saintes martyrs pour lesquels il avait un si pieux dévouement! puisse
cette âme être placée au rang des saints par celui qui a donné la sienne
pour le salut du monde, notre seigneur Jésus-Christ qui vit et règne,
Roi des rois, et maître des puissances, aux siècles des siècles.
Amen."[41]
Of the burial of Louis VII. the monk Rigord gives some interesting
details: "L'année 1181, le jeudi dix-huitième jour de septembre, mourut
à Paris Louis, roi des Français. Son corps fut honorablement enseveli et
couvert d'aromates dans l'église de Sainte-Marie de Barbeau, qu'il avait
fondée. C'est là qu'en l'honneur de notre seigneur Jésus-Christ et de la
bienheureuse mère de Dieu, Marie toujours vièrge, de saints religieux
célèbrent jour et nuit les offices divins pour l'âme du défunt roi, pour
celles de tous ses prédécesseurs et pour le salut du royaume de France.
C'est aussi dans cette église, et sur le lieu même de la sépulture du
roi, que l'illustre reine des Français, Adèle[42] son épouse et mère de
Phillippe-Auguste, roi des Français, fit construire un tombeau où l'art
le plus exquis avait fait un heureux mélange des matières les plus
brillantes, d'or et d'argent, d'airain et de pierres précieuses. Jamais
chef-d'oeuvre aussi étonnant n'avait paru dans aucun royaume depuis le
règne de Salomon." In 1182 Philippe Auguste decreed that a taper should
always be kept alight before the tomb of his father. What became of the
monument is not known. At the Revolution it consisted of a sarcophagus
which had been renovated in 1695 by the Cardinal de Furstemberg, abbot
of Barbeau[43] and prince bishop of Strasburg. When Charles IX. was at
Fontainebleau he had the curiosity to open this latter tomb of Louis.
The body was nearly entire; but the sceptre, some silver seals and
ornaments, were partially destroyed. The king had rings on his fingers
and a gold cross on his neck; "le roi et les princes du sang qui se
trouvèrent là présents, les prirent pour les porter en mémoire d'un si
bon est religieux prédécesseur."[44] One would like to know why
ignorant, poverty-stricken fisher and peasant folk should be
anathematized for robbing the dead after a wreck or a battle, when such
a pious prince as the author of the massacre of S. Bartholomew pilfered
the rings from his ancestor without a word of protest--on the contrary,
his relations and friends "du sang" aided and abetted him. But then, of
course, a few centuries had elapsed in the latter case, and poor Louis
was reduced to a state of dry bones; it was robbing a skeleton, not a
body. In the reign of Napoléon the abbey of Barbeau was converted into a
school for the daughters of members of the Legion of Honour, and in 1817
the remains of Louis VII. were transported to S. Denis.
Why does it happen that children who die young seem to be so superior to
those who survive? Would the Duc de Bourgogne, Philippe, son of Louis
VI., Edward V., or Prince Arthur have made better sovereigns than their
relations who reigned in their stead? Suger gives a picturesque account
of the death of Philippe, "un enfant dans la fleur de l'âge." This
"malheur étrange" happened on the 13th October, 1131. "Le fils aîné du
roi Louis Philippe, d'une grande douceur, l'espoir des bons et la
terreur des méchants, se promenait un jour à cheval dans un faubourg de
la cité de Paris; un détestable porc se jette dans le chemin du cheval;
celui-ci tombe rudement, renverse, écrase contre une pierre le noble
enfant qui le montait, et l'étouffe sous le poids de son corps. Ce
jour-là même on avait convoqué l'armée pour une expédition; aussi les
habitants de la ville et tout les autres qui apprennent cet évènement,
consternés de douleur, crient, pleurent, poussent des sanglots,
s'empressent à relever le tendre enfant presque mort, et le portent dans
une maison voisine. O douleur! à l'entrée de la nuit il rendit l'âme.
