Part 30

[5] The _Chevecier_, or _Chefcier_, was the official who had charge of the altar, the linen, the vases, the ornaments, &c., and who took care of the sacristy and its contents. The treasurer usually held the two offices.

[6] It has also been designated as Titus, and Constantine the Great. It is without doubt of the 4th century (Chabouillet).

[7] "Vin de la couleur des vitres de la Sainte-Chapelle."--(_Old proverb._)

[8] _Pour deniers paiés à Jehan de Lille, orfèvre, pour j siège qu'il fist du commandement du Roy pour séoir de lez les saintes reliques en la Saincte Chapelle de Paris-iiij escus. (Comptes royaux.)_

[9] Religious, Benedictine of the convent (congregation) of S. Maur, Order of S. Benedict.

[10] All the river Seine from the _ru de Séve_ (Sèvres) near S. Cloud, to S. Germain-en-Laye.

[11] Hulduin, abbot of S. Denis, commencement of 9th century, who took possession the same day as that upon which Charlemagne died.--_Les Areopagitiques._

[12] See the Inventory of the Treasury of Laon, from which we cull the following: In 1523, when François I. wanted money to carry on his war against Charles V. and Henry VIII., we read in _Journal d'un Bourgeois de Paris_, his manner of getting it. "Le roy envoya aussi quérir trois ou quatre appostres d'or qui estoient ès-reliques en l'église épiscopale à Laon, en Picardie, dont il y en avoit douze, mais les aultres n'estoient que d'argent, parquoy furent délaissez; et valloient iceux III. ou IIII. appostres environ quatre mille escus; et fit ce le roy pour subvenir et ayder en ses guerres de Picardie qu'il avoit contres les Anglais." Louis XIV. also, when his star had paled a little, put various cathedral chapters under contribution; the church of Notre-Dame de Liesse sending silver to the royal treasury to the amount of 28,600 livres.

[13] See pages 18, 19.

[14] _Musée des Monuments Français._

[15] It seems that one object in electing the king as abbot was to have some lay element in the chapter, and thus disarm the enemies of the Church. Charles le Chauve was abbot for about sixteen years; he chose his provost, treasurer, and dean, and gave into their keeping all the working of the monastery, with the exception of the military contingent, which was given over to the _maire_ or _avoué_. Adjoining the abbey was a palace for the use of the kings.

[16] The _oriflamme_, or _enseigne_ derived its name from being made of scarlet silk, and covered with flames of gold. When it was to be taken from its depository, the king and princes first went to Notre-Dame and offered up some prayers to the Blessed Virgin; then they proceeded to the abbey, where, after being solemnly received by the religious, they descended ("_sans chaperon et sans ceinture_") into the crypt, where the bodies of the holy martyrs lay, and where the _oriflamme_ was kept. The abbot then delivered the flag into the king's own hands, and the king presented it to the Count de Vesin, who carried it to the altar. The standard-bearer was always a _Chevalier_ of undoubted loyalty, courage, and piety. Previously to receiving the charge, he confessed his sins, obtained absolution, received the Holy Eucharist, and took a solemn oath to be faithful to his trust, and never to suffer the flag to be torn from his hands, except at the cost of his life. But at the battle of Rosbec it mysteriously disappeared. And to think that the red flag is now the emblem of all that is Revolutionary, Communistic, and Anarchist! Perhaps if the Government gave it the old name, we might see it burnt in the Place de la République.

[17] The Chapter formerly consisted of a _Primicier_, _Chanoines évêques_, non-resident; and Canons residentiary. The office of _Primicier_ was, I think, abolished only a few years ago, and now the chapter simply consists of canons in residence.

[18] How fine the effect must have been when the great cross of S. Eloy stood upon the _grille_, shutting off the nave from the choir! It was of gold, enriched with precious stones and pearls.

