original edifice was built by Bishop Alfred of Hildesheim. The crypt,
the transept, and possibly a part of the choir foundation, are of the
eleventh century, and are of Romanesque motive; but the Gothic fabric
superimposes itself upon these early works in the style in vogue in the
fourteenth century.
There are evidences of a central octagon, like that at Aix-la-Chapelle,
and St. Gérêon's at Cologne, but the fourteenth-century rebuilding has
practically covered this up, though three of the original faces are
left, and bear aloft a series of tall Corinthian columns.
The nave, for some reason, inexplicable on first sight, is low and
unimpressive, caused doubtless by the grandeur of the supporting pillars
of the roof and the shallowness of the groining above.
The pillars are single cylinders with curiously plain capitals.
The choir rises a few steps above the nave pavement, in order to give
height to the crypt ambulatory, as is frequently the custom in German
churches.
The windows of the south aisle are good in their design and glass,
which, though modern, reflects the Gothic mediæval spirit far better
than is usual.
There is an elevated gallery along the aisle walls, which forms a sort
of tribune or _männerchöre_. In one of the recesses beneath the gallery
is a highly coloured sculpture group of an "Entombment."
The easterly portion of the cathedral is by far the most pleasing, and
partakes of the best Gothic features, and indeed is far superior to the
nave. The supporting columns of the vaulting have foliaged capitals,
while the vaulting itself is even more elaborate.
The aisles, as they approach the choir, are rectangular-ended, and
extend quite to the end of the choir termination, showing a very
singular cross-section of this portion of the church.
The screen is a modern stone work after the Gothic manner. It sits
beneath a not unbeautiful Gothic window, rather richly traceried with
four lights. The glass of this window is modern, but, like that in the
nave aisles, is excellent.
The crypt is entered from the south transept, and also from the nave by
an entrance which passes between the steps which rise to the choir
pavement.
[Illustration]
There is an elaborate seven-branched candlestick at the juncture of the
nave and choir, modelled on one known to have existed in the Temple at
Jerusalem. It is of the conventional form, but is a rare piece of
church furniture in that it dates from 1003, when it was presented by
the Abbess Matilda, sister of the Emperor Otho II. Since it stands six
or eight feet in height, this candlestick is a notable and conspicuous
object.
Before the steps leading to the crypt is the tomb of Bishop Alfred of
Hildesheim. The crypt is all that a crypt should be,--a dim-lighted,
solemn chamber of five aisles, the pavement of the church above being
supported on stubby square pillars. It is used also for devotional
purposes, the altar at the easterly end of the central aisle bearing the
inscription, "_Heilige Maria, Trösterin der Betrubten, bitt fur uns_."
The cloisters of this interesting edifice are, in part, of the primitive
style of early Gothic, while the southern and western sides are an
approach to the full-blown Gothic of a later epoch, with foliaged
capitals.
_Dortmund_
Dortmund is the largest town of the province of Westphalia, and
possesses four mediæval churches of more than usual interest.
St. Reinhold's is the chief, and is a cruciform edifice of more than
ordinary proportions. It is a picturesque mélange of many parts. Its
western tower is of no style in particular, and is hideous, but most
curious considering its environment. The nave and transepts are
supposedly of the thirteenth century, but they are certainly not good
Gothic as we know it elsewhere.
The choir is of the early fifteenth century, and is much more gracefully
conceived than is any other portion of this nondescript edifice.
The transepts are square boxlike protuberances, which link the choir
with the nave in most unappealing fashion.
In the interior the most astonishing features are the low truncated nave
of three bays, the grimness of the walls of the entire
fabric,--excepting the well-lighted and aspiring choir,--and the
straight-backed pews.
The clerestory windows of the nave are semicircular, but the aisles are
lighted by Gothic openings.
There are two altars, one at the choir entrance and the other in the
apse, each surmounted by a triptych.
The windows of the choir-apse, tall, ample, and of admirable framing,
are the chief glory of this not very beautiful, though interesting,
church.
St. Mary's is a late twelfth-century Romanesque structure, without
transepts, but possessed of a towering apsidal choir.
The nave is an attenuated affair with no triforium, leaving a vast blank
wall space, as though it were intended to have been decorated.
