IN THIS ISSUE: NOTRE-DAME DE PARIS — CONSTRUCTION, FUNCTION, AND EVOLUTION (1163 – PRESENT)

ISSUE 15

C U LT U R E & C O N F L I C T
www.medievalworldmagazine.com | Karwansaray Publishers

US $13.99
CAD $17.25 The history of a Gothic masterpiece
1 5

3
25274 80639

RIGHT ON TIME GOTHIC GRANDEUR MIGHTY MONKS SALVATION IN STONE

From reading the sky to read- The advanced architecture and The warrior monks of China, Notre-Dame's Last Judgment
ing a clock: keeping track of transformations of Notre-Dame Korea, and Japan feared portal embodies how the build-
time in the Middle Ages. de Paris over the centuries. neither death nor torture. ing has changed over the years.
7
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
C U LT U R E & C O N F L I C T
Editor-in-chief: Jasper Oorthuys
Editor: Alice Isabella Sullivan
Image research: Lauren van Zoonen
Design & media: Christy Beall
Design © 2022 Karwansaray Publishers
THEME: NOTRE-DAME DE PARIS
Artwork advisers: Robert W. Jones (Advanced Studies
in England, Franklin and Marshall College), Robert C. How the cathedral of Notre-Dame became a landmark in the history of archi-
Woosnam-Savage (Curator Emeritus, Royal Armouries)
tecture, the topography, and the community of Paris, then and now.
Contributors: Susan Abernethy, Murray Dahm,
Jennifer M. Feltman, Galen Ford, Emily Davenport
Guerry, M.G. Haynes, Robert Jones, Mark Lewis, 18 Notre-Dame de Paris 37 Monsters to watch over us all
A.L. McMichael, Tim Miller, Conor Robinson, Dany Going Gothic The gargoyles of Notre-Dame
Sandron, Kyle G. Sweeney, Kathryn Walton

Illustrators: Rocío Espin, Julia Lillo, Jose Morán,

28 Crowning Paris 58 Further reading
Marek Szyszko, William Webb The Crown of Thorns at Notre-Dame Books about Notre-Dame de Paris

Print: Grafi Advies 34 A portal through time

The Last Judgment at Notre-Dame
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Customer service: service@karwansaraypublishers.com 8 Chasing Chronos 44 Righteous fury
Website: www.medievalworldmagazine.com Measuring time in the Middle Ages 5VY[OLHZ[(ZPHZÄNO[PUNTVURZ
Contributions in the form of articles, letters, reviews, 14 9LHK`[VÄNO[HUKKPL 48 The sign of the Cid
news and queries are welcomed. Please send to the
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The Battle of Antioch-on-the-Meander Heraldry, history, and propaganda
www.medievalworldmagazine.com.
40 Catherine of Burgundy 52 The might of Saint Margaret
Subscriptions An exception to the rule? Defeater of dragons, protector of mothers
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MEANINGFUL HERALDRY CHILDBIRTH AND DRAGONS
The associations of the Mendoza family The popularity of Saint Margaret was
coat of arms with El Cid. widespread in the Middle Ages.

Medieval World 15 3
MARGINALIA

Editorial
On 15 April 2019, fire engulfed the cathedral of de Paris, its design, construction, and decora-
Notre-Dame in the heart of Paris, causing much tion, ritual uses and transformations over time,
damage to this masterpiece of Gothic archi- and the application of modern technology in
tecture. I remember being left in awe seeing the study of its architecture and decoration.
pictures and videos of the spire crumbling to Through accessible content and rich visual
the flames, and questioning the fate of this sources and illustrations, the contributions to
glorious medieval monument. Once the fire this issue help bring the medieval monument
stopped and the damage was assessed, the to life. You can now learn about Notre-Dame as
restoration work was underway. we walk through the newly restored church or
As the building reopened in early De- visit from afar via Medieval World.
cember 2024 after rebuilding and restorations,
what better way to celebrate this milestone
than with a special issue on this cathedral. The Alice Isabella Sullivan, PhD
theme articles cover the history of Notre-Dame Editor, Medieval World: Culture & Conflict

Medieval Nubian fashion brought to life

Polish researchers have meticulously recreat- Cathedral. Designed by archaeologists and
ed the costumes of kings, royal mothers, and designers from the University of Warsaw and
bishops from medieval Nubia, drawing inspi- SWPS University, these reconstructions bring
ration from ancient wall paintings in the Faras to life the intricate designs of Nubian royalty,

500-year-old artwork found in rubbish dump

© The Metropolitan Museum of Art

A 500-year-old engraving by a colossus of late medieval art
– found at a rubbish dump by an 11-year-old boy – has been
sold at auction for £26,500. The museum-worthy engraving,
almost lost forever in landfill, was identified as a work by
Albrecht Dürer, a painter and printmaker regarded as one
of the most gifted artists of all time. Born in 1471 in Nurem-
berg, Germany, when the city was part of the Holy Roman
Empire, Dürer became one of the most important figures of
the Northern Renaissance. He knew renowned Italian art-
ists, including Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci, and created
works for Emperor Maximilian I from 1486 to 1519.
However, if it were not for eagle-eyed Mat Winter, the
valuable artwork – titled “Knight, Death and the Devil” –
would have been lost in the trash. Completed in 1513, it
is one of Dürer’s most famous and influential works. Such
is its importance that its discovery left antiques expert
Jim Spencer shaking. The engraving was offered by Rare
Books Auctions, with a guide price of £10,000–£20,000,
but it exceeded expectations, fetching £26,500.
“I’ve had an eye for antiques since I was 10 years
old,” said Mat, who is now 24. “I used to go to the local
rubbish tip to see what I could find. I discovered some
great stuff. One day, a lady had some rubbish in her car, The engraving by Albrecht Dürer of the “Knight, Death, and the Dev-
including the print. I thought it looked interesting and il,” from a museum collection. A similar print is now up for auction.

asked if I could have it. She was more than happy to give it
to me because she wanted it to go to someone rather than home with all my other antique finds for the last 13 years.
just throwing it away. I was 11 at the time and very happy Recently, I decided to get it checked out to see if it was
she let me take it. It’s been tucked away in a cupboard at as special as it looked. I was amazed to find out it was.”

4 Medieval World 15
preserving symbols of power and faith from a ing methods to replicate the colors and details Reconstructions of Nubian royalty
kingdom that thrived in the lands of present- from Faras’s murals, some of which are now based on the preserved murals
found in Faras Cathedral.
day southern Egypt and northern Sudan. housed at the National Museum in Warsaw. © Paulina Matusiak, Eddy Wenting / Nauka w Polsce
Following their conversion to Christianity, Amid Sudan’s ongoing challenges, the
Nubian rulers incorporated Byzantine styles project underscores the importance of pre-
into their attire, blending luxurious Eastern serving the country’s cultural heritage, invit-
silks with local symbolism. For example, royal ing the world to rediscover the splendor of
costumes featured moon motifs on crowns, a Nubia’s royal courts and its historical ties to
touch rooted in local tradition rather than Is- Christian traditions. By reviving these gar-
lamic influence. Although only a handful of ments through “experimental archaeology,”
textile remnants survive today, the research- the Polish team shines a light on Nubia’s
ers relied on iconography and traditional dye- unique legacy and enduring artistry.

Medieval DNA reveals skeleton’s link to Norse saga

A remarkable discovery has linked the re- remains uncertain, this alignment between
mains of a medieval skeleton, found in a well archaeology and historical texts offers a rare
at Sverresborg Castle in Norway, to an event glimpse into the violent conflicts between
described in the Sverris Saga, an 800-year- Norwegian factions in the medieval period.
old Norse account. In 1197, during a military DNA testing revealed that the Well-man
raid, a body was reportedly thrown into a had blue eyes, light hair, and ancestry linked
well. DNA analysis, conducted by research- to southern Norway, specifically Vest-Agder.
ers from the Norwegian University of Sci- These findings challenge earlier assumptions
ence and Technology, has provided evidence that the skeleton belonged to a central Nor-
that corroborates this tale, identifying the so- wegian from the losing side of King Sverre’s
called “Well-man” as a real historical figure. supporters, known as the Birkebeiners. In-
The remains, first discovered in 1938 and stead, the Well-man’s genetic profile sug-
later excavated in 2014–2016, belonged to a gests he may have been associated with the
man aged 30–40 with injuries to his body and Baglers, the southern faction responsible for
a separated head. Through radiocarbon dat- the attack on Sverresborg.
ing, scientists confirmed the remains were “We are dealing with the remains of a
around 900 years old, aligning them with the person who died in a dramatic way, whose
saga’s timeline. Although the cause of death death is actually described in a written

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 source from the 13th century,” noted project ancestries of other historical figures. Re-
leader Professor Per Holck. This unique fusion searchers are hopeful that these genetic
of archaeology and historical documentation techniques might one day be applied to
provides a powerful example of how science figures like Saint Olaf, potentially buried in
can validate ancient narratives. Trondheim Cathedral, offering new insights
This groundbreaking approach holds into the lives and heritage of prominent me-
promise for uncovering the identities and dieval Norse individuals.

