauphins of France, The, 170. + +Da Vinci, 157. + +De Breze, Louis, 89. + +De Breze, Pierre, 89. + +De Caumont, "Abécêdaire'd Architecture," 33, 349. + +De Sauteuil, 106. + +Descartes, 164. + +Descent from the Cross, The (by Rubens), 239. + +Devils of Notre Dame, The, 106. + +Dieppe, 285. + +Dijon, 27, 223, 258. + +Dijon, St. Bénigne of, 225, 262-265. + +Dinan, 335. + +Dol-de-Bretagne, Façade at, 98. + +Dol-de-Bretagne, St. Samson de, 329-332. + +Domenichino, 272. + +Domfront, 321. + +Douai, 244. + +Du Bellay Langey, 120. + +Dufêtre, Mgr., 211. + +Duroctorum, 132. + + +East of Paris, 221. + +Eastern influences at Bourges, 202. + +Ebo, Bishop of Reims, 136. + +Edict of Nantes, The, 183. + +Edward III., 129. + +English characteristics of Gothic, 45, 68. + +Estonteville, Cardinal d', 88. + +Evreux, 32. + +Evreux, Notre Dame d', 288-295, 372. + +Exeter, 114. + + +Falise, 321. + +Fenelon, 235, 236. + +Fergusson, quoted, 12, 56, 126, 139. + +Fiesole, Jérôme de, 187. + +Flemish school of painting, 244. + +Flemish wood-carving, 90. + +Florence, 33. + +Flying buttresses, Notre Dame de Paris, 28; + Notre Dame d'Amiens, 28; + Tours, 167. + +Foix, Marguerite de, 187. + +Fouilloy, Evrard de, 65. + +France, Architectural divisions of, 34. + +France, Ecclesiastical capital of, 133. + +France, Kings of, 24, 93, 383. + +Francis I., 74. + +Francis II., Tomb of, 187. + +Franks, The, 22. + +Franks, The Ripuarian, 133. + +Franks, Invasion of, 132, 133, 224. + +Frankish influence, 11. + +Freeman, Prof. Aug., 113, 248, 311. + +Fréjus, 15. + +French Flanders, 41. + +French Gothic Architecture, 38. + +French Mediæval Architecture, 38. + +French Revolution, The, 31, 43, 44, 52, 55, 96, 99, 103, 142, 184, 226. + +Fulbert, Bishop of Chartres, 129. + + +"Gallery of Kings," at Amiens, 67. + +Gallery of Kings, The (at Reims), 138, 178. + +Gaucher, 138. + +Geeraerts (of Antwerp), 235. + +Genabum (of Gallia), 150. + +Genoa, 157. + +German manner of building, 27. + +Ghent, 242, 262. + +Gisors, 35. + +Gobelin Tapestries, 76, 143. + +Gonsé, 349. + +Good God of Amiens, The, 66. + +Gothic, Development of, 14, 24; + Rudimentary, 16; + Anti, 18; + Non, 18. + +Goujon, Jean, 89, 170. + +Gourney, 35. + +Grand Cathedrals, The, 12, 20, 35, 61-63. + +Granville, 321. + +Grouin, 345. + +Guillaume of Sens, 225. + +Guillaume Bras-de-Fer, 323. + + +Hachette, Jeanne, 76. + +Haffreingue, Mgr., 233. + +Henry I., 129, 133. + +Henry II. (of France), 113, 166, 249. + +Henry II. (of England), 282, 301, 325. + +Henry IV., 30, 96, 133, 153, 183. + +Henry of Navarre, 129. + +House of the Kings, The, 144. + +Hugh II., 215. + +Hugo's "Notre Dame," 106. + +Huguenots, The, 153, 195. + +Humbert, Alberic de, 137. + + +Irene, Princess, 130. + +Isle de la Cité, 105, 106. + +Isle of France, 12, 27, 61. + +Italian influences, 17. + +Ivor (Bishop of Chartres), 212. + + +James (Henry), 163, 204. + +Jean sans Peur, 265. + +Jensen, Nicolas, 164. + +Joannes, Abbé, 253. + +John, Duke of Bedford, 90. + +John the Baptist, 69. + +Jovinus, Tomb of, 142. + +Juste, 170. + + +"Kreisker," The (at St. Pol de Leon), 345. + + +La Hougue, 345. + +Langres, 32. + +Langres, La Montagne de, 218. + +Langres, St. Mammes de, 218-220. + +Laon, 20, 32, 41, 61, 325. + +Laon, Notre Dame de, 43-46, 49, 139, 372-373. + +Laon, Palais de Justice, 46. + +Last Judgment, The (at Bourges), 204. + +Le Mans, 32, 61, 62, 120, 121, 124, 168, 200, 210, 338. + +Le Mans, German invasion of, 120. + +Le Mans, Notre Dame de la Cloture, 180. + +Le Mans, St. Julien, 113-120, 373, 374. + +Leo III., 133. + +Leo IX., 307. + +Le Puy, 33. + +Lescornel, 219. + +Le Tellier, 144. + +Le Veneur, Bishop, 292. + +Libergier, 142. + +Limoges, 151. + +Lisieux, 285, 286, 301. + +Lisieux, St. Pierre de, 301-304. + +Loire, Cathedrals of the, 145. + +Loire, Valley of the, 147, 148. + +Loire, Chateaux of, 18, 32, 147. + +Longsword, William, 89. + +Lorraine, Abbé, 143. + +Loudon, Geoffroy de, 118. + +Louis le Débonnaire, 133. + +Louis le Gros, 133. + +Louis I., 136. + +Louis VI., 94. + +Louis XI., 208, 246. + +Louis XII., 184. + +Louis XII., Tomb of, at St. Denis, 19. + +Louis XIV., 144. + +Louis XVI., 96, 282. + +Louis XVIII., 31, 96, 143. + +Louis Philippe, 31. + +Louviers, 127, 297. + +Low Countries, The, 16, 20. + +Lowell (James Russell), "A Day in Chartres," 126. + +Lowell, Hon. E. J., 310. + +Luitgarde, 165. + +Luzarche, Robert de, 65. + + +Madeleine, The, 96. + +Maid of Orleans, The, 81, 94, 144, 151. + +Maine, 114. + +Maine, Count of, 120. + +Mainz, 214. + +Mansard, 159, 240. + +Margaret of Anjou, 173, 181. + +Marie Antoinette, 96. + +Marie de Medicis, 182. + +Marie Louise, 95. + +Marne, Department of, 132, 134. + +Marne, River, 270. + +Martel, Charles, 133. + +Matilda, queen of William the Conqueror, 129, 310, 311. + +Mazarin (Cardinal), 210. + +Meaux, 270. + +Meaux, St. Etienne de, 270-273, 374. + +Medicis, Marie de, 182. + +Mère de Dieu, 66. + +Metz, 227, 248, 249. + +Méyron, Etchings of, 106. + +Montbray, Geoffroy de, 323. + +Monthery, 89. + +Mont St. Michel, 321, 337, 338; + Abbey of, 338. + +Monuments, Historical, 23, 340. + +Moorish type of architecture at Bourges, 201. + +Moors of Spain, The, 202. + +Moselle, Valley of the, 226. + +Moulins, 36. + +Musée des Petits Augustines, 96. + + +Nancy, 226. + +Nancy, Cathedral at, 227. + +Nantes, 20, 32, 148, 149. + +Nantes, Edict of, 183. + +Nantes, St. Pierre de, 183, 374, 375. + +Naples, 157. + +Napoleon I., 31, 103; + Marriage of, 95. + +Napoleon III., 31, 99. + +Narbonne, 151. + +"Narthex, Burgundian," 258. + +Netherlands, The, 14. + +Neuss, Apse-sided transepts at, 50. + +Nevers, 33, 277. + +Nevers, St. Cyr and St. Juliette de, 209. + +Nevers, St. Etienne de, 212, 216. + +Nevers, The Pont du Loire, 209. + +Nevers, Tour Gougin, 213; + Tour St. Eloi, 213. + +Nicman, Archbishop, 136. + +Nièvre, Counts of, 210. + +Nîmes, 33. + +Nivernais, The, 210. + +Nogent-les-Vierges, 35. + +Normandy, 115, 176. + +Normandy, Duke of, 89. + +Norsemen, The, 82. + +Notre Dame d'Alençon, 296-298. + +Notre Dame d'Amiens, 64-69, 72, 366, 367. + +Notre Dame d'Auxonne, 220. + +Notre Dame de Bayeux, 310-314, 369. + +Notre Dame de Boulogne-sur-Mer, 231-233. + +Notre Dame de Cambrai, 234-236. + +Notre Dame de Chartres, 121, 139-141, 371. + +Notre Dame de Coutances, 321-325. + +Notre Dame d'Evreux, 288-295, 372. + +Notre Dame de la Cloture (Le Mans), 180. + +Notre Dame de Laon, 43-46, 372. + +Notre Dame de l'Epine, 251. + +Notre Dame de Noyon, 29, 49-53, 199, 375, 376. + +Notre Dame de Paris, 28, 49, 101-107, 139, 140, 199, 376, 377. + +Notre Dame de Reims, 132-144, 248, 249. + +Notre Dame de Rouen, 37, 49, 79-90, 139, 338, 378, 379. + +Notre Dame de St. Lo, 315-318. + +Notre Dame de St. Omer, 237-241, 380. + +Notre Dame de Senlis, 266-269. + +Noviodunum, 51. + +Noyades, The, 184. + +Noyon, 20, 32, 41, 117, 127, 268. + +Noyon, Notre Dame de, 29, 49-53, 199, 375, 376. + + +Odericus Vitalis, Bishop, 302. + +Odon, 323. + +Oise, The River, 50. + +Onfroy, 323. + +Orange, 184. + +Oriflamme, The, 94. + +Orleans, 33, 148, 149. + +Orleans, Captured by Clovis, 151, 152. + +Orleans Family, The, 169. + +Orleans, German occupation of, 151. + +Orleans, St. Croix d', 150-155, 376. + +Orleans, The Maid of, 81, 94, 144, 151. + + +Palais de Justice, Beauvais, 76. + +Paramé, 335. + +Paris, 20, 61, 267. + +Paris, Documentary history of, 26. + +Paris, East of, 221. + +Paris, Notre Dame de, 28, 49, 101-107, 139, 140, 199, 217, 376, 377. + +Paroissien, Poncelet, 142. + +Pepersack Tapestries at Reims, The, 143. + +Pepin, 94, 133. + +Périgueux, 15, 33. + +Perpetus, Bishop of Tours, 165. + +Perréal, Jehan, 187. + +Perrifonds, Chateau of, 50. + +Philastre, Cardinal, 137. + +Philippe Augustus, 24, 34, 117. + +Philippe le Bon, 262. + +Philippe le Hardi, 66, 265. + +Picardy, 184. + +Picardy, Patron Saint of, 69. + +Plantagenets, Cradle of the, 173. + +Poitiers, 33. + +Poitiers, Diane de, 89. + +Pont du Loire, Nevers, 209. + +Pope Stephen, 94. + +Portal de St. Honoré (Amiens), 67. + +Portal de la Vierge Dorée (Amiens), 67. + +Porte d'Arroux, Autun, 257. + +Porte St. Andre, Autun, 257. + +Provence, 211. + + +Quimper, 27, 32, 348. + +Quimper, St. Corentin de, 348-350. + + +Rabelais, 164. + +Rabida, "Bretagne" of, 338. + +Raphael, Tapestry cartoons at S. Kensington, 76. + +Reclus, 215. + +Regnault, 187. + +Regnier, Cardinal, 235. + +Reims, 32, 35, 37, 128, 129, 224, 226, 278. + +Reims, Baptism of Clovis at, 30. + +Reims, Capture of, by Vandals, 132. + +Reims, Cathedral at, 24. + +Reims, Details at, 87. + +Reims, Devastation at, 25. + +Reims, Notre Dame de, 93, 132-144, 248, 249. + +Reims, Portals of Cathedral, 66. + +Reims, Roman remains at, 134. + +Reims, St. Nicaise of, 82. + +Remi, Capital of the, 132. + +Renaissance, The, 16. + +Renaissance Architecture at Bourges, 201. + +Renaissance façade at Tours, 166, 167. + +Renaissance wood-carving, 46. + +René, King, 173, 175, 181. + +Reni, Guido, 272. + +Rennes, 15. + +Revolution, The French, 31, 43, 44, 52, 55, 96, 99, 103, 142, 184, 226. + +Rhine, The, 23, 27, 223. + +Rhine Provinces, The, 14. + +Rhône, The, 36. + +Richard Coeur-de-Lion, 90, 113, 120. + +Richard the Fearless, 83. + +Rigobert, Bishop, 133. + +Robert I., Duke of Burgundy, 258, 260. + +Robert, son of Tancrede-de-Hauteville, 323. + +Roger, son of Tancrede-de-Hauteville, 323. + +Rohan, Cardinal de, 243. + +Rollo, 82, 89. + +Romanesque tendencies, 13, 27, 44; + types, 20, 21. + +Roman power, Decline of, 26. + +Roman remains at Reims, 134. + +Romans, The, at Genabum (Orleans), 150. + +Romano-Byzantine work at Beauvais, 75. + +Romano-Byzantine nave at Le Mans, 115. + +Rome, 33. + +Rosary, Chapel of the (Soissons), 57. + +Roscoff, 345. + +Rouen, 19, 35, 37, 61, 62. + +Rouen, Cathedral at, 37, 49, 79-90, 139, 338, 378, 379. + +Rouen, Notre Dame de, 37, 49, 79-90, 139, 338, 378, 379. + +Rouen, Tour de Beurre, 204. + +Royal Domain, The, 223. + +Royale, Rue (Tours), 163. + +Royamont, 35. + +Rubens, 235, 238. + +Rubens, "Adoration" by (Soissons), 58. + +Rumaldi, 136. + +Ruskin on Rouen Cathedral, 85. + +Ruskin, quoted, 72, 81, 128, 285, 302. + + +St. Aignan, 150. + +St. Bénigne (Monk of Dijon), 225. + +St. Bénigne (Cathedral), 262-265. + +St. Bertin, Abbey of (St. Omer), 225, 240. + +St. Brieuc, 339, 342. + +St. Brieuc, Cathedral of, 342-344. + +St. Corentin, Cathedral of, 27. + +St. Corentin de Quimper, 348-350. + +St. Croix, Abbey of, 318. + +St. Croix d'Orleans, 150-155, 376. + +St. Cyr and St. Juliette de Nevers, 209. + +St. Denis, 19, 61. + +St. Denis, Abbey of, 93. + +St. Denis, Abbot of, 94. + +St. Denis, Basilique de, 93-100, 379. + +St. Denis, Church of (at St. Omer), 225. + +St. Denis, Crypt of, 96. + +St. Deodatus, 254. + +St. Dié, 226, 254-256. + +St. Dié (Cathedral), 255, 256. + +St. Dionysius, 97, 98. + +St. Etienne d'Auxerre, 191-196, 369. + +St. Etienne de Bourges, 199-208, 370. + +St. Etienne (Chalons-sur-Marne), 251-253, 371. + +St. Etienne de Meaux, 270-273, 374. + +St. Etienne du Mont (Paris), 15, 19. + +St. Etienne de Nevers, 212, 216. + +St. Etienne de Sens, 279-282, 379. + +St. Etienne de Toul, 247-250. + +St. Eustache, Church of, Paris, 196. + +St. Fermin the Martyr, 67, 68. + +St. Francis of Assisi, 188. + +St. Gatien de Tours, 147, 163, 206, 381. + +St. Gengoult, Church of (Toul), 248. + +St. Germain, Church of (at Auxerre), 195. + +St. Jean the Evangel, 218. + +St. Jean des Vignes, Abbey of, 54. + +St. John, 69. + +St. Julien, Church of (at Tours), 169. + +St. Julien, Le Mans, 113-120, 373, 374. + +St. Laud, Bishop, 315. + +St. Lazare d'Autun, 257-261, 368. + +St. Lo, 285, 321. + +St. Lo, Notre Dame de, 315-318. + +St. Louis, 34, 66, 188, 314. + +St. Louis, Arms of, 169. + +St. Louis de Blois, 156. + +St. Louis de Versailles, Cathedral of, 108. + +St. Maclou, Church of (Rouen), 19, 81. + +St. Malo, 335, 338. + +St. Malo, Cathedral of, 336-338. + +St. Mammes de Langres, 218-220. + +Ste. Marguerite, 188. + +St. Martin (of Tours), 165. + +St. Martin, Tour de (at Tours), 165. + +St. Maurice d'Angers, 147, 173-182, 367, 368. + +St. Nazaire (Autun), 258. + +St. Nicaise, 82, 136, 142. + +St. Nicolas de Coutances, 325. + +St. Mellor, 82. + +St. Omer, 27, 223, 225. + +St. Omer, Notre Dame de, 237 241, 380. + +St. Ouen, Church of (Rouen), 15, 30, 80, 87, 241, 277. + +St. Peter's, at Rome, 20. + +"St. Peter's of the North," 71. + +"St. Peter's of the South," 13. + +St. Peter and Paul, Church of (at Tours), 165. + +St. Pierre d'Aleth, 336. + +St. Pierre de Beauvais, 28, 70-76, 140, 369. + +St. Pierre de Coutances, 325. + +St. Pierre de Lisieux, 301-304. + +St. Pierre de Nantes, 183, 374, 375. + +St. Pierre de Troyes, 274-278, 381, 382. + +St. Pol de Leon, 255, 339, 345. + +St. Pol de Leon, Cathedral of, 345-347. + +St. Potentien, 279. + +St. Quentin, Maze at, 131. + +St. Remi, 31, 133, 134, 136. + +St. Samson, 329-332. + +St. Savinien, 279, 282. + +St. Sepulchre, Church of (at St. Omer), 240. + +St. Servan, 335, 338. + +St. Sixte, 132. + +St. Urbain, 275. + +St. Vaast d'Arras, 242-246, 345, 368. + +St. Yves, 341. + +"Sainte Ampoule," The, 25, 143. + +Salisbury, Cathedral at, 64, 384. + +Salisbury, John of, 129. + +Saracen type of architecture at Bourges, 201. + +Séez, 61, 267, 277, 305. + +Séez, Notre Dame de, 305-309. + +Seine, The, 36, 106. + +Seine and Loire (by J. M. W. Turner), 169. + +Seine, Department of, 108. + +Senlis, 266. + +Senlis, Notre Dame de, 266-269. + +Sens, 61, 279. + +Sens, Guillaume of, 225, 280. + +Sens, St. Etienne de, 279-282, 379. + +Seville, Cathedral at, 20. + +Shakespeare on Angers (in "King John"), 173. + +Societé des Monuments Historiques, 35, 170, 176. + +Soissons, 20, 32, 41, 117, 133, 268. + +Soissons, Bombardment of, by the Germans, 56. + +Soissons, Notre Dame de, 54-58. + +South Kensington, 272. + +Stephen, Pope, 136. + +Stevenson (Robert Louis), 28, 42. + +Strasbourg, 248. + +Strasburg, Cathedral at, 126, 135, 227. + +Suger, Abbot, The, 94, 97. + +"Suisse, The," 80. + + +Tancrede-de-Hauteville, 323. + +Tapestries at Angers, 181. + +Tapestries at Bayeux, 310-311. + +Tapestries at Le Mans, 120. + +Tapestries at Reims, 142, 143. + +Tapestries at Soissons, 58. + +Tapestries from Raphael's cartoons (at Beauvais), 76. + +Tapestry-making at Beauvais, 76; + at Paris; at Arras, 76, 242, 245, 246. + +Tetricus, 226. + +Texier, 126, 131. + +"Thérouanne, The Great God of," 240. + +Torenai River, 258. + +Torlonia, Prince Alex, 233. + +Toul, 226, 247-250. + +Toul, St. Etienne de, 247-250. + +Toulouse, 151. + +Tour d'Auvergne, Cardinal de la, 244. + +Tour de Beurre (Rouen), 84, 89. + +Tour de Charlemagne (at Tours), 165. + +Tour de Hasting (at Tréguier), 340. + +Tour Gougin (at Nevers), 213. + +Tour de l'Horloge (at Tours), 165. + +Tour St. Eloi (at Nevers), 213. + +Tour de St. Martin (at Tours), 165. + +Touraine, Old, 163. + +Tournai, 41. + +Tours, 18, 33, 277. + +Tours, Church of St. Peter and Paul, 165. + +Tours, St. Gatien de, 147, 163, 206, 381. + +Tours (St. Martin of), 165. + +Tours, West front of St. Gatien, 74. + +Transition examples, 39. + +Transition Style of Architecture, The, 176. + +Tréguier, 32, 255, 339. + +Tréguier, Cathedral of, 339-341. + +"Tresor," The, at Reims, 143. + +"Tresor," The, at Troyes, 278. + +"Tresor," The, at Sens, 282. + +"Tresor," The, at Bayeux, 314. + +Treves, 214. + +Trianons, The, 108. + +Troyes, 20, 61, 274, 275. + +Troyes, St. Pierre de, 274-278, 381, 382. + +Turner (J. M. W.), "Seine and Loire," 169. + + +Valence, 36. + +Valois Branch of the Orleans Family, 169. + +Vannes, 351. + +Vannes, Cathedral of, 351, 352. + +Vauban, 244. + +Vaucluse, 184. + +Vendôme, Matthieu de, 99. + +Versailles, Fountains at, 108. + +Versailles, St. Louis de, 108. + +Villeneuve, Bishop de, 193. + +Villers-St.-Pol, 35. + +Viollet-le-Duc, 83, 96, 99, 139, 181, 349. + +Vire, River, 315. + + +Wellington, Duke of, 175. + +Westphalia, Treaty of, 249. + +William, Duke of Normandy, 323. + +Winchester, Henry, Bishop of, 121. + +Winchester, Prelate of, 303. + +Wood-carving (at Amiens), 68. + +Worms, 214. + + +Yonne, The River, 191. + +Young, Arthur, 36, 209. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Cathedrals of Northern France, by +Francis Miltoun + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CATHEDRALS OF NORTHERN FRANCE *** + +***** This file should be named 29820-8.txt or 29820-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/8/2/29820/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Chuck Greif and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + +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. 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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: The Cathedrals of Northern France + +Author: Francis Miltoun + +Illustrator: Blanche McManus + +Release Date: August 27, 2009 [EBook #29820] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CATHEDRALS OF NORTHERN FRANCE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Chuck Greif and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + +</pre> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<table summary="note" +cellpadding="10" style="background-color: #ccccff; +border:4px double gray;text-align:center; +font-size:100%;margin:5% auto 5% auto;"> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Many of the images of this ebook may be viewed full-size by clicking on them.<br />(note of transcriber) + </td> + </tr> +</table> + +<div class="image top" style="width: 374px;"> +<a href="images/cover.png"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="250" height="374" alt="cover" /> +</a> +</div> + +<div class="frame"> +<p class="c"><span class="lg">The Cathedral Series</span></p> + +<p class="c sml">The following, each 1 vol., library 12mo, cloth, gilt top profusely +illustrated. $2.50</p> + +<p class="c">The Cathedrals of Northern France<br /><span class="smcap">BY FRANCIS MILTOUN</span></p> + +<p class="c">The Cathedrals of Southern France<br /><span class="smcap">BY FRANCIS MILTOUN</span></p> + +<p class="c">The Cathedrals of England<br /><span class="smcap">BY MARY J. TABER</span></p> + +<p class="c sml">The following, each 1 vol., library 12mo, cloth, gilt top, profusely +illustrated. Net, $2.00</p> + +<p class="c">The Cathedrals and Churches of the Rhine<br /><span class="smcap">BY FRANCIS MILTOUN</span></p> + +<p class="c">The Cathedrals of Northern Spain<br /><span class="smcap">BY CHARLES RUDY</span></p> + +<p class="c"> +L. C. PAGE & COMPANY<br /> +<span class="sml">New England Building, Boston, Mass.</span></p> +</div> + + +<div class="image" style="width: 300px;"><a name="FRONT" id="FRONT"></a> +<img src="images/frontis.png" width="289 " height="500" alt="NOTRE DAME ... de NOYON" /> +</div> + + + +<h1>THE CATHEDRALS OF<br /> +NORTHERN FRANCE</h1> + +<h3 class="top5 spc3">By FRANCIS MILTOUN<br /> + +<span class="c smcap"> +<span class="spc2">with eighty illustrations,</span><br /> +plans, and diagrams,</span><br /> +By BLANCHE McMANUS</h3> + +<hr class="double" /> + +<div class="image" style="width: 264px;"> +<img src="images/titlepage.png" width="264" height="335" alt="image not available" /> +</div> + +<hr class="double" /> +<p class="c lg">BOSTON<br /> +<b>L. C. Page and Company</b><br /> +MDCCCCIIII<br /> +</p> + +<p class="c top15"> +<i>Copyright, 1903</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">By L. C. Page & Company</span><br /> +(incorporated)<br /> +<i>All rights reserved</i><br /> +<br /> +Published October, 1903<br /> +<br /> +<b>Colonial Press</b><br /> + +Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co.<br /> + +Boston, Mass., U. S. A.<br /> +</p> + + +<table summary="dedication" +style="margin:20% auto 20% auto;font-weight:800; +font-style:italic;font-size:95%;"> +<tr><td><span class="letter">T</span> + HIS BOOK IS DEDICATED<br /> BY THE AUTHOR AND ARTIST<br />TO THE GENIUS OF +RACE WHICH<br />MADE POSSIBLE THE EXISTENCE OF THESE<br />ARCHITECTURAL +"GLORIES OF FRANCE"</td></tr> +</table> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">v</a></span></p> + +<h3>APOLOGIA</h3> + + +<p><i>"There are two ways of writing a book of travel: to recount the journey +itself or the results of it." This is also the case with regard to any +work which attempts to purvey topographical or historical information of +a nature which is only to be gathered upon the spot; and, when an +additional side-light is shown by reason of the inclusion, as in the +present instance, of the artistic and religious element, it becomes more +and more a question of judicious selection and arrangement of fact, +rather than a mere hazarding of opinions, which, in many cases, can be +naught but conjecture, and may, in spite of any good claim to +authoritativeness, be misunderstood or perverted to an inutile end, or, +what is worse, swallowed in that oblivion where lies so much excellent +thought, which, lacking either balance or timeliness, has become +stranded, wrecked, and practically lost to view because of its +unappropriate and unattractive presentation.</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">vi</a></span></p> + +<p><i>To-day, the purely technical writer may have little hope of immortality +unless he is broad-minded enough to take a cultivated interest in many +matters outside the ken of his own particular sphere. The best-equipped +person living could not produce a new "Dictionary of Architecture," and +expect it to fill any niche that may be waiting for such a work, unless +he brought to bear, in addition to his own special knowledge, something +of the statistician, something of the professed compiler, and, if +possible, a little of the not unimportant knowledge possessed by the +maker and seller of books, meaning—the publisher. Given these +qualifications, it is likely that he will then produce an ensemble as +far in advance of what otherwise might have been as is the modern +printing machine, as a factor in the dissemination of literature, as +compared with the ancient scribes working to the same end.</i></p> + +<p><i>The sentimentalist and rhapsodist in words and ideas is a dwindling +factor at the present day, and a new presentation of fact is +occasionally to be met with in the printed page. The best "book of +travel" within the knowledge of the writer, and perhaps one of the +slightest in bulk ever written in the English language, is Stevenson's +"Inland Voyage"—here<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">vii</a></span> +were imagination, appreciation, and a new way of +seeing things, and, above all, enthusiasm; and this is the formula upon +which doubtless many a future writer will build his reputation, though +he may never reach the significant heights expressed by Stevenson in the +picturesque wording of his wish to be made Bishop of Noyon.</i></p> + +<p><i>This apparent digression into a critical estimate of the making of +books is but another expression of the justification of the writer in +the attempt herein made to set forth in attractive and enduring form +certain facts and realities with regard to the grand and glorious group +of cathedrals of Northern France.</i></p> + +<p><i>They have appeared as demanding something more than the conventional +guide-book, or even technical estimates as to their perfections, and the +belief is that the gathering together, after this fashion, of the +contemporary information not always to the hand of the general reader +presents an attraction as appealing and deserving of a place on the +book-shelf as would be an avowed reference work, or a volume made to +sell on the strength of its bulk or ornateness, or, lacking these +questionable attributes, presented in the guise of a whilom text-book, +the sole province of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">viii</a></span> which is to impart "knowledge" after a certain +well recognized and set pattern.</i></p> + +<p><i>It is believed that, regardless of much that has been said and written +anent the subject, the fact remains that some considerable numbers of +persons may be supposed to exist who would be glad of a further +suggestion which would make possible an acquaintance with the cathedrals +of France as a part of their own personal experience. To all such, then, +it is to be hoped this book will appeal.</i></p> + +<p class="r">F. M.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">ix</a></span></p> + +<hr /> +<h3>CONTENTS</h3> + + +<table summary="contents" +cellspacing="0" +cellpadding="3" +style="font-size:90%;"> +<tr><td align="right" colspan="2"> </td><td align="right"><span class="smcap">PAGE</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2">Introduction</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="part" align="center" colspan="3"><a href="#PART_I">Part I.</a> Transition Examples</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">I.</td><td>Introductory</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">II.</td><td>Notre Dame de Laon</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_43">43</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">III.</td><td>Notre Dame de Noyon</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">IV.</td><td>Notre Dame de Soissons</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td></tr> + + +<tr><td class="part" align="center" colspan="3"><a href="#PART_II">Part II.</a> the Grand Group</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">I.</td><td>Introductory</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_61">61</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">II.</td><td>Notre Dame d'Amiens</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_64">64</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">III.</td><td>St. Pierre de Beauvais</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">IV.</td><td>Notre Dame de Rouen</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_79">79</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">V.</td><td>Basilique de St. Denis</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">VI.</td><td>Notre Dame de Paris</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">VII.</td><td>St. Julien; Le Mans</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">VIII.</td><td>Notre Dame de Chartres</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_123">123</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">IX.</td><td>Notre Dame de Reims</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_132">132</a></td></tr> + + +<tr><td class="part" align="center" colspan="3"><a href="#PART_III">Part III.</a> the Cathedrals of the Loire</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">I.</td><td>Introductory</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_147">147</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">II.</td><td>St. Croix d'Orleans</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_150">150</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">III.</td><td>St. Louis de Blois</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_156">156</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">IV.</td><td>St Gatien de Tours</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_163">163</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">V.</td><td>St. Maurice d'Angers</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_173">173</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">VI.</td><td>St. Pierre de Nantes</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_183">183</a></td></tr> + + +<tr><td class="part" align="center" colspan="3"><a href="#PART_IV">Part IV.</a> Central France</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">I.</td><td>St. Etienne d'Auxerre</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_191">191</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">II.</td><td>St. Etienne de Bourges</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_199">199</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">III.</td><td>St. Cyr and St. Juliette de Nevers</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_209">209</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">IV.</td><td>St. Mammes de Langres</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_218">218</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">V.</td><td>Notre Dame d'Auxonne</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_220">220</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="part" align="center" colspan="3"><a href="#PART_V">Part V.</a> East of Paris</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">I.</td><td>Introductory</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_223">223</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">II.</td><td>Notre Dame de Boulogne-sur-Mer</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_231">231</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">III.</td><td>Notre Dame de Cambrai</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_234">234</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">IV.</td><td>Notre Dame de St. Omer</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_237">237</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">V.</td><td>St. Vaast d'Arras</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_242">242</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">VI.</td><td>St. Etienne de Toul</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_247">247</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">VII.</td><td>St. Etienne, Châlons-sur-Marne</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_251">251</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">VIII.</td><td>St. Dié</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_254">254</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">IX.</td><td>St. Lazare d'Autun</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_257">257</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">X.</td><td>St. Bénigne de Dijon</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_262">262</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">XI.</td><td>Notre Dame de Senlis</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_266">266</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">XII.</td><td>St. Etienne de Meaux</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_270">270</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">XIII.</td><td>St. Pierre de Troyes</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_274">274</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">XIV.</td><td>St. Etienne de Sens</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_279">279</a></td></tr> + + + +<tr><td class="part" align="center" colspan="3"><a href="#PART_VI">Part VI.</a> Western Normandy and Brittany</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">I.</td><td>Introductory</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_285">285</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">II.</td><td>Notre Dame d'Evreux</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_288">288</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">III.</td><td>Notre Dame d'Alençon</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_296">296</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">IV.</td><td>St. Pierre de Lisieux</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_301">301</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">V.</td><td>Notre Dame de Séez</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_305">305</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">VI.</td><td>Notre Dame de Bayeux</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_310">310</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">VII.</td><td>Notre Dame de St. Lo</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_315">315</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">VIII.</td><td>Notre Dame de Coutances</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_321">321</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">IX.</td><td>St. Pierre d'Avranches</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_326">326</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">X.</td><td>St. Sol, Dol-de-Bretagne</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_329">329</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">XI.</td><td>St. Malo and St. Servan</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_335">335</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">XII.</td><td>Tréguier</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_339">339</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">XIII.</td><td>St. Brieuc</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_342">342</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">XIV.</td><td>St. Pol de Leon</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_345">345</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">XV.</td><td>St. Corentin de Quimper</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_348">348</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">XVI.</td><td>Vannes</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_351">351</a></td></tr> + + +<tr><td class="part" align="center" colspan="3"><a href="#Appendices">Appendices</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">I.</td><td>The Architectural Divisions of France</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_353">353</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">II.</td><td>A List of the Departments of France</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_356">356</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">III.</td><td>The Church in France</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_359">359</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">IV.</td><td>A List of the Larger French Churches Which Were at One Time Cathedrals + </td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_362">362</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">V.</td><td>Chronology of the Chief Styles and Examples of Church Building</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_365">365</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">VI.</td><td>Dimensions and Chronology</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_366">366</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">VII.</td><td>The French Kings from Charlemagne Onward</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_383">383</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">VIII.</td><td>Measurements of the Cathedrals at Amiens and Salisbury</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_384">384</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">IX.</td><td>French Metres Reduced to English Feet</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_385">385</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">X.</td><td>A Brief Glossary of Architectural Terms</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_386">386</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2">Index</td><td align="right"><a href="#INDEX">391</a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">xi</a></span></td></tr> +</table> + +<hr /> +<h3>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h3> + + +<table summary="illustrations" +cellspacing="0" +cellpadding="3" +style="font-size:90%;"> + +<tr><td> </td><td align="right"><span class="smcap">PAGE</span></td></tr> + + +<tr><td>Notre Dame de Noyon</td><td align="right"><a href="#FRONT"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Notre Dame de Laon</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_43">43</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Notre Dame de Noyon</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Notre Dame d'Amiens</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_64">64</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>St. Pierre de Beauvais</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Notre Dame de Rouen</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Basilique de St. Denis</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_91">91</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Oriflamme of St. Denis</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_100">100</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Notre Dame de Paris</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Notre Dame de Paris from the River</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>St. Julien; Le Mans</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_111">111</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Notre Dame de Chartres</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_123">123</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Notre Dame de Reims</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_132">132</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>St. Croix d'Orleans</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_150">150</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>St. Louis de Blois</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_156">156</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>St. Gatien de Tours</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_161">161</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Flying Buttress, St. Gatien de Tours</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_170">170</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>St. Maurice d'Angers</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_171">171</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>St. Pierre de Nantes</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_183">183</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>St. Etienne d'Auxerre</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_191">191</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>St. Etienne de Bourges</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_197">197</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>St. Cyr and St. Juliette de Nevers</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_209">209</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">xii</a></span> +St. Mammes de Langres</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_218">218</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Nancy</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_227">227</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Boulogne, St. Omer, Arras</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_229">229</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Notre Dame de Cambrai</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_236">236</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>St. Etienne de Toul</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_247">247</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>St. Etienne, Châlons-sur-Marne</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_251">251</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>St. Dié</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_254">254</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>St. Lazare d'Autun</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_257">257</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>St. Bénigne de Dijon</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_262">262</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Notre Dame de Senlis</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_266">266</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>St. Etienne de Meaux</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_270">270</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>St. Pierre de Troyes</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_274">274</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>St. Etienne de Sens</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_279">279</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Notre Dame d'Evreux</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_289">289</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Window Framing—Evreux</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_295">295</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Notre Dame d'Alençon</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_296">296</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>St. Pierre de Lisieux</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_299">299</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Notre Dame de Séez</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_305">305</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Notre Dame de Bayeux</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_310">310</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Notre Dame de St. Lo</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_315">315</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Notre Dame de Coutances</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_319">319</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>St. Pierre d'Avranches</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_326">326</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Column of St. Pierre d'Avranches</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_328">328</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>St. Samson, Dol-de-Bretagne</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_329">329</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>St. Malo and St. Servan.—Tréguier</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_333">333</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>St. Brieuc</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_342">342</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>St. Corentin de Quimper</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_348">348</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Notre Dame d'Amiens (diagram)</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_366">366</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Map of Angers</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_367">367</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>St. Etienne de Bourges (diagram)</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_370">370</a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">xiii</a></span></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Notre Dame de Laon (diagram)</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_372">372</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>St. Julien, le Mans (diagram)</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_373">373</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Map of Nantes</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_374">374</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Notre Dame de Noyon (diagram)</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_375">375</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Notre Dame de Paris (diagram)</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_376">376</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Notre Dame de Reims (diagram)</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_377">377</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Flying Buttresses, Reims</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_377">377</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Notre Dame de Rouen (diagram)</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_378">378</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Basilique de St. Denis (diagrams)</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_380">380</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Map of Tours</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_381">381</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Charles VII.</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_383">383</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Ground Plan</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_386">386</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Cross Section</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_387">387</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Interior</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_388">388</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Cross Section</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_389">389</a></td></tr> + +</table> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">11</a></span></p> + +<h2><i>The Cathedrals<br />of Northern France</i></h2> + + + +<h3>INTRODUCTION</h3> + + +<p>An attempt to enumerate the architectural monuments of France is not +possible without due consideration being given to the topographical +divisions of the country, which, so far as the early population and the +expression of their arts and customs is concerned, naturally divides +itself into two grand divisions of influences, widely dissimilar.</p> + +<p>Historians, generally, agree that the country which embraces the +Frankish influences in the north, as distinct from that where are spoken +the romance languages, finds its partition somewhere about a line drawn +from the mouth of the Loire to the Swiss lakes. Territorially, this +approaches an equal division, with the characteristics of architectural +forms well nigh as equally divided. Indeed, Fergusson,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">12</a></span> who in his +general estimates and valuations is seldom at fault, thus divides +it:—"on a line which follows the valley of the Loire to a point between +Tours and Orleans, then southwesterly to Lyons, and thence along the +valley of the Rhône to Geneva."</p> + +<p>With such a justification, then, it is natural that some arbitrary +division should be made in arranging the subject matter of a volume +which treats, in part only, of a country or its memorials; even though +the influences of one section may not only have lapped over into the +other, but, as in certain instances, extended far beyond. As the peoples +were divided in speech, so were they in their manner of building, and +the most thoroughly consistent and individual types were in the main +confined to the environment of their birth. A notable exception is found +in Brittany, where is apparent a generous admixture of style which does +not occur in the churches of the first rank; referring to the imposing +structures of the Isle de France and its immediate vicinity. The "Grand +Cathedrals" of this region are, perhaps, most strongly impressed upon +the mind of whoever takes something more than a superficial interest in +the subject as the type which embodies the loftiest <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">13</a></span>principles of +Gothic forms, and, as such, they are perhaps best remembered by that +very considerable body of persons known as intelligent observers.</p> + +<p>The strongest influences at work in the north from the twelfth century +onward have been in favour of the Gothic or pointed styles, whilst, in +the south, civic and ecclesiastical architecture alike were of a +manifest Byzantine or Romanesque tendency. No better illustration of +this is possible than to recall the fact that, when the builders of the +fifteenth century undertook to complete that astoundingly impressive +choir at Beauvais, they sought to rival in size and magnificence its +namesake at Rome, which, under the care of the Pontiff himself, was then +being projected. Thus it was that this thoroughly Gothic structure of +the north was to stand forth as the indicator of local influences, as +contrasted with the Italian design and plans of the St. Peter's of the +south.</p> + +<p>A discussion of the merits of any territorial claims as to the inception +of what is commonly known as Gothic architecture, under which name, for +the want of a more familiar term, it shall be referred to herein, is +quite apart from the purport of this volume, and, as such, it were best +ignored. The statement, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">14</a></span>however, may be made that it would seem clearly +to be the development of a northern influence which first took shape +after a definite form in a region safely comprehended as lying within +the confines of northeastern France, the Netherlands, and the northern +Rhine Provinces. Much has been written on this debatable subject and +doubtless will continue to be, either as an arrow shot into the air by +some wary pedant, or an equally unconvincing statement, without proof, +of some mere follower in the footsteps of an illustrious, but behind the +times, expert. It matters not, as a mere detail, whether it was brought +from the East in imperfect form by the Crusaders, and only received its +development at the hands of some ingenious northerner, or not. Its +development was certainly rapid and sure in the great group which we +know to-day in northern France, and, if proof were wanted, the existing +records in stone ought to be sufficiently convincing to point out the +fact that here Mediæval Gothic architecture received its first and most +perfect development. The <i>Primaire</i>: the development of the style +finding its best example at Paris. The <i>Secondaire</i>: the +Perfectionnement at Reims, and its Apogee at Amiens. The <i>Tertiaire</i>: +practically the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">15</a></span>beginning of the decadence, in St. Ouen at Rouen, only +a shade removed from the debasement which soon followed. As to the +merits or demerits of the contemporary structures of other nations, that +also would be obviously of comparative unimportance herein except so far +as a comparison might once and again be made to accentuate values.</p> + +<p>The earliest art triumphs of the French may well be said to have been in +the development and <i>perfectionnement</i> of Mediæval (Gothic) +architecture. Its builders planned amply, wisely, and well, and in spite +of the interruptions of wars, of invasions, and of revolutions, there is +nowhere to be found upon the earth's surface so many characteristic +attributes of Mediæval Gothic architecture as is to be observed in this +land, extending from the Romanesque types of Fréjus, Périgueux and +Angoulême to that classical degeneration commonly called the +Renaissance, a more offensive example of which could hardly be found +than in the conglomerate structure of St. Etienne du Mont at Paris, or +the more modern and, if possible, even more ugly Cathedral Churches at +Arras, Cambrai, or Rennes in the north.</p> + +<p>There may be attractive Italian types in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">16</a></span> existence out of Italy; but +the fact is that, unless they are undoubted copies of a thoroughly +consistent style to the very end, they impress one as being out of place +in a land where the heights of its own native style are so exalted.</p> + +<p>Gothic, regardless of the fact as to whether it be the severe and +unornamental varieties of the Low Countries or the exaggerations of the +most ornately flamboyant style, appears not only to please the casual +and average observer, but the thorough student of ecclesiastical +architecture as well. It has come to be the accepted form throughout the +world of what is best representative of the thought and purpose for +which a great church should stand.</p> + +<p>With the Renaissance we have not a little to do, when considering the +cathedrals of France. Seldom, if ever, in the sixteenth century did the +builder or even the restorer add aught but Italian accessories where any +considerable work was to be accomplished. Why, or how, the Renaissance +ever came into being it is quite impossible for any one to say, <i>sans +doubt</i>, as is the first rudimentary invention of Gothic itself. Perhaps +it was but the outcome of a desire for something different, if not new; +but in the process the taste of the people fell to a low degree. +Architecture may be said to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">17</a></span> have been all but divorced from life, and, +while the fabric is a dead thing of itself, it is a very living and +human expression of the tendencies of an era. The Renaissance sought to +revive painting and sculpture and to incorporate them into architectural +forms. Whether after a satisfactory manner or not appears to have been +no concern with the revivers of a style which was entirely unsuited in +its original form to a northern latitude. That which answered for the +needs and desires of a southern race could not be boldly transplanted +into another environment and live without undergoing an evolution which +takes time, a fact not disproven by later events.</p> + +<p>The Italians themselves were the undoubted cause of the debasement of +the classical style, evidences having crept into that country nearly a +hundred years before the least vestiges were known in either France or +Germany, the Netherlands, or England, and which, though traceable, had +left but slight impress in Spain. It is doubtless not far wrong to +attribute its introduction into France as the outcome of the wanderings +in Italy of Charles VIII., in the latter years of the XV. century. As a +result of this it is popularly supposed that it was introduced into the +domestic <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">18</a></span>architecture of the nobles who had accompanied the king. Here +it found perhaps its most satisfying expression; in those magnificent +chateaux of the Loire, and the neighbourhood of Tours and Blois, ever a +subject for sentimental praise. One would not seek to pass condemnation +upon the application of revived classic features where they were but the +expression of an individual taste, as in a chateau whose owner so chose +to build and embellish it. Certainly no more splendid edifices of their +kind are known than the magnificent establishments at Blois, Chenonceau, +Chambord, or Chaumont. The style appears, however, out of place; an +admixture meaningless in itself and in its application when, with a +Gothic foundation bequeathed them, builders sought to incorporate into a +cathedral such palpable inconsistencies as was frequently done.</p> + +<p>The building of the chateaux was perhaps the first anti-Gothic step in +France and proved to be an influence which spread not slowly, as to +decorative detail at least, and soon of itself established a decided +non-Gothic type.</p> + +<p>It was but natural that the cathedral builders should have followed to +some extent this new influence. The Church was ever seeking to +strengthen its popularity, the bishops <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">19</a></span>ensconced themselves in their +cathedral cities as snugly as did a feudal lord in his castle, and their +emulation of wealth outside of the Church was but an effort to keep +their status on a plane with that of the other power which also demanded +allegiance of the people. It is to be regretted that they did not pass +this manifestation by, or at least not encumbered an otherwise +consistent Gothic fabric with superimposed meaningless detail. Such +decorative embellishments as are represented by the tomb of Louis XII. +at St. Denis, and the tombs of the cardinals at Rouen, may be considered +characteristic, though they bear earlier dates by some twenty years than +the south portal of Beauvais, which is thoroughly the best of Gothic, or +St. Maclou at Rouen, which, though highly florid, is without a trace of +anti-Gothic. The extreme (though not a cathedral church) may be seen at +St. Etienne du Mont, wherein the effort is made to incorporate large +masses of pseudo-classical decoration with Gothic, and, alas, with sad +effect.</p> + +<p>For the most part, the Gothic cathedrals of France, as such, while +closely related to each other in their design and arrangements, have +little to do with those which lie without the confines of the country, +either in general <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">20</a></span>features or in detail. The type is distinctively one +which stands by its own perfections. In size, while in many instances +not having the length of nave of several in England, they have nearly +always an equal, if not a greater, width and an almost invariably +greater height, though not equal in superficial area to St. Peter's in +Italy, the Dom at Cologne, or even the cathedral at Seville in Spain.</p> + +<p>Such Romanesque types as are to be seen to the northward of the Loire +are mostly found in the smaller churches of Brittany, while the early +transition type, so familiar throughout the Netherlands, is, in France, +usually seen in the neighbourhood of the frontiers of the Low Countries.</p> + +<p>"Les Grandes Cathédrales" of the north are distinctly those of Paris, +Amiens, Reims, Rouen, Beauvais, and Chartres; and it is to them that +reference must continually be made; while the severely plain transitory +types of Noyon or Soissons, or the more effective development of Laon, +and the flamboyant structures of Troyes and Nantes, at least lean toward +the decadence.</p> + +<p>The difficulty of assigning ranks to these monumental cathedrals is made +the greater by reason of the fact that to-day it is with but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">21</a></span> one people +that we have to reckon, so far as their temperament and environment is +concerned. Since feudal times the movement has ever been toward one +nation, one people, and one view, different from that presented in the +middle ages.</p> + +<p>For centuries after the break of Roman power it had been mostly one +local influence against another which prevented perfect cohesion to any +national spirit, and thus it was that the tendencies of the cathedral +builders, though Roman as to their teaching and religion, and doubtless, +in many instances, with regard to their birth as well, followed no +special style until the era of Gothic development. Unconsciously, +transitory types crept in, until suddenly throughout northern Europe +there bloomed forth within less than a century of time the so-called +Gothic in all its splendour, and with scarce a century between the +commencement and the completion of some of the most notable of the +group. The Romanesque types which still lingered in Brittany, though +well worthy of special consideration to-day, are unimportant and in a +way insignificant when compared with the grand group.</p> + +<p>To most of us it will be impossible to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">22</a></span>conjure up any more significant +thought with regard to mediæval church architecture than that fostered +by the memories of acquaintanceship with these examples of north France; +an opinion which is further strengthened when it is also recalled that +they are representative of the first really national artistic +expression. For this reason alone, if for no other, the hasty critics +who have so handily claimed precedence elsewhere, might profitably +review the facts of the circumstance which led to so universal an +adoption of the full-blown style in the twelfth and thirteenth +centuries.</p> + +<p>The Romanesque peoples were confined southwards of mid-France at the +time of the withdrawal of the Roman legions, while, in the north, the +conquering Franks sought to wipe out every vestige of their past +influence; hence it may be considered that the new manner of building +had everything in favour of its speedy growth. It was thus definitely +assured of a warm welcome, and, following in the footsteps of Clovis +himself, the rulers were more than willing to aid what they believed +might be a strengthening influence, politically, as well as morally.</p> + +<p>The style may be justly said to be a natural and growthful expression of +a race, and more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">23</a></span> significant than all else is the fact that nowhere, +not even on the Rhine, which with northern France claims the origin of +the style, is to be found any single example equalling in any like +measure the perfections of "Les Grandes Cathédrales Françaises," though +it be recalled that in many instances the German buildings were planned +and often erected by French architects and artisans.</p> + +<p>Among the two thousand or more "Monuments Historiques" paternally cared +for by the French government and under the direct control of the +Ministry of Public Instruction and the Beaux Arts, none are of the +relative importance, historically or artistically, of the Grand +Cathedrals. Certain objects, classed as megalithic and antique remains, +may be the connecting links between the past and the present by which +the antiquarian weaves the threads of his historical lore; but neither +these nor the <i>reliques</i> which have been dug from the ground or untombed +from later constructive elements, all of which are generously included +in the general scheme by the Department of Beaux Arts, which has +provided a fund for their preservation and care, have one tithe of the +appealing interest which these great churches bespeak on behalf of the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">24</a></span>contemporary life of the times in which they were built, reflecting as +they do many correlated events, and forming, in the interweaving of the +history of their inception and construction, an epitome of well-nigh all +the contemporary events of their environment, as well as the greater +parts which they may have played in general affairs of state.</p> + +<p>The best example of a part so played is that of the cathedral at Reims, +which saw the crowning within its walls of nearly every monarch of +France from the time of Philippe Augustus (1173) to that of Charles X. +(1823). The monarchs of France, a long and picturesque line, have ever +sought to ally the Church on their side, and right well they have been +served, not ignoring, of course, certain notable lapses. In the main, +however, the rulers and the people alike, whatever may have been the +periodical dissensions, combined the forces which made possible the +projection and erection of these noble examples of an art which, in the +Gothic forms at least, here came to its greatest and most interesting +phase.</p> + +<p>Invasion, revolution, and the stress of weather and time, all played +their part in the general desecrations which sooner or later followed; +far the most serious of these visible<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">25</a></span> damages reflected upon us to-day +being the malpractices occurring at the Revolution, whether at the hands +of a <i>sans culotte</i> or of the most respectable of bourgeois, led away by +the excitement of revolt. The depredations were irreparable; they razed, +burned, or ruthlessly shattered shrines, statues, or even reliquaries, +as at Reims, where the Sainted Ampulla, which contained the miraculous +oil brought by a dove from heaven, now preserved in reconstructed +fragments in the sacristy, was dashed to pieces in a fury of +uncontrollable wrath.</p> + +<p>The paucity of sculptured decoration in certain places only too plainly +designed for it is, too, frequently painfully apparent. Such sculptured +decoration and glass as were easily to hand met with perhaps the most +ready spoliation, while here and there, from some miraculous reason, a +gem was left entire, though likely enough in a bruised and shattered +setting.</p> + +<p>This is what befell most of the great churches, and, for this reason, +any work treating of these architectural glories of France must make due +allowance in hazarding opinions as to the merit or lack of merit of any +particular example as it now exists, as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">26</a></span>compared with what it may have +been as it once was, or had it been completed in accordance with the +original design.</p> + +<p>In local and cathedral archives much valuable and interesting +information exists, treating in this very manner such embellishments as +may to-day be lacking; but unfortunately such facts are often buried in +a mass of other irrelevant material which would make its discovery +unusually difficult to any but a very learned local antiquarian. In this +same connection, also, there is a dearth of illustrative material which +can be depended upon as to minutiæ or accuracy of detail. Hence it is +possible to deal only with such general facts as may be supported by the +best contemporary information based upon the researches of others. It +may be well to note here, however, a fact which is often overlooked, +namely, that the written records of France are not only very complete +and exhaustive, but, with respect to Paris itself, to cite an example, +the documentary history, consecutive and exact, from the time of the +decline of Roman power is preserved intact,—a record which is perhaps +not so true of any other large city in Europe.</p> + +<p>In dealing with the cathedrals of the north, territorially, we have to +consider those <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">27</a></span>examples which are generally accepted as being all that +a cathedral church should be. Of the first rank are those gathered not +far from the confines of the mediæval Isle of France. They too, are best +representative of the true Gothic spirit, while the southernmost +examples, those of Dijon and Besançon, are of manifest Romanesque or +Byzantine conception. Each, too, is somewhat reminiscent of the early +German manner of building, the latter in respect to the double apse, +which is often found across the Rhine, but seldom seen in France. The +most northerly of all is at St. Omer, where are the somewhat battered +remains of a satisfactory Gothic cathedral, although Amiens, not far to +the south, is perhaps the ideal cathedral when considered from a general +point merely. For the western representative, a line running due west +from Paris almost into the Atlantic finds at Quimper, a small port +fifteen miles from the sea, the Cathedral of St. Corentin, which, though +not as lofty, is more of the manner of building of the Isle of France +than one might suppose would be the case here in this outpost of +Brittany, where are found so many evidences of Romanesque influences, +retained long after they had been given over elsewhere.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">28</a></span></p> + +<p>Such, then, are the extremes of latitude and of architectural style +which combine to give variety to the interest which is always aroused by +the contemplation of the masterworks of any of the arts, where outside +and contiguous influences have something in common therewith.</p> + +<p>As a type to admire, there is no doubt but that the cathedral that +possesses an apsidal termination of the easterly or choir end, as is +nearly the universal custom in France, has charms and beauties which may +be latent, but which are simply winning, when it comes to picturing the +same structure with the squared-off ends so common in England.</p> + +<p>It was Stevenson, was it not, who wrote of the satisfaction with which +one always looks upon the east end of a French cathedral, "flanging out +as it often does in sweeping terraces, and settling down broadly upon +the earth as though it were meant to stay." Certainly nothing of the +sort is to be more admired than the rare view of the choir buttresses of +Notre Dame at Paris, likened unto "kneeling angels with half-spread +wings;" the delicate and symmetrical choir buttresses of Amiens; the +sheer fall of Beauvais; or the triply effective termination of the +one-time cathedral of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">29</a></span> Noyon, which falls away in three gracefully +gentle slopes to the ground. Again Stevenson's power as a descriptive +writer lingers in our memory. He says, of no cathedral in particular, +"where else is to be found so many elegant proportions growing one out +of the other, and all together in one?... Though I have heard a +considerable variety of sermons, I have never yet heard one that was so +expressive as a cathedral. 'Tis the best preacher itself, preaches day +and night, not only telling you of man's art and aspirations in the +past, but convicting your own soul of ardent sympathies; or rather, like +all good preachers, it sets you preaching to yourself,—and every man is +his own doctor of divinity in the last resort."</p> + +<p>To best estimate the charms and values of these architectural monuments +one should consider; first, the history and topography of their +environment,—<i>i. e.</i> as to why and when they may have been planned and +built; secondly, their personality, as it were,—who were their +founders, their patrons, their bishops; thirdly, the functions in which +they may have partaken, any significant events which may have passed +within their walls or centred within their sees; and fourthly, the +artistic beauties of their fabric and its embellishments.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">30</a></span></p> + +<p>In most cases all of these values are so interwoven and indissolubly +linked with the growth of the structure itself from its very earliest +foundations that it is hardly possible to detail this information in +true chronological order. The picturesque and romantic elements, of +which there is not a little; the sordid and baneful, of which we may +wish there were less; and the splendid ceremonials of Church and State; +all go to make up a chronicle which no account, of even a special +nature, could afford to neglect.</p> + +<p>The picturesque elements of the conversion and baptism of Clovis by St. +Remi at Reims in 496, where, on the site of the present cathedral, he +was adjured to "revere that which thou didst burn and burn that which +thou didst revere," and the crowning on the same spot of Charles VII. in +1429 through the efforts of the Maid, well represent these phases. The +meanness and the unjustness of her later trial and condemnation in the +Abbey Church of St. Ouen at Rouen is another. The affairs of state +consist chiefly of the coronation ceremonies which mostly took place at +Reims, and present a splendid record. Of the monarchs from 1173 onwards +who were not here crowned, Henry IV. was crowned at Chartres;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">31</a></span> Napoleon +I., at Paris; Louis Philippe, Louis XVIII., and Napoleon III. were not +crowned at all.</p> + +<p>Throughout this continuity of state events these great churches were +performing their natural functions of the dissemination of the Word. +Jealousies and bickerings took place, to be sure, but in the main there +was harmony, if rivalry did exist; else it were not possible that so +many of these splendid monuments would have endured to remind us of +their past as well as present existence.</p> + +<p>Certain of the sees were merged into greater ones, and others were +abandoned altogether. In this connection there is a curious circumstance +with regard to the one-time Bishop of Bethléem, who, driven from the +Holy Land, was given a see at Clamecy, which see comprehended only the +village in which he resided. What remains of the former cathedral is now +an adjunct to a hotel. The rearrangement of political divisions of +France after the Revolution was the further excuse for establishing but +one diocese to a department, until to-day there are but eighty-four +sees, administered by sixty-seven bishops and seventeen archbishops.</p> + +<p>The itinerary of the conventional tour of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">32</a></span> Continent usually keeps +well to the beaten track, and so does the conventional traveller. He +does not always get over to Reims, and often does not stop <i>en route</i> at +Amiens; seldom visits Beauvais, and, unless he specially sets out to +"tour" Brittany, a popular enough amusement of the lean of purse in +these days, knows little of the unique charms of Tréguier, Quimper, or +even of Le Mans, with its sublime choir, or of Evreux. As for even a +nodding acquaintance with Noyon or Soissons, two of the most +convincingly beautiful and impressive transitory types, they might as +well be in the wilds of Kamchatka, though they are both situated in a +region well travelled on all sides; while Laon, not far distant, is +hardly known at all, except as a way station <i>en route</i> to Switzerland. +The cathedrals of mid-France are, it is to be feared, even less known +than would on first thoughts seem probable. A certain amount of +sentimentality attaches itself to the chateaux of the Loire, and some +acquaintance with their undeniable pleasing attributes is the portion of +most travellers; but, again, such cathedral cities as Besançon, Nantes, +and Langres are off the well-worn road, and their cathedrals might be +myths so far as a general acquaintance with them is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">33</a></span> concerned; while +the splendid churches of Bourges, Nevers, and Autun are likewise +practically unknown to the casual traveller.</p> + +<p>Tours, Orleans, and Chartres alone appear to be the only recognized +representatives of this section of France which have hitherto attracted +due attention.</p> + +<p>With the southland this volume does not deal; that is a subject to be +considered quite by itself,—and significantly, more real interest has +been shown with respect to the architectural monuments of Avignon, +Arles, Nîmes, Le Puy, Périgueux, Carcassonne, and Poitiers than to those +of the Midi. Is it that the days of cheap travel and specially conducted +tours, when ten or fifteen guineas will take one to the Swiss or Italian +lakes, or e'en to Rome and Florence, has caused this apparent neglect of +the country lying between? Certainly our forefathers travelled more +wisely, but then prices and means of locomotion were on quite a +different scale in those days, and not infrequently they were obliged to +confine their travels and observations to more restricted areas.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the most lucid arrangement of architectural species is that +given by De Caumont's "Abécêdaire d'Architecture," which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">34</a></span> divides the +country ethnologically into Brittany; Normandy; Flanders, including +Artois and Picardy; Central France (the Isle of France, Champagne, +Orleanois, Main, Anjou, Touraine, and Berri); and Burgundy, +comprehending the former divisions of Franche Comté, Lorraine, Alsace +(now Belfort), Nivernois, Bourbonnois, and Lyonnois. Of the above +divisions, only that of the Isle of France with La Brie was originally +held by the Crown. The political divisions throughout France now number +eighty-seven departments, taking their names from the principal +topographical features, and replacing in 1790 the thirty-two mediæval +provinces, each of which had their own characteristics of social and +political life, and of which each in turn progressed, stagnated, or fell +backward according to local or periodical conditions. Both the arts of +peace and of war have left an ineradicable impress. In the thirteenth +century the various provinces became welded together into one perfect +whole under Philippe Augustus and the sainted Louis, but retained to no +small extent, even as they do unto to-day, their distinctive local +characteristics.</p> + +<p>Because of its cathedrals alone, the Isle of France stands preëminent +among the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">35</a></span>provinces for each of the thirteen provincial styles of +architecture which are allocated by the Société des Monuments +Historiques. A comparatively small and unified province, it comprehends +within and contiguous to its borders more of the attributes and +principles of a consistent Mediæval architectural style than is +elsewhere to be observed. From Rouen on the west to Reims on the east, +northward to Amiens and southwesterly to Chartres, are grouped the show +pieces of the world's Gothic architecture. Not alone with the respect to +the Grand Cathedrals is this region so richly endowed, but also because +of the smaller and less important, but no less attractive or interesting +examples of Noyon, Senlis, Laon, Soissons, with their one-time cathedral +churches and other varied ecclesiastical and secular edifices.</p> + +<p>Beauvais, Gisors, Gourney, Cires-les-Mello, Creil, Royamont, +Nogent-les-Vierges, Villers-St.-Pol, indeed nearly every village and +town within the royal domain, present values and comparisons which place +nearly all of its contemporary structures, be they large or small, at a +grand height above those of other less prolific sections. Lest it be +thought that this statement is drawn largely, and that fineness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">36</a></span> and +balance of estimate are lacking, it suffices to state that it is not +alone from study and research, but from frequent personal intimacies +that the region has ever proved an inexhaustible store of architectural +values, and one which most well-known authorities, with one accord, +place in the very first rank.</p> + +<p>Arthur Young, than whom no more perspicuous observer has ever chronicled +his impressions, wrote (1704) that to see the best of France, the part +most varied in topography, and resourceful and attractive in its +monuments, one should land at Havre and follow the sinuosity of the +Seine to Paris, thence the highroad to Moulins and on to the Rhône at +Valence, an outline which somewhat approaches the limitations of +territory of which this book treats. To be sure, he wrote of economic +and agricultural conditions, and he mostly made his pertinent +observations on land holdings, stock keeping, and hedgerows, or rather +that lack of them which is so apparent throughout France; but these +details of themselves only suggest more complete evidences of the +existing forces which indicate the growth of the wealth and power which +has made this region so rich in its <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">37</a></span>architectural memorials of the +past, and which ought to more than compensate for any lack of scenic +grandeur.</p> + +<p>It is to be regretted, of course, that none of these larger cathedrals +are to be seen to-day in their completely perfected forms. To what +extent would not the glories of Reims, of Amiens, of Beauvais, or of +Rouen, be enhanced, were it possible for us to even imagine their +splendour, were they possessed of the symmetry and well-favoured +situation of the Dom at Cologne? And so it is that we can but feel +regret when we mentally note the lack of nave at Beauvais, of spires at +Bourges, and, yet again, regret even with more pain the monstrousness of +the cast-iron <i>flêche</i> which has been added to the central tower at +Rouen. But these are after all minor imperfections—seldom, if ever, in +aught but pleasurable anticipation, do we see in the masterpieces of art +or nature a perfect unity; so why seek to negative their virtues by +futile criticism? It would seem to be all-sufficient that such details, +sins of omission or commission, should be noted merely, that we may pass +on to other charms which must compel our allegiance.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">38</a></span></p> + +<p>When we visit the cathedrals of the Isle of France, we are at once in +the midst of the best examples of French Gothic architecture, or of +French Mediæval architecture, if the phrase is to be preferred.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">39</a></span></p> + + + +<h3 class="top15"><a name="PART_I" id="PART_I"></a><i>PART I</i><br /> +<i>Transition Examples</i></h3> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">40</a></span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">41</a></span></p> + +<h4>I<br /><br /> +INTRODUCTORY</h4> + +<p>S<span class="smcap">oissons</span>, with Noyon and Laon, all within perhaps thirty miles of one +another, may be said to best represent the nurturing and development of +the early Gothic of France. These simple and somewhat plain types +exemplify the style which was in vogue at the same time in the Low +Countries. It is good Gothic, to be sure,—at least, good as to its +planning,—but without that ornateness or lightness known to-day as +characteristic of the distinctive French type, which so early developed +boldly and beautifully.</p> + +<p>One observes the resemblances in style between the notable cathedral at +Tournai, in Belgium, the neighbouring types of French Flanders, and the +cathedrals of this trinity of French towns lying contiguous thereto, +Noyon itself being for long interdependent with the see of Tournai. +Nevertheless, it is a beautiful type which was cradled here in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">42</a></span> +country called, by Cæsar, Suessiones; and difficult it would be to +attempt to assign preëminence to any one edifice.</p> + +<p>Noyon, without a doubt, has the greatest charm of environment, and is of +itself in every way a pleasing and satisfying example of what should +most truly inspire and impress us in a cathedral. Stevenson describes it +as being "the happiest inspiration of mankind, a thing as specious as a +statue at the first glance, yet, on examination, as lively and +interesting as a forest in detail. The height of its spires cannot be +taken by trigonometry: they measure absurdly short, but how tall they +are to the admiring eye.... I sat outside of my hotel and the sweet +groaning thunder of the organ floated out of the church like a +summons";—and much more of the same sort, all of which tells us that, +once we find ourselves on a plane of intimacy with a great church, we +continually receive new impressions and inspirations, and it is in this +vein that one who has known this group of simple but fascinating +churches on their own ground, so to put it, can but seek to convey the +idea that it is good that we have such contrasting types as a relief and +an antidote to an appetite which otherwise might become sated.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">43</a></span></p> + +<div class="imagepad" style="width: 556px;"> +<img src="images/illus052.png" width="556" height="399" alt="NOTRE DAME DE LAON" /> +</div> + + + +<h4>II<br /><br /> +NOTRE DAME DE LAON</h4> + +<p>F<span class="smcap">or</span> over twelve hundred years, until the see was abolished at the +Revolution, Laon was the seat of a bishop who in point of rank was +second only to the primate at Reims. Crowning the apex of a long +isolated hill, upon which the entire town, now a fortress of the third +class, is situated, the cathedral of Notre Dame de Laon, still so called +locally, has endured since the beginning of the twelfth century, and may +be considered a thoroughly representative transition example.</p> + +<p>The present structure is on the site of one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">44</a></span> burned in 1112, and during +comparatively recent years has been entirely restored.</p> + +<p>Its crowning glory is in the disposition and number of its fine group of +towers: two flank the western façade, and are rectangular at the base, +dwindling to a smaller polygon, which is flanked with corner belfries +and pierced by a tall lancet in the central structure, showing a +wonderful lightness and open effect. A curious and unique feature of +these towers is the addition of four oxen in carven stone perched high +aloft in the belfries. These sculptured animals may be merely another +expression of symbols of superstition, and if so are far more pleasing +than some of the hideous and monstrous gargoyles ofttimes seen. Two +other towers, each 190 feet in height, adjoin the transepts, to each of +which is attached a double-storied, apsidal, ancient chapel. Two +similarly projected towers are lacking. The lantern is square, with a +shallow, conical, modern roof.</p> + +<p>In the transition type Romanesque influences were evidently dying hard. +The Gothic was seldom full blown, and at Laon shows but the merest trace +of pointedness to the arches of the western façade, either in the +portals or in the higher openings.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">45</a></span></p> + +<p>The lack of a circular termination to the choir is but another +indication of a link with a transitory past; an undeniably false note +and one very unusual in France, the choir being of the squared-off +variety so common in England. This may be coincident with the English +custom of the time, or it may be directly due to a local English +influence;—most probably the latter, inasmuch as an English prelate +held the see for a time, and the city, in the early fifteenth century, +was for a number of years in English hands. It is significant that in +some of the smaller churches of the diocese is to be noted the same +treatment.</p> + +<p>The rose windows of both the eastern and western façades are Gothic in +inception and treatment, and are unusually acceptable specimens of these +supreme efforts of the French mediæval builders, the glass therein being +distinctly good, though perhaps not remarkable.</p> + +<p>The transepts are rectangular and, with the ensemble of the entire +structure, were their towers completed, there would be produced, not +only a unique example, but a towering effect only a degree less +interesting than the perfectly proportioned pyramidal form so much +admired in the perfectly developed Gothic.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">46</a></span></p> + +<p>The interior is equally attractive with the exterior, and, though the +church is not by any means of remarkable dimensions, it presents in its +appropriate disposition of detail a far more roomy and pleasing +arrangement than many a larger example.</p> + +<p>The transepts are divided into a nave and side aisles, the columns which +partition them, like those of the nave proper, being cylindrical and of +massive proportions, which, however, lighten as they rise to the +vaulting. They are unusually symmetrical when viewed together, the +capitals of the lower series being ornately carved, each of a varying +design.</p> + +<p>Above the aisles are lofty galleries. The nave chapels were added in the +sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The stained glass, like that of the +rose windows, is in the nave distinctly good, particularly that of the +lower range on the southerly side. The pulpit, of carved wood of the +Renaissance period, is not of the importance and quality of this class +of work to be seen across the Rhine border.</p> + +<p>The former Bishop's palace, adjoining the left of the choir, is now the +Palais de Justice. A few remains of a former Gothic cloister are to be +remarked, surrounded by the later construction.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">47</a></span></p> + +<div class="imagepad" style="width: 500px;"> +<a href="images/illus056.png"> +<img src="images/illus056_th.png" +width="500" height="376" alt="Notre Dame de Noyon" /></a> +</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">48</a></span></p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">49</a></span></p> +<h4>III<br /><br /> +NOTRE DAME DE NOYON</h4> + +<p>I<span class="smcap">n</span> Notre Dame at Noyon, Notre Dame at Laon, and the cathedral at +Tournai, is to be noted the very unusual division of the interior +elevation into four ranges of openings, this effect being only seen at +Paris and Rouen among the large cathedrals. Noyon and Laon borrowed, +perhaps, from Tournai, where building was commenced at least a century +before either of the French examples first took form. It is perhaps not +essential that such an arrangement be made in order to give an effect of +loftiness, which might not otherwise exist; indeed, it is a question if +the reverse is not actually the case, though the effect is undeniably +one of grandeur. Soissons, too, may rightly enough be included in the +group, though the points of resemblance in this case are confined to the +rising steps to either transept, coupled with the joint possession of +circumambient aisles, and at least the suggested intent of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">50</a></span>circular +apsidal terminations to the transepts; though it appears that here this +plan was ultimately changed and one transept finished off with the usual +rectangular ending.</p> + +<p>In this Noyon plainly excels, and there is found nowhere else in France +the perfect trefoil effect produced by the apsidal terminations of both +transepts and choir. So far as the transepts are concerned, they are of +the manner affected by the builders on the Rhine, notably in the Minster +at Bonn, at Cologne, and again at Neuss in the neighbourhood of Cologne. +With Noyon apparently nothing is lacking either in the perfections of +its former cathedral or in its immediate environment. The country round +about is thoroughly agricultural, and free from the soot and grime of a +manufacturing community. Amid a setting at once historic and romantic, +it has for neighbours the chateaux of Coucy and Perrifonds, with +Compiègne and Chantilly not far distant. The town is unprogressive +enough, and the vast barge traffic of the Oise sidles by, not a mile +away, as if it were all unconscious of the existence of any signs of +modern civilization. As a matter of fact, it hardly is modern. The +accommodation for the weary traveller is of a satisfying and gratifying +quality,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">51</a></span> as the comparatively few visitors to the place well know. The +city is an ancient foundation, having been known as the Noviodunum of +the Romans. Here Charlemagne was crowned King of the Franks in 768, and +Hugh Capet elected king in 987; and here, in an important stronghold of +Catholicism, as it had long been, Calvin was born in 1509.</p> + +<p>Altogether there is much to be found here to charm and stimulate our +imagination. As a type the cathedral stands preëminent. As to detail and +state of preservation, they, too, leave little to be desired, though the +appreciative author of a charming and valuable work treating of a good +half hundred or more of the "architectural glories of France" bemoans +the lack of a satisfying daily "Office." This may be a fault, possibly, +if such be really the case. The fabric of the church has stood the wear +and tear of time and stress exceeding well. Built in the eleventh and +twelfth centuries, it is a thoroughly harmonious and pleasing whole, and +we can well believe all that may have been said of it by the few able +critics who have passed judgment upon its style, as well as the +sentiment conveyed by the phrase that it is "one of the most graceful +and lovable of all the cathedrals of France." The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">52</a></span> bishopric was +suppressed after the Revolution, and the church is now a dependency of +the Bishop of Beauvais.</p> + +<p>The elongated belfry towers are perhaps the first and most noticeable +feature; secondly, the overhanging porch with its supporting frontal +buttresses; thirdly, the before-mentioned tri-apsidal effect of the +easterly end; and, last but not least, the general grouping of the whole +structure in combination with the buildings which are gathered about its +haunches, though with no suspicion of a detracting element as in some +sordid and crowded cities, where, in spite of undeniable +picturesqueness, is presented a squalor and poverty not creditable +either to the city of its habitation or to the cathedral authorities +themselves. From every point of vantage the steeples of Notre Dame de +Noyon add the one ingredient which makes a unity of the entire +ensemble,—a true old-world atmosphere, a town seen in not too apparent +a state of unrepair and certainly not a degenerate.</p> + +<p>The interior presents no less striking or noble features. It is not +stupendous or remarkably awesome; but it is grand, with a subtleness +which is inexpressible. Round and pointed arches are intermixed, and +there is a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">53</a></span> notable display of the round variety in the upper ranges of +the quadrupled elevation of the nave, the lightness, which might +otherwise have been marred, being preserved through the employment of a +series of simple lancets in the clerestory of the choir. Rearward of the +south transept are the chapter-house and the scanty remains of a Gothic +cloister, where a somewhat careworn combination of the forces of nature +and art have culminated in giving an unusually old-world charm to this +apparently neglected gem, as well representative of early French Gothic +as any in existence to-day.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">54</a></span></p> + + + +<h4>IV<br /><br /> +NOTRE DAME DE SOISSONS</h4> + +<p>S<span class="smcap">oissons</span>, the other primitive example, is at once a surprise and a +disappointment. From the railway, on entering the town, one is highly +impressed with the grouping of a sky-piercing, twin-spired structure of +ample and symmetrical proportions; and at some distance therefrom is +seen another building, possibly enough of less importance. Curiously, it +is the cathedral which is the less imposing, and, until one is well up +with the beautifully formed spires, he hardly realizes that they +represent all that is left of the majestic Abbey of <i>St. Jean des +Vignes</i>, where Becket spent nine long years. It is a mere bit of stage +scenery, with height and breadth, but no thickness. It is a pity that +such a charming structure as this noble building must once have been is +now left to crumble. The magnificent rose window, or rather the circular +opening which it once occupied, is now but a mere orifice, of great +pro<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">55</a></span>portions, but destitute of glazing. The entire confines of the +building, which crowns a slight eminence at the entrance of the town, +are now given over to the use of the military authorities.</p> + +<p>A little to the right lies the one-time cathedral of Notre Dame, +Soissons being another of the ci-devant bishoprics suppressed after the +Revolution by the redistribution which gave but one diocese to a +Department. Though not unpleasing, its façade is marred by its lack of +symmetry, while the tower, which rises on the right 215 feet, is not +sufficiently striking to redeem what otherwise is an ordinary enough +ensemble. The tower to the left was never raised above where it now +ends, and the façade, lacking the charm which the edifice might +otherwise have had, were the towers as complete and well proportioned as +are those of a later date which grace the remains of the old abbey, will +be for ever wanting until this completion be carried out.</p> + +<p>Romanesque is plainly noticeable in mixture with the early Gothic. The +three portals are not remarkable, or uniform, and are severely plain, +and, though of a noticeable receding depth, are bare and unpeopled. A +well-proportioned rose window, though not so large as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">56</a></span> many in the +greater cathedrals, has graceful radiating spokes and good glass. This +is flanked by two unpierced lancet-pointed window-frames which but +accentuate the plainness of the entire façade. Above is an arcaded +gallery which was intended to cross the entire front, but which now +stops where the gable joins the northerly tower. Restoration has been +carried on, not sparingly, but in good taste, with the result that, in +spite of its newness at the present writing, it appears as a consistent +and thoroughly conscientious piece of work, and not the mere patchwork +that such repairs usually suggest.</p> + +<p>The guide-books tell one that Soissons is famous for its trade in +haricot beans, and incidentally for the beans themselves, and for the +great number of sieges which it has undergone, the last being that +conducted by the Germans, who took possession in October, 1870, after a +bombardment of three days.</p> + +<p>Fergusson makes the statement, which is well taken, that the Cathedral +of Notre Dame de Soissons, while not in any sense meriting the term +magnificent, presents, in its interior arrangements, at least, a most +symmetrical and harmonious ensemble. A curious though not unpleasing +effect is produced<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">57</a></span> by the blackened pointing of the interior masonry, +of piers, walls, and vaulting alike. An unusual feature is the +circumambient aisles to the transepts and the suggestion that a trefoil +apsidal termination was originally thought of, when the rebuilding was +taken in hand in the twelfth century. The transept is so completed on +the south side, which possesses also an ancient portal, and, with the +two at Noyon so done, presents a feature which is as much a relief from +the usual rectangle as are the rounded choirs of Continental churches a +beauty in advance of the accepted English manner of treatment of this +detail.</p> + +<p>The choir rises loftily above the transepts and nave, and, while the +general proportions are not such as to suggest undue narrowness, the +effect is of much greater height than really exists. This, too, is +apparent when viewing the abside itself.</p> + +<p>The Chapel of the Rosary in the north transept is overtopped by an +effective arrangement of perpendicular window-framing, supporting a +beautiful rose window of the spoke variety. It is safe to say that, had +the entire space provided been glazed, the effect of lighting would have +been unique among the cathedrals of the world.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">58</a></span></p> + +<p>The only other decorative embellishments are some tapestries, a few +well-preserved tombs, and an "Adoration" supposed to be by Rubens, which +is perhaps more likely to be genuine, because of the situation of the +church near unto Flanders, than many other examples whose claims have +even less to support them.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">59</a></span></p> + + +<h3 class="top15"><a name="PART_II" id="PART_II"></a><i>PART II</i><br /> +<i>The Grand Group</i></h3> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">60</a></span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">61</a></span></p> + +<h4>I<br /><br /> +INTRODUCTORY</h4> + +<p>E<span class="smcap">xpert</span> opinion, so called, may possibly differ as to just what, or what +not, cathedrals of France should be included in this term. The French +proverb known of all guide-book makers should give a clue as to those +which at least may not be left out.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Clocher de Chartres, Nef d'Amiens</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Choeur de Beauvais et Portale de Reims."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Rouen, Paris, and Le Mans should be included, as well possibly as the +smaller but no less convincing examples at Séez, Sens, Laon, and Troyes, +as being of an analogous manner of building, and, by all that goes to +make up the components of a really great church, Bourges might well be +considered in the same group. For practical and divisional purposes it +is perhaps well to compose an octette of the churches of the Isle of +France and those lying contiguous thereto, Paris, Beauvais, St. Denis,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">62</a></span> +Amiens, Reims, Rouen, Chartres, and Le Mans, which may be taken together +as representative of the greatest art expression of the Gothic builders, +as well as being those around which centred the most significant events +of Church and State. To attempt to catalogue even briefly the charms and +notable attributes of even the first four, would require more than the +compass of several volumes the size of the present, whereas the attempt +made herein is merely to lead with as little digression as possible up +to the chief glories for which they are revered, and to suggest some of +the many important and epoch-making events intimately associated +therewith. More would be impossible, manifestly, unless the present work +were to transcend the limitations which were originally planned for it, +hence it is with no halting assertion that we enter boldly upon that +chronology or résumé which, in a way, presents a marshalled array of +correlated facts which the reader may care to follow in further detail +in the list of bibliographical references included at the end of the +volume.</p> + +<p>Certain facts relating to the history and the architectural features +generally of these great cathedrals are known to all, and are chronicled +with more or less completeness in many <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">63</a></span>valuable and authoritative +works, ranging from the humble though necessary guide-book to the +extensive if not exhaustive architectural work of reference. The facts +given herein are such, then, as are often overlooked in the +before-mentioned classes of works, and as such are presented, not so +much with the avowed object of imparting information, as to remind the +reader of the wealth of interest that exists with relation to these +shrines of religious art. This seems to be the only preamble possible to +the chapters which attempt to even classify these magnificent buildings, +wherein much is attempted and so little accomplished in recounting their +varied attractions. Let this explanation stand, therefore, for any +seeming paucity of description which may exist.</p> + +<div class="image top" style="width: 241px;"> +<img src="images/illus072.png" width="241" height="289" alt="Le Bon Dieu d'Amiens" /> +</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">64</a></span></p> + + +<h4>II<br /><br /> +NOTRE DAME D'AMIENS</h4> + +<p>T<span class="smcap">he</span> ever impressive Cathedral of Notre Dame d'Amiens is in most English +minds the <i>beau ideal</i> of a French cathedral. It is contemporary with +Salisbury in period, at least, but it has little to remind one of the +actual features of this edifice. Often associated therewith, as a +similar type, it has little in reality in common, except that each is +representative of a supreme style. Beyond this it is hard to see how any +expert, archæologist, antiquary, or what not, would seek to discover +relationship between two such distinct types. Salisbury is the ideal +English cathedral as to situation, surroundings, and general charm and +grace. This no one would attempt to deny; but, in another environment, +how different might it not appear,—as for instance placed beside +Amiens, where in one particular alone, the mere height of nave and +choir, it immediately dwindles into insignificance. Under</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">65</a></span></p> + +<div class="image border" style="width: 500px;"> +<a href="images/illus074.png"> +<img src="images/illus074_th.png" width="500" height="300" alt="NOTRE DAME d'AMIENS ..." /></a> +</div> + +<p class="noind">such conditions its graceful spire becomes dwarfed and attenuated. Need +more be said?—The writer thinks not, since the present work does not +deal with the comparative merits of any two cathedrals or of national +types; but the suggestion should serve to demonstrate how impossible it +is for any writer, however erudite he may be, to attempt to assign +precedence, or even rank, among the really great architectural works of +an era. This observation is true of many other examples of art +expression.</p> + +<p>The cathedral at Amiens is dedicated to the Virgin, and is built in the +general form of a Latin cross. Over the principal doorway of the south +portal, on one of the upper plinths, may be seen the inscription which +places the date of the present edifice.</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 446px;"> +<img src="images/illus-076.png" width="446" height="110" alt="En l'an`que l'Incarnatio valait mcc +et xx. Ro....rs, ifu: +rimisit: le première +piere: iasis,... le cors.... Robert... +" /> +</div> + +<p>The work was undertaken by one Robert de Luzarche, in the episcopate of +Evrard de Fouilloy, the forty-fifth Bishop of Amiens, whose tomb may be +seen just within the western doorway, and occupies the site of other<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">66</a></span> +structures which had been variously devastated by fire or invasion in +850, 1019, 1137, and 1218. For fifty years the work went on +expeditiously under various bishops and their architects. "Saint" Louis, +Blanche of Castille, Philippe the Hardy, and the city fathers all aided +the work substantially, and the fabric speedily took on its finished +form. Through the later centuries it still preserved its entity, and +even during the Revolution its walls escaped destruction and defilement +through the devotion of its adherents.</p> + +<p>In later days important work and restoration has been carried out under +the paternal care and at the expense of the state; and the city itself +only recently contributed 45,000 francs for the clearing away of +obstructing buildings.</p> + +<p>A French writer has said, "It is only with the aid of a Bible and a +history of theology that it is possible to elucidate the vast +iconographic display of the marvellous west front of the cathedral at +Amiens." Like Reims, its three portals of great size are peopled with a +throng of statues. The central portal, known as the Porche du Souvenir, +contains the statue of the Good God of Amiens; that on the right is +called after the Mère de Dieu, and that on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">67</a></span> the left for St. Fermin the +Martyr. Above the gables is the "Gallery of Kings," just below the +enormous rose windows. Above rise the two towers of unequal loftiness, +and lacking, be it said, thickness in its due proportion. The carven +figures in general are not considered the equal in workmanship of those +at Reims, though the effect and arrangement is similar. For a complete +list of them, numbering some hundreds on this façade alone, the reader +must refer to some local guide-book, of which several are issued in the +city.</p> + +<p>The south portal, the <i>Portal de la Vierge dorée</i> or <i>Portal de Saint +Honoré</i>, shares company with the west façade in its richness of +sculpture and its rose window and its gable. Here also are to be seen +the supporting buttresses which spring laterally from the wall of the +transept and cross with those which come from the choir.</p> + +<p>The north portal, on the side of the Bishop's Palace, does not show the +same richness as the others, though perhaps more than ordinarily ornate.</p> + +<p>The spire above the transept crossing is a work of the sixteenth +century, and is perhaps more remarkable than its rather diminutive<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">68</a></span> +appearance, in contrast with the huge bulk of the edifice, would +indicate.</p> + +<p>The extreme height of nave and choir (147 feet), adds immeasurably to +the grand effect produced by the interior, a height in proportion to +breadth nearly double that usual in the English cathedrals. The vaulting +is borne aloft by over one hundred columns. The natural attribute of +such great dimension is a superb series of windows, a promise more than +fulfilled by the three great rose windows and the lofty clerestory of nave and +choir. The sixteenth century glass is exceedingly profuse and brilliant.</p> + +<p>The lateral chapels of the nave were added subsequent to the work of the +early builders, all being of the sixteenth century, while the eleven +choir chapels are of the thirteenth century, all with very ornate iron +grilles, which are a feature only second to a remarkable series of +"choir stalls," numbering over one hundred, showing a wonderful variety +of delicate carved figures of the sixteenth century, the work of one +Jean Turpin, the subjects being mainly Biblical.</p> + +<p>A stone screen with elaborate sculptures in high relief surrounds the +choir, that on the south representing the legend of St. Firmin,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">69</a></span> the +patron of Picardy, and that on the north, scenes connected with the life +of John the Baptist. In a side chapel dedicated to St. John reposes the +alleged head of John the Baptist. Others have appeared elsewhere from +time to time, but as they are not now recognized as being genuine, and +the said apostle not being hydra-headed, it is possible that there will +be those who will choose to throw the weight of their opinions in favour +of the claim of Amiens.</p> + +<p>The flying buttresses at Amiens are not of the singular lightness +associated with this notably French characteristic; they are in the +main, however, none the less effective for that, and assuredly, so far +as the work which they have to perform is concerned, it was doubtless +necessary that they should be of more than ordinary strength.</p> + +<p>The view of the ensemble from the river shows the massiveness and +general proportions in a unique and superb manner. Amiens is not +otherwise an attractive city, a bustle of grand and cheap hotels, +decidedly a place to be taken <i>en route</i>, not like Beauvais, where one +may well remain as long as fancy wills and not feel the too strong hand +of progress intruding upon his ruminations.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">70</a></span></p> + + +<h4>III<br /><br /> +ST. PIERRE DE BEAUVAIS</h4> + +<p>B<span class="smcap">eauvais</span> is by no means an inaccessible place, though how often have we +known one who could not tell in what part of France it was situated. Of +course, being "off the line" is sufficient excuse for the majority of +hurried travellers to pass it by, but, leaving this debatable point out +of the question, let us admit, for the nonce, that it is admirably +located if one only chooses to spend a half-day or more in visiting the +charmingly interesting city and its cathedral, or what there is of it, +for it exists only as a luminous height <i>sans</i> nave, <i>sans</i> tower, and +<i>sans</i> nearly everything, except a choir of such immensity that to see +it is to marvel if not to admire. It is indeed as Hope has said, "a +miracle of loftiness and lightness; appearing as if about to soar into +the air."</p> + +<p>How many readers, who recognize the charms for which the cathedral is +most revered, know that it was intended to rank as the</p> + +<div class="image border" style="width: 500px;"> +<a href="images/illus082a.png"> +<img src="images/illus082a_th.png" width="500" height="295" alt="ST. PIERRE ... de BEAUVAIS" /> +</a> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">71</a></span></p> +<p class="noind">St. Peter's of the north, and like its Roman prototype, was to surpass +all other contemporary structures in size and magnificence. This was +marked out for it when, in the middle sixteenth century, the builders of +its central spire, which fell shortly after, sought to rival the Italian +church in a vast Gothic fabric which should be the dominant northern +type in contra-distinction to that of the south. This of itself, were +there no other contributory interests, which there are to a very great +degree, should be all-sufficient to awaken the desire on the part of +every one who journeys Parisward to obtain a more intimate acquaintance +with this great work. Here was an instance of ambition overleaping +itself,—exceeding by far the needs and conditions of its environment +and like many another ill-planned venture, it fell to ruin through a +lack of logic and mental balance. To-day we see a restored fabric, +lacking all the attributes of a great church except that which is +encompassed by that portion lying eastward of the nave proper, its frail +buttresses knitted together by iron rods, its piers latterly doubled in +number, and many more visible signs of an attempt to hold its walls and +roofs up to the work they have to perform.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">72</a></span></p> + +<p>The present structure, in so far as certain of its components go, was +commenced within five years of Amiens (1225), which calls to mind the +guide-book comparison, which seems so appropriate that it must really +have previously originated from some other source,—Amiens, "a giant in +repose;" Beauvais, "a Colossus on tiptoe."</p> + +<p>Its designer built not wisely, nor in this case too well, for before the +end of the century the roof had fallen, and this after repeated +miscalculations and failures. At this time the intermediate piers of the +choir were built and a general modified plan adopted.</p> + +<p>Ruskin's favourite simile, with respect to St. Pierre de Beauvais, was +that no Alpine precipice had the sheer fall of the walls of this +choir,—or words to that effect, which is about as far-fetched as many +other of his dictums, which have since been exploded by writers of every +degree of optimism and pessimism. Certainly it is a great height to +which this choir rises, one hundred and fifty-three feet it has been +called, which probably exceeds that of Amiens by a dozen or more feet, +though authorities (<i>sic</i>) vary with regard to these dimensions, as +might be supposed; but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">73</a></span> it is no more like unto a wall of rock than it +is to a lighthouse.