THE CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY SWEDEN AND DENMARK**® m *> m> *> m by t FRANCIS BUMPUS fZ CHARLOTTE STREET. LONUi THE CATHEDRALS AND CHURCHES OF NORWAY SWEDEN AND DENMARK UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME HE CATHEDRALS AND CHURCHES OF NORTHERN ITALY By T. FRANCIS BUMPUS With Eighty Plates (many of them in Colour) and a Coloured Frontispiece by F. L. Griggs MONG the numerous Cathedrals and those of Verona, Vicenza, Padua, Venice, Ferrara, Bologna, Ravenna, Modena, Piacen- za, Cremona, Bergamo, Milan, Pavia, Asti, Vercelli, Novara and Turin. Although the author sets out to deal with architecture, he is not exclusively archaeological, the arts auxiliary finding a place in his descriptions; and in his volume he says not a little about the music and ceremonial connected with the numerous Cathedrals and Churches. The book should prove as attractive to the eccle- siologist as to the student of architecture. The most interesting points in the text are illus- trated by means of a number of the best archi- tectural photographs and pictures in colour. described in this Volume are Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 http://archive.org/details/cathedralsnorwayOObump 1 TRONDHJEM CATHEDRAL. FROM A PAINTING BY H. SANDHAM. THE CATHEDRALS AND CHURCHES OF NORWAY SWEDEN AND DENMARK By T. FRANCIS BUMPUS Author of "The Cathedrals of England & Wales," "The Glories of Northern France," "The Cathedrals and Churches of the Rhine and North Germany," "The Cathedrals and Churches of Northern Italy," etc. With Forty Illustrations (Four of which are in Colour) T.WERNER LAURIE CLIFFORD'S INN LONDON EC To MARTIN RIDLEY SMITH, Esq. These pages are gratefully inscribed. CONTENTS Chap, I Introductory Sketch I II Some Ecclesiastical Particulars 63 III From Osnabruck to Copenhagen by Sc hie swig i O dense ^ Soro and c Rgeskilde 109 IV Some Swedish Churches and Cathedrals 156 V The Medieval Polychromy of Sweden 206 VI The Churches of Wisby^ and the Island of Go tt land 220 VII Trondhjem 267 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS (* These are Colour Plates) Trondhjem Cathedral, from the North-East to face title South-East View of the Cathedral at Ribe i o Interior of the Cathedral at c B$e 14 South-East View of the Church at Mariboe' 1 8 East End of the Church at Kallundborg 22 * Church of our Lady at Hfoeskilde 26 aA It ar piece in Sc hie swig Qathedral 30 Font in Schleswig Cathedral 30 Organ in Ifyeskilde Qathedral 36 Organ in c Rjbe Cathedral 36 Interior of the Church at Oster Lars in Bornholm 40 Stalls in the Qathedral at Lund 50 One of the Side Doorways of the Cathedral at Lund 5 o Interior of Gamle aAkers Kyrke at Qhristiania 56 East End of the Church at Hitter da I 60 South-East View of the Qathedral at Old Upsala 66 Interior of St Knud's at O dense, looking West 1 20 Crypt under Qhoir of St Knud's at dense 1 24 The Qistercian Qhurch at Soro,from the South-East 130 St Benedict s at Rings ted, from the South-East 130 Ifyeskilde Qathedral, from the North-West 136 Carved Subjects above the Stalls in Ifyeskilde Qathedral 136 High aAl tar piece in Ityeskilde Qathedral 140 Interior of which, if the Gamle Akers Kyrka may be excepted, is as jejune architecturally as Copenhagen and Stockholm. The best part of a week was occupied by a journey to Trondhjem and back to Christiania, whence, via Gothen- burg and Frederikshavn, I found myself once more in Jut- land, this time at the northern extremity of the penin- sula. The two grand Danish Romanesque cathedrals of Viborg and Ribe were next visited, a railway journey from the latter of about six hours bringing me back into Germany at Hamburg, whence through Bremen and Miinster I reached my starting place, Osnabriick, after a tour which, although vastly pleasant and novel, passed without any incidents beyond the ordinary ones of travel. To the lofty mountains of Norway, and the rough but picturesque and undulating moorlands of South Sweden, the smiling pasture lands and hollowy beech woods of Den- mark present a marked contrast. Few countries, however,, are less likely to attract the attention of the admirer of natural scenery or to arrest the footsteps of the wandering artist in search of subjects for his sketch-book as Den- mark, and yet there is something in this absence of the grand and beautiful in the general aspect of that country which is by no means devoid of interest. With its vast sweeps of corn and meadow-land, thickly studded with neat villages, substantial red-tiled or thatched homesteads and windmills, and with its towns, if on the seacoast snugly nestled at the extreme end of a fiord, if inland on the banks of some deep-watered lake, sur- 4 INTRODUCTORY SKETCH rounded in either case by woods, Denmark undoubtedly lias a charm of its own. The country towns of Denmark are, however, as a rule, poorly and monotonously built, and the traveller must not expect to find them presenting any such fine assemblages of domestic architecture as are to be met with in Bruns- wick, Hildesheim, and other North German cities. Speaking generally, the scenery of Denmark recalls that of Lincolnshire and those parts of Norfolk and Cam- bridgeshire adjacent to it — districts where, if nature has been sparing of her gifts, art has been bountiful, for there it is that many of the noblest of those parish churches which are the pride and glory of England are to be found. And here it may be observed that Lincolnshire is, per- haps, the part of England which received most completely, and retained most strongly, the influences of the Danish conquest, and it is not extraordinary that a visitor from thence should trace at every step some peculiarity of his native land. The differences of the dialects of our northern tongues have been made much more clear to us of late years than they used to be, and this careful study of them has brought out the fact that differences of race are by no means conterminous with the boundaries of kingdoms, and that, taking in a large way a consideration of language and names of places as well as of the physical appearance of the inhabitants, we have arrived at sounder views both of the districts from which conquerors came, and of the extent of their power. In considering the ecclesiastical architecture of Den- mark, it is to be noted that its influence on the rest of Europe has been but slight, and, however attractive its churches may be to the archaeologist, they are hardly cal- 5 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. culated to command the attention or to enlist the admira- tion of those who have the glorious structures of England, France and north-western Germany in mind. The larger churches of Denmark do not differ very materially in style from those of such cities neighbouring to the Baltic as Lubeck, Rostock, Stettin and Wismar, except in some minor details arising from local tastes and the influence of local materials. We find the same flat strips of pilaster connected at the top with rude arcading, with which we are familiar in the ancient churches of Northern Germany, and in very early Romanesque buildings in Eng- land. Portions of the great churches at Aarhuus, Ribe and Viborg might have come from Westphalia, the Rhenish Provinces and Lower Saxony. It is in the smaller parish churches of Denmark that we find the most marked speciality of type — the most interest- ing localisms — as everywhere else. This special character- istic arises doubtless to some extent from the difficulty, especially for small churches in country districts, of doing anything but the simplest work with such materials as red- brick and granite, which were the staple building materials of Denmark. It has been my happiness during the last twenty years to see as much of the church architecture of north-western Europe as has fallen to the lot of most, and it has always been a pleasure to dwell on that which hardly requires a professional eye to appreciate, viz., the marvellous beauty with which the architects of the Middle Ages adapted the particular cathedral or church to the particular locality — seashore, river-side, mountain-top, hill-slope, wooded dell and where not else. Upon the influence of local scenery on local architec- 6 INTRODUCTORY SKETCH ture I might dwell at great length, but as I must confine myself to the ecclesiology of the countries of which this book is designed to treat, I will only mention one of the many churches which brought home to my mind the won- derful power which medieval architects possessed in adapt- ing the building to the spot — I mean that of Mariboe* in the Danish island of Laaland. Of the general character of the churches in Denmark I shall presently give some idea. Of Mariboe Cathedral I wish especially to speak as regards its situation. The western facade gives, as the French would say, on one of those little inland lakes that are so common in Denmark. Let the reader imagine such a cathedral as St Asaph, set down on a sandy plain, surrounded on all sides but the east by the pines and beeches and oaks which make Den- mark so beautiful; while, on the east, the little ripples of the lake are continually lapping (and never more than that) against the basement-mouldings of the choir. The cathedral of Mariboe itself is not especially remarkable among Danish churches; but its situation, jutting out as it does into a quiet inland lake, stretching away infinitely to the east, but on the north and south skirted, when I saw it in August, with the lovely contrast of young beech and aged fir — the whole, taken together, made me think it one of the most charming ecclesiological landscapes I had ever beheld. Calling it up to memory, I still believe that, in its way, the situation of Mariboe* Cathedral is almost unique among western churches. Red brick had accompanied me all the way from Verden to Schleswig, but it was not until I reached Middelfart, in Funen, that I became acquainted with the manner in which the Danish architects manipulated that material. 7 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. In the islands, in iEeroe, in Falster, in Moen, above all in Laaland, and in Zealand itself, I learnt what local neces- sities can do in originating a local style. It is clear that, from whatever reason, stone was utterly unattainable by the medieval architects of Denmark. Except in some parts of Jutland, and for some such great effort as the cathedral at Roeskilde, the virtually, though not nominally, metropolitan church of Denmark: and the truthfulness and honesty with which they carried out their material is admirable, as witness the solemn Roman- esque Cistercian church at Soro and its neighbour at Ring- sted. Only in one instance, as far as I was able to see, is Danish brickwork cast in any other form but that in ordi- nary use. This one exception, and it is not very frequent, is the curved brick necessary for the formation of a flat- tened ogee. Otherwise the external ornamentation — and most richly ornamented are the churches — consists of bricks alternately projecting square, and therefore de- pressed square, lengthwise or breadthwise, narrow side, horizontal or perpendicular, or projecting in angular fashion, which, I believe (and comparing it with our "dogtooth," the coincidence is remarkable), to be a chief characteristic of Danish work.* I ought to write on this subject with all modesty, for altogether I have not seen a hundred and thirty Danish churches, but what I did see were taken fairly all over the country, and, with the exception of the Faroes, *As a specimen of this kind of work, I would single out the ornamenta- tion of the eastern gable of Our Lady's Church at Odense. Lighted by a Romanesque triplet, the whole facade, though severely plain, may be taken as quite typical of its age and class. The red-brick church is, like the majority of Danish ones, built upon a basement of granite, so as to form a plinth all round the structure. 8 INTRODUCTORY SKETCH there is not a single island which I did not see during this tour. In the Middle Pointed, fourteenth- and fifteenth-cen- tury churches, the fenestration is always of one type — a broad-pointed window-opening enclosing from two to six or seven lancet lights, all running up to the arch. Honest the Danish architects were; artistic they were certainly not, and therefore unable, like the Italians, to mould their brickwork into the varied forms of tracery prevalent during those periods. The east end of a Danish church is almost always flat. In the twelfth and thirteenth century a very strongly marked decorated moulding is frequently formed by the simple process of omitting four bricks so as to form a cross in the centre of the gable. In Romanesque examples, which, as a rule, have three equal windows in the east end, the arch is formed of a brown, gritty and hardly to be admired, sandstone. I failed to learn where it could have come from. Granite is very largely used for the lower part of the walls, even of the smallest village churches, sometimes to the height of as much as six feet. The church at Taarnby, in Laaland, is a highly deco- rated example of brickwork. It is what we should call "Early English." Two equal lancets light the east end; they are not arched, but made by sloping two bricks against each other. The triforia, the clerestory, above all the aisle windows with their mouldings, show what can be done by a great artist, even with such a material. Perhaps the most astonishing church I saw was that at Middelfart, in Funen. Throughout the whole building there is not a single effect produced which could not, in 9 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. its way, be worked out with a child's box of bricks, pro- vided only glue might be used. I have already alluded to the great number of village churches in Denmark. On the Sunday evening of my sojourn in Odense, I walked from that town for some distance along the road to Middelfart. As the sun was setting I reached the brow of, for Denmark, a very steep and high hill, and then, look- ing to the south-west and catching the saddle-back towered churches which cluster there as thickly as in Leicestershire, that rich deep tint which six or seven cen- turies impart to brick drawn out to its full in the red rays of the setting sun, I thought I had never seen a more delightful ecclesiastical landscape. And a curious proof from the opposite side of the question was this. A few days after I was at Lund. As the train neared the railway station, and I caught my first view of the pearly-grey twin towers of its Romanesque cathedral, I could not think what made the whole scene so tame and colourless and insipid until I remembered that for three weeks before I had been view- ing churches that possessed the richest and deepest of external colour. While externally nothing can be more different in appearance than the unornamented walls, broach spires, clearly cut lancets and exquisite mouldings, of a First Pointed church in England, and the brick niches and arcades, the stepped and gabled tower, the stepped nave and chancel, and the Tudor-like windows of a similar building in Denmark; these differences are on the surface and accidental, and arise simply from the almost universal use of stone in England and its absence in Denmark. But the essential similarity consists in the rarity of 10 1 INTRODUCTORY SKETCH apsidal or transeptal churches among Danish as well as English churches. The norm is that which has been called the Irish, not the Roman. The only important difference is the very general occurrence of an immense south porch and par- vise, which gives occasion for the most elegant and fanciful external brick ornamentation, and which seems to have formed a recognized part of the ordinary ground plan of a Danish church. One other general remark may be made, that fully five-sixths of the churches now in existence are of Romanesque or First Pointed date, the great majority being transitional. From churches of the first class the cathedral of Ribe and a church at Mariboe may be selected for brief descrip- tions, since they respectively illustrate the Romanesque and Pointed Gothic periods of Danish church architecture. The level marshes and meadows which spread far and wide about the West Jutland city of Ribe are impressive in their way, and add to the effect of the towers of its cathe- dral; as much landmarks here as the tower of Mechlin is for the lowlands of Brabant, the spires of Chartres for La Beauce, the "screen facades" of Brunswick, Halber- stadt and Magdeburg for the plains of Lower Saxony, and the long roof-ridges and the lofty towers of Ely for the fenland of Cambridgeshire. Something, too, is due to the fact that the houses domi- nated by the cathedral of Ribe are little more than cot- tages in height and appearance. The "city" is but a large village of picturesque meandering streets pleasantly mixed- up with trees and streams, of which latter three surround the place. Ascending the north-western tower, and carry- ing the eye beyond the limits of the houses, meadow-land, II CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. green as the Emerald Isle, dotted with, substantial home- steads and streaked with white roads, will be seen to con- stitute the landscape in every direction. Looking due westwards we discern, at the distance of about three miles, the North Sea, and the smoke of the steamers in the har- bour of thriving little Esbjserg. Ribe Cathedral, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, is a noble structure in whose Romanesque portions, notably the apse and the western facade, a very strong Rhenish influence is perceptible. Begun in 1 1 34, it was completed in n 60, and was originally covered, at any rate as regards the nave, with a flat roof of wood, which, in consequence of a fire, was re- built in stone, together with the clerestory, towards the middle of the thirteenth century and in the pointed style then prevalent. The north-western tower, and the chapels which gable out of the Romanesque nave aisles, are much later additions, and of red brick, whereas the early por- tions are built of stone laid in oblong blocks so small as to give the idea of brick, and dressed with grey, white and pink granite. The latter material is used on the exterior for the western doorway; for those in the transepts, for the basement of the apse, and for some of the decora- tive features; and in the interior for the nave arcades, for the piers supporting the four great arches at the crossing, and in the small, regularly disposed blocks which, so plea- santly relieving the great transverse arches of vaulting in both nave and aisles, recall the ironstone of Northamp- tonshire. The plan of Ribe Cathedral, which measures 220 feet from east to west, is that of a Latin cross, but with this peculiarity, that the apse immediately joins the transepts without the short aisleless limb usual in churches of its date. 12 INTRODUCTORY SKETCH The accompanying illustrations exonerate me from entering into a very minute description of this cathedral, either without or within, but, as may be seen from the view of the exterior, the building presents a very striking assemblage of parts. It should, however, be observed that the nave projects considerably beyond the curiously dissimilar western towers; that the roof of this portion is a little higher than that of the rest of the church; and that we miss those arcades to the highest stage of the apse, which, borrowed from the Lombard churches of Bergamo and Pavia, and reproduced, not only in the Rhenish apses of Andernach, Bonn and Cologne, but in that of Swedish Lund, contri- bute so highly to the general effect. Otherwise the apse at Ribe is identical in design and construction with the exam- ples above named. One grand western tower appears to have been contem- plated, probably on the motif of those at Neuss and Wer- den in Rhenish Prussia. Such a tower, with the large in- ternal dimensions of thirty-seven feet, and a short tran- sept projecting from its north and south sides, would have produced an effect of uncommon grandeur. Subsequently, the idea of such a central tower was abandoned in favour of a pair, covering, and projecting slightly beyond, what are now the inner aisles. The lower portion of the north-wes- tern tower may be of First Pointed date, but the upper part is of late and inferior workmanship. The proportions, however, are very fine, and its outline contrasts very sin- gularly with that of the south-western steeple, which, although, no doubt, originally intended, has only been built within the last twenty years. Each side of it is sharply gabled, and the whole is crowned by one of those 13 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. low quadrilateral spires so frequently met with in the early thirteenth-century churches of Rhenish Germany. The square portion of the western fagade at Ribe has two tiers of shallow arched recesses. In the central recess of the lower tier is a fine round arched doorway built of variously hued granite. As this portal has escaped restora- tion, it forms quite a picture with the boldly sculptured capitals of its slender recessed shafts. The pointed arch makes its appearance in this facade, and this fact, taken in conjunction with the presence of an octofoiled circle in the centre of the upper tier of arcades, tends to the assump- tion that this space between and beyond the towers was a subsequent addition to the original plan of the cathedral. Each transept has a fine Romanesque doorway of granite surmounted by a triangular pediment. In the tympanum of the southern portal is sculptured the Descent from the Cross, the group including figures of the Virgin, Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus and St John, all treated in a very Byzantine-Romanesque manner. The triangular pediment encloses a representation, equally archaic, of "The Heavenly City: the New Jerusa- lem," in which figures of our Lord and the Blessed Virgin, seated, and surrounded by the evangelistic symbols, are the most conspicuous. Our Lord holds a short hand-cross, the stem of which is grasped by the Virgin. Below these two principal effigies, and represented as looking up to them, is a row of small figures of kings and churchmen. Above the former is inscribed Civitas Jerusalem, and on scrolls to the right and left the following texts, of course in Latin: "Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the ; Lord" (Isaiah ii, 3), and "Blessed are the poor H INTRODUCTORY SKETCH in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven " (St Mat- thew v, 3). The door itself, modern and of bronze, is divided into forty-five square panels, of which six in the centre, form- ing a Greek cross, are enriched with small groups. The head of the cross contains the Betrayal in Gethsemane; in the centre, and in the arm on either side, the Entry into Jerusalem is illustrated in three groups; while in the panel forming the foot is the Washing of the Disciples' Feet. Below this another panel encloses the sacred monogram, I.H.S. On the eastern side of the south transept is a small door- way, whence, if it should chance to be open, as it was on the occasion of my visit, though guarded by a wicket, one of the finest views across the interior of the cathedral can be obtained. Next to its grand proportions and air of dignified severity, the great charm of the interior of Ribe Cathedral lies in its natural colouring. Nothing can be more striking than the contrast between the white wall spaces of the nave, and the rich, warm hues of the granite used for the piers and arches, the shafts of the triforium arcades, and for the banding of the great pointed arches which span the nave transversely and col- lect the arcades and windows of the triforium and cleres- tory into pairs. Massive oblong piers with very simple capitals and low bases identical in shape and size carry the six plain round-headed arches which divide the nave from its aisles.* Over these is the triforium, not a mere passage between *Some remains of the ancient painting with which this church was, no doubt, profusely adorned, may be discerned on these piers. 15 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. its arcades opening to the nave and a lean-to roof, but a spacious gallery, as in our three great East Anglian minsters of Ely, Norwich and Peterborough. At Ribe the three arcades composing the openings are of equal height and contained beneath a round-headed and slightly recessed arch, whose tympanum is ornamented cheeky- wise. The clerestory windows are what may be called equi- lateral spherical triangles, having their bases straight. They would be much improved by the insertion of tracery, composed, let us say, of three cusped circles, as at Lich- field. In their present state, glazed in small square panes and deficient in stained glass, these clerestory windows in the nave of Ribe Cathedral can hardly be pronounced graceful. Four arches span the nave proper transversely and gather up its length into three great domically-vaulted compartments.* The treatment of these arches differs, however, and deserves some study. In one instance this arch dies off into the wall at the triforium stage of the ele- vation; in two it springs from the capitals of the responds or half piers at either end of the nave; while in the remain- ing one it starts directly from a shaft corbelled off just above the capital of the pier between the second and third of the six bays into which the length of the nave is divided. It should be observed that the transverse arch between the second and third of these great domical vaults has another arch attached to it with a circular moulding. This added arch starts from corbelled shafts, as do the ribs which divide the domes into eight cellular compartments. f *In addition to these there is another great vaulted bay, but aisleless, since it is comprised between the western towers. fin architectural phraseology these vaults at Ribe would be styled octofartite. 16 INTRODUCTORY SKETCH The northern transept vault has only three cells, while that of the southern is more complex, slender corbelled shafts being introduced between the two round-headed windows on its east, south and west sides to carry the additional ribs. The treatment of the vaulting in this tran- sept is reminiscent of that in the square-ended choir of St Cross, Winchester, and either one or the other of these examples would appear to have influenced Mr James Brooks when designing his stately brick-vaulted chancel for St Columba's, Kingsland Road, one of a remark- able group of churches built forty years ago in North London. A very simple ribless dome covers the crossing, and a half dome of equally severe character the apse, which is lighted by three round-headed windows surmounting a continuous shallow arcade. Polychromy has been applied to the vaulting shafts of the nave with good effect, but the portions of the church beyond the nave have as yet been untouched by the artist. I never saw an interior where I think a profusion of bright and strongly contrasted colours would be more in place. The wall spaces above the four great arches at the crossing and the dome which covers it are a peculiarly advantageous field for the display of pro- minent hues, while the apse admits of the richest poly- chrome. Doubtless, such works as have been carried out at the, in some respects, analagous cathedral of Viborg are in contemplation at Ribe. There are no aisles to the transepts, but in the eastern wall of each is a semicircular recess under a pedimented arch, which is supported by pillars, whose capitals recall the Corinthian of Classic days. This arrangement may be compared with that in the cathedral at Lund, where a 17 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. similar recess is found on the western and eastern sides of both transepts. The chapels opening out of the nave aisles are uninter- esting specimens of Danish Middle Pointed. Each chapel has, externally, a separately gabled roof, and is lighted by a window whose three pointed but uncusped lights touch the head of the containing arch, as may be seen in the illustration of the church at Mariboe. All this later work at Ribe, including the window tracery, is carried out in red brick, whitewashed on the inside. There is some interesting furniture. Two ranges of Late Gothic stalls, similar in design to but less ornate than those at Roeskilde, occupy the openings to the tran- septs, but do not extend as far as the western arch of the crossing. Close to the northern range is placed the font, of bronze. Vat-like in form, it is ornamented with somewhat thin canopy work, enclosing figures and groups, and is sup- ported by six figures of lions and angels. In the south tran- sept, and in front of the alcove of its eastern side, stands a five-branched candlestick of brass. A book rest is fixed to it engraved with two angels supporting a shield on which is a figure of St Catherine. The pulpit and organ case, each a superb specimen of Renaissance workmanship, are admi- randa; likewise the wrought-iron screen to the Chapel of Bethlehem (one of those opening out of the south aisle); and numerous monumental tablets, among which the most interesting is that of the last Catholic Bishop of Ribe, Iver Munk (1499-15 33; d. 1539) arrayed in full ponti- ficals, including the tall mitre in vogue at that period. An ancient crucifix is fixed to the wall in one of the chapels opening from the nave. 18 INTRODUCTORY SKETCH Of the church at Mariboe it is impossible to speak in terms of equal praise, for, although sufficiently large for architectural effect, it betrays a clumsiness which is very unpleasing. That taste and perception of the beautiful, so patent in the brick architecture of North Italy, seems to have exerted very little influence in the flat regions of Northern Germany and Denmark. There the churches were raised as cheaply as the necessities of construction would allow, and ornaments were applied only to the extent absolutely requisite to save them from meanness. Thus the churches represent in size the wealth and popu- lation of the cities, and were built in the style of Gothic architecture which prevailed at the time of their erection; but it is in vain to look in them for any of the beauties of the stone Gothic buildings of the same period. A good deal of the heaviness of the Danish brick churches internally may be traced to the circumstance that they depended almost wholly on colour for their ornament, and the painting having disappeared, their flatness is made only the more prominent by the whitewash that now covers them. By colour, or by clearing the brickwork of this offensive mask, they might be restored, but as seen now in the full glare of the cold daylight they want almost every requisite of true art, and neither their size nor their constructive skill suffices to redeem them from the reproach. This church at Mariboe is exceedingly simple, both in plan and construction. Built on the model of one of those unclerestoried or "hall" churches so common in Ger- many through all the epochs of Pointed, it consists of a nave and square-ended choir with wide aisles, all vaulted at the same level and covered by one slope of unbroken 19 C2 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. roof. Octagonal columns divide the nave and choir from their aisles, and the windows throughout the church are filled with that tracery, which, consisting of three or more lancet-headed lights, grouped within an arch, was the only kind the architects of these brick regions of Northern Europe seemed capable of producing. However, despite its simplicity, there is an air of grandeur about the exte- rior of this church at Mariboe which forces admiration. Within, the red brick of the piers, walls and vaulting have been so profusely whitewashed as to deprive the church of any architectural merit it may possess; indeed, were it not for the presence of some good Renaissance fur- niture, the interior of this church at Mariboe' would be one of the coldest and most depressing that Protestantism and whitewash have set their mark upon. The visitor to Denmark will probably have his attention too much engrossed by the large town churches of that country to be able to spare much for those of the villages. Within walking distance of such important places as Mid- delfart, Odense, Soro, Roeskilde, Viborg, Ribe, and the capital, village churches may be found which, if somewhat monotonous in their planning and deficient in that beauty and refinement of detail which is almost everywhere so conspicuous in England and France, are worth visiting, either for the study of provincial localisms or for such interesting items of church furniture as fonts, altar-pieces, and wall painting. With very few exceptions, an extreme simplicity in plan and ornament marks the generality of Danish village churches. No matter what may be the date of its erection, a Danish village church presents one invariable ground-plan — a western tower, an aisleless nave of rarely more than 20 INTRODUCTORY SKETCH three bays, a small chancel, in most cases square-ended, and occasionally an apsidal sanctuary. As a typical speci- men of this type of church that at Tveje Merlose, one of the few instances in which the twin western tower arrange- ment has been adopted, may be cited. As to the exceptional ground plans, we find the nave divided by an arcade into two equal parts at Soborg; the octagonal nave and square-ended chancel at Store Hedinge near Kjoge in Zealand; the circular nave and square- ended (originally apsidal) chancel at Bjernede near Soro in Zealand; and the similarly planned one at Thorsager, about equidistant from Aarhuus, Randers and Grenaa in Jutland. The island of Bornholm has four round churches, viz., at Oles, Ny, Ny-Lars, and Oster-Lars, all of which are more interesting to the student of construction than to the lover of the beautiful in architecture. An extreme simplicity is their leading characteristic, for, like those of many rude northern churches, their interiors were designed with a view to that pictorial decoration, of which some valuable specimens still happily remain. One of the most extraordinary of exceptional ground plans is presented by the late twelfth-century church at Kallundborg, a pleasant little seaside town of north-west Zealand fifty miles from Roeskilde. The plan is that of a Greek cross, and over each arm rises an octagonal tower of red brick, gabled on each side, and surmounted by a short metal spire. A larger tower, but square, with each side gabled, and an octagonal spire, rises at the intersection of the cross, and, with the four standing over the west end, the transepts, and the chancel, 21 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. respectively, not only assists in composing one of the most singular architectural groups of my acquaintance, but gives a wonderful air of size to a building whose dimensions are very insignificant. The first view of this church at Kallundborg, whether approached by the railway from Roeskilde, or by the steamer from Aarhuus, situated as it is on high ground at the western extremity of the little town, is very impressive, and calls to mind another closely grouped assemblage of five steeples at Tournai. As a rule the Danish village church presents scarcely anything but a plain wall with small, round-headed win- dows, high up from the ground, pierced in it, often the only decorative feature being a series of intersecting arches under the eaves. From this it will be seen that the country churches of Denmark cannot compete on any terms with those of our own land, and more particularly with those of the county to which she bears so close an affinity in the respects to which I have alluded; for, although extremely numerous, they are, as a rule, of very modest dimensions. Then they are so closely encircled with trees that in summer time the only portion which makes any figure in the landscape is the steeple, which in the majority of instances takes the gabled or "saddle-back" form. Still, like the gabled towers, with their low quadri- lateral spires, of the Rhenish churches, these "saddle- back" steeples of Denmark look well where they are, and contribute to our study of provincial localisms. The medieval builders of Denmark, like those of the German provinces in the sandy plains of Pomerania and Prussia, had, as I have already observed, to construct 22 INTRODUCTORY SKETCH their edifices of brick only, and although many fine brick churches — chiefly of monastic or conventual origin — have disappeared, there still remain a large number of elabo- rate brick exteriors well worth studying. Besides the large churches, such as Odense, Ribe, Aalborg, Aarhuus, Mariboe, Roeskilde, Soro and Viborg, there are in every town and most villages medieval brick churches of a rather stereotyped form, inasmuch as the east end is almost invariably square, with a stepped gable, while at the west end there is, as a rule, a tower having a gabled roof; but such an astonishing variety is displayed in the designs of these Danish "saddle-backs" that a whole volume could be compiled of them, and such a volume would form a valuable manual of plain but effec- tive brick architecture. In many cases the gables of these Danish village towers are stepped, as, for instance, those at Taarnby (a particu- larly charming example), Stor Hedinge, West Brondby, Vallenback, Tybjerg, Middelfart and Hammer. The simple Romanesque church of our Lady at RoSs- kilde (the only one left of the twenty churches in which that city was, in Catholic days, so rich) has a western saddle-back tower with such shallow steppings to its gables that the work looks as though it had been cut out with a saw. Unfortunately this church has lost its chancel, but the tower, rising at the west end of the lean-to, aisled, and clerestoried nave, forms, with the deeply projecting north porch and steep mass of metal roofing, an architectural group of much dignity and interest. Towers gabled on each side are of frequent occurrence. A picturesque example is the massively proportioned one 23 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. at Horne, where the gables, in lieu of being stepped, are marked out in a succession of curves, a proof of post- Gothic workmanship. The four roofs of this tower meet in a short octagonal spire like that of Herford in West- phalia with very pretty and pleasing effect. Many Danish village church towers, of which the example just quoted is one, have had their red-brick material covered with white- wash, presumably in order to permit them to stand out with greater distinctness from the trees with which they are closely environed. In the western parts of Jutland the steeples are almost invariably composed of a tower, gabled on each side and surmounted by a tall metal spire of the Liibeck type. Sometimes one meets with a thoroughly English-look- ing spire of the Kent and Sussex type, as, for instance, at Sorup, where it surmounts a low tower at the west end of a church consisting of an aisle] ess nave, a lower chancel, and a still lower apsidal sanctuary. Fjennslev Church, near Soro, although only a very small structure, has a pair of well-proportioned towers, with, necessarily, very little space between them. Each has a low quadrilateral spire of metal, and the plain masses of brickwork have, as their sole relief, a shallow round- headed arch enclosing two small Romanesque openings springing from a pillaret. Marryat, in his Jutland and the Danish Isles* gives the raison alette of these twin towers at Fjenneslevin a divert- ing legend founded on the ballad of "The Two Church Towers": "Sir Asker Ryg, son of Skialm Hvide, was a knight of large possessions, and dwelt near the village of Fienneslev- *Two vols. Murray, i860. 24 INTRODUCTORY SKETCH lille. One day, when about to start for the wars he first went into 'the little church to pray,' and greatly scandal- ized was he to find the doorway so low he was compelled to bow his head on entering therein. The roof, too, was of black straw, and the damp and green mould hung to the crumbling walls. Greatly shocked was Sir Asker Ryg; perhaps, had he been more regular in his attendance, he would have already discovered the dilapidated state of the building; so, previous to his starting, he gave directions to his wife, the fair Lady Inge, at that time in an interesting condition, to rebuild the church during his absence, and if she were brought to bed of a boy to erect a lofty church tower, if only a girl a spire. The Lady Inge promises obedi- ence to the wishes of her lord, and off he goes, followed by a numerous train of squires, to fight the battles of his country, and jjerform prodigies of valour. When the war is at an end he bends his way homeward, and on approaching Fienneslevlille his impatience is so great he outstrips all his train, and arrives first alone on the brow of the hill which overhangs the village; he strains his eyes, and sees not one tower, but two — the Lady Inge has given birth to twin boys during his absence — and on arriving at his castle half-mad with joy (education cost nothing in those days) he embraced his wife, exclaiming, 'Oh, thou noble Lady Inge, thrice honoured be thou, thou art a "Danne- wif" !' (a woman who first bears twin sons to her husband is termed a Dannewif). And these twins grew up to be the most celebrated characters of their century — Absalon, the warrior Archbishop of Lund, friend and adviser of Valdemar the Great, and Esbern Snare." At Fienneslevlille, and also at Slangerup,where the saddle- back tower gables transversely to the axis of the church, 25 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. the space beneath the towers opens into the nave by three round-headed arches on circular columns with large plain cubiform capitals. In the former instance these arches are surmounted by three arcades of four compartments, an arrangement productive of a surprisingly grand effect. We find the same arrangement at Merlose, near Holbeck, another twin-steepled church and as well-defined in its three divisions into Romanesque nave, chancel, and sanc- tuary as Sorup and Slangerup. Usually, when a Danish church is equipped with a pair of western toweii*, the wall between them is carried up above the roof-line of the nave, recalling, of course on a very small scale, those soaring, gabled and turret-flanked screen facades one sees in Brunswick, Goslar and Halber- stadt. Sometimes, the wall, being carried up higher still, gives the appearance of a large tower as wide as the nave, but much narrower from east to west, as at Uvelse. At Broager, twin spires rest upon this elongated mass of walling, base to base, with a singular, though hardly to be admired, effect; while at Farlev and Magleby, the towers, above the point of the nave roof, are combined in one transversely-gabled roof. How far these vagaries of towers and their covering are ancient I will not presume to say, though the lower part seems to be always Romanesque. Of the curiously dissimilar pair of western steeples at Ribe some account has already been given. Roeskilde Cathedral has two western steeples. They are unaffectedly simple masses of red-brick work, with but- tresses, a rare feature in these regions, and support thin metal spires spreading out their bases like those which were removed from Lincoln Cathedral early in the last century. Some of the Danish steeples of the Rococo Period, com- 26 CHURCH OF OUR LADY AT ROESKILDE FROM THE NORTH EAST. (SHEWING THE TYPICAL DANISH GABLED TOWER.) INTRODUCTORY SKETCH posed as they are of a succession of small domed turrets terminating in a spirelet, are picturesque, as, for instance, that of the Holmen's Kirke at Copenhagen. It is, however, to be feared that not a few of these picturesque composi- tions have been removed, to give place to the regulation gabled tower and octagonal spire. The western steeple of Aarhuus Cathedral is a case in point. The destructive wave of the Reformation which swept over this part of Northern Europe, plundering and devas- tating churches of every grade, together with the deca- dence of ecclesiastical art, put a stop to the decoration of churches. After an interval, the old religious feeling revived and everywhere devout persons came forward to replace, so far as it was possible, the proper and harmless appurte- nances to Divine Service, and to decorate, as well as their day permitted, the sanctuaries of God, much in the same way as our own cathedrals and churches were refur- nished shortly before the outbreak of the great civil wars to repair the devastation to which so many of them had been subjected during the reign of Elizabeth. Thus it is that, although Denmark possesses a fair amount of pre-Reformation church furniture,* that dating from the seventeenth century is greatly in the ascendant. There is one respect in which Denmark presents a wide field for art study, viz., that of wood carving. A number of splendidly carved altar-frontals and altar- pieces are preserved in the Museum of Northern Anti- quities at Copenhagen, but a much larger number of such instrumenta, both medieval and Renaissance, is found scat- *Dahlerup, in his Tegninger af aeldre nordisk architectur, gives many of the most interesting specimens of Danish church furniture, Medieval and Renaissance. 27 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. tered about in the churches of small towns and villages, where they remain unheeded by the generality of visitors, but form the pride of the parishioners, who I found every- where alive to the beauty and importance of these memo- rials of a bygone time. Among the altar-frontals and altar-pieces preserved at Copenhagen is a very remarkable one, formerly in Lisb- jerg Church, Jutland,* which must be briefly described. Its date may be assigned to the twelfth century. The super altar, or, as it would be described in Italian nomenclature, the predella,is backed by a crucifix beneath a rainbow arch, which may indicate the arch of heaven — not an uncommon type in Danish Romanesque work. At the top of this arch, within seven arcades, is the Saviour in Majesty, with two saints and two angels on either side. There are three orders of mouldings to this arch. In the outermost is a long Latin inscription. The intermediary moulding is of that cabled form so fre- quently seen round the bases of early Danish fonts; while the next is flat with a gilt pattern of foliaged ornament. The arch rests upon two large circles and four smaller ones, all enriched with figures, and at the foot, extending the whole width of the altar below, are thirteen niches set within a narrow frame enriched with a multitude of de- vices, such as birds, animals and conventional foliage. The central niche, around which is inscribed Ego sum Lux Mundi, dicit dm^ has pillars whose capitals are formed of circles containing busts, and enshrines a figure of our Lord, standing. The nimbus is cruciferous, the right hand, of very elongated proportions, is raised, the left holds a *There is a cast of this Lisbjerg altar frontal and reredos in the Victoria and Albert Museum at South Kensington. 28 INTRODUCTORY SKETCH shield on which is inscribed Ego sum via, Veritas, et vita; and at the feet are two lions. The six niches on either side contain standing effigies of the Apostles, and above is a Latin inscription, with the words so abbreviated that it can only be unravelled with much difficulty. The altar-frontal is in three divisions and very superb. The central portion is divided into a number of angular compartments formed by mullions crossing each other, but broken in the middle by a canopied niche containing a figure of the Virgin and Child, both crowned, and stand- ing prominently forward. The other compartments con- tain scenes of the Annunciation and the Nativity, figures of angels and personages inscribed Moses, Heli-lu, Josue and Tomas. The compartment on either side is divided into twelve square panels in tiers of three, and containing figures. On the dexter are, inter alia, Pax with book and olive- branch; Spes, with book on which appears the word "Pax"; Fides, Patientia, and, presumably, other cardinal virtues. Within the panels on the sinister side are St Bridget with vase, St Tecla, Caritas, Modestia and others. The framework of all these panels has inlaid scroll-work; the border surrounding the whole frontal is similarly enriched, and at each corner is a disc containing the emblem of an Evangelist. The dimensions of this elaborate piece of twelfth-century workmanship are six feet long by three high. The crucifix, which reaches to the full height of the rain- bow arch, is of a very severe type. The cross is a plain Latin one, and the Figure, the arms of which are wanting, is crowned. At the foot of the cross is a statuette, probably representing one of the Evangelists. 29 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. Another very elaborate frontal, rather later than that formerly at Lisbjerg, is that from Horsens, likewise pre- served in the museum of Northern Antiquities at Copen- hagen. The measurements are the same as those of the altar at Lisbjerg, and it is of gold, or gilt-copper repousse work. In the centre one of the three panels into which the front is divided is the Majesty, with the Alpha and Omega, and the Holy Dove descending. On either side are com- partments in tiers, with groups of the Annunciation (the Blessed Virgin being represented as standing), the Salu- tation, the Nativity, the Magi on Horseback, the Massa- cre of the Innocents, the Presentation in the Temple, a Soldier in entire chain mail standing before Herod, and the Baptism in Jordan. Along the top is this legend, in Roman letters: Simul Trinitati sint inclinatis sint et ser- vire parati. eq. Behind is a rainbow arch enclosing a crucifix, and a reredos with the Majesty and ten Apostles beneath arcades, as at Lisbjerg. Of late reredoses in the Museum is a superb triptych formerly in the monastic church of Preetz. It partakes of the Late German character, with figures, arranged in pairs, and almost detached. In the central compartment is the Coronation of the Virgin, and in separate niches are Apostles, Evangelists and Angels. The donor, and St John the Baptist (probably his patron), and various bishops and monks, among whom St Francis is distinguishable, adorn one wing; and SS. Cosmo and Damian, the female founder of the church, bishops and others, including St Anthony with a bell, the other. Of medieval altar-pieces, still in situ, that in the apse of SO Altarpiece in Schleswig Cathedral. face page 30. INTRODUCTORY SKETCH Schleswig Cathedral is the richest and most exquisite specimen of the carver's art in the North of Europe. The work of Hans Bruggemann, of Husum, the pupil of Albert Durer, it is said to contain about four hundred figures, grouped and carved in the most marvellous manner. Sumptuous Gothic altar-pieces are also to be met with in the churches at Elsinore, Hornbaek, Sjern, Gudhjem, and Hasle (the two last-named being in Bornholm), and in the cathedrals of Aarhuus and Viborg. More numerous are the altar-pieces of the Renaissance epoch, many of them being as rich in sculptured imagery as the medieval ones. Usually a painting fills the large central panel in such strictly classical altar-pieces as at Soro and Kallundborg and Mariboe. The huge triptych in the cathedral at Roeskilde best represents the Early Renaissance period. At Flensborg (in the Chapel of the Holy Ghost and Church of St Nicholas) at Aalborg, and at Brondby- vester, are late altar-pieces of considerable merit. As a rule the altar in a Danish church is apparelled in a crimson velvet frontal embroidered with a large Latin cross in gold. In several places I observed a deep super- frontal of lace, as, for instance, at Roeskilde Cathedral (see illustration, p. 140). There is usually a crucifix on a ledge behind the altar, flanked by two or more candlesticks, gene- rally of Renaissance workmanship, besides one or more branches of smaller candles. When at the altar the offi- ciant wears a crimson chasuble with a large Latin cross on the back. In the pulpit the gown and starched ruff are worn. Besides altar candlesticks several of the cathedrals pos- sess very beautiful standard ones of five and seven lights; those in the cathedrals of Aarhuus, Ribe and Viborg are 31 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. the most remarkable of these siehenarmigen oder fiinfarmi- gen Leuchter* as they are styled in Germany, where so many of these dignified instrumenta which one would imagine to have been peculiar to that country are to be found. Suspended brass candelabra, sometimes having the bowl perforated, as at Soro, may be met with almost everywhere in Denmark. One of the most superb speci- mens is in the church at Kallundborg. Another, and earlier one of elaborate design and beauty, is possessed by the Church of our Lady at Aarhuus. The branches, delicately wrought in a foliaged pattern, are fixed to a kind of unglazed lantern, within which is a figure of St George and the Dragon. The chandelier in the vor Freisers Kirke at Copenhagen, and in the church at Korsor on the west coast of Zealand, are typical ones. Aarhuus, Ribe, RoSskilde, and Schleswig Cathedrals are still in possession of their finely carved choir-stalls, and plainer specimens of this furniture may be seen in the churches at Faaborg and Ringsted. The most superbly fitted choir is that of the Cistercian Church at Soro, which appears to have been refurnished in the Renaissance style during the first quarter of the six- teenth century, and shortly before the dissolution of the house. Coeval with the stalls is the carved wooden screen, lofty and open, which separates the choir from the nave. With the exception of that at Aarhuus, also of Renaissance design, this screen at Soro is the only one of any kind existing in Denmark, though there can be no doubt that the cathedrals and such churches as were of monastic foundation possessed them, before the ill-directed zeal of *Candelabra of seven or five branches. 32 INTRODUCTORY SKETCH the eighteenth century had set its mark upon the sacred edifices of that country. Soro Church is also the possessor of a superb rood. Quite colossal in dimensions it still looks down upon the nave from the western arch of the crossing within which the stalls are arranged. The naturalistic treatment of the figure would lead us to assume that this rood at Soro was coeval with the stalls and screen; the treatment of the Crown of Thorns is particularly good and clear. On the wall of the north transept hangs the discarded rood of early and very simple character. The figure has so stiff and Byzantine a look about it that, if not exactly coeval with the building (c. 1170) it cannot be assigned to a date later than the teens of the thirteenth century. In squares at the extremity of each arm are the evange- listic symbols, and at the foot of the figure is a carving of the Virgin and Child. Besides these roods at Soro there are others at Skjern (c. 1500, and of equally grand dimensions); in the Chapel of the Holy Ghost at Flensborg; in Ribe Cathedral; and ar North Tranders, Starup and Viborg. The Romanesque fonts in Denmark are, as a rule, simple stone ones, mostly of a round, vat-like shape, in reminis- cence, probably, of those barrels in which baptisms often took place, as, for example, in the year 1124, at Peyritz where such barrels were sunk in the ground, in which seven thousand Pomeranians received baptism in a few days. These cylindrical fonts of the Early Romanesque period are often enriched with blind arcades on pillarets, or, at least, with a round arched frieze, and sometimes, also, by floriated work, or with pictorial illustrations in sculpture; in the Later Romanesque and Early Gothic periods the 33 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. bowl was decreased in height, the shape became more complex, and it was either raised upon a shaft or a cluster of shafts, or rested upon couchant lions. In the perfected Gothic period a complete transforma- tion of the font took place, including not only the general form but also the pictorial decoration. The bowls become slimmer, are more richly numbered, and take the form of great goblets, most frequently octagonal, and covered, on the foot as well as on the belly of the vessel, with Gothic tracery-work or figurative representations. The metal fonts, which, in Denmark, rarely if ever occur in the Romanesque period, being chiefly affected in Late Complete Gothic times, assume the form of basins or cauldrons, which frequently rest on figures of men, personating the Evangelists, the four rivers of Para- dise, or on lions. Examples of Romanesque and Early Pointed Gothic fonts in Denmark are plentiful, three of the finest and richest in sculptured imagery being found at Borbye and Sorup in Schleswig, and at Aarkirkby in Bornholm. The last named is, perhaps, one of the most remarkable Late Romanesque fonts in the north of Europe. The bowl is enriched with a series of groups under trefoil- headed arcades, with Runic inscriptions running round them. Delicate foliage work fills the spandrels of the arcades, while the capitals of the pillarets display much variety in shape. Here is an inverted quatrefoil, there a richly patterned square, a cube, and so on. The great bowl of the font rests upon a stem sculptured over with entwined serpents, rams' heads, etc., the foot of the base being encircled with that cable-like moulding so prevalent in the country, as in the simpler and ruder fonts 34 INTRODUCTORY SKETCH at Taarnby, Vallenbaek and Glostrup, as well as in the enriched examples before mentioned at Borbye and Sorup. I was much struck with the font at Herlufsholm. Its stone bowl, a quatrefoil on plan and quite plain, has five supports. The central one is a square mass, with each of its sides hollowed out to receive the four circular pillarets at the angles, just enough space being left for them to stand detached. Other interesting early stone fonts exist at Braaby and Lyby. The latter has a quatrefoiled basin, like that at Herlufsholm, and each bulging side has several full-length figures of bishops, arrayed pontifically, sculptured upon it in high relief. Remarkable as are many of these early Danish fonts, whose material, it should be stated, is either granite or sandstone, they are perhaps surpassed in beauty, if not in interest, by those bell-metal ones of the Late Gothic and Early Renaissance periods in which the churches are as rich as those of Northern Germany. They are found chiefly in the larger churches of Jut- land, and would appear to have been in vogue from the end of the fifteenth century down to the close of the seven- teenth. As a rule, these Danish metal fonts are of vat-like form, and generally supported on the shoulders of figures as seen in the illustration of that at Schleswig. The sub- jects wrought on these metal fonts are of somewhat rude workmanship, though many of them, that at Schleswig, for example, are of more recent date than would be imagined, showing the art to have remained in statu quo later in these northern climes than in the south of Europe. At Haderslev (between Flensborg and Kolding) is one of the most beautiful of these Late Gothic fonts (1485). 35 w CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. The vat-like bowl, enriched with groups and figures under crocketed arcades, is supported on effigies of the Evange- lists, whose heads, to render them more easily distinguish- able, assume the form of those emblems which are their especial attributes. Thus St Matthew has the head of a man, St Mark that of a lion, St Luke that of an ox and St John that of an eagle. Around the top of the bowl is an inscription recording the dedication of the font, and containing the date, 1485, while the surface of the bowl has a range of rather flat ogeed canopies, within which are the following figures and devices in moderate relief: The Crucifixion, with SS. Mary and John; SS. Matthew, Mark and Luke; the Corona- tion of the Virgin; a man (possibly the donor); St John the Evangelist; the Baptism in Jordan; and two men, one of whom is armed with a short sword, with the legend, "Nazarenos." On the rim beneath the bowl are inscribed the names of the Evangelists. Such is the general type. Other fonts, almost coeval in date, and of similar form and material, may be seen in the cathedrals of Aarhuus (148 1), in St Nicholas at Flensborg (1497), and in Ribe Cathedral (early fifteenth century). Of Later Renaissance fonts, those in Roeskilde Cathedral (i66i),the Cistercian Church at Soro, and St Knud's at Odense, may be taken as admirable representative specimens. In a much lighter style are the metal fonts at Kornerup and Oxholm. As in the Lutheran churches of Germany,* the font in those of Denmark has been removed from its proper place *The sumptuous fonts in the churches of Liibeck are honourable excep- tions to this rule, retaining as they do their proper positions at the west ends of the churches. 36 INTRODUCTORY SKETCH at the west end to the north-west angle of the chancel, or, in large churches, to a position just outside the entrance to the choir, thus completely nullifying the beautiful symbolism of the entrance to the Spiritual Church by baptism. There must have been some special and strong reason for the removal of these massive blocks of granite and metal from near one end of the church to the other, but with what object I am unable to divine. The font in a Danish church is never used for its nominal purpose. Waiter is not put into the font as with us, but into a brass dish, whose broad rim rests on the top of the granite or bronze bowl. This brass dish, which, as a rule, dates from the seventeenth century, is always very handsomely enriched with subjects and figures en repousse. The Annunciation is a very favourite subject for the centre of the dish, while around it, in a circular border, we frequently find a hunting scene of stags and hounds, in allusion probably to the Psalm, Sicut cervus* The Fall is not infrequently represented. At Soro, the central subject of the brass dish, upon which, as in other examples that I came across, a folded handkerchief was neatly laid, is the Baptism in Jordan. At Ribe, the design appeared to be the Immaculate Conception; the Blessed Virgin, crowned and sceptred as Queen of Heaven, stands upon the Crescent of the Moon, and carries the Divine Child in her arms, a flammeolar vesica surrounding the whole. The Taarnby and Hornbaek dishes are enriched with heraldic coats of arms; that at Skjodstrup bears the inscription— IESPER THYGES SON— MARION CHRI- STEN DiETTER 1673. *As at Kolding, where there is also a very fine and rich canopy. 37 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. Of pulpits in any other material than wood I can only recall one example, that in granite at Tirstrup. Wooden pulpits usually of angular form elaborately carved, coloured and gilt, and dating mostly from the end of the seventeenth century are of such frequent occur- rence that one almost fails to take note of them. A particu- larly fine example, canopied, may be seen at Soro; others equally sumptuous are in the cathedrals of Ribe, RoeV kilde, and Mariboe\ At Odense, Ribe and Soro are western organ cases of great size and sumptuousness; at Roeskilde the case is arranged, as at Chartres, above the arcade on the south side of the nave. All these cases are of the Renaissance period, that at RoSskilde being the earliest and most valuable. If, from lack of the proper material wherein to work it, the Danes were unable to adorn their church interiors with sculpture, we find ample evidence that internally their simplicity was frequently relieved by the painter's art. Although the Danish churches have suffered from the same cause as that which has wrought so serious a loss to English ecclesiology, they present sufficient remains of medieval polychromy to show that this branch of eccle- siastical decoration was by no means neglected, from the twelfth century down to the sixteenth. The earliest wall paintings were the best executed; after the commence- ment of the fourteenth century a decline in the art is very perceptible, in such few works as were undertaken during that troubled period in the country's history. The art revived during the fifteenth century, and numerous speci- mens still remain, but a change in the selection of sub- jects is perceptible. Yet the old Romanesque traditions 38 INTRODUCTORY SKETCH could not be shaken off, and representations of the Majesty surrounded by adoring angels were executed on the semidomes of apses and elsewhere, differing but little in design and treatment from those of three centuries before. Two of the most important examples of medieval polychromy in Denmark are to be found at Nylars and Oster-Lars, two of the four round churches for which the island of Bornholm is remarkable. At Nylars the pillar in the centre of the circular nave has been chosen for decoration. This pillar, which mea- sures eighteen feet eight inches in circumference and six feet three inches in diameter, has a simple abacus cham- fered off on its lower side, above which are paintings of the following subjects, beginning at the north-east, and thence round with the sun to the south-west: the Crea- tion of Man; Formation of Eve; our First Parents in Para- dise; a green-winged angel, in lilac robes, and holding a disc; the Temptation of Eve, in which the serpent has a human head; the Fall; and the Expulsion from Paradise. The ground is a light sky blue; the figures, flesh-colour. The drapery of the Creator is light green, with dark- brown mantle lined with white. The angel is in white, with lilac mantle, and his nimbus is marked with light yellow roses or cinquefoils. The figures are nearly four feet high. Above this paint- ing is a broad band of foliage, and beneath it a band of a rich and very effective foliage pattern — a reddish yellow, lilac, white and green being the colours employed. The abacus itself is painted in bands of yellow, white and dull red, and the chamfered edge is green. The shaft of the pier, which is about nine feet high, is lined, to represent regular masonry, in double lines of chocolate. 