6 



THE CATHEDRALS AND CHURCHES OF THE NORTH OF FRANCE. 

 By Mb. T. UNDERHILL. 



At the Jauuaiy met^tiug of the Society, 

 hold at the Beauey Institute. Canterbury, i-n 

 Wednesday, January 17, an illustrated lec- 

 ture on the Cathedrals and Churches of 

 Northern France was given bv Mr. T. 

 Uuderhill. 



Mr. Mapleton Chapman jnesided. 



Mr. Underhill said that Ecclesiastical ar- 

 chitecture in France jireseuted such a wide 

 field of enquiry, that in his survey that 

 uig-ht he would be able to take only a gene- 

 ral view of the sxxbject. By drawing a line 

 from the mouth of the Loire to the Allicr 

 jiist below Moulins, and then another line 

 to the Ardennes they would have to the 

 uortli over thirty churches which were actu- 

 ally the seats of bishops at the present day. 

 One of the most instructive features of the 

 French churches was the plan of the build- 

 ings. Between the plain cruciform of Au- 

 gers and the glorious choir of Le Mans thcv 

 had a great variety of jilaus. The nave 

 was usually plain with aisles, and sometimes 

 aisle chapels, but round the choir and tlie 

 apse they had double aisles and chapel.s. 

 making what was called the chevet. The 

 forms which the chevet took in the French 

 cathedrals had always excited the admii-a- 

 tion of ecclesiologists, and there were many 

 beautiful examples, such as at Bayeaux. 

 Bourges, Chartres, Amiens, and Rouen, to 

 name but a few. There was one beauty 

 of those churches that could not be cimveyed 

 and which must be seen to be appreciated; 

 that was tlicir stained glass windows. Some 

 of the finest stained glass in the world was 

 to be found in the ecclesiastical buildings 

 of Northern Prance, where there were speci- 

 mens from the First Pointed period (13th 

 century) to the Flamboyant and early Ee- 

 uaissance periods. The transepts and the 

 western sides of the Churches contained cir- 

 cular, or Rose windows that were unsur- 

 passed, the design in some cases being very 

 fanciful and graceful, and they were gene- 

 rally filled with stained glass of the period. 

 At the west end of the Churches as a rule 

 there was a pair of towers, but in many 

 instances they had not been completed, and 

 were frequently not of the same design. 

 The Church was entered tlirough porches 

 beneath those towers, sculpture being freely 

 employed in the porches and in the whole 

 of the western fa^;ade. A great feature of 

 our English Cathedrals was the central 

 tower, but except in Normandy that was not 

 so much in evidence in French Cathedral?. 

 Sometimes, as al St. Oueu, Rouen, they had 

 a lantern tower, which rose to no "great 

 height, or in some eases a small leaden 

 fleche. There were, however, many fine 

 towei-s and spire.* scattered throughout Ihe 



country, more es[)ccial!y in Britlnny, where 

 they encountered spires of a beautiful type. 

 As in Knglish Churches, the Lady Chapel 

 was usually at the choir end, but it was 

 not often so large as those at home, as it 

 formed one of the radiating chapels of the 

 chevet ; moreover, a great numljcr of French 

 Cathedrals were dedicated lo "' Our Lady."' 

 Owing to the double aisles and the ehapel.'s 

 to the choir and nave, the 1 ransepts wore 

 not so marked as in Knglish Cathedrals. 

 In many chureh'^s they had portals with 

 masses of sculjiture. It was a well-known 

 fact that the Churches of France exhibited 

 certain peculiarities winch were confined to 

 the paiticular Prnviucr in which they wero 

 fi>vind. The French styles of architeclur© 

 followed very much on the same lines as our 

 own up In the end of the 14th century 

 (through the Romanesque, First Pointed, 

 and Middle Pointed), but with the 15th cen- 

 tury there was a wide divergence. In Eng- 

 land we developed the Perpendicular; in 

 France they evolved the Flamboyant, and 

 they came under the Renaissance spell in a 

 mucli greater degree than wo did in Eng- 

 land. Mr. Underhill then j>roccedcd to deal 

 witli 1 lie cathedrals, as far as it was 

 convenient to do so, in their respec- 

 tive Archiepiscopal Provinces. there 

 being seven in Northern Prance. By 

 means of slides from photopraphs taken 

 by himself and others, he illustrated 

 each of the Cathedrals or Churches 

 he referred to, and also ])ointed out 

 the special features Speaking first of 

 Churches he referred to, and also pointed 

 out the special features. Speaking first of 

 Rhcims Cathedral, he said that in the lovely 

 western poitals, witli the statues in the 

 niches and tlie Uallery of the Kings above 

 the Rose window between the towers, they 

 saw the typical west front of the French 

 Cathedral. He remarked upon the immense 

 work entailed in that part of the church 

 alone, whicli comprised nearly 600 statues, 

 and was unsut passed for Jt.s excellence of 

 execution. The Cathedral had been the 

 scene of the coronation of .several of the 

 French kings. He next illustrated Soissous 

 Cathedral, built in tlie Early Gothic style, 

 and sometimes called the Salisbury of 

 France ; tlie neighbouring old Cathedral 

 at Laou, which lias a ])leasing group of 

 towers with and without spires; the one- 

 lime Cathedral Church of Senlis, whose west 

 portal belongs to the middle of the 12th 

 century; and then described the many fea- 

 tures of Amiens Cathedral — one of the best 

 known in France. At Beauvais, he said, the 

 Choir was the loftiest in the world, rising to 

 nearlv ItiOft.. the clerestory window being of 



