was rebuilt with three radial chapels. In the nave and choir the round
arches of the tribunes and arcades were replaced by pointed ones: the
walls were raised in height and pierced by windows, below which was
established a triforium (photo below). Gothic vaulting in the nave and
transept replaced the wooden roof. The two storeys and the pinnacle of
the west front, between the towers, belong also to this period.
[Illustration: NAVE OF NOTRE-DAME]
In the fourteenth century the four towers were surmounted by wooden
spires covered with lead, painted and gilded. To the fifteenth century
belongs the beautiful porch in the Flamboyant style which precedes
the south door of the twelfth century. The Revolution destroyed three
of the four spires in order to utilise the lead, and mutilated the
sculptures of the doors. Notre-Dame was completely restored about 1852.
The steeple of the north tower of the west front was reconstructed,
but the towers of the apse remained despoiled of the elevated pyramids
which gave to Notre-Dame a very characteristic silhouette recognisable
in the centre of the old engraving reproduced on _p. 198_.
[Illustration: PORCH AND SOUTH TRANSEPT OF NOTRE-DAME]
The south porch, visible in the opposite photograph, was built in
1469. The bay is surmounted by an angular pediment, and the gable is
ornamented by graceful arcading in the Flamboyant style.
The south front of the transept (photograph opposite) which adjoins the
Gothic porch, is a fine piece of work in the Romanesque style, with its
round arches and its sculptured rose-windows. The little thirteenth
century sun-dial on the buttress in the middle-front below the windows
is worthy of note. It is one of the oldest known.
The interior of Notre-Dame is simple and dignified (see below and on
p. 203). It has been completely restored. The pillars which support
the arcades are those of the early Romanesque church (see photograph
p. 205). Their capitals are finely sculptured. Above the lower arcades
runs a gallery which opens on to the choir and nave by means of bays
composed of twin lights. A little triforium separates this gallery from
the higher windows (see below).
[Illustration: CHOIR OF NOTRE-DAME]
The windows of the aisles of Notre-Dame are filled with beautiful
sixteenth century stained glass, which at the beginning of the war was
taken down and put away for fear of damage from air-raids. We reproduce
a panel from one of them, which represents the donor kneeling in prayer
to Saint Martha, her patron saint, who is trampling under foot the
"Tarasque," a mythical monster of Tarascon. The saint is subduing it by
sprinkling it with holy water.
The principal stained-glass windows in the north aisle are: in the
first window beginning at the great doorway, the battle of "las Novas
de Tolosa" won by the Spaniards over the Moors in the thirteenth
century; donors; patrons; the transfiguration. The next window deals
with the death and coronation of the Virgin and represents the donors
(_the panel reproduced on p. 205 belongs to this window_). The third
window is dedicated to the life of Saint Anne and the Virgin; the
fourth represents the Adoration, the Massacre of the Innocents, the
Flight into Egypt, the last Supper; the fifth, the Passion; the sixth,
the Ascension, the Virgin, Christ crowned; patrons and donors. In the
south aisle, the first window represents the life of Saint James, the
Transfiguration, Christ appearing to his disciples; the second, scenes
from the life of the Virgin; the third, the Last Supper; the fourth,
the life of the Virgin and the legend of Saint James.
[Illustration: APSE OF NOTRE-DAME]
As in all the churches in the neighbourhood, mortuary stones are
numerous.
[Illustration: DONOR AND SAINT MARTHA
(Sixteenth century stained glass)]
[Illustration: ROMANESQUE PILLAR IN THE NAVE]
=Church of Saint Alpin= (historical monument)
(See map inserted between pp. 198-199)
[Illustration: SAINT ALPIN]
This was at first merely a chapel dedicated to Saint Andrew. In the
ninth century it was placed under the patronage of Saint Alpin, when
the body of this Bishop of Châlons was transported there.
Saint Alpin, like Saint Loup at Troyes, and Saint Geneviève in Paris,
went out to confront Attila, and succeeded in obtaining a promise that
the town should be spared by the "Scourge of God." A sixteenth century
stained-glass window (the first in the south aisle) commemorates this
episode in the life of the saint (photograph below). The bishop, his
mitre on his head, the cross in his hand, surrounded by clergy and
laymen, is pleading the cause of the town before the King of the Huns,
seated on a sumptuous throne amidst his warriors. At the foot of the
throne are captives in chains.
