IN OLD BURGUNDY
Burgundy has ever been known as a land of opulence. Since the middle
ages its _richesse_ has been sung by poets and people alike. There is an
old Burgundian proverb which runs as follows:
_"Riche de Chalon_
_Noble de Vienne_
_Preux de Vergy_
_Fin de Neufchâtel_
Et la maison de Beaufremont
D'où sont sortis les hauts barons"
The Burgundians were first of all vandals, but with their alliance with
the Romans in the fifth century they became a people distinct and
apart, and of a notable degree of civilization. They established
themselves first in Savoy, a gift to them of the Emperor Valentinian,
and made Geneva the capital of their kingdom.
A new Burgundian kingdom of vast extent came into being under the
Frankish kings; this second dynasty of Burgundian rulers finally came to
the French throne itself. In the meantime they held, through their
powerful line of dukes, the governorship of the entire province with a
power that was absolute,--a power that was only equalled by that of
independent sovereigns. The Burgundians were no vassal race.
The hereditary Ducs de Bourgogne reigned from 721 to 1361, during which
period the duchy rose to unwonted heights of richness and luxury as well
as esteem by its neighbours. Under the Frankish line the career of the
province was no less brilliant, and when the King of France gave the
duchy to his third son Philippe, that prince showed himself so superior
in ability that he would treat with his suzerain father only as an equal
in power.
In the reign of Louis XIV the eldest son of the house of France bore
again the title Duc de Bourgogne, his grandson, born in 1751, being the
last prince to be so acknowledged.
Burgundy in 1789 still formed one of the great "_gouvernements_" of the
France of that day, and in addition was recognized in its own right as a
Pays d'État. With the new portioning out of old France under
Revolutionary rule the old Burgundian province became the modern
Départements of the Cote d'Or, the Saône et Loire and the Yonne.
The Burgundian nobles who made Dijon their residence in Renaissance
times lived well, one may be sure, with such a rich larder as the heart
of Burgundy was, and is, at their door. There is no granary, no
wine-cellar in France to rival those of the Cote d'Or. The shop-keepers
of Dijon, the _fournisseurs_ of the court, supplied only the best. The
same is true of the shop-keepers of these parts to-day, whatever may be
their line of trade. Even the religious institutions of old were, if not
universal providers, at least purveyors of many of the good things of
the table. When the monks of Saint Béninge sent out their lay brothers,
sandalled and cowled, to call in the streets of Dijon the wines of the
convent vineyards not a wine dealer was allowed to compete with them.
This made for fair dealing, a fine quality of merchandise and a full
measure at other times, no doubt. The monks who sold this product were
accompanied by a surpliced cleric who fanfared a crowd around him and
announced his wine by extolling its virtues as if he was chanting a
litany.
In Burgundy there has come down from feudal times a series of sobriquets
which, more than in any other part of France, have endured unto this
time. There were the "_buveurs_" of Auxerre, the "_escuyers_" of
Burgundy and the "_moqueurs_" of Dijon. All of these are terms which are
locally in use to-day.
The Bourguignons in the fifth century, by a preordained custom, wore,
suspended by cords or chains from their belts, the keys of their houses,
the knives which served them at table as well as for the hunt (forks
were not then invented, or at any rate not in common use), their purse,
more or less fat with silver and gold, their sword and their ink-well
and pens; all this according to their respective stations in life. When
one was condemned for a civil contravention before a judge he was made
to deposit his belt and its dangling accessories as an act of
acknowledgment of his incapacity to properly conduct his affairs. It was
no sign of infamy or lack of probity, but simply an indication of a lack
of business sagacity. It was the same, even, with royalty and the
noblesse as with the common people, and the act was applied as well to
women as men. The Duchesse de Bourgogne, widow of Philippe-le-Hardi, who
died covered with debts brought about by his generosity, admitted also
that she was willing to share the responsibilities of his faults by
renouncing certain of her rights and deposition on his tomb of his
_ceinture_, his keys and his purse.
