Calende_, is that of the corn-merchant; the confiscation of whose
property paid, as the chronicles tell us, for the erection of this
beautiful entrance. He himself, if we may believe the same authority,
was hanged in the street opposite to it, in consequence of having been
detected in the use of false measures.
The original Lady-Chapel, at the east end of the cathedral, was taken
down in 1302. The present, which is considerably more spacious, is
chiefly of a date immediately subsequent. Part, however, was built in
1430, when new and larger windows were inserted throughout the church;
whilst other parts were not finished till 1538, at which time the
Cardinal Georges d'Amboise restored the roof of the choir, which had
been injured in 1514, by the destruction of the spire.
The square central tower, which is low and comparatively plain, is the
work of the year 1200. It is itself more ancient than would be supposed
from the character of its architecture; but it occupies the place of one
of still greater antiquity, which was materially damaged in 1117, when
the original spire of the church was struck by lightning. This first
spire was of stone, but was replaced by another of wood, which, as I
have just mentioned, was also destroyed at the beginning of the
sixteenth century. A fire, arising from the negligence of plumbers
employed to repair the lead-work, was the cause of its ruin.--To remedy
the misfortune, recourse was had to extraordinary efforts: the King
contributed twelve thousand francs; the chapter a portion of their
revenue and their plate; collections were made throughout the kingdom;
and Leo Xth authorised the sale of indulgences, a measure, which, at
nearly the same period, in its more extensive adoption for the building
of St. Peter's at Rome, shook the Papacy to its foundation. The spire
thus raised, the second of wood, but the third in chronological order,
is the one which is now in existence. It was, like its predecessor,
endangered by the carelessness of the plumbers, in 1713; but it does not
appear to have required any material reparations till ten years ago,
when a sum of thirty thousand francs was expended upon it.
From what has already been said, you will not have failed to observe
that this cathedral is the work of so many different periods, that it
almost contains within itself a history of pointed architecture. To
attempt a labored description of it were idle: minute details of any one
of the portals would fill a moderate volume; and a quarto of seven
hundred pages, from which I have borrowed most of my dates, has already
been written upon the subject by a Benedictine Monk of the name of
Pommeraye, who also published the history of the Archbishops of the
See[79].
The first church at Rouen was built about the year 270: three hundred
and thirty years subsequently, this edifice was succeeded by another,
the joint work of St. Romain and St. Ouen, which was burned in the
incursions of the Normans, about the year 842. Fifty years of Paganism
succeeded; at the expiration of which period, Rollo embraced the faith
of Christ, and Rouen saw once more within its walls, by the munificence
and piety of the conqueror, a place of Christian worship. Richard Ist,
grandson of this duke, and his son Robert, the archbishop, enlarged the
edifice in the middle of the tenth century; but it was still not
completed till 1063, when, according to Ordericus Vitalis, it was
dedicated by the Archbishop Maurilius with great pomp, in the presence
of William, Duke of Normandy, and the bishops of the province. Of this
building, however, notwithstanding what is said by Ducarel[80] and other
authors, it is certain that nothing more remains than the part of St.
Romain's tower, just noticed, and possibly two of the western entrances;
though the present structure is believed to occupy the same spot.
To the honor of the spirit and good feeling of the inhabitants of Rouen,
this church is one of those that suffered least in the outrages of the
year 1793. Its dimensions, in French feet, are as follows:--
FEET.
Length of the interior.............. 408
Width of ditto....................... 83
Length of nave...................... 210
Width of nave........................ 27
Ditto of aisles...................... 15
Length of choir..................... 110
Width of ditto....................... 35-1/2
Ditto of transept.................... 25-1/2
Length of ditto..................... 164
Ditto of Lady-Chapel................. 88
Width of ditto....................... 28
Height of spire..................... 380
Ditto of towers at the west end..... 230
Ditto of nave........................ 84
Ditto of aisles and chapels.......... 42
Ditto of interior of central tower.. 152
Depth of chapels..................... 10
Four clustered pillars support the central tower, each of which is
thirty-eight feet in circumference; the rest, of which there are
forty-four in the nave and choir, those in the former clustered, the
others circular, are less by one-third. The windows amount in number to
one hundred and thirty-three; the chapels to twenty-five. Most of the
latter were fitted up during the minority of Louis XIVth, with wreathed
columns, entwined with foliage, the style in vogue in the seventeenth
century. In the farthest of these chapels, upon the south side, is the
tomb of Rollo, first Duke of Normandy; in the opposite chapel, that of
his son and successor, William Longue-Epeé, who was treacherously
murdered at Pecquigny, in 944, during a conference with Arnoul, Count of
Flanders.
