Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: monk

The former parish church St. Andreas in Bad Goegging has a very winding and interesting history. This is the second church here. The predecessing one was built once over the basin of a Roman thermal bath, used by the Roman troops for recreation. There is a speculation, that Christians lived here already during the late Roman times. It is proven that this place was a Christian center during the time of the early missionaries. Only about 12kms north is Weltenburg Abbey, the oldest Bavarian monastery founded by iro-scottish monks in 617 - and there may have been connections to Goegging. The northern portal of St. Andreas is so elaborate, that this church must have been important during the 12th century. The entrance is flanked by two small lions, guarding the door. The portal so outstanding, it has been connected to the "Magistri Comacini" from Northern Italy, but the style seen here is rather rough. The Lombardic master masons mostly carved in a more elegant, softer style (eg Koenigslutter). There are many "interpretations" of all the different icons found here. There are 14 framed reliefs in Bad Goegging. Peter Leuschner ("Romanische Kirchen in Bayern") refers to late Dr. J. Reichart, an archeologist from nearby Ingolstadt, who divided them in to three groups. Following Dr. Reichart, seven carvings illustrate the seven deadly sins, three depicts scene from the Old and four scenes of the New Testament. I am not completely sure about these interpretations. This is the carvings just over the lion´s head on the right side of the portal. Just like the carving on the left side it has two frames. The right one depicts a mermaid (or is it a siren?), while the left one has a person with a bulbous nose. The person looks like a dwarf, but the hood my be part of a monk´s habit.

The former parish church St. Andreas in Bad Goegging has a very winding and interesting history. This is the second church here. The predecessing one was built once over the basin of a Roman thermal bath, used by the Roman troops for recreation. There is a speculation, that Christians lived here already during the late Roman times. It is proven that this place was a Christian center during the time of the early missionaries. Only about 12kms north is Weltenburg Abbey, the oldest Bavarian monastery founded by iro-scottish monks in 617 - and there may have been connections to Goegging. The northern portal of St. Andreas is so elaborate, that this church must have been important during the 12th century. The entrance is flanked by two small lions, guarding the door. The portal so outstanding, it has been connected to the "Magistri Comacini" from Northern Italy, but the style seen here is rather rough. The Lombardic master masons mostly carved in a more elegant, softer style (eg Koenigslutter). There are many "interpretations" of all the different icons found here. There are 14 framed reliefs in Bad Goegging. Peter Leuschner ("Romanische Kirchen in Bayern") refers to late Dr. J. Reichart, an archeologist from nearby Ingolstadt, who divided them in to three groups. Following Dr. Reichart, seven carvings illustrate the seven deadly sins, three depicts scene from the Old and four scenes of the New Testament. I am not completely sure about these interpretations. This is the carvings just over the lion´s head on the right side of the portal. Just like the carving on the left side it has two frames. The right one depicts a mermaid (or is it a siren?), while the left one has a person with a bulbous nose. The person looks like a dwarf, but the hood my be part of a monk´s habit.

The abbey was founded at the end of the 7th century by monks from the abbey Saint-Hilaire de Poitiers. In the early years only a small convent existed, dependent from the abbey in Poitiers, just 15kms away. Since 830, when the remains of Saint Junien de Poitou (once befriended with Queen Radegunde) were transferred to the convent, it is known as "Abbaye Saint-Junien". At that time a church was built, equipped with a crypt, to receive the relics. In the 11th century, under the protection of the Counts of Poitou, the abbey prospered and restorations were undertaken. In the 12th century, the vaulted nave was completed and the belltower got erected. During the 100 Years´ War, it was necessary to fortify the abbey. Walls and ditches surrounded the complex in the 14th century. After a century of prosperity, when again buildings got added, the Wars of Religion started and during the siege of Poitiers in 1569, the Protestant army of Gaspard II de Coligny pillaged and burned the abbey. When the troops left choir and cloister were gone, while the nave was relatively spared. The restoration of the damage took a century. In 1734 the abbey only had seven monks, in 1790, when the Revolution had taken over there were only four. The abbey was sold in 1792, the church since then serves the parish. Today large parts are privately owned. All along the nave are some very unusual carvings. May the artistic style be not that surprising, the themes and icons are very specific. It is obviously a fight. The long-haired person in the centre attacks a monk (hood), who has grabbed him by the hair, with a sword. With the other hand, he holds the horn of the man on the left. Then there is a fourth person (head) above the scene, who holds something in his hand. Any ideas?

