S 1i if" % ^ M-Mms/A 'Jr I I 1^ ^^ILIBRARYi?/;^ # !5 1 Jr" ^ ^ «JU311VJ 3V.' r\ t r 1 n r /-M- vr. "^ u-i -J^^ -n i-" O cL .-r7 ^ y/ oslOSANCFIfr;^ 13\\V OSANCrifx^ ^.OFC/. v^. V^ .\[|iMIVff?S/A AvinSANGFIff, 13\^V^^ aV '^yc §1 ir ^ # ^. 3> = I 'J IJ Ji'l JUl >i aV \WL-UNiV[Ry/i J^ :a \iw ?% vvlOSANCElfXx ) 2 •^ ^^' "^AM- §1 t± - so , >■ 1 1 1 iiri I t.V//i '^ ■in'^iMr.nrr, vin^AsTFIfr • nF '% L^ > = C_~ r ^ L < -<- ^ i-n t^ T] 3D o f <> — ""_ J0>^ ^- )/?^^ ^OFC %ojiivjjo>^ '%odnvjjo't '^/. '^L'ujin A\UUN!VLBVa. MllBRARYQr^ '1 VJUJllVJ J' ^/ 0> ^>. Ji. DiniJt.aiifJi' CAMPANHA DO ESBOgO DO THEATRD DOPERACOES ■ ViA««i LEGENPA ,ai„„„„. „. .i I »< ™ .,(U \ Pfuia^a ..M «/ta ^o .j^iLitw ^0 ^a*!" „A 3) .^ ..ftk ttoAtod (dtilEltMtA).! jutu filtiuii.1.1.. • " i.l.la J s,,,,^ I.U.I' i, ,.,..,i:.,i. '^ A C / _, r'f ' DE RENDIMENTO DAS ALFANDEGAS DE LOANOA E BENGUELLA NOS ANNOS ABAIXO MENCIONADOS Anno de l!)oo Anno de IVol Anno de lUck \ \ \ I I % % % \ i 1 j J i I 3 j M I H i 1 J J I I j M ^ /HoT, \ \ I / Rendimnnho das Al/andagas tl U.e^xXSwh\W I.5000.0OO Sooo^Qoo h 3nimw hm\ 52,000.000 B2.ooo.ooo h' -ITtnu' cfeIDd Mma^o 26.ooo.ooo i: t%Uwa(I902 iSfioo.000 /.ooo.ooo d . 'S^oiff) ^190,1 LSooaaoa LO.ooo.ooo d (.HAiCtr^JM fSoj) Ciiultu^ d* 'n«. •>tfa£,r„ ,-..C Jil RAMBLES IN THE PYRENEES UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME THE SHORES OF THE ADRIATIC Part I. THE ITALIAN SIDE Part II. THE AUSTRIAN SIDE i^ 9 RAMBLES IN THE PYRENEES AND THE ADJACENT DISTRICTS, GASCONY, PAYS DE FOIX & ROUSSILLON BY F. HAMILTON JACKSON, RBA. ADTHOR OF "THE SHORES OF THE ADRIATIC" WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS AND PLANS GENERALLY BY THE AUTHOR NEW YORK E. P. DUTTON AND COMPANY 1912 NS o PREFACE This book follows similar lines to those of my two volumes on " The Shores of the Adriatic," in so far as the places visited follow upon a continuous thread ; the aim in treatment has been much the same. Certain portions of the districts are well known to English people, and these I have for the most part passed by, as my interest is specially concerned with places which are fresh to the traveller. For the full treat- ment of the subject both sides of the mountain-chain should be studied, the relations between the districts having always been so close, and the boundaries of jji the countries so frequently shifting ; while the artistic influences, especially during the Romanesque period and the flowering time of Catalan Gothic, spread so widely that the artists of the French and Spanish Pyrenean States practically worked with the same ideas in their heads and pursued similar ends. I had proposed to myself to include something of the Spanish side of the Pyrenees, and for that purpose made trips into Catalonia, and projected others in the districts farther west ; but it became evident that the book would be much too bulky if the scheme then projected 21iaS8 vi PREFACE were fully carried out, and I thought it preferable to limit the scope of the volume to the French side. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries the strongest artistic influence was exercised by the school of Toulouse — a school distinguished by great dexterity in handling the chisel, and extraordinary imagination in the treatment of ornament, no doubt assisted by the importation of Oriental objects which served as models or suggestions. After the Albigensian Crusade — that orgy of greed, blood, and bigotry, which de- stroyed the cultivated Court of the Counts of Toulouse — the centre of artistic influence must be sought in Roussillon and Catalonia, where the Court of the Kings of Majorca had spread the same kind of culti- vation as was manifested in a later but charming style, in its turn to be destroyed by the establishment of the Inquisition under Ferdinand and Isabella, after the annexation of Roussillon to the kingdom of Castille. Innocent III. was the Pope who ruled when the South of France was destroyed under pretext of zeal for religion. Soon after he ascended the Papal throne, in 1 198, he sent legates to Toulouse to endeavour to suppress the sect of the Albigensians. Raymond VI., though not himself an Albigensian, took the part of his subjects, and was, therefore, excommunicated in 1207. In the next year, embittered by the assassination of his legate, Pierre de Castelnau, Pope Innocent resorted to extreme measures. A crusade was ordered, and Raymond, who had submitted and done penance, was PREFACE vii forced to attack his own subjects. The war which followed showed how cruel fanatical ecclesiastics can be. Town after town was taken, and the inhabitants put to the sword, without distinction of age or sex ; numerous ecclesiastics with the army supervised the harrowing proceedings. It was at Beziers that Abbot Arnold, being asked how heretics were to be distinguished from the faithful, answered : " Slay all : God will know His own I" This volume could not have been written without the assistance of the invaluable publications of the various French archaeological societies, such as the Revue de Gascogne, the Congres Archeologique de France, and the Bulletin Archeologique of the Comite Historique des Arts et Monuments, which suggested to me which places to visit, and supplied useful infor- mation about them. From these notable publications many of the plans have been copied ; they are a mine of information for whoso cares to delve within them. While these publications have formed the basis of the information contained in the following pages, many other works have also been consulted, among which may be named : Baron d'Agos' " Etude sur la Basilique de S. Just de Valcabrere " ; Cenac-Mon- caut's ''Archaeological Journeys " in the various districts; Codornin's " £tude Historique sur Gaston Phoebus"; Desazars de Montgailhaud's " La Conspiration de Gondovald "; Joanne's " Dictionnaire Geographique et Administratif de la France "; Lamothe and Drouyn's viii PREFACE " Choix des Types de 1' Architecture de la Gironde "; Lenoir's " Architecture Monastique "; Marrast's " His- toire de Comminges "; Masso-Torrent's " Croquis Pir- enencs"; Perret's " Les Pyrenees Frangaises"; Rupin's " L'Abbaye et les Goitres de Moissac"; Taylor and Nodier's " Voyages Pittoresques dans I'Ancienne France"; Vidal's " Elne Historique," "Guide dans le Department des Pyrenees Orientales," and " Histoire de la Ville de Perpignan " ; and Virac's " Recherches Historiques sur la Ville de St. Macaire." A portion of the matter contained in this volume has already appeared in the Builder, but has been revised and to a great extent rewritten. I tender my thanks to the proprietors for permission to reproduce the articles. The photographs (as in the previous volumes) have been reproduced from the excellent negatives made by my friend, Mr. J. C. Ashton, which are, I believe, unsurpassable. F. HAMILTON JACKSON. March 12, 191 2. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS HALF-TONE BLOCKS PACB Ford at St. Macaire . . - - Frontispiece Fa9ade, S. Croix, Bordeaux . _ _ - Facing 28 Archaic Sculpture, S. Paul-les-Dax - - - ,,46 Nave of the Church, St. Sever - - - - .-54 A Cripple's Cart at Orthez - - - - ,, 9° Door in Court^-ard, Castle at Pau - - - .,100 The Gave d'Oloron - - - - - ,. 104 " Place " at Top of the Hill, Ste. Croix, Oloron - - ,, 106 Interior of Ste. Croix, Oloron ----,, 108 A Group of Picturesque Roofs at Oloron - - - ,, no Cloister of S. Sever de Rustan, Jardin Massey, Tarbes - ,, 126 Pulpit and Organ Case, St. Bertrand de Comminges - ,, 146 A Spanish Gipsy, St. Lizier - - - - ,,176 A Wall Fountain at Foix - - - - - . . 200 Fountain at Codalet -----,, 258 Door at S. Michel de Cuxa - - - - ,, 266 Detail of Church Door, Villefranche-le-Conflent - - ,, 270 Corner of the Cloister, Elne - - - - ., 294 Interior of Cloister, Elne - - - - - .. 298 West Door, St. Genis des Fontaines - - - ,, 308 Lintel at S. Andre de Sorcde - - - - ..310 The Bridge at Ceret - - - ■ - ,, 312 Door of the Church, Falalda - - - - ..318 S. Paul Serge, Narbonne, from near High- Altar - - ,, 334 Tomb in Sacristy, S. Paul Serge, Narbonne - - .. 336 North Aisle of S. Paul Serge, Narbonne - - - .. 338 The Porte Narbonnaise, Carcassonne - - - ., 358 ix b LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Capitals in Triforium, S. Sernin, Toulouse - - Facing 368 Ornamental Friezes and Figures in Museum, Toulouse - ,, 376 Capitals in the Museum, Toulouse - - - ,, 378 Choir Stalls, Cathedral, Auch - - - - ,, 384 Choir Stalls, Cathedral, Auch - - - - .,386 South Door, Cathedral, Auch - - - - ,, 388 Tympanum of the Great Door, Moissac - - - ,, 400 LINE DRAWINGS Caps from the Cloister, Elne _ . - - rule Capital from Narthex, S. Seurin, Bordeaux, showing the Ancient Shrine- - - - - - - - 24 Capitals from the Porch, S. Seurin, Bordeaux - - - 25 Church of S. Sauveur, St. Macaire, and Chateau de Tarde - 31 Corner of the Place du Marche, St. Macaire - - - 3^ Courtyard of Despanderons Palace, St. Macaire - - - 38 Capital of Triforium, St. Sever - - - - - 55 Capital from St. Sever - - - - - "5^ Knocker of North Door, Cathedral, Bayonne - - -64 Church at Sauveterre de Beam, from the Road to the Mill - 67 The Bridge at Sauveterre de Beam - - - - 71 Monogram on Tympanum of Door, and Tower Window of Church. Sauveterre de Beam - - - - - "73 The Bridge at Orthez - - - - - - 82 Tour Moncade, Orthez - - - - - - 84 House of Jeanne d'Albret, Orthez - - - - 88 Crypt at Hagetmau - - - - - - 92 Capitals in Crypt, Hagetmau - - - - 95' 9^, 97 Detail from the West Door, S. Marie, Oloron - - - 109 Monogram, West Door. S. Marie, Oloron - - - - no Templars' Church atLuz- - - - - -n? Capital from S. Sever de Rustan, Jardin Massey, Tarbes - - 125 North Door of S. Just, Valcabrere . . - - 133 Choir of Church, St. Bertrand de Comminges - - - I44 Cloister, St. Bertrand de Comminges - - - - 150 Church of St. Gaudens ------ 153 On the Road to St. Lizier - - - - - - 160 Eastern End, Lower Church, St. Lizier - - - - 169 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xi PAGE Twelfth-Century Cap. Cloister. St. Lizier - - - - 170 Angle of the Cloister, St. Lizier - - - - - 171 Eleventh-Century Cap, Cloister, St. Lizier - - - 172 Twelfth-Century Caps, Cloister, St. Lizier - - - ^73 Spanish Gipsy, St. Lizier - - - - - - 178 Chapel of S. Pierre. Castillon - - - - - 184 Bethmalese Costumes - - - - - -186 Ourjoux. or Les Bordes - - - - - -188 Fortified Church, Sentein - - - - - - 190 Window in Tower. Sentein - - - " -191 The Castle of Foix - - - - " - I95 Ruins of Abbey Church at Alet - - - - - 214 Gorges of the Aude. near Axat - - - - - 219 External Arches, Priory of Serrabona - - - - 243 The Narthex. Priory of Serrabona - - - ' 247 Reredos, Priory of Serrabona - - - - " 250 Wine-Cart. Prades - - - - - - 256 Arcade from S. Michel de Cuxa, at the Baths at Prades - - 259 Ruins of Abbey of S. Michel de Cuxa - - - - 263 Ox-Cart. Prades - ...--- 265 Villefranche-le-Conflent - - - - " - 269 Corneilla-le-Conflent - - - - " -272 The West Door. Corneilla-le-Conflent - - - - 274 In the Cloister, Cathedral. Fine - - - - - 297 Twin Caps from Cloister. Cathedral. Elne - - - 299 Angle of the Cloister, Cathedral, Elne - - - " 300 Sixth-Century Sarcophagus. Cloister. Elne - - - 302 Holy-W^ater Stoup. S. Genis des Fontaines - - - 307 On the Mountain-side. Amelie-les-Bains - - - - 3^7 Beggars at Arles-sur-Tech - - - - ' -320 Rustic Bridge above Arles-sur-Tcch. and Women bringing Wood from the Mountains ----'' 32d Canal de la Robine and Roman Bridge, Narbonnc - - 328 C;rapes brought in from the Vineyard, Beziers - - - 34° Beziers : the Cathedral and the Old Bridge - - - 343 Capitals of Ancient Doorway. Rieux-Minervois. now a Chapel - 351 Lcs Liccs, Carcassonne ---■'" 354 The Porte de I'Aude, Carcassonne - - - " 3.55 xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGB Carcassonne : the Cite from beyond the Aude - - - 357 Eleventh-Century Cap, St. Papoul _ . . . 363 Capitals in Triforium, S. Sernin, Toulouse . _ _ 371 Capitals in Triforium, S. Sernin, Toulouse ... 3^3 Capitals in the Museum, Toulouse - - - - 375 Market-Square outside the Cathedral, Auch - . . 391 Side of the Great Doorway, Moissac . _ _ . 397 Part of the Great Doorway, Moissac - . . . 399 PLANS Cemetery of S. Fort, S. Seurin, Bordeaux - - - - 21 S. Seurin, Bordeaux, showing the Connection of the Crypt with the Ancient Cathedral, St. Etienne - - - - 22 S. Sauveur, St. Macaire - - - - - - 39 Church of S. Sever - - - - - - 53 Crypt, Hagetmau - ------93 S. Just, Valcabrere - - - - - -130 Church, St. Bertrand de Comminges - - - - 141 Lower Church, St. Lizier - - - - - -166 Fortified Church, Sentein - - - - - - 189 S. Volusien, Foix ------- ig6 Apse, Ale t - ------- 215 Church, Espira de I'Agly - - - - - -221 Cathedral, Perpignan - - - - - - 230 Priory of Serrabona - - - - - - 245 Abbey of S. Michel de Cuxa ----- 260 Chapel of the Creche, S. Michel de Cuxa - - - - 264 Church, Corneilla-le-Confient - - - - - 273 Crypt, S. Martin du Canigou - - - - - 282 S. Martin du Canigou - - - - - -283 The Cathedral, Elne --.-_- 292 S. Genis des Fontaines .-_-._ 306 S. Andre de Sorede --.._. 309 S. Paul Serge, Narbonne ------ 334 Church and Cloister, Moissac ----- 39^ RAMBLES IN THE PYRENEES The Districts bordering the Pyrenees. The districts which he at the foot of the Pyrenees on the French side of the frontier were known in the Middle Ages as Gascony, the Pays de Foix, and Rous- sillon. Beam and Navarre, the Couserans and the Narbonnaise, may also be included, with portions of Guyenne and Languedoc. Under the Romans the boundaries of Novempopulonia were much the same as those of Gascony, with the addition of the Bazardais, a region in the south-east of the department of the Gironde and the east of that of Lot and Garonne. According to the best authorities, the nine peoples who occupied the country were : the Sotiates, con- quered by Crassus in 56 B.C., after an heroic resistance, who then disappeared from the map of Gaul (though some contend that the district of the Sos perpetuates their name) ; the Tarbelli, whose district was inland in the Landes, with Dax for their chief town ; the Cocosates, on the seaboard of the Landes (who disap- peared in the time of Augustus) ; the Ausci, round Elimberis or Auch ; the Venarni, Beneharni, or Bene- I 2 DISTRICTS BORDERING THE PYRENEES harnenses, with Beneharnum (Lescar) and Iluro (Oloron) as capitals ; the Eluzates, round Eauze ; the Lactorales, round Lectoure ; the Bigerriones, or Bigerri, living at Bigorre ; and the Garunni, tribes of the upper basin of the Garonne, among whom lived the Convenae and the Consorani, who failed to give their names to the country in the end. They had two capitals, both called Lugdunum. When Gaul was organized into cities or dioceses in the fourth century, the Novempopulans, whose official name remained Novempopuli, were grouped round twelve cities — Labourd (Bayonne), Acqs or Dax, Aire, Bazas, Auch, Beam (Lescar), Oloron, Eauze, Lectoure, Tarbes, Lyon de Comminges (St. Bertrand), and Lyon de Couserans (St. Lizier). They were a mixed race of Iberian and Gaulish descent, called Celtiberians. The Iberian strain has been strengthened by frequent invasions and raids. Augustus, with the object of taking away their political individuality from so tur- bulent a people, joined to them the whole of the Celtic tribes as far as the Cevennes and the Loire, under the denomination of Aquitaine. After long agitation a magistrate named Verus obtained the separation so earnestly desired, and on his return home had a votive and commemorative metrical inscription engraved, which is still preserved at Hasparren. At the end of the fourth century Gaul was divided into seventeen provinces. Novempopulonia had then been Aquitaine III. for a long time, with Lectoure for IN THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES 3 capital apparently. After the organization into eccle- siastical dioceses Eauze (Elusa) had the first rank under the honorary supremacy of Bourges, the ancient metropolis of Aquitaine. From 419 to 507 the Visi- gothic Kings occupied the district, often holding their court at Aire, and it was from this city that the cele- brated Code of Alaric was promulgated in 506. It was not till 581 that the Vascons, a tribe from the Spanish mountains, appeared as invaders of the basin of the Adour. A long period of confusion terminated in 602, when an army sent by Thierry II., King of Austrasia and Burgundy, succeeded in bringing them to terms. They had then settled the country, as is proved by Gregory of Tours' use of the name Vasconia in his Chronicles, finished before 595. From the time of Dagobert to that of Charlemagne the name of Gascony was often extended to the Aquitaine of Augustus, stretching from the Pyrenees to the Loire, although the Vascons did not cross the Garonne, and the Anonymous of Ravenna (seventh century) uses the curious term " Spanovasconia " to distinguish Gascony proper. For several centuries misfortunes befell the cities of this district. Gontran in 585 destroyed the city of the Comminges, the third city of Novempopu- lonia ; Oloron, Beam, and Tarbes were ruined by the Saracens at the beginning of the eighth century, Eauze in 727, and St. Lizier in 736. Bayonnc and Lectoure were sacked by the Normans in the ninth century. Towards the end of the tenth the towns commenced 4 DISTRICTS BORDERING THE PYRENEES to revive. Beam was re-established in 980 under the new name of Lescurris or Lescar ; St. Sever, with its abbey, was founded two years later by Guillaume Sanche, Duke of Gascoyne, who, by his victory over Taller in 980, cleared the Gulf of Scandinavian ships ; at Lectoure a council re-established the bishopric in 990 ; Oloron was made a feudal town by Centulle IV., Viscount of Beam, and the Bishops soon reconstructed their cathedral on the ancient Roman site, which was still unoccupied. At Comminges the virtue and zeal of St. Bertrand attracted a nucleus of population, and the city of Eauze was re-established by the Archbishops of Auch, who, however, did not re-establish the bishopric, which would have affected their claim to be Metropolitans of Gascony. This title, which they had assumed after the fall of the metropolis of Novem- populonia, was not contested till the Revolution. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the lay lords found it better to have capitals in which the adminis- tration might be seated, the Courts having previously accompanied them from castle to castle. The Vis- counts of Beam had one at Morlaas from the tenth century, which they abandoned in the twelfth in favour of Pau. The Viscounts of Marsan created Mont-de- Marsan in 1140. The Counts of Comminges founded Muret in the lower plains of the Garonne on additional territory granted by their suzerains the Counts of Toulouse, and the Viscounts of Couserans established themselves at Massat. In 1325 the Counts of Armag- THE WESTERN DISTRICTS 5 nac acquired Lectoure, and other new towns were built to serve as capitals to other districts. The union of Aquitaine to the English crown by the second marriage of Eleanor of Guyenne gave England claims upon Gascony, and until the fifteenth century the Bazardais, Bayonne, and part of Labourd were dependencies of Guyenne. In the early part of the thirteenth century, with the object of assuring the county of Toulouse to his brother Alphonse de Poitiers, S. Louis reserved strategic positions here and there, which from the sixteenth century to the end of the eighteenth remained isolated portions of Languedoc in Gascony. John, King of France, was obliged to abandon Bigorre to Edward III. by the treaty of Bretigny (1360). This was recovered by Gaston Phoebus for France, but it was only under Charles VII. that important annexations to the French crown commenced. In 1451 Dunois carried Bayonne. The Counts of Comminges died out in 1453, and the King of France succeeded them, the Armagnacs failing to lay hands on their lands. The territories of the Armagnacs finally went to increase the domains of the Viscounts of Beam. Henri IV., whose patrimony included Bigorre, Albret, Marsan, Condomois, and Nebouzan, was the true King of Gascony, and with him the union of the royal domain was almost complete. The wars of religion afflicted Gascony sorely. Montgomery and Blaise de Montluc made of the Armagnac, Albret, 6 DISTRICTS BORDERING THE PYRENEES Marsan, Beam and Bigorre an arena in which to fight out their bloody quarrel ; the first attacking towns and monuments, and the second persons. Gascony lost nearly all its finest monuments and the best of its population. To such an extent was the devastation carried in some parts that Tarbes was converted into a heap of ruins, and remained waste for twenty years, and Rabastens was reduced to four inhabitants ! Under Louis XIII. local administration was reduced to system, though with some curious complications. Many isolated pieces of territory belonged to Langue- doc, such as Sentein. Nebouzan was only a series of such pieces enclosed in Comminges and Bigorre. The latter interlaced with Beam, and to this day five communes belonging to the Hautes Pyrenees are en- closed in the Basses Pyrenees. The confusion of control was no less strange. Since 1808, Gascony, Beam, Navarre, and the Basque country have formed the departments of Hautes and Basses Pyrenees, Landes, and Gers, with small portions of other departments. Yet St. Gaudens and small portions of Muret belong to Haute Garonne, Nerac to Lot and Garonne, St. Girons to the Ariege, Beaumont de Lomagne, Favit, and Verdun to Tarn and Garonne. In the seven- teenth and eighteenth centuries Gascony formed (with Guyenne) one of the thirty-three great governments. The military administration, seated at Bordeaux, was the only bond between the provinces, and Auch was considered as the capital. Its boundaries were the THE PAYS DE FOIX 7 Gulf of Gascony and the Pyrenees on the south and west, but on the east and north, though the natural boundary was the Garonne, between the source of that river and the Salat, it is overpassed, while lower down the Toulousain, Agenais, Bazardais, and Bordelais encroach. Navarre and Beam are Gascon from the ethnographic, historical, and geographical point of view, and Henry IV. considered himself Gascon, though the Viscounty of Beam and the kingdom of Navarre still existed. The county or Pays de Foix lay to the east of Gascony, being bounded on the south by the Pyrenees, which separated it from Spain and Andorra, on the south-east by the Cerdagne, on the east and north by Languedoc, which also covered a little of the western frontier, the rest of which was bounded by the Cou- serans. It, too, was one of the thirty- three govern- ments of France in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with Foix for civil, military, and judicial capital, and Pamiers for the ecclesiastical. It included about half the present department of the Ariege, the whole of the arrondissement of Foix, and the north- east of that of Pamiers, with that town and Saverdun. Several secondary portions were distinguished by names — the Seron to the west, Podagues and Aganagues to the north, and Sos and Donczan to the south. Between Foix and Varilhes is a short and narrow defile named the Pas de la Barre, cut by they Valle of the Ariege 8 DISTRICTS BORDERING THE PYRENEES through the Petites Pyrenees. This divides the dis- trict into Haut Comte to the south and Bas Comte to the north. The mountains to the south are from 6,000 to 7,500 feet high for the most part, but two of them, Mont Calm and la Pique d'Estats, are above 9,000. Of the passes through them, four lead to Andorra and one to the Cerdagne. The north-west portion of the country belongs to the basin of the Garonne by its tributaries the Arize and the Lez ; those of the Donezan go to the Aude, and the rest of the district is watered by the Ariege and its tributaries. The inhabitants are like the Ariegeois, a turbulent race which was long untameable, and which often had its pride reawakened to rebellion. When the Romans conquered the Narbonnaise, they were attached to the territory of Toulouse, but the mountaineers resisted all attempts at organization for more than fifty years. The support of such a warlike population, and the possession of numerous strategic posts due to the configuration of the country, was likely to make the ruler powerful, and we find that in the tenth century the Pays de Foix was the most valuable possession of the Count of Carcassonne. In 1002 the eastern portion of the Couserans and a considerable slice of the Tou- lousain was separated from Carcassonne, and thirty years later this new fief took the title of Comte de Foix. Very strong castles were built on the heights ; those of Foix, Quie, Tarascon, Lordat, Durban, and Montsegur were at the period almost impregnable. PHILIPPE LE HARDI 9 While military and feudal life developed thus, monastic life was only represented by abbeys of the second rank and often maladministered, such as S. Volusien, Foix, S. Antonin of Fredelas or Pamiers, Mas d'Azil, and Lezat. Education scarcely existed, the people led isolated lives, and, being always independent, became the prey of heresies. Manichean doctrines gained many adherents, and the Counts allowed them- selves to be led away by their subjects, notwithstanding the interests which bound them to the Church and to the King of France. From this their undecided attitude during the Albigensian wars arose, in which they at first supported the Counts of Toulouse, their direct suzerains, but afterwards abandoned them, although they had seen Simon de Montfort baffled by their strong Castle of Foix at the height of his power. In 1 27 1 Philippe le Hardi, heir of the rights of the Counts of Toulouse by the death of Alphonse de Poitiers, demanded the homage of Roger Bernard III., who dared to refuse it, relying on the strength of his castle, but gave way, frightened, before the deter- mination of the King. He was despised by his subjects afterwards, and aU the more for the atrocities which he allowed the royal administration to commit against the Albigenses, whose belief, however, resisted both preachings and punishments. He it was who united the Vicomte of Beam to Foix by his marriage, and this union lasted one hundred years (till 1391). During the latter portion of this period Foix was 10 DISTRICTS BORDERING THE PYRENEES ruled by Gaston Phoebus, a ruffian, but also one of the most enlightened and magnificent Princes of the Middle Ages, much to its advantage. The favourite residence of the later Viscounts in time of peace, the hastide of Mazeres, dates from this period. Gaston Phoebus dying without heir, the county returned to Charles VI., who sold it. In 1476 a marriage united it to the kingdom of Navarre, and a little later Foix, Beam, and Navarre had the same master. In 1572 this master was Henry of Navarre, who by his accession to the French throne in 1589 attached the county to the royal domain. In the sixteenth century the preaching of the Protestants had a good deal of success, and as soon as they were in the majority persecution com- menced. This produced civil war and dreadful re- prisals. The Pays de Foix suffered severely. Under Jeanne d'Albret the exercise of the Catholic faith was forbidden in all her dominions. A greater number of Protestants are still to be found here than in other parts of France, except about Pamiers. The Counts of Foix were suzerains of the Valley of Andorra, and the Republic still owes allegiance to the head of the French Government as representing him. Roussillon, the third of the main divisions of the districts at the base of the Pyrenees, was bounded on the north by Languedoc, on the north-west by the county of Foix, on the east by the Mediterranean, and on the south-west and south by the Pyrenees, which ROUSSILLON II separated it from Catalonia, penetrating, however, into the Carol Valley, which belongs to the basin of the Ebro. It also was one of the thirty-three governments of France in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and corresponded to the Pyrenees Orientales of to-day, except for thirty communes which belong to Razes, a district of Languedoc. At first it only comprised the eastern part of the province. In the Gauhsh epoch it was inhabited by the Sordons, from whom Hannibal thought it wise to ask permission to cross the plains of the Tech and the Tet when on his march to invade Italy in 218 B.C. They had two principal towns, Elne (Illiberis) and Roussillon (or Ruscino). In the second century both were decadent, but about a.d. 320 the Empress Helena gave new life to the first by estabhshing a bishopric, while the second continued to decline till, in the tenth century, it was only the feudal castle of Castel Rossello, two miles from Perpignan, which, however, gave its name to the whole district. West of Roussillon was the country of the Cerretani, later known as the Cerdagne, on both slopes of the mountain chain ; until the twelfth century it had no towns of importance, but then the new town of Puig Cerda succeeded Hix as the capital. The Cerdagne also had a Count as ruler, but the family became extinct in 1177, and it passed to Aragon. Five years before Roussillon had been annexed to that country for a similar reason, not- withstanding the homage due to the King of France. 12 DISTRICTS BORDERING THE PYRENEES Towards the end of the twelfth century Perpignan became the capital of Roussillon, to which Vallespir, le Confient, le Capcir, and la Cerdagne were also attached. From 1262 to 1344 they formed the Con- tinental nucleus of the kingdom of Majorca, created for a younger branch of the House of Aragon, and recovered by it after two expeditions of Pedro IV. It had then been menaced already by Alfonso III., and it was partly to succour it that Philippe le Hardi marched on Roussillon ; but sickness decimated his army, and he himself died at Perpignan. A second French expedition took place in 1475 under Louis XI., following on John II. of Aragon's inability to repay the 300,000 ecus d'or which he had had from the King of France. The inhabi- tants made a gallant resistance ; but when in 1492 Charles VIII. was going to Italy, and, fearing revolt, returned Louis XL's conquest to Aragon, the Rous- sillonais objected, and the Consuls of Perpignan only gave up their city in the following year to their ancient Sovereigns. There were two more French expeditions in the sixteenth century, both fruitless — that of Henri 11. , as Dauphin, in 1542 ; and that of Marshal Ornano, in 1597. It was the Inquisition which loosened the bonds with Spain, and a revolt broke out in Perpignan in 1642 in consequence of the violation of the privileges of the town by the governor. When the province had offered itself to Louis XIIL, the only opposition to his invasion was from the Spanish garrison CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PEOPLE 13 of Perpignan. The treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659 ratified the annexation of Roussillon and the Cerdagne, except the portion on the southern slope of the moun- tains. It was to provide a capital for French Cerdagne that Louis XIV. ordered the foundation of Mont Louis in 168 1. The importance of Perpignan had been much increased by the foundation of its University in 1349, and by the translation of the bishopric of Elne in 1602. Characteristics of the People. The population of the districts treated of in this volume is interesting as showing survivals of very ancient races (for remains of palaeolithic and neolithic man have been found), mingled with the flotsam and jetsam left behind by more modern invasions. The Iberian has been considered to still exist in the Basque. The race is mentioned by Hecateus of Miletus about 500 B.C., and, under the name of Aquitanians, Strabo mentions them as inhabiting the territory between the Pyrenees, the Garonne, and the Atlantic. To the east the inhabitants were mainly of a Celtic stock, the Voices Tectosages, from whom Hannibal asked permission to pass in 218 B.C., when marching to attack Rome. The common language in the eastern valleys is either Catalan or Languedocian patois ; to the west Basque is spoken, and in the portions between Gascon dialects related to Spanish. The Roman domination 14 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PEOPLE worked for unity, and so did the preaching of Chris- tianity (about A.D. 250). Under the one, dialects, founded on Latin, appeared ; but, notwithstanding the acceptance of Christianity, many popular naturalistic beliefs still survived. In the fifth century the Alains and the Goths established themselves in the Narbon- naise and in Catalonia. The Visigoths rapidly became civilized, and created systems of irrigation, especially in the plain north of the mountains. In the next cen- tury they were driven into Spain, after their defeat at Guadalete. It is supposed that the word " Cagot " (" dog of a Goth "), which was used as a term of scorn, repulsion, and fear during the Middle Ages, and almost down to modern times, was due to the hatred of the orthodox clergy for the Arian Goths. The Mussulman incursions generally took place by way of the Alberes, the exception to the rule being that of Abderahman, the fourth in order, which came by way of Navarre and the Basque country, for the Basques had been pushed northwards and had estab- lished themselves on both slopes of the mountains. The Arab type is still to be met with as far north as in the middle valley of the Garonne, especially among the women — distinguished by a long head, a slim, dehcate figure, brunette complexion, black hair, eyebrows, and eyes. I remember girls of this type, with a fine carriage, in villages between Foix and Lavalanet. After the defeat of the Arabs at Poitiers, the contending RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES 15 races were the Gallo-Romans of the north and the Franks, who wished to impose their pohtical and rehgious organization on the races of the south. The struggle ended in the thirteenth century by the crushing of Southern France under the Albigensian crusade, in which the Princes of German descent had the advan- tage of the alliance of the Church. The Norman incursions had weakened and impoverished the country, but the passion for personal liberty, so strong in the south, produced great differences between that district and the north. In Beam, Navarre, Aragon, and Cata- lonia (for the Pyrenees were then no barrier) there were constitutional guarantees from the tenth century onward which existed in none of the northern states. In Aragon the representatives of the country invested their chief with this extraordinary formula : " We, who are each one as good as you, and who, united, can do more than you, establish you as our lord, on condition that you respect our rights and privileges." The mountaineers on both slopes of the chain were united by " lies," or " paxeries," in common defence against invaders, whether from the north or the south ; and in some of the valleys the villages are united in syndicates to administer their property and defend their common interests to the present day. This com- munistic procedure appears to be a survival of the " pagi " of the Middle Ages. The greater part of the inhabitants of the modern department of the Hautes Pyrenees are descendants i6 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PEOPLE of the ancient Bigourdans, while Roussillon was origin- ally occupied by peoples of Celtic stock, as is proved by the numerous megalithic monuments. In the fourth century B.C. the Voices and the Sordons, a mixture of Celts and Iberians, were Hving in the country, and they appear to have been the progenitors of the actual inhabitants. The coast was subsequently occupied in turn by Vandals, Alains, and Sueves, who were driven out by the Visigoths in 473. They were replaced by the Moors, who in their turn were driven over the Pyrenees by Charlemagne, who created the two countships of RoussiUon and the Cerdagne, with lords of his Court for hereditary Sovereigns. The feudal system brought civil war and foreign invasion on the two counties, which in the twelfth century became fiefs of the kingdom of Aragon by inheritance, and, later, provinces of the kingdom of Spain. Of this subjection considerable signs are still visible. One still finds its influence in monuments, manners, cos- tumes, and even the Catalan type. Being similar in origin, the Catalan more easily assimilated its manners and customs than those of the light-haired northern invaders. After the French conquest of 1642, the inhabitants of the plain insensibly lost or modified their pecuharities of costume or manners, while the mountaineers in daily relations with Spain have pre- served the usages, and the type has scarcely varied. The Catalan of the plain is rather smah, but well- made and proportioned, industrious, active, and very CATALAN DANCES 17 honest both in commercial and private relations. He is gay and Hght-hearted, and, living pretty easily, has not developed habits of economy. Local fetes are numerous in Roussillon (some villages have as many as three every year), and serve as pretexts for Panta- gruel-like rejoicings, to which friends and relations from neighbouring villages are invited. They only leave the table to dance, which is a favourite diversion of the Catalan. As soon as the music begins, men and women group themselves round the ancient elm, which is a usual ornament of Catalan squares. The characteristic dances are the " bail, contrepas, and farandole," but more modern dances have also been adopted. When we arrived at Vich, in Catalonia, on a Sunday evening, we found the people dancing in the principal square, which was, however, treeless. On a ramshackle-looking platform some ten musicians were perched, and in front of it two double rings of dancers were formed, who went through various evolutions, turning first in one direction and then in the other, and waving hands alternately as they joined or separated from those on each side of them. The rings moved in opposite directions, and the steps involving much lifting of the leg, the effect was rather complicated, though probably each dancer's movements were tolerably simple. The Catalan of the mountains is more robust and agile than his fellow of the plains, and less exuberant. Living where the struggle with Nature is more strenuous, he develops economical habits, and is less pleasure-loving. 3 i8 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PEOPLE His manners are simple, and religion is a reality to him, though the religious instinct does not forbid a belief in sorcery, and he hoards traditions and legends of many kinds in his memory. The primitive costume has changed very little, and one may still meet peasants at fete and market clad in the little round vest and breeches, shod with espadrilles laced to the knee, girded with the red faja twisted several times round the waist, and wearing on the head the traditional haratina, a kind of Phrygian cap of red wool, the long upper portion falling on the shoulder night-cap fashion. The Catalan language is spoken all over Roussillon, as well as in Catalonia, but most purely in the mountain districts. The women are generally pretty — remark- able for their bright eyes and beautiful hair. This latter beauty is, however, generally hidden in the Catalan cap, itself beautiful by reason of the valuable lace of which it is generally composed. As in all countries which have been under Roman and Saracenic rule, women occupy an inferior position. It is not so very long ago that the wife usually waited on her husband, and did not sit down to share his meal. The women still execute laborious tasks — transport wood and stones, mix mortar, or are employed in quarries or as masons. The drawing of the rustic bridge above Arles- sur-Tech shows some of them with the enormous loads of wood which they bring down from the mountains. Since the damage wrought by the vine disease they are employed instead of mules at ColHoure and Banyuls. BORDEAUX 19 Of all the people of the Midi the population of the department of the Aude is the most mingled. At the time of the arrival of the Romans it was formed by the Tectosages mixed with a Celtiberian race. The Romans estabHshed themselves in the plain round Narbonne in great numbers and mixed with the indi- genous people. The Visigoths also made Narbonne one of their royal residences, and Carcassonne their strongest city in Gaul, while from their time till the fourteenth century there was a flourishing Jewish colony in Narbonne. The Arabs occupied Septimania in the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries, and their sojourn must have affected the ethnography. Finally, after the Albigensian wars, numbers of adventurers from the North of France usurped or acquired possessions. The manners of the modern inhabitants are generally mild. They have the reputation of being affable, honest, active, and industrious, but liberal ideas are widespread, to the detriment of rehgious belief. The Cathohc religion is almost the only one professed, though a hostile disposition towards it shows plainly in times of political excitement. Bordeaux. In planning a book of this kind some sort of connec- tion between the places described must be sought, some thread upon which to string the memories of travel which one seeks to set before the reader, in the 20 BORDEAUX endeavour to recall and transmit the pleasant im- pressions which have so delighted oneself ; and this connection I have thought might be found in the circuit of the railway from Bordeaux to Bayonne and round by way of Perpignan to Toulouse, thus returning again to the starting-point, with occasional loops from one point or another. Bordeaux, it is true, belonged to Guyenne, of which it was the ancient capital, and therefore in strictness lies outside the proper limits of the book ; but it has interesting things in it from an archaeological point of view, and it will not be the only place to be described which transgresses the limit laid down. After all, it is much more amusing to occasionally overstep a prescribed limit, especially when there is such good reason for doing so. Bordeaux was one of the important cities of Gaul in the Roman period, and was then named Burdigala. It was the chief town of the Bituriges Vivisci, and be- came the capital of Aquitania Secunda, suffered from the devastations of Vandals, Franks, and Normans, and bore their yoke, and as part of the Duchy of Aquitaine or Guyenne, passed into the possession of England on the second marriage of Eleanor of Guyenne to Henry (II.) Plantagenet. It suffered very httle in the wars between France and England, and, like many of the other towns in the district, became loyally attached to its English masters, to whom it belonged for about three hundred years, and to whom it owed many regulations and remissions for the encouragement EARLY CHRISTIAN REMAINS 21 of its commerce. Under Henri II. a serious insurrec- tion broke out, caused by the imposition of the salt- tax, for which the town was cruelly punished in 1528 by the Constable de Montmorency. After S. Bartholomew's, a number of Protestants were massacred, and the district was disturbed also in the time of Louis XIV. The Girondins have made it famous by their gallant protest against the tyranny of the Convention, and the town, as the seat of the Provisional Government for three months in 1870-71, and of the National Assembly which accepted the pre- liminaries of peace with Germany, was in everyone's mouth. Of the Roman period the most important remain is the so-called Palais Galhen, the west entrance to the Amphitheatre, towering some 60 feet high, beneath the red brick arches of which the Rue du Colisee still passes. Of early Christian remains the most important is the cemetery of S. Fort, beneath the Church of S. Seurin. This has nave and aisles with semicircular waggon vaults, about 42 feet long by 28 feet wide. For half the length they are divided by walls ; then there are three columns and a pilaster, with one column in the wall opposite the centre column and a round arched arcade resting on fragments of antique and Gallo- Roman columns, and caps which do not fit. PLAN OF CEMETERY OF S. FORT, S. SEURIN, BORDEAUX. 22 BORDEAUX The tomb of S. Fort, with carved ends to a rounded cover, is beneath a seventeenth-century canopy with a coffered ceiHng. It occupies the central division. On the right is that of S. Veronica, on the left that of S. Amand and several others. Against the east wall is a naked altar, and at the west end of the north aisle an arch indicates an earlier entrance. The entrance is now by steps from the nave entering opposite the first arch from the east. The vault was once decorated with white stars on a red ground ; the pavement consists of broken slabs and a few thirteenth- century tiles. The ancient cathedral, S. Etienne, stood to the north-east, and showed Roman construction ; S. Seurin succeeded it in this dig- nity, and held it till the twelfth century. Some years ago the Society of Fine Arts broke through the apse wall of the crypt, and found that it con- tinued in that direction, and was full of sarcophagi. Be- PLAN OF S. SEURIN, BORDEAUX, ,i ,i n j_ „ SHOWING THE CONNECTION ncath thc floor, too, are many OF THE CRYPT WITH THE garcophaffi, all tenanted, as the ANCIENT CATHEDRAL, S. ^•-^'^ ^^ t"^ ^t)"- i "" > ETIENNE. sacristan told us. There is a great fete in May, lasting three days, when thousands of people come to the tomb. Mothers still bring their httle ones and set them on the tomb to make them strong ! At the beginning of last century CRYPT OF S. FORT 23 the form was to pass them over and round the tomb nine times for this purpose. Apparently they take less trouble now ! The apse wall is of the fourteenth century. In the apse to the right (which is also square-ended), behind the sarcophagus of S. Veronica, the end of another sarcophagus may be traced. In front of it is a fourth-century altar. Another against the south wall is said to contain the heads of twelve nuns killed in the Revolution. Next to it is that of S. Seurin himself, of the fourth century, with cable mouldings dividing the compartments, a central )^ monogram in a garland of laurel, and panels with a fishbone pattern. There are also two or three others with Byzantine-looking vine panels, a fourth - century fragment with a mosaic border set in the wall, and several eighth and ninth century of the usual patterns. A lamp of black earth hangs from the vault, of which the sacristan said they had ten, which had been found in the cemetery. This crypt is said to be of the fourth century ; tiles are encrusted in the walls like those at Ste. Croix. In the eleventh century the collegial Chapter was constituted, and the actual church commenced over the ancient crypt. The choir, with its three fine round-headed windows, and the western porch are Romanesque, as are the towers, though rather later in date ; one is above the western door and the other to the right of the south door. The Chapel of Notre Dame de Bonne Nouvelle was founded in 1243 by Dean 24 BORDEAUX Gaillard Lambert. The fine south doorway is of 1267, and the Chapel of S. John, the aisles and vaults of the main building, are of the same century, though addi- tions were also made at later dates. There was a cloister to the north, and a choir-screen, which dis- appeared in 1808. The whole church has been restored in modern times. The west entrance is a porch 40 feet in length and 10 feet 6 inches broad, having three trans- verse round arches with Romanesque columns and caps, the three orders having as many columns to support them. The subjects on the caps are beasts and birds intertwining, with foliage and one figure -subject — " The Sacrifice of Isaac." At each end of this fagade is an engaged column. The cap to the right shows the tomb of S. Seurin as it was then. The three faces are inscribed : QUANDO MIGRAVIT A SECULO. SCS SEVERINUS. SIGNIFICAT HAG PETRA SEPULCRUM SCI SEVERINI. The south door is richly carved with figures and foliage. The entrance is through a central trefoil-headed door with a funerary inscription round it, giving the date of CAPITAL FROM NARTHEX, S. SEURIN, BORDEAUX, SHOWING THE AN- CIENT SHRINE. 26 BORDEAUX 1267, the spandrils being decorated with flat carving of vine leaves. At each side is a bHnd door, all with richly moulded and carved archivolts, showing angels, creatures, and foliage. There are six orders in the centre and four on each side. Statues of the Twelve Apostles, the Synagogue, and the Gospel stand beneath canopies, supported by slender colonnettes on a con- tinuous moulding formed of the carved caps of the pillars in the jambs, which themselves rest on a base. The tympana are all carved ; the central one shows Christ in glory. The total length of the church is about 208 feet, of which the choir occupies 65 feet ; the width from wall to wall is about 52 feet. Of this the central nave from axis to axis of the piers takes 32 feet. The transept measures just less than 98 feet The width of the choir is 26 feet. Inside are an Archbishop's seat of the fifteenth century, thirty-two stalls of the century before, with satirical subjects, reliefs on the high-altar, and a figure of the Virgin of the same period, and in the Chapel of Notre Dame des Roses a figure of the Virgin and retable of the fifteenth century. Also some Roman pots, and a sepulchral chalice, paten, and pectoral cross, belonging to a thirteenth-century Bishop. S. Croix is another early foundation of considerable interest. The first certain date connected with it is 650-660, when S. Mommolin, Abbot of Fleury-sur- Loire, died, and was buried here. It was then outside the city walls, 900 yards to the south, and was therefore CHURCH OF S. CROIX 27 ravaged by both barbarians and Saracens. In 778 Charlemagne restored it, but only to be destroyed again by the Normans. It was not included within the walls until 1303, when Edward I. fortified the town. After the Norman incursions it was again restored by Guillaume-le-Bon, Duke of Aquitaine. He gave it many estates and right of sanctuary, etc. Any damage done to the monastery was punished with a fine of 1,000 livres of gold, as well as by a most com- prehensive curse. These privileges were confirmed frequently down to the time of Henry V., and the Popes were equally kind in granting privileges. The fagade appears to be late eleventh-century, but has been restored in modern times ; the drawing made by M. G. Drouyn in 1846 shows how much has been added. It then consisted of the tower, with three ranges of three arches between columns and groups of three at each angle ; on the level of the lowest row an arcade of four arches, with two above, and the rose- window ; to the left, on the same level, an empty pointed arch. Below these was a projecting slope for the doors, and two little arches above each side-door. The archivolt of the left door was not fully carved, and the greater part of the centre was also blank, except the innermost two arches. On the extreme left there was a pointed door, with a walled-up window above, answering to the Romanesque window in the lowest part of the tower to the right. In the eleventh century the church had no aisles, and was a Latin cross 28 BORDEAUX in plan, with three eastward apses. The bell-tower was an addition of a slightly later date. At the end of the twelfth or beginning of the thirteenth century the building was enlarged, the aisles and the existing pointed vaults built, and the facade altered. The rose-window is of the fourteenth century. The nave has four bays, the arches being very slightly pointed ; the caps are well carved, some of them with figures, both the earlier and the later ; the sanctuary and chapels are decagonal externally ; of the five windows only two remain in the original state. Two bays have thirteenth-century vaulting shafts and pointed vaults with horizontal ribs. The first bay has great piers, with columns attached east and west ; the third pier on the right and the fourth on the left were enlarged polygonally in the fifteenth century, hiding the original plan. The aisles are lofty — about 42 feet ; the transept and nave vaults are nearly 60 feet above the pave- ment. The transept is 70 feet long, the church from east to west over 180 feet, of which the choir occupies about 30 feet, and the breadth 50 feet. The tomb of S. Mommolin was under the third arch to the right. An inscription was fixed to one of the piers, which was flattened for the purpose, and the iron rivets still remained at the beginning of the last century. The font is carved on two sides only, showing that it was originally fixed in a corner. The reliefs represent the Last Supper, and though the work is Renaissance, Gothic details appear in the room in ^TTfW ^"^ i FACADE OF S. CROIX 29 which it takes place. On the west wall of the north transept a tomb was erected to an Abbot, judging by his dress, but the shields showing his arms have been torn away, and there is no inscription. The base is panelled, and the upper part consists of an elaborately traceried arch and pediment, backed up with geometric tracery nearly to the top— a very fine example of fourteenth-century work. The floor has been raised, as the sinking by the Abbot's tomb shows ; the tiles at the bottom look thirteenth century, with a modern border. An inscription on the facade recorded a restoration in 1586, under Juhus Salviati, Abbot from 1565 to 1607. The inner archivolt of the central door has groups of birds biting quadrupeds above them ; the second has two rows of crouching men in a " tug-of-war," the two figures at the summit taller than the rest. Then come several ornamented mouldings, on the first twisted branches with cHmbing figures among them. On the next order are signs of the zodiac, a seated figure personifying Nature at rest ; then the goat, Aquarius, the fishes, a mutilated figure, and the bull. Beyond this the stone had not been carved. Round these reliefs and in the centre between two fillets is an inscription in Roman letters : E »^ JANVA RIISOL INCAP KICORN °. . E ►J* F SO L. The outside arch has old men crowned and robed — probably the twenty-four elders — with angels. On 30 ST. MACAIRE the right arch were four groups, three composed of a woman, a personage, and two serpents. The Porte de Cailhau, the ancient gateway of the Palais de I'Ombriere, a fine example of late Gothic ; the Cathedral, one of the finest Gothic churches in the South of France, with the adjacent Clocher Peyberland of 1440 ; the Church of S. Michel, with its detached tower of the close of the fifteenth century ; and the Porte de 1' Hotel de Ville, a relic of the old town hall, in its lower part of the thirteenth, and in the upper half of the sixteenth century, picturesquely crowned with turret and clock, are also noteworthy. St. Macaire. Bordeaux is a city with which the experienced traveller in the South of France becomes very well acquainted, since he perforce passes through it fre- quently, and may find it a convenient stopping-place for the night. On the occasion when we were on our way from St. Emilion to St. Macaire, we had several hours to spare (at the hastide station on the far side of the river), and, the attractions of the cafes palling, determined to adopt a course we had often taken in Italy — viz., to travel by a slow train, which gives one the opportunity of seeing more of the countryside and of observing the manners and customs of the country people, who travel by these slow trains a good deal, 32 ST. MACAIRE the leisurely conduct of the traffic and the long stops at wayside stations allowing plenty of time for observa- tion. We had calculated on reaching Langon, the station before St. Macaire, in plenty of time to pick up the quicker train from Bordeaux, having allowed over half an hour's margin, but at Preignac, the station before Langon, we were shunted, and had the vexation of seeing the train we expected to catch pass us ! On reaching Langon we detailed our plight to a friendly porter, who volunteered to obtain a carriage, and did so. Whether he received a bonus from the cabman as well as a tip from us, I do not know ; but the inn- keeper at St. Macaire was indignant at his " extor- tionate " charge of five francs, and did not conceal what he thought of him. Under his advice we refused a pourboire, so the overcharge was not very profitable to the cabman. The drive through the gloaming was delightful, and St. Macaire looked quite theatrically picturesque as we approached it, with its towered walls and lighted clock-tower silhouetted against the evening radiance. In our hotel was a young man, the agent of a Co vent Garden fruit-dealer, who had come over to arrange for the purchase of the tomato crops of some of the growers. He told us that his firm disposed of the whole of certain fruit crops from growers here and still farther afield, thus confirming the information given us at Le Boulou in a previous journey as to the wide area which supplies the London market. Here, as in all A GALLO-ROMAN SETTLEMENT 33 the surrounding district, in which stations frequently display the names of wines well known to the Londoner, the wine industry provides much employ- ment for many people, and the manufacture and testing of casks is often carried on in the open street, providing groupings of workmen and apparatus strange to the foreigner's eye, but none the less attractive, interesting, and often picturesque. The town lies on the Garonne, which formerly ran at the foot of the rocks upon which the high walls were built, though now some 200 or 300 yards of marshy meadow separate them from the water. A flood-mark on the lower gate near the washing-place, about 7 feet from the ground, with the date of June 26, 1875, shows, however, that sometimes river and rock still join hands. This rock, the seat of the centre of the town, was occupied by a villa or settlement in Gallo-Roman times, if one may accept the legend round the arms of the city as evidence — URBS sancti macary olim ligena. The discovery of certain fragments of mosaic pavement in 1800 lends some probability to the legend, which is that in the fourth century S. Martin sent his friend and disciple, S. Macarius, to evangelize part of Aqui- taine, who, with his companions, came to Ligena, a town near the mouth of the Garonne, whence his reputation for hohness, fervent preaching, and miracle- working spread throughout Aquitaine. Dying, worn out, he was buried by two of his disciples in the basilica of S. Laurence. The ravages of the Normans in the 5 34 ST. MACAIRE Garonne Valley were probably accountable for the destruction of this basilica, but portions of the castle appear to be earlier than the eleventh century, and the earliest mention of the place in " Gallia Christiana " is in 1026. This is the date of the gift of St. Macaire to S. Croix, Bordeaux, by William, Duke of Aquitaine, and his wife, Aremberga, " with titles and everything, law of land and sea, and blood justice." The following year the body of S. Macarius was transported to Bordeaux and buried in S. Andre. The story goes that the lighted tapers which accompanied the relics in their journey of eighteen miles were unextinguished, notwithstanding rain and wind. After the marriage of Henry II. with Eleanor of Aquitaine, the whole of Guyenne belonged to the English crown, except for intervals, for some three hundred years. The towns had an affection for England, and only became French under compulsion. St. Macaire suffered severely during the troubles of the Fronde, having sustained three sieges. Considerable remains of the medieval fortifications exist, parts of which probably date from the twelfth century, including two or three gateways. Towards the north-west a good deal of the inner wall remains, with the Porte de Cadillac, now known as " De I'Hotel de Ville," in it, roofed with a steep pyramidal roof, and with a clock in its upper portion. The vault of the gateway is pointed, and there are machicolations. A second gate- way pierced the wall west of it, and there were two to MEDIEVAL WALLS AND GATES 35 the east. On the riverside there were none. A suburb on the north and another on the south were also en- closed by walls, and one gateway remains, the Porte Dumas, a square crenellated tower with pointed vault to the gate. Towards the river the walls were built on the edge of the rocks, following their line ; they have buttresses, and appear to be of the twelfth and thir- teenth centuries, repaired in the fourteenth. The castle, the Chateau de Tarde, is on this side. It appears to have been rebuilt in the sixteenth century, to which period the staircase tower belongs, though small portions remain of an earlier date. At the end of the Rue de Turon is a fourteenth-century gateway, with the remains of a later barbican outside, and loop- holes for firearms in the walls close by, while in the Rue de Rendesse two gateways still exist, though that in the outer wall has disappeared. The Place du Marche is an exceedingly picturesque oblong, surrounded by arcades, some few of which have been destroyed. The houses date from the four- teenth to the sixteenth centuries for the most part, and give an excellent idea of the aspect of the centre of a southern medieval town. The Palace of the Despanderons, of the courtyard of which a drawing is given, belonged to an important family, which probably became extinct during the wars of religion. A secret hoard was found a few years ago in one of the walls of the gaunt, floorless rooms, with a portrait of a young lady of the family, hidden THE CHURCH OF S. SAUVEUR 37 who knows how many years ago ? An enormous fire- place on each of the three floors still testifies to the importance of the family which required such large accommodation for its members and dependents. Other important houses are to be found here and there in the town, but most of them now inhabited by the poor. The Church of S. Sauveur is one of the most impor- tant buildings of the district, and by night its massive walls tower aloft in the darkness like grey chffs, making the houses round look small and unsubstantial. The structure probably dates from the twelfth century, when CaHxtus 11. sanctioned the union of the convent with S. Croix, Bordeaux (in 1122 or 11 25), for an inscription giving the date 1039, engraven in two con- centric circles framing a consecration cross, accom- panied by A and Q, with square O's and numerous abbreviations, probably belongs to an older building, being evidently not in its original place. None of the details of the actual church indicate so early a date. The plan shows an aisleless nave, with three eleven- sided apses, and crossing between them; the lower part is of one date and the upper of another, the stone used, the construction, and character of the carving being unUke in the two parts. The flat but- tresses stop abruptly where the kind of stone changes (at a uniform height), and they are surmounted by little monoHthic colonnettes crowned with vigorously carved caps, which aid the modillions in their work of 2±V^HH PLAN OF S. SAUVEUR 39 carrying the cornice. Some of them are outside the cornice, and support a slope like the ordinary termina- PLAN OF S. SAUVEUR, ST. MACAIRE. tion of a buttress. Unfortunately they are too high up to draw. M. Leon Drouyn says that the same masons' marks appear in the bases of the whole extent of the 40 ST. MAC AIRE walls, proving that the plan is entirely of the same date, though the eastern bay of the nave marks the end of the untouched Romanesque work. The second and third bays were either finished or restored early in the thirteenth century, as the pointed windows with Romanesque mouldings show. The westernmost is of the second half of the thirteenth. With these periods the character of the vaulting ribs agrees. The but- tresses to the south terminate in one colonnette, those to the north in three. The windows are simple lancets grouped in twos, with engaged columns and caps almost Romanesque in character. On the north of the western bay is a walled-up Romanesque door, which was the entrance for the inhabitants of the town. On the south a pointed door led to the priory sacristy, and another, higher up, is said to have been made to enable sick friars to hear Mass. A simple Romanesque window lights the south transept, replaced in the four- teenth century in the north transept, and there are three in the apse, with carved caps to the colonnettes. The hexagonal bell-tower is of the end of the thirteenth century, but was heightened in the seventeenth. The western fagade is divided into two stories, separated by a string-course and finished with a low gable, with crockets of crinkled leaves on the slopes, a cross on the top, and pinnacles at the ends. The fine rose-window and this gable are of the end of the fifteenth century, but the groups of columns at the north angle are Romanesque, except the caps, which WESTERN FACADE OF S. SAUVEUR 41 are thirteenth-century. The door opens beneath a trefoil arch, and the tympanum has two subjects with figures, divided by a band. The lower subject shows a row of eleven seated and nimbed persons, four of them headless ; in the upper Christ sits between two standing angels, and a kneeling figure on each side, probably the Virgin and S. John. Above, the archivolt is divided into three orders, richly carved with figures and foliage. The innermost shows the wise and foolish virgins, the three wise to the left, with raised lamps. A rough stone, into which the head of a virgin sinks, terminates this half-arch ; on the other side are four foohsh virgins, with lamps reversed. The second arch shows eight angels ; an uncarved stone at the top gives space for two canopies. The third arch has also eight angels, most of them with censers. A band divides the uprights into two stages ; in the upper only one mutilated statue remains on each side. The caps only of the long colonnettes are medieval. The flat portions of the fa9ade beyond the doorway were decorated, but only on the left side do fragments of canopies, etc., remain, which have been restored. The Huguenots are credited with the destruction during the siege of 1562. There were some door-leaves, with their hinges, of the end of the thirteenth century, but they have been restored, and it is difficult to say how much of the original work remains. Several sarcophagi are encrusted in the walls at various heights. The level of the ground having risen, there are now 6 42 ST. MACAIRE eight steps down into the church. The unequal bays are divided by groups of columns engaged in pilasters, standing on circular bases ; the westernmost has a loftier vault than the rest, and lighter vaulting ribs. Apparently the south-west pier was rebuilt in the thirteenth century, while all the rest are of the twelfth. The three apses are divided into three stages, separated by chequered string-courses ; at the base of the vault in the south and east is a cornice with dog-tooth moulding, and in the north chequers and a bonding course. The base of the wall has a round-arched arcade on colonnettes in all three apses, which is re- peated in the eastern on the first story, the colonnettes being in the angle of the undecagon and pilasters in the angles of the piers. The bases have claws, and the caps are said to be finely carved, but have been much disguised with colour. The ornament