Architectural Antiquities of Normandy Part 15

[137] _Essais Historiques sur la Ville de Caen_, I. p. 310.

PLATE LXVI.

CHURCH OF TRePORT.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate 66. TOWER OF THE CHURCH OF TRePORT, NEAR EU.]

Treport is an insignificant fishing-town, situated at the mouth of the small river, the Bresle, near the western extremity of Normandy. But, however unimportant its present state, most writers agree in regarding it as venerable for antiquity, a.s.signing to it an existence coeval with the days of Julius Caesar. That ill.u.s.trious general speaks of a harbor, opening into the British Channel, under the denomination of _Ulterior Portus_; and by this name he is supposed to have intended to designate Treport. The modern Latin historians of France apply the t.i.tle without scruple: it is even so used in the charter for the foundation of the abbey, dated in the middle of the eleventh century. The very sensible author of the _Description of Upper Normandy_, is, however, of opinion, that such application is not warranted; and, after discussing the subject at some length, he inclines to think it more probable that Treport may have been termed by the Romans, _Citerior Portus_; though he candidly admits that he finds no mention of a place so called among their writers.[138] The modern name of the town he derives from the Celtic word, _Treiz_; or, as it is sometimes spelt, _Traiz_, _Trais_, or _Treaz_; a word still in use in Lower Brittany, to signify "_the pa.s.sage of an arm of the sea, or of a river towards its mouth_."

According to the same author, there is no reason to believe that Treport was a place of note, either during the period of the dominion of the Gauls, or of the Romans. From the beginning of the twelfth century, however, it has excited, at different times, a greater or less degree of interest. Various attempts have been made to raise it into commercial importance; and, sunk as it is at present, "it once could boast rows of handsome, well-built streets, a considerable number of inhabitants, and as many as a hundred vessels, fishing-boats included, belonging to the port."--Henry I. one of the earliest Counts of Eu, turned in 1101, the course of the Bresle, so as to bring it more immediately under the walls of Treport: it was he also who dug the first harbor. Another of the same line of Counts, Charles of Artois, repaired this harbor in 1475, and undertook the greater work of cutting a navigable ca.n.a.l as far as Eu.

The task, however, was suspended long before its completion; but the vestiges still remain, and even to the present day pa.s.s under the name of the _Ca.n.a.l d'Artois_. In 1154, a fresh attempt was made, and by a far greater man, to raise the prosperity of Treport. Henry, Duke of Guise, caused a basin to be formed here, capable of containing ships of three hundred tons burthen; and added to it a jetty, defended by strong palisades. The whole was shortly after swept away; nor did better success attend the labors of the celebrated Vauban, who, admiring the situation of the town, undertook, after a lapse of one hundred and thirty-four years, to repair the works of the Duke of Guise.

But the sea is not the only enemy with which Treport has had to contend: its misfortunes have also been in great measure attributable to its defenceless state, situated as it is, in the immediate vicinity of England. The British fleet effected a landing in 1330, and destroyed the town with fire and the sword. In the course of the succeeding year, they returned with the same design; and again in 1413; on which last occasion, not content with burning Treport itself, they likewise set fire to many neighboring villages. The religious wars during the following century were the source of almost equal calamities; but neither the sea nor warfare have inflicted such fatal wounds upon Treport, as causes emanating immediately from the prosperity of France.

Its proximity to the flourishing harbor of Dieppe, has naturally diverted its trade to that quarter: the restoration of Calais to the French monarchy, caused it a yet more irreparable injury; for, previously to that time, Treport was the princ.i.p.al place in the channel, for the baking of biscuit, and for the landing and curing of the herrings caught by the fishermen of France in the German Ocean.

