How France Built Her Cathedrals Part 50

Lefevre-Pontalis.

[188] Bishop Ulger carried forward, too, the episcopal palace which stood on V-century walls over the Roman citadel and is connected with the cathedral's transept. Its ancient facade is the finest civic monument in Angers (1101-49). The ground floor was used as a stable; over it rose Bishop Ulger's synodal hall, and under the rafters was made a library in the XV century. Angers is exceptionally rich in late-Gothic and Renaissance mansions. G. d'Espinay, _Angers et l'Anjou_ (Angers, 1903); _ibid._, _Notices archeol., Les monuments d'Angers, Saumur et ses environs_ (Angers, 1875), 2 vols.

[189] The first line of Anjou's counts came to an end when John Lackland did away with his nephew, Arthur of Brittany. The region of the Loire became then most willingly a part of Phillipe-Auguste's royal domain.

Anjou was given as an appanage to St. Louis' brother Charles d'Anjou, whose first wife brought him Provence, and who by invitation and conquest became king of the Two Sicilies. His son, Charles II, built the church of St. Maximin in Provence. He left only one daughter, who married the Count of Valois, like herself of St. Louis' direct line. The son of that union mounted the French throne as Philip VI. It was his son, Jean le Bon, who again detached Anjou from the French crown for his son Louis, who began the short-lived third line of Angevin princes.

[190] That a portion of Angers' palace walls dates from Gallo-Roman times is indicated by the courses of brick in the small stones. When such brick courses alternate with big material, the work was done after 1000. Of the red flint-stone castle built by Fulk Nerra only fragments remain. A fire in 1132 and later disasters wiped out the counts'

residence, to which Henry Plantagenet had added. L. de Farcy, "La chapelle du chateau d'Angers," in _Revue de l'art chretien_, 1902; Henri Rene, _Le chateau d'Angers_ (Angers, 1908); H. Havard, ed., _La France artistique et monumental_, vol. 2, "Angers," H. Jouin.

[191] The nave of St. Serge is a mediocre XV-century structure. In its transept walls are vestiges of earlier churches; the cordons of brick in the stonework date from Carolingian times. _Congres Archeologique_, 1871 and 1910; V. G.o.dard-Faultier, "Le coeur de St. Serge a Angers," in _Bulletin Monumental_, 1866, vol. 32; J. Denais, "Histoire et description de l'eglise St. Serge a Angers," in _L'inventaire des richesses d'art de la France_, vol. 4, p. 20, Province, monuments religieux (Paris, Plon).

[192] _Congres Archeologique_, 1862 and 1910; Prosper Merimee, _Notes d'un voyage dans l'Ouest de la France_ (Paris, 1836), pp. 345-358; G.

d'Espinay, _Notices archeologiques. Les monuments d'Angers, Saumur et ses environs_ (Angers, 1875), 2 vols.; Celestin Port, "Les stalles et les tap.i.s.series de St. Pierre de Saumur," in _Revue des Societes savantes_, 1868, p. 278; _ibid._, _Dictionnaire historique, geographique, et biographique de Maine-et-Loire_ (Paris and Angers, 1874-78), 3 vols.; V. G.o.dard-Faultrier, _Monuments antiques de l'Anjou, arrondiss.e.m.e.nt de Saumur_ (Angers, 1863); Jules Juiffrey, "Tap.i.s.serie du XVe siecle a l'eglise Notre Dame-de-Nantilly a Saumur," in _Revue de l'art ancien et moderne_, 1897, vol. 4, p. 75; Eugene Muntz, Jules Juiffrey, Alex. Pinchart, _Histoire generale de la tap.i.s.serie_ (Paris, 1879-84), 3 vols.

