_The Coronation of Henri Quatre_
When Henri III. fell beneath the dagger of the assassin, Jacques
Clément, the King of Navarre was hailed King of France at S. Cloud. But
the fair realm which was one day to be his
‘Et par droit de naissance
Et par droit de conquête,’
was far from being prepared as yet to accept Henri Quatre as its ruler.
The throne of S. Louis could not, in the eyes of a large section of the
nation, belong to a heretic, and Henri de Béarn was a Huguenot. Paris,
which was devoted to the Catholic League, closed its gates to him, and
Chartres, equally enthusiastic in the same cause, refused to admit him.
Resolved to make himself master of a town which was regarded as a
boulevard of the capital, Henri had forced the rest of the Duchy to
recognise him by the end of 1590, but Chartres was still stubborn. He
sent, therefore, Marshal de Biron to lay siege to the town, and he began
operations on the 12th February. But, contrary to the expectations of
Henri, who was in communication with many of the citizens, the
resistance offered by the Catholic city was vigorous and prolonged.
Instead of a few days the siege lasted two months, and the defence was
conducted with such energy and skill that M. de Réclainville, who had
been summoned to their aid, with some troops of the Ligue, complimented
the citizens on their bravery and resource. He had taken a part, he
said, in many an affair, but never had he seen a finer struggle than the
siege of Chartres.
The first few days were taken up with skirmishes in the suburbs and
sorties by the garrison, who endeavoured, too late, to destroy the cover
which the outlying buildings afforded the enemy. On the 15th of the
month the King himself arrived, and the Royalists thereupon constructed
a barricade, facing the ravelin of the Porte Drouaise, and opened a
trench in the Pig Market, under cover of a battery masked by the ruined
houses, and directed against the ravelin of the Porte des Épars. The
latter point was chosen because there the walls of the ravelin being
incomplete, gave greater scope for the effective play of the artillery.
But before commencing hostilities Henri resolved to try more peaceable
means of gaining possession of the town. He had no wish to be involved
in the expense and delay of an unnecessary siege. A trumpeter and herald
were sent therefore on the 16th, the day after his arrival, to summon
the Chartrains to surrender. But Suireau, the mayor, and La
Bourdaisière, the military governor, rivalled one another in the
vehemence of their refusal to open the gates so long as the King
remained a heretic. Their vehemence was probably stimulated by the
suspicion which had recently been thrown on their sincerity. For an
epigram had recently been pasted on the walls of the town accusing them
of treacherous intentions--
‘Écoutez, Messieurs de Chartres
Si ne mettez bien tôt en chartres
La Bourdaisière et Suireau
Ils vous mettront tous au tombeau.’
Whether there was any truth in the accusation or not, their answer now
was uncompromising enough. The Royalists retorted by pushing their
trench and mines up to the ravelin of the Porte des Épars, whilst, on
their side, the besieged prepared counter-mines. Meanwhile, they dealt
successfully with the barricade which threatened the Porte Drouaise.
Three heavy pieces of artillery were brought up, the feint of a sortie
was made to distract the attention of the enemy, and when this had been
successfully accomplished, the cannon were unmasked, and a few rounds
‘poured into their nest quickly turned the birds out,’ as a contemporary
puts it.[95] The Chartrains completely destroyed the barricades during
the ensuing night. But the besiegers quickly opened another trench, and
began to run other mines against the counterscarp of the ditch between
the Porte Châtelet and the Porte S. Jean. In order, if possible, to
destroy the barricade which protected this trench a gun-platform was
hastily erected, and some heavy pieces placed in position.
The King, who had a large number of supporters among the better class of
citizens, had expected to take Chartres at the first attempt. Before
beginning the bombardment he again summoned the town to surrender, and
so anxious was he not to be drawn into the trouble of a siege that he
engaged in still further parleyings with the governor and mayor. But it
was all to no purpose. The people were determined to resist, and they
cut short all attempts at negotiation.
On Ash Wednesday, therefore, February 27, the bombardment commenced. A
battery of seven pieces established in the trench of the Pig Market,
opened fire on the walls between S. Foy and the Porte des Épars. A
furious cannonade was maintained at intervals during that day and the
next, and made a serious impression upon the defences. Many houses also
were levelled to the ground; the spire of S. Foy was knocked down; one
cannon ball entered the room of the Bishop’s Palace, in which Henri III.
had been wont to assemble his Council, and in which, it is said, the
Massacre of Blois was arranged; another ball lodged between the two
spires of the Cathedral, and broke one of the figures in the Gallery of
Kings. A third, weighing 42 pounds, entered the old spire; and a fourth
crashed through a section of the western rose window and fell into the
choir. After that, the Chapter decided to perform the service in the
crypt.
