Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges

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Administration
Commune of Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges

The Cathedral.
Country	France
Région	Midi-Pyrénées
Département	Haute-Garonne
Arrondissement	Saint-Gaudens
Canton	Barbazan
Statistics
Altitude	421 m–1,016 m (avg. 518 m)
Land area¹	11.17 km²
Population² (1999)	237
- Density (1999)	21/km²
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	31472/ 31510
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq. mi. or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
² Population sans doubles comptes: single count of residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel).

Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges is a village and commune in the Haute-Garonne département, in southern France. Population (1999): 237.

1 Overview
2 History
3 Landmarks and landscapes
4 The Cathedral
5 External links

[edit] Overview

Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges is a village in France, located at the extreme southern edge of the county. It is in the Haute-Garonne department itself in the Midi-Pyrénées region.

The great mediaeval scholar and ghost story writer M. R. James used Saint-Bertrand, and more particularly, its cathedral, as a setting for his classic tale of terror Canon Alberic's Scrapbook, which can be found in the collection Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904).

[edit] History

In 72 B.C. the Roman General Pompey, while on the way back to Rome, after a military campaign in Spain founded a Roman colony to defend the way of the Val d'Aran to the Iberian peninsula. Named Lugdunum Convenarum the settlement had reached around 30,000 people at its highest point. In 408 the Vandals sacked the city and forced the peasantry to move to the Oppidum and in 585 the Burgundians, led by Gunther, had entirely rased the site. It would remain desert for nearly five centuries.

In 1083 a knight related to the Counts of Toulouse -Bertrand de l'Isle-Jourdain-, who was also elected canon Saint Augustin in Toulouse, was nominated bishop of Comminges. He ordered the construction of the cathedral and of the Romanesque Cloister. The place became used by pilgrims on the way to Santiago de Compostela to rest.

Bertrand de l'Isle was canonised in the XIIIth century and Lugdunum Convenarum became Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges. The term Comminges itself comes from the latin word "Convenae" (Convènes in French) which was the adjective form applied to the resident of Lugdunum Convenarum.

[edit] Landmarks and landscapes

Aside of the cathedral the village has a Romanesque Basilica as well as a Roman ruins. There is an archeological side close to the Cathedral in which it is possible to identify the remains of a Roman thermae and of a theatre.

The village itself is a medieval one, with several arches and vaults. It has several gates entering it, on the Cabirole Gate it is possible to read about the taxe set by Louis XIV on fishes. Another gate, the Majou Gate, is interesting in that it is the one pilgrims used. Following the ramparts it is possible to observe the Matacan Rock from which, according to the legend, Gondowald had been executed by Gunther.

[edit] The Cathedral

Entering the nave people will see three distinct architectural style at the same time:

The Romanesque part of the XIIth century.
The Gothic part of the XIVth century commissioned by Bertrand de Goth.
And the Rennaissance part as well as the organ from the XVIth century.

The narthex is ended by two huge pillars with a circumference of no less than 11,45m. Over the northern and southern walls one can see the Romanesque arches, the floors is made of marbles and includes some tombs and sepultures.

The Gothic part is built in the Meridional Gothic style. There is a single nave that is 55m long, 16m wide and 28m tall. Over the arrow arches there are "coat of arms" from the founding bishops. The stained glasses are impressive by their level of details, almost comparable to those of Auch.

The stalls within the choir were commissioned by Jean de Mauléon but because of the lack of documents it is impossible to name the artist that made them. Although and by comparison with other stalls it is often considered it was the work of Nicolas Bachelier, or rather of his school which had been using artists from France, Spain and Italy. Most of the work had been done in oak and wallnut tree, the choir seems cut from the rest of the church contrasting so much with the gothic and romanesque parts.

The sixty-seven stalls represent characters from both the old and the new testament, including scenes like: temptation, envy and lust.

Inside the sanctuary it is possible to see some representations of the Chanson de geste with Roland with Oliver being clearly represented.