The ancient city of Lugdunum seems to disappear at the same time as the Roman Empire. Having survived the Vandal invasion of 409 and found a partial vitality in the fifth century (Visigothic domination), it was destroyed in 585 during the wars of succession between Franks, descendants of Clovis Gondovald, usurper, Gontran cons, the legitimate heir. Gondovald refugee Lugdunum was defeated and the city was destroyed: it at least is what Gregory of Tours in his History of the Franks "After they had killed everybody to leave no wall against which one could pee Gontran soldiers burned the city. " In fact the study of archeological remains clearly shows the exaggeration of texts: the early Christian basilica still works after that date, a few names of bishops appear Councils at (673, 790), so life goes on ... but nothing is known about the organization of the city and the city.
is the empty history of Upper-Middle Ages to Lugdunum.
is the empty history of Upper-Middle Ages to Lugdunum.
In the eleventh century, the city re-enters the story under the leadership of its Bishop Bertrand de l'Isle-Jourdain. In 40 years, he rebuilt the upper town and its church on the site released by the destruction, he raises a cathedral and around her, a true episcopal city, attracting the inhabitants. He revived the city that takes his name-Saint-Bertrand de Comminges-a century after his canonization (1222). The city's prosperity grows beneath bishops following. With a liberal charter from 1207, the city sees an influx of pilgrims and became a medieval lighthouse, reflecting the wealth of the bishopric of Comminges. The city still shows high current this splendor in its many relics: Walls, doors, old houses, narrow streets ...
But the trouble begins at the end of the sixteenth century with the ravages of the wars of religion: the cathedral was looted in 1586.Après two centuries of respite, the fatal blow is worn during the French Revolution with the removal of the diocese of Comminges in 1793. The city then begins to decline, becoming just the capital of the canton in the district of Saint-Gaudens, then common in 1887, only witnesses of past grandeur, the Cathedral, ... pilgrimages and tourists!
Saint-Bertrand is the seat of the bishopric of Comminges. It is who has maintained over the centuries the notion of Comminges from the Gallo-Roman times to the county, although their limitations have not always coincided (cf.carte). Aure valley to the hills of Gascogne, the Barousse to Val d'Aran, the bishop of Comminges is at home, owning property as a real feudal lord, in particular land Alan , its castle and its surroundings (manors of St. Frajou and Cazeneuve). On the site of Saint-Bertrand, he will always be only one lead, acting as temporal lord. Thus in the absence of a castle Cause-and-cathedral acted as a fortress protecting the city and surrounding country: its massive Romanesque bell tower is almost like a dungeon, even if his superiors hoardings are modern. Several of its bishops have left their mark on their way to Saint-Bertrand and permit the gradual implementation of existing monuments.
The first is the eponymous Bishop Bertrand de l'Isle, key figure in the history of Comminges. Lord himself, grand-son of a Count of Toulouse, canon of the cathedral of Saint-Etienne de Toulouse, enthusiastic supporter of the Gregorian reform, in 1083 he was appointed head of the episcopal see of Lugdunum. Bishop builder, he will raise the city's ruins. Gregorian bishop, he set up the reform, with regular canons, religious attached to the cathedral, participating in the training of clergy and evangelization of the cities and countryside and gathered in the chapter. Bishop rallying to the "miracles" famous (15), it does leave the bishopric of Comminges. His tomb became the object of a pilgrimage followed. A second
Bertrand will take over two centuries later: that Bertrand de Got (1295-1299). Became pope under the name of Clement V-1, Pope at Avignon it will take two crucial decisions for our site:
he partially-rebuilt Cathedral-style Southern Gothic, Romanesque church felt too small compared to the influx of pilgrims as they came to St. Bertrand those who followed the path of the Pyrenean Piedmont roads in St. Jacques de Compostela.
it "raises" the relics of Saint Bertrand (canonized since 1222) by placing them in a shrine high in the church January 16, 1309 and formalizes the pilgrimage by a bull. It also creates the Jubilee of St. Bertrand May 2 each year.
a Confraternity of Saint-Bertrand mixture of lay and clergy, is taking place, even if his status does not appear in 1531.
A third player involved in the collective work: Bishop Hugh de Castillon (1336-1352) completes the construction Gothic and erected a chapel in Gothic style and a tomb almost flamboyant, superb example of French funerary art the fourteenth century.
Cardinal Pierre de Foix (1422-1451) erected to turn the tomb of Saint-Bertrand in the nave in a flamboyant decor, covered later paintings naive
The last big Bishop builder is the humanist Jean de Mauleon (1523-1551) who enforces a real wooden church (closed) in the stone church, a choir that is composed of 66 stalls reserved for the canons, separated by a true renaissance in the loft like elaborately carved portico to Auch and Albi.
