reads in the books of travel of a half or three-quarters of a century
ago.
To-day Wiesbaden, as a "watering-place," doubtless retains all the
virtues that it formerly possessed; but fashionable invalids have
deserted Wiesbaden for Homburg.
All this is of course quite apart from the consideration of great
churches; but great churches, for that matter, were quite apart from the
considerations of most of the visitors to Wiesbaden.
The city possesses, however, a very satisfactory modern Catholic church,
the work of the architect Hoffmann. It will not take rank with the
mediæval masterpieces of many other places, but it demonstrates, as has
only seldom been demonstrated, that it is possible to make a very
satisfactory church building of to-day by copying pleasing details of
other times.
Were it not that it is built in the red sandstone of the country, this
fine edifice would be even more effective.
It is not a thoroughly consistent style that one sees. There is
Byzantine, Romanesque, and avowedly Gothic details superimposed one upon
another; but this is often seen in the masterpieces of other times,
and, so long as the varieties are not put into quarrelling relationship
with each other, it is perhaps allowable.
There is a triangular pediment above the grand portal which is certainly
most singular, and may have been a product of the author's fancy alone.
Nothing exactly similar is remembered elsewhere. In the main, however,
the whole structure is reminiscent of much that, drawn from various
sources, is the best of its kind.
The interior is divided into three naves by numerous great and small
pillars of a polygonal form, the capitals only bearing any traces of
modelling.
The high altar is decorated with some good sculptures, and there are a
series of paintings, which might be modern, or might be ancient, so far
as their unconvincing merits go.
Of the attraction of the waters and the pleasures of the society found
at Wiesbaden during the season, nothing shall have place here, save to
remark that the springs were famous even in the times of the Romans.
There is a "Greek chapel," built in 1855, at two kilometres from
Wiesbaden. In the style of the sacred edifices of Moscow, this chapel
was erected by the Emperor of Russia and by the Grand Duke Adolphe of
Nassau to serve as the mausoleum of the Duchess Elizabeth of Nassau, a
Russian princess.
[Illustration: GREEK CHAPEL, _WIESBADEN_]
This fine memorial was also the work of the architect Hoffmann, and,
though bizarre and unbeautiful enough from certain points of view, it is
a highly successful transplanting of an exotic.
[Illustration]
XIII
HEIDELBERG AND MANNHEIM
_Heidelberg_
As the ancient capital of the Lower Palatinate, Heidelberg early came
into great prominence, though many of the details of its early history
are lost in obscurity. The Romans have left traces of their passage, but
the history of the early years of Christianity is but vaguely surmised.
Conrad of Hohenstaufen, brother of the red-bearded Frederick, came here,
in 1148, as the first Count Palatine of the Rhine. The ruins of what is
supposed to have been his once famous château are yet to be seen on the
Geissberg.
In 1228 Heidelberg was declared the capital of the Palatinate under Otto
of Wittelsbach, and became the residence of the Electors, who, for five
hundred years, inhabited that other and more popularly famous château,
which is known to all travellers on the Rhine as the "Castle of
Heidelberg." In 1724, they chose Mannheim as their official residence.
Few cities of Europe have so frequently undergone such horrors of
civilized warfare, if warfare ever _is_ civilized, as has Heidelberg,
though mostly it is associated in the popular mind of personally
conducted tourists as a city of wine and beer drinking and general
revelry and mirth.
The city has been five times bombarded, twice reduced to ashes, and
three times taken by assault and pillaged.
To-day, it has recovered from all these disasters and takes its place as
one of the most brilliant of the smaller commercial centres of the Rhine
valley, though for that matter Heidelberg is situated some little
distance from the river itself.
Of Heidelberg's population of perhaps twenty-five thousand souls, nearly
one-third are Catholics, an exceedingly large proportion for a German
town.
St. Peter's, the most ancient of Heidelberg's churches, contains many
tombs of the Electors. In 1693 Mélac and his soldiers, after having
thrown to the winds, at Speyer, the ashes of the emperors, rummaged
about here in the church of St. Peter, and tore the bones of the nobles
from their leaden caskets, throwing them broadcast in the streets. A
Frenchman who remarked upon this sacrilege forgot that his own
countrymen did the same at St. Denis's a hundred years later.
