Chapter I: The Ourcq (1)

VISIT TO THE LOCALITIES
in which were enacted the preliminary scenes of the
BATTLE OF THE OURCQ
from September 5 to 14, 1914
CHANTILLY
(See map on next page)

ORIGIN AND MAIN HISTORICAL FACTS

Chantilly derives its name from that of the Gallo-Roman _Cantilius_, who was the first to establish himself in the locality. The Castle (a fortress during the Middle Ages) passed to the family of Montmorency in the fifteenth century and in the seventeenth to that of Condé. These two illustrious families brought Chantilly to a height of splendour which made it a rival of the royal residences.

In 1830 the Duc d'Aumale succeeded the last of the Condés and at his death (1897) bequeathed the domain, with the Condé Museum, which he had installed in the castle (_see pp. 24-35_), to the 'Institut de France.'

The town itself, built in the seventeenth century, was for a long time dependent on the castle. In our day it has become a big centre for horse training and racing, the great race meetings in May, July and September attracting huge crowds.

CHANTILLY IN 1914-1916

The Germans, coming from Creil, entered Chantilly on September 3, 1914, and occupied it for several days. The mayor was at once seized as hostage but did not suffer the same tragic fate as the Mayor of Senlis. The troops were billeted at the castle (_see p. 28_).

After the victory of the Marne, Chantilly became the seat of General Joffre's headquarters and remained so until the end of 1916.

VISIT TO THE TOWN

_Arriving by the Paris road the tourist will pass under the railway bridge, then 600 yards further on turn to the right and come out on to the "Pelouse" (Lawn). Turning round the Grand Condé Hotel on the left, he follows the Boulevard d'Aumale as far as the =Maison de Joffre=, shown in the photograph below_.

Joffre lived here until he was made Marshal of France.

The hundreds of officers and secretaries employed in the tremendous work incumbent on the Generalissimo were lodged in the Grand Condé hotel, near which the tourist has just passed. In contrast with this buzzing hive, Joffre's house seemed the embodiment of silence and meditation.

Only two orderly officers lived with the generalissimo, and his door was strictly forbidden to all unsummoned visitors, whoever they might be.

On leaving his office Joffre had the daily relaxation of a walk in the forest near by. It was thanks to the strict routine to which he subjected himself that the generalissimo was able to carry the crushing weight of his responsibility without faltering. We shall see, however, when comparing the peace time photograph given _on p. 1_ with that _on p. 22_ that these years of war have counted as double.

During the tragic hours of the Marne the general headquarters were first at Bar-sur-Aube and then at Romilly. The commander-in-chief's intense concentration of mind made him dumb and as though absent in the midst of his colleagues, who received all his orders in writing. In a few days his hair and moustache became perfectly white.

The Allies' grand councils of war were held in this house, which has counted among its guests all the great actors of the war.

The military functions were held on the lawn. The photograph on the next page was taken during a review.

_After having seen Joffre's house we pass the few villas which separate it from the Rue d'Aumale and bear to the right, skirting the lawn; next we turn to the left into the Avenue de Condé, then to the right into the Rue du Connétable._ In front of the "Grandes Écuries" (great stables), which border the extreme end of the road on the right, stands the equestrian statue of the Duc d'Aumale, by Gérome (1899).

_Leaving the church we turn to the right, passing through the monumental gateway, and go towards the castle._ On the lawn (still keeping to the right) we come to the principal façade of the "=Grandes Écuries=", Jean Aubert's _chef-d'œuvre_, built between 1719 and 1740. They are seen on the right in the above photograph.

On the opposite side of the lawn stands a little chapel, erected in 1535, by the high constable Anne de Montmorency, at the same time as six others dotted here and there about Chantilly, in memory of the seven churches of Rome which he had visited in order to obtain the indulgences pertaining to this pilgrimage. He obtained the same grant from the Pope for the chapels of Chantilly.

Of these only two now remain, that on the lawn--Sainte-Croix, and another in the park--Saint-Paul.

The photograph below gives a view of the whole of the castle. The little castle dates from the sixteenth century; the big castle is the work of a contemporary architect, Daumet, who erected it on the basement of the old dwelling, demolished during the Revolution. The Castle of Enghien, built in the eighteenth century, is now occupied by the guardians entrusted with its preservation. The water surrounding the castle teems with centenarian carp. One can get bread from the concierge and, on throwing a few crumbs into the moat, which passes beneath the entrance bridge, watch the onrush of the huge fish.

Little Castle
Chapel
Great Castle
The constable's Terrace
Porter's Lodge
Castle of Enghien

CASTLE OF CHANTILLY] In the pages which follow we give a short historical account of the castle, referring the tourist for further details to the extremely interesting work of the curator, Mr. Gustave Macon: _Chantilly and the Condé Museum_.

SHORT HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE CASTLE

In the Roman epoch Chantilly was the dwelling place of Cantilius. In the Middle Ages it became a fortress belonging to the "Bouteiller" (cupbearer), so named because of his hereditary functions at the court of the Capets. (The "bouteille de France," originally in charge of the king's cellars, became one of the greatest counsellors of the crown).

The castle then became the property of the d'Orgemonts, who rebuilt it in the fourteenth century. In the fifteenth century it passed to the Montmorency family. Towards 1528 the high constable Anne de Montmorency had it transformed by Pierre Chambiges. Chambiges' work no longer exists in Chantilly, but the tourist will be able to judge of his talent when he sees the beautiful façades of the transept of the cathedral of Senlis (_p._ 57). The little castle was built thirty years later by Jean Bullant. From that time Chantilly has been famous. Francis I. often stayed there. Charles V. declared that he would give one of his Low Country provinces for such a residence. Henry IV. asked his "compère," the high constable Henri, to exchange it for any one of his royal castles. Montmorency, much embarrassed, extricated himself from this awkward situation by answering, "Sire, the house is yours, only let me be the lodge-keeper."