consists of inter- lacings, figures, leaves, and monsters. The vaults are semi-domical, but stilted ; at the intersection are ribs like those of the easternmost bay of the nave. Ap- parently a cupola w^as projected for the crossing, for the piers and main arches are not in harmony with the vaults which they support, and are very awkwardly arranged at the angle, the rib resting on a slab set diagonally on the corner of the pier. On the vaults of the easternmost portion are paintings of the thir- teenth century, unfortunately restored in 1825. In the sanctuary a Vesica piscis, with our Lord somewhat as in the vision of S. John in the Revelation, but S. PAUL-LES-DAX 43 seated, and with the curious addition of a crucifix hung round His neck ; a Last Judgment, and another apocalyptic subject. On the arch in front are the wise and fooHsh virgins. On the crossing are the Legend of S. John the EvangeHst, the Annunciation, and the Assumption. On the arch to the south is the Legend of S. Catherine, and on the north that of S. James the Great, with one or two other figures. The convent was destroyed in 1842, but some remains of the cloister still exist in a cooper's workshop to the south of the church, and of the refectory beyond, which projects beyond the town wall. Dax. A little way from the station at Dax, on an elevation which almost looks as if it might be artificial, stands the interesting Church of S. Paul-les-Dax. The plan shows one long nave, with choir and semicircular apse, around which on the outside a number of early carved slabs have been encrusted. Some of the columns used in the construction appear to be antique, and may possibly have belonged to a pagan temple on the same site. The semicircular triumphal arch rests on engaged columns, the bases of which have claws, and the caps volutes and broad water-leaves. The sanctuary is lighted by three high, round-arched windows, with colonnettes and ornamented archivolts ; they rest on a string-course, which divides them from the lower 44 DAX part. Between the windows and round the choir and sanctuary were fifteenth-century paintings in a very bad state, with inscriptions detaihng their subjects — Adam and Eve, The Murder of Abel, The Flood, etc. The lower part is ornamented with a series of niches, triangular in plan, with a torus moulding round without base or cap. The nave clerestory has an arcade of grey stone, relieved with plaster and pierced with tall, round-headed windows. There are similar windows in the aisles between buttresses. The exterior of the apse has three compartments, divided by projecting buttresses, with an arcade of three, four, and three, arches resting on slender colon- nettes, with caps of marble ; the arches have a roll at the angle and billets on the intrados. The next stage (above a band ornamented with billets) has a window in the centre of each division, and higher still an oculus and cornice, to which the buttresses run up. The upper string and all above is modern. All the arches are round, and the window openings have a colonnette and cap in the corner and a roll on the order above, flanked by a fillet on each side. There is a hood mould above, ornamented with dog-teeth, and the abaci are also ornamented. The most interesting part of the building, however, is the carving of the capitals, which are full of fancy, and of the slabs encrusted above the lower arcade. There are eleven of these panels, arranged with regard rather to the spaces to be filled than to the sequence of the CURIOUS EARLY SCULPTURES 45 events represented upon them — the work of two or three hands. The series now begins with a slab showing three monsters with heads at the ends of their tails ; one is Hke a chimera with three heads, a grifhn is to the left, and other creatures below with heads at each end. These creatures recall those described in the ninth chapter of the Revelation. Next comes the Resurrection, quite in a different style. The sepulchre is in the centre ; two angels, one bearing a lantern, flank it ; the women, two on one side and one on the other, are crowned and nimbed. Between them, above the sepulchre, are two hands holding censers ; higher still is a hand holding a cross. Next come figures of SS. Peter, James, and John, seated, nimbed, bare- foot and bearded, with a book in the hand of each. S. Peter has a cock at his feet. This, again, is totally different in style from the last. Next comes the Last Supper — all twelve figures on the same side of the table, with Christ in the centre, their feet showing beneath the tablecloth, the nimbi very small. At the end of the table, to the left, are four vases, perhaps to recall the change of water into wine at the Marriage of Cana, the symbol of transubstantiation. Next comes the Garden of Gethsemane — (i) S. Peter and Malchus, (2) the Betrayal, (3) the Arrest — followed by the Crucifixion. Here the cross has the arms raised above the horizontal ; beneath them are the lance and sponge-bearers on a smaller scale. There is a cross above the head of Christ, but no circle for the nimbus. To the right, at 46 DAX the end, is S. John ; on the other side is a saint with his hands crossed on his breast, shoes, a bordered robe, and a triple nimbus. Next comes a crowned and armed warrior on a beast ; its tail curls up with a ser- pent's head to attack him behind, the background is covered with scrolls. Next comes a figure apparently bearing a napkin like a S. Veronica, but without the face imprinted on it, with a part of a griffin on a narrow slab close by which resembles the first slab. Here are also three beasts, one above the other, on the same panel. The last slab shows a tomb, a building like a basilica, with four arched doors of three orders, and buttresses at each end, which terminate in gables, with two light windows and oculus above. Beneath the central gable, terminating with a cross, is a window or niche, with the half-length of a saint. Angels descending from clouds, behind which are the sun and moon, fill the corners. This is the work of the same hand as the Maries at the tomb. At Beaucaire is a series somewhat similar. Here the first panel is the Last Supper, followed by the Crucifixion, Burial, and Resurrection. The subject of the women at the tomb is in two parts : to the left they are buying spices, which are being weighed out to them ; to the right is the empty sepulchre, with half-lengths above of an angel and the three women. M. Didelot quotes S. Basil of Csesarea as saying that the Bishops presided, not only at the consecration of churches, but at the preparation of their decoration : ■" ^ ^ •'''■'■ '' ■^'- 'j^Soi^^atiiii **•-'■'•• *^**'"'iSi!U -'. ^•SiuA%J:*- ' i,.:^ X -«**.: THE CHURCH AND ART 47 " The composition of the scenes, in particular, was their personal business, not at all that of the painters. The painter confined himself to the choice of processes, our Bishops themselves studied the arrangement of the pictures, and did not give up the initiative to any- one." So that there was httle opportunity for a painter's individuality to show itself at that time, the principles and rules of Art being fixed by ecclesi- astical authority, which, of course, tended towards the production of a fixed hieratic style. This helps to explain the similarity of subject and treatment found in places far distant from each other. At S. Paul the panels appear to have been brought from somewhere else and the arrangement dislocated in the re-erection. There are various opinions as to their period. M. de Lasteyrie thought them of the tenth century. M. Didelot says eleventh, basing his opinion on the censers being covered and with three chains — " in the tenth century they would be without covers, as in a tenth-century ivory at Narbonne." Rohault de Fleury, however, gives several of that century and one from a Greek ninth-century manuscript with covers, though these early censers are generally shown without them. The crowns of the Maries are of a Carolingian form. Near to the church are some remains of a Roman aqueduct. When Caesar arrived in Gaul, Dax was an important town, celebrated for its hot springs. It was called Aquae Tarbellicae, being the capital of the Tarbelli, 48 DAX the most powerful people of Aquitaine. Augustus gave it the name of Aquae Augustae, and sent his daughter Julia there for treatment. Remains of Gallo- Roman fortifications are to be seen (on the Promenade des Remparts), i8 feet thick, consisting of a curtain wall strengthened with round towers at intervals. These are of the fourth century. Before that time the villas were outside, but the incursions of the bar- barians made the inhabitants desirous of the shelter of fortifications, and their extent was considerably enlarged. The plan was a polygon approaching a square, some 480 yards from north to south, by 412 yards from east to west, and there was a ditch 22 yards broad round the whole extent except where the Adour protects it. The walls show the usual construction of small stones, with stripes of bricks. When they were demolished (between 1855 and 1870) many things were found of archaeological interest — coins, tiles, debris of marble statues and groups, inscriptions, votive altars, etc. — some of which are preserved in the museum. The " Nehe," the principal hot- water spring, is named from the Gaulish aquatic divinity who was the protector of Dax. It was in the Imperial bath built by Augustus, of which remains are found whenever the ground is stirred in this quarter ; but all over the town Roman remains underlie the modern buildings, while at a depth of from 12 to 30 feet hot springs may be found. It strikes one as odd to see a fountain in the public gardens steaming as it throws THE ANCIENT CATHEDRAL 49 up its jets ! The castle was rebuilt in the sixteenth century on a Roman base, and the cathedral is said to stand on the site of an ancient temple of Lucina, to which the Merovingian chapel succeeded, which was built in 511 by Bishop Maximus. Of this building the foundations of the apse, small, regular stones with courses of brick, like the fourth-century ramparts, but with smaller and longer stones in proportion, have been found by the Society of Borda beneath some thirteenth-century tombs in the cloister made of stones of the church of 1050. Three fragments of altars of the eleventh century are now in the museum, which were found in a wall built in the sixteenth century. They belonged to a church which was consecrated in 1009, but Dax had a Bishop as long ago at a.d. hi, and the bishopric was only abolished at the Revolution. The ancient cathedral was rebuilt in 1656-1719, the Gothic building of the middle of the thirteenth century having been destroyed by the Huguenots, the only portions preserved being the sacristy and the great door, which is now inside the north transept. It has well-preserved statues of the Twelve Apostles on the jambs, and of our Lord on the central pier. On the tympanum is the subject of the Last Judgment, and both buried and cremated dead appear as sharing in the Resurrection. The arch moulds are decorated with rows of figures under canopies. The Romanesque church was consecrated in 1045, and became the cathedral in 1050, the first intra miivos. Till that 7 50 DAX time the episcopal seat was in the church built near the tomb of S. Vincent-de-Xaintes in the suburb, which still bears the name of the first Bishop, and preserves some Romanesque portions, several ancient sarcophagi, and the tomb of the saint — a sarcophagus of the tenth century, with a recumbent figure of the thirteenth on the lid. At eight a.m. we entered the cathedral, and found a Mass going on for some girls' confraternity, the members of which filled a good part of the nave, many of them going to the altar. At the end they sang a hymn, and as many of them had good voices, and the organist accompanied them with discretion, the effect was charming and affecting. At the station shortly after a contrast was afforded when the train for Bayonne came in bearing a number of English footballers, some of whom descended from a carriage inscribed " Dames seules " ! They were very cheerful, and made a good deal of disturbance on the platform, much to the astonishment of the French, who looked upon them as ** mad Englishmen " apparently. They were a Cardiff team going to play a match at Biarritz, which his late majesty King Edward VII. was to honour with his presence. A CENTRE OF ENGLISH POWER 51 St. Sever. St. Sever occupies an eminence which rises above the banks of the Adour, and may be easily reached by train from Dax. The carriage road winds up the height with many zigzags, but for the pedestrian there is a long stairway with many halting-places, the view over the widespread champaign broadening with the elevation gained, till at the top it spreads far away into the opalescent distance, with hills, river, woods, tilled and untilled lands, and the dweUings of mankind scattered here and there from one's feet to the far horizon. The platform is called the Promenade de Morlane, and on the site there was a Roman camp and a castle for the generals, known as the Castle of Palestrion. The town was the centre of the English power in Gascony, and only became definitely French after 1442. There are a few remains of medieval fortifications, and in the narrow and winding streets old houses occur here and there, but the great abbey church from which it takes its name, and which was the nucleus around which it grew, is the great object of interest. Its history is known from a manuscript preserved in the archives of the Hotel de Ville, and published in 1876 by MM. Pedegert, Canon of Aire, and Lugat, Cure of Villeneuve-de-Marsan. It was written in 1681 by Dom de Buisson, and the monks continued the notices relating to the priors till 1719, thus giving detailed information of the later works of restoration. 52 ST. SEVER The latest restoration, however, was executed towards the end of last century, and has added many conj ectural features, as well as the recutting of much of the ornament, and the addition of colour to some of the capitals without much advantage to their appearance. The abbey was ruined in the eighth, or towards the beginning of the ninth, century. Guillaume Sanche, Duke of Gascony, when attacked by the Normans, vowed at the tomb of S. Sever to submit himself and his lands to the saint in the event of victory, at the same time engaging to replace the humble monas- tery chapel with a splendid building. This church was destroyed by fire, and Gregory, Abbot from 1028 to 1072, rebuilt it on a larger scale, and had it con- secrated, and of the later church a considerable part still stands. No doubt it suffered in the siege of 1295, and in the fire which consumed a considerable part of the town in 1360, from the earthquake of 1372, and, worst of all, from the sack of the town in 1435 by the troops of Charles VII., who almost destroyed the monastery. The wars of religion, too, were disastrous. In 1569 a party of Huguenots took the town, and killed the monks, one of whom was obliged to dig his own grave. Documents state that the altars, choir, organ, and font were destroyed, the treasure pillaged (valued at more than 100,000 francs), and a list of the losses is given. They are also reported to have tried to destroy the church by mining it. It remained desolate till 1681, when an Easter Mass was celebrated for the THE ABBEY CHURCH 53 first time since the destruction. The great west door was rebuilt in 1684. This facade has been restored several times, and the variety of style is very notice- able. One of the doorways added to it was insuffi- ciently attached to the body of the wall, and fell down, killing several people. The plan shows a nave and aisles of five bays, a transept which projects a good deal, being about 120 feet across, as against a width of 60 feet for the nave, a choir of two bays beyond the transept with a longish apse, and three smaller apses on each side arranged en echelon, the lengths of these apses being respectively about 10 feet, 32 feet, and 55 feet, while the centre apse is 84 feet. Less developed instances of the same kind of plan occur in other parts of the south- west of France, as, for instance, at La Sauve. A good deal of this end of the church is modern. The crossing of the transept is covered with a round- arched waggon vault, like the nave and the choir. PLAN OF CHURCH OF ST. SEVER. 54 ST. SEVER with sustaining arches. This part has a billet cornice, and is perhaps original. The arch giving on to the north arm is round, that on the south pointed, but the vaults are both pointed waggon, with one sustaining arch resting on a double corbel. All the other arches in the transept are round. In the west wall, on the north side, is a gallery opening by a twin window with a central colonnette, and three smaller lights side by side. Across the end runs an arcaded gallery of four arches, supported upon two arches and one small column, the base of which is of marble, and antique. The corresponding gallery on the south is modern. The nave vault is a round-arched waggon with sup- porting arches. The easternmost pair of arches of the arcade are round ; they have two orders. The others are pointed, and the angles of the orders chamfered off. The windows of the clerestory have been restored as cusped oculi. The three last piers are cylindrical, with the vaulting ribs starting from Gothic brackets ; the others are Romanesque, square, with engaged columns, except towards the nave, where the column is replaced by a more elaborate arrangement. In the aisles are two Romanesque windows and vaults of various ages, only one bay being Romanesque. The organ is supported on a ribbed vault ; it is the work of Dom Bedos, a Benedictine of the eighteenth century, and is classed as an historical monument. The most curious detail in the church is the presence of chapels on the triforium level, which are proved to be original. NA\K OF llll'. < lirK( II, .->l'. SK\KK 'lo face paRC <. THE NAVE 55 on the north side, by the masonry, the presence of the gallery, and the size and position of the windows, some of which belong to the earliest period. The passage above the aisles occupies the place of a tri- forium, the engaged columns of which were discovered in the course of the latest restoration, and the arches and central colonnette replaced in accordance with their style. The vault of the nave is of the same height as it has always been, but the building has either been carelessly con- structed or built by insufficiently trained masons, for the differ- ence in the technique of the upright wall and the vaulting is extraordinary. It owes its fine effect to the loftiness of its nave and width of the spans of the vaulting, and to its proportions. The decoration remain- ing consists of sculpture, the collection of capitals being interesting, and reminding one, in the orna- ment, of Moissac and Hagetmau. Unfortunately, a good many have been recut. A few are antique, such as the two of the north door and one of those of the second north absidiole. Many of them are covered with figures and portions of animals CAPITAL OF TRIFORIUM, ST. SEVER. 56 ST. SEVER emergent from leaves, producing a very rich effect. M. Brutails says there is a hkeness to the fantastic miniatures in an Apocalypse in the Bibliotheque Nationale, which came from the Abbey of St. Sever, and is of the period of the Abbot who built the church. The north door has a medieval relief in the tympanum — a Majesty attended by angels. The vault of the CAPITAL FROM ST. SEVER. south aisle is fourteenth-century, and probably due to repairs after the earthquake of 1372. Apparently, when the French army almost destroyed the monastery in 1435, the nave was partly thrown down. The fifteenth-century repairs are very important. The three cylindrical piers were built, and perhaps the engaged polygonal pier in the south aisle. The vaults REPAIRS AND ALTERATIONS 57 of the aisles were rebuilt, except the two eastern bays on the south, and the nave walls from the starting of the main arcades, the Romanesque piers being left and new vaults thrown across. At this time the triforium disappeared. The nave arcade is mostly Gothic in style, as well as the windows and a great part of the cornice, while the masonry of the piers and the signs of alterations show that they are Romanesque, except the cyhndrical ones. The choir has been done up in Renaissance style, and there is some fuh-coloured stained glass towards the east end which makes the detail of the caps difficult to see (though they have been coloured, one supposes to make the design clearer), especially in the transept chapels. The tower above the transept is square, with a httle bell-turret on the roof and openings beneath it like the lofts beneath the roofs of many Italian towers. The Bishop used to have his seat at Aire-sur-T Adour, but at the time of the expulsion from the seminaries moved it hither. There was High-Mass at 10.30, at which he celebrated, and gave the episcopal benedic- tion. The church was crowded with a devout con- gregation, both of men and women, and among them one observed many fine heads. Some of the music was very good, especially an organ solo based upon a bagpipe tune, very delicate and fanciful. The finest Gallo-Roman mosaic in private hands in France is said to be that in the possession of Dr. Sentex, at St. Sever. We, unfortunately, did not know of it 58 ST. SEVER till after we had visited the town. It covers the floor of the vestibule of his house, the salle-d-manger, and two other rooms, the design embracing fishes and differ- ent objects, with interlacing patterns. It v/as found at Daugreilh, a quarter of St. Sever. At a cafe in the principal square, where we rested for a time, a monkey was kept in a cage in the open air, a lively and amusing beast. Close by was a notice chalked on a kennel, *' A vendre," which we thought referred to the monkey, but inquiries as to price only met with rebuffs. The climate must be tolerably mild, in spite of the elevation of the town, for this monkey lived out of doors all the winter ! Down by the station was a cottage sur- rounded with a flowering mimosa, which we are glad to buy before spring flowers become plentiful, backed up beautifully with dark bay and ilex bushes. The westering sun was beginning to tinge the clouds with rosy colour as we returned to Dax, with the remem- brance of another charming day to add to the store of pleasant memories laid up to lighten the dark days which surely come to all. Navarre. Navarre was one of the three subdivisions of the Basque country. The French portion of it includes the arrondissements of Bayonne and Mauleon in the Basses Pyrenees. Historically it is only an extension of Spanish Navarre, of which Pampeluna is the capital. A MORSEL OF HISTORY 59 The Navarrese crossed the Pyrenees as early as the sixth century, and it was only in 15 12 that the two Navarres were separated, and in 1589 that French Navarre was administratively reunited to France. The kingdom was founded in the ninth century, reached its greatest importance in the eleventh, passed by marriage to the Counts of Champagne in 1234, and in 1285 to Phihppe le Bel with that fief, who assumed the title of King of France and Navarre, in which his sons followed him. In 1328 Jeanne, daughter of Charles le Bel, was prevented from succeeding her father on the French throne by the Salic law, but became ruler of Navarre, which she transmitted to the family of Philippe d'Evreux by her marriage with him. In 1479 i^ became the property of the Counts of Foix and Viscounts of Beam, but in 1572 Spanish Navarre was conquered by Ferdinand the Cathohc. Till 1789 French Navarre preserved its autonomy and title of kingdom, and sent representatives to the Parhament at Pau ; but St. Jean-Pied-de-Port was considered the capital, since the Etats met there. After Henri IV. came to the throne, the French Kings resumed the practice of calling themselves Kings of France and Navarre — a usage which lasted till the time of Charles X. 6o BAYONNE Bayonne. Bayonne is a Basque word meaning " port," and well describes the characteristics of the town, which is situated on the Adour, three and a half miles from the sea, at the confluence of the Nive with that river. The Nive divides the city into Grande and Petite Bayonne, and the more important portion still retains the escarp- ments and bastions which in 1814 enabled it to make so brave and successful a resistance to the British and Spanish troops under Sir John Hope. The place appears for the first time, under the name of Lapurdum, in the time of Theodosius. It was then the head- quarters of the Roman cohort charged with the defence of Novempopulonia. It was the most important port in the province, and therefore the most necessary to defend from barbaric pirates, and in the fourth century was fortified, and probably received civic privileges at the same time. It does not appear with the title of city, however, until 587, in the Treaty of Andelot, and no Bishop's name is recorded till late in the tenth century (for S. Leo, who is said to have administered the diocese in the ninth, is not an historical personage) , the authentic list commencing in 980 with Arsias or Garsias Racha. After the Norman and Saracen de- vastations many towns were rebuilt at the end of the tenth and beginning of the eleventh centuries, and it seems probable that it was at this time that a Council of Lords and Notabilities decided to do this with HISTORY OF THE TOWN 6i Bayonne. The name of Baiona appears in the twelfth century, but Lapurdum became the name of the territory under the French form of Labourd, in the same way as Ruscino did in Roussillon. The city belonged to the Dukes of Aquitaine, and passed with their heiress to the English crown. English rule was popular with the citizens. In 12 16 King John enlarged the privileges granted in 11 20 by William the Troubadour, father of Eleanor of Aquitaine, to full communal government. It had been inhabited by merchants and sailors at least from the tenth century, and, thanks to the intelligent activity of its inhabitants, had surpassed Pau itself in importance. In 1451 they made a vigorous but unavailing resistance to Dunois, who took the city for Charles VII. Notwithstanding this capitulation, it still retained its proud motto, " Nunquam polluta." Under Fran9ois I. it was again fortified, and in 1523 repulsed a Spanish army, wel- coming the King on his return from his captivity in Madrid in 1526. It has been asserted that the massacre of S. Bartholomew was planned here in 1565, when Charles IX. of France and Elizabeth, Queen of Spain, met in the presence of their mother, Catherine de Medici, and the Duke of Alva. Since the Revolution the town has been the ecclesiastical head of the whole department, in consequence of the suppression of the bislioprics of Oloron and Lescar. The bayonet was named from this town, where they were first made — a dagger with handle fitting tightly 62 BAYONNE into the muzzle of the gun, introduced into the French army in 1671. There are said to be remains of Roman walls in the base of the old castle, a rather picturesque construction ascribed to the twelfth and fifteenth centuries, with round towers at the angles and lots of yellow wash about it. A tablet mentions celebrities who have lived there, including the Black Prince and, I think, Alfonso el Batallador. It is now occupied by different military offices. The Chateau Neuf was built under Louis XI. and Charles VIII. It has been restored several times, and now serves as a caserne and military prison. The cathedral was commenced in 12 13 by Bishop William de Donzac, who lived till 1258, and saw the choir nearly completed. The nave was built slowly in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, while the English had possession of the city. The towers were in course of construction in 145 1. Fleurs-de-lys ap- pear in the parts carried out subsequently, but the towers were only completed when the whole church was restored under M. Boeswillwald. The plan is Northern in character, with two western towers, lofty nave and aisles, transept and choir with deambulatory and apsidal chapels. It is 260 feet long, 85 feet high to the vault, and the spires are nearly 280 feet high. The building is very dark, owing to the large amount of stained glass, modern and late medieval ; though perhaps I am scarcely fair to it, for when I was last THE CATHEDRAL 63 there the rain descended in torrents, accompanied by a high wind, and such weather is hardly hkely to assist the eye to discover beauties. The clerestory windows are sometimes rich in colour, and appear to be filled with glass of the period of the Early Renaissance, generally rather coarse in design, and with important canopies and borders, with a curious mixture of Gothic and Renaissance detail. The door to the sacristy from the church was origin- ally an external door, and is a fine composition. It has two arches and a central pier. On each jamb two figures are set under canopies, and there are two in the centre, making six in all. The orders of the arch and tympana above are also carved. On one appears Christ with two angels, bearing symbols of the Passion, and the symbols of the evangelists ; on the other Madonna with the Child, and angels bearing chalices. Angels with censers fill the odd spaces beneath the vault of the modern sacristy. The fine cloisters rather remind one of Westminster Abbey. They were built in 1240. Each arcade has four divisions, with tracery ; one gallery has been converted (or rebuilt) to make the sacristy. There is a fine view of the ensemble of the cathedral from the south walk. In them are housed some ironwork of altar rails of the apse chapels, Louis XIV. and XV. in style, medieval ironwork, grilles, etc. ; also several bits of medieval carving showing remains of colour ; a monument or two, late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, showing English 64 BAYONNE influence in the design ; and a lot of Louis XIV. carved panelling, probably from the choir, since the pulpit is of that period, as well as the imposing organ- case. On the door of the Place Notre Dame is an old wrought-iron knocker, of which a drawing is given. It bears some resem- blance to Spanish iron- work of the period and a little later. The cathedral is not yet completed. It has been much decorated in colour in modern times. In S. Esprit, near the station, is a four- teenth - century group of the Flight into Egypt, and in the modern church of S. Andre is a picture by Bonnat, representing KNOCKER OF NORTH DOOR, CATHEDRAL, fVip AsSUmntioU W^pll BAYONNE. r } composed in a dramatic manner, forcible in effect, and not unpleasant in colour, but to my mind lacking in religious feeling and in style. It is affixed to the wall in the chapel at the end of the right aisle. The rest of the decoration and the glass is of the usual modern religious art. A WET DAY 65 I suppose proximity to the Spanish frontier may be held to account for the numerous beggars who infest the streets. To Sauveterre de Bearn. At Bayonne, as I have remarked, the weather was abominable. The rain came down in torrents, and the wind howled and assisted it to penetrate the clothing of the unfortunate people who had to cross the long bridge over the Adour and the other open places which lie between the town and the station. Fortu- nately there are sheltered walks along the sides of some of the streets ; but it was without regret that I re- turned to the station on my way to Sauveterre. Water was out in the fields, but I should say that in reasonable weather the scenery would be attractive. There were trees by the wayside very often, and boats lying in backwaters under their shade, while the houses were colour-washed, with simple iron balconies and vines and other climbing plants trained up the walls. The rain, of course, blotted out the distance, though one could see the shape of near hills. Everything was very green, and though it was wet it was not cold. At Guiche we passed a ruined, ivy-clad castle on a little eminence. Near Orthevielle the fields looked like Italian ricefields. Bamboos were growing luxuriantly further on, catalpas like forest trees; vines were trained as standards against the white walls of the 9 66 TO SAUVETERRE DE BEARN houses, big oleanders were in blossom, and large, cut- leaved maple trees among much other luxuriant growth. From Puyoo there is a long ascent, with a tunnel at the end, before reaching Salies de Beam ; then the water began to flow the other way and the train to run merrily down. From Bayonne to Puyoo we were accompanied by a party of soldiers with lively bugles. From Puyoo onwards a shepherd's pipe frequently sounded from the same direction. The men speak Basque among themselves, and use a good deal of action, some of it expressive enough. At Autevielle the train stayed for twenty-five minutes, apparently to allow the country fellows to solace themselves with drinking wine. Subsequently a little dancing and horse-play developed, which was rather amusing. Meanwhile it got dark, and began to rain again (for we had had a couple of hours' respite), so that I was glad to get into the omnibus at the station, and drive to the hotel without troubling about anything else. After dinner I wanted to post a card, and sallied out to find the post-box, following instructions given by the waitress as well as I could. Sauveterre is a fas- cinating place to make the acquaintance of by night, especially after a wet day, with the uncertain reflec- tions from the wet cobbling breaking up all apparent forms — tree-trunks and the darkness of leaves and branches overhead in places, the deep shadows beneath arcades which cannot be seen into, and the waxing THE CHURCH AT SAUVETERRE 67 CHURCH AT SAUVETERRE DE BE'ARN, FROM THE ROAD TO THE MILL. and waning glow of the small, apparently home-made electric lights, which increases the mystery of the unknown places and excites the imagination to all sorts 68 TO SAUVETERRE DE BEARN of extravagances. Through a half-open door I saw men playing one of the games which to us look so dull. A series of pins about 3 feet high, with a globular swelling in the centre, was set up, and a big hollow ball thrown at them. We should think it practically impossible to avoid upsetting them, but the players seemed to find excitement in the exercise. The people appeared to be a friendly folk. Next morning, when I was looking at the west door of the church (restored, and an historical monufnent), an old fellow came up and pointed out parts which had been restored, which he knew, having seen the restora- tion carried out. An amateur photographer was very civil when I was drawing on the bridge, and the man who lived in the house close by offered me a chair. The situation of the place is charming. From the terrace outside the church one looks down upon an elbow of the Gave, beyond which the Castle of Montreal crowns a spur of rock, with the bridge stretching out into the river. There are no signs of its continuance on the other side, and the theory has been advanced that it was really a* toll-station, by which the lord exacted payment on all merchandise going up or down the stream. The Gave was in flood when I was there, and I was not able to verify a statement that the deep water ran under the arch of the bridge, and that the water beyond was shoal, and would not allow of the passage of boats at ordinary times. If this is so, it A PICTURESQUE GROUP OF BUILDINGS 69 would practically amount to proving the writer's contention (M. Ferret). Ruins, church, castle, and mill form a commanding and picturesque group, and the subtropical plants which grow on the sheltered banks show that the climate is mild. The buildings of fortification extend over a considerable space, bearing such names as " The Arsenal," the tower of Jeanne d'Albret, etc. The castle dates from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries in its main parts, and is one of the finest feudal ruins of Beam. The great donjon is 100 feet high, and is lighted by several two-light, trefoil-headed windows. It was complete in 1265, ^^^ the Viscounts constantly added to the ramparts, further strengthening it. Its ruin dates from 1523, the Prince of Orange in that year leading an army of Charles V. through the district and ravaging all on his way. He had very powerful artillery, and besieged Sauveterre, which was defended by the Baron of Miossens. With this artillery he opened a breach and carried the place by assault. It is quite extraordinary what a difference the sun- light makes in a southern climate. Commonplace roofs against the blue sky and intensified in colour by the sun become quite fine, and the landscape, which was uninteresting when only a short distance could be seen, gains enormously from the blue shadows and the pale masses of the greater distances, to say nothing of the variety shown by the varied shapes of the mountain outlines. 70 TO SAUVETERRE DE BfiARN Outside the church, under the trees, was a merry-go- round, with a steam organ. To my surprise, when it struck up, it did not bray (as it would certainly have done in England), but played " biniou "-like tunes, which were quite nice. On the other side is an arcaded kind of market-house, the top floor of which seems to be the " Mairie." The square between is planted with old plane-trees, and joins the terrace, from which one obtains the wonderful view of the Gave and the bridge, etc. The church is Romanesque (probably late twelfth- century, continued in the thirteenth), and now much restored and decorated. It has a central apse, with ribbed vaults and three semicircular steps projecting into the crossing, and a nave of three bays beyond it. All the arches are pointed, but unmoulded : the vaulting is quadripartite, with tolerably simple profiles to the ribs ; the choir vaults are later, and the ribs spring from caps set angle-wise, instead of the usual way. The side apses are earlier, both in the character of the carving and the arrangement of the windows and semi-dome. Here, and in the great arch of the choir, balls are used as claws. The shafts of the choir-arch have a second small column above the first cap, and the corbels of the vaulting group with its cap to form an important feature. The caps of the arches across the transepts are on the level of the first ; those of the nave vaulting shafts on the higher level. The vaulting is later in date, I should think, as the piers of the nave 72 TO SAUVETERRE DE BEARN arcade are simple in plan, and the carving of the caps early. The vaulting of the aisles is of the later period : the crossing piers are raised on irregular octagonal bases with chamfered angles, and the plan suggests late twelfth-century ; the ball claws occur here too, yet the crossing and the side apses look the oldest part, and one of the caps has South Sea Islands' monsters at the angles. The modern colouring assists this likeness. The nave piers are on round bases. The nave and aisles are of three bays, lighted by oculi in the clerestory (some of them filled with later tracery) and narrow, round-headed windows in the aisles. The vaults of the crossing have horizontal ribs at the sum- mits of the arches, continued in one bay of the choir. The vaults are all the same height from west to east, and oculi are inserted above the side arches of the crossing. The transepts have rose windows, simple in design. The modern furniture and colouring are of the most curious description, and there are lots of coloured figures of saints on the walls, including the now inevitable Joan of Arc. Across the west end runs an imposing porch, mostly restored, but I suppose following the old lines. The west door has a tympanum with a large arch enclosing two smaller arches, meeting on a corbel cap with angels at the angles holding scrolls, inscribed " Restored in 1869," ^^^ weathered like the old work. The tym- panum is occupied by a figure of Christ blessing in an aureole, surrounded by the symbols of the evangelists THE CHURCH AT SAUVETERRE 73 and figures of angels, with the sun and moon to fill up. The archivolt, which is the only important semicircular arch, has angels seated all round it, and the mouldings have dog-tooth enrichments. In place of the usual figures on the widely-splayed jambs is a series of shafts on bases. The central arch of the outer arcade is flanked by smaller ones on each side, all unmoulded and modern. The apse has billet mouldings in its lowest part, and nail-head a little higher up. Instead of pilaster strips there are coupled engaged colonnettes MONOGRAM ON TYMPANUM OF DOOR, SAUVETERRE DE BEARN. TOWER WINDOW OF CHURCH, SAUVETERRE DE BEARN. with carved caps, ranging with the simple cornice corbels, which are similar in design in the side apses. There is no carving outside the tower, but the masonry of the two -light windows is interesting, and the tympanum of a little door is ornamented with an archaic sacred monogram. I suppose the tower was intended for fortification, and the square holes so evident were the passages into the hourds, the wooden gallery which was supported on the rough corbels below them. 10 74 TO SAUVETERRE DE BEARN In the afternoon there was a service for children. A Canon faced them at a harmonium and led the singing, while the cure sat in the stalls and read a book of devotion — at least, that was the way it appeared to the onlooker. At Sauveterre there is a Reformed church also. It is approached by a little bridge over a ravine with water rushing at the bottom, and surrounded with luxuriant vegetation. Quite an attractive-looking place outside, with a bell-turret and creepers growing over a good part of the fa9ade, inside it is bare and barn-like. The east wall is occupied by a pulpit between two texts in large letters, below which is a kind of pew. In front of this is an erection in place of an altar, upon which an open Bible is set up and left, for it was two p.m. when I entered the open build- ing, and there was no one about. This altar is a slab of marble set upon two shaped pilasters, and is on a platform raised one step above the floor and railed off. The worshippers were accommodated with chairs, except the back row, where there was a form, and in the gallery over the entrance, used, I suppose, for singers or school-children. Some of the young girls of Sauveterre are pretty — true Bearnaises — but for the most part they wear loose pinafore things which do not set them off. Not that the full-dress costume is more attractive ! Wine is very cheap, and the country people consume a good deal of it, becoming rather noisy after a time ; but I COUNTRY FlfeTES 75 saw nothing like drunkenness. The white " ordinaire " has a sHght flavour of sherry. The climate must be very mild, as, in addition to the subtropical plants mentioned above, I saw mimosa growing and seeding in the open air, and chillies hanging in the windows to ripen, but already a fine colour. Sauveterre to Oloron. From Sauveterre I went by a light railway which runs up the Gave d' Oloron, and found much enter- tainment from the journey. Two stations from Sauve- terre there was a local fete — lots of people, and a prize- winner, I suppose, carrying about a kind of ornamental cake with much pride. An official with a tricolor favour knew some of the passengers, and brought a large bottle and several glasses to the carriage window (for the rail ran down the edge of the road) and helped several of his friends during our short stop. As we went off, a band was playing snatches of melody, and the women and children thinking of dancing. At another place — Sus, I think — the cars ran past a great crowd of people and a band on a stand such as we saw at Vich in Catalonia, but there was no dancing, and apparently no room for it. Here the carriage filled up with people, who all got out at Navarrenx. The usual type of male head has humorous lines from the corners of the eyes, and generally the noses are aquiline, though there are many exceptions. 76 SAUVETERRE TO OLORON Navarrenx has bastions all round it, and crowns an eminence above the Gave, with a bridge of ap- proach. The bridge is stated to be of the fifteenth century, but looks much newer. The original site of the town was on the other bank, and till a few years ago a fifteenth-century tower in a field marked the site. It was rebuilt in its present position by order of Henri d'Albret, King of Navarre, who in 1546 con- structed the fortifications, at a later date revised by Vauban. It was taken in 1620 by Louis XIII., who published the Edict of Reunion, by which the Catholic religion was re-established here. For a few months, in 1790, it was the chief town of the Basses Pyrenees, and remained a fortress till 1867. At Sus there are several chateaux among trees, and the place looks very attractive, great trees lining the road. The only train by which I was able to travel was in the evening, and soon after passing Sus the sunset engaged one's attention. It was essentially a fine-weather sunset, which was reassuring after the rain from which one had suffered, but called for little remark except for the fine glow which suffused the sky, and I was glad to reach Oloron and the comfortable inn which I remembered on a previous visit. THE GOVERNMENT OF BfiARN 77 B]fiARN. The government of Beam covered the modern arrondissements of Pau, Oloron, and Orthez. From the thirteenth century it was divided into circumscrip- tions which were called vices, bailliages or bailies, and parsans at one time or another, judicial and administrative units of which the number varied from time to time, but which lasted until 1789. The region formed part of Aquitaine, and later of Novempopu- lonia, in Roman times, and was inhabited by the Venarni or Beneharnenses, the Iluronenses, and the Osquidates. The names of Iluro (Oloron) and Bene- harnum (Lescar) mark the sites of their chief towns, the latter giving a name to the whole district. A Roman road conducting to Csesarea Augusta (Sara- gossa) ran through the country, and crossed the Pyrenees at Somport (Summus Pyrenaeus) ; another skirted it to the west, crossing the mountain crest at the gate of Ibaneta or Roncesvaux (Imus Pyrenaeus) ; and a third road from Bordeaux to Dax skirted the Pyrenees from west-north-west to east-south-east. From 407 to 409 the Vandals, Alains, and Sueves des- cended on the country and devastated it. S. Jerome thus describes their passing : " Everything is ravaged, nothing spared by this devastating torrent." The Visigoths followed, and to them Rome abandoned further Aquitaine in 419. They estabhshed themselves in Novempopulonia, and divided among them the 78 BEARN numerous abandoned properties and the decumanal lands. In 507 the battle of Vouille drove them out, and the Austrasian lords took their place. In 566 the two cities which afterwards formed Beam were given by Chilperic as " morgengab " to Queen Gal- suintha, and after the murder of this Princess they passed to her sister, the celebrated Brunehaut. At the end of the sixth century the Vascons arrived, who again devastated Novempopulonia and defeated Duke Bladaste (581), but, defeated in their turn, abandoned the plains and took refuge on the other side of the Gave d'Oloron, in the valleys known later by the names of Soule Basse, Navarre, and Labourd, which still form the Basque country. The whole district was ravaged again in the eighth century by the Sara- cens, and in the ninth by the Normans. A " Vicomte " of Beam is mentioned for the first time in 819 as depen- dent upon the Dukes of Gascony. In 940 it became hereditary, and gradually the feudal tie weakened, so that when Eudes, Count of Poitiers and Duke of Gascony, died without direct heir in 1039 ^^ ^04^> in return for the Viscounts abandoning any claim to the inheritance which they might have possessed, their independence was acknowledged, and Viscount Cen- tulle was able to call himself sovereign lord of the land of Beam. In 1070, Guy Geoffroy, Count of Poitiers and Duke of Aquitaine, gave to Centulle IV. certain revenues and rights which still belonged to him, in compensation for his services, and from that time the EARLY FRANCHISES 79 Viscounts were actual Sovereigns, not owing homage to anyone. They struck money of silver, copper, and gold in their mint at Morlaas, and this royal right, which S. Louis refused to his brother, Alphonse de Poitiers, Count of Toulouse, was never disputed. Their " monnaie Morlanne " passed throughout the South and in France during the Middle Ages. This coinage bore the effigy and the arms of the Viscounts, their name, and the device, '' Deo gratias sum id quod sum." Morlaas had its charter from iioi, and till the thirteenth century was the capital of the Viscounts. They could not estabhsh themselves at Lescar or Oloron, for they belonged to the Bishops, and in the tenth century were in ruins. Being a " noble and free land," Beam was not in- fluenced by the French monarchy, and did not mix much in the feudal struggles which desolated the South of France in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The privileges of Beam known as the " fors " are justly celebrated, being very early examples of the granting of franchises. The earhest, that of Oloron (1080), renewed in 1290, one of the most ancient texts in Ro- manesque language known, is based upon more ancient grants which CentuUe IV. affirms in it to have been less advantageous. In 1088 his successor, Gaston IV., confirmed and augmented the privileges and franchises of Morlaas, and the new " for de Morlaas " gradually replaced a general " fors." A compilation was made in 1288, which probably was a 8o BEARN codification of traditional unwritten customs. All the " fors " refer to more ancient " fors," and all safe- guard the rights of each, limiting by a legislative code the seignorial power and defining the rights of the Sovereign. From the twelfth century onward there were assemblies, or plenary courts, in which deputies of the three orders appeared, and the " Etats de Beam " gradually grew in importance till the fifteenth century. It was under Gaston Phoebus that they were regularly summoned to sit in agreement with their Viscount. This freedom made the whole people loyal and well- disposed, and Froissart bears witness that the tax by fire (or hearth) imposed on the whole seigneurie was paid with extraordinary good- will. '' For among them there is no Frenchman, Enghshman, or robber who does them wrong, nor the injury of a single penny, and all the country is as safe as can be, so well is justice executed." The rehgious differences in 1619 brought about a struggle between Louis XIII. and the Council General of Beam. Louis came to Pau with an army, and united the sovereignty of Beam to the crown of France. The next year he created the Parhament of Navarre at Pau, which existed till 1789 ; but in 1790 Beam was united to the Basse Navarre and Labourd, to form the department of Basses Pyrenees. Henri IV. summed up the quahties and defects of the race in his personality. ORTHEZ AND HAGETMAU 8i Under Louis XIV. the Bearnais asked to be allowed to raise a statue to him. In reply permission was given to raise one to Louis XIV. They complied, but inscribed the pedestal, " To the grandson of our Great Henry " ! Orthez and Hagetmau. The name of Orthez brings to the Englishman's mind the memory of the Peninsular campaign, and Wellington's victory over Marshal Soult on February 24, 18 14. The action was fought on the hills above the town to the north and north-west, and 10,000 dead remained on the field. Soult retired on St. Sever, with his wounded and artillery. A monument rather more than a mile to the north marks the place where General Foy received his fourteenth wound. Memories of an earlier date may be gleaned from Froissart, who fre- quented the splendid Court of Gaston Phoebus, held in the castle, of which some remains still exist. The house in which he is said to have lived, known as the Hotel de la Lune, is still shown; it lies back from the street down a narrow passage. The town is about twenty-two miles west-north- west of Pau, lying on the right bank of the Gave de Pau, which is a rocky chasm here, and united to its suburb (called " Depart ") on the other side of the river by a bridge of the fourteenth century, restored but still picturesque. It has four unequal pointed arches, and the roadway passes beneath a tower in II A ^1 3m iC'i^ ^ "THE NOBLE CASTLE" 83 which is a window which people go to Orthez to see, because from it Montgomery's Calvinists in 1569 forced the Capuchins who had assisted in defending the town to throw themselves into the river. It is called either " La fenetre des Pretres " or " Des Capucins." The assault was delivered on the day of the arrival of a new governor sent by Charles IX. to re-estabhsh Cathohcism, and Montgomery's action was a grim satire upon his intention. The lordship was acquired from the Viscounts of Dax at the end of the twelfth century by Gaston VI., called " the Good/' Viscount of Beam. Orthez (Ortesium) became the favourite residence of the Court under Gaston VII., who abandoned the '* Fourquie " of Morlaas, and built this castle on the model of that of Moncada in Valencia, which the Viscounts considered to be the cradle of their race. This was in 1242. The donj on, which remains, is known as the Tour Moncade, being built on the plan of the Castle of Moncada, in Spain, rectangular in plan, with a projecting beak. Round several of the window openings traces of gratings may still be seen, recahing its use as a prison. The top has been restored. The well in the courtyard is still in use, and part of the moat and a corresponding portion of the wall with niches and loopholes for defence, three to a niche, remains. A good deal of the rest of the plan can be traced, showing that it had three hues of walls. It was entitled " The Noble Castle." For two centuries and more this A PITIFUL STORY 85 castle was the centre of Court life, and it has a tragic interest as being the building in which Gaston Phcebus killed his son and heir — apparently accidentally. The boy had been given a black powder by the King of Navarre, which he was told would bring about a reconciliation between his parents. He put the powder in a little purse, and hid it in his bosom. There his bastard brother Yvain saw it when playing with him, and denounced him to the Count. At dinner the child began to serve him as usual. The Count observed the purse, seized the boy, tore open his coat, cut the strings of the purse, and turned the black powder out on to a bit of bread, which he gave to a dog, who died directly after eating it. Gaston Phoebus immediately un- sheathed his knife and rushed at his son ; but the knights and squires present intervened, entreating him on their knees to remember that he was his only son and heir ; and he desisted, but shut him up in the donjon. Seeking for accomplices in the plot, he exe- cuted fifteen of his son's servants. He then summoned the nobles, prelates, and notables of his country, and laid the matter before them, declaring that he would execute the boy. But they also entreated him to spare him, and said they would not leave Orthez without the assurance that he should not die. The child was kept in solitary confinement in a dark room, *' cursing the day he was born," lying on his side, and refusing to eat. On the tenth day the gaoler saw the un- touched food in the corner of the room, and informed 86 ORTHEZ AND HAGETMAU the Count, who immediately came to the prison chamber. Putting his hand roughly on his son's throat and pushing him, he said, " Ah, traitor, why don't you eat ?" and so went out. But he had in his hand a little knife with which he had been trimming his nails, and the point pierced an artery. The child turned his face to the wall and quietly bled to death ! When his father learnt what had happened, he appeared to be much afflicted, and buried his son with much pomp in the church of the Cordeliers. It was here, too, that the Castellan of Lourdes, Arnaud de Beam, was assassinated by the same brilliant, untrustworthy Prince. The castle was besieged by the Duke of Anjou, but unsuccessfully. Gaston Phoebus engaged to acquire it for the Duke if he had command of 40,000 livres with which to bribe the captain, and a further 20,000 for himself. This being agreed, Gaston invited Arnaud to visit him at Orthez. Arnaud came, but, being distrustful, went to the Hotel de la Lune instead of to the castle, having confided the castle at Lourdes to his brother Jean, making him swear never to give it up to anyone but the King of England. Gaston sent to the Hotel de la Lune to bid him to his table, and after the banquet they drank until the sun rose. Then the Count thought it safe to make his proposition to the Castellan, who, however, proudly refused it. He said his faith was pledged to the English, and he would not consent. " Neither for gold nor silver, my lord," he ended. The A CALVANIST UNIVERSITY 87 Count was enraged at his failure, drew his dagger, and stabbed the brave man five times, who fell, crying out : " Ah, my lord, you do not act like one of noble blood ! You have invited me to your house and assassinate me Hke this !" He was thrown into a dungeon, where he died ; but the Count of Foix and the Duke of Anjou did not get the castle. Gaston Phoebus retired to end his days in the hospital of Orion, between Orthez and Sauveterre, a place hke a weU sunk at the bottom of a ravine, of which only the chapel remains, in a ruinous state. He was but fifty then, and died, disgusted with the pleasures and splendours of which he had so great a share, nine years after. He was buried in the same church as his little son. Jeanne d'Albret established a Calvinist University in the town to reward the people for their attachment to the Reformed faith, in which Theodore de Beza was professor at one time. A portion of the buildings remains (added to in the sixteenth century). Down by the bridge are many medieval and early Renais- sance houses, and the road to the Castle is lined with those of a shghtly later date. The most important, perhaps, is that said to have been Jeanne d'Albret's, a fine sixteenth-century building, well preserved exter- nally, but surrounded by factories and stores of a very modern type. The church is of the end of the twelfth century in the lower portions of the walls, but fourteenth and fifteenth century for the most part, and has a HOUSE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET, ORTHEZ. UNUSUAL FIGURES 89 modern tower and spire. It consists of nave and transepts, with a polygonal apse and side chapels. Under the porch below the tower is an ornamented door. It stands by the side of the market-place, beyond which is a pleasant stretch of green, dotted with shadv trees, under which oxen lie ruminating on market-days, with the vehicles they have drawn close by, for Orthez is the chief place of the arrondissement , and every Tuesday is full of market folk. There are very few survivals of costume, but we saw one old fellow with a round hat, stockings and sandals, a deep purple cummerbund, and a lightish blue blouse. He wore blue drawers with velveteen breeches unbuttoned at the knee, the drawers puffed out over his stockings, and the unusual combination of colour and light and dark caught the eye, reminding one of costumes seen in Spain many years ago, when travelling was more of a novelty than it has since become. The cripple in his little dog-drawn cart also reminded us of a similar sight seen at Terni years ago. There were plenty of good-looking girls about, for which Orthez is noted, as the sign of the principal hotel bears witness, " Grand Hotel de la belle Hotesse," a name which the landlady told us was given it by Lord Wellington himself, who stayed there, and was struck by the beauty of his hostess. A modern poet of Orthez (now, alas ! in the mad-house from too much indulgence in the good wine of the country), in a poem in the patois of the district, has asserted that " the Bearnaises have 12 90 ORTHEZ AND HAGETMAU eyes like stars and lips like flowers." To judge of the accuracy of the latter portion of the statement requires a longer stay than we were able to make, as well as special opportunities, but certainly many attractive faces are to be seen. There are more Protestants in Orthez than in any other Bearnais town still, not- withstanding the severe measures of conversion applied in 1684 by the terrible intendant Foucault, who gave the inhabitants twenty days in which to make their submission to the Catholic religion under pain of the greatest barbarities in case of refusal. A light railway from Orthez to Aire-sur-l'Adour, which runs familiarly along roads and serpentines up the hills, affords an easy means of reaching the little town of Hagetmau, on the road between St. Sever and Orthez. It is a chief town of the arrondissement of St. Sever, but is fallen in importance, for it was once the second town of La Chalosse, and possessed a castle of the Kings of Navarre, who frequently resided there. It cannot boast the great antiquity of some of its neighbours, for it owes its origin to the Abbey of St. Girons, the foundation of which has been ascribed to Charlemagne. The patron saint was a companion of S. Sever, and, like him, was martyred about 409, according to tradition, on the site occupied at a later date by the monastery. The Hagetmau tradition is that the greater part of the relics was preserved there till 1569, when they were taken to Bourg-sous-Vic in the Couserans, which thenceforward was known as E .•^ THE CRYPT AT HAGETMAU 91 St. Girons. At that place they say that the skull and some bones were brought thither in the fifth century by the companions of the saint, and at S. Eulalie, Bordeaux, were portions said to have been brought thither by Charlemagne. The dispute is of little importance, as all the relics vanished at the Revolu- tion. The abbey at Hagetmau was served by regular Augustinian Canons at first, but was secularized in the fourteenth century, and destroyed by the Hugue- nots in 1569. In 1888 the crypt was made known to the French Archaeological Congress, which met at Dax in that year, and as a consequence, was declared an historical monument. Since that time the church has been cleared away, the fourteenth-century ribbed and bossed vaulting removed and replaced by a modern imitation of eleventh - century work, and a chapel built above it, apparently to serve a fine new hospital which has been erected close by. The eleventh-century church was destroyed in some way, and on its remains another was built in the fourteenth century, but the crypt is mainly of the earlier date, through the fully developed style and accomplishment of much of the carving point to a delayed completion. Certain of the patterns upon the abaci closely resemble others met with at Moissac and S. Sernin, Toulouse, and there is also considerable resemblance in the costume and treatment of some of the figures. The hons, monsters, and birds bear an equal hkeness in treatment to carving CRYPT AT HAGETMAU. THE CRYPT AT HAGETMAU 93 in Roussillon, as at Serrabona, and the fragments of the cloisters of S. Michel de Cuxa, and S. Martin de Canigou. The eyes of the figures have pupils of lead. PLAN OF CRYPT, HAGETMAU. The plan shows the shape and general structure of the crypt. In the centre is a platform, slightly raised above the ground level, upon which the shrine of 94 ORTHEZ AND HAGETMAU S. Girons probably stood, since there were holes in the slabs of stone as if for metal clamps or rails, and the four central columns are of grey marble, said to be Campanian, which may be antique, and may have been used in the primitive church. But three kilometres away is a place called Jouarbe ('' Jovis Arva," the fields of Jupiter?). The columns are of different lengths, made up with another kind of stone ; one is in three pieces, and another has the remains of a necking worked on the upper end ; two of them have circular bases. The engaged columns of the walls are built in courses ; their bases have spurs. At the east end is a low arch sunk in the wall, a kind of arcosolium, and in the horizontal slab beneath it is a sinking as if for the relics consecrating the altar. Round the walls runs a low stone bench mth a simple moulding. There is one pointed niche in the north wall, and the window by it has a lintel with brackets beneath ; all the other openings are round-headed, though the western windows (which opened into the church) have the semicircles cut out of lintels. The walls vary from 3 feet to 4 feet 6 inches in thickness, and are buttressed at intervals. The portions of the walls of the church remaining attached to the crypt show an unmoulded arcading descending to the entrance stairs, attached columns in courses, and a bit of a circular tower, through which a barrel vault decreasing in diameter descends, with the base of another contiguous. Several bosses from BEAUTIFUL CAPITALS 95 the fourteenth-century vaults lie on the ground, with armorial bearings ; one shows an abbot with mitre and crozier ; two carved corbels of the same period occupy the western corners. The springing of the vaults is about II feet from the ground. The great central CAPITAL IN CRYPT, HAGETMAU. caps are nearly 3 feet high, and the great interest of the place lies in the fine ornament and splendid carving of the capitals, which are surprisingly little damaged. Several of them have simple foliage, though the abaci are carved with interlacing scrolls, but upon others are 96 ORTHEZ AND HAGETMAU lions attacking martyrs, personages holding fantastic birds by their wings, birds with human heads in their claws, griffins holding hons' heads, etc. Two have CAPITAL IN CRYPT, HAGETMAU. figure subjects upon them. Daniel stands holding an apple with the god Bel as a dragon facing him ; a feast which might be the supper at Emmaus, if the figures had nimbi, fills another face. On another capital is FIGURE CARVING 97 the deliverance of S. Peter from prison, the figures placed beneath round arches with twisted columns CAPITAL IN CRYPT, HAGETMAU. and a general suggestion of Norman work. S. Peter has a nimbus ; an angel breaks his chains with a stroke of a lance ; two Roman soldiers guard the prison. 