The resistance of the besieged was desperate. But, none the less, the
enemy succeeded in a few days in pushing their trenches and galleries
right up to the walls of the ravelin of the Porte des Épars. The King
decided that the moment had come to deliver an assault. On the 5th of
March, accordingly, a terrific bombardment took place, which had the
undesired effect of knocking some of the masonry of the gate into the
breach--an accident which prompted Gramont to remark, that the King of
Navarre had fired five hundred rounds and only succeeded in filling the
breach, but that he would have to fire fifteen hundred more to open it
again. Under cover of this bombardment, a party of soldiers massed
themselves behind the barricade in preparation for the assault. But an
officer of the garrison, who was on guard in the _Clocher Neuf_ espied
this movement, and informed La Bourdaisière of it. His warning saved the
town. The besieged concentrated their forces to repel the attack when
the enemy attempted to scale the breach of the ravelin. The struggle
even so was long and desperate. It lasted from three in the afternoon
till nightfall, when the Royalists were compelled to retire, leaving
many of their number dead in the ditch. The Chartrains had also
suffered heavily. Their losses included forty soldiers and twenty
citizens. The gallant De Pescheray, one of the chief defenders of the
town, was mortally wounded in this fight. But an important check had
been given to the besiegers, who contented themselves for some days with
driving their galleries and mines.
Ill with impatience, the King swore to make the citizens of Chartres pay
dearly for the powder which they made him burn. But they, looking daily
to be relieved by the Ligue from the quarter of Dreux or elsewhere,
actively counter-mined the Royalist sappers, and when the fire of the
arquebusiers had no effect upon them, they adopted Gramont’s suggestion,
and hurled bottles of burning oil and _fleurs de soufre_ amongst the
enemy.
And now the siege had lasted a month, when one morning--it was the 15th
of March--Henri was amazed to hear all the bells of the town, _Marie_
and _Gabrielle_ and the rest, ring out in joyful peals. The streets, it
was soon reported, were filled with processions of the inhabitants, who
were celebrating with unwonted fervour and extraordinary pomp the
anniversary of the deliverance of the town upon the investment of Condé.
Yet, even as they did so, many shook their heads at the evil augury of
the statue of the Virgin that had been set above the Porte Drouaise.
Throughout the siege of 1568, it was pointed out, the cannon-balls of
the Prince de Condé had never been able to touch it, but Henri’s
bombardment had succeeded in upsetting, though not in breaking it.
Struck by the devotion of the citizens, it is said, and charmed by the
melody of the bells, Henri gave orders that no guns should be fired that
day, in order that the harmony of the celebration should not be
troubled.
If this story be true, the garrison acknowledged the courtesy of Henri
in a scurvy fashion. For on the evening of this day Gramont exploded a
counter-mine before the Porte des Épars. In so doing he not only
destroyed the enemy’s works, but also a large section of his own
ravelin. The result might have been serious if an assault had been
delivered at once. But, contrary to the King’s directions, the citizens
were given time to repair the damage.
Still there was no sign of immediate succour from without. Fair words
from the Ligueurs at Dreux, and promises from the Duc de Mayenne came in
abundance. But those in charge of the defence knew that unless aid came
quickly or provisions were thrown into the town, it would be impossible
to hold out long. Already they were dependent for their flour upon the
little wind-mills set up in the town, one of which had just been
discovered in the Clocher Neuf, where it had lain since the days when
the English besieged Chartres.[96] Those in command of the garrison were
indeed by this time quite ready to deliver up the town into the King’s
hands, but the inhabitants refused to entertain the idea of yielding to
the heretic of Navarre. They therefore decided to gain time by any
means. Negotiations were opened with this object. La Bourdaisière and
Gramont held an interview with the King’s representatives on the 19th,
and again on the 26th. Biron and others, with a strong escort, came to
the Porte S. Michel, when Gramont went forth to parley with them. But
hardly had the conference begun when a cannon-shot, fired by mistake
from the Royalist camp, ricochetted near them. The people of Chartres,
thinking themselves betrayed, replied with a volley, which accounted for
several soldiers of Biron’s escort, and abruptly put an end to
parleyings. Next day Gramont and others had an interview with the King
in person at the Monastery of S. Lubin, and brought back terms which
were promptly rejected by the Ligueurs, who were still in a majority in
the Council. They would rather die, they said, than surrender to a
Huguenot King. This reply provoked an assault from the enemy, but the
Chartrains were still unshaken. They informed the King that they would
recognise him when he returned to the bosom of the Church, and meanwhile
proposed such terms of capitulation that Henri swore a _Mort Dieu_,
instead of his usual _Ventre S. Gris_, and cried out that as soon as he
had taken the town he would hang these mutinous rascals who made fun of
him.
