[Illustration: 0185]
The monastery was one of the richest in France, holding an appanage of
two hundred and fifty villages, including manor houses and farmsteads.
A warrior abbot headed one hundred and fifty armed vassals at the Battle
of Bouvines.
Of the seven churches of St. Medard nothing remained, and the site was
occupied by some nondescript buildings used as some sort of charitable
institution.
In a crypt under the chapel of the abbey church we were shown a large
stone coffin, alleged to be that of Clotaire, and a small vault contains
a cell in which the unfortunate Louis le Débonnaire languished. There is
an inscription supporting this as follows:=
```"Hélas, je suys bons prins des douleurs
`````que j'endure!
````Mourir mieux me vaudrait:
`````la peine me tient dure."
`````(Fourteenth Century.)=
Of the genuineness of this inscription some authorities are doubtful,
but I include it here, nevertheless.
This whole region is now hidden behind the mask of smoke and mystery of
the present infernal war.
Just what ruin lies behind this dropped curtain is uncertain. It has
been reported that Soissons is in ashes, burned and sacked in revenge
for the failure of the Verdun attack. At any rate its inhabitants are
confined within the limits of the town, and it is understood that they
are compelled to toil unceasingly for the invaders. The vast farmsteads
and fields are understood to be worked to the utmost by the townspeople
in regular "gangs" under the eyes of German officers, and that the crops
have been regularly gathered and distributed under the remarkable system
for which the Germans are noted. Other than these no details have been
allowed to creep forth from this unfortunate town. That this sanctuary
of architecture may perchance escape entire destruction at the hands
of these barbarians is not too much to hope for, but that the Cathedral
should be spared is inconceivable, when one remembers the fate of
Rheims, Ypres, Louvain, Arras, Malines and Noyon, to mention but a few
of the incomparable treasures that have vanished before their onslaught.
Soissons' magnificent monuments are now probably heaps of calcined stone
and charred beams. Those marvels of painted glass will live henceforth
only in the memory of those whose good fortune it was to have seen and
valued them.
As I write this the Cathedral of Lâon is reported to be a wreck, and is
thus added to the list. Words fail me.
These "murdered cities" are glorified forever more....
How one's imagination responds to their very names: Verdun, Amiens,
Soissons, Rheims, Arras, Valenciennes!--and those others of Flanders:
Bruges, Ghent, Louvain, Malines, Lille and Ypres--how full are these of
grace and fancy. What ring of shield!--What clang of arms!
For forty years these towns have enjoyed peace and fancied security,
while that once great power, with hypocritical words of good will
towards all men, even while sending delegates to the conferences at The
Hague, was deliberately planning the destruction of sleeping nations
whose lands are now invaded; whose young manhood is disappearing in
a storm of blood and iron; whose architectural treasures are now but
smoldering heaps of ashes!
Rheims Cathedral, it is urged, was a landmark; a menace to the
invader;--and this is true. It was a landmark, most certainly, and
therefore it was a menace to the army of the invader, and was destroyed.
This fact established, there followed the destruction of the other
cathedrals, and it may be that before the invader is beaten off and
pushed back over his own boundary line, those other great works of art
still untouched will vanish under the rain of fire and shell--and none
remain.
Such a catastrophe is appalling, and it may be realized before the war
is over, for there is small reason why all should not suffer the fate of
great St. Martin's at Ypres, and Rheims, at the hands of the descendants
of the Huns and the Allemanni. As it is now six great cathedral towns
lie inclosed within their iron clad battle lines--Soissons, Lâon,
Senlis, Amiens, Noyon and Rheims; of these Rheims, Soissons, Noyon and
Senlis have been ruined; Amiens remains (so we are told) intact. No such
assurance is given of Lâon, with its wonderful square ended choir,
the only one in France, and the remarkable effigies of oxen, carved in
stone, on the tops of the twin towers.