Chartres Cathedral

The medieval Gothic cathedral was in many ways a civic building as well as a
religious one. This particularly was the case with the famous cathedral Notre-Dame de
Chartres (Our Lady of Chartres) in the town of the same name, 80km south-east of Paris,
built in the 13th century. Chartres cathedral was planned not only as a place of worship,
but also developed as the centre of the town's economy and way of life, as the place that
housed the relic of the cloak of the Virgin Mary. The local citizens assisted the building
of the cathedral by providing the labour, giving food to the workers and donating money
to pay for its construction. The architecture of the cathedral dominated the town in the
way that modern skyscrapers are the centre civic buildings today. Many of the
decorations in the cathedral such as the thousands of sculptures and beautiful stained
glass windows were donated by guilds and tradespeople of the town. People visited
Chartres for the fairs held on the feasts of the Virgin, a major place for trade.
Townspeople also used the majestic cathedral and its grounds for business.
Medieval cathedrals such as Chartres show the strength and majesty of the Catholic
church. The original Romanesque cathedral in Chartres that was built in the eleventh
century burned down in a fire in 1134. The cathedral was then rebuilt in the gothic style,
but then another fire destroyed all except the towers and the west front in 1194. (See
Hallam & Everard 2001) The new Gothic cathedral was regarded as one of the first
examples of High Gothic architecture. There was a genuine desire, of course, to build
places of worship and prayer and to build a cathedral as a way to pay homage to God.
However, the catholic church also planned the cathedral as a place which would show
ecclesiastical power to any who would see it. "The buildings were for the glory of God,
but they also expressed Episcopal prestige and affirmed the bishop's power in the face of
his secular rivals." (Duby 1991: 4) Since there were often rivalries between the church
and the state, a massive cathedral rising high above the town is one way of showing the
strength of the church. In Capetian France (987-1328), royal officials often claimed that
bishops and cardinals were getting away with some crimes because of what was known
as 'benefit of clergy', immunity from prosecution in lay courts. "There were major
disputes between royal officials and the churches of Chartres, Poitiers & Lyons - and here
the royal interests won." (Hallam & Everard 2001: 399) With the church losing in these
disagreements with the government, another tall cathedral reaffirms their status. At this
time, churches were being built in Northern France at ever increasing height, with Laon
at 24 metres, Notre dame de Paris at 32 metres and Notre dame de Chartres at 35 metres.
(See Kleiner et al 2001: 493)
The funds to build this enormous cathedral came partly from the laity, many of whom
wanted to see a fitting place for the housing of the cloak of the Virgin. Many people came
to worship the objects connected with religious figures, called relics, that were stored in
cathedrals through Europe during the Middle Ages. One of the most widely known relics
was housed in Chartres cathedral. This cloak, which was supposed to have been worn by
the Virgin Mary at the Annunciation, was presented to Chartres by Charles the Bald in
878. (see Dunlop 1982: 28) The cloak of the Virgin was so respected by Christians
through Europe that it had even saved the town from being attacked by foreign enemies,
in 911 and 1119, in each case the attacker upon seeing the relic decided to spare the town.
"The use made by the city of Chartres of its cathedral's most sacred relic...twice it was
displayed in an effort to rescue the city from siege." (Scott 2003: 193) Such a widely
known relic drew many pilgrims.
Pilgrims came from all over France and other countries to pay homage at the cathedral.
Worship of the cloak of the Virgin became a cult, which the clergy did their best to
encourage. "At Chartres [the clergy] tried to promote interest in the cult by means of an
imposing building and a fantastic legendary history." (Coldstream 2002: 171) When most
of the church burned down in 1194, the cloak managed to survive the fire. The cloak
happened to be brought out unharmed from the ashes of the cathedral, at the precise
moment a member of the clergy was talking to a crowd about its possible rebuilding.
Many townspeople took this to be a miracle, a sign that God had let the church burn
down because He wanted a better church to be built to house such an important item.
(See Hallam & Everard 2001 and Evans 1957) Chartres depended on its cathedral as a
source of income from the pilgrims that came to see the cloak, and some of these helped
donate money towards the construction. "The pilgrims who were drawn [to
Chartres]...were one major source of cash for rebuilding." (James 1982: 137) Merchants
who made donations received acknowledgement in the cathedrals construction because it
was shown which guild had contributed money for particular windows or sculptures.
Funding also came from other non-religious sources such as the monarchy and leaders of
the community in Chartres and Paris. The royal family and the counts in Chartres made
large contributions towards the building of the cathedral. (See James 1982)
As well as donating money, many townspeople came to work in the building yard. For
the twenty seven years it was being rebuilt, wealthy and the poor alike came together as a
community to either work in the construction, or to supply the workers. To inspire them
was the memory of their family members who, a generation before, had rebuilt the
cathedral in the first fire of 1134. This was also an effort that involved both the rich and
poor of the town, "an astounding demonstration of popular enthusiasm when nobles and
[poor] people alike laboured together to build it." (Chamberlin 1967: 94) Reconstruction
of the cathedral was not something which concerned only the religious community, for
while it was being built Notre Dame de Chartres was the focus of the entire town and all
its people. Work on the cathedral provided jobs for hundreds of townspeople, developed
the skills of the tradesmen, and allowed natural resources to be exploited in new ways.
