The Churches of Paris, from Clovis to Charles X
by Sophia Beale · English · Gutenberg #39989 · 710,322 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: The Churches of Paris, from Clovis to Charles X
Author: Sophia Beale
Release date: June 14, 2012 [eBook #39989]
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39989
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHURCHES OF PARIS, FROM CLOVIS TO CHARLES X ***
Produced by Charles Franks, Chuck Greif and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
THE CHURCHES OF PARIS
[Illustration: NOTRE-DAME FROM THE QUAI DE BERCY.]
THE
CHURCHES OF PARIS
FROM CLOVIS TO CHARLES X
BY
S. SOPHIA BEALE
_Author of "A complete and Concise Handbook to the Museum of the
Louvre" etc_
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR FROM ORIGINAL SKETCHES
PHOTOGRAPHS AND ENGRAVINGS
LONDON
W. H. ALLEN & CO LIMITED
13 WATERLOO PLACE SW
1893
_All rights reserved_
WYMAN AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, LONDON AND REDHILL.
DEDICATED
TO ONE
WHOSE HELP WAS INVALUABLE
BUT WHO IS NOW
TO US
ONLY A MEMORY
[Illustration]
"La nef vagant dessus la mer galicque
Porte dedens soy richesse inestimable
Justice y est pour patron magnificque
Raison y sert de Lieutenant notable,
Gens de scauoir par oeuure treslouable
Sont galliotz qui lamenent a port,
Marchans y ont tresasseure support.
Prebstres, Bourgeois, nobles, Clercz et gen-darmes.
Icelle nef de se'fertile apport,
Cest de Paris le beau blazon des armes."
PREFACE.
In a book of this kind, it is difficult to prevent oneself becoming a
guide, more or less complete. Dates and facts, architectural details and
descriptions, all savour of the handbook; but having determined to keep
to the historical and archaeological, rather than the architectural side
of the churches, I have tried to rake up quaint and legendary lore, and
so add to the interest of an ordinary guide book. I would also pray my
readers to bear in mind that, as the work is not intended to be an
architectural treatise, I have simply walked in the paths of
Viollet-le-Duc and Guilhermy, whenever I have been compelled to describe
the technical details of the churches.
My thanks are due to the Editor of the _American Architect_, for his
courtesy in allowing me to build these ecclesiastical monographs upon
the foundation of some articles which have appeared from time to time in
a condensed form in the Boston (U. S. A.) paper; and also to the Editor
of the _Magazine of Art_, for a similar kindness.
I should also like to acknowledge my indebtedness to the following
authors and their works:
"Histoire de la Sainte-Chapelle." Morand.
"Histoire de Saint-Denis." Dom Millet.
"Histoire de Saint-Eustache." L'abbé Koenig.
"Inscriptions du Diocèse de Paris." F. de Guilhermy.
"Itinéraire Archéologique de Paris." F. de Guilhermy.
"l'Église Saint Julien-le-Pauvre." A. Le Brun.
"Monographie de l'Église Royale de Saint-Denis." F. de Guilhermy.
"Sacred and Legendary Art." Anna Jameson.
"The Early British Church." J. Yeowell.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
SAINT-ANTOINE DES QUINZE-VINGTS 1
LES CARMES DÉCHAUSSÉES 1
LA SAINTE-CHAPELLE 2
SAINT-DENIS 30
SAINTE-ELIZABETH 100
SAINT-ÉTIENNE DU MONT 100
SAINT-EUSTACHE 116
SAINT-FRANÇOIS XAVIER 158
SAINTE-GENEVIÈVE 158
SAINT-GERMAIN L'AUXERROIS 177
CHAPELLE DU CHÂTEAU DE SAINT-GERMAIN-EN-LAYE 189
SAINT-GERMAIN DES PRÉS 190
SAINT-GERVAIS 209
LA TOUR SAINT-JACQUES 213
SAINT-JACQUES DU HAUT-PAS 215
SAINT-JEAN-SAINT-FRANÇOIS 215
SAINT-JULIEN-LE-PAUVRE 215
SAINT-LAURENT 232
SAINT-LEU-SAINT-GILLES 235
SAINT-LOUIS D'ANTIN 237
SAINT-LOUIS EN L'ILE 237
SAINT-LOUIS DES INVALIDES 237
SAINTE-MADELEINE 239
SAINTE-MARGUERITE 243
SAINT-MARTIN DES CHAMPS 244
SAINT-MÉDARD 248
SAINT-MERRI 251
SAINT-NICOLAS DES CHAMPS 256
SAINT-NICOLAS DU CHARDONNET 259
NOTRE-DAME (CATHÉDRALE) 260
NOTRE-DAME DE L'ASSOMPTION 299
NOTRE-DAME DE L'ABBAYE AUX BOIS 300
NOTRE-DAME DES BLANCS-MANTEAUX 300
NOTRE-DAME DES CHAMPS 301
NOTRE-DAME DE LORETTE 302
NOTRE-DAME DES VICTOIRES 303
L'ORATOIRE 303
SAINT-PAUL-SAINT-LOUIS 304
SAINT-PHILIPPE DU ROULE 305
SAINT-PIERRE DE CHAILLOT 306
SAINT-PIERRE DE MONTMARTRE 306
SAINT-ROCH 307
SAINT-SÉVERIN 310
LA SORBONNE 319
SAINT-SULPICE 321
SAINT-THOMAS D'AQUIN 326
L'ANCIEN ABBAYE DU VAL-DE-GRÂCE 326
LA CHAPELLE DU CHÂTEAU DE VERSAILLES 328
LA CHAPELLE DU CHÂTEAU DE VINCENNES 329
SAINT-VINCENT DE PAUL 331
THE CHURCHES OF PARIS.
SAINT-ANTOINE DES QUINZE-VINGTS.
Saint Louis, always careful in helping his suffering subjects, founded
this hospital for the blind in 1260, upon a piece of ground abutting on
the Louvre, now traversed by the Rue de Rivoli. In 1780 the hospital was
transferred to the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, and took up its abode in the
old dwelling place of the Black Musketeers, whose chapel also served as
a parish church. It is a little building of no beauty nor interest,
although a few inscriptions relating to pious foundations still remain
in the chapel, the oldest being dated 1481. One of these tells us of the
institution, in 1667, of a somewhat early Mass by one Marie Lambert,
maid to the queen mother. It was to be said at 4 a.m. in order that the
poor blind people should be able to sally forth a-begging (_d'aller à la
quête_) fortified with the Bread of Life.
LES CARMES DÉCHAUSSÉES
The old church of the barefooted Carmelites in the Rue de Vaugirard was
commenced in 1613, and dedicated to S. Joseph in 1625. It is now served
by the Dominicans. The crypt is the only interesting part of the church,
and is a curiosity, as it contains innumerable bones piled up on every
side, the remains of the ghastly September massacres of 1792. The
frescoes painted by a Liège artist, Bartholet Flamaël, are very much
esteemed. Some of the chapels are richly decorated in the gaudy style of
the 17th century. The altar is embellished by a 14th century bas-relief
in marble representing the Last Supper. A few epitaphs still remain:
that of Cardinal de Beausset, the historian of Fénelon and Bossuet; one
of Cardinal de la Luzerne; and a marble, covering the heart of
Archbishop Affre, who was shot on a barricade in 1848, while
endeavouring to make peace with the insurgents.
LA SAINTE-CHAPELLE.
The origin and foundation of this most lovely example of mediæval art is
so much a part of S. Louis' life that it may not be out of place to give
some account of the Saint's character and habits before proceeding to
describe the history of the chapel.
[Illustration: THE SAINTE-CHAPELLE FROM THE PONT SAINT-MICHEL.]
Louis IX. was pious and practical, and inconvenienced his courtiers as
much by his punctuality and the assiduity with which he conducted his
business, as by his religious duties. These he considered a part of his
daily work, hearing all the canonical offices with the same regularity
as he attended to the grievances of his subjects. Often, like our own
George Herbert, was he found prostrate before the altar wrapped in
prayer. Even Gibbon allowed that he united the virtues of a king, a
hero, and a man--he might have added those of a just judge and a
lawgiver; and Voltaire sums up his character as follows: "Il n'est guère
donné à l'homme de pousser la vertu plus loin." When his more worldly
friends cavilled at his austerities, he made his case good by retorting:
"Si je passais deux fois autant de temps à jouer, ou à courir les bois,
pour m'occuper de la chasse, personne n'en parleroit." As in the case of
nearly all exceptionally good men, he probably owed everything to the
extreme care that his mother had bestowed upon his education--a care
which he repaid by a life-long devotion to her memory. Of good Queen
Blanche's character we get a glimpse in the following touching anecdote.
It is related that one day at Court, the Queen noticed a beautiful youth
with long, fair hair, and asking his name, was answered, "Prince Herman,
the son of the sainted Elizabeth of Hungary." On hearing this, Queen
Blanche rose from her seat, and, gazing at the boy, said to him, "Fair
youth, thou hadst a blessed mother; where did she kiss thee?" Whereat
Herman, blushing, placed his finger on his forehead between his eyes,
and the Queen, reverently pressing her lips upon the spot, looked up to
Heaven and breathed the invocation: _Sancta Elisabetha, Patrona nostra
dulcissima, ora pro nobis._ That a mother so imbued with admiration for
the sainted Elizabeth should have a son who walked in the Hungarian
queen's steps, is not very remarkable in those ages of faith. S. Louis'
faith was simple, loving, and inextinguishable; and so it came about
that when he heard of the Emperor Baldwin II.'s financial difficulties,
he decided to purchase the relics which had been given more than once,
it is said, as pledges for temporary loans. The Emperor's letter upon
the subject would lead one to suppose that it was an act of generosity
to _faire passer_ the relics to S. Louis; but we know that the King paid
very handsomely for them. "Je désire," said the emperor, "ardemment de
vous faire passer cette précieuse relique à vous, mon cousin, mon
seigneur, et mon bienfaiteur, et au royaume de France ma patrie." Other
purchasers seem to have been in the field; for S. Louis only obtained,
at that time, the Crown of Thorns and some portion of the True Cross.
One of his rivals was our Henry III., who in 1247 summoned all his
nobles to London to witness the reception of some of the Holy Blood
which had been brought from the East in a crystal vase, by one of the
Knights Templars. It was sent by the Master of the Templars and
Hospitallers, its genuineness being attested by the Patriarch of
Jerusalem and the abbots of the Holy Land. On the 13th October, being
the feast of S. Edward the Confessor, the King, after prayer and
fasting, carried the reliquary from S. Paul's to Westminster, where it
was deposited in the Abbey church. The Bishop of Norwich preached, and
celebrated mass; and in his sermon took pains to impress upon his
hearers that the Holy Blood was more precious even than the True Cross
possessed by the King of France--an argument which points to one of the
causes of rivalry between the nations during the Middle Ages. Naturally
the assembled prelates accorded indulgences to the faithful who should
visit the shrine; but this much coveted privilege seems to have caused
certain murmurings among some of the assistants; they objected that,
whereas our Lord had ascended into Heaven in the body, He could not have
left His blood upon the earth. But Robert Grossetête, Bishop of Lincoln,
was equal to the occasion, and replied, that Joseph of Arimathea, having
saved it from the precious wounds, more especially from the one in His
side, had given some of it to Nicodemus, and thus it had been treasured
up, and had passed from father to son, until it came into the possession
of the Patriarch Robert of Jerusalem. These disputes seem to have been
pretty common in those days, in spite of the unquestioning faith of the
multitude. In 1357 we read of a squabble which took place between the
Dominicans and the Franciscans, one François Baïle of Barcelona
affirming that the blood being separated from the Divinity of our Lord
was therefore not adorable. Often, indeed, these wranglings became so
violent that the Popes were obliged to interfere in order to settle the
matter.
The bringing home of the relics reads like a royal pageant. They were
carried to Venice by the "Députés de Saint Louis et les ambassadeurs de
l'Empire, accompagnés des plus nobles d'entre les Vénitiens. Le convoi
mit à la voile dans le tems de Noël, saison où la mer est le plus
orageuse. La confidence des Députés éleva leur ame au dessus de la
crainte des périls, et elle fut justifiée; ils arrivèrent à Venise sans
avoir essuyé de tempêtes. Vatace, Empereur Grec, avait détaché plusieurs
galères qui croisoient aux différens détroits où les François devoient
passer, pour leur enlever ce précieux butin. Sa vigilance fut trompée;
Dieu veilloit sur eux."[1]
"Arrivée à Venise la Relique fut mise en dépôt dans le Trésor de la
Chapelle de Saint-Marc. Le roi instruit du succès de la négociation de
ses députés, envoya, ainsi que Baudouin, des Ambassadeurs avec l'argent
nécessaire pour se l'approprier. De leur côté les Marchands François
établis à Venise, plus riches encore des dons de la foi qu'avantagés de
la fortune, ouvrirent leur bourse pour payer la somme stipulée. Les
Vénitiens auroient bien desiré garder cette Relique, mais retenus par la
foi du traité ils la restituèrent quoique à regret."
"Les Ambassadeurs après avoir reconnu les sceaux se mirent en route, et
quoique la saison fût pluvieuse ils n'essuyèrent pas une goutte d'eau.
Arrivés en Champagne, le Roi partit aussi-tôt pour les joindre. Il étoit
accompagné de la Reine, de ses Frères, de l'Archevêque de Sens, de
l'Evêque du Puy, et des Seigneurs les plus distingués de sa cour. II
rencontra la Relique près de Sens; elle étoit enfermée dans une triple
cassette. La première étoit de bois. On l'ouvrit, et on vérifia les
sceaux des seigneurs François et du Duc de Venise apposés sur la
cassette d'argent dans laquelle se trouva un vase d'or, contenant la
Ste.-Couronne. L'ayant découverte on la fit voir à tous les Assistans,
qui fondirent en larmes s'imaginant voir réellement Jésus Christ
couronné d'épines. Puis le Roi mit son scelle sur la cassette. Tant de
précautions écartent assurément tout soupçon d'infidélité."
"Le lendemain la Relique fut portée à Sens dont on avoit tendu toutes
les rues. A l'entrée de la Ville, le Roi et le Comte d'Artois, l'aîné de
ses Frères, la portèrent sur leurs epaules, les pieds nuds. Le Clergé
alla au-devant, et les principaux Seigneurs chargés à leur tour de ce
fardeau honorable la placèrent dans l'Eglise Métropolitaine de
Saint-Etienne. On se mit ensuite en route pour Paris, où la réception de
la Relique se fit avec la plus grande solennité. Tout le Clergé régulier
et séculier fut convoqué à cette cérémonie. Les Religieux de Saint-Denis
dès la pointe du jour se rendirent à l'endroit qui avoit été indiqué
hors de Paris du côté de Vincennes; tous ceux qui assistèrent à cette
Procession marchèrent nuds pieds. On avoit dressé un magnifique reposoir
près de l'Abbaye Saint-Antoine, où la Châsse fut exposée aux yeux du
peuple. Guillaume, Chantre de Saint-Denis, entonna tout ce qui fut
chanté pendant la marche et l'Abbé eut place à la droite de l'Autel,
avec les Archevêques, Evêques et les autres Abbés, tous en habits
pontificaux. Enfin le 18e jour d'Août la Relique arriva, et fut
placée au Palais dans la Chapelle de Saint-Nicolas."[2]
[Illustration]
A medal was struck to commemorate this event, with the legend: HÆC REGIS
REGUM TOTO PRETIOSIOR AURO, and S. Louis kneeling before an altar upon
which is the crown of thorns. As to the particular tree of which the
crown was composed, there was much difference of opinion. Clement of
Alexandria calls it _ex rubo_, a sort of thicket; other writers a
different sort of shrub or bush, called _nerprun_, or wild plum; and
others, the white thorn.
The antiphon used every day in the offices of the Sainte-Chapelle began:
_Ecce Crux et Corona Spinea Arnia Regis Gloriae tibi commendantur_; and
the seal consisted of a cross with the crown of thorns intersecting it,
and on each side a _fleur-de-lys_, with the King's crown at the top.
Having acquired the holy relics, it was most seemly that a shrine should
be constructed wherein they should rest--a shrine worthy the sanctity of
such treasures. And so S. Louis commissioned his architect, Pierre de
Montereau, to build him a chapel which should be a marvel of lightness
and colour, embellished with windows which should glitter like precious
stones, and containing a _châsse_, resplendent with enamels, and gold
and silver--a shrine, as it were, within a shrine. That the architect
was worthy the confidence of his royal master, the chapel testifies to
this day, and Maître Pierre's immortal work remains the most perfect
example of 13th century architecture in France; one might say, the most
exquisite architectural gem which the world has yet seen, or is ever
likely to see.
Pierre de Montereau, or Montreau, as it is sometimes written, lived
eighteen years after the completion of his _chef-d'oeuvre_, and
doubtless assisted at some of the splendid ceremonies held in it. He
died March 17th, 1266, and was buried in the chapel of the Virgin
belonging to the religious of S. Germain des Près, where a splendid
monument was erected to his memory. Some of the finest of the buildings
attached to the monastery were his work, and up to the last century a
stone was to be seen over his burial-place, upon which he was
represented with a rule and compass in his hands. His epitaph gives him
the titles of _fleur pleine de bonnes moeurs_, and of _docteur des
architectes_:
FLOS PLENUS MORUM, VIVENS DOCTOR LATO MORUM,
MUSTEROLO NATUS JACET HIC PETRUS TUMULATUS
QUEM REX COELORUM PERDUCAT IN ALTA POLORUM
CHRISTE MILLENO, BIS CENTENO DUODENO
CUM QUINQUAGENO QUARTO DECESSIT IN ANNO.
Another stone recorded the name of his wife Agnes, and on that he is
termed, in old French, mestre Pierre de Montereul. The chapel has
disappeared, and with it all trace of the tombs; but one at Reims,
erected in honour of Hugues Libergier, architect of the celebrated abbey
church of S. Nicaise, who died in 1263, gives some idea of what those of
Pierre de Montereau and his wife must have been.
The first stone of the church was laid by S. Louis in 1245, and three
years later, on the Sunday after Easter, _Quasimodo_, 25th April, 1248,
it was consecrated by the Pope's legate, Eudes de Châteauroux, Bishop of
Tusculum, as the Chapel of the Holy Cross and the Holy Crown. On the
same day, Philippe Berruyer, Archbishop of Bourges, celebrated the like
ceremony in the lower church, putting it under the patronage of the
Blessed Virgin. It seems strange that Joinville should not speak of this
event, and yet it must have been an imposing sight; but he does not once
mention the Sainte-Chapelle in his life of S. Louis. Perhaps this may be
accounted for by what he thus relates: "At Easter-tide, in the year of
grace 1248, I summoned my vassals and retainers to Joinville, and on the
Easter-eve ... was born John, my son, Sire d'Ancarville.... We had
feasting and dancing all that week, in the course of which my brother,
the Sire de Vancouleurs and other rich persons who were there, gave
banquets one after the other on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and
Thursday." And then he goes on to say that he went to Metz on business
before he started for the Holy Land; therefore we may suppose that
private affairs kept him away from Paris, and that not being present
himself at the consecration, he did not consider it necessary to give an
account of the ceremony.
Two charters dated Paris, 1245, and Aigues-Mortes, 1248, respectively
give the terms of the endowment by the king. The number of ecclesiastics
who first formed the college was fixed at twenty-one; five principal
priests or _maîtres chapelains_, each having an assistant chaplain (a
priest), and a deacon, and three beadles who had as many clerks under
them. The number was modified from time to time, during five centuries,
and latterly it consisted of a treasurer, twelve canons, and nineteen
chaplains. The office of treasurer was generally filled by some
important personage, and he had the privilege of wearing the mitre and
other insignia of the episcopate, and of giving the Benediction upon
great festivals; but he was not allowed to bear the crozier.
[Illustration]
The most important event of the 13th century connected with the
Sainte-Chapelle was the translation of some of S. Louis' bones from S.
Denis, in which church they had been laid twenty-seven years previously
upon their arrival from Tunis, where the king had died of fever on the
25th August, 1270. Feeling his last moments to have arrived, he caused
his body to be placed upon a bed of ashes, and wearing the habit of the
third order of S. Francis, his noble spirit passed away. He was
embalmed, according to the fashion of the day; or rather, his bones were
relieved of their outer casements, by boiling in wine and water; other
parts of his body, which it is unnecessary to specify, being given by
his son to the King of Sicily, who placed them in the church of
Monreale, Palermo. The young Comte de Nevers had died just before S.
Louis; and Alfonso de Brienne, Comte d'Eu, son of John de Brienne, King
of Jerusalem, and the Chevalier Pierre, the King's chamberlain, had also
succumbed to the unhealthy climate. The funeral procession set out, and
wended its way towards France under the care of S. Louis' son, Philippe
le Hardi. Arriving at Paris, the bodies were placed temporarily in
Notre-Dame on the 21st of May; and the next day, amidst a large
concourse of people, the procession, consisting of clergy, and
religious, started early for S. Denis, Philippe, reverently bearing his
father's bones, walking like the rest. Up through the city they went,
singing and chanting, and taking much the same route as had been
traversed by S. Denis and his companions, after their martyrdom, as
recorded by the old chroniclers. In an engraving by Boulogne a long
procession of monks and knights is seen issuing from the abbey to meet
another coming from Paris, the king and bishops being dressed in that
peculiar high wind-blown drapery common to pictorial art in the 17th and
18th centuries. S. Louis' bones were placed in a stone coffin and
buried in front of the altar of the Holy Trinity, near the resting place
of the bodies of Louis VIII. and Philippe Auguste. Philippe le Hardi's
wife, Isabelle, and Tristan, Comte de Nevers, were placed on the right;
the chevalier Pierre, who, as chamberlain, had the privilege of sleeping
in the King's chamber, was laid at his feet. In 1292, Henri de
Luxembourg caused the relics to be placed in a silver shrine and
conveyed to the Sainte-Chapelle by the Archbishops of Reims and Lyon;
but after some days they were returned to S. Denis, and it was not until
1306 that Philippe le Bel succeeded in his desire of placing the remains
of his grandfather in the chapel which was so dear to him, that he felt
a _malaise_ each time he heard the divine offices elsewhere. The Bull of
canonization was promulgated by Pope Boniface VIII. in 1297, and the
translation of the king's skull followed nine years later, accompanied
by all the picturesque pomp of the 14th century. The reliquary was in
the form of a gold bust of natural size, enriched with precious stones,
and supported by Angels upon a pedestal which rested upon four
silver-gilt lions. The crown and the collar of the vestment were
decorated with rubies, pearls, emeralds, and sapphires; and around the
socle were representations of the twenty-nine kings of France, and a
Latin inscription giving the date of the work, and the name of the
smith, Master Guillaume Juliani. Such was the _châsse_ which enclosed
the principal relic of S. Louis: "Afin que la présence du Chef de ce
grand roi, qui pendant sa vie avait eu la justice en singulière
recommandation, animat les Juges de ce Parlement à maintenir les loix,
protéger les gens du bien, rendre la justice à ses sujets sans exception
de personne."[3]
L'an mil et trois cens et six ans,
Ot à Paris joie nouvele,
Car li rois mit en sa chapele,
Que S. Loys fist tele faire
Qu'a tout le monde devroit plaire,
Le chief de lui si richement
Et si très-honorablement,
Que par raison de la bel euvre
Que li dons saintuaire queuvre
Le vessel où l'en la mis prisent
Toutes personnes qui l'avisent. (GUIL. GUIART.)
