King Philip le Bel, and her little son, Robert, then became her
principal care. A little boy of noble family had been chosen as his
companion to share in his education and to join with him in play. It
would seem that the two were treated on an absolute equality, even to
having their doublets cut from the same piece of cloth, and their
tunics and cloaks trimmed with the same fur. Beyond their ordinary
lessons, they were early taught the games of tables and chess, both of
which were considered essential to a knight's education. They also
rode to the chase and attended tournaments, and at the age of fourteen
themselves held the lance as part of their training in the art of
war. Robert seems to have been of a most inquiring and intelligent
nature, but when he had scarce passed his seventeenth year, Mahaut,
with scant warning, saw this her only son stricken in death just as he
was about to enter the ranks of knighthood. In the archives of Arras,
the Capital of Artois, may be found a discoloured parchment containing
the inventory of the equipment provided for the youthful Robert in
anticipation of his initiation. What sorrow is enshrined in these
faded pages! It is not sorrow for death, but the bitterer sorrow for
something that has never lived, or, rather, that has lived only in the
heart, like spring blossom blighted ere fruiting-time. In the Church
of St. Denis, where modern restoration has but emphasised the
transitoriness and vanity of human glory, there can still be seen the
tomb of this youth, carved soon after his death by Pepin de Huy, and
once painted, as was all such carved work. Even to the mere student it
is interesting as being the only existing monument that can with
certainty be attributed to this celebrated sculptor, and also as
being, in Gothic art, one of the first essays in portraiture in
recumbent figures of the dead, as contrasted with mere effigy. For the
deeper thinker it has even greater significance. Of all the good and
great works that Mahaut conceived and initiated--the churches,
castles, hospitals, which she built and enriched for the glory of God
and the safety and solace of mankind--all have passed away. This
simple tomb alone remains. But its very simplicity is eloquent, for
around it there seems to hover that never-dying spirit of love and
goodness and beauty to which, throughout her life, Mahaut contributed
in such large measure, and which was her real and lasting gift to the
world.
Life as mirrored in the Castle records gives little else than a
pleasing picture of Mahaut's relations with all her dependants, as
well as with those with whom she was connected, whether by ties of
friendship, of politics, or of the common courtesies of life. Her
immediate household was naturally her first care. Twice a year, at
Easter and All Saints, a distribution was made of cloth and furs. Some
of these, fine and costly, were for those in personal attendance on
the Countess, whilst others were in the nature of liveries. Others,
again, of still coarser make, such as Irish serge, with sheep or
rabbit skin for warmth in winter, were given to those of lowly service
or who had specially rough work to perform. Her ladies-in-waiting, of
whom there were always two or three, appear to have received for their
services no money payment, but, over and above the cloth and fur
already alluded to, gifts, on special occasions, of girdles and
satchels (very often jewelled), gold chaplets, and gold and silver
braid, jewelled, and used for twining in the hair. In addition to
this, presents of jewels and silver cups were made to them by the
noble ladies who came to stay with the Countess, just as she, on her
part, presented similar gifts to those who accompanied her guests.
How well we can picture to ourselves these maidens (for such is all
they were), decking themselves in their girdles and jewelled braid,
comparing their gifts, and perhaps even standing on some oaken bench
the better to get a view of their finery, for the mirrors were small,
and the girdles were long, and could not otherwise be seen in all
their glory. When they married, the Countess made gifts to them
without stint, not only of the beautiful and the needful for their
wardrobes, but also of household goods, and sometimes, when she knew
their parents or kinsmen to be too poor to provide the usual dowry,
even of a sum of money. To the retainers also we find the same kind
and helping hand held out. If any were sick they were taken care of,
and, if needs be, sent to some place where they could the better be
cured, as we read of one who, suffering from gout, was sent to take
healing waters. To another retainer was given the necessary money to
pay for his son on entering a monastery, another receiving the
wherewithal to go to his native village to attend his mother's burial.
Old servants, past work, were cared for in the monasteries or
hospitals, or given some post suitable to their years. To a poor
knight was given money to enable him to buy a good horse and armour,
for poverty of purse was no disgrace in the thirteenth century. At the
beginning of winter a distribution, organised by the clergy and
stewards of the rural communities in Artois, but superintended by
the Countess herself, was made to the poor of blankets, garments, and
shoes, and so arranged that the same person did not receive the like
gift two years in succession. In truth, no details seemed too small,
none too onerous, for Mahaut's untiring solicitude. She had heart and
brain for everything. It is these intimate touches which make the time
so living and present to us, and which seem, as it were, to place this
wonderful woman in a charmed and tranquil circle, in spite of the
trouble and turmoil incidental to her life and her position.
