Note 329 — Chapter X · Gothic Art in Normandy[314]

The abbatial of Bernay (Eure), to-day a corn exchange on the market place, shows in its transept the earliest instance of an arcaded wall passage, the feature that, when placed at the clearstory level, became one of the most frequent characteristics of Anglo-Norman architecture, both Romanesque and Gothic. Bernay was founded between 1013 and 1019 by Richard II and Judith of Brittany, the same who invited to their duchy the Lombard, William of Volpiano. William is known to have worked on the Bernay abbatial, which shows resemblances to Burgundian churches at Auxerre and Nevers, and he may have brought to Normandy the Lombard trait of absidal chapels projecting from the eastern wall of the transept. Bernay, however, did not use the Lombard alternance of ground supports. Mr. Bilson thinks that the tall attached stripes were intended for a vaulted, not for a timber roof. The nave’s side walls and piers are of Abbot William’s time; two bays of the choir belong to later years of the XI century. William the Conqueror is said to have finished the church. It was grievously sacked during the religious wars. The church of Ste. Croix in Bernay, begun, 1373, enlarged 1497, contains tombs from Bec, of former abbots there. Congrès Archéologique, 1908, vol. 2, p. 588, Chanoine Porée; Bulletin Monumental, 1911, vol. 75, p. 396, Chanoine Porée, and p. 403, John Bilson; G.T. Rivoira, Lombardic Architecture, translated by G. Mc. N. Rushford (London and New York, 1910); Chanoine Porée, Bernay (Caen, H. Delesques, 1912).