Within, since the Revolution, when the tombs of Fulbert and many other bishops were destroyed together with much valuable and artistic furniture, carved stalls and a Renaissance jubé, there are two main attractions—the windows and the Limousin enamels. But before speaking of them we must mention the epitaph of Robert, son of Richard, first Duke of Normandy, who wasnotArchbishop of Rouen, as the inscription which is in the aisle states. Also the very rich and graceful triforium of the nave, and the later and still more delicate triforium of the choir, cannot fail to please.
The unique gallery of fourteenth-century glass presented by the windows of S. Père is, as M. l’Abbé Bulteau remarked, arranged methodically in a carefully-considered combination and not according to the whims of the various founders, as was to a large extent thecase with the thirteenth-century lights of the Cathedral. On the left-hand side of the nave are represented the Apostles and episodes from the Gospel story; on the right, the Confessors and incidents drawn from the lives of the martyrs; in the choir, martyrs, prophets and saints group round our Saviour, who, as a little child, is borne on His mother’s arm, and as a grown man hangs upon the tree of the Cross.
All the windows of the church, therefore, viewed thus, seem to converge towards a common centre, which is Jesus Christ our Lord.
The scheme of the majority of windows is the presentation of large single figures of stained glass surrounded by broad bands of grisaille.
On the north or left-hand side, beginning from the west end, next the old tower, are two Apostles, set in a broad frame of grisaille.
These two Apostles are S. James the Less and S. Matthias. The next window gives S. Jude and S. Barnabas, and the next two tell the story of S. John the Baptist—(a) Baptizing Jesus; the daughter of Herodias demanding his head and presenting his head in a charger to her mother; John showing the Divine Lamb to his disciples. (b) The announcement to Zacharias; his childhood, preaching, and answering Herod. The fifth window shows S. Andrew (with a book) and S. John (with a book open). In the next S. Bartholomew holds a cutlass and S. James a book, whilst the seventh and eighth recount the history of S. Peter. For the seventh shows him with his disciples, healing a man born blind, preaching, and being delivered from prison by an angel. In the eighth S. Peter receives the keys, appears before Nero, confronts Simon, is crucified and taken up to heaven.
S. Thomas and S. Philip, S. Matthew and S. James fill the ninth and tenth windows. The eleventhand twelfth recount the chief incidents in the life of Jesus Christ. In the eleventh, the entry into Jerusalem, the Last Supper, the Betrayal, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection and the ‘Touch me not’ are represented, and in the twelfth the disciples of Emmaus, S. Thomas, the Ascension, Pentecost and Judgment. On the right-hand or south side of the nave we are shown the Confessors and incidents from ecclesiastical history. The first, next to the tower, gives S. Benedict and S. Maur, for the Church of S. Père, it will be remembered, was the church of a Benedictine monastery. The second light gives S. Avitus and S. Laumer. The third relates the legend of S. Agnes; she repels the son of the Proconsul and her modesty is miraculously shielded; she is burnt at the stake and transferred. The story of S. Catherine, who disputed with the Emperor and converted the heathen philosophers and led them to martyrdom, is told in the fourth.
S. Malard and S. Solemnis, S. Lubin and S. Martin fill the fifth and sixth. The seventh and eighth, which are now in a deplorable condition, once illustrated the lives of S. Denis and S. Clement, the pope and martyr. S. Gregory and S. Sylvester fill the ninth, the Virgin and Child, with the donor kneeling below, the tenth.
The eleventh traces the history of the parents of the Virgin. Joachim and Anna are repelled by the priest, Anne by her servant. Joachim feeds his flocks; an angel appears to him and also to S. Anne, who goes out and meets her husband at the gates of Jerusalem. She gives birth to Mary, who presents herself at the Temple and marries Joseph.
The twelfth window portrays further scenes in the life of the Virgin—the Annunciation, Visitation, Birth of Christ, Adoration of the Magi, the Presentation and Death of Mary.
The windows of the choir, with the exception of those in the apse, are of thirteenth-century glass. In them the patriarchs, prophets and personages of the Old Testament are shown, to the number of forty, carrying palms in their hands, and speaking, apparently, to each other.
