Benedictine abbeys of Bernay, St. Evroul, Preaux, and
Cormeilles.--Cormeilles was founded by William Fitz-Osborne, a relation
to William the Conqueror, at whose court he held the office of sewer,
and by whom he was promoted to the earldom of Hereford. Its church and
monastic buildings had so far gone to ruin, in the last century, as to
call forth a strong remonstrance from Mabillon[69]: they were afterwards
repaired by Charles of Orléans, who was appointed abbot in 1726.--The
abbey of Preaux is said to have existed prior to the invasion of the
Normans; but its earliest records go no farther back than the middle of
the eleventh century, when it was restored by Humphrey de Vetulis, who
built and inclosed the monastery about the year 1035, at which time Duke
Robert undertook his pilgrimage to the Holy Land. This abbey, according
to the account given by Gough, in his _Alien Priories_, presented to
thirty benefices, and enjoyed an annual revenue of twenty thousand
livres.--Among its English lands which were considerable, was the priory
of Toft-Monks in our own immediate vicinity: the name, as you know,
remains, though no traces of the building are now in existence.
The third abbey, that of St. Evrau or St. Evroul, called in Latin,
_Monasterium Uticense_, was one of the most renowned throughout
Normandy. The abbey dates its origin from St. Evroul himself, a
nobleman, who lived in the reign of Childebert, and was attached to the
palace of that monarch, "from which," to use the words of the
chronicles, "he made his escape, as from shipwreck, and fled to the
woods, and entered upon the monastic life."--The legend of St. Ebrulfus
probably savors of romance, the almost inseparable companion of
traditional, and particularly of monastic, history: it is safer,
therefore, to be contented with referring the foundation of the
monastery to the tenth century, when William Gerouis, after having been
treacherously deprived of his sight and otherwise maimed, renounced the
world; and, uniting with his nephews, Hugh and Robert de Grentemaisnil,
brought considerable possessions to the endowment of this abbey. The
abbey was at all times protected by the especial favor of the kings of
France. No payment or service could be demanded from its monks; they
acknowledged no master without their own walls, besides the sovereign
himself; they were entitled to exemption from every kind of burthen; and
they had the privilege of being empowered to castellate the convent, and
to compel the people of the surrounding district to contribute their
assistance for the purpose.
St. Evroul, however, principally claims our attention, as the sanctuary
where Ordericus Vitalis, to use his own expressions, "delighted in
obedience and poverty."--This most valuable writer was an Englishman;
his native town being Attingesham, on the Severn, where he was born in
the year 1075. He was sent to school at Shrewsbury, and there received
the first rudiments, both of the _humanities_ and of ecclesiastical
education. In the tenth year of his age, his father, Odelerius,
delivered the boy to the care of the monk Rainaldus. The weeping father
parted from the weeping son, and they never saw each other more.
Ordericus crossed the sea, and arrived in Normandy, an exile, as he
describes himself, and "hearing, like Joseph in Egypt, a language which
he understood not." In the eleventh year of his age, he received the
tonsure from the hands of Mainerius, the abbot of St. Evroul. In the
thirty-third year of his age, he was ordained a priest; and
thenceforward his life wore away in study and tranquillity. Aged and
infirm, he completed his _Ecclesiastical History_, in the sixty-seventh
year of his age; and this great and valuable work ends with his
auto-biography, which is written in an affecting strain of simplicity
and piety.--The Ecclesiastical History of Ordericus is divided into
parts: the first portion contains an epitome of the sacred and profane
history of the world, beginning with the incarnation, and ending with
Pope Innocent IInd. The second, and more important division, contains
the history of Normandy, from the first invasion of the country, down
to the year 1141.--Though professedly an ecclesiastical historian, yet
Ordericus Vitalis is exceedingly copious in his details of secular
events; and it is from these that his chronicle derives its importance
and curiosity. It was first published by Duchesne, in his collection of
Norman historians, a work which is now of rare occurrence, and it has
never been reprinted.
