FOOTNOTES:

Castle of Briquebec.Plate 70.Castle of Briquebec, near Valognes.

Plate 70.Castle of Briquebec, near Valognes.

Briquebec is an extensive parish, situated about seven miles to the south of Valognes, with a population of four thousand five hundred inhabitants, a weekly market on Mondays, and several considerable fairs. Its castle claims an antiquity, nearly, if not altogether, coeval with the days of Rollo. When that Duke, on gaining peaceable possession of Normandy, parcelled out the land among his companions in arms, the portion that included Briquebec was one of the most considerable. The lord of Briquebec held in the Norman exchequer the third place among the barons of the Cotentin, the present department of La Manche.[157]His services and his rank, to which may probably also be added, his relationship to Rollo, entitled him to this proud distinction.

After the assassination of William Longue Epée, second Duke of Normandy, in 942, Amlech, or, as he is sometimes called, Lancelot, of Briquebec, was appointed one of the council of regency, during the minority of the young prince, Richard, the son to the deceased, and heir to the throne. In this capacity he was also one of those deputed to receive Louis d'Outremer, King of France, at Rouen.—Amlech had a son, named Turstin of Bastenburg, and he left two sons, one of whom, William, was lord of Briquebec.—The other, Hugh, commonly calledthe bearded, was the head of the family of Montfort, which produced the famous Count, Pierre, slain at the battle of Evesham, while commanding the barons in revolt against Henry III.—The line of the lords of Briquebec was continued in the posterity of William, whose son, of the same name, attended the Conqueror into England. Seven of his descendants successively bore the name of Robert Bertrand, and successively possessed the barony of Briquebec. The last died in the middle of the fourteenth century, leaving his extensive domains, including this castle, to his eldest daughter, Jane, with whom it passed in marriage to William Paisnel, baron of Hambye.[158]

The name of Paisnel will be found, as well as that of Bertrand, in the roll of chieftains engaged in the conquest of England. Duke William recompensed the services of Ralph Paisnel, his companion in arms, with various domains in different counties of his newly-acquired kingdom, and particularly in Yorkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Somersetshire. His descendants, who were numerous in Great Britain, possessed, among other distinguished lordships, those of Huntley and of Dudley.—In the Cotentin, their family was equally extensive and powerful. William, son of Jane Bertrand and of William Paisnel, succeeded his parents as lord of Briquebec and of Hambye.—He, in his turn, was followed by another William, who, by a marriage with his cousin, daughter of Oliver Paisnel, lord of Moyon, united that great barony to a property, which was previously immense. Upon the death of William, without children, Fulk Paisnel, his brother, became his heir; and, as he likewise diedchildless, the fortune devolved upon a younger brother, Nicholas. This Nicholas, who was previously lord of Chanteleu, married Jane de la Champagne, baroness of Gaie, and left an only daughter, by whose marriage with Louis d'Estouteville, in 1413, the baronies of Gaie, Moyon, Hambye, and Briquebec, passed at once from the family of Paisnel.

Briquebec, at the same time that it thus again changed masters, was still possessed by a descendant of one of those powerful barons, who had shared in the glory of the conquest of England.—Robert de Huteville, one of the Conqueror's companions in arms, had received from that sovereign a princely recompense, particularly in the county of York. But after the death of William Rufus, he espoused the party of the eldest brother, against Henry I. and was taken prisoner at the battle of Tinchbray, when his property was confiscated, and given to Néel d'Aubigny.—The name of his son, Robert, is to be found among the Yorkshire barons, who defeated the Scotch army at North Allerton; and it again occurs in the twentieth year of the reign of Henry II. at the battle of Alnwick, where he made the King of Scotland prisoner.

To return to the possessor of Briquebec, who was destined to afford a striking example of the mutability of fortune—scarcely had he become by his marriage the most powerful lord in the Cotentin, or possibly in Normandy, when Henry V. of England, invaded the duchy, gained the battle of Agincourt, and shortly afterwards made himself master of the whole province, except Mount St. Michael. In this trying emergency, Louis d'Estouteville remained faithful to his sovereign, and was, consequently, deprived of his possessions.

Henry immediately bestowed Hambye and Briquebec upon one of his favorite generals, William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk,[159]who, in 1427, still continued lord of Briquebec, in which capacity he confirmed to the abbey of Cherbourg, a rent of fifty sols, that had been given by his predecessor, Robert Bertrand, in 1329. The act of confirmation yet exists: it is dated in the year just mentioned; two years after which, the Earl of Suffolk, who had always previously been victorious, experienced a reverse of fortune, and was made prisoner at Gageau, together with his brothers, Alexander and John de la Pole. The consequence was, that he was compelled to sell his lands in the Cotentin to pay his ransom.

They were purchased by Sir Bertyn Entwyssle, a knight of the county of Lancaster, who, in the archives of the castle of Briquebec, dated about the year 1440, is styled Admiral of England; as his brother, Henry Entwyssle, in the same documents, bears the title of the King of England's Lieutenant-General in Normandy. In the hands of this nobleman, Briquebec continued, till the battle of Formigny compelled the British to evacuate Normandy. Sir Bertyn afterwards took part with Henry VI. against the Duke of York, and was slain at the battle of St. Albans, in 1455.

Upon the restoration of the province to the crown of France, the family of D'Estouteville were replaced in the lordship of Briquebec. They had deserved eminently well of the French King, for whom Louis D'Estouteville had continued to hold possession of Mount St. Michael, the only fortress that offered an availing resistance to the English.

