I. Introductory 285
II. Notre Dame d'Evreux 288
III. Notre Dame d'Alencon 296
IV. St. Pierre de Lisieux 301
V. Notre Dame de Seez 305
VI. Notre Dame de Bayeux 310
VII. Notre Dame de St. Lo 315
VIII. Notre Dame de Coutances 321
IX. St. Pierre d'Avranches 326
X. St. Sol, Dol-de-Bretagne 329
XI. St. Malo and St. Servan 335
XII. Treguier 339
XIII. St. Brieuc 342
XIV. St. Pol de Leon 345
XV. St. Corentin de Quimper 348
XVI. Vannes 351
APPENDICES
I. The Architectural Divisions of France 353
II. A List of the Departments of France 356
III. The Church in France 359
IV. A List of the Larger French Churches
Which Were at One Time Cathedrals 362
V. Chronology of the Chief Styles and Examples of Church Building 365
VI. Dimensions and Chronology 366
VII. The French Kings from Charlemagne Onward 383
VIII. Measurements of the Cathedrals at Amiens and Salisbury 384
IX. French Metres Reduced to English Feet 385
X. A Brief Glossary of Architectural Terms 386
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Notre Dame de Noyon _Frontispiece_
Notre Dame de Laon 43
Notre Dame de Noyon 47
Notre Dame d'Amiens 64
St. Pierre de Beauvais 70
Notre Dame de Rouen 77
Basilique de St. Denis 91
Oriflamme of St. Denis 100
Notre Dame de Paris 101
Notre Dame de Paris from the River 107
St. Julien; Le Mans 111
Notre Dame de Chartres 123
Notre Dame de Reims 132
St. Croix d'Orleans 150
St. Louis de Blois 156
St. Gatien de Tours 161
Flying Buttress, St. Gatien de Tours 170
St. Maurice d'Angers 171
St. Pierre de Nantes 183
St. Etienne d'Auxerre 191
St. Etienne de Bourges 197
St. Cyr and St. Juliette de Nevers 209
St. Mammes de Langres 218
Nancy 227
Boulogne, St. Omer, Arras 229
Notre Dame de Cambrai 236
St. Etienne de Toul 247
St. Etienne, Chalons-sur-Marne 251
St. Die 254
St. Lazare d'Autun 257
St. Benigne de Dijon 262
Notre Dame de Senlis 266
St. Etienne de Meaux 270
St. Pierre de Troyes 274
St. Etienne de Sens 279
Notre Dame d'Evreux 289
Window Framing--Evreux 295
Notre Dame d'Alencon 296
St. Pierre de Lisieux 299
Notre Dame de Seez 305
Notre Dame de Bayeux 310
Notre Dame de St. Lo 315
Notre Dame de Coutances 319
St. Pierre d'Avranches 326
Column of St. Pierre d'Avranches 328
St. Samson, Dol-de-Bretagne 329
St. Malo and St. Servan.--Treguier 333
St. Brieuc 342
St. Corentin de Quimper 348
Notre Dame d'Amiens (diagram) 366
Map of Angers 367
St. Etienne de Bourges (diagram) 370
Notre Dame de Laon (diagram) 372
St. Julien, le Mans (diagram) 373
Map of Nantes 374
Notre Dame de Noyon (diagram) 375
Notre Dame de Paris (diagram) 376
Notre Dame de Reims (diagram) 377
Flying Buttresses, Reims 377
Notre Dame de Rouen (diagram) 378
Basilique de St. Denis (diagrams) 380
Map of Tours 381
Charles VII. 383
Ground Plan 386
Cross Section 387
Interior 388
Cross Section 389
_The Cathedrals of Northern France_
INTRODUCTION
An attempt to enumerate the architectural monuments of France is not
possible without due consideration being given to the topographical
divisions of the country, which, so far as the early population and the
expression of their arts and customs is concerned, naturally divides
itself into two grand divisions of influences, widely dissimilar.
Historians, generally, agree that the country which embraces the
Frankish influences in the north, as distinct from that where are spoken
the romance languages, finds its partition somewhere about a line drawn
from the mouth of the Loire to the Swiss lakes. Territorially, this
approaches an equal division, with the characteristics of architectural
forms well nigh as equally divided. Indeed, Fergusson, who in his
general estimates and valuations is seldom at fault, thus divides
it:--"on a line which follows the valley of the Loire to a point between
Tours and Orleans, then southwesterly to Lyons, and thence along the
valley of the Rhone to Geneva."
With such a justification, then, it is natural that some arbitrary
division should be made in arranging the subject matter of a volume
which treats, in part only, of a country or its memorials; even though
the influences of one section may not only have lapped over into the
other, but, as in certain instances, extended far beyond. As the peoples
were divided in speech, so were they in their manner of building, and
the most thoroughly consistent and individual types were in the main
confined to the environment of their birth. A notable exception is found
in Brittany, where is apparent a generous admixture of style which does
not occur in the churches of the first rank; referring to the imposing
structures of the Isle de France and its immediate vicinity. The "Grand
Cathedrals" of this region are, perhaps, most strongly impressed upon
the mind of whoever takes something more than a superficial interest in
the subject as the type which embodies the loftiest principles of
Gothic forms, and, as such, they are perhaps best remembered by that
very considerable body of persons known as intelligent observers.
The strongest influences at work in the north from the twelfth century
onward have been in favour of the Gothic or pointed styles, whilst, in
the south, civic and ecclesiastical architecture alike were of a
manifest Byzantine or Romanesque tendency. No better illustration of
this is possible than to recall the fact that, when the builders of the
fifteenth century undertook to complete that astoundingly impressive
choir at Beauvais, they sought to rival in size and magnificence its
namesake at Rome, which, under the care of the Pontiff himself, was then
being projected. Thus it was that this thoroughly Gothic structure of
the north was to stand forth as the indicator of local influences, as
contrasted with the Italian design and plans of the St. Peter's of the
south.
A discussion of the merits of any territorial claims as to the inception
of what is commonly known as Gothic architecture, under which name, for
the want of a more familiar term, it shall be referred to herein, is
quite apart from the purport of this volume, and, as such, it were best
ignored. The statement, however, may be made that it would seem clearly
to be the development of a northern influence which first took shape
after a definite form in a region safely comprehended as lying within
the confines of northeastern France, the Netherlands, and the northern
Rhine Provinces. Much has been written on this debatable subject and
doubtless will continue to be, either as an arrow shot into the air by
some wary pedant, or an equally unconvincing statement, without proof,
of some mere follower in the footsteps of an illustrious, but behind the
times, expert. It matters not, as a mere detail, whether it was brought
from the East in imperfect form by the Crusaders, and only received its
development at the hands of some ingenious northerner, or not. Its
development was certainly rapid and sure in the great group which we
know to-day in northern France, and, if proof were wanted, the existing
records in stone ought to be sufficiently convincing to point out the
fact that here Mediaeval Gothic architecture received its first and most
perfect development. The _Primaire_: the development of the style
finding its best example at Paris. The _Secondaire_: the
Perfectionnement at Reims, and its Apogee at Amiens. The _Tertiaire_:
practically the beginning of the decadence, in St. Ouen at Rouen, only
a shade removed from the debasement which soon followed. As to the
merits or demerits of the contemporary structures of other nations, that
also would be obviously of comparative unimportance herein except so far
as a comparison might once and again be made to accentuate values.
The earliest art triumphs of the French may well be said to have been in
the development and _perfectionnement_ of Mediaeval (Gothic)
architecture. Its builders planned amply, wisely, and well, and in spite
of the interruptions of wars, of invasions, and of revolutions, there is
nowhere to be found upon the earth's surface so many characteristic
attributes of Mediaeval Gothic architecture as is to be observed in this
land, extending from the Romanesque types of Frejus, Perigueux and
Angouleme to that classical degeneration commonly called the
Renaissance, a more offensive example of which could hardly be found
than in the conglomerate structure of St. Etienne du Mont at Paris, or
the more modern and, if possible, even more ugly Cathedral Churches at
Arras, Cambrai, or Rennes in the north.
There may be attractive Italian types in existence out of Italy; but
the fact is that, unless they are undoubted copies of a thoroughly
consistent style to the very end, they impress one as being out of place
in a land where the heights of its own native style are so exalted.
Gothic, regardless of the fact as to whether it be the severe and
unornamental varieties of the Low Countries or the exaggerations of the
most ornately flamboyant style, appears not only to please the casual
and average observer, but the thorough student of ecclesiastical
architecture as well. It has come to be the accepted form throughout the
world of what is best representative of the thought and purpose for
which a great church should stand.
With the Renaissance we have not a little to do, when considering the
cathedrals of France. Seldom, if ever, in the sixteenth century did the
builder or even the restorer add aught but Italian accessories where any
considerable work was to be accomplished. Why, or how, the Renaissance
ever came into being it is quite impossible for any one to say, _sans
doubt_, as is the first rudimentary invention of Gothic itself. Perhaps
it was but the outcome of a desire for something different, if not new;
but in the process the taste of the people fell to a low degree.
Architecture may be said to have been all but divorced from life, and,
while the fabric is a dead thing of itself, it is a very living and
human expression of the tendencies of an era. The Renaissance sought to
revive painting and sculpture and to incorporate them into architectural
forms. Whether after a satisfactory manner or not appears to have been
no concern with the revivers of a style which was entirely unsuited in
its original form to a northern latitude. That which answered for the
needs and desires of a southern race could not be boldly transplanted
into another environment and live without undergoing an evolution which
takes time, a fact not disproven by later events.
The Italians themselves were the undoubted cause of the debasement of
the classical style, evidences having crept into that country nearly a
hundred years before the least vestiges were known in either France or
Germany, the Netherlands, or England, and which, though traceable, had
left but slight impress in Spain. It is doubtless not far wrong to
attribute its introduction into France as the outcome of the wanderings
in Italy of Charles VIII., in the latter years of the XV. century. As a
result of this it is popularly supposed that it was introduced into the
domestic architecture of the nobles who had accompanied the king. Here
it found perhaps its most satisfying expression; in those magnificent
chateaux of the Loire, and the neighbourhood of Tours and Blois, ever a
subject for sentimental praise. One would not seek to pass condemnation
upon the application of revived classic features where they were but the
expression of an individual taste, as in a chateau whose owner so chose
to build and embellish it. Certainly no more splendid edifices of their
kind are known than the magnificent establishments at Blois, Chenonceau,
Chambord, or Chaumont. The style appears, however, out of place; an
admixture meaningless in itself and in its application when, with a
Gothic foundation bequeathed them, builders sought to incorporate into a
cathedral such palpable inconsistencies as was frequently done.
The building of the chateaux was perhaps the first anti-Gothic step in
France and proved to be an influence which spread not slowly, as to
decorative detail at least, and soon of itself established a decided
non-Gothic type.
It was but natural that the cathedral builders should have followed to
some extent this new influence. The Church was ever seeking to
strengthen its popularity, the bishops ensconced themselves in their
cathedral cities as snugly as did a feudal lord in his castle, and their
emulation of wealth outside of the Church was but an effort to keep
their status on a plane with that of the other power which also demanded
allegiance of the people. It is to be regretted that they did not pass
this manifestation by, or at least not encumbered an otherwise
consistent Gothic fabric with superimposed meaningless detail. Such
decorative embellishments as are represented by the tomb of Louis XII.
at St. Denis, and the tombs of the cardinals at Rouen, may be considered
characteristic, though they bear earlier dates by some twenty years than
the south portal of Beauvais, which is thoroughly the best of Gothic, or
St. Maclou at Rouen, which, though highly florid, is without a trace of
anti-Gothic. The extreme (though not a cathedral church) may be seen at
St. Etienne du Mont, wherein the effort is made to incorporate large
masses of pseudo-classical decoration with Gothic, and, alas, with sad
effect.
For the most part, the Gothic cathedrals of France, as such, while
closely related to each other in their design and arrangements, have
little to do with those which lie without the confines of the country,
either in general features or in detail. The type is distinctively one
which stands by its own perfections. In size, while in many instances
not having the length of nave of several in England, they have nearly
always an equal, if not a greater, width and an almost invariably
greater height, though not equal in superficial area to St. Peter's in
Italy, the Dom at Cologne, or even the cathedral at Seville in Spain.
Such Romanesque types as are to be seen to the northward of the Loire
are mostly found in the smaller churches of Brittany, while the early
transition type, so familiar throughout the Netherlands, is, in France,
usually seen in the neighbourhood of the frontiers of the Low Countries.
