Architectural Antiquities of Normandy Part 9

[77] _Ibidem_, I. p. 175.

[78] The greater part of what follows is borrowed from _Turner's Tour in Normandy_, I. p. 128.

PLATES XLIV.--XLVI.

CHURCH OF LeRY.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate 44. CHURCH OF LeRY, NEAR PONT-DE-L'ARCHE.

_General view looking south east._]

It is not in the vicinity of Rouen, nor indeed in any portion of the district formerly known under the denomination of _Upper Normandy_, that the curious traveller must seek for the most interesting remains of early ecclesiastical architecture in the province. The village churches, throughout this portion of the duchy, are for the most part small and insignificant, and of comparatively modern erection; while, in the vicinity of Caen, and indeed in the whole of the departments of Calvados and of La Manche, a large proportion of them are unquestionably referable to the times of Norman dominion, and exhibit some of the purest specimens of real Norman art. The solution of this question must in all probability be sought for in the political state of the province; and no more obvious answer seems to present itself, than is afforded by a reference to the local character of its two great divisions, of which, Upper Normandy, consisting greatly of a border country, exposed to the continual ravages of warfare from its more powerful neighbor, with difficulty preserved such of its public buildings as were defended by the walls of the fortresses; and often gladly compounded for the secure existence of these, by the sacrifice of the harvest, the cottage, and the parochial church.

Yet, even here, some of the ecclesiastical buildings have escaped the hand of time and violence; and among these, few, if any, more completely than that of Lery, a village situated upon the right bank of the Eure, at a distance of about two miles from Pont de l'Arche, and nearly the same from Louviers.

Lery gives its name to the adjoining _commune_; and it may reasonably be inferred, that it was in former times a place of more importance, than would be imagined from its present appearance. The ingenious and estimable M. Langlois, of Rouen, in a work[79] which he commenced upon the antiquities of Normandy, and in which he has figured the west front of this church, tells us, that but a few years since, Lery could boast of several specimens of domestic architecture of unusual size and embellishment. Of one of these, an engraving has lately been given by M.

Willemin, in his exquisite _Monumens Inedits de la France_. It was known by the name of the Palace of Queen Blanche; and if, by the Blanche in question, is to be understood the Princess of Navarre, consort of Philip VI. who died in 1350, there is nothing in the exterior of the building to prevent its being ascribed to that aera. It was entered by a flat door-way, under a wide, pointed, crocketed arch; the transom-stone enriched with a trefoil-headed moulding; and the whole portal surmounted with a bal.u.s.trade of quatrefoils. But, unfortunately, nothing more can now be said of the building, than is supplied by the plate in question.

It had, in its earlier time, repeatedly suffered from the effects of fire; and a similar calamity completed its ruin, during the month of June, 1814. The lower part of the walls and the gothic portal are all that are left standing, to attest the original size and magnificence of the palace.

The church of Lery is referred by M. Langlois to the aera of the Carlovingian dynasty, a period that extended from the middle of the seventh century, to the concluding years of the tenth. Its claim to so extraordinarily high a degree of antiquity, is founded, in his opinion, upon the resemblance borne by the columns and capitals of the west front, particularly those of the windows, to the same parts in the crypt of the abbey of St. Denis, generally supposed to be the joint work of Pepin and of Charlemagne. But these latter decidedly partake more of the character of the cla.s.sical model,[80] while every member throughout the whole front of Lery, (_see plate forty-five_) may find a parallel in other Norman churches; or, if an exception is to be made to so sweeping an a.s.sertion, it can only be in favor of the second and largest moulding in the archivolt of the portal, which is very peculiar. The two lateral pointed windows are obviously an introduction of a subsequent period; and a doubt may likewise perhaps be entertained with regard to the b.u.t.tresses. This front is small indeed, but elegant: it is more richly ornamented than that of the chapel in the castle at Caen;[81] and, though less so than that of the abbey church of St. Georges de Bocherville, yet can it scarcely be said to be inferior in beauty. A recent tourist[82] has remarked, with much apparent probability, that the churches of St. Georges and of Lery may, from the general conformity in the style of both, reasonably be regarded as of nearly the same aera,--the time of the Norman conquest; and he goes on to add that, through these, the English antiquary may be enabled to fix the date to a specimen of ancient architecture in his own country, more splendid than either,--the church of Castle-Rising,[83] in Norfolk, whose west front is so much on the same plan, that it can scarcely have been erected at a very different period.

The church of Lery (_see plate forty-four_) is built in the form of a cross, having in the centre a short square tower, to which has been attached, in modern times, a wretched wooden spire. This Mr. Cotman has very judiciously omitted, as adding nothing to the interest of the plate, and merely tending to deform what is otherwise seen in nearly the same state in which it left the hands of the original builders. The corbel-table, observable immediately under the top of the tower, and in some parts of the choir and transepts, exhibits the same description of monsters, as in the church of St. Paul at Rouen, of the Holy Trinity at Caen, and other Norman religious buildings.--Two peculiarities attending upon the exterior of the church are, that the east end is flat, and that the transepts are altogether without b.u.t.tresses.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate 45. CHURCH OF LeRY, NEAR PONT-DE-L'ARCHE.