Treport was one of the first French towns that afforded a residence for the Knights Templars. A colony of them established themselves here in 1141. In the middle of the preceding century, its abbey of Benedictines, dedicated to the Archangel Michael, had been founded by Robert, Earl of Eu. The foundation-charter is preserved, both in the _Neustria Pia_ and _Gallia Christiana_; and a very curious doc.u.ment it is, as ill.u.s.trative of the manners of the times. Robert appears in it in the light of a most liberal, and a most wealthy, benefactor. Not the least extraordinary of his donations, is the permission which he bestows upon the monks, of "getting whatever they can in the towns of Eu and of Treport:"

immediately after this, succeed particular grants relative to sturgeons and grampuses, fish that are now of extremely rare occurrence in the channel, but which would scarcely have there been noticed, had not the case in those times been far different; and had they not also been held in high estimation.[139]

Just one hundred years subsequently to the foundation of the monastery, John, Count of Eu, confirmed to it whatever donations it had previously received; in doing which, he makes use of this singular expression, "that he places them all with his own hands upon the altar." His piety, however, appears to have been but short-lived. A few years only elapsed before the same n.o.bleman was guilty of flagrant sacrilege in the very abbey that he had sworn to protect. His crime and his penitence are together recorded in an instrument printed in the _Neustria Pia_.[140]

What is further known relative to the convent, is little and unimportant. The most remarkable circ.u.mstance, is the extreme poverty to which the monks were reduced in 1384; when, on being called upon to pay the sum of forty-six shillings and eight-pence, they pleaded their utter inability, and presented to the king the following piteous remonstrance:--"Cette Abbae, etant frontiere de l'Anglois, n'aant ni chateau ni defense, a ete a.r.s.e et mise en un si chetif point, qu'il y a peu de lieux ou nous puissions habiter, si ce n'est es demeurans des anciens edifices, et es vieilles masures.......... Notre grande Eglise est a.r.s.e depuis trente ans, et une autre pet.i.te Eglise qu'avions depuis refaite, a grand meschief est ruinee et chue jusqu'en terre, avec la closture et tout le dortoir ars, ensemble nos biens et nos lits.... De plus sommes endettez en Cour de Rome pour les finances dez Abbez qu'avons eus en brief temps; et devons encore a plusieurs persones de grosses sommes de deniers que n'avons pu, et ne pouvons encore acquitter; dont c'est pitie.... finalement pour paer 10 livres sur les 56 livres demandees par le Receveur, avons engage nos Calices sans les pouvoir retirer."

NOTES:

[138] _Description de la Haute Normandie_, I. p. 13.

[139] The whole of the pa.s.sage is curious.--"Item in _Ulteriori Portu_ et in _Auco_ oppido; decimam denariorum de Vice-comitatibus, et in utraque villa _quicquid abbas et monachi acquirere poterunt_. Quod si homines Abbatis piscem, qui vocatur _Turium_, capiunt, totus erit S.

Michaelis: cra.s.sus piscis si captus fuerit, ala una et medietas caudae erit monachis."--From this pa.s.sage, it is plain what importance was attached to the _cra.s.sus piscis_, under which denomination were probably included the porpesse, the dolphin, and all kinds of cetaceous animals, as well as the grampus. Ducange, with his usual ability and learning, has brought together a considerable quant.i.ty of curious matter upon the subject, under the word, _Craspiscis_. From him it appears that, in the year 1271, the question was argued before the Norman parliament, to whom such fish belonged, in the event of its being thrown upon the sh.o.r.e; and the decision was in the following words.--"Quod consuetudo generalis est in Normannia, quod, quando talis piscis invenitur in littore maris, nec Baro, nec Miles, nec alius, qui a Rege teneat, talem piscem habet, si valeat ultra 50 libras, _nisi per cartam eum habeat_."--See also _Turner's Tour in Normandy_, II. p. 21, respecting the existence of a whale-fishery near Jumieges, upon the authority of the writer of the _Gesta Sancti Philiberti_.

