How France Built Her Cathedrals Part 53

[280] The abbey of St. Andoche, Saulieu, was named for a companion of St. Benignus, a Greek missionary sent to evangelize Gaul, perhaps by St.

Polycarp of Smyrna. The church was rebuilt early in the XII century, and of that period is the nave whose capitals present sculpture of different epochs: the barbaric earlier grotesques censured by St. Bernard, then a few acanthus leaves and medallions, and, finally, naturalistic work.

Calixtus II dedicated Saulieu's abbey church in 1119. In 1339 the English sacked the choir and transept, which were rebuilt in 1704. That true son of Burgundy, Vauban, the celebrated engineer of Louis XIV, was born in a chateau near Saulieu in 1633: "The most honest man of his century, the simplest, truest, and bravest," according to St. Simon. He covered France with defenses whose worth was proved in 1914. One can comprehend qualities in a region's architecture by a knowledge of regional characters. _Congres Archeologique_, 1907, p. 103, Pierre de Truchis, on Saulieu. The architect Soufflot, of M. Lefevre-Pontalis'

family, was a Burgundian.

[281] The cathedral of Langres in ancient Burgundy resembles Autun in its channeled pilaster strips and its acanthus-leaf sculpture. Its choir was rebuilt in 1100, using simultaneously groin vaulting and diagonals.

The facade is neo-cla.s.sic.

[282] _Congres Archeologique_, 1899, p. 68; A. Kleinclausz, _Dijon et Beaune_ (Collection, Villes d'art celebres), (Paris, H. Laurens); Alphonse Germain, _Les Neerlandais en Bourgogne_ (Bruxelles, 1909); a.r.s.ene Perier, _Un chancelier au XVe siecle, Nicolas Rolin_ (Paris, Plon, 1904); H. Chabeuf, in _Revue de l'art chretien_, 1900, p. 193, on the tapestries of Beaune; Abbe Bavard, _Histoire de l'Hotel Dieu de Beaune_ (Beaune, 1881); Andre Michel, ed., _Histoire de l'art_, vol. 3, premiere partie, "La tap.i.s.serie aux quatorzieme et quinzieme siecles,"

Jules Guiffrey.

[283] Robert Vallery-Radot, _Le reveil de l'esprit_ (Paris, Perrin et Cie, 1917).

[284] _Congres Archeologique_, 1907, p. 4, Avallon, Charles Poree, and p. 129, G. Fleury; p. 97, Montreal, Charles Poree; p. 49, Flavigny, P.

de Truchis; E. Pet.i.t, _Avallon et l'Avallonnais_ (Auxerre, Gallot, 1867); R. Vallery-Radot, _Un Coin de Bourgogne_; _Avallon_; Abbe Villetard, "Les statues du portail de l'eglise St. Lazare d'Avallon," in _Bull. de la Societe d'etudes d'Avallon_, 1899, 1900, and 1901; E.

Pet.i.t, "Collegiale de Montreal," in _L'Annuaire de l'Yonne_, 1861, p.

121; G. T. Rivoira, _Lombardic Architecture_ (tr. London and New York, 1910), vol. 2, on the crypt of Flavigny; L. Bondot et J. Galimard, _Restes de l'ancienne basilique de Flavigny_ (1906); Claude Courtepee, _Description du d.u.c.h.e de Bourgogne_, vol. 3, on Flavigny; Lucien Begule, _L'abbaye de Fontenay et l'architecture cistercienne_ (Lyon, 1912).

There is also a study by Begule of Fontenay in the Pet.i.tes Monographies series published by H. Laurens; J. B. Corbolin, _Monographie de l'abbaye de Fontenay_ (Citeaux, 1882).

[285] _Discours de reception de M. Louis Pasteur a l'Academie Francaise_, 1882. Pasteur was born at Dole (Jura), once a part of ancient Burgundy. A grandson, Robert Vallery-Radot, is one of the younger generation that comprehends the spiritual essence of the Middle Ages. He has written of the potency of his prayer in the church dedicated to holy Lazarus in his native Avallon. Another grandson, Jean Vallery-Radot, is a rising member of the school of mediaeval archaeology.

