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Title: The Motor Routes of France
Author: Home, Gordon
Language: English
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THE MOTOR ROUTES
OF FRANCE
TO THE CHÂTEAUX OF TOURAINE, BIARRITZ, THE
PYRENEES, THE RIVIERA, AND THE
RHONE VALLEY
ALREADY PUBLISHED IN THE
SAME SERIES
MOTOR ROUTES
OF ENGLAND
SOUTHERN SECTION
(South of the Thames)
With 24 Illustrations in Colour
Cloth, =5s. net= (by post, 5s. 4d.)
Leather, =7s. 6d. net= (by post, 7s. 10d.)
“The touring motorist ... will find Mr. Home exactly the sort of
companion who will add sensibly to the pleasures of the day’s run.
All along the main roads he gossips brightly of history,
architecture, and archæology, and manages to convey a large amount
of information without being unpleasantly didactic.”--_Pall Mall
Gazette._
TO BE PUBLISHED SHORTLY
MOTOR ROUTES
OF ENGLAND
WESTERN SECTION
A. AND C. BLACK, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON
AGENTS
AMERICA THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
64 & 66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK
AUSTRALASIA OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
205 FLINDERS LANE, MELBOURNE
CANADA THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA, LTD.
27 RICHMOND STREET WEST, TORONTO
INDIA MACMILLAN & COMPANY, LTD.
MACMILLAN BUILDING, BOMBAY
309 BOW BAZAAR STREET, CALCUTTA
[Illustration: CHARTRES.
The Cathedral towering above the old roofs of the city from near the
Porte Guillaume.]
THE
MOTOR ROUTES
OF FRANCE
TO THE CHÂTEAUX OF TOURAINE,
BIARRITZ, THE PYRENEES, THE
RIVIERA, & THE RHONE VALLEY
BY
GORDON HOME
WITH
16 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR, 16 IN
BLACK AND WHITE, AND 60 MAPS & PLANS
[Illustration]
ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK
SOHO SQUARE, LONDON · MCMX
‘O’er the Flaminian way he bade the axle glow--
For there, our young Antomedon first tried
His powers, there loved the rapid car to guide.’
JUVENAL.
PREFACE
The fascination of a motor tour through France can scarcely be
exaggerated. It is a country eminently suited to the new method of road
travel, for with the spaces between the towns traversed by wide national
ways going to their objectives as straight as the contours of the
country will permit, no one feels that the presence of a rapid car is
destroying the peace or beauty of the neighbourhood. And yet in the tour
described in this book there is a huge diversity of scenery, from the
wheat plains of the North to the mountains and sea of the South.
Great pains have been taken to embody in the small compass of a book
that will easily slip into an overcoat pocket all that is essential for
the motorist to know both before and during the tour. At the same time,
the large clear type of the first volume of this series has been
retained in order that there may be no difficulty in reading while the
car is in motion.
Dr. Kirk’s practical notes are the result of much experience, and they
need only be supplemented by a word as to hotel charges. In _every_ case
the wise tourist discusses prices with the manager or proprietor before
he takes his car into the courtyard or garage. By doing so he knows
exactly what his bill will amount to in the morning, and he is quite
sure of no overcharge. If no arrangement is made on arrival, one must be
prepared for any charge, _notwithstanding the prices given in guides or
the hotel books published by the Touring Club de France_.
For those who either do not possess cars or do not wish to take their
own abroad, the simplest method is to hire a car in England. The
author’s experience of hiring from the Daimler Company has been so
satisfactory that he is glad of this opportunity of recommending their
cars. To Mr. A. H. Hallam Murray the author is greatly indebted for
permission to reproduce four of his delightful pictures from ‘On the Old
Road through France to Florence.’
As in the previous volume of this series, a list of dates of prominent
events in French history and of the Kings of France is given in the
Appendix.
The author would greatly appreciate any suggestions for improving the
book, and would much like to hear of any inaccuracies which may have
crept in.
GORDON HOME.
_43, Gloucester Street,
London, S. W._
CONTENTS
SECTION PAGE
I. HAVRE TO ROUEN, DIEPPE TO ROUEN, AND CALAIS
AND BOULOGNE TO ROUEN 1
II. ROUEN TO EVREUX 27
III. EVREUX TO CHARTRES 50
IV. CHARTRES TO ORLEANS 62
V. ORLEANS TO TOURS 80
VI. TOURS TO POITIERS 116
VII. POITIERS TO ANGOULÊME 138
VIII. ANGOULÊME TO BERGERAC 152
IX. BERGERAC TO MONT-DE-MARSAN 167
X. MONT-DE-MARSAN TO BIARRITZ 175
XI. BIARRITZ TO PAMPLONA AND SAN SEBASTIAN, SPAIN 193
XII. BIARRITZ TO PAU 218
XIII. PAU TO ST. GAUDENS 227
XIV. ST. GAUDENS TO CARCASSONNE 241
XV. CARCASSONNE TO MONTPELLIER 254
XVI. MONTPELLIER TO AIX-EN-PROVENCE 272
XVII. AIX-EN-PROVENCE TO CANNES 292
XVIII. CANNES TO SAN REMO 305
XIX. AIX-EN-PROVENCE TO AVIGNON 324
XX. AVIGNON TO VALENCE 320
XXI. VALENCE TO ST. ÉTIENNE 346
XXII. ST. ÉTIENNE TO MOULINS 356
XXIII. MOULINS TO BRIARE 364
XXIV. BRIARE TO MELUN 375
XXV. MELUN TO ST. GERMAIN-EN-LAYE 383
XXVI. ST. GERMAIN-EN-LAYE TO GISORS 390
XXVII. GISORS TO ROUEN 400
XXVIII. GISORS TO DIEPPE 417
HINTS ON TOURING IN FRANCE, BY JOHN L. KIRK 420
FRENCH AND ITALIAN ROAD WARNINGS 426
A TABLE OF THE DATES OF THE CHIEF EVENTS IN FRENCH
HISTORY 430
INDEX 435
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
IN COLOUR
1. Chartres _Frontispiece_
FACING PAGE
2. Caudebec-en-Caux 12
3. The Towers of St. Ouen, Rouen 40
4. The Road near Rouen 49
5. Amboise 105
6. The Château of Chenonceaux 112
7. The Limestone Cavern on the Road near Mas d’Azil 248
8. The Pyrenees in Spring 257
9. Narbonne 265
10. The Castle at Tarascon 272
11. On the Coast of the Estérels 305
12. Cap Martin 312
13. The Mouth of the Roya at Ventimiglia 321
14. An Arched Street in Apricale, Italy 328
15. The Roman Arch at Orange 344
16. Château Gaillard, Normandy 412
IN BLACK AND WHITE
1. Rouen Cathedral from the South 57
2. Approaching Chartres 64
3. Old Gabled Houses at Tours 121
4. The Street of Narvate 128
5. Shoeing a Bullock in the Basque Country 201
6. One of the Gates of Pamplona 208
7. The Limestone Gorge in the Pyrenees between
Pamplona and Tolosa 217
8. The Fortified Bridge at Orthez 224
9. A picturesque Corner of St. Lizier 243
10. The Cloisters at St. Lizier 246
11. On the Ramparts of the Cité of Carcassonne 259
12. The Arcaded Square of Mirepoix 262
13. The Greek Theatre at Arles 289
14. The Romanesque Bridge at Avignon 296
15. The Tour de l’Horloge at Moulins 361
16. The Fifteenth Century Fireplace in the Hôtel du
Grand Cerf at Le Grand Andely 368
IN THE TEXT
Plan of the Château of Blois, p. 95.
How Biarritz was visited in 1813, p. 188.
Twenty-eight Route Maps.
Thirty-one Town Plans.
AT END OF BOOK
Folding Map of France, showing all the routes described and other
alternative routes to which some reference is given.
THE MOTOR ROUTES OF FRANCE
ERRATA
The amount of ‘£48 10s. 0d.’ on page 420 _should read_ ‘£89 3s. 4d.’;
and the grand total at the foot of the page _should be_ ‘£102 16s. 4d.’
(OMITTING JUMIÈGES, 89 KILOMETRES)
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=Havre= to Harfleur =7= 4½
=Harfleur= to Lillebonne via
St. Romain de Colbosc =29= 18
=Lillebonne= to Caudebec =16= 10
=Caudebec= to Jumièges =14½= 9
=Jumièges= to Duclair =7= 4½
=Duclair= to St. Martin Boscherville =9= 5½
=St. Martin Boscherville= to Rouen =11= 6¾
THE MOTOR ROUTES OF FRANCE
TO THE CHÂTEAUX OF TOURAINE, BIARRITZ, THE PYRENEES, THE RIVIERA, AND
THE RHONE VALLEY
SECTION I
HAVRE TO ROUEN, 58¼ MILES
(93½ KILOMETRES)
(_OMITTING JUMIÈGES, 89 KILOMETRES_)
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=Havre= to Harfleur =7= 4½
=Harfleur= to Lillebonne via
St. Romain de Colbosc =29= 18
=Lillebonne= to Caudebec =16= 10
=Caudebec= to Jumièges =14½= 9
=Jumièges= to Duclair =7= 4½
=Duclair= to St. Martin Boscherville =9= 5½
=St. Martin Boscherville= to Rouen =11= 6¾
DIEPPE TO ROUEN, 36 MILES
(58 KILOMETRES)
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=Dieppe= to Tôtes =29= 18
=Tôtes= to Maromme =24= 15
=Maromme= to Rouen =5= 3
BOULOGNE TO ROUEN, 109½ MILES
(176 KILOMETRES)
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=Boulogne= to Montreuil (via Samer) =35= 21½
=Montreuil= to Abbeville =40= 25
=Abbeville= to Neufchâtel =56= 35
=Neufchâtel= to Rouen =45= 28
CALAIS TO BOULOGNE
1. By the coast =39= 24
2. By Marquise =36= 22
NOTES FOR DRIVERS
=Harfleur.=--On the way to St. Romain, a long ascent, with four
turns.
=St. Romain de Colbosc.=--Steam tramway.
=Lillebonne.=--After leaving the town, a steep ascent, with sharp
bends.
=Caudebec-en-Caux.=--A long, winding descent; 5 kilometres farther, a
dangerous level crossing (_passage à niveau_).
=Canteleu.=--Steep, winding descent into Rouen for 3 kilometres.
=In bad weather=, when the roads are likely to be sticky and greasy,
the route by the Seine described here is often troublesome to
motorists, and those who wish to avoid such inconvenience, and have
perhaps travelled through Caudebec before, are advised to go
through Bolbec and Yvetot to Rouen.
PLACES OF INTEREST ON THE ROUTE
=Havre.=--Second port of France; founded in 1514 by order of François
I. Church of Notre Dame, Early Renaissance.
=Graville.=--Suburb of Havre; eleventh century church of the Abbey of
Ste. Honorine.
=Harfleur.=--Picturesque old town; flamboyant church, with fine spire
and north porch; old houses.
=Lillebonne.=--Small town in a pretty valley; Roman theatre; castle,
thirteenth century, with slight remains of the Norman predecessor,
in which the Conqueror held his council for the invasion of
England.
=Caudebec-en-Caux.=--Extremely picturesque old town on the Seine;
streets full of old timber houses and a rich flavour of
medievalism. Church commenced in 1426; exceedingly rich in
sculpture; magnificent spire.
=St. Wandrille.=--Ruins of a Norman abbey in a beautiful valley.
=Jumièges.=--Stately ruins of the Norman abbey church; museum in the
abbey grounds.
=St. Martin Boscherville.=--A picturesquely situated village on
sloping ground, with a great church built in the eleventh century;
it is considered the finest and most complete Norman church in
France.
In spite of the fact that Havre is a port of such magnitude, and that
its tonnage approximates to a quarter of that possessed by France, one
is dependent on the state of the tide for disembarking a car when, after
the night crossing, one finds the ship tied up to the Grand Quai.
Instead of the ranges of dock-sheds and the giant cranes of Southampton,
the ship seems to be lying along the side of a second-rate French
street, and one looks in vain for the great steel arm that should
silently let down a hook to lift the car like a toy from the ship’s
lower deck. So if the tide should be low, one must wait until the deck
is level with the quay--a delay more often than otherwise a boon to a
party adjusting itself and its luggage for a long tour.
Although Havre is an infant port when compared to Marseilles, with its
founding by the Greeks, there are things worth remembering about the
place. When Rollo with his Norsemen in their black-sailed ships hovered
at the mouth of the Seine in preparation for their attack upon Rouen,
there was no Havre, and it was not until six centuries had passed that
François I. gave the order to Guillon le Roy, the Commandant of
Harfleur, on the opposite shore of the estuary of the Seine, to
construct a port for great ships, owing to the necessity for an ocean
seaport after the discovery of America. In 1514 the making of the port
began, and its growth has been continued up to the present day.
[Illustration: TOWN PLAN NO. 1--HAVRE.
_Walker & Boutall sc._]
Of the original town and its defences nothing is left, for even the old
tower of the château in which Cardinal Mazarin imprisoned the Princes of
Condé and of Conti, and the Duke of Longueville, has gone, and the only
relic of the century that saw the birth of the city is the Church of
Notre Dame. It stands in the Rue de Paris, near the Grand Quai, and is a
mixture of the last flicker of Gothic and of Renaissance architecture.
The building would appear to be the successor of the original Church of
Notre Dame de Grâce, founded for the sailors of the port, which then
bore the title of Le Havre-de-Grâce. In 1562 the Huguenots invited the
English to enter the town, and the church tower was used as a gun
platform, so that an effective fire on the royal camp could be
maintained. But the townsmen paid for this by having the spire and walls
of their church taken down. The rebuilding began in 1574, and the
completion of the aisles and chapels took place in the following
century.
Henri IV., Richelieu, and Colbert, who employed Vauban, not only
improved the harbours, but added to the defences of the town, which in
1694 and 1759 resisted English bombardments. In 1856 the walls were
removed, and the town now relies on three forts.
LEAVING HAVRE FOR ROUEN
The road to Rouen is through the Rue de Normandie, and this rapidly
brings one to the suburb of Graville, where, on the left side of the
road, on a hill above the Town Hall, stands the church of the Abbey of
Ste. Honorine. It is an interesting building of the eleventh century,
with curiously carved corbels outside, and within capitals as
grotesque, and the sarcophagus which contained the remains of St.
Honoria. Pilgrims, it is said, were just as numerous at Graville after
the relics of the saint had been removed to Conflans for safety at the
time of the Norman invasion!
The view over the Seine from the abbey church is exceedingly fine, and
on sunny mornings the broad river shimmers in a silvery light.
HARFLEUR,
to which the tramway comes, is a quaint town, with narrow streets and a
flamboyant church, whose highly enriched spire and curiously tall north
porch, recessed in the wall and full of elaborate carving, give one a
foretaste of that wealth of detail and medieval charm which a tour
through Normandy offers to the stranger.
Either the walls of Harfleur must in 1415 have been exceedingly strong
or their defenders of exceptional resource and courage, for in that year
Henry V., with 30,000 English, besieged the town when the garrison
numbered only 400, and yet for no less than forty days did they maintain
the defence. It was 75 Englishmen to 1 Frenchman; but it generally took
a few weeks to get through medieval walls, unless treachery or hunger
came to the help of the attackers. Harfleur languished as a port owing
to the shifting sand of the river-mouth, and the growth of Havre put an
end to its commercial importance.
[Illustration: No. 1 HAVRE AND DIEPPE TO ROUEN]
Bending to the left after passing the church, and going to the right
almost immediately at a fork, Harfleur is soon left behind, as the road
ascends the side of a green valley containing one or two large country
houses.
The farms stand compactly inside a hedge of trees, which almost hides
the buildings, and suggests the _tun_, or hedge, of the villages of our
Saxon ancestors. A straight poplar-bordered road leads past pretty
thatched farmyards, with timber-framed barns, to St. Romain de Colbosc.
Besides the sixteenth-century cross in the cemetery there is a
twelfth-century lepers’ chapel, with paintings inside, but it has for
long been reduced to a mere farm-building.
In St. Romain one turns to the right for Lillebonne, and soon afterwards
the road bears nearly due east, and runs straight for Lillebonne,
descending into the picturesque wooded valley of the Bolbec River with
several turns.
LILLEBONNE
If there was reason to complain of the juvenility of Havre, there is
sufficient antiquity at Lillebonne to satisfy the most exacting, for the
presence of a Roman theatre indicates the former existence of an
important Roman city, and there is some reason for believing that this
_Julia Bona_ of the Romans was built where the chief town of the tribe
of the Caletes stood. The heavy squared stones that formed the seats
were to a great extent carried away to the other side of Caudebec to
build the Abbey of St. Wandrille, and one can only get a small idea of
the perfect building from the rough inner stonework of the two lowest
tiers. Even these were only revealed through the excavations which took
place between 1812 and 1840. Many of the discoveries made in the
excavations are to be seen in the museum at Rouen.
Of exceptional interest to Englishmen is the castle of Lillebonne, for
in the great Norman hall--now also demolished--William the Conqueror
gathered together a great assemblage of his viscounts, his warrior
bishops, and men of lesser potency, and before them all announced his
intention of invading England. The reception of this portentous
declaration was mixed, many of the barons being unwilling to consent to
so hazardous an enterprise, in spite of the enthusiasm of the Duke’s
particular friends. Notwithstanding this lukewarmness, William’s
determination eventually carried away all opposition, and the invasion
‘scare’ became an accomplished fact. That the historic hall should have
survived until a wealthy cotton-spinner, who had purchased the castle,
destroyed it in cold blood is distressing to the visitor who longs to
feast his eyes on the building that once held that stirring council.
What he sees to-day is the ruins of the thirteenth-century castle built
on the site of the Conqueror’s stronghold, and the great round donjon
did not come into existence until long after William had been gathered
to his fathers. The church has a beautiful crocketed spire of the
fifteenth century, similar to the one seen at Harfleur.
As one climbs out of the valley the road winds in different directions,
and gives charming views over the Seine, with its passing steamers, and
the distant green country beyond.
Two pretty villages, La Frenaye and St. Arnoult, are passed, each with
its mossy thatched roofs and quaint little church, its particularly
attractive half-timbered houses, and here and there an outside wooded
staircase; then follows a winding descent into that most romantic of
towns--
CAUDEBEC-EN-CAUX
Although artists have painted the church, the river, and the old streets
and waterway for years, there are still many of the most appealing
aspects of the place that seem to remain outside the attainments of the
painters and sketchers who reveal the results of their work there. There
is one particular old street of houses, with romantic frontages on one
side rising from the green water of a narrow canal, which is not easy
to forget. Not only are the greens and greys and reds and ochres a
delight to the eye, and the detail of the windows, overhanging eaves,
and timber framing of the walls and gables particularly attractive, but
one also gets peeps into interiors, where one can see old folk seated by
windows with faces and curious black headgears such as Holbein and
Rembrandt painted.
Even Lisieux cannot eclipse Caudebec in the completeness of its antique
streets, for here there have been few attempts to hide the picturesque
timber fronts with stucco, and there are half a dozen narrow streets by
the church where the buildings, with the passage of the centuries, have
let their time-worn gables nod towards one another until the strip of
sky that the builders left has been appreciably narrowed. Then, in
wandering through these ancient ways one is suddenly confronted with a
wealth of the most delicately carved stone, and looking up, one sees the
exquisitely graceful tower of the church, with its profusion of ornament
and its crocketed and coroneted spire rising above. The western entrance
is often open, so that the passer-by may see the lacelike ornament of
the doorway thrown out against the velvet blackness
[Illustration: CAUDEBEC-EN-CAUX.
One of the most picturesque towns in Normandy.]
of the interior, a darkness relieved by the brilliant fifteenth and
sixteenth century stained glass of the Flamboyant windows.
Henri IV., when he stayed at Caudebec, said that the town had _la plus
jolie chapelle que j’ai jamais vue_, but added that the jewel was badly
set. The building was commenced in 1426, and in 1484 Guillaume Le
Tellier, the master mason, died, and was buried in the Lady-chapel of
the glorious building he had created.
There existed in the sixteenth century an island in the Seine opposite
Caudebec, and it is stated by Mrs. Macquoid that there were ‘three
beautiful churches’ on it until the _mascaret_, a tidal bore, which at
certain full moons in the spring and autumn equinoxes comes up the river
with tremendous force, swept the whole island away. By 1641 the island
had appeared again, but the _mascaret_ again demolished it. The wall of
water that rushes up the narrowing river-mouth varies from 6 to 12 feet
in height, and its force is sufficient to dislodge and carry away great
stones.
Caudebec began its existence as a fishing village under the control of
the Abbey of St. Wandrille, and, with its convenient quay, soon grew
prosperous. When Henry V. besieged the town, it held out for six
months.
During the Franco-Prussian War the Germans occupied the old town, but
fortunately did no damage to it.
It is with keen reluctance that one leaves the sunny quay of Caudebec,
with its busy market scenes, its steam ferry-boat, and the lovely views
up and down the curving river. However, the road follows the Seine, and
one enjoys for mile after mile lovely views across the wide belt of
silvery water, backed by sweeping green forests.
ST. WANDRILLE
About two kilometres from Caudebec a turning to the left leads up in a
few minutes to St. Wandrille, where the ruins of the Norman abbey stand
in a pretty valley. The conventual buildings are now the residence of M.
Maurice Maeterlinck, the dramatist and author, who recently performed an
historical play in the refectory and cloisters of the abbey, the
audience moving from one part of the buildings to another for each
successive scene.
The abbey was originally called Fontenelle, after the stream that flows
through the valley. It was founded in the middle of the seventh century
by a pupil of St. Columba, and the early buildings fell a prey to the
harrying Norsemen, who left the place in ruins. In 1033, having been
rebuilt, the abbey was dedicated to St. Wandrille, but a fire did much
destruction in the thirteenth century, and in 1631 the tower and spire
of the church fell, and smashed down the nave and aisles, the
Lady-chapel, and the choir-stalls. What remains of the church is not so
remarkable as the ornate cloisters of the fourteenth and sixteenth
centuries, and the imposing Norman refectory, with its vaulted roof of
the fifteenth century and its fine Flamboyant windows.
Returning to the main road, and continuing towards Rouen, one soon
catches sight of the two towers of the abbey of Jumièges rising above
trees beyond a bend of the winding river. At the small village of
Yainville, with a Norman church, the road to Jumièges goes to the right,
and the singular beauty of this stately ruin justifies the détour.
JUMIÈGES
The entrance to the abbey is at a lodge gate on the left side of the
road in the pleasant village, and the _concierge_--a quite charming type
of country-woman--accompanies one through the admirably-kept ruins, and
afterwards to the museum adjoining, where is preserved, among other
carved stones from the ruined buildings, the slab of black marble under
which was buried the heart of Agnes Sorel, the beautiful mistress of
Charles VII. She died near Jumièges in 1449, after the birth of her
fourth daughter, and her body was buried at Loches, which is passed
through on the way southwards from Tours (see Section VI.).
The impressiveness of the twin towers of the west end of the great
church is due in part to the extreme simplicity of the Norman work--for
the buildings were completed just before the Norman Conquest--and also
to their great height of 328 feet. On entering it is hard to believe
that until 1790 the abbey and its great church were in a perfect state
of preservation, for the roofs have gone except in the aisles, where the
stones of the vault have been in some places so disturbed by roots and
frosts that collapses are imminent. There are traces of orange-coloured
painting on the arches, and the stone is of a warm cream, which looks
singularly beautiful when afternoon shadows are falling from arches and
pillars. There are only the foundations of the semicircular apse, with
its nine chapels, and the gaps in the east end of the church are
beautified by the presence of tall larches that droop their graceful
branches over the broken moss-grown walls. The fourteenth-century chapel
on the south side, dedicated to St. Pierre, is also in a state of ruin.
St. Philibert founded Jumièges in 654, about the same time as St.
Wandrille was begun, and it also suffered terribly at the hands of the
Northmen, who tortured and massacred without mercy, and left the once
prosperous abbey a shattered ruin.
The rebuilding was encouraged by William Longsword, the son of Rollo;
but the builder of the Norman church which stands to-day was Abbot
Robert of Jumièges, who was afterwards appointed Archbishop of
Canterbury by Edward the Confessor, who had been educated at Jumièges
under his care. The buildings, completed and consecrated in 1067,
remained in use until 1793, the date of the Suppression, so that, with
an interval of about a century in its early history, Jumièges existed as
a monastery for 1,139 years, and in that period was ruled by eighty-two
abbots.
It is interesting to know that, although the Benedictines of Jumièges
contributed a very large sum towards the ransom of Richard I. after his
capture on the way home from the Holy Land, the monastery was twice
plundered by English armies, and the first occasion was in Edward
III.’s reign, when the generosity of the monks seems to have been quite
forgotten!
A portion of the buildings belonging to William Longsword’s church is to
be seen in the Chapel of St. Pierre already mentioned.
An interesting legend of the founder of the abbey explains the presence
of a wolf at the feet of the saint on a carved stone boss. St. Philibert
had given to a convent four leagues from Jumièges the laundry work of
his abbey, and the Abbess and her nuns washed the linen which was sent
to them. One day a wolf ate the ass that carried the washing, but the
holy Abbess induced the wicked wolf to carry the baskets, which he did,
we read, until the end of his life.
The greatness and power of the abbey declined very much after the
Reformation, and at the time of the Revolution the religious who were
dispersed were not numerous.
The short distance from Yainville has to be retraced, and then, going to
the right through a belt of forest, one reaches the banks of the Seine
once more, and passes through the little town of Duclair, with its sunny
quay and its ferry-boat. There are beautiful views over the river, and
as the car runs along the level road one may overtake a steamer that is
sliding along with a little pile of water pushed up in front of its bow,
and note the contrast of its stained red funnel with the soft green
landscape beyond. On the left curious little chambers are cut out of the
cliff of chalk, and several form complete cottages. So even and
horizontal are the layers of chalk, with bands of flint at different
heights, that the cliff has often an exceedingly artificial appearance.
Soon afterwards the road cuts across the neck of another peninsula
formed by one of the deep windings of the Seine, and on reaching the
foot of the rising ground a turning to the right leads to the hamlet of
St. Martin Boscherville, whose noble Church of St. Georges rears its
great bulk on the hillside. The hurried tourist might be inclined to
pass this by, thinking that of ecclesiastic architecture he has seen
enough in this neighbourhood; but throughout the whole of France he will
not find another Norman church so perfect as that of St. Georges de
Boscherville. The abbey was founded and built in the eleventh century by
the Grand Chamberlain of William the Conqueror, Raoul de Tancarville, a
fact proclaimed in an inscription above the chief portal; and the great
church, built at the time when England was newly subjected to the
Norman, stands to-day, with the exception of the western turrets,
exactly as the original builders left it.
The transepts are remarkable for their galleries, similar to those in
Winchester Cathedral; and the chapter-house, which is later than the
church, being Transitional in style, should also be seen. The
sixteenth-century tomb of Le Roulx, the last Abbot, is in front of the
altar.
On resuming the journey, the hill just mentioned is negotiated with some
considerable winding, which enables one to get especially fine views
over the wooded country to the west, with the big church in the middle
distance, and the gleaming river showing its snaky windings on either
side.
After passing through a belt of typical French forest, composed of thin
trees without beauty or individuality, one begins the long curving
descent to Rouen, the historic capital of Normandy. The city appeals so
much to the student of history that this first view of the place as a
whole, threaded by its broad river, and dominated by the fretted spire
and beautiful towers of cathedral and churches, is one that stands out
vividly in the memory when other impressions have faded.
DIEPPE TO ROUEN (36 miles--58 kilometres)
This is a direct road, with a few hills, the ascent from the river at
Sanqueville and the winding descent at Malaunay being the only ones
worth mentioning.
[Illustration: TOWN PLAN NO. 2--DIEPPE.
_Walker & Boutall sc._]
BOULOGNE TO ROUEN (109½ miles--176 kilometres)
This road is through the little town of Samer, where there is an
interesting fifteenth-century church and the ruins of the Abbey of St.
Wulmer. Soon afterwards there is a steep hill.
Montreuil-sur-Mer has a Palais de Justice, which was formerly part of a
Carmelite convent, and the college and École d’Infanterie occupy the
buildings of the Abbey of Ste. Austreberthe. The chapel of the Gothic
Hôtel Dieu has a curious altar-screen, and the very interesting Church
of St. Saulve dates from the twelfth century. The view seawards down the
Canche from the citadel, which is surrounded by towers and walls of the
Middle Ages, is remarkably fine.
On the road to Abbeville there is a steep ascent at Nampont St. Martin,
and a steep descent to Bernay-en-Ponthieu. The forest of Crécy lies to
the left of the road, and on the farther side of it is the medieval
battlefield, where the English army, under Edward III., crushingly
defeated the French in 1346.
Abbeville is an interesting old town, still possessing some very good
specimens of its domestic architecture of the thirteenth, fifteenth, and
sixteenth centuries. The best are the Maison François I., with richly
carved woodwork, at 29, Rue de la Tannerie; No. 2 in the same street
(sixteenth century); 7, Rue du Pont de Boulogne; 3 and 5, Rue de l’Hôtel
de Ville; 41, Rue de la Boucherie; and, besides these, several others
will be noticed in a walk through the town. There are also some good
town houses, or _hôtels_, in the Rue St. Gilles. The Church of St.
Vulfran belongs to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and is
remarkable for its fine restored façade, with beautifully sculptured
doorways. The interior is not remarkable, except for two curved
altar-screens.
The Hôtel de Ville has a bell-tower dating from the beginning of the
thirteenth century, and the library in the Jardin Public d’Emonville
contains a Gospel which belonged to Charlemagne.
Neufchâtel-en-Bray is famous for its cheeses, and is the chief town of
the district, which has been called ‘the dairy of Paris.’ It was at one
time called Driencourt, the name having been altered when a new castle
was built by Henri Beauclerc. The Church of Notre Dame, of various
periods from the twelfth century, has a sixteenth-century tower. A
passage from the Grand Rue leads to the Maison des Templiers, a most
picturesque timber-framed building, with much carved woodwork.
From Neufchâtel to above the River Arques the road climbs, dropping
steeply down to that river at St. Martin Omonville. After leaving the
valley the road is comparatively level to Rouen.
CALAIS TO BOULOGNE
Along the coast, 22 miles--35 kilometres
By Marquise, 20 miles--32 kilometres
The coast route is the most interesting, as it gives splendid views of
the Straits of Dover and the white cliffs of England. Sangatte (7½
kilometres from Calais) is famous in connection with M. Blériot’s
cross-Channel flight, and for the abandoned workings of the Channel
tunnel.
[Illustration: TOWN PLAN NO. 3--CALAIS.
_Walker & Boutall sc._]
Four miles before passing over Cape Grisnez one passes the little town
of Wissant, associated with the Roman _Portus Itius_, from which Julius
Cæsar sailed when he made his first reconnaissance of the coast of
Britain. Beyond the great headland is Ambleteuse, the landing-place of
the fugitive James II. at 3 a.m. on Christmas Day, 1688. The King had
left Rochester on the night of the 23rd, and had passed by a back-door
on to the Medway, where he boarded the smack which brought him to the
French coast.
[Illustration: TOWN PLAN NO. 4--BOULOGNE.]
At the next river-mouth is Wimereux Harbour, the landing-place of
Prince Louis Napoleon in August, 1840. Having received no support, the
Prince and his followers were easily captured, and in Boulogne one can
see the thirteenth-century château, now converted into barracks, where
he was imprisoned.
[Illustration: No. 2. CALAIS TO BOULOGNE AND ROUEN.]
Boulogne Cathedral was erected in 1869 on the site of the original
Norman church, built in 1104 by Ida, the mother of Geoffrey de
Bouillon.
SECTION II
ROUEN TO EVREUX, 32½ MILES (52 KILOMETRES)
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=Rouen= to Pont de l’Arche =18= 11¼
=Pont de l’Arche= to Louviers =10= 6¼
=Louviers= to Evreux =24= 15
NOTES FOR DRIVERS
On leaving the Seine for Pont de l’Arche, there is a long, winding
ascent.
After =Pont de l’Arche= comes a climb through the forest, and a
switchback of small, sharp hills before reaching =Louviers=.
After crossing the Iton, the road is hilly until the valley of that
river is dropped into again, about 6 kilometres from Evreux.
PLACES OF INTEREST ON THE ROUTE
=Rouen.=--Cathedral; churches of St. Ouen and St. Maclou, and crypt
of St. Gervais (on hill above the Place Cauchoise); the
Grosse-Horloge gateway and belfry; Palais de Justice; Tour de
Jeanne d’Arc; the spot where Jeanne d’Arc was burnt in the Place du
Vieux-Marché; Maison Bourgthéroulde, No. 15 in the Place de la
Pucelle, dating from 1486; many old timber-framed houses near
cathedral.
=Pont de l’Arche.=--Small town on the Seine; remains of ramparts;
fifteenth- and sixteenth-century timber houses; beautiful
fifteenth-century church, with coeval glass.
=Louviers.=--Old manufacturing town, with a few picturesque houses
near the church and market-place; south aisle and porch of church
covered with remarkable profusion of fifteenth-century carving.
=Evreux.=--An old city, famous for its cathedral (see next section).
ROUEN
On the sunlit slopes that went down to the swamps by the Seine, where
stands the Rouen of to-day, there were Celtic inhabitants in remote
times; and when the advancing sway of Rome brought civilization to the
north of France, the light of history illuminates the spot, and reveals
the presence of a town called Ratuma, the chief centre of the tribe of
the Veliocassians. The Romans modified the name to Rotomagus, and in the
second century it is believed to have received the first seeds of
Christianity. From South Wales, the home of so much evangelizing
enthusiasm, there arrived, about the year 260, a missionary called St.
Mellon, who became in time the first Bishop of Rouen. This may, perhaps,
sound a far-away piece of information, belonging too much to what is
legendary to be of much service as a guide to the antiquities of Rouen;
but it is not so, for beneath the Church of St. Gervais, a building in
the modern Norman style, there can still be seen, in a crypt of the
fourth or fifth century, the tomb in which was laid the body of that
early missionary. The crypt was probably built soon after the year 404
by St. Victrice, the sixth to succeed St. Mellon, and the body must,
therefore, have been placed there more than a century after his death.
It remained there until 1562, when the Huguenots opened the tomb and
removed the remains.
=The Cathedral.=--_Building Dates_
_c._ 400 A.D. First church on present site, built by St. Victrice.
638. Archbishop St. Romain, who died in this year, enlarged the
church.
_c._ 841. Destroyed by Northmen.
930. By this year a new cathedral had been built, and Rollo was
buried in it.
_c._ 1063. The cathedral having been again practically rebuilt, it
was consecrated in this year. The only portions standing to-day are
the lower part of the Tour St. Romain, and a few traces here and
there; the rest of the Norman building was burnt in 1200.
1202-1255. _Early French_ nave, choir, transepts, and central tower
built.
1278-1478. Portail aux Libraires and Portail de la Calende built.
1477. _Flamboyant._ Tour St. Romain finished.
1485-1507. _Flamboyant._ Tour de Beurre built.
1508-1527. _Flamboyant._ West portal built.
1827. Iron spire begun.
St. Victrice was the first to put up any church on the site of the
present cathedral, and the numerous Bishops who succeeded him rebuilt
and enlarged the Early Christian structure until it must have been
something far removed from the simple rudeness of the first building.
Rouen, however, was destined to frequent disaster. A fire in 556 was
followed by a plague, and the city suffered much in the disorder which
followed the death of Charles the Great. Therefore, in the year 841,
when the Northmen began their raids upon the north of France, they found
only a lean city to plunder; and when Rollo became first Duke of
Normandy, and was converted to Christianity, he had almost to refound
the capital of his new dominion. It is therefore in no way surprising
that the crypt of St. Gervais is the sole survival yet discovered of the
buildings of the earlier city.
After the paralysis of fear which gripped Christendom at the approach of
the year 1000 had passed off, with the unchanged procession of normal
days and nights brought in by the new century, there came so great an
enthusiasm for church building that the cathedral of Rouen was
reconstructed on a larger and finer scale. The new structure was
consecrated on October 1, 1063, by Archbishop Maurilius, in the presence
of William the Norman.
It is quite possible that this church was of greater magnificence than
those of Jumièges or St. Georges de Boscherville, and perhaps even more
perfect than St. Étienne at Caen; but whatever theories one may care to
form must be built upon the style of the lower portion of the north-west
tower--the Tour St. Romain--for in the year 1200 a disastrous fire
destroyed the great building, and all that now exists of the Norman
church is this portion of a tower and some indications of Romanesque
work that can be discovered in a few other places. The havoc a fire can
work in a Norman church even at the present time, in spite of modern
fire extinguishing appliances, has been very forcibly illustrated by
the recent burning of the abbey church of Selby, in Yorkshire, in which
the terrific heat burnt halfway through stone piers of enormous
thickness.
The reconstruction of the cathedral appears to have been undertaken soon
after the disaster, and was commenced at the east end, where one finds
that the chapels of the apse and transepts were built first and the
choir soon afterwards, for it was finished in the Early French style.
Between 1202 and 1220 the nave, choir, transepts, and central tower
would appear to have been built, and before St. Louis (IX.) visited the
cathedral in 1255, the magnificent church, as it is to be seen to-day,
had assumed an appearance of completeness.
The embellishment of the great pile continued right through the
centuries that followed, until the influence of the Renaissance shows
itself in the central porch of the west front. In the fourteenth century
the Lady-chapel was built, and in the fifteenth the Tour de Beurre
climbed upwards, while the money provided by the indulgences sold,
giving permission to eat butter in Lent, was helping to provide the
funds. This tower, therefore, together with the uppermost portion of the
Tour St. Romain, the western rose-window, and a good deal of decoration
on each of the porches, belong to the Flamboyant period, corresponding
to the Perpendicular of English architecture.
At the base of the Tour St. Romain there still stands the lodge of the
porter, whose duties from very early times right up to 1700 included the
care of the fierce watch-dogs who were at night let loose in the
cathedral to guard its many precious treasures from robbers. How much
would we give for a glimpse of one of those porters walking through the
cavernous gloom of the echoing aisles, with his lamp throwing strange
shadows from the great slouching dogs!
The misereres of the choir-stalls were carved between 1457 and 1469, and
should be seen for the vivid details they reveal of nearly every trade
and employment, as well as the costumes of the period when the
Flamboyant style was in vogue.
The tombs in the cathedral bring one into close touch with the Dukes of
Normandy and their successors on the throne of England. In the
easternmost chapels on either side of the nave are the tombs of Rollo,
the first Duke of Normandy, and his son, William Longsword, who was
murdered in 943. The statues were made in the thirteenth or fourteenth
century, and have been restored. The inscription on Rollo’s tomb says:
‘Here lies Rollo, the first Duke, founder and father of Normandy,
of which he was at first the terror and the scourge, but afterwards
the restorer. Baptized in 912 by Françon, Archbishop of Rouen; died
in 917. His remains were at first deposited in the ancient
sanctuary, at present the upper end of the nave. The altar having
been removed, the remains of the Prince were placed here by the
blessed Maurille, Archbishop of Rouen, in the year 1063.’
A thirteenth-century effigy of Richard Cœur de Lion, discovered in 1838,
lies outside the southern railing of the choir. The heart was found in a
triple casket of lead, wood, and silver. Some of the dust can be seen in
the Museum of Antiquities, whither the original effigy of Henry II.’s
eldest son, Henry Plantagenet, has also been taken, the one in the
cathedral being modern. On the left side of the high altar is the tomb
of John, Duke of Bedford, Regent under Henry VI., and on the north side
of the choir is the mutilated effigy of Archbishop Maurice, who died in
1235.
The two grandest monuments are facing one another in the Lady-chapel.
The finer is that of Louis de Brézé, who was Grand Seneschal of
Normandy. It is an extremely good example of early Renaissance work,
carried out in black marble and alabaster. The splendid equestrian
figure in the upper part gives the monument a most imposing character.
At the head of the recumbent effigy is the figure of Diane de Poitiers,
who raised the memorial to her husband after his death in 1531. She
subsequently left her name written prominently on the page of history by
becoming the mistress of the Dauphin, afterwards Henri II. At the castle
of Chenonceaux and at Fontainebleau we shall see the homes of this
famous widow (see Section V.).
On the west side of the great monument is the beautiful canopied recess
of the Flamboyant period, where the effigies of Pierre de Brézé and his
wife lay until they were removed in 1769. Pierre was the first Grand
Seneschal of Normandy when the province was restored to France, as a
result of the work of Jeanne d’Arc. He was the favourite of Charles
VII., and was prominent in the reconquest of Normandy, finally losing
his life in the Battle of Montlhéry in 1465.
Opposite is the tomb of the famous Cardinal Georges d’Amboise, whose
lifelike figure is shown kneeling under a beautiful canopy. He was made
Bishop of Montauban when he was only fourteen, and was elected
Archbishop of Rouen at the early age of thirty-three. The story of his
election is interesting. On the death of Archbishop Robert de Croixmare,
Charles VIII. hinted that he would like the canons to choose the Duke of
Orleans, and by so doing gave some annoyance. However, on August 21,
1493, when the crowds in Rouen were wondering what was going to happen,
the canons retired to the chapter-house, as was their custom, and each
took the oath to vote according to conscience. Then, all kneeling down,
they sang the _Veni Creator Spiritus_, and prayed that they might make
the right choice, after which all rose to their feet as one man, saying,
‘Georges d’Amboise shall be Archbishop.’ This remarkable unanimity was
based on the wonderful promise the Cardinal showed even at that age, and
to Rouen he became a benefactor, for whose wisdom and equity in
administration and for the splendour of whose gifts the city has still
reason for gratitude. If he had lived earlier in the century, it is
conceivable that his influence would have prevented the tragedy of the
death of Jeanne d’Arc. He was the builder of the splendid Tour de Beurre
and the Flamboyant work of the west front of the cathedral, and he
improved the city’s supply of water, as well as its sanitation. Further
than that, he became, as Prime Minister under the easy-going Louis
XII., the virtual ruler of France; for the King was always ready to let
the wise Cardinal act for him, usually saying, ‘Leave it to George.’ He
died in 1510.
The other figure on the tomb is that of the second Cardinal of the same
name, who was a nephew of the statesman.
The great bell which was given by the Archbishop to be hung in the Tour
de Beurre, and was named Georges d’Amboise, was in 1793 melted down to
make cannon for the Republicans. The thirteenth-century glass in the
sacristy and the two adjoining windows is a foretaste of the glories of
Chartres.
The erection of the great spire of open ironwork on the central tower
began in 1827, replacing the wooden spire finished in 1550, and
destroyed by lightning in 1822. It is one of the tallest spires in the
world, and is considered by many writers to be a hideous excrescence on
the great Gothic pile; but although it cannot have the romance or charm
of stone, its effect at a distance, in spite of its curious finial, is
quite the reverse of unpleasing, and when one is near at hand it has a
way of hiding itself, or, if it shows at all, it appears so vast and
tremendous that its dimensions suppress the criticisms that would flow
readily if the spire were half its height.
The Church of St. Ouen.--To the north-east of the cathedral (see plan)
stands the great abbey church of St. Ouen, in the wide open space of the
Place de l’Hôtel de Ville--as great a contrast to the narrow streets
that crowd up to the cathedral as could be imagined. It is for this
reason that St. Ouen from without does not call up with any vividness
the romance of a medieval church packed into the small space which was
all that the encircling defensive walls could afford. But the church of
St. Ouen is the most perfect and the most beautiful of the abbey
churches of France, and there might be legitimate cause for grumbling if
it were impossible to get a clear view of it. There is only space to
tell the story of the building in the following list of dates:
St. Ouen.--_Building Dates_
400. Legendary date of the founding of the earliest church.
686. St. Ouen, Archbishop of Rouen, buried in church that received
his name.
_c._ 841. Destroyed by Northmen, but rebuilt by Rollo.
1045. Old church demolished by Abbot Nicholas, and new one founded,
which was dedicated in 1126.
1136. Destroyed by fire, and then rebuilt, the Empress Matilda and
Richard Cœur de Lion aiding the work.
1248. Again destroyed by fire.
1318-1339. Fifth church commenced, and eastern portion built by
Abbot Jean Roussel, otherwise called Marc d’Argent. Building
carried on all through fourteenth and fifteenth centuries,
interrupted at intervals during the Hundred Years’ War with
England.
1422-1441. Alexandre de Berneval, architect, designed rose-window
for south transept; built chapel of SS. Peter and Paul.
1806. Monastic buildings entirely demolished; had served as
residence of Kings of France when in Rouen--Henri II., Charles IX.,
Henri III., Henri IV., and Louis XIII.
1845. West front erected by order of the Government under Louis
Philippe; architect, M. Grégoire.
* * * * *
The Church of St. Maclou stands back a few paces from the east side of
the Rue de la République, and one comes upon its wondrous display of
delicately carved stone all of a sudden. It is an exquisite example of
the Flamboyant style, having been commenced in 1436 and completed about
1480. The present spire was only finished in 1868, the previous one,
covered with lead, having suffered much through a storm, and later
during the Revolution.
The wonderful doors, with their remarkable carving, and the splendid
tympanum above the central one, date between the years 1527 and 1560. In
that period it is possible that some of the carving was executed by Jean
Goujon, who was afterwards killed in the massacre of St. Bartholomew.
St. Maclou was a Scotsman who went to Brittany, was made Bishop of
Aleth, and died in 561. The first church dedicated to him was built in
the tenth century outside the walls of Rouen. A passage on the north
side of the Rue Martainville (which runs from the north side of St.
Maclou) leads into the Aître St. Maclou, a picturesque little cloister
built in 1526, surrounding a paved courtyard, which was a burial-ground
at the time of the plague of 1348--the Black Death that claimed 100,000
victims in the city.
Jeanne d’Arc.--The tragedy of the
[Illustration: THE TOWERS OF ST. OUEN AT ROUEN.
St. Ouen is, next to the Cathedral, the finest church of Rouen.]
martyrdom,--or, more properly, the murder--of the Maid of Orleans, who
saved her country from the English, cannot be forgotten by the visitor
to Rouen. There are still houses standing near the cathedral which were
there in her day, and were the lodgings of some of her heartless judges;
there is still the great pile of Notre Dame, standing much as it stood
in her day, although the later Flamboyant work, including the Tour de
Beurre, had not then appeared; and there still remains one solitary
tower of the castle of Rouen in which Jeanne was confined. The tower was
never her prison, but in the ground floor she was intimidated by being
shown instruments of torture. The visitor can enter this chamber, which
was the scene of that callous brutality to a most innocent maiden, who,
encouraged by her implicit belief in the vision of her saints, bore
herself throughout with a fortitude and heroism which baffled and
enraged her inquisitors.
It is a pity that the tower has been over-restored, and that the walls
are hung with wreaths of artificial flowers. There is also a statue of
the maid and many prints hung on the walls, but their interest is not
commensurate with the subtraction from the grimness of the tower which
they cause.
When Jeanne d’Arc was finally condemned to be burnt, the stake was set
up in the Vieux-Marché, and the exact spot is now marked by a large
stone, bearing the inscription, ‘Jeanne d’Arc, 30 Mai, 1431.’ The heroic
girl was taken to the spot in a car with a confessor and others, and
escorted by English soldiers. With the awful piles of faggots ready for
kindling, the girl’s agony was dragged out with a sermon, and after her
sentence was read there is no wonder that she wept bitterly. To Bishop
Cauchon, whose heart must have been of flint, she said, while they set
the wood on fire: ‘It is you who have brought me to this death.’ A
Dominican priest who stood near gives the following account of her
death:
‘As I was near her at the end, the poor woman besought and humbly
begged me to go into the church near by and bring her the cross, to
hold it upright on high before her eyes until the moment of death,
so that the cross on which God was hanging might be in life
continually before her eyes. Being in the flames, she ceased not to
call in a loud voice the Holy Name of Jesus, imploring and invoking
without ceasing the aid of the Saints in Paradise; again, what is
more, in giving up the ghost and bending her head, she uttered the
name of Jesus as a sign that she was fervent in the faith of God,
just as we read of St. Ignatius and of many other Martyrs.’
Another witness--Maître Jean Massieu, a priest--says:
‘With great devotion she asked to have a cross; and, hearing this,
an Englishman who was there present made a little cross of wood
with the ends of a stick, which he gave her, and devoutly she
received and kissed it.... With her last word in dying, she cried
with a loud voice “Jesus!”’
The Palais de Justice (small gratuity to the concierge) is in the Rue
Jeanne d’Arc, with the main front facing the Rue aux Juifs. The central
portion dates from 1499 to 1515, and was designed by Le Roux, who was
also the brilliant architect of the western portal of the cathedral and
the tomb of the Cardinals d’Amboise. The interior is rather
disappointing. The great hall, formerly used for the Parliament or
Échiquier of Normandy, is now a criminal court, and its panelled and
gilded oak ceiling is flat and ineffective in spite of its pendent
bosses. The fine Salle des Pas-Perdus in the west wing has a gallery at
each end and the marble table of the tribunal.
The Rue de la Grosse Horloge contains a picturesque sixteenth-century
archway, bearing a great blue and gold clock, and alongside it is the
belfry, commenced in 1389. The visitor who cares for vivid impressions
of the past should stroll through this street at 9 p.m., and hear the
great bell La Rouvel ring the curfew, raising as it does so the same
mellowed tones that have vibrated the air since the Middle Ages.
LEAVING ROUEN
The memory of those sounds is a precious one, and on the next morning,
when the car carries one away, it remains among the many things in the
mind that are not left behind.
[Illustration: TOWN PLAN NO. 5--ROUEN.
_Walker & Boutall sc._]
Keeping to the north bank of the Seine, and going to the right at the
fork which almost immediately presents itself, one shakes off the
cobble-stones in a mile or so, and, after the modern river-side village
of Amfreville, the open country is freed from the suburban growth of
Rouen. Across the level green fields appear the cotton and cloth mills
which are the chief industry of the neighbourhood, and in the distance
on the right across the river’s windings can be seen the manufacturing
town of Elbeuf. The freedom from smoke of this and the average French
industrial town is most striking to the Englishman.
Two kilometres beyond the hamlet of St. Crespin one turns sharply to the
left, and, climbing an easy gradient among low woods, comes to the
village of Igoville, where one turns to the left again; and, a kilometre
farther on, goes to the right, crossing the railway and a long modern
bridge over the Seine, which brings one to the old town of
PONT DE L’ARCHE
It is picturesquely situated above the river, which is studded with
islands in this portion of its course, and the remains of the ramparts
are visible on the river-side, with the towerless Church of Notre Dame
des Arts rising above old roofs. There are some old timber-fronted
houses, and one of them has a thirteenth-century wooden-pillared porch.
Charles the Bald (died 877), a grandson of Charlemagne, had a palace at
Pont de l’Arche, and the little town was one of the first to open its
gates to Henry of Navarre when he became Henri IV. in 1589, after the
murder of the Duke of Guise. Being one of the gates of Normandy, it
suffered several sieges; the old bridge, however, survived up to 1850.
The church was chiefly built in the fifteenth century, and, though
unfinished, justifies its unique dedication in the wealth of beautiful
carving that adorns the exterior. The chapels ranged along the sides of
the nave have curious little conical roofs, which, in the absence of any
tower, form the main outline of the building. The interior is very
light, in spite of the fifteenth and sixteenth century glass that fills
several of the windows. One of them in the north aisle is noticeable for
the curious little portraits inserted at a later date. Henri IV., it is
said, gave the church its organ, and Jean Gougon is associated with the
carving of the font. The choir-stalls come from the neighbouring abbey
of Bon-port.
At a fork on leaving the town the road to Louviers goes to the left, and
rises straight uphill through the forest of Pont de l’Arche. Succeeding
this comes a curious stretch of switchback road, with a blue horizon
beyond, and soon afterwards one is bumping on the cobble-stones of
LOUVIERS
Standing at a fork in the middle of the town is the Church of Notre
Dame, whose outline is marred by an uncompleted tower, but whose
profusion of the most elaborate fifteenth-century carving leaves the
wondering spectator almost breathless. The writer once, several years
ago, commenced a drawing of the south aisle and porch, but it remains
to-day as unfinished as the tower just mentioned! All the lacework
carving is on the most obvious side of the church, and is an addition of
the Flamboyant period. Its extraordinary wealth of detail repays the
closest scrutiny, for among canopied niches and flame-patterned parapets
are the grotesque heads of gargoyles and representations of such
creatures as the monkey and the bat. The north side of the church shows
the greatest contrast imaginable to all this delicate beauty. It is
plain and bare thirteenth-century work, with the fortified tower built
about the year 1366, a few years after the town had been half destroyed
by the English, when the citizens set to work to fortify their town,
which hitherto had relied for protection solely on the fact that
Louviers was a possession of the Archbishop of Rouen. The
thirteenth-century interior, with its double aisles, giving wonderful
perspectives of pillars, is one of the most remarkable in Normandy.
Gisors (see Section XXVII.) also has double aisles, but their loftiness
gives an entirely different effect to those at Louviers. The dark brown
pulpit has its sounding-board supported by a couple of carved wooden
palm-trees. Some picturesque old houses remain in the old part of the
town near the church, and although the town is given up to a
considerable extent to woolen factories, it is still a pleasant place,
surrounded by the beautiful pastoral scenery of the River Eure.
A terrible incident of the Hundred Years’ War took place in 1418, when
Louviers fell into the hands of the English, in spite of its newly built
wall, and 120 of its most wealthy merchants were condemned to death. In
1431, in spite of an heroic defence, the English again entered the town,
and burnt and destroyed so heartlessly that it is a wonder that the town
ever recovered, and yet in the last years of the same century the
amazing mass of ornament was added to the south side of the church.
THE ROAD TO EVREUX
Continuing through the main street of Louviers in a straight line past
the church, the road runs by the side of the River Eure, with wooded
hills on the right. A picturesque half-timbered château, with pepper-box
turrets, is passed on the left, and
[Illustration: THE ROAD NEAR ROUEN.
A typical corner on the road between Rouen and Pont de l’Arche.]
old church lying a little way from the road on the same side.
[Illustration: No. 3. ROUEN TO EVREUX.]
The Iton, a tributary of the Eure, is then crossed, and with a beautiful
view of steep hills dropping down to the strip of water-meadows by the
Eure, the road to Evreux climbs up steadily, making a big bend as it
passes through a strip of woodland. The road swings to the right to make
a zigzag down into the valley of the Iton, where in descending one has
beautiful views of the curving, delicately tinted hills, and a distant
glimpse of Evreux, which is entered through a fine avenue.
SECTION III
EVREUX TO CHARTRES, 47¾ MILES
(77 KILOMETRES)
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=Evreux= to Thomer =13= 8
=Thomer= to Nonancourt =16= 10
=Nonancourt= to Dreux =14= 8¾
=Dreux= to Chartres =34= 21
NOTES FOR DRIVERS
This portion of the route goes across the great flat plain of St.
André and the two little hills, one on leaving Dreux, and another
halfway to Chartres, are not worth mentioning. Squalls of wind and
rain sometimes assail one with tremendous force.
PLACES OF INTEREST ON THE ROUTE
=Evreux.=--Old and historic town, with barracks; cathedral includes
several periods, from 1125 to 1630; town belfry, built in 1490,
contains bell of 1406; museum, with Roman discoveries from
Vieil-Evreux; Church of St. Taurin, Norman and fifteenth century,
contains in the sacristy a thirteenth-century silver-gilt
reliquary.
=Nonancourt.=--Small town, with remains of castle, built by Henry I.
of England.
=Dreux.=--Hôtel de Ville, in middle of street, built 1512-1537, has
fine interior; Chapelle Royale, on hill above town (where are also
the ruins of the castle), a burial-place of the Bourbons; Church of
St. Pierre, twelfth and fifteenth centuries, with holy-water stoup
of twelfth century.
