Architectural Antiquities of Normandy Part 16

Leaving all discussions of this kind, and equally pa.s.sing by the attempts which have been made to derive the name of Lillebonne from Celtic roots,[149] it is at least certain, that the place was a Roman settlement; and the undoubted fact of no fewer than five Roman roads branching from it, to different parts of the country,[150] justifies the inference, that it was likewise a settlement of some importance. The subterraneous pa.s.sages and foundations of ancient buildings, scattered over a wide extent of ground, attest a place of no small size. The remains of a theatre,[151] added to abundance of vases, cinerary urns, sepulchral lamps, and coins and medals, both of the upper and lower empire, which have been from time to time dug up here, prove it to have been occupied by the Romans during a considerable period. But no records remain, either of its greatness or overthrow. It fell, in all probability, in consequence of the irruptions of the northern hordes, and was swept away, like other neighboring towns,

"Unknown their arts, and lost their chroniclers."

In the midst of the general destruction, it is possible that some remains of the city may have been left, that attracted the notice of the new lords of the country: or, possibly, their choice was fixed by the lovely situation of Lillebonne, in a valley upon the eastern bank of the Seine, not far from the mouth of that majestic stream. While Normandy was ruled by its own princes, Lillebonne was the seat of a ducal palace; and tradition, whose accuracy in this instance there is no reason to impugn, teaches that the actual remains of such palace are to be seen in the building here figured. It even goes farther, and maintains that this hall is the very spot in which William a.s.sembled his barons, for the purpose of hearing their counsel, and marshalling their forces, preparatory to his descent upon England.[152] His actual residence at Lillebonne at various times is clear, from a number of charters which bear date from this place. In one of these, granted in the year 1074, for the sake of establishing[153] harmony between the Abbot of St.

Wandrille and the Count of Evreux, the sovereign styles himself _gloriosus rex Anglorum_ and he dates it a _Castro Julio-Bona_. At another time, in consequence of a dispute respecting the succession to the abbacy of St. Evroul, Ordericus Vitalis relates, that one of the rival compet.i.tors repaired to the Duke, "who was then holding his court at Lillebonne" and who, incensed at the interference of the Pope on the occasion, exhibited a strong trait of his natural character, by swearing, that if any monk belonging to his territory, should dare to calumniate him abroad, he would hang him by his cowl upon the highest tree in the neighboring wood.[154] This happened in the year 1063: in 1080, there was held here, by order of the same prince, a provincial synod, which pa.s.ses in the annals of the Norman churches, under the name of the _Concilium Julio-Bonense_. Its canons are preserved, and are reported at length by Bessin, "with the intention," as he remarks, "of enabling posterity to judge of the character of the laws in Normandy, during the reign of Duke William."[155]

Lillebonne is at present a poor small country town, whose inhabitants carry on an inconsiderable trade in tanning, and in the manufacturing of cotton. The ruins of the castle, however, are far from unimportant. Not only is the whole plan of the structure still distinctly to be traced; but there remain, in addition to the great hall, here figured, extensive portions of other buildings, some of which are altered into a modern farm-house. A n.o.ble circular tower, surrounded by a deep moat, and approached by a draw-bridge, appears at first view to be the great character of the ruin; but it is obviously an addition of a subsequent period, and, indeed, of a time considerably posterior to the hall. The pointed arches of its windows, and the elegant bosses of its ceiling, denote an aera when the arts had arrived at a high state of perfection.--Of the date, or cause of the decay of the castle, nothing is recorded.

The hall has the appearance of having been erected by Italian architects. Its features are distinctly Roman; and it may be regarded as holding, in this respect, the same place among the castellated buildings of Normandy, as the church of St. Stephen, at Caen, occupies among the ecclesiastical. The broken cornice at the top of the walls, is a decided imitation of that upon the tomb of Caecilia Metella, the arch of Constantine, and the colosseum at Rome; and the windows may be likened to those of Maecenas' villa at Tivoli, in which there is the same arrangement of arch within arch. But the Norman architect has introduced a peculiarity, scarcely to be paralleled, in the transom, which, placed upon a line with the capitals, divides each window into two unequal parts, and at once supports, and is supported by, the central pillar, that subdivides the lower moiety.

