Antiquité Tardive - Late Antiquity - Spätantike - Tarda Antichità

This is an attempt to present a status quaestionis tracing the parallel development of archeological evidence and its interpretation: 1) at the beginning of this century, the discovery of the problem (Niemann, Gnirs. Egger) following the excavations at Aquileia, Salona and Hemmaberg; - 2) R. Krautheimer's first theory (1936) regarding the case of Pavia, mainly based on mediaeval tradition and liturgical texts from Northern Italy; 3) the extension of those problematics to early mediaeval France (J. Hubert) and mediaeval Russia (A. Grabar (1938-1943); — 4) the excavations at Milano as interpreted by A. Capitano d'Arzago, and the diggings at Trier following the cathedral's bombing during WW II; - 5) the emergence of a general reflection among early mediaevalist circles and J. Hubert's first synthesis (1951); the renewal of researches at Aquileia (M. Mirabella Roberti, G. C. Menis, P.-L. Zovatto et L. Bertacchi) and in the Adriatic area; - 6) the German school's interest in double churches in relation to churches with a double sanctuary: double absides and Westwerk (Lehmann, Bandmann, Buauerreis, Radnoti, Jacobsen); - 7) J. Hubert's new synthesis following the discoveries at Geneva (1962), and from then onwards the many investigations made in the Gallic area, altogether infield excavations (Geneva, Grenoble, Lyon, Rouen, l'Isle-Joudain), on texts and mediaeval monuments (mainly in Provence, from P.-A. Février to Y. Codou and M. Fixot) and on the mediaeval topography of episcopal cities; - 8) the reappraisal of the Italian double cathedrals from 1966 onwards (Fonseca-Violante, P. Testini, G. Cantino-Wataghin, P. Piva); — 9) the progress of researches in the Adriatic and Southern Alps areas (Hemmaberg, Vranje, Dalmatia); the problem of the Aquileian patriarcate 's influence on those regions (R. Bratož) and that of rural groups of double churches (F. Glaser, P. Chevalier); — 10) the examination of the most recent attempts to present a synthesis: J.-P. Sodini (1984), P. Peterson Henriks (1989), P. Piva (1990, revised in 1994), E. van Welie (1993). The provisional conclusion mentions the documentation from other regions and presents a list of questions. An atlas of ca. 30 plans of well known and frequently-mentioned cases constitutes the visual documentation for the entire volume, in addition to the illustrations of each specific contribution.

The author begins with some thoughts on vocabulary: ecclesia usually refers to the community of the faithful and not to the building, a rather late meaning of the word; ecclesia mater is a metaphor or later designates the mother church of a diocese, not the main building of a group of churches; ecclesia major does not necessarily imply a ecclesia minor. He stresses also that the common distinction in the 4th and 5th centuries between fideles and catechumeni may have had consequences for the physical organization of the church. The author then reviews some liturgical documents. The ordines from Trier, Paris and Lyon are not earlier than the 13th century and make no distinction between liturgical function for different buildings. The ordines from Milan and a church in northern Italy (probably Aquileia according to G. C. Menis and P. Piva) mention the separate distinction in the 11th century (since when ?) between ecclesia hiemalis and ecclesia aestiva and allude to scrutini for the catechumens, who, however, were children at this time. The medieval distinction between ecclesia clericorum and ecclesia laicorum is linked to the internal division of the main building by the rood-screen. The notion of cura animarum is a modern one. The cult of martyrs does not necessarily imply a separate church, since the Eucharist is also celebrated in those churches dedicated to a martyr. The distinction between the liturgy of the Word and the liturgy of the Eucharist is valid only for the Early Church and implies separate locations for the fideles and the catechumeni, not buildings for the two liturgies. The liturgy of baptism during the Easter Vigil may have implied different spaces.

I - The author sets out to examine the theory, which is based, in part, on a passage from the Itinerarium Egeriae, and which concerns the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, according to which the "Martyrium" is thought to have been the site of the first part of the Mass (the Liturgy of the Word), whereas the eucharistic rite was celebrated within the "Anastasis". This thesis, favoured by liturgists, was generally applied to "double cathedrals". Most recent historiography, however, has demonstrated that, whereas the oblatio was celebrated within the Martyrium, a lengthened or repeated, "oblatio" took place within the Anastasis. In the second part of the article, the author, taking into consideration information from Jerusalem and Milan, and reasoning on the basis of wider considerations within the history of liturgy, attempts to demonstrate that even the double episcopal churches of Trier and Aquileia, from the time of the Constantinian Peace, corresponded to the double character of early Christian worship (Sunday eucharist - weekday liturgical offices of praise and intercession). The larger church was intended principally for festive Masses, the smaller churches for the daily offices of matins and vespers. II - Re-examining an ordo scrutinomm, perhaps from the sixth century (within its original nucleus), and the "Testamentum Domini" (5th century), in addition to the Itinerarium Egeriae (4th century), the author maintains that there were no sites specifically intended for the instruction of the competentes. Instead, such instruction took place within the episcopal church during Lent. The more advanced catechumens and the competentes were allowed to participate in the Liturgy of the Word and in the daily offices of lauds, along with the faithful. Even acknowledging that fixed rules did not necessarily exist concerning the practices of the 'liturgical year', it can be said that in the case of the "double cathedral", the larger church was utilised for the instruction of the competentes, and the smaller church for the catechesis of neophytes during the Easter Octave (Jerusalem).

