The Cathedrals and Churches of the Rhine Part 18

In the fourteenth century the town was a "free imperial city"; but, following upon political dissension with its neighbours, it was returned to the guardians.h.i.+p of the Archbishop of Treves.

Previously it would appear that the inhabitants had not been very religious, but the archbishop was able to induce them to build him a chateau here as a place of temporary residence; "the first service,"

says the chronicle of the time, "which we have rendered our gracious master."

[Ill.u.s.tration]

XX

LAACH AND STOLZENFELS

_Laach_

Back of Coblenz is the charming little lake of Laach, at the other end of which is the picturesque but deserted abbey of Laach, one of the most celebrated, architecturally and historically, of all the religious edifices along the Rhine.

Once a Benedictine convent, it was pillaged and its inmates dispersed during the overflow of the French Revolution, and is now naught but a ruin, though in many respects a grandly preserved one.

The abbey was founded in 1093 by Henry II. of Laach, Count Palatine of Lower Lorraine, and the first Count Palatine of the Rhine.

Its magnificent church, built in the most acceptable Gothic, contains the remains of its founder and many n.o.bles.

The monks of the abbey were, in the middle ages, greatly celebrated for their knowledge of the sciences and their hospitality. Their library was richly stored with bibliographical treasures, and they possessed a fine collection of paintings. To-day the abbey and its dependencies is but a shadow of its former self; its library and its picture-gallery have disappeared, and, early in the nineteenth century, the establishment was sold for a price so small that it would be a sacrilege to mention it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ABBEY _of_ LAACH _in the Olden Time_]

_Stolzenfels_

The mention of the castle of Stolzenfels hardly suggests anything churchly or devout, though those who know the history of this most picturesque of all Rhine castles (restored though it be) know also that it was an early foundation of Archbishop Arnold of Treves in the thirteenth century, and was, during the century following, the residence of his successors.

Placed high upon its "_proud rock_," the restored fabric to-day wonderfully resembles the castled-crag of one's imagination.

Archbishop Werner of Strasburg also made it his residence in turn, and later the English princess betrothed to the Emperor Frederick II. of the Hohenstaufen dynasty was entertained there.

The castle was nearly destroyed by the French in 1688, and in 1825 the ruin was made over to the then prince royal, afterward King of Prussia.

Within the reconstructed walls, topped with a series of crenelated battlements, after the true mediaeval manner, one finds an ample courtyard, from which lead the entrances to the various parts of the vast fortress.

Innumerable apartments open out one from the other, all forming a great museum filled with all manner of curios and relics.

In a corner of one great room was long kept (they may or may not be there yet; the writer does not know) the Austrian and Swiss standards taken in the Thirty Years' War.

[Ill.u.s.tration: STOLZENFELS]

There was also a cabinet containing the sabre of Murat, taken at Waterloo; the sabres of Blucher, of Poniatowski, and Sobieski; and the swords of the Duc d'Albe and De Tilly; and, incongruously enough, a knife and fork said to have belonged to Andreas Hofer, the hero of the Tyrol.

In the chamber of the king is a magnificent piece of ecclesiastical furniture in the form of a processional cross said to date from the eighth century.

The fine Gothic chapel is decidedly the gem of the whole fabric and its accessories, and, though only finished in its completeness, during the present day, it is a master copy of the best style of the Gothic era.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

XXI

ANDERNACH AND SINZIG

_Andernach_

Andernach is one of the oldest cities in the Rhine valley, and grew up out of one of Drusus's camps, which was built here when the town was known as _Antonac.u.m_.

This was its early history, as given by Ammien Marcellin; and a later authority mentions it as the second city of the electorate of Treves (_Die Andre Darnach_).

In the records of Drusus's time, there is a reference to a chateau here, which was the fiftieth he had built upon the banks of the Rhine.

The kings of Austrasia had their palace here as well, so the place became a political and strategic city of very nearly the first rank.

In the middle ages Andernach shone brilliantly among the centres of commerce in the Rhine valley.

Charles V. was responsible for a battle between the inhabitants of Linz and those of Rhieneck and Andernach, in which nearly all the latter were ma.s.sacred.

To soften any hard feeling that might still exist, a sermon was always preached, up to the last century, in the market-place, on St.

Bartholomew's Day, urging the people to forgive their enemies. The records tell, however, that on one occasion an unfortunate inhabitant of Linz was discovered in Andernach, and that he was forthwith put to death in most unchristianlike fas.h.i.+on.

The Gate of Coblenz at Andernach is generally regarded as an ancient Roman work, though not of the monumental order usual in works of its kind.

The present fortifications date from the fifteenth century, as does the picturesque watch-tower by the waterside.

With Andernach is identified the tradition of a Count Palatine, who, returning from the Holy Wars, was persuaded by a false friend that his lady had proved faithless; and, without listening to excuse, drove her forth to the woods. In the forest she found shelter with her youthful son, lodging in caves and living on fruits and herbs for many years. One day her husband, having lost his companions in the chase, came by accident upon her place of concealment. The wife of his bosom, carefully nurtured in her youth, but now living unattended in the wilds, and his son, now grown into a fine youth, excited his pity. Listening to the truth, he took home the innocent victims of perfidy, and retaliated upon the traducer by hanging him from the highest tower of his castle. After her death, the countess became St. Genofeva, and is the patroness of the parish church of St. Genevieve, which is a lofty structure with four towers which rise high above the surrounding buildings in a fas.h.i.+on which would be truly imposing were the church less overornamented in all its parts.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GENERAL VIEW _of ANDERNACH_]

The actual foundation of the church dates from Carlovingian times, and a tenth-century church is visibly incorporated into the present fabric, but in the main the present structure is of the thirteenth century.

The facade, as is the case with most of the Romano-Byzantine churches on the Rhine, is flanked by two fine towers, showing some slight traces of the incoming ogival style.

Flanking the apside are two other towers, somewhat heavier and thoroughly Romanesque in motive.

The southern doorway is surrounded by a series of remarkably elaborate and excellent sculptures, showing delicate foliage, birds, and human figures disposed after the best manner of the Romanesque. The northern doorway is decorated in a similar manner, with an elaborate grouping of two angels and the paschal lamb in the tympanum. To the right of this portal is a curious coloured bas-relief set in the wall. It represents the death of the Virgin, and dates from the early sixteenth century.

The interior is divided into three naves by two ranges of pillars, square and very short. The arcades between the aisles and the nave are rounded, but the vaulting is ogival.

The second range of pillars forms an arcade quite similar to the lower one, but the pillars are of black marble. A modern bal.u.s.trade, which has been added, is frightful in its contrast with the more ancient constructive details.