The last centuries of Antiquity were marked by the spread of Christianity and its growing influence on Western societies. Its expansion was encouraged by the members of the clergy that was being set up, as well as by the circulation of people and ideas within an Empire that made it its official religion in 380. While private devotion played an important role, it was the faith lived out in community (in the original sense of “Ecclesia”) that lay at the heart of Christian practices. The needs of worship gradually led to the construction of specific places of worship, churches and oratories, which could be adorned and equipped with facilities designed to ensure the liturgy ran smoothly: altar, baptistery, chancel, relics repository, etc. These infrastructures developed along many different paths throughout Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages, when ecclesiastical institutions were being established. In Gaul, the first churches seem to have been built a little later than in Italy or the East. A recent study has been carried out on these early churches in the dioceses of Bordeaux, Bazas and Agen (Ehrhard 2020).

From the end of the fourth century or the beginning of the following century, Christian buildings were erected in the interior of the cities, where the first bishops were established, while large funerary and martyrdom basilicas were built in the suburbia (suburbs). In Bordeaux, the episcopal group was established to the south-west of the late 3rd-century city walls; in the suburbs, the basilica dedicated to saint Seurin, one of the first bishops, was built on an ancient necropolis. In the countryside, a series of churches with a variety of functions gradually took shape over several centuries (Cartron 2023).

The earliest rural foundations are known mainly from written sources (narrative, normative, epigraphic) and their material traces are rare. These monuments may have been built in stone, but also in earth or wood, perishable materials that are often poorly preserved. The stability of the foundations may also have made them difficult to identify, as these churches have been rebuilt and modified over the centuries and are not often the subject of archaeological research. It is therefore on the basis of a partial vision (foundations, the beginnings of elevations, salvaged trenches, negatives of fixtures and fittings in perishable materials, fragments of decoration, etc.) that we need to reflect on the volumes, openings, ornamental programmes, structuring of spaces, circulation patterns and uses that governed these early places of worship.

Rural Christian churches are extremely diverse, ranging from single buildings of modest dimensions to vast complexes made up of several buildings. These may consist of a simple quadrangular room (as at Jau-Dignac-et-Loirac in the Médoc, see map chapter 9) or adopt a basilica layout with a nave, apse and even transept, with possible galleries and annexes such as the church of Sainte-Cécile de Loupian in the Languedoc region. This variety testifies to the absence of clearly defined standards in the early days of Christianity, leading to a proliferation of influences and experiments. It also reflects different functions (pastoral, baptismal, monastic, funerary, cult of a saint, etc.), which may be associated with separate constructions or the same building. The identification of certain features (presence of a baptistery, objects linked to Christian worship, burials around the church) can help to determine their use and the public who frequented them (Schneider 2014).

Lastly, this diversity reflects the diversity of the people who built these churches: bishops, lay elites, family or monastic groups. For example, some churches were more private (such as the oratory at the Villa de Séviac at Montréal-du-Gers), while others were more intended to welcome the faithful or for monks to meditate in (Gaillard 2014). All played a part in spreading the Christian faith in the countryside and helping it to take root. Often located on high ground and visible from afar, these buildings became landmarks for people, whose daily lives gradually became punctuated by the cycle of Christian celebrations and feasts.

These community gathering places were not just places of devotion, but also places of exchange and sanctuary (under the protection of saints and relics). Some of them became veritable centres of power, endowed with possessions and privileges, and spread out over a wide area within complex networks. The study of these early Christian foundations, combining written sources and archaeological evidence, reveals the many political, economic, cultural and social issues at stake, all of which bear witness to the growing role of these new churches in Gaul.

References

• Cartron, I., 2023: “Églises et espaces funéraires ruraux du premier Moyen Age en Gaule : rythmes d’une transition vers le cimetière ecclésial chrétien”, in: Cuchet, G., Laubry, N. & Lauwers, M. (dir.), Transitions funéraires en Occident. Une histoire des relations entre morts et vivants de l’Antiquité à nos jours, Bibliothèque de l’Ecole Française de Rome, 613, p. 261-288.
• Ehrhardt, C., 2020: Bâtir une église, fonder une mémoire, asseoir une autorité. Lieux de culte et représentations du passé dans les campagnes des anciens diocèses de Bordeaux, Bazas et Agen au premier Moyen Âge (IV^e-XI^e siècle), thèse de doctorat, Bordeaux.
• Gaillard, M. (dir.), 2014: L’empreinte chrétienne en Gaule du IV^e au IX^e siècle, Turnhout.
• Schneider, L., 2014: Les églises rurales de la Gaule (V^e-VIII^e siècle). Les monuments, le lieu et l’habitat : des questions de topographie et d’espace, in: Gaillard 2014, p. 419-468.