</p> + +<p>With the crumbling of the sixteenth-century spire on Ascension Day, +1573, restoration of the transepts was undertaken and work on the nave +resumed, which only proceeded, however, to the extent of erecting one +bay to the westward, which stands to this day, the open end filled in +with scantling, weather proofing, and what not,—a bare, gaunt, ugly +patch. Had it been possible to complete the work on its original +magnificent lines, it would have been the most stupendous Gothic fabric +the world has ever known.</p> + +<p>Not entirely without beauty, in spite of its great proportions, it is +more with wonder than admiration that one views both its details and +proportions. Though it is perhaps unfair to condemn its style as +unworthy of the Augustan age of French architecture, surely the ambition +with which the work was undertaken was a laudable one enough, and it is +only from the fact that it spells failure in the eyes of many who lack +initiative in their own make-up, that it only qualifiedly may be called +a great work.</p> + +<p>The choir, which now dates from 1322, perforce looks unduly short, by +reason of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">74</a></span> absence of a nave to add to the effect of horizontal +stability; and the great height of the adjoining transept; but the +chevet and buttresses are certainly a marvel of grace and towering +forms.</p> + +<p>The portals of the transept are of the period of Francis I., with +flowing lines and ornate decorations—"having passed the severity and +ethical standards of maturity, and progressed well along the path to +senility," as a vigorous Frenchman has put it. True enough in its +application is this livid sentiment,—perhaps,—but its jewel-like south +portal, like the "<i>gemmed</i>" west front of Tours, forms an attractive +enough presentment to please most observers who do not delve too deeply +into cause and effect. The north portal is less ornate, but its +beautifully carved doors are by the same hand as that which worked the +opposite portal. The ornamental stonework here is unusual, suggesting an +arrangement which may or may not have been intended as a representation +of the "Tree of Jesse." In any case it is a remarkable work of flowing +Gothic "branches," which, though mainly lacking its intended +interspersed figures, is not only unique among exterior decorations, +but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">75</a></span> appears as a singularly appropriate treatment of a grand doorway.</p> + +<p>Adjoining the choir on the right is a sacristy occupying a small +structure, and to the westward is a fragmentary edifice known as the +<i>Basse Œuvre</i>,—one of the oldest existing buildings in France; a +Romano-Byzantine work, variously stated as of the sixth to eighth +century and forming a portion of the original church which occupied the +site of the present Cathedral.</p> + +<p>The general impressiveness of this great church—the memory which most +of us will carry away—is caused by its immensity, its loftiness, and +the general effect of lightness. These form an irresistible galaxy of +features which can hardly fail to produce a new and startling sensation +upon any observer.</p> + +<p>As to decorative embellishments, the church is by no means lacking. The +coloured glass, typical of the best period of the art, is luxurious and +extensive; that contained in the north and south transept rose windows +being the exceedingly beautiful work of Le Prince, a celebrated +sixteenth-century artist.</p> + +<p>Numerous side chapels surround the ambulatory of the choir, and on the +west wall of the transept are hung the eight tapestries<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">76</a></span> after the +sixteenth-century Raphael cartoons now at South Kensington. These +tapestries are, it is to be presumed, late copies, since, of the two +early sets woven at Arras, one is preserved in the Vatican and the other +at the Museum at Berlin. A modern fresco of Jeanne Hachette, a local +Amazon, adorns one of the choir chapels. A modern astronomical clock, +with numerous dials, striking figures, and crowing cocks, is placed near +the north transept. It might naturally be supposed that in our day the +canons of good taste would plead against such a mere "curio" being +housed in a noble church.</p> + +<p>The former Bishop's Palace, dating from the fourteenth to sixteenth +centuries, is now the Palace of Justice. The present episcopal residence +is immediately to the north of the Cathedral and is modern.</p> + +<p>As a tapestry-making centre Beauvais ranks with the famous Gobelin +Manufactory at Paris.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">77</a></span></p> +<p> </p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">78</a></span></p> + +<div class="imagepad" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus090.png" width="500" height="391" alt="Notre Dame de Rouen" /> +</div> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">79</a></span></p> + +<h4>IV<br /><br /> +NOTRE DAME DE ROUEN</h4> + +<p>R<span class="smcap">ouen</span>, of all the mediæval cities of France, is ever to the fore in the +memories of the mere traveller for pleasure. In no sense are its charms +of a negative quality, or few in number. Quite the reverse is the case; +but the city's apparent attraction is its extreme accessibility, and the +glamours that a metropolis of rank throws over itself; for it must not +be denied that a countrified environment has not, for all, the appealing +interest of a great city. It is to this, then, that Rouen must accredit +the throngs of strangers which continually flock to its doors from the +Easter time to late autumn. In addition there are its three great +churches, so conveniently and accessibly placed that the veriest tyro in +travel can but come upon them whichever way he strolls. Other monuments +of equal rank there are, too, and altogether, whether it be the mere +hurried pecking of a bird of passage, or the more <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">80</a></span>leisurely attack of +the studiously inclined, Rouen offers perhaps much greater attractions +than are possessed by any other French city of equal rank.</p> + +<p>So closely, too, have certain events of English history been interwoven +with scenes and incidents which have taken place here, that the wonder +is that it is not known even more intimately by that huge number of +persons who annually rush across France to Switzerland or Italy.</p> + +<p>Chroniclers of the city's history, its churches, and its institutions +have not been wanting, in either French or English; and even the +guide-books enlarge (not unduly) upon its varied charms. Once possessing +thirty-two churches, sixteen yet remain; quite one-half of which may be +numbered to-day as of appealing interest. <i>En passant</i>, it may be stated +that here at Rouen, in both Notre Dame and the Abbey Church of St. Ouen, +is found that gorgeous functionary, commonly called "the Suisse," who +seeks your gold or a portion thereof, in return for which he will favour +you by opening an iron wicket into the choir, an incumbrance unnoticed +elsewhere, except at Paris and St. Denis.</p> + +<p>The late Gothic church of St. Ouen, where<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">81</a></span> the Maid of Orleans received +her fatal sentence, shows a wonderful unity of design even as to its +modern western towers; a consistency not equally the possession of the +neighbouring cathedral, or even of most great churches. Altogether, this +grand building is regarded as an unparallelled example of the +realization of much that is best of Gothic architecture at its greatest +height. In its central tower alone—which may or may not be suggestive +of a market-basket, accordingly as you will take Ruskin's opinion, or +form one of your own—is the least evidence of the developed flamboyant +found. Its interior is clean-cut and free of obstruction; the extreme +length of its straight lines, both horizontal and perpendicular, +entirely freed from chapel or choir screen, embrace and uphold its +"walls of glass" in an unequalled manner.</p> + +<p>In strong contrast to this expressively graceful style is the +ultraflorid type of St. Maclou, the other of that trinity of +architectural splendours, which, with the Cathedral of Notre Dame, form +the chief ecclesiastical monuments of the city. St. Maclou, which dates +from the early fifteenth century, though not of the grand proportions of +either of the other great churches, being rather of the type of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">82</a></span> +large parish church as it is known in England, holds one spellbound by +the very daring of its ornaments and tracery, but contains no trace of +non-Gothic. The French passion for the curved line is nowhere more +manifest than here (and in the west front of Notre Dame), where flowing +tracery of window, doorway, portal, and, in general, all exterior +ornament, is startling in its audacity. To view these two contrasting +types before making acquaintance with the Cathedral of Notre Dame +itself, is to prepare oneself for a consideration in some measure of a +combination of the charms of both, woven into one fabric. Nowhere, at +least in no provincial town of France, are to be found such a +categorical display of ecclesiastical architectural details as here.</p> + +<p>Rouen has from the second century been an important seat of +Christianity. St. Nicaise, not to be confounded with him of the same +name of Reims, first held a conversion here and was shortly followed by +St. Mellor, who founded the city's first church, on the site of the +present cathedral. In succeeding centuries this foundation gradually +took shape and form until, with the occupation by the Norsemen under +Rollo, was founded a dynasty which fostered the development of theology<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">83</a></span> +and the arts in a manner previously unknown. The cathedral was enlarged +at this time, and upon his death in 930 Rollo was interred therein, as +was also his son in 943. Richard the Fearless followed with further +additions and enlargements, his son Richard being made its forty-third +archbishop. From this time on, the great church-building era, Christian +activities were notably at work, here as elsewhere, and during the +prolific eleventh century great undertakings were in progress; so much +so that what was practically a new church received its consecration, and +dedication to Our Lady, in 1063, in the presence of him who later was to +be known as the Conqueror. To-day it stands summed up thus—a grand +building, rich, confused, and unequal in design and workmanship.</p> + +<p>The lower portion of the northwest tower, called the <i>Tour St. Romain</i>, +is all that is left of the eleventh-century building, the remainder of +which was destroyed by fire in 1200. Rebuilding followed in succeeding +years and shows work of many styles. Additions, repairs, and +interpolations were incorporated with the fragment of the tower, so that +the structure as we now know it stood complete with the early thirteenth +century. Viollet-le-Duc<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">84</a></span> is the authority for the statement that the +apse and transept, chapels, choir, and two doorways of the west façade +were quite complete before the influence of the perfected Gothic of the +Isle of France was even felt. One Enguerrand was the chief designer of +the new church, assisted by Jean d'Andeli as master mason. The early +century saw the nave chapels built, having been preceded by the <i>Portail +aux Libraires</i>, a sort of cloistered north entrance, still so referred +to, one of the most charming and quiet old-world retreats to be found +to-day even within the hallowed precincts of a cathedral. The <i>Portail +de la Calende</i> did not follow until a century later, when the <i>Tour St. +Romain</i> was completed to its roof; at which time was also added the +screen or arcade which separates the <i>Portail aux Libraires</i> from the +street.</p> + +<p>This century, too, saw the beginning of the famous <i>Tour de Beurre</i>, +built mostly by the contributions of those who paid for the indulgence +of being allowed to eat butter during Lent. Its foundation was laid in +1487 under Archbishop Robert de Croixmore, and it was completed under +Cardinal d'Amboise in 1507. A chapel at the base of the tower is +dedicated to St. Stephen. The ornate decorations of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">85</a></span> west front, +added by Georges d'Amboise, are mainly of the sixteenth century and form +no part of the original plan or design. It borders upon the style we +have since learned to decry, but it is, at least, marvellous as to the +skill with which its foliaged and crocketed pinnacles and elaborate +traceries are worked. Ruskin was probably right in this estimate at +least,—"The central gable is the most exquisite piece of pure +flamboyant style extant." At the present day this west front is +undergoing such restoration and general repair that the entire gable, +rose window, and part of the flanking towers are completely covered with +a most hideous array of scaffolding.</p> + +<p>The central spire as it exists to-day, in reality an abomination of +abominations, is naturally enough admired by all when first viewed from +afar. It certainly looks not dwarfed, or even fragile, but simply +delicate, and withal graceful, an opinion which ultimate association +therewith speedily dispels. It must be one of the very first examples of +modern iron or steel erection in the world, dating from 1827, following +three former spires, each of which was burned. The architect responsible +for this monstrosity sought to combine two fabrics in incoherent +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">86</a></span>proportions. More than one authority decries the use of iron as a +constructive element, and Chaucer's description of the Temple of Mars in +the Knight's Tale reads significantly:</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Wrought all of burned steel...</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Was long and straight and ghastly for to see."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>The great part of the exterior of this remarkable church is closely +hidden by a rather squalid collection of buildings. Here and there they +have been cleared away, but, like much of the process of restoration, +where new fabric is let into the old, the incongruity is quite as +objectionably apparent as the crumbling stones of another age. <i>Notre +Dame de Rouen</i> is singularly confined, but there seems no help for it, +and it is but another characteristic of the age in which it was +built,—that the people either sought the shelter of churchly +environment, or that the church was only too willing to stretch forth +its sheltering arms to all and sundry who would lie in its shadow.</p> + +<p>In an assignment of ranking beauty to its external features, the +decorative west front must manifestly come first; next the <i>Portail aux +Libraires</i>, with its arcaded gateway and the remains of the booksellers' +stalls which still<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">87</a></span> surround its miniature courtyard; then, perhaps, +should follow the <i>Tour St. Romain</i> and the <i>Portail de la Calende</i>, +with its charmingly recessed doorway and flanking lancet arches. The +sculptured decorations of all are for the most part intact and +undisfigured. The gable of the southern doorway rises pointedly until +its apex centres with the radiated circular window above, which, by the +way, is not of the exceeding great beauty of the other two rose windows, +which rank with those at Reims and Chartres as the <i>beaux ideals</i> of +these distinctly French achievements.</p> + +<p>The interior, viewed down the nave, and showing its great length and +that of the choir, impresses one with a graver sense of unity in the +manner of building than is possible to conceive with regard to the +exterior. The height and length both approximate that of St. Ouen, and, +though the nave rises only to ninety-eight feet, an effect of greater +loftiness is produced by the unusual quadripartite range of openings +from pavement to vaulting: two rows of arches opening into the aisles +before the triforium itself is reached. The lantern at the crossing +supports the ironwork spire, and admits light to the centre of the +church, only to a small degree, however. The south<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">88</a></span> transept, like that +of the north, with its ample double aisles, is of great width, and, were +the framing of the great rose window of less angularity, it would indeed +produce a remarkable effect of grandeur. The other windows, and the +arcading of the triforium, are singularly graceful; not lacking either +strength or firmness, though having no glass of great rarity or +excellence. In this transept is the altar of St. Romain, a +seventeenth-century work of little pretensions.</p> + +<p>The north transept contains two features which give it immediate +precedence over any other, when viewed from within: its gracefully +traceried rose window and fine glass, and the delightful stone staircase +leading to the chapter library. Mere description cannot do this stairway +justice. Renaissance it certainly is, and where we might wish to find +nothing but Gothic ornament, it may prove somewhat of a disappointment; +but it is magnificent. Its white marble balustrading gleams in the +strong light thrown from the western transept window and gives an +unmistakable note of richness and sonority. It was built late in the +fifteenth century under orders of Cardinal d'Estonteville. The upper +doorway leads to the treasury, and that of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">89</a></span> the first landing to the +chamber in which were formerly kept the bibliographical treasures, now +housed in the special building which forms the western wall of the +outside court.</p> + +<p>The north and south aisles of the nave are broken into by a series of +chapels, the chief of which are the Chapel to St. Stephen in the base of +the <i>Tour de Beurre</i> and <i>du Petit St. Romain</i>, where an abbé or curé +speaking the English tongue is often to be found. On the south side is a +chapel containing the tomb of William Longsword, second Duke of +Normandy, and son of Rollo.</p> + +<p>The great attraction of the choir, far more than its beauties of +architectural forms, shown in its graceful columns and deep graven +capitals, will be, for most visitors, its array of elaborate monuments, +including those of Pierre and Louis de Breze, of whom the former, the +Grand Seneschal of Normandy under Charles VII., fell at Monthery, and +was buried here in 1465. More pretentious is the tomb of Louis, his +grandson, erected by his wife Diane de Poitiers, with a significant +inscription which the curious may be pleased to figure out for +themselves. This noble monument is one of those examples hesitatingly +attributed to Jean Goujon. The <i>pièce de résistance</i> is the Renaissance +tomb of the Cardinals d'Amboise. Georges I. was memorialized in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">90</a></span>1556 by +his nephew Georges II., who in turn came to share the same tomb. Both +their kneeling figures are beautifully chiselled, and the whole erection +is gorgeously representative of the late sixteenth-century monumental +work, little in keeping with the Gothic fabric which houses it, but +characteristic of the changing thought and influence of its time. Six +symbolical figures of the virtues form a lower course, while the canopy +is surmounted by nineteen figures of apostles, saints, etc. In 1793 the +ashes of these great prelates were scattered to the winds, but the +effigies and their setting fortunately remained uninjured. Other +archbishops of the cathedral are buried in the choir, and the heart of +Richard Cœur de Lion once rested here, as did also the bodies of his +brother Henry, and John, Duke of Bedford.</p> + +<p>The choir stalls, mostly the work of Flemish wood-carvers, are notable +examples.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">91</a></span></p> +<div class="image" style="width: 521px;"> +<img src="images/illus103a.png" width="521" height="182" alt="image not available" /> +</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">92</a></span></p> +<div class="imagepad" style="width: 379px;"> +<a href="images/illus104.png"> +<img src="images/illus104_th.png" width="379" height="550" alt="Basilique de St. Denis" /> +</a> +</div> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">93</a></span></p> +<h4>V<br /><br /> +BASILIQUE DE ST. DENIS</h4> + +<p>T<span class="smcap">he</span> Basilica of St. Denis, so-called to-day, built over the remains of +the martyred St. Denis, is in a way the counterpart of the Cathedral of +Reims, in that it also is intimately associated with the Kings of +France. In the former they were, almost without exception, crowned; and +here, at St. Denis, are the memorials of their greatness, and in many +cases their actual tombs. Thus far and no farther may the similarity be +said to exist. The old Abbey of St. Denis has little in common, +architecturally, with the grand Cathedral of Notre Dame de Reims. Of the +two, St. Denis is much the older foundation, and from the point of view +of romance and sentiment holds perhaps the premier place, as well.</p> + +<p>The history of the city is one of the most interesting and diversified +of all in the domain of the Kings of France. A Benedictine abbey was +founded here in the reign of Dagobert I.,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">94</a></span> and, under the Carlovingian +dynasty, immediately took on political as well as devout significance. +The Abbot of St. Denis journeyed to Rome in 751 <span class="smcap">A. D.</span> and secured for +Pepin the papal confirmation of his kingship. Pope Stephen took refuge +here from the Lombards in 754 <span class="smcap">A. D.</span>, during which time he anointed the +king's sons, Charles and Charlemagne; upon the consecration of which act +Pepin handed over to his sons the right and title to his dominions.</p> + +<p>Upon the advice of the Abbot Suger, Louis VI. adopted the <i>Oriflamme</i>, +or standard of St. Denis, as the banner of the Kings of France, and, for +long after, its red and gold colourings hung above the altar,—only to +be removed when the king should take the field in person.</p> + +<p>Abélard, of famed romance, was a monk of the abbey in the twelfth +century; and, in the absence of the sovereign (Louis VII.) in the Holy +Land during the mid-century, the Abbé Suger administered full well the +affairs of the kingdom. This renowned abbot and true lover of art died +in 1151 at St. Denis.</p> + +<p>In 1429 "the Maid of Orleans" here delivered up her arms; and a century +and a half later that sturdy Protestant, Henry, abjured<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">95</a></span> the faith to +which he had hitherto so tenaciously clung. In this church, too, the +great Napoleon married Marie Louise in 1810; and his later namesake, +some fifty years after, erected a mausoleum in the crypt, known as the +<i>Caveau Imperial</i>, the burial vault of his dynasty, which, however, has +never been so used.</p> + +<p>Such in brief is the record of some of the more important affairs of +church and state, which are identified with this fine old cathedral. The +usual books of reference give lengthy lists of the various tombs and +monuments which exist. It is a pity, however, that, in spite of the +laudable ambition of preserving here, in a sort of kingly Valhalla, the +memory of the rulers of a past age, it has degenerated, in turn, to a +mere show-place, with little enough of the real sentiment remaining to +satisfy the seriously inclined, who perforce would wish to be reminded +in some more subtle way than by a mere "rush around the exhibits," which +is about all the half-hourly, personally conducted excursions, with +appropriate fees to be delivered up here and there, amounts to. But for +this, there would still be some of the charm and reverence which such a +noble memorial should inspire, in spite<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">96</a></span> of the fact that revolution and +desecration have played more than a usual share in the general +derangement of the original plans.</p> + +<p>Up to the time of Henry IV., the monarchs were mostly interred in +separate tombs, but, following him, his immediate successors were buried +in a common vault. During the Revolution, the Convention decreed that +the royal tombs should be destroyed, and so they mostly were,—the +bodies dug up and interred, if so the process can be called, in a common +grave. In 1817 Louis XVIII. caused the remains of his ancestors, as well +as Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette, to be transferred here from the +Madeleine, and in turn he himself was buried here, as well as the Duc de +Berry and several of his children. The preservation of such of the tombs +as survived the many vicissitudes to which they were put, is due to the +fact that many of them were at one time removed to the Musée des +Petits-Augustines, now the Palace des Beaux Arts, at Paris; but in 1817 +Louis XVIII. ordered them to be replaced in the crypt of St. Denis; not, +however, on the sites which they formerly occupied, but in an arbitrary +manner which only the great abilities of M. Viollet-le-Duc, who +undertook their rearrangement and restoration, were able to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">97</a></span>present in +some coherent manner for the marvel of future generations. There are now +therein over fifty monuments and tombs, besides various statues, +medallions, and other memorials.</p> + +<p>From an architectural point of view, we have to consider the <i>Basilique +de St. Denis</i> no longer a cathedral, as one of the earliest Gothic +examples in France, though at first glance little enough of the true +Gothic feeling is apparent. About the year 275 a chapel was built here +above the grave of St. Dionysius, the first Bishop of Paris. This was +followed by a large <i>basilica</i>, ultimately given over to the uses of +monks of the Benedictine order. Evidences of this former construction +are supposed by archæologists to still remain, but little, earlier than +the structure of the Abbé Suger, meets the eye to-day. Strong is the +trace of the development from the Romanesque façade, completed in 1140, +to pure Gothic construction of a century later. In this church is +commonly supposed to be exhibited for the first time, bearing in mind +that the date of its consecration was 1144, a complete system of +buttresses accompanying the pointed arch of the vaulting, though in +conjunction with semicircular vaulting in the choir aisles.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">98</a></span></p> + +<p>The west façade is the most notable part of Suger's building. It +contains three deeply recessed round arched portals, decorated with +sculpture, but so disfigured, or at least modified from their original +forms in an attempt to replace the ravages of time and spoliation, that +one can not well judge of their original merit. The south portal shows +symbolical figures of the months and of "St. Dionysius in Prison;" the +central doorway a "Last Judgment," and the "Wise and Foolish Virgins;" +while the north portal depicts "St. Dionysius on His Way to Martyrdom," +and "The Signs of the Zodiac."</p> + +<p>A curious and unusual effect of the upper portion of this grim façade, +like a similar work at Dol-de-Bretagne, is a range of battlements which +were erected for defensive purposes in the fourteenth century. The nave +rises high above this, surmounted by a statue of St. Denis. Above the +lateral portals of the façade are two towers, that on the right rising +two stages above the embattled crest, while that on the left stops at +that level. The spire with which it was formerly surmounted was ruined +by lightning early in the nineteenth century.</p> + +<p>The choir, with its radiating chapels, is of a Romanesque order, with +the Gothic <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">99</a></span>attribute of the flying buttress in a high degree of +development.</p> + +<p>A general restoration was carried out in the thirteenth century by the +successors of Suger, the Abbés Eudes Clement and Matthieu de Vendôme, in +the best Gothic of the time; and it is to their excellently planned work +that the general fine effect of the present interior arrangements may +properly enough be accredited, though for a fact it seldom is so. A +later restoration, the removing of the ruin wrought by the Revolution, +did not succeed so well. It was not until the really great work of +Viollet-le-Duc, under Napoleon III., that this grand building finally +took on again an acceptable form.</p> + +<p>The general interior arrangements, though to-day apparently subservient +to the common attributes of a show-house with its innumerable guides, +functionaries, and fees, are simple and impressive so far as structural +elements are concerned. As for decorations, they are mostly to be found +in that gorgeous array of monuments and tombs before mentioned. The +entrance proper, or vestibule, is of Suger's era and is gloomy and dull, +in strong contrast with the noble and impressive nave, which contains +thirty-seven enormously high<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">100</a></span> windows and a handsome triforium gallery. +This portion dates from the thirteenth century, or immediately following +Suger's régime. The excellent stained glass is modern. The transepts are +mere rudimentary elements, suggested only by the interior arrangement of +the piers, and are simple and impressive.</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 238px;"> +<img src="images/illus113.png" width="238" height="302" alt="Oriflamme of St. Denis" /> +</div> + +<div class="image border top" style="width: 298px;"> +<a href="images/illus114a.png"> +<img src="images/illus114a_th.png" width="298" height="500" alt="NOTRE DAME de PARIS." /> +</a> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">101</a></span></p> + +<h4>VI<br /><br /> +NOTRE DAME DE PARIS</h4> + +<p>O<span class="smcap">f</span> all the cathedrals of France, Notre Dame de Paris is most firmly +impressed on the minds of English speaking people. At least, it is more +familiarly known by all who visit that delectable land, and perhaps +rightly so. Poets have sung its praises, and writers of all ranks have +used it in well-nigh every possible fashion as an accessory; indeed, +books almost without number have been written about it, and around it. +This is as it should be, for perhaps no great church is more worthy, or +more prolific in material. For those who would probe deeply into its +story, there is but one way to acquire an intimate knowledge +thereof,—to undertake a course of reading and study in some such way as +a lawyer sets about reading up on a great case. By no other method could +be acquired a tithe of the commonly known facts regarding its past +history; hence the impossibility of attempting to deal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">102</a></span> fully in a few +pages with this great church, even in a perfunctory manner. The most +that can be safely ventured upon, is to recount some of the facts.</p> + +<p>How many have really noticed that none of the diagrams, which show the +ground-plan of this cathedral, indicate the existence of any transepts? +Take, for instance, that which accompanies this volume, which, it may be +said, is drawn correctly,—beyond the omission of a couple of pillars on +either side of the nave, there is nothing to break into the long +parallelogram-like structure, with an apsidal termination. As a matter +of fact, there are a pair of very beautiful transepts, as most +photographs of the exterior, and drawings of the interior, show. They +are, too, in no way attenuated, and are only lost in the ground-plan by +reason of the fact that they follow the very unusual arrangement of not +extending laterally beyond the ample width of the nave and its chapelled +aisles. The south transept façade, with the portal dedicated to St. +Stephen, and two magnificent rose windows, is unquestionably more +pleasing than the west façade itself as to design and arrangement.</p> + +<p>Begun in 1163 and consecrated in 1182, the church has undergone many +vicissitudes,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">103</a></span> changes, and restorations. It has fared ill on many +occasions; perhaps the greatest defilement being that which befell it +during the Revolution, when it was not only foully desecrated, its +statues and other imagery despoiled, but the edifice was actually doomed +to destruction. This fortunately was spared to it, but in the same year +(1793) it became a "Temple of Reason," one of those fanatical exploits +of a set of madmen who are periodically let loose upon the world. +Mysticism, palaverings, and orgies unspeakable took place between its +walls, and it only became sanctified again when Napoleon caused it to be +reopened as a place of divine worship. Again, three-quarters of a +century later, it fell into evil times—when it was turned into a +military rendezvous by the Communards of '71. In turn, they too +retreated, leaving the church, as they supposed, to the mercy of the +flames which they had kindled. Fortunately these were extinguished and +the building again rescued from an untoward fate.</p> + +<p>The thirteenth-century façade is usually accredited the finest part of +the church. It comes upon one as rather plain and bare after the +luxuriance of Amiens, Reims, or Rouen. As a model and design, however, +it has served<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">104</a></span> its purpose well, if other examples, variously +distributed throughout England and France, are considered. Its lines, in +fact, are superb and vary little in proportion or extent from what must +perforce be accepted as ideal. Its portals are of good design, and so +also is such sculpture as survived the ravages of the past, though the +outlines of the doorways are severely plain. A series of modern +sculptured effigies of the kings, replacing those destroyed at the +Revolution, forms a plain horizontal band across the entire front; a +none too graceful or pleasing arrangement of itself. A rose window +forty-two feet in width occupies the centre of the next stage, flanked +by two blunt-pointed windows rather bare of glass. Above is an arcaded +gallery of small pointed arches in pairs, also extending across the +entire front. The balustrade, above, holds a number of grotesque +creatures carved in stone. They may be gargoyles, but are not, however, +in this case, of the spout variety, being some of those erections of a +superstitious age which were so frequently added to a mediæval building; +though whether as a mere decoration, or with greater significance, +authorities do not seem to agree. The two uncompleted square towers +overtop all, pierced by the two great lancets, which,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">105</a></span> with respect to +mere proportions, are unusual if not unique.</p> + +<p>The spire above the crossing is a wooden structure covered with lead, +and dates only from the middle of the nineteenth century. Both the north +and south transepts contain magnificent rose windows of even larger +dimensions than that of the west façade. The doorway of the south +transept is ornamented with effective ironwork, but otherwise the +exterior presents no remarkable features.</p> + +<p>To the artist's eye the gem of the building is undoubtedly the fine +grouping and ensemble of the flying buttresses at the rear of the choir. +Most persons, so gifted, have tried their prentice, or their master, +hands at depicting this grand marshalled array of "folded wings," and, +but for the gruesome morgue at its foot, which ever intrudes into the +view, one might almost say it is the most idyllic and most specious view +of a great cathedral that it were possible to have. Were it not for this +charming view of these buttressed walls, with the river flowing at their +feet, the Isle de la Cité would be indeed a gloomy spot, with its lurid +historical past, and its present gruesome association with the "house of +the dead." Indeed, it has been questioned as to whether the choir<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">106</a></span> and +chevet of Notre Dame de Paris is not the most beautiful extant. The Isle +de la Cité was the ancient island village of the Parisii.</p> + +<p>A sixteenth-century Dutch writer (De Sauteuil) has delivered himself of +these few lines concerning the Seine at this point:</p> + +<p>"When first it enters the metropolis it ambitiously stays its rapid +course, and, being truly enamoured with the place, forgets its way, is +uncertain whither to flow, and winds in sweet meanders through the town; +thence filling the pipes with its waters. That which was once a river, +joys to become a fountain."</p> + +<p>To carry the suggestion of contrast still farther one should read Hugo's +"Notre Dame" on the spot. It will give a wonderful and whimsical +conception of those weird gargoyles and devils, which have only to be +seen to awaken a new interest in what this great writer has put forth. +For another sensation, pleasant or otherwise, one might look up a copy +of Méyron's wonderful etching of the same subject, or refer to a most +excellent monograph, written not many years since, entitled "The Devils +of Notre Dame." The interior shows the earliest example wherein the +double aisles of the nave are continued around the choir, and the first +introduction of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">107</a></span> the quadruple range of openings from the pavement to +the vaulting. The aisles and nave are of almost equal height.</p> + +<p>The choir, besides being merely apsided, is, in fact, a true semicircle, +a sufficiently unusual arrangement in an early Gothic church to be +remarked; and, in addition, is exceedingly narrow and lofty. The glass +of the rose windows is of old and gorgeous quality, it having escaped +destruction in Revolutionary times, whereas that of the lower range of +windows was mostly destroyed.</p> + +<p>The choir stalls are of excellent wooden carving, but the high altar is +modern, dating only from 1874. The choir screen, of the fourteenth +century, shows twenty-three reliefs in stone, once richly gilded, but +now tarnished and dull.</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 341px;"> +<img src="images/illus122.png" width="341" height="337" alt="Notre Dame de Paris from the River" /> +</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">108</a></span></p> + +<h4 class="top15">ST. LOUIS DE VERSAILLES</h4> + +<p>Allied with the see whose jurisdiction includes the Diocese of the +Department of the Seine, should be considered that of Seine and Oise, +which has its bishop's throne esconced in the Cathedral of St. Louis at +Versailles. To all intents and purposes the town is one of those +conglomerate units which go to make up the "traveller's Paris." More can +hardly be said with due regard to the magnificent edifices with which +this cathedral must naturally be classed. The other attractions of this +"court suburb" are so appealing to the sentimentally inclined that it is +to be feared that such will have little eye for the very minor +attractions of the cathedral. The Trianons, the "Grandes Eaux" and the +"Petites Eaux" are all in all to the visitor to Versailles.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact and record, the Cathedral of St. Louis must be +mentioned, if only to be dismissed in a word. Bourasée refers to it as +"a thing cold, unfeeling, and without life." Truthfully, it is a +remarkably ugly building of the middle eighteenth century, with no +details of note and no memorials worthy of even a passing regard, except +a monument to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">109</a></span> Duc de Berry, who died in 1820. What embellishment is +given to the interior, is accounted for by the exceeding ruddy glow shed +by the contemporary coloured glass of the none too numerous windows.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">110</a></span></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">111</a></span></p> + +<div class="image top" style="width: 500px;"> +<a href="images/illus126.png"> +<img src="images/illus126_th.png" width="500" height="350" alt="St. Julien; Le Mans" /> +</a> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">112</a></span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">113</a></span></p> + + +<h4>VII<br /><br /> +ST. JULIEN; LE MANS</h4> + +<p>L<span class="smcap">e</span> Mans, like Chartres, sprang from an ancient Celtic hill fort, and, +through successive stages, has since grown to a Roman, a mediæval, and +finally a modern city. It crowns the top of a very considerable +eminence, the like of which, says Professor Freeman, does not exist in +England. Like Chartres, too, it has always retained the balance of power +which has made it the local civil and ecclesiastical capital of its +province. It is, too, more closely associated in English minds than is +Chartres, forming as it did a part of the dominion of a common +sovereign; also by reason of being the birthplace of Henry II., and the +burial-place of Queen Berengaria, the wife of Richard Cœur-de-Lion.</p> + +<p>Le Mans stands, without doubt, in advance of Chartres in the importance +and number of its secondary churches, as well as its ecclesiastical, +civil, and military establishments in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">114</a></span> general. In spite of all this, +the city has never ranked as of supreme importance as a European city; +nor did it ever attain the rank in Gallic times, that the events which +have been woven around it would seem to augur. To-day it is a truly +characteristic, large, provincial town of little or no importance to the +outside world. Self-sufficient as to its own importance, and the events +around which its local life circles, it gives little indication of ever +becoming more of a metropolis than it now is; indeed the census figures +would indicate that the department, of which it is the capital, has +remained stationary as to the numbers of its population, since the +Revolution.</p> + +<p>Writers have endeavoured to carry the similarity to English interests and +conditions still farther than the events of history really go to prove, +and have declared that Maine and England should have united in repelling +their common invader. Endeavour has also been made to trace similarity +between the communistic principles of days gone by, which took form here +and at Exeter across the Channel, and have even remarked the similarity +of the topographical features of the surrounding landscape, wherein the +country round about differs so from other parts of France, being<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">115</a></span> here +rolling, hilly, and wooded, as in certain parts of England; and even +stretching a point to include the hedgerows, which, it must be admitted, +are more in evidence in Maine than elsewhere in France. But these +observations apparently prove nothing except that the majority of +persons probably know very little of the real conditions which exist in +the provinces of France, preferring rather that their journeyings afield +should follow more the well-worn road of their compatriots.</p> + +<p>The Cathedral of St. Julien well represents the two distinct epochs in +which church architecture, as it remains to us to-day, was practised +here, and shows, to well-nigh the fullest expression possible, the two +principal transformations of Christian architecture.</p> + +<p>As the Angevin style partakes so closely of northern and southern types +intermixed, so the distinctive architectures of Maine, if such there be, +may be said to favour the styles of both Normandy and Anjou; at least so +far as the cathedral at Le Mans shows a combination of Angevin and +Norman detail. The really distinctive southern influence is to be noted +in the Romano-Byzantine nave, the exterior of which, so far as the +western front is concerned, is far more notable in the rigidness and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">116</a></span>austerity of its lines, than by any richness of ornamentation or +decoration. Nothing could be more simply plain than this portal, and the +wall and gable which surmount it. A large bare window, of the variety of +that at Angers, stands above the doorway, which, itself, lacks all +attempt at embellishment. What decoration the façade bears is after the +true Byzantine manner, of the nature of brickwork displayed and set into +the wall in geometrically angular fashion. What sculpture there is, two +grotesque animals on either of the buttresses which flank the façade, is +of minor account. This, then, is the extent of the detail of this severe +western façade, the grand portal of the usually accepted great church +being entirely lacking and evidently not thought of as a desirable +detail when this portion of the structure was erected. It has nothing of +the prodigious art expression of the frontispieces of the grand Gothic +churches of the north, or of the less poverty-stricken Byzantine +decoration of its own Meridional portal, which, in so far as the style +can be said to take on richness of form, shows the transition tendencies +of the early twelfth century. This doorway is surmounted by a tympanum, +ornamented by a figure of the Saviour surrounded by the four<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">117</a></span> +Evangelists, a subject which has always proved itself a highly +successful and popular ecclesiastical symbol, and one which in this +case, as in most others, is well made use of. All the figures have +suffered considerably from the ravages of time, but retain much of their +interest and charm in spite of such mutilation. A tower of Romanesque +foundation, but of fifteenth and sixteenth century completion, flanks +this south transept.</p> + +<p>The ranking portion of this interesting church is its choir, larger in +superficial area than the entire cathedrals of Noyon or Soissons. Both +from inside and out, it is all that one's imagination could possibly +invent. Its great proportions are as harmonious and graceful as the +lines of a willow-tree; in fact, as to general effect, it may be set +down as a thing of extraordinary grandeur, worthy to rank with Beauvais +or Amiens, and yet different from either, of a quality its very own. At +the commencement of the thirteenth century the canons obtained, from +Philip Augustus, permission to extend their church beyond the city walls +in an easterly direction, and then it was that this wonderful choir took +shape. The work was undertaken in 1217 and was completed soon after the +middle of the same <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">118</a></span>century, and the body of St. Julien, the first +apostle to Le Mans, for whom the church was named, was placed therein by +Geoffroy de Loudon, then bishop, who decorated the windows of the choir +with the magnificent glass with which they are still set.</p> + +<p>From a certain distance to the eastward the cathedral at Le Mans +presents a view of the choir, unique in all the world. Other greater +ones there are, if mere height be concerned, and others with more +perfect appendages; but none give the far-spreading effect of encircling +chapels, or are possessed of high springing buttresses of more grace or +beauty than are seen here. He was a rash man who ranked the flying +buttresses as a sign of defective construction, indicating structural +weakness, meaningless and undecorative ornament, and what not. Few have +agreed with this dictum, and few ever will after they have seen Paris, +Beauvais, and Le Mans.</p> + +<p>The interior is one of great interest; the nave, even in its early +forms, is none the less attractive because of its austerity. It is, as a +matter of fact, far more interesting here than in its exterior, the +swarthy circular pillars holding aloft arches with just a suspicion of +the ogival style, with narrow, low, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">119</a></span>disproportionately small +windows in the aisles, where are also a series of strengthening pillars +of black and white stone, presenting again a reminiscence of the +southern manner, or at least recalling the slate and stone of Angers. In +the choir, with its girdling chapels and double ambulatory, we come upon +the most impressive portion of all. Slightly orientated from the east +and west, it presents by itself, like Beauvais, nearly all of the +attributes of a great church. The columns, arcades, and windows +throughout are all of an unusual elegance and grace, the vaulting rising +with much daring to a remarkable height, which must approach one hundred +and ten or more feet, and the equal of certain other "popularly notable" +buildings.</p> + +<p>The rose window of the south of the transept is a remarkable example of +these masterpieces of the French builder. The framing and the glass with +which it is set is of the richest quality, though it dates only from the +fifteenth century. The organ case is here found in the south transept, +an unusual arrangement in a French church, where it is usually placed +over the western doorway. The vaulting, too, is much loftier here than +in the nave. The aisles of this remarkable choir<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">120</a></span> have the further +unusual attribute of three ranges of openings, while the clerestory, +only, rises above, but with great and imposing beauty. There are a few +funeral monuments of more than ordinary interest, including that of +Queen Berengaria, wife of Richard, the Lion-Hearted, brought from the +Abbey de l'Epau in 1821; a sarcophagus and statue in white marble of +Charles of Anjou, Count of Maine, King of Jerusalem and Sicily (d. +1472), and the mausoleum of Langey du Bellay. In the north aisle are a +number of fifteenth or sixteenth century tapestries. The former bishop's +palace was burned by the Germans in 1871.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">121</a></span></p> + +<div class="image top" style="width: 324px;"> +<a href="images/illus136.png"> +<img src="images/illus136_th.png" width="324" height="500" alt="Notre Dame de Chartres." /> +</a> +</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">122</a></span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">123</a></span></p> +<h4>VIII<br /><br /> +NOTRE DAME DE CHARTRES</h4> + +<p>A<span class="smcap">side</span> from their wonderful, though non-similar, cathedrals, Chartres and +Le Mans, its neighbour, have much in common. Both have been possessed of +a brilliant array of counts and prelates, both grew from a Celtic +village to their present grand proportions through a series of +vicissitudes, wars, and conquests, until to-day each is preëminent +within its own sphere, and has become not only a centre of +ecclesiastical affairs, but of civil life as well.</p> + +<p>The Counts of Chartres and of Blois, in the middle ages, were a powerful +race of men, and should ever be associated with profound respect in +English minds by the fact that here was the birthplace of Adela, the +mother of King Stephen of Blois, and of Henry, Bishop of Winchester.</p> + +<p>As for local conditions to-day, Chartres, while having grown to the +state which it now occupies through events which have made it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">124</a></span> a city of +mark, remains a somnolescent, sparsely built town, with little +suggestion of the progress of modernity. More frequently mentioned in +the note-books of the traveller than Le Mans, it offers perhaps no +greater charms. To be sure, its cathedral, by reason of its open +situation and the charming quality and effect produced by its spires and +its one hundred and thirty windows of coloured glass, at once places it +at the very head amongst the great "show pieces" of France; but it is in +connection with Le Mans, scarcely eighty miles away and so little known, +that it ought really to be studied and considered; which as a matter of +fact it seldom is. The city is hardly in keeping with what we are wont +to associate with the environment of a great cathedral, though this of +itself in no way detracts from its charms. The weekly cattle-market +takes place almost before its very doors, and the battery of hotels +which flank the open square present the air of catering more to the need +of the husbandman than to the tourist;—not a wholly objectionable +feature, either.</p> + +<p>Beyond such evidences as an occasional sign-board announcing the fact +that the hostelry possesses a <i>garage</i>, <i>fosse</i>, or what not for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">125</a></span> the +necessitous requirements of the automobilist, the inns remain much as +they always were, mere <i>bourgeoise</i> caravansaries.</p> + +<p>The Cathedral of Notre Dame de Chartres jumps full into view immediately +on leaving the railway station, though here it is to be noted that no +delineation has ever been made by modern hand which shows its façade in +its entirety. The roofs of the houses and shops around its base indicate +no special squalor or poverty, as is the case with regard to some +Continental churches, and there is a picturesque grouping of firs and +poplars to the left which adds considerably to an already pleasing +prospect. The whole grouping is, perhaps, none the less attractive than +if the façade, with those extraordinarily beautiful non-contemporary +spires, stood quite unobstructed. In fact, it is doubtful if many a +monumental shrine might not lose considerably, were it taken from its +environment and placed in another which might not suit its graces so +well.</p> + +<p>These really fascinating spires, famed of all writers, archæologists, +and painters alike, are the <i>clef</i> by which the whole harmony is +sounded. One cannot but echo, and reëcho, all that has been said of +them, though in a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">126</a></span> quandary as to which of the two is the more +beautiful: the plain, simple, symmetrical, older spire, or that +wonderful work of Texier's, replacing another burned in 1506, which +rises in gently sculptured and tapered ranges to a height which exceeds +its companion by some twenty-five feet. No more appropriate or +convincing wording could be given of it than by quoting Fergusson's +estimate, which sums it up as being "the most beautifully designed spire +in Europe, surpassing even Strasburg and Antwerp."</p> + +<p>It is rather a pity that from no suitably near-by point can one obtain a +full view of the effect of the western façade. One poor little house +seems ever to thrust itself into the ensemble, though it is to-day +apparent that certain others, which must have cut into the front still +more, have been cleared away. Clearly, with all its charm and beauty of +detail, it is for its great and general excellencies that the cathedral +at Chartres most impresses itself upon the memory.</p> + +<p>Visitors to-day will have no easy task in locating Lowell's "little +pea-green inn," in which he indited the lines, "A Day in Chartres;" as +appreciative and graceful an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">127</a></span>estimate of an inanimate thing as ever was +made in verse:</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"The Grecian gluts me with its perfectness</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Unanswerable as Euclid, self-contained,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The one thing finished in this hasty world.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">But ah! this other, this that never ends,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Still climbing, luring fancy still to climb,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">As full of morals, half divined, as life,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Graceful, grotesque, with ever new surprise</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Of hazardous caprices, sure to please,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Heavy as nightmare, airy light as fern,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Imagination's very self in stone."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Among the other attractions of the west façade is the Porte Royale, so +called, the central doorway which was only opened for the entrance of +the sovereign. It is decorated with the "signs of the zodiac" and +"symbols of the months." Next in point of richness are the grandly +effective north and south porches, with their triple doorways or +portals, setting back some twenty feet from their jambs, which, as at +Noyon, and in the smaller church at Louviers, are pierced with a +transverse passage.</p> + +<p>The north porch, with its range of three open-sided and deeply recessed +doorways, has unmistakably debased tendencies, but is filled with +sculptured statuary of more than <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">128</a></span>ordinarily effective disposition, more +remarkable for magnitude and ornateness than for finesse of skill and +workmanship, or even as a detail of good taste.</p> + +<p>The life-size statues of all three recesses are held aloft by pedestals, +on pillars of twisted and of spiralled trunks, a formation reviled by +Ruskin, but producing an effect much more pleasing than some galleries +of effigies we have seen, where the figures appear as if hung up by the +hair of their heads, or are clinging to the walls by invisible spurs at +their heels, or, as is not infrequently the case, are standing or hung +on nothing, as though they were graven of some bewitched magnetic stone. +Here for the first time is seen, in the sculptured figures of the three +great portals, the plastic forms which were to add so greatly to the +Gothic architecture: male and female saints, Evangelists, and Apostles +in great array, all somewhat more than life-size. Only one adverse +impression is cast: that of petrifaction. The figures, almost without +exception, appear as integral parts of the architectural fabric, rather +than as added ornament. They are most ungainly, tall, stiff, and +column-like, much more so than similar works at Reims,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">129</a></span> or at Amiens, +where the sculpture has something of the vigour and warmth of life.</p> + +<p>The south porch, erected in the reign of Henry I. by Jean Cormier, +partly from donations of Matilda, queen of the Norman Conqueror, +contains a series of <i>basso relievos</i>,—seen also in the arches of the +choir,—manifestly not of good Gothic principle, and one which is the +very antithesis of the northern spirit, as the name itself implies.</p> + +<p>The earliest portion of the existing church, the crypt, is that of a +timber-roofed structure burned in 1020. It was erected early in the +eleventh century by Fulbert, the famous Bishop of Chartres, also +remembered—possibly revered—as being the prolific letter-writer of his +time.</p> + +<p>John of Salisbury was bishop in the next century, and under him were +built the lower stages of the western façade and towers. In this church +Edward III. called for the help of Heaven to aid his plans, and here +Henry of Navarre was crowned King of France, a change of venue from +Reims, where so many previous and subsequent coronations were held.</p> + +<p>The interior gives a deal of the thrill for which one should always be +prepared. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">130</a></span> gloom, so apparent at first, slowly brightens as the eye +becomes accustomed to the finely filtered light, which penetrates +through the gorgeous coloured glass, a feature which ranks with the +spires as a vivid impression to be carried away. Nearly all of this +glass is of equal worth and attractiveness, being, with the exception of +three windows of a late date, and a few uncoloured ones, all of the +gorgeous thirteenth-century variety.</p> + +<p>The whole mass of the clerestory throughout gives the effect of windows +heavily hung with tapestries through which the outside light pierces in +minute rays. This comparison is made advisedly, inasmuch as, regardless +of the quality and value of the glass, it is composed mainly of those +minute and fragmentary particles often more rich in colour than design.</p> + +<p>There is little doubt but that the result of the deep rich blue, claret, +and orange gives a first effect of insufficient lighting which would try +an artist or photographer sorely, though not a detracting element in +churches which would often appear cold and unconvincing were such an +attribute lacking. There are also three magnificent rose windows of +great size (thirty to forty feet), containing equally good glass.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">131</a></span></p> + +<p>A double ambulatory surrounds the seven-chapeled choir, which is further +enclosed by a magnificent sculptured stone screen begun in the sixteenth +century by Texier, who designed the marvellous north spire. The <i>Vierge +du Pilier</i> of the north choir aisle, a fifteenth-century shrine, is the +subject of great local veneration. The treasury contains a <i>relique</i> in +the form of the veil of the Virgin, supposed to have been presented by +Charlemagne to Princess Irene.</p> + +<p>Other interior details of note are an eleventh-century font; the large +crypt beneath the choir; the unequal level of the pavement of nave and +choir; and the maze, which still exists in the nave. This last feature +is a winding circular path some forty odd feet in diameter, and, in all, +perhaps a thousand feet long. As a penance in place of a pilgrimage to +Jerusalem, "the journey of the maze" was performed by the penitent on +his knees—taking perhaps an hour or more, according to the size and +length of the path, which varied with different churches where they +formerly existed. The other most notable example in France is at St. +Quentin, northeast of Paris.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">132</a></span></p> + + + +<h4 class="top15">IX<br /><br /> +NOTRE DAME DE REIMS</h4> + +<p>T<span class="smcap">he</span> very ancient city of Reims, now the capital of the Department of the +Marne, was a large centre of population when it first fell under the +sway of the Romans. During Cæsar's occupation it was known as +Duroctorum, in the Præfecture of the Gauls.</p> + +<p>A powerful metropolis and a faithful adherent of the Romans, the city +early attained prominence as a centre of Christianity. St. Sixte +preached the word here shortly after the first bishopric was founded, +after capture by the Vandals in 406 <span class="smcap">A. D.</span> The city was practically razed +by Attila, who afterward met defeat at Chalons. During the Roman Empire +it was the most important town of the Province of Belgica Secunda, later +becoming known as the capital of the Remi, the name given to the people +inhabiting the country round about.</p> + +<p>In 508 <span class="smcap">A. D.</span> the Franks under Childeric captured the city, and in 720 <span class="smcap">A. +D.</span> Charles</p> + +<div class="image border" style="width: 301px;"> +<a href="images/illus148a.png"> +<img src="images/illus148a_th.png" width="301" height="500" alt="NOTRE DAME de REIMS ..." /> +</a> +</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">133</a></span></p> +<p class="noind">Martel captured it from Bishop Rigobert. Here, too, Pope Stephen had his +famous interview with Pepin, and attended the crowning of Louis le +Débonnaire in 816 <span class="smcap">A. D.</span> In 744 it was made an archbishop's see, with +suffragans at Amiens, Beauvais, Chalons, and Soissons. It is to-day the +ecclesiastical capital of France—the Archbishop of Reims being the +metropolitan prelate.</p> + +<p>Clovis, son of Childeric, King of the Ripuarian Franks, in 496 <span class="smcap">A. D.</span> +conquered the last Roman stronghold at Soissons, and, having married a +Burgundian princess, Clotilda, was induced to accept Christianity. He +was accordingly baptized here by St. Remi on Christmas Day, 496 <span class="smcap">A. D.</span></p> + +<p>Leo III. met Charlemagne here; a council was held in 1119 <span class="smcap">A. D.</span> by +Calixtus II. in an attempt to reconcile Henry I. and Louis le Gros; and, +later, another, to excommunicate another Henry.</p> + +<p>Succeeding years saw a continuity of archbishops, who achieved by their +religious works a world-wide fame and glory. In these early days they +held the temporal as well as spiritual power of the cities, and in some +instances even coined their own specie.</p> + +<p>In spite of the changes of the times and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">134</a></span>conditions of life, the +ancient capital of Belgica Secunda still remains the chief city of the +Departments of the Marne, Ardennes, and Aisne. Its ecclesiastical and +secular monuments, headed by the grand Cathedral of Notre Dame, form an +array which is well worthy of such extended consideration as the +traveller or student can give. The Benedictine Abbey, the Church of St. +Remi, is likewise notable in all of its dimensions and details. Its +construction dates from 1162-1506, though the remains of a former +tenth-century structure are made use of therein. Its chief treasure is +the tomb of St. Remi, a wonderful Renaissance funeral monument of +imposing proportions. Another monumental feature of more than unusual +note, is the magnificent Roman arch of the former fortress of Porte +Mars. This truly majestic specimen of the work of the Roman builder is +supposed to have been erected by Agrippa in 25 <span class="smcap">B. C.</span>, in honour of +Augustus, although another authority puts it as late as the period of +Julian, 361 <span class="smcap">A. D.</span> At any rate, it has stood the rigours of a northern +clime as well as any Roman memorial extant; indeed, has seen fall all +its contemporaries of the city, for at one time Reims was possessed of +no less than three<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">135</a></span> other gateways, bearing the pagan nomenclature of +Ceres, Mars, and Venus.</p> + +<p>The various other memorials of the city are on a no less grand scale, +but the average person will hardly have eyes and ears for more than a +contemplation of the wealth of splendour to be seen in its overpowering +cathedral. Of the glorious group of monumental churches of northern +France, the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Reims, if not admittedly the most +beautiful and memorable Gothic edifice in all France, needs but little +qualifying comment. It has a preëminence which has been generally +conceded, and even elaborately endorsed, by most observers qualified to +pass opinion hereon. Contemplation of the wealth of detail, and of the +disposition of its wonderful west front, no less than of its general +excellencies, can but compel the decision that in its exterior, at +least, the Cathedral of Reims is the peer of any existing Gothic fabric. +Though less huge than Strasburg or Cologne, and lacking the doubled tier +of flying buttresses of the latter, it is altogether the most splendid +and well-proportioned Gothic mass extant. The diminishing or pyramidal +effect of the towers and gable of this west façade is an exemplification +of the true symmetry of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">136</a></span> Gothic form. Lofty, and not closely hemmed in +by surrounding structures, it looms, from any adjacent view-point, fully +two-thirds of its decorated splendour above the general skyline round +about. Aside from modern adulation we have the praise of an early +historian, who delivers himself thus:</p> + +<p><i>"Decor et majestes praeclarissime hugus structurae omnem scribendi +peritiam longe superat, ob elegantum omnibus est admirationi, at que +sibi similem non habet in tota Gallia."—Met. Rememsis Hist. Dom. +Guliol. Marlot S. Nicasii Rem. Prioris, Tom ii. p. 470.</i></p> + +<p>Following the preaching of St. Remi, and the murder of St. Nicaise, who +founded a church on this site in 400 <span class="smcap">A. D.</span>, Ebo, bishop in 818 <span class="smcap">A. D.</span>, +laid the foundations of a new church, Louis I. granting that such +material as might be needed be taken from the city wall. To assist, the +sovereign also sent his architect, Rumaldi. In 847 <span class="smcap">A. D.</span> Archbishop +Nicman secured a renewal of the privileges, and in the presence of the +king the building was consecrated in 862 <span class="smcap">A. D.</span> The western entrance was +ornamented with graven statues of Louis I., the patron, Pope Stephen, +and the archbishop himself.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">137</a></span></p> + +<p>This entire fabric succumbed to fire on the 6th of May, 1210, and the +present structure rests merely on the remains of the ancient crypt, +which in a measure survived. Few visible remains of this ancient +foundation are to-day visible. The new church reared itself rapidly +under the immediate supervision of the Archbishop Alberic de Humbert. +The choir, begun within two years of the fire, made such progress as to +allow of the high altar being ceremoniously dedicated within three +years; and, before the middle of the century, the records tell us that +the main body of the church was entirely completed. The right tower was +uncompleted at this time, but was finished by Cardinal Philastre in +1430, up to which time intermittent labour had evolved a superlative +combination of constructive and decorative excellencies. The extreme +lightness of the west front is brought more and more to impress itself +upon one by reason of the consistent disposition of the excellency and +delicacy of its sculptured ornament.</p> + +<p>This western front, from the grand portals upward, is the <i>apogee</i> of +French Gothic ornament,—at once the admiration and boast of all France. +Here is no mixture or confusion of style, in design or decoration. The +pointed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">138</a></span> arches of window and doorway are of the accepted "best manner," +the heavy detail is placed low and rises gracefully to the "Gallery of +Kings," a grand succession of stone effigies of royalties from Clovis to +Charles VII., a decorative arrangement not made use of elsewhere to +anything like a similar extent, a fact which of itself stamps the +cathedral as the royal church of France. Conceived by one Gaucher, the +portals are not only superior to all others in richness, depth, and +quality of the sculpture shown in the hundreds of figures with which +they are peopled, but are of exceedingly true and appropriate +dimensions, taken in relation with the other parts of their setting. +Immediately above the gable of the central portal is a wonderful rose +window, of the spoke variety, containing thirty-four sections,—of +immense size and nearly forty feet across. This "most perfect rose," +designed by Bernard de Soissons, may well be credited as one of the +masterworks of architectural decoration in all the world. Flanking this +great window on either side are two open lancet arches, while above is +the "Gallery of Kings" before mentioned. The twin mullioned towers on +either side rise for two hundred and sixty-seven feet. Light and airy,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">139</a></span> +they depend for their effect of grace and symmetry entirely upon +structural design, lacking sculptured ornament of any kind. Formerly +they possessed spires of a great height, which, however, were destroyed +by fire in the fifteenth century.</p> + +<p>"Were all its original attributes complete," says Fergusson, "we should +have the <i>beau ideal</i>, externally, of a cathedral." This is probably an +adaptation of Viollet-le-Duc's estimate, which he expresses thus: "This +west façade is the most splendid conception of the thirteenth +century,—Paris, like Laon, being really a transition example, Amiens +representative of different epochs, Chartres a mere reunion of +fragments, and Bourges and Rouen a <i>mélange</i> of three centuries."</p> + +<p>The south transept portal, which is of great breadth, contains statues +of the Archbishops of Reims, and one of Clovis. A similar doorway on the +north side, though now walled up, contains, in the tympanum, a fine +sculptured "Last Judgment," while the transept itself houses one of +those great clocks so frequently met with in Continental churches,—in +this instance said to be the oldest running time-piece in existence.</p> + +<p>Seven flying buttresses, between the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">140</a></span>transept and the west front, flank +the nave, each holding aloft an elegantly canopied niche containing a +full-length winged figure, a further unique arrangement being a similar +figure which caps or pinnacles the outer piers, from which the +buttresses spring. Above the point of contact of the buttresses with the +main body, runs an effective balustrade of small pointed arches, while +the abside shows, again, a wonderful combination of the buttress as a +decorative and utile feature, combined.</p> + +<p>The exterior may be summed up briefly as being the most gorgeously +peopled and decorated structure of its age—as though it were expressly +designed to show off this great throng of statues to the best possible +advantage. Taken collectively, the series forms, says one writer, "the +most complete and magnificent collection of mediæval iconography +extant." The figures were originally perhaps as many as five thousand, +representing nearly all the families of mankind.</p> + +<p>In size the Cathedral of Reims ranks third among the four largest in +France, being exceeded only by Amiens and Chartres, while Paris is +slightly smaller.</p> + +<p>The interior presents by no means the awe-inspiring grandeur of the +exterior mass, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">141</a></span> is possibly inferior to both Amiens and Chartres, +and though well disposed, lacks the lightness of Cologne or Beauvais. A +first impression rather indicates large proportions of length, breadth, +and height in the nave, though these dimensions are not actually of the +greatest. The transepts, including their aisles, are, however, of an +extreme width, but very short; and the absence of side chapels, either +here or in the nave, produces a regularity of outline unusually +convincing.</p> + +<p>The nave piers, of which there are ten on either side, with two window +piercings, are of a manifestly heavy order, the capitals unusually so, +being very deep and weighty with carving in high relief. The triforium +is severely plain, being a mere shallow gallery of small pointed arches. +The nave itself is, moreover, somewhat gloomy, when contrasted with the +brilliant lighting of the aisles, caused by the peculiar arrangement of +plain and coloured glass, the former filling the windows of the +clerestory and the latter those of the aisles, the reverse being the +case with the opposite ranges. The aisles have no chapels between the +rather low windows, but groups of clustered columns against the walls. +The vaulting is deep, with simple ribs, coloured<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">142</a></span> with a blue ground +spangled with stars and <i>fleurs-de-lys</i>. The choir is surrounded by +seven chapels.</p> + +<p>There are ten columns in the choir, all with beautifully wrought +capitals. The pavement here is composed of marble taken from Libergier's +abbey church of St. Nicaise, from which edifice, since destroyed, was +transferred the tomb of Jovinus, the Roman prefect of Reims, who became +converted in 366 <span class="smcap">A. D.</span> The sarcophagus consists of a huge block of +marble, nine feet by four, with a figure of Jovinus, "lion hunting on +horseback," carved in high relief. The roof of the choir is curiously +constructed of wood, of chestnut, say the authorities, as no spiders are +found. The high altar, as reconstructed by Poncelet Paroissien in 1550, +was a very beautiful affair if old prints, usually none too reliable as +to detail, are regarded. It was, however, destroyed during the middle of +the eighteenth century.</p> + +<p>The glass of the rose window dates in part from the period of the +greatest richness (thirteenth century).</p> + +<p>The sepulchral monuments, aside from the sarcophagus of Jovinus, are +to-day practically <i>nil</i>, having been swept away during the terrors of +the Revolution. Two interesting effigies<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">143</a></span> still remain, however, near +the western doorway, a figure of a mailed knight and an abbess.</p> + +<p>Among the real riches of the Cathedral are the remarkable and unique +tapestries; well preserved, and of the finest quality of design and +texture. Fourteen, by Lenoncourt, date from 1530-70; those in the south +aisle, the Pepersacks, the gift of Abbé Lorraine, from 1640; and the +modern Gobelins of the nineteenth century, the gift of the government. +The "Tresor," which includes the church plate, most of which appears to +have endured the ravages of invasion and wars, is truly magnificent and +intrinsically of great value. The chief of these are: the chalice of St. +Remi, of the eleventh century; a reliquary containing a thorn from the +Holy Crown; the marble font in which Clovis was baptized in 496 <span class="smcap">A. D.</span>; +the chasuble of Louis XIII., and the <i>Sainte Ampoule</i>, which contained +the holy oil brought by a dove from heaven for use at the conversion of +Clovis, now a mere fragment enclosed in a modern setting, after having +been ruthlessly shattered by a <i>sans-culotte</i> in 1793.</p> + +<p>Adjoining the Cathedral, on the right, is the Episcopal Palace, which, +with its dependencies, occupies a hectare or more of ground.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">144</a></span> In the +first courtyard is the modern library building, which houses the +cathedral's rich bibliographical treasures. Further, through a gateway, +is a structure, in itself a grand building, of the time of Louis XIV. +The right wing was constructed by Le Tellier in 1690. This portion is +now occupied as a dwelling by the archbishop. At the end of the furthest +courtyard is "The House of the Kings," a truly grand establishment, so +called in the official documents because it was the <i>logement</i> of the +monarchs who visited the city on affairs of state. This recalls to mind +not the least notable of the functions performed by the great cathedral +itself.</p> + +<p>With four exceptions all the Kings of France, from Clovis to Charles X., +here first entered into their kingly state. The monarchs of France were +a long and picturesque line, and the ceremonies attendant upon their +coronations were accordingly imposing and magnificent. The culmination, +for theatrical splendour and effect, was doubtless that of Charles VII., +who, through the efforts of the "Maid," here came into his own. It was a +splendid, if gaudy, pageant, and the most memorable event among that +long series which only ended with the coronation of Charles X. in 1823.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">145</a></span></p> + + + +<h3 class="top15"><a name="PART_III" id="PART_III"></a><i>PART III<br /> +The Cathedrals of the Loire</i></h3> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">146</a></span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">147</a></span></p> + +<h4>I<br /><br /> +INTRODUCTORY</h4> + +<p>T<span class="smcap">he</span> Loire Valley for its whole length may, in every sense, be well +considered the dividing-line between northern and southern influences. +The romance and sentiment which cradled itself here could only have +emanated from the more languid south, and from vastly differing +conditions to those of the colder north. The admiration usually bestowed +upon the attractions of its domestic architectural forms is, no doubt, +fully merited; albeit that the cathedrals of these wealthy and powerful +communities are, no one can possibly deny, if not of a mongrel type, at +least of a degenerate one. It is perhaps hardly fair to note such an +expression without qualification where it is applied to St. Gatien at +Tours, which is really a delightfully picturesque structure; or to St. +Maurice, at Angers, which is unique as to its charm of situation, and +one of the most interesting churches anywhere to be found.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">148</a></span> But the fact +is that the general plan and design is not only open here to much just +criticism, but is not of the order of consistency which alone entitles +an architectural monument to rank as truly great. In no instance, from +Orleans to Nantes, are the cathedrals of these cities possessed of the +consistent array of charms which would entitle them to a proportionate +share of the admiration which is usually accorded to the great domestic +establishments, the Chateaux of Blois, Chenonceau, Chambord, Langeais, +or Loches.</p> + +<p>The climatic conditions of this region hardly more than intimate the +suggestion of the southland, but there is to be seen in the vineyards, +and indeed in things that grow, generally, a notable tendency toward a +luxuriance that is not found northward of this valley. Productive, +prosperous, influential, and possessed of historical and sentimental +associations as a touring ground far beyond any other section of France, +the Valley of the Loire at once takes rank as the land <i>par excellence</i> +where the traveller can be sure of a maximum of pleasure and profit; and +one worthy in every way of as prolonged study and sojourn as one's +possibilities and circumstances will allow.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">149</a></span></p> + +<p>The towns group themselves naturally <i>en suite</i> in the following order: +Orleans, Blois, Tours, Angers, and Nantes, and are so considered in the +pages that follow.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">150</a></span></p> + +<div class="image top" style="width: 545px;"> +<img src="images/illus167.png" width="545" height="393" alt="CATHEDRAL of Ste CROIX ORLEANS" /> +</div> + + + +<h4>II<br /><br /> +ST. CROIX D'ORLEANS</h4> + +<p>T<span class="smcap">he</span> association of Orleans, in English minds, mostly rests upon the +events connected with the siege. Its history in the past has been mainly +that of bloody warfare and massacre. As the Genabum of Gallia, it was +burned by Cæsar in 52 <span class="smcap">B. C.</span> in revenge for a previous massacre of the +Romans. By Aurelian it was rebuilt and named Aurelianum, the progenitor +of its present nomenclature. St. Aignan in 451 secured the safety of the +city to the cause of Christianity by warding off Attila's attack.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">151</a></span> +Clovis captured it in 498, but at his death it became the capital of an +independent kingdom which was afterward, in 613, united with that of +Paris. Activities no less extensive or vivid followed, till the English +besieged the city in 1429, only retiring before the conquering hosts led +by the Maid of Orleans on the 7th of May; the Huguenots held it as a +stronghold under Coligny; and latterly the Germans occupied it, were +driven out, and again reoccupied it as a base in 1870-71. Such, in +brief, is a partial record of its troubles and trials, with scarce a +reference to a Christian or religious motive, if we except Attila's +unsuccessful attack and Coligny's Protestant fervour.</p> + +<p>The almost legendary part played by Jeanne d'Arc should suffice to +impress indelibly upon the mind the chief event in connection with any +city with which her name and fame were associated.</p> + +<p>In the third century seven bishops were sent out from Rome, to extend +the influence of the Church, to Tours, Orleans, Toulouse, Narbonne, +Paris, Limoges, and Auvergne; though, in spite of the success with which +they met, and the zeal with which they worked, their meetings were +chiefly held in the houses of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">152</a></span> their more opulent converts, and church +building at the time appears not to have been so much desired as the +dissemination of the Word itself. Since its occupation by the Germans in +"'71," great contrasting elements have sprung up. Nowhere, not even in +the "up-to-date" Rhine cities of Germany, is better exemplified the +trend of the age in which we live. There are notable indications of its +modernity in the architecture of public and private buildings, many +streets and boulevards of the city being laid out anew and bisecting the +older portions.</p> + +<p>The Cathedral of St. Croix, of widely contrasting styles and eras, forms +a pleasing enough key-note to it all, in spite of its garish crudities. +At its best, when viewed from the bridge which spans the well-nigh dry +bed of the Loire, it composes well with what is at all times a pleasing +prospect, and is set off to great advantage by the fringe of green +boulevard along the river bank,—a fine enough setting for an +architectural monument of whatever rank, be it new or old, consistent or +conglomerate. As for the classification of the architectural style of +the cathedral itself, it is an unprincipled mixture of components, but +little related to each other. The southern <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">153</a></span>influence is apparent, alike +in the scanty remains of the Romanesque, and the restored Renaissance +portions, while Gothic peeps out here and there, in no mean proportions, +as though it were misplaced and out of its true environment. The +cathedral, which was destroyed in 1567 by the Huguenots, in spite of the +admonitions of the Condés, is still visible in the fragments of the +choir aisles, the fourteenth-century chapels appearing to have been +uninjured. This much remains of the Gothic of Henry IV.'s time. The late +seventeenth-century work is a manifest expression of the debasement of +Gothic, and such other additions as were made in the reigns of the Louis +carry the vulgarities still further, the acme being reached in the +pseudo-classical north and south porches, which are sepulchral-looking +of themselves, and not even of the most admired variety of the species. +The most that can be remarked, considering all the distinctive features, +is the fact that this cathedral is the only Gothic church, so ranking, +that is not of Mediæval growth, a fact which may well account for its +unsatisfactory style.</p> + +<p>The façade follows the usual enough arrangement of three portals, though +very ugly ones, flanked by rising towers on either side.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">154</a></span> In this case +these doorways are of the nondescript variety commonly accepted as base +Gothic, but hardly warranting even such a term of endearment. They are +in fact flamboyant as to their lines, though of a remarkable poverty as +to further embellishment, if we bar a series of misplaced armorial +blazonings.</p> + +<p>Topping the gables of the portals are a series of circular apertures, +with framing of a sort, but without glass,—a poor imitation of what a +rose window might be at its worst. Above is an arcaded gallery of nine +graceful arches, the first really attractive ornament of this debased +façade. The towers, finished so late as 1789 by M. Paris, the king's +architect, rise loftily some two hundred and eighty feet, with ranges of +slight columns and perpendicular lines, which give the grand and +imposing effect of height of which the cathedral is undeniably +possessed, and which, when viewed from down the Rue Jeanne d'Arc, is +without doubt impressive,—far more so than greater intimacy will +sustain.</p> + +<p>The nave, of a height of one hundred feet, is flanked by double aisles, +and in appearance is every way superior to the exterior.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">155</a></span></p> + +<p>No remarkable art treasures are to be seen, if we except a series of +sculptured Stations of the Cross beneath the windows, and the Gothic +altars of the transepts.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">156</a></span></p> + +<div class="image top" style="width: 531px;"> +<img src="images/illus173.png" width="531" height="383" alt="CATHEDRAL of S. LOUIS BLOIS" /> +</div> + + + +<h4 class="top15">III<br /><br /> +ST. LOUIS DE BLOIS</h4> + +<p>R<span class="smcap">egardless</span> of the sentiment which attaches itself to Blois by reason of +its magnificent chateau, and in spite of its undeniably picturesque and +interesting environment, it hardly takes sufficient rank as a cathedral +city to warrant more than a passing consideration. As it is, one cannot +get from under the shadow of its overpowering attraction, and, in spite +of the poverty and depressing qualities of the Cathedral of St. Louis, +perhaps no place in the Loire valley has more claim upon the attention +of the enthusiastic tourist. The wonderful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">157</a></span> chateau is all that has been +said of it, and more. The picturesqueness of the city's streets of +stairs, and its general up and down hill situation, offering charming +vistas, unique in a city of the north, are, except for its size, really +more suggestive of Genoa or Naples. In the general ensemble of the city, +the Loire is an attraction of itself, when viewed from across that +wonderful stone bridge, the first public work endowed by Louis XV. But +even then, the awkward and uninteresting cathedral does not enter into +the view with that liveliness and impressiveness which we are wont to +associate with such an environment. In short, it must be set down that +in the lack of pleasing qualities in its cathedral, is found Blois' +greatest disappointment.</p> + +<p>The tourist <i>pur sang</i> will care little about this. He usually rushes in +and out during the daylight, and recalls but little except the +fascinating staircase of the chateau attributed, as to its spiral +formation, to Da Vinci; the ornamental chimney-pieces; and the fact that +historical events of the past have intermingled inextricably the +gruesome stories of the royal houses which bore respectively the arms of +hedgehog and salamander. This only, with perhaps the memory that at one +time or <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">158</a></span>another a certain event took place involving the use of some +forty odd daggers.</p> + +<p>Perhaps, after all, it would be an embarrassment of riches did the town +possess a cathedral, or even other monuments, to vie with this +spectacular attraction which, from every view-point realizes the ideal +of our imagination, as to just what a chateau and its history might be.</p> + +<p>From near or far the cathedral shows no charm of outline. Its ridgepole +is marred by three unusually obtrusive "lightning conductors," which +could hardly have been more offensive had they been turned into those +lath-like crosses which are seen elsewhere. Its tower is a monstrosity, +with an egg-shaped protuberance which is neither shapely nor impressive, +while the southern range of the nave and aisle, when viewed laterally, +shows a bareness and poverty of design unusual and painful. The +ensemble, from this point, is one of a certain impressiveness. It could +hardly be otherwise, with the situation which it commands, even were it +the grossest thing that ever took shape in architecture. Its +irregularities and inconsistencies, and the great variety of outline +shown by the roof-tops of the town, perhaps, make up in a measure for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">159</a></span> +the lack of individual beauties in the church itself.</p> + +<p>There is this much to be said, however, for the functions which this +church performs. If all were as much made use of by the market-day +peasants, streaming in from the surrounding country, who, with their +jugs, market-baskets, and what not, in their hands, enter the building, +say a short prayer or two, and toddle out again, there would doubtless +be fewer churches with a poverty-stricken air and more of a better and +more prosperous class.</p> + +<p>The greater part of the cathedral which originally stood on this site +was destroyed during the Revolution, and that which was afterward reared +here was merely a restoration by Mansard, who, it is to be presumed, +made such use as was possible of what remained.</p> + +<p>The interior, most will agree, is no more remarkable than the exterior +adornments; in fact the same paucity of plan and of detail appears from +one end to the other, inside and out. The aisles are astonishingly low; +the choir and nave, each unusually short. There are no transepts, and +there is no triforium whatever, no chapels of any remarkable beauty, and +little glass that is even passable. On the walls of the nave, beneath +the low<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">160</a></span> clerestory windows, are a series of four carven Renaissance +marble panels, with other blanks suggesting the ultimate addition of +similar sepulchral-looking ornaments. Such, in brief, is a résumé of the +attractions, or rather the lack of them, as it will strike the average +person. It is perhaps no small wonder that the traveller who desires to +study architectural forms, or to sketch them, should prefer the less +holy precincts of the chateau, where every facility is offered for the +pursuance thereof, to that more "blessed ground," covered by the +cathedral, which offers little enough in itself, and that little under a +surveillance which makes one regret that the feudal times are not still +with us,—when we might vent our spleen and anger upon any who offend +us.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">161</a></span></p> + +<p> </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">162</a></span></p> +<p> </p> + +<div class="image top" style="width: 608px;"> +<a href="images/illus178.png"> +<img src="images/illus178_th.png" width="608" height="500" alt="St. Gatien de Tours" /> +</a> +</div> + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">163</a></span></p> + +<h4>IV<br /><br /> +ST. GATIEN DE TOURS</h4> + +<p>T<span class="smcap">he</span> <i>soi-disant</i> provincial metropolis of Mr. James' appreciative +favour, the capital of old Touraine, is possessed of great and many +charms for the seeker after new things. He may be passionately fond of +churches; if so, the trinity here to be seen, and the history of their +founders and prelates, and the important part which they played in +church affairs, will edify him greatly. If romance fills his or her +mind, there is no more convenient centre than Tours from which to "<i>do</i>" +the chateaux of the Loire. If it be French history, or the study of +modern economic or commercial conditions, the past activities and +present prosperity of the city will give much food for thought. If to +literature one's mind turns, there is the association with Balzac's +birth in the Rue Royale, and his delightful picturings of the city's +environment in the "Curé de Tours," "Le Lys dans la Vallée," and "La<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">164</a></span> +Grenadière." Says Balzac of the habitant: "...He is a listless and +unobliging individual." But the sojourner for a day will probably not +notice this, and, if he should, must simply make allowance, and think +with Henry James of the other memories of "this land of Rabelais, +Descartes, and Balzac; of good dinners, good company, and good houses." +To link the city still closer with letters, the first printing-press in +Touraine was set up here in 1496. Nicolas Jensen, famed as the foremost +Venetian printer of his time, was born in the neighbourhood and was at +one time "Master of the Mint" at Tours. Christopher Plantin, the head of +the famous Antwerp family of printers, likewise was born in the near-by +suburb of St. Avertin près Tours.</p> + +<p>Climatically, Touraine appears to linger between the rigours of the +north and the mildness of the southland; at least we are conscious of +another atmosphere, made apparent by such evidences as palms and prunes +growing in the open.</p> + +<p>Tours, says her historian, has ever employed the pure French in her +spoken and written word; "patois and provincialisms have no place +here."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">165</a></span></p> + +<p>St. Martin of Tours erected a church here, in honour of St. Peter and +Paul, as a sort of antidote to the many pagan temples which he had +caused to be destroyed. His successors built several others round about +the city, but they appear to have been all of small size until, in the +fifth century, Perpetus, Bishop of Tours in the reign of Childeric, +caused to be built a more splendid church to replace that which Briceius +had erected over the tomb of St. Martin. This, in turn, was rebuilt by +the celebrated Gregory of Tours, or so ordered by him; until finally in +the seventh century the abbey church of St. Martin of Tours became a +place of pilgrimage for all the Turones. To-day, nought remains of this +great church but the two towers, which have been bisected by the running +of a street throughout the old nave of the church; and thus they stand +as silent sentinels of the means through which Tours arose to its +ecclesiastical dignity. The Tour St. Martin or "de l'Horloge" is of the +twelfth century, and the other, called the Tour de Charlemagne, being +the burial-place of his wife Luitgarde, is, in its lower portions, of +the eleventh century.</p> + +<p>The Cathedral of St. Gatien, which should be greatly endeared to the +English people, was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">166</a></span> commenced by Henry II. in 1170, the choir being the +earliest portion. The transepts followed in the next century, and the +façade as late as the fifteenth, or the beginning of the sixteenth, +century. Of manifestly Renaissance tendency, this façade for sheer charm +and picturesqueness must rank with the best, with the qualifying +statement added that it offends against many consistent artistic and +architectural principles. It is certainly an effective type, although +perhaps not warranting the statement of a certain monarch, whose art +training may to some degree have been wanting, that it was a "jewel in a +gemmed setting." An exceedingly picturesque and attractive pair of +towers rise, through no less than three different styles, to the +inverted egg-cups, which in a purer example might perhaps prove less +pleasing, but which in the present case seem at least to be imbued with +something of the Oriental or Mediterranean influence, not yet fallen +before the actual decadence. Another peculiarity of this charmingly +toned west front is that the rose window is of a peculiar lozenge shape, +"neither square nor round," as one authority puts it. This, of itself, +is decidedly not a graceful arrangement; but the proportions are ample +and the glass is good, so its<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">167</a></span> deficiencies may in a measure be said to +be overbalanced by its merits; and, for that matter, as it is only seen +in its minutia of detail from the inside, where the excellent coloured +glass is seen at its best, it hardly detracts from the general fine +effect of the exterior façade. The western doorways are thoroughly +Renaissance, both inside and out, while the portals themselves offer a +livid suggestion as to what they might have been, were all the bare +niches and blocks filled and mounted with worthy statues. The effect +would have been an undeniable approach to the best matured Gothic, and +would have enhanced greatly this already highly interesting façade. The +buttresses of the choir follow the accepted forms of grace and +effectiveness, and, while not numerous or remarkable as to size, each +springs to a supporting pier gracefully pinnacled and gargoyled. One +instance of the functions of this valuable adjunct to the towering forms +taken by most Gothic structures, is a buttress which springs, +unsymmetrically enough, from the north transept. This rather ungainly +limb flies out like the tentacles of an octopus, grasps a small building +on the opposite side of a narrow roadway, and forms a support to the +irregular construction of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">168</a></span> north transept. This was perhaps +necessary as a means of bracing the transept wall, which it might not +have been possible to accomplish otherwise.</p> + +<p>The interior presents the unusual feature of the omission of the organ +case from over the western doorway, the organ being in this instance in +the south transept, as at Le Mans. The wall space centered upon the nave +proper is entirely given over to the lozenge-shaped "rose," which, in +spite of its rather heavy framing and kaleidoscopic and patchworky +glass, is withal effective beyond many more gracefully formed openings, +where the glass is either too severely plain, or worked into a supposed +design, which, by reason of its minute particles, is undecipherable. The +design and arrangement of a series of lancets supporting the lozenge +would be remarkable, were it in company with the best glass of the +middle ages. It depicts an "Adoration" in which kings, saints, and +bishops are modelled brilliantly, and with evidence of much good +drawing, a detail often wanting in old, or, for that matter, modern +glass.</p> + +<p>The glass of the choir, on the other hand, is far better in arrangement, +and shows deep, rich particles which are only at their best in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">169</a></span> the work +of the early period here shown. In this glass are depicted the arms of +St. Louis, Blanche of Castile, and of the City of Tours. The choir +itself widens out from the crossing of the transept, causing that +deviation between the piers of nave and choir which made necessary the +ungainly flying buttress of the north wall.</p> + +<p>The aisles of the nave are of no great width and are fringed with a +series of chapels of which only one, that of the Sacred Heart, is in any +way remarkable. The radiating chapels of the choir are more interesting, +notably the lady-chapel, which contains old glass removed thither from +the church of St. Julien, the subject of one of Turner's rhapsodies in +his "Seine and Loire."</p> + +<p>The clerestory of the nave consists of plain glass only; and on the +triforium alone, of exceedingly graceful arcaded columns, depends the +beauty of the upper ranges.</p> + +<p>The chief treasure of artistic value and moment is unquestionably the +tomb of the children of Charles VIII. and Anne of Brittany, by whose +early deaths the throne passed to the Valois branch of the Orleans +family. This remarkable monument is of the early sixteenth century and, +according to the report of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">170</a></span> <i>Commission des Monuments Historiques</i>, +is the work of Guillaume Regnault, a statement which is much more likely +to be correct than the usual guide-book information, which in some +instances credits it to Goujon, and in others to a local apprentice of +his, named Juste. On a Renaissance sarcophagus lie the two tiny +effigies, in white marble, surrounded by guardian angels and other +symbolical figures. The base bears escutcheons of the Dauphins of +France, the arms and two inscriptions referring to the princes and their +birth.</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 333px;"> +<img src="images/illus187.png" width="333" height="425" alt="Flying Buttress, St. Gatien de Tours" /> +</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">171</a></span></p> + +<div class="image top" style="width: 329px;"> +<a href="images/illus188.png"> +<img src="images/illus188_th.png" width="329" height="500" alt="St. Maurice d'Angers" /> +</a> +</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">172</a></span></p> +<p> </p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">173</a></span></p> +<h4>V<br /><br /> +ST. MAURICE D'ANGERS</h4> + +<p>H<span class="smcap">istorically</span> and romantically, Angers, the former capital of Anjou, is +possessed of a past (which may be said to have actively commenced in +989) that cannot fail to arrest and hold one's attention. Capital of the +Dukes of Anjou, and the home of Margaret of Anjou, daughter of René, who +married Henry VI. of England; likewise the cradle of the first +Plantagenets; and immortalized by Shakespeare's King John, who +soliloquizes anent "The flinty ribs of this contemptuous town." With all +this, Angers has perhaps a supreme claim for English consideration. In +spite of all this, and the added attraction of a "real castle," such as +is seldom found outside the children's fairy-tale books, not to mention +the Cathedral of St. Maurice,—of which more anon,—Angers leaves one +with the impression that very much is wanting in order to merit +preëminence in the classification of those<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">174</a></span> memories which a traveller +is wont to store up as a result of his travels and observations. Perhaps +it is the city's pitiful attempt to be gay, to be modern, to undertake +pretentious improvements,—all of which appear to fail utterly in their +purpose. These things cannot be unless they are of a spontaneous growth, +which here they apparently are not. Not that the city still merits the +opprobrious (<i>sic</i>) term of "Black Angers" with which most writers and +all makers of guide-books are pleased to refer to it,—it hardly does. +In fact it is doubtful as to just what the term originally meant. +Perhaps it was merely a reference to the gloom caused by the extensive +use in the construction of its buildings of the black slate in which the +neighbourhood abounds;—at any rate the expression is one of undoubted +antiquity.</p> + +<p>The two chief attractions are the cathedral and the castle, both +"historical monuments." The latter, as before noted, is the ideal +military stronghold of our early imagination; and if age, magnitude, and +the general air of good preservation, count for anything, it must be one +of the most impressive monuments of its class still to be seen. +Originally its wall, now minus battlements, fronted close upon the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">175</a></span> +river. It is surrounded by a dry yawning <i>fosse</i>, formerly a moat, and +possesses no less than seventeen enormous and perfectly formed towers, +each perhaps eighty feet in height, banded near the top in white and +black stripes. Hardly more than a circling wall to-day, it has stood +well the test of time since it was erected by Philip Augustus and +completed under St. Louis in 1180. Little remains of the Renaissance +portion originally occupied by the Counts of Anjou. Its charm lies +rather in its exterior, the interior confines resembling more a +lumber-yard than anything else,—not worth spending one's time upon, +under the present facilities which are offered for its inspection. One +small structure within the walls is notable as being that in which King +René was born. It is recorded that Wellington received a part of his +military education in Angers. If so, it is probable that he studied this +military defence with some care and minuteness. To us, at least, who +have not been educated with respect to military fortification, it seems +to fill all demands that are likely to be made upon a building of its +class. Doubtless it could have been besieged successfully, and even +battered through to the extent of allowing the outside foe to enter, but +it would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">176</a></span> probably have been at a fearful cost, and it is possible that +the attempt would be given up before any surrender took place. Such +would appear to an outsider to be the lines on which these magnificent +works of feudal times were built.</p> + +<p>One should not speak slightingly of the Cathedral of St. Maurice, though +it comes upon one who journeys from the north, as a thing apart from +anything he has met before; so much so that he is hardly likely to be +able to judge it dispassionately until he has turned his impressions of +it many times over in his mind.</p> + +<p>The Angevine style, seen here, is representative of but a very +restricted area. The <i>Société des Monuments Historiques</i> defined it as +"a small district on both sides of the Loire between Normandy and +Acquitaine." It is suggestive of the Roman manner, far more than the +Gothic; though the primitiveness shown in the long, upright lines of the +west front of this cathedral marks it at once as something different +from either Romanesque or Transition,—though Transition it must be, +unless we delimit the confines of that useful term. In any case, it +points unto heaven in a truly devout manner, is not debased in any +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">177</a></span>particular, and, if not a consistent style, has many of the good +qualities of both. The Cathedral of St. Maurice is best seen from a +point of view which will exaggerate its height, its slimness, and its +straight and upright lines; but even this does not appear to work out to +its disadvantage, in spite of the new note it strikes. It is an +interesting work when viewed from any distance sufficient to throw its +outline well into the air. From across the Maine, it is charming; from +the foot of the stairwayed street which runs downwards from its western +portal, it is picturesque and irresistible, while from any other +view-point in the town, it is grand.</p> + +<p>The easterly end is dwarfed by close-lying houses, picturesque enough in +themselves; but the gracefulness of the buttress is wanting. The south +side is, here and there, broken into by additions and interpolations, +none apparently of a contemporary era. It offers a grand effect for an +artist who would study gray walls and crumbling roofs, but the lack of +uniformity will offend most people.</p> + +<p>The façade of the west is the most effective feature, so far as +genuineness is concerned. It towers to the sky, its needle-pointed +spires overtopping a crooked street which rises<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">178</a></span> sharply from the river. +There is but one portal, and that is centred with a curious Romanesque +arch half-way across its height, above which is a bas-relief of great +size. The sculpture of this portal, while not as excellent as that seen +in the Isle of France, is of an unusual richness and execution. The next +range is unique among west fronts, being a large central window, but +slightly pointed and little removed from the Romanesque. It is bare of +coloured glass, and is decidedly not an attractive feature. On each side +of this great window are a series of blunt pointed lancets, which form a +sort of arcade which otherwise relieves the bareness which would exist. +Immediately above is a row of niches which hold eight armour-clad +knights of the fifteenth century, inferior perhaps, in execution, to the +sculpture of the portal, but producing an effect, when viewed from the +ground, undeniably fine. It is a detail as interesting, in its way, as +the long "Gallery of the Kings" at Reims. Above rise the slim spires, +with an octagonal cupola superimposed over a central structure, which +looks to this day as though it were originally intended as one of a +battery of three uniform spires. The general plan of this façade is the +masterpiece of design of the building,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">179</a></span> and, except for the ludicrously +diminutive clock-face, could withstand nobly the cavil of the most +exacting pedant who ever read or studied architectural forms, solely out +of books. In the immediate foreground falls the before mentioned street +of steps. Many old tumble-down houses have recently been cleared away, +and, at the present writing, the view from this point is one which has +apparently not previously existed, and one which it is to be hoped will +not be marred by the erection of any so-called modern improvements.