Réné had desired to be buried at Angers beside his first wife, and
Jeanne, his second, tried to carry out his wishes; but the people of
Aix would not hear of the body being removed from their midst. The
estates met, and sent a petition to Jeanne to renounce the idea of
conveying the remains away from Provence. However, she gained the
consent of the archbishop to the removal; but she was obliged to wait
a whole year before the suspicions and watchfulness of the people of
Aix would allow her to execute her purpose. Then she sent a covered
waggon, with intent, as she gave out, to remove some of her goods from
the castle at Aix; and during the night the body of the old king was
whisked away; the horses started at a gallop, and the corpse conveyed
beyond the frontiers of the county before the people were aware of the
theft. A noble monument was erected at Angers to contain the mortal
remains of Réné. Unhappily at the French Revolution this, as well as
the monument and statue of Isabella, his first wife, and even that of
his dear old nurse, were smashed to fragments by the rabble.
The cathedral is an interesting church: the south aisle constituted
the Early Romanesque church. To this was added the present nave in
1285, with apse. On the south side of the church is a charming Early
Romanesque cloister, and on the north is a baptistry of the sixth
century, but somewhat altered in 1577, containing eight columns of
polished granite and marble proceeding from some demolished temple.
There are two objects in the church likely more specially to attract
attention; the triptych of the Burning Bush, where King Réné and
Jeanne de Laval are represented kneeling before the Bush that burns
with fire and is not consumed, and in which, by a curious anachronism,
is represented the Virgin and Child. This triptych was painted, it is
thought, by Van der Meire, a disciple of Van Eyck. The other object
is the magnificent series of tapestries in the choir, representing
the Life of Our Lord, which came from S. Paul’s Cathedral, London,
whence they were ejected at the time of the Commonwealth. The date of
these tapestries is 1511, and they are attributed to Quentin Matsys of
Antwerp.
The museum of Aix richly deserves a visit. It contains bas-reliefs
dug up at Entremont, where was the old Ligurian stronghold, taken by
Sextius Calvinus; and these are the very earliest bits of Gaulish
sculpture that have been found anywhere. There are also numerous relics
of the classic Aix that have been unearthed in the town, and Christian
sarcophagi sculptured with Biblical scenes.
In the town library is King Réné’s _Book of Hours_, illuminated by his
own hand.
CHAPTER V
TOULON
Coudon and Faron—Telo Martius—Dye works—Toulon made an arsenal
and dockyard—Galley slaves—The Bagne—The Red Caps—Travaux
forcés—Story of Cognard—Siege of 1793—Carteaux and
Napoleon—Massacre—Expedition to Egypt.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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