Raimond Dutemple, the builder, purchased from the churchwardens of
the parish of the Innocents ten ancient tombs, each of which cost him
fourteen sous parisis, for the purpose of using the stones for his
masonry work--a proof that funeral monuments were not treated with
much respect at that epoch. At this same period, the clergy of the
Innocents’ parish sold part of the cemetery, already too small, to the
chapter of St. Germain l’Auxerrois, who built thereon houses and stalls
for the markets. It is estimated that more than two million persons
were buried in the Innocents’ cemetery in the course of six centuries.
In it were accumulated masses of stones, crosses, human remains,
and filth; the grass was growing in the midst of heaps of skulls;
the floors of the charnel-houses bent beneath piles of decomposed
bones; graves had been dug in every available space of ground, and the
smell of the corpses was unbearable. Notwithstanding, this was the
most celebrated cemetery of the Middle Ages, and the charnel-house
which enclosed it upon three sides served as a model for all those
constructed for other Christian churches and cemeteries, in accordance
with a custom dating back, it is reported, to the fifth or sixth
century. Still, no traces can be found of any such constructions around
the Gallo-Roman cemeteries, unless it be a rudely built boundary-wall.
At a later date, the cemeteries contiguous to parish churches or to
the chapels of hospitals were surrounded with cloister-like galleries,
between the roof and ceiling of which was the charnel-house, where the
bones dug up when fresh graves were made found a last resting-place.
Inside the cemeteries there were other erections never omitted, as,
for instance, a large stone cross with florid decoration and varying
in design, many of which date back to the eleventh century. After this
period came into vogue a small lantern, built in the shape of a very
narrow tower, like a hollow column, from twenty-six to forty feet
high, the summit of which was surmounted by arcades, through which
glimmered the faint light of a suspended lamp. This small building was
called “the lantern of the dead” (Figs. 394–396); it was also termed a
beacon (_fanal_), a lighthouse (_phare_), and a little tower
(_tourniele_). These beacon-towers, intended to indicate from afar
during night-time the presence of a cemetery, generally had a door
somewhat above the ground, which was reached by a ladder or flight of
steps.
Upon the side opposite to the door, an altar jutted out at the base
of the tower. This altar was never consecrated, as the canons forbid
any celebration to be held upon those which were in the open air
(_sub dio_). There are many monuments of this kind in Maine,
Berry, Angoumois, and Gascony; they are all of Roman architecture, or
of Gothic bordering upon Roman, and, consequently, do not date back
further than the eleventh century.
There was a tower of this kind in the Cemetery of the Innocents, at
Paris (Fig. 397), but of larger dimensions than any of those alluded
to above. It was a kind of octagon chapel, about forty feet high, and
Gilbert de Metz, who speaks of it, says that he was told it was the
tomb of a rich nobleman who had given orders that he himself should be
buried beneath it in order to save his remains from being profaned by
dogs and vagabonds.
In the fourteenth century the lanterns of the dead, instead of being
isolated and inaccessible columns, were built in the form of open
chapels, in which a lamp was kept constantly burning. Previous to the
erection of these chapels in the cemeteries, there existed others which
have often been taken for pagan temples. We know, through writings
of the ninth century, that in the cemeteries of the Carlovingian
abbeys there were chapels of this kind, with two stories and a crypt;
that these funeral chapels were of the same shape as the ancient
baptisteries, without the surroundings. They were octagonal buildings,
the vaults of which rested upon the boundary-walls of the cemetery.
There are still extant two belonging to the Roman epoch, one at
Montmorillon, in Poitou; the other, enclosed in the citadel of Metz,
was a dependency of the Abbey of St. Arnold.
Having treated of the burial-places and the funeral monuments of the
different epochs of the Middle Ages, we may now go on to speak of the
funeral ceremonies.
As soon as a king or a queen had breathed their last, the face was
covered with wax, in order to take an impression of the features and
reproduce them upon their effigies. Pending the completion of this
likeness, the body was laid by the chamberlains and the gentlemen of
the chamber in a leaden coffin, lined with wood and black velvet,
covered with a white satin cross, and was carried by the archers of
the body-guard into a richly-decorated chamber, and placed upon a bed
trimmed with black cloth hangings which reached to the ground. An altar
was erected in the middle of the chamber for celebrating mass while the
body remained there.
