the Continent. It is large and wide, and of a massive and imposing style
of architecture. The buttresses are bold, and very much after the
English fashion. The tower is the chief exterior beauty. Before we
mounted it, we begged the guide, who attended us, to conduct us all over
the interior. This interior is very noble, and even superior, as a piece
of architecture, to that of Strasburg. I should think it even longer and
wider--for the truth is, that the tower of Strasburg Cathedral is as
much too tall, as that of Ulm Cathedral is too short, for its nave and
choir. Not very long ago, they had covered the interior by a whitewash;
and thus the mellow tint of probably about five centuries--in a spot
where there are few immediately surrounding houses--and in a town of
which the manufactories and population are comparatively small--the
latter about 14,000--thus, I say, the mellow tint of these five
centuries (for I suppose the cathedral to have been finished about the
year 1320) has been cruelly changed for the staring and chilling effects
of whiting.[B]
The choir is interesting in a high degree. At the extremity of it is an
altar--indicative of the Lutheran form of worship being carried on
within the church--upon which are oil paintings upon wood, emblazoned
with gilt backgrounds--of the time of Hans Burgmair, and of others at
the revival of the art of painting in Germany. These pictures turn upon
hinges, so as to shut up, or be thrown open; and are in the highest
state of preservation. Their subjects are entirely Scriptural; and
perhaps old John Holbein, the father of the famous Hans Holbein, might
have had a share in some of them. Perhaps they may come down to the time
of Lucas Cranach. Wherever, or by whomsoever executed, this series of
paintings, upon the high altar of the Cathedral of Ulm, can not be
viewed without considerable satisfaction. They were the first choice
specimens of early art which I had seen on this side of the Rhine; and
I, of course, contemplated them with the hungry eye of an antiquary.
After a careful survey of the interior, the whole of which had quite the
air of English cleanliness and order, we prepared to mount the famous
tower. Our valet, Rohfritsch, led the way; counting the steps as he
mounted, and finding them to be about 378 in number. He was succeeded by
the guide. Mr. Lewis and myself followed in a more leisurely manner;
peeping through the interstices which presented themselves in the open
fretwork of the ornaments, and finding, as we continued to ascend, that
the inhabitants and dwelling houses of Ulm diminished gradually in size.
At length we gained the summit, which is surrounded by a parapet wall of
some three or four feet in height. We paused a minute, to recover our
breath, and to look at the prospect which surrounded us. The town, at
our feet, looked like the metropolis of Laputa. Yet the high ground, by
which we had descended into the town--and upon which Bonaparte's army
was formerly encamped--seemed to be more lofty than the spot whereon we
stood. On the opposite side flowed the Danube; not broad, nor, as I
learned, very deep; but rapid and in a serpentine direction.
Upon the whole, the Cathedral of Ulm is a noble ecclesiastical edifice;
uniting simplicity and purity with massiveness of composition. Few
cathedrals are more uniform in the style of their architecture. It seems
to be, to borrow technical language, all of a piece. Near it, forming
the foreground of the Munich print, are a chapel and a house surrounded
by trees. The Chapel is very small, and, as I learned, not used for
religious purposes. The house (so Professor Veesenmeyer informed me) is
supposed to have been the residence and offices of business of John
Zeiner, the well-known printer, who commenced his typographical labors
about the year 1740, and who uniformly printed at Ulm; while his brother
Gunther as uniformly exercised his art in the city whence I am now
addressing you. They were both natives of Reutlingen, a town of some
note between Tübingen and Ulm.
[Footnote A: From "A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour,"
published in 1821.]
[Footnote B: Ulm has now (1914) a population of 56,000.]
AIX-LA-CHAPELLE AND CHARLEMAGNE'S TOMB[A]
BY VICTOR HUGO
For an invalid, Aix-la-Chapelle is a mineral fountain--warm, cold,
irony, and sulfurous; for the tourist, it is a place for redouts and
concerts; for the pilgrim, the place of relics, where the gown of the
Virgin Mary, the blood of Jesus, the cloth which enveloped the head of
John the Baptist after his decapitation, are exhibited every seven
years; for the antiquarian, it is a noble abbey of "filles à abbesse,"
connected with the male convent, which was built by Saint Gregory, son
of Nicephore, Emperor of the East; for the hunter, it is the ancient
valley of the wild boars; for the merchant, it is a "fabrique" of cloth,
needles, and pins; and for him who is no merchant, manufacturer, hunter,
antiquary, pilgrim, tourist, or invalid, it is the city of Charlemagne.