Norman conquest coin hoard bought for £4.3 million

The Chew Valley Hoard – 2,584 silver pen- likely represents wealth hidden during the
nies buried during the Norman Conquest of political upheaval following the Battle of
England, has been acquired by the South Hastings, which led to the Norman Con-
West Heritage Trust. This treasure, valued at quest. The hoard consists of 1,343 coins
£4.3 million, provides a rare glimpse into minted by King William I (1066–1087),
one of the most turbulent periods in Eng- 1,240 from King Harold Godwinson
lish history and marks the highest-val- (1066), and a single coin from King Edward
ue treasure find ever recorded ‘The Confessor’ (1042–1066). The hoard is
under the UK’s Treasure Act. now doing a museum tour across the Unit-
Dating from around ed Kingdom, but its permanent home will
1066–1068, the hoard be at the Museum of Somerset.

Medieval church discovered in Bulgaria

Archaeologists have uncovered the four- Vachev and Iliyan Petrakiev from the Region-
The Chew Valley Hoard of 2,584 teenth-century church of the medieval mon- al Museum of History of Veliko Tarnovo.
silver pennies dates from the turmoil
astery of St. Theodosius of Tarnovski near Veliko Tarnovo, once the capital of the
of the Norman Conquest of England
and has been recently acquired by Veliko Tarnovo, in northern Bulgaria, shed- Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396), is situ-
the South West Heritage Trust. ding light on the rich historical legacy of ated in the northern central part of the country.
© The British Museum the region. The excavation was led by Hitko The city is renowned for its medieval heritage,

Medieval frescoes discovered in Slovakia

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In a surprising revelation, medieval frescoes have been uncov-
ered in the Slovakian village of Sása. The frescoes were found in
the sacristy of the Church of St. Catherine of Alexandria, which
was constructed in the thirteenth century.
The artwork came to light in 2022 when parts of the original
plaster were removed. The frescoes include a vivid scene of the
Crucifixion, the face of Christ, and symbols of the evangelists. No-
table details also include portraits of Jesus at the center of an altar
and saints on either side, along with a large depiction of Maiestas
Domini – Christ in a mandorla. These figures, rendered with high-
quality craftsmanship, bear stylistic influences from both Italian
and Byzantine art traditions, suggesting a master artist from Italy.
Following the discovery, the Banská Bystrica Regional
Monuments Office quickly initiated restoration efforts to pre-
Some of the discovered church frescoes in the Slovakian village of Sása.
serve the frescoes, as the sacristy’s plaster layers were unsta-
ble. The first stage of restoration, led by Rudolf Boroš in 2023,
unveiled the frescoes’ extent and intricate details. Along with and underscores the significance of Sása’s church within the
the biblical scenes, architectural elements such as the original region’s cultural landscape. As the restoration progresses, art
Gothic window arch were uncovered, highlighting the histori- historians and conservators will continue examining the fres-
cal architectural transformations within the church. This dis- coes, potentially unveiling further details about the church’s
covery offers a rare glimpse into medieval Slovak religious art role in medieval Slovakia.

6 Medieval World 15
making it a significant location for archaeologi- invaluable insights into the period’s archi- The remains of the newlydiscovered
cal research. The discovered church, located tectural practices. Built during the reign fourteenth-century church in north-
ern Bulgaria.
near the village of Samovodene and the St. of Tsar Ivan Alexander in the fourteenth © Municipality of Veliko Tarnovo
Troitsa monastery, is part of the Tarnovo Holy century, the church showcases intricate
Mountain, a site known for its many monas- designs typical of Tarnovo architecture.
teries and churches that thrived between the Both the structural elements and the ornate
twelfth and fourteenth centuries. decorations, including wall paintings, are
The remains of the medieval church considered exquisite examples of medieval
are remarkably well-preserved, providing craftsmanship.

Norway’s Vikings were far more violent than Denmark’s

A new study reveals stark differences between that violence was part of daily life, while 37% X ON THE COVER

© BnF, Français 2645, fol. 317v

the Vikings of Norway and Denmark. It appears of the skeletons showed signs of lethal trauma,
that Norway’s Vikings were much more violent. suggesting that many Vikings met their end in
Researchers have found evidence sug- brutal clashes. Weapons, particularly swords,
gesting that interpersonal violence in Norway were key markers of social status in Norway.
– combat, feuds, and even murder – was far Over 3,000 swords from the Viking and Late
more common than in Denmark. These find- Iron Age periods were unearthed in Norway,
ings challenge the long-held belief that Viking compared to only a few dozen in Denmark.
societies across Scandinavia were similarly In contrast, Denmark’s Viking society was
violent. David Jacobson, a sociologist from the more controlled, by a central authority. Den-
University of South Florida, and an internation- mark’s violence was organised – mostly in
al research team, has brought these differences the form of official executions. Danish graves A detail from the Chronicles
to light through an analysis of skeletal remains. showed far fewer weapon-related injuries and of Jean Froissart of ca. 1450
Norwegian graves tell a story of a warrior much clearer evidence of decapitations, sug- depicting the entry of the
society where violence was young Louis II of Anjou and
gesting that many deaths were the result of for-
the norm. The research- his mother Marie of Blois into
mal punishment rather than personal disputes. Paris in 1385. Within the city,
ers found that 33% The key difference lies in the structure the towers of Notre-Dame
of Norwegian skel- cathedral are prominent. This
of their societies. Denmark had a rigid social
etons bore signs miniature is considered the
hierarchy and centralised power, while Nor- oldest pictorial representa-
of healed injuries
way was more decentralized, with personal tion of Notre-Dame de Paris.
– clear evidence
disputes, feuds, and a warrior ethos.

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Medieval World 15 7
SPECIAL
1600

In Ambrogio Lorenzetti fresco The Allegory of Good GovernmentRIFDWKHðJXUHRI7HPSHUDQFHLVVKRZQKROGLQJDODUJHKRXUJODVV

1200

MEASURING TIME IN THE MIDDLE AGES By Galen Ford

THE MEDIEVAL WORLD: ca. 900 – 1600

CHASING CHRONOS
the preeminent function and not the counting
of minutes or hours. The invention of new de-
vices slowly began to change this emphasis of
‘looking up’. But it began with the stars, and
For people living in the world of the twelfth century, how to track their path across the night sky.
time was understood in relation to astronomy and
Star gazing
most likely expressed as a correlation to an up- Islamic medieval scholarship showcases
coming religious festival or agrarian task with no some of the earliest developments in time-
need to 'beat the clock'. Instead, a look up at the keeping science. Written in the Persian city
800

of Shiraz during the 950s, Al-Sufi’s treatise

VN\ VXτFHG WR NQRZ HYHU\WKLQJ VR KRZ GLG WKLV Suwar al-kawākib (The Book of Fixed Stars)
evolve into looking down at clocks or watches? is a vividly detailed textual star map of all
known constellations at the time. The book

H
ow did people in the medieval world represents part of the golden age of Islamic
know how to tell time? Surviving de- translations of the Greco-Roman classics
vices to measure time such as sundials, including all the major sciences like Ptole-
astrolabes, water clocks, and other me- maic star charts. But it created new editions
chanical innovations can help us under- blending Sanskrit, Persian, and Pre-Islamic
stand the Medieval concept of time. Obviously, in Bedouin constellation systems. The illumi-
all these devices the tracking of celestial bodies was nations in these star-charts show how astrol-
ogy transverses the multicultural sciences of
The so-called Chaucer Astrolabe, dated to 1326, medieval timekeeping and the belief in a
takes its name from the instrument described in Geof- direct connection between anatomical ex-
frey Chaucer's Treatise on the Astrolabe. periences and astronomical events.
© Marie-Lan Nguyen / Wikimedia Commons

8 Medieval World 15
© Google Cultural Institute / Wikimedia Commons

These concepts are best represented in The surviving rete discs are often elaborate
the medieval concept of the ‘Zodiac man’ pieces of artwork, intricately designed like
(homo signorum), which maps how star signs the face of any cuckoo clock. As a com-
align with physical parts of the human body, plement, the addition of the alidade cre-
offering a medieval understanding of physi- ated a calibrating device on the astrolabe
ology and anatomy. Thus, a pain in your an- that allowed a user to position themselves
kle might be related to the star Sirius. with celestial alignments to find a reading
Medieval Spain was a key center for the of their unique position in that moment
transfer of scientific knowledge into Europe. in time and space. These aspects were
At the court of King Alfonso X in Castile, many added in Islamic learning centers for cal-
of the editions from Islamic libraries across the culating the proper time for daily prayers
Mediterranean where compiled and translated. and the direction of prayer, toward the
Alfonso had such an appetite for knowledge Kaaba in Mecca.
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 ਡ of multicultural Christian, purpose similar to the face of a wristwatch This folio showing the constellation
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or clock. Moreover, the skill and education
x