[Illustration: _Photo. Macbeth._
STATUE OF MAHAUT IN ABBEY OF LA THIEULOYE, NEAR ARRAS, NOW DESTROYED.
From a Drawing, now in Brussels, made in 1602.
_To face page 99._]
Amongst Mahaut's many good works was the keeping in repair of existing
religious houses, hospitals, and lazar-houses, and the building and
maintenance of new ones. Of all the religious houses which she
founded, her special care was for the Dominican convent of La
Thieuloye, near Arras, the equipment of which, as set out in the
accounts, may well serve as an example of that of the others. The
items for the furnishing and instalment of the house and chapel
include everything needful for the community, from gold and silver
vessels, silver-gilt images of St. Louis, the Trinity, and St. John,
for the sanctuary, and samite and velvet for chasubles, down to the
bowls and platters for the nuns, the woollen material for their
garments, and all the simple necessaries of everyday life. In the
chapel of this nunnery was preserved a kneeling statue of Mahaut,
representing her as foundress, in the habit of the Order strewn with
the arms of Artois. Jean Aloul, of Tournai, has been suggested as the
sculptor, since it is known from the accounts that he was working for
the Countess at Arras in 1323. This statue (known to us through a
drawing, now at Brussels, made in 1602) is of interest to-day because,
judging from the character expressed in the face, it seems probable
that it was a portrait, and not simply imagery. This conjecture seems
all the more likely when we compare the statue with a miniature
painted more than a hundred years later by Jean Fouquet in _Les
Grandes Chroniques de France_ (Bib. Nat.), portraying the marriage of
King Charles the Fourth with his second wife, Marie de Luxembourg. In
this picture a lady, heavily coiffed, and with features suggestive of
those of the statue, but with anguish written upon them, turns away
from the ceremony as if it were all too painful. If this unwilling
guest represents Mahaut, her woeful look is intelligible when we
recall the sad story connected with Charles's first wife, Mahaut's
daughter Blanche, married when she was but fifteen, and whose beauty
was so dazzling that Froissart records that "she was one of the most
beautiful women in the world." Accused of an intrigue with a gentleman
of the Court, she was imprisoned in the Château-Gaillard, where she
remained, with shorn head, until, shortly after Charles ascended the
throne, the Pope declared the marriage null. Then, whilst the king
wedded another, the sad Blanche exchanged her castle prison-house
for a convent one, where she died a year after she had taken the vows.
There is no reason for supposing that Mahaut was at the wedding of
Blanche's successor save in the imagination of the artist; but for him
the inclusion of such a tragic figure would add a dramatic touch to
the representation of an otherwise conventional ceremony.
[Illustration: MARRIAGE OF CHARLES LE BEL AND MARIE OF LUXEMBURG.
Grandes Chrons. de France, Bib. Nat.
_To face page 100._]
It almost takes us aback to read that in Mahaut's domain of Artois
there were at least eighty hospitals and thirty lazar-houses, without
counting those attached to the monasteries. But these numbers will not
surprise us so much when we remember that almost every small community
had its little hospital, used not only for the sick and as a lying-in
hospital, but also as a shelter for the poor and the pilgrim. In the
towns they were often built and supported by the Corporations or by
rich merchants. Evidently some were in the nature of hospitals for
incurables, for there were special clauses in the deeds of gift
providing that a certain specified number of beds were to be kept for
the sick until they were either cured or released by death. Besides
building two hospitals in the County of Burgundy in fulfilment of the
dying wishes of her husband, Mahaut built and maintained two in her
own County of Artois. The one at Hesdin was the more important, and we
can get some idea of it from the documents of the time. The deed
relating to it tells that over the large entrance gate there was
carved in stone a figure of St. John, the patron of hospitals and of
the needy generally, with a poor man and woman on either side of him.