"Les Grandes Cathedrales" of the north are distinctly those of Paris,
Amiens, Reims, Rouen, Beauvais, and Chartres; and it is to them that
reference must continually be made; while the severely plain transitory
types of Noyon or Soissons, or the more effective development of Laon,
and the flamboyant structures of Troyes and Nantes, at least lean toward
the decadence.
The difficulty of assigning ranks to these monumental cathedrals is made
the greater by reason of the fact that to-day it is with but one people
that we have to reckon, so far as their temperament and environment is
concerned. Since feudal times the movement has ever been toward one
nation, one people, and one view, different from that presented in the
middle ages.
For centuries after the break of Roman power it had been mostly one
local influence against another which prevented perfect cohesion to any
national spirit, and thus it was that the tendencies of the cathedral
builders, though Roman as to their teaching and religion, and doubtless,
in many instances, with regard to their birth as well, followed no
special style until the era of Gothic development. Unconsciously,
transitory types crept in, until suddenly throughout northern Europe
there bloomed forth within less than a century of time the so-called
Gothic in all its splendour, and with scarce a century between the
commencement and the completion of some of the most notable of the
group. The Romanesque types which still lingered in Brittany, though
well worthy of special consideration to-day, are unimportant and in a
way insignificant when compared with the grand group.
To most of us it will be impossible to conjure up any more significant
thought with regard to mediaeval church architecture than that fostered
by the memories of acquaintanceship with these examples of north France;
an opinion which is further strengthened when it is also recalled that
they are representative of the first really national artistic
expression. For this reason alone, if for no other, the hasty critics
who have so handily claimed precedence elsewhere, might profitably
review the facts of the circumstance which led to so universal an
adoption of the full-blown style in the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries.
The Romanesque peoples were confined southwards of mid-France at the
time of the withdrawal of the Roman legions, while, in the north, the
conquering Franks sought to wipe out every vestige of their past
influence; hence it may be considered that the new manner of building
had everything in favour of its speedy growth. It was thus definitely
assured of a warm welcome, and, following in the footsteps of Clovis
himself, the rulers were more than willing to aid what they believed
might be a strengthening influence, politically, as well as morally.
The style may be justly said to be a natural and growthful expression of
a race, and more significant than all else is the fact that nowhere,
not even on the Rhine, which with northern France claims the origin of
the style, is to be found any single example equalling in any like
measure the perfections of "Les Grandes Cathedrales Francaises," though
it be recalled that in many instances the German buildings were planned
and often erected by French architects and artisans.
Among the two thousand or more "Monuments Historiques" paternally cared
for by the French government and under the direct control of the
Ministry of Public Instruction and the Beaux Arts, none are of the
relative importance, historically or artistically, of the Grand
Cathedrals. Certain objects, classed as megalithic and antique remains,
may be the connecting links between the past and the present by which
the antiquarian weaves the threads of his historical lore; but neither
these nor the _reliques_ which have been dug from the ground or untombed
from later constructive elements, all of which are generously included
in the general scheme by the Department of Beaux Arts, which has
provided a fund for their preservation and care, have one tithe of the
appealing interest which these great churches bespeak on behalf of the
contemporary life of the times in which they were built, reflecting as
they do many correlated events, and forming, in the interweaving of the
history of their inception and construction, an epitome of well-nigh all
the contemporary events of their environment, as well as the greater
parts which they may have played in general affairs of state.
The best example of a part so played is that of the cathedral at Reims,
which saw the crowning within its walls of nearly every monarch of
France from the time of Philippe Augustus (1173) to that of Charles X.
(1823). The monarchs of France, a long and picturesque line, have ever
sought to ally the Church on their side, and right well they have been
served, not ignoring, of course, certain notable lapses. In the main,
however, the rulers and the people alike, whatever may have been the
periodical dissensions, combined the forces which made possible the
projection and erection of these noble examples of an art which, in the
Gothic forms at least, here came to its greatest and most interesting
phase.
Invasion, revolution, and the stress of weather and time, all played
their part in the general desecrations which sooner or later followed;
far the most serious of these visible damages reflected upon us to-day
being the malpractices occurring at the Revolution, whether at the hands
of a _sans culotte_ or of the most respectable of bourgeois, led away by
the excitement of revolt. The depredations were irreparable; they razed,
burned, or ruthlessly shattered shrines, statues, or even reliquaries,
as at Reims, where the Sainted Ampulla, which contained the miraculous
oil brought by a dove from heaven, now preserved in reconstructed
fragments in the sacristy, was dashed to pieces in a fury of
uncontrollable wrath.
The paucity of sculptured decoration in certain places only too plainly
designed for it is, too, frequently painfully apparent. Such sculptured
decoration and glass as were easily to hand met with perhaps the most
ready spoliation, while here and there, from some miraculous reason, a
gem was left entire, though likely enough in a bruised and shattered
setting.
This is what befell most of the great churches, and, for this reason,
any work treating of these architectural glories of France must make due
allowance in hazarding opinions as to the merit or lack of merit of any
particular example as it now exists, as compared with what it may have
been as it once was, or had it been completed in accordance with the
original design.
In local and cathedral archives much valuable and interesting
information exists, treating in this very manner such embellishments as
may to-day be lacking; but unfortunately such facts are often buried in
a mass of other irrelevant material which would make its discovery
unusually difficult to any but a very learned local antiquarian. In this
same connection, also, there is a dearth of illustrative material which
can be depended upon as to minutiae or accuracy of detail. Hence it is
possible to deal only with such general facts as may be supported by the
best contemporary information based upon the researches of others. It
may be well to note here, however, a fact which is often overlooked,
namely, that the written records of France are not only very complete
and exhaustive, but, with respect to Paris itself, to cite an example,
the documentary history, consecutive and exact, from the time of the
decline of Roman power is preserved intact,--a record which is perhaps
not so true of any other large city in Europe.
In dealing with the cathedrals of the north, territorially, we have to
consider those examples which are generally accepted as being all that
a cathedral church should be. Of the first rank are those gathered not
far from the confines of the mediaeval Isle of France. They too, are best
representative of the true Gothic spirit, while the southernmost
examples, those of Dijon and Besancon, are of manifest Romanesque or
Byzantine conception. Each, too, is somewhat reminiscent of the early
German manner of building, the latter in respect to the double apse,
which is often found across the Rhine, but seldom seen in France. The
most northerly of all is at St. Omer, where are the somewhat battered
remains of a satisfactory Gothic cathedral, although Amiens, not far to
the south, is perhaps the ideal cathedral when considered from a general
point merely. For the western representative, a line running due west
from Paris almost into the Atlantic finds at Quimper, a small port
fifteen miles from the sea, the Cathedral of St. Corentin, which, though
not as lofty, is more of the manner of building of the Isle of France
than one might suppose would be the case here in this outpost of
Brittany, where are found so many evidences of Romanesque influences,
retained long after they had been given over elsewhere.
Such, then, are the extremes of latitude and of architectural style
which combine to give variety to the interest which is always aroused by
the contemplation of the masterworks of any of the arts, where outside
and contiguous influences have something in common therewith.
As a type to admire, there is no doubt but that the cathedral that
possesses an apsidal termination of the easterly or choir end, as is
nearly the universal custom in France, has charms and beauties which may
be latent, but which are simply winning, when it comes to picturing the
same structure with the squared-off ends so common in England.
It was Stevenson, was it not, who wrote of the satisfaction with which
one always looks upon the east end of a French cathedral, "flanging out
as it often does in sweeping terraces, and settling down broadly upon
the earth as though it were meant to stay." Certainly nothing of the
sort is to be more admired than the rare view of the choir buttresses of
Notre Dame at Paris, likened unto "kneeling angels with half-spread
wings;" the delicate and symmetrical choir buttresses of Amiens; the
sheer fall of Beauvais; or the triply effective termination of the
one-time cathedral of Noyon, which falls away in three gracefully
gentle slopes to the ground. Again Stevenson's power as a descriptive
writer lingers in our memory. He says, of no cathedral in particular,
"where else is to be found so many elegant proportions growing one out
of the other, and all together in one?... Though I have heard a
considerable variety of sermons, I have never yet heard one that was so
expressive as a cathedral. 'Tis the best preacher itself, preaches day
and night, not only telling you of man's art and aspirations in the
past, but convicting your own soul of ardent sympathies; or rather, like
all good preachers, it sets you preaching to yourself,--and every man is
his own doctor of divinity in the last resort."
To best estimate the charms and values of these architectural monuments
one should consider; first, the history and topography of their
environment,--_i. e._ as to why and when they may have been planned and
built; secondly, their personality, as it were,--who were their
founders, their patrons, their bishops; thirdly, the functions in which
they may have partaken, any significant events which may have passed
within their walls or centred within their sees; and fourthly, the
artistic beauties of their fabric and its embellishments.
In most cases all of these values are so interwoven and indissolubly
linked with the growth of the structure itself from its very earliest
foundations that it is hardly possible to detail this information in
true chronological order. The picturesque and romantic elements, of
which there is not a little; the sordid and baneful, of which we may
wish there were less; and the splendid ceremonials of Church and State;
all go to make up a chronicle which no account, of even a special
nature, could afford to neglect.
The picturesque elements of the conversion and baptism of Clovis by St.
Remi at Reims in 496, where, on the site of the present cathedral, he
was adjured to "revere that which thou didst burn and burn that which
thou didst revere," and the crowning on the same spot of Charles VII. in
1429 through the efforts of the Maid, well represent these phases. The
meanness and the unjustness of her later trial and condemnation in the
Abbey Church of St. Ouen at Rouen is another. The affairs of state
consist chiefly of the coronation ceremonies which mostly took place at
Reims, and present a splendid record. Of the monarchs from 1173 onwards
who were not here crowned, Henry IV. was crowned at Chartres; Napoleon
I., at Paris; Louis Philippe, Louis XVIII., and Napoleon III. were not
crowned at all.
Throughout this continuity of state events these great churches were
performing their natural functions of the dissemination of the Word.
Jealousies and bickerings took place, to be sure, but in the main there
was harmony, if rivalry did exist; else it were not possible that so
many of these splendid monuments would have endured to remind us of
their past as well as present existence.
Certain of the sees were merged into greater ones, and others were
abandoned altogether. In this connection there is a curious circumstance
with regard to the one-time Bishop of Bethleem, who, driven from the
Holy Land, was given a see at Clamecy, which see comprehended only the
village in which he resided. What remains of the former cathedral is now
an adjunct to a hotel. The rearrangement of political divisions of
France after the Revolution was the further excuse for establishing but
one diocese to a department, until to-day there are but eighty-four
sees, administered by sixty-seven bishops and seventeen archbishops.
The itinerary of the conventional tour of the Continent usually keeps
well to the beaten track, and so does the conventional traveller. He
does not always get over to Reims, and often does not stop _en route_ at
Amiens; seldom visits Beauvais, and, unless he specially sets out to
"tour" Brittany, a popular enough amusement of the lean of purse in
these days, knows little of the unique charms of Treguier, Quimper, or
even of Le Mans, with its sublime choir, or of Evreux. As for even a
nodding acquaintance with Noyon or Soissons, two of the most
convincingly beautiful and impressive transitory types, they might as
well be in the wilds of Kamchatka, though they are both situated in a
region well travelled on all sides; while Laon, not far distant, is
hardly known at all, except as a way station _en route_ to Switzerland.
The cathedrals of mid-France are, it is to be feared, even less known
than would on first thoughts seem probable. A certain amount of
sentimentality attaches itself to the chateaux of the Loire, and some
acquaintance with their undeniable pleasing attributes is the portion of
most travellers; but, again, such cathedral cities as Besancon, Nantes,
and Langres are off the well-worn road, and their cathedrals might be
myths so far as a general acquaintance with them is concerned; while
the splendid churches of Bourges, Nevers, and Autun are likewise
practically unknown to the casual traveller.
Tours, Orleans, and Chartres alone appear to be the only recognized
representatives of this section of France which have hitherto attracted
due attention.
With the southland this volume does not deal; that is a subject to be
considered quite by itself,--and significantly, more real interest has
been shown with respect to the architectural monuments of Avignon,
Arles, Nimes, Le Puy, Perigueux, Carcassonne, and Poitiers than to those
of the Midi. Is it that the days of cheap travel and specially conducted
tours, when ten or fifteen guineas will take one to the Swiss or Italian
lakes, or e'en to Rome and Florence, has caused this apparent neglect of
the country lying between? Certainly our forefathers travelled more
wisely, but then prices and means of locomotion were on quite a
different scale in those days, and not infrequently they were obliged to
confine their travels and observations to more restricted areas.
