MATILDA--MUSEUM--PUBLIC LIBRARY--UNIVERSITY--ACADEMY--EMINENT
MEN--HISTORY OF CAEN.
(_Caen, August_, 1818.)
Within the precincts of the abbey of St. Stephen are some buildings,
which do not appear to have been used for monastic purposes. It is
supposed that they were erected by William the Conqueror, and they are
yet called his palace. Only sixty years ago, when Ducarel visited Caen,
these remains still preserved their original character.
He describes the great guard-chamber and the barons' hall, as making a
noble appearance, and as being perhaps equally worth the notice of an
English antiquary as any object within the province of Normandy. The
walls of these rooms are standing, but dilapidated and degraded; and
they have lost their architectural character, which, supposing Ducarel's
plate to be a faithful representation, must have been very decisive. It
is scarcely possible to conceive how any man, with such a specimen of
the palace before his eyes, could dream of its being coeval with the
Norman conquest: every portion is of the pointed style, and even of a
period when that style was no longer in its purity. Possibly, indeed,
other parts of the edifice may have been more ancient; such certainly
was the "Conqueror's kitchen," a singular octagon building, with four
tall slender chimneys capped with perforated cones. This was destroyed
many years ago; but Ducarel obtained an original drawing of it, which he
has engraved. Amongst the ruins there is a chimney which perhaps
belonged to this building.--The guard-chamber and barons' hall are noble
rooms: the former is one hundred and ninety feet in length and ninety in
breadth. You remember how admirably the _Lay of the Last Minstrel_ opens
with a description of such a hall, filled with knights, and squires, and
pages, and all the accompaniments of feudal state. I tried, while
standing by these walls, to conjure up the same pictures to my
imagination, but it was impossible; so desolate and altered was every
thing around, and so effectually was the place of baronial assemblage
converted into a granary. The ample fire-place still remains; but, cold
and cheerless, it looks as if had been left in mockery of departed
splendor and hospitality. I annex a sketch of it, in which you will also
see a few scattered tiles, relics of the magnificent pavement that once
covered the floor.
[Illustration: Fireplace in the Conqueror's Palace, at Caen]
This pavement has been the subject of much learned discussion; because,
if the antiquity of the emblazoned tiles could be established, (which it
certainly cannot) we should then have a decisive proof of the use of
armorial bearings in the eleventh century. Nearly the whole of these
tiles are now removed. After the abbey was sold, the workmen entirely
destroyed the tiles, breaking them with their pick-axes. The Abbé de la
Rue, however, collected an entire set of them; and others have been
preserved by M. Lair, an antiquary of Caen.--Ducarel thus describes the
pavement when perfect: "The floor is laid with tiles, each near five
inches square, baked almost to vitrification. Eight rows of these
tiles, running from east to west, are charged with different coats of
arms, said to be those of the families who attended Duke William in his
invasion of England. The intervals between each of these rows are filled
up with a kind of tessellated pavement, the middle whereof represents a
maze or labyrinth, about ten feet in diameter, and so artfully contrived
that were we to suppose a man following all the intricate meanders of
its volutes, he could not travel less than a mile before he got from one
end to the other. The remainder of the floor is inlaid with small
squares of different colors, placed alternately, and formed into draught
or chess-boards, for the amusement of the soldiers while on guard."