</p> + +<p>The interior fills no accepted formula of architectural expression, save +that it is of the manner common to Anjou, the borderland between the +Gothic aisled and the great and aisle-less southern naves, but it holds +one's interest none the less. Perhaps, after all, it is the quality to +interest, quite as much as that to please, which is the standard by +which one makes estimates and forms opinions. There is a not very long +nor very wide nave and choir, neither with aisles, and both with a +vaulting which gives the appearance of being much lower than it really +is, quite the contrary impression to that received from contemplation of +the exterior. The bishop's throne sets <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">180</a></span>midway on the right of the nave. +Each bay of the side walls of the nave is composed of a wide pointed +arch resting immediately upon the ground and filled with stone instead +of glass; reminiscent of a similar effect in the Church of Notre Dame de +la Cloture at Le Mans. The true windows of the nave rise in pairs above +this arch, and contain rich, though somewhat fragmentary, glass of the +thirteenth century. As characteristic of the Angevine style, there is no +triforium or clerestory, and hence, it is claimed, no necessity for +flying buttresses, the support being accomplished by less graceful, if +as effective, heavy square piers built into the outer wall.</p> + +<p>The transepts are not pronounced as to length or breadth, their chief +beauty being their rose windows.</p> + +<p>The choir, of the twelfth century, shows an interpolated and elaborately +flamboyant doorway of a much later period.</p> + +<p>An ornate oaken pulpit of none too good Renaissance carving is in the +nave, and the organ case over the western doorway is supported on the +shoulders of a series of huge, grotesque, but monstrously human, wooden +caryatides. This, with the gigantic, high canopied carven wood pulpit, +one of the most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">181</a></span> extraordinary in the country, forms a relief to coldly +chiselled stone, certainly;—but few will consider their charms such as +would warrant counting them amongst ecclesiastical treasures.</p> + +<p>The fourteenth-century tapestries from Arras (or Paris) were made for +King René and by him given to the cathedral. They represent scenes from +the Apocalypse, and, though having suffered somewhat from the +depredations of the Revolution, still exhibit evidences of rare +qualities of workmanship in their design and colouring.</p> + +<p>The <i>bénitier</i> of <i>verd-antico</i> marble supported by figures of lions is +a Byzantine work of the eastern empire, given to the cathedral by King +René.</p> + +<p>The Dukes of Anjou and Margaret of Anjou were buried here, but the tomb +of the latter was desecrated and destroyed during the Revolution. Aside +from these, no other monuments of note are to be seen.</p> + +<p>The Bishop's Palace, of the twelfth century, standing high beside the +cathedral, was restored by Viollet-le-Duc and reflects a mediæval +splendour unseen elsewhere in the city, with respect to any great or +small domestic establishment.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">182</a></span></p> + +<p>The Maison Barrault in the Logis Barrault, built by a former mayor of +the city, one time Chancellor of Brittany, was the scene of the +magnificent entertainment offered Cæsar Borgia in 1497. Afterwards it +became the residence of Marie de Medicis; later, a monastic +establishment, then a seminary, and lately simply an ordinary private +school. Says one writer, "No wonder its remains should be so scanty and +ill preserved."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">183</a></span></p> + +<div class="image top" style="width: 560px;"> +<img src="images/illus200.png" width="560" height="406" alt="CATHEDRAL of St. PIERRE NANTES" /> + +</div> + + + +<h4>VI<br /><br /> +ST. PIERRE DE NANTES</h4> + +<p>A<span class="smcap">s</span> a city of commercial and strategic importance, no one will deny that +Nantes is supreme in the Loire valley; that its relations with the +affairs of Church and State are equally important, is a debatable point. +True, the edict in favour of Protestant worship, fathered by Henry IV., +was a momentous and significant event; but the revocation, and the +subsequent massacres of the rascally Carrier, well-nigh wiped that out. +The history of the city is one long record of warfare and bloodshed. +Though holding the command of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">184</a></span> Loire, the city has ever been more +closely identified with Brittany. Here, in its frowning tenth-century +castle, which fronts upon the river immediately in the foreground of the +Cathedral of St. Pierre, with which it forms an unusual grouping of +ecclesiastical and military architecture (M. H.), lived at one time or +another, most of the Kings of France, from Charles VIII. downward. Here, +too, Anne of Brittany was born, and here she married Charles VIII., thus +uniting the Duchy of Brittany with the crown of France. Her subsequent +marriage, in the chapel of the castle, with Louis XII., made for ever +impossible the future independence of the city.</p> + +<p>Following the edict came the Revolution; and, as if the preliminary +horrors of massacres and atrocities, which spread to Orange in Vaucluse +and to Arras in Picardy, were not of sufficient stringency, the +"Noyades," or drownings, carried off the poor unfortunates, a boatload +at a time, until it is estimated that perhaps nine thousand were thus +cruelly murdered,—women, children, royalty, and the clergy alike. The +wrath which spent itself seemed to know no rank. The guillotine, +disease, and famine finished the work, so that the population of the +city was, at the beginning of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">185</a></span> the nineteenth century, immeasurably +inferior in numbers to what it had been a decade before. The details of +these significant events are recounted quite fully enough by historians +generally; but, in reality, it has little to do with the aspect of the +city as it exists to-day, which, if not one of great splendour, partakes +in no small measure of the attributes of a large metropolis, amply +planned, beautifully laid out, and possessing, in addition to the +characteristics of Brittany with which it has been so long identified, +not a little of the influences and attributes of the south.</p> + +<p>Immediately to the rear of the chateau is the Cathedral of St. Pierre, +ancient as to its foundation, and grand as to its general effect, both +inside and out, though its exterior is marred by its uncompleted towers. +Lofty, but of heavy proportions, St. Pierre de Nantes would, at first +sight, appear to offer much that goes to make a satisfying +ecclesiastical building. As a matter of fact, it fails in many +particulars to realize any ideal which we have come to admire. The +western façade is more indebted to the rich and reasonably ornate +portals for its undeniable impressiveness, than to the gable of towers, +which have crumbled exceedingly from the effects of wind and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">186</a></span> weather, +rather than of great age, since they date only from the fifteenth +century.</p> + +<p>The choir rests on the remains of an older church, hardly to be seen +to-day in any appreciable evidence, in that restoration and rebuilding +have been so extensively carried on.</p> + +<p>The windows throughout are but weak decorative elements, and lack +tracery and glass of a decorative quality, an obvious detraction in any +great architectural work. The south transept shows indications of four +successive periods of construction, and contains the best glass in the +church; otherwise it is severely plain.</p> + +<p>The interior is by no means as incoherent as the exterior, the height of +the nave, one hundred and thirty feet, giving an otherwise +unapproachable grandeur; though this admirable dimension is qualified to +no small degree by a triforium of a luxurious florid growth, little in +keeping with the other attributes of firmness and strength.</p> + +<p>The chapels throughout are bare and uninteresting so far as their altars +or decorative embellishments are concerned,—what they may be at some +future time, if the <i>Art Nouveau</i> gets a foothold in church decoration, +is fearful to contemplate. Paintings, none too<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">187</a></span> common in French +churches, are here somewhat in excess of customary numbers, though, as +to quality or interest, in no church in France can they vie with those +of the great churches of Italy or Flanders.</p> + +<p>Like the neighbouring city of Tours, Nantes has in its cathedral, for +its <i>pièce de résistance</i>, a magnificent sepulchral monument, the tomb +of François II., the last Duc de Bretagne, and Marguerite de Foix, his +second wife, erected to their memory by their daughter Anne. This +remarkable mausoleum was executed in 1502-07, after designs of Jehan +Perréal, by Michel Colomb and his pupils, Regnault and Jean de Chartres, +with the assistance of Jérôme de Fiesole, who contributed the ornamental +portion. It fortunately escaped demolition at the Revolution, and was +brought hither and placed in the south transept from the Eglise des +Carmes in 1817. It is a wonderful exemplification of the very best +quality of Renaissance. The main portion of the tomb is of marble, with +black mouldings somewhat shattered in places, but not so much so as to +affect the contour or design. The effigies lie recumbent upon a slab, +their feet resting on a lion and a greyhound, upheld by a series of +miniature figures of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">188</a></span> twelve apostles in niches of red marble. At +the corners are four nearly life-size figures, depicting Justice, with +sword and scales, said to be a portrait of the Duchess Anne; Power, +strangling the dragon of Heresy; Prudence, a double face, showing also +Wisdom, with mirror and compass; and Temperance, bearing a curb-bit and +a lantern. A tablet at the head bears the figures of St. Louis and +Charlemagne, and one at the foot, those of St. Francis of Assisi and +Ste. Marguerite, the patrons of the duke and duchess.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">189</a></span></p> + + +<h3 class="top15"><a name="PART_IV" id="PART_IV"></a><i>PART IV<br /> +Central France</i></h3> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">190</a></span></p> + + +<div class="image border top" style="width: 500px;"> +<a href="images/illus208a.png"> +<img src="images/illus208a_th.png" width="500" height="297" alt="St. Etienne d'AUXERRE" /> +</a> +</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">191</a></span></p> + + +<h4>I<br /><br /> +ST. ETIENNE D'AUXERRE</h4> + + +<p>The entrance to the Burgundian city of Auxerre is more or less confused +if one would, at the first glance, attempt to recognize its cathedral +from among the three fine churches which in true mediæval fashion loom +up over the river Yonne; not that the entrance is not pleasing: the +reverse is actually the case, though one's way into the town lies +through newly made roads. However, upon contemplation of the pleasant +prospect of town and river, he would be an uninspired person indeed who +would not be able to pick out the Cathedral of St. Etienne, with its +singular reddish brown roof, from among its less imposing neighbours. It +is the central building of the three, and it rises majestically above +all, enhanced by the fine grouping of its one lone tower.</p> + +<p>As a type to admire, the cathedral, be it said, is not of a superlative +quality; but as a thing of beauty in many of its details and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">192</a></span> because of +its aforesaid commanding situation, it is one not to be ignored when the +really fine gems of mediæval treasures are catalogued. It is another of +those types, so far as its choir is concerned, which rise to a loftiness +of soaring height, which, in later days, degenerated, or were lost +altogether in the fabric of the transepts and nave. The height of the +choir is perhaps not so great as it really appears, when gauged by its +sheer rise from the river level; but such is the suggestion, at least, +which, after all, is what the eye and certain other of our senses +admire, quite as much as a professed expert classification.</p> + +<p>The western front is of unusual appearance in that the southern tower +glances off into the angle of the gable in most curious fashion; not +beautiful, nor as originally intended to remain, but so it is, and +offers at least a comparison of how a lofty gable looks when it lacks +towers of an appropriate height. At the right of this low tower of the +façade, hidden behind a wall, is a thoroughly Pagan doorway, which might +well pass unobserved, did one not actually stumble upon it unawares. It +is a curious reminder of other days and other ways, and how it became an +adjunct of this mediæval church the local records fail to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">193</a></span> state. The +three main portals of the façade, as that of the transept, are somewhat +bare of ornament, though the main tympanum and the spring of the arch +are fairly filled. These portals are of the late thirteenth century, and +exhibit no traces of the debasement which subsequently entered into the +upper ranges of the tower and lateral portals.</p> + +<p>Both the transepts and the west front contain rose windows of good, +though not remarkable design, and each is exceedingly generous in size. +The interior, generally, does not give the effect of the great height +suggested from the rear view of the choir overhanging the river front; +but both nave and choir are of unusual width, and so also is the +clerestory, which is lofty, and set with rare old glass of the most +splendid and valuable quality, in the main the gift of Bishop de +Villeneuve in 1220.</p> + +<p>The choir terminates with the usual apse, which is further elongated by +the far-reaching lady-chapel, which adjoins the main fabric in a +graceful and unusual manner. The north tower was completed as late as +the sixteenth century, and that of the south was left unfinished,—as it +is to-day. The gable and its portals are highly decorated with statues, +niches, and crockets.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">194</a></span></p> + +<p>Around the aisles of nave and choir is a curiously suggested arcade with +an overhanging balustrade ornamented with a series of indifferently +sculptured heads. The bosses of many of the intersecting groins of the +vaults are coloured with questionable effect. There are also many +visible evidences of coloured wall decorations, which might perhaps as +well have been left covered, inasmuch as they have suffered exceedingly +in the attempted restoration; so much so, that it is impossible to say +whether they ever approached acceptable perfection; possibly not, as +they are supposed to date only from the period when much of this class +of work was of none too good a quality.</p> + +<p>The triforium of the nave is gracefully balustraded, and the choir +stands apart from the nave, separated by an elaborate eighteenth century +iron <i>grille</i>. The ambulatory of the choir sets three steps lower than +the nave, though the platform is on the same level. The crypt beneath +the choir, so often the only existing remains of an earlier church, is +here grandly in evidence, and dates from the eleventh century at least.</p> + +<p>There are a few interesting tombs of former Bishops of Auxerre and +others of local celebrity.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">195</a></span></p> + +<p>On the whole the charm of Auxerre and its cathedral must be admitted to +lie in its general surroundings and immediate environment, quite as much +as because of any remarkably distinctive features of a superlative +quality in the cathedral itself, though an undeniable wealth of +picturesque detail exists.</p> + +<p>The conventional guides speak of it as "highly interesting," and so it +is, with its Romanesque remains, its ungainly façade, its three fine but +weather-worn doorways, and its charming river view.</p> + +<p>Beside the cathedral stands the old-time Episcopal Palace with its fine +arcaded Romanesque gallery overlooking the river, where the prelates +took their "constitutionals," safely guarded from wind and weather. +To-day this grand building represents the officialdom of the local +Préfecture.</p> + +<p>Two other noble ecclesiastical monuments are to be seen here, the Church +of St. Germain, or rather, the fragment which was spared by the +Huguenots, now being used as an adjunct to a hospital; and the Church of +St. Pierre. The latter is the most appalling example of a Renaissance +building which one is likely to meet with, and shows in its remarkable +façade, in sheer perversion of misdirected labour, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">196</a></span> grossness of +pseudo-classicism, which quite entitles it to rank with that other +equally abominable example in Paris, St. Eustache.</p> + +<p>The <i>portail</i> of this remarkable church, locally so called, though in +reality it is only a detached gateway, far from the church building +itself, is a wonderful Italian suggestion, now mellowed and weathered +and undeniably charming in colour in spite of its being so manifestly +out of its environment.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">197</a></span></p> +<div class="image top" style="width: 500px;"> +<a href="images/illus216.png"> +<img src="images/illus216_th.png" width="500" height="380" alt="St. Etienne de Bourges" /> +</a> +</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">198</a></span></p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">199</a></span></p> + +<h4>II<br /><br /> +ST. ETIENNE DE BOURGES</h4> + +<p>T<span class="smcap">he</span> Cathedral of St. Etienne de Bourges partakes of the same honours +which are accorded to the premier quartette of the Isle of France. +Nearly contemporary with Paris and Laon, this cathedral steps into its +rank with a grandeur and firmness that in a less stolid or more ornate +edifice is often wanting. It retains certain of its Romanesque features, +perhaps unduly pronounced; likewise it has certain attributes of +Burgundian luxuriance; but withal it presents the highly developed +Gothic tendency to a far greater degree than either. Although not far to +the south of Paris, Bourges is thoroughly of another climatic +environment, which not only shows itself in the changed conditions of +life, but in the manner of building as well.</p> + +<p>The great transeptless church of St. Etienne is another of those soaring +monuments which rise skyward and hold the eye whenever one is in its +vicinity. Standing on an eminence of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">200</a></span> not very great height, it +dominates, from every point of view, the plain which surrounds the city +and reminds one of Noyon or Laon in its comparative isolation. Not +because its domicile is not a place of some magnitude, but rather +because the neighbouring houses lie so huddled in a valley or plain, +does the city give the impression of being of less size than it really +is.</p> + +<p>The view from the railway on entering the town is, as it has been called +by some imaginative Frenchman, "but the <i>hors d'oeuvre</i> of the +architectural feast to follow," and on drawing still closer, it composes +grandly with the swift-flowing little river lined with the tall slim +trees which are so distinguished a feature of a French landscape.</p> + +<p>Like Beauvais, Amiens, and, in only a slightly lesser degree, Le Mans, +the sheer fall of the nave and choir from ridge to ground startles one +by its exaggeration of perpendicular lines. Though by no means of the +great height of these other examples, its great size first impresses one +as its distinguishing feature. It sits, too, on the edge of a beautiful +wooded park which, in conjunction with the modern Episcopal Palace, +forms an ensemble of stone and verdure not often to be seen as the +environment<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">201</a></span> of a French cathedral. The gardens are quite open to the +public and are set forth with clipped hedges, trees, and monumental +stone work of no mean order.</p> + +<p>Bourges is another of those ancient foundations of mid-France where +Romish influences died hard, and Gothic, as a perfected type, never, as +it were, attained its majority. Here, the mixture of style is notable; +pointed and rounded arches intermingled, apparently indiscriminately, +with thoroughly Gothic supports, mullions, and piers. These, with the +characteristically Renaissance north and south porches, with their +carven doorways, all go to complete a series of typically fashioned +details, each true to its own age. Such a combination of varying virtues +should give the student, or the seeker after new sensations, something +more to think about than a mere catalogue of consistent charms; for it +cannot be denied that this church, standing aloof from any other single +type, is a marvel of grandeur and impressiveness, whatever may be its +failings when dessicated by the theorist or the archæologist.</p> + +<p>It is unlikely that Saracen or even Moorish influences were ever at work +so far north as this; but there is an unquestionable tendency<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">202</a></span> in much +of the debased decoration of this church to more than suggest a +similarity to both. It is, of course, not Gothic, as we know it, nor +Byzantine, <i>pur sang</i>, and it is certainly not Italian, but something +quite different. It is, perhaps, worthy of record that the inverted +horseshoe arch more nearly approximates what is commonly considered the +Moorish form; or, to give it a wider <i>locale</i>, Mediterranean, at least. +The polygonal turrets which flank the towers and the chapels of the +abside look, too, not unlike a sub-tropical feature, possibly Saracen. +Such details are markedly noticeable here, and it is because of features +such as these that one is minded to consider the church as something +quite different from anything seen elsewhere.</p> + +<p>To carry the argument still farther, if these details are to be +considered in any sense Gothic, or any outgrowth thereof, it certainly +augurs much for the possibility of this style having come originally +from the East, or at least the Mediterranean countries. It has been +claimed before now by English and French writers alike, that it may have +developed from the arts of the Moors of Spain, or that it may have grown +up from a primitive style in vogue in the Far East. The comment is given +without<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">203</a></span> further elaboration; but here, at least, we see some basis for +the claim that Gothic is but a transplanted flower after all, and that +it developed so boldly only from the seed's having been blown hither +from some other land, and finding a favourable soil in which to take +root and flourish.</p> + +<p>Without transepts, the long flank of the nave and choir is singularly +beautiful, broken into at regular intervals by buttresses which, if not +remarkable examples, are at least graceful, though so light that they +have been visibly stayed by iron rods, as is frequently the case +elsewhere, at Beauvais particularly, where the whole fabric appears to +be hung together by wires.</p> + +<p>The actual inception of the cathedral is attributed to Rudolphe de +Turenne, forty-sixth Archbishop of Bourges. Of his known work only the +round-arched crypt remains, upon which foundation the present grand pile +was reared.</p> + +<p>The west front possesses a quintette of portals, deeply recessed, but of +a decidedly mixed Gothic and Renaissance treatment as to decoration. +Such a range of elaborated doorways is hardly to be found in such +luxuriance elsewhere, though the fact that there are five<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">204</a></span> in all, +standing grandly in a row, is perhaps not unique of itself. They are +profusely decorated with sculptured forms of angels, saints, and kings. +The tympanum of the central portal contains a "Last Judgment," +remarkable alike for its magnitude and workmanship. Throughout, these +portals vary in date of their construction, their treatment, and their +excellencies, but in general they are homogeneous and convincing. In the +gables of three are circular piercings which open into a sort of +vestibule or porch; but these are entirely without glass. Another unique +feature of this western front is a curious lofty double-storied +structure, a chapel-like building, of whose functions most will remain +in ignorance. It is connected with the main body of the church by a long +tentacle-like ligature through which, says Henry James, "the groaning of +the organ or the pealing of bells must be transmitted with distressing +clearness."</p> + +<p>The hybrid tower on the extreme left, with many round-arched windows and +much florid ornament, is familiarly called the "Tour de Beurre," and, as +its compeer at Rouen, was built from the contributions of those who were +willing to forego themselves the luxury of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">205</a></span> butter. To the right is a +much less imposing tower, but one that is much more true as to its +style. It rises scarcely above the central gable, and helps to +exaggerate the lack of uniformity of the façade, a condition much +deplored by the true Gothic builder, though whether such varying detail +does not after all make a more interesting, and perhaps as edifying a +work for pleasurable contemplation, is an open question. There is, in +any event, a marvellous power in this massive west front to confirm +one's opinion that it is a comprehensive and yet varied thing. Another +curious feature of this front is a pair of overlying buttresses of no +apparent purpose as to staying power, since the wall space which they +flank is of no inordinate height. The window space, though, is ample; +and, though mostly in blank to-day, at a future time those blanks might +be broken out; hence the necessity for these extra props.</p> + +<p>The interior gives, likewise, a grand impression, one of vaster +magnitude than in reality exists. The length is probably exaggerated by +reason of the lack of transepts; but its breadth, including nave and +aisle, is unusually great, and the height is further magnified by the +fact that the aisles themselves have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">206</a></span> three ranges of openings, above +which, in the nave, rise the triforium and clerestory,—surely alone a +sufficiently unusual arrangement to account the church as of remarkable +planning. Its great beauty may be said to be the magnificent proportions +throughout, rather than the preëminent intrinsic value of any specific +detail.</p> + +<p>The rose window of the west end, though of grand proportions, appears to +fail utterly as a supreme effort because of the flatness and depression +given to its circumferential outline. Like that of St. Gatien at Tours +it is of an uncertain lozenge shape, while the effect is further +lessened by the mediocrity of its glass and framing.</p> + +<p>The general appearance of the interior is one of symmetrical grandeur, +wherein the effect of each dimension is probably enlarged, but with a +fine and consistent proportion. Its conventional embellishments are not +unduly ornate; though, for that matter, they do not give the impression +of being wanting to any great degree either in quality or quantity. In +no particular, however, is the sculptured form of figure or foliage of +that excellence and magnitude of that of the cathedral at Reims or at +Amiens.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">207</a></span></p> + +<p>The magnificent proportions of the choir well merit the term of +"Burgundian opulence." Its termination opens with an amplitude often +wanting in even a larger building, the piers being wide apart, without +screening, which heightens still more its generous proportions.</p> + +<p>The two picturesque cardinal's hats, with cord and tassels, have long +been pendant from the vault of the choir, and are now dimmed in colour +and thick deep with dust, seemingly destined to fall of sheer old age +and decrepitude. Further particulars concerning this picturesque detail +are wanting only from the lack of any one in attendance from whom one +might get this information,—perhaps some reader of these lines may be +more fortunate.</p> + +<p>On the pavement of the nave is a brass rule, inlaid diagonally from the +north to the south wall. Its original use appears to be clothed in some +obscurity, one informative person stating that it is the line of +departmental division, and another that it marks the meridian of Paris, +which is shown on all French navigation charts. Its real purpose is +evidently topographical rather than of religious or symbolical +significance.</p> + +<p>An ardent French writer deplores the fact<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">208</a></span> that there is no monument +here to show respect for Louis XI., who was born at Bourges and baptized +in the cathedral; a pity, perhaps, and certainly a subject worthy of the +consideration of "the powers that be."</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">209</a></span></p> +<div class="image top" style="width: 553px;"> +<img src="images/illus228.png" width="553" height="404" alt="CATHEDRAL of S. CYR & Ste. JULIETTE NEVERS" /> +</div> + + + +<h4>III<br /><br /> +ST. CYR AND ST. JULIETTE DE NEVERS</h4> + + +<p>A unique experience is one's first contemplation of the "gay little city +of Nevers" from the Pont du Loire, with the none too large Cathedral of +St. Cyr and St. Juliette crowning, as it were, the apex of a series of +steep rises from the Loire, which, even at this distance from the sea, +still retains its ample breadth. Said Arthur Young in his plain and bald +phraseology, "Nevers makes a fine appearance." Here, on the very +threshold of the southland, it is something of a shock to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">210</a></span> brought at +once into intimate association with Italian influences and types of +architecture; for, be it recalled, Nevers has been truly "an Italian +stronghold in the midst of France," with little to remind one, but its +speech, that it is merely a provincial French market-town. Nevers was +the seat of the Italian Dukes and Counts of Nièvre, who built the ducal +palace, the <i>ci-devant</i> chateau, now the Palace of Justice. Here, later, +dwelt the nephew of the great Mazarin, who said his king "had a heart +more French than his speech." Through his efforts the Nivernais was +incorporated with the French crown in 1669.</p> + +<p>This fine turreted, towered, and decorated building, with its sculpture +attributed to Goujon, is to-day, in appearance at least, what it was in +the past,—the typical urban domestic establishment of grand proportions +and splendid appointments; though it may hardly be said to vie with such +masterpieces as Chambord, Chenonceau, or Blois. Nor, for that matter, is +the town itself entitled to rank, as to its events of historical +importance or the fame or personality of its bishops or counts, with +either Chartres or Le Mans, both of which it somewhat approaches in +point of size.</p> + +<p>Aside from its many and varied charms,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">211</a></span> which have been duly set forth +by most writers on the French provinces who have had anything whatever +to say about it, Nevers should be doubly endeared to all makers of +guide-books and students of ecclesiastical architecture, from the fact +that the Abbé Bourassé, Honorary Canon of Nevers, here wrote and +dedicated to his bishop, Mgr. Dufêtre, a work treating of the French +cathedrals which will ever rank as one of the most delightfully written +and useful books of its class. This fact perhaps is hardly to be +reckoned as of historical moment, but pertinent to the plan of the +present work nevertheless.</p> + +<p>Nowhere, not even in Provence or Acquitaine, are to be noted more +significant tendencies toward a southern influence in the matter of +civil and ecclesiastical building. True, many of the minor structures +have to-day descended unto base uses, and many of their perfections and +beauties are therefore sunk below the surface. For instance, where a +palace has become a warehouse, or a church been turned into a stable, or +been given over to the uses of a wine factor.</p> + +<p>Before even considering the cathedral itself,—dedicated to the hero of +the legendary tale concerning St. Cyrus, who, depicted as a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">212</a></span> naked child +riding astride a wild boar, was able to turn the infuriated beast from a +certain King Charles (further designation not given) and preserve him +from danger,—it is well to know that most authorities agree in giving +habitation here to one of the most perfect Romanesque churches in all +northern Europe, that of St. Etienne, built in 1063-96, and consecrated +in the latter year by Ivor, Bishop of Chartres. Of the century +contemporary with this fine work, as yet hardly spoiled by any offensive +restorations, are two columns, in the easterly portion of the Cathedral +of St. Cyr, which bear the date of 1024. From this foundation the lover +of churches will rear for himself an exceedingly interesting and +uncommon type.</p> + +<p>Not of the first rank, St. Cyr has the power to hold one's attention far +more closely and interestingly than many of greater worth and magnitude; +and its environment, from every point of view, composes itself into a +picture which it would be hard to duplicate. The grouping of the chevet +of the choir with the low roofs of the town lying at its base, and the +gardens of the ducal chateau in the immediate foreground, forms an +unusually varied combination of the picturesque.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">213</a></span></p> + +<p>The wealth of Nevers in architectural monuments would be notable in a +town many times its size. The Port de Paris, a not especially attractive +Renaissance gateway, guards the northerly, and the Port du Croux the +westerly, end of the town. This latter groups nobly with the west end +and tower of the cathedral, and is of itself a monument of the first +rank, being so designated by the <i>Commission des Monumentes +Historiques</i>. A feudal defence, square, broad-based, turreted, flanked +with circular watch-towers, and still further strengthened by a barbican +which once held a portcullis, this wonderfully effective barrier more +than suggests the mediæval stronghold. Two other towers of the ancient +<i>enceinte</i> still remain, the Tour Gougin, and the Tour St. Eloi.</p> + +<p>Intimate acquaintance with the cathedral shows a blending, not +offensive, but in no slight manner, of the Romanesque, early and late +Gothic, and finally Renaissance styles. Nevertheless there is an +apparent cohesiveness often lacking in a larger work, or in one built +within a shorter period of time. One distinctly northern feature there +is; namely, the singular effect given by the double apse of the nave and +choir, reminiscent mainly of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">214</a></span> Rhine builders, that of the eastern +end being much the older. The half-obliterated frescoes of the domed +vaulting of the western apse indicate that it was completed after the +pure Italian manner at a considerably later time than the opposite end. +It is hardly a beautiful or even a necessary feature to either the +exterior or interior of a great church, and, fortunately, is unusual in +France, though common enough in Germany, notably at Mainz, Worms, and +Treves. The most remarkable interior effect, aside from this western +apse, is that of the lofty Gothic arches, springing high above the +Romanesque arches of the nave, and naturally of a much later date. +Certainly this must be, so far as the respective proportions of each are +concerned, an entirely unique feature. Notable evidences are to be seen +of frescoes, probably the work of some Italian hand, both on the screen +and in the domed apse. They have apparently been whitewashed over many +times, but remorse, if tardily, has evidently come lately, and such +restoration or renovation as has been possible, has been undertaken.</p> + +<p>A dainty and diminutive spiral stairway, suggestive of having been +modelled on the lines of the grand spirals at Chambord or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">215</a></span> Blois, and +half enclosed in the surrounding wall, leads to the Chapter Room above. +The eastern apse, and the crypt beneath, are the earliest parts readily +to be observed and are probably the remains of the Romanesque structure +built by Hugh II. early in the eleventh century, after the common type +of the Auvergnat and Angevine churches.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the best workmanship to be noted is that of the +thirteenth-century chapels surrounding the choir. Reclus, a French +authority, has declared that the ornamental foliage here is not only +really admirable as to itself, but is the "perfection of imitation," and +extends this commendation also to the work on the pillars and capitals +of the north doorway by which the church is usually entered.</p> + +<p>The interior generally is brilliant and pleasing, though good glass is +mostly wanting, and the uninterrupted flood of light detracts measurably +from the warmth and geniality suggested by the memory of Bourges, +Chartres, or Auxerre. The rose window over the western apse is pitifully +weak and quite lacking in effectiveness.</p> + +<p>A canopied <i>baldacchino</i> rises above the altar and, being of stone +treated in a graceful Gothic manner, is an ornament much more in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">216</a></span> good +taste than the hideous mahogany or oaken serpentine atrocities which are +often erected.</p> + +<p>It is impossible to come into close contact with the exterior of this +cathedral except by approaching it from the eastern end. West front +there is none. As one has said, "It possesses merely a western end." The +western tower, of two non-contemporary orders of Gothic (fourteenth and +fifteenth centuries), whether viewed from near or far, is far more +pleasing than any other general exterior feature. The chevet of the +choir extends, as it were, well into the nave, there being no transepts. +This is evidently a local custom, recalling the neighbouring cathedrals +at Bourges and Auxerre.</p> + +<p>The sculptured decoration of the later portion is exceedingly well +disposed, and of such magnitude and numbers as to lack that poverty in +the ensemble often apparent in a more pretentious work.</p> + +<p>The Church of St. Etienne in Nevers, so thoroughly Roman in inception of +design and execution of detail, indicates more vividly than any other +example that might possibly be taken, the shortness of time in which the +Gothic development actually took place.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">217</a></span> +With Notre Dame at Paris full in mind, it is well to recall that these +accepted perfect examples of two contrasting types are scarce a hundred +and fifty miles apart, and, in point of time, but sixty years. What an +exemplification this surely is of the transition which came to the art +of church building in the twelfth century; what extraordinary rapidity +of conception and development, and how narrow were the confines of the +true Gothic spirit, indigenous only to the royal domain, which alone +produced the churches which fully merit the concisely expressed +definition of Gothic: "A manner of building maintained (sustained) by a +system of thrust and counter thrust."</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">218</a></span></p> +<div class="image top" style="width: 540px;"> +<img src="images/illus237.png" width="540" height="386" alt="CATHEDRAL of S. MAMMES LANGRES" /> +</div> + + + +<h4>IV<br /><br /> +ST. MAMMÈS DE LANGRES</h4> + +<p>L<span class="smcap">angres</span> is reminiscent of but one other cathedral city in the north of +France; like Laon, it occupies and fortifies the crest of a long drawn +out hill, or, to give it dignity, it had perhaps best be called in the +language of the native "de la montagne de Langres," since from its apex, +it is truly dominant of a wide expanse of horizon.</p> + +<p>Of the Burgundian transition type, the Cathedral at Langres, dedicated +to St. Jean the Evangel and St. Mammes, is in many ways a remarkable +architectural work, but contaminated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">219</a></span> beyond cure by two overbearing +Greco-Roman towers and a portal of the mid-eighteenth century. As a +relief, there adjoins the main body of the church, on the southeast, one +of those masterworks of the supreme Gothic era,—a canon's cloister of +an exceeding thirteenth-century beauty. In other respects, the exterior +is of little note except as to its wonderful degree of prominence in the +general grouping of the roofs of the town, when the city is viewed from +below.</p> + +<p>The interior spreads itself out in severe and imposing lines with hardly +a remarkable feature in either transepts or nave. The organ-loft, a +Calvary, and a marble statue of the Virgin, by Lescornel, a sculptor of +Langres, and a few modern sculptured monuments, are the only decorative +attributes to be seen, if we except the Renaissance Chapelle des Fonts +Baptismaux with its sculptured vaulting on the left.</p> + +<p>The symmetrical choir is in itself the true charm of St. Mammes. It has +a fine ambulatory, and a range of eight monolithic columns, removed, +says tradition, from an ancient Pagan temple. Their capitals are +ornamented with carven foliage, grimacing heads, and fantastic animals.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">220</a></span></p> + +<p>A sixteenth-century screen surrounds the choir, but is more like unto a +triumphal arch than a churchly accessory.</p> + +<p>The high altar is a comparatively modern work, as may be supposed, and +dates only from 1810.</p> + +<p>On the right of the choir is an elaborate Roman doorway, and preserved +in the Chapter Room are five paintings depicting the "Chaste Susanne." A +remarkable collection of reliques is shown by the sacristan, in the +Chapelle des Reliques.</p> + + + +<h3 class="top15">V</h3> + +<h4>NOTRE DAME D'AUXONNE</h4> + + +<p>The small town of Auxonne, lying between Dijon and Besançon, is seldom +thought of in connection with a cathedral church. There is little there +to compel one's attention beyond the fact that the Church of Notre Dame, +of the fourteenth-sixteenth century, is an interesting enough example of +a minor edifice which at one time was classed as a cathedral.</p> + +<p>The church is mainly Gothic and has the unusual arrangement of a +Romanesque tower rising above the transept.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">221</a></span></p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">222</a></span></p> +<h3 class="top15"><a name="PART_V" id="PART_V"></a><i>PART V<br /> +East of Paris</i></h3> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">223</a></span></p> + +<h4>I<br /><br /> +INTRODUCTORY</h4> + +<p>N<span class="smcap">o</span> arbitrary territorial arrangement can be made to include with +exactness each and every ecclesiastical division, but, since the Royal +Domain and the immediately adjacent territory includes the major portion +of what are commonly accepted as the Grand Cathedrals, it has been +thought permissible, in the present case, to make a further subdivision +which shall include Boulogne and St. Omer, north of Paris; eastward to +the Rhine and southward to include Dijon and Besançon. A topographer +might not make such a division or arrangement of territory; but no other +seems possible which shall include the region lying between the extremes +of Besançon and Boulogne.</p> + +<p>The local characteristics or architectural types differ widely within +these limits, both as to style and excellence. In one way, only, have +they advanced under conditions of unity,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">224</a></span> that of the establishment of a +Christian church, but, otherwise, now favouring the northern influence +and now the southern. The frontier provinces have, as a natural course, +been subject to many retarding influences which have been wanting +elsewhere; for invasion from without may be depended upon to be as +baneful for the preservation of a nation's art treasures as a revolution +from within. The Christian element early forced its way among the +Franks, and Clovis, at the solicitation of his Christian queen and her +bishop, was not averse to adopting what he might otherwise have regarded +as a superstition. His conversion at Reims not only fostered and +propagated Christianity, but gave an impetus to the foundation and +building of churches in a most generous fashion.</p> + +<p>The region to the eastward of Paris, which has played no unimportant +part in the history of France, while prolific as to varied types of +church building, possesses but one example of the very first rank,—and +that, as a style which typifies Gothic art, may be said to rank supreme +over all others,—Notre Dame de Reims. As the seat of the Metropolitain, +and the City of Coronations, it was allied closely with early affairs of +Church and State.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">225</a></span></p> + +<p>The principles and manner adopted by Guillaume of Sens in his great +works early affected the style here, as seen by the many transition +examples, just as the influence of the Monk of St. Bénigne of Dijon +caused the round-arched species of the west of France. At all events the +primitive Gothic influences were early at work and in a measure absorbed +the Romanesque tendencies which had flourished previously.</p> + +<p>The most notable exception, an example of the distinctly southern type, +is at Besançon, which has a remarkable array of contrasting style, with +the Romanesque, though not of the best, predominating.</p> + +<p>With the cathedrals in the extreme northerly section we have little to +do,—in fact there is little that can be said. St. Omer is possessed of +a wonderful old church which at one time ranked as a cathedral, and +which has glimpses here and there of very good Gothic. There are also, +in this otherwise not very interesting city, two other church buildings +worthy of more than an ordinary amount of attention, the ruins of the +Abbey of St. Bertin and the Church of St. Denis.</p> + +<p>Boulogne-sur-Mer has a modern pseudo-classical structure built well into +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">226</a></span>nineteenth century. It is more notable as a monument to the +industry of the man who brought about its erection, taking the place of +a former structure burnt during the Revolution, than as a satisfactory +example of a great church. The same may be said with equal truth of the +atrocious Renaissance and Pagan structures to be seen at Cambrai and +Arras, though the conditions under which they were built differ. At +Cambrai, however, the present building replaces a former structure +levelled by fire.</p> + +<p>Châlons-sur-Marne,—dear to every French patriot as being renowned for +the manufacture of flags, a suffragan of Reims, has a remarkable +cathedral of Romanesque foundation of the fifth to the seventh +centuries. Its warlike record, from 273 <span class="smcap">A. D.</span>, when Aurelian vanquished +Tetricus, to the occupation by the Germans in 1871, is one long +succession of military affairs. To-day the city is the domicile of the +most important army corps of France.</p> + +<p>These towns, with Nancy, Toul, and St. Dié in the valley of the Moselle, +complete the list of those cities which by any stretch of territorial +boundaries could be classed under the head of "East of Paris."</p> + +<p>It may be a debatable point as to whether<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">227</a></span> Strasbourg and Metz might not +have been included; the writer is inclined to think that they might have +been, though their interests and influences have always been more +Teutonic than Gallic,—still, they are thoroughly Germanized to-day, +and, as we cannot interrupt the march of time, and the present volume +will otherwise approach the limits originally set out for it, they must +perforce be omitted.</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 556px;"> +<img src="images/illus246.png" width="556" height="396" alt="CATHEDRAL NANCY" /> +</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">228</a></span></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">229</a></span></p> + +<div class="image top" style="width: 339px;"> +<a href="images/illus248.png"> +<img src="images/illus248_th.png" width="339" height="500" alt="BOULOGNE" /> +</a> +</div> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">230</a></span></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">231</a></span></p> + +<h4>II<br /><br /> +NOTRE DAME DE BOULOGNE-SUR-MER</h4> + +<p>B<span class="smcap">oulogne-sur-mer</span> is one of those neglected tourist points through which +the much travelled person usually rushes en route to some other place. +It perhaps hardly warrants further consideration except for the history +of its past, and its intimate association with certain events which +might seriously have affected the history of England. It is, however, an +interesting enough place to-day, if one cares for the bustle and rush of +a seaport and fishing town,—not very cleanly, and overrun with +tea-shops and various establishments which cater only to the cockney +abroad, who gathers here in shoals during the summer months. There is, +too, a large colony of resident English, probably attracted by its +nearness to London, and possibly for purposes of retrenchment, for there +is no question but that the franc, of twenty per cent. less value than +the shilling, accomplishes quite as much as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">232</a></span> a purchasing power. This +must be quite a consideration with <i>pater-familias</i> with a limited +income derived from Consols or some other traditionally "excellent +investment."</p> + +<p>Most travellers are familiar with what attractions Boulogne really does +offer, but few if any would consider its very modern and ugly cathedral +one of them.</p> + +<p>Perched in the centre of the <i>Haute-Ville</i>, overlooking the city and +port, the Cathedral of Notre Dame exists to-day more as a monument to +the energy and devotion of its founder than as a notable architectural +work. It follows no particular style, except that it is Italian of the +most debased general type, though no doubt parts of it meet the +dimensions and formulas laid down by accepted good examples in its +native land. There is no doubt but that its domed cupola is manifestly +out of place, though this detail is the only feature which gives the +cathedral any distinction.</p> + +<p>A Gothic church stood here up to the Revolution, and the building of the +present structure was devotedly undertaken to replace its loss by a +doubtless earnest man, who, in his zeal, sought to build after what he +considered a newer if not a better style. Parts of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">233</a></span> crypt are of the +ancient twelfth century church; but the structure above dates from +1827-66.</p> + +<p>Its façade, of a poor classical order, is flanked by two slight cupola +towers equally meaningless and insignificant. Surmounting the central +dome is a colossal statue of the Virgin.</p> + +<p>The interior is in no way remarkable or interesting. There are a few +monuments and a gorgeous high altar of precious marbles, mosaic, and +bronze, the gift of Prince Alex Torlonia. The lady-chapel is still +resorted to as a place of pilgrimage by the seafaring and fisher folk of +the neighbourhood.</p> + +<p>A modern reproduction of a sarcophagus from the catacombs at Rome forms +the tomb of Mgr. Haffreingue (1871).<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">234</a></span></p> + + + +<h4 class="top15">III<br /><br /> +NOTRE DAME DE CAMBRAI</h4> + +<p>C<span class="smcap">ambrai</span> is one of that quartette of cathedral cities of northern France +which in no sense take rank as ecclesiastical shrines of even ordinarily +interesting, much less beautiful, attributes. Of the other three, Arras, +St. Omer, and Boulogne, St. Omer alone is possessed to-day of anything +approaching the great Gothic churches which were spread broadcast +throughout France during the five centuries of church building in the +middle ages.</p> + +<p>In manners and customs, and indeed in speech to some extent, these +cities all partake somewhat of the <i>locale</i> of those of the Low +Countries. These attributes, which have retained their original +identities across the borders, were for many centuries, and even so late +as the seventeenth century, existent in French Flanders. Curiously +enough, in none of these cities are any of the primitive Gothic types to +be noted in the cathedral churches, though<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">235</a></span> many possess their +olden-time belfries and watch towers, preserved to-day with something of +the local pride which evinces itself elsewhere with respect to +cathedrals. It is possible that this is due to the fact that this great +industrial centre of northern France is more given to the arts of +manufacture than to the devotion of church-going or even of church +building. Another notable and almost universal feature of these cities +are the Renaissance or Romanesque gateways,—silent reminders to-day of +the mediæval communities which they once protected, and of the warlike +invasions of the past.</p> + +<p>The Cathedral of Notre Dame de Cambrai is on the site of an older abbey +church, which was of the same ugly style as the present edifice itself, +but which dated, however, only from the early eighteenth century. The +present building is said to furnish a replica, of the vintage of 1859, +of the tasteless and crude style of the earlier building. There are +statues therein of Fenelon, Bishop Belmas, by David d'Angers, and of +Cardinal Regnier; and a series of grisaille windows, after originals by +Rubens, by Geeraerts of Anvers.</p> + +<p>The chimes of Cambrai rank among the most noted in Europe. They are +composed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">236</a></span> of thirty-nine bells and produce a carillon, "very agreeable," +says a French authority. They certainly do,—the author can endorse this +from a personal knowledge,—and they have not as yet descended to such +banalities as popular military marches. The largest bell, given by +Fenelon in 1786, weighs 7,500 kilos.</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 142px;"> +<img src="images/illus255.png" width="142" height="259" alt="Notre Dame de Cambrai" /> +</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">237</a></span></p> + + +<h4 class="top15">IV<br /><br /> +NOTRE DAME DE ST. OMER</h4> + +<p>U<span class="smcap">nder</span> Baldwin of Hainault, Artois, including St. Omer, was ceded to the +kingdom of France as late as the mid-seventeenth century. Few minor +churches are possessed of the galaxy of charms and attractions of the +<i>ci-devant</i> Cathedral of Notre Dame at St. Omer. Hardly in the accepted +forms of good taste are the Byzantine slabs of marble stuck upon the +walls here and there, as in a museum; the Renaissance screens; the +overpowering organ case; the votive offerings and tablets without +number; and the alleged wonderful astronomical clock, with its colossal +wooden figures of the sixteenth century,—all of which go to compose a +heterogeneous mass more interesting as to occasional detail than as a +thorough expression of saintly temperament.</p> + +<p>The decorative scheme is carried still further by the large number of +paintings with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">238</a></span> which the church is hung; a tribute none too common in +France, and more usually associated with the Flemish churches of nearly +every rank. A reflection of their preëminence in this respect is +naturally enough visible in French Flanders.</p> + +<p>"The Descent from the Cross," attributed to Rubens, appears likely +enough to be a genuine master, but it has been so roughly restored by +overpainting, that it is to-day of impaired value.</p> + +<p>St. Omer, among all the group of northeast France, presents a true +Gothic example in its great Basilique de Notre Dame, and it is a pity +that its further development was along lines which indicate a trend, at +least, toward debasement. This is plainly to be noted in the tracery of +the lower and clerestory windows of nave and aisles.</p> + +<p>Its enormous tower covers nearly the entire western end of nave and +aisles, in much the same way as those of some of the fortified churches +of the south. Its Gothic is of the true perpendicular style, however, +and, with the general grand proportions of the building, gives that +immensity and massiveness which is associated only with a church of the +first rank. The <i>arcs-boutant</i> of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">239</a></span> nave are hardly deserving of +mention as such, though they are manifestly sturdy props which perform +their functions in perhaps as efficacious a manner as many more graceful +and delicate specimens elsewhere. There is just a suggestion of a +central tower, which, as is often the case in France, has dwindled to a +mere cupola, if it had ever previously grown to a greater height. The +transepts are of imposing dimensions, that on the south having an +enormous rose of perhaps thirty-five feet in diameter, with an +elaborately carved portal below, which contains a "Last Judgment" in the +tympanum. The choir, chevet, and chapels, while existent to a visible +and very beautiful degree, are somewhat overshadowed by the great size +of the transepts. There is this to be said, however: that the choir, a +restoration of our own day, presents, as to style, the type of Gothic +purity at its height. It has five radiating chapels, not including that +of Notre Dame des Miracles, which adjoins the south transept and +contains innumerable votive tablets. For the rest, except for the fact +that the interior partakes of a mere collection of curios and relics, it +is in general no less imposing in its proportions than the exterior. The +clerestory windows,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">240</a></span> however, are of ill proportions for so grand a +structure, being short and squat; and here, as elsewhere throughout the +building, is to be found only modern glass.</p> + +<p>The great bell of the western tower weighs 8,500 kilos.</p> + +<p>Chief among the notable accessories and reliques is the monolithic tomb +of St. Erkembode, bishop of the one-time see of Thérouanne, period +725-37. The sarcophagus itself, dating from the same century, was +brought here from the original site. The tomb of St. Omer was restored +in the thirteenth century and shows a remarkable sculptured group of +Christ, the Virgin, and St. John, called the "Great God of Thérouanne." +It was saved from the ruin of the church at Thérouanne, which was +destroyed with the greater part of the town in 1533 by Charles V., in +revenge for the "loss of three bishoprics," as history states. At this +time the sees of St. Omer and Boulogne were founded.</p> + +<p>The near-by Palace of Justice, built by Mansart in 1680 and enlarged for +its present use in 1840, was the former Episcopal Palace.</p> + +<p>St. Omer has also two other grand churches, St. Sepulchre, of the +fourteenth century, and the ruins of St. Bertin (1326-1520), which,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">241</a></span> +before the Revolution, with St. Ouen at Rouen, and the collegiate church +at San Quentin, was reckoned as one of the most beautiful Gothic abbeys +in France. To-day it is a magnificent ruin, its huge tower (built in +1431) and portions of the nave and crossing being all that remain. It +was considered the finest church in the Low Countries, and for size, +purity, and uniformity of style it ranked with the best of its +contemporaries.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">242</a></span></p> + + + +<h4 class="top15">V<br /><br /> +ST. VAAST D'ARRAS</h4> + +<p>T<span class="smcap">he</span> capital of ancient Flanders was removed from Arras to Ghent when +Artois was ceded to France, and thus it was that the city became French, +as it were, but slowly, its Low Country traditions and customs clinging +closely to it until a late day. The former Cathedral of Notre Dame +ranked as a grand example of the ogival style of the fourteenth century, +in which it was built, and gave to the city of the "tapestry makers" the +distinction of possessing a church composed of much that was best of the +architecture of a fast growing art. Such was the mediæval rank to which +the cathedral at Arras had attained. The new Cathedral of St. Vaast, +dating from 1755 to 1833, is of the Grecian style of temple building, +little suited to the needs of a Christian church. The crucial plan +consecrated by catholic usages of centuries is not however wholly +abandoned. There is something of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">243</a></span> suggestion of the Latin cross in its +design, but its abside faces toward the southeast rather than due south, +with its principal entrance to the northwest, a sufficiently unusual +arrangement, where most French churches are duly orientated, to be +remarked, particularly as there is little that can be said in praise of +the structure. The interior follows the general plan of the Corinthian +order; the windows, neither numerous nor of sufficiently ample +dimensions to well serve their purpose, number nine only in the choir, +and five on each side of the nave.</p> + +<p>There are, to the abside, seven collateral chapels, some of which +contain passable sculptured monuments, removed from the old abbey of St. +Vaast, a foundation erected in the sixth century and reconstructed by +Cardinal de Rohan in 1754. The remains of the old abbey buildings have +been built around and incorporated in the present Episcopal Palace, the +extensive Musée, and Bibliotheque; and are situated immediately to the +right of the façade of the cathedral.</p> + +<p>The grisaille glass seen in the interior is unusual, but mediocre in the +extreme.</p> + +<p>There are, however, some good statues in white marble in the Chapelle de +St. Vaast,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">244</a></span> while in another chapel, given by Cardinal de la Tour +d'Auvergne, is one equally good of Charles Borromée.</p> + +<p>There are four great statues at the extremities of the transepts, +representing the four evangelists; and three others in the choir, of +Faith, Hope, and Charity.</p> + +<p>In the north transept, also, are two triptychs of the Flemish school, by +Bellegambe, a native of Douai (1528).</p> + +<p>The Abbé Bourassé, in his charming work on the cathedrals of France, +says, plainly, and without fear or favour: "We have tried to speak +impartially of all species of architecture—but why do we not admire the +Cathedral of Arras? It is against all traditions of '<i>notre art +catholique</i>.' We contend that this is not good. What, say you, can we +praise? It is a great work—of the stone-mason; you should study it from +some distance. It is without life, without movement, without dignity."</p> + +<p>Whatever may be the faults of its cathedral, Arras is, nevertheless, an +interesting city,—modernized, to be sure, by boulevards laid out along +the old fortifications. The Citadel of Vauban (1670), called ironically +"<i>la belle inutile</i>," may be classed as a worthless, if not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">245</a></span> wholly +unpicturesque, ruin, though ranking, when built, as among the most +wonderful fortifications of the times. The wave of Renaissance which +swept northward has left its ineradicable marks here. The Hôtel de Ville +is a remarkable specimen of that art of overloading ornament upon a +square hulk, and making it look like a wedding-cake; though, truth to +tell, coming upon it after the chilliness of the cathedral itself, it is +a cheerful antidote. Dating from 1510, at which time was built the +curious Gothic façade of seven arches, each different as to size and +spring. The added wings in elaborate Renaissance are of the late +sixteenth century and rank among the most effective examples of the +style in France. A belfry surmounts all, 240 feet in height, the +"<i>joyeuse</i>" of which weighs nearly nine tons.</p> + +<p>Arras may perhaps be most revered for its tapestries, its workers taking +rank with those of the famous manufactories at Paris and Beauvais. +Indeed, it would appear as though experts knew not to which of these +three centres to assign precedence, both Arras and Paris claiming the +honour of having set up the first looms. It is an ancient art, as the +work of craftsmen goes, and more than one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">246</a></span> writer who has studied deeply +the fascinating intricacies of <i>haute</i> and <i>basse lisse</i>, of colour, +texture, design, and what not, has not hesitated to proclaim the city as +having been the grandest centre of tapestry-making which the world has +ever known; and regret can but be universal that it came to an end when +its citizens were put to the sword by Louis XI.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">247</a></span></p> +<div class="image top" style="width: 329px;"> +<img src="images/illus266.png" width="329" height="509" alt="TOUL" /> +</div> + + + +<h4>VI<br /><br /> +ST. ETIENNE DE TOUL</h4> + +<p>A<span class="smcap">nnexed</span> to France, in company with Metz and Verdun, in 1556, Toul, +situated on the left bank of the Moselle, is to-day ranked as a fortress +of the first order. "Can be seen in two hours"—such is the description +usually given by the guide-books to the city which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">248</a></span> contains, in its +one-time Cathedral St. Etienne, an example which, with respect to the +decorative tracery of its façade savants have declared the equal even of +Reims.</p> + +<p>One of the three former bishoprics of Lorraine, Toul is none too ample +to merit the cognomen of a large town. It once held within its walls, +beside the Cathedral, the Church of St. Gengoult, and several parish +churches and monasteries. Shorn to-day of some of these dignities, with +its bishopric removed to Nancy, it ranks as a military and strategic +stronghold rather than a centre of churchly domination. Since Metz and +Strasbourg were given over to the Germans, Toul's former fortress has +been greatly strengthened.</p> + +<p>The cathedral itself may truly be said to bear the characteristics of +both the German and French manner of building, the western or later end +being a superb front, after the French manner, and the easterly or +earlier end having a simple apse and long narrow windows, in the German +fashion. A comparison has been made by Professor Freeman between the +western façade of this church and Notre Dame de Reims. He says, "We are +daring enough to think that, simply as a design, the west front of Toul +outdoes that of Reims;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">249</a></span> though it will be hardly needful to prove that, +as a whole, Reims far outdoes that of Toul." Quite non-committal, to be +sure, as was this charming writer's way; but, of itself, a sort of +preparation to the observer for the beauties which he is to behold. Here +is the case of a superb richness having been added to a plainer body, +and by no means inharmoniously done. The gable is nearly perfect as to +its juxtaposition. The towers are higher in proportion than at Reims, +giving the effect of being the finished thing as they stand, though +lacking spires or pinnacles. The walls are of those just proportions in +relation to the window piercings which is again French, as contrasted +with a neighbouring example at Metz, where the reverse is the case.</p> + +<p>The city was the seat of a bishop as early as the sixth century, and its +government was under his control until 1261, when it became a free +commune. Finally it was conquered by Henry II., and its future assured +to France by the Treaty of Westphalia.</p> + +<p>The cathedral dates in part from Romanesque remains of the tenth +century, but its entire interior arrangements were much battered during +the Revolution.</p> + +<p>The choir and transept are of the best of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">250</a></span> thirteenth-century building, +while the nave and side aisles are of the century following. Two towers, +which flank the magnificent façade, rise for nearly two hundred and +fifty feet, and are the work of Jacquemin de Commercy in the fifteenth +century. Adjoining the right aisles are the very beautiful Gothic +cloisters of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. They form a +rectangular enclosure, 225 feet by 165 feet, and are made up of +twenty-four sections of four arches, each with clustered columns.</p> + +<p>A fine sculptured altarpiece, "The Adoration of the Shepherds," is in +the Chapelle de la Creche, entered from the cloister.</p> + +<p>The present Hôtel-de-Ville was formerly the bishop's palace.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">251</a></span></p> +<div class="image top" style="width: 362px;"> +<img src="images/illus270.png" width="362" height="408" alt="North Portal Cathedral Châlons-sur-Marne" /> +</div> + + + +<h4>VII<br /><br /> +ST. ETIENNE, CHÂLONS-SUR-MARNE</h4> + +<p>C<span class="smcap">halons</span> is perhaps first of all famed as the scene of Attila's great +defeat in the fifth century, one of the world's fifteen decisive +battles.</p> + +<p>The Cathedral of St. Etienne is not usually considered to be a +remarkable structure; but it is thoroughly typical and characteristic of +a <i>locale</i>, which stamps it at once with a mark of genuineness and +sincerity. Of early primitive Gothic in the main, it shares interest +to-day with the four other churches of the city, not overlooking Notre +Dame de l'Epine, some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">252</a></span> five miles distant to the northward, one of the +most perfectly designed and appointed late Gothic churches which the +world has ever known. It has been called a "miniature cathedral," using +the term, it may be supposed, in the sense of referring only to a +magnificently ornate church. It is indeed worth a pilgrimage thither to +see this true gem of architecture in a wholly undefiled countrified +setting.</p> + +<p>The Cathedral at Châlons-sur-Marne follows somewhat the traditions of +the German manner of building, at least so far as a certain plainness +and lack of ornate decoration in the main body of the church is +concerned; likewise in the arrangement of its towers, which lie to the +eastward of the transepts; and further with respect to its decidedly +Teutonic arrangement of the rounded columns, or, more properly, pillars, +of its nave.</p> + +<p>In general this thirteenth-century church is in the best style of its +era; but the west front presents an incongruous seventeenth-century +addition in the whilom classical style of that day, bad as to its art, +and apparently badly welded into conjunction with the older portion. The +aisles and clerestory windows are of the later decorated period of +Gothic, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">253</a></span> present, whether viewed from without or from within, an +exceedingly fine appearance.</p> + +<p>Probably the finest and most pleasing impression of the whole structure +is that obtained of the interior, with its pillars of nave and choir, of +the massive order made familiar in the Rhine churches. A reasonable +share of twelfth to sixteenth century glass is still left as its +portion, and the general arrangement of the choir, prolonged, as it is, +well into the nave, gives a certain majesty to this portion of the +church which is perhaps not warranted when we take into consideration +that it must perforce dwarf the nave itself. The arrangement, though not +common, is by no means an unusual one, and it is recalled also, that it +is so employed at Reims.</p> + +<p>Situated near the frontier, Châlons-sur-Marne has ever been subject to +that inquietude which usually befalls a border city. German influences +have ever been noticeable, and, even to-day, the significant fact is to +be noted that a curé will hear confessions in German, and that services +are held in that tongue on "Saturdays in St. Joseph's Chapel."</p> + +<p>The Episcopal Palace, behind the cathedral, contains a collection of +some sixty paintings, the gift, in 1864, of the Abbé Joannes.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">254</a></span></p> +<div class="image top" style="width: 556px;"> +<img src="images/illus273.png" width="556" height="374" alt="S. DIÉ" /> +</div> + + + +<h4>VIII<br /><br /> +ST. DIÉ</h4> + +<p>S<span class="smcap">t</span>. Dié gets its name, by the corruption of Dieudonné, from St. +Deodatus, who founded a monastery here in the seventh century. It was +built, as was many another great cathedral, in accordance with the +custom of erecting a church over the body or relic of a saint whom it +was especially desired to honour; usually one of local importance, a +patron or a devotee.</p> + +<p>The town is perhaps the most inaccessible and "out-of-the-way" place +which harbours<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">255</a></span> a cathedral in all northern France. We might perhaps +except St. Pol-de-Leon and Tréguier in Brittany, neither of which is on +a railway, whereas St. Dié is, but at the very end. When you get there +and want to go on, not back, you simply journey on foot, or awheel if +you can find a conveyance, and take up with another "loose end" of +railway some fifteen miles away, which will take you southward, should +you be going that way. If not, there appears to be nothing for it, but +to retrace your steps whence you came.</p> + +<p>The cathedral (locally "La Grande Eglise," it only having been made a +cathedral so recently as 1777) has a fine Romanesque nave of the +eleventh century, with choir and aisles of good Gothic, after the +accepted Rhine manner of building.</p> + +<p>The portal, of red sandstone, is of inferior thirteenth-century +workmanship, with statues of Faith and Charity on either side. The +façade is flanked by two square towers.</p> + +<p>The interior is curiously arranged with a cordon of sculpture, high in +the vaulting. The capitals of the pillars are likewise ornamented with +highly interesting and ornately sculptured capitals. The choir, as is +most usual, is the masterpiece of the collection, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">256</a></span> windows, in +particular, being of the purest ogival style.</p> + +<p>In the first chapel, on the right, is a painting, "The Martyrdom of St. +Sebastian," and behind the choir is an ancient work commemorative of +"<i>Le Peste de St. Dié</i>."</p> + +<div class="image border top" style="width: 500px;"> +<a href="images/illus276a.png"> +<img src="images/illus276a_th.png" width="500" height="302" alt="St. Lazare d'AUTUN" /> +</a> +</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">257</a></span></p> + + +<h4>IX<br /><br /> +ST. LAZARE D'AUTUN</h4> + +<p>T<span class="smcap">his</span> ancient episcopal city has ever been devoted to the cause of +Christianity. "Nowhere," says a French historian, "has the Church +enjoyed more repute than here." The Dukes of Burgundy, its bishops and +people alike, joined in a fervour of labour and zeal to assure its +permanence and progress. In addition, the Gallo-Roman remains point to a +former city of proud attainments. The fine Roman walls, beautifully +jointed, <i>sans</i> cement, are distinctly traceable for a circuit of +perhaps three miles around the city. Other interesting remains are two +fine gateways, commonly referred to as triumphal arches, which they +probably were not, the Porte d'Arroux and the Porte St. Andre; the ruins +of an amphitheatre; and a tower assigned to a former temple of Minerva. +All these, and more, are found inside the old walls; while, without, are +remains of an aqueduct, of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">258</a></span> tower dedicated to Janus, and a Roman +bridge crossing the river Torenai. It may be interesting for an +Englishman to recall that the Bishop of Autun, who often presided over +the National Assembly, pleaded in vain with George III. for the +adoption, in England, of the French metric system.</p> + +<p>During the destruction of a former building, St. Nazaire, which at one +time performed the functions of a cathedral, the bishops held their +offices in the chapel of the chateau of the Dukes of Burgundy; but, upon +the removal of the residence of the house of Burgundy to Dijon, +transferred their services to the present edifice, which had by that +time been completed.</p> + +<p>The Cathedral of St. Lazare is a charmingly graceful, though not great, +structure, mainly of the style "<i>ogivale premier</i>," its early Lombard +work of the nave and west front being of the foundation of Robert I., +Duke of Burgundy. This vast western portal is encased in a great +projective porch, a feature indigenous apparently to Burgundy, and +commonly referred to as the "Burgundian narthex." Following come the +chapels and spires, of exceeding grace and beauty, of the third +<i>ogivale</i> style.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">259</a></span></p> + +<p>The interior enrichments, like the western doorway, with its Romanesque +sculptures, take rank with the best in Burgundy. The delicately carved +rood-loft, or jube, the small sculptures of the choir and nave, and the +flamboyant chapels of the fifteenth to seventeenth century, challenge +minute attention from those who would study decorative detail <i>in +extenso</i>. The capitals of certain columns in the nave have fluted +pilasters in imitation of the antique, but are most curiously ornamented +with grotesque and fantastic human figures on a background of foliage.</p> + +<p>The choir, of early pointed style, in its actual disposition and +arrangement, may be included in that classification which comprehends +some of its more important northern compeers, though, as a matter of +fact, it lacks their magnitude. Indeed, the building is one of the +smallest cathedrals in all France. The exterior offers an imposing and +picturesque ensemble, with its crocketed spire rising some two hundred +and fifty or more feet above the roof-tops of the ancient city.</p> + +<p>Nearer inspection shows a certain incoherence of construction, +particularly in reference to the evidences of garish crudities in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">260</a></span> +work done under Robert I. in 1031-76, in contrast to the later pointed +work.</p> + +<p>The doorway of the lateral southern wing is ornamented with a series of +grossly exaggerated columns, in imitation of the antique, with the +addition of an apse, which contrastingly shows work of a late flamboyant +order.</p> + +<p>The spire itself is the masterwork of the entire structure, and, unlike +those which surmount many another church, appears not to have suffered +the dangers of fire. As a fifteenth-century work, it merits special +mention. Rising abruptly from a heavy square base, the pyramid is very +acute, and is ornamented at the angles with foliaged crockets, basely +called stone cauliflowers by unimaginative persons. One might say, with +the gentle Abbé Bourassé, that the "ornamentation breaks into sky and +cloud with an exceedingly agreeable effect, far beyond that of a +straight line." The inconsistency lies only in the juxtaposition of the +two western transition towers, which have hardly enough of the Gothic in +them to merit the name.</p> + +<p>The lower windows of the nave are of good flamboyant style, with a sort +of Romanesque triforium, and a simple round-headed window in each bay of +the clerestory, which is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">261</a></span> the more poor in treatment and effect in that +it holds no notable glass. There are none of those distinctly northern +accessories, the great rose windows, and the whole reeks of distinctly a +milder atmosphere. There is a luxuriance of decoration in the many +chapels of different epochs.</p> + +<p>The exterior, in general, is of excessive simplicity; but, if it is not +to be placed among those cathedrals and churches accredited the most +notable and most beautiful, it will, at least, take rank as one of the +most ancient to be seen to-day, and has the further benefit of a +glorious environment and association with the past.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">262</a></span></p> +<div class="image top" style="width: 548px;"> +<img src="images/illus283.png" width="548" height="395" alt="CATHEDRAL of S. BÉNIGNE DIJON" /> +</div> + + + +<h4>X<br /><br /> +ST. BÉNIGNE DE DIJON</h4> + +<p>T<span class="smcap">he</span> power and wealth of the Dukes of Burgundy, whose influence extended +northward to the Netherlands, where they often held court at Ghent and +Bruges, were, in a way, responsible for the opulence and splendour of +the life of the day. So, too, Burgundian architecture became a term +synonymous for the amplitude and grandeur with which many of its +institutions were endowed.</p> + +<p>The reign of Philippe le Bon, with that of Charles the Bold, the most +ambitious prince who ever graced his line, was the Augustan<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">263</a></span> age of +Burgundian art. It was the dream of the latter to reincarnate the old +Burgundian kingdom by annexing Lorraine and subduing the advancing Swiss +Confederacy, an ambition which failed, like many others as, or more, +worthy. The conquered duke was killed at Nancy, and was finally buried +in Notre Dame at Bruges.</p> + +<p>The Cathedral of St. Bénigne is an outgrowth from the old abbey church, +from which the Italian monk, Guillaume, set forth to found that +remarkable series of monasteries in Normandy and Brittany. It is said, +too, that he crossed the Channel, and had a large share in the works +which were erected at that period in the south of England. The bishop's +throne has been established in this church only since the Revolution, +caused by the destruction of his former cathedral. The early foundations +of the old abbey date far back into antiquity, but the present cathedral +dates only from the thirteenth century. Commonly considered as of Gothic +style, it is in every way more suggestive of the late Romano-Byzantine +type, or at least of the early transition. There is, to be sure, no +poverty of style; but there is an air of stability and firmness of +purpose on the part of its builders,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">264</a></span> rather than any attempt to either +launch off into something new or untried, or even to consistently remain +in an old groove.</p> + +<p>As a fact, it is not a very grand building. Its choir is small, and its +transepts short. In its plan, at least, it resembles the Byzantine form +much more than the elongated Gothic, where every proportion seems to +reach out to its utmost extent.</p> + +<p>The west façade is truly fine in the disposition of its parts and +arrangements. It suggests, more than anything, a traditional local +style, favouring nothing else to any remarkable degree except the German +solidity so often to be noted in eastern France. The towers are firmly +set with unfrequent pointed openings. The central portal and vestibule +are deep, and rich with a sculptured "Martyrdom of St. Peter" and a +delightfully graceful arcade just above the portal arch, and another +crossing the gable and joining the towers in a singularly effective +manner. A somewhat heavy but rich pointed window of three lights, +surmounted by a quatrefoil rose, with a slight needle-like spire which +rises just above the gable, completes the ensemble.</p> + +<p>The earlier work, seen at its best in the interior, is that of the choir +and transepts,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">265</a></span> where again the distinguishing features are local. In +the transepts the arches open directly on the side chapels, the southern +arm being gorgeous with brilliant glass. The windows of choir and +transepts throughout are richly traceried and set. The choir itself is +destitute of either ambulatory or chapels.</p> + +<p>A lantern is placed at the crossing, supported by gracefully foliaged +shafts.</p> + +<p>The nave is of a much later period, and is not of the richness of the +portion lying to the eastward. The windows of the clerestory, in +particular, will not be considered of the excellence of those of either +transept or choir.</p> + +<p>The south tower encloses the tombs of Jean sans Peur and Philippe le +Hardi. The crypt contains the tomb of St. Bénignus.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">266</a></span></p> +<div class="image top" style="width: 550px;"> +<img src="images/illus287.png" width="550" height="391" alt="CATHEDRAL of NOTRE DAME SENLIS" /> +</div> + + + +<h4>XI<br /><br /> +NOTRE DAME DE SENLIS</h4> + + +<p>"T<span class="smcap">ruly rural</span>" is a term which may well be applied to the situation of +Senlis, the ancient Civitas Sylvanectensium of the Romans. Quaint and +attractive to the eye is the entrance to the town from the railway, with +its low-lying roofs, over which tower the spires of the ancient +Cathedral of Notre Dame and the Church of St. Pierre. It forms a +heterogeneous mass of stone, to be sure, and one which looks little +enough, at first glance, like the delicate and graceful cathedral which +makes up the mass in part. It is, in reality, a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">267</a></span>confused jumble of +towers and turrets which meets the eye, and it takes some little +acquaintance with the details thereof to separate the cathedral from the +adjacent church.</p> + +<p>The proximity of the sees of Beauvais, Amiens, and Paris perhaps +accounts for the lack of importance attached to this cathedral. As for +the structure itself, among the minor cathedrals of France, Senlis, with +Séez and Coutances, must ever rank as the peers of that order, with +respect to the grace and beauty of their spires. It may be doubted if +even the spires of Chartres are to be considered as more beautiful than +the diminutive single example to be seen here, particularly when grouped +with its surrounding environment. Individually, as well, its grace and +beauty might even take that rank. The demarcation between the base of +the tower and the gently dwindling spire is almost entirely eliminated, +without the slightest tendency toward debasement in the steeple, which +too often is merely a series of superimposed, meaningless, and +unbeautiful details. Latter-day builders, who want a model for the spire +of a moderate-sized Gothic church, could, it would seem, hardly do +better than to make a replica of this graceful example.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">268</a></span></p> + +<p>In its façade, the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Senlis partakes largely of +the characteristics of the primitive lowland types, reminiscent, at +least, of Noyon or Soissons, and, as such, it may properly be considered +and compared with them.</p> + +<p>The transepts of the north and south are not grand members, but they are +compact and graceful, and the façade of the southern arm is of a highly +ornate character, bespeaking a wealth of ambition, if not of ability, on +the part of the architect.</p> + +<p>The interior, in spite of the lack of sculptured ornament, shows no +paucity of style, and, except that it is of the bijou variety, might +take rank at once as representative of Gothic style at its best. Under +these conditions, the nave is naturally confined, and lacks a certain +grandeur both as to width and height.</p> + +<p>The choir is of true, though not lofty, proportions, the aisles +appearing perhaps too low, if anything, for the height of the nave, +which otherwise appears exceedingly generous with respect to the extent +of its triforium and clerestory.</p> + +<p>The transepts, though shallow, are possessed of unusually amplified +aisles, there <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">269</a></span>being, as a matter of fact, two in that portion which +adjoins the nave on the west, a sufficiently unusual arrangement to +warrant comment. The rose windows of the transepts have graceful design +and good framing, though the glass is not of the splendour which we +associate with the most pleasing examples seen elsewhere.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">270</a></span></p> + + +<h4 class="top15">XII<br /><br /> +ST. ETIENNE DE MEAUX</h4> + +<p>T<span class="smcap">o</span> the eastward of Paris, one first finds the true country atmosphere at +Meaux, famous for its bishops, its grist-mills, and its generally +charming environment.</p> + +<p>The picturesque little city is situated on the Marne, some thirty miles +from Paris, amid a verdure which, if not luxuriant, is, at least, a +"fringe of green" that is appealing alike to local pride, and to the +artist or stranger within the gates. It is an ancient bishopric (now +suffragan of Paris), founded in 375 <span class="smcap">A. D.</span></p> + +<p>The Cathedral of Saint Etienne de Meaux is called by the French the +"Child of Amiens," and it would have all the dignity of its mother had +but the nave received the same development as the choir. Its general +dimensions are restrained, and it shows in no way any remarkable +architectural ensemble; but, for all that, its power to please is none +the less</p> + +<div class="image border" style="width: 500px;"> +<a href="images/illus292a.png"> +<img src="images/illus292a_th.png" width="500" height="299" alt="St. etienne de MEAUX" /> +</a> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">271</a></span></p> +<p class="noind">great. Lacking a certain symmetry, in itself no great fault, the +exterior gives the impression of being to-day much less grand and +imposing than was really planned. Battled by wind and weather, its outer +walls have that scarred and aged look which is a beauty in itself. There +are two towers, one of which is unfinished and capped with an ugly and +angular slate roof, so low that it hardly exists at all, so far as +forming a distinct feature of the façade is concerned. Its companion, +however, rises boldly and in graceful lines to a generous height above +the gable.</p> + +<p>The interior plan is regular and simple, with a nave of five bays, the +first two from the west being divided into the infrequent quadruple +range of openings, while the remainder consist of the usual triforium +and clerestory only. The double aisles of the nave are of unusual +height, in order to admit of this double range of openings.</p> + +<p>The transepts, if transepts they can be considered, are very shallow, +being merely the depth of the double aisles of the nave and choir, and +are bare and unadorned so far as any notable sculpture or glass is +concerned, though the arched windows which hold the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">272</a></span> plain glass are of +grand proportions and excellent design as to their framing.</p> + +<p>The triforium, throughout, is an arcaded cloister-like effect of slight +arches, supported by slender columns, with a series of glazed windows +behind. It would be a notable and wholly charming arrangement were the +glass of these windows rich in colour, or even old in design.</p> + +<p>There is an air of singular lightness, if not actually of grace, +throughout the entire nave and choir, superinduced, perhaps, by the +recent whitening and pointing of the masonry; but the not infrequent +bulging piers, particularly those nearest to the transept crossing, give +a suggestion of ungainliness if not of actual insecurity.</p> + +<p>The columns of the choir, supporting a series of firm and gracefully +poised arches, are of unusual height, something over forty feet, it +would appear,—producing a harmony of form and elegance which again +reminds one of Amiens.</p> + +<p>There are here copies of the nine Raphael tapestry cartoons, the +originals of which are preserved at South Kensington, also of frescoes +by Guido Reni and Domenichino.</p> + +<p>The chief artistic, if not architectural,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">273</a></span> charm to be seen within the +purlieus of the cathedral is that of the ancient chapter-house, across a +narrow way, to the right of the church itself. This gem of mediæval +building is perhaps not remarkable as to any of the principles which it +sets forth in its manner of construction, but it takes one back some +hundreds of years, a sheer plunge far beyond the age of the most +prominent features of the main church, and gives a thrill somewhat akin +to the emotion which one feels when he comes across a single leaf torn +from an old illuminated manuscript. This charming ruin, for it is hardly +more than that, being a mere lumber-room, shows in the weathered look of +its covered stairway nearly all of the qualities which the painter loves +to depict,—colour, texture, and, above all, that indescribable charm +which artistic folk, and others who can see as they do, call life.</p> + +<p>Clearly, the Cathedral of St. Etienne de Meaux, as an interesting +shrine, may be classed well at the head of the secondary cathedrals of +the third Gothic period.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">274</a></span></p> + +<div class="image top" style="width: 538px;"> +<img src="images/illus297.png" width="538" height="404" alt="CATHEDRAL OF SAINT PIERRE TROYES" /> +</div> + + + +<h4>XIII<br /><br /> +ST. PIERRE DE TROYES</h4> + +<p>T<span class="smcap">o</span> the thorough student of English history, Troyes is perhaps first +recalled as being the birthplace of the treaty "<i>decreeing for ever a +common sovereign for England and France</i>," a treaty which, it is minded, +"stood no while." Again, some dubious antiquary has put it forward as +the home of that variety of weights "which are not avoirdupois."</p> + +<p>The Counts of Champagne had, in the once well-walled city, both a castle +and a palace. Olden-time houses, good Gothic woodwork<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">275</a></span> and Renaissance +stonework, are here in abundance; also, according to the authority of +Fergusson, a well-nigh perfect Gothic church in St. Urbain; likewise a +great cathedral,—rather ugly as to its general outline. All these are +possessed by Troyes, and to-day the reminders and remains of each and +all are exceedingly vivid and substantial.</p> + +<p>Certain cathedrals of France show plainly the different phases and +developments of the art of building through which they have passed; +others indicate little, if any, deviation from a certain accepted style. +St. Pierre de Troyes is of the first category. Here is Gothic in all its +variations. Its environment, too, is characteristic of the many varying +moods through which its constituency has passed. A truly mediæval city +in the picturesqueness of its older portions, Troyes is famed alike in +affairs of Church and State. The dimensions of the Cathedral at Troyes, +which approach those of the grand group, and the general majesty of its +interior only further this opinion.</p> + +<p>The main body covers the none too frequent arrangement of five aisles, +which, following through the transept, continue, with the double pair on +each side, to likewise<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">276</a></span> girdle the choir. The splendour of immensity is +further enhanced by its large windows, including two rose openings set +with old glass, and the general richness of its sculptured decorations. +The abside of the choir is ranked among the best Gothic works of the +time.</p> + +<p>The choir, begun in 1206, is composed of thirteen arcades, symbolical of +Christ and the twelve apostles, from the chief of whom the cathedral +takes its name. The windows of the triforium are large and divided into +four compartments. The general disposition of the choir, with its +radiating chapels, is superb; and it is exactly this satisfying, though +perhaps undefinable, quality that is ofttimes lacking in an originally +well-planned work which fails to inspire one. The choir contains an iron +<i>grille</i> of the thirteenth century, of very beautiful workmanship, and +is surrounded by five hexagonally sided chapels.</p> + +<p>The principal portion of the nave, erected in the fourteenth, fifteenth, +and sixteenth centuries, interrupted now and again by war and civil +distractions, bears indelible impress of its continued centuries of +growth.</p> + +<p>The principal façade of the fifteenth century—accredited to one Martin +Chambige and erected just after the nave took form—is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">277</a></span> of the richness +of Gothic only just previous to its decline. There are three portals, +which are bare of sculptured figures, as indeed is the whole west front. +In arrangement, it resembles the frontispieces of certain of the grand +cathedrals, and, though lacking their sculptured ornateness, is +thoroughly satisfying as a decorative frontage. Had it been executed +fifty years later, it would be hard to imagine to what depths its lines +might not have fallen. As it is, the upper ranges of the tower suggest +the thought. The windows of the aisle and of the clerestory of the nave, +when viewed from the exterior, are grandly traceried and gracefully +coupled by a series of light, firm buttresses, which rise, only from the +gables of the lower set, over the low-lying roof to the spring of the +arch of the upper range. St. Pierre de Troyes suggests, in a mild way, +the "sheer glass walls" so frequently referred to by adulous French +critics when chanting the praises of the highly developed lightness of +their indigenous style. This is further accentuated when one notes the +glazed triforium, a decorative feature reminiscent of that at Séez, +Nevers, Tours, and St. Ouen at Rouen.</p> + +<p>Troyes is one of those prominent cathedral<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">278</a></span> cities of Catholic France +whereof the churchman deplores the fact that its men are not of the +church-going class, and that its congregations are mostly of the fair +sex. Be this as it may, except in Brittany, where the whole population +appears unusually devout, the stricture is probably true in a great +measure of all of the north of France; and, be it here said, recent +political edicts will doubtless not tend to increase the propaganda of +piety.</p> + +<p>The north gable, with its portal and rose window, is of the fifteenth +century, and, with the "lustrous rose" of the south transept, forms a +pair of brilliant jewels which are hardly excelled elsewhere, not even +by the encircled splendour of the forty-foot openings at Reims and +Amiens, the equally extensive one of the north transept at Rouen, or, +most splendid of all, the galaxy at Chartres. These marvels of French +ingenuity and invention are nowhere more splendidly proportioned or +embellished than at Troyes, and are equally attractive viewed from +either within or without.</p> + +<p>The chief "<i>tresor</i>" consists of a series of wonderful mediæval +enamels.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">279</a></span></p> +<div class="image top" style="width: 548px;"> +<img src="images/illus302.png" width="548" height="421" alt="CATHEDRAL OF SAINT ETIENNE SENS" /> +</div> + + + +<h4>XIV<br /><br /> +ST. ETIENNE DE SENS</h4> + +<p>S<span class="smcap">ays</span> the Abbé Bourassé, "One of the most beautiful titles to glory in a +church is the antiquity of its foundation," hence, most French +antiquaries who have written upon the subject of the celebrated +Cathedral of St. Etienne of Sens have enlarged upon its "glorious +antiquity." To prove or verify the fact as to whether St. Savinien or +St. Potentien was the first to preach Christian religion here would be a +laborious undertaking. Evidences and knowledge of Roman works are not +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">280</a></span>wanting, and early Christian edifices of the Romanesque order must +naturally have followed. One learns that an early church on this site +was entirely destroyed by fire in 970, and that a new edifice had +progressed so far that it was dedicated in 997. This, in turn, was +mostly rebuilt, and, two hundred years later (1168), took the form of +the present cathedral. It was completed, in a rather plain and heavy +ogival style, under the capable direction of the William who came to +Canterbury, in response to a call, to rebuild the choir of that English +church in 1174. It is this link, and possibly a sight of the vestments +of À Becket, now preserved among the "<i>tresor</i>" of Sens, that binds its +memory with English contemporary life. Whatever may be the contentions +waged as to the claims of English Gothic, it is universally and +unimpeachably admitted that Guillaume de Sens rebuilt that famous choir +of Canterbury, and built it well, and of a newer order of design than +any previous work in England. So let it stand.</p> + +<p>Taken by itself, the Cathedral at Sens is a high example of Christian +art. When, however, it is compared with the grand group, it is relegated +immediately to the second rank. The interior, far more than the +exterior, shows<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">281</a></span> a visible disparity of unified style. Romano-Byzantine, +transition, and ogival are all found in the nave and choir, with the +flamboyant, of the fifteenth century, in the ornamental tracery of the +windows of the transepts.</p> + +<p>Some visible remains of the earlier structure are shown, built into the +eleventh century walls. Of the same period are other evidences of a +former erection, to be noted in the aisles. The transept and the greater +part of the nave are of the century following, and of the early +thirteenth, and finally the three arcades, by which the nave is entered, +are something very akin to the full-blown Renaissance of the fifteenth +century.</p> + +<p>The general plan is symmetrical, and severe, only the twenty chapels +being ungracefully disposed. Ten of these are in the choir and ten in +the nave. For the antiquary, versed in religious archæology, the +Cathedral of Sens would appear, from the very inconsistencies and +exuberance of its style, to be of great interest. The fragments that +remain of its former magnificent glass, the sculptured monuments, and +the tombs and curiosities of the "<i>tresor</i>," which escaped Revolutionary +spoliation, all combine in a glorious attraction for one who has the +time and inclination to delve into the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">282</a></span> reminiscence of history and +association of a past age.</p> + +<p>The glass of the choir, and of the chapel of St. Savinien, is of the +thirteenth century. The colour is exceedingly brilliant, lively, and +harmonious, with the iridescence of a mosaic of precious stones.</p> + +<p>The sixteenth-century glass, none the less than the framing itself, of +the grand rose windows of the north and south transepts, is equally +remarkable as to design and colour. The former represents the +"Glorification of Jesus Christ," and the latter "Events in the Life of +St. Etienne."</p> + +<p>The "<i>tresor</i>" of the cathedral is very numerous and is considered the +richest in all France. The most notable are a reliquary of gold, set +with sapphires and pearls, containing a fragment of the True Cross, +given by Charlemagne in the year 800; four magnificent tapestries of the +time of Charles V., representing the "Adoration of the Magi;" and the +pontifical robes of St. Thomas (à Becket), chasuble, aube, stole, +manipule, cordon, two mitres, and two collars. This courageous +archbishop, persecuted by Henry II., took refuge in Sens in 1162. An +elaborate tomb (of the eighteenth century), by Constant, is the +mausoleum of the Dauphin, father of Louis XVI.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">283</a></span></p> + + +<h3 class="top15"><a name="PART_VI" id="PART_VI"></a><i>PART VI</i><br /> +<i>Western Normandy and Brittany</i></h3> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">284</a></span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">285</a></span></p> + + +<h4>I<br /><br /> +INTRODUCTORY</h4> + +<p>M<span class="smcap">ost</span> people who have read Ruskin, and most people have done so—in the +past, will undoubtedly concur with his dictum that Rouen's "associated +Norman cities," Bayeux, Caen, Coutances, St. Lo, Lisieux, and Dieppe, +run the entire gamut of mediæval architectural notes; or, as Ruskin +himself has put it, "from the Romanesque to the flamboyant." He might +well have added, the Renaissance and the pseudo-classicism of a later +day.</p> + +<p>Beauties there are in this region, galore; and the examples which no +longer exist, but of which the records tell, point to a still larger +aggregate.</p> + +<p>Who thinks to-day of Coutances as of being a "cathedral town?" And yet, +there is within it, as to the general effect of situation and the +magnitude of its towering pinnacles, an edifice which perhaps outranks +all but the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">286</a></span> very greatest. Most likely no thought is given it at all, +except that Coutances is somewhere on the railway line between Cherbourg +and Paris, or that it is near unto Bayeux; also possessed of a +magnificent cathedral, but whose greatest fame lies in a certain false +sentiment associated with its famous tapestry. Not that this great work +is to be decried,—far from it, but the spirit with which it is so often +viewed should be a matter of scorn for every broad-minded traveller.</p> + +<p>Lisieux, too, has a wealth of attraction for those who fondly admire +reeking picturesqueness and old timbered houses, though its cathedral +will not please.</p> + +<p>Pugin could not resist depicting many of these delightful old houses of +Lisieux in his book on Normandy, though, unlike Ruskin, he had no eye +for its cathedral; most of us will not have.</p> + +<p>So much, then, as a plea for a more sincere and thorough appreciation of +the charms of western Normandy. It is cheap; accessible, and has a +practically inexhaustible store of treasure for the traveller or student +of limited time or money, but who will not make of it the usual mere +"bank-holiday" scamper. The same applies also to Brittany, which is +treated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">287</a></span> elsewhere, with this proviso, that the tourist afoot or awheel +is far better equipped than he who has to depend upon steam and the +rail, two at least of Brittany's cathedrals being "off the line."</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">288</a></span></p> + + +<h4 class="top15">II<br /><br /> +NOTRE DAME D'EVREUX</h4> + +<p>T<span class="smcap">he</span> Cathedral at Evreux is another of those edifices which gives one its +best impression when first seen upon entering the city. Charmingly, +possibly romantically, situated, it lies in a shallow valley with all +the picturesqueness of its varied style limned against the sky in truly +impressionistic fashion. This impression, when viewed from the slight +eminence by which the railway enters the town, is a vista of rambling +roofs and a long, sloping street running gently down to the very foot of +the structure, which, set about and interspersed with verdure, as it is +in the spring and summer months, warrants one in counting his +introduction to this charmingly attractive, though non-consistent, type +of church, as one of the events which will live in memory for years.</p> + +<p>If towering spires and pinnacles were a <i>sine qua non</i> for a great and +imposing architectural<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">289</a></span></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">290</a></span></p> +<div class="image" style="width: 334px;"> +<a href="images/illus312.png"> +<img src="images/illus312_th.png" width="334" height="550" alt="Notre Dame d'Evreux" /> +</a> +</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">291</a></span></p> +<p class="noind">style, this church would at once rank as one of the most delightful +examples extant; for these very features, albeit they are mostly of what +we have come to accept as a debased form of art, are nevertheless +possessed of a grandeur and magnificence which in many worthy examples +are entirely lacking. The pair of western towers, of Romanesque +foundation, were developed, not in what one knows as Gothic, but of the +manifest and offensive pseudo-classic order. They are capped, however, +with something more akin to Moorish or an Eastern termination than +Italian. The spire which surmounts the central crossing is, without +question, a reminiscence of much that has been accepted as good Gothic +form in the great central-towered English churches. Up to a certain +point this can hardly be denied; but this rather weak, effeminate spire, +which forms such an unusual attribute of a French cathedral, more than +qualifies its right to a place in the first rank of spires. As for the +rest of the exterior, it is a <i>mélange</i> of nearly every known +architectural style. Undeniably fine in parts, like "the curate's egg," +if a time-worn simile may be permitted, it forms an ensemble which would +preclude its ever being accorded <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">292</a></span>unqualified praise from even the most +liberal-minded and optimistic enthusiast.</p> + +<p>By far the most coherent view to be had near by is that from the gardens +of the Archbishop's Palace immediately to the rearward of the choir. +Here the clipped trees, the warm coloured wall, along which the vines +are trained, and what was once a canal, or moat, in the foreground, +combine to present a singularly artistic and pleasing composition.</p> + +<p>The north transept, of Bishop le Veneur, is of the superlative degree of +its era (early sixteenth century), bordering upon the profusion of +splayed ornament which so soon after turned to dross, but standing, as +it does, of itself, clearly defined. The gulf was finally crossed when, +less than a half-century later, the incongruous west front with its +ill-mannered towers was built,—in itself a subject worth a deal of +study from the artist who would picture graven stone, but contrasting +unfavourably enough with the heights to which French ecclesiastical +architecture had just previously soared. Here is offered the one unified +Renaissance façade of a French cathedral, welded, as it were, in +unworthy fashion, to a fabric with which it has nothing in common. The +stone-mason here superseded<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">293</a></span> the craftsman; and, with the termination of +the reign of François I., and following with that of Henry II., came the +flowering rankness of a degenerate weed, leaving, as evidence of its +contaminating influence in this one example alone, traces of nearly +every classical order, from the simple Doric column to a hybrid which +shall be unnamed.</p> + +<p>The interior presents a general array of incongruities quite as +remarkable as those of the exterior. The nave is very narrow; but the +choir widens out perhaps a dozen feet on either side, adding +immeasurably to an effect which is far more impressive than might +otherwise be supposed.</p> + +<p>The nave itself shows many varieties of building, ranging from the +Gothic of the early twelfth to the late fifteenth centuries; the lower +part and the easterly bays are Romanesque, or what perhaps has been +popularly accepted as Norman, and date from 1125; the remainder and the +triforium are of a century later.</p> + +<p>The choir is of the decorated species of the early fourteenth century, +with its arcaded triforium glazed, whereas in the nave it is without +glass. The lady-chapel, of the time of Louis XI., shows that inevitable +mark of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">294</a></span>degeneracy, the "<i>fleur-de-lys</i>," in the elaborated tracery of +the window framing. The glass here is, however, excellent, in effect at +any rate, with its gorgeous figures of knights, angels, and peers of +France, drawn with a masterly skill which is often lacking in even more +precious glass.</p> + +<p>The chapel screens, some twenty in all, are wondrously turned and carved +of wood. This leads one to venture the thought that the similar +decorative embellishments of the Renaissance chateaux of the Loire +country were slowly creeping northward, and leaving their impress upon +the work of the ecclesiastical builder and decorator. Certainly, the +numerous fine examples of the art of the wood-carver, to be seen in this +cathedral, bespeak much for the decorative quality of wood, when used +considerately in conjunction with stone.