In succeeding times, Briquebec and Hambye passed, by different marriages, into the families of Bourbon St. Pol, and of Orleans Longueville; but at the close of the sixteenth century, Mary of Orleans, Duchess of Nemours, sold this property to Jaques Gougon de Matignon, Marshal of France.—The descendants of the marshal continued lords of Briquebec till the revolution. It had shortly before that event fallen into the hands of a female, the only survivor of that family, and she had married the eldest son of the Duke de Montmorency. But the revolution swept away the whole of their fortune. A few detached fragments of the property, which had not been alienated, have recently been restored to them: the rest has long since been sold, including the castle, the only habitable part of which now serves for an ale-house. All the remainder is hastening fast to decay.

The walls of the castle inclose a considerable space of ground; and, at the time when they were perfect, they comprised eight towers, of different sizes and forms, including the multangular keep, the principal feature of theplate. This tower, which is a hundred French feet in height, is still nearly perfect. The sides towards the west and south-west, from which Mr. Cotman has made his drawing, are entirely so.—In an architectural point of view, Briquebec offers specimens of the workmanship of many different epochs.—The case is widely different between fortresses and churches: the latter, whatever the date of their construction, commonly exhibit a certain degree of unity in their plan: in castles, on the other hand, the means provided for defence have usually had reference to those employed in attack. Both the one and the other are found to varyad infinitum, according to time and localities. Briquebec shews some traces of the architecture of the eleventh century, but many more of the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth. The chapel, the magazines, the stables, and the present dwelling-house, were the parts last built. Of these, the two first have been for some years destroyed: the others are in a state of extreme neglect; and, neither in the dwelling-house, nor in the apartments over the great gate, does there now remain any thing curious.

FOOTNOTES:[156]For the whole of this article, the author has to express his acknowledgments to his friend, M. de Gerville, from whose manuscript it is almost verbatim translated.[157]Masseville, Histoire de Normandie, III. p. 46.[158]While one branch of the Bertrand family continued in possession of the barony of Briquebec, another branch established itself in Northumberland, where it received from the Conqueror many manors. Under the reign of Henry I. William Bertrand, or, as he is called by Tanner, Bertram, founded the priory of Brinkburn. Roger, one of his descendants, was conspicuous among the barons who revolted against King John; at the death of which prince, he espoused the party of Henry III.; but his son, Roger, took arms against this latter monarch, and was made prisoner at Northampton. A third Roger succeeded him, and was the last baron of Brinkburn.—Richard Bertram, who lived under Henry II. had a son called Robert, baron of Bothal, whose son Richard joined the confederate barons against King John. A descendant of his, of the name of Robert, lived under Edward III. and enjoyed the title of Lord Bothal, and was sheriff of Northumberland, and governor of Newcastle. He was present at the battle of Durham, where he made William Douglas prisoner. His only daughter, the heiress to his property, married Sir Robert Ogle; and thus the family of Bertram became extinct both in France and England nearly at the same time.[159]The instrument, which is curious, is still in existence, and is as follows:—“Henricus dei gracia rex Francie et Anglie et dnus hybernie oibus ad quos psentes littere puenerint salutem. Sciatis qd de gracia nostra speciali et ob grata et laudabilia obsequia nobis per carissimum consanguineum nostrum Guillelmum, Comitem de Suffolk, huc usque mirabiliter impensa dedimus et concessimus eidem comiti castra et dominia de Hambye et de Briquebec cum ptinenciis suis una cumoibus feodis, aliis hereditatibus et possessionibus quibuscumque quas tenuit fouques Paisnel chevalier defunctus intra ducatum meum Normannie habendis et tenendis prefato comiti et heredibus suis masculis de corpore suo nascentibus ad valorem 3500 scutorum per annum, cum omnibus dignitatibus, libertatibus, franchesiis, juribus, donationibus, reversionibus, forisfacturis, etallis, proficiis, commoditatibus et emolumentis quibuscumq. ad pdicta castra et dominia vel altera eorum seu ad feoda hereditates et possessiones predictas aliqualiter ptinentibus seu spectantibus intra ducatum nostrum Normannie adeo plene perfecte et integre et eodem modo sicut pdictus fouques vel aliquis alius tenebat et possidebat per homagium nobis et heredibus nostris faciendum et reddendo unum scutum de Armis Sci Georgii ad festum suum apud castrum nostrum de Cherbourg, singulis annis in perpetuum reservata tamen nobis et heredib. nostris alta et summa justicia et omni alio jure quod ad nos poterit pertinere proviso semper qd idem comes et heredes sui predicti sex homines ad arma et 12 sagittarios ad equitandum nobiscum seu heredibus nostris vel locum tenente nostro durante presenti guerra qui ad sumptus suos servire tenebuntur funtaque presenti guerra hujus modi et servicia in parte debita faciet et supportabit, et ulterius de uberiori gracia dedimus et concessimus...... in cujus rei testimonium has litteras nostras fieri fecimus patentes.—Teste meipso apd civitatem nram de Bayeux, XIII. die Martii, anno regninri quinto.L. S. Per ipsum regem STORGEON.”

[156]For the whole of this article, the author has to express his acknowledgments to his friend, M. de Gerville, from whose manuscript it is almost verbatim translated.

[157]Masseville, Histoire de Normandie, III. p. 46.

