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APOLOGIA
APOLOGIA
The Rhine provinces stand for all that is best and most characteristic of the ecclesiastical architecture of Germany, as contrasted with that very distinct species known as French pointed or Gothic. For this reason the present volume of the series, which follows the Cathedrals of Northern and Southern France, deals with a class of ecclesiastical architecture entirely different from the light, flamboyant style which has made so many of the great cathedral churches of France preëminently famous. S
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I
I
INTRODUCTORY T here is no topographical division of Europe which more readily defines itself and its limits than the Rhine valley from Schaffhausen to where the river empties into the North Sea. The region has given birth to history and legend of a most fascinating character, and the manners and customs of the people who dwell along its banks are varied and picturesque. Under these circumstances it was but to be expected that architectural development should have expressed itself in a decided an
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II
II
THE RHINE CITIES AND TOWNS C æsar , Charlemagne, and Napoleon all played their great parts in the history of the Rhine, and, in later days, historians, poets, and painters of all shades of ability and opinion have done their part to perpetuate its glories. The Rhine valley formed a part of three divisions of the ancient Gaul conquered by the Romans: La Belgica, toward the coast of the North Sea; Germanica I., with Moguntiacum (Mayence) as its capital; and Germanica II., with Colonia Agrippina (C
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III
III
THE CHURCH IN GERMANY T here have been those who have claimed that the two great blessings bestowed upon the world by Germany are the invention of printing by Gutenberg, which emanated from Mayence in 1436, and the Reformation started by Luther at Wittenberg in 1517. The statement may be open to criticism, but it is hazarded nevertheless. As to how really religious the Germans have always been, one has but to recall Schiller's "Song of the Bell." Certainly a people who lay such stress upon openi
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IV
IV
SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF RHENISH ARCHITECTURE I t cannot be claimed that the church-building of one nation was any more thorough or any more devoted than that of any other. All the great church-building powers of the middle ages were, it is to be presumed, possessed of the single idea of glorifying God by the building of houses in his name. "To the rising generation," said the editor of the Architectural Magazine in 1838, "and to it alone do we look forward for the real improvement in architectur
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V
V
THE ACCESSORIES OF GERMAN CHURCHES U p to the tenth century the German basilicas were but copies of the Roman variety. Even the great cathedral at Trèves, with its ground-plan a great square of forty metres in extent, was but a gross imitation of the Romanesque form of the sixth century. Later, in the eighth century, came the modified Byzantine form which one sees at Aix-la-Chapelle. With the eleventh century appeared the double-apsed basilicas, but, from this time on, German ecclesiastical art
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VI
VI
CONSTANCE AND SCHAFFHAUSEN Constance T here is a sentimental interest attached to Constance and the lake which lies at its door, which has come down to us through the pictures of the painters and the verses of the poets. Aside from this, history has played its great part so vividly that one could not forget it if he would. The city was founded about 297 A.D. In after years it fell before the warlike Huns, and all but disappeared, until it became the seat of a bishop in the sixth century, the jur
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VII
VII
BASEL AND COLMAR Basel A fter traversing several of the Swiss cantons, the Rhine leaves Switzerland at Basel. After the breaking up of the vast empire of Charlemagne, Basel came first under the authority of the Emperors of Germany, and then under that of the kings of the second house of Burgundy, until 1032, at which time the city became definitely incorporated into the German Empire. Rudolph of Hapsburg besieged the city in 1274, and through the fourteenth and well into the fifteenth century it
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VIII
VIII