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arship. Among them was FHQWXU\FRS\RI$O6Xð VSuwar al-
required to operate an astrolabe certainly
NDZÃNLE ("Book of the Fixed Stars"),
Rabbi Yehuda ben Moshe who distinguished individuals in the Middle Ages. — which is a revision of Ptolemy's
headed the massive translation ef- The ritualistic operation of the device itself Almagest with Arabic star names
forts to compile all the astrological either under moonlight or at dawn was both and drawings of the constellations
information available. — dates to ca. 1009.
scientific and mystical. © BnF, Arabe 5036, fol. 155r
King Alfonso’s charts show
the transfer of this knowledge into This detail from a French manuscript
An impressive hydro-clock of the Liber Alchandrei philosophi,
Iberia and larger Europe through the
Sundials, water clocks, and “hour glasses” dates to ca. 1405 and shows the as-
Islamic institutions of Andalusia. A tronomer Alchandreus — who wrote
were widespread across the ancient world
century later, in England, Geoffrey on topics such as the movement of
and still in use during the Middle Ages. One
Chaucer used the same technol- the planets, the signs of the Zodiac,
of the most impressive water clocks (or hydro- and the art of predicting the future
ogy and knowledge when he
clocks) was invented in the Song dynasty, — presenting his work to a king.
wrote Treatise on the Astrolabe
which ruled a stable and sophisticated em- © The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Ms. 72, fol. 2
(ca. 1390) as an instructional manual for
a presumptuously fictitious character identified
in the prologue as “Little Lewis”. Several hun-
dred years after Chaucer wrote his treatise, the
Italian astronomer Galileo Galilee was put on
trial to be executed because of his mechanical
devices for understanding the cosmos.

The astrolabe
Among the medieval timekeeping devices, the
astrolabe was designed to tell a skilled user
how to calculate their exact position in a three-
dimensional plane of Earth, Sun, and Moon, as
well as reveal a precise position in time. The
astrolabe was known and used in antiquity, but
what distinguishes its usage in the medieval pe-
riod is the invention of two important compo-
nents: the rete and the alidade.
The rete is the “face” of the as-
trolabe that functions in the way
a 12-hour clock would. In-
stead of hours, it has fixed
points of constellations.

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 pire, controlling much of the Han Chinese system, Su Song was not only late but had
heartland. During the latter half of the elev- to save his own head. Cleverly, he avoided
This xylography of Su Song's clock-
tower was extracted and completed enth century, a scientific genius in the Song punishment and set off to rectify this im-
from an ancient Chinese manuscript. capital of Kaifeng invented a remarkable as- perial embarrassment by convincing the
© Aubry Gérard / Wikimedia Commons tronomical clock tower. This remains one of emperor that he could completely revamp
the most marvelous timekeeping contrap- the entire Chinese calendar system. Thus,
tions of the Middle Ages. he embarked upon a 15-year-long experi-
Su Song was a Chinese polymath and mental process to devise the most accurate
imperial official whose intellectual pur- timekeeping device imaginable.
suits have been preserved in his writings Su Song’s hydro-clock tower was com-
Xin Yi Xiang Fa Yao, which were compiled pleted by 1094 and stood over 12 metres tall
around the year 1092. In his text, Su Song with a massive waterwheel. It featured 36
recounts a diplomatic mission in the year buckets that created a “scoop escapement”
1077. The emperor had dispatched him to system of mechanical energy. In simplest
the mighty Liao kingdom that dominated terms, it was a gigantic inflow-type water
the northern Mongolian steppe. Among clock that used the weight of water to rotate a
his primary responsibilities was to arrive huge waterwheel that drove massive ‘bicycle’
on the winter solstice. Punctuality and pre- chains. These pulled various mechanisms that
cision were signs of fealty in the Chinese tracked celestial bodies. The clock tower was
emperor’s court, and the incorrect timing capped with a huge bronze armillary sphere
and orchestration of along with a planetarium on
imperial duties was a
punishable offense.
Because of an
inaccurate calendar

Labours of the Months

For a large percentage of the medieval European popula-
tion — who spent their lives working the land — time fol-
lowed a course dictated by the changing seasons. This
agrarian lifestyle was frequently reflected in medieval art.
Known as the Labours of the Months, it consisted of a cycle
of twelve images, each showing the work associated with
each month of the year. Such cycles commonly appeared JANUARY FEBRUARY
in both sculptural schemes and the prayer books produced This month often depicts scenes of A cold month were little work was
feasting or indoor entertainments. possible. Scenes ususally focus on
for the wealthy. These rich patrons lived radically different staying inside and keeping warm.
lives than the peasants toiling on their estates. As such, these
monthly illustrations often combine depictions of common
labour alongside more aristocratic pursuits, such as hunting
and feasting. It was also common for each image in the cycle
to be matched with its corresponding zodiac sign, given the
importance of astrology in the medieval world.
The illustrations shown here can be found in the Brev-
iarium-Grimani, an early sixteenth-century brevery. Though
the work was almost certainly produced in Flanders, there
is much debate about the artist or artists who created the
illuminations. The original patron who commissioned the
brevery is also uncertain, though there are several likely can-
didates. In any case, the book's first owner and the one from
which its name derives was Cardinal Domenico Grimani. It JULY AUGUST
-XO\XVXDOO\RσHUVLPDJHVRIZKHDW August often shows the wheat harvest.
was subsequently gifted to the Republic of Venice, and has being harvested. Here, sheep are also However, hunting scenes, like the one
been housed there in a library every since. being shorn for their wool. above, could appear in any month.

10 Medieval World 15
the inside that rotated in sequence with the absorbed Chinese sciences and customs in-
stars. At the same time, a system of wheels cluding this emphasis on scheduled rituals and
and openings would activate artistic displays ceremonies strictly governed by time. Some of
showing the current date and time. these court traditions are recorded in The Trav-
Whether or not it was a feud over time- els of Sir John Mandeville when he purportedly
keeping, the Song and Liao kingdoms were arrived at the court of the Khan during the Yuan
eventually locked in a power struggle that re- Dynasty and witnesses diligence and strict obe-
sulted in the demise of Su Song’s achievements dience to accurate timekeeping. The merits of
when Kaifeng was sacked in 1127. The Song certain court officials were judged by how ac-
dynasty retreated, and the Liao army disassem- curately they used their timekeeping devices in
bled the famous clock tower and transported it making the most precise imperial schedule and
back to their capital near modern Beijing. How- translating the cosmic calendar for the emperor.
ever, their astronomers and architects could not
match Su Song’s genius and repeatedly failed at What time is Easter?
making the original function again. They were The mechanics of the cosmos and the pas-
also unable to recreate the device. sage of time have been unaffected by the
The reconstructed and dormant clock tow- various concepts that people have created A Western Han (ca. 202 BC - AD 9)
er with its impressive bronze armillary sphere to understand them; they are scientific truths bronze water clock. The Chinese
and mechanical components remained on dis- that exist without us. The same calculations had known about water clocks since
play in the Liao capital until it was completely of heavenly objects can be renamed and at least the sixth century BC.
© Garry Todd / Flickr
razed by the Mongols in 1264. The Mongols their theologies rewritten in different con-

© Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Lat. I, 99, fols. 1v-12v

MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE
Agricultural work begins: common Scenes from this month may show This is another month that often In this month, the hay harvest is the
scenes show digging, plowing and planting or nobles enjoying the spring shows courtly activities, like hawking, most commonly depicted scene.
pruning. ZHDWKHUSLFNLQJñRZHUVHWF boating, or chivalric romance.

SEPTEMBER OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER

September was traditionally the month This month typically contains In November, acorns were gathered to December usually shows baking or
for grape harvesting. This could vary feed the pigs, fattening them in prepa- livestock being slaughtered. Hunting
scenes of either ploughing
on the region however. ration for slaughter. still remains a popular scene.
or sowing.

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11
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Medieval World 15
The Torre dell'Orologio in Venice was Birth of clocks
designed by Mauro Codussi and
built between 1496 and 1499. The The first clock that featured a dial recogniz- ily later began to be called orologia because
clock has a dial with Roman numer- able and comprehendible to modern eyes of this marvelous clock.”
als surrounded by the signs of the would be the Torre dell’Orologio, which was The tower clock is a larger scale of
zodiac and the phases of the moon. constructed as the eastern gate of the Carra- the Astrarium (planetarium or astronomical
© Don Mammoser / Shutterstock
rese Palace around the 1340s in the city of clock) device he built, which combined es-
Salisbury Cathedral's tower clock, in
use since 1386, was commissioned Padua. The clock tower that stands today is a capement and armillary sphere mechanics to
by Bishop Ergham and built by three reconstruction from the 1470s by its name- revolutionize current designs. The Astrarium
clockmakers from Delft. sake Giovanni Dondi dall’Orologio, which was a device that mimicked the calculations
© Mike Peel / Wikimedia Commons
accurately models the original clock. In 1623, of an astrolabe while displaying the move-
Angelo Portenari recounted “…it is a beauti- ments of the sun, moon, and planets on civ-
ful tower covered with lead, in which is that ic, religious, and zodiac calendars.
most ingenious clock, which in A few decades earlier, in 1327, the ab-
addition to striking and showing bot of St. Albans in England, Richard of Wall-
the hour, shows the day of the ingford, completed the Tractatus Horologii
month, the course of the Sun in Astronomici, which outlined the designs for
the twelve signs of the Zodiac, an escapement-style clock that was recorded
the days of the moon, its aspects to have been constructed but then destroyed.
with the sun, and its waxing and The additional examples at Salisbury Cathe-
waning. The inventor of this mar- dral and in Prague show that as early as the
velous work was Giovanni Don- 1300s mechanical innovations and the sci-
di, a noble Paduan doctor and ence of clock tower building was active in
celebrated astrologer, whose fam- major cities across Europe.