[Illustration: SAINT ALPIN BEFORE ATTILA (sixteenth century stained
glass)]
As we have seen on p. 198, fifteen centuries later the same scene was
enacted. In September, 1914, Mgr. Tissier, Saint Alpin's successor in
the bishopric of Châlons, was obliged to plead for his town with the
invaders.
The Church of Saint Alpin was reconstructed and enlarged in the twelfth
century. From this period date the west front (see above), the nave
and its side aisles. The north branch of the transept belongs to the
fourteenth century, the south branch to the sixteenth.
The apse goes back to the sixteenth century, as does the tower
surmounting the middle of the transept, also the chapels of the side
aisles. At the same period, doors leading into each aisle were pierced
on either side of the doorway of the West Front.
The church was subjected to important repairs in the nineteenth
century, and statues of Saint Andrew and Saint Alpin, its two patrons,
were installed in niches on either side of the central doorway.
[Illustration: LIFE OF THE VIRGIN (sixteenth century stained glass)]
In the interior we find a fine collection of sixteenth century stained
glass in the windows of the south aisle and of the ambulatory. As in
the other churches in Châlons, the war caused them to be removed to a
place of safety. We reproduce two of them: Saint Alpin before Attila
(see p. 206), and the life of the Virgin (photo opposite).
In the latter the top of the right hand light represents the birth of
the Virgin; the lower portion of the middle light, the Presentation
in the Temple. Saint Anne and Saint Joachim, bringing the sacrificial
lambs and doves, lead Mary to the high priest. The upper portion of
this light depicts the glorification of the Virgin. On the left of
the window is Saint Martha, in a rich Renaissance costume, holding in
her hand the vessel of holy water and the sprinkler which she used to
subdue the "Tarasque" (_see p. 205_).
Mortuary stones are also to be seen here; and let into the wall of the
ambulatory is a beautiful sixteenth century bas-relief of the Virgin
and Child; two donors and their patrons. On one of the southern pillars
of the transept is a fine "_Ecce homo_" on a background of gold, also
of the sixteenth century.
=Church of St. John= (historical monument)
(See map inserted between pp. 198-199)
[Illustration: SAINT JOHN'S]
This church is the most ancient building in Châlons. The nave dates
from 1050; the choir, the apse, and the transept belong to the
thirteenth century; the principal front to the fourteenth. The tower of
the transept was built in the seventeenth, when the side aisles were
vaulted and reconstructed. The Romanesque nave with its round arches,
has a seventeenth century wooden vault; but above it, the wooden
framework of the interior of the roof contains some skilful fourteenth
century carpentry. The capitals and the pillars are very plain and
some seem to be anterior to the eleventh century; the branches of
the transept are doubled by side-aisles transformed into chapels,
which flank the choir. The apse terminates in a flat wall. Important
restorations were carried out in this old church in the nineteenth
century.
The Jard
(See map inserted between pp. 198-199)
[Illustration: SAVINGS BANK SEEN FROM NAU CANAL
(_Photo L. L._)]
The Jard is a very pretty park of extremely ancient origin, being
mentioned in thirteenth century documents. The marshy ground was
drained, raised, and planted with trees. In the eighteenth century it
was laid out as it is to-day. The walks were bordered with elms which,
after a century of existence, were cut down in 1870 and replaced by
horse-chestnut trees. _On Sundays and Thursdays concerts are given
here._
The garden, which occupies the north-east portion of the Jard
and reaches the banks of the Nau Canal, was made in 1861 for a
horticultural exhibition. The old seventeenth century castle of Marché,
now transformed into the savings bank, looks on to this canal. The
photograph opposite gives an idea of its picturesque aspect.
The English garden stretches between the canal and the Marne. It was
laid out in the beginning of the nineteenth century. A foot-bridge
(photo below) connects it with the Jard. From the top of this bridge
there is a pretty view of the canal which divides at this point to
surround a wooded isle.
Other Monuments and Objects of Interest
(See map inserted between pp. 198-199)
Church of Saint Loup
This dates from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, but was
rebuilt in the nineteenth. The front, the tower, and the spire which
rises above the transept are entirely modern, and the old seventeenth
century doorway has been removed to the courtyard of the museum in the
town-hall.
In the interior, in the second chapel of the right aisle, is a little
sixteenth century Flemish triptych representing the "Adoration of
the Wise Men." At the end of the right aisle, near the branch of the
transept, is a fifteenth century wooden carving of Saint Christopher.