Quelle tristesse et quel désespoir accablèrent son père, sa mère et les
grands du royaume! Homère lui-même ne pourrait l'exprimer. On l'enterra
dans l'église du bienheureux Denis, dans le lieu réservé à la sépulture
des rois et à la gauche de l'autel de la Sainte-Trinité, avec tout le
cérémonial usité pour les rois, en présence d'une foule d'évêques et de
grands de l'Etat."[45] Philippe's was the last statue that S. Louis gave
to the church, and the crown and sceptre show that the young prince had
been crowned by his father at Reims during the latter's life--probably
in order to share the duties of kingship.
Although three abbeys were the happy possessors of the remains of
Blanche of Castille (Maubuisson, Lys, and Saint-Corentin-lez-Mantes), no
tomb exists of the sweet mother of S. Louis.[46] Upon the monument at
Maubuisson the queen was attired in the habit of the Cistercian order,
which she assumed in her last moments; the crown was placed over the
veil, the royal robes over the nun's habit, and so she passed away, and
was thus buried. In 1793 various tombs, armorial bearings, and the like
_aliments de l'orgueil_, were transported from Maubuisson to Pontoise;
some were broken, some burnt; golden vessels and silver saints were
thrust into the melting-pot; and Blanche of Castille, with the help of a
prince perhaps, or a warrior, became transformed into an instrument of
war. But the museum of the Petits-Augustins wanted an effigy of the
mother of Monsieur Saint Louis; and so they set up a black marble image
of Catherine de Courtenay, empress of Constantinople and wife of Charles
of Valois, who had lately, and all alone, journeyed from Maubuisson;
and, thinking it a joke to turn a black empress into a white queen, they
wrote upon the slab, in 13th century characters, that it was the true
monument of _Madame la royne Blanche mere de Monsieur Saint Loys_. After
twenty years Madame Catherine-Blanche became divorced from her other
half, and the white queen faded away in favour of the black empress.
One of the most beautiful tombs is that of Philippe, the brother of S.
Louis, which was formerly at Royaumont. The prince lies upon a
sarcophagus, round which are niches filled with little figures of monks,
bishops, and angels, full of character and expression. One of these
represents a king: "On y voyait le cercueil de Louis porté par les
barons de France et par le roi d'Angleterre.[47] Une figure couronnée
porte sur l'épaule un des bâtons; c'est le roi anglais"[48]--proving the
sovereignty of France over England. There is a curious engraving by
Boulogne representing this procession. The church is in the distance; a
string of monks are zigzagging across the plain, and in the foreground
we see this crowned head and others bearing the reliquary; behind are
bishops; the whole in the grandiose style of the 17th and 18th
centuries--drapery flying in the wind, bishops and monks prancing, and
all the faces turned to the spectator. S. Louis had always held the
abbey in most respectful esteem. He visited it before he started upon
his various expeditions; and in 1267, when he had conferred the order of
chivalry upon his son Philippe and sixty other young noblemen, he rode
to S. Denis on horseback to implore the blessing of God, accompanied by
a large concourse of courtiers and princes.
The monuments of the battle of Bouvines came from the church of S.
Catherine-du-Val-des-Écoliers. They are incised stones, coloured and
gilt, bearing the following inscriptions:--
A LA PRIERE DES SERGENS DARMES MONS^R SAINT LOYS FONDA
CESTE EGLISE ET Y MIST LA PREMIERE
PIERRE ET FU POUR LA JOIE DE LA VITTOIRE QUE FU AU PONT DE
BOUINES LAN MIL. CC. ET.XIIII.
LES SERGENS DARMES POUR LE TEMPS GARDOIENT LEDIT PONT ET
VOUERENT QUE SE DIEU LEUR
DONNOIT VITTOIRE ILS FONDEROIENT VNE EGLISE EN LONNEUR DE
MADAME SAINTE KATHERINE ET AINSI FU IL.