[Illustration: Fig. 393.--The Torments of Hell.--The Latin
inscriptions in this engraving may be translated as follows: At
the top, “The worm which feeds on the ungodly man shall never
die, and the fire that devours him shall never be quenched;”
in the centre, “Jews; Men of war;” beneath, “Monk; Lucifer, or
Satan.”--Fac-simile of a Miniature from the “Hortus Deliciarum,”
a celebrated Manuscript of the Twelfth Century, executed at
the Convent of Hohemburg in the time of the Abbess Herrade de
Landsberg; destroyed in the fire of the Strasburg Library during
the Prussian bombardment, Sept. 24th, 1870. Reprinted from Count
de Bastard’s great work.]
When the effigy was completed it was placed in another chamber as
richly decorated as the first, and around it were placed seats, or
_formettes_, covered with striped cloth of gold, upon which the
prelates, lords, gentlemen, and officers took their places. The state
bed, upon which the effigy was laid, was furnished with a covering of
cloth of gold reaching to the ground, and decorated with a bordering
of ermine spotted with black, which overlapped by about two feet the
covering, and was itself trimmed with Hungarian point-lace.
[Illustration: Fig. 394.--Beacon in the Cemetery of Feniou, near
St. Jean d’Angely (Eleventh Century); it is formed of eleven
Roman columns.
Fig. 395.--Beacon in the Cemetery of Antigny, Vienne (Fifteenth
Century).
Fig. 396.--Beacon in the Cemetery of Ciron, Indre (Twelfth
Century).
From the “Antiquités Monumentales” of M. de Caumont.]
The effigy was arrayed in a fine linen shirt, or chemise, trimmed at
the neck and sleeves with, black silk, and over this was passed a
doublet of scarlet satin, lined with taffeta of the same colour, edged
with narrow gold braid. Over the doublet was a tunic of azure satin,
spotted with golden fleurs-de-lis, trimmed with a silver and gold lace
about four inches wide, the sleeves reaching only to the elbow. Last
of all came the royal mantle of purple velvet of an azure hue, spotted
with golden fleurs-de-lis, six yards long, open in front, without
sleeves, lined with white satin, the ermine collar about a foot deep,
the facings and the train trimmed with ermine. From the neck of the
effigy hung the royal order; upon the head was a small cap of dark
crimson velvet, surmounted by the crown studded with jewels. Upon the
legs were buskins of cloth of gold, with bright crimson satin feet; the
hands were crossed upon the chest. At the head of the bed were placed
two cushions of red velvet, trimmed with embroidery; upon the one to
the right lay the sceptre, which was almost the same length as the
effigy, while upon that to the left was placed the hand of justice,
open, the staff being about two feet and a half long. The bed, which
was devoid of curtains, was surmounted by a very rich dais. Beside the
head of the bed, to the right, was the chair covered with cloth of
gold, with a cushion of the same material. At the foot was a stool,
also covered with cloth of gold, for the silver vessel containing
the holy water, and upon each side were two other seats covered with
striped cloth of gold for the heralds, arrayed in their coats of mail,
who presented holy water to the princes that came to view the body. The
lower end of the mortuary chamber, which was just opposite the effigy,
was occupied by a very richly decorated altar.
[Illustration: Fig. 397.--Tower of Notre-Dame-du-Bois,
constructed during the Eleventh Century, in the Cemetery of the
Innocents, Paris; demolished in 1786.]
The royal effigy was laid in state for eight or ten days, during which
time the ordinary service of the palace went on just the same as during
the king’s lifetime. At the dinner and supper hours the table was laid
by the officers, and the courses arranged by the gentlemen-in-waiting,
preceded by the usher, and followed by the officers of “the king’s
buttery,” who approached the table with the customary obeisances. The
bread was then cut and placed ready for being handed round, the dishes
were brought to the table by an usher, the maître d’hôtel, the pantler,
the pages, the squire of the kitchen, and the keeper of the plate; the
napkin was presented by the maître d’hôtel to the highest personage
present; grace was said by a prelate or an almoner, who recited the
prayers for the dead. All those who were in the habit of eating at
the king’s table during his lifetime were expected to be present at
each of the repasts, together with the other persons of his household,
the princes, princesses, and prelates. The dishes were afterwards
distributed amongst the poor.