[140] P. 589.--"Notum sit universis Ecclesiae Dei filiis, quod ego Joannes, Comes Auci, pro stipendio militum et servientium, quos tenui per guerram Regis, invadiavi maximam partem et optimam Thesauri Ecclesiae S. Michaelis de Ulterior-Portu, duos videlicet Textus praetiosos, et duo Thuribula praetiosa, unum calicem argenteum, et optime deauratum; cappas caras viginti quatuor: casulam peratam et bonam: Praeterea, tot et tantis gravaminibus praefatam Ecclesiam tam saepe gravavi, quam vices gravaminum numerare non possem: quare pro multis pauca, pro magnis parua, rependens, concedo, et in perpetuum do praedictae Ecclesiae, avenam et frumentum de Verleio, quae pertinet ad Forestagium. Diligenter autem haeredes exoro, ne Ecclesias terrae suae gravent, sed honorent et protegant. Et si quid eis pro salute animae meae et parentum meorum dedi, vel pro ablatis reddidi, in pace stabiliter tenere faciant: recordantes, quod ipsi morituri sunt: Sicut praedecessores nostri mortui sunt."

PLATE LXVII.

CHURCH OF ANISY.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate 67. CHURCH OF ANISY, NEAR CAEN.]

The present plate has been introduced into this work, with the view of exhibiting a Norman village church of unquestionable antiquity, having its walls, on either side, built of a coa.r.s.e dark stone, fashioned like Roman bricks, and disposed in a zig-zag, or, as it is more commonly termed, a herring-bone direction. A similar disposition of the masonry is observable in a portion of the church of Perriers, the subject of the following plate: it is still more conspicuous at the neighboring church of St. Matthieu, already mentioned in this work.[141] The old church of St. Croix, at St. Lo, and the lower part of the east end of the church of St. Hildebert, at Gournai, exhibit the same peculiarity, which, according to Mr. Turner, likewise exists in portions of the outer walls of the castle at Arques, as well as in the keep of the castle at Falaise.[142] These various instances, all of them taken from structures which are beyond a doubt of Norman origin, will remove any hesitation as to the Normans having practised this mode of building. Still farther confirmation will be found in the English castles of Tamworth and Colchester, both of the same early aera:[143] the stones, in the latter, are disposed precisely as here figured: in the former, horizontal strata regularly alternate with the inclined, as if in imitation of various Roman remains.[144] And, indeed, that they were really constructed with such an intention, appears highly probable; as, according to Sir Henry Englefield, whose authority is unquestionable, the same style of masonry is seen at Silchester, which is most certainly a pure Roman relic: it is even stated, that the old walls of the city of Rome were so built.[145]

Abstracted from the peculiarity just noticed, there is little in the church of Anisy to excite interest. A flat moulding, not less wide than a b.u.t.tress, and surmounted by a narrow string-course of the plainest character, is continued round the whole nave, and divides it into two stories of equal height; while four Norman b.u.t.tresses, on either side, separate it into three compartments. In the original state of the church, the windows were confined to the upper portion alone, and alternated with the b.u.t.tresses: they rose from the string-course, narrow, circular-headed, surrounded with squared freestone, and having no other ornament than a slender cylindrical moulding above. In succeeding times, either the want of a sufficient quant.i.ty of light, or a desire for improvement, led to the introduction of larger cinquefoil-headed windows, occupying equal portions of the upper and lower stories. Throughout the whole of this part of the church, the apertures made by the scaffolding are left; and, what is remarkable, are edged with freestone.

The corbels are grotesque; and the subjects of some indecent.--In the west front there is nothing remarkable: the door-way and window above are of the most common character of Norman architecture: neither in this part of the church, nor in the chancel, is the herring-bone masonry continued; nor does the horizontal moulding extend over either of them.

NOTES:

[141] P. 16.

[142] _Tour in Normandy_, I. p. 37.

[143] It is hoped, that this a.s.sertion is not too bold.--The accounts of Tamworth castle, as a building, are indeed particularly unsatisfactory: neither Leland, in his _Itinerary_, nor Shaw, in his _History of Staffordshire_, throw any light upon the aera of its construction. Yet, even from the wretched plate given in the latter work, the castle, all altered as it is, appears to preserve somewhat of the character of its Norman origin; while the fact of its having belonged to the powerful family of Marmion, immediately after the conquest, adds historical probability to the opinion. With regard to Colchester, no one who has seen it will feel hesitation on the subject, although the quant.i.ty of Roman bricks visible in every part, very naturally lead to the conclusion, that it was raised upon the ruins of a far earlier edifice.

