5. Cravant to Auxerre

The village of Irinciacum has belonged to the monks of the famous Benedictine Abbey of St Germain d'Auxerre since the 9th century. A diploma (official act) of the Emperor Charles the Bald, grandson of Charlemagne, mentions the vineyard there in 861. During the Wars of Religion (16th century), the village was fortified. The parish church is under the name of the great bishop of Auxerre Saint Germain around 418 to 448. Saint Germain is the patron saint's day of the country.
The square Gothic bell tower flanks the building, whose size is obvious to the eye: the nave of the 12th and 13th centuries, short (three bays) is bordered by two aisles, and the choir is deep. The alterations carried out at the end of the 16th century, in particular the Renaissance-style decoration, are clearly visible in several places: the portal and above all on the buttresses with their rather refined decoration.

The irancy, is a French red wine of controlled appellation of origin from the vineyards of Burgundy.
Its area of production is spread over the communes of Irancy, Cravant and Vincelottes located about 15 kilometres south-east of Auxerre in the department of Yonne. Irancy is part of the Auxerre vineyard, within the Lower Burgundy vineyard.
From the beginning of the 6th century, the implantation of Christianity had favoured the extension of the vine by the creation of important estates attached to abbeys.
Pinot noir is the main grape variety, with Caesar as a secondary variety. The share of the latter may not exceed 10% of the volume of Irancy.

Vaux was donated to the Abbey of St-Julien d'Auxerre as soon as it was founded in the 7th century. The church is dedicated to Saint-Loup, bishop of Troyes and companion of Germain d'Auxerre. The ogival vaulted choir is from the 13th century. The church has two naves, the most recent of which was built in the 16th century, and a Romanesque porch built at the end of the 12th century. The main nave, Romanesque, not originally vaulted, was later vaulted in wood as were many churches in the area. Funerary slabs, enriched with inscriptions and figures, can be seen in both naves. Most of them cover the tombs of parish priests.

The church (16th and 17th centuries) replaces the former abbey church of St. Peter founded in the 6th century. The façade was completed in 1658, the tower was built between 1536 and 1577.
The site has been occupied by a place of worship dedicated to St. Peter since at least the 6th century. Concerning the older occupation of the site, archaeological excavations carried out in 2007 on the northwest side of the present church have demonstrated a continuity of the settlement, which was taken over and modified several times, until the end of the Merovingian period.
In the 8th and 9th centuries, a cemetery was installed in the western part; it then moved closer to the church.
At the same time a community of canons settled on the site.
In 1107, Bishop Humbaud set up canons regular of the Order of Saint Augustine there.

The present cathedral is the fifth sanctuary to have been built since the 5th century.
Following a fire in the 9th century, a Romanesque cathedral was then built by Hugues de Châlon. Built in stone, the new church was consecrated in 1057. Its choir, flanked by two towers, rested on a crypt which served as its foundation because of the slope of the land towards the Yonne.
The construction of the present cathedral began in 1215, under the episcopate of Guillaume de Seignelay, on the basis of the vast Romanesque building of which the 11th century crypt still remains today. The demolition-construction work began simultaneously on the choir (above the crypt) and the south tower of the large west façade.
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