When the effigy had been removed the embalmed body was brought into the
middle of the same room, and the coffin--covered with a pall of black
velvet which touched the ground, with a large cross of white satin
in the centre, and on each side a scutcheon representing the arms of
France--was placed upon trestles; over the whole was thrown another
large pall of cloth of gold with fringes, which had also in the centre
a white satin cross, and at each extremity the arms of France, but
smaller than those on the under pall. The pall was trimmed with violet
velvet of a fine azure, spotted with fleurs-de-lis, and bordered with
ermine. At the head of the coffin was a cushion of cloth of gold, upon
which lay the royal crown, with the sceptre to the right and the hand
of justice to the left; at the foot there was a cross of silver-gilt,
and over it a splendid dais of black velvet; upon a form stood the
vessel for holy water, with a stool on each side for the two heralds
arrayed in their coats of arms, _chaperons en tête_. Beside the
heralds there was a bench covered with black cloth for the princes and
cardinals, who were seated on it during the celebration of mass. The
coffin was surrounded by a black wooden railing. At the lower end were
two altars standing in close proximity to each other; that of the chief
chapel for the high masses for the dead which was chanted, and that of
the oratory for low masses said by the chaplain in ordinary to the late
king. The nobles, several gentlemen, the officers and the body-guard,
all in mourning, were present at these services. A few days previous
to the interment the new sovereign repaired to the mortuary chamber,
attired in a purple mantle--purple was the mourning colour for kings,
as _tanné_ (brown) was that for queens--the train being borne
by five princes, each wearing a hood of the same colour. The chief
gentleman of the chamber presented him the cushion, on which the king
knelt in prayer after making the customary reverences. Then taking the
_aspersorium_ from the hands of a prelate, he sprinkled the coffin
with holy water; this done he withdrew, after making the reverences
usual upon such occasions.
When a king or a queen died in Paris, a procession was formed to their
residence to conduct the body to the place of interment; if he died
outside the city, the cortége started from Notre-Dame des Champs or
St. Antoine des Champs to meet it at its arrival. This cortege was
composed of the presidents and other officers of the parliament in
black robes, the officers of exchequer, of taxes, and of the treasury,
of the delegates, the provost of the merchants, the aldermen, and the
councillors of the city, all in mourning.
[Illustration: Fig. 398.--Obsequies of St. Cesarius, physician to
the Emperors Constantius and Julian; died in 369.--Fac-simile of
a Miniature from a Greek Manuscript of the Ninth Century, in the
National Library, Paris.]
Early the next morning, the twenty-four criers of the city announced
the event “_en la Chambre du plaidoyé, Table de marbre, et par les
rues_,” enumerating the titles and qualities of the deceased monarch
in the form laid down by the Grand Council, and not by Parliament,
which had refused to draw up this cry for King Henry II. (27th of July,
1559), in compliance with the request of his widow.
In the afternoon, the body was taken to the Church of Notre-Dame, in
Paris, and the effigy of the king was laid upon the coffin, in order to
impress yet more deeply the people who were admitted to do him homage.
By special privilege the _hanouars_, or bearers of salt, carried
the coffin; but at the interment of Charles VIII. twenty gentlemen of
his household volunteered to act as bearers of the body from Notre-Dame
des Champs to St. Denis. At the death of Louis XII., the hanouars
demanded and obtained the restoration of their privilege.
[Illustration: Fig. 399.--Funeral of St. Edward the Confessor,
the Anglo-Saxon king, who died on the 5th of January, 1066.--The
body, covered with an embroidered pall surmounted with two small
crosses, being carried by eight men to Westminster Abbey, of
which he was the founder. Behind come priests chanting the Psalms
for the Dead, while two clerks are ringing bells.--From the
Bayeux Tapestry (Twelfth Century).]
The ceremonial was altered at the funeral of Francis I. and Henry II.,
the body being placed in the _chariot d’armes ou de parement_,
and the honours due to the body, which was in the hinder part of the
procession, were paid to the effigy. The gentlemen of the chamber to
Francis I., “with straps around their necks,” esteemed it an honour
to bear the effigy of their late master; those who had been in the
service of Henry II. only walked by the side of his effigy, holding up
the pall of cloth of gold. The Parliament, which had always enjoyed
the privilege of walking in front of, as well as of surrounding and
following, the body and the effigy, felt annoyed at being exclusively
attached to the latter, which still represented life; whereas the
body, representing death, was already, so to speak, separated from the
honours of royalty.