Henri II. of Montmorency, drawn into a revolt against Richelieu, died on the scaffold in 1632. His property was confiscated and Louis XIII., attracted by the hunting at Chantilly, kept the place for his personal use.

It was there that he drew up with his own hand the "communiqué" to the press, concerning the taking of Corbie (1636): "_The king received news, at 4 o'clock this morning, of the surrender of Corbie. He immediately went to church to give thanks to God, then ordered all to be ready by 2 o'clock to sing the_ Te Deum, _the queen and everyone else to be present, and ordered despatches to be sent commanding thanksgiving services in all the churches of this kingdom...._"

In 1643, the queen, Anne of Austria, wishing to make some recognition for the splendid victories won by the Duc d'Enghien (the future "Grand Condé") gave Chantilly back to his mother, Charlotte de Montmorency. The latter, married at fifteen, had been obliged to leave France with her young husband in 1609, to escape from the attentions of Henri IV., still gallant despite his fifty-six years.

A gay life began again in Chantilly, interrupted in 1650 by the revolt of Condé, his exile and the confiscation of the domain, which then returned to Louis XIV. until the Treaty of the Pyrénées (1659). The prince then came into his own again but for long kept aloof from public affairs and devoted himself to the embellishment of Chantilly with the same ardour and mastery that he formerly gave to military operations.

In 1662, the transformation of the park and forest was placed in the hands of the great architect, Le Nôtre. The work continued until 1684. The result was a masterpiece, of which a great part is still in existence, but of which the finest features (particularly the Great Cascades which spread over the actual site of the town) disappeared during the Revolution. Below, we give a view of these "Jeux d'eau" (fountains), which were considered one of the wonders of the day.

In 1671, Louis XIV. spent three days at Chantilly, with all his court. Marvellous festivities were held on this occasion. The guests of the château alone filled sixty large tables; all the adjoining villages were full of officers and courtiers, boarded and lodged at the prince's expense. In one of her letters, Mme. de Sévigné tells of the tragic death of the superintendent, Vatel, who had the responsibility of this vast organisation. Desperate at the thought that fish would be lacking at the king's table, he went up to his room, leant his sword against the wall, and transfixed himself upon it.

All the great men of the seventeenth century visited Chantilly. Bossuet, the intimate friend of the great Condé, presented to him Fénelon and La Bruyère, who became tutor to the Prince of Condé's grandson. Molière and his company came to play (Condé was his patron, by whose intervention the production of _Tartufe_ was allowed). Boileau, Racine and La Fontaine were habitual guests.

The development of Chantilly continued under Condé's successors, and the castle was modified by Mansart. The Duc de Bourbon caused the "Grandes Écuries" to be built by Jean Aubert. He established the manufacture of porcelain there (ceased in 1870), the remaining pieces of which are greatly sought after in our day.

In 1722, Louis XV. stayed at Chantilly on his way back from his coronation at Rheims. The festivities lasted four days; 60,000 bottles of wine and 55,000 lbs. of meat being consumed.

It was Prince Louis-Joseph who saw the Revolution. He had spent enormous sums in embellishing Chantilly, besides the twenty-five million francs which it cost him to build the Palais-Bourbon in Paris, the present seat of the Chamber of Deputies. He erected the Castle of Enghien, named after his grandson, the Duc d'Enghien, who was the first to inhabit it. (Early marriages were usual in these great families: at the birth of the Duc d'Enghien his father was sixteen years old and his grandfather thirty-six.) The Duc d'Enghien died in 1804, shot in the moat of Vincennes.

The English garden and the hamlet are due to Louis-Joseph.

In 1789, after the Prince of Condé had gone into exile, the Parisians came and removed the cannon from the castle (see reproduction of engraving below, in which the castle appears as altered by Mansart). Thirty guns taken from the enemy during the Seven Years' War, which were never used except for firing salutes during fêtes, were brought in triumph to the Hôtel de Ville in Paris, whence La Fayette had them sent to the arsenal.

The great cascades, the menagerie, the orangery and the theatre disappeared during the revolutionary era.

Of the great castle nothing remained but the basement, whilst the town grew and encroached on the park.

In 1814, the Prince de Condé returned to Chantilly and commenced the restoration of the domain, a work continued by his son. The latter came to a tragic end in 1830; he was found hanging from the fastening of a window in his castle of Saint-Leu, and with him died the great family of Condé.

In his will he bequeathed Chantilly to one of his great-nephews: Henri of Orleans, Duc d'Aumale, fifth son of King Louis-Philippe. After distinguishing himself in the Algerian campaign, where he carried off the Smalah of Abd-el-Kader in 1843, the Duc d'Aumale was exiled in 1848. He established himself at Orleans House, at Twickenham, near London, where he remained until 1871. It was during that time that he began the splendid collections which later went to enrich the Condé Museum. On his return to France he presided at the tribunal entrusted with the trial of Marshal Bazaine.

In order to house his collections, the Duc d'Aumale had the big castle rebuilt, on plans made by the architect Daumet, from 1875 to 1882.

He died in 1897, bequeathing to the "Institut de France" the domain of Chantilly and the Condé Museum, of which he was the founder.

