Architectural Antiquities of Normandy Part 18

Candidus; but I am not quite certain whether I am accurate in the recollection of the name.--Above are two armed statues, probably of the twelfth or thirteenth centuries. These have been engraved by Willemin, in his useful work, _Les Monumens Francais_, under the t.i.tle of _Two Armed Warriors, in the Nave of the Cathedral, at Lisieux_; and both are there figured as if in all respects perfect, and with a great many details which do not exist, and never could have existed; though at the same time the draftsman has omitted the animals at the feet of the statues, one of which is yet nearly entire.--This may be reckoned among the innumerable proofs of the total disregard of accuracy which pervades the work of French antiquaries. A French designer never scruples to sacrifice correctness to what he considers effect.--Willemin describes the monuments as being in the nave of the church. I suspect that he has availed himself of the unpublished collection of Gaignat, in this and many other instances. It is evident that, originally, the statues were rec.u.mbent; but I cannot ascertain when their position was changed.--No other tombs now exist in the cathedral: the brazen monument raised to Hannuier, an Englishman, the marble that commemorated the bishop, William d'Estouteville; founder of the _College de Lisieux_ at Paris, that of Peter Cauchon in the Lady-Chapel, and all the rest, were destroyed during the revolution."

NOTES:

[169] The following account of the bishopric of Lisieux, is extracted from the _Gallia Christiana_, XI. p. 762, to enable the reader to form an opinion of its extent and importance.--"Ecclesia haec caeteris Neustriae episcopatibus facultatibus haud impar, patronum agnoscit S. Petrum Apostolorum principem. Episcopus, qui et episcopus est capituli, comes est et civitatis. Hunc comitatum septem componunt baroniae, de Nonanto in Bajoca.s.sino, de Thibervilla, de _Glos_ et Courthona, de Gaceio, de Touqua, de Canapvilla et de Bonnavilla _la Louvet_, omnes in dioecesi.

Episcopus praeterea conservator est privilegiorum academiae Cadomensis.

Dignitates omnes et praebendas ecclesiae Lexoviensis confert, excepto decano qui eligitur a capitulo, nec a quoquam confirmatur. Praeter decanum, capitulum octo constat dignitatibus, cantore, qui residere tenetur, thesaurario, capicerio, magistro scholarum et quatuor archidiaconis; 1. de Lievino cui subsunt quatuor decanatus rurales, _Moyaux, Cormeilles, Bernai, et Orbec_, in quibus 139 parochiae, rectoriae vero seu curae 148; 2. de Algia, cui subsunt tres decanatus, _Mesnil-Mauger, Beuvron et Beaumont_, in quibus 128 parochiae, rectoriae vero 137; 3. de Ponte Audomaro, cui subsunt tres decanatus, _Touques, Honfleur, et Pontaudemer_, in quibus 89 parochiae, rectoriae 93; 4.

denique de Gaceio, cui subsunt quatuor decanatus, _Gacey, Livarot, Montreul, et Vimontier_, in quibus 111 parochiae, et 117 rectoriae. Post dignitates sunt 31 praebendae integrae c.u.m duabus semipraebendis, e quibus undecim antiquae fundationis, quas qui tenent barones vocantur. Sunt et aliae s.e.x praebendae _Volantes_ dictae, quae quotidianis non gaudent distributionibus. Sunt adhuc in eadem ecclesia 4 vicarii, quorum tres revocabiles, et 30 capellani, quorum septem episcopus, et 23 inst.i.tuit capitulum. Praeter parochias supra memoratas, sunt et aliae undecim in urbe et baleuca Lexoviensi, rectoriae duodecim: quatuor in exemtione de Nonanto prope Bajocas, quarum s.e.x rectores, et quinque in exemtione S.

Candidi senioris in urbe et dioecesi Rotomagensi, quarum unam, scilicet S. Candidi senioris collegiatam simul et parochialem administrant quatuor canonici, qui alternis vicibus parochialia obeunt munia; decanatus enim annexus est episcopo Lexoviensi qui jurisdictionem exercet in quinque illas ecclesias. Tota denique dioecesis Lexoviensis 487 parochias continet, rectorias 520."

[170] _Turner's Tour in Normandy_, II. p. 139.

[171] _Anglo-Norman Antiquities_, p. 47.

PLATE LXXVI.

ABBEY CHURCH OF ST. OUEN, AT ROUEN.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate 76. ABBEY CHURCH OF ST. OUEN, AT ROUEN.

