Chapter 24

That Falaise was built by the Saxons, may probably, with justice, be inferred from the fact of its being casually mentioned during the reign of Rollo, as one of the places through which he passed in the year 912, while visiting the different parts of his duchy. The town cannot but have been of importance in the time of his son, William Longue-Epée; as that prince is stated to have received great assistance from the inhabitants of Falaise, and the district of the Hiémois, when engaged in a war with the people of Brittany. It is more than possible that the fortifications were added, and the castle erected, by one or the other of these sovereigns.[198] Their immediate successor, Richard Sans-Peur, is stated to have made considerable additions to the works of the place, which, in the early part of the following century, under Richard III. the fifth of the Norman dukes, was unquestionably one of the strongest holds of the province. Not long afterwards, Falaise rose into new importance, as the residence of Robert, father to the Conqueror, and the birth-place of that sovereign himself, to whom it rendered acceptable service during his youth, upon the occasion of the formidable conspiracy of the Norman barons, headed by Guy de Bourgogne, in 1046. The prince, then at Valognes, escaped with difficulty from the poniards of the assassins to Falaise, where he was received with open arms. Falaise was at that time the capital of the Hiémois. In the reign of Henry II. of England, the castle was used as a state prison, and was selected as the place of confinement of Robert, Earl of Leicester, when taken prisoner in 1173, commanding the French forces in England. At a subsequent, but not far distant period, Brito, the poetical chronicler of the deeds of Philip-Augustus, in speaking of the final subjection of Normandy to that king, mentions the town of Falaise and its capture, in the following verses:--

"Vicus erat scabrâ circumdatus undique rupe, Ipsius asperitate loci Falæsa vocatus, Normannæ in medio regionis, cujus in altâ Turres rupe sedent et moenia, sic ut ad illam Jactus nemo putet aliquos contingere posse. Hunc rex innumeris circumdedit undique signis, Perque dies septem varia instrumenta parabat, Moenibus ut fractis villâ potiatur et arcâ: Verùm burgenses et præcipue Lupicarus, Cui patriæ curam dederat rex Anglicus omnem, Elegere magis illæsum reddere castrum, Omni re salvâ cum libertatis honore, Quàm belli tentare vices et denique vinci."

The foregoing was the fourth of the nine sieges that have rendered the name of Falaise memorable in Norman history. The first of them had taken place in 1027, when Falaise presumed to shelter Robert, the father of the Conqueror, during his rebellion against his brother, Duke Richard III. In point of importance, none of the sieges were equal to those of 1417 and 1589. Upon the former of those occasions, Henry V. flushed by the success that had unremittingly attended his arms, since his glorious victory at Agincourt, led his troops in person against the town, which he expected would fall an easy prey. But it resisted an incessant bombardment for three months, and did not finally surrender, till the fortifications had sustained such essential injuries, that the repairing of them by the besieged, at their own charge, was made one of the leading articles of the capitulation. It was upon this occasion, that the lofty circular tower, one of the principal objects in both these plates, was added to the castle. Tradition ascribes its erection to the celebrated English general, Talbot, then governor of the town; and, even to the present day, it bears his name.[199]

The last siege of Falaise, that of December, 1589, was occasioned by the devoted adherence of the inhabitants to the League, and their consequent refusal to recognize Henry IV. as their sovereign, on account of his attachment to the Protestant faith. In defence of their creed, they had already sustained one siege in the month of July of the same year; and, headed by the Count de Brissac, governor of the castle, had repulsed the royal troops under the command of the Duke de Montpensier. But the new sovereign was not a man to be trifled with; and when Brissac, upon being summoned to surrender, replied, according to the words of De Thou, "religione se prohiberi; sumpto quippe Dominici corporis sacramento, fidem suis obligâsse de deditione se prorsùs non acturum;" the king is reported, by the same noble historian, to have returned in answer, "se menses ad totidem dies contracturum, intra quos illum, sed magno suo cum damno, religione soluturus esset." The garrison, notwithstanding these threats, did not relax in their opposition, and the town was finally taken by assault, the frost enabling the assailants to cross the moat. On this, the Count de Brissac retired to the castle, which he surrendered about a month afterwards.

