Eglise de Cunault (EXT)

Hello everybody and welcome to the priory church of Notre-Dame of Cunault. I will be your guide for twenty minutes to introduce you the to history of the church and its outside architecture. Then Therese will introduce you the inside of the church.

Well,

Everything began in the second part of the ninth century, when Vikings devastated the French coasts, (ouuh les villains!!) then went against the stream of Loire.

Each summer, they pillaged the abbey  of Saint-Philibert of Noirmoutier. So each summer, the monks  found refuge in the abbey of Saint-Philibert of Grandlieu. a few years, Vikings pillaged Saint-Philibert of Noirmoutier’s abbey not only each summer, but also in the winter...in fact  all year long.  As a result the monks decided to settle (themselves) definitively in Saint-Philibert of Granlieu.

But Vikings are obstinate. They continued to  sail up the Loire and advanced in the French lands, forcing the monks to escape, with Saint-Philibert’ sarcophagus and their  manuscripts.

And  this is how they arrived here, in Cunault, in 847. At this time, here, there was  an ancient little monastery  built in order to  preserve the relics of Saint-Maxenceul, who was the first  to evangelize the region in the fourth century.

This wall  is the only part that remains of this  ancient monastery, you can see it precisely because it was the only part of the church to not be made of limestone.

So the monks of Saint Philibert of Noirmoutier arrived here and the Count Vivien, abbot of Saint Martin of Tours, gave them this monastery and some lands around.

The monks stayed here for fifteen years and, when the Vikings arrived to Angers, they escaped again. They followed the Saint-Philibert ‘s way until Saint Valerien of Tournus’ abbey, in Burgundy, in the east of France. They brought with them the relics of Saint-Philibert and Saint-Maxenceul.

In 911, the St-Claire sur Hutte treaty gave a territory/land to the Vikings, which is today called Normandy.

This treaty allowed the monks to come back to Cunault, with Virgin Mary‘s relics and Maxenceul’s reliquary. But they left Saint-Philibert ‘s relics in Tournus, where was established a new abbey, the abbey of Saint-Philibert of Tournus. Afterwards Cunault became a priory dependent of this great burgundian abbey.

So, to sum up the foundation of the priory church of Cunault : In the nineth century  here was a monastery, built to preserve the relics of saint-maxenceul, who evangelized the region. The monks of the abbey of Saint-Philibert of Noirmoutier arrived here, trying to  escape Vikings. But next, they were forced to move to Burgundy and wait for Vikings to settle on their own land. Eventually they were able to come back to Cunault with Virgin’s relics and Saint-Maxenceul’s reliquary.

Is it clear ? Everybody understands ? 

Yes...Well, I go on...

I said  the monks brought with them Virgin’s relics

These relics attracted many pilgrims to the monastery. Do you know why ? Anybody has an idea?

The main reason is that these relics were known to make miracles. But be careful, what people in these times would call a miracle is different from what we could think of today. For example, if someone asked for a raining day and that in the following day it was raining, it was then considered a miracle. In fact, all touched on their daily life was considered like that. It’s important to keep in mind that religion was an integral part of the daily life of these people.

So I said many pilgrims here, in Cunault. Many pilgrims, also means many offerings, so the monks got wealthier and wealthier.

Also, in 1050, the Count of Anjou, Geoffrey Martel, accorded donations and privileges to the monks. Therefore, monks collected one half of Cunault port and market’s incomes ( there was a port here in Cunault when the Loire was navigable)

So with the port and market’s incomes, plus the pilgrims’offerings, the monks were able to  establish their first church. Of this first church, remains only this huge bell tower.

As you can see, it was built on the old monastery’s walls.

There are two big buttresses on the angles of this square tower, which are massive at the bottom and becoming narrower. At the top of the tower, there are three levels of openings: the first one is composed of blind arcades, whereas on the other two there are great  bay windows richly decorated.

Follow me please,  we are going to see those decorations more precisely.

Sculptures are fine and various, and located on friezes separating each level: draught-board decoration, fantastic animals (griffon, basilik..). Under the cornices, you have sculpted “modillons” of human or animal heads

I would  like you to observe more particularly these two capitols.

What do you think about them? What do they represent?... 