[Illustration: Monumental Figure of Rollo, in Rouen Cathedral]
The effigies of both these princes still remain placed upon sarcophagi,
under plain niches in the wall. They are certainly not contemporary
with the persons which they represent, but are probably productions of
the thirteenth century, to which period Mr. Stothard, from whose
judgment few will be disposed to appeal, refers the greater part of what
are called the most ancient in the _Musée des Monumens Français_. At the
same time, they may possibly have been copied from others of earlier
date; and I therefore send you a slight sketch of the figure of Rollo.
Even imaginary portraits of celebrated men are not without their value:
we are interested by seeing how they have been conceived by the
artist.--Above the statue is the following inscription:--
HIC POSITUS EST
ROLLO,
NORMANNIÆ A SE TERRITÆ, VASTATÆ,
RESTITUTÆ,
PRIMUS DUX, CONDITOR, PATER,
A FRANCONE ARCHIEP. ROTOM.
BAPTIZATUS ANNO DCCCCXIII,
OBIIT ANNO DCCCCXVII.
OSSA IPSIUS IN VETERI SANCTUARIO,
NUNC CAPITE NAVIS, PRIMUM CONDITA,
TRANSLATO ALTARI, HIC COLLOCATA
SUNT A B. MAURILIO ARCHIEP. ROTOM.
ANNO MLXIII.
Two other epitaphs in rhyming Latin, which were previously upon his
tomb, are recorded by various authors: the first of them began with the
three following lines--
DUX NORMANNORUM, CUNCTORUM NORMA BONORUM,
ROLLO FERUS FORTIS, QUEM GENS NORMANNICA MORTIS
INVOCAT ARTICULO, CLAUDITUR HOC TUMULO.
Over William Longue-Epeé is inscribed--
HIC POSITUS EST
GULIELMUS DICTUS LONGA SPATHA,
ROLLONIS FILIUS,
DUX NORMANNIÆ,
PREDATORIE OCCISUS DCCCCXXXXIV.
with an account of the removal of his bones, exactly similar to the
concluding part of his father's epitaph.
The perspective on first entering the church is very striking: the eye
ranges without interruption, through a vista of lofty pillars and
pointed arches, to the splendid altar in the Lady-Chapel, which forms at
once an admirable termination to the building and the prospect. The high
altar in the choir is plain and insulated. No other praise can be given
to the screen, except that it does not interrupt the view; for surely it
was the very consummation of bad taste to place in such an edifice, a
double row of eight modern Ionic pillars, in white marble, with the
figures of Hope and Charity between them, surmounted by a crucifix,
flanked on either side with two Grecian vases.
The interior falls upon the eye with boldness and regularity, pleasing
from its proportions, and imposing from its magnitude. The arches which
spring from the pillars of the aisles, are surmounted by a second row,
occupying the space which is usually held by the triforium: the vaulted
roof of the aisles runs to the level of the top of this upper tier. This
arrangement, which is found in other Norman churches, is almost peculiar
to these; and in England it has no parallel, except in the nave of
Waltham Abbey. Within the aisle you observe a singular combination of
small pillars, attached to the columns of the nave: they stand on a
species of bracket, which is supported by the abacus of the capital;
and they spread along the spandrils of the arches on either side. These
pillars support a kind of entablature, which takes a triangular plan.
The whole bears a near resemblance to the style of the Byzantine
architecture. Above the second row of arches are two rows of galleries.
The story containing the clerestory windows crowns the whole; so that
there are five horizontal divisions in the nave.--I give these details,
because they indicate the decided difference of order which exists
between the Norman and the English Gothic; a difference for which I have
not been able to assign any satisfactory cause.