Another epitaph to Blanche de France came from the Cordeliers:
ICY GIST MADAME BLANCHE FILLE DE MONSEIGNEUR SANCT
LOYS ET F[EM]E DE MONS. FERDINAND DE LACERDE ROY DE
CASTILLE QUI TRESPASSA DU CEST SIECLE LAN DE [=GCE]
MCCCXX LE DIX SEPTIESME JOUR DE JUN
PRIES POUR LAME DELLE Q. DEU BONNE MERCI LI FACE, AMEN.
When Isabelle d'Aragon died at Cosenza, in Calabria, her husband,
Philippe le Hardi, wrote to the abbot and religious of S. Denis to
commend her soul to their prayers, for her life _était aimable à Dieu et
aux hommes_. Her epitaph begins:
DYSABEL. LAME. AIT. PARADYS, _etc._
Louis XI. was not buried at S. Denis; he desired to be laid in the
church of Our Lady of Cléry, "for which the Heretics (meaning the
Huguenots and Calvinists) had not the same respect which they inviolably
entertained for the holy and royal tombs of S. Denis.[49] But inspired
by the Devil, with an abominable and hellish spirit of rage and
profanation, they tore the king's remains from the tomb, and, together
with the queen's, burnt them and scattered their ashes to the winds.
Thus he who would not let his body rest under the protection of the Holy
Martyers found no rest in the grave."[50]
This monument was of bronze, but another was erected in 1622 by an
Orléans sculptor, Michel Bourdin. La Fontaine described the latter as
follows, in a letter to his wife, dated 1633: "Nous nous arrêtâmes à
Cléry. J'allai aussitôt visiter l'église; c'est une collégiale assez
bien rentée pour un bourg. Louis XI. y est enterré. On le voit à genoux
sur son tombeau, quatre enfants aux coins; ce seraient quatre anges, si
on ne leur avait pas arraché les ailes. Le bon apôtre du roi fait là le
saint homme, et il est bien mieux pris que lorsque le Bourguignon le
mena à Liége.
Je lui trouvai la mine d'un matois:
Ainsi l'étoit ce prince dont la vie
Doit rarement servir d'exemple aux rois,
Mais pourroit être en quelques points suivie.
"À ses genoux sont ses heures et son chapelet, la main de justice, son
sceptre, son chapeau et sa Notre-Dame. Je ne sais comment le statuaire
n'y a pas mis le prévôt Tristan; le tout est en marbre blanc et m'a paru
d'assez bonne main."
This monument suffered some mutilations during the Revolution, the head
being chopped into three pieces[51]; but in 1817 it was repaired. It is,
in style, very similar to the descriptions of the bronze monument of
Charles VIII.
[Illustration: TOMB OF THE HOUSE OF ORLÉANS.]
The tomb of the house of Orléans was erected by Louis XII. in the centre
of the magnificent chapel of the family, in the church of the Célestins.
It contained besides, the statue of Philippe de Chabot, by Jean Cousin;
Germain Pilon's Three Graces; the columns of Anne de Montmorency, of
François II., and of Timoléon de Brissac; the obelisk of the
Longuevilles; the tombs of Rénée d'Orléans, and of the duc de Rohan, by
Michel Anguier. The destruction of this chapel and the dispersal of its
contents was one of the greatest acts of vandalism of modern times;
although a good deal has been preserved, the loss of the rest cannot but
be bewailed.
Charles, duc d'Orléans, was a lettered man and given to verse writing;
he was made prisoner at the battle of Agincourt, and passed more than
twenty years of his life in England. The little porcupine at the king's
feet (upon the tomb) symbolized the order of chivalry which he founded,
and which adopted that animal as its emblem.
The beautiful marble monument of Rénée d'Orléans recalls those of Santa
Croce, and other Italian churches, and it is a magnificent example of
French Renaissance sculpture.
