Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: mason

Radegonde (aka "Radegund", "Radegundis") was a princess, born in Thuringia around 520. She was married to Chlothar I but left her husband and founded the convent "Sainte-Marie-Hors-les-Murs" in Poitiers around 552. The nunnery was the first and became the most important in the Frankish Empire. After having received a fragment of the "True Cross" from the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, the name of the abbey changed to "Abbaye Sainte-Croix". In 587 Radegonde was buried here. The first church was erected over her tomb. Radegonde´s remains were exhumed in 1012 for public veneration, what triggered a major pilgrimage to Poitiers. After a major fire, the church was rebuilt. The church of today, constructed from the 11th to 12th centuries, was built in a combination of Romanesque and Gothic styles. Sculptured corbels line both sides of the nave. Next to this corbel is a mason´s mark (V). It may well be that the person seen here is a working stone mason, maybe an early self-portrait.

The oldest part of the parish church is a funerary tower (Tour Funéraire), seen left. It is difficult to date the tower, as the tower got obviously renovated and reconstructed before the Romanesque church was added within the 12th century. Most scholars date the tower to the early 11th century, but archaeologists talk about a building here existing already within the 4th/5th century. Anyway - here was the tomb of Saint Restitut, patron saint for people having poor eyesight and even Louis XI (aka "Louis the Prudent", "Universal Spider") once came on pilgrimage Saint-Restitut. The legend tells, that in his younger days Saint Restitut´s name was Sidonius. He was blind... John 9:1-7 "As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. (...........) After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam”. So the man went and washed, and came home seeing." The name was changed to Restitutus then. He became a disciple of Jesus and later left the Holy Land with the Thee Marys, Lazaraus et al. on the boat with "neither sail nor rudder." They all reached Saintes Maries de la Mer, where the group split. Restitutus walked up the valley of the Rhone to become the first bishop of Tricastin. He resided in St-Paul-Trois-Châteaux - and got buried here. A frieze runs around the three sides of the tower. Here are three frames /see previous upload for the complete frieze). A man, skinning a hare, two masons working with large tools, and a small hare chased by a large dog.