CHAPTER V.BURGUNDY.

CONTENTS.

Church of St. Martin d’Ainay—Cathedral atLe-Puy-en-Velay—Abbeys of Tournus and Cluny—Cathedral of Autun—Church of St. Menoux.

Theprovince of Burgundy was architecturally one of the most important in France during the Middle Ages, but one the limits of which it is difficult to define. This is partly owing to the extreme fluctuation of the political power of the kingdom or dukedom, or whatever it might be, but more to the presence of two distinct peoples within its limits, the one or other of which gained the ascendancy at various intervals, and according as each was in power the architectural boundaries of the province appear to have changed. In Provence the Roman or Classical element remained superior down to the time when Paris influenced that province as it did all the rest of France; but this event did not take place till very nearly the end of the Gothic period. In Burgundy, on the other hand, the Classical and Barbarian streams flowed side by side—at times hardly mingling their waters at all, but at others so amalgamated as to be undistinguishable, while again in remote corners either style is occasionally found to start up in almost perfect purity.

It would add very much to the clearness of what follows if we could tell who the Burgundians were and whence they came: neither of which questions appears as yet to have received a satisfactory solution. That they differed in many respects from the other Barbarians who assisted in overthrowing the Roman Empire will probably be admitted; but in the present stage of ethnographic knowledge it may seem too daring to assert that they had Turanian blood in their veins, and were Buddhists in religion, or belonged to some cognate faith, before they settled on the banks of the Saône or the Rhone. Yet if this were not so, it appears impossible to account for the essentially monastic form which characterised this province during the whole Gothic period.

From the time at least when St. Gall and Columban settled themselves at Luxeuil till late in the Middle Ages, this country was thefirst and principal seat of those great monastic establishments which had so overwhelming an influence on the faith and forms of those times. We must go either to India in the flourishing period of Buddhism, or to Thibet in the present day, to find anything analogous to the monastic establishments of the 11th century in this district. All these monasteries have now passed away, and few have left even any remains to attest their former greatness and magnificence. The great basilica of Cluny, the noblest church of the 11th century, has been wholly removed within the present century. Clairvaux was first rebuilt in the style of the Renaissance, but has been finally swept away within the last few years. Citeaux perished earlier, and little now remains to attest its former greatness. Luxeuil is an obscure village. The destruction of the church of St. Benigne, at Dijon, has already been referred to, and it would be easy to swell the catalogue of similar consequences of the great Revolution.

Tournus still remains, and at Vezelay fragments exist. Charlier, Avallon, Autun, Langres, and Besançon, still possess in their cathedrals and churches some noble remnants of Burgundian architecture. Besides these, there are numerous parish churches and smaller edifices which would easily enable us to make up a history of the style, were they carefully examined and drawn. The architecture of Burgundy, however, has not yet been examined with the attention it deserves, and it would require long and patient personal investigation to elucidate its peculiarities.

598. Façade of St. Martin d’Ainay. (From a drawing by J. B. Waring.) No scale.

The church of St. Martin d’Ainay at Lyons is an early and beautiful specimen of the style when used without any classical influence; yet four Roman pillars support the intersection of the nave and transept. Its western front (Woodcut No.598) was erected probably in the 10th century, and is decorated with colours and patterns which are characteristic of the style. Nor does there seem any reason for doubting but that the pointed arch of the entrance doorway belongs to the period to which the church is assigned.

The cathedral of Le-Puy-en-Vélay is another example of the same style.[28]The east end and the two first bays of the nave belong to the 10th century. The church progressed westward at the rate of two bays in a century till the last two were completed with the wonderful cavernous porch under them about the year 1180. The whole length of the church is 215 ft., and its width across the nave is a little over 80. Externally its most remarkable feature is the façade of the south transept, which is perhaps the richest and most elaborate specimen of the Ainay style of decoration existing. On the north side is the cloister, which is a singularly elegant specimen of the style, but very classical in detail. The pillars are almost Corinthian in outline (Woodcut No.599), but the blunder the Romans made when using pillars with arches has in this case been avoided. If reference is made to Woodcuts 211 and 213, or to any others representing the classical form, the difference will be at once perceived. In both instances the pillars were used merely as ornaments, but with the Romans they were nothing but useless additions, without even the pretence of utility. In this cloister they support the arches, and are veritable parts of the construction. It would be difficult to find any apter illustration of Pugin’s famous antithesis than these examples of Roman and Burgundian architecture—the one is constructed ornament, the other ornamented and ornamental construction—and notwithstanding its rudeness, the Burgundian example is far more pleasing than the Roman, and, if used with classical details, this arrangement might now be introduced into any Italian design with the most satisfactory effect.