[158]While one branch of the Bertrand family continued in possession of the barony of Briquebec, another branch established itself in Northumberland, where it received from the Conqueror many manors. Under the reign of Henry I. William Bertrand, or, as he is called by Tanner, Bertram, founded the priory of Brinkburn. Roger, one of his descendants, was conspicuous among the barons who revolted against King John; at the death of which prince, he espoused the party of Henry III.; but his son, Roger, took arms against this latter monarch, and was made prisoner at Northampton. A third Roger succeeded him, and was the last baron of Brinkburn.—Richard Bertram, who lived under Henry II. had a son called Robert, baron of Bothal, whose son Richard joined the confederate barons against King John. A descendant of his, of the name of Robert, lived under Edward III. and enjoyed the title of Lord Bothal, and was sheriff of Northumberland, and governor of Newcastle. He was present at the battle of Durham, where he made William Douglas prisoner. His only daughter, the heiress to his property, married Sir Robert Ogle; and thus the family of Bertram became extinct both in France and England nearly at the same time.

[159]The instrument, which is curious, is still in existence, and is as follows:—“Henricus dei gracia rex Francie et Anglie et dnus hybernie oibus ad quos psentes littere puenerint salutem. Sciatis qd de gracia nostra speciali et ob grata et laudabilia obsequia nobis per carissimum consanguineum nostrum Guillelmum, Comitem de Suffolk, huc usque mirabiliter impensa dedimus et concessimus eidem comiti castra et dominia de Hambye et de Briquebec cum ptinenciis suis una cumoibus feodis, aliis hereditatibus et possessionibus quibuscumque quas tenuit fouques Paisnel chevalier defunctus intra ducatum meum Normannie habendis et tenendis prefato comiti et heredibus suis masculis de corpore suo nascentibus ad valorem 3500 scutorum per annum, cum omnibus dignitatibus, libertatibus, franchesiis, juribus, donationibus, reversionibus, forisfacturis, etallis, proficiis, commoditatibus et emolumentis quibuscumq. ad pdicta castra et dominia vel altera eorum seu ad feoda hereditates et possessiones predictas aliqualiter ptinentibus seu spectantibus intra ducatum nostrum Normannie adeo plene perfecte et integre et eodem modo sicut pdictus fouques vel aliquis alius tenebat et possidebat per homagium nobis et heredibus nostris faciendum et reddendo unum scutum de Armis Sci Georgii ad festum suum apud castrum nostrum de Cherbourg, singulis annis in perpetuum reservata tamen nobis et heredib. nostris alta et summa justicia et omni alio jure quod ad nos poterit pertinere proviso semper qd idem comes et heredes sui predicti sex homines ad arma et 12 sagittarios ad equitandum nobiscum seu heredibus nostris vel locum tenente nostro durante presenti guerra qui ad sumptus suos servire tenebuntur funtaque presenti guerra hujus modi et servicia in parte debita faciet et supportabit, et ulterius de uberiori gracia dedimus et concessimus...... in cujus rei testimonium has litteras nostras fieri fecimus patentes.—Teste meipso apd civitatem nram de Bayeux, XIII. die Martii, anno regninri quinto.L. S. Per ipsum regem STORGEON.”

L. S. Per ipsum regem STORGEON.”

Church of St. Stephen, at Fécamp.Plate 71.Church of St. Stephen, at Fécamp.Southern entrance.

Plate 71.Church of St. Stephen, at Fécamp.Southern entrance.

Fécamp, like many other towns in Normandy, has fallen from its original greatness to a state of extreme poverty. The sun of its prosperity has set, to rise no more. Neglect immediately followed upon the removal of the ducal throne to England: the annexation of Normandy to the crown of France, completed the ruin of the town; and the great change in the habits of mankind, from warlike to commercial, leaves no hopes for the restoration of the importance of a place, whose situation holds out no advantages for trade. Hence, Fécamp at present appears desolate and decayed; and, though the official account of the population of France still allows the number of its inhabitants to amount to seven thousand, the great quantity of deserted houses, calculated to amount to more than a third of all those in the town, impress the beholder with a strong feeling of depopulation and ruin.[160]

But, in the earliest periods of French history, long before the foundation of the Norman throne, Fécamp was honored as a regal residence. The palace is said to have been rebuilt by William Longue-Epée, with extraordinary magnificence. That prince took great pleasure in the chace; and he and his immediate successors frequently lived here. He also selected the castle as a place of retirement for his duchess, during her pregnancy with Richard. His choice, in this respect, was probably not altogether guided by his partiality for the place; but, threatened at that time with a dangerous war, he was desirous of fixing his wife and infant heir in a situation, whence they might, in case of necessity, be with ease removed to the friendly shores of England.—Richard, born at Fécamp, preserved through life an attachment to the town, and omitted no opportunity of benefiting it. He rebuilt,endowed, and enriched the abbatial church at vast expense; and he finally ordered it to be the resting-place for his bones, which, however, he would not permit to be interred in any spot whatever within the structure, but, with his dying breath, expressly enjoined his son to deposit them on the outside, immediately beneath the eaves, in order that, to use the words put by the monastic historians into his mouth upon the occasion, “stillantium guttarum sacro tecto diffluens infusio abluat jacentis ossa, quæ omnium peccatorum tabe fœdavit et maculavit negligens et neglecta vita mea.”—A curious question might be raised, whether the monarch, in this injunction, was solely impressed with the feeling of his own unworthiness, or whether he had also in view, the mystic doctrine of the efficacy of water towards the ablution of sins.

Richard II. and the succeeding dukes, appear to have regarded Fécamp with an equally friendly eye; till, in process of time, the increasing splendor of its monastery altogether eclipsed the waning honors of the town; and Henry II. of England, finally sealed its downfall, by making a regular donation of the town to the abbey, from which period till the revolution, the latter was every thing, the former nothing.

“Fécamp,” as it is remarked by Nodier, “was to the Dukes of Normandy, what the pyramids were to the Egyptian monarchs,—a city of tombs: Richard II. rested there by the side of Richard I. and, near him, his brother Robert, his wife Judith, and his son William.”[161]—The list might be lengthened by the addition of many other scarcely less noble names.

