2015 Pilgrimage to France
(For 2 previous pilgrimage trips, please see Sept. 2013 blog)
Pilgrimage:
A journey in search of moral or spiritual significance.
This is our
3rd pilgrim trip to France with the group.
June 27 - St. Denis: Basilica of St. Denis.
According to
the legend, St. Denis, the bishop martyr of Paris (3rd century), was
beheaded at Montmartre, and walked, carrying his head, to this place (now St.
Denis, near Paris) where a church was later built. In the 12th
century, Abbot Suger (also a statesman) had part of the church rebuilt, using
an innovative structure and style, which is considered to be the first Gothic
style church.
Martyrdom of St. Denis
St. Denis
Basilica is the burial sites for most French kings from the 10th
century to 1789. I’m not familiar with
French monarchs except a few. Luckily,
the larger, more impressive mausoleums happened to belong to those I’ve heard
before. These are, in chronological order, Louis XII & Anne of Brittany,
Francis I & his wife Claude (the daughter of Louis XII), and Henry II and
Catherine of Medici, all of whom we’d hear more in later tours. The tomb of Louis XVI & Marie Antoinette has
also been moved there recently.
It’s said
that it was St. Louis (Louis IX) who decided to make St. Denis Basilica the
“royal necropolis”, but I couldn’t find his mausoleum. Has anyone in our tour group found it?
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| Louis XII & Ann of Brittany |
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| Henry II & Catherine |
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| Francis I & Claude |
June 30 - Chartres Cathedral
The cathedral,
dedicated to the Virgin Mary, has been an important pilgrimage site since the
Middle Ages. We were fortunate to have Mr. Malcolm Miller, who is a world
renowned scholar on Chartres (and has given lectures at the Art Institute of
Chicago on the subject) as our guide. It
took 6 months on the waiting list to book him (Thank you, Rachel & Sandy.). Due to time limitation, he could
only explain some of the 13th century stain glass windows (the 12th
century windows were behind a scaffold being constructed for repair), and one
portal in the northern facade. Most of
the windows were original, each donated by a king or aristocrat’s family and
said to be worth more than the stones with which the church was built. It became an important site of pilgrimage
since the 9th century after Charlemagne gave the cathedral a relic,
the tunic believed to have been worn by Virgin Mary at Christ’s birth. During
the French Revolution, it was cut into pieces and sold. Only a small piece still remains. The cathedral has been damaged by fire
several times. It was rebuilt by Bishop
Fulbert in the 11th century (most of the crypt dates from that
period), and a major repair began in the 12th century. It was
completed and consecrated by Louis IX (St. Louis) in the 13th
century.
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| West facade with Portal Royale |
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| The relic |
North transept rose window donated by
St. Louis and his queen mother. The
center is the Virgin and Child, surrounded by doves and angles. Next, a circle of figures from the Old
Testament, surrounded by fleurs-de-lis.
Beneath, the 5 tall lancet windows with St. Anne holding the Virgin as a
child in the center, flanked by 4 Old Testament figures.
South transept Rose window showing
Christ in the center surrounded by angels.
The center lower panel shows the Virgin and Child, flanked by 4
evangelists sitting on the shoulders of 4 Old Testament prophets.
The
cathedral has 3 facades, each with 3 portals.
We began with the north portals.
Mr. Miller explained every figure in the portal (mostly Old Testament personages). It was very
interesting. Unfortunately, I’ve forgotten it all except the center statue is
St. Anne holding child Mary, which corresponds to the stained glass window
within. I later noted an interesting feature:
there are some human figures of black race among the sculptures. I wonder what they mean.
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| North portal: the complicated tympanum |
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| stone screen around choir |
St. Anne with child Mary at the north
portal
Unfortunately,
Mr. Miller didn’t have time to explain the west (Royal) portals, nor the south
porch. They are equally beautiful, with many
slender, graceful Gothic statues.
There’s a
beautiful carved stone screen around the choir, depicting the lives of Mary and
Jesus.
We did not
visit the crypt, nor did we walk the labyrinth.
We took a “train” tour of the town instead. It was exceedingly hot that
day, and sitting inside the glass roof train was like being baked within an
oven… not the better part of the visit.
Gothic statue at the North porch. Note the 2 black men.. I wonder whom they represent.
