L' art gothique en Bas-Languedoc : l'affirmation d'une architecture régionale (XIIIe - XVe siècle)

Gothic art appeared in the old Pays de l'Aude region and in the diocese of Beziers and Agde at the beginning of the second decade of the XIIIth century, on two exceptional sites – exceptional both on account of the prelates who were at the origin of these majestic constructions and on account of the project managers in charge of building them. After developing in the « laboratories of form » of Beziers cathedral and the collegiate church of Saint-Paul in Narbonne, the new technics began to spread in the second quarter of the XIIIth century, and were soon to be remodelled on the building sites of the churches of the Cistercian abbeys, which were an indisputable stepping stone in the spread of High Gothic architecture. And so, in the middle of the century, a « southern church plan » henceforth asserted itself in the region in question. Attached to the large single nave – a vast romm reserved for workshippers – was the polygonal apse or the tripartite chevet with diagonal rib vaults compressed both in height and breadth by the diaphragm wall. In the late XIIIth century, and particularly in the first quarter of the XIVth century, new churches characterised by a relative sobriety began to mushroom throughout the region. The research carried out by the southern builders did not lean towards an ostentatious development of the decor or the deployment of vertical tension, but rather towards the construction of building with a consistent plan governed by rules of proportion. Local typologies became clearly apparent and the collegiate churches built by Pope John XXII in 1318 signalled the appearance of new artistic trends, adding elaborate porches to monumental sculpture. The turning point of the mid-XIVth century does not seem to have lalted these building programs, although they remained on a smaller and less prestigious scale. This period was marked by insecurity ; buildings were cloaked with systems of defence, and fortified churches – veritable annexes to surrounding walls – began to appear. But the local types did persevere, with their forms gradually becoming finer and adopting the contours of the new Flamboyant style. Putting in its first fw appearances here and there in the late XIVth century, Flamboyant architecture was to become widespread in the second half of the Xvth century, taking over from the local typologies that had flourished for almost two centuries.

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