His next step was to shift all his batteries suddenly to the side of the
bishop’s palace, and, concentrating his fire on a small section of the
wall in that quarter, speedily to effect a new breach. Every effort had
been made by the defenders during the short respite allowed them to
strengthen their position against the inevitable assault. And when the
assault was delivered the defence was admirable. Six times the Royalist
troops rushed to the breach; six times they were flung back by the
desperate courage of the besieged. They retired finally at seven o’clock
in the evening, after five hours’ fighting. They had lost three hundred
men. The trenches were filled with dead and dying. Among the Chartrains
the losses were almost as heavy. After the fourth assault, not one of
the defenders of the first entrenchment had remained unwounded. A truce
for the removal of the dead was arranged, and during the following night
the besieged filled up the gap in the walls with sacks and gabions. But
a new trial was in store for them. The Royalists built a large wooden
bridge, closed like a gallery, and this, on the night of the 7th, they
rolled on barrels up to and over the moat. The garrison were filled with
consternation when they woke to see it in position, and the soldiers
within, safe from attack, engaged in pulling down the sacks and gabions
with which the breach had just been built up. The discouragement was
great. Many began openly to declare that further resistance was useless.
In some cases the soldiers were only induced to enter the ravelin,
which, they maintained, was now untenable, by the persuasion of their
officers’ swords. The King, hearing of the growing spirit of
discouragement within the walls, made yet another attempt to bring about
a surrender. But such was the suicidal intolerance and obstinacy of the
leading Ligueurs, that in the proposals they submitted they still
insisted on the absolute prohibition of the reformed cult, a governor of
their own choice, and a long truce, to enable them to inform the Duke of
Mayenne of what was being done. Henri, of course, tore up the paper on
which these absurd conditions were written, and proceeded to impose his
own terms. They were accepted on the 10th of April, and proved to be
extraordinarily lenient.
Henri authorised the practice of the Catholic religion, and forbade that
of the reformed cult in the town and suburbs; he confirmed the
established government and offices, and promised to punish no one for an
act of war. The Ligueurs were granted permission to retire from the
town, and eight days were allowed in which to warn Mayenne. If within
that time a relieving force of four hundred men or more succeeded in
throwing themselves into the town, the capitulation should be regarded
as not having taken place. Henri took care, of course, that no force
should so find its way into the town. With the object of intercepting
any relief that might arrive, he himself, it is said, rode unceasingly
round the environs of the town, and so wore himself out with his
excessive vigilance that one day, overwhelmed by fatigue, he dismounted,
made his pages lie down side by side on the ground, and, stretching
himself upon them, slept thus for some hours.
It was also provided that the professional soldiers who formed the
garrison should be allowed to march out of the town with their arms and
baggage, colours flying and drums beating, and that they should make
arrangements, in which the King would aid them, for the care of their
wounded.
The clergy were still firm in their refusal to treat with the heretic
and held out hopes of a miracle. But La Bourdaisière and Gramont and the
majority of responsible people declared that the age of miracles was
past and the day of necessity was upon them.
No succour arrived, and on the 19th of April the garrison marched out
through the Porte S. Michel between two rows of Royalist soldiery. They
were accompanied by the principal Ligueurs among the citizens. It was
arranged that next day all the clergy and communities of the town should
present themselves at the same gate on the morrow to receive the King
and conduct him in full procession to the Porte Royale of Notre-Dame,
and that there the Bishop, De Thou, should pronounce an official
harangue. The King arrived on horseback with his staff at the appointed
hour and was presented with the keys of the city by the mayor. ‘Sire,’
he said, ‘we are obliged to obey you both by human law and law divine.’
‘You might add by _canon_ law,’ threw in the conqueror, with a laugh.
Thereafter, beneath a canopy of blue velvet fringed with gold and
silver, and supported by four aldermen, His Majesty went in triumphant
procession across the city by the streets S. Michel and Des Changes
until he came to the Cathedral. But then, instead of stopping opposite
the western porch, he went on his way to the episcopal palace, without
appearing to notice the Bishop and Chapter who awaited him on the steps.
