The Cathedrals Of Southern France Part 44

V

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Neo-Basilica-IX Cent._

_Lombard Cruciform XI Century_

_The Romanesque Of Southern France in the XI Century_

_Norman Cruciform Plan XI Century_

_Leading forms of early cathedral constructions_]

VI

_The disposition of the parts of a tenth-century church, as defined by Viollet-le-Duc_

Of this cla.s.s are many monastic churches, as will be evinced by the inclusion of a cloister in the diagram plan. Many of these were subsequently made use of, as the church and the cloisters, where they had not suffered the stress of time, were of course retained. St.

Bertrand de Comminges is a notable example among the smaller structures.

In the basilica form of ground-plan, which obtained to a modified extent, the transepts were often lacking, or at least only suggested.

Subsequently they were added in many cases, but the tenth-century church _pur sang_ was mainly a parallelogram-like structure, with, of course, an apsidal termination.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Plan X Century Church_]

A The choir

B The _exedra_, meaning literally a niche or throne--in this instance for the occupancy of the bishop, abbot, or prior--apart from the main edifice

C The high-altar

D Secondary or specially dedicated altars

E The transepts, which in later centuries expanded and lengthened

G The nave proper, down which was reserved a free pa.s.sage separating the men from the women

H The aisles

I The portico or porch which precedes the nave (_i. e._, the narthen of the primitive basilica), where the pilgrims who were temporarily forbidden to enter were allowed to wait

K A separate portal or doorway to cloisters

L The cloister

M The towers; often placed at the junction of transept and nave, instead of the later position, flanking the west facade

N The baptismal font; usually in the central nave, but often in the aisle

O Entrance to the crypt or confessional, where were usually preserved the _reliques_ of the saint to whom the church was erected

P The tribune, in a later day often surrounded by a screen or _jube_

VII

_A brief definitive gazetteer of the natural and geological divisions included in the ancient provinces and present-day departments of southern France, together with the local names by which the pays et pagi are commonly known_

Gevaudan In the Cevennes, a region of forests and mountains

Velay A region of plateaux with visible lava tracks

Lyonnais-Beaujolais The mountain ranges which rise to the westward of Lyons

Morvan An isolated group of porphyrous and granite elevations

Haute-Auvergne The mountain range of Cantal

Ba.s.se-Auvergne The mountain chains of Mont Dore and _des Domes_

Limousin A land of plateaux, ravines, and granite

Agenais Rocky and mountainous, but with its valleys among the richest in all France

Haut-Quercy A rolling plain, but with little fertility

Bas-Quercy The plains of the Garonne, the Tarn, and the Aveyron

Armagnac An extensive range of _pet.i.tes montagnes_ running in various directions

Landes A desert of sand, forests, and inlets of the sea

Bearn A country furrowed by the ramifications of the range of the Pyrenees

Ba.s.se-Navarre A Basque country situated on the northern slope of the Pyrenees

Bigorre The plain of Tortes and its neighbouring valleys

Savoie A region comprising a great number of valleys made by the ramifying ranges of the Alps. The princ.i.p.al valleys being those of Faucigny, the Tarentaise, and the Maurienne

Bourbonnais A country of hills and valleys which, as to general limits, corresponds with the Department of the Allier

Nivernais An undulating region between the Loire and the Morvan

Berry A fertile plain, slightly elevated, to the northward of Limousin