The Cathedrals of Northern France

It is but a short distance from St. Malo to St. Servan, but what a difference! It is called by the French themselves the daughter of St. Malo, – the "faubourg grown into a city."

Rabida's "Bretagne" states that there are "nombreux des Anglais à St. Servan, des jeunes gens vivant dans les pensions brittaniques – des familles venant l'été faire en Bretagne une cure d'economies pour l'hiver." Continuing, this discerning author says: "Bathers, bicyclists, golfists, promenaders, and excursionists abound." Better then let them hold forth here to their hearts' content; there is little that the lover of churches will gain from what remains to-day of the town's former Cathedral of St. Pierre.

XII

TRÉGUIER

This old cathedral city, at the junction of two small streamlets, a short distance from the sea, lies perhaps a dozen miles away from the nearest railway. With St. Pol de Leon and St. Brieuc it is, in local characteristics and customs alike, a something apart from any other community in northern France. The Bretons are commonly accredited as being a most devout race, and certainly devotion could take no more marked turn than the many evidences here to be seen in this "land of Calvaries." St. Brieuc is a bishopric, suffragan of Rennes, whose cathedral is a hideous modern structure of the early nineteenth century quite unworthy as a shrine; but Tréguier's power waned with the Revolution. Its fourteenth-century church, however, is sufficiently remarkable by reason of its situation and surroundings, none the less than in its fabric, to warrant a deviation from well-worn roads in order to visit it. Chiefly of a late period, it possesses in the Tour de Hasting, named after the Danish pirate (though why seems obscure), which enfolds the north transept, a work of the best eleventh-century class. This should place the church, at once, within the scope of the designation of a "transition" type. In this tower the windows and pilasters are of the characteristic round variety of the period. The south porch is the most highly developed feature as to Mediæval style, but the attraction lies mainly in its ensembled massiveness, with its two sturdy towers and a ridiculously spired south clocher. Beyond a certain grimness of fabric the church fails, not a little, to impress one with even simple grandeur, even when one takes into consideration the charms of its florid but firmly designed cloister, which, with the church itself, is classed by the Département des Beaux Arts as one of the twenty-three hundred "Monumentes Historiques." Nevertheless, the building proves more than ordinarily gratifying, though by no stretch of the imagination could it be classed as grand.

Loftiness and grandeur are equally lacking in the interior, and there is great variation of style with respect to the pillars of nave and choir. This is also the case with the windows, which play the gamut from the severe round-headed Romanesque to the latest flamboyant development, a feature which not only disregards most conventions, but, as every one will admit, most flagrantly offends, with sad results, against the general constructive elements. A plain triforium, in the nave, blossoms out, in the south transept and choir, in no hesitating manner, into exceeding richness. The choir has an apsidal termination and contains carved wooden stalls which are classed as work of the mid-seventeenth century, though appearing much more time-worn.

The really popular attribute of the church lies in the reconstructed monument to St. Yves, the patron saint of advocates, and commonly considered the most popular in all the Brittany calendar.

Born near Tréguier in 1253, St. Yves' "unheard-of probity and consideration for the sick and the poor" gained such general respect that, with his death on the nineteenth of May, 1303, there was inaugurated a great feast which to-day is yearly celebrated, and all grieving against a real or fancied wrong have recourse promptly to the supposedly just favour of this universal patron of the law.

XIII

ST. BRIEUC

Unlike many of the smaller towns which contain cathedral churches, St. Brieuc is a present day bishopric; hence the Cathedral takes on, perhaps, more significance than it would, were it but an example of a Mediæval church.

In reality it is not a very wonderful structure, and the guide-books will tell one practically nothing about it. The town itself is a dull place, a tidal port, at some little distance from the sea, which flushes in upon it twice during the round of the clock.

A monastery was founded here in the fifth century by St. Brieuc, from whom the town itself and the present cathedral take their name. He was a Celtic monk from Wales, who, upon being expelled from his native land, located his establishment here, on the site of a former Gallo-Roman town. The patronal feast of St. Brieuc is held each year on the first of May and is a curious survival of a mediæval custom.

