Architectural Antiquities of Normandy Part 21

It may have been observed in the preceding brief enumeration of a few princ.i.p.al facts connected with the family of Tancarville, that the Lords of that house have, on more than one occasion, been designated as Counts: the author of the _Description de la Haute Normandie_, however, expressly states that this property was not raised into an earldom till the reign of King John of France, who enn.o.bled it with that dignity in 1351; at which time it was composed of all the fiefs, castellanies, baronies, and other lands of every description, in the duchy of Normandy, occupied by John de Melun, and Jane Crepin his wife. From the house of Melun, this same earldom pa.s.sed into that of Harcourt, by the union of Jane of Melun with William of Harcourt--their daughter, who inherited the property, afterwards carried it in dower to John, Count of Dunois and of Longueville. In the year 1505, when Louis XII. added to the earls of Longueville the higher honor of the dukedom, Tancarville was comprised among the dependencies of the new dignity; and when, shortly afterwards, the duchy of Longueville escheated to the crown, the earldom of Tancarville, remaining united to Longueville, shared the same fate. Mary of Orleans, d.u.c.h.ess of Nemours and Estouteville, having become possessed of Tancarville, sold it in September, 1706, to Anthony Crozat, the king's secretary; and, at the same time, the monarch conferred all the rights and privileges attached to the domain, upon Louis de la Tour d'Auvergne, Count of Evreux. Twelve years subsequently, the king, by his letters patent, separated Tancarville from Longueville, and ordered that the Lords of Tancarville should thenceforth be summoned to the parliament at Rouen.

The t.i.tle of Earl of Tankerville is at the present day to be found in the English peerage. It is borne by a descendant of Charles Bennet, second Lord of Ossulston, upon whom it was conferred by George I. in 1714, after he had married the daughter and heiress of Ford, Lord Grey of Wark, Earl of Tankerville. One of the family of this Lord Grey, Sir John Grey, Knight, Captain of Maunt, in Normandy, had originally been rewarded with the t.i.tle by King Henry V. for his eminent services in the French wars. But his grandson, Richard, Earl of Tankerville, was attainted in the thirty-eighth year of the succeeding reign; and the t.i.tle remained dormant till re-granted by King William III. to Ford, Lord Grey, just mentioned, who was lineally descended from the brother of the first earl.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate 86. ENTRANCE TO THE CASTLE AT TANCARVILLE.]

Different opinions have prevailed with respect to the origin of the name of Tancarville. Ordericus Vitalis calls it Tanchardi Villa: M. de Valois, in his _Not.i.tia Galliae_, is disposed to claim for it the more imposing appellation of Tancredi Villa. The point will in all probability never be settled: it is more to be regretted, that no account is to be found of the building of the castle, whose lofty towers still frown in the pride of old baronial grandeur, from the summit of a steep cliff upon the right bank of the Seine, which here, so near its mouth, rather a.s.sumes the character of an estuary than a river. The wide extent of the ruins sufficiently bespeaks the importance of its former possessors: at present, nothing can be more forlorn and desolate. Mr.

Dibdin, who visited the remains in 1819, has traced the following animated sketch of their present appearance with his lively pencil; and Mr. Lewis, who accompanied him, has enriched his splendid Tour with a lovely view of the buildings and surrounding scenery:--

"We ascended to the castle: the day grew soft, and bright, and exhilarating.... but, alas; for the changes and chances of this transitory world. Where was the warder? He had ceased to blow his horn for many a long year. Where was the harp of the minstrel? It had perished two centuries ago, with the hand that had struck its chords.

Where was the attendant guard?--or pursuivants?--or men at arms? They have been swept from human existence, like the leaves of the old limes and beech trees, by which the lower part of the building was surrounded.

