were miserably incorrect, and calculated not to inform, but to mislead
the inquirer. When therefore the late war was concluded and France
became again accessible to an Englishman, our Society of Antiquaries,
justly considering the tapestry as being at least equally connected with
English as with French history, and regarding it as a matter of national
importance, that so curious a document should be made known by the most
faithful representation, employed an artist, fitted above all others for
the purpose, by his knowledge of history and his abilities as a
draughtsman, to prepare an exact fac-simile of the whole. Under the
auspices of the Society, Mr. C.A. Stothard undertook the task; and he
has executed it in the course of two successive visits with the greatest
accuracy and skill. The engravings from his drawings we may hope shortly
to see: meanwhile, to give you some idea of the original, I
enclose a sketch, which has no other merit than that of being a faithful
transcript. It is reduced one half from a tracing made from the tapestry
itself. By referring to Montfaucon, you will find the figure it
represents under the fifty-ninth inscription in the original, where "a
knight, with a _private_ banner, issues to mount a led horse." His
beardless countenance denotes him a Norman; and the mail covering to his
legs equally proves him to be one of the most distinguished characters.
[Illustration: Figure from the Bayeux Tapestry]
Within the few last years this tapestry has been the subject of three
interesting papers, read before the Society of Antiquaries. The first
and most important, from the pen of the Abbé de la Rue[89], has for its
object the refutation of the opinions of Montfaucon and Lancelot, who,
following the commonly received tradition, refer the tapestry to the
time of the conquest, and represent it as the work of Queen Matilda and
her attendant damsels. The Abbé's principal arguments are derived from
the silence of contemporary authors, and especially of Wace, who was
himself a canon of Bayeux;--from its being unnoticed in any charters or
deeds of gift connected with the cathedral;--from the improbability that
so large a roll of such perishable materials would have escaped
destruction when the cathedral was burned in 1106;--from the unfinished
state of the story;--from its containing some Saxon names unknown to the
Normans;--and from representations taken from the fables of Æsop being
worked on the borders, whereas the northern parts of Europe were not
made acquainted with these fables, till the translation of a portion of
them by Henry Ist, who thence obtained his surname of
_Beauclerk_.--These and other considerations, have led the learned Abbé
to coincide in opinion with Lord Littleton and Mr. Hume, that the
tapestry is the production of the Empress Maud, and that it was in
reality wrought by natives of our own island, whose inhabitants were at
that time so famous for labors of this description, that the common mode
of expressing a piece of embroidery, was by calling it _an English
work_.
The Abbé shortly afterwards found an opponent in another member of the
society, Mr. Hudson Gurney, who, without following his predecessor
through the line of his arguments, contented himself with briefly
stating the three following reasons for ascribing the tapestry to
Matilda, wife to the Conqueror[90].--_First_, that in the many buildings
therein pourtrayed, there is not the least appearance of a pointed arch,
though much pointed work is found in the ornaments of the running
border; whilst, on the contrary, the features of Norman architecture,
the square buttress, flat to the walls, and the square tower surmounted
by, or rather ending in, a low pinnacle, are therein frequently
repeated.--_Secondly_, that all the knights are in ring armour, many of
their shields charged with a species of cross and five dots, and some
with dragons, but none with any thing of the nature of armorial
bearings, which, in a lower age, there would have been; and that all
wear a triangular sort of conical helmet, with a nasal, when represented
armed.--And, _Thirdly_, that the Norman banner is, invariably, _Argent_,
a Cross, _Or_, in a Bordure _Azure_; and that this is repeated over and
over again, as it is in the war against Conan, as well as at Pevensey
and at Hastings; but there is neither hint nor trace of the later
invention of the Norman leopards.--Mr. Gurney's arguments are ingenious,
but they are not, I fear, likely to be considered conclusive: he
however, has been particularly successful in another observation, that
all writers, who had previously treated of the Bayeux tapestry, had
called it a _Monument of the Conquest of England_; following, therein,
M. Lancelot, and speaking of it as an unfinished work, whereas, it is in
fact an _apologetical history of the claims of William to the crown of
England, and of the breach of faith and fall of Harold_, in a perfect
and finished action.--With this explanation before us, aided by the
short indication that is given of the subjects of the seventy-two
compartments of the tapestry, a new light is thrown upon the story.