Some remains of an early church are built into the choir walls, but in the main this not very grand edifice is of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

The tower, with its loopholes, would supposedly indicate that the church was likewise intended as somewhat of a fortification. The apse is rounded in the usual form, and on either side extend transepts to the width of two bays.

Within, the Cathedral is more attractive than without. The elements of construction and embellishment, while perhaps not ranking with those of the really great churches, are sufficiently vivid and lively to indicate that the work was consciously and enthusiastically undertaken. The lady-chapel is of the thirteenth century, and the transept rose is of the fifteenth, as is also the Chapel of St. Guillaume, named for the monk of Dijon who built so many of the monasteries throughout Brittany and who, it is to be presumed, planned or built the original structure, the remains of which are found in the present choir.

The windows throughout are either of not very good modern glass, or of plain leaded lights, which, in the majority of cases, may be considered as no less an attraction. An elaborate rose is in the western gable.

There are, in the church, various monuments and tombs to former bishops.

XIV

ST. POL DE LEON

In the midst of that land which furnishes the south of England with most of its cauliflowers, artichokes, onions, and asparagus, truly off the beaten track, in that it is actually off the line of railway, is the strange and melancholy city of St. Pol de Leon, its clochers dominating, by day at least, both land and sea. It contains the famous "Kreisker," a name which sounds as though it were Dutch or North German, which it probably is along with other place names on the near-by coast, such as Grouin, St. Vaast, Roscoff, and La Hougue.

The tower and spire of this wonderful "Kreisker" rise boldly, from the transept crossing, in remarkable fashion, and as a marvel of construction may be said to far outrank the cathedral structure itself. "Curious and clever" well describes it. As for the former cathedral over which the Kreisker throws its shadow, it is one of those majestic twin-towered structures not usually associated with what, when compared with the larger French towns, must perforce rank as a mere village.

There is much to be said in favour of these little-known near-by places, namely, that the charm of their attractions amply repays one for any special labour involved in getting to them, with the additional advantage, regardless of the fact that a stranger appears somewhat to the native as a curiosity, that they are "good value for the money paid." Perhaps the cheapest Continental tour, of say three weeks, that could be taken, amid a constantly changing environment, if one so choose, would comprehend this land of Calvaries.

The two cathedral towers of early Gothic flank a generous porch. There is good glass throughout the church, the circular "rose" of the transept being a magnificent composition in a granite framing. The nave is of thirteenth-century Gothic, from the south aisle of which projects a large chapel dedicated to St. Michael. The double-aisled choir is garnished with sculptured stalls of the fifteenth century, and, separated from its aisles by a stone screen, is of much larger proportions than the nave, and likewise of a later epoch of building. The apse is flamboyant, as are also the windows of the south transept. In the chapels are various vaults and tombs, remarkably well preserved, but of no special moment. In one of these chapels, however, is a curious painting in the vaulting, representing a "Trinity" possessing three faces, disposed in the form of a trefoil with three eyes only. A ribbon or "banderalle" bears an inscription in Gothic characters; in the Breton tongue, "Ma Donez" (Mon Dieu).

XV

ST. CORENTIN DE QUIMPER

"C'est Quimper, ce mélange du passé et du présent." A true enough description of most mediæval cities when viewed to-day; but with no centre of habitation is it more true than of this city by the sea, – though in reality it is not by the sea, but rather of it, with a port always calm and tranquil. It takes rank with Brest as the western outpost of modern France.

For centuries unconquered, and possessing an individuality of its very own, this now important prefecture has much to remind us of its past. History, archæology, and "mere antiquarian lore" abound, and, in its grandiose Cathedral of St. Corentin, one finds a large subject for his appreciative consideration.