[193] From Saumur, eight miles down the Loire, can be visited the magnificent Romanesque church at Cunault, XI and XII centuries. It has noticeable capitals, mural paintings, and Plantagenet vaults with sculptured keystones and figurines. Two miles below it lies Gennes, whose church has Angevin vaults of the First Period. To be reached, _via_ Doue-la-Fontaine, are both Puy-Notre-Dame and Asnieres, the latter called "the most beautiful ruin in Anjou." Its square-ended XIII-century choir resembles St. Serge's. Slender pillars divide that wide chevet into three aisles of equal height, composing one of the most graceful specimens of the school's Third Period. One arm of the transept has heavy diagonals of the first phase, and over the other are the eight-branch type. The Huguenots wrecked Asnieres in 1569. The present nave is a rest.i.tution. A society of artists saved the choir and transept from demolition.

The abbatial of Puy-Notre-Dame is very beautiful. Heavy diagonals of the First Period cover the transept's south arm; eight-branch vaults cover the nave and the transept's north limb; over the choir, which resembles St. Jean's chevet at Saumur, is a much-ramified Plantagenet vault. The lofty side aisles and cl.u.s.tered piers make this interior one of the best of XIII-century Angevin works extant. At St. Germain-sur-Vienne (Indre-et-Loire), two miles from Candes, the choir has the complicated multiple-ribbed vault of the Third Period, with three lines of keystones.

_Congres Archeologique_, 1910, p. 128, Cunault and Gennes; p. 65, Puy-Notre-Dame and Asnieres; E. de Loriere, "Asnieres-sur-Vegre," in _Revue hist. et archeol. du Maine_, 1904, p. 95.

[194] At the battle of Jargeau, Jeanne reminded the duke of her promise.

D'Alencon himself has related the episode: "_Je lui fis observer que c'etait aller bien vite en besogne que d'attaquer si promptement: 'Soyez sans crainte,' me dit-elle, 'l'heure est bonne quand il plait a Dieu, il faut besoigner quand s'est sa volonte: agissez, Dieu agira! Ah, gentil duc,' me dit-elle quelques instants apres, 'aurais-tu peur? Ne sait-tu pas que j'ai promis a ta femme de te ramener sain et sauf?'_" Alas, for the deterioration of character brought about in those troubled years of foreign invasion and misrule; Jeanne's _gentil duc_ was later to plot with the English and to be impeached.

At Chinon are specimens of Plantagenet Gothic (_Bulletin Monumental_, 1869). In the Loire-et-Cher department are some fourteen churches of the school. The other Plantagenet monuments usually seen by the traveler before his arrival in Angou are the eight-branch vaults at Vendome, in the transept of the Trinite; the vault under the northwest tower of Tours Cathedral; and in Le Mans, the cathedral nave and the church of the Couture. At Mouliherne (Seine-et-Loire) every type of the Plantagenet development is present.

_Congres Archeologique_, 1910, vol. 1, p. 130, "St. Florent-les-Saumur,"

Andre Rhein; vol. 2, "Les votes de l'eglise de Mouliherne," Andre Rhein; p. 247, "Les influences angevines sur les eglises gothiques du Blesois et du Vendomois," F. Leseur.

[195] _Congres Archeologique_, 1910, p. 33, Andre Rhein, on Candes; Abbe Boura.s.se, "Notice historique et archeologique sur l'eglise de Candes,"

in _Memoires de la Soc. archeol. de Touraine_, 1845, p. 141; Suppligeon, _Notices sur la ville et la collegiale de Candes_ (Tours, 1885).

[196] _Congres Archeologique_, 1843, 1884, and 1903, "Poitiers," Andre Rhein; H. L. de la Mauviniere, _Poitiers et Angouleme_ (Collection, Villes d'art celebres), (Paris, H. Laurens, 1908); Abbe Auber, _Histoire de la cathedrale de Poitiers_ (Poitiers, 1849), 2 vols.; _ibid._, _Histoire civile, relig. et litteraire du Poitou_ (Poitiers, 1856), 8 vols.; J. Berthele, _Recherches pour servir a l'histoire des arts en Poitou_; Alfred Richard, _Histoire des comtes du Poitou_, 788-1204 (Paris, Picard et fils, 1903), 2 vols.; Dreux-Duradier, _Histoire litteraire du Poitou_; Alexis Forel, _Voyage au pays des sculpteurs romans_ (Paris and Geneva, 1913), 2 vols.; Raynouard, _Choix des poesies originales des troubadours_ (Paris, Didot, 1816), vol. 5, "Richard Coeur-de-Lion"; R. P. Largent, _St. Hilaire de Poitiers_ (Collection, Les Saints), (Paris, Lecoffre); J. Robuchon, _Paysages et monuments du Poitou_ (Paris, 1890-1903), folio; (on Poitiers, Mgr. Barbier de Montault); Benj. Fillon, _Poitou et Vendee_; A. J. de H. Bushnell, _Storied Windows_ (New York, Macmillan Company, 1914); Boissonnade, _Le Poitou_ (Collection, Les regions de la France), (Paris, Cerf, 1920).