[286] Jean de Chastellux, _Travels in America, 1780-1782_. He was the first to have himself inoculated with smallpox in order to give confidence to the people. The heir of Chastellux was a hereditary first canon in Auxerre Cathedral, privileged to sit in its choir with a falcon on his wrist.

[287] _Congres Archeologique_, 1907, p. 199; Abbe Henry, _Histoire de l'abbaye de Pontigny_ (Avallon, 1839); Chaillon des Barres, _L'abbaye de Pontigny_ (Paris, 1844); _Histoire litteraire de la France_, vol. 11, p.

213, "St. etienne, troisieme abbe de Citeaux" (Paris, 1759).

[288] "The long prospect of nave and choir ends with a sort of graceful smallness in a chevet of seven closely packed, narrow bays. It is like a nun's church, or like a nun's coif."--WALTER PATER, on Pontigny, in _Miscellaneous Studies_ (London, The Macmillan Company, 1895).

[289] J. C. Robertson, ed., _Material for the History of Thomas Becket_.

Rolls series, 7 vols.; vols. 1 to 4 contain the lives written by John of Salisbury, Herbert of Bosham, etc. Other studies of St. Thomas of Canterbury are Morris (London, 1885); Kate Norgate (_Dictionary of National Biography_); L. Huillier (Paris, 1891), 2 vols.

[290] _Congres Archeologique_, 1907, p. 27; Charles Poree, _L'abbaye de Vezelay_ (Collection, Pet.i.tes Monographies), (Paris, H. Laurens); H.

Havard, ed., _La France artisque et monumentale_, vol. 4, Vezelay; De George, "L'eglise abbatiale de Vezelay," in _L'Architecture_, 1905; L.

E. Lefevre, "Le portail de l'abbaye de Vezelay," in _Revue de l'art chretien_, 1906, p. 253; also, 1904, vol. 54, p. 448, G. Sanoner; Crosnier, "Iconographie de l'abbaye de Vezelay," in _Congres Archeologique_, 1847, p. 219; V. Flandin, "Vezelay," in _Annuaire statistique du departement de l'Yonne_, 1841-45; A. Cherest, _etudes historiques sur Vezelay_ (Auxerre, 1868); Gally, _Vezelay monastique_ (Tonnerre, 1888); Camille Enlart, _Le musee de sculpture comparee du Trocadero_ (Paris, H. Laurens, 1913); A. Thierry, _Lettres sur l'histoire de France_, chaps. 22-24; Joseph Bedier, _Les legendes epiques_, vol. 1, "La legende de Girard de Roussillon" (Paris, H.

Champion, 1908), 4 vols.

[291] Maurice Barres, _La colline inspiree_ (Paris, emile-Paul, freres, 1913).

[292] Louis Gonse, _L'Art Gothique_ (Paris, Quantin, 1891).

[293] St. Pere-sous-Vezelay, below the hill, occupies the site where Girard de Roussillon's foundation was first established. The present church is a typical Burgundian Gothic edifice, partly of the XII and partly of the XIII century. Carved corbels catch the fall of certain diagonals, and in place of a triforium is an interior pa.s.sageway that pa.s.ses through the shafts. In the opening years of the XIV century was added the narthex, a n.o.ble porch of two bays whose capitals have foliage in little bunches set in two rows. The facade is decorated by big statues like that of the Madeleine church, a mile away, and at the corners of the tower, a landmark for the valley, are sculptured angels blowing trumpets. The choir of St. Pere-sous-Vezelay was wrecked during the English wars, and was in large part rebuilt as late-Gothic. _Congres Archeologique_, 1907, p. 16; Abbe p.i.s.sier, "Notice historique sur Saint-Pere-sous-Vezelay," in _Bull. de la Soc. des Sciences de l'Yonne_, 1902, vol. 56, pp. 33, 275.