The principal church edifice of the city is St. Esprit's. Its
architecture belongs to the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, though
it cannot be described as belonging to any precise style. Its interior
is divided into two parts, which, curiously enough, were devoted to two
distinct sects, the choir being consecrated to the Catholics and the
nave being occupied by the Protestants. Jerome of Prague, a disciple of
John Huss, harangued his believers in this church in times contemporary
with that of Huss himself.
In the midst of the market-place is a statue of the Virgin, and facing
the north side of the church is a house dating from 1492, known to-day
by the sign of the Chevalier zum Ritter. Among the numerous ornaments of
this fine mediæval dwelling-house is to be noted the following
inscription:
"_Si Jehova non edificet domum, frustra laborant oedificantes eam V.
S. CXXVII.--Soli Deo gloria et perstat invicta Venus._"
The University of Heidelberg, as presumably all readers of guide-books
know, is the most ancient and the most celebrated in Germany. It was
founded by Robert I. in 1386. Luther gave his dissertation here in 1515,
hence, so far as its connection with religious matters goes, it is of
great importance.
Its library was one of the most precious in Europe, but Tilly, who
headed the Bavarians who entered Heidelberg in 1622, presented the
greater part of it to Pope Leo XI. The valuable books and manuscripts
remained in the Vatican, where they formed the Palatine Library, until
the taking of Rome by the French in 1795. The rarest of the works were
sent to Paris, whence they were returned to Heidelberg in 1815.
The theatrical-looking château of Heidelberg, which dominates the city
and all the river valley round about, was built, in its most ancient
parts, by the Elector Robert I., in the fourteenth century, though, for
the most part, the walls that one gazes upon to-day are much more
modern, having been erected by Frederick IV. in the sixteenth century.
In 1622 the castle was ravaged by the Spaniards, and, under the reign of
Louis XIV. of France, it was bombarded by Turenne and by Mélac. Rebuilt
with still greater magnificence, it was all but destroyed by lightning
in 1764, since which time it has been practically abandoned and has
become one of the most romantically picturesque ruins in Europe.
That portion of the edifice built by Otto Henry, who reigned 1556-59, is
quite the most beautiful of all the various parts. It is known as the
Hall of the Knights, and its plan and ornamentation is supposedly that
of Michael Angelo.
The famous Heidelberg Tun is in one of the great vaulted chambers of the
castle. The first of these utilitarian curiosities--Rhine wine matures
best in large bodies--was built in 1535, and held 158,800 bottles. This
tun was destroyed in the Thirty Years' War, and was replaced by a second
which held 245,176 bottles, built by one Meyer, the cooper of the court.
This tun was repaired in 1728 and exists to-day, but its grandeur is
eclipsed by another made in 1751, during the electorate of Charles
Theodore, which has a capacity of 284,000 bottles.
_Mannheim_
The modern-looking city of Mannheim has little ecclesiastical treasure
to interest the student, although it is a wealthy and important centre.
[Illustration: HEIDELBERG _and Its CASTLE_]
Its origin is very remote, and legend has it that it was the birthplace
of a fabulous king of the Teutons called Mannus. Others have evolved its
present nomenclature from a word taken from Norse mythology meaning the
"dwelling-place of men." Either seems probable enough, and the reader
must take his choice.
According to most authorities, the city first came into being in 765,
but remained an insignificant hamlet up to the time of the Elector
Frederick IV., who, in 1606, surrounded it with a city wall as a
protection to the persecuted Protestants of the place. He also built the
great château, the precursor of the present vast edifice, which
contains, the guide-books say, fifteen hundred windows and five hundred
rooms; as if that were its chief claim on one's attention.
The present structure was the former residence of the Electors of the
Palatinate, and, though but a couple of hundred years old, is
nevertheless an imposing and interesting edifice in more ways than one.
To-day it is given over to collections of various sorts, Roman
antiquities, old prints, and a gallery of paintings which contains some
good work of Teniers and Wouvermans.
The Market and the Rathaus are the chief architectural attractions of
this beautifully laid-out city, and its poor, mean little church of the
Catholic religion is by no means an edifying expression of architectural
art.
It is practically nothing more than what the French would call a
_pavillon_, and is known as the _Unterpfaar_, the lower parish.
