had antique sculptures upon the back, showing that they had been taken
from works of Classic origin.
The monument of François I^{er.} and Claude de France is the largest of
these splendid tombs. It was erected about 1552 by Philibert Delorme
with the assistance of several sculptors. Pierre Bontems was the author
of the bas-reliefs upon the stylobate and some of the kneeling figures
upon the canopy; Germain Pilon sculptured the statues of children under
the canopy, allegorically representing Fortune, and Ambroise Perret, the
Four Evangelists; while the details of ornament were the work of Jacques
Chantrel, Bastien Galles, Pierre Bigoigne, and Jean de Bourges. The
recumbent figures have been attributed to Jean Goujon, from the
exceptional beauty of the workmanship, but without any positive proof.
The tomb is of white marble, with a little black and grey introduced for
some of the mouldings; the bas-reliefs represent the king's campaigns in
Italy. In the bas-reliefs of the Louis XII. monument many of the
costumes are more Roman than French; but those upon the tomb of François
I^{er.} are treated with more historical truth, and represent the
fashion of the day. The faces of the recumbent statues are beautifully
modelled; that of the queen bearing an expression of the sanctity with
which she was accredited.
[Illustration: COLUMN OF HENRI III.]
S. Denis is rich in columns erected as memorials, often bearing urns
upon the top containing some worthy heart. That of François II. was
formerly at the church of the Célestins. It is the work of Germain
Pilon, and was considered by Sauval and "_les habiles gens_" to be as
beautiful as the "Three Graces" or "Charités" which bore the urn
containing the heart of Henri II. The pedestal is triangular, of white
marble; so, too, are the three little Genii who guard the corners. One
weeps for the defunct; the other two seem to take the matter
philosophically. The shaft of the column is dotted over with flames,
said to be symbolic of the pillar of fire which marched before the
Hebrews; may they not rather mean the flames of purgatory?[32] The gilt
bronze urn which formerly surmounted it, and the winged child holding a
crown, were both consigned to the melting pot. This column was an act of
fraternal homage on the part of Charles IX.
The column of Henri III. was originally erected in the church of S.
Cloud by the secretary of Henri III., Charles Benoise. The shaft is of
red marble, twisted, with ivy twirling round it--the work of Barthélemy
Prieur.
The column of the Cardinal Louis de Bourbon formerly bore the effigy of
the great man, if honours and emoluments can make a man great. He was
naturally a peer; bishop of Laon, of Saintes, of Mans, of Luçon, and of
Tréguier; archbishop of Sens; abbot of S. Denis, of Corbie, of
Saint-Vincent-de-Laon, of Saint-Faron-de-Meaux, of Ainay, of
Saint-Amand, of Saint-Crépin-le-Grand, of Soissons, and of Saint-Serge.
And yet some people profess to be scandalised at the excesses of the
unprivileged classes!
The cardinal was, however, a great patron of art; at Sens and at Laon,
monuments testify to this and all his other magnificences. His body was
buried in the cathedral of Laon; the Benedictines of S. Denis only
having succeeded in obtaining his heart. The column, like many other
beautiful works of art, is by an unknown artist. It is of red marble
with a white alabaster base and capital, which is exquisitely sculptured
with little figures of children bathed in foliage.
The history of some of the recumbent statues of the kings is curious.
Having been made to lie down, they were, after the dispersal of the
Musée des Monuments Français, stuck up against the wall of the crypt;
and others were rebaptised and renamed. Thus, at the museum, Charles V.
and Jeanne de Bourbon became S. Louis and Marguerite de Provence; and so
named, when they were trotted back to S. Denis, they received the homage
of the faithful. To make matters worse, a copy of S. Louis' statue was
sent to Tunis for the church which was built in memory of the saint, and
the head became the authentic type for his portraits. The same may be
said of the false Marguerite; she wears a costume more than a hundred
years too late.