The third memoir is from the pen of Mr. Amyot, and concludes with an
able metrical translation from Wace. It is confined almost exclusively
to the discussion of the single historical fact, how far Harold was
really sent by the Confessor to offer the succession to William; but
this point, however interesting, in itself, is unconnected with my
present object: it is sufficient for me to shew you the various sources
from which you may derive information upon the subject.
Supposing the Bayeux tapestry to be really from the hands of the Queen,
or the Empress, (and that it was so appears to me proved by internal
evidence,) it is rather extraordinary that the earliest notice which is
to be found of a piece of workmanship, so interesting from its author
and its subjects, should be contained in an inventory of the precious
effects deposited in the treasury of the church, dated 1476. It is also
remarkable that this inventory, in mentioning such an article, should
call it simply _a very long piece of cloth, embroidered with figures and
writing, representing the conquest of England_, without any reference to
the royal artist or the donor.
Observations of this nature will suggest themselves to every one, and
the arguments urged by the Abbé de la Rue are very strong; and yet I
confess that my own feelings always inclined to the side of those who
assign the highest antiquity to the tapestry. I think so the more since
I have seen it. No one appears so likely to have undertaken such a task
as the female most nearly connected with the principal personage
concerned in it, and especially if we consider what the character of
this female was: the details which it contains are so minute, that they
could scarcely have been known, except at the time when they took place:
the letters agree in form with those upon Matilda's tomb; and the
manners and customs of the age are also preserved.--Mr. Stothard, who is
of the same opinion as to the date of the tapestry, very justly
observes, that the last of these circumstances can scarcely be
sufficiently insisted upon; for that "it was the invariable practice
with artists in every country, excepting Italy, during the middle ages,
whatever subject they took in hand, to represent it according to the
costume of their own times."
Till the revolution, the tapestry was always kept in the cathedral, in a
chapel on the south side, dedicated to Thomas à Becket, and was only
exposed to public view once a year, during the octave of the feast of
St. John on which occasion it was hung up in the nave of the church,
which it completely surrounded. From the time thus selected for the
display of it, the tapestry acquired the name of _le toile de Saint
Jean_; and it is to the present day commonly so called in the city.
During the most stormy part of the revolution, it was secreted; but it
was brought to Paris when the fury of vandalism had subsided. And, when
the first Consul was preparing for the invasion of England, this ancient
trophy of the subjugation of the British nation was proudly exhibited to
the gaze of the Parisians, who saw another _Conqueror_ in Napoléon
Bonaparté; and many well-sounding effusions, in prose and verse,
appeared, in which the laurels of Duke William were transferred, by
anticipation, to the brows of the child and champion of jacobinism.
After this display, Bonaparté returned the tapestry to the municipality,
accompanied by a letter, in which he thanked them for the care they had
taken of so precious a relic. From that period to the present, it has
remained in the residence appropriated to the mayor, the former
episcopal palace; and here we saw it.
It is a piece of brownish linen cloth, about two hundred and twelve feet
long, and eighteen inches wide, French measure. The figures are worked
with worsted of different colors, but principally light red, blue, and
yellow. The historical series is included between borders composed of
animals, &c. The colors are faded, but not so much so as might have been
expected. The figures exhibit a regular line of events, commencing with
Edward the Confessor seated upon his throne, in the act of dispatching
Harold to the court of the Norman Duke, and continued through Harold's
journey, his capture by the Comte de Ponthieu, his interview with
William, the death of Edward, the usurpation of the British throne by
Harold, the Norman invasion, the battle of Hastings, and Harold's death.
These various events are distributed into seventy-two compartments, each
of them designated by an inscription in Latin. Ducarel justly compares
the style of the execution to that of a girl's sampler. The figures are
covered with work, except on their faces, which are merely in outline.
