ex-consul of that name, a man of moral life and regular in his religious
duties. He was placed here by Napoléon, all of whose appointments of
this nature, with one or two exceptions, have been suffered to remain;
but I need scarcely add that, though the title of archbishop is left,
and its present possessor is decorated with the Roman purple, neither
the revenue, nor the dignity, nor the establishment, resemble those of
former times. The chapter, which, before the revolution, consisted of an
archbishop, a dean, fifty canons, and ten prebendaries, besides
numberless attendants, now consists but of his eminence, with the dean,
the treasurer, the archdeacon, and twelve canons. The independent annual
income of the church, previous to the revolution, exceeded one hundred
thousand pounds sterling; but now its ministers are all salaried by
government, whose stated allowance, as I am credibly informed, is to
every archbishop six hundred and twenty-five pounds per annum; to every
bishop four hundred and sixteen pounds thirteen shillings and fourpence;
and to every canon forty-one pounds thirteen shillings and four-pence.
But each of these stipends is doubled by an allowance of the same amount
from the department; and care is taken to select men of independent
property for the highest dignities.--From the foregoing scale, you may
judge of the state of the religious establishment in France. It is,
indeed, unjustly and unreasonably depressed, and there is much room for
amendment; but we must still hope and trust that things will not soon
regain their former standard, though attempts are daily making to
identify the Catholic clergy with the present dynasty; and the most
lively expectations are entertained from the well-known character of
some of the royal family.
Footnotes:
[71] _Bentham, History of Ely, 2nd edit_. I. p. 34.
[72] _Liverpool Panorama of Arts and Sciences_, article _Architecture_.
[73] The only views of the cathedral with which I am acquainted, are,
A single plate of the west front, 16 in. by 11-1/2in.--_Anonymous_;
. . . . . . . . . . . north side, 16 in. by 11-1/2in.--Marked _S.L.B._;
A small north-west view, engraved by Pouncey, in the first volume
of _Gough's Alien Priories_;
And the west front, on an extremely reduced; scale, in _Seroux
d'Agincourt's Histoire de l'Art par les Monumens, Architecture_,
t. 64. f. 21. p. 68.
[74] This great benefactor to Rouen died the following year, deeply
lamented by the inhabitants, and generally so by France; but, above all,
regretted by Louis XIIth, his sovereign, whom, to use the words of
Guicciardini, he served as oracle and authority. The author of the
History of the Chevalier Bayard, is still louder in his praise.--The
western facade of the cathedral was not finished till 1530, twenty years
after his death.
[75] A representation of this has recently been published from an
engraving on stone by Langlois.
[76] _Histoire de l'Eglise Cathédrale de Rouen_, p. 50.
[77] _Noel, Essais sur le Département de la Seine Inférieure_, II. p.
239.
[78] _Millin, Histoire Métallique de la Révolution Française_, t. 22. f.
84.
[79] _Histoire des Archevêques de Rouen_, folio 1667.
[80] Anglo-Norman Antiquities, p. 12.
[81] _Monumens de la Monarchie Française_, II. t. 15. f. 3 and 5.
[82] As these effigies are in general little understood, even by those
who look at them with pleasure as specimens of art, or with respect as
relics of antiquity, I am happy to be able to give the following
detailed illustration of this at Rouen, extracted from a letter which
the Right Rev. Dr. Milner had lately the kindness to write me upon the
subject.
"The sepulchral monument in the cathedral of Rouen represents a
prelate; that is to say, Bishop or Mitred Abbot, as appears by his
mitre, gloves, ring, and sandals. But, as he bears the _Pallium_, (to
be seen on his neck, just above his breast, and hanging down before
him, almost to his feet) it appears that he is a _Metropolitan_, or
Archbishop, as, indeed, each of the bishops of Rouen was, from the
time of St. Ouen and St. Romanus, in the seventh century, if not from
that of St. Nicasius, in the third or fourth. The statue has been
mutilated in the mitre, the face, and the crosier; probably when the
Huguenots were masters of the city. The mitre is low, as they used to
be from the tenth century, when they began to rise at all in the
Latin Church, down to the fourteenth, since which they have grown to
their present disproportioned height. The arms are crossed, as in
prayer; and the left arm supported a crosier, the remnant of which is
seen under that arm. Both hands are wrapped up in ornamented gloves,
which were an essential part of the prelatic dress. The principal
vestment is the _Planeta, Casula,_ or _Chausible_; as it was shaped
till within these three or four hundred years. Underneath that, and
behind the hanging _Pallium_, appears the _Dalmatic_, edged with gold
lace; and under that, extending the whole breadth of the figure, and
finishing with rich and deep thread lace, is the _Alb_, made of fine
linen. The _Tunic_ is quite hidden by the dalmatic. The _Sandals_
appear to be of gold tissue, and to rest on a rich carpet.
