THE VIRGIN OF CHARTRES: RITUAL AND THE CULT OF THE VIRGIN MARY AT THE THIRTEENTH-CENTURY CATHEDRAL OF CHARTRES
BY
ELIZABETH L. FISCHER
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Art History
WILLIAMS COLLEGE
Williamstown, Massachusetts
May 2005 With many thanks to my thesis advisor, Peter Low, Professor of Art History Table of Contents
Table of Contents ...... 1
List of Figures ...... 3 Introduction: The Virgin in Imagery and Experience at Chartres Cathedral .... 4 I. The Tree of Jesse Window and the Cathedral's Control of the Local Cult ... 11 I1. The North Portal of Chartres: The Triumph of the Virgin ...... 34 I11. The Last Judgment: Mary's Salvation through the Cathedral ...... 74 Conclusion ...... 100 Bibliography ...... 108 List of Figures
Figure 1. Tree of Jesse window at Chartres ...... 12 Table 1. Disposition of characters in the Jesse Tree at Chartres ...... 13 Figure 2 . Dijon MS . 129. Tree of Jesse ...... 16 Figure 3 . Dijon MS . 641. Tree of Jesse ...... 16 Figure 4 . Bible de Saint-Bertin de Saint-Omer. Tree of Jesse ...... 18 Figure 5 . Pierpont Morgan MS . 724. Tree of Jesse ...... 19 Figure 6 . Tree of Jesse at Saint-Denis ...... 20 Figure 7 . King at Saint-Denis. showing restored areas ...... 20 Figure 8. Huntingfield Psalter. Tree of Jesse ...... 25 Figure 9 . British Museum MS . Arundel 44. Tree of Jesse ...... 25 Figure 10. Portal of the Triumph of the Virgin ...... 34 Figure 11. North Porch of Chartres ...... 36 Figure 12. Tympanum of the Triumph Portal ...... 37 Figure 13. Dormition of Mary -- left half of the Triumph portal lintel ...... 40 Figure 14. Assumption of Mary -- right half of the Triumph Portal lintel ...... 40 Figure 15. Melchizedek, Abraham and Isaac, and Moses ...... 41 Figure 16. Archivolts of the Triumph Portal ...... 42 Figure 17. Coronation of the Virgin at Senlis ...... 50 Figure 18. Coronation of the Virgin at Laon ...... 51 Figure 19. Coronation of the Virgin at Amiens ...... 52 Figure 20 . Angel from the tympanum ...... 56 Figure 21 . Archivolts -- Adam and Eve expelled from Eden ...... 59 Figure 22 . Angels with objects used in processions ...... 67 Figure 23 . tympanum with Suffering of Job ...... 69 Figure 24 . Melchizedek with chalice ...... 70 Figure 25 . St . Peter with remains of Chalice ...... 70 Figure 26 . Last Judgment -- South transept center tympanum ...... 74 Figure 27 . Detail of Last Judgment tympanum ...... 77 Figure 28 . Lintel of Last Judgment tympanum ...... 78 Figure 29 . Abraham holding the souls of the Saved ...... 79 Figure 30 . archivolts showing the Damned ...... 79 Figure 3 1. Trumeau figure of the Beau Dieu ...... 80 Figure 32. Jamb figures of Apostles ...... 80 Figure 33 . Socles below Beau Dieu ...... 81 Figure 34 . Last Judgment at Laon Cathedral ...... 82 Figure 35 . Last Judgment at Saint-Denis ...... 82 Figure 36 . Stained Glass window of the Crucuflxion at Chartres ...... 90 Figure 37 . Count of Chartres shown leading the saved ...... 91 Introduction: The Virgin in Imagery and Experience at Chartres Cathedral
The Cathedral of Chartres has often been loolced at as the central site of the
expansive cult of the Virgin in thirteenth-century France. Chartres is considered both
the model figure of a cathedral community centered on the worship of Mary and a
key example for promoting the existence of a universal cult of the Virgin. Neither of
these points can be considered fully accurate, despite the efforts of many
distinguished scholars who have attempted to use the sculpture and glass of Chartres to support these views. Chartres was not always the central cult site it claimed to be
(and which scholars since the thirteenth century have claimed for it), and it was not part of a universal effort to glorify the Virgin; rather, the cult of the Virgin occurring at Chartres was specifically promoted as the cult of the Virgin of Chartres, and the growing emphasis on Mary there in the thirteenth century were not an effort to be a part of a universal cult, but an effort to promote Chartres and the Lady of Chartres as unique within the growing Marian cult development.
The imagery of Chartres has, of course, been extensively examined. Analysis has generally taken one of two routes. The first, taken brilliantly but misleadingly by such scholars as Adolf Katzenellenbogen, creates a coherent artistic program for
Chartres based wholly on the evidence of stone. This approach leaves out a major portion of the decorative program at Chartres, including the extensive stained glass.
The many windows play a significant role in creating the experience of the cathedral's interior, thus making any conclusions regarding the viewer's response to the cathedral necessarily incomplete. The other commonly used method of interpretation does take a holistic approach to the viewer's visual experience, but this Elizabeth L. Fischer approach all too frequently becomes a general listing of the details of the 'cathedral- as-heavenly-Jerusalem' prototype, rather than an examination of the specifics of the program at Chartres Cathedral. This prototype is not invalid, but most cathedrals can be seen in this way, so it can further our understanding of Chartres very little. Few scholars have even begun to address the specific forms of imagery at Chartres in stone and glass, interior and exterior, and those who have (i.e. Kurmann and
Kurmann-Schwartz) use the diversity and range of images at Chartres to argue for a cathedral with separate programs and goals for sculpture, architecture, and stained glass. Although a cohesive program at Chartres has not been discerned, Kurmann and Kurmann-Schwartz's argument assumes a disjunctive program and looks to prove a division in the imagery based on medium.' It seems highly unlikely that a complex and wholly integrated design like that of the Royal Portal would fail to be considered in the context of the other imagery, or that two images produced at the same time and place in different media would be unrelated. Thus, while an overarching program cannot be assumed without proof, investigation of Chartres should proceed with an open mind to the possibility that the programs in the diverse artwork of Chartres bear some relationship, based on their proximity to each other and the likelihood that the planners and executors of each example would be exposed to similar sources and similar inspirations, both artistic and historic. Taken together, without the expectation of absolute unity or disjunction, images of Mary at Chartres should help trace the development of the cult at Chartres and suggest how the cult functioned both locally and in relation to the rest of France.
Peter Kurmann and Brigitte Kurmann-Schwarz, "Chartres Cathedral as a Work of Artistic Integration: Methodological Reflections," Artistic Integration in Gothic Buildings, eds. Virginia Chieffo Raguin, Kathryn Brush and Peter Draper (Toronto: University of Toronto Press Inc., 1995). The Virgin of Chartres: Introduction
To address the whole significance of the all the sculpture, architecture, and
stained glass at Chartres in all their levels of meaning would be a prohibitively large
endeavor. Instead, I will examine a few central, largely unresolved images from
around the cathedral to address the potential relationships within the imagery. While
this paper primarily focuses on the visual experience of the three chosen images, I
will also address the social and liturgical context of the cult of the Virgin Mary at
Chartres.
In the twelfth century, before the cult of the Virgin became important in other parts of France, certain artworks even seem to indicate that the Virgin and the
surrounding cult were suppressed by the local clergy.2 I will argue this point in my examination of one of the few pieces of glass remaining from the twelfth-century church, the Tree of Jesse, which was on the south side of the west fa~adein both the twelfth century when it was built and the thirteenth century, when the cathedral was rebuilt following the fire of 1194. The Tree of Jesse was a relatively newly- developed design type when it was created in the middle of the twelfth century. The iconography is based on the genealogy of Joseph's ancestors3 and on the prophecy articulated in the Old Testament Book of Isaiah, which begins "A shoot shall come forth out of ~esse."~ his text had been commonly interpreted as predicting the birth of Jesus. The Chartres Tree of Jesse shows a reclining Jesse at the base, with a tree trunk growing out of his torso. The trunk extends through four of Joseph's listed ancestors, then through Mary, and finally up to an enthroned Christ. One of the most
See, for example, Spitzer's discussion of the west faqade capital frieze in Laura Spitzer, "The Cult of the Virgin and Gothic Sculpture: Evaluating Opposition in the Chartres West Facade Capital Frieze," 33.2 (1994). Matthew 1:l-17 and Luke 3:23-38 Isaiah 11 : 1-2 Elizabeth L. Fischer important aspects of this new image is its departure from the Gospel text in presenting Jesus' royal lineage through Mary as opposed to Joseph. Although Mary is the same size as the other ancestors of Christ in this image, it is a significant example of how the cult of the Virgin required an expansion of the Gospel texts' limited discussion of Mary. An analysis of the window as a whole as well as Mary's specific depiction within the image will help explain how Mary's role as a saint developed at Chartres within the established hierarchy of the saints and biblical figures.
After the fire of 1194, in which most of the cathedral, with the exception of the sculpture and windows of the west fa~ade,was destroyed, the chapter of Chartres rebuilt the cathedral to be even grander than before. The timing of the new cathedral's construction is invaluable for looking at Chartres' Marian cult, both on its own and in context of the cult of the Virgin elsewhere in France, as the growth of the cult seems especially strong at the beginning of the thirteenth century. My examination of the two largest sculptural endeavors of this new cathedral, the central portals of each transept, shows that Chartres' interaction with the proposed universal cult of the Virgin is not as simple as has been supposed, although they do show a significant increase in the honor given to the Virgin. The north transept, showing the
Triumph of the Virgin in the tympanum, can be seen as a visual reminder of the ceremonies honoring the Virgin on Assumption Day. This image, directed toward the area where the canons of the cathedral chapter lived and where important guests were housed, ties the intercession of the Virgin directly to the rituals of Chartres. In this scene, Mary is pictured nearly equal to Christ in size, and is shown after her The Virgin of Chartres: Introduction coronation. The two figures share the central space, with neither placed directly along the central axis. Although the concept of a coronation allows for stately grandeur, a tone emphasized in many contemporaneous versions of this image, at
Chartres Mary and Christ turn towards each other in a relaxed way, each gesturing to the other. As Mary has already been crowned, their movement toward each other is not necessitated by the Coronation but arises from their emotional interaction.
The south transept, with its depiction of the Last Judgment, also places a greater amount of emphasis on Mary than is found in twelfth-century images at Chartres or contemporary images elsewhere, but it too carefully associates these images with a particularly local, though not folk-based, cult.
In the thirteenth century, as the cathedral began to be rebuilt after the devastating fire of 1194, there was a growing emphasis on both Christ as a historical figure and after that, Christ in his individual moments as a man - as infant, as teacher, and as friend.5 This was an important departure from the teachings of Paul, which had emphasized that it was Christ after his Crucifixion and Resurrection who was essential. In this new environment, Mary became more important for her role as the ideal mother. This enhanced interest in Mary required a move beyond biblical sources, as Mary is only rarely mentioned in the Bible. As a result, established images acquired a new complexity. The south transept faqade at Chartres depicted the Last Judgment in a way that departed from the Romanesque tradition, in which
Christ separated the Saved from the Damned in a frightening image of divine judgment and wrath. Christ is still shown as a judge, but he is accompanied by John
Ewert Cousins, "The Humanity and the Passion of Christ," Christian Spirituality: High Middle Ages to Reformation, ed. Jill Raitt (New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1987). Elizabeth L. Fischer
the Evangelist and, at his right hand, Mary. As members of the human Christ's
family and in honor of their favored relationships with Christ, they are given the
ability to intercede with Christ for the sake of their followers still on Earth. The
sense of the single moment of the Apocalypse is de-emphasized; there is a feeling
that Mary is interceding for her followers at Chartres even as they pass through the
door under the tympanum, rather than just at the time of the Last Judgment.
Although all three figures are in heaven, they are shown to be thoroughly human.
Mary leans a bit forward as she extends her praying hands slightly toward Christ's
uplifted right hand, while John too folds his hands in prayer. John, however, appears
to be almost following Mary's lead, looking both at Christ and Mary, keeping his
hands closer to his body, and not leaning as far forward as Mary does. On all three
figures the haloes are de-emphasized; while the heads of the figures are completely
detached from the wall, the haloes are mere circles attached to the back of the tympanum slightly below the head of each. Though judgment is occurring, none of the figures here is menacing; this Christ is one who will clearly listen to the entreaties of his mother.
These central transept portals form two targeted programs, both taking imagery associated with the Virgin and making it the specific property of the Virgin of
Chartres, as I will show in my examination of the intricacies of all three images and their surrounding details. The cult of Mary is not seen as universal in the sense that the Virgin is equally powerful everywhere, with Chartres adding its praise to the combined praise of the churches of France, but rather as universal in the sense that the Virgin Mary is the Virgin of Chartres, with the Chartres cult not a subsection of The Virgin of Chartres: Introduction the larger cult but as the center, and most potent, connection to the Virgin as she existed in heaven.
Furthermore, the two programs make a concerted effort to center Mary's intercession on the church, rather than promoting the rural folk cult which seems to be emphasized in many accounts from the Miracles of the Virgin of Chartres. The
Virgin is seen interceding through the rituals of the church within the confines of the
Cathedral. In this way, Chartres promotes itself as the primary purveyor of the miracles of the Virgin, in a connection established with heaven rather than a universal cult. Chartres is competing against the other centers of the cult for prominence, rather than attempting to join a larger movement. Elizabeth L. Fischer
I. The Tree of Jesse Window and the Cathedral's Control of the Local Cult
The Tree of Jesse window (Figure I), just above the south portal on the west
fa~adeof Chartres, is one of few existing works of twelfth-century glass. It was
included in the construction of the Royal Portal around 1145 and survived the fire of
1194 along with the rest of the lower west faqade. Although my primary interest in this study is the cult of Mary as revealed in the post-1194 construction, the window is as much a feature of the new cathedral as the old. After the fire, the decision was made not only to keep the windows of the west fa~ade,but to keep them in their original central positions, above the west doors leading directly into the nave. The features of the Tree of Jesse window relate much about the twelfth-century cult of
Mary both at Chartres and elsewhere, and the retention of this composition, repeated with modifications on the north transept porch, shows both the evolution and the continuity of Marian worship at Chartres in the thirteenth century. Surprisingly, though the iconography of the Tree of Jesse was often used to emphasize the importance of Mary, at Chartres the Tree of Jesse window shows a different version of the cult: in the Chartres window, Mary is not only subordinate to Christ, but is not given significant importance over the other figures of the window. Although the pictorial format of the Jesse Tree was still being developed, this vision of Mary is a departure from the previous versions, and as such must be considered as a statement about how the creators of the image wished Mary to be perceived. It appears that the canons and bishop of Chartres were decreasing the importance of Mary, perhaps in an effort to lessen the popularity of the folk cult in order to foster rituals that were more centered on the cathedral and the activities of the clergy. The Virgin of Chartres: The Tree of Jesse
~~ Figure 1. Tree of Jesse window at Chartres The Chartres window consists of a central vertical
trunk with Jesse, four kings, the Virgin, and Christ.
Two columns of prophets appear in semi-circle kames
down the sides. At the base, Jesse reclines on a couch
below a lamp-lit, curtained arch, his head propped on
one hand and his eyes closed as though dreaming. From
his lower torso rises a thick pale trunk, which ends at
the feet of the first king. The trunk reappears at the
head of the same king to lead to the feet of each of the
following kings and the Virgin before terminating at the
feet of Chst, who is seated at the top of the tree. The
kings and Mary are the same size and positioned
identically, each hand grasping a branch, staring
heratically forward. In most versions of the Tree of
Jesse, the kings are identified by scrolls or other attributes, like a harp for King
David or a closed book for Solomon. However, the kings of the Chartres window are absolutely undifferentiated, except by slight color changes in their clothing. Also unlike earlier versions of the Tree of Jesse, the Virgin is not at all more visually significant than the other kings; the only difference between her and the kings is that of sex: all are crowned and positioned the same way, and are the same size.
On each side of this central line of Chst's ancestors, prophets carry ribbon-like scrolls of gold or cream that display their names and the word "propheta" or Elizabeth L. Fischer
"profeta." Moses is the only one with additional writing; his scroll reads instead
"Moyses: resustasti Deus uobis," a reference to Deuteronomy 18:15, which reads,
"the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own
brothers, you must listen to him."6 he prophets chosen for the side panels were not
standard, although there were some common choices, including Moses, Isaiah, and
Samuel. The choices at Chartres are, from the bottom left: Nahum, Samuel, Ezekiel,
Zechariah, Moses, Isaiah, and Habakkuk. From the bottom right they are Hosea,
Amos, Micah, Joel, Balaam, Daniel, and Zephaniah (see Table 1 for the placement of
these figures). The importance of these choices will be addressed later. Each pair of
prophets flanks one of the central figures, but unlike the kings, they seem to interact,
gesturing individually and actively, perhaps even speaking.
Table 1. Disposition of characters in the Jesse Tree at Chartres
Habakkuk Jesus Zephaniah As has been mentioned, the visual type of the Isaiah Mary Daniel Moses King Balaam Tree of Jesse was relatively new, appearing around Zechariah King Joel Ezekiel King Micah the end of the eleventh century according to several Samuel King Amos Nahum Jesse Hosea scholars, with the version in the Vygehrad Codex
from 1086 often considered one of the earlie~t.~However, many figural
representations had already been made of the Old Testament prophecies of the
All Bible verses, unless otherwise stated, are from the New International Version. Jean Anne Hayes Williams, "The Earliest Dated Tree of Jesse Image: Thematically Reconsidered," Athanor.XVIII(2000): 17. There is some disagreement among scholars about when depictions of Isaiah's prophecy have enough elements of the Jesse Tree to be considered a part of this group. While Williams' discounting of the Marian imagery of this image is unsound, her identification of the image as having the vital elements of the Tree of Jesse is reasonable. The Virgin of Chartres: The Tree of Jesse
coming of the Virgin and Christ, and especially of the Isaiah text the Tree of Jesse
depick8This text, Isaiah 11:l-3, reads,
And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: the spirit of wisdom, and of understanding, the spirit of counsel, and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge, and of godliness. And he shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord, He shall not judge according to the sight of the eyes, nor reprove according to the hearing of the ears. The virga, or rod, mentioned in this prophecy had been associated with the
Virgin since the third century, and the flower or branch had also been often
associated with ~hrist,~and this idea was often depicted in art. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, depictions of the prophecy again became popular, but in a new format that usually brought together several Old Testament prophecies at once, including those of some of the prophets in the side panels of the Chartres window.
The Tree of Jesse design also used genealogical aspects from the listing of the ancestry of the House of David from Matthew 1:l-17, which it often preceded in early manuscripts, combining the literal depiction of the Virga Jesse with the idea of the family tree. The iconography has also been compared to depictions of Jacob's ladder,'' with the dreaming Jacob replaced by the sleeping Jesse, and the ladder of angels replaced by a tree, which is particularly ladder-like at Chartres. This concurrence fits theologically, as Jacob's ladder from earth to heaven was variously associated with Mary and Jesus, fitting Mary's role as mediator between man and
Arthur Watson, "Mary in the Burning Bush," Jom-nal of the Warburg Institute 2.1 (1938): 69. Arthur Watson, The Early Iconography of the Tree of Jesse (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1934) 3. 10 Watson, The Early Iconography of the Tree of Jesse 7. Elizabeth L. Fischer
Christ, whose own birth united heaven and earth and who was seen as the most
essential mediator."