“The abbey of Fécamp is said to have been founded in the year 664 or 666, for a community of nuns, by Waning, the count or governor of the Pays de Caux, a nobleman who had already contributed to the endowment of the monastery of St. Wandrille. St. Ouen, Bishop of Rouen, dedicated the church in the presence of King Clotaire; and so rapidly did the fame of the sanctity of the abbey extend, that the number of its inmates amounted, in a very short period, to more than three hundred. The arrival, however, of the Normans, under Hastings, in 841, caused the dispersion of the nuns; and the same story is related of the few who remained at Fécamp, as of many others under similar circumstances, that they voluntarily cut off their noses and their lips, rather than be an object of attraction to their conquerors. The abbey, in return for their heroism, was levelled with the ground; and it did not rise from its ashes till the year 988, when the piety of Duke Richard I. built the church anew, under the auspices of his son, Robert, archbishop of Rouen. Departing, however, from the original foundation, he established therein a chapter of regular canons, who soon proved so irregular in their conduct, that within ten years they were doomed to give way to a body of Benedictine monks, headed by an abbot, named William, from a convent at Dijon. From his time the monastery continued to increase in splendor. Three suffragan abbeys, that of Notre Dame at Bernay, of St. Taurin at Evreux, and of Ste. Berthe de Blangi, in the diocese of Boullogne, owned the superior power of the abbot of Fécamp, and supplied the three mitres, which he proudly bore on his abbatial shield. Kings and princes, in former ages, frequently paid the abbey the homage of their worship and their gifts; and, in a more recent period, Casimir of Poland, after his voluntary abdication of the throne, selected it as the spot in which he sought for repose, when wearied with the cares of royalty. The English possessions of Fécamp do not appear to have been large; but, according to the author of theHistory of Alien Priories, the abbot presented to one hundred and thirty benefices, some in the diocese of Rouen, others in those of Bayeux, Lisieux, Coutances, Chartres, and Beauvais; and it enjoyed so many estates, that its income was said to be forty thousand crowns per annum.”[162]

The work, from which this account of the abbey of Fécamp has been extracted, also contains some details relative to a few of the principal miracles connected with the convent, and relative to theprecious blood, to the possession of which Fécamp was indebted for no small portion of its celebrity. But the reader must be referred for all these to theNeustria Pia, where he will find them recorded at great length. The author of that most curious volume, appears to have treated no subject more entirelycon amorethan Fécamp; and if the more enlightened progeny of the present day incline, in the plentitude oftheir wisdom, to “think their fathers fools” for listening to such tales, let it at least be recollected, that even these tales, with all their absurdity, are most interesting documents of the progress of the human mind; and, above all, let it never be forgotten, that books of this description contain a mass of materials for the elucidation of the manners and customs of the age, which would in vain be sought for in any other quarter.

The abbatial church of Fécamp is still standing uninjured, and is a work of various ages. Some circular chapels attached to the sides of the choir, are probably remains of the building erected by Duke Richard: the rest is all of the pointed style of architecture; and the earliest part is scarcely anterior to the end of the twelfth century.—The church of St. Stephen, selectedherefor publication, is undeserving of notice, except for its southern portal, which is an elegant specimen of what is called by Mr. Rickman, the decorated English architecture.

FOOTNOTES:[160]Turner's Tour in Normandy, I. p. 60.[161]Voyages Pittoresques et Romantiques dans l'Ancienne France, I. p. 110.—Seven plates in this work are devoted to the illustration of the religious buildings at Fécamp.[162]Turner's Tour in Normandy, I. p. 62.

[160]Turner's Tour in Normandy, I. p. 60.

[161]Voyages Pittoresques et Romantiques dans l'Ancienne France, I. p. 110.—Seven plates in this work are devoted to the illustration of the religious buildings at Fécamp.

[162]Turner's Tour in Normandy, I. p. 62.

Church of St. Lawrence, at Eu.Plate 72.Screen in the Church of St. Lawrence, at Eu.

Plate 72.Screen in the Church of St. Lawrence, at Eu.

The town of Eu has, by some writers, been supposed to have been the capital of the Gallic tribe mentioned in Cæsar's Commentaries, under the name of the Essui; but a conjecture of this description, founded altogether upon the similarity of the name, and unsupported by any collateral testimony, must be allowed to be at best only problematical; and ancient geography presents so wide a field for the display of ingenuity and learning, that it is in no department of science more necessary to be upon the guard against plausible theories.—There are others who contend for the Teutonic origin of the town, and refer to etymology with equal zeal, and with greater plausibility. The wordEu, otherwise speltOuorAusignifies a meadow, in Saxon; and the same name was likewise originally applied to the river Bresle,[163]which washes the walls of Eu, within a distance of two miles from its confluence with the ocean at Tréport.[164]

The first mention that occurs of Eu in history, is in the pages of Flodoard, according to whom, the town was in existence in the year 925; but, whether the Roman or the Saxon derivation of its name be preferred, in either case etymology would fairly allow the inference, that its foundation was considerably more ancient. During the reign of Louis XI. Eu obtained a melancholy celebrity: a report was circulated in the summer of 1475, that it was the intention of the English to make a descent upon the coast of France, and to establish themselves there for the winter. At the same time, this town was confidently mentioned as the place where they proposed to fix their quarters. To deprive them of such an advantage, the French monarch had recourse to a measure which could only be justified by the most urgent necessity: he ordered the Maréchal de Gamaches to enter the place with four hundred soldiers, on the eighteenth of July, and to set fire to the houses of the citizens,together with the castle. His commands were executed; and the whole was reduced to a heap of ashes, with the exception of the churches. The neighboring towns of Dieppe, St. Valeri, and Abbeville, profited from the misfortunes of Eu, which has never recovered its prosperity, notwithstanding the various privileges subsequently granted to it.—The present population consists of about three thousand four hundred inhabitants, whose only trade is a trifling manufactory of lace.

