. A prehistoric site and perhaps capital of the Gallic Cenomani, Le Mans (Sarthe) was the ancient capital of the county of Maine. It lies in western France between Normandy and the Loire Valley on an important trade route. A major center since Roman times, when it was known as Vindonum, Le Mans was evangelized in the late 3rd century by St. Julien, to whom its Gothic cathedral is dedicated. When the Roman Empire began to disintegrate, the center of population removed from the surrounding plains to the central hilltop and a great wall (late 3rd-early 4th c.) was constructed around the upper town.
This wall survives in large part and has recently been disengaged along much of its perimeter. In the Middle Ages, Le Mans was a center of the Norman-Angevin dynasty and a favorite city of Henry II Plantagenet.
In the 9th century, an important Carolingian cathedral was built in the upper town. This was replaced in the 11th century by a new cathedral building in Romanesque style, parts of which survive today—the side aisles of the nave and important parts of the transept, the latter subsequently remodeled. A contemporary text records the consecration in 1093 and details the construction campaigns of the 11th century. Major fires in 1134 and 1137 greatly damaged this Romanesque structure, and reconstructior was undertaken first in the choir, then in the transept, and finally in the nave. In 1158, the new building was consecrated. The present nave and lower wall of the transept belong to this phase of construction. The original 11th-century choir, as well as its reconstruction after the fires of 1134 and 1137, was limited in its eastern extension by the great Gallo-Roman wall. In the 13th century, this choir must have been considered excessively modest, since the construction of vast Gothic cathedrals had been undertaken in many of the great cities of northern France. In November 1217, Philip II Augustus authorized the destruction of a large section of the venerable Gallo-Roman wall so that the choir could be rebuilt on a vastly larger scale beginning ca. 1221. The new choir was consecrated, and most likely completed, in 1254, since monks at the neighboring monastery of La Couture were authorized as
Le Mans (Sarthe), Saint-Julien, chevet. Photograph: Clarence Ward Collection. Courtesy of Oberlin College.
Of 1252 by the cathedral chapter to use the quarry at Bernay just west of Le Mans, which had previously served as the principal source of stone for the new cathedral. Seen from the great marketplace immediately to the east and below, this choir is one of the most magnificent structures of Gothic Europe. In addition to the cathedral, Le Mans is rich in medieval monuments from the Romanesque and Gothic periods, such as Notre-Dame-du-Pre, the former abbey church of La Couture, and the former Cistercian abbey of L’Epau.
John B. Cameron
Congres archeologique (Maine) 119 (1961):9-142.
Mussat, Andre. La cathedrale du Mans. Paris: Berger-Levrault, 1981.
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