The Church at Lillebonne is also an object deserving of observation, especially in the princ.i.p.al entrance: the great arch is flanked by two square ma.s.sy projections, in the form of b.u.t.tresses, each of them faced by a row of small cylindrical pillars in high relief, broken towards the centre, to give place for canopied saints, and ending at the top in ornaments, apparently intended to convey the idea of a series of antique candelabra.

NOTES:

[147] Ordericus Vitalis, on the other hand, says, but he is borne out by no cla.s.sical authority, that Lillebonne occupies the site of an old Belgic town, called _Caletus_ which was destroyed by Julius Caesar; who built on its foundation a new one, and named it _Julio-bona_, after himself. The pa.s.sage, which is curious, is as follows:--"Antiqua urbs fuit, quae Caletus ab incolis dicta est. Hanc (ut in antiquis Romanorum legitur gestis) Caius Julius Caesar obsedit, et pro nimia bellatorum obstinatione intus acerrime repugnantium subvert.i.t. Deinde postquam hostes ibidem ad libitum compressit, considerata opportunitate loci, praesidium Romanorum provide const.i.tuit, et a nomine suo Juliam-bonam (quam barbari nunc corrupto nomine Ille-bonam nuncupant) appellavit."--_d.u.c.h.esne, Scriptores Normanni_, p. 554.

[148] These authors were led to this opinion by the difficulty of reconciling the distances, as stated by Antoninus, between Julio-bona and the adjacent towns, with the actual distance of the same places from the modern Lillebonne.

[149] See _Description de la Haute Normandie_, I. p. 6, where it is suggested, that the word, _L'Ilebonne_, may be derived from the two Celtic words, _Ile_, signifying a current of water, and _Bonne_, which denotes the termination of any thing. The towns of Bonne, upon the Rhine, and of Libourne, are supposed to have taken their names from these words.

[150] _Noel, Essais sur le Departement de la Seine Inferieure_, II. p.

126.

[151] Figured in the _Voyages Pittoresques et Romantiques dans l'Ancienne France, par Nodier, Taylor, et De Cailleux_.--In the section of this publication, comprising Normandy, the authors have devoted nine plates to the ill.u.s.tration of Lillebonne.

[152] In the _Gallia Christiana_, XI. p. 31, it is said on this subject, in speaking of Maurilius, archbishop of Rouen, that "adfuit Juliobonensibus Comitiis pro expeditione Anglicana, in 1066."

[153] See _Neustria Pia_, p. 168.

[154] _d.u.c.h.esne, Scriptores Normanni_, p. 488.

[155] _Concilia Normannica_, I. p. 67.

PLATE LXX.

CASTLE OF BRIQUEBEC.[156]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate 70. CASTLE OF BRIQUEBEC, NEAR VALOGNES.]

Briquebec is an extensive parish, situated about seven miles to the south of Valognes, with a population of four thousand five hundred inhabitants, a weekly market on Mondays, and several considerable fairs.

Its castle claims an antiquity, nearly, if not altogether, coeval with the days of Rollo. When that Duke, on gaining peaceable possession of Normandy, parcelled out the land among his companions in arms, the portion that included Briquebec was one of the most considerable. The lord of Briquebec held in the Norman exchequer the third place among the barons of the Cotentin, the present department of La Manche.[157] His services and his rank, to which may probably also be added, his relationship to Rollo, ent.i.tled him to this proud distinction.

After the a.s.sa.s.sination of William Longue Epee, second Duke of Normandy, in 942, Amlech, or, as he is sometimes called, Lancelot, of Briquebec, was appointed one of the council of regency, during the minority of the young prince, Richard, the son to the deceased, and heir to the throne.