Early versions of the Tree of Jesse, of which virtually all were manuscript
illustrations, tended to show Jesse carrying a flowering rod.12 Similarly, in prophet-
plays of the same time Jesse carried a rod as the attribute of his most famous
prophecy.13Later, the rod in the illuminations began to grow directly from the body
of Jesse rather than being carried, and finally began to include other figures in a tree
form. The first images with other figures besides Jesse contained only the Virgin and
sometimes Christ, with the Virgin of primary importance. These occurred
particularly with the opening section of the Gospel of Matthew, emphasizing that
although the genealogy of this section technically recorded the ancestors of Joseph,
they were considered to be the ancestors of Mary and thus their kingly line
culminated in Christ.
Even once other figures began to appear, they were generally smaller than Mary,
and Christ was most often shown as an infant in Mary's lap, as in the Dijon MS. 129 from just before 1125 (Figure 2). The focus on Mary was enhanced by the context of these early versions. The Dijon MS. 641, for example, included the Tree of Jesse next to other prefigurations of Mary, like the burning bush from the third chapter of
Exodus (Figure 3). These images gave little emphasis to Mary as a human, preferring metaphors of the Virgin to the woman herself. Instead, they show the interest in establishing for Mary a special place beyond that of the other saints, by pointing out
11 See 1 Timothy 25, Acts 10:43, 1 John 2:12. l2 The Salzburg Antiphonariurn and the Huntingfield Psalter (see Figure 7) both have this aspect (Watson, The Early Iconography of the Tree of Jesse 34. l3 Emile MLle, Chartres, trans. Sara Wilson (New York: Harper &Row, 1983) 153. The Virgin of Chartres: The Tree of Jesse just how many Old Testament prophecies tell of the coming of the Virgin: the burning bush,14 the golden dew,15 the enclosed garden,16 and many others.17 Aside from the Isaiah text, passages in Numbers, Song of Solomon, Psalms, Ezekiel,
Judges, Daniel, Genesis, and Exodus were interpreted as prophecies of the Virgin
Mary. All these prophecies helped establish in and following the twelfth century a
case for the special position of Mary: although Mary was
mentioned only briefly in the New
Testament, Early Christian and
medieval theologians argued that
she could be found symbolically
throughout the Old ~estament.'~
Figure 2. Dijon. Bibliothhque MS. 129
Figure 3. Dijon MS. 641
l4 Exodus 3:2. The bush that burns without being consumed was considered a symbol of Mary's virginity, which remained even though she became a mother. l5 Judges 6:36-38. Gideon tests God by having him send down dew on a fleece, leaving the floor around it dry. Bernard says of this, "could it symbolize anything except that flesh which was taken from the Virgin's flesh without harm being done to her virginity?" of Clairvaux Bernard, Homilies in Praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary, trans. Marie-Bernard Sai'd (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1993) 20. The Speculum Ecclesiae says the fleece is the motherhood of Mary, the floor is her virginity. Emile Mile, The Gothic Image: Religious Art in France of the Thirteenth Century, trans. Dora Nussey (New York: Harper &Row, 1972) 148. l6 Song of Solomon 4: 12, Ezekiel 44:l-2 l7 Among these are the appearance of the angel to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace in the third chapter of Daniel, Daniel's own time in the lion's den, fed and protected without the seal of the den being removed (Daniel 6: 16-24), Jacob's ladder (Genesis 28: 10-22), Moses procuring water from a rock (Exodus 175-6), the flowering and production of fruit by Aaron's dry rod (Numbers 17:8), among others. Almost every biblical story could be interpreted as a sign of Mary or Christ. 18 Miile, The Gothic Image: Religious Art in France of the Thirteenth Century 146. Elizabeth L. Fischer
By the twelfth century, manuscripts began to place more emphasis on the Tree
of Jesse as a depiction of the genealogy of the Virgin and Christ, though, as can be
seen in the Bible de Saint-Bertin de Saint-Omer (Figure 4) from the decades just
before Chartres, most only show King Solomon and King David. Besides being the
most illustrious members of this lineage, these two kings were useful for recasting
Christ's genealogy through Mary. As the Gospel of Matthew states, the lineage
through the House of David described in the first chapter is that of Joseph, and thus
not biologically that of Mary or Christ. Traditionally, however, and by prophecy,
Christ is of the ancient kingly line of David. As Christ's only human biological
parent, Mary must then also be of that line. Medieval writers justified this in two
ways. First, although the genealogy lists only Joseph as a descendant of the house of
David, Bernard and others theorized that members of this royal house were only
allowed to marry other members of the same house, so Mary must have been of the
line of avid.'^ 1n the grand tradition of typological association, Mary was also a
member of the line through Solomon and David. The greatest symbols of Mary come
from these two kings. She is connected to Solomon through the Throne of Solomon,
a type of the Virgin, and also through the beloved woman in the Song of Solomon.
David was the writer of the Psalms, many of which are also read as prefigurations of
the Virgin. Thus, through their symbolic correspondence with Mary, Solomon and
David were made into spiritual ancestors of Mary, and reminders of her spiritual connection to the great kings while diminishing her lack of blood relation.
l9 Bernard, Homilies in Praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary 29. The Virgin of Chartres: The Tree of Jesse
Figure 4. Bible de Saint-Bertin de Saint-Omer
These early-twelfth-century versions also
have few prophets. The Shaftesbury Psalter
has only Abraham and Moses as prophets,
Abraham as the father of Israel and Moses
with a reference to his prophecy from
Deuteronomy 18: 15 mentioned earlier. John
F. Sawyer calls this Psalter miniature a
"literate illustration," requiring for legibility
an understanding of the texts it mention^.^' Most of these versions were manuscript illustrations, and as such can be considered "literate illustrations," meant for the consideration and meditation of scholars, unlike the window at Chartres which was visible to a much larger audience.
The Morgan MS 724 (Figure 5) is perhaps the manuscript whose composition is most similar to the Chartres window. As at Chartres, it has four kings, with Mary slightly smaller than the kings, However, Christ is equal in size to Mary and the image contains no prophets, replacing them with ten additional kings down the sides of the central line. Thus, the image is especially focused on genealogy, as the 14 kings are associated with the segments of fourteen generations which make up the
20 John F. Sawyer, The Fifth Gospel: Isaiah in the History of Christianity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996) 53. Elizabeth L. Fischer
longer genealogy of the first chapter of att thew.^' This image too assumes a
scholarly closeness with Matthew in its reliance on specific details (14 generations)
rather than the action of a frequently told story, so that its particular details can be
associated with the text. Again, the Chartres window appeared in a different context,
separated from the biblical text and associated with the space of the church.
Figure 5. Pierpont Morgan MS. 724
By the middle of the twelfth century,
architectural innovations had allowed for
larger windows and the Tree of Jesse found its
first interpretation both in large size and in
glass. Sections of a window at Saint-Denis
(Figure 6) are generally considered to be a part
of the first stained glass version, created in about 1143, but since only a portion of
the original window exists and has been moved from its original east side position,
the original effect is hard to discern. What parts of the Saint-Denis window remain indicate that it was probably similar to the window at Chartres. However, the window at Saint-Denis was reconstructed with the idea that it ought to look like that at Chartres (Figure 7),22 so not all visual concurrences should be considered meaningful. Most of the central vertical axis with the kings and Jesse are original,
George Henderson, ""Abraham Genuit Isaac": Transitions from the Old Testament to the New Testament in the Prefatory Illustrations of Some 12th-Century English Psalters," Gesta 26.2 (1987): 129-30. 22 James R. Johnson, "The Tree of Jesse Window at Chartres: Laudes Regiae," Speculum 36.1 (1961): 2. and they certainly do resemble those at Chartres. A lack of similarity between the windows at Saint-Denis and Chartres would be somewhat surprising, as Geoffrey of
Leves, Bishop of Chartres until 1149, was close to Abbot Suger at Saint-Denis and visited Saint-Denis several times during its constr~ction.'~Furthermore, it has often been suggested that the sculptors of the west portal of Chartres, the faqade that contains the Jesse window, came to Chartres immediately after finishing their work at Saint-Denis. However the familiarity with the innovations at Saint-Denis reached
Chartres, it would indeed be surprising if the creators of the Chartres program did not keep the Tree of Jesse at Saint-Denis in mind when they were establishing their own design.
rn Figure 6. Tree of Jesse at Saint-Denis
23 Mble, Chartres 18. Elizabeth L. Fischer
Nevertheless, the design at Chartres cannot be explained as a mere copy of a
successful scheme. Chartres was a separated location, with its own regional issues,
and the many great scholars of the Chartres school would have been more than
capable of picking and choosing elements of the Saint-Denis design to incorporate
into their own. The Chartres window makes some departures from manuscript
images and the Saint-Denis window to integrate the design better with the window's
function at Chartres. Particularly important in the new design is how it plays to two
audiences. Manuscript images usually played to a literate clergy, or at least to those
well-versed in theology. This window, placed on the west wall of the nave, would
still have been viewed by the clergy and by scholars, but it also would have preached
to the illiterate or semi-literate public. Thus, the elements of the design must be
considered both for their meaning and for the legibility of that meaning: who would be expected to understand a given element?
As I have indicated, Mary herself is less important in the Chartres window than would be expected from her prominence in earlier versions in terms of her size and discernable attributes. Mary is made even less important when viewed in place: although she is the same size as the kings, from the ground she appears smaller at such a distance and placed next to the much larger Christ. Visually, through familiarity with the motif of the Tree of Jesse from prophet-dramas and similar popular entertainment, the public could be expected to identify Mary and to recognize the kings as ancestors of Christ, but no more. The prophets too are visually indistinct. They carry no attributes, and the only way we can identify them is by reading their scrolls. Even if the laity were literate enough (and had good enough The Virgin of Chartres: The Tree of Jesse
eyesight) to read the names of the prophets, they would require a strong grounding in
theology to be familiar with the specific prophecies of the prophets shown,
particularly the less significant ones. If they were literate enough to read Moses'
scroll, the attention was even further drawn from Mary. As I have mentioned,
Moses' scroll is inscribed with "resustasti Deus uobis," a prophecy which refers only
to Christ and is not at all associated with Mary.
All of these changes reduce the emphasis on the Virgin within what had
traditionally been a very Marian scheme. Why would a cathedral dedicated to the
Virgin of Chartres wish to reduce the prominence of Mary in a very visible part of
the nave? I believe that Laura Spitzer's article on the Cult of the Virgin in reference
to the west faqade capital frieze illuminates the issue. Spitzer presents the cult in the
region around Chartres as being a popular cult with a heavy dose of folklore. The
cult seemed to take on a life of its own outside the domain of the larger church
authority despite remaining physically centered in the church space.24 Elements like
a pre-Christian Marian statue and a Druidic well sacred to the Virgin were accessed by stairs down from the north tower, just adjacent to the part of the wall containing the Tree of Jesse window, but were the focus of a cult that had little to do with the standard liturgy. Spitzer's examination of the capital frieze found that the frieze seemed to include apocryphal scenes of Mary's life with the inclusion of non-biblical scenes and scenes that evoke the Chartres cult, like the Bath of the Virgin and the
Massacre of the Innocents. However, she also found that the ordering of the scenes ultimately draws the viewer into the life of Christ and down the faqade away from
24 Spitzer, "The Cult of the Virgin and Gothic Sculpture: Evaluating Opposition in the Chartres West Facade Capital Frieze," 135. Elizabeth L. Fischer
the north tower entrance and access to the sacred well, and toward the more orthodox
images of the south doorway.25 Thus, while acknowledging the place of the cult of
the Virgin, the capital frieze de-emphasizes the artifacts of the cult. The pictorial
understanding of the Tree of Jesse window similarly acknowledges Mary's status as
the closest to Christ, while visually lessening her status and preventing any
veneration of Mary alone. Veneration of the Mary of the window is veneration of
Mary in her relationship to Christ and his line, not veneration of Mary for the miracles of her cult.
It is easy to see why the Chartres creators would have been concerned about the
Marian cult becoming idolatrous. The record of the Miracles of the Virgin shows the common people praying to Mary who directly provides miracles, rather than interceding with God on the people's behalf. Elizabeth Johnson recounts one thirteenth-century sermon, which was sometimes (falsely) attributed to Bonaventure, which gives Mary a certain value over Christ: Mary "chose the better part, because she was made Queen of Mercy, while her Son remained King of Justice: and mercy is better than justice."26 This easily led to ascribing to Mary the powers reserved for
God, who may grant miracles through Mary and the saints, but is always the source of divinity.
The format of the window enhances the emphasis on Mary as the channel, rather than source, of divinity. One emphasis which does not generally appear in the manuscript images that have been examined is a vertical sensation that sharpens the
25 Spitzer, "The Cult of the Virgin and Gothic Sculpture: Evaluating Opposition in the Chartres West Facade Capital Frieze," 145. 26 Elizabeth A. Johnson, "Marian Devotion in the Western Church," Christian Spirituality: High Middle Ages to Reformation, ed. Jill Raitt (New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1987) 402-3. The Virgin of Chartres: The Tree of Jesse
direct line from the sleeping Jesse through the lungs to Mary and Christ. When this is
compared to the rounded illustration in the Huntingfield Psalter at the Pierpont
Morgan Library (Figure 8) or to the Arundel 44 manuscript image of the Speculum
Virginum (Figure 9), it is clear that the window at Chartres is especially narrow and
upward-thrusting. Although the composition is, of course, to some extent decreed by
the space the sculptors and builders left for a window, the opening in the wall would
have allowed for the image to show the figures in a less-attenuated manner, fuller
and rounder, taking up more of the width of each panel of glass. This would have
enhanced the visibility of the image by allowing larger figures, if there had not been
more important reasons to emphasize verticality. The figures of the central line,
though seated, are tall and narrow, stretching the full height of their panel while
taking up only about a third of the width, the rest being filled with flowers and
curving twigs. The prophets enhance this verticality, pressing up against the interior
edges of their half-medallions and leaving the remaining two-thirds of their panels to
a riot of intricate decoration. What effect does this vertical thrust then create? It is
like the goal of later gothic architecture, forever aiming closer to heaven with thin
spires and high naves.27 This earth-to-heaven connection is shown visually in the
window as Christ and Mary are both enthroned and Mary is crowned, which
indicates that they are both in heaven in the picture, rather than represented in their
earthly forms. Thus, the viewer, following the king-trunk upwards, moves gradually
27 Although the architecture of the Early Gothic had not yet attained the attenuated feeling of the figures in this window, the desire was already present. Branner has pointed out that, although the 1194 rebuilding used the footprint of Fulbert's cathedral to set the length and width of the cathedral, there was no structural or traditional reason to make the nave as high as it was. Robert Branner, "Introductory Essay: Chartres Cathedral," Chartres Cathedral, ed. Robert Branner (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1969) 81. Elizabeth L. Fischer away from earth-bound rulers, left unidentified to stress their lesser importance. The viewer asrives at Mary, the tie between earth and heaven, and through her access&
Chst himself in all the glory of heaven. The Virgin of Chartres: The Tree of Jesse
Annunciation and the Visitation without Christ being visible, but the appearance of
these scenes is narrative and not of a size to be devotional, as single panels of a large
image devoted to the Nativity. Thus, the devotional focus of the windows is always
on Christ, either in his Nativity or his Passion, with Mary as an important, but clearly
subsidiary, figure. The message is clear: Mary is to be venerated as the mother of
Christ and as a righteous saint, but not as a separate entity. She is a vehicle, the
location of God's incarnation of himself into the world, but never an autonomous
actor.
Of course, there is considerably more content to the Jesse window than can be
seen through purely visual interpretation. The prophets particularly grow in importance when subjected to extensive scholarly scrutiny, the sort the theologians of the school of Chartres might have brought to the image. As I have said before, the prophets are only identified by name-scrolls, with no visual attributes or narrative scenes, so that only the learned would have a chance to understand them without help. The figures chosen are a mixture of major and minor prophets. Some of these choices are obvious, like Isaiah, whose prophecy was well-known; others are less familiar: Habakkuk and Micah, among several others. Some other likely candidates, who were often included in Jesse Trees and who had well-known prophecies, like
Jeremiah, are left out. In this large and conspicuously placed window, there is no question that each figure, being explicitly named, must have been chosen for a reason. Previous versions of the Jesse Tree had found it sufficient to include only types of the prophets, without distinguishing them in any way, with text or visual Elizabeth L. Fischer
attrib~tes.~~Although the iconography of the Tree of Jesse generally places prophets
in the side columns,29 the choice of prophets was not wholly standard. Isaiah and
Moses were frequent choices for their prophecies.30 Most other choices were
associated in some way with one of the many prophecies or symbols attached to the
Virgin. No matter which prophet was represented, however, the selection of prophets was deliberate and would be meditated on at great length by the viewers of the manuscript. Although the Chartres window had a larger audience which included many illiterate members, the evidence suggests that the choice of the prophets was still essentially addressed to the learned, and there was a deliberate decision made to represent certain prophets for their prophecies or associations.
Isaiah, of course, is the author of the prefiguration of Mary that inspired the Jesse
Tree iconography. Daniel was associated with other prefigurations of Mary, both the story of Daniel in the lion's den3' and the fiery furnace.32 some of the other prophets make prophecies associated with the birth of Christ from a Virgin or with the Virgin herself. Ezekiel 44: 1-2, for example, was interpreted as alluding to the virginity of
Mary:
Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh toward the east; and it was shut. Then the Lord said unto me; "This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered by it, therefore it shall be shut."
28 Elisabeth Reddish, "The Fourteenth Century Tree of Jesse in the Nave of York Minster," MA thesis, University of York, 2003, 6. 29 his was not without exception, though it was unusual: The Shaftesbury Psalter would be such an exception. 30 Isaiah's, as mentioned before, is found in Isaiah 11:l-3; Moses' is found in Deuteronomy 18:15. 31 Daniel 6. 12 Daniel 3. The Virgin of Chartres: The Tree of Jesse
Several other books of the prophets represented at Chartres contain other
associations with Mary, like Hannah's hymn praying for the miracle of a son in 1
Samuel 1, which parallels the Magnificat, Mary's praise of God at the Annunciation.
However, the significance of many of the prophets within the image is less obvious.
The bottom left-hand prophet, the one just to the left of Jesse, is Nahum (see
Table 1 for the placement of figures). Nahum was one of the minor prophets, though
to have lived at the same time as Habakkuk and Zephaniah, who prophesied the
defeat of foreign powers and the release of 1srae1.~~Habakkuk and Zephaniah are
also found in the window, in places of prime importance on either side of Christ at the very top. Habakkuk prophesied God's triumph over enemies, while Zephaniah railed against Jerusalem while promising that someday there would be a time of peace and hope.34while these figures are difficult to understand in the context of the
Tree of Jesse, their prophecies are all tied to Christ. Nahum's promise that Israel will be released is united with the line of David through their placement together in the window, showing that the defeat of foreign powers will be accomplished by the savior. Nahum's prophecy is recalled at the top by the presence of Habakkuk, who suggests that the defeat of foreign powers, which Habakkuk and Nahum both prophesied, is accomplished in Christ. Zephaniah recalls the little-known prophet at the base of his side of the window, Hosea. Hosea had also prophesied divine judgment,'\uch as Zephaniah called down upon Jerusalem. Thus, the prophecies of
'3'3 Walter Brueggemann, An Introduction to the Old Testament: The Canon and Christian Imagination (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003) 237. See also Nahum 2:2. 34 Brueggemann, An Introduction to the Old Testament: The Canon and Christian Imagination 210, 44. See Habakkuk 2: 13-20, Zephaniah 2:4-13 and Zephaniah 3: 1-20. 75 Brueggemann, An Introduct~onto the Old Testament: The Canon and Christian Imagination 214. See, for example, Hosea 2:2-23,4: 1-14, and 5: 1. Elizabeth L. Fischer
defeat and divine judgment alluded to by the figures of the prophets at the bottom of
the window beside Jesse are recalled in the prophecies of the release of Israel and the
time of peace beside Christ at the top.
