completely eclipsed the work of the maid of Nanterre; and so effectually
was the king looked upon as the founder of the abbey that, up to the
dissolution of the monasteries, the monks celebrated his festival upon
the 19th of January with great solemnity and splendour. It was about the
year 630 that Dagobert undertook the rebuilding of the church, which is
said to have been decorated with precious marbles, magnificent bronze
doors, and gold and silver vessels enriched with precious stones. These
latter, and the shrine of the Saint, as well as the great cross at the
entrance of the choir, were the work of the famous artificer in metals,
S. Eloy, who was also the maker of the shrines of SS. Martin, Germain,
and Geneviève. These, and, in fact, all this great smith's works (as far
as is known) have perished; but his memory is still preserved by
pictures and sculptures representing some of the legendary incidents of
his life. In the Firenze Academy is a picture by Botticelli, and at the
church of Or San Michele is a statue and a bas-relief, both of which
represent one of the great events of the Saint's life. A horse having
been brought to him to be shod, the animal proved restive, and the Saint
being exercised in his mind as to how he should keep the beast still,
bethought him of an excellent plan. He calmly cut off the leg, and
placing it upon his anvil, fastened on the shoe; this done, he replaced
the leg upon the horse, to the amazement of the beast and the
edification of his owner. Another picture, painted for the Company of
the Goldsmiths, represents S. Eloy under the form of Benvenuto Cellini,
presenting a shrine to King Dagobert, who figures in the costume of
François I^er. In 754, Pépin and his queen Berthe, after being anointed
at S. Denis by Pope Stephen II., began the reconstruction of the
Merovingian church which Charlemagne finished and dedicated in 775. From
that year until the 12th century, little is known of the history of the
abbey. Like all churches and monasteries in the north of France, it was
probably destroyed, and its lands laid waste by the invasions of the
Northmen and the disastrous civil wars which characterised the end of
the Carlovingian dynasty, for nothing remains of the magnificence of the
churches of Dagobert and of Charlemagne but a few columns and marble
capitals in the crypt.
[Illustration: TOMB OF HENRI II. IN THE VALOIS CHAPEL BUILT BY PHILIBERT
DELORME.]
The third and present church was commenced by the great Abbot Suger, and
is considered by many French architects to be the earliest example of
Pointed architecture. Suger erected the tower, the portals, the nave,
and the choir in rapid succession, and subsequently the _chevet_ and
chapels; he filled the windows with the most exquisite jewel-like
stained glass, and loaded the shrines and altars with precious stones.
Some of the sacred vessels formerly belonging to the church are now in
the Salle d'Apollon of the Louvre, and testify to the exquisite
artistic taste as well as to the religious enthusiasm of the good abbot.
"_As it is our duty to present unto God oblations of gems and of gold,
I, Suger, offer this vase unto the Lord_," is the inscription upon an
antique sardonyx amphora which he converted into a vessel for the altar.
The dedication of this church took place twice, in 1140 and 1144, but
it was only to remain intact some 70 years. In 1219, the day after the
feast of the nativity of the Virgin, its _flèche_ was struck by
lightning, and a few years after, the church itself was partially
destroyed. Abbot Eudes Clément replaced the wooden _flèche_ by a stone
one, and raised the interior of the apse; and his third successor,
Matthieu de Vendôme, finished the transept and the nave. The chapels of
the nave upon the north side were built in the 14th century, and a few
unimportant additions were made in the succeeding century. Of the
magnificent circular chapel of the Valois erected for Henri II. and
Catherine de'Medici, nothing remains but a beautiful colonnade, now
forming a sham ruin in the Parc Monceau. The chapel was situated upon
the north of the apse, near the steps, and was destroyed during the
regency of Philippe d'Orléans, in 1719.