[19] This custom of dividing bodies is of very ancient date, and was sanctioned by the church in order that the remains might benefit, by their miraculous powers, as many places as possible. Sometimes the superiors of divers monasteries agreed to exchange "a rib of one saint for a cubit bone of another, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, &c." At other times these fragments had to be purchased for very considerable sums.--_History of St. Denis._

[20] The original urn was cast in bronze by Benoist Boucher from the design of Domenico da Firenze, who also designed the relief on the pedestal.

[21] Some of its sculptures are now in the Renaissance Museum of the Louvre. The recumbent alabaster statue of Philippe de Chabot, by Jean Cousin; a white marble column and three Genii, by Etienne Lehongre, from the tomb of Louis de Cossé, duc de Brissac, and of his brother, J. A. de Cossé; a column with allegorical statues, &c., in bas relief, by Prieur Barthélemy, from the monument erected for the reception of the heart of Anne de Montmorency; sepulchral Genii, by Jean Cousin, from the tomb of Philippe de Chabot; a Fortune, by the same sculptor and from the same tomb; sepulchral monument of the Ducs de Longueville, by François Anguier; and the recumbent statue of Anne de Bourgogne, daughter of Jean-sans-Peur, wife of the Duke of Bedford. In the same museum of the Louvre is a bas-relief from S. Denis of the 14th century with traces of colour, the subject being the three martyrs, SS. Denis, Rusticus, and Eleutherius.

[22] Henri IV. also abjured "his accursed heresy" at S. Denis.

[23] That Louis XVI. was not simple weak-minded and vacillating, but treacherous and double-faced, there can be little doubt. A print exhibited at the Exposition Historique de la Révolution, held in the Salle des Etats of the Tuileries in 1889, represents the opening of an iron closet after the slaughter of the 10th of August, and the display of numberless documents--letters to Pitt, asking for help to reinstate the monarchy; plans and projects for a counter-revolution; and correspondence to and from the _emigrés_ and foreign princes.

[24] The _procès verbal_ of these villainies, giving the most hideous and disgusting details, and the names of the distinguished persons who were present at the entertainments, were to be seen and read in the prison department of the Centenary Exhibition of 1889, together with accounts of some of the doings within the walls of the Bastille in the happy days when _lettres de cachet_ were kept ready signed for distribution.

[25] See note, page 52.

[26] Bossuet's panegyric upon the queen reads like a satiric ode: "Elle va descendre à ces sombres lieux, à ces demeures souterraines pour y dormir dans la poussière avec les grands de la terre, comme parle Job; avec ces rois et ces princes anéantis, parmi lesquels à peine peut on la placer, tant les rangs y sont pressés, tant la mort est prompte à remplir ces places."

[27] Alexandre Lenoir made a coloured drawing of the body at the time, representing the entire skeleton wrapped up in white stuff embroidered in gold.

[28] Philippe de Commynes.

[29] Guilhermy.

[30] G. Millet.

[31] In the Cathedral of Dol the remains of a monument by Juste are signed: _Magister Johannes cujus cognomen est Justus et Florentinus_, possibly indicating that the Justes were of Italian origin (Giusto).

[32] Through the flames of purgatory, we attain the crown. See page 62.

[33] Unfortunately, this being metal, was melted up in 1793.

[34] This still exists.

[35] This is curious as showing the antiquity of the fashion of plaiting surplices which is customary in France.

[36] Dom Millet.

[37] "Ensépouturé fut en l'église Saint-Denis en France à cui il avoit donnez maint biau don, mis fu en costé le mestre autel en un riche sarcu d'alebastre." (Chronicle of S. Denis.) And yet, soon after Charles's death, S. Eucher is supposed to have seen, by revelation, the sufferings of the Maire du Palais in Hell, where for his sins he was precipitated before the Day of Judgment. The tomb was opened in the presence of Bishop Eucher, Boniface the legate, and Fulrad, abbot of S. Denis, when behold! a great dragon jumped out, and the coffin had the appearance of having been burned.