39 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. At the Oster-Lars Kyrka, the paintings enrich the upper part of a cylindrical wall, three feet thick, through which six arches are rudely cut, opening into a hollow space in the centre of the circular nave fifteen feet ten inches in diameter.* One-half of this wall above the arches is covered with a painting of the Last Judgement. The figure of our Lord is represented as seated within a large vesica. Two swords issue from His mouth, and on either hand is a row of saints beneath canopies. Below these, to the right of our Lord, are the blessed beings invited to Paradise, while the accursed are being motioned with His left hand to the place of eternal punish- ment, where the Devil awaits them. On the other half of this wall we see the Virgin Mary, holding the Infant Saviour, with, on either side, figures of male and female saints under trefoiled arcades, with crocketed and finialed gables. An early specimen of medieval polychromy may be seen in the half dome, which forms the roof of the apse at Skibby. It represents, as usual in this the place of honour, the Majesty. Our Lord, whose features wear a somewhat sin- ister expression, is seated within a large vesica. In His left hand is a book resting upon the knee; the right hand, with two fingers uplifted, is raised, and in His lap is the globe. Within the two dome spaces on either side the vesica are the Evangelists with their symbols. Only three colours are employed, viz., red and white in the figures and dark blue for the groundwork. *The entire diameter of this round nave at Oster-Lars is forty-three feet, so that this hollowed-out circular wall occupies a little more than one- third of the entire diameter of the round. 4 o INTRODUCTORY SKETCH At Vallenbaek, Soborg and Ballerup are important and interesting series of paintings, ranging from the middle of the fourteenth to the beginning of the fifteenth centuries; at Aarhuus and Ribe Cathedrals, on the piers; at Roeskilde, on the piers of the retro-choir, and in great profusion on the walls and roofs of the several chapels which line the nave aisles; at Fjenneslev, above and on either side of the chancel arch, and at Tybjerg on the domical vaults of the nave. In the two last-named examples the scroll and foliage work exhibits much refinement and delicacy of execu- tion. Of ancient stained glass I am unable to record a single example in Denmark, while in modern work of the kind the country appeared to be equally deficient, attention having chiefly been directed towards the enrichment of walls and roofs. As examples of skill in this branch of deco- rative art I may point with satisfaction to the vaulted roofs of Schleswig Cathedral, and to the flat wooden one of that at Viborg. In either instance the work has been carried out with great taste and with a reticence that is highly laudable. Before concluding this little sketch of the ecclesiology of Denmark, there is one frequently recurring feature con- cerning which a few words must be said. I refer to that lychnoscope or low-side window, which in other countries than England has furnished material for so much discus- sion, and in explanation of which so many theories have been put forward. In the remarks which I am about to offer on the occur- rence of the lychnoscope in Denmark I shall confine myself principally to facts, and shall only just refer at the conclu- sion to the more commonly received opinions as to the 41 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. intention of the arrangement in question, whose occur- rence must be taken in conjunction with the fact that the type of Danish is exactly that of English churches, due allowance being made for the difference in material. It may not be generally known how very rare is any- thing approaching to a lychnoscope on the greater part of the Continent. They occur in Normandy, they occur also in the Pyre- nees (where the vicinity of the accursed race of the Cagots has given rise to some curious speculations), and I have met with them at that noble fragment, the ruined abbey of Heisterbach on the Rhine; at St John's, Nuremberg; and at Lecco on the lake of Como. These few examples that I have been able to cull after much research amply demonstrates the rarity of the feature. But it is not so generally, if it be at all, known that lychnoscopes occur in Denmark quite as frequently as in England. In the proportion of twenty-eight out of one hundred and fifty churches I have traced them clearly and distinctly, besides instances which are of less evident character, and those examples which I very pro- bably missed before I knew where to look for traces of the arrangement with the greatest chance of finding them. The first place where my attention was directed to a lychnoscopic arrangement was in the church at Oversoe, a few miles north of Schleswig. Here I found a small win- dow with the four-centred arch and triple square-edged mouldings which characterize Danish First Pointed — an arrangement really and truly lychnoscopic — a something which resembles a rude lancet, blocked. It was not long before my attention was directed to similar windows in the large south porches of which men- 42 INTRODUCTORY SKETCH tion has been made. That porch lychnoscopes are not altogether unknown in England is a fact of which most ecclesiologists are aware. But with us they are the excep- tional cases; in Denmark they seem to form the rule. Without attempting to classify them, which would be impossible, I will sketch briefly the more remarkable speci- mens of lychnoscopic arrangement I saw in that country. In the church at Holebul, county of Tonder, duchy of Schleswig, is at the south-west corner of the chancel a small rude Romanesque window, about two feet from the ground and now blocked. The splay inside is enormous, and consequently a broad seat is left in the thickness of the wall. At Westerbreining, Isle of ^Eroe, there is a south porch of the usual First Pointed character, richly arcaded with square trefoiled niches and horizontal chevron mouldings of bricks. The date seemed to be Late Romanesque. To the left of the door is a narrow lancet; to the right, about two feet and a half from the ground, a small circular- headed window, deeply splayed both within and without, and, in the present instance, not blocked and not glazed. At Somploe, Isle of Laaland, a south porch, of a similar character to that which I have last mentioned, has on each side of the door a rude squarish lychnoscopic opening, neither blocked nor glazed. In this case the splay is not very deep. At Justrup, in the same island, are two lychnoscopes, both very rude single lights. The one occupies the usual place on the south of the chancel, the other is placed on the east side of the south porch. Here, again, the splay and the seats are very noticeable. In Mariboe, the cathedral church of the diocese of 43 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. Laaland-Falster, the lychnoscopic arrangement is exceed- ingly striking. The ground plan of Mariboe" Cathedral is remarkable, as reversing that more commonly in use. The choir has aisles, the nave has none; the dimensions of the former, both in length and height, exceed those of the latter — a not uncommon feature in German church architecture — so that at a first view I mistook the one for the other, imagining that the builders of the church had orientated it west and east. And this was all the more excusable, see- ing that the choir, as almost universally in Denmark, is square-ended. Internally, all along the aisles, there are low pointed recesses. But in the two westernmost recesses of the south aisle, a square aperture has been broken through the wall at the height of about two feet. I opine that, in the first instance, provision was not made for the want, whatever that want might be, and that a later and ruder hand opened the apertures in question. The lychnoscope in Saxkiobing Church, on the same island, Laaland, exactly resembles the upper part of a small Romanesque door, and is, therefore, larger than the generality of such windows. At Slaglille, in Zealand, the porch, of the usual Danish type, has a large opening on the right side as you enter, four-centred, with every mark of having been a lychno- scope. The church at Wemmerloo in the same island has that rata avis in Denmark a bona -fide south transept. At its north-west end occurs an aperture similar to that at Slag- lille, but larger and bolder. This is a very rare instance, because lychnoscopic arrangements, when occurring in transepts or porches, are almost always to be found on the eastern side. 44 INTRODUCTORY SKETCH The parish church of Juellinge in Laaland was originally the chapel of the convent,which, altered into a manor house, still remains. It has both north transept and north porch, and the high road runs on the north side of the building. The convent is on the south, and there is neither porch nor transept on that side. But on the east and west of the north transept is a four-centred recess, the interior of which is pierced in a square aperture. Here also the arrange- ment is very visible, and seems to have been designed to attract attention from the road. At Tranderup, Isle of ^Eroe, there are clear remains of a lychnoscope on the south of the chancel. Here, though the window itself has been destroyed, the rude arch, worked in one piece of stone, occupies its original position in the wall. At Nakskov, the capital of the Isle of Laaland, there is, in the south porch and on the east side, a deep four- centred recess, exactly like those which, in English churches, served for Easter sepulchres. Immediately over this is a lancet, never glazed, but furnished with bars rather closely set. I was unable to tell whether they were original or not. In the church of St Hans (St John) at Odense is a very curious lychnoscope. The church is remarkable for the arrangement of its roof. Internally, it has merely cross-gabled aisles, as so many churches in Holland, Hanover and Mecklenburg, though the arrangement is not of such frequent occurrence in Den- mark. But externally, both the aisle and the quasi-transept are roofed in one enormous transeptal gable, as in the Dom at Minden and St Mary on the Hill at Herford, both in Westphalia. 45 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. At the east end of the north side of this north aisle is a three-light window, and under it, in a kind of projecting basement, are two very small apertures, in their breadth about double the height, and a well-turned four-centred arch. Contrary to the usual rule, these lychnoscopes are splayed on the outside very deeply, in the interior scarcely at all. It deserves particular mention that they are placed in the most conspicuous part of the whole church, and opposite the principal entrance to the churchyard. They can scarcely fail to catch at once the eye of anyone approaching the church, and the whole effect makes it clear that a conspicuous place was purposely chosen for them because it was important that the most casual passer- by might have his attention directed to them. They are so small, and so awkwardly situated for such a purpose, that to hand out anything through them (especially since the splay is external) must have been almost out of the question. It would be useless to trouble the reader with the obscure names of other Danish churches where the lychno- scopic arrangement is more or less distinctly visible. I will rather make a few general observations on some features which distinguish them all. Lychnoscopes occur much more frequently in the islands than in Jutland, and among the islands they are oftenest to be found in the southern portion — ^Eroe> Langeland, Falster and Moen. Of all the islands, Laaland seems to contain the most. They generally occur in churches which lie on or near to some high road, and on that side of the church by which the high road passes. In the sparsely populated parts 4 6 INTRODUCTORY SKETCH of Jutland, where the churches occur in the middle of desolate-looking heaths and wildernesses, I think I may- say safely that they are never to be found. And, by the same rule, neither is there any trace of them in the very small islands. I have never seen them in connexion with anything that seems to bear the appearance of an altar, unless the one instance at Nakskov may be adduced as an instance. That in England a similar fact proves nothing is obvious, because a lychnoscope altar, had it existed, would have been destroyed. But in Denmark, I think, it has a greater significance, since the ancient altars, in whatever position occurring, have there been so generally preserved. There is no very strong tradition attaching to Danish lychnoscopes. In many cases, indeed, the arrangement is so little marked as not to force itself on the eye of a super- ficial observer. But where it is so decided as necessarily to excite observation, there, I believe, it is universally called a confessional. These facts confirm me in the opinion I have always entertained that — even granting lychnoscopes to have been sometimes employed for the administration of the Holy Eucharist to lepers, or to Cagots, and other accursed races — their real use and design was for the reception of the confession of all comers. In many of the Danish instances, the aperture is too small to allow the passage of a hand. In one case, at least, a window is so fitted up with iron bars as to render the administration of the Holy Eucharist almost an impossibility. On the other hand, it is curious that Danish, like English, tradition should call these confessionals; and that idea is also supported by their non-appearance, except by the side of tolerably fre- 47 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. quented roads, and never in the small islands. All that may be adduced on behalf of the confessional theory in England applies equally in Denmark, and the facts I have just mentioned may perhaps be adduced as additional arguments on the same side. The physical features of Sweden were hardly favourable to the development of an architectural school, but its unfavourable circumstances had their effect in so modi- fying the arrangements of the buildings as to result in such important local peculiarities as almost to amount to a style. The earlier buildings were entirely constructed of granite and timber, the materials most abundant and nearest to hand. The unworkable character of the granite, and its cost of transportation, led subsequently to the substitution of brick, with the result that in all ornamental features the same peculiarities of treatment and detail appear as in those of the great churches of Mecklenburg, Pomerania and Denmark. At the end of the eleventh century attempts had been made to organize the Christian church in Sweden, and the earlier missionaries and bishops had been Englishmen, but we do not see so much of the English influence in the Swedish architecture of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries as might be expected from that cir- cumstance. At Trondhjem, and in Norway generally, century after century, Englishmen and Scotsmen were brought over to erect the great "Christ churches," and the work of both schools may be very distinctly traced in many details of the great church of the ancient Nidaros. Perhaps an explanation is that the Swedes accepted as 4 8 INTRODUCTORY SKETCH their model that Gottland type of church erected by King Olaf in the eleventh century, such as now exists in the island of that name, which in many respects features the early work of Linkoping Cathedral, reminding one both of the German Romanesque and the French Angevine schools of architecture. If it was so, we can easily understand the fact of a French architect having been summoned late in the thir- teenth century to assist in the building, on the "Mons Domini " at New Upsala, of a worthy successor to the famous temple of Woden at Old Upsala. This extraneous help was probably necessary in de- signing a church of such magnitude, but the plan seems to me, though I believe others think differently, to be be essentially German rather than French. Being for the most part of brick, and its erection having dragged on for nearly two centuries, without, as was the reverse in France and England, any improvement in style or construction, Upsala Cathedral, although of great size and dignity, cannot, on the whole, be pronounced a success. The Pointed Gothic was a style ill understood in Sweden, and from this cause the church presents all the defects of the later German and Italian works without their beauty of detail and material. Besides these disad- vantages Upsala Cathedral has undergone such mutila- tions in the eighteenth century, and such unskilful, albeit well-meant, "restorations" in the nineteenth, that in spite of its minster-like proportions and cathedralesque aspect it can hardly be called an interesting study for the archi- tect. The transeptal porches are, perhaps, the most pleasing parts of this, the primatial church of Sweden. Built on a thoroughly German plan, but superior in 49 = CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. many points to Upsala Cathedral is that at Linkoping. Here is much detail of value to the student, notably in the Round Arched and Pointed of the deep arcades with which the aisle walls are lined below the windows, and in the shafts with which the architect has so gracefully enriched the tall octagonal columns of his unclerestoried nave. Inferior in point of dimensions to Upsala Cathedral is that at Lund, a truly noble Romanesque edifice of the twelfth century in which a somewhat Italianizing influ- ence may be traced by those conversant with the great churches of Lombardy. Like that at Upsala, Lund Cathedral has been very severely dealt with by the modern restorer, who, in his efforts to bring back the structure to its pristine condition, has, it is to be feared, made too clean a sweep of additions, which, if of a late and inferior epoch of architecture, were marks of history, and should have been dealt with more tenderly. Besides these three great churches at Upsala, Linkoping and Lund, there are others at Malmo, Orebro, Strengnas, Vexio, Vesteras, and Ystad whose most interesting fea- tures will be dealt with in a subsequent chapter. The cathedrals at Gothenburg and Calmar are tame apings of classicality, hardly worth going out of the way for, except to see to what a state of degradation church architecture had sunk in Sweden during the eighteenth and early part of the nineteenth centuries. The time will be far more profitably spent in a trip from Stockholm to Gottland, whose capital, Wisby, and the villages with which this most enchanting island is studded, will yield a mine of rich material to the student of ecclesi- ology in its several branches. 5° I INTRODUCTORY SKETCH The wooden churches of Sweden are not so numerous or nearly so striking as those of Norway, but several are worth inspecting. The church of Roda in Vermland (dio- cese of Carlstadt) is externally an extremely plain struc- ture, modern in appearance, though not in reality, but internally the walls and the roof (of the trifoliated barrel form) are profusely decorated with paintings, which, together with those at Bjersjo, Edshult, Risinge, Kumbla, Floda, Tegelsmora, Torpa and Solna, are of such high interest and importance as to demand a separate chapter. The klocks-taplar, or wooden bell-turrets, detached from the churches, are very frequent in Sweden, and often extremely picturesque. The existence of one close by the ruined monastery of Nydala in Smoland shows that some of them are ancient, though their peculiar construction and the lack of characteristic ornament make it almost impossible to assign a date to them. The excellence in wooden carving and decoration is also attested by the altar-pieces still existing in many village churches. In not a few instances they have, like the fonts, been relegated to some obscure position, or else have found their way into the museum at Stockholm. This plan of removing church ornaments into museums is, from many points of view, most deplorable, to say nothing of religious teeling, it mars the archaeological interest by disassociating the object from its locality and its purpose. "The rite of baptism," says Mr Tavernor Perry in a valuable paper contributed by him to the Transactions of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1891, "was held in the highest regard by the early Swedish Church, 51 E2 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. and elaborate rules were drawn up for its most solemn administration. It was considered of great importance that fresh water should be used. The wells, in crypts like those of Dalby and Lund, were held in great esteem,* as the water therein did not freeze; but as water unfrozen was difficult to obtain in winter, the entries provided that, failing pure water, dew could be used, failing which, snow, and, failing any of these, sea-water. Salt was an essential to the baptismal ceremony, and some early fonts were provided with a salt-cellar carved at the foot." Many of the Swedish stone fonts are exceeding fine, being most elaborately sculptured, either with figures or with conventional foliage, and usually assume the form of a huge vat-like bowl, like that at Tryde. There are some casts of Swedish fonts in the museum at South Kensington. When the travelling season comes round most Conti- nental countries make wide their borders to receive the Englishman, but no other does so with quite the unosten- tatious charm of Norway, who, like a well-bred hostess, makes no fuss about her visitors, but simply throws the gates of her estate open, and gives all comers the chance of enjoying themselves in their own way. Nowhere else is there so little pursuit of the traveller or so moderate a tax upon his purse. Although English people go over in increasing numbers every year, the country is still un- spoilt, its rustic simplicity is free from corruption. And for diversity of natural charms Norway is surely unsurpassed. Its snowy mountain-tops, its tumbling and roaring *The presence of these wells may be accounted for by the fact that the earlier Christian churches were mostly founded on the site of pagan temples. The people were much attached to their sacred springs, so the proselytizing bishops wisely adopted them under the new system. 52 INTRODUCTORY SKETCH cascades, its deep pine forests, and its broad meadow-lands, give more variety of landscape in a single day's stolkjaere drive than many of its rivals could offer in a week. There are roadways and waterways, hill paths and twilit lakes, all within one day's journey, and the memory returns to rest upon a panorama of purely national life, unsurpassed for poetry and suggestion. As I approached the land from the great bay north of Jutland, which leads up to Christiania, and glided up the fjord in smooth water, the scene became truly enchanting. The sky to the north glowed with the light of approaching day, the higher clouds already tinged with rose colour from the sunlight; the scent of the juniper and fir per- fumed the soft air, and the ( fieldfares by hundreds answered each other in full song from either side of the water — a wild and pleasant melody between that of the storm-cock and song-thrush. The fragrance of the woods in Norway and Sweden is quite peculiar, and must strike anyone coming from a more inclosed and cultivated country as one of the charms of Scandinavia. As I proceeded up the country, the butterflies, insects, perfumed flowers, all the delights of one of the few fine August days that the summer of 1907 vouchsafed to us, enchained the attention, and the views of lake and moun- tain were delightful. My readers will, I am sure, follow me with pleasure in my winding course up the valleys, now mounting a hill to enjoy an extensive view of lake and mountain scenery, with here and there a picturesque tim- bered church or house, now peeping behind a waterfall at the glassy sheet of water rushing by, now mounting a ledge of rocks to see a torrent rush down an abyss where none can trace its course; descending to the western coast, S3 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. to land which, through the warming effects of the Gulf Stream enjoys the equable temperature of the western parts of these islands, navigating and crossing repeatedly these arms of the sea which stretch far inland (and are, in fact, the deep valleys of a very mountainous region, submerged, stretching far into the land, because the land itself has sunk into the sea), watching the varied tints of the foliage, the light and shadow, with a delight that can only be appreciated by those who make the tour of this enchanting region. Upon the whole, the architecture of this part of the Scandinavian peninsula hardly seemed equal to the expec- tations I had formed of it from books and hearsay. The frequent mention of the round arch, and of forms of First Pointed, and the existence of apses of stone attached to wooden churches of no great pretension, would seem to indicate a period at which church building flourished extensively, and that afterwards inferior build- ings of stone or wood were thought sufficient for Divine Service. It is possible I may have come to this opinion on too narrow an induction, for it is plain that Norway deserves a much larger search, and the same thing may be said of all Scandinavia. But there can be no doubt that buildings do exist which would well repay a more elaborate inquiry than I was able to make into them, but I cannot find, in our own language, any attempt at a systematizing of their ecclesiology, or a comparison of the peculiarities of our own architecture with those of a country from which we have undoubtedly borrowed many of our institutions, and which has, in return, received much of its Christian instruction from our fore- fathers. 54 INTRODUCTORY SKETCH This paucity of large stone or brick built churches may be accounted for by the fact that Norway lies on no great highway of commerce, and never did. It is, and always has been, thinly populated; its mineral riches are not great; and its climate is the drawback to its being rich as an agricultural country. Although Romanesque-vaulted churches are not un- known in Norway, they are not commonly met with. Of these the churches at Throndenaes and Ibestod may be mentioned. The cathedral at Trondhjem, formerly the capital of Norway, is, of course, the architectural pride of the country, though for the reasons which I shall show in the chapter which I have devoted to its history and architec- ture, a great deal of the work is modern. The whole church is, however, most interesting in plan, and has some excellent Romanesque and First Pointed work of a dis- tinctly English character in such parts as have escaped the mischief of the post-Reformation period. Stavanger Cathedral," with its round-arched nave, aisled and clerestoried, and its aisleless, tower-flanked choir, in good Complete Gothic, is next to Trondhjem the best piece of stone-built architecture in Norway. Interest- ing, too, are the Romanesque churches of Gamle Akers, near Christiania, and Granvold. Neither is a large church, but an appearance of much dignity is lent by the central tower alongside of which the nave aisles are prolonged in lieu of transepts. The interior of this Gamle Akers Kyrka is singularly impressive, not- withstanding the extreme simplicity of its details. The circular columns of the nave arcade, with their low cubi- form capitals, might have come from Thanet. Elsewhere CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. in the church, the piers are of the pilaster-like kind, with only a narrow moulding by way of capital. A curious effect is produced by the expanse of walling over the western arch of the tower, which forms a lantern over the chorus. The chancel has neither aisles nor clerestory, is vaulted at the same level as the eastern arch of the tower, and terminates in an apse. Several good brass chandeliers, and an elaborately carved pulpit, contribute to the picturesqueness of this little church, which owes its present external aspect to restoration. Previously a small wooden belfry and spire rose over the basement of a large square tower which would appear never to have been carried above the nave walls. More interesting are the ancient timber churches of Norway. They are very numerous, and their construction resembles New England work in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, viz., a frame filled in with thick upright planks. These Norwegian churches are peculiar in plan and general arrangement, but especially unique in their absence of architectural treatment of windows, this depending largely upon the severity of the climate, combined with an apparent absence of window glass at the time of their construction. They are generally thought to be of the years between Iioo and 1250, and are built, like the semi-Byzantine churches of Russia, with a central nave and an aisle surrounding it on either side with lean-to roofs, but the whole surface above the aisle roof is not a clerestory in the proper sense because containing no windows, or at least small ventilating apertures. There is often, as at Borgund and at Hitterdal, a second and lower 56 Interior of Gamle=3kers Kyrke, Christiania. To face page 56. INTRODUCTORY SKETCH aisle surrounding the whole of the building, with a second lean-to roof. This outer aisle is almost wholly a continuous narthex or porch, and is, in fact, enclosed with solid slab walling, in part opened in wooden colonnades, with a semblance of arched construction. Although partly open, the purpose of this ambulatory is mainly to afford addi- tional shelter and warmth. The exteriors of these Norwegian churches, which, in most cases, seem to have been planned with due regard to ritual needs, there being a chancel and a sanctuary, dis- tinguished from the nave and each other by a much lower pitch of roof, show very few and very small windows, perhaps two of six square feet on each side, and no more. It is probable that in winter the chief light of the inte- rior came from the candles on the altar, aided, perhaps, by other lamps burned in the nave, or at the entrance. Restoration, destruction, and, in one case, the moving of the church to a new site, have interfered greatly with the study of these interesting buildings. One of their characteristics is, however, so much re- spected in Norway that they are not likely to be further injured in this way. . I refer to the carved work, which is called Runic scroll-work, dragon ornament and the like, and which is extremely effective and suited alike for covering large surfaces and for the ornamentation of pillars, square or round, is generally in wood, but there are in- stances of similar work in stone, and even the earliest wrought iron work is studied from the same sources. The existence of these Norwegian timber churches was revealed some sixty years ago by Dahl in his Denkmiiler einer sehr ausgebildeten Holzbaukunst aus den friiheren J ahrhunderten in den inneren Landshaften Norzvegens, but 57 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. the subject excited but little interest save among archi- tects. "When Herr Dahl published his book, a journey to Norway was not accomplished with the facility that it can be nowadays. When, however, from the systematic study of German literature it became evident that the old Sagas which inspired so much poetry were of northern origin it could hardly fail that Scandinavia and Iceland should assume unexpected importance. " Research into the affinities of language produced a like result. "It was concluded also that many of the peculiarities of the Germanic race corresponded with those which were exhibited in the north. "In addition to this a fascination resided in the lives of the old rovers for men who have ceased to exist in an age when so many things tend to convert them into machines. All these causes contributed their share to direct the atten- tion of people towards Norway, as if it were their ances- tral land, and facilities were speedily created for those who desired to see that country with the bodily as well as the mental vision. " As a consequence, a genuine interest has been created, not only among architects, but among lay folk, for the old timber-constructed churches of Borgund, Hitterdal,Urnes, and other places. "That timber should be the material ordinarily employed for the churches and other buildings in Norway is not sur- prising. Among the bequests with which Time had enriched not Norway alone but most parts of Northern Europe, were forests, so that to look for stone when timber was always ready to hand would be unwise. The 58 INTRODUCTORY SKETCH Northman, whose home was his boat, wished to have his associations renewed by whatever was around him on land, and he probably considered that what served for its construction would be no less suitable for the build- ing in which he attended the public worship of the Almighty. "Nor was he in death divided from the floating home which was the dearest and safest for him. Sometimes the chieftain's corpse was sent adrift in his boat; when he was buried on the shore it was placed above his remains. Hence it has been said that c the ship tumulus is distinguished by all Scandinavian antiquaries as distinct from the round heaps raised over stone coffins or other receptacles.' " It is well known that the Scandinavians were converted with difficulty by the Christian missionaries and at a rather late period, but as soon as they had adopted the new doctrines they testified the strength of their belief with characteristic heartiness. " Timber was employed by them for their churches, and, as the treatment of their material varies, Herr Die- trichson — whose book, De Norske Stavkirche: studier over deres system, afrindelse og his tor is ke udvikling, published about a quarter of a century ago, whetted the desire to revive the old system of construction more particularly in Germany — was able to divide them into three classes, viz. : (i) Archaic, a.d. 1000-1150; (2) Romanesque, a.d. 1150- 1250; (3) Gothic, 1250-1500. " After the Reformation stone was preferred, so the old wooden churches became obsolete, both on account of their style and the rites which had been practised in them. They were allowed to fall into ruin, and at the present time there are, I believe, but some thirty survivors; yet 59 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. these are of such high interest and curiosity that no cost is spared to preserve them. " The seeking out of architectural analogies is always a risky task, but if boats could be imagined as having straight instead of curved sides, it might be supposed that the exterior of one of these old churches was suggested by the appearance of boats that had been placed in a pile. Or, if that view may not be quite exact, it might be said that the Norwegian builders regarded the roof as the strongest part of a building, and therefore they encased the churches with that kind of protection. In some cases the vertical sides are almost concealed by the expanses of roofing. " With a succession of roofs the spaces were diminished, and massive timbering, unless in the nave, was rendered unnecessary. The Scandinavian builders understood the limitation of their material as well as of their power, and they avoided transepts in their timber churches as stead- fastly as in their ships. The latter circumstance is the more remarkable, because southern precedents must have been often suggested to the builders by the clergy. The cutting of timber struts into arched forms, which was without any constructional advantage, was evidently intended to mimic the masonry arches in other lands. " Such a system of construction as we see in these wooden churches of Norway must have been inspired by the ship carpenters. The mast-like columns in the nave seem quali- fied to withstand very great strains. In the upper parts, which correspond with the clerestory and triforium of stone churches, the pillars are stoutly braced. The effici- ency of the timbering is evident from the absence of dis- tortion in the surviving examples. The lines are not always as true as when set up, but the changes must be INTRODUCTORY SKETCH assigned to the wear and tear of ages rather than to the overcoming of the fibres through the operation of the weight of any part of the building. "As far as can be judged, the old carpenters did not seek the aid of metal bands to supplement the strength of the jointing. They depended solely on wood. "The woodwork, besides its constructive interest, is also worth attention, on account of the weird power that is seen in the carving of so many of the pieces. Moreover, the ornament enables questions to be raised about the date of the buildings. "M. Enlart, a distinguished French archaeologist, is of opinion that the Scandinavian style exercised influence on the Norman monuments in France of the twelfth cen- tury; but he also believes that much of what is seen in Norway was derived from England. " English inspiration is traceable in Gothic as well as in Romanesque buildings — the cathedral at Trondhjem being a case in point — for the intercourse between Eng- land and the north was very close during a long period. Moreover, as Christianity had been for centuries estab- lished in these islands there would be a supply of mis- sionaries available for the conversion of the Northmen. "Between the interlaced ornament found in Scandi- navia and what is to be seen in Ireland and Scotland as well as in England some affinity undoubtedly exists. All may have been derived from Romanesque originals. It must be admitted, however, that the northern details have a sombre power not in evidence in the generality of Anglo- Norman examples. The Scandinavian dragons are not mere decorative compositions. They correspond with the terrible things that are mentioned in the Sagas and the legends. 61 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. "They seem to be the productions of men who knew what it was c to wrestle with the sea-serpent upon cerulean sands.' " The Anglo-Saxon and Celtic lines have often a machine- made look, while the serpentine forms of the Scandina- vians are instinct with life and venom. If, therefore, the northern ornament was derived from Britain, it was translated into something that surpassed the original. "The French archaeologist above alluded to opines that during the Merovingian and Carlo vingian periods there was little difference between Scandinavian art and the art that prevailed in the greater part of Europe. He also maintains that from the eleventh to the fifteenth century northern art was influenced by that of England, France and Ger- many, and that before the year noo there is no example to prove the existence of indigenous art in Norway, and that the majority of the examples are not to be dated by any characteristic of the style. "To many these conclusions may appear startling, but there is much to be said in support of them. "Those people who are enthralled by the manliness that is revealed in the Sagas, and which was exhibited in actions that are comparable to those described in Homer, should remember that literature and art are not always seen on the same plane." * *From The Architect, Feb. 23, 1894. 62 CHAPTER II Some Ecclesiastical Particulars NO history, sacred or secular, ought to be more inte- resting or instructive to Englishmen than that of the three northern states, now called Scandinavian, whose brother we are. All spring from one stock and stem — all sharing a heathen system almost identical — all embracing, more or less perfectly, the Catholic Faith — all accepting a Refor- mation, more or less satisfactory, of corruptions of faith and practice — at every step the history of the one passes into that of the other, explains and completes it, or shows how facts, doubtful in the one case, are developed in the other. German annals lie much further off; Gallic still more so. The north is the great storehouse from which our lan- guage, our creeds, and our chronicles receive their richest illustration. The conversion of Scandinavia was principally effected by fire and sword; but more peaceful motives were not wanting, especially the preaching and teaching of some of that enthusiastic band of English and German mission- aries, who, at the end of the tenth and the beginning of the eleventh century, left their country for this pious work in such numbers.* To their labours — often crowned by a *The faith had originally been planted in Sweden by Anscarius early in the ninth century, but it did not thoroughly subvert the old pagan faith of Scandinavia, which is so well known from the ancient Sagas, till after the conquest of England by the Danish Kings, Sweyn and Canute. 63 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. martyr death — Norway and Sweden principally owed all the countless blessings of conversion to Christianity and admission into the great brotherhood of civilized Europe. The English apostle more immediately connected with this period was a high ecclesiastic from York, named Saint wSigurd, but in Sweden called Saint Sigfrid, who long attended the Norwegian monarch, Saint Olaf, and by whose efforts after that hero's fall the Swedish King, Olof Skotkonung, and numbers of his subjects, afterwards received the faith in Sweden.* At Husaby,t near Skara in West Gothland, among the many relics preserved in the sacristy of that church is an image of St Sigfrid, representing him as vested in alb, dalmatic and chasuble, all of the very plainest description. He wears rather a high-peaked mitre with concave sides, equally unadorned, and in his left hand holds his well- known emblem, a pail with three heads peeping out of its top, concerning the origin of which I shall say something anon. Olof Skotkonung, the king above alluded to — Lap King he was called, because he was elected when an infant to succeed his father — finding how the Christian faith softened the habits of the Swedish people, wrote to our *"Episcopus aulicus regis Olavi, quern ab Anglia secum advexerat, dictus est Sigurdus, cognomine Potens, vir sapiens, benevolus, et insignis clericus." Hist. Olavi Tryggii Filii, ex vet.serm. lat. red.Sv Egilsson ii (Pti, Hafniae, 1828. 8vo. Cap. 107, p. 257). The later old Swedish traditionary legend states him to have been an Archbishop of York — in this case, of course,[only consecrated "in partibus infidelium" as a missionary. tHusaby was appointed a bishopric pro tern, till the cathedral at Skara was completed. Thurgot was first Bishop of Skara; the new chapter bore as their arms one big star, surrounded by twelve little ones; and Skara, in defiance of Lund, proclaims herself the most ancient bishopric of Sweden. 64 SOME ECCLESIASTICAL PARTICULARS King Ethelred begging him to send some pious men to preach the Gospel in his dominions.* Ethelred assembled the clergy, hoping to find men ready to set forth upon so holy a mission. None offered, for the news of Nithard — nephew of Anscarius, the apostle of Denmark — lately slain in Sweden, had damped their ardour. Sigfrid, formerly a monk of Glastonbury, alone pro- posed to go. The king was sorry to lose him — his best friend — but would not oppose his wishes; and Sigfrid, accompanied by his three nephews, Unaman, Sunaman, and Vinaman, started for Sweden. They landed at Calmar in Smoland. When at Ostrabro, now Vexio, the mis- sionary saw a vision of holy angels, so refreshing, that he vowed to build a church on the spot — which promise he performed, laying himself the foundation stone of the cathedral at Vexio. Sigfrid then bent his way to Husaby, where he baptized not only the Lap King, Olof Skotkonung, but wicked old Sigrid Storrada. Whilst Sigfrid was present the pagans did no ill, but in his absence, Gunnar Grope, uprising, slew his three nephews — Unaman, Sunaman and Vinaman. When Sigfrid heard their dread fate, and how their heads were sunk beneath the waters of the lake, sad and weeping bitterly, he went down to the beach, and there began to * The reason assigned for the selection of English apostles to convert the Swedes was the similarity between the speech of the two nations. It is said that, when Adelsward preached at Sigtuna, he was perfectly understood by the people; "an honest and learned man, under whose rule the Church increased in numbers." The respect entertained for him induced the king to summon him to Norway, from whence he returned home laden with presents. These he employed in the ransom of 300 slaves. 65 F CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. pray: when, lo! three lights ascended from the water nigh where he stood. Gathering up his garments, he rushed into the lake, and from the very spot pulled up a wooden pail, in which lay the three heads of his relatives — fresh as though living. An ambrosial perfume, like incense, filled the air. Sigfrid called down Divine vengeance on the murderers. The first head then spoke these words: "It shall be avenged." "When and how?" asked the second. "Soon, upon children and grandchildren," replied the third. The king's officers arrested the murderers, yet their lives were spared at the intercession of the saint, on condition they should, at their own expense, first build and then give up all their estates to the cathedral of Vexio. The possessions of Gunnar Grope and his accomplices still belong to the chapter of Vexio, and it is said the fate of their offspring has ever since been unhappy. Never to forget his murdered relatives, Sigfrid chose as his symbol a tub with three heads, over which burn three lights. Sometimes he is depicted standing on the body of a fallen man (Gunnar Grope), whom he spurns under- foot, as in the northern portal of the cathedral at Upsala. The people of Smoland say that Sigfrid passed his last years in Warend, where he died (c. 1002), and was buried in Vexio.* Henceforth Sigfrid became the tutelar saint of Gothland, receiving his place in the Litany. Sigfrid ordained two bishops ; one at Linkoping, for East Gothland, and another at Skara, for West Gothland. He also consecrated bishops for Upsala and Strengnas. *The diocese of Vexio still bears upon its seal the heads of Unaman and his murdered brothers. 66 SOME ECCLESIASTICAL PARTICULARS The see of Upsala had been founded by Anscarius in 830, and the bishop was declared by Pope Alexander III, in 1 160, metropolitan and primate of the whole kingdom. Sigfrid was canonized about 1 158 by Pope Adrian IV, an Englishman, who had himself laboured zealously, and with great success, in the conversion of Norway and other northern countries, about 140 years after St Sigfrid, who was honoured by the Swedes as their apostle, until the change of religion among them. These few remarks will suffice to remind those unaware of the circumstances of the near connexion between the English and the Scandinavian churches, both historical and architectural. With the various English missionaries and bishops who penetrated these northern regions fol- lowed, in most cases, those ecclesiastical terms, ornaments and ritual peculiarities, church ornaments, church arti- ficers, and necessary materials for church building and public worship, so necessary in a half-converted and half- barbarous land. That this was so, we know, not only by analogy, but by express statements and tradition, and by all that is left of the antiquities of those times which derive their best illustration from the similar features of the Anglo-Saxon Church. We have, therefore, little doubt that all the more elaborate church furniture of every Scandinavian Catholic Temple in the eleventh century was probably executed by Anglo-Saxon artists, or at least after Anglo-Saxon model. Sweden never endured with patience that union with Norway and Denmark to which she was compelled by the treaty of Calmar in 1398. Revolt, assassinations, massacres, defeats and triumphs crowd the annals of the following hundred years. 67 F2 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. When, on Ascension Day, May 12, 1496, Gustavus Vasa was born at Lindholm, twenty-one miles from Stockholm, the Swedes bore more unwilling allegiance than ever to their Danish King. The gossips who were present at the birth of this scion of a noble house, and who ever mixed up politics with the most familiar of incidents, remarked that the stout infant came into the world with a caul like a helmet, and with a red cross imprinted on his breast. Less would have sufficed to persuade them that he had a mission to perform, and that Denmark would not profit by it. The dissolution of the union of Calmar, which came to pass in 1523, placed Gustavus Vasa on the throne of Sweden. The flames of discord which arose from this union in Sweden were for a moment quenched in the blood of numbers of her most illustrious citizens, who were mas- sacred by the orders of the Danish King, Christian II, under circumstances of the greatest treachery and bar- barity. Amongst those slain in this "blood bath" with which Christian resolved to inaugurate his coronation at Stockholm (November, 1522,) were Matthias, Bishop of Strengnas, Vincentius, Bishop of Skara, and Eric Vasa, a senator, and of an ancient family in Sweden. But his son. Gustavus Ericson Vasa, lived to avenge his father's blood and his own wrongs, and, by his courage and com- manding talents, to found a new dynasty. After incurring the greatest dangers and hardships in Dalecarlia, he at length succeeded in rousing the people to take arms against their oppressors, and under his guidance the Danes were finally driven out of Sweden in 1523. At a meeting of the states in the same year Gustavus was elected king, and with that election terminated the fatal union of Calmar. 68 SOME ECCLESIASTICAL PARTICULARS He at once declared for the doctrines as preached by Luther and Melanchthon, policy as well as conviction making him a convert to the doctrines of these leaders of the Reformation. With the help of Laurence Petersen, Archbishop of Upsala, and Laurence Andersen, the Chancellor, he ulti- mately persuaded the majority of the people, in spite of the sturdy opposition of Brask, Bishop of Linkoping, to accept a Reformation on Lutheran lines. The Anabaptists of Sweden gave Gustavus no little trouble, while the bishops of the old faith were even less tolerable than all his other adversaries together. They hated him (and no wonder) for his acknowledged admira- tion of the doctrines of the Reformation; and their power — holding, as they did, two-thirds of the landed property of the kingdom, immense accumulated wealth, and a force of men-at-arms that made even Gustavus cautious of his proceedings — was at least equal to that of the monarch himself. They had been exempt from taxation, and, when the stern necessity of the country demanded succour at the hands of all her sons, they rushed into rebellion rather than yield it; and Gustavus deposed and executed them as traitors, confiscating their property for the benefit of the state without affecting their usefulness to the people. His rebukes to them were of a practical nature. When Magnus, Archbishop of Upsala, entertained the king in his own house, treated him rather as an equal than a sovereign, and drank to him with the words, "Our grace drinks to your grace," the king replied, " For thy grace and our grace there is not room in the same house," and forthwith left the table amid the smiles of his courtiers. The contest between the state and the Catholic prelates 6 9 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. was long and terrible, but it ended in the triumph of the former. Gustavus reduced the latter to an equality in presence of the law with his other subjects. He swept away the monastic institutions, sharply rebuked his old friends, the Dalecarlians, for offering an opinion upon the subject, and, finally submitting to his people the alternative of either allowing religious freedom and tolerating the doctrines of the Reformation, or losing him as their king, he estab- lished both Protestantism and himself in the hearts of the majority. The laxity of the convent system in Sweden may be seen by this testimony of one not disposed to over- colour her evidence: "Nunc autem abusionem in se continent nimis gravem in eo, quod portse indifferentur clericis et laicis, quibus placet sororibus introitum dare, etiam in ipsis noctibus sunt apertae. "Et ideo talia loca similiora sunt lupanaribus, quam Sanctis claustris." So spoke St Bridget in the fourteenth century, and matters were not improved until the besom of Gustavus swept, perhaps in some exceptional places over-rudely, the nuisance from the land. That land was no doubt purified thereby, but it must be confessed that when we read of the church lands being disposed of, we could be more content to learn that less of the lion's share had fallen to the personal possession of Gustavus. Gustavus had married in 1531 the Princess Catherine of Saxony, who in December of the same year gave birth to Prince Eric. Joy that he had a son consoled the king for the fierce rebellions which had been raging in the dales, 70 SOME ECCLESIASTICAL PARTICULARS and which he bloodily but effectually quelled. But he was still in peril, even when the insurrection had been crushed. After an uneasy wedded life of four years' duration, Queen Catherine "died rather suddenly,"* and Gustavus speedily remarried, the lady on this occasion being Mar- garet, the noble daughter of Eric Abrahamson (or Lejonhafond, that is, Lion-head, as he was called from the crest on his shield). It was a happy marriage, the lady being a submissive wife, and not one of those who can "shake the curtains with their kind advice." During the marriage festivities, Magnus Sommar, Bishop of Strengnas, was deposed and imprisoned for declaring that he could no longer support the Lutheran religion. His successor, an evangelical canon of Lin- koping, named Bothoid, being afterwards asked by the king, who had cast a longing eye on the episcopal palace, "In what chapter of the Bible it was written that the bishops of Strengnas should live in palaces of stone?" answered, "In the same chapter that gives the kings of Sweden the church tithes." By this indiscreet repartee Bothoid had well-nigh provoked the fate of his predecessor. Civil war followed the nuptials of Gustavus and Mar- garet, and it was mercilessly carried on by either side. It was caused by famine and the seditious sermons of the Catholic clergy. At its conclusion, Gustavus writes to Lieut Erickson, "As to the priests who were unfaithful to us in the late insurrection, quarter yourself pretty freely upon them when you visit in the province, that they may not be wholly unpunished for their disloyalty." *1he History of Gustavus Vasa, King of Sweden, with Extracts from his Correspondence. London, 1850. 71 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. When Gustavus had effected all his long-meditated ecclesiastical changes, had secured his supremacy in church as well as state, and had established the succession to his heir — for he was but an elective king — he turned his attention to the protection of learning, to promoting the prosperity of his people, and the improvement of the resources of his kingdom. He was most dexterous in concluding commercial treaties, generally succeeding in the achievement of that one-sided sort of reciprocity whereby he got all the profit he could for himself, and left as little as possible to the other contracting parties. In his capacity of "superintendent" of the council charged with the regulation of church affairs, he spared not the inefficient incumbents of either community. One of these, a West Gothland priest, being asked, "What is the Gospel?" answered "Baptism," and said, "We had nothing to do with the Old Testament as it had been lost in the Flood!" The king looked to his own household and estates as carefully as he did to his kingdom and subjects. He was the thriftiest of farmers, and his wife — who died in 155 1, having borne him five sons and five daughters — was as thrifty as he. At Gripsholm, Queen Margaret superintended a large dairy farm, and looked sharply after the two-and-twenty pretty dairymaids who milked the cows and made the butter. The amount of labour accomplished by this pair would make modern agriculturists stare, and modern sovereigns smile. The pleasant result to the royal household, and to the nation, was to be satisfactorily traced in the bailiff's book and the chancellor's budget. When his infirmities had so increased as to render im- possible his active participation in the government, 72 SOME ECCLESIASTICAL PARTICULARS Gustavus took a solemn and touching farewell of his people, and made over the regency of the kingdom to his son, John. Shortly after, on August 14, 1559, he was seized with shivering fits. One of his attendants asked him between the attacks if he wanted anything, and he replied, "The king- dom of heaven, which thou canst not give me." When, upon receiving the Sacrament, he made a confes- sion of his faith, and his son, John, abjured him to remain steadfast therein, he made a sign for pen and paper, and wrote, "One confessed and constant in the same, or a thousand times spoken" but had not strength to finish the sentence. His confessor was addressing him in his last moments, when Sten Erickson interrupted him by saying, "You are speaking in vain, for the king, can hear no longer." The clergyman, however, knelt over him and said, "If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and hear my voice, give us some sign," when, to the astonishment of all present, Gustavus exclaimed with a loud voice, "Yes !" It was a last effort, and with it the king expired at eight o'clock of the morning on the Festival of St Michael and All Angels, September 29, 1560, and was interred in the Lady Chapel of the cathedral at Upsala, where, within an iron grille, turned with heraldic emblems, his fine tomb, executed in the Netherlands, and erected by King John in 1572, may still be seen. Gustavus Vasa was sixty-four years of age, and of these he had reigned during forty over Sweden. He was not without defects, but his ability was great, and his excel- lencies numerous. He raised his country from the condition of a province cruelly oppressed to that of an independent nation severely disciplined. 73 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. The sternness of his rule, however, was based upon mingled love and wisdom, and with it there was no mean share of liberty, and, ultimately, abundance of content. To the name of the great Vasa is still paid the affectionate allegiance of every true Swedish heart, and the memory of Gustavus will live forever in the bosoms of his countrymen. In Sweden, then, the Reformation was established concurrently with the political revolution which placed Gustavus Vasa on the throne. It was, however, only too apparent that the patriot king was largely influenced by the expectation of replen- ishing his exhausted coffers from the revenues of the Church, and, as in Germany and England, the assent of the nobility was gained by their admission to a consider- able share in the confiscated property. In the prosecution of the former struggle, the burghers of Liibeck appealed for assistance to Denmark, and, failing to gain the aid they sought, proceeded to organize an alliance with the object of restoring Christian II to his throne; at the same time, with the view of outbidding their opponents in popularity, they proclaimed revo- lutionary principles scarcely less subversive than those of Munzer, the leading spirit in that Peasants' War which ended so disastrously for them at Muhlhausen, in 1525.* In the civil war which ensued, Christian III ultimately triumphed over his enemies, and Wullenwever, the leader of the fanatical party, suffered death upon the scaffold. The Reformation was now firmly established in Sweden, but, in conjunction with the monarchy, reinforced by the *Munzer may be described as a successor in the sixteenth century of those enthusiastic sectaries, the medieval disciples of St Francis of Assissi, who combined intense sympathy with the lot of the poor with strange semi-pantheistic notions and ideas of a visible theocracy. 