The staff at “Trivially Speaking” doesn’t make many “misteaks” but we’ll have to chalk this one up to the translation from our Foreign Correspondent in the conversion to English from the original French.
We were led astray by the dispatch concerning the Butter Tower. This led to research into “butter carving” and the movie “Butter” which were featured in prior columns.
The Butter Tower referenced in the correspondence wasn’t really made of butter. OOPS! The tower at the cathedral in Rouen, Normandy, France appeared to some of the peasants of the day (these peasants weren’t revolting) as though it were made of butter.
This tower was constructed next to the existing cathedral in the early 16th century.
At this time, butter was banned during Lent and those who didn’t want to forgo this indulgence — what’s a croissant without butter? — would donate six deniers Tournois (more than two bits) from each diocesan to slather the good stuff on their delightful bakery goods.
That’s getting ahead of the building.
A church was actually in the location as early as the late fourth century.
As time moved on (it never stands still except at the end of a first date) a cathedral similar to the one in Poitiers was established in Rouen.
This edifice was enlarged in 650 and the new bigger accommodations were visited by Charlemagne in 769.
Then, wouldn’t you know it, the Vikings showed up and clobbered the buildings in the ninth century. They liked the area and the Viking leader Rollo was baptized in 915 only to be buried 17 years later.
Refurbishing continued and Richard I (grandson of Rollo) enlarged the structure in 950 — it’s good to give Vikings something to do to keep their minds off plundering or that’s what my relatives told me.
The cathedral had its ups and downs through the next few centuries. It was burnt, struck by lightning, blown down, etc.
This did not seem to deter the locals as they built the Butter Tower, Saint Romain’s Tower, and two stories of the lantern tower.
Oh no! The French Wars of Religion damaged the cathedral, then it was struck again by lightning.
These people were nothing if not stubborn. Refusing to believe that God didn’t like the location, they continued on and finally in 1876 the lantern tower became the tallest building in the world. It held the title for four years.
The Brits bombed the area in 1944 causing some damage, then the U.S. Air Corps bombed the area again before the D-Day landings. Fortunately, before the war damage Claude Monet painted some incredible works of the cathedral showing the same scene at different times of the day (it was not paint by numbers so he must have had a fast brush).
His canvases are displayed in several national galleries and museums and the estimated value of one painting is more than $40 million.
If the Vikings had only known and had their own painter, Olaf, do a few then I might have had more of an inheritance.
So, having finished the correct translation, we await future communications from our Foreign Correspondent.
Jim Willard, a Loveland resident since 1967, retired from Hewlett-Packard after 33 years to focus on less trivial things. He calls Twoey, his bichon frisé-Maltese dog, vice president of research for his column.
Originally Published: April 12, 2018 at 7:55 PM MDT