13 98 ORTHEZ AND HAGETMAU The whole place has been painted^ probably in the seventeenth century, when considerable alterations were made ; but there were also signs of fresh experi- ments in colouring the caps. In many restored Romanesque churches colour has unfortunately been added in such a manner as to disguise the fine carving and reduce the capitals to the level of the coloured modern religious figures, etc., so common in French churches. M. Brutails remarked a very curious thing in this church, which probably disappeared with the restora- tion — viz., that the Romanesque workmen, wishing to simulate joints in voussoirs which were too long, carved them on the surface, broad, with a rising in the middle as if it were the mortar joint. This seems to prove that it was then usual to iinish the wall surface in this manner — not more elaborately. Pau and Morlaas. Although Pau is a place well known to English visitors, its position as capital of Beam and the possession of a royal castle which is historically interesting, though much restored, makes it worthy of notice. It is built on the edge of a plateau 130 feet or so above the Gave de Pau, where the Ousse joins it. A ravine, at the bottom of which the brook Hedas runs, divides the town, and is crossed by five bridges. From the most ancient bridge, and from the terrace where the THE CASTLE AT PAU 99 big hotels are situated, a fine panoramic view of the Pyrenees is obtained. The castle is the only thing of interest in the town. From the fact of Henri IV. being born there, it is called after him, but the main part of the fortifications date from the time of Gaston Phoebus ; the contract (of 1373) between him and the workmen still exists. The entrance in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was on the side of the ravine. The Renaissance alterations are due to Henri H. of Navarre and his wife, Margaret of Valois, sister of Francis I. The castle is full of sumptuous furniture, most of it given by Louis XHL and Louis XIV., to intendants of the province or to favourites, and among it is the tortoise-shell cradle of Henri IV., and the bed used by his mother Jeanne d'Albret. The building has been carefully restored at different times, and one of the towers is as modern as the period of Louis Philippe. The name Paou is the Bearnais form of the Latin paliim. Tradition says that there were three which marked the place on which the town was to be founded. It was due to a Viscount of Beam ©f the commence- ment of the eleventh century, who wished for a fortress to defend this point of the Gave and for people to live near it. The Viscounts sometimes resided here, though Morlaas was their capital, for Centulle IV. received a legate of Gregory VII. in the castle. After the death of Gaston Phoebus in 1391, the Sovereigns of Beam appeared at Pau more frequently till 1479, ^^hen 100 PAU AND MORLAAS Frangois Phebus was made King of Navarre ; but from that date till 15 12, being Kings as well as Viscounts, Pau was abandoned for Pampeluna. In that year they lost Spanish Navarre, and therefore considered Pau their capital till 1589, and fixed the seat of the different administrations there. Jeanne d'Albret lived there generally, and thus Henri IV. was born there Decem- ber 14, 1553. In the great hall of the castle, on August 24, 1569, after a feast, Jeanne d'Albret had the Catholic captains, who had been taken prisoners at the retaking of Orthez, murdered, although Mont- gomery had promised them their lives. It is thought that the massacre of S. Bartholomew was intended as a revenge for this. The Gave de Pau rises in the Cirque de Gavarnie, and falls into the Adour after joining the Gave d'Oloron at Peyrehorade. The plain below stretches away with villages and more important buildings dotted over it, and with the river winding away to the right and the left. The hills rise gradually, covered with woods and vineyards, while behind are the snow -crowned Pyrenees, visible for a length of sixty miles in fine weather. The most conspicuous summit is the Pic du Midi d'Ossau to the right. On the left, near the other end of the chain, is the Pic du Midi de Bigorre, while the amphitheatre of the Vignemale, with its glacier, occupies a position more in the centre, near which is the Cirque de Gavarnie. All along the great terrace little blue labels are attached to the balustrade, saying ■i UOOU IN COUKTVAkl), CASll.K Al I'AU. '^"o face pagf loo. A DOUBTFUL ROAD loi what the peak or other interesting object in front of it is. At the hotel at which I stayed the waitresses, one of whom was a married woman, were most efficient, and kept a whole room full of customers well supplied. The restaurant was patronized by the country people on market-days, a number of them in herets, and one or two with jackets hung over their shoulders ; but there was very httle business in the evening. MORLAAS. Morlaas is about four and a half miles from Pau, and there is a steam tram which starts from the " Centre," wherever that may be. I, unfortunately, was too late to find out and take that means of getting there, and was obliged to make use of " Shanks' mare." I asked three people on the Tarbes road if it was the way to Morlaas, and they all said "Yes." But my map showed quite a different road, and there was no tram- line, so I crossed to the one shown on the map, and asked a cyclist if it led to Morlaas, and he said " Yes." But there was no tram-hne. After a time it appeared from a side road, and I followed it contentedly. Then a signpost stated that another road went to Morlaas, which was at right angles to the line ; but I thought I might rely upon the signpost, and did so. At Le Hameau, an enormous building in which many people 102 MORLAAS appear to live, and, I suppose, work together, the Hne appeared again. Near here a bicycHst addressed me, apparently offering a business or a building for sale, but I could not understand the dialect he spoke fully, and said so, upon which he asked in surprise, ** Who are you, then ?" I replied, " An Englishman," upon which he rode off in a great hurry. This year I had three similar ex- periences in or outside different towns. There is a long ascent to the hill above Morlaas, which completely conceals the houses, and compels horse-drawn vehicles to slacken their pace, and I had the pleasure of catching up several which had passed me some way from the bottom of the hill. The day was lovely, the mountains of the most dehghtful blue, and the sky sprinkled with clouds, which were brilhantly relieved by the clear portions, and tempered the sunlight. Morlaas is now a long, straggling street, with no signs of the importance which once attached to it. The Church of S. Foy, which was what I specially went to see, has a very fine doorway. According to the charter, it was built by Centulle IV. himself, but he died in 1088, and it was not used for services till 1109. His wife was related to him within the prohibited degrees, and Pope Gregory VIL reproached him for thus violating ecclesiastical rule, and he expiated his sin by building to God and S. Peter a church at the same time as his town of Morlaas, under the name of S. Foy, which he endowed and gave to S. Peter of THE CHURCH OF S. FOY 103 Cluny for himself, his wife Gisla, and his son Gaston. He confided his wife to the hands of his brother, Hunand, Abbot of Moissac, to enter the community of Cluny, which she did in the Monastery of Marciniac. This is the account of Pierre de Marca. The way was thus open for him to marry again, and he did so in the same year, with suspicious alacrity. His bride was Beatrix, daughter of Bernard I., sixth Count of Bigorre. Two years later Centulle succeeded to the countship by the death of his brother-in-law. The plan of the church is very similar to that of S. Croix, Oloron, but the greater part of it is very much later than the celebrated doorway. The nave arcade is of five bays, late pointed, with the mouldings dying away into the polygonal piers ; the apses and transepts are older, and are roofed with barrel vaults, with pointed supporting arches to the transept and choir, while the crossing is covered with quadripartite vaults, and the aisle roofs rest on a flying buttress • kind of arrangement. The nave vault is of wood and sexpartite. The lighting is through narrow, round- headed windows in the aisles, and roses of various designs above the nave arcade. Across the west end runs a great internal porch, as at S. Bcrtrand de Comminges, with arches of two orders on three sides, supported on coupled columns. The vault is quadri- partite, the ribs springing from angle columns of the same height. Caps all ruined, no doubt when Jeanne d'Albret lighted a great bonfire against the fa9ade in 104 MORLAAS 1 5 19, "to destroy the images which the Papists wor- shipped." At the same time the vaults were thrown down, and the church remained in ruins for a long time. At Lescar similar destruction was wrought with the same intention. The great door has recently been restored in the thorough French fashion, and is now in quite good repair, in pink and yellow sandstone, with portions of the old work, which, I suppose, were less damaged. It resembles that at Oloron Ste. Marie very closely, but is more ornate, and has figures stuck on the angles of the jambs between the columns. In the centre of the big tympanum is Christ seated in an aureole, with a book in His left hand and blessing with His right. S. Matthew's angel and S. John's eagle accompany Him, one on each side. The angel appears to write on his tablets the leonine verse : " Rex sum coelorum, merces condigna meorum." The eagle says after Christ : " Me quicunque colit pro vita perdere nolit." The small tympana below contain Herod ordering the massacre of the Innocents and the flight into Egypt — a cherub either leads Joseph or points out a well to him. The foliage of the ornamental portions must have been inventive in line and grouping originally, the restoration preserving something of the feeling of the eleventh century in the design. The twenty-four elders (with the Agnus Dei as keystone) have more variety than at S. Marie. Outside all comes a row of contorted figures seated on a big roll moulding. A SPLENDID SUNSET 105 The arch is over 30 feet high, and is flanked by two bhnd arcades right and left, while above is a pointed bell-tower. The main apse has three squat, round- headed windows, standing on a billet moulding of two rows externally ; the hood of each arch is the same on a smaller scale. The arch is of two orders, with very deep caps and squat colonnettes, and beneath the choir a Romanesque crypt still remains. A tiresome, moaning beggar lay wait for me, and, as there was nothing whatever to do at Morlaas, and four hours before the steam tram started, I determined to walk back. It was about 5.30, and the sun was low when a Httle girl hailed me from an adjoining field. I was carrying my hat in my hand, and her benevolent intention was to warn me that that was the way to get sunstroke ! The sunset was magnificent — a sea of pale yellow- green, on which clouds of a fierce orange were relieved. Lower down there was a tinge of pale blood colour, and against it the mountains showed a dark grey purple. Farther to the south and a little later the crescent moon swam in a chrysohte sea islanded with dark grey clouds, which became heavier to the south-east, blot- ting out the mountain shapes. Oloron. Oloron is situated at the confluence of the Gaves d'Ossau and d'Aspe, which together form the Gave d' Oloron. It is the second of the commercial towns 14 io6 OLORON of the Basses Pyrenees, having considerable manu- facturing industries. Each of the three portions into which it is divided by the watercourses, which run through it in deep rocky chasms, fining the air with a pleasant sound of rushing waters, has its own church. Oloron proper, or Ste. Croix, between the Gave d'Aspe and the Gave d'Ossan ; Ste. Marie, on the httle plain on the left bank of the latter ; and the new quarters between the right bank of the Gave d'Ossau and the lower part of the Rivulet d'Escou. In the ancient feudal town, Ste. Croix, are houses of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, the remains of a fourteenth-century castle, and ramparts of the same date, and the Church of S. Croix, contemporary with the foundation of the town in 1080. This crowns the summit of the steep hill up which the town climbs, and behind it, on a rather lower level, is a large place, planted with trees in the centre, confined within an oval space defined by a low wall, to which a seat is attached, a pleasant shady place on hot afternoons and airy withal. Round this place houses of various dates are grouped, and from it an extensive view may be enjoyed over hill and plain. The church has been restored, and the west front is entirely new ; but it still retains a good deal of interest. The nave is of three bays, with a semicircular barrel vault, and there are three apses preceded by one bay of a barrel vault. The piers are cruciform in plan, with engaged columns on each face, the bases resting "I'l.ACh" Al lOI' Ol nil'. Mil. I,, SIK. CKOIX, (JI.OKON. To face paBf io6. THE CHURCH AT STE. CROIX 107 on large circular plateaux, generally bevelled, though two are ornamented with balls, as at St. Bertrand de Comminges. Balls are used as claws to the bases, but one of those on the pier east of the crossing has grim lions' heads. The aisle piers have square bases and one engaged column, but the walls are very irregular, The windows have hood-moulds of twisted cable form inside. The nave arcade has two unmoulded orders, and a band of carved ornament on the outer one, with a fillet in place of a hood-mould. The aisle vaults are quarter circle, and the vaulting of the crossing is notic- able for its interlacing square ribs, which spring in diverging couples from rough corbels, making a central octagon. The squinches in the angles have painted shells in them, apparently of the eighteenth century. Along the springing of the vault a string runs, sometimes moulded, sometimes carved, and the supporting arches have two unmoulded orders, continuing the pier and engaged column. The central cupola has a queer tower and roof showing the brickwork of the vault inside, in the same manner as at the Cathedral of Treviso. The three apses are enriched with billet cornices of a large roll section supported on modillions. The varied caps of the north door are noticeable also. In the north transept is a great, Spanish-looking, gilded reredos of the seventeenth century. The other altars are modern French, and at the east end is a good deal of modern decoration, paintings by Romain Cazes of average merit. Round the apse an arcade runs, io8 OLORON and there are three windows in it with colonnettes, carved caps, and strings ; but all the carving has been coloured to make it in harmony with the painting. The style of the carving is in character with the original, if not of that date. The material is a hard grey stone. At Ste. Marie, the ancient and ecclesiastical town, a thirteenth-century tower and portions of the episcopal palace remain, as well as the Church of S. Marie, the ancient cathedral. The primitive portions of this are contemporary with S. Croix, but the church was restored three hundred years later. In the four- teenth century they wished to enlarge the choir on the radiating plan of the Northern cathedrals, but only the piers and five apsidal chapels were built. At the same time the walls of the nave were heightened. The nave has enormous piers of clustered columns, with quadripartite vaulting, and two arches on a round column filling up between, on the same scale as the aisles, which have chapels beyond them, increasing the complexity of appearance very much. There are ocuh in the upper parts of the walls, and deep arches corresponding to the clustered piers. The choir is as lofty as the dumpy tower on the south end of the transept. The schism in the Western Church at the end of the fourteenth century interrupted the work, and during the first half of the next century several Bishops were appointed by the Antipopes. A square tower pierced IN I M-IIOK Ol' S. (.K(il\, OI.DUON. To face page 108. A FINE DOORWAY 109 with pointed arches on engaged columns with caps, decorated with crouching figures of animals, was built before the west door, thus providing a porch. It has the usual pyramidal roof. The Romanesque doorway " ^tmwm DETAIL FROM THE WEST DOOR, S. MARIE, OLORON. beneath is interesting. The upper archivolt has radiating seated figures of the twenty-four apocalyptic elders, playing on instruments, with the Agnus Dei as keystone. The next order bears the works of the no OLORON seasons, hunting and fighting scenes, and a monstrous animal's head. The tympanum is built up of per- pendicular slabs of white and grey marble. It repre- sents the descent from the cross, and is very quaint. The cross is gemmed like an early Byzantine cross ; above are heads of the sun and moon emergent from hanging drapery supported by their hands. To the right is a figure holding a claw-hammer, and another stretching up to take the nail from the hand with pincers. Nicodemus or Joseph clasps the body. The other hand is loose, and is sup- ported by one of the Maries. The Virgin stands behind — at least, this figure has a nimbus and answers to one on the other side with the hammer, also nimbed, and, I suppose, S. John. Below the cross are a floriated monogram and a bull's head to fill up at the bottom. In the small tympana — on one side our Lord is seated with one foot on a footstool within a vesica, blessing, between two lions with curly tails, who look over their shoulders at Him. On the other side is a figure between two griffins, which, I think, must be Daniel, but the beasts are certainly griffins with wings and floriated tails. A ball border surrounds these tympana. The material in all these tympana looks newer than the carvings, which may be copies, especially as the door is divided by a modern stone column resting on a caryatid group MONOGRAM, WEST DOOR, S. MARIE, OLORON. •i- t--J i3tjV /^ .U4., A MORSEL OF HISTORY iii of captives. Under the waggon vault of the porch, over the doorway, a triple arcade is pierced with corresponding niches in the wall behind. The doorway is flanked by columns with curious carved caps, and above, on each side, are statues of men-at-arms and monsters devouring human beings. The elders, the figures inserted above the sides of the arch, the inner mouldings, and the cable mouldings round the small arches, have been coloured yellow, the rest remaining white marble — I suppose in imitation of the pink and orange sandstone at Morlaas. Inside on the nave walls are some extraordinary panels in relief, coloured and gilded ; the pulpit groups with them as a monstrosity. In Gallo-Roman times Oloron was one of the twelve cities of Novempopulonia. The name is derived from the Celtiberian Iluro, a goddess honoured by the Pyrenean mountaineers, to whom votive altars have been found. The ancient town appears to have occu- pied the hill of Ste. Croix. Towards the time of Augus- tus it descended into the valley, and in the fourth century became the seat of a bishopric founded by Gratus, known locally as S. Grat. After the invasions of the Vascons in the sixth and of the Arabs in the seventh centuries, the ruined Roman city was aban- doned, and so remained till the eleventh, when the Bishops determined to re-establish it. In 1080 Cen- tulle IV., Viscount of Beam, built a second town, opposite to the renewed episcopal city, occupying 112 OLORON what was thought to be the site of the Celtiberian town, which also took the name of Oloron. Under the same name the two towns preserved a distinct existence till the union of Beam to the royal domain under Henri IV. Then the two jurisdictions, feudal and ecclesiastical, were merged in the royal. Schisms which sometimes put two prelates at the head of the diocese at the same time had weakened the ecclesi- astical authority, as well as the fruitless endeavours of Bishop Roussel in the sixteenth century to gain the people over to the Reform. He died in consequence of an attack made upon him when he was preaching in its favour, one of his assailants throwing him out of the pulpit. From that time onward it was the centre of the Catholic resistance, but in 1569 Mont- gomery's campaign established the Reform by force. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, however, the dragonnades of the terrible Foucault produced more than 20,000 abjurations. In 1790 the bishopric was abolished, but it was made the capital of the department in 1795-96. It does not always do to assume that water which one sees flowing from a spout into a trough is drinkable. One of our water-drinking friends had an experience in another part of the Pyrenees showing this, when he quenched his thirst from a spring with medicinal properties, and suffered severely for doing so ! At Oloron we were on the point of drinking from a similar spout in the side of a hill when a friendly old woman A MISTY MORNING 113 stopped us. We found afterwards that it was really a spout for waste water from a pump higher up the hill, and could not be relied on for purity. Perhaps one ought to note the monumental ascent to the hill of Ste. Croix, put up in 1900 under President Loubet, an effort of architecture not entirely successful but at least convenient as shortening the way from the lower to the upper town. LOURDES AND LUZ. On my last journey I went from Pau to Lourdes, not being attracted in the least by the special reputa- tion of the place — though there is a point of view from which that is of absorbing interest — but because the branch railway to Luz, where there is a fortified Templars' church, which I wished to see and describe, starts from that place. The morning was very thick, but as the mists dispersed, and one's range of vision gradually increased, first clumps of trees and houses became perceptible within half a mile or so, then the lower hills disclosed their silhouettes backed by the masses of vapour in the valleys beyond, and then an occasional snowy peak peeped through a gap in the rising mists. It was a long time before the entire outline of even the lower mountains could be seen, and at first only in a pale silhouette broken here and there with brilliant cloud forms, but the mist masses were less sohd than the day before, 15 114 LOURDES AND LUZ and more of the mountain outlines were perceptible. About half-way between Pau and Lourdes the com- bination of mountain, tree, and torrent is most attrac- tive, and the railway has thoughtfully made a halte close by (Dufau), so that the train slackens, and one has time to take it in. It is only the stopping trains which do this, of course, but in such a district it is wisest to take these slow trains, by which one can see more of the life of the people as well as of the land- scape, and generally have a second-class compartment almost, or quite, to oneself ; most travellers being bitten with the desire to get to their journey's end as quickly as possible. The defile before arriving at St. Pe is rather fine, the river making an effective foreground. Some of the Lourdes hotels get their electric power from works two stations away on this line. The situation of Lourdes is magnificent ; both the castle and the churches are quite theatrically placed, and the mountains assist the effect enormously. Great crosses are silhouetted high up against the sky in several places, and down by the grottoes people and banners swarmed. The old town is absolutely distinct in situation, appearance, inhabitants, and origin, from the new. It surrounds a little scarped plateau, crowned by the fortress, on three sides. Originally the feudal castle, it is now a prison. Of the medieval period only a much restored square donjon of the fourteenth century, THE CASTLE AT LOURDES 115 a turret, and two covered ways remain. There is also one gateway of the town walls of the same period. From the ninth century to the eighteenth it was the principal town of Bigorre, and its possession was disputed most bitterly by the armies which marched to and fro. Two sieges were necessary to enable the French again to possess it— one in 1393 (unsuccessful) , and the second in 1406. This lasted for eighteen months ! The castle played its role during the rehgious wars of the sixteenth century, was transformed into a state prison under Louis XIV., and so remained till the time of Napoleon I. At Lourdes I had dejeuner beneath the trees at a restaurant close by the station. A wedding-party of four was also refreshing itself, and afterwards travelled with me to Pierrefitte. I think they were of the work- girl class. They sang during the journey, and were quite as demonstrative as the German newly married, which is saying a good deal, if one may trust the behaviour of such couples in Italy as typical ! The bridegroom resembled his bride more than he did the elderly man, his companion, who appeared to be his own father, which struck me as strange. A little way out of Lourdes an electric railway runs straight up the mountain side— to a grotto, I understood. It looked very odd, especially the passing place for the trains. Here and there were ruins on the summits of outlying spurs of the mountains which were most beautiful, both in form and colour, especially when they ii6 LOURDES AND LUZ gave back, making amphitheatres. The tops of some of them were hidden in the clouds. At Pierrefitte one sees the cars from Cauterets descending the zigzag incHne, while the Luz cars wait below. There are three lines switched together. At first sight the road zigzags confuse those of the rail, and the effect of automatic models (such as one used to see at the Polytechnic in Regent Street fifty years ago) is entertaining. Here the drivers take the handles off the car-engines, which are governed by overhead wires. The gorge of Pierrefitte is certainly fine, and the great height of the mountains dwarfs everything. The eleva- tions in the grass look like little wrinkles in a green cloth, the openings into the mines, the scattered timbers, the railings, and bridges like children's toys. The mountain forms are fine, delicate in curvature, and refined in angle, the slopes clothed with trees, and so steep as to give the impression of the perpendicular ; a few clouds clinging round the summits, or making a background to them, added to the impression of height and gave variety. Down in the bottom of the ravine the stream tumbles and gushes, and the many small tributaries, as well as the main stream, fill the air with that sound of rushing water which is always so pleasant. While I was wandering on the hills, the clouds gathered and crept down their sides, also inter- cepting the sunlight. The difference in effect was quite extraordinary, and the loss very great. The Templars' Church at Luz, which was what I ii8 LOURDES AND LUZ went out to see, is surrounded by a battlemented wall battered at the bottom, with irregular stones placed on the slabs on the top of the battlements to weight them, I suppose an indication of rough weather. There are two doors of entry, one being through a tower, and above this door is a projecting defensive work. The other door leads to the main door of the church, which is a rather fine example of Romanesque, with two unmoulded arches surrounding the tympanum, two roll mouldings with a hollow on both sides and between them, the outer one being ornamented with billets and with a curious pattern on the outermost arch which looks as if copied from the wire preparation for an enamelled pattern. Below the roll moulding are two columns set in the angle, and a carved impost moulding follows the shape of the orders. One of the bases has claws. The tympanum shows Our Lord in the usual position in a vesica supported by the symbols of the Evangelists. Joanne says there are twelfth- century inscriptions in various places. I did not see them. The church itself has a short nave, a barrel vault with three unmoulded, sUghtly pointed sus- taining arches, then one bay with round arches piercing the wall on each side, and a semicircular apse, the vault of which is also slightly pointed. A chapel to each side make the plan cruciform. These have quadripartite vaulting, the ribs a simple roll. The apse vault is painted, the work of a priest who signs it " M. D. Bou, 1880." It represents Christ as the FUNERAL CUSTOMS 119 lawgiver, with angels round bearing symbols of the Passion, etc. The impost mouldings are of the simplest. Outside the small north door is a child's sarcophagus set in the wall, dated 1237. ^^^ round the church below the eaves runs a row of small mitre- headed openings to air the vaults, perhaps a later chemin de ronde, for the crenellated enceinte surrounds the cemetery, and is pierced with a double row of loop- holes. A small museum has been formed of objects found locally. While I wandered on the grassy slopes spangled with the blooms of the autumn crocuses, I heard the bell ringing for a funeral. I had previously seen the coffin taken to the house of death, and arranged in the doorway upon two chairs, covered with a white cloth, and with two lighted tapers set upon it. Many black- veiled women followed the coffin as well as some men, and, of course, lots of boys. The custom of the funeral feast, I understand, still obtains at Luz. After the ceremony the mourners return to it, walking in two rows, the women wearing a black hood. This may explain the large attendance. I saw one knocker at Luz like the fine Spanish ones. A heavy ring punched all over with two punches in a pattern, set on an elevation which was vandyked round, as well as the block on which the ring struck. Several ruined castles and churches on isolated points made picturesque objects. There was the Castle of Ste. Marie just above Luz, with two towers, one round 120 LOURDES AND LUZ and one square, of the fourteenth and fifteenth cen- turies, formerly the principal fortress of the whole Valley of Bareges, of which Luz was the principal town ; also a church a little above, and another a little below the town, and a rather important one near Argeles, which looked Romanesque. Some of the slated towers here are also exceedingly quaint in form. As we returned to Lourdes, there was a smoky mist through which the castle silhouetted finely against the warm sky, no detail showing ; and I thought of the heroic defender of the castle for the English, whose story is told in the chapter on Orthez, and the vil- lainous behaviour of that magnificent ruffian, Gaston Phoebus, to him. In the train was a family of three, mother, son, and daughter. The girl was a splendid specimen of a young woman, and if she had been on a rather smaller scale, would have been almost beautiful. As it was, she was a magnificent creature except for her features. Her face and arms were burnt a fine colour by the sun. They were interested in some guessing competition, and there was much puckering of brows and tapping of pencils against teeth, etc. Suddenly the girl cried out " Victoire !" but whether that was one of the words to be found out, or expressed her triumph in her success, I didn't gather, as we just then arrived at Lourdes, and I had to hurry out to claim my bag from the consigne. TARBES 121 Tarbes. Tarbes is first mentioned in a passage of the Notices of the Provinces of the Roman Empire in the fourth century : " Civitas Turba ubi castrum Bigorra." This city did not occupy the present site, however, and is beheved to have been some seven miles to the south- east, where Cieutat (Civitas) stands, an opinion con- firmed by the debris of ancient constructions found there. The bishopric of Bigorre, of which Tarbes was the seat, does not go back beyond the fifth century. It was the presence of Bishop and Chapter which made the town important, but the possession of the reHcs of S. Missohn added greatly to its riches. He was a priest who defended the country against the Vandals \vdth great heroism, and sacrificed his life in the contest. As long ago as the time of Gregory of Tours he was honoured at Tarbes as a saint, and many pilgrimages were made to his shrine. The town suffered cruelly in the wars of religion. In 1569 Montgomery took and sacked it, driving the Catholic inhabitants away. After a few months they gradually returned, so he sent his Ueutenant Baron de Montamat to punish them, who left the town " a heap of ruins." In 1592 the leaguers of Comminges ravaged the surrounding districts, and it was not until Henri IV. was undisputed Sovereign that some prosperity returned to the unhappy district. Froissart wrote of it : " Tarbes is a fine large town, being in the open country 16 122 TARBES and among beautiful vineyards." It is now again one of the most happily situated of the chief towns of France, lying in one of the finest plains on the left bank of the Adour, which divides into several arms, with the addi- tion of artificial channels, so that the sound of running water is heard all about it, and in several of the open spaces big trees flourish, while fruit gardens and orchards encompass the houses. It is celebrated also for horse-breeding, which adds greatly to the prosperity of the citizens. The Place Maubourguet, in the centre of the town, is picturesque on market-day, when the booths are put up beneath the shade of the trees, and the country • women sit by their fruit and vegetables, or with eggs, fowls, and other poultry, while the big fountain splashes, and the modern group of '* The Flood " which decorates it ghmmers white in the sunlight. In another square, the " Forail," cattle and horses are for sale under the shade of lofty plane-trees, and from yet another tree- planted place fine views of the mountains may be seen, and always the rushing of water is heard in the channels beneath the flags, and always dehghtful gardens surround the villas a little way from the centre of the town. The Counts of Bigorre had a castle here, but never occupied it much, and the only tower which remains now forms part of the prison. It is known as the Tower of Marguerite of Beam. The ancient cathedral, Notre Dame de la Sede, is a building of mixed styles. The NOTRE DAME DE LA S£DE 123 nave is of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, pro- longed in the eighteenth century by one bay, and with a fagade still unfinished. The crossing is of the thirteenth century, forming an octagonal lantern beneath a massive bell-tower. The two transepts are of the same century, but earlier, and half Romanesque in style, and the three apses are pure Romanesque, the largest, in the centre, forming the choir. In the north apse are some pretty arches of the thirteenth century ; the high-altar and grilles, galleries and con- fessionals in the nave are all eighteenth-century. The restoration of the building was necessitated by the damage wrought by the Huguenots. In general plan the church is almost sister to S. Caprais, Agen, and the relative proportions are also similar, only there are no radiating chapels round the apse, and the main arches of the crossing are less broad* The ornamentation is richer in S. Caprais. The con- struction at Tarbes follows that at Souillac and Solignac. The crossing and the nave were only vaulted during the Gothic period, though the archivolts of the Eastern absidioles are pointed, another point of similarity to S. Caprais. It has been very thoroughly repaired out- side in modern times, and most of the stonework and a good deal of the brickwork appear to be new. The construction is of big pebbles set in mortar with stripes of bricks — one, two, and three courses, and in places an irregular chequer of brick and stone. The brick and stone occur similarly in the quoins and some of the 124 TARBES buttresses. In the north transept is a wheel window with foiled centre and two rows of trefoil-headed arches on little colonnettes, in the outer alternating with round arches. Outside the stonework is a circle of brick corbels, and above this is a double trefoil hght, the whole enclosed in a border of brick mouldings of a nondescript form. The other transept has a row of three round-headed windows. The conflict between the pointed arches and the late Renaissance decoration is rather distressing, the latter being good of its kind, especially in the ironwork, and employing very fine marbles. A child's funeral took place while I was there, and was affecting ; its playmates, Httle mites of four and five years, or even less, carrying tapers and supporting the pall, which is carried separately, and was white in this case. Meanwhile Mass was going on at a side- altar. The Carmelite Church of S. Theresa abuts on another of the great tree-planted spaces. It has an octagonal bell-tower, with brick spire of the fifteenth century. The church was built in 1282, but has been much altered by restorations in both the fifteenth and nine- teenth centuries. In the Jardin Massey is a museum of some interest, and the garden proper is very delight- ful both for flowers, flowering shrubs, and trees, which grow luxuriantly ; but the most interesting thing in it is the cloister of S. Sever de Rustan, which was made for the Carmehtes of Trie in the fifteenth century, CLOISTER IN THE JARDIN MASSEY 123 bought at the end of the sixteenth century by the monks of S. Sever, and finally transported to Tarbes in 1895. Joanne says the caps show the history of Elijah and EHsha, the presumed founders of the Carmelites. The CAPITAL FROM S. SEVER DE RUSTAN, JARDIN MASSEY, TARBES. drawings will show that they are concerned with more sacred history than that ; and according to an article by the Abbe Caneto in the Revue de Gascogne in 1871, when the cloister was still attached to its eleventh- century church, on the south and nortli were his- 126 TARBES torical scenes from the Old and New Testament (including S. Martha accompanied by the Tarasque !). In 1575 a Calvinist party of Bearnais massacred the Benedictines, with several ecclesiastics of the vicinity and the greater part of the inhabitants of the town, which was sacked and burnt, together with the monas- tery, after the pleasant fashion of those days. It was after this that a restoration was undertaken, and then fragments of the cloister of the Carmes at Trie were brought and re-erected. There were forty double columns with twin caps. This explains the two styles which are so evident, and the fact that the iconography is of the sixteenth century, while the mode of attach- ment to the church at S. Sever de Rustan showed that the cloister was placed there in the sixteenth century. The shafts are generally of coloured marble, though not invariably. A few of the bases are carved as well as moulded, and I observed that fourteenth - century foliage occurred on the same pieces of marble as some of the most inadequate figure subjects, proving that it was the individual craftsman who was in fault, and not his period. St. Bertrand de Comminges. St. Bertrand de Comminges, at the entrance of the Vallee de Luchon, is the modern representative of the ancient Lugdunum Convenarum, founded in 72 B.C., though numerous discoveries of the Gaulish epoch, the ROMAN REMAINS 127 Iron and Bronze and the Stone Ages, prove that the country was inhabited long before. S. Jerome states, in his book against Vigilantius, that Pompey, pressed to go to Rome to receive the honour of a triumph for the pacification of Spain, obUged the brigands and mountaineers to descend from the heights, and assem- bled them in an oppidum, which therefore received the name of ** Urbs Convenarum." Among them were men of many tribes, the debris of the valiant army of Sertorius. Since the town was not named after Pompey, the inference is that there was a Gaulish settlement there already, which bore the name of Lugudunum (lug, a marsh; and dinu a height, in Celtic, suggest an origin for the name) , which is men- tioned for the first time about a.d. 19, when Strabo states that the Convenae had Latin law, which Augustus gave them. The ruins of the Roman fortifications stretch from the citadel (the present town) to Valcabrere (which was the lower town), and Roman remains, including an amphitheatre and a naumachia, have been found as far as the bank of the Garonne. The city had 50,000 inhabitants. A Roman road went through it from Dax to Toulouse, and one to Agen, and another to Luchon branched from it. The name " Labroquere," by which the bridge across the Garonne is known, is an alteration of a local word meaning " fork," and near it a miliary stone, with an inscription of the third century, was erected, and has been found. An inscription of the end of the fourth 128 ST. BERTRAND DE COMMINGES century, or beginning of the fifth, has been found at Valentine, to a certain Nymfius, who, as duumvir, had given magnificent fetes at Lugudunum, to the applause of the people heaped on the steps of the circus. He was a Christian, a good administrator, loved and esteemed by all, and a good husband, for his wife, Serena, declares in the inscription that she had lived happily with him for forty years. Sidonius Apollinaris — about 475 — wrote a letter to Basilius, Bishop of Comminges. Macarius, Bishop at the end of the fifth century, was a disciple of S. Martin, and his rehcs are preserved at Bordeaux ; and Suavis, Bishop of Com- minges, was at the Council of Agde in 506. The official " Notitia provinciarum et civitatum " of Honorius (395-423) names Civitas Convenarum as one of the twelve bishoprics of Novempopulonia, but Christianity existed before then in Lugudunum, as the inscription in S. Just de Valcabrere shows. The Visi- goths defeated the Roman armies at Toulouse in 439. Their laws were good, and the people said : " We would rather live as free men under the Goths, though with the name of slaves, than be free but in name under the Romans." When Clovis gained most of Gaul by the victory of Vouille in 507, became Christian, and made Paris his capital, the Visigoths were rolled back to Spain, only preserving Septimania in Gaul, of which Carcassonne was the capital (so called from the seven bishoprics of the diocese of Narbonne, Carcassonne, Beziers, Agde, Lodeve, Maguelonne, Nimes, and Elne) . VIEW OF THE PYRENEES 129 The medieval seal of the Consuls of Valcabrere bore a kid, with the legend, " sigillum vallis caprari^," which explains the modern name. In 1300 it was the capital of La Barousse, a little state called " of the four valleys/' a sort of republic with charters from the Barons of Mauleon and the Counts of Labarthe, who had a castle there. After the extinction of the House of Armagnac, it was united to the French crown. It was a lovely morning when we started to pay a visit to the town, and the Pyrenees were in full view all the way from Tarbes, beautiful in form and charm- ing in their v^aried colour, with snow-patches visible here and there in hollows and crowning the most lofty peaks. From the station of Labroquere we had a pleasant walk along a good road — a walk the pleasure of which was increased by the civil greetings of the peasants whom we met. The beasts were being brought out to pasture, and here and there a woman sat among the vines and mulberries (which were trained elaborately, somewhat like vines which we had seen at San Gemignano in the shape of a great cup), whose business it was to look after them. The gate of the churchyard of S. Just, Valcabrere, has an arch from some Romanesque building, the archivolt ornamented with a torus moulding and a chequer border, resting on two crocketed caps turned upside down one on the other on each side, and sup- ported by a colonnette with a Romanesque base. The dedication is to SS. Justus and Pastor, children 17 130 ST. BERTRAND DE COMMINGES martyred under Diocletian in 304 at Complutum in Spain, and the church is largely composed of antique materials, including many carved fragments. The earliest portions, it is thought, may date from the seventh century. The west wall is flanked by four buttresses, and still shows traces of a little lintelled door walled up long ago. The floor, covered with marble slabs, is ten steps below the level of the church- yard, and the vaults are supported on piers, some of which have pilaster strips toward the nave, and some coupled columns to sup- port the strengthening arches of the waggon vaults (those under the tower) ; in the aisles quarter - circle arches spring from brackets. Three apses terminate the nave and aisles of four bays, the central one being the sanctuary. The length is 81 feet, the breadth 41 feet. Round the apse runs a wall- arcade of eleven round arches upon a kind of stylobate. PLAN OF S. JUST, VALCABRERE. THE CHURCH AT VALCABRERE 131 A similar arcading of three arches is on the wall of the eastern bay of the north aisle, and remains of a similar wall arcading face it in the south aisle, the eastern bay of nave and aisles having served as transept. The main arch of the apse is supported by coupled columns with very rough capitals, and the south apse has single columns in a similar position. These columns are antique, cut and placed one on the other regardless of their proportion. A chequer cornice round the apse returns over the arches of the side apses, and is prolonged above the wall arcading. A round-headed door communicates with the north apse ; the south is used as sacristy, and is walled off. Through the vault of the main apse three small windows are pierced above the three which appear beneath the arches of the wall arcade. Behind the high-altar is a light, two-storied erection of the thirteenth century, with trefoiled arches richly ornamented, but in a bad state of preservation, which shelters a stone sarcophagus, the shrine of S. Just. The window behind was altered at the same period to allow of the shrine being seen from outside. Antique carved fragments with arms, inscriptions, acanthus-leaf carvings, portions of votive altars, etc., are built into the piers, and fine bits of friezes are immured in many places, some being upside down. Many fragments once in the church have been taken away to the museum at Toulouse, and others are in private collec- tions. The most interesting historically is the inscrip- 132 ST. BERTRAND DE COMMINGES tion which proves that there was a church at Valca- brere in 347, and gives the name of one of its priests. It is now fixed in the west wall, and runs : VAL . SEVERA . EGIT . ANNOS . XXX . RECESSIT . Ill . NON . IVL . RVFINO . ET . EVSEBIO . CONSS — PAC . PATROCLVS . PRAESBVTER . SIBI . IN . PACE . XpI. All the letters are the same size except the " X." The door illustrated is on the north side of the church, and appears to be of the twelfth century. The four figures in the jambs are said to represent S. Bertrand ; a lady of the country from whom he cast out a devil ; a priest ; and an assistant deacon. The story is also referred to on one of the carved caps, and on one of the stalls in the choir of S. Bertrand ; the other caps show the martyrdoms of S. Stephen and of SS. Justus and Pastor, the patron saints. There are traces of colour still visible — blue, ochre, and a good deal of red. The figures stand upon monsters or monsters' heads ; they are about 6 feet high. The archivolt has three orders, with roll mouldings on the angles of the two inner arches, and a kind of bevelled dentil decorating the outermost. Round the tym- panum is a band of chequering. In the centre is an enthroned Christ in a vesica. At the sides are figures of the evangelists bearing the heads of their symbols, the inner two supporting the vesica. Above them, at each side, is a small censing angel. The ironwork of the door has the scrolls so frequently met with in Roussillon. ^ ,W^ ^' rk. '^1 I ii \T 'iJ^il'-rf'W NORTH DOOR OF S. JUST. VALCABRERE. 134 ST. BERTRAND DE COMMINGES It appears to be original. The sliding bolt is moved by a ring of copper with guilloched balls. The east end is most curious in its external arrangement, the apses being square externally, with arches thrown across the angles to allow of the whole being sheltered by one roof slope. One of these remains, and the springing of the other. There is a heavy square tower in front of the apse, apparently of late thirteenth or early fourteenth century construction, and remains of two cornices (one but 3 feet from the ground) round portions of the church. There was a medieval cloister to the south, of which several corbels remain. The eastern portion is considered to be CaroHngian by M. Anthyme de S. Paul, the apses resembhng those at Germigny-des-Pres, and the vaulting of the nave is ascribed to S. Bertrand. The walls are at least a yard thick. The destruction of the ancient city took place in 585, and after the sack the episcopal seat was estab- hshed at Valcabrere. Gondovald, who claimed to be a son of Clotaire, took refuge in the citadel (now the modern town) from the army of Gontran, son of Clotaire. It resisted direct attack, but the assailants gained their end by treachery. Gondovald was per- suaded to go outside the north gate with two of his supporters, Ollon, Count of Bourges, and Gontran Boson, with an escort of Gontran's men. They pushed him over the edge of the chff, and stoned him when he tried to chmb up again. The spot is still known as THE CONSPIRACY OF GONDOVALD 135 the " Rochea de Gondebaud." When Clotaire's sons divided the kingdom, Gondovald was excluded from participation and exiled to Cologne. He seems to have possessed artistic talent, for it is recorded that he painted frescoes there on the walls of palaces and churches. Then he went to Italy and sought fortune with Narses, the General of Justinian, and on to Con- stantinople, where he was well received at the Imperial Court. The ambassadors of the discontented lords of Aquitaine found him there, and persuaded him to put himself at their head. He was proclaimed King of Aquitaine at Brives-la-Gaillarde in 584. As a matter of strategy, he spread a report that Gontran was near, and that the troops of the Convenae ought to go out to meet him. When they went down to the plain, with their Bishop, Rufinus, at their head, he ordered his soldiers to shut the gates and lay hands on every- thing the city contained, whereby he acquired con- siderable store of corn and wine. After his death his sons took refuge in Spain. Duke Leudegesille, com- mander of Gontran' s army, gave the town to his soldiers to sack, and the destruction was so complete that Gregory of Tours uses the expression, " Nihil ibi prseter humum vacuum relinquentes." A donjon and a jamb of the main door remain of the ancient manor built by Sanche de Labarthe about 1080, the Castel Bert. They were lords of the " four valleys," and were a prolific race. In 1550 one of them presented to Henri II. twenty-four sons born of the 136 ST. BERTRAND DE COMMINGES same mother, who was still living ! The Templars also had a house here, and a leper's hospital, to which a legend is attached. It is said that once in seven years, on the anniversary of the taking of Jerusalem by Saladin, following on the battle of Tiberias and the massacre of the Templars ordered by the conqueror, the commandant of Valcabrere appeared on the platform of his castle (now a shapeless ruin) and called to his knights seven times. A voice answered him : " The order is dead ; the Holy Tomb no longer has champions." He then cried out seven times in grief, and re-entered his tomb. In the village square is a marble colonnette, with an iron cross on the summit and two capitals as base, one thirteenth and one fourteenth century. They came from the Convent of the CordeHers, according to M. d'Agos, in which the tomb of Jean de Mauleon, to whom the choir at St. Bertrand is due, was situated. A little farther on is another iron cross, on a fourteenth- century colonnette, based on two ancient municipal corn measures, probably of the sixteenth century ; one holds 19I. 60 cent., the other just half as much. Passing them, and following a winding country road, one approaches the hill on which the houses cluster round the great church with its fortified tower, built by S. Bertrand in the latter part of the eleventh century. By way of a little medieval bridge and an archway beneath a tower, which was once the gate of the lower THROUGH THE PORTE CABIROL 137 city, one reaches a zigzag path between houses, which mounts the hill to the Porte Cabirol, opposite to which is a Httle lookout in the wall, from which a most extensive view lies spread out before one. Above the seventeenth-century gateway is a portion of an inscrip- tion in honour of the Emperor Claudius, and a relief. Within, the street has several interesting late medieval houses on either side, and before reaching the httle place in front of the church (which was the ancient cemetery) one passes beneath a flying buttress which supports an early wall pierced with three late Roman- esque windows, said to have belonged to the palace of S. Bertrand. By the other gate, the Porte Majou, is immured a curious rehef to a Roman jobmaster, upon which is carved a car, as emblem of his calhng, as well as the inscription. It shows that country cars with four wheels with spokes were in use in the Nar- bonnaise in the Gallo-Roman epoch much as used in the present day. On the monument at Igel, near Treves, a car is shown closely resembling this, so that the use of the form was widely spread. It was outside this gate that the death of Gondovald took place, and near here is the oldest portion of the wall with which the upper town was surrounded at the invasion of the barbarians. At the bottom of the gorge flows the little Ourse. S. Bertrand was born of an ancient family at He Jourdain. His father was Aton Raymond, lord of the Isle, and his mother, Gervaise Taillefer, daughter 138 ST. BERTRAND DE COMMINGES of William III., Count of Toulouse. Constance, his maternal aunt, having married Robert the Pious, son of Hugues Capet, he was cousin-german to the King Henry I. He was educated by the Benedic- tines of Escale-Dieu, it is thought. At first he was distinguished as a soldier, but abandoned that pro- fession to take up the study of theology, feeling a vocation for the religious life. He professed at Toulouse, and at twenty - five years of age was Canon of S. Etienne and archdeacon. The Bollandists say that he was Bishop of Comminges from 1083- II 23. Another account states that he was named Bishop by the Pope in 1076. A charter proves that in 11 24 someone else held the dignity. Vitalius, protonotary of Alexander HL, tells us that " the good pastor had neither sleep nor rest till he had rebuilt the destroyed city." He built a cloister, summoned Augustinian Canons, and began to construct houses. The town took the name of St. Bertrand soon after his death and even before his canonization (which took place in 1179). In 1150 a Bishop left a certain sum to the " Canons of S. Bertrand." The diocese became one of the most important in the South, and its Bishops belonged to influential and noble families. Two belonged to the line of the Kings of Navarre, one became Pope, and several were Cardinals. Clement V. (Bertrand de Goth), who visited the town on January 15, 1309, willed that a jubilee should take place in honour of S. Bertrand every year THE FACADE OF THE CATHEDRAL 139 that the Feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross came on a Friday, and by a Bull dated from Bonnefort in 130O3 struck with ecclesiastical censures any who exacted tolls from people going to the feasts of S. Bertrand and the fairs which followed them. The cathedral was rebuilt in the fourteenth century by Bertrand de Goth and Hugues de Castillione, and additions and alterations made at later periods ; but a good deal of S. Bertrand's work still remains — the fagade, the great tower, and the lower part of the walls of the western bays of the nave. The lofty tower has been restored, and terminates with a pyra- midal roof and projecting hotirds (defensive works of wood) ; it is flanked by ramping walls to half its height of over 100 feet. In the centre is a round- headed door, to which fourteen steps ascend, for the most part antique marble slabs. It has two deep arches almost forming a porch, each supported on two columns on each side, the caps and bases being on the same level as the central column, which supports a lintel on which is carved a series of little arches with figures of the Apostles beneath them. On the tympanum is carved the Adoration of the Magi, with angels censing above. Behind the Virgin another slab bears the figure of a mitred Bishop with crozier, giving the benediction. Inscriptions in letters of the twelfth century run : ETLEO FAR ET MIRON ASPRON .... FILIUM DEI. — MARIA MATER. 140 ST. BERTRAND DE COMMINGES Baron d'Agos held that " far, miron, and aspron " were the names of the offerings made by the Magi ; " aspron " is the name of a silver coin current in Byzantium in the sixth century, a word meaning " white " ; " f ar " is probably flour or sacred cake ; " etleo," he suggested, is an inversion of " teleo," a Greek verb, one of the meanings of which is " to offer, to pay a tax." The rehefs are framed by a chequered roll, as at Valcabrere, and the angle of the arch has a similar roll wdth a narrow band of chequers. The caps resemble those at Serrabona, which will be described in a later chapter, having intertwined animals, strange foHage, and figures. On one of them a modification of the usual representation of Avarice may be seen, a man bearing a bag pushed by demons into a monster's j aws. Above the door is a large semicircular niche, now sheltering a fine antique head, thought to represent Jupiter, and there are inscriptions of various dates encrusted in the walls. The great piers of the tower rest on circular bases 12 feet across, ornamented with big balls, a decoration which also occurs at Valcabrere and at St. Nazaire, Carcassonne. The aisles of the inner porch formed by the tower have half-waggon vaults with one sup- porting arch and an arcading of two round arches on the wall. This porch opens to the church with a slightly pointed central arch and two lancet arches. Just within the door to the right is an altar which served as parish church from 1621 to 1790. PLAN OF THE CHURCH 141 The plan shows the aisleless nave, about 175 feet long by 50 feet broad, surrounded by eleven chapels and with the Canons' choir in the centre. The lower parts of the first and second bays have Romanesque arcading, the door to the cloister is of the same PLAN OF CHURCH, ST. BERTRAND DE COMMINGES. period, and there are traces of built-up windows. The rest of the construction is of the fourteenth century. The larger chapels towards the west are the Chapels of Our Lady and of S. Margaret, the latter approached by a flight of steps, and with the chapter-house (or 142 ST. BERTRAND DE COMMINGES library) farther westwards, extending above the northern walk of the cloister. Here the archives are now kept. Beneath one of the arches of the opposite chapel is the tomb of Hugues de Castillione (f 1352), whose arms on the vaulting show that he was the builder, though the elaborate lierne ribs look later. The body of the tomb has reliefs of mourners in white on a black marble ground, Gothic in feeling ; the figure of the Bishop, with its delicately-wrought vestments, is probably as late as the sixteenth century. One window in the apse is entire, showing the Nativity, with the Shepherds ; in others an Annunciation and an Adoration of the Magi are still recognizable, and many coats of arms. The glass is of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and is good. The arms of Clement V., who commenced the rebuilding, and of Jean de Mauleon, to whom the choir is due, and who restored all the chapels, appear on the vaults, though the style of the vaulting is fourteenth-century. The shrine of S. Bertrand stands in the centre of the apse, separated from the high-altar by a narrow passage. It was erected in 1422 by the Cardinal Pierre de Foix, Bishop of Comminges, whose arms appear on the angle pilasters. The sides are covered with paintings of the seventeenth century, depicting incidents in the saint's life. It has a gable roof with pinnacles above the pilasters. A large, flat-arched niche surmounted by a pointed arch contains the shrine of silver and ebony ; two gable niches with gratings are at the sides, THE CANONS' CHOIR 143 and a richly carved panel and three niches above. The statues of the Apostles which once decorated it were destroyed in the wars of religion. It still bears traces of colour and gilding. The altar of S. Bertrand is on the eastern side, the passage round the choir being about 13 feet wide and as much high. The choir occupies two-thirds of the nave. An inscription inlaid on the screen states that Jean de Mauleon celebrated divine service in it for the first time on Christmas Eve, 1535, and that it was made at his expense. It has the reputation of being one of the four finest in France, the others being in the Cathe- drals of Amiens and Auch, and in the church at Brou. The fa9ade is supported by four Corinthian columns, and has a row of twenty figures in semi-relief above, saints of both sexes, and God the Father. Beneath the colonnade are six other figures on a larger scale — S. John the Baptist, the Virgin and Child, and S. Genevieve, to the right of the door ; SS. Sebastian, Bertrand, and Roch to the left. Above the door on the inner side a kind of pulpit projects, formerly used as an ambo ; to the right below is a watching chamber, and to the left the staircase. There are sixty-six stalls in the upper row, which have arched canopies upon Corinthian columns, and figures carved on the backs — of evangelists, prophets, saints, sybils, theological virtues, etc., a miracle of S. Bertrand, and S. Michael triumphing over Satan. The lower stalls are also CHOIR OF CHURCH,' ST. BERTRAND DE COMMINGES. MAGNIFICENT CARVINGS 145 elaborately carved, and have figures standing above the divisions at the entrances to the upper row. The Bishop's seat, which has an elaborate pyramidal canopy, crowned by a figure of S. Michael, is separated from the stalls by a pierced and carved division with a representation of the martyrdom of S. Peter. It has an inlaid back with figures of S. John Baptist and S. Bertrand, as have the canopied seats for the officiants, with the addition of S. John the Evangelist. Between the eighteenth and nineteenth stalls, with the figures of SS. John the Evangelist and Bertrand, is the entrance. Here is the Jesse tree, a wonderful carving containing forty figures less than four inches high. The twenty-eight stalls of the lower row were for the prebends. On the outside slender colonnettes mark the same divisions as the stalls within. The panels have lozenges or other shapes in relief, with a base of square divisions, and above arched panels with reliefs of men's and women's heads alternately. The design terminates with a frieze, pediments surmounted by scroll-work and divided by candelabrum-like pinnacles, vases, chimeras facing each other, sirens, arabesques, and fantastic birds. On each side are sixteen heads, the only personages recognizable being Judith with the head of Holofernes and Lucretia stabbing herself. The date of 1526 appears on the southern frieze. Round the sanctuary is an open railing of the same style ; in the frieze carving is replaced by inlay. The story told to travellers is that the choir took one 19 146 ST. BERTRAND DE COMMINGES hundred and fifty years to execute, and the Bishop ran short of money. Asking Francois I. for a sub- vention, he obtained it on the condition that portraits of members of his Court should be introduced in lunettes on the outside. This is evidently fable, as the style is consistently Fran9ois I. throughout, though perhaps with a flavour of Spanish richness. The retable has subjects from the lives of Christ and of the Virgin set in shell-headed niches divided by little columns ; a second range of niches has open-work domes with pinnacles between and statues within, all in the same style. The central niche has a figure of God the Father ; at His feet is a sort of crocket in the form of a crozier, from which the pyx was suspended. The colouring has been restored and rather overdone. The altar, in the form of a tomb, is of red marble of Serrancolin. The organ was once one of the finest in France. The case is a marvellous piece of workmanship, with four fagades, eleven turrets, sixteen platforms, niches, colonnettes, friezes, etc. All the reUefs are of Pagan subjects, such as the labours of Hercules. It is nearly 50 feet high and 33 feet broad, resting on five chan- nelled Corinthian columns, a pulpit, bearing on its panels the symbols of the evangeHsts and the device and monogram of Jean de Mauleon, being connected with the staircase. When this was used, the Canons used to ascend to the loft over the entrance to the choir to hear the sermon. The ancient stops are still I'fl.lTI AM) ORCAX C-ASK, ST. i;KRri<\NI) l>K ( 0\l M 1 XCK To face payc 146. A DISCOMFITED " GARDIEN " 147 used, and when we arrived the organist was just finishing a fine flourish after Mass, and the congrega- tion was dispersing, though the minor ecclesiastic who distributed the pain beni was still going round with his basket. After this everyone went to dejeuner, and when we returned to the church we were fortunate enough to encounter a Canon, who very civilly showed us everything, and allowed us to photograph what we wished on seeing the permission from the Minister of Fine Arts. Thus we had time for a quiet study of all the interesting things, made a small offering, and escaped the greed of the regular gardien, who could not understand how we had managed to evade him and his charges (for we then found out that there is a regular charge for seeing the treasury and for making photographs). The hurried queries which he put to us and to two officials who had been in the church all the time amused us, and his crestfallen appearance when he found that the matter was concluded, and that there were no " tips " to be collected. Very little remains of the treasury, which was one of the richest in the South of France. It is kept in a little turret on the walls, approached from the first of the five apsidal chapels, and contains two fine copes, one of which was given by Clement V. to the chapel of the saint, and is therefore supposed by the uninstructed to be S. Bertrand's. It is of red silk, with embroideries in gold thread of the Virgin, angels, apostles, and saints. This cope was assigned to 148 ST. BERTRAND DE COMMINGES English craftsmen by De Linas, an opinion shared by other experts. The other has silken embroideries of Scripture subjects, and figures of saints in medalhons amid scrolls on a ground of cloth of gold — fine work of the fourteenth century, which also appears to be English. There are also two mitres, one of which may possibly have been S. Bertrand's, since it bears considerable resemblance in shape and mode of decoration to that of S. Thomas a Becket preserved at Sens. A pair of episcopal shoes also appears to be of this period, though restored, worked with a small cross-stitch. There is a long staff of ivory, pierced from end to end, known as the " alicorne of S. Ber- trand," and said to have been the staff of his crozier — it used to be borne in procession before the shrine ; also a crook of Limoges work, and an interesting coffret of the fourteenth century covered with cuir bouilli, in which objects belonging to S. Bertrand were kept. On its sides, upon a ground of arabesques, are tref oiled arches with fantastic subjects several times repeated — a knight with lance and shield fighting a dragon, a great bird, and a woman standing before it. On the front is the inscription in Gothic letters twice repeated : ^£r I'amor be J^abonn mc rombat ab aqucsta libra, (I fight in this livery for love of my lady.) A pair of episcopal gloves appear to be of the same period, and two early Renaissance tapestries, the gift THE CLOISTER 149 of Jean de Mauleon, decorate the walls. Near the porch, on the south side, hangs S. Bertrand's legendary crocodile, of which there is no mention till the seven- teenth century. The twelfth-century cloister is of an irregular shape, with an unequal number of round arches on the sides — five to the east, eight to the west, and twelve to the south — supported on coupled colonnettes except in two places. In one of these a group of the Evangelists holding their symbols takes their place ; in the other two bits of antique