599. Cloister of Cathedral of Le-Puy-en-Vélay. (From a Photograph.)

The church of St. Bénigne at Dijon, mentioned above, was one ofthe oldest in Burgundy, and was probably an excellent type of the style of that country. But its total destruction and the insufficiency of the plates published by Dom Plancher[29]preclude anything like a satisfactory study of it. The abbey church of Tournus (Woodcut No.600) is perhaps nearly as old, its antiquity being manifested by the rudeness both of its design and execution. The nave is separated from the aisles by plain cylindrical columns without bases, the capitals of which are united by circular arches at the height of the vaults of the aisle. From the capitals rise dwarf columns supporting arches thrown across the nave. From one of these arches to the other is thrown a transverse tunnel-vault, which thus runs the cross way of the building; being, in fact, a series of arches like those of a bridge extending the whole length of the nave. This is, I believe, the only known instance of this arrangement, and is interesting as contrasting with the longitudinal tunnel-vaults so common both in this province and in the South.

600. View of Interior of Abbey at Tournus. (From Taylor and Nodier.)

It is a curious instance of an experiment, the object of which was the getting over those difficulties afterwards removed by the invention of the intersecting vault. In the meantime this Tournus roof offered some advantages well worthy of consideration. The first of these was that the thrust of the vault was wholly longitudinal, so that only the supporting arches of the transverse vaults required to be abutted. These being low and in a well-defined direction were easily provided for. Another advantage was, that it allowed of a large and well-defined clerestory, which, as we have seen, was impossible with the longitudinal vaults. On the other hand itmight seem to be a fatal objection that the eye instead of being conducted pleasingly along the vault was continually interrupted by a series of cross barrel vaults; this objection, however, is more theoretical than practical, for, owing to the abundant light which enters through the clerestory windows (not suggested at all in the woodcut), and the fact that from the west end looking down the nave the barrel vaults are scarcely seen, the general effect is most pleasing, and it is singular that so happy a solution of the problem, both artistically and constructively, should not have been followed, or that this should be an unique example. The columns in the apse are carried on a podium 6 ft. high, similar to that found in the Holy Sepulchre, which was built by the Crusaders, and constitute a pleasing variety to the ordinary apsidal termination. Acrypt of much earlier date exists under the whole choir, and is specially interesting as showing in its vault the rough centering on which it was apparently built.

601. Plan of Abbey Church at Cluny. (From Lorain’s ‘Histoire de l’Abbaye.’) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.

In the nave of this church all the arches are circular; in the choir, which dates early in the 11th century, if not before, and which is perhaps older than the nave, the great transverse arches are slightly pointed, and support at the intersection a dome (the pendentives of which are formed of squinches carried on wall-shafts), which forms the most beautiful feature in the church. Similar features are found in the churches of le Puy-en-Vélay, St. Martin d’Ainay at Lyons and elsewhere.

The pride of Burgundy was the great abbey church of Cluny, which, with its narthex or ante-church, measured 580 ft. in length, or considerably more than any other church erected in France in any age. Its nave was throughout 37 ft. 6 in. in width, and it had double side-aisles, making the total internal width 120 ft., while the whole area covered by it was upwards of 70,000 sq. ft. But colossal as these dimensions are, they convey no adequate idea of its magnificence. The style throughout was solid and grand, and it must have possessed a degree of massive magnificence which we so frequently miss among the more elegant beauties of subsequent erections.

The semi-dome of the chevet was supported by eight noble columns, through which was seen in perspective a circle of five apsidal chapels. Externally the roof was crowned by five larger and three smaller towers; and the whole was carried up solidly to a height unrivalled among the buildings of this age. What added to its interests was, that the church at least was at the time of its destruction an almost unaltered specimen of the architecture of the 11th and 12th centuries, having been commenced in 1089 by St. Hugues, and dedicated in 1131. The narthex or ante-chapel, though somewhat more modern, was probably completed within the limits of the 12th century. These dates have been disputed, but principally on account of the theories prevalent regarding the origin of the pointed arch. This feature was used here, as it is found elsewhere, in all the pier arches separating the nave from the aisles—the vaulting of the aisles having probably been also pointed, while the great vault of the church is a plain tunnel-vault with transverse ribs on its surface. That of the narthex is a transverse vault of a later date, but of singularly clumsy construction. Whether it had a clerestory or not, is not quite clear from such drawings as we possess; but if not, it undoubtedly had a double gallery throughout, the upper range of which, if not both, served to admit light.