The epitaph to Marguerite de Valois, first wife of Henri IV., attributed
to the queen's authorship, is taken from a manuscript in the
Bibliothèque:
Ceste brillante fleur de l'arbre des Valoys
En qui mourust le nom de tant de puissans Roys,
Marguerite, pour qui tant de lauriers fleurirent,
Pour qui tant de bouquets chez les Muses se firent.
A vu fleurs et lauriers, sur sa tête sécher,
Et par un coup fatal, les lys s'en détacher.
Las! le cercle Royal dont l'avoit couronnée
En tumulte et sans ordre un trop prompt himénée,
Rompu du même coup devant ses pieds tombant
La laissa comme un tronc dégradé par les vents.
Epouse sans espoux, et Royne sans royaume,
Vaine ombre du passé, grand et noble fantosme
Elle traisna depuis les restes de son sort,
Et vist jusqu'a son nom mourir avant sa mort.
The epitaph upon Henri's second wife, Marie de' Medici, is in a very
different style. Marie, after having built the splendid Luxembourg
palace, and filled it with Rubens' sparkling magnificences of colour,
died in exile at Köln:
Le Louvre de Paris vit éclater ma gloire;
Le nom de mon époux, d'immortelle mémoire,
Est placé dans le ciel comme un astre nouveau.
Pour gendres j'eus deux rois, pour fils ce clair flambeau,
Qui par mille rayons brillera dans l'histoire.
Parmi tant de grandeur (le pourra-t-on bien croire?)
Je suis morte en exil; Cologne est mon tombeau!
Cologne, oeil des cités de la terre Allemande,
Si jamais un passant curieux te demande
Le funeste récit des maux que j'ai soufferts,
Dis: ce triste cercueil chétivement enserre
La reine dont le sang coule en tout l'univers,
Qui n'eut pas en mourant un seul pouce de terre.[52]
[Illustration: TOMB OF RÉNÉE D'ORLÉANS-LONGUEVILLE.]
Louis XIII., or rather, part of him, was buried at the Jesuits' church;
and Anne d'Autriche erected therein a fine monument sculptured by
Jacques Sarrazin. Two colossal angels in bronze and silver supported a
silver-gilt heart; but its magnificence only made it of greater use to
the mint for coinage.
This good king, the thirteenth of his name, was a great devotee of S.
Denis. He had instituted reform in the abbey by introducing the
congregation of S. Maur; and we are told that he acquired "strength and
spirits in his last illness, as he lay languishing upon his bed, as
often as he thought of S. Denis. At such times he would remark to his
attendants, with a smile of pious serenity, how much he felt himself
reconciled to his near approaching dissolution, and fortified against
all the usual desires of life or dread of death; in a sweet anticipation
of the happiness he should enjoy by reposing near the tombs of the Holy
Martyrs, in whom he placed the most sacred and unbounded confidence."
There is one more exquisite work of art which ought to be mentioned, the
beautiful urn from the abbey of Haute-Bruyère, which contained the heart
of that magnificent profligate, François I^er. It is of white marble, of
perfect form, with the most delicious little Genii sitting on the top.
The bas reliefs represent the Arts and Sciences, Faith, and the Church.
It is the work of Pierre Bontems.
Some of the kings were crowned at S. Denis after having been anointed
and consecrated at Reims; some, like Philippe Auguste, were re-invested
at the abbey. Philippe le Hardi, Charles VIII., Louis XII., François
I^{er.}, and Louis XIII., were all anointed at Reims and crowned at S.
Denis. An account in an old book of the coronation of Louis XIII. is so
quaint, and gives so graphic a picture of some of the manners and
customs of the period, that it is, I think, worth quoting in full.[53]
The description of the magnificent ceremony was extracted from a
chronicle of the reign of Louis XIII., and translated into English a
hundred and fifty years ago:--
"The royall ornaments, which are kept in the _Abbey of_ Saint
Denis, being caryed to Rheims, on the 14th October, 1610, the King
made his entrie into the towne, where his Maiestie was received
with greate pompe and magnificence; the particularities whereof I
am forced, for brevities sake, to omit. The day before the
ceremonie, the King went vnto the Cathedrall, to assist at
Euensong, and to heare a sermon made by Father Coton, vpon the
_diuine_ institution of the _unction of the Kings of France_, and
of confirmation, which he received from the hands of the Cardinall
of Joyeuse, to whom he was presented by Queen Marguerite and the
Prince of Condé.