On the 15th May, 1843, an interesting discovery was made in the chapel.
Some workmen, in removing a stone of the pavement of the apse,
discovered a tin box containing the remains of a heart, and a
_procès-verbal_, stating that it had been previously found on the 21st
January, 1803. Although the position of the box (the centre of the apse)
indicated that it had belonged to some distinguished person, yet there
was no clue to its owner, neither inscription, nor name, nor date. The
box, it is true, was in the style of the 13th century; but it seemed
doubtful, that, had the heart been S. Louis', such an important relic
should have been lost sight of, and no record of it given by the
Benedictines at S. Denis in their inventory of the treasures which they
had received from the Sainte-Chapelle. The matter was referred to the
Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, and fully discussed; but
the members could arrive at no decision, and consequently the box was
replaced where it had been found.
While the kings resided in the old Cité, the most brilliant ceremonies
succeeded one another at the Sainte-Chapelle; it was, in fact, the
chapel belonging to the adjoining palace, now the Palais de Justice. The
Queens, Marie de Brabant, second wife of Philippe le Hardi; Marie de
Luxembourg, second wife of Charles le Bel; Jeanne d'Evreux, third wife
of the same Prince; and Isabelle de Bavière, wife of Charles VI., were
all crowned there. The marriage of the Emperor, Henri VII. and
Marguerite de Brabant, and the betrothal of Isabeau, eldest daughter of
Charles VI. with Richard II. of England, were also solemnised in the
chapel. There, in 1332, Philippe de Valois held a great assembly of
prelates and barons, to announce his project of another crusade against
the Infidels--a project which was never carried out. On the feast of the
Epiphany, 1378, King Charles V., the Emperor Charles IV., and his son
Wenceslas, King of the Romans, offered gold, frankincense and myrrh,
after the manner of the three holy Magi. Every time that the sovereigns
convoked an assemblage of the clergy in the palace, the prelates first
went to the chapel and asked the blessing of the Holy Spirit, while
prostrated before the relics. In 1483, when Louis XI. was lying ill at
Tours, he hoped to prolong his life by surrounding himself with the most
sacred relics of his kingdom--so reluctant was this _devôt_ to depart
from our wicked world. The Sainte Ampoule was brought by the religious
of S. Remi from Reims; the canons of the Sainte-Chapelle took the Cross
of Victory and the Rod of Moses out of their treasury, and a grand
procession of clergy and laity was formed on the 1st of August to carry
them from Paris to Plessis-les-Tours. But, alas! to no end; for on the
30th of the same month the poor creature finished his earthly career of
hypocrisy.
Boileau, in his _Lutrin_, gives an amusing account of an unseemly
squabble which took place between the canons of the chapel, and which
was in this wise. On a certain Sunday in 1667, one of the precentors
named Barrin found a huge lectern placed in front of his stall. He
protested against the intruder, and the other canons taking his part, it
was ordered to be removed. But here the treasurer stepped in with
objections, and a whole month was passed in discussions, orders, and
counter-orders; the dispute only being ended through the mediation of
the first president, Guillaume de Lamoignon, who decreed that the
precentor should remain imprisoned behind the lectern an entire morning,
until the end of the High Mass, the treasurer undertaking to remove the
offending piece of furniture before the hour of vespers.
It was the president who suggested this subject to the poet. Boileau had
remarked to M. de Lamoignon that an epic poem could be written upon the
most trivial incident, if only a poet had sufficient imagination to work
it out. "_Faites donc un poème sur le débat de la Sainte-Chapelle. Vous
pourrez l'intituler 'Le Lutrin enlevé,' ou 'La Conquête du Lutrin._"
"_Pourquoi non_," replied Boileau. "_Il ne faut jamais défier un fou; et
je le suis assez, non seulement pour entreprendre ce poème, mais encore
pour le dédier à Monsieur le premier president._"
The result of defying the "fool," who was withal a wit, is a series of
portraits in verse, of the canons, the singers, the precentor, and the
treasurer. The latter was not spared, as may be seen by the following
lines:--
"Dans le réduit obscur d'une alcove enfoncée,
S'élève un lit de plume à grands frais amassée.
Quatre rideaux pompeux, par un double contour,
En défendent l'entrée à la clarté du jour.
Là, parmi les douceurs d'un tranquille silence,
Règne sur le duvet une heureuse indolence.
C'est là que le prélat, muni d'un déjeuner,
Dormant d'un léger sommeil, attendait le dîner.
La jeunesse en sa fleur brille sur son visage;
Son menton sur son sein descend à double étage,
Et son corps, ramassé dans sa courte grosseur,
Fait gémir les coussins sous sa molle épaisseur."
The canons are touched off with an equal vivacity; all their failings
and follies, their idleness and their gluttony, brought into the pure
light of day:
"Parmi les doux plaisirs d'une paix fraternelle,
Paris voyait fleurir son antique chapelle;
Ses chanoines vermeils et brillants de santé
S'engraissaient d'une longue et sainte oisiveté;
Sans sortir de leurs lits, plus doux que leurs hermines,
Ces pieux fainéants faisaient chanter matines,
Veillaient à bien diner, et laissaient en leur lieu
A des chantres gagés le soin de leur Dieu."
And then the "machine" itself, the offending _lutrin_, is described:
"Aussitôt dans le choeur la machine emportée,
Est sur le banc du chantre à grand bruit remontée,
Ses ais demi-pourris, que l'âge a relâchés,
Sont à coups de maillet unis et rapprochés;
Sous les coups redoublés tous les bancs retentissent
Les murs en sont émus, les voûtes en mugissent,
Et l'orgue même en pousse un long gemissement."
The dream of the _Chantre_, perhaps the indirect cause of all the
trouble, in making the man cantankerous, and extra liable to be rubbed
up the wrong way, is no less worth quoting:
"Les cloches dans les airs, de leurs voix argentines,
Appelaient à grand bruit les chantres à matines,
Quand leur chef, agité d'un sommeil effrayant,
Encor tout en sueur, se réveille en criant:
'Pour la seconde fois (dit-il) un sommeil gracieux
Avait sous ses pavots appesenti mes yeux;
Quand, l'esprit agité d'une douce fumée,
J'ai cru remplir au choeur ma place accoutumée.
Là, triomphant aux yeux des chantres impuissants,
Je bénissais le peuple, et j'avalais l'encens:
Lorsque, du fond caché de notre sacristie,
Une épaisse nuée à grands flots est sortie,
Que s'ouvrant à mes yeux, dans son bleuâtre éclat
M'a fait voir un serpent conduit par le prélat.
Du corps de ce dragon plein de soufre et de nitre,
Une tête sortait en forme de pupitre,
Dont le triangle affreux, tout hérissé de crins,
Surpassait en grosseur nos plus épais lutrins:
Animé par son guide, en sifflant il s'élance.
J'ai crié, mais en vain; et, fuyant sa fureur
Je me suis réveillé plein de trouble et d'horreur."
An order of the Conseil d'Etat, dated March 11, 1787, sequestered all
the goods of the chapel, suppressed the chaplaincies and canonries, and
ordained that the services should be continued by the king's ordinary
chaplains. Three years later, the chapel shared the fate of all the
abbeys, chapters, and religious foundations; and soon after, S. Louis'
beautiful oratory was closed. The relics were sent to S. Denis, and the
other objects were dispersed to the National museums. _Propriété
Nationale à Vendre_ was written upon the building, a piece of
information which has only disappeared in our own time. Under the
Directoire a club held its meetings there; and later, it was converted
into a warehouse for corn and flour. Towards 1800, certain ecclesiastics
hired the lower chapel and celebrated mass there, but in 1803 it was
further profaned; the upper chapel was turned into a depository for
judicial documents, and the lower one was given for the same purpose to
the Cour des Comptes. In vain Louis XVIII. and Charles X. endeavoured to
restore the building to its proper use; and it was only in 1837, in the
reign of Louis Philippe, that its restoration was decided upon. MM.
Duban, Lassus, Viollet-le-Duc, and Boeswillwald were commissioned to
undertake the work at a cost of 2,000,000 francs, a sum nearly equal to
the original value of the relics and reliquaries (2,800,000 francs),
while it exceeded by nearly two millions the original cost of the
building, 800,000 francs. The 3rd November, 1849, the work was
sufficiently advanced for the ceremony of the Institution of the
Judicature, when the ancient chants were sung as in former times. Since
then, until quite recently, a mass has always been celebrated in the
chapel, upon the opening of the Law Courts, in the presence of the
judges, barristers, and others who could gain admission. But this
function has lately been abolished, and the keeper now impresses upon
visitors (rather eagerly and unnecessarily), the permission to keep on
their hats. "_Mais couvrez vous, messieurs, ce n'est plus une chapelle,
ce n'est qu'un monument_"!
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE CHAPEL.]
The celebration of the _Fête des Fous_ was one of the customs of the
Middle Ages which was very tenacious of life. Although forbidden by the
legate in 1198, it flourished for another 250 years. The Council of
Paris, held in 1212, endeavoured to put it down; but it was only in 1435
that the Council of Basle succeeded in suppressing it, together with
stage plays and other profanities. It was the custom at the
Sainte-Chapelle, upon the Holy Innocents' day, for the boy acolytes[4]
to deck themselves in the canons' copes and vestments, and to sit in
their stalls, one boy bearing the mace carried by the precentor as an
attribute of his dignity. They were also exempted, during a certain
time, from doing homage to anyone. A curious custom prevailed at Easter.
At three o'clock in the morning, the clergy, carrying the Host, went in
procession round the interior of the palace; and by reason of a
foundation of one of the canons, Eustache Picot, under-master of music
during the reigns of Louis XIII. and XIV., only his own compositions
could be sung on the occasion. On Easter day a chronological table of
the principal events and festivals connected with the chapel, with the
date and the age of the King, was attached to the Paschal candle. Other
customs were peculiar to the chapel, as, for instance, on Whit Sunday,
when, during mass, while the Gospel was chanted, an Angel descended from
the vault, holding a silver cruet, from which he poured water upon the
hands of the celebrant. Flowers, roses, wafers, a white pigeon, a
quantity of small birds, and flax for burning, had to be provided by the
Chevecier[5] in memory of the tongues of fire which descended upon the
apostles at Pentecost.
On the Good Fridays of each year the chapel scarcely sufficed to contain
the crowds of sick persons who flocked to it from all parts of the city.
All maladies were supposed to be curable through the virtues of the holy
relics, but specially that known formerly as _le mal caduc_. At midnight
the relic of the True Cross was exposed, and at the same moment the
chapel was filled by the most fearful shrieks of these poor epileptics.
The afflicted threw themselves about, foamed at the mouth, and fell into
convulsions, invoking the aid especially of S. John the Baptist and S.
Spire. The people were convinced every year that some wondrous miracle
had been wrought; but the abuses connected with this nocturnal
exposition were so great that, in 1781, Louis XVI. ordered it to be
discontinued. The relics now shown in the Treasury of Notre-Dame, and
exposed there during Holy Week, are said to be the veritable ones
belonging to the Sainte-Chapelle; but the account of their preservation
after the desecration of S. Denis is so miraculous (almost as much so as
the original finding of the True Cross by S. Helena) that it requires a
large amount of faith to believe in them. The reliquaries were of course
all melted up, even Alexandre Lenoir could not save them. Those at
Notre-Dame are quite modern, although somewhat of the same form.
Another custom peculiar to the chapel was the singing upon Christmas-day
of the hymn "_Noël_," in place of "_O Salutaris Hostia_." The former had
been originally a joy-song, welcoming the kings upon their entry into
Paris; and thus, when our Henry V. entered the capital in 1420, and
likewise Henry VI. in 1431, they were greeted with this exclamation.
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE RELIQUARY.]
The kings were not the only persons who profited by the virtues of the
relics; the first president of the _parlement_ was so far privileged
that he could have them brought to him on his death-bed; and on
Quinquagesima Sunday they were exposed at the central window of the
_chevet_ for the good of the public in the street. The _châsse_
containing the relics had no less than ten locks, the keys thereof being
in the custody of the kings until the reign of Louis XIII.; but while
that monarch was at Lyons, a fire broke out in the chapel (26th July,
1630), and the doors of the _châsse_ had to be broken open, a disaster
which led to a change in the custodian, the president of the Chambre des
Comptes being substituted for the sovereign. This worthy lived opposite;
and it was also his duty to keep the relics clean, assisted of course by
a vast number of other presidents and officials. It was the duty, or the
privilege, of the kings to mount the little winding staircase at the
side of the altar, and to exhibit the relics to the people gathered in
the chapel below. S. Louis probably ofttimes walked up the steps on the
left for this purpose (the right-hand staircase is modern); and on Good
Friday, 1423, the Duke of Bedford, as regent of France for Henry VI.,
gave the blessing with the relics. In 1575, on the 10th July, a great
theft took place of a portion of the cross which was frequently shown to
the people (not the piece in the principal _châsse_), and this in spite
of six guards who "_allans et venans toute nuict par icelle, tant pour
la garde des sainctes reliques comme du lieu_." This was looked upon as
a great calamity by many people; but by some of the incredulous was
thought to be a feint of Henri III., who had permitted the relic to be
sent to Italy as security for some money borrowed by that good daughter
of the Church, the Queen-mother, Catherine de'Medici. In 1793 the
destruction of the _châsses_ and the dispersion of the relics was
ordered by the Convention, and carried out by the notorious
constitutional bishop Gobel. We cannot but lament the loss to art of
these reliquaries; whether, reading over the list in full of the relics
given by Canon Morand, we need sigh over their destruction, is another
matter. They had swollen in number since S. Louis' time, and besides a
portion of the true cross, the crown of thorns, and the lance, there was
the rod of Moses, the cross of victory borne by the Emperors of the
East, part of the purple mantle, the reed, and other instruments of the
Passion, the linen with which Our Lord wiped the Apostles' feet, the
sponge, the handcuffs, the holy blood, the Virgin's veil and a piece of
her hair, an imprint of the face of Our Lord, a piece of the Holy
Sepulchre, and the upper part of the head of S. John Baptist. All these
objects, and one or two others which it is needless to mention, were
enclosed in the reliquaries which either stood or hung in the great
_châsse_. But other valuables were kept elsewhere. There existed up to
the reign of Louis XVI. an elegant little sacristy upon the north-east
side, having two storeys, in which were deposited deeds, charters, and
gold and silver vessels for the use of the altar. In it was kept the
splendid agate, now in the Bibliothèque Nationale, representing the
Apotheosis of Augustus, which was absolutely presented to the people as
a _pax_ upon great festivals, until de Peiresc, Councillor of the
Parlement of Provence, about 1619, discovered the mistake, and the
so-called "Triumph of Joseph" became acknowledged to be the "Apotheosis
of Augustus." A careful drawing of the cameo was made by de Peiresc's
friend Rubens, which was engraved by Luc Vosterman of Antwerpen. It was
called in the inventory of the chapel _le Grand Camahieu_ and the _Agate
de Tibère_; it is, indeed, the largest known, and is of most exquisite
workmanship. The whole family of the Cæsars is represented; some on
earth, some in Heaven. The cracks in it are mentioned in the inventory
of 1480, and it is described as: _Item unum pulcherrimum camaut in cujus
circuitu sunt plures reliquiæ._ The cameo is supposed to have been one
of the treasures brought by S. Louis from Constantinople. In 1343,
Philippe VI. sent it to the Pope who had desired to see it, but Charles
V. restored it to the chapel in 1379, and then the chapter made their
possession certain, by engraving upon the socle: _ce camaieu bailla à la
Sainte-Chapelle du Palais, Charles cinquième de ce nom, roi de France,
qui fut fils du roi Jean, l'an MCCCLXXIX_. The Byzantine mounting,
described by Tristan de Saint-Amant, was melted up when the cameo was
stolen, in 1804: _Car les quatres évangélistes sont représentés de part
et d'autre du châssis ou tableau d'or, dans lequel cette pierre est
enchâssée._
[Illustration]
Another antique, an agate bust of Valentinian III.,[6] was metamorphosed
into a S. Louis, and formed the crowning point of the precentor's mace.
The clothing of this bust in silver-gilt drapery, the placing of a crown
of thorns in the right-hand and a cross in the left, show the manner in
which objects of Pagan art were adapted to Christian uses. That S. Louis
should appear as a fat middle-aged man with a clean shaven face and
cropped hair, was an anomaly of no consequence to the Mediæval artists.
Another instance of the same _naïveté_ is the bust of Caracalla which
formerly figured as a S. Peter upon the cover of a book of the Gospels,
now in the department of manuscripts. The cover is of silver-gilt,
Christ crucified with the Virgin and S. John upon either side, the
amethyst bust being placed at the foot of the cross. Upon the other
side is Christ enthroned, and an imitation emerald which no doubt
represents some precious gem that has since disappeared.
[Illustration: THE CHAPEL IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.]
Some idea of the richness of the contents of the treasury may be formed
by stating that the list of the images, vessels, reliquaries, crosses,
&c., in the last inventory, taken in 1784, occupies twenty pages of
Morand's book. Besides the objects already mentioned we read of a
silver-gilt statue of S. Louis d'Anjou; a fragment of the cup of S.
Martin; a portion of the tunic of S. Louis; an ivory Virgin, and thirty
reliquaries of the 13th and 14th centuries. These were all conveyed to
S. Denis on the 12th March, 1791, in a coach drawn by eight horses, and
guarded by a chaplain and an officer of the king's household, who gave
them over to the Benedictines, then still at the Abbey. In 1793 the
relics trundled back to Paris in a procession which mimicked the former
one, and after being taken to the Convention, they were melted up at the
mint.
The Royal archives were stowed away in two great rooms above the
sacristy of the upper church. When they were first installed there, is
not known; but in 1615, when an inventory was drawn up by Pierre Dupuy
and Theodore Godefroy, there were three hundred and fifty drawers, two
hundred and sixty registers, fifty-two sacks, forty-two shelves, and
fifteen coffers. This inventory consists of eight volumes of manuscripts
in folio. In 1783 the sacristry was sacrificed to the love of symmetry
in the new Cour d'honneur, and the archives were removed to the
Chancellerie du Palais. At the present time some of them are in the
Bibliothèque, but the greater part are at the Archives Nationale in the
Rue Rambuteau.
The state of dilapidation into which the chapel had fallen when the
restoration was commenced, was terrible. The tracery of the windows was
destroyed, the glass was broken and filled up with plaster, the _flèche_
and gargoyles had disappeared, and the interior was filled with shelves
and woodwork for the storage of the archives. But the beautiful
Renaissance staircase of forty-four steps (the scene of Boileau's poem,
the _Lutrin_) had disappeared long before.
The dimensions of the building are as follow:--
Length of exterior 36 mètres.
Length of interior 33 "
Width of exterior 17 "
Width of interior 10.70 "
Height of exterior from the ground of the lower chapel
to the point of the gable of the _façade_ 42.50 "
Height of the _flèche_ to the summit 33.25 "
Height of the vault of the lower chapel under the
key-stone 6.50 "
Height of the vault of the upper-chapel 20.50 "
M. Viollet-le-Duc, in his "Dictionnaire Raisonné de l'Architecture,"
thus describes the building: "De la base au faîte, l'edifice est
entièrement construit en pierre dure de choix, connue sous le nom de
liais cliquart (Portland stone) chaque assise est cramponnée par des
agrafes de fer coulées en plomb, les tailles et la pose sont exécutées
avec une précision rare; la sculpture en est composée et ciselée avec un
soin particulier. Sur aucun point on ne peut constater ces négligences
qui ne sont que trop souvent le résultat de la précipitation." At page
401 of the above work is an explanation of the system of courses
employed by Pierre de Montereau--a manner of strengthening masonry which
was in use before this period (13th century), but which was improved
upon by the great architect of the Sainte-Chapelle. It is very similar
to the system now in use.
The only communication between the lower and upper chapels at the
present time is by means of the small turret staircase, but formerly the
upper church was approached by a wide exterior flight of forty-four
steps. It was reconstructed many times, and the last one, in the
Egyptian style, was dated 1811. The demolition of this is no loss; but
it seems a pity it should not have been replaced by one in better taste,
as the only approach to the upper chapel (except the turret stairs) is
through the corridors of the Palais de Justice.
The first thing that strikes the visitor upon entering is the enormous
size of the windows, which occupy the entire space between the
buttresses, and rise to the base of the roof. All the weight of the
vaulting rests, therefore, upon the exterior buttresses, but not the
slightest inflection has ever taken place. The church is built truly
east and west, the entrance to each chapel being by separate portals.
The only modification the exterior of the building has sustained since
S. Louis' time is the addition of a little oratory attributed to Louis
XI., and the rebuilding of a part of the _façade_ in the 15th century.
The porch of the lower chapel is divided into two bays by a pier, on
which is a statue of the Blessed Virgin, while above in the tympanum, is
a representation of the _Coronation of the Virgin_. The restoration of
this and the entire ornament of the doorway is the work of M.
Geoffroy-Dechaume. The original statue had the reputation of working
miracles; and it is related that when, towards 1304, Jean Duns Scotus, a
celebrated theologian of the University of Paris, was praying at its
feet, it bent its head in approval of the doctrine of the Immaculate
Conception, which that learned doctor was teaching. It has since always
remained in the same position. The portal of the upper chapel is of the
same character as the lower one, but richer in its decoration. It is
nearly all new, for the old ornament had not only been mutilated, but
had been completely chiselled off. The _voussure_ is a mass of
sculptures--single figures, groups, and ornament. The figures are
forty-four in number: Angels carrying the elect to heaven, Angels
censing and bearing crowns, martyrs with the instruments of their
sufferings, and the lost souls surrounded by the flames of hell, the
whole forming a framework to the central subject in the tympanum, the
_Last Judgement_; the work is a marvel of patient study, modelled upon
the portals of Notre-Dame and S. Germain l'Auxerrois, each figure having
been fitted into its place upon the lines of the original wherever any
traces of the old sculptures had been preserved.
