CHAPTER XIII
Further details of the Public Library of Tours.—Marmoutier.—The Royal Abbey of Cormery.—Licence of Hadrian I to St. Martin’s to elect bishops.—Details of the Chapter of the Cathedral Church of Tours.
The Public Library of Tours, as we have seen, has a very large and interesting collection of manuscripts, which have come mainly from three sources, the libraries, namely, of (1) the Cathedral church of Tours, (2) the Monastery known as Marmoutier, and (3) the Collegiate church of St. Martin. Twenty-one other churches and foundations in the neighbourhood contributed manuscripts, besides such collections as the expelled nobles possessed. In 1791 the libraries of the old churches were collected into one depot, the French Church having been organized as a civil institution in that year and monastic vows made illegal. In 1793 the Conseil Général of the Indre-et-Loire ordered that “les livres et manuscrits provenant des maisons religieuses et des émigrés seront placés au ci-devant Évêché, à l’effet de quoi le citoyen Suzor sera averti de l’évacuer au plus tard le 15 mars prochain”. The third floor of the Évêché was used for housing the manuscripts, &c., and by a most fortunate appointment a true lover of the old things was made librarian. This was Dom Jean Joseph Abrassart, ex-religious of Marmoutier. He succeeded in saving a very large proportion of the ancient manuscripts known to be in existence in the neighbourhood, especially those at Marmoutier.
The library of the Cathedral church at Tours dated from the time of St. Perpetuus, the sixth bishop, who left to his Cathedral church all his manuscripts except the copy of the Gospels written by the hand of St. Hilary of Poitiers (353-68) whom St. Martin had visited.[206] Perpetuus was Bishop of Tours from 460 to 494. Ruinart, whose edition of Gregory of Tours Migne took as the original of his edition, notes that he had seen in the Cathedral library at Tours a book in Saxon characters which had been supposed to be the work of Hilary’s own hand; but he found that it contained matter much later than Hilary’s time, and that the author had appended an inscription stating himself to be Holaindus by name. A catalogue of the Cathedral library was made in 1706 by the Chanoine Victor d’Avanne, at which time the library contained 461 manuscripts. The Chanoine complained that many other manuscripts had been borrowed by savants and not returned; he names as culprits Auguste de Thou, André Duchesne, Maan, and Michel de Marolls. Of the 461 manuscripts catalogued, the Public Library now has 309.
The library of Marmoutier was founded by St. Martin himself with the abbey: so at least the phrase is understood to mean, “except writing (or scripture) no art was exercised there.” Dom Gérou, librarian of Marmoutier, made a catalogue of the manuscripts in his charge, and Chalmel’s copy of that catalogue is now in the library of Tours. There were, in 1754, 360 manuscripts, and there are now 263 of them in the library. Many of these are of value. Marmoutier was always rich in Latin manuscripts. In 1716 a great collection made by the Lesdiguières family was bought at Toulouse; these were chiefly French, and thus it comes about that the library of Tours now possesses some of the very first rank of the most ancient monuments of French literature.
Sulpicius Severus, who made a special visit to St. Martin at Tours, gives us an exact description of the site of this monastery, founded by Martin in or about 372, at a distance of two miles from the city, on its north-east side. He describes it as bounded on the north by a range of precipitous rock, and on the south by a portion of the stream of the river Loire, here divided. In those times it was only accessible by one narrow way. Martin’s own cell was of wood, but many of the eighty brethren excavated cells for themselves in the rock, the nature of which lends itself to such excavation. The range of cliff is honeycombed to this day for stables, wagon-sheds, &c.; indeed, excavations of this character are a feature of the district, observable from Poitiers to many miles on the Orleans side of Tours. This abbey, like that of St. Martin, gradually became secularized, and it, like St. Martin’s, was ruled by Count Vivian forty years after Alcuin’s death. The names of many of its abbats before Alcuin’s time are known, but it is only from the year 814 that a continuous series is recorded. A photograph of some remains of the abbey is given in [Plate V].
The library of the Collegiate church of St. Martin was founded by Alcuin, who borrowed books from England, mainly from York, and had them copied; probably some of the borrowed books remained at Tours, for Northumbria was in too disturbed a state to look after manuscripts lent to France. In 1739 Bernard de Montfaucon published an inventory of this library, which then contained 272 manuscripts. Of these the library of Tours now possesses 140. The twenty-one other sources referred to above have provided 96 manuscripts, and the library has, besides, 159 which cannot be traced to their source. This makes nearly 1,000 manuscripts in all from these sources. The twenty-one sources referred to, and the number of manuscripts each has provided, are as follows: The Augustins of Tours 16; les Carmes 11; les Capucins 1; les Dames du Calvaire 3: l’Oratoire 19; les Récollets 1; le Grand Séminaire St. Julien 3; St. Pierre le Puellier 2; l’Union Chrétienne 3; la Visitation 2; Aigues Vives 1; Amboise 3; St. Florentin d’Amboise 1; l’Abbaye de Beaumont 4; Bois-Rayer 1; Cormery 5; Notre-Dame de Loches 2; la Chartreuse du Liget 5; les Augustines de Beaulieu-lès-Loches 1; les Religieuses Hospitalières de Loches 1; les Minimes du Plessis-lès-Tours 11. What endless treasures England would now have possessed if municipal authorities had taken such care as this of the monastic libraries in the time of Henry VIII.
