possession of Caen. In the latter year they capitulated to the Count de
Dunois, after a gallant resistance. But though the town has
thenceforward remained, without interruption, subject to the crown of
France, it has not therefore been always free from the miseries of
warfare. A dreadful riot took place here in 1512, occasioned by the
disorderly conduct of a body of six thousand German mercenaries, whom
Louis XIIth introduced, by way of garrison, to guard against any sudden
attack from Henry VIIIth. The character given by De Bourgueville of
these _Lansquenets_ is, that they were "drunkards who guzzle wine,
cider, and beer, out of earthen pots, and then fall asleep upon the
table." Three hundred lives were lost upon this occasion, on the part of
the Germans alone.--In the middle of the same century, happened the
civil wars, originating in the reformation: and in the course of these,
Caen suffered dreadfully from the contending parties. Friend and foe
conspired alike to its ruin: what was saved from the violence of the
Huguenots, was taken by the treachery of the Catholics, under the
plausible pretext of its being placed in security. Thus, after the
Calvinists had already seized on every thing precious that fell in their
way, the Duke de Bouillon, the governor of the town, commanded all the
reliquaries, shrines, church-plate, and ecclesiastical ornaments, to be
carried to him at the castle; and he had no sooner got them into his
possession, than "all holy, rich, and precious, as they were, he caused
them to be melted down, and converted into coin to pay his soldiers; and
he scattered the relics, so that they have never been seen
more."--Loosen but the bands of society, and you will find that, in all
ages of the world, the case has been nearly the same; and, as upon the
banks of the Simoeis, so upon the plains of Normandy,--
"Seditione, dolis, scelere, atque libidine, et irâ,
_Iliacos_ extra muros peccatur et intra."
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 80: Engravings of the same tiles, and of some others, chiefly
with fanciful patterns, are to be found in the _Gentleman's Magazine_
for March 1789, LIX. p. 211, plates 2, 3. The subjects of the latter
plate are those tiles which were hung in a gilt frame, on the walls of
the cloister of the abbey, with an inscription, denoting whence they
were taken.]
[Footnote 81: _Monumens de la Monarchie Française_, I. p. 402, t. 55.]
LETTER XXVII.
VIEUX--LA MALADERIE--CHESNUT TIMBER--CAEN STONE--HISTORY OF
BAYEUX--TAPESTRY.
(_Bayeux, August_, 1818.)
Letters just received from England oblige us to change our course
entirely: their contents are of such a nature, that we could not prolong
our journey with comfort or satisfaction. We must return to England;
and, instead of regretting the objects which we have lost, we must
rejoice that we have seen so much, and especially that we have been able
to visit the cathedral and tapestry of Bayeux.
At the same time, I will not deny that we certainly could have wished to
have explored the vicinity of Caen, where an ample harvest of subjects,
both for the pen and pencil, is to be gathered; but the circumstances
that control us would not even allow of a pilgrimage to the shrine of
our Lady of la Délivrande, on the border of the English Channel, or of
an excursion to the village of Vieux, in the opposite
direction.--Antiquaries have been divided in opinion, concerning the
nature and character of the buildings which anciently occupied the site
of this village.--The remains of a Roman aqueduct are still to be seen
there, and the foundations of ancient edifices are distinctly to be
traced. In the course of the last century, a gymnasium was likewise
discovered, of great size, constructed according to the rules laid down
by Vitruvius, and a hypocaust, connected with a fine stone basin, twelve
feet in diameter, surrounded by three rows of seats. Abundance of
medals of the upper empire, among others, of Crispina, wife to Commodus,
and Latin inscriptions and sarcophagi, are frequently dug up among its
ruins[82]. Hence, a belief has commonly prevailed that during the Roman
dominion in Gaul, Vieux was a city, and that Caen, which is only six
miles distant, arose from its ruins. This opinion was strenuously
combated by Huet; yet it subsequently found a new advocate in the Abbé
Le Beuf[83]. The bishop contends that the extent of the buildings rather
denotes the ruins of a fortified camp, than of a city; and he therefore
considers it most probable, that Vieux was the site of an encampment,
raised near the Orne, for the purpose of defending the passage of the
river, at the point where it was crossed by the military road that led
from the district of the Bessin, to that of the Hiesmois.--Portions of
the causeway, may still be traced, constructed of the same kind of brick
as the aqueduct; and the name of the village so far tends to corroborate
the conjecture, that _Vieux_ originally denoted a ford; and the word
_Vé_, which is most probably a corruption from it, retains this
signification in Norman French.--The Abbé, at the same time that he does
not pretend to contradict the argument deduced from etymology, maintains
that a careful comparison of the position of Vieux, with the distances
marked on the _Tabula Peutingeriana_, and with what Ptolemy relates of
certain towns adjoining the Viducassian territory, will support him in
the assertion, that Vieux was the ancient _Augustodurum_ the Viducassian
capital; and that Bayeux was probably the site of _Arigenus_ another of
the towns of that tribe.--The red, veined marble of Vieux is much
esteemed in France; as are also the other marbles of this department,
which vary in color from a dull white, through grey, to blue. The
quarries, as is generally believed, were first opened and worked by the
Romans. Vieux marble is to be seen at Paris, where it was employed by
Cardinal Richelieu, in the construction of the chapel of the Sorbonne.