74 SOME ECCLESIASTICAL PARTICULARS power of the nobility, while the ecclesiastical constitution was remodelled, and in the year 1539, at the Diet of Odense, the new faith was proclaimed as the religion of the land. Gustavus Vasa was by far the greatest sovereign who had, up to the beginning of the sixteenth century, ruled Sweden. Before he became king the doctrines of Luther had been promulgated by the brothers Olaus and Laurentius Petri, and Gustavus, who lent a willing ear to their teaching, became one of the most devoted adherents of the Refor- mation. He acted cautiously, however, and resolutely opposed violent agitators. The majority of the Swedes cordially accepted the new doctrines, and at a Diet held at Vesteras in 1527, Gustavus received authority to reorganize the Church. This he did thoroughly, making it clear at the outset, that Protestant pastors would never be permitted to wield the power which the Catholic priesthood had so often abused. The greater part of the vast estates which had belonged to the Catholic clergy he confiscated and applied to the uses of the state. Gustavus's successor was Eric XIV. The son of his first marriage, Eric was for ever quarrelling with those of his second, particularly with John and Charles who ultimately ascended the throne. Eric, a weak and unfortunate monarch, with something of a brutal temperament, adopted the gloomier views of Calvin, and was a disobe- dient son to one who had been to him more of a harsh stepfather than aught nearer or dearer. When Eric declared his intention to offer his hand to our Princess Elizabeth, the now old Lutheran King expressed great distaste at the 75 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. prospect of a Calvinistic daughter-in-law. He needed not to have felt alarm. When the Swedish ambassador made the offer of marriage on behalf of Eric, Elizabeth charac- teristically remarked, that, to the best of her remem- brance, she had never heard of the ambassador's master before that time, and that she so well liked both the messenger and the message as to say, "I shall most humbly pray God upon my knees that from henceforth I never hear of one or the other." The deposition of Eric in 1569, and the death of Arch- bishop Petersen in 1573, rendered it easy for King John III (second son of Gustavus) to arrange a reactionary movement, in which he was aided by another Lawrence Petersen (Laurentius Petri Gothus), who followed the first Laurence at Upsala. The reaction was but short-lived, and the Lutheran Reformation was firmly established in Sweden at the synod of Upsala, held in 1593, during the reign of Sigismund (son of John), but under the auspices of Charles, Duke of Sodermanland, the third son of Gustavus, afterwards king under the title of Charles IX. At this synod the Confession of Augsburg was formally adopted by the Church of Sweden. It was those nations which in the main are of Teu- tonic or German origin — Germany, Switzerland, Den- mark, Sweden, England, Scotland and the Netherlands — which finally made good their revolt from Rome. As the Germans under their great leader "Hermann," had, fifteen hundred years before, been the first to make good their independence from the old Roman Empire, so it was in the nations which were of Germanic speech and origin that revolt was made from papal Rome. SOME ECCLESIASTICAL PARTICULARS On the other hand, those nations — Spain, France and Italy — which had long formed a part of the old Roman Empire, and were Romanic in their languages and instincts, remained in allegiance to the Pope. There were, no doubt, many people in Spain, France and Italy, who sympathized with the doctrines of the reformers, but there was no revolt, because these nations, or the civil powers representing them, chose to remain politically connected with Rome. It is well to observe also how the turn the revolt took in the revolting nations was in a great degree the result of their political condition. Thus in England, Denmark and Scandinavia, in which the central power was strong enough to act for the nation and to carry the nation with it, there was a decisive national revolt from Rome; while in Switzerland and Germany, where practically there was no central power capable of acting for the nation as a whole, there were divisions and civil wars within the nation, some of its petty states at length breaking with Rome, and others remaining under the ecclesiastical empire. Denmark and Sweden both revolted from Rome, but under peculiar circumstances. From 1520 to 1525 they had both been governed by one king — a wretched tyrant — Christian II, who legally had little power, but, follow- ing the royal fashion of the day, tried to make himself an absolute monarch. Denmark and Sweden both rebelled, dethroned Christian II, and then went their several ways. In the Scandinavian kingdoms, the Reformation was materially assisted by political motives: the introduction of Lutheranism into Denmark by King Christian II in 1 520, was, to a great extent, the result of his desire to raise 77 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. the lower classes with a view to the corresponding depres- sion of the nobility and the more powerful ecclesiastics of the realm. He sanctioned the marriage of the clergy, and caused the New Testament to be translated into Danish. These measures, however, owing in no slight degree to the motives by which they were held to be inspired, involved him in a struggle with his subjects, which eventually led to his deposition, and to his passing the rest of his life in exile. But the new doctrines continued to be effectively preached by John Tausen, who had been among Luther's pupils at Wittenberg, and the principles of the Reforma- tion spread rapidly in Schleswig and Holstein. Frederick I, who began to reign in 1525, and had formerly been Duke of Holstein, in that year embraced the principles of the reformers. The Danes being divided between Catholics and Protestants, Frederick began by an edict for tolerating both religions. An assembly of the States, or Parliament, next passed a solemn act for the free preaching of the new doctrines, and for allowing eccle- siastics of any class to marry and reside in any part of the kingdom. The consequence of this was a reduction of the number of the inmates of conventual houses, along with the general diffusion of the Lutheran faith throughout the kingdom. This rapid progress enabled the succeeding sovereign, Christian III, to act like Henry VIII of England, by annexing the church lands to the Crown, and strengthening the power of the sovereign at the expense of that of the clergy. Under Christian III, the movement gained fresh strength in Denmark. The new king had been a witness of Luther's conduct at Worms, and had conceived the warmest admiration for the character of the reformer, 78 SOME ECCLESIASTICAL PARTICULARS and through his efforts the tenets of the Reformation were adopted in 1536, at a Diet held at Copenhagen, as the religion of the state. Not being able to persuade the Danish bishops to officiate at his consecration, or not caring to avail himself of their services, Christian III was crowned with a cere- monial adapted from the Roman Pontifical, by John Bugenhagen, a "preacher,'' from Wittenberg. Bugen- hagen was certainly not a bishop, and there exists consider- able doubt whether he had ever received priest's orders; he took upon himself, however, as Wesley did more than two centuries after — to perform the office of episcopal consecration (1537), and set apart bishops, or "superin- tendents," to fill the ancient sees. A Diet at Odense, in 1539, finally bound Denmark to the principles and prac- tices of the reformed, or, more correctly speaking, Pro- testant, followers of Luther. In no country was the breach with Rome effected in a more bloodless and easy way than in Denmark. Had the Reformed Church met with a little persecution there, its energies might have been called forth. But in Denmark the Church of the Reformed Faith was from the first Catholic, i.e., universal. Frederick II would allow of no dissent. The first who differed from the least of Luther's, or propounded new doctrines, "Away with him!" was the cry, and while in less than a century from the Reformation we find the Anabaptists skipping about the streets of Holland in fropriis naturalibus, and, a little later, the Puritans of England haling the archbishop and king to the block, ejecting the clergy from their livings with every species of brutality, and desecrating and plundering the cathedrals and churches throughout the 79 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. land, the Church of Denmark has remained — stagnant it may have been, but still united. Little has been done on her part to excite inquiry. u Be content with what you know, and don't meddle with matters you cannot under- stand," is its maxim. And so the Danes go to church twice on Sundays, see their pastors arrayed in chasubles, taking "the Eastward Position" at altars sumptuously equipped with super-frontals of lace deep enough to make an English Protestant "stare and gasp," crucifixes, candles of huge dimensions,* and reredoses (both Gothic and Classic) running riot in paintings and imagery; sing their touch- ingly simple chorales with fervour; and comport them- selves in a grave, if not enthusiastically devotional, manner. But for the rest of the week the Dane bars and bolts his church, and entrance can rarely, if ever, be gained, save through the medium of the silver key. So that when the visitor to Denmark looks upon such instrumenta as the folding altar-pieces in Aarhuus and Roe'skilde Cathedrals, he must bear in mind that in these northern lands the Reformation was accepted by the people as a political measure, not as an act of con- science. Frederic I himself was Lutheran or Catholic as suited his own convenience, and when the fiat went forth there was no uproar; the people, after years of war and blood- *On the Sunday of my visit to Odense I was present at "Evensong," and in broad daylight at a new church, quite in the "arty crafty" style, of modern Romanesque. Twelve candles were burning on the communion table, two in massive candlesticks, and ten small tapers in branches. At the cathedral in the morning, the officiant, when performing the Altar Service, was vested in a crimson chasuble with a gorgeously embroidered Latin cross down the back, and I likewise remarked persons crossing themselves and bowing to the Holy Table before retiring. 80 SOME ECCLESIASTICAL PARTICULARS shed, accepted anything for a quiet life, with the greatest apathy and indifference. The saying ran, "It won't make the herrings dear." Christian III, his successor, let down the Catholic clergy gently, providing for the deposed bishops, some of whom adopted the reformed faith, and even married. The nuns were allowed calmly to die out; and very ill in some places they appear to have behaved when no longer under surveillance. At MariboS, though let down easily, these ladies con- ducted themselves so badly, that Bishop Jesperson, Con- fessor Regius, went down expressly to investigate the matter. They were accused of letting into their house drunken tradesmen, as well as noblemen; of tearing each other's caps and fighting; of swearing; of beating each other; of drinking spirits, and of getting so intoxicated they could not stand on their legs; of holding to the Catho- lic belief and of reading "wicked books" ("papistical" ones, it is to be presumed); and of praying to all the saints in the calendar. The bishop, in despair, issued new regulations, but to no effect; the nuns continued just as bad as ever. Fresh rules, in 1596, were put in force, with a little better success, and then later the convent was dissolved.* In the churches matters remained much as they were; but the conventual buildings being confiscated, and becoming property of the Crown, were mostly destroyed, or, at any rate, despoiled of their Catholic ornaments. In many of the Danish churches, even in the remote villages of the islands, you may see ancient instrumenta of worship *In Germany several of the female religious houses were kept up after the Reformation in a Lutheranized form until the dissolution of the Empire in 1 803. Such were Herford, in Westphalia and Quedlinburg in Lower Saxony. 8l G CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. preserved in the same vestry cupboard with the sacra- mental plate, and if you inquire why they are still retained you will receive as answer, "They have always been there." Frederic II would allow of no dissent, no Calvinistic tendencies; the Lutheran was the religion of the land, and that people must hold to, or nothing. Christian IV, his son, though enthusiastic in the cause of the "Winter Queen" of Bohemia (our Princess Eliza- beth, daughter of James I, and daughter of his own sister, Anne), never forgave his nephew, the Prince Palatine, for breaking the crucifixes and statues of saints in the churches of Prague. One day, on entering a room in a corner of which he observed hanging a crucifix of the old faith, he apostro- phized it, "Thank your stars you are safe in Denmark, and not in a church of Prague!" So when in Denmark the English visitor looks upon the magnificent rood and jealously screened choir in the Cistercian church at Soro, or at the copes, mitres and chasubles, hanging cheek by jowl with the last named of the present day, he must not be surprised, but merely regard such things as a proof of the apathy of the nation he is sojourning among, with a quiet surmise to himself whether the Dane's easy way of taking matters for better or worse is not, to say the least of it, less reprehensible than the fanatic passions which stirred the whirlwind, causing destruction, persecution and misery, in our own native country. The National or State Church of Denmark is officially styled "Evangelically Reformed," but is popularly described as Lutheran. There are seven so-called dioceses, the "Primate" being 82 SOME ECCLESIASTICAL PARTICULARS the "Bishop" of Zealand, who resides at Copenhagen, but his cathedral is at Roeskilde.* At present, there are six bishops besides the metro- politan at Roeskilde, viz., of Funen (at Odense), of Laaland and Falster (at Mariboe), and of Aarhuus, Aalborg, Ribe and Viborg, on the mainland of Jutland.f These merely titular bishops, who have fixed salaries in lieu of tithes appropriated by the State, have no political function, by reason of their office, although they may, and often do, take a prominent part in politics. There are, I believe, seventy-two rural deaneries in Den- mark, with nearly one thousand pastorates, of which the greater part comprise more than one parish. The number of parish churches is about eighteen thousand. The benefices are almost without exception provided with good residences and glebes, the tithes, etc., generally afford a comfortable income, and the churches and churchyards are, as a rule, decently kept, whitewash in the former being still far too prevalent. With regard to the claims of Germany (Hamburg- Bremen) and that of England to the evangelization of Norway, the true facts of the case may be stated as follows : The direct and indirect labours of the German-Bremen Church in Norway extended only to individual scattered *During the earliest Christian times the whole of Denmark was under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Hamburg. King Erik Eiegod, after a personal visit to the Pope, contrived to place his kingdom under a Scandi- navian prelate and his own subject, the Archbishop of Lund in Skaania, or south-east Sweden, which then belonged to the Danish dominions. After the cession of Skaania to Sweden, Roeskilde became the metropolitan see of Denmark. fin the south aisle of St Knud, the cathedral of Odense, there is an interesting series of portraits of Bishops of Funen. 83 G2 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. conversions, or rather attempts to convert, in Viken (Bohusland); and it did not succeed in forming there any church society properly so-called, whereas Christianity, in the whole of Norway, both as regards the solid con- version of the people and the establishment of an eccle- siastical body, emanated exclusively from England. In other words, the Norwegian Church was entirely a daughter of the English. To those desirous of gaining some insight into the eccle- siastical history of the western half of the Scandinavian peninsula, I would recommend Mr T. B. Willson's History of the Church and State in Norway. With a wide and exact knowledge of the original sources of Scandinavian ecclesiastical history, the author has arranged his materials with skill, clearness and pains- taking research. In certain portions this book is extremely interesting, particularly where persons great in sanctity, in missionary energy, in constructive work for the Church and common- wealth, and in statesmanship are dealt with. Nevertheless, the chronic and impenitent pugnacity of the Norwegian churchmen and statesmen alike, present their story in its entirety as a long and wearisome chronicle of blood and feud. Throughout Norwegian Church his- tory a the priest in politics," or rather the archbishop in politics, confronts the student at every turn. This fact is dwelt upon at greater length by Keyser in his luminous work on the same subject, Den Norske Kirkes Historie, published half a century ago; and in a much more recent contribution to the ecclesiastical annals of the kingdom by Mr Hjalmar Boysen. In his first volume Professor Keyser gave the full sweep 8 4 SOME ECCLESIASTICAL PARTICULARS of Norwegian ecclesiastical history, from the fall of the heathen system to the death of King Hakon Hakasson, and of Archbishop Einar, in 1263; a period when the Roman hierarchy had made very large advances in supplanting the older and free episcopal system in Norway. The next period, from 1263 to the ceasing of the Black Death (the "sweating sickness") in 1350, gives the full triumph of Italian statecraft there. The fourth, from 1350 to the Reformation in 1537, explains the fall of the Norwegian Church under the Calmar Union, and the tokens of the great religious change which was to ensue; while the con- cluding section of the work brings the history down to the middle of the nineteenth century. There are certain eminent figures in the story of Nor- wegian Christianity to which English Churchmen will turn with special concern, and notably to Olaf the saint and martyr, and Magnus the Good. They were both acclimatized in London by our Danish rulers.* They were both warriors, and were at least as much at home on the battlefield as in the church. In Northern Christianity, as in Eastern Christianity, amongst the Scandinavians and amongst the Slavs, patriotism and an intense nationality held a leading place in the canonization of a saint. The Pagan in one, as the Turk in the other, compelled the Church to an incessant outward militancy. It certainly tells us much when we hear that the war-wearied people unanimously acclaimed one of the successors of St Magnus "Olaf the Quiet." The political and military activity of the bishops of the Norwegian Church and their persistent worldliness had *Two churches dedicated to St Olaf (Olave) in London still exist, and one to St Magnus. 85 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. no little to do in preparing their land for trie Lutheran Revolution. They were really Erastians before Erastus. When, in 1537, their country was reduced to a mere province of Denmark under Christian III, who took sum- mary measures for its establishment, the Norwegians evinced no readiness to accept the Reformation. Some resistance was made by the Archbishop of Trondhjem and his followers, but the king carried his point, and Luther- anism was established in Norway as it had been in Den- mark, saving that the episcopal form of church govern- ment was retained, as it was in Sweden. The history of the Reformation in Norway is not plea- sant reading, but it is singularly instructive. Even bishops themselves consented to sink down into Lutheran "super- intendents." We see a hint what our English Marian fugi- tives would willingly have become, when they came home from Germany and Switzerland, and were consecrated to the Episcopate under Elizabeth, had not both the Queen and Archbishop Parker — to say nothing of the mass of the English parish priests and the lay folk — been eager that there should be no such Puritanical break with Catholic continuity. At the present day Norway is divided into six dioceses (stifter), with a bishop at the head of each, viz.: Chris- tiania, Hamar, Christiansand, Bergen, Trondhjem and Tromso. Christiania stift embraces the counties (amter) of Smaalenene, Akershus, Buskerud, part of Bratsberg, Jarls- berg and Laurvik; Hamar, those of Hedemark and Chris- tian; Christiansand, those of Bratsberg and (part of) Nederises, Lister and Mandal; and part of Stavanger; Bergen, besides Sondre and Nordre Bergenhus, takes in part of Romsdal; Trondhjem, the rest of Romsdal, with 86 SOME ECCLESIASTICAL PARTICULARS Sondre and NordreTrondhjem; Tromso, the three northern counties. Each diocese is divided into deaneries (-provster), each under a dean, who is elected by the clergy of the district concerned. When we consider the copious decorations of the Swedish and Norwegian churches, and their interior ritual arrangements, it seems strange that this eminently Protestant communion, which has, in some respects, adopted Presbyterian forms and practices, has in others and for the most part (although it is to be feared, alas! with but little sincerity of corresponding faith) retained ceremonies and practices of purely Catholic origin. That so much that is Catholic has survived the Refor- mation in Scandinavia makes religious thought to run, to some extent, on the same lines with our own. On the other hand, the churches of Sweden and Nor- way are thoroughly Erastian and Lutheran. Religion is a state department, and Luther is the guide rather than primitive Catholicity. Under these circumstances we find, unavoidably, a want of backbone in their ecclesiastical system. Whether the Scandinavian establishment is a true Church, and whether its priesthood is endowed with valid orders, so as to have it in their power to administer true sacraments is hardly a matter for consideration in the pre- sent volume. It is much to be feared, however, that distinct proof of one link in the line of succession, just at the period of the Reformation, is now lost, from the blameable care- lessness of the Swedish establishment on the point. To those desirous of gaining full information respecting the Swedish Church, I would recommend a perusal of 87 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. Dr Nicholson's Apostolical Succession in the Church of Sweden, published in 1880 by Rivington; likewise some very interesting correspondence called forth by this book in The Church Times of the same year. It is a curious church in creed, in ritual and in govern- ment, this of Sweden. Probably it is the most thorough- going establishment in the world. Here, Church and State are one. There is no dissent to speak of. All Swedes belong to the Church; they are baptized, married and buried by it; and though there is now toleration for other religions, matters are not made particularly pleasant for their adherents. Intensely Protestant as the Swedes are, they have no sympathy with Rome, though retaining many of the rites of the old faith. They love ceremonial, as far as they can get it, and to see their churches adorned with grandiose altar-pieces, rich in imagery, crucifixes, lights, organs and paintings. All education is superintended by the clergy. All young people have to be confirmed after special instruction and examination, and no persons can be married or get any civil appointment until they have been confirmed and received the Sacrament. If any criminal is found on his conviction to have been neglected as regards religious instruction, the authorities are down at once on the priest of his parish for an explanation. The clergy visit regularly all their parishioners, and catechize them to their hearts' content. The government of the Swedish Church seems a mixture of Episcopacy, Presbyterianism and Congregationalism. The primate of Sweden is the Arch- bishop of Upsala, the bishoprics being Calmar, Goteborg, Hernosand, Karlstad, Linkoping, Lulea, Lund, Skara, Strengnas, Vesteras, Vexio and Wisby; but there is also a great synod or Church Parliament (kyrkmote), and each 88 SOME ECCLESIASTICAL PARTICULARS parish lias a local government of its own (Socken Stam- mer). The Church is moderately well endowed. The Archbishop of Upsala has .£1,200 a year, and the incomes of the clergy vary from ^100 to £300. Their income is derived chiefly from tithes. All the clergy are University men, educated at either of the two national universities of Upsala or Lund, and they must take their degree before they are ordained. They are elected by the congregations over whom they are placed. Three candidates are appointed to preach by what is called the Consistory, and the one chosen is generally presented by the Crown. The clergy elect their bishops, or, rather, they send in three names to the king, who nominates one of them. The priests have to officiate for some years as curates, and must be each thirty years of age before they can take a living. Formerly the clergy formed one of the estates of the Church, but now they have a Parliament of their own. But, so far as I could learn, this great organization does not produce all the effect upon the morality of the people that might be expected. Not that there is no earnest spiritual life within the Church of Sweden, but religion is looked upon by the people too much as a formality and too little as a sacred obligation. A Swede graduates as a Christian by taking out his schein or confirmation certificate, and does not feel as if very much more were required of him. Notwithstanding the national establishment, and the marvellously com- plete system of education, the state of the people, is, morally, hardly what one would be led to expect after so much drilling; but this is a matter too grave for con- sideration in these pages, besides being foreign to their subject. 89 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. Suffice it to to say that, although it was shown not long- ago, from undoubted statistics, that one in every hundred and twenty-six of the population lives by teaching the Swedes their moral and religious duties, the outcome of all their endeavours would appear to be far from satis- factory. Some particulars of the Swedish Liturgy and of the manner in which Divine Service is performed may not be uninteresting. The following are the contents of the Church Hand- book, in which it is determined how Divine Service shall be performed in Swedish congregations. Did space permit I should like to transcribe certain portions, as much of it is extremely beautiful, and apparently quite Catholic in tone. Chapter I. Of the Public Service. 1. Matins. 2. High Mass. 3. Evensong. 4. Weekly Preaching or Services. 5. Chapter (of the Bible) Explanations. 6. The Public Morning and Evening Prayers. 7. Preachings before the Supreme and other Law Courts. Chapter II. The Litany, and several other Forms of Prayer. Chapter III. Of Baptism. 1. Infant Baptism. 2. Foundling Baptism. 3. Baptism in cases of necessity, and its Confirma- tion. 4. Baptism of Jews, Mahomedans and Heathens. 90 SOME ECCLESIASTICAL PARTICULARS Chapter IV. What is to be observed when young people first partake of the Lord's Supper. Chapter V. Of General Shrift. Chapter VI. How the Sick are to be treated, and those who are uneasy about their sins, and the weakness of their Faith. Chapter VII. Of Marriage. Chapter VIII. Of the Churching of Women. Chapter IX. How Corpses are to be buried. Chapter X. How those condemned by the Civil Courts to undergo Public Penance in Church, shall be received into communion with the congregation again. Chapter XL Of the preparation of Criminals for Death. Chapter XII. How a New-Built Church shall be con- secrated. Chapter XIII. How a Bishop shall be placed in his Office. Chapter XIV. Of Consecration to the Office of Preacher. Chapter XV. How a Pastor shall be inducted into a Living. The Psalm Book is the name which the Swedish Book of Common Prayer receives, and it is probably more studied than Holy Scripture itself, and furnishes the chief fund for popular devotion, being, with all its imperfections, fre- quently blessed to afford comfort and to inspire fervour. The whole people are much attached to it, and in any possible future regeneration of the Swedish Church, as much as possible of this compilation must evidently be preserved to her. The Sunday services in the Swedish Church are Matins (Ottesangen), High Mass (H'ogmesso-Gudstjensten), and Evensong (Aftonsangen). 9 1 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. The posture of the priest in the Scandinavian churches at the Altar Service is noticeable. This "Eastward Posi- tion" is directed in the Swedish Liturgy during the prayers before the altar, during the singing of the Psalm and of the Kyrie Eleison; when the Gloria in Excelsis is intoned; and just previous to the Prayer of Institution or Consecra- tion. The Mass vestments are always worn by the Swedish priests when officiating at the altar, even on those Sun- days and holy-days when there is no communion. These are the chasuble (mass hake) and alb (messe skjortan). The former is usually of rich velvet or brocaded silk (and if of the former generally red), except in Lent, when it is invariably black with silver embroidery. Afflique on the back is a plain Latin cross, ordinarily occupying the whole length and breadth of the vestment; whilst on the front is commonly embroidered a large glory, with a triangle enclosing the Sacred Name in Hebrew characters — also of gold or silver work, according to the season. Beneath the chasuble is worn the alb, of white linen, with a broad embroidered andvandyked or fine lace collar, and sleeves falling wide and open down to the hands, being bound round the waist with a netted blue silk girdle or sash, and having round the bottom a fringe of broad em- broidery or lace. Swedish episcopal vestments are of far greater splendour. They consist of a mitre (kdfa) of gold or silver brocade, a cope (m'dssa) of similar stuff worn over the alb, a pas- toral staff istaf) and a plain gold Latin cross, suspended from the neck by a gold chain. At the Coronation of the King of Sweden (Oscar I) in 92 SOME ECCLESIASTICAL PARTICULARS 1844, the Archbishop of Upsala (the primate) received such a cross of diamonds. In many an old Swedish church are still to be found the remains of magnificent copes and chasubles, many of them, alas ! sadly disfigured. The embroidery of these vestments would be of the greatest interest, but it has often been the cause of the destruction of the cope or chasuble for the sake of obtain- ing its value. The altar in a Swedish cathedral or church is invariably backed by a reredos more or less sumptuous and enclosed within rails; the communicants kneel to receive the elements on a cushioned step. The use of wafer-bread is universal in Sweden, it is stamped with the crucifix, as in use probably before the Reformation, and it is always placed in the mouth by the priest. The chalice is always held by the celebrant while the communicant drinks. The "mixed chalice" is not, I believe, one of the "points" of Swedish ritual, nor are the candles — of which two or more are generally to be found on the altars — burnt except when required for artificial light. What may remain after all have received is never con- sumed by the celebrant, but is carefully put away and reserved until next celebration — all which indicates a great confusion in the Church's teaching, between high sacramental ideas and very low Protestant doctrine on the solemn subject. It is the intention of the Swedish Church that the whole congregation should remain during the celebration of the Holy Communion, whether they com- municate or not, and in practice many non-communi- cants do often remain, although the bulk of the congrega- tion usually retires. 93 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. The holy-days observed in the Church of Sweden are: Christmas Day, St Stephen, the Circumcision, the Epiphany, the Mondays in Easter andWhitsun weeks, and Holy Thursday. Festival days are the Annunciation and St John the Baptist's Day, but these take only secondary rank. The only other holy-days of the Swedish calendar are: The Transfiguration, the Purification and St Michael's and All Saints' Day; but they are kept on the Sunday fol- lowing if falling on a week-day. Long ranges of richly carved and canopied choir-stalls are met with in the Danish cathedrals and churches at Aarhuus, Odense and Roeskilde, and in Sweden at Lund, and other places, but they are not occupied, as in England, by a body of surpliced singers and clergy tossing from side to side the ball of sacred song. In Scandinavia the music is almost exclusively of a congregational character, and everybody in the church joins most heartily in it. Such unisonous singing as I heard at Odense, Lund and elsewhere, led as it was by a well-played and fine-toned organ in the western gallery, struck me very much, although it was confined to the chorales with which the services are liberally interspersed, and to some occasional responses which seemed to have retained much of the old plain-song character. Many of the Danish and Swedish hymn-tunes are very melodious, but, as in Germany, they are sung with great deliberation, and this, combined with the fact that they are so arranged that everybody is able to sing the air with- out that ear-torturing process in England called "taking a part," renders the choral worship of Scandinavia 94 SOME ECCLESIASTICAL PARTICULARS unusually impressive, particularly when, at certain times, the congregation rises to its feet, for, as a rule, the hymns are sung sitting. I subjoin the music of two hymns which I heard, and was much struck with, when attending the morning ser- vice in the cathedral at Lund on Sunday, August 25, of last year. 335: I. Gudlval-sig . ™ des - ea hjer-ton, Hel • ga dc- S - sa viih.nersband B ^ . d ^Mo-dan* Och, 1 glad-jen som i smar-tan, Hag-na demmed fa • dere - hand. ' J_J J J , J J-JJJJ J , J JJJ^J- CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. Up to the period of the Reformation, the churches of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, like the rest of the churches of Europe, were furnished with Latin hymns only. Of these (many of them peculiar to Sweden) a collection has been published by G. E. Klemming, under the title of Latinska Sanger fordom anvdnda in Svenska Kyrker, Kloster, och Skolor. 4 vols. Stockholm, 1885-87. By the beginning of the fourteenth century, the com- position of proses and sequences may be said to have cul- minated. These increased indefinitely in number, but not in excellence, and sometimes became, as for instance in the Scandinavian and North-German Churches, almost an incumbrance to the Divine Offices. Many on various subjects were even composed in, or translated into, the vulgar tongue, and sung by the people, often to secular tunes, on every possible occasion. In fact, there was a perfect mania for the composition of sequences, and there was almost a sense of relief in the Western Church when, in the sixteenth century, Pius V and the Council of Trent reduced those to be used as part of the Mass to four, viz. : the Victimce Paschali (for Easter Day), the Veni Sancte Spiritus (for Whit-Sunday), the Lauda Sion Salvatorem (for Corpus Christi), and the Dies Irce (for Masses for the Dead); to which, in 1727, was added the Stabat Mater dolorosa. There are nine printed Scandinavian Missals. Three Danish: 1, Copenhagen (Hafniense); 2, Schleswig (Sles- vicense); 3, That of the Danish Dominicans. One Nor- wegian: 4, Trondhjem (Nidrosiense). Four Swedish: 5, Upsala (Upsaliense); 6, Lund (Lundense); 7, Strengnas (Strengnense); 8, Abo {Aboense). To which may be added 96 SOME ECCLESIASTICAL PARTICULARS 9, Linkoping (Lincopense) of which only a few leaves are known to exist. The politeness of the Swedes is proverbial, and when, on my visit to the Royal Library at Stockholm, I ex- pressed a desire to inspect some of the medieval service books preserved therein, I met with every courtesy, per- mission being readily accorded for transcribing such sequences from the Scandinavian Missals as seemed most interesting, on account of their local character, to students of medieval hymnody. I will begin with the first verse of a sequence for the Festival of the Invention of the Cross (May 3) from a Copenhagen Missal: In Inventione Sanct^: Crucis (E Missale Hajniense) Salve, Crux Sancta, arbor digna cujus pretiosum mundi ferre talentum:* Ut hostis, per lignum victor, per lignum revinceretur: Quodque exortus morts primus erat terrigenis Paradiso propulsis, Causa etiam vitae foret cunctis Christi morte vere revivificatis. Horrificum tu es semper signum inimicis Christicolum ssevis, Quam mors pallet, infernusque timet: Christo suos reconcilias[ti].t Cui laus sit per aevum. From the same source I culled the first stanza of a hymn for the Feast of St Canute, King and Martyr, the national saint of Denmark, and grand-nephew of our Canute the Great :% *The poet is imitating Venantius Fortunatus: in the first line his, "Sola digna tu fuisti ferre mundum pretium"; in the second his, "Ipse lignum tunc notavit, damna ligni ut solveret." ■\Reconciliasti may be read for reconcilias, that the line may syllabically respond to its fellow; and because it ought, like the others, to rhyme asso- nantly. A J See Chapter 111, p. 122 97 h CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. In Festo Sancti Kanuti D. vn. Januar (E Mis sale Hafniense) Preciosa mors sanctorum In conspectu Domini: Quanta salus sit justorum Sancto patet homini Qui in tanto se adaptavit Christiano nomini, Quod se totum copulavit Veritatis lumini. From an excessively rare Schleswig Missal, printed in i486, I copied another sequence for the Festival of St Canute: of this the first stanza is here subjoined: In Festo S. Kanuti Ducis et Martyris Diem festum veneremur Martyris: Ut nos ejus adjuvemur meritis. Per prophetas in figura 4 Prasdicata, paritura, Plures parit sterilis. Parit parens in pressura, Dolor partus perdit jura Dum applaudit filiis. From the same source I transcribed six other sequences, i.e., In Festo Reliquiarum Ecclesice Slesvicensis; In Festo S. dementis; In Die S. Kanute Regis; De Compassione, B. Marice Virginis; In Festo S. Margaretce; and In Festo S. Jacobi; likewise a fine sequence from a Gallican Missal for the Sunday within the octave of the Ascension, com- mencing: Postquam Hostem et inferna Spoliavit, ad superna Christus redit gaudia: Angelorum ascendenti, Sicut olim descendenti, Parebant obsequia. 98 SOME ECCLESIASTICAL PARTICULARS The following sequence is most interesting from the manner in which the names of such saints, deeply vene- rated in pre-Reformation times, as St Eric, St Botvid, St ^Eschil, St Bridget and St Sigfrid, are introduced into it. De Patron is Sueci^ Exultant Angelorum chori, hierarchia triplici, ordine, numero, officio multiplied conditi, cogniti Dei virtute simplici: Ruit pars ad ima de prima spirituum origine: Gratia divina ruina restaurata ex homine. Quam flebilis Angelis perditis haec est permutatio ! Amabilis filiis hominis in Regnum successio. Jam illic ascendit victrix tribus inclyta; jam jus apprehendit triumphans ecclesia; militat in terris filia. Quam dulci amore vernans suscipitur Quae tanto fervore ruinae restaurandae ad ventura concupiscitur. Te, coeli Hierarchia, omnis natio orbis replet missis nuntiis; Te, mundi monarchia, sacro munere recognoscit datis filiis. Jam tandem tibi devota gens Suevorum primitias dat patronum confessores Christique Martyres viduas: Quos plebis sexus sequitur utriusque, dona presentat cor cujusque, instructurum ccelestis muros Hierusalem Purpuratas rosas vernantes Martyrum offert patientia. Confessores sacratos flores, et praesentant Virgines lilia. Illustris Justus devotus Rex Ericus, insignis praesul, ac Henricus triumphali decorati sunt martyrio. Eskillus martyr triumphat, et Botvidus David concertat, et Sig- fridus Apostolis doctorali privilegio. Sablimata ccelesti duce mater scandit Helena solium: Illustrata divina luce mentis effert Brigitta radium. Ecclesia nunc Suecorum te exorat, te collaudat, cceli curia ; Interventu patronorum, O piissima, precatio te supplici implorat, Maria. Ut sibi auxilium circa Christum Dominum esse digneris per aevum. Amen. On looking through the Copenhagen Missal I came across two sequences in honour of St Sigfrid ; one of them, 99 H2 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. composed in that metre of which Adam of St Victor, the most prominent and prolific of the Latin hymnists was so fond,* contains the following strophe: Salve, gemma confessorum, Vas virtutum, praelatorum Speculum et gloria; Of the other, composed in an irregular metre like the one quoted above — De Patronis Suecice — I transcribe the first six lines: Clara laude turma plaude dulci voce, Alleluia; Ad eterni Regis laudem qui gubernat omnia. Quern jubilant coeli summa, sol, luna, atque astra; Mare, solum, et flumina, cunctaque nascentia. Qui Sigfridum his advexit oris olim ab Anglia; Ut gentium nationem unda dilueret sacra. The next nine lines run on in a similar strain, concluding thus: Nunc, beate o Sigfride, commendare nos dignari in cceli palatia. after which the metre changes to that much more smoothly flowing one, which, for want of a better name, is usually known as "Victorine": Ubi Deum collaudare Mereamur et amare Per eterna secula. *Three of Adam of St Victor's most admired sequences are — Stola regni laureatus (In royal robes of splendour) for the Festivals of Apostles; Heri Mundus exultavit (Yesterday with exultation) for St Stephen's Day; and Jucundare plebs fidelis (Come, pure hearts, in sweetest measure) for the Festivals of Evangelists. An excellent edition of Adam of St Victor's Liturgical Poetry, with a translation into corresponding metre was published by Rev. Digby S. Weaugham, M.A., in 1881. IOO SOME ECCLESIASTICAL PARTICULARS and so on for three more verses, when the rhythm becomes again irregular, as thus: Superna mater gratiae collocet nos in gloria; In qua frui mereamur plena Dei notitia. Sion sancta nos acceptet in superni regis curia; In qua nunc fulget Sigfridus pro doctrina" Catholica; Cujus laudum prasconia imitatur ecclesia, Cum celebrantur annua ejus natalitia. Hinc et Mater ecclesia spernit errorum devia; Hujus celebri doctrina fides firmatur unica; Hujus sequi vestigia et predicare dogmata Fide vera ac fecunda det nobis Dei gratia. Most English church people, when Christmas and Eastertide come round, look forward to joining in, or listening to, the carols which form such interesting fea- tures in the services of those holy and joyous seasons. Few, I will undertake to say, are aware that the melo- dies to such old favourites as "Good King Wenceslas," "A Babe is born in Bethlehem," "Gabriel's message does away," "Let the merry church-bells ring," "The Morn- ing of Salvation," and "The World itself keeps Easter Day," are of Scandinavian origin. When in Stockholm, the opportunity was given me of inspecting, inter alia, a small duodecimo volume entitled Pice Cantiones Ecclesiasticce et Scholastics, veterum Episco- porum, et Inclyto Regno Suacice passim usurpata?, printed at Greifswald, a town on the north-eastern coast of Germany. These "pious songs of ancient bishops everywhere in vogue in Sweden" were revised and edited in 1582 by the Most Rev. Theodore Peter Rhuta of Nyland. They are stated, in the title page, to be most highly esteemed by the Church of God, and the School at Abo, in Finland. 101 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. The Dedication to his patron, the "Illustrious and Noble Lord Christian Horn, Free Baron of Aminna," enforces the apostolic teaching as to the use of Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs, by the practice of the "Old Fathers," who always joined music with the Word of God, as also by that of the wise governors and pious bishops of the Christian Church. This dedication is dated from Rostock, May 23, 1582. Every canticle of the seventy-five contained in the 200 pages of this little book has the notes of a melody to which all the verses are to be sung, some being also furnished with a second part, others with three or four parts. A few are noted throughout, after the manner of sequences, with recurring strains, but not in exact regular verses, as in the usual tunes of carols and hymns. The first part of this little manual (to p. 70) contains Gantiones de Nativitate, then follow others, de Passione and de Resurrectione; at pp. 104-107 there are the Descantus, Altus, Tenor and Bassus of a setting of the hymn, Jesu dulcis Memoria, in the Dorian Mode, on G. Next, a Phrygian melody to a carol, In Festo Pentecostes; and then follow songs, de Trinitate, de Eucharistica and Gantiones precum, some of them hymns in the strictest sense. Long songs follow, lamenting and inveighing against crimes, wickedness, and general corruption of manners. At pages 158-176 are songs De Vita Scholastica; and the collection closes with a couple of songs under each of the following headings: De Concordia, Historical Gantiones, and De Tempore Vernali. These Pia? Gantiones of Nyland were published for the use of the Lutheran Communion in Sweden. Neither 102 SOME ECCLESIASTICAL PARTICULARS words nor music, however, were changed from earlier sources; and they occur in the libraries of Germany, England and France with no other difference than tradi- tionary repetition and popular variations would naturally introduce. Such is a brief summary of this interesting little book, a copy of which was brought sixty years ago from Stock- holm and placed in the hands of the editors of the Hymnal Noted. The Carols for Christmastide and Eastertide, subsequently published in 1853 and 1854, were the fruits of John Mason Neale's study of the verse, and Thomas Helmore's interpretation and harmonization of the musical notation it contained. Other, and later compilers of Carols, notably the Rev. G. R. Woodward, M.A., in his Collections published for the use of the church at Cowley, near Oxford, have laid these Pia? Cantiones of Nyland under contribution. The publication of these Carols, during the early days of the English Church Revival, was an attempt to revive the ancient practice. They did not profess to be medieval poems, but were tolerably close imitations of the general spirit and character of such Christmas and Paschal Hymns. Thus, "A Babe is born in Bethlehem " was an adapta- tion from the Puer Natus in Bethlehem; "Earth to-day rejoices" from the Ave Maris Stella, lucens miseri; "Gabriel's message does away" from Angelus emittitur; "Good King Wenceslas" from Tempus adest -floridum; "Let the merry church-bells ring" from Vanitatum Vanitas; "Let us tell the story" from Ave Maris stella, divinatis cella; "The World itself keeps Easter Day," from O Chris te Rex fiisime, and so on. With respect to the music, merely a transcript of the 103 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. original was given, without further attention than occa- sional transposition. In the Hymnal Noted there is one melody of Scandi- navian origin, viz., that of the Jesus Cbristus, nostra salus; also from the Pice Cantiones. This was adapted by the compilers of the English book in question to a hymn for Sunday morning, Omnes una celebremus: In our common celebration Laud and holy veneration To Christ's festival be paid. These fine stanzas, from which I give an excerpt, are of unknown authorship. At one time this hymn and the beautiful old Swedish plain-song melody wedded to it was used as the sequence in Trinitytide at St Matthias', Stoke Newington, where, after a long period of desuetude, the Easter carols, with their melodies from the Pice Cantiones, have lately been revived. As elsewhere, the Reformation gave throughout the north the signal for the production of the vernacular hymn; indeed, the Reformed Churches of Scandinavia gave to Europe as great a number of hymn-writers as England and Germany. The post-Reformation hymnody of the Scandinavian North is decidedly subjective in its character, rather than objective. The earlier hymns certainly were doctrinal and invocative, but the later are, to a great extent, expressive of religious sentiments, hopes and fears, rather than of definite objective faith and worship. The plaintiveness of a large proportion of these Scandinavian hymns is very marked, whilst the strength of their writers' personal faith is undeniable. 104 SOME ECCLESIASTICAL PARTICULARS As a specimen, we may take the first two lines of the hymn commencing: Den Grund hvorpaa jeg bygge, Er Christus og Hans Dod; I build on one Foundation, On Christ, who died for me. Two Swedish hymns have more than a passing interest, written as they were by the ill-fated King Eric XIV, who, after a long period of confinement in various prisons, died by poison in that of Orbyhus, February 26, 1577. Each seems to echo the unhappy state of mind of that monarch. Beklaga af allt Sinne Ma jag min sjala nod. Bewail with all my mind Must I my soul's distress. O Gud! hvern skall jag klaga Den Sorg jag mlste draga Sa arm och syndefull? O God! how shall I lament the sorrow I must bear, so poor and sinful. Gustavus Adolphus, the great Protestant champion in the Thirty Years War, translated into Swedish a hymn from the German of Altenburg, Verzage nicht du Hau- flein Klein: VERZAGE NICHT DU HAUFLEIN KLEIN Fear not, O little flock, the foe Who madly seeks your overthrow, Dread not his rage and power: What though your courage sometimes faints, His seeming triumph o'er God's saints Lasts but a little hour. 105 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. This hymn was published in 1631, with this title, "A heart-cheering song of comfort on the watchword of the Evangelical Army in the battle of Leipzic, September 7, 1 63 1. 'God with us,'" It was called Gustavus Adolphus's battle-song, because that pious hero often sung it with his army. He sang it for the last time immediately before his death in the Battle of Liitzen, November 16, 1632. The Psalms of David are not introduced in the Swedish Liturgy; the collection in use* is by a variety of authors, without any distinction of creed. On the list figure St Robert of France, Hans Sachs, Martin Luther, Pope Calixtus III (Borgia), the Brothers Olaus and Petrus Magnus, John Frederic of Saxony, St Ambrose, William of Saxe-Weimar, Bernard of Clairvaux, Gustavus Adolphus, Neils Brahe (son ofEbba),and two by the above-mentioned unfortunate King Eric XIV. The Danish Establishment, ever since the disastrous overthrow of the Catholic Church, has been too feeble in spiritual things to be the parent of a vigorous hymnody. Ingemann, Grundtvig and Timm, are, perhaps, the best of the Danish religious singers, but they fall very far short of Gellert, Spitta, Gerhardt, Henrietta of Brandenburg and other Protestant hymn-writers of Germany, f There *Johan Olaf Wallins's Den Svenska Psalmboken, af Konungen gillad och stadfiistad (the Swedish hymn book approved and confirmed by the king). Wallin, who was dean of Vesteras, revised the hymn book for the whole of Sweden in 181 8-19. To it he contributed some 150 hymns of his own, besides translations and recastings, and the book remains now much in the same form in which he brought it out. fMany of these German Protestant hymns were translated by Miss Catherine Winkworth, and published half a century ago under the title, Lyra Germanica. Subsequently an edition was put forth in f'cap 4to and exquisitely illustrated with woodcuts by Jno. Leighton. 106 SOME ECCLESIASTICAL PARTICULARS is a uniform weakness and poverty of doctrine in Danish hymns, rarely compensated for by any special loftiness of subjective rapture, and Mr Gilbert Tait, who put forth a translation of them in 1868, effectually took away the one merit they do possess, that of a certain poetic grace of diction resembling somewhat the weakest of John Keble's poems, for his translations were perfectly devoid of the swing and smoothness of true hymns, and are rhymed prose not poetry. Two of the pieces in the selection, Ingemann's "Pil- grimage of the Soul," and Naur's "Hour of Death," were also turned by Mr Baring Gould in The People's Hymnal, and no one can compare the versions without seeing at once why Mr Tait failed. I have searched in vain through the volume for a specimen which might mitigate this censure, but I have found none rising even to the level of the less successful among the versions from the German by Mr A. T. Russell, Miss Cox and Miss Winkworth, a fact not altogether the fault of the translator, but due to the deliberate imitation by the Danes of the second-rate German hymnodists. I may conclude this little sketch of church matters in Scandinavia by observing that students of Continental liturgiology and ritualism were first made acquainted with those of Sweden in an intelligent manner by the Hon. G. J. Robert Gordon, Secretary of Legation at Stockholm, who, between 1847 and 1853 contributed several valuable and interesting papers on the subject to The Ecclesiologist.* *The Ecclesiologist was the organ of the "Cambridge Camden," after- wards known as "The Ecclesiological Society." Those who know best the very important part which that body performed for the great revival of church thought and feeling, in the study and publication of Christian knowledge, chiefly on the practical side, such as ritual, architecture, music, I07 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. One article, that published in The Ecclesiologist of February, 1852, was of more than ordinary interest and importance, entering, as it did, into the minutest details of the Swedish Church Offices and the mode of their per- formance. A year later this communication was warmly commented upon, supplemented, and in a few minor par- ticulars corrected, in the same periodical, by the Rev. Mr Beckman, Comminister of St Clara's Church, Stockholm. A residence of several years in Sweden, and an intimate acquaintance as well with its language and literature as with its nature and external relations, enabled Mr Gordon to follow the ecclesiastical system of Sweden with peculiar attention. Possessed as he was of rich materials bearing upon the subject, he knew well how to use them, enhanced by a love for the country seldom found amongst foreigners, and a church feeling warmer than was usual among Englishmen. His translations made from the Swedish Church Hand- book are particularly faithful, and testify to much power over both languages, while his communications respecting the architecture and arrangements of the Swedish cathe- drals and churches, most of whose names were at that time totally unknown in England, even to the learned eccle- siologist, opened up quite a new field for study and research. painting and the arts as applied to ancient Christianity, will best appre- ciate its importance. Without its assistance, theology alone would probably have failed to acquire a great hold upon the Church; while the two com- bined will, doubtless, set the Church of England as the brightest jewel in the One Church's Crown. Far, very far, in advance of the age, the Eccle- siological Society led the way, but now, by the lapse of time, but few if any of the great names survive. 108 CHAPTER III From Osnabruck to Copenhagen by Schleswig, Odense 9 Soro and Roe ski I de THE first view of Osnabruck as the train enters the station is so attractive that it is surprising so few people on their way from the Hook of Holland to Berlin or Hamburg think it worth while either to break their journey for a day or so there, or to spend the time allowed by the railway company, in taking even a cursory view of its cathedral, and of the many delightful specimens of domestic architecture presented by the meandering streets of this staid old North German cathedral city. Having given some particulars respecting the ecclesi- ology of Osnabruck in my Cathedrals and Churches of the Rhine and North Germany, I would refer my readers to that volume, merely making a few remarks here upon such changes as had taken place since my last visit of six years ago. At the solemn Romanesque and Transitional cathedral I found that considerable progress had been made with the polychromatic decoration of its walls and vaults. The choir, transepts, nave aisles and easternmost bay of the nave have received their complement of colour, and progress was being made last summer with another of the great dome- shaped vaulting compartments. The effect of what has been done is gorgeous beyond description, every inch of space having been made a vehicle for gold and colour. An organ for use at the daily chapter offices has been placed on the south side of the choir, and 109 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. enclosed in one of those medieval cases rich in sacred icono- graphy which William Burges was such an adept in design- ing. Permanent altars, three in number, have been placed in front of the open choir screen, each furnished with a small triptych, and one of very large dimensions has been erected over the high altar which stands at the east end of the short square-ended eastern limb. The choir- stalls and episcopal throne were likewise new to me, and I was glad to find that a pseudo-classical organ gallery had been removed from the west end of the nave. Evidently the chapter at Osnabruck are desirous of emulating their brethren of not far distant Minister in making the interior of their cathedral as medievally gorgeous, and as ritually correct, as money and talent will permit. At St Mary's I had the pleasure of viewing its short but lofty nave unencumbered with scaffolding, restoration having been in progress at the time of my last visit. Of all the Complete Gothic unclerestoried naves of Northern Germany I know none so imposing from its great height as this, and the detail of the mighty clustered columns which sustain its arches and vaulting leaves nothing to be desired. One can only regret the shortness of this nave at St Mary's, due, no doubt, to unwillingness on the part of its rebuilders to remove the much earlier western tower, which now stands within the nave, whose aisles are carried along the north and south sides of the tower. There are four doorways in the nave, two on either side, and all are of the most graceful Middle Pointed character, richest being the south-western or Brides' Door with its statues of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. The sides of the nave present a series of gables which mitigate the heaviness of the one expanse of high-pitched roof. There are no transepts. The choir no FROM OSNABRUCK TO COPENHAGEN has a three-sided apse, resembling on the inside that of our Tewkesbury; a lofty clerestory; and a procession path (without chapels), whose walls follow the lines of the apse. At St John's, remarkable for its pair of grand western towers and exquisite Middle Pointed cloisters, so reminis- cent of Lincoln, there were no indications of any change since I last saw the church. The square east end, with its triplet of tall lancet windows, has a very English appear- ance, but, as I have remarked in my former volume, it is of frequent occurrence in the north of Germany. The cathe- dral and more than one of the parish churches in Bremen, besides those in other places which need not here be re- capitulated, present this feature, thought by most people to be an exclusively English one. On the Sunday of my visit to Osnabriick I "assisted" at High Mass in the Dom, the service being partly of a cathedral and partly of a parochial character. There was a large congregation, which joined very heartily in the several hymns with which the office was interspersed, and seated as I was in the south transept where there were few worshippers, the great wave of sound coming up from so large a body of voices produced a fine effect. One of the hymns was sung to that melody which is linked with Miss Catherine Winkworth's translation of Paul Gerhardt's Christmas stanzas: Frohlich soll mein Herze springen* All my heart this night rejoices As I hear, Far and near, Sweetest angel voices ; *Bach, in his Christmas oratorio, has wedded this melody to the last stanza of the same hymn, "Thee with tender care I'll cherish," which follows a short recitative in continuation of that exquisite air, "Keep, O my spirit, this blessing and wonder." Ill CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. "Christ is born" their choirs are singing, Till the air Everywhere Now with joy is ringing. The bishop was present on his throne, but as he took no part in the ceremonial was only attired in his ordinary episcopal robes. The sermon was preached immediately after the Mass. The celebrant and his assistant ministers, together with the canons and choir retired, the bishop and a goodly number of the congregation remained to hear it. Two of the old churches in Osnabriick (St Mary's and St Catherine's) are in the hands of the so-called "Evan- gelical" Communion — that most effete of religious systems whose modern development is mainly due to Baron von Bunsen. I have already alluded to the noble Middle Pointed Gothic nave of the former church, which is unfortunately choked with galleries of pitchpine, supported on iron columns, such as may be seen in English dissenting meet- ing-houses. Here I heard part of the service, which com- menced an hour later than that at the cathedral, but there was an air of smugness and gentility about the whole thing which contrasted strangely with that atmosphere of devo- tion and that work-a-day look which could not fail to impress one at the Dom. As I entered the large congregation assembled was engaged in singing Luther's hymn — or, at least, the melody — to the accompaniment of a fine-toned organ in a sumptuous Renaissance case, raised, as is universal on the Continent, upon a gallery at the west end of the nave. But it may here be remarked that in his accompaniment of unisonous psalmody, the German organist, whether 112 FROM OSNABRUCK TO COPENHAGEN Lutheran or Catholic, displays, as a rule, little or no inven- tion in varying the harmonies, apparently playing just what is in front of him. The only vestment worn by the frediger was the black gown, to which a well-starched ruff contributed an appearance of old-world picturesqueness. Two large candles were burning on the Communion Table, which was decently apparelled, and backed by a very beautiful polyptych, with a carved centre-piece and painted wings. At a large modern Gothic church of the "hall" class, with some features borrowed from the cathedral at Pader- born, and situated just outside the eastern walls, now con- verted into an agreeable public walk, a very largely attended Low Mass was in progress, interspersed with hymns, all of which were heartily joined in by the congre- gation without the aid of a choir. This was the last Catholic service I attended during the tour until my return into Germany six weeks later, when I embraced the opportunity, afforded by a few days' sojourn in Minister, of assisting at all the offices which, on Sundays and week- days alike, are so impressively performed in the cathedral of the capital of Westphalia. Shortly after noon I quitted Osnabriick for Minden. The long fourth-class carriage in which I travelled through the smiling landscape, dotted at frequent intervals by trim farmsteads, was filled with Westphalian peasantry, the female portion of whom in their elaborate local costumes presented a most picturesque appearance. They swarmed in and out at every village station along the route, full of hilarity and good humour, but without any boisterous vulgarity. I had looked forward to attending sung Vespers in the 113 1 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. Dom at Minden, but was disappointed on entering the nave, one of the finest specimens of early fourteenth cen- tury Gothic in this part of Germany, to find only a sermon being preached to about a score of women, after which the building was closed for the rest of the day. However, I consoled myself for this loss with a stroll about the picturesque, almost entirely depopulated streets — everybody was out holiday making in the country — and an inspection of the art treasures enshrined in the Lutheran churches of St Mary, St Martin and St Simeon, whose doors {mirabile dictu) stood open. All these churches are built of the same rich deep-coloured stone as the Dom, and they emulate the mother church in the size of their win- dows and the splendour and variety of their tracery, which, if somewhat exuberant here and there, offers a rich field to students of that branch of ecclesiology. These Minden churches were old and valued friends, yet I revisited them with unabated pleasure and interest, remaining for a long time wrapt in admiration of the boldly buttressed chevet of St Martin's, four of whose gracefully shafted and two- light windows have their stilted heads traceried with one large trefoil. After spending an hour of the forenoon on the following day in a minute inspection of the Dom, I entrained for Verden-on-the-Aller, where, in consequence of a some- what lengthy detention at the junction at Wunstorf, I did not arrive until the afternoon was far advanced. The main street of this quiet little once episcopal city runs along the eastern bank of the Aller, and is closed at its southern end by the tall copper roof of the Protestantized Cathedral. Of the original Romanesque structure all that remains is the south-western tower, with its low pyra- 114 FROM OSNABRUCK TO COPENHAGEN midical capping, the church itself having been rebuilt early in the fourteenth century, on the plan so much in vogue in the North of Germany at that period. There are a nave and choir, both with aisles, and contained beneath one length and breadth of roof, from which those of the short transepts project, but at a lower level. The western portions of the cathedral are of red brick, the eastern of dark brown stone; the windows are lofty and well traceried, and in that of the south transept are some fragments of medieval stained glass, of which one of the subjects re- presents the Trinity. The proportions of the interior, horribly disfigured with whitewash and pews carried right across the nave without any central passage — a most objectionable arrangement — are harmonious and pleasing. The aisles, vaulted at the same height as the nave, are continued round the apsidal east end as a procession path, but are destitute of chapels. The columns throughout the church are huge cylinders with four slender shafts attached to them, but their would-be heaviness is relieved by the band of foliage carried round the entire mass just below the simply moulded capital. The five arches composing the arcade of the apse are very narrow and stilted, but the effect at Verden is much more pleasing than in the gene- rality of those unclerestoried German churches, where the favourite aisleless apse has been set aside for an imitation of the French arrangement. The prettily foliaged Platz on the south side of the cathedral contains the little church of St Andrew, wret- chedly modernized, and choked with pews and galleries, but retaining some Romanesque work in its apse. Almost the only object of interest here is the brass to Bishop 115 12 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. Ysowillpe (1231), interesting as being the earliest memo- rial of the kind extant. There is no doubt whatever that the incised slab was the forerunner of the brass, and there are examples of a very rude character which must be dated much before the brass recorded as existing in St Paul's Church, Bedford y viz., 1208. Incised stones continued in use, as well as brasses, until the end of the sixteenth century in a more or less degree. To what country we owe the beginning of the incised work on metal as a more enduring and handsome material is an unsolved problem, and although in this brass to Bishop Ysowillpe at Verden we have now the earliest example known, it does not help us in our difficulty. It accords with no known type; conventional representa- tion of features, in general so good a test, are here too rudely given to enable one to speak with certainty; the execution is by thin lines keeping to the same diameter, and the figure is not cut to the outline as in the majority of English examples, but has for its background the plain metal — the inscription being on the verge. Both arms of the figure are raised, supporting two models, one in each hand — in the right a church — presumably that of St Andrew, where the brass now is, and the tower of which Bishop Ysowillpe rebuilt; in the left, the same tower appears within a fortified enclosure, as he is said to have put a ring wall about the city. The costume of the figure consists of a plain alb with, apparently, loose sleeves y those closer fitting to the wrists belonging to the cassock. There is chasuble with dalmatic but neither stole, maniple nor amice. The mitre is of a very low simple form. Figures holding 116 FROM OSNABRUCK TO COPENHAGEN models are not very common in brasses. It is singular, therefore, that the two earliest of the foreign examples should show this feature; for that of Bishop Otto of Bruns- wick, at Hildesheim, which is dated 1270, holds a model of the castle of Woloenberg, of which that prelate was the builder. Now it must be remembered that our earliest English brass — since the disappearance of the one at Bedford — is that of Sir John d'Abernon (1277) at Stoke d'Abernon in Surrey. It is useful, therefore, to make a comparison of the exe- cution of the two, as far as possible. One can trace an analogy in the treatment of the drapery, as also in parts of the features. It is slight, but worth noting, as it tends to point to a common origin for this kind of monument, although it is not possible to fix upon that country which first set the example, and political boundaries go for little in the matter. In general treatment, having blank metal for back- ground, it is in accord with the last named. The long journey from Verden to Lubeck was agreeably broken at Luneburg, where I entered upon that region of red-brick architecture from which I was unable to dis- associate myself until I had crossed the sound between Copenhagen and Malmo. I had paid particular attention, when on a former visit to Luneburg, to the principal church of St John, so remarkable for its five aisles of equal height, its galleries constructed in the choir aisles over the sacristies, its wealth of rich furniture, and its noble western tower, whose spire rises from above and from between gables exhibiting those intricate devices that may be formed by a skilful manipulation of diversely shaped bricks. 