Conant, Kenneth John. Carolingian and Romanesque Architecture, 800–1200. 2nd ed.
Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1978, pp. 43–46.
Durand, Georges. “Saint-Riquier.” Congrès archéologique (Amiens) 99(1936):96–124.
Hénocque, Jules. Histoire de l’abbaye et de la ville de Saint-Riquier. 3 vols. Amiens: Douillet,
1880–88.
Parsons, David. “The Pre-Romanesque Church of Saint-Riquier: The Documentary Evidence.”
Journal of the British Archaeological Association 130(1977):21–51.
SAINT-SARDOS
. Saint-Sardos (Lot-et-Garonne) in the Agenais was a priory of the abbey of Sarlat. In
December 1322, the Parlement de Paris authorized the conversion of this priory into a
fortified bastide to be held jointly by the abbey and the French crown. The plan was
opposed by the Gascon lord of Montpézat, who destroyed the place on October 16, 1323,
and hanged a royal officer. The action precipitated a brief Anglo-French war because
Charles IV, already impatient over Edward II’s delay in rendering homage for Guyenne,
believed that the incident at Saint-Sardos had the tacit support of Ralph Basset, the
English seneschal of Gascony. The “war of Saint-Sardos” was halted by a truce late in
1324 and ended by a treaty the following summer.
John Bell Henneman, Jr.
[See also: GASCONY]
Chaplais, Pierre. The War of Saint-Sardos (1323–1325): Gascon Correspondence and Diplomatic
Documents. London: Royal Historical Society, 1954.
SAINT-SAVIN-SUR-GARTEMPE
. From its position on the River Gartempe, the abbey church of Saint-Savin dominates the
skyline with its well-preserved Romanesque exterior. Founded ca. 800 by Abbot Badilon
of Marmoutier, the abbey was named for the 5th-century martyr St. Savinus, interred
nearby. Enlarged by Louis the Pious, who placed it under the care of Benedict of Aniane,
Saint-Savin became a center of monastic reform from the 9th to the 11th century, as it
reestablished observance of the Benedictine Rule there and in other houses. The
community of Saint-Savin suffered repeated sackings during the Hundred Years’ War
and Wars of Religion. Today, the 11th-century abbey church is a parish church, and
monastic buildings house municipal offices.
No medieval documentary evidence on the building survives, but scholarship places
most construction in the late 11th century, with painting following from ca. 1095 to 1115.
The abbey church has a barrel-vaulted nave with groin-vaulted side aisles and columnar
supports with carved capitals. A gallery in the west tower opens toward the nave, and
below the choir with apsidal chapels is a barrel-vaulted crypt.
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