[60] Congrès Archéologique, 1911, E. Lefèvre-Pontalis, p. 315, the cathedral; p. 337, St. Médard; p. 343, St. Léger; p. 348, St. Jean-des-Vignes; Étienne Moreau-Nélaton, “Soissons avant la guerre,” in Les cités ravagées (Collection, Images historiques), (Paris, H. Laurens, 1919); ibid., Les églises de chez nous: Soissons (Paris, H. Laurens); Abbé Poquet, Notice historique et archéologique de la cathédrale de Soissons (Soissons, 1848); Émile Lambin, “La cathédrale de Soissons” in Revue de l’art chrétien, 1898, vol. 47; Émile Mâle, L’art allemand et l’art français du moyen âge (Paris, 1917); Bouet, “Excursion à Noyon, à Laon et à Soissons,” in Bulletin Monumental, 1868, vol. 34, p. 430; E. Lefèvre-Pontalis, L’architecture religieuse dans l’ancien diocèse de Soissons au XIe et au XIIe, siècle (Paris, Plon, 1894-98), 2 vols., folio.
[61] Congrès Archéologique, 1911, p. 410, Longpont abbatial; Abbé Poquet, Monographie de l’abbaye de Longpont (1869). Longpont, where the bishops of Soissons were buried, was founded by Gerard de Chérisy, who had married Lady Agnes of Longpont. St. Bernard sent twelve Cistercian monks to start the new house in 1131. The splendid Gothic church, which departed from Cîteaux’s rule of church simplicity, was consecrated in 1227 before the queen regent and Louis IX, by the bishop of Soissons, Jacques de Bazoches, who had just anointed Louis as king, at Rheims. Longpont was sacked by the Huguenots in 1567, and wrecked by the Revolution. The picturesque ruins were acquired by the de Montesquieu family in 1850.
[62] The monastery church of St. Jean-des-Vignes was in size a cathedral, and the maker of the great façade at Rheims, Bernard de Soissons, is said to have designed it. The cloisters, once the most sumptuous in the kingdom, were begun by an abbot who died in 1224, after he had built an aqueduct for the city which still is in use. St. Jean’s big west rose had been, since 1870, an empty circle. Little more than its façade and western towers stood before 1914. Sacked by the Revolution, its real demolition was under the Empire, when to repair the cathedral the deserted monastery was sold for a paltry sum, and stone by stone removed. The congregation of good men in this abbey did parish work for many centuries. In such good repute with the citizens were they that, when the Revolution suppressed the house, Soissons’ municipality protested, saying that the abbey had “always claimed with zeal its share of public duties.” Taine in his L’Ancien Régime quotes the protest: “In calamities this abbey opens its doors to the destitute citizens and feeds them. It alone has borne the expense of the citizens’ meetings, preparatory to the election of deputies for the National Assembly. It now is lodging a company of soldiers. Always when there are sacrifices to be made it is on hand.” However, the revolutionary authorities paid no heed to the citizens’ desire to retain their historic house.
[63] For the churches of Notre Dame and St. Martins, at Étampes, see Bulletin Monumental, 1905, vol. 69, and Annales de la Société hist. et archéol. du gatinais, 1907, Lefèvre-Pontalis; also the Congrès Archéologique, 1901, p. 71. Notre Dame was begun about 1160. Its strongly Romanesque south portal is of the same type as Chartres’ western doors. The crypt and piers of the nave are XI century, and the transept and choir were rebuilt about 1170 as early Gothic. The Romanesque tower is one of the best of its epoch; its base is approximately 1050; the next two stories about 1075; the fourth story, 1125; and the spire, 1130. The church is full of irregularities from rebuildings. St. Martin’s church is XII and XIII century; its much discussed ambulatory of the Champagne type is about 1165. The number of supports for the vault was doubled in the outer wall, thus making the space to be covered a series of square compartments alternating with triangles.
[64] Auguste Rodin, Les cathédrales de France (Paris, A. Colin, 1914), 4to.
[65] Congrès Archéologique, 1911, St. Remi (Rheims), p. 57, and Notre Dame (Châlons), p. 473, Louis Demaison; Louis Demaison, Les églises de Châlons-sur-Marne (Caen, 1913); E. M. de Barthélemy, “Notre Dame-en-Vaux à Châlons-sur-Marne,” in Revue de l’art chrétien, vol. 15, p. 97; A. de Dion, “Notre Dame-en-Vaux à Châlons-sur-Marne,” in Bulletin Monumental, 1886, vol. 52, p. 547, and 1887, vol. 53, p. 439, Louis Grignon; L. Grignon, Description et l’histoire de Notre Dame de Châlons-sur-Marne (Châlons-sur-Marne, 1884), 2 vols.; Abbé Poussin, Monographie de l’abbaye et de l’église de St. Remi de Rheims (Rheims, 1857); Alfonse Gosset, La basilique de St. Remi à Rheims (Paris, 1900); L. Barbat, Histoire de la ville de Châlons-sur-Marne; R. de Lasteyrie, L’architecture religieuse en France à l’époque romane (Paris, 1912), p. 158, St. Remi.
[66] “Il est digne de remarque, que de toutes ces règles monastiques les plus rigides ont été les mieux observées: les Chartreux ont donné au monde l’unique exemple d’une congrégation qui a existé sept cents ans sans avoir besoin de réforme.”—Chateaubriand, Génie du Christianisme.
In April, 1903, two squadrons of dragoons expelled the last monks from La Grande Chartreuse. An economic loss for the entire region has resulted.
[67] Congrès Archéologique, 1902; Morel-Payen, Troyes et Provins (Collection, Villes d’art célèbres), (Paris, H. Laurens, 1910); Félix Bourquelot, Histoire de Provins (Paris, Techener, 1840), 2 vols.; Gabriel Fleury, “Le portail de St. Ayoul de Provins,” in Congrès Archéologique, 1902, p. 458, or in Études sur les portails imagés du XIIe siècle (Mamers, Fleury et Dangin, 1904).
[68] The transept of St. Ayoul is good Romanesque. After a fire in 1160 the nave was rebuilt as XIII-century Gothic; the choir is XVI century. At St. Loup-de-Naud there is a central lantern on squinches (XII century).