The Cathedrals and Churches of the Rhine Part 6

An immense retable is placed at the head of the nave. It is of fine marble, and, though a seventeenth-century copy of Renaissance, is far more beautiful than such ornaments usually are outside of Italy.

At the head of the left aisle is a chapel which also has an elaborate marble retable of the same period. At the summit is a crucifix, and below in niches are statues of St. Thomas, of Constantine, and of his mother, Ste. Helene. In the same chapel is a "Christ in the tomb", in marble, surrounded by the twelve apostles.

From the same aisle ascends a charming ogival staircase ornamented with statues and bas-reliefs. Separating the chapels from the aisles are two magnificent iron grilles. In a Gothic chapel near the entrance is a fine _cul de lampe_ sculptured to represent the history of Adam and Eve.

A cloister exists, in part to-day as it did of yore, to the northeast of the cathedral. It is a highly beautiful example of fifteenth-century work, with its arcades varying from the firm and dignified early Gothic to the more flamboyant style of later years.

The church of St. Stephen is another ecclesiastical treasure of Constance with a rank high among religious shrines.

St. Stephen's occupies the site formerly given to a chapel dedicated to St. Nicholas, while not far away there was, in other times, another known under the name of Maria Unter der Linden. The Bishop Salomon III., who occupied the see from 891 to 919, enlarged the first chapel, which was further embellished in 935 by the Bishop Conrad of Altdorf, who added a choir thereto.

This in time came to be known as St. Stephen's. It was entirely renovated in 1047-51 by the Bishop Theodoric, who was interred therein upon his death. The church served as the meeting-place of the famous Roman tribunal known as the _Sacra Rota Romana_. Under the Bishop Otto III., who was Margrave of Hochberg, it was entirely reconstructed in 1428, and to-day it is this fifteenth-century building that one sees.

Previously, if the records tell truly, the great windows of the clerestory contained coloured gla.s.s of much beauty, but the remains of to-day are so fragmentary as to only suggest this.

From 1522 to 1548 St. Stephen's was consecrated to the followers of Luther, the first inc.u.mbent under this belief being the famous Jacob Windner of Reutlingen.

The exterior of St. Stephen's is not in any way remarkable. The bell-tower, which is very high, is a great square tower to the left of the choir, surmounted by a steeple formerly covered with wooden shingles, but in recent times coppered. The clock in this tower was the gift of Bishop Otto III. There is also a fine chime of bells, which will remind one of the churches of the Low Countries when he hears its limpid notes ring out upon the still air.

The interior has been newly whitened with that peculiar local brand of whitewash, and while bright and cheerful to contemplate, is also very bare, caused perhaps by the vast size of the nave and choir.

The aisles are separated from the nave by ogival arches, rising from a series of octagonal pillars, upon which are hung statues of the twelve apostles. The wooden roof of the nave and its aisles is curious and dates from 1600, but it is mostly hidden by a plaster covering which was added in the early nineteenth century.

The gilded and highly decorated organ and its case dates from 1583. In 1819 and 1839 it was "restored," whatever that may mean with regard to an organ, and at some time between the two dates were added two colossal figures of David and St. Cecilia. There are numerous and elaborate paintings in St. Stephen's which would make many more popular shrines famous. The most notable are "St. John before King Wenceslas," "The Stoning of St. Stephen," "The Glory of the Lamb," and an "Adoration,"

the work of Philip Memberger, who painted this last at the time of the reestablishment of the Catholic faith at Constance in 1550. A portrait of the artist is preserved in the sacristy.

Many other works of art were demolished or carried away in the years of the Reformation.

In 1414 three Popes disputed the honour of occupying the Holy See, John XXIII., Gregory XII., and Benoit XIII. The Emperor Sigismund, after having met the deputies of each of the aspirants at Como and Lodi, a.s.sembled a council to put an end, if possible, to the anarchy which had arisen within the Church. Its place of meeting was Constance, and the emperors, kings, princes, cities, churches, and universities of Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, Bohemia, and Italy all sent their deputations.

France was represented by Pierre d'Ailly, Archbishop of Cambrai, and Jean Gerson, the chancellor of the University of Paris.

The Council of Constance was the most numerous body which had ever been called together on behalf of the Church. It opened its sessions on the 5th of November, 1414, and continued until the 12th of April, 1418.

John XXIII. declared that he would abdicate if his two compet.i.tors would agree to follow his example. Gregory XII. agreed to this and sent his abdication to the council by an amba.s.sador, Carlo Malatesta; but Benoit XIII. fled to Spain and still clung tenaciously to the t.i.tle of Pope.

Finally, at a conclave composed of thirty-two cardinals, Othon Colonna was, in 1417, elected Pope under the name of Martin V.