columns of different sizes. The cap above this column appears to be older than the others ; the rest are twelfth-century, with Romanesque foliage, etc. Two of them bear figure subjects. The Fall, The Expulsion, Labour, and The Death of Abel, and above the figures of the Evangelists are the signs of the zodiac and labours of the field. On the eastern side the forms of the caps and bases suggest the thirteenth century as their period. The side against the church has been rebuilt in the fourteenth century. It shelters five tombs of Canons, that of Sanche, first Lord of Labarthe (f 1086), and one with the arms of Hugues of Castillione, being vaulted in unequal bays. The convent library, sold to defray the cost of the re- establishment of the services after the Revolution, was housed in the upper story. There is an extensive view from the open arcading above the outer wall, below which the road winds upward to the Porte Majou, and great grey buttresses all round the apse MONTREJEAU 151 give the impression of massive strength and vigorous age. The train to Montrejeau did not start from Labro- quere at a convenient time, so we determined to walk the few miles, the greater part of the way being down- hill. In these mountain valleys the invigorating fresh- ness of the air makes exercise a delight, which in low- l5dng country might be wearisome ; and the constantly changing grouping of hill, wood, and village, or isolated building, as the road winds and descends, with the charm of colour due to atmospheric conditions, con- stantly excites interest and deHghts the eye, shortening the road marvellously. Montrejeau is a contraction of " Mons regalis," a hastide founded for Philippe le Hardi by his seneschal. He divided the cost with Roger d'Espagne, the Lord of Montespan, to whose seigneurie the new city belonged, and who made it his capital. On the road from St. Girons to St. Gaudens the ruins of the lord's castle may still be seen. The only interesting thing in the high-lying town is the Place du Marche, of which the arcades still exist on two sides, and the market-house in the centre, a two-story wooden building hung with slates, the upper story being approached solely by a wooden stair, hke a ladder, though it is the mairie. The picturesqueness of the whole is much enhanced by the crowd of weather- cocks, with animals of all kinds upon them, which crown the building, numbering a dozen or so. 152 ST. GAUDENS St. Gaudens. St. Gaudens lies on a hill above the railway, crowned by the church, which is of yellow stone, and makes a good termination to the mass. It is a fine, lofty Romanesque structure, with a modern western tower, an ancient collegial of the twelfth century, with some portions of the eleventh in the choir, in which there are curious strategic arrangements in connection with the fortification. The nave has three bays of lofty arches, and no clerestory ; the choir two bays of lower arches, with coupled arches above like a triforium, the easterly one being shorter. The vault is round- arched waggon, with supporting arches from the inner members of the piers, on the bases of which ball claws occur. At the eastern end are three apses, the central one larger. Above the wall arcade of seven arches a chequer string of four rows runs round. The north apse has been modernized ; that to the south has a string of two rows on a larger scale. The nave aisles have cross arches beneath walls which support the quarter-circle vault, the aisles to the choir have quadri- partite vaults without ribs. The same structure is to be seen through the choir triforium arches. These have squat side pillars engaged, and in the centre a group of four colonnettes. The choir steps at present are on the level of the eastward pier, throwing one bay of the choir into the nave. The well-preserved carved caps bear monsters and foliage scrolls resem- AN IMPOSING CHURCH 153 bling those at Moissac, as one would expect so near Toulouse. There are no windows in the side apses, but three in the central one, and above the triumphal arch a two-light opening to a gallery lighted with three windows ; all the arches are round, and have no mouldings. The organ is at the west end in the tower .J ^^M^^^-^- -J CHURCH OF ST. GAUDENS. above an arch of two orders, on twin-engaged columns on each side. The vault under the tower is ribbed with a central oculus ; on each of three sides are two arches, with imposts and pilaster strips beneath which are oculi. The little Romanesque door to the west has ironwork of the period. Some of the aisle bays have cross arches in the external wall. The fifteenth- 20 154 ST. GAUDENS century doorway on the north is well carved in the manner of the period, with canopies for niches with pierced work. The windows of the aisles have hood- moulds and imposts of chequers. The pilaster strips of the central apse continue upwards as columns, the windows have mouldings, hood-moulds and a lower string-course all of chequers, but all this part has been restored. The east end is imposing, with a little erection above the arches of construction, and the lower string of the central apse continues round the smaller apses as part of the cornice, below which is a little window, not showing inside. The conspicuous tower, with its pyramidal roof and three stages above the nave, is modern except for the ground story. In the church are a few late tapestries. The town was called Mas St. Pierre till the thirteenth century, and is believed to have owed its origin to a church built to S. Peter by S. Saturnin, first Bishop of Toulouse. S. Gaudens was a child of thirteen, who died for the faith in 475 during the persecution by Euric, King of the Visigoths. Later a Bishop of Comminges established a college of Canons near the saint's tomb. The town prospered from the twelfth century, and was the capital of the Nebouzan. The Bishops of Comminges lived there in preference to St. Bernard, and in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries had their seminary there. During this time the cloth industry was very flourishing. It was known as Hauteville during the Revolution. MIXED COMPANY I55 The Cistercian ''Blessed" Raymond (1090-1163), who went to fight the Moors in Spain, and was one of the principal founders of the religious and mihtary Order of Calatrava, was born here. In the train going to Toulouse were a comfortable couple, with a nice little cat in a basket Hke a cage, which they were careful to keep out of the sun ; an old woman, with a fowl tied up in a cloth beneath the seat, and a big basket ; and a very proper old lady, who spent the time reading her paper, and in England would most certainly have objected to the hen under the seat, if not to the old woman, who was evidently a third-class passenger. In France, however, they appear to be more democratic, and there is no doubt that the third-class passengers know how to behave themselves better than ours appear to do. St. Girons and St. Lizier. St. Girons is a busy industrial town of some 6,000 inhabitants, situated at the confluence of the Salat, the Lez, and the Baup, and having a considerable trade with Spain in wool, pigs, mules, and a special breed of cows. The market is held fortnightly, and all the open spaces are then filled with booths, cattle, and caravans, while the narrow winding streets are also fined with booths, leaving httle room for wheeled traffic. In one square mountains of crockery of all qualities and colours are exposed for sale ; in another, 156 ST. GIRONS AND ST. LIZIER cheap toys, drapery, and tinware (advertised by the strains of a gramophone) ; cakes, fruit, and vegetables ; religious pictures, postcards (many of them the reverse of religious), sabots, harness, etc., occupy other stalls, or are arranged in heaps upon the stones. In shady corners peripatetic knife-grinders ply their trade, and in an open space an itinerant quack doctor in a gorgeous Turkish uniform may perhaps be seen and heard proclaiming the virtues of his preparations with great volubility from an ornate car, while on its top noisy instruments are thwacked and blown what time he rests his voice and encourages bashful rustics to buy bottles and powders wrapped in pretty pink papers. At such times the streets and squares are filled with sellers and purchasers, while through the crowds yokes of beautiful dark-eyed oxen stalk with stately head, under perfect control, and exciting very little attention ; for at the far side of the town by the ancient Church of S. Vallier is the great market for beasts, where hundreds of fine oxen may be seen accompanied by men in dark blue or black blouses, wearing the heret, and carrying the usual long staff. The confusion of colour, sound, and movement is bewildering, the effect being increased by the un- familiar costumes, the quaintest among which is that of the Bethmalese girls, who may sometimes be seen at St. Girons, bright colours and quaint forms combining in it to give an impression of medieval times ; and gipsies from the other side of the frontier contrast well THE GOATHERD'S PIPE 157 with them in squahd dress and dark complexion, leading Pyrenean bears and monkeys of different sizes, and reaching out their tambourines for gratuities. At night the reflections of the lights in the factories on the river-banks flash and sparkle from the liquid darkness of the water, and where weirs occur the grey luminosity of the foam glimmers amid the pallid reflections from the wan sky overhead. The constant rushing of the streams fills the air with a pleasant murmur, and the parapets of bridge or tree-planted space are lined with lounging townsfolk gazing at the ever interesting flow of cool green water which rushes and tumbles, bright in the sunlight, or pale and ghostly beneath the twilight sky. Morning and evening the goatherd's pipe is heard as he leads his flock through the streets, halting here and there and milking them at the doors of his customers. The town consists of two parts — St. Girons on the right bank, and a suburb called Villefranche on the opposite bank of the Salat. Its name was originally Bourg-sous-Vic, and it sprang from the decay of St. Lizier, a couple of miles down the river, and took the name of a local martyr, S. Gerontius, a Vandal soldier martyred on the banks of the Adour in the fifth century. According to tradition, he was put to death by the Visigoths ; his relics are divided among several places in Gascony. Villefranche was intended to supplant St. Girons, and special privileges were therefore granted it ; but St. Girons continued to prosper, and the Counts 158 ST. GIRONS AND ST. LIZIER of Comminges, to whom it belonged, did homage for it to the Bishops of Couserans in 1170, 1466, 1481, 1521, and 1530, as documents prove. During the Revolution the two places were united, and sometimes called Girons and sometimes Lunoque. The town contains but few buildings of archaeological interest, and among these the church dedicated to S. VaUier, first Bishop of the Couserans, may take first place by reason of the Romanesque door on the north side. It has three orders, and on the angles are roll mouldings. In each jamb there are two colon- nettes, with caps and abaci bearing scrolls, chequers, and chip-carving patterns. Two of the caps have basket-work patterns, one has interlacings and knots, and the fourth much damaged carvings of monsters. The bases seem to have had a figure holding a pro- jecting torus moulding. The jambs have a high chamfered base, with an impost moulding at the height of the caps. A pattern carved on the hood-mould closely resembles the border enrichment on a Byzantine Civil Casket in the Museo Civico, Bologna, suggesting the influence of imported ivories in spreading motifs of decoration. This doorway is of the twelfth century, as is the lower part of the north wall. The church consists of a single nave, with chapels opening from it and a polygonal apse ; behind the altar is a stone tomb half hid in the wall, with engaged colonnettes flanking the angles. The building was much altered in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and to this period THE CHURCH OF S. VALLIER 159 the apse and the upper part of the bell-tower belong. The latter is a continuation of the north wall upwards, with buttress strips at the angles, terminating with battlements, below which are three small, round-arched openings for bells. Lower still are two larger similar openings, and then a string-course. On the level of the eaves is a row of corbels supporting nothing, heads and mouldings. At the bottom of the church is a holy water basin of the same period ; an isolated prismatic colonnette terminated by a kind of cap, in which the basin is hollowed ; one of the two examples of such carving in the Ariege. The other church, S. Gerontius, was reconstructed a few years ago, but has preserved its octagonal brick spire of late fourteenth or early fifteenth century work, the lower rectangular part of which forms a porch in front of the west door. Below the spire is an octagonal stage set back to leave a chemin de ronde for defensive purposes, the balustrade of which was never con- structed. The interior is spacious, but gloomy. There are some remains of a fourteenth-century church of the Dominicans, belonging to a convent which was of political importance in the fifteenth century, and a few old houses. In the market-hall is a row of six or more grain measures like those under the cross at Valcabrere. The hollow is closed by a perpendicular door which lifts, and the grain shoots out into the receptacle below. We walked to St. Lizier along a shady road which i6o ST. GIRONS AND ST. LIZIER runs along the side of the hill, gradually rising to some distance above the river — meeting parties of peasants going into market, driving a few sheep or other animals ; or with carts in which grain or other country produce ON THE ROAD TO ST. LIZIER. was carried, drawn by the beautiful pale grey oxen which we had so often admired in Italy ; or with laden donkeys, passing from shade to sunlight, telling brightly against the shady background, or in dark silhouette against the light, with a distracting pictur- THE APPROACH TO ST. LIZIER i6i esqueness. I remember especially a couple of pale- coloured oxen being watered in a rivulet below the road, and the efforts of the driver to get them out when he thought the}^ had had enough ; the man in blue blouse, the stones, the oxen, the bushes on the banks, and the broken reflections in the water, made a fascinating picture which changed to fresh combina- tions all too rapidly. As St. Lizier is approached, the fortifications of the upper town present a brave appear- ance, while from the bed of the stream below the houses appear to be strewn in picturesque confusion from the bridge, close to which is a fortified tower of the twelfth century, up the slope of the hill to the culminating feature, the Gallo-Roman battlements, though there has been a great deal of rebuilding about them. There are considerable remains of the Roman wall in the lower part of the town, and also medieval portions on the sides of the street which climbs the hill to the ancient belfry above the one gateway to the upper town, originally of the twelfth century. The summit of the hill is surrounded by an elliptical Roman rampart, with twelve towers, of which the six northern are square and the six southern circular. The length of the enclosure is about 830 feet, and its breadth about 485 feet. The wall appears to have been built at the period of the great invasions, including more ancient fragments, and notwithstanding medieval restorations and modern suppressions and reconstruc- tions, is still one of the best-preserved Gallo-Roman 21 i62 ST. GIRONS AND ST. LIZIER enceintes in France . It is considered to be one of the most interesting archaeological sites in the Pyrenees, and presents striking analogies with St. Bertrand de Comminges. More fortunate than St. Bertrand in situations and history, it is not altogether a dead town. It was called originally Lugdunum Consoranorum, thus recalling the name of St. Bertrand, Lugdunum Conve- narum, both towns probably founded when Pompey was forcing the Spanish mountaineers to come together (thus " Convenae ") to establish themselves in the upper basin of the Garonne, while either he or one of his Generals pressed other tribes to unite their destinies (thus " Consorani "), making a nation in the upper basin of the Salat. Our information about the Con- venae comes from S. Jerome, who is silent as to the Consorani, of whom we only certainly know that under the Emperors they were among the nine or twelve peoples of Novempopulonia. Pliny says (lib. 4, c. xix.) that the Consorani had been placed entirely in Aquitaine since the arrival of Caesar, but elsewhere (lib. 3, c. iv.) appears to say that they were divided between Aquitaine and the Narbonnaise. After the reform of Augustus in the organization of the three provinces, or " Gauls " (27 B.C.), they were certainly in Novempopulonia and Aquitaine. St. Lizier was their capital, and under Theodosius was the fifth town of the district, known apparently as Civitas Con- soranorum. Their principal deities were Janus, Juno, Venus, and Minerva (under the name of Belisama). A RELICS OF ANTIQUITY 163 hill now outside the city is mentioned in Latin Acts as Mons Jovis. An inscription of the second or third centuries, immured in the left side of the second pier of the bridge, which appears to have been part of a votive altar, mentions Minerva Belisama, a Gaulish goddess, who is only known elsewhere by an inscription at Vaison. A statue of Janus was found in 1770 in an altar of masonry in the choir or one of the apses, and on the exterior of each of the two former cathedrals fragments of architectural carving are encrusted among the worked stone, much of which also formed part of antique buildings. During the Middle Ages there was an upper and a lower town ; several documents call the upper town " Austria." The Viscounts of Couserans were unfriendly because they could not establish their official residence at St. Lizier, since it belonged to the Bishops ; but they were less hostile than the Counts of Comminges, who in the eleventh and twelfth centuries claimed the whole county of Couserans, and the ruin of the town is due to Bernard III., who sacked it in 1 130, and obliged the Bishop to come to terms, a blow from which it never really recovered. It suffered a good deal, too, during the religious wars, though Navarre, Bishop of Couserans in 1207, ^^^ appointed by the Pope to deal with the Albigensian Crusade in conjunction with the legate Pierre de Castelnau, and Armand, Abbot of Citeaux, and served on Simon de Montfort's Council. The Protestants did much damage at a later date, till they were driven out of the diocese i64 ST. GIRONS AND ST. LIZIER by Bishop Hector d'Ossun in 1570. From the eleventh century it was under the Counts of Toulouse ; in 1271 it came under the Crown of France, and the Bishop recovered all rights compatible with the central judicial authority. The Bishop Lords of St. Lizier were known as Bishops of Couserans, a diocese which at one time included almost all the country between the Garonne, Foix, and the Pyrenees, becoming at a later date one of the smallest of the Languedocian dioceses. The town has borne its present name since the twelfth century, but the saint belongs as much to legend as to history. He is said to have been Bishop of Couserans for forty-four years, and tradition attributes to him the miraculous delivery of the town — according to some from Recces vinthus the Visigothic King, according to others from the Saracens in 732 ; while others still say that the town was burnt and destroyed by the latter, but rebuilt by S. Lizier under the protection of Charles Martel. During the Revolution the town was known as Austrie-la-Montagne. It then lost its bishopric, and now has but 1,000 inhabitants. The cathedral in the upper town (for there were two) is called Notre Dame de la Sede. Close to it is the former episcopal palace, built in 1665 by Bernard de Marmiesse, who removed the Bishop's seat from the lower cathedral in 1657. It rests upon three of the six round towers of the Gallo-Roman enceinte, and is now the residence of the director of the madhouse, which, with its dependencies, occupies the greater part of the THE CATHEDRAL IN THE UPPER TOWN 165 area enclosed within the walls. The sixteenth-century cathedral is just beyond. It consists of a nave of three bays, with three chapels to the south (one used as a sacristy), a choir, and a semicircular apse. The vaults of the nave have pointed arches and ribs starting from applied columns, four in the angles and four on the side walls. The caps are cylindrical, with figures of men and animals in flat relief, the subjects including the symbols of the evangelists, and a shield with an eagle four times repeated, which also occurs on one of the bosses, and fixes the date, bearing the arms of Jean d'Aula, Bishop 1480-1515, called " the good Bishop." In 1498 Louis XII. gave him an eagle for arms in place of those he bore previously, the cognizance of the House of Incamps, to which he belonged. The apse appears to be Romanesque ; in the choir are stalls and other car\'ed woodwork of the periods of Louis XIV. and X\\ The church is entered by a door to the north in the first bay towards the west ; a pointed arch with torus mouldings in brick. The caps have a double row of fourteenth-century foliage, through which oval human heads peer. On the abaci are scrolls, rather Romanesque in character, and the bases and caps of the columns in the chapter-house are of the same kind of design, and may have belonged to an earlier building like the choir. In the north wall near the choir some fragments of antique carving are en- crusted. At the other side of the enceinte a donjon of the twelfth century has been erected on a rect- i66 ST. GIRONS AND ST. LIZIER angular Roman substructure. It is entered on the first floor. The lower church is a building of the twelfth century, with a deflected axis, the nave having been raised and vaulted in the fourteenth. It has no aisles, and the PLAN OF LOWER CHURCH, ST. LIZIER. brick vaulting of the three bays rests upon large piers. The applied columns have bases and caps with rough human figures and elongated animals in fiat relief. In the lower part of the south wall are traces of narrow, round-headed windows bricked up ; above are two- light pointed windows in which are some remains of THE LOWER CATHEDRAL 167 fifteenth-century glass. The transepts are waggon- vaulted, and approached through a round arch resting on two columns applied against unequal piers, and in the wall above the maladjustment of the fourteenth- century vaults to the earlier work may be observed. The crossing has a quadripartite vault. The three apses are very unequal in size and in the thickness of the walls, which has given rise to the theory that the two side apses are the towers of a gate, which were utilized at the end of the eleventh century for the con- struction of the church, the street being diverted for that purpose. Their walls are 9 feet thick, and the ancient loopholes can be recognized ; they are vaulted semidomically. At the angles of the entrance to the north apse are two columns, with caps of scrolls, etc., resembling those of the window of the central apse ; within are much damaged paintings on the vault — the Virgin suckling the Child Jesus, attended by two Angels bearing torches. This is all that remains of the decoration due to Bishop Auger de Montfaucon (f 1304). He also put stalls in the choir, but they were replaced by Renaissance work. The high-altar and its surroundings bears the date 1770. The central apse is polygonal externally in the lower part, with three windows, and pilaster strips in the centre of the blank sides. The north window is narrow, the south has been enlarged, and the east window, which is round-headed, has a horizontal moulding interposed between the arch and the caps of the channelled colon- i68 ST. GIRONS AND ST. LIZIER nettes in the angles ; they bear scrohs in shght relief. The base is constructed of antique worked stone, finishing with a bevel 4 feet 6 inches from the ground. Above are smaller stones interspersed with bits of carving like those in the upper cathedral, fluted frag- ments, etc. There is a crowning double cornice of a later date, semicircular in plan ; a square moulding divides two ranges of brackets from each other. Upon the lower series are carved heads and bodies of men and animals, grotesques, balls and chequers ; the upper series consists of square moulded corbels. Upon the moulding between, to the left, are two short-legged, pot-bellied figures foot to foot, with a man's head between them. Round the interior of the apse and choir of one bay runs an arcade on colonnettes, a good deal broken and restored with plaster. The columns of the arch cut it irregularly, and appear to be later insertions. The church was consecrated in 11 17 by Bishop Jourdain. The central tower may have been com- menced after the devastation of 1130, as there is a round-headed arch remaining among the Tolosan, angular-headed openings in the lower stage of the octagonal brick tower over the crossing. The entrance is by a door to the north in the second bay of the nave. It is pointed, with numerous brick mouldings which fall on engaged marble colonnettes ; the bases and caps are of stone, the latter having two rows of fourteenth- century foliage. The leaves of the door are also on THE LOWER CHURCH 169 the whole of that period. In a wall at right angles is a walled-up door, the entrance to a building now de- stroyed. Its style is of the same period, but it bears ^<%:r^ u... 1 EASTERN END, LOWER CHURCH, ST. LIZIER, the date 1565 (!), showing how persistent tradition was in the South of France. M. A. de Dion thinks that the gate was transformed into the cathedral in the 22 170 ST. GIRONS AND ST. LIZIER eleventh century, the central portion restored in the twelfth, and the vaults of the nave and the central octagonal tower built in the fourteenth : a plausible opinion enough, which meets the case, except as TWELFTH-CENTURY CAP, CLOISTER, ST. LIZIER. regards the basihca erected over the tomb of S. Vallier in 550, which has been entirely lost if the present church is not its representative. In the last bay of the nave a simple pointed brick door leads to the beautiful cloister, paved with rough ANGLE OF THE CLOISTER, ST. LIZIER. 172 ST. GIRONS AND ST. LIZIER mosaic, and surrounded by an arcade resting alter- nately on single and coupled colonnettes, interrupted here and there by piers. On the north and south sides there are ten arches, divided by piers into groups of six and four ; the west side is a little longer than the east, and has in the centre of its six arches a group ELEVENTH-CENTURY CAP, CLOISTER, ST. LIZIER. of four colonnettes, above which a quatrefoil is pierced in the wall. The east side has six arches without the central pier. The arches are all round, but while the east side is entirely unmoulded, and the north has a simple chamfer, those on the other side have a roll on the angle, with quarter-round sinkings on each side. A moulding runs round all the piers at the height of the L_> 174 ST. GIRONS AND ST. LIZIER abaci, which are ornamented; most of the bases have spurs, and many of them deep hollow mouldings. The caps are elaborately carved, with great variety ; the variations in the style of the profiles of the arches and of the bases suggest repairs or a partial rebuilding in the twelfth or thirteenth century. The capital of the group of four pillars illustrated is plainly work of the eleventh century. The other two are twelfth, one being of a more developed type of design than the other. In the front of the drawing showing several arches is a cap of another type, of which there are several examples, and farther along the row are two types of interlacings, both of which are repeated. There are also a few caps of a later date, and of a type based upon acanthus foliage treated very clumsily. The colonnettes (of which only a few are missing) are of varicoloured marbles, sometimes so much weathered as to look like the fibres of wood. On three sides a string-course runs round the interior of the walls ; above the arches, but some distance below the rafters, different on each side ; and on one side a string divides the upper story, of the sixteenth century, but restored, from the lower on the side of the garth. Its sloping roof rests on brick piers. At the eastern end of the north walk is a Gothic twin arcade, from beneath which the tomb has gone. Near to it, beneath a modern arch, is the tombstone of Bishop Auger II. of Montfaucon (I 1303), who did so much to beautify his cathedral, a fully vested, recumbent figure. Swifts OBJECTS IN THE TREASURY 175 were flying up and down in the sunlight, screaming after their usual fashion, and oleanders, roses, and other plants added to the charm of the cloister, into which the sacristan locked us that we might study it, return- ing to his practice on a harmonium, the fruit of which we soon heard in the accompaniment to a sung Mass ; and we spent a very happy hour or more before we were released. There are said to be in the treasure a silver cross, with an antique gem set in it, a great chest covered with painted cloth, and decorated with curious medallions, a white silk mitre of the twelfth or thir- teenth century, embroidered with crescents and a scroll, several pieces of early tissues, a silver bust of S. Lizier, and a crozier said to have been his by popular tradition. Inquiry as to its situation elicited from the sacristan's wife the response that it was kept in the priest's house, but that he probably would refuse to let us see it. A ring at the door of the presbytery was answered by the priest himself, who looked out of the first-floor window. We went upstairs (to the kitchen), and I proffered my request, to which he said " No." I then produced from the Minister of Fine Arts my permission to photograph and study historical monuments, at the same time saying that I did not wish to photograph the reliquary bust, and after careful inspection he invited us up to the attics, where we were shown the bust and the crozier, but nothing further. The reliquary bust of S. Lizier is marred by the 176 ST. GIRONS AND ST. LIZIER painting of the flesh, but is well modelled, and has excellent ornament of the period (sixteenth century), both on the vestments and on the mitre. The material is silver parcel-gilt. The early crozier is of the eleventh century. It is of wood, with three silver rings round it, of which the central one is movable ; upon it is the beautiful motto of the Bishops : ►P CVM iratvs fveris MiSERicoRDiA RECORDABERis. The omamcuts on the rings above and below are gilded filigree scrolls. The volute is of bone, and at the end is an animal's head holding a cross in its mouth. It has been broken, and repaired with silver plates on the face of the volute and at the back. Round its base, above the knop, is an octagonal silver strip, toothed on the upper edge, with an inscription in letters of a later period : honor BONUS, or ONUS. The cure seemed to think that the crozier was of very little importance, but we found it quite as interesting as the more developed art of the bust. The bridge has been ascribed to both the twelfth and the fifteenth centuries, but it has been several times restored, finally in modern times by corbelling out the footpaths. On the middle keystone downstream are several shields, with coats of arms, among which are those of Bishop Gabriel de S. Estevan, indicating a restoration by that prelate in 1690, about which time the semicircular arches were probably rebuilt, the central one being a little flattened. It was originally fortified, the gate, with its portcullis, standing on the third pier. All the piers have beaks both up and down ^ fvf *—■**" ^^ - S ' T frn ii iii»»i^yw«Mn|p^ A SI-ANISII r.IPSY, ST. I.IZIEK. To face page 176. SPANISH GIPSIES 177 stream, and four of the original five arches are still open. The river is cut up with many weirs and with rocky prominences. Of the medieval houses, only one of the fifteenth or sixteenth century survives, a wooden- framed building close to the lower cathedral. Many with httle character, of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, may be seen, and a few doors of the period of Louis XII I. Here and there in the narrow and steep streets are bits of loggias, which remind one of Italy. We came back to St. Girons on the other side of the stream ; the road runs very near to it, and the view was very attractive, with snowy mountains closing the vista, and the foreground of rushing water tumbling over the rocky ledges. Moreover, we came across a party of gipsies from the other side of the frontier, accompanied by bears and monkeys. The women were fine creatures, though sadly in need of washing ! This did not affect their value as picturesque foreground incidents, however, especially in the case of the mother of the party, and of the eldest daughter. The Valley of the Lez. The three streams, the Lez, the Baup, and the Salat, unite at the town of St. Girons, which is a good starting- point for a trip up the Lez Valley to Sentein, a little town containing a fortified church of the fourteenth century, the last town on the French side of the frontier. This valley is to be one of the three means of rapid 23 ./ -mww. SPANISH GIPSY. ST. LIZIER. THE " PILE" OF LUZENAC 179 communication with Spain which are planned to be completed in a few years, the line, after piercing the Pyrenees, continuing to Lerida, which will probably destroy the character of the valley before very long, though the work is rather behind that in the Oloron Valley. We saw men busy with spade and pick com- mencing the grading of the embankment above Les Bordes, though lower down the valley the engineering work was not so evident. Shortly after leaving St. Girons the piers of the old bridge may be seen a little above the railway bridge. The arches are gone, and the road has been diverted, a sign of the changes which rapid locomotion causes in the appearance of the country. The first object interesting to the archaeolo- gist occurs at Luzenac, some four miles from St. Girons, a Roman structure known as the " Pile " of Luzenac, a square tower with a semicircular niche in it, built of concrete, with a facing of small stones, in its present state about 22 feet high. The top of the niche has perished. It faces east, and stands in a field about thirty paces to the left of the road. Excavations in front of it have discovered a bit of Roman roadway about 13 feet across, some 16 inches below the soil, and it is believed that it had some connection with the worship of the guardian deities of the roads. There is a portion of another between St. Lizier and St. Girons, and a tolerable number exist in the South of France, but they seem to have been peculiar to Gaul, for no such erec- tions have been found in Italy in a similar situation. i8o THE VALLEY OF THE LEZ The church at Luzenac is a Romanesque building, enlarged in the fifteenth century by the addition of two aisles, and much spoilt by late Renaissance ornamentation. It has a nave of four bays, vaulted with a very slightly pointed barrel vault, with piers and supporting arches at intervals, unmoulded, but with simple imposts. Eastwards it terminates with an apse, with semi-domical vault, and upon the short bay in front of it is a twelve-sided bell-tower, with four two-light openings, with coupled colonnettes in the direction of the thickness of the wall, and one on a lower level on the north-east side. The roof is conical, with a single bell crowning it, which is struck by a hammer ; within the belfry is a bell of 1687. It has been suggested that the " Pile " terminated with a conical top, and that this top to the tower was imitated from it, as there are no such crowning features in the neighbourhood. The position of the tower is also unusual in the district. The aisles have quadripartite vaulting, with ribs and strong pointed arches at the piers, and there is a singing gallery at the west end. The windows are most of them round-headed, except in the south aisle, where they are pointed. The doors north and south have moulded jambs of variegated marble in two orders. Along the south wall outside a long seat is fixed beneath a penthouse roof. These alterations show an enlargement of the church in the late fourteenth or fifteenth century. The west door appears to belong to the earher building, but has NOTRE DAME DE TRAMESAGUES i8i moulded jambs similar to the other doors. It has three orders and colonnettes in the angles of the two outer, with caps carv^'ed with heads and interlacings. It is now framed in a curious Renaissance setting, with niche and oculus above, and two semi-octagonal piers projecting at the end of the walls of the nave arcade. At Audressein, at the entrance of Bellongue (Vallis- longa), on the banks of the river, is a church known as Notre Dame de Tramesagues, from an ancient and celebrated pilgrimage to a Madonna in the church. This is really a Pieta, the Madonna with the dead Christ on her knees, a painted wooden statue. The church is preceded by a court, entered by a pointed door, above which the wall is continued gable-wise, pierced w^th three rows of arches for the bells, of the fourteenth century (a heavier copy of the bell-turret at Castillon), though the door through which the church is entered is of the thirteenth. The porch in front of it is decorated with paintings, some of which are well preserved and some much perished. In the small ones (which are votive), the silhouette of the group of the Virgin so far resembles that in the church as to make it certain that we have here the original figure, though a few years ago it had fallen so much into dis- repute as to have been thrown aside as lumber ! The paintings are of the middle of the fifteenth century or a little later, and are really executed in tempera, though generally called " frescoes." Above the door are the remains of an Annunciation, and upon the soffits of i82 THE VALLEY OF THE LEZ each of the arches of the porch are two large figure panels and two small ones. The large ones are figures of SS. John Baptist and James, and four angels playing on the rebec, the harp, the guiterne, and the pipe, recalling the Italian quattrocentisti ; the small panels are votive pictures. The colours used are yellow (dark and light), grey, white, red, flesh-colour, and green, the drawing being done with lines of light red and of black. A confraternity of Notre Dame was instituted here in 1315, to which many noble families belonged. The name " Tramesagues " means '* between the waters," and belongs to several places situated in the region near the Pyrenees. Audressein lies at the confluence of the Bouigane and the Lez. The old parish church was demolished at the Revolution, and the pilgrimage church replaced it in that capacity. It had a single nave, vaulted with a pointed waggon - vault, with two supporting arches of one range of voussoirs ; a transept, and a pentagonal apse. The crossing is vaulted with ribs. The door has three orders without tympanum, and there is a continuous band of ornament on the level of the caps. The porch has an Agnus Dei on the central boss. In the sixteenth century pilgrims were attracted from as far as Spain, and the church was enlarged by the addition of two aisles, which stopped at the transept. The porch was completed by the addition of two side porches, with wooden roofs, and two doors were opened, one at each side of the central door. That on the north is quite S. PIERRE, CASTILLON 183 plain, but the other has a round arch on two Ionic colonnettes, surmounted by a shield, on which is inscribed "Jesus Maria Ard. de Peyron, 1564"; two angels lift a chaHce, with a little cross above it, between the names of Jesus and Mary. Of the two bells, one is sixteenth-century, and the other is dated 1733. Castillon, farther up the valley, is the principal place in the canton, and in the modern church there a processional cross of silver, made in the sixteenth century, is preserved. On the hill above the town, approached by a steep and narrow street, is a more interesting building, the Chapel of S. Pierre, formerly belonging to the vanished castle of the Counts of Comminges. The main part of the building is twelfth- century, but with later additions. The apse is semi- octagonal, with flat angle buttresses, and a corbelled cornice with grotesque figures. It had one Httle window eastwards originally, which has been filled up, and larger ones inserted in the other two faces. A rough crenellated addition increases the height con- siderably. The bell-turret is a pedimented embattled wall, with arches pierced in it, a continuation of the triumphal arch of the choir. Towards the west is a curious penthouse projection from this wall, a feature often occurring in this part of the country, as in the Cantal. The principal door is beneath a broad pent- house roof to the south, though there is a simpler door also at the west end, of two orders, with rolls on the angles and hood -mould. The Renaissance window fail 'p;mJ-m CHAPEL OF S. PIERRE. CASTILLON. INTERIOR OF THE CHAPEL 185 above shows that the westward bay was added in the sixteenth century. The south door has four orders, with shafts in the jambs and roll mouldings on the angles between. In the corners are colonnettes of marble, with carved caps, on one of which the Sacrifice of Abraham may be deciphered, and two standing figures on that opposite, one of which is S. Peter vested as a Bishop, with key and crozier ; the others have rough ornaments. The base mouldings are late twelfth or early thirteenth century, as are the arch moulds. The arch is round, and there is no tympanum, but above the door to the right is a panel, with a rough figure of S. Peter, with key, crozier, and triangular mitre, blessing and holding on his left knee a closed book, with an inscription in a mixture of Latin and Romance much abbreviated, which appears to give the name of Joannes de la Casa as master of the work in letters of the thirteenth century. It runs : p(etrus) p(r)i(n)CEPS REGNICE LORv(m) lOA(nnes) DELACASA FOMAES(tre) DE LA OBRA The figure retains traces of colour. The interior has a pointed waggon-vault ; at the springing is a little cornice, with palmettes and animals in a row, with grotesque heads on a slope. The hillside bears a series of stations of the Cross amid its fir-trees. The scenery of the whole of the upper portion of the valley is fine, 24 i86 THE VALLEY OF THE LEZ and in some of the lateral valleys are rich mines of lead and zinc. The slopes of the hills descend steeply on both sides, with water running everywhere. The vista BETHMALESE COSTUMES. is closed by the Pic Blanc, on which was a good deal of snow, justifying its name. From the side mountains clouds stole forth, becoming more visible as they BETHMALESE COSTUMES 187 mounted higher. The hills were a pink-purple, and many fruit-trees in blossom added light and gaiety to the scene, reheved by the fresh green of the growing grass. The Valley of Bethmale opens from opposite Ourjoux, one of the few places which still retains a distinctive costume, though the women only wear it on fete days and Sundays, on which latter day people visit the place to see them come out of church after Mass. A few may sometimes be seen at St. Girons on market-days, and the costume attracts the eye at once by its strangeness of form and vivid colour, bringing remembrance of medieval days, when costume was beautiful, and fashion did not decree constant change. The church at Ourjoux is known as Les Bordes, the mother-parish to which it belongs ; at least, that was the name which our driver gave to it. It is a twelfth- century building, added to and altered at a later date. The Lez is crossed by a picturesque bridge, which groups well with the church, sloping down from a way- side cross to an open space, in which are a washing place and water-troughs. The apse and one bay in front of it, including the gabled bell-turret above the triumphal arch, are Romanesque, with two tiers of coupled arches to accommodate the bells, resting on two colonnettes united by a long and thick cap, and a corbelled cornice beneath the eaves of the apse, the centre arch resting on two Bishop's heads ; right and left later chapels, with ribbed vaults, take the place of transepts, and the bay to the west, which contains the CHURCH AT OURJOUX 189 north door, appears to have been rebuilt in the sixteenth century. Two strong square piers, with columns attached, separate this last bay from the one before. The columns carry the arch, which supports the bell- wall ; the hollows of their bases have ball ornaments, and there are claws to the angles. The caps show two rows of upright palmettes, one of them with balls at the ends. Ourjoux is one of the names of places so numerous in the Couserans, which appear to have an Iberian origin. Above, on the hillside, some twenty minutes away, is the chapel of Aulignac, a building twelfth - century in character, with a bell - wall above the triumphal arch. Sentein, as we have said, is the last town on the French side of the frontier, surrounded by the slopes of the mountains rising towards the pass of Port d'Arets, above which is the Pic de Mauberme, the highest summit in this part of the Pyrenees. Its special interest lies in the fortified church, the bell-tower of which served as donjon. The walled enclosure was defended by four other towers at the angles, through one of which a pointed archway afforded the only means of entrance. A few years ago one of them was pulled down, with a good deal of the curtain wall, and the PLAN OF FORTIFIED CHURCH, SENTEIN. FORTIFIED CHURCH AT SENTEIN 191 space utilized for the weekly market, but although the medieval aspect of the place was thus damaged, the tall pyramidal roofs of those which remain still give picturesqueness to the little town. The church was built in the twelfth century. Of this only the lower part of the bell-tower remains, the square portion. The upper part is oc- tagonal, and was prob- ably built in the four- teenth century, the bands of foliage which run above the colon- nettes as caps, and the little supports of the bases, suggesting that period. The two upper stories were added to- wards the end of the seventeenth. The lower stories have round - headed windows, and are set back slightly. The ground-floor is used as a baptistery. The door from the church has three orders, with rolls at the angles, and one column with carved cap in the jamb. It formerly opened outside, according to liturgical prescription. There was no communication with the upper rooms, to which access was obtained by a stair from the nave, afterwards closed. The room WINDOW IN TOWER, SENTEIN. 192 THE VALLEY OF THE LEZ above is lighted by three queer httle windows, round- headed, with a triangular opening in the tympanum, and the lintel supported by four short, thick colon- nettes, two and two. Towards the end of the thirteenth century the church was surrounded with a fortified enceinte, half oval in plan, about 130 by 117 feet. The church is in the north-west corner. The nave of three bays is roofed with a pointed waggon-vault, with chamfered supporting arches, and a five-sided apse vaulted with ribs. It was refitted at the period of the Renaissance, and the aisles are entirely in that style. In the course of the eighteenth century the ditches were filled up, and the steep slate roofs were then added. The church is still dedicated to the Virgin, and a statue of Our Lady of Pity occupies a niche over the pointed archway of the entrance gate-tower. The bell-tower, which is the finest in the Ariege, served as a donjon, and had a stair opening outside the walls. The inhabitants of Sentein had a right of commerce with Spain even in time of war, and reaped much profit from it. The day was beautiful, and the drive most pleasant. As we returned we heard the goatherd's pipe, and saw him leading his flock from door to door in the villages where they were milked. We saw beehives made of tree-trunks covered with slates, weighted to make them secure. The pleasant rushing of the river accompanied us a great part of the way, intensified near St. Girons by the weirs by which it was put to work, and the fresh A PAGEANT OF COLOUR 193 blossoms of the fruit-trees, with the pale green of spring foliage, were relieved brilliantly against the blue of the mountains, which always formed the back- ground of the picture. A day to mark with a white stone ! FOIX AND THE ValLEY OF THE ARlfeGE. The town of Foix (from Fouach, the neighbouring mountain) is picturesquely situated in the Valley of the Ariege, at the juncture of the Arget with that river. A bridge, built in 1833, has replaced one of the twelfth century over the larger river, which flows between high embankment walls, while the rail runs on a lower level between the water and a broad road, on to which the hotels face. Close behind these rocks rise precipitously, terraced for cultivation in the lower part. The first time we visited the place we reached it as night fell, arriving at the hotel while dinner was in progress. The very efficient service was entirely in the hands of women of various ages. The sweet mountain air invited early repose, and through the open windows the rushing river sang a soothing lullaby, and mingled its music with pleasant dreams. Lofty hills encircle the town, and at 5 a.m. the flush of dawn reddened the snowy crests which rose high above the houses on the opposite river bank. For half an hour the pageant of colour continued, sky and snow vying with each other in beauty of tint. To the right was the Church of 25 194 FOIX AND THE VALLEY OF THE ARIEGE S. Volusien, the only portion remaining of the great Benedictine Abbey round which the town grew up. Higher, and nearly opposite, the castle towered on its isolated rock ; every detail was clear and distinct, for at that time no smoke rose from any chimney. The situation occupied by the Castle is magnificent. In the ravine at its base the Arget tumbles over weirs and turns mill-wheels, crossed some little distance away by the viaduct carrying the road to St. Girons. Below the castle rock is the Palais de Justice, once the palace of the Governors of the Comte de Foix, now also housing the Museum in its lower rooms, some of which date from the fifteenth century. Here are to be found some capitals from the cloister of S. Volusien, a few other architectural fragments, coins, etc. A httle nearer the bridge is the church dedicated to the saint, who was Bishop of Tours, was exiled by Alaric IL, and mas- sacred in 497 near Varilhes by the Arian Visigoths. His relics were brought hither when the oratory founded by Charlemagne, after his expedition against the Saracens, was converted into an abbey in the tenth century. The oldest portions of the church, the nave walls, the transept (except the vaults), and the Roman- esque south door, are due to the reconstruction under Roger IL (1111-1123). The Gothic choir, with its seven chapels was added in the fifteenth century. It was sacked by the Huguenots and altogether ruined in 1581. The vaults, which have pointed arches and ribs to match, were built in the seventeenth century, 196 FOIX AND THE VALLEY OF THE ARIEGE showing that the imitation of an earher style is not a novel expedient invented by modern architects. It was reconstructed by Pierre de Caulet, from 1609 Treasurer of France at Toulouse with his brother, Jean Georges. Francois Etienne de Caulet, his nephew, who was Abbot of S. Volu- sien in 1627, and Bishop of Pamiers in 1644, raised the vaults, and gave the silver " chapelle " to the high-altar. It had never been vaulted, and was paved with the materials of the Calvinist church demolished by the Catholics in 1622. The raftered roof was so defective that in 1632 the high- altar fell, being decayed by the rain ! In 1664 it was decided to vault it ; in 1666 the political council voted 350 livres for the purpose, and as much in 1667- 1669, and 1670, the work being completed in 1672, including a little bell-turret for Low Masses. The choir is surrounded by pretty chapels, and encloses a sixteenth-century Holy Sepul- chre. Some low stalls taken from S. Sernin. Toulouse, at the restoration of the basihca serve for choir-stalls. The square bell-tower is dated on stones in the wall of PLAN OF S. VOLUSIEN, FOIX. FOIX IN THE MIDDLE AGES 197 the staircase, 1525 and 1527. The interior has lost all signs of age, having been decorated with wall-paintings in the last few years. In the library are said to be some choral books of the sixteenth century from the Monastery of Mirepoix, with beautiful miniatures. We thought they were in the Museum, but the custodian said " No," and did not tell us where they were, so we didn't see them. During the Revolution a number of the initials were cut out by the mistress of a school belonging to the town, and given as prizes to the children ! There was a station on the plateau in Roman times, which the discovery of coins and other objects of the Imperial period proves. The town was among the fiefs given to Bernard, son of Roger, Count of Carcas- sonne, who died in 1090, after his marriage to the daughter of the Viscount of Beziers, at which the King of Aragon and the Counts of Carcassonne and of Toulouse were present. The latter erected the seig- neurie into a comte. As vassal of the Counts of Tou- louse, Roger Bernard II., Count of Foix (i 188-1223), was involved in the Albigensian Wars, and Simon de Montfort besieged the castle, but fruitlessly, and after ten days departed, having burnt the suburbs and taken the town, threatening to melt the rocks and grill the Count. In 1215 he was obliged to submit to the Pope, and as a gage of fidelity gave the castle up to his legate, Peter of Beneventum, who confided its charge to the Abbot of S. Tibery, of course at the Count's expense. 198 FOIX AND THE VALLEY OF THE ARIEGE He, however, left the country, and gave it up to Simon de Montfort. At the Lateran Council at the end of the year Roger Bernard appeared in person to defend his cause and claim his rights, but it was only in 1218 that he regained possession. A later Count, Roger Bernard III., who was vassal to Philippe le Hardi, was besieged in the castle in 1272. The siege lasted from June 3 to 5, and the story goes that the King under- mined part of the rock on which the castle was built, threatening to entirely destroy it, which brought the Count to terms, but there was hardly time in three days to do much damage. The Count was sent as prisoner to Carcassonne, where he remained a twelve- month, and he did not regain possession of his castle till 1285. He was a troubadour, and beguiled his captivity with songs. The castle stands on a rock 180 feet high, to the north-west of the town. There are two great square towers, which served as donjon successively in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. In the least lofty, the oldest (late twelfth-century), were chambers once used by the Inquisition, as were some of the dungeons, but there is now no vaulting in it, though it has an oubliette. In the fourteenth century it had its walls thick- ened ; the round-arched windows still show inside. The other tower has vaulted rooms, on the caps in which are grotesque figures. The bosses on the first floor show the arms of Foix and Beam, those of the second Foix and Comminges. It seems, therefore, to have been THE CASTLE AT FOIX 199 built by Gaston II., Count of Foix and Beam (1315- 1343), who married Eleanor de Comminges. The great round tower, 136 feet high, often wrongly ascribed to Gaston Phoebus, but built in 1445 to defend the winding approach to the gates, was entered only by a wooden gahery at the height of the curtain walls, which could be removed in time of war. The square towers are, however, shown on two seals of the Counts, 12 15 and 1241, with a connecting building of one story. The donjon existed in 1450, as a document of that date shows, and the style agrees with that period. About 1832 the castle was used as a prison, and carvings by the prisoners still exist. It was restored in 1888 under M. Boeswilwald. The mortar was raked out and replaced with cement, the perished stones taken out, and new ones put in ; but the masonry of the round tower was so good that scarcely anything was done to it beyond replacing three battlements, and making a cement platform as roof. There is so little space within the waUs that one wonders how the garrison lived. A large clock now occupies one of the square towers, which has to be wound up every eighteen hours ; the weights, of 70 and 26 kilogrammes respectively, descend to the terrace through two other floors, and the gardien appeared to find the winding of them up rather onerous. The collection of documents from the Archives, removed to the Abbey of S. Volusien, which was then the seat of departmental administration, was burnt in the destruc- tion of the prefecture in 1804. Gaston was a favourite 200 FOIX AND THE VALLEY OF THE ARIEGE name in the family of the Counts of Foix and Beam. The most celebrated bearers of the name were the young military genius, Gaston de Foix, Duke of Nemours, son of Gaston IV., Viscount of Beam and Count of Foix, and of Marie d' Orleans, sister of Louis XIL, who died victorious over the Spaniards near Ravenna in 1512 ; and the brilliant Gaston Phoebus, who at his death left his estates to the King of France, a bequest renounced by Charles VL in 1391 by letters dated from Tours. He was called Phoebus because of his golden hair, which curled like an aureole round his head. He was cultivated, and loved beauti- ful books and jewels. Several manuscripts illuminated for him still exist, and copies of the treatise on hunting which he wrote, and which was much appreciated in the fifteenth century, are estimated as being among the finest manuscripts of the latest medieval period. Froissart, who stayed with him, writes of him enthusi- astically, and he has been considered the type of the " grand seigneur " of the fourteenth century. He was the son of Gaston IL and Eleanor de Com- minges, and was scarcely twelve years old when his father died in 1343. Five years later he married Agnes of Navarre, daughter of King Philippe d' Ev- reux (VL), and sister of Charles the Bad. At first he served the King of France, and was, indeed, married in Paris ; but in 1352 John IL favoured the Count of Armagnac, the hereditary enemy of his house, and from that time he became absolutely neutral as be- A WAI.I, lOUMAIN Al lOIX. To fill C pilRC ■J'.Kl, GASTON PHCEBUS 201 tween France and England, refusing military service and the raising of any subsidy, and emphasizing his refusal by going off to help the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order to fight the infidel in Prussia. This was in 1357, and he was accompanied by his cousin, the famous Captal de Buch, and several other gentle- men of the South. On his return he attacked Languedoc, then ruled for the King by the Count of Poitiers, and when peace was concluded at Pamiers, two years later, it cost the province 200,000 francs of gold. In 1362 he defeated the Count of Armagnac at Lannac, with the help of the Great Companies (left free by the Treaty of Bretigny), taking him and most of his Barons prisoners. The ransom extorted pro- vided means for great building operations in Beam and Foix (the Count himself paid 100,000 francs), and the common soldiers taken were employed as opera- tives. It also enabled him to maintain a splendid Court. To defend himself from the friends of the Count of Armagnac he went to Agen, six weeks after the battle of Lannac, and rendered homage to Edward III. Fourteen years later he returned to his earlier relations, and became an ally of the King of France. He usually lived in the Castle of Orthez, and it was there that the tragedy of the death of his only legitimate son took place, as has been described in the chapter dealing with that town. Frederic Soulie, the novelist, and De Freycinet, the politician, were also natives of Foix, from above which 26 202 FOIX AND THE VALLEY OF THE ARI£GE town the electric power for the city of Bordeaux comes, the works being by the Lake of Limoux. Two miles below Foix stands the Church of S. Jean des Verges, a twelfth-century church of much historical interest, for it was hither that Roger Bernard, Count of Foix, came to receive absolution on June i6, 1229, at the end of the Albigensian War. In presence of the principal prelates of the province he rendered homage to the King of France, to whom the Count of Toulouse had abandoned his rights for all the districts beyond the Pas de la Barre. The church has a single nave, waggon-vaulted, with supporting arches, and a central apse flanked by two absidioles ; no transept, but a preparation for a central tower, with smaller arches into the absidioles. In the apse are three windows, with archivolt on colonnettes, and there are three along the north side. The south and west sides are embedded in the priory buildings. The buttresses are like those of the apsidal chapels at S. Sernin, Toulouse, consisting of two columns one above the other. The upper valley of the Ariege is very fine in its scenery, especially when storm-clouds lower ; and there are a good many ruins of castles, etc., some still giving a very fair idea of the appearance of medieval fortifica- tions. For instance, below Mercus a fortified bridge crosses the river, and the walls of the defensive work through which the road passed still remain, so that looking from above it seems almost perfect. At Tarascon the isolated knoll of rock on which the old RUINS AND CAVES 203 town is built is surmounted by remains of the walls of the citadel or castle, a curtain wall with two or three round towers, one of which has been restored ; the castle was destroyed in the seventeenth century. Behind the rock a square church tower, with slated roof, appears, Romanesque in the character of its design. The town stands in a little plain at the con- fluence of the Oriege with the Ariege, and is a busy manufacturing place, with iron foundries and forges. Higher up the valley we saw an electric forge worked by water power, and glowing with brilliant light. In the cliffs are many caves which have been used as habitations, some of which still retain battlemented walls across the entrance and other defensive works. Caves abound in the district, some with prehistoric remains, some the interest of which is much more modern. In the Grotte de Lombrive, the mouth of which may be seen from the station at Ussat-les-Bains, several Albigenses took refuge when pursued by the troops of the Inquisition. It extends three miles into the mountain, and the soldiers did not trouble them- selves to follow the fugitives ; they simply walled up the entrance and left them to perish ! Above Luzenac- Garanou are the ruins of a big castle on a hill, the Chateau de Lordat, which is said to have been in existence in the tenth century, but all the way up the valley smaller ruined castles are to be seen on both sides on the top of hills, like the entertaining backgrounds of early pictures. Ax-les-Thermes appears to be built 204 FOIX AND THE VALLEY OF THE ARlfiGE over a natural reservoir of thermal mineral water, for there are no less than sixty-one springs varying in temperature from warm to hot, as well as in their mineral constituents. They were known to the Romans, for Ax is, of course, a corruption of Aquae. It is a pleasant little place, with tree-planted areas and much rushing of water, for it is situated at the con- fluence of three streams. There is a smell of bad eggs perceptible in several places from the sulphurous springs, and to the photographer the row of bathing cabins devoted to hyposulphite baths will be interest- ing. These rows of bathing cabins suggest English sea- side places, especially when, as at Ussat, they are painted a pale green, and face the line. At Ax there is a steaming tank in front of the hospital (founded in 1260 for leprous soldiers by S. Louis, but showing no traces of its age), and from it and other springs people were drawing water for domestic use, as at Dax. A railway is projected from Ax through the Pyrenees to Ripoll in Catalonia, and, according to the agreement between the French and Spanish Governments, it is to be completed in ten years. This will bring a very interesting region within comparatively easy reach, and should add to the prosperity of the valley if the Spanish Customs officials can be induced to treat travellers honestly and civilly. The Ariegeois are, after the Basques, the most original people of the French side of the Pyrenees. They are a strong race with marked features, about THE ARI£GE0IS 205 middle height, but well knit, of rude manners, hardened by the privations of mountain life. It is said that until the middle of the nineteenth century many of them had hardly ever tasted bread ! In the plains and the valleys they are characterized by sobriety, faithfulness to tradition, and jealousy of their rights. In a few valleys the ancient costume may still be seen, and some of them are mentioned by geographers for the singularity of their customs, such as the valley of Ustou, where bear cubs were kept indoors all winter and trained for exhibitions at fairs in the summer ; and the environs of Vicdessous, where, among the miners of Rancie, the medieval corporations, with their rites and formulas, continued. They have always been distinguished for energy. In the Middle Ages the Viscounts of Couserans had but a nominal authority, and the powerful Counts of Foix could only make sure of their fidelity by respecting their liberties and agree- ing somewhat with their religious opinions. If they were not the first to embrace the Manichean doctrines of the twelfth century, they were their latest and most ardent defenders, and led their Sovereigns into a desperate resistance to Simon de Montfort, who could not conquer them ; and when the Counts of Foix abandoned them to do homage to the King of France, the Manicheans of the Ariege fortified themselves in inaccessible refuges, and were there exterminated. In the risings under Louis XIII. and XIV. the Protestants of the plains and lower valleys did not dare to join those 2o6 FOIX AND THE VALLEY OF THE ARIEGE of the Cevennes and Languedoc because the moun- taineers remained faithful to CathoUcism. Following on the persecutions of the eighteenth century, many of the Protestants fled the country, and, except for some 7,000, the population is now Catholic, but also practises superstitions which are of Gaulish origin, if not more ancient. Pierre Bayle, the first apostle of toleration, was born in the department, but was obliged to exile himself in order to promulgate his philosophical doctrines. The churches are all of the Languedocian type, and the bell-towers are never above the crossing, the only exception being that of St. Lizier, which is built on a Romanesque base. The Romanesque forms lasted in some places long after Gothic had supplanted them in most districts, sometimes even into the fourteenth century. We had projected a drive from Ax-les-Thermes by way of Hospitalet and the Col de