In point of drawing, they are superior to the contemporary sculpture at
St. Georges and elsewhere; and the performance is not deficient in
energy. The colors are distributed rather fancifully: thus the fore and
off legs of the horses are varied. It is hardly necessary to observe
that perspective is wholly disregarded, and that no attempt is made to
express light and shadow.
Great attention, however, is paid to costume; and more individuality of
character has been preserved than could have been expected, considering
the rude style of the workmanship. The Saxons are represented with long
mustachios: the Normans have their upper lip shaven, and retain little
more hair upon their heads than a single lock in front.--Historians
relate how the English spies reported the invading army to be wholly
composed of ecclesiastics; and this tapestry affords a graphical
illustration of the chroniclers' text. Not the least remarkable feature
of the tapestry, in point of costume, lies in the armor, which, in some
instances, is formed of interlaced rings; in others, of square
compartments; and in others, of lozenges. Those who contend for the
antiquity of Duke William's equestrian statue at Caen, may find a
confirmation of their opinions in the shape of the saddles assigned to
the figures of the Bayeux tapestry; and equally so in their cloaks, and
their pendant braided tresses.
The tapestry is coiled round a cylinder, which is turned by a winch and
wheel; and it is rolled and unrolled with so little attention, that if
it continues under such management as the present, it will be wholly
ruined in the course of half a century. It is injured at the beginning:
towards the end it becomes very ragged, and several of the figures have
completely disappeared. The worsted is unravelling too in many of the
intermediate portions. As yet, however, it is still in good
preservation, considering its great age, though, as I have just
observed, it will not long continue so. The bishop and chapter have
lately applied to government, requesting that the tapestry may be
restored to the church. I hope their application will be successful.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 82: The most interesting relic of Roman times yet found at
Vieux, is a cippus of variegated marble, about five feet high by two
feet wide, and bearing inscriptions upon three of its sides. It
generally passes in France by the name of the _Torigny marble_, being
preserved at the small town of the latter name, whither it was carried
in 1580, the very year when it was dug up. The Abbé Le Beuf has made it
the subject of a distinct paper in the _Mémoires de l'Académie des
Inscriptions_. This cippus supported a statue raised in honor of Titus
Sennius Sollemnis, a Viducassian by birth, and one of the high priests
of the town. The statue was erected to him after his death, in the
Viducassian capital, upon a piece of ground granted by the senate for
the purpose, in pursuance of a general decree passed by the province of
Gaul. The inscriptions set forth the motives that induced the nation to
bestow so marked a distinction upon a simple individual; and, in the
foremost rank of his merits, they place the games which he had given to
his fellow-citizens, during four successive days.]
[Footnote 83: _Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions_, XXI. p. 489.]
[Footnote 84: _Archæologia_, XVII. p. 911.]
[Footnote 85: _Bayeux et ses Environs, par M. Delauney_, p. 12.]
[Footnote 86: I. p. 371-379; pl. 35-49, and II. p. 1-29; pl. 1-9.]
[Footnote 87: VI. p. 739, and VIII. p. 602.]
[Footnote 88: _Anglo-Norman Antiquities_, Appendix, No. 1.]
[Footnote 89: _Archæologia_, XVII. p. 85.]
[Footnote 90: _Archæologia_, XVIII. p. 359.]
[Illustration: Sculpture at Bayeux]
LETTER XXVIII.
CATHEDRAL OF BAYEUX--CANON OF CAMBREMER--COPE OF ST. REGNOBERT--ODO.
(_Bayeux, August_, 1818.)