</p> + +<p>There are two rose windows, of the petal species, unquestionably fine as +to framing, but leaving little space for the effect of the glass, which +they hold only in small proportion.</p> + +<p>The "treasury," alone, is enclosed with iron bars, and a <i>grille</i> of +graceful late flowing ironwork forms the screen of the choir. Altogether +the Cathedral at Evreux will be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">295</a></span>remembered quite as much for its +wonderful array of wooden and iron <i>grilles</i> as for any other of the +specific details among its mass of general attributes.</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 275px;"> +<img src="images/illus318.png" width="275" height="432" alt="Window Framing—Evreux" /> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">296</a></span></p> +<div class="image top" style="width: 523px;"> +<img src="images/illus319.png" width="523" height="392" alt="Notre Dame d'Alençon" /> +</div> + + + +<h4>III<br /><br /> +NOTRE DAME D'ALENÇON</h4> + +<p>T<span class="smcap">his</span> former capital of the duchy of the same name is a sleepy, +countrified French town, with little but its reputedly valuable and +beautiful lace to commend it to the average observer.</p> + +<p>As a cathedral town, of even secondary rank, it will fall far short of +any preconceived ideas which one may be possessed of concerning it, +though its Cathedral of Notre Dame is in many ways one of those +irresistible shrines, which at least promise, and often fulfil, a great +deal more than their lack of magnitude indicates.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">297</a></span></p> + +<p>Its façade, lacking the conventional towers, advances well into the +roadway, as a sort of forward porch; as at Louviers near by. This porch +is very ornate, with decorations of the late Gothic period of flowing +tracery.</p> + +<p>After all, it is an incongruous sort of a building, in that only this +porch and its squat central tower, which is nought but a mere cupola, +are in the least decorative.</p> + +<p>The nave, the choir and chevet, and chapels, are all of a bareness which +only exaggerates the floridness of these other appendages. The nave +itself is but one hundred and ten feet long, and perhaps a scant thirty +wide, and dates from the fourteenth century. It contains good glass of +the same period, which luckily escaped the spoliation of the Revolution.</p> + +<p>The choir is more modern, and much plainer in treatment, and is but +fifty-five feet in length and of the same width as the nave.</p> + +<p>There are no transepts; in short, the chief and most interesting +features of the church are the before mentioned details, which, +unquestionably bordering upon the debasement of Gothic art, are in every +way attractive, with lightness and colour, if such an expression may be +applied to gray stone.</p> + +<p>Certainly the play of sunlight on gracefully<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">298</a></span> carven stone is indicative +of a brilliancy which might be termed an effect of colour; and it is +with respect to that quality that the west façade of Notre Dame +d'Alençon appeals; more than as an otherwise grand or even highly +interesting structure.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">299</a></span></p> + +<div class="image top" style="width: 283px;"> +<a href="images/illus322.png"> +<img src="images/illus322_th.png" width="283" height="500" alt="St. Pierre de Lisieux" /> +</a> +</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">300</a></span></p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">301</a></span></p> + +<h4>IV<br /><br /> +ST. PIERRE DE LISIEUX</h4> + +<p>L<span class="smcap">isieux</span>, the city of the Lexavii, taken by Cæsar and besieged by +Geoffrey Plantagenet; its old houses; its crooked streets and +picturesque decay; with its former Cathedral of St. Pierre (M. H.), +memorable as the marriage place of Henry III. and Eleanor of Guienne; +all go to make up the formula of one of the stock sights of Normandy.</p> + +<p>It is scarcely an attractive town, in spite of its picturesque +sordidness, made the more so by the smoke arising from many belching +factory chimneys. In fact, one has difficulty in thinking of it as a +cathedral town at all; and, as such, it hardly claims more than a brief +résumé of its important features. A much more interesting, impressive, +and commanding church is that of St. Jacques, which at least has the +stamp of a personality, which in the cathedral itself is entirely +wanting, so far as one's latent sympathies are concerned. In spite of +the purity of that which is Gothic in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">302</a></span> its fabric, it has little of that +quality which arouses admiration, and which, regardless of the edict of +a certain seer and prophet, is mostly that for which we revere a great +monument,—its power to sway us impressively.</p> + +<p>Mr. Ruskin has taken great pains to commend the southern portal as being +"one of the most quaint and pleasing doors in all Normandy,"—a +non-committal enough statement, most will admit, and one with which we +are not obliged to agree. A broader-minded observer would have said that +the main body of the church presents a unity of design, very unusual in +a mediæval work,—excelled by no other example in France. The greater +part of the nave, choir, and transepts is the work of one epoch only; +and, as some writers have it, of one man, Bishop Odericus Vitalis, who +died shortly after its completion, in the latter part of the eleventh +century. As a style, it may be said to be either the last of the +transition or of the very earliest Gothic. Certainly this is something +in its favour; but the general charm of its immediate surroundings is +lacking, and the effect of its interior, with the diminutive windows of +the nave and clerestory, does not tend to satisfy, or even gratify, one +with the sense of pleasure<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">303</a></span> which perhaps its more creditable features +deserve. These are not wholly wanting; for, of course, one must not +forget that doorway of Ruskin's nor the quite idyllic proportions of the +nave with its uniform massive pillars.</p> + +<p>The lady-chapel was founded in the fifteenth century by the rascally +Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais, who, with his brother, prelate of +Winchester, so gleefully burned Joan of Arc. This much he did in +expiation of "<i>his false judgment</i>," though, except as a memorial of his +significant remorse, the chapel itself would hardly be remarkable. The +clerestory of nave and choir is considerably later. The transepts vary +as to their windows, and the triforium arches are here at a different +level from those in the nave.</p> + +<p>The general exterior view of the cathedral is hardly satisfactory from +any point. On three sides it is almost entirely hemmed in by surrounding +structures, and the frontage, on the great open Place Thiers, is the +first and the last opportunity of an unobstructed view. As the Abbé +Bourassé wrote of the Cathedral at Arras, it is best seen from a +distance, about that, we should say, from which the accompanying drawing +was made. The gardens of the Sous-Prefecture, formerly the Bishop's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">304</a></span> +Palace, should form in a way a cool green setting for the church; but, +as a matter of fact, they do nothing of the sort, since the enormous +mass of a none too good Renaissance façade extends along quite +two-thirds of the length of the cathedral on the north, and blankets it +thoroughly, scarcely more than the rather stubby tower of the west front +being visible above the roof of the other structure.</p> + +<p>Lisieux apparently never ranked as an important see, but depended for +the prominence which it attained previous to the Revolution, when the +see was abolished, on its association with Rouen, to which it was +attached. The neighbouring Cathedrals of Séez, Bayeux, and Coutances far +outrank St. Pierre de Lisieux in size, beauty, and importance.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">305</a></span></p> + +<div class="image border top" style="width: 500px;"> +<a href="images/illus328a.png"> +<img src="images/illus328a_th.png" width="500" height="298" alt="NOTRE DAME de SÉEZ...." /> +</a> +</div> + + + +<h4>V<br /><br /> +NOTRE DAME DE SÉEZ</h4> + +<p>T<span class="smcap">he</span> ancient Civitas Sagiorum of the Romans is now a bishopric, suffragan +of Rouen. This ancient Gallic stronghold, which fared hardly in the +Anglo-Norman wars, presents to-day the impression of being a town +somewhat smaller than the usual small town of France. It also has this +advantage,—it is comparatively unknown to tourists, and likewise to +some map-makers; all of which is decidedly in its favour. Seldom is Séez +included in the itinerary of the tourist, even though it is situated in +the heart of the "popular province."</p> + +<p>Except for the fact that its charming cathedral is not of the generous +proportions first impressed upon one, it is difficult to realize that +such a noble architectural memorial should so often be overlooked and +apparently neglected by those who might find a great deal of pleasure, +and incidental profit, from a contemplation thereof.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">306</a></span></p> + +<p>As a town of celebrated history, Séez is of far more relative rank than +its cathedral, which, in spite of its many beauties and charm of detail, +has suffered perhaps more than any other in France, and yet kept a +fairly pure early Gothic style; referring to the many additions and +repairs made necessary by crumbling walls and sinking foundations.</p> + +<p>The worst that has arisen from this unhappy state of affairs is, not +that there has been any serious admixture of style, but rather that one +gross interpolation has been foisted upon an otherwise symmetrical +whole,—the enormous advancing buttresses which flank the portal of the +western façade; an addition of the fourteenth century, neither graceful +nor decorative, and only made necessary by a tottering wall. A pity it +is that some other equally effective method was not adopted.</p> + +<p>The cathedral is, in a way, a satisfying representation of the cathedral +of our imagination. From a distance, at least, and in comparison with +the low-lying structures round about, it certainly appears as of great +proportions, uniform and complete in itself. Immediate contact with it +somewhat dispels these charms.</p> + +<p>All things considered, one finds here, in this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">307</a></span> idyllic, countrified +setting, a very attractive and fairly consistent Mediæval Gothic church +of the epoch contemporary with that of the best work of the northern +builders, showing unmistakable evidence of having been laid down on good +lines, and after a good design, in spite of the structural defects of +its foundations. From any direction it may be viewed across a quarter of +a mile of ploughed fields. The great national highroad, from the Channel +to Bordeaux, passes straight as a die through the town, and the +cross-country line of the <i>Chemin de-Fer de Ouest</i> ambles slowly +northward or southward; with little occurring to break the quietude of +local ease. The native is for the most part engaged in garnering from +his truck farm, or in carrying its product to the railway, to be +transported to market, and pays little attention to the stray traveller +who occasionally wanders in to study the architectural offering of the +town.</p> + +<p>A completed church was here in 1050, having been erected by a monk, Azon +by name. This was burned to the ground in an attempt to drive out a +robber band which had taken shelter therein. Leo IX. engaged Yves, Count +of Bellêne and the Bishop of Alençon, to rebuild it, and restore its +former splendour.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">308</a></span> This was in the twelfth century, but, later, owing to +the insecure foundations, it was pulled down and rebuilt again. Now +nothing remains of the former twelfth and thirteenth century work but +the lady-chapel of the choir.</p> + +<p>The interior of the nave is, at present, entirely filled with +scaffolding, which looks as though it might not be removed for years. As +a restorative policy this is commendable and was necessary, but it +detracts from one's intimate acquaintance with details. About the only +lasting impression of the nave that can now be obtained is that its +proportions are superb, and that its cylindrical pillars, with their +foliaged capitals, would be notable anywhere.</p> + +<p>In general effect the choir is charming, having gone through the +restorative process and apparently suffered little thereby. It presents +the unusual basilica form of setting the altar forward on a platform +raised a few steps.</p> + +<p>The transepts are of quite idyllic proportions, each possessing an ample +rose window which makes up in design and framing what it may lack in the +quality of glass with which it is set. These transepts, too, have +undergone the usual restoration, and have come safely through with +little sad effect. It is to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">309</a></span> hoped that these continued restorations +will be carried out with the same good taste, and in a like consistent +manner. If so, there will be presented for the delectation of +generations of the near future one of the most pleasing of the smaller +cathedrals in all France. The triforium of the choir, and of the nave so +far as it can be observed through the obstructing scaffolding, is +singularly light and graceful, and the window framing throughout, though +entirely lacking notable glass, is of manifest good design.</p> + +<p>In fine, then, the general effect of the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Séez +is one of lightness and grace, and it may be considered as an +extraordinarily fine architectural monument, in spite of the anomalies +of its west front.</p> + +<p>The twin spires rise gracefully for perhaps two hundred and fifty feet, +and are after the best manner of the great Gothic builders; of true +proportions, and of the dwindling pyramidal form so much approved.</p> + +<p>The façade, between the towers and the extraordinary buttresses, is +completely filled with an ample Gothic portal, which, though entirely +destitute of sculpture, or indeed carving of any sort, offers a +significant opportunity for some future efforts in this direction.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">310</a></span></p> +<div class="image top" style="width: 546px;"> +<img src="images/illus335.png" width="546" height="399" alt="CATHEDRAL of NOTRE DAME BAYEUX" /> +</div> + + + +<h4>VI<br /><br /> +NOTRE DAME DE BAYEUX</h4> + +<p>T<span class="smcap">he</span> magnificently impressive Cathedral of Notre Dame is perhaps less +intimately associated with Bayeux in the average mind than is the +wonderful story-telling tapestry which is domiciled in the same city. As +for this treasure of the past, it is a subject so vast, and of such +great significance, in both history and art, that it has many times been +made the subject of weighty consideration. A well-known English amateur, +the Honourable E. J. Lowell, has stated that popular tradition has +credited it as the handiwork of Matilda, Queen of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">311</a></span> William the +Conqueror, who worked it to commemorate his glorious achievements. If +this be really so, the queen was probably assisted largely by the ladies +of her court, as the extensive work, measuring some hundred and sixty +odd feet, could hardly have been accomplished single-handed. Professor +Freeman assigns it to a similar period, but worked, as he thinks, by +English workmen, for Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, the Conqueror's +half-brother.</p> + +<p>A previous acquaintance with the great cathedrals of the Isle of France +will tend somewhat to nullify the effect which is produced by Notre Dame +de Bayeux, although, in point of size and general arrangements, at +least, it fulfils its functions perhaps more acceptably than many a more +renowned edifice. Its situation, on the side of a steep slope, produces +a curious effect, first, with respect to the choir chevet, which is thus +shown as rather gaunt and bare in its lower elongated stages, though +undeniably a fine work in itself; secondly, in the general interior view +where, from the western entrance, one comes upon the nave pavement a +dozen or more steps below the portal, and again meets with the same +effect further on at the transept crossing. There<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">312</a></span> would appear to have +been no other way but this of placing above ground what might otherwise +have been the crypt; adding immeasurably to the fine appearance of the +interior, the nave and choir appearing to lengthen out interminably by +reason of the western elevation from which they are viewed.</p> + +<p>A portion of the western towers, and the crypt which is beneath the +choir, are thought to date from as early as the eleventh century, having +been built by Odo, the half-brother of William the Norman. The +splendidly proportioned Norman nave, with its decorated spandrels and +archivolts, a worthy decorative embellishment developed before the days +of coloured glass, possesses that bright and fresh appearance which is +usually associated with a recent work, whereas, as a matter of fact, it +can hardly be, in its five circular arches at least, later than the late +eleventh or early twelfth century. If it were true that modern +restorative processes commonly disfigured no more than this, it is a +pity that the dust and cobwebs, and a little of the grime of ages, were +not more often removed. Here is the very excess of dog-tooth, arabesque, +and grotesque carving, never found in connection with a building which +is constructively <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">313</a></span>decorative. Here also is an ornate frieze of no great +depth and possessing none of the beauties of the two other distinct +elements. As there is no triforium in the nave proper, this decoration +is, of course, intended merely as a relief to a bareness which, on +account of the generous height, would otherwise exist.</p> + +<p>In the choir, the triforium, which is omitted in the nave, springs into +being in beautiful and ornate form. The lower arches, with the supports, +the attributed work of an English architect, are of the usual Gothic +form, in contra-distinction to the rounded heads of those of the nave. +The clerestory, though delicate and graceful, is somewhat curtailed from +the dimensions of that of the west end of the church.</p> + +<p>The transepts are unusually bright and cheerful, with a series of +windows more beautifully designed than those of either the choir or +nave. The choir stalls are of oak, carved in the best manner of the +Renaissance.</p> + +<p>The charming tower group of this cathedral is as effective, perhaps, as +any among all the northern churches. The central belfry, albeit of a +base, though pretentious, rococo design, follows no accepted style, but +adds imposingly to the general outline. (Its height is over three +hundred feet.) In this tower, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">314</a></span> in the window tracery, the +<i>fleur-de-lys</i>, always a sign of the decadent in Gothic style, is to be +seen. The western towers, with their spires, follow the truest pyramidal +form, and, though carrying both pointed and round-arched openings, are +in every way representative of the best work of their period. The +northwesterly tower has an elongated turret, extending from the lower +ranges, which, when seen from a distance over the roof of the nave, +appears as a protuberance not unlike a dove-cote. This contains the +spiral staircase up which visitors are earnestly implored, by the +caretaker, to wend their way and participate in the view from the +heights above. This view, though undeniably wider in range than are most +elevated view-points, is hardly of interest to one who seeks the +beauties of the structure itself. There are three porches on the west +façade, all fairly well filled with foliaged ornament and bas-reliefs. +They are of the thirteenth century, and of a thoroughly florid order.</p> + +<p>Included in the "<i>tresor</i>" are two gifts from St. Louis, the chasuble of +St. Regnobert, and an ivory and enamel casket.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">315</a></span></p> +<div class="image top" style="width: 539px;"> +<img src="images/illus340.png" width="539" height="396" alt="CATHEDRAL of NOTRE DAME SAINT LO" /> +</div> + + + +<h4>VII<br /><br /> +NOTRE DAME DE ST. LO</h4> + +<p>T<span class="smcap">his</span> picturesquely situated city of the Cotentin, St. Lo, is so named +from the Bishop St. Laud, who lived in the neighbourhood in the sixth +century. Later, it became a Huguenot stronghold, and was ably, though +unsuccessfully, defended by Colombiers. It forms, with its former +Cathedral of Notre Dame crowning its height, another of those ensembles +which will always linger in the memory of the traveller who first comes +upon it clad in spring and summer verdure. The rippling Vire at its very +feet gives at once the note;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">316</a></span> it not only binds and enwraps it like the +setting of a precious stone, but adds that one feature which, lacking, +would be a chord misplaced. Perhaps no other cathedral in all France, +with regard to its bijou setting, certainly no other so accessible to +the English tourist, has more dainty charm than this not very grand, but +graceful, church at St. Lo. Its towers, though not uniform as to size, +are of apparently the same gradual proportions, and, if not the most +impressive, are at least the most beautiful in Normandy. They rise high +above the wooded crest which encircles their base in true picture-book +fashion. The attraction of the river, here, is unusual, in that it +presents no accustomed "slummy" picturesqueness, but winds slowly, amid +its green, to the very base of the cliff which upholds the chief portion +of the town and its cathedral.</p> + +<p>The façade presents a <i>mélange</i> of the work of at least three epochs, a +not unusual feature in some of the smaller cathedrals. It has a mean +little house built into its northwest corner, a crude and ugly +clock-face stuck unmeaningly on its façade, and a general air of +dilapidation, with respect to the statues originally contained in its +archivolts and niches, which, to say the least, is not creditable to +those who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">317</a></span> have been responsible for its care. It would seem that so +lively and important a centre of local activity might have devoted a +little more thought and care to the maintenance of this charming +building.</p> + +<p>Built up from a foundation of which but little, if any portion, visibly +remains, Notre Dame shows a debasement of design and decoration of its +façade which is not only not admirable, but is, in addition, sadly +disfigured. The one detail, for the most part good in style, is a not +unduly florid arcade, which plainly indicates its superiority over the +rest of the building.</p> + +<p>On the north side is an open-air pulpit of stone overhung with a canopy, +a highly interesting detail, though, of course, not a unique one. Unable +to command admiration as an absolute novelty, it is assuredly a charming +feature, and is delicately and profusely sculptured. It suggests much in +conjunction with the busy life of the rather squalid neighbouring +market-place, whose only picturesque attribute is when it is crowded +with the gaiety of a market or a fête day. By far the most compelling +interest in the building, after an inspection of its interior, is the +view to be had from a distance.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">318</a></span></p> + +<p>The nave is late Gothic, and widens out in curious fashion toward the +east; otherwise the interior arrangements are not remarkable. One +bulbous chapel on the south side supplants the usual transept.</p> + +<p>There is no triforium either in choir or nave, the lighting principally +being effected by the large windows of the aisles.</p> + +<p>It is pertinent to recall here that one of Charlemagne's own foundations +of the ninth century, destroyed by the barbarians, was situated near by, +the famous Abbey of St. Croix.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">319</a></span></p> + +<div class="image top" style="width: 644px;"> +<img src="images/illus344.png" width="644" height="500" alt="Notre Dame de Coutances" /> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">320</a></span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">321</a></span></p> +<h4>VIII<br /><br /> +NOTRE DAME DE COUTANCES</h4> + +<p>L<span class="smcap">ike</span> many another town of western Normandy, like Falise, Domfront, St. +Lo, Granville, Avranches, and Mont St. Michel itself, Coutances rises +high above the surrounding plain and stands dominant in the landscape +for miles on either hand. Of perhaps more magnitude, as to area, than +any of the other examples, the city has the added attribute of three +towered ecclesiastical edifices, which rise nobly in varying stages far +over the neighbouring roof-tops of the town itself and the tree-clad +slopes which embank it.</p> + +<p>The oldest of the Norman Gothic cathedrals, and that which partakes the +most of local character, is Notre Dame de Coutances. Certain French +archæologists have said that the main body of the church is actually +that of the eleventh century. It is more likely, however, that none of +the building at present in view is earlier than the thirteenth century,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">322</a></span> +the epoch during which contemporaneous Gothic first grew to its +maturity. In any event, such building and construction was going on from +1208 to 1233 as would indicate that it was the entire present edifice +which was being planned at that time. In this case it is quite possible +that the rebuilding was going on slowly, foot by foot, in a manner which +not only encompassed and absorbed the older building, but in reality +eradicated every vestige of it. Says a French writer of enthusiasm, "The +Cathedral of Coutances, as it now stands, is one of the most noble and +grand religious edifices in France, with all the qualities of a monument +of the first order, of perfect dimension, beauty of plan, unity of +workmanship, and distinction of form." Any one of these attributes, were +it literally so, might well turn a commonplace structure into an +unapproachable masterpiece. In a measure, all of his eulogy is quite +true, and the pity is that more do not know of its fascination and +charm.</p> + +<p>The façade of the Cathedral of Notre Dame is of the indigenous +Norman-Gothic type. The fine towers, in addition to combining the +symmetrical elements of Gothic, have, each, as well, a flanking +towerlet, attached to their outer sides, enclosing a spiral stairway. +These<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">323</a></span> extend to quite the full height of the tower proper; and, though +by no means a wholly attractive feature, are not as offensive as might +at first be supposed. It is doubtful, in fact, if the general strength +and impressiveness of the entire structure would not be impaired were +the arrangements otherwise.</p> + +<p>The present ogival structure is built on the remains of a Romanesque +church erected by a famous Bishop of Coutances, Geoffroy de Montbray, +with funds supplied by Guillaume Bras-de-Fer, Odon, Roger, Onfroy, and +Robert, sons of Tancrede-de-Hauteville, the Norman conquerors of Sicily +and Calabria, whose names have been given fabled prominence in more than +one epic poem. The early structure was consecrated in 1056, in the +presence of William, then Duke of Normandy, a few years before he became +the Conqueror. Supposedly none of this former church remains; in fact, +what fragments, if any, exist, are doubtless covered in the present +foundations.</p> + +<p>Mainly, the present structure is thirteenth-century work, with a +lady-chapel of the fourteenth century.</p> + +<p>An unusual, and exceedingly beautiful, effect is given by the Gothic +window mullions, between the chapels, in reality a series of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">324</a></span>geometrical window-frames, without glass. No florid ornament either +inside or out is to be found to offend against accepted ideals. In +short, "the whole is of a piece complete." The parapets of triforium and +clerestory, with foliaged carvings, are about the only ornate +decorations to be seen.</p> + +<p>The central tower, of great proportions, but incomplete as to the +addition of a spire, is a marvel of strength and power. Its interior, +elaborately decorated, forms a lantern at the crossing. Here, as at +Bayeux, the choir is raised a few steps above its aisles, giving a +certain impressiveness beyond what might otherwise exist.</p> + +<p>The interior, generally, is admirable. Clustered columns, as they are +commonly called,—in reality they are clustered pillars, if word +derivations are to be considered,—separate both nave and choir from the +aisles; and, in case of the choir, a series of elongated circular +pillars are coupled, one behind the other, an unquestionably unique +arrangement.</p> + +<p>The transepts are practically non-existent, as the widening does not +extend beyond the extent of the nave chapels. This leaves the +ground-plan, at least, a mere parallelogram with a rounded eastern end.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">325</a></span></p> + +<p>Notre Dame de Coutances is one of the few really great Gothic churches +not possessing an example of those French masterworks, the rose window.</p> + +<p>Again referring to the fine tower group, it is probably true that, were +the huge central tower properly spired, the ensemble would rival Laon in +regard to its impressive situation and elaborate pinnacles.</p> + +<p>St. Pierre, of the fifteenth century, and St. Nicolas, of the +fourteenth, complete the trinity of fine churches which Coutances +possesses. The latter contains the unusual arrangement in a Continental +church of pews in place of chairs, although formerly, it is said, this +feature was not uncommon in Normandy.</p> + +<p>The somewhat considerable remains of a Roman acqueduct, near by, are +sufficiently remarkable to warrant passing consideration, even by the +"mere lover of churches."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">326</a></span></p> + +<div class="image top" style="width: 533px;"> +<img src="images/illus351.png" width="533" height="419" alt="avranches" /> +</div> + + + + +<h4>IX<br /><br /> +ST. PIERRE D'AVRANCHES</h4> + +<p>T<span class="smcap">here</span> is little to recount concerning the See of Avranches. Its +bishopric and its cathedral were alike destroyed during the parlous +times of the bickerings and ravages of Royalists and Republicans of the +Revolutionary period. All that remains to-day is a trifling heap of +stones which would hardly fill a row-boat,—a fragment of a shaft on +which is a tablet reading:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">327</a></span></p> + +<div class="frame2"> +<p class="c smcap">On this stone,<br /> +Here at the door of the Cathedral of Avranches,<br /> +After the Murder of Thomas À Becket,<br /> +Archbishop of Canterbury,<br /> +Henry II.,<br /> +King of England and Duke of Normandy,<br /> +Received on his knees,<br /> +From the Legates of the Pope,<br /> +The Apostolic Absolution,<br /> +On Sunday, 22d May 1172."</p> +</div> + +<p class="noind">At its feet is another slab, the aforementioned door-step, on which, +before the papal legate, the remorseful monarch did penance before his +later expiation at Canterbury.</p> + +<p>A little farther on is a small heap consisting of shafts and capitals of +columns, a stone sarcophagus and a brass plate stating that they are the +"Derniers restes de la cathédrale d'Avranches; commencée vers 1090 et +consacrée par l'eveque Turgis en 1121." The nave having fallen in, the +rest of the edifice had to be taken down in 1799.</p> + +<p>Because of its picturesque environment and situation, Avranches is +perhaps a more than ordinarily attractive setting for a shrine, and it +is well worthy of the attention of the passing traveller, in spite of +its ancient cathedral being<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">328</a></span> now but a heap of stones. Apart from this +it is of little interest, and hence, to most, it will probably remain, +in the words of a French traveller, a mere "silhouette in the distance."</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">329</a></span></p> +<div class="image" style="width: 224px;"> +<img src="images/illus353.png" width="224" height="300" alt="St Samson, Dol-de-Bretagne" /> +</div> + + + +<div class="image top" style="width: 546px;"> +<img src="images/illus354.png" width="546" height="427" alt="CATHEDRAL of S. SAMSON DOL" /> +</div> + +<h4>X<br /><br /> +ST. SAMSON, DOL-DE-BRETAGNE</h4> + +<p>T<span class="smcap">he</span> one-time Cathedral of St. Samson, at Dol, is, says an unusually +expressive Frenchman, "a grand, noble, and severe church, now widowed of +its bishops. Its aspect is desolate and abandoned, as if it were but a +ruin <i>en face sur la grande place</i>, of itself, but a mere desert of +scrub." This is certainly a vivid and forceful description of even a +wholly unprepossessing shrine. This St. Samson is not, and due allowance +should be made for verbal modelling which, in many cases, is but the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">330</a></span> +mere expression of a mood <i>pro tempo</i>. There is, however, somewhat of +truth in the description. About the granite walls there is a grimness +and gauntness of decay; of changed plans and projects; of devastation; +of restoration; and, finally, of what is, apparently, submission to the +inevitableness of time.</p> + +<p>The enormous northwesterly tower is stopped suddenly, with the daylight +creeping through its very framework. Its façade is certainly bare of +ornament, and gives a thorough illustration of paucity of design as well +as of detail. There is, indeed, nothing in the west façade to compel +admiration, and yet there is a fascination about it that to some will be +irresistible.</p> + +<p>A sixteenth-century porch, of suggested Burgundian style, forms the main +entrance to the church, and is situated midway along the south side. +Almost directly opposite, on the north, is the curiously contrasting +feature of a crenelated battlement, a reminder of the time when the +church was doubtless a temporal as well as a spiritual stronghold.</p> + +<p>The interior, as the exterior, is gloomy and melancholy. One has only to +contemplate the collection of ludicrously slender clustered columns of +the nave, bound together with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">331</a></span>markedly visible iron strands, to realize +the real weakness of the means by which the fabric has been kept alive.</p> + +<p>The nave itself is of true proportions, and, regardless of the severity +of its lines, and the ludicrous pillars, is undeniably fine in effect.</p> + +<p>A curiously squared choir-end, but with the small apsed lady-chapel +extending beyond, is another of those curious details which stand out in +a way to be remarked in a French church. In this squared end, and above +the arch made by the pillars of the choir aisle, is a large pointed +window filled with ancient glass which must have been inserted soon +after the church was reconstructed after the fire in the twelfth +century.</p> + +<p>The general effect of the nave and aisles is one of extreme narrowness, +which perhaps is not so much really the case when actual measurements +are taken.</p> + +<p>In general, the church is supposed by many to resemble the distinct type +of Gothic as it is known across the Channel; and, admitting for the +nonce that possibly many of the Brittany structures were the work of +English builders, this church, in the absence of any records as to who +were its architects, may well be counted as of that number.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">332</a></span></p> + +<p>The stalls of the choir are of delicately carved wood, before which is +placed a monumental bishop's throne, with elaborate armorial +embellishments. A Renaissance tomb of the sixteenth century, by a pupil +of Michel Colomb, now much injured in its sculptured details of angels +and allegorical figures, is locally considered the "show-piece" of the +church.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">333</a></span></p> +<div class="image top" style="width: 329px;"> +<a href="images/illus358.png"> +<img src="images/illus358_th.png" width="329" height="500" alt="S. MALO & S. SERVAN" /> +</a> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">334</a></span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">335</a></span></p> + +<h4>XI<br /><br /> +ST. MALO AND ST. SERVAN</h4> + +<p>W<span class="smcap">elshmen</span> throughout the world rejoice that it was one of their +countrymen, a monk of the sixth century, who gave his name as founder to +the "walled city of St. Malo by the sea." With its outlying and +contiguous towns of St. Servan, Dinan, and Paramé, St. Malo is a +paradise for the mere lover of pleasure resorts. Further, with respect +to the first three places mentioned, there is present not a little of +the romance and history of the past, reflected as it were in a modern +mirror. Not but that the old town of St. Malo, within the walls, is +ancient and picturesque enough, and dirty, too, if one be speciously +critical; but the fact is that the modern Pont Roulant, and the omnific +toot of the steam-tram, ever present in one's sight and hearing, are +forcible reminders of the march of time.</p> + +<p>St. Servan, so far as its cathedral is concerned, may be dismissed in a +word. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">336</a></span> ancient see of St. Pierre d'Aleth had, at one time, its +dignity vested in a bishop who enthroned himself in a cathedral, the +remains of which exist to-day only as a fragment built into the +fortifications. The bishopric was removed in 1142 to St. Malo.</p> + +<p>With St. Malo a difference exists. Its cathedral, now degenerated to a +parish church, is a Gothic work mainly of the fifteenth century, and, +regardless of its unimposing qualities, is one of those fascinating old +buildings which, in its environment and surroundings, appeals perhaps +more largely to us as a component of a whole than as a feature to be +admired by itself. The church, safely sheltered from the ravage of gale +and storm, sits amid narrow winding streets, whose buildings are so +compressed as to rise to heights unusual in the smaller Continental +towns.</p> + +<p>The edifice is mainly of the fifteenth century, but has been variously +renovated and restored. Gothic, Renaissance, and the transition between +the two are plainly discernible throughout. Perhaps the best art to be +noted is that found in the interior of the choir, with its fine +triforium and clerestory windows above. Here, again, is to be observed +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">337</a></span> squared east end of the English contemporary church, a further +reminder, if it be needed, of the influences which were bound to be more +or less exchanged with regard to the arts and customs of the time, on +both shores of <i>La Manche</i>.</p> + +<p>A few features of passing interest are here, an ivory crucifix, a few +tombs, and some indifferent paintings.</p> + +<p>The spire is modern, but gives a suggestion, at least, in viewing the +city from a distance, of something of what a mediæval walled seaport, +with its population huddled close beneath the shadow of the church, and +within the city walls, must have been like. The best example of this +which ever existed in mediæval France, and which exists to-day in a more +than ordinary remarkable state of preservation, is the famous Mount St. +Michel, a few miles only to the eastward, and famed of all, historian, +ecclesiast, artist, and mere pleasure-seeker, alike. Most writers are +pleased to refer to the confiding attitude of mine host, who conducts +the principal hostelry on the Mount, and who guilelessly asks the wary +traveller (ofttimes they <i>are</i> wary) what he has partaken of during his +stay, and makes up the account accordingly. This is, perhaps,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">338</a></span> not the +least of attributive charms, though it should be a minor one where this +wonderful and real Mount, which takes its name from legendary St. +Michel, is concerned. Indeed, leaving the cathedrals at Rouen, Chartres, +and Le Mans out of the question, it is doubtful if the Abbey of Mont St. +Michel is not the chief remaining architectural glory of the middle +ages, west of Paris.</p> + +<p>It is but a short distance from St. Malo to St. Servan, but what a +difference! It is called by the French themselves the daughter of St. +Malo,—the "faubourg grown into a city."</p> + +<p>Rabida's "Bretagne" states that there are "nombreux des Anglais à St. +Servan, des jeunes gens vivant dans les pensions brittaniques—des +familles venant l'été faire en Bretagne une cure d'economies pour +l'hiver." Continuing, this discerning author says: "Bathers, bicyclists, +golfists, promenaders, and excursionists abound." Better then let them +hold forth here to their hearts' content; there is little that the lover +of churches will gain from what remains to-day of the town's former +Cathedral of St. Pierre.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">339</a></span></p> + + + +<h4 class="top15">XII<br /><br /> +TRÉGUIER</h4> + +<p>T<span class="smcap">his</span> old cathedral city, at the junction of two small streamlets, a +short distance from the sea, lies perhaps a dozen miles away from the +nearest railway. With St. Pol de Leon and St. Brieuc it is, in local +characteristics and customs alike, a something apart from any other +community in northern France. The Bretons are commonly accredited as +being a most devout race, and certainly devotion could take no more +marked turn than the many evidences here to be seen in this "land of +Calvaries." St. Brieuc is a bishopric, suffragan of Rennes, whose +cathedral is a hideous modern structure of the early nineteenth century +quite unworthy as a shrine; but Tréguier's power waned with the +Revolution. Its fourteenth-century church, however, is sufficiently +remarkable by reason of its situation and surroundings, none the less +than in its fabric, to warrant a deviation from well-worn<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">340</a></span> roads in +order to visit it. Chiefly of a late period, it possesses in the Tour de +Hasting, named after the Danish pirate (though why seems obscure), which +enfolds the north transept, a work of the best eleventh-century class. +This should place the church, at once, within the scope of the +designation of a "transition" type. In this tower the windows and +pilasters are of the characteristic round variety of the period. The +south porch is the most highly developed feature as to Mediæval style, +but the attraction lies mainly in its ensembled massiveness, with its +two sturdy towers and a ridiculously spired south <i>clocher</i>. Beyond a +certain grimness of fabric the church fails, not a little, to impress +one with even simple grandeur, even when one takes into consideration +the charms of its florid but firmly designed cloister, which, with the +church itself, is classed by the <i>Département des Beaux Arts</i> as one of +the twenty-three hundred "<i>Monumentes Historiques</i>." Nevertheless, the +building proves more than ordinarily gratifying, though by no stretch of +the imagination could it be classed as grand.</p> + +<p>Loftiness and grandeur are equally lacking in the interior, and there is +great variation of style with respect to the pillars of nave and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">341</a></span> choir. +This is also the case with the windows, which play the gamut from the +severe round-headed Romanesque to the latest flamboyant development, a +feature which not only disregards most conventions, but, as every one +will admit, most flagrantly offends, with sad results, against the +general constructive elements. A plain triforium, in the nave, blossoms +out, in the south transept and choir, in no hesitating manner, into +exceeding richness. The choir has an apsidal termination and contains +carved wooden stalls which are classed as work of the mid-seventeenth +century, though appearing much more time-worn.</p> + +<p>The really popular attribute of the church lies in the reconstructed +monument to St. Yves, the patron saint of advocates, and commonly +considered the most popular in all the Brittany calendar.</p> + +<p>Born near Tréguier in 1253, St. Yves' "unheard-of probity and +consideration for the sick and the poor" gained such general respect +that, with his death on the nineteenth of May, 1303, there was +inaugurated a great feast which to-day is yearly celebrated, and all +grieving against a real or fancied wrong have recourse promptly to the +supposedly just favour of this universal patron of the law.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">342</a></span></p> + + + +<div class="image top" style="width: 343px;"> +<img src="images/illus367.png" width="343" height="360" alt="S. BRIEUC" /> +</div> + + + +<h4>XIII<br /><br /> +ST. BRIEUC</h4> + +<p>U<span class="smcap">nlike</span> many of the smaller towns which contain cathedral churches, St. +Brieuc is a present day bishopric; hence the Cathedral takes on, +perhaps, more significance than it would, were it but an example of a +Mediæval church.</p> + +<p>In reality it is not a very wonderful structure, and the guide-books +will tell one practically nothing about it. The town itself is a dull +place, a tidal port, at some little distance from the sea, which flushes +in upon it twice during the round of the clock.</p> + +<p>A monastery was founded here in the fifth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">343</a></span> century by St. Brieuc, from +whom the town itself and the present cathedral take their name. He was a +Celtic monk from Wales, who, upon being expelled from his native land, +located his establishment here, on the site of a former Gallo-Roman +town. The patronal feast of St. Brieuc is held each year on the first of +May and is a curious survival of a mediæval custom.</p> + +<p>Some remains of an early church are built into the choir walls, but in +the main this not very grand edifice is of the thirteenth and fourteenth +centuries.</p> + +<p>The tower, with its loopholes, would supposedly indicate that the church +was likewise intended as somewhat of a fortification. The apse is +rounded in the usual form, and on either side extend transepts to the +width of two bays.</p> + +<p>Within, the Cathedral is more attractive than without. The elements of +construction and embellishment, while perhaps not ranking with those of +the really great churches, are sufficiently vivid and lively to indicate +that the work was consciously and enthusiastically undertaken. The +lady-chapel is of the thirteenth century, and the transept rose is of +the fifteenth, as is also the Chapel of St. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">344</a></span>Guillaume, named for the +monk of Dijon who built so many of the monasteries throughout Brittany +and who, it is to be presumed, planned or built the original structure, +the remains of which are found in the present choir.</p> + +<p>The windows throughout are either of not very good modern glass, or of +plain leaded lights, which, in the majority of cases, may be considered +as no less an attraction. An elaborate rose is in the western gable.</p> + +<p>There are, in the church, various monuments and tombs to former +bishops.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">345</a></span></p> + + + +<h4 class="top15">XIV<br /><br /> +ST. POL DE LEON</h4> + +<p>I<span class="smcap">n</span> the midst of that land which furnishes the south of England with most +of its cauliflowers, artichokes, onions, and asparagus, truly off the +beaten track, in that it is actually off the line of railway, is the +strange and melancholy city of St. Pol de Leon, its <i>clochers</i> +dominating, by day at least, both land and sea. It contains the famous +"Kreisker," a name which sounds as though it were Dutch or North German, +which it probably is along with other place names on the near-by coast, +such as Grouin, St. Vaast, Roscoff, and La Hougue.</p> + +<p>The tower and spire of this wonderful "Kreisker" rise boldly, from the +transept crossing, in remarkable fashion, and as a marvel of +construction may be said to far outrank the cathedral structure itself. +"Curious and clever" well describes it. As for the former cathedral over +which the Kreisker<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">346</a></span> throws its shadow, it is one of those majestic +twin-towered structures not usually associated with what, when compared +with the larger French towns, must perforce rank as a mere village.</p> + +<p>There is much to be said in favour of these little-known near-by places, +namely, that the charm of their attractions amply repays one for any +special labour involved in getting to them, with the additional +advantage, regardless of the fact that a stranger appears somewhat to +the native as a curiosity, that they are "good value for the money +paid." Perhaps the cheapest Continental tour, of say three weeks, that +could be taken, amid a constantly changing environment, if one so +choose, would comprehend this land of Calvaries.</p> + +<p>The two cathedral towers of early Gothic flank a generous porch. There +is good glass throughout the church, the circular "rose" of the transept +being a magnificent composition in a granite framing. The nave is of +thirteenth-century Gothic, from the south aisle of which projects a +large chapel dedicated to St. Michael. The double-aisled choir is +garnished with sculptured stalls of the fifteenth century, and, +separated from its aisles by a stone screen, is of much larger +proportions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">347</a></span> than the nave, and likewise of a later epoch of building. +The apse is flamboyant, as are also the windows of the south transept. +In the chapels are various vaults and tombs, remarkably well preserved, +but of no special moment. In one of these chapels, however, is a curious +painting in the vaulting, representing a "Trinity" possessing three +faces, disposed in the form of a trefoil with three eyes only. A ribbon +or "<i>banderalle</i>" bears an inscription in Gothic characters; in the +Breton tongue, "<i>Ma Donez</i>" (Mon Dieu).<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">348</a></span></p> + + + +<h4 class="top15">XV<br /><br /> +ST. CORENTIN DE QUIMPER</h4> + + +<p>"C'<span class="smcap">est</span> Quimper, ce mélange du passé et du présent." A true enough +description of most mediæval cities when viewed to-day; but with no +centre of habitation is it more true than of this city by the +sea,—though in reality it is not by the sea, but rather of it, with a +port always calm and tranquil. It takes rank with Brest as the western +outpost of modern France.</p> + +<p>For centuries unconquered, and possessing an individuality of its very +own, this now important prefecture has much to remind us of its past. +History, archæology, and "mere antiquarian lore" abound, and, in its +grandiose Cathedral of St. Corentin, one finds a large subject for his +appreciative consideration.</p> + +<p>It is of the robust and matured type that familiarity has come to regard +as representative of a bishopric; nothing is impoverished</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">349</a></span></p> + +<div class="image border" style="width: 305px;"> +<a href="images/illus374a.png"> +<img src="images/illus374a_th.png" width="305" height="500" alt="ST. CORENTIN de QUIMPER" /> +</a> +</div> + +<p class="noind">or curtailed. Its fine towers with modern spires, erected from the +proceeds of a "butter tax," are broad of base and delicately and truly +proportioned. Its ground-plan is equally worthy, though the choir is not +truly orientated. Its general detail and ensemble, one part with +another, is all that fancy has told us a great church should contain, +and one can but be prepared to appreciate it when it is endorsed, and +commented on, by such ardent admirers as De Caumont, Viollet-le-Duc, +Corroyer, and Gonsé, those four accomplished Frenchmen, who probably +knew more concerning Mediæval (Gothic) architecture than all the rest of +the world put together.</p> + +<p>From the thirteenth to the fifteenth century there grew up here a work +embracing the ogival and the flamboyant, neither in an undue proportion, +but as well as in any other single structure known. This well shows the +rise, development, and apogee of the style which we commonly call +Gothic, but which the French prefer to call "ogival," and which should +really, if one is to fairly apportion credit where it is due, be best +known as French Mediæval architecture.</p> + +<p>Its west façade, with its generous lines, is strongly original. The two +towers, pierced<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">350</a></span> with enormously heightened lancets, are indubitably +graceful and impressive, while a flanking pair of flying buttresses, +with their intermediate piers, form an unusual arrangement in the west +front of a French cathedral.</p> + +<p>Above the western gable is a curiously graven effigy of King Grollo in +stone.</p> + +<p>Considered as a whole, the exterior is representative of the best +contemporary features of the time, but contains few if any which are so +distinctly born of its environment as to be otherwise notable.</p> + +<p>The interior vies with the outer portion of the fabric in the general +effect of majesty and good design. The triforium is remarkably beautiful +and is overtopped by a range of clerestory windows which to an +appreciable extent contain good early glass. The easterly end is the +usual semicircular apse.</p> + +<p>Among the relics of the Cathedral is a crucifix which is supposed to +emit drops of blood when one perjures himself before it. It is, perhaps, +significant that the people of Finistère, the department which claims +Quimper as its capital, have the repute of being honest folk.</p> + +<p>The Bishops of Quimper were, by virtue of the gift of <i>le roi Grodlon le +Grave</i>, the only seigneurs of the city during the middle ages.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">351</a></span></p> + + + +<h4 class="top15">XVI<br /><br /> +VANNES</h4> + +<p>V<span class="smcap">annes</span> was the ancient capital of the Celtic tribe of the Veneti, its +inhabitants being put to rout by Cæsar in 57 <span class="smcap">B. C.</span> Afterward it became +the Roman town of Duriorigum, and later reverted back to a corruption of +its former name. Christianity having made some progress, a council was +held, and a bishop appointed to the city, and from that time onward its +position in the Christian world appears to have been assured. For +centuries afterward, however, it was the centre of a maelstrom of +internal strife, in which Armoricans, Britons, Franks, and Romans appear +to have been inextricably involved. Then came the Northmen, who burned +the former Cathedral of St. Peter. This was rebuilt in the eleventh +century, and in no small measure forms the foundation of the present +structure, which to-day is the seat of a bishop, suffragan of Rennes.</p> + +<p>From this early architectural foundation, to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">352</a></span> the most florid and +flamboyant of late Gothic, is pretty much the whole range of Mediæval +architectural style. By no means has a grand or even fine structure +resulted. The old choir, suffering from the stress of time, was pulled +down and rebuilt as late as 1770. Thus, this usually excellently +appointed and constructed detail is here of no worthy rank whatever. The +nave and transepts were completed within the hundred years following +1452, and show the last flights of Gothic toward the heights from which +it afterward fell. Transformation and restoration have frequently been +undertaken, with the result that nowhere is to be seen perhaps greater +inconsistencies. The latest of these examples of a perverted industry is +seen in the nineteenth-century additions to the tower and the west +façade. The result is not, be it said, to the credit of its projectors.</p> + + +<p class="c smcap top15">THE END.</p> + +<hr class="full" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">353</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="Appendices" id="Appendices"></a><i>Appendices</i></h3> + +<h3 class="top15">I<br /><br /> +<i>The Architectural Divisions of France</i></h3> + + +<p>I<span class="smcap">t</span> is quite possible to construct an ethnographic map of a country from +its architectural remains,—but there must always be diverse and varying +opinions as to the delimitation of one school, as compared with another +lying contiguous thereto.</p> + +<p>One may wander from province to province, and continually find +reminders, of another manner of building, from that which is recognized +as the characteristic local species. This could hardly be otherwise. In +the past, as in the present, imitators were not few, and if the adoption +of new, or foreign, ideas was then less rapid, it was no less sure. +Still, in the main, there is a cohesiveness and limitation of +architectural style in France; which, as is but natural to suppose, is +in no way more clearly defined than by the churches which were built +during the middle ages, the earliest types retaining the influence of +massive forms, and the later again debasing itself to a heavy classical +order, neither a copy of anything of a pre-Gothic era, or a happy +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">354</a></span>development therefrom. Between the two, in a period of scarcely more +than three hundred years, there grew up and developed the ingenious and +graceful pointed style, in all its fearlessness and unconvention.</p> + +<p>Political causes had, perhaps, somewhat to do with the confining of a +particular style well within the land of its birth, but on the other +hand, warfare carried with it invasion and conquest of new sections, and +its followers, in a measure, may be said to have carried with them +certain of their former arts, accomplishments, and desires; and so grew +up the composite and mixed types which are frequently met with.</p> + +<p>There are a dozen or more architectural styles in what is known as the +France of to-day. The Provençal (more properly, says Fergusson, it +should be called "Gallia Narbonese,") one of the most beautiful and +clearly defined of all; the Burgundian, with its suggestion of +luxuriance and, if not massiveness, at least grandeur; the Auvergnian, +lying contiguous to both the above, with a style peculiarly its own, +though of an uncompromising southern aspect; Acquitanian, defining the +style which lies between Provence, the Auvergnat and the Pyrénées, and a +type quite different from either. The Angevinian, which extends +northward from Limoges to Normandy and Brittany, and northeasterly +nearly to Orleans, is a species difficult to place—it partakes largely +of southern influence, but is usually thought to merit a nomenclature of +its own, as distinct from the type found at Anjou. Turning now to the +northern or Frankish influence, as distinct from the Romance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">355</a></span> countries; +Brittany joins to no slight degree influences of each region; Normandy +partakes largely of the characteristics of the type of Central France, +which is thoroughly dominated by that indigenous to the Isle of France, +which species properly might include the Bourbonnais and Nivernoise +variants, as being something of a distinct type, though resembling, in +occasional details, southern features. This list, with the addition of +French Flanders, with its Lowland types, completes the arrangement, if +we except Alsace and Lorraine, which favour the German manner of +building rather more than any of the native French types.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">356</a></span></p> + + + +<h3 class="top15">II</h3> + +<p class="hang"><i>A List of the Departments of France, and of the Ancient Provinces from +which they have been evolved.</i></p> + +<table +summary="apend_II" +cellspacing="3" +cellpadding="2" +style="font-size:85%"> +<tr valign="top" +style="font-style:italic; +font-size:90%;font-weight:800;"> +<td>Provinces and date of union<br /> with France</td> +<td>Départements</td><td>Chefs-Lieux</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Ile de France, with La +Brie, etc.<br />Always held by +the crown</td><td>Seine</td><td>Paris</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Seine-et-Oise</td><td>Versailles</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Seine-et-Marne</td><td>Melun</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Oise</td><td>Beauvais</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Aisne</td><td>Laon</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Picardie. Louis XIV, 1667</td><td>Somme</td><td>Amiens</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Artois and Boulonnais. 1640</td><td>Pas-de-Calais</td><td>Arras</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Flandre and Hainault +Français.<br />Louis XIV. +1667-1669</td><td>Nord</td><td>Lille</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Norppe Auguste, 1204</td><td>Seine-Inférieure</td><td>Rouen</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Eure</td><td>Evreux</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Calvados</td><td>Caen</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Orne</td><td>Alençon</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Manche</td><td>Saint-Lo</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Bretagne. François I. 1532</td><td>Ille-et-Vilaine</td><td>Rennes</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Côtes-du-Nord</td><td>Saint-Brieux</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Finisterre</td><td>Quimper</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Morbihan</td><td>Vannes</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Loire-Inférieure</td><td>Nantes</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Orléanais. Louis XII. 1498</td><td>Loiret</td><td>Orleans</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Loir-et-Cher</td><td>Blois</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Beauce and Pays Chartrain</td><td>Eure-et-Loire</td><td>Chartres</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Maine. Louis XI. 1481</td><td>Sarthe</td><td>Le Mans</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Mayenne</td><td>Laval</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Anjou. Louis XI. 1481</td><td>Maine-et-Loire</td><td>Angers</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Touraine. Henri III. 1584</td><td>Indre-et-Loire</td><td>Tours</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Poitou. Charles VI. 1416</td><td>Vendée</td><td>Bourbon-Vendée</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Deux-Sèvres</td><td>Niort</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Vienne</td><td>Poitiers</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Berri. Philippe I. 1100</td><td>Indre</td><td>Châteauroux</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Cher</td><td>Bourges</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Marche. François I. 1531</td><td>Creuse</td><td>Guéret</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Limousin. Charles V. 1370</td><td>Haute-Vienne</td><td>Limoges</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Corrèze</td><td>Tulle</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Angoumois. Charles V. 1370</td><td>Charente</td><td>Angoulême</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Saintonge and Aunis. 1370</td><td>Charente-Inférieure</td><td>La Rochelle</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Guienne and Gascogne.<br /> +Charles VII. 1451</td><td>Dordogne</td><td>Périgueux</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Gironde</td><td>Bordeaux</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Lot-et-Garonne</td><td>Agen</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Lot</td><td>Cahors</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Tarn-et-Garonne</td><td>Montauban</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Aveyron</td><td>Rodez</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Gers</td><td>Auch</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Hautes-Pyrénées</td><td>Tarbes</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Landes</td><td>Mont-de-Marsan</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Béarn and French Navarre. Louis XIII.</td><td>Basses-Pyrénées</td><td>Pau</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Comté de Foix. Louis XIII.</td><td>Ariège</td><td>Foix</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Roussillon. 1659</td><td>Pyrénées-Orientales</td><td>Perpignan</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Languedoc. John, 1361</td><td>Haute-Garonne</td><td>Toulouse</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Tarn</td><td>Albi</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Aude</td><td>Carcassonne</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Hérault</td><td>Montpellier</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Gard</td><td>Nîmes</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Vivarais</td><td>Ardèche</td><td>Privas</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Gévaudan</td><td>Lozère</td><td>Mende</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Velay</td><td>Haute-Loire</td><td>Le Puy</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Comtat Venaissin, Orange, +etc. Louis XIV. 1713</td><td>Vaucluse</td><td>Avignon</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Provence. Louis XI. 1481</td><td>Bouches-du-Rhône</td><td>Marseille</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Var</td><td>Draguignan</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Basses-Alpes</td><td>Digne</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Dauphiné. Philippe de Valois, 1343</td><td>Isère</td><td>Grenoble</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Drôme</td><td>Valence</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Hautes-Alpes</td><td>Gap</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Lyonnais and Beaujolais</td><td>Rhône</td><td>Lyon</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Forez</td><td>Loire</td><td>St. Etienne</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Auvergne. Philippe Auguste, 1210</td><td>Puy-de-Dôme</td><td>Clermont</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Cantal</td><td>Aurillac</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Bourbonnais. Louis XII. 1505</td><td>Allier</td><td>Moulins</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Nivernais. Charles VII. 1457</td><td>Nièvre</td><td>Nevers</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Bresse, Bugey, etc.</td><td>Ain</td><td>Bourg</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Bourgogne (duché). Louis XI. 1477</td><td>Saône-et-Loire</td><td>Mâcon</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Côte-d'Or</td><td>Dijon</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Yonne</td><td>Auxerre</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Comté de Bourgogne, or +Franche-Comté.<br />Peace +of Nimeguen, 1678</td><td>Doubs</td><td>Besançon</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Jura</td><td>Lons-le-Saulnier</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Haute-Saône</td><td>Vesoul</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Champagne. Philippe le Bel, 1284</td><td>Aube</td><td>Troyes.</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Marne</td><td>Châlons-sur-Marne</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Haute-Marne</td><td>Chaumont</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Ardennes</td><td>Mézières</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Lorraine.[*] On the death<br /> +of Stanislas Leczinsky, 1766</td><td>Meurthe and Moselle</td><td>Nancy</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Meuse</td><td>Bar-le-Duc</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Vosges</td><td>Epinal</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Alsace.[*] Louis XIV. 1648</td><td>Territory of Belfort Belfort</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Haut-Rhin</td><td>Colmar</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Corsica. 1794.</td><td>Corse</td><td>Ajaccio</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Comté de Nice. 1861</td><td>Alpes Maritimes</td><td>Nice</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Savoy</td><td>Savoie</td><td>Chambéry</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Haute-Savoie</td><td>Annecy</td></tr> +</table> + +<p class="c sml">[*] The greater part of these provinces as they formerly stood +were ceded to Germany, May 10, 1871.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">359</a></span></p> + + +<h3 class="top15">III</h3> + +<p class="c"><i>The Church in France</i></p> + + +<p><i>La France Catholique</i> is to-day divided into eighty-four dioceses, +administered, as to spiritual affairs, by seventeen archbishops and +sixty-seven bishops. To each diocese is attached a seminary for the +instruction of those who aspire to the priesthood. Each chief town of a +canton has its <i>curé</i>, each parish its <i>desservant</i>.</p> + +<table +summary="aprend_III" +cellpadding="2" +cellspacing="2" +style="font-size:85%;"> + +<tr +style="font-style:italic;font-size:90%; +font-weight:800;"><td>Archbishops and Bishops</td><td>Dioceses</td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Paris</span></td><td>Seine</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chartres</span></td><td>Eure-et-Loire</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Meaux</span></td><td>Seine-et-Marne</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Orleans</span></td><td>Loiret</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Blois</span></td><td>Loir-et-Cher</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Versailles</span></td><td>Seine-et-Oise</td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Cambrai</span></td><td>Nord</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Arras</span></td><td>Pas-de-Calais</td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Lyon-et-Vienne</span></td><td>Rhône, Loire</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Autun</span></td><td>Saône-et-Loire</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Langres</span></td><td>Haute-Marne</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dijon</span></td><td>Côte-d'Or</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sainte</span> Claude</td><td>Jura</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Grenoble</span></td><td>Isère</td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Bourges</span></td><td>Cher-et-Indre</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Clermont</span></td><td>Puy-de-Dôme</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Limoges</span></td><td>Haute-Vienne et Creuse</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Le</span> Puy</td><td>Haute-Loire</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tulle</span></td><td>Corrèze<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">360</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Saint</span> Flour Cantal</td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Albi</span></td><td>Tarn</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rodez</span></td><td>Aveyron</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cahors</span></td><td>Lot</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Meude</span></td><td>Lozère</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Perpignan</span></td><td>Pyrénées-Orientales</td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Bordeaux</span>[**]</td><td>Gironde</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Agen</span></td><td>Lot-et-Garonne</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Angoulême</span></td><td>Charente</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Poitiers</span></td><td>Vienne-et-Deux Sèvres</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Périgueux</span></td><td>Dordogne</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">La</span> Rochelle Charente-Inférieure</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Luçon</span></td><td>Vendée</td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Auch</span></td><td>Gers</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Aire</span></td><td>Landes</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tarbes</span></td><td>Hautes-Pyrénées</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bayonne</span></td><td>Basses-Pyrénées</td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Toulouse-Narbonne</span></td><td>Haute-Garonne</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Montauban</span></td><td>Tarnè-et-Garonne</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pamiers</span></td><td>Ariège</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Carcassonne</span> Aude</td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Rouen</span></td><td>Seine-Inférieure</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bayeux</span></td><td>Calvados</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Evreux</span></td><td>Eure</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Séez</span></td><td>Orne</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Coutances</span></td><td>Manche</td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Sens et Auxerre</span></td><td>Yonne</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Troyes</span></td><td>Aube</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nevers</span></td><td>Nièvre</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Moulins</span></td><td>Allier</td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Reims</span></td><td>Arr. de Reims-et-Ardennes</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Soissons</span></td><td>Aisne</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Châlons</span>-sur-Marne</td><td>Marne except Arrond. de Reims</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Beauvais</span></td><td>Oise</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Amiens</span></td><td>Somme</td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Tours</span></td><td>Indre-et-Loire</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Le</span> Mans</td><td>Sarthe</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Angers</span></td><td>Maine-et-Loire</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nantes</span></td><td>Loire-Inférieure</td></tr> +<tr><td><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">361</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Laval</span></td><td>Mayenne</td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Aix, Arles, and Embrun</span></td><td>Bouches-du-Rhône except Marseilles</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marseilles</span></td><td>Arr. de Marseilles</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fréjus</span> and Toulon</td><td>Var</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Digne</span></td><td>Basses-Alpes</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gap</span></td><td>Hautes-Alpes</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nice</span></td><td>Alpes-Maritimes</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ajaccio</span></td><td>Corse</td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Besançon</span></td><td>Doubs et Haute-Saône</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Verdun</span></td><td>Meuse</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Belley</span></td><td>Ain</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">St</span>. Dié</td><td>Vosges</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nancy</span></td><td>Meurthe</td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Avignon</span></td><td>Vaucluse</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nîmes</span></td><td>Gard</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Valence</span></td><td>Drôme</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Viviers</span></td><td>Ardèche</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Montpellier</span> Hérault</td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Rennes</span></td><td>Ille-et-Vilaine</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Quimper</span></td><td>Finisterre</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vannes</span></td><td>Morbihan</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">St</span>. Brieuc</td><td>Côtes-du-Nord</td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Chambéry</span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Annecy</span></td><td>Haute-Savoie</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tarentaise</span></td><td>Val-de-Tarentaise (Savoie)</td></tr> +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Maurienne</span></td><td>Val-de-Maurienne (Savoie)</td></tr> +</table> + + +<p class="noind sml">[**] The Archbishop of Bordeaux has three suffragans outside +France: St. Denis and La Reunion, St. Pierre and Fort de France +(Martinique), Basseterre (Guadaloupe).</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">362</a></span></p> + + +<h3 class="top15">IV</h3> + +<p class="hang"><i>A List of the Larger French Churches which were at one time Cathedrals +and usually referred to as such.</i></p> + + +<p class="sml"><span class="smcap">Note.</span>—Those marked H. M. are classed as Les Monuments Historiques by La +Commission de la Conservation des Monuments Historiques.</p> +<table +summary="aprend_IV" +cellpadding="2" +cellspacing="2" +style="font-size:85%"> +<tr><td>Agde</td><td><i>Hérault</i></td><td> </td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Alais</td><td><i>Garde</i></td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Alençon</td><td><i>Orne</i></td><td>Notre Dame</td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Alet</td><td><i>Aude</i></td><td>Notre Dame</td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Apt</td><td><i>Vaucluse</i></td><td> </td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Arles</td><td><i>Bouches-du-Rhône</i></td><td>St. Trophimus</td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Arras</td><td> </td><td>St. Vaast</td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Auxerre</td><td><i>Yonne</i></td><td>St. Etienne</td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Auxonne</td><td><i>Côte-d'Or</i></td><td>Notre Dame</td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Avranches</td><td><i>Manche</i></td><td>(remains only)</td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Bazas</td><td><i>Gironde</i></td><td>St. Jean</td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Bethléem</td><td> </td><td colspan="2">(There was once a Bishop of<br /> +Bethléem whose see was the<br /> +village of Clamecy only, but +no cathedral.)</td></tr> + +<tr><td>Béziers</td><td><i>Hérault</i></td><td>St. Nazaire</td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Boulogne</td><td><i>Pas-de-Calais</i></td><td>Notre Dame</td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Bourg</td><td><i>Ain</i></td><td>Notre Dame</td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Brioud</td><td><i>Haute-Loire</i></td><td> </td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Cambrai</td><td> </td><td>Notre Dame</td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Carcassonne</td><td><i>Aude</i></td><td>St. Nazaire</td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Carpentras</td><td><i>Vaucluse</i></td><td>St. Siffrein</td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Castres</td><td><i>Tarn</i></td><td>St. Benonit</td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Cavaillon</td><td><i>Vaucluse</i></td><td>St. Véran</td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Condom</td><td><i>Gers</i></td><td> </td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Conserons</td><td><i>Ariège</i></td><td>(See St. Lizier)</td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Die</td><td><i>Drôme</i></td><td> </td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Dinan</td><td><i>Côtes-du-Nord</i></td><td>St. Saveur</td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Dol</td><td><i>Ille-et-Vilaine</i></td><td>St. Samson</td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Elne</td><td><i>Pyrénées-Orientales</i></td><td> </td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Embrun</td><td><i>Hautes-Alpes</i></td><td> </td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Glandèves</td><td><i>Basses-Alpes</i></td><td>(Bishopric transferred to Entrevaux)</td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Grasse</td><td><i>Alpes-Maritimes</i></td><td>(Bishopric in XIVth century)</td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Laon</td><td><i>Aisne</i></td><td>Notre Dame</td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Lavaur</td><td><i>Tarn</i></td><td>(Bishopric in XIVth century)</td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Lectours</td><td><i>Gers</i></td><td>(Bishopric in Xth century)</td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Lescar</td><td><i>Basses-Pyrénées</i></td><td> </td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Lisieux</td><td><i>Calvados</i></td><td>St. Pierre</td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Lodeve</td><td><i>Hérault</i></td><td>St. Fulcran</td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Lombez</td><td><i>Gers</i></td><td> </td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Mâcon</td><td><i>Saône-et-Loire</i></td><td>St. Vincent</td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Mallezais</td><td><i>Vendée</i></td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Mirepoix</td><td><i>Ariège</i></td><td>(Bishopric in XIVth century)</td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Noyon</td><td><i>Oise</i></td><td>Notre Dame</td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Oloron</td><td><i>Basses-Pyrénées</i></td><td> </td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Orange</td><td><i>Vaucluse</i></td><td>Notre Dame</td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Périgueux</td><td><i>Dordogne</i></td><td>St. Etienne</td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>St. Bertrand +de Comminges</td><td><i>Haute-Garonne</i></td><td> </td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>St. Dié</td><td><i>Vosges</i></td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>St. Lizier</td><td><i>Ariège</i></td><td> </td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>St. Lo</td><td><i>Manche</i></td><td>Notre Dame</td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>St. Malo</td><td><i>Ille-et-Vilaine</i></td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Ste. Marie</td><td><i>Basses-Pyrénées</i></td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>St. Omer</td><td><i>Pas-de-Calais</i></td><td>Notre Dame</td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>St. Papoul</td><td><i>Aude</i></td><td> </td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>St. Paul Trois Chateaux</td><td><i>Drôme</i></td><td> </td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>St. Pol de Leon</td><td><i>Finisterre</i></td><td> </td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>St. Servan</td><td><i>Ille-et-Vilaine</i></td><td>St. Pierre d'Aleth</td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Sarlat</td><td><i>Dordogne</i></td><td> </td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Séez</td><td><i>Orne</i></td><td>Notre Dame</td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Senez</td><td><i>Basses-Alpes</i></td><td> </td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Senlis</td><td><i>Oise</i></td><td>Notre Dame</td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Sisteron</td><td><i>Basses-Alpes</i></td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Soissons</td><td><i>Aisne</i></td><td>Notre Dame</td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td> </td><td>St. Gervais</td><td> </td></tr><tr><td> </td><td> </td><td>St. Protais</td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Tarbes</td><td><i>Hautes-Pyrénées</i></td><td>Eglise de la Séde</td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Toul</td><td><i>Meurthe</i></td><td>St. Etienne</td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Toulon</td><td><i>Var</i></td><td>Ste. Marie-Majeur</td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Tréguier</td><td><i>Côtes-du-Nord</i></td><td> </td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Uzès</td><td><i>Gard</i></td><td>St. Thierry</td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Vabres</td><td><i>Aveyron</i></td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Vaiso</td><td><i>Vaucluse</i></td><td> </td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Versailles</td><td><i>Seine-et-Oise</i></td><td>St. Louis</td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Vence</td><td><i>Alpes-Maritimes</i></td><td> </td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vienne</td><td><i>Isère</i></td><td>St. Maurice</td><td>H. M.</td></tr> +</table> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">365</a></span></p> + + + +<h3 class="top15">V</h3> + +<p class="hang"><i>Chronology of the chief styles and examples of church building in the +north of France from the Romano-Byzantine period to that of the +Renaissance</i></p> + + +<table +summary="aprend_V" +cellpadding="2" +cellspacing="2" +style="font-size:85%; +white-space:nowrap;"> +<tr valign="top"><td>1050-1075</td><td>Nevers</td><td>St. Etienne</td><td rowspan="3">Distinct round-arch<br />style</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>1075-1100</td><td>Bayeux</td><td>Notre Dame</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Caen</td><td>St. Etienne</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>1125-1150</td><td>Autun</td><td>St. Lazare</td> +<td rowspan="5">Pointed arch<br />in +vaulting and<br /> +larger works, with<br /> +the retaining of<br /> +the round in the<br />smaller</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>St. Denis</td><td>(choir)</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>1150-1175</td><td>Angers</td><td>St. Maurice </td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Paris</td><td>Notre Dame</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Sens</td><td>St. Etienne</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"> +<td>1200-1225</td> +<td>Reims</td> +<td>Notre Dame</td> +<td rowspan="3">General adoption<br /> +of the ogival<br /> +style</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Auxerre</td><td>St. Etienne </td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Troyes</td><td>Sts. Peter and Paul </td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>1225-1250</td><td>Amiens</td><td>Notre Dame</td> +<td rowspan="6">The completed<br /> +ogival style</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Dijon</td><td>St. Bénigne</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Bourges</td><td>St. Etienne</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>1250-1275</td><td>Noyon </td><td> Notre Dame (cloisters)</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>1300-1325</td><td>Rouen </td><td> Notre Dame (lady-chapel)</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>1350-1375</td><td>Chartres</td><td> Notre Dame</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>1425-1450</td><td>Auxerre</td> +<td>St. Etienne (N. transept)</td> +<td rowspan="2">Introduction of<br /> +Renaissance detail<br /> +in Italy<br /> +elaboration of<br /> +Gothic in France</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>1450-1475</td><td>Evreux</td> +<td>Notre Dame (transepts and tower)</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>1475-1500</td><td>Rouen</td> +<td>Notre Dame (S. W. tower)</td> +<td rowspan="6">Renaissance firmly<br /> +grafted in Italy<br /> +and gradually<br /> +appearing in the<br /> +Gothic of France</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Nevers </td> +<td> St. Etienne (S. porch)</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>1500-1525</td><td>Beauvais </td> +<td> St. Pierre (S. transept) </td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Chartres </td><td> Notre Dame (N. W. spire)</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>1525-1550</td><td>Beauvais</td><td>St. Pierre (N. transept)</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td> </td><td>Amiens</td><td>Notre Dame (flêche)</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>1550-1575</td><td>Beauvais </td><td> St. Pierre +(central tower since destroyed)</td> +<td rowspan="2">Renaissance firmly<br /> +established</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>1600-1625</td><td>Orleans </td><td> Ste. Croix</td></tr> +</table> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">366</a></span></p> + + +<h3 class="top15">VI</h3> + +<p class="c"><i>Dimensions and Chronology</i></p> + + +<p class="eglise">NOTRE DAME D'AMIENS</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 302px;"> +<img src="images/illus393.png" width="302" height="505" alt="Notre Dame d'Amiens" /> +</div> + + +<p class="eglise"><i>Dimensions</i></p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +Length of nave and choir, 469 feet<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">367</a></span>Width including transepts, 214 feet<br /> +Width of nave, 59 feet<br /> +Width of aisles, 33½ feet<br /> +Height of nave, 141 or 147 feet, estimated variously<br /> +Height of aisles, 65 feet<br /> +Length of choir, 135 feet<br /> +Width of nave including aisles, 150 feet<br /> +Length of transepts, 194 feet<br /> +Width of transepts, 36 feet, 6 inches<br /> +Height of spire, 422 feet<br /> +Superficial area, 70,000 square feet (approx.)<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="head">Chronology</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +Nave and choir, 1220-1288<br /> +Choir stalls, 1520<br /> +Western towers completed, 1533<br /> +Lateral chapels of nave, XVIth century<br /> +Choir chapels, XIIIth century<br /> +</p> +</div> + + +<p class="eglise">ST. MAURICE D'ANGERS</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 396px;"> +<img src="images/illus394.png" width="396" height="500" alt="image not available" /> +</div> + +<p class="head">Dimensions</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +Length of nave and choir, 300 feet<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">368</a></span>Width of transepts, 40 feet<br /> +Height of transepts, 80 feet<br /> +Height of nave, 110 feet<br /> +Width of nave, 53 feet<br /> +Height of spires, 225 feet<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="head">Chronology</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +Lower walls, Romano-Byzantine<br /> +Main body completed, 1240<br /> +Choir, XIIth century<br /> +Bishop's Palace, XIIth century<br /> +Arras tapestries, XIVth century<br /> +Choir doorway, XIIIth century<br /> +(Recently restored by Viollet-le-Duc)<br /> +</p> +</div> + + +<p class="eglise">ST. VAAST D'ARRAS</p> + +<p class="head">Dimensions</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +Length of nave and choir, 302 feet<br /> +Height of nave, 66½ feet<br /> +Width of nave, 49 feet<br /> +Height of tower, 154 feet<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="head">Chronology</p> + +<div class="append2"> +<p class="noind"> +Former Cathedral of Notre Dame begun, end of XIIth century<br /> +Former Cathedral of Notre Dame completed, 1499<br /> +Present Cathedral of St. Vaast, 1755-1833<br /> +Triptych of Bellegambe in present Cathedral, 1528<br /> +Former Abbey of St. Vaast, now Episcopal Palace since 1754<br /> +</p> +</div> + + +<p class="eglise">ST. LAZARE D'AUTUN</p> + +<p class="head">Dimensions</p> + +<p class="c">Height of spire, 325 feet</p> + +<p class="head">Chronology</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +Transition portion constructed by Robert I.,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Duke of Burgundy, 1031-1076</span><br /> +Spire, XVth century<br /> +Sculpture of choir, XVIth century<br /> +Flamboyant chapels, XVIth century<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">369</a></span></p> +</div> + + +<p class="eglise">AUXERRE</p> + +<p class="head">Chronology</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +Crypt (remains of early work), XIth century<br /> +Choir and glass, 1215-1234<br /> +Western portals, XIIIth century<br /> +Nave, 1334-1373<br /> +North transept, 1415-1513<br /> +N. W. tower, 1525-1530<br /> +Iron <i>grille</i> of choir, XVIIIth century<br /> +</p> +</div> + + +<p class="eglise">NOTRE DAME DE BAYEUX</p> + +<p class="head">Dimensions</p> + +<div class="append3"> +<p class="noind"> +Central belfry, 300 feet<br /> +Length interior, 335 feet<br /> +Height interior, 74 feet, 9 inches<br /> +Height of western towers, 252 feet<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="head">Chronology</p> + +<div class="append2"> +<p class="noind"> +Odo's crypt, XIth century<br /> +Circular arches of nave, late XIth or early XIIth century<br /> +Portals of west façade, XIIIth century<br /> +Chasuble of St. Regnobert, gift of St. Louis, 1226<br /> +Date of tapestry (in inventory of church property), 1476<br /> +</p> +</div> + + +<p class="eglise">ST. PIERRE DE BEAUVAIS</p> + +<p class="head">Dimensions</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +Height of nave, 150 feet<br /> +Height of original spire, which fell in 1573, 486 feet<br /> +Area of choir, about 28,000 square feet<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="head">Chronology</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +The Basse Œuvre, VIth to VIIIth centuries<br /> +Present building begun, 1225<br /> +Dedicated, 1272<br /> +Roof fell, 1284<br /> +South transept begun, 1500<br /> +North transept begun, 1530<br /> +North transept finished, 1537<br /> +Central spire fell, 1573<br /> +Ancient Bishop's Palace, now Palais de Justice,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">XIVth to XVIth centuries</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">370</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p class="eglise">ST. ETIENNE DE BOURGES</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 325px;"> +<img src="images/illus397.png" width="325" height="422" alt="St. Etienne de Bourges" /> +</div> + +<p class="head">Dimensions</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +Length, 405 feet<br /> +Width, 135½ feet<br /> +Height of nave, 124½ feet<br /> +Height of inner aisle, 66 feet<br /> +Height of outer aisle, 28 feet<br /> +Height north tower, 217½ feet<br /> +Height south tower, 176 feet<br /> +Superficial area, 73,170 square feet (approx.)<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="head">Chronology</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +Dedicated, 1324<br /> +Sepulchre, 1336<br /> +Crypts, XIIth century<br /> +North tower, 1508-1538<br /> +Tower St. Etienne completed, 1490<br /> +Tower St. Etienne fell, 1506<br /> +Choir stalls, 1760<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">371</a></span></p> +</div> + + +<p class="eglise">ST. ETIENNE DE CHÂLONS-SUR-MARNE</p> + +<p class="head">Chronology</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +Tower next north door, Romano-Byzantine<br /> +Part of nave and choir, Ogival primaire<br /> +Aisle and chapels of apse, XIVth century<br /> +Apse restored, after fire, in 1672<br /> +</p> +</div> + + +<p class="eglise">NOTRE DAME DE CHARTRES</p> + +<p class="head">Dimensions</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +Length nave and choir, 430 feet<br /> +Width, 110 feet<br /> +Length nave only, 121 feet<br /> +Width nave, 46 feet<br /> +Width nave aisles, 19 feet<br /> +Height nave, 106 feet<br /> +Length transepts, 202 feet<br /> +Width transepts, 70 feet<br /> +Height of north spire, 403 feet<br /> +Height of south spire, 365 feet<br /> +Rose window, diameter, 40 to 43 feet<br /> +Area, 65,000 square feet (approx.)<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="head">Chronology</p> + +<div class="append2"> +<p class="noind"> +Wooden church burned, 1020<br /> +Crypt under chevet of choir, 1029<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(only remains of original church)</span><br /> +Work of rebuilding stopped, 1048<br /> +South portal erected, 1060<br /> +Work aided by Matilda, queen of William I., 1083<br /> +Lower portion of main body built, 1100-1150<br /> +Western towers, 1145<br /> +Fire damaged greater part, 1194<br /> +Vaulting completed, 1220<br /> +Porches of transepts added, 1250<br /> +Building consecrated, October 17, 1260<br /> +Sacristy and screen in crypt, XIIIth century<br /> +North spire burned, 1506<br /> +Texier's spire erected, 1507-1515<br /> +Texier's spire repaired, 1629<br /> +South spire repaired, 1754<br /> +Belfry and roof burned (vaulting unharmed), 1836<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">372</a></span></p> +</div> + + +<p class="eglise">NOTRE DAME D'EVREUX</p> + +<p class="head">Dimensions</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +Length, 368 feet, 6 inches<br /> +Transept, length, 112 feet<br /> +Transept, width, 23 feet<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="head">Chronology</p> + +<div class="append2"> +<p class="noind"> +Church consecrated, 1076<br /> +Church burnt, 1119<br /> +Northwest tower foundations laid, 1352<br /> +Northwest tower completed, 1417<br /> +North transept, XVIth century<br /> +Nave, early XIIth to late XVth century<br /> +Choir, XIVth century<br /> +Lady-chapel, XIIIth century<br /> +</p> +</div> + + +<p class="eglise">NOTRE DAME DE LAON</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 233px;"> +<img src="images/illus399.png" width="233" height="404" alt="Laon" /> +</div> + +<p class="head">Dimensions</p> + +<div class="append2"> +<p class="noind"> +Length of nave and choir, 351 feet<br /> +Height of nave, 80 feet<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">373</a></span>Width of nave, 67 feet, 7 inches<br /> +Length of transepts, 174 feet<br /> +Width of transepts, 35 feet, 9 inches<br /> +Height of western towers, 173 feet<br /> +Height of southwest tower and spire (formerly), 328 feet<br /> +Western circular window, 26 feet<br /> +Superficial area, 44,000 square feet (approx.)<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="head">Chronology</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +Original church burned, 1112<br /> +New edifice begun, 1114<br /> +Entirely rebuilt, 1190<br /> +General restoration, 1851<br /> +</p> +</div> + + +<p class="eglise">ST. JULIEN, LE MANS</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 203px;"> +<img src="images/illus400.png" width="203" height="409" alt="LE MANS" /> +</div> + +<p class="head">Dimensions</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +Length of nave and choir, 369 feet<br /> +Width of nave and aisles, 78 feet<br /> +Width of choir, 123 feet<br /> +Height of choir, 108 feet<br /> +Area of choir, 30,000 square feet (approx.)<br /> +Length of transept, 178 feet<br /> +Width of transept, 32 feet<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">374</a></span></p> +</div> + + +<p class="head">Chronology</p> + +<div class="append2"> +<p class="noind"> +West façade, XIth century<br /> +Transition, south portal, XIIth century<br /> +Nave and transepts reconstructed, XIIth century<br /> +Church extended beyond city walls, XIIIth century<br /> +Choir rebuilt, 1200<br /> +Choir restored, 1858<br /> +Coloured glass, XIIIth, XIVth, XVth centuries<br /> +Rose window, south transept, XVth century<br /> +Former Bishop's Palace destroyed by Germans, 1871<br /> +</p> +</div> + + +<p class="eglise">ST. ETIENNE DE MEAUX</p> + +<p class="head">Dimensions</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +Height of nave, 109 feet<br /> +Length of nave, 275 feet<br /> +Length of transepts, 120 feet<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="head">Chronology</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +Bishopric founded, 375 A.D.<br /> +Choir in part, XIIth century<br /> +Restored, 1852<br /> +</p> +</div> + + +<p class="eglise">ST. PIERRE DE NANTES</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 543px;"> +<img src="images/illus401.png" width="543" height="422" alt="image not available" /> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">375</a></span></p> + + +<p class="head">Dimensions</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +Height of western towers, 270 feet<br /> +Height of nave, 130 feet<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="head">Chronology</p> + +<div class="append2"> +<p class="noind"> +Remains of choir contains, XIIth century<br /> +Romanesque church rebuilt, XVth century<br /> +West front, 1434-1500<br /> +North transept and choir only completed in XIXth century<br /> +Tomb of François II. and Marguerite de Foix, 1507<br /> +Later restoration, 1852<br /> +</p> +</div> + + +<p class="eglise">NOTRE DAME DE NOYON</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 228px;"> +<img src="images/illus402.png" width="228" height="414" alt="Noyon" /> +</div> + +<p class="head">Dimensions</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +Length, 338 feet<br /> +Width of nave and aisles, 64 feet, 10 inches<br /> +Height of nave, 74 feet, 6 inches<br /> +Height of aisles, 28 feet, 9 inches<br /> +Height of choir, 26 feet, 3 inches<br /> +Height of towers, 200 feet<br /> +Superficial area, 30,000 square feet (approx.)<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">376</a></span></p> +</div> + + +<p class="head">Chronology</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +First constructed, 989<br /> +Burnt, 1131<br /> +Rebuilding undertaken, 1137-1150<br /> +Choir, transepts, and nave completed, 1167-1200<br /> +Timber work burnt, 1293<br /> +Chapter-house built, XIIIth century<br /> +Five bays of cloister built, XIVth century<br /> +Restored under governmental supervision, 1840<br /> +</p> +</div> + + +<p class="eglise">ST. CROIX D'ORLEANS</p> + +<p class="head">Dimensions</p> + +<div class="append3"> +<p class="noind"> +Height of towers, 280 feet<br /> +Height of nave, 100 feet<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="head">Chronology</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +First bishops sent from Rome, IIIrd century<br /> +Cathedral destroyed by Huguenots, 1567<br /> +Chapels of nave which still remain, XIVth century<br /> +Late Gothic mainly of XVIIth century<br /> +Western towers completed, 1789<br /> +</p> +</div> + + +<p class="eglise">NOTRE DAME DE PARIS</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 195px;"> +<img src="images/illus403.png" width="195" height="429" alt="Paris" /> +</div> + +<p class="head">Dimensions</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +Length, 390 feet<br /> +Width, 144 feet<br /> +Height of nave, 102 feet<br /> +Diameter of rose windows in transept, 36<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">feet</span><br /> +Superficial area, 64,100 square feet<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="head">Chronology</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +Founded by Bishop de Sully, 1160-1170<br /> +High altar dedicated, 1182<br /> +Interior completed (approx.), 1208<br /> +West front, 1223-1230<br /> +Western towers, 1235<br /> +Transept portals, 1257<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">377</a></span></p> +</div> + + + +<p class="eglise">NOTRE DAME DE REIMS</p> + +<table summary="reims" +cellspacing="10" +cellpadding="0"> + +<tr align="center" valign="top"><td><img src="images/illus404.png" +alt="reims" +width="206" +height="419" +/></td><td><img src="images/illus404a.png" +alt="Flying Buttresses, Reims" +width="187" +height="376" /><br /><i>Flying Buttresses</i>,<br /><i>Reims</i></td></tr> +</table> + +<p class="head">Dimensions</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +Western towers, 267 feet<br /> +Area, 65,000 feet (approx.)<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="head">Chronology</p> + +<div class="append2"> +<p class="noind"> +First stone laid, 1212<br /> +First portion dedicated, 1215<br /> +Chapter takes possession of choir, 1244<br /> +Nave commenced, 1250<br /> +Transept and abside ornamented, 1295<br /> +South tower begun and completed, 1380-1391<br /> +Coronation of Charles VII., 1427<br /> +Southwest tower completed by Philastre, 1430<br /> +Tapestries added to choir, 1444<br /> +Belfry of the Angel built, 1497<br /> +Gable of the Assumption and Zodiac, 1408<br /> +Reëstablishment of grand altar, 1547<br /> +Repairs to portals and vaulting, 1610<br /> +Cathedral becomes national property, 1790<br /> +Exterior repairs and restoration, 1811<br /> +General restorations, 1840<br /> +2,083,411 francs voted by Chamber for restorations, 1875<br /> +Gifts of Gobelin tapestries, 1848<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">378</a></span></p> +</div> + + + +<p class="eglise">NOTRE DAME DE ROUEN</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 213px;"> +<img src="images/illus405.png" width="213" height="411" alt="Notre Dame Rouen" /> +</div> + +<p class="head">Dimensions</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +Length of nave and choir, 450 feet<br /> +Width, including transepts, 177 feet<br /> +Width of nave and aisles, 105 feet<br /> +Length of choir only, 118 feet<br /> +Height of nave, 92 feet<br /> +Height of central spire, 480 feet<br /> +Height of Tour de Beurre, 252 feet<br /> +Height of Tour St. Romain, 246 feet<br /> +Area (originally), 53,000 square feet<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="head">Chronology</p> + +<div class="append2"> +<p class="noind"> +First church founded on site of cathedral by St. Mellar, VIIth century<br /> +Cathedral enlarged under Rollo, who was buried therein in 930<br /> +Consecrated and dedicated, 1063<br /> +Tour St. Romain, remains of, XIth century<br /> +Destroyed by fire, 1200<br /> +New building completed, XIIIth century<br /> +Portail de la Calende, XIVth century<br /> +Tour de Beurre laid, 1487<br /> +Tour de Beurre completed, 1507<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">379</a></span>Flamboyant west front, XVIth century<br /> +Altar of St. Romain, XVIIth century<br /> +Tomb of the Cardinals, 1556<br /> +Central spire, 1823<br /> +Restoration of west front, 1897<br /> +</p> +</div> + + +<p class="eglise">ST. ETIENNE DE SENS</p> + +<p class="head">Dimensions</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +Length, 384 feet<br /> +Width, 124 feet<br /> +Height, 98 feet<br /> +Area, 44,000 square feet<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="head">Chronology</p> + +<div class="append2"> +<p class="noind"> +Relique of True Cross given by Charlemagne, 800 <span class="smcap">A. D.</span><br /> +Early church destroyed by fire, 970<br /> +New church dedicated, 997<br /> +Present building completed, 1168<br /> +Choir rebuilt, 1174<br /> +Present transept and nave, XIIth and XIIIth centuries<br /> +Glass in chapel of St. Savinien, XIIIth century<br /> +Glass of rose windows, XVIth century<br /> +Mausoleum of the Dauphin, XVIIIth century<br /> +</p> +</div> + + +<p class="eglise">BASILIQUE DE ST. DENIS</p> + +<p class="head">Dimensions</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +Length of nave and choir, 354 feet<br /> +Width, 133 feet<br /> +Clerestory windows (height), 33 feet<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="head">Chronology</p> + +<div class="append2"> +<p class="noind"> +Chapel first built above grave of St. Dionysius the martyr, 275 <span class="smcap">A. D.</span><br /> +Benedictine abbey first founded here in reign of Dagobert, 628<br /> +Pope Stephen took refuge here, 754<br /> +Romanesque façade, 1140<br /> +Consecration of the building, 1144<br /> +Nave, XIIIth century<br /> +Abbot Suger died, 1151<br /> +General restoration by Suger's successors, XIIIth century<br /> +Crenelated battlement added to façade, XIVth century<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">380</a></span>Spire burned by lightning, XIXth century<br /> +General restoration by Viollet-le-Duc, 1860<br /> +Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette reinterred here (removed from<br /> +the Madeleine), 1817<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<div class="image" style="width: 551px;"> +<img src="images/illus407.png" width="551" height="439" alt="CRYPT S. DENIS" /> +</div> + +<p class="eglise">NOTRE DAME DE ST. OMER</p> + +<p class="head">Dimensions</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p>The great bell of tower weighs 8,500 kilos.</p> +</div> + +<p class="head">Chronology</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +Bishopric founded, 1533<br /> +Astronomical clock, XVIth century<br /> +Tomb of St. Erkembode, VIIIth century<br /> +Tomb of St. Omer restored, XIIIth century<br /> +Former Episcopal Palace, now Palais de Justice, 1680<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">381</a></span></p> +</div> + + + +<p class="eglise">ST. GATIEN DE TOURS</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 541px;"> +<img src="images/illus408.png" width="541" height="419" alt="image not available" /> +</div> + +<p class="head">Dimensions</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +Length of nave and choir, 256 feet<br /> +Width, 95 feet<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="head">Chronology</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +Choir begun, 1170<br /> +Tour Charlemagne, XIth century<br /> +Tour St. Martin, XIIth century<br /> +Transepts, 1316<br /> +West façade, 1430-1500<br /> +Southwest tower, 1507<br /> +Tomb of children of Charles VIII., 1483<br /> +</p> +</div> + + +<p class="eglise">ST. PIERRE DE TROYES</p> + +<p class="head">Dimensions</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +Length, 394 feet<br /> +Width, 168 feet<br /> +Height, 96 feet<br /> +Height northwest tower, 202 feet<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">382</a></span></p> +</div> + + +<p class="head">Chronology</p> + +<div class="append"> +<p class="noind"> +Apse and chapels, 1206-1223<br /> +Choir and transepts, 1314-1315<br /> +Iron <i>grille</i> of choir, XIIIth century<br /> +Church consecrated, 1430<br /> +West façade, XVth century<br /> +Nave constructed during XIVth, XVth, XVIth centuries<br /> +North gable, XVth century<br /> +Tower St. Pierre, 1559-1568<br /> +Northwest tower demolished by lightning, 1700<br /> +Vaulting of transepts fell, 1840<br /> +Restoration of choir and transepts, 1840<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">383</a></span></p> + + + +<h3 class="top15">VII</h3> + + + +<p class="c"><i>The French Kings from Charlemagne Onward</i></p> + +<table summary="kings" +cellpadding="5" +cellspacing="0" +style="font-size:85%;white-space:nowrap;"> +<tr +class="smcap"><td> </td><td>A. D.</td><td> </td><td>A. D.</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Charlemagne</td><td align="right">768 </td><td style="padding-left:5%;">Philip VI., de Valois</td><td align="right">1328</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Louis le Débonnaire</td><td align="right">814 </td><td style="padding-left:5%;">John II., the Good</td><td align="right">1350</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Charles le Chauve</td><td align="right">840 </td><td style="padding-left:5%;">Charles V., le Sage</td><td align="right">1364</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Louis II., le Bègue</td><td align="right">877 </td><td style="padding-left:5%;">Charles VI., the Beloved</td><td align="right">1380</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Louis III.