Plate LXXXVII. And LXXXVIII. — Church of the Holy Cross, at St. Lo. (Western Door-Way, and Various Specimens of Sculpture.)
The town of St. Lo is said to owe its origin to the Emperor Charlemagne, and to have been founded by him in the fifth year of the ninth century. It is situated in the western part of Normandy, upon the small river, Vire, about five leagues to the east of Coutances; and at this time it contains nearly seven thousand inhabitants. Old chroniclers relate that the name originally given to the place was Ste Croix; but that, soon after its foundation, it exchanged that appellation for the present, upon being selected as the spot to be honored with the reception of the relics of St. Lo, or, as he is called in Latin, St. Laudus, who was the fifth bishop of Coutances, and presided over that see the greater part of the sixth century. Of the merits of the saint, the miracles he performed both living and dead, and the various places that have, at different times, received his mortal remains, a copious account is given by M. Rouault, in his History of the Bishops of Coutances. It is sufficient, in the present instance, to state, that, upon the translation of the body of St. Lo to the spot now dignified with his name, a magnificent church was built under his invocation; and the town was encompassed with fortifications of great strength, to defend it against the inroads of the Normans. These heathen plunderers had at this time just begun their ravages in Neustria, when, notwithstanding its new walls, St. Lo was soon obliged, in common with the rest of the province, to submit to their sway; and they emptied upon the Christian city the full phials of pagan wrath, by burning it to the ground.
In subsequent, and probably not distant, times, St. Lo was again converted into a place of defence; and mention of it as such repeatedly occurs in the various unquiet periods of French history. Even at the present day, when fortifications in that part of the kingdom have long been neglected, there remain sufficient vestiges of them at St. Lo, to convey the most imposing idea of their original strength, aided as they must have been, by their situation upon the summit of a lofty and inaccessible rock.—St. Lo was one of the last towns in Lower Normandy that opened their gates to the victorious arms of the Empress Maude: it remained unshaken in its allegiance till 1142, only two years before the death of the English monarch.—In the third year of the following century, it surrendered without bloodshed to Philip-Augustus, then on his march towards the capture of Mount St. Michael; nor does it appear to have offered more than a trifling resistance to Edward III. by whom it was taken in 1346. Froissart, upon that occasion, gives the following details relative to the English army, as well as to the state of the town and its capture:—“The King of England and Prince of Wales had, in their battalion, about three thousand men at arms, six thousand archers, and ten thousand infantry, without counting those that were under the marshals; and they marched in the manner I have before mentioned, burning and destroying the country, but without breaking their line of battle. They did not turn towards Coutances, but advanced to St. Lo, in Coutantin, which, in those days, was a very rich and commercial town, and worth three such towns as Coutances. In the town of St. Lo was much drapery, and many wealthy inhabitants; among them you might count eight or nine score that were engaged in commerce. When the King of England was come near the town, he encamped: he would not lodge in it for fear of fire. He sent, therefore, his advanced guard forward, who soon conquered it at a trifling loss, and completely plundered it. No one can imagine the quantity of riches they found in it, nor the number of bales of cloth. If there had been any purchasers, they might have bought them at a cheap rate.”
In 1379, when the English arms, during the minority of the second Richard, obtained in France an ephemeral superiority, St. Lo was the only town in the Côtentin, except Carentan, which the French monarch considered of sufficient strength to justify him in entrusting it with a garrison.—It was taken by the English, under Henry V. in 1418; and was again restored to the French, by capitulation, thirty-one years subsequently.—In the beginning of the following tumultuous reign, St. Lo and Valognes were appointed as the places of residence for Clarence and Warwick, and the other leaders of the Lancastrian party; after their short-lived success, in favor of the deposed Henry, had been followed by their own utter defeat, and the final discomfiture of their hopes.
During the religious wars of the sixteenth century, St. Lo was once more so unfortunate as to act a prominent part. Early in the troubles, it distinguished itself by a decided devotion to the cause of Protestantism; and, though often obliged, by the current of affairs, to yield a reluctant submission to the opposite party, it continued throughout the whole of the struggle, unshaken in its attachment to the Huguenots. Hence, when finally summoned to surrender to the Catholics, in 1574, it rather chose to expose itself to all the miseries of a siege, as well as to the still greater one of being taken by assault; and the severity of its sufferings is recorded by the historians of the conquering party, who themselves admit, that “it was sacked with a horrible carnage.”195 Its Protestant places of worship were not, however, finally rased, till 1685, the period of the revocation of the edict of Nantes.