Valuable materials for a new edition were, however, collected early in
the eighteenth century, by William Bessin, a monk of St. Ouen; and
these, before the revolution, were preserved in the library of that
abbey. Bessin had been assisted in the task by Francis Charles Dujardin,
prior of St. Evroul, who had collated the text, as published in the
collection of Norman historians, with the original manuscript in his own
monastery, to which latter Duchesne unfortunately had not access, but
had been obliged to content himself with a copy, now in the Royal
Library at Paris. It is to be hoped, that the joint labors of Bessin and
Dujardin may still be in existence, and may come to light, when M.
Liquet shall have completed the task of arranging the manuscripts in the
public library at Rouen. The manuscript which belonged to St. Evroul,
and was always supposed to be an autograph from the hands of Ordericus
Vitalis himself, was discovered during the revolution among a heap of
parchments, thrown aside as of no account, in some buildings belonging
to the former district of Laigle. It is now deposited in the public
library of the department of the Orne, but unfortunately, nearly half
the leaves of the volume are lost. The earliest part of what remains is
towards the close of the seventh book, and of this only a fragment,
consisting of eight pages, is left. The termination of the seventh book,
and the whole of the eighth are wanting. From the ninth to the
thirteenth, both of these inclusive, the manuscript is perfect. A page
or two, however, at the end of the work, which contained the author's
life, has been torn out.--At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the
manuscript was complete; for it is known that, at that time, a monk of
St. Evroul made a transcript of it, which extended through four volumes
in folio. These volumes were soon dispersed. Two of them found their way
to Rouen, where they were kept in the library of St. Ouen: the other two
were in that of the abbey of St. Maur de Glandefeuille, on the Loire. A
third, though incomplete, copy of the original manuscript was also known
to exist in France before the revolution. It formerly belonged to
Coaslin de Camboret, Bishop of Metz, by whom it was presented, together
with four thousand manuscripts, to the monks of St. Germain des Prés at
Paris. But the greater part of the literary treasures of this abbey fell
a prey to the flames in July, 1793, and it is feared that the copy of
Ordericus perished at that time.
The original code from St. Evroul, was discovered by M. Louis Dubois,
whom I have already mentioned in connection with the ruins of Neomagus.
He is an antiquary of extensive knowledge and extraordinary zeal. His
_History of Lisieux_, which he has long been preparing for the press,
will be a work of great curiosity and interest. The publication of it is
for the present suspended, whilst he superintends an edition of the
_Vaux-de-Vires_, or _Vaux de villes_, of Olivier Basselin, an early
Norman poet. Meanwhile, M. Dubois still continues his researches among
the foundations of the ancient city, from which he has collected a
number of valuable relics. Some of the most pleasant and instructive
hours of my tour have been spent in his society; and, whilst it was
under his guidance that I visited the antiquities of Lisieux, his
learning assisted me in illustrating them. M. Dubois likewise possesses
a large collection of original autograph letters, which I found much
pleasure in perusing.
During the reign of Napoléon, he held the office of librarian of
Alençon, a situation that afforded him the opportunity of meeting with
many literary curiosities of this nature. Among others, which thus fell
into his hands, was the following letter, written by the Princess
Borghese, sister to the Emperor, and addressed to the Empress
Marie-Louise, by whom it was received, while on a tour through the
western departments. I annex a transcript of this epistle; for, although
it has no immediate connection with the main subject of our
correspondence, it yet is a very singular contribution towards the
private history of the dynasty of Napoléon.--The odd mixture of
caudle-cup compliment and courtly flattery, is sufficiently amusing. I
have copied it, word for word, letter for letter, and point for point;
for, as we have no other specimen of the epistles of her imperial
highness, I think it right to preserve all the peculiarities of the
original; and, by, way of a treat for the collectors of autographs, I
have added a fac-simile of her signature.