July 1, Amboise Chateau
Since the
chateau was confiscated by the monarchy in the 15th century, it was extensively
rebuilt. Charles VIII, who rebuilt it, died at the château in 1498 after
hitting his head on a door lintel, at the age of 28.
Few of us
are familiar with Charles VIII, but many of us have heard of his wife, Anne of
Brittany, the last ruler of Brittany. She struggled to keep Brittany independent
from France, but was forced into marrying Charles VIII, despite the fact that
she was already married by proxy to Emperor Maximillian I. The guide narrated
the “picturesque” way this marriage by proxy was carried out. According to the
Germanic custom, the bride (Anne in this case) was lying in bed, while the
Austrian envoy, holding in his hand the proxy document of his master, bared one
of his legs, and introduced it for an instant into the nuptial bed. This was a
symbolic way to represent the marriage consummation. She never saw Maximilian. The
marriage to Charles VIII, however, resulted in the unification of Brittany and
France.
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Charles VIII
|
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Anne of Brittany
|
After young Charles’ accidental
death, his cousin, Louis XII, married the widowed queen Anne, in order to keep
Brittany under the French crown. (We
saw their magnificent tomb in St. Denis). Unfortunately, of their children, only
2 daughters survived to adulthood. So,
the throne passed to Charles’ cousin and son-in-law, Francis I. For those of you who saw the Art Institute of
Chicago’s special exhibit “Kings, queens and courtiers” would probably remember
the portraits of Anne and Louis XII, and also a beautiful gold case, which was
used to keep Anne’s heart.
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| clos Luce |
Francis I
grew up at Amboise and later inherited it from his mother, Louise of Savoy. Francis
I, a typical Renaissance prince, was a patron of arts and literature. He invited Leonardo da Vinci to Amboise in
December 1515, who lived and worked in the nearby Clos Lucé for 3 years until
his death. His house was connected to
the château by an underground passage. It has been assumed that he is buried in
the Chapel of Saint-Hubert.
There’s a
painting in the house showing Leonardo dying in Francis I’s arms (not true
historically, the painting is an idealized scene by “artistic license”). The house is nice. Considering the fact that Da Vinci’s famous
“Mona Lisa” was purchased by Francis, Da Vinci really paid back his room and
board a million times!
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| Da Vinci dying in Francis arms |
Francis I
was a womanizer and is generally said to have inspired the original protagonist
in the opera “Rigoletto”, based on a Victor Hugo’s play. Verdi had to change the king to a duke of
Mantua, in order to avoid Austrian censorship.
French people love him. They seem
to have forgotten that he was defeated by Emperor Charles V, captured,
imprisoned at Madrid for over a year, and was ransomed after signing a
humiliating Treaty of Madrid with the latter, which ceded a good portion of his
land to the emperor. I think part of the
reason that French love him is because as soon as he was released and crossed
the border, he announced his refusal to ratify the treaty. Charles V was furious. He’s more a man of the Middle Ages and
believed that a knight should always keep his words. In contrast, Francis I was a Renaissance man
and more Machiavellian. He put the
interest of the state above his words.
Francis’
son, Henry II, and Henry’s wife, Catherine de Medici, raised their children in
Amboise along with Mary Stuart, the child Queen of Scotland who had been
promised in marriage to their son Francis II.
Francis died young, and Mary returned to Scotland. After an uprising against Mary and her 3rd
husband, Mary fled to England, seeking the protection of her cousin Elizabeth
I, but this one imprisoned her and eventually sent her to the scaffold.
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| Emir Abd Al-Qadir |
A great part
of the Amboise chateau was demolished during the French Revolution. King Louis-Philippe began restoring it, but
with his abdication the château was returned to the government. The captive
Emir Abd Al-Qadir, Father of Algeria, and his entourage of family were
imprisoned (house arrest?) there in 1848.
Some of his family members were buried there except his grave which was
later moved to Algeria
.
The chateau
was later given to Louis-Philippe’s heirs and was repaired. We can see their portraits in one of the
rooms.
I visited Amboise
once before, more than 30 years ago.
What impressed me most then, besides Da Vinci’s sojourn, was not the
beauty of the chateau, but a horrifying story, the Amboise Conspiracy, a historical
event during the Religious War. Our guide didn’t mention it. If interested, you can check it on Wikipedia.
