Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: fiddle

This church, dedicated to St. Christopher, is the last remaining building of a monastery founded in the 11th century, and belonging to the Canons Regular of St. Augustine. The earliest reference to the monastery dates from 1103. The monastery existed upto 1443, when it was dissolved The present church is the result of a rebuilding carried out in 1151, as indicated by an inscription on the apse. The western facade was probably created late 12th century. The corbels under the roof my be a bit older. Here is musician, probably playing a very sentimental and romantic melody, so his listener is very relaxed and dreaming away.

Saint-Étienne is the parish church of Macqueville, a village of a population of about 300. The western front looks very unspectacular, compared to most Romanesque churches of the Saintonge, but there are many corbels along the nave and a very nice side portal. Two musicians

Bourbon-l'Archambault is the place of origin of the House of Bourbon, a branch of the Capetian dynasty. In Roman times a settlement, named "Bituriges" existed here, and where Saint-Georges is now, once was temple, dedicated to Apollo. The church was erected in the second half of the 12th century and belonged to a monastery of Benedictine nuns in Saint-Menoux (10kms east). The church, that has parallels in Burgundy and in the Auvergne, got altered and enlarged over the centuries. During the enlargments many of the medieval capitals got destroyed, but along the nave and around the crossing are still some interesting (multicoloured) ones, strongly influenced by the carvings style common in Auvergne. A medieval orchestra! The musician to the very left blows the horn - and hold a kind of harp. The tall guy next to him plays the vielle, followed by two flute players. The large one has a double flute. In the right corner either a dancer, clapping her hands. I remember having seen similar double flutes traveling in, what was Yugoslavia at that time. Youtube has many videos of "double flautists" www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xFqZxJNPIo There is a little spiked head between the large fiddler and the small flautist.

What is the parish church of the tiny village of Saint-Hilaire-la-Croix today, was the church of a priory, depending from Mozat around 1165. In the beginning the priory was named "Saint-Hilaire-lac-rouge", but over the time, the old name got a little "deformed". There is not much known about the priory. In the early years it served the pilgrims on their way - and somehow it was important enough, to built (and finance) such an extraordenary church. Bernard Craplet ("Auvergne romane") dates the building phase from around 1100 to 1200. Later Augustinian Canons and Vincentians lived here. Not a sucess story for the next centuries the buildings were sold already in 1742. This is the most expressive of the capitals around the crossing in Saint-Hilaire-la-Croix. At least for me. I described most details already, when I uploaded the other photo taken from a more central pov, so now I just point out two details. Above the elbow of the dancer is a kind of tassel, actually an ornament often seen in medieval carvings, but mostly this ornament is static and symmetric. Here it is assymetric. It really seems to be a swinging textile tassel, just being moved by the elbow. In case the male musician and the female contortionist, performing here, are professionals, they for sure needed a manager, who organised the gigs - and passed the hat around. See the manager in the corner to the very right.