Evreux is a cathedral town, with comparatively wide, but very
unassuming, streets of old houses, having their original charm generally
hidden under a covering of plaster. Cavalrymen, with horsehair falling
from their helmets, and the numerous clergy seem to make up a
considerable proportion of the population. In walking through the town
one frequently comes to little canals, which take the water of the River
Iton in several directions, in a similar fashion to the Stour at
Canterbury.
The spacious square in front of the Hôtel de Ville is overlooked by
public buildings, whose new appearance might give one a wrong impression
of the antiquity of the town, if it were not for the beautiful belfry
tower, with a pinnacled spire, standing in one corner. It was built in
the latter part of the fifteenth century, and the bell, whose notes are
frequently heard, was cast in 1406, and is nearly a century older than
the tower, which was built in place of an earlier one. The Museum, in
the same square, is interesting, on account of the Roman remains it
contains, found at the village of Vieil-Evreux, a Roman site about four
and a half miles to the west.
[Illustration: TOWN PLAN NO. 6.--EVREUX.]
From the museum a short street, the Rue de l’Horloge, leads to the
Cathedral, whose lately restored spire appears above the roofs from
nearly every point of view. From the eleventh right down to the
nineteenth century rebuilding or alterations have been taking place on
the great church, and now, to the architect, as well as those who are
interested in the history of France, there are the records in stone of
the changes which those eight centuries have witnessed.
The first Norman cathedral was burnt, in 1119, by Henry I. of England,
who rebuilt the nave about twenty-six years later. During the fighting
in Normandy in the time of Philippe Auguste the church again suffered,
and the triforium of the nave was rebuilt about the middle of the
thirteenth century. The present choir followed at the beginning of the
fourteenth century. The following summary covers the chief periods of
the cathedral:
1076. Consecration of the Norman church.
1119. Burnt by Henry I.
_c._ 1125. Nave rebuilt by Henry I.
_c._ 1240. Nave triforium rebuilt.
1298-1310. Choir built.
1352-1417. North-west tower built; rebuilt in classic style
1608-1630.
1400. The west window.
1461-1483. The spire built when Cardinal de la Balue was Bishop.
_c._ 1465. The Lady-chapel (partly thirteenth century).
_c._ 1515. North transept built by Bishop Ambroise le Veneur.
_c._ 1545. The Renaissance west front begun by Bishop Gabriel le
Veneur.
1545-1630. South-west tower reconstructed in the classic style.
The west front is unique in being the only completely classic façade
among all the cathedrals of France. It almost gives the feeling of the
François I. châteaux by the Loire. The interior is a most inspiring
example of pure French Gothic. In the chapels are several windows
containing beautiful stained glass of the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries; that in the south transept is sixteenth century.
The Bishop’s Palace, on the south side of the cathedral, can only be
seen from the Boulevard Chambaudouin, where its fortified exterior is
washed by one of the canals of the Iton. It is an interesting building
of the fifteenth century, and in 1603 was, for a time, the residence of
Henri IV., whose famous victory at Ivry, a few miles south of Evreux, is
described at the end of this chapter.
At the end of the Rue Joséphine is the Church of the Benedictine Abbey
of St. Taurin. The life-story of that otherwise obscure worthy of the
Church is told in the windows of the choir, and one of them shows his
successful attack on the devil, who had entered the temple of Diana in
Evreux. The sacristan will show the casket containing relics of the
saint (small gratuity) to those who ask permission. It is worth while to
do so, as this silver-gilt reliquary is one of the most sumptuous
examples in existence of goldsmiths’ work of the thirteenth century.
The choir, the tower, and part of the nave of St. Taurin belong to the
fifteenth century, and the other portions are Romanesque work of the
eleventh century. Evreux suffered the most terrible buffets in the
unsettled period when Normandy was the battle-ground of England and
France. Henry I. burnt the town and John sold it to Philippe Auguste,
regaining it treacherously after the release of Richard I. Philippe,
however, having captured it, massacred a large proportion of the
miserable townsfolk.
It is generally believed that the Devereux family obtained their name
from this Norman town.
The road to Chartres goes southwards from Evreux over the hedgeless
plain of St. André in a perfectly straight line. The hamlet of Thomer,
with its little church with a spiky spire on the left, is passed
through, and here and there another village is seen across the fields;
but otherwise, for some eighteen miles the great plain stretches away to
a flat horizon, with so few features that one marvels how a peasant can
find his way to the particular field he was working in on the previous
day. There are no hedges, no roadside cottages, and scarcely a tree to
serve as a guide to any particular square of the great patchwork of
green and brown!
NONANCOURT
On reaching this old town one goes over a level-crossing, and, turning
to the left, goes through the street, getting a passing glimpse of the
market-house standing on wooden posts. Henry I. chose this place to
build a castle for the defence of Normandy, and in it an agreement was
signed between Richard I. and Philippe Auguste, by which those two
kingly warriors promised not to molest one another’s dominions while
absent on the Crusades. Here also they arranged their respective shares
in the Third Crusade.
On leaving Nonancourt the River Avre is
[Illustration: ROUEN CATHEDRAL FROM THE SOUTH.
The Tour de Beurre is on the left, and the Portail de la Calende appears
at the end of the street beneath the great central tower. (_Page 32._)]
crossed, and about nine miles farther one reaches the interesting town
of
[Illustration: No. 4. EVREUX TO CHARTRES.]
DREUX
The most conspicuous feature is the Hôtel de Ville, a large square
tower-like building, with slightly projecting circular turrets at each
corner. It was built between 1512 and 1537, and is a most interesting
example of the transition from Flamboyant Gothic to Classic forms. The
tall conical roof is broken with dormers, and ends in a bell-turret.
Inside there is a beautiful staircase, a Renaissance fireplace, several
fine rooms, a library, and old armour.
Built on the steep hill that dominates the town on the north side, where
the ruins of the keep and towers of the Castle dismantled in 1593 still
stand, is the Chapelle Royale, erected in 1816 by the Duchesse
d’Orléans. After suffering imprisonment and banishment during the
Revolution, she returned to France in 1814, and resided at Ivry, a few
miles to the north of Dreux. The tombs of her father and the Princes of
her family in the vaults of the old collegiate church at Dreux had been
broken open during the Revolution, but certain pious folk having hidden
the bones, the Duchess decided to build a chapel in which they could be
preserved. It was completed in 1820, and her son Louis Philippe
afterwards built a larger structure. Lenotre describes how Louis refused
to have any assistance in the work of sorting up the confused heap of
the bones of his ancestors. ‘These poor dead people,’ he said, ‘have
already been sufficiently tormented. Leave me alone with them’; and,
shut up by himself for a great part of a night, he laid out the bones on
cloths, measuring, examining, and sorting them by the light of a lamp.
The tombs include those of the Duchesse d’Orléans, the foundress of the
chapel, of Louis Philippe and his queen and their young children, and
the Duchesse de Bourbon Condé, mother of the unfortunate Duc d’Enghien.
The Church of St. Pierre, with its odd-looking unfinished towers, has a
somewhat severe interior, relieved by the beauty of its
sixteenth-century glass. The nave is fifteenth century and the choir and
transepts twelfth or thirteenth. A holy-water basin, or _bénitier_, of
the twelfth century is of great interest, and so is the chapel on the
south side of the nave, containing wall-paintings of the inhabitants of
the town who made the pilgrimage of St. James of Compostella (Santiago
in Spain) during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
The beautiful ambulatory has graceful pillars without capitals, and the
sounding-board of the pulpit rests on palm-tree supports, as at
Louviers.
During the Huguenot war Dreux and its neighbourhood was involved in
heavy fighting. In 1562 the first pitched battle was fought near the
town, the Catholic Leaguers being led by Montmorency and François, Duc
de Guise, and the Protestants by Coligny and Condé. Although the
Catholics were successful, it was a closely fought battle, in which
4,000 perished, and both Montmorency and Condé were taken prisoners.
When Henry of Navarre had become Henri IV., although still only
recognized as King by a few of the provinces of France, he laid siege to
Dreux in 1590, but retired a few miles northwards to Ivry, in the plain
of St. André, on the approach of the Catholic army under Mayenne,
numbering about 16,000. ‘My friends,’ said Henri, as he fastened on his
helmet, ‘yonder is the enemy; here is your King; and God is on our side.
If you should lose your standards, rally round my white plume: you will
always find it in the path of honour and of victory!’ The fight began at
ten in the morning, and in two hours the army of Mayenne was in full
flight.
THE ROAD TO CHARTRES
Outside the town the journey across the great agricultural plain is
continued. There are still no hedges between the strips of green and
brown, sometimes broken by distant belts of woodland, going away to the
soft blue horizons in heaving undulations. The first village passed is
Marville-Moutier-Brûlé. One can see the high-pitched green roof and
small spire of its eleventh-century church on the left.
Le Boullay Mivoye, the next village, which also has a little twelfth to
fifteenth century church, consists of a very compact collection of
uniformly low thatched or green-tiled cottages and barns, practically
surrounded by a wall, beyond which there is no sign of any habitation
until the next village is in sight.
Speeding southwards there appears right ahead on the horizon, at the end
of a very straight perspective of road, an enormous building with two
spires. There is nothing else in sight beyond a few low trees, and the
stranger at once realizes that he is approaching a building of the
greatest consequence. It is the vast Gothic cathedral of Chartres.
On entering the town, by going to the right along the Rue de la
Couronne, one reaches the Place des Epars, where the hotels are
situated. (See town plan of Chartres on p. 67.)
SECTION IV
CHARTRES TO ORLEANS, 45¼ MILES
(73 KILOMETRES)
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=Chartres= to Allonnes =18= 11¼
=Allonnes= to Ymonville =10= 6¼
=Ymonville= to Artenay =23= 14¼
=Artenay= to Orleans =22= 13¾
NOTES FOR DRIVERS
A straight road across the level plain of La Bauce, sometimes subjected
to fierce rain storms.
PLACES OF INTEREST ON THE ROUTE
=Chartres.=--Cathedral, one of the finest in the world, built chiefly
in early part of thirteenth century; magnificent twelfth and
thirteenth century glass; remarkable north and south porches,
encrusted with carving and statuary; early crypt. Churches of (1)
St. Père-en-Vallée, (2) St. Aignan, (3) St. Martin-au-Val, (4) St.
André, (5) St. Foi. Hôtel de Ville (Renaissance); the Bishop’s
Palace; Maison de Loëns; Maison du Médecin (Renaissance); Maison du
Saumon, fifteenth century; Escalier de la Reine-Berthe, sixteenth
century; Porte Guillaume, the only gateway of the city, fourteenth
century; and many old houses and portions of city walls.
=Orleans.=--A city of new appearance on the Loire; cathedral,
thirteenth, sixteenth, and eighteenth centuries. Churches: (1) St.
Pierre-le-Puellier has ninth to twelfth century work, (2) St.
Aignan, (3) St. Euverte (Flamboyant), (4) Notre Dame de
Recouvrance. Hôtel de Ville (Renaissance); the Bishop’s Palace; Rue
du Tabour, containing Musée and Maison Jeanne d’Arc; Hôtel Cabut,
containing Musée Historique; remains of city walls.
CHARTRES
In approaching the city across the plain from Dreux the huge bulk of the
cathedral alone broke the monotonous horizon, and when one is inside the
moat and fragmentary ramparts, the vast Gothic church remains the
paramount interest. In its fabric is the story of Chartres, and apart
from the cathedral there is little to tell of the town’s genesis.
The Cathedral began as a little church built over a grotto where the
early missionaries from Rome had discovered a statue of the Virgin. It
was venerated under the name _Notre Dame-de-Sous-Terre_. Quirinus, the
Roman Governor of the town, then called _Autricum_, in the time of the
Emperor Claudius put a number of the Early Christians to the sword, and
had their bodies thrown into a well called the _Puits de Saints Forts_.
This interesting link with Gallo-Roman Chartres was lost in the
seventeenth century, and was only rediscovered in 1901. It can be seen
in the crypt behind the altar of the Virgin.
This _Crypt_ is the largest in France, and, next to St. Peter’s at Rome
and Canterbury Cathedral, it is the largest in the world.
‘The crypt,’ says Mr. Cecil Headlam (in his ‘Story of Chartres,’
which everyone who goes there should procure and read), ‘was not in
origin a crypt, or a martyrium, or a meeting-house of prayer dug
beneath the level of the soil, but a tiny church set on the crest
of the hill and raised above the surface of the earth. It only
became a crypt, properly so called, when it had been covered up and
the surrounding soil raised by the débris and deposits of
succeeding years, so that when the new church was built it was
erected naturally upon the top of the old.... The crypt consists of
two lateral galleries, which run from the western towers under the
aisles of the upper church, and form a horseshoe curve beneath the
choir and sanctuary 366 feet long and 17 to 18 feet broad; of two
transepts, seven apsidal chapels, and the martyrium, which is under
the choir of the upper church.’
[Illustration: APPROACHING CHARTRES ACROSS THE PLAIN OF LA BAUCE.
The cathedral stands out before the roofs of the town appear owing to
its great height. The passing of a squall of wind and rain gives great
grandeur to the plain. (_Page 61._)]
_Second Church._ Burnt by Normans in the ninth century.
_Third or Fourth Church:_
1020. Constructed under the wise Bishop Fulbert.
1037. Consecrated by his successor, Thierry.
_c._ 1130-1145 or 1170. Western towers built in Transitional style.
1194. Fire consumed nearly all the church except the towers, the
west front, and the crypt.
1210. Main body of existing building completed, but not
consecrated.
1250-1280. The magnificent north and south portals, with many
hundreds of statues and statuettes, built. The principal sculptures
on the north represent the life of the Virgin; those on the south
illustrate the Last Judgment. It should be remembered that when
these remarkable porches were built the statues, mouldings, and
carvings were painted and gilded, so that the effect must have more
resembled St. Mark’s at Venice than any other European cathedral.
1260. Consecration of the new church (which was commenced
immediately after the fire), in the presence of St. Louis (IX.).
This building was erected by the generosity of clergy and pilgrims.
1506. Upper part of north tower destroyed by lightning. Rebuilt in
Flamboyant style by Jean Texier, 1506-1514.
Renaissance. The little clock-tower north of the west front, and
the ambulatory screen.
1836. A very fierce fire occurred, but it only destroyed the lead
covering and wooden framework of the roofs; the vaulting remained
unharmed, although the bells in the tower were all melted.
_The Interior_ is memorable for its immensity and for the strange and
almost crude crimsons and blues of the twelfth and thirteenth century
glass. The three twelfth-century windows are below the rose of the
western end of the nave, where they survived the fire of 1194 almost by
a miracle. Several of the windows were given by the trades of Chartres,
from the armourers to the pastry-cooks.
By many Chartres is considered the finest cathedral in France, and
although there will occur to the mind the glories of the choir of
Beauvais and of the nave of Amiens, the interior of Chartres, in its
reposeful vastness and strength as a complete structure built in one
period, leaves all rivals far behind.
_The Ambulatory Screen_ is the most sumptuous piece of Renaissance
carving in France. It was begun in 1514 by Jean de Beauce, and
completed
[Illustration: TOWN PLAN NO. 7.--CHARTRES.]
in the eighteenth century. The lives of Christ and of the Virgin are
illustrated in the series of pictures in stone.
_The Assumption of the Virgin_, of Carrara marble, carefully selected by
Bridan the sculptor, was finished in 1773. At the Revolution it was
saved by an architect, who put a red cap of liberty on the head of the
Virgin and a lance in her hand.
_The Vierge-du-Pilier_ is a figure of wood, painted and gilded, with an
almost black face. It stands on a short pillar, and is especially
venerated by women, being a link with very early and primitive forms of
worship.
_The Chapelle St. Piat_ was built in 1349 at the east end and separate
from the cathedral. A staircase and passage lead to it.
_The Labyrinth_ of blue-and-white stone in the floor of the nave is a
rare and interesting feature, and one of the best in existence. It is
not properly known in what way these mazes were used, nor the rites
connected with them, although it has been stated that instead of a
pilgrimage to Jerusalem, a penitent could perform the 600-feet journey
of the maze on his knees.
_The Treasury_ contains, in a modern reliquary, two pieces of white
silk, regarded as part of the tunic or veil of the Virgin, which had
been given to Charlemagne by the Empress Irene, and was afterwards
presented to Chartres by Charles the Bald.
THE LESSER CHURCHES OF CHARTRES
_St. Pierre or St. Père-en-Vallée._ The abbey church of St.
Père-en-Vallée, founded by Clovis, is a fine building dating from the
twelfth to the fourteenth century. It was commenced in 1150, under the
direction of the monk Hilduard, and almost entirely rebuilt in the
thirteenth century. Of the earlier construction there remains the lower
part of the choir, with its heavy pillars, the aisles which surround the
choir, and the chapels. The great square tower has been placed as early
as 940, but may have been built a century later. The stained glass
belongs to the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, the
earliest being in the choir excluding the apse. In the south aisle of
the nave is the tombstone (1037) of Robert, Archbishop of Rouen, son of
Richard I., Duke of Normandy. Unique enamels of the twelve Apostles can
be seen in the apsidal chapel.
_St. Aignan_ is mainly a Renaissance church, with the chief entrance
built in the fourteenth century. The windows are the most interesting
feature.
_St. Martin-au-Val_ is the church of the ancient priory of the abbey of
Marmontier, and to-day the chapel of the Hôpital St. Brice--a curious
building of the twelfth century, incorporating some remains of a great
basilica previous to the tenth century. The crypt contains some Roman
capitals of marble, stone sarcophagi, and the tomb of a Bishop of
Chartres.
_St. André_, an interesting ruined collegiate church, now a shop, built,
about 1108, over two square crypts belonging to Early Christian times.
There is a beautiful Romanesque door.
_St. Foi_ is chiefly a Flamboyant church. It was desecrated with great
profanity in the Revolution, and remained secular until it was
reconsecrated in 1862.
_The Hôtel de Ville_ is a Renaissance building, formerly the Hôtel
Montescot (1614). It contains the _Museum_ of pictures, objects of art,
ancient armour and tapestry, and also the _Library_.
_The Bishop’s Palace_ is a seventeenth-century building.
_Maison de Loëns_, built over a thirteenth-century crypt.
_Maison du Médecin_, at No 8, Rue du Grand Cerf, is a beautiful specimen
of Renaissance, with an inscription above the door, showing that it was
built by Claude Huvé, who was a doctor (1501-1559).
_Maison du Saumon_, at No. 10, Place de la Poissonnerie, was built in
the fifteenth century, and is the most curious construction of wood in
Chartres. A big salmon is carved on one of its beams.
_The House of the Old Consuls_, in the Rue des Écuyers, is interesting
as the cradle of the city’s municipal power, and in possessing a most
picturesque outside staircase turret (sixteenth century), now called the
‘Escalier de la Reine-Berthe.’
Many other houses belonging to the Middle Ages and Renaissance periods
refresh the eye in walking through the streets of Chartres.
_The Porte Guillaume_ is the only survivor of the seven gates that
formerly existed. It is flanked by two cylindrical towers of the
fourteenth century, with restored machicolated battlements.
In going round the tree-shaded boulevards which mark the limits of the
medieval city several sections of the ramparts can be seen, as well as a
most attractive view of the cathedral over the river.
ON LEAVING CHARTRES,
on the road to Orleans, almost immediately after passing a direction
board, there is a fork, where one goes to the right, with the railway
parallel with the road for a few kilometres.
[Illustration: No. 5. CHARTRES TO ORLEANS.]
The huge wheat-growing plain of La Beauce--the granary of
France--stretches away to a perfectly level horizon in all directions.
Windmills are passed now and then, and distant villages can be seen, but
more memorable than anything else is the great dome of sky, and as the
car slips rapidly and smoothly along the white ribbon that cuts the
scenery in two, one seems to be in the strangest of solitudes and on the
very outermost surface of the globe, where every mood of the heavens is
felt to its fullest without any mitigating influences. When it rains
every drop falls without hindrance, and smites the face with a sting
when driven by the untempered wind, and when the sun shines every ray
reaches the soil.
Allonnes is a roadside village roofed with thatch, coated with green
velvet moss, and having blind stone gables towards the road.
Two level-crossings succeed, and then Ymonville, another stone village
with great farmyards and a megalithic stone, is passed.
At Allaines there is a church belonging in part to the eleventh century,
and strips of low plantations begin to appear.
It is noticeable that French advertisers use the corners of houses in
the wayside villages for announcing their productions in blue and white,
just where one looks for the blue-and-white direction-boards, so that
the eye never fails to catch them, and the various makes of cocoa or
pneumatic tyres are engraved on the memory!
Soon after passing a grey-green boarded windmill close to the road,
which makes a very pretty picture against the emerald of the growing
corn beyond, the road goes to the left, and immediately afterwards to
the right in the village of Artenay.
Soon afterwards a railway appears on the left, and with thin, rickety
telegraph-poles as companions, the rest of the way to Orleans begins to
lose interest, until a long, dull street shuts out the views.
ORLEANS
Like many cities boasting a history that goes back to a remote period,
Orleans has rebuilt itself so often that it is now a modern town, with
only a very few buildings to connect it with the past. All the
atmosphere of antiquity pervading such cities as Rouen and Chartres has
gone to such an extent that it is with a mental effort equal to that of
replacing the hippopotamus in the primeval marshes of the Thames, where
London now stands, that one remembers that the Gallic town of _Cenabum_
which stood on the site of Orleans was taken by Julius
[Illustration: TOWN PLAN NO. 8.--ORLEANS.]
Cæsar from the Carnutes in 52 B.C. By the third century the town was
known as _Aurelianus_, from which it is an easy step to the present
name. In 451 the devastating Huns under Attila were forced back. By 613
Orleans had become one of the most important cities in France, second
only to Paris; it was frequently the residence of French kings, and
money was minted there.
In 1344 Philippe de Valois separated Orleans from the crown, and it
became a duchy, and in the next century (1429) came that historic siege
by the English, raised by the ‘Maid,’ who, clad in white armour, rode
fearlessly at the head of the French army, and sent a cold terror into
the hearts of the English.
After having been occupied by Leaguers and Huguenots in turn, Henri IV.
took the city in 1594. The year of Waterloo saw the Prussians in
Orleans, and in 1870 they again occupied the city. They were driven out
for a time, but after returning they did not evacuate until March, 1871.
_The Cathedral_ has its eighteenth-century ‘Gothic’ west front facing
the wide Rue Jeanne d’Arc. It is a most abominable conception of narrow
pointed doorways of a Moorish character, with ogee arches and the oddest
pair of towers. The thirteenth-century east end, with its great display
of flying buttresses, is the chief portion of the earlier cathedral
burnt by the Calvinists in 1567.
_Building Dates_
362. Founded by St. Euverte and St. Aignan.
999. Burnt.
1206. Second church (Romanesque) destroyed.
1287. Gothic reconstruction commenced by Bishop Gilles de Patay.
1567. Burnt by Calvinists before Gothic church was quite finished.
Saved from the fire: eleven chapels of the apse, side walls of
choir, and two Romanesque towers.
1601. Henri IV. placed the first stone of the present building, in
fulfilment of an obligation imposed upon him by Pope Clement VIII.
before absolution.
18th cent. The bastard Gothic western façade erected in the reign
of Louis XV. by Gabriel. Romanesque towers demolished and rebuilt.
1829. Reconstruction finished.
The interior is very impressive, with tall pillars without capitals, the
great star windows in the transepts, and the very pictorial modern
glass.
_Other Churches:_
_St. Pierre-le-Puellier_ is the oldest church in Orleans. It is of
unprepossessing appearance, but is interesting on account of the remains
of the ninth and twelfth centuries.
_St. Aignan_ was mutilated by Protestants in 1562. It is built over a
crypt of the eleventh century, and consists now of transepts and choir
only.
_St. Euverte_ is a Flamboyant church, first built in the twelfth but
rebuilt in the fifteenth century. It has a tower of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries.
_Notre Dame de Recouvrance_ is an eleventh-century church, rebuilt in
1515-1519, and restored in 1862.
_The Hôtel de Ville_ is a Renaissance structure of modern aspect, built
in 1530 for Jacques Groslot, Seigneur de l’Isle. Many French monarchs
have stayed there: François II., Charles IX., Henri III., and Henri IV.;
also Catherine de Medici and Mary Stuart. François II. died there in
1560. In 1790 it became the Hôtel de Ville.
_The Bishop’s Palace_ dates from 1631.
_The Old Houses_ are mainly to be found in the Rue du Tabour, a side
street of great interest.
_The Musée Jeanne d’Arc_ occupies a charming fifteenth-century house in
the Rue du Tabour, known, without reason, as the Maison d’Agnès Sorel.
_The Maison de Jeanne d’Arc_, in the same street, is the house in which
Jacques Bouchier, treasurer to the Duc d’Orléans, received Jeanne during
the siege of 1429. _The room she occupied was unfortunately pulled down
and rebuilt in 1580._
_The Hôtel Cabut_, not far from the Rue du Tabour, wrongly called Maison
de Diane de Poitiers, is a Renaissance house, built in 1540, and now
contains the _Musée Historique_.
_The City Walls._ There are still a tower and a few fragments of the
city ramparts.
_The Fête de Jeanne d’Arc_ is held on May 8, in honour of the raising of
the siege of Orleans by Jeanne d’Arc. It is one of the most brilliant in
France, and has only been interrupted during the religious wars of the
sixteenth century and from 1792 to 1804.
SECTION V
AMONG THE CHÂTEAUX OF TOURAINE
ORLEANS TO TOURS, 103½ MILES
(166 KILOMETRES)
ORLEANS TO TOURS, DIRECT, 71¾ MILES
(115 KILOMETRES)
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=Orleans= to Meung-sur-Loire =18= 11¼
=Meung-sur-Loire= to Beaugency =7= 4¼
[=Beaugency= to Blois =31½= 19½]
=Beaugency= to Chambord =24= 15
=Chambord= to Bracieux =8½= 5¼
=Bracieux= to Cheverny =10½= 6½
=Cheverny= to Blois =13= 8
=Blois= to Chaumont-sur-Loire (north bank) =12= 7½
=Chaumont-sur-Loire= to Amboise =24= 15
[=Amboise= to Tours (north bank) =25= 15½]
[=Amboise= to Tours (south bank) =23= 14¼]
=Amboise= to Chenonceaux =15= 9½
=Chenonceaux= to Bléré =8= 5
=Bléré= to Tours =26= 16
NOTES FOR DRIVERS
This section is practically level throughout, and the roads are
generally good.
PLACES OF INTEREST ON THE ROUTE
=Meung.=--An old village on the Loire; church of eleventh century
with western tower joined to castle of the Bishops of Orleans.
=Beaugency.=--Keep of castle eleventh century, other portions
fifteenth century; Tour de l’Horloge, a picturesque gateway;
churches of Notre Dame, twelfth century, and St. Étienne (disused),
eleventh century or earlier; remains of town walls and a tower, and
some old houses.
=Chambord.=--The château, chiefly built by François I., is the
largest and most magnificent hunting-box in the world. Commenced in
1519.
=Bracieux.=--A little town in the marshy Sologne country with old
houses, but no other interest.
=Cheverny= has a château begun in 1634 by Philippe Hurault, a
descendant of whom now owns the place. The village has a quaint,
partially Romanesque church.
=Beauregard.=--A château built as a hunting-lodge by François I.
about 1520; almost entirely rebuilt in seventeenth century;
modernized in 1809, but lately restored to its earlier character.
(_Only to be seen with a permit from M. Lestang, notary of Blois._)
=Blois= is a large and very attractive town on the Loire, dominated
by its (1) historic Château, built at various periods from the
thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries; (2) Cathedral, chiefly
seventeenth century; (3) Church of St. Nicholas, an interesting
Transitional building; (4) St. Vincent-de-Paul Jesuit church of
seventeenth century; (5) St. Saturnin, fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries; (6) old houses of different periods, of stone and wood.
=Chaumont-sur-Loire.=--The château was built about 1473; it stands on
picturesque cliff above the village and river.
=Amboise.=--A town on the Loire, chiefly famous for its fine château,
perched on a rocky tongue that rises sheer from the level ground;
mainly built by Charles VIII.; sloping staircases in two towers;
lovely little Gothic chapel of St. Hubert; grave of Leonardo da
Vinci; in the town (1) a picturesque clock gateway; (2) Hôtel de
Ville, built 1500 to 1505; (3) Church of St. Florentin, built 1461
to 1483; (4) Church of St. Denis, a beautiful cruciform building of
the Transitional period of early Gothic.
=Chenonceaux.=--A pretty village near the famous and beautiful
château of that name, built in the River Cher in 1515; finished by
François I. and Catherine de Medici.
=Bléré.=--A small town on the Cher with a curious, partially
Romanesque church, and the Hôtel du Gouverneur, a Renaissance
building in the Rue J. J. Rousseau.
The simplest way to leave Orleans is to go to the bridge, and then turn
to the right along the north bank of the Loire, which is followed as far
as Beaugency.
For long distances the river seems so very little below the level of the
surrounding country that there seems scarcely any reason why it should
keep to the course it now follows. In wet seasons the flat, sandy shores
are often covered by the river, which spreads out into broad lagoons and
engulfs the grassy islands.
At Meung, where the road bends to the right, there is an interesting
abbey church, founded in the sixth century by St. Liphard. It was burnt
by Louis le Gros in the early part of the eleventh century, but before
its close the church had been rebuilt with the exception of the tower.
This western tower, with a pyramidal spire, is connected with a curtain
wall to a thirteenth-century fortified tower, the oldest part of the
castle of the Bishops of Orleans, which was chiefly built in the classic
period of some 400 years later. The village has some old houses, and the
Porte Amont, rebuilt in the seventeenth century.
BEAUGENCY
The first glimpse of this compact little town is very suggestive of
antiquity. It is overshadowed by a huge Norman keep, about whose
lichened parapets jackdaws circle and flutter, and across the river
stands the oldest bridge on the Loire--some of its twenty-six arches
going back to the thirteenth century.
The keep is called the Tour de César, and it is all that now remains of
the first Castle, built at the end of the eleventh century. The other
portions were constructed in 1440 by Dunois, the Bastard of Orleans, who
maintained the defence of Orleans against the English until relieved by
Jeanne d’Arc. There is a most picturesque courtyard with open arcading
and a tower, and the great hall, known as the Salle de Jeanne d’Arc, has
a huge fireplace. The buildings are now a Depôt de Mendicité.
Close to the castle is the Transitional Church of the Benedictine Abbey
of Notre Dame, finished at the end of the twelfth century, and lately
restored. It was burnt by the Protestants in 1567, when they committed
terrible excesses in the town. Besides the church, there is nothing left
of the abbey buildings, except an old circular tower called the Tour du
Diable and the Abbot’s house.
Adjoining the Hôtel St. Étienne[A] there is a picturesque wooden house
with moulded beams and much carving, and along one side of the hotel
courtyard is the disused Church of St. Étienne, a very interesting and
perfect little cruciform building of the eleventh century or earlier. It
has a central tower, and the windows are small and very deeply splayed.
Being kept locked, the plain barrel vaulting of the interior can only be
dimly seen through the unglazed windows.
The Hôtel de Ville might, at first sight, owing to restoration, be
thought a modern building. It has a Renaissance façade built between
1520 and 1525, and the bas-reliefs with which it is covered show the
arms of Dunois and Longueville, the Salamander of François I., and the
fleur-de-lis. The seventeenth-century tapestries to be seen inside came
from the choir of the abbey church.
Other features of the town are the Tour de l’Horloge, used as a prison
before the sixteenth century; the Tour St. Firmin of the church
destroyed during the Revolution; and the portions of the twelfth-century
ramparts with the ruined Porte Travers.
In 1428 the English captured Beaugency, but Jeanne d’Arc recovered it in
the following year.
Crossing the bridge, with its massive old buttresses, and turning at
once to the right, one keeps near the river through the village of St.
Laurent-des-Eaux, with a statue of Jeanne d’Arc, and houses with the
mossiest of roofs and quaint little dormers. There is a quality in the
air of this part of the Loire conducive to the growth of parasitic
vegetation, for every roof and wall, and every tree, is enriched with
luxuriant moss or splashes of silvery and orange lichen.
The road continues through the same flat country, with low, scrubby
forest to the left, and touches the river again at Nouan-sur-Loire,
another old village rich in soft greens and greys. A house on the left
is conspicuous for its quaintness, and several of the cottages have
heart-shaped holes cut in the shutters of the windows.
[Illustration: No. 6 ORLEANS TO TOURS.]
Just beyond Nouan the road to the Château de Chambord goes to the left
at a fork, and in a few minutes one passes through a gate in the
seven-league stone wall that surrounds the park, and a straight avenue
through the low trees leads to the great castle.
CHÂTEAU DE CHAMBORD
There is no appearance of age in the immense pile of white stone that
gleams in the sunshine under its astonishingly overweighted roofs, and
by many who have come expecting something altogether different, the
bitterest disappointment has been expressed.
Before the year 1519 there had been only the grim and gloomy feudal
castle of Chambourg on the site, and the excellent hunting in the scrub
and swamps of the Sologne (the name given to this marshy district) was
the only reason for the visits of the Court. But in that year François
I. began the construction of the existing château in place of the old
one; and belonging to that era of magnificence when the Renaissance
influence was being felt throughout Europe, he built the largest and
most splendid hunting-box the world has ever seen. Although 1,800
workmen were employed year after year to carry out Pierre Nepveu’s
designs, when the King died, in 1547, only the central portion and the
east wing, which contained his own apartments, were completed. His
successor, Henri II., added a wing, but liked Anet better, and Charles
IX. and Catherine de Medici preferred Chenonceaux, Blois, and Chaumont.
Louis XIII. and Louis XIV. regarded it as a hunting-box, but the latter
came to the amazing conclusion, after his first visit to the place with
his Court, that it was too small, and plans were prepared for two
additional wings, which, however, were never built, although the
foundations of one were laid; on them were built, in the eighteenth
century, the barracks still to be seen. They were for the accommodation
of the regiment of Uhlan horse, with which the famous Marshal Maurice de
Saxe, of Fontenoy fame, amused himself when in retirement at Chambord.
It is, however, the figure of the magnificent François I., the King who,
at the death of his English neighbour, spoke of Henry VIII. as his old
friend, to whom one’s thoughts turn in walking through the great
Renaissance courtyard and the innumerable and vast apartments ornamented
on every side with his fiery salamander. In spite of their rich coffered
ceilings the apartments are cold and bare, and need the sumptuous
furnishings of the sixteenth century and the King himself apparelled in
his favourite pink or blue Italian velvet.
In the middle of the central pile of buildings is a remarkable double
staircase, so arranged that those ascending by one spiral cannot be seen
by those coming down the other. This no doubt had its uses and
advantages in the sixteenth century, when Court intrigue added a zest to
life.
The custodian takes visitors on to the roofs, where the extraordinary
detail of the chimneys, balustrades, turrets, and dormers can be seen
closely. The uncarved surfaces of stone are generally adorned with
slate cut into various patterns and fixed up with nails.
Nearly all the hundreds of rooms are vast, bare, and lifeless, and one
feels in the echoing spaces that the tide of social progress has left
such colossal buildings--the greatest that the final phase of feudalism
produced--far away on a half-forgotten beach of history.
The moat was filled up and the terraces taken away when Stanislas
Leczinska, the exiled King of Poland, received the castle from his
father-in-law Louis XV., and lived there contentedly for eight years.
Madame Berthier, the widow of Napoleon’s Chief of Staff, cut down all
the old trees in the twenty square miles of forest belonging to
Chambord, thus robbing its surroundings of the dignity given by great
trees, while perhaps giving the park the aspect which it bore in the
days of François I.
The long straight roads bordered with Austrian pines go straight through
the park southwards to the little town of Bracieux on the Beuvron. It
has a quaint market-house on posts and a good deal of half-timber work
with herring-bone brickwork, but otherwise the place is uninteresting,
and need not delay one on the road to Cheverny.
The Sologne, through which the route goes, is a very peculiar strip of
sandy marsh-land dotted over with innumerable lakelets and covered with
a network of rivers. It was until recent times considered a hopelessly
unprofitable waste, suitable for nothing at all but sport. Drainage and
careful cultivation have shown, however, that the vine will produce good
harvests, and strawberries and vegetables are also cultivated with such
success that the peasant of the Sologne is now prosperous and contented.
That the sporting qualities of the district have not yet been destroyed
is proved by the frequency with which one hears the sound of the horn
across the watery levels, and sees the very excited hunting folk
clattering through the village streets and along the highways and
byways.
Turning to the left in the village of Cour Cheverny, and to the right at
a fork just afterwards, one reaches the village of
CHEVERNY
Opposite the curious little church, with its Norman door and wide wooden
verandah sheltering a few mendicants, is the entrance to the Château.
_It is open to visitors from April 1 to October_, and not during the
other months of the year, as it is the home of the present owner, the
Marquis Henri Hurault de Vibraye, who is a descendant of that Philippe
Hurault de Cheverny whose son built the present château in 1634. This
Philippe Hurault had been Chancellor under Henri III. and Henri IV., and
died in 1599 in the house destroyed when the existing one was built.
The corridor and dining-room are decorated with paintings on Cordova
leather illustrating the life of Don Quixote. Jean Mosnier, of Blois,
born in 1600, was the artist who painted all the pictures in the
château. A beautifully carved stone staircase leads to the upper floor,
where one can see the Salle des Gardes--a splendid room in perfect
condition--decorated with armour, paintings, and rich tapestries, and
the Chambre du Roi, with its old bed and more tapestry.
The tomb of Chancellor Hurault is in the chapel in the château, and
others of the family are buried in the church (already mentioned)
outside the gates of the park.
Returning to Cour Cheverny, where the church has a tall and slender
spire, and an early Pointed doorway with a toothed moulding, one goes
straight on through the village and the forest of Russy (passing on the
left the Château Beauregard) to the picturesque and historic town of
BLOIS
On crossing the bridge over the Loire one looks upward at the great
castle on its inaccessible rock, the centre of a vast feudal power in
the Middle Ages, and the scene of callous intrigue and murder in the
latter part of the sixteenth century.
It is not difficult to find the way up to the Château, which is a
national monument, and is _open to the public at all reasonable hours_.
The _east wing_ and entrance-front of the château, of red brick and
stone, was built by Louis XII., probably while he was Duke of Orleans,
and finished before his death in 1501. His emblem--the porcupine--can be
seen above the little door on the right of the archway, above which is
an equestrian statue of Louis XII.--a modern work, taking the place of
the old one destroyed in the Revolution. This wing now contains the
Museum and Picture Gallery.
The _north wing_ was built by François I. between 1516-1525. François
I., while transforming the exterior, kept one of the towers of the old
fortress,
[Illustration: TOWN PLAN NO. 9.--BLOIS.]
whose dungeons served as prisons; the west wing, later demolished by
Gaston d’Orléans; and also the _Grande Salle de Justice_, known later as
the Salle des États, from the États généraux held there in 1576 and
1588. This hall united the new wing to the old one of Louis XII. It is a
thirteenth-century building, with its roof supported by eight
[Illustration: PLAN OF THE NORTH SIDE OF THE CHÂTEAU OF BLOIS.
On the first floor are the rooms of Catherine de Medici, and above are
those of Henri III., the scene of the historic murder of Henri, Duc de
Guise.
5 V, the Council-hall, and VI the fireplace at which Guise warmed
himself. The dotted line shows the way Guise left the Council-hall for
the Cabinet Vieux, where the King (Henry III.) awaited him. XVIII, the
narrow passage in which Guise was stabbed.]
columns. The beautiful outside stone staircase is the most remarkable
feature of this wing.
On the _first floor_ are the rooms of Catherine de Medici, containing
the bedroom where she died in 1589 and the _Tour des Oubliettes_--the
ruined tower where the Cardinal de Guise (brother of Henri, Duc de
Guise) and the Archbishop of Lyons were imprisoned. The Cardinal was
assassinated the day after his brother just in the entry. The Archbishop
was sent into exile.
On the _second floor_ are the rooms of Henri III., including the King’s
bedroom, where the Duke died; the oratory, where monks were praying for
the success of the enterprise, not knowing what it was; and the Salle du
Conseil, where Guise stood and warmed himself by the fire on the morning
when he was assassinated--December 23, 1588. The Cabinet Vieux, where
Henri waited during the murder, has been pulled down.
Henri III., owing to his vacillating policy, found himself in 1588
completely dominated by his powerful subject, Henri, Duc de Guise, who
had founded the league to re-establish the Catholic religion and to
extirpate all heresy. The King had been forced to proclaim Guise
Lieutenant-General of the kingdom, and to pledge himself to suppress
heresy, but, though outwardly reconciled, Henri was determined on
vengeance. Miss Edith Sichel gives the following account of the murder
in her brilliant work on Catherine de Medici.
‘The Duc de Guise and the Cardinal had been asked to attend the
Council early; but, although the rest had long been there, there
was as yet no sign of the Duke. The winter’s day was dark and
covered--it rained that Friday from morning till night--and no one
dared wake him till nearly eight. He rose and attired himself
carefully in a new grey satin suit, “too light for the season.”...
Outside the rough cobbles of the courtyard were shining and wet;
the stone passages through which he passed indoors were dank and
struck ominously chill. That very morning he had received nine more
letters bidding him beware. “This is the ninth to-day,” he had said
aloud, as he put it in his pocket.... As he neared the short flight
of steps leading down into the big hall, the Captain of the Guards
approached him, and bowing low, but with studied insolence, “in a
fashion very different from usual,” he held out the bill, as had
been arranged. Guise courteously stopped to hear him, and,
promising payment, moved on. The Captain and his train followed
him, their hats in their hands, and made it easier to blind him to
the fact that none of his own men were near him; they had been cut
off at the entrance, as had been planned. But the door of the
Council-hall once shut behind him, everything was changed. The
Guards cleared the stairs of pages and valets, and made all safe.
Crillon locked the outer doors of the Palace. As Guise seated
himself and looked round, he read dismay on all the faces about
him. The Council had got wind of what was on foot; there was doom
in the air. For the first time Guise showed signs of perturbation;
he changed colour; the eye next his scar began to water, as it did
whenever he was stirred, and he bled at the nose. He sent for a
handkerchief. “Monsieur,” he said to a gentleman near him, “will
you go to the staircase door? See if one of my pages or anyone else
is there, and ask him to bring me a handkerchief.” The gentleman
delivered his message, but was not allowed to go back to the hall.
The page meanwhile fetched the handkerchief from the Duke’s
secretary. Even at this eleventh hour there was an attempt to save
him. The secretary tied up a note in a corner of the handkerchief.
“Sauvez-vous, ou vous êtes mort,” it ran, but it did not reach
him.... Guise had seated himself in the Council. He suddenly turned
faint; his face assumed a deathly pallor. “I am cold; light the
fire!” he said; and, after a pause: “My heart is failing.” But he
quickly pulled himself together, and asked for “any trifle to
revive him--conserve of roses, or Damascus grapes from the King’s
cupboard.”... Nothing could be found but Brignoles plums. They
were brought, and he put some in the little sweetmeat-box that he
carried; it was gilt, and in the shape of a shell. The business of
the court proceeded.
‘Meanwhile, the King was waiting in his closet in the greatest
agitation. “Révol,” he said to one standing by, “go and tell
Monsieur de Guise to come and speak to me in my _vieux cabinet_.”
Révol obeyed, but was stopped by an usher in the antechamber. He
returned trembling. “_Mon Dieu_, Révol!” cried the King; “what is
the matter? How pale you are! You will spoil all--you will spoil
all for me! Rub your cheeks--rub your cheeks hard, Révol!” His
Majesty then gave orders that Révol was to be allowed to pass and
to return with Guise. When Révol entered the Council Chamber, a
député was speaking upon the _Gabelle_; Guise was eating Brignoles
plums. “Monsieur,” began Révol, “the King requests your presence;
he is in his _vieux cabinet_.”... Guise was leisurely. He put a
few plums back into his box, and threw the rest upon the ground.
“Messieurs,” he asked, “would anybody like some?” Then, rolling up
his cloak, and taking it, with his long gloves and his sweet-box,
under his left arm, he prepared to follow Révol. “Adieu,
messieurs,” he said, as he went off the stage. He knocked at the
King’s door; the usher opened it....
‘As Guise entered, one of the Guards tried to give him a last
chance, and trod upon his foot. Guise understood, but he knew
escape was impossible. The usher had come out from the King’s
closet, and had shut the door on the inside. Guise made two steps,
then took hold of his beard with his right hand, and half turned to
see who was following him. The Sieur de Montsérine, who was
standing by the mantel-piece, advanced and stabbed him swiftly in
the left breast. “Traitor, you will die of this!” he called out, as
he dealed the thrust. The Duke hit out with his sweet-box, the only
weapon in his hand. Three other men, concealed behind the tapestry,
fell on him at once. “_Eh, mes amis!_” he cried. When one among the
rest, called Periac, pierced him, his voice grew louder with a
prayer for pity. In his struggle his sword had got entangled in his
cloak, and his legs had been seized. But, with an almost superhuman
effort, he dragged himself from one end of the room to another, and
along the passage to Henri’s bedroom, leaving bloodstains in his
track. “My God, I am dead! Have mercy on me!” he groaned. The words
were his last; they were heard distinctly in the Council-hall, and
his brother, the Cardinal de Guise, was the first to catch them.
‘Before the breath was out of his body, the courtiers were
plundering it. One took the diamond heart from his ring, another
his purse full of gold coins.’
The _west wing_, dating from 1635, was built for Gaston d’Orléans by
François Mansard. It contains the public library.
The _south wing_ contains some rooms built by Louis XII. or his father,
Charles d’Orléans, and also the ornate Chapelle Saint Calais, in which
Henri IV. married Marguerite de Valois. It has been restored so much
that it has lost somewhat in interest, in spite of its profuse gilding
on walls and ceiling.
THE CHURCHES OF BLOIS
_Cathedral of St. Louis_, sixteenth century, rebuilt in seventeenth
century in the time of Louis XIV. in a debased ogee style. The upper
parts of the tower and main entrance are Renaissance, while the base of
the tower belongs to the twelfth century, when an earlier church was
standing.
_St. Nicholas_, a cruciform church situated at the foot of the château,
is the oldest in Blois, and is quite the most interesting. It formerly
belonged to the Benedictine Abbey of St. Laumur, and was built between
1138 and 1210 in Transitional and Gothic periods. The upper parts of
the two western towers are modern. The interior is very impressive, the
style being strong and simple, with a beautiful vaulted ambulatory. Some
of the capitals are very finely carved. The altar-screen dates from
1460, and there are epitaphs and inscriptions of the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries.
_St. Vincent-de-Paul_, a church of the Jesuits, built 1626-1671,
contains a monument to Gaston d’Orléans (to the right of the chief
altar) erected by Mademoiselle de Montpensier, his daughter (known as La
Grande Mademoiselle).
_St. Saturnin_, in the Faubourg de Vienne, south of the river, belongs
to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It has a statue of Notre-Dame
des Aides, the object of a pilgrimage for which Anne de Bretagne (wife
of Louis XII.) had a great devotion.
Old Houses.--There are many Renaissance houses of stone, and also
numerous wooden ones of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, with
curious carvings on brackets and corbels and moulded beams. Nos. 1 and
2, in the narrow old Rue St. Lubin, west of the market below the
château, are particularly good.
_Tour d’Argent_ (Rue des Trois Clefs) is the fifteenth-century octagonal
tower of the Hôtel des Monnaies, or Mint, under Charles d’Orléans and
Louis XII.
_Hôtel d’Alluye_ (8, Rue St. Honoré) is a masterly example of
Renaissance, built for Florimond Robertet, Baron d’Alluye, and Secretary
of Finances under Louis XII. and François I. He also built the Château
de Bury.
_Hôtel Sardini_ (17, Rue du Puits-Châtel) is of the time of Louis XII.
_Hôtel Denis-Dupont_ (Rue St. Honoré) is the sixteenth-century dwelling
of Denis-Dupont, the celebrated lawyer of Blois.
_The College_ (Place Louis XII.) is installed in the ancient Abbaye de
Bourg-Moyen, rebuilt in the eighteenth century, with the exception of
the fourteenth-century gable.
_Hôtel Dieu_ (between the castle and the river) occupies buildings of
the Abbey of St. Laumur; rebuilt under Louis XIV., and recently
enlarged.
_Fontaine Louis XII._, in the Place Louis XII., where markets are held,
is a picturesque fifteenth-century work.
_The Bridge_ was built between 1717-1724, from plans of Gabriel, father
of the celebrated architect, the obelisk in the middle showing the arms
of France.
_History._--The name Blois is derived from the Celtic word _bleiz_,
meaning wolf, possibly because the Celtic fort on the site of the
château was in a wolf-infested country, and perhaps the name may have
some totem significance. The Counts of Blois ruled over a vast district
during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, including Chartres, Dunois,
Vendômois, and even Champagne. Thibaut le Tricheur (or the Cheat) was
the most celebrated of the first Counts. He built a keep on the site of
the present château before his death in 978.
1135. Stephen, Count of Blois, became King of England.
1241. The Châtillons succeeded the first Counts.
1397. Louis d’Orléans, second son of Charles V., became possessor,
began rebuilding the castle but his work remained unfinished. His
illegitimate son Dunois, the Bastard of Orleans, guarded the
château during the Hundred Years’ War. His own son Charles was
taken prisoner at Agincourt, and was captive in England twenty-five
years.
1440. Charles d’Orléans, on his release, returned to Blois, where
his son Louis was born; afterwards King, as Louis XII., in 1498.
From this time to the sixteenth century the history of Blois is
the history of France. Louis XII. resided there in preference to
Paris.
1514. Anne de Bretagne, his wife, died at Blois. François I. lived
there during early part of his reign, leaving it later for Chambord
and Fontainebleau.
1588. Duc de Guise assassinated on December 23.
1589. Catherine de Medici died a few days after the murder.
After these tragic events the Kings of France disliked the château, and
only one Duc d’Orléans, Gaston, brother of Louis XIII., resided there.
He formed a sort of provincial court round him, and employed Mansard to
build the west wing. After Gaston’s death in 1660 only two Princesses
used it--Marie Casimire, widow of Sobieski, King of Poland, and the
mother of Stanislas, King of Poland, who died at Blois in 1722. After
this the château was abandoned, and even partly mutilated, and the
Revolution continued the destruction.
1841. The château was classed as an historical monument, and its
restoration has been carried out since that year.
[Illustration: AMBOISE.
An exceedingly picturesque town on the Loire, with its famous château
conspicuous above the river.]
THE ROAD TO AMBOISE
There is a peculiar charm in the riparian scenery of the Loire when seen
from the raised road that follows the broad river closely all the way to
Tours. In the late afternoon the soft colours of the sunset sky
reflected in the oily and swirling surface of the river are singularly
beautiful, and looking backwards, as one leaves the town of Blois, the
buildings beneath the château, the towers, and the bridge, are all
transformed with a soft gold, which subdues all that is crude, and
heightens every charm, in just the fashion that memory gilds the past.
To the south, beyond the river, is the forest of Blois, a remnant of the
medieval forests that surrounded the town, and near at hand all the
trees are tufted with mistletoe, which shows up against the burnished
gold of the sky as the sun drops lower and lower in the west.
A suspension bridge of six spans crosses the river opposite.
CHAUMONT-SUR-LOIRE
The little brown-roofed village nestles by the water-side under an
orange-red cliff crowned with the picturesque castle built in 1473 by
Charles de Chaumont. He was a brother of the great Cardinal Georges
d’Amboise, Archbishop of Rouen, who was born in the castle in 1460, and
whose Cardinal’s hat can be seen in the chapel.
_Visitors are allowed to see the castle every day in the absence of the
owner (the Princesse de Broglie), and on Thursdays when the family is in
residence._ When first built, in the tenth century, the fortress
belonged to the Counts of Blois, and came afterwards to the family of
Amboise. It was burnt by Louis XI. because Pierre d’Amboise (his tomb in
Rouen Cathedral has been mentioned) had rebelled against him, and
rebuilt in quadrangular form by his son Charles. The side towards the
river was pulled down in 1739 to open up the beautiful view.
Catherine de Medici appears not to have lived at Chaumont, but she
obliged Diane de Poitiers to accept it in exchange for Chenonceaux.
The entrance gateway between machicolated towers shows the initials of
Louis XII. and Anne de Bretagne, and the arms of Charles and Georges
d’Amboise. Certain apartments are _called_ those of Catherine de Medici
and of her astrologer Ruggieri. The Salles des Gardes are hung with
Beauvais tapestry. A big cedar holds out beneficent arms in the
courtyard, and the steep ravine on the west side of the castle eminence
is clothed with trees.
Returning to the north side of the river, one passes the mossy-roofed
hamlet of Veuves, built close up to the-raised road, and in a short time
the strikingly picturesque town of Amboise appears on the south bank of
the river.
AMBOISE.
The first bridge takes one on to the Île St. Jean, where in 496 Clovis
held a conference with Alaric, King of the Visigoths, and the second
bridge brings one to the town built under the shadow of the castle
commenced by Charles VIII., continued by Louis XII., and finished by
François I. _Entrance tree every day; gratuity to custodian._
Amboise was the _Ambatia_ of the Romans, and in the fourth century
tradition reveals the presence of St. Martin of Tours causing the
destruction of a pagan temple. In the Middle Ages there was a castle on
the site of the existing one, which belonged to the Counts of Anjou, and
afterwards to those of Berri. It came to the Crown in 1434; Louis XI.
abode there before he went to Plessis-les-Tours.
Charles VIII. was born in the feudal castle which has now vanished, and
it was here he began the reconstruction, and died in the unfinished
Gothic pile in which he had taken such delight. He brought artists,
sculptors, and workmen from Italy and wherever he saw beautiful things,
and what the château might have been can be judged by the exquisite
little Chapel of St. Hubert, with its exterior _alto-relievo_
representing the conversion of the canonized huntsman. While watching a
game of tennis, however, on April 7, 1498, Charles was seized with
apoplexy and died. The excellent guide shows a low doorway, against the
lintel of which he describes how the King struck his head when going
after a tennis-ball. This picturesque story is, nevertheless, untrue.
Leonardo da Vinci, who died at Amboise in 1519, left instructions for
his burial in the Chapel of St. Florentin, formerly in the castle, but
now destroyed. In 1869 some bones were discovered on the site, and were
deposited in St. Hubert’s Chapel in the belief that they were those of
the painter, and a bust of the great Italian has been placed above the
spot where the remains were unearthed.
The interior of the castle has been so mutilated and destroyed that its
interest centres very largely in the two great cylindrical towers, which
contain spiral roadways paved with red brick, up which the Emperor
Charles V. rode on horseback when he paid a visit to François I. in
1539. The ascent is so easy that to drive up in a carriage is no great
feat, and an automobile can accomplish it with comparative ease.
The year 1560 witnessed a terrible scene in the now peaceful and
flower-scented courtyard of the castle. An abortive Huguenot conspiracy
to capture the young King François II. and remove the government from
the Guises met with a frightful retribution. A series of horrible
executions and hangings were carried out in the presence of the Court,
and Mary Stuart was forced to witness the spectacle by her fierce
mother-in-law Catherine de Medici. The dead bodies were hung from the
galleries.
In 1872 the National Assembly gave back the castle to the Comte de
Paris, and at the present time the Duc d’Orléans uses it as a _maison de
retraite_ for old servants.
The view from the ramparts over the blue river with its sandy banks is
very beautiful. Down below are the old roofs of the town, standing
where, at one time, the river washed the base of the castle rock.
A picturesque _gateway_ in the town, with a pointed arch, a clock, and a
lantern turret above its high-pitched roof, is passed through on the way
to the fine cruciform _Church of St. Denis_. It is a Transitional
building with a Romanesque north door, richly sculptured capitals, an
interesting St. Sépulchre, and a massive central tower.
The Hôtel de Ville near the bridge (built 1500-1505 by Pierre Morin,
Treasurer of France) has been carefully over-restored, and can be
entered without any charge beyond a small gratuity. Near by is the
Church of St. Florentin, built by order of Louis XI. (1461-1483).