[Illustration]
The plan of the church is a parallelogram, terminating in a polygonal
apse. The buttresses reach to the parapet, and terminate in pinnacles
surrounded by gargoyles ornamented with the most grotesque birds and
beasts. The windows of the nave are divided into four lights, with
foliated circles in the heads very similar to those of the Chapter House
at Salisbury. Several _flèches_ have preceded the present one; the first
fell in the reign of Charles VI., the second was burnt in the great fire
of 16th July, 1630; the third was erected by Louis XIII. in the ogival
style of that period, and remained until the 17th century. When it was
destroyed, in 1791, it contained five bells, which had been cast in
1738; the Dauphin, the Duc d'Orléans, the Duc de Chartres, and the first
President of the Chambre des Comptes being their sponsors. The present
_flèche_ was erected in 1853, and is in the style of the 15th century.
It is of wood, covered with lead, and consists of three octagonal
storeys supporting the spire.
[Illustration]
On the lower storey are colossal statues of the twelve Apostles, most of
them portraits, the S. Thomas being that of the sculptor Lassus. The
gables of the upper storey support Angels with the instruments of the
Passion. The crockets of the spire are _fleurs-de-lys_, and the whole is
resplendent with gilding. The summit of the _chevet_ is surmounted by a
huge Angel, in lead, holding a processional cross. There was an idea,
never carried out, of making this statue turn round mechanically upon a
pivot during the twenty-four hours, that it might present the symbol of
salvation successively to all quarters of the city. The masks upon the
pedestal of this figure are all portraits of the artists and workmen
engaged upon the restoration of the chapel, posing as the Kings of
France. The oratory, erected by Louis XI., between the two buttresses of
the fourth bay, upon the south side, is decorated with niches and
corbels of human heads.
The vaulting of the lower chapel is supported by fourteen single-shaft
pillars, surrounded by foliated capitals of various designs. The walls
are decorated with arcading, terminated at the east end by an apse. The
two columns without capitals were added at the same time as the apsidal
tribune in the upper chapel. The decoration is in imitation of the
original 13th century work, some of which, a fragment of an
_Annunciation_, was discovered in removing the remains of some later
work in a style utterly at variance with the architecture, by Martin
Fréminet, painter to Henri IV. and Louis XIII. In 1691 the tracery of
the windows and the stained glass were destroyed and replaced by white
in order to give extra light. Formerly there were seven altars and a
font in the lower chapel, Boileau, whose father had a house in the court
of the palace, being amongst those who were baptised there.
The upper chapel is one of those buildings which one never tires of
admiring. When we wend our way up the turret stairs, and enter it from
the semi-darkness of the crypt, it strikes us as the most exquisite
scheme of colour imaginable. Add to the beauty of the chapel all the
associations which crowd upon the memory--S. Louis' beautiful faith and
noble life, his enthusiasm for God's work and man's welfare; all the
ceremonies and the processions which have taken place there, with the
lights, the flowers, and the incense, and our imagination forms a
picture that no hand could adequately paint. The chapel is composed of
four bays for the nave, and seven smaller for the apse. The vault is
groined and is supported by clustered columns and capitals ornamented
with foliage. The windows occupy the entire space between the supporting
pillars, and are filled with most beautiful stained glass;[7] while
below is an arcade rising from a stone seat. The capitals of the
columns are most exquisitely carved in imitation of the flora of France,
and the quatrefoils between the arches are filled with a kind of
decoration which is as rare as it is effective. The designs were drawn
upon the stone, and the backgrounds filled in with incrustations of blue
glass and gold, the subjects being taken from the lives of the martyrs.
Most of them have been restored; but, very wisely, two or three have
been left in the state in which they were discovered. Between the arches
of the arcades are Angels with outstretched arms, who seem to be
crowning the martyrs in the quatrefoils. At the third bay of the nave on
each side are recesses which formed reserved places for some privileged
persons during Mass; and it is thought that they were probably occupied
by the king and queen, the former on the Gospel, the latter on the
Epistle side. On the south wall is a slanting recess, which formerly
must have served as a chapel, as there was an altar at the end of it
having a painted reredos representing the interior of the great
_châsse_, with all its contents ranged in proper order, and S. Louis
praying before it. It is supposed that Louis XI. may have used this
niche as a place where he could pray without being seen, but in sight of
the altar and the relics.
It has always been the custom at the consecration of a church to place a
cross wherever the sign of the cross had been made by the bishop. The
architect of the Sainte-Chapelle conceived the happy idea of placing the
twelve Apostles as pillars of the Church, supporting these crosses,
which are in the form of monstrances. The pedestals on which the figures
stand are affixed to the pillars, and the statues, like the rest of the
church, are painted and gilt, those of the 13th century being marvellous
examples of the sculpture of that period. After the closing of the
chapel these statues were sent to the Musée des Monuments Français; but
when the Museum was suppressed they were dispersed or broken up. S.
Peter was discovered in fragments at S. Denis, another was given to the
church at Creteil, where it passed as S. Louis, and four were given to
the missionaries for their Calvary at Mt. Valerien. The latter were in
perfect preservation, and the colour had not disappeared. They remained
at the entrance of one of the chapels of the Way of the Cross until
1830, when some senseless vandals threw them down and broke them; but
the fragments were preserved, and are now in the garden of the Hôtel
Cluny, a museum of fragments. The rest were replaced in the chapel, and
are the fourth and fifth on each side facing the altar; all the others
are new.
The pavement is modern incised stone, with incrustations of colour,
representing geometrical patterns, animals, and flowers. In the apse are
subjects--the _Four rivers of Paradise_, and the _Seven Sacraments_ in
the form of rivers. The altar is an exact copy of the original one.
Above it is the tribune and canopy where the relics were exposed, with a
spiral staircase leading up to it;[8] the northern one is ancient, and
was found by Alexandre Lenoir, in the Musée des Petits-Augustins, where
for half a century it had been attached to the _façade_ of the Château
de Gaillon, a 16th century work, now in the court of the Ecole des
Beaux-Arts. On one side of the apse is a very beautiful _piscina_. Part
of the _baldachino_ is ancient, and the rest has been restored from old
drawings.
Formerly several statues occupied places in the chapel; one, a
terra-cotta Notre-Dame de Pitié, by Germain Pilon, which is now in the
chapel of the military school of St. Cyr. A 16th century _jubé_, with
altars attached to it, marked the nave from the chancel. The retables of
these altars (now in the Louvre) were in enamel, signed and dated
Léonard Limousin, 1533, and contain portraits of François I. and his
second wife, Eléonore d'Autriche, sister of Charles V. and of Henri II.
and Catherine de'Medici, all kneeling. The choir was filled with carved
stalls of the time of Henri II. At the four corners of the altar
pavement, Henri III. elevated bronze Angels upon black marble pillars.
On the _retro_-altar was a silver-gilt model of the chapel, three or
four feet high, executed in 1631 by Pijard, goldsmith, and guardian of
the relics. This contained some of the treasures, and was considered a
very fine work of art, costing some 13,000 _livres_. There is an
excellent drawing of the original altar in Viollet-le-Duc's dictionary.
Canon Morand tells us, in his history of the chapel, that the
_ciborium_, which is usually placed in the tabernacle, was here
suspended in front of the altar--probably the _retro_-altar, as in the
engraving of the High Altar in the Canon's book, there is no
representation of it. All the old furniture of the church has
disappeared, the carved stalls, the _jubé_, the altars, and the pulpit.
Upon the subject of letting, or taking money for seats or chairs in
church, the Abbé waxes wrathful. Nothing is more "indécent que de vendre
ou de louer des places à l'Eglise. En Angleterre et en Hollande on est
assis dans les Temples sans aucun frais, et sans être interrompu par les
Mandians, par les quêteurs, ou par les loueurs de chaises; en quoi les
non-Catholiques nous donnent un bel exemple à suivre, si nous étions
assez raisonables et assez désinterressés pour cela." This is a proof
that the letting of pews which prevailed in this country some years ago
was a bad departure from the free-and-open seat system of the last
century; and the picture drawn of the restlessness of a French church,
from the incessant perambulating of the _Suisses_, the _quêteurs_, and
the chair-owners, is as true now as it was in the time of Morand.
[Illustration: THE JUBÉ, SIXTEENTH CENTURY.]
The Canon then goes on to record the want of reverence of the
congregation, how they just _half_ kneel when the bell rings; how they
must needs sit, and even gossip, during the short quarter of an hour
occupied by a low mass; how they take snuff and bear themselves
generally, and then go out and stand about for the greater part of the
day at their business.
S. Louis ordained, in his foundation charters, that the offerings
received by the priests at the altar should be devoted to the reparation
of the glass, and that if it should be insufficient, the necessary funds
should be taken from the Royal Treasury deposited at the Temple. The
restoration of the windows is now complete, this being the work of MM.
Steinheil and Lusson. These artists have done their work so well, and
matched the colours so perfectly, that it is difficult to distinguish
the new from the old. The rose-window is of the 15th century, the others
of the 13th century. The subjects are from the Old and New Testament,
and from the life of S. Louis. Some of these latter are original, and,
as it is probable that the artists assisted at the ceremonies held in
the chapel, it is also probable that the pictures may be true portraits
of the personages represented. The subjects of the rose-window are all
taken from the Apocalypse.
Such is the chapel which was so dear to the King that he felt a
"_malaise_" when he heard divine service elsewhere, and of which the
troubadour Rutebeuf sings the praises in a poem written after the death
of the Saint, entitled, _Les Regrès au roys Loeys_:
Chapèle de Paris! bien ères maintenue
La mort, ce m'est aduis, t'a fet desconvenue
Du miex de tes amys, t'a laissée toute nue
De la mort, sont plaintifs et grant gent et menue."--
(_MS. Bibliothèque Nationale._)
SAINT-DENIS.
Although the Benedictine abbey church of S. Denis is some miles from
Paris, it is so mixed up with the history of the capital that it ought
not to be omitted in a series of "Paris Churches." Moreover, as it is by
far the finest church in, or near, the metropolis, and one of the
grandest examples of French 13th century architecture, no one ought to
grudge the tiresome journey by train or tram in order to see it, even if
his stay in Paris be limited to a few days. The only thing required to
make it perfectly beautiful is new stained glass in the windows of the
clerestory to replace that put up during the early years of this
century, a horrible example of the execrable taste of the period.
[Illustration: THE ABBEY CHURCH FROM THE GRANDE PLACE.]
S. Denis was one of the sacred spots of mediæval Europe--a species of
Christian Mecca. "Si les lieux sont reputez saincts," says one of its
children, Dom Millet,[9] "à cause des choses sainctes faictes ou
aduenuës en iceux, comme ont esté est sont encores, les montagnes de
Thabor et de Caluaire, ou bien à cause des choses sainctes qu'ils
contiennent, comme estoit l'Arche d'Alliance, et le Sancta Sanctorum des
Juifs; je croy qu'il n'y a personne qui n'aduoüe que l'Eglise de S.
Denys en France ne soit vn lieu tres-sainct en toutes ces
considerations, puis qu'elle a esté dediée des propres mains de nostre
Sauueur Jesus-Christ, descendu exprés du Ciel auec vne grande multitude
d'Anges et de Saincts, et qu'elle contient en soy tant des choses
sainctes, et des Reliques si precieuses et rares." It was a poor but
worthy leper who saw this strange vision. He had been left shut up in
the church, when in the dead of night he was startled by a dazzling
light; and then he beheld the Saviour, His Apostles, multitudes of
Angels, and S. Denis and his companions. Our Lord sprinkled the church
with holy water, and S. Denis and his companions served Him; and then He
said to the leper: "_Go and tell le bon roy Dagobort what thou hast
seen._" "_But how can a poor leper penetrate the presence of the King?_"
said he. Then a wondrous miracle was performed; the Saviour touching him
with his finger, made the leper clean. Then he went to the King, and
they all believed.
Not only was S. Denis specially favoured by this miraculous dedication,
but it was privileged by Charlemagne in a charter, as the chief and
mistress of all the churches in the kingdom; and its abbot as the
Primate of all the prelates of France. This great man was allowed to
have six deacons vested in dalmatics whenever he officiated, an honour
conferred upon him by Pope Stephen III. when he consecrated the High
Altar in 753, and at the same time anointed and crowned King Pépin and
Queen Bertrade, and their two sons Charles and Carloman. People, high
and low, from all the ends of the earth, flocked to the famous abbey as
we now rush to the World's Fairs; and the great ones of the earth,
princes, nobles, and ambassadors, considered that they had seen nought
of the civilised world if they had not paid their respects to the relics
at S. Denis. Some went for love, some out of sheer curiosity to see the
riches of the treasury: divers crosses, reliquaries, statues, vases,
chalices, and other vessels for the altars; S. Denis' mitre, chalice,
and rings; the famous head of solid silver gilt, containing his skull,
and presented to the abbey by Marguerite de France in 1360; a wonderful
golden cup enriched with precious stones which had belonged to King
Solomon, and a rock crystal vase from the Temple of the wise man--both
the gift of Charles the Bald. He, being abbot, made it his custom to
attend "the duties of his station at the Abbaye, on the solemn
festivals, passing the day in pious conversation with the monks and in
religious observances." He also made considerable donations,[10] added
to the many lamps which are kept continually burning before the shrines,
and increased the number of wax tapers employed in the services of the
church. Then further, amongst the curiosities, were the nail of a
griffin upon a silver-gilt animal; a unicorn's horn six feet high, sent
by Aaron King of Persia to Charlemagne; the hunting horn of Roland,
nephew of Charlemagne; and the lantern which was used at the betrayal of
our Lord in the Garden, called the Lantern of Judas. The latter was of
copper, embellished by rock crystal, through which the light shone.
(This was also the gift of Charles the Bald). The mirror of the prince
of poets, Virgil, which was of jet; the sword of the _genereuse Amazone,
Jeanne la Pucelle_. Of the beauty of the croziers and pastoral crosses,
the mitres and episcopal rings, Dom Millet's description leaves no
doubt; and of the magnificence of the abbots, and the splendour of their
monastery, we have more than ample evidence. As an old epigram puts it:
Au tems passé du siècle d'or,
Crosse de _bois_, Evêque d'or,
Maintenant changent les lois,
Crosse d'or, Evêque de _bois_.
The Huguenots destroyed many of the church ornaments, ruined chapels,
and worse still, "ces impies la pillerent (S. Denis) et dissiperent
entierement, sans y laisser aucune chose, sinon ce qu'ils ne voulutent
point. Ils ne pouuoient faire pis, sinon mettre le feu par tout le
Monastere, comme ils firent en tant d'autres par la France." It was
supposed that the "Prince de Condé, leur chef," was not present at these
little pastimes of his valiant soldiers, for when he heard what had been
done "il fit pendre vne douzaine, pour monstrer comment il detestoit
leur sacrilege: mais pour cela les pertes ne furent pas reconnettes."
In a _History of the Royal Abbaye of Saint Denis_, published in London
in 1795, we have some curious details connected with the church. "Every
Sunday and Holy Day at mass, the Deacons and Sub-deacons, after having
received the 'precious body of Our Lord,' repaired to a side altar to
suck up through a reed, enclosed in a tube of enamelled gold, the
'precious blood,' according to a very ancient custom adopted in the
church of S. Denis, which is retained without any variation to this
day." Whether this was so, or whether it was the result of the anonymous
writer's imagination, I cannot say, as I find nothing about it in other
books that I have studied.
The same author speaks of the "miraculous silver keys of S. Denis which
they apply to the faces of those persons who have been so unfortunate as
to be bitten by mad dogs, and who receive a certain and immediate relief
by only touching them." Alas, that these keys should have been melted
up; for here was a cure for hydrophobia without any of the vicarious
suffering which M. Pasteur's discovery has caused.
The legend of S. Denis, the patron of France, is exceedingly
picturesque. By some ecclesiastical authorities he is said to have lived
in the 1st century, by others in the 2nd or 4th, but by most he is one
and the same person as Dionysius the Areopagite. Hilduin, abbot of S.
Denis at the beginning of the 9th century, seems to have had no doubt
upon the subject, and in art the Saint and the disciple of S. Paul have
always been looked upon as the self-same personage, although tradition
records the existence of another S. Denis, a bishop of Paris, in the 3rd
century. Dionysius was an Athenian philosopher named Theosophus.
Travelling in Egypt to study astrology with a companion named
Apollophanes, they were surprised by a strange darkness that came over
the heavens, and were naturally much troubled thereby. Returning to
Athens, Dionysius heard S. Paul preach, and thereupon being converted to
Christianity, he understood that the darkness which he had seen at
Heliopolis was none other than that which fell upon the earth for the
space of three hours when the Blessed Redeemer was crucified. Baptised
and ordained priest, Dionysius subsequently became bishop of Athens; and
in some of the writings attributed to him he relates that he travelled
to Jerusalem to see the Blessed Virgin, whom he found continually
surrounded by a dazzling light, and attended by a company of Angels. He
also gives an account of her death at which he was present with certain
of the Apostles. After this, he returned to Athens and was subsequently
present at S. Paul's martyrdom in Rome. Thence he was sent by S. Clement
to preach the Gospel, together with a priest named Rusticus, and a
deacon Eleutherius. Arrived at Paris, an exceeding great city full of
people and provided with all the good things of the earth, they found it
so attractive that it seemed to them another Athens, and so they
sojourned there, teaching the people, who were learned in all things but
the way of truth. S. Denis then sent missionaries into other parts of
Gaul, and into Germany. But these successes were not pleasing unto
Satan, and so he stirred up the nobles against the good bishop, who was
accused before the Emperor Trajan. Some say it was Domitian, but in
either case the result was the despatch of one Frescennius, a
pro-consul, from Rome, with orders to throw Denis and his companions
into prison. This was done, and finding that they would not retract,
they were put to death upon the Hill of Mercury (who was so much
honoured by the Gauls), and which was subsequently called Montmartre
(_Mons Martyrum_).
"Le Saint evêque Denis, et ses deux compagnons, le prêtre Rustique et le
diacre Eleuthère, souffrirent leur mémorable et très-glorieuse passion,
à la vue de la cité des Parisiens, sur la colline qui se nommait
auparavant Mont de Mercure, parce que cette idole y était
particulièrement honorée de Gaulois, et qu'on appelle aujourd'hui le
Mont des Martyrs en mémoire des saints du Seigneur qui accomplirent en
ce lieu même leur martyre triomphal."[11]
Then a stupendous miracle took place. S. Denis not desiring, or not
being permitted, to become food for wolves, took up his decapitated head
in his hands, and walked for the space of two miles, Angels singing by
the way. Accompanied by this celestial body-guard, the Saint marched
over the plains beyond the city, and signified, in some way unrecorded,
that he desired burial where now stands the church dedicated to his
memory. This was accomplished by a pious woman named Catulla, who had
ministered unto the three blessed martyrs in their prison, and who now
laid their mutilated remains in her own field.
Paris formerly, even as late as the last century, contained many spots
sacred to the memory of S. Denis and his three companions. At
Notre-Dame-des-Champs a crypt used to be shown where they preached to
their first disciples. At S. Benoît, now destroyed, there was formerly
an oratory, on the wall of which was an inscription recording that S.
Denis first invoked the name of the Most High on that spot. At S.
Denis-de-la-Chartre was the prison where the martyrs were visited by our
Lord, and where He administered His Blessed Body and Blood to them. At
S. Denis-du-Pas was the ground upon which they suffered their first
tortures; and upon Montmartre the church of S. Pierre records the spot
upon which they were decapitated. The way across the plain from
Montmartre to the place of burial was marked by a succession of crosses,
and the field where the Saint's remains were laid subsequently became
the precincts of the famous abbey.
The first church is said to have been erected before the invasion of the
Franks, but this had fallen into ruins in the 5th century, and it was
through the piety of S. Geneviève and the people of Paris that it was
rebuilt. This Saint, like all good Parisians, held S. Denis in great
esteem; and it was during a visit paid to his shrine that her taper,
maliciously blown out by the arch-enemy, was successfully relighted
through the fervour of her prayers. Gregoire de Tours relates many
wondrous miracles which took place in the new church for the benefit of
the faithful and the chastisement of the wicked.
[Illustration: SILVER STATUETTE FORMERLY IN THE TREASURY.]
But the magnificence with which Dagobert rebuilt and endowed S. Denis
completely eclipsed the work of the maid of Nanterre; and so effectually
was the king looked upon as the founder of the abbey that, up to the
dissolution of the monasteries, the monks celebrated his festival upon
the 19th of January with great solemnity and splendour. It was about the
year 630 that Dagobert undertook the rebuilding of the church, which is
said to have been decorated with precious marbles, magnificent bronze
doors, and gold and silver vessels enriched with precious stones. These
latter, and the shrine of the Saint, as well as the great cross at the
entrance of the choir, were the work of the famous artificer in metals,
S. Eloy, who was also the maker of the shrines of SS. Martin, Germain,
and Geneviève. These, and, in fact, all this great smith's works (as far
as is known) have perished; but his memory is still preserved by
pictures and sculptures representing some of the legendary incidents of
his life. In the Firenze Academy is a picture by Botticelli, and at the
church of Or San Michele is a statue and a bas-relief, both of which
represent one of the great events of the Saint's life. A horse having
been brought to him to be shod, the animal proved restive, and the Saint
being exercised in his mind as to how he should keep the beast still,
bethought him of an excellent plan. He calmly cut off the leg, and
placing it upon his anvil, fastened on the shoe; this done, he replaced
the leg upon the horse, to the amazement of the beast and the
edification of his owner. Another picture, painted for the Company of
the Goldsmiths, represents S. Eloy under the form of Benvenuto Cellini,
presenting a shrine to King Dagobert, who figures in the costume of
François I^er. In 754, Pépin and his queen Berthe, after being anointed
at S. Denis by Pope Stephen II., began the reconstruction of the
Merovingian church which Charlemagne finished and dedicated in 775. From
that year until the 12th century, little is known of the history of the
abbey. Like all churches and monasteries in the north of France, it was
probably destroyed, and its lands laid waste by the invasions of the
Northmen and the disastrous civil wars which characterised the end of
the Carlovingian dynasty, for nothing remains of the magnificence of the
churches of Dagobert and of Charlemagne but a few columns and marble
capitals in the crypt.
[Illustration: TOMB OF HENRI II. IN THE VALOIS CHAPEL BUILT BY PHILIBERT
DELORME.]
The third and present church was commenced by the great Abbot Suger, and
is considered by many French architects to be the earliest example of
Pointed architecture. Suger erected the tower, the portals, the nave,
and the choir in rapid succession, and subsequently the _chevet_ and
chapels; he filled the windows with the most exquisite jewel-like
stained glass, and loaded the shrines and altars with precious stones.
Some of the sacred vessels formerly belonging to the church are now in
the Salle d'Apollon of the Louvre, and testify to the exquisite
artistic taste as well as to the religious enthusiasm of the good abbot.
