BURGUNDY: THE
SPLENDID DUCHY
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
IMPRESSIONS OF PROVENCE. FOOLSCAP QUARTO, 12/6 NET
SONGS OF OLD FRANCE. CROWN 8VO. 6/- NET
LONDON: FRANCIS GRIFFITHS
MONT BEUVRAY.
Frontispiece
BURGUNDY: THE
SPLENDID DUCHY
STORIES AND SKETCHES IN SOUTH BURGUNDY
BY
PERCY ALLEN
AUTHOR OF "IMPRESSIONS OF PROVENCE" ETC.
Fully illustrated with eight water-colour and 86 line drawings
by Miss Marjorie Nash
LONDON
FRANCIS GRIFFITHS
34 MAIDEN LANE, STRAND, W.C.
1912
TO M.
PREFACE
I have to thank very cordially my friend, Monsieur François Fertiault, for his kindness in permitting me to make use of the valuable material comprised in his charming books upon rural Burgundy; and I have also to thank M. A. de Charmasse and his publisher, M. Dejussieu, of Autun, for placing at my disposal the information contained in that author's Précis Historique to "Autun et ses Monuments" and in the archeological portion of the same work, written by the late M. H. de Fontenay, a book which I recommend to those who wish to study fully the stones of that interesting city.
I have also to acknowledge the kindness of Mm. Mame & Fils, of Tours, in granting permission to translate the Burgundian legends, "Le Creux du Diable," "Le Puits de St. Martin," and "L'Abbaye de Ste. Marguerite," by the late Abbé B——, published by that house: also the courtesy of M. Gabriel Hanotaux, of the French Academy, and of his publishers, Messrs. Hachette, of Paris, in permitting the reproduction of a portrait of Philippe le Bon (p. 191) from his recent work on Jeanne d'Arc. My thanks are due, too, to M. Perrault-Dabot, who kindly allows me to make use of the engraving of Cluny (p. 72) from his work "L'Art en Bourgogne."
If the support given to this volume on South Burgundy justifies me in doing so, I hope, before very long, to follow it by a second, dealing with the northern part of the duchy.
Among the works consulted in writing this book are the following:—
LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED
THE DATES REFER TO THE EDITION MADE USE OF
Olivier de la Marche
"Mémoires"
1819
Olivier de la Marche
"Le Chevalier délibère."
1842
C. R. de Caumont de la Force
"Histoire secrète de la Bourgogne"
1694
Brugière de Barante
"Histoire des Ducs de Bourgogne de la Maison de Valois"
1825-6
Ernest Petit
"Histoire des Ducs de Bourgogne, de la Race Capétienne" 9 vols.
1835-1905
Dom Urbain Plancher
"Histoire Générale de la Bourgogne." 4 vols.
1739-81
Philippe de Comines
"Chroniques", etc. 5 vols.
Claude Courtépée
"Voyages en Bourgogne"
1905
Claude Courtépée
"Description du Duché de Bourgogne"
1775-85
A. Kleinclausz
"Histoire de la Bourgogne."
1909
A. Kleinclausz
"Régions de la France; La Bourgogne"
Francis Miltoun
"Castles and Châteaux of Old Burgundy"
1909
Sir G. F. Duckett (Bart.)
"Abbey of Cluny"; 1839 "Charters and Records"
1888
P. Lorrain
"Essai Historique sur L'Abbaye de Cluny"
J. Pignot
"Histoire de L'Ordre de Cluny" 3 vols.
1868
A. Penjon
"Cluny; La Ville et L'Abbaye"
Cistercian Monk
"A Concise History of the Cistercian Order"
1852
H. Collins
"The Cistercian Fathers"
M. T. Ratisbonne
"Histoire de Saint Bernard"
1843
G. Chevallier
"Histoire de St. Bernard"
1888
François Fertiault
"Rimes Bourguignonnes"
1899
François Fertiault
"Histoire d'un Chant Populaire Bourguignon"
1883
François Fertiault
"En Bourgogne; Récits Villageois"
1898
François Fertiault
"Une Noce d'Autrefois en Bourgogne"
1892
François Fertiault
"Le Cher Petit Pays"
1903
A. Perrault-Dabot
"L'Art en Bourgogne"
1897
A. Perrault-Dabot
"Le Patois Bourguignon"
P. G. Hamerton
"Round my House"
P. G. Hamerton
"The Mount"
1897
H. de Fontenay
}
"Autun et ses Monuments"
1889
and
}
A. de Charmasse
}
"Autun et ses Monuments, Précis Historique"
1889
Joseph Déchelette
"Guide des Monuments D'Autun"
1907
Joseph Déchelette
"L'Oppidum de Bibracte"
Alphonse Germain
"Les Néerlandais en Bourgogne"
1909
M. L'Abbé B——
"Légendes Bourguignonnes"
1872
M. L'Abbé B——
"Tebsima"
1872
Lettres d'Abailard et d'Héloise; Nouveau receuil, etc.
