Rouen, Its History and Monuments Part 2

These two monuments are not only remarkable by their magnificence and by the recollections they awaken, they have another attraction, as an history of the art at the time when the gothic style was giving place to that of the renaissance.

These monuments were renewed in 1838, in great perfection by M. Ubaudi, sculptor of Paris.

The remains of cardinal Cambaceres, who died at Rouen, on the 25th october 1818, are deposited in the little vault at the foot of the monument of the cardinals of Amboise.

The altar of this chapel is decorated with a very fine picture by Philip de Champagne, representing _the adoration of the shepherds_. This picture is much esteemed by painters and connoisseurs[9]. On the right, in leaving the chapel of the virgin, is a monument concerning which until recently, there were only conjectures. It is the statue of a bishop stretched on his back and under an arcade. On the lower part of the sepulchre, are mutilated bas-reliefs, which one might suppose, were intended to represent a synod. At least, we may distinguish several personnages seated, holding books in their hands and a bishop in the midst of them as if presiding. On the upper part we remark angels bearing away the soul of the deceased, represented by the body of a young child.

M.A. Deville, in his work on _the monuments of the cathedral of Rouen_, has proved that this monument was that of Maurice, archbishop of Rouen, who died in 1235. I must not pa.s.s over the popular tradition, however ridiculous it may appear, which is attached to this monument. This tradition says, that the body of the personage laid under this stone, is that of a bishop who, in a fit of a pa.s.sion, had killed his servant with the blow of a soup-ladle. The people add, that the bishop repenting, wished not to be interred in the church; but at the same time he forbad them to bury him outside of it, and it was to obey this ambiguous order that they made him a tomb in the thickness of the wall.

Not far from the chapel of the Virgin, in the right aisle, on looking eastward, we find the sacristy. We should stop a moment before its stone part.i.tion with its iron door: they are both much esteemed works of the end of the XVth century. The part.i.tion wall is from the liberality of Philip de la Rose, chief-archdeacon, and was erected in the year 1473 according to Farin, but 1479 according to Pommeraye[10].

Leaving now the inside of the cathedral let us examine the exterior of this admirable edifice. Here, details are impossible; we must see the whole ma.s.s, to form an idea of it. Who could number so many pieces of sculpture, capitals, sculptured galleries, bas-reliefs, and ornaments, which are multiplied under all forms? Historical explanations are those only which can be offered to the reader. We may add, that they are the most useful, since the rest is an affair of the eyes. The whole of the western facade, comprehended between the two front towers, is from the munificence of cardinal d'Amboise I. The building commenced on the 12th of june 1509, and was finished in 1530. The bas-reliefs, which decorate the doorways under the three entrances from the porch, were more or less mutilated by the calvinists in 1562. That on the right is now scarcely to be recognized: that of the great portal represents the genealogical tree of Jesse, or of the family of the Virgin; that on the left, the beheading of John the Baptist; the latter porch suffered considerably from a frightful storm, which took place in 1683.[11]

The tower, which terminates the facade to the north, bears the name of Saint-Romain. Its foundation is the most ancient part of the whole edifice; the rest was built later and at different periods. The whole was terminated in 1477, under the cardinal d'Estouteville. Before the revolution the tower of Saint-Romain contained eleven bells, there were four others in the pyramid, and only one in the b.u.t.ter Tower, but which was heavier than all the others and of which I shall speak.

The tower, which terminates the facade to the south, is named the b.u.t.ter tower (_Tour de Beurre_), because, it was erected with the alms of the faithful, who, afterwards obtained leave to eat b.u.t.ter during Lent: Its height is two hundred and thirty feet. The first stone was laid in the month of november 1485, by Robert de Croixmare, archbishop of Rouen. It was nearly twenty two years in building, since the edifice according to Pommeraye, was only terminated in 1507. Before its completion, it was consecrated (in 1496), by Henry Potin, suffragan to cardinal of Amboise Ist.

On the 29th of september 1500, this cardinal gave 4,000 livres, to be used in the casting of a bell; wishing, that it might be _the finest in the kingdom_. The furnaces were already built at the foot of the tower; and the mould commenced; but, they remembered that the wood work of the tower would not be strong enough to bear such a colossus. The mould was broken, and they made another which was smaller. The operation was commenced on monday the 2nd of august 1501, at eight o'clock in the evening, after a general procession round the Cathedral and the archbishop's palace. The circ.u.mference of this bell was thirty feet, its height ten feet and it weighed 36000 pounds. It is said, that the founder, John le Machon, of Chartres, who cast it, was so satisfied in having succeeded in this enterprise, that he died of joy twenty six days after.

On the visit of Louis XVI to Rouen, in 1786, the bell called George d'Amboise was cracked. In 1793, it was converted into cannons. Some pieces bearing the following inscription were made into medals and are now very rare.

MONUMENT DE VANITe DeTRUIT POUR L'UTILITe L'AN DEUX DE L'eGALITe.

