'And yet, when I looked down into the bottom of this steep desert of stones, what soft and vernal beauty was there... just as if that strip of meadow, with its gently-gliding river, had been lifted out of an English dale and dropped into the midst of the sternest scenery of Southern France'1.
This post is the continuation of: La Vicomté de Turenne (I)
A quote from Edward Harrison Barker’s (1893) book; Wanderings by southern waters: Eastern Aquitaine, after taking his ‘sheep-track up the arid steeps’ with only a knapsack. Sadly the ‘epoch when everyone travels’ is over, but the modern day tourist can nowhere experience the contrast between the plateau and the valley easier than by hiking the Autoire cirque with its 150 to 200 m high limestone cliffs.
France’s most Beautiful villages of the Lot
Autoire
Shaped by the Autoire stream, grinding its way into the limestone plateau of the Causse de Gramat through a 30 m high waterfall (7). Beautiful and impressive, this majestic waterfall is the first highlight on a 3 km (2 hours) walk. On your way to the waterfall, stop at the Chappelle Saint-Roch (6) and have a quick look at its frescoes through the grilled window.
From the waterfall a steep climb brings you to a viewing area (8) on the edge of the cliff with great panoramic views of the valley and waterfall. The hamlet of Siran is home to a farm managing a flock of adorable angora goats. The descend passes the Château des Anglais cliff-castle (9), a medieval construction enclosing a overhang in the limestone cliff. Long the home of brigands, it has commanding views and is naturally protected on all sides, a closer inspection reveals it is basically a facade, only two meters deep at the interior.
Nestled at the bottom of the forested valley is the village of Autoire with its elegant manor houses flanked by turrets, mansions, castles and half-timbered houses. The Romanesque church of Saint-Pierre et Saint-Paul (1) was rebuilt by the end of the 11th and beginning of the 12th centuries. It was fortified towards the end of the Hundred Years War, and the bell tower was raised. Covered with a cupola it has interesting sculpted decorations.
The Fontaine aux Dauphins (2) build by voluntary contributions takes center stage, pass L’Ancien Couvent (3) and the Chateau de Limargue (4) that obtained the right to build towers and machicolations after its owner was knighted by King Charles VIII. The door at the bottom of the tower is adorned with a toric arch carved in an accolade, typical of the late 15th century. The second tower, more imposing, served as a defense tower.
The Manoir de Laroque-Delpratas (5) deserve special mention; owned by a bourgeois family since 1605 (judges, notaries, lawyers), it preserves its 17th century characteristics: L-shaped plan, stairwell, large windows and decorated skylights. Small restaurants, and shops promoting local art and gastronomy, can be explored through small alleyways. Autoire deserves its Les Plus Beaux Villages de France label.
Carennac
‘For those who have just crossed the austerity of the Causse de Gramat, Carennac appears as a veritable flower in greenery, and the roofs of the doyenne, gleaming with metallic reflections, give the village the look of an insect resting in the heart of a immense rose whose petals of foliage bloom up against the line of the horizon’2.
Carennac is classified as Les Plus Beaux Villages de France. Due to its idyllic location on a terrace overlooking the Dordogne river and valley on one side and the embrace of the unspoiled cirque de Montvalent. And the remarkable enclosed ensemble of the monastery. Although its history goes back to at least roman times, first know documented reference to 817, the monastery probably dates back to the turn of the millennium. For most of two centuries, 1598 – 1788, it remained under the stewardship of the Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon family. Passing its charge from uncle to nephew, from cousin to cousin, through the pious and conscientious deans ensuring the best of its spiritual and temporal interests.
Most famous of these; ‘the great Fénelon’, tutor to the grandson of Louis XIV, prior here from 1681 to 1695. It is said he conceived his Les aventures de Télémaque here: the story of the son of Odysseus, Telemaque. As his father is undertaking his famous journey (Homer's: The Odyssey), he goes looking for him and shipwrecks on the île de Calypso just after his father left. Among all the obstacles that Poseidon places in the way of Odysseus, the goddess Calypso is perfectly beautiful, immortal and (also) irresistibly inclined towards sex. Madly in love she tries to keep Odysseus captive on her island of eternal spring (which explains the unlikely named île de Calypso in the Dordogne river just across Carennac). It is basically a story written for the moral education of the prince with lessons like:
‘You have charmed the goddess by explaining to her the dangers from which your courage and industry have saved you. By that you have only inflamed her heart the more, and prepared yourself for a more dangerous captivity. How do you expect her to let you now leave her island, you who have enchanted her with the story of your adventures? The love of vain glory has made you speak without prudence. She had undertaken to tell you stories, and to teach you what was the destiny of Ulysses. She has found a way to talk for a long time without saying anything, and she has had you to explain everything she wants to know. Such is the art of flattering and passionate women’3.