1720
Matthew Arnold's Poems
1885
Jules Baux
"Richesses Historiques et Archéologiques sur L'Eglise de Brou"
1844
Camille Jullian
"Vercingetorix"
1902
Camille Jullian
"Histoire de Gaule"
1908
Camille Jullian
"Tableau sommaire de la Gaule sous la domination romaine."
1892
S. Cambray
"Lamartine; A Study"
1890
Lamartine
"Confidences; A Study"
1849
Lamartine
"Le Tailleur de Pierre de Saint Point; A Study"
1851
Michelet
"Histoire de France"
Viollet-le-Duc
"Dictionnaire Raisonné"
INTRODUCTION
Although the history of Burgundy is intimately connected with that of England—the policy of the Valois Dukes, for example, affected profoundly our national destinies during the hundred years' war—the average English reader's knowledge of the subject is contained within the four corners of a wine list. He knows Beaune—knows the name well, as that of a drinkable brand, may have blessed it in his heart, when a ray from the shaded lamp shot through its ruby depths. If by any chance he loves Meredith, he may, even, under its kindly influence, have whispered to his fair partner, Dr. Middleton's phrase: "Burgundy has great genius; Burgundy sings the inspired ode." But should his lady slip in a question concerning this ruddy heartener of man, he could not answer; he would stumble between the Côte d'Azur and the Côte d'Or.
Not another town of Burgundy could he name. Dijon he knows, and remembers; because there he scalded his throat with hot coffee, gulped down, at three in the morning, on the way home from the Riviera; or, bound for Switzerland, he may have passed through the town. But he does not know Dijon as a Burgundian Capital, nor as a proud city of royal palaces and unrivalled sculpture. At most, when he hears the duchy named, there floats through his mind a shadowy memory of Henry V., or of King Lear.[1]
Yet Burgundy was the scene of events vital in the making of Europe. It was one of the strongholds of Roman civilization. It saw the genesis of a religious movement that was the greatest feature of eleventh and twelfth century history.
That Power, when it had passed from the great monastic houses, fell later, in a modified form, to the Valois Dukes. Safely housed in Dijon, or in Bruges, ruling a people sheltered, to some extent, from the appalling disasters that were transforming the fair kingdom of France into a howling wilderness, they kept a more than royal state. Gathering about their persons a great company of distinguished artists and valiant knights, they established a school of sculpture unmatched in their time; they held pageants and tournaments the most brilliant that chivalry had ever seen.
Headstrong and ambitious, they challenged the crown of France, and defied it; they dreamed dreams of a Burgundian empire extending eastward beyond the Alps and northward to the Channel.
'Tis true that these ambitions were never sated. The house of Valois had not the constructive mind of which empire is begotten: moreover, Destiny, and Louis XI., were too strong for them. But the glorious tale of ducal efforts towards that goal outshines all other sunset splendours of dying mediævalism.
When I think of what might be made of such a theme, I could tear these pages, because my best is not better.
Yet history does not end the attractions of Burgundy. It only begins them. Nature, too, has her pageant "in this best garden of the world," she will hold you here, whether you choose the delicious, poplar-fringed plains of the Saône, the "waterish" Burgundy that the French king sneers at in "Lear"—he would have gloried in the land had it been his own—or the stern and silent hills of the Jura and the Morvan; or the vine-clad slopes of sunny Côte d'Or.
But, best of all, this land and its people have a character wholly their own. You will not feel here the twilight melancholy of Celtic Brittany; the quivering, electric atmosphere of romantic Provence; nor the passionate intensity of dark Languedoc; but you will find a country well typified by its wines, its sculpture, its architecture—a solid, ample, full-bodied, full-blooded land; a people strong and vivacious, concealing, beneath a somewhat harsh and stern exterior, a cheerful heart and an abundant generosity; comfortable, courageous, eloquent, sonorous folk, that love a good dinner, and a good story to follow, that have produced a Bernard, a Bossuet, and a Lamartine.
