Les églises de Caen du VIIe au XIIe siècle, d'après les fouilles récentes

Résumé En

From 1986 to 1990, the sites of Saint-Julien and Saint-Gilles, two small parish churches which were destroyed in the course of World War II, have been excavated completely. They offer an excellent opportunity to study the evolution of the settlement during the early centuries of the Middle Ages. The present contribution concerns the earliest traces of the settlement and the development of these churches up to their Romanesque reconstruction. In the case of Saint-Julien, strong presumptions of early occupation existed and the site yielded an aninterrupted sequence going back to the beginnings of our era. The first Christian building, part of which was preserved, was a small rectangular building (at least 4 m by 5 m large) and its construction could be dated in the late 7th to early 8th century. The site does not seem to have been used as a cemetery before the construction of the Romanesque church, the choir of which encloses the original building. Saint-Gilles yielded burials as well as a pre-Romanesque building. Even though the site was heavily disturbed, it seems possible to date the original chruch in the second half of the 10th century, some of the graves probably being earlier. This new evidence complete our understanding of early medieval Caen. At present, three phases of church foundations can be identified : first, an early, pre- Viking one (7th and 8th centuries) ; next, under the reign of the first dukes, a major one, as suggested by the earliest texts related to the town ; finally, a major development following the efforts of William the Conqueror and his sons.