and to fling themselves on the English. This threat caused Henry to
offer terms of pacification. Blanchard, the valorous defender of Rouen,
was, however, killed by order of the English monarch.
The immortal Joan of Arc appears later on the scene. We cannot follow
the strange and inspiring page of her career. Betrayed at length, and
given into the hands of the English, she was imprisoned in Rouen, where
a charge of heresy was made against her. To escape from the military to
the ecclesiastic prison Joan pleaded guilty to the accusation of heresy.
The story of her martyrdom is not a theme upon which one cares to dwell.
The English cause was lost, though Joan of Arc was burned. "Oh, Rouen,
Rouen, I have great fear lest you suffer for my death. Yes! my voices
were of God; they have never deceived me." And as the maid dropped in
the writhing flames, the soldiers cried: "We are lost! We have burned a
saint!"
"No longer on St Denis will we cry,
But Joan la Pucelle shall be France's saint."
The French recaptured Rouen in 1499. There is now no trace of the proud
castle built by Henry V. of England. The prophetic cry of the soldiers
had been fulfilled.
Before the end of the thirteenth century a cathedral was built in the
city, and by the sixteenth century the stupendous edifice was finished.
Notre Dame has a splendid west front, and very ornamental entrances to
the transepts. The decorated rose windows are exceedingly fine. The
choir has thirteenth-century stained windows, which must be seen in the
sunlight. Here, too, are the monuments of Henry II. and Richard I.
Unfortunately, much of the external decoration of Notre Dame has been
disfigured by weathering, and some of the images have disappeared. But
the rose windows are very celebrated, and the tower of the sixteenth
century is richly ornamented.
The Lady Chapel contains the tomb of two cardinals, with beautifully
sculptured figures, and carvings of exquisite craftsmanship. The tomb of
the Duke of Brézé is attributed to Jean Goujon, and the images are true
works of genius.
Saint-Owen is perhaps more interesting than the cathedral. It is an
immense building, and though so huge, finely proportioned. The south
portal is rich and exquisite in its decoration.
For an example of Goujon's work, you must inspect the remarkably
decorated door of the Church of St Madou. There are other notable
churches in Rouen; and the fine stained-glass windows of St Godard must
not be overlooked.
Among other buildings of interest is the Palace of Justice, with a
stately frontage.
In Rouen was born Corneille, and upon a bridge over the Seine you will
find his statue. Fontenelle was also one of the illustrious natives of
the city.
Readers of Gustave Flaubert will remember his pictures of the country
around Rouen, in "Madame Bovary." Charles Bovary was sent to school in
the city. "His mother selected a room for him, on a fourth floor,
overlooking the Eau-de-Robec, in the house of a dyer she was acquainted
with." It was in Yonville-L'Abbage, "a large village about twenty miles
from Rouen," that Charles and Emma Bovary settled after their marriage.
"The river which runs through it," writes Flaubert, "seems to have
imparted to it two distinct characters. On the right bank it is all
grass-land, whilst on the left it is all arable. The meadow-land spreads
at the foot of some high-lying ground until it meets the pastures of
Bray on the other side; on the east the gently rising ground loses
itself in the distance in fields of golden wheat. The water running
through the grass-land divides the colours of the meadows and of the
furrows by a white streak, and so the landscape looks like a great
unfolded cloak, with a green velvet collar bordered with silver."
Such is the country that the genius of Flaubert has peopled with his
types of provincial character.
Municipal enterprise has "improved and beautified" Rouen in modern
times. The new, broad thoroughfares are undoubtedly admirable, according
to the standard of to-day; but the reconstruction of many streets has
meant the destruction of a large number of those old gabled houses that
delighted the travellers of sixty years ago. Fortunately, a few charming
ancient corners remain, and the authorities of the city have preserved
some of these weather-worn buildings as monuments of mediæval Rouen.
Jean Goujon, the most notable sculptor of his period, is associated with
Rouen, but it has not been proved that he was a native of the city.
