la cathédrale de Saint Samson
Samson arrived from Wales in the year 548, built a monastery at Dol and proceeded to preach Christianity to the area round about. It was in the church he built that Nominoë was consecrated king of Brittany in 848; Nominoë replaced it by a cathedral, but in 1014 the Vikings destroyed it. It took until 1194 to complete the rebuilding under archbishops supported by Henry II king of England. Henry lived in Le Mans and controlled more land in France than was controlled by the French king. He didn’t own Brittany but he’d married his son Geoffrey to Constance, the heiress of Brittany (Geoffrey would have been the future ruler of the region if he hadn’t died young), and Henry was intent on knocking Brittany’s administration and government and infrastructure into shape.
After the deaths of Henry and his successor Richard Coeur de Lion, the duchy of Normandy and the throne of England were taken by Henry’s youngest son, John. But Arthur, the sixteen-year-old son of Geoffrey and Constance, had a better claim to the throne of England than John, so in 1203 John stormed across the border from Normandy intent on capturing the Prince of Brittany and eradicating him. When he reached Dol with his army he demanded the town capitulate to him. Dol refused. So John attacked the town and burnt the cathedral before resuming his search for Arthur, who soon after died in one of John’s prisons. When John himself was dying he suddenly realised that he had no chance of getting into Heaven if he’d burnt one of God’s own houses on earth, so he sent a huge donation to Dol for restoration of the damage. Dol cathedral therefore has the unwanted distinction of being the only ecclesiastical building ever financed by King John.
In the 13th century pilgrimages became fashionable, and the tomb of Saint-Samson, one of the seven founding saints of Brittany, led to queues of pilgrims in the church, which was enlarged to accommodate them. But only one of the two south towers was completed before times changed yet again.
As an integral part of the town the cathedral survived the vicissitudes of the Revolution and even the occupation of World War II (a memorial recalls the efforts made by the liberators to persuade the occupiers not to damage the church) but the huge building is a thousand years old, and the revenues of the diocese are small. In 2021 the author Ken Follet donated to the cathedral the substantial royalties of his book on the fire at Notre Dame de Paris. We now have the pleasure of watching the ancient fabric being carefully restored.
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