league to the south of Caen. Mention of it is to be found in the latin
charters of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, under the appellation of
_Alamannia_, or _Alemannia_; and the older historians contend that it
derived this name from having been the site of a colony of the _Alani_,
a Scythian tribe, who ravaged a portion of Gaul in the early years of
the fifth century, and afterwards, with the consent of the Roman
emperors, established themselves in various parts of the country. This
opinion, in the judgment of the Abbé De la Rue, receives confirmation
from the circumstance of there being another village called _Allemagne_,
in the vicinity of Valence, where it is known that a body of the same
people was fixed; and it may perhaps be adduced as a still farther proof
of its correctness, that the village of Allemagne, near Caen, formerly
embraced a considerably greater extent of country.
[Illustration: Plate 37. TOWER OF THE CHURCH OF HAUTE ALLEMAGNE NEAR
CAEN.]
Allemagne was one of the domains granted by the Conqueror to his abbey
of St. Stephen; and in the charter, he states that he cedes it "with its
dependencies." The meaning of this latter term is explained in the
subsequent charter from his son Henry, in which four neighboring
villages are expressly said to be _dependent upon Allemagne_. Allemagne
was itself also divided into two parishes, the _upper_ and _lower_.
At present it is only remarkable for its quarries, from which the stones
are dug, known in France by the name of _Carreaux d'Allemagne_, and
commonly used for floors to rooms, not only in the province of Normandy,
but throughout the whole kingdom. There is also a considerable export of
them for the same purpose. It was in these quarries that the fossil
crocodile was discovered in 1817; which, as being extraordinarily
perfect, and the first specimen ever found with scales, has excited an
uncommon degree of interest among naturalists.
Of the history of the parish of Allemagne, nothing is known. The portion
of its church here figured, has been selected for engraving, as an
instance of a Norman tower of unquestionable antiquity, and in the
highest preservation. The pyramidal stone roof, similar to that of the
church of St. Michel de Vaucelles, at Caen, appears to be quite in its
original state. Even the small lucarne window in it looks coeval with
the rest. The row of intersecting arches below is beautiful and
peculiar.
PLATES XXXVIII.--XLI.
CHURCH OF ST. HILDEBERT, AT GOURNAY.
[Illustration: Plate 38. COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF ST. HILDEBERT AT GOURNAY.
_West front._]
The town of Gournay is generally supposed to rival, in point of
antiquity, almost any other in this part of France. Tradition refers its
origin to the days of Julius Cæsar, during the latter part of whose
government in Gaul, a dangerous conspiracy broke out among the
Bellovaci, the Caletes, and the Velliocasses, assisted by the
inhabitants of other neighboring districts. This confederacy is supposed
to have given rise to Gournay.
The situation of the town is upon the frontiers of the territories of
the two first tribes just mentioned, the present inhabitants of the Pays
de Caux and of the Beauvaisis, in a marshy spot, subject to frequent
inundations from two small rivers, the Epte and the St. Aubin, whose
waters flow beneath the walls of the place. Hence, an inference has
naturally arisen, that the necessity for communication between people so
near in point of position, and yet so effectually separated, first
suggested the advantages to be derived from a bridge over the Epte, in a
place otherwise impassable; and that the bridge was shortly afterwards
followed by a cause-way, which, in its turn, held out inducements to
settlers, so that the town imperceptibly grew out of the traffic thus
occasioned.
The historical celebrity acquired by Gournay, far exceeds what might
have been expected from its size or importance, and has altogether
arisen from the power and the high military character of its Norman
lords. Rollo, at the time that he parcelled out the lands of his
newly-acquired sovereignty, amongst his companions in arms, bestowed
Gournay, together with the whole of the Norman division of the Pays de
Brai, upon a chieftain of the name of Eudes, to be held as a fief of the
duchy, under the usual military tenure; binding him and his successors
to furnish to the prince, in times of war, twelve of their vassals, and
to arm all their dependents for the defence of the adjacent frontier.