Mystery surrounds the life of this genius. We do not even know the date
of his birth. His sculpture is imaginative and powerful art, and he is
very successful in presenting nude figures. It is supposed that Goujon
was one of the victims of the Massacre of St Bartholomew.
A picture of the monastic life of Normandy, in the thirteenth century,
has been drawn in the remarkable _Regestrum Visitationum_ of Eude
Rigaud, Archbishop of Rouen. This wonderful diary has over five hundred
pages, and covers a period of about twenty years. In 1248, Rigaud was
appointed Archbishop of Rouen by Innocent IV. He proved a zealot for
reforms in the Church; he undertook periodic inspection of the
monasteries and nunneries, and his journals contain much "sensational"
reading. The archbishop records that the rule in many of the convents
was exceedingly lax, and that fasts and penances were not duly observed.
He found that a number of the clergy were addicted to tippling, and he
made clerical drunkenness an offence punishable by the deprivation of a
living. Incontinence was very common among the monks. In the convents,
Rigaud discovered "great disorders." But the archbishop relates that the
offenders were so numerous that had he expelled them all, no priests
would have been left in the diocese.
When wandering in the streets of Rouen, we remember that Saint-Amant was
born here in 1594. The life of this wine-loving poet is full of rare
adventure and colour. He was a scholar, wit, soldier, statesman, and man
of business by turn. Saint-Amant visited England, went to Rome with the
fleet, and afterwards to Spain. He also started a glass factory, and
was for a period a diplomat in Poland. His career is a long romance.
Saint-Amant's name in full was Marc Antoine de Gérard, Sieur de Saint
Amant. The name by which he is best known was taken from the abbey of
Saint-Amant. He was one of the greatest of good livers, with an
unquenchable thirst, and an infinite capacity for absorbing liquor. It
is said that he and his boon companions often sat for twenty-four hours
over their bottles. In those days of tavern revelry, the poet was
respected as a master of deep-drinking and a model for the bibulous.
Théophile Gautier wrote of the poet of Rouen: "Saint-Amant is assuredly
a very great and very original poet, worthy to be named among the best
of whom France can boast." This exquisite singer and devoted worshipper
of Bacchus died in Paris in 1661.
CHARTRES
The city of Chartres stands on a bold hill, rising from a wide plain on
the south-west of Paris, watered by the River Eure, a tributary of the
Seine. This commanding position was favourable for a fortified town, and
long before the Romans came to Gaul, kings had a stronghold here of
great importance.
Chartres is dominated by its ancient cathedral towers, that rise grey
and massive, forming an outstanding landmark for leagues around. The old
low-built houses of the city are dwarfed by this mighty church, which
overshadows a number of twisting, narrow alleys of mediæval aspect. Many
of the houses in Chartres are weather-worn, and give an impression of
extreme age, and sometimes of decay. Parts of the town, it is true, have
been rebuilt and made modern; but one's recollection is of an aged,
somnolent place, dreaming of its past, though it strives to advance in
line with progressive ideas of municipal improvement.
According to Mr Henry James, it is not so long ago that sedan-chairs
were used in Chartres; and during his visit in 1876, he saw only two
vehicles--the omnibuses of the rival hotels.
For the student of early Gothic architecture in France, Chartres is a
most profitable field. The older forms of the arch, the foliated
window-circles, the boldly decorated doorways, the twelfth-century
decorative details, and the massive, as well as the light, buttress can
be seen here in perfection. Few, if any, cathedral portals in Europe can
excel in richness those of Chartres. Here is to be seen the noblest
examples of twelfth-century sculpture.
After the Romans, the city was ruled by Christian princes up to the day
of Charlemagne. Before the tenth century, the first Christian church in
Chartres was burned down, and very little of the pristine fabric was
spared by the flames.
The pious Saint Bernard preached here, and many illustrious bishops
presided over the see. Henry V. of England came to the city; and so did
Mary of Scotland. There have been two or three notable sieges, and the
city was a scene of slaughter during the great Revolution.