The key to this Burgundian character, with its blend of Gallic, Latin, and German elements, the key to Burgundian history, too, is the geographical position of the country. Its great water-ways flow northward, by the Yonne, to the English Channel, and southward, by the Saône, to the Mediterranean and the traffic of the East; along its valleys run the great trading roads and railways connecting northern and southern, eastern and western Europe. With the exception of the Jura, no natural barriers exist between Burgundy and the adjoining lands. It was open at all quarters; from every point of the compass it borrowed, and it lent. Michelet's visionary thought has summed up, in a splendid phrase, the secret of Burgundy. He says, speaking of the country round Dijon: "La France n'a pas d'élément plus liant, plus capable de réconcilier le nord et le midi."
There you have it. To reconcile the bitter antagonisms of north and south, and, in a lesser degree, of east and west, was Burgundy's destiny; the geographical position that enabled her to do so was at once the source of her greatness, and the cause of her fall. While she remained independent, unity was impossible for France; and England's peace was imperilled by irresistible temptations to attack a weakened neighbour.
In writing this book, I have endeavoured, as far as possible, to preserve historical continuity. That must be my excuse for geographical flights which, else, might bewilder my readers.
My hope is that these pages may awaken, here and there, lasting interest in a land that, whether for varied scenery, sunny climate, good living, characteristic architecture, or, above all, historical associations of the first importance, can hold its own with any other ancient province of France.
Footnotes:
[1] Henry V., Act V., Scene 2; King Lear, Act I., Scene 1.
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I
BENEATH THE MOUNT
The Hiring at St. Léger—Distant Beuvray—Fun of the Fair—A mad wolf—Legends of the Mount—Gaulish Bibracte—St. Martin at Beuvray—La Pierre de la Wivre—Legend of the Wivern—The Curé of Monthelon
1
CHAPTER II
THE ROMAN CITY
A Suffering Cow—Temple of Janus—The Aedui—Druids—Divitiacus and Dumnorix—Vercingetorix—The Founding of Augustodunum—Pierre de Couhard—Francis I. at Couhard—The Plan of Augustodunum—Temple of Janus—Restoration—Origin of the Name—Roman Gates—Porte d'Arroux—Porte St. André—Date of Construction—Porte des Marbres—Vagaries of Peasant guides
11
CHAPTER III
THE ROMAN CITY (Continued)
French Passion for Statues—Roman Temple at Autun—Ecoles Méniennes—The Capitol—The Roman Theatre—Two Ways of Lunching—Promenade des Marbres—The Amphitheatre
31
CHAPTER IV
THE ROMAN CITY (Continued)
Christian Autun—Relics of Lazarus—Translation of the Relics—Tomb of Lazarus—Exterior of Cathedral St. Lazare—The Porch—The Interior—Romanesque and Gothic—The East End—Imbecile Restorations—The Capital—St. Symphorien by Ingres—Story of St. Symphorien—Fontaine St. Lazare—Hotel Rolin—The Museums—Napoleon at the Hotel St. Louis—No
41
CHAPTER V
THE MOTHER ABBEY
Cluny and Citeaux—Cluny still the Abbey—The Birth of Cluny—Duke William's Anathema—Odon—Legend of the Crumbs—Legend of the Boar—Growth of Cluny—Birth of Hugues—St. Odilon—Hildebrand—Glory of Cluny—The Monk's Vision—The new Abbey—Consecration—Gifts—Description of New Cluny—The Narthex—The Interior—Conventual Buildings—Ambulatorium Angelorum—The Rule of Cluny—Monkish life at Cluny—Pierre Damien—Death of St. Hugues—Luxury and Decadence
59
CHAPTER VI
THE MOTHER ABBEY (Continued)
Cluny of To-day—Palace of Pope Gélase—The remaining Transept—Chapelle Bourbon—Tour du Moulin—Tour des Fromages—Gate of the Narthex—The Abbey Gate—Notable Visitors to Cluny—Palais abbatial—Musée—Hotel de Ville—Romanesque Houses—Hotel des Monnaies—Eglise St. Marcel—Hotel Dieu—Bouillon Monument—Prud'hon—Women of Burgundy—Hotel de Bourgogne—An amusing Evening—A Dream—Berzé-le-Châtel—Castle of Lourdon—St. Point—A Poet's Garden—Lamartine's Home—Tramaye
