Part 5

None of the monuments of the early kings are anterior to the 13th century; consequently, even the original portions of the effigies which remain cannot be looked upon as in the slightest degree portrait statues. On the other hand, the magnificent tombs in bronze, and the brasses which adorned them, erected to the memory of Philippe Auguste, S. Louis, and his father, and which were destroyed centuries ago, were most probably as valuable as contemporary portraits as they were for their workmanship; likewise the 13th century effigies which remain are remarkable for the beauty of their workmanship. Louis IV. was the last prince who was laid under a simple stone monument. The last tomb erected was that of Henri II., the sovereigns who followed him having had no memorials. They were laid together in one great crypt, and when disturbed by the Revolutionists for the sake of the lead of their coffins ("of the coffins of our old tyrants let us make bullets to hurl at our enemies"), there were fifty-four bodies arranged upon iron trestles side by side, Henri IV.[22] heading the list, and the Dauphin, elder son of Louis XVI., ending it. The monuments now occupy the same position that they did before the Revolution; and if we stand upon the raised platform of the apse behind the High Altar we can gaze down upon what may be called the history of France, from the artistic point of view, during four or five centuries. On the left, the 13th century tomb of Dagobert stands erect; beyond it, the Renaissance mausoleum of Francis I., one of the _chefs-d'oeuvres_ of that grand sculptor, Philibert Delorme. On the right, the enamelled brasses of the children of S. Louis and the tomb of Henri II. A mosaic effigy of Frédégonde, the Orléans monument, and the tomb of Louis XII. by the brothers Juste, of Tours, complete the list of important works, while all about are recumbent figures upon arcaded monuments. The resting-places of the abbots were simply marked by inscriptions or flat slabs. The historian of the Abbey, Dom Michel Félibien, records the number of thirteen stones of grand priors with effigies, besides the abbots' tombs.

Among the distinguished men buried at S. Denis were the following:--

Pierre Chambellan, of whom Joinville writes, "Messire Pierre Chambellan fut le plus loial homme et le plus droicturier que je veisse oncques en la maision du roi ... l'homme du monde en qui le roy croirit plus"; and Alphonse, son of Jean de Brienne, King of Jerusalem and uncle of S. Louis, whose epitaph designates him as "moult saige et moult loial chevaliers." Both of them died "au service de Dieu et de Monsieur Loys, roy de France, dessous Cartaige l'an de l'incarnation de Nostre-Seigneur MCCLXX," and were "enterrés en l'église Monsieur Saint Denis" in the year MCCLXXI, "le vendredi devant la Penthecoste le jour et l'heure quand Monsieur le roy Loys fut enterré"; indeed, the old chronicler says, "aus pieds du bon roys tout en la manière qu'il gisoit à ses pieds quand il estoit en vie." Pierre accompanied S. Louis in the disastrous crusade which terminated his reign. No doubt his tomb was of metal, destroyed with many others long before the Revolution, as for example, that of the Comte d'Eu, in gilt copper, enriched with enamels, which succumbed to the greed of the Huguenots.

Close to the tomb of Charles V. were those of Duguesclin, Louis de Sancerre, Bureau de la Rivière, Arnaud de Guilhem seigneur de Barbazan, who, before Bayard, was called _le chevalier sans reproche_, and who, with six others, was victorious over seven English knights in 1404. Near Duguesclin Charles V. had marked the spot for the burial place of Jean Pastourel, one of his principal councillors, whose wife was laid at S. Denis in 1380, but having, sick of the world, retired to the Abbey of S. Victor towards the end of his life, he desired to be buried there rather than amidst the splendours of the royal tombs. He was the only civilian who was offered this much-coveted privilege.

Guillaume de Chastel was another non-royal personage whom it pleased his master, Charles VII., _pour sa grande vaillance et les services qui lui avoit faiz en maintes manières_, to bury at S. Denis. The warrior held the town of Pontoise against the English, and died during the siege, 20th July, 1441. Another _vaillant capitaine de gendarmes_, the chevalier Louis de Pontoise, fell by the side of Louis XI. at the assault of the town of Crotoy, and was rewarded by being laid to rest amongst the Royalties.