_North East View._]

The beauty of the church of St. Ouen has been a frequent theme of admiration among the lovers of ancient ecclesiastical architecture. The excellencies of the building have been denied by none, while some have gone so far as to consider it as the very perfection of that style, which has generally, however improperly, obtained the name of _Gothic_.

A recent English traveller, whose attention was expressly directed to the different departments of the arts, bears the following testimony in its favor: "Beyond all comparison, the finest specimen of Gothic architecture which we have met with in France, is _Saint Ouen_, the secondary church at Rouen. Contrasted with Salisbury cathedral, it is small; but it does not, I think, yield to that or any other structure I have ever seen, in elegance, lightness, or graceful uniformity."[172]

Previously to the suppression of monasteries in France, the church of St. Ouen made part of the abbey of the same name, one of the most celebrated and most ancient in Normandy. It is now a parochial church, and is happily in nearly a perfect state, having suffered comparatively but little from the mad folly of the Calvinists of the sixteenth century, or the democrats of the eighteenth; though every studied insult was offered to it by the former, and in the fury of the revolution it was despoiled and desecrated--degraded at one time to a manufactory for the forging of arms, and at another to a magazine for forage.--Different accounts are given of the foundation of the convent: some writers contend for its having taken place as early as the last year of the fourth century, and having been the work of the piety of Saint Victrice, then bishop of Rouen; others, and these the greater number, are content with tracing it from the reign of Clothair. Those who adopt the latter opinion are again divided, as to whether that prince himself was the actual founder, or only ratified by his royal sanction what was really the establishment of Archbishop Flavius. In either case, however, they agree in dating the origin of the abbey from the year 535.

An historian, who lived as early as the middle of the tenth century, speaks of the original church of St. Ouen, as an edifice deserving of admiration:--"..... miro opere, quadris lapidibus, manu Gothica,.... olim n.o.biliter constructa."[173]--The abbey was at first placed under the invocation of the Holy Apostles generally: it was afterwards dedicated to St. Peter alone; but, from the year 692, it has owned no other patron than St. Ouen,[174] whose body was three years before interred in the church, which he had protected with his especial favor while living, and which derived still greater benefits from him after his death, owing to the concourse of pilgrims attracted by the miracles that were wrought at his tomb.

Upon the irruption of the Normans in the ninth century, this abbey shared the common fate of the Neustrian convents; and, like the rest, it rose from its ashes with greater magnificence, after the conversion of these barbarians to Christianity. Nicholas, the fourth abbot of the convent, son of Duke Richard II. and of Judith of Brittany, is said by Ordericus Vitalis to have commenced "a new church of wonderful size and elegance." But though he presided over the fraternity nearly sixty years, he did not live to see the building finished: the bringing of the task to perfection was reserved for William Balot, the next but one to him in the succession; and even he died in the very year of the dedication, which did not take place till 1126.

This church, which it had cost eighty years to build, was suffered to exist but a short time after its completion: only ten years had elapsed from its dedication, when it fell a prey to a conflagration, which was at the same time destructive to the greater part of the city: another church, built shortly after, and chiefly by the munificence of Richard Coeur-de-Lion, shared the same fate in 1248. But even these repeated disasters in no wise abated the spirit of the monks: they had retired with the wreck of their property to one of their estates near Rouen, and there, by economy on their own part, and liberality on that of others, they soon found themselves in a state to undertake the erection of a fourth convent, of greater extent than any of the former, and to inclose it with high walls.

The honor of laying the first stone of the new church, the same that is now standing, is attributed to one of the most celebrated of the abbots, John Roussel, more commonly known by the name of _Marcdargent_.[175] He had been elected to the prelacy in 1303; and, fifteen years afterwards, he commenced the structure. He presided over the monastery thirty-seven years, and was buried in the Lady-Chapel of the church, which he had completed as far westward as the transepts. The pomp with which his funeral was conducted, is recorded at length in the _Neustria Pia_; and the same work has also preserved the following inscription, engraved upon his coffin, which describes, with great precision, the progress made by him in the building:--

"HIC JACET FRATER JOANNES MARCDARGENT ALIAS ROUSSEL, QUONDAM ABBAS ISTIUS MONASTERII, QUI COEPIT aeDIFICARE ISTAM ECCLESIAM DE NOVO; ET FECIT CHORUM ET CAPELLAS, ET PILLIARIA TURRIS, ET MAGNAM PARTEM TURRIS S. AUDOENI, MONASTERII DICTI."

