having been taken away, to throw more light upon the marbled stucco.
What remains is in good 16th century style, the work, probably, of
Héron, Jacques de Paroy, Chamu, and Jean Nogare, whom Levieil records to
have been the artists employed. The subjects are from the history of SS.
Peter, Joseph, John the Baptist, and Francis of Assisi; but it is most
difficult to follow the designs, as not only are there the gaps of plain
glass, but what was taken out has been used for repairing the other
windows. Still a few subjects can be traced; the Raising of Lazarus; an
Angel bringing food to the Virgin as she works in the temple; the
Magdalen preaching to the people from a pulpit; the Beheading of S.
John. In one of the chapels the history of Susannah figures--also Joseph
and Jacob, and other Old Testament worthies. Three persons, identical in
form and features, represent the Holy Trinity; they hold each other's
hands in a circle, upon which is inscribed, _Ego sum alpha et omega,
primus et novissimus_. On another window are the Sybils carrying the
emblems of the Nativity and the Passion, the Cradle, a lantern, the
Scourge, and the Cross.
The church possesses a very curious holy-water stoop of the time of
Louis XII. It is about three feet high, more like a baptismal font than
a stoop in size; it is octagonal, and stands upon a pedestal with a
square base. The upper part is decorated with the arms of France and of
Bretagne, and the instruments of the Passion. A small amount of carved
woodwork of the Renaissance period remains--fragments of sculptured
columns, pilasters, children, birds, and trophies. But a most
remarkable picture of the 16th century arrests the visitor's attention
as he saunters round the aisles, _S. Geneviève_ sitting in a sort of
Druidical circle surrounded by her flock of sheep--a rare combination of
mystic Paganism and Christian legend.
A mosaic tablet of the _Virgin and Child_ now in the Hôtel Cluny (No.
1795) was formerly in this church. It was given by Jean de Ganay, first
president of the Parliament. Piganiol de la Force gave the continuation
of the inscription as "_Opus magistri Davidis_, Florentini, Anno
M.CCCC.LXXXXVI." Jean de Ganay went to Italy with Charles VIII., and
took part in the campaign of 1494 and 1495, and for some time he was
chancellor of the kingdom of Naples; but as he was not first president
until 1505, the mosaic must have been sent to Paris subsequently to his
sojourn in Italy. His epitaph runs thus:
CY GIST LE CORPS DE NOBLE CHEVALIER
JEAN DE GANNY DE FRANCE CHANCELIER
ET ZELATEUR DE LA CHOSE PUBLIQUE.
TARDIF À NUIRE ET PREST À CONSEILLER
DU BIEN DAUTRUY CAR CESTOIT LE PILLIER,
PHILOSOPHAL VRAY ARISTOTILIQUE,
POURTANT HUMAINS UN CHACUN SE APPLIQUE
PRIER JESUS PAR MESSES ET PAR DITS
QUIL LUY PARDONNE ET DONNE PARADIS.
OBIIT ANNO 1512.
M. de Sommerard attributes this mosaic to David Ghirlandajo.
SAINT-NICOLAS DES CHAMPS.
[Illustration: PORCH OF SAINT-NICOLAS.]
The patron saint of children, of schoolboys, of poor maidens and
travellers, of merchants, and, above all, of pawnbrokers, was popular in
Paris as elsewhere, and thus we find three churches dedicated to him. S.
Nicolas was a performer of stupendous miracles. Thus it happened that
during a time of famine, while he was visiting his flock, he discovered
that a certain disciple of the Evil One murdered little children, and,
cannibal-like, feasted on them. And so audacious was this fiend in human
shape, that he impudently served up the dismembered limbs of a young
babe for the good bishop; who, seeing this wickedness, went to the tub
where the children's remains were being salted down, and making the sign
of the cross over them, the babes all stood up. This is a favourite
subject in art; and not the least beautiful of all the saints and
martyrs in the processional frieze in S. Vincent de Paul is Flandrin's
conception of S. Nicholas.[105] Why the Saint's three balls, which seem
to have been purses given to three poor maidens, should have become the
sign of pawnbrokers, seems doubtful. Perhaps simply as being emblems of
gold lent by merchants to impecunious customers. The story of the
children is probably an allegory of the conversion of sinners, the tub
being the baptismal font and the wicked host, the evil state in which
all men are born. S. Nicholas is also the guardian of property, and in
that form figures upon the windows of the cathedral of Chartres. The
Saint's image was stolen by a Jew, and placed in guardianship over his
treasures. Then came robbers, who carried off the property, which, the
Jew discovering, led to the chastisement of the bishop's effigy. But S.