[38] Helgaud, _Vie de Robert le Pieux_.

[39] Idem.

[40] Robert was abbot of S. Denis.

[41] Suger, _Vie de Louis-le-Gros_.

[42] Adèle ou Alix, daughter of Thibaut le Grand, comte de Champagne, third wife of Louis VII.

[43] Near Melun.

[44] Mézeray.

[45] _Vie de Louis-le-Gros._

[46]

"If zealous love should go in search of virtue, Where should he find it purer than in Blanche?

* * * * *

Such as she is, in beauty, virtue, birth, Is the young Dauphin every way complete." _Shakespeare. King John._

[47] Millin, _Antiquités Nationales_.

[48] Le corps de Saint-Louis fut porté une partie du chemin depuis Saint-Denis par Henri III., roi d'Angleterre, et par les barons de France et d'Angleterre sur leurs épaules, cérémonie qui est représentée sur le tombeau, où le prince est couvert d'un drap d'or bordé d'une bande d'étoffe bleue, semée de fleurs de lis d'or, la tête soutenue par le roi saint Louis, et les pieds par le roi d Angleterre.--P. Anselme, _Histoire de la Maison de France_.

[49] This does not quite agree with Dom Millet's account of the Huguenot depredations already given upon page 33.

[50] He could not have found much more rest at S. Denis, for which he had a great respect, although he desired to be buried at Cléry. Many a time this king perambulated from Paris to S. Denis barefooted, for he held the Saint to be the "Holy Protector of his dominions, the Guide of his councils, and the Guardian of his soul."

[51] This was a sort of posthumous decapitation. Cardinal Richelieu's statue at the Sorbonne was treated in the same way.

[52] There is a queer story told by Félibien of Marie's desire to possess some marbles left at S. Denis, after the building of the Henri II. tomb by Catherine de' Medici. Marie was about to build her a house, and she demanded of her son permission to carry off the marbles; but the monks objected, and appealed to the Parliament. The king, however, having quarrelled with his mother, was not sorry to make peace at another's cost, so he commanded the monks to deliver the marbles; but the latter were not to be conquered so easily, and another appeal was made which ended as fruitlessly as the first, and the poor convent eventually lost its marbles.

[53] "History and description of the Royal Abbaye of St. Denis, and of the vast riches which have been accumulating for ages in the celebrated abbaye. Extracted from the records of S. Denis," London, 1795.

[54] The holy oil was brought from heaven by a dove, in the very same phial in which it is kept. It has continued unwasted and unimpaired from the time of Clovis, for whose use it was sent, A.D. 500.

[55] Viollet le Duc, who attributes the picture to van Eyck, states that the cross was given by Suger (it is engraved in Félibien). In the _Dictionnaire raisonné d'Architecture_, le Duc has engraved the altar. Dom Doublet also gives a minute description of the gold retable with its ornaments of precious stones. The reliquary behind was destroyed by the Huguenots.

[56] _See Notice des Émaux et de l'Orfévrerie_, by Alfred Darcel. _Gemmes et Joyaux_, by Barbet de Jouy. _Handbook of the Louvre_; S. Beale.

[57] In the Salle d'Apollon; one of the centre cases.

[58] Suger was abbot from 1122 to 1151.

[59] Salle d'Apollon, centre case.

[60] _Catalogue des Camées_, by M. Chabouillet.

[61] O Christ, Charles III. of the name upon the throne of France consecrates this cup to thee!

[62] From a German breviary, printed at Nürnberg, 1515, quoted by Mrs. Jameson: _Sacred and Legendary Art_.

[63] President of the court of Clermont. He gave up his appointment to devote himself to the education of his son.

[64] Sauval professed to see the portraits of Pope Paul III., of Charles V., of François I^{er.}, and of Henry VIII., in some of the numerous worthies.

[65] The eight days (octave) devoted to her festival.

[66] Thomas Frognall Dibden, F.R.S., S.A.: _Picturesque Tour in France and Germany_, 1821.