Perhaps the most lucid arrangement of architectural species is that
given by De Caumont's "Abecedaire d'Architecture," which divides the
country ethnologically into Brittany; Normandy; Flanders, including
Artois and Picardy; Central France (the Isle of France, Champagne,
Orleanois, Main, Anjou, Touraine, and Berri); and Burgundy,
comprehending the former divisions of Franche Comte, Lorraine, Alsace
(now Belfort), Nivernois, Bourbonnois, and Lyonnois. Of the above
divisions, only that of the Isle of France with La Brie was originally
held by the Crown. The political divisions throughout France now number
eighty-seven departments, taking their names from the principal
topographical features, and replacing in 1790 the thirty-two mediaeval
provinces, each of which had their own characteristics of social and
political life, and of which each in turn progressed, stagnated, or fell
backward according to local or periodical conditions. Both the arts of
peace and of war have left an ineradicable impress. In the thirteenth
century the various provinces became welded together into one perfect
whole under Philippe Augustus and the sainted Louis, but retained to no
small extent, even as they do unto to-day, their distinctive local
characteristics.
Because of its cathedrals alone, the Isle of France stands preeminent
among the provinces for each of the thirteen provincial styles of
architecture which are allocated by the Societe des Monuments
Historiques. A comparatively small and unified province, it comprehends
within and contiguous to its borders more of the attributes and
principles of a consistent Mediaeval architectural style than is
elsewhere to be observed. From Rouen on the west to Reims on the east,
northward to Amiens and southwesterly to Chartres, are grouped the show
pieces of the world's Gothic architecture. Not alone with the respect to
the Grand Cathedrals is this region so richly endowed, but also because
of the smaller and less important, but no less attractive or interesting
examples of Noyon, Senlis, Laon, Soissons, with their one-time cathedral
churches and other varied ecclesiastical and secular edifices.
Beauvais, Gisors, Gourney, Cires-les-Mello, Creil, Royamont,
Nogent-les-Vierges, Villers-St.-Pol, indeed nearly every village and
town within the royal domain, present values and comparisons which place
nearly all of its contemporary structures, be they large or small, at a
grand height above those of other less prolific sections. Lest it be
thought that this statement is drawn largely, and that fineness and
balance of estimate are lacking, it suffices to state that it is not
alone from study and research, but from frequent personal intimacies
that the region has ever proved an inexhaustible store of architectural
values, and one which most well-known authorities, with one accord,
place in the very first rank.
Arthur Young, than whom no more perspicuous observer has ever chronicled
his impressions, wrote (1704) that to see the best of France, the part
most varied in topography, and resourceful and attractive in its
monuments, one should land at Havre and follow the sinuosity of the
Seine to Paris, thence the highroad to Moulins and on to the Rhone at
Valence, an outline which somewhat approaches the limitations of
territory of which this book treats. To be sure, he wrote of economic
and agricultural conditions, and he mostly made his pertinent
observations on land holdings, stock keeping, and hedgerows, or rather
that lack of them which is so apparent throughout France; but these
details of themselves only suggest more complete evidences of the
existing forces which indicate the growth of the wealth and power which
has made this region so rich in its architectural memorials of the
past, and which ought to more than compensate for any lack of scenic
grandeur.
It is to be regretted, of course, that none of these larger cathedrals
are to be seen to-day in their completely perfected forms. To what
extent would not the glories of Reims, of Amiens, of Beauvais, or of
Rouen, be enhanced, were it possible for us to even imagine their
splendour, were they possessed of the symmetry and well-favoured
situation of the Dom at Cologne? And so it is that we can but feel
regret when we mentally note the lack of nave at Beauvais, of spires at
Bourges, and, yet again, regret even with more pain the monstrousness of
the cast-iron _fleche_ which has been added to the central tower at
Rouen. But these are after all minor imperfections--seldom, if ever, in
aught but pleasurable anticipation, do we see in the masterpieces of art
or nature a perfect unity; so why seek to negative their virtues by
futile criticism? It would seem to be all-sufficient that such details,
sins of omission or commission, should be noted merely, that we may pass
on to other charms which must compel our allegiance.
When we visit the cathedrals of the Isle of France, we are at once in
the midst of the best examples of French Gothic architecture, or of
French Mediaeval architecture, if the phrase is to be preferred.
_PART I_
_Transition Examples_
I
INTRODUCTORY
Soissons, with Noyon and Laon, all within perhaps thirty miles of one
another, may be said to best represent the nurturing and development of
the early Gothic of France. These simple and somewhat plain types
exemplify the style which was in vogue at the same time in the Low
Countries. It is good Gothic, to be sure,--at least, good as to its
planning,--but without that ornateness or lightness known to-day as
characteristic of the distinctive French type, which so early developed
boldly and beautifully.
One observes the resemblances in style between the notable cathedral at
Tournai, in Belgium, the neighbouring types of French Flanders, and the
cathedrals of this trinity of French towns lying contiguous thereto,
Noyon itself being for long interdependent with the see of Tournai.
Nevertheless, it is a beautiful type which was cradled here in the
country called, by Caesar, Suessiones; and difficult it would be to
attempt to assign preeminence to any one edifice.
Noyon, without a doubt, has the greatest charm of environment, and is of
itself in every way a pleasing and satisfying example of what should
most truly inspire and impress us in a cathedral. Stevenson describes it
as being "the happiest inspiration of mankind, a thing as specious as a
statue at the first glance, yet, on examination, as lively and
interesting as a forest in detail. The height of its spires cannot be
taken by trigonometry: they measure absurdly short, but how tall they
are to the admiring eye.... I sat outside of my hotel and the sweet
groaning thunder of the organ floated out of the church like a
summons";--and much more of the same sort, all of which tells us that,
once we find ourselves on a plane of intimacy with a great church, we
continually receive new impressions and inspirations, and it is in this
vein that one who has known this group of simple but fascinating
churches on their own ground, so to put it, can but seek to convey the
idea that it is good that we have such contrasting types as a relief and
an antidote to an appetite which otherwise might become sated.
[Illustration: _CATHEDRAL of NOTRE DAME LAON_]
II
NOTRE DAME DE LAON
For over twelve hundred years, until the see was abolished at the
Revolution, Laon was the seat of a bishop who in point of rank was
second only to the primate at Reims. Crowning the apex of a long
isolated hill, upon which the entire town, now a fortress of the third
class, is situated, the cathedral of Notre Dame de Laon, still so called
locally, has endured since the beginning of the twelfth century, and may
be considered a thoroughly representative transition example.
The present structure is on the site of one burned in 1112, and during
comparatively recent years has been entirely restored.
Its crowning glory is in the disposition and number of its fine group of
towers: two flank the western facade, and are rectangular at the base,
dwindling to a smaller polygon, which is flanked with corner belfries
and pierced by a tall lancet in the central structure, showing a
wonderful lightness and open effect. A curious and unique feature of
these towers is the addition of four oxen in carven stone perched high
aloft in the belfries. These sculptured animals may be merely another
expression of symbols of superstition, and if so are far more pleasing
than some of the hideous and monstrous gargoyles ofttimes seen. Two
other towers, each 190 feet in height, adjoin the transepts, to each of
which is attached a double-storied, apsidal, ancient chapel. Two
similarly projected towers are lacking. The lantern is square, with a
shallow, conical, modern roof.
In the transition type Romanesque influences were evidently dying hard.
The Gothic was seldom full blown, and at Laon shows but the merest trace
of pointedness to the arches of the western facade, either in the
portals or in the higher openings.
The lack of a circular termination to the choir is but another
indication of a link with a transitory past; an undeniably false note
and one very unusual in France, the choir being of the squared-off
variety so common in England. This may be coincident with the English
custom of the time, or it may be directly due to a local English
influence;--most probably the latter, inasmuch as an English prelate
held the see for a time, and the city, in the early fifteenth century,
was for a number of years in English hands. It is significant that in
some of the smaller churches of the diocese is to be noted the same
treatment.
The rose windows of both the eastern and western facades are Gothic in
inception and treatment, and are unusually acceptable specimens of these
supreme efforts of the French mediaeval builders, the glass therein being
distinctly good, though perhaps not remarkable.
The transepts are rectangular and, with the ensemble of the entire
structure, were their towers completed, there would be produced, not
only a unique example, but a towering effect only a degree less
interesting than the perfectly proportioned pyramidal form so much
admired in the perfectly developed Gothic.
The interior is equally attractive with the exterior, and, though the
church is not by any means of remarkable dimensions, it presents in its
appropriate disposition of detail a far more roomy and pleasing
arrangement than many a larger example.
The transepts are divided into a nave and side aisles, the columns which
partition them, like those of the nave proper, being cylindrical and of
massive proportions, which, however, lighten as they rise to the
vaulting. They are unusually symmetrical when viewed together, the
capitals of the lower series being ornately carved, each of a varying
design.
Above the aisles are lofty galleries. The nave chapels were added in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The stained glass, like that of the
rose windows, is in the nave distinctly good, particularly that of the
lower range on the southerly side. The pulpit, of carved wood of the
Renaissance period, is not of the importance and quality of this class
of work to be seen across the Rhine border.
The former Bishop's palace, adjoining the left of the choir, is now the
Palais de Justice. A few remains of a former Gothic cloister are to be
remarked, surrounded by the later construction.
[Illustration: _Notre Dame de Noyon_]
III
NOTRE DAME DE NOYON
In Notre Dame at Noyon, Notre Dame at Laon, and the cathedral at
Tournai, is to be noted the very unusual division of the interior
elevation into four ranges of openings, this effect being only seen at
Paris and Rouen among the large cathedrals. Noyon and Laon borrowed,
perhaps, from Tournai, where building was commenced at least a century
before either of the French examples first took form. It is perhaps not
essential that such an arrangement be made in order to give an effect of
loftiness, which might not otherwise exist; indeed, it is a question if
the reverse is not actually the case, though the effect is undeniably
one of grandeur. Soissons, too, may rightly enough be included in the
group, though the points of resemblance in this case are confined to the
rising steps to either transept, coupled with the joint possession of
circumambient aisles, and at least the suggested intent of circular
apsidal terminations to the transepts; though it appears that here this
plan was ultimately changed and one transept finished off with the usual
rectangular ending.
In this Noyon plainly excels, and there is found nowhere else in France
the perfect trefoil effect produced by the apsidal terminations of both
transepts and choir. So far as the transepts are concerned, they are of
the manner affected by the builders on the Rhine, notably in the Minster
at Bonn, at Cologne, and again at Neuss in the neighbourhood of Cologne.
With Noyon apparently nothing is lacking either in the perfections of
its former cathedral or in its immediate environment. The country round
about is thoroughly agricultural, and free from the soot and grime of a
manufacturing community. Amid a setting at once historic and romantic,
it has for neighbours the chateaux of Coucy and Perrifonds, with
Compiegne and Chantilly not far distant. The town is unprogressive
enough, and the vast barge traffic of the Oise sidles by, not a mile
away, as if it were all unconscious of the existence of any signs of
modern civilization. As a matter of fact, it hardly is modern. The
accommodation for the weary traveller is of a satisfying and gratifying
quality, as the comparatively few visitors to the place well know. The
city is an ancient foundation, having been known as the Noviodunum of
the Romans. Here Charlemagne was crowned King of the Franks in 768, and
Hugh Capet elected king in 987; and here, in an important stronghold of
Catholicism, as it had long been, Calvin was born in 1509.
Altogether there is much to be found here to charm and stimulate our
imagination. As a type the cathedral stands preeminent. As to detail and
state of preservation, they, too, leave little to be desired, though the
appreciative author of a charming and valuable work treating of a good
half hundred or more of the "architectural glories of France" bemoans
the lack of a satisfying daily "Office." This may be a fault, possibly,
if such be really the case. The fabric of the church has stood the wear
and tear of time and stress exceeding well. Built in the eleventh and
twelfth centuries, it is a thoroughly harmonious and pleasing whole, and
we can well believe all that may have been said of it by the few able
critics who have passed judgment upon its style, as well as the
sentiment conveyed by the phrase that it is "one of the most graceful
and lovable of all the cathedrals of France." The bishopric was
suppressed after the Revolution, and the church is now a dependency of
the Bishop of Beauvais.