Focusing on the disagreement between Corbo and Couasnon on the archaeological reconstruction of the "Anastasis", and using the most recent historiography (Bermejo Cabrera), the author confirms the "status" of the complex of the Holy Sepuichre at Jerusalem as "double cathedral". The testimony of Egeria reveals that the Martyrium or ecclesia maior was primarily the site of festive Eucharists, and the "Anastasis", the location of the daily offices of Lauds. Zerfass demonstrated that this was the true and proper "cathedral" liturgy at Jerusalem, resembling the "stational" liturgy typical of sanctuaries.

Jacques Le Maho, who conducts since ten years an excavation around the cathedral, presents in this paper a new hypothesis about early churches in Rouen. Before and after WW II, remains of the cathedral's Romanesque apse and a deep installation in front of the Gothic transept were found. It is not an Early Christian altar, as previously believed, but more likely a crypte baldaquin belonging to the tenth-century church. During the recent excavation, a church with three aisles and part of a portico were discovered north of the cathedral. This new church can be dated to the second half of the fourth century and lies over a later Roman domus, whose baths (including the hot room, but not the pools) have been reused. A 10m. wide rotunda (only the foundations remain) was later constructed inside the central nave. This construction cannot be the baptistery, that lies more to the south, according to medieval tradition, but more probably a Carolingian martyrium, maybe the one built for the relics which bishop Vitrice honors in a speech dated 395-396. In this homily, Victrice speaks of a new basilica, still unfinished, that might be the three nave church. In this case, the first cathedral of Rouen still lies under the present one. According to the ancient Medieval tradition, the northern church was dedicated to Saint Stephen, whereas the ecclesia had been to Notre Dame from the very Merovingian period.

The author re-examines the Church of the Holy Cross which, following the thesis of J. Hubert, was first thought to be part of an Early Christian double church on the site of the cathedral group. Now he identifies the northern room with a heating system on the site of the future Holy Cross Church as a reception hall (perhaps linked to the episcopal church on the model of the cathedral group at Geneva revealed by C. Bonnet). The double cathedral (with a baptistery between the two churches) would either be of Carolingian, possibly Merovingien date. According to the author, the baptistery dates from tire fourth century: one wonders where the main church was before the fifth century and if a second one existed.

The present arrangement of the cathedral, as well as medieval tradition and the dual dedication to St Vincent (now St Hugh) and Notre Dame, are reminiscent of a double church, until now considered medieval one, founded by Charlemagne himself according to legend. Scholars have long thought that the ancient cathedral was located outside the walls in Saint-Laurent. Jean Hubert and Paul-Albert Fevrier were the first to suggest that the origin of the double church might be older than medieval, but they lacked proof: an undated apse in the eastern side of the cloister south of Notre-Dame and a complex stratigraphy under St Hugues were juged insufficient proof. Since 1989, part of the tetrarchic curtain wall and a portion of the "Viennoise" gateway, a forth century construction built against this wall and a small funerary area were found in an excavation in front of the cathedral and suggested a Christian occupation as early as the fourth century. Anyhow from the very fifth century there existed a baptistery in front of the present cathedral: originally rectangular, endowed with an eastern apse, thereafter turned in a tetraconch. Meanwhile, the baptismal pool became narrower in depth and breadth. Light traces of the northern and eastern arcades of an atrium, in front of what could have been an ancient double cathedral, have been discovered.

The succession of developments in the Geneva episcopal group from the TV"1 century to the Carolingian period enables us to study differentiated liturgical fittings and a move towards a more and more visual liturgy. The author concludes that each church had his own function.