"_As it is our duty to present unto God oblations of gems and of gold,
I, Suger, offer this vase unto the Lord_," is the inscription upon an
antique sardonyx amphora which he converted into a vessel for the altar.
The dedication of this church took place twice, in 1140 and 1144, but
it was only to remain intact some 70 years. In 1219, the day after the
feast of the nativity of the Virgin, its _flèche_ was struck by
lightning, and a few years after, the church itself was partially
destroyed. Abbot Eudes Clément replaced the wooden _flèche_ by a stone
one, and raised the interior of the apse; and his third successor,
Matthieu de Vendôme, finished the transept and the nave. The chapels of
the nave upon the north side were built in the 14th century, and a few
unimportant additions were made in the succeeding century. Of the
magnificent circular chapel of the Valois erected for Henri II. and
Catherine de'Medici, nothing remains but a beautiful colonnade, now
forming a sham ruin in the Parc Monceau. The chapel was situated upon
the north of the apse, near the steps, and was destroyed during the
regency of Philippe d'Orléans, in 1719.
It is generally supposed that the destruction of churches and the
despoiling of monasteries in France were the work of the enemies of
religion in the form of the "people." But the kings did not hesitate to
rob the church when they could drain no more money out of their
long-suffering subjects. To Francis I.[12] and Louis XIV. the eighth
commandment was no more binding than the seventh; laws, divine or
otherwise, were made for the vulgar herd, not for their most Christian
Majesties; and so, when the "Grand Monarque" saw fit to please Mme. de
Maintenon by founding St. Cyr, he suppressed the abbacy of S. Denis, and
relieved the monastery of the abbot's revenues for an endowment. This
was the beginning of the downfall, and in 1791, the Benedictines were
dispersed after an occupation of twelve centuries. In the memoirs of the
organist attached to the abbey at the time, there is a touching account
of the last mass celebrated by the prior upon the day of departure. But
the church remained intact, and was even made the _dépôt_ of the relics
of the Sainte-Chapelle,[13] after the suppression of the chaplains
belonging to the latter. The _Moniteur_ of 3rd September, 1791, gives an
account of the sittings of the commission of _savants_, established at
the Bibliothèque des Quatre-Nations, for the consideration of the
preservation of works of art. This commission was appointed by the
National Assembly after the passing of the law for the appropriation of
the property of the clergy by _la chose publique_. M. De Larochefoucauld
was the president of this "Commission des Monuments," assisted by many
artists and _connoisseurs_. They first of all chose certain places as
receptacles for the works of art, and then decided what to keep and what
to destroy. The former quarters of the Petits-Augustins became the
museum of tombs and sepulchral sculptures; and to the Capucins, the
Grands-Jésuites, and the Cordeliers were sent the books and manuscripts.
A descriptive catalogue was drawn up by Alexandre Lenoir,[14] who was
appointed curator in 1790. Unfortunately, much was destroyed, as, for
instance, at the abbey of Royaumont, where two Benedictines, Poirier and
Puthod, were sent by the commission to superintend matters. The
mausoleum of the princes of S. Louis' family was "_démoli avec
adresse_," says the _Moniteur_; the coffins were opened "_avec
circonspection_," the ashes taken up with care, and then, ticketed and
sealed, sent to S. Denis. Les sieurs Puthod and Poirier carried off the
remains of seven princes and six monuments, which arrived just in time
to be packed off to the museum of the Petits-Augustins.
Many of the seventy-three abbots, from Dodon, the first (living in 637),
to the last, Jean-François-Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz, were
distinguished for their piety, for their learning, their greed, or their
vices. Amongst them we find the names of Fulrad, Hilduin, Suger, Mathieu
de Vendôme, the Emperor Charles the Bald, the Kings Eudes, Robert and
Hugues Capet,[15] the Cardinals de Bourbon, de Lorraine, de Guise, and
Mazarin. The conventual buildings were all destroyed in the reign of
Louis XV., and during the Revolution the church suffered in the same way
as Notre-Dame and S. Eustache, by being secularized in the most
revolting manner. But if the Revolutionists destroyed and carried away
monuments, the Imperial architects did worse, for they began a
restoration in their own hideous taste and "style"; and it was not until
a few years ago that the old church was restored to its pristine beauty.
Perhaps few churches have seen more changes than the silent walls of S.
Denis have witnessed. The burial place of most of the kings of France,
it was also upon its High Altar that Louis le Gros deposited the
_oriflamme_, the famous standard of France,[16] while some seven
centuries later, its tombs were only preserved from utter ruin by the
wit of Alexandre Lenoir. Even the church itself was threatened with
destruction, and was only saved by an architect seriously suggesting
that it should be turned into a market, the side chapels forming shops.
By turns a Temple of Reason, a _dépôt_ of artillery, a theatre of
acrobats, a flour warehouse, and a granary, its desecration was not
consummated until the glass was removed, and the leaden covering of its
roof converted into bullets. Napoleon saved what remained, and began
restoring it as a resting-place for the defunct members of his dynasty.
The Concordat guaranteed it a chapter, and religious services were
restored.[17] But the 19th century proved as disastrous as wars and
revolutions. Lightning once more brought down the _flèche_ in 1837, and
again in 1846; and scrapings and cleanings carried away all the old
surfaces of the walls. Still, through the talent and learning of
Viollet-le-Duc, it is one of the finest of 13th century churches, and
now that the tombs have all been replaced in their former positions, one
of the most interesting.
[Illustration: THE NORTH-WEST DOORWAY.]
The _façade_ has three doorways, which are rich in the somewhat rude
sculpture of the time of Suger. The subject of the central tympanum and
_voussure_ is The Last Judgment. Christ is pronouncing the last
sentence, surrounded by the dead who are rising from their graves. His
Blessed Mother is interceding for sinners, and Abraham is receiving the
elect into his bosom. The Apostles, and the four-and-twenty elders,
holding musical instruments, and vases for the reception of the prayers
of the just as a sweet-smelling incense, are there, looking on at the
damned tossed into hell. Upon the stylobate of the portal we read the
parable of the Wise and foolish Virgins.
The southern doorway is decorated with the Martyrdom of S. Denis, and
the appearance of our Blessed Lord to the holy martyrs while in prison.
Unfortunately, much of these bas-reliefs is modern.
Some statues on one of the transept doorways are curious examples of how
a fraud may be perpetuated. They represent, without doubt, some members
of the royal house of David, but at some period they were said to be
kings of the Capétien line, and as such, casts were taken and sent to
Versailles, where they figured as portrait statues of Hugues Capet,
Robert, Henri, Philippe, Louis VI., and Louis VII. The capitals of the
columns and the foliage ornament of these portals are vastly superior in
style to the figures.
On each side of the western rose-window are some bands of black and
white marble, after the manner of the churches of Pisa and Genoa,
_souvenirs_, probably, of Suger's travels in Italy. Indeed, he tells us
in the account of his administration that he took much trouble in
preserving a mosaic which he had brought home and placed in the tympanum
of one of the doors. This was unfortunately replaced, in 1774, by a
bas-relief of the meanest possible workmanship.
The interior consists of a nave and two aisles, with a _chevet_ of seven
chapels at the east end, considerably raised above the level of the
nave. Access to these chapels is gained by a flight of steps on each
side of the High Altar, and under them is the royal crypt. The whole of
the east end of the church, the double aisles, with their single-shaft
pillars, the chapels, the vaulting, and the glass, form a mass of
colour, and a most beautiful _coup d'oeil_;[18] indeed, there is but
one eyesore in the whole building, the aforesaid series of windows
representing Louis Philippe's heroic deeds. Blue swallow-tailed coats
and white trousers scarcely form a costume which is either effective or
appropriate as designs for church windows.
The wood carving of the stalls is of the 15th century, and was brought
from the abbey of S. Lucien-lez-Beauvais; the inlaid marquetry work at
the backs of the seats is from the Château de Gaillon, built by Cardinal
d'Amboise. Many of the _misérérés_ have the usual quaint conceits which
one sees everywhere. Portions of the old glass were preserved by Lenoir
in the museum of the Petits-Augustins during the stormy period, and were
afterwards replaced in the windows of the apse. They consist mainly of
fragments of a tree of Jesse, and may be found in the chapel of the
Virgin. There are in all eleven lozenge-shaped medallions representing
scenes in the life of Moses, and mystical subjects from the Apocalypse,
bearing inscriptions by Suger. Upon the medallion of the Annunciation,
the good abbot himself is portrayed prostrate before the Blessed Virgin.
In one or two of the other chapels there are a few fragments of the
legend of S. Laurence.
[Illustration: THE LADY CHAPEL.]
Of the early kings of France Dagobert was the first to be buried at S.
Denis, and his memorial tomb (much restored) still stands on the right
of the High Altar. Clovis and Clotilde were buried in the crypt of the
first church erected upon the site of S. Geneviève, then called the
Church of the Holy Apostles. Childebert was laid in the church of the
Abbey of S. Vincent (founded by him), afterwards called S.
Germain-des-Près. Chlodoald was buried at S. Cloud; S. Radegonde, wife
of Clotaire I., at Poitiers; Chilpéric and Frédégonde laid the body of
one of their children in the first church of S. Denis. Besides Dagobert
I., his queen, Nanthilde, and their sons, Sigebert II. and Clovis II.
were buried at S. Denis; and although it is thought that other
Merovingian princes also received burial there, many repose at Chelles,
S. Waast d'Arras, S. Bertin, S. Etienne de Choisy, Metz, Angoulême, S.
Romain de Blaye, Jumièges, and S. Crépin de Soissons. The monuments of
Charles-Martel, Pépin and Berthe, Carloman, Charles the Bald,
Ermentrude, Louis, Carloman, and Eudes were all at S. Denis. Charlemagne
was buried at Aix-la-Chapelle, where the magnificent _châsses_
containing his skull and some of his bones may still be seen. His
descendants were distributed all over Europe: at Köln, Mainz, Prüm,
Regensburg, Loresheim, Oettinghen, Reichenau, Audlau, Verona, Milan, and
Piacenza; those in France, at Metz, Sens, Bourges, S. Laurent, S.
Sulpice, Tours, Angers, Lyon, Portiers, Compiègne, Reims, Péronne, and
Soissons.
[Illustration: URN SCULPTURED FOR THE HEART OF FRANÇOIS I^{er.}]
From Hugues Capet to Louis XV. most of the kings were interred at S.
Denis; but it must be borne in mind that almost all the tombs of the
earlier sovereigns are modern, either wholly or in part. In the 13th
century the strange custom came into fashion of dividing the bodies of
royal personages, and burying the parts in different places. The
Benedictine monks of S. Denis protested against this division of
valuable property, asserting their right to possess the entire remains
of the kings; but the Dominicans and the Cordeliers contested these
claims, and subsequently gained permission for their own churches to
share in the spoil. Later on, other religious orders obtained the same
privileges; and the ladies of Val-de-Grâce were distinguished by the
possession of the hearts of nearly all the royal princes and princesses
from Anne d'Autriche, the founder of the monastery. Naturally, when each
defunct sovereign was divided into three portions--the body, the heart,
and the intestines--great opportunities were afforded to architects and
sculptors; and we thus find three marble monuments with recumbent
figures erected for the remains of Charles V., that at S. Denis
containing his body, while Rouen and Maubuisson respectively possessed
his heart and his _et ceteras_.[19] Francis I.'s heart was placed in an
exquisite urn in the church of the nuns of Haute-Bruyère; while his body
was buried in the grand monument at S. Denis. The urn was the work of
Pierre Bontems, and is now in the same chapel as the tomb, which was the
joint work of Philibert Delorme and Bontems. The beautiful group of the
_Three Graces_, by Germain Pilon, formerly in the church of the
Célestins, and now in the Renaissance Museum of the Louvre, supported an
urn containing the heart of Henri II.;[20] the hearts of the 13th and
14th Louis, enveloped in shrines in the form of silver Angels, being the
property of the church of the Jesuits. The number of monuments erected
at S. Denis to the memory of the families of the sovereigns was small;
and none of them were to be compared, as works of art, to the beautiful
tombs of the Dukes of Bourgogne and of Brétagne at Dijon, at Bruges, and
at Nantes. Most of the princes of the different families, the Condés,
the Contis, the Valois, the Bourbons, &c., had founded chapels or
monasteries where they were afterwards buried; as, for instance, the
Orléans chapel at the Célestins, which was celebrated for its
magnificence.[21]
[Illustration: THE CHOIR AND SANCTUARY.]
None of the monuments of the early kings are anterior to the 13th
century; consequently, even the original portions of the effigies which
remain cannot be looked upon as in the slightest degree portrait
statues. On the other hand, the magnificent tombs in bronze, and the
brasses which adorned them, erected to the memory of Philippe Auguste,
S. Louis, and his father, and which were destroyed centuries ago, were
most probably as valuable as contemporary portraits as they were for
their workmanship; likewise the 13th century effigies which remain are
remarkable for the beauty of their workmanship. Louis IV. was the last
prince who was laid under a simple stone monument. The last tomb erected
was that of Henri II., the sovereigns who followed him having had no
memorials. They were laid together in one great crypt, and when
disturbed by the Revolutionists for the sake of the lead of their
coffins ("of the coffins of our old tyrants let us make bullets to hurl
at our enemies"), there were fifty-four bodies arranged upon iron
trestles side by side, Henri IV.[22] heading the list, and the Dauphin,
elder son of Louis XVI., ending it. The monuments now occupy the same
position that they did before the Revolution; and if we stand upon the
raised platform of the apse behind the High Altar we can gaze down upon
what may be called the history of France, from the artistic point of
view, during four or five centuries. On the left, the 13th century tomb
of Dagobert stands erect; beyond it, the Renaissance mausoleum of
Francis I., one of the _chefs-d'oeuvres_ of that grand sculptor,
Philibert Delorme. On the right, the enamelled brasses of the children
of S. Louis and the tomb of Henri II. A mosaic effigy of Frédégonde, the
Orléans monument, and the tomb of Louis XII. by the brothers Juste, of
Tours, complete the list of important works, while all about are
recumbent figures upon arcaded monuments. The resting-places of the
abbots were simply marked by inscriptions or flat slabs. The historian
of the Abbey, Dom Michel Félibien, records the number of thirteen stones
of grand priors with effigies, besides the abbots' tombs.
Among the distinguished men buried at S. Denis were the following:--
Pierre Chambellan, of whom Joinville writes, "Messire Pierre Chambellan
fut le plus loial homme et le plus droicturier que je veisse oncques en
la maision du roi ... l'homme du monde en qui le roy croirit plus"; and
Alphonse, son of Jean de Brienne, King of Jerusalem and uncle of S.
Louis, whose epitaph designates him as "moult saige et moult loial
chevaliers." Both of them died "au service de Dieu et de Monsieur Loys,
roy de France, dessous Cartaige l'an de l'incarnation de Nostre-Seigneur
MCCLXX," and were "enterrés en l'église Monsieur Saint Denis" in the
year MCCLXXI, "le vendredi devant la Penthecoste le jour et l'heure
quand Monsieur le roy Loys fut enterré"; indeed, the old chronicler
says, "aus pieds du bon roys tout en la manière qu'il gisoit à ses pieds
quand il estoit en vie." Pierre accompanied S. Louis in the disastrous
crusade which terminated his reign. No doubt his tomb was of metal,
destroyed with many others long before the Revolution, as for example,
that of the Comte d'Eu, in gilt copper, enriched with enamels, which
succumbed to the greed of the Huguenots.
Close to the tomb of Charles V. were those of Duguesclin, Louis de
Sancerre, Bureau de la Rivière, Arnaud de Guilhem seigneur de Barbazan,
who, before Bayard, was called _le chevalier sans reproche_, and who,
with six others, was victorious over seven English knights in 1404. Near
Duguesclin Charles V. had marked the spot for the burial place of Jean
Pastourel, one of his principal councillors, whose wife was laid at S.
Denis in 1380, but having, sick of the world, retired to the Abbey of S.
Victor towards the end of his life, he desired to be buried there rather
than amidst the splendours of the royal tombs. He was the only civilian
who was offered this much-coveted privilege.
Guillaume de Chastel was another non-royal personage whom it pleased his
master, Charles VII., _pour sa grande vaillance et les services qui lui
avoit faiz en maintes manières_, to bury at S. Denis. The warrior held
the town of Pontoise against the English, and died during the siege,
20th July, 1441. Another _vaillant capitaine de gendarmes_, the
chevalier Louis de Pontoise, fell by the side of Louis XI. at the
assault of the town of Crotoy, and was rewarded by being laid to rest
amongst the Royalties.
Louis XIV. of course accorded burial at S. Denis to his great
commanders. First, the Duc de Châtillon, for his magnificent services.
_Feu nostre très-cher cousin_ was killed at the taking, in 1649, of
Charenton, that peaceful suburb of Paris just outside the Bois de
Vincennes; and the King, wishing to _tesmoigner le ressentiment que nous
avons d'une si grande perte_, honoured the valiant _Duc_ with burial at
S. Denis. The service was to be at the King's expense, which looks as if
the honour were sometimes a costly one to the relatives; and no pomp or
ceremony was to be omitted--such were the instructions of his most
glorious majesty.
The Marquis de Saint Maigrin seems, according to the King's epistle, to
have been of a _valeur extraordinaire, dans toutes les occasions où il
s'est trouvé_; his majesty felt _avec beaucoup de douleur la perte que
nous en avons faite au dernier combat qui s'est fait dans les fauxbourgs
de nostre bonne ville de Paris_; and so he, too, was to rest with the
great ones, socially, of the earth.
Louis seems to have been a sort of complete letter writer; the note in
which he eulogises Turenne might serve as a model for those masters of
style amongst us who delight in long sentences and a scarcity of
full-stops; but, unlike the moderns, "la grande monarque" never gets
involved, he only causes a slight shortness of breath to his readers.
Witness the following page: "Chers et bien amez, les grands et signalez
services qui ont esté rendus à cet Estat par feu nostre cousin, le
vicomte de Turenne, et les preuves éclatantes qu'il a données de son
zèle, de son affection à nostre service, et de sa capacité dans le
commandement de nos armées que nous luy avons confiées avec une
espérance certaine des heureux et grands succès que sa prudence
consommée et sa valeur extraordinaire ont procuré à nos armes, nous
ayant fait ressentir avec beaucoup de douleur la perte d'un aussi grand
homme et d'un sujet aussi nécessaire et aussi distingué par sa vertu et
par sa mérite, nous avons voulu donner un tesmoignage public digne de
nostre estime et de ses grandes actions, en ordonnant qu'il fust rendu à
sa mémoire tous les honneurs qui peuvent marquer à la postérité
l'extrême satisfaction qui nous reste, et le souvenir que nous voulons
conserver de tout ce qu'il a faict pour la gloire de nos armes et pour
le soutien de nostre Estat; et comme nous ne pouvons en donner des
marques plus publiques et plus certaines qu'en prenant soin de sa
sépulture, nous avons voulu y pourvoir en telle sorte que le lieu où
elle séroit, fust un tesmoignage de la grandeur de ses services et de
nostre reconnoissance; c'est pourquoy, ayant résolu de faire bastir dans
l'église de Saint-Denys une chapelle pour la sépulture des rois et des
princes de la branche royale de Bourbon, nous voulons que, lorsqu'elle
sera achevée, le corps de nostredit cousin y soit transféré, pour y
estre mis en lieu honorable, suivant l'ordre que nous en donnerons; et
cependant nous avons permis à nos cousins le cardinal et le duc de
Bouillon, ses neveux, de mettre son corps en dépost dans la chapelle de
Saint-Eustache de ladite église de Saint-Denys, et d'y eslever un
monument à la mémoire de leur oncle, suivant les desseins qui en ont
esté arrestez; c'est de quoy nous avons bien voulu vous donner avis, et
vous dire en mesme temps que nous voulons que vous exécutiez ce qui est
en cela de nostre volonté, en faisant mettre ledit corps dans la cave de
ladite chapelle et en laissant la liberté aux ouvriers de travailler
audit monument jusqu'à son entière perfection. Si n'y faictes fautes;
car tel est nostre plaisir. Donné à Saint-Germain en Laye, le XXIIe
jour de Novembre 1675. _Signé_, Louis. Et plus bas, Colbert. Et sur le
reply: A nos chers et amez les abbé, prieur et religieux de l'abbaye
royale de Saint-Denys, en France."
The projected Bourbon chapel was never built, and the Revolution found
the monument of Turenne in the same chapel, that of S. Eustache, whence
it was trundled out as late as April, 1796, and transported to the
Petits-Augustins; for up to that time Turenne, not being a royal person,
had been left in peace. The demolition of the tombs seems to have gone
on fitfully from 1793 to 1795, as a little diversion between more
exciting events. After the emigration of the nobility in 1790; the
flight of the King to Varennes, and his false swearing to uphold the
constitution in 1792; and his treachery in carrying on a correspondence
with the enemies at the frontier; the popular anger waxed strong, and
led to the storming of the Tuileries on the 10th August,[23] which event
was to be celebrated the next year by the demolition of the tombs of S.
Denis. Louis XVI. had paid the penalty of his crimes; and like his
forerunner, Charles I., had shown that if he did not know how to live,
he at least had learnt how to die; but his ancestors had got off
scot-free. Why should they be allowed to rest peacefully, what remained
of them? Besides, lead was wanted for ammunition; and, just as the
church bells were in requisition for guns, and gold and silver vessels
for coinage, so the leaden coffins and roofs of churches could be melted
up into cannon balls. Imagine the stampede of Parisians along that paved
road that led from Paris to S. Denis. Only the other day, when the trams
were instituted, were those great rough stones taken up. At Versailles
you may still see the like, the paved part of the road very much
curved, with mud paths on each side--side walks for the people, while
the centre pavement was reserved for the quality. They radiate from the
palace, and enabled the "Roi Soleil" to visit his satellites at
Bellevue, the Trianon, Meudon, and S. Germain, without danger of his
lumbering coach sticking in the mire, to which he and his belonged. Many
must have been the journeys from the capital to S. Denis, which the
decree of the Convention sanctioned--journeys accompanied by crowbars
and pickaxes for the better destruction of the tombs. It was a ghastly
idea, but in no wise an exaggerated revenge for the kingly brutalities
perpetrated upon the living bodies of Ravaillac, Damiens, and such like
_canaille_.[24] We have a full account of the whole affair from the pen
of an eye-witness, one Dom Poirier, the custodian of the archives of the
monastery, who was present when the commission carried out the decree of
the Convention of the 31st July, 1793. The report of this commission is
so curious that I will quote it in full. After assigning to the children
of _Louis le conspirateur_[25] the portion of simple citizens, Barrère
continued as to the proposed arrangements to be carried out at "la
Franciade": "Enfin, le comité a pensé que, pour célébrer la journée du
10 août, qui a abattu le trône, il fallait, dans son anniversaire,
détruire les mausolées fastueux qui sont à Saint-Denis. Dans la
monarchie, les tombeaux même avaient appris à flatter les rois.