The six apsidal windows contain the most brilliant glass in the abbey. They are as remarkable, so M. l’Abbé Clerval observes, for elegance of design as for vivacity of colouring. Each of them holds four life-size figures of bishops or apostles surrounded with rich architectural ornamentation; whilst the heads, divided into three quatrefoils, give scenes of martyrdom and an angel bearing a crown for the martyred saints below.
The grisailles of the triforium were replaced in the early part of the nineteenth century by some glass painted in 1527 by Robert Pinaigrier, which had been saved from the adjacent Church of S. Hilaire, destroyed during the Revolution. Unfortunately they have been arranged with extraordinary indifference to their meaning, and pieces of glass have been stuck in pell-mell according as they happened to suit the shape of the window or convenience of the glazier. The result is that windows which, both in colouring and design, were quite exceptionally good have been deprived of all the charm of their design and much of the effect of their colour.
The lower series of windows of the church are for the most part modern. They represent chiefly scenes from the Gospel story of the life of Christ and come from the hand of M. Lorin, the glass-painter of Chartres, whoseatelieris in the Rue de la Tannerie.
Leaving the study of the glass you should now go to the apsidal chapel dedicated to the Conception. This chapel has been restored and polychromed by M. Paul Durand, and contains a statue of the Virginby Bridan and the tombstone of Simon de Beron, Canon of Chartres in the twelfth century. But it is the magnificent Limoges enamels of Leonard Limousin, 1547, which we wish to see. They are ranged round the walls of the chapel, and in order to see them you must ring the bell near the chapel railings and summon the attendant.
These enamels, which are of extraordinary beauty and size (24 x 10⅝), exquisite in colour and shading, and are in perfect preservation, come from the chapel of the famous Château d’Anet, which Diane de Poitiers built,voulant une œuvre toute Française, and of which Henri II. wrote to his Queen—
‘S’il vous souvient, Madame, d’avoir luEn quelque livre élégante et esluLe dessein rare et la descriptionDe quelque lieu beau en perfectionJe vous supply imaginer et croireQue c’est d’Annet le pourtraict et l’histoire.’
‘S’il vous souvient, Madame, d’avoir luEn quelque livre élégante et esluLe dessein rare et la descriptionDe quelque lieu beau en perfectionJe vous supply imaginer et croireQue c’est d’Annet le pourtraict et l’histoire.’
‘S’il vous souvient, Madame, d’avoir luEn quelque livre élégante et esluLe dessein rare et la descriptionDe quelque lieu beau en perfectionJe vous supply imaginer et croireQue c’est d’Annet le pourtraict et l’histoire.’
This magnificent château, the noblest type of the Renaissance in France, was destroyed to a large extent (1799-1810,) but was in great part restored by the late M. Moreau. Lying, as it does, on the Évreux line, it is quite worth stopping to see. But the tourist may be grateful for the information that it is 1½ kilomètres from the station, and is only shown on Thursdays and Sundays.
The beautiful enamels before us, so rich in their varied shades of blue, were presented by Henri II. to the lovely and accomplished mistress, who, in spite of her years, had won his heart when he was but a lad of thirteen.
They had been wrought for François I. by the famous Léonard Limousin,[101]after the designs of MichelRochetel. The date (1547) and the initials and salamander of François bear witness to this fact, and the initials L. L. on the handle of the sword of S. Paul and beneath S. James the Less proclaim the artist.
The panels represent the twelve apostles, with their characteristic emblems, and each apostle is set in a framework of Renaissance ornament—genii and fantastic animals and garlands of flowers.
There is nothing else in S. Père of sufficient interest to detain us.
‘Je sais le plan de TrochuPlan, plan, plan, plan, plan!Mon Dieu! quel beau plan!Je sais le plan de Trochu!’
‘Je sais le plan de TrochuPlan, plan, plan, plan, plan!Mon Dieu! quel beau plan!Je sais le plan de Trochu!’
‘Je sais le plan de TrochuPlan, plan, plan, plan, plan!Mon Dieu! quel beau plan!Je sais le plan de Trochu!’
