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through the Middle Ages. 1 Historically, the diocese of Limoges was assigned to the
Archbishop of Bourges, but in the tenth and eleventh centuries, Limoges regularly came
under the influence of the synods and decisions of the Archbishop of Bordeaux, who also
held the dioceses of Poitiers, Périgueux, Angoulême, and Saintes. 2 These dioceses,
including Limoges, formed a coherent administrative group in the territory dominated by
the Duke of Aquitaine, who strongly influenced the nominations of bishops throughout
the region, including Limoges. St. Yrieix was a dependency of the collegiate church of
St. Martin of Tours, but St. Yrieix was geographically in the diocese of Limoges, and in
practice was incorporated by the Bishop of Limoges into his diocese. These multiple
layers of authority and influence dominated Aquitaine and thus St. Yrieix throughout this
period. 3 However, in spite of these cross currents of power and obligation, administrative
coherence was maintained by the familial relationships underlying these hierarchies, in
which the archbishops, viscounts, bishops, and supporting senior administrators were
primarily drawn from members of the same group of families.
Chapter 2 has shown that the eleventh-century events at St. Yrieix followed the
four conventional steps by which a former monastery could be reformed as a chapter of
canons. 4 The first two steps were: (1) to restore and renovate the property of the house,
and (2) re-assemble the properties and dependencies that had been lost, including
reclaiming properties from their current proprietors. These steps provided a stable
financial basis on which to build the future of the house. The earliest record in this
1 Anna Trumbore Jones, Noble Lord, Good Shepherd Episcopal Power and Piety in Aquitaine,
877-1050, Series on the Early Middle Ages Vol. 17 ( Leiden and Boston: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2009):21.
2 Although Agen was also assigned to Bordeaux, in practice it functioned as a part of the dioceses
of Gascony.
3 These practical realities of the Aquitanian ecclesia prevailed for centuries, yet there was no
official alteration of the original jurisdictions of the two archbishops going back to the fifth century.
4 Trumbore Jones, ibid. : 162. Jones outlines these four steps as typical of the process of reestablishing
a religious house under the influence of the bishop.
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