A Benedictine convent existed here since ~ 1080. End of the 12th century the monastery got imncorporated into a commandry of the Knights Templar, whom the monks had to pay for protection. Later Augustin Canons lived here until the convent got dissolved and the church converted into a parish church in 1434. The "Igreja de São Salvador", erected within the 12th century, is small, but has wonderful and very unique carvings. Here are three pillars of the right (more weathered) side of the portal. Following Manuel L. Real ("Portugal Roman", Edition Zodiaque), the person in the center is a monk. He stands opposite the nun (prev. upload). Again here the sculpture has these "lenghty" proportions. To the right are the monkeys again - they actually run around the archivolt.

One of the first printed records about this gate stated in 1859 "Of all old monuments in the Rhine valley, none as mysterious as the portal (...) near the church in Remagen". The Pfarrhoftor (= Gateway to the parish close) still is enigmatic. It may have been erected for a nearby monastery, that centered around an St. Apollinaris shrine, it may have been in deed a gate to a parish close. Actually it known since the 17th century, when parts of it were found, walled in between the rectory and the encircling wall. The parts were recovered and like pieces of a puzzle joined together. Though the cope stone was lost, the large arch was easy to reconstruct. Wether the smaller side portal originally was left or right is unclear. The 22 carved reliefs here have triggered more than a dozend different theories. I will quote some. The carving style was not appreciated by the art-historians. Already Wilhelm Bode ("Geschichte der Deutschen Plastik") wrote in 1887 that the carver was "without any artistic ambition". For me this portal has parallels in Linden and Goegging. All three portals are roughly carved - and enigmatic, blending christian, pagan and ancient icons. The only point, that is undisputed is, that the portal was erected in the second half of the 12th century. It may be, that the reliefs, seen here, are just single icons, that are not interconnected to a certain "iconographic program". This is claimed by Paul Clement (1938), Georg Dehio (1933) and Josef Minn (1942). In 1947 Albert M. Koeniger published the results of his research, interpreting the reliefs at the large gate as icons of eight (!) deadly sins as described by Bishop Burchard of Worms (965-1025), author of a canon law collection (aka "Decretum Burchardi"), while the reliefs at the smaller entrance, stand for "hubris". A monk - greeting out of a bathtube. The monk (tonsur!) stands in vat / barrel (not a bathtube). He may be pressing wine, wine is still produced around Remagen. The monk may be in a blessing gesture or he is holding a glass. Koeninger writes, that it was not uncommon in the area to baptize using wine instead of water (hubris), other see Noah or an icon for the month october.

What is the parish church of Boscherville today was, upto the French Revolution the church of the "Abbaye Saint-Georges de Boscherville", founded by a chamberlain of William the Conquerer. The church was erected within the 13th century. It is together with the chapter house the last remaining structure of the abbey. There are some interesting capitals here, that seem pretty rough compared to the carvings around the chapter house.

The parish church Saint-André is placed on a little hill in the center of the village (pop. 300) - since more than 800 years. It is still surrounded by an old graveyard. The church got renovated, when the late Gothic style was in full swing, what has left some marks. The apse is unchanged and many corbels are under the roof.

Gensac-la-Pallue is a small town, about 10kms southeast of Cognac, with a population of 1500. Saint Martin is the large parish church of the town. It is not known, who financed this church, when it was erected within the 12th century (the choir and tower were added a century later) and there are no obvious connections to one of the important abbeys of the area, but for a parish church, built on swampy grounds, this is a pretty prestigious structure. Saint-Martin has a western facade, that is extraordenary, as not many churches in the Poitou have three horizontal registers/levels. There is a long frieze-like band extending all over the facade. This frieze is pretty weathered in parts after 800 years, but other more sheltered stretches seem untouched by the centuries. In the center of a jungle on entwined vines a monk (?) has risen from his chair and now blesses the onlooker.