"I ought to have mentioned, that the mitre appears, by the jewels
with which it is ornamented, to represent that which is called _Mitra
pretiosa_, from this circumstance. An inferior kind of mitre, worn on
less solemn occasions, was termed _Mitra Aurifrygiata_; and a common
one, made of plain linen or silk, was termed _Simplex Mitra_. The
only part of the dress which puzzles me, is the great ornament on the
neck and shoulders. The question is, (which those can best determine
who have seen the original statue,) whether it adheres to the
_Pallium_, or to the _Casula_. In either case, it must be considered
as part of the vestment to which it adheres.
"It is quite out of my power to determine, or even to conjecture on
any rational grounds, which, of a certain three-score of archbishops
of Rouen, the figure represents; but, if I were to choose between
Maurice, the fifty-fourth archbishop, who died in 1235, and William,
of Durefort, the sixty-first, who died in 1330, from the comparative
lowness of the mitre, and some other circumstances of the dress, I
should determine in favor of the former. Perhaps it may represent our
Walter, who was first Bishop of Lincoln, and then transferred to
Rouen, by Pope Lucius IIIrd. He died in 1208, after having signalized
himself as much as any of his predecessors or successors have done.
"P.S. On consulting with an intelligent ecclesiastic of Rouen, I am
inclined to think that the above-mentioned ornament upon the
shoulders, is the _Mozetta_, being a short round cloak, which all
bishops still wear, with the _Rochet, Pectoral Cross_, and _Purple
Cassock_, as their _ordinary dress_; but, in modern times, the
_Mozetta_ is laid aside, when the prelate puts on his officiating
vestments; though he retains the cassock, cross, and rochet,
underneath them. My informant says, that this mozett is common on the
tombs of bishops who died in former ages."
[83] The same idea is to be observed on many ancient monuments: among
others, it is engraved on the fine sepulchral brass to the memory of Sir
Hugh Hastings, in Elsing church.--See _Cotman's Norfolk Sepulchral
Brasses._
[84] By the words _Lilia_ and _Quercus_, are designated the armorial
bearings of the King of France, and Pope Julius IInd, of the House of
Rovere.
[85] The bodies of the Cardinals d'Amboise were dug up in 1793, together
with most of the others interred in the cathedral, for the sake of their
leaden coffins: at the same time the lead was also stripped from the
transepts; and a colossal statue of St. George, which stood on the
eastern point of the choir, was likewise consigned to the furnace.
[86] Ducarel says (_Anglo-Norman Antiquities_, p. 20.) that she was the
favorite mistress of two successive kings; but I do not find this
assertion borne out by history.
[87] Vol. IV. p. 47.
[88] The doctrine of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, gave rise to
some curious doubts respecting the authenticity of the Virgin's hair.
Ferrand, the Jesuit, states the arguments to the contrary with candor;
but replies to them with laudable firmness. The passage is a whimsical
specimen of the style and reasoning of the schools:--"Restat posteriore
loco de capillis Deiparæ Virginis paucis dicere, enimverò an illi sint
jam in terris!--Dubitationem aliquam afferre potest mirabilis ipsius
anastasis, et in coelum viventis videntisque assumptio
triumphalis.--Quid ita?--quid si intra triduum ad vitam revocata, si
coelis triumphantis in morem invecta, si corpore gloriâ circumfuso
Christo assidet? _Quidquid Virgineo capiti crinium inerat hand dubiè
cælis intulit_, ne quid perfectæ ac numeris omnibus absolutæ ipsius
pulchritudini deesse possit. Næ ille in politiori literaturâ imo et in
rebus humanis omnino peregrinus sit qui ignoret quantum ad muliebrem
formam comæ conferat pulchritudo ... ne singulas Marianæ pulchritudinis
dotes persequar, ejus ima cræaries de quâ, agimus tantæ fuit venustatis
ut mysticus ipsius Sponsus blandè querulus exclamare cogatur,
_vulnerasti cor meum in uno crine colli tui_.... Nænias igitur occinere
videtur qui Deiparæ capillos in terris relatos esse memoret atque adeo
servari obfirmatè asseveret, cùm illos tantum ad redivivæ Virginis
speciem conferre constet.--Non efficiet tamen unquam hæc
_Antidicomarianitæ_ fabula, quin credam bene multos ex aureâ Dei
Genitricis cæsarie crines, diversis in locis ecclesiisque religiosè
servari.... Meæ fidei non unum est argumentum; nam a primâ ætate ad
confectam usque, e Marianâ comâ non pancos, ut fit, capillos pecten
decussit, nisi si fortè cæsariem B. Virginis impexam semper perstitisse
velis, quòd numquam (ut inquit de Christo Diva Brigitta) super eam venit
vermis, aut perplexitas, aut immunditium. At sine causâ multiplicari
miracula quis æquo animo feret?--Ubi vero Genetrix e vitâ discessit,
quàm sollicitè pollinctrices auream illam Marianæ comæ segetem
demessuerunt, quàm in sacris suis tunc hierothecia reconderent ad
memoriam tantæ Imperatricis, et ad suæ consolationis et pietatis
argumentum: quòd si fortè totam funditùsque a pollinctricibus, Deiparæ
reverentissimis, demessam cæsariem ferre nec possis nec velis, extremes
saltem illius cincinnos attonsos fuisse feres ab piissimis illis
fæminis, quibus vel perexiguus Dei Genitricis capillus ingentis thesauri
loco futurus etat."--_Disquisitio Reliquiaria_, l. 1. cap. II.
