Rheims and the Battles for its Possession Part 16

Christopher's, on the site of the present basilica, the saint, by making it impossible to lift his coffin, manifests his desire to be interred in this chapel. The saint's winding-sheet, carried in procession, dispels the plague that had been ravaging the city.

10. Angels transfer the relics of the saint to his mausoleum. A soldier who had tried to break in the door of the church, cannot withdraw his foot. Remi punishes the Bishop of Mayence, guilty of theft. Remi reveals himself with the Virgin and St. John. The Archbishop of Rheims, Robert de Lenoncourt, kneeling, presents the ten pieces of tapestry to the saint.

The latter tapestry was riddled with splinters (_photo, p. 110_) during the bombardment of September 4, 1914.

=The Treasure=

This was kept in the sacristy, the 15th century carved wood doors of which have Flamboyant style frames.

Formerly the richest of all the church treasures of France, it was impoverished in the course of the centuries, through wars and revolutions.

The =enamels= by Landin of Limoges (1633), dedicated to the lives of St.

Timothy and St. Remi, a 12th century abbot's =crozier=, =reliquaries= and =sacerdotal ornaments= are noteworthy.

The treasure was removed, together with the doors of the sacristy, by the Historical Monuments Department.

=The North Transept=

Three small white marble Gallo-Roman or Carolingian capitals crown the colonnettes of the triforium.

Formerly, the church contained several tombs. Let into the wall of the north transept is a Latin epitaph, praising the virtues of a woman named Guiberge, who seems to have combined in her person the perfections of six women, _i.e._ the beauty of Rachel, the fidelity of Rebecca, the modesty of Susanna, the piety of Tabitha, the warm affections of Ruth, and the high morals of Anna.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE RUINED TRANSEPT _In the foreground: Renaissance Bal.u.s.trade round the Choir (see p. 115), at the intersection of the Northern Transept. At the back: Inner side of the South Transept Door._]

=The South Transept=

The first chapel on the right of the apse, against the transept, is the chapel of St. Eloi.

In 1846, forty-eight storied flag-stones, taken from the flooring of the sanctuary of the church of St. Nicaise and collected by the architect Brunette, were placed there.

These 14th century lozenge-shaped stones are engraved in black, the hollowed-out portions being filled with lead. Each stone has a pretty border with a square medallion, in the middle of which two or three figures represent a scene from the Old Testament, from Noah to Daniel in the lions' den.

This chapel also contained two very expressive mediaeval statues of painted wood and a 14th century Christ, all of which came from the old church of St. Balsamic.

The second chapel on the eastern side of the south transept contained an Entombment dating from 1531. In this group, which belonged to the old church of the Commandery of the Temple of Rheims, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus hold the winding-sheet. Salome, and Mary the mother of St.

James, stand near the tomb, while the Virgin, overcome with grief, is supported by St. John.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY ENTOMBMENT, FORMERLY IN ONE OF THE CHAPELS OF THE SOUTHERN TRANSEPT (_Cliche LL._)]

Facing this Burial Scene was the Altar-screen of the Three Baptisms, the work of Nicolas Jacques and the gift of Jean Lespagnol in 1610. This screen, which formed the background of the baptismal fonts, represented in three bas-reliefs: The baptism of Clovis (_on the right_), the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist (_in the centre_), and the baptism of Constantine (_on the left_).

The railing round the baptismal fonts belongs to the second half of the 18th century, and was taken from the church of St. Pierre-le-Vieil.

=The Choir of St. Remi Church=

[Ill.u.s.tration: SCULPTURED CONSOLES OF COLONNETTES IN THE CHOIR]

The Choir was rebuilt by Pierre de Celle. The plan is very like that of the choir of the Cathedral, of which it is the prototype.

As in the Cathedral, it intrudes upon the nave, of which it occupies the three last bays. In the latter, the columns placed against the six piers were removed. The groups of small columns which support the ribs of the vaulting rest upon a corbel-table carried by three consoles (_photo above_), which in turn rest on colonnettes with crocketed capitals. The central consoles are ornamented with figures of angels and symbolic animals, while under the lateral consoles are statuettes of prophets holding scrolls, on which their names are inscribed in painted letters.

