Chapter 27

Architecturally considered, the church of Cerisy is an interesting relic of Norman workmanship. The certainty of its date, not far removed from the year 1032, and the comparatively few alterations it has undergone, render it one of those landmarks, by the aid of which the observer of the present day can alone attain to any certainty in his inquiries into ancient art. And yet, in the portion here selected for engraving, the upper row of windows is of an æra posterior to the rest; and the great arch in front has evidently changed its semi-circular form for a pointed one. Its height is unusual and impressive. Both taken collectively and in its parts, the church bears a strong resemblance to that nearly coeval at St. Georges; like which, it is now appropriated to parochial purposes, and is still of great size,[218] though the whole of the portion originally parochial, and which extended one hundred and twenty-four feet beyond what remains of the nave, has been recently pulled down. The principal front of the building, which faced the north, its position being north and south, has been consequently destroyed. The style of the edifice is characterized by a noble and severe simplicity: the capitals of the columns are, indeed, enriched with sculptured foliage or animals, or occasionally with small heads placed in the middle of a surface otherwise plain; but elsewhere the decorations are very sparingly distributed. They are confined to the chevron and billet mouldings; the latter the most ancient and most rare among the Norman ornaments. Both the transepts are parted off, as at St. Georges, by screens near the extremities: these screens at Cerisy are surmounted by an elegant parapet of semi-circular arches, a singular and very beautiful addition.

NOTES:

[218] The following are the dimensions of the church, according to Mr. Cotman.

FEET. Length of the nave 98 Ditto of choir 64 Ditto of transepts and intervening part of the nave 118 Width of nave 73 Ditto of transepts 31 Ditto of choir, without the side-chapels 28 Height of nave 70

Before the demolition of the western extremity, the nave was two hundred and twenty-six feet long, and the total length of the building two hundred and ninety feet.

PLATE XCVIII.

CHURCH AT OYESTRAHAM.

Oyestraham, or, as it is more commonly written, Estreham, is a village situated upon the left bank of the Orne, near its confluence with the channel. Its name, derived from the Saxon,[219] seems to point it out as a settlement made by those daring invaders: its church, one of the first objects that presents itself to the English traveller, on his entering France in the direction of Caen, is well calculated to impress him with a forcible idea of the magnificence of the Norman lords of the duchy. That it was built in the time of their sway, is a fact which cannot be doubted; but, in an architectural point of view, it is so full of anomalies, that opinions would be likely to vary considerably with regard to the actual date of its erection. And here, unfortunately, no records remain to guide the judgment. In the western front, indeed! (_the subject of the plate_) the whole is of the semi-circular style, and uniform. The upper tier of arches will find a parallel in the towers of the abbey of Jumieges, built during the reign of the Conqueror; and most of the other members and decorations are of frequent occurrence in erections of the same æra. A peculiarity is alone observable in the smaller arches of the second row, in which the artist has indulged himself in what may be termed an architectural conceit, lengthening, to a very disproportionate degree, and almost in the moorish fashion, the part above the capital, in order that the whole might range in a line with the larger arch in the centre. The truncated appearance of the wall on either side, leads to the obvious inference, that either this front had originally towers, like the church of St. Nicholas, at Caen, or that it was intended there should have been such. A central tower now alone remains, of square form, with massive buttresses of unusual size, projecting towards the south. This tower, as well as the portion of the church to the east of it, exhibits the Norman and Gothic architecture mixed in a very uncommon manner. Of three rows of arches, the lowest and highest belong to the latter style; the central one only to the former. In the nave, all is Norman, excepting only two lancet windows of the upper tier, placed near the west end, on the south side, and excepting also the flying buttresses that extend from between the windows of the clerestory to the projecting aisles below. Within the choir, the trefoil-headed arch takes, in some instances, the place of the pointed in the lower row, which is wholly blank; and the capitals of the pillars, according to Mr. Cotman, shew an extraordinary playfulness of design. The arches above them are pierced for windows. Both the semi-circular ones of the second tier, and the pointed ones above, are extremely narrow, seen from without, but widen greatly within; the wall being of more than ordinary thickness. The piers of the nave are six feet five inches in diameter, while the intervening spaces scarcely exceed ten feet.