July 2 – Chenonceau
This chateau
first went to the possession of the crown during Francis I’s rule. After Francis' death in 1547, Henry II gave the
château to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers.
Diane de
Poitiers was the daughter of a nobleman. She married at 15 to Louis de Breze,
who was 39 years her senior. She bore
him 2 children. When she was 25, her father was involved in a rebellious plot
against the king. While his head was on
the chopping block, he was suddenly pardoned.
Rumors said that Diane offered her favors to the king in exchange of her
father’s life. Although this story is unproven
historically, Hugo and later Verdi used it in the play and the opera
“Rigoletto”.
As mentioned
earlier, Francis lost the battle of Pavia and was captured by Emperor Charles
V. In exchange for his freedom, his 2
eldest sons, Francis and Henry, age 7 and 8 at the time, were sent to Spain as
hostages, and spent 4 years in a bleak castle.
After their return, Francis appointed Diane to be Henry’s mentor. She became his mistress when she was 35 and
Henry 16, and remained the love of his life. With her sharp intellect and astute sense in politics
she became the greatest influence in his life and the most powerful woman in
France for 25 years.
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| Catherine of Medici. Who's prettier? |
Diane kept
her beauty well into her 50’s. Her
beauty secrets? Sandy has given us a
long list. But I doubt anyone in our group has the patience and resource to
really practice it.
When Henry
II was critically wounded in a jousting tournament in 1559 and Catherine
assumed control, Diane was banished from the court. She subsequently lost her favorite Chenonceau
to the queen regent (Catherine de Medici) and retired in obscurity in her own
chateau. She died at 66. Now Diane de Poitiers’ room has no portrait
of Diane, but a portrait of Catherine.
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| Diane's bedroom |
It was Diane
who had the long bridge over the water built.
She also oversaw the planting of extensive flowers, vegetable and fruit
trees in the garden. Catherine added new
gardens in a different style.
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| Catherine's bedroom |
The Salic
law of France did not allow women to succeed to the throne, but there have been
many powerful women in French history who actually ruled the country. Most of them acted as reagents when the king
was young. Examples include the Blanche
of Castile (mother of St. Louis), Anne (the elder sister of Charles VIII),
Catherine of Medici (wife of Henry II and mother of Henry III and Charles IX),
and Marie of Medici (wife of Louis XIII and mother of Louis XIV).
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| 5 queens' room |
One room of
the chateau is called “The room of 5 queens”, in honor of Catherine’s 2
daughters and 3 daughters-in-law. Her
daughters were Queen Margot (wife of Henry IV, the 1st Bourbon
king. She’s the main protagonist in
Dumas’ novel, “Queen Margot”and a recent movie of the same name) and Elizabeth,
the second wife of Philip II of Spain. (She’s the heroine in Verdi’s opera “Don
Carlos”.) Among her daughters-in-law the
most famous one was Mary, Queen of Scots, who was the wife of the short-lived
Francis II. The other 2 were the wives
of her 2 sons, Charles IX and Henry III.
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| Louise de Lorraine's room |
There is a
very unusual, dark and sad room, the bedroom of Louise de Lorraine, the wife of
Henry III. After her husband’s
assassination, she fell into a depression.
She was always dressed in mourning clothes, and had her room decorated in black
color including black tapestry, with symbols of mourning and death (e.g.,
silver tears, feathers, gravedigger’s shovels, skulls, cross bones, etc.),
letters “L” and “H”, and a portrait of Henry III.
A few words
about Henry III: Henry, when barely 20,
had courted the hand of Queen Elizabeth I of England, who was 37. A few years later, Henry was elected king of
Poland, but ruled for only 2 years. Upon
hearing his brother’s death he sneaked out of the Polish palace and rushed back
to France to be crowned king of France.
His reign was 14 years without an heir.
The crown then passed to his cousin, Henry IV. Rumor said he was homosexual, or at least a
bi-sexual, but there’s no solid proof, although he was reported to do
cross-dressing sometimes.
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| Louise Dupin |
Louise de
Lorraine left the chateau to her niece who was the wife of Duke of Vendome, the
natural son of Henry IV and his mistress.