The legends surrounding the first building consecrated to the Christian
faith in Chartres are numerous. Saint Aventin was probably the first
bishop of the see. Fulbert, who received tribute from a number of
monarchs, was the founder of the new cathedral, after the wreckage by
fire about the year 1021. There were two or three attacks from fire, for
Fulbert's structure was seriously damaged in the twelfth century.
The crypt is part of a very early building. In the chapels are bare
traces of the old mural paintings, and several remarkable remains of the
more ancient edifice. The crypt forms a church in itself, for it
contains no less than fourteen chapels.
There are several points of difference between the early Gothic styles
of England and France, and height is a characteristic of the French
cathedrals; the architects delighted in lofty vaultings, and seemed to
vie with one another in attaining great height. Double aisles and double
flying buttresses are other features of the French Gothic churches,
distinguishing them from the churches of England of the same date.
The French pillars are heavy, and not so highly ornamented as those of
England. In the windows we find chiefly in France the lancet; and the
circle, with trefoils and quatre-foils, is a common form. Specimens of
round windows may be studied to advantage in the Cathedral of Chartres.
The most beautiful examples of early French Gothic architecture, in
detail, are the ornate portals, especially of the western façades, the
spires, the imposing towers, the rose windows, and the high vaulting.
The west front at Chartres is early twelfth-century work. Few façades
present such a bewildering wealth of decoration and of impressive
height. The windows are enormous, and the central rose window is
remarkably rich in design. Each of the three doorways is full of most
interesting statuary, with luxuriant decorations.
The north portal was once gilded and coloured, but this embellishment
has disappeared. Many figures adorn this doorway, and every one of them
will repay close inspection. The central door on this side is exquisite.
Another impressive front is on the south. Here are the statues of Christ
trampling on the lion, and of Christ as Judge. Innumerable figures
cluster on this porch. Every façade and doorway of the Cathedral of
Chartres is a gallery of statuary.
Very noble are the two huge towers. The north tower is the more majestic
of the two, and dates from the sixteenth century. It is literally
covered with delicious ornament and mediæval statuary. The south tower
is massive, but plainer, rising to a height of about three hundred and
fifty feet. It is adorned with some quaint symbolic figures. There were
once two immense bells within this tower.
The interior of the cathedral impresses by its vastness and height. A
wider nave is not to be found among the cathedrals of France, and the
aisles are proportionate in width. The eye ranges upwards to the
wonderful roof, with its opulent decoration, to the beautiful triforium,
and the tall, narrow windows of the clerestory.
The magnificent choir screen is finely sculptured. Among the host of
figures are the Virgin, Saint Joachim, and the Adoration of Wise Men.
Several groups, representing scenes from Scripture, deck the screen. The
effigies are far too numerous to describe in detail. There is a monument
within the choir, "The Assumption," by Bridan. The pavement is of
variegated marble.
In the south aisle of the choir is a tall stained-glass window of an
early date. Several of the painted windows were executed before the
fourteenth century, and these are to be seen in the nave, the
clerestory, and the transcepts. The chapels have several interesting
stained windows, fine roof decorations, and handsome portals. In the
sacristy there is a notable window; and in the ambulatory will be seen
the clothed figure of the Virgin Mary, one of the chief treasures of the
cathedral.
The sixteenth-century Church of Saint Aignan ranks next to the cathedral
in interest. It has a fine, but somewhat worn, front, still rich in
examples of Renaissance art. More than once fire has ravaged this
church, and during the Revolution the edifice was despoiled and damaged.
Saint Aignan is the burial-place of the bishop whose name it bears.
There are many stained windows in the church. The interior is in other
respects somewhat plain.
There are some interesting old churches in Chartres. In the Church of
San Pierre there are dazzling stained windows which should be seen by
the visitor, as they are among the finest examples in Chartres. There is
an old portal on the north side, and the great buttresses should be
noted. Many of the decorations of the interior were destroyed by the
Revolution.
There are some old houses of historical and architectural interest in
Chartres, and one will be seen near Saint Aignan's.
The Museum is in the town hall. Among the objects of interest collected
here are some examples of tapestry that were formerly in the cathedral.
