CHAPTER III.ANJOU.

CONTENTS.

Cathedral at Angers—Church at Fontevrault—Poitiers—Angiovine spires.

Thearchitectural province of Anjou cannot perhaps be so distinctly defined as the two already described. On the north, indeed, it is separated by the clearest line both from Normandy and from the Frankish province. But in the south, as before remarked, it is not easy to say, in the present state of our information, what works belong to Aquitaine and what to Anjou. Not that there is any want of sufficient marks to distinguish between thestylesthemselves, but a large portion ofexamplesappear to belong to a sort of debateable ground between the two. This, however, is true only of the buildings on the borders of the province. The two capitals of Angers and Poitiers are full of examples peculiar to them alone, and as a rule the same remark applies to all the principal churches of the province.

The age of the greatest splendour of this province is from the accession of Foulques Nerra in the year 989 to the death of Henry II. of England, 1190. During these two centuries its prosperity and independent power rose to a height which it subsequently neither maintained nor ever regained. Prior to this period the buildings found scattered here and there are few and insignificant, but during its continuance every town was enriched by some noble effort of the piety and architectural taste peculiar to the age. After its conclusion the completion of works previously commenced was all that was attempted. The rising power of the northern provinces, and of the English, seems to have given a check to the prosperity of Anjou, which it never thoroughly recovered; for when it did to a certain extent again become prosperous and wealthy, it was under the influence and dominion of the great central Frankish power which ultimately absorbed into itself all the separate nationalities of France, and obliterated those provincial distinctions which are so strikingly prominent in the earlier part of her history.

The plan of St. Maurice (Woodcut No.583), the cathedral of Angers, may be considered as a typical example of the Angiovine style,and will serve to explain in what it differs from the northern and in what it resembles the southern styles. On comparing it with the plan of Souillac, and more especially with that of the cathedral at Angoulême, it will be seen how nearly it resembles them—the great difference being that, instead of cupolas over each square compartment, it has the intersecting vault of the northern styles. Its buttresses too are external, but less in projection than might be generally considered necessary to support a vault 52 ft. in span. They moreover show a tendency towards a northern style of construction; but the absence of free-standing pillars or of aisles, and the general arrangement of the whole building, are rather southern peculiarities. Externally the façade has been successively piled up at various times from the 12th century, when the body of the church was commenced and nearly finished, to the 16th, when it was completed in the style of the Renaissance.

583. Cathedral at Angers. (From Faultrier, ‘Anjou et ses Monuments.’) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.

584. St. Trinité, Angers. (From Faultrier.) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.

Another church in the same city, of equal interest, though not so large or important, is that of the Trinité. It consists of one nave without transepts, 52 ft. wide measuring into the recesses, though it is only 32 ft. wide between the piers. It is roofed with an intersecting vault in eight compartments, of somewhat northern pattern, but with a strong tendency towards the domical forms of the Southern style. It possesses, moreover, a peculiarity rather frequently attempted, viz., that of trying to attain a greater appearance of length by lowering the vaults from the entrance towards the altar. Thus, at the entrance the building is 80 ft. in height, but it graduallysinks to 65 at the eastern end. This contrivance is a mere trick, and, like all such in architecture, is a failure.

The details of this church are rich and good throughout, and altogether the effect of the 7 recesses on each side is pleasing and satisfactory. Indeed it may be considered as the typical and best example of that class of churches, of which a later specimen was the cathedral at Alby, described in the last chapter, and which are so beautiful as to go far to shake our absolute faith in the dogma that aisles are indispensably necessary to the proper effect of a Gothic church.

