dAf 59
WYSS Michaël (ed.)
Atlas historique de Saint-Denis
Des origines au XVIIIe siècle
This book is the introductory volume to a scholarly publication-series dealing with rescue excavations in Saint-Denis over the last twenty years.
The aim of the present volume is two-fold : researchers are provided with a critical appraisal of available archaeological and archival source-material, whilst a wider public, both in Saint-Denis and beyond, is offered a clear explanation of the town’s origins.
The work is set out as a topographical history beginning with the town grew, and concluding on the eve of Industrialisation. A chapter-by-chapter account enables the reader to follow the development of parish churches and cemeteries, the construction of vernacular monuments, the growth of the basilica and the monastic complex, and the expansion of the area, which the town has been instrumental in shaping and to which its prosperity can be in part attributed.
This outline study of the development of Saint-Denis is based upon carefully selected textual and iconographical source material and extensive commentary : the documentary corpus, which includes little-known or hitherto unpublished data, is remarkable both for its richness and for its diversity. With the present volume, the Saint-Denis archaeological unit, in collaboration with leading specialists, marks the first stage of an ambitious publishing program which both the national and international scholarly community will await with great interest, given the importance of Saint-Denis in medieval archaeology.
Abstract
Abstract
Urban archaeology in Saint-Denis began in 1973 as a response to the extension of a Paris subway line into the town centre ; an extensive programme of archaeological investigation was established in 1977. The programme defined a series of long-term rescue excavations which were co-funded by the city and central government.
Operations in the field were carried out by the Saint-Denis archaeology unit under the direction of O. Meyer and continued until 1992. The present volume is designed as a historical synthesis bringing together archival source material and recent archaeological data. The subject matter is presented as a series of topographical themes, each of which is organised on a chronological basis.
1. Mausoleum et basilica
The Saint-Denis basilica was one of the major burial-places of the French monarchy. The church owed its importance to the presence of relics attributed to Saint Denis, the first bishop of Paris, martyred during the 3rd century AD. The legend relating to the saint’s life is complex and portrays him as the Evangelist of Gaul, a disciple of the apostle Paul (Dionysius the Areopagite) and the author of mystical works.
Several early medieval
hagiographers, such as Gregory of Tours, have provided descriptions of the first basilica. Archaeological excavations carried out beneath the present cathedral at various times over the last two centuries have proven the existence of a Merovingian funerary church which, although apparently. enlarged on several different occasions, probably dates originally from the 4th century. The Carolingian church was consecrated by Abbot Fulrad in 775; it is described both in a contemporary text (779) and in the first two volumes of “The Miracles of St Denis" written in 834. In approximately 800 Charlemagne extended the west end of the church, and in 832 Abbot Hilduin added an eastem chapel dedicated to the Holy Virgin.
Between 1075 and 1087, William the Conqueror added a tower. The Carolingian apse included a ring crypt, part of which still survives; the existing three-nave chapel was added during the romanesque period. This construction has been substantially reworked by 19th and 20th century architects.
Abbot Suger left an account of his work which involved restoring and enlarging the church : the west end was completed in 1140 whilst the new chancel was consecrated in 1144. Following a fire in 1219, the north tower was rebuilt and a spire added. The tower was dismantled in the year 1846-1847 due to its advanced state of disrepair. The ambulatory and the radiating chapels were damaged by pillaging during the Revolutionary period and have subsequently suffered from the initiatives of various architects.
Between 1231 and 1281, rebuilding took place on the upper part of the chancel, followed by the transept and the nave. New chapels were added at the end of the 13th century and during the first quarter of the 14th century. Suger's liturgical reorganisation on the abbey church was progressively enriched. After being pillaged in the 15th and 16th centuries, the monks' choir was further altered to accomodate an increasing number of ceremonies introduced under the Ancien Régime. J. Doublet and M. Félibien recount these changes in their Histories of the abbey, written in 1625 and 1706 respectively. Further mention is made in the Annals of the abbey's last organist, F.-A. Gauthier ( 1748- 1823?).
After the Revolution, an attempt was made to restore the church's role as the royal burial-place. Several major architectural projects date from this period and must be taken into account when attempting to analyse the church's architectural evolution. Viollet-le- Duc was appointed architect to the monument in 1847 and undertook the restoration of interior fittings.
2. Cimeterium et ecclesiae
Excavations carried out by the archaeology unit have established the existence of a large cemetery located immediately to the north of the basilica (ad sanctos). During the 7th century, the north side of this cemetery was lined by a row of churches and funeral galleries. Later architectural changes to these churches indicate their changing status. By the 9th century, for example, St Paul's church was probably being used by a college of canons. In the 12th and early 13th centuries, the space still available in this monumental complex was taken over by new parish churches. The Wars of Religion (1567) reduced many of these buildings to ruins and their parishes were consequently reorganised into two churches, St Michel and the Trois Patrons : the latter was built in 1600. The royal burial-ground encroached upon the abbey cemetery when construction on the Valois mausoleum, a rotunda, began in 1572. This building had not yet been completed when it was demolished in 1719.
