Note 62 — Chapter III · Some of the Primary Gothic Cathedrals: Noyon, Senlis, Sens, Laon, Soissons

The monastery church of St. Jean-des-Vignes was in size a cathedral, and the maker of the great façade at Rheims, Bernard de Soissons, is said to have designed it. The cloisters, once the most sumptuous in the kingdom, were begun by an abbot who died in 1224, after he had built an aqueduct for the city which still is in use. St. Jean’s big west rose had been, since 1870, an empty circle. Little more than its façade and western towers stood before 1914. Sacked by the Revolution, its real demolition was under the Empire, when to repair the cathedral the deserted monastery was sold for a paltry sum, and stone by stone removed. The congregation of good men in this abbey did parish work for many centuries. In such good repute with the citizens were they that, when the Revolution suppressed the house, Soissons’ municipality protested, saying that the abbey had “always claimed with zeal its share of public duties.” Taine in his L’Ancien Régime quotes the protest: “In calamities this abbey opens its doors to the destitute citizens and feeds them. It alone has borne the expense of the citizens’ meetings, preparatory to the election of deputies for the National Assembly. It now is lodging a company of soldiers. Always when there are sacrifices to be made it is on hand.” However, the revolutionary authorities paid no heed to the citizens’ desire to retain their historic house.