The remaining parts of the church were not finished till the beginning of the sixteenth century, when it was brought to its present state by the thirty-fourth abbot, Anthony Bohier, who, in the annals of the convent, bears the character of having been "a magnificent restorer and repairer of ancient monasteries." Admirable as is the structure, the original design of the architect was never completed. The western front remains imperfect; and this is the more to be regretted, as that part is naturally the first that meets the eye of the stranger, who thus receives an unfavorable impression, which it is afterwards difficult wholly to banish. The intention was, that the portal should have been flanked by magnificent towers, ending in a combination of open arches and tracery, corresponding with the outline and fashion of the central tower. An engraving, though a wretched one, of this intended front, is given in Pommeraye's History of the Abbey, from a sketch preserved among the records of the convent.

The view of this church, etched by Mr. Cotman, is copied from a drawing made by Miss Elizabeth Turner. It represents the building, as seen from a seat in the gardens formerly belonging to the monastery, but now open to the public; and it is well calculated to convey a general idea of the character of the exterior of the building, including the central tower, which is wholly composed of open arches and tracery, and terminates, like the south tower of the cathedral, with an octangular crown of fleurs-de-lys. The plate also exhibits a portion of a circular chapel, now commonly known by the name of _la Chambre des Clercs_, the only remaining part of the church built by William Balot, in the beginning of the twelfth century. This chapel, the south porch, the central tower, and a specimen of ancient sculpture in the church, have been engraved by Mr. Turner, in his _Tour in Normandy_. The two first, of the same subjects, together with the western front, a general view of the church from the south, the curious bas-relief over the southern entrance, and a representation of the interior, have since been lithographized in M.

Jolimont's _Monumens de la Normandie_. Considerable pains have been devoted in both these works, to the description and the history of the building; and to them the reader must be referred, who is unwilling to engage with the ponderous folio of Pommeraye.

NOTES:

[172] _Milton's Letters on the Fine Arts, written from Paris in the year 1815._ p. 183.

[173] Jolimont, from whom this quotation is borrowed, states, that it is to be found in the chronicle of an author of the name of FrideG.o.de; and he proceeds with the following observations:--"The expression appears remarkable, as warranting the inference, that the style of architecture, which FrideG.o.de calls _Gothic_, was in use in France as early as the commencement of the sixth century, the time a.s.signed by him for the building of the first church of St. Ouen. But it is equally to be inferred, from the manner in which he notices it, that this style was not then common; and his subjoining, that it was made of square stones, (in opposition, most probably, to rubble) serves to point out that such an edifice was an extraordinary building for Rouen at that period. This idea receives confirmation, from the reflection, that the materials for forming the city were originally supplied out of the forests that inclosed it; so that, not only the houses of individuals, but the public edifices, were merely of wood. St. Gregory of Tours, speaking, in his fifth book, of a church at Rouen, dedicated to St. Martin, uses the following expression:--'_Quae super muros civitatis ligneis tabulis fabricata est._'--Indeed, the few stone-buildings then at Rouen, were almost exclusively devoted to the purposes of fortification, and were of flint or sand-stone, rather than of free-stone. Every thing too tends to prove that architecture was then in its infancy in the capital of Neustria; or, if it ever had been more advanced there, which could have been only under the Roman sway, that it had retrograded into a barbarous state.--Moreover, the _Gothic style_, mentioned by FrideG.o.de, was no other than a degeneration of the Roman, or, more properly, of the Lombardic architecture, distinguished by the circular arch, by insulated columns, by a paucity of ornaments, and by a general ma.s.siveness. It is by no means to be confounded with the style which has since pa.s.sed under the same name, a style introduced about the beginning of the twelfth century, immediately after the crusades, with its ogee forms, slender cl.u.s.tered columns, and every portion of the building characterized by extreme lightness, yet still loaded with a profusion of crowded ornaments. If, however, this Lombardic style was practised as early as the fifth or sixth century, in a town so backward in the science of architecture as Rouen, what date is to be a.s.signed for its introduction into other parts of France, where the knowledge of the fine arts disappeared for a much shorter period?--It must be left to the decision of antiquaries, whom this pa.s.sage in FrideG.o.de seems to have escaped, to determine how far the foregoing observations are just, and may serve to throw light upon the history of the style of architecture called _Gothic_, the origin of which in France has always been attended with great obscurity."

