- Memore quant leuvre de leglise
[the preceding in red ink]- de cheens fu commenchie. Et si comme
- il est escript el moilon dele
- maison dedalus.
- En lan de grace mil. IIc. & XX .
[l'ouvrage--added in margin]- fu leuvre de cheens premiere
- ment encommenchie. adonc
- yert de cheste evesquie evrart e
- vesques benis. et roy de france
- loys qui fu filz phelippe le sage.*
- Chil qui maistre yert de loeuvre
- maistre robert estoit nommes et de
- lusarches surnommes. maistre
- thomas fu apres luy de cormont
- et apres ses filz maistre reg
- nault qui mectre fist a chest
- point chy ceste lectre que lin
- carnacion valoit .XIIIc. ans.
- XII. en faloit.
- Memore quant leuvre de leglise
- In the year of grace 1220
- was this work
- first begun. At that time
- the bishop of this diocese was Evrard
- blessed bishop. And the king of France
- was Louis who was the son of Philip the wise*.
- He who was master of the work
- was named Master Robert and
- surnamed de Luzarches. Master
- Thomas de Cormont was after him
- and afterwards his son Master Renaud
- who had this inscription placed
- at this place in the year of incarnation 1288.
- was this work
*Note: Louis VIII, son of Philip Augustus, came to the throne in 1223, not 1220.
The labyrinth text has been transcribed many times, see, for example, G. Durand, Monographie, I, 23, and E. Soyez, Labyrinthes, 23. The 1220 date was also recorded in an inscription 13 metres long (clumsily restored) over the south transept portal: "EN LAN Q LINCARNATIO VALOIT MCC & XX (5 metre lacuna) ORS IFV RIMIST LE PREMIERE PIERE IASIS .... LE CORS (70 centimetre lacuna) ROBERT (90 centimetre lacuna)" G. Durand, Monographie, I, 24, lamented the impossibility of interpreting this mutilated inscription.The Corbie Chronicle V compiled by Anthoine de Caulaincourt in the early sixteenth century placed the start of work not in 1220, but in 1223, Amiens, BIbl. mun.,MS 524, 172-173 (old pagination, 80ro-81vo) "Tempore ipsius Hugonis anno primo videlicet quo fuit Abbas, templum maius B. Mariae Ambianensis indicibili prope tam impensa tam artis elegantia construi coeptum est sub Emerardo Ambianensi Episcopo et consummatur anno 1264, quo construi coeptum fuerat, quod certe inter totius Regni Francorum templa nullum pulchrius creditur." The start of work is placed in the first year of Hugo, who became abbot (p. 157, old pagination, 79vo) in 1223. The accuracy of the Corbie Chronicle was questioned by G. Durand, Monographie, I, 37. The antiquarians of Amiens, presumably on the authority of the labyrinth, place the start of work in 1220, see, for example, Bibl. nat., Collection de Picardie, II, J.-J. de Court, Memoires cronologiques, II, 2, "Ce fut en 1220 que cet Evque jetta les fondemens de ce merveilleux temple, non pas entierement, car comme l'eglise collegiale de S. Firmin Confesseur se trouvoit dans l'espace du terrain que devoit embrasser cette nouvelle eglise, il falut prendre des mesures pour la demolition de cette collegiale, ce qui ne pž se faire du tems de ce prelat qui mouržt trois ans apres, n'aiant fait elever cet ediffice qu'hors de terre."
The bishop's obit was recorded in the cathedral necrology,"Obitus reverendi Patris Ebrardi, Episcopi hujus ecclesie, qui, propter decorem domus Domini quem dilexit, hujus Basilice fundamenta mirabili structura, ut apparet, locavit." Necrologie, 167.
"Obit of the reverend father Evrard, bishop of this church, who, to the glory of the house of the Lord, which he loved, laid the foundations of this basilica with wondrous work, as is so evident."
The following inscription is recorded around the edge of his tomb:
+QUI POPULUM PAVIT: QUI FUNDAMENTA.LOCAVIT+ HUIUS STRUCTURE: CUIUS FUIT URBS DATA CURE+ HIC REDOLENS NARDUS: FAMA REQUIESCIT EWARDUS+ VIR PIUS AFFLICTIS VIDUIS: TUTELA RELICTIS+ CUSTOS: QUOS POTERAT: RECREABAT MUNERE VERBIS+ MITIBUS AGNUS: ERAT: TUMIDIS LEO LIMA SUPERBIS+ "He who provided for the people, who laid the foundations of this edifice, to whose care the city was entrusted: here lies Evrardus, whose good repute was as sweet as balsam; a man [who was] good to oppressed widows, the guardian and defender of the orphans whom he used to protect, who brought encouragement everywhere through word and deed, to the meek he was a lamb, to the self-important a lion, to the proud a sword."
