Nécropole de Saint-Hubert
Origin of the name Nécropole de Saint-Hubert
The site takes its name from the Saint-Hubert chapel, built on the Merovingian cemetery of Bassecourt and mentioned from 1400. Bassecourt is recorded in 1160 as « Baressicort ». Its old German name « Altdorf » appears in 1184. The etymology remains unexplained.[2][3]
Founding of Nécropole de Saint-Hubert
The cemetery is an early medieval, probably Merovingian, burial ground used in the 6th and 7th centuries around the site of the present Saint-Hubert chapel in Bassecourt, a former municipality now part of the municipality of Haute-Sorne (merger of 1 January 2013). It is said to have contained several hundred graves. The wealth of the grave goods suggests a prosperous population, even an aristocracy: Bassecourt was probably the chief town of the Merovingian Sornegau, and some researchers see it as an administrative post of the Frankish empire. The grave goods show Frankish and even Alemannic influences. The site was discovered in 1875-1876 during the construction of the Delémont-Porrentruy railway line, in unknown circumstances.[1][3]
History of Nécropole de Saint-Hubert
6th-7th centuries. Burials in a very rich cemetery: weapons, tools, jewellery, belt buckles, pottery and coins accompany the dead.[1][3]
7th century. Date of many damascened belt plates found in the graves.[2]
1400. First mention of the Saint-Hubert chapel, built on the Merovingian cemetery.[2]
1634. The bodies of 37 people, 36 of them plague victims probably from Berlincourt, are laid to rest on one side of the chapel.[1]
1696-1697. The Saint-Hubert chapel is rebuilt. The side altars date from 1697.[2]
1713. The chapel's high altar is installed.[2]
1875-1876. The cemetery is discovered during construction of the Delémont-Porrentruy railway line.[1]
1876. The site is excavated and looted; the engineer F. Mathey collects objects and sells them to the Bern museum.[1]
around 1881. Henri Duvoisin, delegated by the people of the Jura and later director of the Collège de Delémont, supervises the research until about this date.[1]
1941. The collection, first kept at the school, is transferred to the Musée jurassien d'art et d'histoire in Delémont.[1]
1942. Scientific excavations by Alban Gerster and André Rais show that the ground surface of the period was preserved.[1]
1950. André Rais publishes « Les vestiges barbares de Bassecourt ».[1]
1954. A porch is added to the chapel during its exterior renovation.[2]
1971. The architect Jeanne Bueche prepares the restoration of the chapel (estimates, tenders and correspondence).[4]
1978. Interior renovation of the chapel.[2]
1995. The objects sold to Bern are returned to the Section d'archéologie et paléontologie of the Office de la culture in Porrentruy.[1]
2002. Vincent Friedli publishes a study of the cemetery, « Das merowingische Gräberfeld von Bassecourt, Saint-Hubert JU ».[1]
Historic sites in Nécropole de Saint-Hubert
Saint-Hubert chapel. Small chapel built on the Merovingian cemetery, mentioned from 1400 and rebuilt in 1696-1697, with side altars of 1697 and a high altar of 1713. A porch was added in 1954 and the interior was renovated in 1978. Once outside the settlement, it is now surrounded by residential districts. It houses a gravestone from the cemetery.[1][2]
Remains in Nécropole de Saint-Hubert
Merovingian graves. The very extensive cemetery was partly excavated and destroyed on the site of the chapel and around it. The excavation is considered complete, but its study is only partly finished. The 1942 excavations revealed graves marked by standing stones, coffins or wooden chests and the dead buried on their backs, head to the west.[1]
Grave goods. Weapons (scramasaxes, swords, francisca axes, shield bosses and a trident), ornaments (necklaces of multicoloured glass and amber beads, a gold-plated disc brooch, gold filigree pendants, pierced Roman coins), a series of belt buckles and plates often damascened, eight pots, bone combs and bronze clasps. No complete inventory was ever drawn up. The objects are divided between the Office de la culture in Porrentruy, the Musée jurassien d'art et d'histoire in Delémont and museums in Basel and Zurich.[1]
Legends of Nécropole de Saint-Hubert
The chapel stone. A gravestone from the cemetery, kept in the Saint-Hubert chapel, was long mistaken for a menhir. Tradition credits it with healing powers.[1]
Sources
- Office de la culture du Jura, Section d'archéologie et paléontologie, « Bassecourt, Saint-Hubert »
- Office de la culture du Jura, Répertoire des biens culturels, Bassecourt (chapelle Saint-Hubert, nécropole mérovingienne)
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Bassecourt »
- Archives de la construction moderne (EPFL), fonds Jeanne Bueche, « Chapelle St-Hubert, à Bassecourt »
- Office fédéral de topographie swisstopo, map.geo.admin.ch
Other villages near Nécropole de Saint-Hubert
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