On the exterior wall one sees the pagan idea of caryatides carried out
with Christian symbols, two figures of angels. There is also a mediocre
statue representing "Faith," which it is difficult to accept as good
art.
In the interior the short, narrow nave is separated from its aisles by
four columns and two pillars on each side. The effect is somewhat that
of a swimming bath. It is decidedly unchurchly.
There are a series of uninteresting tombs, and there is a high altar,
gaudily rich with trappings, which would be a disgrace to a
stage-carpenter.
There is little or no religious history connected with the city; but
such devotional spirit as existed, and does exist to-day, ought to have
left a better Christian memorial than that of the _Unterpfaar_.
XIV
WORMS
This most ancient city was the Vormatia of the Romans. It was devastated
by Attila, and reëstablished by Clovis. At the beginning of the seventh
century Brunhilda founded the bishopric, and Dagobert established his
royal residence here in the years following. Afterward Charlemagne
himself made it a resting-place many times, and held many Parliaments
here.
In the tenth century Worms became a free city of the Empire, and in 1122
a Concordat was entered into between Pope Calixtus II. and the emperor,
Henry V., concerning the ecclesiastical affairs of the city.
It was in the cathedral of Worms that the famous Diet of 1521 was held,
when Charles V. declared Luther a heretic, and banished him from the
Empire, for which indignity Luther is said to have remarked: "There are
at Worms as many devils as there are tiles on the roof of its
cathedral."
The city suffered much in the Thirty Years' War, and in 1689 was reduced
to ashes by the armies of Louis XIV.
The cathedral of Worms was begun in 996 by Bishop Bouchard, and
completed twenty years later by the Emperor Henry II. With its four fine
towers and its two noble domes or cupolas, it ranks as one of the really
great monuments of Christianity in Germany.
To-day, with its later additions, it is purely Romanesque, though built
entirely after 1185, when Gothic was already making great strides
elsewhere. Even here there is a decided ogival development to be noted
in the vaulting of the nave.
Like the cathedrals at Mayence and Bonn, that at Worms offers the
peculiarity of a double apside. The eastern termination is demi-round in
the interior and square outside, while the westerly apse is polygonal
both inside and out.
The cathedral was the only structure of note left standing in the city
after the memorable siege of 1689.
The outline of this cathedral is most involved, with its high, narrow
transepts, its two choirs crowned with cupolas and flanked with four
lance-like towers. It is a suggestion, in a small way, of the more
grandiose cathedral at Mayence, but it is by no means so picturesquely
situated.
The portal of the façade shows some fine sculptures of the fourteenth
century. One figure has given rise to much comment on the part of
antiquaries and archeologists who have viewed it. It is a female figure
mounted on a strange quadruped of most singular form, and like no manner
of beast that ever walked the earth in the flesh.
It has been thought to be a symbolical allusion to the Queen Brunhilda,
and again of the Church triumphant. It may be the former, but hardly the
latter, at least such symbolism is not to be seen elsewhere.
The interior is of no special architectural value, if we except the
contrast of the ogival vaulting with the Romanesque treatment otherwise
to be observed.
There are numerous tombs and monuments, the chief being of three
princesses of Burgundy who are buried here.
The church of St. Martin dates from the twelfth century, and Notre Dame
from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. They are in every way
quite as interesting as the cathedral, though their walls and vaults
have been built up anew since the sacking of the city by the French in
the seventeenth century.
The synagogue, recently restored, dates, as to its foundation, from the
eleventh century, and is one of the most ancient in all Germany.
According to tradition, a Jewish colony was established at Worms 550
years B.C. This may or may not be well authenticated,--the writer does
not know,--but no city in Germany in the middle ages had a colony of
Jews more numerous, more venerated, or more ancient.
The Jews of Germany had three grand Rabbis, one at Prague, one at
Frankfort, and the other at Worms. By the privilege of the Emperor
Ferdinand, the Rabbi of Worms had precedence over the two others. They
believed, according to a traditionary legend, that Worms was a part of
the promised land, and it was said that the Jews' cemetery at Worms was
made of soil brought from Jerusalem.
The wine-growers of Worms have given the name _Liebfraumilch_ to the
wine of the neighbourhood, particularly that which is gathered on the
hillside gardens of the Church of Our Lady, and within the grounds of
the ancient convent.
