Chapter 1

ARCHITECTURAL

ANTIQUITIES

OF

NORMANDY,

BY JOHN SELL COTMAN;

ACCOMPANIED BY HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE NOTICES BY DAWSON TURNER, ESQ. F.R. AND A.S.

VOLUME THE FIRST.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR JOHN AND ARTHUR ARCH, CORNHILL; AND J. S. COTMAN, YARMOUTH.

MDCCCXXII.

PREFACE.

An artist, engaged in the illustration of the Architectural Antiquities of England, could scarcely do otherwise than often cast a wistful look towards the opposite shores of Normandy; and such would particularly be the case, if, like Mr. Cotman, to a strong attachment to his profession and the subject, he should chance to add a residence in Norfolk. This portion of the kingdom of the East-Angles, in its language and in its customs, but especially in the remains of its ancient ecclesiastical architecture, abounds in vestiges of its Teutonic colonists. The richly ornamented door-ways of its village churches have, in particular, long been the theme of admiration among antiquaries. Bred up in the midst of these, and warmly partaking in the admiration of them, Mr. Cotman devoted his pencil and his graver to the diffusion of their fame. Common report, aided by the suffrages of the learned, and in some degree by locality, designated them as Saxon: at the same time, when they were compared with what is left in Britain, of workmanship avowedly Norman, the points of dissimilarity appeared trifling or altogether vanished. Was it then to be inferred that, between Norman and Saxon architecture, there was really no difference; and, carrying the inference one step farther, that the hordes of barbarians denominated by these different appellations, although they might not have embarked at the same port, were only cognate tribes of one common origin, if not in reality the same? The solution of the first of these questions, the only one immediately in view, seemed best to be sought in that province of France, where the Norman power had been most permanently established, and where it was therefore reasonably to be expected, that genuine productions of Norman art might, if any where, be found. With this view, Mr. Cotman crossed the channel; and the result of three successive journies, in the years 1817, 1818, and 1820, is here submitted to the public.

Those who find pleasure in inquiries of this description, will join in the regret, that an undertaking like the present was so long delayed. Incalculable had been the advantages, had it but commenced previously to the period of the French revolution. That fearful storm burst with tremendous violence upon the castles of barons, the palaces of kings, and the temples of religion. Many of the most sumptuous edifices, which had mocked the hand of time, and had been respected amidst the ravages of foreign or domestic warfare, were then swept from the face of the earth. Others, degraded, deserted, neglected, and dilapidated, are at this moment hastening fast to their decay. Yet no small portion of what is valuable has been happily left. The two royal abbeys of Caen, though shorn of much of their former grandeur, are still nearly entire. Château Gaillard, the pride of Richard's lion heart, and the noble castles of Arques and of Falaise, retain sufficient of their ancient magnificence, to testify what they must have been in the days of their splendor: the towns and châteaus, which were the cradles of the Harcourts, Vernons, Tancarvilles, Gurneys, Bruces, Bohuns, Grenvilles, St. Johns, and many others of the most illustrious English families, are still in existence; and, of more modern date, when the British Edwards and Henrys resumed the Norman sceptre, numerous buildings of the highest beauty are every where to be met with. In his researches after these, Mr. Cotman had the advantage of being assisted by the kindness of three of the most distinguished antiquaries of the present day, M. le Prevost, M. Rondeau, and M. de Gerville, but particularly by the last, whose friendly help has likewise extended towards the preparing of the letter-press for many of the articles from the western part of the province. It were ungrateful not to acknowledge the assistance derived from Mr. Cohen, in the same department. The value of his aid, which has been most freely contributed, can be duly appreciated by those alone who have had opportunities of judging of the accuracy and extent of his knowledge.

In the selection of subjects for engraving, attention has been principally paid to two points, excellence in the objects themselves, and certainty as to dates; but the greatest stress has been laid upon the latter. The author of a work which professes to be in any degree didactic, can never impress too strongly upon his mind the value of the Roman precept, "prodesse quàm delectare;" and an artist, accustomed by his habits to the contemplation of the beautiful and the picturesque, requires above all men to be warned on this head. Many of the buildings here represented, might easily have been exchanged for others, more perfect, more elegant, or more ornamented; but it is hoped that they could not have been exchanged for those that would have been more instructive. The main object of the publication has been to exhibit a series of specimens of Norman architecture, as they actually exist in Normandy itself; and, by taking those whose dates are best defined, to enable the antiquary and the amateur of other countries, not only to know the state of this extraordinary people, as to their arts, at the epoch of their greatest glory, but also to compare what is in Normandy with what they find at home. Another volume, devoted to the illustration of the same description of architecture, in the south of France, in Italy, and in Sicily, would fill a hiatus, whose existence has long been regretted. In Germany, Denmark, and Sweden, it is to be feared that little remains; and, thanks to the spirit of English artists and to the patronage of the English public, what is in this country is already in a great measure recorded. To an Englishman, it is hoped it may be a source of venial self-congratulation, that the first publication upon Norman architecture originates in his own island: he will likewise probably not be displeased to find, that this collection of the finest remaining specimens of Norman art upon the continent, contains nothing which he cannot rival, indeed surpass, at home.