Dortmund's "Pfarr Kirche" was a former Dominican foundation. Its general
proportions are far greater than those of any other of the city's
churches. The nave is ample, and the great choir of four bays, with
spacious, lofty windows, is of the same generous proportions.
The church dates only from the mid-fourteenth century, and its
three-bayed nave is even later. The aisles of the nave are curious in
that they are not of similar dimensions. That on the street side is
separated from the nave proper by square piers, with a slender shaft
running to the vaulting. The other aisle is more ample, and has its
arched openings to the nave composed of four shafts superimposed upon a
central cylinder.
The nave lighting is amply provided for by a series of four light
windows, bare, however, of any glass worthy of remark.
The south wall, which has no windows, has two large frescoes, a
"Descent of the Holy Ghost" and an "Assumption." There is also a series
of paintings by two native artists, Heinrich and Victor Dunwege.
[Illustration]
XXXI
EMMERICH, CLÈVES, AND XANTEN
_Emmerich and Clèves_
Just below Emmerich, which is the last of the German Rhenish cities, the
Rhine divides itself, and, branching to the north, takes the Dutch name
of Oud Rijn, which name, with the variation Neder Rijn, it retains until
it reaches the sea. The branch to the west takes the name of the Waal
and passes on through Nymegen, bounding Brabant on the north, and enters
the sea beyond Dordrecht.
Emmerich has, in its church of St. Martin, a tenth-century church of no
great architectural worth, but charming to contemplate, nevertheless.
Four kilometres away is Clèves, which, under the Romans, was known as
Clivia and attained considerable prominence and prosperity. The Normans
sacked it in the ninth century, but it was shortly rebuilt, and became
the chief town of the County, afterward the Duchy, of Clèves.
Under the Empire the city belonged to France. The town's principal
church is quite attractive, but, beyond the distinction which it has in
its twin spires, terminating a singularly long line of roof-top of nave
and choir, there are no architectural features of note.
_Xanten_
At a little distance from the Rhine, just before the frontier of Holland
is reached, is Xanten, the ancient Ulpia Castra. Near by, in the
neighbouring village of Mirten, one sees the remains of an ancient
amphitheatre, which denotes a considerable importance for the
neighbourhood in Roman times. If more proof were needed, it will be
found in the museum at Bonn, where are many Roman antiquities coming
from the neighbourhood.
Xanten is celebrated for having given birth to St. Norbert, the founder
of the order of Premonstratension monks, and for having been the cradle
of Siegfried, the hero of the "Nibelungen Lied."
The city was captured by the French in 1672.
The collegiate church of Xanten is known as St. Victor's, and is truly
celebrated for the grace and beauty of its early twelfth-century Gothic.
Without transepts or clerestory, it shows in its one ample chamber,
comprising both nave and choir, an exemplification of the art of
combining the accessories of the Latin-cross structures of France with
the hall-church idea so frequently met with in Germany, and so well
recognized as a distinct German type.
This arrangement does not give the church the appearance of being in any
way confined or limited; quite the reverse is the case, and the double
range of windows in the apse indicates, at least, a loftiness and
hardiness of construction which is highly commendable.
There are, moreover, double aisles to both nave and choir which give an
ampleness to the interior which even its abundance of furnishings does
not overcrowd.
There are few five-aisled churches such as this in Germany, or indeed
elsewhere, Cologne being Germany's chief example in this style.
In general, the Gothic of this highly interesting church is of the best,
though it dates from various periods. The primitive church, we know,
was a Romanesque structure; but, beyond the foundations of the western
towers, and possibly other fragmentary works yet hidden, there is
nothing but the most acceptable Gothic in evidence.
[Illustration: S. VICTOR'S. XANTEN.]
A distinctly curious feature is the apse-sided termination to the
aisles, radiating from the main apse at an angle of forty-five degrees.
It is a distinct innovation in the easterly termination of a church; a
sort of a compromise between the French, English, and German styles, and
wholly a successful one.
In the chancel is a sort of screen before the high altar, worked in
brass at Maastricht in 1501.
The windows contain a great deal of beautiful old glass, and some other
that is by no means as good.
The clerestory windows are elaborately traceried, and there is much
detail of church furnishings, a choir screen, some elaborate stalls, a
little tapestry,--which looks well and is certainly old,--and a modern
tiled floor which is not offensive.