The moat was dry; the rampart was a ruin:--the rank gra.s.s grew within the area.... nor can I tell you how many vast relics of halls, banqueting rooms, and bed rooms, with all the magnificent appurtenances of old castellated architecture, struck the eager eye with mixed melancholy and surprise! The singular half-circular, and half-square, corner towers, hanging over the ever-restless wave, interested us exceedingly. The guide shewed us where the prisoners used to be kept--in a dungeon, apparently impervious to every glimmer of day-light, and every breath of air. I cannot pretend to say at what period even the oldest part of the castle of Montmorenci[194] was built: but I saw nothing that seemed to be more ancient than the latter end of the fifteenth century. Perhaps the greater portion may be of the beginning of the sixteenth; but, amidst unroofed rooms, I could not help admiring the painted borders, chiefly of a red color, which run along the upper part of the walls, or wainscots--giving indication not only of a good, but of a splendid, taste. Did I tell you that this sort of ornament was to be seen in some part of the eastern end of the abbey of Jumieges?

_Here_, indeed, they afforded evidence--an evidence mingled with melancholy sensations on conviction--of the probable state of magnificence which once reigned throughout the castle. Between the corner towers, upon that part which runs immediately parallel with the Seine, there is a n.o.ble terrace, now converted into garden ground, which commands an immediate and extensive view of the embouchure of the river.

It is the property of a speculator residing at Havre. Parallel with this terrace, runs the more modernised part of the castle, which the last residing owner inhabited. It may have been built about fifty years ago, and is--or rather the remains of it are--quite in the modern style of domestic architecture. The rooms are large, lofty, and commodious;--yet nothing but the sh.e.l.ls of them remain. The revolutionary patriots completely gutted them of every useful and every valuable piece of furniture; and even the bare walls are beginning to grow damp, and threaten immediate decay. I made several memoranda upon the spot, which have been unluckily, and I fear irretrievably, misplaced; so that, of this once vast, and yet commanding and interesting edifice, I regret that I am compelled to send you so short and so meagre an account.

Farewell--a long and perhaps perpetual farewell--to the Castle of Montmorenci!"

NOTES:

[192] According to Ma.s.seville, (_Histoire de Normandie_, II. p. 192,) this abbey was not founded till the year 1114; but such a statement is irreconcileable with the fact of the dead body of the Conqueror having been carried there in 1087; and, moreover, both the _Gallia Christiana_ and _Neustria Pia_ expressly state that it was in 1114 that William, fifth son of the founder, and himself also hereditary chamberlain of Normandy, removed from St. Georges the canons established there by his father, and replaced them with monks from St. Evroul.

[193] So called by Ma.s.seville, I. p. 205.

[194] Mr. Dibdin uniformly calls this castle, the Castle of Montmorenci; but on no occasion does he state his authority for so doing; the author of these remarks never heard it so styled in Normandy, nor can he find it mentioned under that name by Nodier, or any other author. If, as appears probable, the people of the neighborhood are in the habit of so designating it, the probability is, that the modern part (see _plate eighty-five_) was erected at a period when Tancarville belonged to some member of the n.o.ble family of Montmorenci.

PLATE Lx.x.xVII. AND Lx.x.xVIII.

CHURCH OF THE HOLY CROSS, AT ST. LO.

(WESTERN DOOR-WAY, AND VARIOUS SPECIMENS OF SCULPTURE.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate 87. CHURCH OF THE HOLY CROSS AT ST. LO.

_Western Entrance._]

The town of St. Lo is said to owe its origin to the Emperor Charlemagne, and to have been founded by him in the fifth year of the ninth century.