117 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. This time the fine clerestoried church of St Nicholas, built, no doubt, in imitation of the Marien Kirche at Lubeck, claimed the greatest share of my attention during this brief visit between trains to Luneburg. Short but very lofty, it is constructed entirely of red brick, and, like many others in the Baltic regions, is an imitation of the vast Marien Kirche at Lubeck. Yet, in spite of its more modest dimensions, I must confess that the Nicolai Kirche at Luneburg is more pleasing than its prototype, chiefly from the air of greater stability imparted to it by flying buttresses. The aisles, with their steep lean-to roofs,* are continued round the three-sided apse; the interior is very narrow, lofty and solemn. The columns, really octagonal, would, if exhibited in section on paper, represent octofoils, as their sides are hollowed out in the manner seen sometimes in English Perpendicular work; the arches exhibit mouldings as deep and rich as those of stone; and the window tracery exhibits that arrangement of three uncusped lancets within a pointed arch beyond which the architectural mind in these brick districts of northern Europe never seems to have soared. There is no open triforium, but the pretty considerable wall space between the arcade and the clerestory is re- lieved by continuing the mullions of the windows down it, another peculiarly local feature. Under the choir of St Michael's Church is a fine and lofty crypt, the window jambs and piers of which present remarkable examples of moulded and glazed brickwork. At five o'clock in the afternoon on the second day of my *Accounted for by chapels, which, though not apparent externally, open out of the aisles. Such appendages are much more common in these great red-brick churches of the Hanseatic cities than in those of other parts of Germany. 118 FROM OSNABRUCK TO COPENHAGEN sojourn in Liibeck I had the unexpected treat of assisting at an organ recital in the gigantic church of St Mary. The selection included several pieces by Dieterich Buxtehude, one of the most famous players of his period. He officiated as organist at St Mary's from 1673 till his death in 1707. It was in 1703 that Handel, then in his eighteenth year, travelled to Liibeck from Hamburg with his friend, Johann Mattheson, the principal tenor singer at the Opera House in the latter city,* beguiling the coach journey with making Double Fugues, "da mente, not da fernta" Mattheson had been invited to Liibeck by the Geheimer Raths president, Magnus von Wedderkopp, as successor to Buxtehude at St Mary's, and he took Handel with him. They played on almost every organ and harpsichord in the place, and, with regard to their performances, agreed between themselves that Handel should only play on the organ and Mattheson upon the harpsichord. They listened also to the veteran performer, Buxtehude, in the Marien Kirche with deep attention; but, because the question of succession involved also that of a marriage contract, into which neither of the friends had the slightest desire to enter, they left Liibeck, after receiving many compli- ments, unusual honours and pleasant entertainment. Johann Christian Schieferdecker afterwards brought the affair to a more satisfactory conclusion; accepted Fraulein *The friendship between Mattheson and Handel lasted pleasantly enough until the jealous disposition of the former led to a coolness which reached its climax in an impromptu duel fought in front of the Opera House at Hamburg, October 20, 1704. Neither of the combatants was injured, and the quarrel was speedily reconciled/The facts, as narrated above, are derived from Mattheson's Ehren-Pforte, an interesting but exceedingly egotistical work, some of the statements in which must be received with caution. 119 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. Buxtehude, after the death of her father, in 1707, and obtained the coveted appointment of organist to St Mary's, Liibeck. The cathedral at Schleswig, imposingly situated at the head of one of those large inland lakes so common in this part of Europe, and along one side of which the pretty- little town straggles, is not particularly remarkable among northern churches. It is a huge pile, partly of red and partly of yellow and black brick, and consists of a western tower and spire (both modern), a nave with aisles of the same height, transepts, choir and three-sided apse. The oldest parts are the crossing and the transepts, the rest is Middle Pointed of no particular beauty or interest, the windows in the late parts being of the usual type — three lancets beneath a pointed arch, all of brick — except those in the apse, which are of two unfoliated lights, but with no circles in the heads. There is a good Romanesque doorway in the south transept, with sculpture representing our Lord and the Evangelists in the tympanum. Internally the cathedral is imposing from its great height and spacious- ness and from the fact that it has either escaped or has been purged of whitewash. The piers and arches separating the nave from the aisles are round and very simple, but the transverse arches which divide the nave roofs into sex- partitely groined compartments spring from gracefully disposed clusters of slender shafts, and are pointed. From the aisles, whose groining is quadripartite, or four- celled, mortuary chapels open. The roofs have been most tastefully frescoed — one subject representing the Corona- tion of the Virgin struck me as being very singular in a Lutheran church — and the whole scheme of colour was exceedingly grateful after the whitewash which so mars 120 Interior of St. Knud's at Odense, looking Vest. To face page 120. FROM OSNABRUCK TO COPENHAGEN the noble proportions of the Lubeck churches. Taken on the whole, the nave of Schleswig Cathedral is a very good specimen of its age and class, and reminded me in no small degree of that at Paderborn, one of the most imposing examples of the unclerestoried or "hall" type in West- phalia, if not in all Germany. Besides the late fifteenth-century font and glorious trip- tych over the altar in the apse, both of which have been described in the introductory chapter, Schleswig Cathe- dral enshrines other medieval instrumenta of considerable interest. I would refer to the stalls; to the three pointed arches on slender single shafts, indicated to me as the bishop's throne, but which, from their position, to the south of the high altar, I should imagine to have been sedilia; and to a group of the Epiphany, over lifesize, in the square-ended south aisle of the choir. The figures, richly coloured, are arranged within a species of shrine, whose roof is supported by four trefoiled arches with crocketed canopies, carried upon thin metal shafts encircled by fillets. The wall against which this structure stands has a dado of peacock blue, with a gold border, above which the colour is a dusky red. An extensive cloister adjoins the nave on its north side. The doorway to the chapter house opens from the eastern walk. The arches opening to the garth, or laid-out enclo- sure, are devoid of tracery, but the wall space on either side of them is enriched with ancient painting, as are the vaulted roofs, with representations of monsters, birds and plants. I saw little of architectural importance after quitting Schleswig until Odense was reached. Of the Romanesque church founded here in 1080 by St 121 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. Knud (Canute) the only remains are, in all probability, the low circular columns supporting the vaulting of the crypt, where the remains of the martyr king are still preserved. Canute ascended the throne of Denmark in 1080. With the intention of disputing with William of Normandy the conquest of England, he collected a large fleet and army, but the emissaries of William having succeeded by bribery in creating insubordination in the army, it separated before the king's arrival. This gave rise to friction between Canute and many of his subjects, on whom he inflicted severe punishments. An insurrection broke out and he was killed at Odense, in the church of St Albanus while kneeling before the altar. Five years afterwards Canute was canonized as the first Danish martyr, and in 1102 was buried in the crypt of the present stately Pointed Gothic church, of which he had been the founder and which, after his death and canoniza- tion, was dedicated to him. Canute founded this church in honour of the English Saint Alban, either because he had a peculiar reverence for England's protomartyr, or because the relics of St Alban which had been carried off from his abbey in Hert- fordshire during one of the Danish ravages in the time of Wulnoth, the fourth abbot, had been deposited in a con- vent at Odense, whence they were afterwards recovered and restored to St Albans. St Knud's, the principal church in Odense, is a digni- fied red-brick structure, having a nave and square-ended choir under one unbroken line of roof. There is a clerestory throughout, and the lean-to roofed aisles are continued along the sides of the western tower, which is surmounted 122 FROM OSNABRUCK TO COPENHAGEN by a short quadrilateral spire and turret of some pictur- esqueness. The west window, set within a shallow arch, has, like all the other windows, those red-brick mullions and simple uncusped tracery which I have so often drawn attention to as peculiar to Denmark. The east end is lighted by one large window of six compartments, and the aisles are pro- longed to the extremity of the plan. Internally St Knud's pleases from its dignified and har- monious proportions, and the architect has done his best to mould his piers and arches with the brick material at his command. Some of the slender shafts supporting the arches opening into the aisles have capitals, in others the arch mouldings are continued into the piers without any break. Such are the arches which, corresponding in width with those opening to the aisles, compose the triforium. They are glazed, but have no tracery. The nave is star- vaulted, the aisles quadripartitely. The whole of the red brick has been whitewashed, but paintings in simple patterns of grey and two shades of green with yellow and white, have been introduced with pleasing effect. The choir is approached from the nave by a very impo- sing flight of steps, rendered necessary by the crypt, and contains two rows of carved stalls with canopied backs, and an enormous fifteenth century altar-piece in the form of a triptych, sixteen feet high, twenty broad, and when open displaying upwards of three hundred figures carved upon more than three hundred square feet of surface. Each wing is divided into eight compartments, illustrating scenes in the life of our Lord. In the centre are the Coronation of the Virgin, the Crucifixion and the Nativity, with other 123 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. subjects. Below is a predella, with royal Danes and donors adoring the risen Saviour. This altar-piece has only occupied its present position since 1884. It was originally made at the expense of Queen Christina towards the close of the fifteenth century for the Grey friars' Church in Odense.That structure having been demolished in 1806, the altar-piece found a home in the Frues-Kirke, where it remained until the year of its removal to the position it now occupies. The metal font, supported on seated figures of the four Evangelists, and provided with the large brass dish usual in Denmark; the organ case, and chandeliers; a series of portraits of bishops of Funen in the south aisle; and the elaborate Renaissance screens to the mortuary chapels at the east end of the choir aisles, are all deserving of atten- tion. Beneath the entire choir, but not extending to the aisles, which continue on a level with the nave, is a remarkably fine crypt. It is entered by doorways and steps, descend- ing on either side of the broad flights which lead up from the nave to the choir. The two aisles which compose this crypt at Odense are divided into four bays by short circular columns having the local type of base and clearly Roman- esque, but the vaulting must date from the period of the rebuilding of the church in the fourteenth century. The shrine of St Knud lies near the centre of the crypt, being the spot pointed out by local tradition as that where he was slain in the church then subsisting. From the fact that the dimensions are too small to con- tain a corpse, it is clear that this was Knud's shrine, and not his coffin. In form the shrine is long and trough-shaped; the sides 124 FROM OSNABRUCK TO COPENHAGEN are arcaded in shallow panels of round-headed arches rest- ing on Romanesque twisted pillars; the figures formerly contained in these panels are said to have been of gold; above runs a cable, reminding one of the cable so often seen in a similar position in Roman leaden coffins. The trough is now lidless, but the relics, consisting of a skull and a few bones, are covered with a cloth of very early date, probably woven, rather than embroidered, with black eagles on a red ground. Another very similar shrine or monument, resting near the relics of St Knud, is said to contain the remains of his brother, Prince Benedict, who was slain at the same time. It is not arcaded, and is apparently rather late in style: it contains a skull and some bones. A short railway ride across the eastern half of Funen brought me to Nyborg, whence, after an enjoyable pas- sage across the Great Belt, I landed at Korsor in Zealand and proceeded at once by train :to Soro, finding excellent accommodation at the Hotel Postgaarden, a typical Danish house, which I can heartily recommend. It was not long after my arrival ere I found my way down to the abbey, whose situation in the umbrageous gardens of the college, and in proximity to the lake, which extends along the south and west sides of the hardly pic- turesque little town, is quite an ideal one. For a wonder, in Denmark, the western door of the church stood open, and I passed on to the interior quite unchallenged,* to enjoy an hour's leisurely inspection of *At Kallundborg, a few days later, I found the church open for the inspection of a party of visitors, who, I may take the opportunity of observ- ing, were conducting themselves in the indecorous fashion common to northern Protestants. On my entrance, the custos, or whatever he styled himself, absolutely demanded money, which, as I had no inclination for his 125 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. its architecture and rich Renaissance fittings, including a crucifix of colossal dimensions suspended above the entrance of the choir, and which the sun's declining rays were gilding with an effect indescribably beautiful and solemn. Seven hundred and fifty years ago, when the town of Soro was but a little hamlet, Asser Ryg erected on the spot a Cistercian convent, which, by the munificence of his sons, Axel and Esbern Snare, soon became one of the richest and most distinguished abbeys in the country. After the fashion of the day, the name of Axel was Latinized into Absalon. In 1 158 he was elected Bishop of Roeskilde, but his assumption of the episcopal crosier did not permit him to sheathe that sword which he had so often drawn to chastise the Wends. He left his episcopal palace to fall into decay, whilst he built upon the shores of his island-diocese rude huts, where he watched night and day, guarding his flock like a true shepherd against the heathen wolves. Even in the dead of winter he cruised along the coasts of Zealand to interrupt the sea-rovers, and was often called from the altar, where he was performing Divine Service, to march against them. He was once preparing to cele- brate Palm Sunday at Roeskilde, when information was suddenly brought him that a powerful band of Wends had landed from their ships and were devastating the country. Absalon hastily armed his church vassals, with as many of the neighbouring peasantry as he could collect, and, making a sudden onset upon the enemy, drove them back to their ships with slaughter. services, I as resolutely refused. The question which forces itself upon an Anglo-Catholic mind is this: How can such dry bones as Scandinavian Lutheranism live? I26 FROM OSNABRUCK TO COPENHAGEN No Archbishop of Lund ever equalled Absalon in grandeur, in whose favour his predecessor, worn out with age,abdicated; but Absalon refused the honour."Nolo archi- episcopari," he protested, "unless I may retain Roeskilde as well." He got his own way, and was henceforth styled "Archbishop of Lund," "Bishop of Roeskilde," "Grand Marshal of the realm," "First Captain by sea and by land." Dying in 1201, this powerful prelate, before whom sovereigns quailed, was interred behind the high altar of the stern old Cistercian church which owed so much to his munificence. The original monument, having, it is to be presumed, suffered from the effects of time, was replaced, in 1536, by Bishop Tornekrants by the one which we now see, viz., a stone sculptured with the archbishop's effigy in high relief, and habited in full pontificals. The framework to the figure, composed of two square pillars supporting a semicircular arch, is decidedly Renaissance in feeling, but the treatment of the vestments in the effigy is much earlier and purer than one would expect in a monument of this date. The vestments include the pallium and a high mitre; the right hand is raised in benediction and the left holds a massive archiepiscopal cross-staff (more like a processional cross). Above the right shoulder, in order to balance the design, is a censer. At his feet are seated two small figures of bishops (in place of the presumably allegorical lion or hound usual on English memorials, or the wild man, pagan, or demon usually seen on episcopal monuments in Northern Germany). These are supposed to represent Absalon's kinsmen, Peder and Skjalen Vognsen, Bishops of Aarhuus, who died in 1207 and 121 5 respectively. 127 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. Some eighty years ago there existed in the old Chamber of Art at Copenhagen a skull and tibia reported to have belonged to Absalon. When these relics were shown to King Frederic VI one day, he was greatly scandalized, and exclaimed, "Absalon deserved better of his country than to be made the gaze of fools," and straightway gave orders that the head should be replaced in his coffin at Soro. So the great and learned travelled to Soro, and with much ceremony the sarcophagus of the departed prelate was raised from the vault and the lid unclosed, when, to the amazement of all present, there lay Archbishop Absalon with his head well fastened on his shoulders. The skull which had so long passed current as that of the warrior prelate was no more than some memento mori of a Cistercian monk of the convent, and as for the tibia, they proved, on examination, to belong both to the right leg. The searchers, however, removed from his finger the pontifical ring of gold, enriched with a sapphire, as well as a chalice of silver gilt which was placed upon his breast. These authenticated relics are preserved in the sacristy of the church at Soro. Though Archbishop Absalon does sleep sound, he appears to be irascible even in death. This, the following story, related by Hans Jansen, Bishop of Ribe,once rector of the academy at Soro, will show, at the same time that it gives some idea of the superstition of the clergy. The rector was very fond, after sunset, of pacing the Allee des Philosophes — as the lime-tree walk is called — solacing himself with the music of his flageolet. One even- ing, the door chancing to be open, he entered the church, and, standing before the tomb of the archbishop, after playing him a favourite air, exclaimed, "Well, Absalon, 128 FROM OSNABRUCK TO COPENHAGEN what do you think of that?" Scarcely had the words escaped his lips, when out of his grave bounced the infuriated prelate, in full pontificals, crosier in hand. The rector took to his heels, pursued by the ghost, and gained the church door just in time, banging it behind him, for Absalon struck it such a violent blow with his crosier that the very walls trembled. When the coffin of Absalon was opened one hundred and twenty years afterwards, the crosier was found snapped in twain. After the introduction of the reformed religion, and about 1586, Frederick II transformed the abbey into a foundation school, and in 1623 Christian IV, anxious to prevent the Danish nobles from leaving their own country to prosecute their studies at foreign universities, founded, richly endowed and connected with this school an aca- demy for young noblemen, and appointed many foreign professors to instruct them in the different sciences and languages. The school founded by Frederick II being exclusively designed for noblemen's children, it was considered neces- sary to lay down a rule that "the children of nobles who may frequent this school, shall hereafter, for several reasons, at meals, in the hours of instruction and of recrea- tion, as well as in their dormitories, be separated from the other children who are not noble." This is one of the many instances of the profound con- tempt in which the nobles held the other classes, and the total unconcern with which they gave utterance to their feelings, circumstances which in less than half a century afterwards led to the complete overthrow of their power, and to the establishment of an absolute monarchy. This Accidentia Sorana was housed in the old conventual I29 K CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. buildings until their destruction by fire in 1813. Now the church stands isolated. It is a cruciform structure, 220 feet long, 68 wide and 52 high, and is built almost entirely of brick in the simplest and severest style of Romanesque, the only relief to the prevailing sternness being afforded by the shallow arcading in the gables of the transepts, east end, and by that which runs under the eaves of the nave roof along the whole of the southern and part of the northern clerestory A chapel opens out from the western side of the north transept, and, in accordance with Cistercian rules, two from the eastern sides of either transept. These are all contained beneath lean-to roofs, but internally each of these four chapels is simply barrel-vaulted and has a square end. The aisleless eastern limb has a square end lighted by two very elongated and round-headed windows; a similar pair serves for the north end of the northern transept; and at the west end — a composition of much grandeur yet simplicity — is a round-headed doorway beneath a pediment, surmounted by a pair of smaller single-light windows and a very large plain round window. At the. junction of the nave and choir with the transepts is an octagonal turret, having each side gabled, and supporting a spirelet of the same shape. An equal simplicity reigns within the church. The piers are oblong masses of brickwork to which are attached pilasters carrying the round arches separating the nave from the aisles, and the great pointed ones, which, span- ning the church transversely, divide it into four noble domical compartments groined sexpartitely. The ribs of the six cells spring from attached pillarets, which, as well as the roofs themselves, are in all probability later addi- tions, the original covering having been a flat one of wood. 130 St. Benedict's, Ringsted, from the South East. To face page 130. FROM OSNABRUCK TO COPENHAGEN In the aisles, however, a greater richness and variety is observable owing to the semicircular attached shafts employed to carry the groining ribs. A series of well-carved stalls extends across the great arches opening into the transepts, and, together with the tall open screen which separates the crossing from the nave, the great crucifix pendent just above it, and the close screens between the aisles and the transepts, are remarkable works of the Early Renaissance period, intro- duced shortly before the dissolution of the house. The altar-piece, font, pulpit, chandeliers and organ case are likewise admiranda of the "same epoch of ecclesiastical art. The brickwork has all been whitewashed, but the sur- faces are relieved with painting in alternate strips of light and dark brown, while the space between the pier arches and the clerestory has been emblazoned with armorial bearings in a manner productive of a good effect. Behind the altar-piece is suspended a list, with their dates, of the monuments and gravestones within the church, some five and fifty in number. Of these none exceeds in beauty and interest the monument of Christopher II and his Queen Euphemia, daughter of Bogislaus, Duke of Pomerania. It stands on the northern side of the short eastern limb of the church. The recumbent effigies of these sovereigns, lying side by side, are of great beauty and exquisite bronze work- manship. That of Christopher II is very suggestive of Edward IPs in Gloucester Cathedral. He, as well as his queen, is arrayed in his robes of state, his hair flowing long, and his beard pointed after the fashion of our Early Plan- tagenets; his head is encircled by the royal crown; his 131 K2 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. sword lies by his side; and his features are regular and expressive. The queen boasts of little beauty; her nose, en ev entail, betrays her Pomeranian origin; her long wavy hair falls on her shoulders from beneath the regal circlet; her surcoat is rich in jewellery; and her corsage is ornamented with octagonal bosses, alternately bearing the lion of Norway and the winged griffin of the Wends. Between these two recumbent effigies lies that of a little child — coroneted like its parents — a princess, who preceded them to the tomb. Behind the head of Christopher stands the lion of Den- mark, on his four legs, as unlike a lion as may be. From his back rises an octagonal lantern, whose elegantly traceried and gabled windows are left open so as to hold a candle of large dimensions to be burnt at the tomb of departed royalty on certain vigils; while behind the queen stands a similar structure, rising from the shoulder of the griffin of Pomerania. Each lantern is surmounted by a gracefully crocketed fleche terminating in a very large finial of floriated design. Between the heads of the king and queen is an upright candlestick (for use), and at the feet are two similar, but smaller, ones. The south and west sides of the stone table monument, on which these effigies repose, are enriched with small figures in high relief, under canopies, of our Lord and the Blessed Virgin, SS. Peter and Paul, four queens and four bishops, besides other small figures. The work is admirably executed, but unfortunately somewhat injured. The date of this fine monument is about 1360. 132 FROM OSNABRUCK TO COPENHAGEN Between Soro and Roeskilde is the dull little town of Ringsted, whose Romanesque church of St Benedict — cruciform, dignified and of brick — enshrines one of the most elaborate sepulchral brasses in the North of Europe. It lies behind the altar covering the grave of Erik Menved and his Queen Ingeborg, both of whom died in the year I3I9- The tabernacle work which canopies the figures is per- haps unparalleled in point of richness even by our best English examples of the same epoch, the fourteenth cen- tury. The abundance of small figures introduced, the exuberance of the ornament and diaper work, the fancy everywhere displayed, in turn command admiration. The shafts of the canopies have their niches filled with small figures of prophets and apostles, ranged together, the former distinguished by their scrolls, the latter by their emblems. The upper part above the heads of the figures exemplifies the redemption of the soul, which is borne by angels in a winding-sheet to Paradise. The king is in a long tunic, richly emblazoned with three lions passant guardant in a field semee of hearts, to use heraldic language; and it is fastened on the breast by a small ring brooch, having amatory posies. The figure of the queen has also one, but of simpler outline. Both have the usual mantles of estate, and are crowned, the king holding in his right hand the sword of justice, in his left a sceptre. The queen holds a sceptre in her right hand and a book in her left. The faces of the figures are not in brass, but are inser- tions, that of the king being of marble, the queen of ala- baster. These are also restorations, and do not too closely 133 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. accord with the conventional style of the time. It must be also remarked that the date, 13 19, is much too early for the character of the execution, which is fully thirty years later. Roeskilde, which I made my place of sojourn for a few days in preference to somewhat noisy and ecclesiologically uninteresting Copenhagen, was from the tenth to the fifteenth century the residence of the Danish kings, the see of the first bishop of the land, and the capital, as well as the most important town in the country. It is said to have been founded by King Roe, who chose this spot on account of the fresh water springs that abound in the neighbourhood; hence the name Roeskilde (Roe's well). Of all the past glory of the city its cathedral alone remains, and built as it is on a slight elevation in the midst of the extensive plain of Zealand, forms with its grand red-brick bulk and pair of western steeples a conspicuous object for a great distance. The first church at Roeskilde was erected in the tenth century by King Harald Blaatand. It was built of wood, but in the eleventh century it was replaced by a church of much grander dimensions. This church, which con- sisted of a nave and two aisles and stood a little to the east of the old royal castle, was built of limestone. Bishop William began this work, which was completed by Bishop Svend Nordbagge, with the assistance of King Knud, the Saint. A conventual establishment was at the same time added to the church on its north side. In 1070 occurred a scene in this cathedral strongly resembling that which took place in the fourth century between St Ambrose and the Emperor Theodosius at Milan. 134 FROM OSNABRUCK TO COPENHAGEN King Sweyn II (son of Urf Jarl, who was murdered in the choir), upon some remarks being repeated to him which had been made upon his conduct the night before by some of the guests when heated with wine, in the irri- tation of the moment, ordered them to be slain, although they were then at Mass in the cathedral. An Anglo-Saxon, named William, and who had been secretary to Canute the Great, was then Bishop of Roes- kilde. On the day following this dreadful tragedy, the king proceeded to the cathedral. He was met by the bishop, who, elevating his crosier, commanded him to retire, and not to pollute with his person the house of God — that house which he had desecrated with blood. The king's attendants drew their swords, but he forbad them to exercise any violence towards a man who, in the discharge of his duty, defied even kings. Retiring mournfully to his palace, Sweyn assumed the garb of penance, wept and prayed and lamented his crime during three days. He then presented himself in the same mean apparel before the gates of the cathedral. The bishop was in the midst of the service; the Kyrie Eleison had been chanted and the Gloria in Excelsis was about to com- mence, when he was informed that the royal penitent was outside the gates. Leaving the altar, he repaired to the spot, raised the suppliant monarch, and greeted him with the kiss of peace. Then, bringing him into the church, he heard his confession, removed the excommunication and allowed him to join in the service. Soon afterwards, in this cathedral, Sweyn made a fur- ther confession of his crime, asked pardon alike of God and man, was allowed to resume his royal apparel, and i3S CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. solemnly absolved. Furthermore, to atone for the murder of his brother-in-law, Ulf Jarl, Canute the Great nobly endowed Roeskilde Cathedral. Respecting the building of the present cathedral at Ro€skilde few particulars can be gleaned; but excavations have proved it to stand on the same site as the old lime- stone building. It was in all probability begun early in the thirteenth century in a style mingling the Round-arched with the Pointed; brick, with a little stone, being the material employed. The plan must have been a very simple one, embracing an aisled nave, transepts, not projecting beyond the line of the aisles, and an apsidal choir with aisles continued round it but no chapels. The proportions are very grand, though the details are very simple, and the division of the height into four parts — viz., arcade opening to the aisles, spacious and lofty triforium gallery, or "tribune" (analogous to the German manner ch or) small blind arcade, and clerestory — points to the supposition that the architect, whoever he was, must have travelled about north-eastern France and Germany and have watched the progress of such great churches as Notre-Dame at Paris, Laon, Noyon and Limburg on the Lahn. It is to the last-named that Roeskilde, particularly as regards plan, bears the most striking resemblance. The conventual church of Calbaz in Pomerania is also con- sidered by some to have furnished the model for Roeskilde. Between 1300 and 1772 the originally simple ground- plan gradually assumed its present irregular shape. These changes began in 13 10 with the erection, by Bishop Oluf, of a Lady Chapel on the south side of the nave. This, how- Roeskilde Cathedral from the North Vest. Carved subjects above the Stalls at Roeskilde. (St. Mary Magdalene anointing Our Lord's feet, and The Raising of Lazarus.) To face page 136. FROM OSNABRUCK TO COPENHAGEN ever, was removed when King Frederick's V's chapel was built between 1774 anc ^ *779- In 1384 Bishop Niels Jepsen Ulfeld built out a chapel from the third bay of the north nave aisle, dedicating it to St Lawrence. The Chapel of St Sigfrid was formed in the base of the northern tower by Bishop Peder Jensen Lode- hat in 1405, and six years later Queen Margaret, perhaps the ablest ruler Denmark ever had,* founded that of Bethlehem in the southern tower; in 141 2 she was buried in the conventual church at Soro, but in the following year her remains were transferred to Ro^skilde and interred behind the high altar. In 1420 the present fine double row of choir stalls was erected as a memorial to the Queen by Bishop Jens Andersen, and the choir otherwise embellished. On May 14, 1443, the cathedral suffered from fire, but the choir appears to have been sufficiently repaired, five years later, to allow of the burial within it of King Chris- topher of Bavaria (King of Denmark). Sixteen years later Bishop Oluf Mortensen consecrated the building on its complete restoration. To this time belong the Chapel of the Three Kings, which extends along the south side of the nave to the length of two bays; the northern tower, the little antechamber, called the "armoury" of Oluf Mor- tensen, the south-west and north-west "armouries," and St Birgitta's Chapel which adjoins that of St Lawrence on *She succeeded in uniting with the crown of Denmark those of Norway and Sweden by the union of Calmar in 1397. But at her death, on the fes- tival of St Simon and St Jude (Oct. 28), 141 2, the united Scandinavian crowns passed on to German princes distantly related to the ancient royal family of Denmark, who lacked both ability and energy to work out the great political scheme begun by her; and after a troubled existence of about 120 years, the union came to an end by the secession of Sweden. 137 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. the north side of the nave. Between 15 13 and 1529 Bishop Lage Urne roofed the cathedral with copper, and enriched the interior with paintings. Although much havoc was made with the internal fittings and decorations at the Reformation, in 1536, the cathedral retained the greater part of its income, and still preserved its reputation as the burial-place of the ancestors of the royal house of Oldenburg. Between 161 5 and 1620 King Christian IV built the large sepulchral chapel which opens out from the fourth and fifth bays of the north aisle, and in 1635 caused the existing thin spires to be raised upon the red-brick western towers. In 1689 the old high choir, i.e., the bay between the transept and the apse, was evacuated and arranged as the sepulchral place for Kings Christian V and Frederick IV. The Lady Chapel, already alluded to as existing on the south side of the nave, was removed in 1772 to give place to the mortuary chapel of Frederick V, an Ionic structure, in plan a Greek cross, and balancing the Chapel of Christian IV. Between 1859 and 1881 the cathedral was undergoing intermittent restoration under the direction of the architects, Zeltner, Chr Hansen and Herholdt, with the result that, internally at least, it has assumed a very imposing and rich, but not over decorated, appearance, and although its dimensions are not considerable, the church, both within and without, derives much of its grandeur to harmony of proportion.* Notwithstanding the architectural changes that have taken place in the original thirteenth-century building, the church presents all the features of the First Pointed *From east to west it measures 276 feet, and from north to south 87 feet. The internal height is 82 feet. 138 FROM OSNABRUCK TO COPENHAGEN style. Even in subsequent additions the lancet window is used, as, indeed, it was all over Denmark, even during the latest periods, owing, no doubt, to the inability of its architects, from the paucity of stone, to produce anything elaborate in the way of tracery. There is, however, an exception to this at Roeskilde in the early seventeenth- century mausoleum of Christian IV, where we find two large pointed arched windows with stone tracery of that form rather common in England, viz., that in which the mullions simply cross each other in the head of the arch without any cuspings or foliations. The finest view of the cathedral is from the Kirkes- traad, a street of one-storied, red-tiled houses to the east, whence the apse, with its three tiers of windows and artistically planned mass of roof, tells to great advantage. The whole cathedral, with the exception of the granite shafts supporting the arches opening into the procession path and the spacious gallery corresponding with it, is constructed of brick, occasionally moulded; the piers and vaulting shafts alone are exposed, and the rest is plastered over. The building is so simple as to afford but little material for an architectural description, its leading characteristics being well brought out by the accompanying illustrations. It should, however, be remarked that the views across the church are fine; those down the aisles from the procession path are peculiarly impressive. Several instrumenta of worship will afford the eccle- siologist gratification, notably the reredos of the high altar, the stalls and the organ case. Numerous wall and roof paint- ings, some iron gates to chapels and the royal tombs, which, to most visitors, are the leading features of interest 139 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. in this, the Westminster Abbey of Denmark, are also to be noted. The reredos of the high altar is a remarkably fine speci- men of Early Renaissance handicraft. Tradition has it that a Dutch skipper, coming from Danzig, intended to smuggle this altar-piece through the sound, but was detained. He then declared its value at so low a figure that King Frederick II resolved to purchase it, and had it set up in his chapel at Fredericksborg palace. Eventually Christian IV presented it to Roeskilde Cathedral. As may be seen from the illustration, this retabulum is of almost colossal dimensions, takes the form of a triptych with a round-headed centre and rectangular wings, and is carved in oak. The central compartment contains the following nine subjects, the first three forming a predella: The Nativity of our Lord, the Circumcision and the Epiphany; the Flagellation, the Ecce Homo and the Crowning with Thorns; the Procession to Calvary, the Crucifixion and the Deposition from the Cross. All the figures composing these groups are executed in high relief, richly coloured and gilt. The faces and attitudes are full of expression, carved by an able artist, whose name has not been preserved. The subjects, in low relief, upon the folding doors, are clearly of a different school. On the left lower door are the Annunciation and the Salutation of Elizabeth; and on the corresponding one to the right, the Massacre of the Inno- cents and the Flight into Egypt. The upper folding door to the left has the Appearance to the Magdalene after the Resurrection; Christ before Caiaphas; Pilate washing his 140 High Altarpiece in the Cathedral at Roeskilde. To face page 140. / FROM OSNABRUCK TO COPENHAGEN hands; Christ before Pilate and Christ before Herod. The corresponding leaf represents the Washing of the Disciples' feet; the Entombment; the Resurrection; the Descent into Hades and the Ascension. The two rows of finely carved choir-stalls which stretch across the transepts and into one bay of the nave date from 1420, as recorded in the following inscription: The choir was enlarged in the year of our Lord 1420 at the expense of Jens Andersen, Bishop, in the fourth year of his office, for the salvation of the soul of the illustrious Queen Margaret, the patroness of all the clergy, who lies buried here, and for that of his uncle and predecessor, Bishop Peter of Right Reverend memory; for the reign of this Queen was everywhere for the happiness of the inhabitants of the king- doms. Glory to her and honour to all those who are well inten- tioned to us. From 1420 to 1689 the choir of Roeskilde Cathedral was separated from the nave by a high close screen. The stalls were returned against this screen which had a doorway in the middle, the stall to the left and right of the entrance being surmounted by a tall canopy of spiral form. These still exist at the west end of the range of stalls on either side. The other stalls have no such canopies, but the crested frieze which surmounts their panelled backs is slightly inclined so as to give a canopied effect, and is enriched with a series of carved subjects, which, forming quite a compendium of Bible history, run thus: On the south side: (1) The Creation of the World. (2) The Creation of Eve. (3) Cain and Abel. (4) The Ark of Noah. (5) Abraham's Sacrifice. (6) Jacob wrestling with the Angel; Jacob's Dream. (7) Joseph cast into the pit; his coat brought to Jacob. (8) Moses smiting the rock; he 141 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. receives the Tables of the Law. (9) Trie Worship of the Golden Calf. (10) Moses and the Brazen Serpent. (11) Samson slaying the lion; carries away the gates of Gaza. (12) Saul falls upon his sword; his head is cut off and sent to David. (1 3) Bathsheba kneeling with Solomon by the sick-bed of David; Solomon becomes king. (14) The Judge- ment of Solomon. (15) The Ascension of Elijah; Elisha raises the widow's son. (16) Judith and Holof ernes. (17) The Coronation of Esther, and the repudiation of Vashti. (18) Destruction of Job's house; Job surrounded by his friends. (19) Daniel in the Lions' den; Jonah cast from the whale. (20) The combat of Judas Maccabaeus with Anti- ochus; Eleazar crushed by an elephant. (21) The Nativity of St John the Baptist; Zecharias, speechless, writes the name of the child. (22) St John the Baptist preaching in the Wilderness. On the north side the reliefs are as follows: (1) The Nativity of our Lord. (2) The Epiphany. (3) The Pre- sentation in the Temple. (4) The Massacre of the Inno- cents. (5) Mary Magdalene anointing our Lord's feet. (6) The Raising of Lazarus.* (7) The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. (8) Christ cleansing the Temple. (9) The Institution of the Eucharist. (10) Judas's treachery; Peter cuts off the ear of Malchus. (11) The crowning with thorns. (12) The procession to Calvary. (13) The Cruci- fixion. (14) The Entombment. (15) The descent into Hell. (16) The Resurrection. (17) The appearance to St Mary Magdalene. (18) The incredulity of St Thomas. (19) The Ascension. (20) The Descent of the Holy Ghost. (21) The Coronation of the Virgin. (22) Our Lord seated in Judgement. *These two reliefs are illustrated. I42 FROM OSNABRUCK TO COPENHAGEN I will now proceed to enumerate the most important of the paintings, regal tombs and other objects of interest enshrined in this cathedral, commencing at the west end. Under the south tower stands the ancient Chapel of Bethlehem, founded in 141 1 by Queen Margaret. In 1649 it was given to Otto Krag, counsellor of the Crown, for a family vault, and thence called the Krag Chapel. Under the north tower is the ancient chapel of St Sigfrid. This is now styled the Trolle Chapel, and on the iron grille within the arch opening into it from the aisle is seen a demon or goblin (Dan-Trold), the armorial bearing of the family. The three marble sarcophagi in this chapel enclose the remains of Queen Anna Sophia, second wife of Frederick IV (d. 1743) and three of her children. At the west end of the nave between the towers the triforium gallery is continued round. It is vaulted under- neath and supported by two plain brick columns of cylindrical form. The organ, originally constructed in 1555 by Herman Raphaelis, is picturesquely placed above the third bay opening to the aisle on the south side. The case is a beau- tiful specimen of Renaissance work richly coloured and gilt, the decoration of the wooden vault under the choir organ with white foliage on a blue ground being strikingly beautiful. The pulpit, of 1600, decorated with sculptures in marble and alabaster, and the pew of King Christian IV within the triforium bay opposite will alike gratify the admirer of a school of furniture which flourished during the early part of the seventeenth century in Denmark. St Birgitta's Chapel, the first of three opening out of the north aisle, was built at the end of the fifteenth cen- H3 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. tury by Bishop Oluf Mortensen. whose effigy in pontifical vestments with crosier is seen on the stone covering his remains. The walls and roof are profusely covered with paintings (c. 151 1), in which green and red are the prevail- ing hues. Here are the sumptuous stalls of Bishops Niels Skave (d. 1500) and Lage Urne (15 12-1529). In the next chapel, that of St Lawrence, dating from 1384, the chief object of interest is an ancient painting on the west wall representing the Decollation of St John the Baptist, and Salome with his head on a dish. There was formerly on the tomb of Bishop Niels Jepson Ulfeld, the founder of this chapel, a magnificent brass with his effigy in full vest- ments. But in 1806, when the cathedral was stripped of several valuable instrument^ notably the episcopal throne, the great seven-branched candelabrum, and pendent crucifix — this brass was sold and destroyed. Happily a drawing had been made of this brass, and from that draw- ing the photograph now in the chapel was taken. Christian the Fourth's Chapel, built partly after the king's own design by Lorenz Steenwinkel between 161 5 and 1620, has been decorated by the artists Eddelien Marstrand and Hilker with paintings, historical and allegorical, and of celebrated men who flourished during the latter part of the sixteenth century and during the greater part of the seventeenth. The royal tombs here are those of Christian IV (d. 1648), his first queen, Anna Catharina (d. 161 2); Prince Christian, eldest son of the above-named monarch (d. 1647), King Frederick III (d. 1670), and his consort, Sophia Amalie (d. 1685). The iron grilles shutting out this chapel from the rest of the church were forged in 1619 by Caspar Finck, who has recorded his work at the bottom of the gates as follows : 144 FROM OSNABRUCK TO COPENHAGEN Caspar Fincke bin ich genant, dieser Arbeit bin ich bekanU In the northern transept, and in the procession path behind the altar, is an interesting series of portraits of ecclesiastics, including Anscarius the first Archbishop of Bremen, Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, and the Bishops of Zealand from Peter Palladius (d. 1560), to Bishop Fog (d. 1896). In the southern transept some remains of the Roman- esque cathedral have been brought to light during a recent restoration. The large, coldly classical chapel, approached from the south aisle of the nave contains all the royal coffins from that of King Frederick V to that of the late King Chris- tian IX. To those interested in the study of such memorials they may be of interest. Of a better order are the royal tombs in the Chapel of the Three Kings, or, as it is now styled, the Chapel of King Christian I, by whom it was founded and dedicated in 1464 by Bishop Oluf Mortensen. A granite column in the centre of the square plan divides the roof into four quadripartite vaults, which, as well as the walls, are covered with paintings supposed to be coeval with the chapel. The finest regal tombs are, perhaps, those in the retro- choir or eastern limb of the church between the transept and the apse, viz., Queen Margaret's (141 2), Duke Christopher's (1363), King Frederick IV's (1730), King Christian V's (1699) and Queen Charlotte Amalie's (1714). On the piers of the arch on either side of this retro- choir are some interesting paintings executed about 1520 by the care of Bishop Lage Urne, to commemorate four of the founders and early benefactors to the cathedral, and 145 L CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. whose remains were removed and immured in the pillars of the thirteenth-century choir. On the north-western pier is the effigy of Harald Blaatand, who died about the year 987. He built the first church at Roeskilde, of wood, as recorded in the inscrip- tion: Haraldus rex Danice Anglice et Norvegice, primus fundator hujus ecclesice. It should be noted that this figure of Harald, as well as the remaining four, is costumed in the style of the early part of the sixteenth century. On the north-eastern pier is represented Estrid, the mother of King Svend, sister to Canute the Great. When her husband, Ulf Jarl, was buried in the old Romanesque cathedral, she richly endowed it. In the register of gifts to the cathedral she is styled "Queen Estrid," because she was the mother of King Svend, but in the inscription she is styled, Margaretha alias Estritb, dicta regina Danice. King Svend Estridsen's figure adorns the south-western pillar. King Svend was one of the greatest benefactors to the church, having presented it with half the district of Stevn in atonement for having killed some men in the cathedral as recorded earlier in these pages. He died in 1077. Bishop William, who began the eleventh-century cathe- dral, is depicted on the south-eastern pier. It is said that until a few years ago, the thigh bone of the bishop could be seen through a crevice in the wall beneath the painting which is inscribed Vilhelmus Efiscopus Roskildensis. The ecclesiology of Copenhagen is jejune, though the admirer of good solid post-Reformation furniture may find something to interest him in the churches of the Holy Trinity, to which the celebrated Round Tower is attached, the Holmen's Kyrka, with a good Renaissance doorway of 146 FROM OSNABRUCK TO COPENHAGEN carved wood, and that of our Saviour (vor Freisers Kirke) in the Christianshavn quarter, remarkable for its peculiar spire, completed in 1752, with an external staircase ter- minating under a ball. The so-called marble church, commenced in 1749, a ban- doned for want of funds, and only completed within the last five and twenty years at the expense of an individual, has a pleasing Corinthian portico. Internally, the church, which is a simple circle on plan, recalls the Radclyffe Library at Oxford, and the dome which surmounts it appears to have been inspired by that of the Val de Grace at Paris. As for the Vor Frue Kirke, or Church of our Lady, all that can be said of it is that, externally at least, it may vie in ugliness and clumsiness with those productions of the Augustan Age of the First Gentleman in Europe — the "New" or "Commissioners'" churches built in London and the large provincial towns of England under the "Million Act" between 1820 and 1830. There is an imposing Doric portico, a nave, a semicircular apse and a clumsy western tower. The wide nave, approached by a vestibule, calculated, no doubt, to inspire the Gothic mind with terror, has on either side a series of round arches opening into darksome dens, and above them a colonnade of Roman Doric pillars too closely set together to be productive of a truly fine effect. Indeed, the church is only worth visiting for the sake of Thorwaldsen's colossal figures of our Saviour and the Twelve Apostles, which were disclosed to public view with great ceremony, in 1839, in the presence of the King and Queen and royal family and the great officers of state. The figure of the Saviour stands in the apse between two columns 147 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. supporting a pediment, those of the Apostles being placed against the piers on either side of the nave. Of the figures of the Twelve Apostles, that of St Paul is, perhaps, the most striking: his attitude, unlike that of the Redeemer, is one of warning and reproof; deep thought is expressed on his countenance; he has thought much, and, perhaps, like all converts, somewhat hastily of mankind; he would frighten, drive the sinner to repentance. St Peter, keys in hand, has a fine face, but not the intel- lect of his fellow-apostles, and there Thorwaldsen showed his judgement. St Peter was not a man of education; he was the humble, lowly fisherman, from whose mouth the truth came. St John,^ beautiful, youthful, holy, writes down the words from inspiration; St Matthew from dicta- tion. In the centre of the chancel stands the celebrated font, fashioned in the form of an angel, kneeling and holding a shell. Copies of this font may be seen at home in the churches of Barmouth and Bodelwyddan. Thorwaldsen himself was one of the sponsors of the first infant baptized in this font at the Vor Frue Kirke,the child of the Danish sculptor, Freund, his old pupil. Other works from the same hand are the group of St John preaching in the Wilderness, in the tympanum of the great portico; a frieze representing the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, in the vestibule, and another, in the apse, of the Procession to Calvary. The Institution of the Sacraments, Charity and the Guardian Angel, are small, but not less admirable, pro- ductions of Thorwaldsen. Many people prefer the original clay models of our Lord and His Apostles to their replicas in Carrara marble. Cer- 148 4 St Uohn, by Thorvaldsen, in the Church of Our Lady, at Copenhagen. To face page 148. FROM OSNABRUCK TO COPENHAGEN tainly they can be better studied in their location, that Museum, erected by the city of Copenhagen to contain a collection of the works, pictures, books, cameos, etc., bequeathed to the Danish nation by that sculptor of whom it may be justly proud. Here, in what is called the Christus Hall, the figure of Christ the Consoler, standing in the midst of the Apostles, produces a wonderfully solemn effect. Albert Bertel Thorwaldsen was born in 1770 in Copen- hagen. He was of Icelandic origin. His father was a drunken carver of ships' figureheads, and it was intended that the son should follow the same calling. The child's talent, however, soon demonstrated itself, and he was put to study at the free school of the Danish Academy of Fine Arts, where he made rapid progress, although he received no other sort of education, not beginning to study the rudi- ments of his own language until the age of thirty- five. It must be said that there was nothing national in what was taught him at the Academy — only a weak classicalism. From time to time he received various gold and silver medals from that institution, and subsequently became entitled to a travelling pension, but was indifferent about accepting it. By desultory means Thorwaldsen was enabled to pick up a livelihood, by modelling mirror frames, which his father and he went from door to door to sell, and also by small medallion portraits, both in clay and on parchment, in which he obtained some aptitude for likenesses; and this kind of life, with an everlasting pipe in his mouth and a dog at his heels, and some opportunity of hearing music, was all his ambition required. Thorwaldsen's first entrance into the sphere of art 149 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. proper was when lie translated pictures into wooden bas- reliefs. So long as he carved like his forefathers, in wood, he was true to the lineage of Scandinavian art, but when he migrated to Italy, and began to carve in Carrara marble, the ambitious Dane surrendered a large part of his nation- ality, and his style remained, as it had been, wooden. Apollos, Graces, and other newly-made acquaintances, from Olympus and Parnassus, even when chiselled in finest marble, never quite emancipated themselves from the stiffness and awkwardness of the wooden figure-heads carved in the dockyard of Copenhagen. Yielding at length to the advice of his friends, Thor- waldsen accepted the travelling pension of the Danish Academy, which amounted to .£24 yearly for three years. He embarked, accompanied by his dog, Hector, in May, 1796, for Rome, but did not reach that city until the following March. The captain of the vessel reported of him that he slept all the mornings, and cared for nothing but idleness and eating. Zoega, "the Danish Winckelmann," who was then in Rome, was amazed at the ignorance of his countryman, who knew nothing of history or mythology, French or Italian, and who had not even a vague idea of the name or meaning of the things he saw. However, Thorwaldsen's artistic nature enabled him to receive the fertilizing influence of the unparalleled masterpieces he now saw, and he said of himself, "I was born on March 8, 1797 (the date of his arrival in Rome): up to that time I did not exist." Imbued with the art teachings of Winckelmann, he set to work to make numerous copies of classical models, and 150 FROM OSNABRUCK TO COPENHAGEN in 1798 sent to Copenhagen his first independent work, "Bacchus and Ariadne." Before this, however, he had produced a statue of Jason, but as it attracted little or no notice he destroyed it. By the aid of some friends he was led to reproduce it on a large scale, and thenCanova pronounced it to be a creation in a new and grand style. Still no patron appeared, and Thorwaldsen was on the point of returning to Denmark when by chance Thomas Hope* saw the model and gave him his first commission for it. This was in 1802, but, strange to say, the statue was not completed until a quarter of a century afterwards. Delays like this were among Thorwaldsen's characteristics. From thence his success was certain, and in 1805 Zoega was able to write: "Thorwaldsen is now quite the fashion, and commissions are coming in on all sides. No one doubts that Canova and he are the two most eminent sculptors in Rome." It was between 1802 and 1820 that some of Thor- waldsen's greatest masterpieces were executed: the famous *Thomas Hope (b. 1770, d. 1831) was the descendant of a family of rich Scottish merchants, and having acquired considerable artistic tastes, went, in 1788, for a prolonged tour abroad, and returned with a valuable collec- tion of antiquities. His Costumes of the Ancients, Designs of Modern Costumes and Historical Essay on Architecture (the last published posthumously), display consider- able research, and his Household Furniture and Design, published in 1805, went not a little way towards improving the somewhat barbaric tastes of the age. He is now chiefly, if not solely, remembered for his novel, Anas- tasius, published in 1817. It created some stir, not so much on account of its merits, as its subject, modern Greek life, and its tone of emphatic ph.il- hellenism caused it to be ascribed at first to Lord Byron. A later work of Hope's, Origin and Prospects of Man, published in 1 831, displays distinct originality of mind. Not only was Hope one of the first to recognize the genius of Thor- waldsen, but of Flaxman and Gibson. 151 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. "Venus with the Apple," "Ganymede and the Eagle," "The Adonis," for the Prince of Bavaria, "Hector and Paris," "A Genio Lumen," "Amor on a Lion," "Amor wounded by a Bee," and "The Entry of Alexander into Babylon," executed for the Quirinal in honour of Napo- leon's anticipated visit, proclaimed him without a rival in groups of sculpture. Tardily, his own countrymen dis- covered Thorwaldsen's talent. The Royal Commissioners for building the new palace at Christiansborg and the Church of our Lady in Copenhagen, became liberal in their orders. One inveterate enemy, however, pursued the subject of this sketch — the court architect, Hansen, a German by birth. He it was who constructed all the hideous edifices of his time by which the Danish capital is so fearfully dis- figured — the palace, the Frue Kirke and others — and he might rightly be termed the architectural curse of Copen- hagen. Jealous in disposition, he determined, as he ex- pressed himself, "to keep little T. under water," and, so far as his day permitted, he did so. As regards both power and thought, Thorwaldsen's "Triumph of Alexander" is sufficient to establish the fame of any artist. Here, in a bas-relief sixty feet long and four feet high, a sphere for style, action and consistency of representation was offered, which only the highest ability and that philo- sophy of art which grows from experience could fill. In no work did Thorwaldsen feel himself so much at home as in this. He had reached that point of knowledge — too little perceptible either in modern sculpture or in wall-painting, but in which both Greeks and old Italian masters were great — namely, the just calculation of the effect of dis- 152 FROM OSNABRUCK TO COPENHAGEN tance from the eye, whether upon form or colour. No superfluous detail, therefore, here encumbers the first condition of all representation — its distinctness. Canova was the only sculptor who might be regarded as a rival of Thorwaldsen, but, to judge from the criti- cisms which have been preserved, he would seem to be always disposed to praise the Dane's work. Thorwaldsen, however, considered that Canova was not always straight- forward with him. He used to say, "whenever Canova modelled any new work, he would send for me to come and see it to learn what I thought of it. If I remarked, for instance, that this or that fold in the drapery would look better if arranged rather differently, he would concur in my opinion and embrace me cordially, but he would never alter it after all. And when I, in turn, asked him to come and see any work of mine, he would make no other remark than that everything was exactly as it should be." On Canova's death, Thorwaldsen was entrusted with the erection of the monument to Pius VII, and he was the next sculptor in succession to him who was appointed President of the Academy of St Luke. John Gibson said that he was most generous in his kindness to all young artists, visiting all who requested his advice, and whenever Gibson was modelling a new work,Thorwaldsen came to the studio cor- recting what was amiss. In 1 8 19 he modelled the figure of the lion for the monu- ment, at Lucerne, to the Swiss Guards of Louis XVI who were killed in 1732. His intention at first was to produce it in bronze, but on visiting the site he saw the capabilities of the rock, and decided that a lion hewn in an excavated niche would have a better effect. It is believed that at the time the sculptor iS3 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. had never seen a living lion. The figure at Lucerne is the work of a Swiss sculptor, who spoilt the design, for, accord- ing to Mr J. B. Atkinson,* the original model now in Copenhagen is remarkable for its grandeur, and the agony of the wounded beast does not exceed the moderation imposed on art. At this time Thorwaldsen returned to Copenhagen and was received with enthusiasm, but after a time he was bored with the demonstrations. The royal family and the Government filled his hands with commissions; every building in which the introduction of sculpture was pos- sible gave employment to his chisel; and the metropolitan church, or Frue Kirke, now rebuilt after the bombardment of 1807, was converted into a field for his labours. Thorwaldsen is generally supposed to have undertaken the sculpture in the Frue Kirke without the faith of ordi- nary Christian artists. It is recorded of him that he had, at least, as much belief in the gods of the Greeks, and Niebuhr relates that he was present when the sculptor drank to Olympian Jove with all his heart. With few exceptions, religious subjects have less to do with the faith of the artist than with his aesthetic capacity. In Thorwaldsen's case there were no reasons why he might not be, as he was, successful in sacred representations; they admitted of more expression, both in action and physiog- nomy, than those taken from mythology, while, at the same time, the sphere of feeling was larger, and the stan- dards of authority so numerous as to suggest perpetual inspiration. But Thorwaldsen raised Denmark to a great pre- eminence in sculpture. As the opponent of the smooth and * In his Art lour to Northern Capitals of Europe (Macmillan. 