It is generally supposed that the destruction of churches and the
despoiling of monasteries in France were the work of the enemies of
religion in the form of the "people." But the kings did not hesitate to
rob the church when they could drain no more money out of their
long-suffering subjects. To Francis I.[12] and Louis XIV. the eighth
commandment was no more binding than the seventh; laws, divine or
otherwise, were made for the vulgar herd, not for their most Christian
Majesties; and so, when the "Grand Monarque" saw fit to please Mme. de
Maintenon by founding St. Cyr, he suppressed the abbacy of S. Denis, and
relieved the monastery of the abbot's revenues for an endowment. This
was the beginning of the downfall, and in 1791, the Benedictines were
dispersed after an occupation of twelve centuries. In the memoirs of the
organist attached to the abbey at the time, there is a touching account
of the last mass celebrated by the prior upon the day of departure. But
the church remained intact, and was even made the _dépôt_ of the relics
of the Sainte-Chapelle,[13] after the suppression of the chaplains
belonging to the latter. The _Moniteur_ of 3rd September, 1791, gives an
account of the sittings of the commission of _savants_, established at
the Bibliothèque des Quatre-Nations, for the consideration of the
preservation of works of art. This commission was appointed by the
National Assembly after the passing of the law for the appropriation of
the property of the clergy by _la chose publique_. M. De Larochefoucauld
was the president of this "Commission des Monuments," assisted by many
artists and _connoisseurs_. They first of all chose certain places as
receptacles for the works of art, and then decided what to keep and what
to destroy. The former quarters of the Petits-Augustins became the
museum of tombs and sepulchral sculptures; and to the Capucins, the
Grands-Jésuites, and the Cordeliers were sent the books and manuscripts.
A descriptive catalogue was drawn up by Alexandre Lenoir,[14] who was
appointed curator in 1790. Unfortunately, much was destroyed, as, for
instance, at the abbey of Royaumont, where two Benedictines, Poirier and
Puthod, were sent by the commission to superintend matters. The
mausoleum of the princes of S. Louis' family was "_démoli avec
adresse_," says the _Moniteur_; the coffins were opened "_avec
circonspection_," the ashes taken up with care, and then, ticketed and
sealed, sent to S. Denis. Les sieurs Puthod and Poirier carried off the
remains of seven princes and six monuments, which arrived just in time
to be packed off to the museum of the Petits-Augustins.
Many of the seventy-three abbots, from Dodon, the first (living in 637),
to the last, Jean-François-Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz, were
distinguished for their piety, for their learning, their greed, or their
vices. Amongst them we find the names of Fulrad, Hilduin, Suger, Mathieu
de Vendôme, the Emperor Charles the Bald, the Kings Eudes, Robert and
Hugues Capet,[15] the Cardinals de Bourbon, de Lorraine, de Guise, and
Mazarin. The conventual buildings were all destroyed in the reign of
Louis XV., and during the Revolution the church suffered in the same way
as Notre-Dame and S. Eustache, by being secularized in the most
revolting manner. But if the Revolutionists destroyed and carried away
monuments, the Imperial architects did worse, for they began a
restoration in their own hideous taste and "style"; and it was not until
a few years ago that the old church was restored to its pristine beauty.
Perhaps few churches have seen more changes than the silent walls of S.
Denis have witnessed. The burial place of most of the kings of France,
it was also upon its High Altar that Louis le Gros deposited the
_oriflamme_, the famous standard of France,[16] while some seven
centuries later, its tombs were only preserved from utter ruin by the
wit of Alexandre Lenoir. Even the church itself was threatened with
destruction, and was only saved by an architect seriously suggesting
that it should be turned into a market, the side chapels forming shops.
By turns a Temple of Reason, a _dépôt_ of artillery, a theatre of
acrobats, a flour warehouse, and a granary, its desecration was not
consummated until the glass was removed, and the leaden covering of its
roof converted into bullets. Napoleon saved what remained, and began
restoring it as a resting-place for the defunct members of his dynasty.