Charlemagne was born at Aix-la-Chapelle, and died there. He was born in
the old place, of which there now only remains the tower, and he was
buried in the church that he founded in 796, two years after the death
of his wife Fastrada. Leo the Third consecrated it in 804, and tradition
says that two bishops of Tongres, who were buried at Maestricht, arose
from their graves, in order to complete, at that ceremony, 365 bishops
and archbishops--representing the days of the year. This historical and
legendary church, from which the town has taken its name, has undergone,
during the last thousand years, many transformations. No sooner had I
entered Aix than I went to the chapel.... The effect of the great
"portail" is not striking; the façade displays the different styles of
architecture--Roman, Gothic, and modern--without order, and
consequently, without grandeur; but if, on the contrary, we arrive at
the chapel by Chevet, the result is otherwise. The high "abside" of the
fourteenth century, in all its boldness and beauty, the rich workmanship
of its balustrades, the variety of its "gargouilles," the somber hue of
the stones, and the large transparent windows--strike the beholder with
admiration.
Here, nevertheless, the aspect of the church--imposing tho it is--will
be found far from uniform. Between the "abside" and the "portail," in a
kind of cavity, the dome of Otho III., built over the tomb of
Charlemagne in the tenth century, is hid from view. After a few moments'
contemplation, a singular awe comes over us when gazing at this
extraordinary edifice--an edifice which, like the great work that
Charlemagne began, remains unfinished; and which, like his empire that
spoke all languages, is composed of architecture that represents all
styles. To the reflective, there is a strange analogy between that
wonderful man and this great building.
After having passed the arched roof of the portico, and left behind me
the antique bronze doors surmounted with lions' heads, a white rotundo
of two stories, in which all the "fantasies" of architecture are
displayed, attracted my attention. At casting my eyes upon the ground,
I perceived a large block of black marble, with the following
inscription in brass letters:--
"Carolo Magno."
Nothing is more contemptible than to see, exposed to view, the bastard
graces that surround this great Carlovingian name; angels resembling
distorted Cupids, palm-branches like colored feathers, garlands of
flowers, and knots of ribbons, are placed under the dome of Otho III.,
and upon the tomb of Charlemagne.
The only thing here that evinces respect to the shade of that great man
is an immense lamp, twelve feet in diameter, with forty-eight burners;
which was presented, in the twelfth century, by Barbarossa. It is of
brass, gilt with gold, has the form of a crown, and is suspended from
the ceiling above the marble stone by an iron chain about seventy feet
in length.
It is evident that some other monument had been erected to Charlemagne.
There is nothing to convince us that this marble, bordered with brass,
is of antiquity. As to the letters, "Carolo Magno," they are not of a
late date than 1730.
Charlemagne is no longer under this stone. In 1166 Frederick
Barbarossa--whose gift, magnificent tho it was, does by no means
compensate for this sacrilege--caused the remains of that great emperor
to be untombed. The Church claimed the imperial skeleton, and,
separating the bones, made each a holy relic. In the adjoining
sacristy, a vicar shows the people--for three francs seventy-five
centimes--the fixt price--"the arm of Charlemagne"--that arm which held
for a time the reins of the world. Venerable relic! which has the
following inscription, written by some scribe of the twelfth century:
"Arm of the Sainted Charles the Great."
After that I saw the skull of Charlemagne, that cranium which may be
said to have been the mold of Europe, and which a beadle had the
effrontery to strike with his finger.
All were kept in a wooden armory, with a few angels, similar to those I
have just mentioned, on the top. Such is the tomb of the man whose
memory has outlived ten ages, and who, by his greatness, has shed the
rays of immortality around his name. "Sainted, Great," belong to
him--two of the most august epithets which this earth could bestow upon
a human being.
There is one thing astonishing--that is, the largeness of the skull and
arm. Charlemagne was, in fact, colossal with respect to size of body as
well as extraordinary mental endowments. The son of Pepin-le-Bref was in
body, as in mind, gigantic; of great corporeal strength, and of
astounding intellect.