It is situated in the western part of Normandy, upon the small river, Vire, about five leagues to the east of Coutances; and at this time it contains nearly seven thousand inhabitants. Old chroniclers relate that the name originally given to the place was Ste Croix; but that, soon after its foundation, it exchanged that appellation for the present, upon being selected as the spot to be honored with the reception of the relics of St. Lo, or, as he is called in Latin, St. Laudus, who was the fifth bishop of Coutances, and presided over that see the greater part of the sixth century. Of the merits of the saint, the miracles he performed both living and dead, and the various places that have, at different times, received his mortal remains, a copious account is given by M. Rouault, in his History of the Bishops of Coutances. It is sufficient, in the present instance, to state, that, upon the translation of the body of St. Lo to the spot now dignified with his name, a magnificent church was built under his invocation; and the town was encompa.s.sed with fortifications of great strength, to defend it against the inroads of the Normans. These heathen plunderers had at this time just begun their ravages in Neustria, when, notwithstanding its new walls, St. Lo was soon obliged, in common with the rest of the province, to submit to their sway; and they emptied upon the Christian city the full phials of pagan wrath, by burning it to the ground.

In subsequent, and probably not distant, times, St. Lo was again converted into a place of defence; and mention of it as such repeatedly occurs in the various unquiet periods of French history. Even at the present day, when fortifications in that part of the kingdom have long been neglected, there remain sufficient vestiges of them at St. Lo, to convey the most imposing idea of their original strength, aided as they must have been, by their situation upon the summit of a lofty and inaccessible rock.--St. Lo was one of the last towns in Lower Normandy that opened their gates to the victorious arms of the Empress Maude: it remained unshaken in its allegiance till 1142, only two years before the death of the English monarch.--In the third year of the following century, it surrendered without bloodshed to Philip-Augustus, then on his march towards the capture of Mount St. Michael; nor does it appear to have offered more than a trifling resistance to Edward III. by whom it was taken in 1346. Froissart, upon that occasion, gives the following details relative to the English army, as well as to the state of the town and its capture:--"The King of England and Prince of Wales had, in their battalion, about three thousand men at arms, six thousand archers, and ten thousand infantry, without counting those that were under the marshals; and they marched in the manner I have before mentioned, burning and destroying the country, but without breaking their line of battle. They did not turn towards Coutances, but advanced to St. Lo, in Coutantin, which, in those days, was a very rich and commercial town, and worth three such towns as Coutances. In the town of St. Lo was much drapery, and many wealthy inhabitants; among them you might count eight or nine score that were engaged in commerce. When the King of England was come near the town, he encamped: he would not lodge in it for fear of fire. He sent, therefore, his advanced guard forward, who soon conquered it at a trifling loss, and completely plundered it. No one can imagine the quant.i.ty of riches they found in it, nor the number of bales of cloth. If there had been any purchasers, they might have bought them at a cheap rate."

In 1379, when the English arms, during the minority of the second Richard, obtained in France an ephemeral superiority, St. Lo was the only town in the Cotentin, except Carentan, which the French monarch considered of sufficient strength to justify him in entrusting it with a garrison.--It was taken by the English, under Henry V. in 1418; and was again restored to the French, by capitulation, thirty-one years subsequently.--In the beginning of the following tumultuous reign, St.

Lo and Valognes were appointed as the places of residence for Clarence and Warwick, and the other leaders of the Lancastrian party; after their short-lived success, in favor of the deposed Henry, had been followed by their own utter defeat, and the final discomfiture of their hopes.

During the religious wars of the sixteenth century, St. Lo was once more so unfortunate as to act a prominent part. Early in the troubles, it distinguished itself by a decided devotion to the cause of Protestantism; and, though often obliged, by the current of affairs, to yield a reluctant submission to the opposite party, it continued throughout the whole of the struggle, unshaken in its attachment to the Huguenots. Hence, when finally summoned to surrender to the Catholics, in 1574, it rather chose to expose itself to all the miseries of a siege, as well as to the still greater one of being taken by a.s.sault; and the severity of its sufferings is recorded by the historians of the conquering party, who themselves admit, that "it was sacked with a horrible carnage."[195] Its Protestant places of worship were not, however, finally rased, till 1685, the period of the revocation of the edict of Nantes.