The Castle in 1914

About 500 Germans stayed at the castle for twenty-four hours. These reserve troops had not yet fought and did not take part in the battle. They committed no excesses during their short stay. The great moral firmness shown by the curators, Messrs. Élie Berger and Macon had great influence on the conduct of the German soldiers. The troops were lodged in the big castle, whilst the officers established themselves in the various suites of the small castle.

The curators had sent the gems of the collection to Paris and sheltered as many of the works of art as possible in the basement. This proceeding caused some ill humour on the part of the German officer in command. As seen in the photograph (_page 28_) straw was spread in the rooms of the museum, on which the Germans slept. At the end of the room Chapu's touching _Jeanne d'Arc_ overlooks the scene of desolation. The Germans were much impressed by the copy of the Duc d'Aumale's tomb in the museum, where he is represented in the uniform of a divisional general. Many gave the military salute when crossing the room. However, this did not prevent the commandant from warning the curators that if his troops were fired on, the castle would be burnt and they themselves shot.

Sylvie's House

_If the tourist makes this journey on a day when the castle is closed, or if he has not time to visit it, he will at least be able to glance at the charming corner of the park where stands Sylvie's House. He need only take the path of Avilly (it is the road which is on the right of the main entrance) and skirt the park railings. After five minutes' walk he will reach the place from where the view below is taken. He can return to the gates by the same road._

This little shooting lodge, at first called the "Park House," was built in 1604 by the high constable Henri de Montmorency for King Henri IV.

Sylvie is the poetical name given by Théophile de Viau to his patroness Marie-Félicie Orsini, who in 1612, at the age of fourteen, married Henri II. of Montmorency, aged sixteen. The poet, Théophile de Viau, persecuted in 1623 for the licentious publication of the _Parnasse Satirique_, was given shelter at Chantilly and lodged in the Park House.

Condemned to be burnt alive, he was only executed in effigy through the intervention of the Montmorencys.

In his _Odes to the House of Sylvie_, he extolled the grace and goodness of the young duchess:

Mes vers promettent à Sylvie
Ce bruit charmeur que les neveux
Nomment une seconde vie....

The wish expressed by the poet in these lines was fulfilled and the name of Sylvie became attached to the house and park surrounding it. The great Condé rebuilt the house as it is to-day. (The rotunda seen in the photograph, page 29, was added by the Duc d'Aumale.)

In the eighteenth century Sylvie's House was the scene of the romance of Mlle. de Clermont and Louis de Melun. The head of the house of Montmorency objected to the marriage of his sister, Mlle. de Clermont, with this nobleman, whose rank he considered insufficient. The young girl disregarded this and made a secret marriage, soon ended by the tragic death of Louis de Melun, who was killed by a stag at bay in the course of a hunt in Sylvie's park. These various episodes in the history of Sylvie's House are recalled in the paintings of Luc-Olivier Merson, installed by the Duc d'Aumale when he turned the old house into a museum.

Visit to the Castle

The +Castle+, +Sylvie's House+, the +Jeu de Paume+, and the "+Grandes-Écuries+" _are open to the public from April 15 to October 14_:

1, _On Sundays, Thursdays and legal holidays, from 1 to 5 p.m., free;_

2, _On Saturdays, the same hours, one franc charged for each visitor._

_The +Park+ is open to the public all the year round on Thursdays, Sundays and holidays: from 1 to 6 p.m., from April 15 to October 14, and till 4 p.m. for the rest of the year._

The Condé Museum is extremely interesting.

_We advise tourists to obtain the guide book sold at the entrance, which gives all useful information for the details of the visit. The plan (p. 31) makes it easy to find one's way about the museum. By following the numbering in this plan the various rooms will be seen in the order in which they are marked in the guide book._

The several photographs which follow can give but a faint idea of the richness and interest of the collections made by the Duc d'Aumale.

The following view shows the Gallery of the Stags, formerly the dining room.

The picture on page 32 represents the magnificent carved and inlaid chest (the work of Riesener, the great cabinet-maker), which stands in room 24 (_plan p._ 31).

The Duc d'Aumale gathered the gems of his collection together in the room that he named the +Santuario+ (_No. 19 on plan, p. 31_).

They are: +The Virgin+ by _Raphael_, described as "of the House of Orleans," having belonged to that family for a very long time. This little panel, painted about the year 1506, was bought for 160,000 francs in 1869. It is reproduced on _p. 32_.

+The Three Graces+, another small panel painted by _Raphael_ at about the same time as The Virgin, was bought for 625,000 francs in 1885.

+Esther and Ahasuerus+, panel of a marriage chest, executed by _Filippino Lippi_, was bought for 85,000 francs in 1892.

+Forty Miniatures+ by _Jehan Fouquet_, taken from the _Book of Hours_, by Estienne Chevalier: this leading work of the French school of the fifteenth century was acquired for the sum of 250,000 francs in 1891.

1 Entrance.
2 Grand Vestibule.
=3 Gallery of the Stags.=
=4 Picture Gallery.=
5 Rotunda of the Museum (Senlis Tower).
6 Vestibule of the Museum.
=7 Gallery of the House.=
8 Small Gallery of the House.
9 Vestibule of House.
10 The Smalah.
11 The Minerva Tower (Tower of the High Constable).
12 The Antiquity Room.
13 Giotto Room.
14 Isabelle Room.
15 Orleans Room.
16 Caroline Room.
=17 Clouet Room.=
=18 Psyche's Gallery.=
=19 Santuario.=
=20 Treasure Tower.=
21 The Tribune.
22 The Anteroom.
23 Guardroom.
=24 La Chambre.=
25 The Great Study.
=26 The Monkey Parlour.=
=27 The Prince's Gallery.=
28 Library.
29 Great Staircase.
30 Gallery of the Chapel.
=31 Chapel.=

A Statue of the High Constable.
B Entrance (portcullis).
C Court of Honour.
D Court of the Little Castle.
E Flower Garden of the Aviary.]

