Surgères - Notre-Dame

Notre-Dame de Surgères was erected in the center of a large castle in the 12th century. The fortification, founded in the 9th century as a motte, when the area was raided by the Vikings, then guarded the border of the historical province of Aunis once.

When the church was built a small town had developed around the defence already. Later a small priory and a "hopital" existed, as this was a halt on the Via Turonensis. The pilgrims had a lot to gape here, the facade is stunning 23 meters wide.

Eleanor of Aquitaine married Henry II of England in 1152, so the area changed hands and was ruled by the House of Plantagenet. During the Hundred Years' War Surgères experienced a long period of decline. Louis XI´s troops conquered the town in 1472 and the fortifications got destructed. During that time Notre Dame lost the tower and large parts of the nave, but not the facade!

Six blind arches once flanked the door, five arches above them on "the second floor". There are more than 100 capitals and corbels all over the facade. This seems to be a medieval encyclopedia.

There are two large equestrian statues.

Here is the right one, in a pose, typical for the Saintonge. A person is under the hoof of the horse. Only the upper part of the horseman´s head is lost, so it is visible, the rider had a beard.

It is widely believed, that the statue depicts Constantine the Great, trampling down Roman heathenism. In Southern France (eg. Oloron St. Marie) and Northen Spain similar statues are seen as Saint Jaques ("Matamoro"), fighting the muslims on the Hispanic peninsula and so supporting the reconquista.

Here - for me - the horseman looks a bit like St. Martin of Tours, offering half of his cloak to the person below. Martin was very popular in medieval times and the shrine of St. Martin in Tours was part of the Via Turonensis.