Agen - Cathédrale Saint-Caprais d'Agen

The Gallo-Roman city of Aginnum, which existed here, was very populated and had an amphitheater that could accommodate more than 10,000 people. From the end of the 3rd century , the chronicles relate the martyrdoms of Saint Caprais and Saint Foy, who are said to be buried in Aginnum. The first known bishop, named Phébade, is documented a century later.
Over the following centuries, Agen was invaded by the Vandals, the Visigoths, and the Franks before being attacked by the Vikings in the 9th century. Historians have noted three invasions: in 843, 853, and the last in 922. A great loss for Agen was when at the end of the 9th century monks from Conques could steal the relics of St. Foy and transfer them to Conques (where they still are).

In the 13th and 14th centuries, the city was contested between the English and the French. In the early stages of the Hundred Years' War, it came to the English but was conquered and recaptured twice. In 1372, the Duke of Anjou established his headquarters here. Although he lost the city the next year, he was able to retake it by 1374. While thereafter part of the towns and castles of Agenais were temporarily under English rule, Agen remained almost permanently in French hands until the end of the war.

According to tradition, a church dedicated to Saint Caprais was built at the beginning of the 5th century. A basilica dedicated to Saint Caprais certainly existed in 580, since Grégoire de Tours cites it on that date.

Agen Cathedral's structure dates to the 12th century, when it was built as a collegiate church of canons dedicated to Saint Caprasius of Agen on the foundations of a basilica sacked by the Normans in 853 but thereafter restored. It was sacked again in December 1561 during the Wars of Religion.

At the onset of the French Revolution in 1789 the church lost its religious function and was used as a fodder store before being reopened in 1796. It was elevated to the status of the cathedral of the Diocese of Agen in 1801, replacing the former cathedral dedicated to Saint Étienne, which was destroyed during the Revolution.

There are lots of weathered corbels under the roof. Carved on to this corbel is a male exhibitionist.