Falaise appears in the religious annals of Normandy, as the seat of an abbey, founded in 1127, and first occupied by regular canons of the order of St. Augustine, and placed under the invocation of St. Michael, the Archangel; but shortly afterwards transferred to the Præmonstratensian friars, and dedicated to St. John the Baptist. The monastery is said to have taken its rise from an hospital, established by a wealthy inhabitant, in consequence of a beggar having died of cold and hunger in his barn. A bull from Pope Sextus IV. dated in 1475, conferred upon the abbots the privilege of wearing the mitre, ring, and pontifical insignia, together with various other honorary distinctions. The revolution deprived Falaise of its abbey and eight churches. It now retains only four; two within the walls, and two in the suburbs. Its population is estimated at about ten thousand inhabitants.

The castle of Falaise is with justice regarded by Mr. Turner, as one of the proudest relics of Norman antiquity. The following description of it, as more copious than any other that has yet appeared, is transcribed verbatim from the Tour[200] of that author:--"It is situated on a very bold and lofty rock, broken into singular and fantastic masses, and covered with luxurious vegetation. The keep which towers above it is of excellent masonry: the stones are accurately squared, and put together with great neatness, and the joints are small; and the arches are turned clearly and distinctly, with the key-stone or wedge accurately placed in all of them. Some parts of the wall, towards the interior ballium, are not built of squared freestone; but of the dark stone of the country, disposed in a zig-zag, or, as it is more commonly called, in a herring-bone direction, with a great deal of mortar in the interstices: the buttresses, or rather piers, are of small projection, but great width. The upper story, destroyed about forty years since, was of a different style of architecture. According to an old print,[201] it terminated with a large battlement, and bartizan towers at the angles. This dungeon was formerly divided into several apartments, in one of the lower of which was found, about half a century ago, a very ancient tomb, of good workmanship, ornamented with a sphynx at each end, but bearing no inscription whatever. Common report ascribed the coffin to Talbot, who was for many years governor of the castle; and at length an individual engraved upon it an epitaph to his honor: but the fraud was discovered, and the sarcophagus put aside, as of no account. The second, or principal, story of the keep, now forms a single square room, about fifty feet wide, lighted by circular-headed windows, each divided into two by a short and massy central pillar, whose capital is altogether Norman. On one of the capitals is sculptured a child leading a lamb,[202] a representation, as it is foolishly said, of the Conqueror, whom tradition alledges to have been born in the apartment to which this window belonged: another pillar has an elegant capital, composed of interlaced bands.--Connected with the dungeon by a stone staircase is a small apartment, very much dilapidated, but still retaining a portion of its original facing of Caen stone. It was from the window of this apartment, as the story commonly goes, that Duke Robert first saw the beautiful Arlette, drawing water from the streamlet below, and was enamoured of her charms, and took her to his bed.--According to another version of the tale, the earliest interview between the prince and his fair mistress, took place as Robert was returning from the chace, with his mind full of anger against the inhabitants of Falaise, for having presumed to kill the deer which he had commanded should be preserved for his royal pastime. In this offence the curriers of the town had borne the principal share, and they were therefore principally marked out for punishment. But, fortunately for them, Arlette, the daughter of one Verpray, the most culpable of the number, met the offended Duke while riding through the street, and with her beauty so fascinated him, that she not only obtained the pardon of her father and his associates, but became his mistress, and continued so as long as he lived. From her, if we may give credence to the old chroniclers, is derived our English word, _harlot_. The fruit of their union was William the Conqueror, whose illegitimate birth, and the low extraction of his mother, served on more than one occasion as a pretext for conspiracies against his throne, and were frequently the subject of personal mortification to himself.--The walls in this part of the castle are from eight to nine feet thick. A portion of them has been hollowed out, so as to form a couple of small rooms. The old door-way of the keep is at the angle; the returns are reeded, ending in a square impost; the arch above is destroyed.--Talbot's tower, thus called from having been built by that general, in 1430 and the two subsequent years, is connected with the keep by means of a long passage with lancet windows, that widen greatly inwards. It is more than one hundred feet high, and is a beautiful piece of masonry, as perfect, apparently, as on the day when it was erected, and as firm as the rock on which it stands. This tower is ascended by a staircase concealed within the substance of the walls, whose thickness is full fifteen feet towards the base, and does not decrease more than three feet near the summit. Another aperture in them serves for a well, which thus communicates with every apartment in the tower. Most of the arches in this tower have circular heads: the windows are square.--The walls and towers which encircle the keep are of much later date; the principal gate-way is pointed. Immediately on entering, is seen the very ancient chapel, dedicated to St. Priscus, or, as he is called in French, St. Prix. The east end with three circular-headed windows, retains its original lines: the masonry is firm and good. Fantastic corbels surround the summit of the lateral walls. Within, a semi-circular arch resting upon short pillars with sculptured capitals, divides the choir from the nave. In other respects the building has been much altered. Henry V. repaired it in 1418, and it has been since dilapidated and restored. A pile of buildings beyond, wholly modern in the exterior, is now inhabited as a seminary, or college. There are some circular arches within, which shew that these buildings belonged to the original structure.--Altogether the castle is a noble ruin. Though the keep is destitute of the enrichments of Norwich or Castle-Rising, it possesses an impressive character of strength, which is much increased by the extraordinary freshness of the masonry. The fosses of the castle are planted with lofty trees, which shade and intermingle with the towers and ramparts; and on every side they groupe themselves with picturesque beauty. It is said that the municipality intend to _restore_ Talbot's tower and the keep, by replacing the demolished battlements; but I should hope that no other repairs may take place, except such as may be necessary for the preservation of the edifice; and I do not think it needs any, except the insertion of clamps in the central columns of two of the windows, which are much shattered."

