Part 9

Petrarch gives us a picture of the harvest of this strife: "I could not believe that this was the same France which I had seen so rich and flourishing. Nothing presented itself to my eyes but a fearful solitude, an utter poverty, land uncultivated, houses in ruin."

The Black Prince treated his royal captive with courtesy, entertaining him at his own table, and praising his bravery. In May 1357 the French king was brought to England, and, seated on a charger, he rode side by side with his victor through the streets of London. As a first residence, King John was given the Savoy Palace, and afterwards he and his son spent some time in Windsor Castle.

Watered on three sides by the Rivers Boivre and Clain, and standing on rising ground, Poitiers was chosen as the site of a Roman settlement. Not far from the town are the ruins of a Roman burial-place, and antiquities that have been discovered may be seen in the interesting Museum of Antiquaries de l'Ouest.

In 1569 the Count du Lude valiantly defended Poitiers against the seven weeks' siege of troops led by Coligny, finally repulsing the enemy, and retaining the town.

Protestantism seems to have gained ground in Poitiers, for we read that in the days of Calvin there were many "conversions" among the inhabitants.

In September 1559 the justices of the city published a proscription of religious gatherings, and bade all strangers to quit the place in twenty-four hours. No preaching was permitted, the inhabitants were enjoined not to give necessities of life to the pastors under penalty of punishment for sedition. This persecution, directed against the Lutherans, was the result of the edict of Villars-Cotteret, and of an order made in Blois, which decreed that all the attenders at religious assemblies should be put to death, "without hope of pardon or mitigation." France was at this time the scene of the fierce religious intolerance which led to the Massacre of St Bartholomew.

Gaspard de Coligny, Admiral of France, who led the siege of Poitiers, was a convert to the teaching of Calvin, and the leader of the reformed party. Touched with fanaticism, he was a valorous soldier, and was never daunted by his reverses. After a long conflict with the Church, the admiral was murdered brutally, and his body mutilated, and dragged through the streets of Paris by a rabble.

The oldest church in the town is St Jean. A basilica once stood where St Peter's massive bulk overshadows the houses around. The towers of this church date from the thirteenth century. There are some very old stained-glass windows; in one of them are portraits of Henry II. and Eleanor of England.

Portions of the Church of St Radegonde are probably of the eleventh century. St Porchaine is another ancient church worth visiting.

The Dukes of Aquitaine lived in the city, and their palace is now a court of law. One of the halls has a fine vaulted wooden roof.

Poitiers has many winding, narrow lanes of curious old houses. It is not a busy commercial city, but it does not lack an air of comfort and prosperity. The town has to-day a population of over thirty thousand souls.

ROUEN

The fascination of this ancient city of Normandy consists not only in its historical associations and its splendid cathedral, but in the fine setting, colour, and aspect of the place. Rouen should be approached, if possible, by boat on the Seine. The steamboat journey from the mouth of the river is very delightful, and there is no better way of gaining an impression of one of the most beautiful of the provinces of France. Hills, with frowning rocks, begirt the Seine in its tortuous course. Woods and tilled fields alternate with primitive, untamed ravines, watered by rivulets, and old sombre-hued houses and churches peer among woods. Parts of the valley recall Wales or Scotland in their ruggedness; while here and there we are reminded of the softer scenes of southern England.

The Rouen of obscure days of antiquity was probably a colony of the tribe of the Roths-magi. Many place-names in Normandy suggest that the Danes held this district, and they, rather than Norwegians, were the early conquerors. From Rouen we derive our word "roan" for a horse of a reddish colour, for the first imported Norman horses were known as "Rouens."

In the eighth century this was a city of ecclesiastics, who erected many churches and convents. A long line of celebrated bishops ruled here, and the first church of St Ouen was probably built at this period. The Normans harried the country in 912, under the valiant Rollo, and Rouen was then made the capital of Normandy.