[Illustration: Fig. 400.--Mortuary Cloth from the Church of
Folleville (Somme), now in the Museum at Amiens (Sixteenth
Century).--The cloth thrown over the coffin formed three crosses;
the centre of the largest of these lay over the breast of the
deceased, the two others covered the two sides of the bier; upon
the white crosses are death’s heads crunching bones between their
teeth. Two yellow-hued mirrors reflect the image of a human
skull. The crosses bear the Latin inscription, “Memento mori.”]
The funeral procession proceeded in the following order through the
streets of Paris to the Abbey of St. Denis. First came an esquire in
mourning and on foot, carrying the banner of France covered with black
crape; then followed, bareheaded, the players of the hautboy, the
tabor, and the fife, with their instruments reversed, and in their rear
trumpeters with their bannerols flying.
[Illustration: Fig. 401.--Triumphal Vessel, which was drawn upon
a car in the solemn funeral ceremony celebrated at Brussels, upon
the 29th of December, 1558, in honour of the Emperor Charles
V., who died on the 21st of September, in the same year, at the
Monastery of St. Just.--This vessel gives some idea of the shape
as well as of the magnificence of the galleys constructed at
that period. Three symbolic personages are conducting the vessel
towards eternity: in the stern stands Charity (_Charitas_),
ever glowing with love; amidships is Faith (_Fides_), with
her eyes fixed upon the image of Christ; and at the prow, above
the gilt beak-head, is Hope (_Spes_), standing with one
hand placed upon the anchor of safety. The masts and bulwarks of
the ship are decorated with flags upon which figure the arms of
the different Netherland States, of Burgundy, and the Tyrol--all
direct fiefs or conquests of the deceased emperor. The triangular
sail in the stern indicates, by its colour (black), that the
vessel is in mourning. The marine monsters which are seen
swimming around it represent the enemies vanquished by Charles
V., and the columns of Hercules, surmounted by the crown and the
tiara, typify the alliance between the Empire and the Church,
an alliance to which the Cesarean motto--“Non plus oultre,”
lends special significance.--From the “Magnifique et Somptueuse
Pompe Funèbre faite aux Obsèques du très-grand Empereur Charles
Cinquième en la Ville de Bruxelles” (Plantin, Antwerp, 1559). In
the Collection of M. Ruggieri, Paris.]
After these came the _chariot d’armes_, hung with black velvet
which reached to the ground, and upon it a large cross in white satin,
and twenty-four shields representing the arms of France. The coach was
drawn by six horses with black velvet trappings and the large white
satin cross, and on the near wheeler and leader postilions in mourning
and bareheaded. Around the coach were armourers and _sommeliers
d’armes_, together with some members of the four mendicant orders,
carrying tapers to which were affixed armorial shields. Twelve pages
followed, dressed in black velvet, who rode, bareheaded, upon twelve
horses, also caparisoned in black velvet with a white satin cross, each
led by a footman dressed in mourning and also bareheaded.
[Illustration: Fig. 402.--Mourning Costumes.--Group consisting
of Gold Fleece, Herald of Spain; of King Philip II., son and
successor of Charles V., accompanied by Henry IV., Duke of
Brunswick; of the Duke d’Arcos, Spanish Grandee; of Ruy Gomez de
Sylva, Count of Melito, and of Emanuel-Philibert, Duke of Savoy.
The last-named wears, like King Philip, the mourning hood, being
the son of Beatrice of Portugal, sister-in-law of Charles V. The
hood was only worn by the heirs of the deceased sovereign.--From
the work on the funeral of Charles V., quoted on the previous
page (see Fig. 401), published by Plantin, at Antwerp, in 1559.
In the Collection of M. Ruggieri, Paris.]
One of the esquires of the stable carried the spurs and another the
gauntlets; a third, the arms of France, in the form of an escutcheon,
with the crown; a fourth bore at the end of a staff, in the form of
a gallows, the coat-of-arms made of violet velvet, and studded with
golden fleurs-de-lis. The first esquire, or, in his absence, the
eldest, carried the royal-crested helmet.
The state charger, with his housings entirely covered with crimson
velvet studded with Cyprus fleurs-de-lis of gold, was led by two
esquires; and upon each side came dismounted heralds-at-arms
_chaperon en tête_.
Behind the master of the horse, hooded and wearing at his side the
royal sword, followed the effigy, drawn upon a car, and holding in its
right hand the sceptre and in its left the hand of justice.