The Concordat guaranteed it a chapter, and religious services were
restored.[17] But the 19th century proved as disastrous as wars and
revolutions. Lightning once more brought down the _flèche_ in 1837, and
again in 1846; and scrapings and cleanings carried away all the old
surfaces of the walls. Still, through the talent and learning of
Viollet-le-Duc, it is one of the finest of 13th century churches, and
now that the tombs have all been replaced in their former positions, one
of the most interesting.
[Illustration: THE NORTH-WEST DOORWAY.]
The _façade_ has three doorways, which are rich in the somewhat rude
sculpture of the time of Suger. The subject of the central tympanum and
_voussure_ is The Last Judgment. Christ is pronouncing the last
sentence, surrounded by the dead who are rising from their graves. His
Blessed Mother is interceding for sinners, and Abraham is receiving the
elect into his bosom. The Apostles, and the four-and-twenty elders,
holding musical instruments, and vases for the reception of the prayers
of the just as a sweet-smelling incense, are there, looking on at the
damned tossed into hell. Upon the stylobate of the portal we read the
parable of the Wise and foolish Virgins.
The southern doorway is decorated with the Martyrdom of S. Denis, and
the appearance of our Blessed Lord to the holy martyrs while in prison.
Unfortunately, much of these bas-reliefs is modern.
Some statues on one of the transept doorways are curious examples of how
a fraud may be perpetuated. They represent, without doubt, some members
of the royal house of David, but at some period they were said to be
kings of the Capétien line, and as such, casts were taken and sent to
Versailles, where they figured as portrait statues of Hugues Capet,
Robert, Henri, Philippe, Louis VI., and Louis VII. The capitals of the
columns and the foliage ornament of these portals are vastly superior in
style to the figures.
On each side of the western rose-window are some bands of black and
white marble, after the manner of the churches of Pisa and Genoa,
_souvenirs_, probably, of Suger's travels in Italy. Indeed, he tells us
in the account of his administration that he took much trouble in
preserving a mosaic which he had brought home and placed in the tympanum
of one of the doors. This was unfortunately replaced, in 1774, by a
bas-relief of the meanest possible workmanship.
The interior consists of a nave and two aisles, with a _chevet_ of seven
chapels at the east end, considerably raised above the level of the
nave. Access to these chapels is gained by a flight of steps on each
side of the High Altar, and under them is the royal crypt. The whole of
the east end of the church, the double aisles, with their single-shaft
pillars, the chapels, the vaulting, and the glass, form a mass of
colour, and a most beautiful _coup d'oeil_;[18] indeed, there is but
one eyesore in the whole building, the aforesaid series of windows
representing Louis Philippe's heroic deeds. Blue swallow-tailed coats
and white trousers scarcely form a costume which is either effective or
appropriate as designs for church windows.
The wood carving of the stalls is of the 15th century, and was brought
from the abbey of S. Lucien-lez-Beauvais; the inlaid marquetry work at
the backs of the seats is from the Château de Gaillon, built by Cardinal
d'Amboise. Many of the _misérérés_ have the usual quaint conceits which
one sees everywhere. Portions of the old glass were preserved by Lenoir
in the museum of the Petits-Augustins during the stormy period, and were
afterwards replaced in the windows of the apse. They consist mainly of
fragments of a tree of Jesse, and may be found in the chapel of the
Virgin. There are in all eleven lozenge-shaped medallions representing
scenes in the life of Moses, and mystical subjects from the Apocalypse,
bearing inscriptions by Suger. Upon the medallion of the Annunciation,
the good abbot himself is portrayed prostrate before the Blessed Virgin.
In one or two of the other chapels there are a few fragments of the
legend of S. Laurence.
[Illustration: THE LADY CHAPEL.]
Of the early kings of France Dagobert was the first to be buried at S.
Denis, and his memorial tomb (much restored) still stands on the right
of the High Altar. Clovis and Clotilde were buried in the crypt of the
first church erected upon the site of S. Geneviève, then called the
Church of the Holy Apostles. Childebert was laid in the church of the
Abbey of S. Vincent (founded by him), afterwards called S.