We must also mention the collection of portraits painted or drawn in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, divided between the Gallery of the House (_7 on plan_), the Clouet room (_17 on plan_) and the Gallery of Psyche (_18 on plan_). In the Gallery of Psyche, the visitor will notice, besides the pictures, the forty-four sixteenth century windows, representing the legend of Cupid and Psyche. There is also a cast of the head of Henri IV.

Lovers of jewels should visit the treasure tower (_20 on plan_). Tn the Monkey Parlour (_26 on plan_) will be seen the screen painted by Huet, representing the Monkey's reading lesson, and on the panels a charming eighteenth century decoration, attributed to the same painter.

In the Prince's Gallery (_27 on plan_) the great Condé had a series of pictures painted representing the battles he had fought.

In the trophy containing his sword and pistols there is also a flag taken in the Battle of Rocroi in 1643. It is the oldest standard captured from the enemy that exists in France.

In the middle of the gallery stands the Table of the Vinestock, carved out of one piece taken from an enormous vine, for the Connétable de Montmorency.

In the modern chapel (_31 on plan_), the Duc d'Aumale placed a beautiful altar, carved by Jean Goujon, also some sixteenth century wainscoting and stained glass windows taken from the chapel of the Castle of Ecouen.

In the apse stands the funeral urn which holds the hearts of the princes of the House of Condé.

Visit to the Park

_This takes from three-quarters of an hour to an hour and a quarter._

_On coming out of the museum we cross the Terrasse du Connétable_, in the middle of which stands the equestrian statue of Anne de Montmorency, by Paul Dubois (1886). _Leaving the Château d'Enghien on the right we enter the covered way by the avenue which passes before the little chapel of Saint-Paul._ Saint-Paul and Sainte-Croix are all that remain of the seven chapels erected by Anne de Montmorency (_see p. 23_). A little further on, on the left, we come to the Cabotière, a building dating from the time of Louis XIII. It derives its name from that of the barrister Caboud, an enthusiastic amateur horticulturist, who made a magnificent flower garden in the park for the great Condé.

_The avenue ends at =Sylvie's House= (see p. 29)._ In the interior can be seen paintings, tapestries, pieces of furniture, and beautiful panelling of the seventeenth century, which have been placed in the rotunda. From Sylvie's House there is a lovely view of the pond and park (_see p. 29_).

_Leaving Sylvie's House on the right we walk about 150 yards down the path which skirts it, then turn to the left and follow the path which leads straight to the +Hamlet+ (view on p. 35)._

The Hamlet, which recalls that of the Petit Trianon at Versailles, dates from 1775. At this period, under the influence of J. J. Rousseau's works, nature and country life became the fashion, and it was the correct thing for princes to play at peasants in miniature villages.

An author of the eighteenth century thus describes the Hamlet of Chantilly: "Seven detached houses, placed without order, with thatched roofs, stand in the middle of a lawn that is always green. Here is an ancient elm, there a well; further on a fence encloses a garden planted with vegetables and fruit-trees; a mill, its wheel turned by the brook; in front a stable, a dairy; one house is used as the kitchen, another is the dining-room, so decorated as to resemble a hunting lodge. One fancies one's self in the middle of a thick wood, the seats imitate tree-trunks, green couches and clusters of flowers rise from the ground; a few openings made between the branches of the trees admit the light. A third cottage serves as billiard-room, a fourth is a library. The barn makes a large and splendid drawing-room."

From the time when the hamlet came into being, there was never a big fête at Chantilly without a supper in this pretty corner of the park. Innumerable _pots de feu_ illuminated the thickets; on the canal the guests drifted in gondolas to strains of dreamy music; fancy-dress fêtes were held, and the singing and dancing continued until dawn.

The hamlet is now greatly fallen into decay, nevertheless, it is worth a visit.

_Retracing our steps we bear to the left and, having crossed, the first bridge, follow a pretty path which brings us into the flower_ garden of Le Nôtre, where we get a good view of the castle _(photograph above). One can go straight back to the entrance gates by the staircase shown in the view._ It is called the +Grand Degré+ (great stair), and was built in 1682 by the architect Gitard. The groups which adorn the base of the Terrasse du Connétable, on each side of the stairs, were drawn by Le Nôtre and carved by Hardy.

_This walk, from the time of leaving the museum until the return to the entrance gates, takes about three-quarters of an hour._

_If one wishes to visit the +English Garden+ and the +Jeu de Paume+, which will take about forty minutes longer, one must walk past the north front of the castle and follow the walk which opens in the middle of the thickets._

The English Garden was laid out in 1817 to 1819 by the architect Victor Dubois, according to the orders of the last of the Condés, just returned from exile. The site occupied by this garden, like the ground on which stands the town of Chantilly, belonged to the ancient park, devastated during the Revolution.

We pass near the +Temple of Venus+, which shelters a Venus Callipyge of the seventeenth century, near the +Island of Love+, dating from 1765 and on which are statues of Aphrodite and Eros. In the eighteenth century the Island of Love contained a luxurious pavilion, in which nocturnal fêtes were held, the canals and park being illuminated. The pavilion disappeared at the time of the Revolution.

The ancient +Cascades of Beauvais+ that one sees before arriving at the Jen de Paume are remnants of the old park. They were the work of Le Nôtre.

The Jeu de Paume, constructed in 1757, is transformed into a museum. It contains various curiosities, notably Abd-el-Kader's tent, carried away when the Smalah was captured by the Duc d'Aumale in 1843.