texts and at different moments, Within Christendom, the quest for

but the timekeeping knowledge accurately determining the correct
and records have a universal date for Easter was the most cru-
understanding among different cial timekeeping endeavor.
groups and cultures. Ever since the Council of

12 Medieval World 15
 Nicaea in 325, it was at the forefront of de- calendar incorporated the latest science
bate. It often sparked controversy because of and astronomical information. Among them
its links to rabbinical traditions. The tracking of were a Dominican, a Jesuit, and secular as-
the lunar equinox and first full moons of Spring tronomers including the works of Aloisius
coincides with the Hebrew calendar for the Lilius who calculated a simple solution for
Passover celebration. This required meticulous removing the accumulated extra days. Thus
calculations and interpretation of the Hebrew emerged the leap year. This calendar reform
calendar, which ignited arguments over its ac- was officially implemented in Gregory’s papal
curate timekeeping. The aim was to determine bull Inter gravissimus of 1582.
accurately the correct date for Easter, year after
year. Paradoxically, this concept of finding the End times
proper Spring equinox for a festival celebration During the Middle Ages, all knights and lords,
is a remnant of pagan timekeeping methods. peasants and friars, maidens and queens
The efficient timekeeping technique of the believed that they were living in their
kalends existed since the time of Julius Caesar own version of “modern times”. The
4GHRਡRHKUDQਡBKNBJ ਡL@CDਡ to the Council of Trent people of the European Middle Ages in
AXਡ(ਡ3DA@QSਡHMਡ ਡ in 1545, providing a particular were overwhelmingly prophetic in A reconstruction of the astrarium
S@JDRਡSGDਡRG@ODਡNEਡ@ਡ their outlook, often believing that the world was
O@RRਡ stable timetable for all (astronomical clock) made by
FKNAD ਡVHSGਡ@ਡBNL
@MCਡRTMCH@Kਡ4GDਡCH@Kਡ things secular and spir- in its final stages; seeing it as a biblical “end of Giovanni Dondi dell'Orologio (1330
x

RGNVRਡ!C@LਡHMਡ - 1388). This device showed the

O@Q@CHRDਡ itual. However, the Ju- days” where the forces of good (Christendom)
hours, the annual calendar, the
©ਡ4GDਡ2HIJRLTRDTL lian calendar’s minute and evil (non-Christian) were playing out in movement of the planets, and the
error in calculation, daily life with the Apocalypse and the second Sun and Moon.
being approximately 11 minutes coming of Christ only another season away. © Museo nazionale della scienza e della tecnologia
Leonardo da Vinci, Milano / Wikimedia Commons
longer each day than an actual Toward the end of the Middle Ages, it
year, was becoming problematic was not only the invention of gunpowder and
as the centuries rolled on. This the discovery of the New World that stood In this miniature, St. Benedict
RσHUVEUHDGDW(DVWHULVOHGLQWR
can be attested in the writings of out as significant developments. The scientific
a monastery, and orders a raven
Bede who recounts the time when advances and the intellectual transformations to take away the poisoned bread.
the King Oswy and Queen Eanflaed of toward understandings of time and space This comes from a mid-thirteenth-
Northumbria disputed over the proper date were equally noteworthy. MW century manuscript titled Expositio
in ApocalypsimZKLFKRσHUVWKH
for the year 665 Palm Sunday celebrations. In ðQDOUHGDFWLRQRIWKHFRPPHQWDU\RQ
the end, both hosted festivals, duplicating the Galen Ford is a regular contributor from the Apocalypse by the Franciscan
event. Such discrepancies in timekeeping were New York. His articles have appeared in both Alexander of Bremen.
well known in the Middle Ages, which is why Medieval Warfare and Medieval World. © Cambridge University Library, MS Mm.5.31, fol. 54v

the agrarian timetable, which fluctuated on a

much more fluid scale and depended upon
season and climate, was also employed.
But the constant adjustment and number
crunching disparities for computing the date
of Easter eventually brought attention to the
flaws in the Julian calendar system. This led to
a reform of the calendar in the mid-sixteenth
century, which is one of the most well-known
and document instances of time keeping in
the early modern period.
Pope Gregory XIII (1502–1585), who was
a leading cardinal during the Council of Trent
(1545–1563), oversaw the initial tribu-
nals within the Church that were
attempting to update the cal-
endar. The commission
that Gregory assigned
to update the Julian

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CH@BਡRHFMR Medieval World 15 13
 B
READY TO FIGHT AND DIE ut with circumstances beyond his control, and
the machinations of a father-in-law in search

THE BATTLE OF of a throne, any throne to fill the void of hav-

SPECIAL

ing lost his own, Theodore was forced to fight

ANTIOCH-
for the very realm he had molded into being,
against a man he had once called a brother.

ON-THE-
THE SCRAMBLE FOR ANATOLIA
At its birth, the empire of Nicaea was very nearly still-
born. Forged in the frantic years after Constantinople’s

MEANDER
fall to the Latin Crusaders in 1204, there was no guar-
antee that it would last out the decade of its inception,
let alone one day rise to retake the imperial capital from
the western interlopers. That it survived its earliest days
was a miracle of durability in the face of constant on-
As his men died around him, the
1600

slaught from multiple directions.

emperor of Nicaea – Theodore Las- Anatolia – its cradle - was a warzone, gutted by frat-
caris (r. 1205–1221) – fought on. His ricidal conflicts that bled the Greek-speaking Romans
1200 ANTIOCH-ON-THE-MEANDER: 1205

dry just as they simultaneously drew sword against the

death loomed, and he would meet insatiable expansionism of the Latins from the west, and
it sword in hand like a true Roman the enterprising encroachments of the ancient Seljuk en-
Basileus. His enemy’s blow almost emy from the east. It was to the exiles’ great dishonor,
the historian Choniates argued, that they “lost control of
IXOðOOHGWKHZLVKEXWZLWKDGHVSHU- themselves in their mad thirst for fame and desire to be
ate stroke of his sword, Lascaris named tyrants,” rather than uniting in a war of liberation
against the oppressors of their homeland.
cleaved his opponent’s head from
But in the mad scramble for Anatolia, there was
his shoulders; a head that was not hope. Tyrant or no, Theodore Lascaris emerged out of
sought in a war that was not wanted. the misery of these petty wars to dominate the Roman
successors and earn the plaudits of later historians as “a
new beginning of Roman rule.” The “new beginning”
By Conor Robison that Theodore ushered in, however, was an observation
of hindsight, made decades later. In the faithful year of
1204, he was but one warlord amongst many fighting
over the ruins of a shattered empire.
His marriage to Anna, daughter of Emperor Alexius
III, gave him an aspect of legitimacy. But after Alexius’s
shameful flight from Constantinople in 1203, the power
of his name had ebbed, forcing Theodore to acquire a
800

base in Anatolia through personal adroitness. Muster-

ing Nicaea and its neighboring cities to his cause, he
fashioned an army able to meet the Latin onslaught at
the end of 1204 and was soundly defeated in open bat-
tle. But he was lucky in the new year when a Bulgarian-
backed Thracian rebellion stalled the Latin’s eastward
push, enabling him to rebound and prosecute a multi-
year series of campaigns against his regional rivals.
Over the course of three active years, Theodore Las-
caris consolidated his hold on Nicaea and its environs in
Bithynia through a combination of political savvy and the
willingness to decide matters on the battlefield. His me-
400