Plate V
Some remains of Marmoutier. To face p. 222.
In translating the life of Alcuin, we omitted one of the examples of Alcuin’s insight into the ways of men which the anonymous author gives. It relates to Cormery, some miles up the river Indre, one of the places from which manuscripts were brought into the library of Tours. The trick played was as clever in itself as the detection of it was. It got over the difficulty of the vessels being found to be partly empty, and the difficulty that, if they were filled up with water, the taster of the monastery would detect the fraud at once.
This is the passage in the Life:—
“To the brothers of Cormery, whom he greatly loved, the father had ordered a hundred measures of wine to be given. When the wine was to be taken to the monastery, he ordered the stewards of the monastery, through Sigulf, a monk of Abbat Benedict, that they should detain the conveyors of the wine, until in their presence the wine should be poured from the vessels in which they had brought it into others; because some of them had stealthily taken out some of the wine, and, in order that the vessels might be full when they reached the monastery, had put into them river-sand. That this had been done, the fathers proved most conclusively.”
The monastery of St. Paul at Cormery has a special interest for students of Alcuin. William of Malmesbury makes mention of it in the famous passage in which he so highly praises Alcuin.[207] After quoting Alcuin’s request[208] to Karl that he may have sent over from his library of York some of the manuscripts which he describes as the flowers of Britain, “that the garden of paradise may not be confined to York, but some of its scions may be transplanted to Tours,” William proceeds thus: “This is that same Alcuin who, as I have said, was sent into France to treat of peace, and during his abode with Charles, captivated either by the pleasantness of the country or the kindness of the king, settled there; and being held in high estimation, he taught the king, during his leisure from the cares of state, a thorough knowledge of logic, rhetoric, and astronomy. Alcuin was, of all the Angles of whom I have read, next to St. Aldhelm and Bede, certainly the most learned, and has given proof of his talents in a variety of compositions. He lies buried in France, at the church of St. Paul of Cormery[209], which monastery Charles the Great built at his suggestion; on which account, even at the present day (about 1130 A.D.), the subsistence of four monks is distributed in alms for the soul of our Alcuin in that church.”
We have the documents which relate to the foundation of St. Paul of Cormery, and they do not quite carry out William’s statement. Itherius, the predecessor of Alcuin at St. Martin’s of Tours, had acquired land at Cormery for the residence of monks, and in 791 had issued a precept for the construction of a monastery. Much discussion has centred round this fact, to which further reference is made in another part of this book.[210] In the year 800, Karl issued two interesting documents[211], both dated from St. Martin’s at Tours, one signed by the king himself, the other certified by Genesius, acting as deputy for the chancellor Hercambold. The first of these documents has interesting features, and in it we find the reason for the abbey being called, down to the Revolution, l’Abbaye Royale de Cormery, and having as its armorial bearings the crowned eagle of the empire impaling the lilies of France ancient. It is addressed to “all the faithful men of St. Martin at that time serving in the holy place where that precious confessor of Christ rests in the body, and to all who shall follow them. Our beloved master Albinus has with pious devotion begged of us that he may be allowed to settle monks in the cell of St. Paul, which in rustic speech is called Cormery, there to live the regular life according to the statutes of the holy Benedict. This place his predecessor Abbat Itherius had acquired; he had built it, and handed it over to St. Martin. We have thought it right to give our assent to his pious devotion, and have caused it to be confirmed by our letters under the seal of our authority, in order that no severance may ever take place. For if divine piety has given to our parents and to us the power over the whole monastery of St. Martin, and the right to give it to whom we will, how much more have we the power of assigning to God the aforesaid place. It is not lawful for any one to contemn the donation or confirmation of royal benignity, especially in an order so pious and wholesome as this. Therefore we entirely order that this our donation stand to all time fixed and inviolate, and that this place be never taken away from the possession of St. Martin, but that there monks shall live under the full rule of St. Benedict and have protection and help from the abbats of the monastery of St. Martin. If any abbat in time to come should disregard this our precept, let him know that he shall render an account of his presumption to our Lord Jesus Christ in the day of His great advent. So also shall any who diminishes aught of the things which Abbat Itherius of blessed memory acquired, of the property of St. Martin which he gave to the church of St. Paul, or of the things which the said Abbat Albinus has given, at whose request we have caused write these letters, or anything which any one may have given in alms for his soul. That this may stand the more firm, we have determined to subscribe it with our own hand and have caused it to be sealed with our ring.”
The other document, addressed to all bishops, counts, officers, &c., grants licence to the monks, “at the request of our most beloved and faithful the venerable Abbat Albinus”, to have two ships coming and going with necessary things on the rivers Loire, Sarthe, and Vienne, free from toll. This was ordered to be sealed with Karl’s ring. The navigation of the Indre, being their own river, was no doubt free to them without grant.
Plate VI
Capital found at Cormery. To face p. 227.