Louis XIV. of course accorded burial at S. Denis to his great commanders. First, the Duc de Châtillon, for his magnificent services. _Feu nostre très-cher cousin_ was killed at the taking, in 1649, of Charenton, that peaceful suburb of Paris just outside the Bois de Vincennes; and the King, wishing to _tesmoigner le ressentiment que nous avons d'une si grande perte_, honoured the valiant _Duc_ with burial at S. Denis. The service was to be at the King's expense, which looks as if the honour were sometimes a costly one to the relatives; and no pomp or ceremony was to be omitted--such were the instructions of his most glorious majesty.

The Marquis de Saint Maigrin seems, according to the King's epistle, to have been of a _valeur extraordinaire, dans toutes les occasions où il s'est trouvé_; his majesty felt _avec beaucoup de douleur la perte que nous en avons faite au dernier combat qui s'est fait dans les fauxbourgs de nostre bonne ville de Paris_; and so he, too, was to rest with the great ones, socially, of the earth.

Louis seems to have been a sort of complete letter writer; the note in which he eulogises Turenne might serve as a model for those masters of style amongst us who delight in long sentences and a scarcity of full-stops; but, unlike the moderns, "la grande monarque" never gets involved, he only causes a slight shortness of breath to his readers. Witness the following page: "Chers et bien amez, les grands et signalez services qui ont esté rendus à cet Estat par feu nostre cousin, le vicomte de Turenne, et les preuves éclatantes qu'il a données de son zèle, de son affection à nostre service, et de sa capacité dans le commandement de nos armées que nous luy avons confiées avec une espérance certaine des heureux et grands succès que sa prudence consommée et sa valeur extraordinaire ont procuré à nos armes, nous ayant fait ressentir avec beaucoup de douleur la perte d'un aussi grand homme et d'un sujet aussi nécessaire et aussi distingué par sa vertu et par sa mérite, nous avons voulu donner un tesmoignage public digne de nostre estime et de ses grandes actions, en ordonnant qu'il fust rendu à sa mémoire tous les honneurs qui peuvent marquer à la postérité l'extrême satisfaction qui nous reste, et le souvenir que nous voulons conserver de tout ce qu'il a faict pour la gloire de nos armes et pour le soutien de nostre Estat; et comme nous ne pouvons en donner des marques plus publiques et plus certaines qu'en prenant soin de sa sépulture, nous avons voulu y pourvoir en telle sorte que le lieu où elle séroit, fust un tesmoignage de la grandeur de ses services et de nostre reconnoissance; c'est pourquoy, ayant résolu de faire bastir dans l'église de Saint-Denys une chapelle pour la sépulture des rois et des princes de la branche royale de Bourbon, nous voulons que, lorsqu'elle sera achevée, le corps de nostredit cousin y soit transféré, pour y estre mis en lieu honorable, suivant l'ordre que nous en donnerons; et cependant nous avons permis à nos cousins le cardinal et le duc de Bouillon, ses neveux, de mettre son corps en dépost dans la chapelle de Saint-Eustache de ladite église de Saint-Denys, et d'y eslever un monument à la mémoire de leur oncle, suivant les desseins qui en ont esté arrestez; c'est de quoy nous avons bien voulu vous donner avis, et vous dire en mesme temps que nous voulons que vous exécutiez ce qui est en cela de nostre volonté, en faisant mettre ledit corps dans la cave de ladite chapelle et en laissant la liberté aux ouvriers de travailler audit monument jusqu'à son entière perfection. Si n'y faictes fautes; car tel est nostre plaisir. Donné à Saint-Germain en Laye, le XXIIe jour de Novembre 1675. _Signé_, Louis. Et plus bas, Colbert. Et sur le reply: A nos chers et amez les abbé, prieur et religieux de l'abbaye royale de Saint-Denys, en France."