The tomb was originally placed in the center of the first bay of the nave, between the west portal and the labyrinth. In 1762 it was removed to the inside of the west faade, and in 1867 it was placed in its present position in the south arcade of the nave. Evrard's predecessors, Richard de Gerberoy and Thibaut de Heilly, had been buried in the nearby church of Saint-Martin-aux-Jumeaux.
Local tradition suggests that Robert de Luzarches died soon after the founding bishop, G. Durand, Monographie, I, 26, "Suivant une opinion qui tend ˆ s'accrediter, Robert de Luzarches n'aurait pas tarde ˆ suivre dans la tombe Evrard de Fouilloy qui est mort en 1222" Boucher, in his imaginative essay, "Robert de Luzarches," 292, placed the date of Robert's death in 1223.
4. 1233, April, foundation of the chapel* of the Conversion of Saint Paul by Jean d'Abbeville, former dean.
*Note: this chapel is located in the east aisle of the south transept in the bay adjacent to the transept facade.
Cartulaire, I, item 230, 279-280. See also Arch. Somme G 2966, 156vo-157ro. DE INSTITUTIONE CAPELLANIE IN HONORE SANCTI PAULI APOSTOLICI IN ECCLESIA NOSTRA Omnibus XPI fidelibus presentes litteras inspecturis capitulum Ambianense in Domino salutem. Venerabilis patris nostri Johannis, Dei gratia Sabinensis episcopi, devotionem quam erga ecclesiam nostram sincero gerit affectu, quanta gratiarum actione possumus apud Deum et ipsum non immerito prosequentes, capellaniam quam in ecclesia nostra constituit in honore Conversionis sancti Pauli, apostolici, cujus ordinationem et donationem in manu sua et venerabilis viri Johannis decani nostri, si ipsum contingat eumdem supervivere episcopum retinuit, cum aliis in ecclesia nostra capellanis connumerandam duximus tam ad servicium ecclesie nostre quam ad distributiones quas capellani alii sunt de cetero percepturi, de communi assensu et omnium voluntate. Donatio vero capellanie post decessum prefati episcopi et decani ad nostram ecclesiam libere revertetur, sicut ipse episcopus pie voluit et salubriter ordinavit. Decime vero de Bernastre et de Guisencort nomine nostro extracte de manu laica, mediante pecunia ad hoc per dictum episcopum et decanum provisa, ad sustentationem capellani qui in ecclesia nostra in ordine sacerdotali tenebitur assidue sicut alii deservire concessimus in perpetuum assignari, ipsas decimas quantum in nobis est dicto capellano presenti auctentico confirmantes. Actum anno Domini Mo CCo tricesimo tercio, mense aprili.
On the institution of a chapel in honor of Saint Paul the Apostle in our Church. To all the faithful of Christ who read the present letters the chapter of Amiens sends greetings in the Lord. Following the devotion that our venerable father John, by grace of God, bishop of Sabina, sincerely bears toward our church, we have decided that the chaplaincy which he established in our church in honor of the Conversion of Saint Paul and whose institution and donation he has retained in his own hand and in the hand of the venerable man John, our dean, should he survive the bishop, should be numbered with the other chaplaincies in our church, both for the service of the church and for the distributions that the other chaplains receive. The gift of this chaplaincy indeed shall freely revert to our church after the death of the afore-mentioned bishop and dean, just as the bishop himself piously wishes and properly ordains. Indeed, as to the tithes of Bernastre [Bern‰tre, Somme, near Abbeville] and of Guisencort [Gezaincourt, Somme, near Doullens] withdrawn in our name from lay hands through the money provided for this by the said bishop and dean, we have granted that they should be perpetually assigned to support the chaplain who will be held, like the others, to officiate assiduously in the church in the rank of priest, confirming these tithes to the chaplain as far as we can by the present act. Done in the year of our Lord 1233, in the month of April.
5. 1235, n.st., March, acquision of right to quarry stone at Beaumetz, Picquigny. Cartulaire, I, item 264 , 311.