St. Lo was the seat of an abbey of Augustine friars, said to have been founded in the middle of the twelfth century, and to have been of such celebrity, that, according to Quercetanus, the bishops of Coutances were contented for a time to be styled bishops of St. Lo.196The principal church in the place, that of Notre Dame, greatly resembles the cathedral of Coutances, of which it is even said to be a copy. It was not begun to be built till the period of English rule in Normandy, during the fifteenth century. The older, or clock-tower, was erected in 1430: the opposite tower and western entrance, in 1464. Other parts of it were not completed till the following century; and the northern spire is a work of as late a period as 1685.
The very ancient church of Ste Croix, (the subject of these plates,) was connected with the abbey, of which little now remains. There is a tradition in the town, that it was once a temple of Ceres; and such traditions, however uncritical or even absurd, deserve to be noticed, as generally originating in a confused knowledge of the remote date of the building to which they are attached. In the opinion of M. de Gerville, a portion, at least, of the church, belongs to the edifice raised by Charlemagne, in 805. The actual erection of such an edifice, and its dedication to the holy cross, are facts distinctly stated in the Neustria Pia: its identity with the present church does not appear to be doubted, either by Du Monstier, or the Abbé de Billy, the historian of St. Lo. At the same time, neither the one nor the other of these writers was ignorant of the positive assertion in the Gesta Normannorum, that, under those successful invaders—“Sancti Laudi castrum, interfectis habitatoribus, terræ æquatum est.” But, in opposition to this, M. de Gerville contends that, either this strong assertion is to be received with a certain degree of latitude, or that, by the word castrum, is to be understood only the citadel; so that, while that was destroyed, the domestic and religious edifices were suffered to escape. He even thinks that the parts of the building ascribable to the period of the Carlovingian dynasty, may be distinguished by a practised eye, from the reparations of the eleventh century. He traces them especially in the western front, in its door-way, (plate eighty-seven) and in some herring-bone masonry, observable over a narrow circular-headed window towards the south. But he founds his opinion still more upon the bas-relief, representing the Deity attended by angels, (plate eighty-eight, fig. B.) now built into the wall at the end of the nave, on the south side. The character of the sculpture and the form of the letters appear to him to be almost decisive. With regard to the latter, he observes;—“it is well known that the Roman characters were restored by Charlemagne, especially after he had been proclaimed emperor. This fact is sufficiently attested by the various monuments still left us of his time, as well as by the coins which were struck in the latter part of his reign, and during that of Louis le Débonnaire. Elegance and simplicity in the shape of the letters, characterized the writing of this epoch; and the latter, at least, of these qualities, is eminently to be found in the inscription at St. Lo. On the other hand, correct orthography was not equally one of the excellencies of the age.”
Pursuing the subject yet farther, M. de Gerville gives it as his opinion, that the different epochs in the architecture, commonly designated as Norman, may be determined with some degree of precision; and he thinks he can trace, in several churches of the vicinity, an evident imitation of this at St. Lo; while he regards the superior antiquity of the latter decisively established by the sculpture over the western entrance; by the medallion of the Deity, already noticed; and by several of the capitals of the interior; particularly those that have reference to the legends of St. Eloy, (plate eighty-eight, fig. F.) and St. Hubert, (fig. D.), both at that period quite recent; and two of the others, (fig C. and E.) in the latter of which, the devil is roasting unfortunate sinners, while the former, exhibiting the psychostasia, affords a graphic illustration of two lines of the well-known hymn of the Roman Catholic church:—
“Statera facta corporis,
Prædamque tulit Tartari.”