NOTES:

[219] On this subject, see _Huet, Origines de Caen_, p. 299.--"Estreham est le nom d'un bourg situé à l'embouchure de l'Orne, et d'un autre dans le Bessin. Mr. Bochart le faisoit, venir d'_Easter_, Déesse des anciens Saxons. Et comme il avoit entrepris de rapporter les anciennes origines à la langue et à la doctrine des Phéniciens il prétendoit que cette Easter étoit la même qu'Astarté. Ses sacrifices se faisoient au commencement du printems; et de la vient que les Saxons appellerent Easter le mois auquel se célebre la Pâque. Skinnerus ne s'éloigne pas beaucoup de ce sentiment dans son Etymologique de la langue Angloise. Mr. Valois tire le nom d'Estreham du Latin _Strata_, et de l'Allemand _Hamum_, pour marquer une Demeure bâtie sur un chemin public, ou au bout d'un chemin public, comme si le bourg d'Estreham étoit sur un grand chemin, ou au bout d'un chemin public: et qu'il ne fût pas sur une extrêmité de terre qui ne mene à rien, ayant la mer d'un côté, et l'embouchure de la riviere d'Orne de l'autre: ou comme si tous les villages du monde ne pouvoient pas être censez terminer des grand chemins. Mais ces opinions sont détruites par l'ancienne orthographe du nom d'Estreham, qui est constamment écrit dans les vieux Titres, et par Mr. de Bras, Oistreham, pour Westerham, c'est-à-dire, Village Occidental: car il se trouve placé à l'West de l'embouchure de l'Orne."

PLATE XCIX. AND C.

CATHEDRAL CHURCH AT SÉEZ.

The city of Séez, though dignified by being the seat of a bishopric, is in itself small and unimportant, its population not exceeding five thousand five hundred inhabitants. Of the early history of either the town or the diocese, little is known with certainty; and authors have scarcely felt it worth their while to exercise their ingenuity, or to display their learning, upon a subject ill calculated to add dignity to their researches. Those who have entered upon the inquiry, have given it as their opinion, that the _Civitas Sagiorum_, mentioned in the earliest _Notitia Galliæ_, as the fifth in rank among the cities of the province, _Lugdunensis Secunda_, was no other than the modern Séez; and, carrying their conjecture one step farther, they have inferred from locality, that the _Sagii_, otherwise called _Saii_, must have been the _Sesuvii_ of Cæsar's Commentaries. Hence, in more modern _Latinity_, Séez has generally acquired the name of _Sagium_; though Ordericus Vitalis occasionally calls it _Salarium_, and Magno, _Saius_. In some maps it is likewise styled _Saxia_, whence an idea has arisen that it owed its origin to the Saxons; and that the words, _Saii_ and _Sagii_, were in reality nothing more than a corruption of _Saxones_ or _Sassones_.

The favorers of this opinion have brought Séez within the limits of the _Otlingua Saxonia_, a district in Normandy, whose situation and extent has been the subject of much literary controversy. The learned Huet, alluding to this very point,[220] observes, with great justice, that "it is more easy to tell what is not, than what is; and that, though the limits of bishoprics serve in general to mark the divisions of the ancient Gallic tribes, yet length of time has introduced many alterations. Able men," he adds, "have been of opinion, that Hiesmes was originally an episcopal see, and that its diocese was afterwards dismembered into three archdeaconries; one of them fixed at Séez, a second at Lisieux, and a third at Bayeux." Such, however, he says, is not his own belief; but he thinks that Hiesmes was originally the seat of the bishopric of Séez. A report to the same effect will be found in the _Concilia Normannica_; and it is adopted by Rouault,[221] who argues in its favor; first, that Séez was too insignificant, at the time of the preaching of the gospel in Neustria, to be dignified with the presence of a bishop; the apostles and earliest popes having directed that bishops should only be appointed to considerable towns: and, secondly, that Hiesmes was really then a place of importance, and probably continued so till the nineteenth year of the reign of King Henry I. of England, when that prince destroyed it, as a punishment upon the inhabitants for their revolt.

