Various

“ Indeed most of the ornamental wood-carvings which have come down to us even from the Middle Ages belong almost exclusively to the end of that period, when, especially in Germany, the art attained unrivalled productiveness and excellence. ”

“ The end of his life is almost as obscure as the beginning. It is clear however, that, though now a man of over sixty, whose last five years had been years of intense suffering, Cœur was recognized by the pope, Calixtus III., as a man of ability and spirit. ”

“ A merchant of such wealth and importance could hardly be overlooked by Charles VII., who had a talent for putting the right man in the right place; and when in 1436 Paris at last consented to admit the king, he re-established an Hôtel des Monnaies in the capital, and gave the direction of it to the man who had managed his own monetary affairs with such striking results. ”

“ The best workmen did not repeat predetermined patterns, but allowed the motives to grow under their hands, thus endowing even the smallest pieces with an individuality which makes the decorative effect as spirited and varied as it is graceful. ”

“ In consideration of the pope's intercession and of Cœur's former services his life was spared; but he was condemned to pay the king $1,250,000 as restitution money, and $2,500,000 as a fine, and to be banished forever from the kingdom. On being notified of the decree, Jacques replied that he could not possibly raise the sums demanded. He himself owed money which he had borrowed for the king's affairs, and his goods were not worth so much. ”

“ From impoverished nobles, who were his debtors, he commenced to buy great estates all over France. It was at this time, in 1443, that he began to build his unrivalled house in Bourges, his native town, although he already possessed mansions at Marseilles, Montpellier, Beaucaire, Lyons, Tours, Béziers and Paris. ”

“ Examples of decorative carving in wood dating prior to the Middle Ages are extremely rare. Some sculptured figures of saints, and other fragments of a more solid sort, have survived, but the more delicate ornamental work has disappeared. ”

“ The general plan of the whole is an irregular pentagon—a central court surrounded by unsymmetrical groups of buildings, according to the disposition of almost all mediæval civil and military buildings. ”

“ The excellent preservation of specimens of even the most fragile wood-carvings of this century is due doubtless to the extreme care with which the workmen selected and prepared their material. Oak was almost invariably employed ”

“ The campaign was actively planned, but there was no money in the royal treasury. The king appealed to the only man in France able to meet the urgent necessities of the case, the merchant Jacques Cœur. He was walking alone with the king when Charles broached the subject and asked him to advance the money for the Norman enterprise. ”

“ The main entrance leads directly into the great courtyard, around which the various constructions which make up the whole are irregularly grouped. The design of the pavilion of the façade is repeated on the inner side, but in place of the statue of the king the niche was originally occupied by a statue of Jacques Cœur. To the left of the portal, under an arcade, is the entrance to the spiral stairway (Plate LIII.) which winds within the tower to the chapel. ”