. Longtime capital of the Pays de Caux, Normandy, the little town of Caudebec-en-Caux (Seine-Maritime) has two significant medieval monuments. The Maison des Templiers, with its well-preserved gableend walls, is a rare example of 13th-century civil architecture. The Flamboyant Gothic church of Notre-Dame (1426-84), miraculously spared when the town was burned in 1940, was called by Henry IV the “prettiest chapel
Caudebec-en-Caux (Seine-Maritime), Notre-Dame, nave. Photograph: Clarence Ward Collection. Courtesy of Oberlin College.
In my kingdom.” The western fagade features a rose window above three exquisitely carved Flamboyant porches, which recall those at Saint-Maclou in Rouen. A bell tower, attached to the south side, is capped by an unusual three-tiered octagonal spire that recalls the papal tiara. The triple nave (185 feet by 72 feet), with three-story elevation of arcades, triforium, and clerestory windows, is typically Flamboyant. Notre-Dame preserves a magnificent ensemble of 15th-and 16th-century stained glass, including windows devoted to John the Baptist, Our Lady, and SS. Michael, Catherine, and George. There also survive impressive late-medieval statues in wood and stone.
William W. Kibler/William W. Clark
Steinke, William A. “The Flamboyant Gothic Church of Caudebec-en-Caux: A Neglected Masterpiece of French Medieval Architecture.” Diss. New York University, 1982.
World History