Nicholas was equal to the occasion, and reproving the Jew, ordered the
robbers to restore what they had stolen; and when the Hebrew saw the
miracle, he became converted, he and his whole house. This, too, may be
the reason for S. Nicholas' patronage of pawnbrokers, who are many of
them, indeed most of them, Jews.
In the 12th century S. Nicolas des Champs was but a chapel built upon
the domain of the priory of S. Martin. Two centuries later it was
rebuilt; but in the 16th century, being too small for its parishioners,
it was widened by turning the chapels of the nave into an aisle, and
erecting fresh chapels outside it. Later on it was again enlarged, until
it has become one of the longest of the Paris churches.
The _façade_ in the Rue S. Martin is in the Flamboyant style, and not
without some beauty, with its pinnacles and turrets, its niches and
statuettes; but the most striking part of the church is the
richly-sculptured doorway in the Rue Aumaire, a mass of niches, figures
of Angels, and Flamboyant ornament of the most elaborate kind--birds,
baskets of flowers, borne by pious little personages, and every kind of
foliage, reminding us of the works of Germain Pilon.
The interior shows the change of style from shafts without capitals to
the latest development in the way of Doric columns. The High Altar is
ornamented with Corinthian columns, some stucco Angels by Jacques
Sarazin, and a picture of _the Assumption_ by Simon Vouet. The best
picture in the church is M. Bonnat's early work of _S. Vincent de Paul_.
An old panel of a _Calvary_ is a very good specimen of one of the
unknown artists of the 16th century.
A few celebrities were buried in S. Nicolas; the _savant_ Guillaume
Budé, who died in 1540; the philosopher Pierre Gassendi; the historians
Henri and Adrien de Valois; and Mdlle. de Scudéry; but their monuments
have vanished. On the pavement are some stones bearing the names of
Rochechouart, Crillon, Labriffe, Potier de Novion, Mesmes, and several
others.
Here is one of the many curious epitaphs:
LE CIEL L'ESTIMENT TROP POUR LA
LAISSER PLUS LONTEMPS MORTELE,
LAISSANT A SON ÉPOUX UNE FILLE
POUR GAGE DE LEUR ÉTROITE ET
INMORTELE AMITIÉ, DANS LAQU'ELLE
IL SURVIT POUR PLEURER LE RESTE
DE SES JOURS SA DURE SEPARATION
D'AVEC CETTE CHERE ÉPOUSE, QUI ÉTOIT
RECOMANDABLE, PAR SA TRES GRANDE
DOUCEUR, SA VIE PURE ET INOCENTE,
ET SA PRUDENCE AU DESUS DE SON
AAGE, QUI LUY ONT OUVERT LE
CHEMIN DE L'IMORTALITÉ.
REQUIESCAT IN PACE.
In the 16th century the acolytes of Notre-Dame celebrated their
well-known _fêtes_ at S. Nicolas, performing various antics _en route_;
but as their disorderly conduct was great, and the "_facéties_"
practised led to divers troubles and various abominations, the ceremony
resolved itself latterly into a simple Benediction which the _enfants de
choeur_ chanted in honour of their patron.
SAINT-NICOLAS DU CHARDONNET.
This is an ugly church, with traditions going back to the 13th century,
but with nothing thereof now to be seen, in the Rue S. Victor. The
present building dates from 1656 to 1709. A picture by Lebrun, of _The
Miracle of Moses_, adorns one of the chapels; and the tomb erected by
him to his mother's memory, by Tuby and Callignon, is to be found in
another. Lebrun's own tomb is by Coyzevox; Jérôme Bignon's, by Girardon.
