“The town of Avaricum was the largest and best fortified in the region of the Bituriges; it was situated in the most fertile part of the fields.” These words from Julius Caesar’s commentaries characterized the city of Bourges for the entire Middle Ages: it was secure, and it was in a fertile region. Bourges had been the capital of a Gallic tribe, of a Roman province, and of a medieval county, but in the twelfth century, it was a center more by virtue of tradition and of its unique position between the Cher and Loire rivers than because of its military strength, commercial importance, or ecclesiastical dominion.
The circumstances in which the first metropolitan church was established were described by Gregory of Tours (History of the Franks I.31).
Philip I acquired Bourges from the viscount, Eudes Arpin, about 1100. By his purchase, the king extended the Royal Domain well to the south of its traditional limits, and he added to the territory already within his jurisdiction a region that was to be a faithful ally and the least restive of his vassals. Philip became lord of both county and city.
Pierre de la Châtre (in office 1144-1171) spent his years as archbishop founding churches, acquiring property for the diocese, and reorganizing the administration of the See. He erected a new archiepiscopal palace within the cloister and is reported to have excelled the construction of oppida, templa, domus. The testimony of his interest in construction is probably recorded in the Cathedral itself—the additionals made to the eleventh-century chevet, ca. 1145-1160, may well have been stimulated by his interest in building.
Louis VII had been impressed by Pierre de la Châtre’s building program and recorded this in a charter.
The last pre-Gothic campaign, an enlargement of the western end of the Cathedral, was under consideration around 1172, according to the archeological work of Robert Branner.
Historically and ecclesiastically, Bourges was part of Aquitaine. The archbishopric of Bourges extended to the south and west over much of the ancient duchy; and the archbishops referred to themselves as primates of Aquitaine. Lakeside, the Angevin King Henry II of England, considered that his wife Eleanor, in her capacity as Duchess of Aquitaine, had a title to suzerainty.
The cloister was fortified in 1174, and that portion of the city wall enclosing it must have remained defensible even after 1181 when Philip Augustus accorded the people of Bourges the privilege of building outside the Gallo-Roman wall.
The Charters first establishing the number at thirty are in the First Cartulary, ff. 16v and 47r; the increase to forty is mentioned in a charter of Henri de Sully dated 1189.
In 1181, Philip Augustus accorded the people of Bourges the privilege of building outside the Gallo-Roman wall. This was a huge privilege.
In 1183, Henri de Sully, a son of the feudal lord of Sully-sur-Loire, was elected archbishop. He served until 1199. Sully was wealthy and well-versed in the use of authority and the manners of diplomacy.
Between 1191-1193 and 1195, the old Cathedral was damaged by fire. The decision to reconstruct the monument rather than repair it was made not long after.
In 1195, Henri de Sully, Archbishop of Bourges, gave 500 pounds to his chapter for the purchase of lands and rents. At the end of the charter recording this donation, he appended a second gift of smaller value: the funds he was to receive for certain unspecified ecclesiastical jurisdictions were to be turned over to the opus fabrice for the purpose of repairing the cathedral.
When the Bourges Master began to reconstruct the Cathedral in 1195, the site of the chevet, for the most part, was occupied by a conglomeration of edifices.
This is the first building campaign according to Robert Branner. The decades 1190-1220 is indicated by two features in the Gothic crypt: the flatness of the earliest group of the bases and the open shallow cavets. Similar capitals in the Bourges crypt to ones from the same period in Laon and Soissons cathedrals. There is also a likely link between the nave capitals of the Collegial of Champeaux, which was completed in 1205. The Gothic crypt was mounted virutally as a unit.
Henri de Sully was succeeded by Saint Guillaume (1199-1210), a man of noble blood, pious by nature and given to study and meditation. He has been reared by his uncle Pierre, archdeacon of Soissons Cathedral, and was oriented toward the Orders from childhood.
According to Robert Branner.
It has been assumed by Hubert that the archbishop did not wish the monks to interfere with a possible quest of his own which would have been related to the Cathedral.
Little is known about Gérard de Cros.
Clearstory: Executed in the standardized style of the later work on the chevet. Triforium: Mounted as a single unit. Unlike the lower triforium, the passage is continuous across the line dividing the first two phases of construction. This follows the timeline provided by Robert Branner.
Miracula of Siant Guillaume—a closer reading suggests that he was at first interred hurriedly in a part of the Cathedral that was in use.
According to Robert Branner, this period of time was used to prepare for the second building campaign. Preparation for the second phase of construction must have consumed considerable time, since the chevet of the old Cathedral lying inside the Gallo-Roman wall had to be razed, even to the removal of the pier foundations, and great trenches dug for the subterranean Gothic foundation.
In 1214, or immediately before, the main altar was permanently removed to the newly completed chevet, which now had to be accessible to the clergy and people.
In 1214, probably during the abscence of the archbishop of Bourges, the brothers were instructed by papal bull to go to Bourges to settle a dispute that had arisen there between the dean and the chapter. In their decree, they mention that they reformed the evil ways of the canons. This included the regulation of dress and tonsure as well as conduct.
Little is known about Gérard de Cros.
The foundations on this side are shallower than those of the north. This timeline follows the work of Robert Branner.
The original bases of the facade responds are approximately at the level of those on the south wall, and their profiles indicate that they were cut shortly after the campaign opened. This timeline follows the work of Robert Branner.
A more important but less precise criterion for the date of the nave of Bourges is furnished by the design of certain parts of the lower triforium, which has a design generally attributed to the years 1225-1235.This timeline follows the work of Robert Branner.
Carving of the Genesis reliefs in the dado, the baldachins of the Ursin portal, and the tympana of the Ursin.
The basic features of the present ground story of the façade must have been visible from 1230, when the frons ecclesie is mentioned in a charter.
The Bourges facade is in the sphere of Reims. Much of the sculpture of the second campaign is closely related to the scupture of the so-called Joseph Master at Reims. Reims infleunced the architecture as well.
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