The choir-stalls and bishop's throne in carved wood are excellent, as also an elaborately carved wooden grille of a mixed Arabesque and Gothic design.
There are four other chapel or alcove screens very nearly as elaborate; all of which features, taken in conjunction one with the other, form an extensive series of embellishments such as is seldom met with.
Two fourteenth-century monuments to former prelates are situated in adjoining chapels, and a still more luxurious work of the same period—the tomb of Gilbert de Cantobre—is beneath an extensive altar which has supposedly Byzantine ornament of the tenth century.
Rodez was the seat of a bishop (St. Amand) as early as the fifth century.
Then, as now, the diocese was a suffragan of Albi, whose first bishop, St. Clair, came to the mother-see in the century previous.
XX
STE. CÉCILE D'ALBI
The cathedral of Ste. Cécile d'Albi is one of the most interesting, as well as one of the most curious, in all France. It possesses a quality, rare among churches, which gives it at once the aspect of both a church and a fortress.
As the representative of a type, it stands at the very head of the splendid fortress-churches of feudal times. The remarkable disposition of its plan is somewhat reflected in the neighbouring cathedral at Rodez and in the church at Esnades, in the Department of the Charente-Inférieure.
In the severe and aggressive lines of the easterly, or choir, end, it also resembles the famous church of St. Francis at Assisi, and the ruined church of Sainte Sophie at Famagousta in the Island of Cyprus.
It has been likened by the imaginative French—and it needs not so very great a stretch of the imagination, either—to an immense vessel. Certainly its lines and proportions somewhat approach such a form; as much so as those of Notre Dame de Noyon, which Stevenson likened to an old-time craft with a high poop. A less æsthetic comparison has been made with a locomotive of gigantic size, and, truth to tell, it is not unlike that, either, with its advancing tower.
The extreme width of the great nave of this church is nearly ninety feet, and its body is constructed, after an unusual manner, of a warm, rosy-coloured brick. In fact the only considerable portions of the structure not so done are the clôture of the choir, the window-mullions, and the flamboyant Gothic porch of the south side.
By reason of its uncommon constructive elements,—though by no means is it the sole representative of its kind in the south of France,—Ste. Cécile stands forth as the most considerable edifice of its kind among those which were constructed after this manner of Roman antiquity.
Brickwork of this nature, as is well known, is very enduring, and it therefore makes much for the lasting qualities of a structure so built; much more so, in fact, than the crumbling soft stone which is often used, and which crumbles before the march of time like lead in a furnace.
Ste. Cécile was begun in 1282, on the ruins of the ancient church of St. Croix. It came to its completion during the latter years of the fourteenth century, when it stood much as it does to-day, grim and strong, but very beautiful.
The only exterior addition of a later time is the before-remarked florid south porch. This baldaquin is very charmingly worked in a light brown stone, and, while flamboyant to an ultra degree, is more graceful in design and execution than most works of a contemporary era which are welded to a stone fabric whose constructive and decorative details are of quite a distinctly different species. In other words, it composes and adds a graceful beauty to the brick fabric of this great church; but likely enough it would offend exceedingly were it brought into juxtaposition with the more slim lines of early Gothic. Its detail here is the very culmination of the height to which Gothic rose before its final debasement, and, in its spirited non-contemporaneous admixture with the firmly planted brick walls which form its background, may be reckoned as a baroque in art rather than as a thing outré or misplaced.
In further explanation of the peculiar fortress-like qualities possessed by Ste. Cécile, it may be mentioned here that it was the outcome of a desire for the safety of the church and its adherents which caused it to take this form. It was the direct result of the terrible wars of the Albigenses, and the political and social conditions of the age in which it was built,—the days when the Church was truly militant.