Madame et tres chere SÅ"ur,
je recois par le Prince Aldobrandini la lettre de V.M. et la belle tasse
dont elle a daigné, le charger pour moi au nom de L'empereur, je
remercie mille fois votre aimable bonté, et j'ose vous prier ma tres
chere sÅ"ur d'être aupres de L'empereur l'interprete de ma reconnaissance
pour cette marque de souvenir.--je fais parler beaucoup le Prince et la
Princesse Aldobrandini sur votre santé, sur votre belle grossesse, je ne
me lasse pas de les interroger, et je suis heureuse d'apprendre que vous
vous portés tres bien, que rien ne vous fatigue, et que vous avés la
plus belle grossesse qu'il soit possible de desirer, combien je desire
chere sÅ"ur que tous nos vÅ"ux soient exaucés, ne croyés cependant pas
que si vous nous donnés une petite Princesse je ne l'aimerais pas. non,
elle nous serait chere, elle resemblerait a V.M. elle aurait sa douceur,
son amabilité, et ce joli caractere qui la fait cherir de ceux qui out
le bonheur de la Conaitre--mais ma chère sÅ"ur j'ai tort de m'apesantir
sur les qualités dont serait douée cette auguste princesse, vous nous
donnerés d'abord un prince un petit Roi de Rome, jugés combien je le
desire nos bons toscans prient pour vous, ils vous aiment et je n'ai pas
de peine a leur inspirer ce que je sens si vivement.
je vous remercie ma tres chere sÅ"ur de l'interest que vous prenez a mon
fils, tout le monde dit qu'il ressemble a L'empereur. cela me Charme il
est bien portant a present, et j'espere qu'il sera digne de servir sous
les drapeaux de son auguste oncle.--adieu ma chere sÅ"ur soyés assés
bonne pour Conserver un souvenir a une sÅ"ur qui vous est tendrement
attachée. Napoléon ne cesse de lire la lettre pleine de bonté que V.M. a
daigné lui ecrire, cela lui a fait sentir le plaisir qu'il y avait a
savoir lire, et l'encourage dans ses etudes--je vous embrasse et suis,
Madame et tres chere SÅ"ur
de V.M.
La plus attachée
[Illustration: Autograph of the Princess Borghese]
Pitti le 18 janvier 1811
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 66: See _Magazin Encyclopédique, for_ 1802, III. p. 504.]
[Footnote 67: This transaction appears to have been peculiarly flagrant:
a long detail of the circumstances, accompanied by several letters, very
characteristic of the feeling and church-government of the times, is
preserved in the _Concilia Normannica_, p. 520.--The account concludes
in the following words:--"Exhorruit ad facinus, non Normannia solum et
Anglia, quibus maledicta progenies notissima erat, sed et universa
Gallia, et a singulis ad Apostolicum Paschalem delatum est. Nec tamen
utrique simul ante quinquienniuin sordes de domo Dei propulsare
prævaluerunt. Ceteris ferventiùs institit Yvo Carnotensis Antistes,
conculcatæ disciplinæ ecclesiasticæ zelo succensus; in tantum ut
Neustriacos Præsules quasi desides ac pusillanimes coarguere veritus non
sit: sed ea erat Ecclesiæ sub ignavo Principe sors per omnia
lamentabilis, ut ipsemet postmodum cum laude non invitus agnovit."]
[Footnote 68: Sandford, in his _Genealogical History of the Kings of
England_, says, that this marriage was solemnized at Luxseul, in the
county of Burgundy; but he refers for his authority to Ordericus
Vitalis, by whom it is stated to have been at Luxovium, the name by
which he always calls Lisieux; and he, in the same page, mentions the
assembly of the nobles also held there.]
[Footnote 69: _Annal_, IV. p. 599.]
LETTER XXIII.
FRENCH POLICE--RIDE FROM LISIEUX TO CAEN--CIDER--GENERAL APPEARANCE AND
TRADE OF CAEN--ENGLISH RESIDENT THERE.
(_Caen, August_, 1818.)
Our reception at Caen has been somewhat inauspicious: we had scarcely
made the few necessary arrangements at the hôtel, and seated ourselves
quietly before the _caffé au lait_, when two gens-d'armes, in military
costume, stalked without ceremony into the room, and, taking chairs at
the table, began the conversation rather abruptly, with "Monsieur, vous
êtes sous arrêt."--My companions were appalled by such a salutation, and
apprehended some mistake; but the fact turned out to be, that our
passport did not bear the signature of the mayor of Rouen, and that this
ignorance of the regulations of the French police had subjected us to so
unexpected a visit. It was too late in the day for the deficiency to be
then supplied; and therefore, after a few expostulations, accompanied
with observations, on their part, that we had the good fortune to have
fixed ourselves at an _honnête hôtel_, and did not wear the appearance
of suspicious persons, the soldiers took their leave, first exacting
from me a promise, that I would present myself the next morning before
the proper officer, and would in the meanwhile consider myself a
prisoner upon my parole.