But, at the same time that the principal end proposed in this work has been to set before the public those edifices, whether sacred, military, or domestic, which were erected during the age most properly designated as Norman, the æra anterior to the union of the ducal coronet with the crown of France, it has been felt that, in whatever light the publication might be regarded, it would be incomplete without the addition of other buildings of a subsequent period. A farther number of specimens has therefore been admitted, conducting the series through the style of architecture, commonly termed Gothic, down to the time when that style finally disappeared before an Italian model, more or less debased.

In the descriptive portion of these volumes, attention has been almost exclusively directed to two points, the historical and the architectural. On the latter of these, so much has been said under each separate article, that whatever might be added in this place could be little more than repetition; and the history of Normandy, from the establishment of the dukedom to the beginning of the thirteenth century, is so interwoven with that of England, that it has been considered needless here to insert an epitome of it, as had at first been intended. In lieu of this, a Table is subjoined, exhibiting the succession, marriages and progeny of the Norman Princes, copied from Du Moulin; and such Table can scarcely be regarded otherwise than useful, as bringing the whole under the eye in a single point of view: a Chronological Index, it is hoped, may in a great measure answer the same purpose as to architecture. It is only justice, however, to add, that, in this Index, much has necessarily been left to conjecture; and, where it is so, the author naturally expects that others will occasionally differ from him in opinion; especially as no opportunity is afforded him of detailing the grounds whereby he has formed his own. Upon the subject most likely to create doubts and difficulties, the very early date assigned to the employment of the pointed arch, he begs the attention of the reader to those authorities, which, in his judgment, warrant the conclusion he has drawn. If mistaken in this, or in any other point, he will be most thankful for correction; and, in the language of that author, who is, as he long has been and probably always will be, more than any other the object of quotation, he takes leave, with the well-known valedictory lines,

"Vive, vale; si quid novisti rectius istis, Candidus imperti; si non, his utere mecum."

SUBJECTS CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED.

In the following list, an Obelisk is affixed to the dates which depend upon conjecture. Those preceded by an Asterisk denote the year of the dedication of the building.

NO. OF PLATES. DATE.

53. _Rouen_, Crypt in the Church of St. Gervais before + 1000 13. _St. Sauveur le Vicomte_, Castle before + 1000 69. _Lillebonne_, Castle + 1000 48. _Caen_, Chapel in the Castle + 1000 89, 90. _Falaise_, Castle--Keep of + 1000 83. _St. Sanson sur Rille_, Church + 1020 67. _Anisy_, Church + 1030 68. _Perriers_, Church--Nave of + 1030 97. _Cerisy_, Abbey Church 1040 95. _Mount St. Michael_, Abbey Church--Nave of 1048 87, 88. _St. Lo_, Church of the Holy Cross--(some of the sculpture probably of the ninth century) + 1050 1. _Arques_, Castle + 1050 84. _Foullebec_, Western door-way of the Church + 1050 70. _Briquebec_, Castle--(the multangular tower probably of the fourteenth century) + 1050 5-10. _St. Georges de Bocherville_, Abbey Church 1050 92-94. _Coutances_, Cathedral * 1056 17. _Tamerville_, Church + 1060 44-46. _Léry_, Church + 1060 54. _Rouen_, Church of St. Paul + 1060 73-75. _Lisieux_, Church of St. Peter 1060 55, 56. _Caen_, Church of St. Nicholas 1066 24-33. _Ditto_, Abbey Church of the Holy Trinity * 1066 82. _Montivilliers_, Abbey Church--Towers and door-way + 1066 2, 3. _Jumieges_, Abbey Church * 1067 60, 61. _Fontaine-le-Henri_, Church + 1070 21-23. _Caen_, Abbey Church of St. Stephen * 1077 57. _Cheux_, Church + 1080 98. _Oyestraham_, Church + 1080 58, 59. _Bieville_, Church + 1080 * 33. _Caen_, Tombstone of Queen Matilda 1083 37. _Haute Allemagne_, Tower of Church + 1100 16. _Than_, Church + 1100 18. _Caen_, Tower of the Church of St. Michel de Vaucelles + 1100 12. _Grâville_, Church 1100 99, 100. _Séez_, Cathedral * 1126 14. _St. Sauveur le Vicomte_, Abbey Church + 1130 96. _Mount St. Michael_, Knights' Hall 1130 39-41. _Gournay_, Church of St. Hildebert--Interior of the nave, and capitals of columns + 1140 20. _Statue of William the Conqueror_ + 1150 91. _Creully_, Church + 1150 11. _St. Georges de Bocherville_, Sculpture in the Chapter House 1170 42, 43. _Rouen_, Chapel of the Hospital of St. Julien + 1190 80, 81. _Château Gaillard_ 1195 51, 52. _Rouen Cathedral_, West front--Northern Tower 1200 47. _Colomby_, Church + 1200 68. _Perriers_, Church--Choir + 1230 38. _Gournay_, Church of St. Hildebert--West front + 1250 4. _Jumieges_, Entrance to the Knights' Hall + 1280 76. _Rouen_, Church of St. Ouen 1340 71. _Fécamp_, Southern entrance of the Church of St. Stephen + 1340 35. _Dieppe_, Church of St. Jacques--Western front--(the tower probably fifty years earlier) + 1350 72. _Eu_, Screen in the Church of St. Lawrence + 1360 66. _Tréport_, Church 1370 19. _Caen_, South Porch of the Church of St. Michel de Vaucelles + 1380 82. _Montivilliers_, Abbey Church--Chapter-House 1390 36. _Dieppe_, Eastern end of the Church of St. Jacques + 1400 79. _Louviers_, South porch of the Church + 1420 85, 86. _Tancarville_, Castle + 1420 89, 90. _Falaise_, Castle--Talbot's Tower 1430 34. _Dieppe_, Castle + 1450 51, 52. _Rouen Cathedral_, Western front--Southern Tower 1485 95. _Mount St. Michael_, Abbey Church--Choir 1500 78. _Rouen_, Palace of Justice 1500 77. _Ditto_, Fountain of the Stone Cross 1500 68. _Caen_, House in the Rue St. Jean + 1500 62, 63. _Fontaine-le-Henri_, Château + 1500 49, 50. _Rouen Cathedral_, Southern Transept 1500 51, 52. _Ditto_, Western Front--Porch 1509 15. _Andelys_, Great House + 1530 64. _Rouen_, House in the Place de la Pucelle + 1540