It is of the robust and matured type that familiarity has come to regard as representative of a bishopric; nothing is impoverished or curtailed. Its fine towers with modern spires, erected from the proceeds of a "butter tax," are broad of base and delicately and truly proportioned. Its ground-plan is equally worthy, though the choir is not truly orientated. Its general detail and ensemble, one part with another, is all that fancy has told us a great church should contain, and one can but be prepared to appreciate it when it is endorsed, and commented on, by such ardent admirers as De Caumont, Viollet-le-Duc, Corroyer, and Gonsé, those four accomplished Frenchmen, who probably knew more concerning Mediæval (Gothic) architecture than all the rest of the world put together.

From the thirteenth to the fifteenth century there grew up here a work embracing the ogival and the flamboyant, neither in an undue proportion, but as well as in any other single structure known. This well shows the rise, development, and apogee of the style which we commonly call Gothic, but which the French prefer to call "ogival," and which should really, if one is to fairly apportion credit where it is due, be best known as French Mediæval architecture.

Its west façade, with its generous lines, is strongly original. The two towers, pierced with enormously heightened lancets, are indubitably graceful and impressive, while a flanking pair of flying buttresses, with their intermediate piers, form an unusual arrangement in the west front of a French cathedral.

Above the western gable is a curiously graven effigy of King Grollo in stone.

Considered as a whole, the exterior is representative of the best contemporary features of the time, but contains few if any which are so distinctly born of its environment as to be otherwise notable.

The interior vies with the outer portion of the fabric in the general effect of majesty and good design. The triforium is remarkably beautiful and is overtopped by a range of clerestory windows which to an appreciable extent contain good early glass. The easterly end is the usual semicircular apse.

Among the relics of the Cathedral is a crucifix which is supposed to emit drops of blood when one perjures himself before it. It is, perhaps, significant that the people of Finistère, the department which claims Quimper as its capital, have the repute of being honest folk.

The Bishops of Quimper were, by virtue of the gift of le roi Grodlon le Grave, the only seigneurs of the city during the middle ages.

XVI

VANNES

Vannes was the ancient capital of the Celtic tribe of the Veneti, its inhabitants being put to rout by Cæsar in 57 B. C. Afterward it became the Roman town of Duriorigum, and later reverted back to a corruption of its former name. Christianity having made some progress, a council was held, and a bishop appointed to the city, and from that time onward its position in the Christian world appears to have been assured. For centuries afterward, however, it was the centre of a maelstrom of internal strife, in which Armoricans, Britons, Franks, and Romans appear to have been inextricably involved. Then came the Northmen, who burned the former Cathedral of St. Peter. This was rebuilt in the eleventh century, and in no small measure forms the foundation of the present structure, which to-day is the seat of a bishop, suffragan of Rennes.

From this early architectural foundation, to the most florid and flamboyant of late Gothic, is pretty much the whole range of Mediæval architectural style. By no means has a grand or even fine structure resulted. The old choir, suffering from the stress of time, was pulled down and rebuilt as late as 1770. Thus, this usually excellently appointed and constructed detail is here of no worthy rank whatever. The nave and transepts were completed within the hundred years following 1452, and show the last flights of Gothic toward the heights from which it afterward fell. Transformation and restoration have frequently been undertaken, with the result that nowhere is to be seen perhaps greater inconsistencies. The latest of these examples of a perverted industry is seen in the nineteenth-century additions to the tower and the west façade. The result is not, be it said, to the credit of its projectors.

THE END

Appendices

I

The Architectural Divisions of France

It is quite possible to construct an ethnographic map of a country from its architectural remains, – but there must always be diverse and varying opinions as to the delimitation of one school, as compared with another lying contiguous thereto.

One may wander from province to province, and continually find reminders, of another manner of building, from that which is recognized as the characteristic local species. This could hardly be otherwise. In the past, as in the present, imitators were not few, and if the adoption of new, or foreign, ideas was then less rapid, it was no less sure. Still, in the main, there is a cohesiveness and limitation of architectural style in France; which, as is but natural to suppose, is in no way more clearly defined than by the churches which were built during the middle ages, the earliest types retaining the influence of massive forms, and the later again debasing itself to a heavy classical order, neither a copy of anything of a pre-Gothic era, or a happy development therefrom. Between the two, in a period of scarcely more than three hundred years, there grew up and developed the ingenious and graceful pointed style, in all its fearlessness and unconvention.