NOTES:

[198] At the same time that no record whatever has been preserved relative to the date of the building of the castle at Falaise, the Norman chroniclers have carefully recorded the æras of the erection of the other castles in the neighborhood. That of Domfront, according to them, was built A.D. 1011 and 1014, by the Counts of Alençon; that of Caen, by William the Conqueror, but much increased by his son, Henry I.; that of Vignats, a league and a half from Falaise, about the year 1096, during the dukedom of Robert, by Robert of Montgomery, Count of Alençon, and Viscount of Hiêmes and of Falaise; and that of Argentan, by Henry I. King of England, by way of protection against his son-in-law, Geoffrey Plantagenet.--_Recherches Historiques sur Falaise_, p. 22.

[199] According to Langevin, p. 30, Talbot likewise added to the castle, some noble apartments, ornamented with paintings, which also passed under his name, and of which some portions were still standing a few years ago.

[200] Vol. II. p. 266.

[201] This print has lately been copied into _Mr. Dibdin's Tour_, vol. II. p. 11.

[202] Mr. Turner appears to be in error with regard to this capital: Mr. Cotman, who examined it more attentively, found the child to be holding _two animals_ in a leash; and he supposes them to be greyhounds, comparing them with a very similar piece of sculpture upon one of the capitals in the bishop's palace, in the castle at Durham, erected by the Conqueror.--See _Carter's Ancient Architecture_, I. pl. 17, fig. P.

PLATE XCI.

INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH OF CREULLY.

