Jacob’s vision of the angels is shown in a very fine carving over the central west door. The architects of the church in the sixteenth century were chiefly members of the family of Grappin, and it was Robert Grappin who, in 1530, built the nave in such a hurry that it collapsed, but within a decade it had been rebuilt.
Of the interior there is only space to mention the exceedingly interesting carved pillars; the huge Tree of Jesse in the baptistery; the chapel, containing a skeleton in stone; twenty-eight sixteenth-century painted panels, showing legends of the lives of the patron saints of the Church; the beautiful vaulted aisles of the choir; and, finally, the sixteenth-century glass of the windows.
No. 27. GISORS TO ROUEN.
The conferences between the English and French kings were held under an elm that grew upon the boundary, and under its shade, in 1188, Henry II. of England and Philippe Auguste held a peace conference, at which the aged Archbishop of Tyre appeared, and implored the monarchs to lead armies to aid in driving the infidels from the Holy City. It was agreed that both should lead a crusade in two years’ time; but in the following year, having fallen out, they were at war again, and Philippe soon afterwards cut down the tree.
Going out of Gisors by the street that leads approximately southwards, a tributary of the Epte is crossed by a bridge bearing a gilded statue to Our Lady, and just afterwards a level-crossing, where one turns to the right by the railway, soon afterwards passing (on the right) a very interesting example of the fortified farm, having a squat round tower at each corner. Further off, beyond the river, appears the ruined tower of the castle of Neaufles.
After crossing the Epte the road climbs up through the village of Dangu, whose château on the left among the woods above the river was at one time of the greatest importance. The Norman structure has been demolished, and the existing castle dates back no further than the fifteenth century, some of it only to 1567, and part is modern, but a large portion is older than the time of Louis XIII.—a contemporary of Charles I.—when it was owned by the Comte de Bouteville, of whom Mr. Dearmer tells the following story in his admirable work on Normandy:
‘This gentleman has a place in history for his defiance of the celebrated edict against duelling; he and the Comte de Chapelles fought two other lords in broad daylight in the Place Royale at Paris. One of their opponents was killed, and Richelieu determined to prove that no lord was above the law. In spite of the efforts of the greatest families in France, Bouteville and Chapelles were executed in 1627. Eight years afterwards Louis XIII. arranged to visit Dangu in the company of the Cardinal, but when the widowed Madame de Bouteville heard of the intended honour, she sent this message: “The King will be received at Dangu with the honours due to the majesty of a King of France; but as for the Cardinal, I shall place under the drawbridge twelve barrels of powder, to which a light will be applied as he passes, in order to send him to heaven, where he ought to have been long ago.” The King came alone. But Richelieu had his revenge, and in five years Dangu passed into the hands of a recently ennobled favourite of the great Cardinal.’
On the left-hand side, on entering the village of Les Thilliers-en-Vexin, where the route nationale to Rouen is reached, a little distance from the road, is the Château de Bois d’Enemets, built in the time of Louis XIII., and attributed to Mansard.
After a short run on the straight and perfectly level main road, a turning to the left is taken, which drops at a gentle gradient down the side of the Gambon Valley—reminiscent of the chalky valleys of Kent—through the hamlet of Harquency, with its midget Norman church, to