gEnEral OVERVIEW OF THE OLD PARISH CHURCH
Church or chapel ? This church was deconsecrated in 1836 ; after that event, we will name it chapel.
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE CHAPEL ?
No document mentions the construction of the chapel. However, strong
assumptions can be made about the date of its construction and about
its creator. We shall see in the chapter on architecture that the
people overseeing the building work were highly competent and aware of
the very latest advances in the field.
In 1254, Robert of Sainte-Marie, Lord of the parish and the son of
Ives de Sainte-Marie, made a donation to the priory of
Sainte-Barbe-en–Auge in Mézidon which was very prosperous at
that time. The name "Sancta Maria ad Anglicos" is found around
1277, which proves that the name "aux Anglais" precedes the Hundred
Years War. There is no explanation as to origin of the name. During
the Anglo-Norman kingdom, the fortified town or feudal motte, which
was on the other side of the river Viette was perhaps occupied
by English soldiers.
The archives of the diocese of Lisieux show that, in the 14th
century, the "patronage" of the chapel belonged to Geoffroy de
Sainte-Marie, the Lord of the parish who had inherited it from his
ancestors and could pass it on to his descendants. The
"patronage" of a church was granted to the person who had played a
leading role in its construction and endowment grant. It was a
hereditary right, according to very strict rules and which, amongst
other things, gave “the inalienable right to be buried in the
choir”. Although we have no absolute proof, it seems very likely
that it was the de Sainte-Marie
family who built the church and that the recumbent statues in the
choir are of two of its members.
In the 16th century this right still belonged to the
local Lord. At the end of the 18th century, just before the
Revolution, it was transmitted to the priory of Sainte-Barbe-en-Auge.
Such transmission to a religious community was common. Indeed , the
parish church of Sainte-Marie-aux-Anglais was under the control of the
Bishop of Lisieux. "Inspection" reports in 1713 and 1788 written
by officials from the diocese have been found which cover both the
"spiritual and temporal" aspects of the church, and of the sacristy
which has now disappeared, but was still in existence in 1905. They
also took the opportunity to check the accounts !
In 1785 a bell called "Marie-Rosalie" was hung in the tower, given by
Marie Rosalie Geoffroy, a descendant of the last Lord of
Sainte-Marie-aux-Anglais and the wife of Etienne Louis Choron. Their
son, Alexandre-Etienne Choron, was famous in his day as a
mathematician (he taught at the Ecole Polytechnique) and then as a
musician. He spent some years as a teacher in Sainte-Marie-aux-Anglais
to devise a new method for teaching music. As for the bell, it was
taken down when the bell tower was no longer able to support it.
Between the choir and the nave, above the opening or triumphal arch,
there is a beautiful crucifix from the 18th century. There
are no documents relating to what happened at the time of the
Revolution. Many paintings have been found covered by white distemper
which may have been to protect them from the revolutionaries.
In 1836, after the regrouping of several small villages, the church
was deconsecrated and the church of Authieux-Papion took over as it
was considered to be in a more convenient location. The deterioration
of Sainte-Marie-aux-Anglais was to continue apace until the
actions described in the section on “Historians and Sponsors to the
Rescue of the Chapel.”
Since the documents do not give us any useful information on the
dating of the chapel, let us look at it. Its solid shape tells
us it is a Romanesque building. The setback buttresses and the
gentle mound which forms the site put it later than the mid 12th
century. The paintings and recumbent statues show costume from before
the 14th century.
The nave is lit by round arched windows while those in the choir are
pointed. Historians tell us that the transition between these two
forms of arch took place between the 12th and 13th
centuries. The stoup which contained holy water on one side and
ordinary water on the other is typical of the 13th/14th
centuries. In the walls, both north or south, and in the same
position in the nave, an irregularity in the alignment of stones can
be observed, as if the construction had been stopped and then
restarted by another team of masons. The roof beams in the nave and in
the choir have been assembled in two different ways.
Could the chapel have been built in two phases ? Chronodendrology
dating permits us to say that was indeed built in two stages, but
sufficiently close to each other to preserve the unity of the
building. This explains why different historians have maintained that
the chapel was built in a single phase.
Chronodendrology is a technique for dating sections of wood by
studying number of rings ; the more rings available, the greater the
accuracy. A CEDRE laboratory
in Besançon has taken samples from the beams of the chapel and
dated them. The date is when the trees were felled and not when
they were made into roofing beams, although according to CEDRE the
beams were not left to dry for more than one to two years. A little
later, the same samples were given to another laboratory, the Laboratoire
Archéosciences in Rennes to redo the dating process.
The results were as follows :
- the roofing of the nave :
each laboratory gave a different date with same probability : 1144 or
1191
- the buttresses and bracing for the
nave are later than 1277 and earlier than 1312 (study only
carried out by CEDRE)
- the bell tower was built
later than 1411 (CEDRE)
- the roofing of the choir is
1216/1217 for CEDRE whereas Rennes considers that the samples do not
permit dating
- the panelling is more
difficult to date as it is extremely thin : around 1520-1565 (CEDRE)
Does the nave date back to 1144 or 1191 ? In his book (Ref. 2)
Frédéric Epaud is clear: the appearance of the
architectural characteristics of the nave (windows, buttresses,
modillions etc) dates back, according to him, to
1130/1150, so 1144 is the correct date.
