The Cathedrals of Southern FranceMansfield, M. F. (Milburg Francisco)
History
The Cathedrals of Southern France
Mansfield, M. F. (Milburg Francisco)
Cathedrals -- France; France -- Description and travel
In many other respects than constructive excellence does St. Just show a
pleasing aspect. It has, between the main body of the church and the
present Hôtel de Ville and the remains of the ancient _archevêché_, a
fragmentary cloister which is grand to the point of being scenic. It
dates from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and is decidedly the
most appealing feature of the entire cathedral precincts.
[Illustration: CLOISTER OF ST. JUST _de NARBONNE_....]
The cathedral itself still remains unachieved as to completeness, but
its _tourelles_, its vaulting, its buttresses, and its crenelated walls
are most impressive.
There are some elaborate tombs in the interior, in general of the time
of Henri IV.
The _trésor_ is rich in missals, manuscripts, ivories, and various altar
ornaments and decorations.
The choir is enclosed with a series of arena-like _loges_, outside which
runs a double aisle.
There are fragmentary evidences of the one-time possession of good
glass, but what paintings are shown appear ordinary and are doubtless of
little worth.
Decidedly the cathedral is an unusually splendid, if not a truly
magnificent, work.
_PART V_
_The Valley of the Garonne_
I
INTRODUCTORY
The basin of the Garonne includes all of the lower Aquitanian province,
Lower Languedoc,--still a debatable and undefinable land,--and much of
that region known of lovers of France, none the less than the native
himself, as the _Midi_.
Literally the term _Midi_ refers to the south of France, but more
particularly that part which lies between the mouth of the Rhône and the
western termination of the Pyrenean mountain boundary between France and
Spain.
The term is stamped indelibly in the popular mind by the events which
emanated from that wonderful march of the legion, known as "_Les Rouges
du Midi_," in Revolutionary times. We have heard much of the excesses of
the Revolution, but certainly the vivid history of "_Les Rouges_" as
recounted so well in that admirable book of Félix Gras (none the less
truthful because it is a novel), which bears the same name, gives every
justification to those valiant souls who made up that remarkable
phalanx; of whose acts most historians and humanitarians are generally
pleased to revile as cruelty and sacrilege unspeakable.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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