Here, too, to a more impressive extent than elsewhere, if we except the papal palace at Avignon, the episcopal residence as well takes on an aspect which is not far different from that possessed by some of the secular châteaux of feudal times. It closely adjoins the cathedral, which should perhaps dispute this. In reality, however, it does not, and its walls and foundations look far more worldly than they do devout. As to impressiveness, this stronghold of a bishop's palace is thoroughly in keeping with the cathedral itself, and the frowning battlement of its veritable donjon and walls and ramparts suggests a deal more than the mere name by which it is known would justify. Such use as it was previously put to was well served, and the history of the troublous times of the mediæval ages, when the wars of the Protestants, "the cursed Albigenses," and the natural political and social dissensions, form a chapter around which one could weave much of the history of this majestic cathedral and its walled and fortified environment.
The interior of the cathedral will appeal first of all by its very grand proportions, and next by the curious ill-mannered decorations with which the walls are entirely covered. There is a certain gloom in this interior, induced by the fact that the windows are mere elongated slits in the walls. There are no aisles, no triforium, and no clerestory; nothing but a vast expanse of wall with bizarre decorations and these unusual window piercings. The arrangement of the openings in the tower are even more remarkable—what there are of them, for in truth it is here that the greatest likeness to a fortification is seen. In the lower stages of the tower there are no openings whatever, while above they are practically nothing but loopholes.
The fine choir-screen, in stone, is considered one of the most beautiful and magnificent in France, and to see it is to believe the statement. The entire clôture of the choir is a wonderful piece of stonework, and the hundred and twenty stalls, which are within its walls, form of themselves an excess of elaboration which perhaps in a more garish light would be oppressive.
The wall-paintings or frescoes are decidedly not beautiful, being for the most part crudely coloured geometrical designs scattered about with no relation one to another. They date from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and are doubtless Italian as to their workmanship, but they betray no great skill on the part of those unknowns who are responsible for them.
The pulpit is an unusually ornate work for a French church, but is hardly beautiful as a work of art. No more is the organ-case, which, as if in keeping with the vast interior, spreads itself over a great extent of wall space.
Taken all in all, the accessories of the cathedral at Albi, none the less than the unique plan and execution thereof, the south porch, the massive tower, the jube and clôture of the choir, the vast unobstructed interior, and the outré wall decorations, place it as one of the most consistently and thoroughly completed edifices of its rank in France. Nothing apparently is wanting, and though possessed of no great wealth of accessory—if one excepts the choir enclosure alone—it is one of those shrines which, by reason of its very individuality, will live long in the memory. It has been said, moreover, to stand alone as to the extensive and complete exemplification of "l'art decoratif" in France; that is, as being distinctively French throughout.
The evolution of these component elements took but the comparatively small space of time covered by two centuries—from the fourteenth to the sixteenth. The culmination resulted in what is still to be seen in all its pristine glory to-day, for Ste. Cécile has not suffered the depredation of many another shrine.
The general plan is distinctly and indigenously French; French to the very core—born of the soil of the Midi, and bears no resemblance whatever to any exotic from another land.
With the decorative elements the case may be somewhat qualified. The baldaquin—like the choir-screen—more than equals in delicacy and grace the portals of such masterworks as Notre Dame de Rouen, St. Maclou, or even the cathedral at Troyes, though of less magnitude than any of these examples. On the other hand, it was undoubtedly inspired by northern precept, as also were the ornamental sculptures in wood and stone which are to be seen in the interior.
Albi was a bishopric as early as the fourth century, with St. Clair as its first bishop. At the time the present cathedral was begun it became an archbishopric, and as such it has endured until to-day, with suffragans at Rodez, Cahors, Mende, and Perpignan.
XXI
ST. PIERRE DE MENDE
In the heart of the Gévaudan, Mende is the most picturesque, mountain-locked little city imaginable, with no very remarkable features surrounding it, nor any very grand artificial ones contained within it.
The mountains here, unlike the more fruitful plains of the lower Gévaudan, are covered with snow all of the winter. It is said that the inhabitants of the mountainous upper Gévaudan used to "go into Spain every winter to get a livelihood." Why, it is difficult to understand. The mountain and valley towns around Mende look no less prosperous than those of Switzerland, though to be sure the inhabitants have never here had, and perhaps never will have, the influx of tourists "to live off of," as in the latter region.
