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DOL DE BRETAGNE. (35)
This quiet town of some 5000 inhabitants has a
very illustrious past and a history going back nealy 1500 years. Dol
owes its origins to Saint Samson a Welsh priest who arrived in the
area in the mid 6th century. According to legend he obtained
permission and the land necessary to found a monastry from the Lord
of the region after healing the wife and daughter of the Lord. The
monastry which soon became prosperous was the centre around which the
town of Dol knew its origins and Saint Samson was named Bishop of the
region. In 848 AD Nominoë was crowned King Of Brittany in Dol,
bestowing on Dol the title of religious capital of Brittany, raising
the Bishops of Dol to the status of Archbishop and Primate of all
Brittany. These acts by Nominoë gave independance to the Breton
church which lasted for 350 years. Due to its position near the
border of the English territory of Normandy and the Kingdom of France
it was regularly attacked and obliged to fortify its defences. The
Archbishopry was finally removed by the Concordat in 1801 and Dol
then came under the Archbishopry of Rennes. The visitor to Dol cannot
fail to take in the magnificent cathedral which is one of the most
historic monuments in Brittany. The present construction which was
built in the 12th and 13th centuries is stongly influenced by the
Norman Gothic style and to a lesser extent by English Gothic
architecture and stands on the site of the Roman cathedral which
preceeded it which was burnt to the ground by the troops of Jean sans
Terre in 1203.
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