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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/8594-8.txt b/8594-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f9cea1f --- /dev/null +++ b/8594-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1492 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Normandy, Part 2, by Gordon Home + +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: Normandy, Part 2 + The Scenery & Romance Of Its Ancient Towns + +Author: Gordon Home + +Release Date: August 11, 2004 [EBook #8594] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NORMANDY, PART 2 *** + + + + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Beth Trapaga and the Distributed Proofreading +Team + + + + + + +NORMANDY: + +THE SCENERY & ROMANCE OF ITS ANCIENT TOWNS: + +DEPICTED BY GORDON HOME + +Part 2. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +Concerning the Cathedral City of Evreux and the Road to Bernay + +The tolling of the deep-toned bourdon in the cathedral tower reverberates +over the old town of Evreux as we pass along the cobbled streets. There is +a yellow evening light overhead, and the painted stucco walls of the houses +reflect the soft, glowing colour of the west. In the courtyard of the Hotel +du Grand Cerf, too, every thing is bathed in this beautiful light and the +double line of closely trimmed laurels has not yet been deserted by the +golden flood. But Evreux does not really require a fine evening to make it +attractive, although there is no town in existence that is not improved +under such conditions. With the magnificent cathedral, the belfry, the +Norman church of St Taurin and the museum, besides many quaint peeps by the +much sub-divided river Iton that flows through the town, there is +sufficient to interest one even on the dullest of dull days. + +Of all the cathedral interiors in Normandy there are none that possess a +finer or more perfectly proportioned nave than Evreux, and if I were asked +to point out the two most impressive interiors of the churches in this +division of France I should couple the cathedral at Evreux with St Ouen at +Rouen. + +It was our own Henry I. who having destroyed the previous building set to +work to build a new one and it is his nave that we see to-day. The whole +cathedral has since that time been made to reflect the changing ideals of +the seven centuries that have passed. The west front belongs entirely to +the Renaissance period and the north transept is in the flamboyant style of +the fifteenth century so much in evidence in Normandy and so infrequent in +England. + +The central tower with its tall steeple now encased in scaffolding was +built in 1470 by Cardinal Balue, Bishop of Evreux and inventor of the +fearful wooden cages in one of which the prisoner Dubourg died at Mont St +Michel. + +In most of the windows there is old and richly coloured glass; those in the +chancel have stronger tones, but they all transform the shafts of light +into gorgeous rainbow effects which stand out in wonderful contrast to the +delicate, creamy white of the stone-work. Pale blue banners are suspended +in the chancel, and the groining above is coloured on each side of the +bosses for a short distance, so that as one looks up the great sweep of the +nave, the banners and the brilliant fifteenth century glass appear as vivid +patches of colour beyond the uniform, creamy grey on either side. The +Norman towers at the west end of the cathedral are completely hidden in the +mask of classical work planted on top of the older stone-work in the +sixteenth century, and more recent restoration has altered some of the +other features of the exterior. At the present day the process of +restoration still goes on, but the faults of our grandfathers fortunately +are not repeated. + +Leaving the Place Parvis by the Rue de l'Horloge you come to the great open +space in front of the Hotel de Ville and the theatre with the museum on the +right, in which there are several Roman remains discovered at Vieil-Evreux, +among them being a bronze statue of Jupiter Stator. On the opposite side of +the Place stands the beautiful town belfry built at the end of the +fifteenth century. There was an earlier one before that time, but I do not +know whether it had been destroyed during the wars with the English, or +whether the people of Evreux merely raised the present graceful tower in +place of the older one with a view to beautifying the town. The bell, which +was cast in 1406 may have hung in the former structure, and there is some +fascination in hearing its notes when one realises how these same sound +waves have fallen on the ears of the long procession of players who have +performed their parts within its hearing. A branch of the Iton runs past +the foot of the tower in canal fashion; it is backed by old houses and +crossed by many a bridge, and helps to build up a suitable foreground to +the beautiful old belfry, which seems to look across to the brand new Hotel +de Ville with an injured expression. From the Boulevard Chambaudouin there +is a good view of one side of the Bishop's palace which lies on the south +side of the cathedral, and is joined to it by a gallery and the remains of +the cloister. The walls are strongly fortified, and in front of them runs a +branch of one of the canals of the Iton, that must have originally served +as a moat. + +Out towards the long straight avenue that runs out of the town in the +direction of Caen, there may be seen the Norman church of St Taurin. It is +all that is left of the Benedictine abbey that once stood here. Many people +who explore this interesting church fail to see the silver-gilt reliquary +of the twelfth century that is shown to visitors who make the necessary +inquiries. The richness of its enamels and the elaborate ornamentation +studded with imitation gems that have replaced the real ones, makes this +casket almost unique. + +Many scenes from the life of the saint are shown in the windows of the +choir of the church. They are really most interesting, and the glass is +very beautiful. The south door must have been crowded with the most +elaborate ornament, but the delicately carved stone-work has been hacked +away and the thin pillars replaced by crude, uncarved chunks of stone. +There is Norman arcading outside the north transept as well as just above +the floor in the north aisle. St Taurin is a somewhat dilapidated and +cob-webby church, but it is certainly one of the interesting features of +Evreux. + +Instead of keeping on the road to Caen after reaching the end of the great +avenue just mentioned, we turn towards the south and soon enter pretty +pastoral scenery. The cottages are almost in every instance thatched, with +ridges plastered over with a kind of cobb mud. In the cracks in this +curious ridging, grass seeds and all sorts of wild flowers are soon +deposited, so that upon the roof of nearly every cottage there is a +luxuriant growth of grass and flowers. In some cases yellow irises alone +ornament the roofs, and they frequently grow on the tops of the walls that +are treated in a similar fashion. A few miles out of Evreux you pass a +hamlet with a quaint little church built right upon the roadway with no +churchyard or wall of any description. A few broken gravestones of quite +recent date litter the narrow, dusty space between the north side of the +church and the roadway. Inside there is an untidy aspect to everything, but +there are some windows containing very fine thirteenth century glass which +the genial old cure shows with great delight, for it is said that they were +intended for the cathedral at Evreux, but by some chance remained in this +obscure hamlet. The cure also points out the damage done to the windows by +_socialistes_ at a recent date. + +By the roadside towards Conches, there are magpies everywhere, punctuated +by yellow hammers and nightingales. The cottages have thatch of a very deep +brown colour over the hipped roofs, closely resembling those in the +out-of-the-way parts of Sussex. It a beautiful country, and the +delightfully situated town of Conches at the edge of its forest is well +matched with its surroundings. + +In the middle of the day the inhabitants seem to entirely disappear from +the sunny street, and everything has a placid and reposeful appearance as +though the place revelled in its quaintness. Backed by the dense masses of +forest there is a sloping green where an avenue of great chestnuts tower +above the long, low roof of the timber-framed cattle shelter. On the +highest part of the hill stands the castle, whose round, central tower +shows above the trees that grow thickly on the slopes of the hill. Close to +the castle is the graceful church, and beyond are the clustered roofs of +the houses. A viaduct runs full tilt against the hill nearly beneath the +church, and then the railway pierces the hill on its way towards Bernay. +The tall spire of the church of St Foy is comparatively new, for the whole +structure was rebuilt in the fifteenth century, but its stained glass is of +exceptional interest. Its richness of colour and the interest of the +subjects indicate some unusually gifted artist, and one is not surprised to +discover that they were designed by Aldegrevers, who was trained by that +great master Albrecht Dyrer. Altogether there are twenty-one of these +beautiful windows. Seven occupy the eastern end of the apse and give scenes +taken from the life of St Foy. + +You can reach the castle by passing through the quaint archway of the Hotel +de Ville, and then passing through the shady public garden you plunge into +the dry moat that surrounds the fortified mound. There is not very much to +see but what appears in a distant view of the town, and in many ways the +outside groupings of the worn ruin and the church roofs and spire above the +houses are better than the scenes in the town itself. The Hotel Croix +Blanche is a pleasant little house for dejeuner. Everything is extremely +simple and typical of the family methods of the small French inn, where +excellent cooking goes along with many primitive usages. The cool +salle-a-manger is reached through the general living-room and kitchen, +which is largely filled with the table where you may see the proprietor +and his family partaking of their own meals. There seems no room to cook +anything at all, and yet when you are seated in the next room the +daughter of the family, an attractive and neatly dressed girl, +gracefully serves the most admirable courses, worthy and perhaps better +than what one may expect to obtain in the best hotel in Rouen. + +There is a road that passes right through the forest of Conches towards +Rugles, but that must be left for another occasion if we are to see +anything of the charms of Beaumont-le-Roger, the perfectly situated little +town that lies half-way between Conches and Bernay. + +The long street of the town containing some very charming peeps as you go +towards the church is really a terrace on the limestone hills that rises +behind the houses on the right, and falls steeply on the left. Spaces +between the houses and narrow turnings give glimpses of the rich green +country down below. From the lower level you see the rocky ridge above +clothed in a profusion of trees. The most perfect picture in the town is +from the river bank just by the bridge. In the foreground is the +mirror-like stream that gives its own rendering of the scene that is built +up above it. Leaning upon a parapet of the bridge is a man with a rod who +is causing tragedies in the life that teems beneath the glassy surface. +Beyond the bridge appear some quaint red roofs with one tower-like house +with an overhanging upper storey. Higher up comes the precipitous hill +divided into terraces by the huge walls that surround the abbey buildings, +and still higher, but much below the highest part of the hill, are the +picturesque ruins of the abbey. On the summit of the ridge dominating all +are the insignificant remains of the castle built by Roger a la Barbe, +whose name survives in that of the town. His family were the founders of +the abbey that flourished for several centuries, but finally, about a +hundred years ago, the buildings were converted to the uses of a factory! +Spinning and weaving might have still been going on but for a big fire that +destroyed the whole place. There was, however, a considerably more complete +series of buildings left than we can see to-day, but scarcely more than +fifty years ago the place was largely demolished for building materials. +The view from the river Rille is therefore the best the ruin can boast, for +seen from that point the arches rise up against the green background as a +stately ruin, and the tangled mass of weeds and debris are invisible. The +entrance is most inviting. It is down at the foot of the cliff, and the +archway with the steep ascent inside suggests all sorts of delights beyond, +as it stands there just by the main street of the town. I was sorry +afterwards, that I had accepted that hospitality, for with the exception of +a group of merry children playing in an orchard and some big caves hollowed +out of the foot of the cliff that rises still higher, I saw nothing but a +jungle of nettles. This warning should not, however, suggest that +Beaumont-le-Roger is a poor place to visit. Not only is it a charming, I +may say a fascinating spot to visit, but it is also a place in which to +stay, for the longer you remain there the less do you like the idea of +leaving. The church of St Nicholas standing in the main street where it +becomes much wider and forms a small Place, is a beautiful old building +whose mellow colours on stone-work and tiles glow vividly on a sunny +afternoon. There is a great stone wall forming the side of the rocky +platform that supports the building and the entrance is by steps that lead +up to the west end. The tower belongs to the flamboyant period and high up +on its parapet you may see a small statue of Regulus who does duty as a +"Jack-smite-the-clock." Just by the porch there leans against a wall a most +ponderous grave slab which was made for the tomb of Jehan du Moustier a +soldier of the fourteenth century who fought for that Charles of Navarre +who was surnamed "The Bad." The classic additions to the western part of +the church seem strangely out of sympathy with the gargoyles overhead and +the thirteenth century arcades of the nave, but this mixing up of styles is +really more incongruous in description than in reality. + +When you have decided to leave Beaumont-le-Roger and have passed across the +old bridge and out into the well-watered plain, the position of the little +town suggests that of the village of Pulborough in Sussex, where a road +goes downhill to a bridge and then crosses the rich meadowland where the +river Arun winds among the pastures in just the same fashion as the Rille. + +At a bend in the road to Bernay stands the village of Serquigny. It is just +at the edge of the forest of Beaumont which we have been skirting, and +besides having a church partially belonging to the twelfth century it has +traces of a Roman Camp. All the rest of the way to Bernay the road follows +the railway and the river Charentonne until the long--and when you are +looking out for the hotel--seemingly endless street of Bernay is reached. +After the wonderful combination of charms that are flaunted by +Beaumont-le-Roger it is possible to grumble at the plainer features of +Bernay, but there is really no reason to hurry out of the town for there is +much quaint architecture to be seen, and near the Hotel du Lion d'Or there +is a house built right over the street resting on solid wooden posts. But +more interesting than the domestic architecture are the remains of the +abbey founded by Judith of Brittany very early in the eleventh century for +it is probably one of the oldest Romanesque remains in Normandy. The church +is cut up into various rooms and shops at the choir end, and there has been +much indiscriminate ill-treatment of the ancient stone-work. Much of the +structure, including the plain round arches and square columns, is of the +very earliest Norman period, having been built in the first half of the +eleventh century, but in later times classic ornament was added to the work +of those shadowy times when the kingdom of Normandy had not long been +established. So much alteration in the styles of decoration has taken place +in the building that it is possible to be certain of the date of only some +portions of the structure. The Hotel de Ville now occupies part of the +abbey buildings. + +At the eastern side of the town stands St Croix, a fifteenth century church +with a most spacious interior. There is much beautiful glass dating from +three hundred years ago in the windows of the nave and transepts, but +perhaps the feature which will be remembered most when other impressions +have vanished, will be the finely carved statues belonging to the +fourteenth century which were brought here from the Abbey of Bec. The south +transept contains a monument to Guillaume Arvilarensis, an abbot of Bec who +died in 1418. Upon the great altar which is believed to have been brought +from the Abbey of Bec, there are eight marble columns surrounding a small +white marble figure of the Child Jesus. + +Another church at Bernay is that of Notre Dame de la Couture. It has much +fourteenth century work and behind the high altar there are five chapels, +the centre one containing a copy of the "sacred image" of Notre Dame which +stands by the column immediately to the right of the entrance. Much more +could be said of these three churches with their various styles of +architecture extending from the very earliest period down to the classic +work of the seventeenth century. But this is not the place for intricate +descriptions of architectural detail which are chiefly useful in books +which are intended for carrying from place to place. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +Concerning Lisieux and the Romantic Town of Falaise + +Lisieux is so rich in the curious timber-framed houses of the middle and +later ages that there are some examples actually visible immediately +outside the railway station whereas in most cases one usually finds an +aggregation of uninteresting modern buildings. As you go towards the centre +of the town the old houses, which have only been dotted about here and +there, join hands and form whole streets of the most romantic and almost +stage-like picturesqueness. The narrow street illustrated here is the Rue +aux Fevres. Its houses are astonishingly fine, and it forms--especially in +the evening--a background suitable for any of the stirring scenes that took +place in such grand old towns as Lisieux in medieval days. This street is +however, only one of several that reek of history. In the Rue des +Boucheries and in the Grande Rue there are lovely overhanging gables and +curious timber-framing that is now at any angle but what was originally +intended. There is really so much individual quaintness in these houses +that they deserve infinitely more than the scurry past them which so +frequently is all their attractions obtain. The narrowness and fustiness of +the Rue aux Fevres certainly hinder you from spending much time in +examining the houses but there are two which deserve a few minutes' +individual attention. One which has a very wide gable and the upper floors +boarded is believed to be of very great antiquity, dating from as early a +period as the thirteenth century. It is numbered thirty-three, and must not +be confused with the richly ornamented Manoir de Francois I. The timber +work of this house, especially of the two lower floors is covered with +elaborate carving including curious animals and quaint little figures, and +also the salamander of the royal house. For this reason the photographs +sold in the shops label the house "Manoir de la Salamandre." The place is +now fast going to ruin--a most pitiable sight and I for one, would prefer +to see the place restored rather than it should be allowed to become so +hopelessly dilapidated and rotten that the question of its preservation +should come to be considered lightly. + +If the town authorities of Lisieux chose to do so, they could encourage the +townsfolk to enrich many of their streets by a judicious flaking off of the +plaster which in so many cases tries to hide all the pleasant features of +houses that have seen at least three centuries, but this sort of work when +in the hands of only partially educated folk is liable to produce a worse +state of affairs than if things had been left untouched. An example of what +over-restoration can do, may be seen when we reach the beautiful old inn at +Dives. + +The two churches of Lisieux are well fitted to their surroundings, and +although St Jacques has no graceful tower or fleche, the quaintness of its +shingled belfry makes up for the lack of the more stately towers of St +Pierre. Where the stone-work has stopped short the buttresses are roofed +with the quaintest semi-circular caps, and over the clock there are two +more odd-looking pepper boxes perched upon the steep slope that projects +from the square belfry. Over all there is a low pyramidal roof, stained +with orange lichen and making a great contrast in colour to the +weather-beaten stone-work down below. There are small patches of tiled +roofing to the buttresses at the western ends of the aisles and these also +add colour to this picturesque building. The great double flight of stone +steps which lead to the imposing western door have balustrades filled with +flamboyant tracery, but although the church is built up in this way, the +floor in the interior is not level, for it slopes gently up towards the +east. The building was commenced during the reign of Louis XII. and not +finished until nearly the end of the reign of Francois I. It is therefore +coeval with that richly carved house in the Rue aux Fevres. Along the sides +of the church there project a double row of thirsty-looking gargoyles--the +upper ones having their shoulders supported by the mass of masonry +supporting the flying buttresses. The interior is richer than the exterior, +and you may see on some of the pillars remains of sixteenth century +paintings. A picture dating from 1681 occupies a position in the chapel of +St Ursin in the south aisle; it shows the relic of the saint being brought +to Lisieux in 1055. + +The wide and sunny Place Thiers is dominated by the great church of St +Pierre, which was left practically in its present form in the year 1233. +The first church was begun some years before the conquest of England but +about a century later it suffered the fate of Bayeux being burnt down in +1136. It was reconstructed soon afterwards and shows to-day the first +period of Gothic architecture that became prevalent in Normandy. Only the +north tower dates from this period, the other one had to be rebuilt during +the reign of Henri III. and the spire only made its appearance in the +seventeenth century. The Lady Chapel is of particular interest owing to the +statement that it was built by that Bishop of Beauvais who took such a +prominent part in the trial of Joan of Arc. The main arches over the big +west door are now bare of carving or ornament and the Hotel de Ville is +built right up against the north-west corner, but despite this St Pierre +has the most imposing and stately appearance, and there are many features +such as the curious turrets of the south transept that impress themselves +on the memory more than some of the other churches we have seen. + +Lisieux is one of those cheerful towns that appear always clean and bright +under the dullest skies, so that when the sun shines every view seems +freshly painted and blazing with colour. The freshness of the atmosphere, +too, is seldom tainted with those peculiar odours that some French towns +produce with such enormous prodigality, and Lisieux may therefore claim a +further point in its favour. + +It is generally a wide, hedgeless stretch of country that lies between +Lisieux and Falaise, but for the first ten miles there are big farm-houses +with timber-framed barns and many orchards bearing a profusion of blossom +near the roadside. A small farm perched above the road and quite out of +sight, invites the thirsty passer-by to turn aside up a steep path to +partake of cider or coffee. It is a simple, almost bare room where the +refreshment is served, but its quaintness and shadowy coolness are most +refreshing. The fireplace has an open hearth with a wood fire which can +soon be blown into a blaze by the big bellows that hang against the chimney +corner. A table by one of the windows is generally occupied in her spare +moments by the farmer's pretty daughter who puts aside her knitting to +fetch the cider or to blow up the fire for coffee. They are a most genial +family and seem to find infinite delight in plying English folk with +questions for I imagine that not many find their way to this sequestered +corner among waving trees and lovely orchards. + +A sudden descent before reaching St Pierre-sur-Dives gives a great view +over the level country below where everything is brilliantly green and +garden-like. The village first shows its imposing church through the trees +of a straight avenue leading towards the village which also possesses a +fine Market Hall that must be at least six hundred years old. The church is +now undergoing restoration externally, but by dodging the falling cement +dust you may go inside, perhaps to be disappointed that there is not more +of the Norman work that has been noticed in the southern tower that rises +above the entrance. The village, or it should really be called a small +town, for its population is over a thousand, has much in it that is +attractive and quaint, and it might gain more attention if everyone who +passes through its streets were not hurrying forward to Falaise. + +The country now becomes a great plain, hedgeless, and at times almost +featureless. The sun in the afternoon throws the shadows of the roadside +trees at right angles, so that the road becomes divided into accurate +squares by the thin lines of shadow. The straight run from St Pierre is +broken where the road crosses the Dives. It is a pretty spot with a farm, a +manor-house and a washing place for women just below the bridge, and then +follows more open road and more interminable perspectives cutting through +the open plain until, with considerable satisfaction, the great +thoroughfare from Caen is joined and soon afterwards a glimpse of the +castle greets us as we enter Falaise. + +There is something peculiarly fascinating about Falaise, for it combines +many of the features that are sparingly distributed in other towns. Its +position on a hill with deep valleys on all sides, its romantic castle, the +two beautiful churches and the splendid thirteenth century gateway, form +the best remembered attractions, but beyond these there are the hundred and +one pretty groupings of the cottages that crowd both banks of the little +river Ante down in the valley under the awe-inspiring castle. + +Even then, no mention has been made of the ancient fronts that greet one in +many of the streets, and the charms of some of the sudden openings between +the houses that give views of the steep, wooded hollows that almost touch +the main street, have been slighted. A huge cube of solid masonry with a +great cylindrical tower alongside perched upon a mass of rock precipitous +on two sides is the distant view of the castle, and coming closer, although +you can see the buttresses that spring from the rocky foundations, the +description still holds