[197] The _Vexilla regis prodeunt_ hymn is sung on Good Friday when the Blessed Sacrament is carried from the Repository to the main altar, and as a vesper hymn from the Sat.u.r.day before Pa.s.sion Sunday to Maundy Thursday. It has also been incorporated in the Roman Breviary for feasts of the Holy Cross. There have been a host of translations. In his _Medieval Hymns and Sequences_, London, 1813, Dr. J. M. Neale thus rendered the first quatrain:

"The royal banners forward go.

The cross s.h.i.+nes forth with mystic glow, Where He in flesh, our flesh Who made, Our sentence bore, our ransom paid."

[198] Montierneuf was founded in 1078 by Guillaume VIII (d. 1086). Only eight of the nave's eleven bays remain. The chevet was rebuilt in the XIV century. The abbey was sacked in 1562. St. Porchaire's tower is all that remains of an XI-century church, a contemporary of Notre Dame-la-Grande and Montierneuf. It was to be destroyed in 1843, but luckily some visiting archaeologists saved it. From St. Porchaire's belfry rang the summonses of Poitiers University. De Cherge, "Memoire historique sur l'abbaye de Montierneuf de Poitiers," in _Mem. de la Soc.

des antiquaires de l'Ouest_, 1844; _Deux etudiants de l'Universite de Poitiers, Francis Bacon et Rene Descartes_, 1867, p. 65.

[199] St. Savin lies thirty miles from Poitiers. Its choir and transept belong to the early part of the XII century, and its nave was erected about thirty years after. Its donjonlike tower was crowned later by a spire, the highest in southwest France with St. Michel's at Bordeaux.

Like Etruscan vase ornamentation are its unique frescoes giving Genesis, Exodus, and the Apocalypse. On the route from Poitiers to St. Savin lies Chauvigny, "the pearl of Poitou," with the ruins of several castles. Its church of St. Pierre has a decorated apse and some eight-branch Plantagenet vaults; its church of Notre Dame possesses some XV-century frescoes.

Another of the chief Poitou-Romanesque churches is at St. Maixent, thirty miles from Poitiers, _via_ Niort. The nave is XII century, the choir, Angevin Gothic, and the tower, Flamboyant; its crypt capitals are noticeable.

The abbey church at St. Jouin-de-Marnes, near Montcontour, has a good facade, a fine Romanesque tower, a transept of the end of the XI century, and a XII-century choir and nave, only three of whose vault sections, however, are the primitive ones. In the XIII century the present elaborate masonry roof was subst.i.tuted. It belongs to the Third Period of the Plantagenet school, with three lines of keystones.

Airvault abbey church, not far away, built a similar much-ramified vault, the prototype for that of Toussaint, at Angers.

Parthenay can be included in the trip from Poitiers to St.

Jouin-de-Marnes. In its venerable church took place the scene when St.

Bernard rose in majesty at the altar and compelled the giant sinner Guillaume X of Aquitaine to repent.

Three miles from Poitiers lies St. Benoit's Romanesque church, with a XIII-century spire, and five miles away is Liguge, where St. Martin, under St. Hilary's guidance, founded the first monastery in Gaul. Dom Prosper Gueranger restored Liguge in 1864, and here J. K. Huysmans lived, as he has described in _l'Oblat_. The XV-century church was rebuilt by that prelate of the Renaissance, Geoffrey d'Estissac, whom Rabelais came to visit.