The tombs that were originally in the choir, commemorating Charles Vth,
of France; Richard Coeur de Lion; his elder brother, Henry; and William,
son of Geoffrey Plantagenet, were all removed in 1736, as interfering
with the embellishments then in contemplation. The first of them alone
was preserved and transferred to the Lady-Chapel, where it has
subsequently fallen a victim to the revolution. The others are wholly
destroyed; nor could Ducarel find even a fragment of the effigies that
had been upon them; but engravings of these had fortunately been
preserved by Montfaucon[81], from whom he has copied them. The monument
of the celebrated John of Lancaster, third son of our Henry IVth, better
known as the Regent Duke of Bedford, had been previously annihilated by
the Calvinists. Lozenge-shaped slabs of white marble, charged with
inscriptions, were inserted in the pavement over the spots that contain
the remains of the princes, and they have been suffered to continue
uninjured through the succeeding tumults. On the right of the altar,
you read,--
COR
RICHARDI, REGIS ANGLIÆ,
NORMANNIÆ DUCIS,
COR LEONIS DICTI.
OBIIT ANNO
MCXCIX.
On the opposite side:--
HIC JACET
HENRICUS JUNIOR,
RICHARDI, REGIS ANGLIÆ,
COR LEONIS DICTI, FRATER.
OBIIT ANNO
MCLXXXIII.
And in the choir behind the altar:--
AD DEXTRUM ALTARIS LATUS
JACET
JOHANNES, DUX BEDFORDI,
NORMANNIÆ PROREX.
OBIIT ANNO
MCCCCXXXV.
Of Prince William nothing is said; it was found, upon opening his place
of sepulture, that he had not been interred here.--Richard strangely
received a triple funeral. In obedience to his wishes, his heart was
buried at Rouen, while his body was carried to Fontevraud, and his
entrails were deposited in the church of Chaluz, where he was
killed:--this division is commemorated in the quaint, yet energetic
lines, which are said to have been inscribed upon his tomb:--
VISCERA CARCEOLUM, CORPUS FONS SERVAT EBRARDI,
ET COR ROTOMAGUM, MAGNE RICHARDE, TUUM.
IN TRIA DIVIDITUR UNUS QUI PLUS FUIT UNO;
NEC SUPEREST UNI GLORIA TANTA VIRO.
Richard neither withheld his gifts nor his protection from the
metropolitan church; and, after his death, the chapter inclosed the
heart of their benefactor in a shrine of silver. But a hundred and fifty
years subsequently, the shrine was despoiled, and the precious metal was
melted into ingots, forming a portion of the ransom which redeemed St.
Louis from the fetters of his Saracen conqueror.
Henry the younger, who was crowned King of England during the life-time
of his father, against whom he subsequently revolted, also requested on
his death-bed, that his body might be interred in this church; and his
directions were obeyed, though not without much difficulty; for the
chapter of the cathedral of Mans, where his servants rested with the
body _in transitu_, seized and buried it there; nor did those of Rouen
recover the corpse, without application to the Pope and to the King his
father.
A tablet of black marble, affixed to one of the pillars of the nave,
contains the following interesting memorial:
IN MEDIA NAVI,
E REGIONE HUJUS COLUMNÆ,
JACET
BEATÆ MEM. MAURILIUS,
ARCHIEP. ROTOM. AN. MLV.
HANC BASILICAM PERFECIT
CONSECRAVITQUE ANNO MLXIII.
VIX NATOS BERENGARII ERRORES
IN PROX. CONCIL. PRÆFOCAVIT.
PLENUS MERITIS OBIIT ANN. MLXVII.
HOC PONTIF. NORMANNI,
GULIELMO DUCE, ANGLIA POTITI SUNT
ANNO MLXVI.
[Illustration: Monumental Figure of an Archbishop, in Rouen Cathedral]
In the northern aisle of the choir, there still exists a curious
monument, in an injured state indeed, but well deserving of attention,
from its antiquity. It has been referred by tradition to Maurice, or
William of Durefort, both of them archbishops of Rouen, and buried in
the cathedral, the former in 1237, the latter in 1331; but the recumbent
figure upon it seems of a yet more distant date. It differs in several
respects from any that I have seen in England[82]. The tomb is in the
wall, behind a range of pillars, which form a kind of open screen round
the apsis. Below the effigy, it is decorated with a row of whole-length
figures of saints, much mutilated: the circular part above is lined with
angels, a couple of whom are employed in conveying the soul of the
deceased in a winding-sheet to heaven[83].