1873). •54 FROM OSNABRUCK TO COPENHAGEN somewhat effeminate style of Canova, lie inaugurated a true revival of the masculine spirit of the ancients. He had an extraordinary fecundity, and conceived designs with such rapidity that he almost abandoned the use of the chisel in his later years. All the works he was able to leave he bequeathed to the Danish State. The Thorwaldsen Museum at Copenhagen — a singularly unprepossessing structure, by the way — in which these works were placed, is one of the greatest attractions of the capital, and is truly a national monu- ment. After remaining about a year in Copenhagen, Thor- waldsen returned to Rome, which he did not leave for eighteen years. He left Rome with the casts for the Museum, which, it should have been stated, he endowed with a sum of about .£8,000, once more revisited his native city for a short time, and died suddenly in his stall in the Copenhagen Theatre on March 24, 1 844. 155 CHAPTER IV Some Swedish Churches and Cathedrals THE remembrance which the traveller has of Sweden is, to a considerable extent, of a sombre character. Recalling the days that I traversed that northern land, from one cathedral city to another, there rise before me apparently endless miles of white rocky ground and forests of dark pine trees, varied only by great sheets of water. It is the most sombre portion of Scandinavia, wanting the grand mountain ranges of Norway and the open green fields of Denmark. But there are two things that stand out in the recollec- tion as bright and cheerful: The happy lively people, and beautiful Stockholm. The people are vivacious and pleasure- loving like the French, and although in the course of my several ecclesiological wanderings on the Continent I have shaken hands with people of divers nationalities, it is my belief that for good nature, true politeness without veneer and unselfishness, the Swedes, and particularly the Stock- holmians, easily carry off the palm. "Kissed on one cheek by the ripples of a lake, on the other saluted by the billows of the sea." Such are the rapturous terms in which the situation of Stockholm has been described. At the confluence of the fresh waters of Lake Malar, with the salt waters of the Baltic, this "Venice of the North" sits enthroned on her everlasting rocks, her feet washed by the pure and limpid waters of lake and ocean. i 5 6 SOME SWEDISH CHURCHES AND CATHEDRALS She rises from the water embosomed in woods of pine and ash and birch, with a background of grey hills. She sits on her seven islands like a queen. Indeed, for its beauty of scenery and its unique situation, Stockholm is unsurpassed by any city in Europe, or elsewhere, for that matter. The old city, "the city between the bridges," as it is aptly styled by the Stockholmians, is built on a large island lying in the middle of the short rapids which form the outlet of Lake Malar. North of the rapids, and con- nected with the "old city" by the Norrbro (North Bridge) is the north part of the city called "Norrmalm" — the largest and handsomest part of the city wherein the finest public buildings are congregated. South of the "old city," the rocks rise abruptly from the water's edge and form steep and in some places perpendicular walls. On the top of this cliff, the south part of the city, "Sodermalm," is built. Two or three streets, one of which is cut through the solid rock, slope gradually up from the water to the top of the cliff, whence the view over the harbour and the cen- tral and northern parts of the city is novel and very beautiful. But if the rocks form a solid foundation for the city, and furnish it with many unique aspects, the beautiful waters add a still greater charm. The large inland Lake Malar stretches away to the westward for nearly eighty miles, its innumerable bays and inlets winding in all directions north and south. All the water drained from the vast watersheds surrounding Lake Malar escapes into the Baltic by the short turbulent rapids spanned by the North Bridge, and this clear swift stream, running through the very heart of the city, keeps it ever clean and healthful. Then there is the wide expanse of water which, surrounding the city, 157 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. and separating it so picturesquely into islands, forming small bays, inlets and coves on all sides, and bearing on its bosom all manner of craft, from the large trade steamers to the small ferries, steam launches and pleasure-boats, forms a central part of the living picture of the city, which, in its unique beauty, has scarcely a counterpart in the world. Next to the rocks and the water, the parks, woods and spots of verdure appearing on every side, are the most prominent features of Stockholm. Wherever a vacant space has made room for a park, a flower-bed or a tree, the Stock- holmian's love of nature has made such places blossom like a rose. The numerous islands surrounding the city are decked with verdure, benevolent nature doing her best to cover the hard grey rocks with her softening mantle of green, and rearing on their slopes stately elms, birches, lindens and large knotted oaks several hundred years old. In short, a delightful impression is made upon a stranger who, on a bright summer's day, enters this most pictur- esque and charming of northern capitals. The massive palace, the open squares, public institutions, gardens and bridges; its splendid quays which form the finest feature of the city, and at which vessels are constantly loading and unloading; the numerous miniature steamboats, which fill the office of omnibuses, carrying passengers to and fro, either from one island to another or to the mainland; and the abundant evidences of good government and pros- perity, all combine to render Stockholm one of the most attractive of European cities. With all these delights, the ecclesiologist may leave his notebook at his hotel or wherever else he may be staying, and make holiday whilst in Stockholm, for the churches, 158 SOME SWEDISH CHURCHES AND CATHEDRALS in an architectural point of view, are unattractive piles, utterly deficient in architectural beauty or interest. The Riddarholms Church, conspicuous in all the views of the city by its cast-iron spire of openwork surmounting a pinnacled tower, well proportioned but of meagre Gothic detail, was formerly attached to a famous house of the Franciscan Order. It is the mausoleum of the royal family, and here lie nearly all the sovereigns that have reigned in Sweden during the last three hundred years. Under hundreds of flags and banners won in war, and the escutcheons of the Seraphim Order of Knights, lies buried the great hero of the Thirty Years War, King Gustavus Adolphus; the famous warrior lion of the North,Charles XII, besides many other brave and noble kings, princes and statesmen with their consorts. The great sarcophagi of Delacalian porphyry enclosing the remains of Charles XIV, the first king of the present dynasty, is a fine piece of workmanship. In the choir are two sarcophagi, each surmounted by a prostrate marble effigy, one of King Magnus Ladulas, the founder of the Franciscan house on Riddarholms in 1270, and the other of King Charles VIII. A huge ungraceful building of 1726-43 is St Nicholas, commonly called the Stor Kyrka. The interior has some rich Renaissance decorations, and contains two large pic- tures by an artist of whom the Swedes are very proud — Ehrenstrahl. Although his work does not seem to a foreigner in any way worthy of special commendation, he appears to have had a grim humour of his own. In one of his pictures, representing the Last Judgement, the faces of the actors in the dread scene are those of the courtiers of his time, and the position of them in the great 159 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. assize is by no means enviable. This is not the only touch of the grotesque in the Stor Kyrka. To the right of the altar is a huge brazen candelabrum, around the column of which is entwined an eel, with the legend underneath: "The eel is a fat and a strong fish; with the bare hand you can't catch him for sure. He who would keep him must spare neither sack nor coffin." The moral of which allegory, if allegory there be, I am unable to point. My first impressions of Swedish Middle Pointed archi- tecture were received at Malmo, whose chief church, St Peter's, had challenged attention by its tall gabled tower and spire for some time before the steamboat from Copen- hagen touched at this, the busy and flourishing port of Skane. St Peter's at Malmo is a large red-brick church in the usual Baltic style, consisting of a western tower and spire, a nave and aisles, shallow transepts, and an apsidal choir with six radiating chapels. It is clerestoried throughout, and especially when viewed from the north or south-east has an imposing appearance, in spite of the meagreness of its details. The church was built between 131 3 and 13 19. The first spire collapsed in 1442. "Quae pessime fuit constructa, propter negligentiam et inertiam muratorum, sicut patet omni homini intuenti," writes an angry chronicler. In all its details St Peter's resembles such churches as were erected in Mecklenburg, Pomerania and Branden- burg during the first half of the fourteenth century, except that the moulded brickwork is neither so rich nor so pro- fuse, and there is an entire absence of that carved brick- work so characteristic of the buildings on the other side of 160 SOME SWEDISH CHURCHES AND CATHEDRALS the Baltic. But the work evinces the same solidity and straightforwardness so noticeable in the churches of Liibeck, Lttneburg, Stralsund and Wismar; and the close commercial intercourse which existed in medieval times between Malmo and the above-mentioned cities of the sandy Prussian plains, will doubtless account for the great similarity in their buildings. Perhaps the finest features of the exterior of St Peter's at Malmo are the transepts which rise to the full height of the nave roof.* They are lighted by two lofty windows with tracery of that rudimentary character to which I have so frequently referred earlier in these pages, and are crowned by stepped gables relieved by circles and shallow arcade work. The fteche at the junction of the four arms of the church is a pleasing feature. There are chapels, but not continuous, on either side of the nave aisles, two on the south in the fifth and sixth bays, and one next the porch towards the west end on the north. The gables of these chapels are also stepped, and just below the eaves of their roofs a very pretty moulding in red glazed brick, taking the form of trefoiled arcades without pillarets, and a row of quatrefoils above them, is introduced. Dignity is imparted to the nave by flying buttresses of brick. The tower, until lately crowned by a dome supporting a little square turret, has been restored to what was in all probability, its original condition. Gables have been given * A transept window rising seventy to eighty feet from the ground gives one some idea of the scale of St Peter's at Malmo. Although so simple, the recessed mouldings in brick succeed one another with great effect of rich- ness. l6l M CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. to it, and one of those tall metal spires which were so much in fashion all over the Baltic provinces during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The apse has five semi-octagonal chapels radiating from its centre, and as each chapel is completely formed, this requires the westernmost flying buttress to radiate in a westernly direction, whereby an effect of much pictur- esqueness is produced. In the setting out of this church, the choir was made to incline considerably to the south, and the north and south walls are not parallel. Whether this was done purposely or not, it is impossible to say, but the effect is very evident on the exterior, and hardly pleasant. The interior of St Peter's at Malmo is lofty and finely proportioned, and would be impressive had not its red- brick material been coated with whitewash and plaster. All the piers and arch mouldings are run in cement, and the details, such as the capitals of the columns are exceed- ingly thin and poor. Perhaps the most telling feature of the interior is the lofty column supporting the two arches opening from the crossing into either transept. There is a richly carved Renaissance altar-piece, and in the western gallery a large organ in one of those Hellenic cases that were so frequently placed in London churches built during the reign of George IV. Some ancient paintings may be seen at the west end of the north aisle, but the restorations have been pursued in that chilling manner so dear to the Lutheran mind. There is another church in Malmo, but it contains little of interest beyond a full-length portrait of Luther, with a swan by his side, and the following vicious hexameter: 'Testis eram vivens, moriens ero mors tua, papa." 162 SOME SWEDISH CHURCHES AND CATHEDRALS From Malmo a railway ride of about half an hour brought me to Lund, a worn-out ecclesiastical city, whose cathedral and college buildings stand like giants among the humble dwarf-like tenements. "Londinum Gothorum," as it was anciently termed (a very necessary precaution, lest it might be confused with its English sister), the "Lunden (or grove) at Eyrarsundi" of the EgiVs Saga, was in Egil's time (c. 920) a place of considerable importance: Den tid Christus lod sid fode Stod Lund og Skanor i fagerste grode. "At the time Christ let Himself be born, stood Lund and Skanor in fairest growth," so sings The Rhyming Chronicle, of which you may believe as much as you please. But that Lund was a place of considerable importance in Egil's time there can be no doubt, and if not actually a seaport, it was at least nearer the Sound than it is at pre- sent. Even in Pagan times Lund was a holy city; and on her three adjacent hills, hidden among dark, mysterious groves, rose the temples of the pagan deities, Odin, Thor and Freya — much frequented by the pious until the reign of our own Canute the Great, when two English monks (Bernard and Gerbrand) preached the Christian faith in Skane, and dared, with a courage worthy of inspired apostles, to overthrow the idols of the pagans, and build here a church of "tra." In the middle of the eleventh century Lund became the seat of a bishop, and its first three occupants — Henry, Egino and Richwald — were Englishmen, for in those times it was the policy of our English prelates to maintain a crop of seedling missionaries, ever ready at a moment's warn- I63 M2 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. ing to start forth to heathen lands, and there to fill such high positions as they could scarcely hope to attain to in their native country. Bishop Henry was no credit to the English hierarchy. He had been chaplain to three succes- sive kings of Denmark. Having amassed great riches, he lived in luxury and idleness, and ended by drinking him- self to death. Egino, his successor, was a zealous and pious man, who converted, by his preaching, the heathen of Blekinge and Bornholm. Wherever he went he fearlessly overthrew the idols, destroying the great temple of Skara, and even forming a plan for burning that of Upsala. In 1 103 Lund was advanced to the dignity of an archi- episcopal see, the archbishop receiving primatial rank over all Scandinavia sixty years later. The Archbishop of Upsala is now primate of Sweden, Lund, since 1536, having been reduced to the rank of an ordinary bishopric, and lost its quondam title of Metropolis Danice. At the epoch of its greatest prosperity Lund is said to have had 200,000 in- habitants, her wealth increasing from the time when she was named metropolitan of the northern church. Her thirty canons enjoyed considerable incomes; her cathedral was enriched with costly furniture; her sixty altars blazed with tapers day and night; she possessed upwards of one thousand estates; no one could give her enough. Within the manor precincts of the city walls stood twenty-two parish churches, besides seven convents. But her princely archbishops, most turbulent of prelates, and dwelling within Lundagard, at that time a strong fortress, were insolent to their sovereigns. So great, says the chronicler, was the state in which they rode through the country, that young and old came out to gaze; the artisan left his workshop, and the housewife her boiling-pot. Even when SOME SWEDISH CHURCHES AND CATHEDRALS the heyday of the Church in Lund had ended with the Reformation, there was a saying among the people when the dinner was spoiled, "Surely the archbishop must have passed this way!" With the introduction of the Reformation by Chris- tian III, in 1536, Lund's decay began. She went down lower and lower, and would perhaps have disappeared altogether from history had it not been for her university, founded in 1658 at the suggestion of Bishop Winstrup. Now all that remains of the city's architectural opulence is the cathedral, and a red-brick Pointed Gothic church of no particular interest near the railway station. On Sunday morning I attended "High Mass" in the cathedral. The service, which was announced by the ring- ing of two fine-toned bells, began at ten o'clock and lasted two hours and a half. There was a very numerous congre- gation, among whom I was glad to see a fair proportion of the poorer class of women, whose plain but neat attire uniformly included a head-kerchief of black material. The service included several hymns — the music of which I have given earlier in these pages — a lengthy ser- mon, and a celebration of the Holy Communion. It was a compound of Catholic and Protestant. It began with a priest vested in alb and chasuble (the latter of crimson velvet with an enormous gold cross on the back, and a gold triangle with rays in front), standing with his back to the congregation. The effect of this was very good, the altar being grandly elevated on the flight of steps rendered necessary by the crypt, which, extending beneath the transepts, choir and apse, is one of the finest and most extensive in the North of Europe. There were several candles on the altar, including a small branch of, I think, 165 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. five lights, and behind was a modern Romanesque reredos, with five arcades, containing a figure of our Lord standing between those of the Evangelists, and surmounted by a large cross of somewhat Byzantine cast. First there was a hymn, then a few prayers, well and musically intoned, with inflections, then the Epistle (the same as ours for the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity), then a hymn, which would, I suppose, be a survival of the sequence; then the Gospel (the same as ours), and then another hymn, which ended, a clergyman of evangelical aspect in meagre gown, and with small bands, ascended the sumptuous Renaissance pulpit, which is entered through one of the great square piers on the north side of the nave. He read the Gospel again (as is often done in Roman Catholic churches) and preached on it. During his prayer after the sermon, an official took up to him an almost endless series of notices which he proceeded to read. The first in the series appeared to be a list of sick persons, and the last but one contained the banns of mar- riage. On his leaving the pulpit the Altar Service was resumed; the preacher, vested as in the pulpit, knelt a moment beside the celebrant at the Holy Table, and administered the chalice. Parts of the service were chanted by the priest — and remarkably well chanted too — and the responses by a small mixed choir in the constructional stone gallery at the west end beside the organ, which is accounted one of the finest in Sweden. I saw no kneeling on the part of the congregation, except at the reception of the elements. They sat to sing, save once, leaned forward to pray, and stood at the Epistle, Gospel and a few other parts. The general behaviour was 166 SOME SWEDISH CHURCHES AND CATHEDRALS highly decorous, and, as far as I could see, the open benches with which the nave is seated were free to all. A solemn piece was played on the organ as the congre- gation retired, and the cathedral being kept open for a considerable time afterwards, I took a cursory glance around, postponing a more leisurely inspection to the following day. Founded towards the latter end of the eleventh century, by the English bishop Egino, Lund Cathedral was conse- crated, in 1 145, by Archbishop Eskill, who had presided over its construction, and to whom, brought up as he had been in Hildesheim, we may attribute the purely German character of certain of its features, particularly the apse, which bears a very striking resemblance to that of the Neuwerks Kirke at Goslar, a town of Lower Saxony lying between Hildesheim and Halberstadt. There are, how- ever, other features and details reminiscent of Trent and those Rhenish Romanesque churches which are indebted for many of their features to their prototypes in Northern Italy. Not only is Lund one of the oldest and most impor- tant churches in Sweden, but the finest specimen of Romanesque work to be found after quitting Germany. The plan, which does not present any very unusual departures from the commonly accepted Romanesque one of the Latin cross, embraces a nave with aisles, cleres- tory and western towers; transepts, with a square-ended and lean-to-roofed chapel on the eastern side of each; a short aisleless presbytery, and a semicircular apse roofed somewhat lower than the rest of the church. Beneath the transepts and choir is one of the finest and most extensive crypts in Northern Europe. 167 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. Additions had been made in Pointed Gothic times, in brick, but during the far too sweeping works of restoration that have been in progress for a long series of years all the work of later periods has been removed, and Lund Cathe- dral now stands forth a Romanesque church pure and simple. The whole building is carried out in a hard, pearly grey stone, which, to my eyes, accustomed as they had been for several weeks to the red brick of Northern Germany and Denmark, looked somewhat cold, but this impression wore off on a further acquaintance. Notwithstanding the drastic character of the renova- tions, both without and within, there still exists a con- siderable amount of good twelfth-century carving as yet untouched by the restorer, especially about the columns and arches of the northern doorway. Other remarkable features on the exterior are the deeply recessed windows in the second stages of the towers; the modern bronze doorways of the western portal, which has three orders of that roll moulding encircled at intervals by fillets, so frequent in the Romanesque of North Germany; and the apse, very similar to that at Ribe, but having the advan- tage of a series of detached arcades in its highest story. Bordering the roof of the apse at Lund there was, until the late restorations, a series of gablets, introduced, it has been said, to represent the Crown of Thorns. Though, of no great antiquity (certainly such an addition was never contemplated by the Romanesque architect), these gablets gave a serrated appearance to the composition which was not altogether unpleasing. Entering the cathedral by the western door, the view looking eastwards is very grand and striking. 1 68 Interior looking East, of the Cathedral at Lund. To face page 168. ♦ SOME SWEDISH CHURCHES AND CATHEDRALS The nave is divided lengthwise into four great domically- vaulted compartments, whose four cells have been painted with subjects from the life of our Lord, admirably in keeping with the architecture, which they serve to enrich, and without detracting in any way from our enjoyment of it. The arches which cross the nave at the interval of each of these vaults are pointed and spring from pilasters sup- ported upon the narrow imposts of the huge square piers which sustain the round arches dividing the nave from its aisles. These arches enclose two smaller ones carried jointly upon an oblong mass of masonry, and separately from semicircular attached shafts most of which have plain cubiform capitals. In two instances we find foliage, ex- tremely bold and somewhat Corinthian-like. The span- drels of these great containing arches in the nave of Lund Cathedral are quite plain, and the idea of the whole design would seem to have emanated from such examples as the arcades in the Saxon Romanesque churches at Conradsburg, Driibeck, and Ilsenburg. In the aisles, where the eight bays have quadripartitely groined and pointed roofs, the transverse arches and the ribs start from the capitals of the nave piers and from the boldly foliaged ones of the attached shafts between the windows. Colour has been temperately applied to the vaulting cells here, and to the voussoirs of the simple roundheaded windows, all of which have been filled with stained glass in flowered patterns and of light tinctures. A flight of seventeen steps, necessitated by the crypt, leads from the floor of the nave to the transepts and choir. Similar ascents connect the transepts with the nave aisles, much dignity and interest being conferred on the interior of Lund Cathedral by these stately escaliers. 169 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. In the eastern wall of either transept is a shallow chapel with an arch in front of it, supported on tall detached pillars with boldly sculptured capitals of a Lombardic character and resting upon couchant animals, an arrange- ment similar to that which I have described as existing at Ribe. There is a similarly arched recess in the western wall of either transept, within which is a stone seat, perhaps occupied by one of the cathedral dignitaries when attend- ing a celebration of Mass in the chapel opposite. The recess on the eastern side of the northern transept is now the baptistery. The font is a good specimen of late sixteenth-century metal work, and its style is a combination of the Gothic and the Early Renaissance. The canopy, which bears the date 1596, is surmounted by the effigy of a bishop, chasubled and mitred, and the whole design shows to what a late period the medieval spirit lingered in Scandinavia. Round the canopy is inscribed, Sinite farvulos venire ad me, et ne frohibueritis eos: talium enim est regnum Dei ("Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of heaven" — S. Mark, x, 14); and round the bowl of the font, Qui crediderit, et baptizatus f tier it, salvus erit: qui vero non crediderit, con- demnabitur ("He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned" — S. Mark, xvi, 16). The eastern limb and the apse are occupied by a series of magnificently carved stalls, similar in design, but in many respects superior to those in the cathedral at Roe's- kilde. Although certain architectural details, notably in the canopied ends, bear a very striking affinity to those seen in the ornamental brickwork of churches in Brandenburg and 170 SOME SWEDISH CHURCHES AND CATHEDRALS elsewhere, the carved groups bespeak an influence more decidedly English or French, devoid as they are of that stumpiness which characterizes the generality of contem- porary German sculpture whether in wood or stone. The canopies slightly overhang, and above the panelled back of each stall a quatref oiled circle encloses a subject from Biblical history. The stalls and also the subsellce (or lower range), except the latter where they follow the bend of the apse, have miserere seats exhibiting a variety of carved ornament.* Immediately under the central window of the apse are three stalls detached from the rest, and surmounted by straight-sided gabled canopies very similar in design to those in the choir of Winchester Cathedral. These three stalls were no doubt occupied by the archbishop and his attendant clergy on occasions of great solemnity. A very graceful Sakraments-haus or tabernacle for the Reserved Sacrament is placed against these three stalls on their left-hand side, while immediately in front stands a magnificent seven-branch candlestick of brass resting on four lions, and a little further westward a pillar supporting a figure of St Lawrence with his emblem, the gridiron, also entirely of brass. Whether the position now occupied by the stalls at Lund is the original one I will not undertake to say. I am inclined to think that they extended across the transepts, that there was a high close screen at the top of the steps leading from the nave, and that the archiepiscopal throne was placed between the doors of the screen and facing the altar in the apse, in the manner which may still be seen in the Lutheranized German cathedrals of Halber- *See illustration, p. 50. 171 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. stadt, Lubeck, Havelberg, Magdeburg and Naumburg. But Lund Cathedral has been subjected to such terrible "setting to rights" at one time or another, that what its medieval ritual arrangements were is a matter of pure conjecture. A magnificent altar-piece has been disposed, in two portions above the stalls, on either side of the eastern limb. The central portion, in three compartments, is fixed against the northern wall. In the middle panel our Lord and the Blessed Virgin are represented seated under elaborate spiral canopies; in the side ones are two rows of four saints, likewise canopied. The backgrounds are of gold, and traces of colour are discernible here and there. On the opposite wall are the two wings of this altar- piece, each containing two rows of canopied figures. It is to be regretted that this fine piece of medieval wood carving should be relegated to the position it now occupies, instead of being placed above the present altar; with its colour restored to it, it would tend to mitigate that air of chilliness which, in their undecorated condition, the eastern portions of the cathedral yet wear. Because the church was a Romanesque one, was no reason why the modern reredos should have been designed in the same style. Every carving of the round-arch period, "Rundbagsstil," as it is called in Sweden, was tenderly cared for by Pro- fessor Brunius, the director of the works of restoration commenced at Lund, more than seventy years ago, and great credit is due to the learned professor for his love of this early period; but here all praise ends, and much blame ensues; so engrossed was he by the style of its early founders, that he caused the cathedral to be deprived of all additions of a later date, among them a screen of white 172 SOME SWEDISH CHURCHES AND CATHEDRALS alabaster and black marble in the Renaissance style of 1572, which divided the nave from the choir and supported a sumptuously encased organ. Fortunately some furniture of the same epoch escaped, notably the magnificent pulpit, which is entered by a doorway cut in one of the great piers on the north side of the nave, and two truly superb chan- deliers, or branches. The crypt, however, was admirably restored by Brunius who here worked con amore. One of the finest and most extensive Romanesque crypts in the North of Europe, this of Lund was constructed about 11 23 by Archbishop Asker, the first Dane who held the see, a great friend of our Anselm of Canterbury, with whom, say the chroniclers, he was in constant correspondence, and whom he consulted on all matters regarding the government of his diocese, as well as on architecture and other ecclesiastical matters. This crypt at Lund extends beneath the deep transepts and choir, and to the eye of the visitor who stations himself at a short distance to the north-west of the pillar to which the Giant Finn stands fast petrified, the columns and arches, branching away in so many directions, convey a most singular idea of infinity. The shapes of the columns and the manner of their ornamentation are strikingly varied. Some are simple cylindrical ones with cubiform capitals. That grasped by the Giant Finn is of this form, but with a boldly sculptured capital. Next to it is a cylinder (whose cubiform cap is enriched with carving) studded with twelve plain oblong slabs in high relief. Some are spirally moulded, others zig-zag fashion, and so on. Indeed, the student of twelfth-century Romanesque ornament might keep his pencil busy for days in this crypt 173 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. at Lund alone. A curious legend attaches to the figures seen clinging to pillars in the north and south arms of the crypt. According to old prophecy and legend, a curse hangs over the cathedral church of Lund. On the Hill of the Saints — Helgonabacken, now covered with wood and situated behind the bishop's palace at the extremity of the town — there lived in olden time a giant whose dwelling-place was underground. Now St Law- rence, he came from Saxony* and preached the word of God — every hill was his pulpit, for as yet there was no church in the land. Then said the giant to him in mockery, "Your God surely deserves a temple, if all you say of Him be true! Come! I myself will build you a church; but when it is finished, you must tell me my name. If not, O light of the faith, I demand as a forfeit the two torches which shine in the canopy of heaven." "Mad pagan that you are!" replied the saint; "the sun and the moon will remain for ever in the sky, where God has placed them, to light the wise as well as the foolish, the good as well as the bad." "Well answered," laughed the giant. "I demand then, what you can give me — your eyes." "Provided the church be finished, you are welcome to take my eyes; for the greatness of God — the faith of Christ — can be preached by a blind man as well as by one that sees." A site was chosen. The giant, bearing on his shoulders a mountain of stone, crushes it beneath his feet. First he builds the crypt, after the model of his own dwelling, with arches like those of heaven. *Who this St Lawrence was I am unable to discover. Certainly he is not to be confused with the bona fide St Lawrence, to whom the cathedral is dedicated, and of whom there is more than one representation in that building. 174 SOME SWEDISH CHURCHES AND CATHEDRALS "Be strong, be high, O walls," cries he; "the monk knows not my name; my daughter will play with his eyes before the moon is at her full." The walls rise as if by magic; a row of columns support the church. Already the giant sits on the roof; he laughs while he sings, "I have worked hard — there is little now left to do; before the sun sets, the monk must give me either my name or — his eyes." On the Hill of the Saints stood St Lawrence; he gazed sadly on the sun, and exclaimed, "Oh, Lord Father! Thou gavest me my eyes: take them; I sacrifice them with joy." Then at that moment there arose a voice, which came not from the heaven, nor the clouds, but from beneath the earth, as a noise of thunder which disquiets the very depths of ocean, singing, "Sleep sweetly, little Solve, my son; Father Finn sits on the wall top; he builds the church." "Slumber gently, little Gerda, my fair daughter; thy Father Finn returns at sunset with his promised present." St Lawrence, running joyfully to the church, cries out, "Finn, Finn (for I know thy name), come down; one stone alone is wanting to the tower — that I can lay myself, for God has preserved my eyes." When Finn heard the words of the saint, he answered, "So sure as I am called Finn of the giant race, never shall that last stone be placed; thy church shall remain, without and within, for ever unfinished." Then, in his fury, he rushed to the crypt below, and, seizing a column, with tremendous force endeavoured to pull down the building; his wife, too, bearing little Gerda in her arms, rushed to his aid. They tugged, they pulled, but One was more powerful than they. Gradually their strength failed; Finn, his wife and child all turned into 175 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. stone, and there you may see them to this day, embracing the hard column, to which they are for ever united. The cathedral at Upsala, the seat of the Primate of Sweden, although a finely proportioned and minster-like structure, is, as a whole, inferior to those at Lund and Linkoping from an architectural point of view. It is, how- ever, interesting to the archaeologist, since well-authenti- cated accounts of its foundation, and of the architect who was early associated with its erection are available. The city of Upsala has a remote history, and the build- ing which became the first cathedral, and which still stands at Old Upsala, about three miles from the city itself, is believed either to have been a temple to Odin, or a part of the palace of his descendants when Upsala was the capital city of the Svear. The church of Old Upsala (Gamla Upsala), popularly said to be the oldest ecclesiastical building in Sweden, stands almost solitary, and neighbouring to the three great tumuli traditionally known as the tombs of Thor, Odin and Freya. It is a very small structure, but comprises a gabled western tower which at first sight looks like an unusually tall nave, so broad is it, then a parallelogram, equal to a square and a half, serving for nave and chancel, and finally a semicircular apse forming the sanctuary.* It is impossible to assign any precise date to this simple little structure, 1 but it is most likely to have been built under the direction of the first Bishop of Upsala, an Englishman, named Everinus, who went over to Sweden in 1026. The tower, which is undoubtedly the oldest part of this little structure, is built of rough granite rubble facings in *See illustration, p. 66. 176 SOME SWEDISH CHURCHES AND CATHEDRALS large square blocks, and has a rude round-headed doorway on its east and west sides, and two tall narrow arches on those north and south, also round-headed with regular voussoirs but no impost. Originally, before the erection of the chancel and porch, these arches must have been open to the air; they are now blocked. The only lights above are narrow loopholes; there is no original staircase. On the western side of the tower, but not central with it, is a large porch still called the arms-house or weapon-house, because people deposited their weapons there before entering the church. The nave, of three bays, is lofty in proportion, and has a simple Pointed vaulting. On the south are three large, round-headed windows, and on the north but one; there is little here to fix a date. The apse was rebuilt about half a century ago. In the churchyard is a detached belfry with a gabled roof — one of those singular wooden towers more com- monly met with in Norway than in Sweden. Its date is uncertain, but it is known to have been in existence before the seventeenth century. Shortly after the middle of the thirteenth century, various circumstances combined to necessitate the removal of the see to the neighbouring town of Ostra-Aros (Anglice, the eastern river mouth, to distinguish it from Vestra-Aros, now Vesteras), placed as it was nearer the mouth of the Sala and then rising to great importance. To discover an architect who could design a church worthy of this more important locale was not an easy task, for in medieval times Scandinavia was never able to pro- duce one, and it is a curious fact that her three most important cathedrals — Lund, Upsala and Trondhjem — were not only designed by foreigners, but by men from 177 N CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. different countries. In all essential features Lund is Ger- man, Upsala is French and Trondhjem is English. At this period magnificent and lofty churches were being raised all over the North of France, and their fame had reached the Archbishop of Upsala through the Swedish students then studying in Paris. On the recommendation of the Abbot of Corvey, Elector of Cologne (though why he should have interfered does not seem very clear), the Arch- bishop applied to the Prevost of Paris to select for him an architect to design his new cathedral, with the result that in 1287 he entered into an agreement with one, "Estienne de Bonnueill," who was working at Notre-Dame, to go over to Upsala and there to build a cathedral on the plan of that which had been for some time finished at Paris. Estienne de Bonnueill's letter of appointment is extant, and a part of it runs as follows: "Estienne de Bonnueill, tailleur de pierre, Maistre de faire l'eglise de Vpsal en Suece, proposant a aler en la dite terre, si comme il disoit & reconnut endroit que pour mener & conduire au Couz de la dite Eglise, aueques lui tex Compacgnons & tex Bachelers. . . . En tesmoing de ce, nous avons mis en ce lettres la seel de la Preuos te de Paris, Fan de grace Mil cc quatre vinz & sept, le semne de devant feste S. Gile & S. Leu, & nous le tampscrit de ces lettres anon seelle du seel de la Preuos te de Paris. Ce fu fe lan & le jour defus dit." The above is a literal quotation from Peringskiold's Monumenta Uller a Kerensia cum Upsalia Nova; jo. Stock- holm, 1 71 9, of which there is a copy in the British Museum. That Estienne started from Paris to Upsala there seems to be little doubt — the Provost of Paris vouches for the 178 SOME SWEDISH CHURCHES AND CATHEDRALS account of his leaving with twenty companions — and the Swedish students in Paris collected the sum of twenty silver livres to defray his and his companions' travelling expenses. When, however, we come to look for the result of his work in the design at Upsala, we find it difficult to give credence to the story exactly as narrated, although there is much to support the theory that Frenchmen could have designed such pillars as those in the nave, or that any French architect could have interposed so con- siderable an amount of unpierced wallspace between the pier arches and the clerestory, such as we see at Upsala. At the time Estienne de Bonnueill left Paris the chapels fringing the nave at Notre-Dame and the transepts of that cathedral were very much as we now see them, in fact, they had only just been completed, but the alteration of the great apse had not been begun and the surrounding chapels had not been built. There is no resemblance whatever in the eastern termi- nation of Upsala Cathedral to that of Paris. The Swedish church has five chapels radiating from the procession path, while at Paris, in Estienne de Bonneuill's time, the encircling chapels projected so slightly as to have had little or no effect on the ground-plan. I have come to the conclusion, therefore, that the laying out of the plan at Upsala, together with the greater por- tion of the structure, was due to a Swedish architect under very strong North German influence. The carving and arrangements of the great pier capitals and corbels round the choir are, moreover, much earlier in character than such as would have been designed by a French architect of the end of the thirteenth century; but, on the other hand, quite like other known Swedish work of that time. 179 N2 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. The French architect may have worked on the three great portals, for all the moulded work, and the greater part of the carving, have a decidedly French impress. In the south transept porch the work, where executed in talc stone, is of extreme delicacy and finish, and contrasts both with the tympanum of the west door, which is worked in a coarser and earlier method, and the later sculpture of the three patron saints and their pedestals in each portal, whose material is of a softer stone. In attributing the thirteenth-century design of Upsala Cathedral as a whole to Estienne de Bonnueill, allowance must be made for the evidently slow progress made, which renders it not improbable that the Frenchman took up and modified the design of a countryman of his own at an early stage of the work. Even then, the after progress was so slow that the French design was never completed. For instance, the piers of the arches into the chapels fringing the nave aisles though they have very fine bases, have no capitals, such as are found in the case of the piers of the western tower alone. The dying off of the arch ribs into the pier may, as a rule, be taken as a sign of the decadent Gothic, both in France and Germany. That Estienne may have done much to improve the design, and even to found a new school of sculptors, who from that date shook off the trammels of the runes and snakes that had hitherto writhed and grinned through all their work, there can be no doubt. In his Sveriges Historia (Vol. i, p. 414), Montelius tells us that already in 1258 the Pope (Alexander IV) had given his consent to the removal of the see from Ostra-Aros, and that he and the bishops promised indulgences to all who 180 1 SOME SWEDISH CHURCHES AND CATHEDRALS would contribute to the work of the building, and then the foundations of the cathedral were laid. This is sufficiently confirmatory of the theory that the church had made considerable progress before Estienne de Bonnueill had reached the scene of operations, and that he must have had to make the best of a design already pre- pared, modifying it only in some minor details, and con- fining the work of himself and his companions to such important features as the great doorways. The whole church is lofty and well-proportioned, and the adoption of the clerestory — a feature rare in Swedish Complete Gothic work — the "hall" arrangement of a nave and aisles vaulted at the same level being, as a rule, pre- ferred, was, perhaps, due to French suggestion, though no French architect could ever have designed anything so weak as the triforia and clerestories in the cathedral at Upsala. It is to be regretted that the building externally was never completed as originally intended, but finished in brickwork, with gables, panels and arcades in the later style. As the building was not consecrated until 1435, the works must have dragged on to a period in which the old art had lost much of its virility. At different times during the seventeenth and eigh- teenth centuries much money was expended upon ex- ternal repairs and internal embellishment, displaying zeal without knowledge. More scholarly works were set on foot in 1885 under the architects Langlet and Zetterwalls, and continued for the next eight years. In September of 1893 the cathedral was reopened in celebration of the tercentenary of the Swedish Reformation. 181 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. The plan of Upsala Cathedral comprises a nave of seven bays, including that covered by the western towers, with aisles opening into chapels in the French manner; aisleless transepts; and a choir of three bays with aisles which are continued round the five-sided apse, and open into a corre- sponding number of chapels. Of the exterior of Upsala Cathedral there is little to be said in praise excepting the portals, the whole wearing much the same appearance as is presented by one of those large modern cruciform churches which may be seen in the outskirts of a German manufacturing town — structures which, although they may at a distance appear imposing, are, when they come to be examined, showy and mere- tricious. The western facade is flanked by towers, gabled, and sur- mounted by spires, all of a commonplace design. The picturesque and fantastic spires and flecbe shown in a plate by Schroder, were erected in the time of Gustavus Adolphus from the designs of De Besche, a Protestant refugee from Liege. These were destroyed and the cathedral much damaged by a fire in 1702, after which the western towers were capped by one Carl Harleman, a man who mistook his calling, with the pseudo-classical turrets and cupolas shown in the view given by Marryat in his One Tear in Sweden. There is some good carving about the great transeptal doorways. In the southern portal the original design seems never to have been fully carried out. In the lintel are the Six Days of Creation in low relief, enclosed in a series of quatrefoils. The arch of the porch contains two orders of figures; one of the Apostles, and the other of the Patriarchs, seated 182 SOME SWEDISH CHURCHES AND CATHEDRALS under delicately chiselled canopies. All this work is carried out in a hard green stone, but the lifesize figure of St Lawrence between the doors, as well as the figures in the flanking turrets, are of somewhat later date, and in a brownish stone of some soft material. The north transept door, although similar as regards its two square-headed entrances and absence of sculpture from the tympanum, differs in treatment from the southern one. Here the richly moulded Pointed arch rises from deeply recessed slender shafts, with capitals of natural foliage in the Franco-German style. Over this arch is a gable whose straight sides are not continued until they reach the wall on either side of the portal, but are made to assume a vertical character for a short distance. The space between the apex of the arch and the point of the gable is relieved with stone tracery, and between the doors is a figure of St Eric. The great western portals are guarded by St Olaf, groups of the Annunciation and the Flagellation relieving the pediment. All the doors in these portals are thickly coated with narrow iron plates to safe- guard the rich treasures preserved in the sacristy. The interior of Upsala Cathedral compels admiration for its great height and spaciousness, for its harmonious and graceful proportions, and for the uniformity of its Middle Pointed Gothic style. The views across the church, which- ever way you look, are charming, but in directing the gaze upward, the want of the triforium and the consequent heavy mass of wall over the pier arches give to the whole a poor and weak appearance. It shows in itself all the beauties and defects of the German style, where they adopted Pointed architecture and used it according to their own feelings and tastes, i8 3 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. instead of importing a French cathedral bodily, as was done at Cologne. Yet, as may be seen from trie accompany- ing illustrations, the interior of Upsala Cathedral presents many features entitled to admiration, as, for instance, the choir arcade and the apse, and the grand clusters of shafts that support the four great arches at the junction of the nave, transepts and choir. Although much money has been expended upon reliev- ing the unarcaded mass of walling between the pier arches and the clerestory with painting, the eastern part of the church has a painfully bare appearance from want of those rich stalls and high close screens which impart such an air of mystery to the Protestantized choirs of Halberstadt, Havelberg, Lubeck, Magdeburg, Meissen, and Naum- burg. With the exception of the pulpit, all the Renais- sance furniture, which included a sumptuous altar-piece, has been sent to the right-abouts by the obliterator of historical records. A great attraction to Upsala Cathedral is the treasure contained in its strongly barred sacristy. Amongst many articles of priceless value is a magnificent gold chalice of exquisite design, set with pearls and diamonds. It is said to date 1 541, but appears much earlier. There are many other rich chalices and candlesticks, and two very beautiful enamelled crowns and sceptres of King John III and Queen Catherine Jagellonica, whose effigy lies alone on a fine monument beneath a crown suspended from the vaulting of one of the chapels round the procession path — that of King John. The face of the recumbent queen is pleasing. On her death-bed she was much disturbed at the idea of approaching purgatory. "Surely," she cried, "after all I have endured of worry and torment in my lifetime, I 184 Upsala Cathedral. View across Choir and Transept. To face page 184. SOME SWEDISH CHURCHES AND CATHEDRALS ought to be exempted." Then her puzzled confessor (says Protestant tradition), not knowing how to console the dying queen, owned to her that the stories of "skarseld " were all lies — invented by the priesthood. King John's monument, after being shipwrecked, fished up again, remaining for years forgotten in a Danzig ware- house, was set up, crownless and sceptreless, by Gustavus III. Though the. figure by Donatelli is worthy of that master, the castrum is of wood, and the ornaments a regular makeshift — cherubim holding helmet and gaunt- let, ladies with flowers, David with his harp, Melchisedec with bread and wine — such an incongruous assembly as never before was seen. There are also in the sacristy a magnificent enamelled coffer which had contained briefs for indulgences; a crown of silver gilt jewelled, given by Pope Alexander III to Stephen I, Archbishop ofUpsala in 1160, containing a relic of the true Cross; and a rude wooden figure said to be an idol representing Thor, brought from old Upsala, though it is much more likely to be an early Christian figure. Here is likewise a collection of ancient vestments, includ- ing many altar-frontals, copes and chasubles of the fif- teenth century and earlier. But the great treasure of Upsala Cathedral is the original shrine of St Eric. It stands within the arch immediately behind the altar, and is in the form of a coffer of silver gilt, and of beautiful workmanship, but so guarded by a grille of gilded roses as to be scarcely visible. Eric was the ninth of that name among the kings of Sweden. Upon the death of King Smerchen in 1142, Eric, for his extraordinary virtues and qualifications, was placed on the Throne by the election of the states according to the 185 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. ancient laws of the kingdom. Like our King Canute, he was an enthusiastic church-builder, and by wholesome laws restrained the brutish and savage vices of his subjects. The frequent inroads of the idolatrous Finlanders upon his territories obliged him to take the field against them. He vanquished them in a great battle, but after his victory he wept bitterly at the sight of the dead bodies of his enemies which covered the field, because they had been slain unbaptized. When he had subdued Finland, Eric sent St Henry, Bishop of Upsala, to preach the faith of Christ to that savage infidel nation, of which he may be styled the apostle. Among the subjects of the good king were certain sons of Belial, who made his piety the subject of their ridicule, being mostly obstinate idolaters. Magnus, son of the King of Denmark, blinded by ambitious views to the union of Sweden, put himself at the head of these impious malcon- tents, and engaged them in a conspiracy to take away the life of their sovereign. Eric was hearing Mass on the morrow of Ascension Day when news was brought to him that the rebels were in arms, and on the march against him. He calmly answered, "Let us at least finish the sacri- fice; the remainder of the festival I shall keep elsewhere." After Mass he recommended his soul to God, made the sign of the cross, and, to spare the blood of the citizens of Upsala, who were ready to defend his life at the expense of their own, marched out alone before his guards. The conspirators rushed upon him, beat him down from his horse and struck off his head with many indignities in derision of his religion. 1 86 SOME SWEDISH CHURCHES AND CATHEDRALS This was on May 18, 1151, and the anniversary of the martyrdom was, until the Reformation, a red-letter day in the Swedish calendar. Prayers were offered up to him for a productive harvest, as at that time of the spring the spike of the rye usually shows itself. The peasants still say, " when Eric gives spikes, Olaf (who is commemorated on July 29) gives cakes." There are also many tombs of heroes and great men — names well known in Swedish history, but, if we except those of King John III and that of Gustavus Vasa, of but little architectural merit. The recumbent figure of Gustavus lies between those of his two wives in the old Lady Chapel, which has been profusely decorated and the windows filled with question- able stained glass. In the minds of most people, the triforium and the clerestory are features inseparably associated with a church of cathedral or abbatial rank. Neither of these members is found in the cathedral at Linkoping, yet, in spite of their absence, this church must, from an artistic point of view, be considered far superior to that at Upsala; indeed, I may go so far as to say that in architectural interest and beauty of detail it surpasses any- thing that I saw during this tour, excepting, of course, the cathedral at Trondhjem. Linkoping Cathedral is interesting as showing how the Pointed style, from the Lancet to the full-blown Deco- rated, was developed in this northern land. And not only this; the work there is the best of the several periods at which it was executed, for, with the exception of the poor modern steeple at the west end, the structure contains nothing that is discordant or disproportionate. 187 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. In its original form Linkoping Cathedral was one of the usual Northern Romanesque type, with an apsidal choir, transepts and nave (aisled and clerestoried), to judge from such an indication as the half column embedded in one of the present nave piers. As in other parts of Europe during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the old building at Linkoping was found unsuited to the splendid tastes and richly developed ceremonial of those times. So it was gradually removed and rebuilt on a more extended scale, and, from a study of the ground-plan and general setting out, under German influence. This is patent chiefly in the rejection of the clerestory, and in the adoption of a lofty nave and aisles all groined at the same height. Whoever the architect was, he seems to have taken as his model one of those spacious, and of their kind imposing "hall" interiors such as are so frequently met with in the North of Germany, as in the cathedrals of Paderborn and Minden, the minster at Herford and the church of St Elizabeth at Marburg. Externally, however, the architect at Linkoping has avoided that heavy mass of roof which in too many Ger- man churches of the later "hall" class is used to cover both nave and aisles, for he has only gabled that over his nave, giving the aisles roofs of lean-to form. Much better would it have been had he adopted the English form when the clerestory was omitted, viz., that of putting a separately gabled roof over each of the three divisions, an expedient which rarely if ever seems to have occurred to the Continental architect, though occasionally — as, for instance, in the church of St Mary on the Hill at Herford (in Westphalia) we find the nave roofed trans- 1 88 SOME SWEDISH CHURCHES AND CATHEDRALS versely from that series of gables with which its sides were in certain districts so picturesquely broken up. The plan of Linkoping Cathedral comprises a nave and aisles of six bays; transepts, which for reasons which will be shown presently, do not project beyond the line of the aisles; a choir of one bay, and a three-sided apse. The choir aisles are continued round the apse and effloresce into three polygonally apsidal chapels. The nave aisles are prolonged by the side of the western tower, which has a gable on each face, pinnacles at the angles and a fairly proportioned octagonal spire with a gabled niche, if I may so call it, about half way up on each cardinal face. The sides of the tower are of the poorest and baldest description, and as for the pinnacles all that can be said of them is that they are worthy of the days of Blore, Nash and their contemporaries. The material of which Linkoping Cathedral is built — except, perhaps, some of the filling in of the vaults at the east end — is limestone, both within and without. Within, the colour is a warm grey, relieved by the light and shade of the rich arcading which relieves the walls below the windows, and by the profusion of really excellent carving. The probable date of the foundation of the church is 1 1 50, and for some time the bishop disputed priority with his brother of Upsala. Up to the twelfth century the Archbishop of Lund reigned supreme in Denmark and Sweden, but, said the Swedes, "we have more churches than the Danes, and ought, therefore, to have an archbishop of our own." At this Lund, waxing wroth, shook her archiepiscopal staff in defiance, threatening woes and calamities to such ungrateful sons. There was but one remedy — appeal to 189 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. Rome — and appeal they did. In 1122 Cardinal Albanensis (Nicholas Breakspear, our embryo English Pope) arrived at Linkoping, where he held a Rik-mote or Diet. Svea and Gota both put in their claims, one for Upsala, the other for Linkoping, as the site of the new archbishopric. The former gained the day, the Pope in all probability judging it wiser to place the seat of power in the neighbourhood of that stronghold of paganism, Old Sigtuna. Nicholas was a man of tact; he arranged, as a sop to the angry Lund, that the new Swedish primate should receive the pallium, sent by the pontiff, from the hands of her archbishop. So Linko- ping remained but a bishopric, after all. The cathedral of Linkoping not only bears a striking resemblance, at least internally, to the Dom at Minden in Westphalian Prussia, but its architectural history seems to have run in the same lines. At Minden there was a Romanesque and Transitional building which bit by bit was transformed into its present aspect. First of all, the Early Romanesque transepts and eastern limb were replaced towards the end of the twelfth century by work resembling that in many of the great churches of the Rhineland, viz., that in which the more sparkling con- tours of the Pointed Gothic were eclipsing the soberer ones of the round arched style. Next the reconstruction of the nave was undertaken, either at the close of the thir- teenth century or at the beginning of the fourteenth, the original western facade being permitted to remain. Sub- sequently the apse was rebuilt, after the model so almost universally followed in Germany during the Complete Gothic period, viz., without aisles, but lighted by windows of three or more compartments, so as to form quite a wall of painted glass. 