[89] _Description Historique de l'Eglise de Notre Dame de Rouen_, p. 83.
[90] The event is described in the metrical history of Rouen, composed
by a minstrel ycleped _Poirier, the limper_. This little tract is a
_chap-book_ at Rouen: most towns, in the north of France and Belgium,
possess such chronicle ballads in doggerel rhyme, which are much read,
and eke chaunted, by the common people.
"... un massacre horrible
Survint soudainement.
Les Huguenots terribles
Et Montgommerie puissant,
Par cruels enterprises
Renverserent les Eglises
De Rouen pour certain.
Sans aucune relâche
Pillent et volent la châsse
Du corps de St. Romain.
"Le zelé Catholique
Poursuivant l'Huguenot
Un combat héroique
Lui livra à propos,
Au lieu nommé la Crosse,
Et reprirent par force
La châsse du Patron.
Puis de la Rue des Carmes
La portent à Notre Dame
En déposition!"
LETTER XI.
POINTED ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE--THE CHURCHES OF ST. OUEN, ST.
MACLOU, ST. PATRICE, AND ST. GODARD.
(_Rouen, June_, 1818.)
In the religious buildings, the subject of my preceding letters, I have
endeavored to point out to you the specimens which exist at Rouen, of
the two earliest styles of architecture. The churches which I shall next
notice belong to the third, or _decorated_ style, the æra of large
windows with pointed arches divided by mullions, with tracery in flowing
lines and geometrical curves, and with an abundance of rich and delicate
carving.
This style was principally confined in England to a period of about
seventy years, during the reigns of the second and third Edward. In
France it appears to have prevailed much longer. It probably began there
full fifty years sooner than with us, and it continued till it was
superseded by the revival of Grecian or Italian architecture. I speak of
France in general, but I must again repeat, that my observations are
chiefly restricted to the northern provinces, the little knowledge which
I possess of the rest being derived from engravings. No where, however,
have I been able to trace among our Gallic neighbors the existence of
the simple _perpendicular_ style, which is the most frequent by far in
our own country, nor of that more gorgeous variety denominated by our
antiquaries after the family of Tudor.
So long as Normandy and England were ruled by the same sovereign, the
continual intercourse created by this union caused a similarity in
their architecture, as in other arts and customs; and therefore the two
earliest styles of architecture run parallel in the two countries, each
furnishing the counterpart of the other. Whether or not the _decorated_
style was transmitted to England from the continent, is a question which
cannot be solved, until our collections of continental architecture
shall become more extensive. After the reign of Henry VIth, our
intercourse with Normandy wholly ceased; and, left to ourselves, many
innovations were gradually introduced, which were not known to the
French architects, who, with nicer taste, adhered to the pure style
which we rejected. Hence arose the _perpendicular_ style of pointed
architecture, a style sufficiently designated by its name, and obviously
distinguished from its predecessors, by having the mullions of its
windows, its ornamental pannelling, and other architectural members and
features, disposed in perpendicular lines. Finally, however, both
countries discarded the Gothic style, though at different æras. The
revival of the arts in Europe, in consequence of the capture of
Constantinople and of the greater commercial intercourse between
transalpine Europe and Italy, gradually gave rise to an admiration of
the antique: imitation naturally succeeded admiration; and buildings
formed upon the classical model generally replaced the Gothic. Italian
architects found earlier patrons and earlier scholars, in France, than
amongst us, our intermediate style being chiefly distinguished by its
clumsiness.
