'Cilfc Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from Research Library, The Getty Research Institute http://www.archive.org/details/architecturaltouOOknig AN ARCHITECTURAL TOUR NORMANDY; SOME REMARKS NORMAN ARCHITECTURE. BY HENRY GALLY KNIGHT, ESQ., M.P. LONDON : JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. MDCCCXXXVI. G WOODFALL, angel court, skinner street, London. ADVERTISEMENT. The only merit to which the Author of the fol- lowing pages can lay claim, is that of a conscien- tious and diligent endeavour to arrive at the truth. In matters of antiquarian research truth de- pends upon accurate dates, and the difficulty of arriving at accurate dates can only be estimated by those who have sought after them. Dates abound in comparatively modern times, and when they cease to be important, but few can be discovered relating to early buildings, and affording satisfac- tory evidence on controverted points. With respect to the dates of such buildings as form the subject of the following inquiry, it might be expected that they could have been ascer- a 2 IV ADVERTISEMENT. tained without much difficulty. Folios upon folios exist professing to give a complete account of every church and convent in France. Every thing might be hoped from the Gallia Christiana, and the Neustria Pia, compiled by men of learn- ing and ability, who had access to all the eccle- siastical records, and original documents. But whilst these ponderous volumes offer an abund- ance of uninteresting details, they but too fre- quently throw no light upon the subject which requires elucidation. On the other hand, the buildings themselves were liable to a repetition of injuries such as those only who have studied the chronicles of the Middle Ages, are aware of. The fre- quency of the destruction of churches in those troubled times is only less remarkable than the facility and celerity with which they were re- stored. It must be remembered, that, in those days, all towns, as well as villages, were invariably, and exclusively, constructed of wood; that local, as well as general, wars, were constantly taking ADVERTISEMENT. V place, and that, on those occasions, fire was as regularly used as an engine of destruction as the sword. The first thing which an assailant did, was to throw combustibles into the place be- sieged % and the usual result was the entire destruction of the town, together with its churches. Add to the conflagrations of war, the fires which arose from the negligence of plumbers, from lightning, or other accidental causes, and it will be seen how many changes Vulcan alone has brought about in ecclesiastical buildings. Nor must it be forgotten, that there have been no less than five periods at which the demons of destruction have been more especially let loose in that country, of which I am about to describe a part. 1. During the ravages of the Normans in the ninth century. a The feudal chiefs seem to have employed something like the celebrated Greek fire. VI ADVERTISEMENT. 2. During the wars between John of England and Philip Augustus of France. 3. During the invasion of France by our Henry the Fifth. 4th. During the religious wars in the sixteenth century. 5th. During the French revolution. Another source of change arose from pros- perity itself, — from the wealth of the monastic fraternities, which enabled them to pull down, and rebuild, (frequently at surprisingly short inter- vals,) to increase the magnificence of their fabrics, or to fall in with the architectural fashion of the day. With all these opportunities of destruction, and causes of change, the wonder is not that so much has perished, but that so much remains. It will, however, be seen at once that, as the fortunes of ecclesiastical buildings have been exposed to so many vicissitudes, and as the annals, which record those fortunes, are so meagre, it must be a task of no small difficulty to discover the dates not ADVERTISEMENT. Vll only of existing buildings, but of the particular portions of those buildings upon which the solution of antiquarian problems frequently depends. Something may be done by a patient perusal of the chronicles and local histories — in which events are sometimes foimd which throw unex- pected light on the object of inquiry ; but the monkish writers are so little exact in their ex- pressions that their words must always be weighed with great caution. To produce the more effect, they often give you to understand that the whole church was destroyed when it was only damaged, or that an entirely new church was built by the individual who only added, perhaps only begun, a part. A consecration does not always imply a total reconstruction. A new consecration often took place when any thing considerable had been done to the fabric. On the other hand, the dis- covery and translation of the body of a saint de- serves attention ; — for such incitements to the zeal and liberality of the faithful, were seldom resorted Vlll ADVERTISEMENT. to, unless an unusual outlay was become a matter of necessity. Information, however, of this kind is rather cir- cumstantial evidence, than direct — rather approx- imation, than proof. The best evidence is contained in the buildings themselves, — the evidence of construction and style. This evidence is a fact, and a fact of more weight than bushels of inferences, conjectures, and opinions. Against the evidence of style, the evidence of silence (often much insisted upon) is of no avail, for unrecorded ruin is, in any in- stance, much more probable than the real ex- istence of an unprecedented anomaly. Such is the best assistance on which the anti- quary has to depend ; such are the difficulties which beset his path. They must plead my excuse, if the information contained in the following pages should appear to be scanty. The little there is will, I venture to hope, be found to be correct. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Page Introduction. — Dieppe. — Fecamp 1 CHAPTER II. Caudebec— Banks of the Seine.— St. Wandrille.— Jumie- ges. — St. Georges de Boscherville 9 CHAPTER III. Rouen 22 CHAPTER IV Chapel of St. Julien. — Lions-La-Foret. — Convent of Mor- temer 37 CHAPTER V. Briora. — Lisieux 48 CHAPTER VI. Caen. — St. Etienne.— St. Nicholas. — St. Trinite. — St. Pierre.— St. Georges du Chateau.— Fresne Camilly.— Annisy • 5 "* CHAPTER VII. Falaise 69 X CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. Page Bayeux — St. Gabriel.— Cathedral of Bayeux. — The Tapes- try 72 CHAPTER IX. Carenton.— St. Mere Eglise — Montbourg. — Valognes 79 CHAPTER X. Cherbourg. — Octeville. — Martinvast. — Briquebec. — Va- .— Le Ham 83 CHAPTER XI. Colombi. — St. Sauveur The Castle.— The Abbey — Blanchelande.— La Haye du Puits. — Lessay. — Cou- tances 87 CHAPTER XII. Cathedral of Coutances 99 CHAPTER XIII. Hambye. — Abbey of Hambye. — Gavray 109 CHAPTER XIV. St. Lo. — The Cathedral. — Church of St. Croix. — Church of St. Thomas of Canterbury. — Cerisy 1 1C CHAPTER XV. Torigny. — Vire. — Mortain. — The Castle — The Collegiate Church. — LAbbaye Blanche 12(J CHAPTER XVI. Savigny 142 CHAPTER XVII. Avranches. — Abbey of Luzerne 147 CONTENTS. XI CHAPTER XVIII. Page Mont St. Michel 153 CHAPTER XIX. Pontorson. — Saumur. — Chinon.— Fontevraud. — Alencon .... 158 CHAPTER XX. Seez. — Broglie. — Bernay 165 CHAPTER XXI. Evreux.— St. Taurin. — Shrine of St. Taurin. — Shrine of St. Calminius 171 CHAPTER XXII. Rouen . — Caudebec. — Lillebonne. — Montivilliers. — Graville. — Havre 1 80 CHAPTER XXIII. Norman Architecture in Normandy 190 CHAPTER XXIV. Norman Architecture in England 217 DIRECTIONS FOR PLACING THE PLATES. Jumieges Abbey Church, looking west, to face page 1 2. One of the Arches of the Nave, Church of St. Etienne, Caen, to face page 57. Nave of the Church of St. Trinite, Caen, to face page 60. Nave of the Cathedral of Bayeux, to face page 74- South Doorway, Mortain Church, to face page 1 33. Arches on the end of the South Transept St. Taurin, Evreux, to face page 177- ERRATA. Page 104. — Note. For Ecio, read Eeio. For honore, read honore (i. e. honorem). NORMAN ARCHITECTURE. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. — DIEPPE. — FECAMP. The startling dates assigned, by the Norman Society of Antiquaries, to some churches in the pointed style in Normandy, could not but excite considerable surprise and curiosity in other coun- tries. The Society, in their Report for the year 1825, depose that churches exist in Normandy, at Coutances, Mortain, and other places, which were built in the eleventh century, and built in the pointed style. It would not have been sur- prising, if France had done nothing more than assert her prior claim to the adoption of the B 2 DIEPPE. pointed style, but that instances of the complete development of that style should be found any where of such unsuspected antiquity, was enough to create astonishment. Under these circumstances, I determined to cross the water for the sake of inspecting and examining the architectural miracles in question. On so particular an occasion, I resolved not merely to trust to my own judgement, and engaged an architect by profession, Mr. Richard Hussey, to be my companion ; that I might have the assist- ance of a practised eye to examine the construc- tion of the buildings, and a practised hand to delineate their outline. We left Brighton on the 15th of May, 1831, by the steam-boat, and in eight hours arrived at Dieppe. Dieppe is an old-fashioned respectable-looking town, principally of brick, with houses of which the high roofs are relieved by dormer windows. It is nearly surrounded by low hills, which are, in many places, embellished by trees. On all this part of the French coast, trees approach the sea FECAMP. 3 as fearlessly as they do in the Isle of Wight. The principal church of Dieppe, that of St. Jacques, is of stone, large, and handsome; the south transept is as old as the beginning of the thirteenth century, but the greater part of it must have been rebuilt two centuries later. May 16. — From Dieppe we travelled through an hilly country, of which the high ground is bare ; but each of many successive valleys has its clear stream, and its pretty village, surrounded by trees and orchards. Near the village of Cany we saw a large chateau, which belongs to the Due de Luxembourg, and which is occasionally inhabited by the family. After a long descent, we arrived at Fecamp, a .small town which originally grew up round a once celebrated monastery. It stands on rising ground in a valley which is open to the sea, and, thus situated, the hallowed pile could not fail to attract the attention and oblations of mariners. The mo- nastery was entirely destroyed at the French revolu- tion, but the church survives, and is a fine building. B2 , combusta est tota Ecclesia Rotomagensis, cum omnibus campanis, libris, et ornamentis Ecclesiae, et maxima pars civitatis." — Chronicus Rotomagensis. This fact is confirmed by a Brief preserved amongst the records in the Tower of London. The brief bears date 1201, being the 2d of John. The words are, " Ad vestram < redimus pervenisse notitiam qualiter Ecclesia Rothomagen- sis, quae est mater ecclesiarum Normannorum, quam pluri- mum diligimus, igne combusta sit et funditus fere destructa. Ea propter rogamus," &c, &c. For the above extract, and for much other valuable in - formation, 1 am indebted to the kindness of Mr. John Gage, whose name is a sufficient security for acute, correct, and conscientious, research. THE CATHEDRAL. 29 in the early part of the thirteenth century, In- gelramus, the architect, who about the same time was employed to rebuild the abbey church of Bee, was engaged in the restoration of the Cathedral of Rouen a . Of his work there appear to be traces in the lower part of the north-western tower, and the adjoining part of the west front, together with both the lateral portals. All these portions are in the early pointed style — in a totally different style from that of the centre portal, and the florid enrichments with which the west front was long after adorned. The reconstruction went on during the greater part of the thirteenth century, but must have been completed in the course of it, for we find that, in the year 1302 b , the Chapter took down the J " La Chronique de l'Abbaye du Bee en Normandie fait mention d'un nomme Ingelramne, qui ayant eu la conduite de l'Eglise de Notre Dame a Rouen, au commencement du troizieme siecle, entreprit aussi l'Eglise du Bee sous Richard III., Abbe du tteu." — Felibien, Histoire des Architectes, livre iv., page 205. b Pommeraye, Histoire de l'Eglise Metropolitaine de Rouen. 30 THE PALAIS DE JUSTICE. Lady's Chapel at the east end, (considering it too small,) and began the one which at present ex- ists a . Much about the same time was undertaken the beautiful northern portal, known by the name of the Portail des Libraires, though it was not entirely finished till 1478. The north-western tower was finished in 1477. The more noble tower at the south-eastern angle was begun in 1485, and finished in 1507. The first stone of the applique to the western facade was laid in 1509 b , and the whole was finished in 1530. This was the work of Cardinal D'Amboise, then archbishop of Rouen. The same munificent prelate renewed the roof of the choir, which had been destroyed by that common bane of churches, the carelessness of plumbers. The fire took place in 1514. The new roof of the choir is more elevated than that of the nave. The Palais de Justice and La Sale des Pro- a The cathedral is, altogether, 408 (French) feet long, and the nave is 84 feet high. b Pommeraye. LA MAISON DE BOURGTHEROUDE. 31 cureurs, which is a wing of the same building, are rich specimens of the less pure and obtuse style of the fifteenth century. The Sale des Pro- cureurs was built in 1493, for an exchange, and the Palais de Justice was added for an exchequer, by Louis XII., in 1499. La Sale des Procureurs is a little Westminster Hall. Of the renaissance style, which corresponds with that of our James L, and may be called the second transition, Rouen possesses a variety of specimens both in wood and stone. Of the stone buildings La Maison de Bourg- theroude is the most remarkable. The surface of its walls is divided into compartments by pilasters, and these compartments are enriched with crowded relievos, more after the minute and elaborate manner of a cabinet, than of a build- ing of stone, which is destined to resist the outward air. The relievos represent the interview of Francis I. and Henry VIII. The apartments of the abbess in the ci-devant 82 CHURCH OF ST. PAUL. convent of St. Amand, are another rich and cu- rious specimen of this peculiar style— but per- haps have ceased to exist, as the convent was half demolished when I saw it. The two remains of the greatest antiquity at Rouen are without the walls, at opposite ex- tremities of the city ; the one at the east, the other at the west. The one at the east is the small Church of St. Paul, of which the date is unknown, but which is certainly very early Norman. The plan of this building is singular : its chancel is com- posed of three large semicircular recesses, one at the end, and one on each side. Under the eaves of this part of the building are very cu- rious corbels, most of which are in the shape of human heads. This church stands on rising ground below Mount St. Catherine, near the road to Paris. The other architectural curiosity lays claim to more than Norman antiquity. This valued relic ST. GERVAIS. 33 is the Crypt of St. Gervais, which is believed to be the same that received the body of the Saint in the fourth century. The situation of the Church of St. Gervais is in favour of the truth of the story. It stands on high ground, at the western extremity of the city, and by the side of what was the old Roman way from Rouen to Lillebone. Nothing, therefore, is more probable than that the Saint should have been buried where it was customary to bury in those times, by the way side, and without the city. The Crypt is that sort of strong, unornamented structure, which might endure for any period of time, and the slight peculiarities which are still to be traced in its construction are of a Roman character. Courses of thin brick, or tile, are observable between the courses of stone. This was the manner in which the Romans often built their walls in the lower times of the empire, and the same kind of construction is to be seen in the walls of the remains of buildings allowed to be Ro- c 3 34 ST. GERVAIS. man in other parts of France. The walls of the Crypt may, therefore, be deemed original, but the vault has been restored, and the poly- gonal absis above the Crypt is evidently a recon- struction — for none of its parts agree. It is, however, possible that it may have been rebuilt with the fragments of its predecessor, for the capitals of the half pillars which ornament its exterior are very like bad Roman, and not at all like early Norman; and, from the peculiar sanctity of the spot, it is probable that this building would be restored amongst the first. All, however, that can be asserted is, that Roman fragments appear to have been introduced when- ever this apsis was rebuilt. In the church itself there is nothing remark- able. A priory, which has ceased to exist, was formerly attached to this church. The tranquil seclusion of this religious house induced William the Conqueror to order himself to be carried there when oppressed by his last illness. It was there he expired, and there took place that ST. GERVA1S. 35 extraordinary scene, which, whilst it teaches princes to reflect, offers a revolting spectacle of baseness and ingratitude. Scarcely had the Conqueror breathed his last, when the lords, who attended him, hurried away to their castles, the servants, who remained, plundered the apart- ment and disappeared, and the body of that great prince was left utterly alone. So com- plete was the desertion, that when, after some time, the ecclesiastics had repaired in procession to St. Gervais, and the archbishop had directed that the body should be removed to Caen, there to be interred in the church which the Con- queror had raised, not an individual was to be found who would take charge of the funeral. At length one of those gallant spirits who, on most urgent occasions, come forward to redeem the character of human nature, Herluinus, a knight residing in the neighbourhood, bound by no ties to William, and wholly disinterested in the matter, was moved by his own heart to sup- ply the place of those whose duty it was to be 36 ST. GERVAIS. there; and having procured all that was neces- sary, at his own expense, he caused the body to be removed, and himself escorted it, by water and by land, to Caen a . a Ordericus Vitalis. — A verbal error in most of the copies of Ordericus, has led some authors into the mistake of re- presenting that the body of the Conqueror was taken, in the first instance, to St. Georges de Boscherville ; ad Sanctum Georgium is written, instead of ad Sanctum Gervasium; but the whole context of the remainder of the passage clearly establishes which it should be. CHAPEL OF ST. JULIEN. . 37 CHAPTER IV. CHAPEL OF ST. JULIEN. LIOJNS-LA-FORET. — CONVENT OF MORTEMER. On the south side of the Seine, about three miles from Rouen, is a chapel which was built by one of our kings. It is called the Chapel of St. Julien. In the year 1160% Henry II. of England enclosed a park, and built a royal man- sion, in this situation, and, soon after, within the precincts of the park, founded a Priory, of which this chapel is the only vestige. The chapel is much degraded and mutilated, having been converted into a stable by the pre- sent proprietor. " Cela fait une tres bonne a " Anno 1160, Henricus Rex, parcum et mansioneni regiam fecit juxta Rotomagum." — Rupertus de Monte. 38 CHAPEL OF ST. JULIEN. ecurie, n'est ce pas ?" said the servant who showed it me. " Cela devient utile pour la pre- miere fois." The chapel consists of a nave without side aisles. It has a semicircular apsis. The half pil- lars which run up the sides to support the roof have foliage capitals of different patterns. The lower part of the walls of the interior, as high as the bottom of the windows, is ornamented with a series of dwarf half pillars and round arches. The windows and doors are round head- ed. Under the eaves of the roof is a cornice of grotesque heads. The flatness of the ex- ternal walls is relieved by thin buttresses, which terminate at the eaves. The workmanship is good throughout, and when perfect, this building must have possessed a character of great elegance. On my way back to Rouen I was attracted by historical associations to the convent of Les bonnes Nouvelles, originally founded by Matilda, in memorial of her reception of the news of the conquest of England. Not a fragment, how- LIONS-LA-FORET. 30 ever, of the original building remains*, and the church, which replaced it many centuries after, is converted into a barrack. Another day I made a more distant expedition to visit the ruins of another work of Henry II., the ci-devant convent of Mortemer, which stands at a short distance from Lions-la-Foret. For this expedition I hired a cabriolet at Rouen, and on this occasion was initiated into the suffer- ings which await the antiquary who is induced, by the ardour of his zeal, to extend his researches beyond the borders of the high roads of France. If the cabriolet had not been as strong as a cart, it would never have survived the roughness of the traverse which conducts to Lions-la-Foret. The straining horse could with difficulty drag us a " The first church was finished by Henry I., and, in this church, the body of Arthur, Duke of Brittany, was buried. This church was burnt down in 1243. The second was de- stroyed by lightning in 1 35 1 . The third was greatly damaged by the Huguenots in 1562, and totally destroyed by Henry IV. when he besieged Rouen, in 1591 . The existing building was begun in 1603." Description de la Haute Normandie. 40 LIONS-LA-FORET. through the ruts and holes which jolted us to pieces. Our only respite was when we fairly took the fields, which, in unenclosed France, is a re- source of which the traveller frequently avails him- self. Lions is approached through the remains of a forest to which it owes its surname. To this forest, once of great extent, and convenient from its vicinity to Rouen, the Dukes of Normandy eagerly resorted for the diversion of the chase, a pursuit for which they became but too renowned, but which they learnt from others. Sailors are not hunters ; and the Normans, who first settled in Neustria, were men of the sea ; but, when they mixed with the Franks on terms of friendship, they beheld the splendid hunting parties which were the delight and the pride of the Merovingian kings a , and, very naturally, adopted a diversion a When Clovis divided his kingdom between his four sons, he bequeathed to each of them the right of hunting in the Foret de Cuise near Soissons, which was so favourite an hunting ground, that not one of the brothers would have peaceably relinquished the privilege. LIONS-LA-FORET. 41 which supplied an excitement almost necessary to warriors in peaceable times. So early as 929, Wil- liam I., Duke of Normandy, built an hunting box at Lions, which afterwards became a castle im- portant from its strength. La Foret de Lions was the scene of many of the adventures which are re- corded in the old chronicles and romances. Lions stands on a mound in a valley. The castle, and all that gave consequence to the place, is gone. The straggling town is entirely com- posed of half timber houses, and consists of two separate villages, once united by streets which have long disappeared. You distinguish a con- vent metamorphosed into a manufactory, and a few houses of persons in easy circumstances, amongst which that of the notaire and the phar- macien are, of course, conspicuous. Even here is a Salon de Biliard, and a Cafe, which, in France, are indispensables. I was glad to hear of two inha- bited chateaux in the neighbourhood. From hence I walked to Mortemer, which is about two miles from the town. Ascending the hill, 4*2 CONVENT OF MORTEMER. I plunged into a wild romantic forest, which for- merly belonged to the monks, and in which they amused their leisure hours. My guide regaled me with anecdotes of the prowess of one of the three monks who occupied the convent at the time of the dissolution. " Cetoit un brave chasseur, ce gaillard la ! " Public opinion entertained so low an estimate of monastic institutions that, long be- fore the decree of the National Assembly which terminated their existence, the religious houses were, for the most part, thinly tenanted. Few Frenchmen would embrace what was considered a profession of indolence and inutility. The remains of the convent are pleasantly situated in the bottom of a deep valley, surrounded by hills covered with wood. A clear stream runs by the convent walls. The convent derived its name of Mortemer (mortuum mare) from the stagnant pools formed by this stream before it was confined within proper limits. Almost the whole of the church is pulled down to within a few feet of the ground. No part re- CONVENT OF MORTEMER. 43 mains in any degree of preservation except the north transept, at the end of which is a large cir- cular window, which does not appear ever to have had any tracery. From the shape of the rib which is still attached to the wall of the transept, the vaulting of the roof seems to have been point- ed; but, from what can be collected from the few remaining architectural indications, round forms appear to have prevailed in the greater part of the building. The west front, however, which was standing a few years ago, and of which a view has been preserved by Taylor and Nodier, was in the early pointed style. Adjoining to the church is the oldest part of the convent. This part remains nearly entire, and is an interesting specimen of the transition style, exhibiting a complete mixture of round and pointed fonns. The doors of the chapter-house are round, and its coeval windows, pointed. This church was begun a in 1154, at the ex- a Neustria Pia. 44 CONVENT OF MORTEMER. pense of Henry II. of England, who urged on the work with so much ardour that the nave and tran- septs were finished in three years. About the same time his mother, the Empress Maud, caused two large buildings to be constructed in the vici- nity for the reception of strangers. By 1174 a the chapter-house must have been in existence, for Abbot Godfrey, who died in that year, was buried in that place. The next abbot b laid the foundations of the east end of the church, and, with the assistance of a gift of one hundred pounds from the king, made some progress in this part of the work. In the time of his successor, Abbot William, the church was entirely finished c , through the further assist- ance of eighty pounds d , contributed by Froge- a " Gaufridus Abbas, sepultus est in capitulo 1174." Neustria Pia. b " Ricardus Abbas — Omnia fundamenta capitis ecclesia* jecit, et aliquanto altius a terra elevavit." — Neustria Pia. c " Gulielmus Abbas. Tempore ipsius, ecclesia tota per- fecta est." — Neustria Pia. d The Norman pound, and the Anglo-Norman pound, CONVENT OF MORTEMER. 45 rius, Bishop of Seez, for that purpose. Abbot William, also, sent one of his monks into England were of the same value under the Norman kings, and were always divided into twenty shillings ; each shilling being then, as now, divided into twelve pence. All authorities agree that, in those times, the pound con- tained three times as much silver as at the present day, but they are by no means unanimous when they proceed to con- sider how much more three times as much silver ivas worth in the twelfth century than now. Some estimate the difference so high as twenty to one. Others place it so low as five. According to Hume, it is ten. According to Lyttleton and Henry, it is five. But, whatever may have been the case seventy years ago, there appears to be every reason to believe that the difference be- tween the value of that quantity of silver, in the twelfth cen- tury and at the present time, is at least as much as ten to one. We find, in Bishop Fleetwood's Chronicon Preciosum, that, in the time of Henry I., (who reigned from 1100 to 1135,) forty sheep were valued atone pound, and that a stalled ox was worth one shilling. In 1145 an ox was worth three shillings. If we multiply this sum by three, to allow for the diminished quantity of silver, and then by ten, the product will be four pounds ten shillings, a moderate price for a lean ox at the present day. In 1185, the tenants of Shireborn were by custom to pay 46 CONVENT OF MORTEMER. to purchase lead, with which he made pipes to bring a supply of water from the upper part of the valley to the offices of the convent. Abbot William died either in 1200% or 1205 b . Finally, the church was consecrated by Robert II., Archbishop of Rouen, in 1209 c . either four hens, or twopence. Apply the same rule, and it raises the price of each hen to one shilling and threepence, a common price for a hen in country markets, at the pre- sent time. Evidence of this kind is more to be depended upon than the comparative price of wheat, in calculations which have reference to so remote a period ; because the notices of the price of wheat in those times, occur very rarely, and the article itself, from the imperfect state of agriculture, and the dearths arising out of the troubled state of society, was sub- ject to such extraordinary fluctuations as to render it, during that period, by no means a safe criterion. If, therefore, we believe that three times as much silver . as the pound now contains, was worth ten times as much in the twelfth century as at the present day, we shall perceive that the Bishop of Seez gave, towards the building of the Abbey Church of Mortemer, what would now be worth two thousand four hundred pounds. * Gallia Christiana. b Neustria Pia. c Gallia Christiana. CONVENT OF MORTEMER. 