In this paper, F. Wible and H.-G. Lehner provide the conclusions of a report on the excavation conducted in the parish church of Martigny, the capital of Valais in Roman times and bishopric from the fourth to sixth century. The parish church lies outside the Roman town o/Forum Claudii Vallensianum. The first likely Christian building included two rooms, each with an eastward-facing exedra, belonging to an unidentified Roman building. In one of them, there was a pool which the authors think was a baptistery, whereas the condition of the other does not allow us to interpret its function. The first clearly double church, in the end of the fourth century, consisted of two rectangular rooms (15,40 x 7,70 north and 15,40 x 6 south) further extended by rectangular apses. The excavation revealed the complex development of the church: the baptistery, first included in the south church, was removed when the apse, which had a passage outside, was built; traces of later installations were also noted: a chancel screen in the north church, a semi-circular wall inside the two apses, a portico or gallery in front of the west side, additional constructions (parekklesion ?); one of which is a long narrow building with an absidal chapel, full of graves. In Carolingian times, the north church was rebuilt but the south church was deserted; later, the plan of the Romanesque church was still a double church with a large nave and only one aisle with an apse. In the seventeenth century, this arrangement completely vanished in a now westwardfacing church.

The author directed an excavation on the ancient and medieval site «/Mutatio Bucconis, later called "Use" in medieval times, and abandoned in the twelfth century, when the castle was transferred to Lisle- Jourdain. In the vicinity of the Roman road, two funerary areas have been found, one of which is a small Prankish cemetery. An important Christian group developed in the main funerary enclosure: a church rebuilt in the fifth or sixth century and then in the First Middle Age, and a targe building with two apses, containing a baptistery, and probably deserted in the sixth or seventh century but rebuilt as a church once in the tenth century, then in the eleventh. We still do not know if this important baptismal and pastoral center, previously unknown, was ever been used as a double church.

Northern Italy plays a leading role in the discussion on the "double churches", which actually arose from the results of the excavations in the precincts ofAquileia's basilica and ofKrautheimer's analysis of the tradition on Pavia's cathedral. In the long run, the presence of a Early Christian group consisting of two churches has been maintained for many episcopal cities of the region, often on the ground of later evidence, mainly the early medieval or even medieval organisation and/or double dedication of the cathedral. As a matter of fact, the archaeological evidence is limited to a minority of cities (Aquileia, Brescia, Concordia, Grade, Nesazio, Parenzo, Pola, Verona, Trento, Zuglio, to which we can add Pavia and Torino, where a double cathedral in the fifth century is suggested by reliable sources); it presents, moreover, many problems concerning the relative and absolute chronology, the structural development, the function of the two buildings. With the exception of the Theodoras 'complex ofAquileia, these seem to be in general of different dimensions, at times of different plan (Concordia), and constructed in successive times; the side by side setting of the two churches seems prevailing. It is worth remarking that the series includes a complex which was not a cathedral (Nesazio), on the other hand it does not extend to the diocesis of the Ravenna's metropolis.

Focusing on Slovene territory, the author examines recently discovered or questionable double churches. He particularly studies the possible function of complex groups; even if he does not deny that some of very small cities might have been bishoprics, he believes that most of them were centers of regional pilgrimages. Concerning a possible influence from Aquileia on the Slovene churches, the author refutes it: they where built when the double church was not longer in use atAquiieia and their architectural organization does not follow the Aquileian pattern.

The Hemmaberg is (with modern designation) a centre of worship, that has gained entry to the archaeological literature since the beginning of our century thanks to R. Egger's publication. Since that time a double church (with a baptistery) has been known (beginning of &''century). The resumption of excavations further resulted in an other church being the origin of the centre of worship (beginning of 5"' century) and another pair of churches - one of them including a baptismal font (beginning of'6'h century). The author exspect.s a differentiation of eucharistic, martyrological and baptismal functions that can be seen at both of the two double churches. Therefore he suggests there were two different Christian communities. Out of consideration for the dating (concurrently with the affiliation o/Noricum to the kingdom of Theodoric) it could have been a Catholic and an Arian (of course a Gothic) Christian community. Big preserved mosaic areas are exhibited in the local museum of Globasnitz and show a clear relation to the common motives in Mediterranean Area (Aquileia, Grado, San Canzian d'lsonz.o, Ravenna).

Double churches with or without side annexes are quite common in the Roman province of Dalmatia, Sixteen double churches — or 5 % of the inventory of Dalmatia — were recorded in our work (with two in Salona; three more are hypothetical). Few churches were built at one time, more at different times. In the latter case, there may be an influence exercised by Salona and the wish to reproduce the churches of its episcopal group on a smaller scale. Other motivations must be taken into account; they can be of liturgical (baptismal, funerary, martyrial) and practical kind. But none were generally prouved. We have few examples with liturgical furnishings almost fully preserved in both buildings, showing similar functions.

Thanks to J.P. Sodini and G. Tate, three new groups from North Syria can be added to the repertoire of double churches. Jn each of the three cases, the churches (different in shape and dimensions) were constructed in stages around a central courtyard in a village community. The lack of proportions between the buildings and the surrounding community and the late development of the martyrial installations suggest the adoption of a model of double churches on a pilgrimage road. Some specialists present at Grenoble did not identify these groups as double churches. However, they are interesting cases to discuss.