It was succeeded by the personage who was conducting the funeral
procession, and by the first or high chamberlain, bearing the banner
of France. Next to them marched the provost of the merchants and the
aldermen in full dress, bearing the dais and the pall which had been
used in the mortuary chamber, and which were carried at a certain
distance from the effigy, so as not to prevent the latter from being
seen.
Then came the princes, mounted upon small mules, the trains of their
mantles being each held up by a gentleman on foot in deep mourning.
After the princes were the ambassadors, dressed in mourning, but
without hood; the royal knights, wearing their insignia and a
mourning hood; the lords and gentlemen of the chamber; the captains
of the guards and archers in mourning, with their silver-coated
_hocquetons_ (a sort of jacket). Towards the middle of the
sixteenth century, the prelates and almoners also followed the cortége.
In the evening a solemn service was celebrated at Notre-Dame, and
another the next morning. In the afternoon of the latter day the
cortége repaired in the same order to St. Denis, stopping half-way at
a stone cross called the _Croix du Sien_, where the monks of the
abbey came out in procession to receive the king’s body and effigy from
the Archbishop of Paris, who thereupon withdrew, accompanied by his
clergy. As soon as the body entered the town of St. Denis, the monks of
the abbey bore the pall. In the evening the service was celebrated in
the cathedral, and on the following day the body was placed, covered
by the great pall of cloth of gold, in a _chapelle ardente_. The
effigy was removed, and the crown, the sceptre, and the hand of justice
were given to the heralds, who handed them over to three princes of
the blood. The gentlemen of the king’s chamber then took charge of the
body and carried it to the entrance of the vault in which it was to
be interred, and into which one of the kings-at-arms descended, and
in a loud voice bid the other kings-at-arms and heralds to do their
duty. Thereupon they all came forward and divested themselves of their
coats-of-arms. The king-at-arms standing in the vault bid five esquires
bring him the spurs, gauntlets, shield, coat-of-arms, and crested
headpiece; from the first _valet tranchant_ he received the
fanion, and from the captains of the Swiss and the archers of the guard
their insignia; the master of the horse handed him the royal sword; the
high or first chamberlain, the banner of France; the grand master and
all the _maîtres d’hôtel_ threw their staves into the vault; the
three princes brought to him the hand of justice, the sceptre, and the
crown. He then cried three times in a loud voice, “The king is dead;
pray to God for his soul!” and he then added the cry, also three times
repeated, “Long live the king his successor!” This cry was taken up by
another herald; the trumpets sounded, and the ceremony was at an end.
After this the grand master, accompanied by the prelates and knights
of the royal orders, repaired to the principal _table_ of the
Parliament, where the officers of the king’s household were collected,
and there he broke in their presence “the magisterial staff,” telling
them that they were henceforth without a master.
[Illustration: Fig. 403.--Funeral Service for Anne of Brittany,
Queen of France, who died on the 9th of January, 1514, at the
Castle of Blois.--The service was celebrated on the 4th of
February, in the Church of St. Sauveur, Blois.--In the middle
of the choir was laid “the body of the noble lady, beneath a
_chapelle ardente_ (_catafalque_) which had five
pinnacles, each ornamented with a double cross with lighted
tapers, crowned with a circle of black velvet, and decorated with
several escutcheons.” In front of the coffin stood the effigy of
the Queen, holding the crown and sceptre. Around are kneeling
Franciscan and Jacobine nuns. Mass is being said by the Bishop
of Paris.--From a Miniature in a contemporary Manuscript, the
“Trespas de l’Hermine regrettée;” in the Library of M. Ambroise
Firmin-Didot.]
A similar order of proceeding was observed at the funeral of a
queen, where the crowned effigy, with the royal mantle studded with
fleurs-de-lis, and with the sceptre in the right hand and the hand of
justice in the left, also figured in the ceremony. But in addition to
the princes, the body was followed by the princesses, and by several
ladies and maids-in-waiting, all of them dressed in mourning.
Isabel of Bavaria, widow of Charles VI., is the only queen of France
who was not buried with the honours due to her rank; her body having
been taken to Notre-Dame (1435), where the customary prayers were said,
the funeral procession and the Parliament followed it to the Port St.
Landri, where the coffin was placed in a boat, and taken by water to
St. Denis under the escort of two clerks and a chaplain.
Under the first Merovingian dynasty, immediately on the death of the
king, his body was washed, embalmed, and arrayed in the royal robes; it
was then taken to the church, which was always some basilica of note
previous to St. Denis being selected as the royal burying-place.