The impression which this occurrence could not fail to make upon our
minds, was, that the object of the gens-d'armes had been either to
extort from us money, or to shew their consequence; but I have since
been led to believe that they did no more than their duty.--We have
several acquaintance among the English who reside here, and we find from
the whole of them, that the utmost strictness is practised in all
matters relating to passports, and not less towards natives than
foreigners. No Frenchman can quit his _arrondissement_ unprovided with a
passport; and the route he intends to take, and the distance he designs
to travel, must also be specified. A week or two ago the prefect of the
police himself was escorted back to Caen, between a couple of
gens-d'armes, because he inadvertently paid a visit to a neighboring
bathing-place without his passport in his pocket. This is a current
story here: I cannot vouch for its authenticity; however it is certain,
that since the discovery of the late plot contrived by the ultras, a
plot whose existence is generally disbelieved, the French police is more
than usually upon the alert.
When I presented myself at the Hôtel de Ville, to redeem my promise, a
recent decree was pointed out to me, containing a variety of regulations
which shew extraordinary uneasiness on the part of the government, and
which would seem to indicate that they are in possession of intelligence
respecting projects, that threaten the public tranquillity[70]. To judge
from all official proceedings, it seems as if we were walking upon a
smothered volcano, and yet we are told by every body that there is not
the slightest room for apprehension of any kind.
This interruption has thrown me out of the regular course of my
narration.--My last letter left me still at Lisieux, from which city to
Caen the road lies through a tract of country altogether without
interest, and in most places without beauty. During the first half of
the ride, we could almost have fancied ourselves at home in
Norfolk.--About this part of the way, the road descends through a hollow
or dale, which bore the ominous name of "_Coupe Gorge_." When Napoléon
was last in Normandy, he inquired into the origin of the
appellation.--The diligences, he was answered, "had often been stopped
and robbed in this solitary pass."--Napoléon then said, "If one person
can be made to settle here, more will follow, for it is conveniently
situated between two good towns. Let the prefect buy a little plot of
ground and build a house upon it, and give it to an old soldier, upon
condition that he shall constantly reside in it with his family." The
orders of Napoléon were obeyed. The old soldier opened an inn, other
houses arose round it, and the cut-throat pass is now thoroughly secure.
The conductor and the post-boy tell the tale with glee whilst they drive
through the hamlet; and its humble dwellings will perhaps recal the
memory and fame of Napoléon Buonaparte when the brazen column of the
grand army, and the marble arch of the Thuilleries, shall have been long
levelled with the ground.--As to the character of the landscape, I must
add, that though it makes a bad picture, there are great appearances of
care in the agriculture, and of comfort in the population. The country,
too, is sufficiently well wooded; and apple and pear trees every where
take the place of the pollard oaks and elms of our hedge-rows.
Norman cider is famous throughout France: it is principally, however,
the western part of the province that produces it. Throughout the whole
of that district, the lower classes of the inhabitants scarcely use any
other beverage. Vines, as I have already had occasion to mention, were
certainly cultivated, in early times, farther to the north than they are
at present. The same proofs exist of vineyards in the vicinity of Caen
and Lisieux, as at Jumieges. Indeed, towards the close of the last
century, there was still a vineyard at Argence, only four miles
south-east of Caen; and a kind of white wine was made there, which was
known by the name of _Vin Huet_. But the liquor was meagre; and I
understand that the vineyard is destroyed.--Upon the subject of the
early use of beer in Normandy, tradition is somewhat indistinct. The
ancient name of one of the streets in Caen, _rue de la Cervoisiere_,
distinctly proves the habit of beer-drinking; and, when Tacitus speaks
of the beverage of the Germans, in his time, as "humor ex hordeo vel
frumento in quandam similitudinem vini corruptus," it seems highly
improbable but that the same liquor should have been in use among the
cognate tribes of Gaul. Brito, however, expressly says of Flanders, that
it is a place where,
"Raris sylva locis facit umbram, vinea nusquam:
Indigenis potus Thetidi miscetur avena,
Ut vice sit vini multo confecta labore."