In this capacity he was also one of those deputed to receive Louis d'Outremer, King of France, at Rouen.--Amlech had a son, named Turstin of Bastenburg, and he left two sons, one of whom, William, was lord of Briquebec.--The other, Hugh, commonly called _the bearded_, was the head of the family of Montfort, which produced the famous Count, Pierre, slain at the battle of Evesham, while commanding the barons in revolt against Henry III.--The line of the lords of Briquebec was continued in the posterity of William, whose son, of the same name, attended the Conqueror into England. Seven of his descendants successively bore the name of Robert Bertrand, and successively possessed the barony of Briquebec. The last died in the middle of the fourteenth century, leaving his extensive domains, including this castle, to his eldest daughter, Jane, with whom it pa.s.sed in marriage to William Paisnel, baron of Hambye.[158]

The name of Paisnel will be found, as well as that of Bertrand, in the roll of chieftains engaged in the conquest of England. Duke William recompensed the services of Ralph Paisnel, his companion in arms, with various domains in different counties of his newly-acquired kingdom, and particularly in Yorkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Somersetshire. His descendants, who were numerous in Great Britain, possessed, among other distinguished lordships, those of Huntley and of Dudley.--In the Cotentin, their family was equally extensive and powerful. William, son of Jane Bertrand and of William Paisnel, succeeded his parents as lord of Briquebec and of Hambye.--He, in his turn, was followed by another William, who, by a marriage with his cousin, daughter of Oliver Paisnel, lord of Moyon, united that great barony to a property, which was previously immense. Upon the death of William, without children, Fulk Paisnel, his brother, became his heir; and, as he likewise died childless, the fortune devolved upon a younger brother, Nicholas. This Nicholas, who was previously lord of Chanteleu, married Jane de la Champagne, baroness of Gaie, and left an only daughter, by whose marriage with Louis d'Estouteville, in 1413, the baronies of Gaie, Moyon, Hambye, and Briquebec, pa.s.sed at once from the family of Paisnel.

Briquebec, at the same time that it thus again changed masters, was still possessed by a descendant of one of those powerful barons, who had shared in the glory of the conquest of England.--Robert de Huteville, one of the Conqueror's companions in arms, had received from that sovereign a princely recompense, particularly in the county of York. But after the death of William Rufus, he espoused the party of the eldest brother, against Henry I. and was taken prisoner at the battle of Tinchbray, when his property was confiscated, and given to Neel d'Aubigny.--The name of his son, Robert, is to be found among the Yorkshire barons, who defeated the Scotch army at North Allerton; and it again occurs in the twentieth year of the reign of Henry II. at the battle of Alnwick, where he made the King of Scotland prisoner.

To return to the possessor of Briquebec, who was destined to afford a striking example of the mutability of fortune--scarcely had he become by his marriage the most powerful lord in the Cotentin, or possibly in Normandy, when Henry V. of England, invaded the duchy, gained the battle of Agincourt, and shortly afterwards made himself master of the whole province, except Mount St. Michael. In this trying emergency, Louis d'Estouteville remained faithful to his sovereign, and was, consequently, deprived of his possessions.

Henry immediately bestowed Hambye and Briquebec upon one of his favorite generals, William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk,[159] who, in 1427, still continued lord of Briquebec, in which capacity he confirmed to the abbey of Cherbourg, a rent of fifty sols, that had been given by his predecessor, Robert Bertrand, in 1329. The act of confirmation yet exists: it is dated in the year just mentioned; two years after which, the Earl of Suffolk, who had always previously been victorious, experienced a reverse of fortune, and was made prisoner at Gageau, together with his brothers, Alexander and John de la Pole. The consequence was, that he was compelled to sell his lands in the Cotentin to pay his ransom.

They were purchased by Sir Bertyn Entwyssle, a knight of the county of Lancaster, who, in the archives of the castle of Briquebec, dated about the year 1440, is styled Admiral of England; as his brother, Henry Entwyssle, in the same doc.u.ments, bears the t.i.tle of the King of England's Lieutenant-General in Normandy. In the hands of this n.o.bleman, Briquebec continued, till the battle of Formigny compelled the British to evacuate Normandy. Sir Bertyn afterwards took part with Henry VI.

against the Duke of York, and was slain at the battle of St. Albans, in 1455.