3. Monasterium
Gregory of Tours mentions a settlement of "guardians" around the saint's shrine. During the first half of the 7th century, Dagobert 1 and Clovis II attempted to impose monastic rule upon this community. Under the leadership of the most influential abbots in the Carolingian empire, the abbey fluctuated between canon and Benedictine rule. In 867 Charles the Bald took the title of abbot of Saint-Denis. The monastery subsequently functioned under titular abbots until the beginning of the 11th century, and was obliged to host the royal court three times a year.
Archaeology has demonstrated that during the Carolingian period the area to the north of the basilica was occupied by a vast architectural complex encompassing an aqueduct and a monumental secular building. The interpretation of the latter as a palace remains conjectural. At its zenith in the 13th century, the Saint-Denis abbey housed up to 150 monks. In keeping with Benedictine tradition, the communal buildings were arranged around the cloister which ajoined the south side of the abbey church. The monastery was protected by a defensive system which included several fortified gate-ways.
In 1633 the Abbey was reformed by the Congregation of Saint Maur. The medieval buildings, deemed in poor repair, were progressively demolished from 1700 onwards to make way for rebuilding, notably under the authority of the architect Robert de Cotte. F.-A. Gauthier provides a description of interior furnishings which disappeared when the buildings were re-used as a military hospital in 1795 and as the Légion d'honneur school after 1808.
4. Castellum, burgus sive urbs
Archaeological evidence suggests that the site upon which the . basilica would later be built was already inhabited in the late Roman period. The only known remains of this settlement are minor buildings and part of a small street leading to the main road (Estrée) which linked Paris to Rouen.
The development of the monumental and monastic complex generated an urban area which grew outwards in a concentric fashion from the religious centre. In 869 Charles the Bald fortified the settlement to protect it from Norman invaders. Archaeology has revealed that these castellum included earth ramparts and water-filled ditches. From the 12th century onwards, Saint-Denis entered a period of considerable prosperity which was marked by significant urban development. The town grew up along several major thoroughfares which fanned out from the central Place Panetière, the hub of religious, commercial and judicial activity. Additional chapels, established some distance from the castellum, led to the growth of suburbs : in 1328, the 13 parishes which made up Saint-Denis contained 2 351 households. Work on refortifying the town was begun in 1356 as a result of the outbreak of Anglo-French hostilities. On the outskirts of the town several suburbs were levelled for strategic reasons.
From 1410 to 1436, Saint-Denis was besieged by Burgundian, Armagnac and English forces. The town was later used as a stronghold in the siege of Paris during the Wars of Religion at the end of the 16th century. Large areas within Saint-Denis were abandoned by the civil population during this period : the space thus made available was reoccupied at the beginning of the 17th century by five reformed convents. These extensive religious enclosures inhibited urban development until the Revolution. The town was answerable to four legally distinct authorities : the Abbey, the canons of St Paul, the Saint-Denis-de-l'Estrée priory, and the lords of Montmorency. The abbot maintained a retinue of religious and secular officers whose task it was to manage the monastery' s properties and to mete out justice.
The "Livre vert de Saint-Denis", which laid down the Abbey's seigniorial rights in 1411, provides much information concerning the economic life of the town. The book defined the rules and privileges for certain trades (bakers, butchers, weavers, fullers, dyers, etc.); the regulations for daily business, weekly markets and annual fairs; the tolls to be levied on land and water transport. The same text also refers to the principal amenities provided by the Abbey for the townspeople and merchants : ovens, mills, slaughterhouses, market-halls, weights and mesures.
5. Territorium
Saint-Denis had always been well-served by lines of communication due to the close proximity of the river Seine and the main Roman road. This favourable location enabled the Abbey to collect the revenues owed to it by its extensive properties in the Paris area and the north of France ; further taxes came from several Abbey owned ports on the Seine close to Saint-Denis. Water transport also played an important role in providing the necessary materials for the Abbey's building projects.
A network of roads radiated out from Saint-Denis to connect the town to the surrounding country.. side. In the early 9th century, the monks provided a permanent water supply for the Abbey by digging a canal which diverted the river Croult : the hydraulic power thus created encouraged the building of water-mills.
Place-names offer turther evidence of land-use, and the 1399 statement of income from the Merville farm gives a detailed account of one property's various farming activities.
A substantial corpus of surviving maps and texts makes it possible to reconstruct, with a fair degree of accuracy, the land area historically covered by Saint-Denis. Of particular interest are documents describing the 1704 boundary marking project which defined those lands belonging to the town. In the same year, the Abbey ordered its land agents to draw up land-ownership maps of the four surrounding seigniorial domains: La Courneuve, Saint-Léger, Aubervilliers and La Chapelle. From the beginning of the 12th century, the plain between Saint- Denis and La Chapelle was home to the Lendit Fair. A large number of archives describing this annual event have survived. The fairground was originally laid out on Abbey land along the main road from Saint-Denis to Paris. Not until 1556 was it transferred to the Place Panetière, safely within the perimeter of the town walls.