good. You should see the fortress in the twilight +with a golden suffusion in the sky and strange, purplish shadows on the +castle walls. It then has much the appearance of one of those unassailable +strongholds where a beautiful princess is lying in captivity waiting for a +chivalrous knight who with a band of faithful men will attempt to scale the +inaccessible walls. Under some skies, the castle assumes the character of +one of Turner's impressions, half real and half imaginary, and under no +skies does this most formidable relic of feudal days ever lose its grand +and awesome aspect. The entrance is through a gateway, the Porte St. +Nicolas, which was built in the thirteenth century. There you are taken in +hand by a pleasant concierge who will lead you first of all to the Tour La +Reine, where he will point out a great breach in the wall made by Henri IV. +when he successfully assaulted the castle after a bombardment with his +artillery which he had kept up for a week. This was in 1589, and since then +no other fighting has taken place round these grand old walls. The ivy that +clings to the ruins and the avenue of limes that leads up to the great keep +are full of jackdaws which wheel round the rock in great flights. You have +a close view of the great Tour Talbot, and then pass through a small +doorway in the northern face of the citadel. Inside, the appearance of the +walls reveals the restoration which has taken place within recent years. +But this, fortunately, does not detract to any serious extent from the +interest of the whole place. Up on the ramparts there are fine views over +the surrounding country, and immediately beneath the precipice below nestle +the picturesque, browny-red roofs of the lower part of the town. Just at +the foot of the castle rock there is still to be seen a tannery which is of +rather unusual interest in connection with the story of how Robert le +Diable was first struck by the charms of Arlette, the beautiful daughter of +a tanner. The Norman duke was supposed to have been looking over the +battlements when he saw this girl washing clothes in the river, and we are +told that owing to the warmth of the day she had drawn up her dress, so +that her feet, which are spoken of as being particularly beautiful were +revealed to his admiring gaze. Arlette afterwards became the mother of +William the Conqueror, and the room is pointed out in the south-west corner +of the keep in which we are asked to believe that the Conqueror of England +was born. It is, however, unfortunate for the legend that archaeologists do +not allow such an early date for the present castle, and thus we are not +even allowed to associate these ramparts with the legend just mentioned. It +must have been a strong building that preceded this present structure, for +during the eleventh century William the Norman was often obliged to retreat +for safety to his impregnable birthplace. The Tour Talbot has below its +lowest floor what seems to be a dungeon, but it is said that prisoners were +not kept here, the place being used merely for storing food. The gloomy +chamber, however, is generally called an oubliette. Above, there are other +floors, the top one having been used by the governor of the castle. In the +thickness of the wall there is a deep well which now contains no water. One +of the rooms in the keep is pointed out as that in which Prince Arthur was +kept in confinement, but although it is known that the unfortunate youth +was imprisoned in this castle, the selection of the room seems to be +somewhat arbitrary. + +In 1428 the news of Joan of Arc's continued successes was brought to the +Earl of Salisbury who was then governor of Falaise Castle, and it was from +here that he started with an army to endeavour to stop that triumphal +progress. In 1450 when the French completely overcame the numerous English +garrisons in the towns of Normandy, Falaise with its magnificent position +held out for some time. The defenders sallied out from the walls of the +town but were forced back again, and notwithstanding their courage, the +town capitulated to the Duke of Alencon's army at almost the same time as +Avranches and a dozen other strongly defended towns. We can picture to +ourselves the men in glinting head-pieces sallying from the splendid old +gateway known as the Port des Cordeliers. It has not lost its formidable +appearance even to-day, though as you look through the archway the scene is +quiet enough, and the steep flight of outside steps leads up to scenes of +quiet domestic life. The windows overlook the narrow valley beneath where +the humble roofs of the cottages jostle one another for space. There are +many people who visit Falaise who never have the curiosity to explore this +unusually pleasing part of the town. In the spring when the lilac bushes +add their brilliant colour to the russet brown tiles and soft creams of the +stone-work, there are pictures on every side. Looking in the cottages you +may see, generally within a few feet of the door, one of those ingenious +weaving machines that are worked with a treadle, and take up scarcely any +space at all. If you ask permission, the cottagers have not the slightest +objection to allowing you to watch them at their work, and when one sees +how rapidly great lengths of striped material grow under the revolving +metal framework, you wonder that Falaise is not able to supply the demands +of the whole republic for this class of material. + +Just by the Hotel de Ville and the church of La Trinite stands the imposing +statue of William the Conqueror. He is mounted on the enormous war-horse of +the period and the whole effect is strong and spirited. The most notable +feature of the exterior of the church of La Trinite is the curious +passage-way that goes underneath the Lady Chapel behind the High Altar. The +whole of the exterior is covered with rich carving, crocketed finials, +innumerable gargoyles and the usual enriched mouldings of Gothic +architecture. The charm of the interior is heightened if one enters in the +twilight when vespers are proceeding. There is just sufficient light to +show up the tracery of the windows and the massive pointed arches in the +choir. A few candles burn by the altar beyond the dark mass of figures +forming the congregation. A Gregorian chant fills the building with its +solemn tones and the smoke of a swinging censer ascends in the shadowy +chancel. Then, as the service proceeds, one candle above the altar seems to +suddenly ignite the next, and a line of fire travels all over the great +erection surrounding the figure of the Virgin, leaving in its trail a blaze +of countless candles that throw out the details of the architecture in +strong relief. Soon the collection is made, and as the priest passes round +the metal dish, he is followed by the cocked-hatted official whose +appearance is so surprising to those who are not familiar with French +churches. As the priest passes the dish to each row the official brings his +metal-headed staff down upon the pavement with a noisy bang that is +calculated to startle the unwary into dropping their money anywhere else +than in the plate. In time the bell rings beside the altar, and the priest +robed in white and gold elevates the host before the kneeling congregation. +Once more the man in the cocked hat becomes prominent as he steps into the +open space between the transepts and tolls the big bell in the tower above. +Then a smaller and much more cheerful bell is rung, and fearing the arrival +of another collecting priest we slip out of the swinging doors into the +twilight that has now almost been swallowed up in the gathering darkness. + +The consecration of the splendid Norman church of St Gervais took place in +the presence of Henry I. but there is nothing particularly English in any +part of the exterior. The central tower has four tall and deeply recessed +arches (the middle ones contain windows) on each side, giving a rich +arcaded appearance. Above, rises a tall pointed roof ornamented with four +odd-looking dormers near the apex. Every one remarks on their similarity to +dovecots and one almost imagines that they must have been built as a place +of shelter on stormy days for the great gilded cock that forms the weather +vane. The nave is still Norman on the south side, plain round-headed +windows lighting the clerestory, but the aisles were rebuilt in the +flamboyant period and present a rich mass of ornament in contrast to the +unadorned masonry of the nave. The western end until lately had to endure +the indignity of having its wall surfaces largely hidden by shops and +houses. These have now disappeared, but the stone-work has not been +restored, and you may still see a section of the interior of the house that +formerly used the west end of the south aisle as one of its walls. You can +see where the staircases went, and you may notice also how wantonly these +domestic builders cut away the buttresses and architectural enrichments to +suit the convenience of their own needs. + +As you go from the market-place along the street that runs from St Gervais +to the suburb of Guibray, the shops on the left are exchanged for a low +wall over which you see deep, grassy hollows that come right up to the edge +of the street. Two fine houses, white-shuttered and having the usual vacant +appearance, stand on steep slopes surrounded by great cedars of Lebanon and +a copper beech. + +The church of Guibray is chiefly Norman--it is very white inside and there +is some round-headed arcading in the aisles. The clustered columns of the +nave have simple, pointed arches, and there is a carved marble altarpiece +showing angels supporting the Virgin who is gazing upwards. The aisles of +the chancel are restored Norman, and the stone-work is bright green just +above the floor through the dampness that seems to have defied the efforts +of the restorers. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +From Argentan to Avranches + +Between tall poplars whose stems are splotched with grey lichen and whose +feet are grown over with browny-green moss, runs the road from Falaise to +Argentan, straight and white, with scarcely more than the slightest bend, +for the whole eight miles. It is typical of the roads in this part of the +country and beyond the large stone four or five kilometres outside Falaise, +marking the boundary between Calvados and Orne, and the railway which one +passes soon afterwards, there is nothing to break the undulating monotony +of the boundless plain. + +We cannot all hope to have this somewhat dull stretch of country relieved +by any exciting event, but I can remember one spring afternoon being +overtaken by two mounted gendarmes in blue uniforms, galloping for their +very lives. I looked down the road into the cloud of dust raised by the +horses' hoofs, but the country on all sides lay calm and deserted, and I +was left in doubt as to the reason for this astonishing haste. Half an hour +afterwards a group of people appeared in the distance, and on approaching +closer, they proved to be the two gendarmes leading their blown horses as +they walked beside a picturesque group of apparently simple peasants, the +three men wearing the typical soft, baggy cap and blue smock of the country +folk. The little group had a gloomy aspect, which was explained when I +noticed that the peasants were joined together by a bright steel chain. +Evidently something was very much amiss with one of the peaceful villages +lying near the road. + +After a time, at the end of the long white perspective, appear the towers +of the great church of St Germain that dominate the town where Henry II. +was staying when he made that rash exclamation concerning his "turbulent +priest." It was from Argentan that those four knights set out for England +and Canterbury to carry out the deed, for which Henry lay in ashes for five +weeks in this very place. But there is little at the present time at +Argentan to remind one that it is in any way associated with the murder of +Becket. The castle that now exists is occupied by the Courts of Justice and +was partially built in the Renaissance period. Standing close to it, is an +exceedingly tall building with a great gable that suggests an +ecclesiastical origin, and on looking a little closer one soon discovers +blocked up Gothic windows and others from which the tracery has been +hacked. This was the chapel of the castle which has been so completely +robbed of its sanctity that it is now cut up into small lodgings, and in +one of its diminutive shops, picture post-cards of the town are sold. + +The ruins of the old castle are not very conspicuous, for in the +seventeenth century the great keep was demolished. There is still a fairly +noticeable round tower--the Tour Marguerite--which has a pointed roof above +its corbels, or perhaps they should be called machicolations. In the Place +Henri IV. stands a prominent building that projects over the pavement +supported by massive pointed arches, and with this building in the +foreground there is one of the best views of St Germain that one can find +in the town. Just before coming to the clock that is suspended over the +road by the porch of the church, there is a butcher's shop at the street +corner that has a piece of oak carving preserved on account of its interest +while the rest of the building has been made featureless with even plaster. +The carving shows Adam and Eve standing on either side of a formal Tree of +Life, and the butcher, who is pleased to find a stranger who notices this +little curiosity, tells him with great pride that his house dates from the +fifteenth century. The porch of St Germain is richly ornamented, but it +takes a second place to the south porch of the church of Notre Dame at +Louviers and may perhaps seem scarcely worthy of comment after St Maclou at +Rouen. The structure as a whole was commenced in 1424, and the last portion +of the work only dates from the middle of the seventeenth century. The +vaulting of the nave has a very new and well-kept appearance and the side +altars, in contrast to so many of even the large churches, are almost +dignified in their somewhat restrained and classic style. The high altar is +a stupendous erection of two storeys with Corinthian pillars. Nine long, +white, pendant banners are conspicuous on the walls of the chancel. The +great altars and the lesser ones that crowd the side chapels are subject to +the accumulation of dirt as everything else in buildings sacred or lay, and +at certain times of the day, a woman may be seen vigorously flapping the +brass candlesticks and countless altar ornaments with a big feather broom. +On the north side of the chancel some of the windows have sections of old +painted glass, and in one of them there is part of a ship with men in +crow's nests backed by clouds, a really vigorous colour scheme. + +Keeping to the high ground, there is to the south of this church an open +Place, and beyond it there are some large barracks, where, on the other +side of a low wall may be seen the elaborately prepared steeple-chase for +training soldiers to be able to surmount every conceivable form of +obstacle. Awkward iron railings, wide ditches, walls of different +composition and varying height are frequently scaled, and it is practice of +this sort that has made the French soldier famous for the facility with +which he can storm fortifications. The river Orne finds its way through the +lower part of the town and here there are to be found some of the most +pleasing bits of antique domestic architecture. One of the quaintest of +these built in 1616 is the galleried building illustrated here, and from a +parallel street not many yards off there is a peep of a house that has been +built right over the stream which is scarcely less picturesque. + +[Illustration: A SEVENTEENTH CENTURY HOUSE AT ARGENTAN] + +The church of St Martin is passed on entering Argentan from Falaise. Its +east end crowds right up against the pavement and it is somewhat unusual to +find the entrances at this portion of the building. The stained glass in +the choir of St Martin is its most noticeable feature--the pictures showing +various scenes in the life of Christ. + +As in all French towns Argentan knows how to decorate on fete days. Coming +out of the darkness of the church in the late twilight on one of these +occasions, I discovered that the town had suddenly become festooned with a +long perspective of arches stretching right away down the leafy avenue that +goes out of the town--to the north in one direction, and to St Germain in +the other. The arches were entirely composed without a single exception of +large crimson-red Chinese lanterns. The effect was astonishingly good, but +despite all the decoration, the townsfolk seemed determined to preserve the +quiet of the Sabbath, and although there were crowds everywhere, the only +noise that broke the stillness was that of the steam round-about that had +been erected on a triangular patch of grass. The dark crowds of people +illuminated by flaring lights stood in perfect quiet as they watched the +great noisy mass of moving animals and boats, occupied almost entirely by +children, keep up its perpetual dazzle and roar. The fair--for there were +many side-shows--was certainly quieter than any I have witnessed in +England. + +A long, straight road, poplar-bordered and level, runs southwards from +Argentan to Mortree, a village of no importance except for the fact that +one must pass through it if one wishes to visit the beautiful Chateau d'O. +This sixteenth century mansion like so many to be seen in this part of +France, is in a somewhat pathetic state of disrepair, but as far as one may +see from the exterior, it would not require any very great sum to +completely restore the broken stone-work and other signs of decay. These, +while perhaps adding to the picturesqueness of the buildings, do not bring +out that aspect of carefully preserved antiquity which is the charm of most +of the houses of this period in England. The great expanse of water in the +moat is very green and covered by large tracts of weed, but the water is +supplied by a spring, and fish thrive in it. The approach to the chateau +across the moat leads to an arched entrance through which you enter the +large courtyard overlooked on three sides by the richly ornamented +buildings, the fourth side being only protected from the moat by a low +wall. It would be hard to find a more charming spot than this with its +views across the moat to the gardens beyond, backed by great masses of +foliage. + +Going on past Mortree the main road will bring one after about eight miles +to the old town of Alencon, which has been famed ever since the time of +Louis XIV. for the lace which is even at the present day worked in the +villages of this neighbourhood, more especially at the hamlet of Damigny. +The cottagers use pure linen thread which is worth the almost incredible +sum of £100 per lb. They work on parchment from patterns which are supplied +by the merchants in Alencon. The women go on from early morning until the +light fails, and earn something about a shilling per day! + +The castle of Alencon, built by Henry I. in the twelfth century, was +pulled down with the exception of the keep, by the order of Henry of +Navarre, the famous contemporary of Queen Elizabeth. This keep is still in +existence, and is now used as a prison. Near it is the Palais de Justice, +standing where the other buildings were situated. + +The west porch of the church of Notre Dame is richly ornamented with +elaborate canopies, here and there with statues. One of these represents St +John, and it will be seen that he is standing with his face towards the +church. A legend states that this position was taken by the statue when the +church was being ransacked by Protestants in the sixteenth century. + +Another road from Argentan is the great _route nationale_ that runs in a +fairly direct line to Granville. As one rides out of the town there is a +pretty view on looking back, of St Germain standing on the slight eminence +above the Orne. Keeping along by that river the road touches it again at +the little town of Ecouche. The old market hall standing on massive +pillars, is the most attractive feature of the place. Its old tiled roof +and half-timbered upper storey remind one forcibly of some of those +fortunate old towns in England that have preserved this feature. The church +has lost its original nave, and instead, there is a curious barn-like +structure, built evidently with a view to economy, being scarcely more than +half the height of the original: the vacant space has been very roughly +filled up, and the numerous holes and crevices support a fine growth of +weeds, and a strong young tree has also taken root in the ramshackle stone +work. From the central tower, gargoyles grin above the elaborately carved +buttresses and finials in remarkable contrast to the jerry-built addition. + +[Illustration: THE OLD MARKET HOUSE AT ECOUCHE] + +Passing through rich country, you leave the valley of the Orne, and on +both sides of the road are spread wide and fascinating views over the +orchard-clad country that disappears in the distant blue of the horizon. +Wonderful patches of shadow, when large clouds are flying over the heavens, +fall on this great tract of country and while in dull weather it may seem a +little monotonous, in days of sunshine and shade it is full of a haunting +beauty that is most remarkable. + +About seven miles from Argentan one passes Fromentelle, a quiet hamlet full +of thatched cottages and curious weathercocks, and then five miles further +on, having descended into the valley of the little river Rouvre, Briouze +is entered. Here there is a wide and very extensive market-place with +another quaint little structure, smaller than the one at Ecouche, but +having a curious bell-turret in the centre of the roof. On Monday, which +is market day, Briouze presents a most busy scene, and there are plenty of +opportunities of studying the genial looking country farmers, their wives, +and the large carts in which they drive from the farms. In the midst of the +booths, you may see a bronze statue commemorating the "Sapeurs, pompiers" +and others of this little place who fell in 1854. + +Leaving the main road which goes on to Flers, we may take the road to +Domfront, which passes through three pretty villages and much pleasant +country. Bellau, the first village, is full of quaint houses and charming +old-world scenes. The church is right in the middle on an open space +without an enclosure of any description. Standing with one's back to this +building, there is a pretty view down the road leading to the south, a +patch of blue distance appearing in the opening between the old gables. To +all those who may wish to either paint or photograph this charming scene, I +would recommend avoiding the hour in the afternoon when the children come +out of school. I was commencing a drawing one sunny afternoon--it must have +been about three o'clock--and the place seemed almost deserted. Indeed, I +had been looking for a country group of peasants to fill the great white +space of sunny road, when in twos and threes, the juvenile population +flooded out towards me. For some reason which I could not altogether +fathom, the boys arranged themselves in a long, regular line, occupying +exactly one half of the view, the remaining space being filled by an +equally long line of little girls. All my efforts failed to induce the +children to break up the arrangement they had made. They merely altered +their formation by advancing three or four paces nearer with almost +military precision. They were still standing in their unbroken rows when I +left the village. + +Passing a curious roadside cross which bears the date 1741 and a long Latin +inscription splashed over with lichen, one arrives at La Ferriere aux +Etangs, a quaint village with a narrow and steep street containing one +conspicuously old, timber-framed house. But it is scarcely necessary to +point out individual cottages in this part of Normandy, for wherever one +looks, the cottages are covered with thick, purply-grey thatch, and the +walls below are of grey wooden framework, filled in with plaster, generally +coloured a creamy-white. When there are deep shadows under the eaves and +the fruit trees in blossom stand out against the dark thatch, one can +easily understand how captivating is the rural charm of this part of +Normandy. Gradually the road ascends, but no great views are apparent, +although one is right above the beautiful valley of the Varennes, until +quite near to Domfront. Then, suddenly there appears an enormous stretch of +slightly undulating country to the south and west. As far as one can see, +the whole land seems to be covered by one vast forest. + +But though part of this is real forest-land, much of it is composed of +orchards and hedgerow trees, which are planted so closely together that, at +a short distance, they assume the aspect of close-growing woods. The first +impression of the great stretch of forest-land does not lose its striking +aspect, even when one has explored the whole of the town. The road that +brings one into the old town runs along a ridge and after passing one of +the remains of the old gateways, it rises slightly to the highest part of +the mass of rock upon which Domfront is perched. The streets are narrow and +parallel to accommodate themselves to the confined space within the walls. +At the western end of the granite ridge, and separated from the town by a +narrow defile, stands all that is left of the castle--a massive but +somewhat shapeless ruin. At the western end of the ramparts, one looks down +a precipitous descent to the river Varennes which has by some unusual +agency, cut itself a channel through the rocky ridge if it did not merely +occupy an existing gap. At the present time, besides the river, the road +and railway pass through the narrow gorge. + +The castle has one of those sites that appealed irresistibly to the warlike +barons of the eleventh century. In this case it was William I., Duc de +Belleme, who decided to raise a great fortress on this rock that he had +every reason to believe would prove an impregnable stronghold, but although +only built in 1011, it was taken by Duke William thirty-seven years later, +being one of the first brilliant feats by which William the Norman showed +his strength outside his own Duchy. A century or more later, Henry II., +when at Domfront, received the pope's nuncio by whom a reconciliation was +in some degree patched up between the king and Becket. Richard I. is known +to have been at the castle at various times. In the sixteenth century, +a most thrilling siege was conducted during the period when Catherine +de Medicis was controlling the throne. A Royalist force, numbering some +seven or eight thousand horse and foot, surrounded this formidable rock +which was defended by the Calvinist Comte de Montgommery. With him was +another Protestant, Ambroise le Balafre, who had made himself a despot +at Domfront, but whose career was cut short by one of Montgommery's men +with whom he had quarrelled. They buried him in the little church of +Notre-Dame-sur-l'Eau--the wonderfully preserved Norman building that one +sees beneath one's feet when standing on the ramparts of the castle. The +body, however, was not long allowed to remain there, for when the royal +army surrounded the castle they brought out the corpse and hung it in a +conspicuous place to annoy the besieged. Like Corfe Castle in England, and +many other magnificently fortified strongholds, Domfront was capable of +defence by a