Medieval France. An Encyclopedia

(Darren Dugan) #1

Koster, Kurt. Pilgerzeichen und Pilgermuscheln von mittelalterlichen Santiagostrassen: Saint
Léonard, Rocamadour, Saint-Gilles, Santiago de Compostela. Neumünster: Wachholtz, 1983.
Maury, Jean, et al. Limousin roman. La Pierre-qui-vire: Zodiaque, 1959.
Saint-Léonard et les chemins de saint Jacques en Limousin: XIe-XVIIIe siècles: exposition du 15
juin au 18 août, 1985. Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat: L’Association, 1985.


SAINT-LEU-D’ESSERENT


. The Cluniac priory church of Saint-Leu d’Esserent (Oise) has a mid-12th-century
narthex and south tower. The lower story of the narthex is an open porch in the Norman
manner; the second story is a vaulted tribune gallery. Abutting the east side of the narthex
are traces of the earlier church, which has been excavated. In plan, the church has a nave
and aisles, no transept, and a chevet consisting of two flanking towers, an ambulatory,
and five radiating chapels. The shallow plans of the chapels perhaps reflect the dramatic
site of the church on the bluffs above the Oise. The ambulatory and radiating chapels
were built in the later 1150s or early 1160s, with the upper parts of the chevet following a
decade or so later. The three-story elevation of the nave shows influence from Paris, as
do the flying buttresses added around the whole of the church at the time of the nave
construction late in the 12th century. One interesting feature is the double-


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