At about a mile from Caen, on the road to Bayeux, stands the village of
St. Germain de Blancherbe, more commonly called in the neighborhood _la
Maladerie_, a name derived from the lazar-house in it, the _Léproserie
de Beaulieu_, founded by Henry IInd, in 1161.--Robert Du Mont terms the
building a wonderful work. It was a princely establishment, designed for
the reception of lepers from all the parishes of Caen, except four,
whose patients had an especial right to be admitted into a smaller
hospital in the same place. The great hospital is now used as a house of
correction. Seen from the road, it appears to be principally of modern
architecture though still retaining a portion of the ancient structure;
the same, probably, as is mentioned by Ducarel, who says, that "part of
the magnificent chapel, which was considered as the parish church for
the lepers, and ruined by the English, is turned into a large common
hall for the prisoners, and separated from the other part, which is made
into a chapel, by means of an iron gate, through which they may have an
opportunity of hearing mass celebrated every morning."--Within the
village street stands a desecrated church of the earliest Norman style,
with a very perfect door-way. The present parish church, though chiefly
modern, deserves attention on account of the west front, which is wholly
of the semi-circular style, and is somewhat curious, from having two
Norman buttresses, that rise from a string-course at the top of the
basement story, (in which the arched door-way is contained,) and are
thence continued upwards till they unite with the roof. The decorations
round its southern entrance are also remarkable: they principally
consist of a very sharp chevron moulding, interspersed with foliage and
various figures.
The quarries in this village, and in that of Allemagne, on the opposite
side of the Orne, supply most of the free-stone, for which Caen has,
during many centuries, been celebrated. Stone of the finest quality is
found in strata of different thickness, at the depth of about sixty feet
below the surface of the ground. If worked much lower, it ceases to be
good. It is brought up in square blocks, about nine feet wide, and two
feet thick, by means of vertical wheels, placed at the mouths of the
pits. When first dug from the quarry, its color is a pure and glossy
white, and its texture very soft; but as it hardens it takes a browner
hue, and loses its lustre.
In former days this stone was exported in great quantity to our own
country. Stow, in his _Survey of London_, states that London Bridge,
Westminster Abbey, and several others of our public edifices were built
with it. Extracts from sundry charters relative to the quarries are
quoted by Ducarel, who adds that, in his time, though many cargoes of
the stone were annually conveyed by water to the different provinces of
the kingdom, the exportation of it out of France was strictly
prohibited, insomuch that, when it was to be sent by sea, the owner of
the stone, as well as the master of the vessel on board of which it was
shipped, was obliged to give security that it should not be sold to
foreigners.--We omitted to inquire how far the same prohibitions still
continue in force.
At but a short distance from St. Germain de Blancherbe, stands the
ruined abbey of Ardennes, now the residence of a farmer; but still
preserving the features of a monastic building. The convent was founded
in 1138, for canons of the Præmonstratensian order. Its Celtic name
denotes its antiquity, as it also tends to prove that this part of the
country was covered with timber. The word, _arden_, signified a forest,
and was thence applied, with a slight variation in orthography, to the
largest forest in England, and to the more celebrated forest in the
vicinity of Liege. According to tradition, the Norman ardennes
consisted: of chesnut-trees. De Bourgueville tells us that timber of
this description is the principal material of most of the houses in the
town. John Evelyn relates the same of those in London; and in our own
counties wherever a village church has been so fortunate as to preserve
its ancient timber cieling, the clerk is almost sure to state that the
wood is chesnut. Either this tree therefore must formerly have abounded
in places where it has now almost ceased to exist, or oak timber must
have been commonly mistaken for it: and we may equally adopt both these
conjectures. The yew and the service, as well as the chesnut, are
occasionally mentioned in old charters, and are admitted by botanists to
be indigenous in England. I should doubt, however, if any one of them
could now be found in a wild state; and there is a fashion in planting
as well as in every thing else, which renders peculiar trees more or
less abundant at different times.