47 It i6 probable that the west front was built the last, that is by Abbot William, at the close of the twelfth century. I have given the history of this convent at the greater length, because it is seldom that so com- plete an account of the progress of a building has been preserved. The remains of the convent, and part of its do- main, have recently been purchased by an indivi- dual who meditates converting them into a country residence, and a delightful one they would make. The Englishman, who sees these things going on, figures to himself the aspect of his own country in the days of Henry VIII. 48 DEPARTURE FROM ROUEN. CHAPTER V BRIOM. — LISIEUX. On our departure from Rouen, we crossed the Seine, and, from an eminence on the southern side, caught a magnificent view of the river, and its windings. Further on we saw, from the road, the situation of that once celebrated seat of learn- ing, the Abbey of Bec a , but we did not turn out * The College of Bee owed its origin to the talents of the celebrated Lanfranc, afterwards Archbishop of Canter- bury. Lanfranc was a native of Lombardy — who leaving Italy, for what reason is uncertain, established himself at Bee, and undertook to give lectures. His great reputation attracted the notice of William the Conqueror, who made him the first Abbot of his new Monastery at Caen, and, after the Conquest, promoted him to the See of Canterbury. An improvement in domestic architecture seems to have BRIOM. 49 of our way to pay it a visit, as, with the exception of a single tower, and some slight remains of the Xorman building, it is now totally demolished. We changed horses at Brioin, and at la Poste had an opportunity of observing some of the effects of the French revolution. The house, which is now occupied by the post-master, was formerly the chateau of the seigneur of the place. The building, far too large for its present proprietor, exhibits all the marks of neglect and decay. The parterre, which you could trace by the box edging, was filled with weeds instead of flowers ; and a stream, formerly enlarged into ornamental ponds and canals, now turns a mill which is esta- been introduced at Bee, and not till the latter part of the twelfth century. Robertus de Monte records the death of Roger, Abbot of Bee in 1178, who, he says, added a build- ing to his convent having chambers uith fire-places, one above another, for the reception of strangers. This would hardly have been dwelt upon with so much minuteness, had it been done before. 50 LISIEUX. blished in the pleasure-ground. " More useful as it is ! " may be said by some. Perhaps so — yet no Englishman, contemplating his own garden, be it ever so large, or ever so small, would relish the idea of its being destined to undergo a similar change. Arriving at Lisieux, a pretty, half-timber town pleasantly situated in a valley, we went to examine the cathedral, about the date of which much has been said. It is in itself a fine building, in the early pointed style, and, if in England, might be safely ascribed to the time of Henry III. The windows are lancet, but the arches rest on pillars with large heavy capitals of various patterns, some of which imitate the Roman. It appears that a church stood on this identical spot, which was finished in 1077, and brought to an untimely end in 1130. During the troubles occasioned by the struggle between Stephen and the Empress Maud, the Counts of Anjou and Poitiers made an inroad into Normandy, and LISIEUX. 51 attacked Lisieux. The town was set on fire, as usual, and a great part of it was consumed toge- ther with its cathedral a . Arnulfus, who was Bishop of Lisieux from 1140 to 1182, began and made considerable pro- gress in a new church, and to him the existing church has been attributed 15 . But the pointed style in his time, had scarcely begun to appear in this part of France, and the style of the church in question is not even the pointed in its infancy, but such as it became when completely established. The real date of the existing church is disclosed in a single line of the Gallia Christiana, which, a " Tunc ibi ecclesia Sancti Petri cum tota villa concremata est."— Orderic. Vital. Hist. Lib. 13, p. 916. b This supposition was encouraged by the following epi- taph on a tomb within the existing cathedral. " Hoc templum junctaeque aedes, sunt Praesulis olim Arnulfi antiquum Lixoniensis opus." But the authors of the Gallia Christiana have the can- dour to mention that this was not the original inscription, but one which was substituted when a new monument, in comparatively modern times, was erected in honour of this prelate. D 2 52 LISIEUX. speaking of other things that occurred in the year 1226, mentions, incidentally, that in the same year the church of Lisieux was destroyed by fire*. Thus a second time the prey of the devouring ele- ment, the church was a second time restored. Some of the pillars, with their capitals, appear to belong rather to the twelfth than the thirteenth century ; but portions of the preceding fabric may have escaped the flames, and have been com- bined, as was frequently done, with the new work of the repairs. The third cathedral must have been in at least a forward state in the j r ear 1267, because in that year Bishop Fulco was buried in the choir b ; and it was, probably, finished before 1299, because in that year Bishop William, the third, added a new chapel to the episcopal re- sidence , and he would scarcely have undertaken another considerable work whilst his cathedral remained incomplete. a " 1226 — igne combusta est Lexoviensis Ecclesia." Gal- lia Christiana. " Ibid. * Ibid. LISIEUX. 53 Such information as I have been able to meet with on this subject, was obtained, on the follow- ing day, in the public library at Caen. In all the larger towns of France there are excellent public- libraries, arranged in spacious rooms, with salaried librarians, every accommodation for readers, and every disposition to assist them. I could not visit these libraries without wishing that similar insti- tutions could be introduced in the principal towns of England, for in a country where there are so many persons whose circumstances allow them leisure, where education is more and more dif- fused every day, and in times when men's minds are on the stir, the easy access to books, in every part of the kingdom, could not but prove at once agreeable and beneficial. The encouragement of such an object would be a wise application of public money. 54 CAEN. CHAPTER VI. CAEN. ST. ETIENNE. — ST. NICHOLAS. — ST. TRIN1TE. — ST. PIERRE. — ST. GEORGES DU CHATEAU. — FRESNE CAMILLY. — ANNISY. Ridges of limestone, separated by wide flats of rich meadow, characterize that part of Nor- mandy in which Caen is situated. Old Caen was placed on one of these ridges, but modern Caen has gradually spread over the lower ground. It is a large city, and, having inexhaustible quar- ries in its immediate vicinity, is entirely built of stone. The limits of the present citadel are said to have originally been those of the town. Caen possesses several handsome churches, but its lead- ing features are the two celebrated abbeys founded CAEN. 55 and built by the Conqueror and his queen, at op- posite extremities of the city. To these leading features must be added the spire of St. Pierre which is nearly in the centre of Caen, and which constantly attracts attention. The exterior of the Conqueror's church sur- prises at first sight, because the eye is first caught by its spires, which are numerous and produce a good effect, but which you see at once belong to far later times than those of William. These are additions and restorations. The west end, the whole body of the church, and the interior, with the exception of the choir, remain, as well they may from their strength and solidity, as the Conqueror left them. The stones of the walls are squared, and about a foot in width ; the joints are rather wide, and the mortar is un- sifted. The west portal is very plain. It has small recessed pillars at the sides, and a few mouldings without any enrichments. There is a plainness about the exterior of the western facade of St. Etienne, its unadorned portal, 56 ST. ETIENNE. and its undivided, round-headed windows, which amounts to baldness ; but enter it, and you per- ceive that, if the style is severe, the effect is noble and imposing. Disdaining to be decollated, it seeks to be sublime. St. Etienne is in the form of a cross. Origi- nally it had three apsises a ; the principal one, at the east end, which has since been removed ; and one in the east side of each transept, both of which remain. Piers, to which half columns are attached, support the arches which divide the nave from the aisles. The half pillars attached to the front of the piers, and which run up to the roof, are alternately single, and in clusters of three. The capitals of the pillars are composed of simple fo- liage. The apertures of the triforium b are circular ' An apsis is the semicircular recess which invariably formed the east termination of the primitive churches. The pri- mitive churches were copied from the Roman Halls of Jus- tice — at the upper end of which was always a semicircular recess — occupied, in the halls of justice, by the praetor and judges ; and, in the churches, by the bishop and priests. b The slope of the roof of the side aisles produces the ONE of the ARCHES of the NAVE, CHURCH of S fc ET I ENNE.CAEN ST. ETIENNE. 57 and wide. A double-filleted moulding is carried along the walls below the windows of the Cleres- tory. The groined roof over the nave is Norman, but may have been added in later times. From the evidence of other churches, it should appear that the Norman architects had not acquired the cou- rage to throw vaults of stone over wide spaces so early as the days of William ; and there is some- thing about the small auxiliary pillars which help to support the roof of St. Etienne's, their adapta- tion and ornaments, which tends to confirm the notion that this stone vault was a subsequent ad- dition. As you look up the nave, the half pillars at- tached to the ends of the piers, produce the effect of a long colonnade, terminating with the magni- ficent arches under the central tower. necessity of a large intervening space between the tops of tile arches of the nave, and the windows above, which space is called the Triforium, and is ornamented with a range of pan- nels or openings. The part above, in which are the win- dows, is called the Clerestory. d3 58 ST. ETIENNE. The East end and choir were rebuilt by Simon de Trevieres, who was Abbot from 1316 to 1344 a , but, perhaps to be more in accordance with the simplicity of the remainder of the fabric, this reconstruction is in the style of an earlier period than that in which it was built. The windows are undivided lancets, and exhibit none of the tracery which was habitual in the four- teenth century ; but indications of that period may be detected in other parts of this work. The central spire, which is based on part of the Norman tower, was rebuilt in the fifteenth cen- tury; the tower having been greatly damaged when Henry V. besieged Caen in 1417. The abbey attached to this church was fortified in 1354. After the capture of Caen by Edward III., the inhabitants surrounded the town with new fortifications ; but the two great convents, which were situated without the walls, remained unpro- tected, and, in consequence, obtained leave to pro- tect themselves. a Gallia Christiana. ST. NICHOLAS. 59 The flat stone which now records the memory of the founder is the third which has been ap- plied to that destination. The first was destroyed in 1562 by the Huguenots, who, in their enmity to the Catholic religion, did infinite damage to the Catholic churches. The second existed till 1742, when the i*emains of the Conqueror were trans- lated from the centre of the nave into the choir, on which occasion the stone was laid down which is now there. When William built this church, and resolved to dedicate it to the first martyr, he sent to Be- sancon, where an arm of the saint was preserved, and obtained a part of the relic. The convent has become a college. At no great distance from St. Etienne, now con- verted into cavalry stables, is the ruined church of St. Nicholas. This church was in progress in the year 1083. By an agreement between King William and the Abbess of St. Trinite, it was made the church of a new parish, to be dependent on 60 ST. TRINTTE. St. Etienue, and served by one of the monks 2 . The nave consists of seven piers with half pillars attached, and as many arches. The pillars have foliage capitals. The aisles are roofed with plain, groined vaulting. The exterior of the apsis at the east end is ornamented with half columns, which run up, at intervals, from the base to the cornice. The cornice, which runs round the church, is a double filleted moulding, with uniform corbels. The west portal is ornamented with a single fil- leted moulding, and over that a dented label. The abbey of the Holy Trinity was founded by Queen Matilda in 1066, and the church was con- secrated in the same year. This church arose at the same time with that of the Conqueror, but its character is entirely dif- ferent ; it is altogether more enriched, probably for the sake of variety in two cotemporary buildings. The west front, a perfect contrast to the bald a Abbe de la Rue. — Histoire de Caen. NAVE OF THE CHURCH OF 5 TE TRI N IT E, CALN -LmtdcK ■ -nijvlt-d 1 ST. TRINITE. 61 severity of St. Etienne's, has a good deal of orna- ment about its portals, windows, and towers. In the interior, the embattled frette, or a la Grecque, moulding, is earned round the arches of the nave. The piers are narrower and lighter. The pillars at each end of the piers, more lofty and promi- nent. Their capitals, enriched with different kinds of foliage. The transept arches, under the central tower, are ornamented with numerous bands of quatre- foils in bas-relief. Above the arches of the nave, there is a pecu- liar arrangement. Instead of a deep triforium, here is a light gallery, the small pillars of which, combining with those which support the roof, ex- hibit a few grotesque figures amongst the foliage of their capitals. The original east end, which is wanting in the Conqueror's church, here remains entire. It con- sists of the usual semicircular apsis, and is enriched internally with two tiers of pillars ; the lower, large ; 0-2 ST. TRINITE. the upper, small. Round the windows of the east end, externally, are several mouldings. Beneath the choir is a large crypt, or subterra- neous chapel, supported by a crowd of pillars. The western towers have a truncated appear- ance, and are said to have been partly pulled down in 1360 a by the partisans of Charles the Bad, king of Navarre, who, in those distracted times, had established himself at Mantes, and to annoy the Dauphin, then Regent of France, frequently made incursions into the surrounding country. Charles the Bad remained in that part of France till 1365, when he was obliged to conclude peace with the Dauphin, and received Montpellier in ex- change for Mantes. The convent attached to Matilda's church was assigned to Benedictines of noble birth. The ab- bess was allowed to fortify this convent in the fourteenth century, and appointed a regular com- ' Huet, Origines de Caen. ST. PIERRE. 63 inandant of the fort. The first commandant was a Percy. The convent has been entirely rebuilt in mo- dern times. It is now converted into an hos- pital, and the Benedictine ladies have been succeeded by the most respectable and useful of those who bind themselves by religious vows, the Sisters of Charity, who act as nurses, and pass their lives in mitigating the afflictions of their fellow creatures. The Church of St. Pierre which, as I have already stated, is nearly in the centre of Caen, is remarkable for one of the most successful spires that ever was raised. Important from its magni- tude, and beautiful from its lightness, it cannot be seen without being admired, and affords a proof of the advanced state of art in the early part of the 14th century. The choir and nave of this church belong to the end of the 13th, and the beginning of the 14th, century. The transept was not finished till a century later. The chapels at the back of the 64 ST. PIERRE. choir, and part of the stone roof were added, or rebuilt, a century later still, under the direction of Hector Schier, an architect of Caen. These por- tions of the building are finely executed, but very surcharged, and exhibit the rounder forms which belong to the second transition. Here, also, you see one of those attempts to excite attention by novelty, which so often led to the corruption of taste. The last point of beauty having been attained, the next resource is the wonderful. Here, instead of keystones, are disproportioned corbels, hanging down, and looking as if they ought to drop. The arches of the nave rest on pillars of a very massive character. These pillars exhibit, in the ornaments of several of their capitals, that ano- malous mixture of the profane with the sacred, of popular fiction with religion, which was, perhaps, permitted as a mental safety valve in a priest- ridden age. In addition to the usual assortment of ludicrous images of monks and nuns, are repre- sented subjects taken from the old French ro- ST. GEORGES DU CHATEAU. 65 mances — Aristotle carrying his mistress on his back, from the Lai d'Aristote ; and Tristan crossing the sea on his sword, from the Romaunt de la Rose. Within the limits of the citadel, the interior of which is now principally grass-plot and trees, still remains, though turned to secular uses, the Chapel of St. Georges, which the Abbe de la Rue supposes to belong to the tenth century. But the earliest historical notice of this building is so late as 1184, when a Court of Exchequer was held in this chapel; and the enriched style of the fabric, espe- cially of the portal, invalidates its claim to remarkable antiquity. All that we know is, that this building was in existence in 1184. The mis- take appears to have arisen from confounding this chapel of St. Georges, with the parish church of St. Georges, which parish occupied a part of the ground that afterwards became the citadel 3 . William the Conqueror cleared away the houses, a Huet, Origines de Caen. 66 FRESNE CAMILLY. and was the first who built a castle on this spot, at which he occasionally resided. Henry I. made additions to the castle, and strengthened its walls. In the villages in the neighbourhood of Caen are several curious ancient Norman churches ; indeed in the villages throughout Normandy a surprising number of these very early buildings re- main ; and in these village churches you frequently meet with that square-ended chancel which soon became the habitual form in England, but which is very rarely found in other parts of France. At Fresne Camilly, about four miles from Caen, is a church that would be particularly interesting if its date could be ascertained, as it appears to have been built at the very moment of Transi- tion. The work appears to have been carried on with little, or no interruption, yet, part of it is in the round style, and part in the pointed. The in- terior of the body of the church is in the round style throughout, but there is a series of ornament- al pannels, on the outside of the north wall, the tops of which are pointed : even here the dif- ANNISY. 67 ference is only in the form of the arch, for all the mouldings and ornaments are exact repetitions of those which prevail where the round style is retained. The chancel is of a later date. It is square- ended, and has early lancet windows. In the west end is a small round window, the germ of the beautiful rose of after times. The whole of this church is built in neat courses of stone, with fine joints, and sifted mortar. We carefully examined the chapel at the bottom of the tower, and the tower itself, but saw no reason for believing these portions of the building to be older than the nave. From Fresne Camillywe drove, about a league's distance, to Annisy. The road was a narrow lane, never made and never mended, with high banks, and usually trees, on either side. The villages in this district, are very superior to what you expect from the nature of the roads by which they are approached. The houses consist of the fine Caen stone, here used in large blocks, and have a com- 68 ANNISY. fortable appearance. There is little to remark about the old Norman Church at Annisy, except its very small windows, and its herring-bone walls. FALAISE. 69 CHAPTER VII. FALAISE. At the distance of about seven leagues and a half to the south-east of Caen, exist the ruins of Falaise, one of the very few ancient Norman castles of which any remains are now to be found in a province in which they once so largely abounded. Falaise was one of the strongest holds of the Dukes of Normandy, and the birth- place of William the Conqueror. Of this castle, considerable remains exist ; the principal feature is a large oblong, lofty pile, now a mere shell. This was the keep, which, in Norman fortresses, was not the prison-house, but the fortified habitation of the feudal lord, and con- tained within its walls room for his family and his 70 FALAISE. attendants, and all that was necessary to his daily life. The most perfect specimen of this kind of building, is to be found in the Tower of London, in which, part of the second story is occupied by the chapel ; whilst the council chamber, which was probably also used as the banqueting hall, is next the roof. On the ground floor are vaulted chambers, which seem to have been dungeons. The Keep of Falaise is built of large rough stones, with some ashler at the angles, in the but- tresses, and about the windows. What there is of ashler is well worked and finely jointed. The workmanship is neater than is usual in the earliest Norman buildings in England, but the walls do not appear to have been much altered or repaired. Two or three of the windows remain. They are plain, two-light, windows divided by a single pillar. At one angle of the Keep is a lofty circular tower, entirely built of ashler, evidently of much later construction, and attributed to Talbot, whose name it bears. FALAISE. 71 This Keep is believed to be the same in which William first saw the light. Falaise under- went nine different sieges in subsequent times, but, from the situation of the Keep, it could not have been the point of attack, and always escaped with little injury. Falaise sustained the greatest damage in 1417, when it was taken by our Henry V., after a siege of three months. It was subsequent to this that Talbot's tower was built. Falaise is a ruin of a grand, striking character. It stands by itself, at a short distance without and above the town. The Keep is placed on a rocky height, on the edge of a deep ravine. The country in the immediate neighbourhood is varied and picturesque. For the above particulars, I am indebted to Mr. Hussey, who visited Falaise after I had left Normandy. 72 ST. GABRIEL. CHAPTER VIII. BAYEUX.— ST. GABRIEL. — CATHEDRAL OE BAYEUX. — THE TAPESTRY. On our departure from Caen, we proceeded to Bayeux: — once a celebrated haunt of the Druids, and afterwards an occasional, and favourite resi- dence of the Norman dukes. The surrounding forests attracted both the former, in the exercise of their religion, the latter, in that of the chase- but scarcely a tree remains. Between Caen and Bayeux, near Creuilly, where Robert of Gloucester had a residence, are the ruins of St. Gabriel, a priory, which he founded in 1128 a . Only the choir of the church a At the foot of the Charter, in the possession of the Abbe de la Rue, is a deed of agreement between Robert, CATHEDKAL OF BAYEUX. 73 remains, but it well merits attention, as a curious and interesting specimen of the highly florid Norman. Robert of Gloucester, (who was the natural son of Henry I.,) by his marriage with the daughter and heiress of Robert Fitzhamon, acquired the whole honour of Gloucester and large estates in Normandy Eventually, he took the side of the Empress Maud, and during the greater part of the reign of Stephen, took up his abode at Creuilly. During his residence in those parts he became attached to Isabella, sister of Richard de Douvres, Bishop of Bayeux, and by this lady had a son, Richard Fitzcompte, who succeeded his uncle in the See of Bayeux. Bayeux is now, though large, rather a neglected town, but is embellished by its ancient and noble cathedral. This cathedral has undergone so many calamities, and so many reparations, that it exhi- Earl of Gloucester, and the monks of Fecamp, for the esta- blishment of a Priory at St. Gabriel by the former. The monks of Fecamp had till then an interest in that parish. The deed is dated 1128. E 74 CATHEDRAL OF BAYEUX. bits every variety of style, from the eleventh down to the fifteenth century. It was begun in 1047, and the building then begun was consecrated in 1077. But, in 1106, the cathedral was almost destroyed, together with the town*, when Henry I. assaulted and set fire to the place. To make what amends he could, Henry undertook the expense of the repairs of the church. In 1159 the cathedral was again considerably da- maged by fire b , and Philippe D'Harcourt, who was Bishop of Bayeux from 1143 to 1164, is said to have restored it c . He may have done something, but much re- mained to be done in 1183 d , when Henry II. 1 " 1106. La ville (de Bayeux) fut emportee et bruslee avec le temple, que le Roy fit refaire apres." Du Moulin. b " 1159. Incendie de la cathedrale de Bayeux." Du Moulin. c " Cathedralem suam, incendio concrematam, restaurasse legitur Philippus in chartulario nigro capituli Bajocensis — ad annum 1159 — qua; si vera sunt" &c. Gallia Christiana, Tom. xi., page 363. d " Henricus II., anno 1183, statuitcum canonicis reditus Praebendarum Canonicorum decedentium, usque ad annum, ad s ■ ,' / CATHEDRAL OF BAYEUX. 76 set apart the first fruits of the prebends that might fall vacant, for the prosecution of the re- pairs. Henry de Beaumont, who was born in England, and became Dean of Salisbury, was at that time Bishop of Bayeux. For the execution of the repairs he contracted with a fraternity of masons who came to Bayeux to fulfil their engagement. Henry de Beaumont died, in 1205, and was buried in the choir, which makes it probable that the choir was finished in his time. Falling back on the evidence of style, we must believe that the crypt is the only remnant of Odo's cathedral ; that the nave, which is in the florid Norman style, is a remnant of the restorations in the time of Henry I. ; and that the east end, which is early lancet, is the part which was restored after the fire in 1159, and which was completed before 1205. reficiendam ecclesiam deputandos, quod Urbanus III. ratum habuit vii. idus Octobris." Gallia Christiana. E 2 76 CATHEDRAL OF BAYEUX. There is some reason for believing that the two western towers were carried up, perhaps on old foundations, in the middle of the twelfth century, the one by Richard de Douvres, the other by Phi- lippe d'Harcourt, both Bishops of Bayeux, for Philippe d'Harcourt is buried at the foot of the one, and Richard de Douvres, within the other. The transepts are of a much later date, and cannot be older than the early part of the four- teenth century. The central to wer a was rebuilt by Bishop Louis II. in 1479. Not far from the cathedral is an Hotel Dieu, which was founded by Robert d'Ableges, who was consecrated Bishop of Bayeux in 1206. The in- terior of the chapel of this hospital presents one of the most elegant specimens of early pointed archi- tecture. The windows of this chapel are lancet, with plain, chamfered, jambs. Robert d'Ableges a " Ludovicus II. turrim in medio ecclesise construxit 1479." — Gallia Christiana. THE TAPESTEY. 