Not to be cheated of the opportunity of delivering their address,
Bishop and Chapter cut across through the church and appeared beneath
the northern porch in time to stop the King, make the harangue and
receive a gracious reply.
Henri Quatre made arrangements for converting the Porte S. Michel into a
citadel and for levying a large sum of money from the citizens, and
then, after attending the Protestant meeting-house, he left Chartres.
For the moment it must have seemed that the obstinate defence of the
town had done little except add to the lustre of its arms. For the
Catholic city was held now by the Protestant troops and became, next to
Tours, the most important place in the hands of the Huguenot King.
Henri, indeed, soon made it his seat of government. He summoned the
Parliament, the Cour des Aides and the Council of State to meet here,
and here they sat till the year 1594. It was in that year that he took
the ‘perilous leap,’ as he termed it, which was, however, nothing more
or less than a step of the highest political wisdom. He put a stop to
the civil war, which was plunging France into anarchy and ruin, by
reconciling himself with the Church of Rome. Amongst those prelates,
before whom at S. Denis he solemnly abjured his Calvinistic errors and
made profession of the Catholic, Roman and Apostolic faith, was Nicholas
de Thou, Bishop of Chartres. And from that same bishop, whom he had
flouted three years before, he received the royal consecration in the
Cathedral of Chartres. For to prove the sincerity of his conversion,
which was still much doubted, he demanded of the Church the Holy Unction
which consecrates the kings. And Reims, the proper place of coronation
for the French kings, being still occupied by the troops of Mayenne,
Henri chose the ‘town of his good council’ as the scene of this august
ceremony. ‘He was moved to make this choice,’ says a writer of his day,
‘by reason of the peculiar devotion entertained for Notre-Dame by the
Dukes of Vendôme, his ancestors, and also because that magnificent
temple is the most ancient in Christendom.’ But whatever the cause, it
may well have seemed to the Bishop and Chapter of Notre-Dame on this
occasion that the conqueror was conquered and felt his captive’s charms,
that ‘her arts victorious triumphed o’er his arms.’
The occupation of Reims by the enemy rendered it impossible for the
sacred vessel of oil to be used for Henri’s consecration, but as the
monks of Marmoutiers possessed a phial of miraculous oil, the King sent
a deputation to ask them to send it to be used for his coronation. The
precious relic arrived in the capital of La Beauce on February 19, 1594,
brought by three brethren, monks and officials of the monastery, and
escorted by De Souvré, the King’s deputy, the Bishop of Angers and a
great number of gentlemen, presidents and councillors. The Bishop of
Chartres had sent to meet them all the clergy of the parishes and
monasteries of the town, who were joined by Guy Robert, the Provost of
Chartres, and twelve notable burgesses, carrying torches decorated with
the royal arms and those of the town. A huge concourse of citizens in
festal garb accompanied them.
The relic was then carried in procession through the streets, which were
hung with tapestry, and to the sound of peals of bells, till it reached
the Abbey of S. Père. There it was entrusted to the care of Yves
Gaudeau, the prior, and four other monks. On Sunday, the 27th, the
Comtes de Cheverny, D’Halluin, De Lauzun and the Baron de Termes
presented themselves at the abbey and begged Brother Giron and his
comrades of Marmoutiers to bring the holy oil to Notre-Dame to anoint
His Majesty withal. The monks acquiesced, but first exacted from the
King’s deputies an oath, which was given before notaries, to the effect
that the said sacred vessel should be brought back in good faith to S.