As is frequently seen in Germany, the pillars and shafts have a series
of statues superimposed upon them; always a daring thing to do, but in
this case of far better execution and design than is frequently
encountered. Before the church is a monument in honour of Cornelius de
Pauw, the friend of the great Frederick, a canon of the church and a
famous spiritual writer. He was born at Amsterdam in 1739 and died at
Xanten in 1799.
XXXII
ARNHEIM, UTRECHT, AND LEYDEN
_Arnheim_
The Rhine in Holland is a mighty river. It divides itself into many
branches, all of which make their way to the sea through that country
which Butler in the "Hudibras" calls:
"A land that draws fifty feet of water,
In which men live as in the very hold of nature,
And when the sea does in upon them break,
And drowns a province, does but spring a leak."
The Rhine proper, the Oud Rijn and the Neder Rijn, enfolds three great
ecclesiastical centres of other days, Arnheim, Utrecht, and Leyden.
Arnheim is the chief town of the Guelderland, and seats itself proudly
on the banks of the Neder Rijn just above its juncture with the Yssel.
Of its fifty-five thousand inhabitants, twenty-five thousand are Roman
Catholics, which fact makes it one of the most strongly Catholic cities,
if not the strongest, in the Netherlands.
Formerly the city was known as the Arenacum of the Romans, and served as
the residence of the Dukes of the Guelderland up to 1538. In 1579 it
gave adherence to the "Union of Utrecht," and in 1672 was taken by the
French, when it became one of the principal fortresses of Holland.
To-day the fortifications serve the purpose to which they are so
frequently devoted in the cities and towns of Continental Europe, and
form a fine series of promenades.
In 1813 the town was taken by the Prussians, but in spite of all this
changing of hands, it remains to-day as distinctly Dutch as any of the
Low Country cities and towns. Its houses are well built of brick and
equally well kept, and its sidewalks are as cleanly and well cared for
as the courtyard of a palace.
To-day the aspect of Arnheim is that of a quaint though modern-looking
Dutch city. It is a favourite place of residence for "_messieurs du
sucre_,"--rich Hollanders and Orientals from the Dutch East Indies.
Altogether the atmosphere of its streets and cafés is decidedly
cosmopolitan and most interesting.
[Illustration: GENERAL VIEW _of ARNHEIM_]
The Groote Kerk, built in 1452, rises from the market-place with a
considerable purity of Gothic style. The church was formerly dedicated
to St. Eusebe. Its tower is a landmark for miles around, and rises to a
height approximating three hundred feet. It is built of brick and is
square for the first two tiers, flanked with sustaining buttresses, then
it tapers off into an octagon. It contains a fine set of chimes, so
frequently an adjunct to the churches and municipal belfries of the Low
Countries.
The interior presents a great ogival example of the best of fourteenth
and fifteenth century church-building.
To-day, since the church belongs to the Protestants, much that stood for
symbolism in the Roman Church is wanting, and the pulpit, which is an
admirable work of art in itself, is placed in the middle of the choir
surrounded by numerous tribunes, or seats in tiers, in quite a
parliamentary and non-churchly fashion.
Behind the choir is a monument to Charles d'Egmont, Duke of Guelderland,
who died in 1538, and whose tomb is at Utrecht. As a work of art this
monument in the Groote Kerk at Arnheim is much more worthy than such
monuments usually are.
The duke is represented clothed in armour and reclining between six
lions, which hold aloft his escutcheon.
The pedestal is ornamented with bas-reliefs representing the Holy
Family, the twelve apostles, St. Christopher, and two other saints. On a
pillar at the left of the tomb is suspended, in a sort of wooden cage,
another figure of the same prince. The effigy is of painted wood and is
amazingly lifelike, though smacking decidedly of the figures in a
waxworks exhibition.
The _chevet_ of this great church is quite worthy of consideration,
though by no means as amply endowed as the French variety by which one
comes to judge all others.
Altogether, except for the poverty of deeply religious symbolism in the
interior, of which it has doubtless been despoiled since the Catholic
religion has waned in its power here, the church is a lovely and lovable
example of the appealing church edifices which one now and then comes
across in Continental cities of the third rank.
The Catholic cult occupy the church of St. Walburge, a Gothic edifice in
brick of the fourteenth century. At the portal are two great
symmetrical towers which are worthy of a far more important edifice.
