St-Amand (Saint-Amand-de-Coly)
Today's Romanesque parish church of Saint-Amand is located in the small French municipality of the same name, Saint-Amand-de-Coly, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in the Dordogne department , about 22 km north of Sarlat-la-Canéda and about 55 km east of Périgueux . It is still almost completely enclosed by the defensive wall of the formerly important Saint-Amand-de-Coly Abbey and is known for its well-fortified architecture.
History of the abbey and church
The beginnings, legends and first documents
According to the legendary chronicler Selon from the 9th century, in the middle of the 6th century, at the time of the Merovingian king Chlothar I, a young nobleman named Amand came from nearby Limousin, and two like-minded people named Sore, an Arverni (from the Auvergne), and Cyprien. Together they dreamed of a life in the community of friars. After a long time among the slaves of the Merovingian villa of Genouillac, also called Terrasson, they kept discussing their wishes for the future and decided to separate and lead the lonely life of hermits.
Amand found a cave shelter for his future life not far from Genouillac, a place later called Saint-Amand de Coly. He brought the words of the gospel to a people living in bondage who worshiped him as a saint. Amand died towards the end of the sixth century.
According to the above-mentioned chronicler Selon, it says elsewhere: "Saint-Amand, a native of Meyze, near Saint-Yrieix, rests in the village of Périgord that bears his name".
In Saint-Amand, as in many other pilgrimage sites, the veneration of the cave dwelling of a hermit and the grave of a saint gave rise to the beginning of a monastery and the associated settlement.
The first monastic community and forerunner of the later Saint-Amand was initially called Saint-Sore , which was derived from Terrasson. In the 7th and 8th centuries, with the strengthening of the Christian church, the parishes and dioceses in urban and rural communities were formed, almost always under the direction of monastic communities. The monks of Saint-Sore also contributed to the creation of a large number of churches and priories in the region, which then remained dependent on them.
In the 9th century the wars of Aquitaine and the invasions of the Normans hit the country with terror and destruction. The monastery of Saint-Sore was destroyed in 857 by the Danish hordes who came up from the valleys of the Vésère. The remaining communities of monks bought the often dubious protection of the local nobility and vegetated on the edge of existence with extremely low income. In this regard, the raids of the Count of Périgord have been handed down .
The 10th century is marked by the "reconquest", a trend towards reform and a return to monastic disciplines in the monasteries. The great abbot Odo of Cluny was obviously able to persuade the powerful Count of Périgord in 937 to return parts of the stolen goods to the monastery of Genuouillac (Saint-Sore). The belief that was widespread at the time that the end of the world would be imminent at the turn of the millennium probably helped him.
The late 11th and early 12th century the name sat for the monastery Saint-Amand-de-Coly by, and the monastic community was faced with the decision to cluniazensisch embossed Benedictine abbey to be or the new rules of Kanoniker- Joining Saint Augustine . At that time the monastery became an Augustinian canon monastery .
The first known historical document about the existence of a monastery in Saint-Amand im Coly is dated to the year 1048. This year a monk from the monastery of Ripoll in Catalonia is visiting the churches and monasteries in the region to praise the faithful with the “Praise of Oliba”, a former abbot of Ripoll and bishop of Vic . Each of his steps and details of the ceremonies were recorded and noted on a roll of parchment, the rotulus . It also lists the various places where the monk stayed, including: "Saint-Amand called Genouillac".
The construction works
Nothing is known about the exact time of the foundation of the abbey church and its early days. Your building data can only be approximately reconstructed. In the left side wall of the north transept chapel, a stone in the same color as the surrounding masonry has been given a Latin grave inscription. The abbot Wilhelm, buried here, is mentioned in the text and is considered to be the builder of the church. According to the sources, the day of his death can be dated between 1125 and 1150. It is believed that at least the choir and the entire transept had to be completed by the time he was buried. This in turn leads to the assumption that construction work on the abbey church began at the beginning of the 12th century and the entire structure was completed at the beginning of the 13th century.
It was erected in the following order: the north transept arm and its chapel , the choir , the south transept arm and its chapel, the huge bell portal tower and the bases of the nave walls. Its elevation and the windows in it fell during the Gothic construction period, as did the large window above the portal and the vaulting of the choir.
Before construction work on the church begins, parts of the abbey buildings of the Augustinian Canons and its predecessors will have been erected and used by the monastic community. In parallel to the work on the abbey church, the change and expansion of the abbey building developed, starting with the cloister at the angle between the nave and the southern arm of the transept and then moving further south. The contours of the adjacent buildings can be seen on the wall surfaces of the church.