St. Lo was the seat of an abbey of Augustine friars, said to have been founded in the middle of the twelfth century, and to have been of such celebrity, that, according to Querceta.n.u.s, the bishops of Coutances were contented for a time to be styled bishops of St. Lo.[196]The princ.i.p.al church in the place, that of Notre Dame, greatly resembles the cathedral of Coutances, of which it is even said to be a copy. It was not begun to be built till the period of English rule in Normandy, during the fifteenth century. The older, or clock-tower, was erected in 1430: the opposite tower and western entrance, in 1464. Other parts of it were not completed till the following century; and the northern spire is a work of as late a period as 1685.

The very ancient church of Ste Croix, (the subject of these plates,) was connected with the abbey, of which little now remains. There is a tradition in the town, that it was once a temple of Ceres; and such traditions, however uncritical or even absurd, deserve to be noticed, as generally originating in a confused knowledge of the remote date of the building to which they are attached. In the opinion of M. de Gerville, a portion, at least, of the church, belongs to the edifice raised by Charlemagne, in 805. The actual erection of such an edifice, and its dedication to the holy cross, are facts distinctly stated in the _Neustria Pia_: its ident.i.ty with the present church does not appear to be doubted, either by Du Monstier, or the Abbe de Billy, the historian of St. Lo. At the same time, neither the one nor the other of these writers was ignorant of the positive a.s.sertion in the _Gesta Normannorum_, that, under those successful invaders--"Sancti Laudi castrum, interfectis habitatoribus, terrae aequatum est." But, in opposition to this, M. de Gerville contends that, either this strong a.s.sertion is to be received with a certain degree of lat.i.tude, or that, by the word _castrum_, is to be understood only the citadel; so that, while that was destroyed, the domestic and religious edifices were suffered to escape. He even thinks that the parts of the building ascribable to the period of the Carlovingian dynasty, may be distinguished by a practised eye, from the reparations of the eleventh century. He traces them especially in the western front, in its door-way, (_plate eighty-seven_) and in some herring-bone masonry, observable over a narrow circular-headed window towards the south. But he founds his opinion still more upon the bas-relief, representing the Deity attended by angels, (_plate eighty-eight, fig. B._) now built into the wall at the end of the nave, on the south side. The character of the sculpture and the form of the letters appear to him to be almost decisive. With regard to the latter, he observes;--"it is well known that the Roman characters were restored by Charlemagne, especially after he had been proclaimed emperor. This fact is sufficiently attested by the various monuments still left us of his time, as well as by the coins which were struck in the latter part of his reign, and during that of Louis le Debonnaire. Elegance and simplicity in the shape of the letters, characterized the writing of this epoch; and the latter, at least, of these qualities, is eminently to be found in the inscription at St. Lo. On the other hand, correct orthography was not equally one of the excellencies of the age."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate 88. CHURCH OF THE HOLY CROSS AT ST. LO.

_Sculpture._]

Pursuing the subject yet farther, M. de Gerville gives it as his opinion, that the different epochs in the architecture, commonly designated as Norman, may be determined with some degree of precision; and he thinks he can trace, in several churches of the vicinity, an evident imitation of this at St. Lo; while he regards the superior antiquity of the latter decisively established by the sculpture over the western entrance; by the medallion of the Deity, already noticed; and by several of the capitals of the interior; particularly those that have reference to the legends of St. Eloy, (_plate eighty-eight, fig. F._) and St. Hubert, (_fig. D._), both at that period quite recent; and two of the others, (_fig C. and E._) in the latter of which, the devil is roasting unfortunate sinners, while the former, exhibiting the _psychostasia_, affords a graphic ill.u.s.tration of two lines of the well-known hymn of the Roman Catholic church:--

"Statera facta corporis, Praedamque tulit Tartari."

