Founded by monks of Saint-Étienne, the 11th-century parish church of Saint-Nicolas
retains the Romanesque choir of Saint-Étienne and the narthex of La Trinité but is built
on a smaller scale. Decoration, though minimal throughout most of the building, is
explosive in the east end. Some vaults and spires are 13th- and 15th-century alterations.
Other ecclesiastical buildings in Caen include Saint-Pierre, a Gothic and Renaissance
church (13th-15th c.), Saint-Jean (14th-15th c.), Saint-Sauveur (14th-15th c.), and, within
the ramparts, the chapel of Saint-Georges (Romanesque nave). Of civic structures, 12th-,
14th-, and 15th-century walls surround the Conqueror’s fortress, later transformed into
the château of Philip Augustus and captured by the English, who founded a university
there in 1432. The château was heavily restored after World War II.
Stacy L.Boldrick
[See also: BEDFORD, JOHN OF LANCASTER, DUKE OF; NORMANDY;
RECONQUEST OF FRANCE; ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE]
Baylé, Maylis. La Trinité de Caen: sa place dans l’histoire de l’architecture et du décor romans.
Geneva: Droz, 1979.
de Boüard, Michel. Le château de Caen. Caen: Centre de Recherches Archéologiques Médiévales,
1979.
Désert, Gabriel, ed. Histoire de Caen. Toulouse: Privat, 1981.
Jouet, Roger. La résistance a l’occupation anglaise en Basse-Normandie (1418–1450).
Lambert, Elie. “Caen roman et gothique.” Bulletin de la Société des Antiquaires de Normandie
43(1935).
Musset, Lucien. Caen: ville d’art. Colmar-Ingersheim: SAEP, 1971.
——. Normandie romane. 2 vols. La Pierre-qui-vire: Zodiaque, 1967.
Serbat, Léon. “Caen.” Congrès archéologique (Caen) 75(1908): 3–132.
CAESARIUS OF ARLES
(ca. 470–542). Reforming bishop, exemplar of pastoral care, popular preacher, monk, and
advocate of monasticism. Born near Chalon-sur-Saône, Caesarius was a monk at Lérins
from ca. 490 to 497, when he was ordained priest at Arles. In 502, he became bishop of
Arles and in 514 was made primate of Gaul. Revered for his personal holiness, his
benevolence, and his pastoral care, Caesarius was made a saint of the Catholic church
after his death. An Augustinian in theology, he was influential in the Second Council of
Orange (529), which established the accepted interpretation of Augustine’s teaching on
grace and salvation against the Semi-Pelagianist views of Faustus of Riez and John
Cassian. Caesarius wrote a rule for monks (for a community under his nephew) and a rule
for nuns (for a convent in Arles in which his sister, Caesaria, was abbess). Some 238 of
his sermons survive and provide important documentation of church life in 6th-century
Gaul.
Grover A.Zinn
[See also: ARLES; CASSIAN, JOHN; CONVENT ARCHITECTURE; FAUSTUS
OF RIEZ; LÉRINS]
Caesarius of Arles. Opera, ed. G.Morin. CCSL 103–04. Turnhout: Brepols, 1953.
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