as the eleventh century, when Gosselin, Viscount of Rouen, Lord of
Arques and Dieppe, having no son to inherit his wealth, was induced to
dispose of it "to pious uses," by the persuasions of two monks, who had
wandered in pilgrimage from the monastery of Saint Catherine, on Mount
Sinai. These good men assured him, that, if he dedicated a church to
the martyred daughter of the King of Alexandria, the stones employed in
building it would one day serve him as so many stepping-stones to
heaven. They confirmed him in his resolution, by presenting him with one
of the fingers of Saint Catherine. To her, therefore, the edifice was
made sacred, and hence it is believed that the hill also took its name.
In the _Golden Legend_, we find an account of the translation of the
finger to Rouen not wholly reconcileable with this history.--According
to the veracious authority of James of Voragine, there were certain
monks of Rouen, who journeyed even until the Arabian mountain. For seven
long years did they pray before the shrine of the Queen Virgin and
Martyr, and also did they implore her to vouchsafe to grant them some
token of her favor; and, at length, one of her fingers suddenly
disjointed itself from the dead hand of the corpse.--"This gift," as the
legend tells, "they received devoutly, and with it they returned to
their monastery at Rouen."--Never was a miracle less miraculous; and it
is fortunately now of little consequence to inquire whether the
mouldering relic enriched an older monastery, or assisted in bestowing
sanctity on a rising community. According to the pseudo-hagiologists,
the corpse of Saint Catherine was borne through the air by angels, and
deposited on the summit of Mount Sinai, on the spot where her church is
yet standing. Conforming, as it were, to the example of the angels, it
was usual, in the middle ages, to erect her religious buildings on an
eminence. Various instances may be given of this practice in England, as
well as in France: such is the case near Winchester, near
Christ-Church, in the Isle of Wight, and in many other places. St.
Michael contested the honor with her; and he likewise has a chapel here,
whose walls are yet standing. Its antiquity was still greater than that
of the neighboring monastery; a charter from Duke Richard IInd, dated
996, speaking of it as having had existence before his time, and
confirming the donation of it to the Abbey of St. Ouen. But St.
Michael's never rivalled the opulence of Saint Catherine's
priory.--Gosselin himself, and Emmeline his wife, lay buried in the
church of the latter, which is said to have been large, and to have
resembled in its structure that of St. Georges de Bocherville: it is
also recorded, that it was ornamented with many beautiful paintings; and
loud praises are bestowed upon its fine peal of bells. The epitaph of
the founder speaks of him, as--
"Premier Autheur des mesures et poids
Selon raison en ce päis Normand."
It is somewhat remarkable, that there appear to have been only two other
monumental inscriptions in the church, and both of them in memory of
cooks of the convent; a presumptive proof that the holy fathers were not
inattentive to the good things of this world, in the midst of their
concern for those of the next.--The first of them was for Stephen de
Saumere,--
"Qui en son vivant cuisinier
Fut de Révérend Pere en Dieu,
De la Barre, Abbé de ce lieu."
The other was for--
"Thierry Gueroult, en broche et en fossets
Gueu très-expert pour les Religieux."
The fort and the religious buildings all perished nearly at the same
time: the former was destroyed at the request of the inhabitants, to
whom Henry IVth returned on that occasion his well-known answer, that he
"wished for no other fortress than the hearts of his subjects;" the
latter to gratify the avarice of individuals, who cloked their true
designs under the plea that the buildings might serve as a harbor for
the disaffected.
Of the origin of the fort I find no record in history, except what Noel
says[62], that it appears to have been raised by the English while they
were masters of Normandy; but what I observed of the structure of the
walls, in 1815, would induce me to refer it without much hesitation to
the time of the Romans. Its bricks are of the same form and texture as
those used by them; and they were ranged in alternate courses with
flints, as is the case at Burgh Castle, at Richborough, and other Roman
edifices in England. That the fort was of great size and strength is
sufficiently shewn by the depth, width, and extent of the entrenchments
still left, which, particularly towards the plain, are immense; and, if
credence may be given to common report, in such matters always apt to
exaggerate, the subterraneous passages indicate a fortress of
importance.