The elaborately enamelled brass slabs of the children of S. Louis, Jean
and Blanche, came from Royaument. The design is rude, but the colouring
good; the figures are in relief upon a ground incrusted in enamel; the
heads and hands, the lions at the feet, and the Angels swinging censers
are of polished brass; while the feet and the draperies are in coloured
enamel. To see these brasses, permission must be obtained from the
architect of the church, as they are upon one side of the High Altar, a
part which is not generally shown to ordinary visitors. The motto upon
the tomb of Jean is as follows:
HIC JACET: IOANNES: EXCELLENTISSIMI LVD
_ovici regis francorum filius qui in etate infancie migra_
VIT AD XPM ANNO GRACIE: MILLESI
MO: DVCENTESSIMO: QVADRAGESIMO: SEPTIMO: SEXTO: IDVS: MARTII
The body of Turenne did not have much peace after it was routed out of
its tomb. Not being royal, it was put aside in a chapel until the
Convention should decide its fate; when thinking so great a man a worthy
object as a specimen of natural history, and deeming it profitable for
students of various "ologies," it was put into a glass case by the side
of stuffed birds, bottled snakes, criminal curiosities, and
monstrosities. Then it was transferred to the Petits-Augustins, where it
found a niche to repose in; but when Consuls reigned supreme, it was
marched with great pomp, with drums and guns and all the paraphernalia
of a military funeral, to the church of the Invalides, where it was
placed in its old house or the remains of it rebuilt--the S. Denis tomb.
The epitaphs of some of the Kings remain, or have been restored:--
ICY GIST LE ROY CHARLES LE QUINT SAGES
ET ELOQUENT FILS DU ROY IEHAN QUI REGNA SEIZE ANS CINQ MOIS ET SEPT
JOURS ET TRESPASSA L'AN DE GRACE MCCCLXXX LE XVI^E JOUR DE
SEPTEMBRE.
ICI GIST LE ROY CHARLES SIXIESME TRES AME LARGE ET DEBONNAIRE FILS
DU ROY CHARLES LE QUINT QUI REGNA QUARANTE ET II ANS UNG MOIS ET
SIX JOURS ET TRESPASSA LE XXI^{E} JOUR DOCTOBRE LAN MIL CCCC VINGT
ET DEUX: PRIES DIEU QUEN PARADIX SOIT SON AME:
CY GIST LA ROYNE ISABEL DE BAUIERE ESPOUSE DU ROY CHARLES VI^{E} ET
FILLE DE TRES PUISSANT PNCE ESTIENNE DUC DE BAUIERE COTE PALATIN
DU RIN QUI REGNA AUEC SOND ESPOUS ET TRESPASSA LAN M: CCCC ET XXXV
LE DERNIER JOUR DE SEPTEMBRE: PRIES DIEU POUR ELLE:
CY GIST LE ROY CHARLES SEPTIESME TRES GLORIEUX VICTORIEUX ET BIEN
SERUY FILS DU ROY CHARLES SIXIESMES: QUI REGNA TRENTE NEUF ANS NEUF
MOIS ET I JOUR ET TRESPASSA LE JOUR DE LA MAGDELAINE XXVII^{E} JOUR
DE JUILLET LA M: CCCCLXI: PRIES POUR LUY:
ICY GIST LA ROYNE JEHANNE DE BOURBON ESPOUSE DU ROY CHARLES LE
QUINT ET FILLE DE TRES NOBLE PRINCE MONS^R PIERRE DUC DE BOURBON
QUI REGNA AU[=ECQ]S SONE ESPOUS XIII ANS ET DIX MOIS ET TSP[=A]SSA
PASSA LA M: CCCLXXVII LE DERN JOUR DE [=FE]UER
CY GIST LA ROYNE MARIE FILLE DU ROY DE SICILE DUC DANIOU ESPOUSE DU
ROY CHARLES VII^E QUI REGNA AUECQ[=S S]OND ESPX ET TRESPASSA LE
PENULTIESME JOUR DE NOUEMBRE LAN MIL: CCCCLXIII: PRIES DIEU POUR
ELLE.
After the restoration of the tombs a tablet was set up to the memory of
Jeanne-d'Arc, bearing the representation of some armour of the 16th
century, and the following epitaph:--
CE QUE ESTAIT LE HARNAIS DE JEHANNE PAR ELLE BAILLE EN HOMMAGE A
MONSEIGNEUR SAINCT DENIS.