From as early a period as the year 1102, the title of Count was bestowed by Richard I. Duke of Normandy, upon the lords of Eu, who, in 1458, received the additional dignity ofComtes et Pairs; probably as some recompense for the misery inflicted upon the place three years before. In the number of these counts, was the celebrated Duc de Guise, commonly known by the name ofLe Balafré. His monument of black and white marble, in the church of the Jesuits at Eu, was executed by Genoese artists; as was that of his wife, the Duchess of Cleves. Both of them have long been subjects of admiration.[165]The last of the line of counts of Eu, was the Duc de Penthièvre, a nobleman of the most estimable character: the title was his at the breaking out of the revolution; and it is not a little to his honor, that a writer of the most decidedly republican principles could be found, in the midst of that stormy period, to bear the following testimony in his favor:—“Né au milieu d'une cour, oú la corruption et les vices avoient pris le nom de la sagesse et des vertus, il dédaigna leurs délices funestes; il repoussa l'air empesté de Versailles; supérieur à leurs prestiges, il oublia sa naissance; il prouva enfin, par de longues années consacrées à faire le bien, qu'il étoit digne d'être né simple citoyen.[166]”—The castle, the residence of the counts, is now converted into a military hospital.

The abbey of Eu is said to have been founded in 1002,[167]by William, first count of the place, natural son of RichardSans-peur, Duke of Normandy. It was at its origin dedicated to the Virgin; but, after a lapse of somewhat more than two hundred years, was placed under the invocation of St. Lawrence, archbishop of Dublin. That prelate had, in the year 1181, crossed into Normandy, with the view of restoring a friendly understanding between the King of Ireland, his brother, and the King of England; and, at the moment of his approaching Eu, and beholding the lofty towers of the abbey, he is said to have exclaimed in strains of pious fervor, “Hæc requies mea in seculum seculi: hic habitabo, quoniam elegi eam.” Having accomplished the object of his mission, he died shortly after at the convent, and was there interred; and the fame of his sanctity attracting crowds of devotees to his tomb, he was canonized by a papal bull, dated the 11th of December, 1218, since which time the monastery has borne his name.

The church of St. Lawrence, though no longer abbatial, has been suffered to exist; even before the revolution, it served at once as the church to the convent and to the first parish of Eu. The screen here figured, a beautiful specimen of the decorated English architecture, is placed at the entrance of one of the chapels. Another chapel contains aHoly Sepulchre, said to be superior, in point of the execution of the figures, to any other in France. In the south transept is a spirally-banded column of extraordinary elegance. The church stands upon the foundations of an earlier building, erected at the close of the twelfth century, and destroyed by lightning in 1426. According to therecords of the monastery, it was either wholly, or in great measure, rebuilt by John de Vallier, the twenty-fourth abbot, in 1464.[168]—The following description of the building is borrowed from the journal of a very able friend of the writer of this article, who visited Eu in September, 1819:—“The abbey church of Eu is plain and massy on the outside of the nave and transepts. The east end of the choir is highly enriched with flying buttresses, &c. The windows of the nave are lancet-headed, and very tall: on the outside is a circular arch, which may be a restoration. The west window has been in three lancet divisions, which have been filled up with more modern tracery. The nave is singularly elegant: the triforium, or rather the upper tier of arches, is new in design, and most extraordinary. In the choir, the triforium is composed of tracery. The north transept is something like Winchester, only the arches are pointed: there are two arches. This arrangement is probably general; as I saw it at Troyes and other places. In a side-chapel is an entombment: the figures as large as life, or nearly so, and richly painted; quite perfect. Inscriptions on the hems of the garments. Theculs de lampeare of the most elegant reticulated work. In the north transept is a circular window filled with late tracery. No towers at the west end. East end, a polygon, as usual.—This church, which is well worthy of an attentive study, is quite distinct in character from the churches in the east of France: it has no marigold window; no row of niches over the portal; no massed door-way; so that the general outline of the front agrees wholly with the earliest pointed style. But the exterior is more chaste than any thing we have in England; and its architectural unity is better preserved. On the other hand, its parts are less elaborate.”

