Clermont-Ferrand
Tomorrow begins the field research portion of my trip. I spent the last two days doing some actual rest, as well as playing around with my itinerary to make sure that I’m maximizing my time in the Auvergne. My parents arrived in Paris Saturday night; they’ll be the non-me people appearing in the pictures from the region in the next couple of days. We leave tomorrow morning early, and will be spending four nights in Clermont, coming back to Paris Friday for some family issues. My father is a medieval art historian, admittedly specializing in late medieval/early modern Bulgarian monastic art, but still Sorbonne-trained; this is going to be incredibly useful for me, as my exposure to art history methodology is as basic as a handful of texts and some conference presentations.
Since I haven’t actually left, I thought I’d post my itinerary for the week with some links, for those of you so starved for things to do with your time as to wish to follow along with me while I’m en route:
Auvergne
M, 5/20
Leave Paris, go to :
[~3 hr. 31 min.] Thuret: Notre-Dame de Thuret/St. Martin de Thuret (11th c. Church? with Wild-man image prominently displayed? Also one of the famous Black Virgin!)
[~9 min.] Saint-Andre-le-Coq : 11th c. eglise romane
[~24 min] Gerzat [Hotel]
[~14 min.] Riom: Abbaye Saint-Amable de Riom—Basilique Saint-Amable de Riom ; city was seat of the Counts of Auvergne
Mozac: Abbey church is now the parish church, Romanesque capitals still survive and the relics of St. Austremonius and St. Calminius are there–this is L’abbaye Saint-Pierre et Saint-Caprais de Mozac is the abbey of Mozac from the 7th c.
[~23 min.] Romagnat: Chateau d’Opme [originally 11th c. castle of the Counts of Auvergne, current 16th]
[~16 min. return]
T, 5/21
Clermont-Ferrand: Archives Departementales du Puy-du-Dome [Morning]
Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption (13th c., but on site of 3 previous ones), Abbaye de Saint-Alyre, Église Saint-Eutrope (current 19th c., built in 14th c. style, but on site of successive churches from 5th c.), Basilique Notre-Dame-du-Port (10th c.)
Abbey of St. Andrew, where the counts of Clermont were interred is, sadly, a mid-12th c. Premonstratensien foundation and thus useless to me. Alas.
[~20 min] Puy-de-Dome: Hike (closes at 18h00)
W, 5/22:
[~42 min.] Sauxillanges: Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Bois (11th/15th-16th c. private property), vestige de l’ancienne eglise Saint-Jean-Baptiste (10th/12th/15th c.), vestige de l’ancien monastere (12th c./15th-17th c.. [private property)
[~33 min.] Cunhlat: Place of William Peyre of Cunhlat? Peter Bartholomew was his servant. L’eglise Saint-Martin de Cunhlat worth looking at.
[~40 min.] Thiers: Église Saint-Genès (11th-12th c), Abbatial du Moutier et l’église Saint-Symphorien (XIe-XIIe s., abbaye 11e-15e—juillet et aout)
[~46 min.] Puy-de-Saint-Andre, Busseol [afternoon hike]
[~29 min.] Gergovie—Roman battle between Julius Caesar and Vercingetorix
[~24 min. return]
R, 5/23 :
[ ~43 min.] Saint-Nectaire : Église de Saint-Nectaire (commencer 1080-finir 1146-1178), also the cheese!
[~1 hr. 2 min.] Blesle : Ancien château de Mercoeur, L’église Saint-Pierre de Blesle
[~26 min.] Brioude: Basilique Saint-Julien de Brioude;
[~14 min.] Lavaudieu : Abbaye St. Andre (11th c. church, 12th c. clocher—known from 909 as Comps, in 1050 to Chaise-Dieu, in 1057 founded as monastery Saint-Andre-de-Comps; 1070, Judith, daughter of count of Auvergne Robert II, retires there, as well as Judith, sister of the count of Melgueil; interior frescos later—guided tours 10h-11h et 14h-15h30-17h)
[~31 min.] La Chaise-Dieu: La Chaise-Dieu Abbey (11e s. ; 10h-12h and 14h-18h)
[~21 min.] Saint-Paulien : Église Saint-Georges de Saint-Paulien (11th-12th c.) [995 Peace council]
[~1 hr. 29 min. return]
F, 5/24:
Return to Paris
If nothing else, this should give you a lovely little waltz through a large number of hyperlinks. I’m pretty excited for the whole thing. This week is really all about putting together some preliminary ideas about the cultural and religious background for Peter Bartholomew, and to begin delving into sites concerning the First Crusade; Clermont, Cunhlat, and La Chaise-Dieu are the most relevant, but I’m intrigued by the Abbaye St. Andre of Lavaudieu, which I just found out about.
More to come tomorrow!