The Churches of Paris, from Clovis to Charles X

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."

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 chœur." 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."

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.

108

This slab is now in the Renaissance Museum of the Louvre. It is dated 1303, and bears the following inscription: "Maitre Pierre de Fayet, chanoine de Paris, a donné deux cens livres parisis pour aider à faire ces histoires et pour les nouvelles verrières qui sont sur le chœur de céans." In the account of the church in 1763, the slab is thus described: "Avant la construction du nouveau chœur (par le roi Louis XIV.) on voyait autour de l'ancien chœur et en dedans les histoires de l'Evangile et des Actes des Apôtres en statues de pierre isolées avec des inscriptions au bas, et au-dessous l'histoire de la Génèse en bas-relief. A côté était un chanoine à genoux, dont la mort arriva en 1303, aussi ce bas-relief avait cette inscription derrière lui: 'Messire Pierre Fayet'… Mais depuis la construction du nouveau chœur, on a mis sa statue à la porte collaterale, vis-à-vis la porte rouge."

109

Théâtre des Antiquités de Paris.

110

Carlyle.

111

Exhibited at the Exhibition of Documents relating to the Revolution, held at the Tuileries in 1889.

112

The twelve Virtues, according to Hermas, are Faith, Temperance, Patience, Magnanimity, Simplicity, Innocence, Peace, Charity, Discipline, Chastity, Truth, and Prudence. The counting of twelve Virtues lasted a long time, for we find in 1454 at a fête given at Lille by the Duc de Bourgogne, Philippe le Bon, that twelve Virtues dressed in crimson satin danced at the ball with the many knights who were present. They were the great ladies of the town; and perhaps the knights personated the Vices, as they were not improbably able to do with a considerable amount of truth.

113

Annales archéologiques.

114

For a detailed account of the cathedral see Viollet-le-Duc's Dictionnaire raisonné d'Architecture.

115

This passed through miraculous adventures at the Revolution and was restored to the cathedral by M. de Quélen.

116

Its preservation is said to have been in this wise. Louis XVI. sent it to S. Denis to be in safe keeping, and in 1793 it was offered by the Convention to the municipality. Thence it passed into the hands of M. Bonvoisin in 1804, and in 1808 it was placed in its present crystal reliquary by Cardinal de Belloy.

117

Jean de Montaigu, beheaded in 1409, was a councillor, grand master of the palace, and brother of Gérard, 95th bishop of Paris.

118

Dibden.

119

Carlyle.

120

Dibden.

121

American in Paris.