_Congres Archeologique_, 1910, St. Savin; p. 119, Airvault; p. 108, St.

Jouin-de-Marnes, and the latter also in the _Congres_ of 1903; Prosper Merimee, _Les peintures de St. Savin_ (Paris, 1845), folio; Ch.

Tranchant, _Guide pour la visite des monuments de Chauvigny en Poitou_ (Paris, 1901).

[200] Probably because of the magistral window at Poitiers, the Byzantine tradition of the crucified Christ lingered long in the art of midland France. Over an altar of the chapel of Bourgonniere, in the parish of Bouzille, in Angers diocese, is a remarkable XVI-century polychrome image of the Saviour, unwounded, robed, and awake, with arms wide outstretched against the Cross.

[201] In 1106 gathered another council at Poitiers, a holy-war rally, but the war was to be waged on Christian Constantinople. The superb Bohemund, the new prince of Antioch, came to organize the expedition; he had gone on the First Crusade for booty, fierce as a Norman, astute as an Italian, in person like a Greek G.o.d, tall beyond man's normal height, broad-shouldered, and lithe--so the Greek princess at Constantinople saw him. Philip I gave him his daughter, and on Tancred, his cousin, a true hero of the holy wars, not a buccaneer, the king of France bestowed his daughter by the fair Bertrada de Montfort.

[202] E. Lefevre-Pontalis, _etude archeologique de St. Hilaire de Poitiers_ (Caen, 1904); also in the _Congres Archeologique_ of 1903; De Longuemar, "Essai historique sur l'eglise Saint Hilaire-le-grand de Poitiers," in _Memoires des antiquaires de l'Ouest_, 1856.

[203] De la Croix, _etude du baptistere de St. Jean de Poitiers_ (Poitiers, 1903); E. Lefevre-Pontalis, "Les fouilles du R. P. de la Croix au baptistere de St. Jean a Poitiers," in _Bulletin Monumental_, 1902, vol. 66, p. 529; Mgr. X. Barbier de Montault, _OEuvres completes_ (various studies on the monuments of Poitiers and its region), (Poitiers, Blais et Roy, 1899).

[204] Like other Greek works of the period the Minerva at Poitiers shows the influence of Egyptian art in its stiff, regal att.i.tude. The proud, full chin is uplifted. The shapely back is molded by a leopard's skin.

The right arm is missing, but the left arm is honey-hued and as delicate as flesh in appearance. She bears the olive branch of peace, this wise Minerva.

[205] Lucien Magne, _Le Palais de Justice de Poitiers_.

[206] _Congres Archeologique_, 1850 and 1895; Abbe Ph. Gobillot, _La cathedrale de Clermont_ (Clermont-Ferrand, F. L. Bellet, 1912); H. du Ranquet, _La cathedrale de Clermont-Ferrand_ (Collection, Pet.i.tes Monographies), (Paris, H. Laurens); _ibid._, "Les architectes de la cathedrale de Clermont-Ferrand," in _Bulletin Monumental_, 1912, vol.

76, p. 7; G. Desdevises du Dezert et L. Brehier, _Clermont-Ferrand, Royat et le Puy-de-Dome_ (Collection, Villes d'art celebres), (Paris, H.

Laurens, 1910); Louis Brehier, _L'Auvergne_ (Collection, Les provinces francaises), (Paris, H. Laurens, 1910); _ibid._, in _Revue de l'art chretien_, 1912, on the capitals of Notre Dame-du-Port; G. Fraipont, _L'Auvergne_ (Collection, Montagnes de France), (Paris, H. Laurens); E.