To reach Tours from Amboise one only has to follow the road westward on
either bank of the river, but by doing so one misses the fascinating
castle of Chenonceaux, which lies a few miles to the south-east.
The best road to take is the one going due south through the forest of
Amboise towards Bléré, and at the first important cross-road (see map)
one goes to the left parallel with the River Cher.
Just before reaching the village of Chenonceaux a turning to the right
leads across the railway to the entrance-gates of the château of
CHENONCEAUX
_Admission is given every day except when the family is in residence,
when the public can enter on Sundays and Thursdays only between 2 and
4. The charge is 1 franc for each person._
An avenue leads down to a formal garden enclosed by low walls and
brilliant with flowers, which make a fitting foreground to this castle
of pleasant memories, for there are no records or traditions of any
treachery or murder here; instead, one finds accounts of brilliant fêtes
and receptions, when the picturesque little château must have been a
pageant of colour and beauty.
An isolated tower on the right of the garden belongs to an earlier
castle than that which exists now, and its walls have the mellowed tones
which restoration has stolen from the beautiful building just beyond.
The approach is by a bridge, for the whole of the castle stands in the
River Cher on the site of a mill owned by the predecessors of the
builder. Although erected in the sixteenth century, there are two
drawbridges which isolate the castle from the banks, but its peaceful
story does not suggest that they were ever needed.
The elaborately ornamented roofs, the circular corner turrets, and the
galleried bridge reflected in patches in the eddying water, make a most
attractive picture, and one feels surprise that no one has imitated
such an idea.
It was in 1515 that Thomas Bohier is supposed to have begun the castle.
He was Chancellor of the Exchequer of Normandy, and spent large sums of
money on the building. The style was not altogether of the Renaissance,
as one may see from the Gothic chapel he built. In 1524 he died in
Italy, the country from whence he had drawn his ideas for his exquisite
house in the Cher, which was still unfinished. Antoine, his eldest son,
found himself in such a predicament through his father’s methods of
finance that in 1535 he sold Chenonceaux to François I.
Although the King seems to have only twice visited the castle, he went
on with the buildings, and his high opinion of the place is on record.
In 1546 he held a great hunting-party at the castle, and with him were
Diane de Poitiers and the future Henri II., in whose affections the
King’s mistress soon had the highest place. In 1547 Henri II. succeeded
his father, and at once gave Chenonceaux to his lovely Diane, and it was
she who built the bridge connecting the castle with the south bank of
the river.
[Illustration: THE CHATEAU OF CHENONCEAUX.
One of the most attractive of the castles of Touraine. It is built in
the River Cher, and was never the scene of any fighting.]
Twelve years later Henri received a mortal wound in the lists when
tilting with Montgomery, Captain of the Scottish Guards, and his
embittered widow, Catherine de Medici, at once forced Diane de Poitiers
to exchange Chenonceaux for Chaumont. In 1559 Catherine received the
boy-King, François II., with his Queen, Mary Stuart, at the château in
the river. Mary came there from Amboise with the bloody scenes of the
castle courtyard fresh in her memory.
While she had Chenonceaux, Catherine built upon the bridge erected by
her rival Diane the gallery with a long banqueting-hall above, which
makes so attractive a feature from the water-side. She died in 1601, and
left the castle to her niece, the beautiful Françoise de Lorraine,
Duchesse de Mercœur.
Having been a possession of the Bourbons, Chenonceaux was sold, in 1733,
to Fermier Général Dupin, whose widow, Madame Dupin, entertained there
most sumptuously for many years, and even survived the Revolution, dying
in 1799, at the age of ninety-three. The Revolutionaries did no damage
to the buildings, but required Madame Dupin to bring out all her
securities, and the priceless pictures and portraits which had been
accumulating in the château for three centuries, and all were burnt in
a great bonfire.
The castle is now owned by M. Terry, a Cuban gentleman, who has spent
large sums of money on its restoration.
Much of the beautiful furniture has always been in the castle, and the
decorations bear the monogram of Henri II. and Diane de Poitiers. The
blue-and-orange enamelled tiles on the floors of some of the rooms add
to the feast of colour and detail.
BLÉRÉ,
to which one returns after seeing the castle, is an old but
disappointing little town, for the bridge built by Henry II. of England
in 1160, and in use until quite lately, has been replaced by a modern
stone structure of no interest. The Church of St. Croix has a Romanesque
apse with grotesque corbels. There are three parallel naves; the central
one is fifteenth-century work, those north and south of the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries.
From Bléré to Tours the road keeps near the Cher, and the scenery is
pretty.
ALTERNATIVE ROUTE DIRECT TO THE RHONE AND THE RIVIERA--ORLEANS TO
BRIARE, 43½ MILES
(70 KILOMETRES)
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
(Along the north bank of the Loire)
Kil. Miles.
=Orleans= to Chécy =9= 5½
=Chécy= to Châteauneuf-sur-Loire =15= 9½
=Châteauneuf= to Ouzouer-sur-Loire =22= 13½
=Ouzouer= to Gien =15= 9½
=Gien= to Briare =9= 5½
For the route from Briare to Cannes, see Sections XXIII., XXII., XXI.,
XX., XIX., and XVII.
CHARTRES TO TOURS DIRECT, 87½ MILES
(141 KILOMETRES)
Kil. Miles.
=Chartres= to Bonneval =31= 19¼
=Bonneval= to Châteaudun =14= 8¾
=Châteaudun= to Cloyes =12= 7½
=Cloyes= to Vendôme =28= 17½
=Vendôme= to Château-Renault =26= 16
=Château-Renault= to Tours =30= 18½
By this road, which is on the whole level, one can shorten the distance
to Biarritz by 61 miles, but it means omitting the fascinating Château
Country.
SECTION VI
TOURS TO POITIERS, 76½ MILES
(124 KILOMETRES)
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=Tours= to Cormery =19= 11¾
=Cormery= to Loches (direct) =20= 12¼
[=Cormery= to Loches (by Reignac, Azay,
and Chambourg) =22= 13½]
=Loches= to Ligueil =18= 11¼
=Ligueil= to La Haye-Descartes =12= 7½
=La Haye-Descartes= to Châtellerault =22= 13½
=Châtellerault= to La Tricherie =14= 8½
=La Tricherie= to Poitiers =19= 11¾
NOTES FOR DRIVERS
=Cormery to Loches.=--The longer route has the best surface, and goes
through very pretty scenery.
=Loches to Châtellerault= is a rough road, with some short hills
after La Haye Descartes.
PLACES OF INTEREST ON THE ROUTE
=Tours.=--A large manufacturing town on the Loire and the Cher;
Cathedral Romanesque, thirteenth century, with coeval glass, latest
work sixteenth century; the Archevêché, fourteenth, seventeenth,
and eighteenth centuries; Tour de Guise, twelfth century; towers of
the monastery of St. Martin; Tour de l’Horloge and Tour
Charlemagne, both twelfth to thirteenth century; Churches of (1)
St. Martin, built 1860 above the spot where his remains were
discovered; (2) Notre Dame la Riche, fifteenth century; (3) Priory
of St. Côme, remains of twelfth and fifteenth centuries; (4)
Chapelle du Lycée, 1630; (5) St. Julien, 1225-1259; (6) Église des
Jacobins, 1260, used for military purposes; (7) St. Laurent, ruined
church of twelfth century; the Bibliothèque contains a Bible of
Charlemagne.
=Cormery.=--A picturesque village with interesting Romanesque church
and a ruined abbey by the River Indre.
=Loches.=--An exceedingly interesting and picturesque walled town;
two gateways of fifteenth century; extensive citadel enclosing the
unique twelfth-century Church of St. Ours, the donjon, with many
remarkable prisons cut out of the rock, and the Château Royal,
built in the fifteenth century.
=Ligueil.=--Village, with old houses and church from Romanesque to
Flamboyant.
=La Haye-Descartes.=--A small town with old timber-framed houses, a
restored Romanesque church, and a statue to Descartes.
=Châtellerault.=--Large town making the whole of the small-arms for
the French army; Church of St. Jacques has a modern front, hiding
the twelfth and fourteenth century building behind; bridge guarded
by two large towers, built 1525 to 1609; battle of Tours fought at
junction of the Clain and the Vienne, just south of Châtellerault
(see map).
=La Tricherie.=--A picturesque village with a ruined castle and a
church, both of the twelfth century.
TOURS
is a large, cheerful, and busy manufacturing city, spread out between
the Loire and the Cher, which take parallel courses close together. It
stands on a level site, and has no conspicuous attractiveness beyond the
few old buildings for which such a commercial centre could spare space.
The manufactures include so many commodities that the list would be
wearisome. One can hear, see, and smell the iron foundries, but the
passing stranger might not be aware that the specialities of the city’s
products are dried plums, potted meats, and white wines. The silk
industry, formerly of great importance, has declined.
Tours was originally a Celtic town on the rising ground north of the
Loire. The Romans preferred the present site, and called it
_Cæsarodunum_. Christianity came there in the third century, and St.
Martin, the third Bishop, became the apostle of the Gauls. The
plundering Visigoths reached Tours in 473, but were driven out in 507 by
Clovis. In the Middle Ages there were two towns side by side: the Roman
city, surrounded by walls (of which there are no remains), and west of
it Châteauneuf, of which the tomb of St. Martin had formed the nucleus.
When the Normans reached Tours in
[Illustration: TOWN PLAN NO. 10.--TOURS.]
853, and again in 903, they were only able to plunder and destroy the
newer town.
Henry II. of England, a descendant of the Counts of Tours, made Touraine
a part of the English possessions in France, which it remained until
1242. Nearly all the Kings of France from Louis IX. to François I.
resided at Tours.
The religious wars were disastrous to the city, which was half destroyed
by Catholics and Huguenots, until 1589, when Henri IV. established
peace. In 1870 the Germans bombarded Tours.
The Cathedral, dedicated to St. Gatien, first Bishop of Tours, was in
1166 burnt by fire through a quarrel between Louis VII. of France and
Henry II. of England. The lower parts of two towers of the Norman
building remain. The reconstruction commenced in 1225, and the latest
work was done in 1547.
The choir, finished in 1265, is the work of Étienne de Montagne, and it
contains glass of the same period.
The tomb of the children of Charles VIII. (died 1495 and 1496) is in the
south transept, and the remains of the late fifteenth-century cloisters,
with a Renaissance staircase, are interesting.
_The Archevêché_, or Archbishop’s residence, is
[Illustration: OLD GABLED HOUSES IN THE RUE DU CHANGE AT TOURS.
The overhanging storys are supported by richly carved brackets.]
close to the cathedral. It is only in part of the fourteenth century,
the rest having been rebuilt in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. The entrance of Ionic columns was constructed partly of
materials of an Arc de Triomphe put up to the glory of Louis XIV., and
demolished when the Rue Royale (or Nationale) was cut.
_The Roman remains_ behind the cathedral consist chiefly of portions of
the amphitheatre to be found in some cellars of houses in the Rue du
Général Meunier and Rue Manceau. Other remains were destroyed in 1883.
_The Tour de Guise_, a round machicolated tower of the twelfth and
fifteenth centuries, is all that remains of the royal castle built by
Henry II. of England about 1180. It is called ‘de Guise’ because it was
the prison, after his father’s murder at Blois, of the Duc de Joinville,
son of Henri, Duc de Guise.
St. Martin died at Candes about 400; his body was brought to Tours, and
a modest oratory of wood erected above his tomb. In 472 a new edifice
was consecrated; it was the most important work in the West erected
after the fall of Rome and before Charlemagne. Clovis and his successors
heaped benefits upon the monastery established near the church, and
even carried in their expeditions the cope and relics of the saint.
Having become one of the great Christian pilgrimages, by the eighth
century the church was the centre of a new town, distinct from the old,
as already mentioned.
Between 906 and 918 Martinopolis or Châteauneuf was surrounded by walls;
in 997 the church was burnt. The next church lasted till 1175, when the
third church was built. In 1562 it was ruined by the Huguenots, and in
1802, in order to make an opening for a street, everything was
demolished except the two towers and a gallery of the little cloister.
_The new Church of St. Martin._ In 1860 excavations were carried out to
discover the bones of St. Martin. These efforts were successful, and now
an imposing new church with a huge dome has been built over his remains.
_Tour de l’Horloge_ (_or Du Trésor_), built in the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries, is crowned with a small dome of the eighteenth
century.
_Tour Charlemagne_, of the same period, is so called because at its base
was the tomb of Luitgarde, third wife of Charlemagne, who died at Tours
in 800.
_Notre Dame la Riche_, founded in the fourth century, and rebuilt in
the fifteenth, was greatly destroyed by Huguenots in 1562, and restored
recently.
_The Priory St. Côme._--The remains near the bridge of St. Cyn include
the church, belonging to the twelfth and fifteenth centuries, and the
Romanesque refectory.
_The Chapelle du Lycée_ is the ancient Church of the Minimes. The first
stone laid by Marie de Medici in 1630.
_St. Julien_ (Rue du Colbert) is the abbey church on the site of the
church founded, it is said, by Clovis.
The fifth reconstruction took place between 1225 and 1259, after a fire.
The building is a remarkable example of early ogee style. It was sold at
the Revolution, when it became an hotel, but it has since been bought
and restored. In the capitulary room, north of the choir, which has been
used as a stable, Henri III., in March, 1589, convoked the Parlement de
Paris, which met in Tours owing to the troubles of the League.
_Église des Jacobins_, on the quay, was built in 1260 at the expense of
St. Louis. It is now converted to military uses.
_St. Laurent_ (near the Tour de Guise) is a ruined church of the twelfth
century.
_The Bibliothèque_, close to the bridge, is in the old Hôtel de Ville.
It is rich in works of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and has
a precious collection of historical manuscripts, including the Bible of
Charlemagne (coming from St. Martin), on which the Kings of France took
their oath as honorary abbés and canons of the Church. There are also
books of Charles V., Anne de Bretagne, and Henri III.
_The Rue du Commerce_ leads to the old quarter, where those picturesque
houses that still stand are to be found.
_The Maison de Tristan l’Hermite_ (Rue Briçonnet) is wrongly so called.
It is of the time of Charles VIII.
The way out of Tours to Loches is by the same straight road by which one
entered, and soon after passing the turning to Bléré the straight road
to Montbazon is passed at a fork where the way to Loches goes to the
left.
A forest country with areas of cultivation is traversed. By the roadside
will perhaps be seen a woman with a herd of goats, and the cart-horses
have blue sheep-skins over their collars and red tassels on their heads.
The hamlet of St. Blaise, with an old tower on the left, is passed
through as the road drops down to the Indre, crossing that river by two
bridges, which lead to the village of Cormery. The parish church is an
interesting building of the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries,
and near it is a stone Calvary.
By the river, on the left, stand the roofless refectory and cloisters of
a Benedictine abbey, founded in the eighth century by Alcuin, Abbé of
St. Martin, at Tours. The upper part of the fine Romanesque tower fell
recently.
Beyond the ruins, and on the farther side of the river, is the little
cruciform church of Truyes, also Romanesque.
The turning to the left in Cormery, immediately after the second bridge,
goes along a beautiful portion of the Indre Valley, through Reignac and
Azay-sur-Indre, where, if, instead of crossing the river, one goes on,
the more direct route to Loches is joined a short distance beyond
Chambourg.
On the direct road, although there are no villages, two very picturesque
farms are passed on the left. One of them has three circular stone
towers with old conical roofs, and the other a very good hexagonal
turret.
After Chambourg hilly country begins, and in
[Illustration: No. 7. TOURS TO POITIERS.]
a very short time one enters the interesting old town of
LOCHES
The streets are narrow and picturesque, for above the stone houses there
generally frowns a dark machicolated gateway, or a portion of the old
town walls which surround the raised site to which the medieval town was
restricted.
Some changes are taking place within the walls, which are robbing the
town of some of its tortuous ways and some of its glamour, and the hand
of the restorer is beginning to appear on the gateways; but although the
French idea of restoration is far too radical, the town will maintain
its attractiveness for many years to come.
Loches (pronounced with a short _o_) has an interesting history, which
is worth remembering, in connection with the many remains of the Middle
Ages it possesses.
Under the Romans it was called _Luccæ_, and in the fifth century St.
Ours founded a monastery, which was the nucleus of the town of to-day.
It was defended by a château as early as the sixth century, and under
Charles the Bold it became the seat of an hereditary Government. It
passed by marriage to the House of Anjou, to which it belonged till
1205.
1193. John (of England) gave it to France while Richard I. was
crusading.
1194. Richard retook it.
1204. Retaken by Philippe Auguste, who gave it to Dreux de Mello,
Constable of France.
Later on it became a State prison and a royal residence.
Charles VII. came there with Agnes Sorel, who was buried in the
Church of St. Ours.
Louis XI. (1461-1483) enlarged and perfected the prisons.
In the town walls there remain two fine gateways--the Porte des
Cordeliers, at the north-east angle over the river, and the Porte
Picoys, to the north-west, both of the fifteenth century. The Tour St.
Antoine, with a Gothic base and upper portion dating from 1530, has been
robbed of its church, and now serves as a clock tower.
The Hôtel de Ville, near the Porte Picoys, was built between 1535 and
1543 in the Renaissance style, and has just undergone restoration. Among
the old houses, La Chancellerie, built in 1551, in the Rue du Château,
is especially interesting.
[Illustration: THE STREET OF NARVATE, A TYPICAL BASQUE VILLAGE. (_Page
207._)]
The Château. _A charge of a half-franc for the castle and a half-franc
for the donjon is made, and a gratuity is expected by the girl who shows
visitors over the Church of St. Ours._
At the imposing twelfth-century gateway between two towers a charming
little girl meets visitors, and acts as a connecting-link between the
guides to the three features of the castle: (1) the donjon, (2) the
church, (3) the château. The concierge of the first, a comparatively
young man, has the most extraordinary power of conveying an impression
of the terrors of the prisons and dungeons which he shows. When with
graphic gesture he shows the fate of prisoners who in the darkness of a
rock-hewn cell stumbled headlong into a purposely prepared hole of great
depth, murmuring under his breath ‘Très horrible!’ one feels a chilly
sense of terror. The writer has seen many dungeons in the course of his
wanderings, but those of Loches, coupled with the impressiveness of the
admirable guide, are to him the most fear-inspiring and hopeless he has
ever penetrated.
The Donjon was built in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and consists
of two rectangular buildings, one much larger than the other. The four
floors of the larger one have all gone. It served as a prison for Jean,
Duc d’Alençon, Pierre de Brézé (see Rouen), and Philippe de Savoie, and
is said to have been built by Foulques Nerra.
The great cylindrical tower--the Tour Neuve--was built by Louis XI. in
the fifteenth century, as a place where that cold-blooded breaker of the
feudal power in France could safely bestow those whose lives could not
be taken. In the Salle de Question there are gruesome instruments of
torture, and in a circular room below the ground level is shown the
place where Louis XI. ordered Cardinal Balue to be suspended in the cage
of his own invention. The Cardinal, who was of humble origin, had been a
favourite of the King, but met this awful fate by plotting against him.
In the dungeons of the Martelet there are horrible underground cells,
and the large chamber in which Ludovic Sforza, Duke of Milan, passed
nine years in confinement after his capture during Louis XII.’s war in
Italy. On the walls are the inscriptions cut by the noble captive, and
also a sundial on the spot where a ray of light entered through the one
small funnel-shaped aperture. The prison of the bishops incarcerated by
François I. is below, and on the walls are cut an altar and cross and
other ecclesiastical designs. The cell in which the father of Diane de
Poitiers--the Comte de Saint-Vallier--was imprisoned by François I. is
also shown. Diane begged for, and eventually obtained, her father’s
liberty.
From the top of one of the towers the guide points out the different
features of the castle and town, and one gets a good idea of the
position of both on the rocky little plateau above the Indre, which at
this point divides itself into two, joining again a little below the
town.
The remarkable Church of St. Ours is mainly a work of the twelfth
century, in which period Prior Thomas Pactius, who died in 1168, built
the two stone pyramids which form the unique roof of the nave.
In 965 the church of Geoffrey Grise-Gonelle, Count of Anjou, was
consecrated, and the first bay of the nave forms the interior vestibule
of the existing church; above rises a tower, whose upper part is
octagonal, with a stone spire, and is not earlier than the twelfth
century. The porch, also added in the twelfth century, contains a pagan
altar, now in use for holy water.
The interesting crypt has early mural paintings, and the treasury
contains the (or a) girdle of the Virgin.
The Château Royal, or Logis du Roi (now the Sous Préfecture), is at the
north end of the castle enclosure. It was inhabited by Charles VII.,
Louis XI., Charles VIII., and Louis XII., and dates in its present
condition from the first to the last of these princes.
The old chestnut-tree was planted, it is said, by François I. The guide
shows the oratory of Anne de Bretagne, and also the tomb of Agnes Sorel,
the beautiful mistress of Charles VII. The white marble figure rests on
a black monument, with two kneeling angels at her head and two lambs at
her feet. She died near Jumièges in 1450, and her tomb was erected in
the choir of St. Ours. Louis XVI. gave the canons permission to remove
it from the church.
From Loches to the main road near Dangé the road winds through a hilly
country, and after Ligueil the surface is inclined to be rough. On
leaving Loches one goes along the outside of the town wall in a
south-westerly direction, and at the first fork one takes the turning
going down to the right, with the village of Ciran given on the
direction board. The kilometre stones on the left are marked Ligueil.
The road is often lined with closely trimmed poplars, and here and
there are wooden crosses by the wayside turnings, and the cottages are
of stone, with brown tiled roofs. The Château de St. Senoch, among trees
on the left near Ciran, has a very Scottish appearance.
In Ligueil one turns to the left and takes the second turning to the
right, marked Cussay. There are several houses of the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries in the little town, and the Church of St. Martin,
with a modern tower, dates from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries,
and has a beautiful seventeenth-century altar-screen of gilded wood.
The road goes on through the village of Cussay, past woods with large
birches near the road, up and down hill to the small town of La
Haye-Descartes, where there is a restored Romanesque church of the
eleventh and twelfth centuries on the right. A bronze statue to
Descartes, the famous philosopher and mathematician, who was born in the
town in 1596, in a house still standing, is passed on the left. Remains
of the town wall can be seen, and the streets are full of half-timber
and stone houses.
After crossing a railway and the River Creuse, there is a fork, where
one goes to the left through a wooded up-and-down country, where the
road gets to its worst phase before joining the national road within
sight of Dangé.
A smooth run southwards on a broad, straight road above the Vienne soon
brings the busy manufacturing town of
CHÂTELLERAULT
in sight. Its great industry is the manufacture of firearms, which has
been established in the town since 1819. All the rifles in use in the
French army are made in the town, and the daily output can, under
pressure, reach 1,200, with between 5,000 and 6,000 workmen. The
manufacture of cutlery, established some 500 years ago, flourished until
the small-arms industry rather overshadowed it. The works are at the
villages of Naintré and Cénon, south of the town. The Church of St.
Jacques, in the broad main street, has a modern façade--a copy of that
of Notre Dame at Poitiers--in front of a building of Romanesque and
fourteenth-century work. Besides this building and a few old houses, the
only feature of interest is the imposing bridge across the Vienne,
passed over on leaving for Poitiers. It was commenced in 1525, and
finished in 1609, and has two big towers at the west end.
The famous Battle of Tours, as it is generally known to the English, was
fought at the junction of the Vienne and the Clain, about 5 kilometres
south of Châtellerault (see map). It was in the year 732 when a great
Saracen host, led by Abderahman, was marching northwards through
Frankland, plundering and spreading desolation as they went. Before they
reached the Loire, however, the Saracens were met by Charles Martel (or
Charles of the Hammer), who had hurried from the Rhine with his army of
Austrasians in time to forestall the invaders, and to win a most
decisive victory. The beaten Saracens, numbering 80,000, according to
Arab authorities, retreated to the Pyrenees, although Charles Martel
made no attempt at pursuit. This battle has generally been considered
one of the great decisive conflicts of the world, and the Mayor of the
Palace, surnamed of the Hammer, has been regarded as the man who rolled
back the Saracen power in Western Europe. In a scholarly article which
appeared recently,[B] Mr. E. A. Foord produces a great deal of valuable
evidence to show that the invasion of France from Spain would have been
something of a much more serious character but for the heavy defeats
inflicted on the forces of the Caliphate at Constantinople by
Constantine IV. and in 718 by Leo III. Mr. Foord’s comments on the
invasion of Frankland are most interesting:
‘Upon the whole, the evidence goes to show that, whatever the
projects of the Saracen leaders, the army itself was composed of
indifferent material, probably wild hordes of plunderers from
Barbary.... At the same time, it cannot be said that the evidence
is decisive. The army was certainly large, and a long course of
pillage will demoralize the best of troops, as the campaign of
Jena, among others, conclusively showed.... I am, upon the whole,
disposed to think that, while for the army in general the campaign
was merely a gigantic plundering excursion, the leader himself
probably had definite designs of conquest, which were rendered
nugatory by the inferior quality of the forces which he had at his
command.... I do not believe that the Franks, even under Charles
Martel, could have resisted a really serious invasion made by the
regular troops of the Caliphate; but they were able, though not
without difficulty, to turn back Abderahman’s heterogeneous host.’
An exceedingly interesting change in the architecture of the houses is
noticeable in this portion of the route--the pitch of the roofs becomes
very low, curved tiles take the place of flat ones, and the stone houses
are often not stuccoed. It almost seems to suggest that Charles Martel’s
victory prevented the Southern influence in architectural matters from
coming farther north than the ground which the Saracens trod!
All the way to Poitiers from Châtellerault the River Clain and a railway
are below the road on the left.
At La Tricherie, a small and picturesque village, the ruins of a
twelfth-century castle stand out boldly above the road on the right.
There is also a Romanesque church.
SECTION VII
POITIERS TO ANGOULÊME, 67¼ MILES
(108 KILOMETRES)
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=Poitiers= to Croutelle =7= 4½
=Croutelle= to Vivonne =12= 7½
=Vivonne= to Couhé-Vérac =16= 10
=Couhé-Vérac= to Ruffec =31= 19¼
=Ruffec= to Mansle =17= 10½
=Mansle= to Tourriers =9= 5½
=Tourriers= to Angoulême =16= 10
NOTES FOR DRIVERS
The road is hilly at first, with descents at =Croutelle= and =Vivonne=.
Level on leaving =Couhé-Vérac=, but hilly near =Ruffec=, and hills of a
low gradient are frequent on the way to =Mansle=, where there is an
easy descent to the Charente. After =Tourriers= the hills are a
little steeper.
PLACES OF INTEREST ON THE ROUTE
=Poitiers.=--A large town on a flat raised area of rock, and famous
for its beautiful Romanesque churches: (1) Notre Dame-la-Grande,
eleventh and twelfth centuries; (2) Cathedral of St. Pierre,
twelfth century, with Gothic west end and towers, choir-stalls
1235 to 1257, stained glass at each end, twelfth and thirteenth
centuries; (3) St. Hilaire-le-Grand, tenth and eleventh centuries,
on Roman site, has seven naves; (4) St. Porchaire, beautiful
eleventh-century tower; (5) St. Radegonde, chiefly eleventh
century, tomb of St. Radegonde; (6) Church of Montierneuf belonged
to eleventh-century abbey, and has part of choir as old; (7) Temple
of St. John, a baptistery of Early Christian date, built A.D. 320
to 330; Palais de Justice includes the old ducal palace; hall of
Romanesque and Gothic periods; keep, with four towers, fifteenth
century; ramparts of town standing at southern corner, and at the
north are the ruins of the château, twelfth and fourteenth
centuries; megalith called Pierre Levée in the suburb of St.
Saturnin.
=Vivonne.=--A village with a twelfth-century church.
=Couhé-Vérac.=--A large and not very interesting village.
=Chaunay.=--A small village with an interesting twelfth-century
church.
=Ruffec.=--A small town with a few old houses, and a church with a
richly carved Romanesque western façade.
=Mansle.=--A pretty village on the Charente with a twelfth-century
church.
=Tourriers.=--A small village with ruined château, and a church of
the twelfth and fifteenth centuries.
Poitiers is the historic capital of Poitou, a province of France, which,
together with all the country between the Loire and the Pyrenees, was
declared in the Treaty of Bretigny to belong to England as late as the
year 1360, when Normandy had been an integral part of France for more
than 150 years. The sovereignty of Edward III. being maintained by force
of arms only, it was inevitable that his advancing age and the illness
of the Black Prince should foreshadow the early loss of such unwieldy
possessions. By 1372, when Bertrand du Guesclin, the Breton hero, had
been made Constable of France, the English were rapidly losing their
hold. In 1377 both Edward III. and his son were dead, and the whole of
the country south of the Loire had returned to its natural rulers.
The situation of Poitiers on an extensive tabular area of rock occupying
a bend of the Clain, and defended on the open side by the little River
Boivre, is one that made it of immense importance in early times; and
yet, unlike Périgueux, the town does not group itself into any romantic
outlines from a distance. It is the individual buildings which make the
charm of the town, and of these the chief are ecclesiastic. The
Romanesque churches of Poitiers are, indeed, a magnet, which makes it
difficult to drag oneself away. A few of the main events in the early
history of the place may be mentioned before dealing with the
architectural relics individually.
_History._--Christianity was brought to Poitiers in the third century,
and thoroughly established by St. Hilaire, a champion for Catholicism
against Arianism.
732. Abderahman, leader of the Saracens, took the suburbs of
Poitiers, burnt St. Hilaire, but was repulsed by the city. The
Battle of Tours (or Poitiers, as it is called in France) was
followed by the retreat of the Saracens, as described in the
previous chapter. Poitou (with its capital, Poitiers) was joined to
Aquitaine under the Carolingians, and came under the dominion of
England by the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine with Henry II.
Eleanor often resided at Poitiers, and died, at an advanced age, at
the Abbey of Beaulieu, near Loches.
1206. John of England ceded Poitiers to Philippe Auguste at the end
of the three years’ war, in which he lost nearly the whole of the
English possessions in France.
1356. The famous Battle of Poitiers, in which King Jean le Bon was
captured by the Black Prince and sent to London in captivity.
1369-77. Poitou regained by Bertrand du Guesclin, Constable of
France.
1429. Jeanne d’Arc sent there by Charles VII. to undergo a solemn
examination, from which she came out victorious.
[Illustration: TOWN PLAN NO. 11.--POITIERS.]
During the religious wars of the sixteenth century the city was taken,
turn by turn, by Catholics and Protestants.
_The Churches of Poitiers._--Among the Romanesque churches Notre
Dame-la-Grande makes the greatest impression, owing to its hoary west
front, encrusted with the strange carving of the eleventh and twelfth
centuries, to which the building as a whole belongs. The life of the
Virgin is shown in the lowest sculptures, and the other rows of figures
represent the Apostles, St. Hilaire and St. Martin. On the right side
the figures of two wrestlers appear to be in every way similar to those
on the remarkable Norman font at Cowlam, in the East Riding of
Yorkshire. The gable above has a figure of Christ triumphant. It is
interesting to notice that the lower parts of the walls seem to belong
to an earlier church, possibly of the eighth or ninth century. The
interior is covered with crude painting in herring-bone, zigzag, and
striped patterns, giving a strange atmosphere to the church, almost
suggesting that one was in Southern Spain.
The Cathedral of St. Pierre was largely built at the expense of Henry
II. of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine, all the principal work being
completed before the death of Henry in 1189. It is therefore a
Romanesque building, with the exception of the western façade, with its
two low towers, and the north door, which were added in the thirteenth
century, and are therefore Gothic. The exterior is disappointing on
account of the restoration, which has robbed it of the charms of age.
With only one exception--that of Notre Dame de la Roche, near
Chevreuse--the choir-stalls are the oldest in France, dating from 1235
to 1257, and the stained glass includes some remarkable windows at the
east end, of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The most interesting
is the one of the Crucifixion, which also shows Henry II. and Eleanor.
St. Hilaire-le-Grand was reconstructed in the tenth and eleventh
centuries on the site of a Roman building. During the siege by Coligny
in the Huguenot wars the tower was damaged so much that it eventually
fell, crushing the façade and the west end of the nave. This nave, which
has been restored with one bay less, is the only one in France with
triple aisles, and the effect is that of five naves with two aisles, or
even of seven naves. On the walls there are paintings attributed to the
eleventh or thirteenth centuries, and in the southernmost aisle there is
an Early Christian sarcophagus lid of the fourth or sixth century. St.
Porchaire has retained its very beautiful tower, built at the end of the
eleventh century. The three tiers of arcading, enriched with carved
capitals, corbels, and mouldings, leave no surface unadorned. The church
is otherwise a poor reconstruction of the sixteenth century, and is only
interesting for the sixth-century sarcophagus of St. Porchaire under an
altar.
St. Radegonde was founded in the sixth century as a mortuary chapel for
the Queen, St. Radegonde, who fled from her fierce husband, Clotaire I.,
and took the veil in the Abbey of St. Croix, where she died in 587, and
has ever afterwards been venerated as patroness of Poitiers, her tomb
becoming a place of pilgrimage.
The chapel was made into a collegiate church, and was reconstructed in
the eleventh century and consecrated in 1099. There is a beautiful
Flamboyant west doorway, with empty niches, and the north and south
entrances are of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
On the right of the nave is the Chapelle du Pas de Dieu, having an old
tomb, with two statues, showing the apparition of Christ to St.
Radegonde, the impression of Christ’s foot being left on a stone between
the two figures.
The crypt in the centre of the church contains the tomb of St.
Radegonde, an empty sarcophagus of black marble, reposing on a massive
table of the twelfth century.
The Church of Montierneuf (= _monastère neuf_) belonged to an
eleventh-century abbey. The Romanesque choir was altered in the
thirteenth century, with the addition of a central apse, known as ‘La
Lanterne.’ It was mutilated during the religious wars, and has since
been badly restored, but retains some remarkable eleventh-century work.
The Temple of St. John (or Baptistère St. Jean)--_concierge to be found
at Atelier St. Jean-Baptiste, No. 7, Boulevard du Pont-Neuf_--is perhaps
the oldest Christian building in France, and is one of the chief relics
of Roman Poitiers, having been built between A.D. 320 and 330. It is
constructed of brick and stone, has straight-sided arches in the south
end (the building is oblong, and faces north and south), and altogether
an exceedingly Roman appearance. There is a low twelfth-century tower,
and the interior is enriched with paintings of the same period. An
interesting collection of Early Christian tombs found near the Pierre
Levée, outside the town, is now kept inside the building.
Pierre Levée is the name given to a recumbent monolith resting on three
supporting stones, which tilt up one end, two others having disappeared
since the seventeenth century. It is a short distance beyond the
Pont-Neuf, in the suburb called St. Saturnin, east of the River Clain,
and although the stone bears a Gaulish inscription, it is not easy to
give its age.
The Palais de Justice includes the ancient palace of the Dukes of
Aquitaine and the Counts of Poitiers. The splendid hall, now the _Salle
des Pas-Perdus_, has Romanesque and Gothic walls, with a similar wooden
ceiling to that in the Palais de Justice at Rouen. The end wall, the
work of Jean de Berry (died 1416), has three fireplaces with chimneys
outside blocking the windows, which are filled with coloured glass. The
keep, called the _Tour Marbergeon_, was built in the fifteenth century
by Jean de Berry, and has four towers, ornamented with statues of the
Counts of Poitiers.
The Château on the north side of the town was military, and not feudal.
Its remains are of the twelfth and fourteenth centuries, with two round
towers.
At the lofty southern corner of the town, now occupied by the Parc de
Blossac, there are remains of the ramparts.
The remains of the Roman amphitheatre were demolished in 1857, but
fragments of a Roman aqueduct, called Les Arcs de Parigné, still stand a
little to the south of the town.
[Illustration: No. 8. POITIERS TO ANGOULÊME.]
THE ROAD TO ANGOULÊME
Leaving Poitiers by the Route de Bordeaux, one soon reaches Vivonne, a
village on the Clain, where the road goes twice to the right and then to
the left, across the little River Vonne. The church passed on the left
belongs to the twelfth century, and has a fine Gothic west door, with
much weather-worn carving.
A change comes over the country south of Poitiers, for hedges begin to
appear, and the trees are less closely trimmed. The curious sight of
oxen drawing a plough with a donkey leading is sometimes to be seen.
Couhé-Vérac is a large roadside village with an uninteresting church,
and no picturesqueness in its long street except the seventeenth-century
market-hall, with an open wooden roof, supported by a row of stone
pillars.
The road goes southwards in a straight line to Chaunay, where it bends,
but on leaving the village at once resumes its straightness. The
twelfth-century church at Chaunay has fine sculpture.
It is interesting to watch the way in which the houses assume a
different character as one goes southwards. The roofs become very flat,
and one begins to notice vines trained above doors and windows in a
thoroughly Italian fashion.
The country is undulating and without distant prospects, plantations and
the scattered fruit-trees closing up the views.
On passing from the department of Vienne into Charente, the
direction-boards change from blue to green.
RUFFEC
is a town on a tributary of the Charente, with little charm in the
street which runs straight through it; but by turning to the left along
the _Rue de Valence_, one finds in the _Rue des Petits Bancs_ a church
with a Romanesque west front of a most ornate character. The three
members of the arch of the doorway are richly sculptured; in the
beautiful arcade above there remain seven statues in the twelve niches.
They are time-worn and battered, and most of them have lost their heads;
but they and the figure above of Christ in a vesica, with worshipping
angels on either side, still show the skill of the early sculptor.
Ruffec retains some specimens of its overhanging timber-framed houses,
one of them dated 1582, and the town is famed for its patties made of
truffles and partridges.
Keeping a southward course, the straight stretches of road bring one to
a descent to the Charente, where there is a fine view beyond the river,
with the village of Mansle down below on the southern bank. On crossing
the river there is a pretty view of white walls with bright green
shutters, low-pitched brown roofs, and a twelfth-century church raised
above the road, with large empty niches by the western door.
Outside Mansle there is a fork, where one goes to the left. The trees
lining the road have their trunks covered with velvety moss, which
forms a beautiful contrast to the pale blues, browns, and purply greens
of the distant country.
After passing Tourriers, where there are imposing ruins of a château and
a church of the twelfth and fifteenth centuries, a short run brings
Angoulême in sight, with the Touvre joining the Charente in the
foreground.
SECTION VIII
ANGOULÊME TO BERGERAC, 84 MILES
(135 KILOMETRES)
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=Angoulême= to Dignac =15= 9½
=Dignac= to Mareuil =21= 13
=Mareuil= to Brantôme =20= 12¼
=Brantôme= to Château-l’Évêque =15= 9½
=Château-l’Évêque= to Périgueux =10= 6¼
=Périgueux= to Vergt =22= 13½
=Vergt= to Bergerac =32= 20
NOTES FOR DRIVERS
=Angoulême to Périgueux.=--A hilly road, with two level stretches
between =La Rochebeaucourt= and =Monsec=, and between =Puy-de-Fourches=
and =Périgueux=.
A long climb out of =Périgueux=, with an easy descent to =Vergt=
through the forest. For a long distance the road winds through a
beautiful valley.
PLACES OF INTEREST ON THE ROUTE
=Angoulême.=--A considerable town on a raised tabular space,
surrounded by boulevards on site of ramparts; Romanesque cathedral,
1110-1130, with ornate west front; _Évêché_ of same period, but
greatly restored and altered; Hôtel de Ville built 1858-1866,
incorporating two towers of the feudal castle, and contains the
museum.
=Dignac.=--A pretty village, with a Romanesque church.
=La Rochebeaucourt.=--Small village, with picturesque château and
Romanesque church.
=Mareuil-sur-Belle.=--Village, with a partially ruined castle of
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries; now a farmhouse, and can be
entered.
=Brantôme.=--A very attractive little town on the River Dronne;
ancient monastery, with caves containing rock sculpture; a gateway
and a remarkable Romanesque church, with a detached tower of the
eleventh century; several old houses and a fifteenth-century parish
church, now the market-house.
=Château-l’Évêque.=--A small village, with a very picturesque château
of the fifteenth century.
=Chancelade.=--A village with great stone-quarries, and an abbey
church dating from 1120.
=Périgueux.=--A historic city, founded in Gallo-Roman times;
Cathedral of St. Front, with five domes, eleventh or twelfth
century; ruined church at west end of earlier date; several old
houses in the narrow streets. The Tour Mataquerre, of the
fourteenth century, is a part of the ramparts; St. Étienne,
formerly the cathedral, eleventh and twelfth centuries, with three
domes; Roman amphitheatre of third century A.D., converted into a
castle in twelfth century; Tour de Vésone, part of a Roman temple;
Château Barrière has a Roman base; near it is a plain Roman arch,
called the Porte Normande.
=Lamonzie-Montastruc.=--Feudal château, chiefly of the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries.
Angoulême, like Poitiers, occupies an isolated tabular site raised above
the Charente, and has beautiful views from the wide boulevards which
encircle the town, where the ramparts and towers formerly stood. In
medieval times the outline of the town must have been most imposing,
with every tower, spire, and crenellation thrown up against the sky.
To-day, although some towers have survived, there is no striking
silhouette, and Angoulême has a spacious modern aspect, which even the
cupolas and fantastic sculpture of its cathedral cannot alter.
_The Cathedral of St. Pierre_ is an exceedingly interesting
Romanesque-Byzantine building, begun in the eleventh century, and
constructed mainly between 1110 and 1130. From 1630 to 1654 it underwent
restoration, and recently Paul Abadie supervised the work which has
robbed the building of some of its external picturesqueness. The western
façade, however, remains, with all its carved detail, showing the ideas
of the Last Judgment prevalent 800 years ago.
Beyond the interest of the Romanesque architecture of the interior,
there are on the north wall of the nave some restored inscriptions
coeval with the building and the tomb of Philippe de Voivre, Marquis de
Ruffec and Governor of Angoulême, who was assassinated in Paris in 1585.
[Illustration: TOWN PLAN NO. 12.--ANGOULÊME.]
Adjoining the cathedral is the _Évêché_, built at the same time, but
restored at different periods, chiefly in the fifteenth century. It was
lately bought by the town, and is to be converted into a museum and
library.
_The Hôtel de Ville_ was built between 1858 and 1866 by Paul Abadie, on
the site of the old castle of the counts, and into it are incorporated
two of its great towers. The earlier, called _le Tour Polygone_, was
built by Hugues IV. (le Brun), who died in 1303, and the Tour de Valois,
in which Marguerite de Valois was born, is a fifteenth-century work. At
the present time the museums of painting and archæology are in the
ground floor of the Hôtel de Ville. They are fairly interesting.
The history of Angoulême is similar to that of Poitiers in the main
events.
On leaving Angoulême the road crosses a common of almost English type,
and then a good deal of woodland, until one reaches the village of
Dignac, prettily situated on hilly ground, with the tower of its
Romanesque church showing prominently. Then follows a wood of oaks and
more common-land, succeeded by open country with wide views.
Near La Rochebeaucourt the road goes to the right, and curves downhill
to a level-crossing by the railway-station adjoining the village. Close
by, on the left, is the château, among trees, with circular machicolated
towers and conical roofs. The Romanesque church has a fine rose-window
on the south side.
Going to the right, at the cross-roads in the village, there is a
pleasant run by the stream called La Belle Rivière, which the road
follows almost to its source among the hills above Monsec. On
approaching Mareuil-sur-Belle, the first building to be seen is the
interesting château of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, to the
left in the marshy ground by the river. The big cylindrical towers of
the gateway and the round staircase tower at the north-east corner are
in excellent preservation, and so are the buildings on three sides of
the courtyard; but having fallen from its dignity as a seat of one of
the four baronies of Périgord, it is now an unkempt farmhouse. There are
some beautifully designed doorways and windows in the courtyard, and one
can look into the chapel, which is now given over to secular uses. An
inscription to the memory of the troubadour Arnant de Mareuil (twelfth
century) was placed over the doorway in 1903 by the Félibres of
Périgord.
An old wooden cross and a stone one stand outside the church, which is
not interesting.
Huge views appear at intervals as the car follows the windings of the
white road, running with great smoothness on a perfect surface.[C] The
peasants of the district drive to market in quaint little
[Illustration: No. 9. ANGOULÊME TO PÉRIGUEUX AND BERGERAC.]
donkey-carts, into which three men or women pack themselves in the
quaintest fashion imaginable.
After Monsec a watershed is crossed, and there are some considerable
hills, in a more or less wild state, heather and juniper growing between
small oaks.
BRANTÔME
is a delightfully picturesque little place on the very attractive River
Dronne. The chief interest in the town is the monastery, founded by
Charlemagne about the year 769. Before that time a small religious
community had inhabited the grottoes in the rocky escarpments that rise
above the town. These were enlarged natural cavities, and one of them
continued to be venerated all through the Middle Ages. Its walls were
covered during the sixteenth century with sculptures in high relief
representing the Last Judgment and the Crucifixion.
The monastic buildings now include a machicolated gateway; a Romanesque
church restored by Abadie, which before the thirteenth century had two
cupolas on the roof; a curiously designed tower built in the eleventh
century on the rock immediately above the church; and the
fifteenth-century cloisters. There are two bridges over the sparkling
river, and facing one of them is the fifteenth-century parish church, a
picturesque fortified building now used as a market-house. There are
some interesting houses of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and
others of the Renaissance period, including a manor-house called La
Hierse.
Quaint stone well-heads are frequently to be seen in front of the
houses; the vine becomes more and more frequent, and the umbrella pine
begins to appear here and there as one journeys southwards. Between
Brantôme and Château-l’Évêque a light railway crosses the road half a
dozen times, and keeps by the road all the way to Périgueux.
At Château-l’Évêque the very picturesque fifteenth-century castle of the
Bishops of Périgueux stands out in a most attractive fashion to the
right of the road just behind the village. The steep red roof rises
above the square and round towers that give great dignity to the pile.
The road drops down the valley of the Beauvronne, a small tributary of
the Isle, passing the village of Chancelade, where there are very
extensive underground quarries. A recent collapse was the cause of
several deaths.
The greater part of the abbey church, founded in 1120, dates from a
restoration in 1625, but the Romanesque front remains, with the doorway
half concealed by a modern porch of plaster and wood. There is also a
twelfth-century chapel at the west end.
PÉRIGUEUX
The first view of the city, through an opening between steep slopes near
Chancelade, is full of promise to those in search of romance. If it
should happen to be a fine evening, a beautiful light gilds the great
Byzantine campanile and clustered domes of the cathedral, as well as all
the faces of the buildings turned towards the west, so that the
river-encircled city assumes mellowed tones of creamy gold contrasted
with the wooded hills overlooking it on all sides.
_History._--The original prehistoric Périgueux stood on the south side
of the River Isle, and it afterwards became the Gaulish city of
_Vesuna_, the capital of the Petrocorians, whose name survives in
Périgueux. When the Romans had occupied the country a new city was built
on the site of the present one, and in the period of its prosperity,
before the barbarian invasions swept away the Gallo-Roman civilization,
the arena, the temple of Vesuna, and other surviving remains, were
built.
The coming of Christianity is associated with the name of St. Front,
around whose tomb an oratory was built in the sixth century. Towards the
end of the tenth century an abbey arose on the site, and then, precisely
as at Tours, a new town arose alongside the walled Roman _cité_, and the
dual towns must have had somewhat the appearance of the Carcassonne of
to-day. After being in rivalry for a time, the two portions of Périgueux
were in 1240 united by a solemn treaty.
[Illustration: TOWN PLAN NO. 13.--PÉRIGUEUX.]
_The Cathedral of St. Front_ only became the cathedral after the
mutilation of St. Étienne by the Huguenots. It is a most remarkable
building, in the form of a Greek cross, roofed with five huge domes. The
similarity of the plan to that of St. Mark’s at Venice has suggested
that it was copied from that building, with which it is generally
regarded as contemporary, although a considerable conflict of opinion
has taken place as to its exact age.
At the west end of the domical building there is a roofless structure
consisting of three naves, and whether it is the earlier of the two
still remains in doubt. Félix de Verneilh, a distinguished archæologist,
holds that the domed building was begun in 984, and consecrated in 1047,
and that the roofless church goes back as far as Merovingian times
(fifth and sixth centuries); but latterly there has been a tendency to
date the complete building between 1125 and 1150, and to regard the
ruined structure as the one consecrated in 1047, and burnt in 1120.
The restoration has been so wholesale that, were it not for the domes
and the impressiveness of the colossal square piers, the interior would
be too bald and bare to be interesting. The arches are only slightly
pointed, and this building is, perhaps, the birthplace of French
Gothic. The tower is one of the very earliest, if not the only Byzantine
campanile in France, while the apse is quite modern.
The Bishop’s offices are above the cloisters of the twelfth, thirteenth,
and fourteenth centuries, and, since the demolition of 1903, are all
that remains of the monastery. The site is now an open space, forming a
broad terrace, which gives a delightful view of the river and the wooded
hills, and to a town with so many narrow streets as this it must be a
boon to the inhabitants.
A walk through the old streets of the episcopal town, especially the
_Rues Limogeaune_ and _Aubergerie_, reveals some fine domestic
architecture of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and there are
some old houses defended with machicolation on the quay by the Pont
Vieux. The _Tour Mataquerre_, of the fourteenth century, is a part of
the ramparts of the city.
_The Roman Amphitheatre_, dating back to the third century, is now
planted with trees, and the space inside contains some Roman remains.
The Counts of Périgueux made this amphitheatre their château in the
twelfth century, and inhabited it till the end of the sixteenth century.
In 1644 the town ceded it to the Visitandines, who despoiled it of its
stones to build their convent.
_St. Étienne_, the former cathedral, is close to the amphitheatre. It
belongs to the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and is surmounted by
three domes and a tower analogous to St. Front.
The interior has three carved oak altar-screens of the seventeenth
century; the largest one, formerly in St. Front, is the work of the
Jesuit Laville, who took ten years over it. A richly sculptured tomb on
the right on entering is that of Bishop Jean d’Asside, who died in 1169.
_The Tour de Vésone_ is part of a Gallo-Roman temple dedicated to
Vesuna, the tutelary goddess of the city. Some specimens of the
red-and-green marble which formed the outer casing are preserved in the
museum.
_The Château Barrière_ has a Roman base. The highest tower, externally
round, dates from the tenth century, while the body of the castle is
late Gothic. Near the château is a Roman arch called the Porte Normande.
=Alternative routes from Périgueux to Carcassonne= are (1) viâ
Cahors, Montauban, and Toulouse; and (2) viâ Rocamadour and Albi
(see large folding map at end of this book). In either case the
route takes one to places famed for their architectural and
historic features.
On leaving Périgueux the river is crossed in a south-easterly direction,
and the first turning to the right leads one to a steady ascent out of
the valley of the Isle, with the site of the original city on the right
among the trees. The view backwards over the dome-crowned city in its
setting of richly wooded hills is full of romance and charm. On nearly
the whole of the thirty-three miles to Bergerac the road winds in and
out among steep tree-clad slopes. It is a splendid drive, and on a clear
moonlit evening, with the pale shadows of trees thrown across the road,
and the dim mystery of the encompassing forest all around, there is left
on the mind a vivid impression of a vast uninhabited country--one of
those forest areas of the Dark Ages (fourth to tenth centuries) through
which chivalrous knights were wont to travel in search of adventure and
fair ladies. Between Clermont-de-Beauregard and Lembras, the feudal
fortress of Montastruc stands above the River Condeau, and its Gothic
towers fall in well with the spirit of its surroundings.
The last two miles to Bergerac are on a very straight open road, which
brings one to the east side of the town, and takes one in a fairly
direct fashion to the bridge across the Dordogne.
SECTION IX
BERGERAC TO MONT-DE-MARSAN,
96¼ MILES
(155 KILOMETRES)
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=Bergerac= to Eymet =25= 15½
=Eymet= to Seyches =19= 11¾
=Seyches= to Marmande =15= 9½
=Marmande= to Casteljaloux =22= 13½
=Casteljaloux= to Houeillès =16= 10
=Houeillès= to St. Justin =34= 21
=St. Justin= to Mont-de-Marsan =24= 15
NOTES FOR DRIVERS
Hilly from =Bergerac= to =Seyches=; after that a flat road, with a
moderately good surface.
PLACES OF INTEREST ON THE ROUTE
=Bergerac.=--A rather modern town on the Dordogne; new church; old
streets, only fairly picturesque; sixteenth or seventeenth century
house called the Château de Henri IV.
=Eymet.=--Old village, with ruined castle, ramparts, and a good
gateway.
_Miramont._--Village, with quaint houses.
_Marmande._--Small town, with church of thirteenth to fifteenth
centuries.
_Casteljaloux._--Small town, with some interesting old houses.
_Pompogne._--A hamlet in the forest, with church of eleventh,
thirteenth, and sixteenth centuries.
_Houeillès._--Another forest village; has a Romanesque church, with
a fortified tower.
_St. Justin._--Picturesque little town, with ruined ramparts, old
houses, and thirteenth-century church.
_Mont-de-Marsan._--A town of small interest; remains of a keep
inside the barracks.
Bergerac is a cheerful town on the north bank of the broad Dordogne,
with straight modern streets and few antiquities. During the religious
wars of the sixteenth century it was sufficiently important to give its
name to the sixth peace concluded between Catholics and Protestants, and
it became one of the eight places of safety where Protestants could
worship unmolested. About 1620 Cyrano de Bergerac, the author, was born
in the town.
There is a large modern church in the style of the thirteenth century.
Nearer the river there is a network of narrow, and a trifle unsavoury,
streets. The mouldering old houses often have their upper stories
projecting on massive stone corbels or the ends of huge beams, and the
half-timber work is filled in with thin bricks laid in thick mortar.
Among these narrow ways, in the Rue des Rois de France, is a larger and
better-built structure of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
called the Château de Henri IV., but it is not worth looking for unless
one has time to spare. The street leads down to the river at the point
where the old bridge stood. The abutment on the south bank remains.
Crossing the Dordogne, the route is due south through a country of
vineyards. On reaching some steep hills, the road curves to the right,
to take the ascent as easily as possible, and soon afterwards winds down
into and out of the valley of a small tributary of the Dordogne.
The tops of the hills here and there are crowned with small round towers
with conical roofs.[D] After winding among the hills for several
kilometres, there appears a great view towards the east as the road
drops into the valley of the Drot above the picturesque village of
Eymet. The houses on the road are modern, but behind them is a little
medieval town, with its machicolated château grown over with ivy, a
picturesque gateway and walls, as well as some interesting Gothic
houses.
[Illustration: No. 10. BERGERAC TO MONT-DE-MARSAN.]
In Miramont, which is entered almost at right angles, one turns to the
right for Marmande by a curious arcade of considerable width, which runs
beneath some of the old houses. Some of the oldest shops have the
primitive doorway and window in one, exactly the same as those one finds
in the old Italian towns, and even in Pompeii.
The small churches dotted over the country generally have bell-cotes,
and are surrounded with sentinel cypresses. Fruit-trees and vineyards
are everywhere, and the slow-moving bullock-carts constantly passed make
the roads exceedingly attractive.
After the village of Seyches the country becomes flatter and flatter,
and the road is lined with plane-trees.
MARMANDE
is entered at a level-crossing, beyond which one goes straight on to the
last turning to the right before reaching the river (Garonne). This
street leads to an open space, where one goes to the left and crosses
the river by a suspension bridge.
The church is an interesting building, dating from the thirteenth to the
fifteenth centuries, and has a fine rose-window in the façade. There are
three naves and a restored apse of the thirteenth century.
Marmande must have been well defended in the Hundred Years’ War, for
when the English took it in 1447 they only succeeded by resorting to a
ruse.
The journey from Marmande to Mont-de-Marsan--a distance of nearly sixty
miles--is practically level throughout, and nearly the whole time one is
passing through an immense forest.