FREIBURG T he steeple of Freiburg is quite the rival of that of Strasburg; some even may think it more beautiful. It has braved with impunity the winds and tempests of many centuries, and stands to-day as beautiful a work of its kind, when one is away from Strasburg, Chartres, Antwerp, or Malines, as one can well conceive. Its appearance is indeed magnificent, with a richness of ornament which has not been carried to the excess that would make it tawdry, and an outline which in every proportion
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IX
IX
STRASBURG T he greatest curiosity of Strasburg is the Rhine; after that, its cathedral. Usually, on entering Strasburg, the first landmark that greets one's eye is the slim, lone spire of the cathedral. Years ago an itinerant showman travelled about with a model of the celebrated Strasburg clock, and the writer got his first ideas of a great Continental cathedral from the rather crude representation of the Gothic beauties of that at Strasburg, which graced the canvas which hung before the showma
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X
X
METZ F rom across the Moselle, on the height just to the south of the city of Metz, is to be had one of those widely spread panoramas which defy the artist or the photographer to reproduce. There is an old French saying that the Rhine had power; the Rhône impetuosity; the Loire nobility; and the Moselle elegance and grace. This last is well shown in the charming river-bottom which spreads itself about the ancient Mediomatricorum, as Metz was known to the Romans. The enormously tall nave and tran
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XI
XI
SPEYER W hen Christianity penetrated into the vast and populous provinces of Germany, the Frankish kings favoured its progress and founded upon the banks of the Rhine many religious establishments. Dagobert I., King of Austrasia, built the first church at Speyer, upon the ruins of a temple which the Romans had consecrated to Diana. When, at the beginning of the eleventh century, this early structure fell in ruins, thanks to the bounty of Conrad II., another of far greater and more beautiful prop
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XII
XII
CARLSRUHE, DARMSTADT, AND WIESBADEN Carlsruhe C arlsruhe is modern, very modern, and is a favourite resting-place with those who would study the language and customs of Germany. In fact, there is not much else to attract one, except a certain conventional society air, which seems to pervade all of its two score thousand inhabitants. The architectural treasures of the city mostly bear eighteenth-century dates, from the great monumental gateway, by which one enters the city, and on which one reads
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XIII
XIII
HEIDELBERG AND MANNHEIM Heidelberg A s the ancient capital of the Lower Palatinate, Heidelberg early came into great prominence, though many of the details of its early history are lost in obscurity. The Romans have left traces of their passage, but the history of the early years of Christianity is but vaguely surmised. Conrad of Hohenstaufen, brother of the red-bearded Frederick, came here, in 1148, as the first Count Palatine of the Rhine. The ruins of what is supposed to have been his once fa
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XIV
XIV
WORMS T his most ancient city was the Vormatia of the Romans. It was devastated by Attila, and reëstablished by Clovis. At the beginning of the seventh century Brunhilda founded the bishopric, and Dagobert established his royal residence here in the years following. Afterward Charlemagne himself made it a resting-place many times, and held many Parliaments here. In the tenth century Worms became a free city of the Empire, and in 1122 a Concordat was entered into between Pope Calixtus II. and the
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XV
XV
FRANKFORT T here is a legend which connects the foundation of Frankfort with a saying of Charlemagne's when he was warring against the Saxons. Having fortunately escaped an attack from a superior force, by crossing the river Main during a thick fog, Charlemagne thrust his lance into the sand of the river-bank and exclaimed: "It is here that I will erect a city, in memory of this fortunate event, and it shall be known as ' Franken Furth ,'—'the Ford of the Franks.'" The city owes its ancient cele
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XVI
XVI
MAYENCE M ayence has been variously called the city of Gutenberg, and of the Minnesingers. The Romans in Augustus's time had already fortified it and given it the name of Magontiacum. Near Mayence is the cenotaph of Drusus, where his ashes were interred after the funeral oration by Augustus, who came expressly from Rome into Gaul for the purpose. Mayence as a Roman colony was a military post of great importance, and the key to the fertile provinces watered by the Rhine. An episcopal seat was est