77 was present at the funeral of Philip Augustus. He died himself in 1231. At the mansion-house we saw the celebrated piece of tapestry, the embroidery of which is as- cribed to Queen Matilda, and commemorates the conquest of England. It is a long narrow stripe which unrolls, and exhibits one subject after an- other, depicted, as has been correctly observed, much in the manner of a girl's sampler. This curious piece of antiquity was kept, till the revolu- tion, in a chest in the cathedral, but the most ancient mention of it only occurs in an inventory taken in 1476 of the ornaments belonging to Notre Dame de Bayeux. " Item, une tente tres longue et etroite de telle a broderie d'images et eserpteaux faisans repre- sentation de la conqueste d'Augleterre, laquelle est tendue environ le nef de l'Eglise le jour, et par les octaves, des reliques." The object of this embroidery is to prove that William of Normandy had a better title to the crown of England than the sword. Half the 7K THE TAPESTRY. tapestry is dedicated to events anterior to the conquest. Edward the Confessor is represented explaining to William that he intends to make him the heir of his kingdom. Harold is made to appear in the part of a perjured interloper. But this is the account which is given by all the ancient chronicles, and therefore was not one in- trusted to the wife of William alone. There are other objects represented on the tapestry, which throw a doubt on its origin. Escutcheons on shields, which are not supposed to have been in- troduced so early as the days of the Conqueror, and allusions to .Esop's Fables, which are said not to have been known till translated by our Henry I. At the same time, the veneration in which the tapestry was held is a proof that it was the work of no ordinary hand, and the frequent introduction of Odo, half brother of William, affords strong ground for the belief that it was wrought by one of the family. The work is highly curious, in point of costume and manners. CARENTON. 79 CHAPTER IX. CARENTON. — ST. MERE EGLISE. — MONTBOURG. — VALOGNES. From Bayeux we went to Carenton, where is a good church with a spire. The style of the church is Nonuan with alterations in the pointed style. In the nave, are cluster buttresses. Under the tower, arches with deep, and many, mould- ings. Pillars, round the choir ; pillars, without capitals, but having mouldings at their base. The east end is in the style of the 14th century. From Carenton we proceeded to St. Mere Eglise, where is another church of the same description. From St. Mere Eglise to Montbourg. Here was an abbey, and its church was of a known and inter- 80 MONTBOURG. esting date, as it was consecrated in 1152, but it is totally destroyed. This convent, like many others, was sold in lots at the revolution, to small proprietors, who pulled it down for the value of the materials. Nothing remains but foundations and rubbish, nothing from which a notion of style can be gleaned. It existed in great part till 1817, when it was visited by a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Normandy, who was aware that the buildings would soon disappear, and who, on that account, resolved to preserve what record of them he could. He had three views taken of the church, and has published a description, and his- tory, of Montbourg. From these drawings it ap- pears that the round style prevailed in the archi- tecture of the church, with the exception of the arches under the central tower, and the tower itself. These were in the pointed style, but may have been rebuilt long after the original con- struction of the fabric. This church was principally built at the expense of Baldwin de Reviers, Earl of Devon, who, VALOGNES. 81 having embraced the party of Geoffrey of Planta- genet, was obliged to retire into Normandy when Stephen of Blois became King of England. The church was consecrated in 1152, by the Arch- bishop of Rouen, in the presence of Henry, then Duke of Normandy, and, afterwards, our Henry II. From Montbourg we went to Valognes. Tins is an agreeable little town, containing several large houses, each with a court before and a garden behind, which, in France, are considered neces- sary appendages to the town-house of a gen- tleman. Our object in going to Valognes was to com- municate personally with M. de Gerville, a distin- guished Member of the Society of Antiquaries of Normandy, and one of the largest contributors to its periodical publications. As an emigre, he passed many years in England, where he taught Italian, and studied botany, with all the philoso- phy of a Frenchman. He is now returned to the enjoyment of his native air, and amuses his leisure with antiquarian researches in the fertile e 3 82 VALOGNES. field of his native province. We found him as obliging, and communicative, as possible, and I take pleasure in availing myself of this opportu- nity of expressing how much we were indebted to his attention and kindness. CHERBOURG. 83 CHAPTER X. CHERBOURG. — OCTEVILLE. — MARTINVAST. — BRI- QUEBEC. — VALOGNES. LE HAM. Drove to Cherbourg. The country through which we passed is hilly, well wooded, enclosed, green with pastures, and very like some of the inland parts of England. The trees, on the French side of the channel, seem not to be affected by the neighbourhood of the sea. Above Cherbourg the cliffs rise abrupt and high. The town is on the flat beneath, a town of no great consequence in itself, but well provided with docks and arsenals. Leaving Cherbourg, we ascended a long hill, at the top of which we found the village of 84 OCTEVILLE. — MARTINVAST. Octeville, where is an old Norman church, with a curious octagonal tower. From thence we de- scended the contrary side of the hill, admiring the woods, and the green slopes, of the surround- ing country, and arrived at the village of Martin- vast in the valley. A sequestered path led to the church, which stands in a secluded spot, with a fine old yew tree in the little church-yard. The church is early Norman. On the outside of the semicircular east end are slender half pillars with capitals which imitate the Ionic. Under the eaves is a cornice of grotesque heads. The build- ing is lofty within, and vaulted with stone. The arches which support the roof, exhibit the singu- larity of the horse-shoe form. On our way back to Valognes, by a different road, but through the same sort of well wooded, diversified, country, we came to Briquebec, where still exist considerable remains of a castle which successively belonged to the Bertrams, thePagnels, and the Estoutvilles. The castle, which stands at one extremity of the bourg which grew up BRIQUEBEC. LE HAM. 85 under its protection, occupies an elevated situa- tion, and commands a wide range of country. The keep, and the whole circumference of the walls, more or less shattered, remain. The keep is octagonal, and is raised on a mound. In a part of the walls of the court, you see traces of the eleventh century, but the keep is of the four- teenth, and another part is as late as the sixteenth century. On our return to Valognes we took an early dinner with M. de Gerville, and, after dinner, drove to the village of Le Ham. Le Ham is a retired village amongst trees, adjacent to one of those extensive pastures which are common in this part of Normandy ; pastures which support numerous herds, and would be still more useful if they were better drained. At Le Ham is an old church, of which part is in the round, and part in the early pointed style. Its narrow lancet windows are singularly long, more so than I remember ever to have seen in a building of inconsiderable size. In this church 86 LE HAM. is preserved a great curiosity which was brought from a neighbouring chapel now destroyed. It is a marble slab, which was once the top of a Christian altar, and which has, on its edges, a very legible inscription of the time of Theodorie, who reigned in the sixth century. The characters are, for the most part, Roman, but exhibit some innovations. Close to this village is a large old manor-house with a conical roofed tower, which contains the staircase. Many of these old deserted chateaux are seen in this neighbourhood, the proprietors having adjourned to reside at Valognes. COLOMBI. 87 CHAPTER XI. COLOMBI. — ST. SAUVEUR. — THE CASTLE. — THE AB- BEY. — BLANCHELANDE — LA HAYE DU PUITS. — LES- SAY. — COUTANCES. Having received from M. de Gerville a route which was to conduct us to many objects of interest, we engaged a cabriolet for our conveyance, and sent our English carriage to meet us at Coutances, it being wholly out of the question for any carriage on springs to attempt the cross roads which it was necessary for us to encounter. Leaving Valognes, we had a good road for the first three leagues, as far as St. Sauveur le Vis- compte. The only remarkable object which we saw on our way was the handsome stone church of Colombi, with still more singularly long lancet windows than those at Le Ham, 88 ST. SAUVEUR. After ascending a long hill we enj oy ed a command- ing view of St. Sauveur, and the dismantled castle and ruined abbey, which give it consequence. These interesting remains are situated, at no great distance from each other, on the edge of a slope which descends to a green expanse intersected by a narrow, winding, river. The castle of St. Sauveur was originally built, in the early part of the tenth century, by one of the Norman captains to whom Duke Hollo assigned the district as a reward. In the family of this captain it remained till the twelfth century, when it passed by marriage to the Tessous. About the close of the same century, the heiress of the Tessons gave herself and the castle to a D'Harcourt. Geoffrey D'Harcourt, in 1328, made the castle a for- midable fortress. On the death of Geoffrey, Ed- ward III. of England gave St. Sauveur to the celebrated Chandos. After a variety of fortunes the castle is at last become an hospital. The remains are considerable, — walls, gateways, and towers. The principal feature is a large square PIERREPONT. 89 tower, which was built by Chandos, who also built one of the gateways. After visiting the castle, we walked through the Bourg, in which are a few houses of a better sort, inhabited by provincial gentry, amongst whom is still to be found an Abbe de Perci, a descendant of the Norman branch of that family which has become so illustrious in England. It was striking to find this remnant of a noble line, after the lapse of so many centuries, still in exist- ence on the native soil. At two leagues distance from St. Sauveur is the hamlet of Pierrepont a , the cradle of another en- nobled English family. Remembrancers of this kind abound in Normandy, and give its old cas- tles and abbeys a peculiar interest in the eyes of an Englishman. Every thing in that country is connected with the history of his own, and a Pierrepont derives its name fron a stone bridge with which Charlemagne supplied the place of a ferry, and which, in his days, was considered a great achievement. 90 THE ABBEY. even with families of whom he lias heard all his life. From the Bourg we walked to the Abbey. The conventual buildings are still entire, but in the possession and occupation of different indivi- duals, and in wretched condition. The church is in ruins and will soon disappear. We saw the farmer, the present proprietor, stand- ing on its walls with his men, and in the act of throwing down the stones for common use. This abbey was founded by the Tessons, when lords of St. Sauveur. The abbey was begun in 1067. The church was not consecrated till 116*0; and not finished till the first half of the thirteenth century, when it was completed by the Harcourts, whose arms appear on some of the key-stones of the southern transept. Hence it will be seen that two hundred years elapsed between the com- mencement and the completion of this building ; a circumstance of by no means uncommon occur- rence, but one which has often led to erroneous conclusions. From the apparent improbability THE ABBEY. 91 of such long interruptions in the progress of such undertakings, a date has often been attributed to the more recent pai*t of the fabric, to which that part has, in fact, no pretension. As high as the summit of the Triforium the round style prevails throughout this building, ex- cept in the choir, the whole of which is evidently a later work. Above the Triforium, all is pointed, and this must have been a part of the work of the Harcourts in the thirteenth century. This church was much injured in the fourteenth century by John Chandos, who ordered it to be dismantled lest the enemy might turn it to account. It was repaired in the fifteenth century. The re- parations are easily traced by the difference of style. The church is beautiful as a ruin, but of no value as bearing upon the question of the pointed style, for as it is known to have received additions, and undergone reparations, after the time when the pointed style was universally introduced, we 92 BLANCHELANDE. cannot refuse to accept so obvious a solution of the problem. Leaving St. Sauveur, we passed through a fine, cultivated, and well-inhabited country, but got amongst detestable roads. We could hardly be- lieve our guide when he pointed out to us, as the road we were to travel, what appeared to be a ditch, with high banks and overhanging trees, yet down the ditch were we obliged to go. The roads in Normandy bear no relation to anything else. They are a century behind all you see about them, and around them. The fields are well cultivated ; the villages well built ; there are many scattered farms. Every thing bears the mark of industry and neatness, and you only wonder how so advanced and civilized a population can en- dure the almost impassable roads by which their carts, their horses, and themselves, must be shaken to pieces. Turning up a lane, to visit the ci-devant abbey of Blanchelande, we literally stuck fast. In vain BLANCHELANDE. 93 the voice was exerted and the whip applied. We were obliged to get out and walk. Hoodwinked, for some time, by hazels and other trees, which met over our heads, we finally came to a common, on high ground, from whence we had a splendid view of the Bourg and castle of La Haye du Puits, an extensive range of hills, much pasture, much hedge-row timber, and many distant churches. Having crossed the common, we struck into an- other shady lane, passed through a wood, and soon broke upon a green sequestered valley, very like an English scene, with its trees and its verdure. On the further side of the valley, screened from the north by rising groimd, and washed by the clear waters of a nameless stream, stand the remains of Blanchelande. The abbot's house, which the bishops of Coutances formerly used as a summer residence, is still in tolerable repair, having become the habitation of farmers. The elder members of the family had known the abbey in its better days, and threw a little sentiment 94 BLANCHELANDE. into their history of the former proprietors of the place. The greater part of this church is gone, and much of what remains is reconstruction. It consisted of a nave, without aisles. Against the walls, on each side, are pilasters with three half pillars attached, which are carried up to support the roof. The original parts of this church are in the round style, though the vaulting, of which remains exist, appears to have always been pointed. The capi- tals of the pillars, and the mouldings, are all late Norman. The tower must have been entirely rebuilt, and the west portal inserted, at a far later period. The church was consecrated in 1185. Richard de la Haye, lord of the adjacent burgh of La Have du Puits, and a favourite of our Henry II., con- jointly with his wife, Matilda de Vernon, founded this abbey in 1155, and erected the buildings at his own expense. Richard did not live to see the accomplishment of his undertaking, dying in 1169. LA HAYE DU PUITS. 95 But his widow, who survived him forty years, completed the work. The life of Richard de la Haye was chequered with such adventures as, in those days, were ordi- nary occurrences, and are now the stock in trade of the writers of romance. Refusing to swear fealty to Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, who invaded, and obtained temporary possession of, Lower Nor- mandy, Richard de la Haye escaped on board a vessel, which was captured by Corsairs, and, for many years, underwent the greatest hardships. Perhaps he founded Blancheland in grateful recol- lection of his deliverance from slavery, and his safe return to his native land. From Blanchelande we walked down to La Haye du Puits, and visited the ruins of its castle, which stands on a mound. A young farmer, its present proprietor, acted as our guide. He had pulled down the greater part of the castle, and told us he meant to do the same by the rest, and sell the stone to mend the roads. We could not say that the roads did not want mending, but we regretted 96 LA HAYE DU PUITS. that the castle was to supply the materials. One fine old, machicolated, tower still remained, but is probably gone by this time, and La Haye du Puits, deprived of its ornamental features, must be content to become an unmarked and obscure little town. Amongst the foundations of the castle we ob- served some large square blocks of stone, which appeared to be Roman work. This castle belonged, in the middle of the eleventh century, to Turstin Halduc, the founder of the abbey of Lessay. His son, Odo, was seneschal to William the Conqueror. The castle subsequently passed into various hands, the domestic part of it was rebuilt in the latter part of the sixteenth cen- tury. This part still exists, and, at the time of the Revolution, was the property of the Marquis de la Salle. Our cabriolet, having been helped out of its difficulties, met us at La Haye. Resuming our seats, we drove on to Lessay, where the abbey and its church still remain, nearly intact. This abbey LESS AY. 07 is less pleasantly situated than most religious houses, being placed on the edge of an extensive flat of marshy meadow. This church is a fine specimen of the Norman style. It is of one character, plain, but grand, throughout ; and possesses a noble central tower. The western portal is more ornamented than the other parts, and exhibits the dog-tooth moulding, which does not occur in England till nearly the end of the twelfth century. The arches of the nave rest on piers, in the four recesses of which are half pillars. The roof is of stone, and ori- ginal over the choir and a part of the nave. Over the remainder of the nave is a vault of later date, which has ribs with mouldings and key-stones. The arches of the Triforium are divided by a small pillar, and this part of the building is an exact counterpart of Fecamp, with the single difference of the shape of the arch. What part, whether any part, of the existing church of Lessay is really the work of Turstin Halduc, is very uncertain. The arrangement of F 98 LESSAY. the pillars which run up to the roof, the stone vaulting over the nave, and the western portal, arc all indications of later times ; and, through the obscurity, which hangs over the annals of Lessay, traces of events are visible which give the notion of extensive destruction, and extensive restora- tion. These annals state that Lessay more than once suffered from the violence of the times, through hostile attacks, and by fire. They also record a consecration in 1178, fresh injuries by the English in 135G, and fresh reparations in 1385, which were only completed in 1447 a . The consecration in 1178 may denote the com- pletion of the almost total reconstruction of the Norman part of the fabric, whilst the injuries and repairs in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries account for the different character of half of the vaulting over the nave. From Lessay we proceeded slowly to Perriers, and there, to our great relief, joined the high road, along which we advanced, at a better pace, to Coutances. a Neustria Pia. CATHEDRAL OF COUTANCES. 99 CHAPTER XII. CATHEDRAL OF COUTANCES. The cathedral of Coutances is one of the build- ings which, from the date assigned to it by the Norman Society of Antiquaries, has excited so much sensation, surprise, and discussion. There is no doubt that, on the spot where the cathedra] now stands, a new cathedral was begun by Bishop Robert in 1030, which was finished by his successor Bishop Geoffrey de Moubray, and consecrated in 1056 ; and the Norman Society of An- tiquaries assert that the greater part of the existing building is the work of Bishop Geoffrey ; in other words, that the pointed style was adopted in France one hundred and thirty years before it appeared in England, and nearly as much before it appeared any where else. f2 100 CATHEDRAL OF COUTANCES. Coutances, which is only four miles distant from the coast, shared the fate of so many of the towns of France, and was almost destroyed by the Nor- mans in the ninth century. A century and a half elapsed before any attempt was made to raise it from the dust. At length Robert, bishop of Coutances, began the restoration of the church, but it was Geoffrey, his successor, a man of high birth and equally distinguished for his abilities and his vir- tues, who devoted himself, heart and soul, to the pious work. In his undertaking he was largely assisted by the Norman barons, and particularly by Tancred de Hauteville and his six sons, who, born within the diocese of Coutances, had effected conquests in Apulia and Sicily, that appear like the fictions of romance, and who, at the earnest solicitation of Geoffrey, sent a liberal portion of their Italian spoils to advance the restoration of the Norman cathedral. The cathedral was conse- crated in 1056, in the presence of William, duke of Normandy, nine years before he conquered England. CATHEDRAL OF COUTANCES. 101 These are admitted facts, and have enough pomp and circumstance about them to make any one wish to believe that they belong to the fabric which is still before our eyes. But what is the style of the architecture of this fabric ? Does it resemble the buildings which, in 1056, and for above a century afterwards, were constructed in that country ? Does it resemble St. Stephen's of Caen, as the presence of William at its dedication might lead us to expect ? Does it resemble any building which at that time had made its appearance in any part of the world ? On the contrary, it is altogether in the advanced pointed style, with reparations of a later date. It is a fine edifice, large in all its parts, and lofty, ornamented but not surcharged. Its two western towers, terminating in spires, are unusually high and beautiful, and, for a wonder, are both finished and alike. On either flank rise a crowd of pinnacles and pyramids, and, on one side, in an elevated situation, are seven niches, which, till the 102 CATHEDRAL OF COUTANCES. Revolution, held the statues of Tancred and his six sons. The interior is remarkably lofty, above an hun- dred feet from the floor to the key-stone of the vault. Cluster piers support the arches which divide the nave from the aisles ; coupled pillars surround the choir. Most of the windows are of a later date than the body of the building. At first sight, then, we cannot but come to the conclusion, from the certain evidence of con- struction and style, that the cathedral now exist- ing at Coutances is not the one which was conse- crated in 1050. Had it even been a transition church, had any thing like it existed at the time in any other country, we might have admitted a doubt, but it is impossible to believe that the pointed style should have broken forth at once, at this spot, in all its perfection, and without having produced any effect on the architecture of the countiy for above a century afterwards. Let us now enquire what light is thrown upon CATHEDRAL OF COUTANCES. 103 this subject by the few and faint records which have come down to our times. The Livre Noir of the Chapter of Coutances (so called from the colour of its binding) is the docu- ment to which the French antiquarians refer, and upon which they ground their hypothesis. This Livre Noir was compiled by order, and under the eyes, of John D'Essaye, who was elected Bishop of Coutances in 1250, and as its pages contain nothing" about any alterations in the fabric, it is brought forward as a proof that no altei-ations could by possibility have taken place. The Livre Noir is now lost, but the Abbe Toustain de Billy, in his Histoire du Diocese de Coutances, ex- pressly states what its contents were, and from this source, as well as from the Gallia Christiana 4 , we learn that that part of the Livre Noir which a " Coram eo confectum, seu potius inchoatum 1251, Re- gestum de Patronatibus Ecclesiarum Dioecesis, ab integu- mento postea dictum Liber Niger." — Gallia Christiana. 104 CATHEDRAL OF COUTANCES. was compiled under the ej'es of Bishop John D'Essaye, was nothing more than an account of the advowsons of the diocese. and their value in 1252, — nothing more than a Terrier, — and, whatever ar- chitectural operations might have been accom- plished or in progress, is it probable that any notice of them would be found in a document dedicated to quite another purpose ? The silence, therefore, of the Livre Noir proves nothing. Let us now see what information can be obtained from other sources. There exists nothing to show what were the for- tunes of the cathedral of Geoffrey up to the time of John D'Essaye. It may, or may not, have remained intact till then. But, from inscriptions still legible on the walls a , it appears that John D'Essaye him- * " Hanc Capella dotavit : Joh : de Eeio. Epc: gst : i: honore Sci Georgii." is the inscription in the second chapel ; a similar inscription consecrates the third to St. Martin, the fifth to St. Bartholomew, and another to St. Andrew. These inscriptions were observed, and copied, by Mr. Gage CATHEDRAL OF COUTANCES. 105 self endowed four, if not all the six, chapels on the north side of the nave, and his endowing them almost certainly implies that he built them. There is also reason for believing that he rebuilt, or finished the reconstruction of, the choir, be- cause he lies buried in the middle of it, and (with a single exception of so late a date as not to bear upon the present question) John D'Essaye is the only bishop buried 3 in that part of the church ; a distinction which in ancient times was the usual reward of the builder. Here, then, are proofs of considerable alterations, at least, in the second half of the thirteenth century, and if the whole of the cathedral was not rebuilt at that time, historical notices remain to point out the period when other alterations took place. In the year 1356, soon after the battle of Poitiers, Geoffrey D'Harcourt came with his army to Cou- tances, took possession of the town, and laid a He died in 1274. f3 106 CATHEDRAL OF COUTANCES. siege to the cathedral, which had been garrisoned and resisted his summons. A French army drove him away before he had effected his purpose, but not before " la dite Eglise avoit eU moult endom- magee par le siege que nos enemies mirent de- vant notre dite Eglise, qui lors etoit forte, et par les pierres d'engin qu'ils jetterent" The writer adds that the cathedral was damaged " au point d'etre en voie de ch^oir en ruine."* From the serious nature of the injuries which the cathedral received in 1356, it must have un- dergone repairs and alterations of importance enough to account for the disappearance of all re- maining traces, if any remained, of the original work. The troubles of France, and of Normandy, for some years interfered with so great an under- taking as the reparation of this cathedral ; but in the year 1371, Sylvestre de la Cervelle was 8 Histoire MS. de Coutances, par M. Demont. CATHEDRAL OF COUTANCES. 107 made Bishop of Coutances, and in the same year Charles V. granted him a large sum towards the prosecution of the work a . Some years afterwards Sylvestre addressed a brief to all the parishes in his diocese, beseeching them to assist the work with their contributions. Sylvestre incessantly urged on the repairs to the day of his death, and in the year 1387 b was buried in the Lady chapel which he added at his own expense. The reparation was in hand for some years longer . An Act of Charles VI. is preserved, in which he grants the chapter of Coutances certain indulgences in consideration of the expenses they had sustained in the repairs of the cathedral, and, by a decree of the chapter of Coutances 01 , in the year 1402, it appears that the work was not com- pleted at that time. a Gallia Christiana. b Gallia Christiana, Tom. XL, col. 887- c Histoire des Eveques des Coutances. d Histoire MS. de Coutances, par M. Demont. 108 CATHEDRAL OF COUTANCES. The miracle, therefore, is a dream, and the ex- isting cathedral belongs partly to the second half of the thirteenth century, and partly to a period by more than a century later than the above-men- tioned time. HAMBYE. 