In the days of Duke William of Normandy, our gallant conqueror, Caen was of greater importance than Rouen, and at the first city the sovereigns built their palaces. William the Conqueror died in Rouen, but his body was taken to Caen for burial. Rufus invaded the territory in 1091, and obtained possession of all the chief forts on the Seine, up to Rouen.

The attempt to recover Normandy, under Henry of England, is a stirring chronicle of battle. The city of Rouen was at this time stoutly fortified, while it was famed for its wealth and power. Led by the brave Alan Blanchard, the people of Rouen made a fierce defence. But Henry had cut off approach from the sea; he held, too, the roads to Paris. He encompassed the walls of Rouen with his army; he brought boats up the river, constructed a floating bridge, and dug trenches for his troops.

The soldiers and citizens within the city resisted for six terrible months. Many were the victims of famine, and those who strove to escape were at once struck down by the besiegers. "Fire, blood and famine" were Henry's handmaids of war, and he declared that he had chosen "the meekest maid of the three" to subdue Rouen.

At length the starving and desperate citizens resolved to burn the city, and to fling themselves on the English. This threat caused Henry to offer terms of pacification. Blanchard, the valorous defender of Rouen, was, however, killed by order of the English monarch.

The immortal Joan of Arc appears later on the scene. We cannot follow the strange and inspiring page of her career. Betrayed at length, and given into the hands of the English, she was imprisoned in Rouen, where a charge of heresy was made against her. To escape from the military to the ecclesiastic prison Joan pleaded guilty to the accusation of heresy. The story of her martyrdom is not a theme upon which one cares to dwell. The English cause was lost, though Joan of Arc was burned. "Oh, Rouen, Rouen, I have great fear lest you suffer for my death. Yes! my voices were of God; they have never deceived me." And as the maid dropped in the writhing flames, the soldiers cried: "We are lost! We have burned a saint!"

"No longer on St Denis will we cry, But Joan la Pucelle shall be France's saint."

The French recaptured Rouen in 1499. There is now no trace of the proud castle built by Henry V. of England. The prophetic cry of the soldiers had been fulfilled.

Before the end of the thirteenth century a cathedral was built in the city, and by the sixteenth century the stupendous edifice was finished. Notre Dame has a splendid west front, and very ornamental entrances to the transepts. The decorated rose windows are exceedingly fine. The choir has thirteenth-century stained windows, which must be seen in the sunlight. Here, too, are the monuments of Henry II. and Richard I. Unfortunately, much of the external decoration of Notre Dame has been disfigured by weathering, and some of the images have disappeared. But the rose windows are very celebrated, and the tower of the sixteenth century is richly ornamented.

The Lady Chapel contains the tomb of two cardinals, with beautifully sculptured figures, and carvings of exquisite craftsmanship. The tomb of the Duke of Brézé is attributed to Jean Goujon, and the images are true works of genius.

Saint-Owen is perhaps more interesting than the cathedral. It is an immense building, and though so huge, finely proportioned. The south portal is rich and exquisite in its decoration.

For an example of Goujon's work, you must inspect the remarkably decorated door of the Church of St Madou. There are other notable churches in Rouen; and the fine stained-glass windows of St Godard must not be overlooked.

Among other buildings of interest is the Palace of Justice, with a stately frontage.

In Rouen was born Corneille, and upon a bridge over the Seine you will find his statue. Fontenelle was also one of the illustrious natives of the city.

Readers of Gustave Flaubert will remember his pictures of the country around Rouen, in "Madame Bovary." Charles Bovary was sent to school in the city. "His mother selected a room for him, on a fourth floor, overlooking the Eau-de-Robec, in the house of a dyer she was acquainted with." It was in Yonville-L'Abbage, "a large village about twenty miles from Rouen," that Charles and Emma Bovary settled after their marriage.

"The river which runs through it," writes Flaubert, "seems to have imparted to it two distinct characters. On the right bank it is all grass-land, whilst on the left it is all arable. The meadow-land spreads at the foot of some high-lying ground until it meets the pastures of Bray on the other side; on the east the gently rising ground loses itself in the distance in fields of golden wheat. The water running through the grass-land divides the colours of the meadows and of the furrows by a white streak, and so the landscape looks like a great unfolded cloak, with a green velvet collar bordered with silver."