Isabelle de Bavière, who owed so much to a Duc de Bourgogne of the
seventeenth century, was criticised exceedingly when she came among his
people because of the luxury of possessing two "chemises de toile," the
women of the court at the time--in Burgundy at all events--dressing with
the utmost simplicity. With what degree of simplicity one can only
imagine!
Another luxury in these parts in mediæval times was the use of candles.
What artificial light was made use of in a domestic manner came from
resinous torches, and _cires_ and candles were used only in the
churches, or perhaps in the oratories, or private chapels, of the
chateaux.
The homes of the Burgundian _bourgeoisie_ were hardly as luxuriant or
magnificent as those of the nobles, nor were they as comfortably
disposed in many instances as one would expect to learn of this land of
ease and plenty. Frequently there was no board flooring, no tiles, no
paving of flag stones, even. A simple hard-pounded clay floor served the
humble householder for his _rez-de-chaussee_. In the more splendid
Renaissance town houses, or even in many neighbouring chateaux, it was
not infrequent that the same state of affairs existed, but sheaves or
bunches of straw were scattered about, giving the same sort of warmth
that straw gives when spread in the bottom of an omnibus. If a visitor
of importance was expected fresh straw was laid down, but this was about
all that was done to make him comfortable. Otherwise the straw was
generally of the Augean stable variety, since it was usually renewed but
three times during the cold season, which here lasts from three to five
months out of the twelve. In time a sort of woven or plaited straw
carpet came into use, then square flags and tiles, and finally rugs, or
_tapis_, which, in part, covered the chilly flooring. Elsewhere, as the
rugs came into the more wealthy houses, plain boards, sometimes
polished, served their purpose much as they do now.
Only the rich had glazed windows. The first window glass used in France
was imported from England in the twelfth century, at which time it was
reckoned as one of the greatest of domestic luxuries.
Chimneys, too, were wanting from the houses of the poor. Houses with
windows without glass, and entirely without chimneys, must have lacked
comfort to a very great degree. Such indeed exist to-day, though, in
many parts of France. This is fact! A sort of open grate in a lean-to
outside the house, and iron barred open windows without even shutters
are to be found in many places throughout the Midi of France. One such
the writer knows in a town of three thousand inhabitants, and it is
occupied by a prosperous "decorated" Frenchman. What comfort, or
discomfort!
The Burgundian householder of mediæval times sat with his family huddled
around a great brazier upon which burned wood or charcoal. The rising
smoke disappeared through a hole in the centre of the roof in primitive
redman's fashion.
As late as the fifteenth century there were no individual chairs in any
but the most prosperous and pretentious homes. Their place was taken by
benches, and these mostly without backs.
Chiefly the meaner houses were built of wood and thatched after the
manner of such thatched roofs as exist to-day, but with less symmetry,
one judges from the old prints.
All the world and his wife retired early. This one learns from the
Burgundian proverb already old in the time of Louis XII.
"_Lever à cinq, diner à neuf_
_Souper à cinq, coucher à neuf_
_Fait vivre d'ans nonante et neuf._"
This is probably as true to-day as it was then if one had the courage to
live up to it and find out.
The ancient reputation of the wine of Burgundy dates back centuries and
centuries before the juice of the grape became the common drink of the
French. During the famous schism which divided the Church in the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the Duc de Bourgogne,
Philippe-le-Hardi, was deputed, in 1395, to present to Pope Benoit XIII,
then living at Avignon in the Comtat, "rich presents and twenty _queues_
of the wine of Beaune."
History and romance have been loud in their praises of the rich red
wines of Burgundy ever since the dawn of gormandizing. Petrarch has said
that his best inspirations and sentiments came from the wine of Beaune,
and the Avignon Popes lengthened their sojourn in their Papal City on
the banks of the Rhone because of the easy transport and the low price
of the fine wines of Beaune. "There is not in Italy," they said, "the
wine of Beaune nor the means of getting it."
