Further details of the Public Library of Tours.—Marmoutier.—The
Royal Abbey of Cormery.—Licence of Hadrian I to St. Martin’s to
elect bishops.—Details of the Chapter of the Cathedral Church
of Tours.
The Public Library of Tours, as we have seen, has a very large and
interesting collection of manuscripts, which have come mainly from three
sources, the libraries, namely, of (1) the Cathedral church of Tours, (2)
the Monastery known as Marmoutier, and (3) the Collegiate church of St.
Martin. Twenty-one other churches and foundations in the neighbourhood
contributed manuscripts, besides such collections as the expelled nobles
possessed. In 1791 the libraries of the old churches were collected into
one depot, the French Church having been organized as a civil institution
in that year and monastic vows made illegal. In 1793 the Conseil Général
of the Indre-et-Loire ordered that “les livres et manuscrits provenant
des maisons religieuses et des émigrés seront placés au ci-devant Évêché,
à l’effet de quoi le citoyen Suzor sera averti de l’évacuer au plus
tard le 15 mars prochain”. The third floor of the Évêché was used for
housing the manuscripts, &c., and by a most fortunate appointment a true
lover of the old things was made librarian. This was Dom Jean Joseph
Abrassart, ex-religious of Marmoutier. He succeeded in saving a very
large proportion of the ancient manuscripts known to be in existence in
the neighbourhood, especially those at Marmoutier.
The library of the Cathedral church at Tours dated from the time of St.
Perpetuus, the sixth bishop, who left to his Cathedral church all his
manuscripts except the copy of the Gospels written by the hand of St.
Hilary of Poitiers (353-68) whom St. Martin had visited.[206] Perpetuus
was Bishop of Tours from 460 to 494. Ruinart, whose edition of Gregory
of Tours Migne took as the original of his edition, notes that he had
seen in the Cathedral library at Tours a book in Saxon characters which
had been supposed to be the work of Hilary’s own hand; but he found that
it contained matter much later than Hilary’s time, and that the author
had appended an inscription stating himself to be Holaindus by name.
A catalogue of the Cathedral library was made in 1706 by the Chanoine
Victor d’Avanne, at which time the library contained 461 manuscripts.
The Chanoine complained that many other manuscripts had been borrowed
by savants and not returned; he names as culprits Auguste de Thou,
André Duchesne, Maan, and Michel de Marolls. Of the 461 manuscripts
catalogued, the Public Library now has 309.
The library of Marmoutier was founded by St. Martin himself with the
abbey: so at least the phrase is understood to mean, “except writing
(or scripture) no art was exercised there.” Dom Gérou, librarian of
Marmoutier, made a catalogue of the manuscripts in his charge, and
Chalmel’s copy of that catalogue is now in the library of Tours. There
were, in 1754, 360 manuscripts, and there are now 263 of them in the
library. Many of these are of value. Marmoutier was always rich in Latin
manuscripts. In 1716 a great collection made by the Lesdiguières family
was bought at Toulouse; these were chiefly French, and thus it comes
about that the library of Tours now possesses some of the very first rank
of the most ancient monuments of French literature.
Sulpicius Severus, who made a special visit to St. Martin at Tours,
gives us an exact description of the site of this monastery, founded by
Martin in or about 372, at a distance of two miles from the city, on
its north-east side. He describes it as bounded on the north by a range
of precipitous rock, and on the south by a portion of the stream of the
river Loire, here divided. In those times it was only accessible by
one narrow way. Martin’s own cell was of wood, but many of the eighty
brethren excavated cells for themselves in the rock, the nature of which
lends itself to such excavation. The range of cliff is honeycombed to
this day for stables, wagon-sheds, &c.; indeed, excavations of this
character are a feature of the district, observable from Poitiers to many
miles on the Orleans side of Tours. This abbey, like that of St. Martin,
gradually became secularized, and it, like St. Martin’s, was ruled by
Count Vivian forty years after Alcuin’s death. The names of many of its
abbats before Alcuin’s time are known, but it is only from the year 814
that a continuous series is recorded. A photograph of some remains of the
abbey is given in Plate V.