There are also many relics of the Roman days. In the library are several
old missals.
Chartres is the birthplace of two poets, Desportes and Mathurin Regnier,
his nephew. Desportes, born in 1546, travelled in Italy and Poland, and
was court bard to Henri III. He died in 1606. Mathurin Regnier was a
poet of a higher order. He composed a number of fine satires and many
lyrical poems.
A general impression of Chartres is gained by following the tree-shaded
walk which surrounds the old town, a promenade that gives many
delightful glimpses of the plain and of narrow ancient streets, with
here and there a trace of the crumbling walls.
RHEIMS
By the side of the River Vesle, in the province of Marne, and on the
verge of a famous champagne producing country, is one of the oldest
towns of France. Rheims, with its ancient gates, its memorials of Roman
times, and monuments of illustrious kings of Gaul, has a history of much
interest. Its cathedral ranks with the finest ecclesiastic buildings of
the world, and is celebrated as the scene of many great pageants of the
coronations of French sovereigns. The Romans captured a city here, and
called it Durocortorum, and in Cæsar's day this was an important
station. It is recorded that Attila, the fierce conqueror, ravaged the
town with fire.
The Consul, Jovinus of Rheims, was an early convert to Christianity,
which was preached here by two missionaries from Rome in the fourth
century. The marble cenotaph of the Christian consul is to be seen in
the city. Then came the Vandals, who seized the town, and murdered the
bishop at the door of the first cathedral.
When King Clovis conquered the fair territory of Champagne, St Rémi was
made bishop of Rheims, and henceforward the kings of France were crowned
here. Many famous prelates lived in the city during the succeeding
centuries; one, the most celebrated, Gerbert, became pope.
Joan of Arc is an important figure in the drama of Rheims during the
great war with England. The peasant's daughter, born on the borders of
Champagne, at Domremy, a hamlet which is now a shrine, reached the
height of her triumph in 1429, when she led a vast army to the gates of
Rheims. "O gentle king, the pleasure of God is done," cried the white
maid, as she knelt before Charles VII. after his coronation in the
gorgeous cathedral.
A yearning for home and the old tranquil life was in the heart of Joan;
she wished to leave the tented field, and to return to her sheep-folds
and pastures. But, at the battle of Compiegne, she fell into the hands
of the treacherous Bastard of Vendôme, and about a year later Joan la
Pucelle was burned to death.
The focus of interest in Rheims is the cathedral. Notre Dame was built
on the situation of a Roman basilica. Parts of the present building
were first constructed in 1231, but the façade is of the fourteenth
century. This magnificent front has a gorgeous portal, with pointed
arches of great grace, rising to a large and handsome rose window. There
are two towers over two hundred and fifty feet high, very finely
decorated. A number of statues adorn this façade, on the portals and in
the arch of the rose window. The figure of the Virgin is over the
principal doorway, bending to receive the crown from the hands of
Christ.
"The three great doorways," writes Mr Henry James, in "Portraits of
Places," "are in themselves a museum of imagery, disposed in each case
in five close tiers, the statues in each of the tiers packed
perpendicularly against their comrades. The effect of these great
hollowed and chiselled recesses is extremely striking; they are a proper
vestibule to the dusky richness of the interior. The cathedral of
Rheims, more fortunate than many of its companions, appears not to have
suffered from the iconoclasts of the Revolution; I noticed no absent
heads nor broken noses."
The rose windows of the transepts are exceedingly lovely, and attention
should be paid to the design of the buttresses, and the very remarkable
gargoyles. One of the towers contains an enormous bell. In the exterior
of the south transept are several good statues.
An immense nave stretches for nearly five hundred feet. This part of the
edifice was repeatedly extended to make space for the great crowds that
attended the imposing coronation ceremonies. Around the choir are
several chapels. In numerous niches and corners are statues of interest.
"The long sweep of the nave, from the threshold to the point where the
coloured light-shafts of the choir lose themselves in the grey distance,
is a triumph of perpendicular perspective," writes Mr Henry James.