The book was one of the most read, edited and translated in world literature for over two centuries (1699 – 1914). So much part of the national curriculum that Eugène Le Roy (republican opposing the monarchy and the catholic church), has his main character in Le Moulin du Frau look back at his school days some 200 years later;
‘It was really amazing. We always had to read the Telemaque. This book had intrigued me a lot when I was very young; I wondered what could be that terrible passion that made Calypso so unhappy, and those fires that made the son of Ulysses burn for the young Eucharis. Since then, I have thought that the depiction of these love affairs which aroused the imagination of children would perhaps have been considered bad, if the book had been written by an ordinary writer; but not of an archbishop, of Fénelon, made this book very good and quite suitable for teaching children to read’4.
In the preface to the 2022 edition of Aragon’s Les Adieux, Oliver Barbarant writes that Télémaque was one of the favorite and identifying characters of the youth of Aragon and that Aragon, during the time of Dadaism, worked on an edition of Fenelon’s, Les Aventures de Télémaque for Galimard (1922), an author through whom he had learned to read5.
The monastery cluster
At the heart of Carennac, and its main attraction, is the enclosed monastery (or priory). As you enter through the stone gate with pointed arch you walk into a different time and space. You notice the thickness of the wall, the overhanging room on machicolations (opening between the wall and the vault of a gate, through which stones or burning objects could be dropped on attackers), which ensured its defense and surveillance.
The priory courtyard provides access to the church and the various monastic buildings. First thing that attracts your eye is the Church of Saint-Pierre (2), built at the end of the 11th century and enlarged in the middle of the 12th century by the construction of a porch adorned with a large carved tympanum. You see Christ in majesty surrounded by the symbols of the four evangelists (the angel of Matthew, the eagle of John, the bull of Luke and the lion of Mark) and by the apostles spread over two registers. The style is strongly influenced by those of Moissac and Cahors. Through the porch you discover the original portal of the 11th century church with capitals sculpted with fantastic animals, interlacing and palm leaves.
Left of the church the Château des doyens (3) (former home of the priors: leaders of the monastic community), built in the 16th century to be the prestigious accommodation, it bears witness to the art of the Renaissance with its sculpted skylights and its corner turrets. The living room opened by large medieval windows in pointed arches like urban palaces. Inside, the ceremonial room is decorated with a remarkable painted ceiling from the beginning of the 17th century.
The castle today houses the ‘Interpretation Center of Architecture and Heritage of the Country of Art and History Causses and Valley of the Dordogne’ which can be visited free of charge (and freely). The park of the Château des Doyens has been laid out to the east of the apse of the church within the fortification walls. In one corner, an open tower served as a repository in the 16th century. Even today it allows you to contemplate the Dordogne.
At the end of the courtyard, on the left, you see the tower of the prior. Opposite are the agricultural buildings, oven, barn, stable, vat room. In the center of the courtyard, you will notice a house with a turret which served as a gatehouse and hostelry for welcoming guests, travelers or pilgrims en route to Rocamadour. Passed the tourist Office on the left you find the Romanesque cloister (1), destroyed during the Hundred Years War, only the gallery adjoining the church remained. The three other galleries, as well as the upper floor which was recently restored, were rebuilt in the flamboyant Gothic style at the end of the 15th century. The tracery of the bays, the ribbed sockets and the keystones have suffered from the use of the cloister as an agricultural building after the revolution.