An inspection of this armory has a strange effect upon the antiquary.
Besides the skull and arm, it contains the heart of Charlemagne; the
cross which the emperor had round his neck in his tomb; a handsome
ostensorium, of the Renaissance, given by Charles the Fifth, and
spoiled, in the last century, by tasteless ornaments; fourteen richly
sculptured gold plates, which once ornamented the arm-chair of the
emperor; an ostensorium, given by Philippe the Second; the cord which
bound our Savior; the sponge that was used upon the cross; the girdle of
the Holy Virgin, and that of the Redeemer.
In the midst of innumerable ornaments, heaped up in the armory like
mountains of gold and precious stones, are two shrines of singular
beauty. One, the oldest, which is seldom opened, contains the remaining
bones of Charlemagne, and the other, of the twelfth century, which
Frederick Barbarossa gave to the church, holds the relics, which are
exhibited every seven years. A single exhibition of this shrine, in
1696, attracted 42,000 pilgrims, and drew, in ten days 80,000 florins.
This shrine has only one key, which is in two pieces; the one is in the
possession of the chapter, the other in that of the magistrates of the
town. Sometimes it is opened on extraordinary occasions, such as on the
visit of a monarch....
The tomb, before it became the sarcophagus of Charlemagne, was, it is
said, that of Augustus. After mounting a narrow staircase, my guide
conducted me to a gallery which is called the Hochmünster. In this place
is the arm-chair of Charlemagne. It is low, exceedingly wide, with a
round back; is formed of four pieces of white marble, without ornaments
or sculpture, and has for a seat an oak board, covered with a cushion of
red velvet. There are six steps up to it, two of which are of granite,
the others of marble. On this chair sat--a crown upon his head, a globe
in one hand, a scepter in the other, a sword by his side, the imperial
mantle over his shoulders, the cross of Christ round his neck, and his
feet in the sarcophagus of Augustus--Carolus Magnus in his tomb, in
which attitude he remained for three hundred and fifty-two years--from
852 to 1166, when Frederick Barbarossa, coveting the chair for his
coronation, entered the tomb. Barbarossa was an illustrious prince and a
valiant soldier; and it must, therefore, have been a moment singularly
strange when this crowned man stood before the crowned corpse of
Charlemagne--the one in all the majesty of empire, the other in all the
majesty of death. The soldier overcame the shades of greatness; the
living became the despoliator of inanimate worth. The chapel claimed the
skeleton, and Barbarossa the marble chair, which afterward became the
throne where thirty-six emperors were crowned. Ferdinand the First was
the last; Charles the Fifth preceded him.
In 1804, when Bonaparte became known as Napoleon, he visited
Aix-la-Chapelle. Josephine, who accompanied him, had the caprice to sit
down on this chair; but Napoleon, out of respect for Charlemagne, took
off his hat, and remained for some time standing, and in silence. The
following fact is somewhat remarkable, and struck me forcibly. In 814
Charlemagne died; a thousand years afterward, most probably about the
same hour, Napoleon fell.
In that fatal year, 1814, the allied sovereigns visited the tomb of the
great "Carolus." Alexander of Russia, like Napoleon, took off his hat
and uniform; Frederick William of Prussia kept on his "casquette de
petite tenue;" Francis retained his surtout and round bonnet. The King
of Prussia stood upon the marble steps, receiving information from the
provost of the chapter respecting the coronation of the emperors of
Germany; the two emperors remained silent. Napoleon, Josephine,
Alexander, Frederick William, and Francis, are now no more.
A few minutes afterward I was on my way to the Hôtel-de-Ville, the
supposed birthplace of Charlemagne, which, like the chapel, is an
edifice made of five or six others. In the middle of the court there is
a fountain of great antiquity, with a bronze statue of Charlemagne. To
the left and right are two others--both surmounted with eagles, their
heads half turned toward the grave and tranquil emperor.
