Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: amputation

Saint-Mandé-sur-Brédoire is about 4 kms west of Aulnay, a distance an able man walked probably in less than an hour. It is absolutely clear, that the master-workshops working in Aulnay, did work here as well. Saint-Brice, a small single nave structure, has many parallels to Saint-Pierre in Aulnay. Some icons were tried here, before they were carved in another scale and another quality for Saint-Pierre. So this church may have served as a "sample book". Most surprising is Saint-Brice´s side portal. I will add details. This person is next to the loving couple (previous upload). The head is way too big, the braid is really long. The weirdest point I see is, that the leg never had a foot! The foot is not lost (broken off or weathered away), - there never was a foot. What got lost was a very long arm. The hand can still be seen on the leg. The other leg is very short...

The former collegiate church Saint-Aignan was built from the early 11th to the early 13th century, so there is a transition from Romanesque to early Gothic style. The church replaced a chapel from the 9th century and was a center of pilgrimage, as the relics of Saint Aignan of Orlean (+ 453) were venerated here. The church was ruined for a long time and got renovated and restored during the 19th century. During the renovation of the nave at least some parts got recreated. Fortunately the ambulatory crypt, the oldest part of the collegiate church Saint-Aignan, got not renovated like the nave. It stayed pretty much intact and has frescoes dating back to the 12th and 13th century. A detail from the left side of the large Christ Pantocrator (see previous upload). Two pilgrims on their way. The person to the right is crippled, he has no legs.

San Pedro de Echano (aka "Ermita de San Pedro de Echano") is not easy to find, as the church is a few kilometers east of Oloriz in the middle of fields and bushland. In medieval times, when the church got erected, there might have been a village or settlement nearby, but nowadays there are no houses near to the church. The place is abandoned. Under the roof of San Pedro de Echano are more than 30 carved corbels. Some of the sculptures are really unusual, but the most impressing is the southern portal of San Pedro de Echano. There are seven archivolts! It is strange, that a small, single nave church got such a large and impressive portal. I connect this to - the pilgrims walking the camino. San Pedro de Echano is about 8kms south of the Via Tolosana/Camino Aragonés that I had just walked. Olcoz and Eunate are only about a two hours walk away. The most interesting archivolt depicts 25 people sitting on a table and having a party (?). The composition reminds strongly on the "Elders of the Apocalypse", but the characters are obviously performing a kind of game. Legs and feet of the partiers visible, as the artist carved on both sides of the archivolt. From this pov it is better visible, that the flautist with the strange hairdo, and the hornblower (right) with the knife, both have the left foot amputated and use prothesises. Crippled persons, who try to make some money by playing instruments, can still be found in many pedestrian areas worldwide. See the previous upload for more medieval prothesises.

Melle was known already during Roman times, when silver and lead were mined here. The silver mines were exploited over hundreds of years, got forgotten and "rediscovered" in the 19th century. Today they are a tourist attraction. Melle was wealthy and the pilgrims, walking the Via Turonensis, passed through Melle on their way to Santiago, what brought even more money into town. Churches were erected during the heydays of the pilgrimage- and three (!) Romanesque churches can still be found here. Saint-Hilaire de Melle was the church of a priory, a dependency of the important Benedictian abbey in Saint-Jean-d’Angély. It was built on the bank of the Beronne river. The eastern part were built in the first half of the 12th century, while the nave and the western portals may be some decades younger. There are more than 200 carved capitals in- and outside this church. they are done by different carvers and of different qualities. This is from the exterior and it is the by far strangest of all. Here are two men. They share one head, but probably two faces. One leg of the right person is amputated. He uses a prothesis - in a way that makes it impossible to walk. One arm is connected to his shoulder, one hand grows out of his hip. This man faces the onlooker, so his chest is visible. The second person faces into the opposite direction, so his back is seen. He is holding an object with both hands. Conjoined twins can be found on carvings (eg Covet, Anzy-le-Duc) and as well medieval "wooden legs" (eg Colombiers, Saint-Papoul, Lescar), but this "combination" one is weird.

Colombiers is a small village (pop. 300) in the former marshes of the Seugne river. Life must be hard here in medieval times. Saint-Maclou, the village´s parish church, was erected in the 12th century. It was the church of a priory, dependent from the Benedictian Abbaye Saint-Sauveur in Charroux. The church got altered and modified during the Gothic period (15th.), when it lost its once Romanesque portal. Single nave churches, like Saint-Maclou, are typical for the villages of the Saintonge. They may not look spectacular on the first sight. But here in Colombiers are some extraordenary carvings. Most of the frieze-like capitals are similar to the carvings in Marinac. The style differs, but the "story" is the same. In an impenetrable djungle of entwining vines humans fight creatures, lurking through the foliage. The bearded head and the lion my be "green creatures". The most interesting is the fight to the right. The standing man (in the corner) wields an axe and kills the person on the ground. The standing man has his shank partly amputated and wears a prothesis. This prothesis sticks in the mouth of the opponent. After having seen the many (megaphallic) carvings in Champagnolles, I notice, that the prothesis looks very "phallic"..