Germain-des-Près. Chlodoald was buried at S. Cloud; S. Radegonde, wife
of Clotaire I., at Poitiers; Chilpéric and Frédégonde laid the body of
one of their children in the first church of S. Denis. Besides Dagobert
I., his queen, Nanthilde, and their sons, Sigebert II. and Clovis II.
were buried at S. Denis; and although it is thought that other
Merovingian princes also received burial there, many repose at Chelles,
S. Waast d'Arras, S. Bertin, S. Etienne de Choisy, Metz, Angoulême, S.
Romain de Blaye, Jumièges, and S. Crépin de Soissons. The monuments of
Charles-Martel, Pépin and Berthe, Carloman, Charles the Bald,
Ermentrude, Louis, Carloman, and Eudes were all at S. Denis. Charlemagne
was buried at Aix-la-Chapelle, where the magnificent _châsses_
containing his skull and some of his bones may still be seen. His
descendants were distributed all over Europe: at Köln, Mainz, Prüm,
Regensburg, Loresheim, Oettinghen, Reichenau, Audlau, Verona, Milan, and
Piacenza; those in France, at Metz, Sens, Bourges, S. Laurent, S.
Sulpice, Tours, Angers, Lyon, Portiers, Compiègne, Reims, Péronne, and
Soissons.
[Illustration: URN SCULPTURED FOR THE HEART OF FRANÇOIS I^{er.}]
From Hugues Capet to Louis XV. most of the kings were interred at S.
Denis; but it must be borne in mind that almost all the tombs of the
earlier sovereigns are modern, either wholly or in part. In the 13th
century the strange custom came into fashion of dividing the bodies of
royal personages, and burying the parts in different places. The
Benedictine monks of S. Denis protested against this division of
valuable property, asserting their right to possess the entire remains
of the kings; but the Dominicans and the Cordeliers contested these
claims, and subsequently gained permission for their own churches to
share in the spoil. Later on, other religious orders obtained the same
privileges; and the ladies of Val-de-Grâce were distinguished by the
possession of the hearts of nearly all the royal princes and princesses
from Anne d'Autriche, the founder of the monastery. Naturally, when each
defunct sovereign was divided into three portions--the body, the heart,
and the intestines--great opportunities were afforded to architects and
sculptors; and we thus find three marble monuments with recumbent
figures erected for the remains of Charles V., that at S. Denis
containing his body, while Rouen and Maubuisson respectively possessed
his heart and his _et ceteras_.[19] Francis I.'s heart was placed in an
exquisite urn in the church of the nuns of Haute-Bruyère; while his body
was buried in the grand monument at S. Denis. The urn was the work of
Pierre Bontems, and is now in the same chapel as the tomb, which was the
joint work of Philibert Delorme and Bontems. The beautiful group of the
_Three Graces_, by Germain Pilon, formerly in the church of the
Célestins, and now in the Renaissance Museum of the Louvre, supported an
urn containing the heart of Henri II.;[20] the hearts of the 13th and
14th Louis, enveloped in shrines in the form of silver Angels, being the
property of the church of the Jesuits. The number of monuments erected
at S. Denis to the memory of the families of the sovereigns was small;
and none of them were to be compared, as works of art, to the beautiful
tombs of the Dukes of Bourgogne and of Brétagne at Dijon, at Bruges, and
at Nantes. Most of the princes of the different families, the Condés,
the Contis, the Valois, the Bourbons, &c., had founded chapels or
monasteries where they were afterwards buried; as, for instance, the
Orléans chapel at the Célestins, which was celebrated for its
magnificence.[21]
[Illustration: THE CHOIR AND SANCTUARY.]