mere handful. In this case the original garrison consisted of +one hundred and fifty, and after many desertions the force was reduced to +less than fifty. A great breach had been made by the six pieces of +artillery placed on the hill on the opposite side of the gorge, and through +this the besiegers endeavoured to enter. The attenuated garrison, with +magnificent courage, held the breach after a most desperate and bloody +fight. But after all this display of courage, it was found impossible to +continue the defence, for by the next morning there were barely more than a +dozen men left to fight. Finally Montgommery was obliged to surrender +unconditionally, and not long afterwards he was executed in Paris. You may +see the breach where this terrible fight took place at the present day, and +as you watch the curious effects of the blue shadows falling among the +forest trees that stretch away towards the south, you may feel that you are +looking over almost the same scene that was gazed upon by the notable +figures in history who have made their exits and entrances at Domfront. + +So little has the church of Notre-Dame-sur-l'Eau altered in its appearance +since it was built by the Duc de Belleme that, were he to visit the ruins +of his castle, he would marvel no doubt that the men of the nine centuries +which have passed, should have consistently respected this sturdy little +building. There are traces of aisles having existed, but otherwise the +exterior of the church can have seen no change at all in this long period. +Inside, however, the crude whitewash, the curious assemblage of enormous +seventeenth century gravestones that are leant against the walls, and the +terribly jarring almost life-sized crucifix, all give one that feeling of +revulsion that is inseparable from an ill-kept place of worship. On the +banks of the river outside, women may be seen washing clothes; the sounds +of the railway come from the station near by, and overhead, rising above +the foliage at its feet, are the broken walls and shattered keep from which +we have been gazing. + +[Illustration: ONE OF THE TOWERS IN THE WALLS OF DOMFRONT] + +The walls of the town, punctuated by many a quaint tower, have lost their +fearsome aspect owing to the domestic uses to which the towers are palpably +devoted. One of them appears in the adjoining illustration, and it is +typical of the half-dozen or so that still rise above the pretty gardens +that are perched along the steep ascent. But though Domfront is full of +almost thrilling suggestions of medievalism and the glamour of an ancient +town, yet there is a curious lack of picturesque arrangement, so that if +one were to be led away by the totally uninteresting photographs that may +be seen in the shops, one would miss one of the most unique spots in +Normandy. + +Stretching away towards Flers, there is a tract of green country all ups +and downs, but with no distant views except the peep of Domfront that +appears a few miles north of the town. Crowning the ridge of the hill is +the keep of the castle, resembling a closed fist with the second finger +raised, and near it, the bell-cote of the Palais de Justice and the spire +of the church break the line of the old houses. Ferns grow by the roadside +on every bank, but the cottages and farms are below the average of rustic +beauty that one soon demands in this part of France. + +Flers is a somewhat busy manufacturing town where cotton and thread +mills have robbed the place of its charm. At first sight one might +imagine the church which bears the date 1870 was of considerably +greater age, but inside one is almost astounded at the ramshackle +galleries, the white-washed roof of rough boards discoloured by damp, +and the general squalor of the place relieved only by a ponderous +altar-piece of classic design. The castle is still in good preservation +but although it dates from early Norman times, it is chiefly of the +sixteenth century. + +Out in the country again, going westwards, the cottage industry of +weaving is apparent in nearly every cottage one sees. The loud +click-a-ti-clack--click-a-ti-clack of the looms can be heard on every +side as one passes such villages as Landisacq. Everywhere the scenery +is exceedingly English, the steep hillsides are often covered with +orchards, and the delicate green of the apple-trees in spring-time, +half-smothered in pinky-white blossom, gives the country a garden-like +aspect. You may see a man harrowing a field on a sudden slope with a +cloud of dust blowing up from the dry light soil, and you may hear him +make that curious hullaballooing by which the peasants direct their +horses, so different from the grunting "way-yup there" of the English +ploughman. Coming down a long descent, a great stretch of country to +the north that includes the battlefield of Tinchebrai comes into view. +It is hard to associate the rich green pastures, smiling orchards, and +peaceful cattle, with anything so gruesome as a battle between armies +led by brothers. But it was near the little town of Tinchebrai that the +two brothers, Henry I., King of England, and Robert Duke of Normandy +fought for the possession of Normandy. Henry's army was greatly +superior to that of his brother, for he had the valuable help of the +Counts of Conches, Breteuil, Thorigny, Mortagne, Montfort, and two or +three others as powerful. But despite all this array, the battle for +some time was very considerably in Robert's favour, and it was only +when Henry, heavily pressed by his brother's brilliant charge, ordered +his reserves to envelop the rear, that the great battle went in favour +of the English king. Among the prisoners were Robert and his youthful +son William, the Counts of Mortain, Estouteville, Ferrieres, and a +large number of notable men. Until his death, twenty-seven years later, +Henry kept his brother captive in Cardiff Castle, and it has been said +that, owing to an effort to escape, Henry was sufficiently lacking in +all humane feelings towards his unfortunate brother, to have both his +eyes put out. It seems a strange thing that exactly sixty years after +the battle of Hastings, a Norman king of England, should conquer the +country which had belonged to his father. + +The old church of St Remy at Tinchebrai, part of which dates from the +twelfth century, has been abandoned for a new building, but the inn--the +Hotel Lion d'Or--which bears the date 1614, is still in use. Vire, however, +is only ten miles off, and its rich mediaeval architecture urges us +forward. + +Standing in the midst of the cobbled street, there suddenly appears right +ahead a splendid thirteenth century gateway--the Tour de l'Horloge--that +makes one of the richest pictures in Normandy. It is not always one can see +the curious old tower thrown up by a blaze of gold in the west, but those +who are fortunate enough to see such an effect may get a small suggestion +of the scene from the illustration given here. The little painted figure of +the Virgin and Child stands in a niche just over the arch, and by it +appears the prayer "Marie protege la ville!" + +One of the charms of Vire is its cleanliness, for I can recall no +unpleasant smells having interfered with the pleasure of exploring the old +streets. There is a great market on the northern side of the town, open and +breezy. It slopes clear away without any intervening buildings to a great +expanse of green wooded country, suggestive of some of the views that lie +all around one at Avranches. The dark old church of Notre Dame dates mainly +from the twelfth century. Houses and small shops are built up against it +between the buttresses in a familiar, almost confidential manner, and on +the south side, the row of gargoyles have an almost humorous appearance. +The drips upon the pavement and shops below were evidently a nuisance, and +rain water-spouts, with plain pipes leading diagonally from them, have been +attached to each grotesque head, making it seem that the grinning monsters +have developed a great and unquenchable thirst. Inside, the church is dark +and impressive. There are double rows of pillars in the aisles, and a huge +crucifix hangs beneath the tower, thrown up darkly against the chancel, +which is much painted and gilded. The remains of the great castle consist +of nothing more than part of the tall keep, built eight hundred years ago, +and fortunately not entirely destroyed when the rest of the castle came +down by the order of Cardinal Richelieu. An exploration of the quaint +streets of Vire will reveal two or three ancient gateways, many gabled +houses, some of which are timber-framed visually, and most of them are the +same beneath their skins of plaster. The houses in one of the streets are +connected with the road by a series of wooden bridges across the river, +which there forms one of the many pictures to be found in Vire. + +Mortain is separated from Vire by fifteen miles of exceedingly hilly +country, and those who imagine that all the roads in Normandy are the flat +and poplar bordered ones that are so often encountered, should travel along +this wonderful switch-back. As far as Sourdeval there seems scarcely a yard +of level ground--it is either a sudden ascent or a breakneck rush into a +trough-like depression. You pass copices of firs and beautiful woods, +although in saying beautiful it is in a limited sense, for one seldom finds +the really rich woodlands that are so priceless an ornament to many Surrey +and Kentish lanes. The road is shaded by tall trees when it begins to +descend into the steep rocky gorge of the Cance with its tumbling +waterfalls that are a charming feature of this approach to Mortain. High +upon the rocks on the left appears an enormous gilded statue of the Virgin, +in the grounds of the Abbaye Blanche. Going downwards among the broken +sunlight and shadows on the road, Mortain appears, picturesquely perched on +a great rocky steep, and in the opening of the valley a blue haze suggests +the great expanse of level country towards the south. The big parish church +of the town was built originally in 1082 by that Robert of Mortain, who, it +will be remembered, was one of the first of the Normans to receive from the +victorious William a grant of land in England. The great tower which stands +almost detached on the south-west side is remarkable for its enormously +tall slit windows, for they run nearly from the ground to the saddle-back +roof. The interior of this church is somewhat unusual, the nave and chancel +being structurally one, and the aisles are separated by twenty-four +circular grey pillars with Corinthian capitals. The plain surfaces of the +walls and vaulting are absolutely clean white, picked out with fine black +lines to represent stone-work--a scarcely successful treatment of such an +interior! On either side of the High Altar stand two great statues +representing St Guillaume and St Evroult. + +To those who wish to "do" all the sights of Mortain there is the Chapel of +St Michael, which stands high up on the margin of a great rocky hill, but +the building having been reconstructed about fifty years ago, the chief +attraction to the place is the view, which in tolerably clear weather, +includes Mont St Michel towards which we are making our way. + +A perfectly straight and fairly level stretch of road brings you to St +Hilaire-du-Harcout. On the road one passes two or three large country +houses with their solemn and perfectly straight avenues leading directly up +to them at right angles from the road. The white jalousies seem always +closed, the grass on the lawns seems never cut, and the whole +establishments have a pathetically deserted appearance to the passer-by. A +feature of this part of the country can scarcely be believed without +actually using one's eyes. It is the wooden chimney-stack, covered with oak +shingles, that surmounts the roofs of most of the cottages. Where the +shingles have fallen off, the cement rubble that fills the space between +the oak framing appears, but it is scarcely credible that, even with this +partial protection, these chimneys should have survived so many centuries. +I have asked the inmates of some of the cottages whether they ever feared a +fire in their chimneys, but they seemed to consider the question as totally +unnecessary, for some providence seems to have watched over their frail +structures. + +St Hilaire has a brand new church and nothing picturesque in its long, +almost monotonous, street. Instead of turning aside at Pontaubault towards +Mont St Michel, we will go due north from that hamlet to the beautifully +situated Avranches. This prosperous looking town used, at one time, to have +a large English colony, but it has recently dwindled to such small +dimensions that the English chaplain has an exceedingly small parish. The +streets seem to possess a wonderful cleanliness; all the old houses appear +to have made way for modern buildings which, in a way, give Avranches the +aspect of a watering-place, but its proximity to the sea is more apparent +in a map than when one is actually in the town. On one side of the great +place in front of the church of Notre Dame des Champs is the Jardin des +Plantes. To pass from the blazing sunshine and loose gravel, to the dense +green shade of the trees in this delightful retreat is a pleasure that can +be best appreciated on a hot afternoon in summer. The shade, however, and +the beds of flowers are not the only attractions of these gardens. Their +greatest charm is the wonderful view over the shining sands and the +glistening waters of the rivers See and Selune that, at low tide, take +their serpentine courses over the delicately tinted waste of sand that +occupies St Michael's Bay. Out beyond the little wooded promontory that +protects the mouth of the See, lies Mont St Michel, a fretted silhouette of +flat pearly grey, and a little to the north is Tombelaine, a less +pretentious islet in this fairyland sea. Framed by the stems and foliage of +the trees, this view is one of the most fascinating in Normandy. One would +be content to stay here all through the sultry hours of a summer day, to +listen to the distant hum of conversation among white-capped nursemaids, as +they sew busily, giving momentary attention to their charges. But Avranches +has an historical spot that no student of history, and indeed no one who +cares anything for the picturesque events that crowd the pages of the +chronicles of England in the days of the Norman kings, may miss. It is the +famous stone upon which Henry II. knelt when he received absolution for the +murder of Becket at the hands of the papal legate. To reach this stone is, +for a stranger, a matter of some difficulty. From the Place by the Jardin +des Plantes, it is necessary to plunge down a steep descent towards the +railway station, and then one climbs a series of zigzag paths on a high +grassy bank that brings one out upon the Place Huet. In one corner, +surrounded by chains and supported by low iron posts, is the historic +stone. It is generally thickly coated with dust, but the brass plate +affixed to a pillar of the doorway is quite legible. These, and a few +fragments of carved stone that lie half-smothered in long grass and weeds +at a short distance from the railed-in stone, are all that remain of the +cathedral that existed in the time of Henry II. + +It must have been an impressive scene on that Sunday in May 1172, when the +papal legate, in his wonderful robes, stood by the north transept door, of +which only this fragment remains, and granted absolution to the sovereign, +who, kneeling in all humbleness and submission, was relieved of the curse +of excommunication which had been laid on him after the tragic affair in +the sanctuary at Canterbury. In place of the splendid cathedral, whose nave +collapsed, causing the demolition of the whole building in 1799, there is a +new church with the two great western towers only carried up to half the +height intended for them. + +From the roadway that runs along the side of the old castle walls in +terrace fashion there is another wonderful view of rich green country, +through which, at one's feet, winds the river See. Away towards the +north-west the road to Granville can be seen passing over the hills in a +perfectly straight line. But this part of the country may be left for +another chapter. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Normandy, Part 2, by Gordon Home + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NORMANDY, PART 2 *** + +***** This file should be named 8594-8.txt or 8594-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/8/5/9/8594/ + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Beth Trapaga and the Distributed Proofreading +Team + + +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: Normandy, Part 2 + The Scenery & Romance Of Its Ancient Towns + +Author: Gordon Home + +Release Date: August 11, 2004 [EBook #8594] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NORMANDY, PART 2 *** + + + + +HTML version produced by David Widger from the text provided by Ted Garvin, +Beth Trapaga and the Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + +<br> +<hr> +<br><br><br><br><br><br> + + + +<center> +<h1>NORMANDY</h1> +<br><br> +<h3>THE SCENERY & ROMANCE OF ITS ANCIENT TOWNS</h3> +<br><br><br> +<h3>DEPICTED BY</h3> +<br> +<h2>GORDON HOME</h2> +<br><br> +<h3>Part 2.</h3> +<br><br> +</center> +<a name="michel"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<a href="images/01.jpg"><img alt="01h.jpg (30K)" src="images/01h.jpg" height="464" width="339"></a> +<br><br>A Click on any Image will enlarge it to full size +</center> +<br><br> + +<br><br> + + + +<br><br><br><br> + +<h2> +CONTENTS</h2> + +<center> +<table summary=""> +<tr><td> + + +<p><a href="#ch4">CHAPTER IV</a> +Concerning the Cathedral City of Evreux and the Road to Bernay</p> + +<p><a href="#ch5">CHAPTER V</a> +Concerning Lisieux and the Romantic Town of Falaise</p> + +<p><a href="#ch6">CHAPTER VI</a> +From Argentan to Avranches</p> + + + +</td></tr> +</table> +</center> + + + + + + + + + +<a name="color"></a><br><br> +<center> +<h2> +LIST OF COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +</center> + + + +<p><a href="#michel">MONT ST MICHEL FROM THE CAUSEWAY</a></p> + +<p><a href="#evreux">THE CATHEDRAL OF EVREUX SEEN FROM ABOVE</a> +On the right, just where the light touches some of the roofs of the +houses, the fine old belfry can be seen.</p> + +<p><a href="#farmyard">A TYPICAL FARMYARD SCENE IN NORMANDY</a> +The curious little thatched mushroom above the cart is to be found in +most of the Norman farms.</p> + +<p><a href="#roger">THE BRIDGE AT BEAUMONT-LE-ROGER</a> +On the steep hill beyond stands the ruined abbey church.</p> + +<p><a href="#fevres">IN THE RUE AUX FEVRES, LISIEUX</a> +The second tiled gable from the left belongs to the fine sixteenth +century house called the Manoir de Francois I.</p> + +<p><a href="#jacques">THE CHURCH OF ST JACQUES AT LISIEUX</a> +One of the quaint umber fronted houses for which the town is famous +appears on the left.</p> + +<p><a href="#falaise">FALAISE CASTLE</a> +The favourite stronghold of William the Conqueror.</p> + +<p><a href="#cordeliers">THE PORTE DES CORDELIERS AT FALAISE</a> +A thirteenth century gateway that overlooks the steep valley of the Ante.</p> + +<p><a href="#chateau">THE CHATEAU D'O</a> +A seventeenth century manor house surrounded by a wide moat.</p> + +<p><a href="#domfront">THE GREAT VIEW OVER THE FORESTS TO THE SOUTH FROM THE RAMPARTS OF DOMFRONT CASTLE</a> +Down below can be seen the river Varennes, and to the left of the railway +the little Norman Church of Notre-Dame-sur-l'Eau.</p> + +<p><a href="#clockgate">THE CLOCK GATE, VIRE</a></p> + +<p><a href="#avranches">A VIEW OF MONT ST MICHEL AND THE BAY OF CANCALE FROM THE JARDIN DES PLANTES AT AVRANCHES</a> +On the left is the low coast-line of Normandy, and on the right appears +the islet of Tombelaine.</p> + + + + + + +<br><br> +<a name="ch4"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2> +<h3>Concerning the Cathedral City of Evreux and the Road to Bernay</h3> +</center> +<br> + + + +<br><br> +<a name="evreux"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<a href="images/09.jpg"><img alt="09h.jpg (36K)" src="images/09h.jpg" height="352" width="490"></a> +</center> +<br><br> +<br><br> + + +<p>The tolling of the deep-toned bourdon in the cathedral tower reverberates +over the old town of Evreux as we pass along the cobbled streets. There is +a yellow evening light overhead, and the painted stucco walls of the houses +reflect the soft, glowing colour of the west. In the courtyard of the Hotel +du Grand Cerf, too, every thing is bathed in this beautiful light and the +double line of closely trimmed laurels has not yet been deserted by the +golden flood. But Evreux does not really require a fine evening to make it +attractive, although there is no town in existence that is not improved +under such conditions. With the magnificent cathedral, the belfry, the +Norman church of St Taurin and the museum, besides many quaint peeps by the +much sub-divided river Iton that flows through the town, there is +sufficient to interest one even on the dullest of dull days.</p> + +<p>Of all the cathedral interiors in Normandy there are none that possess a +finer or more perfectly proportioned nave than Evreux, and if I were asked +to point out the two most impressive interiors of the churches in this +division of France I should couple the cathedral at Evreux with St Ouen at +Rouen.</p> + +<p>It was our own Henry I. who having destroyed the previous building set to +work to build a new one and it is his nave that we see to-day. The whole +cathedral has since that time been made to reflect the changing ideals of +the seven centuries that have passed. The west front belongs entirely to +the Renaissance period and the north transept is in the flamboyant style of +the fifteenth century so much in evidence in Normandy and so infrequent in +England.</p> + +<p>The central tower with its tall steeple now encased in scaffolding was +built in 1470 by Cardinal Balue, Bishop of Evreux and inventor of the +fearful wooden cages in one of which the prisoner Dubourg died at Mont St +Michel.</p> + +<p>In most of the windows there is old and richly coloured glass; those in the +chancel have stronger tones, but they all transform the shafts of light +into gorgeous rainbow effects which stand out in wonderful contrast to the +delicate, creamy white of the stone-work. Pale blue banners are suspended +in the chancel, and the groining above is coloured on each side of the +bosses for a short distance, so that as one looks up the great sweep of the +nave, the banners and the brilliant fifteenth century glass appear as vivid +patches of colour beyond the uniform, creamy grey on either side. The +Norman towers at the west end of the cathedral are completely hidden in the +mask of classical work planted on top of the older stone-work in the +sixteenth century, and more recent restoration has altered some of the +other features of the exterior. At the present day the process of +restoration still goes on, but the faults of our grandfathers fortunately +are not repeated.</p> + +<p>Leaving the Place Parvis by the Rue de l'Horloge you come to the great open +space in front of the Hotel de Ville and the theatre with the museum on the +right, in which there are several Roman remains discovered at Vieil-Evreux, +among them being a bronze statue of Jupiter Stator. On the opposite side of +the Place stands the beautiful town belfry built at the end of the +fifteenth century. There was an earlier one before that time, but I do not +know whether it had been destroyed during the wars with the English, or +whether the people of Evreux merely raised the present graceful tower in +place of the older one with a view to beautifying the town. The bell, which +was cast in 1406 may have hung in the former structure, and there is some +fascination in hearing its notes when one realises how these same sound +waves have fallen on the ears of the long procession of players who have +performed their parts within its hearing. A branch of the Iton runs past +the foot of the tower in canal fashion; it is backed by old houses and +crossed by many a bridge, and helps to build up a suitable foreground to +the beautiful old belfry, which seems to look across to the brand new Hotel +de Ville with an injured expression. From the Boulevard Chambaudouin there +is a good view of one side of the Bishop's palace which lies on the south +side of the cathedral, and is joined to it by a gallery and the remains of +the cloister. The walls are strongly fortified, and in front of them runs a +branch of one of the canals of the Iton, that must have originally served +as a moat.</p> + +<p>Out towards the long straight avenue that runs out of the town in the +direction of Caen, there may be seen the Norman church of St Taurin. It is +all that is left of the Benedictine abbey that once stood here. Many people +who explore this interesting church fail to see the silver-gilt reliquary +of the twelfth century that is shown to visitors who make the necessary +inquiries. The richness of its enamels and the elaborate ornamentation +studded with imitation gems that have replaced the real ones, makes this +casket almost unique.</p> + +<p>Many scenes from the life of the saint are shown in the windows of the +choir of the church. They are really most interesting, and the glass is +very beautiful. The south door must have been crowded with the most +elaborate ornament, but the delicately carved stone-work has been hacked +away and the thin pillars replaced by crude, uncarved chunks of stone. +There is Norman arcading outside the north transept as well as just above +the floor in the north aisle. St Taurin is a somewhat dilapidated and +cob-webby church, but it is certainly one of the interesting features of +Evreux.</p> + +<p>Instead of keeping on the road to Caen after reaching the end of the great +avenue just mentioned, we turn towards the south and soon enter pretty +pastoral scenery. The cottages are almost in every instance thatched, with +ridges plastered over with a kind of cobb mud. In the cracks in this +curious ridging, grass seeds and all sorts of wild flowers are soon +deposited, so that upon the roof of nearly every cottage there is a +luxuriant growth of grass and flowers. In some cases yellow irises alone +ornament the roofs, and they frequently grow on the tops of the walls that +are treated in a similar fashion. A few miles out of Evreux you pass a +hamlet with a quaint little church built right upon the roadway with no +churchyard or wall of any description. A few broken gravestones of quite +recent date litter the narrow, dusty space between the north side of the +church and the roadway. Inside there is an untidy aspect to everything, but +there are some windows containing very fine thirteenth century glass which +the genial old cure shows with great delight, for it is said that they were +intended for the cathedral at Evreux, but by some chance remained in this +obscure hamlet. The cure also points out the damage done to the windows by +<i>socialistes</i> at a recent date.</p> + +<p>By the roadside towards Conches, there are magpies everywhere, punctuated +by yellow hammers and nightingales. The cottages have thatch of a very deep +brown colour over the hipped roofs, closely resembling those in the +out-of-the-way parts of Sussex. It a beautiful country, and the +delightfully situated town of Conches at the edge of its forest is well +matched with its surroundings.