L'orgueil et le faste royal ne pouvaient s'adoucir sur ce théâtre de la
mort; et les porte-sceptre qui ont fait tant de maux à la France et à
l'humanité semblent encore, même dans la tombe, s'enorgueillir d'une
grandeur évanouie. La main puissante de la république doit effacer
impitoyablement ces épitaphes superbes et démolir ces mausolées qui
rappeleraient des rois l'effrayant souvenir." Thereupon a discussion
ensued. One member suggested that the nation being in peril, and wanting
guns to carry on its defence, a commission should proceed to Franciade,
otherwise S. Denis, in order to commence "l'exhumation des ci-devant
rois et reines, princes et princesses, dont les corps étaient renfermés
dans les caveaux de cette église." Their coffins were to be broken, the
lead and the bronze to be melted up, and sent to the arsenals for
conversion into arms and munitions of war. The former Benedictine Dom
Poirier was nominated commissioner for the Institut, and ordered to be
present at the performance. Some days after, the _Moniteur_ triumphantly
records the commencement of the business. Then there must have been a
lull, for on the 7th September the Conventionnel Lequinio cried from the
Tribune: "Je dénonce l'inexécution du décret qui ordonne l'entière
démolition des tombeaux de nos anciens tyrans à Saint-Denis. Sans doute,
en détruisant ces restes du despotisme, il faut conserver les monuments
des arts; mais il faut qu'au lieu d'être des objets d'idolâtrie, il ne
servent plus qu'à nourrir l'admiration des amis des arts, l'émulation et
le génie des artistes."
The notes taken by Dom Poirier are full of interesting details, told
with a certain _naïveté_; as, for instance, "in the morning, after
dinner, they descended into the tomb." Or "early in the morning they
began the work, but left off while they went to _déjeûner_." It must be
remembered, also (to quote M. Guilhermy), that the destruction "des
tombeaux et l'extraction des corps ont été deux opérations distinctes.
Au mois d'août, 1793, pour célébrer l'anniversaire _de la victoire du
peuple_ (10 août), on fit disparaître de l'église la plupart des
tombeaux et des statues; mais le temps pressait, on ne profana que les
restes déposés dans les massifs des monuments. Au mois d'octobre, on
acheva l'oeuvre commencée, en fouillant toutes les fosses et tous les
caveaux qu'il fut possible de retrouver. On n'épargna ni le temps ni les
recherches."
The work went on merrily. Marble tombs were smashed up as effectually as
the bodies, which were thrown into a pit dug upon the site of the
demolished Orléans chapel. Quick-lime helped the business as far as the
kings were concerned, but to the assistants it was of no use; and so
they had recourse to the burning of strong smelling powders, and the
firing of guns, in order to purify the air. Here is one of Dom Poirier's
notes:--
"_Nota._--Rièn n'a été remarquable dans l'extraction des cercueils
faite dans la journée du mardi 15 Octbre, 1793: la plupart de
ces corps étaient en putréfaction; il en sortait une vapeur noire
et épaisse, d'une odeur infecte, qu'on chassait à force de vinaigre
et de poudre qu'on eut la précaution de brûler; ce qui n'empêcha
pas les ouvriers de gagner des dévoiements et des fièvres, _qui
n'ont pas eu de mauvaises suites_."
What say the modern sanitary authorities to that!
The body of Henri IV. was found in a perfect state of preservation;
and he was kept some time in the church lying-in-state, as it were,
while a cast was taken of his face; but it may be noted that Dom
Poirier makes no allusion to the story of a soldier cutting off his
beard and sticking it on his own face.
The names of the princes and princesses were engraved upon little brass
plates attached to the covers of the coffins; and a few years ago three
or four of these brasses were found in the shop of a coppersmith, that
of Louis XIV. having served as the bottom of a stewpan. How are the
mighty fallen!
Let me quote some more of Dom Poirier's jottings:--
_Remarques._--In Charles V.'s coffin they found a crown in silver,
gilt, in a good state of preservation, a hand of justice of silver,
a sceptre 5 feet in length surmounted with acanthus leaves in
silver, exquisitely gilt, the gold possessing all its freshness and
brilliancy. "Ce sceptre était surmonté d'un bouquet en feuillage,
an milieu duquel s'élevait une grappe de corymbe, ce qui lui donne
à peu prés la forme d'un thyrse, tel qu'on en voit dans Monfaucon,
article de _sceptres_; morceau d'orfévrerie assez bien travaillé
pour son époque." (Alexandre Lenoir, _Musée des Monuments
français_.)
"Remarque. Une singularité de l'embaumement du corps de Charles
VII., c'est qu'on y avait parsemé du vif-argent, qui avait conservé
toute sa fluidité. On a observé la même singularité dans quelques
autres embaumements de corps du XIVe et du XVe siècles."
The following may interest some persons:--
"Le mercredi, 16 Octobre, 1793.
"Towards 7 o'clock in the morning the work was continued in the
vault of the Bourbons. They began with the coffin of Henriette
Marie, daughter of Henri IV. and wife of the unfortunate Charles
I., King of England, d. in 1669, aged 60;[26] and continued with
Anne Stuart, her daughter, the wife of _Monsieur_, only brother of
Louis XIV. d. in 1670, aged 26."
The body of Louis VIII., the father of S. Louis, had almost disappeared.
A cross was sculptured upon the lid of the stone coffin; in it was
found a sceptre of rotten wood, and a skull-cap of satin surrounded by a
band of gold woven stuff, forming a diadem. The body had been enveloped
in a winding sheet of gold tissue, some pieces of which were in a good
state of preservation.
_Remarques._--His body thus enveloped had been sewn up in a strong
leather covering.[27] "Il est vraisemblable qu'on ne l'a fait pour lui
que pour que son cadavre n'exhalât pas au dehors de mauvaise odeur, dans
le transport qu'on en fit de Montpensier en Auvergne, où il mourut à son
retour de la guerre contre les Albigeois."
"Ce cuir avait conservé toute son élasticité.... Dans les fouilles de
Saint-Germain-des-Près, on trouva un corps également enveloppé dans un
cuir. (Alexandre Lenoir, _Musée des Monuments Français_.) Nous pourrions
citer quelques autres exemples. Les corps de plusieurs princes de la
maison des Plantagenets, au douzième siècle, furent apportés à Rouen,
cousus dans une enveloppe de cuir; c'étaient ceux de Henry I., de
Henry-le-Jeune, de Richard-Coeur-de-Lion. Hugues de Grantemaisnil,
mort à Londres en 1098, ayant demandé à être inhumé à l'abbaye de
Saint-Évrould, en Normandie, son corps y fut transféré salé, et cousu
dans une peau de boeuf. Enfin on sait que saint Bernard fut enseveli
dans un sac de cuir" (v. B. de Peterborough; Orderic Vital; _Histoire de
Saint Bernard_, &c.) (Guilhermy).
There are notes upon the height of François I., by Alexandre Lenoir:--
"Le corps de François I^{er.} portait une taille extraordinaire et
une structure très-forte; l'un des fémurs de ce prince que j'ai
mesuré portait 53c (20 pouces) des condiles à la tête de l'os."
And upon the beauty of another gentleman's locks: "Le connétable
Louis de Sancerre avait de forts beaux cheveux; lors de
l'exhumation des corps à St Denis, il fut trouvé ayant encore trois
longues tresses d'environ 40 centimètres" (Alex. Lenoir).
The _procès-verbal_ makes no mention of the heart of Cardinal de
Bourbon, nor of the graves of Châtillon and the Marquis de
Saint-Maigrin, nor of the abbots, and grand priors; their remains
probably still rest in the soil under the church, for vaults have
several times been discovered in all parts during the restorations of
the building. It will be seen that the amount of valuables found was not
great: Five silver-gilt and five copper-gilt crowns, two silver-gilt
sceptres, four of copper-gilt, and three of wood; one silver hand of
justice, one silver-gilt, and one broken; (the _bâton d'ebêne_ was
possibly the stem of a hand of justice belonging to Charles le Bel); the
upper part of a crozier; four rings, two silver and two gold; the silver
seal of Constance of Castille bearing the effigy of the princess and an
inscription (now in the Bibliothèque); remains of spindles and distaffs;
four chains of bracelets; two clasps and a silver buckle; a good many
fragments of stuffs, tissues, and embroideries; a winding-sheet of gold
tissue, a silver one; a chasuble; a satin belt; shoes; a Carmelite
habit, and some gold thread. What became of these things, many of them
of no value but for a museum, is not known.
Such was the result of this disgusting entertainment, which was
principally a search for valuables to keep up the struggle for life.
Empty coffers, starving multitudes, an enemy crying at the frontier;
such was the legacy left by the wanton waste of a profligate court, and
a debased race of kings. The terrible revenge which followed did them
little harm; could they have been made to suffer in their life-time, it
would have been better than mauling about their dead bodies and
rummaging in their tombs; but unfortunately the last of the race was the
least guilty, although he had much heartlessness and treachery to answer
for; and had he felt the storm which had been threatening for some time,
the hurricane might have passed over. But selfishness is always blind;
and so the flood carried the poor thing away; and the skeletons, the
lead, the gold and the silver, were all swept into their respective
lime-strewn pits and melting pots. Here is the epilogue. In 1815 the
"Sous-préfet et le maire de Saint-Denis firent élever un tertre couvert
de gazon, de lis et de cyprès sur les deux fosses dans lesquelles
avaient été jetés les restes des rois et des princes." (Gilbert,
_Description historique de l'église de Saint-Denis_.) "On se proposait
d'ériger en ce lieu un monument expiatoire; mais il parut plus
convenable de réintègrer dans l'église les ossements que les deux fosses
contenaient encore." (Guilhermy.)
The metal of the monuments, with the exception of two enamelled brass
slabs which came from Royaumont, was all melted up. In the _Moniteur_ of
14th August, 1792, may be read a list of the tombs destroyed, furnished
by the town of S. Denis. The monument of Charles le Chauve must have
been magnificent. The effigy of the emperor reposed on a slab supported
by four lions. Two Angels censed the defunct; and four bishops sat at
the corners. We know the style of tomb from the description given by
Richer, a monk of Sénone, who wrote a chronicle during the reign of S.
Louis, and who saw it soon after it was set up. Charles had been a great
patron of the abbey and had given it the Holy Nail and a thorn from the
Holy Crown, besides part of the course of the Seine and the domain of
Ruel.
The tomb of "la noble royne de france Marguerite qui fu fame monseigneur
Sainct Loys, jadis roy de France" is engraved in Montfaucon's _Monuments
de la Monarchie française_. The tomb of Arnaud de Guilhem, seigneur de
Barbazan, was canopied, the warrior being represented in full armour.
The whole was in bronze, with an inscription, at the end of which was
the name of the artist: _fait à paris par Jehan Morant_.
The monument of Charles VIII. was of gilt copper. The king's effigy,
praying, was upon the platform, with little Angels at the corners also
kneeling and holding shields. Charles VIII. died of apoplexy, at
Amboise, praying, "_Mon Dieu et la glorieuse Vierge, Monseigneur saint
Claude, et Monseigneur saint Blaise me soient en ayde_." He was a pious
king and had been holding "quelques discours spirituels avec la reyne et
autres assistans," when he was struck down, being only twenty-eight
years of age. His tomb was said to be the finest in the choir. He was
regretted by all his subjects "spécialement de ses domestiques," for he
was generous, magnanimous, and decorated with all kingly virtues. The
queen was much afflicted, and thought she would die of grief, "demeurant
deux jours et deux nuicts sans reposer ny prendre aucun aliment." Thus
Dom Millet. Philippe de Commynes says the chamberlains "le feirent
ensevelir fort richement, et sur l'heure luy commencea le service, qui
jamais ne failloit ne jour ne nuict." For a whole month the chamberlains
and others watched the corpse, the entire expense amounting to
"quarante-cinq mil francs." The tomb was the work of Paganini of Modena,
no doubt one of the "ouvriers excellens en plusieurs ouvraiges comme
tailleurs et painctres" whom the king brought from Naples,[28] together
with a large collection of works of art, for the carriage of which, and
for "la nourriture de XXII. hommes de mestier, de XXXIII. jours à la
raison de XL. sous par jour," the king had to pay his tapissier
ordinaire 1594 livres; the collection weighing 87,000 livres.
[Illustration: MONUMENT OF FRANÇOIS I^{er.}]
Many marble tombs were also destroyed, some canopied, some resting upon
columns, others recumbent, the fragments of which were built up into a
pedestal for a figure of Liberty in the Place d'armes opposite the
church, a barbarous proceeding, surely; but forget not that the slabs
and broken tombs in our old burial grounds are treated much in the same
fashion, and piled up into pyramids to ornament the gardens. The
transportation of what was saved from the wreck to Paris was no mean
work. Think of the huge monument of François I., and about eighty
statues! The Convention had no cash to spend upon art; with its fourteen
armies defending the frontiers, it had enough expense without paying for
the carriage of monuments and such like. And so Lenoir conceived the
idea of stopping the military as they returned with empty waggons.
Arrived in Paris the difficulties did not end. Statues were chopped
about to enable them to fill certain spaces in the museum of the
Petits-Augustins, recumbent figures found themselves standing upright;
fragments of one tomb were taken to decorate another. But taking it all
in all, the museum arranged by Lenoir must have been very imposing. The
magnificent tomb of François I. stood in a chapel of the church, now
occupied by casts of the works of Michael-Angelo. Louis XII. had a place
of honour in another _salle_. But no sooner was all arranged, indeed
before the huge Henri II. monument had been set up, a royal decree of
16th December, 1816, ordered the museum to be closed, the building to be
turned into the École des Beaux-Arts, and all the kings and queens to be
marched back to S. Denis and the other churches whence they came. So
swiftly was the order carried out, that the poor old sovereigns became
still more mutilated; some were stowed away in the cellars, others were
re-erected upon principles of the greatest economy. If the
revolutionists tore down the monuments, the restored monarchists did not
take the trouble to set them up again; and those who went to study art
in the new schools were enabled to see the respect with which Mediæval
art was treated. Statues, canopies, columns, were tossed about anywhere;
until Louis XVIII. decided that they should be reinstated at S. Denis.
Then strange things occurred. The effigies were matched
indiscriminately, and every king was placed by the side of a queen,
whether his own or another's. Hence "singuliers incestes de pierre, et
des adultères de marbre de la pire espèce. On n'imaginerait jamais ce
qui se commit d'immoralités archéologiques sous les voutes obscures de
Saint-Denis."[29] The monuments were all arranged, museum fashion, in
the crypt until our own day, when they were once again removed, and
replaced in their old positions in the church, to be left, let us hope,
at last in peace.
The following is a list of the monuments returned to S. Denis:
Monuments formerly at S. Denis 52
" from S. Germain-des-Près 6
" " Notre-Dame de Corbeil 2
" " S. Geneviève 1
" " S. Catherine-du-Val 2
" " des Cordeliers 3
" " des Jacobins 7
" " des Célestins 12
" " des Minimes 2
" " des Grands-Jésuites 1
" " l'abbaye de Royaumont 6
" " l'abbaye de Maubuisson 2
" " l'abbaye de Poissy 1
" " l'abbaye de Notre-Dame à Soissons 1
" " l'abbaye de Haute Bruyère 1
" " la collégiale de Saint-Cloud 2
" of origin unknown 13
" new or made up of fragments 53
----
167
[Illustration: TOMB OF LOUIS XII., AND COLUMN OF FRANÇOIS II.]
By far the most beautiful tomb is that of Louis XII. "Sur le lieu de la
sépulture de Louis XII. et de la reyne Anne, le roy François leur gendre
et successeur à la couronne, leur à fait dresser un très-somptueux
mausolée de fin marbre blanc, à deux estages, qui est une des belles
pièces de l'Europe, pour ne pas dire la plus belle."[30] Dom Jacques
Doublet and Germain Millet both attributed the work to Ponzio; but
Félibien, reading a passage in a Latin commentary printed by Jean Brèche
in 1550, discovered the true author: "Voyez le monument" (says Brèche)
"de marbre consacré à Louis XII., travaillé avec un artifice admirable
et plein d'élégance, dans notre très-illustre cité de Tours, par Jean
Juste, statuaire du plus grand talent." The discovery of an order for
payment of 400 _écus_ to Juste in a letter from the king to Cardinal
Duprat, sets the matter at rest if the date of Ponzio's arrival did not
also do so.[31] The tomb was taken to S. Denis in 1527; whereas Ponzio
did not arrive in France until about 1530. This way of attributing all
that is good in art to Italy was formerly very common. Even in our own
time all branches of French art were looked upon by our fathers as
frivolous and trivial. Italian Renaissance was trivial enough, but
French Renaissance utterly meretricious. To the insane worshippers of
the "Gothic style," it alone was pure. The sumptuous grandiosities of
Louis XIV. were tolerable, because they aimed at being Classic. The
portico of the Panthéon or the colonnade of the Louvre were considered
fine; but the elegancies of Jean Goujon were wanting in severity. Even
Watteau, though admitted to be graceful, was "meretricious"; Berlioz
amongst musicians was only "noisy and claptrap;" and sculpture and
architecture were criticised in like manner. And yet the designs upon
the tomb of Louis XII., especially the pilasters which support the
canopy, could not be surpassed in beauty by the artists of any country.
Jean Juste, Philibert Delorme, Jean Goujon, Michel Colomb, Jean Cousin,
and Germain Pilon formed a group of men scarcely surpassed by Sansovino,
Riccio, Desiderio da Settignano and the Rossellini. The Italians led the
way, but the French proved themselves very apt pupils.
It is not my intention to describe the tomb of Louis XII., or, indeed,
any of the others, minutely. Descriptions without illustrations are
mostly dry and dreary. Nor have I tried to illustrate the details of
ornament in the churches or their contents--in a book of this size it
would be impossible; my aim has rather been to give the general effect
of their styles; of their everyday appearance; of the life which goes on
in and around them; and of the position, especially in the case of S.
Denis, of their tombs and furniture. A large photograph and a magnifying
glass will show the beauty of the sculpture of the tombs far better than
any drawing of mine; for such subjects photography is unique. But for
artistic effect, for general impressions of buildings it mostly fails,
and all artists will agree with me that, for some reason or other,
photographs of buildings seem generally to have been taken from the
worst point of view, and are nearly always wanting in impressiveness.
[Illustration: TOMB OF HENRI II. AND CATHERINE DE MEDICI.]
Jean Juste had a brother Antoine, and they seem together to have been
the authors of the beautiful tomb of the children of Charles VIII. at
Tours; of the fountain called de Beaune, also at Tours; of the two
monuments of the _famille_ Gaudin; and the tomb of the _général des
finances_, Thomas Bohier. In 1530, one Juste de Just, _tailleur en
marbre_, living at Tours received 102 _livres_ 10 _sous_ from the king
for a Hercules and a Leda. This Juste was probably the same as Jean. The
bas-reliefs round the base of Louis XII.'s tomb represent various
campaigns of the king; the figures at the four corners are the Cardinal
Virtues, those within the arcades are the twelve Apostles. Within are
the king and queen, entirely nude, lying upon a mattress in the last
agony of death; while above, upon the platform, they are praying before
a cushioned faldstool, for their own departed souls. Such is the motive
of this and the other two tombs of the same character, those of Henri
II. and François I^{er.}
The former of these is the work of Germain Pilon, and was originally
placed under the dome of Philibert Delorme's magnificent chapel erected
for the Valois family. It is of marble with bronze figures. The king and
queen pray upon the housetop; at each end are openings through which are
to be seen the figures of the defunct in the sleep of death. The
terrible side of death, which is prominent in the expression on the
faces of Louis XII. and his queen, is here absent; and Catherine is
represented young and beautiful as she appeared at the death of her
husband, whom she survived thirty years. At the four corners are bronze
figures of the Cardinal Virtues; and the kneeling figures of the
sovereigns upon the canopy are also in bronze. The tomb has always been
justly esteemed as a magnificent work, and even Bernini admired it. "_Le
cavalier Bernin_," says Sauval, "_a admiré le tombeau de Valois, qui
voulait ne rien trouver de passable en France_." The Virtues ornament
this tomb also, and present a note-worthy point for Total Abstainers,
the figure of Temperance bears _two_ cups; can this be meant for wine as
well as water? or for two sorts of water, aërated and mineral?
When the tomb was reconstructed it was found that many of the marbles
had antique sculptures upon the back, showing that they had been taken
from works of Classic origin.
The monument of François I^{er.} and Claude de France is the largest of
these splendid tombs. It was erected about 1552 by Philibert Delorme
with the assistance of several sculptors. Pierre Bontems was the author
of the bas-reliefs upon the stylobate and some of the kneeling figures
upon the canopy; Germain Pilon sculptured the statues of children under
the canopy, allegorically representing Fortune, and Ambroise Perret, the
Four Evangelists; while the details of ornament were the work of Jacques
Chantrel, Bastien Galles, Pierre Bigoigne, and Jean de Bourges. The
recumbent figures have been attributed to Jean Goujon, from the
exceptional beauty of the workmanship, but without any positive proof.
The tomb is of white marble, with a little black and grey introduced for
some of the mouldings; the bas-reliefs represent the king's campaigns in
Italy. In the bas-reliefs of the Louis XII. monument many of the
costumes are more Roman than French; but those upon the tomb of François
I^{er.} are treated with more historical truth, and represent the
fashion of the day. The faces of the recumbent statues are beautifully
modelled; that of the queen bearing an expression of the sanctity with
which she was accredited.
[Illustration: COLUMN OF HENRI III.]
S. Denis is rich in columns erected as memorials, often bearing urns
upon the top containing some worthy heart. That of François II. was
formerly at the church of the Célestins. It is the work of Germain
Pilon, and was considered by Sauval and "_les habiles gens_" to be as
beautiful as the "Three Graces" or "Charités" which bore the urn
containing the heart of Henri II. The pedestal is triangular, of white
marble; so, too, are the three little Genii who guard the corners. One
weeps for the defunct; the other two seem to take the matter
philosophically. The shaft of the column is dotted over with flames,
said to be symbolic of the pillar of fire which marched before the
Hebrews; may they not rather mean the flames of purgatory?[32] The gilt
bronze urn which formerly surmounted it, and the winged child holding a
crown, were both consigned to the melting pot. This column was an act of
fraternal homage on the part of Charles IX.
The column of Henri III. was originally erected in the church of S.
Cloud by the secretary of Henri III., Charles Benoise. The shaft is of
red marble, twisted, with ivy twirling round it--the work of Barthélemy
Prieur.