Puymorens to Bourg Madame, descending thence by Mont Louis and the Tet Valley to Villefranche le Conflent, but were dis- appointed to find from the landlord of the inn at Ax that the Col was not yet open for carriage traffic. Our photographic plates were too precious for us to risk them on mule-back, so we determined to return to Foix by train, and drive by way of Lavalanet to Quillan, from which place Perpignan may be reached by rail. We left by the first train, reaching Foix at a quarter to ten, and then spent some time in finding a carriage CHURCH AT LAVALANET 207 and driver, but got off in time to reach Lavalanet before dejeuner had been cleared away at the hotel. The church here belonged to a Priory of S. Sernin, Toulouse, and though rebuilt in the seventeenth century, still preserves pointed windows in the sanctuary — another example of the survival of obsolete forms so frequent in the district. A rather fine pulpit of a debased period distinguishes a building otherwise uninteresting. The staircase is enriched with acanthus scrolls, and carved panels display the subject of the Annunciation, and the figures of the four Evangehsts and of S. Bartholomew, who is included in consequence of the local legend that he threw down a statue of an antique divinity on the summit of the mountain close by, which was consecrated to him. The pulpit is sup- ported by a crouching man, and reminds one rather of Belgian pulpits of the late Renaissance. The day was lovely for a drive, sunny and warm, and the scenery pleasant, though not imposing, except here and there. It was Sunday, and the fields had few peasants at work in them, but near villages groups of figures made the roads lively. In one place a restive horse engaged the attention of several men and women, one of whom had a dark-eyed beauty suggesting gipsy or Spanish blood in her ancestors ; but beauty is rare in the district. At Puivert a good deal of the castle remains, beneath the protection of which the little town grew up, or, if you will, beneath the menace of which it crouched. It was a very strong castle, and is inter- 2o8 FOIX AND THE VALLEY OF THE ARIEGE esting as being the place in which in the twelfth century the most ancient competition of poets took place recorded in the annals of the South of France. At that time a lake stretched above it, which, when it burst its banks in 1279, caused the destruction of Mirepoix. The road descends with great sweeps and zigzags, giving many varied views of the little place and of the castle walls, as the changes of position influence the grouping of tower and rock, of house and wood ; and beyond Belesta, in the direction of Quillan, is a chateau belonging to the Parisian Rothschilds, who own the wooded crests of the hills round, from which they cut £40,000 worth of timber every year — as our driver told us, but perhaps he meant francs. Late in the after- noon clouds had gathered, and a cold wind sprang up, so that we rather wished to be at our journey's end, and welcomed the splendid view which burst upon us when we reached the final crest, and saw Quillan lying far below in the midst of an amphitheatre of hills, many of them with their summits hidden among the clouds. The curves of the road by which we descended were so various and sudden that it seemed almost tied in knots, though the grading was really so scientific that the descent was accomplished with ease and comfort. A medieval bridge crosses the Aude here, with the ruins of a strong castle of the fourteenth cen- tury frowning above it, a square keep, with octagonal turrets, corbelled out at the corners, and very little remaining above the corbelling. The river is broken THE AUDE VALLEY 209 up by weirs and waterfalls, with an island or two, and forms an attractive picture above the bridge. The town is the centre of an important forest district, and lies at the entrance of the defiles of the Valley of the Aude, and not very far from the picturesque Valley of the Rebent}', which lies between Axat and Ax-les- Thermes. In the town is a statue to the Abbe Armand (f 1823), erected in memory of his services in procuring the construction of the fine road in the Upper Aude Valley. This is known as the Route of the Pierre Lis. A mountain was pierced to a length of over 500 feet to bring the water of the Aude to a manufactory, and the fall is over 30 feet high. The gorge is above Quillan, and for a mile or so the road skirts the river, flanked by perpendicular rocks, through projecting parts of which three tunnels were pierced. The highest is called the Trou du Cure, in memory of the Abbe, and it was only completed in 18 14 after his return from exile. The gorge is considered the finest in the Pyrenees. I walked from Quillan nearly to St. Martin Lys in the afternoon to see the gorge to best advantage. A little way outside the town one looks down upon a broad elbow of the river, where several divided streams reunite, the islands being tree-covered. The com- position of the trees, the shingle, and the shapes of the water channels, with the lofty, grey, tree-clothed mountains in the background, is very attractive, especially when the sun is getting low, and this kind of picture occurs again and again. I saw a board adver- 27 210 FOIX AND THE VALLEY OF THE ARIEGE tising " wolf-traps," which suggested that in the winter it might not be so safe to ramble on the mountains ! Belvianes, the first village outside Ouillan, with a few cypresses and other dark trees among its grey houses roofed with pale red tiles, on the other side of a zigzag in the road, and with the lofty grey mountain behind it, mottled with patches of trees, and grassy in its lower slopes, reminds one of an Italian town, except that it is framed in more luxuriant foliage masses on each side. It runs along the crest of a spur of the hill overhanging the roadway, with the campanile of the church at its summit, a little pyramidal roofed tower, with one opening on each side. On the other side of the railway is another portion of the place, in which is a funny little church, with a gable wall and two biggish round arches below it, in one of which a small bell hangs. Below is a built-up door. The rocks of the defile are a grey, close textured limestone, with yellow stains here and there, so close- textured that in several places the road passes beneath its width, hollowed out without any support on the other side. I am sure, too, that portions of the other side overhang. The impression is very wild and magnificent, and I should think with sun shadows (I had none) would be still more striking. I should strongly advise travellers to go through the gorges on foot, which can be quite easily managed. If the train is used, the most interesting part is missed, because at that place there is a long tunnel. If a motor is em- OUILLAN AND ITS CHURCH 211 ployed, one goes through so fast that the details cannot be appreciated ; besides, a person of any sensibility must surely suffer from knowledge of what a nuisance he is to his fellow-creatures ; and though a carriage is less objectionable, since it can easily be stopped at any desired moment, one is more independent on one's own feet. It is only two miles through the finest part, and the stations of Belvianes and St. Martin Lys are con- veniently situated for going and returning, though, of course, the times must be carefully arranged to avoid tedious waiting. The Aude has been put to work, and on the way I passed a large saw-mill worked by electricity (the power coming from the river), occupying half a mile of the roadside beneath the trees. A notice was stuck up, say- ing that "trespassers would be prosecuted," but there was nothing in the least like a barrier. As I returned the moon was trying to break through the clouds, and the road glimmered white among the mysterious darknesses bordering it, spotted here and there by other darknesses, which developed into persons as they approached and passed. Quillan appears to get its name from three peaks, or " quilles," which are conspicuous objects from the entrance of the town. The church is of much the usual pattern — a broad vaulted nave, with side-chapels in each of the four bays, a small choir (or rather sanctuary), and vaulting with the peculiarity of an oculus, pierced in the vault above the centre of each 212 ALEX arch. Most of the arches are round. Since my last visit utihtarianism has much damaged the view of the bridge by removing the bushes from the island on the weir. Alet. Alet lies on the hne between Quillan and Carcassonne, and is celebrated for the ruins of its abbey and for its thermal station. I left Quillan on a beautiful morning, although the wind was cold in the shadow (a reminiscence of the mistral of two days before), and enjoyed the prospect of the mountains above the gorges, gradually receding, and the many nice little places which the train passed within sight of. A ruined castle on the hills above Esperaza was visible for a long distance, and one place called Couiza-Montazels looked almost like an Italian village, partly owing to the rough stone terraces in the vineyards, on which crosses appeared here and there — I suppose to commemorate accidents. All along the line ruined towers kept appearing, and in one place a castle, with round towers at the corners, was in good repair, close to which was an interesting bridge, with the side-walks carried on segmental arches above semicircular. On reaching Alet an unforeseen difficulty arose. The bathing season was over and the hotels shut, and the one to which I was directed, said to be open all the year round, appeared to be untenanted, for I walked all over it without finding anyone. Finally I THE ABBEY 213 found an old lady, who promised to provide me with dejeuner, and I was set down in a salle-d-manger large enough to accommodate fifty diners or more, with, after a time, two companions, a priest and an old lady, who conversed across the room in loud voices. The situation of Alet is pleasant, and from the other side of the bridge it looks a charming place. Some distance down the road on the way to Limoux are remains of another bridge, a pier with beak down- stream as well as up, portions of the abutment on each side, and a bit of the arch in the stream, most of it cut stone, Joanne says they are Roman work ; to me they looked medieval. Nearly opposite is the original mineral spring. It is the abbey and its appurtenances, however, which one goes to see at Alet, the foundation of which reaches back to the early years of the ninth century. It was in 813 that Bera, Count of Razes, with his wife BomiUe, founded it, placing it under the rule of S. Benedict and the direct jurisdiction of the Church of Rome. The Abbots often had to address the Holy See for solemn confirmation of their privileges and domin- ions, obtaining several Bulls to this effect in the twelfth century. The name is a corruption of Coeno- bium loci electi, or Electense. The dedication was' to the Virgin. In 1096 it was visited by Urban II. on his way from Carcassonne and Toulouse after the Council of Clermont, and in the fourteenth century John XXII. erected the abbacy into a bishopric, trans- THE ABBEY CHURCH 215 ferred from Limoux. It was a good deal damaged during the wars of religion, especially in 1577, but in the seventeenth century the bishopric was held by the austere Jansenist, Pavilion, friend of S. Vincent de Paul. The church is now entirely in ruins, though works of repair have been carried out of late years, and the fabric seems secure. It is a parallelogram, with a five-sided apse, a transept very slightly projecting and half destroyed, and towers on each side about the middle of the nave, built of a reddish-brown stone, with regularly cut blocks. The inside measurement is about 145 feet in length, of which 26 feet belong to the sanctuary. This is about 20 feet broad across the apse, with two Corinthian piers, with very fine caps, sup- porting the arch. The transepts are about 82 feet across, and the nave and aisles about 32 feet. with a round-headed, vaulted niche sunk in each, except the centre one, which is deeper and has two little niches additional sunk in the sides, one on each side of the flat wall at the back of the niche. The semi-dome is five-sided, and is pierced by three little windows ; in each angle is a column, with incomplete cap, and a string runs round above the arches. The PLAN OF APSE, ALEX. The apse has five sides, 2i6 ALET nave arcade consisted of alternate rectangular and round piers, as at S. Nazaire, Carcassonne ; the former with three engaged columns and a pilaster towards the aisles, which had quadripartite vaults. The lofty arcades of the gallery went all round the nave ; there were seven arches on each side. The windows were round-headed, and there were oculi in various places. On the wall opposite the apse are still remains of fourteenth or fifteenth century colouring, as well as on the little windows of the choir vault, and on the east side of one of the towers. The windows were all broken in 1577. The springing of the nave vault remains, showing that it was semicircular waggon, with supporting arches. Details in the apse especially suggest classical work, but the carving of the caps is twelfth-century, and the eastern excrescence has trefoil-headed panels. The door of entrance is also of this date, and the chequers and ball mouldings of the rose and other windows point to the same, though there are also details which are much later ; and, on the other hand, interlacing patterns occur which might almost be ninth-century. There is a curious obliquity in some of the nave piers, the lines not running through perpendicularly. In the exterior of the apse columns at the angles act as buttresses ; the caps are imitated from the Corinthian, and the ornamented cornice projects above each, as in the antique frieze and cornice. At S. Jacques, Beziers, the same arrangement is adopted. The upper portion THE LATER CHURCH 217 of the walls was a good deal ornamented, and there are carvings of creatures above the principal door, which was in the southern fa9ade. The mouldings had enrichments added in stucco. The church was probably built by Abbot Raymond after the Bull of Cahxtus II. in 11 19 confirmed all the property of the abbey, embodying certain remains of an earlier building most noticeable in the courses of small stones in the south wall. The quarter-round vault above the galleries was nearly as high as the nave. One of the two bell-towers was raised in the fourteenth century, and it was proposed to replace the present apse with a large choir, deambulatory, and chapels, of which only the piers and the springing of the arches remain, except in the case of the first chapel to the south. The chapter-house of the fourteenth century, two naves with pointed vaults, terminated by polygonal chapels, is now a stable. It has a round arched door of the twelfth century, flanked by a blind arch on each side. On the bases of the colonnettes are funerary inscriptions of 1270 and 1274. The present church has a nave of three bays, with side chapels and lofty transverse arches supporting a wooden roof, as at Lamourguier, Narbonne. The chancel is polygonal, of seven bays, the westerly ones being broader and having side chapels, smaller than those of the nave ; all the chapels have quadripartite ribbed vaults with bosses. On some of the walls there are traces of painting, and above the nave arcade are 28 2i8 ALEX rose windows with varied tracery. The chancel steps curve outwards into the nave, and the lofty porch and door of entrance are late fifteenth-century in style. The ruins of the abbey appear to continue beyond it. In two places the notice was stuck up/' Defense d'entrer dans le chantier," a reminiscence of the restoration, but doors yielded to a push, and no one interfered with my investigations. In the town there are to be seen sculptured corbels to wood-framed houses, a thirteenth-century house with twin round-headed windows and the arcades of its shops below, and an ancient gable built at the end of the twelfth century by Abbot Pons Amelius. QUILLAN TO PeRPIGNAN. From Quillan there is a short line running up the Aude Valley to Axat (which has been already referred to), from which place it is prolonged down the Valley of the Agly past Gaudies, St. Paul de Fenouillet, Estagel, and Espira de I'Agly to Rivesaltes, and so to Perpignan. There are a few places along this route containing things worth mention. Just beyond Axat the scenery is particularly fine : deep ravines are crossed which run up into tree-covered heights to which one looks up very steeply. The rail circles round Axat at the mouth of the Valley of the Rebenty, giving varied groupings to the picturesque units which make the place attractive. At Lapradelle there is THE GORGES OF THE AUDE 219 rather a fine castle on a hill, and at St. Paul de Fenouil- let several interesting buildings. The tower of the chapter is a picturesque building of warm-coloured GOKGES OF THIC AUDE, NEAK AXAT. stone crowned by a small dome, Renaissance in style. The church is not very imposing, though it has a tower which looks picturesque enough from a distance, with 220 QUILLAN TO PERPIGNAN an ornamental cage of ironwork crowning it, and two bells, one smaller and one larger. The tower has two stages, the lower battlemented, the upper with large scooped-out hollows and iron spikes on the corners. It has a large apse with openings above a string-course, as if for fortification, a small east window and a door below it, above the ground level, and now shut. The door of entrance is beneath a porch at the other end, but there is another on the south side now built up, on the same level as the eastward one, a very curious arrangement. In the south wall is an inscription which looks medieval. The church has a single nave with pointed arched sinkings in the walls like chapels, three bays with quadripartite vaults and stronger arches defining the bays and a semi-domical apse now filled with a late Renaissance reredos. The bosses and cornice at the springing of the vaulting are of the same period, and there are two galleries, one above the other, at the west end. I remember similar galleries at Hendaye, close to the Spanish frontier. Here and there in the town I observed some very fine marbles used for framing doors and windows in quite unimportant buildings, which therefore cannot be costly there. The vintage was officially declared to have finished on October 2, but a lot of grapes were still unpicked in the Agly Valley after that date, and Spanish vintagers were still coming across the frontier. At Estagel the old bridge was being repaired or taken down ; no one would suppose from the look of the stream that it CURIOUS CARVINGS 221 could gather enough fury to destroy such sohd masonry. A new bridge has been built farther on. In the church there is a curious holy-water basin of white marble ; the channelled foot supports a cap, with four angels' heads. In the interior are carved in relief two fishes, a shellfish, and an eel, and in the centre a flower. Similar carvings occur at Villefranche-le-Conflent — S. James's shells, an eel, and a fish, and two fishes facing each other. At S. Paul Serge, Narbonne, at the bottom of one of the holy-water basins, a frog is carved ; these, I suppose, may be taken as little jokes of the carvers for the most part, though the creatures are all appropriately inhabitants of water. At Cases de Pene a ruined castle on top of one of the barren-looking hills forms an interesting object for a long time, continuing visible as the line follows the windings of the valley. At Espira de I'Agly the church has a rather squat tower of yellowish stone, with an arcading of two, three, and two arches on the side, divided by strings, the lowest the largest. The uppermost is pierced, the other arcades are blind. This tower protected the west and north faces of the church. There is record of the rr,AN OF CHURCH, KSPIRA DK L'aGLV 222 QUILLAN TO PERPIGNAN consecration of a church here in 1130, but it appears to have been rebuilt in 1211. The plan is curious, having two apses, a very short choir, and a nave of five nearly square bays. The length is about 140 feet, the width between the piers about 27 feet. The height to the vault is about 52 feet, and to the impost about 35 feet. Along the wall longitudinal arcades spring from the engaged columns of the piers. On the south are five windows and two oculi, as well as two doors, the smaller of which probably opened into the cloister. On the east is a high window. The north, south, and east fagades have facings of black and white marble, as has the great door, which M. Brutails considers to be one of the finest in Roussillon. It bears consider- able resemblance to that at Corneilla-le-Conflent. Pyrenees Orientales. On the borders of the province, a short distance from the head of the large Etang de Leucate, lies Salses, the ancient Salsulae, so called from two salt springs which rise on the limestone slopes of Corbieres. These are known as Font Dama, which rises some two kilometres from the village, and Font Estramer, a little farther to the north. In medieval documents this latter is frequently mentioned as Font Estramera, and in an Act of 1095 as Fons Extrema {i.e., on the edge of Rous- sillon). The waters of the spring form a large pond, and then flow to the Etang by a broad canal. " Ad THE CASTLE AT SALSES 223 Salsulas " appears in ancient topographical descrip- tions among the stations of the Via Domitia, which bound Spain to France, placed thirty miles from Narbonne. Villa Salsas appears for the first time in 951. The Church of S. Stephen was consecrated in 1 1 14, and the original castle was built in the twelfth century to protect the frontier of the Counts of Rous- sillon to the north. Village and castle were razed to the ground in 1496, and in the next year a Spanish engineer named Ramirez constructed the existing fort on the site, the village being moved farther off. Seen from the railway, it looks as if in a perfect state, and an example of an interesting stage in the art of fortifi- cation. It has a rectangular plan with towers at the angles and bastions in advance of the walls — a work of the transition to preparation for cannon. Till 1866 it was kept up as a fortress, but the big cylindrical donjon is now used as a powder magazine. Its re- building was intended to form a defence for the frontier of Aragon. It was taken in 1639 by Prince Henry II., of Conde, but retaken by the Spaniards in the next year, who held it for three years. Vauban repaired it. Its last governor was a nephew of Voltaire (de la Houliere) . From Narbonne there was but one principal Roman road towards Spain. At twenty miles' distance it came to the first station. Ad Vigesimum, of which the milestone is in the museum at Narbonne. The next station is at SalsulcB, at the frontier of the 224 PYR^NfiES ORIENTALES Sordones. From there it went on to Ruscino, accord- ins: to the Theodosian tablet ; but between these two places there was a station called Comhusta. M. Alart placed this near Claira, on a road bearing the name of Cami del pou Cremat (the road of the burnt well). He has also found a hamlet called Calders, which has disappeared, in the territory of Claira. In a charter of loii, relating to the confirmation of privileges to S. Michel de Cuxa, Caldarios is mentioned after Claira. Calders also appears in charters of the thirteenth century ; and at Claira there was a family called " De Calders," whose name is found in many of the charters of the Kings of Majorca. The idea is the same — warm baths or hot springs. Ruscino Latinorum, of Pliny, continued at Ruscellio, is so met with in 80 1, in 816 as Rosciliona. It was then the chief political centre of the country. In the twelfth century it had dwindled to a village with a church, known in the ancient Acts as Castrum Ruscinonense or Rossilionense, the name Roussillon being gradually formed. The tower of Castell Rossello is the remains of a seignorial castle of the twelfth century, which was given by the owner to the town of Perpignan after 1629. It is half-way to Canet near the mouth of the Tet. Cabe- stany lies to the right, the dwelling of the great troubadour Guillem de Cabestanh, whose heart was served up to his lady, Saurimonde, by her husband, Raimond of Castell Rossello. After this place the table of Peutinger and the THE ROMAN ROAD 225 Antonine itineraries mention two names — Illiberis and Ad Stahulum. These are the same, the second being only the special name of the station at the foot of the town of Elne, which is situated on a hill. Beyond Illiberis there are no traces of Roman roads. The two places in the itineraries called Ad Centuriones and Ad Centenarium refer to a station near Collioure. From there the road continued by the Valley of Banyuls to the Col towards Juncaria, and so towards Gerona. In the early Middle Ages there seems to have been another route which went by way of Espira de I'Agly and Le Boulou ; and when the Visigothic King Wamba marched against his nephew Paul, he divided his army into three corps, which are said to have crossed the Pyrenees at three points — La Cerdagne and the two Roman roads — so that there was certainly a tradition of the existence of a second, though, no doubt, of less importance. Perpignan. At Perpignan the oval enclosure of the ramparts which used to give so individual a character to the town has been demolished towards the railway, and on the site boulevards laid out with shops and cafes, and flats for dwellings above quite in the regular French fashion. The first time we visited the place, it was a waste of brick fragments with roads and paths laid out, with a few small bridges over the watercourses, but 29 226 PERPIGNAN only dotted with buildings here and there. Of the ancient fortifications nothing survives except the castillet and the citadel, the Palace of the Kings of Majorca. These date from 1270 and 1320, at the time when Perpignan was the capital of the kingdom of Majorca and the home of a splendid Court. The castillet has long machicolations and pointed arches, and is of a rosy-red colour, much restored, railed round, and with tram-lines running close beside it. It is very difficult to realize the romantic events which have happened near to it. It was being constructed in 1368, and was altered and strengthened in the fifteenth century. The machicolations are of this date. The building is unique in France. The city lies in the plain a few miles from the Medi- terranean, on the Rivers Basse and Tet, not far from the site of the ancient town of Ruscino. The earliest records of the place date from the tenth century, and call it Villa Perpiniani, Villa de Perpiniano, and Perpinianum. In 1025 ^ church was consecrated to S. John Baptist (S. Jean le Vieux), and from the commencement of the eleventh century the town was the habitual residence of the Counts of Roussillon. In 1 172 Count Guinard died childless, and left it with the rest of his domains to the King of Aragon. In 1197 Pedro II., of Aragon, conceded to the citizens the right of electing their five consuls, and of avenging injuries received by the Commune. The definition of a citizen was a man born in Perpignan of parents HISTORY OF THE CITY 227 domiciled there, and exercising some profession or calling. Thus nobles and clerks were excluded and considered as strangers. It was raised to the rank of capital city during the continuance of the kingdom of Majorca. James I. (El Conquistador) designated his son as his heir to this kingdom, and the two counties after 1262 ; and on his death, in 1276, Roussillon and Barcelona were separated from the kingdom of Aragon. A University was founded at Perpignan in 1349, and a Consulate of the Sea in 1387, which was housed in La Loge. When Louis XL occupied Roussillon in 1462, and thirteen years later took the capital, the prosperity which had smiled on the town for two centuries vanished for ever. In 1493, Charles VIII. returned the province to Aragon. Next year Ferdinand and Isabella came to Perpignan. The Jews were expelled, and the Inquisition established, with the usual result of entirely destroying its prosperity. The castle was transformed into a citadel in 1552. The last strong enceinte was due to Philip IL, to which Vauban added a few bastions and demi-lunes after Perpignan became French by the treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659. The Bishopric of Elne had been transferred thither in 1602 by a Pontifical decision, but after the seventeenth century it was of impor- tance only as a fortress. The old church, S. Jean le Vieux, was of the eleventh century, and some remains of it still exist on the north flank of the present church, with an arch with decorated 228 PERPIGNAN mouldings finishing the nave, and a waggon-vault — a fine lofty building. It is used as a storage place for church properties, but the sacristan made no difficulty about taking me in, though he would not accept any fee. In the north wall is a pointed arch of two orders unmoulded. A door on the south side of a rather later date, with figures applied to the jambs, also belonged to this building ; but the central pier has vanished, and the figure of Christ blessing, which probably once crowned it, M. Brutail says, is encrusted in one of the walls of the tower above the choir. The sacristan told me it was in the Chapel of the Devot Crucifix, but I was not successful in finding it on any of my visits. Till the fourteenth century this was the only parish church. The Commune had no consular house, and meetings and communal elections were held in the church. The Kings of Majorca swore the privileges of the town on its altar, and it was in its cemetery that the people were convoked " in public parliament " on the nth of the Kalends of October, 1302. It was thus the centre of communal life. From 1231 the Bishops of Elne were chaplains of S. Jean, and the rebuilding was decided on by the Consuls and Bishops in consultation. A mortuary inscription, now en- crusted, on the right side of a small door of the cathe- dral, says that G. Jorda (f 1302) commenced the work of the cloister. This is the cemetery referred to above, of which only three galleries remain. The first docu- ment connected with the rebuilding of the church is PROGRESS OF THE CATHEDRAL 229 a charter of June 6, 132 1, by which the Bishop Berenger Batlle organized the workshops, and provided resources for them. Two inscriptions indicate the placing of the first stone by King Sancho of Majorca, and Bishop Berenger in 1324. In 1340 the Chapel of the Virgin was commenced which occupies the south apse. The chapels were due to bourgeois families for the most part, for the nobles preferred the other churches of the town, as being outside municipal jurisdiction. The houses which stood on part of the site were not all cleared away in 1333, and for more than a century the progress of the work is only to be traced by the constant appeals of the Bishops for funds. In 1415 the master of the work was a Catalan — Guillaume Sagrera. In 143 1 the walls of the nave and chapels had reached the springing of the vaults. An inscrip- tion of 1433 ascribes the construction of the vaults to Galcerand, Bishop of Elne at that time, and to the clergy and Consuls. In 1453 the Bishop celebrated Mass, and in 1499 ordinations were held in it. The arms of Brittany quartered with France appearing on one of the four shields above the high-altar, which indicate Charles VIII. and Anne of Brittany, suggest the completion of the vaulting about 1490. It was apparently used regularly for worship in 1504, but the consecration took place in 1509, 185 years after the placing of the first stone. The Chapter only took possession of it (jn June 9, 1510. It is a spacious building, with a broad nave of 230 PERPIGNAN seven bays, flanked by chapels, a transept and polygonal apses opening eastwards from it — the plan of many Languedocian churches. The height is nearly 90 feet, the length nearly 260 feet, the breadth of the nave about 60 feet, and that of the apse 52 feet ; for the arches across the transept converge, giving a perspective effect of greater dis- tance than really exists. The vaulting ribs have prismatic mouldings, and large bosses coloured and gilded, and the win- dow mouldings, etc., are flamboyant. The retable of the high- altar is of white marble. It was commenced in 1573. In 1624 the work stopped, and the summit was finished in wood. It is the work of a Barcelonese sculptor named Soler, and is quite Spanish in style. The retable of the south apse includes three prettily PLAN OF CATHEDRAL, PERPIGNAN. INTERIOR OF THE CATHEDRAL 231 painted panels ; that of the north apse is of wood, carved and painted, enclosing a more ancient Madonna. In the north transept is one of the end of the fifteenth century, and that in the south has httle pictures in place of the usual rehefs. The organ was put in its place in 1506, but bears the date 1504. The great painted shutters which belonged to it are now in the south chapel, into which the Porte de Bethlehem opens. The font is like a cask with a rope round it squeezing the wood inwards, carved in marble ; on the rim is an inscription in leonine verses, in which letters similar to those used at the end of the twelfth century occur. A tomb of a Bishop of Elne of 1695 still retains a traditional medieval form. Four lions support a slab upon which the effigy is carved in rehef. Outside the Porte de Bethlehem is the Chapel of the Devot Crucifix, built in 1535- 1543 to house an extraordin- arily realistic figure of Our Lord carved in 1529. On the evening of Holy Thursday the Cure of the Collegiale, followed by the Chapter and the clergy, washes its feet, knees, and side with sponges of scented water, which are afterwards distributed to the clergy and to the faithful. The chapel has a pointed waggon-vault, with supporting arches, between the springing of which segmental arches run along the walls. These are painted with a procession of figures on each side, part of the modern decoration. The chapel also con- tains other pieces of carving, etc., dating from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century. 232 PERPIGNAN The treasury used to contain an ancient wooden Byzantine coffret. On making inquiry for it, we were told that since the making of the inventories of church property there was nothing preserved in the treasury. In other places in France we have been told much the same, and the reports of the disappearance of ecclesi- astical goldsmiths' work, and other valuable objects which have appeared in the papers at intervals, suggest that the French authorities have perhaps not gone the best way to ensure the safety of some of their historical art treasures. The south-west tower has an ornamental cage of ironwork, in which is suspended a bell of 1418. The ironwork is very good, and dates from 1743. The other churches are not very remarkable. S. Jacques has a high tower of brick, bearing at the top four little domical towers, work of the fifteenth century. It is said to have a picture of the same period within, in the Chapel of Notre Dame de I'Esperance, which came from the Chapel of La Loge. It shows the Trinity surrounded by prophets, on a gold ground, and in the background the eastern half of La Loge, all that existed at that date, but I could not find it. In a side chapel, however, is a fine carved and gilded altar-piece of the fifteenth century, concerned chiefly with Madonna. The canopies have excellent flamboyant pierced work. It is Spanish in feeling and in the shape of the en- closing lines, as might be expected. There was a service in the afternoon, to which little OTHER BUILDINGS 233 girls dressed in white, and with crowns of white artificial flowers, were going, sometimes alone, some- times accompanied by their friends, I suppose connected with their first communion. S. Maria la Real was devastated at the Revolution. It is a fourteenth-century building of the usual Langue- docian type, but with the peculiarity of a high-altar at the west as well as the east end. It resembles S. Jacques in plan, the same broad, vaulted nave and side chapels opening into it with pointed arches, and the same extravagant reredoses coloured and gilded. The Carmelite church, founded in 1268, has been made into an arsenal. The cloister (i333-i342) has been re-erected in the park of Villemartin. La Loge was built by Martin of Aragon in 1397 for a Bourse de Commerce ; but not finished till 1540, as an inscription on the last stone states. It is now a cafe. The great hall on the ground floor has six- immense pointed windows, the archivolts of which rest on brackets with heads of animals. The Consulat du Mer (estabhshed in 1388), the Archives and the Record Office, were housed on the first floor, hghted by five groups of windows, united by a cordon to the arcades, with flamboyant mullions repeating the first arcade, and piers surmounted by channelled pinnacles. At the angle is a very curious weathercock representing a sixteenth-century ship in full sail. Between La Loge and the Palace of the Deputation or Tribunal is the 30 234 PERPIGNAN Mairie, rebuilt at the end of the seventeenth century. The Tribunal has an interior court with pretty windows, two lights on very slender colonnettes, with trefoil heads cut out of lintel blocks. It was built in 1448 for the local deputation, an assembly named by the Cortes of Catalonia. After Roussillon was united to France it was used by the Council of the Province. The interior has been entirely recast, but on the north fagade there are still three graceful three-light windows on the first floor, with trefoil ogival heads, the slender, hard stone colonnettes of which look almost as if they had been cast. It was restored in the last century. The cornice of La Loge is modern, and has been raised several courses above the windows, damaging the proportions. Of the houses built in Perpignan in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries only one remains — the Maison Juha. The round arch of the door has the long voussoirs which one sees in Spain, here alternately red and white. The galleried courtyard has fiat arches below, two of which, unmeddled with, rest on a strong encorbelment. Those of the upper gallery have delicate coupled colonnettes with geometrical caps, graceful in proportion and well executed. In a round- arched niche was a painted bust of S. John Baptist, which appeared to be contemporary with the house. The most sumptuous house is that in the Rue Main de Fer, built by a rich merchant of the town, Bernard Xanxo, about 15 15, in the latest Gothic style. The carved FINE MEDIEVAL HOUSES 235 portions are of a fine stone-like marble, the fagade principally brick with bossed pilasters. On the first floor are three large mullioned windows, below which runs a frieze, the subject of which may be termed " free." On the ground floor is a round-arched door with long voussoirs, and in the vestibule are two more of red marble. The rez-de-chaussee is vaulted with ribs. It is now a freemasons' lodge, and the patio has been rebuilt. There are a few other houses which are noticeable. The old Hotel d'Ortaffa is decorated with pottery, and has a well-head with Gothic mouldings. In the Rue Fabrique-de-na-Aboth is a seventeenth- century house with fine faiences in its patio, repre- senting, among figures of saints and arabesques, a criminal miraculously saved from the scaffold by S. Francis Xavier, and an extraordinary coat of arms. I have not seen this myself. Of the primitive castle where the Kings and Queens of Aragon and Majorca resided, practically nothing remains. The chapel is now an arsenal and powder magazine. It has two stories. The door of the upper one is rather Oriental in appearance, with red and white marble in alternate bands. In the jambs six slender colonnettes support simple broad voussoirs, the caps, once painted, repre- senting dragons in different positions. A great torus moulding, three times repeated, surrounds the arch. On one side is a little door of Arab style. It was used for service in 1291. On our first visit to Perpignan we chanced on a 236 PERPIGNAN solemn service in the catliedral. It was a funeral Mass, celebrated for a soldier killed in Morocco, whose body had been brought home by a cruiser. Opposite the chapel where Mass was said was a large enclosure with music stands to accommodate an orchestra of forty or fifty performers, among whom were several ladies. The organ was played softly and in tune ; the priest had a fine voice, and the lofty nave, with its sombre splendour of glass, colour, and gilding, added to the impressiveness of the service, giving it an appropriate setting. The wind and string instruments of the orchestra played solemn music while the con- cluding ceremony went forward, which consisted in the whole number of those assisting lighting tapers one by one, and carrying them to the chapel rails, where they kissed a cross embroidered on the end of a stole, blew out the taper, and put it in a bag which an acolyte held. Among the mourners was a girl not more than twelve years old, and several of the taper-bearers were boys. We noticed that very few of the men took holy water as they came out. The coffin-bearers, with their shiny top-hats (which they did not take off), looked very strange to our unaccustomed eyes. The country is charming round Perpignan, the chain of the Alberes and Mont Canigou forming a beautiful background to the luxuriant vegetation of the plain. The vines were growing fast, roses coming into blossom, great bushes of cytisus 9 or 10 feet high, and the pale reddish plumes of the tamarisk contrasting with the CONTRASTS OF WEATHER 237 fresh green of the vegetation and with the dark rich soil. A house on the way from the station dehghted us especially, entirely covered as it was with a giant wistaria in full blossom, mingled with white and yellow Banksian roses. This time the weather was delightful. As we returned in the evening from Elne, nightingales were singing in the trees by the side of the line so loudly that the rattle of the train did not drown their song. The evening glow was beautiful, and the mountains stood out against the orange sky a palish neutral blue, neither purple nor green. As we neared Perpignan, the smoke from the engines hung almost like a mist, and the glow tangled in it suffused the whole with a warm purplish tone. It is not safe, however, to count on such weather. The north wind can blow bitterly, and on more than one occasion I have suffered from its inclemency. Nor is it -only in the spring that such winds occur. My last visit to Perpignan was paid in the month of October. The first night I slept there I was badly bitten by mosquitoes. Four days later the mistral blew, and I repeated my uncomfortable spring ex- periences at Elne. The hotel-keeper, who was a Parisian, expatiated on the misery produced by this wind, which he called the " plague of the South." One wondered rather where the cold came from, for there was scarcely any snow left, even on the higher summits ; but the quality of the wind, which is the nerve-racking part of it, the Englishman is too \\cll 238 PERPIGNAN acquainted with in the north - easter of his own land. From Perpignan it is only about twenty-six miles to the Spanish frontier. The railway passes by Elne (the ancient Illiberis), Palau-del-Vidre, Argeles-sur-Mer, and Collioure (the ancient Cauco Illiberis, now a small fishing town), with an old castle and a sixteenth-century fort. Beyond this is Port Vendres, the Portus Veneris of the Romans, with a fine roadstead of 40 feet depth, and Banyuls-sur-Mer, where there is a little Roman- esque church with moulded door and two arched openings for bells in the wall above. This latter part of the route is mainly composed of tunnels, with fine glimpses of bays between. The Priory of Serrabona. We were making inquiries in the cafe at Perpignan as to the possibility of getting a carriage at Boule- ternere to take us up to the Priory of Serrabona, and were told we should have to go on foot, as the carriages did not go up from Perpignan till June i. One waiter, looking at my white hairs, said that we couldn't do it, while the other held the flattering opinion that I could do it as well as he could. I remarked that some days before I had walked from St. Bertrand de Comminges down to Montrejeau in a little over an hour, upon which the first said : " Then you must be English !" En- couraged by this opinion, we started off by an early A PRIMITIVE HOTEL 239 train for Bouleternere. On reaching it we thought we might as well get our eating done quickly, so as to have the greater part of the day free, but though there was a cafe which looked as if it could provide for thirty or forty people at once, we found that it did not assume the functions of a restaurant. We walked through the village without seeing any indication of inn or res- taurant, and at the other end came upon a kind of general shop, in front of which two men were seated on a bench. I addressed the one who seemed more important, entreating him to point out to us a place where we might obtain something to eat, and also explaining our object in visiting the place. He rose to his feet, waved his hand towards the other man, and said : " This is my cousin." We acknowledged the introduction, and he then dehvered us over to his guidance, who led us to a house without anything to mark it as different from its neighbours, which he assured us was an hotel. Under his encouragement we ascended four or five steps to a door well within the wall, for we should certainly never have dreamed of expecting to find entertainment there. The woman of the house, however, invited us to enter, and, bringing something from each of the five doors which opened into the room, provided us with an omelette, cheese, biscuits, onions, bread, and wine of the country. The plates were produced from a card-table, and she dis- appeared several times, producing some fresh delicacy each time she returned, which I fancy she had been to 240 THE PRIORY OF SERRABONA the general shop for. She spoke Catalan by preference, so we had some difficulty in communicating, but we parted on the best of terms, and she pressed a large bottle of wine upon us to refresh us on our drive. We found that we could not start until after twelve o'clock, as the horse was at work in the fields, and would not return till that hour, so we spent some time in looking about the very quaint little place. It was Friday, and a woman who had a basket full of small fish was doing a flourishing trade below the ramparts of the medieval castle, of which one tower remains, with a battlemented wall pierced by a round-arched gateway. The village lies on the side of a hill, with a church at the top. This has a vaulted roof with ribs, late thirteenth or fourteenth century, and elaborate retahlos in the Spanish taste. The ancient doorway is now in the garden of the presbytery. At the other side of the village another tower stands, near the long bridge which crosses the Boules, a stream which descends from the summits of Batere and the Pic d'Estelle, and is dangerous when in flood. Of the necessity for its length we had evidence higher up the valley, where the violence of the torrent had swept away bridge or roadway. The medieval name was Bula-terranera, and the fertile, well-irrigated soil still shows by its colour the origin of the name. It once belonged to Le Conflent, and was always under the same lords as Ille, a little lower down the Valley of the Tet. The fortifications A RUGGED ROAD 241 have seen some service, for in 1542 the village success- fully resisted an attack of the army of the Dauphin, who was besieging Perpignan. When the horse had been fed and rubbed down, we started for Serrabona, which is some six miles up the valley in the Commune of Boule d'Amont. We took a boy with us as guide, for the priory lies high up the mountain-side, and is invisible from the road. The scenery in the valley is very fine, and the variety of plants considerable. We noticed among others — olive, ancient junipers and ilex, mullein, cistus of several kinds, an unusual lavender, red peas, navelwort, several kinds of sage, etc., and the air was frequently aromatic with their scent. The road at first hugged the mountain- side, with the river in pools and rushing streams amid grey stones far below. One bridge had been washed away, and we had to descend to the bottom and ford the stream. In two or three places the road had been either washed away and mended roughly, or carried over humps of debris not yet cleared away, so that the drive was not without excitement. As we proceeded farther up the valley it broadened out, and the road ran along the bottom, so that when our guide said it was time to get out and ascend the mountain-side, our driver unharnessed his horse and prepared to spend a quiet hour or so doing nothing comfortably. As a matter of fact he told us when we returned that he had been over to a house which was in sight, and stayed there for as much as an hour when he got tired of 31 242 THE PRIORY OF SERRABONA solitude, nor did he refuse refreshment. We went nearly straight up the hillside for half an hour or so before we reached the buildings, passing some Spanish charcoal-burners who were working among the scrub. We met a detachment of them on the road back, who had plainly been to the town to buy provisions, for one of them carried an enormous round loaf over his shoulder spiked upon a stick. There seemed some doubt whether we should find the key of the church at the farm, or whether it would be an hour away, and it was a great relief to be told that it was available. The old fellow who lived there apparently bred goats, for he showed us a flock of twenty-three kids, which he had sold to the father of our little guide. He was at first very nervous about his responsibility, and told the boy he wouldn't keep the key any more, but quieted down under my assur- ance that no harm would be done to the building or any of its contents, and the production of the authorization from the Minister of Fine Arts ; and when he found that responsibility meant acquiring small douceurs, he became quite friendly, shook hands, and wanted us to drink with him ! This we thought it wise to decline, having no information as to the quality of the liquor. The structures have been a good deal deformed by their conversion into farm buildings, and the approach is through a portion of the farm and a stackyard. The exterior is bare and savage, and almost entirely without decoration except on the south side, where there are .^ _: j] j« « EXTERNAL ARCHES, PRIORY OF SERRABONA. 244 THE PRIORY OF SERRABONA traces of something like a cloister high above the ground, though there is no sign of roof on the wall west of this space, nor of any projection from the transept wall. Here, at each end of the group, is a large unmoulded arch, with impost and two groups of three arches, with a pier between, rising to the height of the crown of the big arches. The small arches have two orders, the outside one being stop-chamfered with a hollow. They originally rested on twin colonnettes, with a decided entasis, of a marble which has weathered to a beautiful golden-yellow ; the bases have claws, and the caps are finely carved. When these openings were filled up, the inner colonnettes were used to decorate the interior of the apse. Above these arches is a bracketed cornice, and there are marks of a sloping roof above the westward large arch. The ground falls precipitously almost from the foot of the walls, and there is no room for a cloister of the usual design. The space within can only be entered from the transept, but has been altered in its arrangement. It may have communicated with the inhabited portion of the priory, of which there are remains to the westward. Many Spanish Romanesque churches have such external arcading. The apse has a bracketed cornice, with stones set angle-wise between two shallow courses, and a hollow to finish beneath the tiles. The nave, transepts, and bell-tower terminate in low gables, rising well above the tiles. The tower is to the north- west of the original fagade, and has square-headed THE NARTHEX 245 window openings. The narthex appears to have been squeezed in between the church and the tower. A burial-ground occupies the space to the north. The church is entered through a round-arched door in the north wall of the narthex, enriched with mould- ings, of which the most important one bears a chequered decoration, and with shafts in the jambs and carved caps. Upon the door is a line iron bolt and ring of a rather early type of design. The narthex has been added without removing previous building, and the north wall of the nave continues across it on two great arches with imposts, quite irrespective of the carved and vaulted portion. One of these gives entrance to a west- ward passage. The curious ir- regularity of the juncture of the twelfth-century narthex with the older work appears to be caused by the desire to make the gallery fill the space above without altering the older wall. The outer arch of the westward double range is ornamented on the soffit with four-leaved rosettes (also used on some of the abacion and a portion of the reredos), a detail found at Elne, and these are re- peated on the western face of the wall round the arch, with heads of monsters as a kind of dripstone termina- PLAN OF PRIORY OF SERRABONA. 246 THE PRIORY OF SERRABONA tion a little above the abaci. This suggests that at the time the narthex was built it was external. On one of these caps is a lioness bearing considerable resem- blance to those on a cap in the narthex at Moissac. The farm buildings against the west end make in- vestigation very difficult, as there is no light except that entering by the north door. M. Vidal says there is a fine doorway there, but inaccessible. The plan (from Lenoir's " Architecture Monastique ") shows no westward door, nor does it give the curious irregularities. The narthex proper, which supports the gallery above, consists of six quadripartite vaults, each about six feet square, resting upon colonnettes of red Pyrenean marble. The western range has a pier at each end and two pairs of colonnettes within, which support three twin un- moulded arches with a sinking between them. The same arrangement is used in the two arches on the north side ; those on the south side are walled up. The rest of the colonnettes are single. The main arches are all semicircular and unmoulded, the voussoirs being long and shallow, as at Elne. The cross-ribs are faced with a roll 6 inches across, and are separate from the filling in, and without any common keystone at the juncture (again resembling Moissac in this particular), thus having no constructional value, being apparently the work of an architect who desired to follow the new fashion, but did not understand it. The bases have claws, and the lower torus is much larger than the upper. On the caps are figures of THE NARTHEX, PRIORY OF SERRABONA. 248 THE PRIORY OF SERRABONA monsters face to face, of lionesses with curled manes and tails terminating in a fiower-knop, etc., both in arrangement and detail betraying Oriental influence. The eyes, nostrils, and corners of the lips are worked with the drill, and lead is inserted in the iris, a treat- ment also found at Elne and in other places in Rous- sillon. This narthex is one of the principal curiosities of Serrabona. The east wall of the narthex is pierced by the west door of the church ; on each side of it is a round-arched arcade of two arches, unmoulded except for a hollow ornamented with the same four-pointed rosettes already noticed on the abaci. The nave has a pointed barrel- vault without supporting arches. In the south wall are two narrow-pointed windows, high up, and one square-headed ; on the north side is a later window. Just inside the west wall is a niche, and on the walls are remains of painting, among which familiar twelfth- century patterns may be recognized. From the north wall, close to the transept, a wheel of sixteen bells projects, of which several are missing. The transepts are a step above the nave ; the arms are covered with waggon-vaults, and have little apses eastwards, only marked on the exterior by the windows. The arrange- ment at Corneilla-le-Conflent is similar, but each arm of the transept has two apses. On the north side the apse is occupied by the font ; above it is a little window, now blocked, and the moulding round the springing of the vault rises over it as a hood-mould. In the INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH 249 north wall near is an aumbry. The south transept has a small window in the south wall. In the eastward apse is an altar, and opposite to it a low door into the space once lighted by the external arcade already described, the nearer portion of which was once used as a sacristy, while beyond a rough wall is a stable. The transept arches have two unmoulded orders, with a heavy impost moulding. The apse has the central window blocked, and a late one cut in the south side. A reredos has been set up at some time, composed of architectural fragments taken from other parts of the church. The abacus mouldings of the caps in the lower range are much more elaborate than any others, but the caps and colonnettes closely resemble those of the narthex, as well as the remaining portion of the arcade. The blocked window has two caps of the same kind, and shafts without entasis within the arch openings ; at each side is a portion of an arcade on a smaller scale, supported on four colonnettes, two having patterns in low-relief carved on them, which also occur at Elne. The other two have moulded caps apparently later in date. The wall surfaces between the carved portions have been roughly painted to imitate coloured marbles, and modern French coloured religious figures added. The altar and gradini are in the style of the seventeenth century, and with the shape of the three steps to the sanctuary indicate a restoration in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth centuries. At the west end is a 32 REREDOS, PRIORY OF SERRABONA. AN ANCIENT PRIORY 251 gallery above the narthex, now reached by a flight of steps from the nave, which was the monks' choir, an arrangement of Auvergnat origin, and still existing at Issoire, St. Nectaire, and Orcival, as well as in the cathedral at Vence, a very early church. In that church the complete stalls of 1455-1460, with Bishop's throne in the centre, may still be seen, and upon the lectern of a rather later date the manuscript book of anthems lies, left as it was after its last use. At Grasse also there was once a similar choir of the twelfth century. Serrabona was the most ancient priory of Augustinian Canons in the Diocese of Elne ; the Act of Foundation is dated the fifth of the Nones of March, 1082, and states that it is in the Diocese of Eulalia, Virgin and Martyr of Merida, to whom the cathedral at Elne is dedicated. The church and the surrounding buildings must have been restored and altered in the twelfth century. There was a reconsecration by Artal II., Bishop of Elne, in 1 15 1. The eleventh-century church appears to have had no aisles. In the thirteenth century the apse was demol- ished, the building lengthened eastwards, providing room for a transept, and the apse rebuilt. At this time the narthex and the southern addition were also made. An apostolical Bull of 1593 united the title and revenues of the monastery to the Chapter of the Church of Solsona in Catalonia ; this may be the date of the later alterations. 252 THE VALLEY OF THE TET AND CANIGOU The Valley of the Tet and Canigou. When I left Perpignan for Prades on the occasion of my last visit, the morning was beautiful, but breezy. During the night the hum of the mosquito had wakened me several times, and my hands and face bore traces of his handiwork, so that the wind was very welcome. The more distant serrations of the mountain silhouettes were distinct against the warm greenish tint of the sky near the horizon, pale films of a slightly purplish blue, suffused with a warmer tint, and showing in places traces of structure in rather lighter patches. Those which received side light, and were nearer, of course had their structure well defined, with bluish shadows on a warm pale ground. I noticed that the hay (the second or third crop of which was being cut) was generally tied up in big bundles in the fields, though haycocks were sometimes seen. In this valley many of the churches have towers with Moorish battlements, and the bells hung in small iron cages on the corners. Beyond Marquixanes one noticed a nice little tumble of houses down the hillside, with the church at the top, almost Italian in effect, and near here there was a ruined chapel standing solitary on a little hill, which looked as if it might have been taken bodily from the background of a medieval picture. High up against the sky is another tower, which I suspect is Marcevol, a place I wished to visit, but was unable to attain, an example of the fortified THE RAILWAY TO BOURG-MADAME 253 chapel so frequent in these border lands, with a regular barbican in front of a fine Romanesque door. As is usual, it is desecrated, and used as farm buildings. Above Villefranche there is a Hght electric railway running up the valley to Bourg-Madame, which is found very useful by the Spanish vintagers. Ordinarily respectable people are therefore obliged to go first- class, and I had in my carriage a French officer and his fiancee, who very much objected to first-class fare, but nevertheless had to pay for the luxury of being able to kiss in peace, for I looked steadfastly out of the other window, though I doubt if I should have been a restraint in any case ! The railway is a triumph of engineering, and the scenery very fine. Probably it is more impressive from the rail than it would be from the road, since the curves of the latter are looked down upon, and thus form part of the composition of line (and a very effective part). One looks dowTi into deep and rugged chasms, with water at the bottom, and up to the summits of almost overhanging cHffs (in appear- ance), and the vision rakes the projecting buttresses of the chffs, one behind the other, beyond which the long declining lines of the greater masses pale and become bluer as the distance increases. Here and there little villages are scattered down the slope, or crown isolated elevations — sometimes with the church tower as centre and head, sometimes standing isolated. One looks down upon a bewildering confusion of rock-terraces and cultivated trees, rock masses, winding paths, 254 THE VALLEY OF THE TET AND CANIGOU curving roads, and water rushing whitely over a rocky bed, or green in quiet pools ; upon the slated roofs of houses niched in the rock, upon the viaducts and tunnel-mouths of the rail itself, and upon the peasants, like ants, busy with their hay-harvest ; the whole brought together and unified by the brilliant blue of the sky, upon which white clouds sail, and the corre- sponding darker blue of the mountain-sides gradually paling and becoming more aerial as the distance increases. At Mont Louis the slope seems to be some- times as much as 60 in 220, according to a painted label, but it can scarcely be i in 4 ! The place still retains its fortifications as they were built, and they are taken so seriously that everyone is absolutely forbidden to " circulate " upon them. It was the old capital of the French Cerdagne, and I discovered nothing in it worthy of note. Above Pont Pedrousse, where many roads make complicated lines, and the buildings are well grouped, the views are specially fine. The stream runs at the bottom of the valley bounded by green on both sides, and ruined castles crown the smaller summits here and there, as well as churches. Below Olette are two well- preserved, round battlemented towers standing side by side close to the line. As the sun sank the yellow glow became mtense, making the distant violets and blues more dehcate in colour, while the force of the nearer shadows added distance to them, emphasizing portions almost as if THE LIFE OF THE PEOPLE 255 intentionally. The glow rose to the top of the hills and then to the clouds, which finally became a cold grey on a tinted ground. I was rather struck with a notice painted up at Prades : " The guardianship of public property is confided to the patriotism of every citizen." It reminded me of a somewhat similar notice at Aries in which citizens were called upon to respect the property of others, since it was the fruit of their industry and self-denial. The life of the people is always interesting. One morning I saw an old man with a donkey going into Prades, who, after exhorting him, and even pushing him on from behind, lost patience, and hit him three or four resounding blows with his stick, about the meaning of which there could be no doubt— he meant business. The donkey seemed surprised, and brayed a longish protest, but thought it wisest to take the hint. Close behind came two cartloads of peasants and sacks, probably vintagers returning to Spain (men and women), for I saw them again at Villefranche. They reminded me of Sicily, for I should think there were at least thirty in the first, a long one with two horses. As they got farther away they burst into song (male voices only), and at the distance they were it sounded quite well. Prades, a good centre for excursions, is said to be at least as old as the time of Charlemagne. At the Revolution it was the chief town of the Viguerie of THE CHURCH AT PRADES 257 Conflent. It belonged anciently to the Monastery of Grasse, near Carcassonne. At the mairie a judgment of 865 relative to this possession, and a copy of the original document, are preserved. The church is of a type which is common in the district. It is Gothic in style, with a single nave of six bays, side-chapels, and an apse ; the eastern and westernmost are rather broader than the rest. Over the sanctuary is a lierne- ribbed vault ; the chapels are sometimes quadripartite and sometimes sexpartite, while the nave vault is a pointed waggon-vault, with strengthening arches. An inscription on a stone outside the sacristy gives the date of April 27, 1749, and there is a great deal of late Renaissance work about it. The nave arcade is round- arched, with imposts on the piers, and at the west end is a big organ in a gallery, a rather imposing compo- sition. The reredoses in the side-chapels are all bad, but perhaps the great one above the high-altar is the worst. It is said to have been brought from S. Michel de Cuxa, and to be the work of a Catalan artist, Joseph Sunyer, who carved it about 1700. On the south side, not far from the apse, stands a bell-tower of Lombard type, on the west face of which the date of 535 is engraved. Some archaeologists have interpreted this to mean the year 535 of the Hegira, but the Mussulman era was never employed in Roussillon, and it is at least doubtful whether Arabic numerals were in use in the twelfth century, for this would mean a.d. 1157, a date on other grounds likely enough. It has five 33 258 THE VALLEY OF THE TET AND CANIGOU stories, and an octagonal pyramidal top crowned by two bells hung in ironwork, which M. Brutails says is modern. The base has two courses which batter, and then a bhnd arcade of two unmoulded arches on a shallow central corbel ; the next story has a pilaster strip in the centre and at the angles, with three little corbelled arches on each side ; the next a two-hght, unmoulded opening, with two central shafts with entasis one behind the other, one carved cap and abacus, and above six corbelled arches. The next story repeats this arrangement, except that the open- ings are taller ; each of these stages has a string-course of blocks set anglewise, forming what the French call dent de scie. Above these are two large arched windows of two orders, with a corbel on the central pier to support the second ; above this is plaster. The corner pilasters run from top to bottom, and at the top, which is surrounded by an iron rail, gargoyles project from the corners. In front of the church is a shady " place," with a fountain and many seats beneath the lofty trees, These seats are all of red Pyrenean marble, and show by their curved form that they have formed part of large arches. Probably they came from S. Michel de Cuxa— portions of the richly carved cloister from which have been re-erected as an arcade to the baths ; twelve columns and caps, and two angle piers, one range of nine arches, and one incomplete of four and a half. At Codalet, a short distance away, an arch, with two columns and caps, has been utihzed as the setting of the ^-^^A ^T 1 ■=• .