Excepting the tapestry and the cathedral, Bayeux, at this time, offers
no objects of interest to the curious traveller. Its convents are either
demolished, or so dilapidated or altered, that they have lost their
characteristic features; and its eighteen parish churches are now
reduced to four. We wandered awhile about the town, vainly looking after
some relic of ancient art, to send you by way of a memento of Bayeux. At
length, two presented themselves--the entrance of the corn-market,
formerly the chapel of St. Margaret, a Norman arch, remarkable for the
lamb and banner, an emblem of the saint, sculptured on the transom
stone; and a small stone tablet, attached to an old house near the
cathedral. The whimsical singularity of the latter, induced us to give
it the preference. It may possibly be of the workmanship of the
fourteenth century, and possibly much later. In all probability, it owes
its existence merely to a caprice on the part of the owner of the
residence, whose crest may be indicated by the tortoises which surmount
the columns by way of capitals. Still there is merit in the performance,
though perhaps for nothing so much as for the accurate resemblance of
peeled wood; and this I never saw imitated with equal fidelity in stone.
But, however unattractive Bayeux may be in other respects, so long as
the cathedral is suffered to stand, the city will never want interest.
It is supposed that the first church erected here was built by St.
Exuperius otherwise called St. Suspirius, or St. Spirius, who, according
to the distich subjoined to his portrait, formerly painted on one of the
windows of the nave, was not only the earliest bishop of the diocese,
but claimed the merit of having introduced the Christian faith into
Normandy,--
"Primitùs hic pastor templi fuit hujus et auctor,
Catholicamque fidem Normannis attulit idem."
St. Exuperius lived in the third century, and his efforts towards the
propagation of the gospel were attended with so great success, that his
successor, St. Regnobert, was obliged to take down the edifice thus
recently raised, and to re-construct it on a more enlarged scale, for
the purpose of accommodating the increasing congregation. Regnobert is
likewise reported to have built the celebrated chapel on the sea-coast,
dedicated to our Lady de la Délivrande; and the people believe that a
portion at least, of both the one and the other of these original
edifices, exists to the present day. The Abbé Béziers, however, in his
_History of Bayeux_, maintains, and with truth, that St. Regnobert's
cathedral was destroyed by the Normans; and he adds that, immediately
after the conversion of Rollo, another was raised in its stead on the
same spot, and that this latter was one of those which the chieftain
most enriched by his endowments at the period of his baptism.
A dreadful fire, in the year 1046, reduced the Norman cathedral to
ashes; but the episcopal throne was then filled by a prelate who wanted
neither disposition nor abilities to repair the damage. Hugh, the third
bishop of that name, son to Ralph, Count of the Bessin, who, by the
mother's side, was brother to Duke Richard Ist, presided at that time
over the see of Bayeux. Jealous for the honor of his diocese, the
prelate instantly applied himself to rebuild the cathedral; but he lived
to see only a small progress made in his work. It was finished by a
prelate of still greater, though evil celebrity, the unruly Odo, brother
to the Conqueror, who, for more than fifty years, continued bishop of
this see, and by his unbounded liberality and munificence in the
discharge of his high office, proved himself worthy of his princely
descent. The Conqueror and his queen, attended by their sons, Robert and
William, and by the archbishops of Canterbury and York, as well as by
the various bishops and barons of the province, were present at the
dedication of the church, which was performed in 1077, by John,
Archbishop of Rouen. Odo, on the occasion, enriched his church with
various gifts, one of which has been particularly recorded. It was a
crown of wood and copper, sixteen feet high and thirty-eight feet in
diameter, covered with silver plates, and diversified with other crowns
in the shape of towers; the whole made to support an immense number of
tapers, that were lighted on high festivals. This crown was suspended in
the nave, opposite the great crucifix; and it continued to hang there
till it was destroyed by the Huguenots, in 1562.
