Cathédrale de Chartres; Civilization, Medieval; Mont-Saint-Michel (Abbey : France)
The most elaborate account of this window can be found in Male's
"Art Religieux" (pp. 444-50). Its feeling or motive is quite another
matter, as it is with the statuary on the north porch. The Furriers
or Fur Merchants paid for the Charlemagne window, and their
signature stands at the bottom, where a merchant shows a fur-lined
cloak to his customer. That Mary was personally interested in furs,
no authority seems to affirm, but that Blanche and Isabel and every
lady of the Court, as well as every king and every count, in that
day, took keen interest in the subject, is proved by the prices they
paid, and the quantities they wore. Not even the Merchant Tailors
had a better standing at Court than the Furriers, which may account
for their standing so near the Virgin. Whatever the cause, the
Furriers were allowed to put their signature here, side by side with
the Tailors, and next to the Princess Blanche. Their gift warranted
it. Above the signature, in the first panel, the Emperor Constantine
is seen, asleep, in Constantinople, on an elaborate bed, while an
angel is giving him the order to seek aid from Charlemagne against
the Saracens. Charlemagne appears, in full armour of the year 1200,
on horseback. Then Charlemagne, sainted, wearing his halo, converses
with two bishops on the subject of a crusade for the rescue of
Constantine. In the next scene, he arrives at the gates of
Constantinople where Constantine receives him. The fifth picture is
most interesting; Charlemagne has advanced with his knights and
attacks the Saracens; the Franks wear coats-of-mail, and carry long,
pointed shields; the infidels carry round shields; Charlemagne,
wearing a crown, strikes off with one blow of his sword the head of
a Saracen emir; but the battle is desperate; the chargers are at
full gallop, and a Saracen is striking at Charlemagne with his
battle-axe. After the victory has been won, the Emperor Constantine
rewards Charlemagne by the priceless gift of three chasses or
reliquaries, containing a piece of the true Cross; the Suaire or
grave-cloth of the Saviour; and a tunic of the Virgin. Charlemagne
then returns to France, and in the next medallion presents the three
chasses and the crown of the Saracen king to the church at Aix,
which to a French audience meant the Abbey of Saint-Denis. This
scene closes the first volume of the story.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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