Church and settlement in southern France in the 5^th to 10^th centuries

Links between church and settlement in the south of France have lead up to many considerations in view of the centuries immediately following the field of our study. During the 5^th-10^th centuries, places of worship and housing were closely related to each other, even if they sometimes did not have any straight spatial connection. According to various archaeological sources, it is clear that the setting up of a place of worship was associated with a settlement and even reinforced it; on the other hand, settlement was affected by both stability and mutation in comparison with the former centuries. As the topic of rural communities has been widely studied these last years, it seems important today to reconsider the place of private churches over a large time scale. The question is furthermore linked to that of cemeteries. Even if only partially complete, the evidence for trends during the 5^th-10^th centuries will certainly change our view of the 11^th-12^th centuries for which the importance of their legacy is far from being secondary.