_After 3 p.m. one can leave the park by the gate next to the Jeu de Paume. We come out in front of the "+Grandes Écuries+" of the castle and can go in and look round them. (Enter at the side that faces the lawn.)_

(_Cliché André Schelcher._)

GENERAL VIEW OF THE CASTLE]

=FROM CHANTILLY TO SENLIS= (9 km.)

_Returning through the monumental gateway, we cross the Rue de Connétable and go straight on, skirting the castle park on the right. We cross the Saint-Jean Canal, then the Great Canal, then turn to the right into the High Street of Vineuil._ On the right one soon has a beautiful vista of the castle and park (_view above_).

_We now go through Saint-Firmin._ The church, on the left, contains in its choir Renaissance windows which are classed as historical monuments.

_From Saint-Firmin to Senlis the road is easy. We enter Senlis by the Creil Gate (see plan inserted between pp. 36-37). Turn to the left by the Avenue Vernois and the line of boulevards to reach the station, where starts the itinerary described further on, in Senlis._

SENLIS

ORIGIN AND CHIEF HISTORICAL EVENTS

Senlis is of Gallic origin: it was the capital of the _Sylvanectes_. The Romans surrounded it with fortifications, a great part of which still exist (_see view below_).

The first kings of France, attracted by the hunting in the surrounding country, frequently stayed at Senlis.

It was in Senlis Castle (_see p. 61_) that Hugues Capet was elected king by the assembly of lords in 987.

The Capetians often returned to the birthplace of their dynasty and it is to them that the town owes its chief buildings.

Taken by the peasants in the war of the Jacquerie in 1358, besieged by the Armagnacs in 1418, it fell into the hands of the English and was delivered by Joan of Arc in 1429. Senlis knew great vicissitudes in the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries.

After Henri IV., who interested himself greatly in Senlis and lived in its old castle, the kings of France gradually forsook the town in favour of Compiègne, Fontainebleau and Versailles.

Occupied in 1871 by the Germans, it reappears in history in September 1914. The burning of the town and the summary executions which took place there will be recalled in the course of the visit (_pp. 38-52_).

VISIT TO THE TOWN

(See plan inserted between pp. 36/37)

(Sept. 1914)]

At the +Station+ one gets one's first view of the havoc done to the town by the events of September 1914. It was set on fire on the 3rd.

_Follow the station road (Avenue de la Gare), which leads to the Compiègne Gate._

This is the road by which the Germans entered Senlis on September 2, at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon.

(Sept. 1914)]

(Sept. 1914)]

Whilst one part of the advance guard made the tour of the town, following the boulevards and the ramparts which encircle it, other groups descended directly south by the two main streets which cross Senlis, thus making sure of a thorough exploration.

The entrance lo the +Rue de la République+ suffered a great deal, as is shown by the two photographs, taken before and after the fire of September 2, 1914.

(Sept. 1914)]

On the left, the toll-house is completely burnt down; in the centre, the Hôtel du Nord and the Restaurant Encausse are in ruins.

The building on the right is the Gendarmerie.

The German prisoners who appear in the picture opposite are leaning against the wall of these barracks.

They were the few soldiers who, remaining in Senlis after the victory of the Ourcq, were captured by Zouaves sent from Paris in motor-cars.

Only a few years ago the Rue de la République was called the Rue Neuve-de-Paris, although it dated from 1753. It was made in order to spare the Court of Louis XV. the circuitous way and steep ascent of the old road, which followed the Rue Vieille-de-Paris and the Rue du Châtel.

_Descending the Rue de la République we come to the Rue Bellon, which crosses it. We turn to the right, at the place shown on the opposite photograph, and a few steps further on, reach the +Carrefour de la Licorne+._ This is one of the most devastated places of the town. The first view was taken during the German occupation, a German cyclist being snapshotted while riding. The other views show the state of the ruins in 1914 and the present condition.

_We return to the Rue de la République._ A few yards down, on the right, we see the charred house, the gable-end of which appears in the view on the following page.

_We next reach the level of the Hôtel du Grand Cerf, of which the signboard is seen on the view below._ The German headquarters staff stayed there, and that is no doubt the reason for its remaining intact. The Mayor of Senlis, M. Odent, was taken there on September 2, after his arrest at the town-hall, just before being taken to Chamant to be shot. The proprietor of the hotel having left the town, the German officers commandeered a restaurant keeper and made him prepare a meal for thirty people, with "ices and champagne."

The houses which face the hotel and which were still burning when the above photograph was taken, are those of the local justice of the peace and public notary.

Looking through the entrance gates of the latter residence, one beholds the scene of desolation reproduced in the opposite picture.

(1914)]

_On the left of the Rue de la République_ we come to a building which served as the sub-prefect's office and +Court of Justice+. This building, formerly a hospital, dates from the beginning of the eighteenth century.

The work of the incendiaries is seen by comparing the opposite view with that given below.

All the ruins already pointed out, as well as those that will be seen further on, were made systematically.

(1914)]

The soldiers to whom this work was assigned arrived in columns; at the sound of an officer's whistle a certain number of men left the ranks and smashed in the doors of the houses and the shop-fronts; then others came who started the fires with grenades and fuses; lastly, the patrols who followed fired incendiary projectiles into those buildings which did not take fire quickly enough.

The above view was taken during the German occupation. It shows the Red Cross staff conveying the wounded from the overflowing hospital to the College of Saint-Vincent.