109 CHAPTER XIII. HAMBYE. — ABBEY OF HAMBYE. — GAVRAY. May 25. — This day was devoted to an expedition to the Abbey of Hambye, which is about thirteen miles distant from Coutances. Soon after leaving Coutances, on descending an hill, we caught a fine view of the town and its cathedral. Coutances stands on an eminence, and the cathedral, placed on the highest point, towers magnificently over the city which surrounds it. The country in the neighbourhood is agreeably diversified, sufficiently clothed with trees, and generally green — very like England. The whole of the road was so desperately bad that we were continually obliged to get out and 110 ABBEY OF HAMBYE. walk. The country was always fine — the fields well cultivated, the houses substantial — every thing good but the road. At length we came in sight of the remaining tower of the castle of Hambye, which stands on an eminence, surrounded by deep valleys. Hills and wooded banks appear in the distance. This castle belonged to the family of the Pag- nels, a branch of which settled in England, and added its name to the town of Newport, in North- amptonshire. The remaining tower of the castle is of late Norman architecture. — This tower will soon share the fate of the remainder of the castle, and be levelled with the dust. Leaving our cabriolet at the little inn of the Bourg, we walked on to the abbey, which is about half a league from the village. — After a long ascent, and a long romantic lane, we entered a wood, emerging from which we found ourselves on the top of a ridge, looking down upon another beautiful valley, or rather glen, of which the steep ABBEY OF HAMBYE. Ill banks are varied with copse and crag, and watered by the little river Syenne, which hurries and winds along the bottom. Descending through the wood, we soon caught a glimpse of the ruined church of the abbey, which stands in a sequestered nook, at the foot of the cliffs, between the rocks and the stream. It was impossible not to be struck by the contrast of the situation of the castle and the abbey, the one on its proud elevation, the other in its tranquil seclusion; each so ap- propriately placed. The church of this abbey is only sufficiently ruined to be very picturesque. It consists of a nave, without side aisles, of transepts, an insulated choir, and chapels behind the choir. The nave is long and rather narrow. — Its walls, for the rocf is gone, are unusually high ; the arches under the tower, proportionably elevated. These arches rest on four large octagonal buttresses. The only windows in this part of the church, are lancets, singularly long. 112 ABBEY OF HAMBYE. The choir is surrounded by pillars, which sup- port very narrow arches. The capitals of these pillars are ornamented with foliage of good de- sign and execution. The arches which form the entrances into the chapels behind the choir, are round. At the end of each transept is a large pointed window. The windows of the tower are round-headed, with pointed divisions. The west end is entirely gone. Plain Hying buttresses are attached to the outside of the choir. Much of the habitable part of the convent re- mains, together with a portion of the cloister, of which the arches are round, and appear to be the oldest part of the existing buildings. The gate-house, also, remains, which has two arches; both obtusely pointed. Over the larger arch is a label ornamented with the nail-head pattern. — The dog-tooth pattern appears on the moulding of the other. This abbey was originally founded by William ABBEY OF HAMBYE. 113 de Pagnel, the proprietor of the castle on the hill. He signed the act of foundation in 1145 a , in the presence of Algare, bishop of Coutances, and others. — But the annals of Hambye are more loud in the praise of Johanna de Pagnel, whom they represent as having built the convent and the church, in the early part of the fifteenth century. This, however, must have been a reconstruction. A convent and a church, no doubt, arose soon after the foundation, but, in the course of nearly three centuries, may have fallen into a state of decay, or suffered from the violence of the times. ■ — The truth seems to be that Johanna de Pagnel, either entirely, or in a great measure, rebuilt the fabric which at present exists. The style of the fabric has, in general, a cha- racter anterior to that of the fifteenth century, and some portions of it, as the entrances into the cha- pels, and the cloisters, being in the round style, •' Neustria Pia. 114 ABBEY OF HAMBYE. are, it must be owned, rather perplexing anoma- lies — but portions of the old building may have been preserved, of which the cloisters are, pro- bably, a part, — and a fashion rather older than that of the day may have been adopted, as was sometimes done, to be more in harmony with any portions of the old building that may have been retained. We have only to choose between the twelfth and the fifteenth centuries — and we cannot doubt to which of those periods the bulk of the existing fabric belongs. Joan de Pagnel was the last of her line, and earned the estate into the house of the D'Estoute- villes. Her husband, Louis D'Estouteville, made a gallant and successful defence of Mont St. Mi- chel against the English in 1424. They were both buried in the choir of the church of Ham- bye, where their tombs existed till the revolution. At a short distance beyond the abbey is a bridge over the river, beyond which the road di- vides, and conducts, one way, to Gavray, and the GAVRAY. 115 other way, to Perci, the cradle of the dukes of Northumberland. Perci is about three leagues distant from Hambye. Returning to the Bourg, we resumed our seats in the cabriolet, but soon had to abandon them again, and walk the whole way, two leagues, to Gavray. The lanes were picturesque, and there was much beauty in the surrounding country. We passed through the village of St. Denis, and saw, with some surprise, many comfortable houses, and even good shops, in a place almost inac- cessible on wheels. At length we arrived at Gavray, a small town on the river Syenne. Gavray is scattered along the base of an eminence on which once stood a castle, and from whence there is a splendid view. At Gavray we rejoined the high road; con- sequently, were able to re-establish ourselves in our vehicle, and mend our pace. We did not, however, effect our return to Coutances till twelve at night. 116 COUTANCES. CHAPTER XIV. ST. LO. — THE CATHEDRAL. — CHURCH OF ST. CROIX. CHURCH OF ST. THOMAS OF CANTERBURY. — CERISY. May 26. — Coutances is advantageously situated on an eminence, and commands a varied and agreeable country. It is only four miles distant from the sea, but is debarred of the sight of it by inter- vening hills. The present town is but a shadow of its former self, and the magnificent churches have little relation with the forlorn houses by which they are surrounded. There is no trade to give life and prosperity to the place, but even here are extensive public walks. No town of France is without public walks, which are a source of health and enjoyment to the people. How ST. LO. 117 surprising that nothing of the sort should yet belong to any one of the provincial towns of England ! Leaving Coutances, on our way to St. Lo, we passed through a varied and agreeable country, abounding in woods, orchards, pastures, hedges, and hedge-row trees. In the church of the village of St. Giles, we observed many of the peculiarly long lancets. The town and cathedral of St. Lo have a strikingly fine appearance as approached from the south. The greater part of the town stands on an eminence, surrounded on three sides by a ravine, through which inns the river Vere. The cathe- dral is placed nearly at the edge of the height— a Durham in miniature. Such situations have often fallen to the lot of cathedrals, because originally, as in the case of St. Lo, they were the chapels of castles. The castle, for obvious reasons, was built on the height ; the chapel was its necessary- appendage. In altered times the feudal fortress disappeared, and the chapel, rebuilt in a more 118 ST. LO. ambitious form, became the sole possessor where it was once the humble attendant. St. Lo is a town of ancient celebrity. The strong position, which nature had provided here, originally tempted Charlemagne to construct, at this place, a provincial bulwark. At the same time he founded the church and convent of St. Croix, without the walls of the fortress. The whole place, in consequence, at first obtained the name of St. Croix. In after times, however, the local veneration for St. Lo changed the first name of this place into the one it now bears. St. Lo, or Laudus, who lived in the sixth century, was a native of this part of Normandy, and, though a great landed proprietor, took orders, became bishop of Coutances, and left his estates to the church. The veneration for the Saint increased as centuries rolled on, and his name finally tri- umphed even over that of St. Croix. In 890, the Normans took and totally destroyed the fortress and the town. Some places were longer than others in recovering from the effects THE CATHEDRAL. 119 of this visitation, and a century elapsed before any attempt was made to rebuild the town and walls of St. Croix. So completely had the towns been destroyed, in this part of Neustria, that the Bishops of Coutances, after the Norman con- quest, resided either at Rouen or Bayeux till the year 1025, when Robert, Bishop of Coutances, to place himself more in the neighbourhood of his duties, established his residence at St. Croix. There abiding, he began to restore the town and the walls, and also begun a new cathedral on the spot where the chapel of the fortress formerly stood. This cathedral was, at a later period, totally replaced by another fabric, in the pointed style, which was consecrated in 1202, but which has undergone many alterations. It is a spacious building, with two handsome towers, terminating in spires. The nave, and one of the towers, in style resemble that of our Edward the First ; the other tower was added, or finished, in 1464, at which time the great portal was finished as it now appears. Though there is a general resem- 120 CHURCH OF ST. CROIX. blance in the style of the French churches to that of the cotemporary churches of England, yet there is much dissimilarity in the details ; in the mouldings, which, in France, are less bold and projecting, and in the ornaments which, in design, are more studied imitations of the Roman. From the brink of the eminence on which the cathedral stands, the look down upon the valley and the river is beautiful. From the cathedral we went to the Church of St. Croix, which is at a considerable distance, at the opposite extremity of the town. The convent is turned to secular purposes, but the church still remains, and this church the French anti- quaries would fain believe to be the one built by Charlemagne. There is, at this moment, an in- describable anxiety in France to establish the ex- istence of something Carlovingian in that country ; andit is somewhat singular, that in a country where that great restorer of churches is known to have built so much, not a vestige should remain which ST. CROIX. 1*21 can with any certainty be ascribed to his time. The church of St. Croix is of no assistance, for, though it is certainly impressed with the cha- racter of great antiquity, yet so exactly does it correspond with the style of the eleventh cen- tury, and so little with the few specimens which exist, in other countries, of the eighth, that the building itself teaches us to reject the impro- bable hypothesis of its having escaped the Nor- man storm. When we know that the Church of Charlemagne was situated without the walls; when we know that the fury of the Normans, then Pagans, was chiefly directed against Christ- ian temples ; when we know that the fortress itself and the whole town were destroyed, and remained for above a century in ruins, — can we believe that a particularly distinguished, and par- ticularly unprotected, church, should alone have escaped? Must we not conclude that this church rose again from its ashes, with the remainder of the town and the cathedral, in the early part of the eleventh century? G 122 ST. CROIX. It has some peculiar features. It is not of large dimensions. The round arches, on each side the nave, are supported, not by piers, but pillars with foliage capitals, rudely imitating the Roman. One side of the nave differs from the other. The south side is much the plainest ; and its cornice is only a series of blocks, whilst that of the north side consists of an elaborate Norman ornament. Such discrepancies are, how- ever, frequently found, and only prove that the building was not constructed at once. The west entrance is barbarously adorned with a grotesque group, in high relief, which repre- sents the Subjugation of the Evil Spirit. There is a cornice of monster-heads under the eaves. In another part of the town is a building, now la Halle an Bled, which, before the Revolution, was a church dedicated to St. Thomas of Can- terbury. The original church was finished in 1174. It was in progress when Thomas a Becket, having CERISY. 123 incurred the resentment of Henry, went abroad and passed through St. Lo. There was a dis- pute at the time to whom the new church should be dedicated. The illustrious stranger was con- sulted, and his reply was, " let it be dedicated to the first saint who shall shed his blood for the Catholic faith." Providence allowed it to be dedicated to himself. He was murdered in 1171, and canonized in 1173. The original church, however, was pulled down in 1571, to make room for improvement in the fortifications, and rebuilt, in its present situation, in 1630. The town of St. Lo is very much scattered. On one side it has extended over the opposite bank of the ravine. Near the centre of the town, but with an ample space around them, are a new Prefecture, and Palais de Justice. From St. Lo we made an excursion of about four leagues and a half, to Cerisy. At this place was one of the great abbeys of Normandy. The abbey church, now become the church of the g 2 124 CERISY. parish, still exists, and is a most interesting specimen of the severe, but grand, style of the early Normans. — Cerisy is so near a resemblance of the old part of St. Etienne's of Caen, that it might be described nearly in the same words. Cerisy consists of a nave with side aisles, tran- septs, a semicircular chancel, and a central tower. The arches of the nave rest on piers and half columns. — Above these arches is a deep triforium. The capitals of the pillars are formed of foliage, amongst which appear a few animals, and small heads, — but hardly any ornament is admitted in any other part of the building. The transepts are parted off from the nave as at St. Etienne's, and St. George de Boscherville. Here the original chancel remains, and is or- namented, internally, with pillars, — half pillars are introduced on each side of the windows. The upper tier of windows is pointed, and, with the groined vault, must have been an addition. The nave of Cerisy never acquired a stone vault ; CERISY. 125 it is still a roof of wood, and this fact makes it still more probable that the stone vault of St. Etienne's of Caen was not coeval with its walls. Cerisy was founded, in 1030, by Robert, Duke of Normandy, who, going to the Holy Land, (where he died,) left the church incomplete.— It was finished by his son, William the Conqueror. The facade is modern, and the nave is reduced in length ; alterations having been made in this part of the building, in the fourteenth century, when the monks added a second church, in front, to form a separate church for the parish, as was not unusual. This second church was damaged by lightning in 1812, and taken down the fol- lowing year. 126 TORIGNY. CHAPTER XV. TORIGNY. — VIRE. — MORTAIN. — THE CASTLE. — THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH. — L'aBBAYE BLANCHE. As the next object of our researches was Mor- tain, we took the nearest road from St. Lo to that place. The country through which we passed was of the same character, varied with hill and dale, and enriched with verdure, orchards, and hedge-row trees. The first place of any consequence at which we arrived was Torigny, which stands on high ground. On an eminence, in the centre of the town, with an open space in front, stands the ci- devant French residence of the princes of Mo- naco. It had a large park at the back, and VIRE. 127 once looked over terraces, lawns, and groves, but it is now half pulled down, and converted into a maison de ville. A new public road has been conducted through the park. At Torigny, the Church of St. Laurent is early Norman, and that of Notre Dame preserves a few traces of Norman, amongst which is the cone moulding over one of the doors. The stage between Torigny and Vire is hilly, but the country is rich, and often beautiful, es- pecially when you descend into, and cross, the narrow valley of the river, on either side of which are craggy steeps, fringed with brush- wood. Vire is a picturesque old town, standing on an height, which, surrounded on three sides by deep ravines, afforded a strong position for a castle. At the extreme angle of the height, the fortress rose supported on rocks, and of this fort- ress the Norman keep and a few walls remain. As we returned from this spot, we passed through a narrow, winding, half timber, street, terminated by 128 MORTAIN. an arch surmounted by a clock-tower. This street would have made a good subject for Prout, and the high, white, Cauchoise head-dresses of the women, relieved the dark recesses of the picture in the manner of which that admirable artist so well knows how to avail himself. After Vire, we passed through the same sort of hilly country, along a finely conducted road, en- joying agreeable views, till we reached the object of our immediate destination. The situation of Mortain might be described nearly in the same words as that of Vire, but, in nature, there is always a variety, though words are not always able to make the distinction per- ceptible. Another jutting height here afforded opportunity for another castle, and the town drew near it for protection. The leading features of both places are the same, but the scenery of Mor- tain is more beautiful. The valleys are narrower, the steeps more rocky, and better wooded ; the river, at the bottom, is more considerable, and a wide extent of distant Campagna is seen through THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH. 129 the jaws of the ravine. The whole scene put me in mind of Italy, and of Tivoli ; and the cascades, which we heard from above, and visited, after- wards helped to keep up the resemblance. You descend to the site of the castle ; but, when you arrive there, you find it a most suitable spot for an eagle's nest. A jutting cliff, only con- nected to the height by a narrow ledge of rock, afforded just space enough for a feudal fortress. The strength of this fortress made it once a place of importance. Here dwelt the brothers, and the sons, of kings of England. But only one tower of their castle survives, and a modem house and its appendages disfigures the remainder of the site. The celebrated collegiate church stands in the town, at a short distance from the castle. How long had I wished to see this building ! How much light had I expected it to throw on a long disputed question ! But that elusive object, the origin of the pointed style, vanishes whenever you think you are approaching it. g 3 130 THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH. The Norman Society of Antiquaries ascribe to this church in the pointed style the date of 1082, and wish you to believe it to be the same church which was built by Robert, Count of Mortain, who was a brother of William the Conqueror. But what is the style of this building, which, if admitted to be what it has been represented, would throw the introduction of the pointed style a century farther back than has ever been ima- gined ? Does it contain the traces of a style in its infancy? — of that struggle between the two styles, that mixture of round and pointed forms, which is universally found not less in France, and in this part of France, than in other countries, in all the early specimens ? On the contrary, with the single exception of one portal, (of which more hereafter,) the church of Mortain is in one style throughout, and that, the confirmed pointed: — arches, windows, doors, all are pointed. Evidently anterior to Coutances, Mortain is no less evidently of a later date than the eleventh century. In style it more resembles the buildings of our Henry THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH. 131 III., (who began to reign in 1*216,) than English buildings of any other period. The church exhibits some of those varieties which distinguish the pointed architecture of France from that of England, and possesses some peculiar features. Unlike the churches of Nor- mandy, and only like those of Italy, it was ori- ginally built without a tower. It has no tran- septs. Its arches i - est, not on piers, but pillars. Its capitals, mouldings, and ornaments are the same with those which are found in the Norman churches in the round style, and, so far, afford a proof of its having been constructed before the new fashion had affected every part of the fa- bric. The pillars of the nave, which go forward to encircle the choir, are thick, and rather short, with large Norman capitals, ornamented with an imita- tion of leaves. The arches of the nave are wide ; those of the choir, remarkably narrow. All the windows are lancet. A few of them, rather ob- tuse. Externally, the windows have slender, re- 132 THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH. cessed Norman pillars, with capitals, on either side. The great western door is pointed. The pillars, at its sides, are of short proportions. The whole building is constructed with ordinary sized blocks of ashler. The joints are rather wide. The church has now a tower, not at the side of the west end, but of the east ; and there is the base of another tower on the northern side, which was meant to correspond. The finished tower is singular, having long narrow slits, rather than lancets, in its sides, almost from the top to the bottom. But this is one of those capricious va- rieties which prove nothing as to date. The tower must have been an after- thought, because the tower and the church are not bonded together, and because the tower abuts upon one of the windows. There is also an half arch in the tower wall, which seems to have been intended to prevent this invaded window from being blocked up. Day d. Jfaitht b2kof SOUTH DOORWAY, MORTAIN CHURCH . THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH. 133 The door, which differs in style from the rest of the building, is on the southern side. It is large, round headed, and enriched with the usual Nor- man mouldings. The discordance in style of this door would be more unintelligible, if you did not at once perceive that the door could not have been constructed at the same time with the re- mainder of the building ; for the wall which con- tains the door, is much thicker than the walls of the remainder of the church, and is spliced to the thinner wall in a clumsy manner. In addition to this peculiarity, the two cluster columns, on either side of the door in the interior, are left incom- plete, to leave room for the door. One of the shafts of each cluster (the one that would have stood next the door, but, if it had, would have lapped over it) is omitted. There is but one way in which the discrepance between the door and the church can be rationally accounted for ; the door must be a remnant of the church which was built in 108Q, and the existing 134 l'abbaye blanche. church must have been entirely reconstructed at a later period. Before we proceed to enquue how far the evi- dence of history agrees with the evidence of con- struction, it will be better to introduce the de- scription of another religious building in the immediate neighbourhood of Mortain, which throws additional light on the subject in question. After our minute and attentive examination of the collegiate church, we descended into the val- ley, crossed the river, ascended the opposite height, and after a walk of some length, came to the Abbaye Blanche, a ci-devant nunnery in a most secluded and romantic situation. This ab- bey is known to have been founded in 1105, by the son of that Count Robert who built the col- legiate church. The one building might, there- fore, be naturally expected to illustrate the other ; and it does so — but how ? Is the church of the Abbaye Blanche in the same confirmed style as the collegiate ? On the contrary, instead l'abbaye blanche. 135 of being pointed throughout, parts of it are in the round style, parts in the transition, and it is only in such parts as may have been alterations, that the confirmed pointed appears. The windows at the west end are round-headed, the windows in the choir obtusely pointed. In the transepts are round-headed windows above, and pointed below. There is a circular window both at the east end and at the west. The arches under the tower are pointed, and rest on cluster columns. Pointed arches support the roof. All the pillars have Nor- man capitals. The Abbaye Blanche, therefore, is of an in- finitely earlier character than the supposed an- terior church in its immediate vicinity. Part of the old cloister remains. Its slender pillars, and small round arches, are in a style which in England would place it in the latter part of the reign of Henry II. An additional argument against the antiquity of the collegiate church, is to be found in the ruins of the Abbey of Savigny, which is situated in the 136 l'abbaye blanche. neighbourhood of Mortain, and arose from the munificence of its lords. The church of the Ab- bey of Savigny, of which the existing ruins are remains, was only begun in 1172, was not com- pleted till many years after, and yet, as will be seen, the greater part of this building was in the round style. So far as the Abbaye Blanche is concerned, history sufficiently accounts for the little accord- ance of its style with the date of its foundation. The founder of the abbey was taken prisoner at Tinchebray, the very next year after the founda- tion, and was sent into England, where he died some years afterwards. The buildings at the ab- bey were not likely to be proceeded with during the captivity of the founder. Other Counts of Mortain must have resumed the pious work in more tranquil and prosperous times. But, having shown that the church asserted to be the identical building constructed in 1082, is in a much later style than the church which was not begun till long after that year, what shall we MORTAIN. 137 believe to be the real date of the two existing fabrics ? Let us search for the times in which it is not unlikely that the church of Mortain may have been destroyed ; for the more peaceable days in which it is probable that religious buildings would have been carried on ; and for men who were affluent enough to undertake works of magnitude. The times of devastation are abundant. After the battle of Tinchebray, when Henry I. of Eng- land vented his wrath on Mortain, and demolished the greater part of the castle ; during the wars between the Counts of Anjou and Blois, and be- tween Henry II. and the Norman barons ; during the invasion of Normandy a by Philip Augustus, and the simultaneous inroad of the infuriated men a Anno 1213 " Nobile nee castrum Moretonia Funditus a fundo excisum et cum plebe sepultum ; Quique laborabant ipsam defendere, ad instar, Omnes a Francis capti, occisique fuerunt." Gulielmi Britonis Armorici Philippidos. 1 38 MORTAIN. of Brittany, who rushed into Normandy a , to re- venge the murther of their young Duke Arthur, who are known to have visited Mortain, and who ravaged wherever they went. In those feudal wars, it was a common thing for the churches to suffer together with the towns. The times, after the battle of Tinchebray, when Mortain was at rest, were under the govern- ment of Stephen of Blois, and of William, his son, during the greater part of the reign of Henry II., part of the reign of King John, and under Philip Augustus, of France, after the wars were over, by which he became possessor of Mortain, * " After the death of Arthur, Guido de Thoarcia, who was regent of Brittany, went with a large army into Normandy, and began by attacking Mont St. Michael, which he took, and set fire to the convent and church. This accomplished, he attacked and took Avranches, set fire to many villages, and went on, destroying every thing on his way, to join Phi- lip Augustus at Caen. Philip Augustus, wishing to relieve Normandy from the presence of such a scourge, sent Guido and his Bretons back, by Mortain and Pontorson." — Guliel- mus Armoricus. MORTAIN. 139 and of Normandy. At a later period, Mortain fell into neglect, only giving a title to princes of France, who never made it their residence. Combining with these historical data the evi- dence of construction and style, I should incline to the opinion, that the collegiate church of Mor- tain suffered during the struggle between John and Philip Augustus, either from the soldiers of the king, or the men of Brittany ; and that it was rebuilt, with the assistance of Philip Au- gustus, after peace was restored. Philip Augustus is known to have sought to in- gratiate himself with his new subjects by munifi- cent donations in aid of the Norman churches, many of which suffered during those wars ; and he connected himself more intimately with Mor- tain by giving that district to his son, the Count of Clermont, and by garrisoning the castle of Mortain with royal troops. With regard to the church of the abbey, we are equally left to conjecture. The names, and only the names, of three of its early abbesses have come 140 MORTAIN. down to our times. The first of these was St. Adelina, who died in 1125 ; the second, Bergonia, who died in 1170, and the third, Minguidia, who died in 1182. It is hardly probable that a succession of three abbesses would be permitted to pass away with- out seeing the commencement, at least, of their church, and Stephen, before he became king of England, is known to have extended his protection to this abbey. The probability, therefore, is, that those portions of the church which are in the round style, arose in the time of Stephen, that the work proceeded slowly, that some interruption took place, that the transition part was added in the latter part of the reign of Henry II., and that it was completed in the first years of the reign of John. The church underwent extensive re- pairs so late as 1604 a . Whatever was done then must have sought to be in keeping with the old a " 1604. — Isabella de Saussay, Abbatissa, ecclesiam repa- rarit, et omavit." — Gallia Christiana. MORTAIN. 