And the same author likewise tells us, that the Normans of his time were
cider-drinkers--
"... _Siceræque_ potatrix
Algia tumentis ...
Non tot in autumni rubet Algia tempore _pomis_
Unde liquare solet _siceram_ sibi _Neustria_ gratam."
Huet is of opinion, that the use of cider was first introduced into
Neustria by the Normans, who had learned it of the Biscayans, as these
latter had done from the inhabitants of the northern coast of Africa.
We did not find the Norman cider at all palatable: it is extremely sour,
hard, and austere. The inhabitants, however, say that this is not its
natural character, but is attributable to the late unfavorable seasons,
which have prevented the fruit from ripening properly.--The apple-tree
and pear-tree in Normandy, far from being ugly, and distorted, and
stunted in their growth, as is commonly seen in England, are trees of
great beauty, and of extreme luxuriance, both in foliage and
ramification. The _Coccus_, too, which has caused so much destruction
among our orchards at home, is fortunately still unknown here.
The only place at which we stopped between Lisieux and Caen, was
Croissanville, a poor village, but one that possesses a degree of
historical interest, as the spot where the battle was fought between
Aigrold, King of Denmark, and Louis d'Outremer, King of France; a battle
which seated Richard Fearnought upon the throne of Normandy.--The
country about Croissanville is an immense tract of meadow-land; and from
it the Parisian market draws a considerable proportion of its supplies
of beef. The cattle that graze in these pastures are of a large size,
and red, and all horned; very unlike those about Caen, which latter are
of small and delicate proportions, with heads approaching to those of
deer, and commonly with black faces and legs.
From Croissanville to Caen the road passes through a dead flat, almost
wholly consisting of uninclosed corn-fields, extending in all
directions, with unvaried dull monotony, as far as the eye can reach.
Buck-wheat is cultivated in a large proportion of them: the inhabitants
prepare a kind of cake from this grain, of which they are very fond, and
which is said to be wholesome. Tradition, founded principally upon the
French name of this plant, _sarrazin_, has given rise to a general
belief, that buck-wheat was introduced into France by the Moors; but
this opinion has, of late, been ably combated. The plant is not to be
found in Arabia, Spain, or Sicily; the countries more particularly
inhabited by Mahometans; and in Brittany, it still passes by the Celtic
appellation, _had-razin_, signifying _red-corn_, of which words
_sarrazin_ may fairly be regarded a corruption, as _buck-wheat_, in our
own tongue, ought unquestionably to be written _beech-wheat_; a term
synonymous to what it is called in Latin and German. The present name
may well appear inexplicable, to those who are unacquainted with the
Anglo-Saxon and its cognate dialects.
In the midst of this level country, in which even apple-trees are
scarce, stands the ancient capital of Lower Normandy, extending from
east to west in so long a line, that on our approach it appeared to
cover as much ground as Rouen, which is in fact double its size.--From a
distance, the view of Caen is grand; not only from the apparent
magnitude of the town, but from the numerous spires and towers, that,
rising from every part of it, give it an air of great importance. Those
of the abbeys of St. Stephen and the Trinity, at opposite extremities,
constitute the principal features in the view.--The same favorable
impressions continue when you enter the town. The streets are wide, and
the houses of stone; and a stone city is a pleasing sight to eyes long
accustomed to the wooden buildings of Rouen, Bernay, and
Lisieux.--Besides, there is a certain degree of regularity in the
construction of the buildings, and some care is taken in keeping them
clean.--Lace-making is the principal occupation of females of the lower
class in Caen and the neighborhood; the streets, as we passed along,
were lined almost uninterruptedly on either side, with a row of
lace-makers; and boys were not uncommonly working among the women. It is
calculated that not fewer than twenty thousand individuals, of all ages,
from ten or twelve years old and upwards, are thus employed; and the
annual produce of their labor is estimated at one hundred and seventy
thousand pounds sterling. Caen lace is in high estimation for its beauty
and quality, and is exported in considerable quantities.