Hôtel de Ville
[Illustration: FOOT-BRIDGE CONNECTING THE JARD WITH THE ENGLISH GARDEN]
The present building replaced at the end of the eighteenth century the
old Renaissance town-hall. It contains the library and the museum,
the latter looking on the Place Godart. Enter by the Rue d'Orfeuil
(_open to the public on Thursdays and Sundays, from noon to 5 p.m. and
every day to visitors to the town_). The museum contains interesting
collections of sculpture, ancient paintings, and a natural history
section.
Préfecture
This, built in the eighteenth century, was formerly the hôtel of the
"Intendance de Champagne." The north wing was built in 1846. The
préfecture contains a remarkably fine fifteenth century chimney-piece
(photo below), on which is carved a mythological triumphal procession,
flanked by figures representing faith and charity.
Sainte-Croix Gate
Here is a triumphal arch erected in 1770 for the passage of
Marie-Antoinette, on her arrival in France to wed the Dauphin. It was
never finished.
National School of Arts and Crafts
This institution, founded by Napoléon in 1806, is one of the five
important State schools for turning out engineers and skilled foremen.
The buildings are of the eighteenth century. The school possesses fine
laboratories and industrial collections.
Sainte-Croix and Saint-Jean Avenues
Both are fine avenues, remains of the boulevards which surrounded the
town.
The Military Cemetery
Rue Kellerman, in the eastern part of the town, near the cavalry
quarters, is on a lower level than the old civilian cemetery. It
contains the remains of several thousand soldiers who died in the
hospitals of the town.
[Illustration: CHIMNEY-PIECE IN THE PRÉFECTURE (FIFTEENTH CENTURY)]
=Notre-Dame de l'Épine= (historical monument)
(See plan inserted between pp. 198-199 and map between pp. 212-213)
[Illustration: NOTRE-DAME DE L'ÉPINE IN THE MIDST OF RUINS]
In order to reach Notre-Dame de l'Épine, which is eight kilometres
from Châlons, _leave Châlons by the Avenue de Metz, which begins
at Saint-Jean Square. This avenue rejoins_ N. 3, _in which turn to
the right. It is a straight road to l'Épine._ Notre-Dame comes into
view suddenly at the entrance to the village, which, as the above
photo shows, has suffered greatly. A large number of its houses have
been destroyed by fire, but the old church had a miraculous escape.
Notre-Dame, which dates from the fifteenth century, replaced an earlier
edifice built on the spot where, according to legend, a heavenly light
disclosed a statue of the Virgin in a bush. From the beginning of the
thirteenth century, pilgrims flocked to say their prayers at the foot
of the miraculous statue. Although now seven hundred years old this
pilgrimage still retains its famous reputation.
[Illustration: FRONT OF NOTRE-DAME DE L'ÉPINE]
The church was built by the inhabitants of the district, pious workmen
coming from as far as Bar and Verdun; and the expression "aller à
l'Épine," meaning to work for nothing, still exists. The church was
finished in the sixteenth century. Three doorways in the fifteenth
century front open on the ground floor, and are surmounted by angular
pediments. The central doorway, the largest and most interesting of the
three, is dedicated to Christ. A crucifix is to be seen in the centre
of the pediment. In the tympanum is represented the Birth of Christ;
and scenes from the Passion are carved on the lintel. A sixteenth
century Virgin, holding in her arms the Infant Jesus, stands with her
back to the pier which supports the tympanum and divides the entrance
into two parts. The curve of the arch and the side doors of the porch
were ornamented with sculptures, of which many now are missing or
mutilated. A beautiful rose-window and two large windows light the
front below the towers.
The spires of unequal height are of stone, and are formed of eight
branches united in a crown in their middle: that on the right is a
royal crown with the lilies; that on the left is an imperial one,
bearing eight eagles. In 1798 Claude Chappe, the inventor of aerial
telegraphy, installed an apparatus on the left spire. This was
destroyed, but was restored again in the nineteenth century.
[Illustration: SOUTH FRONT OF NOTRE-DAME DE L'ÉPINE]
Walk round the exterior of the church in order to examine the
succession of gargoyles projecting from the buttresses. They have been
carved in a keen, satirical spirit.