So/Actually the left capitol represent the Annunciation

There is Mary,  on the capitol’s angle, seated on a curule chair (in the shape of a cross). Behind her, is the sun or the star, which symbolizes the divine presence. You can see also the archangel Gabriel, with his wings displayed. He touches Mary’s ear. Which means  he is telling the Virgin she will conceive Jesus, thanks to the Holy Ghost.

We see the importance of the gesture in the medieval  imaging, support/medium of instruction and faith, which is in the heart of all Christians in the first centuries...

Finally we can also see at the capitol’s extremity, a third character, a woman.

On the right capitol, what do you see?

Yes/no....it is a mermaid, who is “helping” a fisherman in his barge. And  at the extremity, a man, who stands upright.

Now, after this first description, what’s the link between the two capitols ? What can we suppose about their meaning, their signification? No idea?... 

On the right capitol, the mermaid could represent Eve, the temptress, the fish substituting itself for the apple. In the barge, the fisherman could personify Saint-Peter, who will become a spirit fisher, or maybe a  monk of Cunault, guiding a pilgrim.

The third character, on the left, could be Adam. He stretches his hand out to take the fish as he has taken the apple of the forbidden tree...

And here on this capitol (left), we can suppose that Mary is the new Eve, sent by God to allow  Men’s salvation. Mary is subject to the divine’s will, whereas Eve has disobeyed.

The women on the right could be Eve, from who came the fall.

I don’t know if you understand, but here you have to remember  about these capitols that they are antithetic and complementary, they answer each other, bent by Adam and Eve,  at the extremities. The purity and the obedience of Mary  respond, by opposition, to the disobedience of Adam and Eve.

In fact, the romanesque image-maker/sculptor has resumed with these two capitols Saint-August’s erudite words “By a woman the death, by a woman the life, by Eve the fall, by Mary the salvation...” and others words like “The man has already found his port, and guides those who err in sea”

These two capitols have therefore an iconographic theme with a strong religious importance.

These sculptures are speaking images, a help to understand the priest instruction, and  also a support/medium to the believer’s memory

Now, after these precisions,  Let’s go back to the history of the church

I  told you that this bell tower is the only vestige of the first church of Cunault. It’s because seventy years after  it was built, the monks were  made richer by new privileges accorded by Foulque V, Count of Anjou and Maine before he  left for the crusade and became king of Jerusalem. So the monks decided to rebuild a taller church, keeping only the old tower bell

It’s what you see here. They first built  these five bays and the apsis. You can see the buttresses,  as on the bell tower. On the apsis, we find again modillons/medallions?, under the roof,  and also a gallery of blind  arcades, surmounting great semi-circular windows. Then you can see these columns which seem to be used as buttresses.

Now please follow me to see the next part of the church.

What’s the difference between the first part of the church and  this one??

The difference concerns the windows.

Here they are lightly lancet windows, because these three bay were built in the end of the twelfth century, fifty years after the first part. It’s gothic style.

A little precision, the stone spire, was added in the fifteenth century. So it’s gothic style too. It’s octagonal, and four little lanterns are on its sides. Each one  has its own  shape: circular, square, rectangular, and pyramidal.

Now please follow me for the last part of  the visit : the massive facade of the church

This facade is what we call a screen-facade,  it is very strict.

Everywhere around the door, the wall is animated by huge semi-circular  arcades.

The archivolt is composed of five archivolts, whose covings relapse on five little columns with cubic capitols

The tympanum is sculpted with a Virgin in majesty, holding Jesus in a hieratic posture

The Virgin, with open arms, presents her son. She seats on the throne of the Celestial Jerusalem, which symbolizes the wisdom of the Mother of God

She invites us to  prayer

On each side, angels incense her.  And this is it for the tympanum.

Just notice here the coat of arms of the monks and at the top of the facade, a line of crenels with a parapet walk behind, which were added in the fifteenth century.  In fact, after the One hundred years war,  groups of plunderer maintained the insecurity. Devastating the country and preventing the monks from harvesting, they are responsible of the beginning of the priory’s decline.

In the sixteenth century, religious wars accented this decline and the church was pillaged.

In 1715, there were only five monks left in the priory!

So the choir was used as a barn, only the nave  was still reserved  for the parochial worship.

Then to conclude, I just want to   add that Prosper Mérimée, visiting Anjou in 1838,  classified the priory of Notre-Dame of Cunault as  a Historic Monument and  financed its restoration. 

The visit is now finished, I leave you together with Therese thank you for your attention...