It was at Amiens that the renowned Saint Martin gave half of his cloak
to a beggar who stood shivering by the roadside. Other saints in that
city, though we know less of their life histories, must have exercised
even more generosity during the Middle Ages to build and rebuild the
old cathedral in the face of repeated misfortune. The patience and zeal
with which those men of Amiens raised up their cathedral four times
from its ashes, remain forever in the fame of this most perfect of
French Gothic churches.
When the Norsemen plundered the coast of France in 881 they sent
a great fleet up the River Somme. Amiens, taken by surprise, fell
before the attack of those reckless and powerful old Vikings, and the
cathedral, then a flimsy wooden structure, was burned to the ground.
A new building which the people of Amiens put up in the same place
when they had sufficiently recovered from the losses of the invasion,
was destroyed by lightning in 1019. The next structure was burned in
1107, and the one that replaced it was struck by lightning in 1218 and
completely ruined. Then in 1220 the present cathedral was begun. Even
that has not escaped entirely from the lightning and conflagration that
had wrecked so many structures on the same spot. In 1258, before the
work was completed, the woodwork caught fire, and was so badly charred
that part of it had to be taken down and rebuilt. Traces of fire may
still be seen on some of the arches. Later the slim central spire,
which is one of the striking features of Amiens Cathedral, was so badly
damaged by lightning that it had to be made over.
The chief treasure of Amiens is part of the head of John the Baptist,
naturally a religious relic of extraordinary interest. It is kept in
the chapel of Saint John Baptist, and shown only at the most important
ceremonies. All that remains is the front part of the skull, including
the face, and this is inclosed in a hood of silver-gilt. The relic is
said to have been kept for a long time in one of the churches in Asia,
from which it was removed to Constantinople, and later taken from that
city to Amiens, where it has rested ever since.
[Illustration: SALISBURY CATHEDRAL]
_Salisbury Cathedral_