Such is the country that the genius of Flaubert has peopled with his types of provincial character.

Municipal enterprise has "improved and beautified" Rouen in modern times. The new, broad thoroughfares are undoubtedly admirable, according to the standard of to-day; but the reconstruction of many streets has meant the destruction of a large number of those old gabled houses that delighted the travellers of sixty years ago. Fortunately, a few charming ancient corners remain, and the authorities of the city have preserved some of these weather-worn buildings as monuments of mediæval Rouen.

Jean Goujon, the most notable sculptor of his period, is associated with Rouen, but it has not been proved that he was a native of the city. Mystery surrounds the life of this genius. We do not even know the date of his birth. His sculpture is imaginative and powerful art, and he is very successful in presenting nude figures. It is supposed that Goujon was one of the victims of the Massacre of St Bartholomew.

A picture of the monastic life of Normandy, in the thirteenth century, has been drawn in the remarkable _Regestrum Visitationum_ of Eude Rigaud, Archbishop of Rouen. This wonderful diary has over five hundred pages, and covers a period of about twenty years. In 1248, Rigaud was appointed Archbishop of Rouen by Innocent IV. He proved a zealot for reforms in the Church; he undertook periodic inspection of the monasteries and nunneries, and his journals contain much "sensational" reading. The archbishop records that the rule in many of the convents was exceedingly lax, and that fasts and penances were not duly observed. He found that a number of the clergy were addicted to tippling, and he made clerical drunkenness an offence punishable by the deprivation of a living. Incontinence was very common among the monks. In the convents, Rigaud discovered "great disorders." But the archbishop relates that the offenders were so numerous that had he expelled them all, no priests would have been left in the diocese.

When wandering in the streets of Rouen, we remember that Saint-Amant was born here in 1594. The life of this wine-loving poet is full of rare adventure and colour. He was a scholar, wit, soldier, statesman, and man of business by turn. Saint-Amant visited England, went to Rome with the fleet, and afterwards to Spain. He also started a glass factory, and was for a period a diplomat in Poland. His career is a long romance.

Saint-Amant's name in full was Marc Antoine de Gérard, Sieur de Saint Amant. The name by which he is best known was taken from the abbey of Saint-Amant. He was one of the greatest of good livers, with an unquenchable thirst, and an infinite capacity for absorbing liquor. It is said that he and his boon companions often sat for twenty-four hours over their bottles. In those days of tavern revelry, the poet was respected as a master of deep-drinking and a model for the bibulous.

Théophile Gautier wrote of the poet of Rouen: "Saint-Amant is assuredly a very great and very original poet, worthy to be named among the best of whom France can boast." This exquisite singer and devoted worshipper of Bacchus died in Paris in 1661.

CHARTRES

The city of Chartres stands on a bold hill, rising from a wide plain on the south-west of Paris, watered by the River Eure, a tributary of the Seine. This commanding position was favourable for a fortified town, and long before the Romans came to Gaul, kings had a stronghold here of great importance.

Chartres is dominated by its ancient cathedral towers, that rise grey and massive, forming an outstanding landmark for leagues around. The old low-built houses of the city are dwarfed by this mighty church, which overshadows a number of twisting, narrow alleys of mediæval aspect. Many of the houses in Chartres are weather-worn, and give an impression of extreme age, and sometimes of decay. Parts of the town, it is true, have been rebuilt and made modern; but one's recollection is of an aged, somnolent place, dreaming of its past, though it strives to advance in line with progressive ideas of municipal improvement.

According to Mr Henry James, it is not so long ago that sedan-chairs were used in Chartres; and during his visit in 1876, he saw only two vehicles--the omnibuses of the rival hotels.

For the student of early Gothic architecture in France, Chartres is a most profitable field. The older forms of the arch, the foliated window-circles, the boldly decorated doorways, the twelfth-century decorative details, and the massive, as well as the light, buttress can be seen here in perfection. Few, if any, cathedral portals in Europe can excel in richness those of Chartres. Here is to be seen the noblest examples of twelfth-century sculpture.