During an invasion of the Alemanni into Gaul, in the third century, the principal city of Gévaudan was plundered and ruined. The bishop, St. Privat, fled into the Cavern of Memate or Mende, whither the Germans followed and killed him.
The holy man was interred in the neighbouring village of Mende, and the veneration which people had for his memory caused them to develop it into a considerable place. Such is the popular legend, at any rate.
The city had no bishop of its own, however, until the middle of the tenth century. Previously the bishops were known as Bishops of Gévaudan. At last, however, the prelates fixed their seat at Mende, and "great numbers of people resorted thither by reason of the sepulchre of St. Privat."
By virtue of an agreement with Philippe-le-Bel, in 1306, the bishop became Count of Gévaudan. He claimed also the right of administering the laws and the coining of specie.
Mende is worth visiting for itself alone and for its cathedral. It is difficult to say which will interest the absolute stranger the more.
The spired St. Pierre de Mende is but a fourteenth-century church, with restorations of the seventeenth, but there is a certain grimness and primitiveness about its fabric which would otherwise seem to place it as of a much earlier date.
The seventeenth-century restorations amounted practically to a reconstruction, as the Calvinists had partly destroyed the fabric. The two fine towers of the century before were left standing, but without their spires.
The city itself lies at a height of over seven hundred kilometres, and the pic rises another three hundred kilometres above. The surrounding "green basin of hillsides" encloses the city in a circular depression, which, with its cathedral as the hub, radiates in long, straight roadways to the bases of these verdure-clad hills.
It is not possible to have a general view of the cathedral without its imposing background of mountain or hilltops, and for this reason, while the entire city may appear dwarfed, and its cathedral likewise diminished in size, they both show in reality the strong contrasting effect of nature and art.
The cathedral towers, built by Bishop de la Rovère, are of sturdy though not great proportions, and the half-suggested spires rise skyward in as piercing a manner as if they were continued another hundred feet.
As a matter of fact one rises to a height of two hundred and three feet, and the other to two hundred and seventy-six feet, so at least, they are not diminutive. The taller of these pleasing towers is really a remarkable work.
The general plan of the cathedral is the conventional Gothic conception, which was not changed in the seventeenth-century reconstruction.
The nave is flanked with the usual aisles, which in turn are abutted with ten chapels on either side.
Just within the left portal is preserved the old bourdon called la Non-Pareille, a curiosity which seems in questionable taste for inclusion within a cathedral.
The rose window of the portal shows in the interior with considerable effect, though it is of not great elegance or magnificence of itself.
In the Chapelle des Catechismes, immediately beneath the tower, is an unusual "Assumption." As a work of art its rank is not high, and its artist is unknown, but in its conception it is unique and wonderful.
There are some excellent wood-carvings in the Chapelle du Baptistère, a description which applies as well to the stalls of the choir.
Around the sanctuary hang seven tapestries, ancient, it is said, but of no great beauty in themselves.
In a chapel on the north side of the choir is a "miraculous statue" of la Vierge Noir.
The organ buffet dates from 1640, and is of the ridiculous overpowering bulk of most works of its class.
The bishopric, founded by St. Sévérein in the third century at Civitas Gabalorum, was reëstablished at Mende in the year 1000.
The Ermitage de St. Privat, the holy shrine of the former habitation of the holy man whose name it bears, is situated a few kilometres away on the side of Mont Mimat. It is a favourite place of pilgrimage, and from the platform of the chapel is to be had a fine view of the city and its cathedral.
XXII
OTHER OLD-TIME CATHEDRALS IN AND ABOUT
THE BASIN OF THE GARONNE
Dax
At Dax, an ancient thermal station of the Romans, is a small cathedral, mainly modern, with a portal of the thirteenth century.
It was reconstructed from these thirteenth-century remains in the seventeenth century, and exhibits no marks of beauty which would have established its ranking greatness even at that time.
Dax was a bishopric in the province of Auch in the third century, but the see was suppressed in 1802.
Eauze
Eauze was an archbishopric in the third century, when St. Paterne was its first dignitary. Subsequently—in the following century—the archbishopric was transferred to Auch.