Political causes had, perhaps, somewhat to do with the confining of a particular style well within the land of its birth, but on the other hand, warfare carried with it invasion and conquest of new sections, and its followers, in a measure, may be said to have carried with them certain of their former arts, accomplishments, and desires; and so grew up the composite and mixed types which are frequently met with.

There are a dozen or more architectural styles in what is known as the France of to-day. The Provençal (more properly, says Fergusson, it should be called "Gallia Narbonese,") one of the most beautiful and clearly defined of all; the Burgundian, with its suggestion of luxuriance and, if not massiveness, at least grandeur; the Auvergnian, lying contiguous to both the above, with a style peculiarly its own, though of an uncompromising southern aspect; Acquitanian, defining the style which lies between Provence, the Auvergnat and the Pyrénées, and a type quite different from either. The Angevinian, which extends northward from Limoges to Normandy and Brittany, and northeasterly nearly to Orleans, is a species difficult to place – it partakes largely of southern influence, but is usually thought to merit a nomenclature of its own, as distinct from the type found at Anjou. Turning now to the northern or Frankish influence, as distinct from the Romance countries; Brittany joins to no slight degree influences of each region; Normandy partakes largely of the characteristics of the type of Central France, which is thoroughly dominated by that indigenous to the Isle of France, which species properly might include the Bourbonnais and Nivernoise variants, as being something of a distinct type, though resembling, in occasional details, southern features. This list, with the addition of French Flanders, with its Lowland types, completes the arrangement, if we except Alsace and Lorraine, which favour the German manner of building rather more than any of the native French types.

II

A List of the Departments of France, and of the Ancient Provinces from which they have been evolved

[*] The greater part of these provinces as they formerly stood were ceded to Germany, May 10, 1871.

III

The Church in France

La France Catholique is to-day divided into eighty-four dioceses, administered, as to spiritual affairs, by seventeen archbishops and sixty-seven bishops. To each diocese is attached a seminary for the instruction of those who aspire to the priesthood. Each chief town of a canton has its curé, each parish its desservant.

[**] The Archbishop of Bordeaux has three suffragans outside France: St. Denis and La Reunion, St. Pierre and Fort de France (Martinique), Basseterre (Guadaloupe).

IV

A List of the Larger French Churches which were at one time Cathedrals and usually referred to as such

Note. – Those marked H. M. are classed as Les Monuments Historiques by La Commission de la Conservation des Monuments Historiques.

V

Chronology of the chief styles and examples of church building in the north of France from the Romano-Byzantine period to that of the Renaissance

VI

Dimensions and Chronology

NOTRE DAME D'AMIENSDimensions

Length of nave and choir, 469 feet

Width including transepts, 214 feet

Width of nave, 59 feet

Width of aisles, 33½ feet

Height of nave, 141 or 147 feet, estimated variously

Height of aisles, 65 feet

Length of choir, 135 feet

Width of nave including aisles, 150 feet

Length of transepts, 194 feet

Width of transepts, 36 feet, 6 inches

Height of spire, 422 feet

Superficial area, 70,000 square feet (approx.)

Chronology

Nave and choir, 1220-1288

Choir stalls, 1520

Western towers completed, 1533

Lateral chapels of nave, XVIth century

Choir chapels, XIIIth century

ST. MAURICE D'ANGERSDimensions

Length of nave and choir, 300 feet

Width of transepts, 40 feet

Height of transepts, 80 feet

Height of nave, 110 feet

Width of nave, 53 feet

Height of spires, 225 feet

Chronology

Lower walls, Romano-Byzantine

Main body completed, 1240

Choir, XIIth century

Bishop's Palace, XIIth century

Arras tapestries, XIVth century

Choir doorway, XIIIth century

(Recently restored by Viollet-le-Duc)