None of the monuments of the early kings are anterior to the 13th
century; consequently, even the original portions of the effigies which
remain cannot be looked upon as in the slightest degree portrait
statues. On the other hand, the magnificent tombs in bronze, and the
brasses which adorned them, erected to the memory of Philippe Auguste,
S. Louis, and his father, and which were destroyed centuries ago, were
most probably as valuable as contemporary portraits as they were for
their workmanship; likewise the 13th century effigies which remain are
remarkable for the beauty of their workmanship. Louis IV. was the last
prince who was laid under a simple stone monument. The last tomb erected
was that of Henri II., the sovereigns who followed him having had no
memorials. They were laid together in one great crypt, and when
disturbed by the Revolutionists for the sake of the lead of their
coffins ("of the coffins of our old tyrants let us make bullets to hurl
at our enemies"), there were fifty-four bodies arranged upon iron
trestles side by side, Henri IV.[22] heading the list, and the Dauphin,
elder son of Louis XVI., ending it. The monuments now occupy the same
position that they did before the Revolution; and if we stand upon the
raised platform of the apse behind the High Altar we can gaze down upon
what may be called the history of France, from the artistic point of
view, during four or five centuries. On the left, the 13th century tomb
of Dagobert stands erect; beyond it, the Renaissance mausoleum of
Francis I., one of the _chefs-d'oeuvres_ of that grand sculptor,
Philibert Delorme. On the right, the enamelled brasses of the children
of S. Louis and the tomb of Henri II. A mosaic effigy of Frédégonde, the
Orléans monument, and the tomb of Louis XII. by the brothers Juste, of
Tours, complete the list of important works, while all about are
recumbent figures upon arcaded monuments. The resting-places of the
abbots were simply marked by inscriptions or flat slabs. The historian
of the Abbey, Dom Michel Félibien, records the number of thirteen stones
of grand priors with effigies, besides the abbots' tombs.
Among the distinguished men buried at S. Denis were the following:--
Pierre Chambellan, of whom Joinville writes, "Messire Pierre Chambellan
fut le plus loial homme et le plus droicturier que je veisse oncques en
la maision du roi ... l'homme du monde en qui le roy croirit plus"; and
Alphonse, son of Jean de Brienne, King of Jerusalem and uncle of S.
Louis, whose epitaph designates him as "moult saige et moult loial
chevaliers." Both of them died "au service de Dieu et de Monsieur Loys,
roy de France, dessous Cartaige l'an de l'incarnation de Nostre-Seigneur
MCCLXX," and were "enterrés en l'église Monsieur Saint Denis" in the
year MCCLXXI, "le vendredi devant la Penthecoste le jour et l'heure
quand Monsieur le roy Loys fut enterré"; indeed, the old chronicler
says, "aus pieds du bon roys tout en la manière qu'il gisoit à ses pieds
quand il estoit en vie." Pierre accompanied S. Louis in the disastrous
crusade which terminated his reign. No doubt his tomb was of metal,
destroyed with many others long before the Revolution, as for example,
that of the Comte d'Eu, in gilt copper, enriched with enamels, which
succumbed to the greed of the Huguenots.
Close to the tomb of Charles V. were those of Duguesclin, Louis de
Sancerre, Bureau de la Rivière, Arnaud de Guilhem seigneur de Barbazan,
who, before Bayard, was called _le chevalier sans reproche_, and who,
with six others, was victorious over seven English knights in 1404. Near
Duguesclin Charles V. had marked the spot for the burial place of Jean
Pastourel, one of his principal councillors, whose wife was laid at S.
Denis in 1380, but having, sick of the world, retired to the Abbey of S.
Victor towards the end of his life, he desired to be buried there rather
than amidst the splendours of the royal tombs. He was the only civilian
who was offered this much-coveted privilege.
Guillaume de Chastel was another non-royal personage whom it pleased his
master, Charles VII., _pour sa grande vaillance et les services qui lui
avoit faiz en maintes manières_, to bury at S. Denis. The warrior held
the town of Pontoise against the English, and died during the siege,
20th July, 1441. Another _vaillant capitaine de gendarmes_, the
chevalier Louis de Pontoise, fell by the side of Louis XI. at the
assault of the town of Crotoy, and was rewarded by being laid to rest
amongst the Royalties.