There are also pictures by Le Sueur, Coypel, Corot, Desgoffes, and
Mignard.
Suzanne Butay, widow of Lebrun, was a generous body, and left a number
of legacies to the poor of the parish, and divers other church
institutions, which are recorded thus:
LADITE DAME SUZANNE BUTAY VEUVE DUDIT FEU S^R LEBRUN PAR
SON TETA^{MT.}
OLOGRAPHE DE XIII SEPTEMBRE MDCXCVI RECONNU DEVANT VATRY, ET
TORINON NOT^{RES}.... A LEGUÉ AUX PAUVRES HONTEUX, ET
AUX PAUVRES MALADES DI CETTE
PARROISSE LA SOME DE DEUX MIL LIVRES UNE FOIS PAYÉ, PLUS A
LEGUÉ MIL LIVRES DE RENTE
À AYDIR À MARIER DE PAUVRES FILLES, ET À METTRE EN APPREN-
TISSAGE DE PAUVRES GARÇONS NÉS DANS LA PARROISSE....
NOTRE-DAME.
Sauval likens the island upon which the cathedral stands to a ship:
"L'ile de la cité est faite comme un grand navire enfoncé dans la vase
et échoué au fil de l'eau vers le milieu de la Seine;" and perhaps the
Ship of Paris upon the Gallic sea may have owed its origin as the city
arms to some idea of this sort.
[Illustration: VIEW FROM THE SOUTH TOWER.]
The origin of Notre-Dame is enveloped in mystery. Whether its first
bishop, S. Denis, or Dyonesius, was the Areopagite converted by S.
Paul's preaching at Athens, and sent by S. Clement to preach the Gospel
to the Parisians, or whether he was another personage of the same name
who was sent into Gaul in the 3rd century and martyred during the
persecutions under Decius, it is impossible to say, as there is no
evidence of any value. Certain it is, however, that the first bishop of
Paris bore the name of Denis, and that he suffered martyrdom with his
two companions Rusticus and Eleutherius, on the summit of the hill now
called Montmartre. Tradition went so far as to point out the spot where
they first gathered their followers together--the crypt of Notre-Dame
des Champs; also the prison where Our Lord appeared to them and
strengthened them with His Holy Body and Blood, at S. Denis de la
Chartre; the place, at S. Denis du Pas, where they suffered their first
tortures; and, lastly, Montmartre, where they were beheaded. But, with
the exception of the latter, all these holy spots have disappeared. So,
too, have the crosses which marked the route taken by the Saint, when he
carried his head to the place chosen for his burial, at S. Denis. An
ancient church covered the remains of the three Saints until the present
splendid building was erected in the reign of Dagobert I.
[Illustration: NOTRE-DAME FROM THE PLACE DU PARVIS.]
[Illustration: ARCHBISHOP DARBOY.]
Under the Roman dominion, Paris was comprised in the fourth Lyonnaise
division, of which Sens was the metropolis. Hence the bishops of Paris
acknowledged the archbishop of Sens as their primate, until 1622, when,
at the request of Louis XIII., Pope Gregory XV. raised the see to an
archbishopric. The succession has consisted of one hundred and nine
bishops and fifteen archbishops, eight of whom have been raised to the
dignity of Cardinal. Besides S. Denis, six have been venerated as
Saints: Marcel, in the 5th century; Germain, in the 6th century; Céran,
Landry, and Agilbert in the 7th, and Hugues in the 8th century. No less
Saints, although uncanonized, are the three martyrs of our own
time--Sibour, who was stabbed by a discontented priest in the church of
S. Étienne-du-Mont; Affre, who was shot upon a barricade in 1848, while
negotiating with the insurgents, and whose last words pronounced him a
true follower of his Master: "Puisse mon sang être le dernier versé!"