LITTERE DE LAPIDICINIS CANONICORUM PINCHONIE
Universis presentes litteras inspecturis, nos capitulum Beati-Martini Pinchoniensis notum facimus quod nos vendidimus procuratoribus fabrice ecclesie Ambianensis ad opus ejusdem fabrice, a festo beati Remigii ultimo preterito usque ad undecim annos penitus completos pro quinquaginta libris parisiensium, totum illud quod habemus in quarrariis de Bello-Manso et in eisdem nos de jure contingit in omnibus rebus tam altis quam bassis; dantes eidem fabrice potestatem et licentiam ut naves ipsius fabrice veniant per terram et aquam nostram ad reportandos lapides et faisellum reponendum prope lapidicinas, ubi locus se reddiderit propiorem in terra nostra secundum quod videbitur expedire, et ad utilitatem fabrice fuerit et profectum. In cujus rei testimonium presentes litteras sigillo nostri capituli fecimus roborari. Actum anno Domini millesimo ducentesimo tricesimo quarto, mense marcio.
Letter concerning the quarries of the canons at Picquigny. To all those who see the present letters, we, the chapter of Saint Martin of Picquigny announce that we have sold to the procurators of the fabric of the church of Amiens for the work of the said fabric from the last feast of Saint Remi for eleven full years for 50 pounds of Paris all that we have in the quarries of Beaumetz and in the same all jurisdictions that we possess in all matters, both high and low. We give to the same fabric the power and licence for the boats of the same fabric to come through our land and water to carry the stones and to replace [faisellum ] by the quarries, where the place is closer to our land, as seems appropriate and for the advantage and profit of the fabric. In testimony of which thing, we have had the present letters confirmed by the seals of our chapter. Done in the year of our Lord 1234, in the month of March.
Bibl. nat., Collection de Picardie, II, J.-J. de Court, Memoires cronologiques, II, 3, "L'eveque Geoffroi qui fut son successeur travailla sur le meme plan a l'egard des pierres dont on ež besoin, elles furent tirees des carrieres du village de Croissi apartenant au chapitre et de celles de Pequigni en consequence du traite fait au mois de mars 1234 pour unze ans avec les chanoines de l'eglise collegiale de ce lieu moiennant la somme de cinquante livres parisis. Stone was also procured from quarries located in land held by the chapter at Croissy, Fontaine-Bonneleau and Domeliers in the valley of the shallow river of the Selle. On these quarries see Arch. Somme, G 1635, 1636 and 1851. See L. Douchet (ed.) Manuscrits de Pages, III, 8, for mention of quarries at Croissy close to the river Selle from which stone was extracted for the cathedral. The acquisition in 1235 of the right to extract stone from the quarry of Beaumetz meant that stone now came only about twelve kilometers, and it could be brought on barges up and against the current of the river Somme. The quarry at Beaumetz was owned by the chapter of the collegiate church of Saint-Martin of Picquigny. For various concessions that this chapter made in the sixteenth century and later to allow extraction of the stone, see Arch. Somme, XVIII G, 17.
The quarry at Beaumetz, entirely subterranean, lies beneath a pre-Roman oppidum known as the Camp Cesar. The entrance into the quarry is now blocked, but its approximate whereabouts is still known, see R. Agache and B. Breart, Atlas d'Archeologie aerienne de Picardie, 2 vols., Heilly, 1975, esp. I, 43, and especially F. Vasselle, "Chronique des souterrains," Bull. Soc. Ant. Pic., XLII, 1947-1948, 363-368. Older sources record visits to the interior of the quarry, see Abbe Daire, Histoire civile, ecclesiastique et litteraire du doienne de Picquigny, Amiens, 1860; L. d'Allonville, Dissertation sur les camps romains du Departement de la Somme, Clermont-Ferrand, 1828, 32; Abbe de Fontenu, "Camps de Cesar," Memoires de litterature tirez des registres de l'Academie Royale des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, XV, 1741, 150, "The vault of this immense cavern is supported on a number of big pillars, set at a distance one from another, as you can see in the quarries under certain suburbs in and around Paris. In several places the pathways go through great heaps of fragments or piles of stones cut on three sides, and elsewhere masses of uncut stones, dispersed here and there without any order, form by their turns and returns a veritable labyrinth, where the thread of Ariadne would be no less necessary than in the labyrinth of Crete." Thus, the same metaphor of the labyrinth is used to characterize both the vast, dark inchoate space of the quarry and the ordered, well-lit space of the vaulted nave of the cathedral.
