Poitiers - Sainte-Radegonde

Radegonde (aka "Radegund", "Radegundis") was a princess, born in Thuringia around 520. She was married to Chlothar I but left her husband and founded the convent "Sainte-Marie-Hors-les-Murs" in Poitiers around 552. The nunnery was the first and became the most important in the Frankish Empire. After having received a fragment of the "True Cross" from the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, the name of the abbey changed to "Abbaye Sainte-Croix". In 587 Radegonde was buried here. The first church was erected over her tomb.

Radegonde´s remains were exhumed in 1012 for public veneration, what triggered a major pilgrimage to Poitiers. After a major fire, the church was rebuilt. The church of today, constructed from the 11th to 12th centuries, was built in a combination of Romanesque and Gothic styles.

Sculptured corbels line both sides of the nave. Next to this corbel is a mason´s mark (V). It may well be that the person seen here is a working stone mason, maybe an early self-portrait.