Several portraits of the great Abbot Suger existed in Dom Millet's time:
"On voit encores aujourd'huy en la partie supérieure de l'église
Saint-Denis que nous nommons le chevet, une vieille tapisserie où le roy
Louis VII. est représenté avec les habits royaux, et la couronne en
teste, qui donne son sceptre et sa main de justice au susdit abbé Sugere
représenté en habit pontifical, et au-dessus y a une inscription
contenant ceste escriture: Lud. rex franc Suggerium abbatem et
reaedificatorem hujus templi, viceregem constituit, anno 1140. Mais le
tapissier, ou ceux qui ont fourny le mémoire se sont trompez; car ceste
commission ne fut donnée à Sugère que l'an 1147, auquel an le roy partit
de France, au mois d'aoust, pour un voyage de la Terre-Sainte."
"Il y a en ceste royale abbaye plusieurs figures de l'abbé Sugère, deux
desquelles sont en veue à toutes personnes. L'un est sur l'un des
battans de la grande porte de l'église,[33] l'autre en une vitre de la
Chapelle Notre-Dame, en la partie supérieure que nous nommons le
chevet[34]. Il est représenté en tous les deux endroits, non revestu
d'un rochet ou d'un camail, non avec la perruque ou le bonnet carré sur
la teste, mais au plus simple habit et en la plus humble posture, qu'on
puisse représenter un pauvre religieux, scavoir est avec un froc
plissé[35] (approchant fort de celuy dont nous usons maintenant) et la
tonsure monacale, couché à plate terre; en la vitre, devant une image de
la sacrée Vierge, avec ces mots: Suggerius abbas; sur la porte, devant
l'image de Notre-Sauveur, assis à table avec les pélerins d'Emmaüs. Il
n'a en l'une ny en l'autre figure aucune marque qui le puisse distinguer
d'avec le moindre novice de son monastère, sinon la crosse abbatiale
qu'il tient d'une main, pour marque de sa dignité, et pour monstrer que
c'est luy qui est là représenté."
"Or, comme il est très-certain que c'est luy-mesme qui a fait faire ces
figures, aussi est-il très-asseuré qu'il n'avoit garde de les faire
représenter en autre habit que celuy qu'il portoit publiquement et
continuellement, spécialement depuis la réformation; car autrement
c'eust par une hypocrisie trop grossière se sacrifier à la risée de tout
le monde." This description of the portrait is most interesting; we can
see the great abbot as Dom Millet paints him upon the glass which he
himself devised, if he did not absolutely design it.
[Illustration: TOMB OF DAGOBERT.]
The tomb of Dagobert is an enormous canopied structure, originally of
the 13th century, but so much restored that it is practically modern.
Dagobert died in 638, and was embalmed and buried in the church of his
foundation; but of the style of this first tomb we have no knowledge
whatever. Of the existing tomb, the principal part is the legendary
history of the king taken from the "_Gesta Dagoberti_," told in three
alto-reliefs. Below these, the king sleeps upon his left side in a
rather uncomfortable fashion; standing on one side is his wife Nantilde,
or Nantechilde; on the other, one of his sons, Clovis II. or Sigebert.
At the apex of the arch is Our Lord giving the benediction, with SS.