thodical expansion southward soon brought the Phrygian

Theodore Lascaris looks at the body of the and Ionian cities of the Aegean coast under his control;
fallen sultan in the aftermath of the Battle of
while almost simultaneous campaigns on the Paphlagon-
Antioch-on-the-Meander in 1211.
© Jose G. Morán
ian frontier ruined the imperial dreams of the Comniad
brothers Alexius and David; a pair who had sought to
create a state independent of Constantinople even before Cilicia; an antagonistic move toward Ghiyath who was
its fall to the crusaders. Their later alliance with the Latin not on good terms with his neighbors to the east. In this
conquerors was not enough to sustain them against Theo- growing web of alliances, perceptive ears could hear the
dore’s repeated hammer blows. He forced Constantinople blast of trumpets heralding the coming battle, a prospect
to accept a truce in 1207, and thereby spoiled Comniad’s that grew more appealing to Ghiyath just as Alexius’s
dreams of resurgence. There would be no rivals to Nicaea, unexpected arrival at his court provided all the excuse
at least not Roman ones. Come the spring of 1208, Theo- he needed. Putting Alexius back on the throne was the
dore was anointed Basileus in splendor by an exiled Patri- legitimizing pretext to the conquest of Nicaea. Thus, in
arch. His claim to that title, however, would be challenged the spring of 1211, the Sultan rode to war.
by one of his own family members.
“READY TO FIGHT AND DIE”
THE ENEMY FROM THE EAST The invasion was preempted by the arrival of ambas-
The challenger emerged in the east two years after The- sadors who laid before Thedore the Sultan’s casus belli:
odore’s coronation. Alexius III. Once emperor of Con- he was a usurper of his father-in-law’s rightful throne
stantinople, he was now a wanderer in the wilderness and would suffer a usurper’s fate lest he submit. The-
with a desire to reseat himself on the throne. His son- odore baulked, so the sources say, from immediately
in-law’s seat in Nicaea proved too great a temptation, committing himself to yet another war. His nation was
but to take it, Alexius needed an army. For the purpose, exhausted, its army and people weary and spent. The
he called upon a man who had once walked the exile’s Sultan, meanwhile, was pouring thousands over the
path, and in desperation, had found a sanctuary amidst frontier, ringing the city of Antioch-on-the-Meander in
Alexius’s court in Constantinople. steel. Situated in what archeologist Nikos Kontogiannis
Ghiyath al Din Kaykhrushro ibn Qilij Arslan was one affirms to be “a particularly fertile valley,” the city was
son of many sired by the Seljuk Sultan Qilij Arslan II. A “strategically placed between Ephesus,” on the Aegean
sire who divided his realm among them and set the stage coast, and the inland cities of “Laodicea, Aphrodisias
for civil war upon his death. In the subsequent chaos be- and the interior of the Anatolian plateau.” Its inevitable
tween the brothers, Ghiyath lost it all. Fleeing to Constan- fall would trigger a hemorrhage Theodore would not
tinople in 1196, he ingratiated himself into the imperial be able to stop unless he acted at once. And act he
household until he was close enough to call “the Empress did. His hesitation banished when his people declared
Anna sister.” When she married Theodore “the scion of themselves “ready to fight and die for him.” And of dy-
a most distinguished family” in 1200, one must wonder ing there would be plenty to come.
whether Ghiyath called him brother as well. Ghiyath’s foothold on the Meander was nearing a cer-
His relationship with Theodore and his wider relation- tainty when Theodore hastened against him in early June
ship with the Romans was severed by the arrival of the Cru- at the head of a mere two thousand men, eight hundred of
saders. Just as 1204 sent Theodore in search of a throne, so whom, ironically enough, were Latins. They came for bet-
Ghiyath returned to his homeland to recover what he had ter pay, and found in their new employer a man eager to
lost. Two years later, the two men were at war with one an- see that his money was well spent.
other. It did not help that the Seljuks shared a long frontier That coin rather than ideology could so easily sway
with the burgeoning Nicaean state, nor that there was a a Christian knight’s sword had so disgusted Pope In-
militant rivalry stretching back to the Battle of Manzikert. nocent that he regarded those who went over to Theo-
But mercifully for both, the conflict was brief and peace es- dore as having “abandoned fear of God and respect for
tablished. It was a pragmatic peace; the peace of two rulers man,” by “preferring to receive larger payments from
still in the process of consolidating their authority over their his enemies.” By insisting that the Latin Patriarch in
ill-defined states. War between them would have been an Constantinople, “diligently warn…on pain of excom-
unnecessary burden, and thereafter, for five years, Turk and munication” any warrior who was thinking of join-
Roman maintained a watchful truce – that could not last. ing the Nicaeans “not to give help or comfort to the
The first step to its unravelling came in 1207 with Greeks,” he hoped to stop the flow of troops away from
Ghiyath’s seizure of the southern port city of Antalya on Henry’s already meager forces. But just as excommuni-
the Mediterranean coast. Trade links with Venice fol- cation failed to dissuade the crusaders in 1204, it now
lowed, a relationship that naturally expanded into clos- failed to stop others joining Theodore, a Christian – al-
er ties with Venice’s Latin partners in Constantinople, beit Orthodox – ruler who paid well and was now lead-
whose emperor, Henry, explained to the pope that “the ing them against a Muslim invader of Christian territory.
Sultan of Iconium… concluded a sworn alliance with us Theodore knew well the worth of these warriors.
and pledged his help against Lascaris.” Mindful of the He had suffered defeat at their hands and watched the
pincer emerging against him, Theodore sought to coun- mightiest city in the world succumb to their arms. With
terbalance the Turk’s warming relations with the west couched lances and a harsh bellow, astride “towering
by allying himself with the Monophysite Armenians of horses covered in armor,” the Latins had proved their
worth on the battlefield time and again. When ranked ruin their world had become. As the Seljuk counterstroke
beside Theodore’s Nicaeans at Antioch – lance armed surged around them, the blow that felled the emperor
heavy cavalrymen, twelve hundred strong – they would came from the Sultan’s own hand. Having fought his way
crown their formidable reputation in a fight to the to the emperor, Ghiyath struck him a blow upon his helm,
death. Bound together by the symbol of the cross adorn- driving him to the ground. The panegysts relate how in
ing their breasts, an addition of Theodore’s to unite his this moment, Theodore recovered his strength, rose, and
army and infuse it with a certain epirit de corps, the slashed the legs of the Sultan’s horse from under him, tum-
Latins and Nicaeans came to Philadelphia eleven days bling man and beast “as if from a tower.” Thence in the
after leaving the capital. Promptly dropping their bag- confusing moments that followed, Akropolites asserts Ghi-
gage, the army pushed on the last miles southward to yath’s “head was cut off.” By Theodore’s own hand, or by a
contest control of beleaguered Antioch. warrior at his side, the sources do not agree. In the middle
Ghiyath’s surprise at the swiftness of his enemy’s ad- of a slaughter as intense as Antioch must have been, there
vance was enough to turn his attention from the city. Having could have been any number of slayers of the Sultan of
surrounded Antioch, his army was dispersed amongst the Iconium. But in Ghiyath’s death, when one enterprising
siege lines, whilst Theodore’s was concentrated for a seem- Nicaean raised his head aloft on a spear, his army faltered
ingly decisive opening blow. But Ghiyath was a wily old and took flight, leaving an exhausted Theodore the master
soldier, his surprise replaced with a businesslike response of the field. But a pyrrhic field at that.
to the looming hammer blow. A blow that if withstood Antioch was saved, the great invasion repelled,
would give way to a concentrated counterattack all his and the father-in-law who had sought Theodore’s throne
own, one that would swamp the enemy with overwhelm- was a prisoner in Nicaean hands. But the power of the
ing force. Speed, then, was of the essence, for both sides. Seljuks was unbroken, while Antioch had very nearly
The Seljuks were by nature a mobile army whose cavalry wrecked Theodore’s professional army. A truce with Ghi-
in armament and skill were peers to the best Theodore had yath’s heir in the wake of the battle was all such a victory
to offer; holding the added advantage of being masterful gained him and for the rest of his reign Theodore would
and highly mobile horse archers who could morph – when have to contend with annual raids ravaging his eastern
their quivers were spent – into hardened hand-to-hand kill- borderlands. It was a hard reality to face. Of his many
ers with spear and sword, and clubs “bristling with sharp battles ,Antioch-on-the-Meander was the closest Theo-
teeth.” The narrowness of the valley may have constricted dore ever came to losing it all, but even in victory his
their mobility, but numbers would inevitably tell. strategic fortunes remained dismal. Finite numbers, frag-
Fierce as ever, Thedore led his army forward head ile borders, and potent enemies east and west kept Ni-
on, without a reserve and without finesse. The general ad- caea on an ever-present war footing. Yet, their leader was
vance struck the Seljuks a terrific blow, with the Latins in capable of juggling numerous threats at once – a master
the center carving a bloody path forward, putting “many of the swift recovery; a master of endurance. And that
times their number to the sword” until they broke through endurance enabled the survival of the state that would
the heart of Ghiyath’s startled army. How many men and reestablish Roman rule over fabled Constantinople half
horses of the eight hundred survived to reform for a second a century on. With such a triumph in their future, it is no
effort back the way they had come is unknown, but in the wonder that the likes of Akropolites exalted Theodore as
midst of a renewed charge, the battered westerners suc- “a new beginning of Roman rule.” A beginning, how-
cumbed to the encircling arms of the Sultan’s army, which ever, that was earned in blood. MW
sped to isolate and surround the Latin survivors whilst the
rest kept the bulk of Theodore’s army pinned in a bludg- Conor Robison is a historian and creative writer from
eoning melee that whittled them down. The Latins, so the Chicago, Illinois, currently pursuing his master’s in mili-
Greek sources praise, fought unto the last among them tary history and strategic studies at Maynooth University.
were massacred. In their destruction, the morale of the
Seljuks soared. Scenting the turning of the tide, Ghiyath’s
army surged forward, the Sultan himself joining in for the
FURTHER READING
final kill. He sought out one life, and in its end envisioned • Angold, Michael. A Byzantine Government
in Exile: Government and Society under the
the beginning of a stronger Seljuk empire.
Lascarids of Nicaea, 1204–1261. Oxford Uni-
Whether the fatal meeting between the two rulers oc-
versity Press, 1975.
curred as written in the annals or is but a dramatic crea-
tion of classically minded historians seeking to enhance • Korobeinikov, Dimitri. Byzantium and the
the reputation of the victor, is uncertain. What is certain is Turks in the Thirteenth Century. Oxford Uni-
that the event’s outcome altered the tide of the battle. versity Press, 2014.
Fighting on amidst his disintegrating army, Theodore • Kyriakides, Savvas. Warfare in Late Byzantium
remained on a horse, gallantly surrounded by a few loy- 1204–1453. Brill, 2011.
al warriors who stood beside him in the gore spattered
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GOING GOTHIC By Kyle G. Sweeney

THEME: Notre-Dame de Paris

NOTRE-DAME DE PARIS
In the spring of 1163, Pope Alexander III visited Paris and reportedly laid
WKHðUVWFRUQHUVWRQHRIWKHFDWKHGUDORI1RWUH'DPHLQWKHSUHVHQFHRI
King Louis VII (r. 1137–1180). Although he placed it on foundations rough-
ly 10 metres deep, this ceremonial act likely heralded the beginning of
the iconic cathedral’s construction above ground level. And rise it did.

