Front matter
Reading edition
Note
The friendly eyes that read these pages, knowing the pathetic fails relating to their publication, will not be content without a word to tell to other readers the story that will cause one and all to look on the little book in the same sympathetic mood.
The trips among the scenes of the storied past, here recorded, were taken not so much in search of health as in search of diversion from the sad employment of watching the inexorable approach of mortal disease. The writing was undertaken to occupy a vigorous mind, conscious that its tenement would not long endure.
Alas! the task was not done before its purpose had been fully completed, and to others was left the duty of reading the final proofs. Such imperfections as may be found should be charged to this account, and all the excellences are to be credited to the brave soul that fought her fight so silently that only a very few closest friends knew of the unequal battle.
C. S. G.
The Abbatical Church of Saint Ouen is Perhaps the Most Perfect Example of the Gothic in its Full Maturity
FLOWERS FROM MEDIÆVAL HISTORY
BY
MINNIE D. KELLOGG
I never can feel sure of any truth but from a clear perception of its beauty. Keats
ILLUSTRATED
PAUL ELDER AND COMPANY PUBLISHERS·SAN FRANCISCO
Copyright, 1910 by Paul Elder and Company
Contents
Page
Advertisement vii
By Way of Introduction xi
Flowers of History from the Romantic Thirteenth Century 3
Mystics as Builders 15
The Golden Madonna of Rheims 26
The Little Old Abbé of Saint Denis and the Imagiers 38
The Mystic Cathedral of Chartres 50
Caen: An Eleventh Century Tableau 73
The Grandniece of the Grand Inquisitor 87
Stray Leaves from Old, Old Books 98
The Romantic Twentieth Century: A Deduction 118
A Word Regarding Bibliography 139
Index 143
Illustrations
Facing Page
The Abbatical Church of Saint Ouen Title
As Art, Early Painting is Often Taken too Seriously; but as Literature, it is Charming xiv
The Crucifix in the Town Hall of Rouen 4
The Virgin Greets the Angel of Death 8
Sainte Chapelle 10
Interior of Sainte Chapelle 12
Saint Martin Dividing His Coat, from an Old Antiphone 20
From the Certosa of Pavia 22
Tomb of Dante, Ravenna 24
A Recent Tribute to Clovis and Saint Remi, on the Interior Frieze of the Pantheon, Paris 26
The Flying Buttress 32
The Sculptured Saint Upon a Gothic Cathedral 34
In the Sixteenth Century the French Academy Changed the Name of the Imagiers’ Guild
to the Sculptors’ 42
A Thirteenth Century Window 44
The Old-Time House of Prayer, which Still Dominates the City of Chartres 52
A Pillar at Chartres 54
A View Through the Portail of Chartres 56
A Detail of the Portail Septentrionale 60
South Portal of Chartres 64
A Page from the Sculptured “Bible of the Laity,” Chartres 68
Altar-piece at Chartres 70
William the Conqueror’s Old Fortress 74
Dinan 84
Old Moats Do Make Such Charming Gardens 86
A Peep Into the Cranium of a Bible Reader in Lope de Vega’s Time 88
The Literal, Limited God of a Fanatic and Father Adam Stock-taking in Eden 92
A Tribute to the Scribes of the Dark Ages 100
The Baptistry Doors 102
A Page from the Bible of Jean Sans Peur 110
Head of Justice, from Fiore’s Group 130
An Ideal of the Gracious Republic of Venice, Paul Veronese 134
A Mediæval Expression of Justice Attended by Archangels, by Fiore 136