council of the church was held, by which the tenets of Berengarius were
finally condemned. It appears that the archdeacon of Angers, after some
fruitless attempts to make converts among the Norman monks, took the
bold resolution of stating his doctrines to the duke in person; and that
the prince, though scarcely arrived at years of manhood, acted with so
much prudence on the occasion, as to withhold any decisive answer, till
he had collected the clergy of the duchy. They assembled at Brionne, as
a central spot; and here the question was argued at great length, till
Berengarius himself, and a convert, whom he had brought with him,
trusting in his eloquence, were so overpowered by the arguments of their
adversaries, that they were obliged to renounce their errors. The
doctrine of the real presence in the sacrament, was thus
incontrovertibly established; and it has from that time remained an
undisputed article of faith in the Roman Catholic church.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 54: Vol. III. p. 187.--The engraving in the _Antiquarian
Repertory_ was made from a drawing in the possession of the late Sir
William Burrell, Bart.]
[Footnote 55: The word _Turold_, in the tapestry, stands immediately
over the head of a dwarf, who is holding a couple of horses; and it has
therefore been inferred by Montfaucon, (_Monumens de la Monarchie
Française_, I. p. 378.) that he is the person thus denominated. But M.
Lancelot, in the _Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions_, VI. p. 753,
supposes Turold to be the ambassador who is in the act of speaking; and
this seems the more probable conjecture. The same opinion is still more
decidedly maintained by Father Du Plessis, in his _Histoire de la Haute
Normandie_, II. p. 342.--"Sur une ancienne tapisserie de l'Eglise de
Baieux, que l'on croit avoir été faite par ordre de la Reine Mathilde
femme du Conquérant, pour représenter les circonstances principales de
cette mémorable expédition, on lit distinctement le mot _Turold_ à côté
d'un des Ambassadeurs, que Guillaume avoit envoiez au Comte de Ponthieu;
et je ne doute nullement que ce Turold ne soit le même que le
Connétable. Le sçavant Auteur des Antiquitez de notre Monarchie croit
cependant que ce mot doit se rapporter à un Nain qui tient deux chevaux
en bride derriere les Ambassadeurs; et il ajoute que ce Nain devoit être
fort connu à la Conr du Duc de Normandie. On avoue que si c'est lui en
effet qui doit s'appeller Turold, il devoit tenir aussi à la Cour de son
Prince un rang distingué; sans quoi on n'auroit pas pris la peine de le
désigner par son nom dans la tapisserie. On avoue encore que le nom de
Turold est placé là de maniere qu'on peut à la rigueur le donner au Nain
aussi bien qu'à l'un des deux Ambassadeurs; et comme le Nain est
appliqué à tenir deux chevaux en bride, on pourrait croire enfin que
c'est le Connétable, dont les titres de l'Abbaïe de Facan nous ont
appris le nom: _Signum Turoldi Constabularii_. Mais le Nain est très-mal
habillé, il a son bonnet sur la tête, et tourne le dos au Comte de
Ponthieu, pendant que les deux Ambassadeurs noblement vêtus regardent ce
Prince en face, et lui parlent découverts: trois circonstances qui ne
peuvent convenir, ni au Connétable du Duc, ni à toute autre personne de
distinction qui auroit tenu compagnie, ou fait cortege aux
Ambassadeurs."]
[Footnote 56: This tower is figured, but very inaccurately, by Gough, in
his _Alien Priories_, I. p. 22.--The cupola which then surmounted it is
now gone; and the cap to the turret, which served as the staircase, has
strangely changed its shape.]
[Footnote 57: _Alien Priories_, I. p. 24.]
[Footnote 58: "Nam antea, sub tempore sex ducum vix ullus Normannorum
liberalibus studiis adhæsit; nec doctor inveniebatur, donec provisor
omnium, Deus, Normannicis oris Lanfrancum appulit. Fama peritiæ illius
in totâ ubertim innotuit Europâ, unde ad magisterium ejus multi
convenerunt de Franciâ, de Wasconiâ, de Britanniâ, necne
Flandriâ."--_Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni_, p. 519.]
[Footnote 59: A question always existed, whether the Empress was really
buried here, or at the abbey of Ste Marie des Prés, at Rouen. Hoveden
expressly says, that she was interred at Rouen: the chronicle of Bec, on
the other hand, is equally positive in the assertion that her body was
brought to Bec, and entombed with honor before the altar of the Virgin.