The column of the Cardinal Louis de Bourbon formerly bore the effigy of
the great man, if honours and emoluments can make a man great. He was
naturally a peer; bishop of Laon, of Saintes, of Mans, of Luçon, and of
Tréguier; archbishop of Sens; abbot of S. Denis, of Corbie, of
Saint-Vincent-de-Laon, of Saint-Faron-de-Meaux, of Ainay, of
Saint-Amand, of Saint-Crépin-le-Grand, of Soissons, and of Saint-Serge.
And yet some people profess to be scandalised at the excesses of the
unprivileged classes!
The cardinal was, however, a great patron of art; at Sens and at Laon,
monuments testify to this and all his other magnificences. His body was
buried in the cathedral of Laon; the Benedictines of S. Denis only
having succeeded in obtaining his heart. The column, like many other
beautiful works of art, is by an unknown artist. It is of red marble
with a white alabaster base and capital, which is exquisitely sculptured
with little figures of children bathed in foliage.
The history of some of the recumbent statues of the kings is curious.
Having been made to lie down, they were, after the dispersal of the
Musée des Monuments Français, stuck up against the wall of the crypt;
and others were rebaptised and renamed. Thus, at the museum, Charles V.
and Jeanne de Bourbon became S. Louis and Marguerite de Provence; and so
named, when they were trotted back to S. Denis, they received the homage
of the faithful. To make matters worse, a copy of S. Louis' statue was
sent to Tunis for the church which was built in memory of the saint, and
the head became the authentic type for his portraits. The same may be
said of the false Marguerite; she wears a costume more than a hundred
years too late.
The elaborately enamelled brass slabs of the children of S. Louis, Jean
and Blanche, came from Royaument. The design is rude, but the colouring
good; the figures are in relief upon a ground incrusted in enamel; the
heads and hands, the lions at the feet, and the Angels swinging censers
are of polished brass; while the feet and the draperies are in coloured
enamel. To see these brasses, permission must be obtained from the
architect of the church, as they are upon one side of the High Altar, a
part which is not generally shown to ordinary visitors. The motto upon
the tomb of Jean is as follows:
HIC JACET: IOANNES: EXCELLENTISSIMI LVD
_ovici regis francorum filius qui in etate infancie migra_
VIT AD XPM ANNO GRACIE: MILLESI
MO: DVCENTESSIMO: QVADRAGESIMO: SEPTIMO: SEXTO: IDVS: MARTII
The body of Turenne did not have much peace after it was routed out of
its tomb. Not being royal, it was put aside in a chapel until the
Convention should decide its fate; when thinking so great a man a worthy
object as a specimen of natural history, and deeming it profitable for
students of various "ologies," it was put into a glass case by the side
of stuffed birds, bottled snakes, criminal curiosities, and
monstrosities. Then it was transferred to the Petits-Augustins, where it
found a niche to repose in; but when Consuls reigned supreme, it was
marched with great pomp, with drums and guns and all the paraphernalia
of a military funeral, to the church of the Invalides, where it was
placed in its old house or the remains of it rebuilt--the S. Denis tomb.
The epitaphs of some of the Kings remain, or have been restored:--
ICY GIST LE ROY CHARLES LE QUINT SAGES
ET ELOQUENT FILS DU ROY IEHAN QUI REGNA SEIZE ANS CINQ MOIS ET SEPT
JOURS ET TRESPASSA L'AN DE GRACE MCCCLXXX LE XVI^E JOUR DE
SEPTEMBRE.
ICI GIST LE ROY CHARLES SIXIESME TRES AME LARGE ET DEBONNAIRE FILS
DU ROY CHARLES LE QUINT QUI REGNA QUARANTE ET II ANS UNG MOIS ET
SIX JOURS ET TRESPASSA LE XXI^{E} JOUR DOCTOBRE LAN MIL CCCC VINGT
ET DEUX: PRIES DIEU QUEN PARADIX SOIT SON AME:
CY GIST LA ROYNE ISABEL DE BAUIERE ESPOUSE DU ROY CHARLES VI^{E} ET
FILLE DE TRES PUISSANT PNCE ESTIENNE DUC DE BAUIERE COTE PALATIN
DU RIN QUI REGNA AUEC SOND ESPOUS ET TRESPASSA LAN M: CCCC ET XXXV
LE DERNIER JOUR DE SEPTEMBRE: PRIES DIEU POUR ELLE:
CY GIST LE ROY CHARLES SEPTIESME TRES GLORIEUX VICTORIEUX ET BIEN
SERUY FILS DU ROY CHARLES SIXIESMES: QUI REGNA TRENTE NEUF ANS NEUF
MOIS ET I JOUR ET TRESPASSA LE JOUR DE LA MAGDELAINE XXVII^{E} JOUR
DE JUILLET LA M: CCCCLXI: PRIES POUR LUY:
ICY GIST LA ROYNE JEHANNE DE BOURBON ESPOUSE DU ROY CHARLES LE
QUINT ET FILLE DE TRES NOBLE PRINCE MONS^R PIERRE DUC DE BOURBON
QUI REGNA AU[=ECQ]S SONE ESPOUS XIII ANS ET DIX MOIS ET TSP[=A]SSA
PASSA LA M: CCCLXXVII LE DERN JOUR DE [=FE]UER
CY GIST LA ROYNE MARIE FILLE DU ROY DE SICILE DUC DANIOU ESPOUSE DU
ROY CHARLES VII^E QUI REGNA AUECQ[=S S]OND ESPX ET TRESPASSA LE
PENULTIESME JOUR DE NOUEMBRE LAN MIL: CCCCLXIII: PRIES DIEU POUR
ELLE.
After the restoration of the tombs a tablet was set up to the memory of
Jeanne-d'Arc, bearing the representation of some armour of the 16th
century, and the following epitaph:--
CE QUE ESTAIT LE HARNAIS DE JEHANNE PAR ELLE BAILLE EN HOMMAGE A
MONSEIGNEUR SAINCT DENIS.
Several portraits of the great Abbot Suger existed in Dom Millet's time:
"On voit encores aujourd'huy en la partie supérieure de l'église
Saint-Denis que nous nommons le chevet, une vieille tapisserie où le roy
Louis VII. est représenté avec les habits royaux, et la couronne en
teste, qui donne son sceptre et sa main de justice au susdit abbé Sugere
représenté en habit pontifical, et au-dessus y a une inscription
contenant ceste escriture: Lud. rex franc Suggerium abbatem et
reaedificatorem hujus templi, viceregem constituit, anno 1140. Mais le
tapissier, ou ceux qui ont fourny le mémoire se sont trompez; car ceste
commission ne fut donnée à Sugère que l'an 1147, auquel an le roy partit
de France, au mois d'aoust, pour un voyage de la Terre-Sainte."
"Il y a en ceste royale abbaye plusieurs figures de l'abbé Sugère, deux
desquelles sont en veue à toutes personnes. L'un est sur l'un des
battans de la grande porte de l'église,[33] l'autre en une vitre de la
Chapelle Notre-Dame, en la partie supérieure que nous nommons le
chevet[34]. Il est représenté en tous les deux endroits, non revestu
d'un rochet ou d'un camail, non avec la perruque ou le bonnet carré sur
la teste, mais au plus simple habit et en la plus humble posture, qu'on
puisse représenter un pauvre religieux, scavoir est avec un froc
plissé[35] (approchant fort de celuy dont nous usons maintenant) et la
tonsure monacale, couché à plate terre; en la vitre, devant une image de
la sacrée Vierge, avec ces mots: Suggerius abbas; sur la porte, devant
l'image de Notre-Sauveur, assis à table avec les pélerins d'Emmaüs. Il
n'a en l'une ny en l'autre figure aucune marque qui le puisse distinguer
d'avec le moindre novice de son monastère, sinon la crosse abbatiale
qu'il tient d'une main, pour marque de sa dignité, et pour monstrer que
c'est luy qui est là représenté."
"Or, comme il est très-certain que c'est luy-mesme qui a fait faire ces
figures, aussi est-il très-asseuré qu'il n'avoit garde de les faire
représenter en autre habit que celuy qu'il portoit publiquement et
continuellement, spécialement depuis la réformation; car autrement
c'eust par une hypocrisie trop grossière se sacrifier à la risée de tout
le monde." This description of the portrait is most interesting; we can
see the great abbot as Dom Millet paints him upon the glass which he
himself devised, if he did not absolutely design it.
[Illustration: TOMB OF DAGOBERT.]
The tomb of Dagobert is an enormous canopied structure, originally of
the 13th century, but so much restored that it is practically modern.
Dagobert died in 638, and was embalmed and buried in the church of his
foundation; but of the style of this first tomb we have no knowledge
whatever. Of the existing tomb, the principal part is the legendary
history of the king taken from the "_Gesta Dagoberti_," told in three
alto-reliefs. Below these, the king sleeps upon his left side in a
rather uncomfortable fashion; standing on one side is his wife Nantilde,
or Nantechilde; on the other, one of his sons, Clovis II. or Sigebert.
At the apex of the arch is Our Lord giving the benediction, with SS.
Martin and Denis on each side. These two saints, with S. Maurice, had
the kindness to hear the prayers of Dagobert, when he was held in
bondage by devils, during a voyage in a boat, on the waters of the great
gulf fixed between Abraham and Hades. The story was told by a hermit to
Ansoald, on his way back from Sicily, and by the 9th century had been
worked up into a fact, as it is mentioned in a letter from Louis le
Débonnaire to Hilduin, abbot of S. Denis. May it not have been
originally a dovetailing together of the story of Charon and _le bon roy
Dagobert_, a _mélange_ of Classic myth and Christian legend which was
very common in the early centuries of the Christian era? The sculptures,
although, as regards the drapery, sufficiently graceful, are very
curious and quaint, especially the boat and its contents. The three
saints coming to the rescue, Dagobert pressing the hand of the foremost,
the discomforted demons, and the soul of the king standing upon a napkin
held by S. Denis and S. Martin, are all vigorous to a degree, if
somewhat rude; but the Angels round the _voussure_ carrying censers, are
charming. In the account of the legend given by Guillaume de Nangis,
quoted by Alexandra Lenoir, we seem to have another reading of the
opening part of the story of Job. "Mais monseigneur saint Denis, qui
n'oblia mie son bon amy le roy Dagobert, requist à Nostre Seigneur
Jesus-Crist qui luy donast congié d'aler secourre la dicte ame; laquelle
chose comme Nostre Seigneur luy eust ottroié, sainct Denis s'en ala et
mena avecques luy Sainct Morise et aultres amys que le roy Dagobert
avoit moult honorés en sa vie, et avecques eulx orent des anges qui les
conduirent jusques en la mer, et quant ils vindrent là où les deables
tenoient et ammenoient à grant feste l'ame du roy Dagobert, si le
misrent entre eulx et se combattirent encontre les deables". It was all
done because of _Monseigneur S. Denis'_ love of "_le bon roy_," who had
founded the abbey in honour of the martyr; and if you doubt these facts,
and "ne me croyez, alez à Sainct-Denis en France, en l'église, et
regardez devant l'autel où l'en chante tous les jours la grant messe, là
où le roy Dagobert gist. La verrez vous audessus de luy ce que vous ay
dit, pourtrait et de noble euvre richement enluminée." From this, there
can be no doubt that the whole mass of sculpture was originally
coloured; indeed, a close inspection shows a little still visible in the
folds of the drapery. Lenoir, whose depreciation of Mediæval sculpture
as compared to that of the Renaissance was considerable, speaks of the
draped figures as _pour le style comme pour le goût, comparable aux
belles inventions de Raphaël_.
Upon the platform of the apse is the mosaic effigy of Frédégonde, not
earlier than the 12th century. It is composed of a stone slab of the
form of the early stone coffins. The design is marked out by thin bands
of metal between which are incrustations of very small pieces of
porphyry, serpentine, and white marble. This, like several of the early
tombs, was originally in the abbey of S. Germain-des-Près.
The central part of the crypt was formerly the depository for the
relics--a sort of sanctuary dedicated to S. Démètre. Another part of the
crypt became the burial place of the Bourbon family. All the princes
were buried in vaults underneath their tombs. "Tous le roys, reynes et
autres ensépulturez à Saint-Denys reposent dans les caveaux qui sont
sous leurs tombeaux, sans qu'il y en ait aucun ailleurs, ce que je dis
pour désabuser plusieurs personnes (mesmes des gens de qualité) qui
s'imaginent qu'il y ait une grande cave dans laquelle sont tous les
roys, en chair et en os, et demandent qu'on la leur monstre, dont je me
suis souventefois estonné, veu mesme que plusieurs qui vivent encores
ont peu voir mettre les cinq derniers roys décédéz non en ceste cave
imaginaire, mais dans le tombeau des Vallois, sçavoir, Henry II. et ces
trois fils, et Henry IV., dans le caveau commun des rois, où il est
encore. On en peut dire autant de François I^{er.} et de Louis XII., et
de tous les autres; car quant à la grotte qui est sous le chevet, il n'y
a, ny eut jamais, corps ny sépulture d'aucune personne.[36] The day of
the funeral the body was placed in the vault, "sur des barres de fer,
devant une statue en marbre de Nostre-Dame." There it remained for a
year, after which it was deposited in the tomb of the sovereign's
ancestors. This curious arrangement became a custom by pure accident.
Henri IV. not having signified any desire as to his place of burial, was
left in this vault, "_le caveau des cérémonies_," while his widow and
_les Etats_ discussed the question of erecting a monument; and thus, by
force of habit, the succeeding Bourbons being placed by the side of
Henri, the "caveau" became the mausoleum of the family. But the Bourbons
were a prolific race, and before very long the overcrowding became too
great to admit of any more inhabitants; so upon the burial of
Marie-Thérèse, the wife of Louis XIV., it was decided to tunnel a long
passage to connect it with the central part of the crypt. It was a
difficult and dangerous proceeding: "On perça," says Félibien,
"par-dessous le chevet, à l'endroit où estoit une ancienne chapelle de
Saint-Démètre, un petit corridor de la largeur de trois pieds sur sept
de haut. Les ouvriers voûtoient à mesure qu'ils avançoient; et dans le
poursuite de leur ouvrage, ils découvrirent quelques tombeaux dont on ne
reconnut que celui de l'abbé Antoine de La Haye, par une inscription
qu'on y trouva. Enfin, après avoir poussé environ sept toises et demie,
les ouvriers arrivèrent à l'ancien caveau; de sorte qu'il a été aisé d'y
joindre, par ce corridor de communication, un caveau spécieux qui occupe
aujourd'huy, dessous le chevet, l'ancienne crypte où estoient autrefois
les corps des saints martyrs. La place est de neuf toises de long sur
environ deux toises et demi dans sa plus grande largeur." The new vault
was consecrated the 31st August, 1683. This accounts for the apparent
want of an entrance to the centre of the crypt; as all visitors to the
church are aware, you look through little apertures to the place where a
few post-revolution burials have taken place. I commend all these
particulars, which exemplify the horrors of burial above ground, with
the rifling of tombs and coffins perpetrated by the officers of the
Convention, to the opposers of cremation. Had all these poor royalties
been converted into ashes, no such doings could have taken place. The
entrance to the Bourbon vaults still exists, close to the altar of S.
Maurice, to the right of the High Altar looking eastwards; but visitors
enter by some steps farther east, by the side of the ascent to the apse.
It is a miserably gloomy hole, with a few coffins upon trestles,
shedding their violet coverings. Can any sort of burial equal in horror
this of open vaults?
The statues of the early kings were erected by S. Louis. Ordered by him
as commemorative effigies of his ancestors, it does not seem to have
been within the wit of the 13th century sculptors to vary the
physiognomy of the early sovereigns. Thus there is a strong likeness
between Charles Martel[37] and Pépin, and Louis and Carloman. There is a
curious divergence in the opinions passed upon Louis III. The chronicle
of S. Denis calls him a "_homs plains de toutes ordures et toutes
vanitez_;" whereas the annals of Metz say, "_Tous les peuples des Gaules
pleurèrent sa mort avec une extrème douleur. Il fut en effet homme de
rare mérite, et défendit courageusement et virilement contre les
incursions des payens le royaume qui lui était soumis._" So we see that
it is not only the 19th century which vaunts and cries down a man,
according as he belongs to the political sheep or the goats.
[Illustration]
Carloman, at his eighteen years, has the appearance of a man of forty,
and many years older than his brother. The statue of Charlemagne's
brother Carloman has had a queer history. It was marched to the
Petits-Augustins with the rest, and there christened Charles le Chauve,
but when sent back to S. Denis it was rebaptised Henri I.
Hugues Capet was buried at S. Denis close to his father, the great
Hugues; his last words addressed to his son Robert prove him to have
been possessed of piety, a proper notion of justice, and a large amount
of common sense. "Bon fils, je t'adjure, au nom de la sainte et
indivisible Trinité, de ne pas livrer ton âme aux conseils des flatteurs
et de ne pas écouter les voeux de leur ambition, en leur faisant un don
empoisonné de ces abbayes que je te confie pour toujours. Je désire
également qu'il ne t'arrive point, conduit par la légèreté d'esprit ou
ému par la colère, de distraire ou enlever quelque chose de leurs biens.
Je te recommande surtout de veiller à ce que, pour aucune raison, tu ne
déplaises jamais à leur chef commun, le grand saint Benoit, qui est un
accès certain auprès du souverain juge, un port de tranquillité et un
asile de sûreté après la sortie de la chair."[38] His particular friends
to whom he commends his son are the Blessed Virgin, S. Benedict, S.
Martin, S. Aignan, and SS. Cornelius and Cyprian, and above all S.
Geneviève. Queen Adélaïde, like most Middle-Age ladies, did much
embroidering as she sat up in her tower, and naturally S. Denis was her
first thought. She gave the great statue of S. Martin (I do not know in
what part of the church this was placed) a wondrous cope, embroidered
between the shoulders with a "_Pontife éternel_" and adoring Cherubim
and Seraphim. In the front was the "Lamb of God" and the Four Beasts of
the Apocalypse.[39]
Robert must have profited by the good advice given him by his father,
for we find the monk Helgaud giving him a tremendous panegyric in the
account of his death. "Peu de temps après avoir reçu le saint et
salutaire viatique du corps vivifiant de notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ,
Robert alla au Roi des rois, au Seigneur des seigneurs, et entra heureux
dans les célestes royaumes. Il mourut le vingtième jour de juillet
(1031) au commencement de la journée du mardi, au château de Melun, et
il fut porté à Paris, puis enseveli à Saint-Denis, près de son père. Il
y eut là un grand deuil, une douleur intolérable; car la foule de moines
gémissait sur la perte d'un tel père,[40] et une multitude innombrable
de clercs se plaignait de leur misère que soulageait avec tant de piété
ce saint homme. Un nombre infini de veuves et d'orphelins regrettait
tant de bienfaits reçus de lui. Tous poussaient de grands cris jusqu'au
ciel, disant d'une commune voix: 'Grand Roi, Dieu bon, pourquoi nous
tuer ainsi en nous ôtant ce bon père et l'unissant à toi!' Ils se
frappaient avec les poings la poitrine, allaient et venaient au saint
tombeau, répétaient encore les paroles marquées plus haut et se
joinaient aux prières des saints afin que Dieu eût pitié de lui dans le
siècle éternel. Dieu! quelle douleur causa cette mort. Tous s'écriaient
avec des clameurs redoublées: 'Tant que Robert a régné et commandé, nous
avons vécu tranquilles, nous n'avons rien craint; que l'âme de ce père
pieux, ce père du sénat, ce père de tout bien, soit heureuse et sauvée!
qu'elle monte et habite pour toujours avec Jésus-Christ, Roi des
rois!'.... Dans tout cela, nous avons un grand sujet de douleur, en
voyant qu'un tel et si grand homme repose sans une pierre ornée
d'inscriptions, sans monument, sans épitaphe, lui dont la gloire et la
mémoire ont été en bénédiction à toute la terre." As late as the 16th
century Robert's tomb was enriched with colour, and even now a small
amount remains.
Another king's death, that of Louis le Gros, is recorded by Suger:
"Après avoir reçu en communion le corps et le sang de Jésus-Christ, le
roi rejetant loin de lui toutes les pompes de l'orgueil du siècle,
s'étendit sur un lit de simple toile. M'ayant vu pleurer sur lui qui,
par le sort commun aux hommes, était devenu si petit et si humble de si
grand et si élevé qu'il était, il me dit: 'Ne pleure pas sur moi,
très-cher ami, mais plutôt triomphe et réjouis-toi de ce que Dieu, dans
sa miséricorde, m'a donné, comme tu le vois, les moyens de me préparer à
paraître devant lui.'.... Un peu avant de mourir, il ordonna qu'on
étendit un tapis par terre, et que sur ce tapis on jetât des cendres en
forme de croix; puis il s'y fit porter et déposer par ses serviteurs, et
fortifiant toute sa personne par le signe de la croix, il rendit l'âme
le jour les calendes d'août (I^{er.} août 1137), dans la trentième année
de son règne et presque la soixantième de son âge. Son corps fut à
l'heure même enveloppé de riches étoffes pour être transporté et enterré
dans l'église des saints martyrs."
Suger mentions the finding of the remains of Carloman when they were
about to bury Louis VI., and how the former were removed to a spot
between the altar of the Holy Trinity and that of the Martyrs: "On l'y
déposa donc avec le cérémonial d'usage pour les rois, au milieu de
chants nombreux, d'hymnes et de prières, après lui avoir fait de pieuses
et solennelles funérailles. C'est là qu'il attend d'être admis à jouer
de sa résurrection future, et qu'il est d'autant plus près de se réunir
en esprit à la troupe des esprits célestes, que son corps est plus
voisin des corps des saints martyrs et plus à portée d'en être protégé."
"FELIX QUI POTUIT MUNDI NUTANTE RUINA
QUO JACEAT PRÆSCISSE LOCO...."
"Puisse le Rédempteur ressusciter l'âme de ce roi à l'intercession des
saintes martyrs pour lesquels il avait un si pieux dévouement! puisse
cette âme être placée au rang des saints par celui qui a donné la sienne
pour le salut du monde, notre seigneur Jésus-Christ qui vit et règne,
Roi des rois, et maître des puissances, aux siècles des siècles.
Amen."[41]
Of the burial of Louis VII. the monk Rigord gives some interesting
details: "L'année 1181, le jeudi dix-huitième jour de septembre, mourut
à Paris Louis, roi des Français. Son corps fut honorablement enseveli et
couvert d'aromates dans l'église de Sainte-Marie de Barbeau, qu'il avait
fondée. C'est là qu'en l'honneur de notre seigneur Jésus-Christ et de la
bienheureuse mère de Dieu, Marie toujours vièrge, de saints religieux
célèbrent jour et nuit les offices divins pour l'âme du défunt roi, pour
celles de tous ses prédécesseurs et pour le salut du royaume de France.