Casteljaloux stands on the edge of this forest, and all the yards are
stacked with sawn timber. The town is full of sixteenth-century and
earlier houses, and some old _hôtels_. The most remarkable is the
Maison des Xaintrailles, or Château de Jeanne d’Albret, of which only a
wing survives.
The road in passing through the town goes to the right, and then to the
left, and to the left again at a fork.
South of Casteljaloux great perspectives of yellow road stretch away to
a vanishing point among the blue-grey pines. It is not an uncommon thing
to pass groups of dark-blue-coated soldiers bivouacking by the roadside,
with stacked rifles and their heavy accoutrements deposited on the
grass, while the men are lighting fires to cook their field rations.
Pompogne is a pretty hamlet in the forest, with a whitewashed church of
the eleventh, thirteenth, and sixteenth centuries.
Houeillès, the next village, has a small thirteenth-century church of
dark stone, with a fortified tower. There is a great staircase turret,
and the tower opens into the church through a Romanesque arch with a
toothed moulding.
At intervals there are large clearings in the forest, with only a tree
here and there, and pools of water appear by the roadside. The lake
shown on the map, near the modern château of Lubbon, is scarcely visible
from the road, which continues to keep for long distances in a perfectly
straight line. The white crosses frequently to be seen roughly painted
on farmyard gates, where they appear in the forest, suggest that ancient
superstitions linger in the dim forest glades of a country still in the
thraldom of a religion that encourages belief in supernatural
visitations.
ST. JUSTIN
is an old and very picturesque little town. It was greatly damaged by
Montgomery in 1569, but has still some remains of its ramparts perched
above the road. The thirteenth-century church stands near a monastery of
the Templars.
It is here that one notices the first of the Basque type of house, with
the wall of its gable-end deeply recessed to form a shady verandah with
a balcony to the upper floor. The ordinary old cottage of timber-framing
still appears among these of a more southern type, designed for comfort
during great heat.
More perspectives through the forest succeed, and bring one to the
rather uninteresting town of
MONT-DE-MARSAN
There is a quaint view of houses built above the river, and inside the
big rectangular building of the old barracks stands the lower part of
the keep of Nou-li-Bos, built in the fourteenth century by Gaston
Phœbus, Count of Foix, to terrify the inhabitants.
BORDEAUX TO TOULOUSE AND PAMIERS OR CARCASSONNE
Those who land their cars at Bordeaux can (1) pick up the route at
Casteljaloux (86 kil.) or at Mont-de-Marsan (129 kil.), or (2) they
can go to Toulouse (262 kil.) and join the route at Pamiers (322
kil.) or Carcassonne (364 kil.). _See the large folding map at the
end of the volume._
Kil. Miles.
1. =Bordeaux= to Podensac =31= 19¼
=Podensac= to Langon =14= 8¾
=Langon= to Casteljaloux =41= 25½
or =Langon= to Mont-de-Marsan =84= 52¼
2. =Langon= to La Réole =18= 11¼
=La Réole= to Marmande =20= 12¼
=Marmande= to Tonneins =18= 11¼
=Tonneins= to Agen =38= 23½
=Agen= to Moissac =41= 25½
=Moissac= to Montauban =30= 18¾
=Montauban= to Toulouse =52= 32½
=Toulouse= to Pamiers =60= 39½
=Toulouse= to Carcassonne =102= 63½
SECTION X
MONT-DE-MARSAN TO BIARRITZ,
66 MILES
(106 KILOMETRES)
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=Mont-de-Marsan= to Campagne =12= 7½
=Campagne= to Tartas =14= 8¾
=Tartas= to Pontoux =11= 7
=Pontoux= to Saint-Paul (Dax, 1 kil. to left) =13= 8
=Saint-Paul= to St.-Géours-de-Marenne =17= 10½
=St.-Géours= to St. Vincent-de-Tyrosse =7= 4½
=St. Vincent-de-Tyrosse= to Ondres =16= 10
=Ondres= to Bayonne =9= 5½
=Bayonne= to Biarritz =7= 4½
NOTES FOR DRIVERS
From =Mont-de-Marsan= to =St. Vincent= the route traverses a corner of
Les Landes, and there are no hills. The rest of the way is hilly,
without anything steep.
PLACES OF INTEREST ON THE ROUTE
This section of the route is chiefly through the forest country
adjoining Les Landes.
=Tartas.=--A little town on the Midouze with a few towers of its
early fortifications left standing.
=Dax= (_just off the road to the left_).--Has hot mineral springs,
which were known to the Romans, and is still a small bathing-place.
=St. Géours-de-Marenne.=--A roadside hamlet with a semi-fortified
church.
=St. Vincent-de-Tyrosse.=--The same, with a modern church.
=Bayonne.=--A large fortified town on the Adour, the scene of much
fighting in the Peninsular War. (1) Cathedral, built when the town
belonged to the English, dates from 1213, and the cloisters from
1240; the west end is the latest portion; (2) the Château Vieux, an
imposing building of twelfth to fifteenth century date, now
barracks.
=Biarritz.=--A very attractive watering-place of recent growth; rocky
promontory, with slight remains of thirteenth-century castle,
picturesque coves and harbours, and a spray-drenched statue of the
Virgin.
When one leaves Mont-de-Marsan the road is still through forest, and for
mile after mile the dark pines shut out the views. The marshy district
of Les Landes, where the shepherds use stilts in getting over the wet
places, lies to the north-west.
The traffic on the roads, with the exception of automobiles, is drawn
either by bullocks or mules, with their heads yoked together in a wooden
framework, in addition to their collars. A horse is rarely seen.
After passing the village of Campagne the road twists through the
little town of Tartas, where there remain two towers of the
fortifications dismantled by the order of Louis XIII. In the sixteenth
century Tartas was one of the principal strongholds of the Protestants
in Gascony. The church is modern.
After crossing the bridge over the Midouze the turning to the left is
taken. One then goes to the right and to the left at the fork.
On passing over a rise a little beyond Tartas a great view to the south
and south-east appears, and on a fine day one notices on the distant
horizon what at first seems to be a long pale ruffle of cloud. The next
glimpse, however, shows them to be the snowy peaks of the Pyrenees,
ranging from 6,000 to 11,000 feet in height. The ethereal beauty of the
huge mountain barrier that has for so long formed the frontier of France
and Spain, when seen at a distance under the sunshine of a spring
afternoon, is one of the loveliest sights in Europe. The delicacy of the
amethyst and violet shadows is as exquisite as mother-of-pearl. The
distant range appears and vanishes as the car races along a series of
switchback hills, and every glimpse is a picture framed with the tall
red stems of pines and firs, with a golden foreground of gorse.
There is scarcely a tree passed without gashes in the bark, and a small
earthenware cup attached to each, into which the resinous gum
trickles--if it is possible to use such a word in connection with a
fluid of the consistency of the thickest honey. The inquiring individual
who puts a finger into one of the pots to discover the nature of its
contents is impressed for several hours afterwards with its
adhesiveness.
[Illustration: No. 11. MONT-DE-MARSAN TO BIARRITZ.]
Just before reaching Pontoux and in that village the road is paved. The
road goes to the right after the open space in Pontoux, and there
continue to be wide views at intervals across the River Adour down below
on the left. The town of Dax is not entered unless one wishes to make a
slight détour to the left. It can be plainly seen across the river from
the main road. The hot mineral springs, for which Dax still has a small
reputation, were known to the Romans as _Aquæ Tarbellicæ_, and Hare
writes of the ‘curious Roman fortifications destroyed in 1856.’ The
church was rebuilt in the seventeenth century.
[Illustration: No. 11. MONT-DE-MARSAN TO BIARRITZ.]
The scenery continues of the same forest character until near Ondres,
and only two other villages are passed--St. Géours-de-Marenne, with a
quaint semi-fortified type of church, and St. Vincent-de-Tyrosse, with
a modern church shaded by big plane-trees. When this latter village is
passed cork oaks begin to abound, and near Ondres come the first
glimpses of the sea horizon of the Bay of Biscay.
The road crosses one of the group of small lakes scattered over the
hilly country between the Adour and the sea. They are the only lakes in
France.
Some of the lower peaks and a confusion of dark green foot-hills of the
western extremity of the Pyrenees are boldly conspicuous as one goes due
south on the last few miles to
BAYONNE
A portion of the town is on the north bank of the Adour, but all that is
interesting is reached when the long bridge has been crossed.
It is to a very large extent through its history that Bayonne makes many
appeals to the visitor, and particularly to the Englishman, for it is
the capital of the country of that remarkable people the Basques. It
stands on a noble river, with a magnificent mountainous country to the
south, contrasted with the level wastes of Les Landes to the north, and
its history as a possession of England almost to the beginning of the
Renaissance, and as the centre of Wellington’s victories preceding
Napoleon’s abdication in 1814, is of thrilling interest.
Bayonne was included in the vast possessions of the Dukes of Aquitaine,
and it passed with them into the hands of England for three centuries.
The rule of the English kings was considerate, and Bayonne and Bordeaux
prospered through their extensive exports of wine to England. Bayonne,
in fact, reached its greatest prosperity while it was an English
possession.
Towards the end of the fourteenth century the mouth of the Adour became
completely blocked with a bank of sand and shingle, and the river’s
course was diverted to the north, so that it entered the sea ten miles
from Bayonne. This was a disaster to the town, and it was not until two
centuries later, in the year 1579, that the engineer-architect Louis de
Foix, aided by a great gale, succeeded in reopening the old mouth, and
restoring the river to its earlier course.
The English lost Bayonne in 1451, when they were shorn of all their
possessions in France except Calais.
In 1526, when François I. was released from his palatial prison in
Madrid, he rejoined his Court at Bayonne, and announced his intention
of eluding the treaty which gave Burgundy to the Emperor Charles V.
An interesting meeting took place in 1565, when Charles IX., with his
mother, Catherine de Medici, met his sister Elizabeth, the Queen of
Philip II. of Spain. It was for a long while thought that the massacre
of St. Bartholomew was decided upon on this occasion, but modern
historians are inclined to think otherwise.
Coming down to Napoleonic times, the year 1814 brings Bayonne into the
centre of the latter phase of the Peninsular War.
Wellington’s victorious army, composed of English, Spanish, and
Portuguese, having crossed the Pyrenees, attacked Marshal Soult, who had
taken up a strong position on the Nivelle. Soult was defeated, and
withdrew to Bayonne, where he was again defeated by Sir Rowland Hill,
who commanded the right wing of the British army. Soult left a strong
garrison in Bayonne, and marched towards Orthez, followed by Wellington.
Sir John Hope was left to besiege Bayonne, which capitulated after the
abdication of Napoleon on April 5, 1814. Nine days after the declaration
of peace, when the British forces investing the town were entirely off
their guard, the governor of the citadel suddenly made a treacherous
sortie, which was nevertheless unsuccessful, although they captured Sir
John Hope, who was wounded. The French losses were 910 to the English
830, a fact which may have been due in part to the reckless firing of
the French gunboats on the river.
[Illustration: TOWN PLAN NO. 14.--BAYONNE.]
In the little cemetery of the Coldstream Guards, about two kilometres
north of the town, can be seen the tombs of the officers and men who
fell in resisting this sortie. It has been visited by the late Queen and
King Edward VII.
Perhaps one of the greatest feats performed by the British army at this
time was the building of a bridge of boats across the Adour below
Bayonne, in order that the troops and artillery might cross the river
and complete the investment of the town as rapidly as possible. Sir John
Hope had managed to get a detachment of about 600 guards, under the
command of Major-General Stopford, ferried across on pontoons before
nightfall, and they successfully resisted an attack from the citadel of
1,300 French, who were terrified by the rockets, or Congreves,[E] which
were used with startling success. The English army on the south bank of
the river could only assist their comrades with artillery fire.
On the next day, February 24, the flotilla of small vessels bringing
material for a bridge arrived off the river-mouth, but, owing to the
force of the wind, they were only able to cross the bar with the most
heroic efforts. The description given by Colonel W. Hill James gives a
vivid idea of the dangers that the British sailors faced:
‘The bar at the mouth of the Adour was, and is to this day, one of
the most dangerous and difficult in the world. This storm-lashed
coast receives all the violence of the Bay of Biscay, and on the
day in question, a gale having arisen, the white line of boiling
surf, extending as far as the eye could reach, seethed and raged
upon the bar with appalling fury. Captain O’Reilly, R.N., was the
first to try the entrance, and, with a pilot, to see if he could
discover the shifting passage.
‘The French had removed all distinguishing signs that marked the
safe passage, but a new signal staff was improvised by using a
pocket-handkerchief tied to a sergeant’s halbert, and then the
vessels made gallant attempts to cross the bar.
‘Captain O’Reilly’s boat had been toppled over like a cork by a
great breaker, and he himself, stunned and insensible, cast up on
the beach, whilst several of the crew were drowned, and the
remainder dragged out with difficulty, whereupon they relaunched
their boat, which had followed them, and materially aided in
ferrying the troops over the river.
‘Many boats were wrecked and their crews drowned, but eventually
some succeeded in getting safely through.
‘Thus was achieved this perilous and glorious enterprise. In
addition to the lost vessels, twelve _chasse-marées_ [coasting
luggers], not caring to face the bar, had returned to St.
Jean-de-Luz. Thirty-four which had entered the river still
remained; these were more than sufficient to form the bridge.
Headed by the gunboats, which placed themselves in advance of
where the boom was to be fixed, above the bridge, as a guard, the
sappers and sailors at once began to work with a will that in an
incredibly short time arranged these native boats and the boom in
order across the Adour.’
A model of the bridge is to be seen in the United Service Institution in
Whitehall.
The old portion of Bayonne has narrow streets and high buildings, and
among them are the _Château Vieux_, a grim pile of the twelfth and
fifteenth centuries, now used as barracks, and the very interesting
cathedral. It was begun in 1213, the chief portions being completed
while the town belonged to the English, and on the keystones of the
vaulting one can see the arms of England. The west end is the latest
part of the building, the graceful crocketed spires of the two towers
having only been finished in 1884. The restored cloister, dating from
1240, is of particular interest, and should not be forgotten.
It has often been stated that bayonets get their name from Bayonne, but
this is denied by Colonel Hill James, who states that they were first
used at Baïonnette, a few miles from St. Jean de Luz, in a
sixteenth-century battle between the Basques and the Spaniards. Having
come to the end of their ammunition, the Basques tied their knives to
the muzzles of their guns, and the efficiency of the weapons thus
produced soon caused them to be generally adopted.
There is a good view of the fortifications of Bayonne as one goes on to
Biarritz, a short run of seven kilometres to the south.
BIARRITZ
When Queen Victoria ascended the throne Biarritz was a very small
fishing village, and in 1856 its population was only about 2,500. It has
now risen to from 25,000 to 30,000, and every year the visitors reach
the huge figure of over one and a half millions.
In 1855, when the Empress Eugénie built a villa where the huge
red-and-white pile of the Hôtel du Palais now stands, and began to make
Biarritz popular, a favourite means of reaching the place was that
called the _cacolet_. Two people rode in baskets or panniers slung on
either side of a mule led by a Basque girl, as shown in the illustration
reproduced on page 189.
Perhaps the reasons that have made Biarritz popular are, firstly, that
it is neither too big nor too small; secondly, that it has very
beautiful mountain scenery at its very doors; thirdly, that it is King
Edward VII.’s favourite seaside resort; fourthly, that the coast is one
of exceptional beauty; and, lastly, because the hotels are very
reasonable in their prices in winter and spring.
To those for whom the sea has charms there is an extraordinary appeal in
the huge Atlantic waves that seem for ever to break on the rocky coast,
‘Champing and whirling white foam about their green flanks,
And tossing on high their manes of sunlit rainbow-gold,
Dazzling white and multitudinous,
Far as sight can reach.’[F]
And at sunset, when the mountains respond to the western glories, and a
trackway of burnished gold goes across the heaving waters to a fiery red
disc that hangs above the horizon, there is such a charm about the place
that the very thought of leaving is distressing.
The central portion of the town is built on a flat-topped promontory
with deeply indented margins, fringed with isolated masses of rock, some
of which have been joined with sea-walls to make small harbours for the
fishing-boats. At the extreme point is the unfinished harbour of refuge
begun by Napoleon III. and partially demolished by the
[Illustration: HOW BIARRITZ WAS VISITED IN 1813.
_Reproduced by permission from ‘The Battles of the Nivelle and Nive,’ by
Colonel Hill James._]
[Illustration: TOWN PLAN NO. 15.--BIARRITZ.]
waves, and raised picturesquely on a rock above it is a statue of the
Virgin. The promontory bears the Moro-Spanish name of Atalaye, and still
retains slight ruins of the Château of Ferragus, built in the thirteenth
century to guard the harbour. A little to the south-east of the town is
the only other early structure of Biarritz--the Church of St. Martin,
dating back in part to the same period as the château. The pillars are
dated 1541.
Sir John Hope--afterwards the Earl of Hopetoun--to whom reference has
been made in connection with Bayonne, had his headquarters for a time in
a house above the Vieux Port.
The walks and drives that have been made round the promontory are
delightful places in which to be industriously idle while watching the
breaking waves, the curving sweep of sandy shore towards the blue
mountains beyond the Spanish frontier, and the foreground of French,
English, and cosmopolitan visitors.
One may be looking at the people quite aimlessly, when one of the groups
strolling slowly along among the rest suddenly attracts one’s attention,
owing to the extreme familiarity of one of the figures--a man a little
below the average height, having an almost white beard and a very
pleasant and charming manner as he talks to a little girl and boy
walking with him. It is King Edward VII., with two of his grandchildren,
and with them are one or two friends or members of the Court. No one
pays the slightest attention to the royal group, no one raises his hat,
and no one turns his snapshot camera in that direction; for it is
understood that when the King of England comes to the Hôtel du Palais at
Biarritz he wishes to leave all ceremony behind, and enjoy a spring
holiday with as little ostentation as possible.
SECTION XI
BIARRITZ TO PAMPLONA AND BACK VIA SAN SEBASTIAN, 155 MILES
(250 KILOMETRES)
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=Biarritz= to St. Jean de Luz =16= 10
=St. Jean de Luz= to Béhobie (frontier) =10= 6¼
=Béhobie= (frontier) to Vera =15= 9½
=Vera= to Almandoz =37= 23
=Almandoz= to Pamplona =39= 24
=Pamplona= to Tolosa =58= 36
=Tolosa= to San Sebastian =23= 14¼
=San Sebastian= to Fuentarrabia =20= 12¼
=Fuentarrabia= to Béhobie (frontier) =6= 3¾
=Béhobie= (frontier) to Biarritz =26= 16
NOTES FOR DRIVERS
Only those who have cars capable of climbing for many miles up some
exceedingly steep gradients should attempt this little two-day
journey through the Basque Country of Spain to Pamplona. The
surface of the road is very dusty but good between =Biarritz= and
=Béhobie=, and it is rather better and much less dusty from the
frontier to a little beyond =Irurita=. Beyond that the steep
gradients begin, and the surface of the road becomes loose in
places, although it keeps fairly good until the long zigzag ascent
to the =Col de Velate=, a pass among the mountains, 2,717 feet above
sea-level.
_Snow lingers in small patches at this height until April, but
information as to the state of the road can easily be obtained in
Bayonne, Biarritz, or Béhobie, before starting._
There is no need to fear brigands now that a couple of soldiers are
always stationed at the head of the pass.
Beyond the Col de Velate the surface rapidly improves, and becomes
quite good when the steepest part of the descent to Pamplona has
been accomplished.
=Pamplona to San Sebastian.=--This is a good but dusty road, except on the
very steep gradients which occur about halfway. There is a very steep
and very dangerous winding descent on leaving a long and narrow ravine,
but otherwise the descent towards the coast is gentle and continuous.
It is wise to carry provisions in the car for this journey, as the
villages do not cater for visitors or tourists. The _fonda_ at
Sant’ Esteban can provide, however, a most excellent lunch,
although giving only the slightest signs of such a possibility. The
Hôtel la Perla at Pamplona is clean and the food excellent.
PLACES OF INTEREST ON THE ROUTE
=St. Jean de Luz.=--Picturesque town on level ground, with a small
bay, old houses, curious church, and Château de Louis XIV.
Wellington’s headquarters in 1813-1814.
=Béhobie.=--A frontier village by the international bridge over the
Bidassoa.
=Irurita.=--An old and very quaint Spanish town, with several houses
ornamented with the armorial bearings of their noble owners.
=Col de Velate.=--A pass through the Pyrenees at a height of 2,717
feet, guarded by soldiers to prevent brigandage.
=Villava.=--Has the ruins of an ancient convent and some Renaissance
houses.
=Pamplona.=--A large walled city, the capital of Navarre; has no
great attractions beyond its situation, its massive walls, and the
Spanish life of the streets. (1) Cathedral founded in 1397, and
façade rebuilt in 1783; (2) Church of San Nicolás, twelfth and
thirteenth centuries; (3) San Saturnino, a curious building, much
altered since the fourteenth century; (4) the citadel has seen much
fighting, down to the Carlist War of 1875-1876.
=Road to Tolosa.=--Through a long ravine for a great part of the way;
small, scattered villages here and there.
=Tolosa.=--A small town, with dark and narrow streets; Church of
Santa Maria has elaborate classic front.
=San Sebastian.=--A large and very attractive Spanish watering-place,
frequently visited by the King of Spain; citadel, on Mont Orgullo,
is all that remains of the defences of the town, besieged by the
English in the Peninsular War; Churches of Santa Maria, built in
1743, and San Vicente, rebuilt in 1507; modern bull-ring.
=Irun.=--A small town of little interest; the church dates from 1508.
=Fuentarrabia.=--A very quaint old walled town, at the mouth of the
Bidassoa, about 3 kilometres from the main road at Irun.
This section of the tour is a two days’ journey to and from Pamplona,
the capital of Navarre. It is recommended on account of the scenery of
the passes of the Pyrenees which are traversed rather than for any
architectural or archæological interest, beyond the picturesqueness of
the houses of the wayside villages.
For the whole time one is either among the Basque people or their
neighbours a little to the south, who are sufficiently similar to them
to be almost indistinguishable.
THE BASQUES
The Basque people, when unmixed, are a fair people in face and hair, and
they are generally regarded as the survivors of the Iberian race which
in primitive times occupied Western Europe from Spain to Ireland.
Everywhere else they appear to have been absorbed by other races, and by
many who have studied the subject have been looked upon as a part of the
stock of the modern English, Irish, and Welsh.
Their language is of the agglutinative order, and has been called the
despair of philologists, the difficulty of discovering how many of the
Basque words have not been assimilated from other tongues being almost
insurmountable.
Of the religion of the ancient Basques Dr. Webster declares that no
signs remain, their country being without burial tumuli or standing
stones, although in the neighbouring areas the tumuli are thickly sown.
The early Christian missionaries speak of idols, but no one knows what
these were. Although a Roman road penetrates the heart of their country,
the Basques were very gradually Christianized, while the Celts, on the
contrary, were very susceptible to the new teaching from the East.
The Basques now hold to Roman Catholicism with firmness, and are an
industrious, hospitable, and very courteous people, and are not given to
excess or extravagance. They also differ from the city-loving Celts,
according to Mommsen, in their love of the country. They delight in
scattered habitations, and many of the Basque villages have scarcely
anything that can be called a street. When they emigrate, it is to South
rather than to North America, the Pampas life seeming to attract rather
than to repel them. ‘In forty-eight hours after their arrival,’ said a
French chargé d’affaires at Montevideo, ‘you will find not a Basque in
the town.’ It is very interesting, too, that in South America the
dolichocephalic Basques are always regarded as distinct from Spaniards
and Frenchmen, the brand of their race being deeper than the superficial
signs of their nationality!
It is a rare thing to see a plough in the Basque Country, and the writer
has not yet done so. Instead of this ancient labour-saving implement
these remarkable people use the _laya_, or two-pronged digging-fork.
This curious implement has a handle coming from one side, and is thus in
the form of the letter h . One often sees a row of six or seven
villagers--men, women, and children--working shoulder to shoulder. All
the forks are raised aloft simultaneously, then driven into the soil
from the full length of the arm perpendicularly, and when the forks have
been driven home with the foot, the soil is turned over like a furrow by
the pushing forward of all the forks in a row. In this way a width of
ground about eight feet wide, more or less, according to the number of
diggers, is _ploughed_ into furrows with wonderful rapidity, for the
people work with the greatest energy, which often surprises the
stranger, who, on crossing the frontier, expects to enter a land of
idlers.
[Illustration: No. 12. BIARRITZ TO PAMPLONA.]
LEAVING BIARRITZ
The road to the main-line station of Biarritz also takes one to the
highway for St. Jean de Luz and the Spanish frontier; but there is
another route closer to the sea, indicated in the sectional map, which
joins the dusty national road near Bidart, and, being shorter and less
frequented, is worth consideration, although there are one or two places
where one needs to go slowly in order to take the right turning.
ST. JEAN DE LUZ
is a quaint and attractive little town on flat ground almost level with
the sea at the mouth of the Nivelle. There is also an oval bay protected
by breakwaters.
In the town there are several picturesque half-timbered houses with
upper stories projecting on carved wooden corbels, and in the main
street is the very typical Basque church of St. Jean Baptiste, in which
Louis XIV. was married to the Infanta Marie-Thérèse of Spain on June 9,
1660. The interior suggests a spacious concert-hall or theatre rather
than a church, for it is an aisleless structure with three tiers of
black oak galleries fixed against the walls one above the other. The
men, in accordance with the Basque custom, occupy the
[Illustration: THE METHOD OF SHOEING BULLOCKS IN THE BASQUE COUNTRY.
A sketch at Sant’ Esteban. (_Page 207._)]
galleries, while the women have the great surface of rather dusty wooden
floor to themselves.
Just where it is necessary to turn to the left to get to the bridge the
square-turreted _Château de Louis XIV._, built by Louis XIII., stands
overlooking a wide _place_. The _Mairie_, built in 1657, contains the
act of marriage of Louis XIV., and the _Maison de l’Infante_, on the
quay, is shown as the house where the royal bride stayed before her
wedding; it contains a painting of the ceremony by Gérôme.
No. 2, Rue Mazarin, behind the Maison de l’Infante, was occupied by
Wellington when he had his headquarters in the town from November 17,
1813, to February 20, 1814, after defeating Soult at the Battle of the
Nivelle. In this time of inactivity, while preparations were being made
for investing Bayonne, the life in St. Jean de Luz is thus sketched by
Colonel Hill James:
‘A gay little town was St. Jean de Luz in those days, when a pack
of English foxhounds successfully drew the neighbouring woods,
followed by a brilliant field of the boldest spirits of the day.
Lord Wellington encouraged the sport by constantly appearing at the
meets, wearing his favourite Salisbury Hunt livery of sky-blue with
black cape. The Basque inhabitants flocked to see this novel sport,
undismayed by their warlike surroundings; for the manly, honest,
and straightforward conduct of the strangers had reassured them,
and they had returned to their homes to court the presence and
protection of the British Army, which paid with a liberal hand in
good coin for all it required.’
As long ago as 1520 Basque ships sailed from St. Jean de Luz to fish off
the coast of Newfoundland, and as pioneers in this enterprise one can
feel the fullest sympathy for the tenacity with which the French have
held to their fishery rights on that part of the American coast.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries St. Jean prospered
exceedingly, although in 1588 the Spaniards had succeeded in burning the
town, in revenge for the many things they had suffered at the hands of
the Basque corsairs who lived at the mouth of the Nivelle.
When the Duke of Buckingham was endeavouring to assist the Huguenots of
La Rochelle in their desperate resistance to the huge forces brought
against it by Richelieu, St. Jean de Luz sent fifty ships to the help of
the garrison of the Île de Rhé, which had been blockaded by the English
fleet, and Buckingham, having failed in his final assault, was forced to
sail homewards and leave the Protestant town to fight the whole forces
of France. It held out for fifteen months, capitulating in October,
1628.
The pretty village of Urrugne, with its curious classic church, stands
close to the foot-hills of the mountain chain which almost touches the
sea at this point.
The curves of the road give beautiful views over the sea--a lovely blue
flecked with breaking waves--and the green valleys dotted with white
houses between the bare, buff-coloured mountain ridges.
BÉHOBIE (the Franco-Spanish frontier village)
In the little street of this village on the Bidassoa one must come to a
halt at the sentry-box by the international bridge, where the official
enters particulars of the car in a book, salutes, and allows one to
cross the river. On the other side Spanish officials direct one to turn
to the right to reach the Customs-house, where, if all arrangements have
been made at home, it is only necessary to produce the _triptique_, and
pay a small sum, according to one’s destination and the amount of petrol
in the tank, which is calculated by depth only, and not capacity!
When the officials are satisfied, one is free to go where one chooses
without any more trouble; but before leaving Béhobie it is worth while
to look at the Île des Faisans, an island in the Bidassoa famous for
the meetings and conferences it has witnessed. The most memorable are
the meeting of Louis XI. and Henry IV. of Castile in 1463, the farewell
of François to his two sons on their way to Spain as hostages in 1526,
and the meeting in 1565 between Charles IX. and Catherine de Medici with
her daughter Elizabeth, wife of Philip II. of Spain.
‘Their majesties of France,’ says an old chronicler, ‘having heard
through Monsieur d’Orléans that the Queen of Spain was to cross the
river which separateth the two kingdoms on the South, dined full
early, and, straightway after dinner, they set off for this same
river, adjoining the which they caused leafy bowers to be builded,
about two leagues distant from St. Jehan de Luz; where they, having
come, waited some two hours for her approach in a heat so
desperate, that five or six soldiers of Strozzi’s troops died,
suffocated in their armour. At last, towards two o’clock, the Court
of the Queen was beheld drawing near, then the Queen-Mother, seized
with a great joy, crossed the river, and found herself face to face
with her whom she had so long desired.’
In 1660 Louis XIV. met his future bride at Béhobie, and a great pavilion
was put up for their reception. It was decorated by Velasquez, who
caught a fever there, and died shortly after his return to Madrid.
The first turning to the left after crossing the bridge over the
Bidassoa is taken, and for several miles the road follows the river in
a narrowing valley.
_At the bridge where the road takes to the right bank of the river there
is a charge of 5 pesetas made for automobiles._
The scenery becomes more mountainous every mile, but the road keeps
fairly level as it winds through the steep-sided ravine of the Bidassoa.
The shiny foliage of box trees and bushes clothes the precipitous
ascents in a dark green garment, threadbare in places where the woodman
has been at work, and the rough banks by the roadside are in spring
starred with primroses growing among mosses, penny-pies, and withered
ferns of the previous year. The lonely houses now and then to be seen in
the valley are of the same type all the way to Pamplona. They have
low-pitched, brown-tiled roofs with a very wide overhang at the gables,
shading a quaint balcony at one end. The woodwork is often painted green
or brown, and the building is almost invariably whitewashed, leaving a
margin of red stone showing round windows and doors and at each corner.
Where there are any chimneys, they are of the diminutive type one finds
in Italy. The shutters are often plain and solid, and of different
colours.
Vera is the first village of a series. They are all small, the Basques,
as already mentioned, disliking anything but hamlets, and all are of
great picturesqueness. In general character they are very similar, each
having, besides its wide-eaved balconied houses, a rushing stream
crossed by a simple stone bridge half grown over with ivy, one or two
bullock-carts, with a few men whose clean-shaven faces and regular,
almost handsome, features seem too good to be true, a simple church, and
possibly a military-looking personage in a brilliant uniform at the door
of one of the houses.
The bullock-carts are often of the most primitive type, with spokeless
wheels, such as one associates with the chariots of prehistoric man!
Close to the _fonda_ at Sant’ Esteban there is a smithy where the
bullocks are shod. As the beasts do not stand quietly during the
operation, they are slung in the wooden framework shown in the
accompanying illustration, their knees resting on brackets and their
hind-legs stretched out over a bar. They seem to rest quite comfortably
on the broad girths by which they are suspended.
Those who visit Spain should remember that _fonda_ means inn, and also
that, in villages where there is no sign of the word on any of the
houses, there may nevertheless be an inn of a simple character where a
modest meal can be obtained.
Of the _fonda_ at Sant’ Esteban the writer can speak with recent
experience of the excellent lunch of three or four courses, including an
appetizing omelette, which was prepared in a short quarter of an hour
for five hungry travellers. The waitress was a little girl of about
fourteen, whose dignified manner gave a finish to the meal, especially
when she insisted on removing the tablecloth before placing the dessert
and wine on the old mahogany table.
Legasa is the next village. It has the usual features and conspicuously
pretty children.
Narvate is very quaint, with its wide green balconies and the carved
stone panels in the walls of the larger houses, revealing the heraldic
dignities of the owners.
Gorse is abundant, and in some of the villages one sees fences made of
thin slabs of stone placed upright on their edges in exactly the same
fashion as in the Lake District of England.
At the little town of Irurita, where coats of arms and carved wooden
brackets are numerous, the road from Bayonne is joined, and almost
immediately afterwards the road begins a long winding ascent among
steep hillsides covered here and there with short beeches.
The haystacks are built round a central pole, as one sees them all over
Italy, and the gates into the fields are of that awkward type which
consists of several loose bars or thin poles dropped one above the other
between two uprights placed close together at each side of the opening
in the hedge or stone wall.
Climbing steadily, one is soon high above the green valley, with its
string of villages just passed through, and the views become
increasingly mountainous and austere. Great serrated ridges form the
horizon, and naked rocks show above the road on the left. The villages
become more scattered, and soon after Almandoz there is a vast solitude
of precipitous ascents covered with low beech-trees, until the bare
crags and peaks, whitened here and there with patches of snow, stand out
against the clear sky and the drifting clouds.
From this point to the head of the Col de Velate the surface of the road
is loose, and in places furrowed with running water, and the gradients
become very steep, with sharp curves which necessitate careful driving,
but a 12 to 15
[Illustration: ONE OF THE GATES OF PAMPLONA, THE CAPITAL OF NAVARRE.
Wellington besieged the town in 1813, and took it alter a brief
resistance. (_Page 210._)]
horse-power car of a recent type can make the ascent very easily.
The head of the pass (2,717 feet above the sea) is guarded by two
soldiers, whose presence is sufficient to keep off brigands. A suspicion
of adventure is given to the tour at this point in the visible evidence
that, but for these two cloaked figures, bearing modern rifles, a group
of reckless and fully armed banditti might appear at any corner of the
road and reduce the harmless tourist to a penniless condition.
A picturesque diligence that travels by this road is drawn by three
mules abreast, with another leading. Besides this one seldom meets
anything but the local vehicles of the villages. There are opportunities
of seeing a number of rare birds, if one is lucky, and has time to
linger in the solitude of the pass.[G]
Masses of conglomerate rock are passed on beginning the descent, and the
evening light falls on great slopes covered with beech. The road
gradually improves as the descent towards the plain is made. More quaint
villages are passed, dogs bark, and carts are met drawn by five or six
mules in a long line.
Before reaching Pamplona, the sun sets behind a jagged ridge of blue
mountains fringed with fluffy golden clouds, and the villages begin to
show specks of brightness from a distance, for all are lighted with
electricity, owing to the cheap power which is supplied by dozens of
mountain torrents and streams.
Villata has an old bridge, a ruined convent, a small river falling over
a dam, and a main street of tall houses, some of them ornamented with
classic sculpture. It also has a notice warning cars to reduce speed.
Soon afterwards an avenue of trees dignifies the road as one approaches
PAMPLONA
From the exterior, the lofty walls, the citadel and bastions of the
city, with the towers of its cathedral and churches rising above, set in
an amphitheatre of mountains, make a most attractive picture, but within
there is a want of antiquity which is disappointing. There are no
streets of old houses, and the churches lack, to some extent, the spirit
of romance, although one of them dates back to the twelfth century.
_The Cathedral_ was founded in 1397 on the site of an older building,
and the façade was built in 1783. The interior has three naves and
richly carved choir stalls dating from 1530. In the south transept the
doorway leading to the cloisters, of the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries, has a carved tympanum showing the death of Mary. It is
painted and gilded, and is a very beautiful example of late
fourteenth-century work.
_The Chapel of Santa Cruz_, in the south-west corner of the building,
has an iron fence made of the chains which surrounded the tent of the
Emir at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212. The tomb of Charles
III. and his wife, Leonor of Castile, has been taken from the choir to
the old kitchen of the canons.
_The Church of San Nicolás_, in the Paseo de Valencia, is an interesting
building of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
_San Saturnino_ has been restored and altered a great deal since the
fourteenth century, and is now a curious building containing a dreadful
atmosphere of human decay, the wooden floor being almost entirely
composed of numbered trap-doors leading into the vaults beneath. On this
dusty floor the ‘devout’ kneel to repeat prayers in front of little
altars and shrines, and seem to disregard the pestilential odours of the
dead, which make the church intolerable for more than a few minutes.
Perhaps the dirt and the smell are regarded somewhat after the manner of
a penance, although the Roman Church, which inclines to a monetary basis
for all the forms of absolution it dispenses, would be hardly likely to
give it any recognition. Before hurrying out of the building the large
representation of an armed knight in low relief high up on one of the
walls should be noticed. The north door has a fine carving of the Last
Judgment.
_The Citadel_ is a great star-shaped fort at the south-west corner of
the city’s defences, which have been attacked at different times down to
the Carlist War of 1875-1876, when the city endured several bombardments
without the Carlists being able to gain an entry.
In 1521 Pamplona was besieged by the French, and a young Spanish captain
named Iñigo Lopez de Recalde was wounded near the gate of San Nicolás.
During his convalescence he planned the rules of the Order of the
Jesuits, and became their first vicar-general, being known after his
death as St. Ignatius de Loyola. Near the gateway a chapel was, in
1691, erected to the memory of the founder of the Jesuits.
In spite of its formidable defences, Wellington besieged Pamplona in
1813, after his victory at Vittoria, and took it after a brief
resistance.
PAMPLONA TO SAN SEBASTIAN
Leaving by the gateway called the Puerta Nueva, one crosses the River
Arga, and goes north-westward on a level dusty road. The city, with its
double tier of ramparts and its church towers, soon becomes a distant
object in the narrow plain set about with blue mountain peaks. On
getting closer to the rocky heights the crumpled and distorted
stratification becomes visible, as well as the intrusive masses of pale
grey rock.
All the level ground is under cultivation, and the Basque method of
digging with the _laya_ can be frequently seen, for the Navarrais of the
northern half of the province of Navarre scarcely differ at all from the
Basques, and have the same language and physique. In the southern half
of the province the people speak Spanish, and have the same
characteristics and the same failings as the Spaniards.
A few rather dilapidated villages are passed, and then a road to the
right is taken. It leads at once straight up to a narrow cleft in a
great glacis of forbidding grey rock. It almost takes one’s breath away
to approach such a natural fortress in a car, but the road is
encouraging, and one drives through the yawning portal into a narrow
ravine, where a noisy stream of very green water rushes among boulders
just below the road. Every few minutes it seems as though there can be
no way out of the gorge, and that the road will either run into a quarry
or a tunnel, but a fresh bend always shows a good stretch of road in
front. Holly and beech grow on the precipitous slopes, and teasels and
Christmas roses are passed. A rabbit is never seen, but sometimes a few
sheep appear among the rocks.
A notice-board warns the driver of a big descent with a rough surface
and hairpin corners and views of distant mountains, after which the road
continues in a ravine for several miles, descending always. There are a
few more villages, but little chance of a good _déjeuner_ before
reaching Tolosa. The valley gradually opens out a little, the scenery
becomes tamed with agriculture, and soon after the road has turned
towards the north one enters
TOLOSA
It is a small town with two narrow, shadowy streets running parallel and
quite close together, with a collection of new houses with bright red
roofs, and some cloth and paper mills scattered promiscuously outside
the old nucleus. The Church of Santa Maria, passed on the right, has an
elaborately ornamental classic front, and the interior decorated with
local marble.
At the village of Andoain there is a fork where the turning to the left
is taken, and a beautiful road follows a river to Lascarte, where one
goes to the right for San Sebastian, passing a number of factories, and
then coming out to a delicious view of great green waves foaming on to
the rocks of the bay of
SAN SEBASTIAN
It is a fashionable seaside town, with wide modern streets, containing
little to interest the visitor beyond the smartly dressed people, the
shops, and the chances of seeing the youthful King of Spain or other
members of European royal families. The picturesque bay, with the rocky
Isle of Santa Clara and the mountainous coast-line, make San Sebastian a
most attractive place. The season is from June to October, when inland
towns are being baked under a fierce sun.
The old town, besieged in 1813 by Wellington’s army, and occupying a
peninsula between the mouth of the Urumea and the bay, had had its
fortifications removed by 1865, so that there is little to remind one of
the siege of Napoleonic times. All who go there should, however, read a
detailed account of the investment which Wellington entrusted to General
Sir Thomas Graham. The garrison, under General Rey, made such a
successful resistance to the first assault that the allied forces were
obliged to retire, but a few weeks later Graham returned, and finally
took the citadel on Mont Orgullo. The English and Spanish soldiers were
accused of reckless sacking and plundering when they captured San
Sebastian, but it is difficult to find the truth of the matter. One
thing that is definitely known is the fact that Wellington complained so
much of the plundering of the Spanish troops that he even sent them back
from the front as he approached the Adour.
The citadel on Mont Orgullo cannot be entered without permission, but
anyone may climb up the hill to the English cemetery, where the British
officers who fell in the attacks on the town were buried.
The Church of Santa Maria was built in 1743, and San Vicente, rebuilt in
1507, has a reredos of gilded wood dated 1584.
[Illustration: THE LIMESTONE GORGE IN THE PYRENEES, BETWEEN PAMPLONA AND
TOLOSA.]
A large modern bull-ring is conspicuous on the hill on the east side of
the river. It is highly interesting to visit this twentieth-century
amphitheatre, and to see the elaborately fitted operating-room where the
wounded toreador, a victim of Spanish decadence, can receive immediate
treatment. There is also a small chapel in which the bull’s antagonist
can receive the Sacrament before he goes out to the dangerous encounter.
At Irun, which need not delay one, there is a turning to the left
leading down to the very picturesque little walled town of Fuentarrabia,
at the mouth of the Bidassoa. It is difficult to take a motor through
the narrow streets, and it is therefore wiser to leave the car outside
the quaint gateway.
Wellington’s army crossed the mouth of the Bidassoa in October, 1813,
the men wading through the water at low tide with their rifles held
above their heads. Soult expected that the English would cross at Vera,
eight miles up the river, the bridge at Béhobie having been destroyed,
and being unaware of the ford among the sandbanks, which was known to
the Basque fishermen.
SECTION XII
BIARRITZ TO PAU, 69 MILES
(111 KILOMETRES)
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=Biarritz= to Bayonne =7= 4½
=Bayonne= to Peyrehorade =35= 21¾
=Peyrehorade= to Puyôo =17= 10½
=Puyôo= to Orthez =14= 8¾
=Orthez= to Artix =19= 11¾
=Artix= to Pau =19= 11¾
NOTES FOR DRIVERS
=Bayonne to Peyrehorade.=--A rather bad surface at the present time,
which will probably be improved. A steep ascent out of Bayonne, and
after that only small undulations.
=Peyrehorade.=--At bridge do not cross, but keep straight on, and
bear to the left to cross railway, then at once to the right.
=Orthez to Pau.=--The road is level.
PLACES OF INTEREST ON THE ROUTE
=Peyrehorade.=--Picturesque little town, with narrow streets; two
castles, one in town and one by river; modern church.
=Puyôo.=--Old village, with early defensive mound, from which the
place obtains its name.
=Baigts.=--Ruins of twelfth-century castle and sulphurous springs.
=Orthez.=--Formerly the capital of Béarn, an historic town on the
Gave de Pau, with (1) a fourteenth-century fortified bridge; (2)
church of fifteenth century; (3) Tour Moncade, the keep of the
castle built in 1242; (4) a few old houses in the Rue Bourg-Vieux.
After leaving Spain the architecture on this section of the route seems
rather dull and the scenery lacking in grandeur, but this impression
lasts only for a short time, for the road, after going north-east by
east for a few miles, gets nearer to the great white ridge of the
Pyrenees, and day after day, as one goes eastwards, the snowy peaks form
a great rampart on the right. They make splendid backgrounds to nearly
every view, and one is never weary of gazing into the rugged valleys
that open up every now and then as the miles slip by.
On leaving Bayonne, one goes past the entrance to the railway-station on
the left, and follows the road that goes off to the right for Orthez and
Pau. For several miles there is little calling for comment. Here and
there a fine umbrella pine stands in lonely dignity, and in the spring
there is much pink-and-white fruit-blossom. The ploughs and the country
carts are all drawn by bullocks.
The broad Adour is crossed on an iron bridge, and then, near
Peyrehorade, the scenery improves. On market-days the narrow street of
the little town is choked up with bullock-carts, and the spaces between
them thronged with country-folk and soldiers, and the difficulty of
getting the car through
[Illustration: No. 13. BIARRITZ TO PAU.]
the tangle of traffic is so great that it is wiser to take the road
going straight ahead at the bridge, passing the grey-towered castle
which stands above the road.
The church of Peyrehorade is modern, and beyond the castle just
mentioned and the ruins of another--the Château de Montréal, built in
the sixteenth century on the banks of the Gave--there is little to
delay one. All the way to Orthez the road keeps by the river known as
Gave de Pau, which was the line of Marshal Soult’s retreat from Bayonne.
Puyôo is a pleasant village, with steep roofs covered with brown tiles,
and rows of ornamental overhanging courses under the eaves, chiefly
formed with curved tiles. The name of the place, according to Mr.
Baring-Gould, comes from the patois word for the great mound with a
hollowed-out top, which was a stockaded fort of the Franks.
The hamlet of Baigts has a railway-station, a ruined castle of the
twelfth century, sulphurous baths, and a grand view of the Pyrenees.
ORTHEZ
is the ancient capital of Béarn, and although it has been robbed of much
of its architectural charm, it still retains its conspicuously
attractive fortified bridge over the Gave, which is illustrated here.
The river flows rapidly along a deep rocky channel, with huge masses of
stone standing immovably in the midst of the surging waters. The bridge
was built in the fourteenth century, and in the centre rises a
machicolated gateway. Although restored in 1873, the window remains
through which the Huguenots, under Montgomery, forced priests and friars
to leap into the river.
There are only a few old houses left in the town, and these are chiefly
in the Rue Bourg-Vieux. The church is a fifteenth-century building with
a modern spire, but the Tour Moncade is the machicolated keep of the
castle built in 1242 by Gaston VII. It was this fortress which was
visited by Froissart in 1388, when Gaston VII., surnamed Phœbus on
account of his beauty, Count of Béarn and Foix, held his brilliant Court
there.
Froissart says so much of his host’s _perfection in everything_ that a
false impression of the man might be gained if some rather ugly facts
were not known concerning him. In a moment of passion he stabbed Pierre
de Béarn, Governor of Lourdes, who was either his brother or cousin,
because he refused to give up the castle of Lourdes, and he also
murdered his own son Gaston. The wife of Gaston Phœbus was living at
Pamplona, after having become estranged from her husband, and while her
son was visiting her, Charles the Bad of Navarre gave him a little bag
of arsenic, which he declared was a love-potion which would restore his
father’s love for his mother if the powder were sprinkled on the Count’s
food. The youth wore the bag of arsenic under his clothes, and
eventually returned to Orthez; but his half-brother, having seen the
bag, warned his father, who waited until his son was serving him at
dinner, and then, suddenly seizing hold of his vest, obtained possession
of the bag. The powder was sprinkled on some food and given to a dog,
who succumbed to the poison soon afterwards. Young Gaston was placed in
confinement, and, fearing to be poisoned, refused all food. His father
therefore went to the dungeon and stabbed his son with a knife, saying,
‘Ha, traitor! why dost thou not eat?’
Orthez at one time had a Calvinist University, and the building still
remains, although it is no longer a University. The Protestantism of the
town has been consistent from the time of Jeanne d’Albret down to the
present day, for there are more Protestants in Orthez than in any other
town in Béarn. Montgomery, who had caused the death of Henri II. while
tilting with him in the lists, began his career as leader of the
Huguenots by raising an army and capturing Orthez, which had been filled
with troops by Charles IX., in order to coerce the people into Roman
Catholicism, three years before the massacre of St. Bartholomew. When
the Huguenot army took Orthez, Montgomery’s initial success was marred
by the savage treatment of the friars already mentioned. When the
unfortunate clergy endeavoured to save themselves by swimming to the
banks, they were shot.
In 1814, in the last phase of the Peninsular War, when Wellington was
driving Soult before him, Napoleon’s marshal decided to give battle at
Orthez, placing his army of 30,000 men in a well-chosen position on the
hills to the north of the town. Wellington attacked with 50,000 men, and
after a desperate fight, in which 10,000 were killed, the French
retreated along the road to Pau, at
[Illustration: THE FORTIFIED BRIDGE AT ORTHEZ.
From one of the windows of the tower, Montgomery, during the
religious wars of the sixteenth century, forced priests and friars
to leap into the river.
]
first in an orderly fashion, but in the greatest confusion when their
retreat was threatened. In his despatch Wellington wrote:
‘We continued the pursuit till it was dusk.... I cannot estimate
the extent of the enemy’s loss; we have taken six pieces of cannon
and a great many prisoners. The numbers I cannot at present report;
the whole country is covered by their dead. The army was in the
utmost confusion when I last saw it passing the heights near Sault
de Navailles, and many soldiers had thrown away their arms; the
desertion has since been immense.’
The scene of this _débâcle_ is passed through on the way to Pau, but
there is nothing at all to suggest the horrors of such a bloody retreat.
There is an almost English feeling in the aspect of the country, the
villages being tidy; and the large houses, standing in pleasant,
well-kept, park-like surroundings, give a feeling of repose to the
scenery. To the right, beyond the river, the landscape becomes hilly and
dark with woods, and ends with a piled-up horizon of blue-white peaks
touched here and there with a pale gleam where the sunlight falls on the
snow.
It is interesting to watch the change from tiled roofs to slate, and the
high-pitched roofs with hipped ends and splayed eaves, entirely taking
the places of the low roofs near Bayonne. Here and there walls built of
round stones laid herring-bone-wise recall the cottages and barns of
parts of the Sussex coast. The road keeps by the Gave, and goes very
straight over the flat alluvial land of the valley until the beautifully
situated town of Pau is reached.
SECTION XIII
PAU TO ST. GAUDENS, 61½ MILES
(99 KILOMETRES)
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=Pau= to Tarbes =38= 23½
[=Pau= to Lourdes via St. Pé-de-Bigorre =39= 24¼]
[=Lourdes= to Tarbes =19= 11¾]
=Tarbes= to Tournay =18= 11¼
=Tournay= to Lannemezan =17= 10½
=Lannemezan= to Montrejeau =16= 10
=Montrejeau= to St. Gaudens =10= 6¼
NOTES FOR DRIVERS
=Casabieille= (19 kilometres from Pau).--A sharp ascent.
=Ibos.=--The winding descent to near this village in the plain of
Tarbes is dangerous.
=Pau to Lourdes.=--The shortest route is along the road to Tarbes as
far as Soumoulou, and then through Pontacq. The longer way
mentioned above is more beautiful.
=Tarbes to Montrejeau.=--A steep climb out of the plain of Tarbes;
then several ascents and descents from one valley to another.
=Montrejeau to St. Gaudens.=--Level after the steep descent on
leaving Montrejeau.
PLACES OF INTEREST ON THE ROUTE
=Pau.=--A large modernized health resort, with splendid views of the
Pyrenees; numerous first-class hotels, winter garden, and places of
amusement; interesting château, built by Gaston Phœbus between 1373
and 1380, and altered by Henri d’Albret.
=Lourdes.=--Pilgrimage town, visited annually by thousands of Roman
Catholics since 1858, when a child said she had seen the Virgin in
a grotto; medieval castle, modernized; fine mountain scenery.
=Tarbes.=--A rather uninteresting town, famous for horse-breeding;
modern streets of small houses; public gardens of 30 acres, more
worth seeing than the ungainly cathedral.
=Tournay.=--A small town; is without any particular interest.
=Lannemezan.=--A small town, with a church partly Romanesque.
=Montrejeau.=--Picturesque little town; castle keep now the church
tower; quaint market-hall on pillars; arcaded houses.
PAU
In its situation Pau is most fortunate, for, being raised high above the
rushing Gave, the views of the splendid chain of white mountain peaks
are uninterrupted, and most of the modern hotels have their balconies
commanding the great panorama of the Pyrenees, with the Pic du Midi
d’Ossau in the centre. The impressive scenery, coupled with a mild and
genial climate and much winter sunshine, has lifted Pau from the
obscurity into which history had allowed it to fall into one of the
most popular inland resorts in France.
[Illustration: TOWN PLAN NO. 16.--PAU.]
It is a clean and healthy town, having had much attention paid to its
sanitation, the authorities knowing that the English and American
visitor has a strong antipathy to a tainted atmosphere. The town even
has a supply of pure drinking-water, and besides the indoor attractions
of a modern Winter Palace, there are golf, tennis, polo, and a pack of
foxhounds.
There is a season all through the year, for tourists follow the winter
visitors; then there are the crowds of the ‘faithful’ on their way to
Lourdes, and those who come to immerse themselves in the thermal waters
for which the Pyrenean range is famous.
In its history Pau is chiefly interesting during the sixteenth century.
Before that there was a fortress rebuilt between 1373 and 1380 by Gaston
Phœbus, the keep of which can be seen to-day; but Pau only rose to
importance when it became the capital and the residence of the
Sovereigns of Béarn.
In 1527 Marguerite de Valois, the charming young sister of François I.,
was married to Henri d’Albret of Béarn. She not only obtained architects
from Italy to remodel the castle on the Renaissance style, and made what
was then considered the most beautiful garden in Europe, but attracted
to her Court the leading artists, poets, and savants, as well as the
best of the nobility of her time. Further than this, Marguerite
encouraged the Reformation movement so warmly that Calvin and Clément
Marot, whose psalms were sung by the Huguenots, found a refuge with her
at Pau. Marguerite’s daughter was the famous Jeanne d’Albret, who
became the mother of Henry of Navarre, the great Protestant champion who
eventually became Henri IV. of France. Jeanne’s husband, Antoine de
Bourbon, died in 1562, leaving her the ruler of Béarn and Navarre; and
being free to act as she chose, Jeanne made a public declaration of her
belief in Protestantism, and then made the mistake of endeavouring to
force her people to take the same step. It therefore became necessary
for Charles IX. to send an army against Béarn; but Jeanne d’Albret,
assisted by the Prince of Condé and the English, raised a strong force,
commanded by Montgomery, and defeated the Catholics. These victories, as
already mentioned in connection with Orthez, were marred by the savage
treatment of the Catholics, including a massacre at a feast held on
August 24, 1569, of ten lords whose lives Montgomery had promised to
spare. The apartment of the château in which this bloody deed was
carried out is hung with tapestry, and is called the _Grand Salon de
Réception de Henri II. (of Navarre)_.
Under Louis XIII. Navarre and Béarn were made into a province, and Pau,
no longer possessing a royal Court, soon dropped into an obscurity in
which it remained until English visitors began, in 1850, to draw
attention to the attractions of the climate and scenery.
The Château (_open every day between 10 and 5 from April 1 to September
30, and between 11 and 4 from October 1 to the end of March_). The
fourteenth-century keep of red brick, built by Gaston Phœbus, as already
mentioned, stands to the left on entering the courtyard through the open
arches of the east side. On the left--that is, overlooking the river--is
the beautiful façade restored by Henri d’Albret (Henri II. of Navarre).
It contains the _grand salon_ where the massacre mentioned above took
place, and also the _Chambre de Henri IV._, where the Protestant king
was born on December 13, 1553. His cradle, in the shape of a large
tortoiseshell, is still preserved in the room.
An interesting story concerning the birth of the child is told by Miss
Sichel in her work on Catherine de Medici.