141 character of the building, for all that exists is in the ancient style. But the fact of these repara- tions would sufficiently account for any apparent anomalies. 142 SAVIGNY. CHAPTER XVI. SAVIGNY. About eight miles from Mortain are the ruins of the Abbey of Savigny, formerly one of the most celebrated religious foundations in Normandy. This abbey was protected and favoured by suc- cessive kings of England; by Henry I., Stephen, and Henry IT. The church remained intact till the revolution, when it was almost entirely pulled down. I was accidentally prevented from visiting Sa- vigny myself, but Mr. Hussey went there, and I subjoin an account of what he saw, in his own words. The remaining portions of the abbey church of Savigny are the wall of the west front, which is SAVIGNY. 143 not much injured ; the greater part of the wall of the south aisle of the nave, with a portion of that of the north, the latter, a good deal injured, the former, tolerably perfect; half the end of the north transept, and the whole of that of the south, but both more or less injured. These, with some portions of rubble masonry to the east, form all that is now standing of the church, and the whole area of the interior is covered, to the depth of many feet, with stones and rubbish. From the little which now exists of this church, it is hardly possible to ascertain what was the style of its architecture, yet the few details which remain are of a character decidedly transition ; seeming, however, to partake more of the round than the pointed style. The pilasters against the walls of the aisle, have late Norman capitals, and the springing stones of the ribs of the vault show mouldings of a mixed character. The vault of the nave, from the rib which re- 144 SAVIGNY. mains attached to the inside of the west wall, was, I think, just pointed; but this rib shows the com- mencement of what must have been so nearly a circle, that a tender conscience would hardly ven- ture to swear to its having been either the one or the other. The west window is large and singular, and, I think, must have been an insertion, though, from the nature of the masonry (rubble work) there is nothing to show that this was the case. The win- dow is obtusely pointed, divided into three pointed compartments, with a trefoil at the top. The west door is, also, very singular, the upper part of it being in the shape of the favourite trefoil. The transepts had each a circular window at the end, which, I think, never contained any tracery, except a single row of bold, semi-circular, feather- ings roimd their edges, and these are nearly de- stroyed. Adjoining to the church is a considerable ex- tent of vaulting, which has served as substructions. SAVIGNY. 145 It is all turned in rubble masonry, with round arches, supported on columns, having late Norman caps. Over a portion of these vaults there yet stands a large oblong room of good proportions which seems to have been the refectory. The old win- dows are destroyed, so that nothing now remains except the vault, which is pointed, having, how- ever, ribs with Norman mouldings, which spring from pilasters having Norman caps. The entrance doorway to this room is so much concealed by rubbish, as only to leave the upper part visible. It was, however, round headed, and was encircled by a single Vandyke moulding. It was divided by a pier, into two, and the tops of these subdivisions were also round. The whole of the masonry is exceedingly simple, plain, and good. The date of this church is known. It was be- gun in 1173 by Abbot Josse, to replace an older church which had only been finished in 1124, but which had been built on so small a scale as to be H 146 SAVIGNY. considered discreditable to an abbey that had be- come very rich. Henry I., Stephen, and Henry II., equally favoured this abbey, and increased its possessions with fresh endowments. The new church was not consecrated till 1-2-20, in the pre- sence of the Archbishop of Rouen, and many Norman bishops. The church was attacked and much injured by the Calvinists in 1562. They slew the Abbot, de- stroyed the organ, burnt the wood work in the church, earned off the sacramental plate, and plundered the treasury. The church was restored by Claude du Bellay, who was Abbot from 15S8 to 1609. AVRANCHES. 147 CHAPTER XVII. AVRANCHES. — ABBEY OF LUZERNE. May 28. — From Mortain we went to Avranches. The road keeps along a ridge the greater part of the way, and commands a rich and beautiful coun- try on either side ; affording, as you advance, oc- casional glimpses of the sea, and Mont St. Michel. Avranches stands in a delightful situation, on an height. Of the old castle, extensive walls, and several dismantled towers remain. These ruins are en- circled by public walks, which command beautiful views. The finest view is from the Calvaire, which marks the spot where the cathedral stood till the revolution, when the blind populace destroyed the great ornament of their town. No cathedral had h2 148 AVRANCHES. ever a more advantageous position. It stood on the extreme point of the platform of the castle, apart from all other buildings, and, elevated as it was, with its two noble spires, must have been a grand object. From this spot you behold a wide extent of rich, and well wooded country, a winding river, the sea, with the pyramidal fonn of Mont St. Michel, and its satellite, the rock of Tomblaine. Avranches must be an agreeable place of resi- dence. It contains many good houses. Even- thing is cheap. The climate is mild — the air, sa- lubrious — the surrounding country diversified and pleasing. Of the society I had no opportunity of judging, but in most of the French provincial towns there is still society to be found, who meet at rational hours, and on easy terms. At Avranches we engaged a cabriolet to take us to the Abbey of Luzerne. To get there, we had four leagues of good road, and one of traverse, which, as usual, we had to perform on foot. The abbey stands in an agreeable and seques- ABBEY OF LUZERNE. 149 tered situation in the vale of the Thar, surround- ed by hills and woods. All the buildings are complete. At the Revo- lution they were bought by an individual, and turned into a cotton manufactory, which has failed. The church remains entire. This church is in the early transition style. The arches, on each side the nave, are obtuse ; those under the tower, more sharply pointed. The arches of the nave rest on square piers, which have small recessed pillars at each angle. The roof is vaulted, and of stone. The trans- verse ribs are round and plain ; the diagonal ribs are moulded. The windows are round headed. The great western portal is round headed, with Norman mouldings, and has, at the sides, pillars with Nor- man capitals. Above this round headed door, is a pointed window, above which are three pointed recesses, 150 ABBEY OF LUZERNE. the mouldings of which exhibit the tooth pat- tern. The east end is square, with a large pointed window ; but the probability is, that the whole of this part of the building was a re-construction. In the tower, the windows are long, narrow, lancets. The summit of the tower is of a later date than the base. Of this church the foundation stone was laid in 1164, and a consecration took place in 1178 H — but, at that time, only the chancel, the choir, and the transepts, were in existence. No record remains to show how soon the remain- der of the building was completed, but, as this abbey appears to have enjoyed the uninterrupted favour of successive Bishops of Avranches, and as, in 1207, it gave back to the cathedral of Avranches (that cathedral then requiring extensive repairs) a source of profit which a former Bishop of Av- ranches had conferred upon Luzerne b , to facilitate a Neustria Pia. b Ibid. ABBEY OF LUZERNE. 151 the construction of its church, we may conclude that the building went on without much inter- ruption, and that before 1207, it was complete. A religious house had been founded at Luzerne in 1143, but it only acquired importance in 1162 from the donations and endowments of the family of St. Jean, who were its second founders, and who re- moved the abbey and the church to a new situation. The St. Jeans lived at St. Jean-le-Thomas, near Avranches. — A branch of this family settled in England, where the name was translated into St. John, and in time augmented by the title of Bolingbroke. The abbey of Luzerne suffered in the wars of the fourteenth century. At the close of that cen- tury it was repaired by Abbot Jean du Rocher ; — amongst other things, he rebuilt the upper part of the tower, which accounts for the difference of its style. After having passed some time in the examination of this building, we returned on foot to the pot- house, where our cabriolet was awaiting us. On 152 ABBEY OF LUZERNE. our way we fell into conversation with an old peasant whom we met on the road, and who looked as if he wanted assistance, though he did not ask it. His words soon confirmed the indi- cation of his looks, for he told us he was now unfit for work, and had no provision for his old age. " Then it seems," I observed, " the Revo- lution has done nothing for you." " No, Sir," he replied, " neither the last, nor the former, Revolu- tion. Each time they told us it would be a fine thing for the poor ; mais les pauvres sont toujours restes pauvres.' 1 '' All we could do was to cheer him for the moment with a little relief. We returned to sleep at Avranches. MONT ST. MICHEL. 153 CHAPTER XVIII. MONT ST. MICHEL. May 29. — Taking horses, and a guide at Av- ranches, we set forth on an expedition to Mont St. Michel. At low water you can ride the whole way to the insulated rock. Having reached the sands, which are hard and safe, we got on at a good pace, but had twice to wade through broad channels, which are never dry. At the second wade the water was deep, the current strong, and the wind set against it. Our horses began to be puzzled, and our feet were in the water ; but the critical moment was soon over, and, after this inconvenient passage, we had good sands all the way to the Mount. H 3 154 MONT ST. MICHEL. Mont St. Michel is picturesque in every point of view. At its base are fortified walls, behind which appears the little town ; above the town are seen rocks, and the vast substructions which sup- port the convent and the church. The conventual buildings, gateways and walls, form a base to the church, which rises above every thing else, and crowns the apex. This granite mount afforded a suitable and tempting situation for a church in honour of the saint whose name it bears, and whose temples were habitually built in high places. The Nor- man achievement stimulated the emulation of England, and St. Michael's Mount in Cornwall soon became the counterpart of Mont St. Mi- chel. You ascend by divers flights of steps, and pass through more than one gateway, before you reach any part of the convent. The last gateway is very scenic and baronial. This is, probably, the gate- way which Abbot Thurstin built in 1257. The convent and church, being now converted MONT ST. MICHEL. 155 into an house of correction, are so subdivided, and blocked up with partition walls, that every thing- is seen to disadvantage. The arches on each side the nave of the church are walled up, but you can distinguish the pillars, and perceive that they were built in courses, and had capitals. This part of the church belongs to the eleventh century. The choir is preserved as the chapel of the pre- sent prison. It was begun in 1452, carried on at intervals by successive abbots, and only finished in 1521. It is a beautiful specimen of the pointed style, though less enriched than other cotempo- rary works, which is accounted for by the hard- ness of the granite of which it is composed. But the most remarkable remnant of the con- vent, is what is called the Hall of the Knights. It is a splendid oblong room, of which the stone, vaulted, ceiling is supported by a forest of pillars. As the knights of St. Michel were only instituted by Louis XL, in 1469, this room can scarcely have been built for them ; its style resembles that of the time of our Henry III. It may have 156 MONT. ST. MICHEL. been a state refectory, prepared for the reception of the noble and royal devotees who flocked to this place in ancient times. No record, however, remains, by which the real date of this room can be ascertained. The first church built on this spot, was built by St. Aubert, in 709. The second was built by Richard, Duke of Normandy, and finished in 996. This church was destroyed by fire in 1 00 1 . Richard II., son and successor of Richard I., began a new and more magnificent edifice in 1022. The nave of this building, which still exists, was only finished in 1060. The buildings of this convent have undergone more disasters, and consequently more alterations, than almost any other. They were ten times in- jured by fire ; sometimes by lightning, sometimes through the violence of man, when the convent was used as a fortress, and attacked by the hostile party. Repaired as often as they were injured, the convent and church still remain a splendid and picturesque pile of architecture. MONT ST. MICHEL. 157 On returning to the little inn, after our visit to the convent, we heard the old landlady express an opinion which revealed the secret source from which so many opinions arise. She said that, in the time of the monks, all strangers were lodged and fed in the convent, whereas, now, they were all obliged to come to her inn, and, consequently, the monks were much better away. Our guide had been so much frightened by the depth of the second wade, that on our way back, he insisted upon our taking another route, which avoided the danger, but was very circuitous. In consequence, it was much later than we had in- tended when we got back to Avranches. 1 58 PONTORSON. CHAPTER XIX. PONTORSON.— SAUMUR.— CHINON.— FONTEVRAUD.— ALENCON. May 30. — From Avranches we went to Pontor- son, the last town in Normandy. At Pontorson is another ancient church, of which a part is old Norman, but the western front is early transition, and evidently of later construction. In this west front, both round and pointed forms appear. A recess, of which the arch is pointed, encloses a round headed portal and the window above it. Above the pointed arch is a window with two divisions, of which the tops are round ; the front, terminates in a sort of pe- diment, at either angle of which is a pierced turret. The whole is constructed of granite, of TONTORSON. 15f> which there is abundance in this part of Nor- mandy. A church was built on this spot by Robert, father of William the Conqueror, and the body of the existing church appears to belong to his time. The joints of its walls are wide, and the mortar is coarse. The west front must have been altogether rebuilt at a subsequent period. The Castle of Pontorson was burnt in 117L a , during the wars in which Henry II. was, at that time, engaged. The church may have suffered on the same occasion. The style of the west front of Pontorson is of so much the same character with that of Luzerne, that, whatever may have occasioned the work, it must have been executed at nearly the same period. Leaving Pontorson, we traversed Brittany, in order to visit the celebrated Druidical temple a "1171. Castrum Pontis Ursonis combustum est. Hen- ricus Rex venit ad Pontem Ursonem." — Ex Roberti de Monte Appendice ad Sigebcrtum. 160 CHINON. at Carnac *, after which exploit, we proceeded to Nantes, and from thence, by ancient Angers, and along the delightful banks of the Loire, to the pretty little town of Saumur, which is entirely built of light coloured stone, and contains many good houses. Our object, in making this expedition, was to visit Chinon, the French Windsor of our Nonnan kings, and Fontevraud, the place of their bu- rial. Chinon is about five leagues from Saumur, and about four from Tours. The road conducted us along the banks of the river, which are, in places, very picturesque. Copses and vineyards abound, interrupted and varied by chalky cliffs. Many a The immense extent of the remains of this temple, its high degree of preservation, and its situation, on a bleak heath near the sea-shore, make it well worthy of a pilgrim- age ; but, after all, it must be owned that the few more colossal fragments of Stonehenge appeal to the imagination in a still more powerful manner. CHINON. 161 habitations, some chateaus on a small scale, are scattered along the side of the road, on little emi- nences of their own. Large walnut trees often intervene between the road and the river. These ingredients, together with the gay population, and bright sun, of this delicious part of France, supplied us with a succession of agreeable pic- tures. The Castle of Chinon, most advantageously situated on a commanding height, has the best appearance at a distance, and when approached from Saumur. There still remains a stately length of walls, diversified with numerous towers, domi- neering proudly over the town. Nothing, however, or only one round tower at an angle, remains of the Norman castle ; nothing more ancient than the 14th, or perhaps even the 15th century, is now in existence. The most pic- turesque feature is the lofty tower at the entrance. The general plan of the castle consists of two large courts, approached by bridges. There is a third mass of ruin, which stands beyond and aloof, 162 FONTEVRAUD. and probably was the oldest part ; but this mass consists of little more than substructions. At one angle of the first court remain the walls of some of the living rooms, with their huge chim- ney-pieces still in their places. The view from the castle is magnificent. The eye wanders up and down the wide vale of the Loire, which sweeps immediately round the base of the height. The Loire is here of an ampler breadth than the Thames at Windsor, and the country through which it glides is more diversified than that which the noblest palace in Europe surveys. I could quite understand why Henry II. was so fond of Chinon. On our way back to Saumur we turned off the road to visit Fontevraud. We went from the palace to the tomb. The Abbey of Fontevraud, from its vicinity to Chinon, naturally became the place of royal sepul- ture. It stands in a sequestered dell, about a league from the Loire, and three leagues from Chinon. FONTEVRAUD. 163 The church, of which the outside remaius intact, is considered to be the one begun by Foulques, fifth Count of Anjou, in 1125. It has transepts and five apsides at the east end. The more ancient parts of the building are in the round style. There are pointed arches under the tower, and the windows in the tower are pointed also ; but this must have been a reconstruction. There is nothing pointed any where else. The capitals, mouldings, and ornaments, in every part of the building, are rich, elaborate, and sharp as if they had been finished yesterday. The whole is built of the chalk-stone of the neigh- bourhood. Such is the exterior of the church, but its in- terior is unfortunately changed. It is converted into a maison de force, and all within, however beneficial, is repulsive. The royal tombs, in quest of which we came, are no longer in their original situation. They are placed, on tressels, in a dark corner, and disregarded, if preserved. We found the monumental effigies of Henry II. 164 ALEN50N. and his queen, of the queen of King John, and of Richard Cceur de Lion. All these personages are in their robes, of which the drapery is rather stiff. The faces have been injured, more or less, by the Vandals of the Revolution, but the face of Richard has suffered the least. The forehead is remarkably wide, and there is a stern expression of force and resolution in the countenance that might well have dismayed the Paynims. It was impossible not to wish that Richard, at least, might be removed to the now more appropriate resting- place of Westminster Abbey. It was striking to behold these traces of our kings in so distant a land, and no less striking to reflect how much more powerful England is now than when the kingdom was so much more ex- tensive. From Fontevraud we returned to Saumur, re- traced our steps to Angers, and proceeding from thence by Le Mans, where there is a fine cathedral, and Alencon, where there is nothing, re-entered Normandy. SEEZ. 165 CHAPTER XX. SEEZ. — BROGLIE. — BERNAY. June 6. — The first place which offered any thing to detain us was Seez, a poor little town, but the seat of a bishop, and, consequently, possessed of a cathedral. The cathedral of Seez is another of the build- ings in the pointed style to which an incredible date has been assigned. The last date on record has been accepted as the necessary date of the whole existing fabric, and the possibility of un- registered reconstructions has been overlooked. There certainly was a new cathedral begun at Seez in the year which is assigned as the date of 166 SEEZ. the existing cathedral, 1053. The events which led to this reconstruction are so illustrative of the state of society in the middle ages, that I subjoin a short account of them, though they have nothing to do with the present fabric. During the episcopate of Ivo, bishop of Seez, the Soringi, three sons of a feudal lord of the neighbourhood, collected together a band of asso- ciates as lawless as themselves, and ravaged, and pillaged all that district. For some time they were scarcely resisted ; and, finally, they had the audacity to take possession of the cathedral of Seez, make it their fortress and dwelling place, from whence they sallied forth to collect plunder, and returned to pollute the temple with licentious orgies. At length the bishop persuaded Grant- mesnil, and other barons of the province, to come and attack the intruders. The Soringi shut them- selves up in the cathedral, and, in order to smoke them out, the bishop ordered some of the wooden houses near the cathedral to be set on fire. The object was answered : the Soringi and their asso- SEEZ. 167 ciates came forth and were defeated; but the fire spread, enveloped the cathedral, and caused its total ruin. It happened that the Pope was at that time in Fiance. Some of Ivo's enemies induced Leo to believe that the bishop had wantonly set his own church on fire; and, although Ivo in part relieved himself from the charge, by relating how the conflagration had arisen, yet the Pope ordered him to rebuild his church, and find the means in the best manner he could. In consequence the bishop undertook a journey to Apulia, Constanti- nople, and other places, to implore the assistance of the wealthy and the great, and had the good fortune to return to his diocese loaded with alms and oblations. He immediately began a new church, on so large a scale that it was only com- pleted in forty years a . Such is the history of the reconstruction in 1053; and nothing but indirect evidence, or faint a William of Jumieges, lib. vii., cap. 13. 168 SEEZ. indications, remain to throw any light on the sub- sequent fortunes of the fabric. The fabric itself, however, demonstrates that it is not the cathedral of the eleventh century. It is pointed throughout; but exhibits a variety of style, which proves that different parts must have been built at different times. The west end and the nave are the oldest : of these the style is early pointed. On each side of the nave are pillars, built in courses, with bases and capitals. These pillars support pointed arches with mouldings. The windows are double lancet. The style which prevails throughout the whole of this part of the church, resembles that of our Henry III. The transepts and choir belong to quite another period. These are in the decorated style of pointed architecture. Neither histories, nor chronicles, expressly acquaint us with the events which led to the second reconstruction, certified by the change of style, or with the period at which the different SEEZ. 169 parts were built. We know, however, that, in 1150% Louis, king of France, enraged at the treacherous conduct of John, the son of William Taluas, then lord of Seez, came to Seez with a large force, took the town, and burnt it to the ground b . Seez was again destroyed by fire, in 1353, by the English. It is highly probable, therefore, that the eleventh century cathedral suffered, together with the town, in the conflagration of 1150, and arose again, like other cathedrals, in more peaceable times. The cathedral appears to have suffered again from the conflagration in 1353 c , as, in 1408, we find Peter, a "Anno 1150, Gaufridus Comes Andegavorum coepit Cas- tellum de Nube super Robertum Comitem Ponicensem, quod anno praeterrito perdideret per traditionem Johannis filii Gulielmi Taluas — unde Rex Ludovicus, iratus, et Ro- bertas, Alius ejus, congregato ingenti exercitu venerunt usque Sagium, civitatem Gulielmi Taluas, et earn com- buxerunt." — Ex Chronicis Anonymi. b " 1353 — Anglicano igne, urbs (Sagium) consumpta est, et funditus eversa." — Gallia Christiana. c " Petrus I., Sagiensis Episcopus, 1408, Testamentum condidit 16 Maii, anni ejusdem. In eo expressum habetur, I 170 BROGLIE. bishop of Seez, making provision in his will for its reparation. The dates of these historical hints sufficiently correspond with the style of the fabric, and suffi- ciently account for the difference in its parts. Such, however, are the feeble aids, through the help of which the antiquary has to grope his way ; but if the poverty of his resources may serve as an excuse for his sometimes being in the wrong, it should teach him to insist with the less confi- dence on the certainty of his being in the right. Resuming our progress, a short time before we came to Broglie, we caught a view of the country residence of its duke. It is a large old chateau on a bank, with a good deal of wood in sight. The present duke, who is one of the most distinguished and excellent men of France, passes much of his time at this chateau, and, formed, as he is, to make 2)io reparatione ecclesice suce, acto cum exsecutoribus de- funct! Gregorii antistitis confecto, tarn pro mitra, pedo, et annulo pastorali, quam aliis rebus, conscribi fecisse ununi Pontificate, duobus voluminibus." — Gallia Christiana. BERNAY. 171 a figure in the conduct of great affairs, can still enjoy the simple pleasures of the country. Broglie is a very neat, little, half-timber, Nor- man town. Part of the church is rude, ancient, and built of a singular breschia. Within the church, flat piers support plain, round arches ; but a side aisle has been added, and the primitive part adjoining to the more modern aisle has been adapted to its neighbour by the insertion of pointed arches under the old semicircles. A Lady's chapel, in the pointed style, has been substituted in the place of the original apsis. In the west front, interlacing arches are introduced as an ornament. The only date, relating to this church, which I have been able to discover, is that of a consecra- tion, by a bishop of Evreux, in 1224 a , which seems to indicate the time when the parts in the pointed style were added. After leaving Broglie, we traversed a richly wooded valley, and soon arrived at Bernay, which a " Ricardus, Elroicensis Episcopus, Ecclesiam Beat;e Maris de Brolio, consecravit 1224." — Gallia Christiana. i2 172 BERN AY. once derived celebrity from its rich Benedictine abbey. This abbey was founded, in the first years of the eleventh century, by Judith of Brit- tany, wife of Richard the Second, Duke of Nor- mandy a. Much of the original work remains, and is perhaps the most ancient building of any con- sequence now existing in Normandy. On this account it is a curious and interesting monument, and it bears ample testimony to the grand and simple ideas of the early Nonnans. Large in its dimensions, and lofty, it is entirely without orna- ment. The plain round arches, on either side of the nave, rest on plain, rectangular piers, with pillars attached. The joints of the pillars do not exactly correspond with the joints of the piers. The pillars, however, are early Norman, and have varied, foliage, capitals, without any mix- ture of the grotesque figures which were after- wards introduced. On one of the capitals, is the a Neustria Pia. BERNAY. 173 inscription, Me fecit Izembardus — a proof that the workmanship was considered a great achieve- ment. In the upper part of the transepts is a triforium, with round-headed openings, divided by a small pillar. The church had two aisles on each side the nave ; transepts ; a principal apsis at the end of the choir, and an apsis in either transept. The dome vaulting a , over the aisles, is exceed- ingly curious, and has every appearance of being original. The abbey was secularized at the revolution, and the church now belongs to two tradesmen, who have divided it into warehouses. Bernay is situated in an agreeable valley wa- tered by a little river. a Dome vaulting is constructed in circular courses. 