W
1600

ork above ground started Going Gothic

A model of the so-called
with the choir, approach- When Maruice de Sully was elected bishop
Pillar of the Boatmen
(Pilier des nautes), which ing the level of the vaults of Paris in 1160, he was likely disappointed
is a limestone column by 1177. The new high by the city’s old and small cathedral. New
Paris, FRANCE: ca. 1163 – present

dedicated to Jupiter by altar was consecrated in

the Boatmen's guild of churches were being built in cities all around
1182 and was available for church services the Île-de-France, and he must have known a
ancient Lutetia (Paris) in
WKHðUVWFHQWXU\$'7KH while work progressed west into the transept new cathedral would elevate Paris. While the
inscription on the column and nave. The rapid pace of construction ac- five-aisled Gothic cathedral of Notre-Dame
mentions both Roman tivity was especially remarkable given that
and Gallic deities.
de Paris he commissioned had the same gen-
© Musée Carnavalet
the scale of Notre-Dame de Paris greatly sur- eral shape as older Romanesque churches, it
passed other churches in the region. was more innovative in terms of its design,
1200

Boasting an extraordinary length of 128 as well as much taller and lighter. Indeed,
metres and soaring nave vaults 33 metres above Notre-Dame was remarkable because it was
ground level, Notre-Dame de Paris was the enormous in terms of its scale, exceeding the
most ambitious and tallest church of the time, largest Romanesque churches, such as the
surpassing other early Gothic churches by over basilica of Saint-Sernin, Toulouse, and being
8 metres. In addition to this feat, the clerestory one-third taller than the Gothic cathedrals
walls of the cathedral are only 70 centimetres of Sens and Noyon. Moreover, Notre-Dame
thick and there are 113 stained glass windows contained an immense amount of stained
distributed throughout the building. How did glass that bathed the interior in transcendent
medieval master masons build on such an im- colored light.
mense scale while transforming the walls into What is more, the new Gothic cathedral
huge bays of colorful glass? was perfectly positioned to become part of
800

Archaeology By Dany Sandron

Notre-Dame stands at the eastern end of the Île current narthex. Remains of its foundations
de la Cité, which was already occupied in the are visible in the archaeological crypt created
Gallo-Roman era. Sculpted elements discov- following the excavations of the narthex area
ered on site in the eighteenth century, such as between 1965 and 1970.
the first-century votive monument the ‘Pillar of To the north of the façade of the cur-
the Boatmen’, now in the Cluny Museum, serve rent cathedral stood the church of Saint-Jean-
as key evidence of the early settlement. le-Rond, which was demolished in 1748.
Archaeological investigations at the ca- Its name recalled the original layout of a
thedral have also revealed traces of several building – a centrally planned structure that
churches dedicated to the Virgin Mary, Saint served as a baptistery. A third church was to
Stephen, and Saint John the Baptist. The larg- be built partly under the Gothic choir.
400

est church, approximately 70 metres long, Remains of its eastern apse were dis-
stood under the front part of the Gothic ca- covered during the renovation work
thedral and overflowed to the west under the on the choir in 1858.

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18 Medieval World 15 ©ਡ4HLD4Q@UDK2NLDਡਡ7HJHLDCH@ਡ#NLLNMR
The west façade of Notre-Dame shows a multi-
level elevation, beginning with the three sculptured
Gothic portals at the bottom, with a row of sculpted
ðJXUHVDERYHNQRZQDVWKH*DOOHU\RIWKH.LQJV
The middle section features a large rose window,
and an arcaded register at the base of the towers.
© Christian Mueller

Medieval World 15 19
 This artistic reconstruction details Early construction By Dany Sandron
the early construction phases of the
cathedral of Notre-Dame, beginning
The start of construction of the Gothic cathe- progress of the work. The main work was com-
with the east end. The choir and the dral in the early 1160s at the initiative of Bish- pleted around 1220 with the exception of the
chevet were completed by 1182. op Maurice de Sully (1160-1196) disrupted the upper parts of the western façade, the gallery
© William Webb
monumental landscape at the eastern end of of arcades and the isolated level of the towers,
the Île de la Cité with a gigantic building, out of which were finished in 1245 when mention is
Notre-Dame has thirteen bells; ten
hang in the main bell towers, while all proportion to the previous churches, which made of the installation of the bell ringing in
another three hang in the sanctuary. testifies to the ambition of the cathedral clergy the north tower, with in particular a bell do-
More bells used to hang in the spire, benefiting from the support of the king in a city nated by the bishop of the time, William of
but these were dislodged during
established as the capital of the kingdom. Auvergne. The construction site benefited from
WKHðUH7KHROGHVWEHOOVWLOOLQ
use is named Emmanuel. Created The ceremony of laying the first stone, donations from important figures, starting with
in 1686, it hangs in the south tower probably in the current choir, took place in Kings Louis VII and Philip II Augustus and the
and is also the largest bell, weighing the presence of Pope Alexander III in the bishops and dignitaries of the chapter. It was
roughly 13,000 kg.
spring of 1163. The consecration of the high also able to count on the participation of the
© Cristian Bortes / Flickr
altar at the eastern end of the choir took place faithful, starting with those of the diocese
in the presence of the papal legate Henry, of which the cathedral was by definition the
Cardinal Bishop of Albano, on 19 May 1182. mother church, all strongly encouraged by the
In the meantime, the work had moved to clergy to support this operation. The materials
the transept and the nave, which was already used were mostly of local origin: the stones
well advanced at the very end of the 12th cen- were extracted from quarries in Paris or the
tury. The western façade was already under surrounding area and the wood for the frames
construction in 1208 when mention is made most likely from Île-de-France where the clergy
of the destruction of houses necessary for the of the cathedral owned many forests.

the identity of Paris during the reign of and transforming the city into the capital of
Philip II Augustus (r. 1180–1223), the kingdom of France and Europe’s intel-
who was leading a building boom lectual center. Unfortunately, no records

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20 Medieval World 15
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Pointed arch
survive to tell us who designed Transept Ribbed vault

Notre-Dame, what the process

Choir
was, or who directed the initial Rose window
phase of construction. But, thanks to
technology, we can identify
Gallery of the Kings
three key structural devic-
es that allowed the build-
ers to successfully con-
struct what was the most
advanced and prestigious
building of its day.

The building
blocks of Gothic
While most of the compo-
nents used to build Gothic
cathedrals can be found
in older structures, Goth-
ic master masons began
combining them to create Arcade
a revolutionary new system Crossing Sacristy
of construction that allowed
This model cross-section shows
cathedrals to reach enormous siz-
Nave how the cathedral of Notre-Dame
es while opening up wall surfaces for looks today. It highlights some of the
the insertion of colorful Aisle
cathedral's key design and architec-
stained glass windows. tural features.
Last Judgment portal Flying buttress © Rocío Espin
The master mason of
Notre-Dame relied Stabilizing the thin walls of the cathedral from
on an integrated system the exterior maximized the amount of light
A view of the rib-vault ceiling of the
of structural supports that enabled him to that filtered inside through large stained glass nave in the cathedral of Notre-
build taller, thinner, and lighter than had windows. Although some smaller and older Dame. Each six-part rib vault covers
been previously possible. In sum, Notre- churches in Paris employed flying buttresses, two bays of the nave. The photo
SUHGDWHVWKHðUHRIDQGWKH
Dame represents a synthesis of forms and recent laser scans confirmed that Notre-Dame
subsequent restoration and removal
devices from other churches, and was the was the first massive cathedral to integrate of centuries of soot and grime.
first cathedral of this scale to unite them all them into its overall design. © Louis Meridon / Flickr

in a single building.
Pointed arches were the first key struc-
tural device in the construction of No-
tre-Dame de Paris. Unlike round arches,
which have a tendency to push outward
and therefore require considerable sup-
port, pointed arches channel weight more
directly downward. Pointed arches, which
occur at all levels of Notre-Dame, also
lead the eye upward, making the cathedral
appear even taller than it is.
The second key was the flying buttress,
which is essentially an external support device
consisting of an angled masonry strut (the flyer)
that leads down from a wall and terminates in a
vertical pier (the buttress upright). These exter-
nal supports counteract the thrust of the nave
vaults and allow for higher and thinner walls.

