Note 244 — Chapter VIII · Gothic in the Midi (continued 2)

To the northwest of Montpellier, near Aniane, is St. Guilhem-le-Désert, with blind niches in its exterior apse wall that derive from such Lombard churches as S. Ambrogio at Milan. Lombard towers, arched corbel tables, and mural arcaded bands passed from northern Italy into Languedoc. The early intersecting ribs here were exceptional for the Midi in being profiled. The nave and aisles are of the first half of the XI century, the chevet and transept of the early XII, as is the cloister, which once had a second story. The narthex was built from 1165 to 1199. The first duke of Aquitaine, Aliénor’s ancestor, died here, a monk. Congrès Archéologique, 1906, p. 384; “L’église abbatiale de St. Guilhem-le-Désert,” Émile Bonnet; Joseph Bédier, Les légendes épiques, vol. 1, “St. Guillaume de Gellone” (Paris, H. Champion, 1908-13), 4 vols.