C'est aussi dans cette église, et sur le lieu même de la sépulture du
roi, que l'illustre reine des Français, Adèle[42] son épouse et mère de
Phillippe-Auguste, roi des Français, fit construire un tombeau où l'art
le plus exquis avait fait un heureux mélange des matières les plus
brillantes, d'or et d'argent, d'airain et de pierres précieuses. Jamais
chef-d'oeuvre aussi étonnant n'avait paru dans aucun royaume depuis le
règne de Salomon." In 1182 Philippe Auguste decreed that a taper should
always be kept alight before the tomb of his father. What became of the
monument is not known. At the Revolution it consisted of a sarcophagus
which had been renovated in 1695 by the Cardinal de Furstemberg, abbot
of Barbeau[43] and prince bishop of Strasburg. When Charles IX. was at
Fontainebleau he had the curiosity to open this latter tomb of Louis.
The body was nearly entire; but the sceptre, some silver seals and
ornaments, were partially destroyed. The king had rings on his fingers
and a gold cross on his neck; "le roi et les princes du sang qui se
trouvèrent là présents, les prirent pour les porter en mémoire d'un si
bon est religieux prédécesseur."[44] One would like to know why
ignorant, poverty-stricken fisher and peasant folk should be
anathematized for robbing the dead after a wreck or a battle, when such
a pious prince as the author of the massacre of S. Bartholomew pilfered
the rings from his ancestor without a word of protest--on the contrary,
his relations and friends "du sang" aided and abetted him. But then, of
course, a few centuries had elapsed in the latter case, and poor Louis
was reduced to a state of dry bones; it was robbing a skeleton, not a
body. In the reign of Napoléon the abbey of Barbeau was converted into a
school for the daughters of members of the Legion of Honour, and in 1817
the remains of Louis VII. were transported to S. Denis.
Why does it happen that children who die young seem to be so superior to
those who survive? Would the Duc de Bourgogne, Philippe, son of Louis
VI., Edward V., or Prince Arthur have made better sovereigns than their
relations who reigned in their stead? Suger gives a picturesque account
of the death of Philippe, "un enfant dans la fleur de l'âge." This
"malheur étrange" happened on the 13th October, 1131. "Le fils aîné du
roi Louis Philippe, d'une grande douceur, l'espoir des bons et la
terreur des méchants, se promenait un jour à cheval dans un faubourg de
la cité de Paris; un détestable porc se jette dans le chemin du cheval;
celui-ci tombe rudement, renverse, écrase contre une pierre le noble
enfant qui le montait, et l'étouffe sous le poids de son corps. Ce
jour-là même on avait convoqué l'armée pour une expédition; aussi les
habitants de la ville et tout les autres qui apprennent cet évènement,
consternés de douleur, crient, pleurent, poussent des sanglots,
s'empressent à relever le tendre enfant presque mort, et le portent dans
une maison voisine. O douleur! à l'entrée de la nuit il rendit l'âme.
Quelle tristesse et quel désespoir accablèrent son père, sa mère et les
grands du royaume! Homère lui-même ne pourrait l'exprimer. On l'enterra
dans l'église du bienheureux Denis, dans le lieu réservé à la sépulture
des rois et à la gauche de l'autel de la Sainte-Trinité, avec tout le
cérémonial usité pour les rois, en présence d'une foule d'évêques et de
grands de l'Etat."[45] Philippe's was the last statue that S. Louis gave
to the church, and the crown and sceptre show that the young prince had
been crowned by his father at Reims during the latter's life--probably
in order to share the duties of kingship.
Although three abbeys were the happy possessors of the remains of
Blanche of Castille (Maubuisson, Lys, and Saint-Corentin-lez-Mantes), no
tomb exists of the sweet mother of S. Louis.[46] Upon the monument at
Maubuisson the queen was attired in the habit of the Cistercian order,
which she assumed in her last moments; the crown was placed over the
veil, the royal robes over the nun's habit, and so she passed away, and
was thus buried. In 1793 various tombs, armorial bearings, and the like
_aliments de l'orgueil_, were transported from Maubuisson to Pontoise;
some were broken, some burnt; golden vessels and silver saints were
thrust into the melting-pot; and Blanche of Castille, with the help of a
prince perhaps, or a warrior, became transformed into an instrument of
war. But the museum of the Petits-Augustins wanted an effigy of the
mother of Monsieur Saint Louis; and so they set up a black marble image
of Catherine de Courtenay, empress of Constantinople and wife of Charles
of Valois, who had lately, and all alone, journeyed from Maubuisson;
and, thinking it a joke to turn a black empress into a white queen, they
wrote upon the slab, in 13th century characters, that it was the true
monument of _Madame la royne Blanche mere de Monsieur Saint Loys_. After
twenty years Madame Catherine-Blanche became divorced from her other
half, and the white queen faded away in favour of the black empress.
One of the most beautiful tombs is that of Philippe, the brother of S.
Louis, which was formerly at Royaumont. The prince lies upon a
sarcophagus, round which are niches filled with little figures of monks,
bishops, and angels, full of character and expression. One of these
represents a king: "On y voyait le cercueil de Louis porté par les
barons de France et par le roi d'Angleterre.[47] Une figure couronnée
porte sur l'épaule un des bâtons; c'est le roi anglais"[48]--proving the
sovereignty of France over England. There is a curious engraving by
Boulogne representing this procession. The church is in the distance; a
string of monks are zigzagging across the plain, and in the foreground
we see this crowned head and others bearing the reliquary; behind are
bishops; the whole in the grandiose style of the 17th and 18th
centuries--drapery flying in the wind, bishops and monks prancing, and
all the faces turned to the spectator. S. Louis had always held the
abbey in most respectful esteem. He visited it before he started upon
his various expeditions; and in 1267, when he had conferred the order of
chivalry upon his son Philippe and sixty other young noblemen, he rode
to S. Denis on horseback to implore the blessing of God, accompanied by
a large concourse of courtiers and princes.
The monuments of the battle of Bouvines came from the church of S.
Catherine-du-Val-des-Écoliers. They are incised stones, coloured and
gilt, bearing the following inscriptions:--
A LA PRIERE DES SERGENS DARMES MONS^R SAINT LOYS FONDA
CESTE EGLISE ET Y MIST LA PREMIERE
PIERRE ET FU POUR LA JOIE DE LA VITTOIRE QUE FU AU PONT DE
BOUINES LAN MIL. CC. ET.XIIII.
LES SERGENS DARMES POUR LE TEMPS GARDOIENT LEDIT PONT ET
VOUERENT QUE SE DIEU LEUR
DONNOIT VITTOIRE ILS FONDEROIENT VNE EGLISE EN LONNEUR DE
MADAME SAINTE KATHERINE ET AINSI FU IL.
Another epitaph to Blanche de France came from the Cordeliers:
ICY GIST MADAME BLANCHE FILLE DE MONSEIGNEUR SANCT
LOYS ET F[EM]E DE MONS. FERDINAND DE LACERDE ROY DE
CASTILLE QUI TRESPASSA DU CEST SIECLE LAN DE [=GCE]
MCCCXX LE DIX SEPTIESME JOUR DE JUN
PRIES POUR LAME DELLE Q. DEU BONNE MERCI LI FACE, AMEN.
When Isabelle d'Aragon died at Cosenza, in Calabria, her husband,
Philippe le Hardi, wrote to the abbot and religious of S. Denis to
commend her soul to their prayers, for her life _était aimable à Dieu et
aux hommes_. Her epitaph begins:
DYSABEL. LAME. AIT. PARADYS, _etc._
Louis XI. was not buried at S. Denis; he desired to be laid in the
church of Our Lady of Cléry, "for which the Heretics (meaning the
Huguenots and Calvinists) had not the same respect which they inviolably
entertained for the holy and royal tombs of S. Denis.[49] But inspired
by the Devil, with an abominable and hellish spirit of rage and
profanation, they tore the king's remains from the tomb, and, together
with the queen's, burnt them and scattered their ashes to the winds.
Thus he who would not let his body rest under the protection of the Holy
Martyers found no rest in the grave."[50]
This monument was of bronze, but another was erected in 1622 by an
Orléans sculptor, Michel Bourdin. La Fontaine described the latter as
follows, in a letter to his wife, dated 1633: "Nous nous arrêtâmes à
Cléry. J'allai aussitôt visiter l'église; c'est une collégiale assez
bien rentée pour un bourg. Louis XI. y est enterré. On le voit à genoux
sur son tombeau, quatre enfants aux coins; ce seraient quatre anges, si
on ne leur avait pas arraché les ailes. Le bon apôtre du roi fait là le
saint homme, et il est bien mieux pris que lorsque le Bourguignon le
mena à Liége.
Je lui trouvai la mine d'un matois:
Ainsi l'étoit ce prince dont la vie
Doit rarement servir d'exemple aux rois,
Mais pourroit être en quelques points suivie.
"À ses genoux sont ses heures et son chapelet, la main de justice, son
sceptre, son chapeau et sa Notre-Dame. Je ne sais comment le statuaire
n'y a pas mis le prévôt Tristan; le tout est en marbre blanc et m'a paru
d'assez bonne main."
This monument suffered some mutilations during the Revolution, the head
being chopped into three pieces[51]; but in 1817 it was repaired. It is,
in style, very similar to the descriptions of the bronze monument of
Charles VIII.
[Illustration: TOMB OF THE HOUSE OF ORLÉANS.]
The tomb of the house of Orléans was erected by Louis XII. in the centre
of the magnificent chapel of the family, in the church of the Célestins.
It contained besides, the statue of Philippe de Chabot, by Jean Cousin;
Germain Pilon's Three Graces; the columns of Anne de Montmorency, of
François II., and of Timoléon de Brissac; the obelisk of the
Longuevilles; the tombs of Rénée d'Orléans, and of the duc de Rohan, by
Michel Anguier. The destruction of this chapel and the dispersal of its
contents was one of the greatest acts of vandalism of modern times;
although a good deal has been preserved, the loss of the rest cannot but
be bewailed.
Charles, duc d'Orléans, was a lettered man and given to verse writing;
he was made prisoner at the battle of Agincourt, and passed more than
twenty years of his life in England. The little porcupine at the king's
feet (upon the tomb) symbolized the order of chivalry which he founded,
and which adopted that animal as its emblem.
The beautiful marble monument of Rénée d'Orléans recalls those of Santa
Croce, and other Italian churches, and it is a magnificent example of
French Renaissance sculpture.
The epitaph to Marguerite de Valois, first wife of Henri IV., attributed
to the queen's authorship, is taken from a manuscript in the
Bibliothèque:
Ceste brillante fleur de l'arbre des Valoys
En qui mourust le nom de tant de puissans Roys,
Marguerite, pour qui tant de lauriers fleurirent,
Pour qui tant de bouquets chez les Muses se firent.
A vu fleurs et lauriers, sur sa tête sécher,
Et par un coup fatal, les lys s'en détacher.
Las! le cercle Royal dont l'avoit couronnée
En tumulte et sans ordre un trop prompt himénée,
Rompu du même coup devant ses pieds tombant
La laissa comme un tronc dégradé par les vents.
Epouse sans espoux, et Royne sans royaume,
Vaine ombre du passé, grand et noble fantosme
Elle traisna depuis les restes de son sort,
Et vist jusqu'a son nom mourir avant sa mort.
The epitaph upon Henri's second wife, Marie de' Medici, is in a very
different style. Marie, after having built the splendid Luxembourg
palace, and filled it with Rubens' sparkling magnificences of colour,
died in exile at Köln:
Le Louvre de Paris vit éclater ma gloire;
Le nom de mon époux, d'immortelle mémoire,
Est placé dans le ciel comme un astre nouveau.
Pour gendres j'eus deux rois, pour fils ce clair flambeau,
Qui par mille rayons brillera dans l'histoire.
Parmi tant de grandeur (le pourra-t-on bien croire?)
Je suis morte en exil; Cologne est mon tombeau!
Cologne, oeil des cités de la terre Allemande,
Si jamais un passant curieux te demande
Le funeste récit des maux que j'ai soufferts,
Dis: ce triste cercueil chétivement enserre
La reine dont le sang coule en tout l'univers,
Qui n'eut pas en mourant un seul pouce de terre.[52]
[Illustration: TOMB OF RÉNÉE D'ORLÉANS-LONGUEVILLE.]
Louis XIII., or rather, part of him, was buried at the Jesuits' church;
and Anne d'Autriche erected therein a fine monument sculptured by
Jacques Sarrazin. Two colossal angels in bronze and silver supported a
silver-gilt heart; but its magnificence only made it of greater use to
the mint for coinage.
This good king, the thirteenth of his name, was a great devotee of S.
Denis. He had instituted reform in the abbey by introducing the
congregation of S. Maur; and we are told that he acquired "strength and
spirits in his last illness, as he lay languishing upon his bed, as
often as he thought of S. Denis. At such times he would remark to his
attendants, with a smile of pious serenity, how much he felt himself
reconciled to his near approaching dissolution, and fortified against
all the usual desires of life or dread of death; in a sweet anticipation
of the happiness he should enjoy by reposing near the tombs of the Holy
Martyrs, in whom he placed the most sacred and unbounded confidence."
There is one more exquisite work of art which ought to be mentioned, the
beautiful urn from the abbey of Haute-Bruyère, which contained the heart
of that magnificent profligate, François I^er. It is of white marble, of
perfect form, with the most delicious little Genii sitting on the top.
The bas reliefs represent the Arts and Sciences, Faith, and the Church.
It is the work of Pierre Bontems.
Some of the kings were crowned at S. Denis after having been anointed
and consecrated at Reims; some, like Philippe Auguste, were re-invested
at the abbey. Philippe le Hardi, Charles VIII., Louis XII., François
I^{er.}, and Louis XIII., were all anointed at Reims and crowned at S.
Denis. An account in an old book of the coronation of Louis XIII. is so
quaint, and gives so graphic a picture of some of the manners and
customs of the period, that it is, I think, worth quoting in full.[53]
The description of the magnificent ceremony was extracted from a
chronicle of the reign of Louis XIII., and translated into English a
hundred and fifty years ago:--
"The royall ornaments, which are kept in the _Abbey of_ Saint
Denis, being caryed to Rheims, on the 14th October, 1610, the King
made his entrie into the towne, where his Maiestie was received
with greate pompe and magnificence; the particularities whereof I
am forced, for brevities sake, to omit. The day before the
ceremonie, the King went vnto the Cathedrall, to assist at
Euensong, and to heare a sermon made by Father Coton, vpon the
_diuine_ institution of the _unction of the Kings of France_, and
of confirmation, which he received from the hands of the Cardinall
of Joyeuse, to whom he was presented by Queen Marguerite and the
Prince of Condé.
"On Sunday, the 17th of October, the King sent foure Barons vnto
the Abbey of Saint Remy, to fetch the _holie oyle_. They parted
earlie in the morning, with their Esquires and Gentlemen; either of
them having a banner, with his armes, caried before him, causing a
_white hackney_ to be led, for the Prior of Saint Remy, who was to
carry the said _holie oyle_.
"The Cardinal of Joyeuse, who was to represent the Archbishop of
Rheims, and to doe the office, at the ceremonie, came soone after
into the church, with eight Bishops to assist him, where, attending
the comming of the Peeres, he sat him downe in his pontificall
robes. Two of these Bishops were attired like Deacons, with mitres;
two like Sub-Deacons, with mitres; and foure with copes and mitres.
Soon after arrived the ecclesiasticall Peeres, in their pontificall
robes.... At the same instant there came, from the King's lodging,
the Princes of Condé and Conty ... who were deputed by the King to
hold the places of ... attyred in their robes and coronets,
according to their qualities. Having done their devotions, and
saluted one another, they sent the bishops of Laon and Beauuais to
fetch the King, in their pontificall habits (_having certaine
reliques of the holie Saintes hanging about their neckes_),
conducted by the Master of the Ceremonies; all the Prebendes of
oure Ladies church marching in goodlie procession before them.
Being come to the King's chamber, and finding it shut, the Bishop
of Laon knocked three several times, to either of which the greate
Chamberlaine demanded, '_What would ye?_' The Bishop answered,
'_Lewis the Thirteenth, son to Henrie the Greate_'; whereunto the
Chamberlaine replied, '_He sleepeth_'; then knocking againe, he had
the like answere. But at the third time the Bishop answered,
'_Lewis the Thirteenth, which God hath given us for King_'; then
the door was opened, and the Bishops entered with the cheife
chaunter of Rheims, &c., where they found the King laid on his bed,
_having his shirt slit before and behind_, to receive the holie
Vnction, and uppon it a waistecoat of crimson sattin, _slitted in
like maner_, and thereon a long robe of cloth-of-_siluer_. The
Bishop of Laon having finished a prayer, kissing their hands, they
lifted the King from his bed, with all _shewes of honour_, and then
led him, _singing_, to the church doore. Before him, there marched,
first the greate Prouost, with his archeres; then the Clergie which
had accompanied the two Prelates; the hundrede tall Swissers of his
guard: the drummes, haultbois, and herauldes; the nobilitie; the
great Master of the Ceremonies; the Knights of the Holie Ghoste,
with their great order hong about their neckes, in the middest of
two hundred Gentlemen of the King's house; and _the Scottish
Guards, in their own proper_ habiliments. Before his Maiestie went
the Mareschall la Chastre, _representinge the Constable_, carying a
naked sworde, &c. &c. After some ceremonies at the church doore,
the King approacheth neare untoe the high altar, where he was
presented, by the Bishops of Laon and Chalons, untoe the Cardinal
Joyeuse, who said many prayers, whilest the King was at his
deuotions. After this he was led untoe his seate, with his Noblemen
and officers about him. In the meane tyme, all the religious men of
Saint Remy came solemnlie in procession, being accompanied by the
cheife of the towne, caryinge torches of virgines waxe in their
hands: Their Prior was mounted upon the _white hackney_, having a
foote-cloath of cloath-of-silver, carying the _violl of holie oyle,
in a pixe_, hanginge about his necke, being under a canopie of
cloath-of-silver, borne by foure Monkes. The Cardinall being
advertised of the arrivall of _the said oyle_, hee went, in his
pontificalibus, to meet it, with the eight Bishops which assisted
him, and all the singinge men and quiristeres. But before they
would deliver it unto the Cardinall, they made him (according to
the custome) binde himself to restore it untoe them againe. After
saying a praier, hee shewed the _holie oyle_ untoe the people; and
then set it down vpon the high altar, _with all the Godlie
reuerence_. (The coronation oath and some ceremonies are here
omitted for brevity). The King having taken the oathes, with
inuocation of the name of God, laying his handes vpon the Gospel,
which he kist with greate reuerence. The King's ornaments ... were
layd upon the altar; and on the left hande side, neere vnto them,
stoode the _Prior of Saint Denis_, who hath the keeping of them;
and on the right side stoode the Prior of Saint Remy, _looking
sharplie to the holie oyle_.[54] The Bishops of Laon and Beauvais,
hauing conducted him vnto the altar, Mons. de Belgarde tooke off
his roabe of cloath-of-silver. Being in his waistecoate of sattin,
when the Cardinall had made certaine prayers and blessings, the
Duke of Esguillon put on his buskins, and the Prince of Condé put
on his spurres (in the place of the Duke of Bourgundie) and
presentlie took them off againe. After this, the Cardinall blessed
the royale sworde, it being in the scabberd, and girt the King
therewith, and presentlie ungirted him againe. Then he drew it out
of the scabberd, and kissed it, saying manie praiers, whilest that
the Quier sang certaine anthems. The King kist the sworde also; and
layd it upon the altar, in testimonie of his zeale and affection to
the defence of the holie church. The Cardinall delivered it into
his hande againe; which his Maiestie tooke reuerentlie vpon his
knee, and gave it to the _Mareschall la Chastre_. The Cardinall
returning to the altar, to prepare the sacred vnction, after this
manner: '_Hee drewe out of the forenamed holie violl, with a
needell of gold, a small quantitie of liquor, of the bignesse of a
pease, and mingled it, with his finger, with the holie creme
prepared in the couer of the chalice_.
"This vnction being thus ordered, the tyinges of the King's
garments _were let loose both before and behinde_, by the Cardinall
and the two Bishops; after which his Maiestie kneeled down in his
oratorie, and the Cardinall with him, to crave the assistance of
God for the preseruation of France. The Lettanie being sung, the
Cardinall stoode up, to saye certaine praiers ouer the King, who
was yet kneelinge. Then the Cardinall sett him downe, as in the
consecration of a Bishop, and holding in his hand _the patenne_
whereon the _heavenlie oyle_ was layd, he beganne, with his right
_thumbe_, to anoynte the King, in divers places, _viz._, on the
crowne of the head, on the stomacke, betwixte his shouldere blades,
on bothe shoulderes, and on the bendinges of his armes. The
consecration praiers being ended, the Cardinall, with the two
Bishops, closed vp his shirte, waistecoate, and other garmentes, in
reverence of the sacred Vnction. Then the high Chamberlaine
presented the three habitts accustomed to be worne, in the lyke
ceremonies, viz., a long jackett, representinge a Sub-Deacon, a
surplis for a Deacon, and a _royall cloake_, insteade of a coape,
representinge a Prieste; which ended, the Cardinall _anoynted the
palmes of his handes_, and then put him on _thin_ gloues, lest,
peradventure, hee should touche anie thinge with his bare handes,
for reverence of the vnction, which gloues he blest, and sprinkled
with holie water; the royall ringe being alsoe blest by the
Cardinall (a symbole of loue, whereby the King was wedded untoe his
realme), he put it on the fourthe fingere of his Maiesties right
hande, with all the accustomed ceremonie. This done, hee tooke the
sceptere from the altar, and put it intoe his right hande, for a
mark of the Soueraigne power: then he tooke the hande of Justice,
which hee put into his lefte hande, it being a wande, hauing, on
the top thereof, a hande of mylke white iuorie.
"Then the Chancelloure of France came vp, with his face towarde the
King, and, with a stoute voyce, did call vp the Peeres, according
to their dignities, to assist at the coronation. When as, this
ceremonie being ended, the Cardinall took _the great crowne_ from
the altar, and lifting it with bothe his handes, did poise it over
the King's heade; the Peeres did then come to support them, and the
Cardinall blest it; and then he alone sett the crowne upon the
King's heade, whereuntoe all the Peeres did incontinentlie put
their handes. The Cardinall then said manie praiers, and blest the
King; the which being ended, _hee took him bie the right sleeve_,
and conducted him to his royall throne, the which was builded on
high at the bottome of the quier, forasmuch as that he might be
seene of all the people, holdinge still in his handes the royall
sceptere and rod of Justice. The Queen Regent, the whilst she
beheld all these ceremonies, was sorely disquieted, not being able
to endure, with patience, to see his Maiestie _bare headed_, vnder
the crowne, havinge his capp taken from him; which shewes that
crownes and greatness have their discomodities, as well as the most
ordinarie thinges, and the poorest cottages. The King being come to
his royall throwne, attended bie the Princes, Peeres, and Officers,
according to their degrees, the Cardinall, holding him by the
hande, caused him to sit downe, and praied untoe God to confirme
him in his throne, and to make him invincible and inexpugnable
against his enemies. After which, having sayd a praier, being
bare-headed, he made a low obeysance untoe the King, and kissed
him, saying thrice, with a loude voyce, '_God save the King_'; and
at the laste, he added, '_God save the King eternallie_.' All the
Peeres did the lyke obeysance, one after the other, and _kist_ him,
with the lyke acclamation, and then returned untoe the seates that
were prepared for them on either hand."