The interior is entirely modern as to its furnishings and fitments.
On four pillars of the nave are placed, back to back, statues of the
evangelists,--a species of decorative embellishment which, at all times
since the fifteenth century, has been greatly favoured throughout
Germany and the Low Countries. In France it is a feature but seldom
seen, and, among the smaller parish churches, has almost its only
examples at Vetheuil on the Seine below Paris, and at Louviers.
The high altar is modern, as are also the black and white marble
baptismal fonts.
The pulpit is quite a grand affair, though modern also. Its
sounding-board shows a figure of Moses holding aloft the tables of the
law. It is admirably conceived and executed, and is of much artistic
merit.
Arnheim possesses several other religious edifices; but, as satisfactory
expressions of ecclesiastical art or architecture, they are quite
unworthy. The only one worthy of remark--and that only for its
unseemliness--is a modern Protestant place of worship in the form of a
vast rotunda, which in all respects resembles a great building enclosing
a panorama.
Behind the _chevet_ of the Groote Kerk, the ancient cathedral, is a fine
old-time house of the sixteenth century. It is known, somewhat
sacrilegiously one thinks, as the Maison du Diable, and was formerly the
residence of a famous brigand or highwayman,--if there be any subtle
distinction between the two. This brigand was moreover of the nobility,
and was known as Martens van Rosum, Duke of the Guelderland. In front of
the house is a miniature terrace, and, on the walls above, to the right,
are three monstrous effigies of devils, as well as one of a woman. In
the centre, upon a pillar, is a bust of Van Rosum, and an inscription to
the effect that the house was restored in 1830. To-day it is occupied by
certain municipal offices.
_Utrecht_
In many respects Utrecht was, in the past, the most important city in
Holland, not commercially, but politically.
To-day it is simply the capital of the province of Utrecht, the seat of
a Catholic archbishop, and of a Jansenist archbishop as well.
Of its population of quite a hundred thousand souls, one-third, at
least, are of the Catholic profession, which is an astonishing
proportion for a city of Holland. For this reason, perhaps, the city
remains the metropolis of the Catholic religion in the Netherlands.
The environs of the city are exceedingly picturesque. The Rhine again
divides into two branches, the Oud Rijn continuing to the North Sea,
through Leyden, and the other branch, known thenceforth as the Vecht,
flowing into the Zuyder Zee.
Utrecht is one of the most ancient cities of the Netherlands, having
been founded under Nero by a Roman Senator named Antony, hence it is
frequently referred to by historians as Antonia Civitas.
Its name in time evolved itself into _Trajectum inferius_ or _vetus_,
and in the Latin nomenclature of the early middle ages, it became
_Ultrajectum_, or _Trajectum Ultricensium_. Under the Franks it was
called Wiltrecht, which was but a short step to the name it now bears.
King Dagobert here founded the first church in Friesland, with St.
Willibrod as bishop, and St. Boniface, before he was called to Rome,
here preached evangelization.
The city was ruined and devastated in the seventh century, but its
rebuilding was begun in 718 by Clothaire IV. Toward 934 it was
surrounded by protecting walls by Bishop Baldric of Clèves. Utrecht was
frequently made the residence of the emperors, and Charles V. there
built the château of Vreeburg, a species of fortress-château that was
demolished by the burghers of the city at the beginning of the war of
independence, 1577.
Adrien Florizoon, the preceptor of Charles V., who, at the death of Leo
X., occupied the pontifical throne in 1522-23 as Adrien VI., was born at
Utrecht. His house (Paushuizen) on the banks of the canal Nieuwe Gracht,
now a government building, contains many pictures relative to his life
and times.
For a long time the city was only a bishop's seat, but in 1559 it was
made an archbishopric.
When, in 630, Dagobert, King of Austrasia, founded a chapel here, the
religious foundation of the city began, and as early as in 696 it became
the seat of a bishop. In the ninth century the Normans sacked the town,
but thenceforth the bishops, who were then suffragans of Liège,
acquired a strength and power which assured the city freedom from
molestation for a long time.
In the sixteenth century political and religious dissension combined to
promote a state of unrest which was most acute. In 1577 the party which
had allied itself with the Prince of Orange introduced religious reform,
and in 1579 the seven provinces of Holland formed their compact of
federation, and the States General held their sittings here.