6. 1236, charter of Bishop Geoffroy d'Eu (1222-1236) concerning the site of the church of Saint-Firmin and the H™tel Dieu. The entire text is found in Gallia Christiana, X col. 342, LXVIII. See also the Cartulary of Saint-Firmin le Confesseur, Amiens, Bibl. mun., MS 520, fol. 30vo-31ro.
Qu¾dam assumuntur loca ad fabricam ecclesi¾ cathedralis. G. divina permissione Ambianensis ecclesi¾ minister humilis, J. decanus, totumque ejusdem ecclesi¾ capitulum, universis pr¾sentes literas inspecturis in Domino salutem. Juxta verbum viri sapientis: hominis est proponere, Dei autem disponere; sed quando Dei dispositio apud mortales veniat, effectum judicare non possumus, nisi sperare debemus, sive bonum fuerit, sive malum, ad nostram correctionem vel profectum venire, ut probatio fidei nostr¾ pretiosior sit auro quod per ignem probatur. Nam si peccatis nostris exigentibus, permiserit Dominus nostram ecclesiam concremari, ad nostram profectum hoc evenisse credamus, considerantes altitudinem divini consilii super salutem generis humani. Quoniam per clar¾ memori¾ episcopum Everardum fuerat ordinatum accedente consensu Ambianensis cleri et populi, tanquam eis fuisset a Domino inspiratum, quatenus fundamenta ecclesi¾ ampliaret, et mundaret sanctum ut custos vasorum, ad quam ampliationem et mundationem faciendam de communi consilio oportebat ecclesiam beati Firmini confessoris matricis su¾ cedere fundamentis; et quia ecclesia illa parochianis suis erat invia et occulta, et hospitalaria domus periculose sedebat ad totius urbis, sicut visum est, detrimentum, pr¾dict¾ ordinationi fuit adjectum, quod ecclesia beati Firmini ad domum hospitalariam, et hospitalaria apud magnum pontem ad locum quem emit Johannes de Croy quondam civis Ambianorum laudabilis transferrentur, et h¾c est mutatio dexter¾ Excelsi , licet ex obitu dicti episcopi retardata, tandem nihilominus dispositione divina, ut credimus, operante, nos et cives Ambianenses in hac considimus voluntate, requisito prius domini regis et impetrato consensu, quod dictorum locorum transmutatio fiat nulla de cetero contradictione obstante, sicut pridem habebatur in proposito facienda, cum totius civitatis mutatio ista honestati pariter et decori cedere videatur, quamquam ad tempus ex hac quasi dissipatione doleat pars utraque, qu¾ si perspexerit perventurum in hac transmutatione civitatis honorem, moerorem suum convertet in gaudium sancti viri exemplo, qui per vertutem pati maluit apud Deum novissimo fine magis quam principio benedici. Sciendum enim huic ordinationi fuisse adjectum, quod in uno latere nostr¾ matris ecclesi¾ locus provideretur honestus, in quo sacerdos beati Firmini parochianos suos convocare valeret, et ministrare eisdem tam missarum solemnia, quam sacramenta, aliave teneretur, canonici quoque ejusdem ecclesi¾ in choro Ambianensi pro cultu divino suam pr¾sentiam exhiberent, donec in loco quem pr¾diximus hospitalaria ordinetur ecclesia tam curato sacerdoti quam canonicis sufficiens et honesta, quibus promisimus in bona fide, quod in mora non erimus quantum in nobis erit, dictam ecclesiam construendi, ut ita possint divinum officium exercere, sicut antiquitus faciebant. Et ut h¾c omnia inconcussam obtineant firmitatem, sigilla nostra pr¾senti chart¾ appensa approbant et confirmant. Actum anno Domini M. CCXXXVI. feria secunda dierum Paschalium.