-r-ySiri 26o THE VALLEY OF THE TET AND CANIGOU fountain. The village belonged to the abbey from the ninth century. In 1342 a charter gave the place complete municipal organization. Till a few years ago a gate belonging to the fortifications might still be seen. Many interesting buildings are within easy reach of Prades. Of these the first to be visited will probably be the Abbey of S. Michel de Cuxa in the Valley of the Ribereta, called also the River of Taurinya — anciently the Llit- era. Opposite Codalet the Font de Llitera may still be found. The valley comprises the territories of Co- dalet and Taurinya, with the abbey, founded in 878 or 879, and one of the most flourishing in the dis- trict. The Abbot was accorded episcopal honours, and had jurisdiction over fifteen parishes, of which he was tem- poral lord also. The will of Abbot Protasius (f 879) shows that it then possessed a library of thirty volumes. PLAN OF ABBEY OF S. MICHEL DE CUXA. ABBEY OF S. MICHEL DE CUXA 261 a very large one for the period. Its reputation for sanctity attracted distinguished neophytes, as, for instance, S. Pietro Orseolo, the sainted Doge of Venice, who was so carried away by the eloquence of Abbot Guarin during his visit to Venice at the end of the tenth century that he followed him hither, notwithstanding the prayers of his family and the Senate. A legend relates that he had a cell outside the convent, where he spent much time in prayer, returning to sleep within the walls. One night he found the gate shut, and could not enter, so he set himself to pray, when two angels appeared with a ladder, by the aid of which he scaled the wall ! He died in 977. Many gifts were made to the monastery by the Counts of Ronssillon, of Besalu, and Barcelona. A copy of the original donation of Count Seniofredus, made in 1267, exists. Giovanni de Medici, Archbishop of Narbonne, and afterwards Pope Clement VII. (1516), was Abbot of S. Michel de Cuxa. The monastery was moved from Exalada on the banks of the Tet, near Olette, its original site from 845 ; but after thirty years of existence in that situation a cataclysm carried the house away. Apparently the community already pos- sessed a cell at Cuxa. The monks immediately con- structed a roughly-built church, but the dedication of a second was celebrated in 953 ; yet this was not enough, and two or three years afterwards the foundations of a third church were laid, which was dedicated in 974. The monk Garcia, in a letter to Bishop Oliba written 262 THE VALLEY OF THE TET AND CANIGOU about 1040, described this church, which he was famihar with. The nave is said to be 33 cubits long, built of common blocks of stone 40 palms broad, with arches thrown across it ; then from them walls were raised and the wooden roof put on, which was remark- able for the size of the timbers and the beauty of the ornament. He calls the constructor an angel or heavenly man (" Angelus vel coelestis homo, Warinus identidem"). The width of the nave in the ruined church is about 30 feet, too broad for a Romanesque vault, and it appears to be the original construction, from its arrangement. Transverse arches support the roof in both the Dominican church and the Carmes at Perpignan ; and the same arrangement may be seen at the Church of Lamorguier at Narbonne, which now houses the architectural sculpture from the demolished walls. At a later date the side-walls at S. Michel de Cuxa were pierced, and aisles added with vaults, con- verted still later into side-chapels. The choir arches were pointed, the rest round-arched. The nave was vaulted with ribs, and in modern times with a flat brick waggon vault. There was a broad transept, with a tower at each end, one of which fell down in the winter of 1838-39. The other, though supported by a heavy sloping abutment, shows cracks in some of the window arches. The reconsecration of the high-altar in 1592 was perhaps on account of a restoration of the apse. Beyond the apse is the little church of the Creche, which looks earlier than 1040, according to M. Brutails, <'i-"*5H X & o w Q -J X O pi- -cj^ 264 THE VALLEY OF THE TET AND CANIGOU though the monk Garcia ascribed it to Abbot Ohba. He says, " Quae ad prsesepium dicitur," which seems conclusive. When we were there we made inquiries as to obtaining admission, but the proprietor was away from home, and his managing man would say nothing but " C'est ferme." M. Brutails says that it is a ring surrounding a big cylin- drical pier, covered with an annular waggon- vault, and with a small apse eastwards. A nave with a flat end was added to the north side of this circular chapel, which is vaulted with a waggon - vault big enough to allow of the centrings resting on the wall ; the masonry is very rough, and on the vaults the marks of the centrings show plainly in the thick mortar. Both the buildings are sunk in the earth and very badly lighted, so that they might be described as crypts without much error. The cloister was built of the red marble of Villefranche in the twelfth century. At the angles, and here and there along the sides, were cubical piers to give stability. The only portion of the conventual buildings remaining PLAN OF CHAPEL OF THE CRECHE, S. MICHEL DE CUXA. 34 266 THE VALLEY OF THE TET AND CANIGOU is the door of the Abbot's house, composed of carved fragments which bear a certain resemblance in style to the narthex at Serrabona. I was told by the hotel keeper at Prades (in 1909) that an American came there the year before, and bought all the ancient marbles he could find. He bought the S. Michel Arcade at the baths* and the upper part of a door, which he reconstructed in cement, and offered 6,000 francs for the door at S. Michel de Cuxa, but the proprietor wanted 10,000. How many of these carv- ings are still to be seen in the district I cannot say. In 1704, when the abbey was united to the Bishopric of Elne, nine arches were still standing. The vegetation in this valley is most luxuriant. At Prades I saw a bay-tree as high as a house. At Perpignan were great bushes of cytisus 9 or 10 feet high, and other flowering shrubs and creepers in similar proportion. Irrigation is managed most intelli- gently, full advantage being taken of the variation in the level of the ground. Wherever one goes the pleasant rushing of water accompanies one, and the sight of the splashing of the overplus, either running down walls or as little waterfalls, gives an impression of coolness. Above S. Michel, towards Taurinya, the road runs between apple-trees, which were in blossom. A tram- line on the Telfer system, in connection with iron mines above the latter place, runs to near Prades ; two chains * In 19 1 1 this arcade was still in place. DOOK AT S. MICHKI. DK CUXA. To f;u c pnn'^ ^^(>- TAURINYA 267 and two rails upon which the Httle cars travel in opposite directions, looking as if they wandered at their own sweet will. The ore with which they were loaded was dark purple. The view up the valley as we approached Taurinya was magnificent ; the great mass of the Canigou was a fine blue set off by the snow with which it was capped, and deepened by the woods with which it was partly clothed. In the middle distance the houses of Taurinya, crowned by the church tower, made a warm, reddish - purple mass, relieved by the lighter colour of the sunlight, where it caught on wall, angle, or roof. Below was a fine mass of trees bursting into leaf, beneath the shade of which we found the washerwomen plying their laborious calling. In front the road glared in the sunlight, but the ripple of water which ran down a wall by the side of the road pleasantly modified the impression of heat. Above the village are the peaks of Dels Pradells and Roch Mosquit. The church is dedicated to S. Fruc- tueux, and is mentioned in 937, while the place itself, Villa Tauriniano, appears about 845. The tower of the church is Romanesque. On two sides it has on the level of the roof one round-headed window, then one of two lights, with a central shaft and uncarved cap (partly built up), then a string-course. Then come two more two-light windows, with a central shaft and carved cap, one made into one arch without a shaft. At the top two bells are hung. The colonnettes and caps are of reddish marble, prettily carved. High 268 THE VALLEY OF THE TET AND CANIGOU above the village is a little square chapel, with an apse and one little window, which looks Romanesque ; we contented ourselves with viewing it from a distance. Villef ranche - le - Conflent is a strange little place, fitted into the gorge, with the mountain-sides rising high above the houses, and appearing at the ends of both the streets of which it mainly consists. The apparatus for working the drawbridge is still in place, and most of the later fortifications. The base of the clock-tower is now a public washing-place, but women may be seen kneeling at their washing by the gutter, using the water which runs outside their doors. The place stands at the junction of the Tet and the stream which comes down from Corneilla. A hastide was founded here in 1095 by Guillaume Raymond, Count of Cerdagne. The charter estabUshed a market, and promised the inhabitants freedom from taxes for the first two or three years ; afterwards they were only to pay " as much as they wish, or what pleased them !" It was in the territory of Corneilla-le-Conflent, and its Church of S. Jacques was always under the Augustinian priory in that place. Built in the beginning of the twelfth century, and altered and enlarged afterwards, it has two naves unequal in height and width, the wider about 30 feet across, and two Romanesque doors, one much more important than the other, both opening into the smaller nave, into which one descends by three steps. The choir is at the west end, opposite the high- altar, in the Spanish fashion — thirty stalls, with VILLEFRANCHE-LE-CONFLENT. 2/0 THE VALLEY OF THE TET AND CANIGOU fourteenth-century architectural forms. On the south side are five chapels, pointed bays without mouldings sunk in the wall, of which the two eastern are loftier. The arcade between the naves consists of four great round arches, the largest nearly 30 feet across, and the westernmost built up. The second has two orders. The eastward pier has a moulded square cap ornamented with leaves, the base also moulded, and the angles stop-chamfered. The wall of the north aisle (or nave) is pierced with five arches opening into shallow chapels, the two easternmost pointed to match those opposite. Next a round arch of two orders, with impost and door- opening ; then the baptistery, with a segmental arch and impost, and the second door with a small round arch. The pointed barrel-vaults are plastered. At the west and east ends are windows, the latter filled with bad-coloured glass ; and a little light opens at the change in height of the vaults, for the choir vaults are higher than those of the naves. There are several memorial slabs in the pavement and on the external wall of the fourteenth century. In the Chapel of S. Michel is the funerary slab of Arnal de Bardoyl (f 1263). On one of the piers of the nave are the arms of Raymond de S. Sauveur, intendant of Roussillon in 1784, the first work of the sculptor Boher, who was born at Villefranche in 1771. The smaller door has two orders : hood-mould and colonnettes in the angles, carved caps and roll with interlacing patterns upon it. The tympanum is surrounded with a moulding, and '■^- i^m f-' M' m DETAIL OF CHURCH DOOR, VI LI.KFRANCH K-LE-CON'FI.KNT. To face page 170. VILLEFRANCHE-LE-CONFLENT 271 the hinges are old. The other has five orders, two colonnettes in each angle, ornamental mouldings, and a moulding round the tympanum. The spiral channel- lings are rather overdone, and there is a curious monster seated at the springing of the arch which suggests a Japanese original. These doors are among the richest in the district. The inspiration is from Elne and Serrabona. One of the patterns of the smaller doorway occurs at Elne, and some of the caps are almost exactly like Serrabona in details. The scrolls of the ironwork are wrought to the cross pieces, not independent as at Corneilla. The bigger door is the more individual. There are in the town several houses of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. In 1263 the King ordered the construction of three bridges at Villefranche ; the bridge of S. Pierre is thought to be one of them. In early medieval times many Jews lived here. The fortifications were strengthened by Alfonso V. of Aragon (1431-1454). On the Tour du Diable the date of construction is engraved on the back of a slab, the other side of which bears an epitaph of the thirteenth century. From Villefranche we walked up to Vernet-les- Bains, because we wished to visit Corneilla-le-Conflcnt, which possesses a very interesting church. The village lies at the junction of the two Valleys of St. Vincent and Fillols, which descend directly from the Pic du Canigou. It is of considerable antiquity, the first mention of it / / / " \ / .' / ' i / / n \ \ ' H' ' ii,-. 1 / / ■ ■' ^1 f ■' \ ' .^ • \, -' V I ( \ \ ■■ \ '''■ CORNEILLA-LE-CONFLENT 273 occurring in 950. The Counts of Cerdagne had a palace in the place, which was given by Pedro IV. of Aragon in 135 1, to a priory of Augustinian Canons, founded quite near in 1095 by Guillaume Jourdain, son of Guillaume Raymond. To them the church belonged. This church, dedicated to the Virgin, is called by M. Brutails " one of the simplest churches in the district. It consists of nave and aisles, transept, central apse, and four small apses opening eastwards from the transept, which do not appear externally, and must be divined by the loopholes with which the wall is pierced in the deepest part of each apse. The nave arcade, of four bays, rests on piers of rectangular plan with simple imposts. The central apse is lighted by three round - PLAN- OF CHURCH, coRNEiLLA- hcadcd wiudows, wlth coloU" LK-COXFLENT. nettes in the jambs, and roll- mouldings above them both internally and exter- nally. The main vault is a pointed waggon-vault, with a string at its springing ; the aisle vaults also have this string, and are almost quarter-circle. The bell-tower is seated on the western bay of the south aisle, but projects beyond it. The western fagade is crenellated and divided by a string-course. 35 274 THE VALLEY OF THE TET AND CANIGOU Above it is a fair-sized window of two orders, with colonnettes and a roll-moulding above. In place of a hood-mould there is a semicircle of pale marble surrounding an arch of small blocks placed anglewise like sawteeth, an ornament also used round the apse windows beneath a corbelled, round-arched cornice. THE WEST DOOR, CORNEILLA-LE-CONFLENT. The door is richly decorated. It has five orders, with twisted and ornamented roll-mouldings ; in the angles three colonnettes with well-carved caps, bearing great resemblance to others at Elne, both in material and technique, and a carved tympanum with the Virgin and Child seated within a vesica, which is supported by two censing angels. The church stands on a plat- INTERIOR 275 form approached by steps and faced by a shady square, in which a few fine elm-trees flourish. (I found the one to the right had been cut down in 191 1.) Within, the most noticeable thing is the retable of the high- altar, a notable production of Catalan art, the work of Maitre Jacques Cascall, of Berga, who made it in 1345 and 1346. Dismantled at the time of the Revolu- tion, the panels were put up again without being properly arranged, so that the composition is confused. There are also several interesting tombs, a seated figure of the Madonna and one standing, an altar on colonnettes, and, in the belfry, a bell with inscriptions in Gothic capitals. The remains of the cloister are small and poor. It should also be noted that the ironwork of the door is characteristically Roussillonais, with many scrolls growing from straight iron bands, set between the strengthening bands and hinges, the whole chan- nelled as at Palalda, but less elaborate. My second visit was in the autumn, when there was less abundance of water than in the spring ; and I was rather amused to see the basin of one of the wall fountains occupied by two children as a play place. The afternoon was waning, and the shepherd's pipe was heard as he walked in front of the flocks he was bringing back into the village — a wise precaution, as thereby he escaped the dust which their trampling raised ! 276 S. MARTIN DU CANIGOU S. Martin du Canigou. From the Valley of the Tech one side of Mount Canigou is seen, the Valley of the Tet affords views of another side, and the subsidiary valleys run up between wide-spreading buttresses of the mountain itself on the northern side, just as from Arles-sur-Tech and Amelie-les-Bains on the south-east. It is the last of the high mountains at the eastern end of the Pyrenees (over 9,000 feet), and from its somewhat isolated posi- tion always dominates the landscape with its impres- sive mass. From the summit it is said that the view embraces a radius of one hundred miles. The valleys round and the ravines on the flanks of the mountain are said to be haunted by fairies and hobgoblins, especially the wooded Valley of Balaig just below the Xemeneya, the highest of the three crests. M. Masso- Torrents says that a shepherd pointed out to him the crossing of two ways, and said that at midnight all the witches of the Canigou met there. On the summit he met a "garde champetre," who told him that at midnight the enchantresses came out of the spring and danced the '' Sardana " round the water, while the devil made music, playing flute and tambourine on the top of a hillock near ; and that those who washed or bathed in those waters disappeared. In the village of FuUa he saw children following a poor old woman considered to be a witch, and calling derisively after her, " Go to Balaig." LEGEND OF ITS FOUNDATION 277 Upon the side of this mountain, over 3,000 feet above sea-level, just below the three peaks of the Trinitat, and backed by a precipice falling to the torrent, which bears the name of Riu Major, are the buildings of the ancient Benedictine Monastery of S. Martin du Canigou. It was founded in looi by Guifred, Count of Cerdagne. According to legends and local traditions, when the Moors entered Cerdagne, one of his nephews, without his orders, commenced the battle, and had the worst of it. The Count came to his help and beat back the Moors, but was very angry with him for his dis- obedience, and finding his nephew seeking sanctuary in the chapel of a castle called S. Marti dels Castels, killed him, though he held the Host in his arms, and in repentance for his deed founded the monastery. A more developed form of the legend states that Pope Sergius IV., to punish the sacrilege and homicide, deprived him of his states. The Count went to Rome, and on his knees begged for pardon. He was told to found the monastery and dedicate it to S. Martin. Unfortunately, historical facts make this story im- possible. The Moors were not in the Cerdagne for 150 years before the birth of Count Guifred, and there was a Church of S. Martin on the Canigou in 977. In 966 the village of Casteil (Castrum Sancti Martini) is mentioned in a will, and to the house of S. Martin other gifts were made in 1005 and 1007 ; in the latter year for the express purpose of building a Benedictine monastery. The founder was the son of Oliva, surnamed 278 S. MARTIN DU CANIGOU Cabreta, and of Ermengarde, from whom he inherited the Cerdagne. His brothers were Bernat, surnamed Taliaferro, Count of Besalu, Oliba, who was Bishop of Ansona and Abbot of Ripoll, Cuxa, and San Marti, and Berenguer, Bishop of Elne. One of his sisters, Adelaide, married a subject of Bernat, named Jean Auriol, and another, Ingilberga, was Abbess of S. Jean. He governed his states from 990-1049, married twice, and had seven children, among whom some became Bishops of Urgel, Elne, and Narbonne. Nine years after the foundation of S. Martin he gave 100,000 sols to the Viscount of Narbonne and the Marquis of Gothia, to ensure the Archbishopric of Narbonne for his son, who was then two years old ! He possessed the see for sixty-three years (1016-1079), and many crimes and rapines took place in his diocese during that period. He sold the sacred vessels to the Jews to procure 100,000 sols, which seems to have been the usual price for an important bishopric, to buy the Bishopric of Urgel for his brother. The existing Church of S. Martin was consecrated by Oliba, Bishop of Elne, two years after it was com- menced, and the Bull of Pope Sergius IV., conceding the whole monastery to him, and prescribing that the Abbots should be elected by the community, is pre- served in the Pubhc Library, Perpignan. It is dated loii. The first monks came from S. Michel de Cuxa, and were ruled by Ohba, but in 10 14 the monk Selua was elected Abbot, who built the monastery from his THE FOUNDER'S TOMB 279 own plans. The same year the Count is said to have sent envoys to Toulouse, who took the rehcs of S. Galderich from his tomb, and brought them to S. Martin. It is said that, having found the saint's tomb, they vainly tried to break it open. As a last ex- pedient they made a vow to place the relics in a very honourable place, when the tomb opened without trouble ! During droughts the Consuls of Perpignan used to send a deputation to the Abbot to ask for the loan of these relics. There were then three processions marshalled, formed of all the clergy, generally to the banks of the Tet, where an altar was prepared, but if there was no water in the river, then to the sea-shore near Ste. Marie. In 1035 Count Guifred made his will, and became a monk in the monastery, dying there in 1049. According to tradition he himself hollowed his tomb in the rock, and passed several nights in it. This hollow is in the courtyard to the right of the original entrance, the head almost tucked away beneath the wall. When he died, Abbot Miro announced his death to all the monasteries of the Order in Europe, and from most of them received a reply lauding the qualities of the departed. The replies were sewn together and kept in a roll, which was shown to visitors of rank, and when unrolled stretched to a considerable length. Twice his remains were moved — the second time into the upper church, where they occupied a tomb of Villefranche marble, surmounted by a recumbent 28o S. MARTIN DU CANIGOU effigy. In 1114 the monastery was given to the Monastery of Grasse, near Carcassonne, by the grand- son of the founder, and a dispute arose as to the monks' right to elect their Abbot ; the matter was decided against the monks of Grasse, who did not submit quietly, but, taking soldiers with them, raided S. Martin, killing one monk and wounding others on the altar steps. In the tumult the crucifix upon the altar was broken, and the sacrilegious monks departed, carrying off all they could, which they sold or gave away. In 1428-1430 earthquakes did much damage, and the tower was not rebuilt till 1433. The old design must have been followed and the old materials used, for the character of the design is quite like other Lombard-looking towers in the district, and the sum paid to Guillem Carmesso, who did the work, was but fourteen Barcelonese livres ! It is simpler than that of S. Michel de Cuxa, but has the same pilaster strips running up the centre of each side and at the angles, and the same arched corbelling defining the stories, which in this case are three. The arch of entrance was through this tower on the rez-de-chaussee (now one goes to the left to a courtyard, with a fountain in the centre on the lower level), and above it a slight pro- jection looks like a defensive work. It is really, how- ever, the apse of a chapel occupying the first floor, decorated with a few simple paintings. The tower is about 52 feet high and 26 feet square. On November 4, 1779, the community petitioned for secularization, and THE UPPER CHURCH 281 four years later obtained it. The valuables were divided among the churches of the Conflent, and the body of S. Galderich was taken to Perpignan. The tomb of the founder was taken to Casteil, but the statue has disappeared. Two embroideries are in the Hotel Cluny at Paris, and one remains at Casteil. The church has nave and aisles, west door and two small doors, and three apses. Two massive cruciform piers divide the arcade into two triple groups of columns, and there are also two columns against the apse. This upper church was dedicated to S. Martin of Tours ; a consecration took place in 1009, and another in 1026. The columns look tenth-century, with exaggerated entasis and flatly carved, trapezoidal caps. The bases are square, with the angles softened, the height being — cap, i foot 2 inches ; column, about 6 feet ; base, 4 inches ; total, 7 feet 6 inches. The central nave is about 10 feet wide and 20 feet high, the wall above the nave arcade, 2 feet 3 inches. The aisles are 6 feet 6 inches wide, and over 14 feet high ; to the south of the choir is a second aisle, with semi- circular vault. The nave was roofed with a waggon- vault, with supporting arches. Above the arches a wall is raised to weight them, with a chaining of longitudinal beams sunk in it ; there are no mouldings. The structure of the doors, with deeper voussoirs towards the top, and the Lombard decoration of apse and bell-tower, suggest Italian influence. The crypt was dedicated to the Virgin. It is less 36 282 S. MARTIN DU CANIGOU than 10 feet high, and has the pecuHarity of being 6 feet 6 inches longer than the church. There are seven piers to support the vaulting, and near the three equal apses are two heavy columns. The vaults are partly quadripartite and partly waggon, with and without supporting arches. The naked rock also comes through towards the north- east. There are scarcely any windows, and those of the smallest, and I had to wait some time before my eyes were enough accustomed to the gloom to walk about safely. The upper cloister has en- tirely disappeared, though the lower one, which is without architectural importance, re- mains, and has been carefully restored with the rest of the buildings. Its colonnettes PLAN OF CRYPT, s. MARTIN DU wcrc Cylindrical or octagonal, CANIGOU. 1 ,1 1 J and there were no arches ; at least, M. Masso-Torrents has been unable to find a single voussoir. Capitals are scattered about the neighbourhood — in chimneys at Casteil, and in the bell-tower and other parts of the church, and in houses at Vernet-les-Bains, and M. Masso-Torrents says they INCONGRUOUS ADDITIONS 283 are used in the doorways of cattle-sheds near. Alto- gether he has found twenty-one caps, eight colonnettes, and thirteen bases. At the entrance to the valley is the little chapel of S. Marti Veil, some ten minutes from the church. From above the Baths at Vernet- les-Bains the church tower stands out clearly, look- ing nearly half-way up the mountain-side, and even in its restored state matching very badly with the lawn - tennis courts, the obstacles in the steeplechase course, and other preparations for the diversion of the English visitors, who are, unfortunately, finding their way to Vernet-les- Bains, and will soon turn it into a Pau in minia- ture, destroying all the local flavour which is so attractive in these out-of-the- way places. The first time we visited the place we were mis- directed, and endeavoured to get to S. Martin from the wrong side of the river, following a path which gradually petered out, and conducted to the water-supply of tlie baths in the valley below. We thought we might PLAN OF S. MARTIN DU CANIGOU. 284 S. MARTIN DU CANIGOU perhaps be able to ford the stream a little higher up, and persevered, but some men who were at work on the other side appeared so much interested in our proceedings that we became bashful, and thought it best to retrace our steps, as we were evidently doing something which was quite unusual. Returning from S. Martin and Casteil, we tried a short cut across a field upon a slope, but suffered for it, for the field was irrigated, and it was most difficult to avoid a thorough wetting. From near this point Vernet itself — " Le Vieux Vernet " — picturesquely crowns a hill a little lower down the valley. It is a place of considerable antiquity, first mentioned in 874. The castle, which is the most prominent object, dominating the hill, is mentioned two years later, but the existing building is, of course, much less ancient. The village was given by Count Guifred and his wife Guisla to the Abbey of S. Martin in 1009. This was down by the river, where the Church of S. Saturnin (mentioned in the ninth century) was also. At the beginning of the eighteenth century all was washed away. The springs of the modern baths were discovered in 1832. The old baths were on the left bank of the river, and are first men- tioned in 1 186 ; they belonged to the monastery. We drove back to the railway at Villefranche in a very short time, our driver having his famihar beside him on the box in the shape of a fine, grave black poodle. On my second visit I found a pubhc conveyance for LE VIEUX VERNET 285 Vernet-les-Bains at Villefranche, and entered it. As far as Corneilla it was overfull with country people, and not a very pleasant place in consequence, but after that the ride could be enjoyed. I don't think I should recommend the excursion to St. Martin du Canigou to anyone who was not quite strong in heart and head. The long ascent is very trying, and for a good part of the way there is no suggestion of wall on the edge of the path, and the rock plunges down 50 feet or so. From Casteil there is an ascent of eighteen zigzags to the total height of 1,045 metres. The views down into the ravines are striking, but the usual spreading of the area of vision by ascending to a height is neutralized by the narrowness of the valley. It took me nearly an hour and a half from Le Vernet to the monastery, which they are rebuilding ; and as they are making cells I suppose there is some intention of using it again ; the church is prepared for service. The choir end has now three bays on the old columns and caps, then a tall triumphal arch, then a nave of three bays, with only two columns ; nor is there one at the back of the triumphal arch. There are no columns to the apse, but the arch has two orders, and there are no mouldings anywhere. The aisles are also barrel- vaulted, without supporting arches. The church at Le Vieux Vernet was the chapel to the castle, and forms part of the striking mass which crowns the hill. It is a queer little place, with the choir in a gallery at the west end, and a lectern in the 286 S. MARTIN DU CANIGOU centre of it. The stalls of the fifteenth century, which were brought from S. Martin, are poor things, channelled pilasters, with semicircular heads and triangular ornaments in the spandrils, panelling merely, and continued downwards as such under the chancel arch. There are two interesting things in the church — a very archaic churchyard cross, which I should not be surprised to find was late eleventh-century, and which bears a certain resemblance to some Scandi- navian wood-carving, and a painted retable with a Christ upright in the tomb, the Virgin, and several saints half-length; five panels divided by buttresses beneath low ogee foliated arches, with the spandrils pierced, late fourteenth-century. The ground has been gilded, and the structural features, the piercings and panels painted red or blue. Also a very funny marble rehef of the Crucifixion, Gothic by the shape of the shields and the lettering, as far as it could be seen, but entirely without accomplishment. The church has a pointed barrel-vault, chancel arch, and two semicircular deep niches, making the plan cruci- form. The outer door has some rough ironwork related to the Roussillon manner, and is studded all over with nails. The sHding-bolt, with its animal's head and surface ornament, is rather good. A RATHER DIRTY TOWN 287 Elne. Elne is a rather dirty town, with a good many Spanish characteristics, lying some eight miles from Perpignan towards the Spanish frontier. The line is bordered by high trees for a portion of the distance, and in these trees nightingales sing so loudly at sun- down as to be well heard above the rattle of the train. It is the ancient Illiberis, first mentioned by Athenaeus, who cites a passage of Polybius, now lost. Collioure, nine miles farther on, was Caucoliberis, and both names are thought to be Phoenician. The Via Domitia, connecting Italy with Spain, passed by Narbonne and Illiberis. It is the only route given by the Tavola Peutingeriana (iii B.C.) from Gaul to Spain, through Roussillon. In 218 B.C. Hannibal camped near Ilh- beris with his host, waiting till he had permission from the GauHsh chiefs, gathered at Ruscino, to pass through their country. Pomponius Mela calls it " Vicus," say- ing that it had once been a rich and important city. From the reign of Constantine onward it acquired the importance which Ruscino had enjoyed for 500 years, and was then called " Castrum Helenae," from his mother, who favoured the town. The modern name is a contraction from this. Here Constans, the third son of Constantine, was murdered by order of Maxen- tius in A.D. 350. The Roman town has disappeared beneath the medieval constructions, themselves scarcely more than 288 ELNE ruins, and the only antique remains discovered are a few medals, amphoras, and fragments of pottery. The Vandals arrived in 408, and the Visigoths six years later. They established themselves in Rous- sillon, and placed their capital in Toulouse, Narbonne, Barcelona, and Toledo in succession. In 718 the district was occupied by the Arabs, who held it till 760. Elne and Collioure are the only towns of the district large enough to be mentioned by the Arab geographers. The first Bishop's name known is that of Domnus, cited in 571 by the Abbot of Biclar, his contemporary, in his little chronicle. The Bishop of Elne does not appear at the Council of Agde (506), and the inference is that at that date there was none. This early bishopric was Arian. In 589, Bishop Bene- natus was present at the third Council of Toledo, when several Visigothic prelates abjured the errors of Arianism. At a later date Councils were held at Elne itself in 944, 1027, 1058, 1065, and 11 14. The Bishop of Elne became suffragan to the Archbishop of Nar- bonne. In 1019 the Canons confided the administration of their estates to the Archdeacon Uzalgar de Castelnou, who appropriated them, and his powerful family sup- ported him with arms. Bishop Raymond excom- municated them, and they were attacked by his brother, the Count of Ampurias. The Bishop returned their property to the Canons, and added other domains, also fixing their number at twenty-four. This is an ex- THE "TREUGA DOMINI" 289 ample of the violence which even Churchmen had to suffer from numbers of powerful noble families, which reached such a height towards the middle of the cen- tury that a general assembly of ecclesiastical and lay lords, held at Tulujas or Toulouges (a little place about a league from Perpignan, no longer existing), in 1041, decreed the "Treuga Domini" (the Truce of God), for the relief of the people from pillage, arson, and assas- sination. On days reserved for prayer war was for- bidden. No violence was to be committed in churches opposite to which a fortress or castle had not been built, and in cemeteries or other holy places and thirty paces around, on pain of sacrilege. Unarmed clerks, monks, nuns, and widows were to be free from attack, agricultural beasts were not to be seized for war, and the houses of peasants and clerks who were armed were not to be burnt. The breaker of these laws was to pay double the damage caused, and pass the ordeal of cold water in a church. If a murder had been com- mitted on a feast day of the truce (and they were care- ful to make them numerous), the culprit was con- demned to perpetual exile. The acts of this Council (so called because ecclesiastics took part in it) were confirmed by the Council of St. Gilles, September 4, 1042. They throw a lurid light on the condition of the people and on the lawlessness of the powerful. The upper and lower towns of Elne were both wedled in 1 155, at which time the Bishop gave the citizens a charter. The " two towns " of I^^lnc are mentioned 37 290 ELNE by historians as if they were separate. The highroad to Port Vendres now marks the division. Of the lower fortifications only one bastion remains, due to Charles V. ; of the upper, there are a tower or two and remains of three of the gates. In 1285 the town was ruined by Philippe le Hardi ; in 1334, Pedro IV. of Aragon besieged it, and, while the war-engines were attacking, dissensions broke out be- tween the citizens, the garrison, and the other troops. While they were fighting, the people hauled up a number of Aragonese by cords, who opened a gate to these outside. For a whole day the Aragonese and the citizens were fighting in the lower town, but the citadel surrendered next day, and the King of Majorca had to submit to his brother, the King of Aragon, in consequence. The greatest siege the place endured was in 1474. Louis XI. of France having occupied Roussillon in 1462, on the pretext of assisting Juan II. of Aragon against the Catalans and the King of Cas- tille, the King of Aragon raised Roussillon against the French. The siege lasted for five months and a half, and when the town was taken Louis XI. had all the officers beheaded as traitors to the King of France. In 1642 it was finally taken by the army of Louis XIII. In a document dated 917, Bishop Elmeradus states that no one had been able to find record of the conse- cration of the cathedral, and therefore reconsecrated it, the Bishops of Carcassonne, Carpentras, and Gerona being present. Projecting beyond the apse of the THE CATHEDRAL 291 existing building is a portion of a very ancient apse, apparently of tenth-century work, roofed with clumsy slabs in the manner of a semi-dome about 8 feet above the ground, with slight buttresses of large worked blocks against a wall of small, irregular stones, and pierced by a built-up window with an archivolt of white stone, which may be a portion of the crypt of this cathedral. In 1057, Ermessinde, Countess of Barcelona, made a bequest of 150 "mancussi" to the Chapter of S. Eu- lalia of Roussillon, and fifty to the Bishop ; so work was apparently going on at that time. A high-altar was dedicated in 1069. The inscription (in Gothic characters), recording that Gausfred II., Count of Roussillon, with his vassals, assisted in its construc- tion, is still preserved on the ends of the present altar. He brought the rehcs of SS. Eulaha and Julia from Merida on his return from a pilgrimage to Compostella. The tradition is that the present building was erected by Bishop Berenguer III., who was still alive in 1025 ; but the work appears to be 100 years later than that date. The plan is that frequently met with in Pro- vengal Romanesque churches— a nave of seven bays, the westernmost occupied by a gallery, and sunk be- tween the two towers, which now communicate only with the aisles, terminated by a semicircular apse lighted by two windows, between two smaller apses which terminate the aisles. On the south there is a later row of chapels, but there is no transept, 'llie 292 ELNE vault of the choir and central apse is very flat, prob- ably to allow space for a little window above the arch — a detail which frequently occurs in the architecture of the South. The elevation of the nave also resembles that of Provengal churches. There is no triforium, and a round waggon-vault starts directly above the nave arcade. At the spring- ing of the vault is a string- course which is continued as a hood-mould over the arch of the apse. In the three eastern bays the vault is flattened, in the others slightly pointed, but the sustaining arches are all slightly flattened semicir- cles. The piers are slightly out of the perpendicular, which often occurs in this part of the country, but of this there is no trace ex- ternally. Towards the west the piers and the arches of the vault do not match ; the piers are arranged for two orders, while the arches have but one. They have pilaster strips, with an impost moulding. Towards the east they have engaged columns, with caps based on the Corinthian. All have heavy, unmoulded oc- tagonal bases. PLAN OF THE CATHEDRAL, ELNE. INTERIOR OF THE CATHEDRAL 293 The nave arcade is of two orders. The north aisle has round sustaining arches and a quarter-circle vault. Along the wall runs a blind arcade, apparently an addition, since it does not correspond with the nave arcade. Towards the west the arches increase in height. This apse has one window in it. The southern apse has none, but there is an oculus in the wall above the vault. Here the aisle is narrower. In the three western bays the vault was rebuilt when the chapels were added in the fifteenth century. The earliest chapel is of the end of the thirteenth ; the third was in use between 1327 and 1341. The three to the west were finished about 1448. They have heavy carved bosses at the intersection of the vaulting ribs. At the bottom of this aisle the bell-tow^er, waggon- vaulted, originally opened both to aisle and nave with a pointed arch. On the other side is the dark Chapel of Christ, or De la Sanch, with pointed vault. Between these chapels, and projecting farther into the nave, is a fine vaulted tribune, mainly of the fifteenth century, now occupied by the organ. At one time there were altars in it. An organ, which no longer exists, is mentioned in 1420 as being in the north aisle, near the high-altar. The holy-water basin is very curious, heavy, and cylindrical, and with a large acanthus-leaf carved round it horizontally. It has nine internal llutings, and is thought to be an antique marble fragment. In the Chapel of S. Agnes are several curious paint- ings on wood and on leather, apparently of the fifteenth 294 ELNE century, and of Spanish origin, according to local tradition. A relief shows figures of ecclesiastics attend- ing the funeral of the founder. The Chapel of the Holy Sacrament contains a fourteenth-century^ sarcophagus, with the Virgin and S. John at the foot of the Cross upon the lid, and two shields charged with a grifftn, like those on the sepulchral slab of Petrus Costa in the same chapel (f 1320), perhaps the tomb of his brother, who was Bishop from 1289-1310. In the Chapel of S. James, at the end of this aisle, is a fourteenth- century carving of the Descent from the Cross, and in the sacristy is a sixteenth-century bell, with well- executed pagan subjects in relief, and a fifteenth- century reliquary of gilded wood. The ancient silver altar appears to have been a work of the fourteenth century. When sold to the Mint of Perpignan in 172 1, to be used for coinage, it brought in 10,347 livres 16 sous. The church also had carved choir-stalls of the thirteenth century set in the nave in the Spanish manner, but they and the treasure had disappeared when the Bishop's seat was moved to Perpignan in 1602. The shrines of SS. Eulaha and Juha (added as patron saint in 1320) were then deposited in S. Jean, a chapel in the transept being dedicated to them. Towards the end of the Gothic period an enlarge- ment of the cathedral was planned, with radiating chapels opening from an ambulatory made by prolong- ing the aisles, of which the foundations were laid, but the walls carried up only a few yards. The apse has THE TOWERS 295 an ornamental arcading, and bands of chequers and lozenges surround it, recalling Auvergnat work. It is buttressed by two arches. The southern tower has buttresses dated 1415, but the main building is of the second half of the twelfth century. It has four stories decorated with great arcades, and is constructed of squared stones of moderate size, each story slightly in retreat. It is probably the fortezam built in 1 140 by Bishop Udalguer, in which the inhabitants took refuge in 1285, but were massacred nevertheless. The northern smaller tower is of brick, a modern re- placement of a fifteenth-century tower. Both of them are crenellated, as is the western wall of the nave ; but below these last crenellations may be seen traces of a gable with an arcade beneath it and a window of an early form. Several of the archivolts are of black stone. The doorway is quite simple ; that in the south aisle was worked over in 1669. The beautiful cloister, said to be the most precious existing monument of Roussillonais architecture, sadly damaged at the time of the Revolution, and restored a few years since, lies to the north of the cathedral. It was built in the twelfth century, and restored in the fourteenth. The letters of an inscription on the third pier of the south gallery closely resemble those of the inscription of 11 16 at S. Gilles. De Barthelemy quotes it as complete in 1857 : ecce qvam salvtark PARiTER FRATRES HABiTARE ; but tlie letters preceding salutare are certainly not vam, and tlic piece oi 2o6 ELNE marble ends with them now. The cloister is men- tioned in a will of 1240. About 1375 it was being reconstructed, and the vaults are of this period. The plan is rhomboidal, and each face has three piers between those at the angles. Upon these piers great arches rest, beneath which are three smaller arches resting upon twin colonnettes. Towards the walks the arches have two orders, the outer one a hollow with rosettes and other ornaments. The vault is pointed, the ribs resting upon the piers and on brackets in the walls. The structural parts are of marble of Ceret — a veined white marble resembling grey cipollino — and the colonnettes are monoliths. It seems probable that the cloister was ruined in the sack of 1285. When rebuilding commenced, the west gallery was built with the debris ; the north required fresh caps and bases, and the east also. On the south and the first bay of the west the vaults only were remade. In the west gallery above the third arch from the south there are signs of alteration, and from this point the arches are shghtly larger. Part of the vaulting arches are pointed, and part not, and there are other signs of an earlier vaulting than that of the fourteenth century. The decoration, carvings, and mouldings belong to several epochs. In the south arcade sculpture and base profiles are Romanesque, in the west Romanesque mixed with Gothic, in the north Gothic only, and in the east Catalan-Gothic. The vaulting brackets in the west and north galleries are older than those in the other two. IN THE CLOISTER, CATHEDRAL, ELNE. 38 2q8 ELNE The fourteenth-century doorway into the church has alternate voussoirs of red and white marble, richly moulded ; the jambs have engaged colonnettes answer- ing to the mouldings of the archivolt, with caps of foliage, human heads, and fantastic animals. The door itself has four horizontal iron bands, with scrolls attached above and below, and ornamental nailheads. A band also surrounds each leaf, except at the bottom, and two hanging rings on a circular toothed ornament serve as handles, though there is also an upright handle and a lock. The arrangement of the door is repre- sented on one of the early carvings of the piers, sug- gesting that it is earlier than the doorway in which it is set. On the north side is a two-light window, the ground falling steeply here. Of the two other doors, one leads into the chapter-house, now used as sacristy, and the other to the street through buildings now used as Mairie. The substructures consisted of cloistral apartments, the Chapel of S. Laurence (in which there are traces of paintings), and passages from the Canons' houses, which lay to the north. There was a school connected with the cathedral at Elne in the early years of the twelfth century, held in the cloister, the teachers living in the upper story (destroyed in 1827). The communal school is now housed close by. The shafts are very varied in design — some octa- gonal, many twisted and channelled, some panelled as THE CLOISTER 290 if for the insertion of mosaic, and some carved with imbrications, interfacings, or leaf patterns, the last being of later date. All the bases have claws. A good TWIN CAPS FROM CLOISTER, CATHEDRAL, ELNE. deal of diapering appears to have been executed on the piers in the fourteenth century. There are carved bosses at the intersections of the vaulting ribs, and ANGLE OF THE CLOISTER, CATHEDRAL, ELNE. EFFIGIES AND SARCOPHAGI 301 corbels of the same period in the north and west walks, the south and east sides having subject panels from the Gospels. The Ascension goes on into the corbel above. Scripture subjects are also carved on the piers and caps of the eastern side. In the corners are im- portant corbels, figures of angels writing on books on little stands, with the Evangelists' symbols below. The carvings have been painted and lead inserted in the eyeballs. Towards the garth the arches have a simple hollow, and a corresponding cornice finishes the marble portion. Above it is now a shallow brick parapet, with a gutter of green glazed tiles below the tiled roof. The walls have been covered with cement, with distressing red lines ruled on it, and a number of interesting reliefs and epitaphs are encrusted in them — ^twenty-three inscriptions of the twelfth to the four- teenth centuries on granite or marble. In Roussillon it was the usage to collect the bones of a buried person after a time, and put them in a hollow made in a wall, closed by a small slab with epitaph, and sometimes an effigy or the representation of absolution before burial. Some of these are such slabs. Here is also an early Christian fragment with strigils, the monogram of Christ, and a laurel crown in relief, and three interest- ing sarcophagi ascribed to the sixth century by M. le Blant. Also two effigies of Bishops signed by the sculptor Raymundus de Biaya. One of them is of Guillaume J orda ( f 1 186) . His head rests on a cushion , his hands are crossed on his chest, he is fully vested, On his right hand is 302 ELNE with a mitre opening forwards his crozier ; the arms of a Httle censing angel cross it. The inscription is in six upright hnes, all terminating in the syllable " is," carved once, with converging lines from the ends of the lines of letters. Upon the cushion a pattern is carved ; the vestments have ornamented borders. The second Bishop's tomb-slab is marked by the same treatment of the draperies in many narrow folds. By his head are two censing angels ; their SIXTH-CENTURY SARCOPHAGUS, CLOISTER, ELNE. censers appear on the upper part of his arms, which are crossed. The signature runs : " R. f. hec opera de Biaa." A third tombstone, very similar, was brought from a monastery near by the French Archaeo- logical Society. It represents F. du Soler (f Decem- ber 17, 1203), and is signed by the same sculptor. The faces in all these, if not portraits, at least resemble a type common in Aragon. At Arles-sur-Tech is an effigy of much the same character, which will be LE BOULOU 303 described ; and the statues in the doorway of S. Jean le Vieux, at Perpignan, are treated in the same manner. It is a curious fact that, though the Bishop's seat is at Perpignan, he is still known as Bishop of Elne. The Valley of the Tech. From Elne a line runs up the Valley of the Tech, which is bounded on the south by the Monts Alberes. To the right one sees the imposing mass of the Canigou, which dominates the landscape in all this portion of the Pyrenees. At Le Boulou the road diverges which leads across the Col de Perthus into Spain — a road which may have been Hannibal's route across the Pyrenees, and upon which the tower called the Trophies of Pompey was possibly erected to commemorate his conquest of Spain. At Le Boulou there is a Templars' Church, in which a good deal of white marble is used, so that it is said to be built of it. Actually, however, the exterior is mainly rough-cast. The unmoulded arch of the door- way, defined by a band of ornament, rests on two colonnettes, with elegant caps showing animals affronted. At the height of the abaci is a chequered band, and they stand on an elevated base. The cornice above rests on a frieze carved with Scenes from the Nativity, itself borne by seven corbels. The Magi are costumed as late eleventh-century knights, with hoods on their heads. The Child is swaddled like a 304 THE VALLEY OF THE TECH " bambino." The subject of the bath of the Christ Child, frequently occurring among the Byzantines, but rare in the West, is represented. The bath is like an oval washtub ; the midwives kneel on either side of it. The bell-tower appears to have been restored or perhaps rebuilt. After dinner we entered a cafe, and had some con- versation with some of the men we found there. We were told that the principal produce of the district was wine, corks, and fruit — the last sent to London (!), and " very profitable." The transit occupies three days. We wished to visit the little chapel of S. Martin de Fenouillar, and made inquiries as to its position and the possibility of getting into it from some of our acquaintances at the cafe. We were assured that there would be no difficulty, that it was close by a farmhouse, and that the key was kept there. The next morning, when our carriage came, the driver said : " You won't be able to get in ;" but, fortified by the information given us the night before, we assured him that we should, and drove cheerfully away. After passing the bathing establishment on the old highway, the road diverged to the right, and soon traversed the bed of a stream. To our surprise, our coachman turned his horses along its course, and for some distance we drove in the river-bed, the water being rather over a foot deep. After a short time one of the traces broke, and the horses came to a stand- still, and quite declined to continue their course. Our S. MARTIN DE FENOUILLAR 305 driver was equal to the occasion, however. Off came his boots and socks, and with trousers rolled up as high as they would go he entered the water and led them on, getting very wet in the process. On reach- ing land he was distressed to find that one of his socks had floated down the stream, but had to reconcile himself to its loss. When we arrived at the farm, we found that our friend's information was erroneous. There was no one about the place, which appeared to have been left in charge of a little dog, who was not unfriendly, and did not object to our driver entering the house and looking for the key ; but we had to content ourselves with looking at the outside of the chapel, which adjoined the farm-buildings. This was very disappointing, as the walls and roof are covered with early medieval paintings resembling those at S. Savin, Vienna. The eastern part of the chapel is probably as early as the ninth century, documents of 844, 869, and 878 mentioning a sanctuary here, and M. Brutails thinks it is perhaps the most ancient specimen of religious architecture remaining on the soil of Roussillon. The plan is a rectangle 11 feet by 8 feet long from east to west. The walls batter from the base. There was a cell here belonging to the Benedictines of Arles-sur- Tech, and it is believed that the monks made use of a similar spring to that at the baths of Le Boulou. In a diploma of 869 confirming the possessions of the abbey the Fountain of S. Martin is formally mentioned. 39 3o6 THE VALLEY OF THE TECH From here we drove on to S. Genis des Fontaines, a very early church with a carved hntel, which is dated 1020. A Benedictine abbey was estabhshed here from Carohngian times. A diploma of Louis le Debonnaire, of 819, states that the monastery was then lately estab- lished by a pious person named Santimirius. It is said that the Normans destroyed it, but it was rebuilt in 981 under Gausfred, first Count of Roussillon, and with his help. In 1000 a synod or provin- cial Council was held here, presided over by Aymeric, Archbishop of Narbonne. In 1507 Pope Julius II. ordered that the abbey should be united to that of Montserrat Catalonia. The church m FLAN OF S. GENIS DES FONTAINES. still exists as a parish church, but the cloister is mostly built up, and serves for storehouses and cellars. The plan of the church is a Latin Cross, without aisles, nearly 70 feet long to the triumphal arch, and about 20 feet broad, the height to the imposts being the same. The apse is flanked by eastward chapels rather than apses. The nave vault is a barrel-vault, slightly pointed, and over the crossing it continues in the same direction. The nave has four bays of sunk arches in the side walls, and round arches with an impost at the crossing. S. GENIS DES FONTAINES 307 The piers of the first arch from the crossing are cut back as if they were corbels. There are no mouldings HOLY-WATER STOUP, S. GENIS DES FONTAINES. to any of the arches, and the vault is only marked by imposts on the piers. The round vault over the sanctuary is much lower than that t)f the nave. The 3o8 THE VALLEY OF THE TECH only carving within the church is a Httle upon the impost in the westernmost bay, and the holy-water stoup, which consists of a twelfth-century cap and bit of column on which the basin is placed. The altars and altar-fittings are Renaissance in style. The fagade is of Ceret marble set in rough-cast, with sepulchral slabs immured in the wall to right and left. The lintel is a rather irregularly-shaped piece of marble about 7 feet by 2 feet 4 inches. The inscription which gives the date is just below the upper border. It runs : ANNO VIDESIMO QVARTO RENNANTE ROBERTO REGE WILIELMVS GRATIA DEI ABA ISTA OPERE FIERI IVSSIT IN ONORE SANCTI GENESII QVE VOCANT FONTANAS. Gallia Christiana says positively, however, that the church was consecrated during the abbacy of Arnald Pons (1114-1153). The decoration consists of elaborate carving, the style of which has led some archaeologists to date it later than the year given by the inscription. In the centre is a seated figure of our Lord blessing, in a kind of oviform aureole supported by an angel on each side. An arcade of three horseshoe arches on each side contains figures of saints — mere dolls, lacking in both proportion, design, and execution. The in- scription runs above the arches only, giving the centre figure an importance in size and position which makes it certain that the whole of the carving is the work of the same period. The tablet is surrounded by a running pattern of foliage, which is the best part of ^ WKST DOOR, S. GENIS DES FONTAINES. To face page 30S. S. ANDRE DE S0R£DE 309 the carving, both in design and execution, and betrays a Byzantine model. The waj^ the corners are negoti- ated is particularly clever. One of the later tomb- slabs shows a border-pattern plainly suggested by this. The door itself has hinges, with long bars terminated wath scrolls in the Roussillonais manner. One of the bells in the abbatial bell-tower above the crossing is dated 145 i. The wind was high and cold, and the roads dusty, but we persevered with our programme, and drove on to S. Andre de Sorede, which possesses a lintel a good deal like that at S. Genis des Fontaines, and is the site of one of the most ancient Benedictine monas- teries in the South of France. It was founded in 814, Louis le Debonnaire took it under his protection in 830, and accorded it full and com- plete immunity, and Charles the Bald confirmed his grants in 869. The original building was probably erected on the ruins of a Roman temple by hermits. In iioo the monastery was gi\'en to that of La Grasse, that it might be reformed. In 1592 PhiHp II. of Spain asked for it to be united to that of Aries in Vallespir (Arles-sur-Tcch), which was PLAN OF S. ANDKl' DK SOREDE. 310 THE VALLEY OF THE TECH done by Clement VIII., and in its turn that was united in 1722 to the Cathedral of Perpignan. The cloister has disappeared, and of the church, which was conse- crated in 1 121, only the fagade retains its original appearance, the rest having been altered during the reign of the Renaissance. During the Middle Ages the apse was fortified. The carving on the lintel finishes with a border, the pattern of which is based upon the zigzag, but the forms of the leaves being very similar to those at S. Genis des Fontaines, the effect of the ornament closely resembles that just described. Here the lintel is shallower, the Christ is enclosed in a vesica- shaped aureole, the top and bottom of which are truncated. The arcade of horseshoe arches is lower, and the first arch to each side is occupied by a six- winged cherub. The figures of saints are half- length, and rather better carved, and the design of the capitals denotes a craftsman who is beginning to emerge from barbarism. Higher up is a win- dow with an elaborate band of ornament round the rectangular portion. Symbols of the Evangelists occupy roundels at the angles above and below, and between are four roundels with cherubs above and four angels with trumpets below, two in each. The sides have elaborate, thistle-like intertwinings between bands of flattened egg-and- tongue mould- ing. Two brackets come between the window and the door. Above the window is a blind arcade of .- WittW^.IJ INTERIOR OF S. ANDRfi 311 ten arches in couples springing from pilaster strips and bracket caps alternately. Into the central space beneath the bracket the arch of the window tympanum breaks. The interior has a lofty nave of three bays and a half, 40 or 50 feet high. The transepts have eastward apses, and the sanctuary consists of one bay and the apse. The vault is a round waggon-vault, with strengthening arches in the nave, and the crossing is a continuation of the nave-vault. The sanctuary arch has attached columns and caps carved slightly. The transepts have a second lower arch within, which ranges with the nave, and carved imposts. The arches are all unmoulded. The nave piers have columns attached to them, with carved caps a good deal perished ; but the two western piers are without columns, and have only imposts. They stand on a high base 8 or 9 feet high, with a kind of narrow aisle behind them, and transverse arches from pier to pier, some of which have keystones, and a little arch from pier to wall, something as at S. Hilaire, Poitiers. Over the chancel arch there is an oculus. There are three windows in the apse — one in each side apse, and one in each transept. The fittings are Renaissance, and there is a good deal of modern coloured decoration. The holy -water stoup is something like that at S. Genis des Fontaines, supported by a carved cap and a shaft diapered like some of the columns at 312 THE VALLEY OF THE TECH Elne ; and in the baptistery chapel is a fine Roman inscription on a base, which supported the slab of the high -altar till 1681. It dates from a.d. 239, and refers to Gordian IIL, created Csesar by the Roman Senate in 238, and proclaimed Augustus by the Pretorians after the deaths of Balbinus and Pu- pianus. On January i, 239, he renewed his tribunal power, and took the fasces at the same time. Another inscription mentions decurions, and thus suggests that the place was of importance and populous. The inscription runs : IMPCAESA"" M: ANTONIO GORDIANO INVICTOAVG P. M.TRIBVN POT . ncos P. P. DECVMANI NARBONENS Five miles up the valley from Le Boulou is Ceret, where tombs have been discovered bearing signs of remote antiquity, though mention of it commences in the ninth century. During the period of the French occupation (1641-1660) this town, with Ille in the Tet Valley, obtained franchises and liberties which other towns of Roussillon had enjoyed for centuries. It was here that the conference between representatives of France and Spain for the delimitation of the frontier in 1660 was held. In 1282 the people were allowed '*?