</p> + +<p>In the middle of the day the inhabitants seem to entirely disappear from +the sunny street, and everything has a placid and reposeful appearance as +though the place revelled in its quaintness. Backed by the dense masses of +forest there is a sloping green where an avenue of great chestnuts tower +above the long, low roof of the timber-framed cattle shelter. On the +highest part of the hill stands the castle, whose round, central tower +shows above the trees that grow thickly on the slopes of the hill. Close to +the castle is the graceful church, and beyond are the clustered roofs of +the houses. A viaduct runs full tilt against the hill nearly beneath the +church, and then the railway pierces the hill on its way towards Bernay. +The tall spire of the church of St Foy is comparatively new, for the whole +structure was rebuilt in the fifteenth century, but its stained glass is of +exceptional interest. Its richness of colour and the interest of the +subjects indicate some unusually gifted artist, and one is not surprised to +discover that they were designed by Aldegrevers, who was trained by that +great master Albrecht Dyrer. Altogether there are twenty-one of these +beautiful windows. Seven occupy the eastern end of the apse and give scenes +taken from the life of St Foy.</p> + +<p>You can reach the castle by passing through the quaint archway of the Hotel +de Ville, and then passing through the shady public garden you plunge into +the dry moat that surrounds the fortified mound. There is not very much to +see but what appears in a distant view of the town, and in many ways the +outside groupings of the worn ruin and the church roofs and spire above the +houses are better than the scenes in the town itself. The Hotel Croix +Blanche is a pleasant little house for dejeuner. Everything is extremely +simple and typical of the family methods of the small French inn, where +excellent cooking goes along with many primitive usages. The cool +salle-a-manger is reached through the general living-room and kitchen, which is +largely filled with the table where you may see the proprietor and his +family partaking of their own meals. There seems no room to cook anything +at all, and yet when you are seated in the next room the daughter of the +family, an attractive and neatly dressed girl, gracefully serves the most +admirable courses, worthy and perhaps better than what one may expect to +obtain in the best hotel in Rouen.</p> + +<p>There is a road that passes right through the forest of Conches towards +Rugles, but that must be left for another occasion if we are to see +anything of the charms of Beaumont-le-Roger, the perfectly situated little +town that lies half-way between Conches and Bernay.</p> + + + +<br><br> +<a name="roger"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<a href="images/10.jpg"><img alt="10h.jpg (35K)" src="images/10h.jpg" height="492" width="352"></a> +</center> +<br><br> +<br><br> + + +<p>The long street of the town containing some very charming peeps as you go +towards the church is really a terrace on the limestone hills that rises +behind the houses on the right, and falls steeply on the left. Spaces +between the houses and narrow turnings give glimpses of the rich green +country down below. From the lower level you see the rocky ridge above +clothed in a profusion of trees. The most perfect picture in the town is +from the river bank just by the bridge. In the foreground is the +mirror-like stream that gives its own rendering of the scene that is built +up above it. Leaning upon a parapet of the bridge is a man with a rod who +is causing tragedies in the life that teems beneath the glassy surface. +Beyond the bridge appear some quaint red roofs with one tower-like house +with an overhanging upper storey. Higher up comes the precipitous hill +divided into terraces by the huge walls that surround the abbey buildings, +and still higher, but much below the highest part of the hill, are the +picturesque ruins of the abbey. On the summit of the ridge dominating all +are the insignificant remains of the castle built by Roger a la Barbe, +whose name survives in that of the town. His family were the founders of +the abbey that flourished for several centuries, but finally, about a +hundred years ago, the buildings were converted to the uses of a factory! +Spinning and weaving might have still been going on but for a big fire that +destroyed the whole place. There was, however, a considerably more complete +series of buildings left than we can see to-day, but scarcely more than +fifty years ago the place was largely demolished for building materials. +The view from the river Rille is therefore the best the ruin can boast, for +seen from that point the arches rise up against the green background as a +stately ruin, and the tangled mass of weeds and debris are invisible. The +entrance is most inviting. It is down at the foot of the cliff, and the +archway with the steep ascent inside suggests all sorts of delights beyond, +as it stands there just by the main street of the town. I was sorry +afterwards, that I had accepted that hospitality, for with the exception of +a group of merry children playing in an orchard and some big caves hollowed +out of the foot of the cliff that rises still higher, I saw nothing but a +jungle of nettles. This warning should not, however, suggest that +Beaumont-le-Roger is a poor place to visit. Not only is it a charming, I +may say a fascinating spot to visit, but it is also a place in which to +stay, for the longer you remain there the less do you like the idea of +leaving. The church of St Nicholas standing in the main street where it +becomes much wider and forms a small Place, is a beautiful old building +whose mellow colours on stone-work and tiles glow vividly on a sunny +afternoon. There is a great stone wall forming the side of the rocky +platform that supports the building and the entrance is by steps that lead +up to the west end. The tower belongs to the flamboyant period and high up +on its parapet you may see a small statue of Regulus who does duty as a +"Jack-smite-the-clock." Just by the porch there leans against a wall a most +ponderous grave slab which was made for the tomb of Jehan du Moustier a +soldier of the fourteenth century who fought for that Charles of Navarre +who was surnamed "The Bad." The classic additions to the western part of +the church seem strangely out of sympathy with the gargoyles overhead and +the thirteenth century arcades of the nave, but this mixing up of styles is +really more incongruous in description than in reality.</p> + +<p>When you have decided to leave Beaumont-le-Roger and have passed across the +old bridge and out into the well-watered plain, the position of the little +town suggests that of the village of Pulborough in Sussex, where a road +goes downhill to a bridge and then crosses the rich meadowland where the +river Arun winds among the pastures in just the same fashion as the Rille.</p> + +<p>At a bend in the road to Bernay stands the village of Serquigny. It is just +at the edge of the forest of Beaumont which we have been skirting, and +besides having a church partially belonging to the twelfth century it has +traces of a Roman Camp. All the rest of the way to Bernay the road follows +the railway and the river Charentonne until the long—and when you are +looking out for the hotel—seemingly endless street of Bernay is reached. +After the wonderful combination of charms that are flaunted by +Beaumont-le-Roger it is possible to grumble at the plainer features of +Bernay, but there is really no reason to hurry out of the town for there is +much quaint architecture to be seen, and near the Hotel du Lion d'Or there +is a house built right over the street resting on solid wooden posts. But +more interesting than the domestic architecture are the remains of the +abbey founded by Judith of Brittany very early in the eleventh century for +it is probably one of the oldest Romanesque remains in Normandy. The church +is cut up into various rooms and shops at the choir end, and there has been +much indiscriminate ill-treatment of the ancient stone-work. Much of the +structure, including the plain round arches and square columns, is of the +very earliest Norman period, having been built in the first half of the +eleventh century, but in later times classic ornament was added to the work +of those shadowy times when the kingdom of Normandy had not long been +established. So much alteration in the styles of decoration has taken place +in the building that it is possible to be certain of the date of only some +portions of the structure. The Hotel de Ville now occupies part of the +abbey buildings.</p> + +<p>At the eastern side of the town stands St Croix, a fifteenth century church +with a most spacious interior. There is much beautiful glass dating from +three hundred years ago in the windows of the nave and transepts, but +perhaps the feature which will be remembered most when other impressions +have vanished, will be the finely carved statues belonging to the +fourteenth century which were brought here from the Abbey of Bec. The south +transept contains a monument to Guillaume Arvilarensis, an abbot of Bec who +died in 1418. Upon the great altar which is believed to have been brought +from the Abbey of Bec, there are eight marble columns surrounding a small +white marble figure of the Child Jesus.</p> + +<p>Another church at Bernay is that of Notre Dame de la Couture. It has much +fourteenth century work and behind the high altar there are five chapels, +the centre one containing a copy of the "sacred image" of Notre Dame which +stands by the column immediately to the right of the entrance. Much more +could be said of these three churches with their various styles of +architecture extending from the very earliest period down to the classic +work of the seventeenth century. But this is not the place for intricate +descriptions of architectural detail which are chiefly useful in books +which are intended for carrying from place to place.</p> + + + +<br><br> +<a name="ch5"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<h2>CHAPTER V</h2> +<h3>Concerning Lisieux and the Romantic Town of Falaise</h3> +</center> +<br> + + +<br><br> +<a name="fevres"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<a href="images/11.jpg"><img alt="11h.jpg (36K)" src="images/11h.jpg" height="506" width="353"></a> +</center> +<br><br> +<br><br> + + +<p>Lisieux is so rich in the curious timber-framed houses of the middle and +later ages that there are some examples actually visible immediately +outside the railway station whereas in most cases one usually finds an +aggregation of uninteresting modern buildings. As you go towards the centre +of the town the old houses, which have only been dotted about here and +there, join hands and form whole streets of the most romantic and almost +stage-like picturesqueness. The narrow street illustrated here is the Rue +aux Fevres. Its houses are astonishingly fine, and it forms—especially in +the evening—a background suitable for any of the stirring scenes that took +place in such grand old towns as Lisieux in medieval days. This street is +however, only one of several that reek of history. In the Rue des +Boucheries and in the Grande Rue there are lovely overhanging gables and +curious timber-framing that is now at any angle but what was originally +intended. There is really so much individual quaintness in these houses +that they deserve infinitely more than the scurry past them which so +frequently is all their attractions obtain. The narrowness and fustiness of +the Rue aux Fevres certainly hinder you from spending much time in +examining the houses but there are two which deserve a few minutes' +individual attention. One which has a very wide gable and the upper floors +boarded is believed to be of very great antiquity, dating from as early a +period as the thirteenth century. It is numbered thirty-three, and must not +be confused with the richly ornamented Manoir de Francois I. The timber +work of this house, especially of the two lower floors is covered with +elaborate carving including curious animals and quaint little figures, and +also the salamander of the royal house. For this reason the photographs +sold in the shops label the house "Manoir de la Salamandre." The place is +now fast going to ruin—a most pitiable sight and I for one, would prefer +to see the place restored rather than it should be allowed to become so +hopelessly dilapidated and rotten that the question of its preservation +should come to be considered lightly.</p> + +<p>If the town authorities of Lisieux chose to do so, they could encourage the +townsfolk to enrich many of their streets by a judicious flaking off of the +plaster which in so many cases tries to hide all the pleasant features of +houses that have seen at least three centuries, but this sort of work when +in the hands of only partially educated folk is liable to produce a worse +state of affairs than if things had been left untouched. An example of what +over-restoration can do, may be seen when we reach the beautiful old inn at +Dives.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="jacques"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<a href="images/12.jpg"><img alt="12h.jpg (34K)" src="images/12h.jpg" height="489" width="357"></a> +</center> +<br><br> +<br><br> + +<p>The two churches of Lisieux are well fitted to their surroundings, and +although St Jacques has no graceful tower or fleche, the quaintness of its +shingled belfry makes up for the lack of the more stately towers of St +Pierre. Where the stone-work has stopped short the buttresses are roofed +with the quaintest semi-circular caps, and over the clock there are two +more odd-looking pepper boxes perched upon the steep slope that projects +from the square belfry. Over all there is a low pyramidal roof, stained +with orange lichen and making a great contrast in colour to the +weather-beaten stone-work down below. There are small patches of tiled +roofing to the buttresses at the western ends of the aisles and these also +add colour to this picturesque building. The great double flight of stone +steps which lead to the imposing western door have balustrades filled with +flamboyant tracery, but although the church is built up in this way, the +floor in the interior is not level, for it slopes gently up towards the +east. The building was commenced during the reign of Louis XII. and not +finished until nearly the end of the reign of Francois I. It is therefore +coeval with that richly carved house in the Rue aux Fevres. Along the sides +of the church there project a double row of thirsty-looking gargoyles—the +upper ones having their shoulders supported by the mass of masonry +supporting the flying buttresses. The interior is richer than the exterior, +and you may see on some of the pillars remains of sixteenth century +paintings. A picture dating from 1681 occupies a position in the chapel of +St Ursin in the south aisle; it shows the relic of the saint being brought +to Lisieux in 1055.</p> + +<p>The wide and sunny Place Thiers is dominated by the great church of St +Pierre, which was left practically in its present form in the year 1233. +The first church was begun some years before the conquest of England but +about a century later it suffered the fate of Bayeux being burnt down in +1136. It was reconstructed soon afterwards and shows to-day the first +period of Gothic architecture that became prevalent in Normandy. Only the +north tower dates from this period, the other one had to be rebuilt during +the reign of Henri III. and the spire only made its appearance in the +seventeenth century. The Lady Chapel is of particular interest owing to the +statement that it was built by that Bishop of Beauvais who took such a +prominent part in the trial of Joan of Arc. The main arches over the big +west door are now bare of carving or ornament and the Hotel de Ville is +built right up against the north-west corner, but despite this St Pierre +has the most imposing and stately appearance, and there are many features +such as the curious turrets of the south transept that impress themselves +on the memory more than some of the other churches we have seen.</p> + +<p>Lisieux is one of those cheerful towns that appear always clean and bright +under the dullest skies, so that when the sun shines every view seems +freshly painted and blazing with colour. The freshness of the atmosphere, +too, is seldom tainted with those peculiar odours that some French towns +produce with such enormous prodigality, and Lisieux may therefore claim a +further point in its favour.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="farmyard"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<a href="images/07.jpg"><img alt="07h.jpg (45K)" src="images/07h.jpg" height="350" width="477"></a> +</center> +<br><br> +<br><br> + + +<p>It is generally a wide, hedgeless stretch of country that lies between +Lisieux and Falaise, but for the first ten miles there are big farm-houses +with timber-framed barns and many orchards bearing a profusion of blossom +near the roadside. A small farm perched above the road and quite out of +sight, invites the thirsty passer-by to turn aside up a steep path to +partake of cider or coffee. It is a simple, almost bare room where the +refreshment is served, but its quaintness and shadowy coolness are most +refreshing. The fireplace has an open hearth with a wood fire which can +soon be blown into a blaze by the big bellows that hang against the chimney +corner. A table by one of the windows is generally occupied in her spare +moments by the farmer's pretty daughter who puts aside her knitting to +fetch the cider or to blow up the fire for coffee. They are a most genial +family and seem to find infinite delight in plying English folk with +questions for I imagine that not many find their way to this sequestered +corner among waving trees and lovely orchards.</p> + +<p>A sudden descent before reaching St Pierre-sur-Dives gives a great view +over the level country below where everything is brilliantly green and +garden-like. The village first shows its imposing church through the trees +of a straight avenue leading towards the village which also possesses a +fine Market Hall that must be at least six hundred years old. The church is +now undergoing restoration externally, but by dodging the falling cement +dust you may go inside, perhaps to be disappointed that there is not more +of the Norman work that has been noticed in the southern tower that rises +above the entrance. The village, or it should really be called a small +town, for its population is over a thousand, has much in it that is +attractive and quaint, and it might gain more attention if everyone who +passes through its streets were not hurrying forward to Falaise.</p> + +<p>The country now becomes a great plain, hedgeless, and at times almost +featureless. The sun in the afternoon throws the shadows of the roadside +trees at right angles, so that the road becomes divided into accurate +squares by the thin lines of shadow. The straight run from St Pierre is +broken where the road crosses the Dives. It is a pretty spot with a farm, a +manor-house and a washing place for women just below the bridge, and then +follows more open road and more interminable perspectives cutting through +the open plain until, with considerable satisfaction, the great +thoroughfare from Caen is joined and soon afterwards a glimpse of the +castle greets us as we enter Falaise.</p> + + + +<br><br> +<a name="falaise"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<a href="images/13.jpg"><img alt="13h.jpg (35K)" src="images/13h.jpg" height="503" width="352"></a> +</center> +<br><br> +<br><br> + + + +<p>There is something peculiarly fascinating about Falaise, for it combines +many of the features that are sparingly distributed in other towns. Its +position on a hill with deep valleys on all sides, its romantic castle, the +two beautiful churches and the splendid thirteenth century gateway, form +the best remembered attractions, but beyond these there are the hundred and +one pretty groupings of the cottages that crowd both banks of the little +river Ante down in the valley under the awe-inspiring castle.</p> + +<p>Even then, no mention has been made of the ancient fronts that greet one in +many of the streets, and the charms of some of the sudden openings between +the houses that give views of the steep, wooded hollows that almost touch +the main street, have been slighted. A huge cube of solid masonry with a +great cylindrical tower alongside perched upon a mass of rock precipitous +on two sides is the distant view of the castle, and coming closer, although +you can see the buttresses that spring from the rocky foundations, the +description still holds good. You should see the fortress in the twilight +with a golden suffusion in the sky and strange, purplish shadows on the +castle walls. It then has much the appearance of one of those unassailable +strongholds where a beautiful princess is lying in captivity waiting for a +chivalrous knight who with a band of faithful men will attempt to scale the +inaccessible walls. Under some skies, the castle assumes the character of +one of Turner's impressions, half real and half imaginary, and under no +skies does this most formidable relic of feudal days ever lose its grand +and awesome aspect. The entrance is through a gateway, the Porte St. +Nicolas, which was built in the thirteenth century. There you are taken in +hand by a pleasant concierge who will lead you first of all to the Tour La +Reine, where he will point out a great breach in the wall made by Henri IV. +when he successfully assaulted the castle after a bombardment with his +artillery which he had kept up for a week. This was in 1589, and since then +no other fighting has taken place round these grand old walls. The ivy that +clings to the ruins and the avenue of limes that leads up to the great keep +are full of jackdaws which wheel round the rock in great flights. You have +a close view of the great Tour Talbot, and then pass through a small +doorway in the northern face of the citadel. Inside, the appearance of the +walls reveals the restoration which has taken place within recent years. +But this, fortunately, does not detract to any serious extent from the +interest of the whole place. Up on the ramparts there are fine views over +the surrounding country, and immediately beneath the precipice below nestle +the picturesque, browny-red roofs of the lower part of the town. Just at +the foot of the castle rock there is still to be seen a tannery which is of +rather unusual interest in connection with the story of how Robert le +Diable was first struck by the charms of Arlette, the beautiful daughter of +a tanner. The Norman duke was supposed to have been looking over the +battlements when he saw this girl washing clothes in the river, and we are +told that owing to the warmth of the day she had drawn up her dress, so +that her feet, which are spoken of as being particularly beautiful were +revealed to his admiring gaze. Arlette afterwards became the mother of +William the Conqueror, and the room is pointed out in the south-west corner +of the keep in which we are asked to believe that the Conqueror of England +was born. It is, however, unfortunate for the legend that archaeologists do +not allow such an early date for the present castle, and thus we are not +even allowed to associate these ramparts with the legend just mentioned. It +must have been a strong building that preceded this present structure, for +during the eleventh century William the Norman was often obliged to retreat +for safety to his impregnable birthplace. The Tour Talbot has below its +lowest floor what seems to be a dungeon, but it is said that prisoners were +not kept here, the place being used merely for storing food. The gloomy +chamber, however, is generally called an oubliette. Above, there are other +floors, the top one having been used by the governor of the castle. In the +thickness of the wall there is a deep well which now contains no water. One +of the rooms in the keep is pointed out as that in which Prince Arthur was +kept in confinement, but although it is known that the unfortunate youth +was imprisoned in this castle, the selection of the room seems to be +somewhat arbitrary.</p> + + + +<br><br> +<a name="cordeliers"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<a href="images/14.jpg"><img alt="14h.jpg (41K)" src="images/14h.jpg" height="479" width="347"></a> +</center> +<br><br> +<br><br> + + + +<p>In 1428 the news of Joan of Arc's continued successes was brought to the +Earl of Salisbury who was then governor of Falaise Castle, and it was from +here that he started with an army to endeavour to stop that triumphal +progress. In 1450 when the French completely overcame the numerous English +garrisons in the towns of Normandy, Falaise with its magnificent position +held out for some time. The defenders sallied out from the walls of the +town but were forced back again, and notwithstanding their courage, the +town capitulated to the Duke of Alencon's army at almost the same time as +Avranches and a dozen other strongly defended towns. We can picture to +ourselves the men in glinting head-pieces sallying from the splendid old +gateway known as the Port des Cordeliers. It has not lost its formidable +appearance even to-day, though as you look through the archway the scene is +quiet enough, and the steep flight of outside steps leads up to scenes of +quiet domestic life. The windows overlook the narrow valley beneath where +the humble roofs of the cottages jostle one another for space. There are +many people who visit Falaise who never have the curiosity to explore this +unusually pleasing part of the town. In the spring when the lilac bushes +add their brilliant colour to the russet brown tiles and soft creams of the +stone-work, there are pictures on every side. Looking in the cottages you +may see, generally within a few feet of the door, one of those ingenious +weaving machines that are worked with a treadle, and take up scarcely any +space at all. If you ask permission, the cottagers have not the slightest +objection to allowing you to watch them at their work, and when one sees +how rapidly great lengths of striped material grow under the revolving +metal framework, you wonder that Falaise is not able to supply the demands +of the whole republic for this class of material.</p> + +<p>Just by the Hotel de Ville and the church of La Trinite stands the imposing +statue of William the Conqueror. He is mounted on the enormous war-horse of +the period and the whole effect is strong and spirited. The most notable +feature of the exterior of the church of La Trinite is the curious +passage-way that goes underneath the Lady Chapel behind the High Altar. The +whole of the exterior is covered with rich carving, crocketed finials, +innumerable gargoyles and the usual enriched mouldings of Gothic +architecture. The charm of the interior is heightened if one enters in the +twilight when vespers are proceeding. There is just sufficient light to +show up the tracery of the windows and the massive pointed arches in the +choir. A few candles burn by the altar beyond the dark mass of figures +forming the congregation. A Gregorian chant fills the building with its +solemn tones and the smoke of a swinging censer ascends in the shadowy +chancel. Then, as the service proceeds, one candle above the altar seems to +suddenly ignite the next, and a line of fire travels all over the great +erection surrounding the figure of the Virgin, leaving in its trail a blaze +of countless candles that throw out the details of the architecture in +strong relief. Soon the collection is made, and as the priest passes round +the metal dish, he is followed by the cocked-hatted official whose +appearance is so surprising to those who are not familiar with French +churches. As the priest passes the dish to each row the official brings his +metal-headed staff down upon the pavement with a noisy bang that is +calculated to startle the unwary into dropping their money anywhere else +than in the plate. In time the bell rings beside the altar, and the priest +robed in white and gold elevates the host before the kneeling congregation. +Once more the man in the cocked hat becomes prominent as he steps into the +open space between the transepts and tolls the big bell in the tower above. +Then a smaller and much more cheerful bell is rung, and fearing the arrival +of another collecting priest we slip out of the swinging doors into the +twilight that has now almost been swallowed up in the gathering darkness.