the following account of its capture:--"The King succeeded better at
Louviers: this town kept a priest in its pay; who, from the top of a
belfry, which he never left, played the part of a spy with great
exactness. If he saw but a single person in the field, he rung a certain
bell, and hung out at the same side a great flag. We did not despair of
being able to corrupt his fidelity, which two hundred crowns, and a
promise of a benefice worth three thousand livres a year, effected.
There remained only to gain some of the garrison; the Sieur du Rollet
took this upon himself, and succeeded. He addressed himself to a
corporal and two soldiers, who easily prevailed upon the rest of the
garrison to trust the guard of one of the gates to them only. Every
thing being thus arranged, the King presented himself before Louviers,
at twelve o'clock in the night. No one rung the bell, nor was there the
least motion in the garrison. Du Rollet entered, and opened the gate,
through which the King passed, without the smallest resistance, into the
centre of the town. Fontaine Martel made some ineffectual efforts to
draw the garrison together: as for the citizens, they were employed in
concealing their wives and daughters. The town, whose chief riches
consisted in its magazines of linen and leather, was wholly pillaged: I
had a gentleman with me, called Beaugrard, a native of Louviers, who was
of great use to us in discovering where these sort of goods were
concealed, and a prodigious quantity of them was amassed together. The
produce of my share amounted to three thousand livres. The King
consigned to Du Rollet the government of Louviers."
[182] Mr. Cotman very much regrets that it was not in his power to do
this porch the justice it deserved, in consequence of the continual
interruptions to which he was exposed from the lower class of the
inhabitants.
[183] M. Nodier, in his _Voyages Pittoresques et Romantiques_, has
figured the interior of this church, the erection of which he refers (p.
18) to the time of the first crusades; but a comparison of the building
with others of that æra, would scarcely warrant such a conclusion.
[184] Vol. II. p. 287.
PLATE LXXX. AND LXXXI.
CHÂTEAU GAILLARD.
[Illustration: Plate 80. CHÂTEAU GAILLARD.
_North East View._]
On the building of Château Gaillard, the following account is given by
Masseville, in his _History of Normandy_:[185]--"In the year 1196, a few
months after the treaty of Louviers had been concluded between
Philip-Augustus and Richard Coeur-de-Lion, the Norman Duke, considering
how frequently inroads had been made into his territories, by the way of
Andelys, resolved to strengthen himself by means of a formidable barrier
in that quarter. With this view, he built a fortress upon an island in
the Seine, opposite the village of Lesser Andelys; and, at the same
time, erected upon the brow of the rock that overhung the river, a
castle of the greatest possible strength, without, however, reflecting
how far these works were likely to affect the rights, or to diminish the
revenues, of the see of Rouen, to whom the ground belonged. But Walter,
who then wore the archiepiscopal mitre, was by no means of a character
patiently to submit to an invasion of his privileges. He complained
loudly during the progress of the works, menaced the artificers, and
even the prince himself, with the vengeance of the church; and, finally,
finding his threats and his remonstrances equally disregarded, had
recourse to the bold measure of laying the whole of Normandy under a
spiritual interdict. The king, alarmed at so decisive a step, appealed
to the papal see, and sent the bishops of Durham and of Lisieux, as his
ambassadors to Rome. The archbishop also repaired thither to plead his
own cause; and the affair was finally compromised by an exchange, in
virtue of which, the castles were allowed to stand, and the secular
seigniory of Andelys was ceded to the duke, who, in return for this
acquisition, and to obtain his reconciliation to the church, gave up to
the primate the towns and lordships of Dieppe and Louviers, the land and
forest of Alihermont, the land and lordship of Bouteilles, and the mills
of Rouen."--The contract was considered of so much importance, that the
archbishop of Canterbury, together with several other English prelates,
as well as almost all those of Normandy, and many of the principal
abbots and noblemen of the province, were summoned to sanction the
execution of it by their presence. Such were the benefits it was
supposed to bestow upon the church, that it has passed in ecclesiastical
history, under the significant appellation of the _celebris permutatio_.
