Roman calendar: in later times, no names appear of greater eminence than
those of Frogerius and John de Bertaut. The first of these prelates was
much in the confidence of Henry II. to whom he rendered acceptable
service in his unfortunate disputes with Thomas-à-Becket. He was not
only one of the very few bishops who then preserved their fidelity to
their sovereign inviolate, but he undertook a mission to the French
king, for the purpose of remonstrating upon the favorable reception
given to the primate, on which occasion he received the following
memorable answer:--"Tell your master, that if he cannot submit to the
abolition of the ordinances, which he designates as the customs of his
ancestors, because he thinks it would compromise the dignity of his
crown, although, as it is reported, they are but little conformable to
the will of God, still less can I consent to sacrifice a right that
has always been enjoyed by the kings of France. I mean the right of
giving shelter to all persons in affliction, but principally to those
who are exiled for justice sake, and of affording them, during their
persecution, all manner of protection and assistance."--John de Bertaut
lived in the beginning of the seventeenth century: he was principal
almoner to Mary de Medicis, and was afterwards in high favor with Henry
IV. to whose conversion he is said to have mainly contributed. He
likewise distinguished himself as a poet.--A third bishop of Séez,
Serlo, already mentioned, was a man of such commanding eloquence, that,
when he had the honor of preaching before Henry I. and his court, at
Carentan, in 1106, he declaimed with so much effect against the
effeminate custom of wearing long beards and long hair, that the
sovereign declared himself a convert, and the bishop, "_extractis e
manticâ forcipibus, primo regem tum cæteros optimates attondit_."[223]
[Illustration: Plate 100. CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF NOTRE DAME, AT SÉEZ.
_Elevation of the Nave._]
The church of Séez may be compared in its architecture with those of
Coutances and of Lisieux: they are unlike, indeed, but by no means
different. The points of resemblance exceed those of a contrary
description.
"facies non omnibus una,
Nec diversa tamen, qualem decet esse sororum."
Severe simplicity characterizes Lisieux: Coutances is distinguished by
elegance, abounding in decoration: Séez, at the same time that it unites
the excellencies of both, can rival neither in those which are
peculiarly its own. On the first view of the church, its mean and
insignificant western tower strikes the spectator with an unfavorable
impression, which, on a nearer approach, the mutilated and encumbered
state of the western front is by no means calculated to remove. And yet
this western front, all degraded as it is, cannot fail to derive
importance from the great depth of the central door-way, which is no
less than forty-seven feet,[224] a projection exceeding that of the
galilee of Peterborough cathedral. It is in the interior that the beauty
of the church of Séez is conspicuous. The noble lofty arches below; the
moresque ornament, like those at Bayeux and at Coutances, in the
spandrils; the double lancet arches of the triforium placed in triplets;
and the larger pointed arches above, arranged two or three together, and
encircled with arches of the Norman form, though not of the Norman
style;--all these beauties, added to the enrichments of the sculptured
walls and windows of the aisles, render the cathedral, if not the first
of Norman religious buildings, at least in the number of those of the
first class,
"Extremi primorum, extremis usque priores."
NOTES:
[220] _Origines de Caen_, p. 5.
[221] _Abrégé de la Vie des Evêques de Coutances_, p. 40.
[222] _Etat Géographique de Normandie_, p. 304.
[223] _Gallia Christiana_, XI. p. 684.
[224] The following are the dimensions of the other parts of the
building.
FEET.
Length of nave (including a space of sixty-four feet
under the towers) 218
Ditto of choir 57
Ditto of aisle behind the choir 14
Ditto of Lady-Chapel 25
Ditto of each transept 39
Width of nave and choir, including aisles 72
Ditto of Lady-Chapel 20
Ditto of transepts 30
Height of nave and choir 80
Ditto of north-west spire 232
Ditto of south-west ditto 210
THE END.
LEICESTER:
PRINTED BY THOMAS COMBE, JUNIOR.
INDEX OF PLATES.
NO. OF PLATE.
_Andelys_, Great House 15
_Anisy_, Church 67
_Arques_, Castle 1
_Bieville_, Church 58, 59
_Bocherville, St. Georges de_, Church 5-11
_Briquebec_, Castle 70
_Caen_, Abbey Church of the Holy Trinity 24-33
------ Abbey Church of St. Stephen 21-23
------ Chapel in the Castle 48
------ Church of St. Nicholas 55, 56
------ Church of St. Michel de Vaucelles 18, 19
------ House in the Rue St. Jean 65
_Cerisy_, Abbey Church 97
_Château Gaillard_ 80, 81
_Cheux_, Church 57
_Colomby_, Church 47
_Coutances_, Cathedral 92-94
_Creully_, Church 91
_Dieppe_, Castle 34
-------- Church of St. Jacques 35, 36
_Eu_, Screen in the Church of St. Lawrence 72
_Falaise_, Castle 89, 90
_Fécamp_, Church of St. Stephen 71
_Fontaine-le-Henri_, Château 62, 63
------------------- Church 60, 61
_Foullebec_, Western door-way of Church 84
_Gournay_, Church of St. Hildebert 38-41
_Grâville_, Church 12
_Haute Allemagne_, Tower of Church 37
_Jumieges_, Abbey Church 2-4
_Léry_, Church 44-46
_Lillebonne_, Castle 69
_Lisieux_, Church of St. Peter 73-75
_Louviers_, South porch of Church 79
_Matilda, Queen_, Tombstone of 33*
_Montivilliers_, Abbey Church 82
_Mount St. Michael_ 95, 96
_Oyestraham_, Church 98
_Perriers_, Church 68
_Rouen_, Cathedral 49-52
------- Chapel in the Hospital of St. Julien 42, 43
------- Church of St. Ouen 76
------- Church of St. Paul 54
------- Crypt in the Church of St. Gervais 53
------- Fountain of the Stone Cross 77
------- House in the Place de la Pucelle 64
------- Palace of Justice 78
_St. Lo_, Church of the Holy Cross 87, 88
_St. Sanson sur Rille_, Ruins of the Church 83
_St. Sauveur le Vicomte_, Abbey Church 14
------------------------ Castle 13
_Séez_, Cathedral 99, 100
_Tamerville_, Church 17
_Tancarville_, Castle 85, 86
_Than_, Church 16
_Tréport_, Church 66
_William the Conqueror_, Statue of 20
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE
Original spelling, even where inconsistent, and punctuation have been
preserved. Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.
In the list of SUBJECTS--CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED, a + has been used in
place of the original obelisk. Typographical errors corrected in the
text (in brackets the original):
17. Church of Tamerville [Tancarville]
in the _tenth [ninth] plate_, and marked A and B
daughters and nieces [neices] of the chief Norman barons
marking the connection of the _twenty-eighth [twentieth] plate_
rendered the necessity for such decisions [dicisions]