The same chronicle adds that, in the year 1273, her remains were
discovered before the high altar, sewed up in an ox's hide.--Still
farther to substantiate their claim, the monks of Bec maintained that,
in 1684, upon the occasion of some repairs being done to this altar, the
bones of the empress were again found immediately under the lamp (which,
in Catholic churches, is kept constantly burning before the holy
sacrament,) and that they were deposited once more in the ground in a
wooden chest, covered with lead.--The Empress was a munificent endower
of monasteries, and was at all times most liberal towards Bec. William
of Jumieges says, that it would be tedious to enumerate the presents she
made to the abbey, but that the sight of them gave pleasure to those
strangers who have seen the treasures of the most noble churches. His
remarks on this matter, and his account of her arguments with her
father, on the subject of her choice of Bec, as a place of her
interment, deserve to be transcribed.--"Transiret illac hospes Græcus
aut Arabs, voluptate traheretur eadem. Credimus autem, et credere fas
est, æquissimum judicem omnium non solùm in futuro, verumetiam in
præsenti seculo, illi centuplum redditurum, quod seruis suis manu sicut
larga, ita devota gratantèr impendit. Ad remunerationem verò instantis
temporis pertinere non dubium est, quòd, miserante Deo, sopita adversa
valetudine, sanctitatem refouit, et Monachos suos, Monachos Beccenses,
qui præ omnibus, et super omnes pro ipsius sospitate, jugi labore
supplicandi decertando pene defecerant, aura prosperæ valetudinis ejus
afflatos omninò redintegravit.--Nec supprimendum illud est silentio,
imò, ut ita dicatur, uncialibus literis exaratum, seculo venturo
transmittendum; quòd antequam convalesceret postulaverat patrem suum, ut
permitteret eam in CÅ"nobio Beccensi humari. Quod Rex primo abnuerat,
dicens non esse dignum, ut filia sua, Imperatrix Augusta, quæ semel et
iterùm in urbe Romulea, quæ caput est mundi, per manus summi Pontificis
Imperiali diademate processerat insignita, in aliquo Monasterio, licèt
percelebri et religione et fama, sepeliretur; sed ad civitatem
Rotomagensium, quæ metropolis est Normannorum, saltem delata, in
Ecclesia principali, in qua et majores ejus, Rollonem loquor et
Willelmum Longamspatam filium ipsius, qui Neustriam armis subegerunt,
positi sunt, ipsa et poneretur. Qua deliberatione Regis percepta, illi
per nuncium remandavit, animam suam nunquam fore lætam, nisi compos
voluntatis suæ in hac duntaxat parte efficeretur.--O femina macte
virtutis et consilii sanioris, paruipendens pompam secularem in corporis
depositione! Noverat enim salubrius esse animabus defunctorum ibi
corpora sua tumulari, ubi frequentiùs et devotiùs supplicationes pro
ipsis Deo offeruntur. Victus itaque pater ipsius Augustæ pietate et
prudentia filiæ, qui ceteros et virtute et pietate vincere solitus erat,
cessit, et voluntatem, et petitionem ipsius de se sepelienda Becci fieri
concessit. Sed volente Deo ut præfixum est, sanitati integerrimæ
restituta convaluit."--_Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni_, p. 305.]
[Footnote 60: _Histoire de la Haute Normandie_, II. p, 281.]
LETTER XXI.
BERNAT--BROGLIE--ORBEC--LISIEUX--CATHEDRAL--ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
(_Lisieux, July_, 1818.)
Instead of pursuing the straight road from Brionne to this city, we
deviated somewhat to the south, by the advice of M. Le Prevost; and we
have not regretted the deviation.
Bernay was once celebrated for its abbey, founded in the beginning of
the eleventh century, by Judith, wife of Richard IInd, Duke of Normandy.
Some of the monastic buildings are standing, and are now inhabited: they
appear to have been erected but a short time before the revolution, and
to have suffered little injury.--But the abbey church, which belonged to
the original structure, is all desolate within, and all defaced without.