Such is the general description of the floors of this apartment: with
regard to the date of the tiles, Ducarel proceeds to state that "it is
most probable the pavement was laid down in the latter part of the reign
of King John, when he was loitering away his life at Caen, with the
beautiful Isabel of Angoulême, his queen; during which period, the
custom of wearing coats of arms was introduced."--Common tradition
assigns the tiles to higher date, making them coeval with the conquest;
and this opinion has not been without supporters. It was strenuously
defended by Mr. Henniker Major, who, in the year 1794, printed for
private distribution, two letters upon the subject, addressed to Lord
Leicester, in which he maintained this opinion with zeal and laborious
research. To the letters were annexed engravings of twenty coats of
arms, the whole, as he observes, that were represented on the pavement;
for though the number of emblazoned tiles was considerable, the rest
were all repetitions[80]. The same observation was found in the
inscription attached to a number of the tiles, which the monks kept
framed for public inspection, in a conspicuous part of the monastery;
and yet some of the armorial bearings in this very selection, differ
from any of those figured by Mr. Henniker Major. The Abbé de la Rue has
also many which are not included in Mr. Henniker Major's engravings. In
one of the coats the arms are quartered, a practice that was not
introduced till the reign of Edward IIIrd. The same quarterings are also
found upon an escutcheon, placed over the door that leads to the
apartment. This door is a flattened arch, with an ogee canopy, the
workmanship probably of the fourteenth century.
To the same date I should also refer the tiles; and possibly the whole
palace was built at that period. There are no records of its erection;
no document connects its existence with the history of the duchy; no
author relates its having been suffered to fall into decay. So striking
an absence of all proof, and this upon a point where evidence of
different kinds might naturally have been expected, may warrant a
suspicion how far the building was ever a royal palace, according to the
strict import of the town. A friend of mine supposes that these
buildings may have been the king's lodgings. During the middle ages it
was usual for monarchs in their progresses, to put up at the great
abbeys; and this portion of the convent of St. Stephen may have been
intended for the accommodation of the royal guests.
The assigning of a comparatively modern date to the pavement, does not
necessarily interfere with the question as to the antiquity of heraldic
bearings. The coats of arms which are painted upon the tiles may have
been designed to represent those of the nobility who attended Duke
William on his expedition to England: it is equally possible that they
embraced a more general object, and were those of the principal families
of the duchy--De Thou gives his suffrage in favor of the former opinion,
but Huet of the latter; and the testimony of the bishop must be allowed,
in this case, to outweigh that of the president.--Huet also says, that
it is matter of notoriety that the tiles were laid down towards the
close of the fourteenth century. He mentions, however, no authority for
the assertion; and less credit perhaps will be given to it than it
deserves, from his having stated just before, that the abbey and palace
were contemporary structures.
Upon the outside wall of a chapel that is supposed to have belonged to
the same palace, were ancient fresco paintings of William and Matilda,
and of their sons, Robert and William Rufus. They are engraved by
Montfaucon[81], and are supposed by him, probably with reason, to be
coeval with the personages they represent. The figures are standing upon
animals, the distribution of which is the most remarkable circumstance
connected with the portraits. To the king is assigned a dog; to the
queen a lion: the eldest son has the same symbol as his father; the
younger rests upon a two-bodied beast, half swine, half bird, the bodies
uniting in a female head.--Upon the same plate, Montfaucon has given a
second whole-length picture of the conqueror, which represents him with
the crown upon his head, and the sceptre in his hand. Considering the
costume, he observes with justice that it cannot have been painted
earlier than the latter part of the fourteenth century. Ducarel, who, as
usual, has copied the Benedictine's engravings, says that, in his time,
the same portrait existed in fresco over a chimney-piece in the porter's
lodge.--We saw two copies of it; the one in the sacristy of the abbey
church, the other in the museum, an establishment which may, without
injustice to the honors of Caen, be dismissed with the brief
observation, that, though three rooms are appropriated to the purpose,
there is a very scanty assortment of pictures, and their quality is
altogether ordinary.