About half way between Caen and Bayeux, is the village of Bretteville
l'Orgueilleuse, the lofty tower of whose church, perforated with long
lancet windows, and surmounted by a high spire, excites curiosity.
Churches are numerous in this neighborhood, and there is no other part
of Normandy, in which, architecturally considered, they are equally
deserving of notice. Scarcely one is to be seen that is not marked by
some peculiarity. I know not why Bretteville acquired the epithet
attached to its name; and I am equally at a loss for the derivation of
the word _Bretteville_ itself; but the term must have some
signification in Normandy, at least eleven villages in the duchy being
so called.
The first part of the road to Bayeux passes through a flat and open
district, resembling that on the other side of Caen; in the remaining
half, the country is enclosed, with a more varied surface. Apple-trees
again abound; and the old custom of suspending a bush over the door of
an inn is commonly practised here. For this purpose misletoe is almost
always selected. Throughout the whole of this district and the
neighboring province of Brittany, the ancient attachment of the Druids
to misletoe continues to a certain degree to prevail. The commencement
of the new year is hailed by shouts of "au gui; l'an neuf;" and the
gathering of the misletoe for the occasion is still the pretext for a
merry-making, if not for a religious ceremony.
Bayeux was the seat of an academy of the Druids. Ausonius expressly
addresses Attius Patera Pather, one of the professors at Bordeaux, as
being of the family of the priesthood of this district:--
"Doctor potentum rhetorum,
Tu Bajocassis stirpe Druidarum satus;"
And tradition to this hour preserves the remembrance of the spot that
was hallowed by the celebration of their mystic rites. This spot, an
eminence adjoining the city, has subsequently served for the site of a
priory dedicated to St. Nicholas _de la chesnaye_, thus commemorating by
the epithet, the oaks that formed the holy grove. Near it stood the
famous temple of Mount Phaunus, which was flourishing in the beginning
of the fourth century, and, according to Rivet, was considered one of
the three most celebrated in Gaul. Belenus was the divinity principally
worshipped in it; but, according to popular superstition, adoration was
also paid to a golden calf, which was buried in the hill, and still
remains entombed there. Even within the last fifty years, two laborers
have lost their lives in a fruitless attempt to find this hidden
treasure. Tombs, and urns, and human bones, are constantly discovered;
yet neither Druidic temples, nor pillars of stone, nor cromlechs or
Celtic remains of any description exist, at least, at present, in the
neighborhood of Bayeux.
Roman relics, however, abound. The vases and statues dug up near this
city, have afforded employment to the pen and the pencil of Count
Caylus, who, judging from the style of art, refers the greater part of
them to the times of Julius and Augustus Cæsar. Medals of the earliest
emperors have likewise frequently been detected among the foundations of
the houses of the city; and even so recently as in the beginning of the
present century, mutilated cippi, covered with Latin inscriptions, have
been brought to light. These discoveries all tend to shew the Roman
origin of Bayeux, and two Roman causeways also join here; so that,
notwithstanding the arguments of the Abbé le Beuf, most antiquaries
still believe that Bayeux was the city called by Ptolemy the _Næomagus
Viducassium_.--The term _Viducasses_ or _Biducasses_ was in early ages
changed to _Bajocasses_; and the city, following the custom that
prevailed in Gaul, took the appellation of _Bajocæ_, or, as it was
occasionally written, of _Baiæ_ or _Bagicæ_. Its name in French has
likewise been subject to alterations.--During the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries, it was _Baex_ and _Bajeves_; in the fourteenth _Bajex_; in
the sixteenth _Baieux_; and soon afterwards it settled info the present
orthography.
