Cathédrale de Chartres; Civilization, Medieval; Mont-Saint-Michel (Abbey : France)
reason with James; who sends them back to remonstrate with
Almogenes. The demons then bind Almogenes and bring him before
James, who discusses differences with him until Almogenes burns his
books of magic and prostrates himself before the Saint. Both are
then brought before Herod, and Almogenes breaks a pretty heathen
idol, while James goes to prison. A panel comes in here, out of
place, showing Almogenes enchanting Filetus, and the demon entering
into possession of him. Then Almogenes is seen being very roughly
handled by a young Jew, while the bystanders seem to approve. James
next makes Almogenes throw his books of magic into the sea; both are
led away to execution, curing the infirm on their way; their heads
are cut off; and, at the top, God blesses the orb of the world.
That this window was intended to amuse the Virgin seems quite as
reasonable an idea as that it should have been made to instruct the
people, or us. Its humour was as humorous then as now, for the
French of the thirteenth century loved humour even in churches, as
their grotesques proclaim. The Saint James window is a tale of
magic, told with the vivacity of a fabliau; but if its motive of
amusement seems still a forced idea, we can pass on, at once, to the
companion window which holds the best position in the church, where,
in the usual cathedral, one expects to find Saint John or some other
apostle; or Saint Joseph; or a doctrinal lesson such as that called
the New Alliance where the Old and New Testaments are united. The
window which the artists have set up here is regarded as the best of
the thirteenth-century windows, and is the least religious.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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