I will not detain you by any attempt at a comparison between the
relative beauties of the Gothic and Grecian architecture, or their
respective fitness for ecclesiastical buildings. The very name of the
former seems sufficient to stamp its inferiority; and perhaps you will
blame the employment of a term which was obviously intended at the
outset as an expression of contempt; but I still retain the epithet, as
one generally received, and therefore, commonly understood. It may be
added, that the modern French seem to be the only _Goths_, in the real
and true acceptation of the word. They, to the present day, build Gothic
churches; but, instead of confining themselves to the prototypes left
them, they are eternally aiming at alterations, under the specious name
of improvements. Horace was indignant that, in the Augustan age, the
meed of praise was bestowed only upon what was ancient: the architects
of this nation of recent date seem under the influence of an opposite
apprehension. They build upon their favorite poet:--
"Loin d'ici ce discours vulgaire
Que l'art pour jamais dégénère,
Que tout s'éclipse, tout finit;
La nature est inépuisable,
Et le génie infatigable
Est le Dieu qui la rajeunit."
But they overlook, what Voltaire makes an indispensable requisite, that
art must be under the guidance of genius: when it is not so, and caprice
holds the reins, the result cannot fail to be that medley of Grecian,
Norman, Gothic, and Gallic, of which this country furnishes too many
examples.
The church of St. Ouen is unquestionably the noblest edifice in the
pointed style in this city, or perhaps in France; the French, blind as
they usually are to the beauties of Gothic architecture, have always
acknowledged its merits. Hence it escaped the general destruction which
fell upon the conventual churches of Rouen, at the time of the
revolution; though, during the violence of the storm, it was despoiled
and desecrated. At one period, it was employed as a manufactory, in
which forges were placed for making arms; at another, as a magazine for
forage.
Nor was this the first instance of its being violated; for, like most of
the religious buildings at Rouen, it was visited in the sixteenth
century with the fury of the Calvinists[91], who burned the bodies of
St. Ouen, St. Nicaise, and St. Remi, in the midst of the temple itself;
and cast their ashes to the winds of heaven. The other relics treasured
in the church experienced equal indignities. All the shrines became the
prey of the eager avarice of the Huguenots; and the images of the saints
and martyrs, torn from their tabernacles, graced the gibbets which were
erected to receive them in various parts of Rouen.
Dom Pommeraye, in reciting these deplorable events, rises rather above
his usual pitch of passion: "O malheur!" he exclaims, "ces corps sacrés,
ces temples du Saint Esprit, qui avoient autrefois donné de la terreur
aux Démons, ne trouverent ni crainte ni respect dans l'esprit de ces
furieux, qui jetterent au feu tout ce qui tomba entre leurs mains impies
et sacrilèges!"--The mischief thus occasioned was infinitely more to be
lamented, he adds, than the burning of the church by the
Normans;--"stones and bricks, and gold and jewels, may be replaced, but
the loss of a relic is irreparable; and, moreover, the abbey thus
forfeits a portion of its protection in heaven; for it is not to be
doubted, but that the saints look down with eyes of peculiar favor upon
the spots that contain their mortal remains; their glorified souls
feeling a natural affection towards the bodies to which they are
hereafter to be united for ever," on that day, when
"Ciascun ritrovera la trista tomba,
Ripigliera sua carne e sua figura,
Udira ciò che in eterno rimbomba."
The outrages were curiously illustrative of the spirit of the times; the
quantity of relics and ornaments equally characterise the devotion of
the votaries, and the reputed sanctity of the place.
The royal abbey of St. Ouen had, indeed, enjoyed the veneration of the
faithful, during a lengthened series of generations. Clothair is
supposed to have been the founder of the monastery in 535; though other
authorities claim for it a still higher degree of antiquity by one
hundred and thirty years. The church, whoever the original founder may
have been, was first dedicated to the twelve apostles; but, in 689, the
body of St. Ouen was deposited in the edifice; miracles without number
were performed at his tomb; pilgrims flocked thither; his fame diffused
itself wider and wider; and at length, the allegiance of the abbey was
tranferred to him whose sanctity gave him the best claims to the
advocation.
Changes of this nature, and arising from the same cause, were frequent
in those early ages: the abbey of St. Germain des Prés, at Paris, was
originally dedicated to St. Vincent; that of Ste. Genevieve to St.