and Darboy, the liberal-minded and large-hearted, who was shot as a
hostage by the fanatics of his own party. In former times the entry of
the new bishop into his episcopal city was accompanied by much gorgeous
ceremonial. All the municipal officers, mounted on horses, went to meet
him at the Abbey of S. Victor. Thence they processioned, accompanied by
the bishop, seated on a white palfrey, to the church of S. Geneviève,
from which he was chaired by his vassals to the Rue Neuve-Notre-Dame,
where he was met by the dean and canons of the cathedral, and after
taking an oath upon the Gospels to uphold the privileges of the church,
and to observe the engagements entered into by his predecessors, he was
installed, and received the homage of the chapter. Mass was then said,
and at the conclusion, the prelate was conducted to his palace, where he
gave a sumptuous entertainment to all who had assisted at the
ceremonies.
In 1674 Louis XIV. conferred the lands of S. Cloud, Creteil,
d'Ozouer-la-Ferrière, and d'Armentières upon the archbishopric, a
donation which was valued in the last century at a revenue of 140,000
_livres_. The old episcopal palace was situated between the cathedral
and the river, and the whole must have been an imposing mass of
buildings; but what remained of it twenty years ago was mostly
18th-century work, with the exception of a fragment of the chapel which
was consecrated by bishop Maurice de Sully at the end of the 12th
century.
The chapter of Notre-Dame was one of the most important in the Kingdom.
Its revenue amounted to 180,000 _livres_, and its jurisdiction extended
beyond its own clergy and officers, to the Hôtel-Dieu, and the churches
which were called _les filles de Notre-Dame_. These were the collegiate
bodies of S. Merry, the Holy Sepulchre, S. Benoit, and S.
Étienne-des-Grès. Four other colleges, S. Marcel, S. Honoré, and S.
Opportune, bore the title of _filles de l'Archevêque_.
Of the cloisters not the slightest vestige remains to determine their
position or size. What was latterly termed the _cloître_ was only a
collection of narrow tortuous streets, with two or three houses and
doorways which may have dated from the 15th century. One of these houses
bore the reputation of having been the abode of Canon Fulbert, the uncle
of Héloïse; but it could only have been built upon the site of the
original one, which may possibly have existed in the 12th century, as
some Roman foundations were discovered when it was demolished a few
years ago. The _enceinte_ of the cathedral enclosed two churches, S.
Aignan and S. Jean-le-Rond, and a garden at the eastern end of the
church, which the chapter called _Le terrain_, but to which the people,
in their original lingo, gave the name of _Motte aux Papelards_.
The cathedral is now open on all sides, and the _coup-d'oeil_ is fine
when seen from the Place du Parvis-[106] Notre-Dame, or from the garden
at the east end; but to obtain these fine views many buildings of
interest have been sacrificed,--the cloisters, the churches of S.
Jean-le-Rond and S. Christophe, the episcopal palace, the oldest parts
of the hospitals of the Hôtel-Dieu and Les Enfants-Trouvés, and the
chapel constructed in the 14th century by Oudart de Mocreux.
[Illustration: THE EAST END, FROM THE GARDEN.]
It may not be uninteresting to give the number of religious institutions
in the city of Paris before the end of the last century: 12 chapters;
59 parishes; 4 abbeys for men, and 6 for women; 11 priories; 124
monasteries and communities; 90 chapels (exclusive of those in
Notre-Dame); and 5 hospitals; in all, 311 ecclesiastical establishments.
When it is considered that all these corporate bodies possessed lands,
were all exempt from direct taxation, and enjoyed other privileges, the
storm that brought about their suppression is not to be wondered at,
however much we may regret the results from an artistic point of view.
Even at the commencement of the 18th century the suppression of a
certain number of convents and the demolition of several churches was
determined upon; but it was not until the Revolution burst that the main
destruction took place. Had there been more men of the type of the
_citoyen_ Chaumette, who saved the sculptures on one of the doors of
Notre-Dame by affirming that the astronomer Dupuis had discovered his
planetary system therein, there would have been less loss to art to
lament. As it is, the only remnant of all this ecclesiastical wealth
besides Notre-Dame is a portion of the priory of S. Martin des Champs
(occupied at present by the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers), 12
parish churches, the Sainte-Chapelle, and the little church of S. Julien
le Pauvre, which belonged to the old Hôtel-Dieu. These are the only
buildings which have come down to us from the Middle-Age or Renaissance
periods.