Near Worms is the ancient abbey of Lorsch, known in the middle ages as
Lauresham and Lorse. The abbey was founded and dedicated (767-74) in the
presence of Charlemagne, his wife Hildegarde, and his two sons, Charles
and Pepin.
The churches of Trèves, of Metz, and of Cologne have, as we know,
existed from very early times, and Maternus, an early Bishop of Cologne,
is said to have been summoned to Rome in 313 to give his aid in deciding
the Donatist controversy.
The oldest of all these Rhenish church foundations is thought to be that
of Lorsch, whose bishop, Maximilian, died a martyr's death in the year
285.
The abbey became very wealthy, as was but natural under the patronage of
such celebrated benefactors; but it fell a prey to the flames in 1090,
and, in spite of immediate restoration, Lorsch never recovered its
ancient splendour.
In 1232 it was incorporated with the archbishopric of Mayence, and the
former imperial abbey became first, a priory of the monks of the order
of Citeaux, and later of the Premonstentrationists.
The fine old twelfth-century church, rebuilt from that of 1100, has
to-day become a grange, though only the ancient choir can be really
said to exist.
The valuable library of Lorsch was fortunately saved at the Thirty
Years' War, and, when the church was devastated by the Spaniards, was
transported to Heidelberg.
The monastery at Lorsch is important as marking the transition between
the Romanesque and Gothic in a manner not usually associated with the
Rhine. One observes it notably in the porch, where the lower range of
round-headed arcades is surmounted by a colonnade of sloping angular
arches, which are certainly not Romanesque or classical, though, truth
to tell, they resemble the clearly defined Gothic of France but little.
To-day the church of Lorsch presents no remarkable architectural
features, and is simply an attractive and picturesquely environed
building containing a few monuments worthy of note.
In olden times the town was protected by a strong château, constructed
in 1348 by the Archbishop of Mayence, but no traces of it are left
to-day.
XV
FRANKFORT
There is a legend which connects the foundation of Frankfort with a
saying of Charlemagne's when he was warring against the Saxons.
Having fortunately escaped an attack from a superior force, by crossing
the river Main during a thick fog, Charlemagne thrust his lance into the
sand of the river-bank and exclaimed: "It is here that I will erect a
city, in memory of this fortunate event, and it shall be known as
'_Franken Furth_,'--'the Ford of the Franks.'"
The city owes its ancient celebrity, in part, to the crowning of the
emperors, which, before Frankfort became an opulent commercial city,
always took place here according to the laws promulgated in 1152 and
1356. Later the ceremony was transferred to Aix-la-Chapelle.
The first historical mention of the city was in 794, when Charlemagne
convoked a Diet and a council of the Church.
Frankfort suffered greatly during the Thirty Years' War, in the War of
Succession, and in the Revolution in 1793. Napoleon made the city a
grand duchy in favour of the Prince-Primate Charles of Dalberg.
Of the ancient gateways of the city, but one remains to-day, that of
Eschenheim, a fine monument of characteristically German features of the
middle ages. It dates from the fourteenth century.
One of the principal attractions of Frankfort for strangers has ever
been the Juden Gasse,--the street of the Jews. It dates from 1662. As
one enters, on the left, at No. 148, is the _maison paternelle_ of the
celebrated Rothschilds.
The cathedral at Frankfort is consecrated to St. Bartholomew. It was
begun under the Carlovingians and was only completed in the fourteenth
century.
At the extreme western end is a colossal tower which ranks as one of the
latest and most notable pure Gothic works in Germany (1415-1509). Its
architect was John of Ettingen, and it rises to a height of one hundred
and sixty-three feet.
[Illustration: FRANKFORT CATHEDRAL]
The façade of the cathedral is entirely lacking in a decorative sense,
and the lateral portal, on the south, is much encumbered by surrounding
structures, though one sees peeping out here and there evidences of a
series of finely sculptured figures.
Above the entrance to the cloister is an equestrian statue of St.
Bartholomew, a masterwork of sixteenth-century German sculpture. The
skull of the apostle is preserved in the church proper.
The general plan of the church is that of a Greek cross, but the
termination which holds the choir is of much narrower dimensions than
the other three arms.