But the king also congratulated himself, and not without reason, upon
having opposed an impregnable barrier to the inroads of his more
powerful, and scarcely less active, neighbor. He delighted in Château
Gaillard, the very name of which is said to have had its origin in proud
mockery and defiance; and he himself, in his public acts, designated it
his "_beautiful castle of the rock_." Many of his charters bear date
from this fortress; so that, though only begun three years before the
death of the monarch, it is plain that it was already habitable in his
life-time. It may likewise safely be inferred, that it was then quite
finished; for his dastardly successor, engaged either in distant wars,
or in intrigues at home, from the moment of his mounting the throne, had
bestowed no thought upon the strengthening of his hereditary continental
dominions, till he found himself, in the year 1202, attacked by
Philip-Augustus at the head of an overwhelming army, while his own
subjects were but little disposed to assist a prince, whose hands were
reeking with his nephew's blood.
It was at this time that Château Gaillard supported the siege which will
render its name for ever memorable in history. Long, and curious, and
interesting details of the occurrences connected with the capture of the
castle, are given by Father Daniel: Du Moulin also briefly enumerates a
few of the many stratagems to which the French king was obliged to have
recourse. But those who delight in narratives of this kind, or who
desire to obtain full information relative to the attacks and defence,
combined with a lively picture of the strength of the fortress, must be
referred to Brito, the poetical chronicler of the exploits of
Philip-Augustus. The whole of the seventh book of the _Philippiad_ of
that author, containing no fewer than eight hundred and forty-one lines,
are devoted to this single subject; so eventful was the history of the
siege, and so great the importance attached to the capture of the place.
The fall of Château Gaillard was almost immediately followed by the
total subversion of the power of the Norman Dukes; but, as to the
fortress itself, though its situation was no longer such as to give it
importance, Brito expressly states, that Philip bestowed great pains
upon the restoring of its damaged works, and upon augmenting its
strength by the addition of new ones:--
"Rex ita Gaillardo per prælia multa potitus,
Cuncta reædificat vel ab ipso diruta, vel quæ
Improbus appositis destruxerat ignibus hostis,
In triplo meliùs et fortiùs intùs et extrà,
Antea quàm fuerint muros et cætera firmans."
Fortunately for France, the subsequent state of the kingdom rendered
precautions of this description unnecessary; Château Gaillard appears no
more in history as a formidable fortress, except upon the occasion of
the occupation of the Gallic throne by Henry V. and of the expulsion of
his successor. In the former case, the castle did not surrender to the
English army, till after a vigorous resistance of sixteen months;[186]
and even then its garrison, though composed of only one hundred and
twenty men, would not have yielded, had not the ropes of their
water-buckets been worn out and destroyed: in the latter instance, it
was one of the last of the strong holds of Normandy that held out for
the successors of its ancient dukes; and the siege of six weeks,
sustained by a dispirited army, was scarcely less honorable to its
defenders, than the far longer resistance opposed on former occasions.
Even after the final re-union of the duchy, Château Gaillard was neither
purposely destroyed, nor suffered to fall through neglect into decay,
like the greater number of the Norman fortresses. During the religious
wars, it still continued to be a military post, as well as a royal
palace; and it was honored with the residence of Henry IV. whose father,
Anthony of Bourbon, died here in 1562. Its importance ceased in the
following reign. The inhabitants of the adjacent country petitioned the
King to give orders that the castle should be dismantled. They dreaded,
lest its towers should serve as an asylum to some of the numerous bands
of marauders, by whom France was then infested. It was consequently
undermined, and reduced to its present state of ruin.
If the name of this castle is to be found at other times, in "the
historian's ample page," it is only in the comparatively unimportant
character of a place of safe confinement for state prisoners, or, on one
occasion, as a temporary residence for a fugitive monarch. In the latter
capacity, it opened its gates to David Bruce, in 1331, when the Scottish
prince, received by Philip de Valois, with all the honours due to an
exiled sovereign, had this palace assigned him as a regal residence, and
was permitted to maintain here, for a while, the pageantry of a court.
As a prison, Château Gaillard was frequently employed: it was in
particular distinguished with an unenviable preference in one of the
most disgraceful æras of the history of France. Margaret of Burgundy,
the Queen of Louis X. and Blanche, the consort of his brother, Charles
le Bel, were both of them confined here, after having been tried and
convicted of adultery; together with Jane, another princess of the house
of Burgundy, the wife to Philip, brother to Louis and Charles. Margaret
was shortly after murdered in this castle; when Louis, intent upon a
fresh marriage with the princess Clementia of Hungary, found an obstacle
to his wishes in the protracted existence of his former queen.