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XVII
XVII
BACHARACH, BINGEN, AND RUDESHEIM B acharach is famous for its legends and its wine. With the former is associated the ruins of St. Werner's Church, a fragment of exquisite flamboyant Gothic, though built of what looks like a red sandstone. The Swedes demolished it in the Thirty Years' War, but the lantern and the eastern lancet window still remain to suggest its former great beauty. This beautiful chapel was built as a memorial to the child Werner, whose body was fabled to have been thrown by th
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XVIII
XVIII
LIMBURG T he cathedral of Limburg-on-Lahn, not farther from the juncture of the Lahn and Rhine than is Frankfort-on-the-Main, may well be considered a Rhine cathedral. The Lahn is by no means so powerful a stream as is the Main or the Neckar; nor is it either picturesque, or even important as a waterway. It has this one virtue, however: it forms a setting to Limburg's many-spired cathedral that is truly grand. Limburg played a great part in the middle ages, and its origin goes far back into anti
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XIX
XIX
COBLENZ AND BOPPART Coblenz I t is an open question as to whether the charming little city of Coblenz is more delightful because of itself, or because of its proximity to the famous fortress of Ehrenbreitstein,—"the broad stone of honour." "Here Ehrenbreitstein with her shatter'd wall Black with the miner's blast upon her height, Yet shows of what she was, when shell and ball Rebounding idly on her strength did light." The city occupies a most romantically and historically endowed situation at t
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XX
XX
LAACH AND STOLZENFELS Laach B ack of Coblenz is the charming little lake of Laach, at the other end of which is the picturesque but deserted abbey of Laach, one of the most celebrated, architecturally and historically, of all the religious edifices along the Rhine. Once a Benedictine convent, it was pillaged and its inmates dispersed during the overflow of the French Revolution, and is now naught but a ruin, though in many respects a grandly preserved one. The abbey was founded in 1093 by Henry
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XXI
XXI
ANDERNACH AND SINZIG Andernach A ndernach is one of the oldest cities in the Rhine valley, and grew up out of one of Drusus's camps, which was built here when the town was known as Antonacum . This was its early history, as given by Ammien Marcellin; and a later authority mentions it as the second city of the electorate of Trèves ( Die Andre Darnach ). In the records of Drusus's time, there is a reference to a château here, which was the fiftieth he had built upon the banks of the Rhine. The kin
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XXII
XXII
TRÈVES S outhwesterly from Coblenz, between the Rhine and Metz, is Trèves, known by the Germans as Trier. Situated at the southern end of a charming valley, which more or less closely follows the banks of the Moselle, it has the appearance of being a vast park with innumerable houses and edifices scattered here and there through the foliage. The city contains many churches, of which the cathedral of St. Pierre et Ste. Hélène is the chief. At one time the Augusta Trevirorum of the Romans was "the
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XXIII
XXIII
BONN B onn in the popular mind is noteworthy chiefly for its famous university, and for being the birthplace of Beethoven. The city was one of the fifty fortresses built by Drusus on the Rhine, and the only Rhenish city, with the exception of Cologne, which has kept its Roman appellation. It is mentioned by Tacitus both as Bonna and Bonensia castra . The cathedral is as famous as the university. It was funded by the mother of Constantine the Great, who, according to tradition, consecrated the pr
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XXIV
XXIV
GODESBERG AND ROLANDSECK Godesberg W ithin full view of the Seven Mountains, on the opposite bank of the Rhine, is Godesberg,—"a cheerful village with a castle which is a splendid ruin," say the guide-books. They might go a bit further and recount something of its political and religious history, although usually they do not, but rush the tourist up-river to Coblenz, giving him only a sort of panoramic view of this portion of the Rhine. Originally a castellum romain , the "cheerful village," kno
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XXV
XXV
