AUGUSTINIAN FRIARS/HERMITS
. In 1256, Pope Alexander IV ordered several groups of hermits in northern Italy to unite
under the authority of the Rule of St. Augustine and to model their life according to the
Constitutions of the Dominican order, which also followed the Augustinian Rule. These
groups of hermits thus came under the influence of the mendicant ideal and soon moved
to cities. The new order quickly spread to France, Spain, Germany, and England; like the
Dominicans and Franciscans, the Augustinian Friars quickly established houses of study
at university centers and became major participants in late-medieval university life.
Grover A.Zinn
[See also: ALEXANDER NECKHAM; AUGUSTINE, RULE OF ST., DOMINICAN
ORDER; UNIVERSITIES]
AULNAY-EN-SAINTONGE
. Situated on the important Roman road that connects the Île-de-France to the southwest
via Tours and Poitiers, Aulnay (Roman Aunedonacum) is the site of an important
pilgrimage church on the route to Santiago de Compostela. Little is known about the
construction of the church of Saint-Pierre-de-la-Tour, which dates most probably to the
middle of the 12th century, when the regional Romanesque of Poitou and Saintonge was
at its height. This richly sculpted church is located outside the town in the midst of an
ancient cemetery in which Roman burials have been found.
The exterior gives an impression of squat massiveness, reinforced by the crossing
tower, whose upper level and steeple are later additions. The central apse contains some
of the most harmonious sculpture at Aulnay: in the space between the window and the
flanking colonnettes, the sculptor has placed a series of eight graceful figures set in
foliage. But the glory of Aulnay lies in the sculptures of the south and west portals. The
south portal consists of four richly sculpted archivolts, peopled by figures carved in a
squat and stolid manner to match the shape of the
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