Luckily, many of the other prophets are easier to associate with prophecies of
Christ, and do not depend as heavily on their place within the composition. Their positions and choices are nevertheless important. Above Nahum on the left side is
Samuel. Samuel was seen as a type of Christ in more than just his mother's association with Mary. His birth, like Christ's, was miraculous, from a childless mother who conceived by the special aid of ~od.'~He became the spiritual ruler of
Israel, and anointed Saul, the first king of Israel, as well as David, the start of the royal line and Jesus' ancestor. Thus it is appropriate that he is placed to the left of the first king growing out of Jesse, who could be argued to be David.
In the panel above Samuel is Ezekiel, who, as mentioned above, recorded the metaphor of the closed gate associated with Mary's virginity. However, the first chapter of Ezekiel contains a vision of the four beasts of the Revelation and other apocalyptic images, followed by a vision of God in his throne. As with the minor prophets, the images of destruction and violence are countered on the right by prophecies of hope. Ezekiel, with his prophecies of doom and exile for Israel, is balanced by Micah on the right side of the third level. Micah's prophecy for Israel acknowledges suffering, but ends with hope:
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times. Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor gives
36 1 Samuel 1: 1-20. The Virgin of Chartres: The Tree of Jesse
birth and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites. He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. And he will be their peace. (Micah 5:2-5) This prophecy both balances the apocalyptic view of Ezekiel and prophesies
Christ as the ultimate ruler of Israel. Zechariah and Joel, paired above Ezekiel and
Micah, similarly balance the apocalypse, redemption, and prophecies of Christ. Joel
as a prophet was little studied in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, but some
elements from his book were used at ~ent~~and the second half of the book is
apocalyptic, calling for repentance. Zechariah, meanwhile, was also a minor prophet, who prophesied a time of peace to come with the arrival of Christ: "See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey . . . He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth."38
Moses is above Zechariah, to the left of the uppermost king. As mentioned before, his scroll, along with his name, has a reference to a prophecy by Moses in
Deuteronomy. The text on the scroll reads only "Resustasti Deus uobis," "God will raise up for you," the first part of the verse. This would be enough to recall Moses' prophecy in Deuteronomy 18:15, "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers; you must listen to him." This verse in some sense unites all the prophets, with Christ as the ultimate prophet. It is important to remember that in Early Christianity and even in the medieval era, prophets were not seen so much as fortune tellers but rather as interpreting events at any time, past,
77 Especially Joel 2:12-13. Brueggemann, An Introduct~onto the Old Testament: The Canon and Christian Imagination 219. 38 Zechariah 9:9-10 Elizabeth L. Fischer present, or future.39 Christ is then a king of the line of kings, but also a prophet foretold by prophets.
Moses' prophecy of Christ as prophet is countered by Balaam's prophecy.
Balaam was a common figure in Tree of Jesse compositions because of his prophecy recorded in Numbers 24, where he blesses the Israelites against the wishes of a foreign king. After three times seeing blessings for the Israelites instead of curses, he tells the king, "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel . . . A ruler will come out of Jacob and destroy the survivors of the city."" The relationship of this prophecy to that of Isaiah is clear in another image in a window at Chartres. This window, from the thirteenth century, has Balaam using the Tree of Jesse to point to the star mentioned in
Balaam's prophecy.41 Both Moses' and Balaam's prophecies tell of a great man arising out of his own people, the Israelites: Moses' tells of a prophet and Balaam's a king. Thus, they unite in them the two aspects of the Christ of the Tree of Jesse, his biologically destined kingship and his leadership as the spiritual descendant of the prophets and the culmination of their prophecies.
The scriptural reading of the prophets relates all of them to Christ more than to the Virgin. This enhances the visual interpretation, with Christ given precedence over the Virgin, and given special attention as simultaneously prophet and king. This decision evokes the harmony of regnum and sacerdotium so often seen in the west fa~adejambs, with Christ as the ultimate example of the combination of sacred and
39 F. W. Farrar, The Minor Prophets (New York: Fleming J. Revel1 Co., 189-?) 3. 40 Numbers 24: 17,19 41 Gaston Duchet-Suchaux and Michel Pastoureau, The Bible and the Saints, trans. David Radzinowicz Howell (Paris: Flammarion, 1994) 54. The Virgin of Chartres: The Tree of Jesse
secular power, a king by blood and follower of the prophets. However, the Virgin is given some special treatment, with several of the prophets having unique
associations with the Virgin and with prophecies and prefigurations of her.
The Tree of Jesse window at Chartres, then, does present Mary as an especially venerated saint. The iconography remains an illustration of a prophecy concerning her, but its emphasis is shifted much more towards Christ than Jesse Tree designs had in earlier versions. It is obvious from these earlier versions that the iconography of the Tree of Jesse easily allows Mary to take center stage. However, despite
Chartres' supposed preeminence as the center of the Marian cult, the Chartres version of the Tree of Jesse visually places Mary on the level of the anonymous kings, just one more link in the chain leading to Christ. To the public, this image promotes a very specific type of Virgin cult. It reminds visitors to the Virgin's well in the crypt below that Mary should always and only be worshipped in her connection to Christ. She is close to Christ, closer than any other saint, but not the same as Christ and not divine. Furthermore, the associations with prefigurations of
Mary are limited. There are no depictions of the burning bush, the dewy fleece, or other images that could have been visually understood by the illiterate. References in the window to Mary as special in her own right, like the closed gate or the
Magnificat, are only recognizable to the clergy and scholars, arising from knowledge of the prophets who are depicted without elaboration. Mary is then allowed greater importance among those who could be expected to understand the subtle distinctions between appropriate veneration and idolatry when worshipping Mary outside her relationship to Christ, in particular the distinction between Mary as the never-refused Elizabeth L. Fischer intercessor and Mary as the independent actor. The veneration of Mary at Chartres would expand in the following century, as it did everywhere in France, but it would retain its focus on appropriate levels of worship of Mary. Far from being the central site of the Virgin cult, it seems that Chartres was actually diminishing Mary's importance at this time, or at the very least attempting to control and monitor her worship...... me Virgin of Chartres: The Triumph of the Virgin .' -
. *.?..,-.. .,...... -.. -'. - I ...... :.. ...I.. . . ' ., ,., ...... , ...... - ..-; ...... ,. '. '" .;. '-' 11. The North Portal of ~h$iZi-&:.-;lr= , he ~ri'u&~hof the Virgin .- ,: .< : :., ,- ., %:' .- . - ..' ...... <. : '. .)? - ., .. A- . The central portal of the north transept (Figure 1O), built at the beginning bf thk..::::. ._!.'I...... '...... r thirteenth century, presents a very different son of experience than the Tree of less$^;^'-^?=.-.. .. : . . y ;>r<,.:; _._...... :.: .+..: .. 2 -: window of the west faqade. The latter is an interior element, seen by those facing,&e:.::.?:,:",i ..... t . '; C...-W .,.:: B. L,,:r:<' - ' .; ' .,,:: :: :.. -::
west wall fiom within the nave, while the former, meant to be seen fiom the ,outside^:^:^.^.^.^ ,.- . +>-,*., .-2~~.~v..-:<...... - ....I...... - -. : --:" ,' ' ,/.,. .- ;.:.>,\>: ;:;.:;+-j>.: broadcasts the presence of the space within, showing its purpose and dr&ng.. _. peoplt$;,:;<:.?; .?z ' :4 .>, ,..<: 3. .-. ?...... -. -.>:,. ( towards the sacred space of the cathedral. Then, too, the h~damentalexperience oi,. '-:'. :
Although the scenes the viewer encounters is somewhat defined by the nature
and ordering of the space of the portal, the viewer also controls the perceived
program by focusing on certain elements. Who was using this portal? When, and for
what purpose? This is not the main entrance to the cathedral, but was it used as an
entrance before mass or in special processions? While some of these questions cannot be answered with certainty, any understanding of the intended viewer's experience will help illuminate the intent of the program's designers. This portal is the one most associated with Mary, being explicitly focused on Mary in her role as
Queen of Heaven. Thus, the understanding of certain identifiable uses of the portal and the events occurring around it, including processions and penitential rites, leads to a clearer view of the cult of the Virgin at Chartres at the time of its conception as it was presented by the creators of this program. At this time, Chartres was attempting to create a unique place for itself among the many cathedrals dedicated to
Mary. It did not have a large population, and was not on any of the major pilgrimage roads, so it had an especially strong need to convince worshippers from outside the area to undertake special trips to secure the intercession of the Virgin of Chartres. A specific attempt to show Mary as favoring Chartres and the ceremonies observed there can be seen in this portal. This image is, however, still a depiction of the idealized worship of Mary constructed by the clergy of Chartres, not a depiction of the folk cult described in later sources.
The north porch (Figure I I), including the central portal often called the Triumph
dates from around 1210-1220, with the sculpture begun around 1205 in
42 This portal has often been called the Coronation of the Virgin as well, but I feel that "Triumph" is a more apt title, as the scene does not actually depict coronation itself. The Virgin of Chartres: The Triumph of the Virgin
workshops before the construction of the portal architecture had started, and the
porches not completed until around 1224.~~John James has argued that the porches were constructed simultaneously with the transepts.44 This fits in with the dating suggested by Katzenellenbogen, since Katzenellenbogen's source is based on a primary document recording the building of steps to the new porch and does not concern the building method - the rest of the portal may well have been just completed by this 1224 date.
Figure 11. North Porch of Chartres
The tympanum (Figure 12) presents Mary, already crowned, leaning in from the left side of the tympanum towards Christ on the right, who raises his right hand in blessing. They sit on classically inspired thrones between two columns, both appearing to be variations on the Corinthian style, supporting a tri-lobed arch that
43 Adolf Katzenellenbogen, The Sculptural Programs of Chartres Cathedral: Christ, Mary, Ecclesia (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1959) 61. 44Lon R. Shelby, "The Contractors of Chartres," Gesta 20.1 (1981): 173. Elizabeth L. Fischer
partially obscures columned buildings or temples. Just below the arch, two small
angels fly, swinging censors (though the censor of the left angel has been broken
off). Just outside of the columns kneel two angels, slightly smaller in scale than
Mary and Christ. Each kneels on one knee on a wavy surface that may indicate
clouds, and though it is unclear what they once carried, the position of their hands
indicates that they might have held candles. Both Mary and Christ are turned slightly
towards each other, though Christ's head is in a three-quarter profile while Mary's face is almost fully profiled, and her shoulders are turned while his remain fully
squared towards the front. Mary raises both hands in a gesture that acknowledges or elicits Christ's blessing, which he offers with a single hand raised with an open palm.
His other hand props a closed
book up on his knee. Christ's
pose is severe and formally
regal, and his posture is
straighter than that of Mary,
whose back arches as she
inclines her head more than
thirty degrees off vertical.
Figure 12. Tympanum of the Triumph Portal
All four large figures in the
tympanum wear haloes: those The Virgin of Chartres: The Triumph of the Virgin
of the two angels are simple disks, while Mary's is an open-centered ring and
Christ's a disk with a raised cross. They are similarly clothed, though Mary wears a
headdress underneath her crown, and she wears shoes while Christ and the two
angels are barefoot. The clothing is timeless, the robes being similar to thirteenth
century garments while also appearing to fit the conception of biblical dress. Mary's
dress, however, has more signifiers of the thirteenth century than the clothing of
Jesus or the angels. The simple, loose robe was popular during many parts of the
Middle Ages, especially in the early thirteenth century, when richness of material
replaced richness of de~oration.~~In addition to the robe, Mary appears to wear a pelice, a knee-length cloak with short wide sleeves, which would have been worn
over a gown with long tight sleeves.46
Dividing the upper part of the tympanum from the lintel is a band of architectural decoration, a smaller repetition of the tri-lobed arch seen above Mary and Christ, a
simple gothic arch, and the arched and crenellated building from the top of the tympanum. The lintel below is divided in half by a column. The left side of the lintel shows Mary's Dormition (Figure 13), the scene of her death at some point after
Jesus' Ascension, while the right side of the lintel shows her Assumption. In the
Dormition scene, Mary, her hands folded on her chest, lies on a bed covered in drapery below which the feet of the bed are just visible. A figure at the top of the bed holds a pillow under Mary's head, elevating it slightly. The scene appears capture the moment immediately following her death, as the figures around her appear to be agitated, turning to one another or to the body with dynamic gestures. These are the
45 Herbert Norris, Medieval Costume and Fashion (Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc., 1999) 86, 147, et al. 46 Norris, Medieval Costume and Fashion 97. Elizabeth L. Fischer
Apostles, who, according to legends and the Transitus Mariae were present at
Mary's death.47 Another figure appears in the center of the composition. Although
his head is gone, his halo and his right hand, raised as though in blessing, are still
present. Since none of the other figures, including Mary, have haloes, and the halo is
inscribed with a cross like the halo Christ wears in the tympanum, this figure must be
Christ. Most of the narrative traditions of the Donnition indicate that Christ was
present, even though the event occurred after his Ascension. He returns, according to the Transitus Mariae, to be with his mother in her death, and then to escort her to heaven. Christ holds a smaller figure in his left arm. Although Mary is obviously
already present as a body, this infant-like figure is probably the soul of Mary. This depiction of the soul as an infant is seen elsewhere at Chartres, in the window of St.
John, where the soul of a dying man, tormented by a devil, is represented as a doll- like figure.48 Mary also appears as an infant in the arms of her mother, St. Anne, in the trumeau directly below, so the visual parallel would encourage the identification of the infant in Christ's arms with Mary even without the direct knowledge of this convention. Since Mary's death was a sort of rebirth in that Christ was raising her into a new life, the presence of her soul in the form of an infant is appropriate.
47 This text was the general source for the Dormition of Mary, which was not included in any biblical writings. The Trntzsitus did not tell of her Ascension or Triumph, which were taken from later commentaries. It was written in the first few hundred years of the Christian era, though Medieval scholars generally considered it to be written by John the Evangelist or a follower of John, during John's lifetime. 48 Jean Markale, The Cathedral of the Black Madonna: The Druids and the Mysteries of Chartres (Rochester: Inner Traditions, 2004) 62. The Virgin of Chartres: The Triumph of the Virgin
Figure 13. Dormition of Mary -- left half of the Triumph portal lintel
The right side of the lintel shows the
c. -,. Assumption. Mary is carried into heaven by a group of angels, who are just lifting her off a flat slab (Figure 14). This pose echoes in size and position the figure of Mary in the Dormition scene, although Mary is clearly in a different setting. The bed of the Donnition, with its sheets and visible bedposts, is replaced in the Assumption scene by a sarcophagus-like piece of carved stone. Mary appears to be being lifted off of it rather than out of it, as though she had been the carved effigy atop a sarcophagus. At the far left of the Assumption scene is a figure who does not quite appear to be an angel. He lacks the wings or remains of wings that all the other angels have, and seizes the robe of one angel in his fist. To the right of the scene there is another figure who might also not be an angel, though his back is pressed to the edge of the frame so it is unclear whether he has wings. The figures of the Assumption are more evenly dispersed and similarly.- posed than the Apostles are in the Dormition. Rather than a variety of poses to indicate their agitated states, the angels &SU& the $&-he pose, each leaning over the body and grasping the front side of Mary's body with a single arm, the other perhaps wrapped around her body on the opposite side. Although they face different directions, so that all are oriented
towards Mary's face, their similar motion creates
a regular, rhythmic composition.
Figure 14. Assumption of Mary -- right half of the Triumph Portal lintel Elizabeth L. Fischer
Below the tympanum, St. Anne appears on the trumeau. She stands atop an open
pedestal whose statue is missing, holding the infant Mary in the crook of her left
arm, with her husband Joachim (mostly gone) below her. Her eyes are cast down,
and perhaps would have originally been looking at Mary, who is now headless. St.
Anne is slightly smaller than the jamb statues to her sides, but is about the same scale
as Mary and Christ in the tympanum.49 he twelve full-length figures standing in the jambs correspond in number to the twelve Apostles in the jambs on the south portal.
These figures are commonly seen as prophets and prefigurations of ~hrist.~'The
figures on the left side (Figure 15) have been
identified by their attributes and the figures
that appear on the consoles below the jambs as
Melchizedek, Abraham with Isaac at his side,
Moses, Samuel, and King David. The figures
on the right have been identified as Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Simeon, John the Baptist, and Saint
Peter.
Figure 15. Melchizedek, Abraham and Isaac, and Moses
Above the tympanum and jambs, the
smallest and least easily visible images of the
49 It would be expected that St. Anne would appear in a place of prominence like this. In 1204, just before the creation of the sculpture for this portal according to Katzenellenbogen, the head of St. Anne was sent to Chartres as a gift from the Countess of Blois and Chartres. 50 Jean Villette, Chartres and Its Cathedral (Paris: Arthaud, 1979) 45. :&. .tt... h't ': c, 2' ,,r:.*? * The Virgin of Chartres: The Triumph of the Virgin ef-;lk?
portal are found in the tiny figures of the many tiers of archivolts (Figure 16). The
innennost rung has twelve angels wearing sashes, facing different directions and
carrying different tools. The next row out, whose ends stretch from the jamb figure
of David to that of Isaiah, contains ten seated prophets all with scrolls.51The next
two rows, which span from Moses and Samuel to Jeremiah and Simeon, feature a
depiction of the tree of Jesse, which oddly enough does not rise out of the head of
Isaiah. However, it does end with Simeon, who carries the baby Jesus in his arms,
indicating that the culmination of the Jesse tree is in Christ. After these two rows,
another series of prophets, sixteen this time, stretch from Abraham to John the
Baptist, the last prophet, who holds the Lamb of God, the subject of his greatest
prophecy. The last two rungs of interior archivolts contain a set of seated figures
with books and scrolls. The figures with
scrolls may also be prophets, and the
figures with books may be priests or
perhaps scholars.
Figure 16. Archivolts of the Triumph Portal
On the edge of the arch surrounding
the whole of the tympanum and archivolts
is a depiction of Genesis, from Creation to
the Fall. On the leR side, up to the apex,
God (represented as Jesus) creates in the
'' Michael Camille, "Visual Signs of the Sacred Page: Books in the Bible Moralisee," Word and Image 5 (1989): 11 1. Elizabeth L. Fischer
outer row, while what is created is shown on the inside tier. Down the right side is
represented the story of Adam and Eve and their Fall from grace, with God still
visualized as Christ on the outer row.
As the viewer moves through the portal, his experience of the portal is controlled.
The porch as a whole is quite large, more than 33 meters long and 8 meters deep,52
so that an entirely separate space is created within, distinct from the secular world
and yet outside the confines of the ritual space of the sanctuary. First, the viewer sees
all of time since Creation, with God encompassing the whole from the edges of the
archivolts. The many moments occurring in the depiction of history since Creation
are made one as all figures, including the sculptures and the viewer, are visually present at the same scene, and appear to be witnesses to the heavenly event in the tympanum. After this first experience, the visitor begins to perceive the portal figures as members of discrete scenes that occur at separate times. The jamb figures are above his head, unlike the jamb figures of the west portal who stand only a few feet above the ground. As the viewer's eyes move across the portal from left to right, the jamb figures trace the historical progression of prophets and prefigurations of Christ, through whom man's fall will be reversed. As he looks up, these early times are peopled with prophets and priests and ancestors of Christ. These jamb figures interact with each other or at least seem to look about them, rather than being the wholly structural figures of the west fa~ade.Madeleine Caviness suggests that this appearance of natural movement and expression leads to a more literal or historic sense of scripture that emphasizes the humanity and real existence of biblical
52 Etienne Houvet, An Illustrated Monograph of Chartres Cathedral (Paris: Acadernie des Beaux-Arts, 1928) 45. The Virgin of Chartres: The Triumph of the Virgin
figures.53Finally, as the viewer reaches the door, man's salvation is achieved. In the
tympanum above, Christ and Mary are seen enthroned in heaven, the new Adam and
Eve who have redeemed man from Original Sin.
