LIGUGÉ
(La Vienne) France.
A Benedictine
Abbey 7 km S of Poitiers. The oldest monastery in the
Latin West, it was founded and presided over by Martin
from 361 to 371. Archaeological discoveries have been
made there since 1953 and work continues. The excavations have revealed a unique series of monuments in
eight stages, dating from A.D. 100 to 1100. Many elements
exist in elevation. Two sites, 40 m apart, are known: 1)
a small three-room house with hypocaust and reused
Gallo-Roman material; with a large exedra 32 m in diameter centered on the razed house; an ensemble replaced
by a 5th c. funerary well (St. Martin's cell and votive
exedra?). 2) A 2d c. villa rustica destroyed in 276. Within
a horreum (30.4 x 5.4 m) stood St. Martin's church. At
the E end of the horreum, an unexcavated monument
shows a facade with rough-hewn bases for columns, perhaps a baptistery. In front of the church, a 4th c. cruciform martyrion (S arcade is 5 x 4 m).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Fr. Eygun,
Gallia 12 (1954) 2.380-89; 21 (1963) 2.461-66; 25 (1967) 2.260-62; J. Coquet,
Revue Mabillon (1954) 43-94; id.,
Bull. Soc. nat. des
Antiquaires de France (1956) 98 (also see T. Sauvel
and J. Hubert in same issue); id.,
Revue Mabillon
(1955) 75-147; (1958) 245-48; id.,
Revue du Bas-Poitou
(1958) 95-105; id.,
Revue Mabillon (1960) 109-14;
(1961) 54-75; id.,
Bull. Soc. nat. des Antiquaires de
France (1961) 184-86 (see also Jean Hubert and J.
Doignon in same issue); (1964) 95-96; (1965) 39-40;
(1966) 71-72; id.,
L'intérêt des fouilles de Ligugé (1968);
id.,
Pour une nouvelle date de la crypte Saint-Paul de
Jouarre, Abbaye de Ligugé (1970).
DOM. J. COQUET