[174] St. Ouen was born A.D. 600, at the village of Sanci, near Soissons. He was of a n.o.ble family, and was educated in the abbey of St.

Medar, at Soissons, whence he was removed, at an early age, to the court of Clothair II. At the court, he contracted an intimate friendship with St. Eloi; and, under Dagobert, became the favorite of the monarch, as well as his chancellor and minister of state. During the whole of his life, his strong turn to religion rendered him a warm patron of monastic establishments; and, among others, he founded the celebrated abbey of Rebais en Brie. He was still young when he renounced the world, embraced the ecclesiastical state, and devoted himself to the preaching of the gospel; shortly after which, at the request of the inhabitants of Rouen, he was appointed to succeed St. Romain, as their pastor. His consecration took place in 646, and was performed in the church of the monastery of St. Peter, since-called St. Ouen. It was also at his own particular desire, that he was there interred. His name occurs among those of the prelates who were present at the council of Chalons, in 650; he was likewise entrusted by the king with various important negociations; and, after an earthly career, pa.s.sed, according to his historians, in the practice of every civil and apostolic virtue, he died at Clichy, near Paris, in the year 689.

[175] The following extract from the _Neustria Pia_, p. 35, bears witness at once to the merits of the abbot, and the light in which the building was regarded throughout France.--"Hic Abbatiam reperit bonis omnibus sufficienter munitam, pecunia et commeatu haud indigentem: quam et ipse sapienter ac religiose gubernavit, locupletavit, et vehementer adauxit; tum possessionibus et redditibus, tum aedificiis ac reparationibus: Basilicam iliam admirabili structura compositam, totiusque Galliae speciosissimam, construere coepit, anno 1318, die festo S. _Urbani_; quam continuavit ad ann. usque 1339, in festo Apostolorum SS. _Petri_ et _Pauli_: quo in opere expendit 63036 libras argenti, et quinque solidos Turonensis: (quae nunc haud posset compleri aedificio pro 663036 libris, etiam aureis) quorum omnium tesserem vetera hujusce domus inclytae monimenta nunc usque accurate continent. De hujusmodi celeberrima aede, sic quidam neotericus vere locutus est. _Nunc est S._ Audoeni: _cujus mirabilis structura, hodieque dubium relinquit, si alia per Galliam splendidior et elegantior: Monasterium est tota quidem Europa, celeberrimum, sed Patroni sui sanct.i.tate magis aestimandum._ cui alii adstipulantur. Et hoc, consilio et auxilio D. Caroli, Comitis _Valesii_: cui operi Carolus Valesius VI. Rex ann. 1380, dono dedit tria millia librarum ad instantiam Burgundiae Ducis, sui patruelis."

PLATE LXXVII.

FOUNTAIN OF THE STONE CROSS, AT ROUEN.[176]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate 77. FOUNTAIN OF THE STONE CROSS AT ROUEN.]

Rouen has long boasted a pre-eminence over the greater part of the cities of France, with respect to its public fountains. The chalk hills, with which it is surrounded, furnish an abundant supply of excellent springs; and the waters of these, led into different parts of the town, contribute in no less a degree to the embellishment of the city, than to the comfort of the inhabitants. The form of some, and the ornaments of others, are well deserving of attention, notwithstanding the injuries that have inevitably occurred from time, or the more cruel ones that have been caused by wanton mutilation. It is upon historical record, that there were several fountains at Rouen, as early as the twelfth century, but their number, which now exceeds thirty, received its princ.i.p.al increase towards the beginning of the sixteenth century; and it was then also that the idea seems first to have been conceived of making, what was originally designed only for convenience, subservient to beauty. For this new supply of ornamental fountains, Rouen is indebted to its great benefactor, the Cardinal Georges d'Amboise, who, uniting the Norman archiepiscopal mitre to the office of prime minister, under Louis XII. was no less able than he was willing, to render the most essential services to the seat of his spiritual jurisdiction. It was under the auspices of this archbishop, that the fountain here figured, one of the earliest of that period, was erected. He caused it to be built in the year 1500. The spot which it occupies, is the cross-way formed by the union of the streets, called St. Vivien, St.

Hilaire, and Coqueraumont, a spot which, previously to the reign of St.

Louis, was not included within the walls of the town, and which, even at the distance of one hundred years after that time, had not begun to be inhabited.

