FIG. 85. MONT-MAJOUR—THE KEEP, HERMITAGE, ETC.
FIG. 86. MONT-MAJOUR—PLANS AND SECTION OF KEEP.
We have already seen that this monastery was fortified and surrounded with walls. But it was chiefly strengthened with a great donjon, such as the abbots, who were also great feudal lords, frequently constructed for their own security, and that of the monks and their treasures, in case of extremity. This keep ([Fig. 85]) was erected in 1369 by Pons de l’Orme. It is very substantially built with square-dressed stones, the surface being left rough or bossy, as was the custom at that time. The building ([Fig. 86]) is a simple parallelogram, 48 feet by 32 feet, with a slight projection at one angle to contain the staircase. The doorway gives direct access to the ground floor, which is vaulted with a pointed tunnel vault, ornamented with ribs springing from corbels (see section). A cellar occupies part of a lower story, which also contains a well. The vault over the ground floor may possibly have formed a separate dark loft or store, for storage of provisions, &c. The lower portion of this floor has one window only. The hall, or chief living room, was on the first floor. It is provided with fire-places and cupboards, and is lighted by two windows on one side, furnished with stone seats. The height of the tower from the basement to the parapet is about 80 feet, and the top forms a platform supported on a pointed arch. The space between the lower and upper vaults was divided into three floors, with wooden beams and joisting. The corbels for these still remain, but all the woodwork is destroyed. The platform on the top is surrounded with a parapet supported on bold corbels. At the angles the parapet is rounded off, so as to give the effect of projecting angle bartizans.
From the corbels seen on the exterior of the south side of the tower, at the first floor level, it seems probable that some kind of wooden platform was constructed between the keep and the outer wall, from which the passage between them, which formed a principal access to the abbey, might be vigorously defended. One cannot help being struck with the peculiarly military aspect of the tower, and its strange proximity to the more sacred structures of the abbey.
The ruins of some Gothic erections and of the sumptuous edifice, begun by the Benedictine monks of the eighteenth century, but interrupted by the breaking out of the Revolution, are visible in [Fig. 81].
A short run by rail westward from Arles takes to the ancient town and abbey church of St Gilles. This church, which is unfortunately but a fragment, possesses the finest portal in Provence, in the same style as that of St Trophime at Arles. The town stands on the branch of the Rhone called Le Petit-Rhône, which bounds the delta on the west. It bore originally the name of Vallis Flaviana, and is supposed to stand near the site of an ancient Roman city. An abbey was founded here by St Ægidius (or St Gilles) in the sixth century, around which the town gradually clustered.
St Gilles was the chief priory of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, and became a place of such importance that the Count of Toulouse took one of his titles from it, being also called the Count of St Gilles. It was here that Raymond VI., Count of Toulouse, in 1209, did penance for the murder of the Papal legate, Pierre de Castelnau, and for the part he took on the side of the Albigenses.