Eudes had a son of the name of Hugh; and he it is who is reported to
have first directed his attention towards making Gournay a place of
strength. The ancient records ascribe to him the erection of a citadel
in the immediate vicinity of the church of St. Hildebert, surrounded
with a triple wall and double fosse; and farther secured by a tower,
which was called after his name, _la Tour Hue_, and which continued in
existence till the beginning of the seventeenth century. Such was the
reported strength of this fortress, that Brito, a chronicler, but, it
must be remembered, a poetical one, declares that it was able to resist
an hostile attack, even without a single soldier within the walls! His
whole account of the place, in the time of Philip-Augustus, and of its
capture by that monarch, in the sixth book of his _Philippiad_, is
curious and interesting.
A second Hugh de Gournay, born after a lapse of about a century from the
death of the son of Eudes, is usually accounted the head of the family,
because it is from him that the regular series of their descent is to be
traced. He was a man of whose military prowess many instances are
recorded: among his other exploits, he is supposed to have been the
chieftain, who, carrying his arms into the district of Beauvais, made
himself master of the four villages there, which, from their subjection
to him, have retained the name of _Les Conquêts_ and which continued for
many centuries under the administration of the lords of Gournay. He also
attended the Conqueror to England, where he was rewarded for his
services by a grant of land which he held from that prince _in capite_.
Upon a former occasion, he had been employed by him in a place of high
trust, having been appointed to command, in conjunction with Taillefer,
half-brother to the duke, and three other Norman nobles, the fleet sent
to the protection of Edward the Confessor, against the claims of Harold.
His name is also found in 1059, among the leaders of the Norman army,
which defeated the French forces at Couppegueule, near Mortimer. At
last, disgusted with earthly affairs, he retired to the abbey of Bec,
and there, in the monastic robe, ended a life which had been devoted to
pursuits of the most opposite tendency.--This Hugh de Gournay had a son
of the name of Girald, who married the sister of William, Earl Warren,
and accompanied Robert, Duke of Normandy, to the Holy Land.--The third,
and last Hugh de Gournay, grandson of Girald, was in the number of those
who followed Richard Coeur-de-Lion in a similar expedition, and was
appointed his commissioner to receive the English share of the spoil
after the battle of Acre. He was also among the barons who rose against
King John. But his attachment to the English cause ultimately lost him
his possessions in Normandy; for no sooner was Philip-Augustus master of
Gournay, than he declared him a traitor, and banished him from France.
Philip added to the fortifications a new castle, in the direction of
Ferrieres. This, however, has been long since destroyed; and indeed the
probability is, that the walls and towers of Gournay were neglected and
suffered to fall into decay, shortly after the annexation of the duchy
to France. There can be little doubt but that the town originally owed
its importance, as a fortress, to its position upon the frontiers of
France and Normandy; and the consequence would therefore naturally
follow, that, as soon as the ducal and regal crowns were united on the
same head, it would cease to be maintained as a place of
strength.--About a hundred years after the capture of Gournay by
Philip-Augustus, Philip the Bold, great grandson of that monarch,
bestowed the town and lordship upon his youngest son, Charles of Valois,
at whose death it became a part of the dower of his widow, Matilda of
Chatillon. Again, in like manner, on the decease of Philip of Valois, in
1350, Gournay was separated from the Crown, and assigned to the widowed
queen, Blanche of Navarre. By this princess it was held for forty-eight
years, when it once more reverted to the royal domains. But early in the
succeeding century, the town fell, together with the rest of France,
under the victorious arms of our sovereign Henry V. and upon his demise,
it was a third time selected as a portion of the dower of the royal
widow, Catherine, daughter of the French monarch, Charles VI. Her death,
in 1438, restored it to England: but only to be held for the short term
of eleven years, at which time, the reverses sustained by the British
troops, occasioned the expulsion of our monarchs from their continental
dominions.--From that period to the revolution, the lordship of Gournay,
with the title of count, was constantly added by the French kings to the
dignities of some one of the principal families of the realm; and in
this manner, it successively passed through different branches of the
houses of Harcourt, Orléans, Longueville, and Montmorenci.
[Illustration: Plate 39. COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF ST. HILDEBERT AT GOURNAY.
_View across the Nave into the North transept._]
The church of St. Hildebert,[69] the subject of these plates, was,
previously to the revolution, both parochial and collegiate. Its
foundation is supposed to be of very high antiquity. There is, however,
no proof of the precise period of the establishment of the chapter here.