</td><td align="right">879 </td><td style="padding-left:5%;">Charles VII., the Victorious </td><td align="right">1422</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Carloman</td><td align="right">879 </td><td style="padding-left:5%;">Louis XI.</td><td align="right">1461</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Charles le Gros</td><td align="right">884 </td><td style="padding-left:5%;">Charles VIII.</td><td align="right">1483</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Eudes</td><td align="right">887 </td><td style="padding-left:5%;">Louis XII., of Orleans</td><td align="right">1498</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Charles III., the Simple</td><td align="right">893 </td><td style="padding-left:5%;">Francis I.</td><td align="right">1515</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Robert I.</td><td align="right">922 </td><td style="padding-left:5%;">Henry II.</td><td align="right">1547</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Rodolf of Burgundy</td><td align="right">923 </td><td style="padding-left:5%;">Francis II.</td><td align="right">1559</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Louis IV., the Stranger</td><td align="right">936 </td><td style="padding-left:5%;">Charles IX.</td><td align="right">1560</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Lothaire</td><td align="right">954 </td><td style="padding-left:5%;">Henry III.</td><td align="right">1574</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Louis V., le Fainéant</td><td align="right">986 </td><td style="padding-left:5%;">Henry IV., the Great</td><td align="right">1589</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Hugh Capet</td><td align="right">987 </td><td style="padding-left:5%;">Louis XIII., the Just</td><td align="right">1610</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Robert II., the Wise</td><td align="right">996 </td><td style="padding-left:5%;">Louis XIV., le Grand</td><td align="right">1643</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Henry I.</td><td align="right">1031 </td><td style="padding-left:5%;">Louis XV.</td><td align="right">1715</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Philip I., l'Amoureux</td><td align="right">1060 </td><td style="padding-left:5%;">Louis XVI.</td><td align="right">1774</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Louis VI., le Gros</td><td align="right">1108 </td><td style="padding-left:5%;">Revolutionary Tribunal</td><td align="right">1793</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Louis VII., le Jeune</td><td align="right">1137 </td><td style="padding-left:5%;">Directory</td><td align="right">1795</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Philip Augustus</td><td align="right">1180 </td><td style="padding-left:5%;">Napoleon, Consul</td><td align="right">1799</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Louis VIII., the Lion</td><td align="right">1223 </td><td style="padding-left:5%;">Napoleon I., Emperor</td><td align="right">1804</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Louis IX., the Saint</td><td align="right">1226 </td><td style="padding-left:5%;">Louis XVIII.</td><td align="right">1814</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Philip III., the Hardy</td><td align="right">1270 </td><td style="padding-left:5%;">Charles X.</td><td align="right">1824</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Philip IV., the Fair</td><td align="right">1285 </td><td style="padding-left:5%;">Louis Philippe</td><td align="right">1830</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Louis X., Hutin</td><td align="right">1314 </td><td style="padding-left:5%;">Republic</td><td align="right">1848</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>John I.</td><td align="right">1316 </td><td style="padding-left:5%;">Napoleon III., Emperor</td><td align="right">1852</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Philip V.</td><td align="right">1316 </td><td style="padding-left:5%;">Republic</td><td align="right">1870</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td>Charles IV., le Bel</td><td align="right">1322</td><td> </td></tr> + +</table> + + +<div class="image" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/illus410.png" width="150" height="210" alt="CHARLES VII" /> +</div> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">384</a></span></p> + + + +<h3 class="top15">VIII</h3> + +<p class="c"><i>Measurements of the Cathedrals at Amiens and Salisbury</i></p> + +<p class="c">(<i>Whittington</i>)</p> + +<table summary="measurments" +cellpadding="5" +cellspacing="0" +style="font-size:85%;"> +<tr><td> </td><td><i>Amiens</i></td><td><i>Salisbury</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td><i>French feet</i></td><td><i>English feet</i></td></tr> +<tr><td>Length east to west</td><td align="right">415</td><td align="right">452</td></tr> +<tr><td>Length west door to choir</td><td align="right">220</td><td align="right">246</td></tr> +<tr><td>Length behind choir, including lady-chapel</td><td align="right">63</td><td align="right">65</td></tr> +<tr><td>Length transepts north to south</td><td align="right">182</td><td align="right">210</td></tr> +<tr><td>Width nave</td><td align="right">42.9</td><td align="right">34.5</td></tr> +<tr><td>Width transept</td><td align="right">42.9</td><td align="right"></td></tr> +<tr><td>Width side aisles</td><td align="right">18</td><td align="right">17.5</td></tr> +<tr><td>Width windows</td><td align="right">41</td><td align="right">48</td></tr> +<tr><td>Width nave and side aisles</td><td align="right">78.9</td><td align="right">102</td></tr> +<tr><td>Width west front</td><td align="right">150</td><td align="right">115</td></tr> +<tr><td>Height vault, nave</td><td align="right">132</td><td align="right">84</td></tr> +<tr><td>Height vault, choir</td><td align="right">129</td><td align="right"></td></tr> +<tr><td>Height west towers</td><td align="right">210</td><td align="right"></td></tr> +<tr><td>Height chapels</td><td align="right">60</td><td align="right"></td></tr> +<tr><td>Height side aisles, nave</td><td align="right">60.8</td><td align="right"></td></tr> +<tr><td>Height side aisles, choir</td><td align="right">57.8</td><td align="right">38</td></tr> +<tr><td>Distance between pillars</td><td align="right">16</td><td align="right"></td></tr> +<tr><td>Height grand arches</td><td align="right">78</td><td align="right">78</td></tr> +<tr><td>Number of pillars</td><td align="right">46</td><td align="right"></td></tr> +<tr><td>Number of chapels</td><td align="right">25</td><td align="right"></td></tr> +<tr><td>Length of choir</td><td align="right">130</td><td align="right">140</td></tr> +</table> + +<p class="c sml">(The old French foot is the equal of 1.06576 English feet.)</p> + +<p>The above comparative measurements are given as being of the +contemporary types of English and French cathedrals, being nearly +approximate to each other as to the date of their erection and +measurements. The figures themselves are transcribed from a little-known +but thoroughly conscientious work by G. D. Whittington, entitled +"Contributions to an Ecclesiastical Survey of France."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">385</a></span></p> + + + +<h3 class="top15">IX</h3> + +<p class="c"><i>French Metres Reduced to English Feet</i></p> + + +<table summary="metres" +cellpadding="4" +cellspacing="1" +style="font-size:85%;"> + +<tr align="center" valign="top" +style="font-weight:800;font-size:90%; +font-style:italic;"> +<td>Metres</td> +<td>English feet and<br />decimal parts</td> +<td>Metres</td> +<td>English feet and<br />decimal parts</td> +<td>Metres</td> +<td>English feet and<br />decimal parts</td></tr> +<tr align="right"><td>1</td><td>3.281</td><td>20</td><td>65.618</td><td>300</td><td>984.270</td></tr> +<tr align="right"><td>2</td><td>6.562</td><td>30</td><td>98.427</td><td>400</td><td>1312.360</td></tr> +<tr align="right"><td>3</td><td>9.843</td><td>40</td><td>131.236</td><td>500</td><td>1640.450</td></tr> +<tr align="right"><td>4</td><td>13.123</td><td>50</td><td>164.045</td><td>600</td><td>1968.539</td></tr> +<tr align="right"><td>5</td><td>16.404</td><td>60</td><td>196.854</td><td>700</td><td>2296.629</td></tr> +<tr align="right"><td>6</td><td>19.685</td><td>70</td><td>229.663</td><td>800</td><td>2624.719</td></tr> +<tr align="right"><td>7</td><td>22.966</td><td>80</td><td>262.472</td><td>900</td><td>2952.809</td></tr> +<tr align="right"><td>8</td><td>26.247</td><td>90</td><td>295.281</td><td>1000</td><td>3280.899</td></tr> +<tr align="right"><td>9</td><td>29.528</td><td>100</td><td>328.090</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr align="right"><td>10</td><td>32.809</td><td>200</td><td>656.180</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +</table> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">386</a></span></p> + + + +<h3 class="top15">X</h3> + +<p class="hang"><i>A Brief Glossary of architectural terms, with popular definitions, as +applied to the components which compose the principal features of a +cathedral church</i></p> + + +<div class="image" style="width: 271px;padding:3%;"> +<span class="caption">No. 1. Ground Plan</span> +<img src="images/illus413.png" width="271" height="447" alt="No. 2. Cross Section" /> +</div> + + + +<table summary="glossary1" +cellpadding="4" +cellspacing="1" +style="font-size:85%;"> +<tr valign="top"><td>A</td><td>Lady-chapel</td><td>The principal chapel, usually behind the + high altar, at the extremity or eastern end + of choir, dedicated to Our Lady (Notre + Dame)</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>B</td><td>Transept</td><td>The middle portion of a church, which projects + at right angles with the main body + of nave and choir</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>C<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">387</a></span></td><td>Porch</td><td>Usually the vestibule or receding doorway</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>D</td><td>Lantern or crossing</td><td>Where the transept crosses and joins choir + and nave, usually with windows, if a lantern + proper</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>E</td><td>Choir</td><td>That portion of the edifice in which are + stalls for the choristers, and chapter, also + containing the <i>Maître d'Autel</i></td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>F</td><td>Ambulatory</td><td>The aisles or colonnade which surround + the choir</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>G</td><td>Chapels</td><td>Literally a small place of worship containing + an altar. In a great church, which + may contain several, they are usually + dedicated to male and female saints</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>H</td><td>Nave</td><td>The main body of a church, extending from + the choir to the principal façade; <i>i. e.</i> + that part between the outer aisles</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>I</td><td>Aisles</td><td>The lateral passage on either side of the + nave and separated therefrom by piers + or pillars</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>J</td><td>Portal</td><td>Literally, the framework of a doorway</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>K</td><td>Abside</td><td>The domed easterly end of a church</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>L</td><td>Sacristy</td><td>The apartment in which is kept the church + plate and vestments</td></tr> +</table> + + +<div class="image" style="width: 266px;padding:3%;"> +<span class="caption">No. 2. Cross Section</span> +<img src="images/illus414.png" width="266" height="455" alt="No. 1. Ground Plan" /> +</div> + + +<table summary="glossary2" +cellpadding="4" +cellspacing="1" +style="font-size:85%;"> +<tr valign="top"><td>A<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">388</a></span></td><td>Nave aisle vaulting</td><td>The arched roof of stone</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>B</td><td>Nave vaulting</td><td>The arched roof of stone</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>C</td><td>Flying buttress</td><td>A supporting outside prop of the thrust + variety. Notably a distinguishing feature + of mediæval Gothic architecture</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>D</td><td>Side aisle</td><td>The passage which flanks the nave</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>E</td><td>Buttress pier</td><td>The outer support of a flying buttress</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>F</td><td>Pinnacle</td><td>On towers, buttress piers, gables, etc.</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>G</td><td>Gargoyle</td><td>A projecting water-spout carved grotesquely</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>H</td><td>Niche</td><td>A recess in a wall, or surmounting a pier; + primarily to hold a statue</td></tr> + +</table> + +<div class="image" style="width: 259px;padding:3%;"> +<span class="caption">No. 3 Interior</span> +<img src="images/illus415.png" width="259" height="436" alt="No. 3 Interior" /> + +</div> + +<table summary="glossary3" +cellpadding="4" +cellspacing="1" +style="font-size:85%;"> +<tr valign="top"><td>A</td><td>Clerestory</td><td>The upper range of windows of the nave; + rising above the adjoining portions</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>B</td><td>Triforium</td><td>Literally, a blind window--a range of + openings, or possibly an arcade-effect + only, coming below the clerestory and + above the lower arches of the nave</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>C<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">389</a></span></td><td>Arch (between nave +and aisle)</td><td>Joining the piers or pillars which separate + nave from aisles</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>D</td><td>Pillars (of nave)</td><td>Commonly called pillars, columns, and + piers, but more often are literally pillars, + being made up of blocks of stone one + upon another</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>E</td><td>Vaulting</td><td>The stone arched roof</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>F</td><td>West wall</td><td>Here, in the true Gothic church, is usually + found a rose window, though often obscured + by the organ case</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>G</td><td>Arcaded gallery</td><td>A feature frequently seen in the interior of + great churches, as distinct from the triforium. + Either decorative or of practical + value</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>H</td><td>Pavement</td><td>The floor, always of stone, and often of + marble or mosaic</td></tr> + +</table> + +<div class="image" style="width: 269px;padding:3%;"> +<span class="caption">No. 4. Cross Section</span> + +<img src="images/illus416.png" width="269" height="437" alt="No. 4. Cross Section" /> +</div> + +<table summary="glossary4" +cellpadding="4" +cellspacing="1" +style="font-size:85%;"> +<tr valign="top"><td>A</td><td>Flying buttresses</td><td>A thrust support, or prop, extending from + the main fabric to an outer pier</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>B</td><td>Timber roof</td><td>The timber or scantling above the nave, + which supports the outer tiled or leaden + roofing</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>C<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">390</a></span></td><td>Nave</td><td>The main body of a church</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>D</td><td>Aisle</td><td>The passage which flanks the nave</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>E</td><td>Outer aisle</td><td>A second or outer passage flanking the nave</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>F</td><td>Stairway to roof of +aisle</td><td>Stairways from the interior pavement, leading + to triforium, belfry, or roof</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>G</td><td>Crypt</td><td>In reality a lower or subterranean church + or chapel; from <i>crypta</i>, to hide</td></tr> + +<tr valign="top"><td>H</td><td>Buttress pier</td><td>The outer support of a flying buttress, or + one lying directly against the wall which + it strengthens</td></tr> +</table> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">391</a></span></p> + + +<h3 class="top15"><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX</h3> + +<ul> + +<li>Abélard, <a href="#Page_94">94.</a></li> + +<li>Acquitaine, <a href="#Page_176">176,</a> <a href="#Page_211">211.</a></li> + +<li>Adela, mother of King Stephen of Blois, <a href="#Page_121">121.</a></li> + +<li>Agrippa, <a href="#Page_134">134.</a></li> + +<li>Aisne, Department of the, <a href="#Page_134">134.</a></li> + +<li>Alençon, Bishop of, <a href="#Page_307">307.</a></li> + +<li>Alençon, Notre Dame d', <a href="#Page_296">296-298.</a></li> + +<li>Amboise, Cardinal d', <a href="#Page_84">84,</a> <a href="#Page_90">90.</a></li> +<li>Amboise, Georges d', <a href="#Page_85">85,</a> <a href="#Page_90">90.</a></li> + +<li>Amiens, <a href="#Page_32">32,</a> <a href="#Page_35">35,</a> <a href="#Page_37">37,</a> <a href="#Page_61">61,</a> <a href="#Page_62">62,</a> <a href="#Page_117">117,</a> <a href="#Page_129">129,</a> <a href="#Page_133">133,</a> <a href="#Page_200">200,</a> <a href="#Page_267">267,</a> <a href="#Page_272">272,</a> <a href="#Page_278">278.</a></li> + +<li>Amiens, Bishop of, <a href="#Page_65">65.</a></li> + +<li>Amiens, Cathedral at, <a href="#Page_140">140,</a> <a href="#Page_141">141,</a> <a href="#Page_384">384.</a></li> + +<li>Amiens, Flying buttresses at, <a href="#Page_67">67.</a></li> + +<li>Amiens, Notre Dame d', <a href="#Page_64">64,</a> <a href="#Page_69">69,</a> <a href="#Page_72">72,</a> <a href="#Page_366">366,</a> <a href="#Page_367">367.</a></li> + +<li>"Ampoule, Sainte," The, <a href="#Page_25">25,</a> <a href="#Page_143">143.</a></li> + +<li>Angers, <a href="#Page_119">119,</a> <a href="#Page_149">149.</a></li> + +<li>Angers, Bishop's Palace at, <a href="#Page_181">181.</a></li> + +<li>Angers, Castle at, <a href="#Page_175">175.</a></li> + +<li>Angers, David d', <a href="#Page_235">235.</a></li> + +<li>Angers, St. Maurice d', <a href="#Page_147">147,</a> <a href="#Page_173">173-182</a>, <a href="#Page_367">367,</a> <a href="#Page_368">368.</a></li> + +<li>Angevine Churches, The, <a href="#Page_215">215.</a></li> + +<li>Angevine details at Le Mans, <a href="#Page_115">115.</a></li> + +<li>Angevine style of architecture, The, <a href="#Page_176">176,</a> <a href="#Page_180">180.</a></li> + +<li>Angoulême, <a href="#Page_15">15.</a></li> + +<li>Anjou, <a href="#Page_115">115.</a></li> + +<li>Anjou, Counts of, <a href="#Page_175">175.</a></li> + +<li>Anjou, Dukes of, <a href="#Page_173">173,</a> <a href="#Page_181">181.</a></li> + +<li>Anjou, Margaret of, <a href="#Page_173">173.</a></li> + +<li><a name="Anne_of_Brittany" id="Anne_of_Brittany"></a>Anne of Brittany, <a href="#Page_169">169,</a> <a href="#Page_184">184.</a></li> + +<li>Anne, Duchess (<i>see also</i> <a href="#Anne_of_Brittany">Anne of Brittany</a>), <a href="#Page_188">188.</a></li> + +<li>Antwerp, <a href="#Page_126">126.</a></li> + +<li>Architectural divisions of France, <a href="#Page_34">34.</a></li> + +<li>Ardennes, Department of the, <a href="#Page_134">134.</a></li> + +<li>Arles, <a href="#Page_33">33.</a></li> + +<li>Arras, <a href="#Page_15">15,</a> <a href="#Page_184">184,</a> <a href="#Page_226">226.</a></li> + +<li>Arras, Belfry at, <a href="#Page_245">245;</a> +<ul><li>Citadel of, <a href="#Page_244">244;</a></li> +<li>Hôtel de Ville, <a href="#Page_245">245.</a></li> +</ul> +</li> + +<li>Arras, St. Vaast d', <a href="#Page_242">242-246</a>, <a href="#Page_368">368.</a></li> + +<li>Artois, <a href="#Page_237">237,</a> <a href="#Page_242">242.</a></li> + +<li>Assisi, St. Francis of, <a href="#Page_188">188.</a></li> + +<li>Attila, <a href="#Page_132">132.</a></li> + +<li>Attila, Attack on Aurelianum, <a href="#Page_150">150.</a></li> + +<li>Attila, Defeat at Chalons, <a href="#Page_251">251.</a></li> + +<li>Augustus, <a href="#Page_134">134.</a></li> + +<li>Aurelian, <a href="#Page_150">150,</a> <a href="#Page_226">226.</a></li> + +<li>Autun, <a href="#Page_33">33,</a> <a href="#Page_257">257,</a> <a href="#Page_258">258.</a></li> + +<li>Autun, St. Lazare d', <a href="#Page_257">257-261</a>, <a href="#Page_368">368.</a></li> + +<li>Auvergne, <a href="#Page_151">151.</a></li> + +<li>Auvergnat Churches, The, <a href="#Page_215">215.</a></li> + +<li>Auxerre, <a href="#Page_215">215.</a></li> + +<li>Auxerre, Bishops of, <a href="#Page_194">194.</a></li> + +<li>Auxerre, Episcopal Palace at, <a href="#Page_195">195.</a></li> + +<li>Auxerre, St. Etienne d', <a href="#Page_191">191-196</a>, <a href="#Page_369">369.</a></li> + +<li>Auxonne, Notre Dame d', <a href="#Page_220">220.</a></li> + +<li>Avignon, <a href="#Page_33">33.</a></li> + +<li>Avranches, <a href="#Page_321">321.</a></li> + +<li>Avranches, Notre Dame de, <a href="#Page_326">326-328.</a></li> + +<li>Azon, <a href="#Page_307">307.</a></li> + + +<li class="spc">Baldwin of Hainault, <a href="#Page_237">237.</a></li> + +<li>Balzac, <a href="#Page_164">164.</a></li> + +<li>Bayeux, <a href="#Page_285">285.</a></li> + +<li>Bayeux, Odo, Bishop of, <a href="#Page_311">311,</a> <a href="#Page_312">312.</a></li> + +<li>Bayeux, Notre Dame de, <a href="#Page_310">310-314</a>, <a href="#Page_369">369.</a></li> + +<li>Bayeux, Tapestry of, <a href="#Page_310">310,</a> <a href="#Page_311">311.</a></li> + +<li>Beauvais, <a href="#Page_13">13,</a> <a href="#Page_19">19,</a> <a href="#Page_20">20,</a> <a href="#Page_32">32,</a> <a href="#Page_35">35,</a> <a href="#Page_37">37,</a> <a href="#Page_61">61,</a> <a href="#Page_69">69,</a> <a href="#Page_117">117-119</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133,</a> <a href="#Page_200">200,</a> <a href="#Page_267">267.</a></li> + +<li>Beauvais, Bishop of, <a href="#Page_52">52,</a> <a href="#Page_303">303.</a></li> + +<li>Beauvais, Romano-Byzantine work at, <a href="#Page_75">75.</a></li> + +<li>Beauvais, Cathedral of St. Pierre, <a href="#Page_28">28,</a> <a href="#Page_70">70-76</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140,</a> <a href="#Page_369">369.</a></li> + +<li>Beaux Arts, Département de, <a href="#Page_23">23,</a> <a href="#Page_340">340.</a></li> + +<li>Beaux Arts, Palais des, <a href="#Page_96">96.</a></li> + +<li>Becket, St. Thomas à, <a href="#Page_54">54,</a> <a href="#Page_280">280,</a> <a href="#Page_282">282,</a> <a href="#Page_327">327.</a></li> + +<li>Bedford, Duke of, <a href="#Page_90">90.</a></li> + +<li>Belgica, Secunda, <a href="#Page_132">132.</a></li> + +<li>Bellegambe, <a href="#Page_244">244.</a></li> + +<li>Bellêne, Count of, <a href="#Page_307">307.</a></li> + +<li>Belmas, Bishop, <a href="#Page_235">235.</a></li> + +<li>Benedictine Abbey at St. Denis, <a href="#Page_93">93.</a></li> + +<li>Berengaria, Queen, <a href="#Page_113">113,</a> <a href="#Page_120">120.</a></li> + +<li>Bernard de Soissons, <a href="#Page_138">138.</a></li> + +<li>Berry, Duc de, <a href="#Page_96">96,</a> <a href="#Page_108">108.</a></li> + +<li>Besançon, <a href="#Page_27">27,</a> <a href="#Page_32">32,</a> <a href="#Page_223">223,</a> <a href="#Page_225">225.</a></li> + +<li>Bethléem, Bishop of, <a href="#Page_31">31.</a></li> + +<li>Bishop's Palace, The (Amiens), <a href="#Page_67">67.</a></li> + +<li>Bishop's Palace, The, at Beauvais, <a href="#Page_76">76.</a></li> + +<li>"Black Angers," 174 (<i>see</i> <a href="#Shakespeare_on_Angers">Shakespeare on Angers</a>).</li> + +<li>Blanche of Castile, <a href="#Page_66">66,</a> <a href="#Page_169">169.</a></li> + +<li>Blois, <a href="#Page_18">18,</a> <a href="#Page_149">149,</a> <a href="#Page_210">210,</a> <a href="#Page_215">215.</a></li> + +<li>Blois, Chateau of, <a href="#Page_157">157.</a></li> + +<li>Blois, Counts of, <a href="#Page_121">121.</a></li> + +<li>Blois, King Stephen of, <a href="#Page_121">121.</a></li> + +<li>Blois, St. Louis de, <a href="#Page_156">156.</a></li> + +<li>Bonn, Minster at, <a href="#Page_50">50.</a></li> + +<li>Borgia, Cæsar, <a href="#Page_182">182.</a></li> + +<li>Borromée, <a href="#Page_244">244.</a></li> + +<li>Boulogne-sur-Mer, <a href="#Page_223">223,</a> <a href="#Page_225">225.</a></li> + +<li>Boulogne-sur-Mer, Notre Dame de, <a href="#Page_231">231-233.</a></li> + +<li>Bourassé, Abbé, <a href="#Page_108">108,</a> <a href="#Page_211">211,</a> <a href="#Page_260">260,</a> <a href="#Page_279">279,</a> <a href="#Page_303">303.</a></li> + +<li>Bourges, <a href="#Page_33">33,</a> <a href="#Page_37">37,</a> <a href="#Page_61">61,</a> <a href="#Page_215">215.</a></li> + +<li>Bourges, St. Etienne de, <a href="#Page_139">139,</a> <a href="#Page_199">199-208</a>, <a href="#Page_370">370.</a></li> + +<li>Brest, <a href="#Page_348">348.</a></li> + +<li>Bretagne, Duc de, <a href="#Page_187">187.</a></li> + +<li>Briceius, <a href="#Page_165">165.</a></li> + +<li>Brittany, <a href="#Page_12">12,</a> <a href="#Page_20">20,</a> <a href="#Page_27">27,</a> <a href="#Page_32">32.</a></li> + +<li>Brittany, Chancellor of, <a href="#Page_182">182.</a></li> + +<li>Brittany, Duchy of, <a href="#Page_184">184.</a></li> + +<li>Bruges, <a href="#Page_262">262.</a></li> + +<li>Burgundy, <a href="#Page_258">258,</a> <a href="#Page_259">259,</a> <a href="#Page_262">262.</a></li> + +<li>Byzantine influences at Bourges, <a href="#Page_202">202.</a></li> + +<li>Byzantine tendencies, <a href="#Page_13">13;</a> +<ul><li>conception, <a href="#Page_27">27.</a></li> +</ul> +</li> + + +<li class="spc">Caen, <a href="#Page_285">285.</a></li> + +<li>Cæsar, burned Orleans, <a href="#Page_150">150.</a></li> + +<li>Calixtus II., <a href="#Page_133">133.</a></li> + +<li>Calvin (John), <a href="#Page_51">51.</a></li> + +<li>Cambrai, <a href="#Page_15">15,</a> <a href="#Page_226">226.</a></li> + +<li>Cambrai, Notre Dame de, <a href="#Page_234">234-236.</a></li> + +<li>Capet, Hugh, <a href="#Page_51">51.</a></li> + +<li>Carcassonne, <a href="#Page_33">33.</a></li> + +<li>Carlovingian Dynasty, The, <a href="#Page_94">94.</a></li> + +<li>Carrier, <a href="#Page_183">183.</a></li> + +<li>Cathedrals, The Grand, <a href="#Page_23">23.</a></li> + +<li>Cathedrals of the North, <a href="#Page_26">26.</a></li> + +<li>"Caveau Imperial," The, at St. Denis, <a href="#Page_95">95.</a></li> + +<li>Chalons (sur Marne), <a href="#Page_132">132,</a> <a href="#Page_133">133,</a> <a href="#Page_226">226.</a></li> + +<li>Chalons-sur-Marne, St. Etienne de, <a href="#Page_251">251-253</a>, <a href="#Page_371">371.</a></li> + +<li>Chambidge, Martin, <a href="#Page_276">276.</a></li> + +<li>Chambord, <a href="#Page_18">18,</a> <a href="#Page_210">210,</a> <a href="#Page_214">214.</a></li> + +<li>Champagne, Counts of, <a href="#Page_274">274.</a></li> + +<li>Chancellor of Brittany, <a href="#Page_182">182.</a></li> + +<li>Chantilly, Chateau of, <a href="#Page_50">50.</a></li> + +<li>Charlemagne, <a href="#Page_51">51,</a> <a href="#Page_133">133,</a> <a href="#Page_282">282.</a></li> + +<li>Charlemagne, Tour de, <a href="#Page_165">165.</a></li> + +<li>Charles of Anjou, <a href="#Page_120">120.</a></li> + +<li>Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, <a href="#Page_262">262-263.</a></li> + +<li>Charles (King), <a href="#Page_212">212.</a></li> + +<li>Charles V., <a href="#Page_240">240,</a> <a href="#Page_282">282.</a></li> + +<li>Charles VII., <a href="#Page_30">30,</a> <a href="#Page_138">138,</a> <a href="#Page_144">144.</a></li> + +<li>Charles VIII., <a href="#Page_17">17,</a> <a href="#Page_169">169,</a> <a href="#Page_184">184.</a></li> + +<li>Charles X., <a href="#Page_24">24,</a> <a href="#Page_144">144.</a></li> + +<li>Chartres, <a href="#Page_20">20,</a> <a href="#Page_30">30,</a> <a href="#Page_33">33,</a> <a href="#Page_35">35,</a> <a href="#Page_61">61,</a> <a href="#Page_62">62,</a> <a href="#Page_113">113,</a> <a href="#Page_210">210,</a> <a href="#Page_215">215,</a> <a href="#Page_278">278,</a> <a href="#Page_338">338.</a></li> + +<li>Chartres, Celtic foundation of, <a href="#Page_124">124.</a></li> + +<li>Chartres, Counts of, <a href="#Page_121">121.</a></li> + +<li>Chartres, Details at, <a href="#Page_87">87.</a></li> + +<li>Chartres, Jean de, <a href="#Page_187">187.</a></li> + +<li>Chartres, Notre Dame de, <a href="#Page_121">121,</a> <a href="#Page_139">139,</a> <a href="#Page_140">140,</a> <a href="#Page_141">141,</a> <a href="#Page_371">371.</a></li> + +<li>Chartres, Spires of Cathedral at, <a href="#Page_125">125,</a> <a href="#Page_267">267.</a></li> + +<li>Chaste Susanne, Painting of, <a href="#Page_220">220.</a></li> + +<li>Chateau of the Italian Dukes (at Nevers), <a href="#Page_210">210.</a></li> + +<li>Chateaux of the Loire, <a href="#Page_18">18,</a> <a href="#Page_32">32,</a> <a href="#Page_148">148.</a></li> + +<li>Chaucer's "Temple of Mars," <a href="#Page_86">86.</a></li> + +<li>Chaumont, <a href="#Page_18">18.</a></li> + +<li>Chenonceau, <a href="#Page_18">18,</a> <a href="#Page_210">210.</a></li> + +<li>Childeric, <a href="#Page_132">132,</a> <a href="#Page_133">133.</a></li> + +<li>Cires-les-Mello, <a href="#Page_35">35.</a></li> + +<li>Clamecy, <a href="#Page_31">31.</a></li> + +<li>Clement, Eudes, <a href="#Page_99">99.</a></li> + +<li>Clotilda, wife of Clovis, <a href="#Page_133">133.</a></li> + +<li>Clovis, <a href="#Page_22">22,</a> <a href="#Page_30">30,</a> <a href="#Page_138">138,</a> <a href="#Page_139">139,</a> <a href="#Page_143">143,</a> <a href="#Page_144">144,</a> <a href="#Page_224">224.</a></li> + +<li>Clovis, Baptism of, <a href="#Page_133">133.</a></li> + +<li>Coligny, <a href="#Page_151">151.</a></li> + +<li>Cologne, Apse-sided transepts at, <a href="#Page_50">50.</a></li> + +<li>Cologne, Cathedral at, <a href="#Page_20">20,</a> <a href="#Page_37">37,</a> <a href="#Page_135">135,</a> <a href="#Page_141">141.</a></li> + +<li>Colomb, Michel, <a href="#Page_187">187,</a> <a href="#Page_332">332.</a></li> + +<li>Colombiers, <a href="#Page_315">315.</a></li> + +<li>Commercy, Jacquemin de, <a href="#Page_250">250.</a></li> + +<li>Commission des Monuments Historiques, <a href="#Page_35">35,</a> <a href="#Page_170">170,</a> <a href="#Page_176">176,</a> <a href="#Page_213">213.</a></li> + +<li>Compiègne, Chateau of, <a href="#Page_50">50.</a></li> + +<li>Condés, The, <a href="#Page_153">153.</a></li> + +<li>Constant, <a href="#Page_282">282.</a></li> + +<li>Cormier, Jean, <a href="#Page_129">129.</a></li> + +<li>Corroyer, <a href="#Page_349">349.</a></li> + +<li>Coucy, Chateau of, <a href="#Page_50">50.</a></li> + +<li>Coutances, <a href="#Page_267">267,</a> <a href="#Page_285">285,</a> <a href="#Page_286">286,</a> <a href="#Page_321">321.</a></li> + +<li>Coutances, Notre Dame de, <a href="#Page_321">321-325.</a></li> + +<li>Creil, <a href="#Page_35">35.</a></li> + +<li>Croixmore, Abp. Robert de, <a href="#Page_84">84.</a></li> + +<li>Crusaders, The, <a href="#Page_14">14.</a></li> + + +<li class="spc">Dagobert I., <a href="#Page_93">93.</a></li> + +<li>D'Arc, Jeanne, <a href="#Page_151">151,</a> <a href="#Page_303">303.</a></li> + +<li>Dauphins of France, The, <a href="#Page_170">170.</a></li> + +<li>Da Vinci, <a href="#Page_157">157.</a></li> + +<li>De Breze, Louis, <a href="#Page_89">89.</a></li> + +<li>De Breze, Pierre, <a href="#Page_89">89.</a></li> + +<li>De Caumont, "Abécêdaire'd Architecture," <a href="#Page_33">33,</a> <a href="#Page_349">349.</a></li> + +<li>De Sauteuil, <a href="#Page_106">106.</a></li> + +<li>Descartes, <a href="#Page_164">164.</a></li> + +<li>Descent from the Cross, The (by Rubens), <a href="#Page_239">239.</a></li> + +<li>Devils of Notre Dame, The, <a href="#Page_106">106.</a></li> + +<li>Dieppe, <a href="#Page_285">285.</a></li> + +<li>Dijon, <a href="#Page_27">27,</a> <a href="#Page_223">223,</a> <a href="#Page_258">258.</a></li> + +<li>Dijon, St. Bénigne of, <a href="#Page_225">225,</a> <a href="#Page_262">262-265.</a></li> + +<li>Dinan, <a href="#Page_335">335.</a></li> + +<li>Dol-de-Bretagne, Façade at, <a href="#Page_98">98.</a></li> + +<li>Dol-de-Bretagne, St. Samson de, <a href="#Page_329">329-332.</a></li> + +<li>Domenichino, <a href="#Page_272">272.</a></li> + +<li>Domfront, <a href="#Page_321">321.</a></li> + +<li>Douai, <a href="#Page_244">244.</a></li> + +<li>Du Bellay Langey, <a href="#Page_120">120.</a></li> + +<li>Dufêtre, Mgr., <a href="#Page_211">211.</a></li> + +<li>Duroctorum, <a href="#Page_132">132.</a></li> + + +<li class="spc">East of Paris, <a href="#Page_221">221.</a></li> + +<li>Eastern influences at Bourges, <a href="#Page_202">202.</a></li> + +<li>Ebo, Bishop of Reims, <a href="#Page_136">136.</a></li> + +<li>Edict of Nantes, The, <a href="#Page_183">183.</a></li> + +<li>Edward III., <a href="#Page_129">129.</a></li> + +<li>English characteristics of Gothic, <a href="#Page_45">45,</a> <a href="#Page_68">68.</a></li> + +<li>Estonteville, Cardinal d', <a href="#Page_88">88.</a></li> + +<li>Evreux, <a href="#Page_32">32.</a></li> + +<li>Evreux, Notre Dame d', <a href="#Page_288">288-295</a>, <a href="#Page_372">372.</a></li> + +<li>Exeter, <a href="#Page_114">114.</a></li> + + +<li class="spc">Falise, <a href="#Page_321">321.</a></li> + +<li>Fenelon, <a href="#Page_235">235,</a> <a href="#Page_236">236.</a></li> + +<li>Fergusson, quoted, <a href="#Page_12">12,</a> <a href="#Page_56">56,</a> <a href="#Page_126">126,</a> <a href="#Page_139">139.</a></li> + +<li>Fiesole, Jérôme de, <a href="#Page_187">187.</a></li> + +<li>Flemish school of painting, <a href="#Page_244">244.</a></li> + +<li>Flemish wood-carving, <a href="#Page_90">90.</a></li> + +<li>Florence, <a href="#Page_33">33.</a></li> + +<li>Flying buttresses, Notre Dame de Paris, <a href="#Page_28">28;</a> +<ul><li>Notre Dame d'Amiens, <a href="#Page_28">28;</a></li> +<li>Tours, <a href="#Page_167">167.</a></li> +</ul> +</li> + +<li>Foix, Marguerite de, <a href="#Page_187">187.</a></li> + +<li>Fouilloy, Evrard de, <a href="#Page_65">65.</a></li> + +<li>France, Architectural divisions of, <a href="#Page_34">34.</a></li> + +<li>France, Ecclesiastical capital of, <a href="#Page_133">133.</a></li> + +<li>France, Kings of, <a href="#Page_24">24,</a> <a href="#Page_93">93,</a> <a href="#Page_383">383.</a></li> + +<li>Francis I., <a href="#Page_74">74.</a></li> + +<li>Francis II., Tomb of, <a href="#Page_187">187.</a></li> + +<li>Franks, The, <a href="#Page_22">22.</a></li> + +<li>Franks, The Ripuarian, <a href="#Page_133">133.</a></li> + +<li>Franks, Invasion of, <a href="#Page_132">132,</a> <a href="#Page_133">133,</a> <a href="#Page_224">224.</a></li> + +<li>Frankish influence, <a href="#Page_11">11.</a></li> + +<li>Freeman, Prof. Aug., <a href="#Page_113">113,</a> <a href="#Page_248">248,</a> <a href="#Page_311">311.</a></li> + +<li>Fréjus, <a href="#Page_15">15.</a></li> + +<li>French Flanders, <a href="#Page_41">41.</a></li> + +<li>French Gothic Architecture, <a href="#Page_38">38.</a></li> + +<li>French Mediæval Architecture, <a href="#Page_38">38.</a></li> + +<li>French Revolution, The, <a href="#Page_31">31,</a> <a href="#Page_43">43,</a> <a href="#Page_44">44,</a> <a href="#Page_52">52,</a> <a href="#Page_55">55,</a> <a href="#Page_96">96,</a> <a href="#Page_99">99,</a> <a href="#Page_103">103,</a> <a href="#Page_142">142,</a> <a href="#Page_184">184,</a> <a href="#Page_226">226.</a></li> + +<li>Fulbert, Bishop of Chartres, <a href="#Page_129">129.</a></li> + + +<li class="spc">"Gallery of Kings," at Amiens, <a href="#Page_67">67.</a></li> + +<li>Gallery of Kings, The (at Reims), <a href="#Page_138">138,</a> <a href="#Page_178">178.</a></li> + +<li>Gaucher, <a href="#Page_138">138.</a></li> + +<li>Geeraerts (of Antwerp), <a href="#Page_235">235.</a></li> + +<li>Genabum (of Gallia), <a href="#Page_150">150.</a></li> + +<li>Genoa, <a href="#Page_157">157.</a></li> + +<li>German manner of building, <a href="#Page_27">27.</a></li> + +<li>Ghent, <a href="#Page_242">242,</a> <a href="#Page_262">262.</a></li> + +<li>Gisors, <a href="#Page_35">35.</a></li> + +<li>Gobelin Tapestries, <a href="#Page_76">76,</a> <a href="#Page_143">143.</a></li> + +<li>Gonsé, <a href="#Page_349">349.</a></li> + +<li>Good God of Amiens, The, <a href="#Page_66">66.</a></li> + +<li>Gothic, Development of, <a href="#Page_14">14,</a> <a href="#Page_24">24;</a> +<ul><li>Rudimentary, <a href="#Page_16">16;</a></li> +<li>Anti, <a href="#Page_18">18;</a></li> +<li>Non, <a href="#Page_18">18.</a></li> +</ul> +</li> + +<li>Goujon, Jean, <a href="#Page_89">89,</a> <a href="#Page_170">170.</a></li> + +<li>Gourney, <a href="#Page_35">35.</a></li> + +<li>Grand Cathedrals, The, <a href="#Page_12">12,</a> <a href="#Page_20">20,</a> <a href="#Page_35">35,</a> <a href="#Page_61">61-63.</a></li> + +<li>Granville, <a href="#Page_321">321.</a></li> + +<li>Grouin, <a href="#Page_345">345.</a></li> + +<li>Guillaume of Sens, <a href="#Page_225">225.</a></li> + +<li>Guillaume Bras-de-Fer, <a href="#Page_323">323.</a></li> + + +<li class="spc">Hachette, Jeanne, <a href="#Page_76">76.</a></li> + +<li>Haffreingue, Mgr., <a href="#Page_233">233.</a></li> + +<li>Henry I., <a href="#Page_129">129,</a> <a href="#Page_133">133.</a></li> + +<li>Henry II. (of France), <a href="#Page_113">113,</a> <a href="#Page_166">166,</a> <a href="#Page_249">249.</a></li> + +<li>Henry II. (of England), <a href="#Page_282">282,</a> <a href="#Page_301">301,</a> <a href="#Page_325">325.</a></li> + +<li>Henry IV., <a href="#Page_30">30,</a> <a href="#Page_96">96,</a> <a href="#Page_133">133,</a> <a href="#Page_153">153,</a> <a href="#Page_183">183.</a></li> + +<li>Henry of Navarre, <a href="#Page_129">129.</a></li> + +<li>House of the Kings, The, <a href="#Page_144">144.</a></li> + +<li>Hugh II., <a href="#Page_215">215.</a></li> + +<li>Hugo's "Notre Dame," <a href="#Page_106">106.</a></li> + +<li>Huguenots, The, <a href="#Page_153">153,</a> <a href="#Page_195">195.</a></li> + +<li>Humbert, Alberic de, <a href="#Page_137">137.</a></li> + + +<li class="spc">Irene, Princess, <a href="#Page_130">130.</a></li> + +<li>Isle de la Cité, <a href="#Page_105">105,</a> <a href="#Page_106">106.</a></li> + +<li>Isle of France, <a href="#Page_12">12,</a> <a href="#Page_27">27,</a> <a href="#Page_61">61.</a></li> + +<li>Italian influences, <a href="#Page_17">17.</a></li> + +<li>Ivor (Bishop of Chartres), <a href="#Page_212">212.</a></li> + + +<li class="spc">James (Henry), <a href="#Page_163">163,</a> <a href="#Page_204">204.</a></li> + +<li>Jean sans Peur, <a href="#Page_265">265.</a></li> + +<li>Jensen, Nicolas, <a href="#Page_164">164.</a></li> + +<li>Joannes, Abbé, <a href="#Page_253">253.</a></li> + +<li>John, Duke of Bedford, <a href="#Page_90">90.</a></li> + +<li>John the Baptist, <a href="#Page_69">69.</a></li> + +<li>Jovinus, Tomb of, <a href="#Page_142">142.</a></li> + +<li>Juste, <a href="#Page_170">170.</a></li> + + +<li class="spc">"Kreisker," The (at St. Pol de Leon), <a href="#Page_345">345.</a></li> + + +<li class="spc">La Hougue, <a href="#Page_345">345.</a></li> + +<li>Langres, <a href="#Page_32">32.</a></li> + +<li>Langres, La Montagne de, <a href="#Page_218">218.</a></li> + +<li>Langres, St. Mammes de, <a href="#Page_218">218-220.</a></li> + +<li>Laon, <a href="#Page_20">20,</a> <a href="#Page_32">32,</a> <a href="#Page_41">41,</a> <a href="#Page_61">61,</a> <a href="#Page_325">325.</a></li> + +<li>Laon, Notre Dame de, <a href="#Page_43">43-46</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49,</a> <a href="#Page_139">139,</a> <a href="#Page_372">372-373.</a></li> + +<li>Laon, Palais de Justice, <a href="#Page_46">46.</a></li> + +<li>Last Judgment, The (at Bourges), <a href="#Page_204">204.</a></li> + +<li>Le Mans, <a href="#Page_32">32,</a> <a href="#Page_61">61,</a> <a href="#Page_62">62,</a> <a href="#Page_120">120,</a> <a href="#Page_121">121,</a> <a href="#Page_124">124,</a> <a href="#Page_168">168,</a> <a href="#Page_200">200,</a> <a href="#Page_210">210,</a> <a href="#Page_338">338.</a></li> + +<li>Le Mans, German invasion of, <a href="#Page_120">120.</a></li> + +<li>Le Mans, Notre Dame de la Cloture, <a href="#Page_180">180.</a></li> + +<li>Le Mans, St. Julien, <a href="#Page_113">113-120</a>, <a href="#Page_373">373,</a> <a href="#Page_374">374.</a></li> + +<li>Leo III., <a href="#Page_133">133.</a></li> + +<li>Leo IX., <a href="#Page_307">307.</a></li> + +<li>Le Puy, <a href="#Page_33">33.</a></li> + +<li>Lescornel, <a href="#Page_219">219.</a></li> + +<li>Le Tellier, <a href="#Page_144">144.</a></li> + +<li>Le Veneur, Bishop, <a href="#Page_292">292.</a></li> + +<li>Libergier, <a href="#Page_142">142.</a></li> + +<li>Limoges, <a href="#Page_151">151.</a></li> + +<li>Lisieux, <a href="#Page_285">285,</a> <a href="#Page_286">286,</a> <a href="#Page_301">301.</a></li> + +<li>Lisieux, St. Pierre de, <a href="#Page_301">301-304.</a></li> + +<li>Loire, Cathedrals of the, <a href="#Page_145">145.</a></li> + +<li>Loire, Valley of the, <a href="#Page_147">147,</a> <a href="#Page_148">148.</a></li> + +<li>Loire, Chateaux of, <a href="#Page_18">18,</a> <a href="#Page_32">32,</a> <a href="#Page_147">147.</a></li> + +<li>Longsword, William, <a href="#Page_89">89.</a></li> + +<li>Lorraine, Abbé, <a href="#Page_143">143.</a></li> + +<li>Loudon, Geoffroy de, <a href="#Page_118">118.</a></li> + +<li>Louis le Débonnaire, <a href="#Page_133">133.</a></li> + +<li>Louis le Gros, <a href="#Page_133">133.</a></li> + +<li>Louis I., <a href="#Page_136">136.</a></li> + +<li>Louis VI., <a href="#Page_94">94.</a></li> + +<li>Louis XI., <a href="#Page_208">208,</a> <a href="#Page_246">246.</a></li> + +<li>Louis XII., <a href="#Page_184">184.</a></li> + +<li>Louis XII., Tomb of, at St. Denis, <a href="#Page_19">19.</a></li> + +<li>Louis XIV., <a href="#Page_144">144.</a></li> + +<li>Louis XVI., <a href="#Page_96">96,</a> <a href="#Page_282">282.</a></li> + +<li>Louis XVIII., <a href="#Page_31">31,</a> <a href="#Page_96">96,</a> <a href="#Page_143">143.</a></li> + +<li>Louis Philippe, <a href="#Page_31">31.</a></li> + +<li>Louviers, <a href="#Page_127">127,</a> <a href="#Page_297">297.</a></li> + +<li>Low Countries, The, <a href="#Page_16">16,</a> <a href="#Page_20">20.</a></li> + +<li>Lowell (James Russell), "A Day in Chartres," <a href="#Page_126">126.</a></li> + +<li>Lowell, Hon. E. J., <a href="#Page_310">310.</a></li> + +<li>Luitgarde, <a href="#Page_165">165.</a></li> + +<li>Luzarche, Robert de, <a href="#Page_65">65.</a></li> + + +<li class="spc">Madeleine, The, <a href="#Page_96">96.</a></li> + +<li>Maid of Orleans, The, <a href="#Page_81">81,</a> <a href="#Page_94">94,</a> <a href="#Page_144">144,</a> <a href="#Page_151">151.</a></li> + +<li>Maine, <a href="#Page_114">114.</a></li> + +<li>Maine, Count of, <a href="#Page_120">120.</a></li> + +<li>Mainz, <a href="#Page_214">214.</a></li> + +<li>Mansard, <a href="#Page_159">159,</a> <a href="#Page_240">240.</a></li> + +<li>Margaret of Anjou, <a href="#Page_173">173,</a> <a href="#Page_181">181.</a></li> + +<li>Marie Antoinette, <a href="#Page_96">96.</a></li> + +<li>Marie de Medicis, <a href="#Page_182">182.</a></li> + +<li>Marie Louise, <a href="#Page_95">95.</a></li> + +<li>Marne, Department of, <a href="#Page_132">132,</a> <a href="#Page_134">134.</a></li> + +<li>Marne, River, <a href="#Page_270">270.</a></li> + +<li>Martel, Charles, <a href="#Page_133">133.</a></li> + +<li>Matilda, queen of William the Conqueror, <a href="#Page_129">129,</a> <a href="#Page_310">310,</a> <a href="#Page_311">311.</a></li> + +<li>Mazarin (Cardinal), <a href="#Page_210">210.</a></li> + +<li>Meaux, <a href="#Page_270">270.</a></li> + +<li>Meaux, St. Etienne de, <a href="#Page_270">270-273</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374.</a></li> + +<li>Medicis, Marie de, <a href="#Page_182">182.</a></li> + +<li>Mère de Dieu, <a href="#Page_66">66.</a></li> + +<li>Metz, <a href="#Page_227">227,</a> <a href="#Page_248">248,</a> <a href="#Page_249">249.</a></li> + +<li>Méyron, Etchings of, <a href="#Page_106">106.</a></li> + +<li>Montbray, Geoffroy de, <a href="#Page_323">323.</a></li> + +<li>Monthery, <a href="#Page_89">89.</a></li> + +<li>Mont St. Michel, <a href="#Page_321">321,</a> <a href="#Page_337">337,</a> <a href="#Page_338">338;</a> +<ul><li>Abbey of, <a href="#Page_338">338.</a></li> +</ul></li> + +<li>Monuments, Historical, <a href="#Page_23">23,</a> <a href="#Page_340">340.</a></li> + +<li>Moorish type of architecture at Bourges, <a href="#Page_201">201.</a></li> + +<li>Moors of Spain, The, <a href="#Page_202">202.</a></li> + +<li>Moselle, Valley of the, <a href="#Page_226">226.</a></li> + +<li>Moulins, <a href="#Page_36">36.</a></li> + +<li>Musée des Petits Augustines, <a href="#Page_96">96.</a></li> + + +<li class="spc">Nancy, <a href="#Page_226">226.</a></li> + +<li>Nancy, Cathedral at, <a href="#Page_227">227.</a></li> + +<li>Nantes, <a href="#Page_20">20,</a> <a href="#Page_32">32,</a> <a href="#Page_148">148,</a> <a href="#Page_149">149.</a></li> + +<li>Nantes, Edict of, <a href="#Page_183">183.</a></li> + +<li>Nantes, St. Pierre de, <a href="#Page_183">183,</a> <a href="#Page_374">374,</a> <a href="#Page_375">375.</a></li> + +<li>Naples, <a href="#Page_157">157.</a></li> + +<li>Napoleon I., <a href="#Page_31">31,</a> <a href="#Page_103">103;</a> +<ul><li>Marriage of, <a href="#Page_95">95.</a></li> +</ul> +</li> + +<li>Napoleon III., <a href="#Page_31">31,</a> <a href="#Page_99">99.</a></li> + +<li>Narbonne, <a href="#Page_151">151.</a></li> + +<li>"Narthex, Burgundian," <a href="#Page_258">258.</a></li> + +<li>Netherlands, The, <a href="#Page_14">14.</a></li> + +<li>Neuss, Apse-sided transepts at, <a href="#Page_50">50.</a></li> + +<li>Nevers, <a href="#Page_33">33,</a> <a href="#Page_277">277.</a></li> + +<li>Nevers, St. Cyr and St. Juliette de, <a href="#Page_209">209.</a></li> + +<li>Nevers, St. Etienne de, <a href="#Page_212">212,</a> <a href="#Page_216">216.</a></li> + +<li>Nevers, The Pont du Loire, <a href="#Page_209">209.</a></li> + +<li>Nevers, Tour Gougin, <a href="#Page_213">213;</a> +<ul><li>Tour St. Eloi, <a href="#Page_213">213.</a></li> +</ul> +</li> + +<li>Nicman, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_136">136.</a></li> + +<li>Nièvre, Counts of, <a href="#Page_210">210.</a></li> + +<li>Nîmes, <a href="#Page_33">33.</a></li> + +<li>Nivernais, The, <a href="#Page_210">210.</a></li> + +<li>Nogent-les-Vierges, <a href="#Page_35">35.</a></li> + +<li>Normandy, <a href="#Page_115">115,</a> <a href="#Page_176">176.</a></li> + +<li>Normandy, Duke of, <a href="#Page_89">89.</a></li> + +<li>Norsemen, The, <a href="#Page_82">82.</a></li> + +<li>Notre Dame d'Alençon, <a href="#Page_296">296-298.</a></li> + +<li>Notre Dame d'Amiens, <a href="#Page_64">64-69</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72,</a> <a href="#Page_366">366,</a> <a href="#Page_367">367.</a></li> + +<li>Notre Dame d'Auxonne, <a href="#Page_220">220.</a></li> + +<li>Notre Dame de Bayeux, <a href="#Page_310">310-314</a>, <a href="#Page_369">369.</a></li> + +<li>Notre Dame de Boulogne-sur-Mer, <a href="#Page_231">231-233.</a></li> + +<li>Notre Dame de Cambrai, <a href="#Page_234">234-236.</a></li> + +<li>Notre Dame de Chartres, <a href="#Page_121">121,</a> <a href="#Page_139">139-141</a>, <a href="#Page_371">371.</a></li> + +<li>Notre Dame de Coutances, <a href="#Page_321">321-325.</a></li> + +<li>Notre Dame d'Evreux, <a href="#Page_288">288-295</a>, <a href="#Page_372">372.</a></li> + +<li>Notre Dame de la Cloture (Le Mans), <a href="#Page_180">180.</a></li> + +<li>Notre Dame de Laon, <a href="#Page_43">43-46</a>, <a href="#Page_372">372.</a></li> + +<li>Notre Dame de l'Epine, <a href="#Page_251">251.</a></li> + +<li>Notre Dame de Noyon, <a href="#Page_29">29,</a> <a href="#Page_49">49-53</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199,</a> <a href="#Page_375">375,</a> <a href="#Page_376">376.</a></li> + +<li>Notre Dame de Paris, <a href="#Page_28">28,</a> <a href="#Page_49">49,</a> <a href="#Page_101">101-107</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139,</a> <a href="#Page_140">140,</a> <a href="#Page_199">199,</a> <a href="#Page_376">376,</a> <a href="#Page_377">377.</a></li> + +<li>Notre Dame de Reims, <a href="#Page_132">132-144</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248,</a> <a href="#Page_249">249.</a></li> + +<li>Notre Dame de Rouen, <a href="#Page_37">37,</a> <a href="#Page_49">49,</a> <a href="#Page_79">79-90</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139,</a> <a href="#Page_338">338,</a> <a href="#Page_378">378,</a> <a href="#Page_379">379.</a></li> + +<li>Notre Dame de St. Lo, <a href="#Page_315">315-318.</a></li> + +<li>Notre Dame de St. Omer, <a href="#Page_237">237-241</a>, <a href="#Page_380">380.</a></li> + +<li>Notre Dame de Senlis, <a href="#Page_266">266-269.</a></li> + +<li>Noviodunum, <a href="#Page_51">51.</a></li> + +<li>Noyades, The, <a href="#Page_184">184.</a></li> + +<li>Noyon, <a href="#Page_20">20,</a> <a href="#Page_32">32,</a> <a href="#Page_41">41,</a> <a href="#Page_117">117,</a> <a href="#Page_127">127,</a> <a href="#Page_268">268.</a></li> + +<li>Noyon, Notre Dame de, <a href="#Page_29">29,</a> <a href="#Page_49">49-53</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199,</a> <a href="#Page_375">375,</a> <a href="#Page_376">376.</a></li> + + +<li class="spc">Odericus Vitalis, Bishop, <a href="#Page_302">302.</a></li> + +<li>Odon, <a href="#Page_323">323.</a></li> + +<li>Oise, The River, <a href="#Page_50">50.</a></li> + +<li>Onfroy, <a href="#Page_323">323.</a></li> + +<li>Orange, <a href="#Page_184">184.</a></li> + +<li>Oriflamme, The, <a href="#Page_94">94.</a></li> + +<li>Orleans, <a href="#Page_33">33,</a> <a href="#Page_148">148,</a> <a href="#Page_149">149.</a></li> + +<li>Orleans, Captured by Clovis, <a href="#Page_151">151,</a> <a href="#Page_152">152.</a></li> + +<li>Orleans Family, The, <a href="#Page_169">169.</a></li> + +<li>Orleans, German occupation of, <a href="#Page_151">151.</a></li> + +<li>Orleans, St. Croix d', <a href="#Page_150">150-155</a>, <a href="#Page_376">376.</a></li> + +<li>Orleans, The Maid of, <a href="#Page_81">81,</a> <a href="#Page_94">94,</a> <a href="#Page_144">144,</a> <a href="#Page_151">151.</a></li> + + +<li class="spc">Palais de Justice, Beauvais, <a href="#Page_76">76.</a></li> + +<li>Paramé, <a href="#Page_335">335.</a></li> + +<li>Paris, <a href="#Page_20">20,</a> <a href="#Page_61">61,</a> <a href="#Page_267">267.</a></li> + +<li>Paris, Documentary history of, <a href="#Page_26">26.</a></li> + +<li>Paris, East of, <a href="#Page_221">221.</a></li> + +<li>Paris, Notre Dame de, <a href="#Page_28">28,</a> <a href="#Page_49">49,</a> <a href="#Page_101">101-107</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139,</a> <a href="#Page_140">140,</a> <a href="#Page_199">199,</a> <a href="#Page_217">217,</a> <a href="#Page_376">376,</a> <a href="#Page_377">377.</a></li> + +<li>Paroissien, Poncelet, <a href="#Page_142">142.</a></li> + +<li>Pepersack Tapestries at Reims, The, <a href="#Page_143">143.</a></li> + +<li>Pepin, <a href="#Page_94">94,</a> <a href="#Page_133">133.</a></li> + +<li>Périgueux, <a href="#Page_15">15,</a> <a href="#Page_33">33.</a></li> + +<li>Perpetus, Bishop of Tours, <a href="#Page_165">165.</a></li> + +<li>Perréal, Jehan, <a href="#Page_187">187.</a></li> + +<li>Perrifonds, Chateau of, <a href="#Page_50">50.</a></li> + +<li>Philastre, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_137">137.</a></li> + +<li>Philippe Augustus, <a href="#Page_24">24,</a> <a href="#Page_34">34,</a> <a href="#Page_117">117.</a></li> + +<li>Philippe le Bon, <a href="#Page_262">262.</a></li> + +<li>Philippe le Hardi, <a href="#Page_66">66,</a> <a href="#Page_265">265.</a></li> + +<li>Picardy, <a href="#Page_184">184.</a></li> + +<li>Picardy, Patron Saint of, <a href="#Page_69">69.</a></li> + +<li>Plantagenets, Cradle of the, <a href="#Page_173">173.</a></li> + +<li>Poitiers, <a href="#Page_33">33.</a></li> + +<li>Poitiers, Diane de, <a href="#Page_89">89.</a></li> + +<li>Pont du Loire, Nevers, <a href="#Page_209">209.</a></li> + +<li>Pope Stephen, <a href="#Page_94">94.</a></li> + +<li>Portal de St. Honoré (Amiens), <a href="#Page_67">67.</a></li> + +<li>Portal de la Vierge Dorée (Amiens), <a href="#Page_67">67.</a></li> + +<li>Porte d'Arroux, Autun, <a href="#Page_257">257.</a></li> + +<li>Porte St. Andre, Autun, <a href="#Page_257">257.</a></li> + +<li>Provence, <a href="#Page_211">211.</a></li> + + +<li class="spc">Quimper, <a href="#Page_27">27,</a> <a href="#Page_32">32,</a> <a href="#Page_348">348.</a></li> + +<li>Quimper, St. Corentin de, <a href="#Page_348">348-350.</a></li> + + +<li class="spc">Rabelais, <a href="#Page_164">164.</a></li> + +<li>Rabida, "Bretagne" of, <a href="#Page_338">338.</a></li> + +<li>Raphael, Tapestry cartoons at S. Kensington, <a href="#Page_76">76.</a></li> + +<li>Reclus, <a href="#Page_215">215.</a></li> + +<li>Regnault, <a href="#Page_187">187.</a></li> + +<li>Regnier, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_235">235.</a></li> + +<li>Reims, <a href="#Page_32">32,</a> <a href="#Page_35">35,</a> <a href="#Page_37">37,</a> <a href="#Page_128">128,</a> <a href="#Page_129">129,</a> <a href="#Page_224">224,</a> <a href="#Page_226">226,</a> <a href="#Page_278">278.</a></li> + +<li>Reims, Baptism of Clovis at, <a href="#Page_30">30.</a></li> + +<li>Reims, Capture of, by Vandals, <a href="#Page_132">132.</a></li> + +<li>Reims, Cathedral at, <a href="#Page_24">24.</a></li> + +<li>Reims, Details at, <a href="#Page_87">87.</a></li> + +<li>Reims, Devastation at, <a href="#Page_25">25.</a></li> + +<li>Reims, Notre Dame de, <a href="#Page_93">93,</a> <a href="#Page_132">132-144</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248,</a> <a href="#Page_249">249.</a></li> + +<li>Reims, Portals of Cathedral, <a href="#Page_66">66.</a></li> + +<li>Reims, Roman remains at, <a href="#Page_134">134.</a></li> + +<li>Reims, St. Nicaise of, <a href="#Page_82">82.</a></li> + +<li>Remi, Capital of the, <a href="#Page_132">132.</a></li> + +<li>Renaissance, The, <a href="#Page_16">16.</a></li> + +<li>Renaissance Architecture at Bourges, <a href="#Page_201">201.</a></li> + +<li>Renaissance façade at Tours, <a href="#Page_166">166,</a> <a href="#Page_167">167.</a></li> + +<li>Renaissance wood-carving, <a href="#Page_46">46.</a></li> + +<li>René, King, <a href="#Page_173">173,</a> <a href="#Page_175">175,</a> <a href="#Page_181">181.</a></li> + +<li>Reni, Guido, <a href="#Page_272">272.</a></li> + +<li>Rennes, <a href="#Page_15">15.</a></li> + +<li>Revolution, The French, <a href="#Page_31">31,</a> <a href="#Page_43">43,</a> <a href="#Page_44">44,</a> <a href="#Page_52">52,</a> <a href="#Page_55">55,</a> <a href="#Page_96">96,</a> <a href="#Page_99">99,</a> <a href="#Page_103">103,</a> <a href="#Page_142">142,</a> <a href="#Page_184">184,</a> <a href="#Page_226">226.</a></li> + +<li>Rhine, The, <a href="#Page_23">23,</a> <a href="#Page_27">27,</a> <a href="#Page_223">223.</a></li> + +<li>Rhine Provinces, The, <a href="#Page_14">14.</a></li> + +<li>Rhône, The, <a href="#Page_36">36.</a></li> + +<li>Richard Cœur-de-Lion, <a href="#Page_90">90,</a> <a href="#Page_113">113,</a> <a href="#Page_120">120.</a></li> + +<li>Richard the Fearless, <a href="#Page_83">83.</a></li> + +<li>Rigobert, Bishop, <a href="#Page_133">133.</a></li> + +<li>Robert I., Duke of Burgundy, <a href="#Page_258">258,</a> <a href="#Page_260">260.</a></li> + +<li>Robert, son of Tancrede-de-Hauteville, <a href="#Page_323">323.</a></li> + +<li>Roger, son of Tancrede-de-Hauteville, <a href="#Page_323">323.</a></li> + +<li>Rohan, Cardinal de, <a href="#Page_243">243.</a></li> + +<li>Rollo, <a href="#Page_82">82,</a> <a href="#Page_89">89.</a></li> + +<li>Romanesque tendencies, <a href="#Page_13">13,</a> <a href="#Page_27">27,</a> <a href="#Page_44">44;</a> +<ul><li>types, <a href="#Page_20">20,</a> <a href="#Page_21">21.</a></li> +</ul> +</li> + +<li>Roman power, Decline of, <a href="#Page_26">26.</a></li> + +<li>Roman remains at Reims, <a href="#Page_134">134.</a></li> + +<li>Romans, The, at Genabum (Orleans), <a href="#Page_150">150.</a></li> + +<li>Romano-Byzantine work at Beauvais, <a href="#Page_75">75.</a></li> + +<li>Romano-Byzantine nave at Le Mans, <a href="#Page_115">115.</a></li> + +<li>Rome, <a href="#Page_33">33.</a></li> + +<li>Rosary, Chapel of the (Soissons), <a href="#Page_57">57.</a></li> + +<li>Roscoff, <a href="#Page_345">345.</a></li> + +<li>Rouen, <a href="#Page_19">19,</a> <a href="#Page_35">35,</a> <a href="#Page_37">37,</a> <a href="#Page_61">61,</a> <a href="#Page_62">62.</a></li> + +<li>Rouen, Cathedral at, <a href="#Page_37">37,</a> <a href="#Page_49">49,</a> <a href="#Page_79">79-90</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139,</a> <a href="#Page_338">338,</a> <a href="#Page_378">378,</a> <a href="#Page_379">379.</a></li> + +<li>Rouen, Notre Dame de, <a href="#Page_37">37,</a> <a href="#Page_49">49,</a> <a href="#Page_79">79-90</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139,</a> <a href="#Page_338">338,</a> <a href="#Page_378">378,</a> <a href="#Page_379">379.</a></li> + +<li>Rouen, Tour de Beurre, <a href="#Page_204">204.</a></li> + +<li>Royal Domain, The, <a href="#Page_223">223.</a></li> + +<li>Royale, Rue (Tours), <a href="#Page_163">163.</a></li> + +<li>Royamont, <a href="#Page_35">35.</a></li> + +<li>Rubens, <a href="#Page_235">235,</a> <a href="#Page_238">238.</a></li> + +<li>Rubens, "Adoration" by (Soissons), <a href="#Page_58">58.</a></li> + +<li>Rumaldi, <a href="#Page_136">136.</a></li> + +<li>Ruskin on Rouen Cathedral, <a href="#Page_85">85.</a></li> + +<li>Ruskin, quoted, <a href="#Page_72">72,</a> <a href="#Page_81">81,</a> <a href="#Page_128">128,</a> <a href="#Page_285">285,</a> <a href="#Page_302">302.</a></li> + + +<li class="spc">St. Aignan, <a href="#Page_150">150.</a></li> + +<li>St. Bénigne (Monk of Dijon), <a href="#Page_225">225.</a></li> + +<li>St. Bénigne (Cathedral), <a href="#Page_262">262-265.</a></li> + +<li>St. Bertin, Abbey of (St. Omer), <a href="#Page_225">225,</a> <a href="#Page_240">240.</a></li> + +<li>St. Brieuc, <a href="#Page_339">339,</a> <a href="#Page_342">342.</a></li> + +<li>St. Brieuc, Cathedral of, <a href="#Page_342">342-344.</a></li> + +<li>St. Corentin, Cathedral of, <a href="#Page_27">27.</a></li> + +<li>St. Corentin de Quimper, <a href="#Page_348">348-350.</a></li> + +<li>St. Croix, Abbey of, <a href="#Page_318">318.</a></li> + +<li>St. Croix d'Orleans, <a href="#Page_150">150-155</a>, <a href="#Page_376">376.</a></li> + +<li>St. Cyr and St. Juliette de Nevers, <a href="#Page_209">209.</a></li> + +<li>St. Denis, <a href="#Page_19">19,</a> <a href="#Page_61">61.</a></li> + +<li>St. Denis, Abbey of, <a href="#Page_93">93.</a></li> + +<li>St. Denis, Abbot of, <a href="#Page_94">94.</a></li> + +<li>St. Denis, Basilique de, <a href="#Page_93">93-100</a>, <a href="#Page_379">379.</a></li> + +<li>St. Denis, Church of (at St. Omer), <a href="#Page_225">225.</a></li> + +<li>St. Denis, Crypt of, <a href="#Page_96">96.</a></li> + +<li>St. Deodatus, <a href="#Page_254">254.</a></li> + +<li>St. Dié, <a href="#Page_226">226,</a> <a href="#Page_254">254-256.</a></li> + +<li>St. Dié (Cathedral), <a href="#Page_255">255,</a> <a href="#Page_256">256.</a></li> + +<li>St. Dionysius, <a href="#Page_97">97,</a> <a href="#Page_98">98.</a></li> + +<li>St. Etienne d'Auxerre, <a href="#Page_191">191-196</a>, <a href="#Page_369">369.</a></li> + +<li>St. Etienne de Bourges, <a href="#Page_199">199-208</a>, <a href="#Page_370">370.</a></li> + +<li>St. Etienne (Châlons-sur-Marne), <a href="#Page_251">251-253</a>, <a href="#Page_371">371.</a></li> + +<li>St. Etienne de Meaux, <a href="#Page_270">270-273</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374.</a></li> + +<li>St. Etienne du Mont (Paris), <a href="#Page_15">15,</a> <a href="#Page_19">19.</a></li> + +<li>St. Etienne de Nevers, <a href="#Page_212">212,</a> <a href="#Page_216">216.</a></li> + +<li>St. Etienne de Sens, <a href="#Page_279">279-282</a>, <a href="#Page_379">379.</a></li> + +<li>St. Etienne de Toul, <a href="#Page_247">247-250.</a></li> + +<li>St. Eustache, Church of, Paris, <a href="#Page_196">196.</a></li> + +<li>St. Fermin the Martyr, <a href="#Page_67">67,</a> <a href="#Page_68">68.</a></li> + +<li>St. Francis of Assisi, <a href="#Page_188">188.</a></li> + +<li>St. Gatien de Tours, <a href="#Page_147">147,</a> <a href="#Page_163">163,</a> <a href="#Page_206">206,</a> <a href="#Page_381">381.</a></li> + +<li>St. Gengoult, Church of (Toul), <a href="#Page_248">248.</a></li> + +<li>St. Germain, Church of (at Auxerre), <a href="#Page_195">195.</a></li> + +<li>St. Jean the Evangel, <a href="#Page_218">218.</a></li> + +<li>St. Jean des Vignes, Abbey of, <a href="#Page_54">54.</a></li> + +<li>St. John, <a href="#Page_69">69.</a></li> + +<li>St. Julien, Church of (at Tours), <a href="#Page_169">169.</a></li> + +<li>St. Julien, Le Mans, <a href="#Page_113">113-120</a>, <a href="#Page_373">373,</a> <a href="#Page_374">374.</a></li> + +<li>St. Laud, Bishop, <a href="#Page_315">315.</a></li> + +<li>St. Lazare d'Autun, <a href="#Page_257">257-261</a>, <a href="#Page_368">368.</a></li> + +<li>St. Lo, <a href="#Page_285">285,</a> <a href="#Page_321">321.</a></li> + +<li>St. Lo, Notre Dame de, <a href="#Page_315">315-318.</a></li> + +<li>St. Louis, <a href="#Page_34">34,</a> <a href="#Page_66">66,</a> <a href="#Page_188">188,</a> <a href="#Page_314">314.</a></li> + +<li>St. Louis, Arms of, <a href="#Page_169">169.</a></li> + +<li>St. Louis de Blois, <a href="#Page_156">156.</a></li> + +<li>St. Louis de Versailles, Cathedral of, <a href="#Page_108">108.</a></li> + +<li>St. Maclou, Church of (Rouen), <a href="#Page_19">19,</a> <a href="#Page_81">81.</a></li> + +<li>St. Malo, <a href="#Page_335">335,</a> <a href="#Page_338">338.</a></li> + +<li>St. Malo, Cathedral of, <a href="#Page_336">336-338.</a></li> + +<li>St. Mammes de Langres, <a href="#Page_218">218-220.</a></li> + +<li>Ste. Marguerite, <a href="#Page_188">188.</a></li> + +<li>St. Martin (of Tours), <a href="#Page_165">165.</a></li> + +<li>St. Martin, Tour de (at Tours), <a href="#Page_165">165.</a></li> + +<li>St. Maurice d'Angers, <a href="#Page_147">147,</a> <a href="#Page_173">173-182</a>, <a href="#Page_367">367,</a> <a href="#Page_368">368.</a></li> + +<li>St. Nazaire (Autun), <a href="#Page_258">258.</a></li> + +<li>St. Nicaise, <a href="#Page_82">82,</a> <a href="#Page_136">136,</a> <a href="#Page_142">142.</a></li> + +<li>St. Nicolas de Coutances, <a href="#Page_325">325.</a></li> + +<li>St. Mellor, <a href="#Page_82">82.</a></li> + +<li>St. Omer, <a href="#Page_27">27,</a> <a href="#Page_223">223,</a> <a href="#Page_225">225.</a></li> + +<li>St. Omer, Notre Dame de, 237 <a href="#Page_241">241,</a> <a href="#Page_380">380.</a></li> + +<li>St. Ouen, Church of (Rouen), <a href="#Page_15">15,</a> <a href="#Page_30">30,</a> <a href="#Page_80">80,</a> <a href="#Page_87">87,</a> <a href="#Page_241">241,</a> <a href="#Page_277">277.</a></li> + +<li>St. Peter's, at Rome, <a href="#Page_20">20.</a></li> + +<li>"St. Peter's of the North," <a href="#Page_71">71.</a></li> + +<li>"St. Peter's of the South," <a href="#Page_13">13.</a></li> + +<li>St. Peter and Paul, Church of (at Tours), <a href="#Page_165">165.</a></li> + +<li>St. Pierre d'Aleth, <a href="#Page_336">336.</a></li> + +<li>St. Pierre de Beauvais, <a href="#Page_28">28,</a> <a href="#Page_70">70-76</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140,</a> <a href="#Page_369">369.</a></li> + +<li>St. Pierre de Coutances, <a href="#Page_325">325.</a></li> + +<li>St. Pierre de Lisieux, <a href="#Page_301">301-304.</a></li> + +<li>St. Pierre de Nantes, <a href="#Page_183">183,</a> <a href="#Page_374">374,</a> <a href="#Page_375">375.</a></li> + +<li>St. Pierre de Troyes, <a href="#Page_274">274-278</a>, <a href="#Page_381">381,</a> <a href="#Page_382">382.</a></li> + +<li>St. Pol de Leon, <a href="#Page_255">255,</a> <a href="#Page_339">339,</a> <a href="#Page_345">345.</a></li> + +<li>St. Pol de Leon, Cathedral of, <a href="#Page_345">345-347.</a></li> + +<li>St. Potentien, <a href="#Page_279">279.</a></li> + +<li>St. Quentin, Maze at, <a href="#Page_131">131.</a></li> + +<li>St. Remi, <a href="#Page_31">31,</a> <a href="#Page_133">133,</a> <a href="#Page_134">134,</a> <a href="#Page_136">136.</a></li> + +<li>St. Samson, <a href="#Page_329">329-332.</a></li> + +<li>St. Savinien, <a href="#Page_279">279,</a> <a href="#Page_282">282.</a></li> + +<li>St. Sepulchre, Church of (at St. Omer), <a href="#Page_240">240.</a></li> + +<li>St. Servan, <a href="#Page_335">335,</a> <a href="#Page_338">338.</a></li> + +<li>St. Sixte, <a href="#Page_132">132.</a></li> + +<li>St. Urbain, <a href="#Page_275">275.</a></li> + +<li>St. Vaast d'Arras, <a href="#Page_242">242-246</a>, <a href="#Page_345">345,</a> <a href="#Page_368">368.</a></li> + +<li>St. Yves, <a href="#Page_341">341.</a></li> + +<li>"Sainte Ampoule," The, <a href="#Page_25">25,</a> <a href="#Page_143">143.</a></li> + +<li>Salisbury, Cathedral at, <a href="#Page_64">64,</a> <a href="#Page_384">384.</a></li> + +<li>Salisbury, John of, <a href="#Page_129">129.</a></li> + +<li>Saracen type of architecture at Bourges, <a href="#Page_201">201.</a></li> + +<li>Séez, <a href="#Page_61">61,</a> <a href="#Page_267">267,</a> <a href="#Page_277">277,</a> <a href="#Page_305">305.</a></li> + +<li>Séez, Notre Dame de, <a href="#Page_305">305-309.</a></li> + +<li>Seine, The, <a href="#Page_36">36,</a> <a href="#Page_106">106.</a></li> + +<li>Seine and Loire (by J. M. W. Turner), <a href="#Page_169">169.</a></li> + +<li>Seine, Department of, <a href="#Page_108">108.</a></li> + +<li>Senlis, <a href="#Page_266">266.</a></li> + +<li>Senlis, Notre Dame de, <a href="#Page_266">266-269.</a></li> + +<li>Sens, <a href="#Page_61">61,</a> <a href="#Page_279">279.</a></li> + +<li>Sens, Guillaume of, <a href="#Page_225">225,</a> <a href="#Page_280">280.</a></li> + +<li>Sens, St. Etienne de, <a href="#Page_279">279-282</a>, <a href="#Page_379">379.</a></li> + +<li>Seville, Cathedral at, <a href="#Page_20">20.</a></li> + +<li><a name="Shakespeare_on_Angers" id="Shakespeare_on_Angers"></a>Shakespeare on Angers (in "King John"), <a href="#Page_173">173.</a></li> + +<li>Societé des Monuments Historiques, <a href="#Page_35">35,</a> <a href="#Page_170">170,</a> <a href="#Page_176">176.</a></li> + +<li>Soissons, <a href="#Page_20">20,</a> <a href="#Page_32">32,</a> <a href="#Page_41">41,</a> <a href="#Page_117">117,</a> <a href="#Page_133">133,</a> <a href="#Page_268">268.</a></li> + +<li>Soissons, Bombardment of, by the Germans, <a href="#Page_56">56.</a></li> + +<li>Soissons, Notre Dame de, <a href="#Page_54">54-58.</a></li> + +<li>South Kensington, <a href="#Page_272">272.</a></li> + +<li>Stephen, Pope, <a href="#Page_136">136.</a></li> + +<li>Stevenson (Robert Louis), <a href="#Page_28">28,</a> <a href="#Page_42">42.</a></li> + +<li>Strasbourg, <a href="#Page_248">248.</a></li> + +<li>Strasburg, Cathedral at, <a href="#Page_126">126,</a> <a href="#Page_135">135,</a> <a href="#Page_227">227.</a></li> + +<li>Suger, Abbot, The, <a href="#Page_94">94,</a> <a href="#Page_97">97.</a></li> + +<li>"Suisse, The," <a href="#Page_80">80.</a></li> + + +<li class="spc">Tancrede-de-Hauteville, <a href="#Page_323">323.</a></li> + +<li>Tapestries at Angers, <a href="#Page_181">181.</a></li> + +<li>Tapestries at Bayeux, <a href="#Page_310">310-311.</a></li> + +<li>Tapestries at Le Mans, <a href="#Page_120">120.</a></li> + +<li>Tapestries at Reims, <a href="#Page_142">142,</a> <a href="#Page_143">143.</a></li> + +<li>Tapestries at Soissons, <a href="#Page_58">58.</a></li> + +<li>Tapestries from Raphael's cartoons (at Beauvais), <a href="#Page_76">76.</a></li> + +<li>Tapestry-making at Beauvais, <a href="#Page_76">76;</a> +<ul><li> at Paris; at Arras, <a href="#Page_76">76,</a> <a href="#Page_242">242,</a> <a href="#Page_245">245,</a> <a href="#Page_246">246.</a></li> +</ul> +</li> + + +<li>Tetricus, <a href="#Page_226">226.</a></li> + +<li>Texier, <a href="#Page_126">126,</a> <a href="#Page_131">131.</a></li> + +<li>"Thérouanne, The Great God of," <a href="#Page_240">240.</a></li> + +<li>Torenai River, <a href="#Page_258">258.</a></li> + +<li>Torlonia, Prince Alex, <a href="#Page_233">233.</a></li> + +<li>Toul, <a href="#Page_226">226,</a> <a href="#Page_247">247-250.</a></li> + +<li>Toul, St. Etienne de, <a href="#Page_247">247-250.</a></li> + +<li>Toulouse, <a href="#Page_151">151.</a></li> + +<li>Tour d'Auvergne, Cardinal de la, <a href="#Page_244">244.</a></li> + +<li>Tour de Beurre (Rouen), <a href="#Page_84">84,</a> <a href="#Page_89">89.</a></li> + +<li>Tour de Charlemagne (at Tours), <a href="#Page_165">165.</a></li> + +<li>Tour de Hasting (at Tréguier), <a href="#Page_340">340.</a></li> + +<li>Tour Gougin (at Nevers), <a href="#Page_213">213.</a></li> + +<li>Tour de l'Horloge (at Tours), <a href="#Page_165">165.</a></li> + +<li>Tour St. Eloi (at Nevers), <a href="#Page_213">213.</a></li> + +<li>Tour de St. Martin (at Tours), <a href="#Page_165">165.</a></li> + +<li>Touraine, Old, <a href="#Page_163">163.</a></li> + +<li>Tournai, <a href="#Page_41">41.</a></li> + +<li>Tours, <a href="#Page_18">18,</a> <a href="#Page_33">33,</a> <a href="#Page_277">277.</a></li> + +<li>Tours, Church of St. Peter and Paul, <a href="#Page_165">165.</a></li> + +<li>Tours, St. Gatien de, <a href="#Page_147">147,</a> <a href="#Page_163">163,</a> <a href="#Page_206">206,</a> <a href="#Page_381">381.</a></li> + +<li>Tours (St. Martin of), <a href="#Page_165">165.</a></li> + +<li>Tours, West front of St. Gatien, <a href="#Page_74">74.</a></li> + +<li>Transition examples, <a href="#Page_39">39.</a></li> + +<li>Transition Style of Architecture, The, <a href="#Page_176">176.</a></li> + +<li>Tréguier, <a href="#Page_32">32,</a> <a href="#Page_255">255,</a> <a href="#Page_339">339.</a></li> + +<li>Tréguier, Cathedral of, <a href="#Page_339">339-341.</a></li> + +<li>"Tresor," The, at Reims, <a href="#Page_143">143.</a></li> + +<li>"Tresor," The, at Troyes, <a href="#Page_278">278.</a></li> + +<li>"Tresor," The, at Sens, <a href="#Page_282">282.</a></li> + +<li>"Tresor," The, at Bayeux, <a href="#Page_314">314.</a></li> + +<li>Treves, <a href="#Page_214">214.</a></li> + +<li>Trianons, The, <a href="#Page_108">108.</a></li> + +<li>Troyes, <a href="#Page_20">20,</a> <a href="#Page_61">61,</a> <a href="#Page_274">274,</a> <a href="#Page_275">275.</a></li> + +<li>Troyes, St. Pierre de, <a href="#Page_274">274-278</a>, <a href="#Page_381">381,</a> <a href="#Page_382">382.</a></li> + +<li>Turner (J. M. W.), "Seine and Loire," <a href="#Page_169">169.</a></li> + + +<li class="spc">Valence, <a href="#Page_36">36.</a></li> + +<li>Valois Branch of the Orleans Family, <a href="#Page_169">169.</a></li> + +<li>Vannes, <a href="#Page_351">351.</a></li> + +<li>Vannes, Cathedral of, <a href="#Page_351">351,</a> <a href="#Page_352">352.</a></li> + +<li>Vauban, <a href="#Page_244">244.</a></li> + +<li>Vaucluse, <a href="#Page_184">184.</a></li> + +<li>Vendôme, Matthieu de, <a href="#Page_99">99.</a></li> + +<li>Versailles, Fountains at, <a href="#Page_108">108.</a></li> + +<li>Versailles, St. Louis de, <a href="#Page_108">108.</a></li> + +<li>Villeneuve, Bishop de, <a href="#Page_193">193.</a></li> + +<li>Villers-St.-Pol, <a href="#Page_35">35.</a></li> + +<li>Viollet-le-Duc, <a href="#Page_83">83,</a> <a href="#Page_96">96,</a> <a href="#Page_99">99,</a> <a href="#Page_139">139,</a> <a href="#Page_181">181,</a> <a href="#Page_349">349.</a></li> + +<li>Vire, River, <a href="#Page_315">315.</a></li> + + +<li class="spc">Wellington, Duke of, <a href="#Page_175">175.</a></li> + +<li>Westphalia, Treaty of, <a href="#Page_249">249.</a></li> + +<li>William, Duke of Normandy, <a href="#Page_323">323.</a></li> + +<li>Winchester, Henry, Bishop of, <a href="#Page_121">121.</a></li> + +<li>Winchester, Prelate of, <a href="#Page_303">303.</a></li> + +<li>Wood-carving (at Amiens), <a href="#Page_68">68.</a></li> + +<li>Worms, <a href="#Page_214">214.</a></li> + + +<li class="spc">Yonne, The River, <a href="#Page_191">191.</a></li> + +<li>Young, Arthur, <a href="#Page_36">36,</a> <a href="#Page_209">209.</a></li> +</ul> + +<div class="image" style="width: 250px;"> +<a href="images/endpaper.png"> +<img src="images/endpaper_th.png" width="250" height="381" alt="endpaper" /> +</a> +</div> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Cathedrals of Northern France, by +Francis Miltoun + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CATHEDRALS OF NORTHERN FRANCE *** + +***** This file should be named 29820-h.htm or 29820-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/8/2/29820/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Chuck Greif and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + +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. 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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: The Cathedrals of Northern France + +Author: Francis Miltoun + +Illustrator: Blanche McManus + +Release Date: August 27, 2009 [EBook #29820] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CATHEDRALS OF NORTHERN FRANCE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Chuck Greif and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + + + + + +_The Cathedral Series_ + +_The following, each 1 vol., library 12mo, cloth, gilt top profusely +illustrated. $2.50_ + +_The Cathedrals of Northern France BY FRANCIS MILTOUN_ + +_The Cathedrals of Southern France BY FRANCIS MILTOUN_ + +_The Cathedrals of England BY MARY J. TABER_ + +_The following, each 1 vol., library 12mo, cloth, gilt top, profusely +illustrated. Net, $2.00_ + +_The Cathedrals and Churches of the Rhine BY FRANCIS MILTOUN_ + +_The Cathedrals of Northern Spain BY CHARLES RUDY_ + +_L. C. PAGE & COMPANY +New England Building, Boston, Mass._ + +[Illustration: NOTRE DAME ... _de NOYON_] + + + + +THE CATHEDRALS OF NORTHERN FRANCE + +By FRANCIS MILTOUN + +WITH EIGHTY ILLUSTRATIONS, +PLANS, AND DIAGRAMS, + +By BLANCHE McMANUS + +[Illustration] + +BOSTON + +L. C. Page and Company + +MDCCCCIIII + +_Copyright, 1903_ +BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY + +(INCORPORATED) + +_All rights reserved_ + +Published October, 1903 + +Colonial Press + +Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co. + +Boston, Mass., U. S. A. + + +_THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR AND ARTIST TO THE GENIUS OF +RACE WHICH MADE POSSIBLE THE EXISTENCE OF THESE ARCHITECTURAL +"GLORIES OF FRANCE"_ + + + + +APOLOGIA + + +_"There are two ways of writing a book of travel: to recount the journey +itself or the results of it." This is also the case with regard to any +work which attempts to purvey topographical or historical information of +a nature which is only to be gathered upon the spot; and, when an +additional side-light is shown by reason of the inclusion, as in the +present instance, of the artistic and religious element, it becomes more +and more a question of judicious selection and arrangement of fact, +rather than a mere hazarding of opinions, which, in many cases, can be +naught but conjecture, and may, in spite of any good claim to +authoritativeness, be misunderstood or perverted to an inutile end, or, +what is worse, swallowed in that oblivion where lies so much excellent +thought, which, lacking either balance or timeliness, has become +stranded, wrecked, and practically lost to view because of its +unappropriate and unattractive presentation._ + +_To-day, the purely technical writer may have little hope of immortality +unless he is broad-minded enough to take a cultivated interest in many +matters outside the ken of his own particular sphere. The best-equipped +person living could not produce a new "Dictionary of Architecture," and +expect it to fill any niche that may be waiting for such a work, unless +he brought to bear, in addition to his own special knowledge, something +of the statistician, something of the professed compiler, and, if +possible, a little of the not unimportant knowledge possessed by the +maker and seller of books, meaning--the publisher. Given these +qualifications, it is likely that he will then produce an ensemble as +far in advance of what otherwise might have been as is the modern +printing machine, as a factor in the dissemination of literature, as +compared with the ancient scribes working to the same end._ + +_The sentimentalist and rhapsodist in words and ideas is a dwindling +factor at the present day, and a new presentation of fact is +occasionally to be met with in the printed page. The best "book of +travel" within the knowledge of the writer, and perhaps one of the +slightest in bulk ever written in the English language, is Stevenson's +"Inland Voyage"--here were imagination, appreciation, and a new way of +seeing things, and, above all, enthusiasm; and this is the formula upon +which doubtless many a future writer will build his reputation, though +he may never reach the significant heights expressed by Stevenson in the +picturesque wording of his wish to be made Bishop of Noyon._ + +_This apparent digression into a critical estimate of the making of +books is but another expression of the justification of the writer in +the attempt herein made to set forth in attractive and enduring form +certain facts and realities with regard to the grand and glorious group +of cathedrals of Northern France._ + +_They have appeared as demanding something more than the conventional +guide-book, or even technical estimates as to their perfections, and the +belief is that the gathering together, after this fashion, of the +contemporary information not always to the hand of the general reader +presents an attraction as appealing and deserving of a place on the +book-shelf as would be an avowed reference work, or a volume made to +sell on the strength of its bulk or ornateness, or, lacking these +questionable attributes, presented in the guise of a whilom text-book, +the sole province of which is to impart "knowledge" after a certain +well recognized and set pattern._ + +_It is believed that, regardless of much that has been said and written +anent the subject, the fact remains that some considerable numbers of +persons may be supposed to exist who would be glad of a further +suggestion which would make possible an acquaintance with the cathedrals +of France as a part of their own personal experience. To all such, then, +it is to be hoped this book will appeal._ + +F. M. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + +Introduction 11 + +PART I. TRANSITION EXAMPLES + +I. Introductory 41 + +II. Notre Dame de Laon 43 + +III. Notre Dame de Noyon 49 + +IV. Notre Dame de Soissons 54 + + +PART II. THE GRAND GROUP + +I. Introductory 61 + +II. Notre Dame d'Amiens 64 + +III. St. Pierre de Beauvais 70 + +IV. Notre Dame de Rouen 79 + +V. Basilique de St. Denis 93 + +VI. Notre Dame de Paris 101 + +VII. St. Julien; Le Mans 113 + +VIII. Notre Dame de Chartres 123 + +IX. Notre Dame de Reims 132 + + +PART III. THE CATHEDRALS OF THE LOIRE + +I. Introductory 147 + +II. St. Croix d'Orleans 150 + +III. St. Louis de Blois 156 + +IV. St Gatien de Tours 163 + +V. St. Maurice d'Angers 173 + +VI. St. Pierre de Nantes 183 + + +PART IV. CENTRAL FRANCE + +I. St. Etienne d'Auxerre 191 + +II. St. Etienne de Bourges 199 + +III. St. Cyr and St. Juliette de Nevers 209 + +IV. St. Mammes de Langres 218 + +V. Notre Dame d'Auxonne 220 + + +PART V. EAST OF PARIS + +I. Introductory 223 + +II. Notre Dame de Boulogne-sur-Mer 231 + +III. Notre Dame de Cambrai 234 + +IV. Notre Dame de St. Omer 237 + +V. St. Vaast d'Arras 242 + +VI. St. Etienne de Toul 247 + +VII. St. Etienne, Chalons-sur-Marne 251 + +VIII. St. Die 254 + +IX. St. Lazare d'Autun 257 + +X. St. Benigne de Dijon 262 + +XI. Notre Dame de Senlis 266 + +XII. St. Etienne de Meaux 270 + +XIII. St. Pierre de Troyes 274 + +XIV. St. Etienne de Sens 279 + + +PART VI. WESTERN NORMANDY AND BRITTANY + +I. Introductory 285 + +II. Notre Dame d'Evreux 288 + +III. Notre Dame d'Alencon 296 + +IV. St. Pierre de Lisieux 301 + +V. Notre Dame de Seez 305 + +VI. Notre Dame de Bayeux 310 + +VII. Notre Dame de St. Lo 315 + +VIII. Notre Dame de Coutances 321 + +IX. St. Pierre d'Avranches 326 + +X. St. Sol, Dol-de-Bretagne 329 + +XI. St. Malo and St. Servan 335 + +XII. Treguier 339 + +XIII. St. Brieuc 342 + +XIV. St. Pol de Leon 345 + +XV. St. Corentin de Quimper 348 + +XVI. Vannes 351 + + +APPENDICES + +I. The Architectural Divisions of France 353 + +II. A List of the Departments of France 356 + +III. The Church in France 359 + +IV. A List of the Larger French Churches + Which Were at One Time Cathedrals 362 + +V. Chronology of the Chief Styles and Examples of Church Building 365 + +VI. Dimensions and Chronology 366 + +VII. The French Kings from Charlemagne Onward 383 + +VIII. Measurements of the Cathedrals at Amiens and Salisbury 384 + +IX. French Metres Reduced to English Feet 385 + +X. A Brief Glossary of Architectural Terms 386 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE + +Notre Dame de Noyon _Frontispiece_ + +Notre Dame de Laon 43 + +Notre Dame de Noyon 47 + +Notre Dame d'Amiens 64 + +St. Pierre de Beauvais 70 + +Notre Dame de Rouen 77 + +Basilique de St. Denis 91 + +Oriflamme of St. Denis 100 + +Notre Dame de Paris 101 + +Notre Dame de Paris from the River 107 + +St. Julien; Le Mans 111 + +Notre Dame de Chartres 123 + +Notre Dame de Reims 132 + +St. Croix d'Orleans 150 + +St. Louis de Blois 156 + +St. Gatien de Tours 161 + +Flying Buttress, St. Gatien de Tours 170 + +St. Maurice d'Angers 171 + +St. Pierre de Nantes 183 + +St. Etienne d'Auxerre 191 + +St. Etienne de Bourges 197 + +St. Cyr and St. Juliette de Nevers 209 + +St. Mammes de Langres 218 + +Nancy 227 + +Boulogne, St. Omer, Arras 229 + +Notre Dame de Cambrai 236 + +St. Etienne de Toul 247 + +St. Etienne, Chalons-sur-Marne 251 + +St. Die 254 + +St. Lazare d'Autun 257 + +St. Benigne de Dijon 262 + +Notre Dame de Senlis 266 + +St. Etienne de Meaux 270 + +St. Pierre de Troyes 274 + +St. Etienne de Sens 279 + +Notre Dame d'Evreux 289 + +Window Framing--Evreux 295 + +Notre Dame d'Alencon 296 + +St. Pierre de Lisieux 299 + +Notre Dame de Seez 305 + +Notre Dame de Bayeux 310 + +Notre Dame de St. Lo 315 + +Notre Dame de Coutances 319 + +St. Pierre d'Avranches 326 + +Column of St. Pierre d'Avranches 328 + +St. Samson, Dol-de-Bretagne 329 + +St. Malo and St. Servan.--Treguier 333 + +St. Brieuc 342 + +St. Corentin de Quimper 348 + +Notre Dame d'Amiens (diagram) 366 + +Map of Angers 367 + +St. Etienne de Bourges (diagram) 370 + +Notre Dame de Laon (diagram) 372 + +St. Julien, le Mans (diagram) 373 + +Map of Nantes 374 + +Notre Dame de Noyon (diagram) 375 + +Notre Dame de Paris (diagram) 376 + +Notre Dame de Reims (diagram) 377 + +Flying Buttresses, Reims 377 + +Notre Dame de Rouen (diagram) 378 + +Basilique de St. Denis (diagrams) 380 + +Map of Tours 381 + +Charles VII. 383 + +Ground Plan 386 + +Cross Section 387 + +Interior 388 + +Cross Section 389 + + + + +_The Cathedrals of Northern France_ + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +An attempt to enumerate the architectural monuments of France is not +possible without due consideration being given to the topographical +divisions of the country, which, so far as the early population and the +expression of their arts and customs is concerned, naturally divides +itself into two grand divisions of influences, widely dissimilar. + +Historians, generally, agree that the country which embraces the +Frankish influences in the north, as distinct from that where are spoken +the romance languages, finds its partition somewhere about a line drawn +from the mouth of the Loire to the Swiss lakes. Territorially, this +approaches an equal division, with the characteristics of architectural +forms well nigh as equally divided. Indeed, Fergusson, who in his +general estimates and valuations is seldom at fault, thus divides +it:--"on a line which follows the valley of the Loire to a point between +Tours and Orleans, then southwesterly to Lyons, and thence along the +valley of the Rhone to Geneva." + +With such a justification, then, it is natural that some arbitrary +division should be made in arranging the subject matter of a volume +which treats, in part only, of a country or its memorials; even though +the influences of one section may not only have lapped over into the +other, but, as in certain instances, extended far beyond. As the peoples +were divided in speech, so were they in their manner of building, and +the most thoroughly consistent and individual types were in the main +confined to the environment of their birth. A notable exception is found +in Brittany, where is apparent a generous admixture of style which does +not occur in the churches of the first rank; referring to the imposing +structures of the Isle de France and its immediate vicinity. The "Grand +Cathedrals" of this region are, perhaps, most strongly impressed upon +the mind of whoever takes something more than a superficial interest in +the subject as the type which embodies the loftiest principles of +Gothic forms, and, as such, they are perhaps best remembered by that +very considerable body of persons known as intelligent observers. + +The strongest influences at work in the north from the twelfth century +onward have been in favour of the Gothic or pointed styles, whilst, in +the south, civic and ecclesiastical architecture alike were of a +manifest Byzantine or Romanesque tendency. No better illustration of +this is possible than to recall the fact that, when the builders of the +fifteenth century undertook to complete that astoundingly impressive +choir at Beauvais, they sought to rival in size and magnificence its +namesake at Rome, which, under the care of the Pontiff himself, was then +being projected. Thus it was that this thoroughly Gothic structure of +the north was to stand forth as the indicator of local influences, as +contrasted with the Italian design and plans of the St. Peter's of the +south. + +A discussion of the merits of any territorial claims as to the inception +of what is commonly known as Gothic architecture, under which name, for +the want of a more familiar term, it shall be referred to herein, is +quite apart from the purport of this volume, and, as such, it were best +ignored. The statement, however, may be made that it would seem clearly +to be the development of a northern influence which first took shape +after a definite form in a region safely comprehended as lying within +the confines of northeastern France, the Netherlands, and the northern +Rhine Provinces. Much has been written on this debatable subject and +doubtless will continue to be, either as an arrow shot into the air by +some wary pedant, or an equally unconvincing statement, without proof, +of some mere follower in the footsteps of an illustrious, but behind the +times, expert. It matters not, as a mere detail, whether it was brought +from the East in imperfect form by the Crusaders, and only received its +development at the hands of some ingenious northerner, or not. Its +development was certainly rapid and sure in the great group which we +know to-day in northern France, and, if proof were wanted, the existing +records in stone ought to be sufficiently convincing to point out the +fact that here Mediaeval Gothic architecture received its first and most +perfect development. The _Primaire_: the development of the style +finding its best example at Paris. The _Secondaire_: the +Perfectionnement at Reims, and its Apogee at Amiens. The _Tertiaire_: +practically the beginning of the decadence, in St. Ouen at Rouen, only +a shade removed from the debasement which soon followed. As to the +merits or demerits of the contemporary structures of other nations, that +also would be obviously of comparative unimportance herein except so far +as a comparison might once and again be made to accentuate values. + +The earliest art triumphs of the French may well be said to have been in +the development and _perfectionnement_ of Mediaeval (Gothic) +architecture. Its builders planned amply, wisely, and well, and in spite +of the interruptions of wars, of invasions, and of revolutions, there is +nowhere to be found upon the earth's surface so many characteristic +attributes of Mediaeval Gothic architecture as is to be observed in this +land, extending from the Romanesque types of Frejus, Perigueux and +Angouleme to that classical degeneration commonly called the +Renaissance, a more offensive example of which could hardly be found +than in the conglomerate structure of St. Etienne du Mont at Paris, or +the more modern and, if possible, even more ugly Cathedral Churches at +Arras, Cambrai, or Rennes in the north. + +There may be attractive Italian types in existence out of Italy; but +the fact is that, unless they are undoubted copies of a thoroughly +consistent style to the very end, they impress one as being out of place +in a land where the heights of its own native style are so exalted. + +Gothic, regardless of the fact as to whether it be the severe and +unornamental varieties of the Low Countries or the exaggerations of the +most ornately flamboyant style, appears not only to please the casual +and average observer, but the thorough student of ecclesiastical +architecture as well. It has come to be the accepted form throughout the +world of what is best representative of the thought and purpose for +which a great church should stand. + +With the Renaissance we have not a little to do, when considering the +cathedrals of France. Seldom, if ever, in the sixteenth century did the +builder or even the restorer add aught but Italian accessories where any +considerable work was to be accomplished. Why, or how, the Renaissance +ever came into being it is quite impossible for any one to say, _sans +doubt_, as is the first rudimentary invention of Gothic itself. Perhaps +it was but the outcome of a desire for something different, if not new; +but in the process the taste of the people fell to a low degree. +Architecture may be said to have been all but divorced from life, and, +while the fabric is a dead thing of itself, it is a very living and +human expression of the tendencies of an era. The Renaissance sought to +revive painting and sculpture and to incorporate them into architectural +forms. Whether after a satisfactory manner or not appears to have been +no concern with the revivers of a style which was entirely unsuited in +its original form to a northern latitude. That which answered for the +needs and desires of a southern race could not be boldly transplanted +into another environment and live without undergoing an evolution which +takes time, a fact not disproven by later events. + +The Italians themselves were the undoubted cause of the debasement of +the classical style, evidences having crept into that country nearly a +hundred years before the least vestiges were known in either France or +Germany, the Netherlands, or England, and which, though traceable, had +left but slight impress in Spain. It is doubtless not far wrong to +attribute its introduction into France as the outcome of the wanderings +in Italy of Charles VIII., in the latter years of the XV. century. As a +result of this it is popularly supposed that it was introduced into the +domestic architecture of the nobles who had accompanied the king. Here +it found perhaps its most satisfying expression; in those magnificent +chateaux of the Loire, and the neighbourhood of Tours and Blois, ever a +subject for sentimental praise. One would not seek to pass condemnation +upon the application of revived classic features where they were but the +expression of an individual taste, as in a chateau whose owner so chose +to build and embellish it. Certainly no more splendid edifices of their +kind are known than the magnificent establishments at Blois, Chenonceau, +Chambord, or Chaumont. The style appears, however, out of place; an +admixture meaningless in itself and in its application when, with a +Gothic foundation bequeathed them, builders sought to incorporate into a +cathedral such palpable inconsistencies as was frequently done. + +The building of the chateaux was perhaps the first anti-Gothic step in +France and proved to be an influence which spread not slowly, as to +decorative detail at least, and soon of itself established a decided +non-Gothic type. + +It was but natural that the cathedral builders should have followed to +some extent this new influence. The Church was ever seeking to +strengthen its popularity, the bishops ensconced themselves in their +cathedral cities as snugly as did a feudal lord in his castle, and their +emulation of wealth outside of the Church was but an effort to keep +their status on a plane with that of the other power which also demanded +allegiance of the people. It is to be regretted that they did not pass +this manifestation by, or at least not encumbered an otherwise +consistent Gothic fabric with superimposed meaningless detail. Such +decorative embellishments as are represented by the tomb of Louis XII. +at St. Denis, and the tombs of the cardinals at Rouen, may be considered +characteristic, though they bear earlier dates by some twenty years than +the south portal of Beauvais, which is thoroughly the best of Gothic, or +St. Maclou at Rouen, which, though highly florid, is without a trace of +anti-Gothic. The extreme (though not a cathedral church) may be seen at +St. Etienne du Mont, wherein the effort is made to incorporate large +masses of pseudo-classical decoration with Gothic, and, alas, with sad +effect. + +For the most part, the Gothic cathedrals of France, as such, while +closely related to each other in their design and arrangements, have +little to do with those which lie without the confines of the country, +either in general features or in detail. The type is distinctively one +which stands by its own perfections. In size, while in many instances +not having the length of nave of several in England, they have nearly +always an equal, if not a greater, width and an almost invariably +greater height, though not equal in superficial area to St. Peter's in +Italy, the Dom at Cologne, or even the cathedral at Seville in Spain. + +Such Romanesque types as are to be seen to the northward of the Loire +are mostly found in the smaller churches of Brittany, while the early +transition type, so familiar throughout the Netherlands, is, in France, +usually seen in the neighbourhood of the frontiers of the Low Countries. + +"Les Grandes Cathedrales" of the north are distinctly those of Paris, +Amiens, Reims, Rouen, Beauvais, and Chartres; and it is to them that +reference must continually be made; while the severely plain transitory +types of Noyon or Soissons, or the more effective development of Laon, +and the flamboyant structures of Troyes and Nantes, at least lean toward +the decadence. + +The difficulty of assigning ranks to these monumental cathedrals is made +the greater by reason of the fact that to-day it is with but one people +that we have to reckon, so far as their temperament and environment is +concerned. Since feudal times the movement has ever been toward one +nation, one people, and one view, different from that presented in the +middle ages. + +For centuries after the break of Roman power it had been mostly one +local influence against another which prevented perfect cohesion to any +national spirit, and thus it was that the tendencies of the cathedral +builders, though Roman as to their teaching and religion, and doubtless, +in many instances, with regard to their birth as well, followed no +special style until the era of Gothic development. Unconsciously, +transitory types crept in, until suddenly throughout northern Europe +there bloomed forth within less than a century of time the so-called +Gothic in all its splendour, and with scarce a century between the +commencement and the completion of some of the most notable of the +group. The Romanesque types which still lingered in Brittany, though +well worthy of special consideration to-day, are unimportant and in a +way insignificant when compared with the grand group. + +To most of us it will be impossible to conjure up any more significant +thought with regard to mediaeval church architecture than that fostered +by the memories of acquaintanceship with these examples of north France; +an opinion which is further strengthened when it is also recalled that +they are representative of the first really national artistic +expression. For this reason alone, if for no other, the hasty critics +who have so handily claimed precedence elsewhere, might profitably +review the facts of the circumstance which led to so universal an +adoption of the full-blown style in the twelfth and thirteenth +centuries. + +The Romanesque peoples were confined southwards of mid-France at the +time of the withdrawal of the Roman legions, while, in the north, the +conquering Franks sought to wipe out every vestige of their past +influence; hence it may be considered that the new manner of building +had everything in favour of its speedy growth. It was thus definitely +assured of a warm welcome, and, following in the footsteps of Clovis +himself, the rulers were more than willing to aid what they believed +might be a strengthening influence, politically, as well as morally. + +The style may be justly said to be a natural and growthful expression of +a race, and more significant than all else is the fact that nowhere, +not even on the Rhine, which with northern France claims the origin of +the style, is to be found any single example equalling in any like +measure the perfections of "Les Grandes Cathedrales Francaises," though +it be recalled that in many instances the German buildings were planned +and often erected by French architects and artisans. + +Among the two thousand or more "Monuments Historiques" paternally cared +for by the French government and under the direct control of the +Ministry of Public Instruction and the Beaux Arts, none are of the +relative importance, historically or artistically, of the Grand +Cathedrals. Certain objects, classed as megalithic and antique remains, +may be the connecting links between the past and the present by which +the antiquarian weaves the threads of his historical lore; but neither +these nor the _reliques_ which have been dug from the ground or untombed +from later constructive elements, all of which are generously included +in the general scheme by the Department of Beaux Arts, which has +provided a fund for their preservation and care, have one tithe of the +appealing interest which these great churches bespeak on behalf of the +contemporary life of the times in which they were built, reflecting as +they do many correlated events, and forming, in the interweaving of the +history of their inception and construction, an epitome of well-nigh all +the contemporary events of their environment, as well as the greater +parts which they may have played in general affairs of state. + +The best example of a part so played is that of the cathedral at Reims, +which saw the crowning within its walls of nearly every monarch of +France from the time of Philippe Augustus (1173) to that of Charles X. +(1823). The monarchs of France, a long and picturesque line, have ever +sought to ally the Church on their side, and right well they have been +served, not ignoring, of course, certain notable lapses. In the main, +however, the rulers and the people alike, whatever may have been the +periodical dissensions, combined the forces which made possible the +projection and erection of these noble examples of an art which, in the +Gothic forms at least, here came to its greatest and most interesting +phase. + +Invasion, revolution, and the stress of weather and time, all played +their part in the general desecrations which sooner or later followed; +far the most serious of these visible damages reflected upon us to-day +being the malpractices occurring at the Revolution, whether at the hands +of a _sans culotte_ or of the most respectable of bourgeois, led away by +the excitement of revolt. The depredations were irreparable; they razed, +burned, or ruthlessly shattered shrines, statues, or even reliquaries, +as at Reims, where the Sainted Ampulla, which contained the miraculous +oil brought by a dove from heaven, now preserved in reconstructed +fragments in the sacristy, was dashed to pieces in a fury of +uncontrollable wrath. + +The paucity of sculptured decoration in certain places only too plainly +designed for it is, too, frequently painfully apparent. Such sculptured +decoration and glass as were easily to hand met with perhaps the most +ready spoliation, while here and there, from some miraculous reason, a +gem was left entire, though likely enough in a bruised and shattered +setting. + +This is what befell most of the great churches, and, for this reason, +any work treating of these architectural glories of France must make due +allowance in hazarding opinions as to the merit or lack of merit of any +particular example as it now exists, as compared with what it may have +been as it once was, or had it been completed in accordance with the +original design. + +In local and cathedral archives much valuable and interesting +information exists, treating in this very manner such embellishments as +may to-day be lacking; but unfortunately such facts are often buried in +a mass of other irrelevant material which would make its discovery +unusually difficult to any but a very learned local antiquarian. In this +same connection, also, there is a dearth of illustrative material which +can be depended upon as to minutiae or accuracy of detail. Hence it is +possible to deal only with such general facts as may be supported by the +best contemporary information based upon the researches of others. It +may be well to note here, however, a fact which is often overlooked, +namely, that the written records of France are not only very complete +and exhaustive, but, with respect to Paris itself, to cite an example, +the documentary history, consecutive and exact, from the time of the +decline of Roman power is preserved intact,--a record which is perhaps +not so true of any other large city in Europe. + +In dealing with the cathedrals of the north, territorially, we have to +consider those examples which are generally accepted as being all that +a cathedral church should be. Of the first rank are those gathered not +far from the confines of the mediaeval Isle of France. They too, are best +representative of the true Gothic spirit, while the southernmost +examples, those of Dijon and Besancon, are of manifest Romanesque or +Byzantine conception. Each, too, is somewhat reminiscent of the early +German manner of building, the latter in respect to the double apse, +which is often found across the Rhine, but seldom seen in France. The +most northerly of all is at St. Omer, where are the somewhat battered +remains of a satisfactory Gothic cathedral, although Amiens, not far to +the south, is perhaps the ideal cathedral when considered from a general +point merely. For the western representative, a line running due west +from Paris almost into the Atlantic finds at Quimper, a small port +fifteen miles from the sea, the Cathedral of St. Corentin, which, though +not as lofty, is more of the manner of building of the Isle of France +than one might suppose would be the case here in this outpost of +Brittany, where are found so many evidences of Romanesque influences, +retained long after they had been given over elsewhere. + +Such, then, are the extremes of latitude and of architectural style +which combine to give variety to the interest which is always aroused by +the contemplation of the masterworks of any of the arts, where outside +and contiguous influences have something in common therewith. + +As a type to admire, there is no doubt but that the cathedral that +possesses an apsidal termination of the easterly or choir end, as is +nearly the universal custom in France, has charms and beauties which may +be latent, but which are simply winning, when it comes to picturing the +same structure with the squared-off ends so common in England. + +It was Stevenson, was it not, who wrote of the satisfaction with which +one always looks upon the east end of a French cathedral, "flanging out +as it often does in sweeping terraces, and settling down broadly upon +the earth as though it were meant to stay." Certainly nothing of the +sort is to be more admired than the rare view of the choir buttresses of +Notre Dame at Paris, likened unto "kneeling angels with half-spread +wings;" the delicate and symmetrical choir buttresses of Amiens; the +sheer fall of Beauvais; or the triply effective termination of the +one-time cathedral of Noyon, which falls away in three gracefully +gentle slopes to the ground. Again Stevenson's power as a descriptive +writer lingers in our memory. He says, of no cathedral in particular, +"where else is to be found so many elegant proportions growing one out +of the other, and all together in one?... Though I have heard a +considerable variety of sermons, I have never yet heard one that was so +expressive as a cathedral. 'Tis the best preacher itself, preaches day +and night, not only telling you of man's art and aspirations in the +past, but convicting your own soul of ardent sympathies; or rather, like +all good preachers, it sets you preaching to yourself,--and every man is +his own doctor of divinity in the last resort." + +To best estimate the charms and values of these architectural monuments +one should consider; first, the history and topography of their +environment,--_i. e._ as to why and when they may have been planned and +built; secondly, their personality, as it were,--who were their +founders, their patrons, their bishops; thirdly, the functions in which +they may have partaken, any significant events which may have passed +within their walls or centred within their sees; and fourthly, the +artistic beauties of their fabric and its embellishments. + +In most cases all of these values are so interwoven and indissolubly +linked with the growth of the structure itself from its very earliest +foundations that it is hardly possible to detail this information in +true chronological order. The picturesque and romantic elements, of +which there is not a little; the sordid and baneful, of which we may +wish there were less; and the splendid ceremonials of Church and State; +all go to make up a chronicle which no account, of even a special +nature, could afford to neglect. + +The picturesque elements of the conversion and baptism of Clovis by St. +Remi at Reims in 496, where, on the site of the present cathedral, he +was adjured to "revere that which thou didst burn and burn that which +thou didst revere," and the crowning on the same spot of Charles VII. in +1429 through the efforts of the Maid, well represent these phases. The +meanness and the unjustness of her later trial and condemnation in the +Abbey Church of St. Ouen at Rouen is another. The affairs of state +consist chiefly of the coronation ceremonies which mostly took place at +Reims, and present a splendid record. Of the monarchs from 1173 onwards +who were not here crowned, Henry IV. was crowned at Chartres; Napoleon +I., at Paris; Louis Philippe, Louis XVIII., and Napoleon III. were not +crowned at all. + +Throughout this continuity of state events these great churches were +performing their natural functions of the dissemination of the Word. +Jealousies and bickerings took place, to be sure, but in the main there +was harmony, if rivalry did exist; else it were not possible that so +many of these splendid monuments would have endured to remind us of +their past as well as present existence. + +Certain of the sees were merged into greater ones, and others were +abandoned altogether. In this connection there is a curious circumstance +with regard to the one-time Bishop of Bethleem, who, driven from the +Holy Land, was given a see at Clamecy, which see comprehended only the +village in which he resided. What remains of the former cathedral is now +an adjunct to a hotel. The rearrangement of political divisions of +France after the Revolution was the further excuse for establishing but +one diocese to a department, until to-day there are but eighty-four +sees, administered by sixty-seven bishops and seventeen archbishops. + +The itinerary of the conventional tour of the Continent usually keeps +well to the beaten track, and so does the conventional traveller. He +does not always get over to Reims, and often does not stop _en route_ at +Amiens; seldom visits Beauvais, and, unless he specially sets out to +"tour" Brittany, a popular enough amusement of the lean of purse in +these days, knows little of the unique charms of Treguier, Quimper, or +even of Le Mans, with its sublime choir, or of Evreux. As for even a +nodding acquaintance with Noyon or Soissons, two of the most +convincingly beautiful and impressive transitory types, they might as +well be in the wilds of Kamchatka, though they are both situated in a +region well travelled on all sides; while Laon, not far distant, is +hardly known at all, except as a way station _en route_ to Switzerland. +The cathedrals of mid-France are, it is to be feared, even less known +than would on first thoughts seem probable. A certain amount of +sentimentality attaches itself to the chateaux of the Loire, and some +acquaintance with their undeniable pleasing attributes is the portion of +most travellers; but, again, such cathedral cities as Besancon, Nantes, +and Langres are off the well-worn road, and their cathedrals might be +myths so far as a general acquaintance with them is concerned; while +the splendid churches of Bourges, Nevers, and Autun are likewise +practically unknown to the casual traveller. + +Tours, Orleans, and Chartres alone appear to be the only recognized +representatives of this section of France which have hitherto attracted +due attention. + +With the southland this volume does not deal; that is a subject to be +considered quite by itself,--and significantly, more real interest has +been shown with respect to the architectural monuments of Avignon, +Arles, Nimes, Le Puy, Perigueux, Carcassonne, and Poitiers than to those +of the Midi. Is it that the days of cheap travel and specially conducted +tours, when ten or fifteen guineas will take one to the Swiss or Italian +lakes, or e'en to Rome and Florence, has caused this apparent neglect of +the country lying between? Certainly our forefathers travelled more +wisely, but then prices and means of locomotion were on quite a +different scale in those days, and not infrequently they were obliged to +confine their travels and observations to more restricted areas. + +Perhaps the most lucid arrangement of architectural species is that +given by De Caumont's "Abecedaire d'Architecture," which divides the +country ethnologically into Brittany; Normandy; Flanders, including +Artois and Picardy; Central France (the Isle of France, Champagne, +Orleanois, Main, Anjou, Touraine, and Berri); and Burgundy, +comprehending the former divisions of Franche Comte, Lorraine, Alsace +(now Belfort), Nivernois, Bourbonnois, and Lyonnois. Of the above +divisions, only that of the Isle of France with La Brie was originally +held by the Crown. The political divisions throughout France now number +eighty-seven departments, taking their names from the principal +topographical features, and replacing in 1790 the thirty-two mediaeval +provinces, each of which had their own characteristics of social and +political life, and of which each in turn progressed, stagnated, or fell +backward according to local or periodical conditions. Both the arts of +peace and of war have left an ineradicable impress. In the thirteenth +century the various provinces became welded together into one perfect +whole under Philippe Augustus and the sainted Louis, but retained to no +small extent, even as they do unto to-day, their distinctive local +characteristics. + +Because of its cathedrals alone, the Isle of France stands preeminent +among the provinces for each of the thirteen provincial styles of +architecture which are allocated by the Societe des Monuments +Historiques. A comparatively small and unified province, it comprehends +within and contiguous to its borders more of the attributes and +principles of a consistent Mediaeval architectural style than is +elsewhere to be observed. From Rouen on the west to Reims on the east, +northward to Amiens and southwesterly to Chartres, are grouped the show +pieces of the world's Gothic architecture. Not alone with the respect to +the Grand Cathedrals is this region so richly endowed, but also because +of the smaller and less important, but no less attractive or interesting +examples of Noyon, Senlis, Laon, Soissons, with their one-time cathedral +churches and other varied ecclesiastical and secular edifices. + +Beauvais, Gisors, Gourney, Cires-les-Mello, Creil, Royamont, +Nogent-les-Vierges, Villers-St.