As Elusa it was an important place in the time of Cæsar, but was completely destroyed in the early part of the tenth century. Eauze, therefore, has no church edifice which ever ranked as a cathedral, but there is a fine Gothic church of the late fifteenth century which is, in every way, an architectural monument worthy of remark.
Lombez
The bishopric of Lombez, in the ancient ecclesiastical province of Toulouse, endured from 1328 (a tenth-century Benedictine abbey foundation).
Its first bishop was one Roger de Comminges, a monk who came from the monastic community of St. Bertrand de Comminges.
The see was suppressed in 1790.
St. Papoul
St. Papoul was a bishopric from 1317 until 1790. Its cathedral is in many respects a really fine work. It was an ancient abbatial church in the Romanesque style, and has an attractive cloister built after the same manner.
Rieux
Rieux is perhaps the tiniest ville of France which has ever possessed episcopal dignity. It is situated on a mere rivulet—a branch of the Arize, which itself is not much more, but which in turn goes to swell the flood of La Garonne. Its one-time cathedral is perhaps not remarkable in any way, though it has a fine fifteenth-century tower in brique. The bishopric was founded in 1370 under Guillaumé de Brutia, and was suppressed in 1790.
Lavaur
Lavaur was a bishopric, in the ecclesiastical province of Toulouse, from 1317 to 1790.
Its cathedral of brick is of the fourteenth century, with a clocher dating from 1515, and a smaller tower, embracing a jacquemart, of the sixteenth century.
In the interior is a fine sixteenth-century painting, but there are no other artistic treasures or details of note.
Oloron
Oloron was a bishopric under St. Gratus in the sixth century; it ceased its functions as the head of a diocese at the suppression of 1790.
The former cathedral of Ste. Marie is a fine Romanic-Ogivale edifice of the eleventh century, though its constructive era may be said to extend well toward the fifteenth before it reached completion. There is a remarkably beautiful Romanesque sculptured portal. The nave is doubled, as to its aisles, and is one hundred and fifty feet or more in length and one hundred and six wide, an astonishing breadth when one comes to think of it, and a dimension which is not equalled by any minor cathedral.
There are no other notable features beyond the general attractiveness of its charming environment.
The ancient évêche has a fine Romanesque tower, and the cathedral itself is reckoned, by a paternal government, as a "monument historique," and as such is cared for at public expense.
Vabres
Vabres was a bishopric which came into being as an aftergrowth of a Benedictine foundation of the ninth century, though its episcopal functions only began in 1318, and ceased with the Revolutionary suppression. It was a suffragan in the archiepiscopal diocese of Albi.
Its former cathedral, while little to be remarked to-day as a really grand church edifice, was by no means an unworthy fane. It dates from the fourteenth century, and in part is thoroughly representative of the Gothic of that era. It was rebuilt in the eighteenth century, and a fine clocher added.
St. Lizier or Couserans
The present-day St. Lizier—a tiny Pyrenean city—was the former Gallo-Romain city of Couserans. It retained this name when it was first made a bishopric by St. Valère in the fifth century. The see was suppressed in 1790.
The Église de St. Lizier, of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, consists of a choir and a nave, but no aisles. It shows some traces of fine Roman sculpture, and a mere suggestion of a cloister.
The former bishop's palace dates only from the seventeenth century.
Sarlat
A Benedictine abbey was founded here in the eighth century, and from this grew up the bishopric which took form in 1317 under Raimond de Roquecarne, which in due course was finally abolished and the town stripped of its episcopal rank.
The former cathedral dates from the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and in part from the fifteenth. Connected therewith is a sepulchral chapel, called the tour des Maures. It is of two étages, and dates from the twelfth century.
St. Pons de Tomiers
St. Pons is the seat of an ancient bishopric now suppressed. It is a charming village—it can hardly be named more ambitiously—situated at the source of the river Jaur, which rises in the Montagnes Noir in Lower Languedoc.
Its former cathedral is not of great interest as an architectural type, though it dates from the twelfth century.
The façade is of the eighteenth century, but one of its side chapels dates from the fourteenth.