We should hardly be able to make out, from the representations we possess, what the exact ordinance of this church was were it not that some other contemporary churches in the same style still remain to us.Among these, one of the most perfect is the cathedral at Autun, formerly the chapel of the dukes of Burgundy, commenced about the year 1090, and consecrated 1132. The arrangement of its nave is extremely similar to that of Cluny, with these differences, that at Autun, the great vault is slightly pointed, and attached to the piers of the nave are pilasters instead of three-quarter columns. In the ante-church, however, at Cluny, the same pilastered arrangement occurs. This is the characteristic of the true Burgundian style, and so peculiar is it, and so classical, that some antiquaries have not hesitated to consider it as a bad imitation of Gothic forms belonging to the 15th or 16th centuries. In fact the fluted columns or pilasters, their Corinthian capitals, and the whole arrangements are so eminently classical, as almost to justify the doubt in those who are not familiar with the history of the southern styles of France. There can, however, be no doubt as to the age of these examples, and as little as to the models from which they are copied; for in this very city of Autun we have two Roman gateways (one of which is represented in Woodcut No. 218), and there are others at Langres and elsewhere, which, except in the pointed arch and other constructive peculiarities, are almost identical with the style of these churches. Whether from want of familiarity with this style, or from some other cause, it certainly is not pleasing to our eyes, and we therefore turn with pleasure to the ruder but more purpose-like inventions of the purely Gothic architects of the same age.

602. View in Aisle at Autun. (From Chapuy, ‘Cathédrales Françaises.’)

603. View in Nave at Autun. (From Chapuy.)

Among these the province affords no more beautiful specimen than the nave of the church of Vezelay, which possesses all the originality of the Norman combined with the elegance of the southern styles. In this specimen the pier arches are wide and low, there is no triforium of any sort, and the windows are small. The vault is formed by immense transverse ribs, crossing from pier to pier, and forming square compartments, each divided by plain intersecting arches, without ribs, and rising considerably in the centre. This certainly is an improvement on the vault at Cluny, though it cuts the roof too much up into divisions. Perhaps its greatest defect is its want of height, being only 60 ft. in the centre, while the total width is 86 ft. from wall to wall. But the details of the whole are so elegant as in a great measure to redeem these faults.

604. Section of Narthex at Vezelay. (From Didron’s ‘Annales Archéologiques.’)

The narthex, or ante-church, resembles that at Cluny both in its importance and in being somewhat more modern than the church itself. At Vezelay (Woodcut No.604) it dates from the beginning of the 12th century, while the nave seems wholly to belong to the 11th. It is an extremely instructive example of the progress of vaulting. It has the bold transverse ribs, and the plain intersecting vaults, which are here in accordance with the southern practice, abutted by the arches of the galleries. In the walls of the galleries are windows large enough to admit a considerable amount of light. But the vaults are here fast losing their original purpose. The arch construction supports the solid external roof over the side-aisles, but the central vault is covered by a wooden roof, so that the stone vault has become a mere ceiling, leaving only one easy step towards the completion of the plan of Gothic roofing. This step was to collect the vaults of the side galleries into a mass over each pier, and use them as flying buttresses, and to employ wooden roofs everywhere, wholly independent of the vaults which they covered.

Vezelay is one of the most beautiful of the remaining churches of its age in Burgundy, notwithstanding that the choir, which is a chevet in the early pointed style, like those in the northern province, rather disturbs the harmony of the whole.

Among the remaining churches of this class, the cathedral atBesançon is one of the few double-apse churches of France, and is, in plan at least, very much more like those we find on the banks of the Rhine.

The cathedral at Vienne, mentioned above (p.58), might, from some of its details, particularly the form of the pier arches, be fairly classed with this style, showing as it does the fluted pilasters and other classical adjuncts found here. These peculiarities are common both to this and the Provençal style, but the boundary between them is by no means clearly defined.

605. East End, St. Menoux. (From Allier, ‘L’ancien Bourbonnais.’)

On the northern border of the province we find the church of St. Menoux (Woodcut No.605), belonging certainly in many of its details to the style we are now describing. This is most distinctly observable in the exterior of the apse of the chevet, a feature which is seldom found unaltered; here it is surrounded by a series of pilasters of rude classical design, which give to it a peculiar local character. Internally too, its chevet (Woodcut No.606) is remarkably elegant, though less Burgundian in style. It shows to what an extent the stilting of round arches could be used to overcome the difficulty of combining arches of different spans, but all requiring to be carried to the same height. Like all the old churches of the province, it possesses a large and important narthex, here the oldest part of the church, and a rude andcharacteristic specimen of a style of architecture that can hardly be later than the 10th century.

606. Chevet, St. Menoux. (From Allier.)

These few specimens must suffice to define a style which well deserves a volume to itself, not only on account of its own architectural merit, but from the enormous influence exercised both by the order itself and by its monastic founders on the civilisation of Europe in the age to which it belongs. During the 11th and 12th centuries Cluny was more important to France than Paris. Its influence on the whole of Europe was second only to that of Rome—civilising barbarians by its missionaries, notwithstanding the feudal nobility, and in many ways counteracting the ferocity of the times.

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