Perhaps the greatest treasures preserved in Notre Dame are the
tapestries. There are pieces representing the life of the Virgin, while
several depict scenes in the life of Christ. The Canticles form the
subject of other examples. Two pieces of Gobelins, after designs by
Raphael, represent the life of St Paul. These tapestries are
exceptionally fine specimens of this art.
During the coronation celebrations, the sovereigns occupied the
archbishop's palace, which is close to the cathedral. The building was
begun about 1499. In the museum of the palace is the famous cenotaph of
Jovinius, adorned with sculpture. A large hall contains portraits of
kings.
Among the churches of importance in Rheims are St Jacques, St André, and
St Thomas. The Church of St Rémi, named after the great bishop, dates
from the eleventh century. During the Revolution this church was
terribly damaged; many of the splendid relics and statues were
destroyed, and but a few images were spared.
The tomb of St Rémi is modern, except the images that decorate it. There
are some rich tapestries in the church. The doorway of the south
transept is handsome, and there are beautiful windows of an early date.
The cloister of the abbey is now enclosed by a hotel. In the seventeenth
century the present Town Hall was erected. It contains a gallery of
paintings and a museum.
The chief Roman monument in the town is the great arch of triumph, the
Porte de Mars. This structure was probably erected by Agrippa on the
occasion of the opening of the highways leading to the city. Near to the
arch stood a temple of Mars. The Gate of Mars is over a hundred feet
long, and over forty feet high. There are several figures under the
archways. Parts of a Roman pavement are near the triumphal arch. These
are the only memorials of Roman times, but it may be noted that the
gates of the city still retain their original names.
Rheims was fortified after the Franco-Prussian War; and in recent years
many of the streets have been widened and modernised. Henry James notes
"a prosperous, modern, mercantile air" in the Rheims of to-day.
Considerable business is transacted in the city. It is a centre of the
woollen industry, and there are several weaving and spinning works, and
a large trade in flannel and blankets.
The chief ancient charm of Rheims is in the great cathedral, with its
highly interesting architecture, the old church of St Rémi, and the
Roman arch. The streets are clean and bright, and the town has its
tramcars among other tokens of modernity. There are not many statues of
importance. The monument to Louis XV. stands in the Place Royale.
BRUGES
The air of prosperity which is so apparent in Amsterdam and Antwerp is
missing in Bruges, once populated by a busy multitude of craftsmen and
weavers. Early in the seventh century, the city contained as many as
fifty thousand weavers, and this was probably the period of its greatest
splendour. For several centuries, however, Bruges held its position as a
trading town, and in the fourteenth century, under the rule of the dukes
of Burgundy, its market was known throughout Europe, and was visited by
the wealthy merchants of Italy and Greece.
If the greatness of the industrial power has long since declined, Bruges
can still boast of its ancient monuments, which invite visitors from all
parts of the world. The town is much visited by strangers. It is easily
reached from England by way of Ostend, and ships of five hundred tons
can sail up to Bruges on its wide artificial waterway.
For the causes of the decay of the town, we must refer to the early wars
that disturbed the country, to the penalty which the natives suffered
for rebellion against the Archduke Maximilian in 1488, when the trade
was transferred to Antwerp, and finally to the ravages of the Duke of
Alva's army.
Peter Titelmann harried the burghers in the days of religious strife to
such an extent that the Catholic burgomasters and senators of the town
petitioned the Duchess Regent to protect them. They complained that the
Inquisitor of the Faith brought before them men and women, and forced
them to confess; and that, without warrant, he dragged his victims from
the church itself.
In 1583 the French, under Captain Chamois, having seized Ostend and
other towns, came to the gates of Bruges. The burgomaster refused to
admit the fifteen hundred troops, and rallying the townsmen, he made a
stand against the invading force, compelling Chamois to retire.
The city was famed for its workers in tapestry, an art known early in
the Netherlands, and probably borrowed from the Saracens. In 1606
Flemish artists, invited by Henri IV., introduced the working of
tapestry into France, and a few years later the industry was established
in England.