The heyday of the abbey can be assumed to be in the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries. A number of documents from the period attest to significant land holdings in the late 12th century, which gave the monastery prosperity and reputation. Over the years, nineteen churches and priories had come into being in the Saint-Amand area of responsibility and were subordinate to it. In the middle of the 13th century, the number of canons was no longer sufficient to supply the many outposts with church services. At the request of the abbot in Rome, Pope Urban IV assigned four new clergy to the abbey in 1263 .
The period of prosperity was by no means a quiet one. The abbey had to put itself under the protection of the King of France and his Seneschal several times in order to avert greater damage as a result of attacks by feudal lords .
In October 1304, the Abbey of was the Holy See in Avignon to the Archbishop of Bordeaux , Bertrand de Goth, who later became Pope Clement V assumed. His successor John XXII. created the new bishopric of Sarlat, to which the monastery of Saint-Amand was also attached.
In 1381 the construction of a hospital for the poor in the region began in Saint-Amand. After a restoration in the 18th century, the building is still preserved today.
Towards the middle of the 14th century, at the beginning of the Hundred Years War , the structure of the church of Saint-Amand was militarily upgraded and converted into a defensive bulwark. Chief among these are the high-stepped out the gable walls of the transepts and the choir well beyond the roofs out and equipping the upper edges of the outer walls with wooden bay windows on corbels and applied in loopholes . Also to be mentioned are the internal vertical and horizontal distribution paths consisting of stairs, catwalks on corbels, wall passages and more - all measures to move and protect the defenders who are entrenched high above.
During this time, the large defensive wall around the entire abbey complex with the integrated defensive towers and gates will have been built or reinforced.
The steps to the downfall, wars, epidemics and abuse of the Commende
In 1348, the first major plague epidemic wiped out almost a third of the population of France. There were supply shortages and famine.
The Périgord is at the center of the hostilities between France and England during the Hundred Years War (1339-1453), during which France was pushed to the edge of its existence. The Abbey of Saint-Amand-de-Coly was not spared the turmoil of the wars either. In particular, their strong defenses made them a coveted object of combat for the warring parties.
In 1449, towards the end of the wars, half of the “fortress” Saint-Amand collapsed, the monastery buildings were almost completely destroyed and there were large gaps in the extensive defensive walls. There was only one monk left. Services could no longer be held in the ruins of the church building.
This was followed by a long period of reconsideration and reconstruction, but at the same time the period of the abbots assigned from outside and religious decadence. From 1449 to 1504, the Abbey of Saint-Amand was under the control of the abbots from the Bonald family, who arranged for the partial reconstruction. In the concordat of 1516 between Francis I and Pope Leo X , the king was granted the right to elect and appoint abbots. The appointment of abbots “at the discretion of the crown” often led to abuse, in that almost exclusively members of the royal family became heads of abbeys and monasteries and their properties. The institution was even passed on as a family, for example from uncle to nephew. Around 1514, under Abbot Cardinal Amanieu, the run-down abbey buildings were given up.
Soon after the middle of the 16th century, the major aristocratic clans in the southwestern provinces of France began to disputes, one speaks of the religious wars between Catholics and the Protestant Huguenots . Even now, Saint-Amand was not spared the fighting. In 1575 Jean Cugnac, a Huguenot captain, ordered his cavalry to storm and sack the abbey and its library. The urban militia of Périgueux under Seneschal von Bourdeille and the men around Henri von Noailles, who had been assigned to help the abbey, had holed up on the grounds and in the fortifications of the church fortress. The defenders had to give up only after six days of cannonade. A large breach was made in the gable wall of the north arm of the transept, through which the attackers were able to penetrate the church. The later repairs can still be seen today. It is believed that at this time the bones of Saint Amand disappeared.
From 1525 the abbey came under the control of the Ferrières-Sauvebeuf family for 182 years through the abusive appointment of abbots. The abbots from this family regarded the abbey as part of their family property, whose income they invested in other of their properties, for example in the Château de Sauvebeuf on the Vésère. This mismanagement contributed significantly to the material and spiritual decline of the abbey at the beginning of the 18th century.
In 1746 there were still three canons and an abbot left, just enough to live by the rules. The king allowed the abbey to be dissolved. The remaining income was allocated to the bishopric in Sarlat.
