A Little Too Academic (sorry)

Today we went to see the abbey of Jumièges. It is an extraordinary place--a huge abbey in ruins. Most of the main building that is still standing is romanesque, and an amazing example of a romanesque structure because it is so tall--a demonstration of the power of abbeys at the time, and of the afluence of the area. The abbey, and an accompanying legend of the "enervés" of Jumièges, illustrate as well the former path of the Seine. The river currently flows a good kilometer from the abbey, but once must have been closer.

The legend of the "enervés" tells of two sons who commited treason in leading an army against their royal father. Their crime merited death, which their mother, the queen, could simply not support. So the king agreed on a lesser punishment. The two were "enervé"--the nerves in their legs were cut--then they were sent down the Seine in a boat filled with food. The monks at the abbey of Jumièges took them in and cared for them. This painting depicting the scene, "Les Énervés de Jumièges" by Évariste Vital Luminais, is at the Musée des Beaux Arts in Rouen.

I had already visited the abbey a few weeks ago, but hadn't gone on a tour like we did this time. The coolest part, though, was when the tour ended, for some reason just the people in the workshop got to go down and see other parts of the abbey campus--or what used to exist of the abbey campus: a bakery, stables...they think only about a fourth of the buildings that stood at the abbey's heyday exist now. The tour guide went and got two flash lights that could have been used during WWII and he unlocked an iron gate in a wall. We desended--it was dark and damp and a bit slipery--a staircase into a chamber with a vaulted ceiling, then turned around and walked down a long tunnel that lead to another dark, vaulted room, then down another tunnel that ended, bricked off. I had forgot my camera this morning. The picture, that I found on Google, is pretty close, but think no lights, a dirt floor, and peaked (gothic style), not rounded.