The public library is a handsome apartment, one hundred and thirty feet
in length, and it contains about twenty thousand volumes, mostly in good
condition; but a great proportion of the books are of a description
little read, being old divinity. To the students of the university, this
establishment is of essential service; and on this account it is to be
regretted, that the very scanty revenue with which it is endowed,
amounting only to twelve hundred francs per annum, prevents the
possibility of any material increase to the collection, except in the
case of such books as the liberality of the state contributes. And these
are principally works of luxury and great expence, which might
advantageously be exchanged for the less costly productions of more
extensive utility. We inquired in vain after manuscripts and specimens
of early typography. None were to be found; and yet they might surely
have been expected here; for a public library has existed in Caen from
an early part of the last century, and, previous to the revolution, it
was enriched with various donations. M. de Colleville presented to it
the whole of the collection of the celebrated Bochart; Cavelier, printer
to the university, a man known by several treatises on Roman
antiquities, added a donation of two thousand volumes; and Cardinal de
Fleury, who considered it under his especial protection, gave various
sums of money for the purchase of books, and likewise provided a salary
for the librarian. I suspect that no small proportion of the more
valuable volumes, have been dispersed or stolen. Round the apartment
hang portraits of the most eminent men of Caen: tablets are also
suspended, for the purpose of commemorating those who have been
benefactors to the library; but the tablets at present are blank.
For its university Caen is indebted to Henry VIth, who, anxious to give
éclat and popularity to British rule, founded a college by letters
patent, dated from Rouen, in January, 1431. The original charter
restricted the objects of the university to education in the canon and
civil law; but, five years subsequently, the same king issued a fresh
patent, adding the faculties of theology and the arts; and, in the
following year, he still farther added the faculty of medicine.--To
give permanency to the work thus happily begun, the states of Normandy
preferred their petition to Pope Eugene IVth, who issued two bulls,
dated the thirtieth of May, 1437, and the nineteenth of May, 1439, by
which the new university received the sanction of the holy see, and was
placed upon the same footing as the other universities of the kingdom.
The Bishop of Bayeux was at the same time appointed chancellor; and
sundry apostolical privileges were conceded, which have been confirmed
by subsequent pontiffs.--Thus Normandy, as is admitted by De
Bourgueville, owed good as well as evil to her English sovereigns; but
Charles VIIth had no sooner succeeded in expelling our countrymen from
the province, than jealousy arose in his breast, at finding them in
possession of such a title to the gratitude of the people, and he
resolved to run the risk of destroying what had been done, rather than
lose the opportunity of gratifying his personal feeling. The university
was therefore dissolved in 1450, that a new one might hereafter be
founded by the new sovereign. The king thought it necessary to vary in
some degree from the example of his predecessor; and for this purpose he
had recourse to the extraordinary expedient of abolishing the faculty of
law. A petition, however, from the states, induced him to replace the
whole upon its original footing in 1452, and it continued till the time
of the revolution to have all the five faculties, and to be the only one
in France that retained them. Two years only intervened between the
dates of the patents issued by Charles VIIth, upon the subject of this
university; yet there is a remarkable difference in their language. The
first of them, which is obviously intended to disparage Caen, styles it
a large town, scantily inhabited, without manufactures or commerce, and
destitute of any great river to afford facilities towards the transport
of the produce of the country. The second was designed to have an
opposite tendency; and in this, the people of Caen are praised for their
acuteness, and the town for its excellent harbor and great rivers. The
patent also adds, that the nearest university, that of Paris, is fifty
leagues distant.
In the estimation, at least, of the inhabitants, the university of Caen
ranks at present the third in France; Paris and Strasbourg being alone
entitled to stand before it. The faculty of law retains its old
reputation, and the legal students are quite the pride of the
university. Since the peace, many young jurisprudents from Jersey and
Guernsey have resorted to it. Medical students generally complete their
education at Paris, where it is commonly considered in France, that,
both in theory and practice, the various branches of this faculty have
nearly attained the acmè of perfection. The students, who amount to just
five hundred, are under the care of twenty-six professors, many of them
men of distinguished talents. The Abbé de la Rue fills the chair of
history; M. Lamouroux, that of the natural sciences. They receive their
salaries wholly from the government; their emoluments continue the same,
whether the students crowd to hear their courses, or whether they
lecture to empty benches. It is strictly forbidden to a student to
attempt to make any remuneration to a professor, or even to offer him a
present of any kind. The whole of the dues paid by the scholars go to
the state; and the state in its turn, defrays the expences of the
establishment.
