Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/509

 Bk. II. Ch. II. AQUITANIA. 477 round church, here retains its pre-eminence over the nave, as was the case in the older examj^les, and thus forms an intermediate link between the old church of St. Martin, which we know only by description, and the more modern one, of which a plan is given (Woodcut No. 341). St. Benigne, Dijon, is another transitional example which may serve to render this arrange- ment still more clear. It was erected in the first year of the 11th century, and was pulled down only at the Revolution ; but before that catastrophe it had been carefully measured and described in Dom Plancher's " History of Bur- gundy." As seen by him, the foundations only of the nave were of the original structure, for in the year 1271 one of its towers fell, and so damaged it that the whole of that part of the church was then rebuilt in the })erfect. pointed style of the day. Without entering too much into detail, it will suffice to state that the part shaded lightly in the woodcut (No. 343) is taken literally from Dom Plancher's plan, regarding which there can be no doubt, and the contem- ])orary descriptions are so full that very little uncertaintv can exist regarding the dimensions and general disposition of the nave. The bodies of the confessors SS. Urban and Gregory were, it appears, originally buried in the church of St. John the Baptist, which seems to have been the name most properly applied to this circular building; they were afterwards transfen-ed to the cryi>t below the high altar, in the rectangular part of the church. Above the lower story, which retained its name as a baptistery and burial-place, was the upper cluirch, which was dedicated to the Virgin Mary ; above that was the church of the Holy Trinity ; and on the top of the round towers, on one side the altar of St. Michael, on the other probably that of Gabriel. The little church of Neuvy St. Sepulchre, near Bourges, which was erected between the years 1042 and 1046, presents precisely the same arrangements as the church of Charroux, though on a smaller scale, there being only one range of ten pillars in the centre. The ancient nave having been destroyed, was rei)laced l)y a more ex- tended one in the 12th century, but the old arrangement can easily be traced. In all these old churches — and they seem to have been very common in France before the 12th century — the circular part was the most 343. Plan of St. Benigne, Dijon. (From Dom Plan- cher's " Histoire de Bour- gogne.") Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.