The principal ward was 160 feet long and 34 feet wide, with walls 16
feet high ending in a gabled roof, with two windows in each gable, and
this, coupled with the fact that the sick were sometimes laid on
cushions by the open windows, goes to show that what we pride
ourselves on as a special discovery in modern hygiene--the benefit of
fresh air--was known and applied even in what we are wont to consider
a very benighted age in such matters.
Whilst touching upon such a subject as this, it may be a surprise to
some to learn that in large towns baths were provided for those who
could not afford to have them in their own homes, and that there were
also professional women hair-washers.
[Illustration: THIRTEENTH-CENTURY TREATISE ON SURGERY, IN FRENCH.
Sloane MS. 1977.
_To face page 103._]
But to return to the hospital. On one side of the ward were ten
windows, each four feet square, and on the opposite side was a large
door leading into the cloister with its garden, where the
convalescents and the old people, whilst sheltered, could enjoy the
sunshine and see the flowers and the birds. In addition to this there
was a smaller ward for women, a chapel, a kitchen, and a room for the
matron, as well as accommodation for the resident doctor, Maître
Robert, and the serving-women. It is some consolation to think that
these poor suffering folk of centuries ago were even thus well
tended, but when we look at contemporary representations of the
surgery of the day,[29] we tremble at the mere thought of the heroic
methods adopted. Besides the actual necessaries which she provided for
the hospital at Hesdin, Mahaut constantly sent gifts of fish, game,
and wine. Similar gifts she likewise made to the hospitals in Artois
generally, as well as to those in Paris, and, on fête-days, to the
poorer religious houses.
[29] See Roger of Parma, _Treatise on Surgery_. French
thirteenth century. Brit. Mus., Sloane MS., 1977.
From her beneficence to the sick and sorry, the aged and the poor, we
turn to her hospitality to her relations and friends, and to all those
in spiritual or temporal authority in the towns or villages of Artois.
The Castle of Hesdin, destroyed in the sixteenth century--only a few
stones remaining to mark the site,--was situated a few miles from the
present modern town of Hesdin. It must have been not only a scene of
constant festivity and social intercourse, and a treasure-house
withal, but also a veritable hive of industry, with workers and
workshops within the Castle enclosure as well as in the town nestling
beneath its walls. Here might be found artists and craftsmen of all
sorts and degrees--sculptors and workers in stone, ivory-workers,
wood-carvers, carpenters, artificers in silver and precious stones as
well as in copper, forgers of iron, painters of wall-decoration,
stonework, saddle-bows, and even masquerading-masks, illuminators of
MSS., workers and painters of glass, harness-makers, armourers,
tailors, and embroiderers--the whole forming a rare and remarkable
centre of activity for a woman to have developed and ruled and made
into a living force.
* * * * *
[Illustration: BANQUET, WITH MINSTRELS PLAYING, AND ROOM HUNG WITH
EMBROIDERY.
MS. Romance of Alexander, 14th century, Bodleian, Oxford.
_To face page 104._]
It is a fête-day within the Castle. The horns have sounded. The feast
is ready. To the great hall repair the knights and the ladies, the
esquires and the damsels, two and two, according to their rank,
dipping their hands, as they pass in, into silver basins of
rose-water. They are gorgeously apparelled in silken garments and
cloth of gold and silver, upon which are embroidered their coats of
arms, for by the end of the thirteenth century armorial bearings,
which by then had become attached to families, were used as a sign of
nobility and rank. Mahaut, as hostess, takes her seat last. Adown the
table are specimens of silver-plate, some the work of her own
craftsmen, others the offerings of friendship or of courtesy. They are
fashioned variously, and used for sweetmeats of all kinds, spices,
almonds, and dainties made of orange and pomegranate. A favourite form
is that of a ship, such as may be seen in _Les Très Riches Heures_ of
Jean, Duc de Berri, at Chantilly, in a representation of a feast given
by the Duke. There are, besides, salt-cellars and sauce-boats, flagons
and drinking-cups, and a bowl between every two guests, from which
they eat, handing each other dainty morsels. Such, with a knife
and a spoon for each, is their equipment for the meal, for none, save
the carver, has both knife and fork. In a corner of the hall is a
basket for the broken-meats destined for the poor, a leathern sack
being also provided for foods with gravy or sauce. Neither at
festivals nor in daily life would a meal have been considered complete
if the poor were not remembered. Perhaps a messenger arrives during
the feast with the news of a birth or a marriage in Mahaut's circle of
relations or friends, and he is rewarded with a gift of money, and
possibly receives a silver cup to carry back to the nurse, or a
jewelled chaplet to take to the bride. Meanwhile the music of
trumpets, drums, viols, and flutes resounds from the minstrels'
gallery. Later, when the feast is ended, and before the company
disperses to walk in the garden if it is spring or summer, or to look
at the beautiful things in the castle, or to dance or sing or play
chess if it be winter, some one perchance chants a plaintive ditty to
the music of the regal, or some knight tunes his harp and sings of
valiant deeds, or, may be, of some peerless lady.