Among the Norman buildings whose original roofing beams have been
dated, the church of Sainte-Marie-aux-Anglais seems to be one of the
oldest with a unity of style.
In the middle of the 12th century, the Norman architects
created the first stone vaults. It was tempting to adapt the roof
timbers which covered them to the same shape, to form a vaulted roof
structure. But this posed problems for the roofers as each truss would
have to contain several parts of beams linked together which were
already curved or were shaped into curves. Frédéric
Epaud mentions the church of Sainte-Marie-aux-Anglais as the first one
where this technique was successfully carried out (and which can still
be seen today).
It seems, then, that the chapel was built in two periods separated by
about 70 years. A century after it was constructed, it became
necessary to strengthen the framework by bracing. At that time there
was no church-tower: it was added in the 15th
century. The panelling was added a century later. Two windows
were widened after the construction of the chapel, one in the choir
the other in the nave. The chapel must have been quite dark with the
small original windows. The choir window dates back to the 13th
century, shortly after the construction was completed : it is a double
or germinated window which fits in fairly well with the style of the
chapel. However, the nave window in Flamboyant Gothic style is the
only element which mars the beauty of this Romanesque ensemble.
Various elements which we have discussed here show that the chapel was
maintained after it was constructed : the buttresses, the bell tower,
the panelling, a picture and a crucifix all contributed to improving
the fabric and the appearance of the chapel which was well maintained
until the Revolution. The parish registers show that there was a
priest and all the sacraments were carefully noted down.
To conclude, let us look at the tombstones and the recumbent statues in the choir which requires a mention of the Lords of Sainte-Marie-aux Anglais who came after the Sainte-Marie family mentioned above. The names of the two families appear several times and then are linked by marriage.
In 1483, Jehan de Drosay, the Lord of
Sainte-Marie-aux-Anglais (also described as Sainte-Marie-en-Auge),
attended the questioning of several criminals detained in
Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives. It seems likely that it was at this time
that feudal motte of Sainte-Marie-aux-Anglais on the side of the
chapel was removed at the request of Madame de Drosay to permit a more
comfortable castle to be built in the latest fashion, bearing the
porcupine of Louis XII, who died in 1515.
In 1544 Jean de Drosay, Lord of Sainte-Marie-aux-Anglais and a
jurisconsult in Caen published a book about grammar as well as a legal
work. In 1640 Pierre de Drosay was the squire and Lord of
Sainte-Marie-aux-Anglais, and the father of Madeleine de Drosay.
Jean de Mathan was a comrade in arms of William the Conqueror. His son was a Knight on the First Crusade. The genealogy of the family, who lived in Southern Normandy can be tracked. In 1637, César-Auguste de Mathan, knight and Lord of Sainte-Marie-aux-Anglais was born.
Cesar-Auguste died on 15th February
1693. It is his tombstone we can see in the chapel, with the
inscription "Lord and patron of Sainte-Marie-aux-Anglais". The
patronage of the chapel then passed from the Sainte Marie family to
the de Mathans who took advantage of their right to be buried in the
choir. Madeleine died in 1712, the last remaining member of the de
Drosay family. Their grandson, Claude de Mathan, who married in 1726,
was still the Lord and patron of Sainte-Marie-aux-Anglais. It was
probably his son, Pierre de Mathan, who gave the patronage to the
priory of Sainte-Barbe-en-Auge around 1750. The priory had no
spiritual life, but since 1609 had merely been a source of income.
In about 1905, Louis Régnier (Ref. 1) wrote that this tombstone
was "in the middle of the flooring of the choir". This flooring has
now gone, probably stolen, and the tombstone was put on the side.
The resting place of the two recumbent statues is more enigmatic ! It
has been claimed that it was made after the construction of the
chapel. We do not agree. How could the painting of The Last
Supper, done at the same time as the other paintings, have remained
intact after this structural work.
The statues could well date from the end of the 13th
century and seem to be by the same sculptor. His modelling is not
particularly fine but there is a certain ‘freshness’ in both subjects
who are smiling in death. So who are they ? Many commentators claim
that is a knight and his lady. But Louis Régnier (Ref.1)
observed that in the 13th century a woman would never have
been depicted with a ‘short dress’ revealing some of her legs. The
statue clearly has no bust and, according to Vincent Juhel, the person
has a masculine hairstyle of the period, making him a member of the
middle class or a young man. However, this person is depicted
holding a glove, a symbol of submission which (at least at that time
!) was characteristic of a wife. What can we conclude ? We could
say that the sculptor was not a great artist who chose to ignore the
usual artistic conventions and depicted a knight and his lady.
Alternatively, since the church was constructed in two stages by two
different Lords and patrons (perhaps the grandfather and his
grandson), it is they who are buried there. Only one of them was a
warrior and so the glove could be a symbol of respect towards his
ancestor.
References :
1) Louis Régnier, Bulletin de la
Société des Antiquaires de Normandie Vol. XXVII
pp. 42 to 68.
2) Frédéric Epaud, "De la
charpente romane à la charpente gothique" Publications du
CRAHM, Caen 2007.