There is likewise at Caen an Academy of Sciences, Arts and Belles
Lettres, which has published two volumes; not, strictly speaking, of its
Transactions, but exhibiting a brief outline of the principal papers
that have been read at the meetings. The antiquarian dissertations of
the Abbé de la Rue, which they contain, are of great merit; and it is
much to be regretted, that they have not appeared in a more extended
form. A chartered academy was first founded here in the year 1705; and
it continued to exist, till it was suppressed, like all others
throughout France, at the revolution. The present establishment arose in
1800, under the auspices of General Dugua, then prefect of the
department, who had been urged to the task by the celebrated Chaptal,
Minister of the Interior.--Some interesting, letters are annexed to the
second part of the poems of Mosant de Brieux, in which, among much
curious information relative to Caen, he describes the literary meetings
that led to the foundation of the first academy. The town at that time
could boast an unusual proportion of men of talents. Bochart, author of
_Sacred Geography_; Graindorge, who had published _De Principiis
Generationîs_; Huet, a man seldom mentioned, without the epithet
_learned_ being attached to his name; and Halley and Ménage, authors
almost equally distinguished, were amongst those who were associated for
the purposes of acquiring and communicating information.
Indeed, Caen appears at all times to have been fruitful in literary
characters. Huet enumerates no fewer than one hundred and thirty-seven,
whom he considers worthy of being recorded among the eminent men of
France. The greater part of them are necessarily unknown to us in
England; and allowance must be made for a man who is writing upon a
subject, in which self-love may be considered as in some degree
involved; the glory of our townsmen shining by reflection upon
ourselves. A portion, however, of the number, are men whose claims to
celebrity will not be denied.--Such, in the fifteenth century, were the
poets John and Clement Marot; such was the celebrated physician,
Dalechamps, to whom naturalists are indebted for the _Historia
Plantarum_; such the laborious lexicographer, Constantin; and, not to
extend the catalogue needlessly, such above all was Malherbe. The medal
that has been struck at Caen in honor of this great man, at the expence
of Monsieur de Lair, bears for its epigraph, the three first words of
Boileau's eulogium--"Enfin Malherbe vint."--The same inscription is also
to be seen upon the walls of the library. So expressive a beginning
prepares the reader for a corresponding sequel; and I should be guilty
of injustice towards this eminent writer, were I not to quote to you the
passage at length.--
"Enfin, Malherbe vint, et le premier en France
Fit sentir dans les vers une juste cadence:
D'un mot mis en sa place enseigna le pouvoir,
Et reduisit la muse aux règles du devoir.
Par ce sage écrivain, la langue repareé,
N'offrit plus rien de rude à l'oreille épureé.
Les stances avec grâce apprirent à tomber,
Et le Vers sur le Vers n'osa plus enjamber."
Wace and Baudius, though not born at Caen, have contributed to its
honor, by their residence here. Baudius was appointed to the
professorship of law in the university, by the President de Thou; but he
disagreed with his colleagues, and soon removed to Leyden, where he
filled the chair of history till his death. Some of his earlier letters,
in the collection published by Elzevir, are dated from Caen. His Iambi,
directed against his brethren of this university, are scarcely to be
exceeded for severity, by the bitterest specimens of a style
proverbially bitter. Their excessive virulence defeated the writer's
aim; but there is an elegance in the Latinity of Baudius, and a degree
of feeling in his sentiments, which will ensure a permanent existence to
his compositions, and especially to his poems.--He it was who called
forth the severe saying of Bayle, that "many men of learning render
themselves contemptible in the places where they live, while they are
admired where they are known only by their writings."--Wace was a native
of Jersey, but an author only at Caen. The most celebrated of his works
is _Le Roman de Rou et des Normans_, written in French verse. He
dedicated this romance to our Henry IInd, who rewarded him with a stall
in the cathedral at Bayeux.
