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Go to the Page LIst for a full listing of pages and their status
All material © Adrian Fletcher 2000-08 - The contents may not be reproduced without permission - Adrian Fletcher can be contacted at afletch at paradoxplace dot com
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CIAO ADRIANO
Le Puy-en-Velay
October 2007
THE ROUTE TO DATE WITH MAPS OF FRANCE AND OF ITS MEDIEVAL PILGRIMAGE ROADS
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Bishops of le Puy played an early adopter role in both the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela and the First Crusade.
In 951 le Puy Bishop Godescalk was the first recorded "celebrity" to undertake the pilgrimage to Santiago. Upon his return he ordered the building of the Chapelle St-Michel-d'Aiguilhe and le Puy became the recognized assembly point for the via Podiensis road to Spain.
On November 27 1095 the French Clunaic Pope Urban II preached the First Crusade to a huge medieval gathering in a field in Clermont, just to the north of le Puy. Families from the area were heavily involved in the crusade itself, and the Papal Legate to the crusade was Adhemar, the Bishop of le Puy.
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Medieval pilgrims walking south into Le Puy from Clermont, Brioude, and La Chaise Dieu would have seen the sights of the Chapelle St-Michel-d'Aiguilhe on the left and the Cathedral de Notre Dame on the right, but the Notre Dame statue in the middle did not appear until the 1800s - before then there was a castle there.
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Chapelle St-Michel-d'Aiguilhe - perched 82M (270 ft) in the sky and accessable via 268 steps
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In medieval times the Rue des Tables (left) was much narrower, and filled with the tables of trinket and pilgrimage momento sellers. Another street, the Rue des Pélerins (right), headed off to the south side of the cathedral steps and shared the passage of pilgrims setting off along the via Podiensis for the far distant Santiago de Compostella at the north eastern tip of Spain.
Today it is arguable whether the slog up to the cathedral is worth it (the approach is in fact much steeper and longer than it looks in the photo). Several people in the 1800s had a go at "improving" it, and what is there now, including the cloisters, is in our view a cold nothing, despite the hyperbole of some tourist handouts and pilgrim blogs.
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Le Puy is famous for its lace and its green lentils - in fact le Puy lentils recently became the first non-wine / cheese product to be given a DOC designation.
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Go to the Page LIst for a full listing of pages and their status
All material © Adrian Fletcher 2000-08 - The contents may not be reproduced without permission - Adrian Fletcher can be contacted at afletch at paradoxplace dot com
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