[Illustration: Monument of an Archbishop]
The Lady-Chapel contains two monuments of great merit, and which,
considered as specimens of matured art, have now no rivals in Normandy;
for both owe their origin to a period of refinement and splendor. The
sepulchre raised over the bodies of the two Cardinals of Amboise,
successively Archbishops of Rouen, towers on the southern side of the
chapel. The statues of the cardinals are of white marble. The prelates
appear kneeling in prayer; and the following inscription, engraved in a
single line, and not divided into verses, is placed beneath them:--
PASTOR ERAM CLERI, POPULI PATER, AUREA SESE
LILIA SUBDEBANT QUERCUS[84] ET IPSA MIHI.
MORTUUS EN JACEO, MORTE EXTINGUUNTUR HONORES;
AT VIRTUS MORTIS NESGIA MORTE VIRET.
Immediately behind the cardinals are figures of patron saints; a centre
tablet represents St. George and the Dragon; above are the apostles;
below, the seven cardinal virtues. The execution of these is
particularly admired, especially that of the figure of Prudence; but a
row of still smaller figures, in devotional attitudes, carved upon the
pilasters between the virtues, are in higher taste. Various arabesques
in basso-relievo, of great beauty, and completely in the style of the
_Loggie_ of Raphael, adorn the other parts of this sumptuous tomb.--As a
whole it is unquestionably grand, and it is yet farther valuable as an
illustration of the gorgeous taste that prevailed at the end of the
fifteenth century; but the mixture of black and white marble and gilding
has by no means a good effect, and every part is overloaded with
ornaments[85]. These, however, are the faults of the times: its merits
are its own.
On the north side of the chapel is entombed the Duke of Brezé, once
Grand Seneschal of Normandy; his tomb is chaste and simple, forming a
pleasing contrast to the elaborate memorial of the cardinals. The statue
of the seneschal himself, represented stretched as a corpse, upon a
black marble sarcophagus, is admirable for its execution. The rigid
expression of death is visible, not only in the countenance, but extends
through every limb. Diana of Poitiers, a beauty who enjoys more
celebrity than good fame, erected the monument; and she caused her
statue to be placed on the tomb, where she is seen kneeling and
contemplating. In the following inscription she promises to be as
faithful and united to him after his death as she was while they both
lived: and she truly kept her word; for, during his life-time, she was
grievously suspected of infidelity[86], and she subsequently lived in
an open state of concubinage with Henry IInd, and was at last buried at
her own celebrated residence at Anet, twenty leagues from her husband.--
HOC, LODOICE, TIBI POSUI, BREZÆE, SEPULCHRUM,
PICTONIS AMISSO MOESTA DIANA VIRO;
INDIVULSA TIBI QUONDAM ET FIDISSIMA CONJUX,
UT FUIT IN THALAMO, SIC ERIT IN TUMULO.
A second female figure on the tomb, with a child in her arms, has been
supposed intended to represent the nurse of the duke; as if the design
of the sculptor had been to read a lesson to mortality, by exhibiting
the warrior in the helplessness of infancy, in the vigor of manhood, and
as a breathless corpse. Some persons, however, consider it as a
personification of Charity; others suppose that it represents the Virgin
Mary. In the midst was originally an erect statue of De Brezé, decorated
with the various symbols of his dignities; but this sinned beyond the
hope of redemption against the doctrines of liberty and equality, and it
was accordingly removed at the time of the revolution, together with two
inscriptions. One of them, which detailed his honors, with the addition
that he died July twenty-third, 1531, has recently been recovered by the
care of M. Riaux, and is restored to its place. The other inscription
and the effigy, it is feared, are irrevocably lost. An equestrian statue
in the upper part of the monument was suffered to remain, and, as a
record of the military costume of the sixteenth century, I annex a
sketch of it. The armorial hearings upon the horse and armor are nearly
obliterated.--The pile is surmounted a figure of Temperance; the bridle
in whose mouth shews how absurd is allegory, when "submitted to the
faithful eye."
[Illustration: Equestrian Figure of the Seneschal de Brezé, in Rouen Cathedral]
Lenoir, who, in his work on the _Musée des Monumens Français_, has
treated much at large of the history of Diana of Poitiers, and has
figured her own beautiful mausoleum, which he had the merit of rescuing
from destruction, pronounces[87] this monument to be from the hand of
Jean Cousin, one of the most able sculptors of the French school.