The story of the Dormition and Assumption of Mary were not found in any of the
Gospels, and had to be taken from non-canonical sources like the Transitus Mariae.
This source, declared apocryphal in the sixth century, provides an account of Mary's
death at an advanced age. The angel Gabriel comes to her, greeting her as the mother
of God, and tells Mary that Christ has heard her praying to him and that upon her
death she will go to heaven to be with Christ. She returns to Bethlehem, and prays that God will send the apostles, living and dead, to her. John arrives by cloud from
Ephesus, and the rest of the apostles too are brought by the Holy Spirit, having heard voices that told them to salute and honor Mary as she was about to die. As they are there, many miracles of healing occur as the sick pray to Mary. The priests of the
Jews are jealous and try to act against her, but they are prevented by a miracle.
Eventually they manage to get her to leave Bethlehem, but she is brought by cloud to
Jerusalem. There Christ comes to her, and tells her she will be brought to heaven.
Mary asks Christ to bless her, then asks for mercy for the world. Christ tells her that anyone who asks for help in her name will be answered, then they sing the Alleluia and Christ takes Mary's soul into his hands. The apostles take care of the body, putting it in a tomb at Gethsemane, where after three days her body is taken to
Paradise, and there are visions of Elizabeth, Anne, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David praising her.
'"adeline H. Caviness, ""the Simple Perception of Matter" and the Representation of Narrative, Ca. 1180-1280," Gesta 30.1 (1991): 55. Elizabeth L. Fischer
This account clearly emphasizes the establishment of Mary's intercessory powers. Even while still on earth, Mary is able to cause miracles of healing by the dozens, and Christ promises her that anyone who prays to her will be answered. The
Dormition scene at Chartres shows explicitly Christ retrieving Mary's soul as Christ had in the Transitus Mariae, while the tympanum shows her as she is eternally, seated at Christ's right hand and interceding for mankind. The lintel scenes in the
Triumph Portal correspond in a precise visual way to the interaction described in the
Transitus between Mary and Christ on earth. The Transitus relates that Mary said to
Christ, "Lay Thy right hand upon me, 0 Lord, and bless me." It further said that when Christ did so, she kissed his hand, telling him that she adored it because it
"created the heaven and the earth." She then called upon him "to save the race of men through Thine ineffable dispensation; do Thou bestow Thine aid upon every man calling upon, or praying to, or naming the name of, Thine handmaid." At
Chartres, the tympanum shows Christ lifting his right hand toward Mary, who is at that moment requesting her ability to intercede for every man. Furthermore, Christ as the Creater is emphasized in the archivolts.
In addition to this text, medieval scholars looked to the Bible for other references to Mary's role as Queen of Heaven, and found many of them in Psalms, Song of
Solomon, and Revelations. The images of found in Psalms were particularly useful as a way to describe Mary's eternal beauty and gifts of the spirit, which, according to the doctrine of St. Anselm, she possessed while living and all the saved would possess in heaven.54 song of Solomon presented a woman as a bride,55 which,
" MMfle, Chartres 126. 55 e. g., Song of Solomon 4:8 The Virgin of Chartres: The Triumph of the Virgin
combined with the many metaphors that were taken to be indications of virginity,
like the locked gate and the enclosed garden,56indicated to commentators that Mary
was the bride mentioned in the text. The wedding at ~ana,~~where Jesus performed
his first miracle, was also seen as a symbol of Mary's wedding to Christ and her
ensuing ability to intercede, since she requests that Jesus perform that miracle.58
Ephesians 5:25 was also seen as a direct reference to Mary, in the form of the
Church, and her marriage to ~hrist.~~
Revelations, too, told of a woman who bore a savior, taken to mean Mary. In
Revelations 21, the image of the new Jerusalem was equated with this woman.60 It
reads, "And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her hu~band."~'In tympana of the
Triumph scene, Mary and Christ are often depicted, as they are at Chartres, in an
architectural space that is simultaneously an interior columned court space and a physical city, with tiny buildings crowning the arch around Christ and the Virgin. In this way, Mary herself is equated with the whole of the Heavenly Court, and is present both as a figure in the representation of her body and as a type in the figure of the New Jerusalem.
Other images in the portal had their sources in the writings of church scholars.
Gregory wrote in his Moralia in Job that Adam and Eve were the main figures of
56 Song of Solomon 4: 12 '' John 2 58 Marcia R. Rickard, "The Iconography of the Virgin Portal at Amiens," Gesta 22.2 (1983): 152. 59 "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself for it." Ephesians 5:25, King James Version. 60 William Tronzo, "Apse Decoration, the Liturgy and the Percept~onof Art in Medieval Rome: S. Maria in Travestere and S. Maria Maggiore," Italian Church Decoration of the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance, ed. William Tronzo (Bologna: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989) 189. 6' Revelations 21:2, King James Version Elizabeth L. Fischer penitence,62 as of course was Job, who is seen in the right-hand tympanum of the north transept. These images signify Mary's role as the new Eve, the one who redeems Eve, in which position she can intercede for penitent manlund with the
Second Adam, Christ. Eve was the mother of all people, and Mary became the mother of all people. The Gospel of John was seen as showing this in the Passion story: "When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, 'Woman, behold thy son!" Then saith he to the disciple, "Behold thy mother!"63 This incident was seen as the moment in which
Christ gave Mary as Mother to all humanity.64 In the Chartres portal, Eve and Mary appear as opposites, though related. Eve is naked and cowering, while Mary is graceful and dressed in flowing robes. Although both figures bow their heads before the image of Christ (Eve toward the Christ in the archivolts and Mary toward her companion on the tympanum), Eve bows in shame while Mary inclines her head with humility and respect.
The cult of the Virgin became more popular over the course of the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries throughout Western Europe. Although some of this Marian worship developed along with the concept of courtly love, wherein a woman could be loved without sexual f~lfillment,~~there was increase in Mary apart from this general trend.66 This greater emphasis on Mary, however, did not lead to a role for her that was separate from Christ, but rather, she was a conduit to Christ, a reminder
62 Barbara Abou-El-Haj, "The Urban Setting for Late Medieval Church Building: Reims and Its Cathedral between 1210 and 1240," Art History 11.1 (1988): 37, in notes. 63 John 19:26-27, King James Version. 64 Markale, The Cathedral of the Black Madonna: The Druids and the Mysteries of Chartres 10. " Markale, The Cathedral of the Black Madonna: The Druids and the Mysteries of Chartres 6. 66 Penny Schine Gold, The Lady & the Virgin: Image, Attitude, and Experience in Twelfth-Century France (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1985) 44. The Virgin of Chartres: The Triumph of the Virgin
of his mortal aspect. The greater emphasis on Christ's humanity in the thirteenth
century required a greater emphasis on Mary, whose role was necessary for him to be
fully human.
The Assumption was not an official dogma till 1950, but there was general
theological acceptance of this event from the early middle ages. In Rome,
Assumption processions were a major festival in the church year starting in the
seventh century. The Assumption brought a focus not so much on the humanity of
Christ, but on salvation. Coming from the Romanesque visions of divine wrath, this
image is hopeful. Mary's Assumption is an example of what is possible for every
soul, and her Triumph in heaven after her Assumption is an indication of the help
that her worshippers could expect to receive in their mortal lives. This feast was not
only important at Chartres, but also at many other churches, including S. Maria
Travestere, Notre Dame de Paris (where it was one of the four major feasts of the church year67), and many others throughout France, England, and ltaly." There was some dissension over whether Mary's body had been resurrected along with her soul;
Chartres from the time of Fulbert thought that she had been bodily raised into heaven, as recorded in the Transitus ~ariae.~~~t Chartres, as in other cathedrals, this idea appears in separate depictions of the Assumption of Mary's soul on one half of the lintel and the Assumption of her body on the other half.
Although the portal at Chartres is very similar in many ways to other versions of the Triumph of the Virgin, it differs from earlier depictions in several significant
67 Craig Wright, Music and Ceremony at Notre Dame of Paris 500-1500 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989) 74. 68 Tronzo, "Apse Decoration, the Liturgy and the Perception of Art in Medieval Rome: S. Maria in Travestere and S. Maria Maggiore," 177-8. 69 Katzenellenbogen, The Sculptural Proflams of Chartres Cathedral: Christ, Mary, Ecclesia 159. Elizabeth L. Fischer
ways. The most important changes concern the depiction of Mary. Mary is not
shown being crowned, as was common, but at an unspecified time after her
Assumption and coronation. She interacts more with Christ than Mary does in earlier
versions, enhancing the feeling that a personal relationship between God and the
Lady of Chartres has been established. The overall similarity that the Chartres
Triumph program has to earlier versions, however, makes such small alterations to the design especially significant and purposeful.
Manuscript illuminations of the Triumph had been around since the eleventh century, as a representation of the Church Triumphant, before gradually becoming associated directly with the Generally, credit for the first expression of this program in monumental sculpture is given to Senlis, where a version was completed in 1175 and quickly imitated throughout France (Figure 17). At Senlis, Christ and the
Virgin are alone at the center of the tympanum, separated from the angels by an arch.
They are posed formally, both sitting stiffly with their backs very straight, with none of the graceful lean which Mary makes toward Christ at Chartres. Rather than the intercessory gesture that she makes at Chartres, Mary at Senlis holds a book and a scepter, while Christ raises his hand in a gesture of blessing. They both wear heavy crowns and long, swirling ceremonial robes. Katzenellenbogen has suggested that eight of the jamb sculptures at Chartres are based on figures at Senlis, with their numbers increased to twelve to relate to the twelve apostles on the south transept.71
70 Marion Lawrence, "Maria Regina," The Art Bulletin 7.4 (1925): 157. 7' Katzenellenbogen, The Sculptural Proararns of Chartres Cathedral: Christ, Mary, Ecclesia 61. The Virgin of Chartres: The Triumph of the Virgin
Figure 17. Coronation of the Virgin at Senlis
After Senlis, the
design was quickly
repeated at Mantes, in
1180, and Laon, in
1190. The figures at
Chartres of the Virgin, the jamb figures, and the angels of the tympanum are more interactive than they are at Laon (Figure 18) or Senlis, but Mary is also more submi~sive.~~ he Virgin Portal at Amiens (Figure 19) is a bit later than that at
Chartres; it was probably begun around 1220.~~However, it is indicative of the widespread interest in this subject, and being roughly contemporary with Chartres, helps determine which innovations were central to the program at Chartres. The
Amiens version is on the south edge of the west fa~ade,and is meant to represent the path to salvation in a simplified form.74It depicts the coronation in progress, instead of Mary being already crowned as she is at Chartres. Mary and Christ again sit up very straight, with elaborate robes, and Mary holds a scepter, as at Senlis. Mary and
Christ are accompanied by four angels carrying tapers or censers, who kneel to the sides. The tympanum is fairly small, to make room for two layers of lintels. The upper level is divided into two divisions, Assumption and Dormition as it is at
Chartres and Senlis. Indeed, the depictions of these two scenes closely resemble
72 Gold, The Ladv & the Virgin: Image, Attitude, and Experience in Twelfth-Centurv France 61 73 Rickard, "The Iconography of the Virgin Portal at Amiens," 147. 74 Rickard, "The Iconography of the Virgin Portal at Amiens," 147. Elizabeth L. Fischer
those at Chartres, which were probably already in place when this portal was
constructed. However, Mary's soul does not appear with Christ in the Dormition at
Amiens, and the narrative details of the adjacent Assumption are increased by the
presence of ointment jars and pitchers in the apostles' hands. Below this upper lintel
is another, divided in the center by a depiction of the Ark of the Covenant, which
forms a canopy for the trumeau figure of Mary with the infant Christ. To the sides of
the lintel are Old Testament prophets. Like the archivolts at Chartres, those at
Amiens feature censing angels and a Tree of Jesse, though this Tree of Jesse is
divided into royal and non-royal member^.^' The archivolts also show images of the
Coronation of David. Adam and Eve appear again, though this time they appear in
the socles instead of the archivolts, and they are not accompanied by the Creation
story. Rather than prophets or Old Testament figures, some of whom have appeared in the lintel or on the other portals of the west faqade, the jambs depict the Magi,
Herod, Solomon and Sheba, the Annunciation, the Visitation, and the Presentation in the Temple. Most of these changes occur in the layout of images, rather than the choice of which images to include. However, some of these changes do affect the
perception of the Virgin created
75 Rickard, "The Iconography of the Virgin Portal at Amiens," 149. The Virgin of Chartres: The Triumph of the Vivgin
Figure 19. Coronation of the Virgin at Amiens
Amiens places a much greater emphasis on the
coronation ceremony itself; it represents the actual
event occurring rather than the Triumph, and as at Senlis, Christ and Mary are
depicted regally in dress and position, rather than in positions that emphasize their
emotional relationship. The Chartres version places much more importance on a
naturalistic depiction of the interaction between Christ and Mary. This interaction, as
I will discuss later, has a significant effect on the perception of Mary's ability to
intercede and procure miraculous intervention. The Coronation of David in the
archivolts at Amiens enhances the regality of the composition; the emphasis is on the
royal aspects of Mary and Christ, rather than their actions as Queen and King. The
emphasis on the Nativity is much greater at Amiens than at Chartres as well, though
at Chartres the overall emphasis on the Nativity is made greater by giving the subject
its own portal to the left of the Triumph. Rickard suggests that this emphasis on the
infancy of Christ was intended to be a reminder of Epiphany plays.76Furthermore, at
Amiens there is little emphasis on types of the Virgin and Christ, the only exceptions
being Solomon and Sheba, while the Chartres portal is filled with early prophets and
figures of Christ and Mary. Together, these changes show that Chartres was less
interested in the royal status of Mary than in what this status could achieve.
The image of the crowned Virgin did not originate in France, though, and some
of the other visual sources of this image must be considered. Eastern artists never
76 ~ickard,"The Iconography of the Virgin Portal at Arniens," 152. Elizabeth L. Fischer showed Mary crowned, although the writings of Byzantine scholars did refer to Mary as the Queen of ~eaven.~~However, by the sixth century, images of the enthroned
Madonna were appearing in Italy in Roman mosaics. The concept died out throughout the tenth and eleventh centuries, but was revived in the twelfth as a consequence of the growing interest in ~ar~.~~The apse mosaic in Santa Maria
Travestere is one of the earliest examples of this new revival, with a Triumph of the
Virgin that was designed and executed around 1131, just before Pope Innocent 11's trip to France, which might have been responsible for the transfer of this design to northern ~uro~e.~~ he apse mosaic in S. Maria Travestere is in some ways more similar than Senlis to the version at Chartres, especially in the positions of Christ and the Virgin. Christ is represented as the bearded, book-holding Pantocrator, while
Mary is, as at Chartres, the Madonna Avvocata. The Madonna Avvocata was a specific intercessory Madonna frequently shown in scenes having to do with the
Assumption, who holds her hands in the exact same position as is seen in the north portal at Chartres, separated and outstretched to the side. This position was fairly rare in the west at this timeg0.Thus, instead of a Virgin associated with the Nativity and
Epiphany, as was true at Amiens, the Chartres and Travestere were more associated with the Assumption.
How then does the Chartres design move away from the long history of Mary's
Triumph? Mary herself, is, of course, the most important aspect of the change. As
77~obertDeshrnan, "Servants of the Mother of God in Byzantine and Medieval Art," Word and Image 5.1 (1989): 37. 78 Lawrence, "Maria Regina," 150. 79 Lawrence, "Maria Regina," 156. 80 Tronzo, "Apse Decoration, the Liturgy and the Perception of Art in Medieval Rome: S. Maria in Travestere and S. Maria Maggiore." The Virgin of Chartres: The Triumph of the Virgin has been mentioned, she is particularly involved in a personal relationship with
Christ, shown in her gentle inclination toward Christ and her uplifted hands.
Although depictions of figures at this time were gradually showing more personality and emotion, the image of Mary enthroned was still frequently rendered hieratically, emphasizing her as a regal figure rather than a figure of emotion and human interaction.
Many more subtle iconographic details and changes contribute to the overall effect and meaning of the Chartres portal, which must be examined in detail for the changes to become understandable and significant. Something as minor as Mary's crown takes on a new meaning. This crown is somewhat unusual, being a combination of two types popular in Triumph iconography, a fleur-de-lis type and a simpler circlet, which were geographical variants related to actual secular crowns.
Marion Lawrence has suggested that this was a simplification of the French fleur-de- lis type, in order to ease its execution in stone,81 and while this may be true, the delicacy of the execution in the majority of the portal suggests that there was more to the choice than an inability to render the French fleur-de-lis type, perhaps a desire to combine visually crowns of different regions into a universal crown for the Queen of
Heaven. This universal crown also indicates a desire to stretch the potency of the
Virgin of Chartres in an earthly way as well, providing her with a symbol of her ability to act beyond the confines of the local cult. This was an important step on the way to bringing income and prestige to Chartres from beyond the bounds of the
Chartres diocese. The Miracles of the Virgin, first written around 1200, show this effort in written form, as, while most of the miracles occur within a day's walk of
Lawrence, "Maria Regina," 157. Elizabeth L. Fischer
Chartres, several are mentioned occurring in distant parts of France or even in
England.
The sculpture also worked to advertise that the efficacy of the services performed at Chartres directly influenced the ability of Mary to intercede outside the region of
Chartres, by creating an image that conflates the Virgin interceding in heaven with the activities of the Cathedral at Chartres, and particularly with certain holidays and processions. The two kneeling angels of the tympanum resemble formally the donors in the bases of many thirteenth-century windows, including those at Chartres, both in their kneeling pose and their orientation toward the central images so that only a profile shows (Figure 20). Jane Welch Williams suggests that instead of donor figures, the kneeling figures in the trade windows at Chartres could be people on pilgrimage,82paying their respects to whoever is depicted in the upper portion. Thus, what was a symbol of veneration by donor figures becomes a depiction of a specific instance of veneration, depicting a certain moment of devotion before an altar rather than the visualization of the general idea of the homage the donors gave to the central figure by paying for the image. That they might be identified as pilgrims enhances the idea that there was an interest in showing the cult of the Virgin at
Chartres to be effective for people from outside the diocese. The evidence that the tympanum angels might have held candles would seem to support their participation in a specific, easily recognizable type of veneration practiced at Chartres and the many other cathedrals where kneeling angels worship the Triumph of Mary. Their appearance here then becomes an example to the viewer of appropriate worship of
82 Jane Welch Williams, Bread, Wine & Money: The Windows of the Trades at Chartres Cathedral (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1993) 14. The Virgin of Chartres: The Triumph of the Virgin
Mary, reminding him of a known activity which he had probably performed himself.
This is not an uncommon feature of saints' shrines, where figures were often shown in proskynesis, with the specific goal of instructing the viewer on the proper veneration of the sainLg3 In this case, the veneration offered seems to be of a particular ritual type, rather than just a matter of giving honor to Mary.