[Illustration: Plate 81. CHÂTEAU GAILLARD.
_South West View._]
Of the extent, the magnificence, the commanding situation, or the
imposing appearance of Château Gaillard, it is almost equally difficult
to convey an adequate idea by the pencil or by the pen. "The faithful
eye" can alone give satisfaction upon such subjects. Mr. Turner's
account of the present state of the ruin, has the merit of being the
most copious that has yet appeared; and the following extract from it
shall therefore conclude this article:--"Our expectations respecting
Château Gaillard were more than answered. Considered as to its
dimensions and its situation, it is by far the finest castellated ruin I
ever saw. Conway, indeed, has more beauty; but Château Gaillard is
infinitely superior in dignity. Its ruins crown the summit of a lofty
rock, abruptly rising from the very edge of the Seine, whose sinuous
course here shapes the adjoining land into a narrow peninsula. The
chalky cliffs on each side of the castle are broken into hills of
romantic form, which add to the impressive wildness of the scene.
Towards the river, the steepness of the cliff renders the fortress
unassailable: a double fosse of great depth, defended by a strong wall,
originally afforded almost equal protection on the opposite side.
"The circular keep is of extraordinary strength, and in its construction
differs wholly from any of our English dungeon-towers. It may be
described as a cylinder, placed upon a truncated cone. The massy
perpendicular buttresses, which are ranged round the upper wall, whence
they project considerably, lose themselves at their bases in the cone
from which they arise. The building, therefore, appears to be divided
into two stories. The wall of the second story is upwards of twelve feet
in thickness. The base of the conical portion is perhaps twice as thick.
It seldom happens that the military buildings of the middle ages have
such a _talus_ or slope, on the exterior face, agreeing with the
principles of modern fortification; and it is difficult to guess why the
architect of Château Gaillard thought fit to vary from the established
model of his age. The masonry is regular and good. The pointed windows
are evidently insertions of a period long subsequent to the original
erection.
"The inner ballium is surrounded by a high circular wall, which consists
of an uninterrupted line of bastions, some semi-circular and others
square. The whole of this part of the castle remains nearly perfect.
There are also traces of extensive foundations in various directions,
and of great out-works. Château Gaillard was, in fact, a citadel,
supported by numerous smaller fortresses, all of them communicating with
the strong central hold, and disposed so as to secure every defensible
post in the neighborhood. The wall of the outer ballium, which was built
of a compact white and grey stone, is in most places standing, though in
ruins. The original facing only remains in those parts which are too
elevated to admit of its being removed with ease.--Beneath the castle,
the cliff is excavated into a series of subterraneous caverns, not
intended for mere passages or vaults, as at Arques and in most other
places, but forming spacious crypts supported by pillars roughly hewn
out of the living rock, and still retaining every mark of the workman's
chisel.
"The keep cannot be ascended without difficulty. We ventured to scale
it; and we were fully repaid for our labor by the prospect which we
gained. The Seine, full of green willowy islands, flows beneath the rock
in large lazy windings: the peninsula below is flat, fertile, and well
wooded: on the opposite shores, the fantastic chalky cliffs rise boldly,
crowned with dark forests."
NOTES:
[185] Vol. II. p. 113.
[186] So says Monstrelet; and he has generally been followed; but,
according to Masseville, (_Histoire de Normandie_, IV. p. 84) the Norman
Chronicle limits the duration of the siege to only seven months.
PLATE LXXXII.
CHURCH OF MONTIVILLIERS.
[Illustration: Plate 82. ABBEY CHURCH OF MONTIVILLIERS.
_West End._]
Montivilliers is a town of about four thousand inhabitants, situated in
a beautiful valley upon a small stream, called the _Lezarde_, near the
western extremity of the Pays de Caux, within the distance of six
leagues from Fécamp, and two from Havre de Grace. Its fortifications,
now in ruins, were erected near the close of the fourteenth century,
till which time it was altogether defenceless; but the state of France,
just recovered from one English invasion and threatened with another,
turned the thoughts of the government towards the securing of all
vulnerable points on the northern frontier; and the trade of the place,
though at present trifling, was at that period far otherwise. The cloths
of Montivilliers were then considered to rival those of Flanders; and
the preservation of the manufacture was regarded of so much consequence,
that sundry regulations respecting it are to be found in the royal
ordinances. The two circular towers of one of the gates now standing,
afford a good specimen of the military architecture of the time.