_After crossing the Nonette, one arrives at the junction of the Rue de la République and the Rue Vieille-de-Paris._

_At the corner stands the inn "+Le Débit Simon+," of which a view is given below._ Simon was without doubt the first victim of the German occupation.

Tn the middle of the afternoon a German patrol, who had just been drinking at the inn, was shot at by a French rearguard, who had left Simon's a few moments before.

The Germans immediately seized the innkeeper, accused him of having fired, and shot him point-blank.

Other pretended reprisals were made, causing the death of twenty unoffending civilians, of which the reader will learn the details further on.

The view below shows the corner of the Place Saint-Martin where stands the Café Simon. Two German cyclists are seen in the photograph, which was taken on September 4, 1914. It will be noticed that the one on the left has a lady's bicycle, which certainly did not come out of the Army stores!

_Following the Rue du Faubourg St. Martin shown above_, the tourist will pass a pretty estate (_view below_), the old quarters of the Gardes du Corps, which was completely burnt and the ruins of which produce a startling effect.

In front, partly burnt, are the headquarters of the Cavalry. Still further on, at the exit of the town, is the +Hospital+.

It was there that the battle raged most fiercely.

The German advance-guards, beating back the French soldiers delayed in the Faubourg St. Martin, were met by the fire of the machine-guns stationed outside the town, along the road.

The Germans penetrated into the hospital and the neighbouring gardens, trying to outflank the French defences which they thought were placed on the road, but a deadly fire from the transverse trenches made them fall back. Furious at this, they seized the passers-by and made them walk in the middle of the road, they themselves keeping close to the walls.

Among the hostages were a Mme. Dauchy and her young daughter. The latter was shot in the leg. Georges Leymarie was killed; one of his companions, Levasseur, while carrying the body along the pavement beside the hospital wall, suffered the same fate. Two other hostages, Audibert and Minouflet, the latter wounded, had also reached the pavement of the hospital. A German officer discharged a revolver at Audibert and left him for dead; he ordered Minouflet to show his wounds and, finding them insufficient, put a bullet through his shoulder. Three other people fell. The shrieks of the victims reached the French, who ceased fire. The surviving hostages then slipped past the trees along the road, under German fire, up to the French lines. The Germans took advantage of this to make a fresh attack, but were repulsed.

The hospital, situated as it was in the midst of the fighting, was not spared, A German officer, wounded by one of the first shots, entered the hospital and meeting an old pensioner, M. Maumus, on the threshold, shot him down in cold blood.

The ward where the French and Moroccan wounded lay was fired on with machine guns, as shown in the above photograph. By a wonderful chance no one was hit, the Crucifix also remained untouched in the centre of a wreath of bullets.

_The tourist will now, retracing his steps, turn to the right into the Rue des Jardiniers, whence he will have a good view of the whole town. Always keeping to the left he will pass through the Meaux Gate into the Rue de Meaux which borders the +College of St. Vincent+ (p. 64). (If on foot, it would be better to follow the line of the ramparts Bellevue and Saint-Vincent, instead of the Rue des Jardiniers. At the Meaux Gate he will go down the steps into the Rue de Meaux.)_

_Back in the Rue de la République, he will go up as far as the Rue Odent, which skirts the Hôtel du Grand Cerf. By this road he will arrive at the Place de la Halle, continued to the right by the Rue Saint-Hilaire, which leads to the church of +Saint-Pierre+ (see p. 60)._

_From the Place Saint-Pierre one goes to the left into the little Rue aux Flageards which passes in front of the north doorway of the cathedral, of which a view is given opposite._ The tower on the right and the spire were struck by several shells.

_Continuing along the Place Mauconseil and turning to the left into the Rue Villevert one reaches the charming square which lies in front of the parvis of the +Cathedral+._

_(See pp. 53-59 for descriptions concerning the artistic features of the cathedral.) Here we shall only give the incidents of September 1914 in which the building shared._

During the day of September 2, 1914, about fifty shells struck the old church and caused rather serious damage, as shown in the following photographs. The vicar of the cathedral, the Abbé Dourlent, went about the streets of Senlis during the bombardment and had 125 inhabitants, who had been unable to find shelter in the cellars, escorted out of the town by one of his curates. On his return to the vicarage, which stands at the foot of the tower (_the house visible in the photograph on p. 54, on the right, behind the two trees_), shortly after the Germans had entered the town, the vicar heard violent and repeated blows in the cathedral. Coming out into the square he saw cyclists, holding a large fragment of a statue (which had been flung to the ground by a shell) with which they had battered in the small door of the cathedral (_that on the right in the view on p. 54_). Others, axes in their hands, were attacking the door of the steeple on the south side of the tower. The Germans, revolver in hand, rushed at the vicar, and their leader commanded him to take them to the top of the steeple, accusing him of having allowed machine guns to be placed there which had fired on them.

As they climbed the first step they heard the first shots fired in the lower part of the town.

The soldiers sprang up and declared the vicar their prisoner.

The visit to the steeple confirmed the Abbé Dourlent's declaration that no one had been up and that no military preparations had ever been made there. The men drew off, but a few moments later the porter of the town-hall brought the vicar the order to render himself immediately as hostage at the Grand Cerf Hotel.

When he arrived the Headquarters Staff had left, taking with them the mayor, who was shot that evening.

The incendiarism had already started; the vicar saw incendiary bombs thrown into the houses facing the hotel, which are shown in the photograph _on page 41_. He entered the vicarage, then returned to the Grand Cerf to learn what fate awaited him.

