We've spoken about the search for unity in order, in the arts, theology and the law and how it was the age of the rise of universities, the centrality of the sentences of Peter Lombard which drew together authorities, the Summa of the 13th century, Thomas Aquinas. Gratian's Decretum and the Glossa Ordinaria, the Glossed Bible, which brought together the texts of the Church Fathers. All expressed this vision of oneness, the oneness of learning, and the unity of the sacred with the profane. At the time of the birth of Thomas Aquinas, something astonishing happened in the French city of Chartres. It belonged to a new age of Gothic architecture, a new age of achievement in the building of cathedrals. Like the scholastics of the universities, these cathedrals, as they began to rise across France, Northern Europe expressed the unity of learning and of creation itself. The Gothic was about knowing. It was about perception and pleasure. Nothing less than a new way of seeing the heavenly Jerusalem. Below is the world in which these gothic cathedrals appeared. There was the growth of towns and of commerce. It was a world of merchants and craftsmen. The feudal order that we've spoken about was under great strain. We see the rise of the French kingdom, and of the wealth of French kings. But it was also as we know the time of the Third Crusade from 1189 to 1192. And of the Fourth Crusade, this disastrous campaign of 1202 to 1204 with the sack of Constantinople and the poisoning of relations between the East and the West. Between 1160 and 1270, about 80 cathedrals appeared in France. These gothic wonders were built to communicate. They promised the glory of the kingdom to come. Yet around them. In the towns and cities. Most people lived in fetid conditions. So for them to enter into the cathedral was a wondrous experience. The cathedrals themselves were also expressions of royal power and of the power of the church. Built frequently through heavy taxation on the people. In such ways they also have the character of the heavy hand of authority. Chartres is seen as one of the greatest achievements of architecture in the Middle Ages. It was, itself, a preview of paradise. It stood and stands on a hill above the Eure river, 56 miles south of Paris. At the heart of this cathedral, at Chartres was a tunic, or cloth that had been worned by Mary when she gave birth to Jesus. This wondrous relic had been given to Chartres by Charles the Bold, the grandson, the Great Charlemagne. And it made Chartres the center of Marian devotion, a place where pilgrims would come. And by the 13th century, pilgrims were traversing Europe to arrive at Chartres to see this great relic. But this relic had a fascinating history. For in 1194, a fire destroyed the old Romanesque Cathedral and left only the west facade and it was sealed that the precious relic itself had been lost. But it was found and it was seen yet to be another miracle that Mary's favor was bestowed upon Chartres. And so a new church was to be built. Begun in 1190s and 1235. The main parts of the new cathedral were there. This included a three aisle nave, a five aisle choir and adjacent chapels. As well as the transept. The transept's north and south porches were furnished with elaborate series of sculptures. And the exceedingly high nave is supported outside by three-tiered flying buttresses with lower two arches joined by thin columns. Inside the church, a 13th century labyrinth could be found that extended for 262 meters and pilgrims on their knees would follow the labyrinth having come to the church. This completed their journey. To adore God, to adore the relic of Mary. We do not know who built Chartres, there were many masters, but what we know is that when we walk into it, we see something wondrous. Over 170 stained glass windows. And outside, as one enters, over 4,000 sculptures. Inside, the interior ribbed vaulting was combined with the outside flying buttresses to support these walls that cast the aisle upward with their windows. With one enters through the great north port with its nine doors. We now see images, sculptures, which are dark in color, grey. But in the 13th century, they would have been painted. Creating extraordinary scenes of the life of Christ. Extraordinary scenes of the great prophets. Of the Old Testament foretelling the life of Christ. Of the Virgin of God of Judgment. It was the entry point into the heavenly Jerusalem. The windows, however, are what is most extraordinary. And we see here a variety of images, but perhaps amongst the most famous are those of Mary, the Blue Virgin of Chartres. The light which enters it into the Cathedral casting a great mystery of color. Mary here seated with Jesus in triumph. With the Holy Spirit and with lives of Christ represented below, including the Last Supper and the Marriage at Cana. The north rose window likewise has a seated Mary with Christ with four doves above, surrounded by the kings of Israel and the 12 prophets, all of which telling the story of God's salvation. As a pilgrimage place in the 13th century, Chartres, with its windows depicts more than 5,000 characters, of which over a hundred are of Mary herself. These windows were designed for a variety of purposes, they taught the Biblical stories. They taught the lives of saints. They were ways by which those who preached could point to the fulfillment of the promises of God in Christ. But also, to the promises of life beyond this world. It was a vision of the world to come, as those who were in it were bathed in the light that show on through the extraordinary windows. The church itself was built to mirror the varying numbers by which God had created the universe. It was an approximation of the divine realm. The post fire church was built, begun in 1190's and the impression one has of walking into Chartres is, of course, this sense of light, blues, reds, purples, all through reflected on the stone. The contrast of light and heavy stone, and the windows themselves are pointed, not rounded as in Romanesque cathedrals. Pointed, contributing to the sense of drawing the eye upward. In Chartres there is an integration of space. The impression of light, a theology of light, of the divine presence. It was a vision of Heaven on Earth for those who experienced it in the 13th century. A set of symbols of light transcendent that allows as much of the divine presence into the experience of those who worshipped. All was done according to Mathematical principles. The harmony of the universe. Part of this, an expression of this unity that we have spoken of. In other places of learning, law, theology. This sense of wonder, of light, of encountering the divine in the cathedral is I think most beautifully expressed in the words of Thomas himself. Who wrote in one of his hymns, heavenly word, eternal light. Begotten of Father's might. Who in these latter days art born for succour to a world forlorn. Our hearts enlighten from above and kindle with thine own true love. That we, who hear thy call today may cast Earth's vanities away. And when as judged thou drawest nigh, the secrets of all hearts to try, when sinners meet their awful doom, and saints attained their heavenly home. Let us not for evil past, be driven from thy face at last. But with the blessed evermore, behold thee, love thee, and adore.