Over the altar in the Lady-Chapel is the only good painting in the
cathedral, the _Adoration of the Shepherds_, by Philip de Champagne, a
solid, well-colored, and well-grouped picture. Two cherubs in the air
are excellently conceived and drawn: the whole is lighted from the
infant Christ in the cradle, a _concetto_, which has been almost
universally adopted, since the time when Corregio painted his celebrated
_Notte_, now at Dresden.
There is no great quantity of painted glass in the church, but much of
it is of good quality. The windows of the choir, on either side of the
Lady-Chapel, are as rich as a profusion of brilliant colors can make
them; but the figures are so small, and so crowded, that the subjects
cannot be traced. They are said to be the work of the thirteenth
century. The painted windows in St. Stephen's chapel, of the sixteenth
century, are generally considered the best in the cathedral. I own,
however, that I should give the preference to those in the chapel of
St. Romain, in the south transept. One of them is filled with
allegorical representations of the virtues of the archbishop; another
with his miracles: every part is distinct and clear, and executed with
great force and great minuteness. The vestments of the saint have all
the delicacy of miniature-painting.
The library of the cathedral, formerly one of the richest in France,
disappeared during the revolution; but the noble room which contained
it, one hundred feet long, by twenty-five feet wide, still remains
uninjured; as does the door which led into it from the northern
transept, and which continues to this day to bear the inscription,
_Bibliotheca_. The staircase, communicating with this door, is delicate
and beautiful. The balustrades are of the most elegant filagree; and it
has all the boldness and lightness which peculiarly characterise the
French Gothic. Its date being well ascertained, we may note it as an
architectural standard. It was erected by the archbishop, Cardinal
d'Etouteville, about the year 1460, thirty or forty years subsequently
to the building of the room.
Respecting the contents of the sacristy, I can say little from my own
knowledge; but I find by Pommeraye, that, before the revolution, it
boasted of a large silver image of the Virgin, endued with peculiar
sanctity, a few drops of her milk, and a portion of her hair[88]; a
splinter of the true cross, set in gold, studded with pearls,
sapphires, and turquoises; and reliques of saints without number. Now,
however, it appears, that of all its treasures, it has preserved little
else except the shrine of St. Romain, and another known by the general
name of _Chasse des Saints_. The former is two feet six inches long, and
one foot nine inches high, and is of handsome workmanship, with a
variety of figures on the sides, and St. Romain himself at the top.
Formerly it was supposed to be made of gold; now I was assured by one of
the canons, that it is of silver gilt; but Gilbert[89], who is a plain
layman, maintains that it is only copper. Had it been otherwise, it
would have contributed to the ways and means of the unchristian
republic; but the democrats spared it, for they had well ascertained
that the metal was base, and that the jewels, which adorn it, are but
glass.--This is not the original shrine which held the precious relics:
the shrine in which they were deposited by the archbishop, William Bonne
Ame, when first brought to the cathedral, in 1090, was sold during a
famine, and its proceeds distributed to the starving poor; after which,
in 1179, Archbishop Rotrou caused another still more costly to be made;
but the latter was broken to pieces by the Calvinists, in 1562, and the
saint's body cast into the fire[90].
Thus, then, I have led you, as far as I am able; through the cathedral,
adjoining which, at the east end, stands the palace of the archbishop, a
large building, but neither handsome nor conspicuous, principally the
work of the Cardinal Georges d'Amboise, though begun by the Cardinal
d'Etouteville, in 1461. The rooms in it which are shewn to strangers are
the anti-chamber, commonly called _la salle de la Croix_, the library,
and the great gallery. This last, which is one hundred and sixty feet
long, is also known by the name of _la salle des Etats_. In it are
placed four very large paintings by Robert, an eminent French artist of
comparatively modern date. They represent the city of Rouen, the town of
Dieppe, that of Havre de Grace, and the archiepiscopal palace at
Gaillon. The view of Rouen represents in the foreground the _petit
Château_, and is on that account peculiarly interesting. All of them are
fine paintings, but much injured by the damp. In the anti-chamber are
portraits of seven prelates of the see, and among them those of the
Cardinal de la Rochefoucault, and M. de Tressan: our guide could name no
others.