The _Domkerk_, or cathedral, originally dedicated to St. Martin, is
to-day a Protestant church. It was an outgrowth of the primitive church
founded in 630 by Dagobert I., and of an abbey established by St.
Willibrod.
The cathedral of St. Martin was rebuilt, after a fire in 1024, by Bishop
Adebolde, "in the presence of the Emperor Henry II. and many other great
personages," as the old chroniclers have it. In 1257 it was nearly
entirely rebuilt by the bishop then holding the see, Henri of Vianden,
but a great storm crushed in its nave in 1674, since which time the
faulty juncture of the various parts has been sadly apparent.
After the destruction of the nave, the choir and the transepts formed
practically the entire building, with the tower existing merely as a
dismembered and orphaned feature.
The tower was commenced in 1331 and completed in 1382. It rises from a
magnificently vaulted base. The lower portion is rectangular, but the
octagon which forms the upper stages and "pierced to the light of day,"
as the French have it, follows the best accepted style of its era. In
its way it is, although quite different, the rival of St. Ouen's "Crown
of Normandy" at Rouen.
There are 453 steps to be mounted if one cares to ascend to the
platform, 103 metres from the ground. One gets the usual bird's-eye
view, with this difference, that the glance of the eye seems to reach
out into an interminable distance, by reason of the general flatness of
the country. One sees, at any rate, quite all of the provinces of South
Holland, with the Zuyder Zee to the north, and a part of Guelderland and
North Brabant. The tower possesses also a fine set of chimes of
forty-two bells which is reminiscent of Belgium; but, unlike those in
the famous old belfry at Bruges, the chimes on the _Domkerk_ at Utrecht
do not ring out popular marches or the airs of popular songs.
The interior is so crowded with benches, similar to what English
churchgoing people know as pews, that its original aspect is somewhat
changed. Eighteen great pillars hold aloft the vaulting of the choir and
transepts.
[Illustration: UTRECHT _and Its_ CATHEDRAL]
A notable tomb in black and white marble is that of Admiral van Gent
(1676), and another is that of Bishop Georges d'Egmont (1549). In the
vault beneath the edifice were buried the viscera of Conrad II. and
Henry V., who died at Utrecht, and whose remains, with this exception,
were transported to Speyer.
A fine Gothic cloister connects the cathedral with the university. This
has, in recent years, undergone restoration of a most practical and
devoted kind. It is a marvel of modern architectural work.
St. Peter's is another ancient Roman Catholic church now devoted to
Protestant uses.
St. John's also comes under this category. It is a fine example of a
small Gothic church of the variety which was best known only in Holland
and Belgium; much more severe than the French species, but interesting
withal.
Within the walls of this last are two tombs quite worthy of attention
and remark. The one against the western wall is that of a cardinal who
died in the fifteenth century, and the other is that of Balthazar
Frederick of Stoech. The latter, though dating only from the eighteenth
century, is charmingly sculptured, and has two superb figures of weeping
children done in marble.
The Roman Catholic church of St. Catherine is a Gothic edifice of the
third ogival period, and was restored in 1880 at the expense of a devout
Catholic of the city, named Van den Brink.
The walls are decorated in a polychromatic scheme, which is not
beautiful, though undeniably striking. The jube, by Mengelberg of
Utrecht, is distinctly good.
Utrecht possesses in the _Aartsbisschoppelyk Museum_ an establishment
unique among the museums of the world. Particularly it shows all
branches of religious art, and is of great importance to all who study
the art and architecture of the Netherlands.
Of the secular establishments one remarks the university which adjoins
the cathedral. It dates from 1636, and has to-day five faculties.
In the palace, constructed for Louis Bonaparte during the Napoleonic
overflow, is a magnificent library of 110,000 volumes and 1,500 MSS.
The ancient academy, the arch-episcopal palace, the Palais de Justice,
the Stadt Huis, the Paushuizen (Prefecture), the mint, with a rich
numismatic collection, and the Association of Arts and Sciences complete
the list of the city's notable monuments.
_Leyden_
With Leyden the Rhine may be said to take its leave of ancient
civilization, though it only joins the briny waters of the North Sea at
Katwyck, a dozen kilometres distant, after having formed a natural
frontier for nearly eleven hundred kilometres, from its Alpine cradle in
the canton of Grisons.