[Illustration: RELIQUARY CONTAINING THE HEAD OF S. DENIS.]
The treasury of S. Denis was one of the richest in Europe. Commenced by
the religious enthusiasts of the time of Charlemagne, it increased year
by year, through the donations of the grateful patients who had been
cured, or whose sufferings had been relieved, by the intercession of S.
Denis and his companions. For every wax arm or leg, which we see hanging
up in bunches at the side of a shrine in these days, the ages of Faith
could have produced a valuable plaque, gem, cross, reliquary, or altar
vessel. Thankfulness was then more costly in its expression. Doubtless
poor offerings were also made, but the richness of the churches and
their contents, as compared with the difficulty of obtaining a few
thousands at the present day, shows that gratitude was more practical
than in modern times. Charles le Chauve was a great donor to the
monastery. It was he who gave the magnificent _ante-pendium_, besides
some jewelled Gospels and altar-vessels. Philippe-Auguste bequeathed all
his jewels to the abbey, including a cross of gold valued at 400 livres,
this benefaction being for the maintenance of twenty additional monks;
but his son, Louis, repurchased some of the valuables at the estimated
price of 11,600 _livres_, a little business transaction which was not
unprofitable to the convent. Louis le Gros established the custom of
leaving the royal ornaments to the abbey at the decease of the kings.
Matthieu de Vendôme, one of the regular abbots, gave the marvellous
_chef_ of S. Denis, a gold reliquary in the form of a head, with a
jewelled mitre, and silver-gilt supporting Angels, and a young
Child-angel holding another reliquary containing a portion of the
Saint's shoulder-blade. Gilles de Pontoise, another abbot, presented a
beautiful reliquary, containing the under-jaw of S. Louis--a marvel of
goldsmithy in the form of statuettes of gold, jewelled and enamelled.
The great Suger gave a number of magnificent objects of all kinds; the
huge gold cross, six feet in height, placed over the altar, and another
which stood upon the _grille_ dividing the choir from the nave. These
probably were made at S. Denis, as Suger set up a great school for the
fashioning of gold and silver, as well as for writing and painting; and
so famous did it become, that brethren from other monasteries flocked to
the monks of S. Denis to perfect themselves in these arts.
[Illustration: THE "MASS OF S. GILES" (FRAGMENT).]
There is a representation of Charles le Chauve's _ante-pendium_ in the
picture formerly in the Dudley collection, and now in the possession of
Mr. Edward Steinkopff, and generally known as the "Mass of S. Giles."
The altar stands as at present; on the right we see a portion of the
tomb of Dagobert; and behind are the windows of the apsidal clerestory.
The only difference in the sculptures, as represented in the picture,
and the actual monument, is that the head of Nantilde is bent in the
modern statue, but is erect in the old one; and the feet of Dagobert
seem to have nothing to rest upon. A priest is before the altar; on his
left is a king; behind are some assistants, one holding a tall candle;
and above is an Angel bearing a paper, alluding to the legend, that as
S. Giles was once saying mass before a king with some hidden sin he dare
not confess, an Angel descended with a written pardon. The question is,
Who is the king? May it not be Charles le Chauve, the donor of the
retable? Charles was abbot of S. Denis; and his devotion to the Saint
was so great that he attended the offices of the church on all solemn
days, and passed the rest of the time in pious conversation with the
monks. The crown the king wears is of the time of Charles V., but it has
upon it the Imperial circle, which seems to point to Charles the Bald;
and the later style of the crown may be accounted for, as it has
evidently been copied from one in the treasury of S. Denis (see
Félibien). Moreover, it very much resembles the one worn by Charles le
Chauve in a miniature of a Latin Bible in the Bibliothèque; on the other
hand, the king wears a moustache in the latter, whereas in the picture
he is bearded.
Another question is this, Does the picture represent a mass? It probably
has gained its title as much from being the companion _volet_ to Lord
Northbrook's S. Giles as to the incident of the scroll-bearing Angel.
But there is not the slightest resemblance between the hunting personage
in Lord Northbrook's picture and the king in the "Mass." In the former,
the kneeling hunter appears in a cap, and has no beard; may not this be
Charles Martel? We are told in the legend of S. Giles that the king of
France was one day hunting in the South, near Nismes, when, in the
pursuit of a hind, the hunters came upon S. Giles living hermit-wise in
a cave. Charles Martel was never actually sovereign, although governing
the kingdom; therefore a cap would be an appropriate head covering for
the Maire du Palais. And the dates correspond. S. Giles died in 725;
Charles Martel in 741. Is there any evidence that the S. Denis picture
represents the S. Giles legend? There is no reason why each _volet_ of a
triptich should be decorated with incidents in the life of the same
saint. Again, does the picture represent a mass? There are no lights
upon the altar, which is contrary to the almost invariable custom of the
church from all time. Two lights were used from the earliest period;
whereas a single light, either taper, torch, or lantern, borne by an
assistant kneeling behind the celebrant, generally denotes a communion
of the faithful, after, or out of, mass. It is true there is a picture
by van der Weyden in the National Gallery of the "Mass of S. Hubert,"
with no lights, and there is no doubt about the subject, as the vessels
requisite for a mass are visible upon the altar; but in the "Mass of S.
Giles" there are no evidences of the celebration of mass, except that
the priest is elevating the Host while facing the altar, and reading
from a book placed thereon; whereas at a communion the celebrant turns
his back to the altar when elevating the consecrated wafer. Now may not
the picture represent either the communion of Charles le Chauve, or his
induction as abbot, or his presentation of the retable? I have not lost
sight of the difficulty of the Angel. But if it be really the
sin-forgiven scroll which he holds, there is no reason why this
particular king should not have had a hidden sin, pious man though he
may have been; indeed, that would be a reason for his thinking ill of
himself. And must the subject be necessarily that incident, when we know
that in Mediæval times Angels were constantly in the habit of flying
about with all kinds of objects of celestial manufacture--stoles,
girdles, chalices, crowns, palms, &c. (In van der Weyden's picture,
mentioned above, an Angel is descending with a stole).
These are merely suggestions of a theory, which others, more qualified
than myself, may be able to solve. Suger is said to have added to the
_ante-pendium_ given by Charles le Chauve, and placed it over the altar
as a retable;[55] therefore there would be nothing extraordinary in the
15th-century artist placing Charles kneeling as the original donor, and
Suger celebrating, as the founder of the new altar, or reredos. Has the
abbot Giles de Pontoise, who died in 1325, caused any confusion in
naming this picture? There is another curious resemblance in the crowns
borne by the Angels upon the retable, and the crowns of Guarrazar in the
Hôtel Cluny. The latter are supposed to be of Byzantine workmanship, the
largest bearing the name of Reccesvinthus, king of the Visigoths, who
reigned from 649 to 672. Charles le Chauve died in 823; but, according
to Grégoire de Tours, when Childebert returned from a campaign against
the Visigoths in Spain, he brought away divers gold and silver
treasures, including a gold cross from Toledo; therefore there must have
been an extensive school of goldsmithy in Spain at that time, and Toledo
is the very spot near which the Guarrazar spoils were discovered. Were
they made there some 100 years or so after Childebert's death? Grégoire
de Tours also speaks of the king setting up workshops in the Parvis
Notre-Dame, doubtless in imitation of the Spanish school; and in his
_Notice de l'Orfévrerie_, M. Alfred Darcel points out a similarity
between the Merovingian and the Spanish style of work. "Ce qui ressort
de la plupart des passages que nous venons de citer, c'est que
l'orfévrerie mérovingienne a pour principal caractère l'alliance des
pierreries aux métaux précieux. Ce caractère se retrouve dans
l'ornamentation des couronnes de Guarrazar ... et dans l'orfévrerie
Byzantine." Is it possible, then, that the _ante-pendium_ presented by
Charles le Chauve to S. Denis was made at the workshops set up by
Childebert in the Parvis Notre-Dame, in imitation of those he had seen
at Toledo; and that the workmanship was also an imitation of the Spanish
goldsmithy of a hundred years earlier?
But of all this beauty, of all this wealth, what have we now?
Marvellously little; still, considering the robbers, royal and plebeian,
the fires, the wars, and the undisciplined mobs, we ought to be thankful
that so much has been preserved. That even the great churchmen were not
above suspicion we see by the account of the coronation of Louis XIII.;
the cardinal being obliged "to binde himself" to restore the "holy oyle"
before the monks would let him take it into his hands; and the Prior of
S. Remy, who had the custody of it, standing by and "looking sharplie to
the holie oyle."
Of the few things which remain from the wreck, the following will be
found in the Louvre and the Bibliothèque Nationale, commencing with the
former.[56]
The beautiful Egyptian Amphora of porphyry transformed by Abbot
Suger[57] into an eagle for service as an altar vessel. It is
silver-gilt, and bears an inscription round the bird's neck: _Includi
Gemmis lapis ista meretur et auro--marmor erat sed in his marmore carior
est._[58] Suger himself thus describes it: "Un vase de porphyre,
chef-d'oeuvre de taille et de sculpture; depuis longues années il
était sans emploi dans l'écrin; d'amphore qu'il était, nous l'avons
transformé en un aigle, au moyen de l'or et de l'argent, nous l'avons
adapté au service de l'autel, et sur ce vase nous avons fait inscrire
les vers qui suivent."
Another antique sardonyx[59] set by Suger, with a mounting of
silver-gilt filagree and precious stones ornamenting it. Suger's account
of this vase is as follows: "Nous avons acheté, pour le service du même
autel, un calice précieux de sardonyx; nous y avons joint, en guise
d'amphore, un autre vase de la même matière, mais de forme différente,
sur lequel sont ces vers: _Dum libare Deo gemmis debemus et auro--Hoc
ego Sugerius offero vas Domino._".... "Il était de ce sentiment que l'on
doit employer à la décoration des autels tout ce que l'on a de plus
précieux; il disait que si les juifs se sont servis dans l'ancienne loi
de vases et de fioles d'or, pour ramasser le sang des animaux, à plus
forte raison doit-on moins épargner, dans la nouvelle, l'or et les
pierreries pour tout ce qui a rapport au saint sacrifice du corps et du
sang de Jésus Christ." Twenty-four _plaques_ which decorated a book of
the Gospels, in _cloisonné_ enamel, are of the 9th century. Some of them
are ornamented with foliage, others with the four Evangelists. They
belonged to the gold book-cover bearing the legend: _Beatrix me in
honore Dei omnipotentis et omnium sanctorum eius fieri precepit_; which
probably refers to Beatrix, grand-daughter of Hugues Capet and sister of
Robert, king of France, wife of Ebles I., count of Reims.
A 13th century reliquary in _champlevé_ enamel.
The psalter of Charles le Chauve.
[Illustration: VASE DE SUGER.]
The beautiful antique rock-crystal vase, bearing the name of Aliénor
d'Aquitaine. It was given by her to Louis VII., who presented it to
Suger, who, in his turn, offered it to the Saints, as saith the
inscription upon the foot: "_This vase was given by Aliénor to Louis,
her husband. Mitadol gave it to her grandfather, and the King to me,
Suger; and I, Suger, to SS. Rusticus and Eleutherius._"
The paten belonging to Suger's lost chalice. It is a serpentine disc
incrusted with golden fishes.
A rectangular plaque of gold, _repoussée_ and gilt, bearing inscriptions
in Greek.
A statuette of the Blessed Virgin, in silver, _repoussée_, chased, and
parcel gilt and enamelled. The Virgin holds a _fleur-de-lys_, enriched
with precious stones, in her right hand. It was given to the abbey by
Jehanne d'Evreux, in 1334.
A sceptre with a statuette of Charlemagne upon a lily, of the reign of
Charles V.
Another statuette of the Blessed Virgin in silver _repoussée_ and parcel
gilt; with a little rock-crystal reliquary enclosing a piece of the
swaddling clothes.
In the Bibliothèque:
A cameo (sardonyx) head of Augustus, formerly one of the gems of the
reliquary containing the skull of S. Hilary. The reliquary was in the
form of a mitred head, after the manner of that of S. Denis. The
shoulders were vested in a cope, and this cameo set in the centre of the
orphrey. The reliquary was made during the administration of Jérôme de
Chambellan, grand prior from 1583 to 1606, but part of the mounting
holding the pearls and stones seems to be of earlier date. There are
three sapphires and three imitation rubies, separated by six bouquets
composed of three pearls.[60]
A little chalcedony bust of Annius Verus as Bacchus, inscribed: _Verinus
consulis probat tempora._ The bust bears a striking likeness to some
medals and coins of the little son of Marcus Aurelius. It was the custom
of the Roman consuls to send presents upon their appointments; thus, in
sending this bust to a friend, some consul engraved the inscription,
which signifies: _The little Verus will remind you of my consulate._ In
the list by Dom Félibien of the treasury at S. Denis, this is called:
_Tête d'un enfant faite d'une agate orientale._
One of the most precious of the treasures was the Bacchic cantharus,
called the Cup of the Ptolomies. It is a sardonyx cup upon a pedestal,
with handles of vine stalks, and covered with bas-reliefs. It is
supposed to have gained its name from having belonged to Ptolomy XI.,
the husband of Cleopatra, who bore the surname of Dionysos or Bacchus.
From the subjects of the bas-reliefs, it was undoubtedly consecrated to
Bacchus. It has also been called the Cup of Mithridates, as having
perhaps belonged to the celebrated collection of vases formed by the
famous King. Singular though it may appear, this cup dedicated to
Bacchus was given to S. Denis by one of the Carlovingian Kings; was it
some blundering over the names, Dionysos and Dionysius? The gold foot
was added to give it the form of a chalice, says Tristran de
Saint-Amant, and the "grossier distique latin," placed upon this foot,
"était profondément gravé sur l'or et la gravure remplie d'émail de
couleur d'acier braze." The following inscription is easily read in the
engraving in Félibien's history, but not the date: _Hoc vas Christe tibi
mente dicavit tertius in Francos regmine Karlus._[61]
It has been thought that it was Charles the Simple who made the
donation, but Félibien remarks that Charles le Gros as well as Charles
le Chauve were also designated Charles III. In any case, it is known to
have been in the treasury as early as the 9th century. In 1790, it was
placed in the Cabinet de Médailles, but some years after it was stolen
with the great cameo and other valuables. The thieves were arrested in
Holland, and the cup and the cameo restored to the Bibliothèque; but the
mounting of the latter and the foot of the cup had been melted up.
According to a tradition referred to by Marion de Mersan, the queens of
France drank consecrated wine from this cup upon their coronation day.
Another tradition asserts that Henri III., in direful need of money,
borrowed the cup, and pawned it to the Jews of Metz for a million of
_livres tournois_.
A beautiful aqua-marine bust is the authentic portrait of the daughter
of Titus, wife of Flavius Sabinus. It is signed Evodus, the name of a
Greek artist known by two other signed gems. It formed part of the
reliquary known as _escrain_ or _oratoire de Charlemagne_. Félibien
speaks of it thus: "Ce reliquaire n'est qu'or, perles et pierreries. Sur
le haut est répresentée une princesse que quelques uns estiment être ou
Cléopâtre, ou Julie, fille de l'empereur Titus." Some of the stones are
gone, but one of the remaining sapphires is an antique intaglio
representing upon one side a dauphin, and upon the other a monogram
surmounted by a cross of the 5th or 6th century. The letters of the
monogram are [Greek: MATHY], possibly the initials of the owner, or
the designation of the Virgin: [Greek: MARIA MÊTÊR THEOU]
(_Marie, mère de Dieu_).
[Illustration: STEPS LEADING TO THE APSE.]
The Coupe de Chrosroës I., King of Persia, of the dynasty of the
Sassanides (531-579) is of transparent rock-crystal, engraved with a
representation of the King sitting upon his throne. In the history of
the abbey, published in 1625, by F. I. Doublet, we find this cup
mentioned as having been in the treasury, under the name of Solomon's
cup, for more than ten centuries, "et donnée par l'Empereur et Roy de
France Charles le Chauve." How it got into the hands of the King is not
known. Chrosroës was defeated by Justinian, general of Tiberius
Constantine, Emperor of the East; so that possibly the cup found its way
to Constantinople after the battle. Félibien's description of it is:
"Espèce de sous-couppe d'or ornée de crystaux de différentes sortes de
couleurs. Au milieu l'on y voit un Roy assis dans son trône."
Such are a few of the treasures formerly at S. Denis. The church is
lovely now, garnished only with its tombs and glass; what it must have
been upon a great festival a couple of hundred years ago, or still
farther back, imagination must be left to picture to itself. Even now,
upon the fête of the Saint (October 9th), the effect of the procession,
as it winds up and down the aisles and steps, is very fine, and quaint,
too; for the Suisses wear black hats and feathers, cloaks, breeches, and
stockings, after the style of Lawrence's "Kemble as Hamlet"; indeed,
they seem to be the Dane, according to the courtly painter, personified.
The costume of the boys, also, is different to that of the other
churches. They wear violet cassocks, white cottas, scarlet capes with
yellow edges, and red skull caps. The whole affair, the old canons
bearing the relics, the boys in their quaint attire, the old-world
vergers and beadles, the lights few and far between in the great dim
church, the vistas of arched aisles ending in darkness, and the sparse
congregation, give the impression of some period long before the end of
this prosaic 19th century. The _châsses_ are in their old places upon
the raised apse behind the altar; but they are of no artistic value. The
setting of the jewels is there, but the jewels are gone. The church
remains one of the grandest of its date, but its contents have been
mended, patched, and re-made. Still, it is an exquisitely beautiful
relic, left us by the ages of Faith.
S. Denis still goes barefoot, but not for love. Stern necessity keeps it
so, or thrusts its cold feet into wooden shoes. It carries its red flag
also, and waves it menacingly at all who love peace and quiet. Likewise,
it perambulates in processions; but its relics are rags and hungry
children. From a haven of rest, raised up with perhaps some grains of
foolish superstition; from an artistic centre of all that was beautiful;
from the trysting place of enthusiasts, diluted probably with a certain
amount of bigotry, S. Denis has become faithless, hopeless, and
restless; bigoted in its excessive Communism, unjust in its perversion
of true Socialism, flaunting its Anarchic _oriflamme_ in the face of law
and order. It is a strange contrast; but perhaps the cause and effect
are nearer allied than is generally supposed.
SAINTE-ELIZABETH.
Situated in the Rue du Temple, the church dedicated to the great
Hungarian princess formerly faced the entrance to the grim fortress of
the Templars, where the poor little Dauphin sighed out his infant life.
The church was built for the nuns of the third order of S. Francis, of
which S. Elizabeth was a member; and the first stone was laid in 1628 by
a very different sort of Queen, Marie de' Medici. The exterior, with its
Doric pilastered doorway, and the interior, with its poor glass and
indifferent sculptures, are alike utterly uninteresting; but the white
marble font, bearing the date of 1654, and the woodwork which ornaments
the aisle of the sanctuary, are worth a visit. The latter consists of a
series of little panels representing scenes from the Old and New
Testament in bas-relief, of the end of the 16th century, and are said to
have been originally in a church at Arras. There is nothing in the
building worthy of its patron, that most perfect of saints, whether we
think of her as woman, as queen, or as mother.
"AVE GEMMA SPECIOSA!
MULIERUM SYDUS, ROSA!
EX REGALI STIRPE NATA,
MUNDO LICET VIRO DATA
NUNC IN COELIS CORONATA;
CHRISTO TAMEN DESPONSATA.
UTRIUSQUE SPONSALIA,
SIMUL SERVANS ILLIBATA;
SARAM SEQUENS FIDE PIA,
ET REBECCAM PRUDENTIA,
O DILECTA! O BEATA!
NOSTRA ESTO ADVOCATA,
ELIZABETH EGREGIA![62]
SAINT-ÉTIENNE DU MONT.
[Illustration: SAINT ÉTIENNE DU MONT.]
Upon the summit of the hill which rises up from the Seine, opposite and
on the south side of Notre-Dame, is the church of S. Étienne du Mont.
Some few years ago this "mountain" was an interesting hunting ground to
the archæological explorer and the collector of _bric-à-brac_; but it
has been so cut through by new streets and boulevards that it has almost
been improved out of existence. At the foot of it, in a little street
turning on from the Quai de la Tourelle, is all that remains of the
famous college of the Bernardins, now used by the _sapeurs-pompiers_.
The college was founded by an Englishman, Stephen of Lexington, Abbot of
Clairvaux, in 1244, upon some ground belonging to the rich abbey of S.
Victor; Alphonse, the brother of S. Louis, being the titular founder and
protector of the establishment. The great church, begun in 1338 by Pope
Benedict XII. and Cardinal Curti, to replace the one built by Stephen
Lexington, was never finished, but was considered, in the 14th century,
to be of great beauty. (Pope Benedict, as Jacques Fournier, was
professor of theology in the college.) But more fortunate than the
church, the refectory has remained intact in all its beauty until our
own time, though unfortunately, in 1845, it was sadly mutilated in order
to adapt it for use as a barrack. A portion of the cloister may still be
seen in the Rue de Poissy, a pointed arch built into the modern wall of
a house with square windows in between. It is time the municipality of
Paris or the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings bestirred
itself to restore the few fragments of old Paris which yet remain. The
Revolution did much damage, but often it only put the conventual
buildings to secular uses without destroying them, leaving for later
governments, and those moreover professedly religious, to utterly
demolish the mutilated monasteries and churches, in order to make
straight streets and spacious boulevards, which, beautiful as they are,
do not prevent us from regretting the past.
The convent of S. Geneviève was founded by Clovis, and so extensive were
its lands and dependencies that ere long it drew to it a large
population of workmen and labourers for the cultivation of its land. A
priest, one of the monks of the abbey, was appointed to take spiritual
charge of these people; and from this commencement grew the parish of S.
Étienne. Originally the congregation met and worshipped in the crypt of
the abbey church, which was dedicated to Our Lady; then the chapel was
placed under the protection of S. John the Evangelist, and called St.
Jean-du-Mont. But at the beginning of the 13th century the congregation
outgrew its chapel, and in
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