‘His birth was the occasion ... of Jeanne’s [his mother’s] winning
of a bet by a song.... Henri II. [Jeanne d’Albret’s father] knew
full well that Jeanne felt great curiosity about his will. Suddenly
he rose and opened a coffer, from which he took a long neck-chain
fastened to a small gold box. “_Ma fille_,” he said, “you see this
box? Well, it shall be your own, with my last will, which it
contains, provided that, when your child is about to enter the
world, you will sing me a Gascon or a Béarnais song. I do not want
a peevish girl or a drivelling boy.” Jeanne was charmed, and her
father ordered his faithful servant Cotin to sleep in her
dressing-room, and to fetch him at the eventful moment. When it
came, between two and three on a bleak winter morning, she
remembered to keep her promise, and despatched Cotin to her father.
Not long after she heard King Henri’s step upon the stair, and in a
strong sweet voice she began to sing the ballad of the
country-side, “Notre Dame du bout du pont, aidez moi à cette
heure”--an invocation to the miraculous image of the Virgin, the
patron-saint of matrons, which stood in the chapel at the end of
the Bridge of Pau. Henri was in time to receive the baby into his
arms. With great circumspection he wrapped it in the skirts of his
robe, and then conscientiously placed the gold box in his
daughter’s hand. “There! that is thine, my girl,” he said, as he
did so; “but this”--pointing to the child--“is mine.” With these
words he carried it away to his own apartments, where the nurse
awaited him. But before he gave it to her he fulfilled the old
custom of Béarn, and first rubbed its little lips with clove of
garlic; next offered the new-comer wine in a golden cup. Legend
says that the precocious Prince smelled the wine, and raised his
head joyously with other “signs of satisfaction”--that he swallowed
the rich red drops which his grandfather put upon his tongue. “Va,
tu seras un vrai Béarnais!” exclaimed the delighted Henri.’
It is a pity that the château has been so much restored. The work was
chiefly carried out, with poor taste, under Louis Philippe.
In No. 5, Rue Bernadotte, which is marked with an inscription,
Bernadotte, King of Sweden, was born on January 26, 1764.[H] He was a
lawyer’s son, who entered the army, and, at the early age of thirty
years, had become General of Brigade. When the heir to the throne of
Sweden died, Bernadotte was chosen, in 1810, as his successor, Napoleon
thinking that his late General would submit to his wishes. Bernadotte,
having no friendly feeling towards Napoleon, acted with complete
independence, and in the fatal Battle of Leipsic the Swedish troops
under him had a large share in Napoleon’s defeat. The lawyer’s son
became Charles XIV. of Sweden in 1818.
THE ROAD TO TARBES
goes as straight as an arrow, except where it ascends and descends from
the high ground that encloses the plain of Tarbes. The chief features
are the huge views of the Pyrenees and the roadside houses, which very
often have curiously thatched roofs.
At Soumoulou a turning to the right goes, through Pontacq, to the Roman
Catholic Mecca of Lourdes.
Before 1858 this famous pilgrimage centre was a village of no importance
at all. It can now be
[Illustration: No. 14. PAU TO ST. GAUDENS.]
reached by a railway and by good roads, and there are large hotels for
the thousands of Catholics who flock there every year. Unlike
Rocamadour, there is no architectural charm, nor is there any
peculiarity of situation, about Lourdes. It stands in one of the many
picturesque valleys that open out from the main Pyrenean chain, and its
medieval castle, mentioned in the previous chapter, has been much
modernized. No, Lourdes became famous because a little village girl,
fourteen years of age, named Bernadette Soubirous, who minded pigs,
stated that she had seen and conversed with the Virgin on several
occasions. Roman Catholic apologists admit that Bernadette was a
diseased, asthmatic, and underfed child, and also that ‘she was not
particularly intelligent.’ On the first occasion when the girl claimed
to have seen the Virgin she was accompanied by her sister Marie and
another companion, but neither of them saw any vision, nor did they hear
the sound of wind which Bernadette thought she heard. The crowds who
watched her during the numerous other occasions in the same month
(February, 1858), when she went to the grotto by the Gave to see the
Virgin, are said to have been impressed with the change which came over
the child’s features, but she alone claimed to see anything appear in
the grotto. Zola’s book pointing out the absurdity of the belief in the
miraculous visions was scarcely needed; but, like Joan of Arc, the girl
seems to have believed implicitly in the hallucinations which had come
to her, and no doubt her consistent attitude gave the superstitious
people of the neighbourhood the confidence which caused them to regard
the vision as a genuine fact.
After delaying any action for some months, the Bishop of Tarbes
appointed a commission to inquire into the affair which was causing so
much stir and excitement in Lourdes, and finally gave out his opinion in
favour of Bernadette’s visions! Pope Pius IX. endorsed the Bishop’s
credulity with a Bull. In 1876 a church was built above the grotto, and
year after year thousands of pilgrims travel great distances to see the
holy place, and to have all kinds of infirmities cured. A sacred spring,
which flowed from the grotto when Bernadette, at the Virgin’s request,
made a hole in the wet sand, has such remarkable effects that the blind
recover their sight, the lame walk, and the nearly dead are restored to
health with the application of a little of the water!
The hotel-keepers of Lourdes have no complaints to make--in fact, they
probably feel some gratitude to Pius IX. and to the good Bishop of
Tarbes.
* * * * *
An excellent and easily followed road leads from Lourdes to Tarbes.
The main road from Pau to Tarbes direct makes a great zigzag descent
into the green plain, giving as it does so some most remarkable views,
the level ground below being contrasted with the jagged line of
mountains to the south.
Ibos, just to the right of the road, is a small village, with an
aggressive church of the fourteenth century. It is narrow and lofty,
with enormous buttresses and two towers.
TARBES
does not make appeals to the passing tourist. It is the centre of the
great horse-breeding industry carried on in the fertile plain, which
grows tobacco, vines and maize, and is a loosely built, unpicturesque
town, having been half destroyed in the religious wars of the sixteenth
century. In 1569 Montgomery, the Huguenot leader, captured Tarbes, drove
out the inhabitants, and burnt the churches and monasteries. Scarcely
had the people returned when the Huguenots again took the town, this
time levelling the walls and leaving the place in ruins.
Mr. Baring-Gould calls the cathedral the ‘most cumbrous, ungainly
minster in all France.’ There are three windows of the twelfth century
in the apse, and a thirteenth-century rose-window in the north transept.
The fourteenth-century Church of St. Jean is not very interesting, and
that of Ste. Thérèse is a modernized building of the fifteenth century.
On the door of the Lycée a Latin inscription, dated 1699, says: ‘May
this building endure, until the ant has drunk the waters of the ocean
and the tortoise made the tour of the globe.’
The Jardin Massey was given to the public by the manager of the gardens
at Versailles in the time of Louis Philippe. Massey was a native of
Tarbes, who began life as a working gardener.
On the western side of the town is the Haras, or breeding-station, where
the English and Arab stallions are kept.
Barère, the regicide, whom Macaulay regarded as approaching ‘nearer than
any person mentioned in history or fiction, whether man or devil, to the
idea of consummate and universal depravity,’ was born at Tarbes in 1755.
The road becomes exceedingly hilly as soon as the plain of Tarbes is
left behind near Barbazan-Debat, and new views of steep-sided valleys,
wooded ridges, and the snowy Pyrenees, appear every few minutes.
After passing the railway viaduct at Lhez, the road goes south-westwards
to Tournay, a small town renamed after Tournai in Hainault, but of no
particular interest.
The road ascends for several miles in a beautiful wooded valley, and
after passing under a bridge one goes to the left across the railway,
turning at once to the right parallel with it and nearly due east.
The long climb has brought one up to a lofty heathery moorland,
commanding grand views in all directions. On this high plateau, where
the River Gers has its source, is the little town of Lannemezan. The
church dates back to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and has a
fine Romanesque doorway.
Pinas, a small slate-roofed village, has picturesque gateways to its
farmhouses, and before reaching Montrejeau (pronounced Mont Rejeau), one
sees on the left M. le Baron de Lassus’ huge modern Château de
Valmirande, built between 1892 and 1898. It commands a magnificent view
into a valley leading up to the main mountain chain.
MONTREJEAU
is a small and picturesque town, with red roofs, brightly painted
shutters, arcaded streets in the Italian style, and a sixteenth-century
Hôtel de Ville, supported on pillars, with the market beneath. The
Church of St. Jean has a great octagonal belfry, originally built as the
castle keep. The situation of the town on a hill above the beautiful
Garonne is delightful. Montrejeau was one of the _bastide_ cities
founded in 1272 by the Sénéchal de Toulouse, and was built on a regular
plan, as one may see to-day.
A straight and level road by the Garonne leads to St. Gaudens, which is
described in the next section.
SECTION XIV
ST. GAUDENS TO CARCASSONNE,
105 MILES
(169 KILOMETRES)
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=St. Gaudens= to St. Martory =19= 11¾
=St. Martory= to Mane =8= 5
=Mane= to St. Lizier =19= 11¾
=St. Lizier= to St. Girons =2= 1¼
=St. Girons= to Le Mas-d’Azil =23= 14¼
[=St. Girons= to Foix =43= 26¾]
[=Foix= to Pamiers =20= 12½]
=Le Mas-d’Azil= to Pamiers =28= 17¼
=Pamiers= to Mirepoix =22= 13¾
=Mirepoix= to Fanjeaux =20= 12¼
=Fanjeaux= to Montréal =10= 6¼
=Montréal= to Carcassonne =18= 11¼
NOTES FOR DRIVERS
=St. Gaudens to St. Martory.=--Nearly level.
=St. Martory to Mane.=--The road crosses a steep ridge of hills.
=Mane to St. Girons.=--Level. Do not cross the River Salat until St.
Girons is reached.
=St. Girons to Le Mas-d’Azil.=--A well-engineered road through a
hilly country.
=Pamiers.=--A dangerous winding descent to the town. The rest of the
way to Carcassonne the road is undulating, without any dangerous
hills, except on the east side of Fanjeaux, where the descent has a
sharp turn.
PLACES OF INTEREST ON THE ROUTE
=St. Gaudens.=--A small town with a fine Romanesque church; richly
carved capitals and carved choir-stalls.
=St. Martory.=--Though a small place, has two imposing
eighteenth-century gateways. Gendarmerie built with stone from
Abbey of Bonnefont, from which ruin comes the Romanesque door of
the church.
=St. Lizier.=--A Gallo-Roman town now shrunk and decayed, but very
picturesque. Stands on a steep hill, crowned with Episcopal Palace,
surrounded by walls which have Roman bases. Romanesque church, with
beautiful cloisters and Roman stones built into apse. Medieval
bridge over river.
=St. Girons.=--A busy little town; church rebuilt in 1857;
thirteenth-century château, now Palais de Justice, not very
interesting.
=Le Mas-d’Azil.=--A small town near the remarkable limestone cavern
called the Grotte du Mas-d’Azil, through which the road runs.
=Pailhès.=--Village in beautiful surroundings, with medieval château
on hill above.
=Pamiers.=--A busy town, with iron foundries on the River Ariège;
cathedral, 1658-1689, with tower of fourteenth century; vast
fortified fourteenth-century west front to N.D. du Camp; Church of
the Cordeliers, sixteenth century; old houses in bad repair.
[Illustration: A PICTURESQUE CORNER OF ST. LIZIER.
The snow clad Pyrenees appear above the roofs of the steep street.]
=Foix.=--Romantically situated town in triangular valley, with the
castle of the Counts of Foix on an isolated rock in the centre.
=Mirepoix.=--Exceedingly picturesque little town, with arcaded square
and much quaint carved woodwork; old gateway and Gothic church of
great charm.
=Fanjeaux.=--A village romantically situated on a hill, with
thirteenth-century church.
=Montréal.=--Another place in a similar situation, with magnificent
views and picturesque streets; church, fourteenth century.
St. Gaudens gets its name from a boy of thirteen years who was martyred
in 475 for holding to the Christian faith under the persecution of
Euric, King of the Visigoths. It is a dusty little town, with a busy
market-place and a beautiful Romanesque church, dating from the
beginning of the twelfth century, when the place began to grow
prosperous with the establishment of a college of canons at the martyr’s
tomb. The church was formerly fortified, and the upper part of the
Romanesque tower has been rebuilt by Laffolye, who restored the
sculpture of the small tower door of the same period, the carving having
been badly mutilated by Montgomery’s Huguenots. One enters by a fine
Flamboyant doorway, and finds a very dark interior, with walls hung with
old tapestries, and a horrible atmosphere, suggesting an entire lack of
ventilation. It is worth while, however, to endure this polluted air in
order to examine the finely carved capitals, showing Biblical scenes,
including a very interesting Nebuchadnezzar in the fields. The sacristy,
with a vaulted roof, and the carved choir-stalls should also be seen.
[Illustration: No. 15. ST. GAUDENS TO CARCASSONNE.]
The road follows the Garonne, and on nearing St. Martory runs close
beside it, with a great wall of orange-coloured rock on the left.
ST. MARTORY
is a curious town with two imposing eighteenth-century gateways, one of
them by the bridge which is crossed on the way southwards to St. Girons.
Arthur Young marvelled at their magnificence when he saw them in 1787.
He thought they could only have been built to please the eye of
travellers! The gendarmerie is built of the stone brought from the
ruined Abbey of Bonnefont, and the Romanesque doorway of the church
(sixteenth century) comes from the same monastery, a little south of the
town.
A Renaissance château stands on the right bank of the river.
After crossing the hills south of St. Martory, the road drops down to
the village of Mane, on the Salat, and all the way to St. Girons one
follows that river _without crossing it_. At a point about 6 kilometres
from Mane, where there is a bridge to Lacave, one is tempted to cross
the river, as the road appears to be entering a stone quarry, but one
must not be deterred by this.
ST. LIZIER
is piled up romantically on a steep and almost isolated mass of rock
rising from the rushing Salat. It is now a small decayed place without
an hotel, but its very steep and picturesque streets lead up to Roman
remains of a most interesting character.
Under the name of _Lugdunum Consoranorum_, St. Lizier was one of the
nine cities of Novempopulania; it was the capital of Conserans, the seat
of a bishopric founded in 450 by St. Vallier, and it remained an
episcopal possession until the Revolution. One crosses the medieval
bridge of three or four unequal arches, noticing a piece of Roman marble
inscribed to the goddess Belisama let into one of the piers, and then,
ascending a precipitous street, turns to the right towards the church at
the corner, illustrated here.
The interesting Romanesque church dates from the twelfth or the
following century, and is built of red brick, with a central tower, now
well restored. Roman remains are built into the apse, and there is also
a Roman doorway. The sacristan keeps the key of the beautiful cloisters,
every capital of which is different and worth study. A tomb dated 1303
[Illustration: THE CLOISTERS OF THE ROMANESQUE CHURCH AT ST. LIZIER.]
is that of Bishop Chatillon, and in the sacristy are portraits of other
bishops, whose imposing residence still crowns the highest portion of
the town: but this former home of episcopal dignity is now a lunatic
asylum. Permission to enter is, however, easily obtained, a _gardien_
conducting the visitor to the small fourteenth-century cathedral and the
twelfth-century chapter-house. The bases of the walls of the bishops’
palace are undoubtedly Roman. There were six semicircular and six square
towers, and even the twelfth-century episcopal keep stands on a Roman
base, just inside the ramparts. Many picturesque corners and some quaint
timber-framed houses invite one to linger at St. Lizier, and the time
spent there would not be wasted.
ST. GIRONS,
on the other hand, is uninteresting, and as its hotels are uninviting,
there is every reason for pushing on. Arthur Young went there in 1787,
and wrote as follows:
‘At St. Geronds [St. Girons] go to the Croix Blanche, the most
execrable receptacle of filth, vermin, impudence, and imposition
that ever exercised the patience or wounded the feelings of a
traveller. A withered hag, the dæmon of beastliness, presides
there. I laid, not rested, in a chamber over a stable, whose
effluviæ through the broken floor were the least offensive of the
perfumes afforded by this hideous place. It could give me nothing
but two stale eggs, for which I paid, exclusive of all other
charges, 20f.’
The church was rebuilt in 1857, leaving the fourteenth-century tower
only, and the château founded in the thirteenth century, is now the not
very interesting Palais de Justice.
The way to Le Mas-d’Azil is along the Route de Foix as far as the fork
at Lescure, where one goes to the left. There is a stone direction-post
in front of the house at the corner.
ALTERNATIVE ROUTE TO PAMIERS THROUGH FOIX
If, instead of turning to the left, one goes on to Foix, the route
described can be rejoined at Pamiers. The distance is 12 kilometres
longer than by Le Mas-d’Azil.
In the striking picturesqueness of its situation, the medieval
castle of Foix, standing on an isolated mass of rock in the midst
of a triangular valley, is very remarkable. Of the three great
towers, the earliest is the square one on the north side, and the
latest the circular one, wrongly ascribed to Gaston Phœbus. The
Palais de Justice, which was the former Château des Gouverneurs, is
passed on the way up to the castle. The Church of St. Volusien
belongs to the fourteenth-century, but preserves a fine Romanesque
door of a former building.
After passing Lescure the road winds upwards and then falls at an easy
gradient in a rocky valley,
[Illustration: THE LIMESTONE CAVERN THROUGH WHICH THE ROAD PASSES NEAR
MAS D’AZIL.
The small arched opening has been cut to make a convenient entrance for
the road.]
with great grey ridges of rock standing out boldly, their highest points
crowned with Calvaries. At Clermont there is a new church, the grey ruin
of its castle, and a Calvary. The fields, tilted at every angle, are
ploughed with oxen, whose heads are protected with a piece of
sheep-skin.
THE GROTTE DU MAS-D’AZIL
A few kilometres beyond Clermont the road curves, and suddenly one is
confronted with a vast cliff of yellowish-cream limestone, containing a
cavern of gigantic dimensions, into which the green waters of the Arize
pour tumultuously. At the side of the cavern’s mouth a small hole has
been bored, and into this the road unhesitatingly plunges. The lofty
roof of limestone is delicately coloured with mauve, emerald, and pink
tints near the mouth, but farther in the darkness is so great that the
road is lighted with oil-lamps. Birds fly in and out of the yawning
mouth of the cavern, but the sound of their wings is drowned by the roar
of the river on its rock-strewn bed. A suppressed excitement fills the
mind of the motorist who for the first time drives into this
subterranean way, but all too soon there is a glimmer of white light
round a bend, and the roof of rock, which has lowered to within a yard
or two of his head, suddenly comes to an end, as the car runs out into
the dazzling sunshine just beyond the cavern.
The little town of Le Mas-d’Azil has an hotel in the dusty market-place,
which can provide a capital _déjeuner_. The church is of uncertain age
from a casual glance, and the offensive smell of its interior, combined
with the cobwebs, dirt, and damp, make one inclined to hurry away.
Protestantism flourished in the town in the seventeenth century, and
some of the people still adhere to the reformed faith. In 1625 the
Calvinists were obliged to seek refuge in the cavern when attacked by
the Catholics. They would have been forced to abandon it through their
enemies having dammed up the river and reduced them to extremes of
thirst, if the obstruction the Catholics had built had not been broken
through by a party of Protestant soldiers.
From Le Mas-d’Azil the road goes through Sabarat and Menay to Pailhès,
on the Lèze, where a picturesque château, dating from the thirteenth to
the sixteenth centuries, stands on a wooded spur above the village.
The road to Pamiers goes to the right and then to the left, and winds
for about fifteen kilometres through a very picturesque hilly country,
with superb views of the Pyrenees across up-and-down country, chequered
with growing corn, pale brown ploughed fields, and purple woods. Sowing
seed in the old broadcast method still prevails here.
PAMIERS
More bends in the road follow, and then Pamiers appears down below, on
the margin of a fertile plain watered by the broad Ariège.
Although having an interesting story, Pamiers does not make many appeals
to the visitor. The original town was called Mas St. Antonin, but it has
decayed so much that there is scarcely anything to be seen even of its
abbey, which gave birth to the town which has vanished.
The cathedral was mainly built between 1658 and 1689, with a brick tower
of the fourteenth century. Notre-Dame-du-Camp has a colossal red brick
façade of the fourteenth century, with machicolation and two towers, a
most astonishing illustration of the Church militant. The Church of the
Cordeliers dates from 1512, and is in the style known as Toulousian
Gothic, from the town a little to the north. There are a number of old
houses in Pamiers, but they are near the ironworks, which are an ugly
feature of the town, and in most instances they are frowsy and
dilapidated. From the site of the destroyed castle there are fine views
of the Pyrenees, but they are no better than those that the road
commands.
THE ROAD TO CARCASSONNE
goes south-westwards from the southern side of Pamiers, and turns to the
left at a fork, crossing the railway, and running in a straight line
over the level plain to the valley of the River Hers, upon which is
built the exceedingly attractive little town of
MIREPOIX
It is disposed of with a few cold words in the ordinary guide-books, but
it is nevertheless a place of singular picturesqueness. There is an old
nucleus, surrounded by wide tree-bordered boulevards, and the hurrying
tourist sees none of the antiquity of the town if he does not penetrate
the central square. It is surrounded on all sides with arcaded houses
resting on heavy wooden pillars, with rows of curiously carved brackets
in between. There are pictures everywhere, for at one end of the square
is a medieval gateway, and on one side stands the Church of St. Maurice.
The interior of this building is a vast aisleless space, and the whole
of the walls and the modern roof are covered with painting. The building
dates almost entirely from early in the fifteenth century.
All the rest of the way to Carcassonne there are huge views north and
south, and there are only two small places to be mentioned. The first is
Fanjeaux, which stands out most picturesquely on the left side of the
road, with a pair of quaint windmills on the hill opposite. The church
dates from the thirteenth century, and is believed to have been built on
the site of a temple of Jupiter the present name coming from _Fanum
Jovis_. The little town standing out boldly against the sky at sunset is
an exceedingly fine sight, and the colour of the foregrounds of nearly
every picture the road presents is the burning gold of gorse.
Montréal stands on an isolated hill, and has a fourteenth-century
church, built upon a terrace commanding a vast view of the Pyrenees.
SECTION XV
CARCASSONNE TO MONTPELLIER,
94¼ MILES
(152 KILOMETRES)
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=Carcassonne= to Capendu =18= 11¼
=Capendu= to Lézignan =17= 10½
=Lézignan= to Narbonne =22= 13½
=Narbonne= to Coursan =7= 4½
=Coursan= to Béziers =18= 11¼
=Béziers= to Pézenas =22= 13½
=Pézenas= to Mèze =18= 11¼
[=Béziers= to Mèze by Agde =42= 26]
=Mèze= to Montpellier =30= 18½
NOTES FOR DRIVERS
Practically a level road as far as =Béziers=; after that hilly to
=Mèze=.
PLACES OF INTEREST ON THE ROUTE
=Carcassonne.=--A dual town: the ancient one, generally called La
Cité, is the most perfectly preserved medieval walled city in
France; fifty-four towers in the walls and castle; Cathedral of St.
Nazaire, twelfth to fourteenth century--a lovely building; one of
the bridges across the Aude medieval also. Modern town founded in
thirteenth century; churches of--(1) St. Michael, now the
cathedral, and (2) St. Vincent, fourteenth century.
=Barbaira.=--A village with ruined château.
=Moux.=--Is not interesting.
=Lézignan.=--A small commonplace town; church, fourteenth century.
=Narbonne.=--A large town, with great wine business; Roman remains in
museum; Cathedral of St. Just, an enormous unfinished building,
consisting of a thirteenth-century choir, a fragmentary nave,
chapter-house, and cloisters; Archbishop’s Palace, now the Hôtel de
Ville, has fourteenth-century towers; the museum is in the
Benedictine house of Lamourguier; churches of--(1) St. Paul-Serge,
(2) St. Sébastien.
=Coursan.=--A small town, with busy wine trade; bridge of fifteenth
century.
=Béziers.=--An important town; the centre of the wine trade of the
Midi; stands on raised plateau above the Orb; thirteenth-century
bridge; aqueduct of the Midi Canal, and churches of--(1) St.
Nazaire, (2) St. Jacques, (3) La Madelaine, (4) St. Aphrodise.
=Pézenas.=--A small town, with fifteenth-century gateway and several
old houses.
=Montagnac.=--A dreary little town in a pleasant, hilly country.
=Mèze.=--A town on the Etang-de-Thau; fourteenth-century church of no
interest.
=Gigean.=--An uninteresting village.
Carcassonne was for a long period a dual town, and even to-day, when the
original city is mainly an historical monument, it contains a
considerable
[Illustration: TOWN PLAN NO. 17.--CARCASSONNE.]
number of people within its ancient walls. A glance at the plan will
reveal the position and relative sizes of the two towns, and it need
scarcely be stated that the original city is the one standing on a
raised site east of the river. Because of the great antiquity of the
“Cité,” the large town beneath it is too often regarded as a mushroom
growth. It was, however, founded in the thirteenth century by the people
of the original Carcassonne,
[Illustration: THE PYRENEES IN SPRING.
Seen from a gorse-covered common near Pamiers.]
who, according to some writers, were condemned to leave the town by St.
Louis (IX.) for having supported Raymond Trencavel, the last Vicomte of
Carcassonne, in his unsuccessful efforts to regain the city which his
father had lost. The new town was called the Ville Basse, and its
position being more suited for commercial expansion than the feudal one,
it took a comparatively short time to outgrow the ancient Cité. Being
entirely separated from each other by the River Aude, the growth of the
new town did not mean the disappearance of the old, as at Tours and
Périgueux, and thus in the twentieth century it is possible to see a
practically perfect medieval city, completely encompassed by massive
tower-studded walls. Within them the beautiful Church of St. Nazaire,
the former cathedral, still stands; the castle also remains in complete
preservation, and probably a resurrected townsman of the thirteenth
century would find his way through the streets and along the defensive
walls without the smallest difficulty.
The story of the Cité is told in its walls, for the lower portion
belongs to the Roman occupation in the fourth century. Immediately above
comes the different work of the Visigoths, into whose sinewy hands the
place fell when the Gallo-Roman power had weakened. In 713 the
conquering Saracens took the place of the Visigoths, but Pepin-le-Bref,
the founder of the vast Frankish Empire over which his son Charlemagne
was to reign, drove out the Mohammedans in 759.
Great building activity took place in the eleventh and twelfth centuries
under the powerful dynasty of the Vicomtes Trencavel, which was only
terminated by Simon de Montfort (father of the leader of the English
barons), who, by treachery, was enabled to seize the young Vicomte,
Raymond Roger, during the fierce fighting in the Albigensian War.[I]
As already mentioned, the efforts of Raymond Roger’s son to recover
Carcassonne led to the founding of the new town, which outgrew the
ancient city, which has now become a source of revenue as an attraction
to visitors from all parts of the world.
The restoration of the Cité was carried out by Viollet-le-Duc with that
thoroughness which characterizes the archæological undertakings of the
French, and in the buildings-up and pullings-down
[Illustration: ON THE RAMPARTS OF THE CITÉ OF CARCASSONNE.
One of the most complete medieval towns in the world.]
one feels that more regard for the marks of time and less speculative
roof-making would have preserved the spirit of antiquity, which, it must
in candour be admitted, has been destroyed in the enthusiasm for
reconstruction. When this fact has been recognized and the first
disappointment has gone, the Cité becomes, as it cannot fail to do, one
of the most thrilling of medieval survivals. There is a continuous
double line of walls from 50 to 60 feet in height, made strikingly
picturesque with no less than forty-eight towers. Several of these are
the work of the Visigoth successors of Alaric, and merely to gaze upon
them for a few moments in making the circuit of the walls with the guide
gives one a more real and true impression of what the invasion of Gaul
really meant than one gets from reading the sketchy account of those
times which is all the smaller histories supply. Six more towers make
the three inner sides of the castle formidable. The Porte Narbonnaise,
on the east side of the Cité, was built by Philippe le Hardi, who
continued to strengthen the defences of Carcassonne until his death at
Perpignan in 1285.
The Church of St. Nazaire is a building of exceptional charm and beauty,
the choir and transepts being regarded as the most perfect example of
thirteenth-century work in the South of France. They were added during
the reign of St. Louis, to whose generosity the church was deeply
indebted. The Romanesque nave dates from about 1100, when an earlier one
was rebuilt. In the south aisle a most remarkable bas-relief is let into
the wall. The subject is the Siege of Toulouse in 1218, when Simon de
Montfort was killed. There are some exceedingly interesting effigies and
tombs of early bishops, and that of Simon Vigorce, Archbishop of
Narbonne, who died in 1575. The glass ranges from the thirteenth to the
sixteenth century, and some of it is very beautiful.
Good plans of the Cité are sold in the souvenir shop in the main street
leading from the Porte d’Aude, which faces the modern town. The old
bridge across the Aude is an interesting medieval survival, and makes a
good foreground to the first near view of the old city, with its many
towers and conical roofs cutting into the sky-line.
The streets of the later town are all narrow, and as they run at right
angles to one another, the American visitor must almost feel at home.
There are two churches which should not be overlooked. They are St.
Michael’s, now the cathedral, a thirteenth-century building, with a
painted nave, and St. Vincent’s, belonging to the fourteenth century,
with a west portal enriched with statuary.
THE ROAD TO NARBONNE
goes straight out of Carcassonne towards the east, crossing the Pont
Neuf. In fine weather this road is white and dusty, like all the roads
in the South of France, and motor-cars appear as clouds by day and fire
by night.
Looking back on the ancient Carcassonne, the medievalism of the place is
quite fantastic, and exactly what the early school of Italian artists
depicted as backgrounds to their pictures.
For many miles a ridge of arid hills runs parallel to the road on the
south, and the Cevennes appear in the distance to the north.
Barbaira has a ruined castle bearing the Visigoth name of Alaric.
Some of the hamlets have a strong resemblance to the rock villages of
Italy, and it is here that the silvery green foliage of the olive is
first noticed on the journey eastward. Soon after passing Moux the low
hills come close to the road, exposing layers of soft sand between
harder strata, and the soil changes in colour from a light buff to the
deepest orange.
Lézignan has a fourteenth-century church, but is not an interesting
town.
Passing through more arid hills, one reaches the historic cathedral city
of
NARBONNE
[Illustration: No. 16. CARCASSONNE TO MONTPELLIER.]
The continual silting-up of the Aude has converted the _Narbo_ of the
Phœnicians from one of the busiest ports of the Mediterranean into an
inland town, connected with the sea by a canal. The Romans, foreseeing
this danger, deflected part of the River Aude, and thus kept the seaway
to Narbonne open until 1320, when a dyke gave way, and the river
reverted to its earlier course, with the consequent rapid decline of the
town as a port.
[Illustration: THE ARCADED SQUARE OF MIREPOIX.
The pillars of timber have curiously carved gargoyles. (_Page 252._)]
It stands at the southern end of a plain which is a vast vineyard, and
produces great quantities of wine.
The martyr St. Sebastian, whose death took place in 288, was born at
Narbonne, and also the Roman Emperors Carus, Carinus, and Numerian.
Carved stones of the Roman period have been discovered in great
quantities in the city.
The Cathedral of St. Just was begun in 1272 on a most ambitious scale,
but the choir alone
[Illustration: TOWN PLAN NO. 18.--NARBONNE.]
came into being. Had the great undertaking been completed, Narbonne
would have possessed one of the vastest cathedrals in France. As it
stands to-day, the choir, with its two towers of the fifteenth
[Illustration: NARBONNE.
A picturesque town in Southern France.]
century, rises up above the roofs of the city, after the fashion of
Chartres. In the eighteenth century an effort was made to complete the
nave, but the unfinished masonry in front of the west end of the choir
is all that was accomplished. The swing-doors lead into what might be
called a ‘narthex,’ which is without windows, and the darkness is
profound until one has stumbled cautiously into one of the aisles. There
are fourteenth-century windows in the apse, and round the sanctuary are
some interesting tombs, including those of Cardinal Briçonnet, Prime
Minister under Charles VIII., and La Borde, President and General
Treasurer of France (1607).
Over the door to the sacristy there are magnificent tapestries of the
early Renaissance, and one should see the beautifully vaulted roof of
the fifteenth-century chapter-house.
The Archbishop’s Palace is a huge fortified building, joined to the
cathedral by a mutilated cloister. A portion of the palace has been
adapted as the Hôtel de Ville, the new work by Viollet-le-Duc being in
the style of the thirteenth century. The large turreted tower was built
in 1318, and the central one in 1375.
The museum is in the buildings of what was formerly the Benedictine
Convent of Lamourguier (thirteenth, fourteenth, and eighteenth
centuries). On the same side of the canal--that is, on the opposite side
to the cathedral--is the interesting Church of _St. Paul-Serge_, with a
Romanesque nave, and a choir in the ogee style of Gothic, built early in
the thirteenth century.
North of the cathedral is _St. Sébastien_, a church with fine
fifteenth-century vaulting.
‘At Narbonne have been found “monumental stones” with small caps
carved upon them. When a Roman left in his will that certain of his
slaves should be liberated, a cap was carved upon their tombs, and
so it has become “the cap of liberty,” the symbol of a freedom
greater than the freest Roman ever dreamt of.’ (Mona Caird.)
From Narbonne to Béziers the road crosses the flat alluvial ground to
the little wine town of Coursan, on the Aude, which has a
fifteenth-century bridge. The rest of the way is through a slightly
undulating country, with scarcely more than a village on the road.
BÉZIERS
is one of the busiest centres of the great wine industry of the Midi,
and has been famous for its wines from Roman times until now. It was the
scene of considerable excitement and rioting during
[Illustration: TOWN PLAN NO. 19.--BÉZIERS.]
the crisis in the trade depression of two or three years ago. The site
is a raised plateau, with steep ascents from the River Orb, and during
the feudal period it was a place of great strength, first under its own
lords, and then under the Viscounts of Carcassonne. In the latter period
the town was besieged by Simon de Montfort, and was taken in July, 1209,
a large proportion of the inhabitants being massacred, the lowest
figures of those who perished being given as 20,000. Although Béziers
has a healthy site and a wide, tree-shaded promenade named after
Pierre-Paul Riquet, who was born in the town in 1604, and was the
creator of the Canal du Midi, between Toulouse and Cette, yet the
streets as a whole are narrow, and the atmosphere one breathes in
passing through them is generally very unwholesome.
There is a thirteenth-century bridge of seventeen arches, which should
be seen, and four churches, of which St. Nazaire, formerly the
cathedral, is the most important. It was burnt in the siege of 1209, so
that there are only slight remains of the early building. The transepts
belong to the thirteenth century, and the choir, apse, and nave to the
next. The façade has a fine rose-window, and in the choir the
fourteenth-century windows are protected externally by wrought-iron
grilles. The cloister, also of the fourteenth century, is a beautiful
piece of work.
The other churches are--(1) St. Jacques, with a beautiful
twelfth-century apse: (2) La Madelaine, where many of the townsfolk were
killed in 1209, is a Romanesque building, altered and restored in the
eighteenth century; (3) St. Aphrodise belongs to the twelfth and
fifteenth centuries, and has a Romanesque crypt. The font at the west
end is an early sarcophagus of marble, with a bas-relief, showing two
infuriated beasts in combat.
The Canal du Midi crosses the Orb at Béziers on a big aqueduct, and
considering that it was built as long ago as 1668, it should be looked
upon with the deepest respect. Arthur Young, who was inclined to run
down most of the things he saw in the South of France, grew enthusiastic
over the Canal du Midi. ‘The Canal of Languedoc,’ he says, ‘is the
capital feature of all this country.... Nine sluice-gates let the water
down the hill to join the river at the town--a noble work! The port is
broad enough for four large vessels to lie abreast.... This is the best
sight I have seen in France.’
A fairly hilly country is passed through between Béziers and Pézenas,
but there are no bad gradients on the road.
PÉZENAS
stands in a narrow plain, of such great fertility, owing to the volcanic
properties of the soil, that it is called the Garden of Hérault. It was
a Roman colony, and Pliny mentions the excellence of its woollen stuffs.
A bust of Molière reminds the passer-by that the famous playwright
represented his first works in the town during the winter of 1656, and
that it was here that he wrote ‘Les Précieuses Ridicules.’
A fifteenth-century gateway survives in the town, and there are some
interesting houses of the same and the following centuries.
Leaving Pézenas, one crosses the railway twice, and then goes to the
right for Montagnac, crossing the River Hérault.
Montagnac is a sad-looking town, with gloomy and dirty stuccoed houses;
and one is glad to leave it behind, as one goes through the sunny hills
towards Mèze, having, as one approaches that town, a great panoramic
view over the land-locked Etang-de-Thau, with the Mediterranean showing
beyond Cette. It is in this neighbourhood that one begins to notice the
swords of the cactus, and the olive is seldom absent from the views.
Aleppo pines grow picturesquely here and there, and a solitary cypress
appears now and then.
It is hardly worth while to linger at Mèze, as there is little to see,
and there are many places farther east where the time would be valuable.
There is a pleasant run by the side of the sparkling blue waters of the
Etang, followed by a rather uninteresting stretch of country to
Montpellier, which is entered through a fine avenue of sycamores.
SECTION XVI
MONTPELLIER TO AIX-EN-PROVENCE,
98½ MILES
(158 KILOMETRES)
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=Montpellier= to Lunel =22= 13½
[=Lunel= to Aigues-Mortes and back =32= 20]
=Lunel= to Nîmes =24= 15
[=Nîmes= to Pont-du-Gard and back =44= 27¼]
[=Nîmes= to Beaucaire and Tarascon-sur-Rhone =24= 15]
[=Tarascon-sur-Rhone= to Avignon =23= 14¼]
By going north from Nîmes to Avignon, and omitting the Riviera, the
tour can be shortened by five or six days.
[=Nîmes= to Avignon =42= 26]
=Nîmes= to St. Gilles =19= 11¾
=St. Gilles= to Arles =18= 11¼
=Arles= to Salon =40= 25
=Salon= to St. Cannat =18= 11¼
=St. Cannat= to Aix-en-Provence =17= 10¾
NOTES FOR DRIVERS
=Montpellier to Nîmes.=--Level, and nearly every road across the
delta of the Rhone is quite flat.
[Illustration: THE CASTLE AT TARASCON.
On the Rhone.]
=Pélissanne to Aix-en-Provence.=--An undulating road, with a long run
down into Aix-en-Provence.
PLACES OF INTEREST ON THE ROUTE
=Montpellier.=--A cheerful and prosperous city; new streets and wide
boulevards--(1) Historic School of Medicine in former Episcopal
Palace; (2) Musée Fabre contains very fine collection of pictures;
(3) Cathedral dates from 1364, choir and other parts 1857; (4) Tour
des Pins; (5) Porte du Peyrou, seventeenth century.
=Lunel.=--Small town, with a partially Romanesque church.
=Aigues-Mortes.=--In the Carmargue. A very remarkable medieval walled
city, founded by St. Louis (IX.); fortifications built by
Philippe-le-Hardi in thirteenth century.
=Nîmes.=--Has some of the finest Roman remains in France--(1)
Amphitheatre; (2) Maison Carrée; (3) Porte d’Auguste; (4) Porte de
France; (5) Roman baths and the Tour Magne; (6) Cathedral of St.
Castor (eleventh century); (7) Pont-du-Gard, 14 miles north.
=St. Gilles.=--In the Carmargue. A decayed port, with a remarkable
Romanesque church.
=Arles.=--A large town, with a history going back to the Greek
occupation of the ports of Southern France--(1) Roman amphitheatre;
(2) Greek theatre; (3) remains of Roman Forum; (4) Roman tower of
La Trouille; (5) Museum in Church of St. Anne; (6) Cathedral of St.
Trophime, with cloisters; (7) Avenue des Alyscamps, with stone
sarcophagi; (8) and (9) Churches of St. Antoine and St. Honorat.
=Salon.=--A small town on the edge of the Crau; Churches of St.
Michel (thirteenth century) and St. Laurent (fourteenth century);
also château of same date as the latter.
=Pélissanne.=--A small town, with a church and clock-tower, both of
the sixteenth century; also ruins of a château of the twelfth and
fifteenth centuries.
=St. Cannat.=--See Section XIX.
Montpellier does not boast many antiquities, but it has some spacious
promenades and boulevards which give a dignity and charm to the city.
Hare, writing before some of the more modern streets had assumed their
present appearance, says:
‘No words can express the dulness of the place, or the savage
ferocity of the mistral which blows there; as a winter resort it
possesses no advantages whatever.’
The place became prosperous in the thirteenth century with the founding
of the School of Medicine, which is famous to this day. It is housed in
the buildings of the Episcopal Palace, and its frontage is still
machicolated.
The Musée Fabre in the Esplanade contains the best provincial collection
of pictures in France next to Lille. _It is open on week-days--except
Mondays--from 9 to 12, and 1.30 to 4 or 5; Sundays, 11 to 4 or 5._
The Cathedral, with a very odd-looking porch, is the church of a
Benedictine abbey founded in 1364. Three of the original towers at the
angles of the nave survive; the fourth and the Gothic choir were
rebuilt about 1857.
[Illustration: TOWN PLAN NO. 20.--MONTPELLIER.]
The Tour des Pins is a survival of the early fortifications of the town,
now restored. The inscription is to the memory of Jayme, the conqueror
of Arragon.
The Jardin des Plantes, founded in 1593 by Henry IV., is the earliest in
France.
A triumphal arch, called the Porte du Peyrou, was put up at the end of
the seventeenth century to the glory of Louis XIV. The Promenade de
Peyrou, begun about the same time and completed in 1785, has a statue of
the same Louis, and a great prospect towards the sea and the Cevennes
across the level country bordering the mouth of the Rhone.
The impression one gets of Montpellier in a short visit is that of a
city mainly composed of buildings that are all of a uniformly
creamy-white colour, and that the only other colour besides the dusty
green of the foliage is the bright red of the soldiers’ uniforms and the
gaudy colour of advertisements.
THE ROAD TO NÎMES
Keeping to the edge of the plain, the road goes eastwards to Lunel,
which stands in the great vine-growing plain. In the Place de la Liberté
one may see a small facsimile of the New York statue of Liberty by
Bartholdi. The church is Romanesque in part.
From Lunel a détour of a most profitable character may be made to
Aigues-Mortes (meaning ‘stagnant waters’), one of the dead ports of that
blighted land called the Carmargue. The road passes through
Marsillargues and St. Laurent-l’Aigouze, and for the last three
kilometres runs parallel with the Beaucaire Canal, which has to some
extent reanimated the ancient walled town from which St. Louis embarked
for the Holy Land in 1248 and 1270. The lofty walls and square towers,
without any machicolation to relieve their grim strength, were built by
Philippe-le-Hardi, and are said to have been copied from Ascalon, in
Syria, even as the Château Gaillard was based on the experience Richard
I. gained in the Holy Land. It was the Crusades that seem to have
brought the town into being, and, like everything connected with those
unsuccessful efforts to roll back the Mohammedan power, Aigues-Mortes,
being surrounded by fever-producing swamps, was doomed to failure from
the first day St. Louis founded it. But the constant depletion of the
population in the past--at the rate, it is said, of five or six a day in
the spring out of a population of 1,500--has given the modern antiquary
a walled medieval town only comparable to Carcassonne and Avignon, and
in some respects of greater interest than either.
[Illustration: No. 17. MONTPELLIER TO AIX-EN-PROVENCE.]
From Lunel to Nîmes the country is a vast vineyard, with here and there
an Aleppo or an umbrella pine or a few olives.
NÎMES
To the tourist who has never seen Roman remains outside a museum, or has
only looked dully at a few foundations of Roman walls _in situ_, Nîmes
brings the reality of Rome’s power before his eyes with such
overwhelming vividness that he begins to forget the remoteness of the
civilization which raised these enduring monuments. That the vast
amphitheatre, the perfect temple to Caius and Lucius Cæsar, the gateway
called the Porte d’Auguste, the complete aqueduct known as the
Pont-du-Gard, and the Roman tower, 90 feet high, called the =Tour Magne=,
date from the early years of the Christian era, or even before the birth
of Christ, seems at first easy to grasp. But these structures stand so
imposingly among the buildings of 2,000 years later which have grown up
around them that there comes in time a feeling almost of incredulity.
Perhaps some clever French architects have done most of the building,
one thinks; but a glance at the stonework of any of these great works
shows that the restoration that has taken place has been of a trifling
character, the main work in the case of the arena having been the
clearing away of the later accretions which were hiding the Roman
fabric.
It was in 121 B.C. that the capital of a Gaulish tribe became the
_Nemausus_ of the Romans. For over five centuries it remained a Roman
city of the greatest importance, a period equal to England’s history
from the crude times of Richard II. to the present year. So much did the
Romans appreciate their new colonies in Provincia (now Provence) that
they even considered the transference of the capital of the Empire to
the banks of the Rhone. One need not wonder, therefore, at the
magnificence and the permanent character of the buildings they erected.
At Orange, at St. Rémy, and at Arles the survivals are equally
forceful, and the most ill-informed who gaze upon them go away with an
impression of Roman power so vivid that they cannot ever again regard
archæology as a musty science.
[Illustration: TOWN PLAN NO. 21.--NÎMES.]
In its modern aspect Nîmes is a thriving city with a busy trade in wine
and silk. The main streets are wide and cheerful, with trees which are a
boon during the hot time of the year.
The chief features of the town are:
1. The Roman Amphitheatre.--It is smaller than those of Arles,
Capua, Verona, and Rome, but is the best preserved in the whole
world. It was built in the first century, and the enormous stones
are so perfectly cut that, although laid without cement, they have
not been disturbed throughout the 1,800 years of change that have
passed since the building of the arena. The seats allowed about
22,000 people to watch the gladiatorial and other contests that
took place. The arrangements for flooding the arena for aquatic
displays are said by some authorities to be discoverable. At the
present time bull-fights take place in the arena on Sundays from
April onwards throughout the summer, and the less dangerous
_Courses Libres_, when anyone can attempt to obtain a rosette from
the bull’s head, are frequently given.
2. The Maison Carrée is a Roman temple, built between A.D. 1 and
14, and dedicated to Caius and Lucius Cæsar, adopted sons of the
Emperor Augustus. It is the best-preserved Roman temple in the
world, and after having been used as a church, a municipal hall,
and a stable, it is now well restored, and contains a very fine
collection of Roman remains.
3. The Porte d’Auguste bears an inscription stating that it was
built in 16. B.C. It was a gateway of the Roman line of
fortifications which surrounded the city.
4. The Porte de France, another Roman gateway, of much more simple
character, stands at the end of the Rue de France.
5. The Roman Baths and thermæ in the _Jardin de la Fontaine_, on
the north side of the town, with, above them, the Tour Magne, a
Roman tower, 90 feet in height, which formed a part of the
defences of the city, and was utilized as a watch-tower in the
Middle Ages.
6. The Cathedral of St. Castor, dating from about the eleventh
century, has been reconstructed and restored so much that the
western façade is the chief survival of the original church. Its
richly carved frieze, showing scenes from the Book of Genesis, is
of great interest.
7. The Pont-du-Gard (about fourteen miles north from Nîmes, near
the town of Ramoulins) is one of the most imposing Roman works in
the world. It is part of the aqueduct, twenty-five miles long,
which brought water to Nîmes, and is still practically perfect
to-day. It was built in 19 B.C., in the time of Agrippa; some
repairs were made in 1702, and again in 1855. From the steep sides
of the river one can easily reach the top of the aqueduct, and walk
the whole length of the waterway or on the slabs of stone which
cover it in for a considerable distance. Looking down over the
orange-coloured stone of the superimposed arches, one sees the
myrtle-green waters of the River Gardon rushing between grey rocks
156 feet below.
Remains of the reservoir to which the water was led still survive
in Nîmes.
THE ROAD TO ARLES
From Nîmes the road is practically level all the way to Arles, whether
one goes by St. Gilles or direct through Bellegarde.
ST. GILLES
The St. Gilles route is only seven kilometres longer, and the slightly
increased distance will not be regretted when the remarkable church has
been seen. It was planned on a vast scale, and, if carried out, would
have been one of the finest Byzantine churches in France; but for some
reasons, perhaps connected with the decline of St. Gilles as a port
owing to the constant silting up of the Rhone delta, or possibly owing
to war or pestilence or a weakening of religious enthusiasm, the great
structure was never finished, and a smaller church in the Gothic style
is all that came to completion. It embodies, however, the splendid
western façade of the earlier scheme, and the details of its columns,
its mutilated statues and carved enrichments, are finer even than those
of St. Trophime at Arles. The abbot of the monastery, which had been
founded by St. Egidius in the sixth century, administered justice seated
between the grotesque lions of the portal, and the charters often began
with, ‘_Sedente inter leones_.’ The crypt, the tomb of St. Gilles and
his altar, the twelfth-century sacristy, and the _Vis de S. Gilles_, a
remarkably fine newel staircase, should all be seen. There is also a
restored Romanesque house in the town of St. Gilles.[J]
It should be remembered that historical and geological evidence prove
that the flat marshy country called the Carmargue was in Roman times a
beautiful district of rivers, tree-grown islands, and extensive seaways.
No doubt there were marshes at the mouth of the Rhone then, but that
mouth was a long way north of the present outlet, and the area must have
been comparatively small before some of the large inlets were silted up
and became fever-breeding swamps. Everywhere one goes in the Carmargue,
from Arles to Aigues-Mortes, St. Gilles or Les Saintes-Maries, the same
tale is told of prosperous ports becoming land-locked and
fever-stricken. To-day the flat treeless land is cultivated where the
swamps have dried up, but it is a sad desert even under a cloudless sky.
In the summer there is dust everywhere, and in the winter the ground has
a tendency to become a morass.
ARLES
is entered from the west side through the old suburb of Trinquetaille,
the business quarter of the Roman city, and the Rhone is then crossed on
a semi-suspension bridge of lattice girders, on which, when the mistral
blows, it is scarcely possible to keep one’s feet. It is on the east
side of the river--the official and patrician quarter--that the
thrilling relics of Greek and Roman Arles survive.
In the importance of these ancient monuments Arles is a close rival to
Nîmes, and in some ways Arles is pre-eminent.
The origin of the name is generally considered
[Illustration: TOWN PLAN NO. 22.--ARLES.]
to be the Celtic ‘Ar-lath,’ meaning a wet place, and its position at the
mouth of the Rhone, with the island which is now the corner of the
Carmargue opposite, was so advantageous to traders that, long before the
Romans conquered Provence, earlier even than the founding of Marseilles
by the Greeks from Phocæa, there was a busy commercial town at Arles,
well known to the Phœnician traders of the Mediterranean. When the
Romans found it necessary to conquer Provence they found a Greek city at
Arles, and the ruins of the beautiful theatre, built before the Roman
occupation was a reality, impress on the mind the change which took
place, for within a few paces of the theatre there stands the
amphitheatre--the time-defying evidence of the power of Rome. The
amphitheatres and most of the other Roman remains in Provence are due to
the Imperial policy of ‘panem et circenses,’ and what the huge arenas
really meant is vividly brought to mind by Mr. Theodore Cook.
‘For four centuries,’ he writes, ‘the world was ransacked “to make
a Roman holiday.” Whole populations taken prisoner were butchered
for the delectation of society. Whole nations were ground down with
taxes to provide extravagantly gorgeous details for the spectacle.
Whole tracts of country were laid waste to supply the animals that
furnished jaded epicures with novel forms of death or fiercer
appetite for carnage. Unequal combats were not enough. Defenceless
families were cast to the lions to be publicly devoured on the
excuse of having professed a religion that was considered
politically dangerous.
‘It is difficult to believe all this even among the sinister
shadows of the Coliseum. At Arles it seems impossible. Yet the
fashions of Rome were the fashions of the provinces--the difference
was in quantities alone; and there was not a fragment of that huge
building where the public circulated which was not given up to the
gratification of their passions--sometimes the vilest.’
The beauty of the women of Arles astonishes the stranger even when he is
prepared by the statement of the fact in all guide-books. The classic
features of their Greek ancestry are constantly reproduced to-day,
although in the men the intermingling of Roman, Saracen, and Frank has
destroyed all resemblance to the Hellenic type. In a book of this
character one is compelled to summarize where expansion is so inviting,
and the reader is advised to study Mr. Cook’s two volumes entitled ‘Old
Provence’ if he wishes to know more of the story of the region which
teems with evidence of the Roman occupation.
The historic monuments of Arles are therefore briefly tabulated below:
1. The Roman Amphitheatre, begun, it is said, about 46 B.C., and
capable of holding an audience of about 30,000.
2. The Greek Theatre, of which two beautiful columns of the
proscenium, the bases of two others, and the semicircular tiers of
seats, remain. It was built before the Christian era, and prior to
the Roman occupation of the city. The lovely Venus of Arles, now in
the Louvre at Paris, was dug up among the ruins of this theatre.
3. The Remains of the Roman Forum, commenced by Constantine II.,
embedded in the walls of an hotel in the Place du Forum.
[Illustration: THE GREEK THEATRE AT ARLES.
The two pillars formed part of the proscenium, and in the Middle Ages
were used as a gibbet.]
4. The Roman Tower of La Trouille (near the Musée Réattu--a small
picture-gallery) is all that remains of the magnificent palace
built by the Emperor Constantine between 306 and 330 A.D.
5. The Archæological Museum in the Church of St. Anne contains a
magnificent Roman collection, including carved sarcophagi, altars,
statues, and inscriptions.
6. The Cathedral of St. Trophime is opposite the museum. The
Romanesque façade, dating from 1221, is a beautiful piece of
architecture, enriched with statues and a bold arch supported by
columns. The cloisters are intensely interesting, having been built
in different periods--north and east sides Romanesque of the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries, west about 1380, and south about
1505.
7. The Avenue des Alyscamps is the Roman cemetery of the city, just
without the ramparts, put up during the reign of the Emperor
Constantine. On either side of the avenue there are altogether 153
stone sarcophagi, the 33 large ones having retained their lids. The
Alyscamps, when consecrated as a Christian burial-place, became so
famous that bodies were brought great distances in order that they
might enjoy the privileges supposed to be the lot of those who were
buried there.
8. Church of St. Antoine, an interesting Gothic building.
9. Church of St. Honorat, partially eleventh century.
THE ROAD TO AIX-EN-PROVENCE
leaves Arles from the Avenue Victor Hugo, and after winding a little for
about twelve kilometres, with trees interfering with the view, goes due
east in a straight line across the open plain called La Crau
(pronounced ‘Crow’). It is a strange level waste of round stones, very
uniform in size, which the torrents of innumerable ages have brought
down from the Alps. The early peoples of Provence were mightily
impressed with these monstrous pebbles, and Strabo has preserved the
legend that Zeus rained them down on the earth to scatter the Ligurian
tribesmen who often attacked the adventurous Phœnician traders and
colonizers. The heat of the sun on the mass of stones, which has a depth
averaging from 30 to 45 feet, produces the phenomenon of the mirage, and
the conditions of wind and temperature are always inclined to be
different to less exposed places. A clear sunrise over the mountains
north-east of the Crau is a memorable sight. The desert of stones,
broken here and there with lines of cypresses, is full of a strange
shadowiness under the crimson-streaked sky as the eastern light grows in
intensity, and one half expects to see a caravan of camels and the
burnous of Arabia in place of the country cart of the French peasant.
The curiously isolated ridge called Les Alpines is prominent to the
north wherever one goes between Nîmes and Salon.
Salon is a cheerful town at the very edge of the Crau. The main street
has a bright and almost Parisian touch, with its numerous cafés having
their tables under the shade of old plane-trees. There is a
fourteenth-century château, and in the Church of St. Laurent, a Gothic
building of the same period, is the tomb of Michel de Notre Dame,
Catherine de Medici’s favourite astrologer. Another church is dedicated
to St. Michael, and is a century earlier.
At the fork just beyond Salon the turning to the right is taken to
Pélissanne, a village with tall cream-washed houses. In the centre one
goes to the right and immediately afterwards to the left. Beyond this
the road runs through pine-covered hills to St. Cannat, and finally
through open country down a long descent into Aix-en-Provence.