[Illustration: _Photo. Macbeth._
HARL. MS. 4425, BRIT. MUS.
_To face page 105._]
But let us look at the rooms of the Castle and their beautiful
contents--the paintings and embroideries on the walls, the ivories,
and the illuminated Psalters and MSS. And let us go first into the
Countess's own room, which doubtless was near the chapel. We can form
some idea of its decoration and contents from the accounts, and of
its probable arrangement from contemporary plans, illuminated MSS.,
and pictures. Its walls were adorned with a frieze composed of heads
of the kings of France, moulded in plaster and surmounted by crowns of
gilded or lacquered tin, below which, on a coloured ground, were
fastened fleurs-de-lis, likewise of tin similarly treated. At the end
of the room was a bed, a large wooden structure surrounded by a
footboard and laced across with cords on which were laid mattresses, a
feather bed (sometimes, if we may judge from miniatures, used during
the day as a seat on the floor), many cushions, linen or silk sheets,
and a fur-lined coverlet. From rods on the ceiling hung curtains which
completely enclosed it at night, but which were drawn back and looped
up during the day, when the bed was used as a divan. At night a small
oil lamp with a floating wick was hung within the curtains, and near
the bed was a _bénitier_. At the side, separated by a narrow space,
there were fixed seats for the accommodation of those who interviewed
the Countess before she rose. There was a large open fireplace with a
bench in front of it which had a movable back, so that the occupant
could sit either facing the fire or with his back to it. Close by were
wickerwork fire-screens, capable of being raised or lowered at will.
Against the walls there were carved chests, enriched with colour, and
chairs with leather seats and wickerwork backs, as well as
three-legged and folding stools, were placed about the room. At one
side of the room was a large oak chair of state with a cushioned seat,
and possibly canopied, and close to it a lectern, with hinged
candle-brackets, from which Mahaut could the more easily read her
MSS., which were often rolled, and difficult to manipulate. In front
of this seat was a table, at which any messengers or retainers stood
when they sought an interview, or the Countess demanded one. Here also
she transacted with her stewards and other agents the business
connected with her various castles and her many philanthropic
undertakings. Other rooms were painted in plain colour, and hung on
special occasions with embroideries and tapestries. Others, again,
were decorated with set designs, square or zigzag, in imitation of
brickwork, such as may be seen in the Chapel of St. Faith, Westminster
Abbey, or with subjects or colour after which they were named. Thus we
find mention of the "Parrakeet" room, from the birds painted on the
walls, the "Blue" room, from its colour, the rooms of "Roses," of
"Vines," and of "Fleurs-de-lis," the room of "Shields," from its
frieze of armorial bearings, and that of "Song," from verses traced on
the walls, taken from the favourite pastoral of "Robin and Marion,"
and probably associated with little scenes from the same idyll. The
ceilings, with beams and joists painted red, were coloured either
green or blue, and strewn with tin stars coated with yellow or white
varnish to simulate gold or silver. The lower portions of the walls
were often painted in imitation of short curtains, sometimes of but
one colour, sometimes gorgeously decorated, but in either case
reminiscent of the real draperies hung on festal days. Immediately
above there might have been, as in other examples, a border painted
with coats of arms, or with a foliated design interspersed with
mottoes.
