15.2 The History of Chartres

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Age of Cathedrals

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Yale University

Age of Cathedrals

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An introduction to some of the most astonishing architectural monuments the world has ever known—Gothic cathedrals. We shall study the art, literature, intellectual life, economics, and new social arrangements that arose in the shadow of the cathedrals and that were such an important part of the revival of cities in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The goal of the course is a better appreciation of the High Middle Ages, a world that is still recognizably our own.

From the lesson

Our Lady of Chartres

In Module 6 we move West of Paris to the cathedral of Chartres where Gothic architecture hits its stride. We explore the history of Chartres, its unique and mysterious architectural features, and its miraculous relic—the Holy Tunic. We discuss the financing of Chartres as seen in the windows donated by merchant which depict the various urban trades alongside the sculpture of the West façade, the rose and lancet stained glass windows, and the secular Zodiac and Charlemagne windows, the latter of which is linked to important literary works of the period.

15.1 Dizzying Heights6:38

15.2 The History of Chartres4:52

15.3 The Holy Tunic4:58

Meet the Instructors

Howard Bloch
Sterling Professor of French
French

As was the case for Sant-Denis and for Notre Dame in Paris, Chartres was a site

of a pagan shrine, long before the arrival of a Christian community.

In this principle town of the Carnutes,

a Celtic tribe from which the name Chartres derives its origin.

In his first century BCE account of the Gallic Wars,

Caesar mentioned Chartres along with Orleans as one of the places

where druids gathered both to worship and to render justice.

These druids, at a certain time of the year,

meet within the borders of the Carnutes, whose territory is reckoned as

the center of all Gaul, and they sit in conclave in a consecrated spot.

Thither assemble from every side all that have disputes,

and they obey the decisions and judgments of the Druids.

It is believed that the rule of life was discovered in Britain and

transferred thence to Gaul.

In the 17th century account of the history of Chartres,

Vincent Sablon is more precise.

The Druids were idol worshipers and adored Teutates, Hesus, Belerius and Taramis.

Their religion was very close to superstition and they were so

attached to their own ceremonies that they held all others in low esteem.

They celebrated their rites in caves and underground places because

they believe that they were descended from the gods of Hell, and since Chartres,

called Anticrum in Latin by Ptolemy, because it was full of caves,

caverns, grottos, and places hollowed in the rocks,

was largely built underground, the Druids made it the center of their cult and

consecrated an altar to a virgin who was to give birth, Virgo partitura.

The altar erected by the Druids in honor of the holy virgin in the city of

Chartres, long before the coming of the the Son of God, remained in the same

state until the shadows of paganism were dissipated by the light of the Gospel.

Seeing the fulfillment of their predictions,

the Druids left the shadows to follow the Truth.

Their caves and caverns were converted into oratories, and

the Christians assembled in this subterranean spot dedicated to

the Virgin and celebrated a divine service there daily.

It would not be out of place here to describe the Virgin,

which are ancient Druids put up on this altar.

She is seated on a throne holding her son in her arms.

She is black or

moorish in color as are nearly all the images of the virgin in Chartres.

And the druids are though to have given her this color

because she came from a country more exposed to the sun than ours.

Here we should keep in mind four things.

First of all, Chartres was a pagan shrine which morphs into a Christian holy spot,

as in Sant-Denis and Notre Dame in Paris.

Second, we should bear in mind a pagan cult of the virgin

morphed into a shrine of Our Lady of Chartres.

And third, we should bear in mind the relation between justice and

a sacred site.

Something we saw in the early history of Sant-Denis with its fair long

deed based at the spot of rendering judgement.

Finally, we should keep in mind the struggle between rival cathedrals for

dominance of a wider social and political sphere, between Sant-Denis,

Notre-Dame in Paris and Notre-Dame in Chartres.

There were several earlier cathedrals of Chartres before the first

reference to the destruction of a church in 743 of the Christian Era.

When Hunald, Duke of Aquitaine, having quarreled with

the Frankish King Charles Martel's sons sacked Chartres.

Pepin the Short, Charlemagne's father mentions a gift

to the church of Saint Mary at Chartres.

Indeed, Chartres has always considered itself the chief sanctuary of

the Virgin in Western Europe.

In 858, the city was pillaged and the cathedral burnt by vikings.

It was not so long after that that Charlemagne's grandson,

Charles the Bald, presented to Chartres the Holy Tunic,

which Mary wore at the time she gave birth to Christ.

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