-Pol, indeed nearly every village and +town within the royal domain, present values and comparisons which place +nearly all of its contemporary structures, be they large or small, at a +grand height above those of other less prolific sections. Lest it be +thought that this statement is drawn largely, and that fineness and +balance of estimate are lacking, it suffices to state that it is not +alone from study and research, but from frequent personal intimacies +that the region has ever proved an inexhaustible store of architectural +values, and one which most well-known authorities, with one accord, +place in the very first rank. + +Arthur Young, than whom no more perspicuous observer has ever chronicled +his impressions, wrote (1704) that to see the best of France, the part +most varied in topography, and resourceful and attractive in its +monuments, one should land at Havre and follow the sinuosity of the +Seine to Paris, thence the highroad to Moulins and on to the Rhone at +Valence, an outline which somewhat approaches the limitations of +territory of which this book treats. To be sure, he wrote of economic +and agricultural conditions, and he mostly made his pertinent +observations on land holdings, stock keeping, and hedgerows, or rather +that lack of them which is so apparent throughout France; but these +details of themselves only suggest more complete evidences of the +existing forces which indicate the growth of the wealth and power which +has made this region so rich in its architectural memorials of the +past, and which ought to more than compensate for any lack of scenic +grandeur. + +It is to be regretted, of course, that none of these larger cathedrals +are to be seen to-day in their completely perfected forms. To what +extent would not the glories of Reims, of Amiens, of Beauvais, or of +Rouen, be enhanced, were it possible for us to even imagine their +splendour, were they possessed of the symmetry and well-favoured +situation of the Dom at Cologne? And so it is that we can but feel +regret when we mentally note the lack of nave at Beauvais, of spires at +Bourges, and, yet again, regret even with more pain the monstrousness of +the cast-iron _fleche_ which has been added to the central tower at +Rouen. But these are after all minor imperfections--seldom, if ever, in +aught but pleasurable anticipation, do we see in the masterpieces of art +or nature a perfect unity; so why seek to negative their virtues by +futile criticism? It would seem to be all-sufficient that such details, +sins of omission or commission, should be noted merely, that we may pass +on to other charms which must compel our allegiance. + +When we visit the cathedrals of the Isle of France, we are at once in +the midst of the best examples of French Gothic architecture, or of +French Mediaeval architecture, if the phrase is to be preferred. + + + + +_PART I_ + +_Transition Examples_ + + + + +I + +INTRODUCTORY + + +Soissons, with Noyon and Laon, all within perhaps thirty miles of one +another, may be said to best represent the nurturing and development of +the early Gothic of France. These simple and somewhat plain types +exemplify the style which was in vogue at the same time in the Low +Countries. It is good Gothic, to be sure,--at least, good as to its +planning,--but without that ornateness or lightness known to-day as +characteristic of the distinctive French type, which so early developed +boldly and beautifully. + +One observes the resemblances in style between the notable cathedral at +Tournai, in Belgium, the neighbouring types of French Flanders, and the +cathedrals of this trinity of French towns lying contiguous thereto, +Noyon itself being for long interdependent with the see of Tournai. +Nevertheless, it is a beautiful type which was cradled here in the +country called, by Caesar, Suessiones; and difficult it would be to +attempt to assign preeminence to any one edifice. + +Noyon, without a doubt, has the greatest charm of environment, and is of +itself in every way a pleasing and satisfying example of what should +most truly inspire and impress us in a cathedral. Stevenson describes it +as being "the happiest inspiration of mankind, a thing as specious as a +statue at the first glance, yet, on examination, as lively and +interesting as a forest in detail. The height of its spires cannot be +taken by trigonometry: they measure absurdly short, but how tall they +are to the admiring eye.... I sat outside of my hotel and the sweet +groaning thunder of the organ floated out of the church like a +summons";--and much more of the same sort, all of which tells us that, +once we find ourselves on a plane of intimacy with a great church, we +continually receive new impressions and inspirations, and it is in this +vein that one who has known this group of simple but fascinating +churches on their own ground, so to put it, can but seek to convey the +idea that it is good that we have such contrasting types as a relief and +an antidote to an appetite which otherwise might become sated. + + + + +[Illustration: _CATHEDRAL of NOTRE DAME LAON_] + +II + +NOTRE DAME DE LAON + + +For over twelve hundred years, until the see was abolished at the +Revolution, Laon was the seat of a bishop who in point of rank was +second only to the primate at Reims. Crowning the apex of a long +isolated hill, upon which the entire town, now a fortress of the third +class, is situated, the cathedral of Notre Dame de Laon, still so called +locally, has endured since the beginning of the twelfth century, and may +be considered a thoroughly representative transition example. + +The present structure is on the site of one burned in 1112, and during +comparatively recent years has been entirely restored. + +Its crowning glory is in the disposition and number of its fine group of +towers: two flank the western facade, and are rectangular at the base, +dwindling to a smaller polygon, which is flanked with corner belfries +and pierced by a tall lancet in the central structure, showing a +wonderful lightness and open effect. A curious and unique feature of +these towers is the addition of four oxen in carven stone perched high +aloft in the belfries. These sculptured animals may be merely another +expression of symbols of superstition, and if so are far more pleasing +than some of the hideous and monstrous gargoyles ofttimes seen. Two +other towers, each 190 feet in height, adjoin the transepts, to each of +which is attached a double-storied, apsidal, ancient chapel. Two +similarly projected towers are lacking. The lantern is square, with a +shallow, conical, modern roof. + +In the transition type Romanesque influences were evidently dying hard. +The Gothic was seldom full blown, and at Laon shows but the merest trace +of pointedness to the arches of the western facade, either in the +portals or in the higher openings. + +The lack of a circular termination to the choir is but another +indication of a link with a transitory past; an undeniably false note +and one very unusual in France, the choir being of the squared-off +variety so common in England. This may be coincident with the English +custom of the time, or it may be directly due to a local English +influence;--most probably the latter, inasmuch as an English prelate +held the see for a time, and the city, in the early fifteenth century, +was for a number of years in English hands. It is significant that in +some of the smaller churches of the diocese is to be noted the same +treatment. + +The rose windows of both the eastern and western facades are Gothic in +inception and treatment, and are unusually acceptable specimens of these +supreme efforts of the French mediaeval builders, the glass therein being +distinctly good, though perhaps not remarkable. + +The transepts are rectangular and, with the ensemble of the entire +structure, were their towers completed, there would be produced, not +only a unique example, but a towering effect only a degree less +interesting than the perfectly proportioned pyramidal form so much +admired in the perfectly developed Gothic. + +The interior is equally attractive with the exterior, and, though the +church is not by any means of remarkable dimensions, it presents in its +appropriate disposition of detail a far more roomy and pleasing +arrangement than many a larger example. + +The transepts are divided into a nave and side aisles, the columns which +partition them, like those of the nave proper, being cylindrical and of +massive proportions, which, however, lighten as they rise to the +vaulting. They are unusually symmetrical when viewed together, the +capitals of the lower series being ornately carved, each of a varying +design. + +Above the aisles are lofty galleries. The nave chapels were added in the +sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The stained glass, like that of the +rose windows, is in the nave distinctly good, particularly that of the +lower range on the southerly side. The pulpit, of carved wood of the +Renaissance period, is not of the importance and quality of this class +of work to be seen across the Rhine border. + +The former Bishop's palace, adjoining the left of the choir, is now the +Palais de Justice. A few remains of a former Gothic cloister are to be +remarked, surrounded by the later construction. + + + + +[Illustration: _Notre Dame de Noyon_] + +III + +NOTRE DAME DE NOYON + + +In Notre Dame at Noyon, Notre Dame at Laon, and the cathedral at +Tournai, is to be noted the very unusual division of the interior +elevation into four ranges of openings, this effect being only seen at +Paris and Rouen among the large cathedrals. Noyon and Laon borrowed, +perhaps, from Tournai, where building was commenced at least a century +before either of the French examples first took form. It is perhaps not +essential that such an arrangement be made in order to give an effect of +loftiness, which might not otherwise exist; indeed, it is a question if +the reverse is not actually the case, though the effect is undeniably +one of grandeur. Soissons, too, may rightly enough be included in the +group, though the points of resemblance in this case are confined to the +rising steps to either transept, coupled with the joint possession of +circumambient aisles, and at least the suggested intent of circular +apsidal terminations to the transepts; though it appears that here this +plan was ultimately changed and one transept finished off with the usual +rectangular ending. + +In this Noyon plainly excels, and there is found nowhere else in France +the perfect trefoil effect produced by the apsidal terminations of both +transepts and choir. So far as the transepts are concerned, they are of +the manner affected by the builders on the Rhine, notably in the Minster +at Bonn, at Cologne, and again at Neuss in the neighbourhood of Cologne. +With Noyon apparently nothing is lacking either in the perfections of +its former cathedral or in its immediate environment. The country round +about is thoroughly agricultural, and free from the soot and grime of a +manufacturing community. Amid a setting at once historic and romantic, +it has for neighbours the chateaux of Coucy and Perrifonds, with +Compiegne and Chantilly not far distant. The town is unprogressive +enough, and the vast barge traffic of the Oise sidles by, not a mile +away, as if it were all unconscious of the existence of any signs of +modern civilization. As a matter of fact, it hardly is modern. The +accommodation for the weary traveller is of a satisfying and gratifying +quality, as the comparatively few visitors to the place well know. The +city is an ancient foundation, having been known as the Noviodunum of +the Romans. Here Charlemagne was crowned King of the Franks in 768, and +Hugh Capet elected king in 987; and here, in an important stronghold of +Catholicism, as it had long been, Calvin was born in 1509. + +Altogether there is much to be found here to charm and stimulate our +imagination. As a type the cathedral stands preeminent. As to detail and +state of preservation, they, too, leave little to be desired, though the +appreciative author of a charming and valuable work treating of a good +half hundred or more of the "architectural glories of France" bemoans +the lack of a satisfying daily "Office." This may be a fault, possibly, +if such be really the case. The fabric of the church has stood the wear +and tear of time and stress exceeding well. Built in the eleventh and +twelfth centuries, it is a thoroughly harmonious and pleasing whole, and +we can well believe all that may have been said of it by the few able +critics who have passed judgment upon its style, as well as the +sentiment conveyed by the phrase that it is "one of the most graceful +and lovable of all the cathedrals of France." The bishopric was +suppressed after the Revolution, and the church is now a dependency of +the Bishop of Beauvais. + +The elongated belfry towers are perhaps the first and most noticeable +feature; secondly, the overhanging porch with its supporting frontal +buttresses; thirdly, the before-mentioned tri-apsidal effect of the +easterly end; and, last but not least, the general grouping of the whole +structure in combination with the buildings which are gathered about its +haunches, though with no suspicion of a detracting element as in some +sordid and crowded cities, where, in spite of undeniable +picturesqueness, is presented a squalor and poverty not creditable +either to the city of its habitation or to the cathedral authorities +themselves. From every point of vantage the steeples of Notre Dame de +Noyon add the one ingredient which makes a unity of the entire +ensemble,--a true old-world atmosphere, a town seen in not too apparent +a state of unrepair and certainly not a degenerate. + +The interior presents no less striking or noble features. It is not +stupendous or remarkably awesome; but it is grand, with a subtleness +which is inexpressible. Round and pointed arches are intermixed, and +there is a notable display of the round variety in the upper ranges of +the quadrupled elevation of the nave, the lightness, which might +otherwise have been marred, being preserved through the employment of a +series of simple lancets in the clerestory of the choir. Rearward of the +south transept are the chapter-house and the scanty remains of a Gothic +cloister, where a somewhat careworn combination of the forces of nature +and art have culminated in giving an unusually old-world charm to this +apparently neglected gem, as well representative of early French Gothic +as any in existence to-day. + + + + +IV + +NOTRE DAME DE SOISSONS + + +Soissons, the other primitive example, is at once a surprise and a +disappointment. From the railway, on entering the town, one is highly +impressed with the grouping of a sky-piercing, twin-spired structure of +ample and symmetrical proportions; and at some distance therefrom is +seen another building, possibly enough of less importance. Curiously, it +is the cathedral which is the less imposing, and, until one is well up +with the beautifully formed spires, he hardly realizes that they +represent all that is left of the majestic Abbey of _St. Jean des +Vignes_, where Becket spent nine long years. It is a mere bit of stage +scenery, with height and breadth, but no thickness. It is a pity that +such a charming structure as this noble building must once have been is +now left to crumble. The magnificent rose window, or rather the circular +opening which it once occupied, is now but a mere orifice, of great +proportions, but destitute of glazing. The entire confines of the +building, which crowns a slight eminence at the entrance of the town, +are now given over to the use of the military authorities. + +A little to the right lies the one-time cathedral of Notre Dame, +Soissons being another of the ci-devant bishoprics suppressed after the +Revolution by the redistribution which gave but one diocese to a +Department. Though not unpleasing, its facade is marred by its lack of +symmetry, while the tower, which rises on the right 215 feet, is not +sufficiently striking to redeem what otherwise is an ordinary enough +ensemble. The tower to the left was never raised above where it now +ends, and the facade, lacking the charm which the edifice might +otherwise have had, were the towers as complete and well proportioned as +are those of a later date which grace the remains of the old abbey, will +be for ever wanting until this completion be carried out. + +Romanesque is plainly noticeable in mixture with the early Gothic. The +three portals are not remarkable, or uniform, and are severely plain, +and, though of a noticeable receding depth, are bare and unpeopled. A +well-proportioned rose window, though not so large as many in the +greater cathedrals, has graceful radiating spokes and good glass. This +is flanked by two unpierced lancet-pointed window-frames which but +accentuate the plainness of the entire facade. Above is an arcaded +gallery which was intended to cross the entire front, but which now +stops where the gable joins the northerly tower. Restoration has been +carried on, not sparingly, but in good taste, with the result that, in +spite of its newness at the present writing, it appears as a consistent +and thoroughly conscientious piece of work, and not the mere patchwork +that such repairs usually suggest. + +The guide-books tell one that Soissons is famous for its trade in +haricot beans, and incidentally for the beans themselves, and for the +great number of sieges which it has undergone, the last being that +conducted by the Germans, who took possession in October, 1870, after a +bombardment of three days. + +Fergusson makes the statement, which is well taken, that the Cathedral +of Notre Dame de Soissons, while not in any sense meriting the term +magnificent, presents, in its interior arrangements, at least, a most +symmetrical and harmonious ensemble. A curious though not unpleasing +effect is produced by the blackened pointing of the interior masonry, +of piers, walls, and vaulting alike. An unusual feature is the +circumambient aisles to the transepts and the suggestion that a trefoil +apsidal termination was originally thought of, when the rebuilding was +taken in hand in the twelfth century. The transept is so completed on +the south side, which possesses also an ancient portal, and, with the +two at Noyon so done, presents a feature which is as much a relief from +the usual rectangle as are the rounded choirs of Continental churches a +beauty in advance of the accepted English manner of treatment of this +detail. + +The choir rises loftily above the transepts and nave, and, while the +general proportions are not such as to suggest undue narrowness, the +effect is of much greater height than really exists. This, too, is +apparent when viewing the abside itself. + +The Chapel of the Rosary in the north transept is overtopped by an +effective arrangement of perpendicular window-framing, supporting a +beautiful rose window of the spoke variety. It is safe to say that, had +the entire space provided been glazed, the effect of lighting would have +been unique among the cathedrals of the world. + +The only other decorative embellishments are some tapestries, a few +well-preserved tombs, and an "Adoration" supposed to be by Rubens, which +is perhaps more likely to be genuine, because of the situation of the +church near unto Flanders, than many other examples whose claims have +even less to support them. + + + + +_PART II_ + +_The Grand Group_ + + + + +I + +INTRODUCTORY + + +Expert opinion, so called, may possibly differ as to just what, or what +not, cathedrals of France should be included in this term. The French +proverb known of all guide-book makers should give a clue as to those +which at least may not be left out. + + "Clocher de Chartres, Nef d'Amiens + Choeur de Beauvais et Portale de Reims." + +Rouen, Paris, and Le Mans should be included, as well possibly as the +smaller but no less convincing examples at Seez, Sens, Laon, and Troyes, +as being of an analogous manner of building, and, by all that goes to +make up the components of a really great church, Bourges might well be +considered in the same group. For practical and divisional purposes it +is perhaps well to compose an octette of the churches of the Isle of +France and those lying contiguous thereto, Paris, Beauvais, St. Denis, +Amiens, Reims, Rouen, Chartres, and Le Mans, which may be taken together +as representative of the greatest art expression of the Gothic builders, +as well as being those around which centred the most significant events +of Church and State. To attempt to catalogue even briefly the charms and +notable attributes of even the first four, would require more than the +compass of several volumes the size of the present, whereas the attempt +made herein is merely to lead with as little digression as possible up +to the chief glories for which they are revered, and to suggest some of +the many important and epoch-making events intimately associated +therewith. More would be impossible, manifestly, unless the present work +were to transcend the limitations which were originally planned for it, +hence it is with no halting assertion that we enter boldly upon that +chronology or resume which, in a way, presents a marshalled array of +correlated facts which the reader may care to follow in further detail +in the list of bibliographical references included at the end of the +volume. + +Certain facts relating to the history and the architectural features +generally of these great cathedrals are known to all, and are chronicled +with more or less completeness in many valuable and authoritative +works, ranging from the humble though necessary guide-book to the +extensive if not exhaustive architectural work of reference. The facts +given herein are such, then, as are often overlooked in the +before-mentioned classes of works, and as such are presented, not so +much with the avowed object of imparting information, as to remind the +reader of the wealth of interest that exists with relation to these +shrines of religious art. This seems to be the only preamble possible to +the chapters which attempt to even classify these magnificent buildings, +wherein much is attempted and so little accomplished in recounting their +varied attractions. Let this explanation stand, therefore, for any +seeming paucity of description which may exist. + + + + +[Illustration: _Le Bon Dieu d'Amiens_] + +II + +NOTRE DAME D'AMIENS + + +The ever impressive Cathedral of Notre Dame d'Amiens is in most English +minds the _beau ideal_ of a French cathedral. It is contemporary with +Salisbury in period, at least, but it has little to remind one of the +actual features of this edifice. Often associated therewith, as a +similar type, it has little in reality in common, except that each is +representative of a supreme style. Beyond this it is hard to see how any +expert, archaeologist, antiquary, or what not, would seek to discover +relationship between two such distinct types. Salisbury is the ideal +English cathedral as to situation, surroundings, and general charm and +grace. This no one would attempt to deny; but, in another environment, +how different might it not appear,--as for instance placed beside +Amiens, where in one particular alone, the mere height of nave and +choir, it immediately dwindles into insignificance. Under +such conditions its graceful spire becomes dwarfed and attenuated. Need +more be said?--The writer thinks not, since the present work does not +deal with the comparative merits of any two cathedrals or of national +types; but the suggestion should serve to demonstrate how impossible it +is for any writer, however erudite he may be, to attempt to assign +precedence, or even rank, among the really great architectural works of +an era. This observation is true of many other examples of art +expression. + +[Illustration: NOTRE DAME _d'AMIENS_ ...] + +The cathedral at Amiens is dedicated to the Virgin, and is built in the +general form of a Latin cross. Over the principal doorway of the south +portal, on one of the upper plinths, may be seen the inscription which +places the date of the present edifice. + + [+] En l'an`[=q]ue l'Incarnati[=o] valait mcc et xx. Ro....rs, ifu: + rimisit: le premiere piere: iasis,... le cors.... Robert... + +The work was undertaken by one Robert de Luzarche, in the episcopate of +Evrard de Fouilloy, the forty-fifth Bishop of Amiens, whose tomb may be +seen just within the western doorway, and occupies the site of other +structures which had been variously devastated by fire or invasion in +850, 1019, 1137, and 1218. For fifty years the work went on +expeditiously under various bishops and their architects. "Saint" Louis, +Blanche of Castille, Philippe the Hardy, and the city fathers all aided +the work substantially, and the fabric speedily took on its finished +form. Through the later centuries it still preserved its entity, and +even during the Revolution its walls escaped destruction and defilement +through the devotion of its adherents. + +In later days important work and restoration has been carried out under +the paternal care and at the expense of the state; and the city itself +only recently contributed 45,000 francs for the clearing away of +obstructing buildings. + +A French writer has said, "It is only with the aid of a Bible and a +history of theology that it is possible to elucidate the vast +iconographic display of the marvellous west front of the cathedral at +Amiens." Like Reims, its three portals of great size are peopled with a +throng of statues. The central portal, known as the Porche du Souvenir, +contains the statue of the Good God of Amiens; that on the right is +called after the Mere de Dieu, and that on the left for St. Fermin the +Martyr. Above the gables is the "Gallery of Kings," just below the +enormous rose windows. Above rise the two towers of unequal loftiness, +and lacking, be it said, thickness in its due proportion. The carven +figures in general are not considered the equal in workmanship of those +at Reims, though the effect and arrangement is similar. For a complete +list of them, numbering some hundreds on this facade alone, the reader +must refer to some local guide-book, of which several are issued in the +city. + +The south portal, the _Portal de la Vierge doree_ or _Portal de Saint +Honore_, shares company with the west facade in its richness of +sculpture and its rose window and its gable. Here also are to be seen +the supporting buttresses which spring laterally from the wall of the +transept and cross with those which come from the choir. + +The north portal, on the side of the Bishop's Palace, does not show the +same richness as the others, though perhaps more than ordinarily ornate. + +The spire above the transept crossing is a work of the sixteenth +century, and is perhaps more remarkable than its rather diminutive +appearance, in contrast with the huge bulk of the edifice, would +indicate. + +The extreme height of nave and choir (147 feet), adds immeasurably to +the grand effect produced by the interior, a height in proportion to +breadth nearly double that usual in the English cathedrals. The vaulting +is borne aloft by over one hundred columns. The natural attribute of +such great dimension is a superb series of windows, a promise more than +fulfilled by the three great rose windows and the lofty clerestory of +nave and choir. The sixteenth century glass is exceedingly profuse and +brilliant. + +The lateral chapels of the nave were added subsequent to the work of the +early builders, all being of the sixteenth century, while the eleven +choir chapels are of the thirteenth century, all with very ornate iron +grilles, which are a feature only second to a remarkable series of +"choir stalls," numbering over one hundred, showing a wonderful variety +of delicate carved figures of the sixteenth century, the work of one +Jean Turpin, the subjects being mainly Biblical. + +A stone screen with elaborate sculptures in high relief surrounds the +choir, that on the south representing the legend of St. Firmin, the +patron of Picardy, and that on the north, scenes connected with the life +of John the Baptist. In a side chapel dedicated to St. John reposes the +alleged head of John the Baptist. Others have appeared elsewhere from +time to time, but as they are not now recognized as being genuine, and +the said apostle not being hydra-headed, it is possible that there will +be those who will choose to throw the weight of their opinions in favour +of the claim of Amiens. + +The flying buttresses at Amiens are not of the singular lightness +associated with this notably French characteristic; they are in the +main, however, none the less effective for that, and assuredly, so far +as the work which they have to perform is concerned, it was doubtless +necessary that they should be of more than ordinary strength. + +The view of the ensemble from the river shows the massiveness and +general proportions in a unique and superb manner. Amiens is not +otherwise an attractive city, a bustle of grand and cheap hotels, +decidedly a place to be taken _en route_, not like Beauvais, where one +may well remain as long as fancy wills and not feel the too strong hand +of progress intruding upon his ruminations. + + + + +III + +ST. PIERRE DE BEAUVAIS + + +Beauvais is by no means an inaccessible place, though how often have we +known one who could not tell in what part of France it was situated. Of +course, being "off the line" is sufficient excuse for the majority of +hurried travellers to pass it by, but, leaving this debatable point out +of the question, let us admit, for the nonce, that it is admirably +located if one only chooses to spend a half-day or more in visiting the +charmingly interesting city and its cathedral, or what there is of it, +for it exists only as a luminous height _sans_ nave, _sans_ tower, and +_sans_ nearly everything, except a choir of such immensity that to see +it is to marvel if not to admire. It is indeed as Hope has said, "a +miracle of loftiness and lightness; appearing as if about to soar into +the air." + +[Illustration: ST. PIERRE ... _de BEAUVAIS_] + +How many readers, who recognize the charms for which the cathedral is +most revered, know that it was intended to rank as the +St. Peter's of the north, and like its Roman prototype, was to surpass +all other contemporary structures in size and magnificence. This was +marked out for it when, in the middle sixteenth century, the builders of +its central spire, which fell shortly after, sought to rival the Italian +church in a vast Gothic fabric which should be the dominant northern +type in contra-distinction to that of the south. This of itself, were +there no other contributory interests, which there are to a very great +degree, should be all-sufficient to awaken the desire on the part of +every one who journeys Parisward to obtain a more intimate acquaintance +with this great work. Here was an instance of ambition overleaping +itself,--exceeding by far the needs and conditions of its environment +and like many another ill-planned venture, it fell to ruin through a +lack of logic and mental balance. To-day we see a restored fabric, +lacking all the attributes of a great church except that which is +encompassed by that portion lying eastward of the nave proper, its frail +buttresses knitted together by iron rods, its piers latterly doubled in +number, and many more visible signs of an attempt to hold its walls and +roofs up to the work they have to perform. + +The present structure, in so far as certain of its components go, was +commenced within five years of Amiens (1225), which calls to mind the +guide-book comparison, which seems so appropriate that it must really +have previously originated from some other source,--Amiens, "a giant in +repose;" Beauvais, "a Colossus on tiptoe." + +Its designer built not wisely, nor in this case too well, for before the +end of the century the roof had fallen, and this after repeated +miscalculations and failures. At this time the intermediate piers of the +choir were built and a general modified plan adopted. + +Ruskin's favourite simile, with respect to St. Pierre de Beauvais, was +that no Alpine precipice had the sheer fall of the walls of this +choir,--or words to that effect, which is about as far-fetched as many +other of his dictums, which have since been exploded by writers of every +degree of optimism and pessimism. Certainly it is a great height to +which this choir rises, one hundred and fifty-three feet it has been +called, which probably exceeds that of Amiens by a dozen or more feet, +though authorities (_sic_) vary with regard to these dimensions, as +might be supposed; but it is no more like unto a wall of rock than it +is to a lighthouse. + +With the crumbling of the sixteenth-century spire on Ascension Day, +1573, restoration of the transepts was undertaken and work on the nave +resumed, which only proceeded, however, to the extent of erecting one +bay to the westward, which stands to this day, the open end filled in +with scantling, weather proofing, and what not,--a bare, gaunt, ugly +patch. Had it been possible to complete the work on its original +magnificent lines, it would have been the most stupendous Gothic fabric +the world has ever known. + +Not entirely without beauty, in spite of its great proportions, it is +more with wonder than admiration that one views both its details and +proportions. Though it is perhaps unfair to condemn its style as +unworthy of the Augustan age of French architecture, surely the ambition +with which the work was undertaken was a laudable one enough, and it is +only from the fact that it spells failure in the eyes of many who lack +initiative in their own make-up, that it only qualifiedly may be called +a great work. + +The choir, which now dates from 1322, perforce looks unduly short, by +reason of the absence of a nave to add to the effect of horizontal +stability; and the great height of the adjoining transept; but the +chevet and buttresses are certainly a marvel of grace and towering +forms. + +The portals of the transept are of the period of Francis I., with +flowing lines and ornate decorations--"having passed the severity and +ethical standards of maturity, and progressed well along the path to +senility," as a vigorous Frenchman has put it. True enough in its +application is this livid sentiment,--perhaps,--but its jewel-like south +portal, like the "_gemmed_" west front of Tours, forms an attractive +enough presentment to please most observers who do not delve too deeply +into cause and effect. The north portal is less ornate, but its +beautifully carved doors are by the same hand as that which worked the +opposite portal. The ornamental stonework here is unusual, suggesting an +arrangement which may or may not have been intended as a representation +of the "Tree of Jesse." In any case it is a remarkable work of flowing +Gothic "branches," which, though mainly lacking its intended +interspersed figures, is not only unique among exterior decorations, +but appears as a singularly appropriate treatment of a grand doorway. + +Adjoining the choir on the right is a sacristy occupying a small +structure, and to the westward is a fragmentary edifice known as the +_Basse OEuvre_,--one of the oldest existing buildings in France; a +Romano-Byzantine work, variously stated as of the sixth to eighth +century and forming a portion of the original church which occupied the +site of the present Cathedral. + +The general impressiveness of this great church--the memory which most +of us will carry away--is caused by its immensity, its loftiness, and +the general effect of lightness. These form an irresistible galaxy of +features which can hardly fail to produce a new and startling sensation +upon any observer. + +As to decorative embellishments, the church is by no means lacking. The +coloured glass, typical of the best period of the art, is luxurious and +extensive; that contained in the north and south transept rose windows +being the exceedingly beautiful work of Le Prince, a celebrated +sixteenth-century artist. + +Numerous side chapels surround the ambulatory of the choir, and on the +west wall of the transept are hung the eight tapestries after the +sixteenth-century Raphael cartoons now at South Kensington. These +tapestries are, it is to be presumed, late copies, since, of the two +early sets woven at Arras, one is preserved in the Vatican and the other +at the Museum at Berlin. A modern fresco of Jeanne Hachette, a local +Amazon, adorns one of the choir chapels. A modern astronomical clock, +with numerous dials, striking figures, and crowing cocks, is placed near +the north transept. It might naturally be supposed that in our day the +canons of good taste would plead against such a mere "curio" being +housed in a noble church. + +The former Bishop's Palace, dating from the fourteenth to sixteenth +centuries, is now the Palace of Justice. The present episcopal residence +is immediately to the north of the Cathedral and is modern. + +As a tapestry-making centre Beauvais ranks with the famous Gobelin +Manufactory at Paris. + + + + +[Illustration: _Notre Dame de Rouen_] + +IV + +NOTRE DAME DE ROUEN + + +Rouen, of all the mediaeval cities of France, is ever to the fore in the +memories of the mere traveller for pleasure. In no sense are its charms +of a negative quality, or few in number. Quite the reverse is the case; +but the city's apparent attraction is its extreme accessibility, and the +glamours that a metropolis of rank throws over itself; for it must not +be denied that a countrified environment has not, for all, the appealing +interest of a great city. It is to this, then, that Rouen must accredit +the throngs of strangers which continually flock to its doors from the +Easter time to late autumn. In addition there are its three great +churches, so conveniently and accessibly placed that the veriest tyro in +travel can but come upon them whichever way he strolls. Other monuments +of equal rank there are, too, and altogether, whether it be the mere +hurried pecking of a bird of passage, or the more leisurely attack of +the studiously inclined, Rouen offers perhaps much greater attractions +than are possessed by any other French city of equal rank. + +So closely, too, have certain events of English history been interwoven +with scenes and incidents which have taken place here, that the wonder +is that it is not known even more intimately by that huge number of +persons who annually rush across France to Switzerland or Italy. + +Chroniclers of the city's history, its churches, and its institutions +have not been wanting, in either French or English; and even the +guide-books enlarge (not unduly) upon its varied charms. Once possessing +thirty-two churches, sixteen yet remain; quite one-half of which may be +numbered to-day as of appealing interest. _En passant_, it may be stated +that here at Rouen, in both Notre Dame and the Abbey Church of St. Ouen, +is found that gorgeous functionary, commonly called "the Suisse," who +seeks your gold or a portion thereof, in return for which he will favour +you by opening an iron wicket into the choir, an incumbrance unnoticed +elsewhere, except at Paris and St. Denis. + +The late Gothic church of St. Ouen, where the Maid of Orleans received +her fatal sentence, shows a wonderful unity of design even as to its +modern western towers; a consistency not equally the possession of the +neighbouring cathedral, or even of most great churches. Altogether, this +grand building is regarded as an unparallelled example of the +realization of much that is best of Gothic architecture at its greatest +height. In its central tower alone--which may or may not be suggestive +of a market-basket, accordingly as you will take Ruskin's opinion, or +form one of your own--is the least evidence of the developed flamboyant +found. Its interior is clean-cut and free of obstruction; the extreme +length of its straight lines, both horizontal and perpendicular, +entirely freed from chapel or choir screen, embrace and uphold its +"walls of glass" in an unequalled manner. + +In strong contrast to this expressively graceful style is the +ultraflorid type of St. Maclou, the other of that trinity of +architectural splendours, which, with the Cathedral of Notre Dame, form +the chief ecclesiastical monuments of the city. St. Maclou, which dates +from the early fifteenth century, though not of the grand proportions of +either of the other great churches, being rather of the type of the +large parish church as it is known in England, holds one spellbound by +the very daring of its ornaments and tracery, but contains no trace of +non-Gothic. The French passion for the curved line is nowhere more +manifest than here (and in the west front of Notre Dame), where flowing +tracery of window, doorway, portal, and, in general, all exterior +ornament, is startling in its audacity. To view these two contrasting +types before making acquaintance with the Cathedral of Notre Dame +itself, is to prepare oneself for a consideration in some measure of a +combination of the charms of both, woven into one fabric. Nowhere, at +least in no provincial town of France, are to be found such a +categorical display of ecclesiastical architectural details as here. + +Rouen has from the second century been an important seat of +Christianity. St. Nicaise, not to be confounded with him of the same +name of Reims, first held a conversion here and was shortly followed by +St. Mellor, who founded the city's first church, on the site of the +present cathedral. In succeeding centuries this foundation gradually +took shape and form until, with the occupation by the Norsemen under +Rollo, was founded a dynasty which fostered the development of theology +and the arts in a manner previously unknown. The cathedral was enlarged +at this time, and upon his death in 930 Rollo was interred therein, as +was also his son in 943. Richard the Fearless followed with further +additions and enlargements, his son Richard being made its forty-third +archbishop. From this time on, the great church-building era, Christian +activities were notably at work, here as elsewhere, and during the +prolific eleventh century great undertakings were in progress; so much +so that what was practically a new church received its consecration, and +dedication to Our Lady, in 1063, in the presence of him who later was to +be known as the Conqueror. To-day it stands summed up thus--a grand +building, rich, confused, and unequal in design and workmanship. + +The lower portion of the northwest tower, called the _Tour St. Romain_, +is all that is left of the eleventh-century building, the remainder of +which was destroyed by fire in 1200. Rebuilding followed in succeeding +years and shows work of many styles. Additions, repairs, and +interpolations were incorporated with the fragment of the tower, so that +the structure as we now know it stood complete with the early thirteenth +century. Viollet-le-Duc is the authority for the statement that the +apse and transept, chapels, choir, and two doorways of the west facade +were quite complete before the influence of the perfected Gothic of the +Isle of France was even felt. One Enguerrand was the chief designer of +the new church, assisted by Jean d'Andeli as master mason. The early +century saw the nave chapels built, having been preceded by the _Portail +aux Libraires_, a sort of cloistered north entrance, still so referred +to, one of the most charming and quiet old-world retreats to be found +to-day even within the hallowed precincts of a cathedral. The _Portail +de la Calende_ did not follow until a century later, when the _Tour St. +Romain_ was completed to its roof; at which time was also added the +screen or arcade which separates the _Portail aux Libraires_ from the +street. + +This century, too, saw the beginning of the famous _Tour de Beurre_, +built mostly by the contributions of those who paid for the indulgence +of being allowed to eat butter during Lent. Its foundation was laid in +1487 under Archbishop Robert de Croixmore, and it was completed under +Cardinal d'Amboise in 1507. A chapel at the base of the tower is +dedicated to St. Stephen. The ornate decorations of the west front, +added by Georges d'Amboise, are mainly of the sixteenth century and form +no part of the original plan or design. It borders upon the style we +have since learned to decry, but it is, at least, marvellous as to the +skill with which its foliaged and crocketed pinnacles and elaborate +traceries are worked. Ruskin was probably right in this estimate at +least,--"The central gable is the most exquisite piece of pure +flamboyant style extant." At the present day this west front is +undergoing such restoration and general repair that the entire gable, +rose window, and part of the flanking towers are completely covered with +a most hideous array of scaffolding. + +The central spire as it exists to-day, in reality an abomination of +abominations, is naturally enough admired by all when first viewed from +afar. It certainly looks not dwarfed, or even fragile, but simply +delicate, and withal graceful, an opinion which ultimate association +therewith speedily dispels. It must be one of the very first examples of +modern iron or steel erection in the world, dating from 1827, following +three former spires, each of which was burned. The architect responsible +for this monstrosity sought to combine two fabrics in incoherent +proportions. More than one authority decries the use of iron as a +constructive element, and Chaucer's description of the Temple of Mars in +the Knight's Tale reads significantly: + + "Wrought all of burned steel... + Was long and straight and ghastly for to see." + +The great part of the exterior of this remarkable church is closely +hidden by a rather squalid collection of buildings. Here and there they +have been cleared away, but, like much of the process of restoration, +where new fabric is let into the old, the incongruity is quite as +objectionably apparent as the crumbling stones of another age. _Notre +Dame de Rouen_ is singularly confined, but there seems no help for it, +and it is but another characteristic of the age in which it was +built,--that the people either sought the shelter of churchly +environment, or that the church was only too willing to stretch forth +its sheltering arms to all and sundry who would lie in its shadow. + +In an assignment of ranking beauty to its external features, the +decorative west front must manifestly come first; next the _Portail aux +Libraires_, with its arcaded gateway and the remains of the booksellers' +stalls which still surround its miniature courtyard; then, perhaps, +should follow the _Tour St. Romain_ and the _Portail de la Calende_, +with its charmingly recessed doorway and flanking lancet arches. The +sculptured decorations of all are for the most part intact and +undisfigured. The gable of the southern doorway rises pointedly until +its apex centres with the radiated circular window above, which, by the +way, is not of the exceeding great beauty of the other two rose windows, +which rank with those at Reims and Chartres as the _beaux ideals_ of +these distinctly French achievements. + +The interior, viewed down the nave, and showing its great length and +that of the choir, impresses one with a graver sense of unity in the +manner of building than is possible to conceive with regard to the +exterior. The height and length both approximate that of St. Ouen, and, +though the nave rises only to ninety-eight feet, an effect of greater +loftiness is produced by the unusual quadripartite range of openings +from pavement to vaulting: two rows of arches opening into the aisles +before the triforium itself is reached. The lantern at the crossing +supports the ironwork spire, and admits light to the centre of the +church, only to a small degree, however. The south transept, like that +of the north, with its ample double aisles, is of great width, and, were +the framing of the great rose window of less angularity, it would indeed +produce a remarkable effect of grandeur. The other windows, and the +arcading of the triforium, are singularly graceful; not lacking either +strength or firmness, though having no glass of great rarity or +excellence. In this transept is the altar of St. Romain, a +seventeenth-century work of little pretensions. + +The north transept contains two features which give it immediate +precedence over any other, when viewed from within: its gracefully +traceried rose window and fine glass, and the delightful stone staircase +leading to the chapter library. Mere description cannot do this stairway +justice. Renaissance it certainly is, and where we might wish to find +nothing but Gothic ornament, it may prove somewhat of a disappointment; +but it is magnificent. Its white marble balustrading gleams in the +strong light thrown from the western transept window and gives an +unmistakable note of richness and sonority. It was built late in the +fifteenth century under orders of Cardinal d'Estonteville. The upper +doorway leads to the treasury, and that of the first landing to the +chamber in which were formerly kept the bibliographical treasures, now +housed in the special building which forms the western wall of the +outside court. + +The north and south aisles of the nave are broken into by a series of +chapels, the chief of which are the Chapel to St. Stephen in the base of +the _Tour de Beurre_ and _du Petit St. Romain_, where an abbe or cure +speaking the English tongue is often to be found. On the south side is a +chapel containing the tomb of William Longsword, second Duke of +Normandy, and son of Rollo. + +The great attraction of the choir, far more than its beauties of +architectural forms, shown in its graceful columns and deep graven +capitals, will be, for most visitors, its array of elaborate monuments, +including those of Pierre and Louis de Breze, of whom the former, the +Grand Seneschal of Normandy under Charles VII., fell at Monthery, and +was buried here in 1465. More pretentious is the tomb of Louis, his +grandson, erected by his wife Diane de Poitiers, with a significant +inscription which the curious may be pleased to figure out for +themselves. This noble monument is one of those examples hesitatingly +attributed to Jean Goujon. The _piece de resistance_ is the Renaissance +tomb of the Cardinals d'Amboise. Georges I. was memorialized in 1556 by +his nephew Georges II., who in turn came to share the same tomb. Both +their kneeling figures are beautifully chiselled, and the whole erection +is gorgeously representative of the late sixteenth-century monumental +work, little in keeping with the Gothic fabric which houses it, but +characteristic of the changing thought and influence of its time. Six +symbolical figures of the virtues form a lower course, while the canopy +is surmounted by nineteen figures of apostles, saints, etc. In 1793 the +ashes of these great prelates were scattered to the winds, but the +effigies and their setting fortunately remained uninjured. Other +archbishops of the cathedral are buried in the choir, and the heart of +Richard Coeur de Lion once rested here, as did also the bodies of his +brother Henry, and John, Duke of Bedford. + +The choir stalls, mostly the work of Flemish wood-carvers, are notable +examples. + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration: _Basilique de St. Denis_] + + + + +V + +BASILIQUE DE ST. DENIS + + +The Basilica of St. Denis, so-called to-day, built over the remains of +the martyred St. Denis, is in a way the counterpart of the Cathedral of +Reims, in that it also is intimately associated with the Kings of +France. In the former they were, almost without exception, crowned; and +here, at St. Denis, are the memorials of their greatness, and in many +cases their actual tombs. Thus far and no farther may the similarity be +said to exist. The old Abbey of St. Denis has little in common, +architecturally, with the grand Cathedral of Notre Dame de Reims. Of the +two, St. Denis is much the older foundation, and from the point of view +of romance and sentiment holds perhaps the premier place, as well. + +The history of the city is one of the most interesting and diversified +of all in the domain of the Kings of France. A Benedictine abbey was +founded here in the reign of Dagobert I., and, under the Carlovingian +dynasty, immediately took on political as well as devout significance. +The Abbot of St. Denis journeyed to Rome in 751 A. D. and secured for +Pepin the papal confirmation of his kingship. Pope Stephen took refuge +here from the Lombards in 754 A. D., during which time he anointed the +king's sons, Charles and Charlemagne; upon the consecration of which act +Pepin handed over to his sons the right and title to his dominions. + +Upon the advice of the Abbot Suger, Louis VI. adopted the _Oriflamme_, +or standard of St. Denis, as the banner of the Kings of France, and, for +long after, its red and gold colourings hung above the altar,--only to +be removed when the king should take the field in person. + +Abelard, of famed romance, was a monk of the abbey in the twelfth +century; and, in the absence of the sovereign (Louis VII.) in the Holy +Land during the mid-century, the Abbe Suger administered full well the +affairs of the kingdom. This renowned abbot and true lover of art died +in 1151 at St. Denis. + +In 1429 "the Maid of Orleans" here delivered up her arms; and a century +and a half later that sturdy Protestant, Henry, abjured the faith to +which he had hitherto so tenaciously clung. In this church, too, the +great Napoleon married Marie Louise in 1810; and his later namesake, +some fifty years after, erected a mausoleum in the crypt, known as the +_Caveau Imperial_, the burial vault of his dynasty, which, however, has +never been so used. + +Such in brief is the record of some of the more important affairs of +church and state, which are identified with this fine old cathedral. The +usual books of reference give lengthy lists of the various tombs and +monuments which exist. It is a pity, however, that, in spite of the +laudable ambition of preserving here, in a sort of kingly Valhalla, the +memory of the rulers of a past age, it has degenerated, in turn, to a +mere show-place, with little enough of the real sentiment remaining to +satisfy the seriously inclined, who perforce would wish to be reminded +in some more subtle way than by a mere "rush around the exhibits," which +is about all the half-hourly, personally conducted excursions, with +appropriate fees to be delivered up here and there, amounts to. But for +this, there would still be some of the charm and reverence which such a +noble memorial should inspire, in spite of the fact that revolution and +desecration have played more than a usual share in the general +derangement of the original plans. + +Up to the time of Henry IV., the monarchs were mostly interred in +separate tombs, but, following him, his immediate successors were buried +in a common vault. During the Revolution, the Convention decreed that +the royal tombs should be destroyed, and so they mostly were,--the +bodies dug up and interred, if so the process can be called, in a common +grave. In 1817 Louis XVIII. caused the remains of his ancestors, as well +as Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette, to be transferred here from the +Madeleine, and in turn he himself was buried here, as well as the Duc de +Berry and several of his children. The preservation of such of the tombs +as survived the many vicissitudes to which they were put, is due to the +fact that many of them were at one time removed to the Musee des +Petits-Augustines, now the Palace des Beaux Arts, at Paris; but in 1817 +Louis XVIII. ordered them to be replaced in the crypt of St. Denis; not, +however, on the sites which they formerly occupied, but in an arbitrary +manner which only the great abilities of M. Viollet-le-Duc, who +undertook their rearrangement and restoration, were able to present in +some coherent manner for the marvel of future generations. There are now +therein over fifty monuments and tombs, besides various statues, +medallions, and other memorials. + +From an architectural point of view, we have to consider the _Basilique +de St. Denis_ no longer a cathedral, as one of the earliest Gothic +examples in France, though at first glance little enough of the true +Gothic feeling is apparent. About the year 275 a chapel was built here +above the grave of St. Dionysius, the first Bishop of Paris. This was +followed by a large _basilica_, ultimately given over to the uses of +monks of the Benedictine order. Evidences of this former construction +are supposed by archaeologists to still remain, but little, earlier than +the structure of the Abbe Suger, meets the eye to-day. Strong is the +trace of the development from the Romanesque facade, completed in 1140, +to pure Gothic construction of a century later. In this church is +commonly supposed to be exhibited for the first time, bearing in mind +that the date of its consecration was 1144, a complete system of +buttresses accompanying the pointed arch of the vaulting, though in +conjunction with semicircular vaulting in the choir aisles. + +The west facade is the most notable part of Suger's building. It +contains three deeply recessed round arched portals, decorated with +sculpture, but so disfigured, or at least modified from their original +forms in an attempt to replace the ravages of time and spoliation, that +one can not well judge of their original merit. The south portal shows +symbolical figures of the months and of "St. Dionysius in Prison;" the +central doorway a "Last Judgment," and the "Wise and Foolish Virgins;" +while the north portal depicts "St. Dionysius on His Way to Martyrdom," +and "The Signs of the Zodiac." + +A curious and unusual effect of the upper portion of this grim facade, +like a similar work at Dol-de-Bretagne, is a range of battlements which +were erected for defensive purposes in the fourteenth century. The nave +rises high above this, surmounted by a statue of St. Denis. Above the +lateral portals of the facade are two towers, that on the right rising +two stages above the embattled crest, while that on the left stops at +that level. The spire with which it was formerly surmounted was ruined +by lightning early in the nineteenth century. + +The choir, with its radiating chapels, is of a Romanesque order, with +the Gothic attribute of the flying buttress in a high degree of +development. + +A general restoration was carried out in the thirteenth century by the +successors of Suger, the Abbes Eudes Clement and Matthieu de Vendome, in +the best Gothic of the time; and it is to their excellently planned work +that the general fine effect of the present interior arrangements may +properly enough be accredited, though for a fact it seldom is so. A +later restoration, the removing of the ruin wrought by the Revolution, +did not succeed so well. It was not until the really great work of +Viollet-le-Duc, under Napoleon III., that this grand building finally +took on again an acceptable form. + +The general interior arrangements, though to-day apparently subservient +to the common attributes of a show-house with its innumerable guides, +functionaries, and fees, are simple and impressive so far as structural +elements are concerned. As for decorations, they are mostly to be found +in that gorgeous array of monuments and tombs before mentioned. The +entrance proper, or vestibule, is of Suger's era and is gloomy and dull, +in strong contrast with the noble and impressive nave, which contains +thirty-seven enormously high windows and a handsome triforium gallery. +This portion dates from the thirteenth century, or immediately following +Suger's regime. The excellent stained glass is modern. The transepts are +mere rudimentary elements, suggested only by the interior arrangement of +the piers, and are simple and impressive. + +[Illustration: _Oriflamme of St. Denis_] + + + + +[Illustration: NOTRE DAME _de PARIS_...] + +VI + +NOTRE DAME DE PARIS + + +Of all the cathedrals of France, Notre Dame de Paris is most firmly +impressed on the minds of English speaking people. At least, it is more +familiarly known by all who visit that delectable land, and perhaps +rightly so. Poets have sung its praises, and writers of all ranks have +used it in well-nigh every possible fashion as an accessory; indeed, +books almost without number have been written about it, and around it. +This is as it should be, for perhaps no great church is more worthy, or +more prolific in material. For those who would probe deeply into its +story, there is but one way to acquire an intimate knowledge +thereof,--to undertake a course of reading and study in some such way as +a lawyer sets about reading up on a great case. By no other method could +be acquired a tithe of the commonly known facts regarding its past +history; hence the impossibility of attempting to deal fully in a few +pages with this great church, even in a perfunctory manner. The most +that can be safely ventured upon, is to recount some of the facts. + +How many have really noticed that none of the diagrams, which show the +ground-plan of this cathedral, indicate the existence of any transepts? +Take, for instance, that which accompanies this volume, which, it may be +said, is drawn correctly,--beyond the omission of a couple of pillars on +either side of the nave, there is nothing to break into the long +parallelogram-like structure, with an apsidal termination. As a matter +of fact, there are a pair of very beautiful transepts, as most +photographs of the exterior, and drawings of the interior, show. They +are, too, in no way attenuated, and are only lost in the ground-plan by +reason of the fact that they follow the very unusual arrangement of not +extending laterally beyond the ample width of the nave and its chapelled +aisles. The south transept facade, with the portal dedicated to St. +Stephen, and two magnificent rose windows, is unquestionably more +pleasing than the west facade itself as to design and arrangement. + +Begun in 1163 and consecrated in 1182, the church has undergone many +vicissitudes, changes, and restorations. It has fared ill on many +occasions; perhaps the greatest defilement being that which befell it +during the Revolution, when it was not only foully desecrated, its +statues and other imagery despoiled, but the edifice was actually doomed +to destruction. This fortunately was spared to it, but in the same year +(1793) it became a "Temple of Reason," one of those fanatical exploits +of a set of madmen who are periodically let loose upon the world. +Mysticism, palaverings, and orgies unspeakable took place between its +walls, and it only became sanctified again when Napoleon caused it to be +reopened as a place of divine worship. Again, three-quarters of a +century later, it fell into evil times--when it was turned into a +military rendezvous by the Communards of '71. In turn, they too +retreated, leaving the church, as they supposed, to the mercy of the +flames which they had kindled. Fortunately these were extinguished and +the building again rescued from an untoward fate. + +The thirteenth-century facade is usually accredited the finest part of +the church. It comes upon one as rather plain and bare after the +luxuriance of Amiens, Reims, or Rouen. As a model and design, however, +it has served its purpose well, if other examples, variously +distributed throughout England and France, are considered. Its lines, in +fact, are superb and vary little in proportion or extent from what must +perforce be accepted as ideal. Its portals are of good design, and so +also is such sculpture as survived the ravages of the past, though the +outlines of the doorways are severely plain. A series of modern +sculptured effigies of the kings, replacing those destroyed at the +Revolution, forms a plain horizontal band across the entire front; a +none too graceful or pleasing arrangement of itself. A rose window +forty-two feet in width occupies the centre of the next stage, flanked +by two blunt-pointed windows rather bare of glass. Above is an arcaded +gallery of small pointed arches in pairs, also extending across the +entire front. The balustrade, above, holds a number of grotesque +creatures carved in stone. They may be gargoyles, but are not, however, +in this case, of the spout variety, being some of those erections of a +superstitious age which were so frequently added to a mediaeval building; +though whether as a mere decoration, or with greater significance, +authorities do not seem to agree. The two uncompleted square towers +overtop all, pierced by the two great lancets, which, with respect to +mere proportions, are unusual if not unique. + +The spire above the crossing is a wooden structure covered with lead, +and dates only from the middle of the nineteenth century. Both the north +and south transepts contain magnificent rose windows of even larger +dimensions than that of the west facade. The doorway of the south +transept is ornamented with effective ironwork, but otherwise the +exterior presents no remarkable features. + +To the artist's eye the gem of the building is undoubtedly the fine +grouping and ensemble of the flying buttresses at the rear of the choir. +Most persons, so gifted, have tried their prentice, or their master, +hands at depicting this grand marshalled array of "folded wings," and, +but for the gruesome morgue at its foot, which ever intrudes into the +view, one might almost say it is the most idyllic and most specious view +of a great cathedral that it were possible to have. Were it not for this +charming view of these buttressed walls, with the river flowing at their +feet, the Isle de la Cite would be indeed a gloomy spot, with its lurid +historical past, and its present gruesome association with the "house of +the dead." Indeed, it has been questioned as to whether the choir and +chevet of Notre Dame de Paris is not the most beautiful extant. The Isle +de la Cite was the ancient island village of the Parisii. + +A sixteenth-century Dutch writer (De Sauteuil) has delivered himself of +these few lines concerning the Seine at this point: + +"When first it enters the metropolis it ambitiously stays its rapid +course, and, being truly enamoured with the place, forgets its way, is +uncertain whither to flow, and winds in sweet meanders through the town; +thence filling the pipes with its waters. That which was once a river, +joys to become a fountain." + +To carry the suggestion of contrast still farther one should read Hugo's +"Notre Dame" on the spot. It will give a wonderful and whimsical +conception of those weird gargoyles and devils, which have only to be +seen to awaken a new interest in what this great writer has put forth. +For another sensation, pleasant or otherwise, one might look up a copy +of Meyron's wonderful etching of the same subject, or refer to a most +excellent monograph, written not many years since, entitled "The Devils +of Notre Dame." The interior shows the earliest example wherein the +double aisles of the nave are continued around the choir, and the first +introduction of the quadruple range of openings from the pavement to +the vaulting. The aisles and nave are of almost equal height. + +The choir, besides being merely apsided, is, in fact, a true semicircle, +a sufficiently unusual arrangement in an early Gothic church to be +remarked; and, in addition, is exceedingly narrow and lofty. The glass +of the rose windows is of old and gorgeous quality, it having escaped +destruction in Revolutionary times, whereas that of the lower range of +windows was mostly destroyed. + +The choir stalls are of excellent wooden carving, but the high altar is +modern, dating only from 1874. The choir screen, of the fourteenth +century, shows twenty-three reliefs in stone, once richly gilded, but +now tarnished and dull. + +[Illustration: _Notre Dame de Paris from the River_] + + +ST. LOUIS DE VERSAILLES + +Allied with the see whose jurisdiction includes the Diocese of the +Department of the Seine, should be considered that of Seine and Oise, +which has its bishop's throne esconced in the Cathedral of St. Louis at +Versailles. To all intents and purposes the town is one of those +conglomerate units which go to make up the "traveller's Paris." More can +hardly be said with due regard to the magnificent edifices with which +this cathedral must naturally be classed. The other attractions of this +"court suburb" are so appealing to the sentimentally inclined that it is +to be feared that such will have little eye for the very minor +attractions of the cathedral. The Trianons, the "Grandes Eaux" and the +"Petites Eaux" are all in all to the visitor to Versailles. + +As a matter of fact and record, the Cathedral of St. Louis must be +mentioned, if only to be dismissed in a word. Bourasee refers to it as +"a thing cold, unfeeling, and without life." Truthfully, it is a +remarkably ugly building of the middle eighteenth century, with no +details of note and no memorials worthy of even a passing regard, except +a monument to the Duc de Berry, who died in 1820. What embellishment is +given to the interior, is accounted for by the exceeding ruddy glow shed +by the contemporary coloured glass of the none too numerous windows. + + + + +[Illustration: _St. Julien; Le Mans_] + +VII + +ST. JULIEN; LE MANS + + +Le Mans, like Chartres, sprang from an ancient Celtic hill fort, and, +through successive stages, has since grown to a Roman, a mediaeval, and +finally a modern city. It crowns the top of a very considerable +eminence, the like of which, says Professor Freeman, does not exist in +England. Like Chartres, too, it has always retained the balance of power +which has made it the local civil and ecclesiastical capital of its +province. It is, too, more closely associated in English minds than is +Chartres, forming as it did a part of the dominion of a common +sovereign; also by reason of being the birthplace of Henry II., and the +burial-place of Queen Berengaria, the wife of Richard Coeur-de-Lion. + +Le Mans stands, without doubt, in advance of Chartres in the importance +and number of its secondary churches, as well as its ecclesiastical, +civil, and military establishments in general. In spite of all this, +the city has never ranked as of supreme importance as a European city; +nor did it ever attain the rank in Gallic times, that the events which +have been woven around it would seem to augur. To-day it is a truly +characteristic, large, provincial town of little or no importance to the +outside world. Self-sufficient as to its own importance, and the events +around which its local life circles, it gives little indication of ever +becoming more of a metropolis than it now is; indeed the census figures +would indicate that the department, of which it is the capital, has +remained stationary as to the numbers of its population, since the +Revolution. + +Writers have endeavoured to carry the similarity to English interests +and conditions still farther than the events of history really go to +prove, and have declared that Maine and England should have united in +repelling their common invader. Endeavour has also been made to trace +similarity between the communistic principles of days gone by, which +took form here and at Exeter across the Channel, and have even remarked +the similarity of the topographical features of the surrounding +landscape, wherein the country round about differs so from other parts +of France, being here rolling, hilly, and wooded, as in certain parts +of England; and even stretching a point to include the hedgerows, which, +it must be admitted, are more in evidence in Maine than elsewhere in +France. But these observations apparently prove nothing except that the +majority of persons probably know very little of the real conditions +which exist in the provinces of France, preferring rather that their +journeyings afield should follow more the well-worn road of their +compatriots. + +The Cathedral of St. Julien well represents the two distinct epochs in +which church architecture, as it remains to us to-day, was practised +here, and shows, to well-nigh the fullest expression possible, the two +principal transformations of Christian architecture. + +As the Angevin style partakes so closely of northern and southern types +intermixed, so the distinctive architectures of Maine, if such there be, +may be said to favour the styles of both Normandy and Anjou; at least so +far as the cathedral at Le Mans shows a combination of Angevin and +Norman detail. The really distinctive southern influence is to be noted +in the Romano-Byzantine nave, the exterior of which, so far as the +western front is concerned, is far more notable in the rigidness and +austerity of its lines, than by any richness of ornamentation or +decoration. Nothing could be more simply plain than this portal, and the +wall and gable which surmount it. A large bare window, of the variety of +that at Angers, stands above the doorway, which, itself, lacks all +attempt at embellishment. What decoration the facade bears is after the +true Byzantine manner, of the nature of brickwork displayed and set into +the wall in geometrically angular fashion. What sculpture there is, two +grotesque animals on either of the buttresses which flank the facade, is +of minor account. This, then, is the extent of the detail of this severe +western facade, the grand portal of the usually accepted great church +being entirely lacking and evidently not thought of as a desirable +detail when this portion of the structure was erected. It has nothing of +the prodigious art expression of the frontispieces of the grand Gothic +churches of the north, or of the less poverty-stricken Byzantine +decoration of its own Meridional portal, which, in so far as the style +can be said to take on richness of form, shows the transition tendencies +of the early twelfth century. This doorway is surmounted by a tympanum, +ornamented by a figure of the Saviour surrounded by the four +Evangelists, a subject which has always proved itself a highly +successful and popular ecclesiastical symbol, and one which in this +case, as in most others, is well made use of. All the figures have +suffered considerably from the ravages of time, but retain much of their +interest and charm in spite of such mutilation. A tower of Romanesque +foundation, but of fifteenth and sixteenth century completion, flanks +this south transept. + +The ranking portion of this interesting church is its choir, larger in +superficial area than the entire cathedrals of Noyon or Soissons. Both +from inside and out, it is all that one's imagination could possibly +invent. Its great proportions are as harmonious and graceful as the +lines of a willow-tree; in fact, as to general effect, it may be set +down as a thing of extraordinary grandeur, worthy to rank with Beauvais +or Amiens, and yet different from either, of a quality its very own. At +the commencement of the thirteenth century the canons obtained, from +Philip Augustus, permission to extend their church beyond the city walls +in an easterly direction, and then it was that this wonderful choir took +shape. The work was undertaken in 1217 and was completed soon after the +middle of the same century, and the body of St. Julien, the first +apostle to Le Mans, for whom the church was named, was placed therein by +Geoffroy de Loudon, then bishop, who decorated the windows of the choir +with the magnificent glass with which they are still set. + +From a certain distance to the eastward the cathedral at Le Mans +presents a view of the choir, unique in all the world. Other greater +ones there are, if mere height be concerned, and others with more +perfect appendages; but none give the far-spreading effect of encircling +chapels, or are possessed of high springing buttresses of more grace or +beauty than are seen here. He was a rash man who ranked the flying +buttresses as a sign of defective construction, indicating structural +weakness, meaningless and undecorative ornament, and what not. Few have +agreed with this dictum, and few ever will after they have seen Paris, +Beauvais, and Le Mans. + +The interior is one of great interest; the nave, even in its early +forms, is none the less attractive because of its austerity. It is, as a +matter of fact, far more interesting here than in its exterior, the +swarthy circular pillars holding aloft arches with just a suspicion of +the ogival style, with narrow, low, and disproportionately small +windows in the aisles, where are also a series of strengthening pillars +of black and white stone, presenting again a reminiscence of the +southern manner, or at least recalling the slate and stone of Angers. In +the choir, with its girdling chapels and double ambulatory, we come upon +the most impressive portion of all. Slightly orientated from the east +and west, it presents by itself, like Beauvais, nearly all of the +attributes of a great church. The columns, arcades, and windows +throughout are all of an unusual elegance and grace, the vaulting rising +with much daring to a remarkable height, which must approach one hundred +and ten or more feet, and the equal of certain other "popularly notable" +buildings. + +The rose window of the south of the transept is a remarkable example of +these masterpieces of the French builder. The framing and the glass with +which it is set is of the richest quality, though it dates only from the +fifteenth century. The organ case is here found in the south transept, +an unusual arrangement in a French church, where it is usually placed +over the western doorway. The vaulting, too, is much loftier here than +in the nave. The aisles of this remarkable choir have the further +unusual attribute of three ranges of openings, while the clerestory, +only, rises above, but with great and imposing beauty. There are a few +funeral monuments of more than ordinary interest, including that of +Queen Berengaria, wife of Richard, the Lion-Hearted, brought from the +Abbey de l'Epau in 1821; a sarcophagus and statue in white marble of +Charles of Anjou, Count of Maine, King of Jerusalem and Sicily (d. +1472), and the mausoleum of Langey du Bellay. In the north aisle are a +number of fifteenth or sixteenth century tapestries. The former bishop's +palace was burned by the Germans in 1871. + + + + +[Illustration: _Notre Dame de Chartres._] + +VIII + +NOTRE DAME DE CHARTRES + + +Aside from their wonderful, though non-similar, cathedrals, Chartres and +Le Mans, its neighbour, have much in common. Both have been possessed of +a brilliant array of counts and prelates, both grew from a Celtic +village to their present grand proportions through a series of +vicissitudes, wars, and conquests, until to-day each is preeminent +within its own sphere, and has become not only a centre of +ecclesiastical affairs, but of civil life as well. + +The Counts of Chartres and of Blois, in the middle ages, were a powerful +race of men, and should ever be associated with profound respect in +English minds by the fact that here was the birthplace of Adela, the +mother of King Stephen of Blois, and of Henry, Bishop of Winchester. + +As for local conditions to-day, Chartres, while having grown to the +state which it now occupies through events which have made it a city of +mark, remains a somnolescent, sparsely built town, with little +suggestion of the progress of modernity. More frequently mentioned in +the note-books of the traveller than Le Mans, it offers perhaps no +greater charms. To be sure, its cathedral, by reason of its open +situation and the charming quality and effect produced by its spires and +its one hundred and thirty windows of coloured glass, at once places it +at the very head amongst the great "show pieces" of France; but it is in +connection with Le Mans, scarcely eighty miles away and so little known, +that it ought really to be studied and considered; which as a matter of +fact it seldom is. The city is hardly in keeping with what we are wont +to associate with the environment of a great cathedral, though this of +itself in no way detracts from its charms. The weekly cattle-market +takes place almost before its very doors, and the battery of hotels +which flank the open square present the air of catering more to the need +of the husbandman than to the tourist;--not a wholly objectionable +feature, either. + +Beyond such evidences as an occasional sign-board announcing the fact +that the hostelry possesses a _garage_, _fosse_, or what not for the +necessitous requirements of the automobilist, the inns remain much as +they always were, mere _bourgeoise_ caravansaries. + +The Cathedral of Notre Dame de Chartres jumps full into view immediately +on leaving the railway station, though here it is to be noted that no +delineation has ever been made by modern hand which shows its facade in +its entirety. The roofs of the houses and shops around its base indicate +no special squalor or poverty, as is the case with regard to some +Continental churches, and there is a picturesque grouping of firs and +poplars to the left which adds considerably to an already pleasing +prospect. The whole grouping is, perhaps, none the less attractive than +if the facade, with those extraordinarily beautiful non-contemporary +spires, stood quite unobstructed. In fact, it is doubtful if many a +monumental shrine might not lose considerably, were it taken from its +environment and placed in another which might not suit its graces so +well. + +These really fascinating spires, famed of all writers, archaeologists, +and painters alike, are the _clef_ by which the whole harmony is +sounded. One cannot but echo, and reecho, all that has been said of +them, though in a quandary as to which of the two is the more +beautiful: the plain, simple, symmetrical, older spire, or that +wonderful work of Texier's, replacing another burned in 1506, which +rises in gently sculptured and tapered ranges to a height which exceeds +its companion by some twenty-five feet. No more appropriate or +convincing wording could be given of it than by quoting Fergusson's +estimate, which sums it up as being "the most beautifully designed spire +in Europe, surpassing even Strasburg and Antwerp." + +It is rather a pity that from no suitably near-by point can one obtain a +full view of the effect of the western facade. One poor little house +seems ever to thrust itself into the ensemble, though it is to-day +apparent that certain others, which must have cut into the front still +more, have been cleared away. Clearly, with all its charm and beauty of +detail, it is for its great and general excellencies that the cathedral +at Chartres most impresses itself upon the memory. + +Visitors to-day will have no easy task in locating Lowell's "little +pea-green inn," in which he indited the lines, "A Day in Chartres;" as +appreciative and graceful an estimate of an inanimate thing as ever was +made in verse: + + "The Grecian gluts me with its perfectness + Unanswerable as Euclid, self-contained, + The one thing finished in this hasty world. + But ah! this other, this that never ends, + Still climbing, luring fancy still to climb, + As full of morals, half divined, as life, + Graceful, grotesque, with ever new surprise + Of hazardous caprices, sure to please, + Heavy as nightmare, airy light as fern, + Imagination's very self in stone." + +Among the other attractions of the west facade is the Porte Royale, so +called, the central doorway which was only opened for the entrance of +the sovereign. It is decorated with the "signs of the zodiac" and +"symbols of the months." Next in point of richness are the grandly +effective north and south porches, with their triple doorways or +portals, setting back some twenty feet from their jambs, which, as at +Noyon, and in the smaller church at Louviers, are pierced with a +transverse passage. + +The north porch, with its range of three open-sided and deeply recessed +doorways, has unmistakably debased tendencies, but is filled with +sculptured statuary of more than ordinarily effective disposition, more +remarkable for magnitude and ornateness than for finesse of skill and +workmanship, or even as a detail of good taste. + +The life-size statues of all three recesses are held aloft by pedestals, +on pillars of twisted and of spiralled trunks, a formation reviled by +Ruskin, but producing an effect much more pleasing than some galleries +of effigies we have seen, where the figures appear as if hung up by the +hair of their heads, or are clinging to the walls by invisible spurs at +their heels, or, as is not infrequently the case, are standing or hung +on nothing, as though they were graven of some bewitched magnetic stone. +Here for the first time is seen, in the sculptured figures of the three +great portals, the plastic forms which were to add so greatly to the +Gothic architecture: male and female saints, Evangelists, and Apostles +in great array, all somewhat more than life-size. Only one adverse +impression is cast: that of petrifaction. The figures, almost without +exception, appear as integral parts of the architectural fabric, rather +than as added ornament. They are most ungainly, tall, stiff, and +column-like, much more so than similar works at Reims, or at Amiens, +where the sculpture has something of the vigour and warmth of life. + +The south porch, erected in the reign of Henry I. by Jean Cormier, +partly from donations of Matilda, queen of the Norman Conqueror, +contains a series of _basso relievos_,--seen also in the arches of the +choir,--manifestly not of good Gothic principle, and one which is the +very antithesis of the northern spirit, as the name itself implies. + +The earliest portion of the existing church, the crypt, is that of a +timber-roofed structure burned in 1020. It was erected early in the +eleventh century by Fulbert, the famous Bishop of Chartres, also +remembered--possibly revered--as being the prolific letter-writer of his +time. + +John of Salisbury was bishop in the next century, and under him were +built the lower stages of the western facade and towers. In this church +Edward III. called for the help of Heaven to aid his plans, and here +Henry of Navarre was crowned King of France, a change of venue from +Reims, where so many previous and subsequent coronations were held. + +The interior gives a deal of the thrill for which one should always be +prepared. The gloom, so apparent at first, slowly brightens as the eye +becomes accustomed to the finely filtered light, which penetrates +through the gorgeous coloured glass, a feature which ranks with the +spires as a vivid impression to be carried away. Nearly all of this +glass is of equal worth and attractiveness, being, with the exception of +three windows of a late date, and a few uncoloured ones, all of the +gorgeous thirteenth-century variety. + +The whole mass of the clerestory throughout gives the effect of windows +heavily hung with tapestries through which the outside light pierces in +minute rays. This comparison is made advisedly, inasmuch as, regardless +of the quality and value of the glass, it is composed mainly of those +minute and fragmentary particles often more rich in colour than design. + +There is little doubt but that the result of the deep rich blue, claret, +and orange gives a first effect of insufficient lighting which would try +an artist or photographer sorely, though not a detracting element in +churches which would often appear cold and unconvincing were such an +attribute lacking. There are also three magnificent rose windows of +great size (thirty to forty feet), containing equally good glass. + +A double ambulatory surrounds the seven-chapeled choir, which is further +enclosed by a magnificent sculptured stone screen begun in the sixteenth +century by Texier, who designed the marvellous north spire. The _Vierge +du Pilier_ of the north choir aisle, a fifteenth-century shrine, is the +subject of great local veneration. The treasury contains a _relique_ in +the form of the veil of the Virgin, supposed to have been presented by +Charlemagne to Princess Irene. + +Other interior details of note are an eleventh-century font; the large +crypt beneath the choir; the unequal level of the pavement of nave and +choir; and the maze, which still exists in the nave. This last feature +is a winding circular path some forty odd feet in diameter, and, in all, +perhaps a thousand feet long. As a penance in place of a pilgrimage to +Jerusalem, "the journey of the maze" was performed by the penitent on +his knees--taking perhaps an hour or more, according to the size and +length of the path, which varied with different churches where they +formerly existed. The other most notable example in France is at St. +Quentin, northeast of Paris. + + + + +IX + +NOTRE DAME DE REIMS + + +The very ancient city of Reims, now the capital of the Department of the +Marne, was a large centre of population when it first fell under the +sway of the Romans. During Caesar's occupation it was known as +Duroctorum, in the Praefecture of the Gauls. + +A powerful metropolis and a faithful adherent of the Romans, the city +early attained prominence as a centre of Christianity. St. Sixte +preached the word here shortly after the first bishopric was founded, +after capture by the Vandals in 406 A. D. The city was practically razed +by Attila, who afterward met defeat at Chalons. During the Roman Empire +it was the most important town of the Province of Belgica Secunda, later +becoming known as the capital of the Remi, the name given to the people +inhabiting the country round about. + +[Illustration: NOTRE DAME _de REIMS_ ...] + +In 508 A. D. the Franks under Childeric captured the city, and in 720 A. +D. Charles Martel captured it from Bishop Rigobert. Here, too, Pope +Stephen had his famous interview with Pepin, and attended the crowning +of Louis le Debonnaire in 816 A. D. In 744 it was made an archbishop's +see, with suffragans at Amiens, Beauvais, Chalons, and Soissons. It is +to-day the ecclesiastical capital of France--the Archbishop of Reims +being the metropolitan prelate. + +Clovis, son of Childeric, King of the Ripuarian Franks, in 496 A. D. +conquered the last Roman stronghold at Soissons, and, having married a +Burgundian princess, Clotilda, was induced to accept Christianity. He +was accordingly baptized here by St. Remi on Christmas Day, 496 A. D. + +Leo III. met Charlemagne here; a council was held in 1119 A. D. by +Calixtus II. in an attempt to reconcile Henry I. and Louis le Gros; and, +later, another, to excommunicate another Henry. + +Succeeding years saw a continuity of archbishops, who achieved by their +religious works a world-wide fame and glory. In these early days they +held the temporal as well as spiritual power of the cities, and in some +instances even coined their own specie. + +In spite of the changes of the times and conditions of life, the +ancient capital of Belgica Secunda still remains the chief city of the +Departments of the Marne, Ardennes, and Aisne. Its ecclesiastical and +secular monuments, headed by the grand Cathedral of Notre Dame, form an +array which is well worthy of such extended consideration as the +traveller or student can give. The Benedictine Abbey, the Church of St. +Remi, is likewise notable in all of its dimensions and details. Its +construction dates from 1162-1506, though the remains of a former +tenth-century structure are made use of therein. Its chief treasure is +the tomb of St. Remi, a wonderful Renaissance funeral monument of +imposing proportions. Another monumental feature of more than unusual +note, is the magnificent Roman arch of the former fortress of Porte +Mars. This truly majestic specimen of the work of the Roman builder is +supposed to have been erected by Agrippa in 25 B. C., in honour of +Augustus, although another authority puts it as late as the period of +Julian, 361 A. D. At any rate, it has stood the rigours of a northern +clime as well as any Roman memorial extant; indeed, has seen fall all +its contemporaries of the city, for at one time Reims was possessed of +no less than three other gateways, bearing the pagan nomenclature of +Ceres, Mars, and Venus. + +The various other memorials of the city are on a no less grand scale, +but the average person will hardly have eyes and ears for more than a +contemplation of the wealth of splendour to be seen in its overpowering +cathedral. Of the glorious group of monumental churches of northern +France, the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Reims, if not admittedly the most +beautiful and memorable Gothic edifice in all France, needs but little +qualifying comment. It has a preeminence which has been generally +conceded, and even elaborately endorsed, by most observers qualified to +pass opinion hereon. Contemplation of the wealth of detail, and of the +disposition of its wonderful west front, no less than of its general +excellencies, can but compel the decision that in its exterior, at +least, the Cathedral of Reims is the peer of any existing Gothic fabric. +Though less huge than Strasburg or Cologne, and lacking the doubled tier +of flying buttresses of the latter, it is altogether the most splendid +and well-proportioned Gothic mass extant. The diminishing or pyramidal +effect of the towers and gable of this west facade is an exemplification +of the true symmetry of Gothic form. Lofty, and not closely hemmed in +by surrounding structures, it looms, from any adjacent view-point, fully +two-thirds of its decorated splendour above the general skyline round +about. Aside from modern adulation we have the praise of an early +historian, who delivers himself thus: + +_"Decor et majestes praeclarissime hugus structurae omnem scribendi +peritiam longe superat, ob elegantum omnibus est admirationi, at que +sibi similem non habet in tota Gallia."--Met. Rememsis Hist. Dom. +Guliol. Marlot S. Nicasii Rem. Prioris, Tom ii. p. 470._ + +Following the preaching of St. Remi, and the murder of St. Nicaise, who +founded a church on this site in 400 A. D., Ebo, bishop in 818 A. D., +laid the foundations of a new church, Louis I. granting that such +material as might be needed be taken from the city wall. To assist, the +sovereign also sent his architect, Rumaldi. In 847 A. D. Archbishop +Nicman secured a renewal of the privileges, and in the presence of the +king the building was consecrated in 862 A. D. The western entrance was +ornamented with graven statues of Louis I., the patron, Pope Stephen, +and the archbishop himself. + +This entire fabric succumbed to fire on the 6th of May, 1210, and the +present structure rests merely on the remains of the ancient crypt, +which in a measure survived. Few visible remains of this ancient +foundation are to-day visible. The new church reared itself rapidly +under the immediate supervision of the Archbishop Alberic de Humbert. +The choir, begun within two years of the fire, made such progress as to +allow of the high altar being ceremoniously dedicated within three +years; and, before the middle of the century, the records tell us that +the main body of the church was entirely completed. The right tower was +uncompleted at this time, but was finished by Cardinal Philastre in +1430, up to which time intermittent labour had evolved a superlative +combination of constructive and decorative excellencies. The extreme +lightness of the west front is brought more and more to impress itself +upon one by reason of the consistent disposition of the excellency and +delicacy of its sculptured ornament. + +This western front, from the grand portals upward, is the _apogee_ of +French Gothic ornament,--at once the admiration and boast of all France. +Here is no mixture or confusion of style, in design or decoration. The +pointed arches of window and doorway are of the accepted "best manner," +the heavy detail is placed low and rises gracefully to the "Gallery of +Kings," a grand succession of stone effigies of royalties from Clovis to +Charles VII., a decorative arrangement not made use of elsewhere to +anything like a similar extent, a fact which of itself stamps the +cathedral as the royal church of France. Conceived by one Gaucher, the +portals are not only superior to all others in richness, depth, and +quality of the sculpture shown in the hundreds of figures with which +they are peopled, but are of exceedingly true and appropriate +dimensions, taken in relation with the other parts of their setting. +Immediately above the gable of the central portal is a wonderful rose +window, of the spoke variety, containing thirty-four sections,--of +immense size and nearly forty feet across. This "most perfect rose," +designed by Bernard de Soissons, may well be credited as one of the +masterworks of architectural decoration in all the world. Flanking this +great window on either side are two open lancet arches, while above is +the "Gallery of Kings" before mentioned. The twin mullioned towers on +either side rise for two hundred and sixty-seven feet. Light and airy, +they depend for their effect of grace and symmetry entirely upon +structural design, lacking sculptured ornament of any kind. Formerly +they possessed spires of a great height, which, however, were destroyed +by fire in the fifteenth century. + +"Were all its original attributes complete," says Fergusson, "we should +have the _beau ideal_, externally, of a cathedral." This is probably an +adaptation of Viollet-le-Duc's estimate, which he expresses thus: "This +west facade is the most splendid conception of the thirteenth +century,--Paris, like Laon, being really a transition example, Amiens +representative of different epochs, Chartres a mere reunion of +fragments, and Bourges and Rouen a _melange_ of three centuries." + +The south transept portal, which is of great breadth, contains statues +of the Archbishops of Reims, and one of Clovis. A similar doorway on the +north side, though now walled up, contains, in the tympanum, a fine +sculptured "Last Judgment," while the transept itself houses one of +those great clocks so frequently met with in Continental churches,--in +this instance said to be the oldest running time-piece in existence. + +Seven flying buttresses, between the transept and the west front, flank +the nave, each holding aloft an elegantly canopied niche containing a +full-length winged figure, a further unique arrangement being a similar +figure which caps or pinnacles the outer piers, from which the +buttresses spring. Above the point of contact of the buttresses with the +main body, runs an effective balustrade of small pointed arches, while +the abside shows, again, a wonderful combination of the buttress as a +decorative and utile feature, combined. + +The exterior may be summed up briefly as being the most gorgeously +peopled and decorated structure of its age--as though it were expressly +designed to show off this great throng of statues to the best possible +advantage. Taken collectively, the series forms, says one writer, "the +most complete and magnificent collection of mediaeval iconography +extant." The figures were originally perhaps as many as five thousand, +representing nearly all the families of mankind. + +In size the Cathedral of Reims ranks third among the four largest in +France, being exceeded only by Amiens and Chartres, while Paris is +slightly smaller. + +The interior presents by no means the awe-inspiring grandeur of the +exterior mass, and is possibly inferior to both Amiens and Chartres, +and though well disposed, lacks the lightness of Cologne or Beauvais. A +first impression rather indicates large proportions of length, breadth, +and height in the nave, though these dimensions are not actually of the +greatest. The transepts, including their aisles, are, however, of an +extreme width, but very short; and the absence of side chapels, either +here or in the nave, produces a regularity of outline unusually +convincing. + +The nave piers, of which there are ten on either side, with two window +piercings, are of a manifestly heavy order, the capitals unusually so, +being very deep and weighty with carving in high relief. The triforium +is severely plain, being a mere shallow gallery of small pointed arches. +The nave itself is, moreover, somewhat gloomy, when contrasted with the +brilliant lighting of the aisles, caused by the peculiar arrangement of +plain and coloured glass, the former filling the windows of the +clerestory and the latter those of the aisles, the reverse being the +case with the opposite ranges. The aisles have no chapels between the +rather low windows, but groups of clustered columns against the walls. +The vaulting is deep, with simple ribs, coloured with a blue ground +spangled with stars and _fleurs-de-lys_. The choir is surrounded by +seven chapels. + +There are ten columns in the choir, all with beautifully wrought +capitals. The pavement here is composed of marble taken from Libergier's +abbey church of St. Nicaise, from which edifice, since destroyed, was +transferred the tomb of Jovinus, the Roman prefect of Reims, who became +converted in 366 A. D. The sarcophagus consists of a huge block of +marble, nine feet by four, with a figure of Jovinus, "lion hunting on +horseback," carved in high relief. The roof of the choir is curiously +constructed of wood, of chestnut, say the authorities, as no spiders are +found. The high altar, as reconstructed by Poncelet Paroissien in 1550, +was a very beautiful affair if old prints, usually none too reliable as +to detail, are regarded. It was, however, destroyed during the middle of +the eighteenth century. + +The glass of the rose window dates in part from the period of the +greatest richness (thirteenth century). + +The sepulchral monuments, aside from the sarcophagus of Jovinus, are +to-day practically _nil_, having been swept away during the terrors of +the Revolution. Two interesting effigies still remain, however, near +the western doorway, a figure of a mailed knight and an abbess. + +Among the real riches of the Cathedral are the remarkable and unique +tapestries; well preserved, and of the finest quality of design and +texture. Fourteen, by Lenoncourt, date from 1530-70; those in the south +aisle, the Pepersacks, the gift of Abbe Lorraine, from 1640; and the +modern Gobelins of the nineteenth century, the gift of the government. +The "Tresor," which includes the church plate, most of which appears to +have endured the ravages of invasion and wars, is truly magnificent and +intrinsically of great value. The chief of these are: the chalice of St. +Remi, of the eleventh century; a reliquary containing a thorn from the +Holy Crown; the marble font in which Clovis was baptized in 496 A. D.; +the chasuble of Louis XIII., and the _Sainte Ampoule_, which contained +the holy oil brought by a dove from heaven for use at the conversion of +Clovis, now a mere fragment enclosed in a modern setting, after having +been ruthlessly shattered by a _sans-culotte_ in 1793. + +Adjoining the Cathedral, on the right, is the Episcopal Palace, which, +with its dependencies, occupies a hectare or more of ground. In the +first courtyard is the modern library building, which houses the +cathedral's rich bibliographical treasures. Further, through a gateway, +is a structure, in itself a grand building, of the time of Louis XIV. +The right wing was constructed by Le Tellier in 1690. This portion is +now occupied as a dwelling by the archbishop. At the end of the furthest +courtyard is "The House of the Kings," a truly grand establishment, so +called in the official documents because it was the _logement_ of the +monarchs who visited the city on affairs of state. This recalls to mind +not the least notable of the functions performed by the great cathedral +itself. + +With four exceptions all the Kings of France, from Clovis to Charles X., +here first entered into their kingly state. The monarchs of France were +a long and picturesque line, and the ceremonies attendant upon their +coronations were accordingly imposing and magnificent. The culmination, +for theatrical splendour and effect, was doubtless that of Charles VII., +who, through the efforts of the "Maid," here came into his own. It was a +splendid, if gaudy, pageant, and the most memorable event among that +long series which only ended with the coronation of Charles X. in 1823. + + + + +_PART III_ + +_The Cathedrals of the Loire_ + + + + +I + +INTRODUCTORY + + +The Loire Valley for its whole length may, in every sense, be well +considered the dividing-line between northern and southern influences. +The romance and sentiment which cradled itself here could only have +emanated from the more languid south, and from vastly differing +conditions to those of the colder north. The admiration usually bestowed +upon the attractions of its domestic architectural forms is, no doubt, +fully merited; albeit that the cathedrals of these wealthy and powerful +communities are, no one can possibly deny, if not of a mongrel type, at +least of a degenerate one. It is perhaps hardly fair to note such an +expression without qualification where it is applied to St. Gatien at +Tours, which is really a delightfully picturesque structure; or to St. +Maurice, at Angers, which is unique as to its charm of situation, and +one of the most interesting churches anywhere to be found. But the fact +is that the general plan and design is not only open here to much just +criticism, but is not of the order of consistency which alone entitles +an architectural monument to rank as truly great. In no instance, from +Orleans to Nantes, are the cathedrals of these cities possessed of the +consistent array of charms which would entitle them to a proportionate +share of the admiration which is usually accorded to the great domestic +establishments, the Chateaux of Blois, Chenonceau, Chambord, Langeais, +or Loches. + +The climatic conditions of this region hardly more than intimate the +suggestion of the southland, but there is to be seen in the vineyards, +and indeed in things that grow, generally, a notable tendency toward a +luxuriance that is not found northward of this valley. Productive, +prosperous, influential, and possessed of historical and sentimental +associations as a touring ground far beyond any other section of France, +the Valley of the Loire at once takes rank as the land _par excellence_ +where the traveller can be sure of a maximum of pleasure and profit; and +one worthy in every way of as prolonged study and sojourn as one's +possibilities and circumstances will allow. + +The towns group themselves naturally _en suite_ in the following order: +Orleans, Blois, Tours, Angers, and Nantes, and are so considered in the +pages that follow. + + + + +[Illustration: _CATHEDRAL of Ste CROIX ORLEANS_] + +II + +ST. CROIX D'ORLEANS + + +The association of Orleans, in English minds, mostly rests upon the +events connected with the siege. Its history in the past has been mainly +that of bloody warfare and massacre. As the Genabum of Gallia, it was +burned by Caesar in 52 B. C. in revenge for a previous massacre of the +Romans. By Aurelian it was rebuilt and named Aurelianum, the progenitor +of its present nomenclature. St. Aignan in 451 secured the safety of the +city to the cause of Christianity by warding off Attila's attack. +Clovis captured it in 498, but at his death it became the capital of an +independent kingdom which was afterward, in 613, united with that of +Paris. Activities no less extensive or vivid followed, till the English +besieged the city in 1429, only retiring before the conquering hosts led +by the Maid of Orleans on the 7th of May; the Huguenots held it as a +stronghold under Coligny; and latterly the Germans occupied it, were +driven out, and again reoccupied it as a base in 1870-71. Such, in +brief, is a partial record of its troubles and trials, with scarce a +reference to a Christian or religious motive, if we except Attila's +unsuccessful attack and Coligny's Protestant fervour. + +The almost legendary part played by Jeanne d'Arc should suffice to +impress indelibly upon the mind the chief event in connection with any +city with which her name and fame were associated. + +In the third century seven bishops were sent out from Rome, to extend +the influence of the Church, to Tours, Orleans, Toulouse, Narbonne, +Paris, Limoges, and Auvergne; though, in spite of the success with which +they met, and the zeal with which they worked, their meetings were +chiefly held in the houses of their more opulent converts, and church +building at the time appears not to have been so much desired as the +dissemination of the Word itself. Since its occupation by the Germans in +"'71," great contrasting elements have sprung up. Nowhere, not even in +the "up-to-date" Rhine cities of Germany, is better exemplified the +trend of the age in which we live. There are notable indications of its +modernity in the architecture of public and private buildings, many +streets and boulevards of the city being laid out anew and bisecting the +older portions. + +The Cathedral of St. Croix, of widely contrasting styles and eras, forms +a pleasing enough key-note to it all, in spite of its garish crudities. +At its best, when viewed from the bridge which spans the well-nigh dry +bed of the Loire, it composes well with what is at all times a pleasing +prospect, and is set off to great advantage by the fringe of green +boulevard along the river bank,--a fine enough setting for an +architectural monument of whatever rank, be it new or old, consistent or +conglomerate. As for the classification of the architectural style of +the cathedral itself, it is an unprincipled mixture of components, but +little related to each other. The southern influence is apparent, alike +in the scanty remains of the Romanesque, and the restored Renaissance +portions, while Gothic peeps out here and there, in no mean proportions, +as though it were misplaced and out of its true environment. The +cathedral, which was destroyed in 1567 by the Huguenots, in spite of the +admonitions of the Condes, is still visible in the fragments of the +choir aisles, the fourteenth-century chapels appearing to have been +uninjured. This much remains of the Gothic of Henry IV.'s time. The late +seventeenth-century work is a manifest expression of the debasement of +Gothic, and such other additions as were made in the reigns of the Louis +carry the vulgarities still further, the acme being reached in the +pseudo-classical north and south porches, which are sepulchral-looking +of themselves, and not even of the most admired variety of the species. +The most that can be remarked, considering all the distinctive features, +is the fact that this cathedral is the only Gothic church, so ranking, +that is not of Mediaeval growth, a fact which may well account for its +unsatisfactory style. + +The facade follows the usual enough arrangement of three portals, though +very ugly ones, flanked by rising towers on either side. In this case +these doorways are of the nondescript variety commonly accepted as base +Gothic, but hardly warranting even such a term of endearment. They are +in fact flamboyant as to their lines, though of a remarkable poverty as +to further embellishment, if we bar a series of misplaced armorial +blazonings. + +Topping the gables of the portals are a series of circular apertures, +with framing of a sort, but without glass,--a poor imitation of what a +rose window might be at its worst. Above is an arcaded gallery of nine +graceful arches, the first really attractive ornament of this debased +facade. The towers, finished so late as 1789 by M. Paris, the king's +architect, rise loftily some two hundred and eighty feet, with ranges of +slight columns and perpendicular lines, which give the grand and +imposing effect of height of which the cathedral is undeniably +possessed, and which, when viewed from down the Rue Jeanne d'Arc, is +without doubt impressive,--far more so than greater intimacy will +sustain. + +The nave, of a height of one hundred feet, is flanked by double aisles, +and in appearance is every way superior to the exterior. + +No remarkable art treasures are to be seen, if we except a series of +sculptured Stations of the Cross beneath the windows, and the Gothic +altars of the transepts. + + + + +[Illustration: _CATHEDRAL of S. LOUIS BLOIS_] + +III + +ST. LOUIS DE BLOIS + + +Regardless of the sentiment which attaches itself to Blois by reason of +its magnificent chateau, and in spite of its undeniably picturesque and +interesting environment, it hardly takes sufficient rank as a cathedral +city to warrant more than a passing consideration. As it is, one cannot +get from under the shadow of its overpowering attraction, and, in spite +of the poverty and depressing qualities of the Cathedral of St. Louis, +perhaps no place in the Loire valley has more claim upon the attention +of the enthusiastic tourist. The wonderful chateau is all that has been +said of it, and more. The picturesqueness of the city's streets of +stairs, and its general up and down hill situation, offering charming +vistas, unique in a city of the north, are, except for its size, really +more suggestive of Genoa or Naples. In the general ensemble of the city, +the Loire is an attraction of itself, when viewed from across that +wonderful stone bridge, the first public work endowed by Louis XV. But +even then, the awkward and uninteresting cathedral does not enter into +the view with that liveliness and impressiveness which we are wont to +associate with such an environment. In short, it must be set down that +in the lack of pleasing qualities in its cathedral, is found Blois' +greatest disappointment. + +The tourist _pur sang_ will care little about this. He usually rushes in +and out during the daylight, and recalls but little except the +fascinating staircase of the chateau attributed, as to its spiral +formation, to Da Vinci; the ornamental chimney-pieces; and the fact that +historical events of the past have intermingled inextricably