Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Angouleme Cathedral yields up some astonishing secrets

On November 3  a lead casket was dug up  from beneath a slab in the transept of the cathedral. According to archeological and historical experts (as reported in the 'Charente Libre' December 5 2011) the three skeletons that the casket contained are without any doubt, those of the grandparents and father of Francis I of France (born 1494 at Cognac). It seems that the bodies of the three were hacked up by the Huguenots. After things 'calmed down' the faithful collected all the pieces and reassembled them for burial in a secret location. And there they stayed for almost six centuries until a few weeks ago. It makes me wonder what is underneath St Romain church. There is known to have been  a church on the site since the time of Charlemagne.

More details when I've found time to study the newspaper report in detail, not easy at this time of year!............  

5 comments:

Annie said...

That's fascinating!

pelerin said...

Thanks for that information Jane. Have just read the report from the Charente-Libre with pictures. The internet is wonderful although one thing leads to another and I ended up on an archaeology site which showed pictures from the Chartres digs which I watched some years back. A car park was being dug and Gallo-Roman skeletons were being discovered.

Archaeology has always been one of my interests and I have clicked to receive news of future articles of digs in France! Have you read the comments on the Angouleme discovery on the newspaper site? Some doubt that the bones are of the father and grandparents of Francois 1er. I wonder how the report is so sure.

Jane said...

Pelerin:

Will get back to you on this as soon as possible.

pelerin said...

Apologies for being off topic but thanks to your sidebar I learnt that the lady who is believed to have seen Our Lady at Banneux in Belgium was buried today.

She was 90 and died on the 2nd December. I have seen no mention on the English Catholic blogosphere at all so far. I don't think this Belgian shrine is known here. I knew nothing about it until I looked it up today following your link.

Jane said...

Pelerin: Yes I know. I really must do a series about French and Belgian Shrines. In the 90s I assembled details of many of them, going back to Rocamdaour and Le Puy, but then did nothing. Still have the research notes though. On va voir!