It chanced, that I visited the hill on Michaelmas-day, and a curious
proof was afforded me, that, at however low an ebb religion may be in
France, enthusiastic fanaticism is far from extinct. A man of the lower
classes of society was praying before a broken cross, near St. Michael's
Chapel, where, before the revolution, the monks of St. Ouen used
annually on this day to perform mass, and many persons of extraordinary
piety were wont to assemble the first Wednesday of every month to pray
and to preach, in honor of the guardian angels. His manner was earnest
in the extreme; his eyes wandered strangely; his gestures were
extravagant, and tears rolled in profusion down a face, whose every
feature bore the strongest marks of a decided devotee. A shower which
came at the moment compelled us both to seek shelter within the walls of
the chapel, and we soon became social and entered into conversation. The
ruined state of the building was his first and favorite topic: he
lamented its destruction; he mourned over the state of the times which
could countenance such impiety; and gradually, while he turned over the
leaves of the prayer-book in his hand, he was led to read aloud the
hundred and thirty-sixth psalm, commenting upon every verse as he
proceeded, and weeping more and more bitterly, when he came to the part
commemorating the ruin of Jerusalem, which he applied, naturally enough,
to the captive state of France, smarting as she then was under the iron
rod of Prussia. Of the other allies, including even the Russians, he
owned that there was no complaint to be made: "they conduct themselves,"
said he, "agreeably to the maxim of warfare, which says 'battez-vous
contre ceux qui vous opposent; mais ayez pitié des vaincus.' Not so the
Prussians: with them it is 'frappez-çà, frappez-là, et quand ils entrent
dans quelque endroit, ils disent, il nous faut çà, il nous faut là, et
ils le prennent d'autorité.' Cruel Babylon!"--"Yet, even admitting all
this," we asked, "how can you reconcile with the spirit of christianity
the permission given to the Jews by the psalmist, to 'take up her little
ones and dash them against the stones.'"--"Ah! you misunderstand the
sense, the psalm does not authorize cruelty;--mais, attendez! ce n'est
pas ainsi: ces pierres là sont Saint Pierre; et heureux celui qui les
attachera à Saint Pierre; qui montrera de l'attachement, de
l'intrépidité pour sa religion."--Then again, looking at the chapel,
with tears and sobs, "how can we expect to prosper, how to escape these
miseries, after having committed such enormities?"--His name, he told
us, was Jacquemet, and my companion kindly made a sketch of his face,
while I noted down his words.
This specimen will give you some idea of the extraordinary influence of
the Roman catholic faith over the mind, and of the curious perversions
under which it does not scruple to take refuge.
Leaving for the present the dusty legends of superstition, I describe
with pleasure my recollections of the glorious prospect over which the
eye ranges from the hill of Saint Catherine.--The Seine, broad, winding,
and full of islands, is the principal feature of the landscape. This
river is distinguished by its sinuosity and the number of islets which
it embraces, and it retains this character even to Paris. Its smooth
tranquillity well contrasts with the life that is imparted to the scene,
by the shipping and the bustle of the quays. The city itself, with its
verdant walks, its spacious manufactories, its strange and picturesque
buildings, and the numerous spires and towers of its churches, many of
them in ruins, but not the less interesting on account of their decay,
presents a foreground diversified with endless variety of form and
color. The bridge of boats seems immediately at our feet; the middle
distance is composed of a plain, chiefly consisting of the richest
meadows, interspersed copiously with country seats and villages
embosomed in wood; and the horizon melts into an undulating line of
remote hills.
Footnotes:
[49] _Farin, Histoire de Rouen_, I. p. 97.
[50] In a paper printed in the _Transactions of the Rouen Academy for
1818_, p. 177, it appears that, so late as 1789, a considerable portion
of very old walls was discovered under-ground; and that they consisted
very much of Roman bricks. Among them was also found a Roman urn, and
eighty or more medals of the same nation, but none of them older than
Antoninus.--From this it appears certain that Rouen was a Roman station,
though of its early history we have no distinct knowledge.
[51] These are the _Tour du Gascon_, _Tour du Donjon_, and _Tour de la
Pucelle_.
[52] _Histoire de Rouen_, I. p. 32.
[53] _Histoire de Rouen_, III. p. 34.