Martin and Denis on each side. These two saints, with S. Maurice, had
the kindness to hear the prayers of Dagobert, when he was held in
bondage by devils, during a voyage in a boat, on the waters of the great
gulf fixed between Abraham and Hades. The story was told by a hermit to
Ansoald, on his way back from Sicily, and by the 9th century had been
worked up into a fact, as it is mentioned in a letter from Louis le
Débonnaire to Hilduin, abbot of S. Denis. May it not have been
originally a dovetailing together of the story of Charon and _le bon roy
Dagobert_, a _mélange_ of Classic myth and Christian legend which was
very common in the early centuries of the Christian era? The sculptures,
although, as regards the drapery, sufficiently graceful, are very
curious and quaint, especially the boat and its contents. The three
saints coming to the rescue, Dagobert pressing the hand of the foremost,
the discomforted demons, and the soul of the king standing upon a napkin
held by S. Denis and S. Martin, are all vigorous to a degree, if
somewhat rude; but the Angels round the _voussure_ carrying censers, are
charming. In the account of the legend given by Guillaume de Nangis,
quoted by Alexandra Lenoir, we seem to have another reading of the
opening part of the story of Job. "Mais monseigneur saint Denis, qui
n'oblia mie son bon amy le roy Dagobert, requist à Nostre Seigneur
Jesus-Crist qui luy donast congié d'aler secourre la dicte ame; laquelle
chose comme Nostre Seigneur luy eust ottroié, sainct Denis s'en ala et
mena avecques luy Sainct Morise et aultres amys que le roy Dagobert
avoit moult honorés en sa vie, et avecques eulx orent des anges qui les
conduirent jusques en la mer, et quant ils vindrent là où les deables
tenoient et ammenoient à grant feste l'ame du roy Dagobert, si le
misrent entre eulx et se combattirent encontre les deables". It was all
done because of _Monseigneur S. Denis'_ love of "_le bon roy_," who had
founded the abbey in honour of the martyr; and if you doubt these facts,
and "ne me croyez, alez à Sainct-Denis en France, en l'église, et
regardez devant l'autel où l'en chante tous les jours la grant messe, là
où le roy Dagobert gist. La verrez vous audessus de luy ce que vous ay
dit, pourtrait et de noble euvre richement enluminée." From this, there
can be no doubt that the whole mass of sculpture was originally
coloured; indeed, a close inspection shows a little still visible in the
folds of the drapery. Lenoir, whose depreciation of Mediæval sculpture
as compared to that of the Renaissance was considerable, speaks of the
draped figures as _pour le style comme pour le goût, comparable aux
belles inventions de Raphaël_.
Upon the platform of the apse is the mosaic effigy of Frédégonde, not
earlier than the 12th century. It is composed of a stone slab of the
form of the early stone coffins. The design is marked out by thin bands
of metal between which are incrustations of very small pieces of
porphyry, serpentine, and white marble. This, like several of the early
tombs, was originally in the abbey of S. Germain-des-Près.
The central part of the crypt was formerly the depository for the
relics--a sort of sanctuary dedicated to S. Démètre. Another part of the
crypt became the burial place of the Bourbon family. All the princes
were buried in vaults underneath their tombs. "Tous le roys, reynes et
autres ensépulturez à Saint-Denys reposent dans les caveaux qui sont
sous leurs tombeaux, sans qu'il y en ait aucun ailleurs, ce que je dis
pour désabuser plusieurs personnes (mesmes des gens de qualité) qui
s'imaginent qu'il y ait une grande cave dans laquelle sont tous les
roys, en chair et en os, et demandent qu'on la leur monstre, dont je me
suis souventefois estonné, veu mesme que plusieurs qui vivent encores
ont peu voir mettre les cinq derniers roys décédéz non en ceste cave
imaginaire, mais dans le tombeau des Vallois, sçavoir, Henry II. et ces
trois fils, et Henry IV., dans le caveau commun des rois, où il est
encore. On en peut dire autant de François I^{er.} et de Louis XII., et
de tous les autres; car quant à la grotte qui est sous le chevet, il n'y
a, ny eut jamais, corps ny sépulture d'aucune personne.[36] The day of
the funeral the body was placed in the vault, "sur des barres de fer,
devant une statue en marbre de Nostre-Dame." There it remained for a
year, after which it was deposited in the tomb of the sovereign's
ancestors. This curious arrangement became a custom by pure accident.