Certain places for the fabric of the cathedral church are acquired. G[eoffrey], by divine permission, humble minister of the church of Amiens, J[acques d'Abbeville] the dean, and the entire chapter of the same church, to all those who read these present letters, greetings in the Lord. As the wise man said: "It is for man to propose, and for God to dispose." But when the ordinance of God comes to mortals, we cannot, unless we should hope, determine the consequence, whether it shall be good, or whether bad; coming for our correction or for our profit: so that the test of our faith is more precious than gold which is tried in the fire. For if because of our sins the Lord allowed our church to be consumed by fire let us believe this happended for our profit, considering the loftiness of divine counsel for the well-being of the human race Since it had been prescribed by Bishop Evrard, of shining memory, with the consent of the clergy and people of Amiens, inspired by God, that he should enlarge the foundations of the church and, as guardian of the vessels, cleanse the sanctuary, for this enlargement and cleaning it was appropriate, with common counsel, for the church of the blessed Firmin the Confessor to yield to the foundations of its mother church and because that church was inaccessible and out-of-the-way for its parishioners, and [because] the hospital house was in a dangerous place, to the detriment, it seemed, the entire city, it was added to the aforementioned ordinance that the church of the blessed Firmin should be be transferred to [the site of] the hospital, and the hospital to near the great bridge, to the place purchased by Johannes de Croy, once a worthy citizen of Amiens. This change, favorable to the Almighty, although delayed through the death of the bishop, nevertheless, by divine disposition, we believe, we and the citizens of Amiens, having first requested and obtained the consent of our lord the king, are united in the wish that the transfer of the said places should be made, with no obstacle preventing this, as it was formerly determined in the plan, since that exchange seemed equally to promote the honor and beauty of the entire city. Although for a time each party may grieve from this seeming dispersal, if [each party] sees the honor to come from this transformation of the city, then he shall change his sadness to joy, following the example of the holy man, who in most recent times preferred to suffer with God rather than to be blessed [from] the beginning. Know that it was added to this ordinance that a decent place was to be provided on one side of our mother church in which the priest of the blessed Firmin could assemble his parishioners and be bound to minister to them both solemnities of masses as well as the sacraments and other things, and that the canons of the same church should be present in the choir of the cathedral of Amiens for divine worship, until in the place of the afore-mentioned hospital is established a church, adequate and appropriate for both the priest in charge and the canons, to whom we have promised in good faith that we shall not delay, as much as it is in our power, to construct the said church so that they can exercise the divine office there, as they formerly did. And let our seals affixed to the present charter demonstrate and confirm that all these things are firm[ly] [established]. Done in the year of Our Lord 1236, on the second holiday of the Pascal days (put by G. Durand, Monographie, I, 15, on March 31). The traditional interpretation is given by J.-J. De Court, Memoires cronologiques, II, 3
"Cet evque [Geoffroy] pendant qu'il vecž, fit elever ce batiment jusques a la voute, mais il n'ež pas la satisfaction de jetter les fondemens de la croisee de cette eglise du cite du nord, qui etoit l'endroit ou etoit celle de S. Firmin Confesseur qui etoit encore a demolir en 1236 ainsi qu'il paroit par un titre de ce prelat de cette annee, qui mourut six mois apres.... Arnoul, son successeur, fit faire la demolition de cette [derniere--added] eglise et jetta les fondemens de la croisee de la catedrale, et pendant dix ans que ce prelat a tenu le siege d'Amiens, les voutes, le comble et le clocher du milieu furent presques achevez."
Pages commented, "Auparavant que notre incomparable Cathedrale ait ete construite au lieu o elle est aujourd'hui, l'eglise collegiale de Saint-Firmin-le-Confesseur, et paroissiale s'elevait vers un des bouts de la croisee de la Cathedrale, de c™te du septentrion, dans l'endroit occupe presentement par le terrain de la nouvelle chapelle Saint-Jean-Baptiste, jusques celui des fonts baptismaux....", see L. Douchet (ed.), Manuscrits de Pages, I, 39.
7. 1236, death of Bishop Geoffroy d'Eu Now placed at the west end of the north arcade of the nave opposite Evrard de Fouilloy, the tomb was originally in the axis of the second bay of the main vessel. Although similar in general terms to the tomb of Bishop Evrard, Geoffroy's tomb is much less lavish. There are no censing angels, and the drapery and face are dry and stiff. The inscription was not well done, and is now barely legible:
ECCE: PREMUNT: HUMILE: GAUFRIDI: MENBRA: CUBILE :SEU*: MINUS: AUT: SIMILE NOBIS: PARAT: OMNIBUS: ILLE *or SED :QUEM: LAURUS: GEMINA: DECORAVERAT+ IN MEDICINA +LEGE: QUE: DIVINA: DECUERUNT+ CORNUA+ BINA: CLARE+ VIR: AUGENSIS+ QUO: SEDES: AMBIANENSIS+ CREVIT+ IN: INMENSIS:+: IN CELIS AUCTUS. AMEN+ SIS