ON the 26th of October 1901 a monument, standing at the entrance of the Promenade des Charbonniers, near the Place du Châtelet, and dedicated to the memory of the children of Eure-et-Loir, who laid down their lives for their fatherland, was unveiled by M. Caillaux, the Minister of Finance. The monument was designed by M. Nénot, and consists of a triumphal arch in the Classic style, crowned by a pediment bearing the arms of Chartres, Châteaudun, Dreux and Nogent-le-Rotrou. This is accompanied by three groups in bronze: on either side an artilleryman and a foot soldier of themobile; in the centre, beneath the arch itself, the principal group, representing ‘France calling to the defence.’ It consists of a female figure, who personifies the Fatherland and the Republic, brandishing in one hand a flag tattered and torn with bullets, and pointing with the other in the direction of the enemy. And an officer at her feet fires a revolver in that direction.
To the France of to-day this monument is not a mere memorial of the past and useless valour of her sons, but a warning also, lest she should forget the coming of the Prussians in 1870, her own military unpreparedness, and, it should be, her own fatal political weakness. Something,too, it doubtless expresses of that thirst for revenge which threw her some years ago into the arms of Russia, and which that alliance was really certain to prevent her from gratifying.
It was on Friday, the 30th of September 1870, that the Prussian soldiers appeared for the first time near Chartres.[102]Three weeks later Châteaudun fell, after a desperate and heroic defence, for which that picturesque and ancient town paid the dear price of failure. Two days later the enemy marched in force upon Chartres. Thetirailleursandmobilesand troops of the National Guard, who endeavoured to defend the town, after vain marching and counter-marching, with the same generous ardour and utter ineffectiveness as had distinguished the movements of the other armies before the disasters of Wissembourg, Wörth and Sedan, returned exhausted. Without firing a shot they had been rendered incapable of fighting. Fighting in any case would have been useless. It was wisely decided to capitulate, and on the 21st the Mayor and Prefect of the Department drove out to Morancez to save the city and Cathedral, by surrendering them to General von Wittich, from the inevitable destruction of which Châteaudun had given them a terrible example. What they saw on their way of the French defence and the Prussian advance convinced civilians and military men alike that it was impossible to hope to defend Chartres. It was agreed that half the French garrison should evacuate the town, and that the Prussians should halt at the Three Bridges till half-past four, and then take possession. When the news of the capitulation was heard by the troops assembled on the Boulevard Chasles,[103]they protested, and
Old Houses in the Rue Ste MêmeOld Houses in the Rue Ste Même
raised the cry of treason, which was the watchword of the whole war.
It had been expressly stipulated that the National Guard should be disarmed, and Colonel Heiduck, who conducted the negotiations at Morancez, had demanded the surrender of 2000 rifles. ‘But,’ replied M. Labiche, the prefect, ‘there never have been more than 1300, and we really have not time to get any more to make up the 2000.’ With such inadequate means of defence, and with the threat of immediate bombardment from the artillery, which was ranged in a semi-circle round the town on the south-west side, hanging over their heads, the representatives of Chartres behaved wisely in yielding at once. The stranger at least cannot regret that the Cathedral was preserved from the ordeal of a bombardment.
‘The Prussian troops,’ said theCologne Gazette, ‘entered Chartres with bands playing and saluted with enthusiastic cheers Prince Albert of Prussia, whom they marched past. Next morning presented a striking scene when these German warriors met in the famous crypt of the Cathedral, and visited by the light of the lamps every part of that splendid subterranean building.’
The occupation of Chartres lasted for five months—the place, of course, was important to hold during the siege of Paris—but the inhabitants would appear to have suffered very little, except from German music. This is how M. Caillot, the historian of the occupation, describes the behaviour of the Prussians on the morrow of their entry.
‘Towards nine o’clock in the morning their infernal music, which they had had the indecency to parade through the town the night before, echoed through the Place des Épars. The officers, smart and pomaded like circus-clowns, strutted round the musicians andsaluted each other with a stiffness that they seemed to have borrowed from the English. Out of the hotels and houses they poured in an endless stream, men of all colours, sizes and ages, stiff, proud and haughty, with all the airs of conquerors.’
Conquerors, after all, they were, but though, like all the French writers of the period, M. Caillot refers to the Germans as barbarians and savages, they seem to have done little that can honestly be called savage—unless leaving without paying their bill, which amounted to nearly half a million francs, can be considered so. The fact is that, according to the unanimous testimony of foreign observers who accompanied the army, the moderation of the German soldiers was as remarkable as their successes.