The church helped organise the workforce, with some occupations organised as religious
fraternities before they became guilds. (See von Simpson 1988: 168) During its
construction, villagers brought all the materials that were needed to the cathedral in
wagons, such as from the nearby church-owned quarries at Bercheres. "During the
rebuilding of Chartres...the faithful harnessing themselves to wagons that were laden with
stones, wood, provisions and whatever else was needed for the works of the cathedral."
(Chamberlin 1967: 89) The building of the cathedral occupied the people of the town
who came together as a community in the project. In fact, the whole upper part of
Chartres became an enormous building site that affected the population of the entire town
in this great architectural endeavour. (See von Simpson 1988: 170)
The architecture of the cathedral made it a civic building in the sense that it was by far
the largest building in Chartres. From many miles around the city, the towers of
Cathedral could be seen rising above the town. In the middle ages, the structure
completely dominated the town, with most of the town only an assortment of small
houses and farms. The medieval cathedral, as in other places, "came to represent the city,
and in some cases like Chartres, rising in the distance above the wheat fields...it was the
city." (www.owlnet.rice.edu/~arch343/lecture9.html) The cathedral extensively used
flying buttresses in its original plan, and these supported the weight of the extremely high
vaults, at the time of being built, the highest in France. A flying buttress, passes some of
the outward thrust of the heavy stone vaults out to large vertical buttresses on the outside
of the church. The flying buttresses, however, were "only one among a variety of
techniques used to keep the high walls of Chartres upright." (Von Simpson 1988: 52) The
new high gothic cathedral at Chartres used 4 rib vaults in a rectangular space, instead of 6
in a square pattern, as in earlier gothic cathedrals such as at Laon. The skeletal system of
supports, from the compound piers all the way up to the springing and transverse and
diagonal ribs, allowed large spaces of the cathedral to be free for stained glass work, as
well as a towering height. (See Kleiner et al 2001: 497)
The glass decorations of Chartres cathedral, in their subject, building and purpose show
the cathedral as having secular, as well as religious purpose. Several of the windows were
donated by royalty, such as the rose window at the north transept, which was donated by
Queen Blanche of France. The royal influence is shown in some of the long rectangular
lancet windows which display the royal symbols of the yellow fleurs-de-lis on a blue
background and also yellow castles on a red background. (See Fig. 1) The thousands of
sculptures at the cathedral include depictions of workers and scenes of daily life of
ordinary people, as well as those of saints. "It was not in those days considered that there
was any impropriety in placing pictures of everyday life alongside the heroic scenes of
the lives of the Saints." (Dunlop 1982: 32) Windows were donated from all types of
people, from kings, lords to locals and tradespeople. Some of the windows given by the
local merchant groups show not religious images as many of the others, but depict the
tradesmen themselves. "forty-two...windows were donated by the various merchant
confraternities...shown in very human little scenes depicting each trade." (Miller 1975:
19) Examples of some of these glass window scenes donated by merchants are as
follows; a maker of a shoe sells the boot he made to a customer who is sitting with his
foot in the air about to try it on (Fig.2); a group of shoemakers (Fig.3); a carter making a
cart wheel (Fig.4); a merchant on horseback with a cart behind him loaded with a barrel
of wine (Fig.5); a cobbler holding one of his shoes (Fig 6); two carpenters holding axes,
chopping wood (Fig. 7); a furrier making a cloak with some assistants (Fig. 8); lastly on
the bottom 'petal' of the miracles of Mary window, two butchers cut meat for a customer
(Fig. 9) Secular glass windows showing the trade of the donors were also complimented
by the use of some secular sculptures on the outside of the cathedral.
Sculptures at the cathedral included not only religious images, but also images of kings
and queens. The sculptures on the west facade depict Christ's ascension into heaven,
episode from his life, saints, apostles, Christ in the lap of Mary and other religious
scenes. (See Fig. 10) Below the religious figures are statues of kings and queens, which is
the reason why this entrance is known as the 'royal' portal. While these figures are based
on figures from the Old Testament, they were also regarded as images of current kings
and queens when they were constructed. The symbolism of showing royalty displayed
slightly lower than the religious sculptures, but still very close, implies the relationship
between the kings and God. It is a way of displaying the authority of royalty, showing
them so close to figures of Christ, it gives the impression they have been ordained and
put in place by God. Sculptures of the Seven Liberal Arts appeared in the archivolt of the
right bay of the Royal Portal, which represented the school at Chartres. (See Kleiner et al
2001: 491)
Chartres cathedral functioned as an important cathedral school. Charlemagne wanted a
system of education for the French people in the ninth century, and since it was difficult
and costly for new schools to be built, it was easier to use already existing infrastructure.