Pursuing the history of Bayeux somewhat farther, we find this city in
the _Notitia Galileæ_ holding the first rank among the towns of the
_Secunda Lugdunensis_. During the Merovingian and Carlovingian
dynasties, its importance is proved by the mint which was established
here. Golden coins, struck under the first race of French sovereigns,
inscribed _HBAJOCAS_, and silver pieces, coined by Charles the Bald,
with the legend _HBAJOCAS-CIVITAS_, are mentioned by Le Blanc. Bayeux
was also in those times, one of the head-quarters of the high
functionaries, entitled _Missi Dominici_, who were annually deputed by
the monarchy for the promulgation of their decrees and the
administration of justice. Two other cities only in Neustria, Rouen and
Lisieux, were distinguished with the same privilege.--Nor did Bayeux
suffer any diminution of its honors, under the Norman Dukes: they
regarded it as the second town of the duchy, and had a palace here, and
frequently made it the seat of their _Aula Regio_.
The destruction of the Roman Bayeux is commonly ascribed, like that of
the Roman Lisieux, to the Saxon invasion. No traces of the Viducassian
capital are to be found in history, subsequently to the reign of
Constantine; no medals, no inscriptions of a later period, have been dug
up within its precincts. During the earliest incursions of the Saxons
in Gaul, they seem to have made this immediate neighborhood the seat of
a permanent settlement. The Abbé Le Beuf places the district, known by
the name of the _Otlingua Saxonia_, between Bayeux and Isigny; and
Gregory of Tours, in his relation of the events that occurred towards
the close of the sixth century, makes repeated mention of the _Saxones
Bajocassini_, whom the early Norman historians style _Saisnes de
Bayeux_. Under the reign of Charlemagne, a fresh establishment of Saxons
took place here. That emperor, after the bloody defeat of this valiant
people, about the year 804, caused ten thousand men, with their wives
and children, to be delivered up to him as prisoners, and dispersed them
in different parts of France. Some of the captives were colonized in
Neustria; and, among the rest, Witikind, son of the brave chief of the
same name, who had fought so nobly in defence of the liberty of his
country, had lands assigned to him in the Bessin. Hence, names of Saxon
origin commonly occur throughout the diocese of Bayeux; sometimes alone
and undisguised, but more frequently in composition. Thus, in _Estelan_,
you will have little difficulty in recognizing _East-land: Cape la
Hogue_ will readily suggest the idea of a lofty promontory; its
appellation being derived from the German adjective, _hoch_, still
written _hoog_, in Flemish: the Saxon word for the Almighty enters into
the family names of _Argot_, _Turgot_, _Bagot_, _Bigot_, &c.; and, not
to multiply examples, the quaking sands upon the sea-shore are to the
present hour called _bougues_, an evident corruption of our own word
_bogs_.
When, towards the middle of the same century, the Saxons were succeeded
by the Normans, the country about Bayeux was one of the districts that
suffered most from the new invaders. Two bishops of the see, Sulpitius
and Baltfridus, were murdered by the barbarians; and Bayeux itself was
pillaged and burned, notwithstanding the valiant resistance made by the
governor, Berenger. This nobleman, who was count of the Bessin, was
personally obnoxious to Rollo, for having refused him his daughter, the
beautiful Poppea, in marriage. But, on the capture of the town, Poppea
was taken prisoner, and compelled to share the conqueror's bed. Bayeux
arose from its ruins under the auspices of Botho, a Norman chieftain, to
whom Rollo was greatly attached, and who succeeded to the honors of
Berenger. By him the town was rebuilt, and filled with a Norman
population, the consequence of which was, according to Dudo of St.
Quintin, that William Longa-Spatha, the successor of Rollo, who hated
the French language, sent his son, Duke Richard, to be educated at
Bayeux, where Danish alone was spoken. And the example of the Duke
continued for some time to be imitated by his successors upon the
throne; so that Bayeux became the academy for the children of the royal
family, till they arrived at a sufficient age to be removed to the
metropolis, there to be instructed in the art of government.
