Gironde on the Tours Way to Saint James of Compostela

Pleine Selve is the first stop-off along the Way of Tours in Gironde. All that remains of the Norbertine abbey founded by Geoffroy de Lauroux in the midst of a vast expanse of forestland in 1145 are the ruins of a church with a flat chevet illuminated to the east by three fine windows.

Next comes Cartelègue, a possession of the Benedictine abbey in Blaye, a fine Saintonge-style Romanesque church, its remarkable facade dominated by a 16^th  -century bell tower. Continuing on their way, pilgrims then arrived at Saint-Martin-Lacaussade, a small Romanesque church with its doorway half buried in the earth (a result of successive elevations of the road) and the flat chevet typical of Hospitaller buildings. The rectangular Romanesque chevet is pierced by a trio of windows topped by an oculus. The church includes a gothic vault whose ribs meet at a keystone decorated with an eight-leafed double rose. Each intersection of the arches is occupied by an angel joining hands with its neighbours above the groins.

It was from Blaye that Saint Romain, a disciple of Saint Martin of Tours, evangelised the Blayais region in the 5^th  century. A church and an abbey stand around the crypt where his body lies. The sanctuary rapidly gained fame and a vast necropolis grew up around it, equal in size to that at Saint-Seurin in Bordeaux.

According to the Carolingian legend, the body of Charlemagne’s nephew, Roland, lies in the crypt alongside that of Saint Romain. Roland was buried there with two of his companions, Bishop Turpin and Oliver.  Little remains of Saint-Romain abbey, which was destroyed in the 17^th  century during creation of the glacis for Vauban’s citadel, within which the Minim cloister offered lodgings to pilgrims.

Leaving Blaye, the pilgrims continued on to Bourg, stopping off at the Saint-Jacques chapel. A Saint-Lazare hospital (12^th  century) took in the impoverished and sick among their number there. They then made for the imposing gateway to the port and the banks of the river in order to get to the Bec d’Ambès, where a Saint James rest stop awaited them. In Tauriac, Saint-Etienne church, a meld of Saintonge and Languedoc influences, opened its doors to them. The Romanesque doorway’s south lateral bay bears a delicately sculpted image of the Paschal Lamb, while the cornice is decorated with sculpted modillions depicting secular life: a hurdy-gurdy player accompanies an acrobat.

The Magrigne chapel (Saint-Quitterie church) in Saint-Laurent-d’Arce was built by the Knights Templar in the late 12^th  or early 13^th  century, and its simplicity of design and fine proportions are a pleasure to the eye. It contains a barrel-vaulted nave terminating in a flat chevet with three slender openings. The fine doorway on the west façade is topped by a double arched bell gable. 

Next stop was Bordeaux, where three major sanctuaries awaited the pilgrims’ coming. A statue of Saint James the Apostle and Pilgrim stands at the south portal of the Saint-Seurin Basilica, equipped with a pilgrim’s staff and scallop shell beneath his scrip.

CDT 33 - Yannick Serrano

Saint-André Cathedral, jewel in the crown of gothic art and another much sought-after stop-off. A 14^th  -century mural in the Sainte-Anne chapel depicts Saint James, staff in hand with scrip hanging from it. He is also to be seen at the royal doorway, among the apostles, with a scallop shell on his scrip and holding his pilgrim’s staff.

Saint-Michel Basilica is one of Bordeaux’s most beautiful churches and the seat of a major Confraternity of Saint James. To the right, in the chancel, there is still a chapel dedicated to him. A magnificent painting of the Apotheosis of Saint James hangs above the altar, adorned with staff and scallop shell, and the series of stained-glass windows depicts his life. The south doorway is decorated with scallop shells and, on the upper left side of the west portal, the Saint stands with open book.

From Bordeaux, the pilgrims made their way to the Cayac priory in Gradignan, with its Notre-Dame hospital and church. The site has been restored and bears rare architectural witness to the great pilgrimage, immersing visitors in the atmosphere that must have reigned during the days when the road was trodden by countless pilgrims. Records of its existence date back to 1229. It was first kept by the Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus and later by the Carthusian monks of Bordeaux, and took in and treated pilgrims on the Ways of Saint James. It continues to take in pilgrims today, just as it did in the 13^th  century.

The pilgrims then had the task of crossing the Landes to Belin-Beliet, as recommended by the Pilgrims’ Guide  . According to the Carolingian legend, Belin was the resting place of the bodies of the gallant knights Oliver, King Gondebaud of Frisia, King Ogier of Dacia, King Arastain of Brittany and Garin, Duke of Lorraine, all of whom had perished in Spain. Surrounded by its cemetery and set in the midst of heathland, Saint-Pierre de Mons church is an ancient edifice, with the outside walls of its apse and nave built of small rubble stones typical of the 11^th  century, its 14^th  -century doorway, and its wooden sculpture work.