MONUMENT OF VANITY DESTROYED FOR UTILITY THE SECOND YEAR OF EGALITY.

The door _of the librarians_, at the northern extremity of the transept, has been named so, from the booksellers shops formerly situated on each side of the court. Commenced in 1280, this portal was only finished in 1478. It was the usual entrance of great personnages, except the king and the princes of the blood, who entered the church by the great western porch. The bas-relief over the door had never been finished: the two lower compartments are the only ones. The court, which is before the porch of the librarians, was formerly a burying ground. They ceased to inter, because a murder had been committed in it and it had not been purified. This entrance to the church is ornamented with an infinite number of bas-reliefs, some representing subjects from the bible, others extremely comical and even licentious; several of these sculptures have of late been cleaned to be moulded. To the left, when facing the door, we perceive a man without his head, negligently leaning on his elbow: in his right hand a head is seen, which is that of a pig.

If we wish to view the northern side, we must enter the _cour de l'Albane_.[12] The collateral chapels are lighted by nine windows, which are surmounted by different ornaments. We also perceive, on some of the lower windows of the tower of Saint-Romain, the round arch of the XIth century; from which one may conjecture that this portion of the tower was spared from the conflagration, in the year 1200.

The porch of the _Calende_, was built at the same period as that of the booksellers, and is nearly disposed in the same manner. Above the door, we distinguish a large bas-relief, which is divided into three compartments: the lower one, says Mr Gilbert, represents _Joseph sold by his brethren_; that in the middle; _the funeral of Jacob_; and the upper one _Jesus-Christ on the cross_. To the right and left of the porch, are several large statues, which are more or less mutilated, and a profusion of bas-reliefs, most of which represent the history of Joseph.

The facade of this porch, like that of the booksellers, is accompanied by two square towers of handsome proportions, and having large pointed windows.

On the tower which still exists in the centre, there was formerly a handsome pyramid of three hundred and ninety six feet in height, a monument of the talents of Robert Becquet and of the liberality of cardinal d'Amboise, the second of the name. It was commenced in the month of june 1542, and terminated in the month of august 1544.

This beautiful pyramid was destroyed by fire, on the 15th of september 1822; at seven o'clock in the morning it had already fallen; two hours after, the roof of the choir, that of the transept and the third part of the roof of the nave, had equally fallen in. The melted lead of the roof was bought by M. Firmin Didot and converted into types for printing.

We cannot give too many praises to the zeal of M. de Vansay, prefect of the department at that time: the misfortune happened on the 15th september, and already on the 26th of the same month, the government having been informed and solicited by that magistrate, ordered M.

Alavoine, one of the best architects, to go to Rouen, and confer with the prefect on the means of remedying the havoc caused by the fire.

Early in the year 1823, the roofs of a aisles had already been repaired; and a portion of the nave had been covered with lead, by the 15th march of the same year. The roofs of the choir and of the whole transept, were also soon repaired; but, for these parts, a copper covering was preferred as being more solid and less liable to be destroyed. The raising and renewing the lantern was terminated in 1829.

From this new platform, the pyramid will rise majestically in the air, and of it we already discover thirteen floors (the pyramid will be completed with one more), each of four metres fifty centimetres, that is to say a height of fifty eight metres, or about one hundred and eighty feet. The spire of the church was first erected of stone but was overthrown by the electric fluid, after that, it was twice built of wood, and both times it became the prey of the flames; to rebuild it with wood would have been gathering materials for a third fire, but now it is made of cast iron and in open work. At the summit of the spire, there will be a small lantern surrounded by a gallery for the purpose of meteorological observations. The total weight of the spire when completed, will be 600,000 kilogrammes, or about 1,200,000 pounds. It is composed of 2,540 pieces, not including 12,879 iron pins[13]. Lastly, this magnificent pyramid will reach an elevation of 436 feet; that is to say 40 feet higher than the former, and will only be 13 feet less than the highest pyramid of Egypt[14].

[Footnote 4: _Historical description of the Cathedral of Rouen_, by Gilbert Rouen, Ed. Frere, 1837, 8vo. with 3 plates.--_Essay on ancient and modern painting on gla.s.s_, etc., by E.H. Langlois. Rouen, Ed. Frere, 1832. 8vo, with 7 plates.]

[Footnote 5: It is an error: Rollon did not die till the year 931 or 932.]

[Footnote 6: _Monuments of the cathedral of Rouen_, by A. Deville.

Rouen, N. Periaux, 1837, 8vo, with 12 plates.]

[Footnote 7: O Louis de Breze, Diana of Poitiers, afflicted by the death of her husband, has raised this monument to your memory, she was your inseparable companion, your very faithful spouse in the conjugal state, and will be equally so in the tomb.]

[Footnote 8: That is to say that the pope Julias IInd was of the house of Rovero (_Quercus_).]