In the western front of the church of Ste Croix have been inserted, above the door-way, three windows of the earliest pointed style. The whole of the sculpture over the architraves of the arch, is, both in its design and execution, curious. The knotted serpents, terminating at either end in heads of devils; the two men tugging at rings, attached to a chain twisted round the neck of a decapitated demon, whom, two dogs are baying; and the structure of the chain itself, are all peculiar; and scarcely less so is the medallion below.197—The church ends at the east with a large circular arch, which is now closed, and has always been so since the memory of man; but probably, at some former time, it led into a chancel or sanctuary. There is a south transept, which terminates in a similar arch: the arches of the nave, which are likewise circular, are each of them surrounded with a double architrave of the zig-zag moulding: the capitals to the pillars supporting these arches, Mr. Cotman considers as being for the greater part of the best class of Norman sculpture. He has selected for engraving those that are most rude: the others commonly exhibit broad interlaced bands, foliage, and fruits. The abaci, too, though they are in general plain, are in some instances enriched with similar sculpture, as in the churches of Grâville, of Cerisy, and of the Holy Trinity at Caen. In the clerestory, over every arch below, were originally two smaller semi-circular-headed arches; but these are now closed, and their place is occupied by a single, narrow, pointed window, that opens into a large recess. The corbels without, (plate eighty-eight, fig. A.) may bear a comparison, in point of singularity, with those of any other Norman church. The sacred emblem of the Christian faith, the wimpled nun, the whiskered Saxon, and the wolf, the scourge of Neustria, are found among them, side by side with the Atlas and Cyclops of heathen mythology; and, as if the legends of Rome and Greece could not furnish sufficient subjects for the sculptor’s chisel, he appears to have extended his researches into the more remote regions, bordering upon the Nile, and thence to have imported a rude imitation of the Egyptian head, and one still more rude, of the mystic Scarabæus.
Footnotes
195 St. Lo was then commanded by M. Colombieres, who was so resolute in the cause, that, rather than surrender, he placed himself in the middle of the breach, with his two young sons, on either side of him, each holding a javelin in his hand, and then awaited the attack, exhorting his children to perish bravely, rather than be left to infidels and apostates. The Catholic army was headed by M. de Matignon, who had, on a former occasion, distinguished himself by his lenity towards the inhabitants of the place. The lordship of St. Lo, with the title of a barony, continued in his family as late as the year 1722, when Masseville published his History of Normandy.
196 For the following details, and indeed the greater part of the remainder of this article, the author has to express his obligations to M. de Gerville, whose kind assistance, throughout the whole of the work, cannot be too often, or too distinctly, acknowledged.
197 The bas-relief upon this medallion represents the most impressive of the miracles connected with the history of St. Lo, and one that was performed at the very moment when he was about to enter upon the duties of his episcopacy, to which, by a manifest interposition of the Deity, he had been elected at the early age of twelve years. Rouault, in his Abrégé de la Vie des Evêques de Coutances, p. 81, gives the following details respecting it; and his account, which is curious, is here inserted, as adding probability to the opinion of M. de Gerville, that this medallion at least belonged to the original structure, whatever may be thought of the rest of the church.—“Comme l’élection et la consécration de S. Lo avoient été miraculeuses, Dieu fit voir par des signes qui n’étoient pas moins surprenants que tout s’étoit fait selon sa volonté: car à la première entrée que le jeune Prélat fit dans son Eglise, la divine Puissance voulut prouver à St. Gildard, aux autres Prélats qui étoient encore presents, et à toute l’Eglise de Coûtances, que tout ce qu’ils avoient fait lui étoit très-agréable. Ce qui fut confirmé par un Miracle des plus éclatans dans la personne d’une Femme aveugle née, qui s’étant faite conduire à la porte de la Cathédrale, y attendoit le nouvel Evêque, dans l’esperance de recevoir la vüe par son intercession. En effet, lorsqu’elle apprit qu’il approchoit, elle le conjura à haute voix de lui faire voir la lumiere. Le Saint frappé d’une telle demande en rougit, et crut que c’étoit tenter Dieu que d’attendre de lui des Miracles. Mais cette pauvre femme ne cessant de crier comme l’Aveugle de l’Evangile, le Saint poussa un profond soupir, et ayant plus d’égard à la foi de la suppliante qu’à son propre mérite, il invoqua le secours du saint Esprit, fit avec confiance le signe de la croix sur les yeux de l’Aveugle, et au même instant la vüe lui fut renduë à la grande admiration de tous les assistans, qui bénirent et remerciérent Dieu de leur avoir donné un Pasteur qui prouvoit sa vocation par un si grand Miracle, en reconnoissance duquel on éleva au même lieu deux Statuës, l’une de Saint Lo, et l’autre de la femme guérie, telles qu’on les voit encore aujourd’hui au Portail de l’Eglise, où on a aussi conservé fort soigneusement la Pierre sur laquelle étoit Saint Lo lorsqu’il opera ce Miracle. C’est encore sur elle que les Seigneurs Evêques de Coûtances s’arrêtent à leur premiere entrée, pour faire les sermens et promesses accoutumées en pareille Céremonie, et qu’ils y reçoivent les complimens et applaudissemens de la Ville, pour conserver la mémoire d’un si grand Miracle.”