Autour de l'identification des mausolées : le cas de Saint-Seurin de Bordeaux

According to the medieval historical tradition, Saint-Seurin was the city of Bordeaux’ oldest Christian church. This idea influenced the orientation of all researches from the 19^thcentury until the 1980s. From 1995 onwards, new research led to forget the idea that St-Seurin’s church had been the first cathedral of Bordeaux. Recent study of the documentation from the excavations undertaken during the 20^thcentury, and the re-examination of the wall of constructions unearthed to the south of the church have enlightened its development around a Late Antique mausoleum belonging to a 4^thcent. necropolis. We are now able to understand the development of this mausoleum, which later became the core of the medieval crypt linked to the memory of bishop Seurin. The funerary context of the origin of Saint-Seurin is now well understood, but the chronology of the different phases of its development remains to be clarified.