Henri IV. not having signified any desire as to his place of burial, was
left in this vault, "_le caveau des cérémonies_," while his widow and
_les Etats_ discussed the question of erecting a monument; and thus, by
force of habit, the succeeding Bourbons being placed by the side of
Henri, the "caveau" became the mausoleum of the family. But the Bourbons
were a prolific race, and before very long the overcrowding became too
great to admit of any more inhabitants; so upon the burial of
Marie-Thérèse, the wife of Louis XIV., it was decided to tunnel a long
passage to connect it with the central part of the crypt. It was a
difficult and dangerous proceeding: "On perça," says Félibien,
"par-dessous le chevet, à l'endroit où estoit une ancienne chapelle de
Saint-Démètre, un petit corridor de la largeur de trois pieds sur sept
de haut. Les ouvriers voûtoient à mesure qu'ils avançoient; et dans le
poursuite de leur ouvrage, ils découvrirent quelques tombeaux dont on ne
reconnut que celui de l'abbé Antoine de La Haye, par une inscription
qu'on y trouva. Enfin, après avoir poussé environ sept toises et demie,
les ouvriers arrivèrent à l'ancien caveau; de sorte qu'il a été aisé d'y
joindre, par ce corridor de communication, un caveau spécieux qui occupe
aujourd'huy, dessous le chevet, l'ancienne crypte où estoient autrefois
les corps des saints martyrs. La place est de neuf toises de long sur
environ deux toises et demi dans sa plus grande largeur." The new vault
was consecrated the 31st August, 1683. This accounts for the apparent
want of an entrance to the centre of the crypt; as all visitors to the
church are aware, you look through little apertures to the place where a
few post-revolution burials have taken place. I commend all these
particulars, which exemplify the horrors of burial above ground, with
the rifling of tombs and coffins perpetrated by the officers of the
Convention, to the opposers of cremation. Had all these poor royalties
been converted into ashes, no such doings could have taken place. The
entrance to the Bourbon vaults still exists, close to the altar of S.
Maurice, to the right of the High Altar looking eastwards; but visitors
enter by some steps farther east, by the side of the ascent to the apse.
It is a miserably gloomy hole, with a few coffins upon trestles,
shedding their violet coverings. Can any sort of burial equal in horror
this of open vaults?
The statues of the early kings were erected by S. Louis. Ordered by him
as commemorative effigies of his ancestors, it does not seem to have
been within the wit of the 13th century sculptors to vary the
physiognomy of the early sovereigns. Thus there is a strong likeness
between Charles Martel[37] and Pépin, and Louis and Carloman. There is a
curious divergence in the opinions passed upon Louis III. The chronicle
of S. Denis calls him a "_homs plains de toutes ordures et toutes
vanitez_;" whereas the annals of Metz say, "_Tous les peuples des Gaules
pleurèrent sa mort avec une extrème douleur. Il fut en effet homme de
rare mérite, et défendit courageusement et virilement contre les
incursions des payens le royaume qui lui était soumis._" So we see that
it is not only the 19th century which vaunts and cries down a man,
according as he belongs to the political sheep or the goats.
[Illustration]
Carloman, at his eighteen years, has the appearance of a man of forty,
and many years older than his brother. The statue of Charlemagne's
brother Carloman has had a queer history. It was marched to the
Petits-Augustins with the rest, and there christened Charles le Chauve,
but when sent back to S. Denis it was rebaptised Henri I.
Hugues Capet was buried at S. Denis close to his father, the great
Hugues; his last words addressed to his son Robert prove him to have
been possessed of piety, a proper notion of justice, and a large amount
of common sense. "Bon fils, je t'adjure, au nom de la sainte et
indivisible Trinité, de ne pas livrer ton âme aux conseils des flatteurs
et de ne pas écouter les voeux de leur ambition, en leur faisant un don
empoisonné de ces abbayes que je te confie pour toujours. Je désire
également qu'il ne t'arrive point, conduit par la légèreté d'esprit ou
ému par la colère, de distraire ou enlever quelque chose de leurs biens.
Je te recommande surtout de veiller à ce que, pour aucune raison, tu ne
déplaises jamais à leur chef commun, le grand saint Benoit, qui est un
accès certain auprès du souverain juge, un port de tranquillité et un
asile de sûreté après la sortie de la chair."[38] His particular friends
to whom he commends his son are the Blessed Virgin, S. Benedict, S.
Martin, S. Aignan, and SS. Cornelius and Cyprian, and above all S.