Peter; and many other churches also took new patrons, as occasion
required. According to one of the fathers of the church, the tombs of
the beatified became the fortifications of the holy edifices: the saints
were considered as proprietors of the places in which their bodies were
interred, and where power was given them, to alter the established laws
of nature, in favor of those who there implored their aid. But the aid
which they afforded willingly to all their suitors, they could not
bestow upon themselves. And oft, when the sword of the heathen menaced
the land, the weary monks fled with the corpse of their patrons from the
stubborn enemy. Thus, St. Ouen himself, on the invasion of the Normans,
was transported to the priory of Gany, on the river Epte, and thence to
Condé; but was afterwards conveyed to Rouen, when Rollo embraced
Christianity. Other causes also contributed to the migration of these
remains: they were often summoned in order to dignify acts of peculiar
solemnity, or to be the witnesses to the oaths of princes, like the
Stygian marsh of old,
"Dii cujus jurare timent et fallere numen."
William the Conqueror, upon the dedication of the abbey of St. Stephen,
collected the bodies of all the saints in Normandy[92].
Those who wish to be informed of the acts and deeds of St. Ouen, may
refer to Pommeraye's history of the convent, in which thirty-seven folio
pages are filled with his life and miracles; the latter commencing while
he was in long clothes. The monastery, under his protection, continued
to increase in reputation; and, in the year 1042, the abbatial mitre
devolved upon William, son of Richard IInd, Duke of Normandy, who laid
the foundation of a new church, which, after about eighty years, was
completed and consecrated by William Balot, next but one to him in the
succession[93].
But this church did not exist long: ten years only had elapsed when a
fire reduced it, together with the whole abbey, to ashes. An opportunity
was thus afforded to the sovereign to shew his munificence, and Richard
Coeur de Lion was not tardy in availing himself of it; but a second fire
in 1248 again dislodged the monks; and they continued houseless, till
the abbot, Jean Rousel, better known by the name of _Mardargent_, laid
the foundation in 1318, of the present structure, an honor to himself,
to the city, and to the nation. By this prelate the building was
perfected as far as the transept: the rest was the work of subsequent
periods, and was not completed till the prelacy of Bohier, who died in
the beginning of the sixteenth century.
To speak more properly, I ought rather to say that it was not till then
brought to its present state; for it was never completed. The western
front is still imperfect. According to the original design, it was to
have been flanked by magnificent towers, ending in a combination of open
arches and tracery, corresponding with the outline and fashion of the
central tower. These towers, which are now only raised to the height of
about fifty feet, jut diagonally from the angles of the facade; and it
was intended that, in the lower division, they should have been united
by a porch of three arches, somewhat resembling the west entrance of
Peterborough; and such as in this town is still seen, at St. Maclou,
though on a much larger scale. Pommeraye has given an engraving of this
intended front, taken from a drawing preserved in the archives of the
abbey. The engraving is miserably executed; but it enables us to
understand the lines of the projected building. Pommeraye has also
preserved details of other parts of the church, among them of the
beautiful rood-loft erected by the Cardinal d'Etouteville, and long an
object of general admiration. The bronze doors of this screen were of a
most singular and elegant pattern: Horace Walpole imitated them in his
bed-room, at Strawberry-Hill. The rood-loft, which had been maimed by
the Huguenots, was destroyed at the revolution; when the church was also
deprived of its celebrated clock, which told the days of the month, the
festivals, and the phases of the moon, and afforded other astronomical
information. Such gazers as heeded not these mysteries, were amused by a
little bronze statue of St. Michael, who sallied forth at every hour,
and announced the progress of time, by the number of strokes which he
inflicted on the Devil with his lance.
[Illustration: Tower of the Church of St. Ouen, at Rouen]
It is impossible to convey by words an adequate idea of the lightness,
and purity, and boldness of St. Ouen. My imperfect description will be
assisted by the sketches which I inclose. Of their merits I dare not
speak; but I will warrant their fidelity; The flying buttresses end in
richly crocketed pinnacles, supported by shafts of unusual height. The
triple tiers of windows seem to have absorbed the solid wall-work of the
building. Balustrades of varied quatrefoils run round the aisles and
body; and the centre-tower, which is wholly composed of open arches and
tracery, terminates, like the south-tower of the cathedral, with an
octangular crown of fleurs-de-lys. The armorial symbol of France, which
in itself is a form of great beauty, was often introduced by the French
architects of the middle ages, amongst the ornaments of their edifices:
it pleases the eye by its grace, and satisfies the mind by its
appropriate and natural locality.