Vanished Halls and Cathedrals of FranceEdwards, George Wharton
History
Vanished Halls and Cathedrals of France
Edwards, George Wharton
Cathedrals -- France; Cities and towns -- France; France -- Description and travel
We found in the Chapel of the Virgin the tomb of Cardinal de la Tour
d' Auvergne-Lauraguais, and the twelfth century tombs of an abbot, of
Philippe de Torcy, a governor of Arras, and his wife. The treasury is
said to have contained the blood-stained "_rochet_" worn by Thomas à
Becket when he was murdered, but the sacristan refused to show it unless
he was first paid a fee of two francs, which we thought exorbitant.
* Hare's "Northeastern France."
Arras was the capital of the Gallic tribe "Atrebates," and even in the
dim fourth century was famous for the manufacture of woolen cloth, dyed
with the madder which grows luxuriously in the neighborhood. The wearing
of tapestry hangings gave Arras a high reputation, and examples are
preserved in the museums of France and England, where the name of the
town is used to identify them. The art has long since ceased to exist,
needless to say.
Briefly, the town followed the fortunes of the Pays d' Artois, of which
it was the capital, passing by marriage from the house of France to
Burgundy, Flanders, Burgundy again, Germany and Spain. After the battle
of Agincourt, the English and French signed the treaty of peace at
Arras. The town was finally incorporated with France in 1640.
According to legend one of the ancient gates, of which no trace now
remains, bore the proud distich=
```"Quand les souris prendront les chats,
```Le roi sera seigneur d'Arras."=
which is said to have so enraged Louis of France that he expelled the
whole population, abolishing even the name of Arras, which he changed to
that of Franchise.
Here was born the great Robespierre, but we were unable to find the
house, or even the street in which it was situated, nor could any of the
ecclesiastics to whom we applied for information enlighten us in regard
to the matter.
The Cathedral, a romanesque structure, at an angle of the abbey
buildings, and approached by high stone steps broken by a platform, was
built in 1755. Perhaps if we had not seen it after having feasted our
eyes upon the exquisite details of the Hotel de Ville, it might have
seemed more impressive and interesting. It contained some good pictures,
including a "Descent from the Cross," and "The Entombment," attributed
to Rubens and Van Dyck respectively.
The high altar enshrined a notable bas-relief in gilt bronze. The
Abbatial buildings were occupied by the 'Evéche, Seminary, Library, and
the Musée, the latter containing a lot of modern paintings, badly hung,
and seemingly indifferent in quality.
In the cloisters, however, were rooms containing an archaeological
collection of sculptures and architectural fragments, and a small
collection of Flemish pictures by "Velvet" Breughel, Heemskerk, N. Maes
and others, and upstairs, a fine model of an antique ship, "offered"
by the States of Artois to the American Colonies in the War of
Independence. One wonders why it was never sent.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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