_West Front._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate 46. CHURCH OF LeRY, NEAR PONT-DE-L'ARCHE.

_Interior._]

In the interior (_plate forty-six_) it is impossible not to be struck with the extraordinary simplicity and solidity of the whole. The only aim of the architect appears to have been to erect an edifice that should last for ever. A double row of pillars and arches separates the nave into three parts of unequal width; and another arch, of greater span, divides it from the chancel. The arches are in every instance devoid of mouldings; the capitals are altogether without ornamental sculpture of any description; and the pillars are even unsupported by bases. Indeed, the pillars are nothing more than rounded piers; and they are not less remarkable for their proportions, than for their simplicity, their diameter being equal to full two-thirds of their height. Hence it is scarcely possible not to entertain the suspicion that the floor may have been raised; but there is nothing in the appearance of the church to justify such an idea. It is scarcely necessary to mention, that the figures of saints placed upon brackets against the spandrils of the arches, are all modern. Their execution is wretched; and its imperfection is rendered but the more apparent, by their having been painted in imitation of living nature. The string-course, which runs immediately above their heads, is placed in a very uncommon situation. It is composed of the nail-head ornament, in itself a sufficient proof of its antiquity; and also, as is observed by Mr. Cotman, of such rarity in Normandy, that he does not recollect to have met with another instance of it.

The windows of the church of Lery were formerly filled with painted gla.s.s, representing very curious subjects, taken from the life of St.

Louis; but every vestige of the kind has now disappeared. From the church-yard, which stands upon a considerable elevation, immediately above the banks of the Eure, are seen, upon an opposite hill beyond the river, the ruins of the once celebrated convent, known by the name of the _Priory of the Two Lovers_.

NOTES:

[79] _Recueil de quelques vues de sites et Monumens de la France, specialement de Normandie, et des divers Costumes des Habitans de cette Province._--Of this work, the first number, containing eight plates, appeared in Rouen, in 1816; but, unfortunately, it did not meet with sufficient encouragement to be ever followed by a second.

[80] See _Howlett's Plan and Views of the Abbey Royal of St. Denis_, plate 6.

[81] See plate 48.

[82] _Turner's Tour in Normandy_, I. p. 188.

[83] _Cotman's Architectural Antiquities of Norfolk_, plate 35.

PLATE XLVII.

CHURCH OF COLOMBY.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate 47. ELEVATIONS OF THE CHURCH OF COLOMBY NEAR VALOGNES.]

The church of Colomby, to use the language of M. de Gerville, is one of the last of the religious edifices built by those powerful barons, whose sway extended equally over Normandy and England. No records, indeed, are left either as to the actual time of its erection, or the name of its founder. With respect, however, to the former, the style of the architecture is sufficiently decisive; and there is as little cause for hesitation in referring its origin to a n.o.bleman allied to the family of the Conqueror.

Baldwin de Brionis, or de Molis, who accompanied that monarch in his expedition against England, and was afterwards married to his niece, was rewarded by him for his services, with the barony of Okehampton, where he resided, as well as with the custody of the county of Devon, and the government of Exeter castle, in fee. The earldom of the same county, together with a grant of the Isle of Wight, was conferred by Henry I.

upon the son of Baldwin, Richard de Redvers; and, either in the same or the following generation, this powerful family obtained a still farther accession to its riches and honors, in the possession of Nehou, a considerable portion of the barony of St. Sauveur le Vicomte, which Neel, Viscount of the Cotentin, had forfeited in 1047. The domain of Nehou included a collegiate church; and one of the prebends of this was attached to the second portion of the church of Colomby.

It appears from three inquiries inst.i.tuted at different times by the bishops of Coutances, with a view to ascertain the value of the livings in their diocese, that, in the years 1255, 1666, and 1737, Colomby was under two separate ministers; one of them nominated by the lord, the other by the abbey of Montbourg.[84]

Almost all the n.o.blemen of the family of Redvers, who, after the conquest of England, commonly a.s.sumed the additional name of Vernon, were distinguished by the baptismal appellation of Baldwin, William, or Richard. The first of the Richards laid the foundation of the monastery of Montbourg. He died there in 1107, after having enriched his rising convent with numerous donations, and, among others, with the second portion of Colomby. Baldwin, his son and successor, confirmed the donations: he took arms against King Stephen, and was forced by that monarch to flee from England in 1136; shortly after which time he completed the abbey begun by his father, and caused it to be dedicated in 1152: three years subsequently, he died. A second Richard, who succeeded him in his honors, as Earl of Devonshire and Lord of Nehou, died in 1162; and a third of the same name, in 1184. This last, not content with merely confirming the donations made by his ancestors to Montbourg, materially increased them: he also added to the collegiate church of Nehou, a fifth prebend, which he conferred upon one of the ministers of Colomby; and it was by him, according to the opinion of M.

de Gerville, that the church, the subject of the present article, was built.