It is doubtful how much, or indeed if any portion, of the church erected
by Odo be now in existence. Thirty years had scarcely elapsed from the
date of its dedication, when, as I have already mentioned to you, the
troops of Henry Ist destroyed Bayeux with fire. The ruin was so
complete, that for more than fifty years, no attempt was made to
re-construct the cathedral; but it remained in ashes until the year
1157, when bishop, Philip of Harcourt, determined to restore it. A
question has arisen whether the oldest part of what is now standing, be
the work of Philip or of Odo. The lapse of eighty years in those early
times, would perhaps occasion no very sensible difference in style; and
chroniclers do not afford the means of determining, if, at the time when
Bayeux suffered so dreadfully in 1106, the church was actually burned to
the ground, or only materially damaged. In the _History of the Diocese_
we are merely told that Philip, having, by means of papal bulls, happily
succeeded in regaining possession of all the privileges, honors, and
property of the see, began to rebuild his cathedral in 1159, and
completed it with great glory and expence.--From that time forward, we
hear no more of demolition or of re-edification; but the injuries done by
the silent lapse of ages, and the continued desire on the part of the
prelates to beautify and to enlarge their church, have produced nearly
the same effect as fire or warfare. The building, as it now stands, is a
medley of various ages; and, in the absence of historical record, it
would be extremely difficult to define the several portions that are to
be assigned to each.
The west front is flanked by two Norman towers, bold and massy, with
semi-circular arches in the highest stories. The spires likewise appear
ancient, though these and the surrounding pinnacles are all gothic. The
northern one, according to tradition, was built with the church; the
southern, in 1424. They both greatly resemble those of the abbey-church
of St. Stephen at Caen. But the whole centre of this front, and indeed
both the sides also, as high as the roof, is faced by a screen divided
into five compartments. In the middle is a large, wide, pointed arch,
with a square-headed entrance beneath. North and south of this are deep
arches, evidently older, but likewise pointed, having their sides above
the pillars, and the flat arched part of the door-way, filled with small
figures. The door-ways themselves are arches that occupy only one half
of the width of those which enclose them. In the two exterior
compartments the arches are unpierced, and are flanked by a profusion of
clustered pillars. Over each of the four lateral arches, rises a
crocketed pyramid: the central one is surmounted by a flat balustrade,
above which, behind the screen, is a large pointed window, and over it a
row of saints, standing under trefoil-headed arches, arranged in pairs,
the pediment terminating above each pair of arches in a pyramidal
canopy.
The outside of the nave is of florid gothic, but it is not of a pure
style; nor is the southern portal, which, nevertheless, considered as a
whole, is bold and appropriate. On each side of the door-way were
originally three statues, whose tabernacles remain, though the saints
have been torn out of the niches. Over the door is a bas-relief,
containing numerous figures disposed in three compartments, and
representing some legendary tale, which our knowledge of that kind of
lore would not enable us to decipher.--The exterior of the choir is
likewise of pointed architecture: it is considerably more simple, and
excels, in this respect, the rest of the church. But even here there is
a great want of uniformity: some of the windows are deeply imbedded in
the walls; others are nearly on a level with their surface.--The cupola,
which caps the low central tower, is wretchedly at variance with the
other parts of the building. It was erected in the year 1714, at the
expence of the bishop, Francis de Nesmond; and it is, as might be
expected from a performance of that period, rather Grecian than gothic.
Whichever style it may be termed, it is a bad specimen of either. And
yet, such as it is, we are assured by Béziers, that it was built after
the designs of a celebrated architect of the name of Moussard, and that
it excited particular attention, and called forth loud praises, on the
part of the Maréchal de Vauban, who was, probably, a better judge of a
modern fortification, than of a gothic cathedral.
The interior of the church consists of a wide nave, with side-aisles,
and chapels beyond them. The first six piers of the nave are very massy,
and faced with semi-circular pillars supporting an entablature. The
arches above them are Norman, encircled with rich bands, composed
chiefly of the chevron moulding and diamonds. On one of them is a
curious border of heads, as upon the celebrated door-way at Oxford; but
the heads at Bayeux are of much more regular workmanship and more
distinctly defined. Had circumstances allowed, I would have sent you an
accurate drawing of them; but our time did not permit such a one to be
made, and I must beg of you to be contented with the annexed slight
sketch.
[Illustration: Border of heads]
The wall above the arches is incrusted with a species of tessellated
work of free-stone, of varied patterns, some interwoven, others
reticulated, as seen in the sketches: the lines indented in the stones,
as well as the joints which form the patterns, are filled with a black
cement or mastich, so as to form a kind of _niello_.
[Illustration: Tessellated work of free stone]