Figure 20. Angel from the tympanum
Christ's presence in the Dormition and his gesture of
blessing, which is very similar to the gesture he makes in
the tympanum, brings the focus of this dramatic, emotional scene back to the central issue of Mary as Queen with Christ's blessing. Christ's presence here at the moment of Mary's death underscores the choice that was already described in the explanation of the tympanum to show not the coronation of Mary itself, but a point just afterwards, when Christ is blessing Mary. The correspondence between the similar gestures of Christ at the Dormition and in the tympanum creates a connection between the mortal Mary, blessed at her death, and the Queen of
Heaven, blessed by Christ at the time of death. If Chartres had shown the
Coronation, as many contemporaneous programs had, the temporal correspondence between the worship at the cathedral and the intercession of Mary would not have held, since the Coronation, like the Dormition, was a precise event, which occurred at a definite point in history according to the Trarzsitus Muviue, a time sometime
83 Cynthia Hahn, "Seeing and Believing: The Construction of Sanctity in Early-Medieval Saints' Shrines," Speculum 72.4 (1997): 1094. Elizabeth L. Fischer before the existence of Chartres. The Triumph, however, was an ongoing experience which occurred every time the Virgin requested Christ's forgiveness for man.
Chartres did involve itself in Church controversies and doctrinal discussions. In the Assumption scene on the lintel, Mary's body sags as it is lifted, showing that it is her entire mortal body being raised up, not just her soul. One heresy around 1200 denied Mary as being simultaneously the Mother of Christ and a real mortal woman, and there was an ongoing internal Church controversy over whether Mary's body had been resurrected along with her soul, as had first been suggested by ~u~ustine.~~
This image underscores the position Fulbert of Chartres had declared about the physical Assumption of Mary's body, as the real weight of Mary's sagging body seems to indicate that she was indeed raised body and soul into heaven. If Mary's body were physically in heaven, not left rotting in the earth, this would enhance her ability to interact with physical beings on earth, and thus give her greater powers of intercession and miracle-worlung.
The north portal of Chartres had special uses and was entered at different times by different people, so context would have varied its meaning. It was not the main portal for either liturgical processions or general entrance by the laity.85Williams suggests that the north portal would have housed the expulsion of penitents on Ash
Wednesday, as well as their welcoming back on ~aster.~"tis also possible that this was the location for punishments that required public penance.87The north portal at
84 Katzenellenbogen, The Sculptural Programs of Chartres Cathedral: Christ, Mary, Ecclesia 69. 85 Williams suggests that the south portal, which faced the largest gathering place around the cathedral and had the market, would have been used for this purpose. Williams, Bread, Wine & Money: The Windows of the Trades at Chartres Cathedral 5 1. 86 Williams, Bread, Wine & Money: The Windows of the Trades at Chartres Cathedral 198. 87 Abou-El-Haj, "The Urban Setting for Late Medieval Church Building: Reims and Its Cathedral between 1210 and 1240," 17. The Virgin of Chartres: The Triumph of the Virgin
Chartres would have been particularly apt for this function, as it displayed the ultimate figure of humility and penitence for crimes unknown, Job, on the right portal. Adam and Eve were also shown penitent in the archivolts, particularly in the scene in which they are expelled from Eden, which was seen in the Middle Ages as a type of Heaven (Figure 21). Mary and Christ had given man the ability to enter
Paradise, which had been lost by Adam and Eve. Mary herself was a model of humility. In the tympanum, she leans her head forward meekly, her only sign of queenly glory her crown, of which she is unaware, praying to Christ for the salvation of others. A letter attributed to St. Jerome, actually written by Paschasius Radbertus, singled out modesty and servitude as being Mary's chief virtues and the cause of her queenship,@ as did a large portion of one of Bernard of Clairvaux's sermons, which singled out her humility as a greater virtue than her purity.89 ~rnon~the texts recited daily as part of the liturgy was the ~a~nificat,"which emphasizes Mary's humility and how God humbles those who do not humble themselves. In addition, it indicates the great favor God gave to Mary and his willingness to listen to her.91 The
88 Deshman, "Servants of the Mother of God in Byzantine and Medieval Art," 57. 89 Bernard, Homilies in Praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary 10. John Harper, The Forms and Orders of Western Liturgy from the Tenth to the Eighteenth Century (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991) 67. 91 The text of the Magnificat reads: "My soul doth magnify the Lord: and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden. For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath magnified me, and holy is his Name. And his mercy is on them that fear him throughout all generations. He hath showed strength with his arm, he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seat and hath exalted the humble and meek. He hath filled the hungry with good things and the rich he hath sent empty away. He remembering his mercy hath helped his servant Israel, as he promised to our forefathers, Abraham and his seed, for ever." Elizabeth L. Fischer
Magnificat was also evoked by the Tvansitus Maviae, which mentions Mary uttering some of the same phrases when she asks Christ for mercy for man.92
Figure 21. ArchivoIts -- Adam and Eve expelled from Eden
These penitential functions, however, were probably a limited
aspect of the portal's overall use. The apse mosaic in S. Maria
Travestere was convincingly argued by William Tronzo to be a
reminder of the meeting of the icons of Mary and Christ during the
procession on the day of the Assumption. Similarly, the Triumph portal at Chartres seems to be a reminder of the commemorations of the Virgin
Mary, including the Assumption, which took place at Chartres. In recalling this event, the image combines the historical event with its yearly anniversary, establishing Chartres as a holy place for the continued physical intercession of the
Virgin. The ritual aspect is particularly shown in the figures of the angels around
Christ and Mary. As I have mentioned, the two largest figures appear at one time to have held lit tapers. This was a common feature of festival processions,93 and particularly appropriate to the Assumption, as the wax of candles was thought by some medieval scholars to symbolize the pure flesh, the wick the soul, and the flame, divinity.94In the archivolts, there are more angels, who hold various instruments. I
92 Mary prays, "I adore, and praise, and glorify Thy much to be praised name, 0 Lord, because Thou hast looked upon the lowliness of Thine handmaiden, and because Thou that art mighty hast done great things for me; and behold, all generations shall count me blessed." 93 Deshrnan, "Servants of the Mother of God in Byzantine and Medieval Art," 60. Deshman connects this practice specifically to processions of the Purification feast. 94 Medieval Costume 104. This is also mentioned in the Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine. The Virgin of Chartres: The Triumph of the Virgin would like to suggest that these instruments are other objects used in processional liturgies, like censers, ordinals, and offerings of bread. The image shown does not need to be a specific moment in the Assumption Procession: as Cynthia Hahn points out in regard to a vita of St. Kylian, the liturgical concept of the occasion can be rendered through the depiction of multiple aspects of the ceremony as a single scene, without reference to a specific individual moment within the celebration of the occasion.95Reynolds notes that the cathedral was always constructed with the liturgy in mind,96so it is not surprising that the program's designers would have had thought of one of their most important feasts. This feast and its accompanying procession would be especially important in establishing Chartres as a place where the Virgin was unusually active, since the Triumph is the most emphatic sign of Mary's willingness to intercede; thus, the tympanum shows the result of participating in the procession at Chartres in the immediate intercession of the Virgin. The specificity and realism of the interactions shown in the tympanum are not just part of a growing interest in humanity and thus in realistic representation; the combination of these separate moments creates a visual idea of the sacred event that "condenses the holy past and the sacred present within the particularities of a given space."" Mary, with her intercessory power, is tied directly to the place and ritual of Chartres through the multiple times and moments shown in the portal.
"Cynthia Hahn, "Picturing the Text: Narrative in the Life of the Saints," Art History 13.1 (1990): 22. 96 Roger E. Reynolds, "Liturgy and the Monument," Artistic Integration in Gothic Buildings, eds. Virginia Chieffo Raguin, Kathryn Brush and Peter Draper (Toronto: University of Toronto Press Inc., 1995) 59. " Hahn, "Seeing and Believing: The Construction of Sanctity in Early-Medieval Saints' Shrines," 1080. Hahn goes on to add that the shrine must also teach proper veneration within the images. Elizabeth L. Fischer
It is clear that Chartres was aiming for a position as the foremost place of Mary's
intercession. Although Chartres and its suburbs had only about 7,000 inhabitants at
the time of the portal's construction, while Paris had 40,000, Rouen 30,000, and even
Reims had 10,000,~~Chartres was the largest diocese in France with several hundred
parish churches. Even though the Vielle Chronique with its description of the
supposed pre-Christian cult of the Virgo Paritura had not yet been written, Chartres
had long been considered a central cult location. In 876, Charles the Bald had given
Chartres its famed relic, the tunic worn by the Virgin Mary when she gave birth to
Christ. Since both Christ and Mary were bodily in heaven, there were no physical
relics of them. This relic was particularly important, since it had touched both mother
and child, malung it a connection between earth and heaven in itself. Around the
time of the transepts' construction, The Miracles of the Blessed Virgin Mary was
composed in Latin at Chartres, perhaps to spur donations for the building campaign.
Contributions from as far away as England were recorded as arriving for the
reconstruction. However, Chartres was far from being a preeminent pilgrimage site,99
and indeed, revenue from pilgrimage fairs was probably quite low.100Chartres had
been a major scholastic center, but by the thirteenth century the glory of the school
had been gradually assumed by the University at ~aris.'" An Assumption procession
" Williams, Bread, Wine & Monev: The Windows of the Trades at Chartres Cathedral 33. 99 Kurrnann and Kurmann-Schwarz, "Chartres Cathedral as a Work of Artistic Integration: Methodological Reflections," 143. "O~arbaraAbou-El-Haj, "Artistic Integration inside the Cathedral Precinct: Social Consensus Outside?," Artistic Integration in Gothic Buildings, eds. Virginia Chieffo Raguin, Kathryn Brush and Peter Draper (Toronto: University of Toronto Press Inc., 1995) 221. 101 Markale, The Cathedral of the Black Madonna: The Druids and the Mysteries of Chartres 86.This occurred during the period 1180-1215. The Virgin of Chartres: The Triumph of the Virgin was a chance to add "luster and prestige" to the cathedral.Io2 It simultaneously honored the Virgin and the cathedral where it was held, as it would bring glory to the cathedral able to mount a lavish festival.
Chartres' efforts to gain prestige seem to have worked. By 1322, chapters of almost every church in France went before Pope John XXII. They swore that
Chartres housed the oldest Marian cult in France, and that Chartres had been chosen as a favored place while Mary was still alive.lo3 Chartres was a small area, outside the major pilgrimage and trade routes, but its continued efforts in art and the widely- circulated Miracles of the Virgin seem to have had a significant effect in securing the eventual prominence of the Chartres cult.
Chartres was well-known as a long-standing site of Marian worship, but it was one of many. The task, then, was to establish Chartres as a particularly potent site of the Virgin's interaction, not just a site of reverence. This was accomplished through liturgy, which was remembered and emphasized in the artwork. All churches in
Europe were celebrating the major feasts of the Virgin, but Chartres made a special push to associate these festivals specifically with their cathedral space. In the
Carolingian period, the feast day of the dedication of the church of Chartres was established as September 8, which was also the feast day of Mary's ~ativit~."~
Around the time of the fire of 1194, Chartres changed the official remembrance of the Dedication of the Church to a new festival, the Commemoration of Mary, both
ln2 Tronzo, "Apse Decoration, the Liturgy and the Perception of Art in Medieval Rome: S. Maria in Travestere and S. Maria Maggiore," 180. ln3~arkale,The Cathedral of the Black Madonna: The Druids and the Mysteries of Chartres 246. In4 Markale, The Cathedral of the Black Madonna: The Druids and the Mysteries of Chartres 80. Elizabeth L. Fischer occurring on October 17.Io5Thus, Chartres went from associating itself with a larger festival to creating its own festival of the Virgin. In the Carolingian period, the days which were considered important to the Virgin were considered important to
Chartres; by the early thirteenth century it was assumed that days which were important to Chartres, like the dedication of the cathedral, would be important to
Mary, Chartres' patron. In this way, Mary was not only conflated with the universal church, but also with the individual cathedral of Chartres.
Mary was further drawn into the contemporary world of Chartres in the special forms of liturgy Chartres developed. Most western churches at this time observed the
Little Office of the Virgin daily, and a day of services dedicated solely to Mary, including a Mass, once a week.lo6Margot Fassler, however, mentions the abundance of special liturgical elements developed at Chartres for the Virgin, including unique introit tropes for the Assumption found in several manuscripts, which had associated processions, though the processions were not described in the manuscripts.107More telling, though, is the change in the Chartres liturgy to the common hymns in honor of the Virgin. Chartres sang hymns like the Alma redemptoris muter with all the verbs changed into the present tense.lo8 These hymns already appealed to an ever- present Mary in phrases like "thou who art the open door of heaven,"lo9 but moving phrases about her bearing of Christ into the present tense provided additional immediacy. In this way, Mary was given a time and a place that was at Chartres at
10.5 Katzenellenbogen, The Sculptural Programs of Chartres Cathedral: Christ, Mary, Ecclesia 160. '06 Harper, The Forms and Orders of Western Liturgy from the Tenth to the Eighteenth Century 46. lo7~argotFassler, "Liturgy and Sacred History in the Twelfth-Century Tympana at Chartres," The Art Bulletin 75.3 (1993): 503. log Miile, Chartres 10. 109 r' quae pervia caeli porta manes," from the Alrnn redemptoris rnnter, an antiphon in honor of Mary. The Virgin of Chartres: The Triumph of the Virgin the time of worship. This sort of conflation of time was not unusual in the worship of saints; especially in pilgrimage art, past and present were conflated and events were recreated in a new space.'10
The north transept portals fit into this scheme as almost a proof of the Virgin's presence at Chartres. The sculptures on the central portal are life-size, interact more realistically than the figures in previous versions, and probably were painted. As
Cynthia Hahn points out, visual art impresses itself on the brain, entering the mind directly and immediately, and thus precludes disputation."' In this case, seeing does not mean believing in a historical sense, but believing in the present occurrence of the pictured event. In many Assumption processions probably modeled after the one in Rome, an icon of Christ is taken to "visit" his mother and honor her, with the idea being that the visual image reflects an actual presence.112The icons, and in the case of S. Maria Travestere, the apse mosaic showing the event, become the "permanent visual form for the Assumption event."ll'
The Chartres transept is particularly potent, as it combines both the historical vision of the Assumption and the vision of the eternal intercession which was enabled by the Assumption. The honor and accompanying prayers offered to the
Virgin during the yearly remembrance of the Assumption spur this continual intercession. According to medieval thought, time was cyclic, but not repetitive,ll4 so
'lo Michael Camille, "The Book of Signs: Writing and Visual Difference in Gothic Manuscript Illustration," Word and Image 1.2 (1985). "' Cynthia Hahn, "~urificagon,Sacred Action, and the Vision of God: Viewing Medieval Narratives," Word and Image 5 (1989): 72. 112~amille,"The Book of Signs: Writing and Visual Difference in Gothic Manuscript Illustration," 133. 'I3 Tronzo, "Apse Decoration, the Liturgy and the Perception of Art in Medieval Rome: S. Maria in Travestere and S. Maria Maggiore," 184. 'I4 Hahn, "Picturing the Text: Narrative in the Life of the Saints," 3. Elizabeth L. Fischer
although Mary would remain to intercede as the ages passed, man needed to request
continually her assistance to guarantee intercession.
The transept at Chartres recalls the veneration of Mary on Assumption Day,
which was one of the largest events of the year in the region of Chartres, and
contributed significantly to the money taken in by both the cathedral and merchants
of the town. By showing the procession and liturgy associated with this feast
conflated with the image of Mary interceding with Christ, the Chartres portal forms a
proof of the answering of the prayers articulated by the faithful through the official
cult at Chartres. The angelic figures worshipping Mary in the tympanum and
archivolts are not participating in the folk cult of the Chartres crypt, but the official
liturgy provided by the clergy. The angels above Mary and Christ swing their
censers, just as the clerks would have censed the altar, the chalice and paten, and the
celebrants during the ass.''^ Harper adds that prayers during the service were said
so that the congregation did not hear them, but were signified by visual signs like the elevation of the host and censing.ll6 In fact, the laity were not really involved much
at all in the service - besides being largely inactive and having few responses, they could not see or hear most of the service, which took place in the east end behind the choir screen.'17 The most visible part of a service would be a procession, when the clergy might leave the east end just to visit other parts of the church, the exterior of the church, or even other places in the region. On the feast day of a saint, one or
Harper, The Forms and Orders of Western Liturgy from the Tenth to the Eighteenth Century 122. Harper, The Forms and Orders of Western Liturgy from the Tenth to the Eighteenth Century 123. "'John Bossy, "The Mass as a Social Institution, 1200-1700," Past and Present.lOO (1983): 32-33. Harper also comments on this (Harper, The Forms and Orders of Western Liturgy from the Tenth to the Eighteenth Century 113.), adding that sometimes what the congregation saw was even misleading: often what was being sung in the choir had no connection with the part of the Mass the priest was presently celebrating. The Virgin of Chartres: The Triumph of the Virgin
more sites of importance to that saint would be visited, usually a space with an image
of the saint. The specifics of the north portal, taken together, resemble the procession
as it would have occurred on Assumption Day, providing a reminder on the other
364 days of the year that continued worship would provide the daily intercession of
the Virgin that penitential sinners needed. Although this portal would be specifically
associated with the procession at Assumption, there were many other processions
throughout the year which were similar to this one, so any procession, dedicated to
any of the Chartrain saints, would take on aspects of the honor given to Mary at
Assumption.
Although only four servers were required for a service, to carry candlesticks, the thurible, and other vessels, more were used for major festivals and processions.118
These four basic servers are visible in the four angels in the tympanum with Christ and Mary, who bear censers and tapers. Other angels process around the archivolt, with their feet one in front of the other as though walhng (Figure 22). They all carry something; some of the items are recognizable as a candlestick, another a thurible, a book, and perhaps a staff. In the tympanum, this forms a heavenly procession to the
Virgin and Christ themselves; on earth the version would probably have ended at one of the altars dedicated to the Virgin, perhaps the statue in the crypt or the one in the ambulatory. It is possible a statue of the Virgin was carried in this procession, as occurs in the Assumption feast at Chartres in the present. This procession probably involved the north portal itself, as the north transept and portals are often used in external processions.119 1f the procession went to the crypt instead of the north
118Harper, The Forms and Orders of Western Litur~yfrom the Tenth to the Eighteenth Century 121. 119 Harper, The Forms and Orders of Western Liturgy from the Tenth to the Eighteenth Century 130.
66 Elizabeth L. Fischer
transept, it probably went to the north part of the crypt, as this was where the well of
the Virgin, which appeared in several miracles, and the associated grotto were
located.'20 This image would have the added benefit of showing an example of the
appropriate veneration of the Virgin, as the Tree of Jesse window on the west fagade
did: before a clergy-led participation in the cult, the members of the procession
would see the portal as a visible reminder of how the procession was supposed to
occur and how Mary was supposed to be worshipped within it. The image of a procession occurring on a portal to which it was only incidentally connected is
already present at Chartres: Williams argues that such an image, involving a procession and the presentation of eulogy bread appears on the north porch ~ocle.'~'
If a minor procession like that of eulogy bread is present, it is much more likely that a major feast particularly honoring Chartres would be commemorated.
Figure 22. Angels with objects used in processions
While the Triumph often has appeared in other locations, the
processional imagery and the extended time frame of the Triumph
are not rendered so explicitly elsewhere. While there may have
been some attempt at other sites to relate the portal sculpture to the
events within, Chartres seems to have made a concerted effort to
emphasize this aspect of the imagery, rather than focusing on the
"O Markale, The Cathedral of the Black Madonna: The Druids and the Mysteries of Chartres 248-49. The well was outside the Carolingian crypt, but was incorporated into the crypt of Fulbert's church after he was cured of St. Anthony's fire by its water. The south part of the crypt housed a hospital of sorts through the thirteenth century. 12' Williams, Bread, Wine & Money: The Windows of the Trades at Chartres Cathedral 48. The Virgin of Chartres: The Triumph of the Virgin
courtly, regal aspects of the image.