585. View of the Interior of Loches. (From a Sketch by the Author.)

586. Plan of Church at Fontevrault. (From Verneilh.) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.

Even more interesting than either of these, in an archæological point of view, is the little castle chapel at Loches, commenced by Geoffrey Grise Gonelle, Count of Anjou, in the year 962, and continued by his son, Foulques Nerra, to whom the nave must be ascribed; while the western tower is probably the only part now remaining of the older church. The eastern portion was rebuilt in the 12th century by Thomas Pactius, the prior, and completed in 1180—the latter part being in the well-known Norman style of that age. An interesting point in this church is that the Norman round-arch style is built over and upon the pointed arches of the nave, which are at least a century older, having been erected between the years 987 and 1040. It will be seen from the view given of this chapel that the pointed style here used has nothing in common with the pointed architecture of the North of France, but is that of the South, such as we have seen in the churches of Périgueux and Souillac. It is used here, as there, to support domes. These, however, in this instance, instead of being circular, are octagonal, and rise externally in octagonal straight-lined cones of stone-work, giving a very peculiar butinteresting and elegant outline to the building. They also point out a method by which roofs at least as high as those which afterwards prevailed could have been obtained in stone if this mode of vaulting had been persevered in. The church of St. Sergius at Angers has pointed arches, certainly of an earlier date, but whether so old as this is not quite certain.

587. View of Chevet at Fontevrault. (From Faultrier.)

It has already been suggested that all circular churches were originally sepulchral, or intended to be so. There can also be little doubt but that the halves of round churches, which, as explained above, were adopted as the chevet termination of French basilicas, were also intended either to symbolise a tomb-house or relic shrine, or actually to serve as the sepulchres of distinguished personages. This certainly appears to have been the case in the earlier French examples, and among these one of the most splendid in this province, indeed, almost the only one of any real importance, is that of Fontevrault, where repose, or rather reposed, the remains of two of our Plantagenet kings, Henry II. and Richard I., with others of their family. As will be seen from the woodcut (No.587), it is a mausoleum worthy of them, and a pleasing example of the style of the age, and though certainly not so peculiarly Angiovine as the apsidal churches of Angers and Poitiers, has still distinguishing characteristics which are not found in any other province of France. The nave is surmounted by four domes, as is usual in this and the more southern provinces, and it is only in having an aisle trending round the apse that it differs from the ordinary churches. It may be seen from the plan (Woodcut No.586) how awkwardly this is done, and how ill its narrow dimensions agree with the spaciousness of the nave.

588. Elevation of one of the Bays of the Nave at Fontevrault. (From Verneilh.)

Woodcut No.588demonstrates how similar the domes of its naveare to those of Angoulême, Souillac, and those of the South—this domical arrangement being, in fact, as characteristic of this age and locality as the intersecting vault afterwards became of the Northern provinces.

589. Façade of Church of Notre Dame at Poitiers. (From Chapuy, ‘Moyen-Âge Monumental.’)

If the apse or chevet of this church is not so strictly Angiovine as other examples, the façade of the church of Notre Dame de Poitiers (shown in Woodcut No.589) is not open to the same remark, being strictly local in all its parts. Originally the one window it possessed was circular; but in the 15th century, as may be seen from the mouldings then introduced, it was cut down to its present form, no doubt to make more room for painted glass, which at that age had superseded all other modes of decoration: whereas in the 12th century, to which the church belongs, external sculpture and internal mural paintings were the prevailing modes of architectural expression. Itwill be observed from the preceding woodcut that sculpture is used in a profusion of which no example belonging to a later age exists; and though we cannot help admiring the larger proportions and broader masses of subsequent builders, still there is a richness and a graphic power in the exuberant sculpture of the earlier façades which we miss in after ages, and of which no mere masonic excellence can ever supply the place.

This, though not the largest, is probably the best and richest church of its class in this province. The border churches of Parthenay, Civray, and Ruffec, all show traces of the same style and forms all more or less richly carried out; but none have the characteristic corner towers, nor do they retain their pedimented gable so perfect as Notre Dame at Poitiers.