The elongated belfry towers are perhaps the first and most noticeable
feature; secondly, the overhanging porch with its supporting frontal
buttresses; thirdly, the before-mentioned tri-apsidal effect of the
easterly end; and, last but not least, the general grouping of the whole
structure in combination with the buildings which are gathered about its
haunches, though with no suspicion of a detracting element as in some
sordid and crowded cities, where, in spite of undeniable
picturesqueness, is presented a squalor and poverty not creditable
either to the city of its habitation or to the cathedral authorities
themselves. From every point of vantage the steeples of Notre Dame de
Noyon add the one ingredient which makes a unity of the entire
ensemble,--a true old-world atmosphere, a town seen in not too apparent
a state of unrepair and certainly not a degenerate.
The interior presents no less striking or noble features. It is not
stupendous or remarkably awesome; but it is grand, with a subtleness
which is inexpressible. Round and pointed arches are intermixed, and
there is a notable display of the round variety in the upper ranges of
the quadrupled elevation of the nave, the lightness, which might
otherwise have been marred, being preserved through the employment of a
series of simple lancets in the clerestory of the choir. Rearward of the
south transept are the chapter-house and the scanty remains of a Gothic
cloister, where a somewhat careworn combination of the forces of nature
and art have culminated in giving an unusually old-world charm to this
apparently neglected gem, as well representative of early French Gothic
as any in existence to-day.
IV
NOTRE DAME DE SOISSONS
Soissons, the other primitive example, is at once a surprise and a
disappointment. From the railway, on entering the town, one is highly
impressed with the grouping of a sky-piercing, twin-spired structure of
ample and symmetrical proportions; and at some distance therefrom is
seen another building, possibly enough of less importance. Curiously, it
is the cathedral which is the less imposing, and, until one is well up
with the beautifully formed spires, he hardly realizes that they
represent all that is left of the majestic Abbey of _St. Jean des
Vignes_, where Becket spent nine long years. It is a mere bit of stage
scenery, with height and breadth, but no thickness. It is a pity that
such a charming structure as this noble building must once have been is
now left to crumble. The magnificent rose window, or rather the circular
opening which it once occupied, is now but a mere orifice, of great
proportions, but destitute of glazing. The entire confines of the
building, which crowns a slight eminence at the entrance of the town,
are now given over to the use of the military authorities.
A little to the right lies the one-time cathedral of Notre Dame,
Soissons being another of the ci-devant bishoprics suppressed after the
Revolution by the redistribution which gave but one diocese to a
Department. Though not unpleasing, its facade is marred by its lack of
symmetry, while the tower, which rises on the right 215 feet, is not
sufficiently striking to redeem what otherwise is an ordinary enough
ensemble. The tower to the left was never raised above where it now
ends, and the facade, lacking the charm which the edifice might
otherwise have had, were the towers as complete and well proportioned as
are those of a later date which grace the remains of the old abbey, will
be for ever wanting until this completion be carried out.
Romanesque is plainly noticeable in mixture with the early Gothic. The
three portals are not remarkable, or uniform, and are severely plain,
and, though of a noticeable receding depth, are bare and unpeopled. A
well-proportioned rose window, though not so large as many in the
greater cathedrals, has graceful radiating spokes and good glass. This
is flanked by two unpierced lancet-pointed window-frames which but
accentuate the plainness of the entire facade. Above is an arcaded
gallery which was intended to cross the entire front, but which now
stops where the gable joins the northerly tower. Restoration has been
carried on, not sparingly, but in good taste, with the result that, in
spite of its newness at the present writing, it appears as a consistent
and thoroughly conscientious piece of work, and not the mere patchwork
that such repairs usually suggest.
The guide-books tell one that Soissons is famous for its trade in
haricot beans, and incidentally for the beans themselves, and for the
great number of sieges which it has undergone, the last being that
conducted by the Germans, who took possession in October, 1870, after a
bombardment of three days.
Fergusson makes the statement, which is well taken, that the Cathedral
of Notre Dame de Soissons, while not in any sense meriting the term
magnificent, presents, in its interior arrangements, at least, a most
symmetrical and harmonious ensemble. A curious though not unpleasing
effect is produced by the blackened pointing of the interior masonry,
of piers, walls, and vaulting alike. An unusual feature is the
circumambient aisles to the transepts and the suggestion that a trefoil
apsidal termination was originally thought of, when the rebuilding was
taken in hand in the twelfth century. The transept is so completed on
the south side, which possesses also an ancient portal, and, with the
two at Noyon so done, presents a feature which is as much a relief from
the usual rectangle as are the rounded choirs of Continental churches a
beauty in advance of the accepted English manner of treatment of this
detail.
The choir rises loftily above the transepts and nave, and, while the
general proportions are not such as to suggest undue narrowness, the
effect is of much greater height than really exists. This, too, is
apparent when viewing the abside itself.
The Chapel of the Rosary in the north transept is overtopped by an
effective arrangement of perpendicular window-framing, supporting a
beautiful rose window of the spoke variety. It is safe to say that, had
the entire space provided been glazed, the effect of lighting would have
been unique among the cathedrals of the world.
The only other decorative embellishments are some tapestries, a few
well-preserved tombs, and an "Adoration" supposed to be by Rubens, which
is perhaps more likely to be genuine, because of the situation of the
church near unto Flanders, than many other examples whose claims have
even less to support them.
_PART II_
_The Grand Group_
I
INTRODUCTORY
Expert opinion, so called, may possibly differ as to just what, or what
not, cathedrals of France should be included in this term. The French
proverb known of all guide-book makers should give a clue as to those
which at least may not be left out.
"Clocher de Chartres, Nef d'Amiens
Choeur de Beauvais et Portale de Reims."
Rouen, Paris, and Le Mans should be included, as well possibly as the
smaller but no less convincing examples at Seez, Sens, Laon, and Troyes,
as being of an analogous manner of building, and, by all that goes to
make up the components of a really great church, Bourges might well be
considered in the same group. For practical and divisional purposes it
is perhaps well to compose an octette of the churches of the Isle of
France and those lying contiguous thereto, Paris, Beauvais, St. Denis,
Amiens, Reims, Rouen, Chartres, and Le Mans, which may be taken together
as representative of the greatest art expression of the Gothic builders,
as well as being those around which centred the most significant events
of Church and State. To attempt to catalogue even briefly the charms and
notable attributes of even the first four, would require more than the
compass of several volumes the size of the present, whereas the attempt
made herein is merely to lead with as little digression as possible up
to the chief glories for which they are revered, and to suggest some of
the many important and epoch-making events intimately associated
therewith. More would be impossible, manifestly, unless the present work
were to transcend the limitations which were originally planned for it,
hence it is with no halting assertion that we enter boldly upon that
chronology or resume which, in a way, presents a marshalled array of
correlated facts which the reader may care to follow in further detail
in the list of bibliographical references included at the end of the
volume.
Certain facts relating to the history and the architectural features
generally of these great cathedrals are known to all, and are chronicled
with more or less completeness in many valuable and authoritative
works, ranging from the humble though necessary guide-book to the
extensive if not exhaustive architectural work of reference. The facts
given herein are such, then, as are often overlooked in the
before-mentioned classes of works, and as such are presented, not so
much with the avowed object of imparting information, as to remind the
reader of the wealth of interest that exists with relation to these
shrines of religious art. This seems to be the only preamble possible to
the chapters which attempt to even classify these magnificent buildings,
wherein much is attempted and so little accomplished in recounting their
varied attractions. Let this explanation stand, therefore, for any
seeming paucity of description which may exist.
[Illustration: _Le Bon Dieu d'Amiens_]
II
NOTRE DAME D'AMIENS
The ever impressive Cathedral of Notre Dame d'Amiens is in most English
minds the _beau ideal_ of a French cathedral. It is contemporary with
Salisbury in period, at least, but it has little to remind one of the
actual features of this edifice. Often associated therewith, as a
similar type, it has little in reality in common, except that each is
representative of a supreme style. Beyond this it is hard to see how any
expert, archaeologist, antiquary, or what not, would seek to discover
relationship between two such distinct types. Salisbury is the ideal
English cathedral as to situation, surroundings, and general charm and
grace. This no one would attempt to deny; but, in another environment,
how different might it not appear,--as for instance placed beside
Amiens, where in one particular alone, the mere height of nave and
choir, it immediately dwindles into insignificance. Under
such conditions its graceful spire becomes dwarfed and attenuated. Need
more be said?--The writer thinks not, since the present work does not
deal with the comparative merits of any two cathedrals or of national
types; but the suggestion should serve to demonstrate how impossible it
is for any writer, however erudite he may be, to attempt to assign
precedence, or even rank, among the really great architectural works of
an era. This observation is true of many other examples of art
expression.
[Illustration: NOTRE DAME _d'AMIENS_ ...]
The cathedral at Amiens is dedicated to the Virgin, and is built in the
general form of a Latin cross. Over the principal doorway of the south
portal, on one of the upper plinths, may be seen the inscription which
places the date of the present edifice.
[+] En l'an`[=q]ue l'Incarnati[=o] valait mcc et xx. Ro....rs, ifu:
rimisit: le premiere piere: iasis,... le cors.... Robert...
The work was undertaken by one Robert de Luzarche, in the episcopate of
Evrard de Fouilloy, the forty-fifth Bishop of Amiens, whose tomb may be
seen just within the western doorway, and occupies the site of other
structures which had been variously devastated by fire or invasion in
850, 1019, 1137, and 1218. For fifty years the work went on
expeditiously under various bishops and their architects. "Saint" Louis,
Blanche of Castille, Philippe the Hardy, and the city fathers all aided
the work substantially, and the fabric speedily took on its finished
form. Through the later centuries it still preserved its entity, and
even during the Revolution its walls escaped destruction and defilement
through the devotion of its adherents.
In later days important work and restoration has been carried out under
the paternal care and at the expense of the state; and the city itself
only recently contributed 45,000 francs for the clearing away of
obstructing buildings.
A French writer has said, "It is only with the aid of a Bible and a
history of theology that it is possible to elucidate the vast
iconographic display of the marvellous west front of the cathedral at
Amiens." Like Reims, its three portals of great size are peopled with a
throng of statues. The central portal, known as the Porche du Souvenir,
contains the statue of the Good God of Amiens; that on the right is
called after the Mere de Dieu, and that on the left for St. Fermin the
Martyr. Above the gables is the "Gallery of Kings," just below the
enormous rose windows. Above rise the two towers of unequal loftiness,
and lacking, be it said, thickness in its due proportion. The carven
figures in general are not considered the equal in workmanship of those
at Reims, though the effect and arrangement is similar. For a complete
list of them, numbering some hundreds on this facade alone, the reader
must refer to some local guide-book, of which several are issued in the
city.
The south portal, the _Portal de la Vierge doree_ or _Portal de Saint
Honore_, shares company with the west facade in its richness of
sculpture and its rose window and its gable. Here also are to be seen
the supporting buttresses which spring laterally from the wall of the
transept and cross with those which come from the choir.
The north portal, on the side of the Bishop's Palace, does not show the
same richness as the others, though perhaps more than ordinarily ornate.
The spire above the transept crossing is a work of the sixteenth
century, and is perhaps more remarkable than its rather diminutive
appearance, in contrast with the huge bulk of the edifice, would
indicate.
The extreme height of nave and choir (147 feet), adds immeasurably to
the grand effect produced by the interior, a height in proportion to
breadth nearly double that usual in the English cathedrals. The vaulting
is borne aloft by over one hundred columns. The natural attribute of
such great dimension is a superb series of windows, a promise more than
fulfilled by the three great rose windows and the lofty clerestory of
nave and choir. The sixteenth century glass is exceedingly profuse and
brilliant.
The lateral chapels of the nave were added subsequent to the work of the
early builders, all being of the sixteenth century, while the eleven
choir chapels are of the thirteenth century, all with very ornate iron
grilles, which are a feature only second to a remarkable series of
"choir stalls," numbering over one hundred, showing a wonderful variety
of delicate carved figures of the sixteenth century, the work of one
Jean Turpin, the subjects being mainly Biblical.
A stone screen with elaborate sculptures in high relief surrounds the
choir, that on the south representing the legend of St. Firmin, the
patron of Picardy, and that on the north, scenes connected with the life
of John the Baptist. In a side chapel dedicated to St. John reposes the
alleged head of John the Baptist. Others have appeared elsewhere from
time to time, but as they are not now recognized as being genuine, and
the said apostle not being hydra-headed, it is possible that there will
be those who will choose to throw the weight of their opinions in favour
of the claim of Amiens.