Montivilliers is called in Latin, _Monasterium villare_; and in old
French, _Monstier Vieil_: the present name of the town is obviously a
corruption of these; and the same fact also denotes that the place
derived its importance, if not its existence, from the monastery. Among
the Norman historians, the foundation of Montivilliers is referred to
the seventh century; during the latter half of which, St. Philibert,
abbot of Jumieges, built a convent here for a community of nuns. The
monastery was richly endowed; but no records are left of its history
previously to the incursions of the Normans, under whose hands it at
first suffered the same destruction as the other religious houses in
Neustria, and afterwards rose, like them, from its ashes, with increased
splendor and opulence. The immediate successors of Rollo rebuilt the
abbey, but without restoring it to its original destination. Richard II.
conferred it, with all its dependencies, upon the more favored monks of
Fécamp; and, in the donation, he makes use of the strong expression, "ut
ex eo facerent quicquid vellent, tamquam ex proprio alodo." The union of
the two establishments was, however, but short lived: either under the
same prince, or, as some authors say, under his son Robert,
Montivilliers once more resumed a state of independence, and became once
more the retreat of holy virgins. The duke was moved to this step by the
solicitation of his aunt Beatrice, who retired hither, and took the
veil, and presided over the sisterhood; and the monastery of St. Taurin
at Evreux was, on this occasion, ceded to Fécamp, in exchange for
Montivilliers. A portion of the charter is preserved in the _Neustria
Pia_; and, according to this work, the instrument was subsequently
ratified by the signatures of William the Conqueror, and of Philip le
Bel. At different times, various papal bulls were issued, for the
purpose of placing the abbey of Montivilliers under the especial
protection of the holy see, and of granting it sundry privileges and
immunities. These are also recorded in the same publication. One of
them, originating in a dispute between the archbishop of Rouen and the
abbess of Montivilliers, is but little to the credit of either party. It
represents the lady-abbess as by no means free from irregularities in
the performance of her office; it charges one of her nuns with dissolute
life; and it arraigns the primate himself of being the cause, if not the
immediate instrument, of scandal:--"Siquidem, ex parte abbatissæ fuit
propositum et probatum, quòd quidam, qui cum eodem archiepiscopo et suis
prædecessoribus venerant ad monasterium memoratum, turpia quædam et
illicita commiserunt contra honestatem observantiæ regularis, in
scandalum plurimorum: volumus et mandamus, ut, cùm archiepiscopus
Rothomagensis ad monasterium ipsum, causâ visitationis, accesserit, ab
ingressu claustri aliarumque domorum, in quibus habitant moniales,
familiam suam talitèr studeat coercere, quòd de cætero similia non
contingant. Ipse quoque archiepiscopus, ejusdem monasterii claustrum vel
capitulum intraturus, non nisi cum moderatâ societate accedat, quæ vitâ
et moribus sit honesta; ut per officium visitationis ejusdem, non
dissolutionis vel scandali, sed ædificationis potiùs materia
ministretur."--The instrument, which is of considerable length, goes on
to accuse the prelate of affording protection to some refractory nuns,
and enjoins him never to suffer his clergy to frequent the abbey upon
any pretext, or upon any occasion.
The church of Montivilliers, represented in the present plate, is the
same as before the revolution belonged to the abbey. The portion to the
north is the chapter-house, and is the work of the fourteenth century.
The greater part of the rest of the building, though altered in some
places, may safely be referred to the eleventh; at which time it is upon
record, that Elizabeth, who succeeded Beatrice as abbess, nearly, if not
altogether, rebuilt the whole. At subsequent periods, the church
underwent many considerable repairs and alterations. A sum of seven
hundred florins was expended upon it in 1370, the proceeds of a fine
imposed upon the town, for some injuries done to the nuns; and
Toussaints Varrin, archbishop of Thessalonica, dedicated the edifice, in
1513, under the invocation of the Holy Virgin. Five years subsequently,
the abbess, Jane Mustel, repaired the ceiling and painted windows, and
made the stalls in the choir.[187]--The exterior of the Lady-Chapel
affords a fine example of early pointed architecture; its lofty narrow
windows are separated by slender cylindrical pillars, as in the church
of the Holy Trinity, at Caen. The embattled ornament round the southern
door of the western front, is far from commonly seen in such situations.