The interior is divided into two stories, the lower of which is used as
a corn market, the upper as a cloth hall. Thus blocked up and
encumbered, we may yet discern that it is a noble building: its
dimensions are grand, and in most parts it is a perfect specimen of the
semi-circular style, except the windows and the apsis, which are of
later dates. The pillars in the nave and choir are lofty, but massy: the
capitals of some of them are curiously sculptured. On the lower member
of the entablature of one capital there are still traces of an
inscription; but it is so injured by neglect and violence, that we were
unable to decipher a single word. The capital itself is fanciful and not
devoid of elegance.
[Illustration: Capital]
The convent was placed under the immediate protection of the sovereign,
by virtue of an ordinance issued by Philip Augustus[61], in 1280, at
which time Peter, Count of Alençon, attempted to establish a claim to
some rights affecting the monastery. He alleged a grant from a former
monarch to one of his predecessors, by whom he asserted that the convent
had been founded; and, in support of his claim, he urged its position
within the limits of his territory. The abbot and monks resisted: they
gave proof that the abbey of Bernay was really founded by the duchess;
and therefore the king, after a full and impartial hearing, decided
against the count, and declared that the advocation of the monastery was
thenceforth to belong to himself and his successors in the dukedom for
ever.--Judith died before the convent was entirely built, and the task
of completing it devolved upon her widowed husband, whose charter,
confirming the foundation, is still in existence. It begins by a recital
of the pious motives[62] which urged the duchess to the undertaking; it
expressly mentions her death while the building was yet unfinished; and,
after detailing the various lands and grants bestowed on the abbey, it
concludes by denouncing the anger of God, and a fine of two hundred
pounds weight of gold upon those who disturb the establishment, "that
they may learn to their confusion that the good deeds of their
ancestors, undertaken for the love of God, are not to be undone with
impunity."
The parochial church at Bernay is uninteresting. The sculptures,
however, which adorn the high altar, are relics saved from the
destruction of the abbey of Bec. The Virgin Mary and Joseph are
represented, contemplating the infant Jesus, who is asleep. The statues
are all of the natural size. We saw many grave-stones from the same
abbey, nine or ten feet long, and covered with monumental figures of the
usual description, indented in the stone. These memorials were standing
by the side of the church door, not for preservation, but for sale! And
at a small chapel in the burial-ground near the town, we were shewn
twelve statues of saints, which likewise came from Bec. They are of
comparatively modern workmanship, larger than life, and carved in a
good, though not a fine, style. In the same chapel is kept the common
coffin for the interment of all the poor at Bernay.
The custom of merely putting the bodies of persons of the lower class
into coffins, when they are brought to the burial-ground, and then
depositing them naked in their graves, prevails at present in this part
of France as it did formerly in England.--In a place which must be the
receptacle for many that were in easy, and for not a few that were in
affluent, circumstances, it was remarkable that all lay indiscriminately
side by side, unmarked by any monumental stone, or any sepulchral
record.--Republican France proscribed distinctions of every description,
and those memorials which tended to perpetuate distinctions beyond the
limits of mortal existence, were naturally most unpardonable in the eyes
of the apostles of equality. But doctrines of this nature have fallen
into disrepute for more than twenty years; and yet the country
church-yard remains as naked as when the guillotine would have been the
reward of opposition to the tenets of the day. There are few more
comfortless sights, than such a cemetery: it looks as if those by whom
it is occupied regarded death as eternal sleep, and thought that the
memory of man should terminate with the close of his life. However
unlettered the muse, however hackneyed the rhyme, however misapplied
the text, it is consolatory to see them employed. Man dwells with a
melancholy satisfaction upon the tomb-stones of his relations and
friends, and not of them alone, but of all whom he has known or of whom
he has heard.--A mere _hic jacet_, with the name and years of him that
sleeps beneath, frequently recals the most lively impressions; and he
who would destroy epitaphs would destroy a great incitement to
virtue.--In other parts of France tomb-stones, or crosses charged with
monumental inscriptions, have re-appeared: at Bernay we saw only two;
one of them commemorated a priest of the town; the other was erected at
the public expence, to the memory of three gendarmes, who were killed at
the beginning of the revolution, and before religion was proscribed, in
the suppression of some tumult.