[294] In his _Via Crucis_, F. Marion Crawford has described the great gathering at Vezelay.

[295] The Huguenot leader, Theodore de Beze, was born in the bourg of Vezelay. His brother, a canon in the church of St. Lazare at Avallon, espoused the opposite side with equal zest.

[296] _Congres Archeologique_, 1907, p. 64, Pierre de Truchis; Abbe Bouzerand, _Memoirs sur l'eglise Notre Dame de Semur_, 1864; _ibid._, _Histoire generale de Semur-en-Auxois_; Ledeuil, _Notice sur Semur-en-Auxois_ (Semur-en-Auxois, 1886); Taylor et Nodier, _Voyage pittoresque et romantique dans l'ancienne France. Bourgogne_ (Paris, Didot, 1863), folio; Max Quantin, _Repertoire archeol. du departement de l'Yonne_ (Paris, 1908); Eugene Lefevre-Pontalis, "Les caracteres distinctifs des ecoles gothique de la Champagne et de la Bourgogne," in _Congres Archeologique_, 1907, p. 546.

[297] _Congres Archeologique_, 1850, p. 22; and 1907, p. 167, Charles Poree; p. 599, Camille Enlart, on the sculptured doors of Auxerre Cathedral: Camille Enlart, _La cathedrale d'Auxerre_ (Collection, Pet.i.tes Monographies), (Paris, H. Laurens): A. Cherest, _La cathedrale d'Auxerre_. _Conferences d'Auxerre_ (Auxerre, 1868); emile Lambin, "La cathedrale d'Auxerre," in _Revue de l'art chretien_, 1897, vol. 47, p.

383; Charles Poree, "Le choeur de la cathedrale d'Auxerre," in _Bulletin Monumental_, 1906, vol. 70, p. 251; Louise Pillion, "Sculpture de la cathedrale d'Auxerre," in _Revue de l'art chretien_, 1905, p. 278; Viollet-le-Duc, _Dictionnaire de l'architecture_, vol. 4, p. 131, on construction; vol. 9, p. 447, on vitrail; Victor Pet.i.t, "Description des villes et campagnes du departement de l'Yonne" (Auxerre, 1876). In the _Annuaire de l'Yonne_, earlier studies on Auxerre are, 1841, p. 38, F.

de Lasteyrie; 1843, p. 128, V. Pet.i.t; 1846, p. 207, and 1847, p. 141, Challe; 1872, p. 161, and 1873. p. 3, Daudin; Andre Philippe, "L'architecture religieuse au XIe et au XIIe siecle dans l'ancien diocese d'Auxerre," in _Bulletin Monumental_, 1904, vol. 68, _pa.s.sim_.

Other notices on Auxerre in the _Bulletin Monumental_ are, 1847, vol.

13, p. 153, and 1849, vol. 15, p. 145, Victor Pet.i.t; 1872, vol. 38, pp.

494, 744, Victor Pet.i.t; Abbe Lebeuf, _Histoire d'Auxerre_; E. Moulton, _La guerre au XVIe siecle_ (Paris, H. Laurens).

[298] St. Germain's abbatial is less pure Gothic than the cathedral's choir. Beneath its sanctuary are two superimposed crypts, the lower one of the IX century, and that above it belonging to the XIII-century reconstruction of the abbey church. Conflagrations wiped out several early churches of the monastery. In the XII century rose the Romanesque tower--one of the best in France; until 1820 it was attached to the nave. A total reconstruction of the abbatial was necessary in 1277, but after the upper crypt and the choir were undertaken there came a pause.

The abbot here (1309-39), who erected the crenelated inclosure walls of the monastery, resumed the church as Rayonnant Gothic. Urban V, the greatest of the Avignon patrons of art and letters, had been abbot of St. Germain (1352), and his arms were cut on a keystone of the new nave, to which he contributed, as did his successor, Gregory XI. Soon after the church was completed it was pillaged during the religious wars.