Louis XIV. of course accorded burial at S. Denis to his great
commanders. First, the Duc de Châtillon, for his magnificent services.
_Feu nostre très-cher cousin_ was killed at the taking, in 1649, of
Charenton, that peaceful suburb of Paris just outside the Bois de
Vincennes; and the King, wishing to _tesmoigner le ressentiment que nous
avons d'une si grande perte_, honoured the valiant _Duc_ with burial at
S. Denis. The service was to be at the King's expense, which looks as if
the honour were sometimes a costly one to the relatives; and no pomp or
ceremony was to be omitted--such were the instructions of his most
glorious majesty.
The Marquis de Saint Maigrin seems, according to the King's epistle, to
have been of a _valeur extraordinaire, dans toutes les occasions où il
s'est trouvé_; his majesty felt _avec beaucoup de douleur la perte que
nous en avons faite au dernier combat qui s'est fait dans les fauxbourgs
de nostre bonne ville de Paris_; and so he, too, was to rest with the
great ones, socially, of the earth.
Louis seems to have been a sort of complete letter writer; the note in
which he eulogises Turenne might serve as a model for those masters of
style amongst us who delight in long sentences and a scarcity of
full-stops; but, unlike the moderns, "la grande monarque" never gets
involved, he only causes a slight shortness of breath to his readers.
Witness the following page: "Chers et bien amez, les grands et signalez
services qui ont esté rendus à cet Estat par feu nostre cousin, le
vicomte de Turenne, et les preuves éclatantes qu'il a données de son
zèle, de son affection à nostre service, et de sa capacité dans le
commandement de nos armées que nous luy avons confiées avec une
espérance certaine des heureux et grands succès que sa prudence
consommée et sa valeur extraordinaire ont procuré à nos armes, nous
ayant fait ressentir avec beaucoup de douleur la perte d'un aussi grand
homme et d'un sujet aussi nécessaire et aussi distingué par sa vertu et
par sa mérite, nous avons voulu donner un tesmoignage public digne de
nostre estime et de ses grandes actions, en ordonnant qu'il fust rendu à
sa mémoire tous les honneurs qui peuvent marquer à la postérité
l'extrême satisfaction qui nous reste, et le souvenir que nous voulons
conserver de tout ce qu'il a faict pour la gloire de nos armes et pour
le soutien de nostre Estat; et comme nous ne pouvons en donner des
marques plus publiques et plus certaines qu'en prenant soin de sa
sépulture, nous avons voulu y pourvoir en telle sorte que le lieu où
elle séroit, fust un tesmoignage de la grandeur de ses services et de
nostre reconnoissance; c'est pourquoy, ayant résolu de faire bastir dans
l'église de Saint-Denys une chapelle pour la sépulture des rois et des
princes de la branche royale de Bourbon, nous voulons que, lorsqu'elle
sera achevée, le corps de nostredit cousin y soit transféré, pour y
estre mis en lieu honorable, suivant l'ordre que nous en donnerons; et
cependant nous avons permis à nos cousins le cardinal et le duc de
Bouillon, ses neveux, de mettre son corps en dépost dans la chapelle de
Saint-Eustache de ladite église de Saint-Denys, et d'y eslever un
monument à la mémoire de leur oncle, suivant les desseins qui en ont
esté arrestez; c'est de quoy nous avons bien voulu vous donner avis, et
vous dire en mesme temps que nous voulons que vous exécutiez ce qui est
en cela de nostre volonté, en faisant mettre ledit corps dans la cave de
ladite chapelle et en laissant la liberté aux ouvriers de travailler
audit monument jusqu'à son entière perfection. Si n'y faictes fautes;
car tel est nostre plaisir. Donné à Saint-Germain en Laye, le XXIIe
jour de Novembre 1675. _Signé_, Louis. Et plus bas, Colbert. Et sur le
reply: A nos chers et amez les abbé, prieur et religieux de l'abbaye
royale de Saint-Denys, en France."