Other parts of the portal are significant in connecting the portal to the Chartrain
liturgy. The Jesse Tree appears in the archivolts along with the processional angels,
and, as previously discussed, a twelfth-century window of the same subject appears
in the west fasade near the entrance to the crypt above the northwest door of the
nave. It is likely that, if the procession did enter the crypt, the participants in the
procession would have passed through this door, since it provides the most direct
access from the nave to the crypt. The window includes an image of the enthroned
Virgin, wearing a headdress and crown, similar to the image of the enthroned Mary
on the Triumph ~orta1.l~~Supporting the theory of the relationship between the Tree
of Jesse and the Assumption procession and imagery, it is known that one of the
responsories for Assumption was the "Styrps Yesse ~ir~o."'~~
As another association between the sculpture and the Chartres Ordinary, Job
appears in the tympanum of the north transept portal to the right of the Triumph portal (Figure 23). This is a surprising subject to accompany the Nativity of Christ and the Triumph of the Virgin, the subjects of the other two tympana of the transept.
His appearance is partially explained by his penitential nature124on a porch perhaps associated with public penance. The image of Job humbling himself next to the
Virgin is a depiction of how proper humility and prayer toward the Virgin will undoubtedly bring redemption. However, showing Job in this portal also has a
122 A window to the left of the Tree of Jesse window depicts the nativity and growth of Christ - and the Nativity is repeated in the portal to the left of the Triumph portal. '23 Wright, Music and Ceremony at Notre Dame of Paris 500-1500 261. '24 Job appears at Reims, built near this time, as a figure of the soul which will be redeemed but is doing penance. Abou-El-Haj, "The Urban Setting for Late Medieval Church Building: Reims and Its Cathedral between 1210 and 1240," 21. Elizabeth L. Fischer special additional distinction at Chartres: the only time Job appears in the thirteenth- century Ordo at Chartres is in a commemoration celebrated there at the beginning of
~e~tember,'~~and thus occurring immediately after the celebration of the
Assumption. The concordance of the order of portals with the unique calendar of holidays at Chartres strengthens the idea that the portal does not just celebrate a historical event, but that it also refers specifically to feasts and liturgy at Chartres.
Figure 23. tympanum with Suffering of Job
The jambs represent prophets and founders of the Church, but there is a special focus on liturgical elements here as well. As many scholars have noted, the same chalice appears in the hands of Melchizedek at the far left (Figure 24) that once appeared in the hands of Peter on the far right (Figure 25).126Jane Welch Williams has pointed out that, due to the laity's limited participation in the service, they did
IZ5 Abou-El-Haj, "The Urban Setting for Late Medieval Church Building: Reims and Its Cathedral between 1210 and 1240," 28. lZ6 This feature is now broken off, but the contention is made on the basis of early drawings and the remaining base of the chalice, which precisely matches that of Melchizedek. The Virgin of Chartres: The Triumph of the Virgin not see the chalice used for the Eucharist. If they took Communion at they took only a wafer.12* Instead, chalices would have been seen on major feast days, when offerings of wine, bread, linen, and candles were received; chalices might also be used for the ablution of wine for lay use, which probably terminated in the north transept.129A S wine offerings commemorated the transformation of water into wine at Cana, they were especially associated with the marriage of Christ and Mary and her enthr~nement,'~~and thus with the Assumption and not just the Eucharist.
St. Peter and Melchizedek were also probably associated with the clergy at
Chartres. On an interior window, the famous founder of Chartres' chapter and school, St. Lubinus, is depicted as a bishop with keys and a chalice. His cult at
Chartres in the thirteenth century was second only to Mary's: he had two feast days, sixteen regional churches were dedicated to him, and he was the highest saint- confessor in intercessory prayer.')' Lubinus is shown in the window with keys and chalice because he started out as Chartres' cellarer, in charge of keeping the wine, but the association would have gone further. As the founder of the church, Peter was
127 According to the church at this time, people were required to take communion once a year, generally at Easter. That an edict was required for this suggests that it was common to take it less often even than that. Williams, Bread, Wine & Monev: The Windows of the Trades at Chartres Cathedral 8 1. 129 Williams, Bread, Wine & Money: The Windows of the Trades at Chartres Cathedral 95. Williams, Bread, Wine & Monev: The Windows of the Trades at Chartres Cathedral 97. 131 Williams, Bread. Wine & Monev: The Windows of the Trades at Chartres Cathedral 93. Elizabeth L. Fischer
the first bishop, so his keys and chalice become related to Lubinus' keys and chalice.
The Peter of the north transept would have become even more associated with this
Chartrain saint-bishop by the proximity of the wine cellar where Lubinus worked,
which was on the north side near the transept. Melchizedek would be related to
Lubinus particularly as a founder, since Melchizedek was the first priest-king and
gave spiritual rulers access to temporal authority.
The jambs were further associated with the general liturgy at Chartres.
Katzenellenbogen has suggested that in moving past Melchizedek and Peter, from
John the Baptist in towards David, the visitor goes from baptism to ~ucharist.'~~
These jamb figures are also prophets of Christ, which according to scholars at
Chartres, were also expressed in the processional aspects of daily liturgy, namely the
Introit and ~~rie.'~~The Kyrie has an additional invocation in the combined
appearance of the figures of Christ and God in the portal, which reflects the Kyrie's alternating appeals to Christ and God for mercy, which are exactly the same except for the insertion of either "God" or "~hrist."'~~Christ and God were theologically the same, and Christ was often used to represent God visually. At Chartres, though, the two are both used on the north transept, and thus the depiction of Christ in the
Creation and Adam and Eve archivolts cannot be merely a matter of visualizing an invisible God. Although Christ can represent God visually, there was no need to include God at all in the Creation - it simply required an extra row of archivolts.
132 Katzenellenbogen, The Sculptural Programs of Chartres Cathedral: Christ, Mary, Ecclesia 64. 133 Fassler, "Liturgy and Sacred History in the Twelfth-Century Tympana at Chartres," 502-03. Fassler says that Ivo of Chartres discussed the introit and litany (or kyrie) as the prophecy of Christ and its fulfillment. She also quotes Durandus, who was likely a canon at Chartres, as saying that the introit "expresses the foretellings of the prophets." Fassler says that all parts of the liturgy were associated with Old Testament figures. '34 Traditionally, the kyrie follows the format "Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison." The Virgin of Chartres: The Triumph of the Virgin
Additionally, God is clearly represented in the tympanum without Christological
associations, in the Job portal just to the right of the Adam and Eve archivolts, so it is
clear that the decision was not just made for ease in depicting an invisible God. In
her discussion of saints' shrines, Cynthia Hahn suggests that the icon, or the image
of the saint, is used to unite the relics and their associated power with the celebration
and the space of the SO it is not surprising that the liturgy at Chartres would
be reflected in the cathedral's images as a way to reinforce the power of ritual.
Some of the portal figures are, of course, also associated specifically with
biblical events, just as the tympanum and lintel are specific evocations of the non-
canonical Transitus Mariae. As several scholars, including Katzenellenbogen and
Villette, have noted, the jamb figures are depicted in chronological order from the
establishment of monotheism to the establishment of the Christian church. Thus they
also place the event in historical time, as does the discrete historical event of the
Dormition. As Madeleine Caviness has said, Gothic art shows "realism in
particulars"13" the details and the clarity of the interactions may provide an
immediacy and sense of contemporary relevance, but they also suggests a factual
existence within a mortal time frame. Maurice Hobwachs put this duality well,
saying, "The spatial image . . . by means of its stability, gives us an illusion of not having changed through time and of retrieving the past in the present."137
'35 Hahn, "Seeing and Believing: The Construction of Sanctity in Early-Medieval Saints' Shrines," 1091. 136 Caviness, ""the Simple Perception of Matter" and the Representation of Narrative, Ca. 1180-1280," 50. '37 quoted in Hahn, "Seeing and Believing: The Construction of Sanctity in Early-Medieval Saints' Shrines," 1105. Elizabeth L. Fischer
Thus, the image of the Triumph of the Virgin in the north transept served a
variety of purposes, joining the past and the present to single out the potency of the
Virgin at Chartres. The historical event related in the Transitus Mariae, which gave
the Virgin her intercessory power, is depicted, but conflated with images that recall
Chartrain worship, so that a direct correlation is formed between the worship at
Chartres and the Madonna Avvocata's intercession. The angels present an example
of what is occurring in heaven, which should be imitated on earth, and a visible
reminder of the Chartres liturgy, which is given legitimacy by this association with
the worship of Mary in heaven. Unlike in many other churches, Mary is already
crowned, showing that she exists as an intercessor. Rather than focusing on the event
which singled out Mary to begin with (the Nativity), which occurred on earth, the
Triumph Portal at Chartres focuses on Mary's other period of connection to heaven: the creators were more concerned with human life in heaven than with the divine life on earth. These images may also have been tied to the public penance, if this ritual took place on this porch, completing the intercessory cycle. Mary asked Christ at her
Dormition for mercy for anyone who prayed to her, and anyone who performs penance on this porch is thus praying to the Virgin overhead, the specific Virgin of
Chartres. In this way, prayers are granted to those who pray to and venerate the
Virgin of Chartres, and the forms of worship and penance, which must be observed, are shown in the angels around the central tympanum and the image of Job. Rather than being another site of the cult of the Virgin, Chartres has then made itself the place of mediation between Mary and man. The Virgin of Chartres: The Last Judgment
111. The Last Judgment: Mary's Salvation through the Cathedral
The Virgin is not only gven special notice on the north transept at Chartres, but
also on the south transept (Figure 26), a place less commonly addressed to Mary.
Although Mary shares the tympanum with both Christ and John the Evangelist, her
power continues to be invoked in a special way. Mary is subordinate in place and
position to Chst, but John reinforces Mary's power in his mimicking of her pose,
and Chst himself is emphasized in his relation to Mary. The two figures of Chst
and the figures of Mary and John combine to form an idea for the medieval viewer of
the workings of judgment, and the scenes around these central figures present the
viewer with the actions he needed to pursue to gain through Mary the salvation
shown on the lintel below the Virgin.
Figure 26. Last Judgment -- South transept center tympanum
The central portal of the south
side of the cathedral combines two
scenes, the Last Judgment and the
apocalyptic Vision of St. John, which Peter Kidson describes as being two related
but distinct subjects.'38The Last Judgment is the scene of the end of the world, when
Christ will return, raise all men fiom the dead, and separate them into the damned,
who go to hell, and the saved, who join him in heaven. The idea of the Day of Wrath did not originate with the New Testament, but was found throughout the bible,
13' Peter Kidson, "The Transept Programs," Chartres Cathedral, ed. Robert Branner (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1969) 44. Elizabeth L. Fischer
including in the books of Joel, Ezekiel, Job, and Isaiah. The New Testament did add
several details to Judgment Day, especially the idea that it would correspond to the
Second Coming of Jesus. Jesus described the end of the world in two chapters in
Matthew, which include his description of the signs preceding the end of the world
as well as references to Old Testament verses that told of the ~~ocal~~se.'~~
However, the biblical text most pertinent to the usual medieval depictions of the Last
Judgment is in Matthew 25, especially the parable of the sheep and goats found in verses 31-46. This parable tells that at the end of the world the Son of Man will be enthroned and will separate people from one another "as a shepherd separates the
sheep from the goats,"140placing the sheep, the righteous, to his left and the damned to his left. The saved will then have eternal life.
John's Revelation is an Apocalyptic vision, and was thus often associated with the Second Coming of Christ. Many of the signs of perturbation and chaos that John records were expected to be encountered during the Last Judgment. The presence of
Mary at the Apocalypse was seen as coming from Revelation, where John has a vision of "a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head,"l4l who "gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all nations with an iron scepter."142John's presence, of course, is explained since he was present to watch his divine vision, so he had already seen the Judgment. Since
'39 Matthew 24:29, for example, reads "Immediately after the distress of those days, 'the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken."' This verse refers to two verses in Isaiah, 13:10 and 34:4. 140 Matthew 25:32 141 Revelation 12: 1 14' Revelation 12:5 The Virgin of Chartres: The Last Judgment
he was Jesus' most beloved disciple, he and Mary were to be beside Christ in heaven
and thus were present with Christ when he returned at the Second Coming.
Chartres has several of the characteristics of both these scenes, though lacking
some of the details which often occur in Last Judgment and Second Coming
imagery, like the signs of the Four Evangelists, the wheel from the book of Ezekiel,
and the beasts of John's Revelation. The scene at Chartres is of the Last Judgment,
but a Judgment with a different goal than the depiction of the wrath and destruction
of the biblical accounts. Chartres makes the Judgment a calm scene, and a hopeful
idea.
At the top of the tympanum (Figure 27), Christ is enthroned frontally with both
his arms raised to shoulder level, palms open and forward. A halo inscribed with a
cross appears behind him. Christ's robe only partially covers his chest, and shows
clearly the shape of his body below it. His feet and head are both bare. On his left
side, carved on the same scale, John the Evangelist appears on a narrower throne that
matches Christ's in style and height. He carries no attributes, but places his palms together as though praying. He is also bare-headed and has a halo, though his robes cover the whole of his body down to his covered feet. Although the Deesis type, from which this scene derives, had Mary and John the Baptist interceding with
~hrist,'" Katzenellenbogen argues convincingly that here the figure on Christ's left is actually John the Evangelist, as at Saint-Denis and ~a0n.l"Mary mirrors John's
143 John the Baptist was supposed to have been the only other person born without Original Sin - he was conceived with it, but lost it by the proximity of Christ to him while he was still in his mother's womb. '44 Katzenellenbogen, The Sculptural Programs of Chartres Cathedral: Christ, Mary, Ecclesia 85. John the Disciple had a closer relationship to Mary, with whom he stood at the Crucifixion and to whom Christ gave Mary as a Mother, setting up the role of Mary as mother to all mankind. Elizabeth L. Fischer
position at Christ's right hand, though she leans in somewhat more toward Christ,
and seems slightly more angled toward the viewer. She too is covered head to foot,
and even wears a veil. Her position and the throne she sits on both recall the structure
and position of the Virgin of the Assumption portal on the North Transept.
Figure 27. Detail of Last Judgment tympanum
On either side of Mary and John kneel two
smaller figures, angels carrying the column, lash, and spear of the Passion. Above
them, angels dive partway out of a cloudy arch to display a cross, the crown of
thorns, and nails carried in their veiled hands. At the edges of the tympanum, the
upper archivolts carry the nine choirs of angels who make up the Heavenly Host:
The innermost row shows Seraphim and Cherubim, then Thrones and Dominions,
followed by Powers and Principalities, then another depiction of Powers
accompanied by Virtues, and finally Angels and Archangels. These figures are rather
small, and probably would not have been recognizable in their most specific sense by
the average viewer of the program, but the combined effect of the whole Heavenly
Host gathered at Christ's court would have been a familiar scene, and the richly
dressed, sometimes crowned figures of the angelic beings would have drawn an
additional correspondence with the secular court.
Below the tympanum, the archangel Michael appears at the center of the lintel, fully rounded and pushed out in front of the other lintel figures (Figure 28). He is a dividing line from the feet of Christ to the canopy of the trumeau separating the saved on his right from the damned on his left (these directions are reversed to the The Virgin of Chartres: The Last Judgment
viewer). Thus, the saved appear below Mary and the damned below John. The saved
and damned are both composed of a variety of figures, who are directed in an orderly
fashion toward the edges of the tympanum by eight angels who lean down from the
clouds separating the lintel and the tympanum. With the exception of the angel to the
viewer's far left, the angels all face toward the outside of the portal. The damned are hemmed in by devils to the immediate left of Michael and by the jaws of hell to the
outside of the lintel, into which they are being forced. They stare down in dejection,
with the exception of the figure closest to the center, who appears to be looking up towards Mary with a sort of last-minute appeal for mercy. The saved uniformly clasp their hands over their chests and look upward in different directions, as though they can already see the heavenly scene above them. In the lower archivolts to the sides of the lintel, Abraham awaits the saved, holding their souls close to him (Figure 29), while the damned meet with further devils (Figure 30). In the next archivolt from the bottom, which appears just over the line separating the tympanum from the lintel, many tiny figures, shown half-length, stretch out their hands in prayer or supplication toward the center scene as they rise from their graves.
Figure 28. Lintel of Last Judgment tympanum Elizabeth L. Fischer
Abraham holding the souls of the Saved
Figure 30. archivolts showing the Damned
The trumeau depicts
the Beau-Dieu, which
was a relatively new
depiction of Christ in the
thirteenth century, emphasizing Christ the Teacher, holding a book in his left hand
and raising his right hand in blessing (Figure 31). He stands atop figures of a lion and
dragon, mentioned in Psalm 91 and considered symbols of the devil.'" In the jambs
to the sides stand the apostles, who carry minor attributes and stand on the crouched forms of their earthly antagonists (Figure 32). With the exception of Peter and John, these figures represent the people who caused each apostle's martyrdom or persecution. Peter is not shown wearing papal dress as he wears on the north transept, but is dressed in the same robes as the other apostles. Eight of the apostolic figures are specifically jambs and grow from the columns leading in toward the door; the outer four, however, appear like the outer four figures on the north transept on the flat wall at the edges of the portal. From the outer left side (the west), the figures are St. Simon, St. Matthew, St. Philip, St. Thomas, St. Andrew, and St. Peter with
14' Psalm 91: 13: Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet. The Virgin of Chartres: fie Last Judgment the keys to heaven on the column closest to Christ in the center. On the opposite side of the trumeau appear St. Paul, St. John, St. James the Great, St. James the Less, St.
Bartholomew, and St. Jude. St John is dressed as he is in the tympanum, in a robe with the hood thrown back and with short hair and no beard, unlike all the other disciples. The apostles generally figure in both iconographic types Kidson differentiates, so they have been moved to the jambs and thus can serve both scenes.
1Figure 31. Trumeau figure of the Beau Dieu Figure 32. Jamb figures lir of Apostles
Two small scenes
appear in the socle ' below the trumeau
(Figure 33). They are I much degraded, but the upper one shows a nobleman I kneeling at the center with a basket of bread, with two I attendants who seem to be gesturing out to passersby. The I lower image, in even worse condition, shows people seated at a table, with more bread. The nobleman in the upper
image has been associated with various noble figures, but Elizabeth L. Fischer has been argued persuasively by Williams to be the Count of Chartres, whose castle stood close to this portal.146
Figure 33. Socles below Beau Dieu
The subordinate portals, smaller and to the left
and right, are dedicated to Martyrs and Confessors,
respectively. The Martyr portal shows the martyrdom
of St. Stephen, and the confessor portal shows the
lives of Sts. Martin and Nicholas. Individual saints
who are not engaged in action, on blank backgrounds,
appear in the archivolts, indicating their place in
heaven as part of the Heavenly Court. More types of
saints beyond the martyrs and confessors of the
portals appear in the outer parts of the porch,
providing a hierarchy of the saints in heaven to match the hierarchy of angels.
As a whole, this program is not a new one. A similar scene had been created previously at Laon (Figure 34) and Saint-Denis (Figure 35), and there were also versions at Corbeil and ens.'" Even the less terrifying version of the Last Judgment and Christ as a benign Judge had already appeared. However, there are some considerable changes made in the version at Chartres. At both Laon and Saint-Denis,
'46 Williams, Bread, Wine & Money: The Windows of the Trades at Chartres Cathedral 49. '47 Kidson, "The Transept Programs," 202. The Virgin of Chartres: The Last Judgment
Christ assumes a similar position to the one taken at Chartres, but in those places he
is larger than any other figure by several magnitudes - indeed, at Saint-Denis, the
next largest figures only come up to Christ's knees. Christ at Chartres, as at Laon and
Saint-Denis, is shown partially bare-chested, with bare feet and an uncovered head,
but at Chartres the sculpture is carved in deeper relief, creating a Christ who projects
more into the mortal world, a Christ with an existing body.