At less than a mile from Bernay, in the opposite direction, is another
church, called Notre Dame de la Couture, a name borrowed from the
property on which it stands. We were induced to visit it, by the
representation of different persons in the town, who had noticed our
architectural propensities. Some assured us that "C'est une belle
pièce;" others that "C'est une pièce qui n'est pas vilaine;" and all
concurred in praising it, though some only for the reason that "les
processions vont tout autour du choeur."--We found nothing to repay the
trouble of the walk.
Bernay contains upwards of six thousand inhabitants, the greater part of
whom are engaged in manufacturing coarse woollen and cotton cloths; and
the manufactures flourish, the goods made being principally for home
consumption. It is the chief place of the _arrondissement_, and the
residence of a sub-prefect.--Most of the houses are like those at Rouen,
merely wooden frames filled with mortar, which, in several instances, is
faced with small bricks and flints, disposed in fanciful patterns: here
and there the beams are carved with a variety of grotesque figures. The
lower story of all those in the high street retires, leaving room for a
wooden colonnade, which shelters the passenger, though it is entirely
destitute of all architectural beauty. The head-dress of the females at
Bernay is peculiar, and so very archaic, that our chamber-maid at the
inn appeared to deserve a sketch, full as much as any monumental effigy.
[Illustration: Head-dress of females of Bernay]
On our road between Bernay and Orbec, we stopped at the village of
Chambrais, more commonly called Broglie. Before the revolution, it
belonged to the noble family of that name, and it thence derived its
familiar appellation. The former residence of the Seigneurs of Broglie,
which is still standing, apparently uninjured, upon an adjoining
eminence, has lately been restored to the present Maréchal Duc de
Broglie. It looks like an extensive parish work-house, or like any thing
rather than a nobleman's seat.--The village church is very ancient and
still curious, though in parts considerably modernized. Unlike most
churches of great antiquity, it is not built in the form of a cross, but
consists only of a nave and choir, with side-aisles and an apsis, all on
a small scale[63]. Towards the north, the nave is separated from the
aisle by some of the largest and rudest piers I ever saw. They occupy
full two-thirds of the width of the intervening arches, which are five
feet wide, elliptic rather than semi-circular, and altogether without
ornament of any kind. Above each of these arches is a narrow,
circular-headed window, banded with a cylindrical pilaster; and, in most
instances, a row of quatrefoils runs between the pillar and the window.
The bases of the windows rest upon a string-course that extends round
the whole building; and on this also, alternating with the windows, rest
corbels, from which spring very short, clustered columns, intended to
support the groinings of the roof. On the south side, the massy piers
have been pared into comparatively slender pillars; and the arches are
pointed, as are all the lower windows in the church.--The font is of
stone, and ancient: it consists of a round basin, on a quadrangular
pedestal, like many in England.--The west front of the church is
peculiar. It is entered by a very wide, low, semi-circular door-way, of
rude architecture, and quite unornamented. Above is a window
corresponding with those in the clerestory; and, still higher, a row of
interlaced arches, also semi-circular. A pointed arch, the receptacle
for the statue of a saint, surmounts the whole; but this is, most
probably, of a later æra, as evidently are the two lateral
compartments, which terminate in slender spires of slate, and are
separated from the central division by Norman buttresses.
We stopped to dine at Orbec, a small and insignificant country town,
formerly an appendage of the houses of Orléans and Navarre, with the
title of a barony; but, more immediately before the revolution, the
domain of the family of Chaumont. Its church is a most uncouth edifice:
the plan is unusual; the entrance is in the north transept, which ends
in a square high tower.
Bernay, Orbec, and Lisieux, communicate only by cross roads, scarcely
passable by a carriage, even at this season of the year. From Orbec to
Lisieux the road runs by the side of the Touques, which, at Orbec, is no
more than a rivulet. The beautiful green meadows in the valley, appear
to repay the great care which is taken in the draining and irrigating of
them. They are every where intersected by small trenches, in which the
water is confined by means of sluices.--In this part of the country, we
passed several flocks of sheep, the true _moutons du pays_, a large
breed, with red legs and red spotted faces. Their coarse wool serves to
make the ordinary cloth of the country, but is inapplicable to any of a
finer texture. To remedy this deficiency, and, if possible, improve the
local manufactures, some large flocks of Merino sheep were imported at
the time when the French occupied Spain; and they are said to thrive.