[67] This is now in the Renaissance Museum of the Louvre, but it is no longer attributed to D. da Volterra.

[68] See page vii.

[69] _Histoire de Saint-Eustache._

[70] An altar erected at various points along the route taken by the procession, at which a pause is made for prayer, and the benediction given.

[71] The pew for clergy and officials during sermon.

[72] Vol. vii. p. 35.

[73] Carlyle, _French Revolution_, vol. III. p. 194.

[74] Hincmar (Archbishop of Reims, 9th century) tells us that S. Remy, who was at Reims at the time, received a spiritual revelation from the Holy Spirit, at the very moment of Clovis' death.

Many early sculptures and frescoes commemorate the life and deeds of Clovis, at Reims, at Rome, and at Siena, but they are all of much later date than the king.

Grégoire of Tours gives a picturesque account of the last days of Clotilde: "La reine Chrotechilde après la mort de son mari, vint à Tours: et là servant Dieu dans la basilique de Saint-Martin, avec une grande chasteté et une extrême bonté, elle demeura en ce lieu tous les jours de sa vie, et visita rarement Paris.... Pleine de jours et riche en bonnes oeuvres, elle mourut à Tours du temps de l'évêque Injuriosus. Elle fut transportée à Paris, suivie d'un choeur nombreaux qui chantait des hymnes, et ensevelie par ses fils, les rois Childebert et Clotaire, dans le sanctuaire de la basilique de Saint-Pierre, à côté du roi Clovis. Elle avait construit cette basilique où repose aussi la très bienheureuse Geneviève."

[75] The finding of the statue of Clovis was the reward of well-doing. The Cardinal de la Rochefoucault, desiring to honour the old king and the founder of the abbey, set up a fine marble image in the place of the old stone one "_mangé et difformé d'antiquité_" This the Revolution destroyed; but the old stone statue, which was shunted to the crypt, was found later on, and sent to S. Denis--an illustration of the exaltation of the humble; in this case, a clumsy gentleman with long hair, with his feet upon a feeble-looking lion. Although not contemporary with Clovis, the work and design prove it to be not later than the 12th century. A Latin epitaph once accompanied the statue in its old resting-place:

HIC EST illustrissimus rex Ludovicus qui et Clodoveus ante baptismum est dictus Francorum rex quintus sed verus christianus qui ab Anastasio imperatore consul et Augustus est creatus Hunc sanctus Remigius baptisavit et in baptismate ejus angelus ampullam sacri chrismatis detulit Vi Aquitania arianos expulit et totam illam terram usque ad montes Pirenaeos subjugavit Huic per Viennam fluvium cervus miræ magnitudinis viam ostendit Post quem rex ac milites vadum transierunt et in ejus adventu muri Angolismae civitatis corruerunt Alamanniam Tornigiam et Burgundiam tributarias fecit et terram adjacentem transivit Parisiis sedem regni constituit ecclesiam istam fundavit in honore apostolorum Petri et Pauli monitis sanctissimae et non satis commendandae Clotildis uxoris suae et beatae Genovefae quam sanctus Remigius dedicavit in qua post laudabilia opera Rex sepultus est A quatuor filiis suis regibus Theodorico Clodomiro Childeberto et Clotario Anno Domini V. XIII regni sui XXX.

[76] Dibden

[77] _The American in Paris, 1838._

[78] Victor Hugo.

[79] Of Mr. W. B. Richmond's work, undertaken since the above was written, it is as yet impossible to form an opinion.

[80] _Chronicles of the Ancient British Church._ James Yeowell.

[81] Some of the bas-reliefs by Jean Goujon are now in the Renaissance Museum of the Louvre: a Deposition from the Cross and the four Evangelists, the latter having been discovered in 1850, embedded in the wall of the staircase of No. 4, Rue S. Hyacinthe-S.-Honoré.

[82] Dibden.