Napoleon turned the establishment into a hospital, which it still is.

_Congres Archeologique_, 1907, p. 182, C. Poree; p. 627, Jules Tillet; Abbe V. B. Henry, _Histoire de l'abbaye de St. Germain d'Auxerre_ (Auxerre, Gallot, 1853); Victor Pet.i.t, "Les cryptes de St. Germain d'Auxerre," in _Bulletin Monumental_, 1872, vol. 38, p. 494; Viollet-le-Duc, _Dictionnaire de l'Architecture_, vol. 3, p. 377.

[299] At her trial in Rouen Jeanne spoke of Auxerre Cathedral: "_En route, je traversai Auxerre, ou j'entendis la messe dans la princ.i.p.ale eglise.... Alors, j'avais frequemment mes voix._" Marius Sepet, _Au temps de la Pucelle, recits et tableaux_ (Paris, P. Tequi, 1905).

[300] The abbey church at St. Eusebe is of archaeological interest. The octagonal tower over its altar, forming internally a lantern, is of the XII century, as are the piers and their arches. A pause came between the making of the nave's lower and upper parts, for the church did not follow the usual custom of advancing bay by bay, but was constructed story by story. The west front is full Gothic, and the ambulatory of the XIII century. The original choir was in large part replaced by the present well-built Flamboyant Gothic one, finished by 1530. What used to be the episcopal palace of Auxerre is to-day the Prefecture. It shows, in its wall on the river side, the Romanesque gallery built by Bishop Hugues de Chalons (1116-36). Its hall, with pignons alike at both ends, was erected by Bishop Guillaume de Mello (1247-70). _Congres Archeologique_, 1907, p. 188; Corberon, _Auxerre, ses monuments_; Lescuyer, "Notice sur l'eglise de St. Eusebe," in _l'Annuaire de l'Yonne_, 1839, p. 318; 1845, p. 103, "St. Eusebe," Max Quantin.

[301] The west apse of Nevers' Cathedral, dedicated to St. Juliette, mother of the child martyr, St. Cyr, formed, with its crypt and transept, part of the XII-century Romanesque edifice. Late in the XIII century was built a Gothic nave, which was reconstructed after a fire in 1308, and again its outer walls were reconstructed in the Flamboyant Gothic day. The present choir dates from the XIV century. The fine tower at the transept's southern facade was built 1506 to 1528. Nevers' former ducal palace, of the XV century, stands on a park overlooking the Loire.

The Romanesque abbey church of St. etienne, founded, tradition says, by St. Columba.n.u.s, combines the schools of Auvergne and Burgundy, and is important to archaeologists because the date of its building, 1063 to 1097, is certain. The expense of constructing it caused the Count of Nevers to forego the First Crusade. Bishop Ives of Chartres consecrated the church in 1097. _Congres Archeologique_, 1913, p. 300, Louis Serbat; Gaston Congny, _Bourges et Nevers_; J. Locquin, _Nevers et Moulins_ (Collection, Villes d'art celebres), (Paris, H. Laurens); Monseigneur Crosnier, _Monographie de la cathedrale de Nevers_ (1854); Abbe Sery, _Les deux apsides de la cathedrale de Nevers_ (1899); Morellet, Barat, et Bussiere, _Le Nivermois_ (1840), 2 vols.; Paul Meunier, _Nevers historique et pittoresque_ (1901).

[302] "Because the pearly white surfaces of the grisaille would make the adjacent colored surfaces appear heavy and opaque, they introduced, into these latter, limpid blues and yellows, very light reds, whites with a greenish or rosy tint. In the high windows of the cathedral of Auxerre they first tried this method, and here the grisaille is chased with a large and firm design that offsets the transparency of the colorless surfaces. Notice how the pedestal and the canopy, both very light, bind together the bands of grisaille on either side, while the latter is heavily painted with a trellis and rich ornaments. In Auxerre, the grisaille is found only in the lateral windows which are seen obliquely.

