The village of Saintes Maries de la Mer is famous for its fortified church and as a place of great pilgrimage. According to Provençal legend, in 40AD, Marie Jocobé, Marie Salomé and their slave Sarah were chased from Jerusalem and abandoned to the waves in a boat without the aid of a sail or oars. They survived and arrived at the shore of the Camargue. Many years later, the area became a pilgrimage site and Gypsies from afar developed a special veneration for Sarah. A vast Gypsy Celebration is held each year on May 24 and 25 dating back to the Middle Ages.
The fortified church has massive crenellated exterior walls surmounted by a keep-like structure on the upper chapel. It is the gateway to the Camargue and Provence much to the delight of plunders who used it as a bridgehead. In the event of a seige, the church not only protected the relics of the two Saint Maries and Saint Sarah which it housed, but also the local population. A freshwater well inside the church allowed the people to survive under seige.
We really enjoyed driving around the Camargue as it is also a beautiful nature reserve where birds, especially flamingos, abound. Camargue wild and semi wild horses are easily seen grazing in the marshes. We continued on to Aigues-Mortes, a fortified city with 13th century ramparts. The town was develped in 1240 by Louis IX, St. Louis, who was preparing to set out on a crusade to liberate Jerusalem. At this time France was not unified and did not possess a Mediterranean seaport. A local monastery hearing of his intended voyage, presented him with a small fishing village at the end of an isthmus known as Dead or Still Waters-Aigues Mortes. The King constructed the Constance Tower to defend the harbor. In 1248 Louis set sail with a fleet of 38 ships on the Seventh Crusade. After a long campaign in Egypt and a second in Palestine, but both unsuccessful, he returned to France. He set out again from Aigues-Mortes in 1270 for Tunis on the Eighth Crusade where he died of the plague.
No comments:
Post a Comment