Come stroll with me...

…through the streets of the city of Mende as I follow in the footsteps of my character, Jacques Forêt…

In my post last month I left you in place Chaptal, which sits to one side of the cathedral in the old heart of the city.  Today I'm picking up from there and taking you inside the cathedral.

Although there are traces of habitation here dating from 200 BC, Mende as we know and see it today, mostly dates from the Middle Ages.  As early as the 3rd Century, Mende was a village in the shadow of Mont Mimat where Saint Privat had taken refuge and lived as a hermit.  The invading Alamans tortured the Saint and left him for dead.  The Mendois recovered his body and built the first church/monument to him on the site of his death on Mont Mimat.

It wasn't until the 14th century that the cathedral was commissioned by Pope Urbain V and construction began in 1368.  The original bell towers were matched, but during the Religious Wars, when Capitaine Matthieu Merle marched through with his Huguenot soldiers and took the city, one of the towers was destroyed.  The bell that it contained - forged in Villefort and reputed to be the largest of it's time - was melted down to create ammunition by the invaders. The replacement mismatched tower dates from the late 16th century.

But let's step inside.  Photographs really can't do this fabulous edifice justice, and without a Cherry Picker, it's almost impossible to capture the beauty of the 18th century Aubusson tapestries that adorn the walls of the nave.  However, you can take a virtual tour of the catherdral Here

Out on the street again and I'm going to circle around the back of the basilica into rue du Soubeyran.  Jacques' route from place Chaptal takes him a short distance along this street and into rue de la Jarretière.  This is one of the narrowest streets in the city, it is also one of the oldest.  The name means street of the Garter as in the Royal Order of the Garter in the UK.  In the mid-fourteenth century a garter was a male item of clothing and perhaps some or most of the establishments originally on this street manufactured such items for the gentlemen of the town to wear.

What I want to show you is one of the magnificent ancient doorways that you can find at various points throughout the city.  This a 17th century gate to an Ursuline convent.  The convent was founded in 1635 with the stated purpose to provide education for the daughters of the wealthy nobleman living in and around the city.  The original building was destroyed by fire in 1905, but the gateway has been preserved.  And a good job too, because there is something quite unique about this entrance.  Just check out the stone balustrade that sits above the doorway and separates the pediment from the lintel.  I always thought balustrades were meant for leaning or sitting on whilst one admired the garden or the view beyond, so, this doorway begs a question.  Four hundred years ago, when the average height of a 17th century man was around 1.6m (5 foot 6), who would have been tall enough to lean on that particular balustrade???  Perhaps it was just a passing fashionable fad!  However, if doors are your thing, then the Tourist Office has a leaflet with a guided route to walk if you wish to meander through the streets in the hope of finding more oddities.

For Jacques, history is not on his mind when he visits this street.  He has a rogue market trader that he is determined to track down.

You can follow Jacques around other parts of the city of Mende and the surrounding countryside Here and Here

You can read more about his new case next week and on November 29th.