«^--v- I CERET 313 to have four annual Consuls, who, however, had to receive investiture and take the oath between the hands of the lord or his representative. The Commune appears to have been installed in 130 1. The most remarkable thing in the place is the great bridge, which used to be considered a Roman work, springing with its mighty curve from bank to bank 70 feet or more above the water level. It was built in 1321, the cost being mainly borne by Ceret, assisted by contributions from several Communes in the upper valley. The width from abutment to abutment is full 150 feet, and the width of the roadway, which looks very narrow, 13 feet. The most imposing view is from the bed of the river. The day was delightful, and the water and sand quite warm to the feet of the waders who scrambled down the steep, bush-covered banks to obtain the point of view of the drawing. There is, of course, the usual story about the devil in connection with it. In this case a black tom-cat with a tin tied to his tail was the victim, the rattle of the tin sounding like armour, and suggesting the advent of a knight ! In the market-place is a pretty little fountain of the fourteenth century, known as the fountain of the nine jets. The west door of the church is also late fourteenth- century in a Renaissance setting. Close by are a few inscriptions let into the wall, one of which (in Catalan) gives the date 1398 for its making. The church itself is dated 1750 b\- an inscription. The interior is badly 40 314 THE VALLEY OF THE TECH painted up, but tolerably well proportioned in classic fashion. The plan is a Latin cross, with a central dome ; but two of the bells are medieval — one dated 1318, and one of the fifteenth century. The Porte du Barry has two large round towers flanking the gate, which appear to be original, but are much disfigured with rococo ornament in the style of the adjoining house. The boulevard outside is pleasant and shady, with enormous plane-trees, under which many seats are set. In the canton traditions going back to early medieval times are still current, such as fairy-tales relating to fountains, belief in miraculous cures, the preparation of medicaments at full moon, etc. The peasant still points out the gigantic horseshoe mark of the hippo- griff, the horse of Roland, and souvenirs of his doings are to be seen here and there. On the way to the station we passed a yard full of graet bundles of virgin cork, the preparation of which is one of the industries of the place. The cork is worked wet, and is cut in squares first. Men do this, and also work the machines, which deal with unusual sizes. Thirty girls or more work in a large room, tending the machines which twist the corks round as the knife moves up and down. In another yard a number of men sat at work on the string sandals which are so much worn, each astride of his bench, hammering at the closely - coiled string, which is threaded through the sole to fix it. Five miles farther up the valley, which has con- AMfiLIE LES BAINS 315 tracted and taken the name of Vallespir (" vallis aspera"), is the bathing-station of AmeHe-les-Bains, which was known as Bains d' Aries, or Bains-sur-Tech, until Queen Amelie, the Consort of Louis Philippe, took a ** cure " here in 1840. The ancient name is unknown, but portions of the Roman baths are still in use, which proves that the hot springs were known in antiquity, and the name of Arulae, which has been assigned to Arles-sur-Tech, more probably belongs to it. They were abandoned when the barbarians in- vaded the country. Charlemagne gave them to the Benedictines towards the end of the eighth century, and they were in their hands imtil the Revolution. They then became the property of the Commune, which sold them in 1813. Fortunately, the purchaser had sense enough to preserve the great hall and a smaller one adjoining with a piscina in the centre. Other substructions have been discovered near by excavation, but the interest of the place lies mainly (for the healthy) in the surroundings. The climate is very mild, and the baths are a good deal frequented even in winter. The town is situated at the conflu- ence of the Tech and the Mondony at the foot of the Fort-les-Bains, constructed in the time of Louis XIV. A dam connected with one of the bathing establish- ments is known as " Hannibal's Wall," and over it the Mondony falls in a cascade. Beyond it the wild gorge through which the stream flows has a footpath arranged which enables the pedestrian to view its 3i6 THE VALLEY OF THE TECH windings at his ease, but somewhat detracts from the wildness of the scenery. Lower down a high footbridge crosses the ravine to the mihtary hospital — the largest military thermal establishment in France — and the adjoining pleasant shady promenade. Above the fort, on the mountain-side, a splendid view of the snow- crested Canigou opens out, while far below the Tech frets and fumes in its rocky bed, and the houses of Palalda strewn on the hillside are emphasized by one or two round towers to remind one that this is a frontier district in which much fighting once took place. The way to this village lies across an ancient bridge which has been considered Roman, thrown across the foaming torrent from a rocky abutment of grey stone to one of a vivid red ; and then along the bank, where the stream spreads wide and shallow, bordered with willows and sallows. The village is a queer httle place, most of the streets being rough stairs, as at San Remo, and other towns on the Itahan Riviera, but rougher. The situation on the slopes of the hill is fine, and the two round towers which remain, and crown the confused pile of buildings, give a distinction to the mass which the church crouching beneath the rocks fails to afford. The west front is partly natural rock, not even trimmed ; the doorway is rectangular, with a roll moulding at the angle, stop-chamfered below, and an arch and tympanum above flush with the wall. Above is an oculus, with the same roll at the angle. The interior is vaulted, with a flat-arched si^-.i' %] \ ■#;-■;■.* ,' >^ 3i8 THE VALLEY OF THE TECH barrel-vault with three supporting arches and a quadri- partite ribbed vault over the sanctuary. At the west end is a choir gallery, and to the south are three chapels in the thickness of the wall apparently, as are the four to the north. All have suffered from late decoration. The altar-piece of the high-altar is Re- naissance in style, with figures in niches and an archi- tectural crowning feature with a great deal of gilding. There are only two or three little windows, so that the church is dimly lighted. Behind the altar is the sacristy, from which we saw the priest emerge to church a woman who knelt before the altar. The most interesting thing about the church is the door, which appears to have been rebuilt in the course of the last 200 years. The ironwork is applied to door- leaves of chestnut, and time has covered it with a fine brown patina. It is an excellent example of the Rous- sillon doors, and bears no less than 113 channelled volutes. The heavy rings are riveted to a half- sphere fixed on to the wood by a flat circle pierced with holes. A number of horseshoes are nailed on in blank spaces. There is a door at Belpuig very hke it. They probably date from the thirteenth century. The two leaves of the door are generally designed separately, and do not exactly match as in this case. Palalda is a contrac- tion of Palatium Dani, and the village appears to date from very early times, since Celtiberian medals have been found here. On the mountain we found box growing wild to some liOOK ol THI'; ( IICKCII, l'AI.\l.|)\. 'I'll faci; page 31 £ ARLES-SUR-TECH 319 size, a large flowering lavender, a broom with the growth of furze, cistus, several sages, and other aromatic plants, which filled the air with fragrance. Round about Amelie, and specially on the road to Ceret, which runs beneath the pleasant shade of an avenue of trees for a considerable distance, many of the houses have outside stairs, with vine pergolas shading them and the terraces to which they lead, reminding one of similar houses seen in Italy in previous years. A couple of miles or so farther up the valley lies Arles-sur-Tech, a quaint little town in which it is said that the Catalonian manners and customs, including the characteristic dances, are preserved better than anywhere else in this part of the French Pyrenees. It appears to have owed its foundation to a Benedictine abbey established here in ']']'^. Tlie Church of S. Marie was not finished when it was consecrated in 1046 or 1048, and a second consecration took place in 1157, at which Berenger, Archbishop of Narbonne, officiated, assisted by Artal, the Bishop of the diocese, and the Bishops of Gerona, Barcelona, and Vich. It has a nave of five bays, vaulted with a pointed barrel-vault, through which round - headed windows are pierced. The height of the nave is 55 feet, and the length about 145 feet. The nave arcade has tall round arches, with imposts, but no other moulding but the string-course at the starting of the vault. A second lower row of round arches belonging to the aisles has a second impost going half across the pier — a very extraordinary THE CHURCH 321 arrangement which has been explained as the result of the later vaulting of the nave, the second half of the piers having been added at that time by way of buttress. Over the sanctuary is a small bay of a height between that of the nave and of the aisles, the string at the springing of the vault being omitted. The arch of the apse has two orders, and the choir is now arranged behind the high-altar. The south aisle terminates in a small apse, the high round arch of which is level with the sanctuary arch, and also has two orders. The aisles are vaulted with a round barrel-vault. In the south aisle are two big chapels with unmoulded round arches, and impost mouldings on the piers, but with quadripartite ribbed vaulting and an uncarved central boss. They are lighted by pointed traceried windows. The north aisle has a square-ended apse, with a round barrel-vault, becoming pointed beyond the sanctuary arch. Here are three chapels with pointed arches, imposts, and vaults like the other side, and with oculi in the north wall beneath the vault. At the west end is an organ gallery, and the piers are decorated with various rehefs, partly gilded. Among the subjects are the Ascension, the Coronation of the Virgin, the Resur- rection, Crucifixion, and Adoration of the Kings ; the Annunciation, Pentecost, and Madonna, with two monk-saints in three rows ; and the Nativity. There has been a good deal of Renaissance alteration in the fittings. The chapel next the door in the south aisle is dedi- 41 322 THE VALLEY OF THE TECH cated to SS. Abdon and Sennen, and has a large gilded and carved reredos dated 1640. Another of rather earlier date is in one of the other chapels. The reli- quaries of the saints are behind a sliding panel in this seventeenth - century reredos. The priest hghted candles and put on a surplice before showing them to us, for their exposition is considered to be a religious act, and several peasants who were in the church came and knelt before the altar. The reliquaries are of silver parcel gilt, with the faces painted, and look like work of late fourteenth-century goldsmiths. Tradition asserts that they were the gift of a King of Aragon, but tradition does not agree with documentary evidence, for by the inscriptions on the bases they are proved to be the work of Michel Alerigues, goldsmith of Per- pignan, and to have been paid for by the Confra- ternity of the Saints, Abdon in 1425, and Sennen in 1440. Above, in a painted shrine, are the greater relics, which are carried in procession round the town on July 13 or 14. The church has the peculiarity of having the apse turned westward, so that, though I have described it in the usual way in relation to the choir and apses to avoid confusion, the points of the compass must be understood as reversed. The fagade is of the eleventh century. The lintel is of a gabled form, with two A's upon it, and an A and Q, with a consecration cross apparently in a semicircle. Above it, set in a tympanum of plaster, is an early cross with our Lord in a vesica in the middle, and the THE FACADE 323 symbols of the Evangelists in circles on the arms. The ornamented hood-mould is of the twelfth century ; on each side are small reliefs of lions with victims, much deteriorated. Above is a small round-headed window surrounded by a band of fiat ornament which looks earlier. An unmoulded, shallow, round-arched arcading, with the base-line about on a level with the little window, runs across the fagade, cut into by a seventeenth-century window in each aisle. In the gable is another band of arcading, with colonnettes and caps, two on each side, the space in the centre occupied by a great modern pointed window, with a Renaissance cornice above it. On a shaft of one of these arches to the right are cut the names of Amehus Maurellus and Clodesindus, monks, who are supposed to have built the fagade. Against a wall at right angles to this fagade, on the left, is a curious figure of the early thirteenth century (for on the slab with the Divine hand is the epitaph of Guihaume Gaucelme, Knight, of Taillet, who died in 1210 or 1211), with arms crossed on the chest, and hair and drapery expressed by parallel lines. Above it is a cross with the hand of God upon it and an inscrip- tion, and at each side a praying or adoring angel, the whole arranged as a Latin cross, and the technique resembling figures in the cloister at Elne already described. Below it is a sarcophagus attributed to the fifth century, which appears to secrete water. The priest told us tliat lie had seen the water drawn off, 324 THE VALLEY OF THE TECH and that some people say that it is miraculous. As to that he expressed no opinion, but that the water ap- peared in the sarcophagus, which is isolated from the wall and raised above the ground, is indubitable. The amount has been ascertained to be not less than 300 litres per annum. An episcopal decree of late years has prohibited the use of the Uquid, to which supernatural curative properties were ascribed, but again the priest told us that cures had been affected to his knowledge, probably in the same manner as the cures at Lourdes. At S. Seurin, Bordeaux, is a sarco- phagus which fills with water in the same way, and another at Dax. The central apse has a pointed window cut into the arcading which decorated it externally. The bell- tower is square, to the right of the choir. Its round- headed windows have engaged colonnettes. The cloisters are entered from the left aisle. The arcade is of pointed arches, with simple mouldings supported on slender coupled columns. It was built by Abbot Raymond Desbac, who died in 1286 ; his epitaph says, FECIT CLAUSTRAM. It was commenced in 1261, but looks 100 years older. The buildings round it are now inhabited by the poorer classes, and the walks are alive with children, the central garden being defended with wire netting. Many medieval mortuary inscriptions are encrusted in the walls both of S. Marie and S. Sauveur, the other important church, as well as in walls elsewhere. At the latter church there is a strange NARBONNE 325 bell-tower, with openings at the top which look almost like casemates. Below are two two-light window?^, with round arches and central colonnette, the cap being uncarved, and the rest of the surface absolutely plain. It has an eleventh-centur}' bell in the belfry, and on the top are two bells hung in ornamental iron- work, as at the Cathedral of Perpignan and other churches in the district. A little farther up the valley the scenery becomes very wild, and here one meets women bending beneath huge bundles of wood which they have cut and gathered from the mountains. The stream foams against the rocks which obstruct its course, and seems to threaten to destroy the frail bridges which are thrown across it even when the river is not in flood. About half an hour away is a gorge in the limestone rock nearly a mile long, known as the Gorge de la Fou, where the torrent dashes through a narrow channel at the bottom of a rocky chasm 525 feet high, and but 16 feet wide. Narbonne. Narbo was a flourishing town as early as the fifth century B.C. It was the capital of the Voices Tecto- sages, and appears to owe its name to the Phoenicians, who created the port. After the Roman conquest it became the administrative centre, and the adjective " Martins " was added to its name, because of the industry of purple dyeing which was carried on there, ROMAN ROADS 327 the colour being sacred to Mars. The Gaulish town, increased by a Roman colony in 116 B.C., was sur- rounded by lagoons, at the bottom of a gulf which was silting up. By turning a branch of the Aude into it the channel was scoured, and it remained an important maritime town till the fourteenth century. It gave its name to Gallia Narbonensis, and occupied a rising ground, of which part only was enclosed in the walls hastily thrown up in the fifth century a.d. The city is traversed by the Domitian Way, which came from Beziers by the Etang de Capestang to a bridge named Pont Serme, the boundary of the Com- mune of Narbonne. Making an angle here, it went straight to the city, crossed the broad arm of the Aude by a bridge of which the archaeologists of the last century said they had seen the remains at very low water, and several dead arms by other structures which are still recognizable. The milestones, or rather pillars, to indicate the road during flood are to be seen in the fields which border the road, showing that it was 30 Roman feet broad. It passed in front of the Hotel de Ville, where it has been explored, and the pave- ment found 8 feet below the modern level. The stones are polygonal, about a foot thick, and with deep ruts worn in them. The drain which ran down the middle beneath the paving has been again made serviceable. It then passed over a bridge of seven arches, which still exists. The first Acts mentioning it call it Pons Vetus ; afterwards it is called Pons Mercatoruin, l)e- 328 NARBONNE cause shops had been built upon it after the bed of the river had been narrowed. The width of the one free arch, shown in the illustration (beneath which the Canal de la Robine passes), appears to have been 14 T CANAL DE LA ROBINE AND ROMAN BRIDGE, NARBONNE. or 15 feet. The others are now cellars to houses built in the bed of the river. In 1879 excavations discovered the base of a temple of Jupiter, which had been in the capitol. Of the many fine buildings of the Roman city, the only remains are the architectural fragments DIVISIONS OF THE CITY 329 in the Musee Lamourguier, found when the fifth-cen- tury walls were demolished in 1872. Among these is an inscription proving that in ancient Narbonne there was a tavern with the sign of the Gallic cock. The Visigoths established themselves in Narbonne in 413, and retained possession of the city till 719, when it was taken by the Saracens after a siege of two years. The fortifications were then strengthened still further to such purpose that Charles Martel failed to take it, and Pepin's troops only entered in 759 through treason. In 817, under Charlemagne, Narbonne became the capital of Septimania, or Gothia, and was divided into three parts. The first, the Cite, remained the Arch- bishop's ; the second, the Bourg, was given to the Viscounts (who were hereditary from 878) ; the third, called Villeneuve, was abandoned to the Jews, who governed themselves, built synagogues, and opened schools. Their University was famous in the Middle Ages. The cathedral and the adjoining portions of the Knoll occupy the site of the Cite. The rest is still called Mont Judaique. The Jews were driven out of Narbonne by successive edicts of Philippe le Bel, and this was one of the principal causes of the decay of the town. Further, in consequence of the bursting of a dam in 1320, the branch of the Aude took its old course, and the port silted up. Narbonne had its own Viscounts at one time, sub- sequently belonging to the Counts of Auvergne and of Toulouse, with the remainder of whose domains it 42 330 NARBONNE passed to the Crown of France in 1507. The Con- sulate of Narbonne appears for the first time in 1226. In tlie year before the city concluded a treaty with Savona, and the Viscount and the Archbishop appear in it, and also the people represented by a syndic. After 1226 the Consuls are always parties to treaties. The Cathedral of S. Just was commenced in 1272 by Archbishop Maurin. The year before Gregory X. granted indulgences for its reconstruction. In 1289, Nicholas IV. accorded similar favours to those who visited the Chapel of S. Pierre, then newly built. It was in this chapel that Archbishop Maurin had laid the first stone. The choir was commenced under Gilles Aycelin, Archbishop 1290-1311. The Archbishop had to overcome the opposition of the Canons to the chosen site, and did so by the arbitration of Bertrand de ITsle, Bishop of Toulouse, who commenced the reconstruc- tion of his cathedral the same year. The two buildings so closely resemble each other in plan that they are probably due to the same architect. At Narbonne the work progressed more rapidly than at Toulouse, and about 1340 the choir was finished. The eastern walls of the transepts, which were flanked by two square towers, half bell-towers, half donjons, were added about 1480. At the end of the fifteenth century work was stopped. A nave was commenced between 1703 and 1719, but never completed. The style of the choir is advanced, and if those of the cathedral at Toulouse and Notre Dame de Rodez, commenced in 1273, and THE CATHEDRAL 331 imitated from it, were not known, it would be thought to be late fourteenth-century. There is also consider- able resemblance to the Cathedrals of Clermont and Limoges. The lofty arcades, the practical absence of capitals and sculpture, the small importance of the triforium, and the equality in the size of the chapels, are all points of likeness, as are the almost horizontal roofing-slabs of the aisles, which at Narbonne are covered with drawings of details and settings-out. The structure is about 180 feet long, and the height to the vaulting is 130 feet. Only Beauvais and Amiens among French cathedrals are more lofty. The chapels and aisles are 65 feet high. The chapels are polygonal apses, and continue down the sides ; it was intended to have them all along the nave. The lines of the tracery of some of the windows are flam- boyant, though the type of the mouldings is much earher. The upper windows do not fill the whole space between the vaulting ribs, perhaps for fear of the strain of the high winds of Languedoc. Outside, the chemin de ronde of the flying buttresses, with the arches which support it, give a special character to the apse ; it communicated with the Archbishop's Palace close by. There is very little glass, except fourteenth-century grisailles, but that is very good. The choir-screen of that period has been modified by the insertion of tombs in it, but these are themselves among the artistic treasures of the cathedral. There is a good sixteenth - century carved door into the 332 NARBONNE sacristy, a holy sepulchre of the same period, and a fifteenth-century alabaster statue of the Virgin. A wrought-iron lectern, a folding seat, and a lamp-stand, are good examples of seventeenth-century iron-work. Above the door to the treasury hangs a very fine tapestry in good preservation, but rather dusty. The subject is the Trinity in Creation in the centre, and probably Paradise figures below — at all events, Adam and Eve are there in juxtaposition to richly clothed Kings, etc. ; and above are nude figures, indicating the Resurrection. The treasury contains a number of very interesting things — a small Moorish casket, which looks tenth-century, and is beautifully carved in ivory. It bears an Arabic inscription, which has been translated : " Blessing of God — made in the town of Cuenca for the collection of Hadjeb Kaid of thelsmael Cayds." A medieval ivory of the Crucifixion, with scenes of the Passion below and an Ascension above, is probably of the twelfth century, or perhaps rather earlier. There are also several beautifully written manuscripts — Gospel books, Pontificals, and anti- phonaries. One of them, by the form of the figured arcades which enclose its calendar, may be of the ninth or tenth century. It is not so good as some we have in England, though. Two others of the fourteenth century are interesting, and a note on the first page of one of them states that it was executed by Pierre de la Jugie about 1350. The miniatures are very delicate. Other objects are a thirteenth- THE TREASURY 333 century pectoral cross, with filigree and stones, the trefoil ends opening to enclose relics ; an archiepiscopal cross, which belonged to the reformer of the Trappists, with insets of small glass roundels, beneath which were relics ; and three portable altars — one of green por- phyry set in metal, which bears an inscription dated 1270 (this is said to have been sent by the Pope to be placed on the altar at the first celebration beneath the new vaults after the rebuilding of the cathedral) ; one of Italian marble, with an incised pattern filled in with black mastic ; and one of Dead Sea bitumen, with incised border and roundels. These two are apparently of the fourteenth century. There are other later tapestries, said to have been presented by Richard Cromwell, a pallium of white wool with black crosses, and a curious manuscript of the eighteenth century, written by the nieces of the Archbishop Le Goux de la Berchere (who tried to complete the cathedral)— a souvenir of Gothic work. Between the cathedral and the Archbishop's palace is a little cloister, fifteenth - century in character, though it was in hand from 1361 to after 1417, and the design must have been settled from the beginning. The arches are without traceries. The chapter-house (of the same period) is entered from the eastern gallery. Close to it is a Romanesque tower of twin bays, the only remains of the former cathedral. The Archbishop's palace was the strongest and best- defended ecclesiastical residence in France, except the 334 NARBONNE Papal Palace at Avignon. Between the two principal towers of 1318 and 1374 Viollet-le-Duc built the Hotel de Ville. Most of the dwelling-rooms were restored in the seventeenth century, but the refectory of the fifteenth and sixteenth contains an early Renaissance lavaho. The mu- seum is housed in this building. The Church of S. Paul Serge is finer inside than out, but is very interesting historically. It was built upon an antique ceme- tery which bordered the Via Domitia. The Christian sarco- phagi preserved in the western porch, and the inscription of the seventh century on the tomb of the priest Adroarius, came from this cemetery, which was in use until the Revolution. The Hotel Dieu, adjoining the church, now occupies the greater part of the site. The earliest mention of the abbey occurs in the year 782, when Count Milon, who had usurped its property, was compelled to restore it. It is described as outside the ramparts, beyond the bridge over the Aude, in the place called " Ad Albolas." In 911, Arnould, Archbishop of Narbonne, gave the PLAN OF S. PAUL SERGE, NARBONNE. .-3. I'AUL .ShK(,l., .NAK);(K\M., IKOM M'.AK II 1( ill AI. 1 AK. To f:icc pnKc i^. S. PAUL SERGE 335 Churches of S. Amans and S. Baudille at Bizanet to the Abbot Savari. There is nothing of so early a date in the existing church, however, though three Caro- hngian inscriptions are stated to have been in tlie primitive building. The most ancient bays of the nave appear to be of the last quarter of the twelfth century, though perhaps the north-west pier of the crossing may be rather earlier. The work of recon- struction must have been finished by 1185, for in that year Abbot Imbert was buried in the choir. At the beginning of the thirteenth century the two eastern bays were restored, their triforium was transformed and continued in the transept, and the fifth chapel added in the north aisle. Later in the century Abbot Roubaud rebuilt the apse, with deambulatory and chapels, though the twelfth - century choir was as broad as the Gothic apse, the first stone being laid in January, 1224, in presence of the Consuls of the city. It was finished in 1265, when the sarcophagus of S. Paul was moved into one of the radiating chapels. After the middle of the fourteenth century these relics were placed between the pillars of the high-altar. In 1368 there was a great fire, and the nave vaults fell. When the damage was repaired, two western bays and a porch were added, as well as several lateral chapels, the work not being finished till the fifteenth century. Other additions were made in the sixteenth and eighteenth, mostly outside ; and in 1827 the strutting arches were inserted m the nave, the piers of 336 NARBONNE which resemble those of Norman churches, but with impost mouldings only. One pier has clustered shafts, with fine Romanesque caps. The choir and transepts have curious galleries of communication, going all round the exterior wall above the chapels, and also round the choir, the vault of the deambulatory rising above them, and continuing as triforium down the nave. The architect of this portion of the building, conceiving it in 1224, comes third in historical sequence of those who made use of the expedient : 'the first examples of such treatment are at Bourges and Le Mans. S. Paul Serge is earlier than either Beauvais or Coutances. The second gallery between the choir and the deambulatory is the most original arrangement. A restoration of the triforium galleries was carried out in 1906. The total length is now nearly 270 feet, including the porch. On the west wall is an organ case, the lower part of which is Renaissance and the upper portion late Gothic. The high-altar is Renaissance, the stalls late fourteenth or fifteenth century, and there are doors of the period of Frangois L fixed to the wall on the north side of the choir. In the carving of the eastern end strong classic influence is evident, notwithstand- ing its date, going so far in some instances as the copying of well-known details. The north gallery of the Romanesque cloister has been made into a sacristy. It consists of an arcade of six arches, resting on colonnettes, with moulded A FUNERAL MASS 337 bases and uncarved caps, while beyond an arch which gives entrance to a writing-room are two more. On the opposite side is a large arch over the tomb of an unidentified Archbishop, attended by nine small figures of Bishops. The carving of the archivolt is very fine and rich, reminding one of Poitou, though the sarco- phagus is unornamented. To the right one carved cap remains. To the left is a smaller arch, with carved hood-mould. There are a few tapestries in the church, " verdure "-Hke things with figures, dated 1696, and a good deal of modern decoration and stained glass. The first time we entered the church a funeral Mass was going on — the cofiin covered with a white pall, with a black cross on each side and end, two tapers on each side, and a black cross standing at the end away from the altar. Besides the mourners, other figures knelt in the darker parts of the aisles, and the lofty proportions of the fine interior gave additional dignity and solemnity to a service which is always impressive. The museum of architectural sculpture is housed in the desecrated Church of Lamourguier, a name which signifies the monastery. The building dates from the twelfth century, and has transverse arches supporting the roof timbers (one of which fell down the other day) . The principal part of its contents is classical, but there is also a series of Romanesque and Gothic caps. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries Narbonne extended its commercial relations, and in 1165 made an alliance with Genoa. It had the good-fortune to 43 338 NARBONNE escape the Albigensian wars, owing to the Legate Arnaud Amaury getting himself elected Archbishop in I2I2. He then called himself Viscount, but was not able to defend this title against Simon de Montfort, who received investiture of it from Philip Augustus, as well as the County of Toulouse. It was in Narbonne that the plot of Cinq Mars was discovered, when Louis XI I L and Richelieu were together in the town during the siege of Perpignan in 1642. According to tradition, Narbonne was Christianized by Sergius Paulus, a disciple of S. Paul. The Archbishops were primates of Gallia Narbonensis, and presidents of the Etats de Languedoc from the end of the thirteenth century. The archbishopric was suppressed in 1790, and the title of Archbishop of Narbonne and Primate is now attached to the Archbishopric of Toulouse, though Narbonne is part of the diocese of Carcassonne. S. Sebastian was a native of the city, as were several Emperors of the third century. We had here an example of the memory of the waiters, which shows that they are as well endowed in France in that particular as in Italy. On our first visit we only stayed a day in our hotel, but on returning next year the landlord greeted us as old friends, and the waiter who had waited on us brought a bottle of red wine and set it on the table by me, and a white one by my companion. I said : " No ; that isn't right !" " Ah !" he replied ; " I remembered that one took red wine and one white, but I couldn't remember NORlll AISLK :«Kr 33"- THE WAITERS' MEMORY 339 which !" At Perpignan the same year we went into the hotel where we had stayed before to dejeuner. After a time an oldish waiter came up to me, and said, " I beg your pardon, sir, but weren't you here last year ?" I said, " Yes," upon which he slapped his thigh in great delight. " Ah !" said he ; "I betted with that waiter over there that you were. He said you hadn't been here before." B^ZIERS. Beziers lies some fifteen miles east of Narbonne on the Orb, about eight miles from its mouth, and crowns a hill from the summit of which the Cathedral of S. Nazaire dominates the landscape. A town of Celtiberian origin, it was the capital of the Biterri, and was colonized by the Romans under the name of Beterrae Septimanorum. From that time onward it has been celebrated for its wines, which still find a good market, and also has a large trade in brandy. It is no uncommon sight to see the grapes being brought into the town in large, vat-shaped casks, to be manu- factured into wane indoors, and sometimes the wine- press is taken into the vineyards, and the juice ex- pressed there. While the vintage is proceeding, some parts of the town smell quite sour with the wine lees. In the Middle Ages, after having had feudal lords of its own, it became one of the fortresses of the Count I I i!/^* "^^'"^'^ - £ '■• J THE CATHEDRAL 34i of Carcassonne, and was therefore besieged by Simon de Montfort during the Albigensian war. Its capture was one of the most terrible incidents in that orgy of blood and greed, and it was by consent of the legate Amaud Amaury that the sack took place. On July 29, 1209, nearly all the inhabitants were massacred, the victims on the most moderate calculation reaching 20,000, and the city did not fully recover the blow struck in the sacred name of religion till our own days. Paul Riquet, the constructor of the Canal du Midi, was a native of Beziers, and the town has honoured her son by erecting a statue to him, and naming the principal promenade of the city after him. The canal crosses the Orb by an aqueduct bridge beyond the railway, and there is a medieval bridge 245 feet long of the thirteenth or fourteenth century, as well as one of a more modern date. The bishopric is said to have been founded in the third century by S. Aphrodisius, and names of Bishops are knowTi in the fifth. It was suppressed in 1790. In the middle of the eighth century the episcopal seat was transferred from S. Aphrodise to S. Nazaire. Gifts were made to the church in 889, 977 or 982, and 1 130, but the general character of the building is of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. It is 72 feet high, 155 feet long, and 42 feet broad. The transepts and part of the nave are of the best pointed period, and the two western bays and the choir of the lourtrcnlh 342 BEZIERS century, but still unfinished at the beginning of the sixteenth. In the Albigensian war (1209) the cathe- dral was burnt, and the vault split in two. The great tower was built in 1354, on a Romanesque base. Only two statues are left, one on each side of the great door, the Synagogue and the Gospel, but the apse buttresses have well carved ornament. To the south is a charming cloister of the fourteenth century, never completed, and with diftering propor- tions in each walk. The vaxilts consequently vary. It is now used as a lapidary museum. The sacristy and the chapel of the third order beneath it were built by William de Montjoie (whose arms appear upon both) in 1443. There is also a late fourteenth -century chapel to the south of the nave. Attached to the north transept is a large chapel which serves as parish church. The fa9ade is flanked by two little crenellated towers, and pierced by a fine rose-window. All the building was fortified, even the transept and the rectangular portion of the choir, which are said to go back to the twelfth century, which seems possible, since the iron- work of the windows is of the same pattern as the earliest screens at Chichester. The principal bell- tower to the left of the choir is about 150 feet high. The fourteenth -century windows are said to be fine, but are hidden inside by a great rococo retable made by Genoese artists in the eighteenth century. The baptistery is of the same date, and uses fine Langue- docian marbles, but one could wish that the Bishop , ps^^^M.:M\ }[ \E> 344 BEZIERS who ordered the work and was buried near the altar in 17 15 had Umited his gifts to providing his tomb. S. Aphrodise was the ancient cathedral, and dates from the eleventh century, having been altered and restored in the fourteenth. There is no carving about it except chequer billet mouldings. The nave is of six bays, with round unmoulded arches and imposts to the piers ; vaulted at a later date, as were the narrow aisles, since they are partly quadripartite with ribs. The side chapels were added in the fourteenth century, as was the apsidal choir. Round the chancel arch runs a curious kind of corbel moulding, and there is a pretty rose-window in the west wall of the nave. The crypt is early, and e'ncloses an antique marble sarcophagus with a mythological subject. Under the organ is another serving as a font, shut into a cupboard of carved wood. The church is entered through a kind of open- air vestibule by an arch under a house. La Madeleine is also of the eleventh century, altered in the eighteenth, and retains a fine Romanesque cornice recalling the antique, well-designed and sharply cut. Round the polygonal apsidal end are antefixes at each rib, made of pieces of ninth-century carving of different patterns. It has been decorated during the later Renaissance period, and presents some curious window-forms in consequence. Two pointed windows in the south fagade are filled with the same close wrought-iron scrolls as at the cathedral, and two other AMUSING SIGHTS 345 similar windows are set in a very curious manner into the round-arched arcade round the apse. S. Jacques is of the twelfth century. It has an apse closely resembling that at Alet, but it is not visible to the general spectator, the church being en- closed in houses. Near Riquet's birthplace, in the Rue St. Felix, are remains of another Romanesque church. The ends of the naves and transepts in all these churches have low pediments with the wall continued above, showing a strong classical influence. In the houses of the Rue St. Jacques remains of the Roman arena may be traced, and in the Rue de Capus is a house with an exceedingly beautiful fifteenth-cen- tury window and other details. The modern theatre at the end of the AUee Paul Riquet is decorated with allegorical subjects by David d' Angers, to whom the statue of Riquet is also due. I saw a little green paroquet on a woman's shoulder enticed to drink by another from a cup. The woman on whose shoulder it was was not successful in getting it to do so, though it rested quietly enough on its perch. Great triumph on the part of the successful temptress ! The markets afford amusing sights every now and then. I remember seeing baskets of young turkeys, five or six together, covered with a perforated cloth, through which head and neck protruded. At the best of times young turkeys are comical objects, but to see five or six scraggy necks with anxious eyes in the heads on top of them swaying back and forth 44 346 BEZIERS in accordance with the movements of the basket as it was carried along was irresistibly funny. In the modern amphitheatre such varied entertainments take place as lyrical and dramatic performances, and bull- fights in the Spanish fashion. Along this coast the Spanish eaves cornice of three rows of curved tiles filled in with mortar occurs fre- quently, and I saw stackpipes made of lengths of green glazed pottery, and gutters made of short tiles of the same material, with excellent effect. Richly-coloured pomegranates hung on the trees, and through the vineyards, trains of five to twelve trucks were drawn by horses along the tramways. Outside the station were a number of Spanish vintagers seated in the shade or asleep, and at Narbonne there was great excitement over a number who nearly missed the train. They put on four extra third-class carriages to accommodate them. At Beziers are the fragments of an unique monument, the only one known erected to the fraticelli. Pierre Jean d' Olive, born at Serignan near Beziers, entered the Minorite convent towards the end of the thirteenth century. He was the author of a famous commentary on the Apocalypse, and died in the convent at Narbonne in 1298. During his life he was the soul of the frati- celli movement on the Mediterranean littoral, and being regarded by the people as a saint, this reputa- tion assisted it after his death. His book on the Apocalypse, which he offered to Nicholas V., was, RIEUX-MINERVOIS 347 however, condemned by the Council of Vienne (13 11), and by John XXII., whose pontificate was a long struggle against the doctrines. No doubt the monu- ment was destroyed when the fraticelli disappeared from the scene, since two figures from it are in the museum, and the other two in the wall of the tower of the Church of the " Penitents bleus," or Recoil ets, a building of the sixteenth century, with a pretty doorway. At Beziers a woman skipped into the railway carriage, pushing her way before me, and throwing down on the seats enough things to retain places for a whole party. I found afterwards that it was only she and her husband who were travelling, but she had the decency to offer me one of the corners. At Narbonne we changed for Perpignan. The trains were full here too, and I got into a compartment with two famihes who had come through from Paris ; among the members was a child who will be a charming woman in a few years. A third-class woman who was put in was, however, the most remarkable-looking of our group — a magnificent head well-draped, with a black shawl thrown over it, and deep, tragic eyes. Quite like an antique Roman. RiEUX-MlNERVOIS. We left Narbonne on the morning of May Day. The bitter wind from which we had suffered for several weeks still continued, and the ladies were wearing 348 RIEUX-MINERVOIS furs and wrapping them closely round their persons. It was at least as cold as we had found it in England before Easter, and one realized that the " Sunny South " may be an exceedingly unpleasant place to live in. We were bound for Rieux-Minervois, a little place near the mines of Cannes, which has not yet found its way into Baedeker's Guide, perhaps wisely, for it is not a place one would recommend to the ordinary tourist. On the way to Moux, where we were to change carriages, we came across traces of an accident, fortunately only affecting merchandise. A goods train had run off the line in the early morning, damaging it for a considerable distance, broken chairs and smashed sleepers bearing witness to the irregularity, which caused some excitement among the passengers. The station is some distance from the inn, and by the time we reached it dejeuner was half over. This did not matter very much, since as far as we could see there was no order in the sequence of courses. Our companions at the table were three or four commercial travellers, one of whom was a kind of triton among the minnows, and laid down the law to the others, who eagerly laughed at his jokes, and agreed with his opinions. Our arrival gave them the opportunity of increasing the amount of their dejeuner without paying any more for it, of which they took full advantage, though there was this excuse for them, that it was impossible to judge from the sequence of the courses whether a particular dish was intended for the new- CHURCH OF S. MARIE 349 comers or to be passed round the whole table. The beverage was a white brandy, which we diluted plenti- fully with water, for it was only 40 per cent, under proof ! The attraction which had drawn us to Rieux was the interesting early church of S. Marie, which resembles the churches of the Templars, and was probably built as a reminiscence of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, for the place never formed part of a Commandery, and was surrounded by the domains of three Benedictine communities ; nor are there an}^ of the symbols or other signs usually found on buildings belonging to the Templars. Portions of the building also appear to be earher than 1118, the date of the foundation of the Order, and the additions are most of them later than its abohtion. The church has also been considered to be a repaired survival of antiquity, but the curious arrangement of the plan makes this improbable, although circular and polygonal buildings are well known, which have passed from heathen to Christian use for purposes of worship. Archbishop Dalmasius (who died at Rieux in 1096) gave the church to the Chapter of Narbonne, and it is said that the Canons built the existing church at the beginning of the twelfth century. The bell-tower appears to be later ; at all events, it was restored in Gothic times. The plan is heptagonal, the central supports con- sisting of four piers and three columns, the high-altar being placed between the two adjacent piers. These 350 RIEUX-MINERVOIS piers have only imposts, but the caps to the columns are carved with foliage, and there is one figure subject — Daniel in the Den of Lions. Unmoulded round arches of two orders and slightly stilted support a cupola, heptagonal below, but becoming spheroidal at two- thirds of its height, above which rises an heptagonal bell-tower with narrow, round-headed windows on five of its faces, and two of two Ughts on double colonnettes, apparently of the fourteenth century. Some of the other windows are filled with simple tracery of the same period. An aisle of fourteen sides surrounds the central space, covered with a quarter- circle vault which buttresses the dome. The external wall, which is more than 3 feet thick, has fourteen engaged columns, with carved caps supporting cham- fered and moulded, shghtly stilted, round arches. Twelve of them are ornamented with foliage, one has well-executed monsters, and one a figure subject, an Assumption of the Virgin. All the abaci also are carved. Unfortunately, the church is very dark, and the most interesting carving occupies the darkest positions, but parts of it appear to be work of the eleventh century. The ancient porch, opposite to the high-altar, has been converted into a chapel. The carvings of the capitals are interesting, showing a savage imagination, and are probably local work, as they differ considerably in design from the more usual type of capital found in Roussillon. The arch they sustain has three orders, one plain, the others shghtly decorated. The central JL^ I? , '^4i 352 RIEUX-MINERVOIS space is about 27 feet across, and the aisle is 16 feet wide and about 30 feet high. A modern gallery dis- figures the interior, running nearly half-way round it, on each side of the high-altar. Seven chapels open beyond the outer wall, of various dates ; several of them have fourteenth-century vaulting and one lierne vault- ing restored ; originally late fourteenth -century in style. Two still have rough waggon -vaults, indicating an early date. Over the altar in the chapel to the right of the high-altar is a fourteenth-century Deposition from the Cross. A little side door still retains two carved caps in excellent condition, but the mouldings and enrichments of the arch are much weathered. Engaged columns also appear at the external angles. The church is flanked by the remains of fortifications which appear to have been in close connection with it. There are two round towers still remaining at the angles, and a curtain wall connecting them, now pierced by the doors of many miserable dwellings. The wind continued to howl through the trees of what may be a pleasant shady avenue in summer, as we returned towards the station. The houses and shops were either squalid or cheaply finished, and we saw little life or business going on. The mining town of Cannes is the next station, and I understand that the church there is partly Romanesque, with a curious domically vaulted porch with ribs on the north side, constructed perhaps as a shelter from the bitter winds such as we took refuge from in the train. Before long the turrets and roofs CARCASSONNE 353 of the Cite at Carcassonne rose on the horizon, mocking the snowy crests of the distant Pyrenees. It was a reHef to reach our comfortable inn and forget the hard- ships and discomforts of the day. Carcassonne. The city of Carcassonne, though so medieval in appearance, is much older than the Middle Ages. It is cited by Pliny among the Latin towns of the time of Caesar, and, according to several manuscripts of his Commentaries, furnished a contingent to Crassus for his campaign against the Sotiates. An inscription found in 1847 between Rieux and Moux has been inter- preted as referring to a praetor of Carcassonne, since he belonged to the Voltinia tribe, and the Rhenish museums preserve several steles of soldiers who came from Carcassonne. The Visigoths took Narbonne in 413, and this city in 436, and remained masters of it for three centuries. They were followed by the Sara- cens, who conquered Narbonne in 720, and Carcassonne five years later, but were driven beyond the Pyrenees by the Frankish armies in 757. After the death of Charlemagne, the Counts quickly acquired independence, and retained it until the Northern Crusaders conquered them in 1209. In 1239 S. Louis united it to France, like the rest of the terri- tories to which the De Monftorts had laid claim after the Albigensian war. Their new lord was Alphonse 45 354 CARCASSONNE de Poitiers, brother of the King. The last of the Trencavels rebelled against this absorption, being supported by such of the inliabitants as had remained faithful to their ancient lords in an unsuccessful attempt to take the Cite. S. Louis would not allow the recon- -ii^i^^^._-^*J'*S^ j^ LES LICES, CARCASSONNE. struction of the two suburbs which had been destroyed in the conflict, but eight years after the dispersed inhab- itants were permitted to rebuild their dwellings on the land beyond the Aude, and this is the origin of the lower town. n^-mrn' '•^■^"'wV^fC y» I bi::i7i;'r. .Si'ff' .<'tr/ ■ •■■- THE POKTE DE L AUDE, CARCASSONNE. 356 CARCASSONNE Though somewhat over-restored by Viollet-le-Duc, the towered walls give an excellent idea of the appear- ance of a medieval town from a distance. There is a double girdle of walls, with sixteen towers in the outer and twenty-six in the inner, united by curtain walls, the great square Bishop's tower joining them on the west. There are only two gateways (though there were also posterns in both enceintes) — the Porte Nar- bonnaise, defended by two great beaked towers, and the Porte de I'Aude, outside of which was the great bar- bican, united to the city by a crenellated and strongly defended road. The Church of S. Gimer now occupies part of its site. The river then ran much nearer to the walls, but, notwithstanding, it was the want of water which obliged the garrison to surrender to Simon de Montfort in 1209. The reconstruction of the castle and the restoration of several Visigothic towers probably took place about 1 130, and under S. Louis it was again restored and strengthened, but his death occurred before the work was finished, and it is to his son, Philippe le Hardi, that the strongest portions of the fortifications are due, distinguishable by the bossed masonry. The great Bishop's tower, the Tour Mipadre at the south-west angle, and the towers of the Tresau and the Porte Narbonnaise were so strong that when the Black Prince burnt the lower town he thought it useless to attack the upper. That Viollet-le-Duc was right in his general ideas is proved by a relief by the side of the 358 CARCASSONNE Porte Narbonnaise, which shows it with a pointed roof, indicating the use of slate, as well as the fact that among the debris at the foot of the towers many fragments of slate were found. The castle of the Viscounts is now a caserne. It has nine towers, one of which (a slender square one) has a cupola vault and Romanesque windows, with slender colonnettes supporting lintels of concrete. The northern portion of the walls is very ancient, either Roman or Visigothic. The bases of the towers are generally square, and built of large stones, while above they become round and are composed of small square stones intermingled with stripes of brick, the windows being round-headed with alternate voussoirs of bricks and stones. Except at the Porte Narbonnaise and the defences round it this Gallo-Roman construction is found nearly all round the walls. In the wall of the barbican at this gate the image of the legendary Madame Carcas was encrusted in Renaissance times. The restoration was completed in 1868. The bishopric was established in the sixth century : the first positive date is given by the presence of Sergius, the second Bishop, at the Council of Toledo, in 589. Several of his successors assisted at subsequent councils in the same city, which was the metropoHs of the Visigothic kingdom ; while Carcassonne was ruled by a Visigothic Count. The dignitaries of the Chapter appear in the ninth century. The Church of S. Nazaire (dedicated to SS. Nazzaro and Celso THE VAULTS 359 of Milan) appears to have always been the cathedral. It is mentioned for the first time in an Act of June, 925. The present church is later in date, but possibly the crypt may contain some fragments of the earlier church, to which the two marble Corinthian capitals of the north door may also have belonged, since they appear to be earlier than the eleventh century, the period of the Romanesque portion. The exact date is known, since Urban II. blessed the stones prepared for its construction on June 11, 1096, and celebrated Mass and preached in the Church of S. Marie and S. Sauveur. The vaulting is arranged in the Poitevin manner. The springing of the vaults in the aisles is at the same height as in the nave, and the nave receives light only from the high narrow window^s of the aisles. The nave vault is a pointed waggon, with supporting arches, and was finished later than the aisles. The round- arched arcade of six bays is supported on square piers, with engaged columns on all four sides, alternating wdth round ones like pillars. On the caps of the latter a short column rests, terminating in a cap at the spring- ing of the supporting arches. This alternation is unusual in the South of France, though it occurs at Rieux, as has just been noted, but in Lombardy it is frequent. The west end is a pretty successful piece of restoration, as is most of the north door. Tliis west end has great buttresses and crenellated walls, with no openings except the circular windows high 36o CARCASSONNE above the ground and loopholes, being in harmony with the military character of the towers on the walls which are &o near it. In 1269 the Bishop and Canons, who wished to alter the east end, obtained permission from S. Louis to encroach on the public road. The construction was soon commenced, but the transept and chapels were not finished till the time of Bishop Pierre de Roquefort (f 1321) , whose arms appear on the keystone of the choir-vault, and in the glass of the southern rose. The transept has a row of chapels to the east, with large traceried windows filled with stained glass ; in fact, the whole east end is a lantern of extremely graceful design, rivalling S. Urbain at Troyes in the daring of its construction. Statues are affixed to the uprights, not very much to the advantage of the design. Most of this work appears to be due to artists from the North of France, and it has been observed that the statue of one of the deacons who accompany Pierre de Roquefort on his tomb closely resembles that of S . Stephen on the left door at Rheims. The glass is very good, the greater part of it of the fourteenth century. In one of the chapels of the nave is a rather rough, but interesting, rehef of an attack on a castle in the thir- teenth century, showing the engines of war in use at the period. There is also a tombstone with an effigy of a warrior which is of interest, for the arms on the surcoat are those of Simon de Montfort, whose body rested for five years in S. Nazaire. THE LOWER TOWN 361 The lower town was walled with earth and rounded pebbles in 1276, but stone was used towards the river to preserve it from inundations. On the brink of the stream, at the end of the old bridge, stands the Chapel of Notre Dame de la Sante, rebuilt at the end of the Gothic period, in 1523. Hospitals once surrounded it. The bridge was in course of erection in 1315, but has been modified several times, most in 1820, showing small signs of antiquity now. Formerly a pointed arch in the centre marked the point where the jurisdic- tion of the rival consulates of the city and the lower town met. A stone crucifix preserves its memory. The plan of the lower town is that of the basHdes, with the streets crossing at right angles, and a square nearly in the centre. The two Churches of S. Vincent and S. Michel abutted on the ramparts, which they assisted to defend, one at each end of a street which divided the town into two nearly equal parts. Traces of the surrounding walls still remain here and there, and on the Boulevard Barbes, two of the bastions added in the sixteenth century. The two churches were commenced in the first half of the fourteenth. An inscription in the north porch of S. Vincent is in letters of this period, with which the character of the construction also agrees. It resembles the Cathedral, Perpignan, in plan, but has a large semi-decagonal apse flanked by two smaller ones. The broad nave is of seven bays, with chapels along the sides (the broadest of the southern churches, with the exception of Mirepoix), 4(, 362 CARCASSONNE measuring 66 feet across. It is lighted by rose-windows to a great extent. There were three doors, but that to the north is now walled up. The church was not finished till the fifteenth century, to which period the choir belongs. At the south-west comer there is a tower, square below but with an octagonal upper por- tion and a crenellated parapet of the sixteenth century. The north-west corner finishes with a pretty corbelled turret. The Cathedral of S. Michel is on the same plan, but smaller. Above the roses of the side walls is a chemin de ronde. On the north-west of the nave, towards the interior of the town, is a bell-tower with mullioned windows in the top story, but without a spire. It has been a good deal restored by VioUet- le-Duc, in the manner of the North of France. The fourteenth century was a period of considerable pros- perity. The drapers, who contributed to it more than the other trades, were organized in a corporation in 1329, but other corporations were soon organized, and the pleasanter situation of the lower towoi gradually caused the removal of the public establishments. Two objects may be mentioned as worthy of notice besides the interesting collection of pictures in the museum (mostly modem) — a sixth - century sarco- phagus, and, in the courtyard of the Hotel de Ville, a fountain basin with carved edge, the ornament on which much resembles that on the lintel of the door of the church at Maguelonne. A POLITICAL DEMONSTRATION 363 St. Papoul. We stopped at Castelnaudary on our way from Carcassonne to Albi (which hes outside the purview of this volume), in which there is nothing worthy of note except the large lake below the town connected with the '' Canal du Midi." There appeared to be a political meeting going forward, as numbers of men hurried past the hotel in the same direction, returning about 9.30. I think there must have been 1,000 altogether, and among the marchers very few women. They marched in fours, singing a song of which the only word one could hear was " victoire " repeated several times. Our landlord belonged apparently to the opposite party, for when they passed the hotel they groaned, a gruesome sound coming from so many lips ! Opposite the house was a curious sign, " Alle- luias Izard," apparently advertising some kind of liqueur, like the " Blanquette de Limoux," the white wine one sees advertised at Carcassonne— or perhaps a kind of cake. About four miles away, on a hill of the Lauragais, at the foot of which the little stream of the Lambe flows, lies the village of St. Papoul, known to very few Enghshmen. Behind it rise the western bastions of the Montague Noire, and tlie pleasant road from Castelnaudary rises and falls as it winds over slight elevations in a rather hilly district, affording pleasant views over the country, especially if the season happen 364 ST. PAPOUL to be early spring, when the blossom of the fruit-trees flushes the middle distance. The town owes its origin to an abbey founded by Charlemagne to replace an oratory raised over the tomb of S. Papoul, who was a disciple of S. Saturnin of Toulouse, and the apostle of the Lauragais. S. Pierre Nolasque, the founder of the Order of Mercy for the Redemption of Captives (f 1256), was born near the place, and in the next cen- tury the abbey was made a bishopric by John XXII. (in 13 17). Thirty-four Bishops ruled the diocese till the suppression of the see by the Concordat. The church retains nothing of the time of Charle- magne, having apparently been rebuilt in the eleventh century, and after it became a cathedral considerable alterations and additions were made, nor did it escape the " beautifying " of the seventeenth century, which has done so much to spoil important churches all over France. It now consists of a broad nave flanked by chapels, with presbytery on a higher level, and a chapel on each side. The nave has four bays, and is vaulted with a pointed barrel-vault on supporting arches and pilaster strips, with a moulding at the springing all round except where interrupted by later alterations. The vault is pierced with windows on the south side, and there are chapels between the buttresses, either of the fourteenth century or late Renaissance. The organ is at the west end, with a small round-headed window on each side of it. The choir projects into the nave, and is raised three steps above it ; their form shows THE CHURCH 365 that this was one of the Renaissance alterations. The presbyter}' consists of two bays and apse, the chapels each side of one bay and apse. The high-altar is beneath the triumphal arch. The presb^'tery is vaulted with supporting arches and four ribs in the apse, all un- moulded ; the Re- naissance altera- tions included the addition of painted ribs. The first ba}' has arches at the sides of two orders, with heavy rough caps and stunted columns, apparent- ly of the eleventh century. One of these caps is illus- trated. The first supporting arch has two fine Roman- esque caps from which the columns have been cut away ; the others have painted ornament on a simple trapezoidal form. The north chapel has an unmoulded arch of two orders on very rough caps and columns without spurs to the bases, indicating a date early in the eleventh century. On the abaci are balls and chequer ornament. There ELEVENTH-CENTURY CAI', ST. I'AFOUL. 366 ST. PAPOUL is a semicircular barrel-vault and semi-dome, early, but covered with Renaissance additions. The south chapel has the same arches, but with figures in the caps. This has been altered in the fourteenth century, and is now vaulted with quadripartite ribbed vaulting, with bosses and with six ribs to the central boss over the altar. The apse has been made polygonal too : this contains a rather fine tomb of a seventeenth -century Bishop. The church is entered through a cloister on the south side, the centre of which is filled with topiary work surrounding a large crucifix, and with a well in one corner. It is said to be of the fourteenth century, and certainly a good deal of the work is of that date, but the arches are round, though rather elaborately moulded, and the caps have subjects recalling those usual in Romanesque times. The arches are supported on twin columns, some of which are octagonal, and some built of brick, with piers in the centre of each side and at the angles, to which the colonnettes are attached. On three sides there are two groups of six arches ; the fourth has an additional pier occupying the place of the third arch from the centre on each side. The roof is of wood, with a ridge piece and two projecting eaves. Against the walls are several fourteenth-century wall tombs, and by the entrance is a chapter-house of the same date. The apse has six columns round the outside on high bases, supporting a cornice with three corbels between each pair, and six in the straight part, finishing with TOULOUSE 367 a cable moulding, with nail heads and zigzag termina- tion below the tiles. The caps are based on Corinthian or with figures. In each bay there were windows low down. The bell-tower is over the first bay of the south aisle. It has three stages, with a retreat at each, and two openings on each side, round or slightly pointed, some of which have been filled up. They have imposts, but no mouldings. The spire is octagonal. The apse by this tower has a simple corbelled cornice, but the whole exterior has been so altered in the seventeenth century that its early character is much obscured. At the bottom of the south aisle is a roimd tower, which has had three columns and corbels supporting an ornamented string. The church is close to a private park, and is not accessible all round. There are a good many old houses of the fifteenth and sixteenth cen- turies, some half-timbered, with projecting eaves ; two of the town gates retain the arches of entry, and the side of a third remains ; but what struck us most within the village was the wonderful variety of evil smells, and we were glad to summon our driver and get out into the pure air of the open country. Toulouse. Toulouse has many interesting modern things in it — a fine museum, with many paintings, housed in the cloister of the Augustines and a new modern building by Viollet-le-Duc ; fine mural paintings in the Capitole 368 TOULOUSE by Tolosan artists who have made a world - wide reputation for themselves ; imposing palaces of the period of the earlier Renaissance ; a cathedral of curious design ; and, above all, the magnificent Church of S. Semin. The modern paintings I shall disregard, though I have the greatest admiration for some of them, and concentrate my attention upon the cathedral, the early medieval objects in the Museum, and the Church of S. Sernin; though one ought not to omit mention of the twin-naved church of the Jacobins, now forming part of the Lycee, which also occupies part of the Hotel Bernuy, one of the early Renaissance palaces ; nor of the Church '' du Taur," a brick building of the fourteenth to fifteenth century, erected on the spot to which S. Saturnin is said to have been dragged by a bull when he had refused to sacrifice to Jupiter, the facade of which is a fine example of the brick architecture of the district , with its curiously shaped openings like an uncurved pointed arch. The Church of S. Sernin is cruciform, and has a nave with double aisles, and an apse flanked by five semicircular chapels. Each arm of the transept has two similar chapels projecting eastwards. Above the crossing a fine tower of a later date rises, with five stories of the triangular - headed Tolosan arches, terminating with a gallery, above which a spire rises to the total height of 210 feet. The length of the church is 330 feet, and the width 104 feet ; the transept is 210 feet from north to south, and the nave is 70 feet. CAPITALS IN rkllOUHM., S. SKUNIN, TOri.OUSK 'I'o face |);igc 368. CRYPT OF S. SERNIN 369 high. Under the choir is a crypt, and in the wall of this crypt, between the arches which light it, marble reliefs are encrusted, which are like the early ones at Moissac in style. There are five slabs in all — a Christ in a mandorla with the Evangelists' symbols, and four angels. One of the caps in the south transept bears a similar Christ in glory with angels. In a chapel in the north transept is a colossal figure of Christ, rather Byzantine in style, the work of a twelfth -century carver. The sixteenth -century stalls are well carved, but what the tourists are shown first is a miserere of a pig in a pulpit, which they are told represents Calvin preaching. A votive offering of 1528 is interesting, as showing the church surrounded by the defensive works of the time. The treasury contains some em- broideries and other objects worth seeing.