"On Sunday, the 17th of October, the King sent foure Barons vnto
the Abbey of Saint Remy, to fetch the _holie oyle_. They parted
earlie in the morning, with their Esquires and Gentlemen; either of
them having a banner, with his armes, caried before him, causing a
_white hackney_ to be led, for the Prior of Saint Remy, who was to
carry the said _holie oyle_.
"The Cardinal of Joyeuse, who was to represent the Archbishop of
Rheims, and to doe the office, at the ceremonie, came soone after
into the church, with eight Bishops to assist him, where, attending
the comming of the Peeres, he sat him downe in his pontificall
robes. Two of these Bishops were attired like Deacons, with mitres;
two like Sub-Deacons, with mitres; and foure with copes and mitres.
Soon after arrived the ecclesiasticall Peeres, in their pontificall
robes.... At the same instant there came, from the King's lodging,
the Princes of Condé and Conty ... who were deputed by the King to
hold the places of ... attyred in their robes and coronets,
according to their qualities. Having done their devotions, and
saluted one another, they sent the bishops of Laon and Beauuais to
fetch the King, in their pontificall habits (_having certaine
reliques of the holie Saintes hanging about their neckes_),
conducted by the Master of the Ceremonies; all the Prebendes of
oure Ladies church marching in goodlie procession before them.
Being come to the King's chamber, and finding it shut, the Bishop
of Laon knocked three several times, to either of which the greate
Chamberlaine demanded, '_What would ye?_' The Bishop answered,
'_Lewis the Thirteenth, son to Henrie the Greate_'; whereunto the
Chamberlaine replied, '_He sleepeth_'; then knocking againe, he had
the like answere. But at the third time the Bishop answered,
'_Lewis the Thirteenth, which God hath given us for King_'; then
the door was opened, and the Bishops entered with the cheife
chaunter of Rheims, &c., where they found the King laid on his bed,
_having his shirt slit before and behind_, to receive the holie
Vnction, and uppon it a waistecoat of crimson sattin, _slitted in
like maner_, and thereon a long robe of cloth-of-_siluer_. The
Bishop of Laon having finished a prayer, kissing their hands, they
lifted the King from his bed, with all _shewes of honour_, and then
led him, _singing_, to the church doore. Before him, there marched,
first the greate Prouost, with his archeres; then the Clergie which
had accompanied the two Prelates; the hundrede tall Swissers of his
guard: the drummes, haultbois, and herauldes; the nobilitie; the
great Master of the Ceremonies; the Knights of the Holie Ghoste,
with their great order hong about their neckes, in the middest of
two hundred Gentlemen of the King's house; and _the Scottish
Guards, in their own proper_ habiliments. Before his Maiestie went
the Mareschall la Chastre, _representinge the Constable_, carying a
naked sworde, &c. &c. After some ceremonies at the church doore,
the King approacheth neare untoe the high altar, where he was
presented, by the Bishops of Laon and Chalons, untoe the Cardinal
Joyeuse, who said many prayers, whilest the King was at his
deuotions. After this he was led untoe his seate, with his Noblemen
and officers about him. In the meane tyme, all the religious men of
Saint Remy came solemnlie in procession, being accompanied by the
cheife of the towne, caryinge torches of virgines waxe in their
hands: Their Prior was mounted upon the _white hackney_, having a
foote-cloath of cloath-of-silver, carying the _violl of holie oyle,
in a pixe_, hanginge about his necke, being under a canopie of
cloath-of-silver, borne by foure Monkes. The Cardinall being
advertised of the arrivall of _the said oyle_, hee went, in his
pontificalibus, to meet it, with the eight Bishops which assisted
him, and all the singinge men and quiristeres. But before they