Ecclesiastical history refers the establishment of the bishopric of Séez to the fourth or fifth century. The earliest, however, of the prelates, of whom any certain mention is to be found, is Litaredus, whose name appears, under the title of _Oximensis Episcopus_, subscribed to the council of Orleans in 511. Azo, who succeeded to the mitre in one of the last years of the tenth century, erected the first cathedral that is upon record at Séez. William of Jumieges relates of him, that he destroyed the walls of the city, and with their stones built a church in honor of St. Gervais, the martyr, "ubi sedes episcopalis longo post tempore fuerat." The same author tells that, in consequence of this church having been turned into a place of refuge by some rebels, about fifty years afterwards, Ivo, the third from Azo upon the episcopal throne, set fire to the adjoining houses for the purpose of dislodging them, and the church fell a victim to the flames. The act, though unintentional, brought upon the prelate a severe reprimand from the pope; and Ivo, to repair his fault, undertook a journey to his relatives and friends in Apulia and Constantinople, whence he returned, loaded with rich presents, by the aid of which he undertook the erection of a new church upon so large a scale, that "his successors, Robert, Gerard, and Serlo, were unable to complete it in fifty years." The cathedral then raised is said to be the same as is now standing; and, according to what has already been recorded of the cathedrals of Lisieux and Coutances, there is nothing in its architecture to discredit such an opinion. The first stone was laid about the year 1053: the dedication took place in 1126. Godfrey, archbishop of Rouen, performed the ceremony in the presence of Henry, then duke, who, at the same time, endowed the church with an annual income of ten pounds.

The diocese of Séez is surrounded by those of Lisieux, Evreux, Mans, and Bayeux. According to De Masseville,[222] it extended, before the revolution, twenty-five leagues in length, and from eight to ten in width, comprising the districts of _le Houme_, _les Marches_, and a part of _le Perche_. The towns of Séez, Alençon, Argentan, Falaise, Hiesmes, Mortagne, and Bellême, together with several smaller towns, and five hundred villages, were also included in its limits; as were five archdeaconries, six rural deaneries, and many abbeys and other religious houses. The episcopal revenue was estimated at only ten thousand livres. The late concordat, by reducing the number of the Norman dioceses, has of course added to the extent of those that remained.

Seven of the early bishops of Séez are inscribed among the saints of the Roman calendar: in later times, no names appear of greater eminence than those of Frogerius and John de Bertaut. The first of these prelates was much in the confidence of Henry II. to whom he rendered acceptable service in his unfortunate disputes with Thomas-à-Becket. He was not only one of the very few bishops who then preserved their fidelity to their sovereign inviolate, but he undertook a mission to the French king, for the purpose of remonstrating upon the favorable reception given to the primate, on which occasion he received the following memorable answer:--"Tell your master, that if he cannot submit to the abolition of the ordinances, which he designates as the customs of his ancestors, because he thinks it would compromise the dignity of his crown, although, as it is reported, they are but little conformable to the will of God, still less can I consent to sacrifice a right that has always been enjoyed by the kings of France. I mean the right of giving shelter to all persons in affliction, but principally to those who are exiled for justice sake, and of affording them, during their persecution, all manner of protection and assistance."--John de Bertaut lived in the beginning of the seventeenth century: he was principal almoner to Mary de Medicis, and was afterwards in high favor with Henry IV. to whose conversion he is said to have mainly contributed. He likewise distinguished himself as a poet.--A third bishop of Séez, Serlo, already mentioned, was a man of such commanding eloquence, that, when he had the honor of preaching before Henry I. and his court, at Carentan, in 1106, he declaimed with so much effect against the effeminate custom of wearing long beards and long hair, that the sovereign declared himself a convert, and the bishop, "_extractis e manticâ forcipibus, primo regem tum cæteros optimates attondit_."[223]

The church of Séez may be compared in its architecture with those of Coutances and of Lisieux: they are unlike, indeed, but by no means different. The points of resemblance exceed those of a contrary description.

"facies non omnibus una, Nec diversa tamen, qualem decet esse sororum."

Severe simplicity characterizes Lisieux: Coutances is distinguished by elegance, abounding in decoration: Séez, at the same time that it unites the excellencies of both, can rival neither in those which are peculiarly its own. On the first view of the church, its mean and insignificant western tower strikes the spectator with an unfavorable impression, which, on a nearer approach, the mutilated and encumbered state of the western front is by no means calculated to remove. And yet this western front, all degraded as it is, cannot fail to derive importance from the great depth of the central door-way, which is no less than forty-seven feet,[224] a projection exceeding that of the galilee of Peterborough cathedral. It is in the interior that the beauty of the church of Séez is conspicuous. The noble lofty arches below; the moresque ornament, like those at Bayeux and at Coutances, in the spandrils; the double lancet arches of the triforium placed in triplets; and the larger pointed arches above, arranged two or three together, and encircled with arches of the Norman form, though not of the Norman style;--all these beauties, added to the enrichments of the sculptured walls and windows of the aisles, render the cathedral, if not the first of Norman religious buildings, at least in the number of those of the first class,

"Extremi primorum, extremis usque priores."