After the Romans, the city was ruled by Christian princes up to the day of Charlemagne. Before the tenth century, the first Christian church in Chartres was burned down, and very little of the pristine fabric was spared by the flames.

The pious Saint Bernard preached here, and many illustrious bishops presided over the see. Henry V. of England came to the city; and so did Mary of Scotland. There have been two or three notable sieges, and the city was a scene of slaughter during the great Revolution.

The legends surrounding the first building consecrated to the Christian faith in Chartres are numerous. Saint Aventin was probably the first bishop of the see. Fulbert, who received tribute from a number of monarchs, was the founder of the new cathedral, after the wreckage by fire about the year 1021. There were two or three attacks from fire, for Fulbert's structure was seriously damaged in the twelfth century.

The crypt is part of a very early building. In the chapels are bare traces of the old mural paintings, and several remarkable remains of the more ancient edifice. The crypt forms a church in itself, for it contains no less than fourteen chapels.

There are several points of difference between the early Gothic styles of England and France, and height is a characteristic of the French cathedrals; the architects delighted in lofty vaultings, and seemed to vie with one another in attaining great height. Double aisles and double flying buttresses are other features of the French Gothic churches, distinguishing them from the churches of England of the same date.

The French pillars are heavy, and not so highly ornamented as those of England. In the windows we find chiefly in France the lancet; and the circle, with trefoils and quatre-foils, is a common form. Specimens of round windows may be studied to advantage in the Cathedral of Chartres.

The most beautiful examples of early French Gothic architecture, in detail, are the ornate portals, especially of the western façades, the spires, the imposing towers, the rose windows, and the high vaulting.

The west front at Chartres is early twelfth-century work. Few façades present such a bewildering wealth of decoration and of impressive height. The windows are enormous, and the central rose window is remarkably rich in design. Each of the three doorways is full of most interesting statuary, with luxuriant decorations.

The north portal was once gilded and coloured, but this embellishment has disappeared. Many figures adorn this doorway, and every one of them will repay close inspection. The central door on this side is exquisite. Another impressive front is on the south. Here are the statues of Christ trampling on the lion, and of Christ as Judge. Innumerable figures cluster on this porch. Every façade and doorway of the Cathedral of Chartres is a gallery of statuary.

Very noble are the two huge towers. The north tower is the more majestic of the two, and dates from the sixteenth century. It is literally covered with delicious ornament and mediæval statuary. The south tower is massive, but plainer, rising to a height of about three hundred and fifty feet. It is adorned with some quaint symbolic figures. There were once two immense bells within this tower.

The interior of the cathedral impresses by its vastness and height. A wider nave is not to be found among the cathedrals of France, and the aisles are proportionate in width. The eye ranges upwards to the wonderful roof, with its opulent decoration, to the beautiful triforium, and the tall, narrow windows of the clerestory.

The magnificent choir screen is finely sculptured. Among the host of figures are the Virgin, Saint Joachim, and the Adoration of Wise Men. Several groups, representing scenes from Scripture, deck the screen. The effigies are far too numerous to describe in detail. There is a monument within the choir, "The Assumption," by Bridan. The pavement is of variegated marble.

In the south aisle of the choir is a tall stained-glass window of an early date. Several of the painted windows were executed before the fourteenth century, and these are to be seen in the nave, the clerestory, and the transcepts. The chapels have several interesting stained windows, fine roof decorations, and handsome portals. In the sacristy there is a notable window; and in the ambulatory will be seen the clothed figure of the Virgin Mary, one of the chief treasures of the cathedral.

The sixteenth-century Church of Saint Aignan ranks next to the cathedral in interest. It has a fine, but somewhat worn, front, still rich in examples of Renaissance art. More than once fire has ravaged this church, and during the Revolution the edifice was despoiled and damaged. Saint Aignan is the burial-place of the bishop whose name it bears. There are many stained windows in the church. The interior is in other respects somewhat plain.