The flying buttresses at Amiens are not of the singular lightness
associated with this notably French characteristic; they are in the
main, however, none the less effective for that, and assuredly, so far
as the work which they have to perform is concerned, it was doubtless
necessary that they should be of more than ordinary strength.
The view of the ensemble from the river shows the massiveness and
general proportions in a unique and superb manner. Amiens is not
otherwise an attractive city, a bustle of grand and cheap hotels,
decidedly a place to be taken _en route_, not like Beauvais, where one
may well remain as long as fancy wills and not feel the too strong hand
of progress intruding upon his ruminations.
III
ST. PIERRE DE BEAUVAIS
Beauvais is by no means an inaccessible place, though how often have we
known one who could not tell in what part of France it was situated. Of
course, being "off the line" is sufficient excuse for the majority of
hurried travellers to pass it by, but, leaving this debatable point out
of the question, let us admit, for the nonce, that it is admirably
located if one only chooses to spend a half-day or more in visiting the
charmingly interesting city and its cathedral, or what there is of it,
for it exists only as a luminous height _sans_ nave, _sans_ tower, and
_sans_ nearly everything, except a choir of such immensity that to see
it is to marvel if not to admire. It is indeed as Hope has said, "a
miracle of loftiness and lightness; appearing as if about to soar into
the air."
[Illustration: ST. PIERRE ... _de BEAUVAIS_]
How many readers, who recognize the charms for which the cathedral is
most revered, know that it was intended to rank as the
St. Peter's of the north, and like its Roman prototype, was to surpass
all other contemporary structures in size and magnificence. This was
marked out for it when, in the middle sixteenth century, the builders of
its central spire, which fell shortly after, sought to rival the Italian
church in a vast Gothic fabric which should be the dominant northern
type in contra-distinction to that of the south. This of itself, were
there no other contributory interests, which there are to a very great
degree, should be all-sufficient to awaken the desire on the part of
every one who journeys Parisward to obtain a more intimate acquaintance
with this great work. Here was an instance of ambition overleaping
itself,--exceeding by far the needs and conditions of its environment
and like many another ill-planned venture, it fell to ruin through a
lack of logic and mental balance. To-day we see a restored fabric,
lacking all the attributes of a great church except that which is
encompassed by that portion lying eastward of the nave proper, its frail
buttresses knitted together by iron rods, its piers latterly doubled in
number, and many more visible signs of an attempt to hold its walls and
roofs up to the work they have to perform.
The present structure, in so far as certain of its components go, was
commenced within five years of Amiens (1225), which calls to mind the
guide-book comparison, which seems so appropriate that it must really
have previously originated from some other source,--Amiens, "a giant in
repose;" Beauvais, "a Colossus on tiptoe."
Its designer built not wisely, nor in this case too well, for before the
end of the century the roof had fallen, and this after repeated
miscalculations and failures. At this time the intermediate piers of the
choir were built and a general modified plan adopted.
Ruskin's favourite simile, with respect to St. Pierre de Beauvais, was
that no Alpine precipice had the sheer fall of the walls of this
choir,--or words to that effect, which is about as far-fetched as many
other of his dictums, which have since been exploded by writers of every
degree of optimism and pessimism. Certainly it is a great height to
which this choir rises, one hundred and fifty-three feet it has been
called, which probably exceeds that of Amiens by a dozen or more feet,
though authorities (_sic_) vary with regard to these dimensions, as
might be supposed; but it is no more like unto a wall of rock than it
is to a lighthouse.
With the crumbling of the sixteenth-century spire on Ascension Day,
1573, restoration of the transepts was undertaken and work on the nave
resumed, which only proceeded, however, to the extent of erecting one
bay to the westward, which stands to this day, the open end filled in
with scantling, weather proofing, and what not,--a bare, gaunt, ugly
patch. Had it been possible to complete the work on its original
magnificent lines, it would have been the most stupendous Gothic fabric
the world has ever known.
Not entirely without beauty, in spite of its great proportions, it is
more with wonder than admiration that one views both its details and
proportions. Though it is perhaps unfair to condemn its style as
unworthy of the Augustan age of French architecture, surely the ambition
with which the work was undertaken was a laudable one enough, and it is
only from the fact that it spells failure in the eyes of many who lack
initiative in their own make-up, that it only qualifiedly may be called
a great work.
The choir, which now dates from 1322, perforce looks unduly short, by
reason of the absence of a nave to add to the effect of horizontal
stability; and the great height of the adjoining transept; but the
chevet and buttresses are certainly a marvel of grace and towering
forms.
The portals of the transept are of the period of Francis I., with
flowing lines and ornate decorations--"having passed the severity and
ethical standards of maturity, and progressed well along the path to
senility," as a vigorous Frenchman has put it. True enough in its
application is this livid sentiment,--perhaps,--but its jewel-like south
portal, like the "_gemmed_" west front of Tours, forms an attractive
enough presentment to please most observers who do not delve too deeply
into cause and effect. The north portal is less ornate, but its
beautifully carved doors are by the same hand as that which worked the
opposite portal. The ornamental stonework here is unusual, suggesting an
arrangement which may or may not have been intended as a representation
of the "Tree of Jesse." In any case it is a remarkable work of flowing
Gothic "branches," which, though mainly lacking its intended
interspersed figures, is not only unique among exterior decorations,
but appears as a singularly appropriate treatment of a grand doorway.
Adjoining the choir on the right is a sacristy occupying a small
structure, and to the westward is a fragmentary edifice known as the
_Basse OEuvre_,--one of the oldest existing buildings in France; a
Romano-Byzantine work, variously stated as of the sixth to eighth
century and forming a portion of the original church which occupied the
site of the present Cathedral.
The general impressiveness of this great church--the memory which most
of us will carry away--is caused by its immensity, its loftiness, and
the general effect of lightness. These form an irresistible galaxy of
features which can hardly fail to produce a new and startling sensation
upon any observer.
As to decorative embellishments, the church is by no means lacking. The
coloured glass, typical of the best period of the art, is luxurious and
extensive; that contained in the north and south transept rose windows
being the exceedingly beautiful work of Le Prince, a celebrated
sixteenth-century artist.
Numerous side chapels surround the ambulatory of the choir, and on the
west wall of the transept are hung the eight tapestries after the
sixteenth-century Raphael cartoons now at South Kensington. These
tapestries are, it is to be presumed, late copies, since, of the two
early sets woven at Arras, one is preserved in the Vatican and the other
at the Museum at Berlin. A modern fresco of Jeanne Hachette, a local
Amazon, adorns one of the choir chapels. A modern astronomical clock,
with numerous dials, striking figures, and crowing cocks, is placed near
the north transept. It might naturally be supposed that in our day the
canons of good taste would plead against such a mere "curio" being
housed in a noble church.
The former Bishop's Palace, dating from the fourteenth to sixteenth
centuries, is now the Palace of Justice. The present episcopal residence
is immediately to the north of the Cathedral and is modern.
As a tapestry-making centre Beauvais ranks with the famous Gobelin
Manufactory at Paris.
[Illustration: _Notre Dame de Rouen_]
IV
NOTRE DAME DE ROUEN
Rouen, of all the mediaeval cities of France, is ever to the fore in the
memories of the mere traveller for pleasure. In no sense are its charms
of a negative quality, or few in number. Quite the reverse is the case;
but the city's apparent attraction is its extreme accessibility, and the
glamours that a metropolis of rank throws over itself; for it must not
be denied that a countrified environment has not, for all, the appealing
interest of a great city. It is to this, then, that Rouen must accredit
the throngs of strangers which continually flock to its doors from the
Easter time to late autumn. In addition there are its three great
churches, so conveniently and accessibly placed that the veriest tyro in
travel can but come upon them whichever way he strolls. Other monuments
of equal rank there are, too, and altogether, whether it be the mere
hurried pecking of a bird of passage, or the more leisurely attack of
the studiously inclined, Rouen offers perhaps much greater attractions
than are possessed by any other French city of equal rank.
So closely, too, have certain events of English history been interwoven
with scenes and incidents which have taken place here, that the wonder
is that it is not known even more intimately by that huge number of
persons who annually rush across France to Switzerland or Italy.
Chroniclers of the city's history, its churches, and its institutions
have not been wanting, in either French or English; and even the
guide-books enlarge (not unduly) upon its varied charms. Once possessing
thirty-two churches, sixteen yet remain; quite one-half of which may be
numbered to-day as of appealing interest. _En passant_, it may be stated
that here at Rouen, in both Notre Dame and the Abbey Church of St. Ouen,
is found that gorgeous functionary, commonly called "the Suisse," who
seeks your gold or a portion thereof, in return for which he will favour
you by opening an iron wicket into the choir, an incumbrance unnoticed
elsewhere, except at Paris and St. Denis.
The late Gothic church of St. Ouen, where the Maid of Orleans received
her fatal sentence, shows a wonderful unity of design even as to its
modern western towers; a consistency not equally the possession of the
neighbouring cathedral, or even of most great churches. Altogether, this
grand building is regarded as an unparallelled example of the
realization of much that is best of Gothic architecture at its greatest
height. In its central tower alone--which may or may not be suggestive
of a market-basket, accordingly as you will take Ruskin's opinion, or
form one of your own--is the least evidence of the developed flamboyant
found. Its interior is clean-cut and free of obstruction; the extreme
length of its straight lines, both horizontal and perpendicular,
entirely freed from chapel or choir screen, embrace and uphold its
"walls of glass" in an unequalled manner.
In strong contrast to this expressively graceful style is the
ultraflorid type of St. Maclou, the other of that trinity of
architectural splendours, which, with the Cathedral of Notre Dame, form
the chief ecclesiastical monuments of the city. St. Maclou, which dates
from the early fifteenth century, though not of the grand proportions of
either of the other great churches, being rather of the type of the
large parish church as it is known in England, holds one spellbound by
the very daring of its ornaments and tracery, but contains no trace of
non-Gothic. The French passion for the curved line is nowhere more
manifest than here (and in the west front of Notre Dame), where flowing
tracery of window, doorway, portal, and, in general, all exterior
ornament, is startling in its audacity. To view these two contrasting
types before making acquaintance with the Cathedral of Notre Dame
itself, is to prepare oneself for a consideration in some measure of a
combination of the charms of both, woven into one fabric. Nowhere, at
least in no provincial town of France, are to be found such a
categorical display of ecclesiastical architectural details as here.
Rouen has from the second century been an important seat of
Christianity. St. Nicaise, not to be confounded with him of the same
name of Reims, first held a conversion here and was shortly followed by
St. Mellor, who founded the city's first church, on the site of the
present cathedral. In succeeding centuries this foundation gradually
took shape and form until, with the occupation by the Norsemen under
Rollo, was founded a dynasty which fostered the development of theology
and the arts in a manner previously unknown. The cathedral was enlarged
at this time, and upon his death in 930 Rollo was interred therein, as
was also his son in 943. Richard the Fearless followed with further
additions and enlargements, his son Richard being made its forty-third
archbishop. From this time on, the great church-building era, Christian
activities were notably at work, here as elsewhere, and during the
prolific eleventh century great undertakings were in progress; so much
so that what was practically a new church received its consecration, and
dedication to Our Lady, in 1063, in the presence of him who later was to
be known as the Conqueror. To-day it stands summed up thus--a grand
building, rich, confused, and unequal in design and workmanship.
The lower portion of the northwest tower, called the _Tour St. Romain_,
is all that is left of the eleventh-century building, the remainder of
which was destroyed by fire in 1200. Rebuilding followed in succeeding
years and shows work of many styles. Additions, repairs, and
interpolations were incorporated with the fragment of the tower, so that
the structure as we now know it stood complete with the early thirteenth
century. Viollet-le-Duc is the authority for the statement that the
apse and transept, chapels, choir, and two doorways of the west facade
were quite complete before the influence of the perfected Gothic of the
Isle of France was even felt. One Enguerrand was the chief designer of
the new church, assisted by Jean d'Andeli as master mason. The early
century saw the nave chapels built, having been preceded by the _Portail
aux Libraires_, a sort of cloistered north entrance, still so referred
to, one of the most charming and quiet old-world retreats to be found
to-day even within the hallowed precincts of a cathedral. The _Portail
de la Calende_ did not follow until a century later, when the _Tour St.
Romain_ was completed to its roof; at which time was also added the
screen or arcade which separates the _Portail aux Libraires_ from the
street.