FOOTNOTES:[163]Description de la Haute Normandie, I. p. 45.[164]“Le païs d'Auge a tiré son nom de ses prairies. Au, Avv, Avve, et Ou, en Allemand, signifient un Pré.... Aventin est mon témoin dans son explication des noms Allemans. La ville d'Eu, située dans des prairies, a tiré son nom de la même origine. Elle est nommée dans les vieux Ecrivains,Auga,Augam, etAucum; et dans les auteurs AngloisOu, d'où est formé le nom d'Eu. De cette même origine vient le nom d'Au, qu'on a depuis écrit et prononcéO, et que portent plusieurs Seigneuries de Normandie et d'ailleurs, et qui est le même que celui d'Ou.Ouest une Comté qui a appartenue à ce Robert, que Robert du Mont qualifie Comte d'Ou. Ces mots d'Eu, d'Au, et d'Ou, se trouvent encore dans la composition de plusieurs noms de terres et de Seigneuries.Eu, dans le nom d'Eucourt, d'Eumesnil, et d'Eulande, terre dans le païs d'Auge, entre le Mare-Aupoix et Angerville, et ce nom est le même, sans aucune différence, que celui d'Oelande, isle de la mer Baltique, du domaine de la couronne de Suede. Les Suedois et les Danois prononcentOelandece que nous prononçonsEulande.AudansAubeuf,Aubose,Aumesnil,Aumont,Auvillers.OudansOuville. PourAugeon a ditAlgeen quelques lieux; et c'est de là que vient le nom d'une terre au païs de Bray, qui ne consiste presque qu'en prairies. Le même nom d'Auge, que portent quelques familles, montre assez qu'il a été appellatif. Mais la chartre de confirmation de la fondation de l'Abbaye de St. Etienne, donnée par Henry II. Roy d'Angleterre, le montre incontestablement par ces paroles, “cum sylvâ et algiâ et cum terris”.”—Huet, Origines de Caen, p. 294.[165]The church of St. Lawrence likewise contained the monuments of several distinguished personages, as appears by the following extract from theDescription de la Haute Normandie, I. p. 72.—“Là sont inhumez Jean d'Artois, Comte d'Eu, fils de Robert d'Artois, Comte de Beaumont le Roger, et de Jean de Valois, mort le 6 Avril, 1386: Isabelle de Melun, son epouse: Isabelle d'Artois, leur fille, dans la chapelle de Saint Denys, sous une belle table de marbre noir, qui sert de table d'autel: Charles d'Artois, Comte d'Eu, sous l'autel de la chapelle de Saint Laurent: Jeanne de Saveuse, sa premiere femme: Helène de Melun, sa seconde femme, dans la chapelle de Saint Antoine, dite aujourd'hui de Saint Crepin: le Cœur de Catherine de Cleves, Comtesse d'Eu, au bas du Sanctuaire, sous une magnifique colonne de marbre noir: N.... de Bourbon, dit le Duc d'Aumale, fils de Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, legitimé de France, Duc de Maine, mort le 8 Septembre, 1708: enfin Philippe d'Artois, Comte d'Eu, et Connétable de France, mort selon son epitaphe àMicaliceen Turquie, c'est-à-dire Nicopoli, le 16 Juin, 1397. Le Mausolée de celui-ci, qui est de marbre, est enfermé dans une espece de Cage de fer, dont les barreaux n'empêchent point qu'on ne puisse en approcher et y porter la main. Le Prince y est representé armé, mais sans casque et sans gantelets, pour marquer, dit-on, qu'il est mort à la guerre, mais non dans le combat: il a deux petits chiens à ses pieds, pour signifier, ajoute-t-on, qu'il est mort dans son lit: enfin la grille qui l'environne represente, dit-on encore, qu'il est mort en prison. Le monument, selon l'Ecrivain de qui j'emprunte ces conjectures, n'a coûté que 100 livres.”[166]Noel, Essais sur le Département de la Seine Inférieure, I. p. 84.[167]Neustria Pia, p. 694.[168]Neustria Pia, p. 700.

[163]Description de la Haute Normandie, I. p. 45.

[164]“Le païs d'Auge a tiré son nom de ses prairies. Au, Avv, Avve, et Ou, en Allemand, signifient un Pré.... Aventin est mon témoin dans son explication des noms Allemans. La ville d'Eu, située dans des prairies, a tiré son nom de la même origine. Elle est nommée dans les vieux Ecrivains,Auga,Augam, etAucum; et dans les auteurs AngloisOu, d'où est formé le nom d'Eu. De cette même origine vient le nom d'Au, qu'on a depuis écrit et prononcéO, et que portent plusieurs Seigneuries de Normandie et d'ailleurs, et qui est le même que celui d'Ou.Ouest une Comté qui a appartenue à ce Robert, que Robert du Mont qualifie Comte d'Ou. Ces mots d'Eu, d'Au, et d'Ou, se trouvent encore dans la composition de plusieurs noms de terres et de Seigneuries.Eu, dans le nom d'Eucourt, d'Eumesnil, et d'Eulande, terre dans le païs d'Auge, entre le Mare-Aupoix et Angerville, et ce nom est le même, sans aucune différence, que celui d'Oelande, isle de la mer Baltique, du domaine de la couronne de Suede. Les Suedois et les Danois prononcentOelandece que nous prononçonsEulande.AudansAubeuf,Aubose,Aumesnil,Aumont,Auvillers.OudansOuville. PourAugeon a ditAlgeen quelques lieux; et c'est de là que vient le nom d'une terre au païs de Bray, qui ne consiste presque qu'en prairies. Le même nom d'Auge, que portent quelques familles, montre assez qu'il a été appellatif. Mais la chartre de confirmation de la fondation de l'Abbaye de St. Etienne, donnée par Henry II. Roy d'Angleterre, le montre incontestablement par ces paroles, “cum sylvâ et algiâ et cum terris”.”—Huet, Origines de Caen, p. 294.

[165]The church of St. Lawrence likewise contained the monuments of several distinguished personages, as appears by the following extract from theDescription de la Haute Normandie, I. p. 72.—“Là sont inhumez Jean d'Artois, Comte d'Eu, fils de Robert d'Artois, Comte de Beaumont le Roger, et de Jean de Valois, mort le 6 Avril, 1386: Isabelle de Melun, son epouse: Isabelle d'Artois, leur fille, dans la chapelle de Saint Denys, sous une belle table de marbre noir, qui sert de table d'autel: Charles d'Artois, Comte d'Eu, sous l'autel de la chapelle de Saint Laurent: Jeanne de Saveuse, sa premiere femme: Helène de Melun, sa seconde femme, dans la chapelle de Saint Antoine, dite aujourd'hui de Saint Crepin: le Cœur de Catherine de Cleves, Comtesse d'Eu, au bas du Sanctuaire, sous une magnifique colonne de marbre noir: N.... de Bourbon, dit le Duc d'Aumale, fils de Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, legitimé de France, Duc de Maine, mort le 8 Septembre, 1708: enfin Philippe d'Artois, Comte d'Eu, et Connétable de France, mort selon son epitaphe àMicaliceen Turquie, c'est-à-dire Nicopoli, le 16 Juin, 1397. Le Mausolée de celui-ci, qui est de marbre, est enfermé dans une espece de Cage de fer, dont les barreaux n'empêchent point qu'on ne puisse en approcher et y porter la main. Le Prince y est representé armé, mais sans casque et sans gantelets, pour marquer, dit-on, qu'il est mort à la guerre, mais non dans le combat: il a deux petits chiens à ses pieds, pour signifier, ajoute-t-on, qu'il est mort dans son lit: enfin la grille qui l'environne represente, dit-on encore, qu'il est mort en prison. Le monument, selon l'Ecrivain de qui j'emprunte ces conjectures, n'a coûté que 100 livres.”