In the western front of the church of Ste Croix have been inserted, above the door-way, three windows of the earliest pointed style. The whole of the sculpture over the architraves of the arch, is, both in its design and execution, curious. The knotted serpents, terminating at either end in heads of devils; the two men tugging at rings, attached to a chain twisted round the neck of a decapitated demon, whom, two dogs are baying; and the structure of the chain itself, are all peculiar; and scarcely less so is the medallion below.[197]--The church ends at the east with a large circular arch, which is now closed, and has always been so since the memory of man; but probably, at some former time, it led into a chancel or sanctuary. There is a south transept, which terminates in a similar arch: the arches of the nave, which are likewise circular, are each of them surrounded with a double architrave of the zig-zag moulding: the capitals to the pillars supporting these arches, Mr. Cotman considers as being for the greater part of the best cla.s.s of Norman sculpture. He has selected for engraving those that are most rude: the others commonly exhibit broad interlaced bands, foliage, and fruits. The abaci, too, though they are in general plain, are in some instances enriched with similar sculpture, as in the churches of Graville, of Cerisy, and of the Holy Trinity at Caen. In the clerestory, over every arch below, were originally two smaller semi-circular-headed arches; but these are now closed, and their place is occupied by a single, narrow, pointed window, that opens into a large recess. The corbels without, (_plate eighty-eight, fig. A._) may bear a comparison, in point of singularity, with those of any other Norman church. The sacred emblem of the Christian faith, the wimpled nun, the whiskered Saxon, and the wolf, the scourge of Neustria, are found among them, side by side with the Atlas and Cyclops of heathen mythology; and, as if the legends of Rome and Greece could not furnish sufficient subjects for the sculptor's chisel, he appears to have extended his researches into the more remote regions, bordering upon the Nile, and thence to have imported a rude imitation of the Egyptian head, and one still more rude, of the mystic Scarabaeus.

NOTES:

[195] St. Lo was then commanded by M. Colombieres, who was so resolute in the cause, that, rather than surrender, he placed himself in the middle of the breach, with his two young sons, on either side of him, each holding a javelin in his hand, and then awaited the attack, exhorting his children to perish bravely, rather than be left to infidels and apostates. The Catholic army was headed by M. de Matignon, who had, on a former occasion, distinguished himself by his lenity towards the inhabitants of the place. The lordship of St. Lo, with the t.i.tle of a barony, continued in his family as late as the year 1722, when Ma.s.seville published his History of Normandy.

[196] For the following details, and indeed the greater part of the remainder of this article, the author has to express his obligations to M. de Gerville, whose kind a.s.sistance, throughout the whole of the work, cannot be too often, or too distinctly, acknowledged.

[197] The bas-relief upon this medallion represents the most impressive of the miracles connected with the history of St. Lo, and one that was performed at the very moment when he was about to enter upon the duties of his episcopacy, to which, by a manifest interposition of the Deity, he had been elected at the early age of twelve years. _Rouault_, in his _Abrege de la Vie des Eveques de Coutances_, p. 81, gives the following details respecting it; and his account, which is curious, is here inserted, as adding probability to the opinion of M. de Gerville, that this medallion at least belonged to the original structure, whatever may be thought of the rest of the church.--"Comme l'election et la consecration de S. Lo avoient ete miraculeuses, Dieu fit voir par des signes qui n'etoient pas moins surprenants que tout s'etoit fait selon sa volonte: car a la premiere entree que le jeune Prelat fit dans son Eglise, la divine Puissance voulut prouver a St. Gildard, aux autres Prelats qui etoient encore presents, et a toute l'Eglise de Coutances, que tout ce qu'ils avoient fait lui etoit tres-agreable. Ce qui fut confirme par un Miracle des plus eclatans dans la personne d'une Femme aveugle nee, qui s'etant faite conduire a la porte de la Cathedrale, y attendoit le nouvel Eveque, dans l'esperance de recevoir la vue par son intercession. En effet, lorsqu'elle apprit qu'il approchoit, elle le conjura a haute voix de lui faire voir la lumiere. Le Saint frappe d'une telle demande en rougit, et crut que c'etoit tenter Dieu que d'attendre de lui des Miracles. Mais cette pauvre femme ne cessant de crier comme l'Aveugle de l'Evangile, le Saint poussa un profond soupir, et ayant plus d'egard a la foi de la suppliante qu'a son propre merite, il invoqua le secours du saint Esprit, fit avec confiance le signe de la croix sur les yeux de l'Aveugle, et au meme instant la vue lui fut rendue a la grande admiration de tous les a.s.sistans, qui benirent et remercierent Dieu de leur avoir donne un Pasteur qui prouvoit sa vocation par un si grand Miracle, en reconnoissance duquel on eleva au meme lieu deux Statues, l'une de Saint Lo, et l'autre de la femme guerie, telles qu'on les voit encore aujourd'hui au Portail de l'Eglise, ou on a aussi conserve fort soigneus.e.m.e.nt la Pierre sur laquelle etoit Saint Lo lorsqu'il opera ce Miracle. C'est encore sur elle que les Seigneurs Eveques de Coutances s'arretent a leur premiere entree, pour faire les sermens et promesses accoutumees en pareille Ceremonie, et qu'ils y recoivent les complimens et applaudiss.e.m.e.ns de la Ville, pour conserver la memoire d'un si grand Miracle."

