Her Cathedrals

A Study in the Twelfth
and Thirteenth Centuries

By

ELIZABETH BOYLE Q'REILLY

Honorary Member of the Société Française d'Archéologie
Author of "Heroic Spain" Etc.

Illustrated With Drawings By

A. PAUL DE LESLIE

ΑΛΛΗΛΟΙΣ

HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS

NEW YORK AND LONDON

HOW FRANCE BUILT HER CATHEDRALS

Copyright, 1921, by Harper & Brothers
Printed in the United States of America
A-W

I.

II.

INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE?
Gothic architecture the logical fulfillment of Romanesque Origin of
Romanesque architecture-Romanesque basilicas modified by the
liturgy-Horrors of the IX and X centuries in France-Rebirth of
the builders' energy after the year 1000-Cluny, the civilizing force
of the X and XI centuries-Various regional Romanesque schools of
France Normandy, Burgundy, Auvergne, Poitou, Languedoc,
Provence, and the Franco-Picard school-Birth of Gothic art-An
undecided question where the first diagonal-crossing ribs were used
-Germany's and Italy's claims-Claim of England-The Ile-de-
France Picard region, the classic land of Gothic-Gothic architecture
not a layman's revolt against monkish Romanesque The architects
of the Gothic cathedrals-No heretical tendencies in Gothic sculpture
-Origin of the term Gothic--XVII- and XVIII-century scorn for
Gothic architecture-Modern French school of medieval archæology.

ABBOT SUGER AND ST. DENIS-EN-FRANCE
Evolution from Romanesque to Gothic-St. Denis' abbatial, the first
important Gothic monument-Some early-Gothic churches in the
Ile-de-France-Morienval, the first Gothic-vaulted ambulatory
extant (c. 1122)-Church of St. Etienne, at Beauvais (c. 1120)—
St. Germer-en-Flay built from 1150 to 1175, yet less advanced than
St. Denis-Poissy's church of St. Louis (c. 1135)—How Abbot Suger
built his abbey church at St. Denis-St. Denis' school of glass-
making, the leader for fifty years-Dedication of St. Denis on June
11, 1144, consecrated the national art-Who Suger was and how
St. Bernard converted him-What is left of the abbey church which
Suger built-Reconstruction of St. Denis by St. Louis, 1231 to 1280
-Pierre de Montereau, its architect-Tombs in St. Denis' abbatial
-Deviation of the axis not symbolic-Some happenings in St. Denis
during the XII and XIII centuries-Charles Péguy's verses, linking
St. Denis, St. Geneviève, and Jeanne d'Arc.

III. PRIMARY GOTHIC CATHEDRALS

Cathedral of Noyon, first built of Gothic cathedrals (c. 1150)-Noyon's
communal charter, the first of known date, 1109-Cathedral's nave,
a vessel of most perfect proportion-Exceptional among French
cathedrals, its transept's rounded ends-Noyon has retained its an-
nexes-Its chapter house, built about 1240-Noyon city destroyed,
1918-Cathedral still stands.

Cathedral of Senlis, second of the Gothic cathedrals, begun about 1153–
Sculpture at Senlis' west portal (c. 1180) marks a date in imagery-

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16

43

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CHAP.

IV.

Cathedral tower, the "pride of the Valois land"-Transept's façades
of the best Flamboyant Gothic art-What the World War did to
Senlis.
Cathedral of Sens, begun about 1160-Sens' ancient see, governed by
notable men in the XII and XIII centuries-How they found out
who was the architect of the cathedral-St. Thomas Becket in Sens,
1164, and again from 1166 to 1170-St. Louis married in Sens
Cathedral, 1234-Glory of Sens' stained glass.

Cathedral of Laon, begun about 1160-Fallacy of the "town-hall"
theory-Cathedral of springtime foliage Oxen on Laon's towers-
Origin of the square east end of Laon Cathedral-Laon's communal
struggle-Famous XII-century school of Anselm de Laon-Laon
city shelled by the French, but its cathedral unhurt.

Cathedral of Soissons almost a ruin-Desolation of Soissons in World
War-Soissons' southern arm of transept ends in a hemicycle (c. 1180)
-Is the most exquisite thing in France-The crusading bishop-
builder, Nivelon de Chérisy.

Some important Primary Gothic churches: Abbatial of St. Remi at
Rheims (c. 1170)-Its superb XII-century glass wrecked in the
World War-Abbatial of Notre Dame at Châlons-sur-Marne (c. 1160)
-Pioneer in fenestration-First to use pillars between chapels and
ambulatory-Church of St. Quiriace at Provins (c. 1160)—Provins,
residence of the counts of Champagne—Its international fairs fre-
quented by medieval Europe-Collegiate of St. Yved, at Braine
(c. 1200), between Primary Gothic and the Era of Great Cathedrals
-Individual plan of its choir-chapels St. Leu d'Esserent, on the
Oise, the best type of the small churches in the classic Ile-de-France
-Its forechurch shows transition work (c. 1150)-Primary Gothic
work to be found at Etampes, Vendôme, Fécamp, Rouen, Lisieux,
Angers, Mantes, Paris.

NOTRE DAME OF PARIS AND OTHER CHURCHES OF THE
CAPITAL

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126

Notre Dame, begun in 1163-Its exterior unsurpassed, the west façade a
classic Scholastic training of its bishop-builders-Summa of the
supreme scholastic, Aquinas, like a Gothic cathedral-Thirty
thousand students then in Paris University-Bishop Maurice de
Sully (1160-96) built Notre Dame-Bishop Eudes de Sully made
the portals of the west façade-Bishop Pierre de Nemours died a
crusader, before Damietta, 1219-Bishop Guillaume d'Auvergne
finished the north tower (1228-49)-All the prelates building Paris
Cathedral good and able men-Their sincerity lives in its stones-
First architect unknown-Jean and Pierre de Chelles made the
transept and apse chapels-Sculpture of Notre Dame masterly-
Sainte-Chapelle built by St. Louis, 1246 to 1248-St. Julien-le-
Pauvre a contemporary of Notre Dame's choir (c. 1180)-Same
noble sculptured capitals-Three Benedictine abbey churches of
Paris show early trials of Gothic vaulting-St. Germain-des-Prés,
St. Martin-des-Champs, St. Pierre-de-Montmartre St. Louis and
his friend, Joinville-Louis IX illuminated his kingdom with fair
churches-On his first crusade spent five years in the East, 1248 to