As Barker observed:
‘Upon the ground, man, by using no rein of réspect to curb the lower needs of life, has desecrated the spot with pigsties Some inhabitant of Carennac, into whose hands the cloisters passed in recent times, thought that a place which was good enough for Benedictine monks to walk in might, with a little fresh masonry, be made fit for pigs to feed and sleep in. But an end had to come to this idyllic state of things. The cloisters of Carennac had just been placed on the list of historic monuments. The adjoining church had been ‘classed’ long before’6.
To enter you have to buy a token at the tourist office. Main attraction (not to be missed) is an ‘Entombment’ in Carennac stone, formerly polychrome (end of the 15th century). Its execution is due to a workshop that also worked in Cadouin and Cahors. This set is completed by a series of statues of saints of a more naive style but nevertheless from the same workshop. Later, a 15th century bas-relief depicts scenes from the Childhood and Passion of Christ. The monks' refectory, which has a beautiful fireplace, serves as an exhibition hall (opening occasionally).
Around this small world, you find the village of Carennac. Cross the road and walk down towards the Dordogne river you will have a good view of the île de Calypso (4), follow the waters edge toward the former inland harbor and the Maison du Port-petit build in the 15th century. Walk back, up the river bank, cross the road and pass a 16th century house with a square tower, sculpted entrance and renaissance windows. A little further on your right you see the Chapelle Notre-Dame (5) dating back to the 16th century that is today used as an exhibition space.
Continue to walk through an discover an interesting group of 15th and 16th century buildings (6) with renaissance windows, and two wood frame buildings. On the left a house with sculpted renaissance entrance, a little further the ‘maison à bolet’, with its stone stairs and covered balcony, so typical for winemakers. More wood framed houses and 15th century merchant houses bring you to the ‘viewpoint sur les toits’ (7). Before crossing the bridge back to the monastery you spot a 16th century stairway tower (8) on the right.
This story continues here: La Vicomté de Turenne (III)
Barker E.H., 1893. Wanderings by southern waters : Eastern Aquitaine. As accessed through: Gallica.
‘Pour qui vient de traverser l’austerite du causse de Gramat, Carrennac apparait dans une veritable corolle de verdure, et les toitures du doyenne, luisant de reflets metalises, donnent au vilage l’allure d’un insecte reposant au coeur d’une rose immense dont les petales de feullage s’anouissent jusqu’a la ligne d’horizon’.
Vidal M., Maury J. et Porcher J., 1991. Quercy Roman. Zodiaque, la nuit des temps 10. ISBN: 978-2736901431.
‘Vous avez charmé la déesse en lui expliquant les dangers dont votre courage et votre industrie vous ont tiré. Par là vous n’avez fait qu’enflammer davantage son coeur, et que vous préparer une plus dangereuse captivité. Comment espétez-vous qu’elle vous laisse maintenant sortir de son île, vous qui l’avez enchantée par le récit de vos aventures? L’amour d’une vaine gloire vous a fait parler sans prudence. Elle s’était engagée à vous raconter des histoires, et à vous apprendre quelle a été la destinée d’Ulysse. Elle a trouvé moyen de parler longtemps sans rien dire, et elle vous a engagé à lui expliquer tout ce qu’elle désire savoir. Tel est l’art des femmes flatteuses et passionnées’.
Fénelon, 2022 [1699]. Les aventures de Télémaque, Quatrième livre. Folio classique. ISBN; 978-2-07-039258-2.
‘C’était étonnant vraiment. Il faisait toujours faire la lecture dans le Télémaque. Celivre m’avait beaucoup intrigué quand j’étais tout petit; je me demandais ce que pouvaient être cette terrible passion qui rendait Calypso si malheureuse, et ces feux qui faisaient brûlerle fils d’Ulysse pour la jeune Eucharis. Depuis, je me suis pensé qu’on aurait peut-être trouvé mauvais la peinture de ces amours qui éveillaient l’imagination des enfants, si le livre eût été fait par un écrivain ordinaire; mais non d’un archevêque, de Fénelon, faisait qu’on trouvait ce livre très bien et tout à fait convenable pour apprendre à lire aux enfants’.
Le Roy E., 1969 (1890). Le Moulin du Frau. Les Éditions du Périgord noir, Emmanuel Laymarie.
Aragon L., 2022 [1982]. Les Adieux et autres poème. Gallimard, Collection Poésie (572). ISBN: 978-2-07-045650-5.