Figure 34. Last Judgment at Laon Cathedral (left)
Figure 35. Last Judgment at Saint-Denis
Mary and John as intercessors are given a much greater visibility at Chartres than in any previous interpretation of this scene. In previous versions, including those at
Laon and Saint-Denis, they appear to the left and right of Christ, as they do at
Chartres, but they are much smaller and are included with other figures, usually a grouping of some or all of the apostles. At Saint-Denis there are more than a dozen figures crowded in with Mary and John, and at Laon there are still fully eight figures to the sides of Christ. These other eight figures hold easily recognizable attributes, and the simple gestures of the intercessors, Mary and John, become lost in the whole Elizabeth L. Fischer
image of the special companions of Christ, who are all shown in detail. At Chartres,
the figures of Mary and John are not just larger than at Laon or Saint-Denis, but the
same size as Christ, and the space around them allows their motions to achieve a
special prominence. The apostles appear in the jambs, of course, but their removal
allows an additional level of blessedness to be bestowed on Mary and John in their
intercessory capacity. This is especially important since Mary and John are not on
the same scale in later Last Judgments, like Notre-Dame of Paris, Amiens, and
Reims, where Christ is again considerably larger than the intercessory figures.
Mary appears with her hands clasped in prayer in all three of these versions, but only at Chartres does John appear in this position. At Laon, he distinctly props one hand under his chin, while at Saint-Denis, his hands appear to be in his lap. Thus, at
Chartres it is as though John is now emulating Mary's actions, which are especially pronounced and set off from the composition. Although Mary's position does not change distinctly from the version at Saint-Denis, a subtle change is made wherein
Mary leans close in toward Christ, evoking the composition on the Assumption tympanum on Chartres' north transept. John does not lean in this far at Chartres, and the Mary figures at Saint-Denis and Laon even appear to be leaning away in awe from the central figure of Christ, so Mary is particularly emphasized, both in comparison to the Virgin as shown at other cathedrals, but also in comparison to
John at Chartres.
The additional space in the tympanum composition is used to add more angels: both Laon and Saint-Denis place angels above Christ with the instruments of the
Passion, but only at Chartres do additional angels appear on a large scale in a The Virgin of Chartres: The Last Judgment
devotional position. In this, they emulate the angelic figures to the left and right of
Mary and Christ in the Assumption tympanum on the north transept at Chartres.
Even the angels in the archivolts have their counterparts in the inner archivolts of the
Assumption tympanum, so that the two tympana seem connected.14"
The archangel Michael in the lintel is not an innovative figure at Chartres, but,
although appearing at Laon, he had a sword and was forcibly separating the saved
from the damned. At Chartres, Michael appears inactive, and acts as a visual
separator of humanity rather than the power causing their separation. In this way, the
power to save rests clearly in the hands of the figures in the tympanum. The saved
and damned are similar at Laon to those at Chartres, though the upward-lifted faces
of the saved at Laon are especially emphasized at Chartres, where they seem to be
particularly loolung at Mary, while at Laon the only visible figure for them to
address is Christ.
The trumeau at Chartres is also considered a new development, which was
quickly copied all over France. Kidson considers it the first cathedral sculpture of
Christ in the round, and as such, considers it to be especially evocative of the
growing interest in the humanity of christ.'" Instead of being among his apostles in heaven as he is at Laon and Saint-Denis, Christ is among his apostles on earth, in a
style that particularly emphasizes his real corporeal presence right at the level of the entrance.
148 This is not an unheard of connection - indeed, Laon puts both these tympana on the same fa(;ade, and Chartres certainly looked to Laon for inspiration no matter how many alterations Chartres made to the Laon emphases. 149 Kidson, "The Transept Programs," 204. Elizabeth L. Fischer
Although the overall emphasis of the portal is much less on Mary than the north
transept, Mary continues to be given a greater emphasis at Chartres than she is in
other versions of the Last Judgment. Thus, while the overall change to the Judgment
program made by the Chartres designers is to emphasize a more human and less
terrifying Christ, Mary is particularly emphasized in this theme as an element of
hope on Judgment Day. Mary is personal, familiar from her place on the North portal
and still present to plead for her people before a kind Christ and a peaceable
Michael. She is moved above the level of the earthly apostles, and even John
recognizes her intercessory power; he too is there for mankind, but he follows her
motion and doesn't lean as close to Christ, allowing Mary the privileged location and
the privileged proximity to Christ.
The central image of the tympanum grew out of a design convention that had
been around long before it appeared in France, that of the Byzantine Deesis.
Originally, this had involved the Virgin and John the Baptist flanking Christ,
sometimes with the disciples. Der Nersessian has pointed out numerous examples of the Deesis that contained other figures, and even some that showed the Virgin in the center;150 however, the image was always associated in some way with intercession.
The image with John the Baptist would have a specific association with Christ's
Incarnation, as the pairing of Mary and John occurred only once, during the
Visitation, when John leaps within Elizabeth's stomach in recognition of Christ.
Although my focus is on Mary, the image of John is significant here, as it effects the interpretation of Mary's figure, emphasizing certain aspects of the Virgin and of
150 Sirarpie der Nersessian, "Two Images of the Virgin in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection," Dumbarton Oaks Papers 14 (1960): 74. The Virgin of Chartres: The Last Judgment
the Last Judgment scene. Although John the Evangelist, as the writer of Revelation
and therefore present at the Last Judgment, as he was in his vision, this scene is also
a reminder of another moment, that when John and Mary stood by the cross as Christ
was crucified. During this event, Christ gives Mary to John as his mother and
therefore to all of humanity.15' In Christian exegesis, this incident was not only a
moment of the Passion where Mary becomes the Mother of all, it was also a moment
that dictated how man should act. Origen discussed the episode in the third century:
. . . the first fruits of the Gospels is that according to John, whose meaning no one can understand who has not leaned on Jesus' breast nor received Mary from Jesus to be his mother also. But he who would be another John must also become such as John, to be shown to be Jesus, so to speak. For if Mary has no son except Jesus, in accordance with those who hold a sound opinion of her, and Jesus says to his mother, "Behold your son," and not "Behold, this man also is your son," he has said equally, "Behold, this is Jesus whom you bore." For indeed everyone who has been perfected "no longer lives, but Christ lives in him," and since "Christ lives in him," it is said to Mary, "Behold your son, the ~hrist."'~~ Thus, John was seen as an ideal model of the Christ-like life, and also the type of the son of Mary, a place that any person who followed the teachings of the Church could achieve.
John had an additional reason to be associated with this scene. If John the Baptist was associated with the Incarnation, John the Evangelist was associated with the
Assumption. John was present at the Assumption, and indeed, the Transitus Mariae from which the Dormition account came was thought to be written or dictated by
151 John 19:26-7 reads, "When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, 'Woman, behold thy son!' Then saith he to the disciple, 'Behold thy mother!' And from that hour the disciple took her unto his own house." '52 Bissera V. Pentcheva, "Imagined Images: Visions of Salvation and Intercession in a Double-Sided Icon from Poganovo," Dumbarton Oaks Papers 54 (2000): 146. Elizabeth L. Fischer
John. Furthermore, some apocryphal legends mentioned by Pseudo-Jerome (the
author of much of the liturgy for the Assumption) say that John too may have been
assumed, as his tomb was found either empty or filled with manna at some point
after his death. Although Pseudo-Jerome mentions these legends somewhat
skeptically, Bishop Fulbert fervently supported the idea of John's assumption.'53
John was also assumed to be a virgin, so in many ways his life became another
version of Mary's, at least in terms of his virtues.154
However, although John the Evangelist often replaced John the Baptist in the
Deesis, the Chartres version uses an unusual depiction of John. Frequently, he was
depicted deep in thought or emotion, with his chin propped on his right hand and his
other hand across his lap.155This version can be seen, for example, at both Laon and
Saint-Denis. At Chartres, however, John models Mary's pose, which increases the reading of his figure as a follower of Mary. He is not an exact match to her figure, as
he holds his hands closer to his body and doesn't lean in toward Christ as much. In this way, he appears to be emulating Mary, rather than just performing the same act.
John's name was commonly glossed to mean "~race,"'~%oin this image the judge's two advisors, the people he most loved, are mercy and grace. There was a tradition of similarity between Mary and John throughout the Middle Ages, but particularly as both of their cults were strong in the thirteenth century. John was thought to be a virgin all his life, just as Mary had been, but he had also been seen as the bride of
153 Katzenellenbogen, The Sculptural Programs of Chartres Cathedral: Christ, Mary, Ecclesia 85. lS4 John was, of course, also another Christ, but on this tympanum it is his emulation of Mary that is most emphasized, through his visual similarity to her. 155 Pentcheva, "Imagined Images: Visions of Salvation and Intercession in a Double-Sided Icon from Poganovo," 142. 156 Jeffrey F. Hamburger, St. John the Divine: The Deified Evangelist in Medieval Art and Theology (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002) 44. See also the description of John's feast day in the Golden Legend. The Virgin of Chartres: The Last Judgment
Christ, often in conjunction with the Marriage at Cana, which was seen as a parallel
to the Feast of the Lamb in ~eve1ations.l~~As a result of this typology, John is often
depicted androgynously. Although he is clearly masculine at Chartres, this may
account for his beardlessness and youth, although he did not ascend to heaven until
he was 99, according to popular legends.'58 Mary, of course, was also seen as the
Bride at Cana and Christ's bride, as is of course seen on the north transept of
Chartres. On John's feast day in December, the Magnificat, normally sung in honor
of Mary, would be sung.159Other antiphons sung on his feast day had Mariological references, like the Verburn dei deo nat~rn.'~~
Although John then in some ways seems to lessen Mary's importance by his repetition of her position, he remains subordinate. The double monastery at
Fontrevault dedicated the women's half to Mary and the men's half to John, but considered that Mary's half should be the most h~nored.'~'The scriptural account, of course, also showed Mary to be more honored, although John gave this honor to
Mary voluntarily. John, it must be remembered, had attained his special position through Mary and his adoption as her son.
The Deesis, though, must also be seen as representing an event, not just a type.'62
When John the Baptist is present, this is the moment of the Visitation; when the third figure is the Evangelist, the moment must be the Crucifixion. John and Mary are
157 Hamburger, St. John the Divine: The Deified Evangelist in Medieval Art and Theology 2,95. 15' Jacobus de Voragine, The Golden Legend; or, Lives of the Saints, trans. William Caxton, vol. 2,4 vols. (London: J. M. Dent and Co., 1900) 173. Although the Golden Legend was written some thirty or forty years after the sculpting of this portal, this particular fact was taken from several earlier sources. 159 Wright, Music and Ceremony at Notre Dame of Paris 500-1500 129. ''' Hamburger, St. John the Divine: The Deified Evangelist in Medieval Art and Theology 147. 161 Hamburger, St. John the Divine: The Deified Evangelist in Medieval Art and Theology 167. Anthony Cutler, "Under the Sign of the Deesis: On the Question of Representativeness in Medieval Art and Literature," Dumbarton Oaks Papers 41 (1987): 15 1. Elizabeth L. Fischer
both found by the cross in a stained glass window of the Crucifixion at Chartres,
flanlung Christ in a similar way to the transept image (Figure 36). This interpretation
is strengthened by the instruments of the Passion which the angels hold around the
scene.lG3 Although John was famous for his visions of the Apocalypse in his
Revelation, this Last Judgment scene does not include John as a reminder of the
precarious place of man at the Apocalypse but as a sign of the possibility of man
reforming himself. As has been mentioned, the moment where both John and Mary
appear is this moment where Christ gives Mary to John as his mother. Origen, in
addition to his comments on being Christ-like as Mary's son, wrote that this moment
was not just about the relationship between Mary and John, but was also the moment of John's perfection, where he becomes Christ, with Christ living in him. The moment seen on the tympanum is then a transformation, where John is redeemed of all his sin and becomes like Christ and Mary, and is eventually assumed and given his place in heaven. The tympanum simultaneously shows John's heavenly place next to Christ at the Last Judgment, relating it instantly to his moment of earthly perfection. Thus, the image seen is also of a man being redeemed, and being redeemed as a result of being made Mary's son. John is interceding for man during the Last Judgment, but he is also an example of one who has been successfully redeemed as a son of Mary. According to a recent study of John, he was seen "as an exemplar for all those who aspired to spiritual perfection."164
'63 These instruments do exist as part of the Last Judgment scene, of course, but a major facet of Medieval theology was the multi-layered interpretation of verses and signs: the more important images and stories tended to cause theologians to interpret aspects on several levels - literal, typological, anagogical, etc. 164 Hamburger, St. John the Divine: The Deified Evangelist in Medieval Art and Theoloav xxii. The Virgin of Chartres: The Last Judgment
Figure 36. Stained Glass window of the Crueufixion at Chartres
Another specific image of salvation
can be seen in the comparison of the
upper socle scene to the image of the
caved in the lintel. The figure thought to be the Count of Chartres appears, wearing the same flower circlet he wears in the socle below the Beau Dieu, at the front of the group of the saved in the lintel, right next to the archivolts with their depiction of heaven (Figure 37, see Figure 3 1 for the socle image).'65 As has often been noticed, the Count was not oRen on good terms with the chapter of Chartres, despite having given them access to the head of St.
Anne in 1204,. Since h time, his appearance in the lintel . : 'C was a literal image of a deceased local person, who despite his shortcomings, could ' 3 :el4 be one of the elect. His appearance on the side of the saved is a direct visual result of hls actions in the socle, which appear in the part of the portal associated with earth
(the apostles and Christ as teacher), and thus happened before his death. Specifically, the count is seen.. offging. .- bread and prayer in the socle. Williams, in an extensive . .. . examination of local bread production and use, has identified the basket as the sort used to hold the blessed bread collected as an offering, which was then often di~tributed.'~~Thus, blessedness is seen as a direct result of proper veneration in the church. Furthermore, this image invites the participation of those entering the church, as the attendants appear at the same level as the viewer, rather than above his
16' 16' Williams, Bread, Wine & Money: The Windows of the Trades at Chartres Cathedral 5 1. '66 Williams, Bread. Wine & Money: The Windows of the Trades at Chartres Cathedral 48. Elizabeth L. Fischer head, offering bread to those who pass by. In this way, an appropriate form of
worship is indicated at the portal upon entrance, with an indication of the reward that will be received for celebrating worship. Among the miracles recorded at Chartres was one that concerned Mary's punishment of a woman who failed to observe the offices dedicated to the Virgin. These miracles often were read as part of the lesson on feast days,'" so this idea would have been a familiar one to the laity.
Figure 37. Count of Chartres shown leading the saved
Perhaps the greatest innovation on the south transept
portal is the presence of the figure known as the Beau Dieu,
who accompanies the jamb apostles in the trumeau. In the
other Deesis portals, Christ is only represented once, in the
center of the tympanum as Christ the JudgeIKing from the parable about the Second Coming in Matthew 25:34.168Here, though, he is given another interpretation, as the merciful and very human Teacher in the midst of the disciples and at the level of the people entering the cathedral. Why might this have been done? In the increasing Marian devotion of the thirteenth century, Mary's willingness to intercede for anyone, no matter how depraved, began to interfere with the image of Christ as both merciful and just, making him solely a judging figure. At times, Mary's ability to save sinners became an ability to act as an individual
16' Benedicta Ward, Miracles and the Medieval Mind: Theory, Record and Event 1000-1215 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982) 134. Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." The Virgin of Chartres: The Last Judgment
agent.169 his can be seen in the Miracles of the Virgin Mary written about the
Chartres cult, and can even be seen in some other cathedral sculpture, where Mary is
shown granting miracles in her own right, like the story of Theophilus on the north transept of Notre-Dame of Paris. The Chartres version places a grave but
approachable Christ, presenting the Bible and holding out a hand to visitors, his bare feet atop the lion and dragon, just above eye level. He is closer than Mary, and is a reminder of the human Jesus who loved and taught his disciples, and who will continue to teach those who accept his invitation and enter the church. This image seems to counteract what was probably excessive emphasis in the Chartres folk devotion to Mary's independent ability to perform miracles as seen in the Miracles, reinserting the mercy of Christ into the Merciful Mary - Christ the Judge equation.
Christ's humanity is also a reminder of Mary's humanity. Mary's miraculous powers distanced her from the humble maiden who had borne God, and Mary's very humanness was what caused people to believe she would intercede for them. Mary's assistance was sought for all the troubles of earthly life; for her to be interested in the daily travails of man, she must have knowledge of what it is to be human. The humanizing of Mary also assisted in maintaining the proper hierarchy of God-saint- human, as Mary's cult did often lead to her being shown as a miracle-actor in her own right.
Along with these corrected versions of Mary's involvement in miracles and the structure of intercession, the transept is, as we would expect, a reminder of the events that occur before it. As Erler has proven in the case of Strassburg Cathedral, and suggested for other cathedrals, the south transept served as a backdrop for courts
'" Johnson, "Marian Devotion in the Western Church," 393,402-3. Elizabeth L. Fischer
held with the bishop as judge.l7' The trials would place the bishop directly in front of
the Beau Dieu, creating a visual coherence between the kind, wise Teacher of the
trumeau, the collection of apostles, and the bishop in front of the portal. Jesus had
told the apostles that they would be with him in judging man,"' and here they join in
creating a sense that the judgment offered by the bishop is the judgment of heaven.
Peter especially, shown with the keys to the church, would be a reminder of the
bishop's authority, since Christ gave him as the first bishop the right to judge men on
earth.'72 The figures of the tympanum would be seen in the act of intercession with
Christ directly above the scene, making it appear that Mary and John are pleading
with Christ for the soul of the sinner who is being tried, tying the judgment of the
earthly court with the trial of the Last Judgment.
Of course, such pursuits were connected with the exterior portion of the
cathedral, and, as a doorway, the portal serves as a transition between the exterior
and the interior of the space. Thus, besides the indication of the trials occurring
outside the cathedral, it is a reminder of the sacred events that occur within the
cathedral. The most significant of these were probably the Day of All Saints and the
Commemoration of Departed Souls, celebrated yearly on the first and second day of
November. Celebration of All Saints in the West was around by 741, and a ceremony
in honor of all the dead was begun in the early eleventh century.173According to the
I7O Otto von Simson, The Gothic Cathedral: Origins of Gothic Architecture and the Medieval Concept of Order (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988) 182. 17' Mille, The Gothic Image: Religious Art in France of the Thirteenth Century 375. This comes from Matthew 19:28, which reads, "And Jesus said unto them, 'Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon the twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 17' 17' Williams, Bread, Wine & Money: The Windows of the Trades at Chartres Cathedral 136. L73 Francis X. Weiser, Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc., 1958) 308-09. The Virgin of Chartres: The Last Judgment
Golden Legend, the main way that people could lessen the time of suffering for those
in Purgatory was through the saying of prayers and especially l asses.'^^ 1n the
thirteenth century, the prayers of the living could affect the dead in Purgatory and be
accepted as thanksgiving by those in heaven; likewise, those in Purgatory or
especially Heaven could know of what passed on Earth and could affect the living,
interceding in daily life for people who had prayed for them in the past. At Chartres,
the emphasis on a multitude of prayers is evident in the thirteenth century
Ordinarium, with prayers and lessons addressed to all the figures on the south porch.
According to Katzenellenbogen, on the Day of All Saints, lessons were read for many of the figures on the portal and the surrounding porch, and then "in the litany .
