The Story of Chartres

ass and Med

n the windows,

t gift of some

city and thought

beautiful

Russel

d windows of

cis

ese almost all date from the thirteenth century. Remembering the glass of the following century in S. Père and the late

of course, fine thirteenth-century glass in England, at Canterbury for instance, and at Lincoln, whilst Salisbury and York are scarcely to be surpassed for the pale beauty of their silvery grisailles. But we have nothing in this country to compare in quantity, and therefore in effect, with the gorgeous glass which illustrates the great French churches. It is at

eagerness to throw daylight upon their abominable deeds. This is the reckoning:-One hundred and twenty-four great windows, three great roses, thirty-five lesser roses, and twelve small ones! And in these are painted 3889 figures, including thirty-two contemporary historical personages, a crowd of s

rance!' Language is futile in the presence of their rich, deep, gem-like colouring, and the memory of them, faint though it

n the windows,

th stripes of bloom; when the shades of evening have begun to fall, or when the dawn is gathering strength, and is now lighting the dim distances of the vast nave, you may sit and gaze round on those windows. You watch the wine-red, the blood-red, the yellow and the brown of the Rose of France and the lancet lights beneath, till the memory of all other beauty upon earth fades in the intoxication of that stupendous colouring. You turn at last, and, since no memory, however vivid, can retain to the full the impression of the beauty of that glass, you

he deep sapphire, the blue of Poitiers, which fills the lower windows of the nave. The secret of its manufacture is lost, but you can understand, when you behold it, how easily that story was believed which said that in order to secure this depth

blood-red rays that stream from the rose, you understand also how easily the lad who saw it for the first time was

s not any too definite form to spoil the charm of the broken bits of colour upon the senses. The meaning is there, too, as we shall see, many meanings, simple and elaborate, direct and mystical. But it is in the lancet windows of the nave that the row of otherwise (let it be confessed) ungainly figures suppl

nes of lead till the whole formed a pattern or drawing in a leaden framework, they were able to watch and test their work in its progress. Thus, watching and testing, they were able also to arrange for the proper mingling of the rays diffused on all sides by each piece of the mosaic. They did not aim so much at painting a good preliminary design upon paper as at producing a fine effect of colour in glass. When in succeeding centuries painters invaded the realms of glass they would appear to have ignored the obvious requirements of the new medium in which they were to work. Experimentally and intuitively the medi?val glazier, on the other hand, must have studied the whole question of radiation as it affected his task. And the result is, that for the most superb effects of stained glass we have to go, not to the pictures burnt on the large sheets of glass by famous painters, but to the designs of the thirteenth-century anonymous monkish craftsmen. In the matter of stained glass the latter had this advantage a

g of many details. Beards are often painted blue, and faces usually brown. Some shade of a rich purplish brown was in fact the ordinary flesh tint of the early glazier. In the window of the north transept, where S. Anne is portrayed, we have a very strikin

eir sumptuous apparel, but also and still more undoubtedly in the mosaic borders by which they and the medallions beneath are framed. The tones are rich and soft as those of a Persian rug; the patterns and devices are clearly related to

asure that this glass was stained, and these figures drawn in lead. There is a reasoned aim,

see. If you now look at the windows of the lower row, of the aisles that is, you will notice that the breadth and importance of the borders which form the framework of the circular and quatrefoil medalli

s the threshold of the temple grows less dim as it approaches the centre of the Cross; it borrows still more transparent colours from the painter's palette as it circles round the choir, and in the sanctuary gives place to the most lively and brilliant tones, which pour in from above. 'W

their head; and the broad bands of colour give more access to the light. Advancing to the centre of the Cross, you perceive that the aisles are still plunged in a gloom, which is rendered yet more obscure by the unlit spaces of the great transept doors. But the roses set on high throw rainbow lights aslant the transepts, which mingle at the entrance of the choir with the mysterious tints of the nave, and the gallery of lights beneath these roses seem intended to effect the needed transition between their transparent loveliness and the opaque mass of stone beneath. In the apse, again, with its unique double aisles and the series of chapels, which form, as it were, the crown of thorns about the head of Christ upon the Cross, symboli

cenes of the Passion are represented. The rose above them, with its rubies and sapphires in a deep setting of stone, tells again the story of the Last Judgment. From the wounds of Jesus, who is seated on a throne of clouds, flows the blood which saves or condemns mankind. Angels, cherubim and apostles surround him. An aureole in quatrefoil is about His head. Above shi

che of Castile. The Fleurs-de-lys of France and the Castles of Castile recall this fact when you see them repeated in their blue and gold in the medallions and the spandrels of the window. The rose itself is not so large as that of Notre-Dame-de-Paris, nor so deli

receives the homage of the angels, the Kings of Judah and the prophets, who are painte

ground of purple, prefiguring the Kingship of the Son; Aaron, the high priest, with the rod that budded and the book of the law, wearing a curious red hat, and beneath him Pharaoh engulfed in the Red Sea; Melchisedek, with chalice and censer, and beneath him Neb