* The church was thoroughly restored by VioUet-le- Duc,* but, nevertheless, is still interesting, not having been scarified as much as is usual in a thorough French restoration. It was originally dedicated to SS. Sylvinus and Exuperius. Towards the end of the tenth century bequests became frequent. King Robert came on pilgrimage at the beginning of the eleventh century, and Bishop Pierre Roger (1018-1032) determined to rebuild the church. For this purpose he ordered all * A beaten-gold reliquary of the twelfth century, several fine Limoges caskets, a mitre said to be that of S. Expurius, and gloves of S. Remi, and the horn of Roland — an nliphant decorated with carvings of beasts in rows. 47 370 TOULOUSE offerings to be paid into the episcopal treasury, but the Canons protested, and he was obhged to content him- self with a quarter of all gifts. It has been fought over by French archaeologists a good deal, but an article by M. Anthyme S. Paul in the Bulletin Monumental, 1898, so marshals facts and dates that there seems little left to discover. It is known that Pope Urban II., with sixteen Prelates, dedicated the high -altar in 1096, placing within it a fragment of the skull of the first Bishop of Toulouse. In 11 19 there was a new consecra- tion by Calixtus II. of a secondary altar. The choir was finished when the building of the aisle walls to above the lower windows was undertaken, therefore the choir must be eleventh century, since the master builder who built them died in 11 18. The greater part of the building is twelfth century, but the choir was probably commenced by 1077. The designs of S. Foy, Conques, S. Sernin, Toulouse, and S. lago, Compostella, resemble each other so closely that the designers must have been connected or have copied one from the other. S. Foy, Conques, is the earliest of the type, and was built while Abbot Odolric ruled (1035- 1066). Next comes S. Sernin, and S. lago, Compostella, was commenced in 1082. S. Raymond (who was Raymond Gayrard) had a good deal to do with the building of S. Sernin. He was first a pupil of the monastery, then a married laic and a canon, leading throughout a worthy life. He appears to have been an amateur architect, and whether as clerk or laic, devoted himself to works of charity and THE ARCHITECT OF S. SERNIN 371 public utility. He threw two stone bridges over the Hers, founded the hospital which became later the " College S. Raymond," and contributed largely both CAI'ITALS IN THIFOKIUM, S. SERNIN, TOULOUSE. in money and personal service to the continuation of the works of S. Semin. Since he was neither provost nor a great dignitary, if he was at the head of the work (as he was), it could only be as artist and capable 372 TOULOUSE practician. The first architect, after having arranged the plan of the church and commenced the choir, was probably called to Compostella, but left behind him a pupil capable of replacing him during his absences ; this may very possibly have been Raymond. After a time the master stayed at Compostella, and then Raymond's full control commenced. The note in the necrology, when he died in 1118, states that the circuit of the walls was then finished as high as the completion of the windows. Raymond's plan was to lay out the whole extent of the building, so as to enable it to be roofed over temporarily, in contradistinction to the usual medieval fashion of proceeding by slices of the full height, and it seems certain, therefore, that the double aisles (which neither S. Foy, Conques, nor S. lago, Compostella, have) are due to him. Above the dark vaulted passage round the apse, which has eleventh -century characteristics, brick is substituted for cut stone ; this means a rebuilding of the apse above the piers. As the nave goes west the caps become poorer, as do the windows externally, indicating the scattering of the resources which had been concen- trated upon one object. In the transepts is a most precious collection of capitals ; they were probably finished by 1125 or 1130, though many of them show the preparation for the addition of further ornamental detail. They total nearly 500. The style of the carving of these caps confirms the approximate date given by the texts. The apse up to the vaulted gallery PROGRESS OF THE BUILDING 373 and the transepts up to the galleries were built between 1076 and 1096 ; the nave and aisles from the transept to the porch, and the square towers of the facade also up to the galleries, from 1096 to 11 18 ; the galleries, the CAPITALS IN TRIFORIUM, S. SERNIN, TOULOUSE. sculpture of the transepts and the eastward arcades of the galleries above the aisles, the doors, the upper walls, and the vaults, from about 1120 to the end of the twelfth century. The caps of the apse and of the 374 TOULOUSE aisles have the same character of imitation of the Corinthian ; those of the galleries, cut with greater art, also show the influence of Oriental imported objects. Those with figure subjects are very inferior to those from the cloisters of S. Etienne and La Daurade preserved in the museum, which goes to prove their greater antiquity. The caps of the engaged columns in the aisles as far as the end near the bases of the towers resemble those in the apse based on Corinthian. There are also figure subjects : in the apse, Daniel in the Lions' Den ; in the north transept, Jacob and Laban, and Christ between SS. Peter and Thomas ; in the south transept two angels killing dragons, a scene reproduced in the triforium gallery, and two monsters devouring the head of a proud man, as on one of the caps near the Gate of the Seven Sins. The caps of the twin arches in the triforium are of the twelfth century. Those in the transepts are the finest in the church, with those at the west door. In the middle of the south transept is one with Christ in an aureole supported by angels already referred to. The sacrifice of Abraham occurs on one of the high columns of the other transept. The west door was at first where the steps descend from the narthex into the nave. In 1160 it was deter- mined to lengthen the nave, and the lower portion of the towers is of this date. M. Lahondes suggests that the five early reliefs now encrusted in the wall of the crypt belonged to the original west doorway. About 1210 the towers were raised and the design altered. 376 TOULOUSE Towards the end of the thirteenth century the crypt was enlarged and heightened, and then the tower was built. The seals give the appearance of the church with these successive changes. The last high columns of the nave have caps of the fourteenth century, and seven of the arches of the vaulting of the triforium on the north are pointed instead of being semicircular, and five on the south. In the north gallery ten of the caps are of the sixteenth century, the period of the pretty arch opposite the Rue du Taur. The resemblance, and even identity, in details between several of the earlier caps with those of the cloister at Moissac proves them contemporary. Others closely resemble eagle caps in the Palace of Barbarossa at Gelnhausen, a curious rapprochement between French and German Romanesque. In the museum is a splendid collection of early capitals from the destroyed cloisters of S. Sernin, S. Etienne, and La Daurade, with other sculptures of the same period, the twelfth century. The talent of the sculptors of the Tolosan school is well shown in these carvings, and also their limitations. As in the cloister of Moissac the ornamental work is more successful than the figure sculpture, which often allows itself quaintness and even awkwardness of gesture for the sake of balance in line and mass. The influence of Oriental objects such as ivories and patterned stuffs is very evident, and details of costume are sometimes studied from that worn by THE CATHEDRAL 377 the Jews in Western Europe ; as is the case at Aries and St. Gilles, though in Provence the tradition of Gallo-Roman design and technique was more insistent. Still, Toulouse also had her antique sculpture manu- factory at Martres Tolosane, and works were produced there not inferior to those carved at Aries, though it is a curious fact that the sarcophagi with figures and architectural framing were not produced at Toulouse, which preferred the flat foliage patterns, of which examples are to be seen in the cloister at Elne and elsewhere. There is one in the museum here. The Cathedral of S. Etienne has a curiously dis- located appearance from the manner in which the plan is arranged. The nave is the oldest part, a wide, aisleless structure of the early part of the thirteenth century, with a large rose-window in the western fagade. It was no doubt intended to be rebuilt after the choir was completed, which at present is not aligned with it, only a portion of the arch opening into the nave. It was commenced in 1272, and resembles that at Narbonne so closely as to make it pretty certain that the same architect was employed, which is all the more likely since it is known that the Bishop of Toulouse advised the Archbishop of Narbonne in the matter. It was much longer in hand than S. Just, Narbonne, and the choir was not completed till the sixteenth century. After a fire in the seventeenth century it was restored ; in the chapels arc stained -glass windows dating from the fifteenth to the seventeenth 48 378 TOULOUSE centuries. The latter were painted by Jean and Andre Moles, who may have been descendants of Amaud de Moles, who did the celebrated windows at Auch. There are also some metal screens which are worth a glance. Toulouse has played a considerable part in history, to which reference may be interesting. It was the capital of the Tectosages, and in it was a temple which possessed immense treasures. The endeavour to escape the domination of Rome led, as it usually did, to the loss of the treasures, which were taken by the Consul O. S. Ccepio in io6 B.C. Ccepio was routed by the Cimbri, their alhes, next year, but he was succeeded by Marius, and Toulouse was reduced to submission. After the faU of the Roman Empire in 419, it became the Visigothic capital, and in 507, after the Battle of Vouille, it passed into the possession of Clovis and the Franks. In 778 it was made a county, and was governed by hereditary Counts till it was united to France in 1271. This was the flowering time of the city, when commerce flourished, and the arts and hterature were fostered among an enlightened and cifltivated people. Unfortunately, cultivation produced tendencies to unorthodox belief, and the Albigensian heresy gave the champions of the Inquisition an opportunity of satisfy- ing their greed and at the same time posing as the defenders of the Church. Raymond VI . was dispossessed by Simon de Montf ort in 1214, after the Battle of Muret, but the city was constantly revolting until 1229, when CURIOSITIES OF RESTAURANTS 379 Louis VIII. succeeded to the claims of Amaury, the son of Simon de Montfort. This war extinguished the Tolosan school of sculpture. The University was founded in 1229, and is the oldest in France except that of Paris . At Toulouse it is the custom to close the warehouses for two hours in the middle of the day, so that the employes may have dejeuner in peace. One day we were having dejeuner at the Restaurant du Capitole, where there was a violinist who performed excellently, sitting and holding his violin upside down upon his knee. He had an assistant who went round the rooms with a dish for contributions, and it was a real pleasure to give to a true artist for such music, and to compliment him upon his attainments. Agen and Auch. We stopped at Agen on our way to Auch to have dejeuner. One of the items offered us was preserved plums, enormous things a couple of inches across, with the stone removed and the hole filled with the flesh of another plum — a dehcious speciality of Agen. I do not know whether they are plagued with snakes there, but a tame mongoose was running about the buffet. We had not time to go to the plateau of the Hermitage, which marks the site of the Oppidum of the Nitiobriges, to see the two rock-cut chapels, much to our regret. The town is the ancient Aginnum, and 38o AGEN AND AUCH many prehistoric and Roman antiquities have been found here, and in the Mas d'Agenais, including a very fine statue of Venus, which is housed in the museum. Agen was the seat of a bishopric founded in the third century, and was also the birthplace of S. Foy, so much honoured at Conques. The fine church of S. Caprais was the object of our visit to the town, however — a building of the second half of the twelfth century in its eastward portions. As originally planned, it was to have a nave vaulted in cupolas and a cupola on the crossing, as the four enormous piers indicate ; a broad transept with two little chapels eastwards, and a large apse with three little radiating apses, as at Cahors Cathedral. The whole of the eastern portion is fine Romanesque, resembling the churches of the Perigord and Auvergne in style. Interrupted in the thirteenth century, the work was taken up again fifty years later, when, cupolas having gone out of fashion, quadripartite vaults were used instead, the crossing having a pointed vault with eight ribs, a compromise between cupola and Gothic vault. The main apse is hghted by windows between the chapels, which themselves have windows arranged for, though some of them have been built up. Their buttresses are continued above the springing of the window arches as columns. The central chapel has a small arcade running round above the windows, and shallow buttresses divide the surface of the apse, the roof cornice being always supported on carved brackets. CHURCH OF S. CAPRAIS 381 All the arches are round, and mouldings are only used round the windows of the chapels. The apse is united to the transept by a bay vaulted with a pointed waggon-vault, with a supporting arch against which simple torus mouldings abut, which spring from six colonnettes round the wall, themselves sup- ported on engaged columns. Though simulating vault- ing ribs, their function is simply decorative. A wall arcade of round arches surmounts the high windows in the wall of the apse and the archivolts of two orders of the radiating chapels alternately. The main arches of the crossing are flat, unmoulded and slightly pointed, like those at S. Front, Perigueux. On each face of the big piers is an applied arcade on slender engaged columns ; three of the piers containing staircases make the arrangement of pierced arches, as at S. Front, impossible. The transepts are very short, a door of entrance is in the south one, and three round-arched windows much splayed in the north. Pointed arches occur in the double archivolts of the eastward chapels, round each of which runs a wall arcade of seven arches on colonnettes, a little doorway giving access to the main apse on each side. In the north transept above the Romanesque arcades a Gothic triforium was built with a group of three windows to finish the composition, the centre one largest. The vaults of the nave and the second story of the western facade were only finished in 1508, but the proportions of the nave show that the plan was of much earlier date. The band which goes 382 AGEN AND AUCH round the apse and transept at the springing of the vaults is noticeable, the caps of the columns of the great piers, which show episodes in the Martyrdom of S. Caprais and the Marriage of Tobias and Sarah (these subjects bearing inscriptions) and the caps of the great arches of the side-chapels with the Assumption and lions, birds and foliage, and fantastic animals, resem- bling those at S. Sernin, but unfortunately the modern restoration has included the addition of a good deal of colour, which obscures the form. In the Gothic portion of the north transept is a splendid double bracket, of which the canopy shelters a figure of a crowned per- sonage. A drawing of it is given by Viollet-le-Duc. The chapter-house is now the chapel of the Ecclesias- tical College. In the stylobates of the door are carved panels of two marble sarcophagi of the Merovingian period. The rest of the ornament is of the twelfth century. The Provengal poet Jacques Boe, known as Jasmin, lived in Agen, and the shop in which he pursued his calling of barber is carefully preserved, while a statue has been erected to him; and another distinguished man, Joseph Scaliger, the Latin poet, was a native of the place. The Canal Lateral crosses the Garonne close to Agen, on a bridge aqueduct of twenty-three arches. The stations near are pleasantly decorated with trees and flowers, the arrangement not being too stiff, as is generally the case in England. A COMMANDING POSITION 383 From Agen, or a little beyond it, at the junction of Bon Encontre, the line to Auch diverges, crossing the Garonne by a fine viaduct, and ascending the Valley of the Gers. The only place of any importance passed is Lectoure, a town which existed in the Roman period, of which a fountain said to have been consecrated to Diana of Delos exists, though partly rebuilt in the Middle Ages. The town occupies a steep and almost isolated hill, and the principal church was formerly a cathedral. Similarly the town of Auch rises like a steep amphi- theatre on the left bank of the yellow Gers, which separates it from the suburb of Patte d'Oie, to which three bridges cross. From one of them, as well as from the avenue leading from the station, the mass of the cathedral and the Bishop's palace piles up finely, assisted by the monumental staircase of 373 steps erected in 1864, which descends from the Place de Salinis to the bank of the river. Numerous other staircases also descend from the high to the lower town, and all the streets are steep. It was the ancient Elimberis, Celtiberian in origin, and the capital of the Auscii, one of the nine nations of Gascony conquered by Crassus. A bishopric was established here from the fourth century, and after the destruction of Eauze in the eighth, the Bishop became the Metropolitan of Novempopulonia. The Gallo-Roman town was on the right bank, and important remains are fre- quently excavated. After its ruin by barbarians and 384 AGEN AND AUCH Saracens, it was rebuilt on the hill where the Castle of the Counts of Armagnac was erected at a later date. It was the capital of Armagnac, and under the ancien regime of all Gascony, and the seat of a generalite. The monks of S. Orens built the celebrated priory lower down the hill, of which a small portion of the walls still exists. Their struggles with the Archbishop were notorious during the Middle Ages, and, in fact, filled the local history. During the thirteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries the town suffered dreadful sieges, but became prosperous in the eighteenth under the government of the Intendant d'Etigny, to whom a grateful municipality erected a statue in front of the Palais de Justice in a tree-planted space named after him the Cours d'Etigny. It is the cathedral, with its fine choir and windows, which is the goal of our artistic pilgrimage to Auch, however — a choir which is one of four singled out by popular judgment as the finest in France, the others being Amiens and Brou (which He beyond the purview of this volume), and S. Bertrand de Comminges described in a previous chapter. The cathedral was originally built by Bishop Taurin in 844. At the commencement of the twelfth century it was restored. Soon after Bernard IV. of Armagnac destroyed it, but it was rebuilt in 1371. This building was burnt in 1483. The Gothic portion (with a Renais- sance flavour) was rebuilt in the sixteenth century, and it used to be said that it was finished in 1597 CHOIR STALLS, CArilEDKAL, AUCH. To face page j?^. INTERIOR OF THE CATHEDRAL 385 by Leonard de Trappes, but the original contract has been found, proving that the upper part of the choir was built from the designs of Pierre Levesville in 1617 to 1620, and cost 25,000 crowns without the windows. He was of Orleans, and lived at Toulouse. The west front is of the end of the seventeenth century and classic in style. The plan shows a broad nave and two aisles flanked by lateral chapels, a transept without projection, a choir with six square chapels and five of a polygonal shape radiating round the deambulatory. The whole is vaulted with ribs, but many Renaissance details occur mixed with late Gothic. The height to the vault is about 88 feet ; the length, including the porch, no less than 334 feet, and the width about 73 feet. The door in the south transept is elaborately carved in the style of Francois I. (1538 to 1547). Some of the same ornaments appear in the carving of the choir stalls. The date of the choir is the earlier, 1507 to 1550 according to the Abbe Caneto. It was commenced under the Cardinal of Clermont Lodeve, Archbishop 1507 to 1538, nephew of the Cardinal Georges d'Amboise, in 1502 Archbishop of Narbonne. It consists of 113 stalls including both rows, carved in heart of oak, but as finely worked as if in walnut, and of a beautiful brown colour. Several different hands are discernible. Portions are cjuite fifteenth-century Gothic, and others equally plainly Renaissance, often worked with extraordinary delicacy. The sacristan told us that they are supposed to have 49 386 AGEN AND AUCH been carved by monks, since the name of the carver of the three figures by the western door is the only one known. The date of 1529 appears on the lower series north of the western entrance on a piece of carving quite different from the other side, and later in style than what it surmounts. An inscription on the pedestal by the entrance on the north, opposite King David, runs, virgini dicatum ab ejus partu MDXLViii, showing that they were a long time in hand (as might be expected), and a document has been found which proves that in 1552, when the Cardinal of Faenza was Archbishop, they were not completed. It appeared to me that I could detect the work of Flemish and Italian hands, and on saying so to the sacristan he told me there was a report that Florentines had been at Auch at the time, and that a street was named after them. He also said that the three figures over the western door are signed, "Bertin, menuisier deTholose, 1551 ;" but Molinier says that the document found among the deeds in the archives of Toulouse is dated March 15, 1552 (old style), and by it Dominique Bertin, "menuisier de Tholose," undertook to finish a certain piece (not that piece) within two years, the other parties being Pierre Ghinucci, Sienese Bishop of Cavaillon, Vicar-General of the Archbishopric of Auch ; Hippolyte d'Este, Cardinal of Ferrara ; and the Chapter of the Cathedral. This Dominique Bertin was a well- known man, and in 1556 published an epitome of Vitruvius in company with Jean Gardet, at Toulouse. THE CHOIR 387 He figures in the royal accounts at the same period as " Contrerolleur et superintendant des deniers, ediffices et reparations du palais, a Tholouse." In 1561 he appears again in the accounts with the title of " Architecte du Roy," and " Cappitaine de Luchon, " providing blocks of marble for the tomb of Henri H. Here we have the Italian influence plainly enough in the patrons, who may have drawn out the scheme, as was often done in the earlier Middle Ages, when the Churchmen settled the subjects, and the artist was limited for his originality to the manner in which he treated them. On the back of each high stall is a figure, either from the Old or the New Testament, or some allegorical personage. Each figure stands on a little bracket decorated with arabesques or small subjects. The stalls are separated by pilasters which bear statuettes in niches under a continuous canopy ornamented with flowers and leaves, little turrets and pinnacles. Groups of statuettes fill all the comers of the stalls, and there is very little that can be called " grotesque." The graceful design and the indifference of the artists to the religious idea militate against the ascription to monks, but are quite in agreement with the Renais- sance feeling of both France and Italy. Christian symbolism is mingled with figures of Sibyls, Fauns, Bacchantes, and even Satyrs ; Ganymede, Venus, and Cupid also appear. M. Molinier thinks that tlie scheme proves the original designer to have been a southern 11. 388 AGEN AND AUCH The constructive features are Gothic, while most of the decoration has the appearance of being apphed, and is Renaissance in style. On the elbows, the misericords, the screen portion — indeed, one may say, everywhere— are traces of Italian art, copies of motifs of a character common in the peninsula or imitations of bronze plaques : such as Vulcan forging arms, Lucretia stab- bing herself (copied from a bronze by Maderno), Hercules and Cacus, Hercules and Antaeus, Hercules and the Nemean Lion (after the same), a fifteenth cen- tury Milanese plaque of an antique knight and footman fighting, etc. The iconography is original ; instead of opposing the Old and New Law in equal portions, as is generally done, a large proportion is given to the Old Testament, Prophets, Kings, Sibyls, Virtues, Evan- gehsts. Fathers of the Church, and to the glorification of the patron of the cathedral, the Virgin. At first this pro- duces an impression of disorder, but one soon recognizes an intention to depart from the ordinary iconography. The fine windows in the choir were painted by Arnaud de Moles, and finished June 25, 1513 (as an inscription in the Chapel of Notre Dame d'Auch states — the subject. Our Lord between S. Thomas and the Magdalene) ; they are regarded as the most realistic productions of their kind of the early Renaissance. The colour is very fine, and the material is treated in the most modern fashion. The glass is sometimes a centimetre thick, or plated ; violet is made by pale blue in front of red, green by several layers of white, yellow and .->Oi;ill IJDOK. CAl lll.liKAI.. \LlH. T'> race piiKc 3d9. THE WINDOWS 389 blue, and ground by the wheel, thus obtaining white points in jewellery, pearls, etc. ; verily, there is nothing new under the sun ! here are most of the latest American dodges. The series begins with the Creation to the east of the north door, in the Chapel of Purgatory. Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, and Sibyls are repre- sented standing royally costumed and surrounded by extraordinarily complex architectural details. In the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre is a fine sixteenth- century marble altar, with a group of the entombment, and in the crypt the sarcophagus of S. Leothade (t 715) ; while a curious fifteenth-century winding staircase in the north transept appears at first to be without a newel, since one looks up a hole where it might be expected to be. The sacristan told us that the internal mouldings fitted the shoulders, and that it was possible to slide from the top to the bottom upon them. They appeared so well poHshed that it was probable that he spoke from knowledge ; but we were not tempted to make the experiment ! The south door is elaborately and beautifully carved, with arabesques and fanciful canopies, traceries and pierced work, the st3de hovering between early Renaissance and florid late Gothic. On one of the caps is the signature, franchiscvs-de-claromo. Below the cathedral is the Archicpiscopal palace, containing a museum of twelfth-century and other archaological fragments, with an important antique mosaic of the god Oceanus, sarcophagi and other local 390 AGEN AND AUCH antiquities. The Tour de Cesar or d'Ante, a fifteenth- century tower, stands close by. There is also a small museum in the Hotel de Ville, and on the staircase of the Priory of S. Orens are a few antique fragments and inscriptions, a statue of S. Orens, and a figure of Venus, said to have been broken by the saint himself. At the Church of S. Orens there were preserved an ivory liturgical comb and an olifant of the eleventh century (or twelfth more probably, judging from the drawings published of it), said to have belonged to him, though he hved in the fifth. When we went to inquire for them, we were told by the cure that the sacristan had stolen them three months before our visit ! In the Convent of the CordeHers, now occupied by the archives, military control, and gen- darmerie, the chapter-house and a built-up gallery still remain to show that it was once a fine architectural monument. The town is not very picturesque, not- withstanding its fine position. The drawing shows a few old houses at the angle of the square in front of the cathedral. Certain things are incredibly cheap at Auch, although France is a Protectionist country. My companion wanted a little knife, and in a shop in the street which opens here, we found penknives with handles inlaid with mother-o' -pearl for fourpence ! We saw garden seats of iron and wood, painted green, marked up at i franc 95 centimes, which is about is. yd., and white and red wine was to be had in many places for 2^d. the litre ! ^{^<>^\ x»^^:^.^^;»^ « = H D O < D a en H a lI^ 392 MOISSAC MOISSAC. The town of Moissac, the chief town of the Depart- ment of Tarn and Garonne, hes on the hne between Montauban and Agen, on the Tarn, shortly before it falls into the Garoime. When we visited it, we stayed at Montauban for the night, a considerable town and the seat of a Bishop, but without much to interest the traveller in search of the picturesque or of artistic treasures. Three things must be excepted from this judgment, however: the fourteenth - century brick bridge over the Tarn, crossing the river high above the turbid stream, with pointed arches and formerly fortified ; the Place Nationale, a market-place sur- rounded by double arcades of brick, with gates at the corners, which affords enchanting effects of light and shade at certain times of the day ; and the Hotel de Ville, the ancient castle of the Counts of Toulouse, added to by the Black Prince, though subsequently altered, and containing the collections of Ingres, who was a native of the city. In the sacristy of the cathe- dral is also an important picture by him, "The Vow of Louis XIII." Moissac is a town of very ancient origin, and the important Abbey of S. Pierre, of which the church and cloisters remain, is beUeved to have been founded before 650 by S. Amand, its history commencing with a diploma given by Pepin II. of Aquitaine in 844, in which this is referred to. It was devastated succes- POSSESSIONS OF THE ABBEY 393 sively by Saracens and Normans, and was partly destroyed by fire in 1042, which obhged the Abbot, Durandus, to rebuild the church. After affiliating his monastery to the Order of Cluny (in 1053, confirmed two years later by the Council of Toulouse), he con- secrated the church in 1063. In 1618 the abbey was secularized, and was served b}^ a Chapter of Augus- tinian Canons till the Revolution, when it was sup- pressed. It exercised suzerainty over the region, and in its earty years had a thousand monks, if the chronicle of xAymeric de Peyrac (who was Abbot 1377 to 1406) may be believed. It counted among its vassals the powerful Counts of Toulouse, those of Bruniquel, Durfort, Malauze, Montesquieu, and Puycornet. Its religious authority was also great. The Abbey of Vabre in the diocese of that name, of Eysses in the Diocese of Agen, of Lezat in that of Rieux, of S. Pierre de la Cour in that of Toulouse, of S. Paul de Valoles in that of Narbonne, of Aries in that of Elne, and of S. Pedro de Camprodon in that of Gerona in Spain, were all under its jurisdiction. Its priories numbered thirty-seven, and more than one hundred churches were under it. The Abbot had the right of using episcopal insignia, and of conferring the tonsure. On his first visit to Cluny he released prisoners and gave the solemn benediction. Then he received the keys of the castles of the abbeys from the hands of the monks, who defiled in procession before him. Moissac was formerly an isolated portion of Quercy 50 394 MOISSAC surrounded by Languedoc. Devastated by the Visi- goths in the fifth century, taken successively by the soldiers of Clovis, of Vaiffre, Duke of Aquitaine, and Pepin ; burnt in the eleventh century by Vivien, Count of Lomagne, and a century later again destroyed by a conflagration ; then sacked by Simon de Montfort, it was dismantled and deprived of its ditches by the treaty of Meaux after 1229. Again fortified in 1271, after the county of Toulouse had been united to the French Crown, it fell into the hands of the English in 1370, and later suffered a great deal in the wars of religion. Of the walls only a few fragments remain, built into houses on the Boulevard de 1' Hospice to the north-east of the town. The cloister is the most celebrated portion of the ecclesiastical buildings, exhibiting as it does very fine examples of both the earlier and later Tolosan schools of sculpture, the later carvings exhibiting the craftsmen at as high a level as anything to be seen in Toulouse itself. In one of the cloister walks are a few fragments with ninth-century patterns upon them, probably found during excavations, but proving that a decorated build- ing existed on the spot at that period. The cloister has twenty-two arches on each long side, and twenty on the shorter ; the colonnettes alternately single and twin, and with a rectangular pier at each angle, and in the centre of each side. Each angle has reliefs of the figures of two Apostles, and in the middle of the THE CLOISTER 395 eastern gallery is the effigy of Abbot Durandus. One figure, that of S. Simon, faces towards the garth ; the rest are inside the cloister walk. Here and there is the springing of an arch towards the garth, the mould- ings are the same as in the pointed arches which sur- round the cloister. A good many of the colonnettes are of a streaked marble something like cipollino, and others are of a mottled reddish or brownish material. Some of them are of a grey stone, but most of them are whitish. On one of the caps are Arabic letters, badly copied by a carver who did not know their mean- \^^^ ^, church and cloister, mo^c. ing. The galleries were formerly paved with encrusted and varnished tiles, drawings of which were preserved by Chevalier du Mege, and specimens were found in the upper chapel of the Abbot's palace These were placed there by Bertrand de Montaigut at the end of the thirteenth century, and a strange discovery made in 1872 appears to have brought to light some of the 396 MOISSAC matrices used in their manufacture. In demolishing an old wall at Castelnau-sur-l' Auvignon, twelve matrices for inlaid tiles were found above a skeleton ; five of tliem showed designs which occur in this chapel, and similar tiles are found at Belleperche and Grandselve. The cloister was commenced under Abbot Ansquetil (1085-1115) ; the piers, except for their abaci, are of this date, and the figure of Durandus is said by the chronicle to be Ansquetil' s own work. The cloister inscription gives iioo as the date of its completion. It was finished by his successor. Abbot Roger, to whom the magnificent caps are due (1115-1131), though some few of them belonged to the earlier church, as did some of the colonnettes. These are distinguished by their not fitting either base or cap, and having the astragal worked on them. The splendid doorway is now on the south side of the narthex, and forms a porch with richly carved walls. The great arch rests on four columns, two on each side, of which the very dehcately carved caps are ornamented with griffins entwined in arabesque scrolls. Up to the height of the caps the spaces between are bevelled and carved ; on the outside are globular fruits, on the inside animals with the body of a fish, but with heads of all kinds of creatures. The lateral walls are covered with a triple row of sculptures of the greatest interest. On the right below are the Visitation and the Annuncia- tion ; above, under the two arcades, the Adoration of the Magi ; higher still the Presentation on the right. LIIFt X E t^-^^ '?'"■.■ ^arjTrv^'. \t.- - ) ri I f-;®! r i-v;«^ife jj 11:31 Ih 15 ■ -A SIDE OF THE GREAT DOORWAY, MOISSAC. 398 MOISSAC the Flight into Egypt on the left. On the left side, below are figures of Luxury and Avarice. These subjects only appeared towards the end of the twelfth century, and therefore are a criterion of the period. Avarice is an old man devoured by a horned demon, with a poor mendicant at his side. Above, under the arcades to the right, the Death of the Avaricious Man ; on the left His Damnation, and the Shameless Woman tormented by Demons ; higher still on the right, the Rich Man and Lazarus, on the left Abraham nimbed, and another patriarch also nimbed. The door is two- leaved, between which a well-carved pier bears three couples of crossed lionesses of fine style above each other, with figures in relief on the sides, Isaiah on the right and S. Peter on the left. Tw^o fine storiated caps above support a well-carved lintel of white marble, part of an older construction. It is decorated with eight rosettes and two halves of a similar design to some on an early fragment in the museum at Cahors, and on the door of the north transept at Conques. The same kind of form also appears in the background of the pier between the lionesses. In front of the half rosettes are half-beasts vomiting a cord, which sur- rounds each rosette intertwining. MM. Lasteyrie and Brutails think this pattern a twelfth -century reproduc- tion of a Gallo-Roman motif. The lionesses' tails terminate in bud forms, bearing a close resemblance to details found in Assyrian sculptures. The wall of the porch, pierced here and there with little loopholes, I'AKT OF Till-: (;RI:AT I)()f)K\VAY. MOISSAC. 400 MOISSAC has no ornament, but two columns nearly 30 feet in height, one on each side of the door, and a row of modillions below the first range of battlements. This cornice goes round the corner, and there is a second on the west and north sides beneath the windows of the earher building on the level of the upper battle- ments. One of the south modillions represents the Trinity by three heads intimately connected. On one of the great columns is a figure of a monk without a nimbus, while the other is occupied by a statue of Abbot Roger. He is vested pontifically, and is accompanied by a five-lined inscription running bea (tu) s. rogerius ABBAS. There is a mutilated projecting stone to shelter the figure from the rain. The arch has three orders, with ornaments carved between the rolls, which continue the slender colon- nettes of the jambs. Small caps without abaci mark the springing of the arch. The angles between these colonnettes bear rows of rats or rabbits, of birds like quails, and a sort of rosette with spread petals. The back of the central pier is covered with a scale pattern. On one side of the door is a figure of S. Peter in relief, holding the keys, and with a Hon beneath his feet. His position is cramped with head and neck pro- truding, and his feet are shod with a sole without visible attachment. On the scalloped edge of the door a folded ribbon pattern is commenced. On the other side in a corresponding position is a figure of Isaiah, with a roll inscribed " Ecce virgo concipiet." The CARVING OF THE TYMPANUM 401 tympanum is filled with a grand composition. A large figure of Christ enthroned, holding on His left knee a closed book and blessing with His right hand in the Latin manner, occupies the centre. He is seated on a cushion embroidered with stars, beneath which the starred mandorla terminates. He wears a square crown, and has a cruciferous nimbus. Around Him are the EvangeHsts' symbols, Matthew and John above because they had seen Christ ; two tall angels stand beyond, one on each side. All the nimbi are ornamented. The two angels have each six wings, the symbols of the Evangelists four. Below and at the sides are the twenty-four elders, seated on thrones, also wearing square crowns, the four at the top larger than the others to fill the space ; in one hand they hold a musical instrument, in the other a cup ; their feet are bare, and they have long hair ; all are turning towards the central figure. The church consists of a nave of four bays of cross vaults, with a choir of three bays, and a seven-sided apse of the fourteenth century. The nave is bordered by a series of chapels, with deep-pointed arches sup- porting a gallery ; and the choir also has chapels. The nave is about 40 feet wide, the choir about 56 feet, and the total length about 196 feet, of which the choir and apse occupy some 95 feet. The vaults are about 60 feet high, with prismatic vaulting ribs, and the arms of France and of Abbot Pierre de Carman on the bosses. The building is lighted by nine flamboyant 51 402 MOISSAC windows. The present building appears to have been constructed in the fourteenth century on the remains of a church with cupolas, of which traces still remain, and which replaced the original church. In the sanctuary is the dedicatory inscription of the eleventh- century church, and in the nave is a fine sarcophagus of the sixth or seventh century, in which Abbot Raymond de Montpezat was afterwards buried. He was living in 1245. There is also an interesting wooden crucifix of the twelfth or thirteenth century, the cross treated like a vine-stock with stems issuing from it. The walls of the nave, with windows of Romanesque type, now filled up, and some remains of the cupolas, of which the springing of the pendentive may be seen, M. Rupin estimates as being of the middle of the eleventh century. M. Anthyme de S. Paul found a mention in Gallia Christiana of a dedication in 1180, which it is thought may be that of this cupola church (S. Front, Perigueux, was consecrated in 1172). The arrangement of the twelve arches of the upper room of the tower above the narthex shows that the windows were intended to open into a church which had a vault, but on the wall in the interior of the church the arch for the cupola cuts these windows. Thus the cupola church and the envelope of the north, south, and perhaps west, of the porch are later than the porch and bell-tower, the caps of which on the ground story have figures of lionesses on them which re- semble those on the central pier of the great doorway. THE PORCH AND TOWER 403 so closely as to be probably due to the same hand. The vault of the upper story has twelve arches meeting in a central oculus for the passage of the bells, while below square ribs fall on columns so arranged as to prove that the vaulting was foreseen from the begin- ning. All the arches are round, and the arrangement where the arches cross shows that the work is an early example of the quadripartite vault. The study of the masonry leads to the conclusion that the cupola church and the envelope of the porch were contemporary. The abbey was ruined by the Albigensian wars, and only revived under Bertrand de Montaigut (1260- 1293), who replaced the original arches by pointed arcades of brick. Then the porch was fortified and crenellated to the west, and perhaps the great doorway removed to the south. The church was again ruined by the wars of the fourteenth century, and restored by Aymeric de Roquemaurel, who reconsecrated it November 4, 1435. At this time the fifteenth-century groups in the chapels were added. Aymeric de Peyrac, the chronicler, states that Abbot Ansquetil finished the doorway, and that the scales on the back of the central pier were put as memorials of his name. The inscription says that he finished the cloister in iioo. Abbot Roger, his suc- cessor, worked at the cloister, but his caps and colon- nettes against the piers have no connection with them, except the abaci, which are of limestone, and not of marble, proving that they are additions (with the ex- 404 MOISSAC ception of two). Burnt in 1188, the cloister was not restored till 1271 by Abbot de Montaigut. The chronicler says that he restored the monastery, enlarged it, and surrounded it with defensive walls. Possibly it was at this time that the great doorway was moved to the south side, the displacement being due to the necessities of fortification, when two little rooms were arranged half-way between the two levels, in the south-west angle of the fortified envelope. M. Rupin lays stress on the square crowns and the character of the elders' instruments as defining the date. Aymeric de Peyrac ascribes the great tympanum to Abbot Hunaud de Gavarret (1072-1085). The square crown is also found in the eleventh-century paintings at S. Savin, Vienne, and the instruments are of the same period. After the twelfth century " vielles " are always represented with two strings, in the thirteenth with five, in the fourteenth with seven. M. de Lasteyrie held that the difference between the early rehefs and those of the porch is so great that the porch must be later than iioo. The lintel is not original; it is made of three narrow blocks, and on the lower portion is a pattern in low-reHef, which is partly covered by the abaci. In the right block this ornamentation is different, though of the same style, and the upper surface also is decorated. These patterns in treatment resemble the ornament on the Merovingian sarcophagus. In 1030 the vault of the church fell in ; a little later the conflagration due to the Count of Lomagne partly DATE OF VARIOUS REBUILDINGS 405 destroyed the monastery. The church fell down entirely in 1042. In 1188 a terrible fire burnt most of the town, and destroyed the bell-towers of the monas- tery. In the next year the town was taken by assault by Richard Cceur de Lion, who kept it till 1197. In 1212 it was taken by Simon de Montfort, and the reprisals of Raymond VI., Count of Toulouse, against those who had abandoned his cause (among whom was the Abbot), would not allow of the monastery being repaired. It was not till long after that Abbot de Montaigut was able to do this, after the union of the county of Toulouse to the Crown. All the buildings shown in the carvings have round arches, so that the pointed arches are probably due to him. When the town walls were thrown down by the treaty of Meaux (1229), the monastery required defences of its own. It appears to have been De Montaigut who did this and moved the door. The church must have been in a bad state, for it was reconsecrated in 1435, no d(jubt after considerable repairs ; Pierre de Carman finished it in brick. There is a small museum in the Abbot's palace close to the church, and in the chapel the thirteenth-century paintings have been restored. Near the station is the curious church of S. Martin, the fagade of which is flanked by two cylindrical masses, which have been claimed to show by their structure a very early, perliaps Merovingian, foundation. 4o6 THE ART OF ROUSSILLON The Art of Roussillon. The art of Roussillon is in the main neither pictorial nor constructive, but decorative. That is to say, that while the artists seem to have had a genuine feeling for decorative form and the construction of decoration, especially shown in ornamental sculpture, such as the fine capitals at Elne and Serrabona, they have not originated any system of construction, being contented to make use of traditional forms and expedients which lingered long in the country — ^the Gothic being derived from Catalonia, with which country the political bonds were close, as well as those of language and custom. Examples of painting may be said to be conspicuous by their absence, almost the only medieval examples being the one or two in Perpignan. The towers of the churches generally served as donjons for the people of the villages, and many of the churches were strengthened by additional defensive works at a later date. At Luz and at Sentein are completely fortified churches, though part of the walls at Sentein have been removed. At Marcevol and Ropidere the door is preceded by a barbican. On the door at the former place is a detail which is character- istic of the twelfth century, but M. Brutails found exactly the same forms on one at Rigarda, which was dated 1648 ! At Elne, too, carvings with the character of the eleventh century are continued round the piers, and cover brackets from which the vaulting ribs of ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERISTICS 407 the end of the thirteenth century start. At Ponteilla are two vaulted chapels, which look like work of the fifteenth century ; but precise records of their construc- tion in the last third of the eighteenth have been found. At S. Genis des Fontaines is an archaic framing to a slab which looks eleventh -century, but is really fourteenth. Thus, in ornament as in construction, methods which had disappeared long before elsewhere still lasted in RoussiUon, and the dating of work by such details is difficult, if not impossible. An extreme instance is herring-bone work, which in this district was used until modern times. Here the principles of Gothic were not adopted till after the period when chefs d'ceuvre had been erected in the north of France, and pointed and round arches being used almost in- differently are equally without value as a criterion of date. The round-arched doors with enormous voussoirs seen in Perpignan are quite Spanish in shape, though met with also in the Basque country and in Navarre, as are the slender colonnettes of hard marble occurring in examples of civil architecture, looking almost as if made of cast iron, so unlike to the thickness which the eye expects in marble work is their delicate shmness. In the Middle Ages the bones were frequently col- lected after the flesh had decayed and kept in a small stone chest, or in a hollow of the waU behind a slab. A collection of these small sarcophagi is preserved in the Museum of S. Agueda at Barcelona, and in- scribed slabs may be seen at Elne and S. Genis. 4o8 THE ART OF ROUSSILLON When the body had to be transported any distance, it was the custom only to take the skeleton, and the bodies were sometimes boiled. A curious instance is given by an Abbot of Fontfroide of the fourteenth century, who obtained a Bull allowing his body to be cut up and boiled, so that his bones might be easily transported thither if he died away from the abbey. This custom explains the long delay in making tombs which occurred in many cases. On the fagade of S. Feliu, Gerona, is quite a collection of such small sarcophagi. It is curious that there are practically no Roman remains in Roussillon, though the land was in their power for more than five centuries. Details which suggest the antique are frequently really twelfth - century imitations, and this is equally true of the whole of the South of France. The flower and leaf forms used by the Romanesque carvers are nearly all imaginative, in contradistinction to the Gothic feeling which aimed at the imitation of Nature. The Gothic carving in high -relief is usually more successful than the Romanesque, the carvers appearing to be ham- pered by the hardness of the stone and want of ex- perience, though the monsters which so frequently occur are always fine and well-composed, and, indeed, work of the accomplishment of the capitals at Elne and Serrabona is not easily surpassed. In the figures the drill is used, even in the early part of the eleventh century, to mark angles of eyes, irises, nostrils, etc., the holes being frequently filled with lead. The human ARTISTIC AFFINITIES 409 figure is not well treated till the thirteenth century. M. Brutails remarks that the type of the effigies at Elne and Arles-sur-Tech is often to be met with in the streets of Saragossa or the Catalonian mountains, and that they appear to be really portraits. The nose is straight and short, the head square, set on broad shoulders, the eyes close together, and the beard short and full. Yet it is not sculpture in the modern sense for which the craftsmen of Roussillon were distin- guished — they w^re primarily industrial and decorative artists, and in this direction achieved their greatest successes. It is to be remembered that till the eighteenth century the greater portion of the territory now known as the Pyrenees Orientales was attached to Catalonia, so that it is little to be wondered at that the artistic expression of the two districts should show close affinity.* The Romanesque primitive architecture is simple : the naves of the churches are covered with waggon -vaults, buttressed by quarter-circle vaults over the aisles, and the plans resemble those of the single- naved Syrian churches. The style has also considerable affinities with that of Provence, and though during the Gothic period the Languedocian churches exercised great influence over the architects, there are also fre- quent similarities with Italy and the Orient, easily explained by the commercial relations between the * Until the twelfth century Narbonne was the capital city of Barcelona, Gerona and Urgel. 52 410 LOMBARDY, ROUSSILLON, AND CATALONIA countries. The alternate courses of red and white material in the building, for instance, are found in Arab, Byzantine, and Lombard architecture ; the cross arches thrown across the nave bearing roof timbers ; the little arches on corbels and pilasters, the saw-teeth mouldings, etc., which derive from constructional expedients adopted at Ravenna. Links between Lombardy, Roussillon, and Catalonia. The local material in Roussillon is good. There are quarries of white marble at Py, several varieties at Villefranche-le-Conflent, ranging from grey to red, a red marble at Serdinya, and one of blue-veined white at Ceret. This last was most frequently used. There were also limestone, granite, schistous slabs, and sandstone employed in less decorative building. In Catalonia externally traces of Lombard influence are observable in the small irregular stones often used in the arches, piers, window-framings, and cornices, but internally these signs do not appear. The Lombard bands of corbelling and the pilaster strips are the only ornament of a large group of buildings of the tenth and eleventh centuries. They are sometimes used inside. Between the last work of the Visigothic decadence and the eleventh and twelfth century Romanesque sculp- ture there is a gap ; at this time ancient debris was generally used. The column only appears in large CUPOLAS 411 openings, and in cloister galleries, and the capital is cut to the form of a trapezoid to adapt it to the extra- ordinary thickness of the walls. The simple type of church is very ancient. S. Pere de la Seu d'Urgel in the cloister of the Cathedral of S. Maria is the building consecrated in 819, and the little chapel of S. Pere de Montgrony appears to be dated by its dedication in 834. M. Puig y Cadafalch gives a list of twenty-five churches consecrated from 904 to 1092, all north of the frontier described in the will of Ramon Berenguer II. (1096 to 1131). The pointed arch was certainly known to the Romanesque architects of the district. The addition of supporting arches to the vaults was a great step forward, and is a much greater difference in construction than that between the round and pointed waggon-vault. The bell-towers of S. Michel de Cuxa, Ripoll, S. Miguel de Fluvia, Llansa, and of the Cathedrals of Gerona and Vich, resemble those of S. Satiro, Milan, and other Italian examples. The Catalan and Lombard cupolas have the same arrangement, eight sides enclosing arches borne on squinches, an identical exterior decoration, a pyramidal roof, and frequently a bell-turret surmounting the dome. This arrangement is quite different from the spherical cupola on pendentives of the Spanish Roman- esque outside Catalonia, which is a direct imitation of the Aquitanian cupolas. The crypts with ribbed vaults on columns resemble Lombard examples equally, as do many details, such as the windows with trape- 412 LOMBARDY, ROUSSILLON, AND CATALONIA zoidal caps and the Lombard arches deeper at the top than the haunches, as found at S. Martin du Canigou (1009), and S. Vincent de Cardona (1040). The vaults, on the other hand, appear to be derived from Gallo- Roman examples. Those of the amphitheatres of Provence and of the circus and amphitheatre of Tarra- gona are planned in the same manner. The waggon and continuous quarter-circle vaults are found with more or less complication in a great part of the south of France, and in all Catalonia. The use of " Opus spicatum " with rolled pebbles lasted for a long time in Roussillon, and is not necessarily a mark of great age as in other parts of France and in Italy. The ruined church at Corsavy, consecrated in 1158, has a regular pointed arched vault in cut stone. At Serra- bona the ribs of the vault in the pronaos are detached from the vaulting. At S. Pedro de Galligans, Gerona, and in the cloister of the Cathedral are vaults with similar ribs of about 11 15. They appear to have been used to avoid the difficulty of cutting the voussoirs at the angle of the two interpenetrating vaults, and are an artifice of the mason. The weakness of the angle ribs, which being the arches of largest span should be the strongest, suggests a tradition of ornament, not of use. In Roussillon the bell-towers served as donjons for the townsfolk. They are generally Lombard in type. There is abundant documentary evidence of the presence of Lombards in Catalonia from an early date. Lombardus, with many variations — Langovardus, ANCIENT DOCUMENTS 413 Langobardus, Lingobardus, Langoardus, Longobar- dus — is found as a personal name in Catalan docu- ments from the eighth century. During that century the country, which, at a later date, was known as Cata- lonia, began to be reconquered from the Saracens, and signatures of these names occur frequently as witnesses to acts of donation to monasteries and churches, or to consecrations, sometimes even written in Greek letters, as those of notaries, of persons estabHshed in the country selling and buying land, of priests. Canons, or monks, of judges in land disputes, or of witnesses of boundary settlements. The oldest document is a donation to the Monastery of Gerri (776). Italian plasterers, carvers, etc., still come to Catalonia from the north of Italy, perpetuating a connection which has existed for many centuries. When the contract was made for the construction of the Cathedral of Urgel in 1175, the architect's name is given as Raymond. The work was to occupy seven years, and four '' Lom- bardos " and four " Colleganti " were also to be em- ployed. The vault is mentioned, the cupola, and the bell-towers. If they could not get done in time, cementarios (masons) were to be engaged to help. Probably, therefore, Raymond and his Lombards were carvers. S. Maria, Besalu, was consecrated 1055 ; S. Maria, Sescourts, 1078. Count Ermengold d'Urgel, in a document of donation to S. Maria, Ripoll, speaks of his desire to reconstruct the church of the monastery 414 LOMBARDY, ROUSSILLON, AND CATALONIA of Gualter according to the new style " reedificare et novo scemate exaltare, honorare vel opibus dictare cupiens." All the documents speak of a new kind of work, quite distinct from the construction in unworked stone, or that quarried in the ordinary manner which was used in the foundations of S. Michel de Cuxa, according to the monk Garcia. The apse of La Seo d'Urgel is almost exactly like that of S. Crisogono, Zara (1175), which bears considerable resemblance to those of S. Maria Maggiore, Bergamo (1137). and the Cathedral of Lucca (1197), where Guidetto of Como worked. Its fagade, though simpler, may be compared to S. Michele and S. Pietro in Cielo d'Oro, Pavia, and, in fact, the presence of Comacines or Lombards is proved up to the hilt all along the Mediterranean Httoral from the borders of Italy to the south of Catalonia in one direction, while they are also found on the other side of the Adriatic to the end of Dalmatia, in Servia, and far south in the Itahan peninsula. s ) 'N Sir mn o INDEX Abbey of S. Michel de Cuxa, 260- 266 Agen, 379-382 S. Caprais, 380-382 Alet, 212, 218 ruins of the abbey, 213-217 ,, the church, 217 Amelie-les-Bains, 315-319 ,, Roman remains, 316 Aquitaine, 2, 3, 5 Aridge Valley, 202-204 AriSgeois, their character, 205 Arles-sur-Tech, 319-325 ,, Church of S. Marie, 319-323 „ cloister, 324 „ reliquaries, 322 „ water-secreting sarco- phagus, 324 Art of Roussillon, 406-410 Auch, 383 cathedral choir, 385-388 door of south transept, 389 S. Orens, 390 ,, windows of choir, 388 Aude Valley, route of Pierre Lis, 209-211 Aulignac, the chapel, i8g Ausci, I Ax-les-Thermes, 203, 204 Axat, scenery near, 218, 219 B Bayonne, 60-64 the castle, 62 Cathedral, 62 wrought - iron knocker, 64 ,, ,, the cloister, 63 picture by Bon- nat in S. Andre, 64 Beam, historical sketch, 77-81 Belvianes, 210 Beneharnenses, i Bethmalese costumes, 186 Beziers, 339-347 Cathedral, 341-344 La Madeleine, 344 ,, monument to Jean d'Olive. 346-347 S. Aphrodise, 344 S. Jacques, etc.. 345 Bigerriones, 2 Bordeaux, 19 crypt of S. Fort, 21, 23 Palais Gallien, 21 S. Croix, 26-30 S. Seurin, 22-26 Boule-Tcrndre, a simple inn, 239,240 Cabestany, 224 Carcassonne.. 353-3'J2 „ lower town, 361-362 415 4i6 INDEX Carcassonne, S. Nazairc, 359, 360 upper town, 355-360 Cases de Pene, ruined castle, 221 Castillon, S. Pierre, 183-185 Catalan characteristics, 16 ,, costume, 18 dances, 17 Celtiberians, 2 Ceret, fountain, etc., 314 ,, the great bridge, 313 Cocosates, i Codalet, fountain of arch from S. Michel de Cuxa, 259 Consorani, 2 Convenae, 2 Corneilla-le-Conflent, 271-275 the church, 273-275 D Dax Cathedral, medieval door, 49 ,, curious early sculpture, 45, 46 ,, Gallo-Roman ramparts, 48 ,, Roman baths and hot springs, 48 „ S. Paul-les-Dax, 43-47 Domitian Way, 327 Elne, 287-302 ,, early effigies, 301, 302 ,, history, 288-290 ,, the cathedral, 290-295 ,, the cloister, 295-301 Eluzates, 2 Espira de I'Agly, 221, 222 Estagel, holy-water basin, 221 Foix, 193-202 ,, historical notes, 197, 198 „ S. Jean des Verges, 202 „ S. Volusien, 194, 196 „ the castle, 194, 195-198, 199 ,, Pays de, 7 ,, inhabitants' character, 8, 9 Fors of Beam, Oloron, Morlaas, 79, 80 Fruit-supplies for London, 32-33 Garunni, 2 Gascony, 5, 7 Gaston de Foix, 200 Phoebus, 200, 201 Gave d'Oloron, railway from Sauve- terre, 65, 66 H Hagetmau, fine capitals, 95-97 ,, the crypt, 90-98 J Jasmin's shop at Agen, 382 L Lactorales, 2 Lapurdum, 2, 60 Lavalanet, the church, 207 Le Boulon, Templars' Church, 303 Lectoure, 383 Lez Valley, 177 Audressein, the church. 181-182 Castillon, 183 Les Bordes or Ourjoux, 187-189 ,, Ourjoux or Les Bordes Church, 187-189 ,, " Pile " of Luzenac, 179 Sentein, 189 Links between Lombardy, Roussillon, and Catalonia, 410-414 Lombardy, Roussillon, and Catalonia, links between, 410-414 Lourdes, 114-115 Luz from Lourdes, 116 ,, funeral customs, 119 ,, the Templars' Church, 1 17-1 19 Luzenac, 179 the church, 180 M Moissac, 392-405 great doorway, 396-401, 403-405 historical notes, 392-394 the church, 401-403 INDEX 417 Moissac, the cloister., 394-396 Montauban, 392 Mont Louis, railway to, 253-254 Montrejeau, 151 Morlaas, 101-105 Church of S. Foy, 102-105 ,, Mint of the Counts, 79 N Narbonne, 325-339 Cathedral, 330-333 ,, ,, treasury, 332- 333 ,> ,, cloister, 333 Church of S. Paul Serge, 334-336 ,, ,, remains of cloister, 336, 337 history, 329, 330, 338 ,, Roman remains, 327-329, 337 Navarre, 58 Navarrenx, 76 Notre Dame de Tramesagues, 181 Novempopuli, 2 Novempopulonia, i O Oloron, 105-113 Church of S. Croix, 106-108 S. Marie, 108-111 history, 111-112 Orthez, 81-90 ,, assassination of Castellan of Lourdes, 86, 87 ,, Castle and Tour Moncade, 83, 84 curious costumes, 89, 186 ,, house of Jeanne d'Albret, 88 tragedy of Gaston Phoebus's son, 85, 86 the bridge, 81-83 Palalda, 316-318 Pau, 98-101 Pau, the castle, gg Perpignan, 225-236 Chapel of the " Dcvot " Crucifix, 231 ,, funeral service in Cathe- dral, 236 history, 226-227 La Loge, 233 Maison Julia, 234 ,, other churches, 232-233 ,, other houses, 235 S. Jean le Vieux, 227-228 the castillet, 226 the cathedral, 22g-232 Prades, 255 arcade from S. Michel de Cuxa, 258 the church, 257-258 Puivert, the castle, 207-208 Pyrenees Orientales, history and topography, 222-225 Q Ouillan, 208, 211, 218 R Rieux-Minervois, 347-353 Church of S. Marie, 349-352 Roussillon, 10, 11 characteristics of the art of, 406-410 characteristics of people, 13. 19 ,, Arab type, 14 passion for liberty, 15 Ruscino (Castel Rossello), 224 S. Andre de Sor^de, 309-312 St. Bertrand de Comminges, 126-150 ancient history, 127-129 ,, Church of S. J ust, Valca- brdre, 129-134 ,, ,, inscription of A.D. 347, 132 53 4i8 INDEX St. Bertrand, Church of, S. Just, Valca- brere, north door, 132-134 ,, conspiracy of Gondo- vald, 134-135 ,, Porte Cabirol, 137 „ Porte Majou, 137 „ S. Bertrand himself, 137. 138 „ the Canons' choir, 143-146 „ the cathedral, 139- 150 „ the cloister, 149-150 „ the organ, 146 ,, the treasury, 147-148 St. Gaudens, 152-155 the church, 152-154 S. Genis des Fontaines, 306-309 St. Girons, 155-159 Church of S. Vallier, 158- 159 St. Lizier, 159-177 ,, lower town, 166-175 cathedral in upper town, 164-165 historical notes, 162-164 the bridge, 176 the cloister, 171-175 ,, the upper town (Gallo- Roman enceinte), 161 treasure of the lower church, 175-176 St. Macaire, 30-43 ,, medieval fortifications, 34-35 Place du Marche and medieval houses, 35 S. Sauveur, 37-43 S. Martin de Fenouillar, 304-305 S. Martin du Canigou, 277-283 ascent to the abbey, 285 capitals from the cloister, 282-283 the upper church, 281 the crypt, 281-282 St. Papoul, 363-367 St. Paul de Fenouillet, 219-220 S. Raymond, architect of S. Sernin, 370-372 St. Sever, 51-58 ,, Gallo-Roman mosaic, 57 the abbey church, 52-57 carved capitals, 55-56 Salses, the fort, 223 Sauveterre de Beam, 66-75 castle and forti- fications, 69- 71 reformed church, 74 Romanesque church, 70-73 the bridge, or toll - station, 68 Sauveterre to Oloron, 75-76 Sentein, fortified church, 189-192 Serrabona, the church, 242-251 the road to the abbey, 241 Sotiates, i Spanish gipsies, 177-178 Sus, 76 T Tarbelli, i Tarbes, 121-126 a child's funeral, 124 Church of S. Teresa, 124 Cloister of S. Sever de Rus- tan, 125-126 damage of wars of religion, 121 Jardin Massey, 124 Notre Dame de la Sede, 122- 124 Taurinya, 267 Tet Valley, 252-254 Toulouse, 367-379 caps in the Museum, 375- 376 Cathedral, 377 historical notes, 378-379 INDEX 419 Toulouse, S. Sernin, 368-377 ,, caps in transepts and tri- forium, 371-374 ,, caps in crypt, 369 Treuga Domini, 289 Valley of the Tech, 303-325 \'ascons, 3 Veneharni, i Vernet-les-Bains, 2S4 ,, Le Vieux Vernet, 284-286 ,, Le Vieux Vernet, the church, 286 Villefranche-le-Conflent, 268-271 ,, ,, the church, 268-271 THE END BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, CUILDFORU fe s ^-^0FCA1IF0% ,MW Vcd ^^ ^^OFCAIIFO/?^^ '%a3AINllJ\AV" m 5; ^CAavaan# I *l^ ^^^ ,^i (m ^v>clOSANC[l% CO 58 01056 4879 I '^/Sa3AINn-3WV^ 3 ^ ./.JiW3-J0' ^ME•yNiV: ur?o TucRKi RfGinNAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 000 802 384 8 ^OFCALirO/?^ '^imm' ^vio^-Avriifj-^ 3 CP O '^/5a]AiNni. ,^F■CA!lm/?{^ ,-^OF' iAINa]Wv ,sS;\OSANCElfj> JAINn-3WV^ %r "^/iajAiNnjwv^ <\.>MUI\'CDr/> \T!IP,I?ARYQr vini; Awrn^r lAffAiiFno,, ..aF-rAiiFn/?/. ' ^>o«, iilrr ic'^^S >o