</p> + +<p>The consecration of the splendid Norman church of St Gervais took place in +the presence of Henry I. but there is nothing particularly English in any +part of the exterior. The central tower has four tall and deeply recessed +arches (the middle ones contain windows) on each side, giving a rich +arcaded appearance. Above, rises a tall pointed roof ornamented with four +odd-looking dormers near the apex. Every one remarks on their similarity to +dovecots and one almost imagines that they must have been built as a place +of shelter on stormy days for the great gilded cock that forms the weather +vane. The nave is still Norman on the south side, plain round-headed +windows lighting the clerestory, but the aisles were rebuilt in the +flamboyant period and present a rich mass of ornament in contrast to the +unadorned masonry of the nave. The western end until lately had to endure +the indignity of having its wall surfaces largely hidden by shops and +houses. These have now disappeared, but the stone-work has not been +restored, and you may still see a section of the interior of the house that +formerly used the west end of the south aisle as one of its walls. You can +see where the staircases went, and you may notice also how wantonly these +domestic builders cut away the buttresses and architectural enrichments to +suit the convenience of their own needs.</p> + +<p>As you go from the market-place along the street that runs from St Gervais +to the suburb of Guibray, the shops on the left are exchanged for a low +wall over which you see deep, grassy hollows that come right up to the edge +of the street. Two fine houses, white-shuttered and having the usual vacant +appearance, stand on steep slopes surrounded by great cedars of Lebanon and +a copper beech.</p> + +<p>The church of Guibray is chiefly Norman—it is very white inside and there +is some round-headed arcading in the aisles. The clustered columns of the +nave have simple, pointed arches, and there is a carved marble altarpiece +showing angels supporting the Virgin who is gazing upwards. The aisles of +the chancel are restored Norman, and the stone-work is bright green just +above the floor through the dampness that seems to have defied the efforts +of the restorers.</p> + + + +<br><br> +<a name="ch6"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2> +<h3>From Argentan to Avranches</h3> +</center> +<br> + +<p>Between tall poplars whose stems are splotched with grey lichen and whose +feet are grown over with browny-green moss, runs the road from Falaise to +Argentan, straight and white, with scarcely more than the slightest bend, +for the whole eight miles. It is typical of the roads in this part of the +country and beyond the large stone four or five kilometres outside Falaise, +marking the boundary between Calvados and Orne, and the railway which one +passes soon afterwards, there is nothing to break the undulating monotony +of the boundless plain.</p> + +<p>We cannot all hope to have this somewhat dull stretch of country relieved +by any exciting event, but I can remember one spring afternoon being +overtaken by two mounted gendarmes in blue uniforms, galloping for their +very lives. I looked down the road into the cloud of dust raised by the +horses' hoofs, but the country on all sides lay calm and deserted, and I +was left in doubt as to the reason for this astonishing haste. Half an hour +afterwards a group of people appeared in the distance, and on approaching +closer, they proved to be the two gendarmes leading their blown horses as +they walked beside a picturesque group of apparently simple peasants, the +three men wearing the typical soft, baggy cap and blue smock of the country +folk. The little group had a gloomy aspect, which was explained when I +noticed that the peasants were joined together by a bright steel chain. +Evidently something was very much amiss with one of the peaceful villages +lying near the road.</p> + +<p>After a time, at the end of the long white perspective, appear the towers +of the great church of St Germain that dominate the town where Henry II. +was staying when he made that rash exclamation concerning his "turbulent +priest." It was from Argentan that those four knights set out for England +and Canterbury to carry out the deed, for which Henry lay in ashes for five +weeks in this very place. But there is little at the present time at +Argentan to remind one that it is in any way associated with the murder of +Becket. The castle that now exists is occupied by the Courts of Justice and +was partially built in the Renaissance period. Standing close to it, is an +exceedingly tall building with a great gable that suggests an +ecclesiastical origin, and on looking a little closer one soon discovers +blocked up Gothic windows and others from which the tracery has been +hacked. This was the chapel of the castle which has been so completely +robbed of its sanctity that it is now cut up into small lodgings, and in +one of its diminutive shops, picture post-cards of the town are sold.</p> + +<p>The ruins of the old castle are not very conspicuous, for in the +seventeenth century the great keep was demolished. There is still a fairly +noticeable round tower—the Tour Marguerite—which has a pointed roof above +its corbels, or perhaps they should be called machicolations. In the Place +Henri IV. stands a prominent building that projects over the pavement +supported by massive pointed arches, and with this building in the +foreground there is one of the best views of St Germain that one can find +in the town. Just before coming to the clock that is suspended over the +road by the porch of the church, there is a butcher's shop at the street +corner that has a piece of oak carving preserved on account of its interest +while the rest of the building has been made featureless with even plaster. +The carving shows Adam and Eve standing on either side of a formal Tree of +Life, and the butcher, who is pleased to find a stranger who notices this +little curiosity, tells him with great pride that his house dates from the +fifteenth century. The porch of St Germain is richly ornamented, but it +takes a second place to the south porch of the church of Notre Dame at +Louviers and may perhaps seem scarcely worthy of comment after St Maclou at +Rouen. The structure as a whole was commenced in 1424, and the last portion +of the work only dates from the middle of the seventeenth century. The +vaulting of the nave has a very new and well-kept appearance and the side +altars, in contrast to so many of even the large churches, are almost +dignified in their somewhat restrained and classic style. The high altar is +a stupendous erection of two storeys with Corinthian pillars. Nine long, +white, pendant banners are conspicuous on the walls of the chancel. The +great altars and the lesser ones that crowd the side chapels are subject to +the accumulation of dirt as everything else in buildings sacred or lay, and +at certain times of the day, a woman may be seen vigorously flapping the +brass candlesticks and countless altar ornaments with a big feather broom. +On the north side of the chancel some of the windows have sections of old +painted glass, and in one of them there is part of a ship with men in +crow's nests backed by clouds, a really vigorous colour scheme.</p> + +<p>Keeping to the high ground, there is to the south of this church an open +Place, and beyond it there are some large barracks, where, on the other +side of a low wall may be seen the elaborately prepared steeple-chase for +training soldiers to be able to surmount every conceivable form of +obstacle. Awkward iron railings, wide ditches, walls of different +composition and varying height are frequently scaled, and it is practice of +this sort that has made the French soldier famous for the facility with +which he can storm fortifications. The river Orne finds its way through the +lower part of the town and here there are to be found some of the most +pleasing bits of antique domestic architecture. One of the quaintest of +these built in 1616 is the galleried building illustrated here, and from a +parallel street not many yards off there is a peep of a house that has been +built right over the stream which is scarcely less picturesque.</p> + +<p>The church of St Martin is passed on entering Argentan from Falaise. Its +east end crowds right up against the pavement and it is somewhat unusual to +find the entrances at this portion of the building. The stained glass in +the choir of St Martin is its most noticeable feature—the pictures showing +various scenes in the life of Christ.</p> + +<p>As in all French towns Argentan knows how to decorate on fete days. Coming +out of the darkness of the church in the late twilight on one of these +occasions, I discovered that the town had suddenly become festooned with a +long perspective of arches stretching right away down the leafy avenue that +goes out of the town—to the north in one direction, and to St Germain in +the other. The arches were entirely composed without a single exception of +large crimson-red Chinese lanterns. The effect was astonishingly good, but +despite all the decoration, the townsfolk seemed determined to preserve the +quiet of the Sabbath, and although there were crowds everywhere, the only +noise that broke the stillness was that of the steam round-about that had +been erected on a triangular patch of grass. The dark crowds of people +illuminated by flaring lights stood in perfect quiet as they watched the +great noisy mass of moving animals and boats, occupied almost entirely by +children, keep up its perpetual dazzle and roar. The fair—for there were +many side-shows—was certainly quieter than any I have witnessed in +England.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="chateau"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<a href="images/15.jpg"><img alt="15h.jpg (40K)" src="images/15h.jpg" height="490" width="354"></a> +</center> +<br><br> +<br><br> + + + +<p>A long, straight road, poplar-bordered and level, runs southwards from +Argentan to Mortree, a village of no importance except for the fact that +one must pass through it if one wishes to visit the beautiful Chateau d'O. +This sixteenth century mansion like so many to be seen in this part of +France, is in a somewhat pathetic state of disrepair, but as far as one may +see from the exterior, it would not require any very great sum to +completely restore the broken stone-work and other signs of decay. These, +while perhaps adding to the picturesqueness of the buildings, do not bring +out that aspect of carefully preserved antiquity which is the charm of most +of the houses of this period in England. The great expanse of water in the +moat is very green and covered by large tracts of weed, but the water is +supplied by a spring, and fish thrive in it. The approach to the chateau +across the moat leads to an arched entrance through which you enter the +large courtyard overlooked on three sides by the richly ornamented +buildings, the fourth side being only protected from the moat by a low +wall. It would be hard to find a more charming spot than this with its +views across the moat to the gardens beyond, backed by great masses of +foliage.</p> + +<p>Going on past Mortree the main road will bring one after about eight miles +to the old town of Alencon, which has been famed ever since the time of +Louis XIV. for the lace which is even at the present day worked in the +villages of this neighbourhood, more especially at the hamlet of Damigny. +The cottagers use pure linen thread which is worth the almost incredible +sum of £100 per lb. They work on parchment from patterns which are supplied +by the merchants in Alencon. The women go on from early morning until the +light fails, and earn something about a shilling per day!</p> + +<p>The castle of Alencon, built by Henry I. in the twelfth century, was +pulled down with the exception of the keep, by the order of Henry of +Navarre, the famous contemporary of Queen Elizabeth. This keep is still in +existence, and is now used as a prison. Near it is the Palais de Justice, +standing where the other buildings were situated.</p> + +<p>The west porch of the church of Notre Dame is richly ornamented with +elaborate canopies, here and there with statues. One of these represents St +John, and it will be seen that he is standing with his face towards the +church. A legend states that this position was taken by the statue when the +church was being ransacked by Protestants in the sixteenth century.</p> + +<p>Another road from Argentan is the great <i>route nationale</i> that runs in a +fairly direct line to Granville. As one rides out of the town there is a +pretty view on looking back, of St Germain standing on the slight eminence +above the Orne. Keeping along by that river the road touches it again at +the little town of Ecouche. The old market hall standing on massive +pillars, is the most attractive feature of the place. Its old tiled roof +and half-timbered upper storey remind one forcibly of some of those +fortunate old towns in England that have preserved this feature. The church +has lost its original nave, and instead, there is a curious barn-like +structure, built evidently with a view to economy, being scarcely more than +half the height of the original: the vacant space has been very roughly +filled up, and the numerous holes and crevices support a fine growth of +weeds, and a strong young tree has also taken root in the ramshackle stone +work. From the central tower, gargoyles grin above the elaborately carved +buttresses and finials in remarkable contrast to the jerry-built addition.</p> + +<p>Passing through rich country, you leave the valley of the Orne, and on +both sides of the road are spread wide and fascinating views over the +orchard-clad country that disappears in the distant blue of the horizon. +Wonderful patches of shadow, when large clouds are flying over the heavens, +fall on this great tract of country and while in dull weather it may seem a +little monotonous, in days of sunshine and shade it is full of a haunting +beauty that is most remarkable.</p> + +<p>About seven miles from Argentan one passes Fromentelle, a quiet hamlet full +of thatched cottages and curious weathercocks, and then five miles further +on, having descended into the valley of the little river Rouvre, Briouze +is entered. Here there is a wide and very extensive market-place with +another quaint little structure, smaller than the one at Ecouche, but +having a curious bell-turret in the centre of the roof. On Monday, which +is market day, Briouze presents a most busy scene, and there are plenty of +opportunities of studying the genial looking country farmers, their wives, +and the large carts in which they drive from the farms. In the midst of the +booths, you may see a bronze statue commemorating the "Sapeurs, pompiers" +and others of this little place who fell in 1854.</p> + +<p>Leaving the main road which goes on to Flers, we may take the road to +Domfront, which passes through three pretty villages and much pleasant +country. Bellau, the first village, is full of quaint houses and charming +old-world scenes. The church is right in the middle on an open space +without an enclosure of any description. Standing with one's back to this +building, there is a pretty view down the road leading to the south, a +patch of blue distance appearing in the opening between the old gables. To +all those who may wish to either paint or photograph this charming scene, I +would recommend avoiding the hour in the afternoon when the children come +out of school. I was commencing a drawing one sunny afternoon—it must have +been about three o'clock—and the place seemed almost deserted. Indeed, I +had been looking for a country group of peasants to fill the great white +space of sunny road, when in twos and threes, the juvenile population +flooded out towards me. For some reason which I could not altogether +fathom, the boys arranged themselves in a long, regular line, occupying +exactly one half of the view, the remaining space being filled by an +equally long line of little girls. All my efforts failed to induce the +children to break up the arrangement they had made. They merely altered +their formation by advancing three or four paces nearer with almost +military precision. They were still standing in their unbroken rows when I +left the village.</p> + +<p>Passing a curious roadside cross which bears the date 1741 and a long Latin +inscription splashed over with lichen, one arrives at La Ferriere aux +Etangs, a quaint village with a narrow and steep street containing one +conspicuously old, timber-framed house. But it is scarcely necessary to +point out individual cottages in this part of Normandy, for wherever one +looks, the cottages are covered with thick, purply-grey thatch, and the +walls below are of grey wooden framework, filled in with plaster, generally +coloured a creamy-white. When there are deep shadows under the eaves and +the fruit trees in blossom stand out against the dark thatch, one can +easily understand how captivating is the rural charm of this part of +Normandy. Gradually the road ascends, but no great views are apparent, +although one is right above the beautiful valley of the Varennes, until +quite near to Domfront. Then, suddenly there appears an enormous stretch of +slightly undulating country to the south and west. As far as one can see, +the whole land seems to be covered by one vast forest.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="domfront"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<a href="images/16.jpg"><img alt="16h.jpg (34K)" src="images/16h.jpg" height="352" width="459"></a> +</center> +<br><br> +<br><br> + + + +<p>But though part of this is real forest-land, much of it is composed of +orchards and hedgerow trees, which are planted so closely together that, at +a short distance, they assume the aspect of close-growing woods. The first +impression of the great stretch of forest-land does not lose its striking +aspect, even when one has explored the whole of the town. The road that +brings one into the old town runs along a ridge and after passing one of +the remains of the old gateways, it rises slightly to the highest part of +the mass of rock upon which Domfront is perched. The streets are narrow and +parallel to accommodate themselves to the confined space within the walls. +At the western end of the granite ridge, and separated from the town by a +narrow defile, stands all that is left of the castle—a massive but +somewhat shapeless ruin. At the western end of the ramparts, one looks down +a precipitous descent to the river Varennes which has by some unusual +agency, cut itself a channel through the rocky ridge if it did not merely +occupy an existing gap. At the present time, besides the river, the road +and railway pass through the narrow gorge.</p> + +<p>The castle has one of those sites that appealed irresistibly to the warlike +barons of the eleventh century. In this case it was William I., Duc de +Belleme, who decided to raise a great fortress on this rock that he had +every reason to believe would prove an impregnable stronghold, but although +only built in 1011, it was taken by Duke William thirty-seven years later, +being one of the first brilliant feats by which William the Norman showed +his strength outside his own Duchy. A century or more later, Henry II., +when at Domfront, received the pope's nuncio by whom a reconciliation was +in some degree patched up between the king and Becket. Richard I. is known +to have been at the castle at various times. In the sixteenth century, +a most thrilling siege was conducted during the period when Catherine +de Medicis was controlling the throne. A Royalist force, numbering some +seven or eight thousand horse and foot, surrounded this formidable rock +which was defended by the Calvinist Comte de Montgommery. With him was +another Protestant, Ambroise le Balafre, who had made himself a despot +at Domfront, but whose career was cut short by one of Montgommery's men +with whom he had quarrelled. They buried him in the little church of +Notre-Dame-sur-l'Eau—the wonderfully preserved Norman building that one +sees beneath one's feet when standing on the ramparts of the castle. The +body, however, was not long allowed to remain there, for when the royal +army surrounded the castle they brought out the corpse and hung it in a +conspicuous place to annoy the besieged. Like Corfe Castle in England, and +many other magnificently fortified strongholds, Domfront was capable of +defence by a mere handful. In this case the original garrison consisted of +one hundred and fifty, and after many desertions the force was reduced to +less than fifty. A great breach had been made by the six pieces of +artillery placed on the hill on the opposite side of the gorge, and through +this the besiegers endeavoured to enter. The attenuated garrison, with +magnificent courage, held the breach after a most desperate and bloody +fight. But after all this display of courage, it was found impossible to +continue the defence, for by the next morning there were barely more than a +dozen men left to fight. Finally Montgommery was obliged to surrender +unconditionally, and not long afterwards he was executed in Paris. You may +see the breach where this terrible fight took place at the present day, and +as you watch the curious effects of the blue shadows falling among the +forest trees that stretch away towards the south, you may feel that you are +looking over almost the same scene that was gazed upon by the notable +figures in history who have made their exits and entrances at Domfront.</p> + +<p>So little has the church of Notre-Dame-sur-l'Eau altered in its appearance +since it was built by the Duc de Belleme that, were he to visit the ruins +of his castle, he would marvel no doubt that the men of the nine centuries +which have passed, should have consistently respected this sturdy little +building. There are traces of aisles having existed, but otherwise the +exterior of the church can have seen no change at all in this long period. +Inside, however, the crude whitewash, the curious assemblage of enormous +seventeenth century gravestones that are leant against the walls, and the +terribly jarring almost life-sized crucifix, all give one that feeling of +revulsion that is inseparable from an ill-kept place of worship. On the +banks of the river outside, women may be seen washing clothes; the sounds +of the railway come from the station near by, and overhead, rising above +the foliage at its feet, are the broken walls and shattered keep from which +we have been gazing.</p> + +<p>The walls of the town, punctuated by many a quaint tower, have lost their +fearsome aspect owing to the domestic uses to which the towers are palpably +devoted. One of them appears in the adjoining illustration, and it is +typical of the half-dozen or so that still rise above the pretty gardens +that are perched along the steep ascent. But though Domfront is full of +almost thrilling suggestions of medievalism and the glamour of an ancient +town, yet there is a curious lack of picturesque arrangement, so that if +one were to be led away by the totally uninteresting photographs that may +be seen in the shops, one would miss one of the most unique spots in +Normandy.</p> + +<p>Stretching away towards Flers, there is a tract of green country all ups +and downs, but with no distant views except the peep of Domfront that +appears a few miles north of the town. Crowning the ridge of the hill is +the keep of the castle, resembling a closed fist with the second finger +raised, and near it, the bell-cote of the Palais de Justice and the spire +of the church break the line of the old houses. Ferns grow by the roadside +on every bank, but the cottages and farms are below the average of rustic +beauty that one soon demands in this part of France.</p> + +<p>Flers is a somewhat busy manufacturing town where cotton and thread +mills have robbed the place of its charm. At first sight one might +imagine the church which bears the date 1870 was of considerably +greater age, but inside one is almost astounded at the ramshackle +galleries, the white-washed roof of rough boards discoloured by damp, +and the general squalor of the place relieved only by a ponderous +altar-piece of classic design. The castle is still in good preservation +but although it dates from early Norman times, it is chiefly of the +sixteenth century.</p> + +<p>Out in the country again, going westwards, the cottage industry of +weaving is apparent in nearly every cottage one sees. The loud +click-a-ti-clack—click-a-ti-clack of the looms can be heard on every +side as one passes such villages as Landisacq. Everywhere the scenery +is exceedingly English, the steep hillsides are often covered with +orchards, and the delicate green of the apple-trees in spring-time, +half-smothered in pinky-white blossom, gives the country a garden-like +aspect. You may see a man harrowing a field on a sudden slope with a +cloud of dust blowing up from the dry light soil, and you may hear him +make that curious hullaballooing by which the peasants direct their +horses, so different from the grunting "way-yup there" of the English +ploughman. Coming down a long descent, a great stretch of country to +the north that includes the battlefield of Tinchebrai comes into view. +It is hard to associate the rich green pastures, smiling orchards, and +peaceful cattle, with anything so gruesome as a battle between armies +led by brothers. But it was near the little town of Tinchebrai that the +two brothers, Henry I., King of England, and Robert Duke of Normandy +fought for the possession of Normandy. Henry's army was greatly +superior to that of his brother, for he had the valuable help of the +Counts of Conches, Breteuil, Thorigny, Mortagne, Montfort, and two or +three others as powerful. But despite all this array, the battle for +some time was very considerably in Robert's favour, and it was only +when Henry, heavily pressed by his brother's brilliant charge, ordered +his reserves to envelop the rear, that the great battle went in favour +of the English king. Among the prisoners were Robert and his youthful +son William, the Counts of Mortain, Estouteville, Ferrieres, and a +large number of notable men. Until his death, twenty-seven years later, +Henry kept his brother captive in Cardiff Castle, and it has been said +that, owing to an effort to escape, Henry was sufficiently lacking in +all humane feelings towards his unfortunate brother, to have both his +eyes put out. It seems a strange thing that exactly sixty years after +the battle of Hastings, a Norman king of England, should conquer the +country which had belonged to his father.