This century, too, saw the beginning of the famous _Tour de Beurre_,
built mostly by the contributions of those who paid for the indulgence
of being allowed to eat butter during Lent. Its foundation was laid in
1487 under Archbishop Robert de Croixmore, and it was completed under
Cardinal d'Amboise in 1507. A chapel at the base of the tower is
dedicated to St. Stephen. The ornate decorations of the west front,
added by Georges d'Amboise, are mainly of the sixteenth century and form
no part of the original plan or design. It borders upon the style we
have since learned to decry, but it is, at least, marvellous as to the
skill with which its foliaged and crocketed pinnacles and elaborate
traceries are worked. Ruskin was probably right in this estimate at
least,--"The central gable is the most exquisite piece of pure
flamboyant style extant." At the present day this west front is
undergoing such restoration and general repair that the entire gable,
rose window, and part of the flanking towers are completely covered with
a most hideous array of scaffolding.
The central spire as it exists to-day, in reality an abomination of
abominations, is naturally enough admired by all when first viewed from
afar. It certainly looks not dwarfed, or even fragile, but simply
delicate, and withal graceful, an opinion which ultimate association
therewith speedily dispels. It must be one of the very first examples of
modern iron or steel erection in the world, dating from 1827, following
three former spires, each of which was burned. The architect responsible
for this monstrosity sought to combine two fabrics in incoherent
proportions. More than one authority decries the use of iron as a
constructive element, and Chaucer's description of the Temple of Mars in
the Knight's Tale reads significantly:
"Wrought all of burned steel...
Was long and straight and ghastly for to see."
The great part of the exterior of this remarkable church is closely
hidden by a rather squalid collection of buildings. Here and there they
have been cleared away, but, like much of the process of restoration,
where new fabric is let into the old, the incongruity is quite as
objectionably apparent as the crumbling stones of another age. _Notre
Dame de Rouen_ is singularly confined, but there seems no help for it,
and it is but another characteristic of the age in which it was
built,--that the people either sought the shelter of churchly
environment, or that the church was only too willing to stretch forth
its sheltering arms to all and sundry who would lie in its shadow.
In an assignment of ranking beauty to its external features, the
decorative west front must manifestly come first; next the _Portail aux
Libraires_, with its arcaded gateway and the remains of the booksellers'
stalls which still surround its miniature courtyard; then, perhaps,
should follow the _Tour St. Romain_ and the _Portail de la Calende_,
with its charmingly recessed doorway and flanking lancet arches. The
sculptured decorations of all are for the most part intact and
undisfigured. The gable of the southern doorway rises pointedly until
its apex centres with the radiated circular window above, which, by the
way, is not of the exceeding great beauty of the other two rose windows,
which rank with those at Reims and Chartres as the _beaux ideals_ of
these distinctly French achievements.
The interior, viewed down the nave, and showing its great length and
that of the choir, impresses one with a graver sense of unity in the
manner of building than is possible to conceive with regard to the
exterior. The height and length both approximate that of St. Ouen, and,
though the nave rises only to ninety-eight feet, an effect of greater
loftiness is produced by the unusual quadripartite range of openings
from pavement to vaulting: two rows of arches opening into the aisles
before the triforium itself is reached. The lantern at the crossing
supports the ironwork spire, and admits light to the centre of the
church, only to a small degree, however. The south transept, like that
of the north, with its ample double aisles, is of great width, and, were
the framing of the great rose window of less angularity, it would indeed
produce a remarkable effect of grandeur. The other windows, and the
arcading of the triforium, are singularly graceful; not lacking either
strength or firmness, though having no glass of great rarity or
excellence. In this transept is the altar of St. Romain, a
seventeenth-century work of little pretensions.
The north transept contains two features which give it immediate
precedence over any other, when viewed from within: its gracefully
traceried rose window and fine glass, and the delightful stone staircase
leading to the chapter library. Mere description cannot do this stairway
justice. Renaissance it certainly is, and where we might wish to find
nothing but Gothic ornament, it may prove somewhat of a disappointment;
but it is magnificent. Its white marble balustrading gleams in the
strong light thrown from the western transept window and gives an
unmistakable note of richness and sonority. It was built late in the
fifteenth century under orders of Cardinal d'Estonteville. The upper
doorway leads to the treasury, and that of the first landing to the
chamber in which were formerly kept the bibliographical treasures, now
housed in the special building which forms the western wall of the
outside court.
The north and south aisles of the nave are broken into by a series of
chapels, the chief of which are the Chapel to St. Stephen in the base of
the _Tour de Beurre_ and _du Petit St. Romain_, where an abbe or cure
speaking the English tongue is often to be found. On the south side is a
chapel containing the tomb of William Longsword, second Duke of
Normandy, and son of Rollo.
The great attraction of the choir, far more than its beauties of
architectural forms, shown in its graceful columns and deep graven
capitals, will be, for most visitors, its array of elaborate monuments,
including those of Pierre and Louis de Breze, of whom the former, the
Grand Seneschal of Normandy under Charles VII., fell at Monthery, and
was buried here in 1465. More pretentious is the tomb of Louis, his
grandson, erected by his wife Diane de Poitiers, with a significant
inscription which the curious may be pleased to figure out for
themselves. This noble monument is one of those examples hesitatingly
attributed to Jean Goujon. The _piece de resistance_ is the Renaissance
tomb of the Cardinals d'Amboise. Georges I. was memorialized in 1556 by
his nephew Georges II., who in turn came to share the same tomb. Both
their kneeling figures are beautifully chiselled, and the whole erection
is gorgeously representative of the late sixteenth-century monumental
work, little in keeping with the Gothic fabric which houses it, but
characteristic of the changing thought and influence of its time. Six
symbolical figures of the virtues form a lower course, while the canopy
is surmounted by nineteen figures of apostles, saints, etc. In 1793 the
ashes of these great prelates were scattered to the winds, but the
effigies and their setting fortunately remained uninjured. Other
archbishops of the cathedral are buried in the choir, and the heart of
Richard Coeur de Lion once rested here, as did also the bodies of his
brother Henry, and John, Duke of Bedford.
The choir stalls, mostly the work of Flemish wood-carvers, are notable
examples.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: _Basilique de St. Denis_]
V
BASILIQUE DE ST. DENIS
The Basilica of St. Denis, so-called to-day, built over the remains of
the martyred St. Denis, is in a way the counterpart of the Cathedral of
Reims, in that it also is intimately associated with the Kings of
France. In the former they were, almost without exception, crowned; and
here, at St. Denis, are the memorials of their greatness, and in many
cases their actual tombs. Thus far and no farther may the similarity be
said to exist. The old Abbey of St. Denis has little in common,
architecturally, with the grand Cathedral of Notre Dame de Reims. Of the
two, St. Denis is much the older foundation, and from the point of view
of romance and sentiment holds perhaps the premier place, as well.
The history of the city is one of the most interesting and diversified
of all in the domain of the Kings of France. A Benedictine abbey was
founded here in the reign of Dagobert I., and, under the Carlovingian
dynasty, immediately took on political as well as devout significance.
The Abbot of St. Denis journeyed to Rome in 751 A. D. and secured for
Pepin the papal confirmation of his kingship. Pope Stephen took refuge
here from the Lombards in 754 A. D., during which time he anointed the
king's sons, Charles and Charlemagne; upon the consecration of which act
Pepin handed over to his sons the right and title to his dominions.
Upon the advice of the Abbot Suger, Louis VI. adopted the _Oriflamme_,
or standard of St. Denis, as the banner of the Kings of France, and, for
long after, its red and gold colourings hung above the altar,--only to
be removed when the king should take the field in person.
Abelard, of famed romance, was a monk of the abbey in the twelfth
century; and, in the absence of the sovereign (Louis VII.) in the Holy
Land during the mid-century, the Abbe Suger administered full well the
affairs of the kingdom. This renowned abbot and true lover of art died
in 1151 at St. Denis.
In 1429 "the Maid of Orleans" here delivered up her arms; and a century
and a half later that sturdy Protestant, Henry, abjured the faith to
which he had hitherto so tenaciously clung. In this church, too, the
great Napoleon married Marie Louise in 1810; and his later namesake,
some fifty years after, erected a mausoleum in the crypt, known as the
_Caveau Imperial_, the burial vault of his dynasty, which, however, has
never been so used.
Such in brief is the record of some of the more important affairs of
church and state, which are identified with this fine old cathedral. The
usual books of reference give lengthy lists of the various tombs and
monuments which exist. It is a pity, however, that, in spite of the
laudable ambition of preserving here, in a sort of kingly Valhalla, the
memory of the rulers of a past age, it has degenerated, in turn, to a
mere show-place, with little enough of the real sentiment remaining to
satisfy the seriously inclined, who perforce would wish to be reminded
in some more subtle way than by a mere "rush around the exhibits," which
is about all the half-hourly, personally conducted excursions, with
appropriate fees to be delivered up here and there, amounts to. But for
this, there would still be some of the charm and reverence which such a
noble memorial should inspire, in spite of the fact that revolution and
desecration have played more than a usual share in the general
derangement of the original plans.
Up to the time of Henry IV., the monarchs were mostly interred in
separate tombs, but, following him, his immediate successors were buried
in a common vault. During the Revolution, the Convention decreed that
the royal tombs should be destroyed, and so they mostly were,--the
bodies dug up and interred, if so the process can be called, in a common
grave. In 1817 Louis XVIII. caused the remains of his ancestors, as well
as Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette, to be transferred here from the
Madeleine, and in turn he himself was buried here, as well as the Duc de
Berry and several of his children. The preservation of such of the tombs
as survived the many vicissitudes to which they were put, is due to the
fact that many of them were at one time removed to the Musee des
Petits-Augustines, now the Palace des Beaux Arts, at Paris; but in 1817
Louis XVIII. ordered them to be replaced in the crypt of St. Denis; not,
however, on the sites which they formerly occupied, but in an arbitrary
manner which only the great abilities of M. Viollet-le-Duc, who
undertook their rearrangement and restoration, were able to present in
some coherent manner for the marvel of future generations. There are now
therein over fifty monuments and tombs, besides various statues,
medallions, and other memorials.
From an architectural point of view, we have to consider the _Basilique
de St. Denis_ no longer a cathedral, as one of the earliest Gothic
examples in France, though at first glance little enough of the true
Gothic feeling is apparent. About the year 275 a chapel was built here
above the grave of St. Dionysius, the first Bishop of Paris. This was
followed by a large _basilica_, ultimately given over to the uses of
monks of the Benedictine order. Evidences of this former construction
are supposed by archaeologists to still remain, but little, earlier than
the structure of the Abbe Suger, meets the eye to-day. Strong is the
trace of the development from the Romanesque facade, completed in 1140,
to pure Gothic construction of a century later. In this church is
commonly supposed to be exhibited for the first time, bearing in mind
that the date of its consecration was 1144, a complete system of
buttresses accompanying the pointed arch of the vaulting, though in
conjunction with semicircular vaulting in the choir aisles.
The west facade is the most notable part of Suger's building. It
contains three deeply recessed round arched portals, decorated with
sculpture, but so disfigured, or at least modified from their original
forms in an attempt to replace the ravages of time and spoliation, that
one can not well judge of their original merit. The south portal shows
symbolical figures of the months and of "St. Dionysius in Prison;" the
central doorway a "Last Judgment," and the "Wise and Foolish Virgins;"
while the north portal depicts "St. Dionysius on His Way to Martyrdom,"
and "The Signs of the Zodiac."
A curious and unusual effect of the upper portion of this grim facade,
like a similar work at Dol-de-Bretagne, is a range of battlements which
were erected for defensive purposes in the fourteenth century. The nave
rises high above this, surmounted by a statue of St. Denis. Above the
lateral portals of the facade are two towers, that on the right rising
two stages above the embattled crest, while that on the left stops at
that level. The spire with which it was formerly surmounted was ruined
by lightning early in the nineteenth century.
The choir, with its radiating chapels, is of a Romanesque order, with
the Gothic attribute of the flying buttress in a high degree of
development.
A general restoration was carried out in the thirteenth century by the
successors of Suger, the Abbes Eudes Clement and Matthieu de Vendome, in
the best Gothic of the time; and it is to their excellently planned work
that the general fine effect of the present interior arrangements may
properly enough be accredited, though for a fact it seldom is so. A
later restoration, the removing of the ruin wrought by the Revolution,
did not succeed so well. It was not until the really great work of
Viollet-le-Duc, under Napoleon III., that this grand building finally
took on again an acceptable form.