[Illustration: ROOD-LOFT OF NOTRE-DAME DE L'ÉPINE]
The south doorway is flanked by two turrets, each containing a
stairway. All the statues which ornamented the curve of the arch,
the jambs and the pier are missing. On the much-damaged lintel is a
representation of the life of Saint John the Baptist. The doorway is
dominated by a beautiful window. The chapels round the apse were added
in the sixteenth century.
The interior of Notre-Dame de l'Épine, which has been completely
restored, is very interesting. The most striking parts are the transept
and the choir. In the north arm of the transept, visible in the photo
opposite, the Renaissance woodwork of the organ is noteworthy. In
the sculptured figures with which it is decorated, Greek divinities,
Jupiter, Venus, Apollo, etc., are side by side with the apostles.
A well, with fine wrought-iron fittings, seen in the photograph, dates
from the origin of the edifice. It is the Virgin's Well, from which
pilgrims drink and carry away the water.
The curious rood-loft at the entrance to the choir shelters the
miraculous statue. One obtains access from the choir to the rood-loft
by two spiral stairways. It was from the upper gallery that in former
times the epistle and gospel for the day were read. The name of "Jubé"
is derived from the formula by which the reader previously besought the
blessing of heaven: "_Jubé, Domine, benedicere_."
The Virgin is in a modern gilded shrine, which may be seen under the
first arch in the photograph at the foot of p. 211. The statue has been
restored in modern times. The choir is surrounded by a stone cloister
whose style varies from Gothic to Renaissance.
On the left side of this cloister is a beautiful Gothic edifice which
contained sacred relics. It may be seen in the photograph below.
Five chapels adorn the apse. The first on the right, shut off by a
stone balustrade, is used as a sacristy; the next one contains a
sixteenth century stone carving representing the Entombment.
_After visiting Notre-Dame de l'Épine, return to Châlons by_ N. 3, _the
road along which we came_.
_If it is desired to begin at once the tour of which indications are
given on p. 19, turn to the right at Saint-Jean Square, taking the
Rue du Général-Compère. Follow the tram-lines which cross the Place
des Ursulines, and take Rue Pasteur on the left. Cross the canal, and
by the Rue d'Orfeuil reach the Place de l'Hôtel-de-Ville. Turn to the
left, then following the Rue de Marne, leave the town by the Faubourg
de Marne._
[Illustration: INTERIOR VIEW OF NOTRE-DAME DE L'ÉPINE]
[Illustration]
VISIT TO THE FIELD OF OPERATIONS
OF THE
FOURTH FRENCH ARMY
I--FROM CHÂLONS TO VITRY-LE-FRANÇOIS
(62 km.)
via +Vatry+, +Bussy-Lettrée+, +Dommartin-Lettrée+, +Soudé+, +Sompuis+,
+Humbauville+, Huiron, +Courdemanges+, +Frignicourt+.
(See map inserted between pp. 212-213)
[Illustration: DOMMARTIN CHURCH]
_Leave Châlons by the Faubourg de Marne, taken on arrival there. At the
end of the Faubourg, turn to the left into the Avenue de Paris, then to
the right into_ N. 77 _in the direction of =Vatry= (18 km.). In this
village, leave the "route nationale" in order to take, on the left_, G.
C. 12 _going towards =Bussy-Lettrée=, reached after having crossed a
level-crossing. Enter the village as far as the middle; there, turn to
the right, then to the left, leaving the church on the left (20½ km.).
The road next leads to =Dommartin-Lettrée= (26 km.)_ and passes before
the quaint church reproduced above. Its two doorways are interesting;
the western one which faces the road is reproduced on p. 215; the
southern one may be remarked under the porch in the general view of the
church.
_Continue straight on, arrive at =Soudé=, pass through it, turning
to the right in the Square, and come out into_ N. 34 _(30 km.). Turn
to the left in it, then leave it almost immediately to take, on the
right_, G. C. 12, _which continues as far as =Sompuis= (38 km.), after
passing under the railway embankment._ We are entering the field of
operations of the extreme left of Langle de Cary's Army. Several graves
have been made in the embankment; one of them, visible in the photo on
p. 214, marks the place where, on September 10, the same shell killed
General Barbade and Colonel Hamon, who were commanding the two Brigades
of the 23rd Division, as well as their aides-de-camp. The body of
General Barbade is buried in the cemetery.
On the right of the road, closing in the horizon, are the wooded
heights on which the Germans had organised strong positions. They were
taken from the Saxons on September 9-10 by the 21st Corps.