St. Maurice de Mirepoix
Mirepoix is a charming little city of the slopes of the Pyrenees.
Its ancient cathedral of St. Maurice dates from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and has no very splendid features or appointments,—not even of the Renaissance order,—as might be expected from its magnitude. Its sole possession of note is the clocher, which rises to an approximate height of two hundred feet.
The bishopric was founded in 1318 by Raimond Athone, but was suppressed in 1790.
Appendices
I
Sketch map showing the usual geographical divisions of France. I., north; II., northwest; III., east; IV., southwest; V., southeast: also the present departments into which the government is divided, with their names; and the mediæval provinces which were gradually absorbed into the kingdom of France.
There is in general one bishopric to a department.
The subject-matter of this book treats of all of southwestern and southeastern France; with, in addition, the departments of Saône-et-Loire, Jura, Rhône, Loire, Ain, and Allier.
II
A Historical Table of the Dioceses of the South of France up to the beginning of the nineteenth century.
| Province d'Aix | |||
| Name | Diocese founded | First bishop | Date of suppression |
| Aix | Nice, Avignon, Ajaccio, and Digne were allied therewith in 1802, and Marseilles and Alger in 1822. | ||
| (Archbishopric) | First century (?) | St. Maxim (?) | |
| Antibes | Transferred to Grasse | ||
| Apt | First century (?) | St. Auspice | 1790 |
| Grasse | (Jurisdiction over Antibes.) | ||
| Gap | Fifth century | St. Démétrius | |
| Riez | Fifth century | St. Prosper | 1790 |
| Fréjus | Fourth century | Acceptus | |
| Sisteron | Fifth century | Chrysaphius | |
| Province d'Albi | |||
| Albi | Fourth century | St. Clair | |
| Bishopric (Archbishopric) | 1317 (?) | Anthime | |
| Castres | 647 as a Benedictine Abbey. 1317 as a Bishopric | Robert, the first Abbot | 1790 |
| Mende | Third century at Civitas Gabalorum. Reëstablished here in the year 1000 | St. Sévérein and Genialis | |
| Cahors | Fourth century | St. Genulphe | |
| Rodez | Fifth century | St. Amand | |
| Arisitum |
Sixth century detached from the diocese of Rodez | Déothaire |
Rejoined to Rodez 670 |
| Vabres | Benedictine Abbey, 862. Bishopric, 1317 | 1790 | |
| Province d'Arles | |||
| Arles (Archbishopric) | First century | St. Trophime | 1790 |
| Marseilles | First century | St. Lazare | |
| St. Paul-Trois Châteaux, or Tricastin | Second century | St. Restuit | 1790 |
| Toulon | Fifth century | Honoré | 1790 |
| Orange | Fifth century | St. Luce | 1790 |
| Province d'Auch | |||
| Eauze (Archbishopric) | Third century | St. Paterne | 720 |
| Auch (Bishopric then Archbishopric) | Fourth century | Citerius | |
| Dax | Third century | St. Vincent | 1802 |
| Lectoure | Sixth century | Heuterius | 1790 |
| Comminges | Sixth century | Suavis | 1790 |
| Conserans | Fifth century | St. Valère | 1790 |
| Aire | Fifth century | Marcel | |
| Bazas | Sixth century | Sextilius | (?) |
| Tarbes | Sixth century | St. Justin | |
| Oloron | Sixth century | Gratus | 1790 |
| Lescar | Fifth century | St. Julien | 1790 |
| Bayonne | Ninth century | Arsias Rocha | |
| Province d'Avignon | |||
| Avignon (Bishopric, becoming Archbishopric in fifteenth century) | Fourth century | St. Ruf | |
| Carpentras | Third century | St. Valentin | 1790 |
| Vaison | Fourth century | St. Aubin | 1790 |
| Cavaillon | Fifth century | St. Genialis | 1790 |
| Province de Bordeaux | |||
| Bordeaux | |||
| (Bishopric) | Third century | ||
| (Archibishopric) | Fourth century | Oriental | |
| Agen | Fourth century | St. Phérade | |
| Condom | Raimond de Galard | ||