Creully, whose church has been here selected for publication, as a favorable specimen of genuine Norman architecture, is a small market-town of the diocese of Bayeux, situated about six miles to the east of the city of that name, and fifteen miles north-west of Caen. It is an ancient barony, having been honored with that distinction by Henry I. in favor of his natural son, the Earl of Glocester, many of whose descendants, according to Masseville, were still living in Normandy in the eighteenth century, and bore the name of Creully. The same author makes mention of the Lords of Creully, on more than one occasion, in the course of his Norman history.--They are to be found in the list of the barons that accompanied Duke Robert to the Holy Land, in 1099; and when the Genoese, in 1390, called upon the King of France for succours against the infidels of the coast of Barbary, and the pious monarch sent an army to their relief, under the command of the Duke of Bourbon, the name of the Seigneur de Creully stands prominent among those who embarked upon that unfortunate expedition. Again, in 1302, the Baron of Creully held the fifth place among the nine lords from the bailiwick of Caen, who were summoned to sit in the Norman exchequer.

From the days of the Earl of Glocester to the breaking out of the French revolution, the barony of Creully continued to be held by different noble families. In the early part of the eighteenth century, when Masseville published his work, it was in the hands of the heirs of M. de Seigneley-Colbert, who likewise possessed other considerable domains in Normandy. The last that had the title was a member of the family of Montmorenci.--His emigration caused the estate to be confiscated, and sold as national property; but the baronial castle is now standing, and displays, in two of its towers, and in a chimney of unusual form, a portion of its ancient character. The rest of the building is modernized into a spruce, comfortable residence, which, in 1818, was occupied by an English general of the name of Hodgson.[203]

The writer of this article has met with no records connected with the church of Creully.--Externally, it is wholly modernized; but within, the nave, side-aisles, and choir, are all purely Norman, except at the extremities. The piers are very massy; the arches wide and low; the capitals covered with rude, but remarkable sculpture, which is varied on every pillar; and the walls are of extraordinary thickness.

NOTES:

[203] _Turner's Tour in Normandy_, II. p. 264.

PLATES XCII.--XCIV.

CATHEDRAL AT COUTANCES.

The diocese of Coutances, embracing the north-western portion of Celtic Gaul, appears to have been the last part of the country that was visited by the light of Christianity; but its historians boast that the tardy approach of the rays of gospel-truth has been more than compensated by their subsequent brilliancy; for that in no other of the Norman dioceses has the sun of revelation blazed with equal splendor, or given birth to fruits of equal excellence. Thus, according to Rouault,[204] as early as the fifth century, and during the whole of the two following, and a portion of the eighth, the Côtentin was so celebrated, by reason of the great number of saints, who were either natives of the country, or had retired thither as to a place of safe retreat, that it was regarded as being honored with the divine favor, beyond any other district in France. No fewer than fifteen holy men, enshrined in the Roman calendar, are said to have resided there at or near the same period; and, while their lustre irradiated the episcopal mitre, its beams extended to the remote fastnesses of the desert of Scycy, near Granville, then celebrated for the sanctity of its hermits. At a time not long subsequent, St. Algeronde and Theodoric, both of them bishops of Coutances, and the martyrs, Leo, Philip, and Gervais, three natives of Carentan, became principal instruments towards the conversion of the heathen Normans. History also records, that it was in the house of St. Clair, one of the protectors of this diocese, that the treaty was finally concluded, in conformity with which, the chief of the infidels was, with his followers, admitted within the pale of the church.

The foundation of the see of Coutances is commonly supposed to have taken place about the middle of the fifth century, during the latter years of the papacy of Celestine I. and of the reign of Pharamond, in France. The see lays claim to the proud distinction of having enriched the beatified calendar with the names of at least fifteen of its bishops; of having added one to the list of the successors of St. Peter; of having supplied six cardinals to the holy college; and of having produced an equal number of martyrs. And if to this catalogue, already great, be joined the many anchorites of Scycy and of Nanteuil, who have been promoted to the episcopal dignity, _a whole legend_, to use the words of a pious author, may be filled with the lives and the miracles of the holy men of Coutances.

