Espace et territoire au Moyen Âge. Hommages à Bernadette Barrière

The 13th to 15th September 2006, the HARPAU association (History and Archaeology en Aubazine) organised a symposium, in honour of Bernadette Barrière who died in December 2004. The symposium entitled, “The organisation of medieval space, secular and religious living environments” took place in Aubazine. The present work brings together the participant’s contributions during these three days under the double sign of friendship and remembrance. 

The variety of topics treated, national as well as international examples, reflect the different lines of research that drove Bernadette Barrière’s career at Limoges University, her involvement in numerous university research centres and her contribution within learned circles. 

Her colleagues, friends, students and followers have therefore proposed her original articles grouped into three themes: land use and living environments, the Cistercian occupation, the religious world: history and art history. They illustrate Bernadette Barrière’s ongoing quest to associate all the aspects of historical research (archaeology, land use, palaeography, the study of civil or religious institutions, knowledge of building construction and art history…) in order to decipher the realities of medieval monastic and secular life in the Limousin and their interaction with the surrounding territories. 

This extra-Ausonius Aquitania collection represents a synthesis essential for understanding the medieval environment, monastic institutions and the Cistercian lifestyle in the Limousin and in the Christian community.