Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: Martin of Tours

Saint Florentin was a small Gallo-Roman settlement. As it was located on the border of several provinces in early medieval times, it was taken by Visigoths, Francs, Burgondes, Francs and -of course by Normans in 886). It was English in 1356 during the Hundred Years War but was then retaken and completely destroyed by the Burgundians in 1359. Huguenots rampaged during the Wars of Religion in 1562. Saint-Florentin is enclosed by the houses. The first church here, probably part of a fortified castle is from the 13th century. The erection of today´s church started on the hill, where once stood the castle, at the beginning of the 16th century. The construction was interrupted by the Wars of Religion and did not resume until the beginning of the 17th century. Well, the nave was never built, so today there is the choir and the transept. Due to the long time the construction took, the style is late Gothic plus some Renaissance. As the church only has choir and transept it is kind of "short". In the centre a remarkable pretty complete rood screen. The vaulting of the choir. The stained windows were created from 1510 to 1525. At that time, Troyes was a centre of this art and scholars describe these windows as "Ecole Troyenne". The life of Saint Martin Top row fltr.: He is born in Hungary - he goes to school - he becomes a soldier - cuts his coat in two - Jesus appears, wearing half of the coat. Middle row fltr.: He gets baptised (?) - a horny devil appears - two thieves want to kill him, he converts one of them, - he is made Bishop of Tours - he has Marmoutier abbey built

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.