The projected Bourbon chapel was never built, and the Revolution found the monument of Turenne in the same chapel, that of S. Eustache, whence it was trundled out as late as April, 1796, and transported to the Petits-Augustins; for up to that time Turenne, not being a royal person, had been left in peace. The demolition of the tombs seems to have gone on fitfully from 1793 to 1795, as a little diversion between more exciting events. After the emigration of the nobility in 1790; the flight of the King to Varennes, and his false swearing to uphold the constitution in 1792; and his treachery in carrying on a correspondence with the enemies at the frontier; the popular anger waxed strong, and led to the storming of the Tuileries on the 10th August,[23] which event was to be celebrated the next year by the demolition of the tombs of S. Denis. Louis XVI. had paid the penalty of his crimes; and like his forerunner, Charles I., had shown that if he did not know how to live, he at least had learnt how to die; but his ancestors had got off scot-free. Why should they be allowed to rest peacefully, what remained of them? Besides, lead was wanted for ammunition; and, just as the church bells were in requisition for guns, and gold and silver vessels for coinage, so the leaden coffins and roofs of churches could be melted up into cannon balls. Imagine the stampede of Parisians along that paved road that led from Paris to S. Denis. Only the other day, when the trams were instituted, were those great rough stones taken up. At Versailles you may still see the like, the paved part of the road very much curved, with mud paths on each side--side walks for the people, while the centre pavement was reserved for the quality. They radiate from the palace, and enabled the "Roi Soleil" to visit his satellites at Bellevue, the Trianon, Meudon, and S. Germain, without danger of his lumbering coach sticking in the mire, to which he and his belonged. Many must have been the journeys from the capital to S. Denis, which the decree of the Convention sanctioned--journeys accompanied by crowbars and pickaxes for the better destruction of the tombs. It was a ghastly idea, but in no wise an exaggerated revenge for the kingly brutalities perpetrated upon the living bodies of Ravaillac, Damiens, and such like _canaille_.[24] We have a full account of the whole affair from the pen of an eye-witness, one Dom Poirier, the custodian of the archives of the monastery, who was present when the commission carried out the decree of the Convention of the 31st July, 1793. The report of this commission is so curious that I will quote it in full. After assigning to the children of _Louis le conspirateur_[25] the portion of simple citizens, Barrère continued as to the proposed arrangements to be carried out at "la Franciade": "Enfin, le comité a pensé que, pour célébrer la journée du 10 août, qui a abattu le trône, il fallait, dans son anniversaire, détruire les mausolées fastueux qui sont à Saint-Denis. Dans la monarchie, les tombeaux même avaient appris à flatter les rois. L'orgueil et le faste royal ne pouvaient s'adoucir sur ce théâtre de la mort; et les porte-sceptre qui ont fait tant de maux à la France et à l'humanité semblent encore, même dans la tombe, s'enorgueillir d'une grandeur évanouie. La main puissante de la république doit effacer impitoyablement ces épitaphes superbes et démolir ces mausolées qui rappeleraient des rois l'effrayant souvenir." Thereupon a discussion ensued. One member suggested that the nation being in peril, and wanting guns to carry on its defence, a commission should proceed to Franciade, otherwise S. Denis, in order to commence "l'exhumation des ci-devant rois et reines, princes et princesses, dont les corps étaient renfermés dans les caveaux de cette église." Their coffins were to be broken, the lead and the bronze to be melted up, and sent to the arsenals for conversion into arms and munitions of war. The former Benedictine Dom Poirier was nominated commissioner for the Institut, and ordered to be present at the performance. Some days after, the _Moniteur_ triumphantly records the commencement of the business. Then there must have been a lull, for on the 7th September the Conventionnel Lequinio cried from the Tribune: "Je dénonce l'inexécution du décret qui ordonne l'entière démolition des tombeaux de nos anciens tyrans à Saint-Denis. Sans doute, en détruisant ces restes du despotisme, il faut conserver les monuments des arts; mais il faut qu'au lieu d'être des objets d'idolâtrie, il ne servent plus qu'à nourrir l'admiration des amis des arts, l'émulation et le génie des artistes."

The notes taken by Dom Poirier are full of interesting details, told with a certain _naïveté_; as, for instance, "in the morning, after dinner, they descended into the tomb." Or "early in the morning they began the work, but left off while they went to _déjeûner_." It must be remembered, also (to quote M. Guilhermy), that the destruction "des tombeaux et l'extraction des corps ont été deux opérations distinctes. Au mois d'août, 1793, pour célébrer l'anniversaire _de la victoire du peuple_ (10 août), on fit disparaître de l'église la plupart des tombeaux et des statues; mais le temps pressait, on ne profana que les restes déposés dans les massifs des monuments. Au mois d'octobre, on acheva l'oeuvre commencée, en fouillant toutes les fosses et tous les caveaux qu'il fut possible de retrouver. On n'épargna ni le temps ni les recherches."