Christ was implored to have mercy and to hear the prayers and then the whole hierarchy of saints was asked to pray for the members of the Williams specifically states that those invoked on All Saints were the same martyrs, apostles and confessors seen in the jamb figures across the south porch.176All Saints was the day to pray to the blessed in heaven who could do something for the living, while All
Souls was the day to pray for the benefit of the dead, so that their souls would be freed from Purgatory sooner. The Mass for All Souls uses the liturgy for the Passion as a base,177so that the Passion recreated in the tympanum of the portal parallels the
174 Jacobus de Voragine, The Golden Legend, trans. Granger Ryan and Helmut Ripperger (New York: Arno Press, 1941) 650-53. see also Rosalind Brooke and Christopher Brooke, Popular Religion in the Middle Ages (London: Thames and Hudson, 1984) 149. 175 Katzenellenbogen, The Sculptural Programs of Chartres Cathedral: Christ, Marv, Ecclesia 89. He quotes from the Ordinarium, "the bishop reads the first lesson about the Trinity, the dean the second about the Blessed Mary . . . the cantor the third about the Angels, and other persons shall read the remaining lessons: the fourth about the Patriarchs and Prophets, and about the blessed John the Baptist, the fifth about the Apostles, the sixth about the Martyrs, the seventh about the Confessors, the ei hth about the Virgins, the ninth about all the saints." "'Williams, Bread. Wine & Money: The Windows of the Trades at Chartres Cathedral 51. '77 Weiser, Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs 3 10. Elizabeth L. Fischer
Passion-inspired aspects of the liturgy. Additionally, this feast was one in which
bread donations were expected from members of the diocese's parish churches at the
Cathedral, an idea recalled in the depiction of the offering bread being distributed
from the socle below the trurnea~.'~~All Souls would also be a reminder of the north
transept, since that day was associated with the Assumption, as it was commonly believed that many souls were released from penance on this day in honor of
Mary. 179
The Passion liturgy of special feasts had a daily counterpart in the Eucharist, which of course was the daily remembrance of the Passion; as the text of the Last
Supper relates, "And Jesus took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying 'This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me."180 The scene on the tympanum with its Passion associations, coupled with the image of
Christ as the Teacher, surrounded by the apostles who were with him at the last supper, then serves as a reminder of the Eucharist. Albertus Magnus, among other early thirteenth century theologians, suggested that Mary was Christ's Temple on
Earth, while John served as the priest for Christ in heaven, and indeed, in many visions of this period, John appears and celebrates the Mass or ~ucharist.~~~Hardison writes that positional symbolism was an important aspect of the Eucharist at the altar according to Amalarius, where the right side is associated with the elect and the left
17* Williams, Bread, Wine & Money The Windows of the Trades at Chartres Cathedral 5 1. 17' Ward, Miracles and the Medieval Mind: Theory, Record and Event 1000-1215 161. Ward quotes a story that Peter Damian says is well-known, of a woman who sees her deceased godmother during a service of the Assumption. The godmother tells the woman, "Indeed on this day the Queen of the World prays for us and I with many others am set free from the place of penance." '80 Luke 22: 19 18' Hamburger, St. John the Divine: The Deified Evangelist in Medieval Art and Theology 176. The Virgin of Chartres: The Last Judgment
with hell, as on the portal.182In the center is the altar where Christ is sacrificed in the
Eucharist, shown on the portal in Christ's display of the injuries sustained in the
Passion on his upraised hands and bared chest. At Chartres, the association between
the living body of Christ and the Eucharist had been made before, on the north portal
of the west fa~ade.Of course, this was an issue of great importance at this time,
coming to a head when the dogma of transubstantiation was put forth at the Fourth
Lateran Council of 1215. There were additional associations between the space of the sanctuary and the portal setup. The three main ambulatory chapels of the apse are
dedicated to martyrs, apostles, and confessors - exactly the arrangement seen in the placement of the jamb figures.18' As has been mentioned before, the placement of the apostles here rather than in the tympanum with Christ was a new departure at
Chartres, so it is not unreasonable to suppose that the placement of jamb figures to correspond with the main chapels would have been somewhat intentional. The trumeau figure, too, is related to the Chartres liturgy and specifically to the Eucharist and the Offering which precedes it: Williams writes that the same figure of Christ atop the animals of Psalm 91 appears in the thirteenth century Pontifical at Chartres, at the beginning of the prayer following the offering and presentation of sacrifices, the Vwe Dignurn.ls4 Although the laity would not have had access to this book, the association was likely found in places besides the pontifical, like lessons or prayers recited at the same time.
0. B. Hardison, Christian Rite and Christian Drama in the Middle Ages (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1965) 50. 183 Williams, Bread, Wine & Money: The Windows of the Trades at Chartres Cathedral 39. Is4 Williams, Bread, Wine & Money: The Windows of the Trades at Chartres Cathedral 51. Elizabeth L. Fischer
This portal, then, creates a gradual progression of experiences, variations on the theme of the relation between the Cathedral rites and the Last Judgment. Williams has reasoned that this was the main portal for the laity to enter the cathedral,185so its interpretation would influence greatly the laity's thoughts. People approach at an earthly level, just within reach of the apostles and Christ the Teacher, where they are offered bread by the figures on the socles, which were the most central figures at the level of the observer. The distribution of bread has the resonance both of Christ's sacrifice in the Eucharist and the offerings of the people. It is thus simultaneously a symbol of the way Christ opened salvation to man and the way to begin to achieve this salvation, through the participation in offering and receiving bread at the cathedral. With the known image of the count doing the offering, the image takes on a temporal and spatial closeness, and shows that all levels of society must perform services to the cathedral.
The image of the count provides an entrance to the lintel's depiction of the elect, forming a direct correspondence between the offerings of the faithful at the cathedral and their place in heaven. That the count was not considered the most pious example increased the effectiveness of this juxtaposition, and indeed, it was common to tell stories of evil people who solely through proper veneration in the church were redeemed.ls6 ~hus,no one could be without the possibility of redemption.
John is another who shows the path to salvation, albeit in a much more saintly way than the count. He goes from being an apostle in the jambs to an honored place
lS5 Williams, Bread, Wine & Money: The Windows of the Trades at Chartres Cathedral 50. ls6 Ward, Miracles and the Medieval Mind: Theory, Record and Event 1000-1215 162-64. One of the most popular early collections of Mary's miracles included in seventeen stories "four ill-living monks, a wicked abbot, a worldly clerk, and three knights who have killed someone in a sanctuary" who are redeemed solely through their past performance of Masses and prayers in the name of the Virgin. The Virgin of Chartres: The Last Judgment
at the side of Christ, and through his position as Christ's most beloved disciple, he
intercedes and forms a connection between heaven and earth. John's powers,
however, depend on Mary, for "only by virtue of John's having assumed Christ's
place on earth as the 'son of Mary' did he merit taking his place beside her as an
intercessor in heaven."Ig7 This is shown in the portal by his emulation of Mary's
position, and in the liturgy by the re-use of passages fully associated with Mary for
the feast of John. Although this seems to place John equal to Mary, he is made
subservient to her by his location on Christ's less-honored side, directly above hell.
His pose especially enhances this effect, as he is not physically as close to Christ as
Mary is, indicating that he is not as close to Christ in affection and power as well.
Mary's ascendance is emphasized again in her appearance in two of the gables above the porch, one a scene of the Incarnation which gave her her intercessory power, and one showing her being crowned. Both these scenes recall the north portal.
Those who worship at Chartres are still visually assured the intercession of both
John and Mary, both seen in the act of intercession, just as Mary is shown in the
Triumph on the north portal. Christ as the Beau-Dieu is reassuring in this respect as well, showing his desire for man's salvation in his willing acceptance of his own sacrifice, recalled in the display of his wounds in the tympanum, and also suggesting to viewers that they too must offer a sacrifice in honor of Christ and the saints.
There is an element of judgment, of course, both in the scene depicted on the lintel and in the associations with the probable court that convened here, but it is a
187 Hamburger, St. John the Divine: The Deified Evangelist in Medieval Art and Theology 168. Again, John theologically was more dependent on Christ for his power, but the image at Chartres places John so that he is seen as a counterpart to Mary, and subservient to her as well as Christ. His subservience to Christ is expected; his reverence for Mary serves as an example to the people. Elizabeth L. Fischer judgment without fear, at least for those who have faithfully performed their duties
of worship. The worship itself is even recalled in the placement and dedication of the
south transept portals to correspond with the apse and sanctuary of Chartres, and in the continued Chartrain desire to associate visually Jesus' body with the sacrifice and assured salvation of the Eucharist. The whole portal, then, mediates the viewer's passage into the sacred space of the cathedral, while suggesting that the viewer offer his own sacrifice and showing the acceptance of the offering made by the count as an example. The emphasis is not on an event some time in the future, but on the judgments which are being made as the viewer stands before the image: as judgments were made by the earthly court at that spot, the whole heavenly court with
Christ as judge convenes to judge the viewer as he approaches the portal's entrance, with Mary and John interceding for him in that very moment. The comforting presence of Mary, John, and the Beau Dieu indicate that at present that judgment is a favorable one, but the vision of the Last Judgment indicates that continued worship at Chartres is necessary to remain on the side of the elect. As the viewer enters the church, he is reminded of his duty; when he leaves the church after participating in worship, he has made a step toward joining the community of the elect, directly under the eternal protection of Mary. Since Mary will defend the most hardened criminal, or even the impious Count of Chartres, if he has venerated her, the worshipper at Chartres is guaranteed salvation. The Virgin of Chartres: Conclusion
Conclusion
Over a span of less than one hundred years and several building campaigns,
Chartres encompasses representatives of the changing ideas and ambitions of the cult
of Mary. Although they cannot be seen to be one program as such, they are tied together in a reflection of the growing Marian devotion found throughout France, and are indicative of Chartres' growing interest in becoming the recognized center of the cult of Mary.
In the middle of the twelfth century, Chartres was still largely concerned with the
Marian cult as it existed in the Chartres diocese, which was large but had a mostly rural population.188The local cult of the Virgin was centered mainly on the sacred well and the statue of the Virgin. Although Fulbert had brought these sites within the church by including them in his crypt, they remained somewhat separate from the rest of the church and had a veneration that was somewhat at odds with the power the church allowed Mary. This need to simultaneously suppress and exploit the
Virgin's cult to keep it tied to church doctrine would remain constant through the rebuilding of Chartres at the end of the twelfth century and into the thirteenth.
However, as the cathedral became more associated with Mary in its own right, the desire to flaunt the pre-Christian cult to increase the venerability of the Chartrain claim increased and Mary was given a more central role, though it remained a limited and carefully defined one.
18* Williams, Bread, Wine & Monev: The Windows of the Trades at Chartres Cathedral 33, Whitney Stoddard, Monastery and Cathedral in France: Medieval Architecture, Sculpture, Stained Glass, Manucripts, the Art of the Church Treasuries (Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 1966) 174. The town of Chartres had fewer than 7000 inhabitants in the thirteenth century, but the diocese was the largest in France, encompassing more than 900 parish churches. Elizabeth L. Fischer
The images at Chartres all relate to the events surrounding them, but it is
important to remember that the cathedral of the thirteenth century was not
experienced as it is today, mediated by photography, so that images which are more
than two hundred feet apart, separated by multiple walls and doors, appear side by
side in the plates of a text. The medieval viewer would never have seen these three
images at the same time, and would have experienced the art in a direct relationship
with what he was doing, had immediately done, or was going to do. Thus, just as the
same bible passage was interpreted many ways through different contexts or by
reading it anagogically rather than literally, the same image would be recast based on
its visual and functional context, directly connected with its immediate surroundings
indelibly associated with the sacred events occurring within the space these images form.
The Tree of Jesse window relates to the period when Chartres was still largely a regional cult, more concerned with the over-exaltation of Mary by the local populace than with marketing the Lady of Chartres to the rest of France. Although the iconography of the Tree of Jesse was often used to exalt Mary, even placing her at the top of the tree without reference to Christ, at Chartres she is just another ancestor of Christ, set off from the line of David even less than she is in the biblical account.
She is visually akin to the four kings, and even appears smaller due to her placement near the top and immediately below the enlarged figure of Christ. She has no special attributes and does not show any sign of a special interaction with her son. In this window, Mary is glorified only for her fulfillment of prophecy and her completion of The Virgin of Chartres: Conclusion
the line of David, not for any personal abilities. She shows no ability to intercede for
man, and no interest in doing so.
This window's placement near the access to the crypt where the folk cult was
centered and the decision to retain it there after the fire of 1194 shows an interest in
relating this window to that cult, probably as a reminder that Mary is powerful only
in her proximity to Christ, and that Christ is the real actor in the miracles widely
attributed to the Virgin of Chartres.
The south transept was built some fifty years later, and many of these concerns
had been altered both by the time and by the audience this portal addressed. The
south side of the cathedral faced the canons' chapter and the bishop's palace, making the sculpture speak to a different sector than those participating in the crypt cult.
Here, the iconography is not merely a device for visualizing a biblical text, but goes beyond the bible to draw Mary from apocryphal legend. Furthermore, rather than making Mary less important than the iconographic type usually did, as in the Tree of
Jesse, Mary is here made more important than she was in other cathedrals' portals featuring the same subject.
In this portal, Mary is not being crowned, so that the emphasis is not on picturing her regally, but on the way that Christ leans in to bless her, granting her the ability to intercede even as she is already interceding for her people, the people of Chartres.
Although Mary's ability is granted through Christ, it is clear that he will not refuse any request from her, so a very subtle distinction is made between Mary as a sole actor and Mary as the intercessor who will never be refused. Elizabeth L. Fischer
This portal additionally draws a connection between this intercession and the
activities that occur at Chartres, particularly Assumption Day processions. Again, the
image shown is particularly suitable for the canons and bishop who saw it every time
they entered the cathedral, as it shows angelic models for the roles they played in
procession, as well as including them in the long line of supporters of the Church
from Melchizedek through the prophets to the witnesses and establishers of the
church, linking them through Peter as the first Christian cleric to this blessed group.
They are given symbolic types to emulate in the jamb figures of prophets and precursors, and types of action to mimic in the angels grouped in the archivolts.
This portal represents Chartres to the outside world as well as the Chartres canons, particularly visiting clerics and royalty, as the king stayed in the bishop's palace on the north side when he was at Chartres, as he was frequently in the thirteenth century. Christ blesses Mary in a recollection of the French coronation ceremony, at which the anointment was usually more important than the actual coronation itself.lg9The coronation of the queen often occurred at weddings, like the
1180 marriage of Isabella of Hainault, the marriage of Louis VII and Eleanor of
Aquitaine, and the marriage of Blanche of Castile to the future Louis VIII just before the construction of this portal.190 The king too is tied to heavenly events, and his actions are seen tied to those at Chartres, which join together in recreating the heavenly scene that accompanies Mary's intercession. Thus, Chartres and the whole of France are particularly blessed through Mary's approval of Chartres. This idea
ls9 Elizabeth A. R. Brown, ""Franks, Burgundians, and Aquitanians" and the Royal Coronation Ceremony in France," Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 82.7 (1992): 47. '" Elizabeth M Hallam, Capetian France 987-1328 (London: Longman, 1985) 183. Blanche was later closely associated with Chartres, and was seen as having donated the north transept windows. The Virgin of Chartres: Conclusion
proved important when in the fourteenth century French nobility and clerics swore to
the pope that Chastres was the first and foremost site of Marian worship and
blessedness in France. This image was part of Chartres' drive to achieve this place,
while at the same time maintaining the balance between Mary as undeniable
intercessor and keeping her safely away from the undue ability to act except through
Christ.
The north transept displays the other half of this equation, the image of Mary's
intercession designed for the general public, for whom this was the main entrance.
Mary is still far more significant than she is in other versions of this scene, and thus the Virgin of Chartres is more present and powerful than the Virgin of Laon or
Senlis. However, she shares her glory with one who followed her, John the
Evangelist. John, in his obvious similarity to Mary and submission to Christ, is the tie that keeps Mary firmly human and not God. When Christ dies, he is replaced with
John, so that Mary will always be the mother of a human son as well as Christ. John also is a model for the public, appearing on the earthbound part of the portal as well as in the heavenly, timeless tympanum. The Count of Chartres, too, is a model for salvation, though of a more achievable type than John's. The Count was a familiar figure of Chartres, and could even be seen as a representative of the whole of the
Chartres region, since he was its secular head. Although he was not saintly in behavior, it is shown that he did worship Christ, Mary and the other figures venerated at Chartres, and for this he is shown receiving eternal salvation in the lintel. Thus, the public could see that the most important requirement for their salvation was the regular attendance and participation in the mass at Chartres, since Elizabeth L. Fischer
Mary's intercession could be ensured even as little as regular praising of the Mother
of ~0d.l~~
Although these images are each unique, the same themes appear over and over to
give not a unity of program but a continuity of theme. The same figures appear
several times in different images, so that by their additional context connections can be made between the ideas behind the images, but also between the image and the actions performed in the space. Thus, while the image of the Jesse Tree that appears in the archivolts of the north transept is a reminder of the window showing this subject on the west wall of the nave, it also ties the north transept to the liturgy of the
Assumption, which included a procession that probably went through the door under this image, but also included the responsory "Styrps Yesse Uirgo," composed of the
Isaiah text depicted in the Jesse Tree iconography.
Likewise, Mary's position is similar on both the north and the south portal, making her the eternal intercessor from her Triumph to the Second Coming, her attention always focused on Chartres as long as they celebrate both her feasts and her daily masses.
The function of these spaces also affects these repeated figures. Mary, of course, appears in all three, as does Christ, but their relationship changes depending on the use of the area around the image. The window from the twelfth century was properly devoted to the place of Mary in relation to God, a purposely two-dimensional schema of heavenly power. It is inside the nave, so it is not concerned with encouraging people to attend, but rather, encouraging them to maintain Mary's
Church-defined place as honored but always below Christ. It is a commentary on the
'" Ward, Miracles and the Medieval Mind: Theory, Record and Event 1000-1215 156,63. The Virgin of Chartres: Conclusion
interior state of the mind and soul in worshipping her, to keep the mind from
inappropriate veneration when worshipping the Virgin in the crypt.
On the exterior, fully three-dimensional, the portal sculptures are entrances and
examples, showing action in the world and in heaven rather than an abstract idea of
how the mind should be engaged. The flat picture of the Tree of Jesse is not an
indication of something actually occurring, while the sculpted images show a more
narrative scene, even if the scene they show is not material but occurs in heaven.
They relate heavenly events to earthly actions, showing that despite heaven's
immateriality, it nevertheless exists in a real and powerful way, capable of exerting
force on earth in relation to the viewer's actions in the cathedral. The actions of the
north portal are undertaken by the clergy and especially pertain to feast days,
recalling events the laity would only have seen, which were necessary to maintain
the Virgin's residence at Chartres and continued intercession. Others, on the south
transept portal, indicate what all people, not just clergy, must do to attain Mary's
intercession, relating an earthly and familiar scene of frequent worship to a unique
event at some unforeseen time, so that now and the end of the world are graphically
associated for the edification of the people. Salvation is shown as coming from
Christ, through Mary and through John as a type of Mary, and finalIy being disseminated through the church in the action of the Mass.
Throughout these scenes, Mary always works through God, though in the thirteenth century it becomes more apparent that her intercession will never meet with objection by Christ, and that she is particularly willing to intercede for her people at Chartres. This is shown in images that are simultaneously advertisements Elizabeth L. Fischer of the Virgin of Chartres' power and instructions for how to obtain that power, combining to create a cult of the Virgin that both tied the folk cult to the cathedral, and specified Chartres as a specially privileged Iocus of the universal worship of
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