</p> + +<p>The old church of St Remy at Tinchebrai, part of which dates from the +twelfth century, has been abandoned for a new building, but the inn—the +Hotel Lion d'Or—which bears the date 1614, is still in use. Vire, however, +is only ten miles off, and its rich mediaeval architecture urges us +forward.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="clockgate"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<a href="images/17.jpg"><img alt="17h.jpg (42K)" src="images/17h.jpg" height="544" width="354"></a> +</center> +<br><br> +<br><br> + + +<p>Standing in the midst of the cobbled street, there suddenly appears right +ahead a splendid thirteenth century gateway—the Tour de l'Horloge—that +makes one of the richest pictures in Normandy. It is not always one can see +the curious old tower thrown up by a blaze of gold in the west, but those +who are fortunate enough to see such an effect may get a small suggestion +of the scene from the illustration given here. The little painted figure of +the Virgin and Child stands in a niche just over the arch, and by it +appears the prayer "Marie protege la ville!"</p> + +<p>One of the charms of Vire is its cleanliness, for I can recall no +unpleasant smells having interfered with the pleasure of exploring the old +streets. There is a great market on the northern side of the town, open and +breezy. It slopes clear away without any intervening buildings to a great +expanse of green wooded country, suggestive of some of the views that lie +all around one at Avranches. The dark old church of Notre Dame dates mainly +from the twelfth century. Houses and small shops are built up against it +between the buttresses in a familiar, almost confidential manner, and on +the south side, the row of gargoyles have an almost humorous appearance. +The drips upon the pavement and shops below were evidently a nuisance, and +rain water-spouts, with plain pipes leading diagonally from them, have been +attached to each grotesque head, making it seem that the grinning monsters +have developed a great and unquenchable thirst. Inside, the church is dark +and impressive. There are double rows of pillars in the aisles, and a huge +crucifix hangs beneath the tower, thrown up darkly against the chancel, +which is much painted and gilded. The remains of the great castle consist +of nothing more than part of the tall keep, built eight hundred years ago, +and fortunately not entirely destroyed when the rest of the castle came +down by the order of Cardinal Richelieu. An exploration of the quaint +streets of Vire will reveal two or three ancient gateways, many gabled +houses, some of which are timber-framed visually, and most of them are the +same beneath their skins of plaster. The houses in one of the streets are +connected with the road by a series of wooden bridges across the river, +which there forms one of the many pictures to be found in Vire.</p> + +<p>Mortain is separated from Vire by fifteen miles of exceedingly hilly +country, and those who imagine that all the roads in Normandy are the flat +and poplar bordered ones that are so often encountered, should travel along +this wonderful switch-back. As far as Sourdeval there seems scarcely a yard +of level ground—it is either a sudden ascent or a breakneck rush into a +trough-like depression. You pass copices of firs and beautiful woods, +although in saying beautiful it is in a limited sense, for one seldom finds +the really rich woodlands that are so priceless an ornament to many Surrey +and Kentish lanes. The road is shaded by tall trees when it begins to +descend into the steep rocky gorge of the Cance with its tumbling +waterfalls that are a charming feature of this approach to Mortain. High +upon the rocks on the left appears an enormous gilded statue of the Virgin, +in the grounds of the Abbaye Blanche. Going downwards among the broken +sunlight and shadows on the road, Mortain appears, picturesquely perched on +a great rocky steep, and in the opening of the valley a blue haze suggests +the great expanse of level country towards the south. The big parish church +of the town was built originally in 1082 by that Robert of Mortain, who, it +will be remembered, was one of the first of the Normans to receive from the +victorious William a grant of land in England. The great tower which stands +almost detached on the south-west side is remarkable for its enormously +tall slit windows, for they run nearly from the ground to the saddle-back +roof. The interior of this church is somewhat unusual, the nave and chancel +being structurally one, and the aisles are separated by twenty-four +circular grey pillars with Corinthian capitals. The plain surfaces of the +walls and vaulting are absolutely clean white, picked out with fine black +lines to represent stone-work—a scarcely successful treatment of such an +interior! On either side of the High Altar stand two great statues +representing St Guillaume and St Evroult.</p> + +<p>To those who wish to "do" all the sights of Mortain there is the Chapel of +St Michael, which stands high up on the margin of a great rocky hill, but +the building having been reconstructed about fifty years ago, the chief +attraction to the place is the view, which in tolerably clear weather, +includes Mont St Michel towards which we are making our way.</p> + +<p>A perfectly straight and fairly level stretch of road brings you to St +Hilaire-du-Harcout. On the road one passes two or three large country +houses with their solemn and perfectly straight avenues leading directly up +to them at right angles from the road. The white jalousies seem always +closed, the grass on the lawns seems never cut, and the whole +establishments have a pathetically deserted appearance to the passer-by. A +feature of this part of the country can scarcely be believed without +actually using one's eyes. It is the wooden chimney-stack, covered with oak +shingles, that surmounts the roofs of most of the cottages. Where the +shingles have fallen off, the cement rubble that fills the space between +the oak framing appears, but it is scarcely credible that, even with this +partial protection, these chimneys should have survived so many centuries. +I have asked the inmates of some of the cottages whether they ever feared a +fire in their chimneys, but they seemed to consider the question as totally +unnecessary, for some providence seems to have watched over their frail +structures.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="avranches"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<a href="images/18.jpg"><img alt="18h.jpg (42K)" src="images/18h.jpg" height="337" width="494"></a> +</center> +<br><br> +<br><br> + + + +<p>St Hilaire has a brand new church and nothing picturesque in its long, +almost monotonous, street. Instead of turning aside at Pontaubault towards +Mont St Michel, we will go due north from that hamlet to the beautifully +situated Avranches. This prosperous looking town used, at one time, to have +a large English colony, but it has recently dwindled to such small +dimensions that the English chaplain has an exceedingly small parish. The +streets seem to possess a wonderful cleanliness; all the old houses appear +to have made way for modern buildings which, in a way, give Avranches the +aspect of a watering-place, but its proximity to the sea is more apparent +in a map than when one is actually in the town. On one side of the great +place in front of the church of Notre Dame des Champs is the Jardin des +Plantes. To pass from the blazing sunshine and loose gravel, to the dense +green shade of the trees in this delightful retreat is a pleasure that can +be best appreciated on a hot afternoon in summer. The shade, however, and +the beds of flowers are not the only attractions of these gardens. Their +greatest charm is the wonderful view over the shining sands and the +glistening waters of the rivers See and Selune that, at low tide, take +their serpentine courses over the delicately tinted waste of sand that +occupies St Michael's Bay. Out beyond the little wooded promontory that +protects the mouth of the See, lies Mont St Michel, a fretted silhouette of +flat pearly grey, and a little to the north is Tombelaine, a less +pretentious islet in this fairyland sea. Framed by the stems and foliage of +the trees, this view is one of the most fascinating in Normandy. One would +be content to stay here all through the sultry hours of a summer day, to +listen to the distant hum of conversation among white-capped nursemaids, as +they sew busily, giving momentary attention to their charges. But Avranches +has an historical spot that no student of history, and indeed no one who +cares anything for the picturesque events that crowd the pages of the +chronicles of England in the days of the Norman kings, may miss. It is the +famous stone upon which Henry II. knelt when he received absolution for the +murder of Becket at the hands of the papal legate. To reach this stone is, +for a stranger, a matter of some difficulty. From the Place by the Jardin +des Plantes, it is necessary to plunge down a steep descent towards the +railway station, and then one climbs a series of zigzag paths on a high +grassy bank that brings one out upon the Place Huet. In one corner, +surrounded by chains and supported by low iron posts, is the historic +stone. It is generally thickly coated with dust, but the brass plate +affixed to a pillar of the doorway is quite legible. These, and a few +fragments of carved stone that lie half-smothered in long grass and weeds +at a short distance from the railed-in stone, are all that remain of the +cathedral that existed in the time of Henry II.</p> + +<p>It must have been an impressive scene on that Sunday in May 1172, when the +papal legate, in his wonderful robes, stood by the north transept door, of +which only this fragment remains, and granted absolution to the sovereign, +who, kneeling in all humbleness and submission, was relieved of the curse +of excommunication which had been laid on him after the tragic affair in +the sanctuary at Canterbury. In place of the splendid cathedral, whose nave +collapsed, causing the demolition of the whole building in 1799, there is a +new church with the two great western towers only carried up to half the +height intended for them.</p> + +<p>From the roadway that runs along the side of the old castle walls in +terrace fashion there is another wonderful view of rich green country, +through which, at one's feet, winds the river See. Away towards the +north-west the road to Granville can be seen passing over the hills in a +perfectly straight line. But this part of the country may be left for +another chapter.</p> + + + + +<br> +<br> +<hr> +<br><br> + + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Normandy, Part 2, by Gordon Home + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NORMANDY, PART 2 *** + +***** This file should be named 8594-h.htm or 8594-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/8/5/9/8594/ + +HTML version produced by David Widger from the text provided by Ted Garvin, +Beth Trapaga and the Distributed Proofreading Team + + +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: Normandy, Part 2 + The Scenery & Romance Of Its Ancient Towns + +Author: Gordon Home + +Release Date: August 11, 2004 [EBook #8594] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NORMANDY, PART 2 *** + + + + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Beth Trapaga and the Distributed Proofreading +Team + + + + + + +NORMANDY: + +THE SCENERY & ROMANCE OF ITS ANCIENT TOWNS: + +DEPICTED BY GORDON HOME + +Part 2. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +Concerning the Cathedral City of Evreux and the Road to Bernay + +The tolling of the deep-toned bourdon in the cathedral tower reverberates +over the old town of Evreux as we pass along the cobbled streets. There is +a yellow evening light overhead, and the painted stucco walls of the houses +reflect the soft, glowing colour of the west. In the courtyard of the Hotel +du Grand Cerf, too, every thing is bathed in this beautiful light and the +double line of closely trimmed laurels has not yet been deserted by the +golden flood. But Evreux does not really require a fine evening to make it +attractive, although there is no town in existence that is not improved +under such conditions. With the magnificent cathedral, the belfry, the +Norman church of St Taurin and the museum, besides many quaint peeps by the +much sub-divided river Iton that flows through the town, there is +sufficient to interest one even on the dullest of dull days. + +Of all the cathedral interiors in Normandy there are none that possess a +finer or more perfectly proportioned nave than Evreux, and if I were asked +to point out the two most impressive interiors of the churches in this +division of France I should couple the cathedral at Evreux with St Ouen at +Rouen. + +It was our own Henry I. who having destroyed the previous building set to +work to build a new one and it is his nave that we see to-day. The whole +cathedral has since that time been made to reflect the changing ideals of +the seven centuries that have passed. The west front belongs entirely to +the Renaissance period and the north transept is in the flamboyant style of +the fifteenth century so much in evidence in Normandy and so infrequent in +England. + +The central tower with its tall steeple now encased in scaffolding was +built in 1470 by Cardinal Balue, Bishop of Evreux and inventor of the +fearful wooden cages in one of which the prisoner Dubourg died at Mont St +Michel. + +In most of the windows there is old and richly coloured glass; those in the +chancel have stronger tones, but they all transform the shafts of light +into gorgeous rainbow effects which stand out in wonderful contrast to the +delicate, creamy white of the stone-work. Pale blue banners are suspended +in the chancel, and the groining above is coloured on each side of the +bosses for a short distance, so that as one looks up the great sweep of the +nave, the banners and the brilliant fifteenth century glass appear as vivid +patches of colour beyond the uniform, creamy grey on either side. The +Norman towers at the west end of the cathedral are completely hidden in the +mask of classical work planted on top of the older stone-work in the +sixteenth century, and more recent restoration has altered some of the +other features of the exterior. At the present day the process of +restoration still goes on, but the faults of our grandfathers fortunately +are not repeated. + +Leaving the Place Parvis by the Rue de l'Horloge you come to the great open +space in front of the Hotel de Ville and the theatre with the museum on the +right, in which there are several Roman remains discovered at Vieil-Evreux, +among them being a bronze statue of Jupiter Stator. On the opposite side of +the Place stands the beautiful town belfry built at the end of the +fifteenth century. There was an earlier one before that time, but I do not +know whether it had been destroyed during the wars with the English, or +whether the people of Evreux merely raised the present graceful tower in +place of the older one with a view to beautifying the town. The bell, which +was cast in 1406 may have hung in the former structure, and there is some +fascination in hearing its notes when one realises how these same sound +waves have fallen on the ears of the long procession of players who have +performed their parts within its hearing. A branch of the Iton runs past +the foot of the tower in canal fashion; it is backed by old houses and +crossed by many a bridge, and helps to build up a suitable foreground to +the beautiful old belfry, which seems to look across to the brand new Hotel +de Ville with an injured expression. From the Boulevard Chambaudouin there +is a good view of one side of the Bishop's palace which lies on the south +side of the cathedral, and is joined to it by a gallery and the remains of +the cloister. The walls are strongly fortified, and in front of them runs a +branch of one of the canals of the Iton, that must have originally served +as a moat. + +Out towards the long straight avenue that runs out of the town in the +direction of Caen, there may be seen the Norman church of St Taurin. It is +all that is left of the Benedictine abbey that once stood here. Many people +who explore this interesting church fail to see the silver-gilt reliquary +of the twelfth century that is shown to visitors who make the necessary +inquiries. The richness of its enamels and the elaborate ornamentation +studded with imitation gems that have replaced the real ones, makes this +casket almost unique. + +Many scenes from the life of the saint are shown in the windows of the +choir of the church. They are really most interesting, and the glass is +very beautiful. The south door must have been crowded with the most +elaborate ornament, but the delicately carved stone-work has been hacked +away and the thin pillars replaced by crude, uncarved chunks of stone. +There is Norman arcading outside the north transept as well as just above +the floor in the north aisle. St Taurin is a somewhat dilapidated and +cob-webby church, but it is certainly one of the interesting features of +Evreux. + +Instead of keeping on the road to Caen after reaching the end of the great +avenue just mentioned, we turn towards the south and soon enter pretty +pastoral scenery. The cottages are almost in every instance thatched, with +ridges plastered over with a kind of cobb mud. In the cracks in this +curious ridging, grass seeds and all sorts of wild flowers are soon +deposited, so that upon the roof of nearly every cottage there is a +luxuriant growth of grass and flowers. In some cases yellow irises alone +ornament the roofs, and they frequently grow on the tops of the walls that +are treated in a similar fashion. A few miles out of Evreux you pass a +hamlet with a quaint little church built right upon the roadway with no +churchyard or wall of any description. A few broken gravestones of quite +recent date litter the narrow, dusty space between the north side of the +church and the roadway. Inside there is an untidy aspect to everything, but +there are some windows containing very fine thirteenth century glass which +the genial old cure shows with great delight, for it is said that they were +intended for the cathedral at Evreux, but by some chance remained in this +obscure hamlet. The cure also points out the damage done to the windows by +_socialistes_ at a recent date. + +By the roadside towards Conches, there are magpies everywhere, punctuated +by yellow hammers and nightingales. The cottages have thatch of a very deep +brown colour over the hipped roofs, closely resembling those in the +out-of-the-way parts of Sussex. It a beautiful country, and the +delightfully situated town of Conches at the edge of its forest is well +matched with its surroundings. + +In the middle of the day the inhabitants seem to entirely disappear from +the sunny street, and everything has a placid and reposeful appearance as +though the place revelled in its quaintness. Backed by the dense masses of +forest there is a sloping green where an avenue of great chestnuts tower +above the long, low roof of the timber-framed cattle shelter. On the +highest part of the hill stands the castle, whose round, central tower +shows above the trees that grow thickly on the slopes of the hill. Close to +the castle is the graceful church, and beyond are the clustered roofs of +the houses. A viaduct runs full tilt against the hill nearly beneath the +church, and then the railway pierces the hill on its way towards Bernay. +The tall spire of the church of St Foy is comparatively new, for the whole +structure was rebuilt in the fifteenth century, but its stained glass is of +exceptional interest. Its richness of colour and the interest of the +subjects indicate some unusually gifted artist, and one is not surprised to +discover that they were designed by Aldegrevers, who was trained by that +great master Albrecht Dyrer. Altogether there are twenty-one of these +beautiful windows. Seven occupy the eastern end of the apse and give scenes +taken from the life of St Foy. + +You can reach the castle by passing through the quaint archway of the Hotel +de Ville, and then passing through the shady public garden you plunge into +the dry moat that surrounds the fortified mound. There is not very much to +see but what appears in a distant view of the town, and in many ways the +outside groupings of the worn ruin and the church roofs and spire above the +houses are better than the scenes in the town itself. The Hotel Croix +Blanche is a pleasant little house for dejeuner. Everything is extremely +simple and typical of the family methods of the small French inn, where +excellent cooking goes along with many primitive usages. The cool +salle-a-manger is reached through the general living-room and kitchen, +which is largely filled with the table where you may see the proprietor +and his family partaking of their own meals. There seems no room to cook +anything at all, and yet when you are seated in the next room the +daughter of the family, an attractive and neatly dressed girl, +gracefully serves the most admirable courses, worthy and perhaps better +than what one may expect to obtain in the best hotel in Rouen. + +There is a road that passes right through the forest of Conches towards +Rugles, but that must be left for another occasion if we are to see +anything of the charms of Beaumont-le-Roger, the perfectly situated little +town that lies half-way between Conches and Bernay. + +The long street of the town containing some very charming peeps as you go +towards the church is really a terrace on the limestone hills that rises +behind the houses on the right, and falls steeply on the left. Spaces +between the houses and narrow turnings give glimpses of the rich green +country down below. From the lower level you see the rocky ridge above +clothed in a profusion of trees. The most perfect picture in the town is +from the river bank just by the bridge. In the foreground is the +mirror-like stream that gives its own rendering of the scene that is built +up above it. Leaning upon a parapet of the bridge is a man with a rod who +is causing tragedies in the life that teems beneath the glassy surface. +Beyond the bridge appear some quaint red roofs with one tower-like house +with an overhanging upper storey. Higher up comes the precipitous hill +divided into terraces by the huge walls that surround the abbey buildings, +and still higher, but much below the highest part of the hill, are the +picturesque ruins of the abbey. On the summit of the ridge dominating all +are the insignificant remains of the castle built by Roger a la Barbe, +whose name survives in that of the town. His family were the founders of +the abbey that flourished for several centuries, but finally, about a +hundred years ago, the buildings were converted to the uses of a factory! +Spinning and weaving might have still been going on but for a big fire that +destroyed the whole place. There was, however, a considerably more complete +series of buildings left than we can see to-day, but scarcely more than +fifty years ago the place was largely demolished for building materials. +The view from the river Rille is therefore the best the ruin can boast, for +seen from that point the arches rise up against the green background as a +stately ruin, and the tangled mass of weeds and debris are invisible. The +entrance is most inviting. It is down at the foot of the cliff, and the +archway with the steep ascent inside suggests all sorts of delights beyond, +as it stands there just by the main street of the town. I was sorry +afterwards, that I had accepted that hospitality, for with the exception of +a group of merry children playing in an orchard and some big caves hollowed +out of the foot of the cliff that rises still higher, I saw nothing but a +jungle of nettles. This warning should not, however, suggest that +Beaumont-le-Roger is a poor place to visit. Not only is it a charming, I +may say a fascinating spot to visit, but it is also a place in which to +stay, for the longer you remain there the less do you like the idea of +leaving. The church of St Nicholas standing in the main street where it +becomes much wider and forms a small Place, is a beautiful old building +whose mellow colours on stone-work and tiles glow vividly on a sunny +afternoon. There is a great stone wall forming the side of the rocky +platform that supports the building and the entrance is by steps that lead +up to the west end. The tower belongs to the flamboyant period and high up +on its parapet you may see a small statue of Regulus who does duty as a +"Jack-smite-the-clock." Just by the porch there leans against a wall a most +ponderous grave slab which was made for the tomb of Jehan du Moustier a +soldier of the fourteenth century who fought for that Charles of Navarre +who was surnamed "The Bad." The classic additions to the western part of +the church seem strangely out of sympathy with the gargoyles overhead and +the thirteenth century arcades of the nave, but this mixing up of styles is +really more incongruous in description than in reality. + +When you have decided to leave Beaumont-le-Roger and have passed across the +old bridge and out into the well-watered plain, the position of the little +town suggests that of the village of Pulborough in Sussex, where a road +goes downhill to a bridge and then crosses the rich meadowland where the +river Arun winds among the pastures in just the same fashion as the Rille. + +At a bend in the road to Bernay stands the village of Serquigny. It is just +at the edge of the forest of Beaumont which we have been skirting, and +besides having a church partially belonging to the twelfth century it has +traces of a Roman Camp. All the rest of the way to Bernay the road follows +the railway and the river Charentonne until the long--and when you are +looking out for the hotel--seemingly endless street of Bernay is reached. +After the wonderful combination of charms that are flaunted by +Beaumont-le-Roger it is possible to grumble at the plainer features of +Bernay, but there is really no reason to hurry out of the town for there is +much quaint architecture to be seen, and near the Hotel du Lion d'Or there +is a house built right over the street resting on solid wooden posts. But +more interesting than the domestic architecture are the remains of the +abbey founded by Judith of Brittany very early in the eleventh century for +it is probably one of the oldest Romanesque remains in Normandy. The church +is cut up into various rooms and shops at the choir end, and there has been +much indiscriminate ill-treatment of the ancient stone-work. Much of the +structure, including the plain round arches and square columns, is of the +very earliest Norman period, having been built in the first half of the +eleventh century, but in later times classic ornament was added to the work +of those shadowy times when the kingdom of Normandy had not long been +established. So much alteration in the styles of decoration has taken place +in the building that it is possible to be certain of the date of only some +portions of the structure. The Hotel de Ville now occupies part of the +abbey buildings. + +At the eastern side of the town stands St Croix, a fifteenth century church +with a most spacious interior. There is much beautiful glass dating from +three hundred years ago in the windows of the nave and transepts, but +perhaps the feature which will be remembered most when other impressions +have vanished, will be the finely carved statues belonging to the +fourteenth century which were brought here from the Abbey of Bec. The south +transept contains a monument to Guillaume Arvilarensis, an abbot of Bec who +died in 1418. Upon the great altar which is believed to have been brought +from the Abbey of Bec, there are eight marble columns surrounding a small +white marble figure of the Child Jesus. + +Another church at Bernay is that of Notre Dame de la Couture. It has much +fourteenth century work and behind the high altar there are five chapels, +the centre one containing a copy of the "sacred image" of Notre Dame which +stands by the column immediately to the right of the entrance. Much more +could be said of these three churches with their various styles of +architecture extending from the very earliest period down to the classic +work of the seventeenth century. But this is not the place for intricate +descriptions of architectural detail which are chiefly useful in books +which are intended for carrying from place to place. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +Concerning Lisieux and the Romantic Town of Falaise + +Lisieux is so rich in the curious timber-framed houses of the middle and +later ages that there are some examples actually visible immediately +outside the railway station whereas in most cases one usually finds an +aggregation of uninteresting modern buildings. As you go towards the centre +of the town the old houses, which have only been dotted about here and +there, join hands and form whole streets of the most romantic and almost +stage-like picturesqueness. The narrow street illustrated here is the Rue +aux Fevres. Its houses are astonishingly fine, and it forms--especially in +the evening--a background suitable for any of the stirring scenes that took +place in such grand old towns as Lisieux in medieval days. This street is +however, only one of several that reek of history. In the Rue des +Boucheries and in the Grande Rue there are lovely overhanging gables and +curious timber-framing that is now at any angle but what was originally +intended. There is really so much individual quaintness in these houses +that they deserve infinitely more than the scurry past them which so +frequently is all their attractions obtain. The narrowness and fustiness of +the Rue aux Fevres certainly hinder you from spending much time in +examining the houses but there are two which deserve a few minutes' +individual attention. One which has a very wide gable and the upper floors +boarded is believed to be of very great antiquity, dating from as early a +period as the thirteenth century. It is numbered thirty-three, and must not +be confused with the richly ornamented Manoir de Francois I. The timber +work of this house, especially of the two lower floors is covered with +elaborate carving including curious animals and quaint little figures, and +also the salamander of the royal house. For this reason the photographs +sold in the shops label the house "Manoir de la Salamandre." The place is +now fast going to ruin--a most pitiable sight and I for one, would prefer +to see the place restored rather than it should be allowed to become so +hopelessly dilapidated and rotten that the question of its preservation +should come to be considered lightly. + +If the town authorities of Lisieux chose to do so, they could encourage the +townsfolk to enrich many of their streets by a judicious flaking off of the +plaster which in so many cases tries to hide all the pleasant features of +houses that have seen at least three centuries, but this sort of work when +in the hands of only partially educated folk is liable to produce a worse +state of affairs than if things had been left untouched. An example of what +over-restoration can do, may be seen when we reach the beautiful old inn at +Dives. + +The two churches of Lisieux are well fitted to their surroundings, and +although St Jacques has no graceful tower or fleche, the quaintness of its +shingled belfry makes up for the lack of the more stately towers of St +Pierre. Where the stone-work has stopped short the buttresses are roofed +with the quaintest semi-circular caps, and over the clock there are two +more odd-looking pepper boxes perched upon the steep slope that projects +from the square belfry. Over all there is a low pyramidal roof, stained +with orange lichen and making a great contrast in colour to the +weather-beaten stone-work down below. There are small patches of tiled +roofing to the buttresses at the western ends of the aisles and these also +add colour to this picturesque building. The great double flight of stone +steps which lead to the imposing western door have balustrades filled with +flamboyant tracery, but although the church is built up in this way, the +floor in the interior is not level, for it slopes gently up towards the +east. The building was commenced during the reign of Louis XII. and not +finished until nearly the end of the reign of Francois I. It is therefore +coeval with that richly carved house in the Rue aux Fevres. Along the sides +of the church there project a double row of thirsty-looking gargoyles--the +upper ones having their shoulders supported by the mass of masonry +supporting the flying buttresses. The interior is richer than the exterior, +and you may see on some of the pillars remains of sixteenth century +paintings. A picture dating from 1681 occupies a position in the chapel of +St Ursin in the south aisle; it shows the relic of the saint being brought +to Lisieux in 1055. + +The wide and sunny Place Thiers is dominated by the great church of St +Pierre, which was left practically in its present form in the year 1233. +The first church was begun some years before the conquest of England but +about a century later it suffered the fate of Bayeux being burnt down in +1136. It was reconstructed soon afterwards and shows to-day the first +period of Gothic architecture that became prevalent in Normandy. Only the +north tower dates from this period, the other one had to be rebuilt during +the reign of Henri III. and the spire only made its appearance in the +seventeenth century. The Lady Chapel is of particular interest owing to the +statement that it was built by that Bishop of Beauvais who took such a +prominent part in the trial of Joan of Arc. The main arches over the big +west door are now bare of carving or ornament and the Hotel de Ville is +built right up against the north-west corner, but despite this St Pierre +has the most imposing and stately appearance, and there are many features +such as the curious turrets of the south transept that impress themselves +on the memory more than some of the other churches we have seen. + +Lisieux is one of those cheerful towns that appear always clean and bright +under the dullest skies, so that when the sun shines every view seems +freshly painted and blazing with colour. The freshness of the atmosphere, +too, is seldom tainted with those peculiar odours that some French towns +produce with such enormous prodigality, and Lisieux may therefore claim a +further point in its favour. + +It is generally a wide, hedgeless stretch of country that lies between +Lisieux and Falaise, but for the first ten miles there are big farm-houses +with timber-framed barns and many orchards bearing a profusion of blossom +near the roadside. A small farm perched above the road and quite out of +sight, invites the thirsty passer-by to turn aside up a steep path to +partake of cider or coffee. It is a simple, almost bare room where the +refreshment is served, but its quaintness and shadowy coolness are most +refreshing. The fireplace has an open hearth with a wood fire which can +soon be blown into a blaze by the big bellows that hang against the chimney +corner. A table by one of the windows is generally occupied in her spare +moments by the farmer's pretty daughter who puts aside her knitting to +fetch the cider or to blow up the fire for coffee. They are a most genial +family and seem to find infinite delight in plying English folk with +questions for I imagine that not many find their way to this sequestered +corner among waving trees and lovely orchards. + +A sudden descent before reaching St Pierre-sur-Dives gives a great view +over the level country below where everything is brilliantly green and +garden-like. The village first shows its imposing church through the trees +of a straight avenue leading towards the village which also possesses a +fine Market Hall that must be at least six hundred years old. The church is +now undergoing restoration externally, but by dodging the falling cement +dust you may go inside, perhaps to be disappointed that there is not more +of the Norman work that has been noticed in the southern tower that rises +above the entrance. The village, or it should really be called a small +town, for its population is over a thousand, has much in it that is +attractive and quaint, and it might gain more attention if everyone who +passes through its streets were not hurrying forward to Falaise. + +The country now becomes a great plain, hedgeless, and at times almost +featureless. The sun in the afternoon throws the shadows of the roadside +trees at right angles, so that the road becomes divided into accurate +squares by the thin lines of shadow. The straight run from St Pierre is +broken where the road crosses the Dives. It is a pretty spot with a farm, a +manor-house and a washing place for women just below the bridge, and then +follows more open road and more interminable perspectives cutting through +the open plain until, with considerable satisfaction, the great +thoroughfare from Caen is joined and soon afterwards a glimpse of the +castle greets us as we enter Falaise. + +There is something peculiarly fascinating about Falaise, for it combines +many of the features that are sparingly distributed in other towns. Its +position on a hill with deep valleys on all sides, its romantic castle, the +two beautiful churches and the splendid thirteenth century gateway, form +the best remembered attractions, but beyond these there are the hundred and +one pretty groupings of the cottages that crowd both banks of the little +river Ante down in the valley under the awe-inspiring castle. + +Even then, no mention has been made of the ancient fronts that greet one in +many of the streets, and the charms of some of the sudden openings between +the houses that give views of the steep, wooded hollows that almost touch +the main street, have been slighted. A huge cube of solid masonry with a +great cylindrical tower alongside perched upon a mass of rock precipitous +on two sides is the distant view of the castle, and coming closer, although +you can see the buttresses that spring from the rocky foundations, the +description still holds good. You should see the fortress in the twilight +with a golden suffusion in the sky and strange, purplish shadows on the +castle walls. It then has much the appearance of one of those unassailable +strongholds where a beautiful princess is lying in captivity waiting for a +chivalrous knight who with a band of faithful men will attempt to scale the +inaccessible walls. Under some skies, the castle assumes the character of +one of Turner's impressions, half real and half imaginary, and under no +skies does this most formidable relic of feudal days ever lose its grand +and awesome aspect. The entrance is through a gateway, the Porte St. +Nicolas, which was built in the thirteenth century. There you are taken in +hand by a pleasant concierge who will lead you first of all to the Tour La +Reine, where he will point out a great breach in the wall made by Henri IV. +when he successfully assaulted the castle after a bombardment with his +artillery which he had kept up for a week. This was in 1589, and since then +no other fighting has taken place round these grand old walls. The ivy that +clings to the ruins and the avenue of limes that leads up to the great keep +are full of jackdaws which wheel round the rock in great flights. You have +a close view of the great Tour Talbot, and then pass through a small +doorway in the northern face of the citadel. Inside, the appearance of the +walls reveals the restoration which has taken place within recent years. +But this, fortunately, does not detract to any serious extent from the +interest of the whole place. Up on the ramparts there are fine views over +the surrounding country, and immediately beneath the precipice below nestle +the picturesque, browny-red roofs of the lower part of the town. Just at +the foot of the castle rock there is still to be seen a tannery which is of +rather unusual interest in connection with the story of how Robert le +Diable was first struck by the charms of Arlette, the beautiful daughter of +a tanner. The Norman duke was supposed to have been looking over the +battlements when he saw this girl washing clothes in the river, and we are +told that owing to the warmth of the day she had drawn up her dress, so +that her feet, which are spoken of as being particularly beautiful were +revealed to his admiring gaze. Arlette afterwards became the mother of +William the Conqueror, and the room is pointed out in the south-west corner +of the keep in which we are asked to believe that the Conqueror of England +was born. It is, however, unfortunate for the legend that archaeologists do +not allow such an early date for the present castle, and thus we are not +even allowed to associate these ramparts with the legend just mentioned. It +must have been a strong building that preceded this present structure, for +during the eleventh century William the Norman was often obliged to retreat +for safety to his impregnable birthplace. The Tour Talbot has below its +lowest floor what seems to be a dungeon, but it is said that prisoners were +not kept here, the place being used merely for storing food. The gloomy +chamber, however, is generally called an oubliette. Above, there are other +floors, the top one having been used by the governor of the castle. In the +thickness of the wall there is a deep well which now contains no water. One +of the rooms in the keep is pointed out as that in which Prince Arthur was +kept in confinement, but although it is known that the unfortunate youth +was imprisoned in this castle, the selection of the room seems to be +somewhat arbitrary. + +In 1428 the news of Joan of Arc's continued successes was brought to the +Earl of Salisbury who was then governor of Falaise Castle, and it was from +here that he started with an army to endeavour to stop that triumphal +progress. In 1450 when the French completely overcame the numerous English +garrisons in the towns of Normandy, Falaise with its magnificent position +held out for some time. The defenders sallied out from the walls of the +town but were forced back again, and notwithstanding their courage, the +town capitulated to the Duke of Alencon's army at almost the same time as +Avranches and a dozen other strongly defended towns. We can picture to +ourselves the men in glinting head-pieces sallying from the splendid old +gateway known as the Port des Cordeliers. It has not lost its formidable +appearance even to-day, though as you look through the archway the scene is +quiet enough, and the steep flight of outside steps leads up to scenes of +quiet domestic life. The windows overlook the narrow valley beneath where +the humble roofs of the cottages jostle one another for space. There are +many people who visit Falaise who never have the curiosity to explore this +unusually pleasing part of the town. In the spring when the lilac bushes +add their brilliant colour to the russet brown tiles and soft creams of the +stone-work, there are pictures on every side. Looking in the cottages you +may see, generally within a few feet of the door, one of those ingenious +weaving machines that are worked with a treadle, and take up scarcely any +space at all. If you ask permission, the cottagers have not the slightest +objection to allowing you to watch them at their work, and when one sees +how rapidly great lengths of striped material grow under the revolving +metal framework, you wonder that Falaise is not able to supply the demands +of the whole republic for this class of material. + +Just by the Hotel de Ville and the church of La Trinite stands the imposing +statue of William the Conqueror. He is mounted on the enormous war-horse of +the period and the whole effect is strong and spirited. The most notable +feature of the exterior of the church of La Trinite is the curious +passage-way that goes underneath the Lady Chapel behind the High Altar. The +whole of the exterior is covered with rich carving, crocketed finials, +innumerable gargoyles and the usual enriched mouldings of Gothic +architecture. The charm of the interior is heightened if one enters in the +twilight when vespers are proceeding. There is just sufficient light to +show up the tracery of the windows and the massive pointed arches in the +choir. A few candles burn by the altar beyond the dark mass of figures +forming the congregation. A Gregorian chant fills the building with its +solemn tones and the smoke of a swinging censer ascends in the shadowy +chancel. Then, as the service proceeds, one candle above the altar seems to +suddenly ignite the next, and a line of fire travels all over the great +erection surrounding the figure of the Virgin, leaving in its trail a blaze +of countless candles that throw out the details of the architecture in +strong relief. Soon the collection is made, and as the priest passes round +the metal dish, he is followed by the cocked-hatted official whose +appearance is so surprising to those who are not familiar with French +churches. As the priest passes the dish to each row the official brings his +metal-headed staff down upon the pavement with a noisy bang that is +calculated to startle the unwary into dropping their money anywhere else +than in the plate. In time the bell rings beside the altar, and the priest +robed in white and gold elevates the host before the kneeling congregation. +Once more the man in the cocked hat becomes prominent as he steps into the +open space between the transepts and tolls the big bell in the tower above. +Then a smaller and much more cheerful bell is rung, and fearing the arrival +of another collecting priest we slip out of the swinging doors into the +twilight that has now almost been swallowed up in the gathering darkness. + +The consecration of the splendid Norman church of St Gervais took place in +the presence of Henry I. but there is nothing particularly English in any +part of the exterior. The central tower has four tall and deeply recessed +arches (the middle ones contain windows) on each side, giving a rich +arcaded appearance. Above, rises a tall pointed roof ornamented with four +odd-looking dormers near the apex. Every one remarks on their similarity to +dovecots and one almost imagines that they must have been built as a place +of shelter on stormy days for the great gilded cock that forms the weather +vane. The nave is still Norman on the south side, plain round-headed +windows lighting the clerestory, but the aisles were rebuilt in the +flamboyant period and present a rich mass of ornament in contrast to the +unadorned masonry of the nave. The western end until lately had to endure +the indignity of having its wall surfaces largely hidden by shops and +houses. These have now disappeared, but the stone-work has not been +restored, and you may still see a section of the interior of the house that +formerly used the west end of the south aisle as one of its walls. You can +see where the staircases went, and you may notice also how wantonly these +domestic builders cut away the buttresses and architectural enrichments to +suit the convenience of their own needs. + +As you go from the market-place along the street that runs from St Gervais +to the suburb of Guibray, the shops on the left are exchanged for a low +wall over which you see deep, grassy hollows that come right up to the edge +of the street. Two fine houses, white-shuttered and having the usual vacant +appearance, stand on steep slopes surrounded by great cedars of Lebanon and +a copper beech. + +The church of Guibray is chiefly Norman--it is very white inside and there +is some round-headed arcading in the aisles. The clustered columns of the +nave have simple, pointed arches, and there is a carved marble altarpiece +showing angels supporting the Virgin who is gazing upwards. The aisles of +the chancel are restored Norman, and the stone-work is bright green just +above the floor through the dampness that seems to have defied the efforts +of the restorers. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +From Argentan to Avranches + +Between tall poplars whose stems are splotched with grey lichen and whose +feet are grown over with browny-green moss, runs the road from Falaise to +Argentan, straight and white, with scarcely more than the slightest bend, +for the whole eight miles. It is typical of the roads in this part of the +country and beyond the large stone four or five kilometres outside Falaise, +marking the boundary between Calvados and Orne, and the railway which one +passes soon afterwards, there is nothing to break the undulating monotony +of the boundless plain. + +We cannot all hope to have this somewhat dull stretch of country relieved +by any exciting event, but I can remember one spring afternoon being +overtaken by two mounted gendarmes in blue uniforms, galloping for their +very lives. I looked down the road into the cloud of dust raised by the +horses' hoofs, but the country on all sides lay calm and deserted, and I +was left in doubt as to the reason for this astonishing haste. Half an hour +afterwards a group of people appeared in the distance, and on approaching +closer, they proved to be the two gendarmes leading their blown horses as +they walked beside a picturesque group of apparently simple peasants, the +three men wearing the typical soft, baggy cap and blue smock of the country +folk. The little group had a gloomy aspect, which was explained when I +noticed that the peasants were joined together by a bright steel chain. +Evidently something was very much amiss with one of the peaceful villages +lying near the road. + +After a time, at the end of the long white perspective, appear the towers +of the great church of St Germain that dominate the town where Henry II. +was staying when he made that rash exclamation concerning his "turbulent +priest." It was from Argentan that those four knights set out for England +and Canterbury to carry out the deed, for which Henry lay in ashes for five +weeks in this very place. But there is little at the present time at +Argentan to remind one that it is in any way associated with the murder of +Becket. The castle that now exists is occupied by the Courts of Justice and +was partially built in the Renaissance period. Standing close to it, is an +exceedingly tall building with a great gable that suggests an +ecclesiastical origin, and on looking a little closer one soon discovers +blocked up Gothic windows and others from which the tracery has been +hacked. This was the chapel of the castle which has been so completely +robbed of its sanctity that it is now cut up into small lodgings, and in +one of its diminutive shops, picture post-cards of the town are sold. + +The ruins of the old castle are not very conspicuous, for in the +seventeenth century the great keep was demolished. There is still a fairly +noticeable round tower--the Tour Marguerite--which has a pointed roof above +its corbels, or perhaps they should be called machicolations. In the Place +Henri IV. stands a prominent building that projects over the pavement +supported by massive pointed arches, and with this building in the +foreground there is one of the best views of St Germain that one can find +in the town. Just before coming to the clock that is suspended over the +road by the porch of the church, there is a butcher's shop at the street +corner that has a piece of oak carving preserved on account of its interest +while the rest of the building has been made featureless with even plaster. +The carving shows Adam and Eve standing on either side of a formal Tree of +Life, and the butcher, who is pleased to find a stranger who notices this +little curiosity, tells him with great pride that his house dates from the +fifteenth century. The porch of St Germain is richly ornamented, but it +takes a second place to the south porch of the church of Notre Dame at +Louviers and may perhaps seem scarcely worthy of comment after St Maclou at +Rouen. The structure as a whole was commenced in 1424, and the last portion +of the work only dates from the middle of the seventeenth century. The +vaulting of the nave has a very new and well-kept appearance and the side +altars, in contrast to so many of even the large churches, are almost +dignified in their somewhat restrained and classic style. The high altar is +a stupendous erection of two storeys with Corinthian pillars. Nine long, +white, pendant banners are conspicuous on the walls of the chancel. The +great altars and the lesser ones that crowd the side chapels are subject to +the accumulation of dirt as everything else in buildings sacred or lay, and +at certain times of the day, a woman may be seen vigorously flapping the +brass candlesticks and countless altar ornaments with a big feather broom. +On the north side of the chancel some of the windows have sections of old +painted glass, and in one of them there is part of a ship with men in +crow's nests backed by clouds, a really vigorous colour scheme. + +Keeping to the high ground, there is to the south of this church an open +Place, and beyond it there are some large barracks, where, on the other +side of a low wall may be seen the elaborately prepared steeple-chase for +training soldiers to be able to surmount every conceivable form of +obstacle. Awkward iron railings, wide ditches, walls of different +composition and varying height are frequently scaled, and it is practice of +this sort that has made the French soldier famous for the facility with +which he can storm fortifications. The river Orne finds its way through the +lower part of the town and here there are to be found some of the most +pleasing bits of antique domestic architecture. One of the quaintest of +these built in 1616 is the galleried building illustrated here, and from a +parallel street not many yards off there is a peep of a house that has been +built right over the stream which is scarcely less picturesque. + +[Illustration: A SEVENTEENTH CENTURY HOUSE AT ARGENTAN] + +The church of St Martin is passed on entering Argentan from Falaise. Its +east end crowds right up against the pavement and it is somewhat unusual to +find the entrances at this portion of the building. The stained glass in +the choir of St Martin is its most noticeable feature--the pictures showing +various scenes in the life of Christ. + +As in all French towns Argentan knows how to decorate on fete days. Coming +out of the darkness of the church in the late twilight on one of these +occasions, I discovered that the town had suddenly become festooned with a +long perspective of arches stretching right away down the leafy avenue that +goes out of the town--to the north in one direction, and to St Germain in +the other. The arches were entirely composed without a single exception of +large crimson-red Chinese lanterns. The effect was astonishingly good, but +despite all the decoration, the townsfolk seemed determined to preserve the +quiet of the