Père after the said consecration was performed. Then Brother Giron,
mounted on a white hackney, bore the precious phial under a magnificent
canopy of red damask, followed by the lords responsible for its safety,
notable citizens and the multitude of the people. The bishop, Nicholas
de Thou, received the sacred vessel from the hands of Brother Giron, and
took the oath exacted from the deputies. Then commenced the ceremony of
the coronation. Apart from its picturesqueness and the fact that it
illustrates a really important moment in French history, the following
account, drawn from a contemporary record, may prove of particular
interest in this year of grace 1902. It will be not uninteresting to
compare the ceremony with that which is to take place in Westminster
Abbey in June. The choir of the Cathedral had been hung with rich
tapestry. Two arm-chairs had been placed before the high altar, one for
the King and one for the officiating Bishop. Behind these, seats were
reserved for the peers spiritual and temporal, and for the seigneurs and
magistrates invited to assist at the splendid ceremony, whilst the
galleries of the choir and nave were expressly left for those who could
find a place there through the good offices of those in charge.[97] The
King, who had had to listen the previous evening to a preachment on the
custom of anointing the kings of France, emerged from the episcopal
palace clad in a _camisole_ of crimson satin and a long robe of silver
cloth. He entered the Cathedral by the Porte Royale, accompanied by the
Bishops of Nantes and Maillezais and preceded by the archers of the
Grand Provost, the clergy, the Swiss Guards, heralds, Knights of the
Holy Spirit, the Scots Guards, and the Marshal de Matignon bearing the
Constable’s sword. Behind him came the Grand Chancellor of France, the
Grand Master, the Lord Chamberlain and the First Gentleman of the
Bedchamber. The King walked straight towards the altar, accompanied by
the two bishops aforesaid, and deposited there as an offering a casket
of silver gilt. Then he took the seat prepared for him at the foot of
the altar steps. The Bishop of Chartres now took the sacred oil from the
hands of the monks of Marmoutiers, showed it to the people and placed it
on the high altar. Next, turning towards His Majesty, he said, ‘We
demand of you that you should grant unto each one of us, and to the
churches whereof we have charge, the lawful and canonical privileges,
rights and justice, and that you should defend us as a king in his
kingdom should defend all the bishops and their churches.’
The King standing upright, his right hand on the Book of the Gospels,
replied, ‘I promise and grant you that I will preserve to you your
canonical privileges and your churches, and that I will give you good
laws and administer justice to you and defend you, by God’s grace,
according to my power, as a king in his kingdom should do by right and
reason on behalf of the bishops and their churches.’
After he had made this response the Bishops of Nantes and Maillezais
raised the King from his chair and asked those present whether they
wished to accept him as king. Hailed as legitimate sovereign by the
whole of that vast and magnificent assembly, Henri IV. then took the
oath, his right hand resting on the Holy Book.
‘I promise,’ he said, ‘in the name of Jesus Christ, three things to the
Christians, my subjects. Firstly, I will take pains that the Christian
people may live in peace with the Church of God. Further, I will strive
that on all occasions robbery and injustice may cease. Further, I will
command that in all judgments equity and pity be observed, to the end
that God in His infinite mercy and pity may have pity upon me and upon
you. Further, I will strive to my uttermost, in good faith, to chase
from my jurisdiction and lands all heretics denounced by the Church,
promising on oath to observe all that has been said, so may God and this
His holy Gospel help me!’
The Bishop of Chartres, with the aid of the spiritual peers, then
anointed Henri with the holy oil, and after the peers had been summoned
by the Chancellor of France, taking the crown, and raising it above the
head of the monarch, he gave it to the dukes and peers to hold, blessed
it and placed it upon the brow of the King. Henri IV. was forthwith
conducted by the Bishop and the great lords to the throne which had been
erected on the Jubé, that all the people might behold him. The bishop
officiating next bade the monarch be seated, and prayed to God ‘to
confirm him on his throne and to render him invincible and unshaken
before those who strive unjustly to snatch from him the crown which has
legitimately fallen to him.’ Then he gave him the kiss of peace and
cried aloud three times, ‘Vive le Roi!’ The cry was taken up and
repeated by the peers and all the people. The sound of clarions,
hautbois, trumpets, drums and other instruments of music echoed through
the vaulting of the ancient Cathedral, whilst heralds threw amongst the
crowd pieces of gold and silver ‘marked with the effigy of the King and
with the date of the day and the year of his anointing and coronation.’
Mass was then celebrated, and the King, having received absolution from
the bishop, partook of the communion with great humility. The service
over, the bishops and lords escorted the monarch back to the episcopal
palace. The Duke of Montbazon led the way, bearing the crown on a velvet
cushion, whilst others accompanied him with the sceptre and the royal
sword. The sacred vessel was taken back at once in procession to the
Abbey of S. Père by the barons. They restored it to the safe keeping of
the monks of Marmoutiers.
Meanwhile the King, clad in fresh robes of equal magnificence, ‘sat at
table under a canopy of beautiful stuff, in the great episcopal hall,
which was adorned with rich tapestries.’ On his right, at another table,
were ranged the spiritual peers in pontifical garb; on the left, and at
another table, the temporal peers in their coronation robes. Below the
stage reserved for the King and these high personages, the ambassadors,
the Chancellor, Knights of the Order and the principal officers of the
realm took their place at yet another table. The banquet finished with a
fanfare of trumpets, hautbois and clarions, and the King retired,
preceded by the Marshal de Matignon, carrying before him the royal sword
‘bared outright.’