The chateau stayed in the hand of the duke’s descendants for more than
100 years, passed to other aristocrats, and finally was sold to The Dupin
family. We can see Louise Dupin, who was
said to be very beautiful (as evidenced by her portrait), intelligent and
highly cultivated. Her salon had entertained Voltaire, Montesquieu, Fontenelle,
Marivaux, etc. Jean-Jacques Rousseau had been her secretary. Thanks to her, the chateau escaped destruction
during the French Revolution. The Dupins
were the ancestors of George Sand (real name, Aurore Dupin).
Mont St.
Michel, with its Benedictine abbey on the top of the rocky “islet”, was a
favorite pilgrimage site in the Middle Ages.
It’s an island when the tides rise (which was said to reach 50 ft high).
When the sea turns back, people can hike
to the island. Now there’s a long
bridge. Visitors can take the shuttle bus and walk the last stretch on the
bridge. The island is surrounded largely
by a stone rampart, making it look like an impregnable fortress instead of a
religious edifice. In fact, the monks
and residents in the village had to defend it against the English during the
100 Years’ War and from Huguenots during the wars of religion. After the French Revolution, the abbey served
as a state prison. The religious
community returned only in the last 50 years.
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| The church with St. Michael on the fle |
The abbey
church was erected in 11th century, in Romanesque style. The area on
top of the hill was too small to build a church. To solve the problem 3 crypts were first
built to serve as foundation. The
stability problem caused the Romanesque choir to collapse in 15th
century, and was replaced by a Gothic choir.
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| 2 towers preside over the entrance to the abbey. |
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| The Gothic choir |
There’s a
beautiful cloister with garden which, we were told, has leaking problems. The west wall has an opening (due to the
abandoned project of a chapter hall), giving a magnificent view of the bay.
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| St. Michael (15th century statue) |
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| he chapter hall was never built, giving a view of the bay. |
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| The cloister with its garden |
The monk’s
refectory is a huge, elongated hall with 2 rows of narrow windows separated by
slender columns. The acoustic effect was marvelous, as the monk’s reading
should be heard in all corners. This was
tried out by two talented members of our group, Nancy (soprano) and Charles
(baritone). It was a deeply moving
experience to hear such beautiful voices singing sacred music there.
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| refectory |
The Guest
Hall is immediately above the refectory, which provided the temporary residence
for visiting kings and noblemen. The
rich decoration of the wall is now lost. On one end of the hall there’s a large
fireplace, used for cooking.
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| St. Michael & St. Aubert |
Between the
2 large halls, I noticed a wall carving showing St. Michael putting his finger
on St. Aubert’s head. St. Aubert was an
8th century bishop who dreamed that the archangel commanded him to
build a church on the rock. After
ignoring the dream twice, St. Michael appeared again in his dream the 3rd
time and put a finger on his skull, which produced a hole (perhaps saying at
the same time, “you blockhead!”). This
finally convinced him and a church was built.
The guilt copper statue of St. Michael on the fleche was added several
centuries later.
St. Michael
replaced St. Denis to be the patron saint of France during the 100 Years’
War. I don’t know the reason. I suspect
it might have something to do with Joan of Arc’s vision of St. Michael.
July 4 – Bayeux
Bayeux is an
ancient town that dates since Roman times.
It was largely destroyed by Viking raids during the 9th
century. The Viking leader Rollo made
peace with the Frankish king, Charles the Simple, and the fiefdom of Normandy
was created. The name "Normandy" reflects Rollo's Norseman origins.
(We have a Rollo in our group.) The
descendants of Rollo and his Viking people intermarried with the local inhabitants
and became the Normans. Bayeux was
rebuilt in the 10th century.
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| King Edward sends Harold |
William the
Bastard, a descendant of Rollo and Duke of Normandy, became William the
Conqueror and king of England in 1066, while retaining the fiefdom of Normandy. Bayeux is famous for the near 70 meter long
“Bayeux tapestry” which depicts the sequence of events (according to the
Normans’ view) which led to the Norman conquest of England.