174 EVREUX. CHAPTER XXI. EVREUX. — ST. TAURIN. — SHRINE OF ST. TAURIN. — SHRINE OF ST. CALMINIUS. June 7. — We passed through a cheerful and va- ried country, green with pastures, chequered with orchards, and enlivened with villages and farms. The Norman farm-house, which is always half timber, always in the midst of an orchard, and always sheltered by trees, is a pleasing feature in the landscape. Normandy constantly put us in mind of England, and of Herefordshire especially. In a short time we looked down upon the pretty town of Evreux, at the bottom of its basin. Evreux is an old half timber town, situated in a fertile valley, which is watered by two little ri- vers. It possesses handsome churches, of which EVREUX CATHEDRAL. 175 the Cathedral and St. Taurin are the most con- spicuous. Evreux was early celebrated for a chapel, built by St. Landulfus in memory of St. Taurinus, who first preached the gospel in Neustria. The Cathedral, with the exception of the west end, which is modern, is, for the most part, in the advanced pointed style. The rose, and fivt light windows, at the end of the south transept, are in good taste. The windows, and ornaments, at the end of the north transept must be at least a century later. The choir is very lofty and beau- tiful, with its light, cluster, piers. On each side the nave are the pillars and round arches of an earlier church. The discordance in the different parts of this building is accounted for by the injury it received in 1194, when Philip Augustus 3 , waging war with a " Ebroicas primo sic incineravit, ut omnes Cum domibus simul ecclesias consumpserit ignis.'' Gul. Brit. Armor. Philippidos. 176 EVREUX CATHEDRAL. King John, fell upon Evreux, set it on fire, and is recorded even to have destroyed the churches. Such accounts, however, must be taken with a certain degree of reservation, as they often repre- sent partial injury to be total destruction. So was it the case at Evreux, where the nave of the cathedral, which was consecrated in 1076, still exists. No record remains of the reconstruction of such parts of the cathedral as were damaged. But we see, by the Gallia Christiana, that Ra- dulfus the Second was the first bishop, after the conflagration, who was buried in the cathedral. His predecessors were buried elsewhere. From hence it may be inferred that the restoration was only completed in his time. He died in 1256, having added two chapels to the church about ten years before a . Adjoining to the cathedral is the Bishop's pa- lace, part of which is a good specimen of the a " Radulfus II. Ebroencis Episcopus, duos, in Ecclesia cathedrali, fundavit capellas circa 1245, sepultusque est in navi ecclesiae majoris, 1256." — Gallia Christiana. < < < <<<<<<< < < < I o o o Y o^o ,OJ> j> x> - • O < '< o o o o < < oooo <•<• < o < < ■ o o o o c e < < OJ oo o o o o o o < < < < < , <^° < < < < • < < < Wo' o o o o . o o < ^ -* -— H^ r 2_ . J ;■ ST. TAURIN. 177 style of the fifteenth century. Domestic archi- tecture always seems to have followed the fashion which was always first set by ecclesiastical buildings. The history of the church of Taurinus is the counterpart of that of the Cathedral. In place of the humble chapel of Landulfus, a magnificent church and abbey were erected on the same spot, in 1026, by Richard II., duke of Normandy. The church of Richard was half destroyed by Philip Augustus, and was restored, long after, in the pointed style. On the outside of the north transept, which is a fragment of the original church, remains to be seen, a curious specimen of the terra cotta orna- ment, which was introduced by the Romans, and copied by their successors. It consists of various patterns formed with thin tiles of different shapes and sizes. In this church is still preserved one of those splendid shrines which are become so rare. It was made to receive the ashes of the saint, accord- 13 178 SHRINE OF ST. TAUBIN. ing to the inscription which it bears, at the ex- pense of abbot Gilbert, in the year 1250. The material is principally silver-gilt ; copper- gilt at the corners, and less conspicuous parts. The shape is that of a chapel, of course in the pointed style. The architectural parts are very elaborate, and display a richness of ornament which is appropriate in w r orks of little size. In compartments, on the four sides, are bas reliefs representing different events in the life of the saint. The shrine was once studded with precious stones, most of which it has lost in the various casualties to which it has been exposed. These shrines were common in the flourishing days of the church, and afford a proof of profi- ciency in the art of working in gold, silver, and enamel, during a period when the fine arts, in general, were in abeyance. The small number of these shrines, which are still to be found in the treasuries of Catholic churches, are curious as works of art, and interesting as illustrative of the architecture of the day — having always archi- SHRINE OF ST. CALMINIUS. 179 tectural ornaments about them, even when they are not in the shape of buildings. The archi- tectural ornaments of the oldest shrines are in the round, or Romanesque, style, but became pointed when the pointed style was adopted. I saw another of these shrines in the sacristy of the church of Mozac, near Riom en Auvergne. This shrine is in the shape of a sarcophagus, and in the Romanesque style. It is made of silver- gilt, and ornamented with pictures in enamel. It contained the ashes of St. Calminius, and Numa- dia, his wife, whose pious actions are portrayed in the pictures. This shrine was made about the middle of the tenth century, as appears from an inscription which it bears — " Petrus Abbas hanc capsam fecit pretio." — The first Peter who was abbot of Mozac held that office at the time above mentioned. 180 ROUEN. — CAUDEBEC. CHAPTER XXII. ROUEN. — CAUDEBEC. — LILLEBONNE. — MONTI- VILLIERS. — GREVILLE. — HAVRE. Leaving Evreux we advanced, through the same sort of country, to Louviers ; soon after which we began to catch, from the high ground on which we were travelling, delightful views of the Seine, and, in a short time, found ourselves once again at Rouen. At Rouen I parted with Mr. Hussey, who was to remain some time longer in Normandy to finish various drawings. Not setting out till late, I got no farther than Caudebec that afternoon. The drive from Rouen to Caudebec is always charming, and the situation of the neat little inn at which I alighted, made me wish that another day had been at my disposal. The little quay in front, the noble breadth of the river, and the large trees of the adjacent public walk, strongly persuade delay. LILLEBONNE. 181 The next day, however, I resumed my journey, and diverged from the direct road to Le Havre, to visit Lillebonne. To penetrate into the interior of this part of Normandy, you have to scale the hills, which here skirt the Seine. During the long, steep ascent, the road is necessarily con- ducted in traverses, and from your winding course, through defiles clothed with wood, you catch lovely glimpses of the Seine, Caudebec, and the country on the further bank of the river. After having once attained the high ground, you remain on that level till in sight of Lillebonne, when you descend rapidly, and finally rise up into the town. The situation of Lillebonne (the Julio bona of the Romans) is noble ; on an eminence surrounded by hills, in the southern range of which a for- tunate gap allows a view of the Seine, there en- larged into the semblance of an arm of the sea. The remains of the castle crown the height. The circle of walls round the court exists, together with a fourteenth century tower, the fragment of 182 LILLEBONNE. another, and a large mass of old Norman build- ing. A modern house, but not an offensive ob- ject, has grown up amongst the ruins, on the northern side. The old Norman remnant appears to have been the great hall of the castle. Its walls are con- structed of rubble, with a coating of rather small courses of squared stone. The windows are large, but all turned to the court. Each window is di- vided nearly into half by a transom, supported by a small pillar, and each window has a recessed pillar on either side. You see by the chimney-pieces, and other indications, that the great hall itself was not on the ground, but on the first floor, with a low, vaulted, room beneath. Safety must have been the original object of such an arrangement. The castle, with the ground it stands on, has lately been sold to a tradesman of Bolbec. I rather envied the purchaser, so delightful a spot would it be to work upon. The court, enclosed with its venerable walls, might easily become the cheerful foreground of a flower garden, with the LILLEBONNE. 183 old Norman building for its boundary, and peeps at the magnificent view beyond, might easily be obtained. But the tradesman of Bolbec will probably work upon it in a different manner. Just below the castle, has been discovered, and carefully cleared out, the fragment of a Roman theatre. Little more than substructions remains, with small portions of the external walls, which were constructed in the same manner as the Nor- man building, with rubble, faced with small, squared stones. Near this theatre was found, a few years ago, a Roman statue of bronze gilt, which I remember to have seen exhibited in London. It was cu- riously unequal in merit. The limbs are good ; the head is coarse, as if an head of inferior work- manship had been substituted for its own in later, and less skilful, times. Soon after leaving Lillebonne I joined the great road to Havre. The views are fine, as you return to the banks of the Seine, and descend upon Harfleur and its spire. 184 MONTIVILLIERS. At Harfleur I diverged again, and drove up a wide valley to the neat little town of Monti \ illiers, once celebrated for its Benedictine abbey. The church remains entire, with its large, central tower, and an octagonal tower, terminating in a spire at the west end. All the church is in the round style, except the north era aisle. The capitals of the pillars in the nave are mere cubes — those in the choir have foliage. The transepts are more enriched. Mould- ings are carried along their walls, and a few figures appear on the capitals of their pillars; amongst these figures I discovered the mermaid a . Curious a Pages upon pages have been filled with attempts to dis- cover and explain the meaning of this figure — Was it a symbol V Was it the representation of a northern divinity, introduced by the northern nations ? Or was it a mere ornament, copied from the Syrens of classical celebrity? All that can be as- serted is that the mermaid did not appear as an ornament of Christian churches till after the inroad of the northern con- querors. I observed it more than once in the Lombard churches of Italy. It often occurs in France, and the author of La Religion des Gaulois labours to prove that the mermaid MONTIVILLIERS. 185 crumpled monsters are introduced as capitals of the half-columns which run up to support the roof of the choir. The west portal is enriched with several mouldings, two of which exhibit the zig- zag, and tooth pattern. The church, as it now stands, is believed to have represents the goddess Onuava, the celestial Venus of the Gauls, and of the northern nations. The celestial Venus was worshipped under this form by the ancient Syrians and Babylonians, and this is not the only link which appears to confirm the idea that the northern nations received their mythology, however circuitously, from the south — nor is the mermaid the only trace of the admission of Pagan allusions into Christian temples. The Sagittarius is another. The Sagittarius is a representative of the zodiac, and the zodiac, (itself a frequent ornament of the portals of churches,) is an attribute belonging to Mythras, of whose worship some of the ceremonies continued to be practised in France and Italy long after the introduction of Christianity. It was the policy of Rome to be indulgent to the old predilections of the re- cently converted, and, as all attributes equally belong to the only God, favourite emblems could be retained without of- fence to the new religion. But whether the mermaid was one of these, whether it was a recollection, or merely an ornament, I will not pretend to determine. 186 CHURCH OF GRAVILLE. been begun, at least, by Elizabeth, the second abbess, who died in 1 1 1 7 a . From Montivilliers I returned to Harfleur. Nearer Havre I walked up to the little church of Graville, which stands on an eminence by the road side. A church was originally built on this spot to receive within its walls the body of St. Honorina. On the approach of the Normans, this precious relic was removed, for safety, to Conflans sur Maine, not far from Paris. The monks of Conflans, aware of the value of such a possession, would not part with the relic after the storm was over, and ob- tained oblations enough to build a new church in 1083, where St. Honorina ever after remained. But the spot which originally possessed the treasure appears to have retained its powers of attraction ; the consequence of which was that a second church arose in honour of St. Honorina at Graville b . a ' ' Elizabetha — creditur Basilicam Monasterii sui, quae super- est, a fundamentis excitasse. Ob. 1117." — Gallia Christiana. b Neustria Pia. CHURCH OF GRAVILLE. 187 This church exhibits a prodigality of ornament. On the capitals of the pillars of one side of the nave appear a variety of rude figures. But the most remarkable part of this building is the ex- ternal decoration of the ends of the transepts. At each end are seen the round, interlacing arches, of which the intersections produce the form of a pointed arch. Above these arches runs a string course of animals, resting on monster corbels ; the stones of the gables are worked in patterns to the summit. Even this church, of comparatively small di- mensions, has its central tower. Nothing certain is known about the date of this edifice, but it is probable that it was begun at no great length of time after the completion of its rival at Conflans. The jealousy of the monks, who were the guardians of the defrauded spot, must have made them use every exertion to stimulate the piety of the pilgrims, and obtain from them the means of successful competition. A new monastery was erected at this place, by 188 CHURCH OF GRAVILLE. William Malet, lord of Graville. He introduced regular canons in the place of secular clergy % and conferred upon them all the churches in his gift, as well in England as in Normandy. His act of donation bears the date of 1203, and was confirmed by Walter, Archbishop of Rouen, in the same year. But, though William Malet built the monasteiy b , there is no evidence of his having done any thing at the church, and its style, very similar to that of Montivilliers, assigns it to an earlier period. Had it been built at the same time with the monastery, a " Ubi Clericiprius Deo inserviebant, postea vero Regu- lares Canonici sunt instituti, ac fundati, ab illustri heroe, Gulielmo Mallet, et Monasterium extructum." — Neustria Pia. b Ex M.S. Codice Prioratus de Gravilla: — " Omnibus ad quos praesens carta pervenerit, Gulielmus Mallet de Girardi villa salutem. Notum sitvobis quod, cumin Ecclesia S. Honorinae de Girardivilla Canonicos Regulares aggregassem, misertus paupertatis illorum, omnes Ecclesias terrarum mearum, tarn in Normannia quam in Anglia, quae ad dona- tionem meam pertinent, illis donavi, in perpetuam eleemosy- nam, anno 1203," &c. — De la Roque — Histoire de la Maison de Harcourt, Vol. IV. p. 12 of the Supplement. HAVRE. 189 it would have been in the pointed style, which, before 1203, was established in Normandy, and in which style the abbey church of Fecamp, and the cathedral of Rouen, were rising from their ashes in that very year, at a few leagues distance from Graville 3 . William Malet was descended from the illus- trious warrior who was standard-bearer to William the Conqueror at the battle of Hastings, and who was rewarded with extensive grants of land in England. But this, the most distinguished branch of the family, soon returned to Normandy, the son of the standard-bearer having been banished from Eng- land by Henry I., in 1102, for having embraced the cause of Robert Curthose. Leaving Graville, I soon reached Havre, and the next day went by the steam-boat, in fourteen hours, to Southampton. a Neustria Pia. 190 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE CHAPTER XXIII. NORMAN ARCHITECTURE IN NORMANDY. Having concluded the history of my excursion, and stated the facts which I collected on my way, I must now be permitted to draw from these facts a few inferences, whether relating to Norman architecture, considered by itself, or relating to the works of the Normans in France, compared with their cotemporary works in England. In the first place, then, the contemplation of Norman buildings teaches us to acknowledge that, if the Normans adopted the style, as undoubtedly they did, and employed the architects, of the con- quered country, they are nevertheless entitled to be considered as having imparted to their build- ings a character of their own. Barbarians as the} IN NORMANDY. 191 i were, they not only possessed strength of body, but vigour and sobriety of mind. Perhaps the very absence of the civilization of a degenerate state of society, left them in possession of that simplicity of sentiment, without which good taste cannot exist. This simplicity taught them to despise all attempts to excite admiration by little arts and puerile devices, and led them to endeavour to reach effect by principles more allied to truth. It has often been said, that imagination belongs to the South, and reason to the North; and of this position the buildings of the Saracens, on the one hand, and of the Normans, on the other, afford a striking illustration. In the tenth century, at the time that the Nor- mans became the quiet possessors of Neustria, the churches which were rising in other parts of France were less remarkable for their dimensions, than for the profusion and monstrosity of the imager}' with which hands, unequal to the task, laboured to adorn them. The style universally prevalent was as near an 192 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE imitation of the Roman, as the then state of the arts could achieve. The plan of the buildings came from Rome, and the round arches, the pil- lars, and the mouldings, which were employed in their construction, had the same origin. But the corrupt taste of a less civilized people covered the capitals and the portals with a crowd of such appalling images as a wild fancy was likely to suggest, and a rude hand to pourtray. The Normans, adopting the habitual plan and the established style, rejected the meretricious accessories, and resolved to trust for success to the few great principles of strength, size, and elevation. The oldest of the Norman churches are the plainest, but the oldest aspire to dimen- sions which could not fail to command admiration. Their character is severe but sublime. At the same time, the Normans had the bold- ness to insist upon an addition to their churches, which is admitted to be the grandest feature and chief ornament of ecclesiastical buildings — I mean the central tower. Towers had, fortunately, be- IN NORMANDY. I93 conic an integral part of churches before the Nor- mans began to build in Neustria, but the few towers which at that time existed in other parts of France, only adorned the western end, and, to this clay, scarcely any thing deserving the name of a central tower is to be found in France beyond the limits of Normandy. No one will be prepared to deny, that the effect of a cathedral as a whole, and the fine play of its outline, is chiefly produced by the central tower. Take away the central tower, and, in situations where the whole fabric can be seen at once, how tame the cathedral becomes 3 ! Size, elevation, simplicity, and strength, together with the central tower, are, then, the architectural peculiarities to which the Normans, as contradis- tinguished from the Franks, possess undeniable a As, unfortunately, is the case at Westminster Abbey. A central tower was intended for this building, and attempted by Islip, abbot of Westminster, who died in 1510, but the piers were found to be too weak to support the additional weight, and the attempt was abandoned. K 194 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE claims; and, if the works of the Normans, com- pared with those of a better period of art, must be allowed to be greatly inferior in beauty and taste, yet, to be just, we must estimate men in relation to the circumstances in which they are placed. More genius may be required to arrive at a lower point of excellence at one time, than to arrive at a much more elevated point at another. The merit is great in proportion as difficulties are vanquished, and cotemporaries surpassed. We do well to select the buildings of classic times as the objects of our imitation ; but whilst we prefer and cultivate a correct standard of taste, let us not refuse to the Normans the praise which is really their due. Norman workmanship was, at first, only re- markable for its solidity. The walls were often built of rubble, faced with small squared stones, a manner of building which was copied from the works which the Romans had left behind them in France. The pillars were, of course, composed of larger blocks. By degrees, and in buildings of importance, larger blocks were employed in the IN NORMANDY. 195 walls ; but the joints were wide, and the mortar was coarse. Such is the case at Jumieges. In the time of William the Conqueror, greater neat- ness was accomplished ; the stones were squared, and the courses regular; but the joints were still rather wide, and the mortar unsifted. Another mode of construction was with long, narrow, stones, which were placed, not in hori- zontal courses, but alternately inclined to the right and the left. This, from the appearance it presented, was called the herring-bone fashion. It did not remain in use much after the eleventh century*. The Norman walls were of great thickness, and were filled up with small stones, amongst which mortar was poured in hot. This was called (/rout- ing, and in time the whole mass so hardened to- gether, as to acquire the consistence and strength of a solid rock. Such walls stood in no need of a M. de Caumont. — Architecture Religieuse du Moyen Age. k2 196 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE buttresses, through the means of which move advanced science afterwards obtained an equal amount of power at less labour and less expense. Buttresses, however, appear on the exterior of early Nomian buildings, but seem to have been introduced only to relieve the baldness of the surface. They project so slightly that they can add but little support. In early Norman buildings the buttresses never rise above the cornice. The plan of the early Norman churches is always that of the basilica, with a semicircular recess at the end, which recess formed the choir. The larger churches have transepts and side aisles, which are divided from the nave by arcades. The small chui'ches have often neither side aisles nor transepts. The arches of the nave either rest on piers, to which half-pillars are attached, or on single pil- lars, but hardly ever on those huge columnar piers, which are commonly seen in the Norman churches of England. Indeed, the columnar piers of England are scarcely to be met with in all IN NORMANDY. 197 France, except in one or two crypts, where the known superincumbent weight justifies the pre- ference of strength to beauty. In the churches of France, single pillars pre- ceded piers ; the exact reverse of what might have been expected, were it not recollected to what an extent and degree France had become Roman, previous to the inroad of the Northern conquerors. The pillars have always capitals, which, at first, were perfectly plain, but, from the beginning of the eleventh century, were enriched with different kinds of foliage, to a certain degree departing from, but still seeking to imitate, the Roman models. The half pillars, which are attached to the ends of the piers, are always set back in recesses, or sinks ; the same is the case with the small pillars on the outside of the windows, as also with those of the portals. Indeed, this is a characteristic contradistinction between the Norman style and the Roman — the Norman pillars are recessed; the Roman, project. 198 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE The windows are always round-headed, and undivided; and, externally, have, on each side, a small, recessed pillar, which supports an impost and moulding. In the gable, over the entrance door of churches, a small circular window is sometimes introduced 3 . The windows of castles, and of domestic buildings, are usually divided by a single shaft. The portals are round-headed, and were gra- dually enriched by an increasing number of semi- circular mouldings, and a corresponding number of little pillars at the sides; but, in Normandy, I recollect no instance of the substitution of figures in the place of the shafts of pillars of portals, — a decoration which had become common in other parts of France in the twelfth century, — nor did the portals of Normandy ever become enriched with such a luxury of mouldings as finally appeared in the Norman portals of England. The portals a Fresne Camilly. IN NORMANDY. 190 of Normandy always retained rather a more Roman character. The most common mouldings are the billet, the nail-head, the chevron, the zig-zag or em- battled frette, hatchet, nebule, star, rope, beak- head, dog-tooth, and, occasionally, different sorts of foliage, as the vine, the bay, the ivy, &c. Most of these mouldings were borrowed from other parts of France; even the zig-zag, which we have been accustomed to consider as so peculiarly Norman, is not of Norman invention. The external cornice, carried round the eaves of churches, was sometimes a moulding describing a series of semicircles, under a projecting course, and sometimes a series of blocks. These blocks were soon ornamented, in imitation of the custom already prevalent in other parts of France, and became so many heads of men and animals, always grotesque. These ornamented corbels, on the exterior of churches, were adopted by the Normans before imagery was admitted into the interior of the edifice. 200 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE The roofs of the early Norman churches were of wood, except the part over the semicircular chancel, which from the first was vaulted with stone. The side aisles were also vaulted with stone ; as were, sometimes, the comparatively small naves of village churches ; but it is much to be doubted whether stone vaults were thrown over the wide naves of the larger churches of Normandy, before the 12th century 3 . In the second half of that century they became habitual, and were ever after adopted. The vaulting was composed either of small stones let into a bed of mortar, or of tufo, or of a light calcareous stone, which is found in many parts of Normandy. The most ancient vaulting is without ribs, and the most ancient ribs are without mouldings. ■ In the churches of the Rhine stone vaults were intro- duced more than a century before ; sooner than they were in any other country, after the loss of Roman art in the dark ages. IN NORMANDY. 201 The ribs are usually interlacing semicircles. The ribs are of ashler, and the intervals between them are filled up in the manner already described. Sometimes the ribs are a series of arches in the horse-shoe form a . The dome vaulting over the side-aisles of Bernay is the only specimen of the kind which I saw in Normandy. The first, and purest Norman style, prevailed till the latter part of the reign of William the Con- queror, from the early part of the tenth till nearly the end of the eleventh century. Of the very earliest buildings of the Normans, not a specimen remains of which the date can be established with any certainty — scarcely any thing of the tenth century. The abbey church of Bernay, which must have been begun in the first half of the eleventh century, is the oldest Norman building of any consequence which remains in its primitive form. The archi- 3 Martin vast. 202 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE tecture of the interior is plain to baldness, but the dimensions are imposing. The abbey churches of Jumieges, and Cerisy, were begun in the first half of the eleventh century. The Norman portions of the cathedral, and of the church of St. Taurin, at Evreux, as also of the church of Mont St. Michel, belong to the same period. St. Georges de Boscherville, and the two great churches at Caen, are splendid examples of the architecture of the time of William the Conqueror. In all these buildings the character of simplicity is preserved, but some ornament in the details begins to make its appearance before the close of the Conqueror's reign, as, for instance, in the em- battled frette moulding round the arches of the nave of Matilda's Church at Caen, in some parts of St. Georges de Boscherville, and other places. The florid Norman was already developed in the early part of the twelfth century. Of this style a rich specimen is afforded in the arcade of the nave at Bayeux. The arches are ornamented IN NORMANDY. 