190 SOME SWEDISH CHURCHES AND CATHEDRALS At Linkoping four distinct architectural periods are represented. The oldest is the transept and the crux or junction with it of the nave and the choir. Here the arches opening into the nave and choir are semicircular, and set upon massive piers with angleshafts and half cylindrical columns; all is vaulted plainly and looks as if prepared for a central tower. The transept arches are similar but pointed, and the corbel tables on the faces of the transepts, and the north transept door, appear to belong to the same period, the middle of the twelfth century. The earlier church disappeared gradually during the thirteenth century, while the nave was growing up into the form in which we now see it. The first two piers on either side of the nave, counting from the east, are plain cylindrical and octagonal ones, very massive in character and with simply moulded and narrow capitals, but in the remaining bays the columns, although octagonal on plan with capitals of the same type, are relieved with slender shafts having short but delicately foliaged capitals and, in some cases, remarkably fine and tall bases. In contour these great piers at Linkoping are reminiscent of those in the nave of the cathedral at Paderborn, and from them rise the arches which span the church transversely, as well as the ribs which divide each of the dome-like vaults into four cells. The aisles are similarly groined, and at the same height as the nave, thus constituting Linkoping Cathedral a church of the "three-naved" or "hall" class. For this rebuilding of the nave in the thirteenth century the aisles were set out to be nearly the extreme width across the transept of the old church, so that the cross form disappeared entirely. Slow progress, however, was 191 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. made with the work, which must have spread over a long period, as the work at the west end of the nave is as late or later than any at Upsala. In the earlier portions of the structure that arcading of the aisle walls which is so remark- able a feature of Linkoping Cathedral is round-headed; in the third bay westwards it becomes slightly pointed, although with the same details, while in the remaining bays the round arch has not only entirely disappeared, but the whole work has assumed the Complete Gothic character. Very deeply recessed are these later wall arcades, and their coupled shafts with capitals foliaged in the a crochet manner, are as pure and as beautiful as any- thing of the kind produced in England and France. Only the rear arch — that touching the wall — has cusping. This is trefoiled, and at the points of the cusps are quaint figures almost touching each other. It should be remarked that the wall arcading on the north side of the nave is all of a much more advanced character than that on the south, proving that the latter side was begun first. Whether the church originally terminated in an apse there is nothing to show, but the shortness of the present choir, and some of the peculiarities of the setting out which are apparent at the east end, lead one to the conclusion that such a termination had been employed. Late in the thirteenth or early in the fourteenth cen- tury a new choir with three chapels was begun, and some have fancied, from a resemblance in the mouldings and work generally to that at Upsala, that Estienne de Bonn- ueill had some control over it. This maybe so, but he could scarcely have had any hand in the planning, which is as thoroughly Teutonic as that at Lippstadt, Nuremberg and Verden, where the aisles are continued round the apse 192 SOME SWEDISH CHURCHES AND CATHEDRALS without, however, the chapels, which radiate from the procession path at Linkoping. The central chapel is of the same shape as that in the same position at Upsala, viz., of one bay and a three-sided apse, while the side ones are wider and semi-octagonal in plan. The work of rebuilding the choir at Linkoping had not made much progress when it seems to have come to a standstill, and upon its resumption at a later period the whole character of the design was altered, and the work dragged on for many years while the vaults were being raised; but that the work was completed at the end of the fifteenth century is shown by some of the dates on the roofs. The floor of the nave falls from west to east eighteen inches, and the eastern chapels are one step lower than the choir aisles. The floor appears to have been laid to the natural levels of the land. The workmanship in the eastern limb of the cathedral, which, like the nave, has no clerestory, is, for its late date, far less rich than the western part of the building. The piers and arches are all in one piece, i.e., there is no capital or other line of demarcation between them. A slender shaft attached to each great plain pier receives the vaulting ribs. The clusters of shafts between the Lady Chapel and the one on either side of it are banded at mid-height, and, taken as a whole, are of singular elegance. No less worthy of admiration are the great piers at the crossing. The core of each assumes the Greek cross form, slender shafts being attached to the ends of the arms, as well as niched in the re-entering angles. The capitals are small and of cubiform character. On the north and south sides of these great piers the shafts 193 O CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. were truncated to accommodate the stalls for the chapter, but as these have entirely disappeared the choir of Linko- ing Cathedral, like those of Upsala and Strengnas, presents a very bare and unfurnished appearance. There are several fine brass chandeliers, or branches; a metal font of octagonal form and curious workmanship; and an ancient altar-piece, painted on oak by the Dutch artist, Hemskerk — a masterpiece rather of patience than of perseverance. It was ordered for the great church of Novgorod, but, the captain of the ship having put into a Swedish port, the king, John III, purchased it (c. 1581) for 12,000 bushels of wheat. On the plea of its blocking up the east end this altar-piece was removed to another part of the building, and replaced by a statue of our Lord, an inferior work of Bystrom's, destitute alike of refinement and dignity. The font at Linkoping Cathedral is one of the finest of its class in Sweden. It is of metal, and in its perfect state it must have been equal, if not superior, to those magnificent ones in which the Liibeck churches are so rich. Unfortu- nately the bowl is the only portion remaining in bronze, the feet and pedestal being made up of stone fragments of earlier date. The bowl is octagonal, and a series of little arcades forms a fringe work to its bottom. In several places this fringe has either been broken away or has been pur- posely omitted to accommodate supporting figures. Each side of the bowl has two figures or a group beneath richly cusped arcades. In the Liibeck example — I refer to that in the cathedral — the figures are not nimbed; at Linkoping the nimbi are engraved on the surface of the bowl behind the heads of the figures. 194 SOME SWEDISH CHURCHES AND CATHEDRALS The ornamentation and sculpture of Linkoping Cathe- dral are particularly rich. In the earlier arcadings the nail- head ornament has been lavishly used, and the pointed wall arcades have, as I have already remarked, their cusps all elaborately carved with vigorously conceived figures, and the foliage of all the capitals is excellent. Wherever, throughout the building, carving could be introduced, it has been used with no sparing hand. The great south portal has been rebuilt and recarved, but considerable remains of the ancient work are stored in the church. The lifesize statue of St Peter, which is now embedded in a buttress on the exterior of the north side of the choir, stood, I should imagine, between the doors. The fenestration of Linkoping Cathedral is instructive and interesting, as showing the progress of the style from east to west during the rebuilding of the nave. Of exceeding beauty is the double triplet of lancets lighting either transept. So pure and beautiful are they that they incline one to the belief that an Englishman from Yorkshire had a hand in their design. The single shaft between each lancet has one fillet; the splays are deep, and the heads have a continuous edging of nail-head orna- ment. A curious, but not altogether satisfactory, type of win- dow has been employed in the nave, which is divided into its length of six bays by plain but bold buttresses. In the absence of an illustration I will do my best to describe this window. The lower portion is formed by three lancets, of which the central one is taller than the other two. The shafts are rather thin and banded twice, while at the apex of each lancet is one of those bolt-like ornaments or fillets which 195 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. we see in Early German Gothic work, as, for instance, in the great southern portals of Minister and Paderborn Cathedrals. Over each side lancet is a circle pierced plate- tracery wise with one large and six small circles. These pierced circles reach to the top of the central lancet. Next, for the whole breadth of the window, is a lintel and a sloping sill supporting a large circle traceried with a cen- tral quatrefoil from which radiate eight unfoliated lights. Encompassing the whole is a pointed arch, the space between which, and the large circle above mentioned, being pierced and glazed. I have been somewhat minute in describing this singu- lar kind of window at Linkoping, because it appears to bracket without combining the Lancet and Geometrical periods of Gothic in a manner quite sui generis. The nearest approach to it, as far as my knowledge goes, being found in the great windows on either side of the Dom at Minden, where, it may be remembered, the lower rim of the great circles are curiously cut into by the unfoliated heads of the lights below. The cathedral church of Strengnas, pleasantly situated on the southern shore of Lake Malar, and within easy reach of Stockholm, either by steamboat or railroad, is said to have been founded almost contemporaneously with the see, but was not completed and consecrated till 1291, by Bishop And (Anundus), seventh in descent from the English saint and martyr ^Eschil, who has given his name to the town, not far from Strengnas, where he was buried after his martyrdom, viz., Eskilstuna, now the Swedish Sheffield. Unfortunately, this thirteenth-century cathedral at Strengnas caught fire on the day of its consecration, by 196 SOME SWEDISH CHURCHES AND CATHEDRALS means, as is supposed, of the many wax candles used on that occasion, and was greatly injured. It was afterwards rebuilt, but has repeatedly suffered from fire, especially in 155 1, 1630 and 1723, so that the present structure, which has little beyond its spaciousness to recommend it, ex- hibits but little of really ancient work, presenting for the most part debased architectural features. The plan of Strengnas Cathedral comprises an apsidal choir, with north and south aisles which are continued round the east end in rather a clumsy fashion; a nave with aisles and chapels, and an engaged western tower sur- mounted by a spire, nearly 250 feet in height. The length of the lofty luminous choir is 99 feet and of the much lower nave 163 feet. Neither have the clere- story. The material is almost wholly brick, upon two courses of dressed stone, three inscribed Runic stones being built into the foundation. The brickwork is for the most part fresh coloured and pointed, but some horizontal bands of zig-zag work appear in portions, especially under the eaves of the nave roof and on each face of the tower; also on the north side of the nave near the west end is some rude panelling with round arches all which have something of a Romanesque character. A small arcade of round arches is seen within at the west end of the choir high up in the expanse of wall which surmounts the simple pointed arch opening into the nave, whose appearance from the com- paratively lofty choir has quite a speluncar character. The piers and arches, the vaulting and the walls, are of plastered brick, but a few vaulting shafts of stone, with foliaged capitals, perhaps of the thirteenth century, exist in the south aisle. 197 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. In the nave the groining is of a very simple character, but that in the choir is somewhat intricate, though hardly elegant, as may be seen from the illustration. The pier- arches are wholly pointed, but quite plain, and of the poorest workmanship; the piers are, for the most part, rectangular, with recessed corners, some in the nave having small stone shafts attached. One column in the nave is, however, circular with a plain moulded capital. Notwithstanding the difference in height between the nave and the choir, the church is covered with one con- tinued high roof of copper, which is carried also over the choir aisles; but the aisles and the chapels debouching from them are under lean-to roofs. From the person who conducted me round the building I gathered that one, if not all, the previous churches had a clerestory. The win- dows are for the most part wide, depressed-headed ones with tracery (some of brick) of the simplest character, stained glass being a great desideratum notably in the tall, three-light windows of the choir and apse. There are no porches, but doors north and south of the nave which have deep but coarse arch-mouldings. A some- what pleasingly contoured doorway of this description communicates with the sacristies abutting on the north side of the choir which is consequently windowless. Nearly all the chapels opening out of the nave aisles are occupied as burying-places by various families of distinc- tion in Sodermanland. There is a curious arrangement at the west end of the south aisle of the nave, which is formed into two stories, the lower called the "Bond Kyrka," or the peasants' church, the upper consisting of various small apartments accessible only from the tower. There is a tradition of 198 Interior of the Cathedral at Strengnas, looking Vest. To face page 198. SOME SWEDISH CHURCHES AND CATHEDRALS their having been occupied by Bishop Kort (d. 1501), who never went into the open air. The vast unstalled choir has a singularly cold and repul- sive appearance. There is, however, an imposing balda- chino over the far-away high altar with Corinthian columns supporting a cornice and pediment; a superb chandelier pendant from the first vaulted bay of the choir; and one of those pulpits so frequent in Scandinavia enriched with pillars, clouds, curtains and cherubim, richly gilt and coloured. An elaborate iron rood screen of classical character existed at Strengnas until the 'forties of the last century, when it was relegated to an obscure position at the west end of the south aisle. The font is a curious one of brass, having a round bowl contracting towards the base, and supported on four feet, each representing a rude figure in high relief. These figures stand on a singular convex base, upon which are figures of scollop shells. The bowl bears this inscription: AVE MARIA GRACIA PLENA DOM: INUS TECUM BENEDICT A T: V IN MULIERIBUS ET BENEDICTVI FRUCTUS VENTRIS TVI AMEN. This font, and a very fine and large triptych of seven com- partments which originally stood over the high altar, but which is now placed on a mass of brickwork built against the north wall of the choir, appeared to be the sole rem- nants of the medieval instrumenta at Strengnas. In the different compartments of this triptych are represented: (1) The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem; (2) the Agony in the Garden; (3) The Trial before Pilate; (4) the Cruci- fixion; (5) the Deposition from the Cross; (6) the Incre- 199 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. dulity of St Thomas; and (7) the Ascension. The carving is elaborate, and in the fullest relief, and each scene is sur- mounted by a rich canopy of tabernacle-work. This may, on the whole, be considered as a very fine specimen of Christian art, and in some particulars should be compared with the still finer triptych in Lund Cathedral, where, instead of having been restored to its proper place over the imposingly situated high altar — now surmounted by a tame and commonplace stone reredos — it is placed in halves upon the north and south walls of the eastern limb of that noble cruciform Romanesque church. The tower forms, in its lower part, a western porch, and is vaulted. It somewhat resembles many German steeples, is with- out buttresses, and has small round-headed windows, those of the belfry being double on each face. Until the "Restoration" mania set in in Sweden it was surmounted by a large copper-covered cupola, which, rising to a considerable height, replaced a spire burnt in 1723. Such cupolas are still found in considerable numbers in Sweden, and, though not belonging to a refined age of ecclesiastical art, are certainly preferable to the wretched gabled towers and spires of the North German type which the modern architect substitutes whenever he can get the chance. The crypt, running beneath the whole church, contains several old coffins charged with crucifixes, and the evange- listic symbols may be discerned on many tombstones within the church. There is a small collection of copes at Strengnas, both ancient and modern, the latter of which are used when- ever the bishop officiates in any episcopal office. 20c SOME SWEDISH CHURCHES AND CATHEDRALS They are all very rich — of velvet, generally, with, embroidery in gold, silver and colours. On one of the ancient vestments, which are adorned with jewels, and in some instances have a gilt perforated ball and tassel dependent from the point of the hood, was inscribed, Ora pro Thoma epo Strengnense. The sacristy contains also much ancient as well as interesting and valuable church plate. Adjacent to the cathedral are the bishop's palace, con- sistory and gymnasium, which seem to mark this church as the head of the diocese; but, to judge from the internal fittings, there would appear to be no peculiar mode of cele- brating the religious services, to distinguish Strengnas Cathedral from a simple parochial church. The church of St Nicholas at Orebro, the capital of the province of Nerike, and within the diocese of Strengnas, presents many interesting features, and is for the most part of a transition character from Romanesque to First Pointed. There are no authentic records as to the foundation of this church, though a tradition exists that it was founded about the middle of the twelfth century by some Lubeck merchants. There seems, however, little in its prevail- ing style to connect the church with such a circumstance, the whole being, with the exception of a chapel on the north and the western tower, both of which are late brick additions, just such a church as might have been pro- duced by united English and French builders during the early part of the thirteenth century, though in some arrangements of its construction it presents local features. The plan may be called cruciform, with a western tower, but the transepts do not project beyond the aisles. 20 1 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. There are aisles to both nave and chancel, a sacristy abutting on the northern one of the latter, while between it and the north porch the space is filled with an additional aisle or chapel of late date. With the exception of the parts mentioned, the church is built of hewn stone throughout, the space between the exterior and interior facing being filled with strong cement and concrete more durable than stone. The total length of St Nicholas at Orebro is no£feet, the square-ended chancel being 29-!- feet long, and the nave 81 feet. The width of the nave is 21 feet, that of either aisle i6i feet. The buttresses are of a plain First Pointed character, as are the base mouldings round the whole of the exterior, but the north and south doorways, which are set imme- diately to the west of the respective transepts, are of a more advanced character, and perhaps two of the most beautiful specimens of late thirteenth-century Gothic in Sweden. The northern doorway has three orders of detached banded shafts, the impost on each side having a wavy line of foliage issuing from a serpent's mouth. The southern doorway is far grander and nobler, and bears a singular resemblance, as a whole, to the fine one formerly existing on the south side of the nave of St Saviour's, Southwark, which our own day has seen restored on the old lines by the late Sir Arthur Blomfield. At Orebro the doorway is double, the pointed arches being cinquefoiled, surmounted by gables, and intercepted at their spring by a lintel, the space formed by the folia- tions being glazed. A noble arch encompasses these two doorways, all of whose mouldings spring from slender 202 SOME SWEDISH CHURCHES AND CATHEDRALS shafts, banded, and with delicately foliaged capitals. Within the tympanum of the containing arch is an un- tenanted niche crowned by two finials set anglewise. There is no depth of porch, but there is sufficient space between the inner and the outer arch, which latter has a continuous row of nail-headed moulding, to admit of the introduction of ornament in the shape of quatrefoils. The cluster of shafts between the two entrances is espe- cially worthy of study, as, indeed, is the whole of the foliaged ornament, a band of which is not only continued from the capitals of the outer arch along the exterior of the short porch, but is returned against the church wall on either side of it. The interior of Orebro church is interesting and good, and is roofed throughout with plain stone vaulting, that over the transepts assuming the barrel shape. The arches throughout are pointed, and the columns from which they spring are short and of varied form. In the chancel the two eastern columns are circular, that on the south resting on four crushed figures, which may represent evil spirits; the other two are square, and would appear to have once had shafts at the angles. The nave has four piers on either side, which are round, square, and octagonal, so that altogether there is a pleasing variety of column at Orebro. The tracery is of modern insertion, the only window which preserves anything of its original character being one on the south side of the chancel and supposed to be of "lychnoscopic" arrangement. It is a graceful First Pointed specimen of two lights, with a circle and triangles in the head, and a detached banded shaft forming the monial. There is a post-Reformation reredos of carved wood, 203 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. having four compartments in which are represented the Institution of the Eucharist, the Crucifixion, the Deposi- tion from the Cross, and the Resurrection. The font is also of post-Reformation kind, given to the church in 1625 by a stonemason, and inscribed, "Qui- cunque in Christum baptizati estis, Christum induitis. Nisi quis renatus fuerit ex aqua et Spiritu non potest introire in regnum Domini." The orientation of St Nicholas at Orebro deviates about five degrees to the south. Vexio Cathedral is a three-aisled church of a uniform height, with a square-ended choir projecting but one bay, and a large massive tower on the west front, to the south of which is a sacristy. The nave and choir together are but of four bays. The northern aisle is of the same width as the nave; the southern one is narrower, but two chapels project from it in the third and fourth bays. The gables at Vexio are in the Baltic style, but how far Professor Brunius, who restored the church, had authority for them I cannot say. The plan of the cathedral atVesteras is ver y simple, being a parallelogram ending in a seven-sided apse without chapels. Within this parallelogram are a nave and choir with double aisles, of which the inner are narrower than the outer. The double row of columns stops short with the last bay but one, so that the two aisles empty themselves into the apsidal space which embraces the whole width of the church. Such an arrangement cannot be pronounced happy, and shows how very inferior the Teutonic architects were to their Gallic neighbours in the matter of ecclesiastical planning and arrangement. 204 SOME SWEDISH CHURCHES AND CATHEDRALS Vesteras Cathedral is said to have been founded as early as uoo, but there is no portion of the existing church that can be referred to this period. Although the aisles are of various widths, they are of equal height, except a small part of the west end of the nave, which is slightly lower, and is the most ancient part of the building. 205 CHAPTER V The Medieval Polycbromy of Sweden ENGLAND, France, Germany and Scandinavia had certain peculiarities of style, mostly slight and unim- portant, in the manner in which they decorated the walls, pillars and roofs of their churches with the Gospel story, or with figures and incidents in the lives of saintly per- sonages. Yet in method of execution, choice and arrange- ment of subjects, and division of the wall spaces, there is very close similarity in them all. Italy, on the other hand, developed a style of her own, more truly pictorial, with less regard to the exigencies of architecture. In northern lands, the mural paintings were strictly subordinate to the main features of the structure for which they were designed, while in Italy, as a rule, the architect did but little to decorate the interior of his buildings, and left the painter free to treat the walls as he pleased. The very close similarity of the mural decoration in the churches of Sweden to those of England is very remark- able, and some of the Swedish churches have very magni- ficent and well-preserved schemes of decoration, covering walls and ceilings alike, of dates varying from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries, all of which have little or nothing to distinguish them from contemporary work in England. Certain specimens of Swedish medieval wall and roof decoration became known to us about thirty-five years ago through a sumptuous volume on the subject by M. 206 THE MEDIEVAL POLYCHROMY OF SWEDEN N. M. Mandelgren — Monuments Scandinaves du Moyen Age avec les Peintures et autres Ornaments qui les decorent. The enthusiastic Swedish archaeologist to whom we owe this book was no stranger to our ecclesiological society, having been brought to the notice of its members during the 'forties by the Hon. G. J. Robert Gordon, whose researches into Swedish ecclesiology have been noticed earlier in these pages. No sooner was the first number of this book completed (about 1850) than its author submitted it to the com- mittee of the above-named society, and doubtless the encouragement he received from that quarter, amongst others, was the means of inducing him to complete a book that took him some thirteen years to execute and get published. The truth was, that the want of some comprehensive series of examples of medieval polychromy had long been felt, for although numerous examples had from time to time been published in England and France, they were unfortunately of so fragmentary a nature that it was felt to be an almost hopeless task to deduce any general system of decoration from them. M. Mandelgren's book supplied that omission, and that from a quarter somewhat neglected by ecclesiologists. It has already been remarked in these pages that the Reformation in Sweden, as in certain parts of Germany, was directed more against the doctrines than the obser- vances of the ancient Church, and even in the present day crucifixes, lights on the altar and other ornaments are still to be found in use in the churches; no wonder, therefore, that the old paintings should have been suffered to remain on the walls without undergoing the coats of whitewash 207 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. which were the means employed in the sixteenth century for obliterating those of our own churches. The architecture of the several churches whose poly- chromatic enrichment I am about to describe is of no particular value or interest, though in most cases of con- siderable antiquity. Their names are as follows: Bjeresjo and Lcederup, near Lund; Roda, in Vermeland and the diocese of Carlstadt; Edshult and Grenna, in Smoland; Rising, in the diocese of Linkoping; Kumbla, near Vesteras; Tegelsmora, near Upsala; Floda, in the diocese of Strengnas; Torpa and Solna. Bjeresjo is a simple village church of the middle of the twelfth century, and consists of a nave with western tower, a chancel with a barrel roof, and an apsidal sanctuary. The nave, of two bays, is aisleless, and has pointed vaults springing from piers in the walls. The tower opens into the nave by a very low round-headed arch, and springs from pilaster-like piers with very thin capitals. In the conch of the apse is a representation of the Holy Trinity. The Eternal Father, who is seated, holding the Crucifix, has an under robe of white with a deep Indian red collar, and over the left shoulder is thrown a mantle of a somewhat red brick-dust hue; the nimbus has a scallop- like ornamentation, and the face is very sinister and Byzantine-like. The background is pale blue, with an edging of sea-green. On either side of the central figure are the four evange- listic emblems, and our Lady and St John, the latter old and bearded (clearly showing a Byzantine influence); below are the Twelve Apostles. The jambs and soffit of the chancel arch represent the Triumph of Virtue over Vice, as set forth in a tall and somewhat emaciated female figure 208 THE MEDIEVAL POLYCHROMY OF SWEDEN trampling upon a half recumbent one. The former has a closely fitting dress of pale green, with ample sleeves, over which is thrown a red mantle. A portion of this mantle hangs over the right arm, while that over the left is thrown back. A long thin pole is held in the right hand of the figure, and from the left, right across the picture, extends a wand-like scroll with some writing on it which it is not possible to decipher. The head has a nimbus with the same scallop-like orna- mentation as that of the First Person of the Trinity, in dead gold. A low dome-like crown covers the head. The background immediately behind the figure is a slatey- blue, and the rest a pale sea-green. The recumbent figure, with long hair, seems to be sinking into the sea, with one hand uplifted and the other resting on the water. The colours used in this figure are white and brown, a black edging being given to the sleeves. Within a medallion in the middle of the soffit or intrados of the arch is an aged figure with a nimbus. All this work is quite Byzantine in feeling and presents, moreover, the peculiarity of being executed on a blue ground surrounded by a broad border of green, the figures extending equally over the ground and border, with an effect which is extremely beautiful. On the northern wall of the chancel is the Ascension, and on the southern, Moses receiving the Tables of the Law. The decoration of the vault is most elaborate. Where the rib would be in later work is a band on which is repre- sented the Radix Jesse, the figures composing the subject being seated and holding scrolls within compartments whose shape has been formed by superimposing a quatre- foil on a square. The scale of colour here is not powerful. 209 p CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. In the interstices formed by these compartments are small figures enclosed by the convolutions of the vine branches. The backgrounds are pale blue edging into sea-green, the colours chiefly used in the figures being brown, drab, sage- green and a dull red. Gold nimbi are given to the principal figures only. Then, on one side of the barrel-shaped roof, are two strips of very grotesquely treated subjects, such as the Fall, the Expulsion from Paradise, the Deluge, the Overthrow of the Egyptians in the Red Sea, and Abraham about to Sacrifice Isaac; and on the other, the Annuncia- tion, the Visitation, the Nativity, Joseph's Dream (?), the Epiphany, the Presentation in the Temple, and the Baptism in Jordan. In the Nativity scene, the Blessed Virgin lies upon a couch with Joseph sitting opposite in a white conical hat, with one hand resting on his face, and the other lying in his lap. The Holy Child lies upon a sort of box in what looks like a tightly fitting robe — meant, doubtless, for the swaddling clothes, while an ox (in grey) and an ass (in pink) are peeping over Him. In the conch of the apse at Lcederup, near Bjeresjo, are the remains of a painting of our Lord within a pointed aureole. Above Him are angels tossing thuribles, and, below, the Twelve Apostles. The church at Roda is an exceedingly simple structure, built entirely of wood and completely covered en flanure. The plan embraces a nave and square-ended chancel with trefoiled-barrel roof, and the interior is entirely covered with paintings executed during the fourteenth century. On the eastern wall of the choir is, as usual in Sweden, the Holy Trinity, the trefoiled shape of the roof prin- cipals forming a frame to the picture. 210 THE MEDIEVAL POLYCHROMY OF SWEDEN Enthroned upon a kind of dais is the Eternal Father holding the Crucified Son, as at Bjeresjo. On either side are a Crowned Virgin, and a bearded figure, probably St John, and above a group of angels censing. The Father has the cruciferous nimbus. On either side the figures of the Virgin and St John is standing an angel, and also another figure, not winged, but all hold long torches. The background is formed of diamond-shaped figures enclosing crosses. Under this great subject is a frieze of scroll-work, then below a broad panel shows two pictures, one at either extremity — the martyrdoms of St Andrew and, perhaps, St James. Between these is a subject representing the Apotheosis of the Blessed Virgin. Two angels carry the bier, above which a half figure of our Lord is seen holding the shroud, from which peer the head and shoulders of the Virgin. Under the shroud is an angel tossing a thurible,and a winged cherub . Below this frieze is another showing twelve round arches filled with foliaged ornament. The spandrels formed by these arches are similarly enriched, and forming the base- ment to the whole series is imitative drapery. In the uppermost part of the north chancel wall are five figures of prophets holding scrolls and seated within trefoil-headed arcades on grounds alternately dark red and blue, the colours chiefly employed in the robes being dark blue green and grey, a little red being introduced into the shoes, etc. Separating this band of figures from the one imme- diately below it are two narrow strips of ornament, simu- lating a series of bricks in pairs and projecting angle-wise from the wall. 211 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. The next compartment is divided into six cinque-foiled arcades surmounted by straight-sided, crocketed and finialed gables, and containing standing figures, each hold- ing a book, and intended probably for the Gospellers and Epistollers. Between each of the above-mentioned gables is a slender pinnacle. The groundwork here is red, that of the figures is blue. Red, brown and light green are used for the vest- ments, and the nimbi are red and brown alternately. In the next frieze are two long pictures — the Death and Burial of the Blessed Virgin. These two groups are, perhaps, treated with greater purity and with far less grotesqueness than any other of the series, the various figures composing them being very distinctly drawn upon a background of dark blue. In some of the figures a very beautiful crimson is employed; a green and a brown are also very pleasing; but the artist has not overloaded his groups with colour, white being judiciously em- ployed. The principal subject on the western wall of the chancel — i.e., above the arch opening into it from the nave — is the Coronation of the Virgin. This picture fills the space formed by the trefoiled shape of the roof. On either side of the two principal figures are an angel and two saints. On the left, between the angel and one of the saints, is a figure with a sword and a head lying at his feet; perhaps this is intended for St Denis. In the corresponding position on the opposite side is a crowned saint, presumably St Olave, and on either side are figures bending forward with scrolls in their hands. Below this group we see in a long frieze several subjects representing martyrdoms. On the extreme left is a person- 212 MEDIEVAL PAINTING IN THE CHURCHES OF RODA AND KUMBLA. (FROM MANDELGREN, MONUMENTS SCANDINAVES DU MOYEN AGE.) THE MEDIEVAL POLYCHROMY OF SWEDEN age in what looks like a conical hat. Next is a figure holding a raised sword, and at the side a nimbed head. The first-named figure perhaps forms part of the history of St Hippolytus, the second (from the inscription below) appears to refer to the martyrdom of St Denis. The next figure, bearing a hachet and crown, is St Olave to judge from the inscription over his head. Then comes a bishop with his cross; and to the right of him are two heads whose physiognomy marks them as belonging to the Lap race. In this scene we seem to recognize St Henry (Archbishop of Upsala), converting the Finnish peasants, though antiquaries consider that the subject refers to Peter, Bishop of Skara, "d'apresl'epoque ou ces peintures ont ete executees," observes M. Mandelgren. The figures which follow, if one can judge from the paintings in other churches, relate to the marriage of the Blessed Virgin with St Joseph; and their character accords with the date, 1323, which is inscribed on this wall. Balancing the above-mentioned conical hatted figure, there is on the extreme right of this frieze of pictures the effigy of a female in a low round hat, apparently "taking a sight" with her right hand. In the group representing the Espousals of the Virgin two female figures have a singu- larly modern look, represented, as they are, like "man- nish" young women in blouses and stand-up collars. On the south wall of the chancel the remaining six apostles are represented, among whom may be traced St Peter, St Paul and St Bartholomew. Over the arch leading from the nave to the chancel is the Last Judgement, which is treated with that terrible realism which the medieval artists sought to instil into the minds of the unlettered. Below is a band of subjects, the 213 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. central one being a figure of the Almighty with the Blessed Virgin kneeling before Him. In one hand she holds a wreath while with the other she offers a rose to a kneeling youth. This subject is enclosed within a wreath interspersed with flowers, and under it, to the right, is the figure of a man on horseback, and to the left a horse. The other scenes on either side of the Almighty and the Virgin, are the Insti- tution of the Eucharist, the Washing of the Disciples' Feet, the Agony in Gethsemane, and Two Angels tossing Thuribles. In all these paintings the ground is a pale yellow. To the extreme right is shown St Thomas with the Spear. The paintings in the nave are at least a century later than those just described. Over the chancel arch is the Last Judgement, and below a series of scenes from the Passion of our Lord. The west end is divided into four bands of subjects by strips of conventional ornament. Highest of all is the well- known Apologue of Barlaam. A man in a tree is represented as being attacked by evil genii, in the form of skeletons. Serpents with the heads of ferocious birds are twining round their bodies. One skeleton lays a saw to the stem of the tree, while the other shoots an arrow at the man so uncomfortably lodged in its branches. Below are three subjects, Jonah cast from the Whale, St Margaret and the Dragon, and, between them, the Lion and Panther with the breath coming from their nostrils. In his sumptuous monograph, M. Mandelgren explained this by saying that it was an ancient belief that when these beasts had eaten cherries their breath became so sweet that they attracted everything to them that has life. 214 THE MEDIEVAL POLYCHROMY OF SWEDEN Where he got his information M. Mandelgren does not inform us. The origin of it is probably to be found in Pliny, who asserts that the panther's breath is so sweet that it attracts other animals to where the panther lies hid, and who thus secures its prey. The next series of paintings are the Virtues, with their emblematical animals, while the fourth and last is occupied by the Vices. The side walls of the nave are divided into two rows of paintings. Those on the north contain figures of the Apostles, and a representation of that part of the Creed attributed to each. The south wall has a continuation of the Passion of our Lord, but in the middle has been introduced St George fighting with a magnificent Scandinavian dragon. The roof is covered with a series of circles, which are filled in with various subjects, including the Creation and the Fall of Man, the Nativity, the Story of the Prodigal, and that of St Eustace. All these four stories are given in great detail, the Crea- tion affording the artist means of exhibiting his knowledge of natural history as then understood; indeed, this church at Roda may be said to stand in the same relation to Swedish medieval wall decoration, as the Chapel of the Arena at Padua does to Italian; quite an epitome of sacred history is represented on its walls and roofs. Equally profuse are the wall paintings in the churches of Rising, Kumbla, Floda and Tegelsmora, where, in some instances, the wide cells of the quadripartite vaults have afforded a fine field for the display of the talents of their several artists. As the arrangement of the paintings in these churches 215 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. is much the same, it is sufficient to describe that seen at Rising. The pendentives of the cells are cut off from the rest of the filling in by a horizontal line, and are occupied by- figures of Apostles and Prophets. The rest of the space is filled in with a number of small circles, not very symmetrically disposed, the interstices having conventional foliage. Sometimes, however, instead of circles we have more complicated figures, containing our Lord and the Evangelistic symbols, or the Blessed Virgin surrounded by her emblems — such as the pelican; Ezekiel and the closed door; Aaron and the budding rod; the lion bringing its young to life by roaring over them; Gideon and the fleece; Moses and the burning bush; the Phcenix and the Unicorn, etc. The description of the con- tents of the numerous small circles in all the five bays of the vaultings at Rising would lead me far beyond the limits of this chapter; suffice it to say, that we find the legends of St Katherine, St Michael, of the Holy Cross, the life of the Virgin, the Creation, the Expulsion from Paradise, and the Flood (with variations of the story of Noah), the story of Abraham, that of Joseph (also with variations from the Scripture narrative), of Esther, of Samson and of Judith. At Kumbla, Floda, Tegelsmora and Torpa the same mode of treatment is followed as at Rising, but in all these instances the matter is less crowded, the subjects being fewer, and, in consequence, more boldly treated. All, how- ever, are most valuable examples as showing how to solve the problem of treating small and irregular-shaped sur- faces. At Kumbla the scroll-work is most beautiful and should be studied by those interested in this branch of mural polychromy. THE MEDIEVAL POLYCHROMY OF SWEDEN At Floda some of the subjects are very curious, such as the fable of the Fox and the Stork, and the story of the Children who were Devoured by Bears for Mocking the Prophet. In one bay we find armed figures fighting one another, one of whom is labelled as "Diderick van Baran" (perhaps the Dietrich of Bern, of whom we read in the Nibelungenlied). There is also Ogier, the Dane, who fights Burman, a naked man, armed with a club, David and Goliath, and other subjects too numerous to particularize. In the three bays of lierne vaulting at Tegelsmora, the most remarkable subject is our Lord crucified to a tree in the convolutions of which are half figures of His an- cestors. Another represents our Lord standing in an aureole, the outside of which has a border of roses; on either side are the wise and foolish virgins. A third, the Annuncia- tion, is represented by the figure of a unicorn chased by an angel; the unicorn takes refuge with the Blessed Virgin. At Torpa, scenes from the Passion enrich the cells of the quadripartite vaulting, and at Solna there is a half-figure of our Lord holding a globe on the eastern wall of the western porch, whose barrel-vault is decorated by a run- ning scroll, or rather series of scrolls, while the sides have representations of the death-bed of various good and bad men. As works of art these paintings are, doubtless, very inferior to the productions of the Medieval Italian School; but as studies of iconography they are far more interesting. That the Scandinavian churches of the Romanesque and 217 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. Early Gothic epochs depended largely for internal effect upon illumination and mural decoration there is ample evidence from the specimens briefly described in this chapter. There can be no doubt that every important church was enriched, more or less, with wall and roof painting, some churches indeed, as we have seen at Roda, from end to end. But it is to be feared that the great majority of these illuminated sacred histories disappeared during one of those manias for whitewashing everything which were so prevalent during the seventeenth and eighteenth cen- turies all over the North of Europe, whereby many a specimen of the fresco painter's art was obliterated, not only with disastrous results to the buildings which exclaimed for such an enrichment, but to the works them- selves. For in Sweden, as among ourselves, restoration in all branches of ecclesiology has been rife during the last half century, and that of such paintings as had been dis- covered beneath successive coats of wash has been attended with no little difficulty. Executed upon a coating of colour laid over the stone and plaster, these pictures had become in their turn bedaubed with layers of plain wash, so that a laborious and careful scaling off of these successive incrustations by an expert hand has always been required; but even the most careful treatment has now and again failed to prevent the removal of some part of that which it was wished to preserve. It is therefore to the difficulty of reviving them with justice that the redeletion of frescoed works when restora- tions are in progress is to be attributed. 218 THE MEDIEVAL POLYCHROMY OF SWEDEN This is a matter of regret rather than blame, for their preservation is as often as not impossible, so all that can be hoped in some cases is that copies should, whenever possible, be made. 219 CHAPTER VI The Churches of Wis by and the Island of Gottland FEW of my readers may be aware that there exists in the Baltic an island such as Gottland, whose capital, having in the Middle Ages been the seat of extensive commerce and great riches, is now decayed, and retains the ruins of those churches which medieval manufacture and commerce delighted to raise for the Christian religion. Little has been done to these churches since the Reforma- tion, and they remain in that state, unchanged by art, which is most advantageous to those who, with eccle- siological pursuits, are anxious to form a true judgement of their original design. My visit to the island of Gottland was a pleasant sur- prise to me, for, although some intelligence had been gleaned respecting the churches with which it is so thickly studded, I had no idea that it could open up so rich a mine to the student of almost every branch of ecclesiology. Indeed, I may go so far as to say that Gottland, consider- ing its limited area, is richer in architectural remains than Denmark, Norway and Sweden put together. A trip to Gottland (or God's Land, such is the true meaning of the name) is by no means difficult, steamers leaving Riddarholm, in Stockholm, several times a week, by way of Sodertelge, and making the passage to Wisby, the only town on the island, in about fifteen hours. The island of Gottland is eighty miles in length by thirty- three at the widest part, has an area of about 1,000 220 THE CHURCHES OF WISBY AND GOTTLAND square miles, and is dotted with numerous villages, whose churches, for the most part, have great claims to interest. The ecclesiologist whose time is limited will find suffi- cient to occupy him in Wisby, and the churches which line the railway between it and Hafdhem, passing Bardlingbo, Roma, Bjerges, Butle, Etelhem and Stanga; but he should certainly make an effort to see Gotham, Rone, Grott- lingbo, Tingstade and Wall, where the architecture is quite some of the best in the island. Those with a superabundance of leisure, be they cyclists or pedestrians, will find the Gottland roads excellent, and if they do not object to roughing it a little, may lodge at intervals of six or seven English miles comfortably enough; indeed, some of the inns and farmhouses offer accommoda- tion which, considering their locale, is positively luxu- rious.* But, wherever he goes, the visitor to Gottland is sure to meet with kindness and hospitality from everyone, be he clergyman or peasant; the people have a love for their churches, and take a pride in showing them; and when they learn that you come so far for the purpose of seeing them, they offer you every facility and much infor- mation about what is best worth seeing. Some churches — especially those whose names I have given above — enjoy a great reputation, and almost from the moment of my arrival at Wisby had their praises incessantly rehearsed to me. In fact there is no rest from church-seeing in Gottland. Scarcely are you released from one, a fresh spire rises *Here you may have a green quilted silk coverlet to your bed, a bouquet of flowers on the little dressing-table, besides other symptoms of taste and attention to appearances that are extremely gratifying to those who expect to find matters so much the contrary. 221 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. through the trees; then a second and a third. Next to Northamptonshire, the country round Caen, and the valleys of the Oise and the Marne, I know no district of Europe more fascinating to the ecclesiologist than this little sea-girt isle. A few notes about the geographical features of Gottland may not be uninteresting. The island may be generally described as a great plateau of limestone rock, at a height of about 200 feet above the sea, gradually rising, however, towards its northern extremity, which is also more deeply indented with bays than any other part of the coast. Here and there are slight elevations, where the rock makes its way through the thin covering of soil; and in a few places the cliffs along the coast reach a height of 300 feet, and are so abrupt and rugged as to appear much loftier. The fertility of the Gottland soil is very great; from its insular position it enjoys a much milder climate than the mainland, and grapes, mulberries and other fruits come to perfection in the open air. In winter I was told there are rarely more than eight days of sledging, while on the con- tinent three months is the average. Though, as in Den- mark and its adjacent islands, there is positively no scenery, yet a ride or a drive through Gottland is very charming; the monotony of the cornfields is broken by frequent tracts of meadow -land and extensive pine forests, with here and there a cluster of giant oaks, while every three or four miles you come upon a group of well-to-do-looking farm- houses, clean and trim, gay with the pots of flowers in their windows, each with its garden and orchard; and whichever way you look, the horizon seems dotted with churches, their great high-pitched roofs and tall steeples — many of 222 SOUTH-WEST VIEW OF THE CHURCH AT WALL IN GOTTLAND. THE CHURCHES OF WISBY AND GOTTLAND them of the "saddle-back" kind, looking still larger across the level fields around them. The weather during my stay in Gottland left nothing to be desired, clear blue skies and brilliant sunshine enhancing all those features which I have briefly touched upon; indeed, the whole island wore a peculiarly riant and charming aspect. Of townlets or villages, properly so called, with which we are familiar in England or on the Continent, there are but three or four in Gottland, and even in these few instances the dwellings do not, as in other countries, cluster around the old church, but are chiefly scattered near some harbour which may be several miles from a church. Thus, the church at Larbro, the income of which well- to-do parish is assigned to the Bishop ofWisby as part of his salary, lies, with the large parsonage, almost isolated, the farms being scattered far and wide and the nearest village or harbour being some six or seven miles away. Soest in Westphalia, and Rothenburg in Bavaria, are old and valued friends, but of all those cities from which the glory has departed, but wherein one may view at almost every step those monuments which remain to tell of her former greatness, I know none more remarkable than Wisby.* *That Gottland, when the Danish power was great, was likewise flourish- ing, is proved by the quantities of English coin that was everywhere dug up. There is no mistaking in this the Dane-gelt which our ancestors groaned under: coins also from almost all parts of the world have been found. Not long before this era the island is stated to have taken its first spring of prosperity from the destruction of Veneta, on the south coast of the Baltic; and the foundations of sumptuous churches in the eleventh and twelfth centuries are witnesses of the riches it continued to possess. 223 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. This old sea-coast city of the Middle Ages exists unbroken and unchanged, in a great measure, to the present day, and appears to have undergone less alteration from time, devastation or improvement than any place of the same antiquity. As Wisby is always reached at night, necessitating a sojourn on board the vessel which has brought you from Stockholm, the first view on waking is exceedingly striking. A site was chosen by its founders where the limestone cliffs rise from the sea, terrace above terrace. Along the lowest level, where once were busy wharfs thronged with traders and their wares, is now a street of low tenements, with here and there a tall gabled mansion to tell the tale of the city's former magnificence. Behind these is a broad belt, so to speak, of ancient buildings, extending from the north to the south gate; towers of churches, and huge naves with lofty gables east and west, generally roofless, but with the vaults still entire, everywhere meet the eye, but so covered with grass and dwarf shrubs, as to look like a series of hillocks; while so many large trees group amid the ruins as com- pletely to overshadow the more humble erections of recent date. Wisby is surrounded by walls and towers, but these do not occur on the side towards the sea. There is little about the construction or details of the walls to denote the period of their erection, but they are said to date from the thirteenth century. There is evidence, however, of their having been thickened and raised in height since they were first built, and, considering the rough character of the work, the completeness and preservation of the Wisby walls is most 224 THE CHURCHES OF WISBY AND GOTTLAND remarkable. The whole place, too, is wonderfully compact and complete. The towers are square in form, enclosed only on three sides, the side towards the town being open. Several are what are called saddle-towers, being cor- belled out equally on each side of the wall. High above all the buildings rise the three towers of the church of St Mary, the only one still in use. Behind, on the highest ground, is a wide open space, once, there can be no doubt, covered with houses, but now nothing but a desolate bare rock, whence one looks down upon the ruins and the little harbour and the sea beyond.* There is nothing in Wisby, as in Lubeck and Nurem- berg, to detract from the thoroughly medieval character of all around; no modern town has encroached on and gradually swept away the ancient streets. Wisby's pro- sperity ceased before 1400, and from that day to this, time has been her only foe. Her commerce has gone to enrich her former foes; the standard of the Lamb and Cross is for ever furled; no merchants seek her port; her very name is known only to a few; but still these grey piles of ruins beside the Baltic Sea tell us what this mother of the Hanseatic Cities once was, and how she used her power and her wealth. Long before the Hanse Towns were heard of Wisby had become the great emporium of commerce in the North of Europe; the markets in which the productions, even of the *The old port or harbour of Wisby, like the new one, was small; but the shipping of those days was probably of small size, such as could be drawn up upon a beach — galiots of forty or fifty tons. The vessels in which the northmen under their sea kings plundered the coasts of France and England were of a class to go up small rivers. They went up the Seine to Paris, and even up such small rivers as the Rother, in Kent ! 225 Q CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. cast, brought by caravans to Novgorod, and across the Baltic, met the furs and metals of the north, and the buyers of the South of Europe. Wisby was, in the tenth and eleventh centuries, one of the most important commer- cial cities in Europe.* Its mercantile laws were regarded as the most perfect, and they were transferred to France by Saint Louis, whose code of the Isle of Oleron was copied from the Constitutions of Wisby, and these contain the principles of maritime, mercantile and international law. In the thirteenth century Wisby had a population of 1,200 burgesses, besides tradesmen, etc. The foreigners in the eleventh century were so numerous that each nation had its own church and house of assembly. Judging from the numerous ruins of costly structures, the remains of her former magnificence, we must conclude Wisby to have been a more important city than Lubeck, which became, at a later period, the seat of the Hanseatic power, and rose by the decline of Wisby. The more immediate cause of her decline was being stormed and sacked, in 1361, by Valdemar of Denmark, who landed with a large force, killed 1,800 of the citizens, and loaded two ships with the plunder of the town. After that time Wisby was often a prey to the Danes and Liibeckers, and in 1438 became a kind of robbers' nest for ten years to Eric of Pomerania, the expelled king of Sweden, who, during the period of his residence in the island, made piratical raids upon the neighbouring coasts of Sweden, and the shipping in the Baltic, doing great damage to the city of Wisby from the reprisals which his robberies brought down upon it. After the death of Eric there is little of interest to re- *The establishment of the Hanseatic League took place in 1241. 226 THE CHURCHES OF WISBY AND GOTTLAND late in the history of Wisby. The frequent sackings which it underwent must have disturbed its commerce and strait- ened its resources. It was again stormed and pillaged by the Lubeckers early in the sixteenth century, and in 1610 a great conflagration broke out accidentally and destroyed the place, so fatally that it was not rebuilt. The fire raged all day, fanned by a violent gale, and very little seems to have escaped. The church of St Mary alone has been made fit for worship; the rest remain as the fire left them, disused, but not neglected. The ruins are watched with zealous care, and are fenced about to pre- vent desecration and further destruction. Some of these eighteen churches have been so effectually destroyed that their very site can scarcely be made out, but of the others the remains are very extensive. I will enumerate them in, as far as can be ascertained, their chronological order. Of the earliest Romanesque style are the Church of the Holy Ghost (Helge A 'nds Kyrk a), St Clement, St Lawrence and the Holy Trinity. The Transition from the Round- arched to the Pointed Gothic is represented in portions of the Helge Ands Kyrka and in St George's without the walls to the north. St Catherine's is an exquisite First Pointed church, and those of St Nicholas and St Mary somewhat later. Besides these there were St Hans (St John's), St Peter and St Olaf, which, to judge from their scanty remains, would seem to have been Romanesque edifices. The Russian Church, St Michael, St James, the Chapel in the Castle, and the Solberga Nunnery Church outside the town gate have almost wholly disappeared. I will begin with the Church of the Holy Ghost which I 227 Q2 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. conceive to be not only the oldest of the Wisby churches, but one of the most interesting, because there is, in its arrangement, something so peculiar as to be difficult to account for at first sight. Like the other old churches in the city, the Helge Ands Kyrka is built of undressed limestone, except the corner pilaster-buttresses which are finely dressed and of large stones. The ruins are so well preserved that much of its extraordinary arrangement is quite evident. It is situated within the hospital gardens, that institution having, it is supposed, formerly depended upon the church, which con- sists of a rectangular chancel and octagonal nave. The former presents at the east end a segmental recess larger than a semicircle, where the chief altar of the church formerly stood, and the centre of which is pierced by a single round-headed window, splayed as all the others are both ways. Under this window are two square recesses, two feet three inches deep by two feet square. On either side of the quasi apse, to the north and south is a small chamber, each having a small slit to the east for light. In the north corner of the south chamber is a narrow spiral staircase, leading to a second chamber, also lighted by an east window, of the form of a Latin cross. Both these chambers, as also the one to the north, are vaulted, and over the upper south chambers there are indications of there having been a third, the entrance to which, however, must have been by a passage in the wall from the north side, as there are no marks of stairs in the wall of the second chamber on the south. The south window of the chancel is large and round- headed; it is a later insertion in place of two similar but smaller windows close together, which must previously 228 THE CHURCHES OF WISBY AND GOTTLAND have occupied its place. The north chancel window is likewise round-headed, but much smaller than that to the south. The priest's door, close to the south-west corner of the chancel, with an opening in the wall of three feet nine inches, is contracted by moulded jambs of single stones to two feet four inches in width. The head is likewise cut out of a single stone, and takes the form of a semicircle on two straight elbows. The chancel arch is round, and there is a string moulding on the north and south faces of the arch at nine feet six inches from the ground. The chancel vault has fallen in. The springers from the four corners still appear; it must have been about thirty-six feet high. The nave vault (about twenty-three feet high) is sup- ported on four octagonal piers, and in its centre is an octan- gular opening, faced with a moulded cornice, leading to the middle story, to which access is gained by staircases in the north-west and south-west walls. The opposite walls of the nave are occupied by segmental recesses, in each of which is a round-headed window, and to the south of each of which there is a square aumbry-like recess, one foot ten inches square, two feet three inches deep and three feet three inches from the ground. Altars most probably occupied these recesses. There has been a north doorway, which is now blocked. The south door is very large, and is a fine specimen of Romanesque architecture. It has four orders of mouldings, alternately square and round, the pillars answering to the latter being quite detached. The actual opening being contracted in a similar manner to that of the priest's door is only four feet eight inches wide, and is composed of a triple rounded arch with one of those rolls in the centre of the middle division 229 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. such as occur in North German Romanesque work. The west window is a sexfoil cut in a single stone, and set in a round-headed arch, which is deeply splayed. The cusps of the foliations are squared off, and outside a roll moulding is carried round the head and sides. The sill of this window, which is nearly five feet broad by four feet high is thirteen feet from the ground. The staircases in the north-west and south-west walls have been open to the church, being arched over by three ascending round arches which do not appear to have had any support but from the outside wall, and each being lighted by one light in the westernmost arch; that to the north-west being an octofoil, and to the south-west a quatrefoil in a square. Both these lights are constructed like the west window, over which also the staircases meet and open into the upper floor. There has been a small one, now blocked, in the south-west wall, entering on the stair- case at its commencement. The vaulting of the nave is quite perfect. It is simple and is round in the centre, but slightly pointed at the sides. There are short string mouldings, about two feet from the pier capitals, at the spring of the lateral arches, which are borne at the walls upon corbels. The upper church is entered at the west end, through a round-headed doorway, where the two staircases in the north-west and south-west walls meet on a landing-place one step below the floor. The doorway is four feet seven inches wide and seven feet high to the spring of the arch, and has been provided with a strongly barricaded door, as testified by the indi- cations of strong staunchions on the inner side of the northern jamb. Over the doorway there is a small circular 230 THE CHURCHES OF WISBY AND GOTTLAND opening, cut in a single stone, but which, has previously been twice as large. The arch into the chancel in the east wall is round, and from the floor to the centre of the arch measures nine feet four inches. In the north face of its south pier there is a small square recess, and on the north and south faces of each pier respectively, at the spring of the arch, occurs a plain string moulding. As in the floor below, the north-east and south-east walls are occupied by apsidal recesses but without the square aumbry-like recess at the sides of the north-east segment. A round-headed window corresponding with those similarly placed below is pierced in the centre of each recess. The south and south-west walls are each nearly occupied by a rectangular recess in the thickness of the wall, each of which has been arched over by a double round arch, having probably a small pier or column, or cluster of columns, between the two divisions, which appear also to have communicated by a round-headed arch, supported on the said small column. In each side wall of each recess is a square aumbry-like recess. In the south wall, over the double arcade, are indications of there having been a large round foliated window, but its design is quite obliterated. In the north-west wall is the doorway to the staircase which has led into the third floor of the octagon, also formed in the thickness of the wall. The north wall presents nothing for remark. The octagonal opening in the floor of the church seems to have been level with it, but, as the pave- ment is removed, it is impossible to say whether there has been any guard round it. The four piers which supported the vault are set, of course, immediately over those below. Their bases are of the same size as those of the latter, but are more highly ornamented. 