had foreshadowed-the Glorification of Christ. The story is repeated by the statuary of the south porch without. This window was founded by Pierre Mauc

of the windows opposite. In the centre of the rose Christ enthroned blesses the world and holds in His left hand a large chalice. The surrou

he shoulders of the four great prophets; S. Matthew seated on Isaiah, S. Luke on Jeremiah, S. John (beardless, as always in medi?val portraiture, to typify his virginity) on Ezekiel, and S. Mark on David. The strange position o

ut this Cathedral of Notre-Dame, are never weary of portraying its patroness in every guise and every form, at every age, an

ansept-which is known as the Notre-Dame de la belle Verrière. She is clad in bright vestments of azure, and, like the Virgin who appeared to the peasant girl at Lourdes, she has about her head an aureole of blue. Deep to

Like the three twelfth-century windows of the west, and especially the southernmost of these three, it is strikingly Byz

nastery. But he longed for a life of prayer and solitude, and fled to the forest where he hoped none would follow him. It was vain; disciples, hearing of his sanctity and the miracles he wrought, flocked to him. Again he fled and settled in the woods near Dreux. But his cell of green leaves and wattles soon became the centre of a colony of monks, so that he was fain to recognise the call of God and to build a monastery there. Of the miracles recorded as wrought by him there is one characteristic of his gentle individuality. During the night some robbers stole a cow belonging to the monks. The brethren were in despair. The robbers, however, lost their way in the tangled forest. They wa

t which brings about the conversion of the Pagan hunter. For a cross of light shines between the horns of the fugitive. Overwhelmed by the sight of this prodigy, Placidius dismounts from his horse, kneels down and is baptized. The change wrought within is described in the upper panels. Great calamities befall him; his wife is taken from

y be comforted and inspired by the knowledge that they too shared in the weaknesses and the miseries of our nature. And above, when they have risen superior to their trials, we see them in a halo of sanctity, performing miracles by their faith. Frail man has shaken off this vile earth and goes on from strength to strength, according to the simple expression of a chronicler, until he arrives in the house of the Eternal Father, whose glorious person dominates the whole window. As i

of Rouen, has come down to us. And Clement, it is supposed, designed the window which recounts the legend of S. Martin. Th

ce of the faith, and Blanche of Castile, who so often brought her young son to Chartres and inspired him with his so tender devotion to Notre-Dame. Pierre Mauclerc is here, that turbulent spirit who expiated his offences against order by his immense generosity to the Cathedral; Thibault VI., Count of Chartres, the

carcely dared, like the great lords, to represent themselves individually, they have fortunately not shrunk from perpetuating, under the guise of the guilds through which they subscribed, the record of their no less interesting personalities. They a

thirty or forty trade corporations here depicted. It would exhibit the commercia

tition by limiting the number of masters, by limiting the number of embryo masters in the shape of apprentices whom each master in a guild might receive. Their general result was to maintain a high standard in the

ath. As elsewhere, so in France,[72] the master was responsible not only for teaching the apprentice his trade, so that he might in due course be approved a master

f of bread, he was allowed to call himself a workman, to practise his trade, and to take his share in the management and the benefits of his guild. Those benefits often included comprehensive schemes of charity and mutual aid. The widows and indigent members of a corporation were provided for by funds to which all had contributed their quota. The standard of efficiency was maintained not only by the vigilance of the jurés, who examined each finished a

shop and count, chapter, monastery and viscount, the merchants of Chartres flourished mightily in the thirteenth century, and the fairs of the town held during the four feasts of Our Lady rivalled in importance even those of Brie and Champagne. Chartres was one of the seventeen towns in France where the trades were separate and distinct, an

dallions of apostles and S. Thomas of Canterbury, that favourite saint of the Middle Ages. They were given by the furriers and drapers, the Bourgeois, as they were called, of the Ri

in a radius of three leagues. Latterly every piece approved was stamped with a leaden trademark. The trade flourished and brought great reputation to the town from the twelfth t

pecially adapted for curing them. The tanners flourished exceedingly, and were accustomed to celebrate with great magnificence at the riverside Church of S. André the feast of their patron, S. Louis. The difficulty of procuring skins and other accessories had considerably injured them by the time of the Revolution, and their industry, like that of the shoemakers, has to-day no more than a quite local importance. But the river is still

th their adjoining tanyards. Many of them, too, are garnished with little wooden galleries, lavatories of the town's soiled linen. 'These galleries are filled with washerwomen, who crane over and dip their many-colou

the Book of Miracles tells us of a troubadour who left his companion to pursu

parole e

vins avoi

artres e

s nes et d

n or the various taverns, is but a thin and dreary liquor to-day. Either the soil has been exhausted and the grape lost its virtue, or the taste of the former connoisseurs was faulty. No doubt their standard of taste in wine was lower than ours. A cup of sack, I doubt, would not prove so pleasant to the modern palate as it

windows, taken in order, starting from the western front and moving rou

Last Judgment.