86
CHAPTER VII
MORE POPE THAN YOU
Decadent Cluny—Birth of St. Robert—Abbey of Molême—The Founding of Citeaux—White Robes—Black Scapular—Stephen's Vision—The Coming of St. Bernard—His Appearance—Legend of His Birth—Bernard converts his Family—Bernard a Cistercian—His Austerities—Rise of Citeaux—Daughter Abbeys—Ceremony of Foundation—Character of Bernard—Cistercian Ideals—Self-sacrifice—Simplicity—Bernard's Letter to Pierre le Vénérable—Visitors to Citeaux—Albigensian Crusade—Citeaux's Crime—A Cistercian Site—Citeaux to-day—The Chapter—My Flemish Guide
111
CHAPTER VIII
CLUNY'S DAUGHTER
Monkish Paray—"Une Simple Formalité"—Burgundian Manners—Clothes and the Woman—Hotel de Ville—Church of Paray—Splendid Example of Clunisian School—"Diorama-Musée"—Burgundian English—North Door—Porch—Interior—Blasphemy and kindred Matters—A very young Mule—A Snake-charmer
127
CHAPTER IX
HER THREE CROWNS
Chalon-Sur-Saône—River Pageants—Gontran—Abbey of St. Marcel—The Story of Bertille
136
CHAPTER X
ABELARD AND HELOISE
Church of St. Marcel—Story of Abélard and Héloise—Olivier de la Marche—Tournament of la Dame des Pleurs—Tournament of 1273—Modern Chalon-Sur-Saône—Eglise St. Vincent
145
CHAPTER XI
TOURNUS BY THE SAONE
Abbey of St. Philibert—Oldest Clunisian Porch—Interior of St. Philibert—A Change of Author—The Record of Raoul Glaber—Raoul's Visions—Famine in Burgundy—Human Vampires—In a Tournusian Café—"Au Point du Jour"—Greuze—Morning and Evening on the Saône—Mâcon
160
CHAPTER XII
THE VALLEY OF THE OUCHE
A Page of Dialogue—Castle of Marigny—Legend of Tebsima—Albéric—Labussière—Albéric's Dream—Aid from Citeaux—The new Church—Modern Labussière—A magnificent Mansion—Antigny-le-Chatel—A Vigneron's Wedding—Arnay-le-Duc—Study in Roofs and Colours—A charming Town—The Goats—The Poor Man—The Hotel Chrétien—Around Arnay
173
CHAPTER XIII
THE CITY OF THE DUKES
Unknown Dijon—The City in 1364—Philip le Hardi—His jewelled Coats—The Madness of the Period—Costume of that Day—Madness of King Charles—Philip's Patronage of Art—Chartreuse de Champmol—Puits de Moise—Portal of the Chapel—Claus Slater and his Nephew—Tombs of Philip le Hardi and Jean sans Peur—The Pleurants—Character of Jean sans Peur—Murder of Duke of Orleans—Whitewashing—Armagnacs and Burgundians Revenge
184
CHAPTER XIV
CITY OF THE DUKES (Continued)
Salle des Gardes—Dijon Castle—A new Post-Office—Final Struggle between Charles le Téméraire and Louis XI—Characters of both Men—Defeats and Death of Charles—Discovery of the Body—Victorious René—Louis' Joy—New Castles—Entry into Dijon—End of Burgundian Dreams—Modern Dijon—St. Bénigne—St. Michel—Notre Dame Jacquemart—Ducal Palace and Kitchen—Sketching—Palais de Justice—Plombières—Talant—Fontaine-lez-Dijon—Memories of
203
CHAPTER XV
THE DEVIL'S PIT
Easter Morning—Lux—The Devil's Pit—Dialogue—The Legend—Serve him right!
221
CHAPTER XVI
BEAUNE AND THE COTE D'OR
"Bits" in Beaune—Notre Dame—Hotel Dieu—An Earthly Paradise—Exterior—Courtyard—Chapel—Devices—Roger Van der Weyden's "Last Judgment"—Nicholas Rolin—Guigonne
230
CHAPTER XVII
SAINT MARTIN'S WELL AND THE LEGEND OF SAINT MARGUERITE
Bouilland—Abbey of Sainte Marguerite—The Legend—Vineyards of the Côte d'Or—Meursault—Rochepot—Story of Philippe Pot—Crusader's Return—His Marriage at Dijon—Tant L Vaut—A Talk at Auxey-le-Grand—Through Côte d'Or by Train—Cussy-la-Colonne—Bewitched—The Column—A Democratic Journey—St. Martin's Well—Legend of St. Martin's Well
237
CHAPTER XVIII
IN RURAL BURGUNDY
The Road to Verdun—Burgundian Folk-song, "Eho!"—Its Story—Verdun sur le Doubs—The First of March—Burgundian Folk-Lore—Teillage—Winter Scene—An old-time Burgundian Wedding—The Patois—François Fertiault Rolin—Guigonne