The council held at Constance which condemned John Huss, who was a Wyclif disciple before he was one of Luther's, took place in 1414. Huss was condemned to be burned alive in 1415, and "he mounted the pile,"

says history, "with the courage of a martyr."

One may see in the Place Bruhl, a kilometre from the centre of Constance, the very spot where the "pile" was erected.

The present customs warehouse (Kaufhaus) formed Constance's famous council-chamber, and to-day it is one of the most interesting curiosities of the city.

The grand council-chamber is situated on the first floor of the building, and was erected in 1388. Its length approximates two hundred feet, and it is perhaps one hundred in width with a height of twenty feet.

The ceiling is held aloft by fourteen wooden pillars, and there are twenty-three windows.

There are no traces of wall decorations, and the opinion is hazarded that the walls and pillars were, at the time of the council, hung with draperies.

From the windows there is a fine view of the Lake of Constance, and but a little distance away is the Franciscan convent, now transformed into a factory, where was incarcerated John Huss previous to his martyrdom.

_Schaffhausen_

Of the falls of Schaffhausen, Victor Hugo wrote: "_Effroyable tumulte_."

This is the first impression. The four grand, overflowing channels of the cataract tumble, rise and redescend in an eternal tempest of rage.

A musical German once said that the only way to express the tumult of Schaffhausen's fall was to "put it to music." He probably had Wagner in mind, and perhaps there are persons who could conjure up a picture of its foam-decked course by means of the master's harmonies.

Montaigne was of a more practical turn of mind. He said: "_Cela arrete le cours des bateaux et interrompt la navigation de ladite riviere_."

Compared with Niagara, Victoria Nyanza, or the great cataract at Yosemite, the falls of Schaffhausen depict no great splendour of aspect, though they are tumultuous and unqualifiedly picturesque. Furthermore, they form a pretty setting for the little city of some five thousand souls which bears the same name.

With Basel, Schaffhausen has preserved its mediaeval character far more than the other cities of Switzerland. Its streets are narrow and irregular, and most of its houses are of the deep-gabled variety, many of them having their fronts frescoed in truly theatrical fashion, the effect, as might be supposed, being highly pleasing.

Schaffhausen owes its prominence in the commercial world to its falls, which make it necessary for merchandise making its way between Constance and the Lower Rhine to be transshipped at this point. The traffic is by no means so large as that which goes on in the Lower Rhine, but it does exist in proportions so considerable as to justify a certain activity in this old-world town which is noticeable to-day, and which has existed for many centuries. The name Schaffhausen (Schiffhausen) comes, it is claimed, from the houses of the boatmen, and this seems sufficiently plausible to be accepted without question.

The Fortress of Munoth dominates the city, crowning the height of Mont Emmers. It occupies the site of an ancient Roman stronghold, and, like its fellows which crown the heights bordering upon the German Rhine, is formidable in its grimness if not for its actual value in modern warfare.

In 1052, Count Eberhardt of Nellenburg founded an abbey here, and accorded to the abbot rights and powers without limitation, so far as the count's seigneurial lands were concerned. To-day, however, Schaffhausen is not rich in ecclesiastical monuments. Its cathedral is a Byzantine edifice of the twelfth century, and is a development from the church of the ancient abbey founded by Count Eberhardt.

There are no constructive or decorative details which call for remark, save twelve columns, each cut from a solid block of sandstone. They measure perhaps twenty feet in height, and are three feet or more in circ.u.mference.

There is no resemblance between the architecture of this church and others in the Rhine valley; therefore it cannot be considered as typical of any Rhenish manner of building.

St. John's is an ogival edifice also without any great merit, unless it be that of a grandeur which is contrastingly out of place in its cramped surroundings.

Below Schaffhausen is Sackingen, the third forest city of the Rhine. It owes its origin to a convent of St. Hilaire, founded in the sixth century by St. Fridolin.

The "Lives of the Saints" recounts how St. Columba and his disciples left Ireland and came to Constance, where they separated and went their various ways to evangelize the Rhine valley. To St. Fridolin fell that part lying between Basel and Laufenburg. His bones are yet venerated in the church of St. Hilaire.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

VII

BASEL AND COLMAR

_Basel_

After traversing several of the Swiss cantons, the Rhine leaves Switzerland at Basel. After the breaking up of the vast empire of Charlemagne, Basel came first under the authority of the Emperors of Germany, and then under that of the kings of the second house of Burgundy, until 1032, at which time the city became definitely incorporated into the German Empire.

Rudolph of Hapsburg besieged the city in 1274, and through the fourteenth and well into the fifteenth century it was the theatre of many struggles between the bishops and the emperors.

In 1061 and 1431 important councils of the Church were held here.

In 1489, at the village of Dornach, scarce half a dozen miles from Basel, took place that battle between six thousand Swiss and fifteen thousand Austrians which made possible the future independence of Switzerland.