[Footnote 9: The cathedral possesses also several other remarkable pictures; we distinguish amongst others, an _Annunciation_, by Letellier of Rouen, nephew of the celebrated Poussin: it is placed in the second chapel of the left aisle, on entering by the great portal. To the right and left of the choir, we find a _Samaritan_, by Charles Tardieu, and _The lying in the Sepulchre_, by Poisson.]

[Footnote 10: Mr Deville makes the dates between the years 1480 to 1482, according to the ma.n.u.script capitulary registers of the cathedral.]

[Footnote 11: We perceive two counterforts, which have been lately erected on each side of the portal, under the direction of Mr Alavoine, to consolidate the front of the edifice, which had caused some fear, as to its solidity.]

[Footnote 12: So called from the college of the same name founded by Pierre de Colmieu, archbishop of Rouen and cardinal of Albe.]

[Footnote 13: The whole of these pieces of iron were cast at the foundery at Conches, a small town, which is situated at about twelve leagues from Rouen, and the expense is valued at 500,000 francs.]

[Footnote 14: For the description of the archbishop's palace, see the chapter on the civil monuments.]

SAINT-OUEN.

The abbey of Saint-Ouen, is the most ancient, in Rouen and in the whole province of Normandy.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Saint-Ouen]

Founded in 533, during the reign of Clothaire Ist and the episcopate of Flavius, the sixteenth archbishop of Rouen, (comprehending Saint-Nienise), this abbey flourished particularly under the ill.u.s.trious prelate, whose name it bears and who enriched it with his patrimony.

The 14th of may, in the year 841, the Normans landed at Rouen; the following day they burned the abbey of Saint-Ouen.

Rollo, having become a Christian, and a peaceable possessor of Normandy, ordered the abbey to be repaired, and had the relics restored which the monks had carried off to secure them from the profanation of the Normans.

The monastery soon took the name of Saint-Ouen; instead of that of Saint-Peter, by which it was previously known.

The dukes Richard I and Richard II followed the example of Rollo, and continued the restoration of the abbey.

Such was the reputation of this monastery, that the emperor Otho, who had laid siege to the town during the reign of Richard Ist, surnamed _Sans-Peur_, demanded a safe conduct to come and perform his devotions at Saint-Ouen.

Nicolas, son of Richard IIIrd, and the fourth abbot under William the conqueror, caused the edifice, which had subsisted until then, to be demolished, and laid the first stone of a new church in 1046. Nicolas died too soon to complete the work; it was not finished until the year 1226, by William Ballot, the sixth abbot, who caused it to be dedicated in the same year, on the 17th of october, by Geoffroy, archbishop of Rouen.

The cloister and other buildings necessary for the use of the monks were finished under Rainfroid, the seventh abbot; but, in 1236, only ten years after the completion of this church, the work of eighty years was destroyed by fire in one day.

Through the liberality of the empress Matilda and Henry IInd, her son, the monks of Saint-Ouen succeeded in rebuilding their monastery; but it was again completely destroyed by fire in 1248.

At last, the celebrated Jean (_John_) or _Roussel Marc d'argent_, the twenty-fourth abbot, was elected in 1303. Fifteen years later, he laid the first stone of the present magnificent church, which is so generally admired. In one and twenty years, during which the works of this edifice proceeded, the choir, the chapels, the pillars which support the tower, and the greater part of the transept were finished. These buildings cost 63,036 livres five sous tournois, or about 2,600,000 francs of the present money.

The edifice was not entirely completed until the beginning of the XVIth century; but, the tower existed before the end of the XVth. An english tourist[15] has expressed the following sentiments on this magnificent church:

You gaze, and are first-struck with its matchless window: call it rose, or marygold, as you please. I think, for delicacy and richness of ornament, this window is perfectly unrivalled. There is a play of line in the mullions, which, considering their size and strength, may be p.r.o.nounced quite a master-piece of art. You approach, regretting the neglected state of the lateral towers, and enter, through the large and completely-opened centre doors, the nave of the abbey. It was towards sun-set when we made our first entrance. The evening was beautiful; and the variegated tints of sunbeam, admitted through the stained gla.s.s of the window, just noticed, were perfectly enchanting. The window itself, as you look upwards, or rather as you fix your eye upon the centre of it, from the remote end of the abbey, or the Lady's chapel, was a perfect blaze of dazzling light: and nave, choir, and side aisles, seemed magically illumined. We declared instinctively that the abbey of Saint-Ouen could hardly have a rival; certainly no superior.

The grand western entrance presents you with the most perfect view of the choir, a magical circle, or rather oval, flanked by lofty and cl.u.s.tered pillars, and free from the surrounding obstruction of screens, etc. Nothing more airy and more captivating of the kind can be imagined.

The finish and delicacy of these pillars are quite surprising. Above, below, around, every thing is in the purest style of the XIVth and XVth centuries. On the whole, it is the absence of all obtrusive and unappropriate ornament which gives to the interior of this building that light, unenc.u.mbered, and faery-like effect which so peculiarly belongs to it, and which creates a sensation that I never remember to have felt within any other similar edifice.