Caudebec began its existence as a fishing village under the control of the Abbey of St. Wandrille, and, with its convenient quay, soon grew prosperous. When Henry V. besieged the town, it held out for six months.
During the Franco-Prussian War the Germans occupied the old town, but fortunately did no damage to it.
It is with keen reluctance that one leaves the sunny quay of Caudebec, with its busy market scenes, its steam ferry-boat, and the lovely views up and down the curving river. However, the road follows the Seine, and one enjoys for mile after mile lovely views across the wide belt of silvery water, backed by sweeping green forests.
ST. WANDRILLE
About two kilometres from Caudebec a turning to the left leads up in a few minutes to St. Wandrille, where the ruins of the Norman abbey stand in a pretty valley. The conventual buildings are now the residence of M. Maurice Maeterlinck, the dramatist and author, who recently performed an historical play in the refectory and cloisters of the abbey, the audience moving from one part of the buildings to another for each successive scene.
The abbey was originally called Fontenelle, after the stream that flows through the valley. It was founded in the middle of the seventh century by a pupil of St. Columba, and the early buildings fell a prey to the harrying Norsemen, who left the place in ruins. In 1033, having been rebuilt, the abbey was dedicated to St. Wandrille, but a fire did much destruction in the thirteenth century, and in 1631 the tower and spire of the church fell, and smashed down the nave and aisles, the Lady-chapel, and the choir-stalls. What remains of the church is not so remarkable as the ornate cloisters of the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, and the imposing Norman refectory, with its vaulted roof of the fifteenth century and its fine Flamboyant windows.
Returning to the main road, and continuing towards Rouen, one soon catches sight of the two towers of the abbey of Jumièges rising above trees beyond a bend of the winding river. At the small village of Yainville, with a Norman church, the road to Jumièges goes to the right, and the singular beauty of this stately ruin justifies the détour.
JUMIÈGES
The entrance to the abbey is at a lodge gate on the left side of the road in the pleasant village, and the concierge—a quite charming type of country-woman—accompanies one through the admirably-kept ruins, and afterwards to the museum adjoining, where is preserved, among other carved stones from the ruined buildings, the slab of black marble under which was buried the heart of Agnes Sorel, the beautiful mistress of Charles VII. She died near Jumièges in 1449, after the birth of her fourth daughter, and her body was buried at Loches, which is passed through on the way southwards from Tours (see [Section VI.]).
The impressiveness of the twin towers of the west end of the great church is due in part to the extreme simplicity of the Norman work—for the buildings were completed just before the Norman Conquest—and also to their great height of 328 feet. On entering it is hard to believe that until 1790 the abbey and its great church were in a perfect state of preservation, for the roofs have gone except in the aisles, where the stones of the vault have been in some places so disturbed by roots and frosts that collapses are imminent. There are traces of orange-coloured painting on the arches, and the stone is of a warm cream, which looks singularly beautiful when afternoon shadows are falling from arches and pillars. There are only the foundations of the semicircular apse, with its nine chapels, and the gaps in the east end of the church are beautified by the presence of tall larches that droop their graceful branches over the broken moss-grown walls. The fourteenth-century chapel on the south side, dedicated to St. Pierre, is also in a state of ruin.