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THE CATHEDRAL OF COUTANCES

(from "French Cathedrals, Coutances", written by Jocelyn Perkins, edited by The Sheldon Press)

(1) one-aisled basilica
built by St Ereptiole
(by Pigeon)

Bichue'sprint in 1747

Coutances cathedral from the south

The name of COUTANCES and much of its importance is derived from Imperial Rome. Originally the capital of a tribe known as the Unelles, and called Cosedia, it fell a victim to one of Julius Cæsar's lieutenants in 58 B.C. Subsequently its name was changed to Constantia in honour of the Emperor Constantius Chlorus ; and with its castle, forum, temple, and fortifications, to say nothing of its splendid strategic position, it became a pIace of great importance.
Christianity was brought to Constantia in the fifth century by St. Ereptiole, who became its first Bishop, and erected a one-aisled basilica(1) on the site of the pagan temple, where the Cathedral now stands.
Coutances, as it must now be called, suffered terribly at the hands of the Scandinavians - first the Danes, and then the Northmen. The great promontory known as the Cotentin was ravaged by Hasting in 837, while thirty years later the Northmen did such terrible damage to the city that the Bishop and his Chapter had to fly to St. Lo, subsequently migrating to far-distant Rouen. Here they remained for one hundred and sixty years, and their Cathedral city must have been left desolate and bare. The formation of the Duchy of Normandy, and the adhesion of Rollon to Christianity, brought relief to this distracted region; but not until the time of Duke Richard the Fearless, in the first half of the eleventh century, was any attempt made to restore Coutances to its original splendour.
In 1030 a capable man, Bishop Robert, put on end to the long exile of the Bishops of Coutances at Rouen, and with the help of Gonnor, the widow of Duke Richard, set about the building of a new Romanesque Cathedral.

An even more remarkable man appeared eighteen years later, Geoffroi de Montbray, who occupied the See of Coutances for nearly half a century. He became one of the most trusted of all William the Conqueror's lieutenants. He was present at the Battle of Hastings, and a few weeks later took part, tcgether with Ealdred, Archbishop of York, in the coronation of the Duke in Westminster Abbey.
Afamily named Tancred, cousins of Bishop Geoffroi. lived within a short distance of Coutances. lt fell to the lot of this impecunious family of adventurers to found dynasties, protect a Pope, and defeat both the Holy Roman Emperor and his comrade at Constantinople. Devoted sons of the Church, these monarchs of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies were as generous as they were courageous. They lavished their wealth upon their episcopal cousin at Coutances, and, thanks to this timely aid, Geoffroi had the joy of consecrating the nave of his Cathedral in the presence of Duke William just ten years before the two men set forth upon their English adventures. Later on, Geoffroi succeeded in adding two massive towers at the west end, which rose to the height of nearly 100 feet. Eastward he erected an equally striking central tower, surmounted by a celebrated gilded cock. When he passed away in 1093, old and well stricken in years, he had the satisfaction of knowing that his task was done, and that his Cathedral stood complete in all the massive splendour of its Romanesque architecture(2).
The twelfth century is a blank, so far as Coutances Cathedral is concerned ; but in 1204 when the Duchy of Normandy fell into the hands of Philip Augustus, King of France, art generally flourished everywhere, not least at Coutances.
At this time, another great Bishop, Hugh de Morville, carried out an amazing transformation of his church. He encased the old Romanesque nave of Geoffroi de Montbray, with new stone, completely converting its original features. Thus, the great church has come to bear the stamp of the thirteenth century from end to end. The eleventh-century building still exists, but if the visitor wishes to discover the original work, he must go into the two western towers, and enter the passages above the side aisles of the nave(3), .
Later on in the same century appeared the choir, the transept, and the two western spires, an immense piece of work, which must be attributed to Jean d'Essey, who was Bishop from1248 to 1274. A cloister which has now disappeared followed on the north side of the nave, and before the end of thirteenth century another Bishop, Robert d'Harcourt, built walls around the Cathedral.
During the Hundred Years' War both city and Cathedral suffered severely. The place suffered a terrible siege, and was just saved from falling by the timely arrival of a French army - a fate it failed to escape however later on after the Battle of Agincourt.
In 1364, as a result of the damage done on this former occasion, Charles V ordered the city to be surrounded by walls, so as to give a greater measure of protection.

The nave looking West

The nave looking East

southern ambulatory

southern transept

About the same time there appeared another of the great Bishops to whom Coutances owed so much, Sylvestre de la Cervelle, a relative of the famous Constable, Bertrand du Guesclin. He at once set about raising money, and during the sixteen years of his episcopate (1370-1386) accomplished an immense work of renovation. The choir and apse were almost entirely rebuilt, the easternmost chapel was added, and certain details altered in the decoration of the nave. Finally, the same energetic prelate constructed a number of the nave chapels, which, with their fascinating partition walls, form such a beautiful feature of Coutances Cathedral.
By this time this noble church was complete. No addition has been made to it since, nor any essential modification, save the outrageous destruction of the rood-screen in the eighteenth century. From end to end it does not, so far as its architecture is concerned, display the very slightest trace of either Flamboyant or Renaissance feeling.
It was however to suffer more damage. During the Wars of Religion it was shamelessly profaned by the Protestants, led first of all by Gabriel de Montgomery in 1561, and then by Colombières in 1566. Its furniture and artistic treasures were ruthlessly destroyed, but the actual fabric escaped comparatively lightly.
Since the sixteenth century the history of both city and Cathedral has been uneventful, save for the horrors of the French Revolution, during which time the Cathedral was used as a storehouse for grain, a temple of Reason, and a temple of the Supreme Being. Statues were ruthlessly smashed, and the Cathedral was stripped of its stalls and other woodwork, its iron grilles, and a number of the altars in the chapels. Later on, Iead was removed from the roof for the purpose of making ammunition. Whatever the Protestants had spared two centuries before was now handled mercilessly; indeed, the Cathedral itself was only saved from ruin by the bold and friendly intervention of M. Duchamel, the representative of the Government in this region.
A certain amount of drastic restoration took place during the nineteenth century, but, apart from this, it is clear that Coutances Cathedral has undergone no alteration since the fourteenth century.