Vimont, _Les deux princ.i.p.ales eglises de Clermont_; R. de Lasteyrie, _L'architecture religieuse en France a l'epoque romane_ (Paris, 1912); H. Stein, _Les architectes des cathedrales gothiques_ (Paris, 1912); Prosper Merimee, _Notes d'un voyage en Auvergne_ (Paris, 1838); Alexis Forel, _Voyage au pays des sculpteurs romans_ (Paris and Geneva, 1913), 2 vols.; Saveron, _Les origines de la ville de Clermont_; Ambrose Tardieu, _Histoire de la ville de Clermont_; G. Desdevises du Dezert, _Bibliographie du centenaire des croisades a Clermont-Ferrand_ (Clermont-Ferrand, 1895); D. Branche, _Auvergne au moyen age_ (Clermont-Ferrand, 1842); Paul Allard, _St. Sidoine Apolinaire_ (Collection, Les Saints), (Paris, Lecoffre); Taylor et Nodier, _Voyage pittoresque dans l'ancienne France_. _Auvergne_ (Paris, Didot, 1829-33), 3 vols.

[207] "Il est peu de constructions ogivales qui se presentent d'un facon plus degagee et plus pittoresque. La sombre ma.s.se se detache de la ville aux rues tortueuses comme une haute statue de son piedestal. Les deux fleches hardies s'encadrent dans la cirque majestueux de montagnes volcaniques. Il semble que la cathedrale soit le Mont-Saint-Michel de cette baie aux lumieres mouvantes. Tantot silhouettee par de vigoureux eclairages, tantot estompee par les vapeurs qui planent dans la vallee, et quelquefois, aux heures matinales emergeant de leur nappe grise, comme une haute mature au-dessus de la mer tranquille, elle reste toujours fiere, imposante, poetique."--LOUIS GONSE, _L'art gothique_ (Paris, 1891).

[208] The Chaise Dieu monastery, founded by St. Robert in 1043, was later affiliated with Cluny. The present church was begun in 1344 by Clement VI, who built the choir and four bays of the nave. The abbatial was completed, after 1370, by his nephew, Gregory XI. Clement had Avignon artists prepare his funeral monument, which originally possessed over forty statuettes representing his relatives, for he came of the great lines of Beaufort and Turenne. The Casa Dei abbatial, though possessed of grandeur, is dull and heavy. The aisles are as high as the princ.i.p.al span. The octagonal piers with uncut capitals lack elegance and lightness, the windows are the narrowest lancets, and there are no flying b.u.t.tresses. Molds die away in the piers above the capitals--an early appearance of Flamboyant Gothic. The cloister (1378-1417) is frankly late-Gothic. The denuded church once was filled with the tombs of local magnates, among them those of the Lafayette family, precious pages of French history obliterated in 1562 and 1793. As if to shut out the funereal, humid aisles, the choir has been lined with tapestries (begun in 1492) unsurpa.s.sed in France. They reproduce the _Mirror of Perfection_ and the _Bible of the Poor_, two books popular in the XIII and XIV centuries. Each episode of the Saviour's life is accompanied by scenes of the Old Testament, prefiguring it. On the outer wall of the choir screen is a sketch, a Dance of Death, with the grim skeleton stalking in and out, touching with his chill finger pope, baron, burgher, page, field laborer, and little child. No XIII-century church had allowed so gruesome a theme on its walls. This lugubrious allegory came into vogue after the Black Death of 1348, when a third of Europe's population perished. _Congres Archeologique_, 1904, pp. 54, 402; E.

Durand, _La Chaise Dieu_ (1903); Maurice Fancon, _L'eglise abbatiale de la Chaise Dieu en Auvergne_; emile Male, _L'art religieux de la fin du moyen age_ (Paris, Colin, 1910).

[209] "Quiconque en a senti une fois la beaute forte et simple de ce vigoureux style roman-auvergnat, dont l'origine demeure mysterieuse, n'oublie plus ces eglises, solides, trapues, rama.s.sees, dont l'ordonnance exterieure, au lieu d'etre un decor plaque, reproduit en relief l'ordonnance interieure. Vue du chevet surtout, avec l'hemicycle de leurs chapelles serrees, accolees contre la ma.s.se de l'edifice, elles donnent une saisissante impression d'aplomb et d'unite."--PAUL BOURGET, _Le demon du midi_ (Paris, Plon-Nourrit et Cie, 1913).