The library of the Collegiate church of St. Martin was founded by Alcuin,
who borrowed books from England, mainly from York, and had them copied;
probably some of the borrowed books remained at Tours, for Northumbria
was in too disturbed a state to look after manuscripts lent to France.
In 1739 Bernard de Montfaucon published an inventory of this library,
which then contained 272 manuscripts. Of these the library of Tours
now possesses 140. The twenty-one other sources referred to above have
provided 96 manuscripts, and the library has, besides, 159 which cannot
be traced to their source. This makes nearly 1,000 manuscripts in all
from these sources. The twenty-one sources referred to, and the number of
manuscripts each has provided, are as follows: The Augustins of Tours 16;
les Carmes 11; les Capucins 1; les Dames du Calvaire 3: l’Oratoire 19;
les Récollets 1; le Grand Séminaire St. Julien 3; St. Pierre le Puellier
2; l’Union Chrétienne 3; la Visitation 2; Aigues Vives 1; Amboise 3; St.
Florentin d’Amboise 1; l’Abbaye de Beaumont 4; Bois-Rayer 1; Cormery
5; Notre-Dame de Loches 2; la Chartreuse du Liget 5; les Augustines de
Beaulieu-lès-Loches 1; les Religieuses Hospitalières de Loches 1; les
Minimes du Plessis-lès-Tours 11. What endless treasures England would
now have possessed if municipal authorities had taken such care as this
of the monastic libraries in the time of Henry VIII.
[Illustration: PLATE V
Some remains of Marmoutier.
_To face p. 222._]
In translating the life of Alcuin, we omitted one of the examples of
Alcuin’s insight into the ways of men which the anonymous author gives.
It relates to Cormery, some miles up the river Indre, one of the places
from which manuscripts were brought into the library of Tours. The trick
played was as clever in itself as the detection of it was. It got over
the difficulty of the vessels being found to be partly empty, and the
difficulty that, if they were filled up with water, the taster of the
monastery would detect the fraud at once.
This is the passage in the _Life_:—
“To the brothers of Cormery, whom he greatly loved, the father had
ordered a hundred measures of wine to be given. When the wine was to
be taken to the monastery, he ordered the stewards of the monastery,
through Sigulf, a monk of Abbat Benedict, that they should detain the
conveyors of the wine, until in their presence the wine should be poured
from the vessels in which they had brought it into others; because some
of them had stealthily taken out some of the wine, and, in order that
the vessels might be full when they reached the monastery, had put
into them river-sand. That this had been done, the fathers proved most
conclusively.”
The monastery of St. Paul at Cormery has a special interest for students
of Alcuin. William of Malmesbury makes mention of it in the famous
passage in which he so highly praises Alcuin.[207] After quoting
Alcuin’s request[208] to Karl that he may have sent over from his library
of York some of the manuscripts which he describes as the flowers of
Britain, “that the garden of paradise may not be confined to York, but
some of its scions may be transplanted to Tours,” William proceeds thus:
“This is that same Alcuin who, as I have said, was sent into France to
treat of peace, and during his abode with Charles, captivated either by
the pleasantness of the country or the kindness of the king, settled
there; and being held in high estimation, he taught the king, during his
leisure from the cares of state, a thorough knowledge of logic, rhetoric,
and astronomy. Alcuin was, of all the Angles of whom I have read, next to
St. Aldhelm and Bede, certainly the most learned, and has given proof of
his talents in a variety of compositions. He lies buried in France, at
the church of St. Paul of Cormery[209], which monastery Charles the Great
built at his suggestion; on which account, even at the present day (about
1130 A.D.), the subsistence of four monks is distributed in alms for the
soul of our Alcuin in that church.”