PLATE Lx.x.xIX. AND XC.

CASTLE OF FALAISE.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate 89. CASTLE OF FALAISE.

_North West View._]

Whoever can take pleasure in the wildest extravagancies of absurd fiction, displayed in theories dest.i.tute of even the slender basis of tradition, yet raised with plausibility, connected with ingenuity, and supported by learning, may find abundant gratification in the early history of Falaise. The town, as stated in a ma.n.u.script gazetteer of Normandy, written in the seventeenth century, was not only among the most ancient in Gaul, but was founded by one of the grandsons of Noah.

According to another yet more grave authority, its antiquity soars still higher, and mounts to the period of the deluge itself. It so far exceeds that of the Roman empire, that, long before the building of the immortal city, colonies were sent from Falaise into Italy, where they were known by the Aborigines, under the names of _Falisci_, or _Falerii_. A third writer, M. Langevin, author of the _Recherches Historiques sur Falaise_, a.s.sures his readers that Falaise was, from time immemorial, a station consecrated to religion; and, in a dissertation full of the most recondite information relative to the worship of Belenus and Abrasax, Isis and Fele, he so connects and intermingles the rites of those deities with the place and its vicinity, that he can scarcely be said to do it less honor than his predecessors.

To turn from historians of this sanguine complexion to those of a more sober temperament, there will appear no reason for believing that the town of Falaise had existence prior to the incursions of the Saxons, or the establishment of the Normans, in Neustria. No mention of it whatever is to be found previous to the latter of these times; and its very name, obviously derived from the German word for a rock, _fels_, whence the French subsequently borrowed their appellation for cliffs, _falaise_, seems decisive as to the foundation of the town by some people of Teutonic origin. It is at the same time altogether characteristic of its situation.

That Falaise was built by the Saxons, may probably, with justice, be inferred from the fact of its being casually mentioned during the reign of Rollo, as one of the places through which he pa.s.sed in the year 912, while visiting the different parts of his duchy. The town cannot but have been of importance in the time of his son, William Longue-Epee; as that prince is stated to have received great a.s.sistance from the inhabitants of Falaise, and the district of the Hiemois, when engaged in a war with the people of Brittany. It is more than possible that the fortifications were added, and the castle erected, by one or the other of these sovereigns.[198] Their immediate successor, Richard Sans-Peur, is stated to have made considerable additions to the works of the place, which, in the early part of the following century, under Richard III.