would deliver it unto the Cardinall, they made him (according to
the custome) binde himself to restore it untoe them againe. After
saying a praier, hee shewed the _holie oyle_ untoe the people; and
then set it down vpon the high altar, _with all the Godlie
reuerence_. (The coronation oath and some ceremonies are here
omitted for brevity). The King having taken the oathes, with
inuocation of the name of God, laying his handes vpon the Gospel,
which he kist with greate reuerence. The King's ornaments ... were
layd upon the altar; and on the left hande side, neere vnto them,
stoode the _Prior of Saint Denis_, who hath the keeping of them;
and on the right side stoode the Prior of Saint Remy, _looking
sharplie to the holie oyle_.[54] The Bishops of Laon and Beauvais,
hauing conducted him vnto the altar, Mons. de Belgarde tooke off
his roabe of cloath-of-silver. Being in his waistecoate of sattin,
when the Cardinall had made certaine prayers and blessings, the
Duke of Esguillon put on his buskins, and the Prince of Condé put
on his spurres (in the place of the Duke of Bourgundie) and
presentlie took them off againe. After this, the Cardinall blessed
the royale sworde, it being in the scabberd, and girt the King
therewith, and presentlie ungirted him againe. Then he drew it out
of the scabberd, and kissed it, saying manie praiers, whilest that
the Quier sang certaine anthems. The King kist the sworde also; and
layd it upon the altar, in testimonie of his zeale and affection to
the defence of the holie church. The Cardinall delivered it into
his hande againe; which his Maiestie tooke reuerentlie vpon his
knee, and gave it to the _Mareschall la Chastre_. The Cardinall
returning to the altar, to prepare the sacred vnction, after this
manner: '_Hee drewe out of the forenamed holie violl, with a
needell of gold, a small quantitie of liquor, of the bignesse of a
pease, and mingled it, with his finger, with the holie creme
prepared in the couer of the chalice_.
"This vnction being thus ordered, the tyinges of the King's
garments _were let loose both before and behinde_, by the Cardinall
and the two Bishops; after which his Maiestie kneeled down in his
oratorie, and the Cardinall with him, to crave the assistance of
God for the preseruation of France. The Lettanie being sung, the
Cardinall stoode up, to saye certaine praiers ouer the King, who
was yet kneelinge. Then the Cardinall sett him downe, as in the
consecration of a Bishop, and holding in his hand _the patenne_
whereon the _heavenlie oyle_ was layd, he beganne, with his right
_thumbe_, to anoynte the King, in divers places, _viz._, on the
crowne of the head, on the stomacke, betwixte his shouldere blades,
on bothe shoulderes, and on the bendinges of his armes. The
consecration praiers being ended, the Cardinall, with the two
Bishops, closed vp his shirte, waistecoate, and other garmentes, in
reverence of the sacred Vnction. Then the high Chamberlaine
presented the three habitts accustomed to be worne, in the lyke
ceremonies, viz., a long jackett, representinge a Sub-Deacon, a
surplis for a Deacon, and a _royall cloake_, insteade of a coape,
representinge a Prieste; which ended, the Cardinall _anoynted the
palmes of his handes_, and then put him on _thin_ gloues, lest,
peradventure, hee should touche anie thinge with his bare handes,
for reverence of the vnction, which gloues he blest, and sprinkled
with holie water; the royall ringe being alsoe blest by the
Cardinall (a symbole of loue, whereby the King was wedded untoe his
realme), he put it on the fourthe fingere of his Maiesties right
hande, with all the accustomed ceremonie. This done, hee tooke the
sceptere from the altar, and put it intoe his right hande, for a
mark of the Soueraigne power: then he tooke the hande of Justice,
which hee put into his lefte hande, it being a wande, hauing, on
the top thereof, a hande of mylke white iuorie.