COSEDIA
later CONSTANTIA (Coutances) Manche,
France.
A plausible tradition links Constantia
with Constantius Chlorus, who was first Caesar then
emperor in A.D. 292-306. In the 4th c. A.D. the city appears in the
Notitia provinciarum along with those of
Lugdunensis secunda, and in the
Notitia Dignitatum as
the residence of the praefectus militum primae Flaviae.
With the coming of Christianity it became the seat of
a diocese, still in existence. Historians identify Constantia with Cosedia, mentioned in the
Peutinger Table
and the
Antonine Itinerary. It was in the territory of
the Unelli but apparently was not their capital before
the conquest or during the Early Empire. In Diocletian's
reign military necessity forced Alauna (Alleaume) or
Crociatonnum (Carentan) to be abandoned in favor
of Cosedia, which then changed its name.
The ancient settlement was built on top of a long,
fairly steep hill 91 m high, and on part of its slopes. It
was not thickly settled, and the houses were built chiefly
of light materials; in the 1st c. A.D. The town covered
27-30 ha, but diminished in the next centuries. Two
bath complexes have been located, but no important
monument; some fragments of wall frescos have been
found but no statues or inscriptions. The city plan does
not follow the classical pattern; the Roman road from
Coriovallum (Cherbourg) to Condate (Rennes) passes
through it as well as several older roads. Traces of a
mediaeval rampart can still be seen, but some remains
of walls found near the cathedral suggest that there was
a fortified redoubt in antiquity, covering ca. 1.5 ha.
Ruins of an aqueduct seem to be mediaeval; a shallow
water-bearing stratum formerly fed a number of wells.
Commerce was facilitated by the proximity of the sea,
12 km away, and in the 1st c. the city imported considerable quantities of delicate pottery and amphorae from Italy and southern Gaul.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
M. Le Pesant, “Les origines antiques
de Coutances,”
Revue du département de la Manche 17
(1963) 6-37.
M. LE PESANT