Geneviève. Queen Adélaïde, like most Middle-Age ladies, did much
embroidering as she sat up in her tower, and naturally S. Denis was her
first thought. She gave the great statue of S. Martin (I do not know in
what part of the church this was placed) a wondrous cope, embroidered
between the shoulders with a "_Pontife éternel_" and adoring Cherubim
and Seraphim. In the front was the "Lamb of God" and the Four Beasts of
the Apocalypse.[39]
Robert must have profited by the good advice given him by his father,
for we find the monk Helgaud giving him a tremendous panegyric in the
account of his death. "Peu de temps après avoir reçu le saint et
salutaire viatique du corps vivifiant de notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ,
Robert alla au Roi des rois, au Seigneur des seigneurs, et entra heureux
dans les célestes royaumes. Il mourut le vingtième jour de juillet
(1031) au commencement de la journée du mardi, au château de Melun, et
il fut porté à Paris, puis enseveli à Saint-Denis, près de son père. Il
y eut là un grand deuil, une douleur intolérable; car la foule de moines
gémissait sur la perte d'un tel père,[40] et une multitude innombrable
de clercs se plaignait de leur misère que soulageait avec tant de piété
ce saint homme. Un nombre infini de veuves et d'orphelins regrettait
tant de bienfaits reçus de lui. Tous poussaient de grands cris jusqu'au
ciel, disant d'une commune voix: 'Grand Roi, Dieu bon, pourquoi nous
tuer ainsi en nous ôtant ce bon père et l'unissant à toi!' Ils se
frappaient avec les poings la poitrine, allaient et venaient au saint
tombeau, répétaient encore les paroles marquées plus haut et se
joinaient aux prières des saints afin que Dieu eût pitié de lui dans le
siècle éternel. Dieu! quelle douleur causa cette mort. Tous s'écriaient
avec des clameurs redoublées: 'Tant que Robert a régné et commandé, nous
avons vécu tranquilles, nous n'avons rien craint; que l'âme de ce père
pieux, ce père du sénat, ce père de tout bien, soit heureuse et sauvée!
qu'elle monte et habite pour toujours avec Jésus-Christ, Roi des
rois!'.... Dans tout cela, nous avons un grand sujet de douleur, en
voyant qu'un tel et si grand homme repose sans une pierre ornée
d'inscriptions, sans monument, sans épitaphe, lui dont la gloire et la
mémoire ont été en bénédiction à toute la terre." As late as the 16th
century Robert's tomb was enriched with colour, and even now a small
amount remains.
Another king's death, that of Louis le Gros, is recorded by Suger:
"Après avoir reçu en communion le corps et le sang de Jésus-Christ, le
roi rejetant loin de lui toutes les pompes de l'orgueil du siècle,
s'étendit sur un lit de simple toile. M'ayant vu pleurer sur lui qui,
par le sort commun aux hommes, était devenu si petit et si humble de si
grand et si élevé qu'il était, il me dit: 'Ne pleure pas sur moi,
très-cher ami, mais plutôt triomphe et réjouis-toi de ce que Dieu, dans
sa miséricorde, m'a donné, comme tu le vois, les moyens de me préparer à
paraître devant lui.'.... Un peu avant de mourir, il ordonna qu'on
étendit un tapis par terre, et que sur ce tapis on jetât des cendres en
forme de croix; puis il s'y fit porter et déposer par ses serviteurs, et
fortifiant toute sa personne par le signe de la croix, il rendit l'âme
le jour les calendes d'août (I^{er.} août 1137), dans la trentième année
de son règne et presque la soixantième de son âge. Son corps fut à
l'heure même enveloppé de riches étoffes pour être transporté et enterré
dans l'église des saints martyrs."
Suger mentions the finding of the remains of Carloman when they were
about to bury Louis VI., and how the former were removed to a spot
between the altar of the Holy Trinity and that of the Martyrs: "On l'y
déposa donc avec le cérémonial d'usage pour les rois, au milieu de
chants nombreux, d'hymnes et de prières, après lui avoir fait de pieuses
et solennelles funérailles. C'est là qu'il attend d'être admis à jouer
de sa résurrection future, et qu'il est d'autant plus près de se réunir
en esprit à la troupe des esprits célestes, que son corps est plus
voisin des corps des saints martyrs et plus à portée d'en être protégé."
"FELIX QUI POTUIT MUNDI NUTANTE RUINA
QUO JACEAT PRÆSCISSE LOCO...."