Fortress-Churches of Languedoc: Architecture, Religion and Conflict in the High Middle Ages

Fortress-Churches of Languedoc traces the changing relationship between military and religious realms as expressed in architecture across medieval Europe. The scholarship of medieval architecture has traditionally imposed a division between military and ecclesiastical structures. Often, however, medieval churches were provided with fortified enclosures, crenellations, iron-barred doors and other elements of defence, demonstrating the strong link between Church and state, and the military and religious realms. In her study of fortress-churches, Sheila Bonde focuses on three twelfth-century monuments in southern France - Maguelone, Agde and Saint-Pon-de-Thomière, which are among the earliest examples of the type. She analyses her archaeological surveys of these structures, and also re-examines their documentation, which is here presented both in the original Latin and in English translations. The book also explores the larger context of fortification and authority in twelfth-century Languedoc and examines the dynamics of architectural exchange and innovation in the Mediterranean at a moment of critical historical importance.

• First book to deal exclusively with fortified churches and to deal with them in the context of the relationship between religious and military realms • Contains original texts and new translations of Latin documents relating to the construction and history of the structures discussed • Author is both a professor of art history and an archaeologist co-director of a dig at Soissons for the past ten years

Contents
List of illustrations; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. Ecclesiastical fortification in the Middle Ages; 2. The larger context: Languedoc in the twelfth century; 3. The buildings and the documents: Maguelone, Agde and Saint-Pons-de-Thomières; 4. The manning and operation of fortress-churches; 5. The architectural context: sources and parallels; Conclusion; Appendixes; Tables; Abbreviations; Notes; Illustration credits; Index.