[Illustration: Profile of M. Lamouroux]
Quitting the departed for the living, I send you a profile of M.
Lamouroux, the professor of natural history at this university, to whom
we have been personally indebted for the kindest attention. His name is
well known to you, as that of a man who has, perhaps, deserved more than
any other individual at the hands of every student of marine Botany. His
treatises upon the _Classification of the Submersed Algæ_, have been
honored with admission in the _Mémoires du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle_,
and have procured him the distinction of being elected into the National
Institute: his subsequent publication on the _Corallines_, is an
admirable manual, in a very difficult branch of natural history; and he
is now preparing for the press, a work of still greater labor and more
extensive utility, an arrangement of the organized fossils found in the
vicinity of Caen.
The whole of this neighborhood abounds in remains of the antediluvian
world: they are found not only in considerable quantity, but in great
perfection. In the course of last year; a fossil crocodile was dug up at
Allemagne, a village about a mile distant, imbedded in blue lias. Other
specimens of the same genus, comprising, as it appears, two species,
both of them distinct from any that are known in a living state, had
previously been discovered in a bed of similar hard blue limestone, near
Havre and Honfleur, as well as upon the opposite shores of England. But
the Caen specimen is the most interesting of any, as the first that has
been seen with its scales perfect; and the naturalists here have availed
themselves of the opportunity thus afforded them, to determine it by a
specific character, and give it the name of _Crocodilus Cadomensis_.
The civil and ecclesiastical history of Caen will be amply illustrated
in the forthcoming volumes of the Abbé de la Rue, as he is preparing a
work on the subject, _à l'instar_ of the Essays of St. Foix. In the
leading events of the duchy, we find the town of Caen had but little
share. It is only upon the occasion of two sieges from our countrymen,
the one in 1346, the other in 1417, that it appears to have acted a
prominent part. The details of the first siege are given at some length
by Froissart.--Edward IIIrd, accompanied by the Black Prince, had landed
at La Hogue; and, meeting with no effectual resistance, had pillaged the
towns of Barfleur, Cherbourg, Carentan, and St. Lô, after which he led
his army hither. Caen, as Froissait tells us, was at that time "large,
strong, and full of drapery and all other sorts of merchandize, rich
citizens, noble dames and damsels, and fine churches." In its defence
were assembled the Constable of France, with the Counts of Eu, Guignes,
and Tancarville. But the wisdom of the generals was defeated by the
impetuosity of the citizens. They saw themselves equal in number to the
invaders, and, without reflecting how little numerical superiority
avails in war against experience and tactics, they required to be led
against the foe. They were so, and were defeated. The conquerors and
conquered entered the city pell-mell; and Edward, enraged at the
citizens for shooting upon his troops from the windows, issued orders
that the inhabitants should be put to the sword, and the town burned.
The mandate, however, was not executed: Sir Godfrey de Harcourt, with
wise remonstrances, assuaged the anger of the sovereign, and diverted
him from his purpose.--Immense were the riches taken on the occasion.
The English fleet returned home loaded with cloth, and jewels, and gold,
and silver plate, together with sixty knights, and upwards of three
hundred able men, prisoners. This gallant exploit was shortly afterwards
followed by the decisive battle of Crécy.
Caen suffered still more severely upon the occasion of its second
capture; when Henry IVth marched upon the town immediately after landing
at Touques. The siege was longer, and the place, taken by assault, was
given up to indiscriminate plunder. Even the churches were not spared:
that of the Holy Sepulchre was demolished, and, among its other
treasures, a crucifix was carried away, containing a portion of the real
cross, which, as we are told, testified by so many miracles its
displeasure at being taken to England, that the conquerors were glad to
restore it to its original destination.