ST. VAAST D'ARRASDimensions

Length of nave and choir, 302 feet

Height of nave, 66½ feet

Width of nave, 49 feet

Height of tower, 154 feet

Chronology

Former Cathedral of Notre Dame begun, end of XIIth century

Former Cathedral of Notre Dame completed, 1499

Present Cathedral of St. Vaast, 1755-1833

Triptych of Bellegambe in present Cathedral, 1528

Former Abbey of St. Vaast, now Episcopal Palace since 1754

ST. LAZARE D'AUTUNDimensions

Height of spire, 325 feet

Chronology

Transition portion constructed by Robert I.,

Duke of Burgundy, 1031-1076

Spire, XVth century

Sculpture of choir, XVIth century

Flamboyant chapels, XVIth century

AUXERREChronology

Crypt (remains of early work), XIth century

Choir and glass, 1215-1234

Western portals, XIIIth century

Nave, 1334-1373

North transept, 1415-1513

N. W. tower, 1525-1530

Iron grille of choir, XVIIIth century

NOTRE DAME DE BAYEUXDimensions

Central belfry, 300 feet

Length interior, 335 feet

Height interior, 74 feet, 9 inches

Height of western towers, 252 feet

Chronology

Odo's crypt, XIth century

Circular arches of nave, late XIth or early XIIth century

Portals of west façade, XIIIth century

Chasuble of St. Regnobert, gift of St. Louis, 1226

Date of tapestry (in inventory of church property), 1476

ST. PIERRE DE BEAUVAISDimensions

Height of nave, 150 feet

Height of original spire, which fell in 1573, 486 feet

Area of choir, about 28,000 square feet

Chronology

The Basse Œuvre, VIth to VIIIth centuries

Present building begun, 1225

Dedicated, 1272

Roof fell, 1284

South transept begun, 1500

North transept begun, 1530

North transept finished, 1537

Central spire fell, 1573

Ancient Bishop's Palace, now Palais de Justice,

XIVth to XVIth centuries

ST. ETIENNE DE BOURGESDimensions

Length, 405 feet

Width, 135½ feet

Height of nave, 124½ feet

Height of inner aisle, 66 feet

Height of outer aisle, 28 feet

Height north tower, 217½ feet

Height south tower, 176 feet

Superficial area, 73,170 square feet (approx.)

Chronology

Dedicated, 1324

Sepulchre, 1336

Crypts, XIIth century

North tower, 1508-1538

Tower St. Etienne completed, 1490

Tower St. Etienne fell, 1506

Choir stalls, 1760

ST. ETIENNE DE CHÂLONS-SUR-MARNEChronology

Tower next north door, Romano-Byzantine

Part of nave and choir, Ogival primaire

Aisle and chapels of apse, XIVth century

Apse restored, after fire, in 1672

NOTRE DAME DE CHARTRESDimensions

Length nave and choir, 430 feet

Width, 110 feet

Length nave only, 121 feet

Width nave, 46 feet

Width nave aisles, 19 feet

Height nave, 106 feet

Length transepts, 202 feet

Width transepts, 70 feet

Height of north spire, 403 feet

Height of south spire, 365 feet

Rose window, diameter, 40 to 43 feet

Area, 65,000 square feet (approx.)

Chronology

Wooden church burned, 1020

Crypt under chevet of choir, 1029

(only remains of original church)

Work of rebuilding stopped, 1048

South portal erected, 1060

Work aided by Matilda, queen of William I., 1083

Lower portion of main body built, 1100-1150

Western towers, 1145

Fire damaged greater part, 1194

Vaulting completed, 1220

Porches of transepts added, 1250

Building consecrated, October 17, 1260

Sacristy and screen in crypt, XIIIth century

North spire burned, 1506

Texier's spire erected, 1507-1515

Texier's spire repaired, 1629

South spire repaired, 1754

Belfry and roof burned (vaulting unharmed), 1836

NOTRE DAME D'EVREUXDimensions

Length, 368 feet, 6 inches

Transept, length, 112 feet

Transept, width, 23 feet

Chronology

Church consecrated, 1076

Church burnt, 1119

Northwest tower foundations laid, 1352

Northwest tower completed, 1417