The work went on merrily. Marble tombs were smashed up as effectually as the bodies, which were thrown into a pit dug upon the site of the demolished Orléans chapel. Quick-lime helped the business as far as the kings were concerned, but to the assistants it was of no use; and so they had recourse to the burning of strong smelling powders, and the firing of guns, in order to purify the air. Here is one of Dom Poirier's notes:--

"_Nota._--Rièn n'a été remarquable dans l'extraction des cercueils faite dans la journée du mardi 15 Octbre, 1793: la plupart de ces corps étaient en putréfaction; il en sortait une vapeur noire et épaisse, d'une odeur infecte, qu'on chassait à force de vinaigre et de poudre qu'on eut la précaution de brûler; ce qui n'empêcha pas les ouvriers de gagner des dévoiements et des fièvres, _qui n'ont pas eu de mauvaises suites_."

What say the modern sanitary authorities to that!

The body of Henri IV. was found in a perfect state of preservation; and he was kept some time in the church lying-in-state, as it were, while a cast was taken of his face; but it may be noted that Dom Poirier makes no allusion to the story of a soldier cutting off his beard and sticking it on his own face.

The names of the princes and princesses were engraved upon little brass plates attached to the covers of the coffins; and a few years ago three or four of these brasses were found in the shop of a coppersmith, that of Louis XIV. having served as the bottom of a stewpan. How are the mighty fallen!

Let me quote some more of Dom Poirier's jottings:--

_Remarques._--In Charles V.'s coffin they found a crown in silver, gilt, in a good state of preservation, a hand of justice of silver, a sceptre 5 feet in length surmounted with acanthus leaves in silver, exquisitely gilt, the gold possessing all its freshness and brilliancy. "Ce sceptre était surmonté d'un bouquet en feuillage, an milieu duquel s'élevait une grappe de corymbe, ce qui lui donne à peu prés la forme d'un thyrse, tel qu'on en voit dans Monfaucon, article de _sceptres_; morceau d'orfévrerie assez bien travaillé pour son époque." (Alexandre Lenoir, _Musée des Monuments français_.)

"Remarque. Une singularité de l'embaumement du corps de Charles VII., c'est qu'on y avait parsemé du vif-argent, qui avait conservé toute sa fluidité. On a observé la même singularité dans quelques autres embaumements de corps du XIVe et du XVe siècles."

The following may interest some persons:--

"Le mercredi, 16 Octobre, 1793.

"Towards 7 o'clock in the morning the work was continued in the vault of the Bourbons. They began with the coffin of Henriette Marie, daughter of Henri IV. and wife of the unfortunate Charles I., King of England, d. in 1669, aged 60;[26] and continued with Anne Stuart, her daughter, the wife of _Monsieur_, only brother of Louis XIV. d. in 1670, aged 26."

The body of Louis VIII., the father of S. Louis, had almost disappeared. A cross was sculptured upon the lid of the stone coffin; in it was found a sceptre of rotten wood, and a skull-cap of satin surrounded by a band of gold woven stuff, forming a diadem. The body had been enveloped in a winding sheet of gold tissue, some pieces of which were in a good state of preservation.

_Remarques._--His body thus enveloped had been sewn up in a strong leather covering.[27] "Il est vraisemblable qu'on ne l'a fait pour lui que pour que son cadavre n'exhalât pas au dehors de mauvaise odeur, dans le transport qu'on en fit de Montpensier en Auvergne, où il mourut à son retour de la guerre contre les Albigeois."

"Ce cuir avait conservé toute son élasticité.... Dans les fouilles de Saint-Germain-des-Près, on trouva un corps également enveloppé dans un cuir. (Alexandre Lenoir, _Musée des Monuments Français_.) Nous pourrions citer quelques autres exemples. Les corps de plusieurs princes de la maison des Plantagenets, au douzième siècle, furent apportés à Rouen, cousus dans une enveloppe de cuir; c'étaient ceux de Henry I., de Henry-le-Jeune, de Richard-Coeur-de-Lion. Hugues de Grantemaisnil, mort à Londres en 1098, ayant demandé à être inhumé à l'abbaye de Saint-Évrould, en Normandie, son corps y fut transféré salé, et cousu dans une peau de boeuf. Enfin on sait que saint Bernard fut enseveli dans un sac de cuir" (v. B. de Peterborough; Orderic Vital; _Histoire de Saint Bernard_, &c.) (Guilhermy).

