CHAPTER III.
THE “TOUR D’ORDRE” OF BOULOGNE.
Boulogne is the ancient _Bononia_ or _Gesoriacum_, “a naval place,” says Ptolemæus, “of the Morini,” and distant from the British coast, according to Pliny, about fifty _millia passuum_. Pliny probably measured from Boulogne to _Rutupiæ_ (or Richborough), where the Romans had a fortified port, and which was their usual landing-place from Gallia. His measurement, however, exaggerates the actual distance between these places.
It was from Boulogne the Emperor Claudius embarked on his expedition to Britain; and it was at Boulogne the Emperor Caligula bade his soldiers collect the shells as spoils of ocean, and decreed himself a triumph for victories he had only won in imagination. As a more durable monument of his achievements, he erected, according to Suetonius, a lofty tower; the extraordinary structure which, under the name of the _Tour d’Ordre_, for centuries extorted the admiration of men.
Built as a memorial of imperial vain-gloriousness, when was it first converted into a work of public utility? When did the triumphal tower become a lighthouse? To these questions we can offer no authoritative reply. But it seems probable that in A.D. 191 a light was blazing from its summit; for a bronze medal of Commodus—on which he is entitled Britannicus, in memory of his lieutenant’s victories over the Britons—represents the pharos and its fire, and the departure of a Roman fleet.
Planted at the usual point of embarkation for Britain, the tower of Boulogne was carefully preserved so long as the Roman sway endured. In 811 it was repaired, according to Eginhard, by the great Western emperor, Charles, who was then preparing an expedition against the Norman pirates. As late as the seventeenth century it seems to have been employed as a lighthouse; and thence, according to a popular but certainly erroneous etymology, its ancient name of _Turris ardens_ became, by corruption, _Tour d’Ordre_. It also served as a fortress, for which it was well adapted by its admirable position and extraordinary massiveness.
In the sixteenth century, while Boulogne was occupied by an English garrison—that is, from 1554 to 1559—the _Tour d’Ordre_ was enclosed by two ramparts, one of brick, the other of earth, and both furnished with artillery. This point was felicitously chosen for the attack or defence of Boulogne, inasmuch as it dominated over the whole town, and commanded both banks of the Liane. Yet the Tour d’Ordre suffered little from the ravages of war, except that its lantern was several times destroyed; and its ruin is wholly due to the neglect of successive magistrates of Boulogne. Shaken at first by the waves, which in high tides dashed furiously against the cliff—then by the subterranean action of springs and watercourses—and, finally, by the imprudent excavation of the adjoining quarries, both the fort and the tower fell down—twice, according to some authorities—thrice, according to others—between 1640 and 1645—along with the portion of the cliff on which they were erected.
* * * * *
In the interval between these sad events, says Egger, nothing was attempted in preservation of the remains of our precious monument, which, however, in its ruined condition, still served as a night-beacon for ships entering the port. When at length it perished utterly, the municipality of Boulogne considered themselves released from the dues which, for this portion of their territory, they had paid, in virtue of an ancient right, to the Seigneur de Bainethun. As the soil no longer existed, the tenants thought themselves freed from all obligations towards its proprietor. The latter resorted to legal proceedings, and judgment was given in his favour, July the 1st, 1656. Inasmuch as the wise men of Boulogne had by their own negligence caused the loss which they put forward as an excuse for denying their debt, they were condemned to pay, as before, two thousand herrings, fresh and dry, to be delivered at Arras, Amiens, and other towns, according to the seigneur’s pleasure—or to restore the ground to its ancient condition, and abandon to the Seigneur de Bainethun the toll which they levy from all fishermen entering the harbour. And there is reason to believe that this tribute of two thousand herrings was paid by the corporation of Boulogne down to the epoch of the French Revolution.
There are little, if any, remains now extant of this ancient monument, more glorious from the services which for generations it rendered to humanity than from its origin, which only recalled the extravagance and insane ostentation of Caligula; and M. Egger advises us to be cautious how we place our confidence in the representations which have been given of it. The most trustworthy seems to be the drawing executed by Claude Châtillon, engineer to Henry IV., which we here reproduce.
The descriptions which are on record, says M. Renard, are equally unsatisfactory. Still we can pick out of their rhodomontade some few valuable and accurate particulars of its situation, dimensions, and form, and of the materials employed in its construction. These were simply gray and yellow stones, and red bricks, so arranged as to compose an edifice of great solidity and yet of attractive appearance. The tower was situated some two or three hundred yards from the brink of the cliff; it was octagonal; 192 feet in circumference, and about 64 feet in diameter: as with most of the Roman pharoses, each of its twelve stories was a foot and a half narrower than the story immediately below it, so that it assumed, on the whole, a pyramidal shape. We are told that its height was about equal to its circumference, or, in round numbers, 200 feet—which seems, as Egger remarks, an extraordinary elevation for a lighthouse, already situated on a cliff 100 feet above the sea-level. According to M. J. F. Henry, its height was about 124 feet. However this may be, each story had on the south side an opening like a gate. As late as the beginning of the seventeenth century there might still be seen three vaulted chambers, one above the other, connected by an inner flight of stairs, and probably intended for the lodging of the keepers.
As for the place where the fire or light was kindled, we are entirely left to conjecture; but from the fact that the chroniclers of the ninth century assert that the summit was repaired with a view to prepare it for the signal-fires, there seems reason to believe that before this restoration they were kindled in a chamber on the uppermost story.
* * * * *
M. Egger puts forward the supposition that carefully directed excavations might lead to the discovery of important remains. And looking to the arguments by which he supports his hypothesis, we are disposed to accept it as very plausible. It is to be regretted that France possesses no archæological associations to undertake the superintendence and prosecute the study of her memorials of antiquity. With all her passion for national aggrandizement, she proves herself strangely neglectful of her past, and the educated classes of France exhibit little of that interest in archæological and antiquarian pursuits which is shown by the scholars and gentry of England. Yet on every ground it is desirable that a nation’s past should never be divorced from its present; that the continuity of national life should, as far as possible, be preserved unbroken; and much may be done for the furtherance of so desirable an object by a due regard to the monuments erected by our forefathers.
The _Commission des Phares_ has raised, however, in the place of the Tour d’Ordre, a worthy substitute. In 1835 it established at Boulogne a red light, fixed, and two other fixed lights, the first of which shed its radiance for four, and the second and third for nine miles; ample illumination this for a portion of the French coast which is already lighted, at Cape Grisnez, by a powerful apparatus, whose lustre extends as far as twenty-two miles, and at Pointe d’Alpreck, by a lighthouse visible for twelve miles.