The dignity of Count of the Bessin ceased in the reign of William the
Conqueror, in consequence of a rebellion on the part of the barons,
which had well nigh cost that sovereign his life. From that time, till
the conquest of Normandy by the French, the nobleman, who presided over
the Bessin, bore the title of the king's viscount; and, under this
name, you will find him the first cited among the four viscounts of
Lower Normandy, in the famous parliament of all the barons of this part
of the duchy, convened at Caen by Henry IInd, in 1152.--When Philip
Augustus gained possession of Normandy, all similar appointments were
re-modelled, and viscounts placed in every town; but their power was
restricted to the mere administration of justice, the rest of their
privileges being transferred to a new description of officers, who were
then created, with the name of bailiffs. The bailiwicks assigned to
these bore no reference to the ancient divisions of the duchy; but the
territorial partition made at that time, has ever since been preserved,
and Caen, which was honored by Philip with a preference over Bayeux,
continues to the present day to retain the pre-eminence.
After these troubles, Bayeux enjoyed a temporary tranquillity; and,
according to the celebrated historical tapestry and to the _Roman de
Rou_, this city was selected for the place at which William the
Conqueror, upon being nominated by Edward, as his successor to the crown
of England, caused Harold to attend, and to do homage to him in the name
of the nation. The oath was taken upon a missal covered with cloth of
gold, in the presence of the prelates and grandees of the duchy; and the
reliques of the saints were collected from all quarters to bear witness
to the ceremony. Bayeux was also the spot in which Henry Ist was
detained prisoner by his eldest brother, and it suffered for this
unfortunate distinction; for Henry had scarcely ascended the English
throne, when, upon a shallow pretext, he advanced against the city, laid
siege to it, and burned it to the ground; whether moved to this act of
vengeance from hatred towards the seat of his sufferings, or to satisfy
the foreigners in his pay, whom the length of the siege had much
irritated. He had promised these men the pillage of the city, and he
kept his word; but the soldiers were not content with the plunder: they
set fire to the town, and what had escaped their ravages, perished in
the flames.[84] In 1356, under the reign of Edward IIIrd, Bayeux
experienced nearly the same fate from our countrymen; and in the
following century it again suffered severely from their arms, till the
decisive battle of Formigny, fought within ten miles of the city,
compelled Henry VIth to withdraw from Normandy, carrying with him
scarcely any other trophies of his former conquests, than a great
collection of Norman charters, and, among the rest, those of Bayeux,
which are to this hour preserved in the tower of London.
During the subsequent wars occasioned by the reformation, this town bore
its share in the common sufferings of the north of France. The horrors
experienced by other places on the occasion were even surpassed by the
outrages that were committed at Bayeux; but it is impossible to enter
into details which are equally revolting to decency and to humanity.
Of late years, Bayeux has been altogether an open town. The old castle,
the last relic of its military character, a spacious fortress flanked by
ten square towers, was demolished in 1773; and, as the poet of Bayeux
has sung[85],--
"... Gaulois, Romains, Saxons,
Oppresseurs, opprimés, colliers, faisceaux, blasons,
Tout dort. Du vieux château la taciturne enceinte
Expire. Par degrés j'ai vu sa gloire éteinte.
J'ai marché sur ses tours, erré dans ses fossés:
Tels qu'un songe bientôt ils vont être effacés."
And in truth, they are so effectually _effaced_, that not a single
vestige of the walls and towers can now be discovered.
Bayeux is situated in the midst of a fertile country, particularly rich
in pasturage. The Aure, which washes its walls, is a small and
insignificant streamlet, and though the city is within five miles of the
sea, yet the river is quite useless for the purposes of commerce, as not
a vessel can float in it. The present population of the town consists of
about ten thousand inhabitants, and these have little other employment
than lace-making.--Bayeux wears the appearance of decay: most of the
houses are ordinary; and, though some of them are built of stone, by far
the greater part are only of wood and plaster. In the midst, however, of
these, rises the noble cathedral; but this I shall reserve for the
subject of my next letter, concluding the present with a few remarks
upon that matchless relic, which,
"... des siècles respecté,
En peignant des héros honore la beauté."
The very curious piece of historical needle-work, now generally known by
the name of the _Bayeux tapestry_, was first brought into public notice
in the early part of the last century, by Father Montfaucon and M.
Lancelot, both of whom, in their respective publications, the _Monumens
de la Monarchie Française_[86], and a paper inserted in the _Mémoires de
l'Académie des Inscriptions_[87], have figured and described this
celebrated specimen of ancient art. Montfaucon's plates were afterwards
republished by Ducarel[88], with the addition of a short dissertation
and explanation, by an able antiquary of our own country, Smart
Lethieuilier.