203 with a multiplicity and variety of mouldings of intricate design, and elaborate execution. Another specimen of the florid Norman exists in the neighbourhood of Bayeux, in the church of St. Gabriel, built by Robert of Gloucester (1128). When once the love of ornament prevailed over a more lofty sentiment, the vicious consequences soon appeared in an admission of the singular ornaments in which other parts of France had long- rejoiced. From the corbels under the eaves the monsters descended to the portals, from the portals they found their way to the capitals of the interior, till, in the end, no part of the building was un- disfigured by this heterogeneous and misshapen brood. The abbey church of Montivilliers (1117), and the church at Graville, are instances of the florid style in all its exuberance. The passion for these strange ornaments, ap- pears to have been at its height in the first half of the twelfth century, and, in the second half, to 204 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE have moderated to a certain degree. In the cha- pel of St. Julien, built by Henry II., soon after 1162, a few monsters make their appearance, but they are not largely admitted, and the whole of the building affords a proof of a greater refine- ment of taste. So long as the round style prevailed, the Nor- mans never introduced escutcheons of arms as an ornament. CASTLES AND DOMESTIC BUILDINGS. The towns, and ordinary houses of the Nor- mans, were entirely built of wood, and, for the most part, are so to this day. Their castles, having but one destination, that of defence, aimed at nothing but strength in their plan, or construc- tion. A site was also selected which was already fortified by nature. The plan of the Norman castles was as nearly the same as the diversity of ground would allow. The principal feature was always the keep, which contained the apartments of the lord of IN NORMANDY. 205 the castle, and was also meant to be the last re- fuge of the garrison, if the outer works were forced. The keep was usually raised on an arti- ficial mound, or placed on the edge of a precipice. The walls, strengthened in every way that art could devise, were of immense thickness, and composed of grouting poured in between two solid walls of stone. The facing consisted sometimes of irregular courses, and sometimes of small squared stones, after the Roman manner. Ashler was usually introduced at the angles of the build- ing. The windows were few, and little more than chinks, unless very high up, or turned to the court. The door of entrance could only be reached by a staircase. Under the keep were usually vaults, or dun- geons, for the reception of prisoners. The keep was enclosed in two courts surround- ed by walls flanked with towers. The tower at the entrance was called the barbican, and served at once for an outwork and post of observation. The whole fortress was defended by a moat. 20G NORMAN ARCHITECTURE The remains of the Norman castles which exist scarcely afford any specimens of early Norman construction, almost all these castles having been besieged, destroyed, and rebuilt, over and over again. The keep of Falaise is perhaps the only cas- tellated remnant of early Norman times. The castle of Gisors, which was built by Wil- liam Rufus, retains nothing of its original con- struction. The same must be said of Chateau Gaillard, the creation and pride of Richard Cceur de Lion. He pushed on the works with so much eagerness, that the whole castle was finished within the year. But it was captured more than once, in after times, and though from its highly picturesque situation, its more modern towers will always be seen with pleasure, it retains nothing to throw light upon the workmanship of the twelfth century Of the Chateau of Neaufles, a single, large, round tower, surrounded by a deep ditch, is the only vestige. IN NORMANDY. 207 The remains of the Chateau sur Epte are con- siderable ; but its architecture is a mixture of late Norman, and early pointed. Vestiges of many more castles remain, but all are late Norman, or later still. In some of the castles, more commodious or splendid apartments were introduced, separate from the keep, and favoured with a more liberal allowance of light and air. But, in early times at least, the windows were always turned to the court, and the habitable rooms were raised on arches from the ground. In after times, when danger was less perpetual, the domestic apart- ments of castles were permitted to be more en- joyable. The hall, within the walls of the castle of Lillebonue, is an example of the earlier kind. The round, or Romanesque style, prevailed in Normandy till nearly the close of the twelfth century. The instances of the pointed style supposed to belong to the eleventh century, have been already 208 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE shown to be pure imaginations. Coutances, Mor- tain, and Seez, no longer disturb generally re- ceived opinions, and after having relieved our- selves from the momentary uneasiness excited by the announcement of a new hypothesis, we quiet- ly return to the established creed. The chapel of St. Julien, the older part of the abbey church of St. Sauveur, the abbey church of Mortemer, that of Savigny, (begun in 1173,) and various other buildings, sufficiently prove that the circular style remained in general use till nearly the close of the twelfth century. About that period, pointed arches began to make their appearance in Normandy, mixed, at first, with the round forms of the preceding style. The Normans, like so many others, are much dis- posed to believe that the new style began with themselves, and attribute its origin, as others have done before them, to the accident of intersecting circles ; but this hardly appears to be a satisfac- tory solution of the problem ; — and, as the pointed style had already been introduced in other parts IN NORMANDY. 209 of northern France % it is not necessary to have recourse to a double discovery, to account for its appearance in Normandy. The chapter -house of the abbey of Mortemer, * As a proof of this position may be adduced, amongst other instances, the works of Abbot Suger, who introduced the pointed style in his restoration of the church of St. Denys. The first consecration of his fabric took place in 1140. A second, in 1144. Notre Dame was rebuilt in the same style not long after- wards. It is a curious fact, that the first appearance of the pointed style took place, in many countries, about the same time with their first reception of the Knights of the Holy Land. This was the case in Paris, and its immediate neigh- bourhood. The Knights Templar were first established in Paris about the same time that Abbot Suger began his re- parations ; and one of the earliest instances of the pointed style in Germany, is to be met with in the chapel of Co- bern, at no great distance from Coblentz, — if the general be- lief is well founded, that this chapel was built by one of the knights who accompanied the Emperor Frederick Barba- rossa to the Holy Land, and who had the more fortunate fate to return. Barbarossa perished on the frontiers of Syria, in 1190, from imprudently bathing in the river Sa- leph. 210 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE (before 1174,) and the chapter-house at St. Georges tie Boscherville, (about the close of the twelfth century,) are the earliest specimens of the tran- sition style in Normandy, upon the dates of which reliance can be placed. There is too much un- certainty about the Abbaye Blanche, Hambye, and Luzerne, to admit those buildings as evi- dence. In the transition style of Normandy, the only change is in the shape of the arches ; not in the spirit, or character, of the architecture. The pil- lars, with their Romanesque capitals, the mould- ings, and the ornaments, are all repetitions of those which are found in buildings in the round style. At the same time, it should be remembered, that elevation had always been an object with the architects of Christian temples, and that, as art had begun to revive, the masses had become less heavy, and the forms, especially of the pillars, had begun to lengthen. It has often been remarked, that the genius of the Roman style is diametrically IN NORMANDY. 211 opposed to the genius of the pointed style ; that, whilst the former delights in uninterrupted hori- zontal lines, and is indifferent about rising into air, the latter thinks of nothing but shooting up- wards. This is perfectly true, if buildings in the pointed style are contrasted with the classic archi- tecture of remote antiquity. But as soon as the Romans began to build churches, they made the building a story higher than they had been accus- tomed to make temples ; taking, not the temple, but the basilica, for their model. This change of plan, introduced an increase of elevation, and whenever art was not in a state of prostration, architects made churches as lofty as they knew how. The pointed style, however, containing within itself the up-shooting principle, opened farther views, and added facilities, of which skil- ful men soon began to avail themselves. The change appears to have first taken place in the vaulting, which appears to have become pointed (as at Blanchelande and Mortemer) whilst every thing else continued to be round. 212 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE The windows were the first to follow, and now assumed the lancet form, undivided by mullions. The very long lancets are the latest of their kind a . The portals next underwent the change, which afterwards communicated itself to the arches of the nave, and, by degrees, to every part of the building. The new fashion scarcely made its appearance in Normandy before it became confirmed. The alterations in the church of the Abbey of Fecamp, which are early pointed, were in progress in the year 1200, and the reconstruction of the cathedral of Roxien was begun within a year or two after- wards. From the change of style a change arose in the shape of the apsis, or chancel. No longer semi- circular, it became polygonal ; and, in Normandy, in almost all great churches, polygonal the chancel remained. In village churches it is sometimes ■ " Les lancettes tres longues sont posterieures aux lan- cettes courtes." — Architecture du Moyen Age. IN NORMANDY. 213 square, and at Louviers there is a church of large dimensions, which has a square chancel ; but, as this shape was rarely adopted in the most con- siderable buildings, the east window never be- came a leading feature on the continent. The early pointed, of which the generic feature is the lancet window, undivided by mullions, pre- vailed in Normandy till the second half of the thirteenth century. In the course of that period, a step in advance was made in the windows, by enclosing two, or three, lancets in a pointed arch common to all, and ornamenting the space between the heads of the lancets with the figure of a rose or a tre- foil. In the course of that period, external buttresses became more important. Now employed to divide with the walls the task of supporting the now habitual vaults of stone, the buttresses projected further, and rose higher. Becoming thus more conspicuous, they were soon turned to account as additional ornaments, and capped with pinnacles 214 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE and crockets. Progressive science called the fly- ing buttress into existence, that powerful auxiliary of the favourite object of the pointed style. At first the flying buttress was quite plain, but ac- quired ornament by degrees. The cathedral of Lisieux is a good specimen of the early, but confirmed, pointed style in Nor- mandy. This church illustrates a remarkable dif- ference in the pointed style of France and Eng- land. The pointed style, in France, always retained much of the Roman character. Single pillars continued to be more frequently introduced in the French than in the English churches. Pillars, instead of piers, usually surround the choir. Their capitals are much more studied imitations of the Roman. Roman patterns appear in the mould- ings. In many buildings the only difference is in the form of the arch. This arose from the universal manner in which the old Roman style had been adopted in France, and the length of time during which it remained undisturbed. IN NORMANDY. 215 A vast impulse, principally arising from the vivifying effects of the Crusades, and in France, from the immediate exertions of St. Louis, was communicated to architecture at the close of the first half of the thirteenth century. The chapel which St. Louis added to the palace at Paris, was consecrated in 1245, and is an epoch in French ar- chitecture. From this moment, the principle of ele- vation rapidly progressed, and the pointed style ad- vanced in successive stages of science and beauty. At the beginning of the fourteenth century, a change made its appearance, which has recently acquired the fanciful appellation of the Flamboyant, from the supposed resemblance of the upper trace- ries of the windows to the shape of waving flame — but, after all, the Flamboyant is nothing but the commencement of the Florid, and, per- haps, is not distinct enough to deserve an appella- tion of its own. At first the vices of the Florid were not fully developed, and beautiful effects continued to be produced ; but minute and ela- borate ornament was, in fact, its real characteristic, 216 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE and this gradually led to the faults of exuberant decoration. In the course of the fifteenth cen- tury, the pointed style began to decline in Nor- mandy. It became surcharged and obtuse. It lost its fine proportions, and, gradually, ceased to please. It lingered on till the beginning of the sixteenth century, when a taste for classic forms began to obtain, and the pointed style gave way to the revival of the Roman. IN ENGLAND. 21 7 CHAPTER XXIV. NORMAN ARCHITECTURE IN ENGLAND. Having traced the fortunes of the Norman style in its native province, let us now enquire how it fared in England. Of the architecture which existed in this coun- try previous to the introduction of the Norman, there are no certain vestiges. The most compe- tent authorities have decided that hardly any thing which can be proved to be Saxon remains in existence. Parts of a few churches, which have all the marks of a very remote antiquity, and of which the style differs materially from the Norman, may be suspected to be Saxon. Their distinguishing features are a ruder imitation of the L 218 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE Roman % projecting, instead of recessed pillars, and the combination of diagonal with perpendi- cular forms in the external ornaments of towers. Such is the case at the old church of Barton, in Lincolnshire, and at Earl's Barton, in Northamp- tonshire. The only testimony I can add on this subject is, that we met with nothing of the sort in Normandy. Some persons have imagined that the ge- nerality of the Saxon churches were merely timber buildings — but this appears to be a mis- take ; for in Domesday Book, which takes note of 1700 churches b , one, and only one, is specified as being built of wood ; and Henry of Hunting- don, speaking of a particular church, says, " It was not built of stone, but of wood, and covered with reeds, as is the custom in Scotland ;" thereby a In the towers of Barneck and Whittingham. b It is singular that, in Domesday Book, no notice what- ever is taken of any church either in Lancashire, Cornwall. or Middlesex Introduction to Domesday Book, by Sir Henry Ellis. IN ENGLAND. 219 demonstrating that it was not the custom in Eng- land. Not only were the Saxon churches not merely timber buildings, but some of them, as we learn from the old historians, were constructed at a con- siderable expense, and with much architectural ornament. In the seventh century, a church was built at Lincoln, which Bede says was of stone, and of good workmanship. The church of the monas- tery of Wermouth was erected in 675, by Abbot Benedict Biscopius, a noble Northumbrian, who, at twenty-five years of age, detached himself from the service of King Oswy, and embraced a reli- gious life. He brought over masons from France to build his church in the Roman manner, and, when the building was nearly finished, he pro- cured artificers from the same country, skilled in the mystery of making glass, to glaze the win- dows. The conventual church of Ripon, and the ca- thedral church of Hexham, were both built by l2 220 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE Wilfrid, bishop of York, in the second half of the seventh century ; and were both constructed of stone, and supported by pillars and arches. Wilfrid, also, imported builders and artists from abroad — from Rome, Italy, France, and other countries. In the eighth century the monastery of Croy- land was built by Ethelbald, king of Mercia ; and the church of St. Peter at York, was rebuilt by archbishop Albert, and consecrated just before his death, which took place in 780. Alcuin de- scribes this church as having pillars, arches, and porticos. In the ninth century the progress of the arts was interrupted by the constant incursions of the Danes. All that had been done was destroyed ; and little more than repairs, and military works, could be undertaken till the peaceable reign of Edgar, in whose time the abbey of Ramsey was founded, and the church built by Ailwin, then alderman of all England. This church was built in six years, and finished in 974. It was in the IN ENGLAND. 2*21 form of a cross, and had pillars, arches, and two towers, one of which was supported by four pillars, or piers, in the middle of the building. This ap- pears to have been the first English chinch that had a tower so situated, or that was built in the form of the cross. From these descriptions of the Saxon churches, preserved in the early chronicles, it appears that the Saxon style was, like that of every other coun- try, an imitation of the Roman ; but it also appears, that, when a building of particular consequence was attempted, it was customary to import archi- tects and artificers from abroad, — which sufficiently proves that the artificers of this country were at that time inexpert. The Romans had not been long enough established in England to have gene- rally instilled a knowledge of their arts, or to leave any great number of models behind them, and the disastrous times which followed threw back what- ever little advances art had made. We cannot, therefore, but come to the conclu- sion that whatever was executed in Saxon times, 222 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE by native workmen, was a less successful imitation of the Roman than that of other countries ; and there is' every reason to believe that even the build- ings which are so much eulogized were of no large dimensions. The abbey church of Ramsey, which was one of the latest, and one of the most cele- brated of the works of the Saxons, was completed in six years, which could not have been the case had it been on a scale at all commensurate with the works of the Normans. The last Saxon work of importance was the abbey church of Westminster, built by Edward the Confessor, and finished, and consecrated in 1065, one year before the Conquest. This church is represented to have been of a different character a from that of any preceding structure in England ; and this difference undoubtedly consisted in an approximation to the Norman method of building. Edward the Confessor had been brought up in Normandy, and was almost reproached for his in- a " Novo compositionis genere." — Mathew Paris. IN ENGLAND. -223 cessant endeavours to introduce Norman customs and manners. But even this improvement on preceding works in England, must have been very inferior to the architecture of the cotemporarv churches of Neustria. Some vestiges of Edward's work exist ; portions of wall, an arch high up in the south side of the choir, and his treasury, which opens out of the cloisters; here are pillars and arches, strongly built in the Roman fashion, but of a most primitive character. In speaking of the churches and monasteries which arose after the Conquest, William of Malms- bury again uses the expression, that they were constructed after a new manner of building. From all this it appears that there must have been a marked difference between the Saxon and the Norman fabrics. But, as both were an imitation of the Roman, the difference must have consisted in the dimensions, and the supei'ior workmanship and magnificence, of the new structures. It must have been the same style on a grander scale, and executed in a more scientific manner. 224 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE The fact is that, at the time of the Conquest, the Anglo-Saxons were in every respect a ruder and less civilized race than the Normans had by that time become. The Saxons are described as wasting large means in riotous living, in low and mean houses, whilst the Normans, on the contrary, lived temperately in their stately mansions. The architecture, like the manners of the Saxons, was of a coarser kind. Size and grandeur, then, superior workmanship, and the ornamental addition of mouldings and enrichments, must have been the new features which the Normans communicated to the architec- ture of this country, — and the person who seems, more than any other, to have been instrumental to this improvement, was the celebrated Lanfranc, whom the Conqueror brought from the abbey at Caen to fill the high situation of archbishop of Canterbury ; and who was not only active himself in constructing churches on a larger scale, but was also the means of bringing into this country other men who trod in his footsteps. Gundulfus, IN ENGLAND. 005 a monk of Caen, who was one of the best archi- tects of his time, was selected by Lanfranc, for those abilities which he knew him to possess, to fill the see of Rochester ; and Paulus, who rebuilt the abbey church of St. Albans, was Lanfranc's nephew. The earliest work of the Normans which exists in this country was conducted by Gundulfus. who, after rebuilding his cathedral at Rochester, was employed by William to superintend the con- struction of the White Tower, in the Tower of London ; which contains within its walls perhaps the only ecclesiastical remnant of the Conqueror's time at present in existence. The chapel, within this tower 8 , is of itself a proof that the arts in England were, at that time, less advanced than they were in Normandy. In no other way can we account for the inferiority of this church, constructed under the superintendence Dum idem Gundulfus, ex praeceptis regis Gulielmi, prsesset operi magnae Turn's Londoni*."_Textus RofFensis. l3 226 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE of one of the best Norman architects, to cotem- porary buildings on the other side of the water. Here we have the heavy columnar piers, which are so usual in the Norman churches of England, and so rare any where else. The whole building is ponderous and rude. The roof of the church, though plain, is of a singular construction. It is a vault composed of small flat stones fixed, wedge-wise, in a bed of cement. This bed of cement must have been sup- ported by a wooden framework till it acquired consistency. This kind of roof was called barrel vaulting. In the course of the Conqueror's reign several cathedrals, abbeys, and castles were built, none of which remain in their original state. A remnant of the Conqueror's time existed at Canterbury till within these few years, — the northern tower, at the west end of the cathedral. This was a part of the work of Lanfranc. The stones of which it was built were irregular, and the joints between the courses were wide. IN ENGLAND. 227 Several castles have the reputation of being of the Conqueror's time, but, on a close investigation, will be found to have been rebuilt in after years. Such is the case with the castles of Norwich, Rochester, the keep at Conisborough, and many others. Within less than a century after the Conquest, almost all the cathedrals and abbey churches of England, besides innumerable parish churches, were either wholly rebuilt or greatly improved by the Normans whom William and his successors introduced into all the best ecclesiastical prefer- ments 3 . By the introduction of these Norman prelates, the Norman style was rapidly diffused, at first, however, so much affected by the state of art in this country, as to give to the English building the character of a Norman building of much greater antiquity. Much was accomplished in the short reign of Rufus, who was himself a great builder, and a Bentham's Ely. 2-28 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE heavily taxed his English subjects to gratify his architectural propensities. His principal work was the great hall of his palace at Westminster. This hall, as it now exists, was altered by Richard II., but much of the original work was left, and, dur- ing the late repairs, portions of this were visible. The lower part of the walls was faced with rub- ble 3 ; the courses were irregular; the joints, wide. Remains of a triforium or gallery were discovered, which had been carried along the sides of the hall, half way up. The capitals of the pillars on which the round arches of this gallery rested, were plain cubes. The whole of the workmanship was coarse. The universal plan of the churches erected * Rubble is the opposite to ashler. Ashler work consists of squared blocks, worked to a smooth surface, and laid in regular courses. The term rubble, on the contrary, is ap- plied to irregular masonry, whether in the inside of walls or on the outside. — It signifies stones, not squared, not worked to a smooth surface, not large in size, nor laid in regular courses. IN ENGLAND. 229 about this time was the same as in Normandy. All were built with the semicircular chancel, which, in England, afterwards fell into such ge- neral disuse that few traces of its existence are to be found in this country. It is, however, to be traced in St. Bartholomew-le-Grand's a , in London, (begun in 1123,) in the minster at York, East Ham, Essex, and in other places. The arches of the nave usually rested on those heavy columnar piers, which, in French churches, are hardly ever to be found, except in crypts, and which, probably, became so habitual in England from that having been the Saxon manner of imitat- ing the Roman, as well as from the inexpertness of the native workmen. Sometimes, to adorn the columnar piers, the Anglo-Normans introduced the a The pointed arches, under the Tower in St. Bartho- lomew-le- Grand, will, on close inspection, be found to be insertions. In the same way William of Wykeham changed the style of the Norman arches of the nave at Winchester. 230 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE spiral groove winding round thein, and the net, or lozenge work, spreading over them. The windows and the doors were the same as in Normandy, and the Norman mouldings were gradually introduced with little alteration. The walls were remarkably thick, and without prominent buttresses. Specimens of the time of Kufus are to be seen in the choir, side aisles, and middle transept at Durham 3 ; in the walls of the lower part of the western facade of Lincoln ; the towers and tran- sept of St. Alban's 5 ; the oldest remaining parts of ■ The Norman parts of the churches of Waltham and Selby so much resemble Durham as to make it next t<> cer- tain that they were built about the same time. b Mathew Paris, the monk of St. Alban's, says, that PauluSj a monk of Caen, became Abbot of St. Alban's in 1077. and that, with the advice and assistance of Lanfranc, he begun the church eleven years after he became abbot. The church was consecrated in 1115, in the presence of Henry I. and his Queen Mathaei Paris, Monachi Albanensis, Angli, Historia Major. IN ENGLAND. 231 Winchester, and the east end and cross aisle of Worcester. The walls, in this reign, were irregularly built, and the joints continued to be wide, as may be seen at Durham, Lincoln 3 , Winchester, and other places. The proportions were too short for the height, and produced an heavy appearance. The pillars were thick and stumpy ; their capitals were plain to baldness. When we contemplate the Anglo - Norman a Remigius was originally a monk of Fecamp. He is de- scribed as a little man, of a swarthy complexion, but great capacity, and the selection of the unrivalled site of Lincoln Cathedral is of itself a proof of genius. Before Remigius began his operations at Lincoln he built a church at Stowe, near Gainsborough, where was an abbey, celebrated for its possession of the body of St. Oswald. The old Norman portions of this church are roughly built with small stones in irregular courses. The walls are very thick. In the south side of the nave are small, round-headed windows, of which the arches are turned with thin stones, in the same manner with the supposed Roman window, of Brixworth, in Northamptonshire, 232 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE buildings of this reign and compare them with St. Georges de Boscherville and the two great churches at Caen, we cannot refuse to admit that the arts in England, even in the time of the son, were considerably behind the arts in Normandy, in the time of the father. The same style prevailed in the early part of the reign of Henry I., as may be seen by the ruins of St. Botolph's Prior)-, Colchester, which was built by Ernulph, a Norman monk, in the first years of that prince. Here are the same heavy columnar piers, the same stumpy propor- tions, the same poverty of mouldings. But, in the course of this reign, an impulse was given to architecture by one of those men of genius, who affect the character of the age in which they live. Roger Poor", Bishop of Salisbury, a Norman by a Roger Poor was originally the priest of the church in the suburbs of Caen. Henry, before he came to the throne, being at Caen, accidentally went into this church to hear mass, with some of his officers. Roger Poor, who had an idea that soldiers liked short masses, to recommend himself IN ENGLAND. 