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| Conon escapes from the castle |
According to
the scenes of the tapestry, Harold, the brother-in-law of King Edward of
England (Edward the Confessor), was sent to Normandy to William’s court. The purpose (not clear on the tapestry) was
supposed to be to notify William, cousin of Edward, that he, William, was the
designated heir of the old Edward, since this one had no children. By mischance, Harold’s ship, blown by the
winds, reached Count Guy’s territory (another fiefdom of Normandy, not far from
Boulogne and Calais, then independent from William’s dominion) and was taken
prisoner.
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| Burial of Edward at Westminster |
Duke William demanded the
release of Harold, but once the captive was back in William’s Normandy, he was
made to swear on holy relics to accept William as Edward’s successor and Harold
as his vassal. William then invited Harold
to a campaign against Conon, the duke of Brittany, since there were constant
wars among the various feudal territories.
After this, Harold returned to England.
However, following Edward’s death, Harold had himself crowned as
king.
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| Harold crowned king of England |
The scenes shown in the tapestry after
Harold’s crowning include the following events: William receiving the news of
Harold’s crowning, preparation of the war, launching of Norman battleships, invasion
of England, and the Battle of Hasting.
An arrow shot hit Harold in one eye, which killed him. At the end of the tapestry there are corpses
everywhere.
.
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| Crossing the English Chanel |
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| Normans burn down houses in England |
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| Battle of Hasting |
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| Corpses scattered in the battle field |
The tapestry
was probably commissioned by Bishop Odo, William's half-brother, and made in
England—not Bayeux—in the 1070s.
Surprisingly, Harold was not presented in a
negative light in the tapestry. He was
shown to have saved some French soldiers from quicksand outside Mt. St. Michel
during the campaign against Conon. Indeed,
Harold was a heroic English king, but fortune was against him. William was not
the only one who claimed the right to the English throne. King Harald Hardrada
of Norway was another claimant. He
invaded England from the north, but was defeated and killed by King
Harold. On learning about William’s
landing, Harold left a good part of his troops in the north, and marched south. The exhausting long march, plus a shortage of
archers and cavalry (who remained in the north) weakened Harold’s army. The battle of Hasting lasted all day. The decisive point seems to have been Harold’s
death. The English fought very bravely,
but despite their gallantry the Normans gained the final victory.
After
visiting the museum we strolled to the cathedral. The cathedral of Bayeux was
completed by William’s half brother, Bishop Odo, and consecrated in William’s
presence. After a serious damage in 12th
century, the cathedral was rebuilt in the Gothic style.
I saw a curious
painting within the church, depicting the martyrdom of Thomas Becket, the archbishop
of Canterbury who was murdered by Henry II.
It seemed uncommon to encounter a representation of the English holy man
here. It’s hung in this cathedral
because Becket celebrated mass here during his exile. It’s not a great
painting, but a rare one.
There was an
exhibit about St. Therèse de Lisieux inside the cathedral. Here, another
curious finding was a photograph of St. Therèse playing the role of Joan of
Arc. She wrote the play herself. I didn’t know the saint was also a
playwright.
There was a
Medieval Festival outside the church. Many local residents were in ancient
costumes, including a young lady in the Office of Tourism, who kindly posed for
a photo.
Dinan
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| His statue in Dinan (in front of the hotel) |
We stayed in
a hotel in Dinan, a small, charming medieval Breton town, just before visiting
Normandy. There’s an equestrian statue
of Bertrand Du Guesclin immediately in front of our hotel. To those of you who
were in the last pilgrim trip, the name Du Guesclin may ring a bell (see the
paragraph on “Hondarribia” in my Sept. 2013 blog). He was the French hero during the 100 Years’
War. I noticed his tomb in the St. Denis
Cathedral. He also had a house in Mont
St. Michel, which is surprisingly humble for a Constable of France. He was born
near Dinan, distinguished himself and was knighted during service in Britany. Later
he was involved in the war between the 2 half-brothers , Henry and Pedro, who
fought over the Castilian crown. He
received bribes from both sides, but eventually helped Henry to kill
Pedro. For this he was made a duke and
an alliance between France and Castile was formed against the English.
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| His tomb in St. Denis |
French king Charles
V (“the Wise”) made him Constable of France when the war broke out again
between France and England. Du Guesclan
was a brilliant strategist and a disciplined soldier. A large land was reconquered from the English
thanks to him. He died in Languedoc and
was buried in St. Denis Cathedral, an extraordinary honor for someone who was
not born an aristocrat. Unfortunately,
Charles VI (the “mad king”), son of Charles V, lost the land again to Henry V
of England, after the disastrous defeat at Agincourt. The French people would have to wait until
Joan of Arc came to Charles VII (son of Charles VI) to save France again.
