BOURGES, ARCHDIOCESE OF. - A city in central France, capital of the department of Cher; the archdiocese also extends into the department of Indre. Under the name of Avaricum it was the principal oppidum of the Bituriges; conquered by Caesar in 52 BC. Biturigae became the metropolis of Aquitaine and, following the diocesan reform, the capital of Aquitaine prima. It was taken by the Goths in 475, united to the Frankish kingdom in 507, and later became the county of Berry.
Until the French Revolution, Bourges possessed an ivory diptych from the 11th century (now in the Cabinet des Médailles in Paris) containing the catalogue of its archbishops, continued up to the close of the 13th century (Simon de Beaulieu, 1281–94). A copy of it is in a chapter cartulary from the mid-13th century; another copy contains the list of archbishops up to 1789 (ms. 9861 of the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris). Two other transcriptions of the list are found in a canonical collection (Paris codex 4280, f. 56), which ends in 1066 (Archbishop Aldebert), and in a collection by Robert of Saint-Marien. The first name in the episcopal list is St Ursinus, whose feast Bourges celebrates on 29 December. The list becomes more complete from St Rodolph onwards (840–66). In the Middle Ages, Bourges flourished with numerous abbeys, both male and female.
The archdiocese has an area of 1,438 km² with a population of 358,145, of whom 535,000 are Catholic, served by 506 parishes, 425 diocesan priests, and 52 religious; it has a major seminary and the seminaries of St Louis, St Martin, and Bonne-Dame. The patron of the archdiocese is the Protomartyr St Stephen. The archbishop bears the ancient, purely honorary titles of Primate of the Aquitanies and Patriarch.
Since the end of the 17th century, Bourges has as its suffragans the dioceses of Clermont, Limoges, Le Puy-en-Velay, Saint-Flour, and Tulle.
Notable figures: St Sulpicius Severus (591), St Sulpicius the Pious (644), St Rodolph (866), St Solange (10th century), St William (1209), St Joan of Valois, Duchess of Berry, wife of Louis XII, founder of the Order of the Annunciation (v.).
Provincial councils were held in Bourges in 473, 1031, 1145, 1225, 1240, 1276, 1280, 1286, 1336, 1438, 1440, 1528; at Issoudun in 1081.
Notable pilgrimages are those to Notre-Dame du Sacré-Cœur at Issoudun; to Notre-Dame de Miséricorde at Pellevoisin; to Notre-Dame des Miracles at Deols; and to Notre-Dame des Enfants at Châteauneuf-sur-Cher.
Art. - Of the Roman city, the ruins of the temples of Minerva (38–41), Mars, Jupiter (late 1st or early 2nd century), and remains of aqueducts and walls (4th century) survive, latterly incorporated into later constructions. Traces of the Merovingian and Carolingian periods are scarce.
Few remnants remain of the ancient cathedral, built by Gauclin (1014–50). The cathedral of St Stephen is one of the finest examples of Gothic architecture: begun around 1192, it was consecrated in 1324. It lacks a transept and is notable for its arrangement of five naves, matched on the façade by sculpted portals. The façade, refined by the stained glass designed by Drouet de Dammartin, is flanked by two towers, the “Sourde” (14th century) and the “du Beurre” (16th century). The cathedral of Bourges, like that of Chartres, is richest in stained glass: the finest are those of one of the ambulatories (first quarter of the 13th century) and of the apse, in which Italian influence is evident. In the underground church, built between 1180 and 1200 to compensate for a slope, are the statue of Duke Jean de Berry by Jean de Cambrai, 15th-century stained glass, and ten statues of Carolingian-era archbishops.
The church of St Pierre-le-Guillard, also without a transept, dates to the 13th century and was rebuilt in the 16th. The church of St Bonnet, of which only the 16th-century choir by Guillaume Pelvoysin survived, was completed (notable for the stained glass of Jean Lécuyer and the paintings of Boucher).
The palace of Jacques Cœur is one of the masterpieces of 15th-century Gothic civil architecture (1443–51): noteworthy are the carved door leaves and the wrought-iron knocker, the false windows from which the stone figures of Jacques Cœur and his wife emerge, and the frescoes and sculptures of the chapel.
Though Bourges remained fundamentally Gothic during the Renaissance and religious elements persisted even in civic buildings, Italian influence is seen in the decorations of the Gothic palace Cuyas, built in 1515 by Pelvoysin and now housing the Musée du Berry, and of the Hôtel Lallemant, an interesting model of a wealthy bourgeois Renaissance residence (1518), frequently restored.
In the 19th century, numerous buildings of little artistic interest arose, such as the Château d’Eau (1807), the theatre (1859), and the School of Fine Arts (1883), while some statues erected in public places are noteworthy, including those of Louis XI by J. Baffier, of Bourdaloue, and of Sigaud, works by Dumontet.
Vedi Tax. CXIX.