With the beginning of the revolution of 1789, the abbey church became the parish church of Saint-Amand-de-Coly. The abbey's archives, kept in Coly Castle, were lost when it was destroyed. The remains of the abbey building were sold for demolition. This inevitably marked the end of the monastery.
The recent history of the parish church of Saint-Amand
In the 19th century there was a lack of funds to put a stop to the decay of the church building. Pastor Carrier, who was in office from 1886 to 1899, noted: “The roof is in poor condition and large amounts of rainwater are entering. The windows are walled up except for three. The water penetrating through the walls soaks the interior and freezes to ice. The rubble and debris around the building are piled up to ten meters high. ” Pastor Carrier moved the population of the small parish of just under 400 people to work with him to clear the immediate vicinity of the church, to uncover the bases of the walls and one Lay out the access around the building at the level of the church floor. To prevent landslides, a retaining wall was built in the endangered areas.
Triggered by the work of Pastor Carrier and his parish, the church was classified as a Monument Historique in 1886 and placed under monument protection. This involved extensive construction work to maintain, renovate and restore the structure and its equipment in accordance with the requirements of the monument protection. The same attention was paid to the ruins of the defensive wall and the few traces of the abbey buildings.
The church building
Outer shape
The floor plan of the church corresponds to a Latin cross , the central post consists of nave and choir and the cross arms from the transept. The outer dimensions are: length 48.17 meters and width (transverse ship length) 26.76 meters. The portal tower measures 30.00 meters, the height of the roof ridge of the ships is likely to be 27 meters at the western end of the ship and decreases in the direction of the choir according to the rise in terrain.
The western parts of the church consisting of the portal tower, nave and transept protrude entirely above the surrounding level of the site, which was largely leveled for the formerly adjoining monastery buildings. The eastern parts of the building, the transept arms, the chapels and the choir, “dive” into the steeply sloping terrain there. However, the area excavated up to the level of the bases of the outer walls was moved away by a width and then steeply sloped down to the level of the natural terrain surface. This is where the so-called "Abbot Carrier's Dealing" is located.
The first impressions of the Saint-Amand-de-Coly church are shaped by the huge portal and bell tower as the west gable of the ship. On a floor plan of 12.20 × 5.00 meters, it only slightly rises above the ridge of the ship with its 30 meters height. A local peculiarity is the huge niche facing west, 6.10 meters wide, 3.00 meters deep and about as high as the inner nave, closed at the top with a pointed barrel vault. The edge of the niche is decorated with a right-angled setback of the masonry all around.
In the niche background are the wall recesses of the three-tier archivolt portal with Gothic pointed arches and the large four-tier archivolt window with round arches. The archivolts of the arches and those of the garments have no surface structures and are only designed with companions from simple round rod profiles. The outer arches are bordered with narrow zigzag bands. The archivolt capitals are decorated with simple plant structures. Slightly above the apex of the arch of the portal, a figuratively carved capital with a fighter plate is embedded on each side . Both capitals certainly had a load-bearing function elsewhere in the church building.
Approximately at the level of the archivolt arches of the window, four corbels with stone panels are embedded on both side walls of the large niche. In times of war, wooden beams and planks were placed there and equipped with a balustrade, behind which the defenders of the portal could stay protected.
Above the niche vault, there is a bell chamber the size of the tower floor plan, which also played an important role in the building's defense system. In addition to the ongoing observation of the surroundings, the church was defended directly from here. On three sides of the tower, to the north, west and south, three broad corbels are embedded, on which, in the event of a defense, oriel constructions were built with wooden beams and planks, in which loopholes were cut out in three directions, presumably also downwards . The defenders were able to get into the bay windows through head-high wall passages and carry out their duties there. Such defensive bay windows were arranged on all sides of the fortified church at the height of the wall crowns. In some cases there are loopholes in the walls next to the bay windows.
The longitudinal walls of the ship have three wall templates on the north side and two on the south side, which, with a few exceptions, extend to the eaves height. There are more wall templates at all corners of the building.
The nave, transept and choir have the same eaves height, a roof pitch of 50 degrees and a uniform height of the roofs, which cross exactly over the middle of the crossing. The roof surfaces are covered with gray stone shingles, which protrude over corbel cornices as "real" eaves.
The gable walls of the transept are raised in steps over the roof surfaces, the gable wall of the choir extends without steps up to the ridge height. The northern polygonal transept chapel has only unstructured wall surfaces with simple ridges on the corners. The corners of the southern transept chapel are equipped with round columns on which blind arcades rest.