In the interior of the nave, the same massive semi-circular architecture
prevails as in the towers; but it is mixed with some peculiarities that
will scarcely be found elsewhere, particularly a flat band in the form
of a pilaster, enriched with losenges, which is attached to the front of
one of the columns, and is continued over the roof, and again down the
pillar on the opposite side. Mr. Turner noticed a small gallery, or
pulpit, of elegant filigree stone-work, at the west end, near the
roof;[188] and, upon the authority of the well-known antiquary, John
Carter, he supposed it most probably intended to receive a band of
singers on high festivals. But some corresponding erections in England
would make it seem more likely that this gallery communicated with the
apartments of the superior, and was placed here for the purpose of
affording her the means of paying her devotions in private, when, either
from the weather, or any other cause, she might not wish to occupy her
throne in the choir.
Mr. Turner has also remarked upon the capitals of the columns at
Montivilliers, which are very peculiar. Some of them are obvious
imitations of the antique pattern, and of great beauty. Others are as
rude and wild as any of those already figured in this work, from the
churches of St. Georges or Gournay. The mysteries of Christianity, and
the fables and allegories of heathenism, the latter, as well in its most
refined as its most barbarous forms, occur in endless variety in almost
every part of the edifice. One of the capitals contains a representation
of the fabulous Sphynx, with her tail ending in a fleur-de-lys: upon
another, is sculptured a figure of Christ in the act of destroying the
Dragon, by thrusting the end of a crosier into its mouth. Two others,
figured in the _Tour in Normandy_, exhibit a group of Centaurs, and the
allegorical _psychostasia_: the remarks of the author of that
publication, upon the latter of these, shall close the present
article:--"In this you observe an angel weighing the good works of the
deceased against his evil deeds; and, as the former are far exceeding
the avoirdupois upon which Satan is to found his claim, he is
endeavoring most unfairly to depress the scale with his two-pronged
fork.--This allegory is of frequent occurrence in the monkish
legends.--The saint, who was aware of the frauds of the fiend, resolved
to hold the balance himself.--He began by throwing in a pilgrimage to a
miraculous virgin.--The devil pulled out an assignation with some fair
mortal Madonna, who had ceased to be immaculate.--The saint laid in the
scale the sackcloth and ashes of the penitent of Lenten-time.--Satan
answered the deposit by the vizard and leafy robe of the masker of the
carnival. Thus did they still continue equally interchanging the sorrows
of godliness with the sweets of sin; and still the saint was distressed
beyond compare, by observing that the scale of the wicked thing (wise
men call him the correcting principle,) always seemed the heaviest.
Almost did he despair of his client's salvation, when he luckily saw
eight little jetty black claws just hooking and clenching over the rim
of the golden basin. The claws at once betrayed the craft of the cloven
foot. Old Nick had put a little cunning young devil under the balance,
who, following the dictates of his senior, kept clinging to the scale,
and swaying it down with all his might and main. The saint sent the imp
to his proper place in a moment; and instantly the burthen of
transgression was seen to kick the beam.--Painters and sculptors also
often introduced this ancient allegory of the balance of good and evil,
in their representations of the last judgment: it was even employed by
Lucas Kranach."
NOTES:
[187] _Description de la Haute Normandie_, II. p. 108.
[188] _Tour in Normandy_, I. p. 69.
PLATE LXXXIII.
CHURCH OF ST. SANSON SUR RILLE.
[Illustration: Plate 83. CHURCH OF ST. SANSON SUR RILLE.
_Remains of & capitals._]
Normandy, throughout the whole of its extent, can scarcely boast a
lovelier stream than the Rille. Originating in the southern part of the
duchy, this little river advances in a northerly direction, rolling its
sparkling waters in rapid course, through a valley of the most brilliant
verdure, till they mingle with the British Channel, at a very short
distance from the west of the mouth of the Seine. The Rille, in every
part of its current, is varied by an infinity of islands, formed by the
division of its waters. Hence its principal beauty, and hence also
considerable benefit for the purpose of manufacture; but the same
circumstance is fatal to the more important objects of commerce; for it
is in a great measure owing to this multiplicity of channels, that the
river is navigable to only a very short way above Pont Audemer; a
distance scarcely exceeding ten miles from its confluence with the
ocean.