Roman and Mediaeval France FORE the past decade that fair,
lovely land of Provence med somehow to fade away from the consciousness travellers. One forgot how great a part it had played in the story of mediaeval France ; forgot, too, how, still further ek, Rome had laid her eternal hands upon her, building up a edition of beauty and romance which has never faded.
But within the last ten years that enchanting country has me into her own again. The wonderful old Roman cities of Ines and Arles, the towns of Vaison, Orange, St. Remy and ry many other places have been rediscovered, and they y now be visited with ease and comfort.
The best centre from which to start is Avignon. During the idenee of its seven popes from 1309 to 1377 it claimed to be the htre of the civilized world, and its palaces, its ramparts, its arches and its old aristocratic houses show vividly how life lived in those days.
It stands superbly on the banks of -the Rhone, and it arkles literally with sunshine and gaiety. The old streets markets, and the churches and museums are fascinating : Mile the Palace of the Popes is one of the most interesting its in Europe. From Avignon one can take day-excursions motor, visiting all the most interesting parts of Roman and diaeval Provence, dwelling on them in one's imagination fore deliberately choosing in which of them one will spend st time. There are plenty of good hotels such as the urope," Avignon," Louvre,' &c. Imes and Arles can be seen in a day, and in each of these Sits one can visualize life as it was lived by the Romans, can realize the luxury and spaciousness of those days. es is indeed still almost a Roman town, for the houses, Pies and theatres are sufficiently preserved to make clear 6t. a very gay city it was in the days of Constantine, who ed it, and spent much of his time there. The Roman 4)rds of Arelate, as it was then called, are plentiful and give details of great feasts, games in the Amphitheatre, gladiators imperial displays in the Roman theatre. There is even, in sent carving, the record of an advertisement of a flower p of those days, whose owner made prize wreaths, for vic- *ills gladiators, crowns and bouquets for wedding and 41 Parties, and 'beautiful garlands for lavers:" There are ,YerY good hotels licre, both in the Placedu Forum.
'apes is a much more modern town than Arles,..hut claims to more wonderful ROman monuments. The arena here is alter than that of Arles, but in much better preservation, . is frequently used for bullfights and those games with the
bull—not a real fight—so characteristic of Nimes of to-day. The great gem of Nimes, however, is the Maison Carrec, one of the most perfect Roman temples now in existence and full of remarkable carvings and statues. The Roman baths are peculiarly fine, and in such good preservation that they could be used to-day. Then there is the wonderful aqueduct, the Pont du Card, one of the finest specimens of Roman bridge- building in the world. It spans the River Gard at a lovely reach and is one of the few things in the world which will nct disappoint you, however much you may have heard about it before.
More interesting than the towns are the old Roman arches, theatres and .temples which remain here and there to show us where. the Roman settlements were. In Orange, for instance, although the whole town now is modern, there stands one of the most perfect Roman theatres in existence. Its preservation is so complete that a French company from the Comedic Francaise in Paris comes down every summer for a week to play there. One realizes from its size what an important town Orange was in Roman days, although the only other trace of Roman occupation left there is a triumphal arch said to be the finest in France, with an inscription to Tiberius.
It is not only -these Roman towns and monuments which make this part of France so uniquely interesting. Here the great feudal lords had their castles and fortresses ; every inch of this country has been fought over, loved, and died for. Here the knights and cavaliers, the troubadours and the great ladies of Provence—renowned in verse and song—held their courts of love, their jousts and .tournaments. Here great princes of the Church contested with the feudal barons for rights of seignetirie, and for power over peasant and fief. In the great fortress castle of Les Baux, a few hours from Avignon, some of the most stirring events of troubadour days took place. here is still to be seen the pavilion of Queen Jeanne, that little, lovely bower where she entertained her friend Petrarch, where Boccaccio read the Decameron to her. The Court of Les Baux was the most fainous of all the Courts of Love, and its lords held themselves the most powerful princes in the country. To this great castle a Papal Legate was carried up in his litter of purple silk to pacify and arbitrate between the quarrelling feudal lords.
Another day's trip from Avignon brings us to Aiguesmortes, that strongly fortified town of dead waters, from which St. Louis' Crusade sailed to the Holy Land. In those days Aiguesmortes lay open to the waters of the Mediterranean, and
King Louis, requiring a port from which his soldiers could embark, bought it from the old legendary Abbey of Psahnodi, which has so strangely disappeared into the mists of the years. Aiguesmortes to-day presents the aspect of an almost perfect mediaeval town—ramparts, battlements, fortified gates, watch-towers, all intact and in working order—but the sea has receded for miles until only the dead waters of the canal lap the stones of its fortifications.
A still more enthralling place to me is Les Stes. Maries, yet another day-trip from Avignon. This tiny village—for it is little more—is the port at which all Provence believes the sacred boat arrived which brought the three St. Marys from the Holy Land, together with Lazarus, Martha, St. Joseph of Arimathea and many others. They brought with them their black servant Sarah, who became the patron saint of the gipsics, and here a fortified church was built in their honour. Every year, on Sarah's Day, gipsies come from all over Europe to ask her blessing and her favour. I spent the vigil of the feast there last autumn, and a very remarkable ceremony it is to witness.
One goes to this little port across the Carmarguc, that strange plain formed of part of the old delta of the Rhone— where the wildest legends and superstitions of Provence come from—where the white stallions live—and where the fabled " golden goat " has his home. But whether one roams across the plans of Provence or over its sunny hills, through its old towns, its ruined castles or its lovely gardens, it is always the land of the rose and the vine, and the country of love and
song. ELEANOR ELSNER.
Previous page
