Map 4 Domnus, -a
2. An attempt at establishing a chronology
2.3. The founding Saints
After the blood of the first martyrs has been spilled a calmer period followed.
This was the time when the countryside was christianized, as symbolized by Saint Martin, the bishop of Tours.
Saint Martin (c. 316–400); a native of Pannonia (modern day Hungary), this officer of the Roman army spent the greater part of his life in Gaul. The episode of the future Saint Martin sharing his coat with a saint doubtless took place in Amiens (the scene is represented in most of the churches which are dedicated to him). He became bishop of Tours and was considered as the real founder of the Church in France, especially as the evangelist of the countryside.22 The French have dubbed him the thirteenth apostle.23 He was the first saint who
20 This may be the reason why this saint is often represented with African features; we should also take into account the play on words Moor ~ Maurice.
21 In Roman (Ain) he supplanted the great Saint Martin.
22 The peasantry would have been amongst the last to convert to Christianity. It so happens that Martin is at the root of a false etymology which seeks to explain the French païen ‘pagan’ on the basis of paganus ‘peasant’. In martinian etymology, we can also cite chapel (capella); we are supposed to believe that these religious structures were so named because they preserved a fragment of Saint Martin‘s coat (cappa).
23 Martinian evangelization was a real cultural revolution. Modern archaeologists have found heathen sites abandoned (without any trace of destruction or plunder), around the year 370.
was not a martyr to whom altars were dedicated. He is also the most wide-spread saint from the point of view of toponymy. In the Paris region, dedica-tions to Saint Martin represent 18% of all patronages, and in Indre-et-Loire, 13% of the patronages of the diocese. In Saône-et-Loire, we can note 71 parishes under the patronage of Saint Martin (approximately 15%), 7 rural chapels, and 12 municipalities which have preserved his name. In Côte-d’Or, we have 69 parishes (approximately 9%), 6 rural chapels, but only 2 munici-palities. This permanent presence of the apostle of the Gauls is further increased by the significant number of natural features that bear his name. Everywhere we find fields called Saint Martin (perhaps the property of a parish), and still more important, place names like Pas Saint-Martin (Côte-d’Or, Essonne, Manche, Meuse, etc.). We can even find rocks where, with a little imagination, we can make out an outline of the saint’s donkey (TAVERDET 1993: 2003).24 We may ask ourselves if Saint Martin actually took over from an ancient god, whose worship would have been celebrated at the top of mountains. This might explain the number of Saint-Martin-du-Mont, -du-Puy or -du-Tertre (we can find 8 such instances across the whole of France). In Burgundy, there is a chapel Saint Martin in Mont Beuvray (the ancient Bibracte mentioned by Caesar), whilst another one dominates the valley of the Saône at Sennecey-le-Grand. The church of Dettey, on a remarkable mound, is also under the patron-age of the saint. Finally, Saint-Martin-du-Mont (Côte-d’Or) dominates a valley and the church was partially built with stones from the Gallo-Roman temple at the source of the Seine.25
For RIGAULT, parishes dedicated to Saint Martin are among the most ancient of France. He is probably right, but it is advisable not to draw general conclu-sions from this point. In the diocese of Tours, he is the patron of places of worship in four vici that bore ancient names: Brèches, Candes, Chinon and Langeais. We can also cite Renève (Côte-d’Or; probably a Gallic name, and the place where cruel Frédégonde put Brunehaut to the rack), which has a church under the patronage of Saint Martin. But we can also quote the history of the chapel of Saint-Martin in the suburbs of Dijon. Formerly, there were two chapels in Dijon, one dedicated to Saint Martin and the other to Saint Nicolas. Around them suburbs developed, and in the village of Fontaine, there were two roads: the road to Saint Martin and the road to Saint Nicolas. In the
Such is the case of a hotel site near the source of the Seine. This is certainly not a matter of local populations who would have wanted protection from barbarians, but rather a matter of failures incommerce (cf. TAVERDET 2004).
24 According to rural traditions, Saint Martin went about on a donkey (like Christ), whereas, according to the official iconography, Saint Martin used a horse, like all Roman officers.
25 In the West of France, it is the archangel Michael who seems to have played this role; it is him whom we find in the famous Mont Saint-Michel and also on the mountain Saint-Michel, the highest point in Brittany.
20th century, the village became a town and it was necessary to build a new place of worship. A chapel was constructed on the road to Saint Nicolas, but the chapel was placed under Saint Martin’s patronage, doubtless because this saint’s history (sharing with the poor) was considered more respectable than his accomplice Nicolas, who in any case was closer to legend than to history.26 Let us add that churches were still being dedicated to Saint Martin at the end of the Middle Ages, such as that of Saint-Catherine-de-Fierbois (Indre-et-Loire), built in 1431 and elevated in 1540.
Saint Germain. There were certainly several saints of this name, but the most famous is the Saint Germain of Auxerre, celebrated for his fights against the heretics, and who died in Ravenna in 448. Another Germain was a bishop of Paris (died in 576) who left his name to the famous church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. A little further afield, we can find the church of Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois. But both saints are not always as sharply distinguished as they are in the capital. Thus, in Côte-d’Or, we can note 31 churches named Saint-Germain of which only one relates with certainty to the inhabitant of Auxerre and one other to the Parisian. In Touraine, the worship of Saint Germain of Auxerre, introduced into the diocese by Queen Clotilde in the 6th century, explains the presence of a basilica to Saint Germain in Tours at the beginning of the 6th century. Nonetheless, the other churches of this region could owe their patronage to the bishop of Paris.
Saint Rémy (437–533). A bishop of Reims celebrated on October 1st and not on January 15th as the modern calendar would have it. It is he who baptized Clovis and his army in 496. He enjoyed a renewal in popularity during the transference of his relics to the church Saint Remy of Reims.27 Numerous churches are dedicated to him, among which Domrémy (Meuse), the village of Saint Joan of Arc, and Domrémy in the Haute-Marne and the Meuse. We should also note Cerny-en-Laonnois, the presumed place of his birth. There are 11 such churches in Côte-d’Or (of which one is the name of a village).
Saint A(i)gnan (died in 453) and Saint Geneviève had comparable fates. The bishop of Orléans was the heart of the resistance to Attila and urged the Huns to raise the siege of the city, whilst Geneviève acted similarly in Paris.
However, their patronages are very different. Even in the Paris region, churches to Ste-Geneviève are rare (in Côte-d’Or, there are 5 churches dedicated to Saint Aignan and none to Saint Geneviève).28
26 Finally there is a church in Ain going under the name of the translation of Saint Martin (Fleyriat, village of Viriat).
27 In this instance, we do not use an accent, to respect the pronunciation of Reims.
28 ROBLIN (1971: 183) thinks that the followers of the saint (Génovévains) were in the habit of dedicating their places of worship to Saint Pierre and Saint Paul, whence the absence of the
It remains to cite the very numerous bishops of this period who left their names to churches or to sites, such as Austrégisile (whose name is indeed Germanic), a bishop of Bourges at the beginning of the 7th century. By phonetic change this became Outrille (one village in Cher). We can wonder why he retained his learned form in a chapel of the mountains of the Haute-Loire.29 Perhaps because he was also the bishop of Lyon. And then there is Saint Bonet30 (Bonitus), a bishop of Clermont whose worship is very widespread in central France (in Saône-et-Loire, 4 villages of this name, but in Côte-d’Or, none).
Finally, let us add Sulpice, a bishop of Bourges.31 In short, with such saints at his disposal, Charlemagne had good patronages for his churches.32