This wall survives in large part and has recently been disengaged along much of its
perimeter. In the Middle Ages, Le Mans was a center of the Norman-Angevin dynasty
and a favorite city of Henry II Plantagenêt.
In the 9th century, an important Carolingian cathedral was built in the upper town.
This was replaced in the 11th century by a new cathedral building in Romanesque style,
parts of which survive today—the side aisles of the nave and important parts of the
transept, the latter subsequently remodeled. A contemporary text records the consecration
in 1093 and details the construction campaigns of the 11th century. Major fires in 1134
and 1137 greatly damaged this Romanesque structure, and reconstructior was undertaken
first in the choir, then in the transept, and finally in the nave. In 1158, the new building
was consecrated. The present nave and lower wall of the transept belong to this phase of
construction. The original 11th-century choir, as well as its reconstruction after the fires
of 1134 and 1137, was limited in its eastern extension by the great Gallo-Roman wall. In
the 13th century, this choir must have been considered excessively modest, since the
construction of vast Gothic cathedrals had been undertaken in many of the great cities of
northern France. In November 1217, Philip II Augustus authorized the destruction of a
large section of the venerable Gallo-Roman wall so that the choir could be rebuilt on a
vastly larger scale beginning ca. 1221. The new choir was consecrated, and most likely
completed, in 1254, since monks at the neighboring monastery of La Couture were
authorized as
Le Mans (Sarthe), Saint-Julien, chevet.
Photograph: Clarence Ward
Collection. Courtesy of Oberlin
College.
Medieval france: an encyclopedia 1014