Note 255 — Chapter VIII · Gothic in the Midi (continued 2)
Reading edition
Congrès Archéologique, 1897, pp. 95, 291, Tarascon; pp. 92, 333, Beaucaire; and 1909, p. 262, Tarascon. The church of St. Martha at Tarascon was dedicated in 1197, but reconstructed in the XIV century. The south portal, with its curious little gallery, is of the XIII century. The honored relics are in the crypt in a heavy tomb of 1650. The simpler sarcophagus that once held them now stands by the side wall. All over France the defeat of paganism by Christian bishop or saint was symbolized by a dragon, and in the course of time the people often took the symbol for reality. The legend of St. Martha’s Tarasque, or dragon, may be of this origin. Louis II d’Anjou began the castle of Tarascon, which was decorated by good King René. At Beaucaire, across the Rhone, is a tower built by St. Louis. The international fair of Beaucaire was famous. “Aucassin was of Beaucaire, of a goodly castle there”:
“’Tis of Aucassin and Nicolette.... The song has charm, the tale has grace, And courtesy and good address. No man is in such distress, Such suffering or weariness, Sick with ever such sickness, But he shall, if he hear this, Recover all his happiness, So sweet it is!”
Turn to that cante-fable of the XIII century, and live again the Midi’s days of chivalry. Turn to that XIX-century masterpiece of satirical generous humor, Tartarin de Tarascon, more likely to survive than many a more pretentious tale, so gay it is.
F. W. Bourillon, éd. and tr. of Aucassin et Nicolette (Oxford, 1896).