The evening was approaching. I had passed the whole of the day among
these grand and austere "souvenirs;" and, therefore, deemed it essential
to take a walk in the open fields, to breathe the fresh air, and to
watch the rays of the declining sun. I wandered along some dilapidated
walls, entered a field, then some beautiful alleys, in one of which I
seated myself. Aix-la-Chapelle lay extended before me, partly hid by the
shades of evening, which were falling around. By degrees the fogs gained
the roofs of the houses, and shrouded the town steeples; then nothing
was seen but two huge masses--the Hôtel-de-Ville and the chapel. All the
emotions, all the thoughts and visions which flitted across my mind
during the day, now crowded upon me. The first of the two dark objects
was to me only the birthplace of a child; the second was the
resting-place of greatness. At intervals, in the midst of my reverie, I
imagined that I saw the shade of this giant, whom we call Charlemagne,
developing itself between this great cradle and still greater tomb.
[Footnote A: From "The Rhine." Translated by D.M. Aird.]
THE HANSEATIC LEAGUE[A]
BY JAMES HOWELL
The Hans, or Hanseatic League, is very ancient, some would derive the
word from hand, because they of the society plight their faith by that
action; others derive it from Hansa, which in the Gothic tongue is
council; others would have it come from Hander see, which signifies near
or upon the sea, and this passeth for the best etymology, because their
towns are all seated so, or upon some navigable river near the sea. The
extent of the old Hans was from the Nerve in Livonia to the Rhine, and
contained sixty-two great mercantile towns, which were divided into four
precincts. The chiefest of the first precinct was Lübeck, where the
archives of their ancient records and their prime chancery is still, and
this town is within that verge; Cullen is chief of the second precinct,
Brunswick of the third, and Dantzic of the fourth. The kings of Poland
and Sweden have sued to be their protector, but they refused them,
because they were not princes of the empire.
They put off also the King of Denmark with a compliment, nor would they
admit the King of Spain when he was most potent in the Netherlands, tho
afterward, when it was too late, they desired the help of the ragged
staff; nor of the Duke of Anjou, notwithstanding that the world thought
he should have married our queen, who interceded for him, and so it was
probable that thereby they might recover their privileges in England. So
I do not find that they ever had any protector but the great Master of
Prussia; and their want of a protector did do them some prejudice in
that famous difference they had with our Queen.
The old Hans had extraordinary immunities given them by our Henry the
Third, because they assisted him in his wars with so many ships, and as
they pretend, the king was not only to pay them for the service of the
said ships but for the vessels themselves if they miscarried. Now it
happened that at their return to Germany, from serving Henry the Third,
there was a great fleet of them cast away, for which, according to
covenant, they demanded reparation. Our king in lieu of money, among
other facts of grace, gave them a privilege to pay but one per cent.,
which continued until Queen Mary's reign, and she by advice of King
Philip, her husband, as it was conceived, enhanced the one to twenty per
cent.
The Hans not only complained but clamored loudly for breach of their
ancient privileges confirmed unto them, time out of mind, by thirteen
successive kings of England, which they pretended to have purchased with
their money. King Philip undertook to accommodate the business, but
Queen Mary dying a little after, and he retiring, there could be nothing
done. Complaint being made to Queen Elizabeth, she answered that as she
would not innovate anything, so she would maintain them still in the
same condition she found them. Hereupon their navigation and traffic
ceased a while, wherefore the English tried what they could do
themselves, and they thrived so well that they took the whole trade into
their own hands, and so divided themselves (tho they be now but one), to
staplers and merchant-adventurers, the one residing constant in one
place, where they kept their magazine of wool, the other stirring and
adventuring to divers places abroad with cloth and other manufacturies,
which made the Hans endeavor to draw upon them all the malignancy they
could from all nations.
Moreover, the Hans towns being a body politic incorporated in the
empire, complained thereof to the emperor, who sent over persons of
great quality to mediate an accommodation, but they could effect
nothing. Then the queen caused a proclamation to be published that the
easterlings or merchants of the Hans should be entreated and used as all
other strangers were, within her dominations, without any mark of
difference in point of commerce. This nettled them more, thereupon they
bent their forces more eagerly, and in a diet at Ratisbon they procured
that the English merchants who had associated themselves into
fraternities in Emden and other places should be declared monopolists;
and so there was a committal edict published against them that they
should be exterminated and banished out of all parts of the empire; and
this was done by the activity of one Sudennan, a great civilian.