The apse windows, meant to be seen, in face and from a distance, are filled with color. The lateral windows are sufficiently opaque to prevent the solar rays which pa.s.s through them from lighting the colored windows on the reverse side. At certain hours the luminous rays throw a pearly light on the colored windows, imparting to them a transparency of tone and a delicacy impossible to describe. The opalescent light from the lateral windows makes a sort of veil of extreme transparency under the lofty vaults, and is pierced by the brilliant tones of the apse windows, producing the sparkle of jewels. Solid outlines then seem to waver like objects seen through a sheet of limpid water. Distance changes values and gains a depth in which the eye loses itself. Hourly during the day these effects are modified, and always with new harmonies of which one never wearies trying to understand."

--VIOLLET-LE-DUC, _Dictionnaire de l'architecture_, vol. 9, p. 447.

[303] John Mason Neale, translator of "The Rhythm of Bernard of Morlaix"

(e. 1140), in _Collected Hymns, Sequences, and Carols_ (London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1914), p. 19.

[304] "Je donne la palme a Jacques Amyot sur tout nos ecrivains francais."--MONTAIGNE.

"Quand il s'agit d'une jolie et gracieuse navete de langage, on dit aussitot pour le definir: C'est de la langue d'Amyot."--SAINTE-BEUVE.

[305] _Congres Archeologique_, 1907, on Dijon, Charles Poree; p. 546, "Les caracteres distinctifs des ecoles gothiques de la Champagne et de la Bourgogne," E. Lefevre-Pontalis; A. Kleinclausz, _Dijon et Beaune_ (Collection, Villes d'art celebres), (Paris, H. Laurens); _ibid._, "L'art funeraire de la Bourgogne," in _Gazette des Beaux-Arts_, 1901-02; _ibid._, _Claus s.l.u.ter et la sculpture bourguignonne au XVe siecle_ (Paris, 1906); Abbe L. Chomton, _Histoire de l'eglise St. Benigne de Dijon_ (Dijon, 1900), folio; G.T. Rivoira, _Lombardic Architecture_, vol. 2, chap. 1, on St. Benigne (tr. London and New York, 1910); Chanoine Thomas, _epigraphie de Notre Dame de Dijon_ (1904); H. Chabeuf, "Tete sculptee a Notre Dame de Dijon," in _Revue de l'art chretien_, 1900, vol. 43, p. 472; _ibid._, _Dijon, monuments et souvenirs_ (Dijon, Damudot, 1894); H. Havard, ed., _La France artistique et monumental_, vol. 6, p. 26, Cunisset-Carnot; Alphonse Germain, _Les Neerlandais en Bourgogne_, 1909; Raymond Koechlin, _La sculpture belge et les influences francaises au XIIIe siecle_ (Paris, 1903); Louis Courajod, _Lecons professees a l'ecole du Louvre_, 1887-96. Vol. 2, _Origines de la Renaissance_ (Paris, Picard et fils, 1901), 3 vols. On the sculpture at Dijon, see MM. Paul Vitry, Louis Gonse, Leon Pal.u.s.tre, Andre Michel; A. Humbert, _Sculpture en Bourgogne_ (Paris, H. Laurens); Ernest Pet.i.t, _Hist. des ducs de Bourgogne de la race capetienne_ (Dijon, 1905), 9 vols.; B. de Barante, _Hist. des ducs de Bourgogne de la maison de Valois_ (Paris, 1825), 12 vols.; Pet.i.t-Dutaillis, _Charles VII, Louis XI, et les premieres annees de Charles VIII_ (Paris, Hachette, 1902); Abbe Chevalier, _Le venerable Guillaume, abbe de St. Benigne_ (Dijon, 1875).

[306] "La gloire de Bossuet est devenue l'une des religions de la France; on la reconnait, on la proclame, on s'honore soi-meme en y apportant chaque jour un nouveau tribut. Bossuet, c'est le genie hebreu, etendu, feconde par le Christianisme, et ouvert a toutes les acquisitions de l'intelligence, mais retenant quelque chose de l'interdiction souveraine. Il est la voix eloquente par excellence, la plus simple, la plus forte, la plus brusque, la plus familiere, la plus soudainement tonnante."--SAINTE-BEUVE.