Upon the restoration of the province to the crown of France, the family of D'Estouteville were replaced in the lordship of Briquebec. They had deserved eminently well of the French King, for whom Louis D'Estouteville had continued to hold possession of Mount St. Michael, the only fortress that offered an availing resistance to the English.

In succeeding times, Briquebec and Hambye pa.s.sed, by different marriages, into the families of Bourbon St. Pol, and of Orleans Longueville; but at the close of the sixteenth century, Mary of Orleans, d.u.c.h.ess of Nemours, sold this property to Jaques Gougon de Matignon, Marshal of France.--The descendants of the marshal continued lords of Briquebec till the revolution. It had shortly before that event fallen into the hands of a female, the only survivor of that family, and she had married the eldest son of the Duke de Montmorency. But the revolution swept away the whole of their fortune. A few detached fragments of the property, which had not been alienated, have recently been restored to them: the rest has long since been sold, including the castle, the only habitable part of which now serves for an ale-house.

All the remainder is hastening fast to decay.

The walls of the castle inclose a considerable s.p.a.ce of ground; and, at the time when they were perfect, they comprised eight towers, of different sizes and forms, including the multangular keep, the princ.i.p.al feature of the plate. This tower, which is a hundred French feet in height, is still nearly perfect. The sides towards the west and south-west, from which Mr. Cotman has made his drawing, are entirely so.--In an architectural point of view, Briquebec offers specimens of the workmanship of many different epochs.--The case is widely different between fortresses and churches: the latter, whatever the date of their construction, commonly exhibit a certain degree of unity in their plan: in castles, on the other hand, the means provided for defence have usually had reference to those employed in attack. Both the one and the other are found to vary _ad infinitum_, according to time and localities. Briquebec shews some traces of the architecture of the eleventh century, but many more of the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth. The chapel, the magazines, the stables, and the present dwelling-house, were the parts last built. Of these, the two first have been for some years destroyed: the others are in a state of extreme neglect; and, neither in the dwelling-house, nor in the apartments over the great gate, does there now remain any thing curious.

NOTES:

[156] For the whole of this article, the author has to express his acknowledgments to his friend, M. de Gerville, from whose ma.n.u.script it is almost verbatim translated.

[157] _Ma.s.seville, Histoire de Normandie_, III. p. 46.

[158] While one branch of the Bertrand family continued in possession of the barony of Briquebec, another branch established itself in Northumberland, where it received from the Conqueror many manors. Under the reign of Henry I. William Bertrand, or, as he is called by Tanner, Bertram, founded the priory of Brinkburn. Roger, one of his descendants, was conspicuous among the barons who revolted against King John; at the death of which prince, he espoused the party of Henry III.; but his son, Roger, took arms against this latter monarch, and was made prisoner at Northampton. A third Roger succeeded him, and was the last baron of Brinkburn.--Richard Bertram, who lived under Henry II. had a son called Robert, baron of Bothal, whose son Richard joined the confederate barons against King John. A descendant of his, of the name of Robert, lived under Edward III. and enjoyed the t.i.tle of Lord Bothal, and was sheriff of Northumberland, and governor of Newcastle. He was present at the battle of Durham, where he made William Douglas prisoner. His only daughter, the heiress to his property, married Sir Robert Ogle; and thus the family of Bertram became extinct both in France and England nearly at the same time.

[159] The instrument, which is curious, is still in existence, and is as follows:--"Henricus dei gracia rex Francie et Anglie et dnus hybernie oibus ad quos psentes littere puenerint salutem. Sciatis qd de gracia nostra speciali et ob grata et laudabilia obsequia n.o.bis per carissimum consanguineum nostrum Guillelmum, Comitem de Suffolk, huc usque mirabiliter impensa dedimus et concessimus eidem comiti castra et dominia de Hambye et de Briquebec c.u.m ptinenciis suis una c.u.m oibus feodis, aliis hereditatibus et possessionibus quibusc.u.mque quas tenuit fouques Paisnel chevalier defunctus intra ducatum meum Normannie habendis et tenendis prefato comiti et heredibus suis masculis de corpore suo nascentibus ad valorem 3500 scutorum per annum, c.u.m omnibus dignitatibus, libertatibus, franchesiis, juribus, donationibus, reversionibus, forisfacturis, etallis, proficiis, commoditatibus et emolumentis quibusc.u.mq. ad pdicta castra et dominia vel altera eorum seu ad feoda hereditates et possessiones predictas aliqualiter ptinentibus seu spectantibus intra ducatum nostrum Normannie adeo plene perfecte et integre et eodem modo sicut pdictus fouques vel aliquis alius tenebat et possidebat per homagium n.o.bis et heredibus nostris faciendum et reddendo unum scutum de Armis Sci Georgii ad festum suum apud castrum nostrum de Cherbourg, singulis annis in perpetuum reservata tamen n.o.bis et heredib.