So he ordered that both cathedrals and monasteries maintain schools and so religious
schooling became very important in France. Cathedral schools eventually took over from
monastic schools as the main places of education. In the 11th century the education
system was controlled by the clergy in cathedrals such as Chartres. The cathedral itself
symbolised the school. "It was the cathedral's function to disseminate teachings and give
visual expression to the learning of the schools." (Duby 1991: 190) Many French
cathedral schools had specialties, and Chartres was most renowned for the study of logic.
The new logic taught in Chartres was regarded by many as being even ahead of Paris, as
"the young man...should he want to experiment in the exciting new science of logic, he
went to Chartres." (Chamberlin 1967: 113) Classes at the school did not have separate
age groups in different classes, so children were brought into the same classes as much
older people. One person who was educated at Chartres was John of Salisbury, an
English philosopher and writer, who had his classical training there. (See Evans 1957:
124)
Chartres cathedral was used as a place of pilgrimage by many people from France,
England and elsewhere. The small town of Chartres attracted many visitors as the church
was "in the twelfth century was primarily a pilgrim Church" (James 1982: 70) Many
people came from all over France to see the important relic, because of the popular cult
of the Virgin. "There were innumerable pilgrimages within France itself: to Chartres, to
see the Tunic of the Virgin." (Evans 1957: 77) People from the surrounding countryside
were also attracted to the cathedral because of its immense size and it became a source of
civic pride. Different French towns competed against each other to have larger cathedrals,
and the people of Chartres would have been very proud of their cathedral, for when it was
built it was the tallest in France. The wealthy and powerful also visited Chartres, with
three popes visiting the cathedral in the 12th century, and many French kings visited such
as Henri III, who visited about twenty times, and Henri IV, who was consecrated in
Chartres cathedral. (See Microsoft Encarta 2003)
The fairs that were held in the surrounding area of the cathedral were attended by many
of the pilgrims, for they coincided with the feast days of the Virgin Mary. The fairs were
attended by many of the pilgrims who came to see the cloak of the Virgin, whose
pilgrimages were "easy and happy...and they tended to degenerate into attendance at fairs
in pilgrimage places." (Evans 1957: 78) A medieval fair was the most important event of
the year as far as most people of the town would have been concerned, for it was the
main time at which to exchange goods with people from other towns. The fairs at
Chartres were held just outside the cathedral, the property made up of streets and squares
which belonged to the church that was immediately adjacent to the cathedral. There were
four great fairs which coincided with the main feast days of the Virgin; the Purification;
the Annunciation; the Assumption and the Nativity. "There is no great feast without its
fair, no fair without its feast: one calls for the other." (Von Simpson 1988: 165) Small
images of the Sacred Tunic or of Our Lady were popular items at these fairs. The main
attraction at these fairs was the cloak of the Virgin, so the life of the town was dependent
upon them. "The prosperity of the town's fair rested on the church's fame for attracting
pilgrims." (Baldwin 1971: 101) Tourists from afar used the cathedral grounds for non-
religious purposes, as did the people of the town.
There were many activities of town life that occurred in and around the cathedral which
made it a civic building, not just a religious one. "Located at the very heart of town life,
the cathedral often had the character of a civic building, and a variety of activities took
place both within and in front of it." (http://art.ranken.edu/borchardt/ archistI/Course
%20stuff/Medieval/medieval.htm) Notre Dame de Chartres functioned sometimes as a
marketplace, with the different portals of the basilica selling different items; textiles at
the northern end; fuel, vegetables and meat at the southern one. Sometimes the clergy
would try, in vain, to stop the life of the markets from entering into the cathedral. Wine
sellers were forbidden to sell wine in the crypt, but were allowed to do business in the
nave of the church and avoid the taxes which they would have to pay if they sold it
outside. Workers of various professions gathered in the cathedral seeking jobs, such as
carpenters and masons. Food was even allowed to be sold in the cathedral. Once when a
disease called ergotism that caused many victims in the town, the north side of the crypt
became a hospital to care for the sick. (See Coldstream 2002: 194) The cathedral was
sometimes used as a place where workers would work out to improve their fitness. (See
Branner 1969: 69) It once even functioned as a place to punish the rioters of 1210, who
were led naked through the town and whipped in front of the altar. (See
www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/ 1210chartres.html)
Chartres cathedral was the most important building in the town of Chartres. It was the
centre of the economy, the most famous landmark and the centre of almost every activity
which is provided by civic buildings in towns today. Evidence of the secular uses of the
cathedral is shown in some of the renowned decorations of stained glass windows and
sculptures. The main markets held in the town occurred at the fairs held on holy days of
the Virgin Mary, which drew pilgrims from all over Europe. The cathedral was built and
funded by the entire populace and not just the religious community; everyone from the
Queen of France to the peasants in the fields contributing to the massive effort. The
patrons of the cathedral were not just the people attending mass; the cathedral was also a
school, hospital, fairground, trade centre, marketplace, meeting hall, art gallery,
sanctuary, shelter and tourist attraction; it was the heart as well as the soul of the town.

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