Five circular radiating chapels open out on the vast ambulatory. The plan of the latter, like that of Notre-Dame-de-Chalons, evokes all that is most original in the Gothic architecture of Champagne. The bays with their alternations of square-ogival and triangular vaulting do not correspond with the breadth of the radiating chapels, which are connected to one another by three arcades resting on light columns. In the lower nave, from the curiously large number of points of support, it would seem that the builders had doubts as to the strength of the pointed style and, by way of precaution, greatly increased the number of points of support inside the church and of the exterior b.u.t.tresses. The tribunes rising above the arcades are surmounted with a triforium lighted by high windows, which still retain their beautiful early 18th century stained-gla.s.s. The somewhat stiff figures stand out on a uniformly blue ground. In the upper part, apostles, evangelists, and the sixteen greater prophets are grouped around a stately Virgin. In the lower part, the princ.i.p.al archbishops of Rheims on thrones are seated round St. Remi who occupies the place of honour below the Virgin. In the two last windows are effigies of Archbishops Samson (_deceased in 1161_) and Henry of France, during whose episcopate Pierre de Celle caused the apse to be built.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FRAGMENT OF PASCHAL CHANDELIER DESTROYED BY THE BOMBARDMENTS OF 1914]

The choir is surrounded by a Renaissance railing which is out of harmony with the general scheme. It was erected between 1656 and 1669, at the joint expense of the widow of the famous barrister Omer Talon, the Town Council, the Duke of Longueville, and the Grand Prior of St. Remi. The sculptor Francois Jacques seems to have co-operated therewith.

The great _crown of light_ hanging at the entrance to the choir was an imitation of the original crown, destroyed in 1793, and which was garnished with ninety-six candles, symbolizing the ninety-six years of St. Remi's life (_see p. 108_).

The 18th century high-altar of red marble which, like the cross and the six chandeliers, came from the church of the Minims, was crushed beneath the falling vaulting.

At the time of the Revolution (1792) the chandelier (masterpiece of the old Rheims metal-founders), which adorned the centre of the Sanctuary, was broken and melted down, with the exception of a portion of one of the feet. This fragment (_photo above_), preserved in the Archaeological Museum, was destroyed by the bombardment of 1914.

=The Tomb and Reliquary of St. Remi=

[Ill.u.s.tration: TOMB AND RELIQUARY OF ST. REMI]

The present tomb, erected in 1847, is only a memorial of the sumptuous mausoleum, profusely decorated with gold medals, diamonds and sapphires, which was destroyed at the time of the Revolution.

It is a Renaissance chapel, ornamented with the statues of the original tomb, which form by far the most interesting part of the monument. The twelve Peers are represented in their coronation robes: the Archbishop, Duke of Rheims, carries the Cross; the Archbishop, Duke of Laon, the sceptre; the Bishop, Count of Beauvais, the royal mantle; the Bishop, Count of Chalons, the ring; the Bishop, Count of Noyon, the girdle; the Duke of Burgundy, the crown; the Duke of Aquitaine, the standard; the Duke of Normandy, a second standard; the Count of Flanders, the sword; the Count of Toulouse, the spurs; the Count of Champagne, the military standard of the King.

The Reliquary of St. Remi, which is in the mausoleum, dates from 1896.

It was bought by national subscription and presented to the church on the occasion of the centenary of the baptism of Clovis. In the niches of the lower part of the reliquary are statuettes of the twelve apostles.

Higher up, in the recesses of the long sides, enamels ill.u.s.trating episodes in the life of St. Remi are imbedded. On the two ends, two enamels represent the Battle of Tolbiac and the Baptism of Clovis.

_Leave the Church of St. Remi by the western doorway, which faces the Place de l'Hopital civil, cross the square, then turn to the right into the Rue Simon. The entrance to the_ Hotel-Dieu Hospital _is on the right_.

=The Hotel-Dieu=

This hospital is installed in the buildings of the ancient Abbey of the Benedictine monks of St. Remi who, for centuries, were the guardians of the relics of the famous Bishop of Rheims.

During the invasion, at the time of the Revolution, the Abbey was transformed into a military hospital, but it was only in 1827 that it became officially the _Hotel-Dieu,_ in place of the old Munic.i.p.al Hospital (_see "Palais de Justice" p. 93_). The furnis.h.i.+ngs of the latter were then transferred to the Abbey buildings, disaffected since the Restoration.

Of the ancient abbey, where _Charles-le-Simple_ and the _Duc Robert_ were proclaimed king, and where several archbishops were elected, only a few vestiges remain. Damaged by the fires of 1098, 1481, and 1751, it was completely destroyed by the great conflagration of January 15, 1774.

The present abbey, rebuilt by Duroche, the King's architect, was scarcely finished when the Revolution broke out.

Incendiary bombs dropped by German aeroplanes in August, 1916, destroyed most of the buildings.

The monumental facade which faces the Court of Honour is Louis XVI. in style.

The second court, that behind the main buildings, is bordered by a cloister built by the Rheims architect, Nicolas Bonhomme, in the first part of the 18th century, in place of the 13th and 14th century cloister destroyed in 1707. The b.u.t.tresses of the side which abuts on the church of St. Remi, and those of the opposite side, are 12th century.

The marble fountain with bronze furnis.h.i.+ngs, in the centre of the court, was formerly in the Place St. Nicaise. It was erected in 1750 from designs by _Coustou_.