Dinan
maintains much of its ancient architecture.
The local cuisine includes crepes and apple cider which has pretty high
alcoholic content.
July 5 – Normandy beach
This day of
our trip was devoted to D-day, Normandy landings in Operation Overlord by the Allies. We concentrated on the American zones which include
Utah and Omaha beaches.
I saw the
famous movie “The Longest Day” in my youth.
The only scene I remember from the movie is an American parachutist
caught in the tower of a church. It
turned out that the first place we visited was St. Mary’s church, where the
soldier, John Steele (from Illinois) was caught and suspended from the church
tower when his parachute got hooked there, for 2 hours. He was captured by the Germans but later escaped
and rejoined the US troops. To
commemorate this event, people hang on the church steeple a parachute with an
effigy of Private Steele in his uniform.
Inside, a stain glass window shows
Virgin Mary with paratroopers falling in the foreground. Bullet holes are still
visible in the church's stone walls.
The guide
told us that the airborne troops suffered the highest casualty. (I vaguely
remember it’s around 40%? Please correct if you remember the figure.)
We visited
both the Utah Beach and Omaha Beach. Our
guide, Mr. William Jordan, gave us a detailed description of the various campaigns,
both British and American.
Unfortunately, very little is maintained in my mind. Here is what I remembered.
Utah
Beach: Strong currents pushed the
American landing craft 2000 yards (1.8 km) from the intended landing zone. This
turned out to be a strike of luck, as there was little German defense
nearby. The casualties were relatively very
low, less than 200.
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| Omaha Beach |
Omaha
Beach: In contrast, Omaha was the most
heavily defended beach. To make matters
worse, most of the obstacles remained undamaged due to ineffective bombing. Many of the landing crafts met sandbags, and
the soldiers had to wade in deep water to get to the shore, under German
fire. The tanks and supplies were
dropped too far from shore, and most of them were engulfed by the sea. The movie “Saving Private Ryan” was shot on
this beach. Casualties were high, more
than 2000 (or higher?).
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| “The brave ones” (wings of hope, fraternity & freedom) on Omaha Beach |
The most
memorable and emotional moment was the visit to the American cemetery. We visited the larger of the 2 American
cemeteries, which contains more than 9000 graves. (The other has more than
4000.) Two members in our group have
family members who gave their lives for the liberation of France. During the brief ceremony with the president
and some members of the organization “Les Fleurs de la Memoire”, tears welled
up in my eyes, as in many of my co-travelers.
Later, each one of us placed a rose at the tomb of an Illinois soldier.
A few words
about this French organization: This is
an association composed of volunteers. It has more than 3900 families, plus
communities and fraternities that sponsor more than 11,000 gravesites at
American Cemeteries. Each sponsor
promises to visit and place flowers on its adopted American graves at least
once a year. This will be passed on from each generation in perpetuity.
We also
passed by the German cemetery. The
crosses on the tombs are black, instead of the white marble used in the
American cemetery. A member in our group
who’s a Polish immigrant told me that many of the graves have Polish
names. They were probably forcefully
drafted by the German government. The
guide told us that 6 million Polish people were killed in WWII, by both Germans
as well as their supposed allies, Russians.
The guide
said that despite the high number of deaths, the casualty count of D-day was relatively
low, considering that the total number of the troops was around 150,000. This was mostly due to the invention of
Penicillin, which saved 95% of the wounded. Thank you, Dr. Fleming.
July 6 – Honfleur
Our last
stop, before returning to Paris, was a beautiful harbor, Honfleur. It was a
favorite site for many Impressionists, especially Boudin, a local artist.
Photography is not allowed in the Boudin Museum, so I can’t show the exhibited
paintings here. For people who are
interested in Impressionism art, some of Boudin’s work can be viewed at the Art
Institute of Chicago.
My favorite
site in Honfleur is the stunning St. Catherine’s Church, which was constructed
in the 15th century, entirely of wood. There are two large twin naves, but no
transept. Some statues of saints inside
seem ancient, although I’m not sure about their age.