The earliest records upon the subject, bear date in the year 1180, and
merely mention it as being then in existence; but, according to
tradition, it was first fixed at the neighboring village of Brefmoutier,
and was removed to Gournay by Hugh, the last of the Norman counts. The
same Hugh is generally reported to have commenced the erection of the
present church; but it is sufficiently known with how little accuracy
the early historians are wont to express themselves on these subjects.
The term, "to rebuild," often means no more than to repair; so that it
is in many cases more safe to judge from the style of a building itself,
than from the records preserved to us respecting it. The architecture of
the church of St. Hildebert would lead to the supposition, that a
considerable portion of it was standing in its present state, at least
one hundred years anterior to the time of Hugh; and, even admitting such
to have been the case, there is still sufficient discrepancy in the rest
of the edifice to account for the well attested circumstance, that, at
the close of the thirteenth century, the church yet remained incomplete.
The imperfect state of the building did not prevent its receiving the
honor of a dedication: this ceremony was performed in one of the last
years of the twelfth century, by Walter, Archbishop of Rouen, in person,
attended, as commonly happened, by a great concourse of the nobles and
clergy of the province; and, in the first year of the following century,
Herbert, Archbishop of Canterbury, passed over from England for the
express purpose of doing honor by his presence to the translation of the
reliques of St. Hildebert. The banishment of Hugh de Gournay and
confiscation of his property, which took place shortly after these
events, deprived the canons of their liberal and powerful benefactor.
Poverty caused the progress of the building to be suspended; and it was
only by the aid of repeated indulgences, granted by the popes and
archbishops,[70] that it was finally brought to a state of completion.
The two western towers are of a considerably more recent period: they
were erected in their present state, of wood, roofed with slate, in the
middle of the seventeenth century. The timber was supplied by the
Duchess of Longueville, whose husband was at that time Count of Gournay;
and the rest of the charge was defrayed by the sale of the materials of
a ruined chapel, dedicated to St. Julian, and of a small central tower,
the only one originally attached to the building.
The church is in the form of a cross; consisting of a nave with aisles,
choir, and transepts. The west front (_plate thirty-eight_) is in the
earliest style of pointed architecture, and evidently of the period of
the same Hugh de Gournay, by whom the whole edifice is said to be
raised. If compared with the same portion of the churches known to have
been erected at a similar period in England, the closest resemblance
will be traced between them. That of Salisbury cathedral, the most noble
instance of the kind in Britain, is later, and infinitely more richly
ornamented. But in this at Gournay, the windows are the only portion
that have altogether escaped mutilation or alteration. The side portals
were evidently, in their original state, fronted with porches, which
have now disappeared. Such has likewise been the case with the arches of
entrance; and mention has already been made of the posterior date of the
tower.
The _thirty-ninth plate_ exhibits a portion of the older part of the
interior of the church, and displays a style of architecture
considerably prior to the period assigned for its rebuilding; so that no
one can well doubt but that, as has been hinted above, though it may be
said to owe its existence to Hugh de Gournay, this assertion is to be
taken only in a qualified sense. This plate contains the last
compartment of the north side of the nave, and also admits a portion of
the transept. Flanking the nave, on either hand, is a row of seven
columns, supporting six arches. It is scarcely possible for the most
casual observer not to be struck, immediately upon entering the
building, with the extreme massiveness and solidity of the piers. They
are for the most part square, and only varied with a semi-cylindrical
shaft attached to each of the four sides. Similar piers are to be found
in many of the village churches upon the coasts of Sussex and Surrey,
the part of our island which, from its situation nearest to Normandy, is
most likely to retain genuine specimens of the earliest and purest
Norman architecture. But the most remarkable character attending the
piers at Gournay is, that the sculpture upon them, instead of being
confined as usual to the capitals of the pillars, is also continued over
the flat intermediate surface of the piers, extending to the same depth
as the capitals, as if intended, by forming a band round the whole, to
connect it more closely in a kind of architectural unity. The pattern,
however, in general varies as applied to the flat or circular sides. The
arches of the nave of the church are of a shape between what is
generally termed the semi-circular and the horse-shoe arch; their centre
being somewhat higher than the spring, but not remarkably so. The
clerestory windows above are all Norman; and the same is the case with
the great arches, originally intended to support the central tower;
excepting, indeed, in that to the north, which has evidently undergone
an alteration.