A few years only elapsed after the decease of this chieftain, before Normandy became re-united to the crown of France; and one of the first acts of Philip-Augustus, who then sat upon the throne, was to register the fiefs of his new province, their several possessors, and the service owed by each. This took place in the year 1207; and Nehou, which was bound to furnish the monarch with five horse-soldiers, was at that time in the possession of Richard of Vernon, a n.o.bleman of whom no notice is to be found in the genealogy of the lords of the Isle of Wight. The register records the fact in the following terms:--"Ric. de Vernon tenet baroniam de Neahou per servicium quimque militum. Guillelmus de Vernon tenet inde duo feoda et dimidium."--

The church of Colomby is in perfect preservation, unspoiled and undefaced by modern alterations or additions, saving only that of a porch at the western extremity. For simplicity and uniformity it cannot be surpa.s.sed; nor can any building be better qualified to afford a specimen of the religious architecture of the times. Though dest.i.tute both of transept and aisles, the tower is central: the east end terminates in a flat wall. The columns within are cl.u.s.tered and light; formed of stone, which unites, in an eminent degree, the advantage of great strength with that of yielding easily to the chisel, and which is dug from the quarries of Yvetot, near Valognes. The same quarries also furnished the princ.i.p.al part of the stone employed in the construction of the cathedral of Coutances. The plate exhibits at C. the elevation of the south side of the church; to which have been added, for the more complete understanding of the subject,

A. _The west front._ B. _East end._ D. _South door-way to the chancel._ E. _A single window._

NOTES:

[84] The words used upon this subject in the Inquisition of 1255, made by Jean d'Essey, then bishop of Coutances, are as follows:--"Eccliae de Colombeo patronus Abbas Montisburgi pro medietate et percipit duas garbas de portione sua. Rector percipit terciam c.u.m altalagio. Gulielmus de Rivers patronus pro alia medietate. Rector percipit omnia."--The two following inquisitions state in express terms, that the first portion was under the patronage of the lord.

PLATE XLVIII.

CHAPEL IN THE CASTLE AT CAEN.

The Castle at Caen was built by William the Conqueror, whose son, Henry I. though commonly reputed its founder, in reality confined himself to raising the walls and adding the keep, which latter was levelled with the ground, by virtue of a decree of the National Convention, dated 6th August, 1793. By the same decree, it was still farther enacted, that the castle itself should be demolished; but the wisdom of the representatives of the sovereign people failed in this, as in many other instances, by not duly appreciating the difficulties attendant upon the execution of their edict: these proved to be so great, that the workmen were compelled to desist, when comparatively but little progress had been made in the work of destruction.

It is expressly stated in the _Norman Chronicle_, that a castle, though of smaller size, previously existed upon the same spot. In opposition, however, to this a.s.sertion, we are told by Robert Wace, that at the time when Henry I. of France, in his expedition against the Conqueror, in 1054, advanced with his army as far as the banks of the Seville, he traversed the town of Caen without resistance: "it being _sans chastel_, and the Duke not having yet surrounded it with walls." But may not this apparent contradiction be reconciled, by admitting that the words of the historian are only to be taken in a comparative sense? It is possible, that Wace intended to convey no farther meaning than that the town was not then fortified, as in his time; and such a supposition would cause every difficulty to vanish.

The Castle, as early as the eleventh century, was placed under the superintendance of a constable; and the office was, in 1106, made hereditary in the family of Robert Fitz-Hamon, Lord of Creuly, by whom, and his heirs, it continued to be held till the closing year of the same century. Under the reign of the last of the Norman Dukes, the keep had a governor of its own, distinct from that of the castle; and he was dignified with the t.i.tle of _Constable of the Tower of Caen_; but, upon the reduction of the province by Philip-Augustus, Caen itself, together with the castle and its dungeon, was all committed to the charge of a single officer, denominated the _Captain_. Such also appears to have continued the case, except during the reign of Louis XI. when one Raymond d'Argeau is recorded to have been the _Garde particulier du Donjon_. The timid policy of a suspicious prince might naturally suggest the idea of greater safety, in not allowing the power over so important a fortress to be vested in any single hand.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate 48. CHAPEL IN THE CASTLE AT CAEN.]

The Castle at Caen was the place on which the different lordships, attached to the dignity of Viscount of Caen, directly or indirectly, depended. Almost all of them were held upon the condition of some annual contribution, consisting either of arrows, or quivers, or bows, or swords, or cuira.s.ses, or other description of ancient armor. In time of war, the va.s.sals of these different lords were likewise bound to mount guard at the castle; but most of the parishes purchased an exemption from this service, by means of a pecuniary payment. Thus it is upon record that, in the year 1383, the parish of Mery compounded for fifty-six livres annually, and that of Cleville for thirty-two livres ten sols. By the tenure of others among the dependencies of the bailiwick, it was stipulated, according to M. de Bourgueville, that they should supply the castle with provisions, in the event of war.