Part 3 (2/2)
Attached to the Cathedral is the venerated sanctuary of Notre Dame-du-Bon-Secours, one of the most celebrated places of pilgrimage in Brittany. The pardon takes place the Sat.u.r.day before the first Sunday in July, and owes its origin to the brotherhood called the ”Frerie blanche,”
an a.s.sociation of which Duke Peter accepted the t.i.tle of lay-abbot. The motto embroidered on their banner was (in Breton) ”A triple cord is not easily broken.” The triple cord being emblematic of the three estates-clergy, n.o.bles, and laity-in whose unity consisted the strength of Brittany. The Frerie blanche no longer exists, the triple cable is broken, the pilgrimage alone remains.
[Ill.u.s.tration: 19. Fountain of Duke Peter.]
La Pompe, or the fountain of Duke Peter, as it is called, is of later dater date, being in the style of the Renaissance. It consists of three circular basins in tiers. On the lower are sea-horses, which, with their wings, support the second basin, and Naiads uphold the third. On the top is a figure of the Virgin with her arms extended.
The women of Guingamp wear high muslin caps, dark petticoats, and black stockings. Knitting-pins in hand, they work away at their stockings whether walking, talking, or with a load of b.u.t.ter on their heads, as they do throughout all Brittany. When not at work, their knitting-pins are stuck in their hair. Knitting and spinning are the occupation of their lives. When the Breton's idol, Du Guesclin, was a prisoner to the Black Prince, and was asked how he could raise the large sum named for his ransom, Du Guesclin replied, that ”the women of Brittany would rather spin for a year and ransom him with their distaffs, than that he should remain prisoner.”
”Quand vous etiez captif, Bertrand, fils de Bretagne, Tous les fuseaux tournaient aussi dans la campagne; Chaque femme apporte son echeveau de lin; Ce fut votre rancon, messire Du Guesclin!”
_Les Bretons_, A. BRIZEUX.
Guingamp was given by Duke John V. to his son Peter, who resided here and rebuilt the castle. When attacked by his mortal illness, the physicians attributed his malady to witchcraft, and declared it could only be remedied by counter-spells. The Prince refused to have recourse to such means, saying, ”I had rather die by the will of G.o.d, than live by the will of the Devil.”-”J'aime mieux mourir de par Dieu, que de vivre de par le Diable.”
We walked to the small chapel of St. Leonard, picturesquely situated on a little eminence. It was built by Charles of Blois, on his return from his captivity in England, and dedicated by him to St. Leonard, the patron-saint of prisoners-a contemporary of Clovis, from whom he obtained permission to set free all the captives he should find in the prisons. In the month of May, people who are attacked with fever repair to St. Leonard to seek, upon the walls of the chapel or on the calvary attached to it, snails as cures for their malady. They must gather them themselves, pound them, and put them into little bags, which they wear round their necks. As soon as the fever leaves them they bury their bags at the foot of the walls of the chapel, and, if they fail to perform this ceremony, the fever will return. We found quant.i.ties of these bags, made of coa.r.s.e linen, lying half-buried under the walls of the chapel. There is a pardon here every year, on which occasion only the chapel is opened.
We took a carriage to Paimpol. On our way we stopped at the Chateau de Boisgelin, belonging to the Marquis of the same name, but could not obtain admittance. On to the Abbey of Beauport (Sancta Maria de Bello Porto), founded in the thirteenth century, beautifully situated on a tongue of land at the entrance of the Bay of Paimpol, opposite the island of Saint-Rion. In its large garden, which extends down to the sea, are planted myrtles, figs, mulberries, and other trees of the south of Europe.
Beauport has been called the Chartreuse of Brittany. It is a lovely secluded spot, as, indeed, are most of the sites of the old abbeys, varying in aspect, but always beautiful. No description can give an idea of the magnificent panoramic views from the walls of the abbey.
[Ill.u.s.tration: 20. Abbey of Beauport.]
M. Merimee justly observes, ”It appears strange that, in so early a stage of civilisation, the monks should be so alive to the beauties of nature.