The general interior arrangements, though to-day apparently subservient
to the common attributes of a show-house with its innumerable guides,
functionaries, and fees, are simple and impressive so far as structural
elements are concerned. As for decorations, they are mostly to be found
in that gorgeous array of monuments and tombs before mentioned. The
entrance proper, or vestibule, is of Suger's era and is gloomy and dull,
in strong contrast with the noble and impressive nave, which contains
thirty-seven enormously high windows and a handsome triforium gallery.
This portion dates from the thirteenth century, or immediately following
Suger's regime. The excellent stained glass is modern. The transepts are
mere rudimentary elements, suggested only by the interior arrangement of
the piers, and are simple and impressive.
[Illustration: _Oriflamme of St. Denis_]
[Illustration: NOTRE DAME _de PARIS_...]
VI
NOTRE DAME DE PARIS
Of all the cathedrals of France, Notre Dame de Paris is most firmly
impressed on the minds of English speaking people. At least, it is more
familiarly known by all who visit that delectable land, and perhaps
rightly so. Poets have sung its praises, and writers of all ranks have
used it in well-nigh every possible fashion as an accessory; indeed,
books almost without number have been written about it, and around it.
This is as it should be, for perhaps no great church is more worthy, or
more prolific in material. For those who would probe deeply into its
story, there is but one way to acquire an intimate knowledge
thereof,--to undertake a course of reading and study in some such way as
a lawyer sets about reading up on a great case. By no other method could
be acquired a tithe of the commonly known facts regarding its past
history; hence the impossibility of attempting to deal fully in a few
pages with this great church, even in a perfunctory manner. The most
that can be safely ventured upon, is to recount some of the facts.
How many have really noticed that none of the diagrams, which show the
ground-plan of this cathedral, indicate the existence of any transepts?
Take, for instance, that which accompanies this volume, which, it may be
said, is drawn correctly,--beyond the omission of a couple of pillars on
either side of the nave, there is nothing to break into the long
parallelogram-like structure, with an apsidal termination. As a matter
of fact, there are a pair of very beautiful transepts, as most
photographs of the exterior, and drawings of the interior, show. They
are, too, in no way attenuated, and are only lost in the ground-plan by
reason of the fact that they follow the very unusual arrangement of not
extending laterally beyond the ample width of the nave and its chapelled
aisles. The south transept facade, with the portal dedicated to St.
Stephen, and two magnificent rose windows, is unquestionably more
pleasing than the west facade itself as to design and arrangement.
Begun in 1163 and consecrated in 1182, the church has undergone many
vicissitudes, changes, and restorations. It has fared ill on many
occasions; perhaps the greatest defilement being that which befell it
during the Revolution, when it was not only foully desecrated, its
statues and other imagery despoiled, but the edifice was actually doomed
to destruction. This fortunately was spared to it, but in the same year
(1793) it became a "Temple of Reason," one of those fanatical exploits
of a set of madmen who are periodically let loose upon the world.
Mysticism, palaverings, and orgies unspeakable took place between its
walls, and it only became sanctified again when Napoleon caused it to be
reopened as a place of divine worship. Again, three-quarters of a
century later, it fell into evil times--when it was turned into a
military rendezvous by the Communards of '71. In turn, they too
retreated, leaving the church, as they supposed, to the mercy of the
flames which they had kindled. Fortunately these were extinguished and
the building again rescued from an untoward fate.
The thirteenth-century facade is usually accredited the finest part of
the church. It comes upon one as rather plain and bare after the
luxuriance of Amiens, Reims, or Rouen. As a model and design, however,
it has served its purpose well, if other examples, variously
distributed throughout England and France, are considered. Its lines, in
fact, are superb and vary little in proportion or extent from what must
perforce be accepted as ideal. Its portals are of good design, and so
also is such sculpture as survived the ravages of the past, though the
outlines of the doorways are severely plain. A series of modern
sculptured effigies of the kings, replacing those destroyed at the
Revolution, forms a plain horizontal band across the entire front; a
none too graceful or pleasing arrangement of itself. A rose window
forty-two feet in width occupies the centre of the next stage, flanked
by two blunt-pointed windows rather bare of glass. Above is an arcaded
gallery of small pointed arches in pairs, also extending across the
entire front. The balustrade, above, holds a number of grotesque
creatures carved in stone. They may be gargoyles, but are not, however,
in this case, of the spout variety, being some of those erections of a
superstitious age which were so frequently added to a mediaeval building;
though whether as a mere decoration, or with greater significance,
authorities do not seem to agree. The two uncompleted square towers
overtop all, pierced by the two great lancets, which, with respect to
mere proportions, are unusual if not unique.
The spire above the crossing is a wooden structure covered with lead,
and dates only from the middle of the nineteenth century. Both the north
and south transepts contain magnificent rose windows of even larger
dimensions than that of the west facade. The doorway of the south
transept is ornamented with effective ironwork, but otherwise the
exterior presents no remarkable features.
To the artist's eye the gem of the building is undoubtedly the fine
grouping and ensemble of the flying buttresses at the rear of the choir.
Most persons, so gifted, have tried their prentice, or their master,
hands at depicting this grand marshalled array of "folded wings," and,
but for the gruesome morgue at its foot, which ever intrudes into the
view, one might almost say it is the most idyllic and most specious view
of a great cathedral that it were possible to have. Were it not for this
charming view of these buttressed walls, with the river flowing at their
feet, the Isle de la Cite would be indeed a gloomy spot, with its lurid
historical past, and its present gruesome association with the "house of
the dead." Indeed, it has been questioned as to whether the choir and
chevet of Notre Dame de Paris is not the most beautiful extant. The Isle
de la Cite was the ancient island village of the Parisii.
A sixteenth-century Dutch writer (De Sauteuil) has delivered himself of
these few lines concerning the Seine at this point:
"When first it enters the metropolis it ambitiously stays its rapid
course, and, being truly enamoured with the place, forgets its way, is
uncertain whither to flow, and winds in sweet meanders through the town;
thence filling the pipes with its waters. That which was once a river,
joys to become a fountain."
To carry the suggestion of contrast still farther one should read Hugo's
"Notre Dame" on the spot. It will give a wonderful and whimsical
conception of those weird gargoyles and devils, which have only to be
seen to awaken a new interest in what this great writer has put forth.
For another sensation, pleasant or otherwise, one might look up a copy
of Meyron's wonderful etching of the same subject, or refer to a most
excellent monograph, written not many years since, entitled "The Devils
of Notre Dame." The interior shows the earliest example wherein the
double aisles of the nave are continued around the choir, and the first
introduction of the quadruple range of openings from the pavement to
the vaulting. The aisles and nave are of almost equal height.
The choir, besides being merely apsided, is, in fact, a true semicircle,
a sufficiently unusual arrangement in an early Gothic church to be
remarked; and, in addition, is exceedingly narrow and lofty. The glass
of the rose windows is of old and gorgeous quality, it having escaped
destruction in Revolutionary times, whereas that of the lower range of
windows was mostly destroyed.
The choir stalls are of excellent wooden carving, but the high altar is
modern, dating only from 1874. The choir screen, of the fourteenth
century, shows twenty-three reliefs in stone, once richly gilded, but
now tarnished and dull.
[Illustration: _Notre Dame de Paris from the River_]
ST. LOUIS DE VERSAILLES
Allied with the see whose jurisdiction includes the Diocese of the
Department of the Seine, should be considered that of Seine and Oise,
which has its bishop's throne esconced in the Cathedral of St. Louis at
Versailles. To all intents and purposes the town is one of those
conglomerate units which go to make up the "traveller's Paris." More can
hardly be said with due regard to the magnificent edifices with which
this cathedral must naturally be classed. The other attractions of this
"court suburb" are so appealing to the sentimentally inclined that it is
to be feared that such will have little eye for the very minor
attractions of the cathedral. The Trianons, the "Grandes Eaux" and the
"Petites Eaux" are all in all to the visitor to Versailles.
As a matter of fact and record, the Cathedral of St. Louis must be
mentioned, if only to be dismissed in a word. Bourasee refers to it as
"a thing cold, unfeeling, and without life." Truthfully, it is a
remarkably ugly building of the middle eighteenth century, with no
details of note and no memorials worthy of even a passing regard, except
a monument to the Duc de Berry, who died in 1820. What embellishment is
given to the interior, is accounted for by the exceeding ruddy glow shed
by the contemporary coloured glass of the none too numerous windows.
[Illustration: _St. Julien; Le Mans_]
VII
ST. JULIEN; LE MANS
Le Mans, like Chartres, sprang from an ancient Celtic hill fort, and,
through successive stages, has since grown to a Roman, a mediaeval, and
finally a modern city. It crowns the top of a very considerable
eminence, the like of which, says Professor Freeman, does not exist in
England. Like Chartres, too, it has always retained the balance of power
which has made it the local civil and ecclesiastical capital of its
province. It is, too, more closely associated in English minds than is
Chartres, forming as it did a part of the dominion of a common
sovereign; also by reason of being the birthplace of Henry II., and the
burial-place of Queen Berengaria, the wife of Richard Coeur-de-Lion.
Le Mans stands, without doubt, in advance of Chartres in the importance
and number of its secondary churches, as well as its ecclesiastical,
civil, and military establishments in general. In spite of all this,
the city has never ranked as of supreme importance as a European city;
nor did it ever attain the rank in Gallic times, that the events which
have been woven around it would seem to augur. To-day it is a truly
characteristic, large, provincial town of little or no importance to the
outside world. Self-sufficient as to its own importance, and the events
around which its local life circles, it gives little indication of ever
becoming more of a metropolis than it now is; indeed the census figures
would indicate that the department, of which it is the capital, has
remained stationary as to the numbers of its population, since the
Revolution.
Writers have endeavoured to carry the similarity to English interests
and conditions still farther than the events of history really go to
prove, and have declared that Maine and England should have united in
repelling their common invader. Endeavour has also been made to trace
similarity between the communistic principles of days gone by, which
took form here and at Exeter across the Channel, and have even remarked
the similarity of the topographical features of the surrounding
landscape, wherein the country round about differs so from other parts
of France, being here rolling, hilly, and wooded, as in certain parts
of England; and even stretching a point to include the hedgerows, which,
it must be admitted, are more in evidence in Maine than elsewhere in
France. But these observations apparently prove nothing except that the
majority of persons probably know very little of the real conditions
which exist in the provinces of France, preferring rather that their
journeyings afield should follow more the well-worn road of their
compatriots.
The Cathedral of St. Julien well represents the two distinct epochs in
which church architecture, as it remains to us to-day, was practised
here, and shows, to well-nigh the fullest expression possible, the two
principal transformations of Christian architecture.
As the Angevin style partakes so closely of northern and southern types
intermixed, so the distinctive architectures of Maine, if such there be,
may be said to favour the styles of both Normandy and Anjou; at least so
far as the cathedral at Le Mans shows a combination of Angevin and
Norman detail. The really distinctive southern influence is to be noted
in the Romano-Byzantine nave, the exterior of which, so far as the
western front is concerned, is far more notable in the rigidness and
austerity of its lines, than by any richness of ornamentation or
decoration. Nothing could be more simply plain than this portal, and the
wall and gable which surmount it. A large bare window, of the variety of
that at Angers, stands above the doorway, which, itself, lacks all
attempt at embellishment. What decoration the facade bears is after the
true Byzantine manner, of the nature of brickwork displayed and set into
the wall in geometrically angular fashion. What sculpture there is, two
grotesque animals on either of the buttresses which flank the facade, is
of minor account. This, then, is the extent of the detail of this severe
western facade, the grand portal of the usually accepted great church
being entirely lacking and evidently not thought of as a desirable
detail when this portion of the structure was erected. It has nothing of
the prodigious art expression of the frontispieces of the grand Gothic
churches of the north, or of the less poverty-stricken Byzantine
decoration of its own Meridional portal, which, in so far as the style
can be said to take on richness of form, shows the transition tendencies
of the early twelfth century. This doorway is surmounted by a tympanum,
ornamented by a figure of the Saviour surrounded by the four
Evangelists, a subject which has always proved itself a highly
successful and popular ecclesiastical symbol, and one which in this
case, as in most others, is well made use of. All the figures have
suffered considerably from the ravages of time, but retain much of their
interest and charm in spite of such mutilation. A tower of Romanesque
foundation, but of fifteenth and sixteenth century completion, flanks
this south transept.