COLOGNE AND ITS CATHEDRAL N o stranger ever yet entered Cologne without going straight to see its mighty Gothic cathedral. Three things come to him forcibly,—the fact that it was only completed in recent years, the great and undecided question as to who may have been its architect, and the "Legend of the Builder," as the story is known. There are two legends of the cathedral and its builders which no visitor will ever forget. The Architect of Cologne Mighty was Archbishop Conrad de Hochsteden, f
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XXVI
XXVI
THE CHURCHES OF COLOGNE T he popular interest in Cologne, the ancient Colonia Agrippina of the Romans, and the romantic incidents connected with it, are so great that one might devote a large volume to the city, and then the half of its legend and history would not have been told. Cologne is one of the most ancient cities of Germany. It takes its place beside Trèves and Mayence as one of the earliest seats of Christianity; but the actual date of the establishment of the church in Cologne is lost
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XXVII
XXVII
AIX-LA-CHAPELLE A s Rouen in Normandy was known as "the city of the Conqueror," so Aix-la-Chapelle became known, at a much earlier date, as "the city of Charlemagne." Charlemagne was more than a conqueror; he was a statesman, with a boundless ambition. He founded the German Empire, and changed tribes of lawless barbarians into a civilized people. At Aix-la-Chapelle he received the embassies of the Caliph of Baghdad and of the Saxon Kings of England, and there he endeavoured to advance the enligh
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XXVIII
XXVIII
LIÈGE T he natural highway from Antwerp and Brussels to the Rhine lies through Liège and Aix-la-Chapelle, or Aachen, as the Germans call the latter. Wordsworth, in his wonderful travel poem, wrote of the Meuse, which flows by Liège on its way to the Royal Ardennes, in a way which should induce many sated travellers to follow in his footsteps, and know something of the fascinating charm of this most fertile and perhaps the most picturesque of all the rivers of Europe. "What lovelier home could ge
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XXIX
XXIX
DÜSSELDORF, NEUSS, AND MÜNCHEN-GLADBACH Düsseldorf A mong æsthetic people in general, Düsseldorf is revered—or was revered, though the time has long since passed—for that style of pictorial art known to the world as the Düsseldorf School. A remarkably good collection of pictures remains in its art gallery to remind us of the fame of Düsseldorf as an art centre, but to-day its art has become "old-fashioned," and the gay little metropolis has many, if more worldly, counter attractions. Düsseldorf
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XXX
XXX
ESSEN AND DORTMUND Essen L ying just to the eastward of the Rhine are Essen and Dortmund. The former was once the site of a powerful abbey of Benedictine nuns, which was dissolved in 1803. The abbess of Essen was always a titled person, and was a member of the Westphalian circle of the Imperial Estates, in which capacity she held a governing right over a large tract of country immediately surrounding the abbey. G ENERAL VIEW of ESSEN There are the spires of five churches hidden away
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XXXI
XXXI
EMMERICH, CLÈVES, AND XANTEN Emmerich and Clèves J ust below Emmerich, which is the last of the German Rhenish cities, the Rhine divides itself, and, branching to the north, takes the Dutch name of Oud Rijn, which name, with the variation Neder Rijn, it retains until it reaches the sea. The branch to the west takes the name of the Waal and passes on through Nymegen, bounding Brabant on the north, and enters the sea beyond Dordrecht. Emmerich has, in its church of St. Martin, a tenth-century chur
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XXXII
XXXII
ARNHEIM, UTRECHT, AND LEYDEN Arnheim T he Rhine in Holland is a mighty river. It divides itself into many branches, all of which make their way to the sea through that country which Butler in the "Hudibras" calls: "A land that draws fifty feet of water, In which men live as in the very hold of nature, And when the sea does in upon them break, And drowns a province, does but spring a leak." The Rhine proper, the Oud Rijn and the Neder Rijn, enfolds three great ecclesiastical centres of other days
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Appendix
Appendix
Chronological Tables and Diagrams AIX-LA-CHAPELLE {348} ANDERNACH ARNHEIM BACHARACH AND BINGEN {349} BASEL BONN BOPPART CLÈVES {350} COBLENZ COLMAR {351} COLOGNE {352} {353} {354} CONSTANCE DORTMUND {355} EMMERICH St. Martin's Xth century ESSEN FRANKFORT FREIBURG {356} GODESBERG HEIDELBERG LAACH {357} LEYDEN LIÈGE LIMBURG MANNHEIM MAYENCE METZ {359} MÜNCHEN-GLADBACH NEUSS SCHAFFHAUSEN {360} SPEYER {361} STOLZENFELS STRASBURG TRÈVES {362} UTRECHT WORMS XANTEN {363} ———...
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