Ithier governed St. Martin’s at Tours from 770 to 791. Soon after 791 he died, and was buried in a grave at the entrance of the nave of the abbatial church of Cormery, on the north side. The place can still be pointed out. Fridugisus, the Nathanael of Alcuin’s letters, who was designated by Alcuin as his immediate successor, became abbat of St. Martin’s after Wulfhard II. He built a stone church, the west front of which still stands in considerable part, with the eleventh-century Romanesque tower, most of which still stands, applied to it, the east wall of the tower being the west front of Fridugisus. [Plate VI] shows a capital which has recently been found, evidently of the time of Fridugisus. Considerable parts of the later Gothic walls still stand. They are carefully tended by M. Octave Bobeau, the local correspondent of the Minister of Public Education, whose apartments are in the refectory of the abbey. The curé of Cormery, M. l’abbé Jaillet, is a most obliging guide to the ruins, as also to his own very fine cruciform parish church. In these most recent days “his own” is a misdescription. The inventories have been taken, and Monsieur le Maire is the master of the parish church and its services. The large house of the abbats of Cormery is now a dwelling-house in connexion with the communal school. An early engraving in a French account of Touraine shows that the western tower was crowned with a gallery and spire, not unlike that shown in the illustration of Marmoutier, [Plate V].
Some commentators suppose that the “other monastery”, which Alcuin informs Arno he has built some eight miles from the city, was this monastery of Cormery. But the distance named is not easily reconciled with the geographical facts, and Alcuin could not properly have stated that he was the founder of Cormery.
Cormery provided a home for the severer side of the monastic life, St. Martin’s and Marmoutier remaining secular. Cormery being a considerable distance away, a Benedictine abbey, of St. Julien, was established in the eastern part of Tours, in the tenth century, by Archbishop Théotolon, and a Romanesque abbey-church was built, the square tower of which still remains; the church in its present state has some ancient paintings, and deserves a visit. Being within the limits of the ancient Roman town, it would naturally be under the jurisdiction of the archbishop.
This will be a convenient point at which to give further details[212] of the remarkable licence of Hadrian for a permanent bishopric of the western part of the present city, at that time a district separate from the ancient city, in which latter was the stool of the archbishop of Tours.
The licence of Hadrian I, allowing the abbat and brethren of St. Martin’s to elect and to have their own bishop, is printed (from Baluz) in Gallia Christiana, vol. xiv, p. 7 of the Instrumenta relating to Tours. The date is 786. The licence is addressed to Abbat Autherius, that is, Itherius. It sets forth that by royal and papal privileges the Abbey of St. Martin of Tours was in all respects independent of the episcopal authority of the bishop of Tours;[213] whatsoever in the flock of St. Martin needed arranging, ruling, or correcting, was a matter for the abbat, provost, dean, and other most approved men. Hadrian declares that they may have a bishop of their own, as had been the custom from ancient times until most recent times, because of the great numbers of persons who flocked from all parts to visit the shrine and needed instruction in the faith. The person elected by the abbat and the flock shall be ordained by the neighbouring bishops. The metropolitan bishop—that is, the archbishop of Tours—shall not enter the church for any exercise of his episcopal office, such as ordinations, or making the chrism, nor shall he have power to summon any of the priests of the monastery to appear before him. The abbey bishop must not be impleaded without the assent of the abbat. He is to have the pastoral care of the neighbouring districts held by the abbey, and is to amend and correct in canonical manner and due order with the consent of his abbat. If the abbat does not choose to settle any matter of dispute which may arise between the St. Martin’s bishop and the bishops of the neighbourhood, the matter must come direct to the apostolic see.
That is a very remarkable document. We are not without indications of other unusual customs in the province of Tours.
The Archbishop of Tours had eventually eleven suffragans, Le Mans, Angers, Rennes, Nantes, Vannes, Cornouaille, Léon, Tréquier, St. Brieuc, St. Malo, Dol. Some of these bishoprics trace their origin to refugees from Britain in the middle of the sixth century. A marked feature of the Archbishopric was the existence and permanence of the office of Archpresbyter. The Chapter of Tours itself, in its most complete form, consisted of Dean, Archdeacon of Tours, Treasurer, Praecentor, Chancellor, two other Archdeacons, the Archpresbyter of Tours, and fifty or more Canons. The Princeps Archipresbyter preached on the greater Sundays, as the Ecclesiastes Theologus did on other Sundays. At Le Mans, before Alcuin’s time at Tours, there were two Archpresbyters, each in management of half of the diocese; in the eleventh century there were three; in 1200, eight. In 1230 Maurice replaced them by seven Archdeacons, who had under them a number of rural deans, decani rusticanis negotiis, an office into which the Archpresbyters, once so important, subsided. Archdeacons of Le Mans are first named in the will of St. Bertramn, in 623. At Angers the chief Archdeacon had under him four Archpresbyters; the second Archdeacon had one Archpresbyter and two Rural Deans; the third Archdeacon had three Rural Deans. At Angers the Archbishop of Tours acted in 1334 much as the Archbishop acted at St. Martin’s at Tours in or before Alcuin’s time; he freed the Chapter from episcopal control and himself confirmed the Deans[214].