The windows in the nave and in the gables of the transept arms have semicircular arches. They are framed by right-angled setbacks in the masonry, in which companions made of round bars are arranged. On the gable of the north arm of the transept, the window has a round arch that is decorated with Mozarabic style elements with small blind arcades made of horseshoe arches, probably an "import" from Spain. The choir is equipped with smaller arched windows with simple setbacks of the masonry. The gable wall of the choir has an additional circular window above the three arched windows, a so-called ox eye .
The brick of the outer walls in the lower parts of the building and under the recesses that have hardly been exposed to the weather has still received its yellow to orange-yellow original color, while the more heavily weathered upper parts of the building are gray to dark gray.
Interior
If you enter the nave via the numerous steps of the outer access staircase through the raised portal with its high vault, you first go upstairs again. In the middle of the ship you can see that the stone floor continues to rise steplessly towards the crossing and choir. Behind the crossing you climb eight steps to the front part of the choir. This rise in the inner soil largely corresponds to the height development of the original terrain. Together with the unusually high height of the ships, this gives the faithful visitor the impression of spiritual aspiration.
The inner length of the nave, crossing and choir measures 40.85 meters. At 17 meters, the nave is only 2 meters longer than the choir room. The inside of the transept is 27 meters long including the crossing.
The nave, the arms of the transept and the first part of the choir are covered with pointed barrel vaults at the same height. The crossing is vaulted with a hemispherical dome on four pendentives (hanging gussets). The eastern square of the choir is covered with a ribbed vault, whose broad, rather clumsy-looking ribs and the keystone consisting of seven pieces do not remind you of the Gothic. The transept chapels have composite vaults made of sharpened barrels and groin vaults .
In the nave, the vault and the wall are separated by a simple cantilever cornice. In the transept arms and in the choir, there are catwalks, which rest on strong corbels, in addition to the above subdivision. They are connected to one another and to the attic spaces via the vaults with wall openings. Several spiral stairs lead up to them within the building walls. These facilities are also of military importance for defense.
The pendentive dome of the crossing and the crossing arches are each supported by stable square pillars, which are formed into bundles of pillars by blinded round pillars. Similar column combinations can be found under the arches to the choir and chapels. The capitals on top are kept almost exclusively simple, without structures or sculptures. An exception is a capital on the southeastern crossing pillar, which is elaborately sculpted. Monsters are shown devouring people, and thus should instill fear of punishment in medieval viewers.
The gable and back walls of the two transept arms are divided in half below the catwalks with large blind arcades . In the southern arm of the transept, the younger of the two, there is an additional wall structure, also on the gable and rear wall, which was probably added later. It involves the erection of eleven round supports, arranged one behind the other in pairs, with twelve seated arcade arches , which served as catwalks. Two doors are arranged one above the other in the gable and rear wall, one below and the other above the catwalk. The two doors in the corner between the nave and the transept led to the probably two-storey cloister of the abbey, the other two in the gable wall were probably entrances to the rooms of the abbey buildings, for example to the dormitory on the upper floor.
The north arm of the transept, together with its chapel and the grave of abbot Wilhelm, was the original cell of the abbey church. It was probably already available for church services before the other components were completed. There is therefore an additional outer door in the rear wall of the transept arm. Through them, the parishioners of Saint-Amand later found access to church services in smaller groups. On the north wall of the chapel there is a 48 × 18 centimeter commemorative plaque, which hardly differs in color from the surrounding masonry and is therefore often overlooked. Its Latin inscription in Leonine verse recalls the work of abbot Wilhelm, who was buried here and the first builder of the abbey church.
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+ DISCAT Q (U) I NESCIT VIR NOBIL (IS) HI (C) REQ (U) IESCIT
If you don't already know, here rests a famous man, Q (U) I RACHEL ET LIA Q (U) I MARTA FIT ATQ (U) E MARIA his life is comparable to that of Rachel, Lia, Marta and Maria. PSAL (M) OS CANTATE FR (ATRE) S CHR (ISTU) MQ (UE) ROGATE Sing psalms, brothers, and pray to Christ, SALVET UT ABATEM W (ILHELMUM) P (ER) PIETATEM may he redeem the pious abbot Wilhelm. |
In the gable wall of the northern arm of the transept, evidence of the storming of the abbey church in the wars of religion is clearly visible, namely the breach made in the masonry by the Huguenots' long-term cannonade and its makeshift repair, in which the former wall structure was ignored by blind arcades.