During Mahaut's lifetime this decorative work seems to have been
undertaken principally by one special family or community of artists
from Boulogne, of which a certain "Jacques" was the leading spirit. In
those days artist and craftsman were one and the same. It was the
quality, and not the particular subject, of the work that mattered,
and thus we find that the painting of a parrot's cage, or of the
shafts of a litter, was not considered derogatory for even the most
skilled to undertake. From the accounts it would seem that linseed oil
was used to mix with the colours, cherry gum or white of egg being
added to make them dry more quickly. Payment for work was made three
times a year--at Candlemas, Ascension-tide, and All-Saints--or by the
day or piece, the last being the form preferred by the business-like
Mahaut. Besides such payment, presents were occasionally given for
specially fine work, and, if a man was married, a gift to his wife of
a gown, or of a cloak with fur, was sometimes added. One of this
company of Boulogne artists later on became Court-painter to the Dukes
of Burgundy, and took with him not only his trained apprentices from
the towns and villages of Artois, and from those bordering on
Flanders, but also, doubtless, certain traditions. It is such early
migrations of artists, when schools were forming, that have helped to
create the difficult problems which confront the student of all early
schools of art.
Of embroidery there was such profusion that it is indeed no
exaggeration to say that the needle vied with the sword. There were
not only wall and bed hangings, embroidered with flowers to brighten
winter days, cloaks, gowns, and tunics patterned with gold thread and
coloured silks, and beaver hats wrought with gold lace and pearls and
sometimes precious stones, but also girdles, satchels, purses, and
pennons resplendent with heraldic device, and caparison and harness
for the horses. From the East were brought velvets, silks, and stuffs
interwoven with gold and silver thread, and used not only for personal
adornment, but also for vestments, Church-hangings, and the coverings
of litters. As regards tapestry as we understand it--_i.e._ woven in a
_high_ warp loom--there is apparently no definite mention of its being
made at Arras before 1313, so that the numerous allusions to tapestry
must refer to stuffs woven in the _low_ warp loom. These stuffs would
seem to have been of two kinds, the one woven with some simple
pattern, the other with heraldic designs of animals or other
conventional forms copied from Oriental models. Hence the term
"Saracenic" applied to both the workers and their handiwork.
In order to realise the Ivories which were probably to be seen in the
Castle of Hesdin, we must go to the Louvre or the British Museum,
where may be found a few rare examples of the work of the period, such
as caskets carved with scenes from the life of Christ or the Virgin if
they were to hold some sacred treasure, or with scenes from some
Romance or from daily life if to contain jewels or other mundane
objects. In addition to such caskets, often painted, Mahaut had, to
hang from her girdle, as was customary with all ladies in the Middle
Ages, a daintily wrought ivory writing-tablet, and a small mirror in
an ivory case. These mirror-cases were generally carved with a scene
from some love-story, such as two lovers playing chess, or going
a-hawking, or some detail from the favourite romance of Tristan and
Isolde. Possibly amongst these treasures was a saddle-bow, with a
wondrous wealth of carving, or chess-men finely modelled, and inlaid
with mother-of-pearl, or a triptych with scenes from the Passion,
represented under Gothic arches of most superb and delicate
workmanship. But it is perhaps in the Chapel that we must seek the
finest work, for here both Mahaut and her father, Count Robert, were
lavish with unsparing hand. One Jean le Scelleur, of Paris, a carver
of combs and toilet articles as well as of crucifixes and Virgins, is
named as her principal craftsman. Mention is made of a Cross carved by
him in cedar-wood with an ivory figure of the Christ, and of two ivory
figures of the Virgin, one under a canopy, and the other with the Holy
Child poised upon the hip, that sublime motive belonging more
especially to the thirteenth century. The chapel itself was beautified
with carved work in stone. Over the Altar, and in front of it, were
painted panels, enriched with gold, and translucent enamel over
colour. If we could picture to ourselves the manner of the sculptor's
work we may recall the "Vine-Capital" in Rheims Cathedral, where the
very stone itself seems to have been metamorphosed into tender foliage
by the unknown artist.
Of wood-carving, the accounts tell of Choir-stalls, presses for
vestments and various vessels and ornaments, and also of Angels,
gilded and painted and bearing the emblems of the Passion, for
standing round the High Altar. These are described as being raised on
slender columns, connected by a bar on which were laced fringed silk
curtains, thus forming a recess for the Altar. We can get some idea of
the simple beauty of this arrangement from a drawing, still preserved
in the sacristy of Arras Cathedral, of the High Altar in the old
Cathedral, and fortunately made before the latter, with all its
contents, was destroyed in the sixteenth century. It accords in every
detail with the inventory record of the Chapel of Hesdin. We may also
compare a picture (No. 783, "The Exhumation of St. Hubert") in the
Flemish room in the National Gallery, where a somewhat similar scheme
is shown.