[54] It is also worth while to read the following details from
Bourgueville, (_Antiquités de Caen_, p. 33) whose testimony, as that of
an eye-witness to much of what he relates, is valuable:--"Ils ont le
Privilege Saint Romain en la ville de Rouen et Eglise Cathédrale du
lieu, au iour de l'Ascension nostre Seigneur de deliurer un prisonnier,
qui leur fut concedé par le Roy d'Agobert en memoire d'un miracle que
Dieu fist par saint Romain Archeuesque du lieu, d'auoir deliuré les
habitans d'un Dragon qui leur nuisoit en la forest de Rouuray pres
ladite ville: pour lequel vaincre il demanda à la justice deux
prisonniers dignes de mort, l'un meurtrier et l'autre larron: le larron
eut si grand frayeur qu'il s'enfuit, et le meurtrier demeura auecque ce
saint homme qui vainquit ce Serpent. C'est pourquoy l'on dit encore en
commun prouerbe, il est asseuré comme vn meurtrier. Ce privilege de
deliurance ne doit estre accordé aux larrons.--Saint Ouen successeur de
S. Romain, Chancelier dudit Roy d'Agobert viron l'an 655, impetra ce
priuilege: dont ie n'en deduiray en plus oultre les causes, pour ce
qu'elles sont assez communes et notoires, et feray seulement cest
aduertissement, qu'il y a danger que messieurs les Ecclesiastiques le
perdent, acause qu il s'y commet le plus souuent des abus, par ce qu'il
se doit donner en cas pitoyable et non par authorité ou faueurs de
seigneurs, comme aussi ne se doit estendre, sinon à ceux qui sont
trouuez actuellement prisonniers sans fraude, et non à ceux qui s'y
rendent le soir precedent comme estans asseurez d'obtenir ce priuilege,
combien qu'ils ayent commis tous crimes execrables et indignes d'un tel
pardon, voire et que les Ecclesiastiques n'ayent eu loisir d'avoir veu
et bien examinez leur procez. Aussi ce beau priuilege est enfraint en ce
que ceux qui l'obtiennent doiuent assister par sept annees suiuantes aux
processions au tour de la Fierte S. Romain, portant vne torche ardante
selon qu'il leur est chargé faire. Ce qui est de ceste heure trop
contemné: et tel mespris leur pourroit estre reproché comme indignes et
contempteurs d'vn tel pardon. Vn surnommé Saugrence pour auoir abusé
d'un tel priuilege fut quelque temps apres retrudé et puni de la peine
de la rouë pour auoir confesse des meurtres en agression pour sauuer
aucuns nobles ou nocibles qui les auoient commis.--Il s'est faict autres
fois et encore du temps de ma ieunesse de grands festins, danses,
mommeries ou mascarades audit iour de l'Ascension, tant par les
feturiers de ceste confrairie saint Romain que autres ieunes hommes auec
excessiues despences: et s'appelloit lors tel iour Rouuoysons, à cause
que les processions rouent de lieu en autre, et disoit l'on comme en
prouerbe, quand aucuns desbauchez declinoient de biens qu'ils auoient
fait Rouuoysons, à sçauoir perdu leurs biens en trop uoluptueuses
despenses et mommeries sur chariots, qui se faisoient de nuict par les
ruës quelque saison d'Esté qu'il fust, pour plus grandes magnificences."
[55] See _Gallia Christiana_, XI. p. 12.
[56] A minute and very curious account of the whole of this ceremony,
from the first claiming of the prisoner to his final deliverance, is
given in _Tuillepied's Antiquités de Rouen_, p. 79.
[57] _Noel, Essais sur le Département de la Seine Inférieure_, II. p.
228.
[58] _Antiquités Nationales_, II. No. 21 p. 3
[59] _Millin, Antiquités Nationales_, II. No. 20. p. 3.
[60] _Noel, Essais sur le Département de la Seine Inférieure_, II. p.
209
[61] _Farin, Histoire de Rouen_, V. p. 113.
[62] _Essais sur le Département de la Seine Inférieure_, II. p. 210.
LETTER IX.
ANCIENT ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE--CHURCHES OF ST. PAUL AND ST.
GERVAIS--HOSPITAL OF ST. JULIEN--CHURCHES OF LERY, PAVILLY, AND
YAINVILLE.
(_Rouen, June_, 1818.)
We, _East Angles_, are accustomed to admire the remains of Norman
architecture, which, in our counties, are perhaps more numerous and
singular than in any other tract in England. The noble castle of
Blanchefleur still honors our provincial metropolis, and although
devouring eld hath impaired her charms and converted her into a very
dusky beauty, the fretted walls still possess an air of antique
magnificence which we seek in vain when we contemplate the towers of
Julius or the frowning dungeons of Gundulph. Our cathedral retains the
pristine character which was given to the edifice, when the Norman
prelate abandoned the seat of the Saxon bishop, and commanded the Saxon
clerks to migrate into the city protected or inclosed by the garrison of
his cognate conquerors. Even our villages abound with these monuments.
The humbler, though not less sacred structures in which the voice of
prayer and praise has been heard during so many generations, equally
bear witness to Norman art, and, I may say, to Norman piety; and when we
enter the sheltered porch, we behold the fantastic sculpture and varied
foliage, encircling the arch which arose when our land was ruled by the
Norman dynasty.