233 birth, and combining in himself the offices and the qualities which, in those times of constant commotion, were frequently united, was dis- tinguished as a prelate, a warrior, a statesman, and an architect. Little scrupulous about the manner in which he acquired his resources, he largely expended them in buildings which were either to secure his power or to perpetuate the memory of his magnificence. He built cathedrals, castles, and mansions, and required them to be to the prince, hurried through the service so fast that it was over almost as soon as it was begun, and, by so doing, gained his object. Henry took him into his service, and, with this advantage, Roger Poor's abilities, which were really great, soon achieved the rest. Henry, now become king, heaped benefices upon him, and conferred the bishopricks of Ely and Lincoln upon his brother's two sons, Alexander and Nigellus. Alexander imitated his uncle's example in raising splendid buildings ; he nearly rebuilt the cathedral of Lincoln, and built the castle at Newark. Nigellus, on the contrary, wasted his wealth on hawks and hounds. All three were brave warriors, and distinguished themselves in the subse- quent struggle between Stephen and the Empress Maud,— = Prcesules Anglorum. 234 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE constructed in a style so superior to what had before been customary, that a record of the im- provement which he communicated to architecture is preserved in the page of history. William of Malmsbury relates, that the walls which were built under the superintendence of Roger of Salisbury were so smooth, and had such fine joints, that they seemed to be made of a single stone. Had fine joints been in use before, their appearance in the works of this prelate would not have been so much extolled. The admiration with which they are mentioned, gives us the date of the first introduction of fine joints in the walls of English buildings. From this time progressive improvement took place in other parts of the fabric. Something like decoration was added. The portals began to be enriched. The archi- tecture of England ascended to the level of the architecture of Normandy in the time of William the Conqueror. Examples of the style of this reign may be seen in the naves of Gloucester, Norwich, Ely, Durham,. IN ENGLAND. 285 and South well a . In the lateral towers of Exeter cathedral, built by Bishop Warlewast, who sat from 1107 to 1136. In St. James's tower, Bury St. Edmonds. The chapter-house at Rochester, built between 1114 and 1125, by the same Ernulph who built St. Botolph's at Colchester, and who, on the death of Gundulph, was promoted to the see of Rochester. In the portal of the round church at Cambridge 5 . In the nave of the church of Dunstable. In St. Bartholomew-le-Grand's, Lon- a The early history of Southwell Minster is lost in obscu- rity, but Thomas the Second, who was Archbishop of York, in the reign of Henry I., is mentioned as having taken great interest in the fortunes of that church. It seems, there- fore, probable, that the present minster was begun in his time. The transepts cannot be so old ; for in them the proportions are more elongated than was the practice in the reign of Henry I., and there is more ornament both within and without. The windows, in this part, are en- riched externally with double mouldings. The portals are later still. b Essex on Round Churches. — Archseologia, Vol. VI. p. 178. 236 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE don, which was begun in 1123. In St. Sepul- chre's, Northampton, built by Simon de Liz, second Earl of Northampton, on his return from the Holy Land. He died in 1127. In the abbey church of Tewkesbury, begun by Robert Fitz- Haraon a , (who died in 1107,) and consecrated in 1123. The same improvement was progressive in the reign of Stephen. The proportions became more graceful. The mouldings became more numerous and varied. The pillars began to lengthen, and foliage appeared on their capitals. 8 Robert Fitz-Hamon was the Norman Lord of Gloucester. At the siege of Falaise, in Normandy, he received a blow on the head from a lance, after which he was never in his right mind, and died at the end of two years. This was considered a punishment for his having been the cause of the destruction of the churches of Bayeux, as it was principally to effect Fitz-Hamon's liberation that Henry I. set fire to the town. It was the eldest daughter of this Fitz-Hamon that Robert of Gloucester married, and with her obtained Fitz-Hamon's extensive possessions in England and Normandy. IN ENGLAND. 237 Examples. — Portal of the Chapter-house at Durham, built by Bishop Galfrid Pufus, be- tween 1133 and 1143. Church of Castle Acre Priory, Norfolk, consecrated in 1148. Church of St. Cross 3 , Hampshire. Ripon Minster 6 . St. Frideswide c , (now Christ Church,) Oxford, a Here appear the interlacing semicircles, the intersections of which produce the form of the pointed arch, and which are by some supposed to have been the origin of the pointed style ; but, on this subject, enough has been said already. The intersections at St. Cross have evidently been pierced for windows at a period subsequent to the original construc- tion of the building. The whole of the original building is in the round style. b The first stone of Ripon Minster was laid in 1140, by Thurstan, Archbishop of York. The round arches under the central tower, and the round-headed windows in the transepts, &c, denote the style in which the work was begun. The lancets of the west front are a proof that the west front was added many years afterwards, — a circumstance which is easily accounted for by the death of Thurstan in 1 143, and the state of the see and cathedral of York during man}' subsequent years. Ripon Minster was greatly damaged by fire in 1317, and restored by Archbishop Melton in the time of Edward III. ' Ingram's Memorials of Oxford. 238 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE begun not later than 1150, and finished in 1180. About this time, or a little later, Domestic Architecture began to make its appearance in England, though, from the dimensions and ar- rangement of some of those buildings which have come down to our time, it is difficult to de- termine whether all of them were destined for dwelling-houses or were only halls for public occasions, or for holding the courts of the Feudal lords. Of these buildings the invariable plan is a parallelogram of two stories ; sometimes a double parallelogram. The lower story was vaulted, as we have seen to have been the custom in Normandy, and it had no internal commu- nication with the upper story. The upper story was approached by an external staircase, which, probably, was moveable. The only fixed Norman staircase now extant is the one at Canterbury. The probability is that the lower story was IN ENGLAND. 239 occupied by the servants, and the upper story by the masters ; but, in none of the buildings of this time now extant, do there exist any traces of subdivisions. An example of Norman domestic architecture existed in South wark a till within these few years. It was the Hostelery or town residence of the priors of Lewes. The church of St. Olave, Southwark, was confirmed to the prior and con- vent of Lewes, by William, second Earl Warren and SuiTey, the son of the founder. Earl William died in 1138. It appears, however, that the priors of Lewes rented a building in 1170 and 1186, for their occupation in London ; from whence it may be concluded, that the Hostelery in question was not built till after that period. The general features of the portion of the hostelery which remained till lately, nearly re- sembled those of the Manor-house of Boothby Pagnel, Moyse's Hall, at Bury St. Edmund's, and a Archaeologia, Vol. XXIII. 240 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE the building which is called Pythagoras' School, at Cambridge. In 1826 was still existing, at Barneck in Northamptonshire, a Norman manor - house, which was not built for defence. In this instance, the hall, which was the principal feature, was on the ground floor, and had no vaults underneath. The hall co-.sisted of a centre and two side aisles. The fine joints of the walls of this building denoted that it could not have been built much before the middle of the twelfth century. At Bury St. Edmund's is a Norman domestic building, which goes by the name of Moyse's Hall. Here are two parallelograms ; in both are two stories, the upper story resting on vaults. The upper story of the most considerable building appears to have consisted of one large room, probably the hall. Nothing remains to show how the space was divided in the smaller parallelogram. Traces of -djoining walls exist, as if the buildings had once been more extensive. IN ENGLAND. 241 At Boothby Pagnel 3 , in Lincolnshire, is a Norman manor-house on nearly the same plan. In this are a fire-place and a chimney, which indicates that the building, of which it forms a part, cannot be older than the second half of the twelfth century. This edifice has windows in the ends, as well as the sides, a circumstance which makes it evident that, to this building, no other buildings could have been attached. It is surrounded by a moat. At Christchurch, Hants, is a Norman remnant which has also a chimney. At Lincoln is a Norman domestic building, which goes by the name of John of Gaunt's Stables, but which, in fact, was the public meet- ing house of a guild. It is so much enriched as to place it late in the reign of Henry II. These examples prove that, about the middle of the twelfth century, mansions, that were not castles for defence, began to be erected in * Boothby Pagnel was first brought into notice by Mr. William Twopeey, of the Temple, whose architectural drawings are equally beautiful and correct. M •242 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE England; and that, independent of colleges, abbots' lodgings, and the habitable parts of con- vents, instances existed of domestic architecture. But it was long before dwelling-houses acquired a character bearing any relation to the quality of the proprietor, or were constructed with much regard to convenience. During the early part of the reign of Henry II., the same style with that of the reign of Stephen continued to prevail ; but, gradually more and more enriched, gradually became the florid Norman — that style which we have seen to exist in Normandy about thirty years sooner. Varied and elaborate mouldings surrounded the arches of the naves — the portals were more and more orna- mented — the capitals were covered with foliage — figures were introduced" — but the grotesque and monstrous brood which were so prodigally dis- played in Normandy were only sparingly admitted in England. On the other hand, the Anglo-Nor- man churches never exhibited such near ap- a As at the magnificent portal at Rochester, which is far superior to any Norman portal in Normandy. IN ENGLAND. 243 proaches to the Roman as are usual in the details of the churches of Normandy. In this country detached single pillars were much more rarely introduced, nor did the capitals of pillars often attempt so close an imitation of classic models. More of the Roman hangs about the French Nor- man ; more enrichment was imparted to the English ; but not till the reign of Henry II. : and this is so certain, that nothing which is very much enriched, as the Norman portions of the abbey church of Malmesbury, can be admitted to claim an earlier date. Examples of the Norman style of the time of Henry II. are to be seen in the Abbey gateway, Bristol; in the Galilee, or chapel, at the west end of Durham, built by Bishop Pudsey (1154 to 1197), together with the lateral portals of the nave; in the new nave and great west portal of Rochester a , &c. b 1 Rochester cathedral was twice destroyed by fire — in 1138, and again in 1179. The existing nave, and the great west portal, must have been built after the second fire. See Edward de Hadenhara and Chronicon Gervasii. b Iffley church, Oxfordshire ; St. Peter's, Oxford ; and St. Peter's, Northampton, must belong to this period. M 2 244 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE It was in the latter years of the reign of Henry II. that the struggle between the round and the pointed style, which is called the transition, began to take place in this country. Of this change early examples survive at Kirk- stal, and Roche Abbey, in Yorkshire. Owing their existence to the same cause, and built at nearly the same time, they resemble each other in style. Each was Cistertian, and each owed its existence to the feud which had arisen in the wealthy Bene- dictine abbey of St. Mary's of York; from which a body of conscientious brethren, under the guid- ance of Prior Richard, had detached themselves to emulate the more perfect discipline of Rivaulx, the earliest Cistertian foundation in the north of England a . Some of these monks established themselves under the trees at Fountains ; others wandered on to the romantic glen in which Roche abbey afterwards arose. Prior Richard's brother, Alexander, was invited by Henry de Lacy to become the head of a Cistertian house which he was about to found at Kirkstal. The recluses of Hunter's Deanery of Doncaster. IN ENGLAND. 245 Fountains were, in the first instance, the least prosperous, for their first buildings were burnt to the ground by a band of licentious soldiers ; and it was not till 1204 that the foundations of the existing church were laid. Neither violence nor accident disturbed the early da} r s of Kirkstal. Kirkstal Abbey was begun in 1153, and the same Abbot Alexander lived to see it completed, after the labour of thirty years. Some of those inter- ruptions and delays, of which history takes no notice, seem to have interfered with the progress of Roche Abbey, for, though resembling Kirkstal in many respects, it has all the appearance of having been begun a few years later. The land on which it stands is said to have been granted by the Norman lords of Maltby and Slade Hoo- ton, in 1147, and a Bull of Pope Urban, confirm- ing to the monks all their possessions, implies that the monastic buildings, at least, were com- plete in 1186 a . It is probable that the church a The expression in Pope Urban's Bull is " locam ipsara in qua abbatia sita est." Suildwas Abbey, which in style much resembles Roche 246 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE was, also, by that time so far advanced as to be in use, but no precise information respecting it has come down to our time. Kirkstal is of great value, as evidence, having been built in the thirty years preceding 1183; and here, as might be expected, the new fashion is but just admitted, and the old Norman has still the ascendant. The arches of the nave are pointed, but the pillars are massive, and the win- dows and portals are round. The church at Roche Abbey, though equally in the transition style, though it has round-headed windows above pointed arches, Norman mouldings, and Norman capitals, yet is of a less heavy character. Both buildings, however, denote that during those years the new style was only just beginning to be received in England. About the same time, 1170, Archbishop Roger Abbey, was founded not many years earlier, in U3o. But the same delays, whatever they were, may have intervened between the foundation and the construction in the one case as in the other. Occurrences of this sort are the real expla- nations of apparent anomalies in style. IN ENGLAND. 247 employed the pointed style in the new crypt of York Minster. But the early examples of the transition of which the dates are known with the most un- doubted certainty, are the round part of the Tem- plar's church, London, which was consecrated in 1185, and the choir of Canterbury, which was re- built after the fire in 1175, and in which the pointed style was introduced by John of Sens, a French architect. Other instances are to be found in the great tower at the west end of Ely, built by Bishop Ridel, who died in 1189; in the county hall of Okeham a , Rutlandshire ; in the abbey church of Glastonbury b , &c. * Camden ascribes the county hall of Okeham to Walke- lin de Ferrers, a younger son of the Earl of Derby, who was made the first baron of Okeham in the twelfth year of Henrv II. — Wright's Rutlandshire. b Dugdale tells us that the abbey church and monastic buildings of Glastonbury were totally destroyed by fire in 1179. Henry II. contributed to their restoration. The repairs were carried on with so much zeal, that a consecra- tion took place in 1186, but long before the restoration was 248 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE But the nave of Rochester and the nave of Peterborough, rebuilt between 1170 and 1194, are proofs that the old fashion was not at once superseded by the new. Simultaneously with the introduction of the transition style, hewn stone vaults appear to have been first thrown over the wider parts of English churches, which till then had been habitually roofed with wood. A stone vault was thrown over the new choir of Canterbury in 1174. The monk Gervasius, in his minute account of the restoration of this choir, says, when pointing out the difference between the old choir and the new, " TJiere, in the circuit without the walls, the vaults were plain ; here they are arched and studded. TJiere was a wooden ceiling ; here an arch neatly formed of light sand-stone." From whence it appears, that before that time it was customary to roof narrow spaces with plain cross vaulting, but complete ; and after the death of Henry, from want of funds, the building was interrupted for several years. The style of the different parts is a commentary on the history of the fabric. IN ENGLAND. 24f> not customary to vault wide spaces with stone. Plain cross vaulting of rubble, with, and without, ribs, had been adopted before in crypts, side aisles, and chancels. Barrel vaulting we have seen introduced in the time of William the Conqueror. Giraldus Cambrensis relates that Bishop Alex- ander 3 introduced stone vaulting at Lincoln, the weight of which is supposed to have caused the walls to give way not many years afterwards ; but the expressions of Giraldus are so ambiguous that we cannot feel sure of which part of the church he meant to speak ; and the wooden roofs of Southwell, Winchester, and Peterborough, give us reason to believe that the stone vaulting at Lin- coln did not extend beyond the aisles. From the time, however, that the choir of Canterbury was built, which was not long after it became habitual to throw stone vaults over the naves of the larger " Alexander Ecclesiam Lincolniensem, casuali ignecon- sumptam, egregie reparando, lapideis firmiter voltis primus involvit."— Giraldus Cambrensis, in his Lives of the Bishops of Lincoln. M 3 250 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE churches of Normandy, hewn stone vaults, plain at first and gradually enriched, became habitual in England. Not only were they adopted in new buildings, but they were substituted, in most cases 3 , for the wooden roofs of our ancient cathedrals. Prominent buttresses, and flying buttresses 5 , as in Normandy, followed in the train of the stone roofs. In the early part of the reign of John (1202), Bishop Godfrey de Lacy may be said to have confirmed the pointed style in England, by the introduction of lancet windows in his reconstruc- tion of the choir of Winchester. About the same time Hubert Walter 1 , Arch- bishop of Canterbury, (who died in 1207,) intro- a " The nave of Durham received a stone vault in ex- change for its wooden roof at the hands of Thomas Melsonby, who was Prior from 1233 to 1244. The choir was improved in the same way by Prior Hotoun, 1289." — Raines Account of Durham Cathedral. b Good examples of early flying buttresses are to be seen at Salisbury. c Pra?sules Anglorum. IN ENGLAND. 251 duced triple lancet windows in the chapel which he built at Lambeth. From this time the round style fell gradually into disuse ; but, at Fountain's Abbey, the founda- tions of which were laid in 1204, and which was in progress during the forty subsequent years, the windows and portals are still round-headed, and an instance of a round portal is to be found at Ketton a , in Rutlandshire, so late as 1252. During the reign of Henry III. the early pointed style attained its most perfect state, and, in that state, justly commands admiration. There is a manly vigour and chaste simplicity about it which enable it successfully to compete with any thing by which it was succeeded. Fine examples of this style are to be seen in the chapter- house, the transepts, and part of the choir of a " Hugh de Welles, Bishop of Lincoln, by his deed, dated the 16th year of Henry III., granted release of twenty days' penance to all those who should contribute any thing to the building of the church of the Blessed Mary of Ketton, at that time ruinous. The new building is, no doubt, that which remains to this day." — Wright's Rutlandshire. 252 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE Westminster Abbey 3 ; in the choir of St. Alban's; in the nave of Lincoln ; east end of Durham ; nave of Worcester, 1224 ; nave and spire of Lich- field; south transept of York b ; and the older part of the choir of Southwell . But no where is this style more beautifully developed than in Salisbury Cathedral* 1 , which was begun in 1221, and carried forward, without interruption, till it was completed. The establishment of the pointed style was at- tended with one remarkable difference in England and Normandy. In Normandy the semicircular chancel became, generally speaking, polygonal ; in a As far as the first column westward from the central tower. b York Minster was burnt in Archbishop Thurstan's time, and lay in its ashes thirty-four years, when a new choir was begun. Archbishop Walter Grey, who died in 1255, built the south transept. c In 1235 an indulgence of thirty days was granted to those who contributed to the church of Southwell, for the consummation of the fabric, long since begun to be restored. — Dickinson Kestall's History of Southwell. d Salisbury Cathedral was begun one year later than Amiens; but the latter is many years in advance of the former. IN ENGLAND. 258 England, generaly speaking, it became square. Po- lygonal chancels are as rare in England, as square chancels are in the larger churches of Normandy, and this difference of shape in England afforded the opportunity of those magnificent east win- dows which are so principal, and so splendid, a feature of our cathedrals. Another difference, which may be remarked is, the battlement which usually forms the parapet of English churches, and which never occurs in the ecclesiastical buildings of France. But the period which is usually selected as the golden age of the pointed style in England, is that which comprises the reigns of our two first Edwards ;— the first period of what is called the " decorated style." During that time the pointed style acquired a just proportion of ornament, with- out suffering any diminution of its masculine cha- racter. Many competent judges include, in the best period, the reign of Edward HI.; and the buildings erected in his time so little depart from the perfection of taste as hardly to deserve less 254 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE than unqualified praise. But the greater lightness, which architecture acquired during the reign of Edward III., and the greater enrichment, could not be obtained without a proportionate sacrifice of solidity and repose. Examples of the reign of Edward I. — North transept, York Minster; part of the nave of West- minster Abbey a ; central tower, Lincoln; Tintern Abbey ; choir of Exeter ; the greater part of Wells Cathedral, consecrated in 1239 ; Lady chapel and spire, Lichfield. Examples of the reign of Edward II. — Nave of York Minster, begun in 1291 but not finished till 1336; south aisle of Gloucester Cathedral. ■ As far as the second column of the nave. — From that time the work went on very slowly. Little progress was made from the time of Edward I. till that of Richard II. Henry V. contributed something. Henry VI. was occupied with buildings in other places. Henry VII. bestowed all his attention on his celebrated chapel. The nave, however, had been carried on, at intervals, by the abbots, and the west end was finished by Abbot Esteney, who died in 1498. — Widmore's Westminster. IN ENGLAND. 255 Examples of the reign of Edward III. — Octa- gon lantern tower of Ely Cathedral ; chapel of St. Stephen's, Westminster ; new choir of York Min- ster, begun in 1361 ; western towers of York Min- ster, begun 1370 ; the choir of Gloucester Cathe- dral, but not finished till 1381 ; the more enriched part of the choir of Southwell and the chapter- house a . Soon after the accession of Richard II. a change took place in England, as it did about the same time, in France, but of a totally different kind, and offering a remarkable contrast to the preceding fashion. The flowing was exchanged for the straight. It became the great object to a In the eleventh year of Edward III. a royal license was granted to the chapter of Southwell to get stone in the forest of Shirewood, for the purpose of the fabric of the minster. Archbishop Neville is believed to have built, or begun, the Chapter-house. He was consecrated Archbishop in 1374. In the course of the following reign he fell into dis- grace with the court, went abroad, and is said to have died, a schoolmaster, at Louvain. — Dickinson Kestall's History of Southwell. 256 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE produce as long a continuity of perpendicular lines as could be accomplished, and though , in process of time, this style was frittered away in minute subdivisions, yet, in its best days, it produced striking effects, taking possession of the whole end of a transept or nave, and by a repetition of the same pattern in the pannels of the walls and the tracery of the windows, turning the whole space into one magnificent feature. William of Wykeham's west end of the nave of Winchester, is a splendid example of this kind of composition, as is the east window of York minster of the per- pendicular style. Another change began to appear in the reign of Henry VI., a change which affected the most vital part of the pointed style. The arch began to expand, and gradually went on expanding, each time less beautiful, till it became obtuse and depressed; an alteration which, as we have seen, it equally underwent in France. This alteration, together with a continually increasing passion for enrichment, and for reducing the proportion of IN ENGLAND. 257 the solid to the void, to gain more and more light- ness, gradually produced the faults of the florid style, and led, first, to the corruption, and finally to the abandonment, of pointed architecture. It may appear singular to hint at progressive evil during the period when King's College chapel was built at Cambridge, and the chapel of Henry VII. at "Westminster, but the seeds of debasement are often sown in the days of prosperity, and when once the utmost limits of good taste are arrived at, the next step leads into another region. During the reign of Henry VIII. the pointed style became heavy and surcharged, an instance of which appears in the cathedral of Bath, begun about 1500, and finished in 1533. The style had lost its merit and its charm, and, during the course of the reign of Elizabeth, as in that of the reign of Francis I. in France, the pointed style went out of fashion, and a taste for the Roman re- turned. In the foregoing pages it has been attempted to show — 258 NORMAN ARCHITECTURE IN ENGLAND. 1 . That the supposed existence of the pointed style in Normandy, in 1056, is a pure imagina- tion. 2. That the Normans, adopting the corrupt Roman style, gave it a character of their own. 3. That the Normans greatly contributed to the advancement of the arts in England. 4. That architecture performed exactly the same revolution in England and France, France having, in all the changes, a certain precedence". 1 Though priority in the adoption of the pointed style can- not be allowed to Normandy, neither can it be denied to other parts of northern France. G. Woodfall, Printer, Angel Ceurt, Skinner Street, London. °{o-&\o GETTY CENTER LIBRARY 3 3125 00600 6874