Touring Poitiers: Visiting a
Medieval French Town in the Aquitaine with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
Poitiers
is a medieval French town in the Aquitaine region that was founded in
1432. About 100,000 inhabitants call
Poitiers home.
The
trees without leaves and cold breeze coming off the Claia and Birre Rivers
reminded me that it was winter. The cold
seem to penetrate my thick jacket due to the humidity from the water. I put extra blankets on Florence as we set
out to explore town.
Our
first stop was to the tourist office where I picked up a map and tourism
guide. Citizens of Poitiers have roots
that go back to Gaul and ancient Rome.
Three
significant events happened in Poitiers that are important for French history:
-Christianity
became France’s religion when Clovis, King of the Franks, defeated Aleric II,
King of the Visigoths, in 507 AD.
-In
732, Charles Martel repelled Muslims from modern-day Spain here to keep the
French kingdom sovereign and Christian
-In
1429, a committee of doctors recognized that Joan of Arc was carrying out a
mission from God in Poitiers
The
biting cold stung our faces and legs, so we went as fast as we could to visit the
Saint-Pierre Cathedral built mostly in the 12th century.
The
contorted Romanesque statues around the church portray the urgency of listening
to the word of God. Poitiers is
surrounded by the Marais Poitevin or “Poitou Swamp.”
People
were fearful of death in Poitou, because the harvest is precarious there. It is hard to grow crops in swampy land due
to the ease with which mold can grow on plants due to dampness.
If
agricultural practices are not maintained to keep the crops dry, rot might set
in. If harvests were small, the
aristocrats took it all.
The
church visually helped keep order in the agricultural year with their
medallions of astrological signs and “travaux” or work associated with that
sign. Sculptures of the astrological sign and the “travaux”
that goes with them are usually carved under them on the tympana (half-moons)
over church entryway doors.
Weekly
markets were held in front of many churches in France where people could view
the outside of the church, even if they do not go in. Illiterate peasants could understand the agricultural
work associated with seasonal time by looking at the tympana while aristocrats
might look at books like Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Barry (Preserved in
the Château de Chantilly Library.)
This
church also has a maze or labyrinth painted on the wall as well. Pilgrimages were encouraged in the Middle
Ages to Santiago de Compostella, Rome, and Jerusalem.
Not
everyone could afford to go on a pilgrimage or was physically able to do so. These labyrinths in churches allowed everyone
to visit the Holy Land and visit Christ’s birthplace.
I
read that there was a 4th century baptistery close by as well, which
we left the church to visit.
By
Ruth Paget, author of Eating of Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
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