Comparatively speaking, Rouen is barren indeed of such relics. Its
military antiquities are swept away; and the only specimens of early
ecclesiastical architecture are found in the churches of St. Paul and
St. Gervais, both of them, in themselves, unimportant buildings, and
both so disfigured by subsequent alterations, that they might easily
escape the notice of any but an experienced eye. Of these, the first is
situated by the side of the road to Paris, under Mont Ste. Catherine,
yet, still upon an eminence, beneath which are some mineral springs,
that were long famous for their medicinal qualities, but have of late
years been abandoned, and the spa-drinkers now resort to others in the
quarter of the town called _de la Maréquerie_. Both the one and the
other are highly ferruginous, but the latter most strongly impregnated
with iron.
The chancel is the only ancient part of the present church of St.
Paul's, and even this must be comparatively modern, if any confidence
may be placed in the current tradition, that the building, in its
original state, was a temple of Adonis or of Venus, to both which
divinities the early inhabitants of Rouen are reported to have paid
peculiar homage. They were worshipped in vice and impurity[63]; nor were
the votaries deterred by the evil spirits who haunted the immediate
vicinity of the temple, and who gave rise to so fetid and infectious a
vapor, that it often proved fatal! This very remark seems to indicate
the scite of the church of St. Paul, with its neighboring sulphureous
waters. St. Romain demolished the temple, and dispersed the sinners.
Farin, in his _History of Rouen_[64], says, that the church was
repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt by the Norman Dukes, to some of whom,
the chancel, which is now standing, probably owes its existence. The
nave is evidently of much more modern construction: it is thrice the
width of the other part, from which it is separated by a circular arch.
The eastern extremity differs from that of any other church I ever saw
in Normandy or in England: it ends in three circular compartments, the
central considerably the largest and most prominent, and divided from
the others, which serve as aisles, by double arches, a larger and
smaller being united together. This triple circular ending is, however,
only observable without; for, in the interior, the southern part has
been separated and used as a sacristy; the northern is a lumber-room. In
the latter division, M. le Prevost desired us to notice a piece of
sculpture, so covered with dirt and dust that it could scarcely be seen,
but evidently of Roman workmanship, and, probably, of the fourth
century, if we may judge from its resemblance to some ornaments[65] upon
the pedestal of the obelisk raised by Theodosius, in the Hippodrome of
Constantinople. Our friend's conjecture is, that it had originally
served for an altar: perhaps it might, with equal probability, be
supposed to have been a tomb.--The corbels on the exterior of this
building are strange and fanciful.
[Illustration: Sculpture, supposed Roman, in the Church of St. Paul, at Rouen ]
St. Gervais also stands without the walls of Rouen; but at the opposite
end of the town, upon a hill adjoining the Roman road to Lillebonne, and
near the Mont aux Malades, a place so called, as having been selected in
the eleventh century, on account of the salubrity of its air, for the
situation of a monastery, destined for the reception of lepers. Upon
this eminence, the Norman Dukes had likewise originally a palace; and,
it was to this, that William the Conqueror caused himself to be
conveyed, when attacked with his mortal illness, after having wantonly
reduced the town of Mantes to ashes. Here, too, this mighty monarch
breathed his last, and left a sad warning to future conquerors, deserted
by his friends and physicians the moment he was no more; while his
menials plundered his property, and his body lay naked and neglected in
the hall[66].
The ducal palace, and the monastic buildings of the priory, once
connected with it, are now completely destroyed. Fortunately, however,
the church still remains, though parochial and in poverty. It preserves
some portions of the original structure, more interesting from their
features than their extent. The exterior of the apsis is very curious:
it is obtusely angular, and faced at the corners with large rude
columns, of whose capitals some are Doric or Corinthian, others as wild
as the fancies of the Norman lords of the country. None reach so high as
the cornice of the roof, it having been the intention of the original
architect, that a portion of work should intervene between the summit of
the capitals and this member. A capital to the north is remarkable for
the eagles carved upon it, as if with some allusion to Roman power. But
the most singular part of this church is the crypt under the apsis, a
room about thirty feet long by fourteen wide, and sixteen high, of
extreme simplicity, and remote antiquity. Round it runs a plain stone
bench; and it is divided into two unequal parts by a circular arch,
devoid of columns or of any ornament whatever, but disclosing, in the
composition of its piers, Roman bricks and other _débris_, some of them
rudely sculptured. Here, according to Ordericus Vitalis[67], was
interred the body of St. Mellonus, the first Archbishop of Rouen, and
one of the apostles of Neustria; and here, his tomb, and that of his
successor, Avitien, are shewn to this day, in plain niches, on opposite
sides of the wall. St. Mello's remains however, were not suffered to
rest in peace; for, about five hundred and seventy years after his
death, which happened in the year 314, they were removed to the castle
of Pontoise, lest the canonized corpse should be violated by the heathen
Normans. In the diocese of Rouen St. Mello is honored with particular
veneration; and the history of the prelates of the see contains many
curious, and not unedifying stories of the miracles he performed. His
feast, together with that of St. Nicasius, his companion, is celebrated
on the second of October; and their labors are commemorated with a hymn
appointed for their festival:--
"Primæ vos canimus gentis apostolos,
Per quos relligio tradita patribus;
Errorisque jugo libera Neustria
CHRISTO sub duce militat.
