Collégiale Saint-Martin de Champeaux

Champeaux

Sole surviving witness to a celebrated college of twelve canons that welcomed some of the leading theologians of the Middle Ages, this Rayonnant Gothic collegiate church rivals the great cathedrals of the region in its dimensions, while remaining little known to the general public. Its construction, spread between 1160 and 1315 with a fifty-year interruption for lack of funds, illustrates the main stages in the evolution of the Gothic style, from its beginnings to the Rayonnant. At the very beginning of the 12th century, the philosopher and theologian William of Champeaux, famous for having been the teacher of the young Peter Abelard, was a canon of this collegiate church before becoming bishop of Châlons. In the 16th century Antoine Sanguin de Meudon, known as the Cardinal de Meudon, grand almoner to King Francis I and archbishop of Toulouse, was in turn a canon of Champeaux. In September 1652, in the middle of the Fronde, three regiments looted the church, destroyed part of the archives and burned the portal. A tradition recorded in the chronicles of Saint-Denis even traces the origins of the site back to Saint Fara, who is said to have bequeathed land at Champeaux as early as 634.

Getting there : Free admission

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound