Contenu du sommaire : Villes, cathédrales et histoire urbaine

The cathedral and the town in late antiquity and early medieval Gaul The cathedral (ecclesia) is a distinctively urban monument because it is the seat of the bishop who seats usually in the main area of the city he governs, i.e. in town. Unlike the usual affirmation, the first cathedrals were not built outside the towns, in the necropolis, but almost ever in the area where the existing edifices are still located. As far as back the 5th and 6th centuries, the cathedral is the main building of the town. Embedded in an «episcopal group», with several sanctuaries, with the palace of the bishop (domus ecclesiae) and with some offices, it contributes to a deep transformation of the urban landscape. It enforces a reshaping of the urban fabric and helps sometimes the penetration of the deaths amongst the livings. It is one of the most visible signs of the new role of the bishop of the late Antiquity.

Cathedrals and urban fabric in Anglo-Saxon England: a reassesment This paper deals in the first instance with the planning and function of buildings, religious or domestic, integrated within the cathedral closes in Anglo-Saxon England. Anglo-Saxon cathedral closes, contrary to their continental counterparts, lack a specific baptismal space; they include early high status graves within the church and proper secular cemeteries from the middle of the 7th century onwards. Secondly, the interaction between episcopal churches and urban fabric between the 7th and the 10th centuries is examined through a series of case studies, with an emphasis on former Roman cities.

From ‘‘main seat'' to competition. Cathedrals, diocesan cities and structuration of the urban network through the Middle Ages Remaining within the framework of the ‘‘theory of central places,'' this paper intends to demonstrate how the cathedral in medieval times (not only the building itself, but also the double institution of episcopal see and the canonial chapter) took part in the process of construction and structuration of space. The central position of the cathedral plays a primordial role within the diocese were it is, thanks to appropriate ritualistic procedures, the focal point of diocesan fidelity, booth physically and symbolically speaking. However, throughout the Middle Ages, the primacy of the episcopal city and the centrality of the cathedral were threatened by political evolution, the expansion of competitive powers, evolving population trends and the increase in the power of boroughs, small and middlesized towns. The bishops tried as best they could to use the secular and episcopal chapters to control the development of the ‘‘second urban network.'' At the same time, they fought against the centrifugal tendencies, by creating compulsory processions to the mother-church, distributing with spacial balance religious relics, gradually promoving the cathedral as the only episcopal necropolis, and using the rise in the gothic architecture to enhance its visual attributes.

The Dome and the city: Orvieto, 1290-1310 The Dome of Orvieto is well documented thanks to the archives of its vestry. Its architecture is one of the most original of late medieval cathedrals of Italy and this paper intends to relate the different aesthetical choices of the edifice (which seems take place without any coordination) with the political chronology of the site. The construction begins as part of the glorious pontifical patronage because Orvieto was one of the seats of the brilliant and cosmopolitan papal court. Nevertheless, from the middle of the 1290s, the commonalty of Orvieto seizes the control of the vestry and transforms the building in a civic construction and a part of a global program of town planning.

The cathedral of the early modern period is a fondamental part of a town's identity. Its internal space shows the social divisions of the town and their spiritual transformations between the Wars of Religion and the Revolution.

Cathedrals and cities in the New World: Valladolid of Michoacán In the context of a vigorous urbanization of the Spanish Empire, this paper shows the intervention of the cathedral chapter in the organization of the city of Valladolid, head of the bishopric of Michoacán, in the viceroyalty of New Spain [present] Mexico. It was during New Spain's less studied century (1660-1760) that a true system of social organization was there implemented. In other words, the cathedral came to model the ensemble of social relations within the city in four different areas of activity: the celebration of cult, public welfare, educational centers and ecclesiastical money lending. This paper also deals with the artistic expressions of the process under consideration. They center upon the construction of Valladolid's cathedral and on its influence over the city.

A square for the cathedral of Bordeaux: how Saint-André became isolated (1807-1888) The cathedral of Bordeaux has been particularly injured by the construction of a square near around in the 19th century. The road-department works planed from the first empire and realised between 1851 and the end of the eighties, created a gigantic crossing in the middle of whom the cathedral appears more isolated than enhanced. These works also destroyed the annexes of the cathedral which fare the sense of its insertion in the town. The observation of the rules in the building-line is particularly important to understand the realisation of this open space. The plans of the building-line, set up successively by the engineers and the landsurveyors, show the behaviour of the town-councillors and the people of Bordeaux. Moreover, these adjustment works reflect how the urban representation of religious feeling changes at this time.

Notre-Dame of Paris Challenged by the Car In the XXth century, the cathedral of Notre-Dame – as a central and symbolic place in the French capital – faced the radical challenges brought by urban modern life. This paper aims at showing how this historical monument has nevertheless and despite everything been standing up to the impact of secular allday life and to the speeding up related to the diffusion of mass tourism and the spread of mass motorization, especially since 1970. A compromise solution was found indeed to preserve Notre-Dame and its surroundings from the threat of the building of new parkings and expressways made necessary by the increasing traffic. The vigorous reactions of residents drove the local and national authorities, who initially supported the daring plans devised by engineers to review or stop them. As far as urban affairs are concerned, this dialectical process opened out on shaping a new logic and a renewed philosophical approach, at the heart of which lies the necessity to preserve the national urban heritage and to respect the specific features of urbanity in Paris. As far as politics is concerned, the debate on Notre-Dame lead to reshaping the balance of powers in the city.

The supply of livestock in Lyons in the modern times. Bullocks, pigs and sheeps in the calendar. The supplying history of modern times towns is well studied since the sixties. Lyons city, which name is associated with good fooding, is yet stayed out of the research on meat based diet history. This article offers some new informations on the supply of livestock to Lyons in the modern times. We mainly use data of the ‘‘octroi'' on the ‘‘pied fourché'' in the 16th and 18th centuries. We first estimate meat ration in Lyons and discuss this value. Moreover meat consumption has some long trend and other seasonal cycles. The low rhythms' study indicates that the Lyonnais' meat based diet follow the same trend as in other big cities in Europe. The seasonal delivery of different species in town affect short urban rhythms. Finally we can determine the main supplying areas for bullocks, pigs and sheeps.