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Medieval World 15 21
 Ribbed vaults were the below from the pitched timber roof above.
third key structural device. Con- Unfortunately, the ribbed vaults could not
sisting of intersecting pointed withstand the collapse of the heavy crossing
arches that form a skeleton of ribs, spire during the 2019 fire.
these supporting structures distribute weight After the fire, iron staples were found
This Gothic to the piers and columns instead of the walls concealed in the cornice of the outer walls of
limestone voussoir
thereby allowing for the insertion of large Notre-Dame, which helped combat the force
of ca. 1140, originally part of
a portal prior to the start of the con- windows. The ribs are the primary load bear- of wind on the large pitched timber roof that
struction of the cathedral, shows the ing devices; the spaces between them are covered and protected the stone vaults from
Lamb of God between two angels. filled with lightweight stones that form the the elements. Additional iron staples were
© Sukkoria / Wikimedia Commons
webbing, which is only 20-30 centimetres found in the nave columns and choir trib-
thick at Notre-Dame de Paris. The six-part unes, some of which were radiocarbon dated
vaults of the cathedral provide some degree to the 1160s. This suggests that the master ma-
of fire protection, as they separate the nave son incorporated iron into the original plan

A medieval evolution By Dany Sandron

From the 1220s, major modifications were made to the cathedral,

© Larry Koester / Flickr

including the enlargement of the high windows of the main nave,
which led to the removal of the oculi, or circular openings, which
had previously opened onto the top of the galleries. Viollet-le-
Duc restored them in the nineteenth century in the transept and in
the bays of the nave and choir adjoining the crossing.
From the second quarter of the thirteenth century, chap-
els were added to the sides of the building to respond to the
increase in the number of Masses by members of the clergy
and brotherhoods, which required a greater number of altars
where they could be celebrated. The phenomenon first con-
cerned the nave, then the choir, and finally the chevet where
the radiating chapels were completed at the beginning of the
fourteenth century.
At the beginning of the second half of the thirteenth cen-
tury, the transept was enlarged and its new façades aligned with
the sides of the nave and the choir. The project for these new
entryways with a single portal and large rose window was de-
signed by the architect Jean de Chelles, whose name is men-
tioned on the façade of the south transept, begun in February
1258. It was probably Pierre de Montreuil, his successor, who Dating to ca. 1250, the north rose window of Notre-Dame de Paris retains
its original glass and shows the Virgin Mary enthroned with the Christ
continued the construction. Pierre died in 1267.
Child at the centre.
The medieval spire must have been built at the end of the
thirteenth century. The medieval wood found in the rubble of Vi- in the apse, at the eastern end of the main nave where the high
ollet-le-Duc’s spire after the 2019 fire was dated to around 1280. altar and the main relics were located, in particular the shrine of
The new façades of the transept, as well as the wood and Saint Marcel, housing the body of this holy fifth-century bishop
lead spire of the crossing, must be seen as a response to of Paris, perched high up under a canopy just behind the altar. In
the construction of the Sainte-Chapelle (1243-1248) at front extended the liturgical choir with the stalls welcoming the
the other end of the Île de la Cité, in the heart of the canons and chaplains during the many services that took place
royal palace. This royal chapel was built to house throughout the day, which the bishop sometimes joined. These
the relics of the Passion of Christ. Its erection in liturgical spaces were isolated from the rest of the cathedral by
the centre of the capital certainly made an impact a stone fence in order to avoid disturbances from the faithful
on the clergy of the cathedral who were keen to gathered in the church. During the first half of the fourteenth
emphasize the pre-eminence of their church in century, the addition of the rood screen between the eastern
the Parisian monumental landscape. pillars of the crossing completed the enclosure of the choir in
Inside, the cathedral space was hierarchical. the 1230s. Magnificent remains of this structure were discov-
The most sacred part consisted of the sanctuary, ered during the recent excavations in this area of the cathedral.

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Putting a roof on it
The wooden structure supporting the roof of Notre-
Dame — known as 'the forest' because of its vast-
ness— was an intricate construction of beams. Con-
cealed under a lead tiled roof, this wooden framework
would not have been visible to viewers, and certainly
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framework of the roof — known as the charpente —
was destroyed and many of its large beams damaged
the nave as the roof collapsed. Ateliers Perrault, the car-
pentry company entrusted with rebuilding this structure
for Notre-Dame in anticipation of the 2024 reopening,
used over 1400 oak trees and traditional, medieval
methods to reconstruct this portion of the cathedral.
© William Webb

Medieval World 15 23
 A HISTORY OF NOTRE-DAME DE PARIS
TIML ELINE OF E V ENT S (1 1 6 3 – P RE S E N T )
1230S
Construction of the 1330S
Gothic rood screen. New silver-gilt altarpiece on
1431
EARLY 13TH C. 1260S the main altar by the gold- Coronation of Henry
Start of the western façade. smith Jean de Montpellier. VI in the cathedral. 1622
Red door on the north Erection of an archiepis-
1190 side of the choir restored. 1344 copal seat; the diocese of
Burial of Queen Isabelle of Hainaut, 2ND HALF OF 13TH C. Completion of the Paris is no longer subject
ÄYZ[^PMLVM2PUN7OPSPW(\N\Z[\ZPU *VUZ[Y\J[PVUVM[OLÄYZ[ choir enclosure. to the archbishop of Sens.
the liturgical choir. spire of the cathedral.

1100 1163 1200 1300 1400 1500

3H`PUNVM[OLÄYZ[Z[VUL 1304 1360S
1182 Burial of Bishop Replacement of the tiled roofs on
Consecration of the choir. Simon de the framework of the chapels, aisles,
Bucy in the and tribunes of the choir with ter-
CA. 1220 – EARLY 14TH C. axial chapel he raced roofs made of stone slabs by
HKKP[PVUVMZPKLJOHWLSZÄYZ[HSVUN founded. the architect Raymond du Temple.
the nave and then along the choir. 1258
1245 Start of the construction of the 4GHRਡQDKHDEਡEQNLਡSGDਡ
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north tower of the façade. the architect Jean de Chelles, fol- $@LD ਡC@SDCਡSNਡB@ਡ

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scientists and archaeologists to declare that
Notre-Dame “is the first known Gothic ca- thirteenth century, the
thedral where iron was massively used as a cathedral of Notre-Dame
proper construction material to bind stones was the most innovative,
throughout its entire construction.” sophisticated, and techni-
A thirteenth- In sum, at Notre-Dame de Paris, pointed cally advanced building of
century French arches, flying buttresses, and ribbed vaults, medieval Europe.
censer made
along with the newly-discovered iron sta-
from copper
with champlevé ples, were employed as a unified structural Multimedia experiences
enamel and gilding. solution in response to the challenges of Gothic cathedrals were multimedia environ-
© The Metropolitan Museum of Art
building tall and light. At the turn of the ments that offered a range of sensory expe-

The 17th – 19th centuries

© Paris Musées / Wikimedia Commons

After the Middle Ages, although Notre-Dame

underwent few architectural transformations,
its interior decor was gradually brought up to
date. In 1628, a new altar was built in honor of
the Virgin Mary against the southeast pillar of
the crossing with the support of Queen Anne
of Austria. The liturgical choir and the sanctu-
ary were completely renewed at the end of the
reign of Louis XIV to illustrate the Vow of Louis
XIII, his father, who had placed his kingdom
and his crown under the protection of the Vir-
gin in the hope of a male heir who would fi-
nally be born in 1638. The new high altar at the
back of the apse surmounted by the sculpted
group of the Virgin of Piety is flanked by stat-
ues of the two rulers. The stalls of the canons,
which occupied the four straight bays of the
choir in two rows, were redone at the begin-
ning of the eighteenth century.
Even before the Revolution, the deco-
In this painting by Jean-François Depelchin, created in 1789, the interior of Notre-Dame is ration of Notre-Dame suffered much de-
bustling with activity. Large paintings conceal the archways of the nave arcade. struction: the medieval stained glass win-

24 Medieval World 15
 1843
1821 The competition for the
1944
restoration of Notre-Dame
Baptism of the Duke of Bordeaux. Te Deum for the Liberation.
is launched. Jean-Baptiste
1699 – 1720 1793 Lassus and Eugène Emmanuel 1994
Complete renovation of the choir by Pierre Mutilation of the statu- Viollet-le-Duc are the winners.
Installation of the
de Cotte; installation of a new altar at the ary of the portals.
1859 1989
Great Cross by Marc
back of the apse with the sculpted group 1791 New high altar
The spire is built according Couturier at the back
of the Pietà between the kneeling statues by Jean Touret
Closure of the cathedral, to a new project designed of the apse.
VM2PUNZ3V\PZ?000HUK3V\PZ?0=.PM[VM installed at the
Canon Laporte. secularization of the prop- solely by Viollet-le-Duc 2024
erty of the clergy. The cathe- crossing of the
1638 after Lassus’ death, with
dral becomes the Temple of transept. Reopening
dimensions increased by
Vow of Louis XIII. the Supreme Being. of cathedral.
13 metres.