The heart of old Burgundy, that is, the Côte d'Or of to-day, is the
region of France the most densely wooded after the Vosges. Great forests
exploited for their wood are everywhere, oak and beech predominating.
Only the _coteaux_, the low-lying hillsides, where the vines are chiefly
grown, are bare of forest growth.
Two great rivers cross the province from north to south, and two from
east to west, the Aube, the Dheune, the Saône and the Vingeanne, and the
Seine itself takes birth between Saint Seine and Chanceaux, this last,
like most of the great rivers of Europe, being but a humble rivulet at
the commencement. Two canals furnish an economical means of
communication, and are really remarkable waterways. The Canal de
Bourgogne joins up the Saône and the Seine, and more important still is
that which joins the Rhône and Rhine.
Eight "Routes Royales" crossed the province in old monarchical days, and
where once rolled princely corteges now whiz automobiles without count.
In the seventeenth century from Paris to Dijon was a journey of eight
days in winter and seven in summer, by the _malle-poste_. One departure
a week served what traffic there was, and the price was twenty-four
_livres_ (francs) a head, with baggage charged at three _sols_ a pound.
The departure from Paris was from the old auberge "Aux Quatre Fils
Aymon," and more frequently than not the announcements read that the
coach would leave "as soon as possible" after the appointed hour.
Whatever feudal reminiscence may linger in the minds of the readers of
old chronicles let no one forget that France in general, and Burgundy in
particular, is no longer a land of poverty where everybody but the
capitalist has to pick up fagots for fires. Far from it; the peasant
hereabouts, the worker in the fields, may lack many of the commonly
accepted luxuries of life, but he eats and drinks as abundantly as the
seemingly more prosperous dweller in the towns, and if not of meat three
times a day (the worn-out, threadbare argument of the English and
American traveller who looks not below the surface in continental
Europe) it is because he doesn't crave it. That he is the better in
mind and body for the lack of it goes without saying.
The valley of the Saône above Dijon is a paradise of old fiefs of counts
and dukes. Almost every kilometre of its ample course bears a local name
allied with some seigneur of feudal days. The whole watershed is
historic, romantic ground. Mantoche was the site of a Cité Romain;
Apremont gave birth to one of the most prolific of romancers, Xavier de
Montepin, a litterateur who wrote mostly for concierges and shop girls
of a couple of generations ago, but a name famous in the annals of
French literature nevertheless.
Leaving the country of the minor counts the Saône enters into Basse
Bourgogne, taking on at various stages of its career the name of Petite
Saône, Saône Supérieur or Grande Saône. All told it has a navigable
length of nearly four hundred kilometres, making it one of France's
mightiest _chemins qui marche_, to borrow Napoleon's phrase.
The entire heart of old Burgundy above Dijon, the plain that is, is most
curiously sown with cultures of a variety that one would hardly expect
to find.
Here and there a _chateau de commerce_, as the French distinguish the
"_wine-chateaux_" from the purely domestic establishments and the
"_monuments historiques_" of which the French government is so justly
proud, crops up surrounded by its vineyards, with its next door
neighbour, perhaps, an exploitation of hops, the principal ingredient of
beer, as the grape is of wine. The paradox is as inexplicable, as is the
fact that Dijon is famous for mustard when not a grain of it is grown
nearer the Côte d'Or than India.
It is true that Dijon is noted quite as much for its mustard and its
gingerbread as for its sculpture. The École Dijonnais is supreme in all
three specialties. The historic figure, "mustardmaker to the Pope," has
caused many a "_rire bourguignon_"; nevertheless the preparing of Dijon
mustard is a good deal of a secret still, as all who know the subtleness
of this particular condiment recognize full well.
The mustard pots of Dijon, even those of commonest clay, are veritable
works of art. It would pay some one to collect them. The "Fontaine de
Jouvence," which one may buy for thirty sous at the railway buffet, is
indeed a gem; another, blazoned with the arms of Burgundy, and the
legend "Moult me tarde," followed by "d'y gouster" is no less.