| (Ancient abbey--foundation date unknown) Bishopric) | Fourteenth century | ||
| Angoulême | Third century | St. Ansome | |
| Saintes | Third century | St. Eutrope | 1793 |
| Poitiers | Third century | St. Nectaire | |
| Maillezais (afterward at La Rochelle) | Fourteenth century | Geoffrey I. | |
| Luçon (Seventh-century abbey) | 1317 | Pierre de La Veyrie | |
| Périgueux | Second century | St. Front | |
| Sarlat (Eighth-century Benedictine abbey) | 1317 | Raimond de Roquecorne | |
| Province de Bourges | |||
| Bourges (Archbishopric) | Third century | St. Ursin | |
| Clermont-Ferrand | Third century | St. Austremoine | |
| St. Flour (Ancient priory) | 1318 |
Raimond de Vehens | |
| Limoges | Third century | St. Martial | |
| Tulle (Seventh-century Benedictine abbey) | 1317 | Arnaud de Saint-Astier | |
| Le Puy | Third century | St. Georges | |
| Province d'Embrun | |||
| Embrun (Archbishopric) | Fourth century | St. Marcellin | 1793 |
| Digne | Fourth century | St. Domnin | |
| Antibes (afterward at Grasse) | Fourth century | St. Armentaire | |
| Grasse | Raimond de Villeneuve (1245) | 1790 | |
| Vence | Fourth century | Eusèbe | 1790 |
| Glandève | Fifth century | Fraterne | 1790 |
| Senez | Fifth century | Ursus | 1790 |
| Nice (formerly at Cemenelium) | Fourth century | Amantius | |
| Province de Lyon | |||
| Lyon (Archbishopric) |
The Archbishop of Lyon was Primate of Gaul. Second century | St. Pothin | |
| Autun | Third century | St. Amateur | |
| Mâcon | Sixth century | Placide | 1790 |
| Chalon-sur-Saône | Fifth century | Paul | 1790 |
| Langres | Third century | St. Just | |
| Dijon (Fourth-century abbey) | Bishopric in 1731 | Jean Bonhier | |
| Saint Claude (Fifth-century abbey) | Bishopric in 1742 | Joseph de Madet | |
| Province de Narbonne | |||
| Narbonne (Archbishopric) | Third century | St. Paul | 1802 |
| Saint-Pons-de-Tomières (Tenth-century abbey) | 1318 | Pierre Roger | 1790 |
| Alet (Ninth-century abbey) | 1318 | Barthélmy | 1790 |
| Béziers | Fourth century | St. Aphrodise | 1702 |
| Nîmes | Fourth century | St. Felix | |
| Alais | 1694 | Chevalier de Saulx | 1790 |
| Lodève | Fourth century (?) | St. Flour | 1790 |
| Uzès | Fifth century | Constance | 1790 |
| Agde | Fifth century | St. Vénuste | 1790 |
| Maguelonne (afterward at Montpellier) | Sixth century | Beotius | |
| Carcassonne | Sixth century | St. Hilaire | |
| Elne (afterward at Perpignan) | Sixth century | Domnus | |
| Province de Tarentaise | |||
| Tarentaise (Archbishopric) | Fifth century | St. Jacques | |
| Sion | Fourth century | St. Théodule | |
| Aoste | Fourth century | St. Eustache | |
| Chambéry | 1780 | Michel Conseil | |
| Province de Toulouse | |||
| Toulouse (Bishopric) (Archbishopric) |
Third century 1327 | St. Saturnin | |
| Pamiers (Eleventh-century abbey) | 1297 | Bernard Saisset | |
| Rieux | 1317 | Guillaume de Brutia | |
| Montauban (Ancient abbey) | 1317 | Bertrand du Puy | |
| Mirepoix | 1318 | Raimond Athone | 1790 |
| Saint-Papoul | 1317 | Bernard de la Tour | 1790 |
| Lombès (Tenth-century abbey) | 1328 | Roger de Commminges | 1790 |
| Lavaur | 1317 | Roger d'Armagnac | 1790 |
| Province de Vienne | |||
| Vienne (Archbishopric) | Second century | St. Crescent | 1790 |
| Grenoble | Third century | Domninus | |
| Genève (Switz.) | Fourth century | Diogène | 1801 |
| Annency | 1822 | Claude de Thiollaz | |
| Valence | Fourth century | Emelien | |
| Dié | Third century | Saint Mars | |
| Viviers | Fifth century | Saint Janvier | 1790 |
| St. Jean de Maurienne | Fifth century | Lucien |
III
The Classification of Architectural Styles in France according to De Caumont's "Abécédaire d'Architecture Religieuse."
