Chapaize



This is the church of St Martin at Chapaize (Saône-et-Loire), one of the earliest surviving examples of Burgundian romanesque. It was built as a Benedictine priory church in the first half of the 11th century, and has wonderfully fat pillars supporting the walls of the nave: one can see the stylistic relationship with those in Norman Benedictine churches in England, in places like Tewkesbury Abbey or Gloucester Cathedral.


At Chapaize, the impressive bell tower also dates from the 11th century:



Evidently, English parishes were not the only ones to have had hunting parsons in the past, as the curé of Chapaize, Nicolas Genost de Laforest, in post from 1751 onwards, died in 1783 while out hunting on horseback with the local seigneur, the Comte de Montrevel.




 

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