[Illustration: Plate 40. COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF ST. HILDEBERT AT GOURNAY.
_Capitals._]
[Illustration: Plate 41. COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF ST. HILDEBERT AT GOURNAY.
_Capitals._]
_Plates forty_ and _forty-one_[71] are devoted to the capitals, the most
characteristic feature of the building. A more remarkable or a more
interesting set, is not to be seen in any church throughout Normandy.
Their character is by no means altogether the same as that of those at
St. Georges, or in the abbatial church of the Trinity at Caen. There are
indeed monsters among them, but they are of unfrequent occurrence; and,
if the expression may be allowed, they are not equally monstrous. Nor
are they of a description to appear to bear any reference to mythology,
or to history. On the contrary, the sculpture on them is for the most
part of great beauty; and the patterns display a fertile, and an
elegant, if not a classical, taste on the part of the architects. The
greatest peculiarity among them, and one that is believed to be wholly
confined to this church, is, that seven or eight of the pillars have, by
way of capitals, a narrow projecting rim, carved with undulating lines.
So frequent a repetition of the same ornament, and of an ornament so
very singular, removes the idea of accident. It has therefore been
supposed, that the intention of the sculptor was to exhibit a kind of
hieroglyphical representation of water. "Perhaps," as has been observed
elsewhere,[72] "it is the chamber of Sagittarius; or, perhaps, it is a
_fess-wavy_, to which the same signification has been assigned by
heralds.--If this interpretation be correct, the symbol is allusive to
the ancient situation of the town, built in a marsh, intersected by two
streams."
The aisles of the church are in all parts ancient: their vaulting
resembles that of Norwich cathedral, an arch springing from each
capital.--Large windows of the decorated English style, and consequently
comparatively modern, have been inserted, at the east end of the church,
and at the extremity of the south transept; but, in both these parts,
sufficient is left to shew the original design of the architect. In the
latter, it is evident that there once were, as there still remain in the
opposite transept, four semi-circular-headed windows, disposed, to speak
in heraldic language, 1, 2, and 1; while, in the former, were seven,
placed 1, 2, and 4. Of the four lowest of these, the two outermost gave
light to the aisles. Each window was separated from the rest by a
shallow undivided Norman buttress, built of squared freestone, and
interrupting the herring-bone masonry, which occupies the rest of the
east end, to the height of about five feet from the ground.
NOTES:
[69] St. Hildebert is a name of rare occurrence in hagiology. He was
bishop of Meaux in the seventh century, but was not honored with a place
in the calendar, till about three hundred years after his decease; at
which time his reliques were carried to different parts of France, and
finally interred at Gournay. The church, on this occasion, changed its
patron, an event which commonly happened in those ages, and placed
itself under the protection of the new saint, instead of the
proto-martyr, to whom it had been originally dedicated.--Peter de
Natalibus, in his _Catalogus Sanctorum_, says, that St. Hildebert ended
his life as Archbishop of Tours; and that he died in that city, and was
there buried, "_ibique jacens in miraculis vivit_." He speaks of him
likewise as an elegant scholar, and the author of a work, _de contemptu
hujus vitæ_, written partly in verse, and partly in prose.
[70] Of the last of these, which bears date in 1278, a copy, translated
from the Archiepiscopal Archives, is printed in the _Concilia
Normannica_, (II. p. 85,) and is here inserted, not only on account of
the information it affords concerning the church, but as a curious
specimen of similar compositions:--
"GUILLELMUS DE FLAVACURIA INDULGENTIAS ECCLESIÆ GORNACENSI
CONCEDIT ANNO CHRISTI MCCLXXVIII.
