Description: Inscription on two lines on a block above a decorative carving.
Capital in the center of the absidiol of the southeast of the chevet
Reference: The cartulary of Saint-Jean-d'Angély mentions the name of a certain Hugo Monetarius in the region of Melle several times. He is listed amongst the witnesses in six charters between 1060-1097. He was most probably a lay person because there is no mention of a clerical title. The inscription can be attributed to the 11th century. No inscription produced in this region has an O in a lozenge before the 11th century.
Description: Inscription is very exposed and the text is today almost unreadable.
Capital in the center of the second absidiol southeast chevet
Reference: The cartulary of Saint-Jean-d'Angély (c. 1028-1105) cites the names of three neighbors of Aleacis —Aleardis, Aleata, Aleasis, Aleas, Aleoda, Aleaidis, Aleida—contemporaries of a certain Ugo, monedarius, and figure in the acts that concern the entire region of Melle or Saint-Jean-d'Angély.
The location of this inscription near a capital inscribed with Ugo's name is similar to the cartulary. This suggests a rapport between this particular Aleacis and Ugo the monedarius. Perhaps these figures were benefactors of the college. The inscriptions probably date to the same epoch.
Description: The capital's location within the church is unknown. It was found in 1837, rue des Trois-Piliers, buried in the foundations of the hôtel Cussard (today the Hôtel des Trois-Piliers). Text is inscribed on the taurus of the capital.
Reference: This capital is usually called "chapiteau de la discorde". The central scene on the corbeille gives the impression of a battle between two men, facing each other, pulling on each other's beards and threatened by snakes. The left side of the corbeille, two figures, without beards, on crutches. The other side, a man armed with a snake is perched in a tree.
Emile Mâle relates this capital to the Beatus Apocalypse, very similar to that of Saint-Sever, for which there was a copy at the College of Saint-Hilaire. Upon consulting the Saint-Sever manuscript, one notes that a scene at the bottom of a page is the same scene depicted on the capital. There is a capital with a similar scene found at Celle-Bruère (Chere) where the name Frotoardus is inscribed. Katzenellebogen proposed that this capital depicts the battle between Harmony and Discord (Allegories of the Virtues and Vices in Mediaeval Art, London, 1939, p.59, n.4).
Face:
1. DVRANT[V] ET A...
2. NOM BAR RRVMLISME : VI
3. [GOFREDVS O]DO PEPVNTINN[VS] BERTA DVRANTE ROTVARTD[O]