During the weary months that ensued, the Chartrains remained as ignorant of what was going on in the Department and round Paris as the beleaguered Parisians themselves. The same unfounded hopes and false rumours, the same invincible optimism and futile belief in the ‘plan of Trochu,’ in successful sorties from Paris or in the victories of the army of the Loire prevailed as in Paris itself. They are recorded in M. Caillot’s little volume with something of the same pathos, but not with the same spirit that distinguishes Francisque Sarcey’sLe Siège de Paris. There we learn how the Chartrains listened to the battle of Loigny raging in the distance, and thought that the sound of the Prussian artillery was that of the French guns till the arrival of 2400 French prisoners told them the bitter truth, and how they rejoiced at the lyrical proclamations of Gambetta, only to be reduced to despair at the news of the fall of Orléans.
They learnt on the 29th of January, with bitter grief and mortification, that Paris had been forced at last to capitulate, and from that time onwards they were busywith the payment of their share of the impositions and indemnities that were inflicted upon the conquered nation.
The Prussians left Chartres on the 16th of March 1871.
THE following scheme may perhaps prove of use to those who have but a few hours to spend in Chartres and wish to find their way quickly about the picturesque but tortuous streets of the old, lower town.
Leaving the station, go down the Rue Jean de Beauce, cross to the far corner of the Place Châtelet, go down the Rue Sainte Même, take the first turning to the left down the Rue du Cheval Blanc, and keeping up to the right, where the street divides, you come out opposite the west front of the Cathedral. Go down the Rue des Changes (opposite the south porch of the Cathedral), and turning to the left before reaching the Place Billard (the old site of the Castle of the Counts) reach the Place de la Poissonnerie (fish-market: Maison du Saumon). Pass on into the Rue S. Eman, and turning to the right pass Queen Bertha’s staircase, which is in the Rue des Écuyers, opposite the Rue du Bourg. Bearing up the Rue des Écuyers, follow the Rue S. Pierre. You leave the Church of S. Aignan on your right and arrive at the old Abbey Church of S. Père. Leaving the Place S. Pierre by the Rue du Pont S. Hilaire at the eastern corner of it, cross the water and turn sharp to the left down the Rue Foulerie, which skirts the river with its picturesque tanneries and wash-houses. You pass on the right the street leading down to the Porte Guillaume. Continuing, the Rue de la Foulerie becomes the Rue de la Tannerie,and the Rue de la Tannerie the Rue Massacre. Cross the river and visit the ruined Church of S. André, then go down the Rue de la Brèche. The Chapel of Notre-Dame de la Brèche is on the right in this street, which runs into the Place Drouaise. Before reaching this take the turn to the left up the Rue Muret, which winds up into the Rue du Cardinal Pie (formerly called the Rue du Marché de Filasse), from which a picturesque archway leads through the old cloister buildings into the Rue S. Ives, which opens on the north porch of the Cathedral. The Bishop’s Palace is now on your left.
The promenade[104]known as the Tour de la Ville, at the foot of the ancient ramparts and round the old moat of the town, should not be omitted. You will start naturally from the Place Châtelet, down the Promenade des Charbonniers, which brings you to the Place Drouaise, and so on across the Pont Neuf to the Porte Guillaume and the Boulevard de la Porte Morard. Hence the Rue du Pont de la Courtille leads to the Place S. Michel, and thence by the Boulevard Chasles to the Place des Epars.
The Rue Régnier leads from the Boulevard Chasles to the Place des Halles.
Some magnificent views of the Cathedral and the town, and ‘bits’ of the old walls and moat, will be obtained in the course of this circuit.
The Château de Maintenon (Duc de Noailles) lies on the line between Chartres and Paris, and, with its waterworks, is well worth a visit. Other châteaux inthe neighbourhood are those of Villebon, near Courville, which belongs to the Marquis de Pontoi-Poncarré, and Éclimont, near Gallardon, the property of the Duc de La Rochefoucauld.
May 31.—Notre-Dame du Pilier.
August 15.—Feast of the Assumption.
September 8 and 15; December 8.—On September 15 and December 8 a magnificent procession through the Crypt takes place in the evening.
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