Berzé-la-Ville
Berzé-la-Ville
La Chapelle des Moines, at Berzé-la-Ville (Saône-et-Loire), between Cluny and Mâcon, has a British connection which is rather recent.
The chapel was built by Hugues de Semur, the great Abbot of Cluny, as part of a monastic grange, in the 11th century. Raymond Oursel, in his Bourgogne Romane, speculates that it must have been one of Abbot Hugh's favourite places, as it is one of only three to be mentioned in his final testament, written at the end of his unusually long life (he was 84 when he died in 1109). It is famous for its frescoed apse, which was the product of the very best Cluniac artists:
Probably painted under Hugh's successor as Abbot, Ponce de Melgueil (1109-22), it shows Christ handing a no longer legible text to St Peter (who was the patron saint of the Abbey of Cluny), surrounded by the other apostles, and two smaller groups of saints with local connections below.
The chapel fell into a bad state of repair due to long-term neglect, and was bought in 1947 by an English mediaeval scholar and philanthropist, Dame Joan Evans (1893-1977). She was the author of such books as Life in Mediaeval France, Monastic Life at Cluny, Cluniac Art of the Romanesque Period, etc. Having studied at St Hugh's College, Oxford, she later became one of its major benefactors, also was instrumental in acquiring land in Gloucestershire for the National Trust, and was the first female President of the Society of Antiquaries. Dame Joan was a very generous and cultivated spinster, and she donated the Chapelle des Moines to the académie de Mâcon, who have conserved it ever since.