_Cross straight through =Sompuis=, passing before the church, which is
surrounded by a graveyard (see p. 214)._
[Illustration: DOORWAY OF DOMMARTIN CHURCH]
On the evening of September 6 the Germans entered the village
unopposed, a fact which did not prevent them from setting fire to
several houses, or from taking a number of hostages under various
pretexts. One of them, M. Arnould, was taken because he had set up on
the roof of his house a chimney-pot to replace one destroyed during
the bombardment. Some soldiers passing at this very moment saw in this
humble domestic task an attempt to signal to the French troops.
Abbé Oudin, Rector of Sompuis, aged 73 years, and his servant, aged 67
years, were also arrested, the installation of electric bells in the
rectory causing suspicion. They were shut up in their cellar, where
several other hostages were soon sent to join them. Here they were
left without any food until the afternoon of September 8. The abbé had
been taken out for a short period in the morning in order to assist at
the celebration of Mass in his church, where Abbé Prince Max of Saxe
officiated.
The hostages were led away towards Châlons. "_It was evident_," said
one of them in his statement before the Commission of Enquiry, "_that
on account of his age and feebleness, Abbé Oudin could not walk far. We
were obliged to carry him, so to speak. Near Coole (7 km. to the north
of Sompuis) our escort made us halt, and two soldiers who had seen a
butcher's cart standing abandoned in a field, dragged it on the road,
and said: 'Get in, Curé.' The poor man was so feeble that he was unable
to do so. The Germans tipped up the cart, and as the back did not open,
they made the old priest sit on the edge, then raised the shafts so
quickly that he fell on his back into the bottom of the cart, his feet
in the air. The old servant got up beside him, and the Germans made
signs to us to put ourselves between the shafts and to drag the cart.
As we set out, they all threw their haversacks on the top of the Abbé
and his servant, as they would have thrown them on to a bundle of hay._"
The hostages thus traversed Châlons and arrived at Suippes, where, in
the rain, they spent the night out of doors, in the playground of the
school. "_At Vouziers, during the whole of Sunday, the 13th_," declared
a witness, "_Abbé Oudin was unceasingly ill-treated by the German
officers, as well as by the soldiers, but principally by the officers.
The latter came in large numbers, and each of them, in passing, spat in
the Abbé's face or struck him with their riding whips. I saw officers
and soldiers kick the poor man with their spurs. He was so weak that he
no longer stirred, in spite of all that he must have been suffering. I
saw soldiers, too, strike him with the butt-end of their rifles; but I
insist that the officers were worse than the men. These atrocities only
ended in the evening. Abbé Oudin passed the night lying on the ground
like us; we hardly heard him once complain._"
[Illustration: GRAVES AT SOMPUIS]
The Abbé's old servant did not escape ill-treatment either. On the
Sedan Road, in Tannay Church, four soldiers seized her, threw her into
a blanket of which they held the four corners, and tossed her on to the
altar steps; then, laying hold of her again, they threw her into the
midst of the seats, not troubling about the piercing cries which her
many bruises drew from her. Sedan was Abbé Oudin's last stage; there
death put an end to his sufferings. His servant, after careful nursing
in the hospice, recovered, but another victim, a hostage named Mougeot,
aged 72, succumbed to the results of German brutality. He was brought
in a hand-cart to Pafert barracks, with four ribs broken by kicks, and
thrown on to a bundle of straw, where he soon expired.
[Illustration: HOUSES DESTROYED IN HUIRON]
While these events were in progress the battle of the Marne had been
won. Sompuis was retaken amidst fierce fighting at 5 p.m. on the 10th
by the 21st Corps, which freed another victim in the village itself:
an old man of 70, named Jacquemin. He had been tied to his bed by a
German officer and left there without food for three days. "_Each time
that he asked for food or water_," declared his daughter-in-law, "_he
was struck_." A shell fell on the house and killed the tormentor on the
spot. The corpse of the officer was found in the house of his victim,
who died two or three days after his deliverance as the result of the
ill-treatment he had received.
[Illustration: DOORWAY OF CHURCH HUIRON]
_On leaving Sompuis, continue straight along_ G. C. 12 _to
=Humbauville=._
On September 8 the heights seen on the right were gallantly defended
against Saxon attacks by a detachment of Bretons.
On the 9th the latter were thrown back in disorder by the 13th
Division, which had been sent as a reinforcement.
[Illustration: CHURCH AND ANCIENT ABBEY HUIRON]