NOTES:

[220] _Origines de Caen_, p. 5.

[221] _Abrégé de la Vie des Evêques de Coutances_, p. 40.

[222] _Etat Géographique de Normandie_, p. 304.

[223] _Gallia Christiana_, XI. p. 684.

[224] The following are the dimensions of the other parts of the building.

FEET. Length of nave (including a space of sixty-four feet under the towers) 218 Ditto of choir 57 Ditto of aisle behind the choir 14 Ditto of Lady-Chapel 25 Ditto of each transept 39 Width of nave and choir, including aisles 72 Ditto of Lady-Chapel 20 Ditto of transepts 30 Height of nave and choir 80 Ditto of north-west spire 232 Ditto of south-west ditto 210

THE END.

LEICESTER:

PRINTED BY THOMAS COMBE, JUNIOR.

INDEX OF PLATES.

NO. OF PLATE. _Andelys_, Great House 15 _Anisy_, Church 67 _Arques_, Castle 1 _Bieville_, Church 58, 59 _Bocherville, St. Georges de_, Church 5-11 _Briquebec_, Castle 70 _Caen_, Abbey Church of the Holy Trinity 24-33 ------ Abbey Church of St. Stephen 21-23 ------ Chapel in the Castle 48 ------ Church of St. Nicholas 55, 56 ------ Church of St. Michel de Vaucelles 18, 19 ------ House in the Rue St. Jean 65 _Cerisy_, Abbey Church 97 _Château Gaillard_ 80, 81 _Cheux_, Church 57 _Colomby_, Church 47 _Coutances_, Cathedral 92-94 _Creully_, Church 91 _Dieppe_, Castle 34 -------- Church of St. Jacques 35, 36 _Eu_, Screen in the Church of St. Lawrence 72 _Falaise_, Castle 89, 90 _Fécamp_, Church of St. Stephen 71 _Fontaine-le-Henri_, Château 62, 63 ------------------- Church 60, 61 _Foullebec_, Western door-way of Church 84 _Gournay_, Church of St. Hildebert 38-41 _Grâville_, Church 12 _Haute Allemagne_, Tower of Church 37 _Jumieges_, Abbey Church 2-4 _Léry_, Church 44-46 _Lillebonne_, Castle 69 _Lisieux_, Church of St. Peter 73-75 _Louviers_, South porch of Church 79 _Matilda, Queen_, Tombstone of 33* _Montivilliers_, Abbey Church 82 _Mount St. Michael_ 95, 96 _Oyestraham_, Church 98 _Perriers_, Church 68 _Rouen_, Cathedral 49-52 ------- Chapel in the Hospital of St. Julien 42, 43 ------- Church of St. Ouen 76 ------- Church of St. Paul 54 ------- Crypt in the Church of St. Gervais 53 ------- Fountain of the Stone Cross 77 ------- House in the Place de la Pucelle 64 ------- Palace of Justice 78 _St. Lo_, Church of the Holy Cross 87, 88 _St. Sanson sur Rille_, Ruins of the Church 83 _St. Sauveur le Vicomte_, Abbey Church 14 ------------------------ Castle 13 _Séez_, Cathedral 99, 100 _Tamerville_, Church 17 _Tancarville_, Castle 85, 86 _Than_, Church 16 _Tréport_, Church 66 _William the Conqueror_, Statue of 20

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE

Original spelling, even where inconsistent, and punctuation have been preserved. Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. In the list of SUBJECTS--CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED, a + has been used in place of the original obelisk. Typographical errors corrected in the text (in brackets the original):

17. Church of Tamerville [Tancarville] in the _tenth [ninth] plate_, and marked A and B daughters and nieces [neices] of the chief Norman barons marking the connection of the _twenty-eighth [twentieth] plate_ rendered the necessity for such decisions [dicisions]