But it is only of late years that any attempts, have been made of the
kind.--The Norman farmer, however careful about the breed of his horses,
has altogether neglected his sheep; and this is the more extraordinary,
considering that the prosperity of the province is inseparably connected
with that of the manufactures, and that much of the value of the produce
must of necessity depend upon the excellence of the material. His pigs
are the very perfection of ugliness: it is no hyperbole to say, that, in
their form, they partake as much of a greyhound as of an English
pig.--These animals are sure to attract the gaze of our countrymen; and
poor Trotter, in his narrative of the journey of Mr. Fox, expressed his
marvel so often, as to call down upon himself the witty vengeance of one
of our ablest periodical writers.
Melons are cultivated on a great scale in the country about Lisieux.
They grow here in the natural soil, occupying whole fields of
considerable size, and apparently without requiring any extraordinary
pains.--As we approached the city, the meadows, through which we passed,
were mostly occupied as extensive bleaching-grounds. Lisieux is an
industrious manufacturing town. Its ten thousand inhabitants find their
chief employment in the making of the ordinary woollen cloths, worn by
the peasantry of Normandy and of Lower Brittany. Linen and flannels are
also manufactured here, though on a comparatively trifling scale. For
trade of this description, Lisieux is well situated upon the banks of
the Touques, a small river, which, almost immediately under the walls of
the town, receives the waters of a yet smaller stream, the Orbec. A
project is in agitation, and it is said that it may be carried into
effect at an inconsiderable expence, of making the Touques navigable to
Lisieux. At present, it is so no farther than the the little town of the
same name as the river; and even this derives no great advantage from
the navigation; for, however near its situation is to the mouth of the
stream, it is approachable only by vessels of less than one hundred tons
burthen.--It was at Touques that Henry Vth landed in France, in the
spring of 1417, when the monarch, flushed with a degree of success as
extraordinary as it was unexpected, quitted England with the
determination of returning no more till the whole kingdom of France
should be subjugated.
The greater part of the houses in Lisieux are built of wood; and many of
them are old, and most of them are mean; yet, on the whole, it is
picturesque and handsome. Its streets are spacious, and contain several
large buildings: it is surrounded with pleasant _boulevards_; and its
situation, like that of most other Norman towns, is delightful.--In
consequence of the revolution, the city has lost the privilege of being
an episcopal see. Even when Napoléon, by virtue of the concordat of
1801, restored the Gallican church to its obedience to the the supreme
Pontiff, the see of Lisieux was suppressed. The six suffragan bishops of
ancient Normandy were at that time reduced to four, conformably to the
number of the departments of the province; and Lisieux and Avranches
merged in the more important dioceses of Bayeux and Coutances.
The cathedral, now the parish church of St. Peter, derived, however, one
advantage from the revolution. Another church, dedicated to St. Germain,
which had previously stood immediately before it, so as almost to block
up the approach, was taken down, and the west front of the cathedral was
made to open upon a spacious square.--Solid, simple grandeur are the
characters of this front, which, notwithstanding some slight anomalies,
is, upon the whole, a noble specimen of early pointed architecture.--It
is divided into three equal compartments, the lateral ones rising into
short square towers of similar height. The southern tower is surmounted
by a lofty stone spire, probably of a date posterior to the part below.
The spire of the opposite tower fell in 1553, at which time much injury
was done to the building, and particularly to the central door-way,
which, even to the present day, has never been repaired.--Contrary to
the usual elevation of French cathedrals, the great window over the
principal entrance is not circular, but pointed: it is divided into
three compartments by broad mullions, enriched with many mouldings. The
compartments end in acute pointed arches.--In the north tower, the whole
of the space from the basement story is occupied by only two tiers of
windows. Each tier contains two windows, extremely narrow, considering
their height; and yet, narrow as they are, each of them is parted by a
circular mullion or central pillar. You will better understand how high
they must be, when told that, in the southern tower, the space of the
upper row is divided into three distinct tiers; and still the windows do
not appear disproportionately short. They also are double, and the
interior arches are pointed; but the arches, within which they are
placed, are circular. In this circumstance lies the principal anomaly in
the front of the cathedral; but there is no appearance of any disparity
in point of dates; for the circular arches are supported on the same
slender mullions, with rude foliaged capitals, of great projection,
which are the most distinguishing characteristics of this style of
architecture.