We have the documents which relate to the foundation of St. Paul of
Cormery, and they do not quite carry out William’s statement. Itherius,
the predecessor of Alcuin at St. Martin’s of Tours, had acquired land
at Cormery for the residence of monks, and in 791 had issued a precept
for the construction of a monastery. Much discussion has centred round
this fact, to which further reference is made in another part of this
book.[210] In the year 800, Karl issued two interesting documents[211],
both dated from St. Martin’s at Tours, one signed by the king himself,
the other certified by Genesius, acting as deputy for the chancellor
Hercambold. The first of these documents has interesting features, and in
it we find the reason for the abbey being called, down to the Revolution,
_l’Abbaye Royale de Cormery_, and having as its armorial bearings the
crowned eagle of the empire impaling the lilies of France ancient. It is
addressed to “all the faithful men of St. Martin at that time serving
in the holy place where that precious confessor of Christ rests in the
body, and to all who shall follow them. Our beloved master Albinus has
with pious devotion begged of us that he may be allowed to settle monks
in the cell of St. Paul, which in rustic speech is called Cormery, there
to live the regular life according to the statutes of the holy Benedict.
This place his predecessor Abbat Itherius had acquired; he had built it,
and handed it over to St. Martin. We have thought it right to give our
assent to his pious devotion, and have caused it to be confirmed by our
letters under the seal of our authority, in order that no severance may
ever take place. For if divine piety has given to our parents and to us
the power over the whole monastery of St. Martin, and the right to give
it to whom we will, how much more have we the power of assigning to God
the aforesaid place. It is not lawful for any one to contemn the donation
or confirmation of royal benignity, especially in an order so pious and
wholesome as this. Therefore we entirely order that this our donation
stand to all time fixed and inviolate, and that this place be never taken
away from the possession of St. Martin, but that there monks shall live
under the full rule of St. Benedict and have protection and help from
the abbats of the monastery of St. Martin. If any abbat in time to come
should disregard this our precept, let him know that he shall render an
account of his presumption to our Lord Jesus Christ in the day of His
great advent. So also shall any who diminishes aught of the things which
Abbat Itherius of blessed memory acquired, of the property of St. Martin
which he gave to the church of St. Paul, or of the things which the said
Abbat Albinus has given, at whose request we have caused write these
letters, or anything which any one may have given in alms for his soul.
That this may stand the more firm, we have determined to subscribe it
with our own hand and have caused it to be sealed with our ring.”
The other document, addressed to all bishops, counts, officers, &c.,
grants licence to the monks, “at the request of our most beloved and
faithful the venerable Abbat Albinus”, to have two ships coming and going
with necessary things on the rivers Loire, Sarthe, and Vienne, free from
toll. This was ordered to be sealed with Karl’s ring. The navigation
of the Indre, being their own river, was no doubt free to them without
grant.
[Illustration: PLATE VI
Capital found at Cormery.
_To face p. 227._]
Ithier governed St. Martin’s at Tours from 770 to 791. Soon after 791
he died, and was buried in a grave at the entrance of the nave of the
abbatial church of Cormery, on the north side. The place can still be
pointed out. Fridugisus, the Nathanael of Alcuin’s letters, who was
designated by Alcuin as his immediate successor, became abbat of St.
Martin’s after Wulfhard II. He built a stone church, the west front
of which still stands in considerable part, with the eleventh-century
Romanesque tower, most of which still stands, applied to it, the east
wall of the tower being the west front of Fridugisus. Plate VI shows
a capital which has recently been found, evidently of the time of
Fridugisus. Considerable parts of the later Gothic walls still stand.
They are carefully tended by M. Octave Bobeau, the local correspondent of
the Minister of Public Education, whose apartments are in the refectory
of the abbey. The curé of Cormery, M. l’abbé Jaillet, is a most obliging
guide to the ruins, as also to his own very fine cruciform parish church.
In these most recent days “his own” is a misdescription. The inventories
have been taken, and Monsieur le Maire is the master of the parish church
and its services. The large house of the abbats of Cormery is now a
dwelling-house in connexion with the communal school. An early engraving
in a French account of Touraine shows that the western tower was crowned
with a gallery and spire, not unlike that shown in the illustration of
Marmoutier, Plate V.
Some commentators suppose that the “other monastery”, which Alcuin
informs Arno he has built some eight miles from the city, was this
monastery of Cormery. But the distance named is not easily reconciled
with the geographical facts, and Alcuin could not properly have stated
that he was the founder of Cormery.
Cormery provided a home for the severer side of the monastic life, St.
Martin’s and Marmoutier remaining secular. Cormery being a considerable
distance away, a Benedictine abbey, of St. Julien, was established in the
eastern part of Tours, in the tenth century, by Archbishop Théotolon,
and a Romanesque abbey-church was built, the square tower of which still
remains; the church in its present state has some ancient paintings, and
deserves a visit. Being within the limits of the ancient Roman town, it
would naturally be under the jurisdiction of the archbishop.
This will be a convenient point at which to give further details[212]
of the remarkable licence of Hadrian for a permanent bishopric of the
western part of the present city, at that time a district separate from
the ancient city, in which latter was the stool of the archbishop of
Tours.
The licence of Hadrian I, allowing the abbat and brethren of St. Martin’s
to elect and to have their own bishop, is printed (from Baluz) in _Gallia
Christiana_, vol. xiv, p. 7 of the _Instrumenta_ relating to Tours.
The date is 786. The licence is addressed to Abbat Autherius, that is,
Itherius. It sets forth that by royal and papal privileges the Abbey of
St. Martin of Tours was in all respects independent of the episcopal
authority of the bishop of Tours;[213] whatsoever in the flock of St.
Martin needed arranging, ruling, or correcting, was a matter for the
abbat, provost, dean, and other most approved men. Hadrian declares that
they may have a bishop of their own, as had been the custom from ancient
times until most recent times, because of the great numbers of persons
who flocked from all parts to visit the shrine and needed instruction
in the faith. The person elected by the abbat and the flock shall be
ordained by the neighbouring bishops. The metropolitan bishop—that is,
the archbishop of Tours—shall not enter the church for any exercise of
his episcopal office, such as ordinations, or making the chrism, nor
shall he have power to summon any of the priests of the monastery to
appear before him. The abbey bishop must not be impleaded without the
assent of the abbat. He is to have the pastoral care of the neighbouring
districts held by the abbey, and is to amend and correct in canonical
manner and due order with the consent of his abbat. If the abbat does not
choose to settle any matter of dispute which may arise between the St.
Martin’s bishop and the bishops of the neighbourhood, the matter must
come direct to the apostolic see.
That is a very remarkable document. We are not without indications of
other unusual customs in the province of Tours.
The Archbishop of Tours had eventually eleven suffragans, Le Mans,
Angers, Rennes, Nantes, Vannes, Cornouaille, Léon, Tréquier, St. Brieuc,
St. Malo, Dol. Some of these bishoprics trace their origin to refugees
from Britain in the middle of the sixth century. A marked feature of
the Archbishopric was the existence and permanence of the office of
Archpresbyter. The Chapter of Tours itself, in its most complete
form, consisted of Dean, Archdeacon of Tours, Treasurer, Praecentor,
Chancellor, two other Archdeacons, the Archpresbyter of Tours, and fifty
or more Canons. The Princeps Archipresbyter preached on the greater
Sundays, as the Ecclesiastes Theologus did on other Sundays. At Le
Mans, before Alcuin’s time at Tours, there were two Archpresbyters,
each in management of half of the diocese; in the eleventh century
there were three; in 1200, eight. In 1230 Maurice replaced them by
seven Archdeacons, who had under them a number of rural deans, _decani
rusticanis negotiis_, an office into which the Archpresbyters, once so
important, subsided. Archdeacons of Le Mans are first named in the will
of St. Bertramn, in 623. At Angers the chief Archdeacon had under him
four Archpresbyters; the second Archdeacon had one Archpresbyter and two
Rural Deans; the third Archdeacon had three Rural Deans. At Angers the
Archbishop of Tours acted in 1334 much as the Archbishop acted at St.
Martin’s at Tours in or before Alcuin’s time; he freed the Chapter from
episcopal control and himself confirmed the Deans[214].