Some remains of altars dedicated to Jupiter, of the time of Tiberius,
which were found under the choir of the cathedral, and are now in the
Palais des Thermes, seem to suggest that the Christian church was built
upon the site of the Roman temple, or that the latter was converted into
a church by the early Christians, as at Rome, Ravenna, and other places.
The earliest authentic record of a Christian church in Paris is in the
life of S. Marcel, where it is related that at the end of the 4th
century one stood at the Eastern extremity of the island of the Cité.
This is supposed to have been rebuilt by Childebert I. at the instance
of S. Germain, for it is not probable that the building described by
Fortunat, bishop of Poitiers, as rich in marble columns, glass windows,
and magnificent ornaments, could have been the original edifice. Indeed,
a discovery, made in 1847, seems to prove this. During some excavations
which were made in the Place du Parvis it was found that some Roman
houses had been demolished to make way for the foundations of
Childebert's church; and, together with the Roman remains, were marble
cubes which formed the pavement, three columns in Aquitaine marble, and
a Corinthian capital in white marble. The Christians of the 5th century
adhered in their church architecture to the style of building adopted by
the Romans for their basilicas; in fact, in many cases the secular
basilica was adapted to the purpose of Christian worship. Hence it is
but probable that Childebert looked to Rome for the design of his
church. These remains are in the museum and gardens of the Hôtel-Cluny.
From the 6th to the 12th centuries there is no record of Notre-Dame, but
Grégoire de Tours and d'Aymoin, towards the end of the 6th century,
speak of two churches close together, but distinct from one another--the
one, S. Étienne, to the south of the present church; the other, S.
Marie, towards the north-east. A rather doubtful tradition attributes
certain works of construction in the church to bishop Erchenrad I.
during the reign of Charlemagne. But it is known that in 829 the
celebrated Council of Paris was held in the nave of S. Étienne; and in
857 the other church, S. Marie, was burned by the Normans, the bishop,
Énée, only being able to save the former church. In the 12th century,
archdeacon Étienne de Garlande, who died in 1142, made some important
restorations to Notre-Dame, and Suger, the great abbot of S. Denis, gave
it a stained glass window of great beauty--probably similar to those in
his own church. So, too, the early Capétien monarchs frequently visited
this _nova ecclesia_ (as it was called to distinguish it from S.
Étienne), and presented it with valuable ornaments.
We now come to the building of the present church. Maurice de Sully, the
seventy-second bishop (1160-96), had scarcely mounted his episcopal
throne when he determined to rebuild his cathedral by joining the two
existing churches, and upon his epitaph in the abbey church of S. Victor
he was accredited as the builder of Notre-Dame.
Bishop Maurice was the son of a poor woman named Humberge, who lived in
a humble cottage on the banks of the Loire, under the shadow of the
feudal castle of the Sullys; and, like many of the Churchmen of those
times, he seems to have had only one parent; at all events his father
was unknown, and consequently Maurice was obliged to go from _château_
to _château_, and from convent to convent, to beg for bread and alms,
for himself and his mother.
[Illustration: ONE OF THE MONSTERS OF THE TOWERS.]
On April 21st, 1163, at the instance of Abbot Hugues de Moneçaux, Pope
Alexander III. consecrated the recently-constructed apse of S. Germain
des Prés; and it is also affirmed that he laid the first stone of the
new cathedral in the same year. In 1182, the High Altar was consecrated
by Henri, the pope's legate, and three years later, Heraclius, patriarch
of Jerusalem, who had come to Paris to preach the third crusade,
officiated in the choir. Geoffrey, son of Henry II. of England, and
Count of Bretagne, who died in 1186, was buried before the altar of the
new cathedral, and towards the end of the century the wife of
Philippe-Auguste, Isabelle de Hainault, was laid near the same place.