There was there for the queen, Gilpin, as nimble a man as Suderman, and
he had the Chancellor of Emden to second and countenance him, but they
could not stop the said edict wherein the Society of English
Merchant-Adventurers was pronounced to be a monopoly; yet Gilpin played
his game so well, that he wrought underhand, that the said imperial ban
should not be published till after the dissolution of the diet, and that
in the interim the Emperor should send ambassadors to England to advise
the queen of such a ban against her merchants. But this wrought so
little impression upon the queen that the said ban grew rather
ridiculous than formidable, for the town of Emden harbored our merchants
notwithstanding and afterward Stade, but they not being able to protect
them so well from the imperial ban, they settled in the town of Hamburg.
After this the queen commanded another proclamation to be divulged that
the easterlings or Hanseatic merchants should be allowed to trade in
England upon the same conditions and payment of duties as her own
subjects, provided that the English merchants might have interchangeable
privilege to reside and trade peaceably in Stade or Hamburg or anywhere
else within the precincts of Hans. This incensed them more, thereupon
they resolved to cut off Stade and Hamburg from being members of the
Hans or of the empire; but they suspended this decision till they saw
what success the great Spanish fleet should have, which was then
preparing in the year eighty-eight, for they had not long before had
recourse to the King of Spain and made him their own, and he had done
them some material good offices; wherefore to this day the Spanish
Consul is taxed of improvidence and imprudence, that there was no use
made of the Hans towns in that expedition.
The queen finding that they of the Hans would not be contented with that
equality she had offered betwixt them and her own subjects, put out a
proclamation that they should carry neither corn, victuals, arms,
timber, masts, cables, minerals, nor any other materials, or men to
Spain or Portugal. And after, the queen growing more redoubtable and
famous, by the overthrow of the fleet of eighty-eight, the easterlings
fell to despair of doing any good. Add hereunto another disaster that
befell them, the taking of sixty sails of their ships about the mouth of
Tagus in Portugal by the Queen's ships that were laden with "ropas de
contrabando," viz., goods prohibited by her former proclamation into the
dominions of Spain. And as these ships were upon point of being
discharged, she had intelligence of a great assembly at Lübeck, which
had met of purpose to consult of means to be revenged of her thereupon
she stayed and seized upon the said sixty ships, only two were freed to
bring news what became of the rest. Hereupon the Pope sent an ambassador
to her, who spoke in a high tone, but he was answered in a higher.
Ever since our merchants have beaten a peaceful and free uninterrupted
trade into this town and elsewhere within and without the Sound, with
their manufactures of wool, and found the way also to the White Sea to
Archangel and Moscow. Insomuch that the premises being well considered,
it was a happy thing for England that that clashing fell out betwixt her
and the Hans, for it may be said to have been the chief ground of that
shipping and merchandising, which she is now come to, and wherewith she
hath flourished ever since. But one thing is observable, that as that
imperial or committal ban, pronounced in the Diet at Ratisbon against
our merchants and manufactures of wool, incited them more to industry.
So our proclamation upon Alderman Cockein's project of transporting no
white cloths but dyed, and in their full manufacture, did cause both
Dutch and Germans to turn necessity to a virtue, and made them far more
ingenious to find ways, not only to dye but to make cloth, which hath
much impaired our markets ever since. For there hath not been the third
part of our cloth sold since, either here or in Holland.
[Footnote A: From "Familiar Letters." "Montaigne and 'Howell's
Letters'," says Thackeray, in one of the "Roundabout Papers," "are my
bedside books." Howell wrote this letter in Hamburg in October, 1632.]
HAMBURG[A]
BY THÉOPHILE GAUTIER
To describe a night journey by rail is a difficult matter; you go like
an arrow whistling through a cloud; it is traveling in the abstract. You
cross provinces, kingdoms even, unawares. From time to time during the
night, I saw through the window the comet, rushing down upon the earth,
with lowered head and hair streaming far behind; suddenly glares of
gaslight dazzled my eyes, sanded with the goldust of sleep; or the pale
bluish radiance of the moon gave an air of fairy-land to scenes
doubtless poor enough by day. Conscientiously, this is all I can say
from personal observation; and it would not be particularly amusing if I
should transcribe from the railway guide the names of all the stations
between Berlin and Hamburg.