Our first Medieval City
After morning classes we went to Auxerre, the capital of the Yonne, one of four départements that make up the Region of Burgundy in modern France ("modern" = since the French Revolution in 1790).
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We met the guide for our walking tour of Auxerre on the footbridge that spans the Yonne River. In the background is St. Stephen's Cathedral, and just below it, the former bishop's palace, now the HQ of the Préfet, who is the representative of the federal government in the département of the Yonne.
Some of the many timber-framed houses in Auxerre, here built with stone foundations or even a lower floor in stone.
Didier, our guide, is explaining some of the history of St. Stephen's cathedral, a 13th and 14th c. structure.
The vault of the cathedral crypt has a fresco of "Christ on a White Horse", the only known representation of its type.
After the walking tour, the students had several hours of free time to explore the city on their own.
Some discovered things they had learned about in class that morning - that the tanning process (of hides, to make leather or parchment) was a repulsively smelly process, and always located near a river. Street names still reflect the medieval activities that took place there.
At the end of the day the group gathered - where else? - in a riverside cafe in the St. Nicolas quarter of the city.
Each student has done research on a saint, and Mairin taught the class about St. Nicolas, a bishop who is (among other things) the patron saint of sailors. He also made anonymous gifts of gold to a family of poor girls whose father could not afford dowries - not hard to see how he metamorphosed into Santa Claus.
Message: Thank you for all of these wonderful photos and narratives. Please tell Mairin that her Mom said "bravo"!