[83] The fine recumbent statues of Louis de Poncher, _conseilleur et receveur-trésorier du roi François Ier_, and his wife Roberte Legende, now in the Renaissance Museum of the Louvre, were formerly in S. Germain.

[84] "Après avoir," says Grégoire of Tours, "été longtemps malade à Paris, le roi Childebert y mourut et fut enseveli dans la basilique de Saint-Vincent qu'il avait lui-même construite." The bones of Childebert and of his queen, Ultrogothe, were deposited (in 1656) in the centre of the choir. The religious placed them in a new marble tomb, and surmounted it with the antique one which had been repaired in the 11th century, when the church was restored by abbot Morard and his successors. Ultrogothe was a French S. Elizabeth: "Elle était la mère des orphelins, la consolatrice des pupilles, la bienfaitrice des pauvres et des serviteurs de Dieu, le secours des moines fidèles."

Another lady much vaunted by Grégoire de Tours was Ingoberge, the widow of Chérebert. She called in the aid of Grégoire in her last moments, and made many donations to churches; and what was better, "elle donna la liberté à beaucoup de personnes." She was a woman "d'une grande sagesse, vouée à la vie religieuse, assidue aux veilles, aux prières, aux aumônes."

[85] In 1704, a tomb was found which Montfaucon, a Benedictine of the congregation of S. Maur, considered to be that of Chérebert, but the General of the order would not consent to its being opened. However, in 1799, less reverent hands searched the spot, found the coffin, and opened it, only to discover a skeleton vested in a tunic and mantle, its feet shod in leathern shoes, and by its side the fragments of what may have been a crozier, thus proving the remains to have been those of an abbot rather than of a sovereign, but whether of the 6th or the 9th century it was impossible to decide.

[86] "Les tombeaux les plus considérables furent ceux du roy Childéric II., de Bilihilde, son épouse, et du jeune Dagobert, leur fils, qui furent tuez par Baudillon, dans le forêt de Liori. On trouva ces tombeaux dans le choeur." In cleaning the coffin "Childre rex" was found engraved by the side of the head.

[87] "L'on a placé à la porte du réfectoire une statue de pierre qui représente Childebert, laquelle a été faite apparemment sur le modèle d'une autre plus ancienne. Elle est haute de cinq pieds et demi. Childebert a une couronne ornée de trèfles et une sceptre en la main dont l'estrémité d'en haut est cassée. Il a une robe qui descend jusqu'à la cheville du pied; sa ceinture est ornée, d'espace en espace, de petites roses façon d'orfévrerie; son manteau, qui ne le couvre que par derrière, est attaché au devant par un cordon qu'il tient de la main gauche; ses souliers, pointus par le bout, sont échancrés en ovale par le dessus, depuis la moitié du pied jusqu'à la ligature."

[88] The entire epitaph will be found upon page 7.

[89]

DESCARTES DONT TU VOIS ICY LA SÉPULTURE, A DESSILLÉ LES YEUX DES AVEUGLES MORTELS, ET GARDANT LE RESPECT QUE L'ON DOIT AUX AUTELS, LEUR A DU MONDE ENTIER DÉMONTRÉ LA STRUCTURE. SON NOM PAR MILLE ESCRITS SE RENDIT GLORIEUX; SON ESPRIT MESURONT ET LA TERRE ET LES CIEUX, EN PÉNÈTRA L'ABISME, EN PERÇA LES NUAGES. CEPENDANT COMME UN AUTRE IL CÈDE AUX LOIS DU SORT, LUY QUI VIVROIT AUTANT QUE CES DIVINS OUVRAGES, SI LE SAGE POUVOIT S'AFFRANCHIR DE LA MORT.

[90] See _Les Lettres et Pensées d'Hippolyte Flandrin_, par II. Delaborde.

[91] The statues of the four Evangelists were the first important works of Simon Guillain, the sculptor of the fine bronze figures of Louis XIII., Anne d'Autriche, and Louis XIV. as a child, which adorned the Pont au Change, and which are now in the Renaissance Museum of the Louvre.

