At St Pierre de Reddes, near Bedarieux, the ancient church consists of a long nave with barrel vault, strengthened with transverse ribs, which spring from a series of double columns, of which the arrangement is evidently borrowed from the Antique ([Fig. 102]).
FIG. 102. ST PIERRE DE REDDES. (From Révoil).
St Martin de Londres (Herault) may also be mentioned as having a tri-apsal east end, while the exterior is ornamented with the arcaded pattern so common on the Rhine and in Lombardy.
Narbonne.—When the Romans, B.C. 118, became masters of Southern Gaul, they established, under the leadership of an enthusiastic young patrician called Licinius Crassus, a colony in the ancient Phœnician port, dedicating it to Mars, and giving it the name of Narbo Martius. A principal object of this colony was to secure the road into Spain. After a time the first foundation became weak, and, B.C. 45, a new colony was led out from Rome by Tiberius Claudius Nero. Narbo Martius was then capital of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis, which extended from the Alps to the Pyrenees.
Under the Empire, there arose in this favoured colony, on the banks of the Atax or Aude, a complete image on a small scale of Imperial Rome, with its curia, duumvirs, consuls, pretors, questors, etc., and it was adorned with a Forum, Temples, Markets, Baths, and Amphitheatre.
Of these fine Roman edifices not one remains. Such of them as escaped the devastations of the Goths and Saracens are said to have been demolished by Richelieu, that the materials might be used in the construction of the new fortifications of the town erected by him. The engineer of these works seems to have had more reverence for ancient art than his princely master, for he collected all the sculptured fragments, and built them into the walls where they could easily be seen. The fortifications thus formed a kind of open air museum of ancient sculptures and inscriptions; but they have now, in their turn, been removed to make room for the expansion of the town. The Roman monuments, however, have been preserved, and are placed in the mediæval Episcopal Palace, which has been partly converted into a museum.
The important architectural works which still exist are all concentrated round the Cathedral of St Just ([Fig. 103]). As at Béziers, the Cathedral formed part of the fortifications of the Archbishop’s Palace. It is one of those designs in Northern Gothic which look as if transplanted into Southern soil. The whole character of the buildings is Northern. Whether we regard the steep roofs and gables, the sub-divided forms of the vaulting, the sections of the mouldings, the character of the cloisters, the shape of the windows, the dispositions of the plan, or the defensive arrangements, the whole design appertains to the style of the Royal Domain.