There are some interesting old churches in Chartres. In the Church of San Pierre there are dazzling stained windows which should be seen by the visitor, as they are among the finest examples in Chartres. There is an old portal on the north side, and the great buttresses should be noted. Many of the decorations of the interior were destroyed by the Revolution.

There are some old houses of historical and architectural interest in Chartres, and one will be seen near Saint Aignan's.

The Museum is in the town hall. Among the objects of interest collected here are some examples of tapestry that were formerly in the cathedral. There are also many relics of the Roman days. In the library are several old missals.

Chartres is the birthplace of two poets, Desportes and Mathurin Regnier, his nephew. Desportes, born in 1546, travelled in Italy and Poland, and was court bard to Henri III. He died in 1606. Mathurin Regnier was a poet of a higher order. He composed a number of fine satires and many lyrical poems.

A general impression of Chartres is gained by following the tree-shaded walk which surrounds the old town, a promenade that gives many delightful glimpses of the plain and of narrow ancient streets, with here and there a trace of the crumbling walls.

RHEIMS

By the side of the River Vesle, in the province of Marne, and on the verge of a famous champagne producing country, is one of the oldest towns of France. Rheims, with its ancient gates, its memorials of Roman times, and monuments of illustrious kings of Gaul, has a history of much interest. Its cathedral ranks with the finest ecclesiastic buildings of the world, and is celebrated as the scene of many great pageants of the coronations of French sovereigns. The Romans captured a city here, and called it Durocortorum, and in Cæsar's day this was an important station. It is recorded that Attila, the fierce conqueror, ravaged the town with fire.

The Consul, Jovinus of Rheims, was an early convert to Christianity, which was preached here by two missionaries from Rome in the fourth century. The marble cenotaph of the Christian consul is to be seen in the city. Then came the Vandals, who seized the town, and murdered the bishop at the door of the first cathedral.

When King Clovis conquered the fair territory of Champagne, St Rémi was made bishop of Rheims, and henceforward the kings of France were crowned here. Many famous prelates lived in the city during the succeeding centuries; one, the most celebrated, Gerbert, became pope.

Joan of Arc is an important figure in the drama of Rheims during the great war with England. The peasant's daughter, born on the borders of Champagne, at Domremy, a hamlet which is now a shrine, reached the height of her triumph in 1429, when she led a vast army to the gates of Rheims. "O gentle king, the pleasure of God is done," cried the white maid, as she knelt before Charles VII. after his coronation in the gorgeous cathedral.

A yearning for home and the old tranquil life was in the heart of Joan; she wished to leave the tented field, and to return to her sheep-folds and pastures. But, at the battle of Compiegne, she fell into the hands of the treacherous Bastard of Vendôme, and about a year later Joan la Pucelle was burned to death.

The focus of interest in Rheims is the cathedral. Notre Dame was built on the situation of a Roman basilica. Parts of the present building were first constructed in 1231, but the façade is of the fourteenth century. This magnificent front has a gorgeous portal, with pointed arches of great grace, rising to a large and handsome rose window. There are two towers over two hundred and fifty feet high, very finely decorated. A number of statues adorn this façade, on the portals and in the arch of the rose window. The figure of the Virgin is over the principal doorway, bending to receive the crown from the hands of Christ.

"The three great doorways," writes Mr Henry James, in "Portraits of Places," "are in themselves a museum of imagery, disposed in each case in five close tiers, the statues in each of the tiers packed perpendicularly against their comrades. The effect of these great hollowed and chiselled recesses is extremely striking; they are a proper vestibule to the dusky richness of the interior. The cathedral of Rheims, more fortunate than many of its companions, appears not to have suffered from the iconoclasts of the Revolution; I noticed no absent heads nor broken noses."

The rose windows of the transepts are exceedingly lovely, and attention should be paid to the design of the buttresses, and the very remarkable gargoyles. One of the towers contains an enormous bell. In the exterior of the south transept are several good statues.