The Story of Rouen. Theodore Andrea Cook

Todes Wappenschild, after Holbein* 320 Rouen in 1525, by Jacques Lelieur Facing 321 The Gallery of the Maison Bourgtheroulde 323 The Field of the Cloth of Gold 327 A Window in the Maison Bourgtheroulde 335 Inner Façade of the Maison Bourgtheroulde 339 Maison Caradas 347 Rue de l'Épicerie 353 A Window in the Maison Bourgtheroulde* 361 Rouen in 1620, by Mérian Facing 369 Coustou's Bas-relief of Commerce* 369 Pierre Corneille, by Lasne Facing 376 Eau de Robec 381 Courtyard in the Rue Petit Salut 388

The illustrations marked with * are drawn by Jane E. Cook.

MAPS

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			PAGE
A.	The Site of Rouen between the Seine and the Hills		3
B.	Main Streets and Boulevards, showing the Walls besieged by Henry V.	Facing	5
C.	The Gallo-Roman Walls, and the oldest Streets in Rouen	Facing	71
D.	Rouen in the Thirteenth Century	Facing	103
E.	The Extension of Rouen Eastwards at the end of the Fourteenth Century	Facing	169
F.	Plan (and elevation of the Houses) of the Vieux-Marché and the Marché-aux-Veaux (now Place de la Pucelle) drawn by Jacques Lelieur for his "Livre des Fontaines" in 1525	Facing	209

      THE ARMS OF ROUEN

CHAPTER I

       Table of Contents

Introductory

       Table of Contents

      Amis, c'est donc Rouen, la ville aux vieilles rues,

       Aux vieilles tours, débris de races disparues,

       La ville aux cent clochers carillonant dans l'air,

       Le Rouen des châteaux, des hôtels, des bastilles,

       Dont le front hérissé de flèches et d'aiguilles

       Déchire incessamment les brumes de la mer.

       THE three great rivers that flow from the heart of France to her three seas have each a character of their own. The grey and rapid current of the Rhone, swollen with the melting of the glacier-snows, rolls past the imperishable monuments of ancient Empire, and through the oliveyards and vineyards of Provence, falls into the blue waves of the southern sea. The sandy stream of Loire goes westward past the palaces of kings and the walled pleasure-gardens of Touraine, whispering of dead royalty. But the Seine pours out his black and toil-stained waters northward between rugged banks, hurrying from the capital of France to bear her cargoes through the Norman cliffs into the English Channel.

      If Paris, Rouen, and Le Havre were but one town, whose central highway was this great river of the north, it would be at the vital spot, the very market-cross, that Rouen has sprung up and flourished through the centuries, at that dividing line where ships must stay that sail in from the sea, and cargo boats set out that ply the upper stream with commerce for the inland folk; and this geographical position has affected every generation of the city's growth and strength.

Rouen that is now "cheflieu du département de la Seine-Inférieure," was once the Norman stronghold which commanded all the basin of the river from the incoming of the stream of Eûre. The Seine and its tributaries have cut vast plâteaux some four hundred feet in height, through chalk and débris piled above the Jurassic bedrock that crops out here and there, as it does at Bray. On the right bank of the river, at the summit of a huge curve, the city lies between the valley of Darnétal, that is watered by Robec and his mate Aubette, and the valley of Bapaume. Upon this northern side the town is guarded from east to west by the hills of St. Hilaire, Mont Fortin, Mont aux Malades and Mont Riboudet, and from these the houses grow downwards to the water's edge. Upon the plateau above perch the villages of Mont-Saint-Aignan and of Bois-Guillaume. But between the valley of Darnétal and the Seine, is yet another natural buttress, the promontory on whose summit is Mont Ste. Catherine and the hamlet Bonsecours. From this magnificent height you may take the best view of the natural setting of the town. The western horizon is closed by the plateau of Canteleu and the forest of Roumare. To the south, within that strong bent elbow of the stream, the bridges bind to Rouen her faubourg of St. Sever with its communes of Sotteville and of Petit Quévilly; and the forest of Rouvray spreads its shadow to the meeting of the sky.