Sarlat Cathedral: A Gothic Co-Cathedral in France
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.5
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- Medium
- Country
- France
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- Duchy of Aquitaine, French
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Cathedral
On this page13 sections
History
Sarlat Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church in Sarlat, France, a predominantly Gothic cathedral begun in 1504 on the site of a Benedictine abbey church. Dedicated to Saint Sacerdos of Limoges, a Christian bishop and saint associated with Limoges, it became the cathedral of the Diocese of Sarlat in 1317 and has served as Sarlat’s parish church since 1801.
The early abbey
The origins of the abbey are partly legendary. Jean Maubourguet attributed its foundation in the first half of the ninth century to Pepin I, the son of Emperor Louis the Pious who ruled Aquitaine. The abbey later became one of the six major abbeys of the Périgord. Its position away from the Dordogne and its tributaries helped spare it from Viking attacks.
A lost charter states that in 886 Charles III, commonly known as Charles the Fat, had the abbey church repaired and placed it under his protection. Another charter records the abbey’s transfer to Odo of Cluny and his co-abbot Adacius, probably between 937 and 942. That document was later regarded as spurious, since Sarlat Abbey never became dependent on Cluny. The first known acts concerning the abbey date from 954 and 1094.
The arrival of the relics of Saint Sacerdos at Sarlat cannot be dated with certainty. They may have been transferred after Viking attacks in the period following 848, or brought from Calabrum shortly before Hubert seized the monastery with the support of William II Talleyrand, count of Périgord, around 962. The transfer probably took place between 945 and 962. Afterward, the church was associated with both Saint-Sauveur and Saint Sacerdos.
Relics of Saint Pardoux reached Sarlat after those of Saint Sacerdos and were placed in the church of Saint John outside the monastery walls. In the early eleventh century, a monk from Sarlat removed them and gave them to Gui de Lastours, who deposited them at Arnac. The cult of Saint Sacerdos is said to have replaced the earlier dedication to the Savior in 1122, perhaps helping the abbey maintain its independence against annexation by Saint-Martial of Limoges.
Independence and cathedral status
Saint Bernard passed through Sarlat in 1147 and became traditionally associated with a miracle involving bread. In 1153, the abbey placed itself directly under the protection of the Holy See, the jurisdiction of the pope. Its possessions were confirmed by Pope Eugene III in that year and by Pope Alexander III in 1170. The abbey reached its height at the end of the twelfth century.
The Diocese of Sarlat was created in 1317 during the reorganization of dioceses in Aquitaine after the royal victory over the forces of the count of Toulouse and the Cathars. Pope John XXII, whose court was based at Avignon, appointed the Benedictine abbot as bishop and converted the former abbey church into a cathedral. Bishop Raymon de Roquecorn transformed the monastic community into a cathedral chapter, a body of clergy known as canons, with fifty members. Part of the abbey’s income became the bishop’s endowment.
The chapter was secularized in 1561, meaning that its clergy were reorganized outside the monastic system. This costly change, combined with epidemics and wars, left the cathedral in a precarious condition until the middle of the seventeenth century. Its temporal resources were consolidated in 1695, when the chapter had eighteen canons.
Destruction and rebuilding
During the Wars of Religion, the conflict between Catholics and Protestants in sixteenth-century France, the cathedral was devastated in 1574 and its relics were scattered. Some were later recovered and reburied, but they were forgotten during the period before and during the French Revolution. They were rediscovered in 1819.
A new cathedral was begun in 1504 under Bishop Armand de Gontaud-Biron. The master builder Pierre Esclache directed the project, with the first work carried out under the mason Blaise Bernard. The Romanesque nave and choir were demolished, but only the choir had been rebuilt by 1519. Because the chapter could not finance the remaining work, the new choir and the old bell tower stood apart for about a century and a half, separated by the space left by the demolished nave.
Construction resumed in 1682 and was completed in 1685. François III de Salignac de La Mothe-Fénelon helped secure the continuation of the project, and the choir vault was rebuilt during this phase. The Gothic vaults in the cathedral therefore date from the seventeenth century. Pierre-François de Beauvau later continued the liturgical alterations. After lightning destroyed the bell tower’s spire, its roof was reshaped after 1721 into the bulbous form that it retains, topped by a lantern.
A new façade and the installation of the organ completed the restoration in the mid-eighteenth century. The Diocese of Sarlat was abolished by the Concordat of 1801, the agreement that reorganized relations between the French state and the Catholic Church, and its territory was incorporated into the Diocese of Périgueux. Sarlat Cathedral became a co-cathedral of the Diocese of Périgueux and Sarlat, sharing cathedral status with another cathedral. It was listed as a French historic monument in 1840.
Remains
The surviving complex combines Romanesque remains from the former abbey with a predominantly Gothic cathedral rebuilt in stages. Northern Gothic influence appears in the two side aisles, while the present interior also preserves later work from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The principal Romanesque survivor is the twelfth-century porch-tower, or bell tower, which remains linked historically to the earlier abbey church.
Romanesque survivals
Porch-tower and bell tower
The twelfth-century porch-tower is the oldest part of the present complex. It belonged to the Romanesque abbey church and now stands in relation to a cathedral whose nave and choir were rebuilt much later. Lightning destroyed its spire, and after 1721 the roof was reshaped into a bulbous form crowned by a lantern, a small upper structure that admits light or crowns a tower.
Saint Benedict Chapel
The Saint Benedict Chapel is another surviving element of the Romanesque abbey. Its presence preserves part of the earlier monastic complex within the later cathedral site.
Chapter-house façade and lantern of the dead
The cloister court retains the façade of the chapter-house, while the site also preserves a lantern of the dead, a tower-like funerary monument associated with commemoration of the dead. Some carved elements from the Romanesque church survive inside the cathedral.
Gothic cathedral
Nave and side aisles
The present cathedral is predominantly Gothic, with two side aisles reflecting northern Gothic influence. Its cross-rib vaults, ceilings supported by intersecting stone ribs, appear to rise directly from the cylindrical piers along the nave without intervening capitals. The side aisles end where the choir begins and are not connected to it, despite their visual appearance.
Choir and apse
The choir was the only part of the new cathedral rebuilt by 1519 after the Romanesque nave and choir were demolished. Work resumed in the seventeenth century, when the choir vault was rebuilt and the Gothic vaulting was completed. Choir stalls in the apse date from the seventeenth century.
Organ and later interior features
The organ was completed in 1752 by Jean-François L’Épine and installed on a swallow’s-nest gallery above the main portal. L’Épine employed the local apprentice Guillaume Monturus, who later became a recognized organ builder. The cathedral’s stained-glass windows all date from the nineteenth century, and several depict episodes from the life and martyrdom of Saint Philomena of Rome, a Christian saint traditionally venerated as a young martyr.
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