In the evening there was another splendid banquet, after which grace was
said and sung as the late King Henri III. had been wont to have it.
So closed that day of solemn pomp and of ceremonies not meaningless. For
they impressed upon the people the reality of a conversion which was
politically of almost as much importance to France as the conversion to
Christianity of Clovis and his followers. The report of the consecration
of the King at Chartres was followed almost immediately by the surrender
of Paris, and Henri became in fact what he had so long been in name
only, King of France.
I have endeavoured to illustrate each stage of this story of a French
ecclesiastical town by the mention or description of some building, and
to illumine each notable building by some historic episode connected
with it or with the period at which it was constructed. There is little
left of the walls and gates which he bombarded to remind us of the
taking of the town by Henri Quatre. But if we go to the Municipal Museum
and Library we shall find pictures of this siege[98] and of the
unsuccessful siege laid by Condé, besides numerous old maps and plans
which show us, with varying degrees of accuracy, the town as it was in
those days of storm and stress.
The Hôtel de Ville,[99] in which the museum is lodged, is a fine
building of red brick and stone, composed of three sections and a very
handsome gateway. It is itself connected with the period under review;
for, when Henri was besieging the place nearly half the town was in
correspondence with the besiegers, and, among the rest, was the
important family of Montescot. Montescot was a good courtier, and he was
rewarded with a canon’s stall in Notre-Dame. But he was also a good
citizen, and he acted as intermediary between Chartres and the King in
the matter of the pecuniary contributions levied from the town. He it
was who built,[100] as a mansion for himself, the present _Hôtel de
Ville_ (1614), and in his character of good courtier he inscribed those
words, ‘HENRICO MAGNO,’ over the principal entrance. The bust of Marie
de Médici figures on the doorway of the right wing, the bust of Louis
XIII. on that of the left. The old _Parloir aux Bourgeois_, or site of
municipal administration, which had been in the hôtel known as the
_Perron des Trois-Rois_ in the _Rue des Changes_ since 1571, was moved
here in 1792. One wing of the building abuts on the _Place des Halles_,
or market-place, at the corner of which is the Librairie Selleret
(Petrot-Garnier), the booksellers and publishers whose name is
honourably connected with most of the publications of Chartres.
The municipal rooms, hung with tapestry, are on the ground floor; the
library and museum above. The library is of exceptional interest, and it
is admirably arranged. Unfortunately it is only open on Mondays,
Wednesdays and Fridays from 12 to 3.30 p.m. But, if the hours are short,
the visitor who may wish to study the extremely rich collection of books
and manuscripts, which were removed here from the surrounding
monasteries during the Revolution, will find every encouragement to do
so. Without credentials or explanation I have read there myself many
days, and it is with grateful pleasure that I take this opportunity of
acknowledging the polite attention and the ready help proffered to me, a
stranger, by the Librarian and his assistants. The collection includes
over 100,000 volumes, and among the thousand manuscripts six hundred are
earlier than the sixteenth century, and many beautifully illuminated.
The Museum, the entrance to which faces that of the Library, is open to
the public on Thursdays and Sundays from 2 to 4 p.m. (gratuity).
Catalogue, 1 franc, 50 centimes. I have referred already, in the course
of my story, to most of the interesting things to
[Illustration: Place de l’Hôtel de Ville]
be seen there. I have mentioned some of the Roman antiquities--the coins
and pottery found in the neighbourhood--the armour of Philippe-le-Bel,
and of Charles V., his son, offered to Notre-Dame after the battle of
Mons-en-Puelle; and among the pictures, the numerous maps and pictures
and portraits that relate to the history of Chartres.
It remains to call attention to the Layé collection of arms, armour,
porcelain and medals, and, in the room above, what should on no account
be missed, the magnificent pieces of Flemish tapestry (sixteenth
century) which were brought here from the choir of the Cathedral. Five
out of the original ten are to be seen in the Hôtel de Ville. The
borders are rich and the work exquisite. They were presented originally
to the church by that Bishop de Thou of whom we have spoken above. The
designs of the five panels are based on those of the cartoons made by
Raphael for the Vatican, and they represent incidents from the life of
Moses.
A beautiful example of fourteenth-century French needlework should be
noted in a triptych here.