[166]Noel, Essais sur le Département de la Seine Inférieure, I. p. 84.

[167]Neustria Pia, p. 694.

[168]Neustria Pia, p. 700.

St. Peter at Lisieux.Plates 73-74.Church of St. Peter at Lisieux.

Plates 73-74.Church of St. Peter at Lisieux.

The effects produced by the French revolution upon the religious state of the country, were scarcely less important than upon the political. In both cases, the nation hurried, with the blindest fury, from extreme to extreme; in both, they followed phantoms of ideal perfection through an unexampled series of excesses and sufferings; in both, they rested at length from exhaustion much more than from conviction; and, happily for mankind and for themselves, they finally attained in both nearly the same end, reverting indeed to their original constitutions, but tempering them with a most seasonable mixture of civil and ecclesiastical liberty. Theconcordateffected for the church, what the charter did for the state. The former of these was one of the master-pieces of Napoléon's policy, and was likewise one of the earliest acts of his power. It was established in the year 1801, while France yet retained the name of a republic, and the ambition of its ruler had not ventured to grasp, at more than the consular dignity. By this instrument, the whole ecclesiastical constitution was changed; and not only was all the power placed in the hands of the chief of the state, but the provinces and dioceses were entirely remodelled; and, instead of twenty-three archbishoprics and one hundred and thirty-four bishoprics, the number of the former, notwithstanding the vast extension of the French territory, was reduced to ten, and that of the latter to fifty.

The archbishop of Rouen was one of those who suffered least upon the occasion. His dignity was curtailed only by the suppression of two of his suffragans, the bishops of Avranches and of Lisieux.[169]The church, here figured, then resigned the mitre, which it had conferred from the middle of the sixth century, upon an illustrious, though not an uninterrupted, line of prelates. It is admitted, in the annals of the cathedral, that either the see must have been vacant for the space of four hundred years, or at least that the names of those who filled it during that period, are lost. Ordericus Vitalis, who resided fifty-six years in the diocese, and has collected, in the sixth book of hisEcclesiastical History, whatever was to be found in his time, relative to its early state, acknowledges the chasm, and accounts for it by the following general remarks.—“Piratæ de Daniâ egressi sunt, in Neustriam venerunt, et christianæ fidei divinique cultûs penitùs ignari, super fidelem populum immanitèr debacchati sunt. Antiquorum scripta cum basilicis et ædibus incendio deperierunt, quæ fervida juniorum studia, quamvis insatiabilitèr sitiant, recuperare nequiverunt. Nonnulla verò, quæ per diligentiam priscorum manibus barbarorum solertèr erepta sunt, damnabili subsequentium negligentiâ interierunt.”

The city of Lisieux represents the capital of the Gallic tribe, mentioned by Cæsar, and other almost contemporary writers, under the name ofLexovii; and it is supposed by modern geographers, that the territory occupied by these latter, was nearly co-extensive with the late bishopric of Lisieux. On this subject it has been observed, that “it is to be remarked, that the bounds of the ancient bishoprics of France were usually conterminal with the Roman provinces and prefectures.”[170]NeomagusorNoviomagus Lexoviorum, the capital of the Lexovii, had always been supposed to have occupied the site of the present town, till some excavations made in the year 1770, for the purpose of forming achausséebetween Lisieux and Caen, proved the ancient and the modern city to have been placed at the distance of about three quarters of a mile from each other. Extensive ruins of buildings, situated in a field, calledLes Tourettes, were then brought to light; and among them were dug up various specimens of ancient art. The researches of more modern times, principally conducted by M. Louis Dubois, a very able antiquary of Lisieux, have materially added to the number as well as the value of these discoveries; and the quantity of Roman coins and medals that have rewarded his researches, would have left little doubt as to the real site of Neomagus, even if the circumstance had not within a very few years been established almost beyond a question, by the detection of a Roman amphitheatre in a state of great perfection.

Tradition, which there is in this instance no reason to impugn, relates that the Gallo-Roman capital disappeared during the incursions of the Saxons, about the middle of the fourth century. In farther confirmation of such opinion, it is to be observed, that none of the medals dug up within the ruins, or in their vicinity, bear a later date than the reign of Constantine; and that, though the city is recorded in theItinerary of Antoninus, no mention of it is to be found in the curious chart, known by the name of theTabula Peutingeriana, formed under the reign of Theodosius the Great; so that it then appears to have been completely swept away and forgotten.