When Maurice de Sully died, the church could not have been completed, as
he left 5,000 _livres_ towards the leaden roofing of the choir. Indeed,
the western _façade_ was only commenced towards the end of the
episcopate of Pierre de Nemours, 1208-19, although the work had been
continued during the time of his predecessor, Eude de Sully, 1197-1208.
According to l'abbé Lebeuf, the remains of the old church of S. Étienne
were demolished towards the end of the year 1218 to make room for the
southern part of the _façade_, and, amongst other finds, were some
fragments of the Saint's tomb.
It is probable that the West front, as high as the gallery which
connects the two towers, was terminated about the time of the death of
Philippe-Auguste, 1223; and that the rich appearance of this _façade_
decided the reconstruction of the portals of the transepts.
An inscription at the base of the southern porch attests that on the
second day of the Ides of February, 1257, Master Jean de Chelles
commenced this work in honour of the mother of Christ, S. Louis being
then king of France, and Renaud de Corbeil, bishop of Paris; and, in
spite of certain documents amongst the archives, there is no doubt that
the little _Porte Rouge_ and the first chapels on both sides of the
choir belong to the same period and were the work of the same architect,
for they are quite similar in style and are built of the same stone.
[ILLUSTRATION: PÈRE LACORDAIRE]
The history of Notre-Dame is in a great measure the history of France.
It was there that the _Te Deum_ was sung after successful battles, and
where the standards which were taken from the enemy were suspended
during the continuance of the wars. There, too, in the early part of the
13th century, S. Dominic preached from a book given him by the Blessed
Virgin, who appeared to the Saint after an hour's silent meditation,
radiant with beauty, and dazzling as the sunlight. Some fifty years ago,
the cathedral, and, indeed, all Paris, was stirred by the _conférences_
held there by one of S. Dominic's own children, Père Lacordaire, who,
with his friends Lamennais and Montalembert, made an effort to free the
Roman branch of the Catholic Church from the fungi which had grown on to
it, an effort which was as fruitless as that undertaken by his
predecessor Savonarola, 400 years before him.
[Illustration: NOTRE-DAME AT SUNSET.]
On Easter Eve, the 12th April, 1229, the Count of Toulouse, Raymond
VII., was absolved of the crime of heresy in Notre-Dame. As the old
chronicler Guillaume de Puylaurens relates: "Et c'était pitié de voir un
si grand homme, lequel par si long espace de temps avait pu résister à
tant et de si fortes nations, conduit nu, en chemise, bras et pieds
découverts, jusqu'à l'autel."
Here is a pleasant little example of some of the doings of the "good old
times": Pierre Bonfons tells us that in 1381 the _prévôt_ of Paris, one
Hugues Aubriot, accused and found guilty of heresy and other crimes,
was, through the instrumentality of the University, "presché et mitré
publiquement au Parvis-Notre-Dame, et après ce, condamné à être en
l'oubliette au pain et à l'eau."
On the 27th November, 1431,[107] the child, Henry VI. of England, was
crowned King of France in the choir of the cathedral. But the pomp of
this ceremony was soon effaced, for, on the Friday in Easter week, 1436,
a _Te Deum_ was sung to celebrate the retaking of Paris by the troops of
Charles VII.
In the 13th century the Feast of the Assumption was celebrated with
great pomp; the whole church was hung with valuable tapestries, and the
pavement covered with sweet-smelling flowers and herbs; but two
centuries later, grass from the fields of Gentilly seems to have
sufficed to do honour to Our Lady on her _fête_ day.
The same custom prevailed here as at the Sainte-Chapelle and other
churches, of letting fly pigeons, and throwing flowers and torches of
flaming flax from the windows in celebration of the descent of the Holy
Spirit on the Day of Pentecost; and every year, on the 22nd March, the
chapter went in procession to the church of the Grands-Augustins, where
a mass was sung in memory of Henri IV.'s entry into Paris in 1594.
[Illustration: PIERRE DE FAYET.]