marvellous lantern

DIMENSIONS.
Total length.......................................................	306 feet
Breadth of the transept.....................................	101 "
Height of the choir vaults..................................	73 "
Height of the lantern.........................................	188 "
Height of the western spires............................	254 "

view from 2nd floor of central tower

BUILDING AND OTHER DATES.

circa 430

Building of the first Cathedral by St.Ereptiole on the site of a pagan temple

481

Clovis becomes King of the Franks.

837

The Cotentin ravaged by the Danish leaders, Brier and Hasting.

866

Coutances besieged by the Normans and the Cathedral destroyed.
The Bishop and Chapter fled to St. Lo, and nine years later to Rouen.

912

Treaty of St. Clair-sur-Epte between Charles the Simple and Rollon constituting the Duchy of Normandy.

927

Death of Rollon.

987

Hugh Capet becomes King of France.

circa 1030

Bishop Robert commences building a new Romanesque Cathedral.

1056

Consecration of the nave by Bishop Geoffroi de Montbray in the presence of Duke William.

1066

Union of England and Normandy.

1093

Completion of the Romanesque Cathedral.
Death of Geoffroi de Montbray.

1180

Accession of Philip Augustus.

1204

Expulsion of the English from Normandy.

1208

Bishop Hugh de Morville began to transform the Romanesque nave into one of Gothic form; the work was completed some time before 1250.

1251-1274

The choir, transept and western spires built by Bishop Jean d'Essey.

1293

The city of Coutances fortified by Bishop Robert d'Harcourt.

1305

Removal of the Papacy from Rome to Avignon.

1337

Beginning of the Hundred Years' War.

1343

Coutances attacked by Geoffroi d'Harcourt and much damage done to the Cathedral.

1346

Battle of Crecy.

1356

Coutances again besieged.

1370-1386

Construction of the nave chapels and the lady chapel by Bishop Sylvestre de la Cervelle; the choir and apse rebuilt.

1415

Battle of Agincourt.

1418

Coutances captured by Henry V.

1431

Martyrdom of Joan of Arc.

1449

Coutances regained by the French.

1453

Expulsion of the English from Normandy.

1532

Visit of Francis 1. to Coutances.

1558

Capture of Calais.

1562

Beginning of the Wars of Religion.
Coutances and the Catlhedral sacked by the Huguenots under Gabriel de Montgomery.

1566

Coutances again sacked, this time by Colombières.

1574

The Protestants expelled from this part of France.

1576

Coutances joins the League.

1591

Normandy conquered for Henri IV. by Le Maréchal de Biron.

1598

The Edict of Nantes secured toleration for the Protestants.

1610

Assassination of Henri IV.

1643

Accession of Louis XIV.

1649

Outbreak of the Fronde Civil War.

1685

Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.

1713

Peace of Utrecht.

1715

Death of Louis XIV.

1789

Meeting of the States-General at Versailles.

1790

The Civil Constitution of the Clergy passed, but condemned by the Papacy in the following year.

1793

The Terror.
Separation of Church and State.
Outbreak in Normandy and Brittany of the revolt known as the Chouannerie.

1802

The Concordat and Reunion of Church and State.

1815

The Bourbon Restoration.

1830

The Revolution of July.

1848

The Second Republic.

1852

The Second Empire.

1870

Outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War.
The Third Republic.

1905

Separation of Church and State.

FEATURES TO BE NOTICED

Photo TCPC

The beautiful grouping of the towers as seen from different points in the neighbourhood of Coutances.

By night

The west front and the extremely graceful proportions of the two towers and spires.

The central tower or Iantern, known locally as the Plomb. When Vauban, the famous French engineer, visited Coutances, he is said to have exclaimed that the man who built it must have been an "inspired fool"! The Island of Jersey can be seen from this tower.

the central tower or "le plomb"

The Romanesque work of Bishop Geoffroi de Montbray. In order to admire it, It is necessary to visit the interior of the western towers and the roof over the nave aisles. For many years the actual date of the building of the nave remained a query, but the existence of this hidden Romanesque work indicates that the thirteenth - century builders must altered and recased the earlier work, without destroying it.

western Romanesque tower

southern transept:
the last judgement

The side chapels of the nave, the work of Bishop Sylvestre de la Cervelle, are one of the chief glories of Coutances Cathedral. The delicate traceries of the partition walls and also their piscinas should be carefully studied. Some interesting tiles may be seen on the floors of some of those on the north side.

chapels of south
nave

high-altar

The stained glass in the two great windows of the transepts and in the clerestory of the choir and apse.

stained-glass window of St Lo

The high-altar, which, though not of special merit, for it is only of eighteenth-century origin, is interesting in that it has survived the Revolution.

Our Lady of Coutances
(XIVè s.)

The sculptured bas-relief in the chapel of St. Francis, a work of remarkable beauty.

the roundabout of ambulatory

The double ambulatory round the choir and apse.

10.

The lady chapel.

11.

The frescoes in the chapel of St.Joseph

12.

The chapel of the Relics and the well in the south transept.

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