SECTION XVII
AIX-EN-PROVENCE TO CANNES, 100 MILES
(160 KILOMETRES)
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=Aix-en-Provence= to St. Maximin =36= 22½
=St. Maximin= to Brignoles =19= 11¾
=Brignoles= to Le Luc =24= 15
=Le Luc= to Le Muy =23= 14¼
=Le Muy= to Fréjus =16= 10
=Fréjus= to St. Raphaël } By the { =3= 1¾
=St. Raphaël= to Agay } Corniche { =8= 5
=Agay= to Théoule } d’Or, { =20= 12½
=Théoule= to Cannes } 26¼ miles. { =11= 7
[=Fréjus= to Cannes through the Estérels =36= 22½]
NOTES FOR DRIVERS
=Brignoles to Le Luc.=--Fairly hilly; elsewhere the journey from Aix
to St. Raphaël is practically level.
=St. Raphaël to La Napoule= (beyond Théoule)--[10 miles an hour
recommended].--This road was only finished in 1903. It is called
the Corniche d’Or (or d’Estérel), and follows the ragged coast-line
in and out of the beautiful bays. There is no protection on the
seaward side, and a collision between automobiles means that the
outside car will probably fall crashing into the sea immediately
below. =Drivers are therefore warned to go very slowly and with the
greatest care, especially at corners=, where one sometimes passes a
car being driven at a recklessly fast pace, allowing all too little
room for any vehicle being passed. The exquisite beauty of the
scenery makes a crawling pace welcome, and those who drive faster
than 10 miles an hour deserve whatever disaster may befall them.
PLACES OF INTEREST ON THE ROUTE
=Aix-en-Provence.=--A large town--the _Aquæ Sextiæ_ of the
Romans--formerly the capital of Provence: (1) Cathedral of St.
Sauveur, Romanesque, chancel 1285, west doors richly carved,
baptistery with Roman columns, and Romanesque cloister; (2)
Archbishop’s Palace; (3) Hôtel de Ville, containing large and
interesting library; (4) hot springs; (5) in the garden of thermal
establishment slight remains of Roman baths; (6) Tour de
Tourreluco, a survival of the medieval walls; (7) Church of St.
Jean de Malte, thirteenth century.
=Mont Ste. Victoire and Pourrières.=--The precipitous ridge looks
down on the battlefield of Pourrières, where Marius, with his Roman
legions and auxiliaries, wiped out the two northern tribes of the
Ambrones and the Teutones.
=St. Maximin.=--A small town, with a beautiful Gothic church
(thirteenth to fifteenth centuries), early crypt, and beautiful
altars.
=Tourves.=--Village with a large ruined castle.
=Brignoles.=--A small town, famous for its dried plums, but otherwise
without great interest.
=Flassans.=--A roadside village, with an old deserted one on the hill
adjoining.
=Le Luc and Le Muy.=--Pleasant little roadside towns.
=Fréjus.=--The Roman _Forum Julii_. The Roman remains consist of--(1)
The amphitheatre; (2) the walls, with three gateways; (3) the
aqueduct; (4) the remains of the harbour; (5) the baths; (6) the
theatre; (7) the two citadels. The cathedral is an interesting
Romanesque building, with fine choir-stalls, cloisters, and a
baptistery containing eight Roman columns.
=St. Raphaël.=--A small village, with a new quarter on the shore,
with large hotels lately added.
=The Corniche d’Or.=--The new road along the coast of the Estérels,
recently built by the Touring Club de France; lovely scenery all
the way.
=Théoule.=--A small resort on the Corniche d’Or, with hotels and
villas.
=La Napoule.=--A small place on the flat plain west of Cannes, where
the well-known golf-links are situated.
Although Aix has retained no structures of the Roman period, it was the
oldest of the colonies, having been founded by the Consul Sextius
Calvinus, about 120 B.C., at the hot springs still in existence. The
place was therefore called _Aquæ Sextiæ_, after the discoverer of the
thermal waters, and is now contracted into Aix. The threatened invasion
of Italy by the Teutones and Ambrones was utterly defeated by Marius, a
few miles east of the city, in 102 B.C.; but Aix at the fall of Rome
fell a prey to the barbarians of the north, recovering slowly, and
eventually becoming the capital of Provence. Under the good King Réné of
Anjou, who died in 1480, Aix was exceedingly prosperous. His statue by
David can be seen in the Cours Mirabeau.
[Illustration: TOWN PLAN NO. 23.--AIX-EN-PROVENCE.]
The Cathedral of St. Sauveur dates from Romanesque times, with a chancel
built in 1285. The tower and façade are fifteenth century--a little
earlier than the highly enriched portal, with its lovely doors
ornamented with sixteen figures in niches, which dates from 1503.
In the baptistery are eight monolithic columns--probably from the Temple
of Apollo, that stood on the same spot--sculptured panels by Puget, and
two triptychs, on one of which King Réné is depicted on his knees.
The Romanesque cloister, with richly carved capitals, and the great
Renaissance doorway of the Archbishop’s Palace should be seen.
The Hôtel de Ville, containing a big library, to which the public is
admitted, _except on Sundays and Mondays, and between August 15 and
October 15_, was built in 1640, and much altered in 1760; but the
clock-tower adjoining goes back to 1512.
One relic of the medieval fortifications of Aix exists in the Tour de
Tourreluco. It stands in the garden of the thermal establishment, where
one can also see the slight remains of the Roman baths.
The Church of La Madeleine was built in 1703 with a later façade, and
St. Jean de Malle was founded in the thirteenth century for the Order of
the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. It contains on the left side of
the altar the tomb of
[Illustration: THE ROMANESQUE BRIDGE OF ST. BÉNÉZET AT AVIGNON.
Only four arches and the chapel survive. (_Page 335._)]
Raymond, Count of Provence, with statues and recumbent figures.
THE ROAD TO FRÉJUS
goes out eastwards, and, after a few miles, passes through a rocky
ravine before coming out into the long valley of the River Arc, bounded
on the north by the gaunt grey precipices of Mont Ste. Victoire. It was
into this valley that Marius with his legions drove the undisciplined
invaders in 102 B.C., and near Pourrières he outflanked and defeated
them. The slaughter was so enormous that the two great tribes of the
Teutones and Ambrones, with their women and children, were practically
annihilated, and the river ran red with their life-blood. Just after
crossing the Arc, on the north side of the road, are the slight ruins of
the monument put up by the Romans to celebrate the great victory
achieved by the brilliant strategy of Marius, who thus saved Rome from
premature extinction.
Soon after passing Pourrières, a compact village north of the road, with
roofs and walls of the same dark orange-red as the soil of the
vineyards, there is spread out in front a splendid mountain view, with
snow-capped peaks standing out against the blue of the distant sky.
[Illustration: No. 18. AIX-EN-PROVENCE TO CANNES.]
St. Maximin is a very small town with a lovely Gothic church, which
should by no means be ignored. It dates from the thirteenth to the
fifteenth century, and stands over an early crypt containing Early
Christian sarcophagi. This is kept locked, but the sacristan has the
key. The altar at the east end of the north aisle is dated 1526, with
the name ‘Jacques Baurmes, Chamberlain to the King,’ who gave it to the
church. In one of the paintings Christ is being scourged on the
Piazzetta at Venice! The choir-stalls of the seventeenth century are
richly carved, the whole interior is clean and light, and the lofty
arches are exceptionally beautiful.
The way out of St. Maximin is a zigzag to the right, and at the fork
just outside one turns to the left, neither going under the railway-arch
nor up to the station, which one can see on the left a little farther
on.
The village of Tourves has an obelisk by the fine ruined Château de
Valbelle, on a ridge to the left. On the steep hillsides one sees miles
of terraces, where vineyards have been patiently extracted from the
formerly arid slopes.
Brignoles is a small town, with a long, narrow street, and the hotel is
often a convenient resting-place for _déjeuner_. The dried plums of
Brignoles have long been famous. They were eaten by the Duc de Guise,
it will be remembered, just before his assassination (p. 98). A
twelfth-century house, with windows divided by columns, and the
Sous-Préfecture, which was formerly the winter palace of the Counts of
Provence, sacked by Charles V., are the only antiquities of the town.
Flassans is a comparatively new village on the road, with an abandoned
one, now roofless and with broken walls, on the hill to the left. A
conspicuous wooden cross and a little chapel by the ruined houses seem
to suggest that something had to be done to keep restless spirits under
proper control.
Le Luc has a narrow, shady street, with large plane-trees by a fountain,
where there are often picturesque groups fetching water.
The Maure Mountains lie to the south, covered with pine, or showing
crags of grey and orange rock. The coast-road from Fréjus to Hyères,
round the bays of these mountains, is an exquisitely beautiful one, and
those who have time should include this in their tour when staying at
St. Raphaël or Valescure.
Passing through Le Muy in a serpentine fashion, with a very sharp and
narrow turning, the road comes out into the flat alluvial plain of the
River Argens, with the pine-clad Estérels on the left as one runs into
FRÉJUS
This is a place of vanished glories, having the atmosphere of ancient
importance inseparable from ports abandoned by the sea, which was their
life-blood.
Fréjus was the last harbour on the great Roman road from Rome to
Provence--_the Via Aurelia_--which at this point turned inland to Aix.
Its importance was therefore seen by Julius Cæsar, who built the town
called after him _Forum Julii_, and now contracted into Fréjus. By the
remains to be seen to-day the work appears to have been done hurriedly,
for strength rather than beauty, but the interest of the place is
scarcely diminished in the knowledge of this probability.
The first most imposing survival is the Amphitheatre. It stands outside
the town, and a by-road passes through its longest axis. There is no
fencing, nor, indeed, any restriction to the public from climbing the
broken tiers of seats; nor has there been any attempt at restoration to
the broken arches or the grass-grown arena. On the eastern side of the
little town, where the harbour was situated, is a small tower with a
conical top, called La Lanterne. This was the Roman harbour-master’s
office, and not a lighthouse. The remains of the aqueduct are imposing
detached masses of ivy-mantled stonework, ranging like great sentinels
across cornfields and meadows to the hills to the north, from whence a
pure supply of water was obtained. There are also remains of the walls
of the Roman town; of three of the gateways, including the Porta Romana,
which is the best; of the two citadels; the baths; and the theatre.
Modern Fréjus has some picturesque doorways and old houses spoilt with
stucco. The Romanesque Cathedral has beautiful cloisters, much in need
of restoration, and a baptistery with eight monolithic granite pillars
from a Roman temple.
ST. RAPHAËL
stands on the opposite side of the alluvial plain, and being on the sea,
has lately blossomed into a Riviera resort, with modern hotels, a huge
domed church, and new streets of shops and stuccoed houses. It is a
dusty and windy place compared to Valescure, a little way inland, on
high ground, among the pines of the Estérel slopes.
Napoleon embarked from St. Raphaël for Elba after his abdication in
1814. The British warship _Undaunted_ received the ex-Emperor on board
on April 28. He had come through many hostile crowds on his journey from
Fontainebleau, and so great was the danger to his life that he consented
to disguise himself in the uniform of an Austrian officer.
THE CORNICHE D’OR
is a most beautiful road, recently built by the Touring Club de France,
along the high rocky coast of the Estérels. Its dangers for motorists
have been described at the beginning of this section, but in case that
warning may have been overlooked, the need of driving slowly and
cautiously is again emphasized.
After the somewhat arid scenery of the delta of the Rhone and of the
country about Aix and Brignoles, the first few miles of the Riviera are
an exquisite pleasure to the eye. The road at first winds between
gardens, whose trees cast long patches of shade, and the air is
deliciously scented with lemons and other plants; then one comes out by
the breaking waves, and looks across little bays, ‘the peacock’s neck in
hue.’ Dark masses of firs clothe the red of the porphyry cliffs, and
each turn of the road brings some fresh combination of rock and wave and
tree-clothed valley.
Agay is a tiny place on one of these lovely bays, and as there is a
choice of hotels, it is a delightful spot for a halt for the night if
one does not mind the periodic roar of the P.L.M. expresses. Beyond
Théoule comes the first great view of the French Riviera. On a clear
morning of typical spring sunshine the great sweep of the blue bay of
Cannes, with its bold mountain background and green villa-dotted shores,
is one of exquisite loveliness. It appears with a foreground of the
strong, hot colour of swarthy rocks, deep green foliage, and perhaps the
brilliance of lemons and oranges, or a bank of glowing flowers,
emphasizing the delicate charm of the distance.
The road gradually drops down to the sea-level at La Napoule, where the
famous golf-links of Cannes are situated. A short run along the
villa-bordered main road brings one to the great resort founded by an
English statesman--Henry, Lord Brougham and Vaux.
[Illustration: ON THE COAST OF THE ESTERELS.
A typical stretch of the rocky shore between Cannes and St. Raphaël.]
SECTION XVIII
CANNES TO SAN REMO, 53¾ MILES
(89 KILOMETRES)
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=Cannes= to Antibes =10= 6¼
=Antibes= to Nice =20= 12¼
=Nice= to Villefranche =6= 3¾
=Villefranche= to Monaco =14= 8¾
=Monaco= to Mentone =12= 7½
[=Nice= to Mentone by the Upper Corniche =31= 19¼]
This upper road can be taken on the return journey.
=Mentone= to Ventimiglia =11= 7
=Ventimiglia= to Bordighera =5= 3¼
=Bordighera= to San Remo =11= 7
NOTES FOR DRIVERS
The whole of this section is on the Rivieras of France and Italy.
There are a few steepish hills, but, taken as a whole, the road is
level.
The =Upper Corniche= is between Nice and Mentone, and the ascent to
it and the descent from La Turbie are both formidable, although the
road is well engineered.
The roads are tarred between Cannes and Nice, but beyond Nice the
dust is not excessive until east of Mentone, where it is
encountered in yellowish-white clouds as far as Bordighera, where
the surface greatly improves.
A moderate pace is recommended to all who drive on the French
Riviera. There are trams to avoid almost continuously from Cannes
to Mentone, and the Continental chauffeurs take such risks that the
ordinary dangers of passing other cars are increased enormously,
unless one keeps under twenty miles an hour.
PLACES OF INTEREST ON THE ROUTE
=Cannes.=--A large Riviera resort, greatly patronized by English
winter visitors; old town on Mont Chevalier.
=Antibes.=--The Greek _Antipolis_ is now partially modern. The
medieval walled town is quite separate; it is exceedingly
interesting and very picturesque, and contains Roman remains.
=Nice.=--A large town of Parisian aspect, famous for its carnival; is
one of the most fashionable and populous of the Riviera resorts.
Cimiez, on the high ground behind Nice, was a Roman town, and still
retains large portions of its amphitheatre.
=Eze.=--A romantically perched Saracen village, in one of the most
beautiful spots on the French Riviera.
=Villefranche.=--An old town, formerly Villafranca; has a picturesque
harbour and old arched streets.
=Beaulieu.=--A new collection of villas and hotels.
=Monaco.=--Is a principality, including Monte Carlo; it stands on an
almost isolated rock; castle partly thirteenth century, modern
church, and museum of oceanography.
=Monte Carlo.=--A new town, facing Monaco, famous on account of its
Casino, which is conspicuous; foundation-stone laid in 1858 by the
present Prince of Monaco.
=Roquebrune.=--A picturesque rock village, with a ruined castle and
fine views.
=La Turbie.=--An old village by the ruins of the enormous Roman
trophy to Augustus, put up about 12 B.C.; joined to Monte Carlo by
a funicular railway.
=Mentone.=--A beautifully situated Riviera resort, with grand
mountain scenery and a safe climate.
=La Mortola.=--The villa and gardens of the late Sir Thomas Hanbury.
=Ventimiglia.=--An Italian town near the frontier; Romanesque
cathedral, with early baptistery; Church of St. Michele; old
tunnelled passages and medieval walls.
=Dolceacqua.=--Strikingly picturesque rock village, with ruins of an
imposing castle.
=Apricale.=--Another rock village, in a wonderfully fine mountainous
situation.
=Bordighera.=--A modern resort, with beautiful surroundings and an
old village on Capo San Ampeglio.
=Ospedaletti.=--A small and newly built resort.
=San Remo.=--A large and fashionable town, with fine scenery and a
golf-course; old town, full of quaint passages and stairways.
Cannes has a sea-front broken by the isolated mass of rock called Mont
Chevalier. Here was founded the early settlement which was, no doubt,
the _Aegytna_ mentioned by Polybius as the scene of a treacherous attack
by some of the Ligurian tribesmen on some unarmed Romans. The hill is
now picturesquely crowned with the thirteenth-century parish church, a
medieval tower, and the ruins of the castle of the Counts of Provence.
Down below is a small harbour.
The views westwards from the palm-shaded promenades along the shore
include the rugged masses of the always attractive Estérels.
[Illustration: TOWN PLAN NO. 24.--CANNES.]
Cannes is essentially a resort of English visitors, and the winter and
spring of every year bring together in the hotels and flower-scented
villas a more or less regular selection of English gentlefolk. The town
has grown enormously since the days when Lord Brougham, the founder, who
died at Cannes and was buried in the cemetery, first began to find
relaxation from his Parliamentary activities at the Villa Louise
Elenore. Le Cannet, at one time a separate village among the hills, is
now joined by the straggling suburbs and a tramway to the centre of the
town, but the main charms of the resort are not lost.
A good road inland takes one to Grasse, an interesting old town with a
curious eleventh-century church, fine views, and a huge industry in
perfumery and preserved fruits. Beyond Grasse a splendid road takes one
to Le Loup, and the romantic limestone gorge of that name, and farther
on still is the ancient town of Vence, where a church incorporating part
of a Roman temple has several other interesting features.
From Vence a road goes down to the coast at Cagnes, a village whose name
the visitor finds difficult to pronounce differently to Cannes.
If this inland route has been taken the coast road is joined east of
Antibes, so that one must either go back about six miles or leave that
fascinating town for the return journey.
ANTIBES
There is a tendency for ordinary guide-books to say that there is
nothing to see at Antibes, but all who have read of the Greek colony of
Antipolis should
[Illustration: No. 19. CANNES TO SAN REMO.]
test this with half an hour in the old part of the town. It will not be
disappointing. Facing the wide Cours Masséna is the medieval wall of the
town, with a big round-towered gateway leading into a street that almost
at once brings one out on to the seaward defensive wall, at the base of
which the waves break continuously, often shooting up columns of spray
on to the pathway above. In the narrow streets there are arches, quaint
doorways, and medieval defensive towers, often incorporating Roman
stones and many other details telling of the changes that time has
wrought. A narrow doorway in the old wall at the harbour end of the
Cours Masséna has a stone lintel from some Roman building, placed
upside down by the medieval masons. One of the most interesting relics
of the Greek town is a dark green diorite boulder, bearing the strange
inscription: ‘I am Terpon, servant of the august goddess Aphrodite; may
Cypris reward with her favours those that erected me here.’
The Îles des Lérins that lie opposite Cannes are full of interest.
Steamboats ply regularly to them from the harbour. Ste. Marguerite, the
larger island, retains the fort, built by Cardinal Richelieu, wherein
was imprisoned by Louis XIV., at the end of the seventeenth century, the
mysterious ‘Man with the Iron Mask.’
St. Honorat, the smaller island, is the Lindisfarne of the South of
France, for there, during the European upheavals in the fifth century,
St. Honorat founded a monastery and kept alive the sacred spark of a
pure and restrained life beyond the reach of the barbarous waves of
invasion that were sweeping over south-western Europe. In the eighth
century Saracens wiped out the monastery and massacred the monks, but
their crude weapons could not destroy the influence which had gone forth
from the islet in the four centuries of its previous existence. In the
ninth century the monastery was refounded, and two hundred years later
the fortified building existing to-day was put up to secure the monks
from attack.
NICE
[Illustration: TOWN PLAN NO. 25.--NICE.]
may be described as ‘Paris by the Sea.’ Its wide streets are entirely
reminiscent of the metropolis, and the whole life of the great resort is
French, in marked contrast to the English feeling of Cannes. The
enormous hotels, the plane-bordered streets, the kiosks, the trams, and
the people, are all so essentially Parisian that, out of sight of the
sea or the mountains, one easily forgets that one is by the
[Illustration: CAP MARTIN.
The wooded promontory separating Mentone from Monte Carlo.]
shores of the Mediterranean. Like Cannes, there is a conspicuous
isolated mass of rock on the otherwise flat shore, which was the nucleus
of the Greek town of _Nicæa_. The remains of the Greek buildings were
found at the foot of the rock, which was, no doubt, a fortified place of
refuge. The Romans preferred a site farther inland, and at the modern
Cimiez, on the rising ground north of the present city, they built
_Cemenelium_, of which shapeless masses of the amphitheatre remain,
although a road passes right through them. The site of the Roman baths
has also been found, and great quantities of small objects have been
discovered. The rock down on the shore became important again after the
Lombards had sacked Cimiez, and on it was built a castle, from which the
counts ruled under the Frankish kings. It was besieged by the Turks in
1543, when François I. had made his infamous alliance with Kheyr-ed-Dīn,
the Corsair admiral, but the bravery of a woman saved the place from
being taken by assault.
When Smollett visited Nice the condition of the town must have been
exceedingly primitive. He says:
‘The streets are narrow, the houses are built of stone, and the
windows in general are fitted with paper instead of glass. This
expedient would not answer in a country subject to rain and storms;
but here, where there is very little of either, the paper lozenges
answer tolerably well. The bourgeois, however, begin to have their
houses sashed with glass.’
Of the mosquitoes he writes:
‘In the daytime it is impossible to keep the flies out of your
mouth, nostrils, eyes, and ears. They crowd into your milk, tea,
chocolate, soup, wine, and water; they soil your sugar, contaminate
your victuals, and devour your fruit; they cover and defile your
furniture, floors, ceilings, and indeed your whole body.’
The Nice Carnival, or Battle of Flowers, has its origin right back in
the time of the floral games of the Greeks of _Nicæa_.
THE UPPER CORNICHE ROAD
The advantages of the upper road over the lower are in the finer scenery
and in the absence of dust and trams; but as the return journey gives
one a double opportunity, it is easy to go by one and come back by the
other.
On the upper road one passes above the romantically situated village of
Eze, which makes a perfect picture in its setting of pines and its
background of sea. This eagle’s nest was occupied by the Romans, and
later by the Saracens, whose ruined castle is still visible on the top
of the rocky height. A little farther on a bend of the road brings La
Turbie in sight. Above the roofs of the houses and the church tower
rises the massive ruin of the huge trophy of the Emperor Augustus, put
up in the year 12 B.C. to commemorate the defeat of forty-five Ligurian
tribes. Part of the present structure is medieval, for the vast monument
was at one time incorporated into a stronghold, which was no doubt
partially built of the stones of the magnificent Roman work.
From La Turbie the views along the coast embrace practically the whole
of the French Riviera, for one can see the Estérels away in the west;
down below are Monaco and Monte Carlo; to the east are Cap Martin and
Mentone. A funicular railway goes down from La Turbie to Monte Carlo,
but this is of minor interest to the motorist. The road descends to the
coast past the picturesque old village of Roquebrune, with its ruined
castle on a mass of brown conglomerate rock, and joins the lower road
near Cap Martin.
If one goes by the coast road, one passes through Villefranche, with its
sheltered bay, much frequented by French warships. The old town is
eminently picturesque, with its foreground of brightly painted boats in
the harbour, protected by an old tower belonging to the days when
corsairs were continually dreaded. There are curious old streets, with
supporting arches and dark passages, typical of the Ligurian method of
building.
Beaulieu is little more than a scattered collection of pleasantly
situated hotels and villas. It was here that the late Lord Salisbury had
a house.
MONACO
stands on a tabular mass of rock projecting into the sea, and forming
one side of the Bay of Monte Carlo. The road and the railway go through
the narrow cleft between the almost insulated rock and the vast and
precipitous cliffs of pinkish and creamy-grey limestone that tower up to
the height of 1,300 feet. On the rock of Monaco stands the castle where
the Prince resides in the midst of his toy kingdom. Some of the towers
of the castle have survived since the thirteenth century, but most of
the buildings belong to the seventeenth century, and contain some fine
contemporary furniture.
The little town of Monaco consists of half a dozen very clean streets
and a big new cathedral in the Romanesque style. On the extremity of the
rock is the Prince’s imposing new museum of oceanography--a subject in
which he is deeply interested.
Monte Carlo, a part of the principality, is joined to Monaco by
Condamine, which consists mainly of hotels, restaurants, and closely
built streets of shops and stuccoed terraces. The Casino is a
rococoesque building of the exhibition type, standing out prominently at
the opposite side of the bay to Monaco, with its conspicuous pair of
towers reflected in the sea. It is approached by imposing terraces from
below, and the level ground in front of the entrance is adorned with the
brilliant glow of flowers and the pleasant green of carefully cultivated
grass under the shade of palms.
The brilliance of the contrast of creamy-white buildings against the
deep blue sky is wonderful, and the reflection of the town in the
rippling waters of the harbour is astonishingly vivid in its tones.
Where a fork appears near the wooded promontory of Cap Martin one goes
to the left on the higher road, and in a few moments Mentone is in
sight, spread out along a beautiful bay backed by mountain masses of a
most imposing character.
MENTONE
As a resort both for the healthy and for invalids, Mentone is
delightful, as it is generally free from cold winds, owing to the close
protection of the mountains, and there are also many valleys to
penetrate, in which the Ligurian rock village is seen at its best. The
sea-front is shaded with big eucalyptus-trees, and there is a complete
freedom from that monotony which is so characteristic of Nice, Brighton,
and other favourite resorts. The old town is a pleasant contrast to the
newer parts. It stands on higher ground above the harbour, where the
shore curves in towards the suburb of Garavan.
The road into Italy is cut out of the lofty rock faces, which in
Napoleon’s time carried only the narrow Via Aurelia of the Romans.
At the Pont St. Louis there is an international bridge across a small
gorge, and here the customs formalities are arranged. If one is armed
with a _tryptique_ there is scarcely more than a delay of a few minutes.
The road soon afterwards passes the beautiful gardens of La Mortola,
where the late Sir Thomas Hanbury lived for many years. The
extraordinary variety of tropical plants and trees he collected there is
one of the best testimonials to the mild winters experienced in this
sheltered part of the Riviera.
VENTIMIGLIA
is the first Italian town after passing the frontier. It stands at the
mouth of the River Roya, and is a place of exceptional picturesqueness.
The old town has retained its ramparts, and is built in the typical
Ligurian fashion, with innumerable narrow tunnelled passages, in which
the stranger easily loses his way.
The Cathedral is Romanesque, with a very early baptistery, whose fabric
is hidden under plaster. Considerable restoration took place after the
earthquake of 1831. Another church which should be seen is that of San
Michele. It is Romanesque, and the crypt has a Roman milestone
supporting the vaulting.
Ventimiglia was a place of importance in Roman times, and also
throughout the Middle Ages, when it became a possession of Genoa, and
was the scene of frequent fighting between the Guelph and Ghibelline
factions. When one is crossing the bridge over the Roya there is a
splendid view up the mountainous valley, with great snow-clad peaks
wreathed in clouds closing up the northern end. Monte Bego, a
conspicuous peak, is famous for the prehistoric rock-carving to be seen
in midsummer when the snow has melted. Rubbings of these primitive
carvings are on view in the museum at Bordighera. Less than halfway to
Bordighera from Ventimiglia the valley of the Nervia opens out, and on
the west side a good road leads through the old village of Camporosso to
DOLCEACQUA
The valley closes in a good deal at this point, and the old village
clusters up a steep rocky ascent, crowned by the imposing ruins of the
castle of the Dorias of Dolceacqua. A narrow old bridge of a single
span, suitable only for mules and foot-passengers, connects the hoary
little cluster of houses with the less ancient portion on the right bank
of the river. The narrow passages in the old village are generally
nearly dark and often blocked with a laden mule, while the paved steps
are generally slippery with olive oil.
Going farther up the valley in the midst of scenery which becomes wilder
and more Alpine
[Illustration: THE MOUTH OF THE ROYA.
At Ventimiglia. The distant mountains are in France, and the foreground
is in Italy.]
every mile, one reaches Isolabona, where the road to the right across
the river leads up the Merdanzo Valley to Apricale, one of the most
romantically situated of all the rock villages of the Ligurian coast.
Such extraordinary compactness and inaccessibility was the outcome of
continual intercommunal fighting and fear of corsair raids. The Scourge
of the Mediterranean also caused the building of the little stone
watch-towers still standing on the hill-tops in convenient positions for
giving warning to the surrounding villages.
There is no other road to the coast than the one through Dolceacqua, so
one returns by the same way to the main road.
BORDIGHERA
is a thoroughly English resort, with several excellent hotels, a museum,
a library, an English church, a tennis-club, and other opportunities of
amusement, and it has also the advantage of being small, and without the
towny flavour of Mentone, Monte Carlo, Nice, and Cannes. There are
beautiful walks among hoary olives at a very short distance from any
part of the scattered town, and there is still an old nucleus on the
hill of Capo San Ampeglio, where a hermit’s cave is now converted into
a tiny chapel.
The road runs through Ospedaletti, a newly built resort, to
SAN REMO
The coast becomes steeper and more impressive as one goes eastwards from
Bordighera, and at San Remo the town is backed by an amphitheatre of
very lofty hills. The town is busy and smart, and curiously individual
in its character.
Perhaps the best way to see the place in a short time is to make for the
market-place and enter the gateway that leads into the old town. The
moment one begins to ascend the extremely picturesque passages and
winding _vicoli_ all one’s bearings are lost, and, as fresh openings and
turnings occur every few yards, one is soon hopelessly lost. The only
plan to follow is always to go upwards. This will bring one out to a
flight of steps leading up to a small public garden, from which there is
an enormous view, with the old roofs of the original town immediately
below and the new stuccoed houses spread out on the lower ground and on
the hill-slopes on either side.
Those who have time should keep along this fascinating coast, and
explore those valleys which have good roads. There are a thousand
delights awaiting the motorist, but there is unfortunately no space to
deal with them here.[K]
SECTION XIX
AIX-EN-PROVENCE TO AVIGNON, 65¼ MILES
(105 KILOMETRES)
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=Aix-en-Provence= to Lambesc =21= 13
=Lambesc= to Le Pont Royal =11= 6¾
=Le Pont Royal= to Orgon =16= 10
[=Orgon= to Avignon =28= 17½]
=Orgon= to St. Rémy =19= 11¾
=St. Rémy= to Tarascon =15= 9½
=Tarascon= to Avignon =23= 14¼
NOTES FOR DRIVERS
There is a long ascent out of =Aix=, and a steep-sided ridge is
crossed between =Lambesc= and =Le Pont Royal=; otherwise this section
is level.
PLACES OF INTEREST ON THE ROUTE
=St. Cannat.=--Small village, with slight ruins of castle.
=Lambesc.=--A small town, much destroyed by the earthquake of 1909.
=Orgon.=--Picturesque little walled town, containing several old
houses and a fourteenth-century church; on the cliff immediately
above are the ruins of a château and a chapel.
=St. Rémy.=--A pleasant town; 1 mile south, Roman triumphal arch and
a splendidly preserved Roman mausoleum.
=Tarascon.=--Picturesque little town by the Rhone; Gothic church,
with fine Romanesque south portal; gateway of town ramparts;
château of King Réné, fifteenth century.
=Beaucaire.=--A depressing little town, facing Tarascon across the
Rhone; fine castle of Montmorency on Roman site.
From Aix to Avignon direct is less than 50 miles, but the longer route
through St. Rémy and Tarascon is well worth the extra 18 miles.
The first village is St. Cannat, where the remains of a castle of the
Bishops of Marseilles can be seen, and also the pilgrimage chapel of
Notre Dame de la Vie. The road then begins to go through an open
country, broken up with a curious formation of rocky ridges, through
which the road has been cut. The whole neighbourhood was badly shaken
with an earthquake in 1909, and Lambesc and other villages suffered very
severely.
Sénas is a small stone village without interest, but Orgon, the next
place, is strikingly situated between a precipitous limestone ridge and
the wide bed of the River Durance, spanned at this point with a huge
lattice girder railway-bridge. On the summit of the ridge are the
picturesque ruins of a château of the Counts of Provence, twice
dismantled, and also the Chapel of Notre Dame de Beauregard. The town
has preserved part of its ramparts and several picturesque houses of the
fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. The church dates from
1325.
Five kilometres north of Orgon the road to St. Rémy goes off to the
left, and runs along the north side of the isolated group of hills
called Les Alpines. Long rows of tall cypresses stand by the roadside in
vast perspectives, and help to mitigate the fierce mistral when it comes
shrieking over the desolate plains of the Rhone’s delta.
ST. RÉMY
is a pleasant town with tree-lined streets and a fourteenth-century
tower to its church, which is modern. About a mile to the south, on the
site of the Phœnician town of _Glanum Livii,_ afterwards Romanized,
stand two remarkably fine relics of the first four centuries of this
era. One is a Roman triumphal arch, half destroyed above, but still
retaining finely coffered work inside the arch and some sculptured
figures outside; the other is a magnificently preserved mausoleum of
three stories, 50 feet high, and built of the same orange-coloured
sandstone as the arch. The base is adorned with bas-reliefs of battle
and hunting scenes, and on the top is a peristyle of ten Corinthian
columns, containing two statues (with modern heads) representing the
parents of Sextus and Marius, of the family of the Julii, by whom it was
erected. The situation of these remarkable structures on a rocky little
plateau is most striking.
TARASCON
Keeping along the foot of Les Alpines for about 9 kilometres farther,
one swings to the right to the interesting old town of Tarascon, which
faces Beaucaire on the opposite side of the mud-coloured Rhone. A long
suspension bridge joins the two towns.
The Church of Ste. Marthe, with its crocketed spire, was built on the
site of a Roman temple in the twelfth century, and rebuilt between 1379
and 1449. It retains the magnificent south portal of the earlier church.
The saint to whom the church is dedicated is said to have been buried
under the marble effigy one may see. A legend tells how St. Martha found
the district ravaged by a hideous dragon, which she killed or tamed, and
thus earned the gratitude of the people of Tarascon. The memory of this
deliverance was kept alive until recent years by a fête held on the
second Sunday after Pentecost, when a huge representation of the dragon
was taken through the streets. The castle of Tarascon is a complete and
most imposing pile, standing four square, with one side washed by the
Rhone. It was begun by Louis II. of Provence in the fourteenth century,
and finished by the good King Réné of Anjou. Being now used as a prison,
it is not easy to obtain permission to enter. The town still preserves a
good gateway, flanked by round towers, and some of the old streets are
picturesquely arcaded.
Beaucaire is a rather squalid little town, and it is far better to look
from the Tarascon side at the fine ruined castle of Montmorency standing
on its mass of white rock.
The road to Avignon goes through a baked and dusty country, with arid,
bleached hills and endless groves of cypresses.
[Illustration: AN ARCHED STREET IN APRICALE, NEAR DOLCEACQUA.
A good example of the rock villages of the Italian Riviera.]
SECTION XX
AVIGNON TO VALENCE, 94½ MILES
(152 KILOMETRES)
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=Avignon= to Sorgues =10= 6¼
=Sorgues= to Orange =17= 10½
Avignon to Orange through Villeneuve and Roquemaure is a little
longer.
=Orange= to Pierrelatte =31= 19¼
=Pierrelatte= to Montélimar =22= 13¾
=Montélimar= to Loriol =23= 14¼
=Loriol= to Valence =22= 13¾
NOTES FOR DRIVERS
A level road in the Rhone Valley all the way, except about 6
kilometres north of Donzère. The shallow drains called _cassis_ or
_caniveaux_ are very frequent. They are all marked with
warning-boards.
PLACES OF INTEREST ON THE ROUTE
=Avignon.=--A picturesque walled city on the Rhone: (1) The Popes
transferred their seat there between 1305 and 1411--their palace, a
huge fortress, dominates the city; (2) Cathedral of Notre Dame des
Doms, an interesting Romanesque building; (3) Archbishop’s Palace,
now a seminary; (4) Bridge of St. Bénézet, with Romanesque chapel;
(5) fourteenth-century walls and gateways; churches of--(6) St.
Pierre; (7) St. Didier; (8) St. Agricol.
=Villeneuve-les-Avignons.=--Interesting old town on right bank of
Rhone: (1) Fort St. André, containing remains of Benedictine abbey;
(2) square tower for defence of the Bridge of St. Bénézet; (3)
parish church of fourteenth century; (4) hospital, containing
picture-gallery and magnificent tomb of Innocent VI.
=Roquemaure.=--A small town, dominated by the ruins of its castle.
=Orange.=--A quiet little town, containing two magnificent Roman
structures--(1) A triumphal arch, (2) a large theatre; the Church
of Notre Dame belongs to the twelfth century.
=Piolenc.=--Small town, with remains of ramparts and a Cluniac
priory.
=Mornas.=--Another small town, with medieval gateway and ruins of
twelfth-century château on the cliff above.
=Montdragon.=--A village, dominated by a fine château of the eleventh
century.
=Lapalud.=--A dusty roadside village.
=Pierrelatte.=--A poor little town by an isolated mass of rock, from
which the place gets its name.
=Donzère.=--A small town, with old walls, gateway, a ruined castle,
and a Romanesque church.
=Montélimar.=--A busy modern town, famous for its almond ‘nougat’;
dominating the place on the east side is the Romanesque château,
now a prison; two gateways of the ramparts and two
fifteenth-century houses survive.
=Saulce.=--A village, with a few slight Roman remains near to the
Château of Freycinet.
=Livron.=--A little town, with walls and a ruined castle.
[Illustration: TOWN PLAN NO. 26.--AVIGNON.]
It is unfortunate that Avignon has straggling suburbs outside its circle
of wonderfully preserved walls, for if this new growth could be swept
away there would appear on the plain a city of medieval aspect,
encircled within its machicolated ramparts. Until this is done those who
delight in such permanent pictures of the Middle Ages must be content
with the views of the walls to be had from the fairly wide boulevards
outside them and from the river side of the town. From across the Rhone
the strange piled-up mass of the Papal palace shows a striking
silhouette, and gives Avignon that feeling of romance so lacking in some
towns whose relics of the past are more remarkable.
It was in the year 1305 that Pope Clement V. removed the headquarters of
the representatives of St. Peter from Rome to Avignon, and it remained
there until 1411, when what Petrarch termed ‘a shameful exile’ came to
an end and the Popes returned to Rome. During the century of their
residence in Avignon the Popes built the enormous pile of buildings
called a palace, although it is a forbidding fortress and one of the
finest examples of fourteenth-century military architecture in
existence. It is, as Hare has fittingly described it, ‘rather the
citadel of an Asiatic tyrant than the representative of the God of
peace.’ The walls and towers encircling the town were begun by Innocent
VI. (1352-1362), and finished by his successor, Urban V.
Until lately the palace was utilized for barracks, but fortunately the
soldiers are now quartered elsewhere, and the restorers are peeling off
plaster and taking down the ugly walls and partitions of recent times,
thus bringing to light the original splendour of the Papal residence. A
magnificently carved stone doorway of large dimensions has been
literally dug out of a most unpromising wall, and when the work is
completed the palace-fortress will be one of the most remarkable of the
historic monuments of France. Fortunately, one of the smaller
apartments, with richly painted walls and ceilings, was sufficiently
remarkable to escape the destructive hands of those who built up the
great doorway, and the chapels in the Tour St. Jean are also covered
with wall paintings. The palace is built on a raised mass of rock, and
some of the irregularities of design are due to this fact.
Just to the north, on the same rock, is the interesting Romanesque
Cathedral of Notre Dame des Doms, first built in early Christian times
on the site of a Roman temple. Of the 157 Cardinals and Bishops buried
in the church there are no monuments, and even the elaborate tomb of
Pope John XXII., at one time in the middle of the nave, has been placed
in the antechamber leading to the sacristy. This John XXII., who held
the Chair of St. Peter between 1316 and 1334, was the son of a shoemaker
of Cahors. His genius seems to have lain chiefly in the acquisition of
vast wealth, for when he died he had laid up treasure on earth
[Illustration: No. 20. AVIGNON TO VALENCE.]
in his newly built castle to the extent of eighteen millions of gold
florins in specie and seven millions in plate and jewels! Milman also
describes him as harsh and relentless and a cruel persecutor, who
betrayed joy not only at the discomfiture but at the slaughter of his
enemies, and then goes on to speak of the fame of his piety and
learning, and how he rose every night to pray and to study and every
morning to attend Mass. One has to think of this cruel and callous Pope
kneeling at night to thank God for his great wealth laid up for many
years, for his success in overcoming his enemies, and perhaps for the
general feeling of comfort and security given by the massive walls of
his fortress. His successor, Benedict XII., pulled down John’s buildings
and put up much of the present palace.
Beyond the cathedral is a public garden, sheltered from the sun and the
fierce mistral by a close growth of trees and bushes. An outer walk
commands a magnificent view over the Rhone, with the broken bridge of
St. Bénézet throwing its four arches into the irresistible waters down
below. It was during a republic which lasted from 1135 to 1251 that the
bridge was built. It originally had nineteen arches, and above one of
the piers was built a chapel to St. Nicholas. This interesting little
structure still survives, and is illustrated in these pages.
A favourite nursery rhyme, known to anyone who has had a French nurse,
is:
‘Sur le pont d’Avignon, l’on y danse, l’on y danse;
Sur le pont d’Avignon, l’on y danse tous en rond.’
The best of the churches is _St. Pierre_, to the south of the Papal
palace. It has an elaborate façade, built in 1520, and richly carved
doors. _St. Didier_ is of the fourteenth century, and contains the grave
of St. Bénézet under a slab in the centre of the nave. Near this church
is the Hôtel Crillon, a fine example of the domestic architecture of
the seventeenth century. _St. Agricol_ dates from 1340.
The palace of the Archbishop of Avignon is a picturesque old building,
dating from early in the fourteenth century. It is now a _Petit
Séminaire_.
Villeneuve-les-Avignon, on the west side of the Rhone, attracts one from
the first, with its romantic grouping under the imposing bulk of the
fourteenth-century _Fort St. André_. The great square tower by the
river, also of yellow stone, was built by Philippe le Bel for the
defence of the bridge. Inside the Fort St. André are the remains of a
Benedictine abbey and a Romanesque chapel.
The interesting parish church of Villeneuve dates from the fourteenth
century, and contains the tomb of Cardinal Arnauld de Via, the founder.
In the chapel of the hospital on the other side of the street is the
splendid tomb of Pope Innocent VI. (1352-1362), who did much to make
amends for the misdeeds of Clement VI. The richly sculptured canopy
rises in pinnacles to the roof, and the whole work reveals the enormous
wealth of the Avignonese Popes.
In the picture-gallery of the hospital one of the most interesting works
is the portrait of the lovely Marquise de Castellane, who, with her
husband, was much at the Court of Louis XIV., and became known as ‘La
Belle Provençale.’ When the Marquis de Castellane died she married the
Marquis de Ganges, and returned with him to Avignon. Here she was
subjected to the unpleasant attentions of her brother-in-law, the
Chevalier de Ganges, whose ill-controlled and illicit passion she firmly
resisted, in spite of the efforts of another brother-in-law, the Abbot
de Ganges. It was this villainous ecclesiastic who finally gave the
beautiful Marquise poison, and the brutal Chevalier, on finding her
dying, ran his rapier through her body several times. Both brothers were
condemned to be broken alive on the wheel.
Roquemaure has the ruins of a picturesque medieval castle, where Clement
V., the first of the Avignonese Pontiffs, died in 1314.
The road crosses the Rhone about two kilometres north of Roquemaure, and
a short six miles brings one to
ORANGE
This quiet old town contains two astonishingly perfect relics of the
Roman city of _Aurasio_--a triumphal arch and a theatre. The first
stands on a circle of grass just outside the present town, and the road
leading up to it in both directions gives the great arch a most striking
position. A certain amount of restoration has been carried out, but it
does not detract from the impressiveness of the work. There are several
sculptured panels, and a frieze in which one can still see a great deal
of a big battle subject.
It is generally believed that this is the triumphal arch put up in A.D.
21 to commemorate the victory of Tiberius over Sacrovir and Florus. It
is certainly the best in France, and there are only two others in the
world that surpass it in size and importance.
The theatre is an astonishingly perfect structure, retaining the
enormous stone wall forming the back of the building. It is 118 feet
high, 340 feet long, and 13 feet thick, and no doubt it was spared
during the Middle Ages owing to its usefulness as an outer barbican or
bastion to the castle on the high ground immediately above. There are
indications showing that the theatre was roofed, and evidences of fire
on the top of the vast wall reveal the agency which removed this unique
feature. The three tiers of seats were cut out of the hillside, so that
the building-up of the great auditorium was greatly simplified. The
lowest tier of seats has been wonderfully well preserved, and the
others have been reconstructed in recent years for the annual dramatic
and lyrical performances given by the Comédie Française in August.
‘In August, 1886, a venture was made at Orange the like of which
has rarely been made in France in modern times: a new French play
demanding positive and strong recognition, the magnificent
“Empereur d’Arles,” by the Avignon poet Alexis Mouzin, was given
its first presentation in the Orange Theatre--in the
provinces--instead of first being produced on the Paris stage. In
direct defiance of the modern French canons of centralization, the
great audience was brought together not to ratify opinions
formulated by Parisian critics, but to express its own opinion at
first hand. Silvain, of the Comédie Française, was the _Maximien_;
Madame Caristie-Martel, of the Odéon (a granddaughter of Caristie,
the architect who saved the theatre from ruin), was the
_Minervine_. The support was strong. The stately tragedy--vividly
contrasting the tyranny and darkness of pagan Rome with the spirit
of light and freedom arising in Christian Gaul--was in perfect
keeping with its stately frame. The play went on in a whirl of
enthusiastic approval to a triumphant end. There was no question of
ratifying the opinion of Parisian critics: those Southerners formed
and delivered an opinion of their own. In other words, the defiance
of conventions was an artistic victory, a decentralizing success’
(Thomas A. Janvier).
Thus the theatre of the second century, having come in comparative
safety through the great gulf of time separating the present from the
Roman civilization, is now given a new term of active existence,
making, with the amphitheatres of Nîmes and Arles and the roadway of the
Pont du Gard, the fourth Roman structure in France still in use for its
original purpose.
The _Church of Notre Dame_ was formerly a cathedral, and was first built
by Liberius, Prefect of the Gauls. On the ruins of that building the
present church was erected, about the twelfth century, or soon
afterwards. It is small and has neither transepts nor triforia.
Orange became the capital of a small principality in the eleventh
century, and in 1531, on the death of Philibert of Châlons, the little
State was inherited by Count Réné of Nassau-Dillenburg, who, being
childless, nominated his cousin William I. Stadtholder of the United
Netherlands as his successor. All the Stadtholders who followed,
including William III., held the title ‘Prince of Orange,’ and in 1688,
during the Irish Revolution, the English Protestant party, under the
leadership of William of Orange, became known as Orangemen. By the
Treaty of Utrecht, made in 1713, Louis XIV. united the principality to
the crown of France, but both the Kings of Prussia and of the
Netherlands have held on tenaciously to the empty title.
THE ROAD TO MONTÉLIMAR
goes out of Orange _past_ the Roman arch--those who drive in the dark
should remember that there is no roadway _through_ it. The River Aigues
is crossed, and then, bearing to the left, the road skirts a hill and
passes through the old town of =Piolenc,= with remains of its ramparts and
a Cluniac priory or château.
At Mornas there is a gateway with a picturesque street inside. Along the
overhanging precipices of rock above the houses stand the ruins of the
castle, built in the twelfth century, and among the broken walls, thrown
down during the religious wars, there is a small chapel and crypt of the
Romanesque period. The Popes of Avignon had a toll on the Rhone at
Mornas, and in the days of religious intolerance it is said that it was
no uncommon thing to see the corpses of Protestants floating down the
river.
Along this portion of the Rhone medieval castles are thickly sown. In
nearly every direction one sees one or two precipitous rocks standing
out conspicuously, their summits crowned with great towers and
crenellated walls in varying states of ruin. One of these is at
Montdragon, standing out boldly on a cliff above the village. It was
founded in the eleventh century by a chieftain who bore the name of
Dragon.
In April the villages are beautified with the delicately subtle blue of
the wistaria. This touch of colour is wanted, for, owing to the dust of
the Rhone Valley, the villages are all toned down to a pale biscuit
colour, and even where a patch of green grass offers a wayfarer
resting-ground one finds on reaching it that the blades of grass grow
thinly from a soil composed of pale whity-brown dust. Every passing
vehicle raises the surface of the road high in the air, and a fast car
is a terror to all it passes.
Lapalud, with a Romanesque church, is typical of the dusty roadside
village, and its _three cassis_ in the road should be watched for
carefully. The level vineyards are intersected with straight lines of
cypresses or poplars, and on the right the hills rise suddenly and
precipitously.
Pierrelatte is a rather poor little town with cobbled streets,
intersected with _three bad cassis_. There is a covered market and a
clock-tower, and on the isolated mass of rock giving its name to the
town are slight ruins of a castle.
As one approaches Donzère the arid hills, whose fronts are broken up
with strange valleys filled with detached masses and spires of rock,
contract the valley to narrow dimensions. The town has kept its old
walls and a machicolated gateway, which makes a pleasing picture when
the wistaria on an adjoining house is in flower. In the town are the
ruins of a château and the interesting church of the abbey, founded in
678. This early church was demolished by the Saracens, but the existing
building goes back to the twelfth century.
The road climbs up among scrubby hills north of Donzère, and before
dropping down to the river level again gives a magnificent view over the
great valley, with a straight white ribbon going across the flat ground
to the town of
MONTÉLIMAR
There are no remains of the Roman town of _Acunum,_ and there is
scarcely anything that is not quite modern in the streets. The chief
relic of the Middle Ages is the château of the great family of Adhemar,
now unfortunately converted into a prison. It contains considerable
remains of a Romanesque chapel dedicated to St. Agatha. The Tour de
Narbonne, standing on higher ground than the other buildings, was added
in the fourteenth century as a second keep. Two gateways of the town
ramparts, one of them rebuilt in recent times, and two good houses
belong to the fifteenth or the following century.
The well-known almond ‘nougat’ of Montélimar is sold in several shops in
the Grand Rue and elsewhere in the town.
North of Montélimar the road runs close to the banks of the Rhone, and
then turns away slightly to Saulce, where there are mosaics and other
remains of the Roman station of _Batiana._ A little to the left of the
road is the old château of Freycinet, from which the well-known
politician obtained his name.
After passing Loriol the road crosses the Drôme and goes through Livron,
an interesting little town, with the ruins of its castle and remains of
its fortifications, besieged in 1574-75 by the rigidly Catholic but
excessively dissolute Henri III. The Protestants of Livron successfully
held out during three assaults, and Henri retired ignominiously.
Just beyond Livron there is _a bad cassis,_ and another occurs at the
next village. The straightness of the road between Livron and Valence no
doubt encourages scorching, and these shallow drains over the road, with
their conspicuous warnings
[Illustration: THE ROMAN ARCH AT ORANGE.
One of the finest outside Rome.]
to motor-drivers, serve their purpose admirably in protecting human life
in the villages. The humanitarian therefore cries ‘Vive le cassis!’
In spring-time the blossom of the peach, apricot, and cherry gives a
pink-and-white blush to the valley, making a strong contrast to the
gaunt rocks on the west side of the river. The mulberry is extensively
grown for the silkworm, and the trees are constantly passed from Orange
northwards.
SECTION XXI
VALENCE TO ST. ÉTIENNE, 58¼ MILES
(94 KILOMETRES)
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=Valence= to Tournan =18= 11¼
=Tournan= to Andance =21= 13
=Andance= to Annonay =13= 8
=Annonay= to Bourg-Argental =16= 10
=Bourg-Argental= to St. Étienne =26= 16
ALTERNATIVE ROUTE TO PARIS,
368½ MILES
(602 KILOMETRES)
If there is too much snow on the Cevennes to make the St. Étienne route
possible, the following road will be available:
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=Valence= to Vienne =73= 45½
=Vienne= to Lyon =26= 16
=Lyon= to Villefranche =30= 18½
=Villefranche= to Macon =37= 23
=Macon= to Chalon-sur-Saône =56= 35
=Chalon-sur-Saône= to Dijon =67= 41¾
=Dijon= to Montbard =76= 41
=Montbard= to Tonnere =44= 27½
=Tonnere= to Sens =85= 53
=Sens= to Melun =68= 42¼
=Melun= to Paris =40= 25
NOTES FOR DRIVERS
Between =Valence= and =Andance=, where the Rhone Valley is left, there
are no less than eighteen of the shallow drains called =cassis= on
the road; they are all marked with conspicuous warning-boards.
As far as =Andance= the road is perfectly level, but on going to the
left, just before entering that village, it ascends steeply, and
climbs more or less continuously to the watershed above =La
Versanne=. The gradient is much reduced by long loops, and the
surface is good all the way.
The descent to =St. Étienne= has some sharp corners, but is not
dangerous if taken carefully.
PLACES OF INTEREST ON THE ROUTE
=Valence.=--A large modern town on the Rhone; Cathedral dating from
1095; Maison des Têtes and another Renaissance house.
=St. Péray.=--A small town near the fine ruins of the Château of
Crussol, built in the twelfth century.
=Châteaubourg.=--A medieval castle on an isolated rock close to the
road.
=Tournon.=--A picturesque little town with castle, now the Hôtel de
Ville; old walls; narrow streets; church of thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries; the Lycée is one of the best known in France;
early suspension bridge across Rhone.
=Arras.=--A village, with a conspicuous castle in ruins.
=St. Cyr.=--A village among the Northern Cevennes.
=Annonay.=--A grey manufacturing town in a valley of the Northern
Cevennes.
=Bourg-Argental.=--Another manufacturing town, producing stuffs and
ribbons; church with eleventh-century doorway.
The =Northern Cevennes= reach their greatest height at Mont Pilat
(4,705 feet), about 5 miles north of the road; the scenery and the
distant views are exceedingly fine.
Valence is beautifully situated on a raised site above the Rhone, and
the view across the river from the cathedral towards the Cevennes, and
to the Vivarais Mountains to the north-west, is given a flavour of
romance, owing to the prominence of the twelfth-century Château of
Crussol. It is one of the biggest ruined castles on the Rhone, and its
great height of 1,055 feet is unusual.
The family of Crussol were great supporters of Protestantism in the
South of France, and Galiot de Crussol was killed in the Massacre of St.
Bartholomew.
Valence was the Roman _Valentia_, and a few relics of that age are in
the Museum (_open on Sundays and Thursdays, 1 to 4_). The chief interest
in the town is the cathedral, consecrated in 1095 by Pope Urban II. The
building has, however,
[Illustration: TOWN PLAN NO. 27.--VALENCE.]
undergone much restoration, and the tower and porch were rebuilt during
the last century. The heart of Pius VI., who died at Valence in 1799 is
buried in the cathedral, and there is a statue to his memory on the
south side of the altar. When Napoleon invaded Italy in 1797, he sent
General Berthier to Rome to proclaim a republic and demand of the Pope
the renunciation of his temporal authority. His refusal to do so
resulted in his being taken prisoner and removed from the Vatican to
Florence, and then by stages through the Alps to Grenoble, and finally
to Valence, where he died in captivity not far from Avignon, the former
seat of Papal authority.
Outside the cathedral on the north side is the large tomb of the Mistral
family, put up in 1548. It has a very flat dome and an inscription in a
curious spiral form.
The richly ornamented house at No. 57 Grande Rue was built in 1531, and
is called the _Maison des Têtes_, on account of the statues and busts,
now much mutilated, which adorn the front and the corridor leading into
a courtyard behind. Another interesting house is at No. 7 Rue
Pérollerie, a Renaissance building ornamented with bas-reliefs.