PLATES IN THE FIRST VOLUME.

PLATE.

1. Castle of Arques to face page 1 2. Abbey Church of Jumieges, West Front 2 3. -- -- -- -- Parts of the Nave 3 4. -- -- -- -- Arch on the West Front 3 5. Abbey Church of St. Georges de Bocherville, West Front 4 6. -- -- -- -- -- -- General View 4 7. -- -- -- -- -- -- West Entrance 5 8. -- -- -- -- -- -- South Transept 5 9. -- -- -- -- -- -- Sculptured Capitals 5 10. -- -- -- -- -- -- Ditto 6 11. -- -- -- -- -- -- Sculptures in the Cloisters 6 12. Church of Grâville 7 13. Castle of St. Sauveur le Vicomte 8 14. Abbey Church of St. Sauveur le Vicomte 11 15. Great House at Andelys 13 16. Church of Than 16 17. Church of Tamerville 17 18. Tower of the Church of St. Michel de Vaucelles, Caen 18 19. North Porch of Ditto 18 20. Statue of William, Duke of Normandy 20 21. \ Abbey Church of St. Etienne, Caen, West Front 21 22. / 23. -- -- -- -- Compartments of the Nave 24 24. Abbey Church of the Holy Trinity, Caen 27 25. -- -- -- -- East End 32 26. -- -- -- -- East End of Interior 32 27. -- -- -- -- North Side of the Choir 32 28. -- -- -- -- Arches under the central Tower 33 29. -- -- -- -- East Side of South Transept 33 30. -- -- -- -- Interior of the Nave 33 31. -- -- -- -- South Side of the Nave 34 32. -- -- -- -- Crypt 34 33. -- -- -- -- Capitals 34 33.* Inscription on the Tomb of Queen Matilda 35 34. Castle of Dieppe 35 35. Church of St. Jacques, at Dieppe, West Front 38 36. -- -- -- -- East End 38 37. Tower of the Church of Haute Allemagne, near Caen 39 38. Collegiate Church of St. Hildebert, at Gournay, West Front 39 39. -- -- -- -- -- -- View across the Nave 41 40. -- -- -- -- -- -- Capitals 42 41. -- -- -- -- -- -- Capitals 42 42. Chapel in the Hospital of St. Julien, near Rouen, South Side 43 43. -- -- -- -- -- -- Interior 44 44. Church of Léry, near Pont de l'Arche, General View 45 45. -- -- -- -- -- West Front 46 46. -- -- -- -- -- Interior 46 47. Elevation of the Church of Colomby, near Valognes 47 48. Chapel in the Castle at Caen 48 49. \ Cathedral Church of Notre Dame, of Rouen, South Transept 50 50. / 51. \ -- -- -- -- -- -- West Front 51 52. / 53. Crypt in the Church of St. Gervais, at Rouen 56 54. Church of St. Paul, at Rouen, East End 57

GENEALOGY OF THE NORMAN DUKES. ===============