Sabbath, and although there were crowds everywhere, the only +noise that broke the stillness was that of the steam round-about that had +been erected on a triangular patch of grass. The dark crowds of people +illuminated by flaring lights stood in perfect quiet as they watched the +great noisy mass of moving animals and boats, occupied almost entirely by +children, keep up its perpetual dazzle and roar. The fair--for there were +many side-shows--was certainly quieter than any I have witnessed in +England. + +A long, straight road, poplar-bordered and level, runs southwards from +Argentan to Mortree, a village of no importance except for the fact that +one must pass through it if one wishes to visit the beautiful Chateau d'O. +This sixteenth century mansion like so many to be seen in this part of +France, is in a somewhat pathetic state of disrepair, but as far as one may +see from the exterior, it would not require any very great sum to +completely restore the broken stone-work and other signs of decay. These, +while perhaps adding to the picturesqueness of the buildings, do not bring +out that aspect of carefully preserved antiquity which is the charm of most +of the houses of this period in England. The great expanse of water in the +moat is very green and covered by large tracts of weed, but the water is +supplied by a spring, and fish thrive in it. The approach to the chateau +across the moat leads to an arched entrance through which you enter the +large courtyard overlooked on three sides by the richly ornamented +buildings, the fourth side being only protected from the moat by a low +wall. It would be hard to find a more charming spot than this with its +views across the moat to the gardens beyond, backed by great masses of +foliage. + +Going on past Mortree the main road will bring one after about eight miles +to the old town of Alencon, which has been famed ever since the time of +Louis XIV. for the lace which is even at the present day worked in the +villages of this neighbourhood, more especially at the hamlet of Damigny. +The cottagers use pure linen thread which is worth the almost incredible +sum of L100 per lb. They work on parchment from patterns which are supplied +by the merchants in Alencon. The women go on from early morning until the +light fails, and earn something about a shilling per day! + +The castle of Alencon, built by Henry I. in the twelfth century, was +pulled down with the exception of the keep, by the order of Henry of +Navarre, the famous contemporary of Queen Elizabeth. This keep is still in +existence, and is now used as a prison. Near it is the Palais de Justice, +standing where the other buildings were situated. + +The west porch of the church of Notre Dame is richly ornamented with +elaborate canopies, here and there with statues. One of these represents St +John, and it will be seen that he is standing with his face towards the +church. A legend states that this position was taken by the statue when the +church was being ransacked by Protestants in the sixteenth century. + +Another road from Argentan is the great _route nationale_ that runs in a +fairly direct line to Granville. As one rides out of the town there is a +pretty view on looking back, of St Germain standing on the slight eminence +above the Orne. Keeping along by that river the road touches it again at +the little town of Ecouche. The old market hall standing on massive +pillars, is the most attractive feature of the place. Its old tiled roof +and half-timbered upper storey remind one forcibly of some of those +fortunate old towns in England that have preserved this feature. The church +has lost its original nave, and instead, there is a curious barn-like +structure, built evidently with a view to economy, being scarcely more than +half the height of the original: the vacant space has been very roughly +filled up, and the numerous holes and crevices support a fine growth of +weeds, and a strong young tree has also taken root in the ramshackle stone +work. From the central tower, gargoyles grin above the elaborately carved +buttresses and finials in remarkable contrast to the jerry-built addition. + +[Illustration: THE OLD MARKET HOUSE AT ECOUCHE] + +Passing through rich country, you leave the valley of the Orne, and on +both sides of the road are spread wide and fascinating views over the +orchard-clad country that disappears in the distant blue of the horizon. +Wonderful patches of shadow, when large clouds are flying over the heavens, +fall on this great tract of country and while in dull weather it may seem a +little monotonous, in days of sunshine and shade it is full of a haunting +beauty that is most remarkable. + +About seven miles from Argentan one passes Fromentelle, a quiet hamlet full +of thatched cottages and curious weathercocks, and then five miles further +on, having descended into the valley of the little river Rouvre, Briouze +is entered. Here there is a wide and very extensive market-place with +another quaint little structure, smaller than the one at Ecouche, but +having a curious bell-turret in the centre of the roof. On Monday, which +is market day, Briouze presents a most busy scene, and there are plenty of +opportunities of studying the genial looking country farmers, their wives, +and the large carts in which they drive from the farms. In the midst of the +booths, you may see a bronze statue commemorating the "Sapeurs, pompiers" +and others of this little place who fell in 1854. + +Leaving the main road which goes on to Flers, we may take the road to +Domfront, which passes through three pretty villages and much pleasant +country. Bellau, the first village, is full of quaint houses and charming +old-world scenes. The church is right in the middle on an open space +without an enclosure of any description. Standing with one's back to this +building, there is a pretty view down the road leading to the south, a +patch of blue distance appearing in the opening between the old gables. To +all those who may wish to either paint or photograph this charming scene, I +would recommend avoiding the hour in the afternoon when the children come +out of school. I was commencing a drawing one sunny afternoon--it must have +been about three o'clock--and the place seemed almost deserted. Indeed, I +had been looking for a country group of peasants to fill the great white +space of sunny road, when in twos and threes, the juvenile population +flooded out towards me. For some reason which I could not altogether +fathom, the boys arranged themselves in a long, regular line, occupying +exactly one half of the view, the remaining space being filled by an +equally long line of little girls. All my efforts failed to induce the +children to break up the arrangement they had made. They merely altered +their formation by advancing three or four paces nearer with almost +military precision. They were still standing in their unbroken rows when I +left the village. + +Passing a curious roadside cross which bears the date 1741 and a long Latin +inscription splashed over with lichen, one arrives at La Ferriere aux +Etangs, a quaint village with a narrow and steep street containing one +conspicuously old, timber-framed house. But it is scarcely necessary to +point out individual cottages in this part of Normandy, for wherever one +looks, the cottages are covered with thick, purply-grey thatch, and the +walls below are of grey wooden framework, filled in with plaster, generally +coloured a creamy-white. When there are deep shadows under the eaves and +the fruit trees in blossom stand out against the dark thatch, one can +easily understand how captivating is the rural charm of this part of +Normandy. Gradually the road ascends, but no great views are apparent, +although one is right above the beautiful valley of the Varennes, until +quite near to Domfront. Then, suddenly there appears an enormous stretch of +slightly undulating country to the south and west. As far as one can see, +the whole land seems to be covered by one vast forest. + +But though part of this is real forest-land, much of it is composed of +orchards and hedgerow trees, which are planted so closely together that, at +a short distance, they assume the aspect of close-growing woods. The first +impression of the great stretch of forest-land does not lose its striking +aspect, even when one has explored the whole of the town. The road that +brings one into the old town runs along a ridge and after passing one of +the remains of the old gateways, it rises slightly to the highest part of +the mass of rock upon which Domfront is perched. The streets are narrow and +parallel to accommodate themselves to the confined space within the walls. +At the western end of the granite ridge, and separated from the town by a +narrow defile, stands all that is left of the castle--a massive but +somewhat shapeless ruin. At the western end of the ramparts, one looks down +a precipitous descent to the river Varennes which has by some unusual +agency, cut itself a channel through the rocky ridge if it did not merely +occupy an existing gap. At the present time, besides the river, the road +and railway pass through the narrow gorge. + +The castle has one of those sites that appealed irresistibly to the warlike +barons of the eleventh century. In this case it was William I., Duc de +Belleme, who decided to raise a great fortress on this rock that he had +every reason to believe would prove an impregnable stronghold, but although +only built in 1011, it was taken by Duke William thirty-seven years later, +being one of the first brilliant feats by which William the Norman showed +his strength outside his own Duchy. A century or more later, Henry II., +when at Domfront, received the pope's nuncio by whom a reconciliation was +in some degree patched up between the king and Becket. Richard I. is known +to have been at the castle at various times. In the sixteenth century, +a most thrilling siege was conducted during the period when Catherine +de Medicis was controlling the throne. A Royalist force, numbering some +seven or eight thousand horse and foot, surrounded this formidable rock +which was defended by the Calvinist Comte de Montgommery. With him was +another Protestant, Ambroise le Balafre, who had made himself a despot +at Domfront, but whose career was cut short by one of Montgommery's men +with whom he had quarrelled. They buried him in the little church of +Notre-Dame-sur-l'Eau--the wonderfully preserved Norman building that one +sees beneath one's feet when standing on the ramparts of the castle. The +body, however, was not long allowed to remain there, for when the royal +army surrounded the castle they brought out the corpse and hung it in a +conspicuous place to annoy the besieged. Like Corfe Castle in England, and +many other magnificently fortified strongholds, Domfront was capable of +defence by a mere handful. In this case the original garrison consisted of +one hundred and fifty, and after many desertions the force was reduced to +less than fifty. A great breach had been made by the six pieces of +artillery placed on the hill on the opposite side of the gorge, and through +this the besiegers endeavoured to enter. The attenuated garrison, with +magnificent courage, held the breach after a most desperate and bloody +fight. But after all this display of courage, it was found impossible to +continue the defence, for by the next morning there were barely more than a +dozen men left to fight. Finally Montgommery was obliged to surrender +unconditionally, and not long afterwards he was executed in Paris. You may +see the breach where this terrible fight took place at the present day, and +as you watch the curious effects of the blue shadows falling among the +forest trees that stretch away towards the south, you may feel that you are +looking over almost the same scene that was gazed upon by the notable +figures in history who have made their exits and entrances at Domfront. + +So little has the church of Notre-Dame-sur-l'Eau altered in its appearance +since it was built by the Duc de Belleme that, were he to visit the ruins +of his castle, he would marvel no doubt that the men of the nine centuries +which have passed, should have consistently respected this sturdy little +building. There are traces of aisles having existed, but otherwise the +exterior of the church can have seen no change at all in this long period. +Inside, however, the crude whitewash, the curious assemblage of enormous +seventeenth century gravestones that are leant against the walls, and the +terribly jarring almost life-sized crucifix, all give one that feeling of +revulsion that is inseparable from an ill-kept place of worship. On the +banks of the river outside, women may be seen washing clothes; the sounds +of the railway come from the station near by, and overhead, rising above +the foliage at its feet, are the broken walls and shattered keep from which +we have been gazing. + +[Illustration: ONE OF THE TOWERS IN THE WALLS OF DOMFRONT] + +The walls of the town, punctuated by many a quaint tower, have lost their +fearsome aspect owing to the domestic uses to which the towers are palpably +devoted. One of them appears in the adjoining illustration, and it is +typical of the half-dozen or so that still rise above the pretty gardens +that are perched along the steep ascent. But though Domfront is full of +almost thrilling suggestions of medievalism and the glamour of an ancient +town, yet there is a curious lack of picturesque arrangement, so that if +one were to be led away by the totally uninteresting photographs that may +be seen in the shops, one would miss one of the most unique spots in +Normandy. + +Stretching away towards Flers, there is a tract of green country all ups +and downs, but with no distant views except the peep of Domfront that +appears a few miles north of the town. Crowning the ridge of the hill is +the keep of the castle, resembling a closed fist with the second finger +raised, and near it, the bell-cote of the Palais de Justice and the spire +of the church break the line of the old houses. Ferns grow by the roadside +on every bank, but the cottages and farms are below the average of rustic +beauty that one soon demands in this part of France. + +Flers is a somewhat busy manufacturing town where cotton and thread +mills have robbed the place of its charm. At first sight one might +imagine the church which bears the date 1870 was of considerably +greater age, but inside one is almost astounded at the ramshackle +galleries, the white-washed roof of rough boards discoloured by damp, +and the general squalor of the place relieved only by a ponderous +altar-piece of classic design. The castle is still in good preservation +but although it dates from early Norman times, it is chiefly of the +sixteenth century. + +Out in the country again, going westwards, the cottage industry of +weaving is apparent in nearly every cottage one sees. The loud +click-a-ti-clack--click-a-ti-clack of the looms can be heard on every +side as one passes such villages as Landisacq. Everywhere the scenery +is exceedingly English, the steep hillsides are often covered with +orchards, and the delicate green of the apple-trees in spring-time, +half-smothered in pinky-white blossom, gives the country a garden-like +aspect. You may see a man harrowing a field on a sudden slope with a +cloud of dust blowing up from the dry light soil, and you may hear him +make that curious hullaballooing by which the peasants direct their +horses, so different from the grunting "way-yup there" of the English +ploughman. Coming down a long descent, a great stretch of country to +the north that includes the battlefield of Tinchebrai comes into view. +It is hard to associate the rich green pastures, smiling orchards, and +peaceful cattle, with anything so gruesome as a battle between armies +led by brothers. But it was near the little town of Tinchebrai that the +two brothers, Henry I., King of England, and Robert Duke of Normandy +fought for the possession of Normandy. Henry's army was greatly +superior to that of his brother, for he had the valuable help of the +Counts of Conches, Breteuil, Thorigny, Mortagne, Montfort, and two or +three others as powerful. But despite all this array, the battle for +some time was very considerably in Robert's favour, and it was only +when Henry, heavily pressed by his brother's brilliant charge, ordered +his reserves to envelop the rear, that the great battle went in favour +of the English king. Among the prisoners were Robert and his youthful +son William, the Counts of Mortain, Estouteville, Ferrieres, and a +large number of notable men. Until his death, twenty-seven years later, +Henry kept his brother captive in Cardiff Castle, and it has been said +that, owing to an effort to escape, Henry was sufficiently lacking in +all humane feelings towards his unfortunate brother, to have both his +eyes put out. It seems a strange thing that exactly sixty years after +the battle of Hastings, a Norman king of England, should conquer the +country which had belonged to his father. + +The old church of St Remy at Tinchebrai, part of which dates from the +twelfth century, has been abandoned for a new building, but the inn--the +Hotel Lion d'Or--which bears the date 1614, is still in use. Vire, however, +is only ten miles off, and its rich mediaeval architecture urges us +forward. + +Standing in the midst of the cobbled street, there suddenly appears right +ahead a splendid thirteenth century gateway--the Tour de l'Horloge--that +makes one of the richest pictures in Normandy. It is not always one can see +the curious old tower thrown up by a blaze of gold in the west, but those +who are fortunate enough to see such an effect may get a small suggestion +of the scene from the illustration given here. The little painted figure of +the Virgin and Child stands in a niche just over the arch, and by it +appears the prayer "Marie protege la ville!" + +One of the charms of Vire is its cleanliness, for I can recall no +unpleasant smells having interfered with the pleasure of exploring the old +streets. There is a great market on the northern side of the town, open and +breezy. It slopes clear away without any intervening buildings to a great +expanse of green wooded country, suggestive of some of the views that lie +all around one at Avranches. The dark old church of Notre Dame dates mainly +from the twelfth century. Houses and small shops are built up against it +between the buttresses in a familiar, almost confidential manner, and on +the south side, the row of gargoyles have an almost humorous appearance. +The drips upon the pavement and shops below were evidently a nuisance, and +rain water-spouts, with plain pipes leading diagonally from them, have been +attached to each grotesque head, making it seem that the grinning monsters +have developed a great and unquenchable thirst. Inside, the church is dark +and impressive. There are double rows of pillars in the aisles, and a huge +crucifix hangs beneath the tower, thrown up darkly against the chancel, +which is much painted and gilded. The remains of the great castle consist +of nothing more than part of the tall keep, built eight hundred years ago, +and fortunately not entirely destroyed when the rest of the castle came +down by the order of Cardinal Richelieu. An exploration of the quaint +streets of Vire will reveal two or three ancient gateways, many gabled +houses, some of which are timber-framed visually, and most of them are the +same beneath their skins of plaster. The houses in one of the streets are +connected with the road by a series of wooden bridges across the river, +which there forms one of the many pictures to be found in Vire. + +Mortain is separated from Vire by fifteen miles of exceedingly hilly +country, and those who imagine that all the roads in Normandy are the flat +and poplar bordered ones that are so often encountered, should travel along +this wonderful switch-back. As far as Sourdeval there seems scarcely a yard +of level ground--it is either a sudden ascent or a breakneck rush into a +trough-like depression. You pass copices of firs and beautiful woods, +although in saying beautiful it is in a limited sense, for one seldom finds +the really rich woodlands that are so priceless an ornament to many Surrey +and Kentish lanes. The road is shaded by tall trees when it begins to +descend into the steep rocky gorge of the Cance with its tumbling +waterfalls that are a charming feature of this approach to Mortain. High +upon the rocks on the left appears an enormous gilded statue of the Virgin, +in the grounds of the Abbaye Blanche. Going downwards among the broken +sunlight and shadows on the road, Mortain appears, picturesquely perched on +a great rocky steep, and in the opening of the valley a blue haze suggests +the great expanse of level country towards the south. The big parish church +of the town was built originally in 1082 by that Robert of Mortain, who, it +will be remembered, was one of the first of the Normans to receive from the +victorious William a grant of land in England. The great tower which stands +almost detached on the south-west side is remarkable for its enormously +tall slit windows, for they run nearly from the ground to the saddle-back +roof. The interior of this church is somewhat unusual, the nave and chancel +being structurally one, and the aisles are separated by twenty-four +circular grey pillars with Corinthian capitals. The plain surfaces of the +walls and vaulting are absolutely clean white, picked out with fine black +lines to represent stone-work--a scarcely successful treatment of such an +interior! On either side of the High Altar stand two great statues +representing St Guillaume and St Evroult. + +To those who wish to "do" all the sights of Mortain there is the Chapel of +St Michael, which stands high up on the margin of a great rocky hill, but +the building having been reconstructed about fifty years ago, the chief +attraction to the place is the view, which in tolerably clear weather, +includes Mont St Michel towards which we are making our way. + +A perfectly straight and fairly level stretch of road brings you to St +Hilaire-du-Harcout. On the road one passes two or three large country +houses with their solemn and perfectly straight avenues leading directly up +to them at right angles from the road. The white jalousies seem always +closed, the grass on the lawns seems never cut, and the whole +establishments have a pathetically deserted appearance to the passer-by. A +feature of this part of the country can scarcely be believed without +actually using one's eyes. It is the wooden chimney-stack, covered with oak +shingles, that surmounts the roofs of most of the cottages. Where the +shingles have fallen off, the cement rubble that fills the space between +the oak framing appears, but it is scarcely credible that, even with this +partial protection, these chimneys should have survived so many centuries. +I have asked the inmates of some of the cottages whether they ever feared a +fire in their chimneys, but they seemed to consider the question as totally +unnecessary, for some providence seems to have watched over their frail +structures. + +St Hilaire has a brand new church and nothing picturesque in its long, +almost monotonous, street. Instead of turning aside at Pontaubault towards +Mont St Michel, we will go due north from that hamlet to the beautifully +situated Avranches. This prosperous looking town used, at one time, to have +a large English colony, but it has recently dwindled to such small +dimensions that the English chaplain has an exceedingly small parish. The +streets seem to possess a wonderful cleanliness; all the old houses appear +to have made way for modern buildings which, in a way, give Avranches the +aspect of a watering-place, but its proximity to the sea is more apparent +in a map than when one is actually in the town. On one side of the great +place in front of the church of Notre Dame des Champs is the Jardin des +Plantes. To pass from the blazing sunshine and loose gravel, to the dense +green shade of the trees in this delightful retreat is a pleasure that can +be best appreciated on a hot afternoon in summer. The shade, however, and +the beds of flowers are not the only attractions of these gardens. Their +greatest charm is the wonderful view over the shining sands and the +glistening waters of the rivers See and Selune that, at low tide, take +their serpentine courses over the delicately tinted waste of sand that +occupies St Michael's Bay. Out beyond the little wooded promontory that +protects the mouth of the See, lies Mont St Michel, a fretted silhouette of +flat pearly grey, and a little to the north is Tombelaine, a less +pretentious islet in this fairyland sea. Framed by the stems and foliage of +the trees, this view is one of the most fascinating in Normandy. One would +be content to stay here all through the sultry hours of a summer day, to +listen to the distant hum of conversation among white-capped nursemaids, as +they sew busily, giving momentary attention to their charges. But Avranches +has an historical spot that no student of history, and indeed no one who +cares anything for the picturesque events that crowd the pages of the +chronicles of England in the days of the Norman kings, may miss. It is the +famous stone upon which Henry II. knelt when he received absolution for the +murder of Becket at the hands of the papal legate. To reach this stone is, +for a stranger, a matter of some difficulty. From the Place by the Jardin +des Plantes, it is necessary to plunge down a steep descent towards the +railway station, and then one climbs a series of zigzag paths on a high +grassy bank that brings one out upon the Place Huet. In one corner, +surrounded by chains and supported by low iron posts, is the historic +stone. It is generally thickly coated with dust, but the brass plate +affixed to a pillar of the doorway is quite legible. These, and a few +fragments of carved stone that lie half-smothered in long grass and weeds +at a short distance from the railed-in stone, are all that remain of the +cathedral that existed in the time of Henry II. + +It must have been an impressive scene on that Sunday in May 1172, when the +papal legate, in his wonderful robes, stood by the north transept door, of +which only this fragment remains, and granted absolution to the sovereign, +who, kneeling in all humbleness and submission, was relieved of the curse +of excommunication which had been laid on him after the tragic affair in +the sanctuary at Canterbury. In place of the splendid cathedral, whose nave +collapsed, causing the demolition of the whole building in 1799, there is a +new church with the two great western towers only carried up to half the +height intended for them. + +From the roadway that runs along the side of the old castle walls in +terrace fashion there is another wonderful view of rich green country, +through which, at one's feet, winds the river See. Away towards the +north-west the road to Granville can be seen passing over the hills in a +perfectly straight line. But this part of the country may be left for +another chapter. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Normandy, Part 2, by Gordon Home + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NORMANDY, PART 2 *** + +***** This file should be named 8594.txt or 8594.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/8/5/9/8594/ + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Beth Trapaga and the Distributed Proofreading +Team + + +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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