The cloister of Saint-Bertrand de Comminges, one of the last still standing in the central Pyrenees, brings together successive stylistic contributions. It perfectly represents what the cloisters for the monks assigned to the church (by the canons) or in a monastery. Indoor pool gallery surrounding a closed space, greenery or simple square yard is the place for meditation and rest religious place strictly reserved for those who have vowed to stay committed and by Emmanuel Garland, recent author (June 2000) a study of the Romanesque cloisters of the central Pyrenees, "node and lung of any convent complex. This type of development has emerged for a very long time in the history and found its birth in the Romanesque period with the use of stone for building as many as for the sculptural decoration. Thus, the canons of Saint-Bertrand undertook to erect a monastery on the southern flank of the church below, but in too small a place that compelled them to draw an irregular quadrilateral suspended over the void and now open on the mountains (see cathedral plan ). Several stages of construction are seen in this cloister, and reused Roman.
The western gallery only date from the Romanesque period (XII century), but it has kept intact its stones, its scenery and charm .... Semicircular arches, capitals double, twin marble columns follow each other harmoniously. The decor of the 8 elements is rich and highly influenced by the Romanesque sculpture workshops in Toulouse.
All the most famous is the mainstay of the gallery cut into the drum of an antique marble fluted column: this is the 4 Evangelists holding their symbols in their hands, as in tympanum of Saint-Just Valcabrère . On the marquee above them, are the work of 12 months and one zodiac: symbol is of course intended by the sculptor novel. According to Garland E. "The year is the image of Christ, the 12 months are like the 12 Apostles and the 4 seasons remind the 4 Evangelists. All capitals deserve consideration, as well as the narrative capitals ornamental capitals, as one who represents the horses kept by a man in the middle of hardwood and topped with a floral frieze.
Galleries south and east of Gothic inspiration, continue smoothly with the gallery Romanesque arcades and columns binoculars, but with a more streamlined decor, purely plant: change of style, vintage, taste. In the northeastern corner of the entry remains in the chapter house with a door covered with a trefoil arch under double archivolt and a mullioned window of true Gothic style. The north gallery (XIV century) located in the chapels of the cathedral, is the only 5 bays with arched windows covered with warheads lowered. It is also a real cemetery, containing several tombs in enfeus , the cloister was instrumental cemetery closed for several centuries as one of the Innocents in Paris or St. Maclou in Rouen.
If the exterior architecture and framework of the cathedral are the same model of Romanesque and Gothic art, the interior of the building surprises us with a different style Art: a huge choir occupies two-thirds of the surface (!), barring of course the prospect of the nave by a rood screen still in place but provides its woodwork intact with a unique and a marvel of art of the Renaissance. Without going to talk about third cathedral-like or even some- "a wooden church in a church of stone", we can say that these developments have really enriched post-without distorting the cathedral of Saint-Bertrand de Comminges. Many visitors come to admire the choir's most famous Gustave Flaubert wrote "it is beautiful, it's pretty nice ... it is a museum, a beautiful piece of art that think about the story, a book in the woods where we read a page of the sixteenth century. " Why this construction? This type of arrangement has existed since the Middle Ages: it allowed to separate the clergy and laity, and the canons pilgrims, each practice within the chorus, the others around it to reach the tomb and relics and can occasionally glimpse the office through skylights. It was Bishop John de Mauleon which was carried out between 1525 and 1535 the choir with its stalls, the rood screen in line with those of Albi and Auch, but it is the only one where the assembly is fully wood and then completely, witness the priceless Renaissance in the Pyrenees. It reveals the emergence of humanism with Italianate motifs (as in Toulouse) but with local influences or Hispanic. With the recent (November 2000) study of a university research team in Toulouse, we can better appreciate the richness and variety iconography.
The loft-wooden-fence is a monumental, surmounted by a gallery, separating the choir from the nave. Two altars flank the entrance: the Saint-Bertrand left the Notre Dame right with large wooden statues. Fully decorated the gallery has on its cover 20 major religious figures. The portion inside the chorus enter in a world different from the rest of the building, one of the canons of the Renaissance with a multiplicity of symbols, religious emblems .. or not. The achievement by outstanding artists, skilled in marquetry and sculpture offer art lovers an astonishing range. The stalls are made of 2 rows of 66 seats (28 low, 38 high) with a larger one for the bishop. Above are a canopy, a frieze and a series of pediments decorated of course.
But especially the seats themselves as artists have outdone themselves in their creative imagination. The cover strips (part between two seats) and mercies (tablets added to the back of the stalls to rest) have a multitude of sculptures as whimsical as caricatures but oh so endearing: animals more or less fabulous, amazing human beings, motifs of a religious or secular, biblical or historical, popular or moralizing, finding the creative verve of Romanesque sculpture regenerated by Hispanic and Italianate Renaissance.
For cons, the records (back) stalls are a series of panels to the iconographic program apparently organized around religious reasons and those at the top seem to represent a story of redemption. Other decorative high level abound, like the Tree of Jesse, a true lace carved at the entrance of the choir or more panels of marquetry (wood color) very rare in France.
The last time baroque-styled by some-is represented by the reredos of the altar in the choir. Leaning against the mausoleum of Saint-Bertrand has been made in the seventeenth century but with earlier statues ... and later: on a base in sham, a superposition impressive niches, columns, capitals and statues galore especially with nearly 115 characters Thumbnails on predella . Although the painting and gilding are late and if the current Sarrancolin marble altar dates from 1737, it illustrates the art of this era in a style frequently represented in the diocese of Comminges to the Aure valley and the Val d'Aran.