[92] The word is probably derived from _créneaux_, as the battlements of the Petit-Châtelet abutted upon one side of the street.

[93] In the quaint old French of the _Légende Dorée_ of Jacques de Voragine: "_Tu me suys, toi qui occiras ton père et ta mère."_

[94] "Tout aussitôt, il apprend de sa femme, qui revenait de la messe, qui il a tué."

"Et quand il ouyt ce, il fut à bien peu demy mort et commenca à plorer très amèrement et à dire:

"'Las! chétif, que feray-je, car j'ay occis mes très doulx père et mère, et ores est la parole du cerf accomplie.

"'Adieu, ma très aimée soeur, car je ne reposerai, dores en avant, devant que je sache que Notre-Seigneur aura recue ma pénitence.' Elle lui répondit: 'Loin de moi, ô mon très affectionné frère, la pensée de t'abandonner: puisque j'ai partagé tes joies, je partagerai aussi tes souffrances et ta pénitence.'

"Et alors, sa femme et lui s'en allèrent ensemble delez (_vers_) un moult grand fleuve, où moult de gens périssaient, et firent un hospital en ce désert pour faire pénitence et pour porter oultre tous ceulx qui y voudraient passer, pour recevoir en hospital tous povres.

"Et moult de temps après ce, quant Julien se reposait tout lasse, environ minuyt, que la gelée était griesve, il ouyt une voix qui plorait piteusement, et appelait Julien pour passer, à voix piteuse.

"Et quant il se leva tout esmeu, il trouva icelluy qui mourait de froit, il le porta en sa maison, et alluma du feu, et se estudia à le chauffer, et comme il ne le pouvait eschauffer nullement, il se doubta qu'il ne défaillit par froit, et le porta en son lict, et le couvrit dilligemment. Et, un peu après, celui qui lui était apparu comme malade et lépreux monta très resplendissant ès cieulx et dit à son oste: 'Julien, Notre-Seigneur m'a envoyé à toi et te mande qu'il a receu ta pénitence, et tous deulx reposerez en Notre-Seigneur dedans un peu de temps.' Tantost celluy s'évanouit (_disparut_). Et lors, un peu après, Julien et sa femme, pleins de bonnes oeuvres et d'aulmônes, reposèrent en Notre-Seigneur."--_Légende Dorée._

[95] L'abbé Guérin: _Les Petits Bollandists._

[96] So terrible were the Northmen, so outrageous the atrocities which they committed, that the canons of S. Geneviève chanted a line in their Litanies: "_A furore Normannorum, libera nos, Domine._"

[97] In 1648, there were 50 colleges, 16 hospitals, and 190 churches and convents for the education of a population of 232,030 inhabitants.

[98] _Nefs_ or _Navettes_ were vessels in the shape of boats used by the church for incense--hence incense-boat. Later on, they took the form of complete ships, with ropes, yards, &c., often upon wheels, and placed in the centre of the table at banquets. They contained spices, wine, drinking-cups, and spoons, in order to guard the guests against that bugbear of the Middle Ages, poison.

[99] There was another Lupus, bishop of Troyes, who accompanied S. Germain of Auxerre to Britain, to confute the Pelagian heretics.

[100] A Religious of the abbey of S. Germain des Prés.

[101] The summer festival of the Saint, being the day of his ordination, and also of his translation, 4th July.

[102] Metrical legend in the Auchinleck MS. quoted by Mrs. Jameson.

[103] _The American in Paris._

[104] De Bellis Parisiacae urbis (M. F. de Guilhermy, _Inscriptions_).

[105] See page 335.

[106] From time immemorial, the space to the West of the church was called _Parvis paradisus_, the terrestrial paradise which led by the celestial Jerusalem.

[107] This is the date given by Mézeray. Hénaut gives it as the 17th December.