231 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. The shafts also are circular instead of octagonal. The vaulting of the centre has fallen in entirely, but most of the side vaulting remains and appears to have been slightly pointed; it is supported at the wall on corbels. There is a tradition of there having been a third story, with two windows on each side. The church is said to have been built in 1046, and it seems to have been burnt like most of the other Wisby churches in 1610. With regard to this singular Church of the Holy Ghost at Wisby, the principal hypothesis on the spot seems to be that Sisters of Charity occupied the building and attended to the hospital, in the grounds of which the church now stands, and that they worshipped here above and apart from the rest of the congregation; and something of this kind seems most likely, though the building may, doubtless, in so many ages have been adapted to different purposes.* The aperture in the vault of the lower nave may have been closed up, and only used to raise heavy articles, such as bells and altar-slabs to the upper floors; and the absence of anything like a balustrade, or the remains of the fastening of one, seems to confirm this conjecture. *There are several of these double churches in Germany. One of the most interesting is the Ulrich's-kapelle, in the Kaiser-haus, or Emperor's Palace, at Goslar. The lower chapel is in the plan of a Greek cross, each arm ending in an apse. It was used by the domestics of the royal household, and commu- nicates with the upper story, which is octagonal, and was set apart for the Imperial family, through a square opening. A chapel in the castle at Frei- burg on the Unstrut, another at Landsberg, and the fine Romanesque Stift Kirche at Schwarz Rheindorf, opposite Bonn, are remarkable instances of this double-storied arrangement. To this list may be added a much more known example — our own Chapel of St John in the White Tower of London, where the upper, or triforium story was in reality the "Royal Closet," and no doubt used by the sovereign and his court, the retainers gathering below, as the royal apartments were at its level and opened into the triforium. 232 THE CHURCHES OF WISBY AND GOTTLAND It is to be regretted that no account of the antiquity of the hospital or of its buildings which might guide one to a conjecture, is to be found, because a supposition which implies that a church built in the eleventh century was then adapted for the accommodation of a sisterhood so employed is rather a wild one. That churches have, however, been built for the sepa- rate accommodation of a female congregation is certainly true, and the plan adopted in this church of the Holy Ghost at Wisby of putting them in something like a high gallery seems the most reasonable. In fact, in Alban Butler,* for October 8, on the life of St Bridget of Sweden, we find a passage which recalls to us this Wisby church most forcibly. "In this institute," founded by her, "as in the order of Fontevrault, the men are subject to the prioress of the nuns in temporals, but in spirituals the women are under the jurisdiction of the friars; the reason of which is, because the order being principally instituted for religious women, the men were chiefly admitted only to afford them such spiritual assistance as they want. The convents of the men and women are separated by an inviolable enclosure, but are contiguous, so as to have the same church in which the nuns keep choir above in a doxal, the men underneath in the church; but they can never see each other." The word doxal here used by Butler does not occur in the Bridgittine rule; it is explained byDucange in his Glossa- rium, by Jub e, which is a very elastic word, and he states that the word is still used in Flanders, which reminds one of the churches of Gandersheim, Soest (St Patroclus and St Peter) and Cologne (St Ursula), where a curious gallery *Lives of the Saints. 233 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. is built over the lower part of the nave (i.e., the western part), and is a sort of repetition of it; the vault beneath it is low, and is studded with columns and vaulted. The words of the rule are given in Brockie, in, iii. After speaking of the separation of the apartments of the clerks and nuns, and of the separate entrance from them into the church, the clerks, "chorum inferiorem habebunt, chorus vero sororum erit superius sub tecto, ita tamen quod sacramenta videre et officium audire valeant." And it may be gathered, from the arrangement of the Helge Ands Kyrka in Wisby, that the altar, and the holy mysteries per- formed there, would have been visible from the upper nave through the upper chancel arch. A difficulty, how- ever, occurs at once, that no separate means of access remain to the upper nave or choir, the only entrance having been, as now, by the staircases in the thickness of the west wall. The fact of this entrance having been strongly secured, and that there existed some building above, now destroyed, might lead one to conjecture the possibility of the habi- tation for the women having been on the second story above the vault of the church. The nuns of Wisby could not have been Bridgittines, because the church was built in 1046, and St Bridget was born in 1304. The space also could not contain so large a congrega- tion as the converts of her Order consisted of. But her institute does not appear to have afforded the first example of such an arrangement; the preface of Brockie to the constitutions of Sempringham, given also in Dugdale* *Monasticon Anglicanum, Caley, Sir Henry Ellis and BandinePs edition, Vol. vi, Pt ii. 234 THE CHURCHES OF WISBY AND GOTTLAND makes a similar statement as to the arrangements of the Gilbertine churches. On a hasty perusal of their very voluminous rule, I have been unable to meet with any confirmation of this statement, which can hardly be made idly.. Nor can I discover any particulars of the church itself at Sempringham in Lincolnshire, the mother church of the order, which may serve to show that churches of this peculiar form have been built in England. But neither these nor the abbey of Fontevrault were the first instances of joint monasteries, and it would be curious to ascertain the arrangements which in earlier times prevailed to secure joint worship and due separation. A distinction must be drawn between the church of the Holy Ghost at Wisby and almost all double churches that are known. Putting aside the third story, which ranks rather with the upper stages of towers, this church with a double nave is quite distinct from those which, like Cormac's Chapel at Cashel, and Compton near Guildford, had a second chancel and sanctuary placed in the roof, from which the principal altar could not be seen. If these upper rooms were churches at all, in the strict sense of the word, they were for a distinct worship, having no refer- ence to what was going on below. And, on the other hand, crypts, or enlargements of the sanctuary or part of it, are of quite a different nature, where the martyr's remains were enshrined, an idea in- separably connected with the ninth verse of the fifth chapter of the Book of Revelation. The course of change by which this simple arrangement was magnified into the extensive crypt of Canterbury, or the under church at Assissi, is verv curious. But it is 235 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. impossible, within the limits of this volume, to dwell on the many considerations that flow from it. We may account for the paucity of information about this singular Helge Ands Kyrka from the fact that the last bishop, when driven out of the country, conveyed his library with him to Poland, where, notwithstanding the researches that have been made, it has never been dis- covered. Allusion has been made to St Bridget in connexion with this puzzling double church at Wisby. Honoured in pre- Reformation times as one of the most distinguished of Swedish saints, Bridget, born in 1304, was, like our St Etheldreda, the scion of a royal house. She was the daughter of Birger, a prince of the royal blood of Sweden, and of Ingeburgis, daughter to Sigridis, a lady descended from the kings of the Goths. She was married at sixteen to Ulpho, prince of Nericia, her senior by two years, with whom she lived in continence for a year. Subsequently eight children were born to them. By the death of her husband in 1344 she was at liberty to pursue her inclinations as to the manner of life she desired to lead, and renounced the rank of princess. Among the numerous works of piety to which St Bridget devoted herself was the foundation of a monastery for both sexes at Vastein in the East Gothland diocese of Linkoping. Here she placed sixty nuns, and, in a separate enclosure, friars to the number of thirteen priests, in honour of the Twelve Apostles and St Paul; four deacons, representing the four doctors of the Latin Church, and eight lay brothers, prescribing them the rule of St Augustine. St Bridget died, while on a pilgrimage to Rome, July 23, 1373, and was buried in the church of St Law- 236 THE CHURCHES OF WISBY AND GOTTLAND rence in Panis Perna, belonging to the convent of Poor Clares; but a year after her death her remains were trans- lated to the monastery which she had founded at Vastein, and where they remained until the change of religion in the sixteenth century. The church of St Lawrence, called also St Anne's or the South Church of the Sisters, is said to have been built by some merchants from Wismar in 1086, a date which tallies with the style of its architecture. Its plan is singular, and may be described as a parallelo- gram with a square cut out of each of the angles. On the western and eastern sides, which are the longer ones, are, respectively, a sort of vestibule, entered by a door of very lofty and grand proportions, and a chancel terminating in a semicircular apse. Four square masses of masonry, with bases and capitals of the most rudimentary character, placed in a line with the north and south walls of the chancel, support the domical vaulting which serves as roof to the square central space. A side of this measures twenty feet between the piers, while the total length of the church is 118 feet. A curious staircase is contrived in the very massive walls. It starts behind the north-east pier, and after winding up and down at various heights above the ground reappears on the west wall of the south transept. At several points in its course the wall is pierced with apertures at various heights which look into the church. One measured six feet eight inches wide, and had apparently been divided into two parts by a shaft in the centre. They were all a foot or two above the level of the floor of the passage. But for what use they could have been constructed I am unable to divine. They could hardly have been intended to accommodate wor- 237 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. shippers who did not wish to be seen in the body of the church, for they were generally so placed as to render a view of the altar impossible. Nor was there any way of approaching the stairs without entering the church, and no trace of any blocked door could be found. St Lawrence's has only three doors — a priest's door on the south side of the chancel, one in the north transept, and the lofty wes- tern door already alluded to. This last is extremely simple, but grand in effect. The jamb is divided into three stages by shafts, long missing. There is a continuous impost moulding, and round the semicircular top are three broad rolls, answering to the lost shafts. As in most Gottland churches, there is considerable space between the termina- tion of the jamb and the actual opening, which in this case is left plain. The few windows are narrow, round-headed slits. Mas- sive plainness characterizes the whole church, and almost wholly destitute as it is of ornament, one feels that it would be superfluous in a building where the main idea, to which all the parts are made subordinate, seems to have been to construct a grand vaulted central space, where the worshippers might be fitly grouped in view of the cere- monial at the altar. Of the same style as St Lawrence's, and built, I should imagine, at about the same time, is the church of the Holy Trinity. It is, however, a complete ruin. Its plan is a paral- lelogram, whose longest side runs north and south, mea- suring forty-seven feet by thirty-seven feet. This was originally divided into three aisles. The chancel resembles that of St Lawrence's. The western tower is wholly detached, its width being about half that of the church. 238 THE CHURCHES OF WISBY AND GOTTLAND St Clement's is a Romanesque church, of no great size or beauty, with a triplet of lancet windows inserted at the east end. Of examples of the transition from Romanesque to Pointed Gothic the most splendid must have been St Nicholas's. From east to west this church measures seventy- five feet, the plan comprising a nave of six bays with aisles, a chancel of one, and a three-sided apse forming the sanctuary. The last-named portion is later in date than the rest of the church, having been rebuilt in 1245, when the church is said to have been ceded to the Dominican Order. Very graceful are the pointed windows of this apse, divided as they are into two lights with geometrical tracery. There are sedilia on the south side. In the nave the vaulting is of that ribless domical cha- racter so frequently met with in Gottland. Here the win- dows are narrow, round-headed slits arranged in pairs; some are later insertions, notably a very graceful rose win- dow over the door in the westernmost bay of the south side. The tympanum of this doorway bears figures of St Nicholas and of St Augustine, not in relief, but engraved, as it were, just like a brass, a style of art frequently prac- tised in the Wisby churches, though more frequently employed upon a pattern than a figure. The west front, which faces the sea, has three very large lancet windows, the centre one of which is the widest. Above this triplet is a great number of small round-headed slits, not intended to be glazed, as they only served to give light and air to the space between the vaulted and the timber roofs, and above each of the smaller ones is a large rosette of red brick. It was in these that the carbuncles are 239 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. said to have been set, that so excited the cupidity of King Valdemar. It is just possible that there may have been some encaustic tiles to which the bricks served as framework, but in many parts of St Nicholas's, as in other churches, brick is much used for decorative purposes, and it is not at all im- probable that the rosettes were always as we see them now. There are nookshafts of red brick in the exterior surface of the windows both here and in the cathedral at Upsala; and the vaulting ribs in many Scandinavian churches are of the same material. There is no entrance in the west end at St Nicholas's, nor was there any steeple; the whole church, nave and chancel, were contained under the same roof, to whose noble pitch the still standing east and west gables bear witness. A curious appearance is presented by the church of St George without the walls. Here three gables are standing. Besides those, east and west, there is another, similarly pierced with windows, at the junction of the nave and the chancel. From this, and from the greater antiquity of style dis- cernible in the nave as compared with the chancel, I assume that the church originally consisted merely of a nave, and this theory is borne out by the great width of the walls on either side of the chancel arch. They are pierced with round-headed windows which serve as squints. At the eastern end of the chancel is a triplet of lancets. About one- third of the distance from the west door to the entrance of the chancel is a square pillar, which serves partly to sup- port the roof. One of the loveliest churches in Wisby must have been that dedicated to St Catherine. It was held by the Franciscans. 240 THE CHURCHES OF WISBY AND GOTTLAND Even now, bereft as it is of nearly every ornament, its solemn beauty cannot fail to impress the visitor who treads the soft greensward of its aisles with reverence. The nave here is of seven bays, the westernmost of which is occupied by the tower. Octagonal columns with simply moulded capitals divide the nave from its aisles, and support vaults of red brick, a material which has also been used for the ribs, which are trefoiled in section. The arch separating the nave from the chancel is supported on magnificent corbels of great size. An apse of seven sides terminates the chancel, the windows lighting it having apparently been long, narrow lancets, with geometrical tracery in the heads. On the outside the dog-tooth ornament occurs. The least interesting, though the largest, excepting St Nicholas, of the Wisby churches is that of St Mary. Every style of architecture prevails in it, even the Renais- sance. Of the original church, built, it is said, in 1190 by Lubeckers, the only portion remaining is the east end, where the narrow round-headed windows proclaim their early date. It was burnt in 1400, and the nave probably dates from that time. It consists of five wide bays, with aisles; the pillars are square masses of masonry, with a semi- circular shaft on each face, and the angles are hollowed out to receive a smaller one. The capitals are of very simple Middle Pointed work and support quadripartite vaults with plain stone ribs. The windows are large, and of several lights with tracery of late insertion. On the south side is a large First Pointed chapel. It has a splendid doorway of red sandstone, and the buttress at its north-east angle is enriched with shafts of polished limestone. The two wes- tern towers, built very early in the seventeenth century, 241 R CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. are octagonal and rise two stages above the roof, each face of each stage being relieved by an unglazed window of two lights, with tracery which varies in each example. To summarize these Wisby churches briefly: First, we have a great thickness of wall, and numerous intramural staircases, with easy access by them to upper stories and roofs, probably for purposes of look-out and defence. In several of these churches the staircases are so arranged that it is possible to go up one and so down another. This, pro- bably, was to obviate the difficulty of persons meeting on the narrow stairs; one was used for the ascent, and the other for the descent. Then there is the exclusive use of vaulting; the succes- sive development of style in the several periods, though specially adapted to local circumstances. Evidences of dignity, grandeur and artistic finish are not lacking; the walls are mostly rough, but with substantial groins and dressings; great importance is given in nearly all instances by a dignified and handsome entrance door- way. Treatment generally is simple, though with carefully considered detail in some of the more important parts. Lastly, there is the peculiarity of the double wide splay in the window, handed down through the Romanesque and Pointed Gothic periods alike. The material of the churches in Wisby generally is hard limestone, or a coarse kind of marble, varying in quality and assimilating to something between Kentish rag and granite in appearance. In many parts it is much decayed, whole masses of detail having disappeared, but this may be attributed to the effects of fire. Some of the stone appeared to consist of conglomerate of pebbles and broken pieces. The wonderful preservation of the ruins for so many 242 THE CHURCHES OF WISBY AND GOTHLAND centuries is to be attributed mainly to the buildings having been vaulted. Very many of the vaults have fallen, but the substantial walls required in the first instance to carry them have resented the storms and frost prevailing for so many months in Gottland. No walls have been pushed out by rotten beams; on the other hand, some have suffered from the want, or, it may be, from the destruction, of proper abutment to the arches. On the whole, the Wisby churches remind one of such smaller Cistercian churches in England as Buildwas and Croxton, both in their severe simplicity and in their excel- lence of design. There is nothing to indicate the roof covering of these churches. Possibly it was a kind of thatch, but still more likely of wood shingled, a mode of roofing that prevailed in former ages. The remains of pier capitals, fonts, stalls and other instru- menta of good character removed from Wisby, and now in the Museum at Stockholm, showed that these churches had been worthily fitted up. Early Romanesque work was a good deal like our own Norman in the members of its round arch, shafted pillars, and square abacus and plinth. In the Pointed work we find the square or octagonal pillar with the simply moulded cap and base, and in the win- dows, a rather thin plate-tracery without feathering to the cusps. Of the Wisby churches the largest is St Catherine's, which measures 199 feet in length by 56 feet in width. Next comes St Nicholas, 195 feet by 64 feet; and then St Clement's, 145 feet by 72 feet. St Goran, or St George, is not far behind with its 124 feet of length by 36 feet of breadth, nor are the dimen- 243 R2 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. sions of St Drotten and St Lars inconsiderable, measuring as they do 118 feet by 67 feet and 104 feet by 77 feet respectively. With regard to the plan of St Lars, which is that of a Greek cross, with four pillars in the centre, and an apsidal chancel, it may be observed that if it was not derived from Greece such a one was uncommon in the north — all that was wanted to complete the resemblance to Byzan- tine churches in Athens and in the cities of Asia Minor being a dome over the central space. The only church in Wisby exhibiting the favourite Goth- land plan of a nave divided down its centre into two equal portions by an arcade (in this instance, of three bays) is that of St Goran or St George. The chancel here is deep and square-ended. Such are a few excerpts from the voluminous notes which I made on the ecclesiastical architecture of Wisby, "that Rome of the modern architect who will deal in Gothic," as Laing in his Tour in Sweden has not inaptly styled it. Indeed, there is much in this extraordinary galaxy of ruined churches that may be learnt from them and applied to ourselves. Wisby is much frequented on account of the good sea- bathing and the salubrious air, and forms so pleasant a lounging place that few care to explore the surrounding country except the student of the history and the bygone art of the island. And this he must do, for Wisby presents no complete picture of the ecclesiology of Gottland, but rather the reverse. For, as I have already pointed out, Wisby was a great mercantile centre, attracting commerce from all parts of Europe, and, beyond that, was a distributing point 244 THE CHURCHES OF WISBY AND GOTTLAND for the products and manufactures of the East, which found their way more readily and safely by the route of the Black Sea and the Volga to Wisby as a depot than by the sea route of the pirate-infested Mediterranean and the subsequent dangers of the stormy Atlantic. As a free Republic and refuge to natives of all countries not in accord with the government of the time, it presented, as London does now, a refuge from danger on the one hand, and, on the other, greater facilities for commerce. Thus it hap- pened that there settled in Wisby a large number of foreigners, who, though, as history proved, were tho- roughly loyal to their adopted country, were, neverthe- less, clannish, and each clan or ci-devant nationality built a church for their own religious requirements; and they built in the style which was prevalent at the time in their late domicile. Thus it happens that the churches of Wisby are of very varied architecture, and, practically, by no means represent the type which is not only prevalent but universal in the rest of the island. In a country so specially isolated as Gottland, possessing great wealth and a considerable population, it is not sur- prising to find a local architecture of great interest, while, for the reasons I have named in reference to cosmopolitan Wisby, no one style or arrangement of building holds undisputed sway. One other exception must be made; that of the monastic church of Roma Kloster, built in the period of early transi- tion from the Round Arched to the Pointed style, a very fine and simple specimen of architecture consisting of a nave and chancel, and aisles of almost equal length; a building of considerable size for Gottland, as, though devoid of tower, it is about 140 feet in length; but the character is 245 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. exactly such as we might expect to find in a Carthusian church in England or France. Without referring toWisby,. the only Gottland church formerly monastic in its origin is this Roma Kloster. Excepting these, then, we find that every church in the island presents distinct characteristics and individualisms marking the local type. The Gottland churches may broadly be said to belong to three periods, namely, the Romanesque and Transi- tional of the twelfth and thirteenth, and of the Gothic of the fourteenth century, each in its simplest form. There is reason to believe that the first churches erected in the island were of wood, and the earliest chronicled date for their building is the beginning of the eleventh century. These early churches were probably burned by the wor- shippers of Odin and Thor, a powerful section of whom had gained a stronghold in the island. The heathen were, however, soon conquered, and new churches were built, this time of stone. Of these, the church at Akeback is the oldest, its date being about the year 1140. Here it may be mentioned that Strelow, a Danish author and sometime superintendent in Gottland, his birthplace, collected a number of legends as regards the earlier times, and a number of documents and valuable facts as to later periods, and published them at Copen- hagen in 1633, under the title of Cronica Gutilandorum. This work has been, until our days, a favourite book of reference to all writers about Gottland, but as these have chiefly been literary men, with archaeological tastes, but deficient in the requisite technical knowledge of archi- tecture and the arts ancillary to it, they have misplaced some of the dates. 246 THE CHURCHES OF WISBY AND GOTTLAND Perhaps some confusion has been caused by the circum- stance that, towards the end of the fourteenth century, necessity or increased devotion was the cause of the re- building or enlargement of many of the Gottland churches, much of the work being carried out in a retro- spective style. Such writers have not only entirely ignored the dates of these later structures, but have actually assigned to each church the very earliest date mentioned, that is, the date of the probable wooden churches of the eleventh century. The earliest churches in Gottland date from the twelfth century, and are Romanesque in character. It is impossible, within the limited space at my disposal, to describe any of these Gottland churches with particu- larity, all that I am able to do, therefore, is to give a few brief and generalizing notes upon their ecclesiology, suffi- cient to show how full of interest are these structures which have descended to our own time in so extraordinarily a complete and comparatively an unspoiled condition. In themselves very strongly and simply built, and little liable to injury from the defacing fingers of Time, they have escaped that destructive process called "restoration." In a few instances windows have been enlarged; new and incongruous roofs substituted for the original vaulting, and a few other churchwardenisms introduced; for white- washing and pews we must, as in all Lutheran countries, be prepared, but happily the latter are as a rule unobtrusive, in not a few instances very richly carved, and even deco- rated with paintings of Old and New Testament saints. The architecture of the island exhibits, in various par- ticulars, a want of constructive skill, but that want is in some measure atoned for by a special solidity and mas- 247 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. siveness of treatment, with the fortunate result that none of the old churches have needed rebuilding, or any costly work for their preservation. The material employed, both for the walls and vaulting, is native limestone. As regards their plans, the Gottland churches exhibit little or no variety. Almost invariably we find a nave without aisles, and a chancel, terminating sometimes in a rectangle, some- times in a semicircular apse.* Orientation seems always to have been as strictly attended to as with us, but has been liable to variation to either side, depending in all probability upon the season of the year at which the foundation stone of the church was laid . The usual division into nave and aisles occurs but rarely. There is a general absence of windows on the north side, nor are they very numerous on the south, so that the interiors are what we should style very solemn. The chancels are lighted by lancets in the eastern wall — sometimes single, at others double, and in several instances in triplets, i.e., when the end is rectangular — and perhaps by one in the southern. While, however, such a sameness of plan prevails, the imagination of the architects has taxed itself to the utmost to invent variety in ornament. No two churches are alike in this respect, whereas, in other countries where the Romanesque style prevails the *Some particulars as to the dimensions of eight of the more important churches on the island may not be unacceptable. The breadth quoted is the greatest, sometimes of the nave, sometimes of the chancel, which, as at Alskog, is wider than the nave: Dalhem, 108 by 42; Stanga, 106 by 34; Alskog, 94 by 25; Gothem, 92 by 27; Bro, 90 by 31; Garde, 83 by 26; Barlingbo, 68 by 27; Bal, 62 by 26. 248 THE CHURCHES OF WISBY AND GOTTLAND same designs are frequently repeated. In Gottland, the classical type has been more considerably deviated from, a somewhat Byzantine grotesqueness being discernible in the ever-varying forms of the capitals and corbels; in the strange beasts and birds and monsters that are climbing round the columns and the fonts; in the arabesques of the doorways, and the deeply cut mouldings which recall the richness of our own thirteenth-century work. The nave roof is always of a high pitch, and at the west end is almost invariably placed the tower, always of very noble dimensions, both in plan and height, and far grander in proportion to the rest of the building than were English towers. Two of the grandest of the Gottland towers are those at Tingstade and Wall, illustrations of which embel- lish this chapter. The Tingstade tower is of a type very common in Northern Germany, whence it may not improbably have been imported into Gottland. The noble one of St Patroclus at Soest in Westphalia would seem to have fur- nished the model. Towers of equally noble proportions are to be seen in the island at Alfva, Lojsta, Stenkyrka and Vesterheide. That at Lojsta looks like a magnified edition of one of those quadrilaterally-spired towers so common in the Rhenish provinces. The spire here has eight ribs, four of which rise from the angles of the tower, and the remainder from the apices of the steep gables into which the sides of the tower run. Each side of the tower contains four win- dows, arranged in three tiers. The two in the lowest range partake of the same graceful character as those in the lean- to erections on the north and south sides, the next two are of a far less ornate character. 249 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. Gothem church, one of the finest and most valuable on the island, its plan embracing the threefold division into nave, chancel and apsidal sanctuary, originally had a steeple like that at Tingstade. This was destroyed during a storm many years ago, and rebuilt in quite a different style, the gables on the east and west sides of the tower being only retained, and the mass transformed into a very high- pitched a saddle-back," on the ridge of which a spirelet is placed. On the whole, this great western steeple at Gothem has a remarkably fine effect, besides affording a pleasant relief from the normal tower with its four gables and sharply-pointed spire. The church at Bro has a low spire with broaches, and is reminiscent of those in Kent and Sussex; while at Alskog we find a slender spire of the All Saints', Margaret Street, type, with a small two-light window on that part of each cardinal face defined by the broaches. Another tower showing a deviation from the usual Gottland type is that at Laderbro. In former days this church must have been the centre of a wealthy and populous district, for even considering the old pious zeal of Catholic days it must have been a costly building to erect. If not one of the largest, Laderbro Church is one of the most remarkable in Gottland, on account principally of its octagonal tower, the only one in the island, if we except the two eastern towers of St Mary at Wisby. The interior of the church is of a type not unfrequent in Gottland; the bisected nave, with its details, resembles that of many others there, and the fifteenth-century trip- tych, the quaint Renaissance pulpit, and, externally, the curiously cusped doorways are, for Gottland, ordinary 250 Church at Tingstade, from the South West. To face page, 250. THE CHIjRCHES OF WISBY AND GOTTLAND enough, but the tower, if not actually beautiful, is cer- tainly unique. The walls of the lower stage are about twelve feet thick, so as to contain the external gallery, and also to carry the upper octagonal stage. Both the stages are vaulted, the lower one measuring about forty-one feet to the apex of its not very happily constructed vault. The vaulting of the upper stage is similar and instructive, in so far that the original cradling remains, showing the rudimentary way in which the vault was constructed. Above this vault a portion of the muti- lated third stage remains, with its lower openings just appearing under the eaves of the spire. Previous to 1522, this stage consisted of three openings over each other in each side of the octagon, the two lower ones being two-light and the highest one in the gable being single-light, the tower finished with eight gables and pinnacles similar to those of the lower stage, and the whole was surmounted by a wooden spire. The present height of the tower and spire is about 1 95 feet. The style of the work leads us to assign the tower to the beginning of the fifteenth century, so that when a violent storm in 1522 destroyed almost one half of it, it may have been only a century old. The late Gothic churches in Gottland were by no means so well built as the earlier ones. Laderbro, like many other towns in the island, was built for defence, which was also the object of the adjacent building to the west, a tower or fortress of the kind which in Gottland was occasionally placed near churches in exposed situations to serve as a place of refuge in war-time. The local name of that kind of building is still "Kastal," i.e., castle. 251 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. This tower at Laderbro belongs to the early part of the thirteenth century, and is contemporary with an earlier church, of which there are a few remains in the present one. The large openings in the square tower were formerly subdivided, and belonged to a gallery surrounding a square inner vaulted chamber. This square tower, which is sur- mounted by an octagonal spire very similar in outline to those seen in parts of Kent and Sussex, consists of three stories, the vaults of the two lower ones still remaining. Laderbro Church preserves some vestiges of wall paint- ing of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, showing a curious disregard of scale. Remarkable, too, is the trian- gular tympanum of the sacristy door, enriched as it is with sculpture representing our Lord and two angels. Triangular-headed wall niches, some with doors adorned with good ironwork, exist here, as well as in many churches of the country; but the dragon forming part of the corbel on the north chancel wall is somewhat unusual, being partly in relief and partly painted. Its body dies into the wall gradually, the tail, legs and end feathers of the wing being painted. While on the subject of Gottland church towers, I may draw attention to a very clever device respecting the inter- nal arrangement. It is this: the space under the tower is of the same width as the nave of the church and its length from east to west equal to that of one of the bays into which the vaulting is divided. By this contrivance a church which outside appears small and inadequate, is increased one-third; for, as regards the accommodation of wor- shippers, the chancel may be left out of the question. In the larger ones there is no difference perceptible between the space under the tower, and the rest of the nave, the 252 THE CHURCHES OF WISBY AND GOTTLAND side walls being strong enough to support the tower with- out extraneous aid; in others it is entered by a large Pointed arch if the church be a late one; or by a double round-headed one, if it be of early date. Then, in order to strengthen the walls, a mass of masonry is raised on each of the tower's three sides to about one-third of its whole height, pierced towards the top with a gallery, on which more or less ornament is lavished, and ending in a lean-to roof of red tiles.* Instead of the triple division into a nave and aisles, another plan was adopted in Gottland, and so frequently as to be a marked characteristic of the island, while so very rarely met with elsewhere, that one cannot but be of the opinion that it was the invention of an early native archi- tect. I refer to the division of the nave — vaulting longitudi- nally into two equal parts, resting at their junction upon a single, very strong pillar, or two of them, forming an angle of two or three bays, running east and west down the centre of the nave — a not ineffective arrangement, though, from the presence of one or more pillars in the centre of the nave, a somewhat obstructive one. Architecturally con- sidered, such an arrangement is faulty in construction, since the central groin of the vaulting necessarily abuts east and west on the transverse wall just over the point of the chancel and tower arches — a position singularly ill adapted for carrying the thrust, and requiring, as a matter of necessity, that the arch should be abnormally low. In many instances two smaller arches with a solid pier between *As, for instance, at Lojsta, where the ornament in question takes the form of three small unglazed windows composed of two trefoil-headed openings resting upon a pillaret, with a foliaged capital, the tympanum being left plain. 253 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. them were often wisely substituted at the west end for the tower arch. An example of this bisected nave occurs in Germany in the little Chapel of St Nicholas at Soest. Here, the idea is generally believed to have been suggested by a ship, the central row of pillars representing the masts. In England the bisected nave is found in the churches of Caythorpe, Lincolnshire, Hannington, Northamptonshire, and Cray- ford, Kent; also in certain Cistercian abbeys. In some of the great refectories of these establishments the entrance door- way is unaccountably placed in the line of the central columns, as, e.g., at Fountains and Rievaulx in Yorkshire, at Clairvaux in France, and at Maulbronn and Beben- hausen in Germany. A very notable example of the bisected nave may be seen in the great brick church of the Jacobins at Toulouse. It is, however, possible that such an arrangement was dictated by some special circumstances of locality or requirements. The vaults of these Gottland churches are very simple qua- dripartite ones, and the capitals of the pillar or pillars from which they spring often exhibit carving of great excellence. As a particularly fine example of foliaged ornament I may refer to the column in the centre of the church at Go them, where, in some respects, it recalls the Transi- tional work in the choir of Canterbury Cathedral. Occasionally the capital has a classical abacus, with, fre- quently, a bird at each corner, clinging with its talons to the upper portion, and clasping the lowest portion with its beak. At Tingstade the four figures are all different. One is the bird described; another is a demon, protruding his tongue; a third a human figure, with his right foot resting 254 c 2 u bo c !3 o o THE CHURCHES OF WISBY AND GOTTLAND on his left knee; a fourth is another devil. The bases are formed of a series of rounds and hollows, and are generally placed upon a massive square block of masonry, which also serves as a seat. The illustration given of the interior of the church at Rone affords a good idea of the bisected nave, and also of the style of decoration that prevailed in Gottland during post-Reformation times. If it partakes of the general declen- sion in art common to that epoch, it certainly shows that no fanatical dread of such embellishment was entertained by the islanders. Other examples of naves similarly divided (three bays is the maximum) are Biorko, Burs, Folo, Ganthem, Gothem, Rone, Stanga and Stenkyrka. The division of the width of the church into a nave and aisles, as, for instance, at Grottlingbo (see illustration),* was an arrangement of foreign derivation and one that was never acclimatized in Gottland, perhaps because it was never properly understood. In all other countries where the three-fold division in width is observed, the nave is wider than, or at least as wide as, the chancel. In Gottland the order of things is reversed. The nave there is always narrower than the chancel, and consequently the responds or half columns of the arcades rested against the walls on either side of the chancel arch, which, of course, afforded no more strength to resist their thrust than the thickness of the wall itself. Sometimes the chancel exceeds the nave in height, as at Garde and Alskog, at Sanda and Eskelhem. They are, how- ever, entirely exceptional in design and dimensions, having been rebuilt at a much more subsequent period. *Other instances occur at Roma and Lau. 255 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. At Sanda and Eskelhem we find a grand choir with aisles commensurately long, and almost equal in width and height, separated from it by an arcade of three wide and lofty arches springing from slender clustered columns of marble. The windows are large and very lofty, arranged in triplets at the east end, or in pairs. To some the contrast between the older and lower naves and these much loftier chancels appears incongruous and unsatisfactory. Personally, I have an admiration for them, presenting as they do that most charming of all novelties — the novelty of the unexpected, though there can be no doubt they fail from over ambition, the slender pillars being inadequate to the support of a large space of vault- ing, which in some instances has had the effect of thrusting them so much out of the perpendicular as to endanger the stability of the fabric. With these exceptions, the chancels in Gottland are low and dark. The original altar, raised several feet above the floor and detached about a yard from the east wall, still exists in most places. Besides this, two smaller altars, one on each side of the chancel arch, in the nave, were gene- rally to be seen. They are all slabs of marble, raised on masses of solid masonry. Generally speaking, the chancel arches are very rude, with nothing worthy the name of moulding, and, in fact, are little more than openings in the wall. There are, how- ever, a few notable examples to the contrary, as in the church at Grottlingbo. Here the workmanship is very pure and graceful. The roof is generally a single quadripartite vault, but in the older churches we find a roof of the barrel shape. A feature of the Gottland church exterior, and one that 256 THE CHURCHES OF WISBY AND GOTTLAND is mainly conducive to its massive effect, is the plinth on which it is built. The mouldings of these basements are bold and coarsely executed as befits their position; but projecting as they do, at least a foot and a half at the ground beyond the wall of the church, they impart an appearance of stability to the structure in which it would otherwise be deficient. With regard to these plinth mouldings, I may take the opportunity of observing that it is formed of two segments of a circle, the upper one overlapping the lower one. In England this is a detail characteristic of Middle Pointed or Decorated work, whereas in Gottland it occurs in Roman- esque structures. Of exceeding grandeur are the doorways of these Gott- land churches; indeed, they far surpass any equal group in English parish churches. They are invariably found on the south side, and in many instances the chancel, as well as the nave, is equipped with one, little inferior in beauty. Such portals as those at Alskog, Bal, Bro, Burs,Dalhem,Garde, Gerum,Gr6ttlingbo, Lye, Rone, Sandeo, Stanga, Tofta and Vaskinde (to name but a few) display a fertility of invention and a skill in the disposition and execution cf ornament which is beyond all praise. The side walls of the church being much more lofty than would be those of a church of similar dimensions in England, and so extremely thick, afford scope for a much larger and finer design, with numerously recessed jambs with shafts and mouldings; and, as though this were not thought sufficient, the wall surrounding the door is thickened outwards a foot or two, to give additional splay. They usually project some distance beyond the wall of the church, and the gables, with which they are invari- 257 S CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. ably surmounted, have a penthouse of stone over them as a protection from the weather. The date of the greater portion of these doorways may be referred to the latter part of the twelfth and the begin- ning of the thirteenth centuries. Frequently the capitals of their recessed shafts are all carved out of the same block of stone, and embrace sub- jects from Holy Scripture, invested with the character- istics of the period that witnessed their execution. Thus, at Lye the Holy Innocents are being massacred by knights in full armour. As a rule, such subjects were selected as should portray the earlier events in Gospel History, the Salutation of the Blessed Virgin and Elizabeth, the Nativity and the Epiphany recurring most frequently. Sometimes they are grotesque, as at Dalhem, where among the groups are a monk blowing a trumpet, a winged bull with a woman's face, and a dragon swallowing a man. The actual doorway — very often trefoil-headed — does not commence where the jamb terminates, but is narrowed by the addition of a border of stonework, out of which it often has the appearance of having been cut. Occasionally we find the stonework round the doorway covered with arabesque, or subjects within medallions, producing, as may be imagined, an effect of almost exuberant richness. The arrangement of these little sculptured groups fre- quently runs thus: at the top the First Person of the Trinity crowning the Blessed Virgin; on the left St John and St Peter beneath; to the right two other figures, one of whom carries a tablet, on which is the device of the Lamb and Banner (St John the Baptist, it is to be pre- sumed). This, besides its religious meaning, is the standard 258 THE CHURCHES OF WISBY AND GOTTLAND of Gottland. The remaining spaces, down to the ground, were filled with patterns. The head of such a doorway is foli- ated in even numbers, instead of in three or five as nearly always with us, and from two up to an almost indefinite number in proportion to its size and elaborations; and the cusps are carved or left plain on the same principle. As to the doors, which are hung behind and open inwards, it is probable that, taking an average of churches, no country in the world can now compare with their iron- work, either for richness, early type and splendid preser- vation, and in it can be traced the gradual changes of style, from the stiff and formal design to the most flowing Decorated work. For the guidance of students in this branch of ecclesiology I may single out such specimens of scroll-work on doors as those at Eskelhem, Fold, Lojsta, Lokrume, Martebo, Stanga and Trakumla. The great size of these Gottland doorways — they are generally between ten and twelve feet high by five or six wide, makes them the most conspicuous objects on the exterior. The earlier ones have round arches, the later Pointed; and in such cases the space between the crown of the arch and the point of the gable over it is used for the display of sculpture. Within this space is sometimes found our Lord seated in majesty, His right hand raised to bless and His left bearing a shield with the device of the cross upon it. Beneath His feet lie three figures in mail, with shields in their hands. The wall on either side of the doorway at Stanga exhibits a very curious continuation of sculpture. Groups of figures, life size, if not larger, project from the wall; indeed, they are but slightly attached to it at any point, being supported upon massive brackets of stone. They cover a great part of the south wall of the church, 259 S2 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. and I was told there had originally been many more such groups. The lowest group represents the Epiphany; east- ward of them, on the same level, is the Blessed Virgin, crowned, with our Lord in her arms, seated under a canopy. The next group above consists of a central figure, with a glory, apparently our Lord, and on each side of Him, human figures in mocking attitudes. The third in order from the ground, and which extends to the eaves, includes two figures asleep, with a smaller one beneath; a standing figure is to the right of them, and beyond him is a mailed knight. I long puzzled over this group, but could come to no more satisfactory conclusion than that it was a repre- sentation of the Resurrection.* If it is not possible to praise such tracery as is to be found in the later windows of the Gottland churches, I was agree- ably surprised to find such a quantity of ancient stained glass, particularly after visiting Denmark and Sweden, where it is very rarely, indeed I may say never, met with. This stained glass in Gottland was, in all probability, made in Germany, whence the islanders derived not a little of their art. The drawing is excellent, the colours brilliant, and the jewelled lustre still remains, flashing forth in the gloom of these ancient piles, a witness to the glories of the past. The oldest glass is that in the Romanesque church at Sjonhem, but there is beautiful early work at Barlingbo, Dalhem, Endre, Ekeby, Eskelhem, Horsne, Lojske, Lye and Stenkumla. Such glass as remains generally fills the eastern triplets. At the top of the centre light, in every example, is the *The incongruous arrangement of this statuary at Stanga leads one to the conclusion that it was obtained from some other building, and imported into the island. In fact, it looks older than the present church, which evi- dently dates from the first quarter of the fourteenth century. 260 THE CHURCHES OF WISBY AND GOTTLAND Majesty. A crossleted banner or a book is held in the left hand, the right being raised to bless. The remaining sub- jects are arranged in medallions on a blue ground generally, with a pattern worked on it in black. As a specimen of arrangement, the subjects in stained glass at Lojske may be taken. At the top of the centre light is the Majesty; beneath, the Resurrection; then the Crucifixion, but the lowest group of all has disappeared. In the side lights are small groups illustrating the Annunciation and scenes from the Infancy of our Lord, the Baptism in Jordan concluding the series. The groups are placed on a ground work of red encircled with a white border; then follows a border of yellow or some other colour, white being invariably used next to the stonework. There is hardly so much medieval furniture in the Gott- land churches as one would expect to find, but here and there is some fine stone carving, sometimes in the shape of a Tabernacle for the reserved Sacrament. At Burs is a wonderful white marble sedile. There are no canopies or niches behind the bench, which is very plain and undivided, but at each end there is an upright block of white marble sculptured somewhat after the fashion of the wooden stall ends at Lund, with groups under crocketed gables flanked by pinnacled turrets. On the western end, facing the nave, are the Annunciation and the Visitation; on the eastern one, likewise facing the nave, is the Nativity. From the style of the work and the archi- tectural accessories one may assign this beautiful marble sedile at Burs to the latter part of the fourteenth century. The same church possesses, below the wooden altar-piece, an exquisitely painted frieze of the Wise and Foolish Virgins, on a deep red ground. 261 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. To the right are the wise. With proud step and lamps burning brightly they advance to meet the bridegroom, their leader, pennon in hand. On the left stand the foolish, with drooping flag, their crowns falling off, and lamps upturned — in attitude of mute despair — they have slum- bered too long; the stars already shine in the firmament. There is frequently an ancient reredos in a Gottland church, but the design in most cases bespeaks the hand of a German; and this is confirmed by the language in which the names and legends of the saints are written. Some slight description of the one at Linde may be sufficient. In the central compartment is the First Person of the Trinity, crowned, and supporting the Son, Who stands bleeding before Him. He is vested in a gold robe, with flowers on it, and a pattern round the bottom. In the nimbus round the Father's head are the words, Sancta Trinitas, but no representation of the Third Person (the Holy Spirit) is now to be seen. Four angels surround the central group. On the right of these figures, under a canopy, is St Olaf, with battle axe in his right hand and a cup in his left, crowned, and standing on the dragon of heathendom. On their left is St Egidius (St Giles, a favourite north German saint), vested as a bishop, with mitre. Figures of SS. Bartholomew, Paul, Peter and a female saint fill the upper part of the left wing, and SS. James, John, Matthew, and another whom I failed to identify the lower. In the opposite wing are SS. George, Andrew, Thomas, Eric, Simon, Jude, Philip and another whose name is illegible. This triptych was repaired in 1723; below it, on the flat board between it and the predella is painted a tablet, sup- 262 THE CHURCHES OF WISBY AND GOTTLAND ported by two angels, with the date of its first construction, and this inscription, In dem Jahr nach Christi geburt, 1521. The altar-pieces in Gottland vary very much in design. Sometimes they rise up in very light and elegant, lofty, open tabernacle work, with small detached figures, or else they are fine triptychs with well-carved figures and groups such as I have described at Linde, detached or in relief, and richly coloured and gilt. Some of the lighter and more graceful altar-pieces look like importations from England or France. In some places painting occupied the place of sculpture. A small stone reredos, much simpler in design, and some- what rudely carved, was often substituted for the earlier one in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. On them are usually sculptured a few scenes from the life of our Lord (often including the Crucifixion), set off by cherubs and flanked by effigies of Moses and Aaron of dispropor- tionate magnitude, invariably painted and gilt. The best of the medieval altar-pieces besides that at Linde are to be found in the churches of Burs, Lojska, Kraklingbo, Trakumla, Vallstena and Vamlingbo. Fonts abound, many of them of Romanesque cha- racter. The list is too long for insertion here in full, but those in the churches of Akeback, Bro, Ekeby, Endre, Halla, Rute, Vang and Vaskinde are the most noteworthy. The bowl is generally circular, but sometimes octagonal, and decorated with shallow panelling containing sculp- tured scenes, in low relief, fairly designed, well cut in a hard white stone, and generally in fair preservation. The base, when not original, dates probably from the fourteenth century, and is of a strongly marked type, with four large, bold, grotesque heads or toads. 263 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. Unfortunately the material is a very soft sandstone? and the subjects are now much decayed, perhaps by action of weather. It is not unlikely that these bases were bowls of later fonts, turned out of doors at the Reformation, and subsequently brought in to serve as supports for the older, finer, Romanesque bowls. As in northern Germany and in Denmark, all the fonts in Gottland have been removed to the east end of the church, but the situation which they formerly occupied — in the middle of the nave, facing the south door — is sometimes still marked by the circular stones on which they rested. At Endre and Heideby the original covers remain, representing a model of a cruciform^church with spire, on the top of which is the symbolical Silver Dove. Of wall painting, the finest, earliest and most perfect example is that in the conch of the apse at Masterby. It represents the Session in Majesty. Our Lord is seated within an aureole of light green, powdered with roses. The angles are occupied by the evangelistic symbols. On either side are three standing figures, and below, separated by a broad band of scroll work, are the twelve apostles. Above a small, round-headed window in the conch are three half-figures, inscribed EUROPA, ASIA, AFRICA. Outside the arch of the sanctuary, on the east wall of the chancel, are Moses and Aaron; beneath each is a Prophet, and below again a King with nimbus. The drawing is very archaic, and the colouring very dark, but that may have been partly occasioned by smoke. Other interesting remains of painting exist at Fide, Horsne, Laderbro, Lye, Rute, Vallstena and Vamlingbo. Large dedication crosses, painted on the walls, are fre- quently to be found. 264 THE CHURCHES OF WISBY AND GOTTLAND Rudely cut hollows for sedilia and piscina exist in the south walls of chancels. Very large, rich and numerous are the aumbries. These are, generally speaking, in the north wall, but are in some instances to be looked for in the eastern one. They are invariably pedimental headed, and the inside of the doors is often richly painted with saints. The exterior of the doorway to the aumbry at Wall affords a fine study to the student of medieval iron scroll- work. At Dalhem is a sacramental safe of Gottland marble, with the arch of entrance springing from pillars which at first sight have a Romanesque character. They are formed of two very slender shafts, one on either side of a twisted one, and their capitals are fashioned into the likeness of foliage, but the whole is most likely a late seventeenth-cen- tury imitation. Anyhow, it is curious, and certainly unique. Nowhere did I find a rood-screen, or any indication of such a feature having existed, but there is a rood in nearly every church, generally fixed up in one conspicuous place, not, however, except in a very few instances,where we should expect to find it, hanging from the roof of the chancel, or suspended at the "arch of triumph," between it and the nave. Whether these Gottland roods ever occupied either of these two positions there is nothing to indicate, for now they are in most cases set high up against the north wall of the chancel, a very good position, as they receive an excellent light from the windows opposite, and relieve what would otherwise (now at least) be nearly a blank wall. These roods are of one design. The three upper arms of the cross are of the same length, the lower one rather longer, each is terminated by a square 265 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. panel containing the evangelistic symbols in relief. A circular glory of wood, painted yellow, and equal in diameter to the joint length of the shorter arms of the cross, is invariably added. The ends of the cross and the edges of the glory are cusped. The Figure is of life size, the expression of the face majestic and the head is bent towards the right, the arms are extended straight and the cloth girding the loins hangs in folds nearly to the knees. The Figure is painted, and at the feet is frequently a female figure, presumably that of the Magdalene, kneeling. One of the most beautiful of all these Gottland roods is that at Oja; it is a veritable medieval jewel. In this instance the spaces formed by the cross and the encircling glory is rilled with subjects. The two compartments above the arms have groups of angels and persons adoring the Crucified, while in those below are depicted the Fall and the Expulsion from Para- dise. In this instance the Saviour is represented as crowned with fleur-de-lys, the Passion is over, He has sent forth His last cry, and given up the ghost — hence the absence of the crown of thorns. In several of these roods it should be observed that the foot of the cross is planted in the jaws of the great dragon, as, for instance, at Bjorke and Tingstade. Such is a resume of the ecclesiastical architecture and art of this most interesting little island, which no visitor to Scandinavia should miss, even if he had to leave unseen some of the larger and more important places on the main- land. 266 CHAPTER VII Trondhjem TRAVERSING Norway from Christiania to Trondh- jem, by way of the Dovre Fjeld, scarcely a single feature of ecclesiastical or ecclesiological interest is per- ceptible in a distance of 360 miles. The country, indeed, is very thinly populated, so that churches of any kind are rare; and those that do occur are apparently modern, or date only from the eighteenth cen- tury. They are unpretending wooden structures; but their belfries, mostly detached, are more indebted to fancy, and being covered with shingle-tiles, like armadillo scales, are often pretty. The most remarkable of the wooden churches of Norway — Borgund, Hitterdal and Urnes — do not lie along this route. With its 40,000 inhabitants, and not far from the outer rim of the Arctic Circle, Trondhjem is a strange place in which to find one of the most remarkable cathedrals of Northern Europe. But then it must be remembered that until the time of the union of Norway with Denmark at the close of the fourteenth century, Trondhjem was the capital of the kingdom. Now, although the administrative capital of Norway is Christiania, Trondhjem, much further north, retains its privileges, as the most ancient city, of having the crown of St Olaf placed on the King's head in its venerable cathedral. From its foundation in 996 by Olaf Tryggvason until towards the end of the sixteenth century, the city retained 267 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. its ancient name of Nidaros — i.e., "the mouth of the Nid." The name Trondhjem originally implied a district visited by a variety of misfortunes that arrested all progress, and not "the home of the throne" as is too often supposed. This modern interpretation is, therefore, as incorrect as the appellation of "Drontheim" given to it in the days of the Hanseatic League, and still persistently reproduced in many publications. But it is not to the fact of its having in former days been the head church of Norway's capital that the magnificence of Trondhjem Cathedral must be ascribed. For, as Can- terbury owes its present state of architectural splendour to Becket, Durham to Cuthbert, Ely to Etheldreda, Lincoln to Hugh, Worcester to Wulfstan, and so on, so Trondhjem Cathedral gradually grew to beauty over the place of interment of one who was held to be hero, miracle- worker, martyr and saint. I refer, of course, to St Olaf (anglice, St Olave), whose memory during five centuries spread a lustre over the whole kingdom, causing Trondh- jem to be not only the centre of the national religion but the sanctuary and palladium of national freedom and independence. After the mysterious disappearance of Olav Trygg- vason, about the year iooi, during an expedition to the Baltic, the kings of Denmark and Sweden, and Carl Erik, the son of Hakon the Great, divided Norway among them, but in reality the greater part of the country was held by Earl Erik and his brother, Earl Svend, under a little more than nominal vassalage. In the south some of the districts were more directly dependent upon Denmark and Sweden. Fourteen years afterwards another descendant of Harold 268 TRONDHJEM Fairhair, who, as far as can be discovered, ruled Norway from 860 to 933, appeared in the country. This was Olaf, son of Harold Granske, and had, like most of his race, spent his early youth chiefly in raiding sea coasts, first at Stockholm in 1014, then wintering in Gott- land. In the next spring he went up the Baltic and down to Denmark, Friesland and Holland, and on to England, where he assisted Etheldred in a spirited attack on, and capture of, Southwark, leading to the taking of England from the Danes, and passed a winter there. In the follow- ing spring he attacked and took Canterbury and then sailed away with the plunder. When about nineteen he came to Norway with a small band of well-tried men and went first to his kinsmen in the Uplands, where some of the petty kings of Harold's race still remained in a not very close dependence on Denmark. Earl Erik was by this time dead; Olaf succeeded in driving Svend from the land and became in a short time more thoroughly King of Norway than anyone had been since Harold Fairhair. He rebuilt Nidaros (the modern Trondhjem), which had been founded by Olaf Trygg- vason, and like him was a zealous adherent of Christianity. As soon as he was fairly settled, he proceeded to enforce it on his subjects. The previous conversion of the land had been superficial, so that, except in the parts of the country which came most into relations with foreign countries, the old religion had still a stronghold and in some cases was predominant. Olaf suppressed heathen worship with the utmost vigour, and Christianity may be said to have become the professed religion of the land. He aimed at a united Christian kingdom under a strong 269 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. central power, and these ideas, in so far as they were intel- ligible, were repugnant to the Norse chiefs. Moreover, Olaf's character was somewhat quiet and reserved, not always destitute of traits of cunning, so that altogether, though every one was forced to respect his courage and ability, and his own followers were devotedly attached to him, most of the Norwegian chiefs never wholly under- stood or trusted him. In various ways he incurred the enmity of many of the most powerful men in the west and north and he had a dangerous foreign enemy. Canute was at the height of his power, had claims, he thought, upon Norway, and was, moreover, deeply irri- tated by an expedition which Olaf had made upon Den- mark along with the King of Sweden. He had connexions with many of the chiefs, which he fostered as much as possible and in 1028 he came with a great force to Norway. Olaf resisted as long as resistance was practicable, fought bravely and did his best to rouse the patriotism of his people. But not even the help of the Swedish army was of much avail, for King Canute had means of undermining Olaf's influence among the Norwegians which proved fatally invincible. His spies, his bribes and his dexterous fanning of flickering grievances into flame, were more formidable than his splendid armament. Friend after friend forsook King Olaf; every man who had been guilty of indecorum and had thereby drawn upon himself his sovereign's just chastisement, now turned against him, and Canute's bags of gold changed even stanch supporters into traitors. Unable to stem the torrent of adverse circumstances, Olaf fled to Novgorod where he remained for two years. 