Lucky me! I have just returned from a trip to south-west France, a landscape peppered with mediaeval villages on top of pointy hills. Everyone, seems to reside in a 14th century stone house, including my sister who rents one, in the Lot Valley.
We arranged excursions to several picturesque villages including Agen, the prune capitol of the world, and Figeac to visit the Champollion Museum. Jean-Francois Champollion (1790-1832) deciphered the Rosetta stone, thus enabling scholars to translate Egyptian hieroglyphics. A pilgrimage, for me, as Egyptology is of one of my special interests. We travelled on to Albi where the mammoth Cathedrale Sainte-Cecile d’Albi, high up above the Tarn River, dwarfs every other monument in that region of France. And that is exactly what was intended. In fact, it is the largest brick building in the world. Bernard de Castenet, Bishop of Albi and Inquisitor of Languedoc, ordered the building of the Albi church in 1287. It was constructed, as a fortress, to cement the power of the Roman Catholic church after the Cathars, a 13th Puritan movement, attempted to undermine the stranglehold the papacy and its brutal clergy had on the people of France. Their beliefs are known, collectively as the Albigensisan Heresy. Rome mounted a cruel crusade against the Cathars, lasting 20 years. It pitted the RC north against the “heretic” Cathari south. After the slaughter of thousands, it ended with the defeat of the Cathari. Interestingly, Sainte-Cecile, was finished in 1480, three years before Martin Luther was born. My first thought when I saw Castenet’s impenetrable stronghold was of Luther’s hymn, A Mighty Fortress is our God. I noted the irony of the stout bricks-and-mortar church, built to protect the Church of Rome’s assets, versus the spirituality of Luther’s hymn that marks the God Head as the mighty fortress. When Luther wrote the hymn, in 1529, the Spanish Inquisition was still active and all heretics, like the former priest Luther, were in constant danger. Looking over Luther’s hymn, the meaning of the military stance becomes clear after visiting Albi. He describes God as “a bulwark never failing” and thus a protection against the evils of the corrupt Catholic church and its sale of indulgences. “For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe: His craft and power are great, And armed with cruel hate.” Those lines, pretty well, summed up the Bishop, Bernard de Castenet, and his ilk.
Inside this forbidding structure every inch is brightly decorated. It surely boasts one of the most lavish interiors on the planet. The artisanship, opulence and artistry is on par with the richness of the decorative arts at the Vatican. Imagine being a disenfranchised serf, from a filthy hovel, entering this fairy land – an ecclesiastical Disney Land! Certainly, the vivid colours, gold gilding and size alone would be awesome and weekly church-going the only respite from a bleak hopeless life.
Inside the cathedral there is a large fresco portrait of Sainte-Cecile. She is depicted as a beautiful young woman with flowing blonde hair and a crown of flowers. Her martyrdom is as convoluted, a story, as is the history of France in the Middle Ages. Apparently Cecile was a Roman aristocrat who converted to Christianity. Some say she was stoned to death, other sources say the Roman emperor sent a crew to behead her. Apparently she was smitten three times in the neck, with a sword, but it took her three days to die. Today we know St. Cecilia as the patron saint of music.
For the record, Albi Cathedral was designated an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010. (It is truly sensational and it’s worth Googling photographs.)
On a lighter note Albi is also the home of artist Toulouse-Lautrec. A museum filled with his pictures, featuring tawdry cancan girls and handsome roués at the Moulin Rouge, is a delight. Photos of Lautrec in Gay Paree, during La Belle Epoque, turned out to be exactly the right antidote to the realities of the bloody religious power struggles in the Mediaeval France.
RED CABBAGE WITH AGEN PRUNES AND WALNUTS
Both prunes and walnuts are grown around Argen, not far from Albi. This traditional dish is served with duck, ham and pork in the best bistros. It’s also a perfect picnic dish when served at room temperature.
INGREDIENTS
1 medium red cabbage, shredded.
1 large onion, chopped.
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
7 oz (200g) broken walnuts.
9 oz (250g) pitted (Argen) prunes, chopped finely
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar. 4 tbsp caster sugar
A large blob of butter
Grated fresh nutmeg, to taste
1 cinnamon stick and two cloves tied together
METHOD
In a large frying pan, fry the onion, in the butter, until softened. Add garlic and cabbage. Stir thoroughly. Add vinegar, sugar and nutmeg. Stir and add 2 cups boiling water. Place the cinnamon bundle on top. Cover pan and simmer for an hour. Stir from time to time.
Discard cinnamon and cloves. Add prunes and walnuts to cabbage. Add a bit more water and simmer for another half hour. There should be no liquid left. If watery, remove lid, turn up heat and stir until liquid evaporates.