The grand nave offers nothing of remark, but the side aisle to the right
contains a fine "Ecce Homo" in bas-relief, placed upon the tomb of the
Consul Hirde, who died in 1518. Unfortunately the heads of many of the
figures, including that of the Christ, are badly scarred and broken.
In the right transept are a series of very ancient German paintings and
a number of escutcheons, coloured and in high relief, commemorating
benefactors of the church.
The walls in the choir are covered with ancient frescoes of the frankly
German school. They undoubtedly date back to the fifteenth century, at
least.
At the right of the choir is the tomb of the Emperor Gunther of
Schwarzburg, who died here in 1349.
Above the high altar is a fine tabernacle,--a feature frequently seen in
German churches,--of silver-gilt. To the left is an ancient iron grille
of remarkable workmanship.
At the head of the left aisle of the nave is a chapel containing a
"Virgin at the Tomb," a coloured sculpture of the fifteenth century,
surmounted by a very ornate Gothic _baldaquin_.
In the left transept is the tomb of a knight of Sachsenhausen bearing
the date of 1371. Here, too, is a somewhat dismantled and fragmentary
astronomical clock of the species best seen at Strasburg.
The Protestant church of St. Nicholas is a fine ogival edifice, which in
more recent times was profaned by commercial uses. It has since been
restored and its red sandstone fabric is surmounted by a fine spire.
The interior shows a remarkably fine ogival choir as its chief feature,
an organ-buffet carried out in the same style, which is most unusual,
and a charming wooden staircase with an iron railing leading to a
tribune at the crossing. All of the accessories are modern, but the
effect is unquestionably good.
The church of St. Leonard dates from the thirteenth century and
possesses as its chief exterior features two rather diminutive spires.
The Emperor Frederick II. ceded the site to the city, for the erection
of a church, at the above mentioned period.
The church of St. Catherine is of the seventeenth century, and, like
most religious erections of its age, is in no way remarkable. The
exterior, however, shows a rather pleasing square tower, which is
surmounted by an octagonal campanile. The interior has some fine modern
paintings, well painted and equally well displayed.
The church of St. Paul was formerly a Carmelite foundation. It is
strictly modern, and was only completed in 1833. Its form is rather more
pagan than Christian, being simply a great oval, one hundred and thirty
odd feet in length by one hundred and eight in width. The interior is
surrounded by a fine Ionic colonnade.
In 1848 St. Paul's was appropriated to the sessions of the German
parliament, to which purpose the structure was well suited.
The Liebfrauenkirche has a fine "Adoration" sculptured above its
principal portal. It is a good example of German sculpture in stone.
Within the walls is a painting attributed to Martin Schoen which merits
consideration.
[Illustration]
XVI
MAYENCE
Mayence has been variously called the city of Gutenberg, and of the
Minnesingers. The Romans in Augustus's time had already fortified it and
given it the name of Magontiacum.
Near Mayence is the cenotaph of Drusus, where his ashes were interred
after the funeral oration by Augustus, who came expressly from Rome into
Gaul for the purpose.
Mayence as a Roman colony was a military post of great importance, and
the key to the fertile provinces watered by the Rhine.
An episcopal seat was established here in the third century, but
Christianity had a hard struggle against wars and internal disorders of
many kinds.
Many times the city has been devastated and rebuilt. In 718 Bishop
Sigibert surrounded the city by a series of walls, and between 975 and
1011 Archbishop Willigis built the cathedral and the church of St.
Stephen, at which time the real Christianizing of Mayence may be said
to have begun.
The venerable old cathedral has many times been battered and bruised,
and fire and bombardment have reduced its original form into somewhat of
a hybrid thing, but it remains to-day the most stupendously imposing and
bizarre cathedral of all the Rhine valley.
[Illustration]
In general its architecture is decidedly not good, but it is
interesting, and therein lies the chief charm of a great church.
During the siege of the French the cathedral at Mayence, in 1793, again
took fire, and the western end of the roof of the choir, the nave, and
the transept all succumbed.
For ten years it remained in this state, until the order for restoration
came from the omnific Bonaparte, then first consul. In 1804 the edifice
was consecrated anew.
In the year 636 there was held at Mayence an assembly of the bishops of
the Frankish kingdom convoked by Dagobert, then king.