THE ROAD TO ST. ÉTIENNE
One crosses the river by the suspension bridge on leaving Valence, and
in St. Péray, which is chiefly interesting as the nearest place to the
Château Crussol already mentioned, one turns sharply to the right for
Tournon.
[Illustration: No. 21. VALENCE TO ST. ÉTIENNE.]
The road goes through the village of Cornas, and all the way to Andance
motor-drivers have to be constantly _on the alert for the dangerous
shallow drains across the road_, which, if passed over at twenty miles
an hour, would mean the chance of a broken axle.
Immediately on the right is the broad Rhone, and on the left the hills
rise sharply, with a narrow strip of vineyards and orchards on the lower
ground.
On the right, just above the junction of the Rhone with the Isère, the
castle of Châteaubourg stands on an isolated mass of rock. It was
visited by St. Louis in 1248.
TOURNON
is a romantic little town under the shadow of steep hills, and has two
suspension bridges across the Rhone. One of them is the earliest bridge
of this type built in France. The old town has medieval walls and
circular towers, with machicolation, archways, and narrow picturesque
streets. The château is now turned into an Hôtel de Ville.
The collegiate church belongs to the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries, and the Lycée, one of the best-known colleges in France,
consists chiefly of Renaissance buildings. Cardinal de Tournon, one of
the feudal family which owned the town until 1644, founded the Lycée in
1542.
After crossing the River Doux, one passes the village of Arras,
cowering beneath a ruined castle with a tall, bulging tower.
The busy-looking town of St. Vallier appears on the opposite bank of the
Rhone, just before reaching the hamlet of Sarras.
On approaching Andance one goes over a level-crossing, and immediately
afterwards turns to the left, leaving the river behind, and begins
climbing up a beautiful mountainous valley, adorned in April with masses
of pink-and-white fruit-blossom.
The road winds and gives a last peep of the Rhone--a blue patch in the
midst of soft shades of green and purply-brown.
Still climbing, one passes through the village of St. Cyr, with
prominent Calvaries and great views over the mountains to the west.
The main Cevennes range terminates a little to the south, and the
confusion of ridges and valleys one passes over and through on the route
belong to the Northern Cevennes. They are formed of clay and mica slate,
quartz rock and gneiss, while further west, in the neighbourhood of Le
Puy, there is a large area of volcanic rock.
At Annonay the road turns southwards, along the edge of a steep valley,
whose sides are filled with gloomy glove-leather and paper factories
and dirty streets of stone houses, very reminiscent of one of the cloth
manufacturing towns near Huddersfield in Yorkshire. After crossing the
bottom of the valley in the centre of the town, a turning to the right
marked _St. Étienne and Bourg-Argental_ is taken along the west side of
the valley; so that one leaves Annonay going northwards, the direction
from which one came on entering.
The scenery is delightful, as the road goes through a valley clothed
with fir plantations on steep slopes, with pleasant murmuring streams
down below. In spring the banks are starred with cowslips and primroses,
and the rich green of growing corn is contrasted with the sombre tones
of the woods, where the cuckoos can be heard.
At Bourg-Argental the road climbs up to a dour and grey street, not
altogether unsuited to a town which, among other things of a less
melancholy character, manufactures much crape. The richly carved
Romanesque doorway of the church can be seen on the left.
The road then climbs higher and higher, winding in long curves, and
passing steep ascents of lichened rocks and tall pines growing on
boulder-strewn slopes.
Mont Pilat, with three peaks--the highest, the Crêt de la Perdrix, 4,705
feet above the sea--is about five miles to the north. The view from the
road is modest compared with what one commands from this mountain-top,
but without leaving the car the eye sweeps away across the Rhone Valley
to the Alps, and westwards the skyline is serrated with the volcanic
peaks of the Auvergne Mountains.
At the highest portion of the road the views are cut off by dense masses
of pines. The resinous scent they exhale and the music of the wind in
their waving branches are delicious. Snow lingers up here long after it
has disappeared in the open.
The descent gives a grand western panorama, and one is lucky if there is
a golden sunset behind the Auvergnes. In places the road is hewn out of
a steep slope covered with coarse grass or pines, and the modern town of
St. Étienne is reached all too soon.
SECTION XXII
ST. ÉTIENNE TO MOULINS, 109½ MILES
(177 KILOMETRES)
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=St. Étienne= to Feurs =38= 23½
=Feurs= to Roanne =39= 24¼
=Roanne= to La Pacaudière =23= 14¼
=La Pacaudière= to La Palisse =26= 16
=La Palisse= to Varennes =21= 13
=Varennes= to Moulins =30= 18½
NOTES FOR DRIVERS
=St. Étienne to La Fouillouse.=--Is a picturesque, hilly road.
=La Fouillouse to Balbigny.=--Is level.
=Balbigny to near Roanne.=--The road goes through a hilly country,
but there are no formidable gradients.
=Roanne to La Palisse.=--A hilly road.
=St. Germaine l’Espinasse.=--Has a bad _cassis_ or _caniveau_.
=La Pacaudière to Moulins.=--A fairly level road.
=Bessay.=--Has a bad _caniveau_.
PLACES OF INTEREST ON THE ROUTE
=St. Étienne.=--A large industrial town in one of the great
coalfields of France; manufactures include armour-plate, machinery,
rifles and arms, and silk ribbon.
=Feurs.=--A small manufacturing town, containing a few old houses.
=Roanne.=--A busy manufacturing town, quite uninteresting.
=La Pacaudière.=--A picturesque village.
=La Palisse.=--On the Bèbre; is a small town, with a large château of
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
=Varennes-sur-Allier.=--A small place, with quaint houses.
St. Étienne owes its prosperity to its extensive coalfields, covering
about 100 square miles. The annual production of the mines is given as
from 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 tons. The town also employs thousands of men
in the iron foundries, where armour-plate and machinery and all sorts of
large castings are made. A very large output of rifles and revolvers is
another source of wealth to the town, and the ribbon industry, largely
carried on in the homes of the workmen, keeps 40,000 men employed. The
weavers, as a rule, show their looms to visitors without the least
objection.
The Palais des Beaux Arts contains a good picture-gallery and a museum
of gun-making and looms, but otherwise there is little to see in this
town, consisting mainly of one very long street.
THE ROAD TO ROANNE
From St. Étienne until one reaches Fontainebleau the towns and villages
have fewer antiquities and, on
[Illustration: No. 22. ST. ÉTIENNE TO MOULINS.]
the whole, less picturesqueness than farther south, and if time is
running short this portion of the tour can be hurried over with less
fear of missing good things than any other part of the route described.
The scenery is delightful in some districts, but comparatively tame in
others.
At the red-roofed village of La Fouillouse the tramway from St. Étienne
stops. The valley, although containing so many factories and such a busy
town, is extraordinarily free from smoke, and the fields are as clean
and bright as though there were no industrial activities for many miles.
At the end of the valley the distant peep of mountains, snow-covered
until May, is delightful on a sunny morning. The road goes nearly due
northwards through the flat, marshy Plaine-du-Forez, through which the
Loire winds a snaky course. Hills surround the plain on all sides, and
the pastoral scenes of grazing cattle, backed by the snowy ridges to the
west, are most paintable.
At the village of Meylieu-Montrond there is a complete shell of a castle
on the right bank of the Loire. The reddish-coloured road keeps very
straight between rows of poplars, and in a short time brings one to
Feurs, a busy little place where, among other things, they make sabots.
There was a town here called _Forus_ in Gallo-Roman times, but there are
no remains to interest the passing traveller beyond a few old houses.
Balbigny is an uninteresting village on the Loire, just where the road
leaves the level ground and begins to enter the tumble of hills
enclosing the northern end of the plain. The views obtained are most
exhilarating all the way to Roanne, and one frequently has great
panoramic views of the Loire, which appears as a huge blue serpent in
the midst of the green and reddish-brown fields.
The road passes through the villages of Neulise, Vendranges, and
l’Hôpital, and then drops down to the red-roofed town of
ROANNE
There is nothing to detain visitors in this busy manufacturing town, for
all that was interesting or picturesque, beyond a few houses of the
sixteenth century, has disappeared. The streets are narrow and not
beautiful.
North of Roanne the vine appears again, after having disappeared since
leaving the Rhone Valley.
The enormous plain of the Loire extends to the north, with mountains on
the western horizon, dominated by the silvery grey peaks of the
Auvergnes.
[Illustration: THE TOUR DE L’HORLOGE AT MOULINS.
Built in the fifteenth century. The spires of the cathedral are modern
work by Viollet-le-Duc. (_Page 365._)]
[Illustration: TOWN PLAN NO. 28.--ROANNE.]
La Pacaudière is a picturesque village, with a conspicuously attractive
old house on the left, having a steeply pitched turreted roof of dark
brown tiles, and a carved stone doorway of the sixteenth century. One
notices the gradual disappearance of the low-pitched roof as one goes
northwards.
La Palisse is a picturesque town on the pretty River Bèbre. The turreted
château on the right above the road and river dates from the fifteenth
or sixteenth centuries, and has a Flamboyant Gothic chapel, containing
the tombs of the family of Chabannes. Jacques de Chabannes, often called
La Palisse, became Marshal of France, and was killed at the Battle of
Pavia in 1525.
The road crosses the river opposite the château, and then goes out of
the village westwards along a beautiful road, bordered by tall and
stately poplars, standing like rows of pillars on the short,
close-growing turf on each side of the way. Small flocks of sheep,
feeding on the roadside grass, and tended by girls, who fill up their
time with industrious knitting, are often passed.
All the low-pitched roofs have been left behind, and the villages are
picturesque with thatch and weather-worn tiles and little hipped
dormers. The country is slightly undulating and green, and to the south
the strangely shaped peaks of the volcanic mountains of the Auvergne
group are seldom out of sight.
Farther on one reaches the shallow depression in which, on sunny days,
the River Allier sparkles between its low banks.
The men of this part of the centre of France wear black felt hats and
blue smocks, and have side-whiskers and clean-shaven lips and chins,
after the fashion of the peasants of Normandy.
Varennes-sur-Allier is a quietly picturesque little town, with many old
roofs and overhanging eaves, supported with wooden brackets.
In the pretty village of Bessay there is a bad _caniveau_ across the
road, but otherwise there is little calling for comment on the rest of
the way to Moulins.
SECTION XXIII
MOULINS TO BRIARE, 87 MILES
(140 KILOMETRES)
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=Moulins= to St. Pierre-le-Moutier =32= 20
=St. Pierre-le-Moutier= to Nevers =23= 14¼
=Nevers= to La Charité =25= 15½
=La Charité= to Pouilly =14= 8¾
=Pouilly= to Cosne =15= 9¼
=Cosne= to Briare =31= 19¼
NOTES FOR DRIVERS
=Moulins to St. Imbert.=--Level, and afterwards long undulations to
=Nevers=, and a good many moderate hills as far as =La Marche=.
=La Marche to Pouilly-sur Loire.=--Level, but a long hill follows
Pouilly, with a descent of 4 kilometres to =Cosne=.
From =Cosne= to =Briare= the road follows the Loire, and is level.
=Ousson=.--Has a _cassis_ or _caniveau_.
PLACES OF INTEREST ON THE ROUTE
=Moulins.=--A picturesque town, containing--(1) Several old houses;
(2) clock-tower, built in 1455; (3) portions of the château of the
Dukes of Bourbon; (4) cathedral, with choir built in 1463,
containing coeval glass; (5) tomb of Henri, Duc de Montmorenci, in
the Lycée.
=Sauvigny.=--Twelve kilometres west of Moulins; has a splendid
Romanesque church, containing several Bourbon tombs.
=St. Pierre-le-Moutier.=--An interesting little town, with
fifteenth-century houses, portions of its ramparts, and a gateway;
twelfth-century church, with richly carved north door.
=Nevers= (pron. Nervair).--A large and very pleasantly situated town
on the Loire, with--(1) Walls, gateways, and towers dating from the
eleventh to the sixteenth century; (2) the Ducal Palace, now the
Palais de Justice, built in 1475; (3) Cathedral of St. Cyr, with
eastern and western apses, and examples of nearly every period of
architecture from 1028 to the sixteenth century; (4) Church of St.
Étienne, an extremely fine example of the Romanesque Burgundian
style.
=La Charité.=--A very attractive little town on the Loire, with--(1)
Several old houses; (2) walls and towers of its fortifications; (3)
Church of Ste. Croix, a magnificent example of eleventh to twelfth
century work.
=Mesves.=--A pretty village with a twelfth-century barn.
=Pouilly.=--A picturesque little town with a seventeenth-century
château.
=Cosne.=--A town with iron foundries and three churches (one
disused); the most interesting is that of St. Aignan, with a fine
Romanesque apse.
=Myennes.=--A roadside hamlet.
=Bonny-sur-Loire.=--A village with a quaint church spire.
Moulins is a picturesque and attractive town on high ground above the
River Allier. The first
[Illustration: TOWN PLAN NO. 29.--MOULINS.]
conspicuous feature reached on entering from the south is the Tour de
l’Horloge, built in 1455, with moving figures in its curiously designed
lantern. The narrow streets contain several good houses of the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, and many of the brick fronts are ornamented
with lozenges in darker brick. One house behind the clock-tower is
noticeable for its beautiful little gazebo on the roof, with carved
corbels and pilasters.
The nave and towers of the Cathedral are modern, having been built under
the direction of Viollet le Duc. The spires add to the appearance of the
town, as they stand out boldly from a hundred points of view. The
beautiful choir was built by Agnes de Bourgogne in 1463, and it has been
fortunate in preserving its fine fifteenth to sixteenth century glass.
In the sacristy on the north side there is a fine triptych, showing, on
the inside, the Virgin surrounded with angels, and Pierre II. de Bourbon
and his wife, Anne of France (died 1522), a daughter of Louis XI. On the
south side of the choir there is a beautiful spiral stone staircase, and
near it, in a chapel, is a gruesome memorial representing the horrors of
worms consuming a human body.
Adjoining the cathedral is all that now remains of the Castle of the
Dukes of Bourbon, now unfortunately converted into a prison. From the
river-side the walls tower up to a great height.
In the Lycée, formerly a convent of the Visitation, one is shown the
sumptuous tomb of Carrara marble put up by his widow to the famous
Henri, Duc de Montmorenci, who was executed at Toulouse in 1632 on a
charge of treason against Louis XIII.
[Illustration: No. 23. MOULINS TO BRIARE.]
Lord Clarendon wrote a portion of his ‘History of the Great Rebellion’
while he was staying at Moulins, and James FitzJames, Duke of Berwick,
Marshal and Peer of France, and a natural son of James II., was born
here in 1670.
As one goes out of Moulins one notices two massive pillars marking the
position of the town walls which have disappeared. The poplar-bordered
road gives pretty views of the Allier on the left, and the fresh green
of the roadside grass is a pleasant contrast to the
[Illustration: THE FIFTEENTH-CENTURY FIREPLACE IN THE HÔTEL DU GRAND
CERF AT LE GRAND ANDELY. (_Page 409._)]
dust farther south. Picturesque timber-framed houses with dark
browny-red roofs begin to abound, and the villages increase in charm.
Large farmhouses with big stone barns, here and there buildings with
quaint crows’ steps to the gables, and two or three windmills, are
passed, all adding considerably to the charm of the scenery.
St. Pierre-le-Moutier is a delightful old place. It retains portions of
its ramparts, round towers, and a gateway, made more interesting when
one remembers that this was one of the towns of the Loire Valley taken
by Jeanne d’Arc in 1429. The church belonged to the Cluniac priory of
St. Martin d’Autun, and is a very interesting example of the style of
the latter half of the twelfth century. The north doorway, with its
richly sculptured tympanum showing Christ in the midst of angels, should
be seen. The town contains some picturesque houses of the fifteenth
century and later.
NEVERS
On approaching this town there is a fine view of its cathedral rising
above the old roofs with the Loire in the foreground, and the confluence
with the Allier two or three miles to the left.
All remains of the Roman town of _Nevirnum,_ which was of so much
strength that Cæsar kept his military stores there, have entirely
disappeared, with the exception of a few objects in the Library of the
town.
[Illustration: TOWN PLAN NO. 30.--NEVERS.]
The medieval remains are, on the other hand, of great interest. On the
town walls there remain--(1) The Porte de Croux, a most picturesque
gateway dating from 1393-1396; it has corner turrets and three openings
for the drawbridge supports; (2) the Loire gateway, the lower part of
which is as early as the eleventh century; (3) the Tour Goguin, twelfth
century; and (4) the Tour St. Eloi, sixteenth century.
The Ducal Palace, now the Palais de Justice, was built in 1475 by Jean
de Clamecy, Comte de Nevers, and its Renaissance character was given
during the next century, when the Clèves family, and afterwards the
Gonzogas of Mantua, held Nevers. In front of the palace there are
pleasant gardens, with a view southwards towards Moulins, and to the
right (when one faces this prospect) is the Cathedral of St. Cyr. It has
a square tower of the Flamboyant period, rather severe in outline, but
encrusted with beautiful panelling and statuary, and the south porch
belongs to the same period. The curious, almost bizarre, feature of the
interior is the apsidal termination at both the east and west ends. At
the east end there is a beautiful vaulted ambulatory of the fourteenth
century, erected outside the eastern apse of the Romanesque cathedral,
built in 1028 and restored and altered in 1194. The early wall-paintings
were fortunately preserved by the Gothic architect.
At the west end, the Romanesque crypt remains beneath an apse rebuilt in
the sixteenth century. The Saint Sépulcre in the crypt is a hideous
group of painted figures bending over a representation of Christ. The
beautiful nave, rebuilt in 1188, is enriched with caryatides and
sculptured figures.
Before leaving Nevers the very fine Church of the Cluniac Priory of St.
Étienne, begun in 1063 by William I., Count of Nevers, and finished in
1097, should be seen. It is a remarkably fine example of the
Burgundian-Romanesque style. The cloisters belong to the thirteenth
century.
Bernadette Soubirous, the unfortunate heroine of the Lourdes apparition
of the Virgin, spent her last years, and died at the early age of
thirty-five, in the nunnery of St. Gildard at Nevers. Throughout most of
her life, and especially towards the end, her physical infirmities were
a great burden to the poor girl. Her grave is in the convent garden, and
one marvels that the Roman Catholic authorities did not order a
sumptuous tomb in the pilgrimage church at Lourdes! (See p. 235.)
The road goes northwards through Pougues-les-Eaux, and runs close to
the Loire from the hamlet of La Marche for a considerable distance. The
river is broken up with sandy islands covered with low green bushes and
thin wire-grass.
La Charité is a very picturesque and cheerful little town with several
good old houses, and an old stone bridge across the river. The extremely
interesting and beautiful Romanesque church belonged to one of the most
important Cluniac priories in France, so famed for its good deeds that
the place received the name it now bears. A town sprang up round the
abbey, and ramparts defended with several towers were built in 1184, but
the fortifications standing to-day were rebuilt in 1364. It is
surprising that there are any of the defences left when one reads of the
frequent sieges and sackings the town endured, particularly during the
religious wars of the sixteenth century.
The Church of Ste. Croix, just mentioned, was consecrated in 1107 by
Pope Pascal II., but not finished until some years later. The nave and
south-west tower were ruined in 1557 during the religious wars. The
choir, with picturesque stilted arches, the transepts, and the central
tower, are all that remain of one of the finest Romanesque basilicas in
France.
The road goes northwards through the mossy-roofed village of Mesves,
which has a twelfth-century barn, and for mile after mile the Loire
appears on the left as a blue ribbon threaded through the lacework of
the intervening trees.
Pouilly is a cheerful little town with high-pitched roofs and stone
walls, a seventeenth-century château, and a partially Gothic church. The
white wine of the neighbourhood is considered exceedingly good.
COSNE
is a considerable town with iron foundries, barracks, and a hospital.
The church of St. Aignan has a fine Romanesque apse with richly carved
capitals to its pillars, and a greatly enriched west door of the same
period. Pope Pius VII., when in France under Napoleon’s orders, stayed
at the Hôtel du Grand Cerf.
One passes through the village of Myennes, with the houses standing back
from the road, and two or three hamlets, including Bonny-sur-Loire, with
the oddest spire to its church, and then enters the village of Briare,
where the road to Orleans goes off to the left.
The quaint Hôtel de France, with a courtyard, can furnish a modest
_déjeuner_.
SECTION XXIV
BRIARE TO MELUN, 64 MILES
(103 KILOMETRES)
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=Briare= to Montargis =41= 25½
=Montargis= to Nemours =32= 20
=Nemours= to Fontainebleau =15= 9¼
=Fontainebleau= to Melun =15= 9¼
TWO ALTERNATIVE ROUTES
1. =Briare= to =Orleans= via =Gien=,
**Ouzouer-sur-Loire, and **Châteauneuf =70= =43½=
For the route from =Orleans= to =Rouen=, =Havre=,
=Dieppe=, and =Calais=, see
Sections I. to IV.
2. =Fontainebleau= to =Chartres= =97= =60¼=
=Fontainebleau= to Milly =18= 11¼
=Milly= to Maisse =5= 3
=Maisse= to Étampes =18= 11¼
=Étampes= to Authon-la-Plaine =16= 10
=Authon-la-Plaine= to Ablis =13= 8
=Ablis= to Chartres =27= 16¾
NOTES FOR DRIVERS
Ascent from =Briare= fairly steep; after that level to Montargis.
=Montargis= to =Fontainebleau=.--Practically a flat road, chiefly in
the valley of the Loing.
PLACES OF INTEREST ON THE ROUTE
=Briare.=--A village at the junction of the roads from Orleans and
Paris.
=La Boussière.=--A hamlet with a small château in a park.
=Mormant.=--A small village with a Romanesque church.
=Montargis.=--An old and historic town; gateway of château, two
towers of town walls, and interesting church with twelfth-century
nave, and a fine choir of Transitional Gothic and Renaissance.
=Souppes.=--A village with a twelfth-century church.
=Nemours.=--A small town on the River Loing; picturesque castle,
containing a museum; church with thirteenth-century tower, and the
rest sixteenth to seventeenth century.
=Fontainebleau.=--A small town, which has grown up on one side of the
huge Palace of Fontainebleau, built by François I. and succeeding
Kings.
Briare is the Roman _Brivodurum_, but it is now a quiet, uninteresting
little town where buttons are manufactured.
After passing through the old-fashioned village of La Boussière, one
turns to the left towards the château, at a corner where a board
indicates the ‘Route de Paris.’ The yellow-coloured road, with a fine
surface, goes on through a well-wooded country to Nogent-sur-Vernisson,
a village without interest, and soon afterwards Mormant, a hamlet with a
small Romanesque church.
MONTARGIS
This historic town has, unfortunately, only preserved a gateway of its
twelfth-century château, at one time called _le Berceau des Enfants de
France_, owing to the French queens coming thither, before the building
of Fontainebleau, when they were about to become mothers. Two circular
towers of the medieval fortifications are the only relics of the walls
that resisted the English army under the Earl of Warwick during the
Hundred Years’ War.
The church has a fine twelfth-century nave, an ornate west end, and an
exceedingly graceful and unusually designed choir, built between 1540
and 1618. The tall pillars of the ambulatory are without capitals, and
they support roofs of equal height above the choir and the ambulatory.
Interior and exterior show the change from the Gothic to the Classic
style.
The long canal extending from Briare to the Loing passes through
Montargis, which was at one time surrounded by marshy country, now
drained and cultivated.
On leaving the town one passes a statue of Mirabeau, and, after crossing
three bridges, the road to Fontainebleau turns sharply to the left past
the goods entrance of the railway-station, and then keeps to the western
side of the fairly extensive forest of Montargis.
[Illustration: No. 24. BRIARE TO MELUN.]
Mistletoe grows luxuriantly in this district, and all the way from
Moulins the trees are tufted with the curious parasitic plant, which
English folk buy from the French in huge quantities as each Christmas
festival approaches.
At the hamlet of Fontenay one goes to the right at the fork, and the
road continues through a scattered forest, with prodigious quantities of
mistletoe, and at a point 13½ kilometres from Nemours there is a
_caniveau_ in the middle of the village.
After passing Souppes, a hamlet with a twelfth-century church, the
scenery changes. On the right great isolated masses of rock stand on the
grassy slopes, and on the left the shallow little valley of the Loing is
beautified with the picturesque mills and weirs on the river. The low
wooded hills on the left, full of faint purples and browny greens in
spring-time, form a delightful background to the bright green of the
grass near at hand. The rocky slopes on the right are often covered with
juniper, and here and there pines scent the atmosphere.
Nemours is a quiet little town, with a collegiate church of the Gothic
and Renaissance periods, with the lower part of the tower of the
thirteenth century; but the château, built in the twelfth and fifteenth
centuries, is the most interesting and picturesque feature. It has
circular towers, with conical roofs at each corner, and another tower
(the keep) to the north is joined to the main building with a passage
three stories in height. The castle has been converted into a museum,
and the whole of the interior is shown to visitors by an indefatigable
old _gardienne_, who insists on showing the view over the surrounding
forests, which can be seen from the donjon tower.
It was at Nemours, in July, 1585, that Catherine de Medici, on behalf of
Henri III., signed the treaty revoking all edicts in favour of the
Protestants, and enforcing the universal profession of Catholicism.
At the present time the title of Duc de Nemours is borne by the second
son of Louis-Philippe.
On leaving Nemours the road keeps to the west of the Loing, and almost
at once enters the Forest of Fontainebleau. Most of the trees are
without any beauty, being thin and tall and of an average size. There
are no suggestions of the primeval, such as every English forest
contains, including even the Londoner’s paradise of Epping. The only
feature of this great tree-grown area which is interesting, apart from
its associations, is the strange appearance of great lumps of rock,
tilted up at curious angles, and sprawling about among the trees in such
an odd fashion that in the twilight the forest seems full of giant
sloths and other prehistoric beasts!
FONTAINEBLEAU
The town of Fontainebleau stands in the midst of the forest, with the
palace and park on the east side.
_The palace is open to visitors every day between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m._
As long ago as 1137 a French king--Louis le Jeune--dated an Act ‘apud
fontem Bleaudi.’ François I., that mighty builder of Renaissance
palaces, was, however, the real creator of the Fontainebleau of to-day.
He planned, and to a considerable extent carried out, a structure he
desired to be the finest palace in the world. The Galerie de François I.
and that called after and decorated by Henri II. were built by François,
and so were the Chapelle de la Sainte Trinité, the Chapelle St.
Saturnin, and the magnificent Salon de François I. Henri II., Henri IV.,
and various other sovereigns carried on the building of the immense
pile, Fontainebleau being popular for various reasons, particularly on
account of the hunting in the great forest.
Perhaps it is the figure of Napoleon in the midst of the accumulated
royal splendours of Fontainebleau that appeals most to the imagination.
The young Corsican soldier, transformed into an Emperor, and dwelling
with his Empress wife in palaces such as this, causes one to gaze with
more than ordinary interest at the sumptuous apartments, with their
gilded furnishings, their heavy silken coverings, their thrones,
bedsteads, mirrors, and a thousand features, all of which were
backgrounds to the short, dark-haired, and clean-shaven man who had put
the States of Europe, with one notable exception, into the melting-pot
of his ambition. One is shown the little round table upon which ‘the
Usurper’ signed his abdication, and the famous horseshoe-shaped
staircase where he said good-bye to the weeping soldiers of the Old
Guard.
THE ROAD TO MELUN
goes northwards through the forest, and about 8 kilometres from
Fontainebleau passes the stone Table du Roi, dated 1723. On emerging
from the forest Melun is close at hand.
SECTION XXV
MELUN TO ST. GERMAIN-EN-LAYE,
45¼ MILES
(73 KILOMETRES)
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=Melun= to Villeneuve =27= 16¾
=Villeneuve= to Choisy-le-Roi =5= 3
=Choisy-le-Roi= to Versailles =27= 16¾
=Versailles= to St. Germain-en-Laye =14= 8¾
TO PARIS, DIEPPE, AND CALAIS
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=Melun= to Paris =40= 25
=Paris= to Dieppe via Pontoise, Beauvais,
and Gournay-en-Bray =186= 115¾
=Paris= to Calais via Beauvais, Abbeville,
and Montreuil =279= 173½
NOTES FOR DRIVERS
=Melun to Choisy-le-Roi.=--Level.
=Choisy-le-Roi to Versailles.=--Has a few sections of paved road, but
this route avoids any bad or continuous stretches.
=Versailles to St. Germain.=--A steep ascent at Rocquencourt, and at
the fork at the =Grille Royale= _turn to the right_ to avoid the
steep descent to Marly-le-Roi.
PLACES OF INTEREST ON THE ROUTE
=Melun.=--An old town on the Seine, with the Church of Notre Dame on
the island (eleventh century and later), and St. Aspais on the
north bank of the river, a graceful late Gothic church.
=Versailles.=--A considerable town; the huge royal palace is on the
west side, with the gardens and park extending beyond.
=St. Germain-en-Laye.=--A pleasant little town, built by François I.,
also having a royal palace and a forest attached to it; the terrace
on the east side of the park has a splendid view over Paris.
The interests of Melun to the passing stranger are summed up in the two
churches of Notre Dame and St. Aspais. The first is on the island formed
by the Seine, and is a curious specimen of eleventh-century
architecture, with alterations and additions made in the twelfth,
fifteenth, and later centuries. The Tour de César, also on the island,
is a relic of the royal castle demolished in 1740. The Church of St.
Aspais, on the north side of the river, is an irregularly shaped
building of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, with a beautiful
choir, having a fine vaulted ambulatory.
Henry V. captured Melun in 1420, but ten years later Joan of Arc
stirred up the people to regain their liberty, and with her help the
English were expelled.
[Illustration: TOWN PLAN NO. 31.--MELUN.]
[Illustration: No. 25. MELUN TO ST. GERMAIN-EN-LAYE, AVOIDING PARIS]
Three straight roads lead away from Melun towards Paris, and it is
necessary to be careful to take the central one, going through
Lieusaint. This road goes as straight as an arrow to Montgéron and
Villeneuve-St.-Georges, suburbs of Paris. By using the accompanying map,
one will easily find the turning to Choisy-le-Roi, which crosses the
railway to the left of the busy street of Villeneuve.
Choisy-le-Roi is a manufacturing suburb of Paris. The palace, in which
Louis XV. spent his time in profligacy and debauchery, and where Louis
XVI. and Marie-Antoinette often stayed, was destroyed in 1797, during
the Revolution.
Beyond Choisy-le-Roi the road curves and twists frequently, and there
are about 4 kilometres of _pavée_. Near Chatenay one reaches some
straight sections of road, bringing one rapidly to
VERSAILLES
[Illustration: MELUN TO ST. GERMAIN-EN-LAYE.]
The town is a large and pleasant outer suburb of Paris, with wide
streets and large open spaces. Louis XV. laid the first stone of the
cathedral in 1743.
The palace of Versailles is the largest royal residence in the world. It
almost tires one to look at the enormous frontage with its great wings,
and the waste of gravel, extending over several acres outside the gates
and railings, gives a dreary appearance to the town side of the palace.
It takes a whole day to go over the buildings and the park, and on a
tour such as this it may be wiser to leave the historic palace for some
other occasion. There is, unfortunately, no opportunity of including any
adequate description of the buildings and their story here, but the
literature obtainable in handy form on the spot is amply sufficient for
all.
It was Louis XIV. who made Versailles the Court residence instead of St.
Germain, and his successors, Louis XV. and Louis XVI., continued to
spend vast sums on the palace, until it became the wilderness of great
apartments through which the tourist is conducted at the present day.
The two small residences in the park--the Grand Trianon and Petit
Trianon--were built for Marie de Maintenon and Madame du Barry, and were
appreciated as retreats from the immensities of the palace.
ST. GERMAIN-EN-LAYE
is a delightfully situated town commanding beautiful views across a
great loop of the Seine towards Paris. The famous terrace by the side of
the park and above the river has a wonderful prospect towards the east,
wherein the capital appears on a bright, sunny day as one of the most
beautiful cities in the world.
The château, built of red brick and stone, belongs to the thirteenth,
fourteenth, and sixteenth centuries, and has only just been subjected to
an excess of restoration, leaving the exterior with the freshness of a
new building. The earliest portion of the château is the chapel, a
beautiful example of the style prevalent in the reign of St. Louis
(IX.). This was spared when, in 1539, François I. ordered the famous
Pierre Chambiges to rebuild the medieval castle. Henri II. continued the
work, but the form of the letter D in the plan probably has no
connection with his beloved Diana de Poitiers, as the plans were
prepared several years earlier.
SECTION XXVI
ST. GERMAIN-EN-LAYE TO GISORS,
37½ MILES
(60 KILOMETRES)
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=St. Germain= to Conflans-Ste. Honorine =11= 7
=Conflans= to Pontoise =8= 5
=Pontoise= to Marines =14= 8¾
=Marines= to Chaumont-en-Vexin =18= 11¼
=Chaumont-en-Vexin= to Trie-Château =5= 3
=Trie-Château= to Gisors =4= 2½
NOTES FOR DRIVERS
=Pontoise to Bouconvilliers.=--On this section of the road there are
several stretches of paving, and at the cross-roads just beyond
Lierville (a village just off the road on the left) it is best to
go to the right through =Chaumont-en-Vexin=, to avoid the paved road
that goes direct to Gisors.
=Gisors.=--On entering there is a bad _caniveau_.
PLACES OF INTEREST ON THE ROUTE
This portion of the route goes through part of =Vexin=, a county of
ancient France.
=Conflans-Ste. Honorine.=--A village by the Seine; ruins of two
castles; church of twelfth and fifteenth centuries.
=Pontoise.=--Historic town on the Oise, formerly capital of Vexin;
portions of town walls and slight remains of castle; Hôtel Dieu,
rebuilt 1823-1827; two churches--(1) St. Maclou, partly twelfth,
but mainly fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; (2) Notre Dame,
Classic, with tomb of St. Gautier, 1146.
=Cormeilles-en-Vexin.=--Village with picturesque church, twelfth
century and later.
=Marines.=--Small village, with a seventeenth-century château.
=Chars.=--Village on the Voisne; has church of twelfth and fourteenth
centuries.
=Chaumont-en-Vexin.=--Very picturesquely situated little town; a few
old houses, and church of Flamboyant and Classic periods; remains
of eleventh-century castle.
=Trie-Château.=--Small town; has (1) gateway, tower, and other
remains of a fifteenth-century castle; (2) interesting Hôtel de
Ville of twelfth century; (3) church with richly ornamented
Romanesque façade.
The Forest of St. Germain-en-Laye, through which the route goes towards
Pontoise, occupies practically the whole of the area enclosed by the
third loop of the Seine below Paris, and was formerly part of the
immense forest of Laye, one of those which surrounded Paris in the
Middle Ages, and formed a great attraction to the French monarchs on
account of the excellent hunting they provided.
From the long avenue there are interesting views of Paris, with the
Eiffel Tower conspicuous, and on fine sunny days it has the fantastic
aspect of a city of palaces and temples.
On emerging from the forest of very indifferent trees, the road crosses
the Seine, and one turns to the right at once for Conflans-Ste.
Honorine, where the ruins of its two castles, with an old tower
conspicuous, look out over the soft green of the willows bordering the
river. The late Gothic church, with a tower of the twelfth century,
contains a picture attributed to Zurbaran, a Spanish artist of the
seventeenth century who was Court painter to both Philip III. and Philip
IV. The association of Conflans with St. Honorine has been mentioned in
connection with Graville (Section I.).
About eight kilometres north of Conflans the River Oise is crossed at
PONTOISE,
an historic town picturesquely situated on high ground above the river.
It became the capital of the ancient province of Vexin when Philippe I.
of France united one-half of Vexin to the Crown, and the castle became a
royal residence. The boundaries of the province were, roughly, the
Oise, the Seine, and the Andelle, and dividing it into two portions,
known as Vexin Français and Vexin Normand, was the little River Epte. In
the tenth century the Epte was decided upon as the boundary of the Duchy
of Normandy, and it remained so until Philippe Auguste (II.) added the
Norman half of Vexin to France. It is an interesting fact that the
French half of Vexin, through having been a possession of the Abbey of
St. Denis, gave the viscounts of the province the right of carrying in
battle the celebrated banner of the oriflamme: thus, when Philippe I.
acquired the territory he obtained the privilege, and the oriflamme of
St. Denis was transferred to the royal standard.
There was a bridge at Pontoise in Roman times, for it was then called
_Pons Iscaræ_, and before the present steel structure made its
appearance in recent years there was a stone bridge of five arches.
It is unfortunate that the remains of the Château are inconsiderable,
for its history as a royal residence in early times is interesting, St.
Louis (IX.) having spent much of his youth in its massive walls at the
time when his mother, Blanche of Castile, was endeavouring to keep him
from his wife, Marguerite de Provence. It was also at Pontoise that St.
Louis, when ill, vowed that he would lead a Crusade if he recovered. It
was the fifth expedition to the Holy Land which he eventually headed.
The town was often besieged in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth
centuries, and under Louis XIV. and Louis XV. the Parliament was held
there in 1652, 1720, and 1753.
The ramparts still exist in part, but there has apparently been a great
deal of reckless destruction in the town, for it has been robbed of many
of its old buildings.
The Hôtel Dieu, built by St. Louis down by the river, was rebuilt in
1823-1827, and its only interest now is the picture, ‘The Healing of the
Paralytic,’ by Philippe de Champaigne, who was one of the artists who
helped to decorate the Luxembourg in Paris for Marie de Medici, the wife
of Henri IV.
Bossuet, the most famous man in the Church of France in the seventeenth
century, was consecrated Bishop of Meaux in 1681 in the church of the
Cordeliers, which had a splendid refectory. This church, with others,
and several convents has disappeared.
St. Maclou, the more important of the two which remain, is in part a
twelfth-century building, although mainly of the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries. The west front has a fine Flamboyant porch. Pierre
Lemercier, who was grandfather of Jacques Lemercier, who built the
Sorbonne, the Sorbonne church, and the Palais Royale (1585-1660), was
the architect of the Renaissance portions of the church.
[Illustration: No. 26. ST. GERMAIN-EN-LAYE TO GISORS.]
Notre Dame, the other church, is chiefly in the Classic style of the
latter half of the sixteenth century. It contains a fine altar-tomb of
1146, bearing the recumbent effigy of St. Gautier, Abbé of Meulan, with
four angels swinging censers. There is also an ancient Madonna which
attracts pilgrims to the church.
* * * * *
Leaving Pontoise by the road to Gisors, one passes through several
picturesque villages. The first is Cormeilles-en-Vexin, whose church
(partly twelfth century), with big flying buttresses and gargoyles,
stands out prominently over the green and wooded country as the village
is approached.
There are two or three stretches of paving-stones on this road,
necessitating a slow pace to avoid dislocating every part of the car and
its occupants, and there is thus plenty of time to enjoy the rural charm
of the red-roofed villages, the big picturesque farms, and the extensive
woods.
Marines is a small village with a seventeenth-century château containing
a notable staircase. It belonged to Chancellor Sillory, who was
Chancellor of France under Henri IV. In the church is the
sixteenth-century chapel of St. Roch, standing over an octagonal crypt.
Three short stretches of _pavé_ follow after leaving Marines, then the
road drops down through a cutting in yellow sandstone to Chars (on the
River Voisne), where there is a church of the twelfth and fourteenth
centuries. The earlier work is worth studying, and there is also an
interesting tomb to Jeanne de Ferrières, of the fourteenth century.
Passing over a level-crossing, the village of Bouconvilliers lies on the
left. It has a large farm of the Sussex Downs type, sheltered by big
trees, a church with a Romanesque tower, and a castle of the time of
Louis XIII. (seventeenth century) on the site of a much earlier one, of
which the entrenchments remain.
Just beyond the hamlet of Lierville (on the left) five roads meet. The
direct way to Gisors is straight ahead, but a notice warns one of bad
paving-stones, and recommends going to the right through
Chaumont-en-Vexin. By doing so the distance is only slightly increased,
and the _pavé_ is entirely avoided.
The road winds down steeply into the leafy hollow in which the little
town of Chaumont-en-Vexin stands. Its church, with a curious Classic
tower of stumpy proportions, contains rich Flamboyant work, and is
conspicuous on the shoulder of a hill above the houses.
There are remains of the eleventh-century castle where some of the
French kings resided when the Norman frontiers were defended by a chain
of castles. In the chief street there is a picturesque sixteenth-century
house of timber-framing.
The Pierre-Trouée (_or des Druids_) is a very fine dolmen, composed of
four stones, situated about two kilometres south-east of Trie-Château.
An artificial circular hole has been cut through the base of the side
stone, and Fergusson infers from this that the dolmen was probably never
intended to be covered up with earth, or at the most only partially. The
age of dolmens of this type is a matter of the greatest uncertainty.
Although in a general way regarded as prehistoric burial-places, some of
them may belong to post-Roman times.
TRIE-CHÂTEAU
is an interesting place. Its Hôtel de Ville is the Maison de Justice of
the twelfth century, and it still has its round-headed windows with
small pillars. The Romanesque façade of the church is richly ornamented,
and the rest of the building belongs to the twelfth, thirteenth, and
sixteenth centuries.
A fortified gateway (fifteenth century) of the château is passed through
on the way to Gisors, and by it is a big round tower of the same period,
although much restored. There can also be seen vaulted underground
portions of this formerly important castle.
Charles François Dupuis, who wrote ‘Origins de tous les Cultes’--a book
which did much to precipitate the irreligious crisis of the
Revolution--was born at Trie-Château in 1742.
On entering Gisors there is a bad _caniveau_.
SECTION XXVII
GISORS TO ROUEN, 41 MILES
(66 KILOMETRES)
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=Gisors= to Les Thilliers-en-Vexin =13= 8
=Les Thilliers= to Les Andelys =15= 9¼
=Les Andelys= to Heuqueville =12= 7½
=Heuqueville= to St. Nicholas-de-Pont-St. Pierre =8= 5
=St. Nicholas-de-Pont-St. Pierre= to Boos =9= 5½
=Boos= to Rouen 5½
NOTES FOR DRIVERS
=Dangu.=--There is a steep ascent on the way to Les Thilliers, after
which the road is level, until the long and easy descent of the
Gambon Valley to Les Andelys.
=Le Petit Andely.=--Has a _caniveau_ on entering from Le Grand
Andely.
=La Vacherie.=--Steep, winding ascent from the Seine.
=Before reaching Heuqueville.=--There is a very steep descent through
a wood, which should be taken carefully.
=Amfreville-les-Champs.=--After leaving, there is a long descent to
the Andelle at =St. Nicholas-de-Pont-St. Pierre= (caution), and after
that village there is a long winding ascent.
=Approaching Rouen.=--There is a steep descent from
=Blosseville-Bonsecours=.
PLACES OF INTEREST ON THE ROUTE
=Gisors.=--Exceedingly interesting and picturesque town on the old
Norman frontier; Norman castle, built by William Rufus, Henry I.
and II., and Philippe Auguste; streets full of timber-framed
houses; beautiful church, thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth
centuries, with Classic west end; Hôtel de Ville, seventeenth
century, formerly a convent.
=Dangu.=--Interesting château, chiefly of the time of Louis XIII.
=Les Thilliers-en-Vexin.=--Small hamlet; Château de Bois d’Enemets,
sixteenth century, attributed to Mansard.
=Harquency.=--Hamlet, with small Norman church.
=Le Grand Andely.=--Small town, with a remarkably fine church,
thirteenth to fifteenth centuries, with good sixteenth-century
glass; fountain of Ste. Clotilde; remarkable inn, Le Grand Cerf,
built in 1515, rich carving.
=Le Petit Andely.=--A little town, under the shadow of Château
Gaillard; old houses and very interesting thirteenth-century
church.
=Château Gaillard.=--Imposing ruins of the great fortress, built by
Richard Cœur-de-Lion in 1197; fine scenery and rare wild-flowers.
=St. Nicholas-de-Pont-St. Pierre.=--Village in the pretty valley of
the Andelle, with a fine fifteenth century château.
=Boos.=--Small town; ruins of thirteenth-century manor-house, with
remarkable pigeon house of sixteenth century.
=Blosseville-Bonsecours.=--Great panoramic view of Rouen.
Gisors is an exceedingly picturesque old town possessing a fine castle
and a very beautiful church. Standing on the little River Epte, it was
on the frontier of Normandy, and its importance in medieval times was
due to this fact. It was William Rufus who realized the strategic value
of the place, and, having obtained possession of it, Robert de Bellesme
in 1097 built him a castle, the keep of which, raised upon an artificial
mound, is standing to-day. The first two Henrys of England strengthened
the castle with towers, and in 1196, when Gisors was ceded to Philippe
Auguste at the Treaty of Louviers, still further building was carried
out, including a subsidiary keep on the outer line of defence, now
called the Tour du Prisonnier. A considerable portion of the
eleventh-century walls of Rufus’s castle are still standing.
It is worth while to climb the fifteenth-century staircase turret in the
Norman keep, and from it see the outer walls of the castle down below,
with the town built close up to it on three sides, and out across the
green fields, about four kilometres to the west, appears the ruined
tower of the castle of Neaufles. A subterranean passage, so it is said,
connected the castle of Gisors with Neaufles. During a siege in the
thirteenth century a sortie was made by Queen Blanche of Castile, the
mother of St. Louis (IX.), with only a small party, and being cut off
from Gisors, they made for the fortress of Neaufles, which was a ruin
even at that time. Night was approaching, so the best plan was to
surround the ruin and make the Queen a prisoner in the morning. But when
daylight came there was no sign of life within the old walls, for the
Queen and her men had taken advantage of the secret passage, and had not
only reached Gisors in safety, but had prepared a stronger force, which
sallied forth and scattered their amazed enemies.
The salient fact concerning Gisors, which it is not easy to keep in
mind, is that this quaint old town was a feudal stronghold of the
English, and that the Epte formed the frontier of English land. It was
therefore the scene of many alarms and excursions and much hard
fighting. When it became a French possession through the treaty already
mentioned, Richard Cœur-de-Lion built Château Gaillard, a few miles
away, on the Seine, although he had undertaken not to fortify that spot,
for without some such defence Rouen lay at the mercy of the French.
The little chapel in the keep at Gisors was dedicated to St. Thomas of
Canterbury; only the foundations remain to-day, but these, if carefully
cleared of grass, weeds, and rubble, would be an interesting addition to
the ruin.
In the dungeon of the Tour du Prisonnier there are many curious carvings
and scratchings on the stone walls. The chief of these are attributed to
Nicholas Poulain, who, in the fifteenth century, was kept in this
hopeless prison for four years by Louis XI.
The streets of Gisors are full of charm, for, although stucco has been
applied far too liberally to quaint overhanging houses of the sixteenth
century, or earlier, their individuality has, in many instances,
survived the treatment, and carved brackets and moulded beams are
frequently to be seen. The greenish, and yet transparent, waters of the
Epte flow through the town in the form of a canal, and the covered
washing-places for the women are of exceptional picturesqueness.
The Hôtel de Ville, dating from the seventeenth century, was formerly a
convent of the Carmelites.
The Church, dedicated to the saints Gervais and Protais, is a building
of wonderful charm, and peeps of its Flamboyant carving, seen through
narrow passages between antique timber-framed houses, are some of the
delights of the town. The earliest portion of the building is the
choir, with its aisles, built in the thirteenth century through the
generosity of Queen Blanche, who was Regent for her son during his
minority, and while he was away crusading in the Holy Land (see under
Pontoise). The nave, chapels, and towers date from the fourteenth to
sixteenth centuries, the wonderfully enriched north portal is
Flamboyant, and the west end, with its two unfinished towers, belongs to
the Renaissance period, as at Evreux (Section III.). The towers were
stopped at their present height, for fear that they might be used
against the castle if the town were occupied by an enemy.
Jacob’s vision of the angels is shown in a very fine carving over the
central west door. The architects of the church in the sixteenth century
were chiefly members of the family of Grappin, and it was Robert Grappin
who, in 1530, built the nave in such a hurry that it collapsed, but
within a decade it had been rebuilt.
Of the interior there is only space to mention the exceedingly
interesting carved pillars; the huge Tree of Jesse in the baptistery;
the chapel, containing a skeleton in stone; twenty-eight
sixteenth-century painted panels, showing legends of the lives of the
patron saints of the Church; the beautiful vaulted aisles of the choir;
and, finally, the sixteenth-century glass of the windows.
[Illustration: No. 27. GISORS TO ROUEN.]
The conferences between the English and French kings were held under an
elm that grew upon the boundary, and under its shade, in 1188, Henry II.
of England and Philippe Auguste held a peace conference, at which the
aged Archbishop of Tyre appeared, and implored the monarchs to lead
armies to aid in driving the infidels from the Holy City. It was agreed
that both should lead a crusade in two years’ time; but in the following
year, having fallen out, they were at war again, and Philippe soon
afterwards cut down the tree.
Going out of Gisors by the street that leads approximately southwards, a
tributary of the Epte is crossed by a bridge bearing a gilded statue to
Our Lady, and just afterwards a level-crossing, where one turns to the
right by the railway, soon afterwards passing (on the right) a very
interesting example of the fortified farm, having a squat round tower at
each corner. Further off, beyond the river, appears the ruined tower of
the castle of Neaufles.
After crossing the Epte the road climbs up through the village of Dangu,
whose château on the left among the woods above the river was at one
time of the greatest importance. The Norman structure has been
demolished, and the existing castle dates back no further than the
fifteenth century, some of it only to 1567, and part is modern, but a
large portion is older than the time of Louis XIII.--a contemporary of
Charles I.--when it was owned by the Comte de Bouteville, of whom Mr.
Dearmer tells the following story in his admirable work on Normandy:
‘This gentleman has a place in history for his defiance of the
celebrated edict against duelling; he and the Comte de Chapelles
fought two other lords in broad daylight in the Place Royale at
Paris. One of their opponents was killed, and Richelieu determined
to prove that no lord was above the law. In spite of the efforts of
the greatest families in France, Bouteville and Chapelles were
executed in 1627. Eight years afterwards Louis XIII. arranged to
visit Dangu in the company of the Cardinal, but when the widowed
Madame de Bouteville heard of the intended honour, she sent this
message: “The King will be received at Dangu with the honours due
to the majesty of a King of France; but as for the Cardinal, I
shall place under the drawbridge twelve barrels of powder, to which
a light will be applied as he passes, in order to send him to
heaven, where he ought to have been long ago.” The King came alone.
But Richelieu had his revenge, and in five years Dangu passed into
the hands of a recently ennobled favourite of the great Cardinal.’
On the left-hand side, on entering the village of Les
Thilliers-en-Vexin, where the _route nationale_ to Rouen is reached, a
little distance from the road, is the Château de Bois d’Enemets, built
in the time of Louis XIII., and attributed to Mansard.
After a short run on the straight and perfectly level main road, a
turning to the left is taken, which drops at a gentle gradient down the
side of the Gambon Valley--reminiscent of the chalky valleys of
Kent--through the hamlet of Harquency, with its midget Norman church, to
LE GRAND ANDELY
Although possessing an almost cathedral-like church, the major
attraction of Le Grand Andely must be its early sixteenth-century
inn--the Hôtel du Grand Cerf. It was built in 1515 by Nicholas Duval,
Seigneur du Viennois, a favourite of François I., and in the carving on
the oak beams of the house one frequently comes across the salamander
and the fleur-de-lys of that monarch. The frontage on the street and the
charming little courtyard are made beautiful with the dark brown timber,
in many places richly carved, which has never been hidden by plaster.
Going through a beautifully decorated door from a corner of the
courtyard, one enters the old hall of the house through a _tambour_, or
lobby, of richly carved and panelled oak. The chief feature is the great
fireplace, which almost makes folk who sit at the little tables appear
as figures in a romantic picture. It was only in 1749 that the house was
sold to the M. Lefèvre who turned it into an inn. Sir Walter Scott, Rosa
Bonheur, Viollet-le-Duc, Chateaubriand, and Victor Hugo, all stayed at
Le Grand Cerf, but the book in which these famous guests wrote their
names was stolen a few years ago.
The church dates between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, but
belongs chiefly to the earlier period, and has three towers and
fifty-two beautiful sixteenth-century windows worthy of careful
examination. It has stalls of the Flamboyant period and three pictures
by Quentin Varin, the first master of Nicholas Poussin, the most famous
of the French painters of the seventeenth century, who was born, in
1594, in a village close to Les Andelys, and to whom a statue has been
erected in the town.
On June 2 every year there is a pilgrimage to the Fontaine de Ste.
Clotilde, which is under the shade of lime-trees near the church. Its
waters are sacred in connection with the legend that Ste. Clotilde gave
them the strength and flavour of wine for the workmen who were building
a convent for her, and had complained of having nothing but water to
drink.
LE PETIT ANDELY
A short straight road leads from Le Grand to Le Petit Andely, with its
church standing in the centre of a space where one turns either to the
right to go on to Rouen or to the left for Château Gaillard, whose
walls, gleaming white in the sunshine, still frown above the picturesque
main street of the town. The interesting church seems to have been built
very soon after the first siege of the castle, and therefore at the
beginning of the thirteenth century. The choir is considered to be the
oldest part, but the whole building is very much of the same period, and
is a very perfect example of early French architecture. Inside and out
the style is a little plain, but the beauty of its proportions is very
striking. The paintings on the walls are fifteenth century, and the
copper chandeliers belong to the eighteenth.
CHÂTEAU GAILLARD
Just before the last houses of the little town are reached an opening to
the left leads to the footpath which climbs up the steep, grassy ascent
to the ruins of Richard Cœur-de-Lion’s ‘saucy’ castle.
Although, since the year 1603, when Henri IV. gave permission for the
castle to be destroyed, it has been used as a quarry for dressed stone
at various times in that period, the great pile still retains its chief
features, and is, in many ways, one of the most notable castles in the
world. Richard coolly determined to fortify the spot soon after the
Treaty of Louviers, in which it was expressly agreed that neither France
nor England should either fortify or have any feudal rights in Les
Andelys! Only three months after the compact had been sworn he of the
lion-heart began the great fortress. It was to be no ordinary castle;
it was to be impregnable; and M. Dieulafoy suggests that Richard I.
utilized his experience in the Crusades and built after the Syrian plan,
Antioch and Tyre having been found exceedingly hard to capture.
The oval inner bailey has the outer surface of its exceedingly lofty
wall formed of nineteen semicircular buttresses, which touch one
another, and are practically a continuous series of half-towers, leaving
no flat surface anywhere. Inside this remarkable inner bailey stands the
circular keep, whose walls are 27 feet thick, with an angular projection
towards the gateway of the bailey. The outer courtyard was defended with
five great circular towers. The weak point of the defence, however, was
the high ground that overlooked the walls on the south-west side, and to
make this impregnable an exceptionally strong outer castle, with three
large towers and two small ones, was built, with a deep ditch separating
it from the main works. All this and much more can be seen by anyone who
cares to climb up and down the steep grassy banks that fall away from
the walls.
When the great pile was completed, Richard gazed on his ‘Dreadnought’
castle, with its frowning
[Illustration: CHÂTEAU GAILLARD.
The ruins of Richard Cœur de Lion’s great castle built above the Seine
to defend the English frontier.]
machicolations crowning the unassailable white walls, and exclaimed:
‘_Comme elle est belle, ma fillette d’un an!_’ Philippe Auguste,
however, with justifiable indignation at the broken treaty, began
hostilities, assuring Richard that he would take his saucy castle if it
were made of iron, to which came the prompt reply, ‘I will hold it were
it made of butter’; and Richard soon afterwards defeated the French army
on the Plains of Gamaches. But in 1199 Richard died, and in his
successor’s feeble hands Château Gaillard was soon in peril, for, in
1203, Philippe began a siege which lasted for five months.
The English Governor was Roger de Lacy, Constable of Chester, who was
left to look after himself, when John with his army had made one
half-hearted effort to relieve him. The fort on the island opposite Le
Petit Andely was taken, and the little town soon afterwards fell into
the hands of the French, the people fleeing to the castle for safety.