270 TRONDHJEM He was about to take a journey to the Holy Land, by way of outweighing the counter-project of an attempt to recover Norway, when Olaf Tryggvason, "great and superb," appeared to him, urging him to return to Nor- way, and to win back his crown. The opportunity seemed a good one, for Canute was absent from Norway. The Swedish king had, moreover, offered help. But Canute had offered a reward for Olaf s head, and the returning king found that he had deadly enemies to deal with in Norway. An army of bonders gathered to oppose him, and advanced till within sight of his banner at Stiklestadt. Having marshalled his troops, Olaf carefully ascertained that no man who had elected to fight on his side in the impending battle was unbaptized. Bishop and priests were at hand to administer the rite to those who had not received it previously. This settled, the king announced that the war-cry would be, "Forward, Christ's men! Cross men! King's men!" His soldiers wore the cross both on helmet and shield, painted in white. He himself, on the other hand, carried a white shield, on which the cross gleamed in gold. The bonders' army being still motionless, the king commanded that his men should rest. They sat down, Olaf in their midst, and such was his composure of mind that he fell asleep in this anxious interval and "dreamed a heavenly dream." But the attack came at last and the battle raged fiercely through the summer day — July 29, 1030. Smitten, as the hours wore on, with three deadly wounds, the king passed away from earth with a prayer on his lips. Once beyond the reach of his infatuated subjects, he 271 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. who had been persecuted soon came to be worshipped. Marvellous tales were told of the indestructibility of his corpse, and of its magical healing powers.* It was exhumed after a time, in connexion with signs and wonders which convinced all bystanders, including Bishop Grimkil that Olaf had been a man "truly holy." His body was buried in St Clement's Church at Nidaros, which he had himself built, and his penitent people, bewailing their present fate, and jealous of the happy past, sought to atone for their treachery to the great king in life by electing him in death their patron saint. Prayers were offered at his shrine, pilgrimages were undertaken to his grave, and his name rang as far and wide as a synonym for sanctity as those of St Martin, St Katherine and St Nicholas. In London four churches and a street have borne St Olave's name,f in the cities of Chester, Chichester, Exeter and York similar memorials of him exist, and he is likewise honoured at Fritwell in Oxfordshire, at Gatcombe in Hampshire, at Poughill in Cornwall, and at Ruckland in Lincolnshire. Even in remote Novgorod and Constantinople churches were dedicated to St Olave's memory; also in Esthland and Ireland. The actual shrine of Olaf was the object of his son Mag- nus's pious care. Bedecked with precious stones and emblazoned in gold and silver, it was the wonder of its age, and, as the Saga tells us,$ "he appointed by law that *Thorpe's Northern Mythology. •fin Tooley Street, Hart Street, Old Jewry and Silver Street. The last- named was not rebuilt after the Great Fire of 1666. Tooley Street is a corruption of Olave Street. I Snorro, 11, p. 309. TRONDHJEM King Olaf's holy day should be kept holy all over Norway and that day (July 29) has been kept ever afterwards as the greatest of Church days." Magnus himself was scarcely three and twenty years old when he was suddenly called to lay down all his laurels. His horse, startled by a hare, swerved sharply aside and flung the king against the trunk of a tree. The moment of his death was also the moment of his greatest success. Just victorious over the irrepressible Svend in a great naval battle and peacefully allied with Harold — his successor on the Norwegian throne — Magnus may well have been indulging in anticipations of peace and pros- perity. But it was not to be; and so, in the flower of his youth, and at the height of such fortunes as he had sought for, Magnus followed his father. Arrived at Nidaros, the body of Magnus — the removal of which from the scene of his death in Jutland had been superintended all the way to Trondhjem by the faithful Einar Tambarskelver — was conveyed to St Clement's Church and there deposited. Here, close to the splendid shrine of his father, which had always been the object of his tenderest solicitude, Magnus the Good found his last resting-place. Thus it came about that at Trondhjem, then called Nidaros, "the mouth of the Nid," the cathedral rose above the shrines of Olaf and Magnus, and on the very spot where the body of the former had been hidden after his last disastrous fight against Canute, who had added the crown of Norway to those of Denmark and England. To Olaf's shrine in particular, and to Olaf's well which is embedded within the cathedral walls, came pilgrims from all parts of Europe, bringing their gifts with them. 273 T CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. Olaf was canonized by popular acclamation almost imme- diately after his martyrdom. But it was not till 1150 that his countrymen obtained from Pope Eugenius III a pro- mise of the enfranchisement of Norway from the spiritual supremacy of the metropolitan of Lund. It is interesting to learn that the Papal Legate who constituted the nor- thern province was our own countryman, Nicholas Breakspere, who, indeed, succeeded to the papacy before the final arrangement of the business. The Orkneys, Shetland, Bute and the neighbouring islands, and also Man, were all comprised in the new province; and among other proofs of the then ecclesiastical union of Norway and England, it may be mentioned that the cathedral at Stavanger is dedicated in honour of our St Swithin of Winchester. There can be no doubt that most of the clergy of Norway in the eleventh and twelfth centuries were either English born or English bred, and it is interesting to identify the derivation of so much in the architecture of Trondhjem Cathedral from this country. Between 1016 and 1030 Olaf the Saint had built a church on the spot where now stands the present chapter house, an apsidal parallelogram just detached from the north aisle of the choir but connected with it by a short pas- sage. Olaf was buried a little to the south of his own church where the high altar of the cathedral is now situated. Between 1036 and 1047 Magnus the Good raised a small wooden chapel over St Olaf s grave, and soon after- wards Harold Haardraade built a stone church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin immediately to the westward of this and on the spot occupied by the present choir. In this state this group of three churches stood during the troubled period that ensued. 274 Trondhjem Cathedral from the North East. To face page 274. TRONDHJEM With the return of peace, Archbishop Eystein Erlend- sson (anglice, Augustine) began (c. 1161) the rebuilding of the new metropolitical church. By a comparison of documentary evidence with the actual phenomena of the cathedral, we may conclude that Eystein did not touch the then existing church of Olaf Kyrre, containing the saint's shrine. Leaving that as the choir of his new plan, he began a Romanesque tower and aisleless transepts at its west end. This transept might well, from its detail, be an English building, and the chapel opening out of the eastern side of either arm has the English peculiarity of the square end. Nothing can exceed the richness with which the billet moulding is used in this, the oldest existing portion of Trondhjem Cathedral. Its employment here is so vigorous and artistic that it might almost be suspected that this was its native place, and that it was derived from some wooden architecture usual in the country before being translated into stone. Either Eystein or his successor rebuilt the church of St Clement as we now see it, and which, as I have already mentioned, is now styled the chapter house. The transept built by this prelate consists of three squares, each thirty- one feet seven inches in internal measure, with walls of six feet four inches. Twenty years later, having incurred the wrath of the King of Norway, Eystein fled to England, staying there three years and witnessing part of the rebuilding of the "glorious choir of Conrad" at Canterbury. On his return to Norway Eystein set about rebuilding the choir, probably in that mingling of the Round Arched and Pointed styles which he had seen in vogue during his 275 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. enforced residence in England. Subsequently he rebuilt the tower and made alterations in the transepts. His death took place in 1188, when in France, if not entirely in Eng- land, the Romanesque had faded away before the Pointed Gothic. Sixty years later another prelate, under English influ- ences, one Sigurd Eindidesson, was seated on the archi- episcopal throne of Trondhjem. Until this time (c. 1231) the choir does not seem to have been touched, and then, instead of removing the old walls of the preceding church, the builders appear to have added external aisles (which are consequently very narrow) and, above the solid stone choir walls, to have erected a triforium and clerestory, and vaulting of an admirable First Pointed character. Accord- ingly, these massive ancient choir walls remained until the commencement of the works of restoration in the 'seventies of the last century, pierced irregularly with rude aper- tures and wholly covered in by the airy fabric which soared above them. Assuming the choir to have been constructed in this manner between 1231 and 1248, we find actual evidence that in the latter year the nave was begun in excellent First Pointed in its later phase. The crown or octagon at the east end of the choir is the chief glory of Trondhjem, and, as an architectural gem, is to Norway what the Angel Choir at Lincoln is to England, Rosslyn Chapel to Scotland, the Sainte Chapelle at Paris to France and the Church of our Lady at Treves to Germany. Its date may, not without great improbability, be assigned to the first two decades of the fourteenth century, since the archi- tecture is a very unusual combination of the features of First and Middle Pointed, such as might well be the work 276 TRONDHJEM of an English architect called upon to design a church at so distant a spot. Even the best Norwegian authorities are of opinion that Trondhjem Cathedral was designed throughout by Englishmen, but that the successive styles of Pointed were developed in Norway somewhat later than among our- selves. In particular, it may be observed that the peculiar split quatrefoil which is seen at Canterbury and in many churches of Kent is found in the triforium of this Trondh- jem octagon. While speaking of this member of the cathedral, it may be as well to state that it is quite a mistake to suppose it was built for the reception of the shrine of St Olaf, any more than "Becket's Crown" at Canterbury was built for that of St Thomas, or, again, that it was the choir. The shrine was undoubtedly in the constructional choir of the cathedral, and the octagon was probably a Lady Chapel. It follows that the beautiful pierced stone screen which divides the octagon from the choir is no rood screen at all, though it has often been taken for one. In reality it is nothing but a very elegant and novel method of connect- ing the broad lofty choir with the equally lofty octagon which is added — not very skilfully, it must be owned — to its east end. The octagon itself is slightly irregular in plan in order to contain St Olaf's well, which still remains with an external as well as an internal method of approach. Northward of the choir, and at some little distance, though connected with the main fabric by a short cloister, stands the apsidal Romanesque chapel of St Clement, now called the chapter house. This was probably built by the same archbishop who began the transepts and central tower. 277 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC The nave was designed with eight bays and with two towers added on the outside of the westernmost bays. Thus the western facade, of which only the lowest story remains, must, if it were ever completed, have been very broad and dignified, resembling in plan that of Wells and in detail that of Lichfield. Whether the work of building the nave ever advanced beyond the aisles and the first stage of the west front, or whether, with other parts, it suffered in the fires to which the church fell a prey at divers times, and that then its materials were employed to repair the damage done to those portions, has not been satisfactorily ascertained. The statement, therefore, made by some writers that the cathedral, together with its nave and western towers, was completed early in the fourteenth century, and in such a manner as to be the wonder of Norway, must be accepted with caution. There is nothing to prove that the western arm of the cathedral progressed any further than the walls of the aisles and the first stage of the western facade. The probability is that after the completion of the choir, and the reconstruction of the central tower, whose four great arches show work of the most magnificent and refined description, the resources of the chapter had become so exhausted that after raising those parts of the nave to which I have alluded, the works came to an abrupt conclusion, and at that stage they remained until their resumption within the last few years. The mighty cathe- dral at Cologne presents a somewhat parallel instance of work languishing after the most sacred part of the fabric had been completed. The church suffered from fire in 1328 before the com- 278 TRONDHJEM pletion of the octagon, which may account for the fact that the interior arcade of that addition is of a far more advanced Pointed style than the outer walls. There were fires again in 1432 and 153 1. The last acci- dent is said to have wholly destroyed the nave, but, as I have already observed, such a statement rests upon very slender hypothesis. In the troubles of the Reformation, in 1536, the shrine of St Olaf was disturbed. The shrine was stolen, but the body of the Patron actually remained on the altar till the war between Sweden and Denmark, from 1563 to 1570. The Swedes then carried away and buried the body. But on July 8, 1565, the inhabitants "translated" the relics back to the cathedral in a procession of clergy, noble- men, military officers and citizens and deposited them in a brick-laid grave or vault. The exact spot where the afore- said brick-laid grave is to be looked for is not now known; it does not appear to have been found when the restora- tion of the choir was completed in 1890. With the overthrow of Catholicism, and the decay of ancient fervour and discipline, the cathedral of Trondh- jem shared the fate of many another noble church of northern Europe, so that when about the middle of the last century the first note of restoration was sounded, the cathedral had been reduced to such a state of debase- ment and neglect that in many parts the original design was quite obliterated. Fires occurred in 1708 and 1719, and to one or other of these disasters the flat ceiling of domestic character, which until the late restorations covered the choir, must be attri- buted. This portion of the church has long since constituted 279 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. the nave, the corona forming the choir, but, when the nave is completed, it is to be hoped that the eastern limb will be properly used and fitted up, by which time we may hope to see not only the proofs of the growth of a still truer ecclesiological spirit in the Norwegian church, but a still more sacred religious revival. Of all the Protestantized cathedral choirs, perhaps none equalled this of Trondhjem half a century ago. To be sure, the magnificent arches opening from it into the com- paratively unspoilt octagon remained in statu, but the rest was in a sad condition. I have already mentioned the flat domestic ceiling, which, however, just cleared the upper of the two arches between the choir and the corona. The south wall of the choir showed four huge uncouth arches cut straight through the solid wall. Above them were four pointed windows of two uncusped lights, but of the rudest description. There were no arches visible on the north side, and only three clerestory windows of the same character as the opposite ones. On each side of the choir were three or four tiers of private boxes, not very regular in form or size, but comfortably glazed and curtained, access being provided to them by a staircase and corridor in either aisle; the area was filled with pews; the pulpit was elevated against the southern wall between one of the uncouth arches just alluded to, and behind the altar, which was placed within the octagon, rose a cast of Thorvaldsen's celebrated Salvator Mundi at Copenhagen. While the cathedral was in this plight several mono- graphs upon it were put forth. Of these I may allude to two — Minutoli, Der Dont zu Drontheim, published in 1853, and Munch und Schirmer, c Irondhjent > s Domkirke, six years later. 280 TRONDHJEM In Minutoli's view of the interior of the choir as he con- sidered it should be restored, the arcades separating it from the aisles are shown divided into two lesser ones, somewhat after the manner of those in the cathedral at Meaux near Paris, the slender shaft carrying these sub- arcuations being crowned in each instance with a capital formed of two rows of leafage. The lower part of these arcades, except apparently in one instance, is walled up to nearly half the height, the enclosure being enriched with arcading. The effect of this is extremely good. In one of their thirty-one beautiful plates engraved by our Le Keux, MM. Munch and Schirmer show the cen- tral steeple restored in imagination. They give no pinnacles to their tower, but their tall spire, presumably of metal, has very small broaches, and is far more pleasing in pro- portions and general ensemble than that which we now see. Three lancets are given to the belfry stage, and a corbel table of intersecting lancet arches without any shafts enriches the top of the tower under the eaves. Each corner of the tower is sliced, or, in architectural parlance, "canted off," to receive a shaft, with pretty effect, and the western towers are shown surmounted by spires of the All Saints', Margaret Street, type. Munch and Schirmer's idea of how the choir should have been restored differs from that given by Minutoli. In their handsome folio these architects give a fine engrav- ing by Le Keux, in which the piers to the arcades are com- posed of shafts clustered against that supporting the ribs of the vaulting which spring at the stringcourse of the cle- restory. Both designs are exceedingly elegant and, I cannot 281 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. forbear remarking, far more pleasing than the present arrangement, for which the architect would appear to have sought inspiration from southern rather than from northern models, as, for instance, the nave arcades of the cathedral at Verona and the church of St Petronio at Bologna. With the revival of Norwegian national feeling, during the last eighty years of constitutional and personal liberty, a strong desire sprang up amongst all classes to save from utter destruction the few architectural remains bearing witness to former greatness, and naturally the first to be taken in hand was the old cathedral of Trondhjem. It was found to be in a most shocking state of dilapidation and dis- figurement. Time and fire had, of course, done much; but at the hand of man the noble structure had fared worse. The first note of restoration was sounded about forty years ago. Since then, the work has been carried on from time to time as funds have permitted with a praiseworthy enthusiasm. Practically everything is completed but the nave, which has risen to something like two-thirds of what will be its final height.* As far as possible, everything has been exactly restored, with the exception perhaps of the columns supporting the arches on either side of the choir upon which I have already remarked. To this end, not only the best architectural, but the best workmanly skill, has been employed. Every fragment of the old building has been used where that was possible, and in the case of what was ruined beyond repair careful casts have been made, and the w r hole restored from these and from suggestions in the uninjured work. *The work is expected to reach completion in 19 14, when Norway will celebrate the hundredth anniversary of its restored independence. 282 TRONDHJEM The material employed is a curious blue soap-stone found in the locality. When broken in one direction it has a dullish sparkle, like some iron ores, suggesting great hardness, but in reality it is a soft stone, very pliable to the sculptor's hands, and almost capable of being cut with a knife. It has, however, thoroughly proved its enduring qualities. In some of the oldest parts of the cathedral the mason's marks are not far from being as clear and as sharp as when they were placed there between eight and nine hundred years ago. The restoration of Trondhjem Cathedral will probably be such as will satisfy even those to whom almost all restora- tion is Anathema Maranatha. The work done so far has been prosecuted in a spirit of high reverence for the past, under the superintendence of Herr Christie, the most eminent of Norwegian architects, who is devoting his life to what Professor Dietrichson, of Christiania University, calls "Norway's noblest monu- ment, the country's treasure, the crown and glory of its architecture." The exterior of Trondhjem Cathedral, particularly that part which is first seen on approaching from the city, i.e., from the north-east, is certainly very striking and pictur- esque. The upper part of the Lady Chapel, or "corona," which is the most remarkable feature of the church and which rises to the height of the choir walls which it adjoins, is perhaps the most striking feature of the whole building, whose details have an unmistakably British look about them. As an illustration of this I would particularly point to the buttresses of the choir aisles with their nook shafts and boldly treated gables surmounted by finials, features of rare occurrence in Scandinavian Pointed architecture. 283 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. A little study of the two exterior views of Trondhjem Cathedral will enable the reader to form an idea of it in its past and present conditions. It must be confessed, how- ever, that notwithstanding the poverty of some of the details, the building was more picturesque in its unre- stored state than it is now. Indeed, so great are the changes that have been wrought in its external face since the tide of restoration set in, that anyone who knew the cathedral, say thirty years ago, would have a difficulty in recognizing it as the same building. Presumably, Herr Christie was furnished with prece- dents sufficient for him to recover the original design, to remove such debased features as the windows in the cleres- tory of the choir, to substitute an octagonal spire for the dome with which the octagon had been endowed, to reface and raise the central tower, and to crown it with the pinnacles and tall metal spire we now see. The octagon and the apsidal chapter-house which stands close to, but detached from, the north aisle of the choir, are portions of the cathedral which appear to have suffered least from clumsy reconstruction and repair. The former, built on the site of the semi-octagonal apse of the original Romanesque choir, presents all the features of the First Pointed or Lancet period of architecture, at least on the outside. The tall aisle which surrounds it has a lean-to roof and bold buttresses, from which spring flying buttresses of extremely light construction to the angles of the cleres- tory. From the three cardinal sides of the circumambient aisle project as many short low chapels with acutely gabled 284 Trondhjem Cathedral. The Vest Front before restoration. Trondhjem Cathedral, from the North East, before restoration. To face page 284. TRONDHJEM roofs and prettily trefoiled facades flanked by pinnacled turrets. The windows are small lancets in pairs. Those piercing the oblique sides are placed rather high up in the wall, a small trefoiled circle surmounting each pair. Below the lancets in the southern oblique side is a beautiful little doorway, styled the archbishop's doorway, its arch is foliated beneath a gable, and it is flanked by pinnacled turrets. The clerestory of this octagon is remarkable. Each side is gabled, and the spaces between the tripled lancets, which throw so beautiful a flood of light into this part of the cathedral, are relieved by slender shafts, from which rise pointed arches arranged to fit into the two sides of the gables. The apse of the church of St Mary at Gelnhausen near Frankfort will occur to those conversant with Ger- man ecclesiology as an example of similar treatment. At Gelnhausen the arcades are detached from the wall, thus affording those beautiful effects of light and shade which we miss at Trondhjem. Here the arrangement is reversed, the passage between the arcades and the windows being made internally. After one of those fires to which the cathedral of Trond- jem fell a victim at different times, the spaces between the gables of this corona were walled up, and the not unpic- turesque dome and cupola seen in the view of the church in its unrestored condition, substituted for what we now see, i.e., an octagonal spire with its ribs springing from the apices of the gables. The external appearance of the six-bayed choir, with its steep roof and cross-crowned gable flanked by pinnacled turrets is undeniably imposing, and in some respects calls that of Chichester Cathedral to mind. 285 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. The details of the northern clerestory differ somewhat from those of the southern one. Herr Christie has removed the pointed windows of two lights seen in the old view, and has introduced an entirely different system of fenestra- tion, but, in all likelihood, according to the original thir- teenth-century design. On the north side each bay, except the one at either extremity, is enriched with five arcades, whose slender attached shafts are corbelled off just below the sills of the lancet windows with which three of the arcaded compart- ments are pierced. The outer shaft on either side is, how- ever, carried down to the lean-to roof of the aisle. In the southern clerestory the treatment is somewhat different, the arcades being grouped beneath a shallow round-headed arch. Coupled lancet windows, with a circle pierced in the wall just above them, light the tall narrow lean-to-roofed aisles. These windows are deeply splayed, and are furnished with slender jamb-shafts, their treatment, together with that of the buttresses, being strongly reminiscent of some of the best early thirteenth-century work of our northern counties. The north aisle is broken in the third bay by a pointed doorway, over which is a large plain circular window, while from the corresponding bay on the south projects what is styled the Kongeindgangen, or royal entrance. Before its restoration this porch presented a mutilated and dis- figured mass, the doorway being filled in with walling pierced by a Late Gothic window. Enough indications of its ancient features were in existence to make a sure resto- ration, and this has been satisfactorily accomplished. The same remarks apply to the southern transept, whose 286 TRONDHJEM original features had been debased almost entirely beyond recognition. The northern transept had, however, escaped pretty well, the only encroachment upon its original features being a large pointed window for whose insertion a circular window and some small lancets below it had been sacrificed — an example of how little medieval architects scrupled about interfering with earlier work Now both transepts have been restored to what was un- doubtedly the condition in which they had been left by the late twelfth-century architect, exhibiting as they do the massiveness of the Romanesque with the more graceful contours of the hardly as yet developed Pointed Gothic. The old tower, which, until the late restorations, rose but little above the roofs of the choir and transepts and which, notwithstanding the poverty of its details, was certainly picturesque, has been rebuilt in the First Pointed manner, and capped by a tall octagonal spire with angle turrets and pinnacles, relieved, as is each side of the tower, with arcades. It stands on four lofty pointed arches, richly moulded and resting upon many-shafted piers. Pending the reconstruction of the nave the western arch is, of course, built up. Above the arches, the tower is open for two stages, and the effect, with the four richly shafted arcades in the tower and the triplets combining with the groined roof in the upper stage, is singularly impressive and reminds one of the great rood tower of Lincoln Cathedral. Internally the transepts are very similar. A low round- headed arcading carried round the end and west side is surmounted by very simple and deeply splayed windows with round heads, and these by a triforium stage of simi- larly shaped arches enclosing two small ones, with the 287 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. tympanum pierced by a quatrefoil. In the fourth story of the north and south sides is a continuous range of deeply moulded semicircular arches on clustered and banded shafts. On the east side of each transept is a large round arch, triply recessed and very richly chevronne, opening into square-ended chapels. Beside the round arch is a large pointed one, with remarkably rich mouldings, and covered by a triangular hood. Evidently an altar stood within each of these recesses, as just within it is a trefoil-headed piscina. Except that a doorway pierces the face of the north transept, the ordonnance of its design is similar to that of the southern one. The third stage corresponds to that of the north and south sides, with its Ripon-like arcades of two openings and a quatrefoil pierced in the tympanum above them. Next we have four trefoil-headed lancet windows seen through as many acutely pointed arcades on slender clustered shafts, and above all a traceried circular window, also set back behind an arrangement of arcading which one can have little doubt was inspired by the Tran- sitional work in the eastern transepts of Canterbury Cathedral. The unusual breadth of the choir at Trondhjem is to be accounted for by the fact that the columns separating it from its extremely narrow aisles stand upon the site of the walls of the Romanesque choir, which, as I have already remarked, was aisleless.* The general style of this part of the church is very grand and vigorous First Pointed; indeed, few interiors have impressed me more with a sense of extreme grandeur *The Perpendicular nave of Ripon Cathedral is an interesting compara- tive study. 288 TRONDHJEM and stability, allied with elegance and wealth of sculptured detail than this choir of Trondhjem, evolved as it has been for the most part from a mutilated and disfigured heap by the skill of Herr Christie, who deserves the highest praise for the courage and perseverance he has displayed in dealing with such a corpus vile as the choir presented before it passed into his hands. He has here wrought for eternity, and with a success which admits of no doubt or cavil. The six deeply moulded arches separating the choir from its aisles are carried upon tall columns with very elongated capitals, having three, and in some instances four, rows of boldly carved foliage. The columns are octagons and clusters of eight cylindrical shafts alternately. In the latter the shafts on the cardinal sides are thicker than those on the oblique ones. The octagonal columns have a single flute on each side, a somewhat questionable addition. Attached to the eastern respond, or half pier, on either side and extending half-way up it, is a slender shaft support- ing a great bunch of carved foliage. This was, probably, intended as a bracket for statuary. On the whole this choir-arcade at Trondhjem may be pronounced unique, for, except in the chapel at Rosslyn, I can recall no instance of the use of the isolated column in conjunction with such masses of carved foliage. In north-eastern France and Belgium, and in some parts of Germany, the single isolated column was circular through all the epochs of the Pointed, but in England this form dropped out of use at the end of the twelfth cen- tury, our architects preferring that type of column which is composed of a number of shafts either clustered or amalgamated, and each with its separately carved capital. 289 U CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. I presume, therefore, that at Trondhjem sufficient indi- cations of alternately clustered and octagonal columns were in evidence to justify Herr Christie in restoring the arcade to that form which we now see. With regard to the elongated masses of foliage which crown the columns, it would seem that the key was fur- nished by the responds of the three arches opening from the choir into the octagon. So striking a likeness do these half-piers bear to two in the choir of Lincoln Cathedral that it is easy to trace their parentage. And not only here, but in the grandly deve- loped triforium and clerestory and in the vaulting, with its wide cells, the influence of our best Early English work is patent to the most casual observer. The same delicacy and beauty of workmanship is visible in the extremely narrow aisles, whose groining necessarily assumes an extremely elance character. The walls below the windows are richly arcaded, and the windows them- selves, which have very steeply sloping sills, wear a much more united appearance than they do externally; here the circle and the two lancet lights appear to form one per- fect window. The area of the choir is fitted with open benches arranged parochial- wise; the pulpit stands at the north- east angle, and through the central arch of the screen separating this part of the church from the octagon is seen the altar, decently vested, and provided with a reredos on the motif of the medieval reliquary of St Olaf. The most interesting feature in the cathedral is the open stone screen separating the choir from the octagon. A grand opportunity was afforded by the unusual width of the choir for the production of something original which 290 Trondhjem Cathedral. The Choir looking East. To face page 290. TRONDHJEM should connect it in a graceful manner with, the corona. Of this the architect availed himself, and he has made it quite a masterpiece of decoration. The lower part of the east end of the choir is divided into three acutely pointed unequal arches, the centre being the largest and rising three-fifths of the entire height of the screen. The great central arch rises from columns com- posed of eight slender shafts; each has a capital of carved leafage, and the group is united under an octofoiled capital with four rows of moulding. Upon the "responds," or half- piers, partly supporting the narrower side arches an extra- ordinary amount of richness has been lavished. Three slender shafts, banded at mid-height and crowned with boldly foliaged capitals, are disposed at a little distance from each other in the form of a triangle. In each of the two intervening spaces is a flat narrow shaft, with crockets issuing from it all the way up. These shafts are not continued to the full height of the other three, being intended by their designer to carry a foliaged capital ranging in height with those of the seven columns on either side of the choir.* The centre arch is subdivided into three arches, tracery being introduced into the spandrels formed by them. Attached to each of the slender single shafts of marble from which these arches spring is another rising to rather more than half its height. From this attached shaft springs an ogee arch, foliated and subfoliated, and supporting a statue of St Olaf on the apex. A battlemented coping surmounts the great central arch, and then, rising to the full height of the choir, comes *Allusion has already been made to the strong likeness existing between these columns and two in the choir of Lincoln Cathedral. 291 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. a pointed arch of the same width as that below, enriched with the ball-flower ornament, and subdivided into two lesser arches, which, being left open, afford a fine view into the corona, which is vaulted at the same height as the choir. In a view of the choir taken in its unrestored state a large plain crucifix is seen attached to the central shaft of this upper arch, while within the subarches stand figures of the Blessed Virgin and St John, all of which it is to be hoped will be replaced. The space above the side arches is enriched with two tiers of ogee-headed arcades, some of which, being pierced, look into the octagon beyond. Remarkable as the general idea of such a screen is, the exquisite beauty, delicacy, lightness and, above all, origi- nality of the design make it quite unique among eastern terminations of its date, the middle of the fourteenth century. The treatment of the lower central part will recall to those conversant with the church architecture of Essex the very remarkable and, for their period, unique stone screens in the churches of Great Bardfield and Stebbing near Dunmow. In modern architecture Mr Butterfield's screen in the cathedral church of the Diocese of Argyle and the Isles in Greater Cumbrse* is a complete parallel of this treat- ment. Whether that architect drew his inspiration from the English examples or from the Norwegian one I am unable to say, but, with the religious connexion which so long existed between Scotland and Norway in mind, I am inclined to the latter opinion. The interior of the corona, which has come down to our *A small, but extremely beautiful work of about fifty years ago. 292 TRONDHJEM own time almost entirely unspoiled, indicates a style, except as to its upper windows, considerably later than the First Pointed character of its exterior; indeed, some parts of the interior, especially the screen of perforated tracery in the lower part of the arches separating the octagon from its circumambient aisle and the arcading of the triforium, excel some of our richest Decorated in its exuberance of ornamentation. These differences are explained by the fact that a fire so greatly damaged the two lower stages of the inner octagon in 1328 as to necessitate their very extensive reparation. The height of this octagon is equal to that of the choir, and has a triforium and clerestory equally well developed; in fact, the levels of these divisions in the octagon are made to range with those of the choir. The arches dividing the octagon from the ambulatory spring from clustered shafts and are subdivided into two lesser arches. The tympanum in each case is pierced with a circle overlaid by cusping of varied form, but it is impos- sible to convey in words any idea of the exuberance and fancy which characterizes the whole of the detail, whether of the Early or Middle Pointed epochs, in this part of the church. For this I must refer the reader to the illustration, merely instancing as admiranda the richly moulded "Early English" doorways to the three chapels opening out of the ambulatory, the interlacing arcade- work on the walls of the same portion, the graceful attached shafts from which the groining ribs, both of the ambu- latory and of the central octagon, spring, and the variety displayed in the tracery which occupies the tympana of the triforium openings. Approached by a short passage, or "slype," from the 293 CATHEDRALS OF NORWAY, ETC. northern ambulatory of the corona is now what is called the chapter house (Kapitelbuset), but which was originally the chapel of St Clement. Externally it appears as a simple Romanesque parallelo- gram under one length of rather high-pitched roof, ter- minating in an apse, and lighted by round-headed windows, of which there are two tiers in the west front above the door- way. The whole is inexpressibly grand from its simplicity. Internally we are surprised to find not only the length broken up into three divisions, so as to comprise a nave, chancel and sanctuary, but the architecture, partaking of that character transitional from the Round Arched to the Pointed, thus tallying with the date of this little building, which may be approximately put at 1 1 80. The nave portion is broken up into two bays quadripart- titely-vaulted from tripled shafts, banded and crowned with incipiently foliaged capitals. The chancel, if I may so speak, is divided from the nave on the one hand and from the apsidal sanctuary on the other, by three pointed arches comprised beneath one of trefoiled shape, the central arch being, of course, wider and higher than the one on either side of it. The side arches opening from the nave into the chancel are open to the ground, while those between the chancel and the sanctuary are in the form of pierced wall arcades. This breaking up into parts of a building so limited in its dimensions is extraordinary, and, viewing those four massive groups of columns and arches in the centre, it is difficult to divest oneself of the idea that they should support a tower. The extremely elanc'e groining of the apse, which, at its chord, is the same width as the western half of the parallelogram, cannot be sufficiently admired. 294 TRONDHJEM Of the nave, which is now in progress, it is possible only to speak from the published designs. It will embrace eight bays, of which that at the extreme west end on either side is narrower than the rest. The aisle windows and the wall arcades below them on the inside will resemble those in the choir. There is to be an ample triforium of two double-arched openings to each bay, but a little taller and more developed in style than that of the choir, and a clerestory of four-light windows, rather low, but very richly traceried in the geometrical style and completely filling the space allotted to each bay. The groined roof will, as befitting its early fourteenth-cen- tury style, be rather complex, and the whole workman- ship indicates a most markedly English feeling. The wes- tern towers, which do not mask the extremities of the aisles, but, as I have already observed, project beyond them as at Wells, thereby imparting additional breadth and dignity to the facade, are designed to carry pinnacles and octagonal spires. To judge from the elevation here given, their belfry stages would certainly be improved by a slight increase, not only in height, but in ornamentation; moreover, it is to be wished that the architect would not only have dis- pensed with the pinnacles, but that he would have allowed his spires to assume a more strictly Continental form. 295 INDEX AARKIRKBY, in Bornholm, Font at, 34 Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, 126; tomb of, at Soro, 127 Altarpieces, 27-31; at Roeskilde, 140; at Lund, 172; at Strengnas, 199; in Gottland, 262 Ancient stained glass in Gottland, 260 Ancient roof and wall painting, in Denmark, 38; in Sweden, 206- 219; in Gottland, 264 Apses at Ribe, 13; at Lund, 168 BJERESJO, Medieval painting at, 208 Bornholm, Round churches in, 21 Brass dishes in Danish fonts, 37 Brasses at Ringsted, 133; at Verden- on-the-Aller, 115 Brick, Generaluse of, in Denmark, 7, 9 Bridget, St, of Sweden, 233, 236 Burs, in Gottland, Marble sedile at, 261 CANUTE (or Knud), King, 270 Canute (or Knud), King and mar- tyr, 122 Cathedrals at Linkoping, 50, 187; Lund, 50, 167; Mariboe, 7; Odense, 121; Ribe, 11; Roes- kilde, 134; Stavanger,55; Streng- nas, 196; Trondhjem, 55, 274; Upsala, 47, 176; Vesteras, 204, Vexio, 204;Viborg, i7;Wisby;24i Catherine, St, Wisby, 240 Chancels, Lofty, in Gottland, 255 Chandeliers, 31 Chasuble, Use of the, in Scandinavia, 3 1 . 9 2 Choir-stalls, 32; at Lund, 170; at Roeskilde, J41 Christian II, 77; Christian III, 78 Christiania, Gamle Akers Kyrka at, 55 Christopher II, Tomb of, at Soro, 131 Churches at Christiania, 55; Copen- hagen, 147; Kallundborg, 21; Mariboe, 19; Odense, 122; Soro, 125; Roeskilde, 23; Stockholm, 159; Wisby, 227; in Gottland, 244-266 Cistercian church at Soro, 125 Cope, Use of the, in Scandinavia, 92, 200 Copenhagen, 146; Thorwaldsen's works at, 147 Corona, The, at Trondhjem; 276, 284, 292 Crypts at Lund, 173; at Odense, 124 DANISH church architecture, 5-48 Denmark, Natural characteristics of, 4; ecclesiastical architecture of, 5-48; Rhenish influence upon architecture of, 12, 13; village churches, 20; round churches, 21; gabled towers, 22; Reforma- tion in, 77; the church in, 79; post-Reformation, Hymnody of, 106; medieval polychromy in, 38 Dishes, brass, Use of, in Danish fonts, 37 Doorways in Gottland, 257; at Lund, 182; at Orebro, 202; at Ribe, 14 Double Church of Holy Ghost, The, at Wisby, 227 EINDIDESSON, Sigurd, Arch- bishop of Trondhjem, 276 England, Influence of, upon Scandi- dinavian architecture, 48, 277 England and Scandinavia, Religious connexion between, 67 Episcopal Sees in Denmark, 82; in Norway, 86; in Sweden, 88 Episcopal vestments, 92 Eric, St, 185 Eric XIV, of Sweden, 75 Erik Menved, Brass of, at Ringsted, 133 Estienne de Bonnuiell, [78 Eystein, Archbishop of Trondhjem, 275 FJENNESLEV, Church at, 24 Floda, Medieval Painting, at, 217 297 INDEX Fonts, 33-37; position of, and mode of using- in Denmark, 36; Swedish, 51; by Thorwaldsen, at Copen- hagen, 148; at Lund, 170; at Linkoping, 194; at Strengnas, 199; at Orebro, 204; in Gottland, 263 Frederick I, 78; Frederick II, 79 GABLED towers, The, of Den- mark, 22 Gamle Akers KyrhasX Christiania, 55 George, St, at Wisby, 240 Giant Finn, Legend of, at Lund, 174 Gothem Church, in Gottland, 250 Gottland, Ecclesiology of, 220-266 Granite, use of, 9, 12 Grottlingbo, Church of, in Gottland, 255 Ground plans, Exceptional, in Den- mark, 21 Gustavus Vasa, 68-74 HADERSLEV, Font at, 35 Handel George Frederick, 119 Helge Ands Kytka, at Wisby, 227 Herlufsholm, Font at, 35 Holy Ghost, Church of, at Wisby, 227 Horsens, Altar frontal, formerly at, 30 KALLUNDBORG, Church at, 21 Knud (or Canute) King and martyr, 122 Knud (or Canute) King, 270 LABRO (or Laderbro) Church of, in Gottland, 250 Laurence, St, Cathedral of, at Lund, 167 Laurence, St, Church of, at Wisby, 237 Lincolnshire and Denmark, Compari- son between, 5 Linkoping Cathedral, 187-196 Lisbjerg, Altar frontal formerly at, 28 Local colouring, 10 Local scenery, Influence of, upon local architecture, 6 Lcederup, Medieval painting at, 210 Lojsta Church, in Gottland, 249; ancient stained-glass in, 261 Liibeck, 119 Lund, 163; cathedral, 165-176 Luneburg, 117 AGNUS, king and martyr Malmo, St Peter's at, 160 Mandelgren, M., archaeologist, 207 Margaret, Queen of Denmark, 137 Mariboe Cathedral, 7, 43; church at, 19 Mary, St, Wisby, 241 Medieval Painting in Denmark, 34, 38, 39; in Sweden, 206-219; m Gottland, 264 Metal Fonts, 35, 170, 194 Middlefart, Church at, 9 Minden, 113 Missals, Scandinavian, 96 Music, 94 Monuments, 124, 127, 131, 143, 184 NAVE, Curious arrangement of, in Gottland, 253 Nicholas, St, Stockholm, 159; Ore- bro, 201; Wisby, 239 Nidaros, the present Trondhjem, 263, 273 „ Norway, Natural features of, 52; ecclesiology of, 54; wooden churches of, 56; conversion of, 269; Reformation in 86; English influence on church architecture of, 48, 277, 287 Norwegian bishoprics, 86 Nylars in Bornholm, Medieval paint- ing at, 39 OCTAGON, The, of Trondhjem Cathedral, 276, 284, 292 Odense, St Knud's, 121; church of our Lady at, 8 Office books, Medieval, of Scandina- via, 96 Olaf, St, 269; shrine of at Trondh- jem, 272, 279 Olaf Tryggvason, 268 Orebro, Church of St Nicholas at, 201 Osnabriick, 109 Oster Lars in Bornholm, Medieval painting at, 40 PAINTING, Wall and roof, in Denmark, 34, 38, 39, 144; in Sweden, 206; in Gottland, 264 Pice Cantiones, The, of Peter of Ny- land, 101 298 INDEX RED-BRICKarchiteaureof Den- mark, 7 Reformation, The, 27; in Sweden, 68; in Denmark, 77; in Norway, 86 Reredoses, 27-31, 123; at Roeskilde, 140; in Gottland, 262 Ribe Cathedral, 11-18. Riddarholms Church, The, Stock- holm, 159 Ringsted, Brass of Erik Menved at, T 33 Rising-, Medieval painting- at, 210 Ritual in Scandinavia, 31, 80, 92, 165 Roda, Medieval painting at, 210 Roeskilde Cathedral, 134-146; Church of our Lady at, 23 Roods, 33, 265 Ruined churches, at Wisby, 227 SADDLEBACK Towers, Preva- nce of, in Denmark, 22 Scandinavia, Conversion of, 63; the Reformation in, 68 Scandinavian Church, The, 87; hym- nody of, 94 Schleswig Cathedral, 120; altarpiece in, 50 Scotland and Norway, 274, 292 Screens, at Soro, 33, 131; at Trondh- jem, 277, 290 Sculptured doorways at Ribe, 14; in Gottland, 258 Sedile, Marble, at Burs in Gottland, 261 Sequences, Medieval, of Scandinavia, 96 Sigfrid (or Sigurd) St, 64 Skibby, ancient painting at, 40 Soro, Cistercian Church at, 125 Spires, 24, 26 Stained glass, Ancient, in Gottland, 260 Stavanger Cathedral, 55 Steeples, 13, 22-27, 240-252; impos- ing group of at Kallundborg, 21 Stickelstadt, Battle of, 271 Stockholm, 3, 156; Churches of, 159 Stone, Scarcity of, in Denmark, 8 Storkyrka, The, at Stockholm, 159 Strengnas Cathedral, 196 Sweden, Conversion of, 63; Reforma- tion in, 68; church of, 88; hym- nody of, 96; ancient wall and roof painting in, 206 Swedish liturgy and ritual, 90 Sweyn, King, 135 THORWALDSEN, Works by, at Copenhagen, 147; memoir of, of, 149 Timber churches of Norway, 56 Tingstade, in Gottland, Church at, 249, 254 Tombs, 124, 127, 131, 143, 159, 184 Torpa, Medieval painting at, 217 Towers, at Ribe, 13; in Denmark, 22-27; m Gottland, 240-252 Trinity, Holy, Church of the, at Wisby, 238 Triptychs, 30, 140, 172, 199 Trondhjem, 267; Cathedral, 268; his- tory, 274-283; degraded con- dition and restoration of, 279; exterior, 283; transepts, 286; choir, 288; octagon, 276, 284, 292; chapter house, 294; nave, 2 95 UPSALA Cathedral, 49, 177-187 Upsala Old, Cathedral, 176 VASA, Gustavus, 6S Vaulted roofs, 16 Verden-on-the-Aller, 114 Vesteras, Cathedral at, 204 Vestments, Eucharistic, Use of the, in Scandinavia, 31, 92; ancient at Upsala and Strengnas, 185, 200 Vexio, Cathedral at, 204 Viborg, Cathedral at, 17 Village churches in Denmark, 20 WALL and roof painting, 38, 206, 264 Wall, Church of, in Gottland, 249 Window tracery, 9, 195 Wisby, 224; former commercial im- portance of, 225; churches of the Holy Ghost, 227; St Laurence, 237; Holy Trinity, 238; St Nicho- las, 239; St George, 240; St Catherine, 240; St Mary, 241 Wood-carving, 27 Wooden churches, 51, 56 YSOWILLPE, Bishop, Brass to, at Verden-on-the-Aller, 115 299 W. 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The signs have been evident of late of a reawakening of interest in the Imperial exile from across the Channel who has made England her home for the past thirty-five years. The present work deals with the now venerable lady es- sentially as a human being who has lived a long and stirring life amid the most varying fortunes, always preserving her own fascinating individuality from the days of her childhood down to an age to which few empresses, even in the quietest surroundings, are wont to attain. The claims to political notice of the Last Empress of the French are not neglected; but it is the character of Eugenia de Guzman, the "Made- moiselle de Montijo" whose brilliant charms induced Napoleon III to fly in the face of France and the rest of Europe, and to choose a Queen of Beauty rather than a Royal Princess, to which the author devotes his chief attention. T. WERNER LAURIE, Clifford's Inn, London THE LOVER OF QUEEN ELIZABETH Being the Story of the Life of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. By Mrs Aubrey Richardson (Author of "Famous Ladies of the English Court"). Demy 8vo, fully illustrated, hand-co- loured photogravure frontispiece, 12s. 6d. net THIS biography is not a contribution to the "stream of whitewash" with which — so a recent maligner of the Earl of Leicester complains — modern historians have plastered over the crimes of Queen Elizabeth and her lover. Yet the subject of it is shown to us as a person of many qualities and attractions and of some worth. Holding- that a true principle — in life and in history — is that one should think the best until one knows the worst, Mrs Richardson gives Lord Leicester and the Queen he served so long the benefit of all doubts their words and conduct have given rise to in their day and in ours. The aim of the writer has not been to discover fresh fa<5ls about the "Compleet Favourite," but to discern his true character and to determine his real designs. She shows us the Earl of Leicester, not only "in his habit as he lived," but the man himself, in the heart and mind of him. And she reveals to us the "secret history" of his relations with his Royal mistress. T. WERNER LAURIE, Clifford's Inn, London INDIA By PIERRE LOTI With Photogravure Frontispiece. Printed by the Chiswick Press. A trans- lation of Loti's exquisite masterpiece Demy 8vo, ios. 6d. net LOTI'S idea in going to India was to dis- cover if in the Buddhist faith he could find anything to replace the Catholic religion in which he could no longer believe. He visits the ruined temples of the ancient Gods, fes- tooned with jungle flowers ; he rises in the early mournful dawn, and penetrates where European feet have seldom trod ; he listens to the languorous Oriental music on moonlight nights; he experiences nameless dreads, inde- scribable terrors.* He visits the sacred city of Benares, and watches the rapt worshippers on the banks and the smoke ascending from the funeral pyre of an exquisitely beautiful Indian girl. He sees the littlechildren, living skeletons from famine, piteously begging for bread, and finally he visits the high priests of Theosophy who have sought refuge in India away from the tumult of life, and finds what his soul craves for. T. WERNER LAURIE, Clifford's Inn, London PHRASES AND NAMES: THEIR ORIGINS AND MEANINGS By TRENCH H. JOHNSON Crown 8vo, Cloth Gilt. 6s. net THIS work is the outcome of a lifetime of omni- vorous reading-, patient inquiry and observation. It is in no sense a British Museum compilation, a wholesale ransacking of everything bearing on the subject that has gone before, as is so often the case with a book of reference. The industry displayed in the volume is remarkable. There can be very few names, words and expressions in daily use which the author does not illumine with a gleam of information. At the same time, mindful of the vast ground to be surveyed, he has exercised a prudent economy of space. How did such and such a country, city, town, street, river, natural curiosity, or world-renowned edi- fice obtain its name ? Whence arose a particular sobri- quet, nick-name, byword, epitaph, or slang term? What was the origin of the thousand and one phrases engrafted upon our vocabulary which would appear to have no meaning whatever ? These things are here set forth by an ingenious snapper-up of unconsidered trifles in the fewest possible words. T. WERNER LAURIE, Clifford's Inn, London Literary London By ELSIE M. LANG Many Illustrations, uniform with Cathedral Series Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s. net THE object of this book is to add interest to rambles in London by a careful alphabetical record of the homes and haunts of distinguished literary men and women. In many cases, as is duly noted, the houses themselves are still standing; in others the sites are definitely pointed out, and short extracts are given from biographies, showing with what particular events in the lives of their oc- cupants these residences are identified. London is full of literary memories, and this volume is an ideal guide book to its literary landmarks. T. WERNER LAURIE, Clifford's Inn, London NOTABLE NEW BOOKS New Book by the Author of" The Opal Sea." Studies in Pictures. An introduction to the famous Galleries. By John C. Van Dyke. Forty-two illustrations. Crown 8vo, 6s. net. The aim of the book is well shown by the chapter heading's, which cover such subjects as "Old Masters Out of Place,'' "Pictures Ruined, Restored and Re- paired," "False Attributions, Copies and Forgeries," " Fig-ure Pictures," "Portraiture," "Genre Painting - ," "Landscape and Marines,'' etc. Essays on Glass, China, Silver, etc. In connexion with the Willet-Holthuysen Museum Collection, Amsterdam. By Frans Coenen, Conservator of the Museum. With thirty-two illustrations. Crown 4to, 6s. net. The Prisoner at the Bar. Side-lig-hts on the Administration of Criminal Justice. By Arthur Train, Assistant District Attorney in New York County. Demy 8vo, 8s. 6d. Good stories and racy anecdotes, with much valu- able information in regard to the practices of criminal law. Where Shakespeare Set His Stage. By Elsie Lathrop. With numerous full-page Illustrations. Demy 8vo, cloth, 8s. 6d. net. T. WERNER LAURIE, Clifford's Inn, London NOTABLE RECENT BOOKS The Building of a Book. A series of practical articles by experts in the various depart- ments of book making- and selling. With an introduction by Theodore L. De Vinne. Edited by Frederick H. Hitchcock. Crown 8vo., 6s. net. My Motor Log-Book. A Handy Record for recording dates, runs, time, distances, weather, roads, cost of repairs, petrol, entertaining, etc. Crown 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d. net. Leather, full gilt, 4s. 6d. net. The Queen's Progress, and other Eliza- bethan Sketches. By Felix E. Schelling. With six photogravure portraits. Decorative cover. Crown 8vo, 10s. net. "We will go so far as to say that in his ten short chapters within the compass of this beautifully printed book may be tasted the flavour of the Elizabethan period with more pleasure than in any other work of recent times." — Daily Graphic. Modern Medicine for the Home. By Ernest Walker, M. R. C. S. , L. R. C. P. (Lond.) Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 2s. 6d. Notes from my South Sea Log. By Louis Becke, author of "By Reef and Palm." Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s. net. An account of Mr Becke's sporting- and fishing adventures whilst supercargo in the South Seas, to- gether with many notes on the habits and supersti- tions of the Islanders. T. WERNER LAURIE, Clifford's Inn, London 1 NOTABLE RECENT BOOKS Sketches in Normandy. By Louis Becke. Author of * ' By Reef and Palm. " Illustrated, 6s. It is quite a new departure for Mr Louis Becke to take as his theme stories of Normandy life, but his three years' wanderings along- the coasts of Nor- mandy and Brittany, and among- the fisher-folk, has resulted in his giving us some charming and amusing- pictures. Letters to a Daughter. By Hubert Bland (' ( Hubert " of The Sunday Chronicle). Crown 8vo, illustrated frontispiece, 3s. 6d. net. With the Eyes of a Man. By Hubert Bland (" Hubert " of The Sunday Chronicle). Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 3s. 6d. Jungle Trails and Jungle People. Travels, Adventures and Observations in the Far East. By Caspar Whitney. With many full-page plates. Medium 8vo, cloth gilt, 12s. net. This book is of special interest in view of the Prince of Wales's visit to India. Mr Whitney is an experienced big game hunter, with a facile pen, and his adventures while wild ele- phant hunting and pigsticking are of thrillinginterest. He is a keen observer and gives much entertaining information about the natives and their varied modes of life. Nearly all the illustrations are from photo- graphs taken by the author, and altogether form a unique pictorial record of a novel enterprise. T. WERNER LAURIE, Clifford's Inn, London NOTABLE RECENT BOOKS Classic Myths in Art. By Julia Addison. Illustrated with forty plate reproductions from famous Painters. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s. net. An interesting account of Greek myths, illustrated from the works of great artists. The most interesting myths of literature are represented and illustrated from the works of ancient sculptors or more modern paintings. The Artists' Life and other Essays. By John Oliver Hobbes, author of "Some Emotions and a Moral," "The School for Saints," etc. With frontispiece and a cover design by Charles E. Dawson. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. net. Pictures in Umbria. By Katharine S. Mac- quoid, author of "In the Ardennes," "About Yorkshire," etc. With fifty original illustrations by Thomas R. Macquoid, R.I. (Uniform with "The Cathedral Series.") Price 6s. net. Man and His Future. By Lt-Col. William Sedgwick, author of * 1 Man's Position in the Universe. " Demy 8vo, cloth gilt, 7s. 6d. net. Biography for Beginners. Being a Collec- tion of Miscellaneous Examples for the Use of Upper Forms. A new nonsense book. Edited by E. Clerihew, B.A., and with forty Diagrams by G. K. Chesterton. Medium 4to, 6s. net. T. WERNER LAURIE, Clifford's Inn, London GETTY RESEARCH INSTITUTE 3 3125 01024 5054