The outer periphery of the choir continues in the same vein and decorative art, emphasizing the humanistic aspect of representation, in medallions, figures, ancient and Renaissance and a series of busts Italianate. The same Renaissance is reflected in the lectern in the choir, but especially in the extraordinary organ, one of the three wonders of Gascony's a popular saying, the typical Renaissance decor: scenes from the legend of Hercules, many ornaments.
artistic journey does not end there. Already in the fifteenth century had been educated at the end of the choir mausoleum Saint Bertrand limestone in the Pyrenees. Subsequently, these were added many elements as naive paintings (late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries), describing the life of Saint Bertrand and his miracles or altar of the eighteenth century.
Other aspects appear during the visit: the entrance to the nave in front of the gallery, the parish altar and its decoration of the seventeenth century, also the many objects of the Fifteenth the seventeenth centuries exposed to the treasury of the cathedral in the old sacristy of Jean de Mauleon in the sixteenth century. What artistic overview over the centuries!
At Saint-Bertrand the presence of a community of canons living under the rule of St. Augustine suggests that the organ should play its role liturgical alternating with plainchant verses by running the Mass and Vespers (Kyriale, Hymns) . But it is not inconceivable that the organ also performed a more secular music, toccatas , ricercari or even dances: the example of François 1er, fascinated by Italy, the Lords of the Renaissance were building castles The Italian where they pensioned artists and musicians. The Bishop John de Mauleon, "Lord of the Diocese of Comminges" has a wonderful instrument to "celebrate the Heavenly Court," according to the inscription on the organ of Saint-Savin (1557) to few kilometers from Saint-Bertrand de Comminges, which reflects its desire to provide his court Episcopal pomp comparable to those of the greatest lords of the region. THE BUFFET When you enter the cathedral through the back door south, which overlooks the cloister, one is struck by the splendor of the organ case of vast proportions, a unique example of instrument 16 feet in the Renaissance shows built on an angle in a perfect state of preservation. Performed after 1'achèvement choir stalls, due to the generosity of Bishop John de Mauleon see who had completed its construction shortly before his death in 1551, the organ would be the Renaissance sculptor Nicolas Bachelier Toulouse, author among others of the sculptural decoration of the Grand Hotel Pierre de Toulouse, de la Dalbade. Its position in the nave is a rare example of a buffet corner, the Romanesque arch of the west wall was thought too small to accommodate an instrument of this size. The absence of a forum here forced the builder to roost on the instrument entablature supported by five columns of fluted Corinthian, supporting a richly decorated ceiling of interlacing , boxes and decorated cul-de-lamp . On the entablature based on the ancient basement of the organ, surrounded by a gallery of arches formed at the sign of scallops, enhanced by Jacques and pilasters fluted. The center of the gallery has a projection-shaped polygonal pulpit lodge where the console and the organist. The base itself is decorated on two floors of carved panels separated by heavy fluted consoles and representing the work of Hercules as well as groups of musicians. Above, supported by two carved entablature foliage and grotesque figures rise the pipes of the watch, the powerful central tower containing the first 7 of the main pipe 16 feet. The flat - faces, alternately round turrets and third point are closed in their upper part by wealthy topped by skylights and a large bead five-storey turrets. From ground to top of the statue overlooking the center, the buffet is nearly twenty feet high! You can access at the console with an elegant Renaissance staircase that covers screw on its side of the pulpit preaching: we can be more explicit about that music and preaching, in these times of Counter - Reformation, are intimately linked.
INSTRUMENT
From the Renaissance instrument enclosed in this buffet, it does nothing remains today. The oldest parts (2 Bases Grand Organ of 48 notes and two small mattresses pedal, plus some old games) back to the seventeenth century. The rest follows from successive reconstructions over the centuries, and especially the reconstruction of the 1970s, led initially under the auspices of Historic Monuments, and the responsibility of the Association of Friends of the Organ with Arts Councils of Pierre Lacroix, director of the Festival du Comminges, it leads to the reconstruction of a Baroque organ Esthetics (eighteenth century) with mostly new equipment, the organ builder and tuner is Jean-Pierre Swiderski . To imagine what might be where the instrument offered by Jean de Mauleon, we are reduced to make assumptions, based partly on the structure of the organ and organ known compositions from this period and other hand on the keyboard literature published around the 1550s. The organ of Saint-Bertrand had to rely twenty games spread over a main keyboard, perhaps a keyboard and a touch of echo pedal.
MUSIC directory
What could be performed at Saint-Bertrand in the second half of the sixteenth century? It is certain that Bishop John de Mauleon, who had at heart to build an instrument of this size, had to hire an organist confirmed, came perhaps a large city or even abroad. The middle of the sixteenth century was a time when a specific 1ittérature keyboard (organ, clavichord, harpsichord, virginal) was formed. By comparing the various editions of this period have survived, we can distinguish three groups of compositions: transcriptions of vocal or instrumental, liturgical music, the first forms of writing for keyboard.
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It is possible to access the Peak by foot, hiking trails, or in 
