The French Carthusian monasteries of greatest interest after Vauvert, which had the special advantage of royal protection, are those of Clermont, in Auvergne, Villefranche de Rouergue (Figs. [145] and [146]), Villeneuve-lez-Avignon, and Montrieux, in Var. The Chartreuse of Dijon is one of the most ancient, not only as to its buildings, which are the work of the Duke of Burgundy's architects, but in respect of its famous sculptures of the tomb of Philip the Bold, and his wife, Margaret of Flanders, and those of the Well of Moses, carved by the Burgundian brothers, Claux Suter, who flourished at the close of the fourteenth century, and had much to do with the revival of art at that period.[51]
[51] See Part I., "Sculpture."
But the most imposing of all, and the most famous, if not the most beautiful, is that in the mountains near Grenoble, universally known as La Grande Chartreuse.
The original monastery is said to have been founded by St. Bruno. It consisted merely of a humble chapel and a few isolated cells, which are supposed to have occupied the site in the Desert, on which the Chapels of St. Bruno and St. Mary now stand. The existing buildings were reconstructed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in the manner of the day, of which the arcades of the great cloister are good examples. The present church, which is extremely simple in design, has preserved nothing of its sixteenth-century decoration but the choir stalls. The great cloister consists of an arcaded gallery, on which the sixty cells of the monks open. It is arranged in strict accordance with the Rule of St. Bruno as regards its connection with the main buildings, the chief features of which we have already pointed out.
CHAPTER IV
FORTIFIED ABBEYS
The monasteries built throughout the twelfth century were provided with outer walls, by means of which the claustral buildings, offices, workshops, and even farms of the community were enclosed. Thus all the necessaries of life were produced within the precincts, and all communication with the outside world was avoided.
But by the end of the century the great abbeys had become feudal castles; and fortified walls were raised around them, often embracing the town which had grown up under their protection and shared their fortunes. This was the case at Cluny, and the town acknowledged its obligations to the monks by the payment of tithes.
In the reign of Philip Augustus and St. Louis the abbots were not only the heads of their monasteries but feudal chieftains, vassals of the royal power, and as such obliged to furnish the sovereign with men-at-arms in time of war, and to maintain a garrison when required.[52]