We have seen on p. [129] that a monastery was erected on the spot where the body of the Martyr Saint Ayoul was found.
APSE OF SAINT-AYOUL
About 1122, the great theologian Abailard, cruelly mutilated by the vengeance of Canon Fulbert, uncle of Heloïse, and persecuted on account of the boldness of his views, took refuge in the monastery adjoining the church of Saint-Ayoul. He continued to teach there, and gathered round him as many as 2,000 students.
THE CRUCIFIXION AT SAINT-AYOUL
Saint-Ayoul was burned, then rebuilt in the twelfth century, and restored in the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries.
The façade is reproduced in the photograph on p. [130]. In spite of mutilations suffered during the Revolution, and the inclemencies of the weather, the great doorway is still worthy of interest.
A Renaissance gallery, terminated by a lantern, flanks on the left the great bare gable pierced by three windows which surmount the gate. The whole has thus a very original appearance.