The contemplative habits of monastic life must at all times have imparted to the mind a feeling of abstract beauty, independent of any idea of real utility. Secure of an uniform, peaceful existence, limited in his pleasures and his ambition, sheltered by his sacred office, above others, from the reverses of fortune, the monk of the thirteenth century was in a position to love, and did love, beauty for itself. And while the knight, at war with all the world, thought only on building an impregnable fortress, the abbot embellished his dwelling, and tasted the enjoyments afforded by imagination and the arts. ”The abbey of Beauport is built in the pointed style, and is a perfect example of the monastic architecture of the thirteenth century-the most important and most beautiful convent ruins in Brittany. The original disposition of its buildings may yet be clearly traced. These abbeys were all built upon the same plan. In the centre was the square garden (preau), surrounded by the cloisters. On the south side the church, extending from west to east; on the north, the refectory, with the kitchen attached. On the east was the chapter-house, and some small apartments; above these were the dormitories. Outside was the interior court, reserved for the brethren, and beyond, the great court, into which the provisions were brought, and round which were the stables and farm buildings. The garden, orchard, mill, oven, dovecote, cider-press, &c., were all within the walled enclosure, for the abbeys were not merely convents dedicated solely to devotional exercises. After prayer followed labour. The Breton abbeys were quite model farms; the woods and the commons afforded the means of rearing cattle to those who had the privilege of pasturage in the forests. Many had also the right of acorns and beech-mast for their pigs (_droit au gland et a la faine_). One abbey, that of Morimond (Haute Marne), is recorded to have had twenty piggeries, of three hundred pigs each, distributed in its forests. The monks also reared sheep and horses, and fattened fish in their ponds. They were the first who advanced the science of horticulture and the cultivation of vegetables. To these agricultural pursuits were added, in many convents, the industrial arts, and some of the brethren were brewers, curriers, fullers, weavers, shoemakers, carpenters, and blacksmiths. Their cultivation of the liberal arts and sciences is well known. During the Middle Ages the monasteries were the sole depositories of learning.
Beauport is now occupied by a Polish lady, Countess Poninsky, who allows no one to enter the abbey, as her husband was buried in the church.
Two or three miles further we reached Paimpol, where we remained the night, at a nice hotel. Paimpol is a seaport town prettily situated in a cultivated country on the bay that bears its name. Its inhabitants are employed in the mackerel and Iceland fisheries. The women about here wear close straw-bonnets. They all, in this department, ride on horseback, ”a califourchon,” like the men.
We hired our carriage on to Treguier. At Lezardrieux we pa.s.sed the estuary of the Trieux, over a magnificent suspension-bridge, at a considerable elevation above the water, vessels sail under it. It was built 1840, and is 833 feet long, that is, 167 longer than the famed bridge of La Roche Bernard (Loire Inferieure). The bridge swung frightfully when we pa.s.sed over it. In the churchyard of Pleudaniel is a pretty granite calvary, and skulls are placed in recesses in the wall on each side of the church-porch.
We next came to the Chateau of La Roche Jagu, on the summit of a hill overhanging the river Trieux and defending the entrance. It has more of the character of a ”maison forte” than of a ”manoir,” as was termed the habitation of a knight, and of those who holding a fief, yet did not possess the seignorial right to a castle with towers and donjon. The manoir might be enclosed by walls and moats, but not with towers. The entrance on the side opposite to the river is through a large walled court by a low Gothic doorway, closed by an enormous iron grating of upright and horizontal bars of great thickness, hanging on four hinges, and secured by four locks; all the windows have gratings of the same kind. A stone staircase leads to the one story, consisting of a suite of large rooms half lighted by narrow windows. Some of these are occupied by the keeper of the castle and others are reserved for the use of the proprietor, the Marquis d'Argentre, and, when he goes there, are decorated and partly furnished with the pieces of old tapestry lying about. At the end of these rooms is a turret, which communicates with a covered gallery surmounting the whole length of the facade facing the river, and commanding a beautiful view of the windings of the silvery Trieux and of its fir-clothed banks. This gallery is furnished with battlements, and served the double purpose of a rampart and an observatory. The wall on the river-side is fifteen feet thick, and a chapel hewn in the thickness of the wall is lighted by a Gothic window looking over the Trieux. Fourteen elegant chimney-shafts of cut stone, cylindrical in form, and ornamented with iron spikes, give a most original character to the building. The chateau belonged to the Marechal Duc de Richelieu, who sold it in 1773 to the Tressan family, under the stipulation that its subterranean pa.s.sages should not be explored. They are said to extend under the bed of the river to the Chateau of Frinandour, half a league distant.