But the Governor had no pleasure in seeing his food-supplies consumed by
non-combatants, and the hapless creatures were soon turned out to shift
for themselves. Some were at first allowed to pass through the French
lines, but many were stopped, and lay in the grassy hollows, starving
between friends and foes. The French King finally took pity on them and
fed them, and allowed them to go before all were dead.
Meanwhile the siege proceeded with vigour; a wooden tower was built, and
the outer castle was sapped and an entrance gained. The outer bailey was
surprised by an entry being made through an unprotected window which may
be seen to-day. Finally, the inner bailey was entered through a breach
in the gateway, which the besiegers succeeded in making with a mangonel,
and they rushed in with such impetuosity that the English had no time to
reach the keep, and its enormous strength was therefore useless. There
were only 180 Englishmen left when Philippe gained possession; the
Governor was given his liberty, and the garrison marched out as the
French flag was unfurled above the towers.
In 1314 Marguerite of Burgundy, wife of Louis X., was imprisoned in the
castle and strangled with her own hair by order of her husband, who
wished for another consort, and later on Blanche, wife of Charles le
Bel, also accused of adultery, was kept there until removed to the Abbey
of Maubisson for imprisonment for the remainder of her life.
In 1334 David Bruce, the son of Robert the Bruce, spent the seven years
of his exile in France in Château Gaillard, while Edward Balliol had
made himself King in Scotland.
Charles the Bad, King of Navarre, was another famous prisoner, in 1355.
He was sent to the castle by King Jean of France for having had designs
on the throne, and escaped when the King was captured by the English at
Poitiers, in 1356.
The vivid story of the castle told in full, with a detailed account of
its defences, would keep one at Château Gaillard much longer, and it is
with the keenest regret that one leaves the steep hill, with its strange
ruins standing out in front of the widespread view over a great
horseshoe bend of the Seine.
The road by the river is followed for two kilometres, with the white,
castle-like chalk cliffs on the right, to a few houses called La
Vacherie, where one goes to the right and zigzags up the steep ascent
that leads to the villages of Heuqueville and Amfreville les Champs.
From Amfreville the road winds steeply down to the charming valley of
the Andelle, and crosses the river at the village of St.
Nicholas-de-Pont-St. Pierre, where there is a fine fifteenth-century
château, approached by an avenue of evergreen trees. There is an
imposing façade flanked by two towers, and close by are the ruins of an
older castle.
After a steep, winding ascent through the forest of Longboël the plateau
of Caux is reached, the River Andelle dividing it from that of Vexin.
At Boos the _route nationale_ is joined, and one may stop to see the
remarkable ruins of a thirteenth-century manor-house of the Abbesses of
St. Armand de Rouen. The beautiful octagonal pigeon-house of the
sixteenth century is decorated with inlaid tiles.
Just before descending the steep hill down to Rouen, from whence there
is a remarkable panorama of the city, the village of Blosseville
Bonsecours is passed through. An important Benedictine abbey was founded
there in 1030. It was fortified in the fourteenth century, but in 1597,
after the wars of the League, it was destroyed at the demand of the
people of Rouen, who had always been apprehensive that the cannons would
be turned upon them.
* * * * *
The routes from Rouen to Havre, Dieppe, Boulogne and Calais, are
described in Section I.
SECTION XXVIII
GISORS TO DIEPPE VIA BEAUVAIS,
86¼ MILES
(138½) KILOMETRES)
DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE
Kil. Miles.
=Gisors= to Trie-Château =4= 2½
=Trie-Château= to La Houssoye =12= 7½
=La Houssoye= to St. Martin-le-Nœud =11½= 7¼
=St. Martin-le-Nœud= to Beauvais =6= 3¾
=Beauvais= to Le Pont-qui-Penche =11= 7
=Le Pont-qui-Penche= to Gournay-en-Bray =20= 12¼
=Gournay-en-Bray= to Le Pont-Rouge =10= 6¼
=Le Pont-Rouge= to Forges-les-Eaux =11= 7
=Forges-les-Eaux= to Les Hayons =18= 11¼
=Les Hayons= to Les Grandes-Ventes =16= 10
=Les Grandes-Ventes= to Dieppe =19= 11¾
NOTES FOR DRIVERS
=Gisors to Beauvais.=--Level as far as the steep, winding descent
near =Auneuil=.
=Beauvais to Dieppe.=--The two hills of any consequence are at (1)
Torcy; (2) Valley of the Varenne.
PLACES OF INTEREST ON THE ROUTE
[_This is an alternative route to that described through Rouen, and the
information is therefore restricted to the smallest space._]
=La Houssoye.=--Church partly fourteenth century, with stalls and
sculptured wainscot of sixteenth century.
=Beauvais.=--A considerable town, famous for its carpets and
tapestries. Cathedral consists of choir and transepts only;
commenced in 1227, after a great fire. Had the nave been completed,
it would have been the most stupendous Gothic building in the
world. Palais de Justice, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries,
formerly an episcopal palace. Church of St. Étienne, twelfth
century; nave dates from 1545.
=Gournay-en-Bray.=--Great butter-making town; Church of St.
Hildebert, eleventh to thirteenth century, with massive walls and
Romanesque pillars and arches.
=Forges-les-Eaux.=--Has mineral springs, containing carbonate of
iron, manganese, etc.; the Établissement, where the waters are
taken, stands in a beautiful park; casino, hotels, and
concert-rooms.
=Pommeréval.=--Village, with ruined château; sixteenth-century
church, altar-screen with bas-reliefs.
=Les Grandes-Ventes.=--Village, with Classic church, dating from
1545.
=Torcy-le-Grand.=--Church of sixteenth century; ruins of
fourteenth-century castle on island in the Varenne; Fontaine de St.
Ribert pilgrimage.
=Arques-la-Bataille.=--Famous for its castle, which the English held
as late as 1449; the great keep was built by William of Arques in
the eleventh century. The Battle of Arques was fought in 1589
between Henri IV., with about 5,000 men, and Mayenne, with an army
of 30,000 defenders of the League. Owing to the marshy ground, the
guns of the castle, and his own personal courage, Henri won a great
victory.
[Illustration: No. 28. GISORS TO DIEPPE.]
HINTS ON TOURING IN FRANCE
BY JOHN L. KIRK, B.A.
I. THE QUESTION OF EXPENSE
The main route described in this book was taken from Havre to Mentone by
the author and four other persons, one of whom drove and acted as
mechanic. From Mentone to Havre four only were carried.
A rough summary of the expenses is given below:
Hotel and incidental expenses, £ s. d.
including sight-seeing and
tips Fr. 1782.80
Motor expenses Fr. 446.15
-----------
Total Fr. 2228.95 = 48 10 0
Add to this the amounts shown in the motor
‘In Addition’ list 13 13 0
Grand total for all, except wear and tear
of tyres and machinery, for the twenty-eight
days taken to cover the route 62 3 0
===========
DETAILS OF THE ABOVE
_Expenses connected with the 15-20 H.-P. Car, running 2,347 Miles in 28
Days_
Petrol (590 litres) Fr. 259.35
Oil (44 litres) 53.40
Harbour dues at Havre (landing and embarking) 15.00
Number-plates for French numbers 5.00
Spanish customs and formalities 23.80
French formalities 16.20
Repair to luggage-carrier 4.50
Tyres (carriage of spare tyres and repairs) 22.80
Garage, cleaning, etc. 43.10
Italian stamp duty 3.00
----------
Total Fr. 446.15
_In Addition_
Sea transit-- £ s. d.
Southampton to Havre 3 0 0
Havre to Southampton 3 0 0
Insurance for one month 4 15 0
French driving licence (Fr. 20)[L] 0 16 0
Subscription to Touring Club de France,
including two guide-books 0 8 0
Name-plates 0 4 0
Maps and road-books 1 10 0
Wear and tear and depreciation in tyres, etc. _x_ _y_ _z_
-------------
£13 13 0
+ _x_ _y_ _z_
Fr. 446.15 = 17 17 0
-------------
£31 10 0
+ _x_ _y_ _z_
II. TOURING SEASON
October to end of April.
III. MOTOR CLUB
To facilitate matters, it is advisable to join the Royal Automobile Club
(Secretary, J. W. Orde, 119, Piccadilly, W.); or the Motor Union of
Great Britain and Ireland (Secretary, Rees Reffreys, 1, Albemarle
Street, W.); or the Automobile Association (8, New Coventry Street), and
the Touring Club de France, 65, Avenue de la Grande-Armée, Paris.
These bodies supply information as to Customs formalities, routes, and
all such matters, and issue a paper called a _Triptyque_, which enables
one to pay the Customs deposit through them, and thus obviate the
necessity of depositing the money with the Customs abroad. These clubs
also issue valuable handbooks, giving the names of hotels and repairers,
also a list of Channel routes and their services, fares, and cost of car
transport.
IV. CLOTHING
It is advisable to always carry loose-fitting wind-and weather-proof
overcoats. A woollen overcoat, with the above over it, is warmer and far
less fatiguing than the heavy leather-lined motor coats often in use.
Provide boxes and bags that are water-and dust-proof, or have covers
that are.
Given a certain knowledge of the principles of a modern reliable
motor-car, it is possible to undertake a Continental tour unaccompanied
by a driver or mechanic. By so doing, the man of moderate means can take
a holiday abroad _en automobile_ cheaper than he can at home, once he
has got his car across the Channel.
Nevertheless, the owner should try to come to a definite understanding,
before leaving home, with the makers of the car regarding the prompt
despatch of any spare parts that may be necessary through accidents or
breakdowns on the road.
Having decided to embark on such a trip, it is essential for the owner
of the car to personally see that all tools, etc., are carefully packed
and locked in their respective compartments, and that the machine has a
thorough overhaul, at which the prospective man at the wheel is present.
The compiler of these notes assumes, of course, that the intending
tourist has had some experience of touring at home before plunging into
the unknown.
V. CARRY ON THE CAR
1. The usual kit of tools.
2. A hack-saw and blow-lamp.
3. A good supply of inner tubes and a spare cover.
4. A coarse funnel to strain the oil (the oil obtained in France often
contains rubbish and the petrol water).
5. A petrol-funnel and a wash-leather bag to prevent water getting into
the petrol tank; a densometer to take the specific gravity of petrol.
6. Overalls for dirty work, plenty of dusters, and some soap.
7. A sponge and wash-leather; also a coil of stout window-cord.
8. Tins of grease; spare tin of petrol and oil.
9. An electric inspection-lamp to fit to accumulators.
10. A tyre-pressure tester.
_The following Books should also be carried_
1. Royal Automobile Club, Motor Union, foreign handbook; also Touring
Club de France’s _Annuaire Général_.
2. ‘Faults, and How to Find Them,’ by J. S. V. Bickford, B.A. 2s. 6d.
Iliffe and Sons, Limited, 20, Tudor Street, E.C.
3. A catalogue of the particular car taken abroad, containing sectional
drawings of the car’s parts.
4. ‘The Autocar Automobile Dictionary,’ by Sigmund Krausz. 3s. 6d.
Iliffe and Sons, Limited, 20, Tudor Street, E.C.
5. A set of Taride maps, on cloth, covering the route.
6. ‘The Motor Routes of France,’ by Gordon Home. 5s. A. and C. Black, 4,
Soho Square, W.
7. Burroughs Wellcome and Co.’s ‘Tabloid Brand’ Motor-Car First-Aid
Case.
VI. GENERAL REGULATIONS FOR FRANCE
1. A circulation permit (Permit de Circulation) and registered number
must be obtained for car.
2. The driver must obtain a driving certificate (Certificat de
Capacité), when two photographs of his head and shoulders, about 1½
inches by 1¾ inches, must be produced.
3. Name-plates must be placed on the dash-board facing the driver, about
the size of a visiting-card, and have inscribed on them--
(_a_) Full name and address of owner of car.
(_b_) Name, horse-power, and engine-number of car.
4. _Lighting Regulations._--Three lamps must be carried. The front one,
on left (off) side, to show a green light; the tail-light to be on left
side, and to efficiently illuminate the number-plate. These lamps must
be lit not later than fifteen minutes after sunset.
5. _Rule of Road._--Keep to right, overtake on left.
6. A bell or horn must be used, but the use of sirens is forbidden.
7. There is a uniform speed-limit of 30 kilometres (about 18 miles) per
hour, but this is rarely, if ever, enforced, except in and about the
towns. Special speed-limits are often in force in towns and villages,
notices to this effect being displayed.
8. Octroi duties for petrol have to be paid on entering Paris and some
of the larger towns. The officials, except in the case of Paris, require
you to pay only on the spare petrol--_i.e._, that not in the petrol-tank
proper.
* * * * *
With regard to the daily mileage covered, as shown in the log, the
writer thinks that to properly enjoy the tour, and to do justice to what
there is to see _en route_, one should take at least twice the
twenty-eight days, especially if the party consists of more than two or
three. Otherwise, for a man driving and looking after his own car, no
matter how reliable, the trip might become too arduous for enjoyment,
the opportunities for sight-seeing, as this book demonstrates, being
enormous.
If possible, all night-driving should be avoided. In the dark one cannot
see the broken glass and rubbish in the villages, nor is it easy to find
the right road.
Even with a certain amount of night-driving the tour described in this
book was accomplished with a very small outlay in tyres, which were
Dunlops. Five new covers and an old one on the Stepney wheel and eight
air-tubes were found to be ample, owing to the excellent manner in which
they stood the strain of rough surfaces and sometimes fast driving.
FRENCH ROAD WARNING NOTICES
_Ralentir_ Drive slowly.
_Ralentissez_ Reduce speed.
_Passage à niveau_ Level-crossing.
_Cassis or caniveau_ Shallow drain across road.
_Cylindre de vapeur_ Steam-roller.
_Attention!_ Warning.
ITALIAN ROAD WARNING NOTICES
_Rallentare_ Drive slowly.
_Arresto_ Stop.
_Cunetta_ Open drain.
_Passaggio a livello_ Level-crossing.
_Discesa pericolosa_ Dangerous hill.
_Strada interrotta_ Road up.
_Svolta pericolosa_ Dangerous turning.
FRENCH ROAD SIGNS
Sharp turning to the right
[Illustration: Road sign symbol]
Sharp turning to the left
[Illustration: Road sign symbol]
Turning with descent
[Illustration: Road sign symbol]
Dangerous crossing
[Illustration: Road sign symbol]
Steep ascent
[Illustration: Road sign symbol]
Steep descent
[Illustration: Road sign symbol]
Winding descent with sharp turning
[Illustration: Road sign symbol]
Archway
[Illustration: Road sign symbol]
Level-crossing (_passage à niveau_)
[Illustration: Road sign symbol]
Rails projecting above the road
[Illustration: Road sign symbol]
Shallow drain across road (_cassis_ or _caniveau_)
[Illustration: Road sign symbol]
Bad paving (_mauvais pavé_)
[Illustration: Road sign symbol]
Humpy road
[Illustration: Road sign symbol]
LOG OF A 15-20 H.-P. CAR FROM
+-------------------+-------+--------+---------+---------+-------+------+
| | =1st | =2nd | =3rd | =4th | =5th | =6th |
| | Day.= | Day.= | Day.= | Day.= | Day.= | Day.=|
+-------------------+-------+--------+---------+---------+-------+------+
|Place of departure | Havre | Rouen |Chartres |Beaugency|Amboise|Loches|
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
|Place of arrival | Rouen |Chartres|Beaugency| Amboise |Loches |Couhé-|
| | | | | | |Vérac |
| | | | | | | |
|Daily mileage | 60 | 71½ | 61 | 58½ |56½ | 80 |
| | | | | | | |
|Weather |Cloudy | Rain | Much | Much | Rain |Slight|
| | | | rain | rain | | rain |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
|Expenses of | | | | | | |
| running motor | 36.20 | 2.00 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| | | | | | | |
|Petrol quantity | | | | | | |
| (litres) | 70 | -- | -- | 60 | -- | -- |
| | | | | | | |
|Petrol price | 31.50 | -- | -- | 25.00 | -- | -- |
| | | | | | | |
|Oil quantity | | | | | | |
| (litres) | 18 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| | | | | | | |
|Oil price | 18.75 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| | | | | | | |
|Non-stop runs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | + | + |
| | | | | | | |
|Stops due to | -- | -- | French | Ran | -- | -- |
| | | | number- | out of | | |
| | | | plate | petrol | | |
| | | | loose | | | |
| | | | | | | |
|Lamps used (+) | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | + |
| | | | | | | |
|Tyres (Dunlops): | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Four grooved, one steel studded, one spare | | | |
| grooved, and one on Stepney wheel| | | | |
+-------------------+-------+--------+---------+---------+-------+------+
+-----------+-----------+--------+--------+--------+-------+--------+--------+
| | =15th | =16th | =17th | =18th | =19th | =20th | =21st |
| | Day.= | Day.= | Day.= | Day.= | Day.= | Day.= | Day.= |
+-----------+-----------+--------+--------+--------+-------+--------+--------+
|Place of |Carcassonne|Béziers | Nîmes | Aix-en | Agay |Mentone,|Mentone |
| departure| | | |Provence| | St. | |
| | | | | | | Remo, | |
| | | | | | | etc. | |
| | | | | | | | |
|Place of | Béziers | Nîmes | Aix-en | Agay |Mentone|Mentone | St. |
| arrival | | |Provence| | | |Raphaël |
| | | | | | | | |
|Daily | 55 | 77 | 105 | 82 | 77 | 44 | 67 |
| mileage | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
|Weather | Hot and |Hot and | Sunny | Sunny | Sunny | Sunny |Slightly|
| | sunny | sunny | | | | | cooler |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
|Expenses of| | | | | | | |
| running | | | | | | | |
| motor | 4.50 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 5.00 | 12.10 |
| | | | | | | | |
|Petrol | | | | | | | |
| quantity | | | | | | | |
| (litres) | 50 | -- | -- | 50 | 40 | -- | -- |
| | | | | | | | |
|Petrol | | | | | | | |
| price | 22.50 | -- | -- | 25.00 | 15.20 | -- | -- |
| | | | | | | | |
|Oil | | | | | | | |
| quantity | | | | | | | |
| (litres) | 2 | -- | 2 | -- | -- | -- | 5 |
| | | | | | | | |
|Oil price | 2.50 | -- | 3.00 | -- | -- | -- | 7.50 |
| | | | | | | | |
|Non-stop | | | | | | | |
| runs | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0 | 0 | -- |
| | | | | | | | |
|Stops | | | | | | | |
| due to | -- | -- | -- |Leaking | -- | -- |Clutch- |
| | | | |petrol- | | | ball |
| | | | | pipe | | | race |
| | | | | | | | adrift |
| | | | | | | | |
|Lamps | | | | | | | |
| used (+) | + | -- | + | -- | + | -- | -- |
| | | | | | | | |
|Tyres | | Nail- | | | | | |
| (Dunlops):| -- |puncture| | | | | |
| | | of | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| | |studded | | | | | |
| | | tyre | | | | | |
| Three grooved, one steel studded, one spare | | | |
| grooved, and one on Stepney wheel | | | | |
+-----------+-----------+--------+--------+--------+-------+--------+--------+
MARCH 24 TO APRIL 25, 1909.
+---------+----------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+-----------+
| =7th | =8th | =9th | =10th | =11th | =12th | =13th | =14th |
| Day.= | Day.= | Day.= | Day.= | Day.= | Day.= | Day.= | Day.= |
+---------+----------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+-----------+
| Couhé- | Bergerac | About |Biarritz|Pamplona|Biarritz| Pau |St. Girons |
| Vérac | |Biarritz| | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
|Bergerac | Biarritz | About |Pamplona|Biarritz| Pau | St. |Carcassonne|
| | |Biarritz| | | | Girons | |
| | | | | | | | |
| 130 | 160 | 9 | 75 | 82 | 79 | 97 | 82 |
| | | | | | | | |
| Cloudy, | Sun all |Sun all |Sun all |Hot sun |Hot sun,|Hot sun,| Cloudy, |
| sunny | day | day | day | and | no | no | bright |
|intervals| | | | clouds | clouds | clouds | |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| -- | -- | 16.00 | 16.80 | 3.00 | 9.50 | 2.00 | -- |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| 60 | -- | -- | 60 | -- | 60 | -- | -- |
| | | | | | | | |
| 27.00 | -- | -- | 30.00 | -- | 27.70 | -- | -- |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| -- | -- | -- | -- | 2 | -- | -- | 2 |
| | | | | | | | |
| -- | -- | -- | -- | 2.50 | -- | -- | 2.50 |
| | | | | | | | |
| 0 | + | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | | | | | | | |
| -- | Magneto | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| |spark-gap | | | | | | |
| |screw-head| | | | | | |
| | worn off | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| + | -- | -- | + | + | -- | + | -- |
| | | | | | | | |
| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
+---------+----------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+-----------+
+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+-------+-------+-------------+
| =22nd | =23rd | =24th | =25th | =26th | =27th | =28th | =Totals.= |
| Day.= | Day.= | Day.= | Day.= | Day.= | Day.= | Day.= | |
+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+-------+-------+-------------+
| St. |Tarascon| Orange | St. |Moulins | Melun | Les | -- |
|Raphaël | | |Étienne | | |Andelys| |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
|Tarascon| Orange | St. |Moulins | Melun | Les | Havre | -- |
| | |Étienne | | |Andelys| | |
| | | | | | | | |
| 128 | 33 | 118 | 109 | 150 | 119 | 82 |Total miles, |
| | | | | | | | 2,347 |
| | | | | | | | |
|Very hot| Cloudy,|Cloudy, |Cooler, | Cloudy | Sunny | Sunny |Rain on only |
| and | bright |bright, |but fine|at times| and | and | five days |
| sunny | | shower | | |clouds |clouds | |
| | |in night| | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| -- | 11.30 | 3.00 | -- | 1.50 | -- | 7.50 | = Fr. 130.40|
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| 35 | -- | -- | 60 | -- | 40 | 5 | = Litres 590|
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| 13.30 | -- | -- | 25.20 | -- | 15.20 | 1.75 | = Fr. 259.35|
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| -- | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | -- | = Litres 44 |
| | | | | | | | |
| -- | 7.00 | 3.00 | 1.90 | 2.50 | 2.25 | -- | = Fr. 53.40 |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 0 | 0 | = 19 |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| -- | Lubricating tube blocked with | -- | -- |Two only were|
| | dirty oil | | | real stops |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| + | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | = 9 |
| | | | | | | | |
| Back | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |Two punctures|
|grooved | | | | | | |and one burst|
| | | | | | | | tyre |
| tyre burst, having had a severe | | | | |
| glass-cut; front, nail-puncture | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+-------+-------+-------------+
A LIST OF IMPORTANT EVENTS IN FRENCH HISTORY, AND OF THE KINGS OF
FRANCE AND THE SOVEREIGNS OF ENGLAND IN PARALLEL COLUMNS
-----------------------+----------------------+-------------------------
ENGLISH SOVEREIGNS. | FRENCH KINGS. | Prominent Events in
| | French History.
-----------------------+----------------------+-------------------------
Evacuation of the | |
Romans, 410 | |
| |
Saxon and Anglian | Merovingian Kings |
invasions, _circa_ | from 481 |
450-550 | |
| |
| Mayors of the | Battle of Tours, 732.
| Palace, 687-741 | (Charles Martel
| | defeated the Saracens)
| Carolingians, 741 |
| |
| Charlemagne, 771 |
| |
Egbert (first overlord | |
of England), | |
802 | |
| |
Alfred the Great | The later | Coming of the Northmen.
(seven other Saxon | Carolingian Kings | Rollo, the leader,
Kings), 871 | from 814 | became first Duke of
| | Normandy, 912
| |
Ethelred the Unready, | Hugh Capet, 987 |
978 | |
| |
| Robert the Pious, |
| or Debonair, 996 |
| |
Edmund Ironside, | |
1016 | |
| |
Cnut, 1017 | Henri I., 1031 |
| |
Harold Harefoot, | |
1036 | |
| |
Hardicanute, 1040 | |
| |
Edward the Confessor, | |Henri I. assists William
1042 | | the Norman to conquer
| | insurgent barons at the
| | Battle of Val es dunes
| |
Harold II., 1066 | Philippe I., 1060 |
| |
William I. (the | |Conquest of England by
Conqueror), 1066 | | William of Normandy,
| | 1066
| |
William II. (Rufus), | |First Crusade, 1095
1087 | |
| |
Henry I., 1100 | Louis VI., 1108 |
| |
Stephen, 1135 | Louis VII., 1137 |Led the Second Crusade,
| | 1147
| |
Henry II., 1154 | Philippe II. |
| (Auguste), 1180 |
| |
Richard I. (Cœur de | |Third Crusade, 1189
Lion), 1189 | |
| |
John, 1199 | |Normandy conquered from
| | King John, 1204
| |
| |Albigensian Crusade,
| | 1204
| |
| |Notre-Dame built
| |
Henry III., 1216 | Louis VIII., 1223 |
| |
| Louis IX. (known as |Louis IX. led Crusade to
| St. Louis), 1226 | the East, but was
| | captured by the
| | Saracens, 1248
| |
Edward I., 1272 | Philippe III., 1272 |
| |
| Philippe IV., 1285 |
| |
Edward II., 1307 | Louis X., 1314 |
| |
| Philippe V., 1316 |
| |
| Charles IV., 1322 |
| |
Edward III., 1327 | Philippe VI. (the |Hundred Years’ War with
| first of the | England began, 1337
| Valois), 1328 |
| |
| |Battle of Crécy, 1346
| |
| Jean (le Bon), 1350 |Battle of Poitiers, 1356.
| | King John taken
| | prisoner
| |
| Charles V., 1364 |
| |
Richard II., 1377 | Charles VI., 1380 |
| |
Henry IV., 1399 | |
| |
Henry V., 1413 | |Battle of Agincourt,
| | 1415. Henry V. declared
| | heir to French Crown
| |
Henry VI., 1422 | Charles VII., 1422 |Jeanne d’Arc relieves
| | Orleans, 1429.
| | Crowns the King (1430),
| | is burnt at Rouen,
| | 1431
| |
Edward IV., 1461 | Louis XI., 1461 |
| |
Edward V., 1483 | Charles VIII., 1483 |Makes war with Italy,
| | 1495
| |
Richard III., 1483 | |
| |
Henry VII., 1485 | Louis XII., 1498 |Makes war with Italy,
| | 1499
| |
| |Battle of the Spurs,
| | 1513
| |
Henry VIII., 1509 | François I., 1515 |Meeting of the Field of
| | the Cloth of Gold,
| | 1520
| |
| |The Reformation, 1529
| |
Edward VI., 1547 | Henri II., 1547 |
| |
Mary, 1553 | |
| |
Elizabeth, 1558 | François II., 1559 |
| |
| Charles IX., 1560 |Massacre of St.
| first of the | Bartholomew, 1572
| |
| Henri III., 1547 |Murder of the Duc de
| | Guise at Blois, 1588
| |
| Henri IV. (the first|Edict of Nantes, giving
| of the Bourbons), | toleration to
| 1589 | Protestants, 1598
| |
James I., 1603 | Louis XIII., 1610 |Last meeting of
| | States-General
| | before the Revolution,
| | 1614
| |
Charles I., 1625 | |
| |
Charles II., 1660 | Louis XIV., 1643 |War with Holland, 1672
| |
James II., 1685 | |Revocation of Edict of
| | Nantes, 1685
| |
William III. and Mary, | |
1688 | |
| |
Anne, 1702 | |War of the Spanish
| | Succession, 1702
| |
George I., 1714 | Louis XV., 1715 |
| |
| |
George II., 1727 | |War with England, in
| | Canada and in India,
| | 1754
| |
George III., 1760 | |Seven Years’ War, 1756
| |
| Louis XVI., 1774 |French Revolution, 1789
| |
| |Meeting of the
| | States-General, 1789
| |
| |Trial and death of Louis
| | XVI. and Marie
| | Antoinette, 1793
| |
| |Directory and Consulate:
| | Napoleon as First
| | Consul, 1799
| |
| Napoleon, 1804 |Battles of Austerlitz,
| | 1805; Trafalgar, 1805;
| | Jena, 1806
| |
| |Retreat from Moscow, 1812
| |
| |Abdication, 1814
| |
George IV., 1820 | Louis XVIII., 1814 |Napoleon returns from
| | Elba, 1814
| |
| |The Hundred Days
| |
| |Battle of Waterloo, 1815
| |
| |Napoleon sent to St.
| | Helena, 1815
| |
| Charles X., 1824 |Abdication of Charles X.,
| | 1830
| |
William IV., 1830 | Louis Philippe, 1830|
| |
Victoria, 1837 | |Napoleon’s remains
| | brought to France, 1840
| |
| |Abdication of Louis
| | Philippe, 1848
| |
| The Second Republic,|
| 1848 |
| |
| Napoleon III., 1852 |The Crimean War, 1854
| |
| |War with Germany, 1870
| |
| |Abdication of Napoleon
| | III.
| |
| The Third Republic, |
| 1870 |
-----------------------+----------------------+-------------------------
INDEX
Abadie, Paul, 154, 156, 159
Abbeville, 2, 22, 23
Abderahman, 135
Acquigny, 48, 49
Adour, River, 179, 180, 181, 184, 220
Agay, 304
Agde, 254
Aigues-Morte, 273, 277
Aigues, River, 341
Aix-en-Provence, 292-297
Alaric, 107
Albigensian war, 258
Alcuin, 125
Alençon, Jean, Duc d’, 130
Aleth, Bishop of, 40
Allaines, 73
Allier, River, 363, 365, 368
Allonnes, 73
Alluye, Baron Florimond d’, 102
Almandoz, Spain, 208
Ambleteuse, 25
Amboise, 82, 105, 107-110
Amfreville, 44
Amfreville-les-Champs, 415
Andance, 351, 353, 354
Andelle, River, 393
Andely, Le Grand, 408-410
” Le Petit, 410-415
Andoain, 215
Anet, 88
Angoulême, 152, 154-156
Anjou, Counts of, 107, 131
Anne de Bretagne, 104, 132
” of France (daughter of Louis XI.), 367
Annonay, 348, 353
Antibes, 306, 309-311
Apricale, 307, 321
Arc, Joan of, 40-43, 76, 79, 85, 142, 369, 385
Arc, River, 297
Arga, River, 213
Arize, River, 249
Arles, 273, 285-289
Arques-la-Bataille, 418
Arques, River, 23
Arras, 348, 353
Artenay, 74
Attila, 76
Aude, River, 257, 260, 262, 266
Auvergne Mountains, 355, 360, 362
Avignon, 329-337, 350
Avre, River, 57
Azay-sur-Indre, 125
Baigts, 219, 221
Balbigny, 360
Balne, Cardinal de la, 53, 130
Barbaira, 255, 261
Barbazan-Debat, 239
Barère, 239
Baring-Gould, the Rev. S., 221, 238
Barry, Madame du, 388
Bartholdi, 277
Basques, the, 180, 181, 196-198, 213
Bayonets, invention of, 186
Bayonne, 176, 180-187, 219
Béarn, Pierre de, 223
Beaucaire, 325, 327, 328
” Canal, 277
Beauce, Jean de, 66
Beaugency, 81, 83-85
Beaulieu, 306, 316
” Abbey of, 141
Beauregard, 81
Beauvais, 418
Beauvronne, River, 160
Bèbre, River, 362
Bedford, John, Duke of, 34
Béhobie, 195, 203-205, 217
Belesme, Robert de, 402
Bellegarde, 283
Benedict XII., Pope, 335
Bergerac, 166-169
” Cyrano de, 168
Bernadotte, King of Sweden, 233, 234
Bernay-en-Ponthieu, 22
Berneval, Alexandre de, 39
Berri, Counts of, 107
Berthier, General, 350
” Madame, 90
Berwick, James FitzJames, Duke of, 368
Bessay, 363
Béziers, 255, 266-269
Biarritz, 176, 187-192
Bidart, 200
Bidassoa, River, 203, 204, 217
Biscay, Bay of, 180
Black Prince, the, 140
Bléré, 114
Bleriot, M., 24
Blois, 81, 93-104
” Stephen, Count of, 103
Blosseville Bonsecours, 416
Bohier, Antoine, 112
” Thomas, 112
Bois d’Enemets, Château de, 408
Boivre, River, 140
Bolbec, River, 9
Bonheur, Rosa, 409
Bonny-sur-Loire, 374
Boos, 416
Bordighera, 307, 321
Bossuet, Jacques, Bishop of Meaux, 394
Bouconvilliers, 397
Boulogne, 21, 26
Bourbon Condé, Duchesse de, 59
” Antoine de, 231
” Dukes of, 367
Bourg-Argental, 348, 354
Bourgogne, Agnes de, 367
Boussière, La, 376
Bouteville, Comte de, 407, 408
” Madame de, 408
Bracieux, 81, 90
Brantôme, 153, 159, 160
Brézé, Louis de, 34, 130
” Pierre de, 35
Briare, 115, 374, 376, 377
Briçonnet, Cardinal, 265
Bridan, 68
Brignoles, 293, 299, 303
Brittany, 40
Broglie, Princesse de, 106
Brougham, Henry, Lord, 304, 308
Bruce, David, 414
Buckingham, Duke of, 202
Burgundy, Marguerite of, 414
Cæsar, Julius, 25, 74, 301
Cagnes, 309
Calais, 23, 24
Calvin, 230
Calvinus, Sextius, 294
Campagne, 176
Camporosso, 320
Cannes, 306-309
Cannet, Le, 309
Canterbury, Archbishop of, 17
Carcassonne, 162, 254-261
Carinus, Emperor, 263
Carmargue, the, 277, 285
Carnutes, tribe of, 75
Carrara marble, 68, 367
Carus, Emperor, 263
Casimere, Marie, 104
Casteljaloux, 168, 171, 172
Castellane, Marquise de, 336, 337
Castile, Blanche of, 393, 403, 405
Cauchon, Bishop, 42
Caudebec-en-Caux, 11-14
Caux, Plateau of, 416
Cénon, 134
Cevennes (mountains), 261, 276, 348, 353
Chabannes, Jacques de, 362
Chalon sur Saône, 346
Chambiges, Pierre, 389
Chambord, Château de, 86-91
Chambourg, 125
Champaigne, Philippe de, 394
Chancelade, 161
Chapelles, Comte de, 407, 408
Charente, River, 149, 151, 154
Charité, La, 373
Charlemagne, 30, 69
Charles V., Emperor of Germany, 108
” the Bad of Navarre, 223, 414
” the Bald, 45, 49
” le Bel, Blanche, wife of, 414
” the Bold, 127
” VII., 16, 35, 128, 132
” VIII., 36, 107, 120, 132
” IX., 39, 88, 182, 204, 224, 231
” Martel, 135
Chars, 397
Chartres, 62-71
Châteaubourg, 347, 352
Chateaubriand, F. R., Vicomte de, 409
Château Gaillard, 277, 403, 411-415
Château l’Évêque, 153, 160, 161
Châteauneuf-sur-Loire, 115
Châtellerault, 117, 134-137
Chatenay, 387
Châtillons, the, 103
Chaumont-en-Vexin, 397, 398
Chaumont-sur-Loire, 81, 105
Chaunay, 149
Chécy, 115
Chenonceaux, 110-114
Cher, River, 111
Cheverny, 91, 92
Choisy-le-Roi, 386, 387
Ciran, 132, 133
Clain, River, 135, 137, 140, 148
Clarendon, Lord, 368
Clement V., Pope, 332
” VI., Pope, 336
” VIII., Pope, 77
Clermont, 249
Clermont-de-Beauregard, 166
Colbert, 6
Coligny, Admiral, 60
Condé, Princes of, 5, 60, 281
Condeau, River, 166
Conflans-St. Honorine, 7, 392
Constantine IV., 136
Conti, Princes of, 5
Cormeilles-en-Vexin, 396
Cormery, 125
Cornas, 351
Corniche d’Or, 294, 303
Corniche, the upper road, 314-316
Cosne, 374
Couhé-Vérac, 149
Coursan, 266
Crau, the, 289, 290
Crécy, 22
Creuse, River, 133
Crusades, the, 56, 277, 405, 406
Crussol, Château of, 348
Cussay, 133
D’Albret, Henri, 230, 232
” Jeanne, 224, 230-233
D’Amboise, Cardinal Georges, 35-37, 106
Dangé, 134
Dangu, Château of, 407, 408
D’Arc, Jeanne, 369, 385
Dax, 179
Dearmer, the Rev. P., 407
Denis-Dupont, 102
Depuis, Charles Fr., 399
Descartes, 133
Devereux, family of, 55
Diane de Poitiers, 35, 106, 112, 114, 131
Dieppe, 21
Dieulafoy, M., 412
Dignac, 156
Dijon, 347
Dolceacqua, 320
Donzère, 342, 343
Dordogne, River, 166, 168, 169
Doux, River, 352
Dreux, 57-60
” de Mello, 128
Dronne, River, 159
Drot, River, 169
Duclair, 18
Du Guesclin, Bertrand, 140, 141
Dunois, the Bastard of Orleans, 83-85, 103
Dupin, Fermier Général, 113
Durance, River, 325
Duval, Nicholas, Seigneur de Viennois, 409
Edward the Confessor, 17
” III., 22, 140
” VII., 184, 189, 191
Elbeuf, 45
Eleanor of Aquitaine, 141
Elizabeth, Queen of Spain, 182-204
Epte, River, 393, 402-404, 407
Estérels, the, 315
Eugénie, Empress, 187
Eure, River, 48, 49
Evreux, 48, 49-55
Eymet, 169
Eze, 314
Faisans, Île des, 203
Fanjeaux, 253
Félibres, the, of Périgord, 157
Feurs, 359, 360
Flassans, 300
Foix, 248
” Gaston Phœbus, Count of, 174
” Louis de, 181
Fontainebleau, 380
” Forest of, 380
” Palace of, 381
Fontenay, 378
Fontenelle, 14
Forges-les-Eaux, 418
Fouillouse, La, 359
François I., 88, 89, 93, 104, 107, 112, 130, 132, 181, 381, 389, 409
” II., 109, 113
Fréjus, 301, 302
Frenaye, La, 11
Freycinet, 344
Froissart, 222
Fuentarrabia, 217
Fulbert, Bishop, 64
Gabriel, 77, 102
Gamaches, Plains of, 413
Garonne, River, 171, 240-244
Gaston Phœbus, Count of Foix, 222, 223, 230, 232
German troops in France, 14, 76, 120
Gers, River, 239
Gien, 115
Gigean, 255
Gisors, 47, 396, 397, 399, 402-407
Goujon, Jean, 40, 46
Gournay-en-Bray, 418
Graham, General Sir T., 216
Grappin, Robert, 405
Grasse, 309
Graville, 6, 7, 392
Grégoire, M., 39
Grisnez, Cape, 25
Guillaume le Tellier, 13
Guillon le Roy, 4
Guise, Cardinal de, 96
” François, Duc de, 59
” Henri, Duc de, 45, 66-100, 104
Harfleur, 4, 7-9
Harquency, 408
Havre, 3-6, 8
Headlam, Cecil, 64
Henri II., 35, 39, 88, 112, 113, 114, 381, 389, 406
” III., 39, 96, 344, 380
” IV., 6, 13, 39, 45, 46, 54, 60, 76, 77, 100, 120, 231, 381, 411, 418
Henry Plantagenet, 34
” I., 53, 55, 56
” II., 114, 120, 141
” V., 7, 14, 384
” IV., of Castile, 204
Hérault, River, 270
Hers, River, 252
Heuqueville, 415
Hilduard, 69
Hill, Sir Rowland, 182
Holy Land, the, 17, 277, 405, 406
Hope, Sir John, 182-184, 191
Houeillès, 168, 172
Hugo, Victor, 409
Huguenots, the, 6, 29, 76, 84, 120, 163, 168,
202, 222, 224, 238, 243, 341, 380
Hugues IV., 156
Hundred Years’ War, 48, 171
Huns, the, 76
Hurault de Cheverny, Philippe, 92
Ibos, 237
Igoville, 45
Indre, River, 125
Innocent VI., Pope, 332, 336
Irene, Empress, 69
Irun, 217
Irurita, 207
Isère, River, 352
Isle, River, 160, 161, 165
Isolabona, 321
Iton, River, 49, 51, 54
Ivry, Battle of, 54, 58, 60
James II., 25
” Colonel W. H., 185-186
Jean de Berry, 147
” of France, 415
Jeanne D’Arc, 40-43, 76, 79, 369, 385
John, King of England, 55, 128, 141, 413
John XXII., Pope, 333
Jumièges, 15-18, 132
La Beauce, Plain of, 72
La Belle Rivière, 157
La Borde, 265
La Boussière, 376
La Charité, 373
La Fouillouse, 359
La Haye-Descartes, 133
La Houssoye, 418
La Mortola, 319
La Napoule, 294, 304
La Pacaudière, 361
La Palisse, 362
La Rochebeaucourt, 156
La Tricherie, 137
La Turbie, 315
La Vacherie, 415
Lacave, 245
Lacy, Roger de, 413
Laffolye, M., 243
Lambesc, 325
Lamonzie-Montastruc, 153
Landes, Les, 176-180
Lannemezan, 239-240
Lapalud, 342
Lascarte, 215
Laville, the Jesuit, 165
Le Boullay-Mivoye, 61
Le Cannet, 309
Le Loup, 309
Le Luc, 300
Le Muy, 300
Le Roulx, 20, 43
Le Veneur, Bishop Ambroise, 54
“ ” Gabriel, 54
Les Grandes Ventes, 418
Les Thilliers-en-Vexin, 408
Legasa, 207
Lemercier, Jacques, 395
” Pierre, 395
Leo III., Pope, 136
Leonardo da Vinci, 108
Lérins, Îles de, 311
Lescure, 248
Lèze, River, 250
Lézignan, 262
Lhez, 239
L’Hôpital, 360
Lierville, 397
Lieusaint, 386
Ligueil, 132, 133
Lillebonne, 9-11
Lisieux, 12
Livron, 344
Loches, 16, 127-132
Loing, River, 377, 379, 380
Loire, River, 82, 93, 105, 360
Longboël, Forest of, 416
Longueville, Duke of, 5, 86
Loriol, 344
Louis VII., 120
” IX. (St.), 277, 389, 393, 394, 403
” XI., 106, 107, 110, 128, 130, 132, 204, 404
” XII., 36, 46-48, 93, 100, 103, 104, 107, 132
” XIII., 39, 88, 177, 368, 397, 407, 408
” XIV., 88, 200, 204, 388, 394
” XV., 386, 387, 388, 394
” XVI., 132, 387, 388
” le Gros, 83
” le Jeune, 381
” Philippe, 39, 58, 59, 380
Lourdes, 234-237, 372
Louviers, 28
” Treaty of, 402, 411
Lunel, 276
Lyon, 346
Macon, 346
Macquoid, Mrs., 13
Maeterlinck, Maurice, 14
Maintenon, Marie de, 388
Malaunay, 21
Mane, 245
Mansard, François, 100, 104
Mansle, 150
Mareuil-sur-Belle, 157
” Arnant de, 157
Marguerite de Valois, 100, 156, 230
Marie Antoinette, 387
Marie Casimire, 104
Marie-Thérèse, Infanta of Spain, 200
Marines, 396
Marius, 295, 297
Marmande, 170, 171
Maromme, 2
Marot, Clément, 230
Marquise, 2
Marsillargues, 277
Martin, Cap, 315, 317
Marville-Moutier-Brulé, 60
Mary, Queen of Scots, 109, 113
Mas d’Azil, 249, 250
Massieu, Maître Jean, 42
Matilda, Empress, 39
Maure Mountains, 300
Maurice, Archbishop of Rouen, 34
Maurilius, Archbishop, 31
Mayenne, 60, 418
Mazarin, Cardinal, 5
Medici, Catherine de, 88, 96, 104, 106, 109, 113, 182, 204
” Marie de, 394
Mediterranean Sea, 270
Melun, 382, 384, 386
Menay, 250
Mentone, 317-319
Mercœur, Françoise de Lorraine, Duchesse de, 113
Merdanzo, River, 321
Mesves, 374
Meung-sur-Loire, 81, 83
Meylieu-Montrond, 359
Mèze, 271
Midi, Canal de, 269
Midouze, River, 177
Mirabeau, statue of, 377
Miramont, 170
Mirepoix, 252
Mistletoe, 105, 378
Mistral, family of, 350
Molière, Jean B. P., 270
Monaco, 306, 316, 317
Monsec, 159
Mont-de-Marsan, 171, 173, 176
Mont Pilat, 355
Montagnac, 270
Montagne, Étienne de, 120
Montargis, 377
Montastruc, 166
Montbard, 347
Montdragon, 341
Monte Carlo, 317
Montélimar, 343, 344
Montfort, Simon de, 258, 260, 268
Montgéron, 386
Montgomery, Gabriel, Comte de, 113, 173, 222, 224, 231, 238
Montlhéry, Battle of, 35
Montmorenci, Henri, Duc de, 59, 60, 368
Montpellier, 274-276
Montréal, 253
” Château de, 220
Montrejeau, 240
Montreuil-sur-Mer, 2, 21
Morin, Pierre, 110
Mormant, 376
Mornas, 341
Mortola, La, 319
Mosnier, Jean, 92
Moulins, 365-368
Moux, 261
Myennes, 374
Naintré, 134
Nampont St. Martin, 22
Napoleon I., Emperor, 302, 350, 381, 382
” Prince Louis, 26
” III., 189
Napoule, La, 304
Narbonne, 262-266
Narvate, 207
Neaufles, Château de, 402, 403, 407
Nemours, 379, 380
” Duc de, 380
Nepveu, Pierre, 88
Neufchâtel-en-Bray, 23
Neulise, 360
Nevers, 369-372
” Counts of, 371
Nice, 310-314
Nicholas, Abbot, 39
Nîmes, 278-283
Nivelle, River, 200, 201, 202
Nogent-sur-Vernisson, 376
Nonancourt, 50, 56
Norsemen, the, 4, 15, 17, 29, 30, 38, 118
Nouan sur-Loire, 86
Numerian, Emperor, 263
Oise, River, 392, 393
Ondres, 180
Orange, 337, 340
Orb, River, 267, 269
Orgon, 328
Oriflamme, banner of the, 393
Orleans, 74-79, 83
” Charles d’, 103
” Duc d’, 109
” Duchesse d’, 58, 59
” Gaston d’, 94, 104
” Louis d’, 103
Orthez, 222-225
Ospedaletti, 322
Ouzouer-sur-Loire, 115
Pacaudière, La, 361
Pactius, Prior Thomas, 131
Pailhès, 250
Palisse, La, 362
Pamiers, 251
Pamplona, 210-213, 223
Paris, distant view of, 392
Pascal II., Pope, 373
Patay, Bishop Gilles de, 77
Pau, 227-234
” Gave de, 221, 222, 226, 228
Pavia, Battle of, 362
Pelisanne, 291
Périgueux, 160, 161-165
Petrarch, 332
Peyrehorade, 220
Pézenas, 270
Philibert of Châlons, 340
Philip III. of Spain, 392
” IV. of Spain, 392
Philippe I., 392
” Auguste, 53, 55, 56, 128, 141, 393, 402, 406, 413, 414
” de Savoie, 130
” de Valois, 76
” le Hardi, 277
Phocæan Greeks, 286
Phœnicians, the, 287, 290
Pierre-Trouée (Cromlech), 398
Pierrelatte, 342
Pilat, Mont, 355
Pinas, 240
Piolenc, 341
Pius VI., Pope, 349
“ VII., Pope, 374
“ IX., Pope, 237
Plaine du Forez, 359
Plessis-les-Tours, 107
Pliny, 270
Poitiers, 139-148
“ Anne de, 389
“ Battle of, 415
Poland, Stanislas Leczinska, King of, 90, 104
Pommeréval, 418
Pompogne, 172
Pontacq, 234
Pont de l’Arche, 45, 46
Pontoise, 392-396
Pontoux, 178
Pougues-les-Eaux, 372-373
Pouilly, 374
Poulain, Nicholas, 404
Pourrières, 293, 297
Poussin, Nicholas, 410
Provence, Marguerite de, 393
Puy, Le, 353
Puyôo, 221
Pyrenees, the, 177, 180, 228, 234, 239, 251, 253
Quirinus, 63
Ratuma, 28
Reignac, 125
René, King of Provence, 295, 296, 328
” of Nassau-Dillenburg, Count, 340
Rey, General, 216
Rhé, Île de, 202
Rhone, River, 285, 332, 341, 348, 352-355
Richard I., 17, 34, 39, 55, 56, 128, 403, 411, 412
Richelieu, Cardinal, 6, 408
Riquet, Pierre-Paul, 268
Roanne, 360
Robert de Croixmare, Archbishop of Rouen, 36
Robert, Archbishop of Rouen (1037), tomb of, 69
” of Jumièges, Abbot, 17
Rollo, 4, 29, 30, 33, 34
Romans, the, 161, 262, 279, 280, 281, 286, 287, 307
Roquebrune, 315
Roquemaure, 337
Rouen, 28-44
Roussel, Abbot Jean, 39
Ruffec, 139, 149, 150
” Ph. de Voivre, Marquis de, 155
Sabarat, 250
St. Aignan, 77
St. André, 56, 60
St. Armand de Rouen, Abbesses of, 416
St. Arnoult, 11
St. Austreberthe, Abbey of, 21
St. Bartholomew, Massacre of, 40, 182, 224
St. Blaise, 124
St. Cannat, 291, 324, 325
St. Crespin, 45
St. Cyr, 348, 353
St. Étienne, 355-357
St. Euverte, 77
St. Front, 162
St. Gaudens, 242-244
St. Gautier, Abbé of Meulan, 396
St. Georges-de-Boscherville, 19
St. Géours-de-Marenne, 179
St. Germain-en-Laye, 388
St. Germain-en-Laye, Château de, 389
St. Gilles, 283
St. Girons, 247, 248
St. Hilaire, 141
St. Honorat, Île de, 311
St. Honorine, 6, 7
St. Ignatius de Loyola, 212
St. Jean de Luz, 186, 194, 200-202
St. Justin, 173
St. Laurent-des-Eaux, 85
St. Laurent-l’Aigouze, 277
St. Liphard, 83
St. Lizier, 246, 247
St. Maclou, 40
St. Marguerite, Île de, 311
St. Martin Boscherville, 19, 20
” Omonville, 23
” of Tours, 107, 118, 121
St. Martory, 244, 245
St. Maximin, 298
St. Mellon, 28, 29
St. Nicholas-de-Pont-St. Pierre, 415
St. Ours, 127
St. Pé-de-Bigorre, 227
St. Péray, 350
St. Philibert, 17, 18
St. Pierre-le-Moutier, 369
St. Raphaël, 302, 303
St. Rémy, 325, 326
St. Romain, Archbishop of Rouen, 29
St. Romain de Colbosc, 9
St. Sebastian, 263
St. Sennoch, Château de, 133
St. Vallier, 353
” Conte de, 131
St. Victoire, Mont, 293, 297
St. Victrice, 29, 30
St. Vincent-de-Tyrosse, 180
St. Wandrille, 9, 13-15, 17
St. Wulmer, Abbey of, 21
Salat, River, 245
Salon, 290-291
Samer, 21
San Ampeglio, Capo, 322
San Remo, 307, 322
San Sebastian, 215-217
Sangatte, 24
Sanqueville, 21
Sant’ Esteban, 207
Saracens, the, 135, 141
Sarras, 353
Saulce, 340
Saxe, Marshal M. de, 89
Scott, Sir Walter, 409
Seine, River, 4, 7, 11, 14, 18, 19, 28, 44, 288, 291, 292, 293
Selby Abbey, 32
Sénas, 325
Sens, 347
Seyches, 171
Sforza, Ludovic, Duke of Milan, 130
Sichel, E., 97, 232
Sillory, Chancellor, 396
Smollett, Tobias, 313
Sologne, the, 88, 91
Sorel, Agnes, 16, 128, 132
Soubirous, Bernadette, 235-237, 372
Soult, Marshal, 182, 217, 221, 224
Soumoulou, 234
Souppes, 379
Southampton, 4
Stopford, Major-General, 184
Strabo, 290
Syrian castles, 277-412
Tancarville, Raoul de, 19
Tarascon, 327, 328
Tarbes, 234, 237-239
Tartas, 176
Terry, Mr. (of Chenonceaux), 114
Texier, Jean, 65
Thau, Etang-de-, 270
Théoule, 304
Thibaut le Tricheur, 103
Thierry, Bishop, 65
Thomer, 56
Tiberius, Emperor, 338
Tolosa, 239
Tonnere, 347
Torcy-le-Grand, 418
Tôtes, 2
Tournay, 239
Tournon, 351, 352
Tourriers, 159
Tours, 110-127
” Battle of, 135, 136, 141
Tourves, 299
Touvre, River, 151
Trencavel, Vicomtes de, 257, 258
Trianons, Les, 388
Trie-Château, 398
Truyes, 125
Turks, the, 313
Tyre, Archbishop of, 406
Urban II., Pope, 348
” V., Pope, 332
Urrugne, 203
Valence, 348-350
Valescure, 302
Varennes-sur-Allier, 363
Varin, Quentin, 410
Vauban, 6
Velate, Col de, 195, 208, 209
Veliocassians, the, 28
Vence, 309
Vendranges, 360
Ventimiglia, 319, 320
Vera, 217
Versailles, 387
Veuves, 107
Vexin, old province of, 392, 393
Vibraye, Marquis de, 92
Victoria, Queen, 187
Vienne, 346
” River, 134, 135
Vigorce, Simon, Archbishop of Narbonne, 260
Villava, 210
Villefranche, 315
Villeneuve-les-Avignon, 336
Villeneuve, St. Georges, 386
Viollet-le-Duc, 258, 265, 367, 409
Visigoths, the, 118, 243, 257, 259
Vivarais Mountains, 348
Vivonne, 139, 148
Vonne, River, 148
Webster, Dr., 197
Wellington, Duke of, 181, 182, 201, 213, 224, 225
William Longsword, 17, 33
” the Norman, 31
” II. (Rufus), 402
” I., Stadtholder, 340
” III., Prince of Orange, 340
Wimereux Harbour, 25, 26
Winchester Cathedral, 20
Yainville, 18
Ymonville, 73
Young, Arthur, 244, 269
Zurbaran, Francisco, 392
BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD
[Illustration]
[Illustration: MAP TO ACCOMPANY
MOTOR ROUTES OF FRANCE
To the Chateaux of Touraine, Biarritz, The Pyrennes, The Riviera, and
the Rhone Valley By GORDON HOME
Published by A. & C. Black, Soho Square, London.]
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FOOTNOTES:
[A] Although its appearance might suggest otherwise, the writer and
four others (including ladies) were given an excellent dinner, clean
rooms, and every possible attention at this little hotel. The car was
put into a lofty barn at the end of the courtyard.
[B] _Contemporary Review_, September, 1909.
[C] April, 1909.
[D] These towers do not appear to be disused windmills, but, having
omitted to make inquiries locally, the writer is unable to describe
their uses. None of the French topographical writers on this part of
France appear to consider them worthy of comment.
[E] They were an invention of Sir William Congreve in 1803.
[F] Fiona Macleod.
[G] Eagles are not uncommon in the Pyrenees. The writer noticed a large
bird in the Pass of Velate which he took to be an eagle, but owing to
the failing light it was impossible to be certain.
[H] Joanne gives the date 1765, but it is incorrect.
[I] The people in the neighbourhood of Albi were known as the
Albigenses. They were of superior intelligence and education, and
denounced the vices of the priesthood, the sacrifice of the Mass,
Purgatory, and image-worship, and were therefore regarded as heretics.
[J] This is mentioned by Hare and Baedeker, but the writer has not seen
it.
[K] The author would refer the reader to his volume ‘Along the Rivieras
of France and Italy’ (Dent).
[L] 20 fr. Motor Union, 25 fr. Royal Automobile Club.
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