It was there that a German superior officer, who spoke French, said these few words which throw light on the events at Senlis:

_Poor Curé, poor Senlis, your civilians have fired on us and we have been shot at from the top of your church tower, therefore Senlis is doomed. You see that street in flames_ (the Rue de la République), _well! this night the whole town will be completely burned down._

=We have orders to make of Senlis another Louvain. A terrible example is needed for Paris and for the whole of France.=

The vicar implored for mercy for the town, and the officer promised to intervene with his superiors in order to obtain a mitigation of the sentence. Whether he gained his point or whether the giving up of the direct march on Paris caused the part of scape-goat assigned to the peaceful little town to appear of less immediate necessity, the incendiarism was limited to the Rue de la République and the Quartier de la Licorne.

_The tourist will visit the +Cathedral+ (see pp. 53-59), +Saint-Frambourg+ (p. 60), the +Castle+ (pp. 61-63), and will then go down the old Rue du Châtel._

This road was the scene of an outrage of 1789, famous in the annals of Senlis. The clockmaker Billon, seeing beneath his windows the company of musketeers from which, as usurer, he had been dismissed, raised his musket and killed the commandant and several others. Trapped in his house, he backed from room to room still adding to the number of his victims. At the moment when they seized him the mine that he had prepared exploded, destroying his house and leaving twenty-six dead and forty injured.

_The Rue du Châtel ends in the Square Henri IV., in the corner of which stands the +Town-hall+._ Its façade (_see below_) dates from 1495. Above the door is the bust of Henri IV., with an inscription taken from the letters-patent sent by the king to Senlis as thanks for the town's resistance against the Leaguers:

"_Mon heur a prins son commencement en la ville de Senlis, dont il s'est depuis semé et augmenté par tout le royaume._"

(_My good fortune had its beginning in the Town of Senlis, whence it has since sown itself and spread over all the kingdom._)

The Square Henri IV. received the first shells of the bombardment in September, 1914, which killed a fireman on guard at the town-hall.

When the Germans penetrated into Senlis, one of their superior officers went to the town-hall and asked for the "burgomaster."

The mayor, M. Odent, came forward.

For three generations the Odents had been mayors of Senlis. The grandfather of the present mayor distinguished himself during the cholera epidemic in 1832; his father was seized as hostage in 1870 and narrowly escaped being shot.

On the eve of the German occupation, M. Odent took his family to Paris and on his return to Senlis wrote a postcard to M. Cultru, oldest member of the municipal council, as follows:--

"Having at last placed my wife in safety, I now belong entirely to Senlis."

M. Odent had the presentiment that he would not come out of German hands alive; a fervent catholic, he performed his religious duties in view of a swiftly approaching death, and fastened a crucifix on his breast.

Above we give the last photograph of M. Odent. It was taken on August 5, 1914, during a military fête. M. Odent is in the middle.

The mayor was violently upbraided by the officer because of the deserted aspect of the town--barely 1,000 inhabitants remained out of 7,000, and during the bombardment houses and shops were closed. He was also blamed for the absence of proclamations exhorting the inhabitants to deposit their arms at the town-hall and to offer no resistance....

M. Odent pointed out the rapidity of events, and the peaceable ways of the old city. He was nevertheless led before the headquarters staff at the Grand Cerf Hotel. Immediately after, came the sound of the first shots fired by the French rearguard at the lower end of the town. The officer was furious and vowed that he would hold the mayor responsible and that his head should answer for the lives of the German soldiers. The town-clerk suggested to M. Odent that the deputy mayor should be fetched, but the latter refused, saying: "One victim is enough."

The resigned hostage was taken from the Grand Cerf to Chamant (_see p. 66_). He was brutally treated, his gloves snatched from him and flung in his face, his stick seized and brought down violently on his head. M. Odent and some other hostages spent several hours of cruel waiting for their fate. At last, at about 11 o'clock in the evening, they were brought before several officers. After having been made to stand at attention they were ordered to lie flat, their hands stretched forward; they were then again told to stand at attention. The officers, satisfied that they had thus asserted their authority, for form's sake then proceeded to interrogate the mayor, and in spite of his denial persisted in accusing him of having opened fire upon the German troops. They then informed him that he would be shot.

M. Odent returned to his companions in captivity, gave them his papers and money, shook hands with them, and bade them a dignified farewell. He then went back to the officers. At their command two soldiers dragged him about ten yards further off and put two bullets through his head.

The ground was hastily hollowed out and the body was laid under such a thin layer of earth that the feet were not covered. It was here that the cross shown in the above photograph was erected. The tourist can visit it when passing through Chamant (_see p. 66_). A few hours before the mayor's death six other hostages had been shot and buried in the same field. M. Odent's companions were more fortunate, they were sent back to Senlis the next day. On September 12 the bodies of the mayor and the six other victims were exhumed and taken to the cemetery in the town (_see p. 52_). Other hostages narrowly escaped death. At about eight o'clock in the evening, in the tailor's shop at the corner of the Rue du Châtel, in front of the town-hall, three inhabitants were seized and taken to Chamant. To these, in the course of the journey, were added a dozen others. They were about to share the fate of the preceding hostages when one of them, who spoke German, succeeded in inducing the Headquarters staff to set them free.

_By the Rue Vieille de Paris (a continuation of the Rue du Châtel) we descend to the lower part of the town._ (In 1358 the "Jacques," masters of Senlis, drove back the nobles who had entered the lower end of the road by rolling down the slope heavily laden wagons which overturned anything that happened to be in their way.)

_In front of the old Convent of the Carmes, No. 3 of the Rue Vieille de Paris, stand +Megret's+ Baths, to which a café is attached._ In the afternoon of September 2 some Germans smashed in the door and demanded drink. It was no doubt at that time that other German soldiers entered the café Simon, a little further on (_see p. 43_). The two proprietors suffered the same fate. Mégret had barely finished serving the patrol with a dozen bottles of wine when a shot, fired point-blank, felled him to the ground.