We next pa.s.sed through Pontrieux, a pretty, small town, seated in a deep valley, the river Trieux flowing through it. The river here is famous for salmon, and there is a considerable commerce in its little port.
La Roche-Derrien on the Jaudy, during the War of Succession in Brittany, was a castle of some celebrity. It was here Charles of Blois was taken prisoner by the English, who, under Sir Thomas Dagworth, were in possession of the place. Charles of Blois a.s.sembled a large army, and attacked them by night. Three times was he rescued, and three times retaken; he had received eighteen wounds, and was at last compelled to surrender. Jeanne de Montfort, like all women who hate, was very vindictive, and caused her ill.u.s.trious prisoner to be ignominiously dragged to Quimperle, Vannes, and Hennebont, whence he was transferred to London, and confined in the Tower. It was nine years before he regained his liberty. Meanwhile his heroic wife, Jeanne de Penthievre, became head of his party, as Jeanne de Flandre was that of the De Montfort. The ”War of the two Jeannes” continued for nine years, during which they fought with fierceness and courage, and ruled with ability. Curious,-the history of France was ill.u.s.trated in this century by five heroines of the name of Jeanne: Jeanne d'Arc, Jeanne Hachette of Beauvais, and the Jeannes of Penthievre, Flandre, and Clisson, who made themselves famous in Brittany.
On his release, Charles of Blois gave La Roche-Derrien to Du Guesclin.
The castle was demolished, but a calvary has been built on the site.
Not far from La Roche-Derrien is the church of Langoat, which contains the monument of Ste. Pompee (1370), mother of St. Tugdual. On the granite tomb reposes her marble effigy, and around it bas-reliefs in Gothic niches represent the life of the saint. In all the churches in this district, tressels are placed in the nave ready for funerals. The gravestones have in each a little hollow well, to contain water for sprinkling over the grave, or in some a small basin is set upon the gravestone, with a sprig of box laid by the side, for the same pious purpose.
Every one must be struck by the excellence of the roads in Brittany, as indeed throughout France; in no instance does the French administrative talent more fully display itself. The roads are of three cla.s.ses: the ”routes imperiales,” under the care of the Government; ”departementales,”
kept entirely at the expense of the department; and the ”chemins vicinaux,” which belong to the communes or parishes, and which all the inhabitants are called upon to support. To each lieue de poste (two and a half miles), is appointed a ”cantonnier” or road-keeper, who is responsible for the condition of the length of road a.s.signed to his care.
We stopped at Kermartin, a farmhouse near Treguier, to see the bed said to have belonged to St. Ives, the favourite saint of the Bretons, and whose name is borne by the majority of the inhabitants of the district of Treguier and St. Brieuc. Charles of Blois held him in great veneration. He gave part of a rib of St. Ives to the church at Lamballe, and carried the relic in procession barefooted to the church. Before the battle of Auray, he ordered his men to march ”in the name of G.o.d and St. Yves.”
St. Ives, or Yves Helory, was one of the most remarkable characters of the thirteenth century. He studied law in the schools of Paris, and applied his talents in defending the cause of the poor; hence he was called ”the poor man's advocate;” and so great to this day is the confidence placed in his justice, that, in the department of the Cotes-du-Nord, when a debtor falsely denies his debt, a peasant will pay twenty sous for a ma.s.s to St.
Yves, convinced that St. Yves will cause the faithless creditor to die within the year. His truthfulness was such, he was called St. Yves de Verite. He is the special patron of lawyers, and always represented in the ”mortier,” or lawyer's cap, with an ermine-trimmed scarlet robe.
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