It’s my last night in Evreux, for tomorrow I head to Caen, where I intend to check out the abbeys established by William the Conqueror and Mathilda.
This town has been a delightful respite. Not only the town itself, but the librarians have been lovely. In Paris I had to jump through a number of hoops daily just to enter the library and receive a manuscript, which they would give to me grudgingly, with heavy reminder of my time limit. It was Asterix and the Mansions of the Gods: bureaucracy at its finest. Understandable inasmuch as it is a massive operation of an institution, but how charming to come to a small ville’s local library, be given a manuscript after filing out a humble form, having the librarians offer me a magnifying glass, coffee, words in French that I don’t quite have yet and a patient smile when I try to express myself in the language. I was touched. I almost wanted to hug them when I left today. I do hope my research demands a return trip… Personally, I think one will be necessary, since there are no microfilms of these two manuscripts.
The room I worked in was quite charming as well. It was on the top floor of an 18th-century building (if I remember the century correctly… It was very modern, at least, by my standards). A tiny room whose curved wall faced west and so enjoyed the afternoon sun, and in which were but three small tables for visitors and a librarian’s desk. Much of the time, I was the only visitor, but the first afternoon it was quite busy: there were three!
The town itself is fairly unremarkable, yet it has its attractions. It is my first Normandy experience, so I find the architecture fascinating. There is a bell tower, begun in the twelfth or thirteenth century and completed in the fifteenth. There are a few Roman wall ruins extant. Charles the Second, 14th C., was responsible for a promenade along the river (looked more like a brook or stream to me). And there are two churches that were begun in the middle ages: Notre Dame and Saint Taurin (a local saint of early centuries). St Taurin’s was turned into a salt pete (?) factory for several years around the Revolution. It resumed its ecclesiastical duties in 1803.
The ecclesiastical music here is also fascinating to me. There are the schmaltzy French tunes reminiscent of the Lourdes favourite, Immaculate Mary, but many of the melodies appear to have very old roots. One hymn reminded me of a medieval French carol I know, and a couple others were reminiscent of some tunes of the crusaders and knights templar that I’ve listened to on YouTube–a strongly militaristic rhythm. It is simply incredible to be connected to this history not only spatially and visually and tactilely, but also audially. Though the world around me is of the twenty-first century, I feel like I have one foot in the thirteenth century. I am a not just a historian: I am a time-traveler! 🙂
Reluctant Scholar 