Besides this one there are four churches in Poitiers, all which were certainly erected in the 11th century, and the greater part of them still retain unaltered the features of that age. The oldest, St. Hilaire (A.D.1049), is remarkable for an irregularity of plan sufficient to puzzle all the antiquaries of the land, and which is only to be accounted for on the supposition of its having been built on the foundation of some earlier church, which it has replaced.

Montierneuf (1066) possesses in its nave a circular-headed tunnel-vault, ornamented with transverse ribs only, but resting on arches which cut slightly into it. It has no string-course or plain wall, as is usual in the South, and in this shows a tendency towards intersecting vaulting, indicative of an approach to the Northern style.

590. Plan of Cathedral at Poitiers. (From Coulier’s ‘Histoire de la Cathédrale de Poitiers.’) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.

The most remarkable parts of St. Porchaire and St. Radegonde are their western towers, which are fine specimens of their class, especially that of the latter, which changes pleasingly into an octagon before terminating in a short spire. Altogether this church shows that elegance of feeling the want of which is a chief defect of the contemporary Norman style.

The cathedral of Poitiers was founded in the year 1161. Its eastern end belongs to a transitional period, while its western front was not completed till the pointed Gothic style had reached its utmost perfection, 200 years later. Its plan, however, probably belongs to the earlier period, and presents so strong a contrast to the Northern churches of the same date that it may be quoted here as belonging to the style which we are describing. The east end is square externally, but internally it contains 3 shallow niches like those on each side of St. Trinité at Angers. Its transepts are mere chapels; but its most remarkable feature is the convergence of its sides towards the east; and as its vault sinks also towards that end, a false perspective is attained which certainly at first sight gives the church an appearance of greater length than it really possesses. The 3 aisles, too, being of the same height, add to the effect of space; so that, taken as a whole, this church may be quoted as the best example known of the system of attaining a certain effect by these means, and is well worthy of study on this account. It, however, I think, admits of no doubt that the Northern architects were right in rejecting all these devices, and in basing their efforts on better understood and more honest principles.

591. Spire at Cunault. (From Faultrier.)

It is in this province that, proceeding from the South, spires are first found in common use. The characteristic of the South is the square flat-roofed tower or octagonal dome. In Anjou, towers standing by themselves, and crowned by well-proportioned spires, seem early to have been introduced, and to have been considered almost essential parts of church architecture. The representation (Woodcut No.591) of that attached to the interesting church of Cunault, on the Loire, is of the most common type. There is another at Chemillé, almost exactly like it, and a third on the road between Tours and Loches, besides many others which but slightly differ from these in detail. They all want the aspiring lightness afterwards attained in Gothic spires; but their design and ornaments are good, and their outlines well suited to the massive edifices to which they are attached.

Most of the conventual buildings attached to the churches in thisprovince have disappeared, either during the struggle with the Huguenots, or in the later and more disastrous troubles of the Revolution, so that there is scarcely a cloister or other similar edifice to be found in the province. One or two fragments, however, still exist, such as the Tour d’Évrault.[27]This is a conventual kitchen, not unlike that at Glastonbury, but of an earlier age, and so far different from anything else of the kind that it was long mistaken for a building of a very different class.

Another fragment, though probably not ecclesiastical, is the screen of arches recently discovered in the hôtel of the Prefecture at Angers. As a specimen of elaborate exuberance in barbarous ornament it is unrivalled even in France, but it is much more like the work of the Normans than anything else found in the neighbourhood. Owing to its having been so long built up, it still retains traces of the colouring with which all the internal sculptures of this age were adorned.

The deficiency in ecclesiastical buildings in this province is made up in a great measure by the extent and preservation of its Feudal remains, few of the provinces of France having so many and such extensive fortified castles remaining. Those of Angers and Loches are two of the finest in France, and there are many others scarcely less magnificent. Few of them, however, have features strictly architectural; and though the artist and the poet may luxuriate on their crumbling time-stained towers and picturesque decay, they hardly belong to such a work as this, nor afford materials which would advance our knowledge of architecture as a fine art.

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