Seeing Europe with Famous Authors, Volume 3: France and the Netherlands, Part 1
History
Seeing Europe with Famous Authors, Volume 3: France and the Netherlands, Part 1
France -- Description and travel; Netherlands -- Description and travel
The first work undertaken by Pierre was the enlargement of the papal
chapel of John XXII. This was doubled in length, and the lavish
decorations executed by John's master painter, Friar Pierre Dupuy, were
continued on the walls of the added portion; payments for white, green,
indigo, vermilion, carmine and other pigments, and for colored tiles,
testify to the brilliancy of its interior.
Meanwhile work was proceeding on the massy new tower, the Turris Magna,
now known as the Tour des Anges, the best preserved of all the old
towers. The foundations were laid on April 3, 1335, and it was roofed
with lead on March 18, 1337. The basement formed the papal wine-cellar;
the ground floor was the treasury, or strong room, where the specie,
the jewels, the precious vessels of gold and silver and other valuables
were stored; many payments are recorded for locks and bars and bolts
for their safe-keeping within the ten-feet-thick walls of the tower.
The next great work put in hand was the east wing, which was raised on
a space left by John's demolished, or partially demolished, structure.
On November 20, 1337, two masons (lapiscidarios), Pierre Folcaud and
Jean Chapelier, and a carpenter, Jacques Beyran, all of Avignon,
contracted to carry out the plans of a new architect, Bernard Canello,
for the completion of Benedict's private apartments, and on the same
day Lambert Fabre and Martin Guinaud, housewreckers, were paid
eighty-three gold florins on account, for the demolition of the old
buildings. This wing, since wholly remodeled by the legates and the
modern corps of engineers, comprised the papal Garde Robe, the Garde
Meuble, the private kitchen and offices and, on the floor above, the
papal dining-room, study and private oratory. The walls were, of
course, embattlemented, and in 1337 the most exposed portions of the
new buildings were defended by a stout rampart....
The whole ground floor, 110 feet by 33, was occupied by a great
reception hall (Camera Paramenti), where distinguished visitors were
accorded a first welcome before being admitted to a private audience,
or accorded a solemn state reception in consistory, as the import of
their embassy demanded. The popes were also used to receive the
cardinals there, and two doorkeepers were appointed who must be
faithful, virtuous and honest men and sleep in the hall; their office
being one of great trust, was highly paid, and they were generally
laymen. It was probably in this hall that St. Catherine was received by
Clement VI. The Avignon conclaves were held there, for on December 31,
1352, four hundred and fifteen days' and nights' labor were employed in
breaking down the walls between the dining-hall and the Camera
Paramenti, clearing away the stones and making secret chambers for the
lord cardinals, in which chambers were twenty-eight cells....
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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