No city has been more prolific in notable sons than Dijon, where, as Voltaire said, "_le merite de l'esprit semble etre un des caracteres des citoyens_." Among them are Rameau, the musician (1683-1764), who founded French opera and discovered important laws in harmony; he and his descendants were exempted from t.i.thes by their native city; Dubois, the sculptor (1626-94), whose a.s.sumption and the high altar of Notre Dame, Dijon, are his best works; the critic and philologist, La Monnaye (b.

1641); the playwright, Crebillon (d. 1762); Piron, the witty epigrammatist (d. 1773); the learned President de Brosse (1709-77), whose _Lettres d'Italie_ are full of Burgundian vivacity and salt, and whose friend, Buffon, the naturalist (1707-88), though born at Montbard, was educated in Dijon, where his father was counselor in the parliament.

The grandmother of Madame de Sevigne, St. Jeanne Francoise de Chantal, founder of the Visitation Order, was born at 17 rue Jeannin, 1572. Her father was a president of Dijon's parliament. The sculptor Rude was a son of Dijon (d. 1855), and in this same city that had produced St.

Bernard and Bossuet, the most eloquent preacher of the XIX century, Lacordaire, spent his childhood and youth, as his mother came of an old legal family here. Leon Deshairs, _Dijon, architecture des XVIIe et XVIIIe siecles_ (Paris, 1910).

[307] Tournus abbey (Saone-et-Loire), when founded, was affiliated with the Columban tradition. From 946 to 980 the church was rebuilt, and again from 1008 to 1028, under the auspices of William of Volpiano, abbot of St. Benigne. On its outer walls are Lombard mural arcaded bands. The ma.s.sive forechurch, or narthex of three bays, has two stories of different dates, the lower one about 950, and the upper about 980.

The vault of the latter--a cradle carried on brackets--is the earliest example extant in France of a wide-span masonry roof at such a height.

Tournus exemplified the militant spirit of Burgundy's Romanesque school by experimenting with every kind of vault, cradle, half cradle, transverse cradle, and groin. The pier arcades of the main church are of William of Volpiano's time. The transept and choir are early XII century, and in that same period the reconstructed nave was covered by an experiment in stone roofing which never made a school; it had been used in Persia in the VI century. A series of half barrels borne on lintels were placed side by side across the wide nave, from north to south, instead of one long tunnel vault from east to west. The system allowed for the better lighting of the upper church, and as each barrel vault was b.u.t.tressed by the one next it, only at the east and west ends of the edifice was abutment required. _Congres Archeologique_, 1899, pp.

223, 236; and 1909; Clement Heaton, in _Journal of the Royal Inst.i.tute of British Architects_, 3d series, 1909.

[308] Viollet-le-Duc, _Dictionnaire de l'Architecture_, vol. 4, pp.

131-147; Huysmans, _L'Oblat_, chap. 5, on Notre Dame of Dijon. In his story, which is the continuation of _En Route_ and _La Cathedrale_, Huysmans described the closing of the Burgundian monastery of Val des Saints near Dijon. His theory is that by such acts the balance of good and evil in the world is destroyed, since no longer is propitiatory self-sacrifice and prayer offered to heaven for the sins being committed on earth: "_Il faut s'attendre a ce que le Bon Dieu tombe sur nous ...

pour remettre les choses en place, et vous savez comment il procede, dans ces cas la, il vous accable d'infirmites et d'epreuves._"

[309] A clockmaker named Jacquemart made such works, hence their name.

Originally only one figure struck the hours on the big bell. Then a wife, Jacqueleine, was given to the bell-knocker, and after a local wit had rallied the couple on their childless state, first one child, Jacquelinet, was added, and then another, Jacquelinette, and the industrious children now ring the quarter hours on the little bells.