In turning from the ecclesiastical to the secular annals of the diocese, the barons of the Côtentin scarcely occupy a less distinguished place. The histories of the Crusades, in particular, abound with their exploits. Hauteville, near Coutances, boasts to have given birth and title to Tancred, of immortal memory; who, either himself, or by his descendants, founded the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, and reigned over almost the whole of Italy; while, with their victorious forces, they exterminated the Saracens, protected the holy see, supported the Cretans in the east, and carried their conquering arms to the utmost confines of the Greek empire. To them, also, the chivalrous institution of the Golden Fleece owes its origin; and so extraordinary were their exploits, that they might pass for fabulous, had they occurred in a more remote age, and did not the concurring testimony of historians unite to stamp them with the seal of truth.

According to the ecclesiastical division of France before the revolution, the diocese of Coutances was bounded to the south by that of Avranches, and to the east by that of Bayeux, while, in the two remaining divisions, its limits were circumscribed by the ocean.[205] At present, it includes the whole department of La Manche; the suppression of the bishopric of Avranches having added considerably to its extent.--In Roman Gaul, Coutances was included in the province called the _Lugdunensis secunda_: but, on the subject of the foundation or early history of the city, authors are, as commonly happens, much at variance, ascribing to it, according to their fancies or their prejudices, very different degrees of antiquity. Those who are most disposed to do it honor in this respect, contend that it was the capital of the tribe mentioned by Cæsar, in his _Commentaries_, under the name of _Unelli_; and called by Pliny, _Venelli_; and by Ptolemy, _Veneli_. They are guided in this opinion exclusively by locality. Others, with a greater appearance of probability, at least as far as any reliance may be placed upon etymology, maintain that Coutances had no existence before the days of the Emperor, Constantius Chlorus, father to Constantine the Great. There have also not been wanting writers who have referred its origin to Constantine himself, or who have maintained that it was indebted for its name to its _constant_ and vigorous opposition to the Roman power. The second of these opinions appears to have obtained general credence in the time of Ordericus Vitalis, who, in speaking of Constantius, expressly says, "Hic in Neustriâ civitatem condidit, quam a nomine suo _Constantiam_ nominavit." Ammianus Marcellinus adds strength to the same belief, when he calls Coutances, _Constantia castra_. It is probable that the city was in reality the seat of the Emperor's camp, at the time when he was about to lead his forces into Britain.

Of the future progress of the town, and the steps by which it rose to its present eminence, no account whatever is left. History, so profuse in details respecting many other places in Normandy, far inferior in size and in distinction, has done little more with regard to the capital of the Côtentin, than record the bare facts,--that it was pillaged by the Normans in 888; was sold by Duke Robert to his brother, Henry I. in 1087; was taken by the Count of Anjou, in the twelfth year of the following century; was, thirty years subsequently, surrendered to the Empress Maude; was wrested from John, by Philip-Augustus, in 1202; in 1418, opened its gates to the victorious arms of Henry V.; and, after remaining for thirty-one years in the hands of the English, was finally re-united to the crown of France. In 1465, Coutances lost its military character: its walls were then destroyed, and the fortifications rased, by order of Louis XI. as a punishment upon the inhabitants for their conduct, in aiding the treasonable attempt of Charles, the brother of the monarch, to obtain forcible possession of the dukedom of Normandy.[206] Not long subsequently, Francis I. gladdened the city with the royal presence, on his return from his pilgrimage to Mont St. Michel, in 1487; and his grandson, Henry III. bestowed upon it the distinction of being the capital of the bailiwick; soon after which, it suffered severely during the religious wars, especially when it fell into the power of the Calvinists, in 1562. Those merciless religionists pillaged it with an unsparing hand, even consigning a portion of it to the flames: they sacked the churches, and carried off the prelate, whom they forced to accompany them upon an ass, with his face turned to its tail.