[144] _Carter's Ancient Architecture_, p. 36, pl. 42, fig. E.

[145] _Strutt's Manners and Customs of the Anglo-Saxons_, &c. I. p. 28.

PLATE LXVIII.

CHURCH OF PERRIERS.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate 68. CHURCH OF PERRIERS, NEAR CAEN.]

The upper half of this plate exhibits a north-west view of the church of Perriers: the lower represents it in the opposite direction. From both it will be observed, that the different parts of the building are the productions of two different aeras, the nave having been erected during the prevalence of the semi-circular architecture, while the chancel exhibits a specimen of probably the very earliest period of the pointed style. In reference to the preceding plate, it is not uninteresting to remark, that the herring-bone masonry is, in this instance, altogether confined to the more early portion of the structure, the whole of which is composed of it, with the exception of the b.u.t.tresses.

The great western door-way to the church of Perriers is very peculiar.

Mr. Cotman regards it as the only instance, in the duchy, of a real Norman building having its princ.i.p.al entrance square-headed. Its ma.s.sive lintel, shaped, as at Bieville, into a pediment, and surmounted by an arch, which is rather the segment of an ellipsis than of a circle, is likewise remarkable. But the very large arch on the northern side of the nave, adjoining the west end, is by far the most striking architectural feature of the building. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to a.s.sign any satisfactory reason for its existence. Its situation precludes the idea of its having been placed there by way of support to the tower: its size forbids the supposition, that it ever served as an entrance. Had there been an aisle or chapel beyond, it certainly might have been the medium of their communication with the main building; but the b.u.t.tress contiguous to it, proves that the wall in which it is inserted, was the outer wall of the church. As it is, it appears a perfect anomaly, and must remain as a _crux_ for the ingenuity of future antiquaries.

The similar arch, now blocked up, at the western extremity of the chancel, places it almost beyond a doubt that the church had a central tower. The windows of the chancel far exceed, in point of length and narrowness, any others that have yet appeared in this work. They are wholly dest.i.tute of mouldings or decoration of any description; but, like those at Anisy, are edged with freestone, as are the apertures left by the scaffolding, which in this building are disposed with unusual regularity, as if with the intention of their being ornamental. This introduction of white smooth stone, a.s.sorts ill with the dull reddish-brown ma.s.s all around it, and produces a glaring and disagreeable effect. The indented cornice is similar to that observed by Mr. Turner upon the gate-tower, leading to the monastery of the Holy Trinity, at Caen.[146]

NOTES:

[146] _Tour in Normandy_, II. p. 183.

PLATE LXIX.

CASTLE OF LILLEBONNE.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate 69. CASTLE OF LILLEBONNE.]

Julius Caesar, the princ.i.p.al source of information respecting ancient Gaul, at the same time that he mentions the Caletes, the inhabitants of the modern Pays de Caux, is altogether silent with regard to the princ.i.p.al city of their territory. From Ptolemy, however, and the Itinerary of Antoninus, it appears, that such city was called _Juliobona_;[147] and, notwithstanding the attempts of Cluvier and Adrien de Valois to establish Dieppe as the site of this Caletian metropolis,[148] the learned of the present day seem unanimously agreed to fix it at Lillebonne; and there are but few who are not also of opinion, that the present French name is a corruption of the ancient Roman one. Some Latin writers of the twelfth century make mention of _Insula Bona_; and the word, _Lillebonne_, spelt, as it not uncommonly is, _L'Ilebonne_, might be regarded as originating from that appellation, of which, indeed, it is a literal translation. But the point is not worth arguing: it is equally possible, that _Insula Bona_ may be no other than _Lillebonne_ latinized.