Modern Lisieux is supposed to have risen at no distant period of time after the destruction of Neomagus. In the writings of the monkish historians, it is indifferently calledLexovium,Lexobium,Luxovium, Lixovium, andLizovium, names obviously borrowed from the classical appellation of the tribe, as the French wordLisieuxis clearly derived from them. In the early portion of Norman history, Lisieux is mentioned as having felt the vengeance of these invaders, during one of their predatory excursions from the Bessin, about the year 877. It was shortly afterwards sacked by Rollo himself, when thatconqueror, elated with the capture of Bayeux, was on his march to take possession of the capital of Neustria. But the territory of Lisieux was still the last part of the duchy which owned Rollo as its lord: it was not ceded to him by Charles the Simple, till 923, at which time he had for eleven years been the undisputed sovereign of the rest of Normandy.

Neither under the Norman dukes, nor at a subsequent period, does Lisieux appear to have taken any prominent part in political transactions. Its central situation, by securing it against the attacks of the French in former times, and more recently of the English, also prevented it from obtaining that historical celebrity, which, from its size and opulence, it could scarcely have failed to have otherwise gained. The principal events connected with it, upon record, are the following:—It was the focus of the civil war in 1101, when Ralph Flambart, bishop of Durham, escaping from the prison to which he had been committed by his sovereign, fled hither, and raised the standard of rebellion against Henry, in favor of his brother.—In 1136, Lisieux was attacked by the forces of Anjou, under the command of Geoffrey Plantagenet, husband of the Empress Maude, joined by those of William, Duke of Poitiers; and the garrison, composed of Bretons, seeing no hope of resistance or of rescue, burned the town.—Thirty-three years subsequently, the city was honored by being selected by Thomas-à-Becket, as the place of his retirement during his temporary disgrace. Arnulf, then bishop of Lisieux, had labored diligently, though ineffectually, to restore amity between the sovereign and the prelate, espousing, indeed, decidedly the cause of the latter, but at the same time never forfeiting the friendship of the former, for whom, after the murder of Becket, he wrote a letter of excuse to the supreme pontiff, in the joint names of all the bishops of England.—Lisieux, in 1213, passed from under the dominion of the Norman dukes, to the sway of the French monarch. It opened its gates to Philip-Augustus, immediately after the fall of Caen and Bayeux; and its surrender was accompanied with that of Coutances and Séez, all of them without a blow, as the king's poetical chronicler, Brito, relates in the following lines:—

“Cumque diocesibus tribus illi tres sine belloSese sponte suâ præclari nominis urbesSubjiciunt, Sagium, Constantia, Lexoviumque.”

In subsequent times, Lisieux suffered severely, when taken by the English army under Henry V. in 1417. Its recapture by Charles VII. thirty-two years afterwards, was unstained by bloodshed.

A great part of the preceding account of Lisieux has been borrowed from Mr. Turner's Tour in Normandy: what follows, relative to the church here figured, will be entirely so:—“The cathedral, now the parish church of St. Peter, derived one advantage from the revolution. Another church, dedicated to St. Germain, which had previously stood immediately before it, so as almost to block up the approach, was taken down, and the west front of the cathedral was made to open upon a spacious square.—Solid, simple grandeur are the characters of this front, which, notwithstanding some slight anomalies, is, upon the whole, a noble specimen of early pointed architecture.—It consists of three equal compartments, the lateral ones rising into short square towers of similar height. The southern tower is surmounted by a lofty stone spire, probably of a date posterior to the part below. The spire of the opposite tower fell in 1553, at which time much injury was done to the building, and particularly to the central door-way, which, even to the present day, has never been repaired.—Contrary to the usual elevation of French cathedrals, the great window over the principal entrance is not circular, but pointed: it is divided into three compartments by broad mullions, enriched with many mouldings. The compartments end in acute pointed arches. In the north tower, the whole of the space from the basement story is occupied by only two tiers of windows. Each tier contains two windows, extremely narrow, considering their height; and yet, narrow as they are, each of them is parted by a circular mullion or central pillar. You will better understand how high they must be, when told that, in the southern tower, the space of the upper row is divided into three distinct tiers; and still the windows do not appear disproportionately short. They also are double, and the interior arches are pointed; but the arches, within which they are placed, are circular. In this circumstance lies the principal anomaly in the front of thecathedral; but there is no appearance of any disparity in point of dates; for the circular arches are supported on the same slender mullions, with rude foliaged capitals, of great projection, which are the most distinguishing characteristics of this style of architecture.

“The date of the building establishes the fact of the pointed arch being in use, not only as an occasional variation, but in the entire construction of churches upon a grand scale, as early as the eleventh century.—Sammarthanus tells us that Bishop Herbert, who died in 1049, began to build this church, but did not live to see it completed; and Ordericus Vitalis expressly adds, that Hugh, the successor to Herbert, upon his death-bed, in 1077, while retracing his past life, made use of these words:—‘Ecclesiam Sancti Petri, principis apostolorum, quam venerabilis Herbertus, prædecessor meus, cœpit, perfeci, studiosè adornavi, honorificè dedicavi, et cultoribus necessariisque divino servitio vasis aliisque apparatibus copiosè ditavi.’—Language of this kind appears too explicit to leave room for ambiguity, but an opinion has still prevailed, founded probably upon the style of the architecture, that the cathedral was not finished till near the expiration of the thirteenth century. Admitting, however, such to be the fact, I do not see how it will materially help those who favor the opinion; for the building is far from being, as commonly happens in great churches, a medley of incongruous parts; but it is upon one fixed plan; and, as it was begun, so it was ended.—The exterior of the extremity of the south transept (seeplateseventy-five,) is a still more complete example of the early pointed style than the west front; this style, which was the most chaste, and, if I may be allowed to use the expression, the most severe of all, scarcely any where displays itself to greater advantage. The central window is composed of five lancet divisions, supported upon slender pillars: massy buttresses of several splays bound it on either side.

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