the +gruesome stories of the royal houses which bore respectively the arms of +hedgehog and salamander. This only, with perhaps the memory that at one +time or another a certain event took place involving the use of some +forty odd daggers. + +Perhaps, after all, it would be an embarrassment of riches did the town +possess a cathedral, or even other monuments, to vie with this +spectacular attraction which, from every view-point realizes the ideal +of our imagination, as to just what a chateau and its history might be. + +From near or far the cathedral shows no charm of outline. Its ridgepole +is marred by three unusually obtrusive "lightning conductors," which +could hardly have been more offensive had they been turned into those +lath-like crosses which are seen elsewhere. Its tower is a monstrosity, +with an egg-shaped protuberance which is neither shapely nor impressive, +while the southern range of the nave and aisle, when viewed laterally, +shows a bareness and poverty of design unusual and painful. The +ensemble, from this point, is one of a certain impressiveness. It could +hardly be otherwise, with the situation which it commands, even were it +the grossest thing that ever took shape in architecture. Its +irregularities and inconsistencies, and the great variety of outline +shown by the roof-tops of the town, perhaps, make up in a measure for +the lack of individual beauties in the church itself. + +There is this much to be said, however, for the functions which this +church performs. If all were as much made use of by the market-day +peasants, streaming in from the surrounding country, who, with their +jugs, market-baskets, and what not, in their hands, enter the building, +say a short prayer or two, and toddle out again, there would doubtless +be fewer churches with a poverty-stricken air and more of a better and +more prosperous class. + +The greater part of the cathedral which originally stood on this site +was destroyed during the Revolution, and that which was afterward reared +here was merely a restoration by Mansard, who, it is to be presumed, +made such use as was possible of what remained. + +The interior, most will agree, is no more remarkable than the exterior +adornments; in fact the same paucity of plan and of detail appears from +one end to the other, inside and out. The aisles are astonishingly low; +the choir and nave, each unusually short. There are no transepts, and +there is no triforium whatever, no chapels of any remarkable beauty, and +little glass that is even passable. On the walls of the nave, beneath +the low clerestory windows, are a series of four carven Renaissance +marble panels, with other blanks suggesting the ultimate addition of +similar sepulchral-looking ornaments. Such, in brief, is a resume of the +attractions, or rather the lack of them, as it will strike the average +person. It is perhaps no small wonder that the traveller who desires to +study architectural forms, or to sketch them, should prefer the less +holy precincts of the chateau, where every facility is offered for the +pursuance thereof, to that more "blessed ground," covered by the +cathedral, which offers little enough in itself, and that little under a +surveillance which makes one regret that the feudal times are not still +with us,--when we might vent our spleen and anger upon any who offend +us. + + + + +[Illustration: _St. Gatien de Tours_] + +IV + +ST. GATIEN DE TOURS + + +The _soi-disant_ provincial metropolis of Mr. James' appreciative +favour, the capital of old Touraine, is possessed of great and many +charms for the seeker after new things. He may be passionately fond of +churches; if so, the trinity here to be seen, and the history of their +founders and prelates, and the important part which they played in +church affairs, will edify him greatly. If romance fills his or her +mind, there is no more convenient centre than Tours from which to "_do_" +the chateaux of the Loire. If it be French history, or the study of +modern economic or commercial conditions, the past activities and +present prosperity of the city will give much food for thought. If to +literature one's mind turns, there is the association with Balzac's +birth in the Rue Royale, and his delightful picturings of the city's +environment in the "Cure de Tours," "Le Lys dans la Vallee," and "La +Grenadiere." Says Balzac of the habitant: "...He is a listless and +unobliging individual." But the sojourner for a day will probably not +notice this, and, if he should, must simply make allowance, and think +with Henry James of the other memories of "this land of Rabelais, +Descartes, and Balzac; of good dinners, good company, and good houses." +To link the city still closer with letters, the first printing-press in +Touraine was set up here in 1496. Nicolas Jensen, famed as the foremost +Venetian printer of his time, was born in the neighbourhood and was at +one time "Master of the Mint" at Tours. Christopher Plantin, the head of +the famous Antwerp family of printers, likewise was born in the near-by +suburb of St. Avertin pres Tours. + +Climatically, Touraine appears to linger between the rigours of the +north and the mildness of the southland; at least we are conscious of +another atmosphere, made apparent by such evidences as palms and prunes +growing in the open. + +Tours, says her historian, has ever employed the pure French in her +spoken and written word; "patois and provincialisms have no place +here." + +St. Martin of Tours erected a church here, in honour of St. Peter and +Paul, as a sort of antidote to the many pagan temples which he had +caused to be destroyed. His successors built several others round about +the city, but they appear to have been all of small size until, in the +fifth century, Perpetus, Bishop of Tours in the reign of Childeric, +caused to be built a more splendid church to replace that which Briceius +had erected over the tomb of St. Martin. This, in turn, was rebuilt by +the celebrated Gregory of Tours, or so ordered by him; until finally in +the seventh century the abbey church of St. Martin of Tours became a +place of pilgrimage for all the Turones. To-day, nought remains of this +great church but the two towers, which have been bisected by the running +of a street throughout the old nave of the church; and thus they stand +as silent sentinels of the means through which Tours arose to its +ecclesiastical dignity. The Tour St. Martin or "de l'Horloge" is of the +twelfth century, and the other, called the Tour de Charlemagne, being +the burial-place of his wife Luitgarde, is, in its lower portions, of +the eleventh century. + +The Cathedral of St. Gatien, which should be greatly endeared to the +English people, was commenced by Henry II. in 1170, the choir being the +earliest portion. The transepts followed in the next century, and the +facade as late as the fifteenth, or the beginning of the sixteenth, +century. Of manifestly Renaissance tendency, this facade for sheer charm +and picturesqueness must rank with the best, with the qualifying +statement added that it offends against many consistent artistic and +architectural principles. It is certainly an effective type, although +perhaps not warranting the statement of a certain monarch, whose art +training may to some degree have been wanting, that it was a "jewel in a +gemmed setting." An exceedingly picturesque and attractive pair of +towers rise, through no less than three different styles, to the +inverted egg-cups, which in a purer example might perhaps prove less +pleasing, but which in the present case seem at least to be imbued with +something of the Oriental or Mediterranean influence, not yet fallen +before the actual decadence. Another peculiarity of this charmingly +toned west front is that the rose window is of a peculiar lozenge shape, +"neither square nor round," as one authority puts it. This, of itself, +is decidedly not a graceful arrangement; but the proportions are ample +and the glass is good, so its deficiencies may in a measure be said to +be overbalanced by its merits; and, for that matter, as it is only seen +in its minutia of detail from the inside, where the excellent coloured +glass is seen at its best, it hardly detracts from the general fine +effect of the exterior facade. The western doorways are thoroughly +Renaissance, both inside and out, while the portals themselves offer a +livid suggestion as to what they might have been, were all the bare +niches and blocks filled and mounted with worthy statues. The effect +would have been an undeniable approach to the best matured Gothic, and +would have enhanced greatly this already highly interesting facade. The +buttresses of the choir follow the accepted forms of grace and +effectiveness, and, while not numerous or remarkable as to size, each +springs to a supporting pier gracefully pinnacled and gargoyled. One +instance of the functions of this valuable adjunct to the towering forms +taken by most Gothic structures, is a buttress which springs, +unsymmetrically enough, from the north transept. This rather ungainly +limb flies out like the tentacles of an octopus, grasps a small building +on the opposite side of a narrow roadway, and forms a support to the +irregular construction of the north transept. This was perhaps +necessary as a means of bracing the transept wall, which it might not +have been possible to accomplish otherwise. + +The interior presents the unusual feature of the omission of the organ +case from over the western doorway, the organ being in this instance in +the south transept, as at Le Mans. The wall space centered upon the nave +proper is entirely given over to the lozenge-shaped "rose," which, in +spite of its rather heavy framing and kaleidoscopic and patchworky +glass, is withal effective beyond many more gracefully formed openings, +where the glass is either too severely plain, or worked into a supposed +design, which, by reason of its minute particles, is undecipherable. The +design and arrangement of a series of lancets supporting the lozenge +would be remarkable, were it in company with the best glass of the +middle ages. It depicts an "Adoration" in which kings, saints, and +bishops are modelled brilliantly, and with evidence of much good +drawing, a detail often wanting in old, or, for that matter, modern +glass. + +The glass of the choir, on the other hand, is far better in arrangement, +and shows deep, rich particles which are only at their best in the work +of the early period here shown. In this glass are depicted the arms of +St. Louis, Blanche of Castile, and of the City of Tours. The choir +itself widens out from the crossing of the transept, causing that +deviation between the piers of nave and choir which made necessary the +ungainly flying buttress of the north wall. + +The aisles of the nave are of no great width and are fringed with a +series of chapels of which only one, that of the Sacred Heart, is in any +way remarkable. The radiating chapels of the choir are more interesting, +notably the lady-chapel, which contains old glass removed thither from +the church of St. Julien, the subject of one of Turner's rhapsodies in +his "Seine and Loire." + +The clerestory of the nave consists of plain glass only; and on the +triforium alone, of exceedingly graceful arcaded columns, depends the +beauty of the upper ranges. + +The chief treasure of artistic value and moment is unquestionably the +tomb of the children of Charles VIII. and Anne of Brittany, by whose +early deaths the throne passed to the Valois branch of the Orleans +family. This remarkable monument is of the early sixteenth century and, +according to the report of the _Commission des Monuments Historiques_, +is the work of Guillaume Regnault, a statement which is much more likely +to be correct than the usual guide-book information, which in some +instances credits it to Goujon, and in others to a local apprentice of +his, named Juste. On a Renaissance sarcophagus lie the two tiny +effigies, in white marble, surrounded by guardian angels and other +symbolical figures. The base bears escutcheons of the Dauphins of +France, the arms and two inscriptions referring to the princes and their +birth. + +[Illustration: _Flying Buttress, St. Gatien de Tours_] + + + + +[Illustration: _St. Maurice d'Angers_] + +V + +ST. MAURICE D'ANGERS + + +Historically and romantically, Angers, the former capital of Anjou, is +possessed of a past (which may be said to have actively commenced in +989) that cannot fail to arrest and hold one's attention. Capital of the +Dukes of Anjou, and the home of Margaret of Anjou, daughter of Rene, who +married Henry VI. of England; likewise the cradle of the first +Plantagenets; and immortalized by Shakespeare's King John, who +soliloquizes anent "The flinty ribs of this contemptuous town." With all +this, Angers has perhaps a supreme claim for English consideration. In +spite of all this, and the added attraction of a "real castle," such as +is seldom found outside the children's fairy-tale books, not to mention +the Cathedral of St. Maurice,--of which more anon,--Angers leaves one +with the impression that very much is wanting in order to merit +preeminence in the classification of those memories which a traveller +is wont to store up as a result of his travels and observations. Perhaps +it is the city's pitiful attempt to be gay, to be modern, to undertake +pretentious improvements,--all of which appear to fail utterly in their +purpose. These things cannot be unless they are of a spontaneous growth, +which here they apparently are not. Not that the city still merits the +opprobrious (_sic_) term of "Black Angers" with which most writers and +all makers of guide-books are pleased to refer to it,--it hardly does. +In fact it is doubtful as to just what the term originally meant. +Perhaps it was merely a reference to the gloom caused by the extensive +use in the construction of its buildings of the black slate in which the +neighbourhood abounds;--at any rate the expression is one of undoubted +antiquity. + +The two chief attractions are the cathedral and the castle, both +"historical monuments." The latter, as before noted, is the ideal +military stronghold of our early imagination; and if age, magnitude, and +the general air of good preservation, count for anything, it must be one +of the most impressive monuments of its class still to be seen. +Originally its wall, now minus battlements, fronted close upon the +river. It is surrounded by a dry yawning _fosse_, formerly a moat, and +possesses no less than seventeen enormous and perfectly formed towers, +each perhaps eighty feet in height, banded near the top in white and +black stripes. Hardly more than a circling wall to-day, it has stood +well the test of time since it was erected by Philip Augustus and +completed under St. Louis in 1180. Little remains of the Renaissance +portion originally occupied by the Counts of Anjou. Its charm lies +rather in its exterior, the interior confines resembling more a +lumber-yard than anything else,--not worth spending one's time upon, +under the present facilities which are offered for its inspection. One +small structure within the walls is notable as being that in which King +Rene was born. It is recorded that Wellington received a part of his +military education in Angers. If so, it is probable that he studied this +military defence with some care and minuteness. To us, at least, who +have not been educated with respect to military fortification, it seems +to fill all demands that are likely to be made upon a building of its +class. Doubtless it could have been besieged successfully, and even +battered through to the extent of allowing the outside foe to enter, but +it would probably have been at a fearful cost, and it is possible that +the attempt would be given up before any surrender took place. Such +would appear to an outsider to be the lines on which these magnificent +works of feudal times were built. + +One should not speak slightingly of the Cathedral of St. Maurice, though +it comes upon one who journeys from the north, as a thing apart from +anything he has met before; so much so that he is hardly likely to be +able to judge it dispassionately until he has turned his impressions of +it many times over in his mind. + +The Angevine style, seen here, is representative of but a very +restricted area. The _Societe des Monuments Historiques_ defined it as +"a small district on both sides of the Loire between Normandy and +Acquitaine." It is suggestive of the Roman manner, far more than the +Gothic; though the primitiveness shown in the long, upright lines of the +west front of this cathedral marks it at once as something different +from either Romanesque or Transition,--though Transition it must be, +unless we delimit the confines of that useful term. In any case, it +points unto heaven in a truly devout manner, is not debased in any +particular, and, if not a consistent style, has many of the good +qualities of both. The Cathedral of St. Maurice is best seen from a +point of view which will exaggerate its height, its slimness, and its +straight and upright lines; but even this does not appear to work out to +its disadvantage, in spite of the new note it strikes. It is an +interesting work when viewed from any distance sufficient to throw its +outline well into the air. From across the Maine, it is charming; from +the foot of the stairwayed street which runs downwards from its western +portal, it is picturesque and irresistible, while from any other +view-point in the town, it is grand. + +The easterly end is dwarfed by close-lying houses, picturesque enough in +themselves; but the gracefulness of the buttress is wanting. The south +side is, here and there, broken into by additions and interpolations, +none apparently of a contemporary era. It offers a grand effect for an +artist who would study gray walls and crumbling roofs, but the lack of +uniformity will offend most people. + +The facade of the west is the most effective feature, so far as +genuineness is concerned. It towers to the sky, its needle-pointed +spires overtopping a crooked street which rises sharply from the river. +There is but one portal, and that is centred with a curious Romanesque +arch half-way across its height, above which is a bas-relief of great +size. The sculpture of this portal, while not as excellent as that seen +in the Isle of France, is of an unusual richness and execution. The next +range is unique among west fronts, being a large central window, but +slightly pointed and little removed from the Romanesque. It is bare of +coloured glass, and is decidedly not an attractive feature. On each side +of this great window are a series of blunt pointed lancets, which form a +sort of arcade which otherwise relieves the bareness which would exist. +Immediately above is a row of niches which hold eight armour-clad +knights of the fifteenth century, inferior perhaps, in execution, to the +sculpture of the portal, but producing an effect, when viewed from the +ground, undeniably fine. It is a detail as interesting, in its way, as +the long "Gallery of the Kings" at Reims. Above rise the slim spires, +with an octagonal cupola superimposed over a central structure, which +looks to this day as though it were originally intended as one of a +battery of three uniform spires. The general plan of this facade is the +masterpiece of design of the building, and, except for the ludicrously +diminutive clock-face, could withstand nobly the cavil of the most +exacting pedant who ever read or studied architectural forms, solely out +of books. In the immediate foreground falls the before mentioned street +of steps. Many old tumble-down houses have recently been cleared away, +and, at the present writing, the view from this point is one which has +apparently not previously existed, and one which it is to be hoped will +not be marred by the erection of any so-called modern improvements. + +The interior fills no accepted formula of architectural expression, save +that it is of the manner common to Anjou, the borderland between the +Gothic aisled and the great and aisle-less southern naves, but it holds +one's interest none the less. Perhaps, after all, it is the quality to +interest, quite as much as that to please, which is the standard by +which one makes estimates and forms opinions. There is a not very long +nor very wide nave and choir, neither with aisles, and both with a +vaulting which gives the appearance of being much lower than it really +is, quite the contrary impression to that received from contemplation of +the exterior. The bishop's throne sets midway on the right of the nave. +Each bay of the side walls of the nave is composed of a wide pointed +arch resting immediately upon the ground and filled with stone instead +of glass; reminiscent of a similar effect in the Church of Notre Dame de +la Cloture at Le Mans. The true windows of the nave rise in pairs above +this arch, and contain rich, though somewhat fragmentary, glass of the +thirteenth century. As characteristic of the Angevine style, there is no +triforium or clerestory, and hence, it is claimed, no necessity for +flying buttresses, the support being accomplished by less graceful, if +as effective, heavy square piers built into the outer wall. + +The transepts are not pronounced as to length or breadth, their chief +beauty being their rose windows. + +The choir, of the twelfth century, shows an interpolated and elaborately +flamboyant doorway of a much later period. + +An ornate oaken pulpit of none too good Renaissance carving is in the +nave, and the organ case over the western doorway is supported on the +shoulders of a series of huge, grotesque, but monstrously human, wooden +caryatides. This, with the gigantic, high canopied carven wood pulpit, +one of the most extraordinary in the country, forms a relief to coldly +chiselled stone, certainly;--but few will consider their charms such as +would warrant counting them amongst ecclesiastical treasures. + +The fourteenth-century tapestries from Arras (or Paris) were made for +King Rene and by him given to the cathedral. They represent scenes from +the Apocalypse, and, though having suffered somewhat from the +depredations of the Revolution, still exhibit evidences of rare +qualities of workmanship in their design and colouring. + +The _benitier_ of _verd-antico_ marble supported by figures of lions is +a Byzantine work of the eastern empire, given to the cathedral by King +Rene. + +The Dukes of Anjou and Margaret of Anjou were buried here, but the tomb +of the latter was desecrated and destroyed during the Revolution. Aside +from these, no other monuments of note are to be seen. + +The Bishop's Palace, of the twelfth century, standing high beside the +cathedral, was restored by Viollet-le-Duc and reflects a mediaeval +splendour unseen elsewhere in the city, with respect to any great or +small domestic establishment. + +The Maison Barrault in the Logis Barrault, built by a former mayor of +the city, one time Chancellor of Brittany, was the scene of the +magnificent entertainment offered Caesar Borgia in 1497. Afterwards it +became the residence of Marie de Medicis; later, a monastic +establishment, then a seminary, and lately simply an ordinary private +school. Says one writer, "No wonder its remains should be so scanty and +ill preserved." + + + + +[Illustration: _CATHEDRAL of St. PIERRE NANTES_] + +VI + +ST. PIERRE DE NANTES + + +As a city of commercial and strategic importance, no one will deny that +Nantes is supreme in the Loire valley; that its relations with the +affairs of Church and State are equally important, is a debatable point. +True, the edict in favour of Protestant worship, fathered by Henry IV., +was a momentous and significant event; but the revocation, and the +subsequent massacres of the rascally Carrier, well-nigh wiped that out. +The history of the city is one long record of warfare and bloodshed. +Though holding the command of the Loire, the city has ever been more +closely identified with Brittany. Here, in its frowning tenth-century +castle, which fronts upon the river immediately in the foreground of the +Cathedral of St. Pierre, with which it forms an unusual grouping of +ecclesiastical and military architecture (M. H.), lived at one time or +another, most of the Kings of France, from Charles VIII. downward. Here, +too, Anne of Brittany was born, and here she married Charles VIII., thus +uniting the Duchy of Brittany with the crown of France. Her subsequent +marriage, in the chapel of the castle, with Louis XII., made for ever +impossible the future independence of the city. + +Following the edict came the Revolution; and, as if the preliminary +horrors of massacres and atrocities, which spread to Orange in Vaucluse +and to Arras in Picardy, were not of sufficient stringency, the +"Noyades," or drownings, carried off the poor unfortunates, a boatload +at a time, until it is estimated that perhaps nine thousand were thus +cruelly murdered,--women, children, royalty, and the clergy alike. The +wrath which spent itself seemed to know no rank. The guillotine, +disease, and famine finished the work, so that the population of the +city was, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, immeasurably +inferior in numbers to what it had been a decade before. The details of +these significant events are recounted quite fully enough by historians +generally; but, in reality, it has little to do with the aspect of the +city as it exists to-day, which, if not one of great splendour, partakes +in no small measure of the attributes of a large metropolis, amply +planned, beautifully laid out, and possessing, in addition to the +characteristics of Brittany with which it has been so long identified, +not a little of the influences and attributes of the south. + +Immediately to the rear of the chateau is the Cathedral of St. Pierre, +ancient as to its foundation, and grand as to its general effect, both +inside and out, though its exterior is marred by its uncompleted towers. +Lofty, but of heavy proportions, St. Pierre de Nantes would, at first +sight, appear to offer much that goes to make a satisfying +ecclesiastical building. As a matter of fact, it fails in many +particulars to realize any ideal which we have come to admire. The +western facade is more indebted to the rich and reasonably ornate +portals for its undeniable impressiveness, than to the gable of towers, +which have crumbled exceedingly from the effects of wind and weather, +rather than of great age, since they date only from the fifteenth +century. + +The choir rests on the remains of an older church, hardly to be seen +to-day in any appreciable evidence, in that restoration and rebuilding +have been so extensively carried on. + +The windows throughout are but weak decorative elements, and lack +tracery and glass of a decorative quality, an obvious detraction in any +great architectural work. The south transept shows indications of four +successive periods of construction, and contains the best glass in the +church; otherwise it is severely plain. + +The interior is by no means as incoherent as the exterior, the height of +the nave, one hundred and thirty feet, giving an otherwise +unapproachable grandeur; though this admirable dimension is qualified to +no small degree by a triforium of a luxurious florid growth, little in +keeping with the other attributes of firmness and strength. + +The chapels throughout are bare and uninteresting so far as their altars +or decorative embellishments are concerned,--what they may be at some +future time, if the _Art Nouveau_ gets a foothold in church decoration, +is fearful to contemplate. Paintings, none too common in French +churches, are here somewhat in excess of customary numbers, though, as +to quality or interest, in no church in France can they vie with those +of the great churches of Italy or Flanders. + +Like the neighbouring city of Tours, Nantes has in its cathedral, for +its _piece de resistance_, a magnificent sepulchral monument, the tomb +of Francois II., the last Duc de Bretagne, and Marguerite de Foix, his +second wife, erected to their memory by their daughter Anne. This +remarkable mausoleum was executed in 1502-07, after designs of Jehan +Perreal, by Michel Colomb and his pupils, Regnault and Jean de Chartres, +with the assistance of Jerome de Fiesole, who contributed the ornamental +portion. It fortunately escaped demolition at the Revolution, and was +brought hither and placed in the south transept from the Eglise des +Carmes in 1817. It is a wonderful exemplification of the very best +quality of Renaissance. The main portion of the tomb is of marble, with +black mouldings somewhat shattered in places, but not so much so as to +affect the contour or design. The effigies lie recumbent upon a slab, +their feet resting on a lion and a greyhound, upheld by a series of +miniature figures of the twelve apostles in niches of red marble. At +the corners are four nearly life-size figures, depicting Justice, with +sword and scales, said to be a portrait of the Duchess Anne; Power, +strangling the dragon of Heresy; Prudence, a double face, showing also +Wisdom, with mirror and compass; and Temperance, bearing a curb-bit and +a lantern. A tablet at the head bears the figures of St. Louis and +Charlemagne, and one at the foot, those of St. Francis of Assisi and +Ste. Marguerite, the patrons of the duke and duchess. + + + + +_PART IV + +Central France_ + + + + +[Illustration: ST. ETIENNE _d'AUXERRE_] + +I + +ST. ETIENNE D'AUXERRE + + +The entrance to the Burgundian city of Auxerre is more or less confused +if one would, at the first glance, attempt to recognize its cathedral +from among the three fine churches which in true mediaeval fashion loom +up over the river Yonne; not that the entrance is not pleasing: the +reverse is actually the case, though one's way into the town lies +through newly made roads. However, upon contemplation of the pleasant +prospect of town and river, he would be an uninspired person indeed who +would not be able to pick out the Cathedral of St. Etienne, with its +singular reddish brown roof, from among its less imposing neighbours. It +is the central building of the three, and it rises majestically above +all, enhanced by the fine grouping of its one lone tower. + +As a type to admire, the cathedral, be it said, is not of a superlative +quality; but as a thing of beauty in many of its details and because of +its aforesaid commanding situation, it is one not to be ignored when the +really fine gems of mediaeval treasures are catalogued. It is another of +those types, so far as its choir is concerned, which rise to a loftiness +of soaring height, which, in later days, degenerated, or were lost +altogether in the fabric of the transepts and nave. The height of the +choir is perhaps not so great as it really appears, when gauged by its +sheer rise from the river level; but such is the suggestion, at least, +which, after all, is what the eye and certain other of our senses +admire, quite as much as a professed expert classification. + +The western front is of unusual appearance in that the southern tower +glances off into the angle of the gable in most curious fashion; not +beautiful, nor as originally intended to remain, but so it is, and +offers at least a comparison of how a lofty gable looks when it lacks +towers of an appropriate height. At the right of this low tower of the +facade, hidden behind a wall, is a thoroughly Pagan doorway, which might +well pass unobserved, did one not actually stumble upon it unawares. It +is a curious reminder of other days and other ways, and how it became an +adjunct of this mediaeval church the local records fail to state. The +three main portals of the facade, as that of the transept, are somewhat +bare of ornament, though the main tympanum and the spring of the arch +are fairly filled. These portals are of the late thirteenth century, and +exhibit no traces of the debasement which subsequently entered into the +upper ranges of the tower and lateral portals. + +Both the transepts and the west front contain rose windows of good, +though not remarkable design, and each is exceedingly generous in size. +The interior, generally, does not give the effect of the great height +suggested from the rear view of the choir overhanging the river front; +but both nave and choir are of unusual width, and so also is the +clerestory, which is lofty, and set with rare old glass of the most +splendid and valuable quality, in the main the gift of Bishop de +Villeneuve in 1220. + +The choir terminates with the usual apse, which is further elongated by +the far-reaching lady-chapel, which adjoins the main fabric in a +graceful and unusual manner. The north tower was completed as late as +the sixteenth century, and that of the south was left unfinished,--as it +is to-day. The gable and its portals are highly decorated with statues, +niches, and crockets. + +Around the aisles of nave and choir is a curiously suggested arcade with +an overhanging balustrade ornamented with a series of indifferently +sculptured heads. The bosses of many of the intersecting groins of the +vaults are coloured with questionable effect. There are also many +visible evidences of coloured wall decorations, which might perhaps as +well have been left covered, inasmuch as they have suffered exceedingly +in the attempted restoration; so much so, that it is impossible to say +whether they ever approached acceptable perfection; possibly not, as +they are supposed to date only from the period when much of this class +of work was of none too good a quality. + +The triforium of the nave is gracefully balustraded, and the choir +stands apart from the nave, separated by an elaborate eighteenth century +iron _grille_. The ambulatory of the choir sets three steps lower than +the nave, though the platform is on the same level. The crypt beneath +the choir, so often the only existing remains of an earlier church, is +here grandly in evidence, and dates from the eleventh century at least. + +There are a few interesting tombs of former Bishops of Auxerre and +others of local celebrity. + +On the whole the charm of Auxerre and its cathedral must be admitted to +lie in its general surroundings and immediate environment, quite as much +as because of any remarkably distinctive features of a superlative +quality in the cathedral itself, though an undeniable wealth of +picturesque detail exists. + +The conventional guides speak of it as "highly interesting," and so it +is, with its Romanesque remains, its ungainly facade, its three fine but +weather-worn doorways, and its charming river view. + +Beside the cathedral stands the old-time Episcopal Palace with its fine +arcaded Romanesque gallery overlooking the river, where the prelates +took their "constitutionals," safely guarded from wind and weather. +To-day this grand building represents the officialdom of the local +Prefecture. + +Two other noble ecclesiastical monuments are to be seen here, the Church +of St. Germain, or rather, the fragment which was spared by the +Huguenots, now being used as an adjunct to a hospital; and the Church of +St. Pierre. The latter is the most appalling example of a Renaissance +building which one is likely to meet with, and shows in its remarkable +facade, in sheer perversion of misdirected labour, the grossness of +pseudo-classicism, which quite entitles it to rank with that other +equally abominable example in Paris, St. Eustache. + +The _portail_ of this remarkable church, locally so called, though in +reality it is only a detached gateway, far from the church building +itself, is a wonderful Italian suggestion, now mellowed and weathered +and undeniably charming in colour in spite of its being so manifestly +out of its environment. + + + + +[Illustration: _St. Etienne de Bourges_] + +II + +ST. ETIENNE DE BOURGES + + +The Cathedral of St. Etienne de Bourges partakes of the same honours +which are accorded to the premier quartette of the Isle of France. +Nearly contemporary with Paris and Laon, this cathedral steps into its +rank with a grandeur and firmness that in a less stolid or more ornate +edifice is often wanting. It retains certain of its Romanesque features, +perhaps unduly pronounced; likewise it has certain attributes of +Burgundian luxuriance; but withal it presents the highly developed +Gothic tendency to a far greater degree than either. Although not far to +the south of Paris, Bourges is thoroughly of another climatic +environment, which not only shows itself in the changed conditions of +life, but in the manner of building as well. + +The great transeptless church of St. Etienne is another of those soaring +monuments which rise skyward and hold the eye whenever one is in its +vicinity. Standing on an eminence of not very great height, it +dominates, from every point of view, the plain which surrounds the city +and reminds one of Noyon or Laon in its comparative isolation. Not +because its domicile is not a place of some magnitude, but rather +because the neighbouring houses lie so huddled in a valley or plain, +does the city give the impression of being of less size than it really +is. + +The view from the railway on entering the town is, as it has been called +by some imaginative Frenchman, "but the _hors d'oeuvre_ of the +architectural feast to follow," and on drawing still closer, it composes +grandly with the swift-flowing little river lined with the tall slim +trees which are so distinguished a feature of a French landscape. + +Like Beauvais, Amiens, and, in only a slightly lesser degree, Le Mans, +the sheer fall of the nave and choir from ridge to ground startles one +by its exaggeration of perpendicular lines. Though by no means of the +great height of these other examples, its great size first impresses one +as its distinguishing feature. It sits, too, on the edge of a beautiful +wooded park which, in conjunction with the modern Episcopal Palace, +forms an ensemble of stone and verdure not often to be seen as the +environment of a French cathedral. The gardens are quite open to the +public and are set forth with clipped hedges, trees, and monumental +stone work of no mean order. + +Bourges is another of those ancient foundations of mid-France where +Romish influences died hard, and Gothic, as a perfected type, never, as +it were, attained its majority. Here, the mixture of style is notable; +pointed and rounded arches intermingled, apparently indiscriminately, +with thoroughly Gothic supports, mullions, and piers. These, with the +characteristically Renaissance north and south porches, with their +carven doorways, all go to complete a series of typically fashioned +details, each true to its own age. Such a combination of varying virtues +should give the student, or the seeker after new sensations, something +more to think about than a mere catalogue of consistent charms; for it +cannot be denied that this church, standing aloof from any other single +type, is a marvel of grandeur and impressiveness, whatever may be its +failings when dessicated by the theorist or the archaeologist. + +It is unlikely that Saracen or even Moorish influences were ever at work +so far north as this; but there is an unquestionable tendency in much +of the debased decoration of this church to more than suggest a +similarity to both. It is, of course, not Gothic, as we know it, nor +Byzantine, _pur sang_, and it is certainly not Italian, but something +quite different. It is, perhaps, worthy of record that the inverted +horseshoe arch more nearly approximates what is commonly considered the +Moorish form; or, to give it a wider _locale_, Mediterranean, at least. +The polygonal turrets which flank the towers and the chapels of the +abside look, too, not unlike a sub-tropical feature, possibly Saracen. +Such details are markedly noticeable here, and it is because of features +such as these that one is minded to consider the church as something +quite different from anything seen elsewhere. + +To carry the argument still farther, if these details are to be +considered in any sense Gothic, or any outgrowth thereof, it certainly +augurs much for the possibility of this style having come originally +from the East, or at least the Mediterranean countries. It has been +claimed before now by English and French writers alike, that it may have +developed from the arts of the Moors of Spain, or that it may have grown +up from a primitive style in vogue in the Far East. The comment is given +without further elaboration; but here, at least, we see some basis for +the claim that Gothic is but a transplanted flower after all, and that +it developed so boldly only from the seed's having been blown hither +from some other land, and finding a favourable soil in which to take +root and flourish. + +Without transepts, the long flank of the nave and choir is singularly +beautiful, broken into at regular intervals by buttresses which, if not +remarkable examples, are at least graceful, though so light that they +have been visibly stayed by iron rods, as is frequently the case +elsewhere, at Beauvais particularly, where the whole fabric appears to +be hung together by wires. + +The actual inception of the cathedral is attributed to Rudolphe de +Turenne, forty-sixth Archbishop of Bourges. Of his known work only the +round-arched crypt remains, upon which foundation the present grand pile +was reared. + +The west front possesses a quintette of portals, deeply recessed, but of +a decidedly mixed Gothic and Renaissance treatment as to decoration. +Such a range of elaborated doorways is hardly to be found in such +luxuriance elsewhere, though the fact that there are five in all, +standing grandly in a row, is perhaps not unique of itself. They are +profusely decorated with sculptured forms of angels, saints, and kings. +The tympanum of the central portal contains a "Last Judgment," +remarkable alike for its magnitude and workmanship. Throughout, these +portals vary in date of their construction, their treatment, and their +excellencies, but in general they are homogeneous and convincing. In the +gables of three are circular piercings which open into a sort of +vestibule or porch; but these are entirely without glass. Another unique +feature of this western front is a curious lofty double-storied +structure, a chapel-like building, of whose functions most will remain +in ignorance. It is connected with the main body of the church by a long +tentacle-like ligature through which, says Henry James, "the groaning of +the organ or the pealing of bells must be transmitted with distressing +clearness." + +The hybrid tower on the extreme left, with many round-arched windows and +much florid ornament, is familiarly called the "Tour de Beurre," and, as +its compeer at Rouen, was built from the contributions of those who were +willing to forego themselves the luxury of butter. To the right is a +much less imposing tower, but one that is much more true as to its +style. It rises scarcely above the central gable, and helps to +exaggerate the lack of uniformity of the facade, a condition much +deplored by the true Gothic builder, though whether such varying detail +does not after all make a more interesting, and perhaps as edifying a +work for pleasurable contemplation, is an open question. There is, in +any event, a marvellous power in this massive west front to confirm +one's opinion that it is a comprehensive and yet varied thing. Another +curious feature of this front is a pair of overlying buttresses of no +apparent purpose as to staying power, since the wall space which they +flank is of no inordinate height. The window space, though, is ample; +and, though mostly in blank to-day, at a future time those blanks might +be broken out; hence the necessity for these extra props. + +The interior gives, likewise, a grand impression, one of vaster +magnitude than in reality exists. The length is probably exaggerated by +reason of the lack of transepts; but its breadth, including nave and +aisle, is unusually great, and the height is further magnified by the +fact that the aisles themselves have three ranges of openings, above +which, in the nave, rise the triforium and clerestory,--surely alone a +sufficiently unusual arrangement to account the church as of remarkable +planning. Its great beauty may be said to be the magnificent proportions +throughout, rather than the preeminent intrinsic value of any specific +detail. + +The rose window of the west end, though of grand proportions, appears to +fail utterly as a supreme effort because of the flatness and depression +given to its circumferential outline. Like that of St. Gatien at Tours +it is of an uncertain lozenge shape, while the effect is further +lessened by the mediocrity of its glass and framing. + +The general appearance of the interior is one of symmetrical grandeur, +wherein the effect of each dimension is probably enlarged, but with a +fine and consistent proportion. Its conventional embellishments are not +unduly ornate; though, for that matter, they do not give the impression +of being wanting to any great degree either in quality or quantity. In +no particular, however, is the sculptured form of figure or foliage of +that excellence and magnitude of that of the cathedral at Reims or at +Amiens. + +The magnificent proportions of the choir well merit the term of +"Burgundian opulence." Its termination opens with an amplitude often +wanting in even a larger building, the piers being wide apart, without +screening, which heightens still more its generous proportions. + +The two picturesque cardinal's hats, with cord and tassels, have long +been pendant from the vault of the choir, and are now dimmed in colour +and thick deep with dust, seemingly destined to fall of sheer old age +and decrepitude. Further particulars concerning this picturesque detail +are wanting only from the lack of any one in attendance from whom one +might get this information,--perhaps some reader of these lines may be +more fortunate. + +On the pavement of the nave is a brass rule, inlaid diagonally from the +north to the south wall. Its original use appears to be clothed in some +obscurity, one informative person stating that it is the line of +departmental division, and another that it marks the meridian of Paris, +which is shown on all French navigation charts. Its real purpose is +evidently topographical rather than of religious or symbolical +significance. + +An ardent French writer deplores the fact that there is no monument +here to show respect for Louis XI., who was born at Bourges and baptized +in the cathedral; a pity, perhaps, and certainly a subject worthy of the +consideration of "the powers that be." + + + + +[Illustration: _CATHEDRAL of S. CYR & Ste. JULIETTE NEVERS_] + +III + +ST. CYR AND ST. JULIETTE DE NEVERS + + +A unique experience is one's first contemplation of the "gay little city +of Nevers" from the Pont du Loire, with the none too large Cathedral of +St. Cyr and St. Juliette crowning, as it were, the apex of a series of +steep rises from the Loire, which, even at this distance from the sea, +still retains its ample breadth. Said Arthur Young in his plain and bald +phraseology, "Nevers makes a fine appearance." Here, on the very +threshold of the southland, it is something of a shock to be brought at +once into intimate association with Italian influences and types of +architecture; for, be it recalled, Nevers has been truly "an Italian +stronghold in the midst of France," with little to remind one, but its +speech, that it is merely a provincial French market-town. Nevers was +the seat of the Italian Dukes and Counts of Nievre, who built the ducal +palace, the _ci-devant_ chateau, now the Palace of Justice. Here, later, +dwelt the nephew of the great Mazarin, who said his king "had a heart +more French than his speech." Through his efforts the Nivernais was +incorporated with the French crown in 1669. + +This fine turreted, towered, and decorated building, with its sculpture +attributed to Goujon, is to-day, in appearance at least, what it was in +the past,--the typical urban domestic establishment of grand proportions +and splendid appointments; though it may hardly be said to vie with such +masterpieces as Chambord, Chenonceau, or Blois. Nor, for that matter, is +the town itself entitled to rank, as to its events of historical +importance or the fame or personality of its bishops or counts, with +either Chartres or Le Mans, both of which it somewhat approaches in +point of size. + +Aside from its many and varied charms, which have been duly set forth +by most writers on the French provinces who have had anything whatever +to say about it, Nevers should be doubly endeared to all makers of +guide-books and students of ecclesiastical architecture, from the fact +that the Abbe Bourasse, Honorary Canon of Nevers, here wrote and +dedicated to his bishop, Mgr. Dufetre, a work treating of the French +cathedrals which will ever rank as one of the most delightfully written +and useful books of its class. This fact perhaps is hardly to be +reckoned as of historical moment, but pertinent to the plan of the +present work nevertheless. + +Nowhere, not even in Provence or Acquitaine, are to be noted more +significant tendencies toward a southern influence in the matter of +civil and ecclesiastical building. True, many of the minor structures +have to-day descended unto base uses, and many of their perfections and +beauties are therefore sunk below the surface. For instance, where a +palace has become a warehouse, or a church been turned into a stable, or +been given over to the uses of a wine factor. + +Before even considering the cathedral itself,--dedicated to the hero of +the legendary tale concerning St. Cyrus, who, depicted as a naked child +riding astride a wild boar, was able to turn the infuriated beast from a +certain King Charles (further designation not given) and preserve him +from danger,--it is well to know that most authorities agree in giving +habitation here to one of the most perfect Romanesque churches in all +northern Europe, that of St. Etienne, built in 1063-96, and consecrated +in the latter year by Ivor, Bishop of Chartres. Of the century +contemporary with this fine work, as yet hardly spoiled by any offensive +restorations, are two columns, in the easterly portion of the Cathedral +of St. Cyr, which bear the date of 1024. From this foundation the lover +of churches will rear for himself an exceedingly interesting and +uncommon type. + +Not of the first rank, St. Cyr has the power to hold one's attention far +more closely and interestingly than many of greater worth and magnitude; +and its environment, from every point of view, composes itself into a +picture which it would be hard to duplicate. The grouping of the chevet +of the choir with the low roofs of the town lying at its base, and the +gardens of the ducal chateau in the immediate foreground, forms an +unusually varied combination of the picturesque. + +The wealth of Nevers in architectural monuments would be notable in a +town many times its size. The Port de Paris, a not especially attractive +Renaissance gateway, guards the northerly, and the Port du Croux the +westerly, end of the town. This latter groups nobly with the west end +and tower of the cathedral, and is of itself a monument of the first +rank, being so designated by the _Commission des Monumentes +Historiques_. A feudal defence, square, broad-based, turreted, flanked +with circular watch-towers, and still further strengthened by a barbican +which once held a portcullis, this wonderfully effective barrier more +than suggests the mediaeval stronghold. Two other towers of the ancient +_enceinte_ still remain, the Tour Gougin, and the Tour St. Eloi. + +Intimate acquaintance with the cathedral shows a blending, not +offensive, but in no slight manner, of the Romanesque, early and late +Gothic, and finally Renaissance styles. Nevertheless there is an +apparent cohesiveness often lacking in a larger work, or in one built +within a shorter period of time. One distinctly northern feature there +is; namely, the singular effect given by the double apse of the nave and +choir, reminiscent mainly of the Rhine builders, that of the eastern +end being much the older. The half-obliterated frescoes of the domed +vaulting of the western apse indicate that it was completed after the +pure Italian manner at a considerably later time than the opposite end. +It is hardly a beautiful or even a necessary feature to either the +exterior or interior of a great church, and, fortunately, is unusual in +France, though common enough in Germany, notably at Mainz, Worms, and +Treves. The most remarkable interior effect, aside from this western +apse, is that of the lofty Gothic arches, springing high above the +Romanesque arches of the nave, and naturally of a much later date. +Certainly this must be, so far as the respective proportions of each are +concerned, an entirely unique feature. Notable evidences are to be seen +of frescoes, probably the work of some Italian hand, both on the screen +and in the domed apse. They have apparently been whitewashed over many +times, but remorse, if tardily, has evidently come lately, and such +restoration or renovation as has been possible, has been undertaken. + +A dainty and diminutive spiral stairway, suggestive of having been +modelled on the lines of the grand spirals at Chambord or Blois, and +half enclosed in the surrounding wall, leads to the Chapter Room above. +The eastern apse, and the crypt beneath, are the earliest parts readily +to be observed and are probably the remains of the Romanesque structure +built by Hugh II. early in the eleventh century, after the common type +of the Auvergnat and Angevine churches. + +Perhaps the best workmanship to be noted is that of the +thirteenth-century chapels surrounding the choir. Reclus, a French +authority, has declared that the ornamental foliage here is not only +really admirable as to itself, but is the "perfection of imitation," and +extends this commendation also to the work on the pillars and capitals +of the north doorway by which the church is usually entered. + +The interior generally is brilliant and pleasing, though good glass is +mostly wanting, and the uninterrupted flood of light detracts measurably +from the warmth and geniality suggested by the memory of Bourges, +Chartres, or Auxerre. The rose window over the western apse is pitifully +weak and quite lacking in effectiveness. + +A canopied _baldacchino_ rises above the altar and, being of stone +treated in a graceful Gothic manner, is an ornament much more in good +taste than the hideous mahogany or oaken serpentine atrocities which are +often erected. + +It is impossible to come into close contact with the exterior of this +cathedral except by approaching it from the eastern end. West front +there is none. As one has said, "It possesses merely a western end." The +western tower, of two non-contemporary orders of Gothic (fourteenth and +fifteenth centuries), whether viewed from near or far, is far more +pleasing than any other general exterior feature. The chevet of the +choir extends, as it were, well into the nave, there being no transepts. +This is evidently a local custom, recalling the neighbouring cathedrals +at Bourges and Auxerre. + +The sculptured decoration of the later portion is exceedingly well +disposed, and of such magnitude and numbers as to lack that poverty in +the ensemble often apparent in a more pretentious work. + +The Church of St. Etienne in Nevers, so thoroughly Roman in inception of +design and execution of detail, indicates more vividly than any other +example that might possibly be taken, the shortness of time in which the +Gothic development actually took place. With Notre Dame at Paris full +in mind, it is well to recall that these accepted perfect examples of +two contrasting types are scarce a hundred and fifty miles apart, and, +in point of time, but sixty years. What an exemplification this surely +is of the transition which came to the art of church building in the +twelfth century; what extraordinary rapidity of conception and +development, and how narrow were the confines of the true Gothic spirit, +indigenous only to the royal domain, which alone produced the churches +which fully merit the concisely expressed definition of Gothic: "A +manner of building maintained (sustained) by a system of thrust and +counter thrust." + + + + +[Illustration: _CATHEDRAL of S. MAMMES LANGRES_] + +IV + +ST. MAMMES DE LANGRES + + +Langres is reminiscent of but one other cathedral city in the north of +France; like Laon, it occupies and fortifies the crest of a long drawn +out hill, or, to give it dignity, it had perhaps best be called in the +language of the native "de la montagne de Langres," since from its apex, +it is truly dominant of a wide expanse of horizon. + +Of the Burgundian transition type, the Cathedral at Langres, dedicated +to St. Jean the Evangel and St. Mammes, is in many ways a remarkable +architectural work, but contaminated beyond cure by two overbearing +Greco-Roman towers and a portal of the mid-eighteenth century. As a +relief, there adjoins the main body of the church, on the southeast, one +of those masterworks of the supreme Gothic era,--a canon's cloister of +an exceeding thirteenth-century beauty. In other respects, the exterior +is of little note except as to its wonderful degree of prominence in the +general grouping of the roofs of the town, when the city is viewed from +below. + +The interior spreads itself out in severe and imposing lines with hardly +a remarkable feature in either transepts or nave. The organ-loft, a +Calvary, and a marble statue of the Virgin, by Lescornel, a sculptor of +Langres, and a few modern sculptured monuments, are the only decorative +attributes to be seen, if we except the Renaissance Chapelle des Fonts +Baptismaux with its sculptured vaulting on the left. + +The symmetrical choir is in itself the true charm of St. Mammes. It has +a fine ambulatory, and a range of eight monolithic columns, removed, +says tradition, from an ancient Pagan temple. Their capitals are +ornamented with carven foliage, grimacing heads, and fantastic animals. + +A sixteenth-century screen surrounds the choir, but is more like unto a +triumphal arch than a churchly accessory. + +The high altar is a comparatively modern work, as may be supposed, and +dates only from 1810. + +On the right of the choir is an elaborate Roman doorway, and preserved +in the Chapter Room are five paintings depicting the "Chaste Susanne." A +remarkable collection of reliques is shown by the sacristan, in the +Chapelle des Reliques. + + + + +V + +NOTRE DAME D'AUXONNE + + +The small town of Auxonne, lying between Dijon and Besancon, is seldom +thought of in connection with a cathedral church. There is little there +to compel one's attention beyond the fact that the Church of Notre Dame, +of the fourteenth-sixteenth century, is an interesting enough example of +a minor edifice which at one time was classed as a cathedral. + +The church is mainly Gothic and has the unusual arrangement of a +Romanesque tower rising above the transept. + + + + +_PART V + +East of Paris_ + + + + +I + +INTRODUCTORY + + +No arbitrary territorial arrangement can be made to include with +exactness each and every ecclesiastical division, but, since the Royal +Domain and the immediately adjacent territory includes the major portion +of what are commonly accepted as the Grand Cathedrals, it has been +thought permissible, in the present case, to make a further subdivision +which shall include Boulogne and St. Omer, north of Paris; eastward to +the Rhine and southward to include Dijon and Besancon. A topographer +might not make such a division or arrangement of territory; but no other +seems possible which shall include the region lying between the extremes +of Besancon and Boulogne. + +The local characteristics or architectural types differ widely within +these limits, both as to style and excellence. In one way, only, have +they advanced under conditions of unity, that of the establishment of a +Christian church, but, otherwise, now favouring the northern influence +and now the southern. The frontier provinces have, as a natural course, +been subject to many retarding influences which have been wanting +elsewhere; for invasion from without may be depended upon to be as +baneful for the preservation of a nation's art treasures as a revolution +from within. The Christian element early forced its way among the +Franks, and Clovis, at the solicitation of his Christian queen and her +bishop, was not averse to adopting what he might otherwise have regarded +as a superstition. His conversion at Reims not only fostered and +propagated Christianity, but gave an impetus to the foundation and +building of churches in a most generous fashion. + +The region to the eastward of Paris, which has played no unimportant +part in the history of France, while prolific as to varied types of +church building, possesses but one example of the very first rank,--and +that, as a style which typifies Gothic art, may be said to rank supreme +over all others,--Notre Dame de Reims. As the seat of the Metropolitain, +and the City of Coronations, it was allied closely with early affairs of +Church and State. + +The principles and manner adopted by Guillaume of Sens in his great +works early affected the style here, as seen by the many transition +examples, just as the influence of the Monk of St. Benigne of Dijon +caused the round-arched species of the west of France. At all events the +primitive Gothic influences were early at work and in a measure absorbed +the Romanesque tendencies which had flourished previously. + +The most notable exception, an example of the distinctly southern type, +is at Besancon, which has a remarkable array of contrasting style, with +the Romanesque, though not of the best, predominating. + +With the cathedrals in the extreme northerly section we have little to +do,--in fact there is little that can be said. St. Omer is possessed of +a wonderful old church which at one time ranked as a cathedral, and +which has glimpses here and there of very good Gothic. There are also, +in this otherwise not very interesting city, two other church buildings +worthy of more than an ordinary amount of attention, the ruins of the +Abbey of St. Bertin and the Church of St. Denis. + +Boulogne-sur-Mer has a modern pseudo-classical structure built well into +the nineteenth century. It is more notable as a monument to the +industry of the man who brought about its erection, taking the place of +a former structure burnt during the Revolution, than as a satisfactory +example of a great church. The same may be said with equal truth of the +atrocious Renaissance and Pagan structures to be seen at Cambrai and +Arras, though the conditions under which they were built differ. At +Cambrai, however, the present building replaces a former structure +levelled by fire. + +Chalons-sur-Marne,--dear to every French patriot as being renowned for +the manufacture of flags, a suffragan of Reims, has a remarkable +cathedral of Romanesque foundation of the fifth to the seventh +centuries. Its warlike record, from 273 A. D., when Aurelian vanquished +Tetricus, to the occupation by the Germans in 1871, is one long +succession of military affairs. To-day the city is the domicile of the +most important army corps of France. + +These towns, with Nancy, Toul, and St. Die in the valley of the Moselle, +complete the list of those cities which by any stretch of territorial +boundaries could be classed under the head of "East of Paris." + +It may be a debatable point as to whether Strasbourg and Metz might not +have been included; the writer is inclined to think that they might have +been, though their interests and influences have always been more +Teutonic than Gallic,--still, they are thoroughly Germanized to-day, +and, as we cannot interrupt the march of time, and the present volume +will otherwise approach the limits originally set out for it, they must +perforce be omitted. + +[Illustration: _CATHEDRAL NANCY_] + + + + +[Illustration: _BOULOGNE_] + +[Illustration: _St. OMER_] + +[Illustration: _ARRAS_] + +II + +NOTRE DAME DE BOULOGNE-SUR-MER + + +Boulogne-sur-Mer is one of those neglected tourist points through which +the much travelled person usually rushes en route to some other place. +It perhaps hardly warrants further consideration except for the history +of its past, and its intimate association with certain events which +might seriously have affected the history of England. It is, however, an +interesting enough place to-day, if one cares for the bustle and rush of +a seaport and fishing town,--not very cleanly, and overrun with +tea-shops and various establishments which cater only to the cockney +abroad, who gathers here in shoals during the summer months. There is, +too, a large colony of resident English, probably attracted by its +nearness to London, and possibly for purposes of retrenchment, for there +is no question but that the franc, of twenty per cent. less value than +the shilling, accomplishes quite as much as a purchasing power. This +must be quite a consideration with _pater-familias_ with a limited +income derived from Consols or some other traditionally "excellent +investment." + +Most travellers are familiar with what attractions Boulogne really does +offer, but few if any would consider its very modern and ugly cathedral +one of them. + +Perched in the centre of the _Haute-Ville_, overlooking the city and +port, the Cathedral of Notre Dame exists to-day more as a monument to +the energy and devotion of its founder than as a notable architectural +work. It follows no particular style, except that it is Italian of the +most debased general type, though no doubt parts of it meet the +dimensions and formulas laid down by accepted good examples in its +native land. There is no doubt but that its domed cupola is manifestly +out of place, though this detail is the only feature which gives the +cathedral any distinction. + +A Gothic church stood here up to the Revolution, and the building of the +present structure was devotedly undertaken to replace its loss by a +doubtless earnest man, who, in his zeal, sought to build after what he +considered a newer if not a better style. Parts of the crypt are of the +ancient twelfth century church; but the structure above dates from +1827-66. + +Its facade, of a poor classical order, is flanked by two slight cupola +towers equally meaningless and insignificant. Surmounting the central +dome is a colossal statue of the Virgin. + +The interior is in no way remarkable or interesting. There are a few +monuments and a gorgeous high altar of precious marbles, mosaic, and +bronze, the gift of Prince Alex Torlonia. The lady-chapel is still +resorted to as a place of pilgrimage by the seafaring and fisher folk of +the neighbourhood. + +A modern reproduction of a sarcophagus from the catacombs at Rome forms +the tomb of Mgr. Haffreingue (1871). + + + + +III + +NOTRE DAME DE CAMBRAI + + +Cambrai is one of that quartette of cathedral cities of northern France +which in no sense take rank as ecclesiastical shrines of even ordinarily +interesting, much less beautiful, attributes. Of the other three, Arras, +St. Omer, and Boulogne, St. Omer alone is possessed to-day of anything +approaching the great Gothic churches which were spread broadcast +throughout France during the five centuries of church building in the +middle ages. + +In manners and customs, and indeed in speech to some extent, these +cities all partake somewhat of the _locale_ of those of the Low +Countries. These attributes, which have retained their original +identities across the borders, were for many centuries, and even so late +as the seventeenth century, existent in French Flanders. Curiously +enough, in none of these cities are any of the primitive Gothic types to +be noted in the cathedral churches, though many possess their +olden-time belfries and watch towers, preserved to-day with something of +the local pride which evinces itself elsewhere with respect to +cathedrals. It is possible that this is due to the fact that this great +industrial centre of northern France is more given to the arts of +manufacture than to the devotion of church-going or even of church +building. Another notable and almost universal feature of these cities +are the Renaissance or Romanesque gateways,--silent reminders to-day of +the mediaeval communities which they once protected, and of the warlike +invasions of the past. + +The Cathedral of Notre Dame de Cambrai is on the site of an older abbey +church, which was of the same ugly style as the present edifice itself, +but which dated, however, only from the early eighteenth century. The +present building is said to furnish a replica, of the vintage of 1859, +of the tasteless and crude style of the earlier building. There are +statues therein of Fenelon, Bishop Belmas, by David d'Angers, and of +Cardinal Regnier; and a series of grisaille windows, after originals by +Rubens, by Geeraerts of Anvers. + +The chimes of Cambrai rank among the most noted in Europe. They are +composed of thirty-nine bells and produce a carillon, "very agreeable," +says a French authority. They certainly do,--the author can endorse this +from a personal knowledge,--and they have not as yet descended to such +banalities as popular military marches. The largest bell, given by +Fenelon in 1786, weighs 7,500 kilos. + + + + +[Illustration: Notre Dame de Cambrai] + +IV + +NOTRE DAME DE ST. OMER + + +Under Baldwin of Hainault, Artois, including St. Omer, was ceded to the +kingdom of France as late as the mid-seventeenth century. Few minor +churches are possessed of the galaxy of charms and attractions of the +_ci-devant_ Cathedral of Notre Dame at St. Omer. Hardly in the accepted +forms of good taste are the Byzantine slabs of marble stuck upon the +walls here and there, as in a museum; the Renaissance screens; the +overpowering organ case; the votive offerings and tablets without +number; and the alleged wonderful astronomical clock, with its colossal +wooden figures of the sixteenth century,--all of which go to compose a +heterogeneous mass more interesting as to occasional detail than as a +thorough expression of saintly temperament. + +The decorative scheme is carried still further by the large number of +paintings with which the church is hung; a tribute none too common in +France, and more usually associated with the Flemish churches of nearly +every rank. A reflection of their preeminence in this respect is +naturally enough visible in French Flanders. + +"The Descent from the Cross," attributed to Rubens, appears likely +enough to be a genuine master, but it has been so roughly restored by +overpainting, that it is to-day of impaired value. + +St. Omer, among all the group of northeast France, presents a true +Gothic example in its great Basilique de Notre Dame, and it is a pity +that its further development was along lines which indicate a trend, at +least, toward debasement. This is plainly to be noted in the tracery of +the lower and clerestory windows of nave and aisles. + +Its enormous tower covers nearly the entire western end of nave and +aisles, in much the same way as those of some of the fortified churches +of the south. Its Gothic is of the true perpendicular style, however, +and, with the general grand proportions of the building, gives that +immensity and massiveness which is associated only with a church of the +first rank. The _arcs-boutant_ of the nave are hardly deserving of +mention as such, though they are manifestly sturdy props which perform +their functions in perhaps as efficacious a manner as many more graceful +and delicate specimens elsewhere. There is just a suggestion of a +central tower, which, as is often the case in France, has dwindled to a +mere cupola, if it had ever previously grown to a greater height. The +transepts are of imposing dimensions, that on the south having an +enormous rose of perhaps thirty-five feet in diameter, with an +elaborately carved portal below, which contains a "Last Judgment" in the +tympanum. The choir, chevet, and chapels, while existent to a visible +and very beautiful degree, are somewhat overshadowed by the great size +of the transepts. There is this to be said, however: that the choir, a +restoration of our own day, presents, as to style, the type of Gothic +purity at its height. It has five radiating chapels, not including that +of Notre Dame des Miracles, which adjoins the south transept and +contains innumerable votive tablets. For the rest, except for the fact +that the interior partakes of a mere collection of curios and relics, it +is in general no less imposing in its proportions than the exterior. The +clerestory windows, however, are of ill proportions for so grand a +structure, being short and squat; and here, as elsewhere throughout the +building, is to be found only modern glass. + +The great bell of the western tower weighs 8,500 kilos. + +Chief among the notable accessories and reliques is the monolithic tomb +of St. Erkembode, bishop of the one-time see of Therouanne, period +725-37. The sarcophagus itself, dating from the same century, was +brought here from the original site. The tomb of St. Omer was restored +in the thirteenth century and shows a remarkable sculptured group of +Christ, the Virgin, and St. John, called the "Great God of Therouanne." +It was saved from the ruin of the church at Therouanne, which was +destroyed with the greater part of the town in 1533 by Charles V., in +revenge for the "loss of three bishoprics," as history states. At this +time the sees of St. Omer and Boulogne were founded. + +The near-by Palace of Justice, built by Mansart in 1680 and enlarged for +its present use in 1840, was the former Episcopal Palace. + +St. Omer has also two other grand churches, St. Sepulchre, of the +fourteenth century, and the ruins of St. Bertin (1326-1520), which, +before the Revolution, with St. Ouen at Rouen, and the collegiate church +at San Quentin, was reckoned as one of the most beautiful Gothic abbeys +in France. To-day it is a magnificent ruin, its huge tower (built in +1431) and portions of the nave and crossing being all that remain. It +was considered the finest church in the Low Countries, and for size, +purity, and uniformity of style it ranked with the best of its +contemporaries. + + + + +V + +ST. VAAST D'ARRAS + + +The capital of ancient Flanders was removed from Arras to Ghent when +Artois was ceded to France, and thus it was that the city became French, +as it were, but slowly, its Low Country traditions and customs clinging +closely to it until a late day. The former Cathedral of Notre Dame +ranked as a grand example of the ogival style of the fourteenth century, +in which it was built, and gave to the city of the "tapestry makers" the +distinction of possessing a church composed of much that was best of the +architecture of a fast growing art. Such was the mediaeval rank to which +the cathedral at Arras had attained. The new Cathedral of St. Vaast, +dating from 1755 to 1833, is of the Grecian style of temple building, +little suited to the needs of a Christian church. The crucial plan +consecrated by catholic usages of centuries is not however wholly +abandoned. There is something of a suggestion of the Latin cross in its +design, but its abside faces toward the southeast rather than due south, +with its principal entrance to the northwest, a sufficiently unusual +arrangement, where most French churches are duly orientated, to be +remarked, particularly as there is little that can be said in praise of +the structure. The interior follows the general plan of the Corinthian +order; the windows, neither numerous nor of sufficiently ample +dimensions to well serve their purpose, number nine only in the choir, +and five on each side of the nave. + +There are, to the abside, seven collateral chapels, some of which +contain passable sculptured monuments, removed from the old abbey of St. +Vaast, a foundation erected in the sixth century and reconstructed by +Cardinal de Rohan in 1754. The remains of the old abbey buildings have +been built around and incorporated in the present Episcopal Palace, the +extensive Musee, and Bibliotheque; and are situated immediately to the +right of the facade of the cathedral. + +The grisaille glass seen in the interior is unusual, but mediocre in the +extreme. + +There are, however, some good statues in white marble in the Chapelle de +St. Vaast, while in another chapel, given by Cardinal de la Tour +d'Auvergne, is one equally good of Charles Borromee. + +There are four great statues at the extremities of the transepts, +representing the four evangelists; and three others in the choir, of +Faith, Hope, and Charity. + +In the north transept, also, are two triptychs of the Flemish school, by +Bellegambe, a native of Douai (1528). + +The Abbe Bourasse, in his charming work on the cathedrals of France, +says, plainly, and without fear or favour: "We have tried to speak +impartially of all species of architecture--but why do we not admire the +Cathedral of Arras? It is against all traditions of '_notre art +catholique_.' We contend that this is not good. What, say you, can we +praise? It is a great work--of the stone-mason; you should study it from +some distance. It is without life, without movement, without dignity." + +Whatever may be the faults of its cathedral, Arras is, nevertheless, an +interesting city,--modernized, to be sure, by boulevards laid out along +the old fortifications. The Citadel of Vauban (1670), called ironically +"_la belle inutile_," may be classed as a worthless, if not wholly +unpicturesque, ruin, though ranking, when built, as among the most +wonderful fortifications of the times. The wave of Renaissance which +swept northward has left its ineradicable marks here. The Hotel de Ville +is a remarkable specimen of that art of overloading ornament upon a +square hulk, and making it look like a wedding-cake; though, truth to +tell, coming upon it after the chilliness of the cathedral itself, it is +a cheerful antidote. Dating from 1510, at which time was built the +curious Gothic facade of seven arches, each different as to size and +spring. The added wings in elaborate Renaissance are of the late +sixteenth century and rank among the most effective examples of the +style in France. A belfry surmounts all, 240 feet in height, the +"_joyeuse_" of which weighs nearly nine tons. + +Arras may perhaps be most revered for its tapestries, its workers taking +rank with those of the famous manufactories at Paris and Beauvais. +Indeed, it would appear as though experts knew not to which of these +three centres to assign precedence, both Arras and Paris claiming the +honour of having set up the first looms. It is an ancient art, as the +work of craftsmen goes, and more than one writer who has studied deeply +the fascinating intricacies of _haute_ and _basse lisse_, of colour, +texture, design, and what not, has not hesitated to proclaim the city as +having been the grandest centre of tapestry-making which the world has +ever known; and regret can but be universal that it came to an end when +its citizens were put to the sword by Louis XI. + + + + +[Illustration: _TOUL_] + +VI + +ST. ETIENNE DE TOUL + + +Annexed to France, in company with Metz and Verdun, in 1556, Toul, +situated on the left bank of the Moselle, is to-day ranked as a fortress +of the first order. "Can be seen in two hours"--such is the description +usually given by the guide-books to the city which contains, in its +one-time Cathedral St. Etienne, an example which, with respect to the +decorative tracery of its facade savants have declared the equal even of +Reims. + +One of the three former bishoprics of Lorraine, Toul is none too ample +to merit the cognomen of a large town. It once held within its walls, +beside the Cathedral, the Church of St. Gengoult, and several parish +churches and monasteries. Shorn to-day of some of these dignities, with +its bishopric removed to Nancy, it ranks as a military and strategic +stronghold rather than a centre of churchly domination. Since Metz and +Strasbourg were given over to the Germans, Toul's former fortress has +been greatly strengthened. + +The cathedral itself may truly be said to bear the characteristics of +both the German and French manner of building, the western or later end +being a superb front, after the French manner, and the easterly or +earlier end having a simple apse and long narrow windows, in the German +fashion. A comparison has been made by Professor Freeman between the +western facade of this church and Notre Dame de Reims. He says, "We are +daring enough to think that, simply as a design, the west front of Toul +outdoes that of Reims; though it will be hardly needful to prove that, +as a whole, Reims far outdoes that of Toul." Quite non-committal, to be +sure, as was this charming writer's way; but, of itself, a sort of +preparation to the observer for the beauties which he is to behold. Here +is the case of a superb richness having been added to a plainer body, +and by no means inharmoniously done. The gable is nearly perfect as to +its juxtaposition. The towers are higher in proportion than at Reims, +giving the effect of being the finished thing as they stand, though +lacking spires or pinnacles. The walls are of those just proportions in +relation to the window piercings which is again French, as contrasted +with a neighbouring example at Metz, where the reverse is the case. + +The city was the seat of a bishop as early as the sixth century, and its +government was under his control until 1261, when it became a free +commune. Finally it was conquered by Henry II., and its future assured +to France by the Treaty of Westphalia. + +The cathedral dates in part from Romanesque remains of the tenth +century, but its entire interior arrangements were much battered during +the Revolution. + +The choir and transept are of the best of thirteenth-century building, +while the nave and side aisles are of the century following. Two towers, +which flank the magnificent facade, rise for nearly two hundred and +fifty feet, and are the work of Jacquemin de Commercy in the fifteenth +century. Adjoining the right aisles are the very beautiful Gothic +cloisters of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. They form a +rectangular enclosure, 225 feet by 165 feet, and are made up of +twenty-four sections of four arches, each with clustered columns. + +A fine sculptured altarpiece, "The Adoration of the Shepherds," is in +the Chapelle de la Creche, entered from the cloister. + +The present Hotel-de-Ville was formerly the bishop's palace. + + + + +[Illustration: _North Portal Cathedral Chalons-sur-Marne_] + +VII + +ST. ETIENNE, CHALONS-SUR-MARNE + + +Chalons is perhaps first of all famed as the scene of Attila's great +defeat in the fifth century, one of the world's fifteen decisive +battles. + +The Cathedral of St. Etienne is not usually considered to be a +remarkable structure; but it is thoroughly typical and characteristic of +a _locale_, which stamps it at once with a mark of genuineness and +sincerity. Of early primitive Gothic in the main, it shares interest +to-day with the four other churches of the city, not overlooking Notre +Dame de l'Epine, some five miles distant to the northward, one of the +most perfectly designed and appointed late Gothic churches which the +world has ever known. It has been called a "miniature cathedral," using +the term, it may be supposed, in the sense of referring only to a +magnificently ornate church. It is indeed worth a pilgrimage thither to +see this true gem of architecture in a wholly undefiled countrified +setting. + +The Cathedral at Chalons-sur-Marne follows somewhat the traditions of +the German manner of building, at least so far as a certain plainness +and lack of ornate decoration in the main body of the church is +concerned; likewise in the arrangement of its towers, which lie to the +eastward of the transepts; and further with respect to its decidedly +Teutonic arrangement of the rounded columns, or, more properly, pillars, +of its nave. + +In general this thirteenth-century church is in the best style of its +era; but the west front presents an incongruous seventeenth-century +addition in the whilom classical style of that day, bad as to its art, +and apparently badly welded into conjunction with the older portion. The +aisles and clerestory windows are of the later decorated period of +Gothic, and present, whether viewed from without or from within, an +exceedingly fine appearance. + +Probably the finest and most pleasing impression of the whole structure +is that obtained of the interior, with its pillars of nave and choir, of +the massive order made familiar in the Rhine churches. A reasonable +share of twelfth to sixteenth century glass is still left as its +portion, and the general arrangement of the choir, prolonged, as it is, +well into the nave, gives a certain majesty to this portion of the +church which is perhaps not warranted when we take into consideration +that it must perforce dwarf the nave itself. The arrangement, though not +common, is by no means an unusual one, and it is recalled also, that it +is so employed at Reims. + +Situated near the frontier, Chalons-sur-Marne has ever been subject to +that inquietude which usually befalls a border city. German influences +have ever been noticeable, and, even to-day, the significant fact is to +be noted that a cure will hear confessions in German, and that services +are held in that tongue on "Saturdays in St. Joseph's Chapel." + +The Episcopal Palace, behind the cathedral, contains a collection of +some sixty paintings, the gift, in 1864, of the Abbe Joannes. + + + + +[Illustration: _S. DIE_] + +VIII + +ST. DIE + + +St. Die gets its name, by the corruption of Dieudonne, from St. +Deodatus, who founded a monastery here in the seventh century. It was +built, as was many another great cathedral, in accordance with the +custom of erecting a church over the body or relic of a saint whom it +was especially desired to honour; usually one of local importance, a +patron or a devotee. + +The town is perhaps the most inaccessible and "out-of-the-way" place +which harbours a cathedral in all northern France. We might perhaps +except St. Pol-de-Leon and Treguier in Brittany, neither of which is on +a railway, whereas St. Die is, but at the very end. When you get there +and want to go on, not back, you simply journey on foot, or awheel if +you can find a conveyance, and take up with another "loose end" of +railway some fifteen miles away, which will take you southward, should +you be going that way. If not, there appears to be nothing for it, but +to retrace your steps whence you came. + +The cathedral (locally "La Grande Eglise," it only having been made a +cathedral so recently as 1777) has a fine Romanesque nave of the +eleventh century, with choir and aisles of good Gothic, after the +accepted Rhine manner of building. + +The portal, of red sandstone, is of inferior thirteenth-century +workmanship, with statues of Faith and Charity on either side. The +facade is flanked by two square towers. + +The interior is curiously arranged with a cordon of sculpture, high in +the vaulting. The capitals of the pillars are likewise ornamented with +highly interesting and ornately sculptured capitals. The choir, as is +most usual, is the masterpiece of the collection, the windows, in +particular, being of the purest ogival style. + +In the first chapel, on the right, is a painting, "The Martyrdom of St. +Sebastian," and behind the choir is an ancient work commemorative of +"_Le Peste de St. Die_." + + + + +[Illustration: ST. LAZARE _d'AUTUN_] + +IX + +ST. LAZARE D'AUTUN + + +This ancient episcopal city has ever been devoted to the cause of +Christianity. "Nowhere," says a French historian, "has the Church +enjoyed more repute than here." The Dukes of Burgundy, its bishops and +people alike, joined in a fervour of labour and zeal to assure its +permanence and progress. In addition, the Gallo-Roman remains point to a +former city of proud attainments. The fine Roman walls, beautifully +jointed, _sans_ cement, are distinctly traceable for a circuit of +perhaps three miles around the city. Other interesting remains are two +fine gateways, commonly referred to as triumphal arches, which they +probably were not, the Porte d'Arroux and the Porte St. Andre; the ruins +of an amphitheatre; and a tower assigned to a former temple of Minerva. +All these, and more, are found inside the old walls; while, without, are +remains of an aqueduct, of a tower dedicated to Janus, and a Roman +bridge crossing the river Torenai. It may be interesting for an +Englishman to recall that the Bishop of Autun, who often presided over +the National Assembly, pleaded in vain with George III. for the +adoption, in England, of the French metric system. + +During the destruction of a former building, St. Nazaire, which at one +time performed the functions of a cathedral, the bishops held their +offices in the chapel of the chateau of the Dukes of Burgundy; but, upon +the removal of the residence of the house of Burgundy to Dijon, +transferred their services to the present edifice, which had by that +time been completed. + +The Cathedral of St. Lazare is a charmingly graceful, though not great, +structure, mainly of the style "_ogivale premier_," its early Lombard +work of the nave and west front being of the foundation of Robert I., +Duke of Burgundy. This vast western portal is encased in a great +projective porch, a feature indigenous apparently to Burgundy, and +commonly referred to as the "Burgundian narthex." Following come the +chapels and spires, of exceeding grace and beauty, of the third +_ogivale_ style. + +The interior enrichments, like the western doorway, with its Romanesque +sculptures, take rank with the best in Burgundy. The delicately carved +rood-loft, or jube, the small sculptures of the choir and nave, and the +flamboyant chapels of the fifteenth to seventeenth century, challenge +minute attention from those who would study decorative detail _in +extenso_. The capitals of certain columns in the nave have fluted +pilasters in imitation of the antique, but are most curiously ornamented +with grotesque and fantastic human figures on a background of foliage. + +The choir, of early pointed style, in its actual disposition and +arrangement, may be included in that classification which comprehends +some of its more important northern compeers, though, as a matter of +fact, it lacks their magnitude. Indeed, the building is one of the +smallest cathedrals in all France. The exterior offers an imposing and +picturesque ensemble, with its crocketed spire rising some two hundred +and fifty or more feet above the roof-tops of the ancient city. + +Nearer inspection shows a certain incoherence of construction, +particularly in reference to the evidences of garish crudities in the +work done under Robert I. in 1031-76, in contrast to the later pointed +work. + +The doorway of the lateral southern wing is ornamented with a series of +grossly exaggerated columns, in imitation of the antique, with the +addition of an apse, which contrastingly shows work of a late flamboyant +order. + +The spire itself is the masterwork of the entire structure, and, unlike +those which surmount many another church, appears not to have suffered +the dangers of fire. As a fifteenth-century work, it merits special +mention. Rising abruptly from a heavy square base, the pyramid is very +acute, and is ornamented at the angles with foliaged crockets, basely +called stone cauliflowers by unimaginative persons. One might say, with +the gentle Abbe Bourasse, that the "ornamentation breaks into sky and +cloud with an exceedingly agreeable effect, far beyond that of a +straight line." The inconsistency lies only in the juxtaposition of the +two western transition towers, which have hardly enough of the Gothic in +them to merit the name. + +The lower windows of the nave are of good flamboyant style, with a sort +of Romanesque triforium, and a simple round-headed window in each bay of +the clerestory, which is the more poor in treatment and effect in that +it holds no notable glass. There are none of those distinctly northern +accessories, the great rose windows, and the whole reeks of distinctly a +milder atmosphere. There is a luxuriance of decoration in the many +chapels of different epochs. + +The exterior, in general, is of excessive simplicity; but, if it is not +to be placed among those cathedrals and churches accredited the most +notable and most beautiful, it will, at least, take rank as one of the +most ancient to be seen to-day, and has the further benefit of a +glorious environment and association with the past. + + + + +[Illustration: _CATHEDRAL of S. BENIGNE DIJON_] + +X + +ST. BENIGNE DE DIJON + + +The power and wealth of the Dukes of Burgundy, whose influence extended +northward to the Netherlands, where they often held court at Ghent and +Bruges, were, in a way, responsible for the opulence and splendour of +the life of the day. So, too, Burgundian architecture became a term +synonymous for the amplitude and grandeur with which many of its +institutions were endowed. + +The reign of Philippe le Bon, with that of Charles the Bold, the most +ambitious prince who ever graced his line, was the Augustan age of +Burgundian art. It was the dream of the latter to reincarnate the old +Burgundian kingdom by annexing Lorraine and subduing the advancing Swiss +Confederacy, an ambition which failed, like many others as, or more, +worthy. The conquered duke was killed at Nancy, and was finally buried +in Notre Dame at Bruges. + +The Cathedral of St. Benigne is an outgrowth from the old abbey church, +from which the Italian monk, Guillaume, set forth to found that +remarkable series of monasteries in Normandy and Brittany. It is said, +too, that he crossed the Channel, and had a large share in the works +which were erected at that period in the south of England. The bishop's +throne has been established in this church only since the Revolution, +caused by the destruction of his former cathedral. The early foundations +of the old abbey date far back into antiquity, but the present cathedral +dates only from the thirteenth century. Commonly considered as of Gothic +style, it is in every way more suggestive of the late Romano-Byzantine +type, or at least of the early transition. There is, to be sure, no +poverty of style; but there is an air of stability and firmness of +purpose on the part of its builders, rather than any attempt to either +launch off into something new or untried, or even to consistently remain +in an old groove. + +As a fact, it is not a very grand building. Its choir is small, and its +transepts short. In its plan, at least, it resembles the Byzantine form +much more than the elongated Gothic, where every proportion seems to +reach out to its utmost extent. + +The west facade is truly fine in the disposition of its parts and +arrangements. It suggests, more than anything, a traditional local +style, favouring nothing else to any remarkable degree except the German +solidity so often to be noted in eastern France. The towers are firmly +set with unfrequent pointed openings. The central portal and vestibule +are deep, and rich with a sculptured "Martyrdom of St. Peter" and a +delightfully graceful arcade just above the portal arch, and another +crossing the gable and joining the towers in a singularly effective +manner. A somewhat heavy but rich pointed window of three lights, +surmounted by a quatrefoil rose, with a slight needle-like spire which +rises just above the gable, completes the ensemble. + +The earlier work, seen at its best in the interior, is that of the choir +and transepts, where again the distinguishing features are local. In +the transepts the arches open directly on the side chapels, the southern +arm being gorgeous with brilliant glass. The windows of choir and +transepts throughout are richly traceried and set. The choir itself is +destitute of either ambulatory or chapels. + +A lantern is placed at the crossing, supported by gracefully foliaged +shafts. + +The nave is of a much later period, and is not of the richness of the +portion lying to the eastward. The windows of the clerestory, in +particular, will not be considered of the excellence of those of either +transept or choir. + +The south tower encloses the tombs of Jean sans Peur and Philippe le +Hardi. The crypt contains the tomb of St. Benignus. + + + + +[Illustration: _CATHEDRAL of NOTRE DAME SENLIS_] + +XI + +NOTRE DAME DE SENLIS + + +"Truly rural" is a term which may well be applied to the situation of +Senlis, the ancient Civitas Sylvanectensium of the Romans. Quaint and +attractive to the eye is the entrance to the town from the railway, with +its low-lying roofs, over which tower the spires of the ancient +Cathedral of Notre Dame and the Church of St. Pierre. It forms a +heterogeneous mass of stone, to be sure, and one which looks little +enough, at first glance, like the delicate and graceful cathedral which +makes up the mass in part. It is, in reality, a confused jumble of +towers and turrets which meets the eye, and it takes some little +acquaintance with the details thereof to separate the cathedral from the +adjacent church. + +The proximity of the sees of Beauvais, Amiens, and Paris perhaps +accounts for the lack of importance attached to this cathedral. As for +the structure itself, among the minor cathedrals of France, Senlis, with +Seez and Coutances, must ever rank as the peers of that order, with +respect to the grace and beauty of their spires. It may be doubted if +even the spires of Chartres are to be considered as more beautiful than +the diminutive single example to be seen here, particularly when grouped +with its surrounding environment. Individually, as well, its grace and +beauty might even take that rank. The demarcation between the base of +the tower and the gently dwindling spire is almost entirely eliminated, +without the slightest tendency toward debasement in the steeple, which +too often is merely a series of superimposed, meaningless, and +unbeautiful details. Latter-day builders, who want a model for the spire +of a moderate-sized Gothic church, could, it would seem, hardly do +better than to make a replica of this graceful example. + +In its facade, the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Senlis partakes largely of +the characteristics of the primitive lowland types, reminiscent, at +least, of Noyon or Soissons, and, as such, it may properly be considered +and compared with them. + +The transepts of the north and south are not grand members, but they are +compact and graceful, and the facade of the southern arm is of a highly +ornate character, bespeaking a wealth of ambition, if not of ability, on +the part of the architect. + +The interior, in spite of the lack of sculptured ornament, shows no +paucity of style, and, except that it is of the bijou variety, might +take rank at once as representative of Gothic style at its best. Under +these conditions, the nave is naturally confined, and lacks a certain +grandeur both as to width and height. + +The choir is of true, though not lofty, proportions, the aisles +appearing perhaps too low, if anything, for the height of the nave, +which otherwise appears exceedingly generous with respect to the extent +of its triforium and clerestory. + +The transepts, though shallow, are possessed of unusually amplified +aisles, there being, as a matter of fact, two in that portion which +adjoins the nave on the west, a sufficiently unusual arrangement to +warrant comment. The rose windows of the transepts have graceful design +and good framing, though the glass is not of the splendour which we +associate with the most pleasing examples seen elsewhere. + + + + +XII + +ST. ETIENNE DE MEAUX + + +To the eastward of Paris, one first finds the true country atmosphere at +Meaux, famous for its bishops, its grist-mills, and its generally +charming environment. + +The picturesque little city is situated on the Marne, some thirty miles +from Paris, amid a verdure which, if not luxuriant, is, at least, a +"fringe of green" that is appealing alike to local pride, and to the +artist or stranger within the gates. It is an ancient bishopric (now +suffragan of Paris), founded in 375 A. D. + +[Illustration: ST. ETIENNE _de MEAUX_] + +The Cathedral of Saint Etienne de Meaux is called by the French the +"Child of Amiens," and it would have all the dignity of its mother had +but the nave received the same development as the choir. Its general +dimensions are restrained, and it shows in no way any remarkable +architectural ensemble; but, for all that, its power to please is none +the less great. Lacking a certain symmetry, in itself no great fault, +the exterior gives the impression of being to-day much less grand and +imposing than was really planned. Battled by wind and weather, its outer +walls have that scarred and aged look which is a beauty in itself. There +are two towers, one of which is unfinished and capped with an ugly and +angular slate roof, so low that it hardly exists at all, so far as +forming a distinct feature of the facade is concerned. Its companion, +however, rises boldly and in graceful lines to a generous height above +the gable. + +The interior plan is regular and simple, with a nave of five bays, the +first two from the west being divided into the infrequent quadruple +range of openings, while the remainder consist of the usual triforium +and clerestory only. The double aisles of the nave are of unusual +height, in order to admit of this double range of openings. + +The transepts, if transepts they can be considered, are very shallow, +being merely the depth of the double aisles of the nave and choir, and +are bare and unadorned so far as any notable sculpture or glass is +concerned, though the arched windows which hold the plain glass are of +grand proportions and excellent design as to their framing. + +The triforium, throughout, is an arcaded cloister-like effect of slight +arches, supported by slender columns, with a series of glazed windows +behind. It would be a notable and wholly charming arrangement were the +glass of these windows rich in colour, or even old in design. + +There is an air of singular lightness, if not actually of grace, +throughout the entire nave and choir, superinduced, perhaps, by the +recent whitening and pointing of the masonry; but the not infrequent +bulging piers, particularly those nearest to the transept crossing, give +a suggestion of ungainliness if not of actual insecurity. + +The columns of the choir, supporting a series of firm and gracefully +poised arches, are of unusual height, something over forty feet, it +would appear,--producing a harmony of form and elegance which again +reminds one of Amiens. + +There are here copies of the nine Raphael tapestry cartoons, the +originals of which are preserved at South Kensington, also of frescoes +by Guido Reni and Domenichino. + +The chief artistic, if not architectural, charm to be seen within the +purlieus of the cathedral is that of the ancient chapter-house, across a +narrow way, to the right of the church itself. This gem of mediaeval +building is perhaps not remarkable as to any of the principles which it +sets forth in its manner of construction, but it takes one back some +hundreds of years, a sheer plunge far beyond the age of the most +prominent features of the main church, and gives a thrill somewhat akin +to the emotion which one feels when he comes across a single leaf torn +from an old illuminated manuscript. This charming ruin, for it is hardly +more than that, being a mere lumber-room, shows in the weathered look of +its covered stairway nearly all of the qualities which the painter loves +to depict,--colour, texture, and, above all, that indescribable charm +which artistic folk, and others who can see as they do, call life. + +Clearly, the Cathedral of St. Etienne de Meaux, as an interesting +shrine, may be classed well at the head of the secondary cathedrals of +the third Gothic period. + + + + +[Illustration: CATHEDRAL OF SAINT PIERRE TROYES] + +XIII + +ST. PIERRE DE TROYES + + +To the thorough student of English history, Troyes is perhaps first +recalled as being the birthplace of the treaty "_decreeing for ever a +common sovereign for England and France_," a treaty which, it is minded, +"stood no while." Again, some dubious antiquary has put it forward as +the home of that variety of weights "which are not avoirdupois." + +The Counts of Champagne had, in the once well-walled city, both a castle +and a palace. Olden-time houses, good Gothic woodwork and Renaissance +stonework, are here in abundance; also, according to the authority of +Fergusson, a well-nigh perfect Gothic church in St. Urbain; likewise a +great cathedral,--rather ugly as to its general outline. All these are +possessed by Troyes, and to-day the reminders and remains of each and +all are exceedingly vivid and substantial. + +Certain cathedrals of France show plainly the different phases and +developments of the art of building through which they have passed; +others indicate little, if any, deviation from a certain accepted style. +St. Pierre de Troyes is of the first category. Here is Gothic in all its +variations. Its environment, too, is characteristic of the many varying +moods through which its constituency has passed. A truly mediaeval city +in the picturesqueness of its older portions, Troyes is famed alike in +affairs of Church and State. The dimensions of the Cathedral at Troyes, +which approach those of the grand group, and the general majesty of its +interior only further this opinion. + +The main body covers the none too frequent arrangement of five aisles, +which, following through the transept, continue, with the double pair on +each side, to likewise girdle the choir. The splendour of immensity is +further enhanced by its large windows, including two rose openings set +with old glass, and the general richness of its sculptured decorations. +The abside of the choir is ranked among the best Gothic works of the +time. + +The choir, begun in 1206, is composed of thirteen arcades, symbolical of +Christ and the twelve apostles, from the chief of whom the cathedral +takes its name. The windows of the triforium are large and divided into +four compartments. The general disposition of the choir, with its +radiating chapels, is superb; and it is exactly this satisfying, though +perhaps undefinable, quality that is ofttimes lacking in an originally +well-planned work which fails to inspire one. The choir contains an iron +_grille_ of the thirteenth century, of very beautiful workmanship, and +is surrounded by five hexagonally sided chapels. + +The principal portion of the nave, erected in the fourteenth, fifteenth, +and sixteenth centuries, interrupted now and again by war and civil +distractions, bears indelible impress of its continued centuries of +growth. + +The principal facade of the fifteenth century--accredited to one Martin +Chambige and erected just after the nave took form--is of the richness +of Gothic only just previous to its decline. There are three portals, +which are bare of sculptured figures, as indeed is the whole west front. +In arrangement, it resembles the frontispieces of certain of the grand +cathedrals, and, though lacking their sculptured ornateness, is +thoroughly satisfying as a decorative frontage. Had it been executed +fifty years later, it would be hard to imagine to what depths its lines +might not have fallen. As it is, the upper ranges of the tower suggest +the thought. The windows of the aisle and of the clerestory of the nave, +when viewed from the exterior, are grandly traceried and gracefully +coupled by a series of light, firm buttresses, which rise, only from the +gables of the lower set, over the low-lying roof to the spring of the +arch of the upper range. St. Pierre de Troyes suggests, in a mild way, +the "sheer glass walls" so frequently referred to by adulous French +critics when chanting the praises of the highly developed lightness of +their indigenous style. This is further accentuated when one notes the +glazed triforium, a decorative feature reminiscent of that at Seez, +Nevers, Tours, and St. Ouen at Rouen. + +Troyes is one of those prominent cathedral cities of Catholic France +whereof the churchman deplores the fact that its men are not of the +church-going class, and that its congregations are mostly of the fair +sex. Be this as it may, except in Brittany, where the whole population +appears unusually devout, the stricture is probably true in a great +measure of all of the north of France; and, be it here said, recent +political edicts will doubtless not tend to increase the propaganda of +piety. + +The north gable, with its portal and rose window, is of the fifteenth +century, and, with the "lustrous rose" of the south transept, forms a +pair of brilliant jewels which are hardly excelled elsewhere, not even +by the encircled splendour of the forty-foot openings at Reims and +Amiens, the equally extensive one of the north transept at Rouen, or, +most splendid of all, the galaxy at Chartres. These marvels of French +ingenuity and invention are nowhere more splendidly proportioned or +embellished than at Troyes, and are equally attractive viewed from +either within or without. + +The chief "_tresor_" consists of a series of wonderful mediaeval +enamels. + + + + +[Illustration: CATHEDRAL OF SAINT ETIENNE SENS] + +XIV + +ST. ETIENNE DE SENS + +Says the Abbe Bourasse, "One of the most beautiful titles to glory in a +church is the antiquity of its foundation," hence, most French +antiquaries who have written upon the subject of the celebrated +Cathedral of St. Etienne of Sens have enlarged upon its "glorious +antiquity." To prove or verify the fact as to whether St. Savinien or +St. Potentien was the first to preach Christian religion here would be a +laborious undertaking. Evidences and knowledge of Roman works are not +wanting, and early Christian edifices of the Romanesque order must +naturally have followed. One learns that an early church on this site +was entirely destroyed by fire in 970, and that a new edifice had +progressed so far that it was dedicated in 997. This, in turn, was +mostly rebuilt, and, two hundred years later (1168), took the form of +the present cathedral. It was completed, in a rather plain and heavy +ogival style, under the capable direction of the William who came to +Canterbury, in response to a call, to rebuild the choir of that English +church in 1174. It is this link, and possibly a sight of the vestments +of A Becket, now preserved among the "_tresor_" of Sens, that binds its +memory with English contemporary life. Whatever may be the contentions +waged as to the claims of English Gothic, it is universally and +unimpeachably admitted that Guillaume de Sens rebuilt that famous choir +of Canterbury, and built it well, and of a newer order of design than +any previous work in England. So let it stand. + +Taken by itself, the Cathedral at Sens is a high example of Christian +art. When, however, it is compared with the grand group, it is relegated +immediately to the second rank. The interior, far more than the +exterior, shows a visible disparity of unified style. Romano-Byzantine, +transition, and ogival are all found in the nave and choir, with the +flamboyant, of the fifteenth century, in the ornamental tracery of the +windows of the transepts. + +Some visible remains of the earlier structure are shown, built into the +eleventh century walls. Of the same period are other evidences of a +former erection, to be noted in the aisles. The transept and the greater +part of the nave are of the century following, and of the early +thirteenth, and finally the three arcades, by which the nave is entered, +are something very akin to the full-blown Renaissance of the fifteenth +century. + +The general plan is symmetrical, and severe, only the twenty chapels +being ungracefully disposed. Ten of these are in the choir and ten in +the nave. For the antiquary, versed in religious archaeology, the +Cathedral of Sens would appear, from the very inconsistencies and +exuberance of its style, to be of great interest. The fragments that +remain of its former magnificent glass, the sculptured monuments, and +the tombs and curiosities of the "_tresor_," which escaped Revolutionary +spoliation, all combine in a glorious attraction for one who has the +time and inclination to delve into the reminiscence of history and +association of a past age. + +The glass of the choir, and of the chapel of St. Savinien, is of the +thirteenth century. The colour is exceedingly brilliant, lively, and +harmonious, with the iridescence of a mosaic of precious stones. + +The sixteenth-century glass, none the less than the framing itself, of +the grand rose windows of the north and south transepts, is equally +remarkable as to design and colour. The former represents the +"Glorification of Jesus Christ," and the latter "Events in the Life of +St. Etienne." + +The "_tresor_" of the cathedral is very numerous and is considered the +richest in all France. The most notable are a reliquary of gold, set +with sapphires and pearls, containing a fragment of the True Cross, +given by Charlemagne in the year 800; four magnificent tapestries of the +time of Charles V., representing the "Adoration of the Magi;" and the +pontifical robes of St. Thomas (a Becket), chasuble, aube, stole, +manipule, cordon, two mitres, and two collars. This courageous +archbishop, persecuted by Henry II., took refuge in Sens in 1162. An +elaborate tomb (of the eighteenth century), by Constant, is the +mausoleum of the Dauphin, father of Louis XVI. + + + + +_PART VI_ + +_Western Normandy and Brittany_ + + + + +I + +INTRODUCTORY + + +Most people who have read Ruskin, and most people have done so--in the +past, will undoubtedly concur with his dictum that Rouen's "associated +Norman cities," Bayeux, Caen, Coutances, St. Lo, Lisieux, and Dieppe, +run the entire gamut of mediaeval architectural notes; or, as Ruskin +himself has put it, "from the Romanesque to the flamboyant." He might +well have added, the Renaissance and the pseudo-classicism of a later +day. + +Beauties there are in this region, galore; and the examples which no +longer exist, but of which the records tell, point to a still larger +aggregate. + +Who thinks to-day of Coutances as of being a "cathedral town?" And yet, +there is within it, as to the general effect of situation and the +magnitude of its towering pinnacles, an edifice which perhaps outranks +all but the very greatest. Most likely no thought is given it at all, +except that Coutances is somewhere on the railway line between Cherbourg +and Paris, or that it is near unto Bayeux; also possessed of a +magnificent cathedral, but whose greatest fame lies in a certain false +sentiment associated with its famous tapestry. Not that this great work +is to be decried,--far from it, but the spirit with which it is so often +viewed should be a matter of scorn for every broad-minded traveller. + +Lisieux, too, has a wealth of attraction for those who fondly admire +reeking picturesqueness and old timbered houses, though its cathedral +will not please. + +Pugin could not resist depicting many of these delightful old houses of +Lisieux in his book on Normandy, though, unlike Ruskin, he had no eye +for its cathedral; most of us will not have. + +So much, then, as a plea for a more sincere and thorough appreciation of +the charms of western Normandy. It is cheap; accessible, and has a +practically inexhaustible store of treasure for the traveller or student +of limited time or money, but who will not make of it the usual mere +"bank-holiday" scamper. The same applies also to Brittany, which is +treated elsewhere, with this proviso, that the tourist afoot or awheel +is far better equipped than he who has to depend upon steam and the +rail, two at least of Brittany's cathedrals being "off the line." + + + + +II + +NOTRE DAME D'EVREUX + + +The Cathedral at Evreux is another of those edifices which gives one its +best impression when first seen upon entering the city. Charmingly, +possibly romantically, situated, it lies in a shallow valley with all +the picturesqueness of its varied style limned against the sky in truly +impressionistic fashion. This impression, when viewed from the slight +eminence by which the railway enters the town, is a vista of rambling +roofs and a long, sloping street running gently down to the very foot of +the structure, which, set about and interspersed with verdure, as it is +in the spring and summer months, warrants one in counting his +introduction to this charmingly attractive, though non-consistent, type +of church, as one of the events which will live in memory for years. + +[Illustration: _Notre Dame d'Evreux_] + +If towering spires and pinnacles were a _sine qua non_ for a great and +imposing architectural style, this church would at once rank as one +of the most delightful examples extant; for these very features, albeit +they are mostly of what we have come to accept as a debased form of art, +are nevertheless possessed of a grandeur and magnificence which in many +worthy examples are entirely lacking. The pair of western towers, of +Romanesque foundation, were developed, not in what one knows as Gothic, +but of the manifest and offensive pseudo-classic order. They are capped, +however, with something more akin to Moorish or an Eastern termination +than Italian. The spire which surmounts the central crossing is, without +question, a reminiscence of much that has been accepted as good Gothic +form in the great central-towered English churches. Up to a certain +point this can hardly be denied; but this rather weak, effeminate spire, +which forms such an unusual attribute of a French cathedral, more than +qualifies its right to a place in the first rank of spires. As for the +rest of the exterior, it is a _melange_ of nearly every known +architectural style. Undeniably fine in parts, like "the curate's egg," +if a time-worn simile may be permitted, it forms an ensemble which would +preclude its ever being accorded unqualified praise from even the most +liberal-minded and optimistic enthusiast. + +By far the most coherent view to be had near by is that from the gardens +of the Archbishop's Palace immediately to the rearward of the choir. +Here the clipped trees, the warm coloured wall, along which the vines +are trained, and what was once a canal, or moat, in the foreground, +combine to present a singularly artistic and pleasing composition. + +The north transept, of Bishop le Veneur, is of the superlative degree of +its era (early sixteenth century), bordering upon the profusion of +splayed ornament which so soon after turned to dross, but standing, as +it does, of itself, clearly defined. The gulf was finally crossed when, +less than a half-century later, the incongruous west front with its +ill-mannered towers was built,--in itself a subject worth a deal of +study from the artist who would picture graven stone, but contrasting +unfavourably enough with the heights to which French ecclesiastical +architecture had just previously soared. Here is offered the one unified +Renaissance facade of a French cathedral, welded, as it were, in +unworthy fashion, to a fabric with which it has nothing in common. The +stone-mason here superseded the craftsman; and, with the termination of +the reign of Francois I., and following with that of Henry II., came the +flowering rankness of a degenerate weed, leaving, as evidence of its +contaminating influence in this one example alone, traces of nearly +every classical order, from the simple Doric column to a hybrid which +shall be unnamed. + +The interior presents a general array of incongruities quite as +remarkable as those of the exterior. The nave is very narrow; but the +choir widens out perhaps a dozen feet on either side, adding +immeasurably to an effect which is far more impressive than might +otherwise be supposed. + +The nave itself shows many varieties of building, ranging from the +Gothic of the early twelfth to the late fifteenth centuries; the lower +part and the easterly bays are Romanesque, or what perhaps has been +popularly accepted as Norman, and date from 1125; the remainder and the +triforium are of a century later. + +The choir is of the decorated species of the early fourteenth century, +with its arcaded triforium glazed, whereas in the nave it is without +glass. The lady-chapel, of the time of Louis XI., shows that inevitable +mark of degeneracy, the "_fleur-de-lys_," in the elaborated tracery of +the window framing. The glass here is, however, excellent, in effect at +any rate, with its gorgeous figures of knights, angels, and peers of +France, drawn with a masterly skill which is often lacking in even more +precious glass. + +The chapel screens, some twenty in all, are wondrously turned and carved +of wood. This leads one to venture the thought that the similar +decorative embellishments of the Renaissance chateaux of the Loire +country were slowly creeping northward, and leaving their impress upon +the work of the ecclesiastical builder and decorator. Certainly, the +numerous fine examples of the art of the wood-carver, to be seen in this +cathedral, bespeak much for the decorative quality of wood, when used +considerately in conjunction with stone. + +There are two rose windows, of the petal species, unquestionably fine as +to framing, but leaving little space for the effect of the glass, which +they hold only in small proportion. + +The "treasury," alone, is enclosed with iron bars, and a _grille_ of +graceful late flowing ironwork forms the screen of the choir. Altogether +the Cathedral at Evreux will be remembered quite as much for its +wonderful array of wooden and iron _grilles_ as for any other of the +specific details among its mass of general attributes. + +[Illustration: _Window Framing--Evreux_] + + + + +[Illustration: _Notre Dame d'Alencon_] + +III + +NOTRE DAME D'ALENCON + + +This former capital of the duchy of the same name is a sleepy, +countrified French town, with little but its reputedly valuable and +beautiful lace to commend it to the average observer. + +As a cathedral town, of even secondary rank, it will fall far short of +any preconceived ideas which one may be possessed of concerning it, +though its Cathedral of Notre Dame is in many ways one of those +irresistible shrines, which at least promise, and often fulfil, a great +deal more than their lack of magnitude indicates. + +Its facade, lacking the conventional towers, advances well into the +roadway, as a sort of forward porch; as at Louviers near by. This porch +is very ornate, with decorations of the late Gothic period of flowing +tracery. + +After all, it is an incongruous sort of a building, in that only this +porch and its squat central tower, which is nought but a mere cupola, +are in the least decorative. + +The nave, the choir and chevet, and chapels, are all of a bareness which +only exaggerates the floridness of these other appendages. The nave +itself is but one hundred and ten feet long, and perhaps a scant thirty +wide, and dates from the fourteenth century. It contains good glass of +the same period, which luckily escaped the spoliation of the Revolution. + +The choir is more modern, and much plainer in treatment, and is but +fifty-five feet in length and of the same width as the nave. + +There are no transepts; in short, the chief and most interesting +features of the church are the before mentioned details, which, +unquestionably bordering upon the debasement of Gothic art, are in every +way attractive, with lightness and colour, if such an expression may be +applied to gray stone. + +Certainly the play of sunlight on gracefully carven stone is indicative +of a brilliancy which might be termed an effect of colour; and it is +with respect to that quality that the west facade of Notre Dame +d'Alencon appeals; more than as an otherwise grand or even highly +interesting structure. + + + + +[Illustration: _St. Pierre de Lisieux_] + +IV + +ST. PIERRE DE LISIEUX + + +Lisieux, the city of the Lexavii, taken by Caesar and besieged by +Geoffrey Plantagenet; its old houses; its crooked streets and +picturesque decay; with its former Cathedral of St. Pierre (M. H.), +memorable as the marriage place of Henry III. and Eleanor of Guienne; +all go to make up the formula of one of the stock sights of Normandy. + +It is scarcely an attractive town, in spite of its picturesque +sordidness, made the more so by the smoke arising from many belching +factory chimneys. In fact, one has difficulty in thinking of it as a +cathedral town at all; and, as such, it hardly claims more than a brief +resume of its important features. A much more interesting, impressive, +and commanding church is that of St. Jacques, which at least has the +stamp of a personality, which in the cathedral itself is entirely +wanting, so far as one's latent sympathies are concerned. In spite of +the purity of that which is Gothic in its fabric, it has little of that +quality which arouses admiration, and which, regardless of the edict of +a certain seer and prophet, is mostly that for which we revere a great +monument,--its power to sway us impressively. + +Mr. Ruskin has taken great pains to commend the southern portal as being +"one of the most quaint and pleasing doors in all Normandy,"--a +non-committal enough statement, most will admit, and one with which we +are not obliged to agree. A broader-minded observer would have said that +the main body of the church presents a unity of design, very unusual in +a mediaeval work,--excelled by no other example in France. The greater +part of the nave, choir, and transepts is the work of one epoch only; +and, as some writers have it, of one man, Bishop Odericus Vitalis, who +died shortly after its completion, in the latter part of the eleventh +century. As a style, it may be said to be either the last of the +transition or of the very earliest Gothic. Certainly this is something +in its favour; but the general charm of its immediate surroundings is +lacking, and the effect of its interior, with the diminutive windows of +the nave and clerestory, does not tend to satisfy, or even gratify, one +with the sense of pleasure which perhaps its more creditable features +deserve. These are not wholly wanting; for, of course, one must not +forget that doorway of Ruskin's nor the quite idyllic proportions of the +nave with its uniform massive pillars. + +The lady-chapel was founded in the fifteenth century by the rascally +Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais, who, with his brother, prelate of +Winchester, so gleefully burned Joan of Arc. This much he did in +expiation of "_his false judgment_," though, except as a memorial of his +significant remorse, the chapel itself would hardly be remarkable. The +clerestory of nave and choir is considerably later. The transepts vary +as to their windows, and the triforium arches are here at a different +level from those in the nave. + +The general exterior view of the cathedral is hardly satisfactory from +any point. On three sides it is almost entirely hemmed in by surrounding +structures, and the frontage, on the great open Place Thiers, is the +first and the last opportunity of an unobstructed view. As the Abbe +Bourasse wrote of the Cathedral at Arras, it is best seen from a +distance, about that, we should say, from which the accompanying drawing +was made. The gardens of the Sous-Prefecture, formerly the Bishop's +Palace, should form in a way a cool green setting for the church; but, +as a matter of fact, they do nothing of the sort, since the enormous +mass of a none too good Renaissance facade extends along quite +two-thirds of the length of the cathedral on the north, and blankets it +thoroughly, scarcely more than the rather stubby tower of the west front +being visible above the roof of the other structure. + +Lisieux apparently never ranked as an important see, but depended for +the prominence which it attained previous to the Revolution, when the +see was abolished, on its association with Rouen, to which it was +attached. The neighbouring Cathedrals of Seez, Bayeux, and Coutances far +outrank St. Pierre de Lisieux in size, beauty, and importance. + + + + +[Illustration: NOTRE DAME _de SEEZ_ ...] + +V + +NOTRE DAME DE SEEZ + + +The ancient Civitas Sagiorum of the Romans is now a bishopric, suffragan +of Rouen. This ancient Gallic stronghold, which fared hardly in the +Anglo-Norman wars, presents to-day the impression of being a town +somewhat smaller than the usual small town of France. It also has this +advantage,--it is comparatively unknown to tourists, and likewise to +some map-makers; all of which is decidedly in its favour. Seldom is Seez +included in the itinerary of the tourist, even though it is situated in +the heart of the "popular province." + +Except for the fact that its charming cathedral is not of the generous +proportions first impressed upon one, it is difficult to realize that +such a noble architectural memorial should so often be overlooked and +apparently neglected by those who might find a great deal of pleasure, +and incidental profit, from a contemplation thereof. + +As a town of celebrated history, Seez is of far more relative rank than +its cathedral, which, in spite of its many beauties and charm of detail, +has suffered perhaps more than any other in France, and yet kept a +fairly pure early Gothic style; referring to the many additions and +repairs made necessary by crumbling walls and sinking foundations. + +The worst that has arisen from this unhappy state of affairs is, not +that there has been any serious admixture of style, but rather that one +gross interpolation has been foisted upon an otherwise symmetrical +whole,--the enormous advancing buttresses which flank the portal of the +western facade; an addition of the fourteenth century, neither graceful +nor decorative, and only made necessary by a tottering wall. A pity it +is that some other equally effective method was not adopted. + +The cathedral is, in a way, a satisfying representation of the cathedral +of our imagination. From a distance, at least, and in comparison with +the low-lying structures round about, it certainly appears as of great +proportions, uniform and complete in itself. Immediate contact with it +somewhat dispels these charms. + +All things considered, one finds here, in this idyllic, countrified +setting, a very attractive and fairly consistent Mediaeval Gothic church +of the epoch contemporary with that of the best work of the northern +builders, showing unmistakable evidence of having been laid down on good +lines, and after a good design, in spite of the structural defects of +its foundations. From any direction it may be viewed across a quarter of +a mile of ploughed fields. The great national highroad, from the Channel +to Bordeaux, passes straight as a die through the town, and the +cross-country line of the _Chemin de-Fer de Ouest_ ambles slowly +northward or southward; with little occurring to break the quietude of +local ease. The native is for the most part engaged in garnering from +his truck farm, or in carrying its product to the railway, to be +transported to market, and pays little attention to the stray traveller +who occasionally wanders in to study the architectural offering of the +town. + +A completed church was here in 1050, having been erected by a monk, Azon +by name. This was burned to the ground in an attempt to drive out a +robber band which had taken shelter therein. Leo IX. engaged Yves, Count +of Bellene and the Bishop of Alencon, to rebuild it, and restore its +former splendour. This was in the twelfth century, but, later, owing to +the insecure foundations, it was pulled down and rebuilt again. Now +nothing remains of the former twelfth and thirteenth century work but +the lady-chapel of the choir. + +The interior of the nave is, at present, entirely filled with +scaffolding, which looks as though it might not be removed for years. As +a restorative policy this is commendable and was necessary, but it +detracts from one's intimate acquaintance with details. About the only +lasting impression of the nave that can now be obtained is that its +proportions are superb, and that its cylindrical pillars, with their +foliaged capitals, would be notable anywhere. + +In general effect the choir is charming, having gone through the +restorative process and apparently suffered little thereby. It presents +the unusual basilica form of setting the altar forward on a platform +raised a few steps. + +The transepts are of quite idyllic proportions, each possessing an ample +rose window which makes up in design and framing what it may lack in the +quality of glass with which it is set. These transepts, too, have +undergone the usual restoration, and have come safely through with +little sad effect. It is to be hoped that these continued restorations +will be carried out with the same good taste, and in a like consistent +manner. If so, there will be presented for the delectation of +generations of the near future one of the most pleasing of the smaller +cathedrals in all France. The triforium of the choir, and of the nave so +far as it can be observed through the obstructing scaffolding, is +singularly light and graceful, and the window framing throughout, though +entirely lacking notable glass, is of manifest good design. + +In fine, then, the general effect of the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Seez +is one of lightness and grace, and it may be considered as an +extraordinarily fine architectural monument, in spite of the anomalies +of its west front. + +The twin spires rise gracefully for perhaps two hundred and fifty feet, +and are after the best manner of the great Gothic builders; of true +proportions, and of the dwindling pyramidal form so much approved. + +The facade, between the towers and the extraordinary buttresses, is +completely filled with an ample Gothic portal, which, though entirely +destitute of sculpture, or indeed carving of any sort, offers a +significant opportunity for some future efforts in this direction. + + + + +[Illustration: _CATHEDRAL of NOTRE DAME BAYEUX_] + +VI + +NOTRE DAME DE BAYEUX + + +The magnificently impressive Cathedral of Notre Dame is perhaps less +intimately associated with Bayeux in the average mind than is the +wonderful story-telling tapestry which is domiciled in the same city. As +for this treasure of the past, it is a subject so vast, and of such +great significance, in both history and art, that it has many times been +made the subject of weighty consideration. A well-known English amateur, +the Honourable E. J. Lowell, has stated that popular tradition has +credited it as the handiwork of Matilda, Queen of William the +Conqueror, who worked it to commemorate his glorious achievements. If +this be really so, the queen was probably assisted largely by the ladies +of her court, as the extensive work, measuring some hundred and sixty +odd feet, could hardly have been accomplished single-handed. Professor +Freeman assigns it to a similar period, but worked, as he thinks, by +English workmen, for Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, the Conqueror's +half-brother. + +A previous acquaintance with the great cathedrals of the Isle of France +will tend somewhat to nullify the effect which is produced by Notre Dame +de Bayeux, although, in point of size and general arrangements, at +least, it fulfils its functions perhaps more acceptably than many a more +renowned edifice. Its situation, on the side of a steep slope, produces +a curious effect, first, with respect to the choir chevet, which is thus +shown as rather gaunt and bare in its lower elongated stages, though +undeniably a fine work in itself; secondly, in the general interior view +where, from the western entrance, one comes upon the nave pavement a +dozen or more steps below the portal, and again meets with the same +effect further on at the transept crossing. There would appear to have +been no other way but this of placing above ground what might otherwise +have been the crypt; adding immeasurably to the fine appearance of the +interior, the nave and choir appearing to lengthen out interminably by +reason of the western elevation from which they are viewed. + +A portion of the western towers, and the crypt which is beneath the +choir, are thought to date from as early as the eleventh century, having +been built by Odo, the half-brother of William the Norman. The +splendidly proportioned Norman nave, with its decorated spandrels and +archivolts, a worthy decorative embellishment developed before the days +of coloured glass, possesses that bright and fresh appearance which is +usually associated with a recent work, whereas, as a matter of fact, it +can hardly be, in its five circular arches at least, later than the late +eleventh or early twelfth century. If it were true that modern +restorative processes commonly disfigured no more than this, it is a +pity that the dust and cobwebs, and a little of the grime of ages, were +not more often removed. Here is the very excess of dog-tooth, arabesque, +and grotesque carving, never found in connection with a building which +is constructively decorative. Here also is an ornate frieze of no great +depth and possessing none of the beauties of the two other distinct +elements. As there is no triforium in the nave proper, this decoration +is, of course, intended merely as a relief to a bareness which, on +account of the generous height, would otherwise exist. + +In the choir, the triforium, which is omitted in the nave, springs into +being in beautiful and ornate form. The lower arches, with the supports, +the attributed work of an English architect, are of the usual Gothic +form, in contra-distinction to the rounded heads of those of the nave. +The clerestory, though delicate and graceful, is somewhat curtailed from +the dimensions of that of the west end of the church. + +The transepts are unusually bright and cheerful, with a series of +windows more beautifully designed than those of either the choir or +nave. The choir stalls are of oak, carved in the best manner of the +Renaissance. + +The charming tower group of this cathedral is as effective, perhaps, as +any among all the northern churches. The central belfry, albeit of a +base, though pretentious, rococo design, follows no accepted style, but +adds imposingly to the general outline. (Its height is over three +hundred feet.) In this tower, as in the window tracery, the +_fleur-de-lys_, always a sign of the decadent in Gothic style, is to be +seen. The western towers, with their spires, follow the truest pyramidal +form, and, though carrying both pointed and round-arched openings, are +in every way representative of the best work of their period. The +northwesterly tower has an elongated turret, extending from the lower +ranges, which, when seen from a distance over the roof of the nave, +appears as a protuberance not unlike a dove-cote. This contains the +spiral staircase up which visitors are earnestly implored, by the +caretaker, to wend their way and participate in the view from the +heights above. This view, though undeniably wider in range than are most +elevated view-points, is hardly of interest to one who seeks the +beauties of the structure itself. There are three porches on the west +facade, all fairly well filled with foliaged ornament and bas-reliefs. +They are of the thirteenth century, and of a thoroughly florid order. + +Included in the "_tresor_" are two gifts from St. Louis, the chasuble of +St. Regnobert, and an ivory and enamel casket. + + + + +[Illustration: _CATHEDRAL of NOTRE DAME SAINT LO_] + +VII + +NOTRE DAME DE ST. LO + + +This picturesquely situated city of the Cotentin, St. Lo, is so named +from the Bishop St. Laud, who lived in the neighbourhood in the sixth +century. Later, it became a Huguenot stronghold, and was ably, though +unsuccessfully, defended by Colombiers. It forms, with its former +Cathedral of Notre Dame crowning its height, another of those ensembles +which will always linger in the memory of the traveller who first comes +upon it clad in spring and summer verdure. The rippling Vire at its very +feet gives at once the note; it not only binds and enwraps it like the +setting of a precious stone, but adds that one feature which, lacking, +would be a chord misplaced. Perhaps no other cathedral in all France, +with regard to its bijou setting, certainly no other so accessible to +the English tourist, has more dainty charm than this not very grand, but +graceful, church at St. Lo. Its towers, though not uniform as to size, +are of apparently the same gradual proportions, and, if not the most +impressive, are at least the most beautiful in Normandy. They rise high +above the wooded crest which encircles their base in true picture-book +fashion. The attraction of the river, here, is unusual, in that it +presents no accustomed "slummy" picturesqueness, but winds slowly, amid +its green, to the very base of the cliff which upholds the chief portion +of the town and its cathedral. + +The facade presents a _melange_ of the work of at least three epochs, a +not unusual feature in some of the smaller cathedrals. It has a mean +little house built into its northwest corner, a crude and ugly +clock-face stuck unmeaningly on its facade, and a general air of +dilapidation, with respect to the statues originally contained in its +archivolts and niches, which, to say the least, is not creditable to +those who have been responsible for its care. It would seem that so +lively and important a centre of local activity might have devoted a +little more thought and care to the maintenance of this charming +building. + +Built up from a foundation of which but little, if any portion, visibly +remains, Notre Dame shows a debasement of design and decoration of its +facade which is not only not admirable, but is, in addition, sadly +disfigured. The one detail, for the most part good in style, is a not +unduly florid arcade, which plainly indicates its superiority over the +rest of the building. + +On the north side is an open-air pulpit of stone overhung with a canopy, +a highly interesting detail, though, of course, not a unique one. Unable +to command admiration as an absolute novelty, it is assuredly a charming +feature, and is delicately and profusely sculptured. It suggests much in +conjunction with the busy life of the rather squalid neighbouring +market-place, whose only picturesque attribute is when it is crowded +with the gaiety of a market or a fete day. By far the most compelling +interest in the building, after an inspection of its interior, is the +view to be had from a distance. + +The nave is late Gothic, and widens out in curious fashion toward the +east; otherwise the interior arrangements are not remarkable. One +bulbous chapel on the south side supplants the usual transept. + +There is no triforium either in choir or nave, the lighting principally +being effected by the large windows of the aisles. + +It is pertinent to recall here that one of Charlemagne's own foundations +of the ninth century, destroyed by the barbarians, was situated near by, +the famous Abbey of St. Croix. + + + + +[Illustration: _Notre Dame de Coutances_] + +VIII + +NOTRE DAME DE COUTANCES + + +Like many another town of western Normandy, like Falise, Domfront, St. +Lo, Granville, Avranches, and Mont St. Michel itself, Coutances rises +high above the surrounding plain and stands dominant in the landscape +for miles on either hand. Of perhaps more magnitude, as to area, than +any of the other examples, the city has the added attribute of three +towered ecclesiastical edifices, which rise nobly in varying stages far +over the neighbouring roof-tops of the town itself and the tree-clad +slopes which embank it. + +The oldest of the Norman Gothic cathedrals, and that which partakes the +most of local character, is Notre Dame de Coutances. Certain French +archaeologists have said that the main body of the church is actually +that of the eleventh century. It is more likely, however, that none of +the building at present in view is earlier than the thirteenth century, +the epoch during which contemporaneous Gothic first grew to its +maturity. In any event, such building and construction was going on from +1208 to 1233 as would indicate that it was the entire present edifice +which was being planned at that time. In this case it is quite possible +that the rebuilding was going on slowly, foot by foot, in a manner which +not only encompassed and absorbed the older building, but in reality +eradicated every vestige of it. Says a French writer of enthusiasm, "The +Cathedral of Coutances, as it now stands, is one of the most noble and +grand religious edifices in France, with all the qualities of a monument +of the first order, of perfect dimension, beauty of plan, unity of +workmanship, and distinction of form." Any one of these attributes, were +it literally so, might well turn a commonplace structure into an +unapproachable masterpiece. In a measure, all of his eulogy is quite +true, and the pity is that more do not know of its fascination and +charm. + +The facade of the Cathedral of Notre Dame is of the indigenous +Norman-Gothic type. The fine towers, in addition to combining the +symmetrical elements of Gothic, have, each, as well, a flanking +towerlet, attached to their outer sides, enclosing a spiral stairway. +These extend to quite the full height of the tower proper; and, though +by no means a wholly attractive feature, are not as offensive as might +at first be supposed. It is doubtful, in fact, if the general strength +and impressiveness of the entire structure would not be impaired were +the arrangements otherwise. + +The present ogival structure is built on the remains of a Romanesque +church erected by a famous Bishop of Coutances, Geoffroy de Montbray, +with funds supplied by Guillaume Bras-de-Fer, Odon, Roger, Onfroy, and +Robert, sons of Tancrede-de-Hauteville, the Norman conquerors of Sicily +and Calabria, whose names have been given fabled prominence in more than +one epic poem. The early structure was consecrated in 1056, in the +presence of William, then Duke of Normandy, a few years before he became +the Conqueror. Supposedly none of this former church remains; in fact, +what fragments, if any, exist, are doubtless covered in the present +foundations. + +Mainly, the present structure is thirteenth-century work, with a +lady-chapel of the fourteenth century. + +An unusual, and exceedingly beautiful, effect is given by the Gothic +window mullions, between the chapels, in reality a series of +geometrical window-frames, without glass. No florid ornament either +inside or out is to be found to offend against accepted ideals. In +short, "the whole is of a piece complete." The parapets of triforium and +clerestory, with foliaged carvings, are about the only ornate +decorations to be seen. + +The central tower, of great proportions, but incomplete as to the +addition of a spire, is a marvel of strength and power. Its interior, +elaborately decorated, forms a lantern at the crossing. Here, as at +Bayeux, the choir is raised a few steps above its aisles, giving a +certain impressiveness beyond what might otherwise exist. + +The interior, generally, is admirable. Clustered columns, as they are +commonly called,--in reality they are clustered pillars, if word +derivations are to be considered,--separate both nave and choir from the +aisles; and, in case of the choir, a series of elongated circular +pillars are coupled, one behind the other, an unquestionably unique +arrangement. + +The transepts are practically non-existent, as the widening does not +extend beyond the extent of the nave chapels. This leaves the +ground-plan, at least, a mere parallelogram with a rounded eastern end. + +Notre Dame de Coutances is one of the few really great Gothic churches +not possessing an example of those French masterworks, the rose window. + +Again referring to the fine tower group, it is probably true that, were +the huge central tower properly spired, the ensemble would rival Laon in +regard to its impressive situation and elaborate pinnacles. + +St. Pierre, of the fifteenth century, and St. Nicolas, of the +fourteenth, complete the trinity of fine churches which Coutances +possesses. The latter contains the unusual arrangement in a Continental +church of pews in place of chairs, although formerly, it is said, this +feature was not uncommon in Normandy. + +The somewhat considerable remains of a Roman acqueduct, near by, are +sufficiently remarkable to warrant passing consideration, even by the +"mere lover of churches." + +[Illustration] + + + + + +IX + +ST. PIERRE D'AVRANCHES + + +There is little to recount concerning the See of Avranches. Its +bishopric and its cathedral were alike destroyed during the parlous +times of the bickerings and ravages of Royalists and Republicans of the +Revolutionary period. All that remains to-day is a trifling heap of +stones which would hardly fill a row-boat,--a fragment of a shaft on +which is a tablet reading: + + "ON THIS STONE, + HERE AT THE DOOR OF THE CATHEDRAL OF AVRANCHES, + AFTER THE MURDER OF THOMAS A BECKET, + ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, + HENRY II., + KING OF ENGLAND AND DUKE OF NORMANDY, + RECEIVED ON HIS KNEES, + FROM THE LEGATES OF THE POPE, + THE APOSTOLIC ABSOLUTION, + ON SUNDAY, 22D MAY 1172." + +At its feet is another slab, the aforementioned door-step, on which, +before the papal legate, the remorseful monarch did penance before his +later expiation at Canterbury. + +A little farther on is a small heap consisting of shafts and capitals of +columns, a stone sarcophagus and a brass plate stating that they are the +"Derniers restes de la cathedrale d'Avranches; commencee vers 1090 et +consacree par l'eveque Turgis en 1121." The nave having fallen in, the +rest of the edifice had to be taken down in 1799. + +Because of its picturesque environment and situation, Avranches is +perhaps a more than ordinarily attractive setting for a shrine, and it +is well worthy of the attention of the passing traveller, in spite of +its ancient cathedral being now but a heap of stones. Apart from this +it is of little interest, and hence, to most, it will probably remain, +in the words of a French traveller, a mere "silhouette in the distance." + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration: _CATHEDRAL of S. SAMSON DOL_] + +X + +ST. SAMSON, DOL-DE-BRETAGNE + + +The one-time Cathedral of St. Samson, at Dol, is, says an unusually +expressive Frenchman, "a grand, noble, and severe church, now widowed of +its bishops. Its aspect is desolate and abandoned, as if it were but a +ruin _en face sur la grande place_, of itself, but a mere desert of +scrub." This is certainly a vivid and forceful description of even a +wholly unprepossessing shrine. This St. Samson is not, and due allowance +should be made for verbal modelling which, in many cases, is but the +mere expression of a mood _pro tempo_. There is, however, somewhat of +truth in the description. About the granite walls there is a grimness +and gauntness of decay; of changed plans and projects; of devastation; +of restoration; and, finally, of what is, apparently, submission to the +inevitableness of time. + +The enormous northwesterly tower is stopped suddenly, with the daylight +creeping through its very framework. Its facade is certainly bare of +ornament, and gives a thorough illustration of paucity of design as well +as of detail. There is, indeed, nothing in the west facade to compel +admiration, and yet there is a fascination about it that to some will be +irresistible. + +A sixteenth-century porch, of suggested Burgundian style, forms the main +entrance to the church, and is situated midway along the south side. +Almost directly opposite, on the north, is the curiously contrasting +feature of a crenelated battlement, a reminder of the time when the +church was doubtless a temporal as well as a spiritual stronghold. + +The interior, as the exterior, is gloomy and melancholy. One has only to +contemplate the collection of ludicrously slender clustered columns of +the nave, bound together with markedly visible iron strands, to realize +the real weakness of the means by which the fabric has been kept alive. + +The nave itself is of true proportions, and, regardless of the severity +of its lines, and the ludicrous pillars, is undeniably fine in effect. + +A curiously squared choir-end, but with the small apsed lady-chapel +extending beyond, is another of those curious details which stand out in +a way to be remarked in a French church. In this squared end, and above +the arch made by the pillars of the choir aisle, is a large pointed +window filled with ancient glass which must have been inserted soon +after the church was reconstructed after the fire in the twelfth +century. + +The general effect of the nave and aisles is one of extreme narrowness, +which perhaps is not so much really the case when actual measurements +are taken. + +In general, the church is supposed by many to resemble the distinct type +of Gothic as it is known across the Channel; and, admitting for the +nonce that possibly many of the Brittany structures were the work of +English builders, this church, in the absence of any records as to who +were its architects, may well be counted as of that number. + +The stalls of the choir are of delicately carved wood, before which is +placed a monumental bishop's throne, with elaborate armorial +embellishments. A Renaissance tomb of the sixteenth century, by a pupil +of Michel Colomb, now much injured in its sculptured details of angels +and allegorical figures, is locally considered the "show-piece" of the +church. + + + + +[Illustration: _S. MALO & S. SERVAN_] + +[Illustration: _TREGUIER_] + +XI + +ST. MALO AND ST. SERVAN + + +Welshmen throughout the world rejoice that it was one of their +countrymen, a monk of the sixth century, who gave his name as founder to +the "walled city of St. Malo by the sea." With its outlying and +contiguous towns of St. Servan, Dinan, and Parame, St. Malo is a +paradise for the mere lover of pleasure resorts. Further, with respect +to the first three places mentioned, there is present not a little of +the romance and history of the past, reflected as it were in a modern +mirror. Not but that the old town of St. Malo, within the walls, is +ancient and picturesque enough, and dirty, too, if one be speciously +critical; but the fact is that the modern Pont Roulant, and the omnific +toot of the steam-tram, ever present in one's sight and hearing, are +forcible reminders of the march of time. + +St. Servan, so far as its cathedral is concerned, may be dismissed in a +word. The ancient see of St. Pierre d'Aleth had, at one time, its +dignity vested in a bishop who enthroned himself in a cathedral, the +remains of which exist to-day only as a fragment built into the +fortifications. The bishopric was removed in 1142 to St. Malo. + +With St. Malo a difference exists. Its cathedral, now degenerated to a +parish church, is a Gothic work mainly of the fifteenth century, and, +regardless of its unimposing qualities, is one of those fascinating old +buildings which, in its environment and surroundings, appeals perhaps +more largely to us as a component of a whole than as a feature to be +admired by itself. The church, safely sheltered from the ravage of gale +and storm, sits amid narrow winding streets, whose buildings are so +compressed as to rise to heights unusual in the smaller Continental +towns. + +The edifice is mainly of the fifteenth century, but has been variously +renovated and restored. Gothic, Renaissance, and the transition between +the two are plainly discernible throughout. Perhaps the best art to be +noted is that found in the interior of the choir, with its fine +triforium and clerestory windows above. Here, again, is to be observed +the squared east end of the English contemporary church, a further +reminder, if it be needed, of the influences which were bound to be more +or less exchanged with regard to the arts and customs of the time, on +both shores of _La Manche_. + +A few features of passing interest are here, an ivory crucifix, a few +tombs, and some indifferent paintings. + +The spire is modern, but gives a suggestion, at least, in viewing the +city from a distance, of something of what a mediaeval walled seaport, +with its population huddled close beneath the shadow of the church, and +within the city walls, must have been like. The best example of this +which ever existed in mediaeval France, and which exists to-day in a more +than ordinary remarkable state of preservation, is the famous Mount St. +Michel, a few miles only to the eastward, and famed of all, historian, +ecclesiast, artist, and mere pleasure-seeker, alike. Most writers are +pleased to refer to the confiding attitude of mine host, who conducts +the principal hostelry on the Mount, and who guilelessly asks the wary +traveller (ofttimes they _are_ wary) what he has partaken of during his +stay, and makes up the account accordingly. This is, perhaps, not the +least of attributive charms, though it should be a minor one where this +wonderful and real Mount, which takes its name from legendary St. +Michel, is concerned. Indeed, leaving the cathedrals at Rouen, Chartres, +and Le Mans out of the question, it is doubtful if the Abbey of Mont St. +Michel is not the chief remaining architectural glory of the middle +ages, west of Paris. + +It is but a short distance from St. Malo to St. Servan, but what a +difference! It is called by the French themselves the daughter of St. +Malo,--the "faubourg grown into a city." + +Rabida's "Bretagne" states that there are "nombreux des Anglais a St. +Servan, des jeunes gens vivant dans les pensions brittaniques--des +familles venant l'ete faire en Bretagne une cure d'economies pour +l'hiver." Continuing, this discerning author says: "Bathers, bicyclists, +golfists, promenaders, and excursionists abound." Better then let them +hold forth here to their hearts' content; there is little that the lover +of churches will gain from what remains to-day of the town's former +Cathedral of St. Pierre. + + + + +XII + +TREGUIER + + +This old cathedral city, at the junction of two small streamlets, a +short distance from the sea, lies perhaps a dozen miles away from the +nearest railway. With St. Pol de Leon and St. Brieuc it is, in local +characteristics and customs alike, a something apart from any other +community in northern France. The Bretons are commonly accredited as +being a most devout race, and certainly devotion could take no more +marked turn than the many evidences here to be seen in this "land of +Calvaries." St. Brieuc is a bishopric, suffragan of Rennes, whose +cathedral is a hideous modern structure of the early nineteenth century +quite unworthy as a shrine; but Treguier's power waned with the +Revolution. Its fourteenth-century church, however, is sufficiently +remarkable by reason of its situation and surroundings, none the less +than in its fabric, to warrant a deviation from well-worn roads in +order to visit it. Chiefly of a late period, it possesses in the Tour de +Hasting, named after the Danish pirate (though why seems obscure), which +enfolds the north transept, a work of the best eleventh-century class. +This should place the church, at once, within the scope of the +designation of a "transition" type. In this tower the windows and +pilasters are of the characteristic round variety of the period. The +south porch is the most highly developed feature as to Mediaeval style, +but the attraction lies mainly in its ensembled massiveness, with its +two sturdy towers and a ridiculously spired south _clocher_. Beyond a +certain grimness of fabric the church fails, not a little, to impress +one with even simple grandeur, even when one takes into consideration +the charms of its florid but firmly designed cloister, which, with the +church itself, is classed by the _Departement des Beaux Arts_ as one of +the twenty-three hundred "_Monumentes Historiques_." Nevertheless, the +building proves more than ordinarily gratifying, though by no stretch of +the imagination could it be classed as grand. + +Loftiness and grandeur are equally lacking in the interior, and there is +great variation of style with respect to the pillars of nave and choir. +This is also the case with the windows, which play the gamut from the +severe round-headed Romanesque to the latest flamboyant development, a +feature which not only disregards most conventions, but, as every one +will admit, most flagrantly offends, with sad results, against the +general constructive elements. A plain triforium, in the nave, blossoms +out, in the south transept and choir, in no hesitating manner, into +exceeding richness. The choir has an apsidal termination and contains +carved wooden stalls which are classed as work of the mid-seventeenth +century, though appearing much more time-worn. + +The really popular attribute of the church lies in the reconstructed +monument to St. Yves, the patron saint of advocates, and commonly +considered the most popular in all the Brittany calendar. + +Born near Treguier in 1253, St. Yves' "unheard-of probity and +consideration for the sick and the poor" gained such general respect +that, with his death on the nineteenth of May, 1303, there was +inaugurated a great feast which to-day is yearly celebrated, and all +grieving against a real or fancied wrong have recourse promptly to the +supposedly just favour of this universal patron of the law. + + + + +[Illustration: S. BRIEUC] + +XIII + +ST. BRIEUC + + +Unlike many of the smaller towns which contain cathedral churches, St. +Brieuc is a present day bishopric; hence the Cathedral takes on, +perhaps, more significance than it would, were it but an example of a +Mediaeval church. + +In reality it is not a very wonderful structure, and the guide-books +will tell one practically nothing about it. The town itself is a dull +place, a tidal port, at some little distance from the sea, which flushes +in upon it twice during the round of the clock. + +A monastery was founded here in the fifth century by St. Brieuc, from +whom the town itself and the present cathedral take their name. He was a +Celtic monk from Wales, who, upon being expelled from his native land, +located his establishment here, on the site of a former Gallo-Roman +town. The patronal feast of St. Brieuc is held each year on the first of +May and is a curious survival of a mediaeval custom. + +Some remains of an early church are built into the choir walls, but in +the main this not very grand edifice is of the thirteenth and fourteenth +centuries. + +The tower, with its loopholes, would supposedly indicate that the church +was likewise intended as somewhat of a fortification. The apse is +rounded in the usual form, and on either side extend transepts to the +width of two bays. + +Within, the Cathedral is more attractive than without. The elements of +construction and embellishment, while perhaps not ranking with those of +the really great churches, are sufficiently vivid and lively to indicate +that the work was consciously and enthusiastically undertaken. The +lady-chapel is of the thirteenth century, and the transept rose is of +the fifteenth, as is also the Chapel of St. Guillaume, named for the +monk of Dijon who built so many of the monasteries throughout Brittany +and who, it is to be presumed, planned or built the original structure, +the remains of which are found in the present choir. + +The windows throughout are either of not very good modern glass, or of +plain leaded lights, which, in the majority of cases, may be considered +as no less an attraction. An elaborate rose is in the western gable. + +There are, in the church, various monuments and tombs to former +bishops. + + + + +XIV + +ST. POL DE LEON + + +In the midst of that land which furnishes the south of England with most +of its cauliflowers, artichokes, onions, and asparagus, truly off the +beaten track, in that it is actually off the line of railway, is the +strange and melancholy city of St. Pol de Leon, its _clochers_ +dominating, by day at least, both land and sea. It contains the famous +"Kreisker," a name which sounds as though it were Dutch or North German, +which it probably is along with other place names on the near-by coast, +such as Grouin, St. Vaast, Roscoff, and La Hougue. + +The tower and spire of this wonderful "Kreisker" rise boldly, from the +transept crossing, in remarkable fashion, and as a marvel of +construction may be said to far outrank the cathedral structure itself. +"Curious and clever" well describes it. As for the former cathedral over +which the Kreisker throws its shadow, it is one of those majestic +twin-towered structures not usually associated with what, when compared +with the larger French towns, must perforce rank as a mere village. + +There is much to be said in favour of these little-known near-by places, +namely, that the charm of their attractions amply repays one for any +special labour involved in getting to them, with the additional +advantage, regardless of the fact that a stranger appears somewhat to +the native as a curiosity, that they are "good value for the money +paid." Perhaps the cheapest Continental tour, of say three weeks, that +could be taken, amid a constantly changing environment, if one so +choose, would comprehend this land of Calvaries. + +The two cathedral towers of early Gothic flank a generous porch. There +is good glass throughout the church, the circular "rose" of the transept +being a magnificent composition in a granite framing. The nave is of +thirteenth-century Gothic, from the south aisle of which projects a +large chapel dedicated to St. Michael. The double-aisled choir is +garnished with sculptured stalls of the fifteenth century, and, +separated from its aisles by a stone screen, is of much larger +proportions than the nave, and likewise of a later epoch of building. +The apse is flamboyant, as are also the windows of the south transept. +In the chapels are various vaults and tombs, remarkably well preserved, +but of no special moment. In one of these chapels, however, is a curious +painting in the vaulting, representing a "Trinity" possessing three +faces, disposed in the form of a trefoil with three eyes only. A ribbon +or "_banderalle_" bears an inscription in Gothic characters; in the +Breton tongue, "_Ma Donez_" (Mon Dieu). + + + + +XV + +ST. CORENTIN DE QUIMPER + + +"C'est Quimper, ce melange du passe et du present." A true enough +description of most mediaeval cities when viewed to-day; but with no +centre of habitation is it more true than of this city by the +sea,--though in reality it is not by the sea, but rather of it, with a +port always calm and tranquil. It takes rank with Brest as the western +outpost of modern France. + +For centuries unconquered, and possessing an individuality of its very +own, this now important prefecture has much to remind us of its past. +History, archaeology, and "mere antiquarian lore" abound, and, in its +grandiose Cathedral of St. Corentin, one finds a large subject for his +appreciative consideration. + +[Illustration: ST. CORENTIN _de QUIMPER_ ...] + +It is of the robust and matured type that familiarity has come to regard +as representative of a bishopric; nothing is impoverished or +curtailed. Its fine towers with modern spires, erected from the proceeds +of a "butter tax," are broad of base and delicately and truly +proportioned. Its ground-plan is equally worthy, though the choir is not +truly orientated. Its general detail and ensemble, one part with +another, is all that fancy has told us a great church should contain, +and one can but be prepared to appreciate it when it is endorsed, and +commented on, by such ardent admirers as De Caumont, Viollet-le-Duc, +Corroyer, and Gonse, those four accomplished Frenchmen, who probably +knew more concerning Mediaeval (Gothic) architecture than all the rest of +the world put together. + +From the thirteenth to the fifteenth century there grew up here a work +embracing the ogival and the flamboyant, neither in an undue proportion, +but as well as in any other single structure known. This well shows the +rise, development, and apogee of the style which we commonly call +Gothic, but which the French prefer to call "ogival," and which should +really, if one is to fairly apportion credit where it is due, be best +known as French Mediaeval architecture. + +Its west facade, with its generous lines, is strongly original. The two +towers, pierced with enormously heightened lancets, are indubitably +graceful and impressive, while a flanking pair of flying buttresses, +with their intermediate piers, form an unusual arrangement in the west +front of a French cathedral. + +Above the western gable is a curiously graven effigy of King Grollo in +stone. + +Considered as a whole, the exterior is representative of the best +contemporary features of the time, but contains few if any which are so +distinctly born of its environment as to be otherwise notable. + +The interior vies with the outer portion of the fabric in the general +effect of majesty and good design. The triforium is remarkably beautiful +and is overtopped by a range of clerestory windows which to an +appreciable extent contain good early glass. The easterly end is the +usual semicircular apse. + +Among the relics of the Cathedral is a crucifix which is supposed to +emit drops of blood when one perjures himself before it. It is, perhaps, +significant that the people of Finistere, the department which claims +Quimper as its capital, have the repute of being honest folk. + +The Bishops of Quimper were, by virtue of the gift of _le roi Grodlon le +Grave_, the only seigneurs of the city during the middle ages. + + + + +XVI + +VANNES + + +Vannes was the ancient capital of the Celtic tribe of the Veneti, its +inhabitants being put to rout by Caesar in 57 B. C. Afterward it became +the Roman town of Duriorigum, and later reverted back to a corruption of +its former name. Christianity having made some progress, a council was +held, and a bishop appointed to the city, and from that time onward its +position in the Christian world appears to have been assured. For +centuries afterward, however, it was the centre of a maelstrom of +internal strife, in which Armoricans, Britons, Franks, and Romans appear +to have been inextricably involved. Then came the Northmen, who burned +the former Cathedral of St. Peter. This was rebuilt in the eleventh +century, and in no small measure forms the foundation of the present +structure, which to-day is the seat of a bishop, suffragan of Rennes. + +From this early architectural foundation, to the most florid and +flamboyant of late Gothic, is pretty much the whole range of Mediaeval +architectural style. By no means has a grand or even fine structure +resulted. The old choir, suffering from the stress of time, was pulled +down and rebuilt as late as 1770. Thus, this usually excellently +appointed and constructed detail is here of no worthy rank whatever. The +nave and transepts were completed within the hundred years following +1452, and show the last flights of Gothic toward the heights from which +it afterward fell. Transformation and restoration have frequently been +undertaken, with the result that nowhere is to be seen perhaps greater +inconsistencies. The latest of these examples of a perverted industry is +seen in the nineteenth-century additions to the tower and the west +facade. The result is not, be it said, to the credit of its projectors. + + +THE END. + + + + +_Appendices_ + + + + +I + +_The Architectural Divisions of France_ + + +It is quite possible to construct an ethnographic map of a country from +its architectural remains,--but there must always be diverse and varying +opinions as to the delimitation of one school, as compared with another +lying contiguous thereto. + +One may wander from province to province, and continually find +reminders, of another manner of building, from that which is recognized +as the characteristic local species. This could hardly be otherwise. In +the past, as in the present, imitators were not few, and if the adoption +of new, or foreign, ideas was then less rapid, it was no less sure. +Still, in the main, there is a cohesiveness and limitation of +architectural style in France; which, as is but natural to suppose, is +in no way more clearly defined than by the churches which were built +during the middle ages, the earliest types retaining the influence of +massive forms, and the later again debasing itself to a heavy classical +order, neither a copy of anything of a pre-Gothic era, or a happy +development therefrom. Between the two, in a period of scarcely more +than three hundred years, there grew up and developed the ingenious and +graceful pointed style, in all its fearlessness and unconvention. + +Political causes had, perhaps, somewhat to do with the confining of a +particular style well within the land of its birth, but on the other +hand, warfare carried with it invasion and conquest of new sections, and +its followers, in a measure, may be said to have carried with them +certain of their former arts, accomplishments, and desires; and so grew +up the composite and mixed types which are frequently met with. + +There are a dozen or more architectural styles in what is known as the +France of to-day. The Provencal (more properly, says Fergusson, it +should be called "Gallia Narbonese,") one of the most beautiful and +clearly defined of all; the Burgundian, with its suggestion of +luxuriance and, if not massiveness, at least grandeur; the Auvergnian, +lying contiguous to both the above, with a style peculiarly its own, +though of an uncompromising southern aspect; Acquitanian, defining the +style which lies between Provence, the Auvergnat and the Pyrenees, and a +type quite different from either. The Angevinian, which extends +northward from Limoges to Normandy and Brittany, and northeasterly +nearly to Orleans, is a species difficult to place--it partakes largely +of southern influence, but is usually thought to merit a nomenclature of +its own, as distinct from the type found at Anjou. Turning now to the +northern or Frankish influence, as distinct from the Romance countries; +Brittany joins to no slight degree influences of each region; Normandy +partakes largely of the characteristics of the type of Central France, +which is thoroughly dominated by that indigenous to the Isle of France, +which species properly might include the Bourbonnais and Nivernoise +variants, as being something of a distinct type, though resembling, in +occasional details, southern features. This list, with the addition of +French Flanders, with its Lowland types, completes the arrangement, if +we except Alsace and Lorraine, which favour the German manner of +building rather more than any of the native French types. + + + + +II + +_A List of the Departments of France, and of the Ancient Provinces from +which they have been evolved._ + + +_Provinces and date of _Departements_ _Chefs-Lieux_ +union with France_ + +Ile de France, with La Seine Paris +Brie, etc. Always held Seine-et-Oise Versailles +by the Crown Seine-et-Marne Melun + Oise Beauvais + Aisne Laon + +Picardie. Louis XIV, 1667 Somme Amiens + +Artois and Boulonnais. Pas-de-Calais Arras +1640 + +Flandre and Hainault Nord Lille +Francais. Louis XIV. +1667-1669 + +Normandie. Philippe Seine-Inferieure Rouen +Auguste, 1204 Eure Evreux + Calvados Caen + Orne Alencon + Manche Saint-Lo + +Bretagne. Francois I. Ille-et-Vilaine Rennes +1532 Cotes-du-Nord Saint-Brieux + Finisterre Quimper + Morbihan Vannes + Loire-Inferieure Nantes + +Orleanais. Louis XII. Loiret Orleans +1498 Loir-et-Cher Blois + +Beauce and Pays Chartrain Eure-et-Loire Chartres + +Maine. Louis XI. 1481 Sarthe Le Mans + Mayenne Laval + +Anjou. Louis XI. 1481 Maine-et-Loire Angers + +Touraine. Henri III. 1584 Indre-et-Loire Tours + +Poitou. Charles VI. 1416 Vendee Bourbon-Vendee + Deux-Sevres Niort + Vienne Poitiers + +Berri. Philippe I. 1100 Indre Chateauroux + Cher Bourges + +Marche. Francois I. 1531 Creuse Gueret + +Limousin. Charles V. Haute-Vienne Limoges +1370 Correze Tulle + +Angoumois. Charles V. Charente Angouleme +1370 + +Saintonge and Aunis. Charente-Inferieure La Rochelle +1370 + +Guienne and Gascogne. Dordogne Perigueux + Charles VII. 1451 Gironde Bordeaux + Lot-et-Garonne Agen + Lot Cahors + Tarn-et-Garonne Montauban + Aveyron Rodez + Gers Auch + Hautes-Pyrenees Tarbes + Landes Mont-de-Marsan + +Bearn and French Navarre. Basses-Pyrenees Pau + Louis XIII. + +Comte de Foix. Louis XIII. Ariege Foix + +Roussillon. 1659 Pyrenees-Orientales Perpignan + +Languedoc. John, 1361 Haute-Garonne Toulouse + Tarn Albi + Aude Carcassonne + Herault Montpellier + Gard Nimes + +Vivarais Ardeche Privas + +Gevaudan Lozere Mende + +Velay Haute-Loire Le Puy + +Comtat Venaissin, Orange, Vaucluse Avignon + etc. Louis XIV. 1713 + +Provence. Louis XI. 1481 Bouches-du-Rhone Marseille + Var Draguignan + Basses-Alpes Digne + +Dauphine. Philippe de Isere Grenoble + Valois, 1343 Drome Valence + Hautes-Alpes Gap + +Lyonnais and Beaujolais Rhone Lyon + +Forez Loire St. Etienne + +Auvergne. Philippe Auguste, Puy-de-Dome Clermont +1210 Cantal Aurillac + +Bourbonnais. Louis XII. Allier Moulins +1505 + +Nivernais. Charles VII. Nievre Nevers +1457 + +Bresse, Bugey, etc. Ain Bourg + +Bourgogne (duche). Louis Saone-et-Loire Macon +XI. 1477 Cote-d'Or Dijon + Yonne Auxerre + +Comte de Bourgogne, or Doubs Besancon +Franche-Comte. Peace Jura Lons-le-Saulnier +of Nimeguen, 1678 Haute-Saone Vesoul + +Champagne. Philippe le Aube Troyes. +Bel, 1284 Marne Chalons-sur-Marne + Haute-Marne Chaumont + Ardennes Mezieres + +Lorraine.[*] On the death Meurthe and Moselle Nancy +of Stanislas Leczinsky, Meuse Bar-le-Duc +1766 Vosges Epinal + +Alsace.[*] Louis XIV. 1648 Territory of Belfort Belfort + Haut-Rhin Colmar + +Corsica. 1794. Corse Ajaccio + +Comte de Nice. 1861 Alpes Maritimes Nice + +Savoy Savoie Chambery + Haute-Savoie Annecy + +[*] The greater part of these provinces as they formerly stood +were ceded to Germany, May 10, 1871. + + + + +III + +_The Church in France_ + + +_La France Catholique_ is to-day divided into eighty-four dioceses, +administered, as to spiritual affairs, by seventeen archbishops and +sixty-seven bishops. To each diocese is attached a seminary for the +instruction of those who aspire to the priesthood. Each chief town of a +canton has its _cure_, each parish its _desservant_. + +_Archbishops and Bishops_ _Dioceses_ + +PARIS Seine + + Chartres Eure-et-Loire + + Meaux Seine-et-Marne + + Orleans Loiret + + Blois Loir-et-Cher + + Versailles Seine-et-Oise + +CAMBRAI Nord + + Arras Pas-de-Calais + +LYON-ET-VIENNE Rhone, Loire + + Autun Saone-et-Loire + + Langres Haute-Marne + + Dijon Cote-d'Or + + Sainte Claude Jura + + Grenoble Isere + +BOURGES Cher-et-Indre + + Clermont Puy-de-Dome + + Limoges Haute-Vienne et Creuse + + Le Puy Haute-Loire + + Tulle Correze + + Saint Flour Cantal + +ALBI Tarn + + Rodez Aveyron + + Cahors Lot + + Meude Lozere + + Perpignan Pyrenees-Orientales + +BORDEAUX[*] Gironde + + Agen Lot-et-Garonne + + Angouleme Charente + + Poitiers Vienne-et-Deux Sevres + + Perigueux Dordogne + + La Rochelle Charente-Inferieure + + Lucon Vendee + +AUCH Gers + + Aire Landes + + Tarbes Hautes-Pyrenees + + Bayonne Basses-Pyrenees + +TOULOUSE-NARBONNE Haute-Garonne + + Montauban Tarne-et-Garonne + + Pamiers Ariege + + Carcassonne Aude + +ROUEN Seine-Inferieure + + Bayeux Calvados + + Evreux Eure + + Seez Orne + + Coutances Manche + +SENS ET AUXERRE Yonne + + Troyes Aube + + Nevers Nievre + + Moulins Allier + +REIMS Arr. de Reims-et-Ardennes + + Soissons Aisne + + Chalons-sur-Marne Marne except Arrond. de Reims + + Beauvais Oise + + Amiens Somme + +TOURS Indre-et-Loire + + Le Mans Sarthe + + Angers Maine-et-Loire + + Nantes Loire-Inferieure + + Laval Mayenne + +AIX, ARLES, AND EMBRUN Bouches-du-Rhone except Marseilles + + Marseilles Arr. de Marseilles + + Frejus and Toulon Var + + Digne Basses-Alpes + + Gap Hautes-Alpes + + Nice Alpes-Maritimes + + Ajaccio Corse + +BESANCON Doubs et Haute-Saone + + Verdun Meuse + + Belley Ain + + St. Die Vosges + + Nancy Meurthe + +AVIGNON Vaucluse + + Nimes Gard + + Valence Drome + + Viviers Ardeche + + Montpellier Herault + +RENNES Ille-et-Vilaine + + Quimper Finisterre + + Vannes Morbihan + + St. Brieuc Cotes-du-Nord + +CHAMBERY + + Annecy Haute-Savoie + + Tarentaise Val-de-Tarentaise (Savoie) + + Maurienne Val-de-Maurienne (Savoie) + +[*] The Archbishop of Bordeaux has three suffragans outside +France: St. Denis and La Reunion, St. Pierre and Fort de France +(Martinique), Basseterre (Guadaloupe). + + + + +IV + +_A List of the Larger French Churches which were at one time Cathedrals +and usually referred to as such._ + + +NOTE.--Those marked H. M. are classed as Les Monuments Historiques by La +Commission de la Conservation des Monuments Historiques. + +Agde _Herault_ H. M. + +Alais _Garde_ + +Alencon _Orne_ Notre Dame H. M. + +Alet _Aude_ Notre Dame H. M. + +Apt _Vaucluse_ H. M. + +Arles _Bouches-du-Rhone_ St. Trophimus H. M. + +Arras St. Vaast + +Auxerre _Yonne_ St. Etienne H. M. + +Auxonne _Cote-d'Or_ Notre Dame + +Avranches _Manche_ (remains only) H. M. + +Bazas _Gironde_ St. Jean H. M. + +Bethleem (There was once a Bishop of + Bethleem whose see was the + village of Clamecy only, but + no cathedral.) + +Beziers _Herault_ St. Nazaire H. M. + +Boulogne _Pas-de-Calais_ Notre Dame + +Bourg _Ain_ Notre Dame + +Brioud _Haute-Loire_ H. M. + +Cambrai Notre Dame + +Carcassonne _Aude_ St. Nazaire H. M. + +Carpentras _Vaucluse_ St. Siffrein H. M. + +Castres _Tarn_ St. Benonit + +Cavaillon _Vaucluse_ St. Veran H. M. + +Condom _Gers_ H. M. + +Conserons _Ariege_ (See St. Lizier) + +Die _Drome_ H. M. + +Dinan _Cotes-du-Nord_ St. Saveur H. M. + +Dol _Ille-et-Vilaine_ St. Samson H. M. + +Elne _Pyrenees-Orientales_ H. M. + +Embrun _Hautes-Alpes_ H. M. + +Glandeves _Basses-Alpes_ (Bishopric transferred + to Entrevaux) + +Grasse _Alpes-Maritimes_ (Bishopric in XIVth + century) + +Laon _Aisne_ Notre Dame H. M. + +Lavaur _Tarn_ (Bishopric in XIVth + century) + +Lectours _Gers_ (Bishopric in Xth century) + +Lescar _Basses-Pyrenees_ H. M. + +Lisieux _Calvados_ St. Pierre + +Lodeve _Herault_ St. Fulcran H. M. + +Lombez _Gers_ H. M. + +Macon _Saone-et-Loire_ St. Vincent H. M. + +Mallezais _Vendee_ + +Mirepoix _Ariege_ (Bishopric in XIVth + century) + +Noyon _Oise_ Notre Dame H. M. + +Oloron _Basses-Pyrenees_ H. M. + +Orange _Vaucluse_ Notre Dame + +Perigueux _Dordogne_ St. Etienne + +St. Bertrand _Haute-Garonne_ H. M. +de Comminges + +St. Die _Vosges_ + +St. Lizier _Ariege_ H. M. + +St. Lo _Manche_ Notre Dame H. M. + +St. Malo _Ille-et-Vilaine_ + +Ste. Marie _Basses-Pyrenees_ + +St. Omer _Pas-de-Calais_ Notre Dame H. M. + +St. Papoul _Aude_ H. M. + +St. Paul Trois _Drome_ H. M. +Chateaux + +St. Pol de Leon _Finisterre_ H. M. + +St. Servan _Ille-et-Vilaine_ St. Pierre d'Aleth + +Sarlat _Dordogne_ H. M. + +Seez _Orne_ Notre Dame H. M. + +Senez _Basses-Alpes_ H. M. + +Senlis _Oise_ Notre Dame H. M. + +Sisteron _Basses-Alpes_ + +Soissons _Aisne_ Notre Dame H. M. + St. Gervais + St. Protais + +Tarbes _Hautes-Pyrenees_ Eglise de la Sede H. M. + +Toul _Meurthe_ St. Etienne H. M. + +Toulon _Var_ Ste. Marie-Majeur + +Treguier _Cotes-du-Nord_ H. M. + +Uzes _Gard_ St. Thierry + +Vabres _Aveyron_ + +Vaiso _Vaucluse_ H. M. + +Versailles _Seine-et-Oise_ St. Louis + +Vence _Alpes-Maritimes_ H. M. + +Vienne _Isere_ St. Maurice H. M. + + + + +V + +_Chronology of the chief styles and examples of church building in the +north of France from the Romano-Byzantine period to that of the +Renaissance_ + + +1050-1075 Nevers St. Etienne Distinct round-arch +1075-1100 Bayeux Notre Dame style + Caen St. Etienne + +1125-1150 Autun St. Lazare Pointed arch in + St. Denis (choir) vaulting and +1150-1175 Angers St. Maurice larger works, with + Paris Notre Dame the retaining of + Sens St. Etienne the round in the + smaller + +1200-1225 Reims Notre Dame General adoption + Auxerre St. Etienne of the ogival + Troyes Sts. Peter and Paul style + +1225-1250 Amiens Notre Dame The completed + Dijon St. Benigne ogival style + Bourges St. Etienne +1250-1275 Noyon Notre Dame (cloisters) +1300-1325 Rouen Notre Dame (lady-chapel) +1350-1375 Chartres Notre Dame + +1425-1450 Auxerre St. Etienne (N. transept) Introduction of + Renaissance detail +1450-1475 Evreux Notre Dame (transepts in Italy and + and tower) elaboration of + Gothic in France + +1475-1500 Rouen Notre Dame (S. W. Renaissance firmly + tower) grafted in Italy + Nevers St. Etienne (S. porch) and gradually +1500-1525 Beauvais St. Pierre (S. transept) appearing in the + Chartres Notre Dame (N. W. Gothic of France + spire) + +1525-1550 Beauvais St. Pierre (N. transept) + Amiens Notre Dame (fleche) + +1550-1575 Beauvais St. Pierre (central tower Renaissance firmly + since destroyed) established +1600-1625 Orleans Ste. Croix + + + + +VI + +_Dimensions and Chronology_ + + +NOTRE DAME D'AMIENS + +[Illustration: _Notre Dame d'Amiens_] + +_Dimensions_ + +Length of nave and choir, 469 feet + +Width including transepts, 214 feet + +Width of nave, 59 feet + +Width of aisles, 33-1/2 feet + +Height of nave, 141 or 147 feet, estimated variously + +Height of aisles, 65 feet + +Length of choir, 135 feet + +Width of nave including aisles, 150 feet + +Length of transepts, 194 feet + +Width of transepts, 36 feet, 6 inches + +Height of spire, 422 feet + +Superficial area, 70,000 square feet (approx.) + +_Chronology_ + +Nave and choir, 1220-1288 + +Choir stalls, 1520 + +Western towers completed, 1533 + +Lateral chapels of nave, XVIth century + +Choir chapels, XIIIth century + + +ST. MAURICE D'ANGERS + +[Illustration] + +_Dimensions_ + +Length of nave and choir, 300 feet + +Width of transepts, 40 feet + +Height of transepts, 80 feet + +Height of nave, 110 feet + +Width of nave, 53 feet + +Height of spires, 225 feet + +_Chronology_ + +Lower walls, Romano-Byzantine + +Main body completed, 1240 + +Choir, XIIth century + +Bishop's Palace, XIIth century + +Arras tapestries, XIVth century + +Choir doorway, XIIIth century + +(Recently restored by Viollet-le-Duc) + + +ST. VAAST D'ARRAS + +_Dimensions_ + +Length of nave and choir, 302 feet + +Height of nave, 66-1/2 feet + +Width of nave, 49 feet + +Height of tower, 154 feet + +_Chronology_ + +Former Cathedral of Notre Dame begun, end of XIIth century + +Former Cathedral of Notre Dame completed, 1499 + +Present Cathedral of St. Vaast, 1755-1833 + +Triptych of Bellegambe in present Cathedral, 1528 + +Former Abbey of St. Vaast, now Episcopal Palace since 1754 + + +ST. LAZARE D'AUTUN + +_Dimensions_ + +Height of spire, 325 feet + +_Chronology_ + +Transition portion constructed by Robert I., +Duke of Burgundy, 1031-1076 + +Spire, XVth century + +Sculpture of choir, XVIth century + +Flamboyant chapels, XVIth century + + +AUXERRE + +_Chronology_ + +Crypt (remains of early work), XIth century + +Choir and glass, 1215-1234 + +Western portals, XIIIth century + +Nave, 1334-1373 + +North transept, 1415-1513 + +N. W. tower, 1525-1530 + +Iron _grille_ of choir, XVIIIth century + + +NOTRE DAME DE BAYEUX + +_Dimensions_ + +Central belfry, 300 feet + +Length interior, 335 feet + +Height interior, 74 feet, 9 inches + +Height of western towers, 252 feet + +_Chronology_ + +Odo's crypt, XIth century + +Circular arches of nave, late XIth or early XIIth century + +Portals of west facade, XIIIth century + +Chasuble of St. Regnobert, gift of St. Louis, 1226 + +Date of tapestry (in inventory of church property), 1476 + + +ST. PIERRE DE BEAUVAIS + +_Dimensions_ + +Height of nave, 150 feet + +Height of original spire, which fell in 1573, 486 feet + +Area of choir, about 28,000 square feet + +_Chronology_ + +The Basse OEuvre, VIth to VIIIth centuries + +Present building begun, 1225 + +Dedicated, 1272 + +Roof fell, 1284 + +South transept begun, 1500 + +North transept begun, 1530 + +North transept finished, 1537 + +Central spire fell, 1573 + +Ancient Bishop's Palace, now Palais de Justice, +XIVth to XVIth centuries + + +ST. ETIENNE DE BOURGES + +[Illustration: _St. Etienne de Bourges_] + +_Dimensions_ + +Length, 405 feet + +Width, 135-1/2 feet + +Height of nave, 124-1/2 feet + +Height of inner aisle, 66 feet + +Height of outer aisle, 28 feet + +Height north tower, 217-1/2 feet + +Height south tower, 176 feet + +Superficial area, 73,170 square feet (approx.) + +_Chronology_ + +Dedicated, 1324 + +Sepulchre, 1336 + +Crypts, XIIth century + +North tower, 1508-1538 + +Tower St. Etienne completed, 1490 + +Tower St. Etienne fell, 1506 + +Choir stalls, 1760 + + +ST. ETIENNE DE CHALONS-SUR-MARNE + +_Chronology_ + +Tower next north door, Romano-Byzantine + +Part of nave and choir, Ogival primaire + +Aisle and chapels of apse, XIVth century + +Apse restored, after fire, in 1672 + + +NOTRE DAME DE CHARTRES + +_Dimensions_ + +Length nave and choir, 430 feet + +Width, 110 feet + +Length nave only, 121 feet + +Width nave, 46 feet + +Width nave aisles, 19 feet + +Height nave, 106 feet + +Length transepts, 202 feet + +Width transepts, 70 feet + +Height of north spire, 403 feet + +Height of south spire, 365 feet + +Rose window, diameter, 40 to 43 feet + +Area, 65,000 square feet (approx.) + +_Chronology_ + +Wooden church burned, 1020 + +Crypt under chevet of choir, 1029 +(only remains of original church) + +Work of rebuilding stopped, 1048 + +South portal erected, 1060 + +Work aided by Matilda, queen of William I., 1083 + +Lower portion of main body built, 1100-1150 + +Western towers, 1145 + +Fire damaged greater part, 1194 + +Vaulting completed, 1220 + +Porches of transepts added, 1250 + +Building consecrated, October 17, 1260 + +Sacristy and screen in crypt, XIIIth century + +North spire burned, 1506 + +Texier's spire erected, 1507-1515 + +Texier's spire repaired, 1629 + +South spire repaired, 1754 + +Belfry and roof burned (vaulting unharmed), 1836 + + +NOTRE DAME D'EVREUX + +_Dimensions_ + +Length, 368 feet, 6 inches + +Transept, length, 112 feet + +Transept, width, 23 feet + +_Chronology_ + +Church consecrated, 1076 + +Church burnt, 1119 + +Northwest tower foundations laid, 1352 + +Northwest tower completed, 1417 + +North transept, XVIth century + +Nave, early XIIth to late XVth century + +Choir, XIVth century + +Lady-chapel, XIIIth century + + +NOTRE DAME DE LAON + +[Illustration: _Laon_] + +_Dimensions_ + +Length of nave and choir, 351 feet + +Height of nave, 80 feet + +Width of nave, 67 feet, 7 inches + +Length of transepts, 174 feet + +Width of transepts, 35 feet, 9 inches + +Height of western towers, 173 feet + +Height of southwest tower and spire (formerly), 328 feet + +Western circular window, 26 feet + +Superficial area, 44,000 square feet (approx.) + +_Chronology_ + +Original church burned, 1112 + +New edifice begun, 1114 + +Entirely rebuilt, 1190 + +General restoration, 1851 + + +ST. JULIEN, LE MANS + +[Illustration: _LE MANS_] + +_Dimensions_ + +Length of nave and choir, 369 feet + +Width of nave and aisles, 78 feet + +Width of choir, 123 feet + +Height of choir, 108 feet + +Area of choir, 30,000 square feet (approx.) + +Length of transept, 178 feet + +Width of transept, 32 feet + +_Chronology_ + +West facade, XIth century + +Transition, south portal, XIIth century + +Nave and transepts reconstructed, XIIth century + +Church extended beyond city walls, XIIIth century + +Choir rebuilt, 1200 + +Choir restored, 1858 + +Coloured glass, XIIIth, XIVth, XVth centuries + +Rose window, south transept, XVth century + +Former Bishop's Palace destroyed by Germans, 1871 + + +ST. ETIENNE DE MEAUX + +_Dimensions_ + +Height of nave, 109 feet + +Length of nave, 275 feet + +Length of transepts, 120 feet + +_Chronology_ + +Bishopric founded, 375 A.D. + +Choir in part, XIIth century + +Restored, 1852 + + +ST. PIERRE DE NANTES + +[Illustration] + +_Dimensions_ + +Height of western towers, 270 feet + +Height of nave, 130 feet + +_Chronology_ + +Remains of choir contains, XIIth century + +Romanesque church rebuilt, XVth century + +West front, 1434-1500 + +North transept and choir only completed in XIXth century + +Tomb of Francois II. and Marguerite de Foix, 1507 + +Later restoration, 1852 + + +NOTRE DAME DE NOYON + +[Illustration: _Noyon_] + +_Dimensions_ + +Length, 338 feet + +Width of nave and aisles, 64 feet, 10 inches + +Height of nave, 74 feet, 6 inches + +Height of aisles, 28 feet, 9 inches + +Height of choir, 26 feet, 3 inches + +Height of towers, 200 feet + +Superficial area, 30,000 square feet (approx.) + +_Chronology_ + +First constructed, 989 + +Burnt, 1131 + +Rebuilding undertaken, 1137-1150 + +Choir, transepts, and nave completed, 1167-1200 + +Timber work burnt, 1293 + +Chapter-house built, XIIIth century + +Five bays of cloister built, XIVth century + +Restored under governmental supervision, 1840 + + +ST. CROIX D'ORLEANS + +_Dimensions_ + +Height of towers, 280 feet + +Height of nave, 100 feet + +_Chronology_ + +First bishops sent from Rome, IIIrd century + +Cathedral destroyed by Huguenots, 1567 + +Chapels of nave which still remain, XIVth century + +Late Gothic mainly of XVIIth century + +Western towers completed, 1789 + + +NOTRE DAME DE PARIS + +[Illustration: _Paris_] + +_Dimensions_ + +Length, 390 feet + +Width, 144 feet + +Height of nave, 102 feet + +Diameter of rose windows in transept, 36 feet + +Superficial area, 64,100 square feet + +_Chronology_ + +Founded by Bishop de Sully, 1160-1170 + +High altar dedicated, 1182 + +Interior completed (approx.), 1208 + +West front, 1223-1230 + +Western towers, 1235 + +Transept portals, 1257 + + +NOTRE DAME DE REIMS + +[Illustration: _Reims_] + +[Illustration: _Flying Buttresses, Reims_] + +_Dimensions_ + +Western towers, 267 feet + +Area, 65,000 feet (approx.) + +_Chronology_ + +First stone laid, 1212 + +First portion dedicated, 1215 + +Chapter takes possession of choir, 1244 + +Nave commenced, 1250 + +Transept and abside ornamented, 1295 + +South tower begun and completed, 1380-1391 + +Coronation of Charles VII., 1427 + +Southwest tower completed by Philastre, 1430 + +Tapestries added to choir, 1444 + +Belfry of the Angel built, 1497 + +Gable of the Assumption and Zodiac, 1408 + +Reestablishment of grand altar, 1547 + +Repairs to portals and vaulting, 1610 + +Cathedral becomes national property, 1790 + +Exterior repairs and restoration, 1811 + +General restorations, 1840 + +2,083,411 francs voted by Chamber for restorations, 1875 + +Gifts of Gobelin tapestries, 1848 + + +NOTRE DAME DE ROUEN + +[Illustration: _Notre Dame Rouen_] + +_Dimensions_ + +Length of nave and choir, 450 feet + +Width, including transepts, 177 feet + +Width of nave and aisles, 105 feet + +Length of choir only, 118 feet + +Height of nave, 92 feet + +Height of central spire, 480 feet + +Height of Tour de Beurre, 252 feet + +Height of Tour St. Romain, 246 feet + +Area (originally), 53,000 square feet + +_Chronology_ + +First church founded on site of cathedral by St. Mellar, VIIth century + +Cathedral enlarged under Rollo, who was buried therein in 930 + +Consecrated and dedicated, 1063 + +Tour St. Romain, remains of, XIth century + +Destroyed by fire, 1200 + +New building completed, XIIIth century + +Portail de la Calende, XIVth century + +Tour de Beurre laid, 1487 + +Tour de Beurre completed, 1507 + +Flamboyant west front, XVIth century + +Altar of St. Romain, XVIIth century + +Tomb of the Cardinals, 1556 + +Central spire, 1823 + +Restoration of west front, 1897 + + +ST. ETIENNE DE SENS + +_Dimensions_ + +Length, 384 feet + +Width, 124 feet + +Height, 98 feet + +Area, 44,000 square feet + +_Chronology_ + +Relique of True Cross given by Charlemagne, 800 A. D. + +Early church destroyed by fire, 970 + +New church dedicated, 997 + +Present building completed, 1168 + +Choir rebuilt, 1174 + +Present transept and nave, XIIth and XIIIth centuries + +Glass in chapel of St. Savinien, XIIIth century + +Glass of rose windows, XVIth century + +Mausoleum of the Dauphin, XVIIIth century + + +BASILIQUE DE ST. DENIS + +_Dimensions_ + +Length of nave and choir, 354 feet + +Width, 133 feet + +Clerestory windows (height), 33 feet + +_Chronology_ + +Chapel first built above grave of St. Dionysius the martyr, 275 A. D. + +Benedictine abbey first founded here in reign of Dagobert, 628 + +Pope Stephen took refuge here, 754 + +Romanesque facade, 1140 + +Consecration of the building, 1144 + +Nave, XIIIth century + +Abbot Suger died, 1151 + +General restoration by Suger's successors, XIIIth century + +Crenelated battlement added to facade, XIVth century + +Spire burned by lightning, XIXth century + +General restoration by Viollet-le-Duc, 1860 + +Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette reinterred here (removed from +the Madeleine), 1817 + +[Illustration: CRYPT S. DENIS] + +[Illustration: S DENIS] + + +NOTRE DAME DE ST. OMER + +_Dimensions_ + +The great bell of tower weighs 8,500 kilos. + +_Chronology_ + +Bishopric founded, 1533 + +Astronomical clock, XVIth century + +Tomb of St. Erkembode, VIIIth century + +Tomb of St. Omer restored, XIIIth century + +Former Episcopal Palace, now Palais de Justice, 1680 + + +ST. GATIEN DE TOURS + +[Illustration] + +_Dimensions_ + +Length of nave and choir, 256 feet + +Width, 95 feet + +_Chronology_ + +Choir begun, 1170 + +Tour Charlemagne, XIth century + +Tour St. Martin, XIIth century + +Transepts, 1316 + +West facade, 1430-1500 + +Southwest tower, 1507 + +Tomb of children of Charles VIII., 1483 + + +ST. PIERRE DE TROYES + +_Dimensions_ + +Length, 394 feet + +Width, 168 feet + +Height, 96 feet + +Height northwest tower, 202 feet + +_Chronology_ + +Apse and chapels, 1206-1223 + +Choir and transepts, 1314-1315 + +Iron _grille_ of choir, XIIIth century + +Church consecrated, 1430 + +West facade, XVth century + +Nave constructed during XIVth, XVth, XVIth centuries + +North gable, XVth century + +Tower St. Pierre, 1559-1568 + +Northwest tower demolished by lightning, 1700 + +Vaulting of transepts fell, 1840 + +Restoration of choir and transepts, 1840 + + + + +VII + +_The French Kings from Charlemagne Onward_ + + + A. D. + +Charlemagne 768 + +Louis le Debonnaire 814 + +Charles le Chauve 840 + +Louis II., le Begue 877 + +Louis III. 879 + +Carloman 879 + +Charles le Gros 884 + +Eudes 887 + +Charles III., the Simple 893 + +Robert I. 922 + +Rodolf of Burgundy 923 + +Louis IV., the Stranger 936 + +Lothaire 954 + +Louis V., le Faineant 986 + +Hugh Capet 987 + +Robert II., the Wise 996 + +Henry I. 1031 + +Philip I., l'Amoureux 1060 + +Louis VI., le Gros 1108 + +Louis VII., le Jeune 1137 + +Philip Augustus 1180 + +Louis VIII., the Lion 1223 + +Louis IX., the Saint 1226 + +Philip III., the Hardy 1270 + +Philip IV., the Fair 1285 + +Louis X., Hutin 1314 + +John I. 1316 + +Philip V. 1316 + +Charles IV., le Bel 1322 + +Philip VI., de Valois 1328 + +John II., the Good 1350 + +Charles V., le Sage 1364 + +Charles VI., the Beloved 1380 + +Charles VII., the Victorious 1422 + +Louis XI. 1461 + +Charles VIII. 1483 + +Louis XII., of Orleans 1498 + +Francis I. 1515 + +Henry II. 1547 + +Francis II. 1559 + +Charles IX. 1560 + +Henry III. 1574 + +Henry IV., the Great 1589 + +Louis XIII., the Just 1610 + +Louis XIV., le Grand 1643 + +Louis XV. 1715 + +Louis XVI. 1774 + +Revolutionary Tribunal 1793 + +Directory 1795 + +Napoleon, Consul 1799 + +Napoleon I., Emperor 1804 + +Louis XVIII. 1814 + +Charles X. 1824 + +Louis Philippe 1830 + +Republic 1848 + +Napoleon III., Emperor 1852 + +Republic 1870 + +[Illustration: CHARLES VII] + + + + +VIII + +_Measurements of the Cathedrals at Amiens and Salisbury_ + +(_Whittington_) + + + _Amiens_ _Salisbury_ + _French feet_ _English feet_ + +Length east to west 415 452 +Length west door to choir 220 246 +Length behind choir, including lady-chapel 63 65 +Length transepts north to south 182 210 +Width nave 42.9 34.5 +Width transept 42.9 +Width side aisles 18 17.5 +Width windows 41 48 +Width nave and side aisles 78.9 102 +Width west front 150 115 +Height vault, nave 132 84 +Height vault, choir 129 +Height west towers 210 +Height chapels 60 +Height side aisles, nave 60.8 +Height side aisles, choir 57.8 38 +Distance between pillars 16 +Height grand arches 78 78 +Number of pillars 46 +Number of chapels 25 +Length of choir 130 140 + +(The old French foot is the equal of 1.06576 English feet.) + +The above comparative measurements are given as being of the +contemporary types of English and French cathedrals, being nearly +approximate to each other as to the date of their erection and +measurements. The figures themselves are transcribed from a little-known +but thoroughly conscientious work by G. D. Whittington, entitled +"Contributions to an Ecclesiastical Survey of France." + + + + +IX + +_French Metres Reduced to English Feet_ + + +Metres English feet and Metres English feet and Metres English feet and + decimal parts decimal parts decimal parts + + 1 3.281 20 65.618 300 984.270 + + 2 6.562 30 98.427 400 1312.360 + + 3 9.843 40 131.236 500 1640.450 + + 4 13.123 50 164.045 600 1968.539 + + 5 16.404 60 196.854 700 2296.629 + + 6 19.685 70 229.663 800 2624.719 + + 7 22.966 80 262.472 900 2952.809 + + 8 26.247 90 295.281 1000 3280.899 + + 9 29.528 100 328.090 + + 10 32.809 200 656.180 + + + + +X + +_A Brief Glossary of architectural terms, with popular definitions, as +applied to the components which compose the principal features of a +cathedral church_ + + +[Illustration: NO. 1. GROUND PLAN] + +A Lady-chapel The principal chapel, usually behind the + high altar, at the extremity or eastern end + of choir, dedicated to Our Lady (Notre + Dame) + +B Transept The middle portion of a church, which projects + at right angles with the main body + of nave and choir + +C Porch Usually the vestibule or receding doorway + +D Lantern or crossing Where the transept crosses and joins choir + and nave, usually with windows, if a lantern + proper + +E Choir That portion of the edifice in which are + stalls for the choristers, and chapter, also + containing the _Maitre d'Autel_ + +F Ambulatory The aisles or colonnade which surround + the choir + +G Chapels Literally a small place of worship containing + an altar. In a great church, which + may contain several, they are usually + dedicated to male and female saints + +H Nave The main body of a church, extending from + the choir to the principal facade; _i. e._ + that part between the outer aisles + +I Aisles The lateral passage on either side of the + nave and separated therefrom by piers + or pillars + +J Portal Literally, the framework of a doorway + +K Abside The domed easterly end of a church + +L Sacristy The apartment in which is kept the church + plate and vestments + +[Illustration: NO. 2. CROSS SECTION] + +A Nave aisle vaulting The arched roof of stone + +B Nave vaulting The arched roof of stone + +C Flying buttress A supporting outside prop of the thrust + variety. Notably a distinguishing feature + of mediaeval Gothic architecture + +D Side aisle The passage which flanks the nave + +E Buttress pier The outer support of a flying buttress + +F Pinnacle On towers, buttress piers, gables, etc. + +G Gargoyle A projecting water-spout carved grotesquely + +H Niche A recess in a wall, or surmounting a pier; + primarily to hold a statue + +[Illustration: NO. 3. INTERIOR] + +A Clerestory The upper range of windows of the nave; + rising above the adjoining portions + +B Triforium Literally, a blind window--a range of + openings, or possibly an arcade-effect + only, coming below the clerestory and + above the lower arches of the nave + +C Arch (between nave and ai + Joining the piers or pillars which separate + nave from aisles + +D Pillars (of nave) Commonly called pillars, columns, and + piers, but more often are literally pillars, + being made up of blocks of stone one + upon another + +E Vaulting The stone arched roof + +F West wall Here, in the true Gothic church, is usually + found a rose window, though often obscured + by the organ case + +G Arcaded gallery A feature frequently seen in the interior of + great churches, as distinct from the triforium. + Either decorative or of practical + value + +H Pavement The floor, always of stone, and often of + marble or mosaic + +[Illustration: NO. 4. CROSS SECTION] + +A Flying buttresses A thrust support, or prop, extending from + the main fabric to an outer pier + +B Timber roof The timber or scantling above the nave, + which supports the outer tiled or leaden + roofing + +C Nave The main body of a church + +D Aisle The passage which flanks the nave + +E Outer aisle A second or outer passage flanking the nave + +F Stairway to roof of aisle + Stairways from the interior pavement, leading + to triforium, belfry, or roof + +G Crypt In reality a lower or subterranean church + or chapel; from _crypta_, to hide + +H Buttress pier The outer support of a flying buttress, or + one lying directly against the wall which + it strengthens + + + + +INDEX + + +Abelard, 94. + +Acquitaine, 176, 211. + +Adela, mother of King Stephen of Blois, 121. + +Agrippa, 134. + +Aisne, Department of the, 134. + +Alencon, Bishop of, 307. + +Alencon, Notre Dame d', 296-298. + +Amboise, Cardinal d', 84, 90. + +Amboise, Georges d', 85, 90. + +Amiens, 32, 35, 37, 61, 62, 117, 129, 133, 200, 267, 272, 278. + +Amiens, Bishop of, 65. + +Amiens, Cathedral at, 140, 141, 384. + +Amiens, Flying buttresses at, 67. + +Amiens, Notre Dame d', 64, 69, 72, 366, 367. + +"Ampoule, Sainte," The, 25, 143. + +Angers, 119, 149. + +Angers, Bishop's Palace at, 181. + +Angers, Castle at, 175. + +Angers, David d', 235. + +Angers, St. Maurice d', 147, 173-182, 367, 368. + +Angevine Churches, The, 215. + +Angevine details at Le Mans, 115. + +Angevine style of architecture, The, 176, 180. + +Angouleme, 15. + +Anjou, 115. + +Anjou, Counts of, 175. + +Anjou, Dukes of, 173, 181. + +Anjou, Margaret of, 173. + +Anne of Brittany, 169, 184. + +Anne, Duchess (_see also_ Anne of Brittany), 188. + +Antwerp, 126. + +Architectural divisions of France, 34. + +Ardennes, Department of the, 134. + +Arles, 33. + +Arras, 15, 184, 226. + +Arras, Belfry at, 245; + Citadel of, 244; + Hotel de Ville, 245. + +Arras, St. Vaast d', 242-246, 368. + +Artois, 237, 242. + +Assisi, St. Francis of, 188. + +Attila, 132. + +Attila, Attack on Aurelianum, 150. + +Attila, Defeat at Chalons, 251. + +Augustus, 134. + +Aurelian, 150, 226. + +Autun, 33, 257, 258. + +Autun, St. Lazare d', 257-261, 368. + +Auvergne, 151. + +Auvergnat Churches, The, 215. + +Auxerre, 215. + +Auxerre, Bishops of, 194. + +Auxerre, Episcopal Palace at, 195. + +Auxerre, St. Etienne d', 191-196, 369. + +Auxonne, Notre Dame d', 220. + +Avignon, 33. + +Avranches, 321. + +Avranches, Notre Dame de, 326-328. + +Azon, 307. + + +Baldwin of Hainault, 237. + +Balzac, 164. + +Bayeux, 285. + +Bayeux, Odo, Bishop of, 311, 312. + +Bayeux, Notre Dame de, 310-314, 369. + +Bayeux, Tapestry of, 310, 311. + +Beauvais, 13, 19, 20, 32, 35, 37, 61, 69, 117-119, 133, 200, 267. + +Beauvais, Bishop of, 52, 303. + +Beauvais, Romano-Byzantine work at, 75. + +Beauvais, Cathedral of St. Pierre, 28, 70-76, 140, 369. + +Beaux Arts, Departement de, 23, 340. + +Beaux Arts, Palais des, 96. + +Becket, St. Thomas a, 54, 280, 282, 327. + +Bedford, Duke of, 90. + +Belgica, Secunda, 132. + +Bellegambe, 244. + +Bellene, Count of, 307. + +Belmas, Bishop, 235. + +Benedictine Abbey at St. Denis, 93. + +Berengaria, Queen, 113, 120. + +Bernard de Soissons, 138. + +Berry, Duc de, 96, 108. + +Besancon, 27, 32, 223, 225. + +Bethleem, Bishop of, 31. + +Bishop's Palace, The (Amiens), 67. + +Bishop's Palace, The, at Beauvais, 76. + +"Black Angers," 174 (_see_ Shakespeare on Angers). + +Blanche of Castile, 66, 169. + +Blois, 18, 149, 210, 215. + +Blois, Chateau of, 157. + +Blois, Counts of, 121. + +Blois, King Stephen of, 121. + +Blois, St. Louis de, 156. + +Bonn, Minster at, 50. + +Borgia, Caesar, 182. + +Borromee, 244. + +Boulogne-sur-Mer, 223, 225. + +Boulogne-sur-Mer, Notre Dame de, 231-233. + +Bourasse, Abbe, 108, 211, 260, 279, 303. + +Bourges, 33, 37, 61, 215. + +Bourges, St. Etienne de, 139, 199-208, 370. + +Brest, 348. + +Bretagne, Duc de, 187. + +Briceius, 165. + +Brittany, 12, 20, 27, 32. + +Brittany, Chancellor of, 182. + +Brittany, Duchy of, 184. + +Bruges, 262. + +Burgundy, 258, 259, 262. + +Byzantine influences at Bourges, 202. + +Byzantine tendencies, 13; + conception, 27. + + +Caen, 285. + +Caesar, burned Orleans, 150. + +Calixtus II., 133. + +Calvin (John), 51. + +Cambrai, 15, 226. + +Cambrai, Notre Dame de, 234-236. + +Capet, Hugh, 51. + +Carcassonne, 33. + +Carlovingian Dynasty, The, 94. + +Carrier, 183. + +Cathedrals, The Grand, 23. + +Cathedrals of the North, 26. + +"Caveau Imperial," The, at St. Denis, 95. + +Chalons (sur Marne), 132, 133, 226. + +Chalons-sur-Marne, St. Etienne de, 251-253, 371. + +Chambidge, Martin, 276. + +Chambord, 18, 210, 214. + +Champagne, Counts of, 274. + +Chancellor of Brittany, 182. + +Chantilly, Chateau of, 50. + +Charlemagne, 51, 133, 282. + +Charlemagne, Tour de, 165. + +Charles of Anjou, 120. + +Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, 262-263. + +Charles (King), 212. + +Charles V., 240, 282. + +Charles VII., 30, 138, 144. + +Charles VIII., 17, 169, 184. + +Charles X., 24, 144. + +Chartres, 20, 30, 33, 35, 61, 62, 113, 210, 215, 278, 338. + +Chartres, Celtic foundation of, 124. + +Chartres, Counts of, 121. + +Chartres, Details at, 87. + +Chartres, Jean de, 187. + +Chartres, Notre Dame de, 121, 139, 140, 141, 371. + +Chartres, Spires of Cathedral at, 125, 267. + +Chaste Susanne, Painting of, 220. + +Chateau of the Italian Dukes (at Nevers), 210. + +Chateaux of the Loire, 18, 32, 148. + +Chaucer's "Temple of Mars," 86. + +Chaumont, 18. + +Chenonceau, 18, 210. + +Childeric, 132, 133. + +Cires-les-Mello, 35. + +Clamecy, 31. + +Clement, Eudes, 99. + +Clotilda, wife of Clovis, 133. + +Clovis, 22, 30, 138, 139, 143, 144, 224. + +Clovis, Baptism of, 133. + +Coligny, 151. + +Cologne, Apse-sided transepts at, 50. + +Cologne, Cathedral at, 20, 37, 135, 141. + +Colomb, Michel, 187, 332. + +Colombiers, 315. + +Commercy, Jacquemin de, 250. + +Commission des Monuments Historiques, 35, 170, 176, 213. + +Compiegne, Chateau of, 50. + +Condes, The, 153. + +Constant, 282. + +Cormier, Jean, 129. + +Corroyer, 349. + +Coucy, Chateau of, 50. + +Coutances, 267, 285, 286, 321. + +Coutances, Notre Dame de, 321-325. + +Creil, 35. + +Croixmore, Abp. Robert de, 84. + +Crusaders, The, 14. + + +Dagobert I., 93. + +D'Arc, Jeanne, 151, 303. + +Dauphins of France, The, 170. + +Da Vinci, 157. + +De Breze, Louis, 89. + +De Breze, Pierre, 89. + +De Caumont, "Abecedaire'd Architecture," 33, 349. + +De Sauteuil, 106. + +Descartes, 164. + +Descent from the Cross, The (by Rubens), 239. + +Devils of Notre Dame, The, 106. + +Dieppe, 285. + +Dijon, 27, 223, 258. + +Dijon, St. Benigne of, 225, 262-265. + +Dinan, 335. + +Dol-de-Bretagne, Facade at, 98. + +Dol-de-Bretagne, St. Samson de, 329-332. + +Domenichino, 272. + +Domfront, 321. + +Douai, 244. + +Du Bellay Langey, 120. + +Dufetre, Mgr., 211. + +Duroctorum, 132. + + +East of Paris, 221. + +Eastern influences at Bourges, 202. + +Ebo, Bishop of Reims, 136. + +Edict of Nantes, The, 183. + +Edward III., 129. + +English characteristics of Gothic, 45, 68. + +Estonteville, Cardinal d', 88. + +Evreux, 32. + +Evreux, Notre Dame d', 288-295, 372. + +Exeter, 114. + + +Falise, 321. + +Fenelon, 235, 236. + +Fergusson, quoted, 12, 56, 126, 139. + +Fiesole, Jerome de, 187. + +Flemish school of painting, 244. + +Flemish wood-carving, 90. + +Florence, 33. + +Flying buttresses, Notre Dame de Paris, 28; + Notre Dame d'Amiens, 28; + Tours, 167. + +Foix, Marguerite de, 187. + +Fouilloy, Evrard de, 65. + +France, Architectural divisions of, 34. + +France, Ecclesiastical capital of, 133. + +France, Kings of, 24, 93, 383. + +Francis I., 74. + +Francis II., Tomb of, 187. + +Franks, The, 22. + +Franks, The Ripuarian, 133. + +Franks, Invasion of, 132, 133, 224. + +Frankish influence, 11. + +Freeman, Prof. Aug., 113, 248, 311. + +Frejus, 15. + +French Flanders, 41. + +French Gothic Architecture, 38. + +French Mediaeval Architecture, 38. + +French Revolution, The, 31, 43, 44, 52, 55, 96, 99, 103, 142, 184, 226. + +Fulbert, Bishop of Chartres, 129. + + +"Gallery of Kings," at Amiens, 67. + +Gallery of Kings, The (at Reims), 138, 178. + +Gaucher, 138. + +Geeraerts (of Antwerp), 235. + +Genabum (of Gallia), 150. + +Genoa, 157. + +German manner of building, 27. + +Ghent, 242, 262. + +Gisors, 35. + +Gobelin Tapestries, 76, 143. + +Gonse, 349. + +Good God of Amiens, The, 66. + +Gothic, Development of, 14, 24; + Rudimentary, 16; + Anti, 18; + Non, 18. + +Goujon, Jean, 89, 170. + +Gourney, 35. + +Grand Cathedrals, The, 12, 20, 35, 61-63. + +Granville, 321. + +Grouin, 345. + +Guillaume of Sens, 225. + +Guillaume Bras-de-Fer, 323. + + +Hachette, Jeanne, 76. + +Haffreingue, Mgr., 233. + +Henry I., 129, 133. + +Henry II. (of France), 113, 166, 249. + +Henry II. (of England), 282, 301, 325. + +Henry IV., 30, 96, 133, 153, 183. + +Henry of Navarre, 129. + +House of the Kings, The, 144. + +Hugh II., 215. + +Hugo's "Notre Dame," 106. + +Huguenots, The, 153, 195. + +Humbert, Alberic de, 137. + + +Irene, Princess, 130. + +Isle de la Cite, 105, 106. + +Isle of France, 12, 27, 61. + +Italian influences, 17. + +Ivor (Bishop of Chartres), 212. + + +James (Henry), 163, 204. + +Jean sans Peur, 265. + +Jensen, Nicolas, 164. + +Joannes, Abbe, 253. + +John, Duke of Bedford, 90. + +John the Baptist, 69. + +Jovinus, Tomb of, 142. + +Juste, 170. + + +"Kreisker," The (at St. Pol de Leon), 345. + + +La Hougue, 345. + +Langres, 32. + +Langres, La Montagne de, 218. + +Langres, St. Mammes de, 218-220. + +Laon, 20, 32, 41, 61, 325. + +Laon, Notre Dame de, 43-46, 49, 139, 372-373. + +Laon, Palais de Justice, 46. + +Last Judgment, The (at Bourges), 204. + +Le Mans, 32, 61, 62, 120, 121, 124, 168, 200, 210, 338. + +Le Mans, German invasion of, 120. + +Le Mans, Notre Dame de la Cloture, 180. + +Le Mans, St. Julien, 113-120, 373, 374. + +Leo III., 133. + +Leo IX., 307. + +Le Puy, 33. + +Lescornel, 219. + +Le Tellier, 144. + +Le Veneur, Bishop, 292. + +Libergier, 142. + +Limoges, 151. + +Lisieux, 285, 286, 301. + +Lisieux, St. Pierre de, 301-304. + +Loire, Cathedrals of the, 145. + +Loire, Valley of the, 147, 148. + +Loire, Chateaux of, 18, 32, 147. + +Longsword, William, 89. + +Lorraine, Abbe, 143. + +Loudon, Geoffroy de, 118. + +Louis le Debonnaire, 133. + +Louis le Gros, 133. + +Louis I., 136. + +Louis VI., 94. + +Louis XI., 208, 246. + +Louis XII., 184. + +Louis XII., Tomb of, at St. Denis, 19. + +Louis XIV., 144. + +Louis XVI., 96, 282. + +Louis XVIII., 31, 96, 143. + +Louis Philippe, 31. + +Louviers, 127, 297. + +Low Countries, The, 16, 20. + +Lowell (James Russell), "A Day in Chartres," 126. + +Lowell, Hon. E. J., 310. + +Luitgarde, 165. + +Luzarche, Robert de, 65. + + +Madeleine, The, 96. + +Maid of Orleans, The, 81, 94, 144, 151. + +Maine, 114. + +Maine, Count of, 120. + +Mainz, 214. + +Mansard, 159, 240. + +Margaret of Anjou, 173, 181. + +Marie Antoinette, 96. + +Marie de Medicis, 182. + +Marie Louise, 95. + +Marne, Department of, 132, 134. + +Marne, River, 270. + +Martel, Charles, 133. + +Matilda, queen of William the Conqueror, 129, 310, 311. + +Mazarin (Cardinal), 210. + +Meaux, 270. + +Meaux, St. Etienne de, 270-273, 374. + +Medicis, Marie de, 182. + +Mere de Dieu, 66. + +Metz, 227, 248, 249. + +Meyron, Etchings of, 106. + +Montbray, Geoffroy de, 323. + +Monthery, 89. + +Mont St. Michel, 321, 337, 338; + Abbey of, 338. + +Monuments, Historical, 23, 340. + +Moorish type of architecture at Bourges, 201. + +Moors of Spain, The, 202. + +Moselle, Valley of the, 226. + +Moulins, 36. + +Musee des Petits Augustines, 96. + + +Nancy, 226. + +Nancy, Cathedral at, 227. + +Nantes, 20, 32, 148, 149. + +Nantes, Edict of, 183. + +Nantes, St. Pierre de, 183, 374, 375. + +Naples, 157. + +Napoleon I., 31, 103; + Marriage of, 95. + +Napoleon III., 31, 99. + +Narbonne, 151. + +"Narthex, Burgundian," 258. + +Netherlands, The, 14. + +Neuss, Apse-sided transepts at, 50. + +Nevers, 33, 277. + +Nevers, St. Cyr and St. Juliette de, 209. + +Nevers, St. Etienne de, 212, 216. + +Nevers, The Pont du Loire, 209. + +Nevers, Tour Gougin, 213; + Tour St. Eloi, 213. + +Nicman, Archbishop, 136. + +Nievre, Counts of, 210. + +Nimes, 33. + +Nivernais, The, 210. + +Nogent-les-Vierges, 35. + +Normandy, 115, 176. + +Normandy, Duke of, 89. + +Norsemen, The, 82. + +Notre Dame d'Alencon, 296-298. + +Notre Dame d'Amiens, 64-69, 72, 366, 367. + +Notre Dame d'Auxonne, 220. + +Notre Dame de Bayeux, 310-314, 369. + +Notre Dame de Boulogne-sur-Mer, 231-233. + +Notre Dame de Cambrai, 234-236. + +Notre Dame de Chartres, 121, 139-141, 371. + +Notre Dame de Coutances, 321-325. + +Notre Dame d'Evreux, 288-295, 372. + +Notre Dame de la Cloture (Le Mans), 180. + +Notre Dame de Laon, 43-46, 372. + +Notre Dame de l'Epine, 251. + +Notre Dame de Noyon, 29, 49-53, 199, 375, 376. + +Notre Dame de Paris, 28, 49, 101-107, 139, 140, 199, 376, 377. + +Notre Dame de Reims, 132-144, 248, 249. + +Notre Dame de Rouen, 37, 49, 79-90, 139, 338, 378, 379. + +Notre Dame de St. Lo, 315-318. + +Notre Dame de St. Omer, 237-241, 380. + +Notre Dame de Senlis, 266-269. + +Noviodunum, 51. + +Noyades, The, 184. + +Noyon, 20, 32, 41, 117, 127, 268. + +Noyon, Notre Dame de, 29, 49-53, 199, 375, 376. + + +Odericus Vitalis, Bishop, 302. + +Odon, 323. + +Oise, The River, 50. + +Onfroy, 323. + +Orange, 184. + +Oriflamme, The, 94. + +Orleans, 33, 148, 149. + +Orleans, Captured by Clovis, 151, 152. + +Orleans Family, The, 169. + +Orleans, German occupation of, 151. + +Orleans, St. Croix d', 150-155, 376. + +Orleans, The Maid of, 81, 94, 144, 151. + + +Palais de Justice, Beauvais, 76. + +Parame, 335. + +Paris, 20, 61, 267. + +Paris, Documentary history of, 26. + +Paris, East of, 221. + +Paris, Notre Dame de, 28, 49, 101-107, 139, 140, 199, 217, 376, 377. + +Paroissien, Poncelet, 142. + +Pepersack Tapestries at Reims, The, 143. + +Pepin, 94, 133. + +Perigueux, 15, 33. + +Perpetus, Bishop of Tours, 165. + +Perreal, Jehan, 187. + +Perrifonds, Chateau of, 50. + +Philastre, Cardinal, 137. + +Philippe Augustus, 24, 34, 117. + +Philippe le Bon, 262. + +Philippe le Hardi, 66, 265. + +Picardy, 184. + +Picardy, Patron Saint of, 69. + +Plantagenets, Cradle of the, 173. + +Poitiers, 33. + +Poitiers, Diane de, 89. + +Pont du Loire, Nevers, 209. + +Pope Stephen, 94. + +Portal de St. Honore (Amiens), 67. + +Portal de la Vierge Doree (Amiens), 67. + +Porte d'Arroux, Autun, 257. + +Porte St. Andre, Autun, 257. + +Provence, 211. + + +Quimper, 27, 32, 348. + +Quimper, St. Corentin de, 348-350. + + +Rabelais, 164. + +Rabida, "Bretagne" of, 338. + +Raphael, Tapestry cartoons at S. Kensington, 76. + +Reclus, 215. + +Regnault, 187. + +Regnier, Cardinal, 235. + +Reims, 32, 35, 37, 128, 129, 224, 226, 278. + +Reims, Baptism of Clovis at, 30. + +Reims, Capture of, by Vandals, 132. + +Reims, Cathedral at, 24. + +Reims, Details at, 87. + +Reims, Devastation at, 25. + +Reims, Notre Dame de, 93, 132-144, 248, 249. + +Reims, Portals of Cathedral, 66. + +Reims, Roman remains at, 134. + +Reims, St. Nicaise of, 82. + +Remi, Capital of the, 132. + +Renaissance, The, 16. + +Renaissance Architecture at Bourges, 201. + +Renaissance facade at Tours, 166, 167. + +Renaissance wood-carving, 46. + +Rene, King, 173, 175, 181. + +Reni, Guido, 272. + +Rennes, 15. + +Revolution, The French, 31, 43, 44, 52, 55, 96, 99, 103, 142, 184, 226. + +Rhine, The, 23, 27, 223. + +Rhine Provinces, The, 14. + +Rhone, The, 36. + +Richard Coeur-de-Lion, 90, 113, 120. + +Richard the Fearless, 83. + +Rigobert, Bishop, 133. + +Robert I., Duke of Burgundy, 258, 260. + +Robert, son of Tancrede-de-Hauteville, 323. + +Roger, son of Tancrede-de-Hauteville, 323. + +Rohan, Cardinal de, 243. + +Rollo, 82, 89. + +Romanesque tendencies, 13, 27, 44; + types, 20, 21. + +Roman power, Decline of, 26. + +Roman remains at Reims, 134. + +Romans, The, at Genabum (Orleans), 150. + +Romano-Byzantine work at Beauvais, 75. + +Romano-Byzantine nave at Le Mans, 115. + +Rome, 33. + +Rosary, Chapel of the (Soissons), 57. + +Roscoff, 345. + +Rouen, 19, 35, 37, 61, 62. + +Rouen, Cathedral at, 37, 49, 79-90, 139, 338, 378, 379. + +Rouen, Notre Dame de, 37, 49, 79-90, 139, 338, 378, 379. + +Rouen, Tour de Beurre, 204. + +Royal Domain, The, 223. + +Royale, Rue (Tours), 163. + +Royamont, 35. + +Rubens, 235, 238. + +Rubens, "Adoration" by (Soissons), 58. + +Rumaldi, 136. + +Ruskin on Rouen Cathedral, 85. + +Ruskin, quoted, 72, 81, 128, 285, 302. + + +St. Aignan, 150. + +St. Benigne (Monk of Dijon), 225. + +St. Benigne (Cathedral), 262-265. + +St. Bertin, Abbey of (St. Omer), 225, 240. + +St. Brieuc, 339, 342. + +St. Brieuc, Cathedral of, 342-344. + +St. Corentin, Cathedral of, 27. + +St. Corentin de Quimper, 348-350. + +St. Croix, Abbey of, 318. + +St. Croix d'Orleans, 150-155, 376. + +St. Cyr and St. Juliette de Nevers, 209. + +St. Denis, 19, 61. + +St. Denis, Abbey of, 93. + +St. Denis, Abbot of, 94. + +St. Denis, Basilique de, 93-100, 379. + +St. Denis, Church of (at St. Omer), 225. + +St. Denis, Crypt of, 96. + +St. Deodatus, 254. + +St. Die, 226, 254-256. + +St. Die (Cathedral), 255, 256. + +St. Dionysius, 97, 98. + +St. Etienne d'Auxerre, 191-196, 369. + +St. Etienne de Bourges, 199-208, 370. + +St. Etienne (Chalons-sur-Marne), 251-253, 371. + +St. Etienne de Meaux, 270-273, 374. + +St. Etienne du Mont (Paris), 15, 19. + +St. Etienne de Nevers, 212, 216. + +St. Etienne de Sens, 279-282, 379. + +St. Etienne de Toul, 247-250. + +St. Eustache, Church of, Paris, 196. + +St. Fermin the Martyr, 67, 68. + +St. Francis of Assisi, 188. + +St. Gatien de Tours, 147, 163, 206, 381. + +St. Gengoult, Church of (Toul), 248. + +St. Germain, Church of (at Auxerre), 195. + +St. Jean the Evangel, 218. + +St. Jean des Vignes, Abbey of, 54. + +St. John, 69. + +St. Julien, Church of (at Tours), 169. + +St. Julien, Le Mans, 113-120, 373, 374. + +St. Laud, Bishop, 315. + +St. Lazare d'Autun, 257-261, 368. + +St. Lo, 285, 321. + +St. Lo, Notre Dame de, 315-318. + +St. Louis, 34, 66, 188, 314. + +St. Louis, Arms of, 169. + +St. Louis de Blois, 156. + +St. Louis de Versailles, Cathedral of, 108. + +St. Maclou, Church of (Rouen), 19, 81. + +St. Malo, 335, 338. + +St. Malo, Cathedral of, 336-338. + +St. Mammes de Langres, 218-220. + +Ste. Marguerite, 188. + +St. Martin (of Tours), 165. + +St. Martin, Tour de (at Tours), 165. + +St. Maurice d'Angers, 147, 173-182, 367, 368. + +St. Nazaire (Autun), 258. + +St. Nicaise, 82, 136, 142. + +St. Nicolas de Coutances, 325. + +St. Mellor, 82. + +St. Omer, 27, 223, 225. + +St. Omer, Notre Dame de, 237 241, 380. + +St. Ouen, Church of (Rouen), 15, 30, 80, 87, 241, 277. + +St. Peter's, at Rome, 20. + +"St. Peter's of the North," 71. + +"St. Peter's of the South," 13. + +St. Peter and Paul, Church of (at Tours), 165. + +St. Pierre d'Aleth, 336. + +St. Pierre de Beauvais, 28, 70-76, 140, 369. + +St. Pierre de Coutances, 325. + +St. Pierre de Lisieux, 301-304. + +St. Pierre de Nantes, 183, 374, 375. + +St. Pierre de Troyes, 274-278, 381, 382. + +St. Pol de Leon, 255, 339, 345. + +St. Pol de Leon, Cathedral of, 345-347. + +St. Potentien, 279. + +St. Quentin, Maze at, 131. + +St. Remi, 31, 133, 134, 136. + +St. Samson, 329-332. + +St. Savinien, 279, 282. + +St. Sepulchre, Church of (at St. Omer), 240. + +St. Servan, 335, 338. + +St. Sixte, 132. + +St. Urbain, 275. + +St. Vaast d'Arras, 242-246, 345, 368. + +St. Yves, 341. + +"Sainte Ampoule," The, 25, 143. + +Salisbury, Cathedral at, 64, 384. + +Salisbury, John of, 129. + +Saracen type of architecture at Bourges, 201. + +Seez, 61, 267, 277, 305. + +Seez, Notre Dame de, 305-309. + +Seine, The, 36, 106. + +Seine and Loire (by J. M. W. Turner), 169. + +Seine, Department of, 108. + +Senlis, 266. + +Senlis, Notre Dame de, 266-269. + +Sens, 61, 279. + +Sens, Guillaume of, 225, 280. + +Sens, St. Etienne de, 279-282, 379. + +Seville, Cathedral at, 20. + +Shakespeare on Angers (in "King John"), 173. + +Societe des Monuments Historiques, 35, 170, 176. + +Soissons, 20, 32, 41, 117, 133, 268. + +Soissons, Bombardment of, by the Germans, 56. + +Soissons, Notre Dame de, 54-58. + +South Kensington, 272. + +Stephen, Pope, 136. + +Stevenson (Robert Louis), 28, 42. + +Strasbourg, 248. + +Strasburg, Cathedral at, 126, 135, 227. + +Suger, Abbot, The, 94, 97. + +"Suisse, The," 80. + + +Tancrede-de-Hauteville, 323. + +Tapestries at Angers, 181. + +Tapestries at Bayeux, 310-311. + +Tapestries at Le Mans, 120. + +Tapestries at Reims, 142, 143. + +Tapestries at Soissons, 58. + +Tapestries from Raphael's cartoons (at Beauvais), 76. + +Tapestry-making at Beauvais, 76; + at Paris; at Arras, 76, 242, 245, 246. + +Tetricus, 226. + +Texier, 126, 131. + +"Therouanne, The Great God of," 240. + +Torenai River, 258. + +Torlonia, Prince Alex, 233. + +Toul, 226, 247-250. + +Toul, St. Etienne de, 247-250. + +Toulouse, 151. + +Tour d'Auvergne, Cardinal de la, 244. + +Tour de Beurre (Rouen), 84, 89. + +Tour de Charlemagne (at Tours), 165. + +Tour de Hasting (at Treguier), 340. + +Tour Gougin (at Nevers), 213. + +Tour de l'Horloge (at Tours), 165. + +Tour St. Eloi (at Nevers), 213. + +Tour de St. Martin (at Tours), 165. + +Touraine, Old, 163. + +Tournai, 41. + +Tours, 18, 33, 277. + +Tours, Church of St. Peter and Paul, 165. + +Tours, St. Gatien de, 147, 163, 206, 381. + +Tours (St. Martin of), 165. + +Tours, West front of St. Gatien, 74. + +Transition examples, 39. + +Transition Style of Architecture, The, 176. + +Treguier, 32, 255, 339. + +Treguier, Cathedral of, 339-341. + +"Tresor," The, at Reims, 143. + +"Tresor," The, at Troyes, 278. + +"Tresor," The, at Sens, 282. + +"Tresor," The, at Bayeux, 314. + +Treves, 214. + +Trianons, The, 108. + +Troyes, 20, 61, 274, 275. + +Troyes, St. Pierre de, 274-278, 381, 382. + +Turner (J. M. W.), "Seine and Loire," 169. + + +Valence, 36. + +Valois Branch of the Orleans Family, 169. + +Vannes, 351. + +Vannes, Cathedral of, 351, 352. + +Vauban, 244. + +Vaucluse, 184. + +Vendome, Matthieu de, 99. + +Versailles, Fountains at, 108. + +Versailles, St. Louis de, 108. + +Villeneuve, Bishop de, 193. + +Villers-St.-Pol, 35. + +Viollet-le-Duc, 83, 96, 99, 139, 181, 349. + +Vire, River, 315. + + +Wellington, Duke of, 175. + +Westphalia, Treaty of, 249. + +William, Duke of Normandy, 323. + +Winchester, Henry, Bishop of, 121. + +Winchester, Prelate of, 303. + +Wood-carving (at Amiens), 68. + +Worms, 214. + + +Yonne, The River, 191. + +Young, Arthur, 36, 209. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Cathedrals of Northern France, by +Francis Miltoun + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CATHEDRALS OF NORTHERN FRANCE *** + +***** This file should be named 29820.txt or 29820.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/8/2/29820/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Chuck Greif and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + +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. 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