Right next door, on the front wall to the left of the chapel, there is the remainder of a fresco from the beginning of the 13th century, the representation of which is hardly recognizable. There is the following interpretation:
“ The scene seen under the arches is likely a crucifixion. You can clearly see the cross, the head of Christ with a nimbus is somewhat more difficult to see . Very close by, a figure that is not always depicted with a nimbus (for example Joseph of Arimathea). It dissolves over the cross. On the other side of the cross, the traces of blue paint likely indicate the dress of Our Lady. As usual in crucifixion depictions, the sun appears on the right side of Christ and the moon on the left. The sun and moon are shown here in the form of harnesses. In this context, it is likely that the best preserved part is a representation of the city of Jerusalem. The central building, covered with a dome, would be a representation of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher , and on the left without a doubt the Tower of David . "
With the exception of the large window in the west wall, the windows with semicircular arches are small, in keeping with the Romanesque style, and are mostly arranged in the upper area of the walls. They are visually enlarged by the beveling of their reveals . Almost all of them are framed by setbacks of the wall edges and double companions made of round bars.
Remains of the abbey and its fortifications
The actual abbey buildings connected to the south walls of the church. The cloister was at the angle between the nave and the transept and can be reconstructed on two floors based on traces and because of the existing door openings. This probably also applies to the abbey buildings adjoining the southern transept gable. The foundation walls of the former abbey building have been proven by archaeological excavations. The buildings extended from the church in a southerly direction, where a large leveled area still points to them, and presumably reached as far as the still existing defensive wall.
Thanks to a restoration in the 18th century, the former hospitium has been preserved in this area , a hospital for the poor in the region, construction of which began in 1381.
On the north side of the church there is another small building that also forms the northwest corner of the perimeter wall and has only recently been restored. It is known as the House of the Guard.
The defensive wall that surrounds the abbey, some of which is still towering, has been well preserved and its existence has been protected by monument conservation. The good state of preservation indicates that the former occupiers wanted to use the walls for their own security.
The main access to the abbey - through the Porte de Salignac - was in the south. The section preserved there is over two storeys high and impressively testifies to the strength of the fortifications. Former building connections and their windows can still be seen, perhaps those of a reception room or a reception for the arriving guests.
Elsewhere, a cantilevered staircase has been preserved that leads up from the base of the wall to its crown. Maybe there was a battlement up there. Next to it you can see half of a former tower built into the wall, the inner half of which has been broken off.
There is also a place where the inside wall shell has been broken open. You can see there that the defensive wall is constructed with three layers. Only the two outer shells are solidly bricked with precisely cut natural stones. The inner filling consists of uncut field stones, which were filled with a lot of mortar in a "herringbone bond" almost upright. A stable and inexpensive construction that was already known to the Romans.
The extent of the defensive wall surrounding the abbey is so extensive that there was still a considerable amount of undeveloped areas to cultivate the most necessary crops and vegetables for the residents and to keep cattle for consumption, not only during times of siege.
Saint-Amand-de-Coly, gate in the western defensive wall, today's entrance
Saint-Amand-de-Coly, Porte Salignac, from the inside
Saint-Amand-de-Coly, western defensive wall, village street
Saint-Amand-de-Coly, eastern defensive wall, with tower and stairway
Saint-Amand-de-Coly, southern defensive wall, Porte Salignac
literature
- André Delmas: L'abbaye de Saint-Armand-de Coly . Ed. Society History and Archeology of the Périgord, Clairvivre 1978.
- Various local signs: Conception: Association des Amis de Saint-Amand-de-Coly, Realization: Don du Pr. Et Mme. F. Morel. (French)
- Thorsten Droste: The Poitou. Western France between Poitiers, La Rochelle and Angôuleme. The Atlantic coast from the Loire estuary to the Gironde . DuMont art travel guide. Cologne 1999, ISBN 3-7701-1380-2
- Thorsten Droste: Périgord and the Atlantic coast. Art and nature in the Dordogne valley and on the Côte d'Argent from Bordeaux to Biarritz . DuMont art travel guide, Cologne 1989. ISBN 3-7701-1197-4
Web links
- http://www.saint-amand-de-coly.org/ (French)
Coordinates: 45 ° 3 ′ 52 " N , 1 ° 14 ′ 53" E