258
CHAPTER XIX
A LAKE IN THE JURA
Swiss Burgundy—Scenes in the Jura—Nantua from the Hills—Real Burgundy—A capable Woman—Church of Nantua
272
CHAPTER XX
PRINCESS MARGARET'S CHURCH
Bourg-en-Bresse—Signs of the South—Conveyances—Monument Historique—Cezenat—Princess Margaret's Church—Exterior—Interior—Story of Princess Margaret—-Loys von Boghen—Death of Margaret—The Meaning of her Church—The Tombs—Paradin's Chronique de Savoie—Francis I. at Bourg
276
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Mont Beuvray
Frontispiece
A Gaulish Soldier
1
On Mont Beuvray
7
The Wivern
10
The Porte St. André
11
Autun; shewing Cathedral and Mediæval Towers
17
Autun; Pierre de Couhard
19
Autun; Temple of Janus
23
Autun; Porte d'Arroux
25
Burgundian Peasant
30
Head of Augustus
31
Autun; Mediæval Towers
35
A Burgundian Welcome
38
Masks of Comedy and Tragedy
Roman Vine Ornament
41
St. Lazarus; from the Porch of Autun Cathedral
46
Autun; Fontaine St. Lazare
Facing 50
Autun; Tour des Ursulines
52
Cluny Abbey and Gateway, as they were
59
Cluny; Valley of the Grosne and part of the Abbey Grounds
62
Cluny; Tour Fabri
64
Clunisian Ornament
67
God reproving Adam; from a capital of the Abbey of Cluny
70
Cluny Abbey, as it was at the beginning of XIXth Century (by permission of M. Perrault-Dabot)
72
Cluny; Clocher de l'Eau Bénite
78
Cluny; ruined Gate of the Narthex
81
A Jewelled Crucifix
85
Early Clunisian Ornament
86
Cluny; Tour des Fromages
87
Cluny; Gateway of the Abbey
90
Cluny; Hotel de Ville
92
Cluny; Pascal Lamb; twelfth century
93
Cluny; Hôtel des Monnaies, twelfth century
96
Ornament
99
Cluny; a Capital from the Abbey
102
Château de Berzé
104
Château de Lourdon
106
House of Lamartine
110
St. Bernard
111
St. John: Burgundian School
119
Justice and Truth
126
Paray-le-Monial; the Church
127
Two Priests
128
Paray-le-Monial; North Door of the Church
Gontran and Bertille
136
Her Three Crowns
144
Abélard and Héloïse
145
Beaune; Maison Colombier
Facing 150
Chalon-Sur-Saône; Maison de Bois
159
The Saône near Tournus
160
A Street in Tournus
162
Tournus; the Abbey
170
By the Saône
172
Antigny-le-Chatel
173
Arnay-le-Duc; Corner House, sixteenth century
181
Arnay-le-Duc; Tour de la Motte Forte
Facing 182
Dijon
184
Dijon: at the Café
187
Moses; from the Puits de Moïse, Dijon
189
Philippe le Bon, Duke of Burgundy
191
A Corner of the Tomb of Philippe le Hardi
193
Pleurants from the Tomb of Philippe le Hardi
194
Dijon; Corner of the Place des Ducs
197
Pleurant
199
Ornament
200
Sword
202
Dijon: Decorated windows of the Maison Milsand
203
Dijon Museum; Woman at Prayer
204
Dijon; a Street
Facing 208
Dijon; Door of Eglise St. Michel
211
Dijon; A Font in the Eglise St. Michel
212
Sculpture; Notre Dame de Dijon
213
Dijon; Well outside the Duke's Kitchen
214
Vine Ornament
215
218
Ornament
219
Arbre Charlemagne
220
The Three Huntsmen
221
Through the Forest
225
Vine Ornament
230
Beaune; Belfry of the Hospice de la Charité
231
Beaune; Porch of Notre Dame
Facing 232
Beaune; Courtyard of the Hôtel Dieu
235
Star Ornament
236
Saint Martin and Saint Margaret
237
Ruins of St. Margaret's Abbey
239
La Rochepot
241
Beaune: Porch of the Hôtel-Dieu
Facing 242
Tomb of Philippe Pot
245
Taking his Ease
247
Roman Column at Cussy
251
Valley of Nantoux
254
St. Martin Preaching
257
Burgundian Ox-cart
258
In Rural Burgundy
261
Junction of Rivers Doubs and Saône
263
Oxen ploughing
Facing 264
Burgundian Cottage
267
Château de Moux
270
Nantua and the Lake
272
Nantua from the Hill
274
Princess Margaret's Tomb
276
Bourg; in the Street
278
Eglise de Brou: Ste. Madeleine from the Tomb of Marguerite d'Autriche
287
Eglise de Brou: Ornament from the Tomb of Marguerite d'Autriche
290
Princess Marguerite d'Autriche
292
Sketch Map of South Burgundy
293