The Architecture of Provence and the Riviera

by David MacGibbon

That kind of architecture was, as was natural, especially in the South, to a considerable extent founded on that of the Romans. This will be more fully explained and illustrated, when we come to treat of the fortifications of Carcassonne, which are partly Roman or of Roman foundation. In the North the early fortresses consisted of earthen mounds, protected by palisades and ditches. Such were the defences of the native Gauls, which Cæsar found so boldly defended. To these succeeded the strong towers of masonry, of which the Norman keep is the well known type. Stone-built towers of that description gradually superseded the wooden fort set upon the top of an earthen “motte” or mound which formed the central stronghold of the earlier fortresses. Masonry then, step by step, took the place of wood in the defences; first, as we have seen, in the keep, and then in the enclosing walls. As the science of attack improved, the latter were made stronger, and were further fortified by the construction in connection with them of numerous strong towers. These were generally round in the North and square in the South. The means of active defence were chiefly from the parapet. At first the parapets of the walls and towers were armed in time of war with wooden enclosures, called “hoards” or “brétêches,” projected on short wooden beams. These enabled the defenders to overlook and protect the base of the works, which were then the weak points of the fortifications, and were liable to attack by sapping or mining. The assailants carried out this kind of assault by rolling up their sappers to the walls in “cats” or “sows” (small wagons strongly constructed and defended on the top with bags of wool and wet hides), which could only be destroyed by great stones and beams, hurled down from the projecting “hoards” above. The sockets for this wooden armature of the walls still exists unaltered in the thirteenth century fortifications of Carcassonne and Aigues Mortes. By degrees the wooden hoards were abandoned, being found liable to destruction by the fire balls or “Greek fire,” which the crusaders had learned the use of in the East. Parapets of masonry were then substituted for them, projected on bold stone corbels, which left intervals between the parapet and the face of the wall, called” machicolations,” through which the defenders could rain missiles on the assailants. In the fourteenth century these corbelled parapets are amongst the most prominent and picturesque features of the castles and fortifications of the period. In course of time the stone parapets were further improved and heightened into several storys, the lower ones being covered, and the upper forming an open crenellated walk. In the fifteenth century this system reached its height, and produced in the lofty towers and walls, crowned with their numerous boldly overhanging works, some of the most magnificent works of the military architecture of the Middle Ages. We shall have occasion to refer to the various systems of defence adopted in the different castles and towns to be visited, when attention will also be drawn to the differences of the systems adopted in the North and South. We shall also find a remarkable application of castellated features in the churches of the South, where, after the twelfth century, almost every ecclesiastical structure is carefully fortified. This produces in the churches of the South one of their most striking peculiarities, and gives them, instead of the light and gracefully aspiring character of the Northern Gothic structures, a reflection of the grim and stern aspect of the feudal castle. The peculiar church architecture just referred to, no doubt derived its origin from the constant state of alarm and disturbance in which the Southern provinces were kept by the Albigensian wars, and the attacks of the Moors and Corsairs by sea and land. Some place of refuge and defence was required by the harassed inhabitants, who naturally fled to the church and fortified themselves therein. Frequently the cathedrals were comprised within the precincts of the Bishop’s Palace, which was fortified like a feudal castle. The cathedral being the largest building was eagerly seized upon as an important part of the fortifications, and even when the design was in Northern Gothic, had externally at least to adopt many of the defensive features of the South. Of this remarkable illustrations occur at Narbonne, Béziers, and Fréjus.

We have now rapidly sketched the various steps by which Roman architecture was gradually transformed, from being in its decorative features an imitation of the classic trabeated style, into an embodiment of the true principles of arcuated or genuine stone construction, as exhibited in the fully developed Gothic of the thirteenth century. We have seen that this was by no means a simple process, and that it was only accomplished by the ordeal of the destructive though purifying dissolution of the Dark Ages, whence the true spirit of Roman construction emerged, cleared to a great extent of the extraneous elements with which it had been so long encrusted. But although the true features of arcuated architecture now slowly began to be developed, they were both aided and retarded by the surviving relics of Roman art which existed in the West, as well as by the influence of the classic taste which continued to prevail, although in a modified and expanded condition, in the East. The country through which we are about to travel is remarkably favourable for the study of the effects of these various influences. We have already seen how rich it is in genuine Roman structures. In our further progress we shall note how these examples served as models for the revival of the architecture; for so closely were the ancient designs frequently followed that the new structures were almost complete resuscitations of the style of the Lower Empire.

We shall also have many opportunities of observing the influence of the modified classic art imported from Byzantium. Thence came the dome which forms one of the most important elements in the mediæval architecture of Aquitaine and the South, as well as numerous details and ornaments which served as the foundation or motive for much of the architectural decoration of the West, especially in Provence. How strongly these influences produced their impress on the architecture of the region we are to traverse, will be apparent; and it will probably be agreed by all that although the art of Provence was thereby advanced at first, the chief tendency of these classic reminiscences was to encourage an adherence to traditional forms, which prevented such a free growth and development as was afterwards displayed in the Northern districts, where the classic elements were less abundant. But in one respect at least the architecture of Provence deserves our gratitude and admiration, for, amidst all its classic surroundings, it boldly adopted and adhered to the true principle of arcuated construction, and introduced the use of the pointed arch. Although in its earlier stages this important feature was accompanied and encumbered with the revived details of Roman work, still, as we shall see, in its later phase, it entirely and completely discarded them; and in the twelfth century, under the guidance of the Cistertians, Provence produced a simple and natural style of arcuated architecture in which every feature is regulated by strict adherence to the genuine principles of stone construction. Of this simple but strong and impressive style we shall meet with many fine examples.

Up to this time the Provençal architects had led the way, but the period had now arrived when their principles were to be taken up and carried out with the boldness and energy of the Northern kingdom of France, then in its youthful prime. The lay architects of the North, seizing on the Provençal principle of the pointed arch, which they at once perceived to be so flexible and easy of application to every requirement, soon developed from it the magnificent system of the perfected Gothic of the thirteenth century. This was at once felt and acknowledged on all hands to be an immense step in advance of anything hitherto attempted in the West, and was speedily allowed to overshadow, and finally to supersede all other varieties of mediæval development. Of this result numerous illustrations will occur in the course of our journey; but we shall also observe how tenaciously the original forms of construction and plan were adhered to in the South, even after the Northern Gothic had been accepted as supreme in all minor details.

VI.

HAVING now glanced rapidly at the general history and various phases of the architecture of Provence during the Middle Ages, we shall recommence our journey at Lyons, and visit the various places on our route southwards to Marseilles, and thence westwards and eastwards along the Riviera, where architectural subjects are to be found, giving a more detailed account of each in its turn, and specially noting those of the

MEDIÆVAL PERIOD.

At Lyons the traveller is at once introduced to the local style in the Church of the Ainay, which however is much modernised and restored. Some portions of the walls may be as old as the tenth century, but the consecration of the existing building (barring subsequent restorations) took place in 1107. The four granite columns of the choir are possibly antique.