The feast of Notre Dame-du-Port falls on May 15th, and the city is illuminated with myriads of little lamps.

[210] Polychrome decoration is to be found everywhere in Auvergne: Royat, Riom, Mozac, Saint-Saturnin, Orcival, Saint-Nectaire (where are some of the best carved capitals in the region), Issoire (observe _La cene_ sculptured on one of its capitals), Le Puy, and Brioude. This latter is one of the most beautiful of XII-century churches, showing Burgundian traits as well as those of Auvergne and the Velay. The influence of the Romanesque school of Auvergne spread to Parthenay, Saintes, Nevers, Toulouse, Santiago, and Avila. _Congres Archeologique_, 1904, p. 542, E. Lefevre-Pontalis, on Brioude; _Congres Archeologique_, 1895, pp. 96, 238, 292, on Saint-Nectaire; and p. 177, "ecole romane d'Auvergne," H. du Ranquet; _Bulletin Monumental_, 1909, vol. 73, p.

213, "Saint-Nectaire," Abbe G. Rochias.

[211] Those who visit Riom (which lies close to Clermont) should go to Aigueperse, eight miles away, to see Mantegna's St. Sebastian and a Nativity by a brother of Ghirlandajo. As the lord of the region, a Bourbon-Montpensier--who died in 1496, had married the sister of the Gonzaga ruler of Mantua, these treasures probably came through that source. _Congres Archeologique_, 1895; and 1913, p. 124, Mozac, Abbe Luzuy; p. 144, Riom, P. Gauchery; Paul Mantz, "Une tournee en Auvergne,"

in _Gazette des Beaux-Arts_, 1886; Abbe R. Cregut, _La vierge du Mathuret_ (_Clermont-Ferrand_, 1902); _ibid._, _Les vitraux de la Sainte-Chapelle de Riom_ (1906); E. Clouard, _Les gens d'autrefois aux XVe et XVIe siecles_. (The controversy on the Madonna of the Bird is here summed up); Gondalon, _Riom et ses environs_ (Riom, Jouvet, 1904); A. de Champeaux et P. Gauchery, _Les travaux d'art executes pour Jean, duc de Berry_ (Paris, II. Champion, 1891); Camille Eulart, _Le musee de sculpture comparee du palais du Trocadero_ (on the _vierge a l'oiseau_), (Paris, H. Laurens, 1913).

[212] _Congres Archeologique_, 1904, pp. 1, 403; Noel Thiollier et Felix Thiollier, _L'architecture romane du diocese du Puy_ (Le Puy, 1900); Felix Thiollier, _Le Forez pittoresque et monumental_; Mallay et Noel Thiollier, _Monographie de la cathedrale du Puy_ (Le Puy, 1904); Prosper Merimee, _Notes d'un voyage en Auvergne_ (Paris, 1838), p. 242; Alexis Forel, _Voyage au pays des sculpteurs romans_ (Paris and Geneva, 1913), 2 vols.; Paul Mantz, "Une tournee en Auvergne," in _Gazette des Beaux-Arts_, 1887, vols. 35, 36; Louis Villat, _Le Velay_ (Collection, Les regions de la France), (Paris, L. Cerf); Mandet, _Histoire de Velay_ (Le Puy, 1860), 6 vols.; De la Mure, _Histoire des ducs de Bourbon et des comtes de Forez_; Michel, _Auvergne et le Velay_ (Moulins), 3 vols.

and atlas; _Histoire litteraire de la France_, vol. 8, p. 467, "Adhemar de Monteil"; p. 514, "Urbain II" (Paris, 1747).

[213] Marcel Reymound et Ch. Girard, "La chapelle de St. Laurent a Gren.o.ble," in _Bulletin Archeologique_, 1914-16, vol. 56, p. 176.

[214] Emile Male, "L'art du moyen age et les pelerinages" in _Revue de Paris_, Oct. 1919, Feb. 1920.