VERDUN

. The Gallo-Roman fortress Virodunum Castrum occupied a strategic location along the Meuse River. Verdun (Meuse) was elevated to the rank of bishopric in the 3rd century and was an active port and commercial outpost from the 8th century. The city gave its name to the treaty of 843, which divided Charlemagne’s empire among his three grandsons. From the 12th century on, the French kings battled with the Holy Roman emperor for jurisdictional rights over the city. It later became one of the “Three Bishoprics” (with Toul and Metz) that were united to France in 1552.

Outside of the city walls, Saintin, an early Christian apostle, erected the first sanctuary dedicated to St. Peter (ca. 350). In the 10th century, the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Vanne was founded upon this site. By the early 11th cen-tury, it was one of the most celebrated in the West. Only a 12th-century tower, incorporated into Vauban’s 17th-century citadel, remains. In the 13th century, Verdun hosted communities of Dominicans, Franciscans, and Victorines.

Upon an original 6th-century foundation, the cathedral of Notre-Dame was rebuilt and expanded under the Teutonic bishop Thierry the Great (r. 1047-89) after fire destroyed the previous building in 1048. The church was further developed under Bishop Alberon de Chiny (r. 1132-52). In the style of the great Carolingian churches of Saxony, the basilica structure has transepts and apses at both its east and its west ends. Each transept is capped by two towers. (Today, the eastern towers are razed at roof level.) In the 13th and 14th centuries, ribbed vaults were constructed over the aisles, transepts, choirs, and nave. The monumental northern portal and porch date from the 14th century, and the Gothic chapels along the aisles from the 15th.

The Rhenish tendencies of the overall structure are complemented by elements typical of the Burgundian Romanesque. The polygonal structure of the eastern apse is similar to that at Autun, and the sculpture of the eastern portal, showing Christ in Majesty, recalls the style of the tympanum at Vezelay.

Nina Rowe

[See also: CAROLINGIAN DYNASTY]

Almond, Charles. La cathedrale de Verdun: etude historique et archeologique. Nancy: Royer,

1909.

Fels, Etlenne. “Verdun.” Congres archeologique (Nancy et Verdun) 96(1933):391-418.

Grodeckl, Louls. L ’architecture ottonienne: au seuil de l’art roman. Paris: Colln, 1958.

Ventre, Andre, and Marcel Delangle. “Les foullles de la cathedrale de Verdun.” Monuments historiques de la France 2(1937): 9-17.