The ranking portion of this interesting church is its choir, larger in
superficial area than the entire cathedrals of Noyon or Soissons. Both
from inside and out, it is all that one's imagination could possibly
invent. Its great proportions are as harmonious and graceful as the
lines of a willow-tree; in fact, as to general effect, it may be set
down as a thing of extraordinary grandeur, worthy to rank with Beauvais
or Amiens, and yet different from either, of a quality its very own. At
the commencement of the thirteenth century the canons obtained, from
Philip Augustus, permission to extend their church beyond the city walls
in an easterly direction, and then it was that this wonderful choir took
shape. The work was undertaken in 1217 and was completed soon after the
middle of the same century, and the body of St. Julien, the first
apostle to Le Mans, for whom the church was named, was placed therein by
Geoffroy de Loudon, then bishop, who decorated the windows of the choir
with the magnificent glass with which they are still set.
From a certain distance to the eastward the cathedral at Le Mans
presents a view of the choir, unique in all the world. Other greater
ones there are, if mere height be concerned, and others with more
perfect appendages; but none give the far-spreading effect of encircling
chapels, or are possessed of high springing buttresses of more grace or
beauty than are seen here. He was a rash man who ranked the flying
buttresses as a sign of defective construction, indicating structural
weakness, meaningless and undecorative ornament, and what not. Few have
agreed with this dictum, and few ever will after they have seen Paris,
Beauvais, and Le Mans.
The interior is one of great interest; the nave, even in its early
forms, is none the less attractive because of its austerity. It is, as a
matter of fact, far more interesting here than in its exterior, the
swarthy circular pillars holding aloft arches with just a suspicion of
the ogival style, with narrow, low, and disproportionately small
windows in the aisles, where are also a series of strengthening pillars
of black and white stone, presenting again a reminiscence of the
southern manner, or at least recalling the slate and stone of Angers. In
the choir, with its girdling chapels and double ambulatory, we come upon
the most impressive portion of all. Slightly orientated from the east
and west, it presents by itself, like Beauvais, nearly all of the
attributes of a great church. The columns, arcades, and windows
throughout are all of an unusual elegance and grace, the vaulting rising
with much daring to a remarkable height, which must approach one hundred
and ten or more feet, and the equal of certain other "popularly notable"
buildings.
The rose window of the south of the transept is a remarkable example of
these masterpieces of the French builder. The framing and the glass with
which it is set is of the richest quality, though it dates only from the
fifteenth century. The organ case is here found in the south transept,
an unusual arrangement in a French church, where it is usually placed
over the western doorway. The vaulting, too, is much loftier here than
in the nave. The aisles of this remarkable choir have the further
unusual attribute of three ranges of openings, while the clerestory,
only, rises above, but with great and imposing beauty. There are a few
funeral monuments of more than ordinary interest, including that of
Queen Berengaria, wife of Richard, the Lion-Hearted, brought from the
Abbey de l'Epau in 1821; a sarcophagus and statue in white marble of
Charles of Anjou, Count of Maine, King of Jerusalem and Sicily (d.
1472), and the mausoleum of Langey du Bellay. In the north aisle are a
number of fifteenth or sixteenth century tapestries. The former bishop's
palace was burned by the Germans in 1871.
[Illustration: _Notre Dame de Chartres._]
VIII
NOTRE DAME DE CHARTRES
Aside from their wonderful, though non-similar, cathedrals, Chartres and
Le Mans, its neighbour, have much in common. Both have been possessed of
a brilliant array of counts and prelates, both grew from a Celtic
village to their present grand proportions through a series of
vicissitudes, wars, and conquests, until to-day each is preeminent
within its own sphere, and has become not only a centre of
ecclesiastical affairs, but of civil life as well.
The Counts of Chartres and of Blois, in the middle ages, were a powerful
race of men, and should ever be associated with profound respect in
English minds by the fact that here was the birthplace of Adela, the
mother of King Stephen of Blois, and of Henry, Bishop of Winchester.
As for local conditions to-day, Chartres, while having grown to the
state which it now occupies through events which have made it a city of
mark, remains a somnolescent, sparsely built town, with little
suggestion of the progress of modernity. More frequently mentioned in
the note-books of the traveller than Le Mans, it offers perhaps no
greater charms. To be sure, its cathedral, by reason of its open
situation and the charming quality and effect produced by its spires and
its one hundred and thirty windows of coloured glass, at once places it
at the very head amongst the great "show pieces" of France; but it is in
connection with Le Mans, scarcely eighty miles away and so little known,
that it ought really to be studied and considered; which as a matter of
fact it seldom is. The city is hardly in keeping with what we are wont
to associate with the environment of a great cathedral, though this of
itself in no way detracts from its charms. The weekly cattle-market
takes place almost before its very doors, and the battery of hotels
which flank the open square present the air of catering more to the need
of the husbandman than to the tourist;--not a wholly objectionable
feature, either.
Beyond such evidences as an occasional sign-board announcing the fact
that the hostelry possesses a _garage_, _fosse_, or what not for the
necessitous requirements of the automobilist, the inns remain much as
they always were, mere _bourgeoise_ caravansaries.
The Cathedral of Notre Dame de Chartres jumps full into view immediately
on leaving the railway station, though here it is to be noted that no
delineation has ever been made by modern hand which shows its facade in
its entirety. The roofs of the houses and shops around its base indicate
no special squalor or poverty, as is the case with regard to some
Continental churches, and there is a picturesque grouping of firs and
poplars to the left which adds considerably to an already pleasing
prospect. The whole grouping is, perhaps, none the less attractive than
if the facade, with those extraordinarily beautiful non-contemporary
spires, stood quite unobstructed. In fact, it is doubtful if many a
monumental shrine might not lose considerably, were it taken from its
environment and placed in another which might not suit its graces so
well.
These really fascinating spires, famed of all writers, archaeologists,
and painters alike, are the _clef_ by which the whole harmony is
sounded. One cannot but echo, and reecho, all that has been said of
them, though in a quandary as to which of the two is the more
beautiful: the plain, simple, symmetrical, older spire, or that
wonderful work of Texier's, replacing another burned in 1506, which
rises in gently sculptured and tapered ranges to a height which exceeds
its companion by some twenty-five feet. No more appropriate or
convincing wording could be given of it than by quoting Fergusson's
estimate, which sums it up as being "the most beautifully designed spire
in Europe, surpassing even Strasburg and Antwerp."
It is rather a pity that from no suitably near-by point can one obtain a
full view of the effect of the western facade. One poor little house
seems ever to thrust itself into the ensemble, though it is to-day
apparent that certain others, which must have cut into the front still
more, have been cleared away. Clearly, with all its charm and beauty of
detail, it is for its great and general excellencies that the cathedral
at Chartres most impresses itself upon the memory.
Visitors to-day will have no easy task in locating Lowell's "little
pea-green inn," in which he indited the lines, "A Day in Chartres;" as
appreciative and graceful an estimate of an inanimate thing as ever was
made in verse:
"The Grecian gluts me with its perfectness
Unanswerable as Euclid, self-contained,
The one thing finished in this hasty world.
But ah! this other, this that never ends,
Still climbing, luring fancy still to climb,
As full of morals, half divined, as life,
Graceful, grotesque, with ever new surprise
Of hazardous caprices, sure to please,
Heavy as nightmare, airy light as fern,
Imagination's very self in stone."
Among the other attractions of the west facade is the Porte Royale, so
called, the central doorway which was only opened for the entrance of
the sovereign. It is decorated with the "signs of the zodiac" and
"symbols of the months." Next in point of richness are the grandly
effective north and south porches, with their triple doorways or
portals, setting back some twenty feet from their jambs, which, as at
Noyon, and in the smaller church at Louviers, are pierced with a
transverse passage.
The north porch, with its range of three open-sided and deeply recessed
doorways, has unmistakably debased tendencies, but is filled with
sculptured statuary of more than ordinarily effective disposition, more
remarkable for magnitude and ornateness than for finesse of skill and
workmanship, or even as a detail of good taste.
The life-size statues of all three recesses are held aloft by pedestals,
on pillars of twisted and of spiralled trunks, a formation reviled by
Ruskin, but producing an effect much more pleasing than some galleries
of effigies we have seen, where the figures appear as if hung up by the
hair of their heads, or are clinging to the walls by invisible spurs at
their heels, or, as is not infrequently the case, are standing or hung
on nothing, as though they were graven of some bewitched magnetic stone.
Here for the first time is seen, in the sculptured figures of the three
great portals, the plastic forms which were to add so greatly to the
Gothic architecture: male and female saints, Evangelists, and Apostles
in great array, all somewhat more than life-size. Only one adverse
impression is cast: that of petrifaction. The figures, almost without
exception, appear as integral parts of the architectural fabric, rather
than as added ornament. They are most ungainly, tall, stiff, and
column-like, much more so than similar works at Reims, or at Amiens,
where the sculpture has something of the vigour and warmth of life.
The south porch, erected in the reign of Henry I. by Jean Cormier,
partly from donations of Matilda, queen of the Norman Conqueror,
contains a series of _basso relievos_,--seen also in the arches of the
choir,--manifestly not of good Gothic principle, and one which is the
very antithesis of the northern spirit, as the name itself implies.
The earliest portion of the existing church, the crypt, is that of a
timber-roofed structure burned in 1020. It was erected early in the
eleventh century by Fulbert, the famous Bishop of Chartres, also
remembered--possibly revered--as being the prolific letter-writer of his
time.
John of Salisbury was bishop in the next century, and under him were
built the lower stages of the western facade and towers. In this church
Edward III. called for the help of Heaven to aid his plans, and here
Henry of Navarre was crowned King of France, a change of venue from
Reims, where so many previous and subsequent coronations were held.
The interior gives a deal of the thrill for which one should always be
prepared. The gloom, so apparent at first, slowly brightens as the eye
becomes accustomed to the finely filtered light, which penetrates
through the gorgeous coloured glass, a feature which ranks with the
spires as a vivid impression to be carried away. Nearly all of this
glass is of equal worth and attractiveness, being, with the exception of
three windows of a late date, and a few uncoloured ones, all of the
gorgeous thirteenth-century variety.
The whole mass of the clerestory throughout gives the effect of windows
heavily hung with tapestries through which the outside light pierces in
minute rays. This comparison is made advisedly, inasmuch as, regardless
of the quality and value of the glass, it is composed mainly of those
minute and fragmentary particles often more rich in colour than design.
There is little doubt but that the result of the deep rich blue, claret,
and orange gives a first effect of insufficient lighting which would try
an artist or photographer sorely, though not a detracting element in
churches which would often appear cold and unconvincing were such an
attribute lacking. There are also three magnificent rose windows of
great size (thirty to forty feet), containing equally good glass.
A double ambulatory surrounds the seven-chapeled choir, which is further
enclosed by a magnificent sculptured stone screen begun in the sixteenth
century by Texier, who designed the marvellous north spire. The _Vierge
du Pilier_ of the north choir aisle, a fifteenth-century shrine, is the
subject of great local veneration. The treasury contains a _relique_ in
the form of the veil of the Virgin, supposed to have been presented by
Charlemagne to Princess Irene.
Other interior details of note are an eleventh-century font; the large
crypt beneath the choir; the unequal level of the pavement of nave and
choir; and the maze, which still exists in the nave. This last feature
is a winding circular path some forty odd feet in diameter, and, in all,
perhaps a thousand feet long. As a penance in place of a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem, "the journey of the maze" was performed by the penitent on
his knees--taking perhaps an hour or more, according to the size and
length of the path, which varied with different churches where they
formerly existed. The other most notable example in France is at St.
Quentin, northeast of Paris.
IX
NOTRE DAME DE REIMS
The very ancient city of Reims, now the capital of the Department of the
Marne, was a large centre of population when it first fell under the
sway of the Romans. During Caesar's occupation it was known as
Duroctorum, in the Praefecture of the Gauls.
A powerful metropolis and a faithful adherent of the Romans, the city
early attained prominence as a centre of Christianity. St. Sixte
preached the word here shortly after the first bishopric was founded,
after capture by the Vandals in 406 A. D. The city was practically razed
by Attila, who afterward met defeat at Chalons. During the Roman Empire
it was the most important town of the Province of Belgica Secunda, later
becoming known as the capital of the Remi, the name given to the people
inhabiting the country round about.
[Illustration: NOTRE DAME _de REIMS_ ...]