"Facti sponte suis finibus exules
Hùc de Romuleis sedibus advolant;
Merces est operis, si nova consecrent
Vero pectora Numini.
"Qui se pro populis devovet hostiam
Mellonus tacitâ se nece conficit;
Mactatus celeri morte Nicasius
Christum sanguine prædicat."
Heretics as we are, we ought not to refrain from respecting the zeal
even of a saint of the Catholic calendar, when thus exerted. Besides
which, he has another claim upon our attention: our own island gave him
birth, and he appeared at Rome as the bearer of the annual tribute of
the Britons, at the very time when he was converted to Christianity,
whose light he had afterwards the glory of diffusing over Neustria. The
existence of these tombs and the antiquity of the crypt, recorded as it
is by history and confirmed by the style of its architecture, have given
currency to the tradition, which points it out as the only temple where
the primitive Christians of Neustria dared to assemble for the
performance of divine service. Many stone coffins have also been
discovered in the vicinity of the church. These sarcophagi seem to
confirm the general tradition: they are of the simplest form, and
apparently as ancient as the crypt; and they were so placed in the
ground that the heads of the corpses were turned to the east, a position
denoting that the dead received Christian burial.
[Illustration: Circular Tower, attached to the Church of St. Ouen, at Rouen]
Another opportunity will be afforded me of speaking of the church of St.
Ouen; but, as a singular relic of Norman architecture, I must here
notice the round tower on the south side of the choir, probably part of
the original edifice, finished by the Abbot, William Balot, and
dedicated by the Archbishop Géoffroi, in 1126. It consists of two
stories, divided by a billetted moulding. Respecting its use it would
not now be easy to offer a probable conjecture: the history of the
abbey, indeed, mentions it under the title of _la Chambre des Clercs_,
and supposes that it was formerly a chapel[68]; but its shape and size
do not seem to confirm that opinion.
The chapel of the suppressed lazar-house of St. Julien, situated about
three miles from Rouen, on the opposite side of the Seine, is more
perfect than either St. Paul or St. Gervais, and, consequently, more
valuable to the architect. This building, without spire or tower, and
divided into three parts of unequal length and height, the nave, the
choir, and the circular apsis, externally resembles one of the meanest
of our parish-churches, such as a stranger, judging only from the
exterior, would be almost equally likely to consider as a place of
worship, or as a barn. It is, however, if I am not mistaken, one of the
purest and most perfect specimens of the Norman æra. I know of no
building in England, which resembles it so nearly as the chancel of
Hales Church, in Norfolk; but the latter has been exposed to material
alterations, while the chapel of which I am speaking is externally quite
regular in its design, being divided throughout its whole length into
small compartments, by a row of shallow buttresses rising from the
ground to the eaves of the roof, without any partition into splays.
Those on the south side are still in their primæval state; but a
buttress of a subsequent, though not recent, date, has been built up
against almost every one of the original buttresses on the north side,
by way of support to the edifice. Each division contains a single narrow
circular-headed window: beneath these is a plain moulding, continued
uninterruptedly over the buttresses as well as the wall, thus proving
both to be coeval; another plain moulding runs nearly on a level with
the tops of the windows, and takes the same circular form; but it is
confined to the spaces between the buttresses. There are no others. The
entrance was by circular-headed doors at the west end and south side,
both of them very plain; but particularly the latter. The few ornaments
of the western are as perfect and as sharp as if the whole were the work
of yesterday. This part of the church has, however, been exposed to
considerable injury, owing to its having joined the conventual
buildings, which were destroyed at the revolution. The inside is, like
the exterior, almost perfect, but it is very much more rich, uniting to
the common ornaments of Norman architecture, capitals, in some
instances, of classical beauty. The ceiling is covered with paintings of
scriptural subjects, which still remain, notwithstanding that the
building is now desecrated, and used as a woodhouse by the neighboring
farmer.