| Architecture Romaine | Primordiale | From the Vth to the Xth centuries. |
| Secondaire | From the end of the Xth century to the beginning of the XIIth | |
| Tertiaire or transition | XIIth century | |
| Architecture | Primitive | XIIIth century |
| Ogivale | Secondaire | XIVth century |
| Tertiaire | XVth and the first part of the XVIth century |
IV
A Chronology of Architectural Styles in France
Following more or less upon the lines of De Caumont's territorial and chronological divisions of architectural style in France, the various species and periods are thus further described and defined:
The Merovingian period, commencing about 480; Carlovingian, 751; Romanesque or Capetian period, 987; Transitional, 1100 (extending in the south of France and on the Rhine till 1300); early French Gothic or Pointed (Gothique à lancettes), mid-twelfth to mid-thirteenth centuries; decorated French Gothic (Gothique rayonnant), from the mid-thirteenth to mid-fifteenth centuries, and even in some districts as late as the last decade of the fifteenth century; Flamboyant (Gothique flamboyant), early fifteenth to early sixteenth; Renaissance, dating at least from 1495, which gave rise subsequently to the style Louis XII. and style François I.
With the reign of Henri II., the change to the Italian style was complete, and its place, such as it was, definitely assured. French writers, it may be observed, at least those of a former generation and before, often carry the reference to the style de la Renaissance to a much later period, even including the neo-classical atrocities of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Bizarre or baroque details, or the style perruque, had little place on French soil, and the later exaggerations of the rococo, the styles Pompadour and Dubarri, had little if anything to do with church-building, and are relevant merely insomuch as they indicate the mannerisms of a period when great churches, if they were built at all, were constructed with somewhat of a leaning toward their baseness, if not actually favouring their eccentricities.
V
Leading forms of early cathedral constructions
VI
The disposition of the parts of a tenth-century church, as defined by Viollet-le-Duc
Of this class are many monastic churches, as will be evinced by the inclusion of a cloister in the diagram plan. Many of these were subsequently made use of, as the church and the cloisters, where they had not suffered the stress of time, were of course retained. St. Bertrand de Comminges is a notable example among the smaller structures.
In the basilica form of ground-plan, which obtained to a modified extent, the transepts were often lacking, or at least only suggested. Subsequently they were added in many cases, but the tenth-century church pur sang was mainly a parallelogram-like structure, with, of course, an apsidal termination.
| A | The choir |
| B | The exedra, meaning literally a niche or throne—in this instance for the occupancy of the bishop, abbot, or prior—apart from the main edifice |
| C | The high-altar |
| D | Secondary or specially dedicated altars |
| E | The transepts, which in later centuries expanded and lengthened |
| G | The nave proper, down which was reserved a free passage separating the men from the women |
| H | The aisles |
| I | The portico or porch which precedes the nave (i. e., the narthen of the primitive basilica), where the pilgrims who were temporarily forbidden to enter were allowed to wait |
| K | A separate portal or doorway to cloisters |
| L | The cloister |
| M | The towers; often placed at the junction of transept and nave, instead of the later position, flanking the west façade |
| N | The baptismal font; usually in the central nave, but often in the aisle |
| O | Entrance to the crypt or confessional, where were usually preserved the reliques of the saint to whom the church was erected |
| P | The tribune, in a later day often surrounded by a screen or jubé |
VII
A brief definitive gazetteer of the natural and geological divisions included in the ancient provinces and present-day departments of southern France, together with the local names by which the pays et pagi are commonly known