On _page 49_ appears the photograph of three young German soldiers belonging to that column of incendiarists and murderers who did so much damage to Senlis. With threats they forced the photographer, M. Rozycki, to whom we are indebted for the views taken during the German occupation, to take the photograph we have reproduced.

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_A little way past the Convent of the Carmes (which is turned into barracks, its chapel being used as a clothing store), we follow, on the right_, the line of ramparts that goes from the _Rue Vieille de Paris (where the Paris gate used to be)_ to the _Place de Creil (where stood the gate of the same name)_.

These ramparts were made in the thirteenth and fourteenth and strengthened in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

The first portion is called +le Rempart des Otages+ in memory of the executions of 1418, during the fight between the Burgundians, who occupied Senlis, and the Armagnacs, who besieged it.

The town, reduced to famine, was to surrender on April 18 if no help arrived, and six hostages were handed over as guarantee: two abbots, two nobles, and two commoners. Help was signalled on the day of the 18th; but the Armagnacs, before leaving, decapitated four hostages at the foot of the ramparts on which the tourist is standing. In return, the besieged flung down from the walls the heads of twenty prisoners captured during a sally.

Six centuries have elapsed, but it will be seen that, towards hostages, the Germans still retain the mental attitude of the Middle Ages.

A picture by Mélingue (reproduced above), which hangs in the town-hall, commemorates the execution of the hostages of Senlis in 1418.

The next rampart is called the +Montauban+, after the square tower which was added to it in 1588. It was in the dry moat below that the Archers' Company held their practice. The head of the company, the "King of the Crossbow," was exempted by Henri III. from paying taxes, and ever since that remote period archery has always been held in honour at Senlis. At certain fêtes as many as 4,000 archers were assembled, part of them belonging to the town, the others coming from the surrounding country.

From the rampart, the view of old Senlis, spread out at the foot of the cathedral, is particularly picturesque.

_From the Creil Gate, where you come out on leaving the ramparts, the +Arena+ can be visited (see p. 65). After that, turn down the Avenue Vernois, at the end of which is seen the entrance to the cemetery._ The monument raised in memory of the hostages who were murdered in 1914 (_view below_) is in the western part of the cemetery. In the northern part is the grave of the soldiers who fell during the battles of Senlis (_view above_).

From the Boulevard Pasteur, which is a continuation of the Avenue Vernois, there is a pretty view of the country.

At the corner of the Rue Saint-Joseph stands a convent where seventy nuns remained during the German occupation. Some German soldiers made them open the door and demanded wine: "Oh!" answered the Reverend Mother, "the nuns only drink liquorice-water."

_The tourist now finds himself at the Compiègne gate, from where he began his visit to the town. This is also the starting point fixed in the itinerary for the journey to Meaux (see p. 66)._

ARTISTIC SENLIS

(See plan inserted between pp. 36-37)

=The Cathedral of Notre-Dame= (historical monument)

The cathedral was begun in 1153 on the site of a church which had been destroyed and rebuilt several times since the third century. The work of construction was slow, as funds were often lacking, despite the help given by the kings of France. For several consecutive years collections were repeatedly made throughout the country in order to obtain resources for the bishop.

The consecration of the unfinished church took place in 1191.

Towards 1240, the transept was raised and the spire, which is still the pride of Senlis, built.

In 1504, lightning set fire to the cathedral, which went on burning for two days. Luckily the spire was saved. The reconstruction of all the higher parts and of the façades of the transept lasted until 1560 and completely transformed the appearance of the building.

During the Revolution it was used as a ballroom and afterwards as a store-house for fodder. In 1801 it became once more a place of worship.

It has been seen (_p. 46-47_) that the cathedral was not spared by the German shells on September 2, 1914, and that its vicar very nearly shared the mayor's tragic fate.

The opposite view is taken from the top of the steeple of St. Peter's Church.

In the foreground are seen the buildings of the old bishop's palace, standing on a Gallo-Roman site; one of the towers of this enclosure was utilised in their construction.

After 1790 Senlis was no longer a bishopric, and an archæological museum is now established in the old dwelling-place of the bishops.

The west façade of the cathedral, which escaped the fire of 1504, has retained the simplicity and bareness of the twelfth century church and is in remarkable contrast with the richness of the side façades built in the sixteenth century.

The great doorway, which will be fully described further on, is flanked by two small doors surmounted by a tympanum, the arcading of which forms a curious ornamentation.

The two towers were originally alike; it was only in the middle of the thirteenth century that the spire was added to the south tower.

This +SPIRE+ is a masterpiece of Gothic architecture and for nearly seven centuries has been the admiration of architects and archæologists because of the science, audacity and solidity of its construction, which was proof against fire, the inclemency of the weather, and German shells.

Its summit is 255 feet above the ground. Octagonal in shape, it rests on the square base of the tower.

The transition from the square to the octagon is masked by the four pinnacles (each supported by three small columns), which occupy the four corners of the square.

The upper part of the spire is pierced with eight highly ornamented dormer windows; the arrises of the spire are decorated with crockets.

This construction reveals the great art of the architect, who knew how to break the monotony of the spire's long, sloping lines without making them appear heavy.

The little Place du Parvis shown above is charming in its archaical decoration.

The edifice seen on the left of the photograph is the old home of the Vermandois family, modified in the fourteenth century. One can walk round the courtyard of the old dwelling, entering through the door seen between two big trees.