So ancient is the practice of placing stone crosses at the junction of roads in the vicinity of cities, that it would be difficult to a.s.sign any probable time for the erection of that which was replaced by the fountain that still bears its name. The waters of this fountain have their origin in a spring, which flows at the foot of a hill near the village of St. Leger, at some distance from Rouen. The execution of the structure unites a happy mixture of boldness in outline, and delicacy in details: its pyramidal form is graceful. It consists of three stories, gradually diminishing in height and diameter as they rise, and terminating in a cross, whose clumsy shape only renders the destruction of that which it replaces the more to be regretted. The form is octagon throughout; and upon every compartment in each of the stories, is carved, at a short distance from its base, a narrow cinquefoil-headed arch, surmounted by a triangular crocketed canopy. But the crockets and finials have been in most instances destroyed. The water issues from four pipes in the bas.e.m.e.nt. Each of the arches of the lower tier serves as a tabernacle for a wooden statue of a Madonna, or saint, of wretched execution, a poor subst.i.tute for those that occupied the same niches previously to the troubles of 1792, at which time the religious character of the fountain marked it out as an object of popular vengeance. It was suffered to continue in its mutilated and degraded state, from that period till the year 1816, when the inhabitants of this part of the town undertook to restore it at their own expense. Their labors have hitherto proceeded no farther than filling the niches afresh with images, and doing such repairs as were absolutely necessary to keep the whole structure from falling into ruin. Even by this, however, they have secured themselves the good will of the archbishop, who consecrated the fountain with great pomp anew, on the 24th of August, 1816.

The resemblance between the _Fountain of the Stone Cross_, at Rouen, and the monumental crosses erected in England by King Edward I. to perpetuate the memory of his consort, Eleanor of Castillo, will not fail to strike the British antiquary. It is more than probable, that the idea of the former was borrowed from the latter, to which, however, it is very inferior in point of richness of ornaments, or beauty of execution.

NOTES:

[176] It is right to observe, that the accounts here given of this and the following article, are little more than a translation, in the second instance materially abridged, of what is published upon the same subjects, in _Jolimont, Monumens de la Normandie_.

PLATE LXXVIII.

PALACE OF JUSTICE, AT ROUEN.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate 78. PALACE OF JUSTICE, AT ROUEN.]

The building here figured was, from its foundation, devoted to the purpose of the administration of justice; and, notwithstanding the many mutilations to which it has at different times been exposed, it still remains an interesting, and, in the city of Rouen, almost a unique specimen of the sumptuous architectural taste of the age in which it was erected.

Down to as late a period as the year 1499, there existed in Normandy no stationary court of judicature; but the execution of the laws was confided to an ambulatory tribunal, established, according to the chroniclers, by Rollo himself, and known by the name of the _Exchequer_.

The sittings of this Norman exchequer were commonly held twice a year, in spring and autumn, after the manner of the ancient parliaments of the French kings; the places of session depending upon the pleasure of the sovereign, or being determined in general, like the English _Aula Regia_, by his presence. The inconveniences attendant upon such a mode of administering justice, became of course the more heavily felt, in proportion as the country increased in population and civilization.

Accordingly, the states-general of the province, a.s.sembled in the last year of the fifteenth century, under the presidency of the Cardinal d'Amboise, pet.i.tioned Louis XII. who was then upon the throne, to appoint in the metropolis of the duchy a permanent judicature, in the same manner as had been previously done in others of the princ.i.p.al cities of the realm. The king was graciously pleased to accede to their request; and, by the words of the royal edict, not only was the exchequer rendered permanent in the good city of Rouen, but permission was also granted to the members to hold their sittings in the great hall of the castle, till such time as a suitable place should be prepared for their reception.

It was on this occasion that the _Palace of Justice_ was built; a piece of ground was selected for the purpose, that had been known by the name of the Jews' Close, from the time when Philip-Augustus expelled the children of Israel from France; and the foundations of the new structure were laid within a few months after the obtaining of the royal sanction.

The progress, however, of the work, was not commensurate, in point of rapidity, with the haste with which it was undertaken; even in 1506 the labors were not brought to a conclusion, though, in that year, the exchequer was installed by the king in person, with great pomp, in the new palace. The sitting will long be memorable in the Norman annals, not only as being the first, but as having been selected by the sovereign, as an opportunity for bestowing various important favors upon the city and duchy.