There are notes upon the height of François I., by Alexandre Lenoir:--

"Le corps de François I^{er.} portait une taille extraordinaire et une structure très-forte; l'un des fémurs de ce prince que j'ai mesuré portait 53c (20 pouces) des condiles à la tête de l'os." And upon the beauty of another gentleman's locks: "Le connétable Louis de Sancerre avait de forts beaux cheveux; lors de l'exhumation des corps à St Denis, il fut trouvé ayant encore trois longues tresses d'environ 40 centimètres" (Alex. Lenoir).

The _procès-verbal_ makes no mention of the heart of Cardinal de Bourbon, nor of the graves of Châtillon and the Marquis de Saint-Maigrin, nor of the abbots, and grand priors; their remains probably still rest in the soil under the church, for vaults have several times been discovered in all parts during the restorations of the building. It will be seen that the amount of valuables found was not great: Five silver-gilt and five copper-gilt crowns, two silver-gilt sceptres, four of copper-gilt, and three of wood; one silver hand of justice, one silver-gilt, and one broken; (the _bâton d'ebêne_ was possibly the stem of a hand of justice belonging to Charles le Bel); the upper part of a crozier; four rings, two silver and two gold; the silver seal of Constance of Castille bearing the effigy of the princess and an inscription (now in the Bibliothèque); remains of spindles and distaffs; four chains of bracelets; two clasps and a silver buckle; a good many fragments of stuffs, tissues, and embroideries; a winding-sheet of gold tissue, a silver one; a chasuble; a satin belt; shoes; a Carmelite habit, and some gold thread. What became of these things, many of them of no value but for a museum, is not known.

Such was the result of this disgusting entertainment, which was principally a search for valuables to keep up the struggle for life. Empty coffers, starving multitudes, an enemy crying at the frontier; such was the legacy left by the wanton waste of a profligate court, and a debased race of kings. The terrible revenge which followed did them little harm; could they have been made to suffer in their life-time, it would have been better than mauling about their dead bodies and rummaging in their tombs; but unfortunately the last of the race was the least guilty, although he had much heartlessness and treachery to answer for; and had he felt the storm which had been threatening for some time, the hurricane might have passed over. But selfishness is always blind; and so the flood carried the poor thing away; and the skeletons, the lead, the gold and the silver, were all swept into their respective lime-strewn pits and melting pots. Here is the epilogue. In 1815 the "Sous-préfet et le maire de Saint-Denis firent élever un tertre couvert de gazon, de lis et de cyprès sur les deux fosses dans lesquelles avaient été jetés les restes des rois et des princes." (Gilbert, _Description historique de l'église de Saint-Denis_.) "On se proposait d'ériger en ce lieu un monument expiatoire; mais il parut plus convenable de réintègrer dans l'église les ossements que les deux fosses contenaient encore." (Guilhermy.)

The metal of the monuments, with the exception of two enamelled brass slabs which came from Royaumont, was all melted up. In the _Moniteur_ of 14th August, 1792, may be read a list of the tombs destroyed, furnished by the town of S. Denis. The monument of Charles le Chauve must have been magnificent. The effigy of the emperor reposed on a slab supported by four lions. Two Angels censed the defunct; and four bishops sat at the corners. We know the style of tomb from the description given by Richer, a monk of Sénone, who wrote a chronicle during the reign of S. Louis, and who saw it soon after it was set up. Charles had been a great patron of the abbey and had given it the Holy Nail and a thorn from the Holy Crown, besides part of the course of the Seine and the domain of Ruel.

The tomb of "la noble royne de france Marguerite qui fu fame monseigneur Sainct Loys, jadis roy de France" is engraved in Montfaucon's _Monuments de la Monarchie française_. The tomb of Arnaud de Guilhem, seigneur de Barbazan, was canopied, the warrior being represented in full armour. The whole was in bronze, with an inscription, at the end of which was the name of the artist: _fait à paris par Jehan Morant_.