"Guillelmus permissione divinâ Rotomagensis Archiepiscopus,
universis præsentes literas inspecturis, salutem in Domino Jesu
Christo. Cum, sicut accepimus, Ecclesia de Gournayo nostræ
Diocesis, in qua Corpus B. Hildeverti requiescit, ita graviter sit
oppressa, quòd ad sustentationem pauperum Clericorum ibi
deservientium, necnon et ad reædificationem dictæ Ecclesiæ propriæ
facultates non suppetant nisi fidelium subventionibus adjuvetur,
maximè cùm prædicta Ecclesia amiserit redditus quos in Anglia
solebat percipere annuatim. Nos de omnipotentis Dei misericordia
et B. Mariæ semper Virginis genitricis ejus, beatorum Petri et
Pauli, ac beatorum Confessorum Romani et Audoëni, et omnium
Sanctorum meritis et intercessione confisi: Omnibus verè
poenitentibus et confessis, qui ad dictam Ecclesiam causâ
peregrinationis Dominicâ in qua canitur: _Isti sunt dies_, et die
Sabbathi et die Veneris immediatè præcedentibus accesserint, vel
prænominatæ Ecclesiæ manum suam porrexerint, adjutorium dictis
diebus vel aliis eleemosynas largiendo, 40 dies de injunctis sibi
poenitentiis misericorditer relaxamus. Datum Gournaii anno Domini
1278, die Veneris ante Festum B. Dionysii."
[71] The capitals in the former of these plates are all selected from
the nave; in the latter, those marked E, H, M, are taken from the
columns placed at the intersection of the transepts; and G, I, K, and O,
from the choir. L and N represent consols to ribs in the aisles.
[72] _Turner's Tour in Normandy_, II. p. 44.
PLATES XLII. AND XLIII.
CHAPEL OF THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JULIEN, NEAR ROUEN.
[Illustration: Plate 42. CHAPEL OF THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JULIEN, NEAR
ROUEN.
_South side._]
The chapel figured in these plates is all that now remains of a
monastery, which, at the period of the revolution, was one of the most
magnificent in the vicinity of Rouen. It was then likewise almost
altogether new: Farin, in his history of the city, printed in 1731,
states that, at the time when he wrote, the monks of the order of the
Chartreux, the then occupants of the priory, had just began to rebuild
the great cloister, according to a very simple and magnificent
design.[73] But the revolutionary commotions levelled the whole with the
ground, sparing only the unassuming chapel, which has since served as a
wood-house for the neighboring farmer.
The convent itself underwent many changes of owners. It was originally
founded in 1183, by Henry II. King of England and Duke of Normandy, as a
priory, under the invocation of St. Julien, for the reception of
unmarried females of rank, who, having the misfortune to be affected
with leprosy, devoted themselves to a religious life. That terrible
disease, happily almost unknown except by tradition, in our days, was in
those times of so frequent occurrence, that legislative enactments were
repeatedly necessary to restrain its ravages. In the history of the
councils of the Norman church, allusions to the subject are often to be
found. Lepers were forbidden to migrate, even from one lazar-house to
another; they were not allowed to set their foot in any city or
fortress; and, in the event of their transgressing this order, and being
ill-treated in consequence of such disobedience, no redress was to be
afforded them. They could take rest in no inn, even for necessary
refreshment.[74] By an especial order of the church of Bayeux, no one
could give alms to a leper, under pain of excommunication;[75] and the
church of Coutances went still further, enjoining them never to appear
without a particular kind of cope, by way of distinction, and never to
attempt to dispose of the hogs which they were in the habit of fatting,
except to such as labored under the same disease. Disobedience to this
last order, exposed both buyer and seller to a punishment, which sounds
rather strange at this time, being _ad boni viri arbitrium_.[76] In
another case, and nearly at the time of the foundation of the priory of
St. Julien, it is upon record, that lepers were charged as engaged in a
horrible communion of crime with Jews. The latter were expelled from
France in 1321, upon the plea of their having been guilty of
administering to the people potions of a poisonous quality; and the
lepers were accused of having lent themselves as instruments in aiding
and abetting.[77]
In the foundation-charter of the priory of St. Julien, Henry endows it
with an annual rental of two hundred livres, for the clothing and
maintenance of the nuns; and he gives them, in addition, the meadow of
Quevilli, in which parish the convent was situated, together with the
privilege of cutting their fire-wood, and feeding their cattle, in the
forest there. Hence the monastery was indiscriminately known by the name
of _Salle du Roi_, _Salle des Pucelles_, _Notre Dame du Quevilli_, and
_St. Julien du Parc_.