ame de la Belle Verrière, which, though made of thirteenth-century glass, was copied in design from an earlier one of which mention is made. The centre window of the three (32 feet 10 inches) contains the Virgin and Child in the head, and in twelve panels the chief events of the Gospel story from the

sle of t

n by the Carpenters, W

p. 36). Given by the Tav

(see p. 163). Given by

Given by the Money

las. Given by the Gr

y the Farriers and Blacksmiths. (

of the Na

(a) Temptati

, Daniel,

therius?) with two su

s a deacon, with the Evangelis

elow, his Martyrdom. A

fical robes on a throne. Tw

which appear two pairs of Apostles

d below, Curriers a

f Canterbury and two

Apostles seated in

and below, the

ly Ghost: Wisdom is represented by Christ, the other gifts by white d

act of blessing, and below, ce

thirteenth-century armour, and

ge on horseback

, and below, Abraham a

bove, a bust of Christ with the letters Al

Scenes of

A Martyr and S.

his cloak and behold

nscription, 'The men of Tours

pt (below th

n of the story of

indow, but the central portion of it was removed in

emove

t, Clerestory

eath, Assumption and

to the Shepherds, and below, the Presentat

oulogne, uncle of S. Louis, on his kn

ion and the Visitation. Below

ls. Their meeting at the Golden Gate of th

The Vir

, with border of the Lilies of Fr

of France,

five pointed windows d

t, Clerestory

) S. Thomas an

ude, and below, the Ca

and the moon, and holding a globe

indow contain four more A

rait of the same

tag, his Baptism, before the Idols.

t, and the Adoration of the Magi. Be

) Chris

choir apse repeat the story of the north rose-the

ing Angel, with the donor (Gau

, and a Seraph. Be

ife of S. Peter. Belo

n, Motherhood of the Virgin. Be

Incense-bearing Ange

iah, a Seraph. Be

of S. John the Baptist.

ry of the Ch

hroned, and the escutcheon of

eling, Robert de Bérou, sub-deacon and chancellor of t

d between two three-b

s on horseback in the rose. The other two lights were removed in 1788 at

ut one, founded by S. Louis, whose fi

) S. Martin wo

cloak, and beholding Christ

llon, the founder, on

of the Ch

er, Amaury, Count of Montfort, remains in the ros

one about his neck, on the land and on

. Below, th

stroye

the Great, the Adoration of the Ma

to Egypt, and below, the donors, Coli

rt de Beaumon

pt (now bein

stroye

1792. A border

f Ravenna and Hierar

t, Clerestory

S. Nicaise and the donor, Geoffr

nting the oriflamm

S. John t

) S. Protais a

Damien. The same dono

The Vir

Two Prophets, and do

The Vir

f the south tr

large pointed windows, as

t, Clerestory

achi and Micah, and bel

c, the donor, on horseb

Destroyed 1786

it, and S. Antony. Below, a

brosius, the A

a) (b) S. Pau

donor, a Cano

Nave (starting fr

he Virgin, wrought in the thirteenth century. But o

me Ch

y Louis de Bour

s of S. Piat a

t, Jacques de Bourbon kneeling; S. Louis of France, S. Louis of Toulouse, Louis and Jacques de Bourbon; on right, S. James, in similar compa

left, the Jewish Priests and the Centurion. Above, Christ judging the world, between

ion and Coronation of the Virgi

ood Samaritan. Below,

ary Magdalene. Below

ohn the Evangelist.

outh Side,

S. Symphorian an

hidden by

c) S.

(a) (b) De

. Gregory

a) S. Barthol

c and the dono

. Aug

o is partly hid

a) S. Philip

e Less and the

c) S.

. Faith, and belo

he scene of Christ saying, N

olemnis, Bish

er, and below, the don

S. J

with the signs

Laumer, and below,

ary of Egypt with Zozimu

c) S.

f the Ambulat

own. Given by Ge

cholas. Given by

s and the

nteresting grisailles

ris

le, fourtee

of S.

ry of S

by the Carpenters, Wh

e, picked ou

he Sacred H

Potentian, S. Modesta (see

Given by the Sculptors,

Stephen. Given b

Given by Nicolas Lescin

and S. Vincent of Saragos

etween th

d in great detail and with remarkable clearness, af

ostle. Given by the

f the Co

amented with arms

mon and S. Jude. D

were removed in 1791, and like those of the two next windows, which depict the inc

apel of S. Pia

nth century. S. Piat i

e Sacred Hea

restoring three children t

Rémy. The dono

S. Ni

ndria. Donors, Marguerite de Lèves, and her husband,

urder by the Tanners and Curriers. John of Salisbury, Bishop of Chartres,

of All

f Chartres, whose name is recorded in a similar thirteenth-c

te eighteenth

grisailles. The Annuncia

hrist b

gin. Rose, Christ crucified. Given by Thibaut VI., Count of Chartres

enthroned and crowned, with Christ between her knees, surrounded by angels bearing candlesticks and censers. B

Antony and S. Paul, the first h

irgin a