the fifth of the Norman dukes, was unquestionably one of the strongest holds of the province. Not long afterwards, Falaise rose into new importance, as the residence of Robert, father to the Conqueror, and the birth-place of that sovereign himself, to whom it rendered acceptable service during his youth, upon the occasion of the formidable conspiracy of the Norman barons, headed by Guy de Bourgogne, in 1046. The prince, then at Valognes, escaped with difficulty from the poniards of the a.s.sa.s.sins to Falaise, where he was received with open arms. Falaise was at that time the capital of the Hiemois. In the reign of Henry II. of England, the castle was used as a state prison, and was selected as the place of confinement of Robert, Earl of Leicester, when taken prisoner in 1173, commanding the French forces in England. At a subsequent, but not far distant period, Brito, the poetical chronicler of the deeds of Philip-Augustus, in speaking of the final subjection of Normandy to that king, mentions the town of Falaise and its capture, in the following verses:--

"Vicus erat scabra circ.u.mdatus undique rupe, Ipsius asperitate loci Falaesa vocatus, Normannae in medio regionis, cujus in alta Turres rupe sedent et moenia, sic ut ad illam Jactus nemo putet aliquos contingere posse.

Hunc rex innumeris circ.u.mdedit undique signis, Perque dies septem varia instrumenta parabat, Moenibus ut fractis villa potiatur et arca: Verum burgenses et praecipue Lupicarus, Cui patriae curam dederat rex Anglicus omnem, Elegere magis illaesum reddere castrum, Omni re salva c.u.m libertatis honore, Quam belli tentare vices et denique vinci."

The foregoing was the fourth of the nine sieges that have rendered the name of Falaise memorable in Norman history. The first of them had taken place in 1027, when Falaise presumed to shelter Robert, the father of the Conqueror, during his rebellion against his brother, Duke Richard III. In point of importance, none of the sieges were equal to those of 1417 and 1589. Upon the former of those occasions, Henry V. flushed by the success that had unremittingly attended his arms, since his glorious victory at Agincourt, led his troops in person against the town, which he expected would fall an easy prey. But it resisted an incessant bombardment for three months, and did not finally surrender, till the fortifications had sustained such essential injuries, that the repairing of them by the besieged, at their own charge, was made one of the leading articles of the capitulation. It was upon this occasion, that the lofty circular tower, one of the princ.i.p.al objects in both these plates, was added to the castle. Tradition ascribes its erection to the celebrated English general, Talbot, then governor of the town; and, even to the present day, it bears his name.[199]

The last siege of Falaise, that of December, 1589, was occasioned by the devoted adherence of the inhabitants to the League, and their consequent refusal to recognize Henry IV. as their sovereign, on account of his attachment to the Protestant faith. In defence of their creed, they had already sustained one siege in the month of July of the same year; and, headed by the Count de Brissac, governor of the castle, had repulsed the royal troops under the command of the Duke de Montpensier. But the new sovereign was not a man to be trifled with; and when Brissac, upon being summoned to surrender, replied, according to the words of De Thou, "religione se prohiberi; sumpto quippe Dominici corporis sacramento, fidem suis obliga.s.se de deditione se prorsus non acturum;" the king is reported, by the same n.o.ble historian, to have returned in answer, "se menses ad totidem dies contracturum, intra quos illum, sed magno suo c.u.m d.a.m.no, religione soluturus esset." The garrison, notwithstanding these threats, did not relax in their opposition, and the town was finally taken by a.s.sault, the frost enabling the a.s.sailants to cross the moat.

On this, the Count de Brissac retired to the castle, which he surrendered about a month afterwards.

Falaise appears in the religious annals of Normandy, as the seat of an abbey, founded in 1127, and first occupied by regular canons of the order of St. Augustine, and placed under the invocation of St. Michael, the Archangel; but shortly afterwards transferred to the Praemonstratensian friars, and dedicated to St. John the Baptist. The monastery is said to have taken its rise from an hospital, established by a wealthy inhabitant, in consequence of a beggar having died of cold and hunger in his barn. A bull from Pope s.e.xtus IV. dated in 1475, conferred upon the abbots the privilege of wearing the mitre, ring, and pontifical insignia, together with various other honorary distinctions.

The revolution deprived Falaise of its abbey and eight churches. It now retains only four; two within the walls, and two in the suburbs. Its population is estimated at about ten thousand inhabitants.