nostris alta et summa justicia et omni alio jure quod ad nos poterit pertinere proviso semper qd idem comes et heredes sui predicti s.e.x homines ad arma et 12 sagittarios ad equitandum n.o.bisc.u.m seu heredibus nostris vel loc.u.m tenente nostro durante presenti guerra qui ad sumptus suos servire tenebuntur funtaque presenti guerra hujus modi et servicia in parte debita faciet et supportabit, et ulterius de uberiori gracia dedimus et concessimus...... in cujus rei testimonium has litteras nostras fieri fecimus patentes.--Teste meipso apd civitatem nram de Bayeux, XIII. die Martii, anno regni nri quinto.

L. S. Per ipsum regem STORGEON."

PLATE LXXI.

CHURCH OF ST. STEPHEN, AT FeCAMP.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate 71. CHURCH OF ST. STEPHEN, AT FeCAMP.

_Southern entrance._]

Fecamp, like many other towns in Normandy, has fallen from its original greatness to a state of extreme poverty. The sun of its prosperity has set, to rise no more. Neglect immediately followed upon the removal of the ducal throne to England: the annexation of Normandy to the crown of France, completed the ruin of the town; and the great change in the habits of mankind, from warlike to commercial, leaves no hopes for the restoration of the importance of a place, whose situation holds out no advantages for trade. Hence, Fecamp at present appears desolate and decayed; and, though the official account of the population of France still allows the number of its inhabitants to amount to seven thousand, the great quant.i.ty of deserted houses, calculated to amount to more than a third of all those in the town, impress the beholder with a strong feeling of depopulation and ruin.[160]

But, in the earliest periods of French history, long before the foundation of the Norman throne, Fecamp was honored as a regal residence. The palace is said to have been rebuilt by William Longue-Epee, with extraordinary magnificence. That prince took great pleasure in the chace; and he and his immediate successors frequently lived here. He also selected the castle as a place of retirement for his d.u.c.h.ess, during her pregnancy with Richard. His choice, in this respect, was probably not altogether guided by his partiality for the place; but, threatened at that time with a dangerous war, he was desirous of fixing his wife and infant heir in a situation, whence they might, in case of necessity, be with ease removed to the friendly sh.o.r.es of England.--Richard, born at Fecamp, preserved through life an attachment to the town, and omitted no opportunity of benefiting it. He rebuilt, endowed, and enriched the abbatial church at vast expense; and he finally ordered it to be the resting-place for his bones, which, however, he would not permit to be interred in any spot whatever within the structure, but, with his dying breath, expressly enjoined his son to deposit them on the outside, immediately beneath the eaves, in order that, to use the words put by the monastic historians into his mouth upon the occasion, "stillantium guttarum sacro tecto diffluens infusio abluat jacentis ossa, quae omnium peccatorum tabe foedavit et maculavit negligens et neglecta vita mea."--A curious question might be raised, whether the monarch, in this injunction, was solely impressed with the feeling of his own unworthiness, or whether he had also in view, the mystic doctrine of the efficacy of water towards the ablution of sins.

Richard II. and the succeeding dukes, appear to have regarded Fecamp with an equally friendly eye; till, in process of time, the increasing splendor of its monastery altogether eclipsed the waning honors of the town; and Henry II. of England, finally sealed its downfall, by making a regular donation of the town to the abbey, from which period till the revolution, the latter was every thing, the former nothing.