1600 1620
1700 1800 1900 2000
1862
New altar of the Virgin Mary near The cathedral is listed
the southeast pillar of the tran- as a Historic Monument. 2019
sept crossing, created with the 1831 1963
The Bishopric buildings Exhibition and sym- Fire dam-
ÄUHUJPHSZ\WWVY[VM8\LLU(UUL
are sacked by the rebel- posium for the 800th ages large
of Austria, mother of Louis XIII.
lious Parisians. anniversary of the sections.
1804
1720 cathedral.
9LZ[VYH[PVUZI`[OLHYJOP[LJ[)VɈYHUK December 2: Corona-
tion of Napoleon in
(rose window of the south transept, 1977
vault of the transept crossing). the cathedral.
1750 Discovery of a cemetery of buried
1790S sculptures on Rue de la Chaussée
Construction of a new sacristy by Dismantling of the spire of the d’Antin. Among them, 21 crowned
1HJX\LZ.LYTHPU:V\ɊV[. crossing, which was in poor con- heads from the gallery of kings,
dition and threatened to collapse. taken down in 1793; stored at the
riences, and Notre-Dame de Paris was no 1771 Cluny Museum.
exception. Visitors would encounter sculp- Mutilation of the central portal, the 2012 – 2013
trumeau of which is removed to allow the Jubilee organized for the
ture, painting, tapestries, dazzling liturgical canopy of processions to pass through. 850th anniversary of the
objects, and stained glass, while the space start of construction of the
Gothic cathedral.
was activated by the clergy cloaked in their Gothic church interior elevated his mind
sumptuous vestments, engaged in prayer or above mundane cares and the slime of the
song, surrounded by flickering candlelight, earth toward the purity of Heaven.
and perfumed with incense. The spectacle Although the cathedral of Notre-Dame
and magnificence of the space was almost de Paris contains roughly 100 square metres
otherworldly, with Abbot Suger of Saint- of stained glass, it is particularly renowned
Denis exclaiming that the beauty of the for its magnificent rose windows. Installed in

By Dany Sandron
dows, with the exception of the three rose (1482), published in March 1831, drew more
windows, were replaced with white glass attention to a monument that remained at the
to brighten the interior of the building. The heart of current events with the burning of the
medieval rood screen – a monumental stone archbishopric by Parisians revolting against the
enclosure isolating the liturgical choir from legitimist archbishop Monseigneur de Quelen
the nave – was removed and replaced with on 15 February.
a grille to allow the faithful to see the cel- While the major ceremonies linked to
ebrant during mass. For liturgical reasons, in royal and imperial power still took place at
1771, the trumeau of the central portal and Notre-Dame, it is the “great restoration” that
the middle part of the trumeau and the tym- spanned twenty years from 1844 that made this
panum were removed by the clergy to allow period special. Notre-Dame became a model
the passage of a great canopy of processions. of restoration under the leadership of Lassus
As discussed in Jennifer Feltman's article, and Viollet-le-Duc, the latter the sole architect
Revolutionary vandalism caused even greater since his colleague’s death in 1857. Viollet-le-
damage to the cathedral. The dismantling of the Duc then revised the project for rebuilding the
medieval spire at the crossing of the transept in spire, which he modified by raising it by 13
the 1790s had been decided by the clergy as metres to reach a height of 96 metres with six-
early as 1788, due to its poor condition. teen statues at the base, the twelve apostles ac-
Due to a lack of regular maintenance, the companied by the symbols of the four evan-
cathedral was in a poor condition at the begin- gelists. It was shortly before the completion of
ning of the nineteenth century. Victor this major restoration that the building was
Hugo’s novel Notre-Dame de Paris classified as a historic monument in 1862.

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Medieval World 15 25
 This view of the south façade of the

‰ DID YOU KNOW?

The gigantism of Notre-
1225 and measuring 10 metres in diameter,
the western rose window is the oldest and
cathedral of Notre-Dame shows the
ñ\LQJEXWWUHVVHVDQGURVHZLQGRZRI
the south transept, which displays
the theme of the Last Judgment in
smallest. The north and south transept rose stained glass.
Dame, with vaults rising to
31 metres in the choir and 33 windows were added between 1250 and © Ali Sabbagh / Flickr

metres in the nave – a record 1260 and measure approximately 14 metres

at the time of their construc- in diameter. The north rose window (pic-
tion – was made possible by
tured on page 22), which features blue glass,
the implementation of a clever
V\VWHPRIñ\LQJEXWWUHVVHV depicts the Virgin Mary enthroned with the
Implemented on an unprece- Christ Child. The south rose window was giv-
dented scale and with unheard- en to the cathedral by King Louis IX and was
of boldness, Notre-Dame de
the work of Jean de Chelles and Pierre de
Paris inaugurated a race for
gigantism, which would reach Montreuil. Composed of 84 panels arranged
other records in the thirteenth in four concentric rings, it features red glass,
century with the cathedrals of and depicts the Last Judgment. Christ is situ-
Chartres, Reims, Amiens, and
ated in the center surrounded by angels.
Beauvais, in particular.
Exterior sculptures extended the mes-
sage of the cathedral into the urban fab-
This thirteenth-century statue of ric and complemented the architecture.
Adam, together with a now-lost Whereas the north, south, and west façades
statue of Eve, once stood in the inner of the cathedral all feature sculptural pro-
side of the south transept of Notre-
grams, it is the latter that is most prominent
Dame. The statue was moved after
the French Revolution. and shows the Last Judgment. Above the
© Musée Carnavalet three portals extends a horizontal Gallery
of Kings. Featuring 28 individual statues 3
metres tall and 13 metres off the ground, the
body and head of each figure is enlarged
but appears normal when viewed from the
parvis. The sculptures today are the resto-
ration work of Viollet-le-Duc, but analysis
of the thirteenth-century originals suggests
that they were painted in polychrome, fur-
ther enhancing the viewing experience.
The bell towers were erected in the late
1230s, after the foundations had settled,
adding an acoustic dimension to Notre-
Dame and the entire city. Around 1245,
the cathedral had the general form it does
today, although work continued on a lead- But no other monument approached
covered wooden crossing spire and the the scale and height of Notre-Dame de Paris
transept façades. until the mid thirteenth century, when the
cathedrals of Chartres, Bourges, Reims, and
Impact Amiens surpassed it. Experimentation with
Notre-Dame de Paris was a landmark mo- vaulting and flying buttresses systems con-
ment in the history of architecture. The am- tinued, leading to streamlined elevations
bitious yet integrated approach of its design- and even larger stained glass windows.
ers allowed builders to reach new heights. Notre-Dame de Paris precipitated these
It helped codify the “grammar” of what we developments, as French Gothic churches
now call the Gothic style, with churches became renowned for their beauty and the
in the region and beyond drawing on its subject of debate hundreds of years after
forms and innovations. It was so successful they were completed.
that Gothic architecture spread elsewhere In the mid-fifteenth century, for exam-
across France and Europe, losing its once ple, a secretary to Charles d’Orléans lavished
close association with the French crown. praise on the cathedrals of Paris, Bourges,

26 Medieval World 15
and Soissons, declared Amiens his favorite, With the reopening of Notre-Dame de This detail from the thirteenth-cen-
and noted that there were still others who tury album of Villard de Honnecourt
Paris, today’s visitors will once again have the
shows a drawing of Reims Cathedral,
preferred Chartres. In a fifteenth-century opportunity to form their own opinions while which extended the architectural
publication titled Débat des hérauts d’armes they marvel at the restored cathedral and pon- innovations of Notre-Dame.
de France et d’Angleterre (The Debate Be- der the awesome contributions its builders © BnF, MS Fr 19093, fol. 31v

tween the Heralds of France and England), made to the history of architecture. MW
an anonymous author boasted: “Do you
have churches of such decoration and mag- Kyle G. Sweeney, PhD, is Associate Professor
nificence as Notre-Dame of Paris, Chartres, of Art History at Winthrop University and
Rouen, Amiens, Reims, Bourges? I believe the co-editor of Lateness and Modernity in
that you have nothing approaching them; Medieval Architecture (Brill, 2023).
and it is not worth
arguing…as those The textboxes in this article were authored by
who have been in Dany Sandron, PhD, Professor of Medieval Art
History at Sorbonne University and a specialist
both kingdoms can
on the art and architecture of medieval Paris.
speak the truth.”

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THEME: Notre-Dame de Paris
1600
1200 Paris, FRANCE: 1239

Interior view of Notre-Dame cathedral, looking toward the choir and altar from the nave. While this image is older and shows a somewhat
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and paintings would have also covered many of the surfaces, leading to an even more impressive experience.

THE CROWN OF THORNS AT NOTRE-DAME By Emily Davenport Guerry

CROWNING PARIS
T
he Crown of Thorns moved to
the cathedral in 1803 (where it
was used as part of Napolean’s
Sacre ceremony), but it first ar-
Five years after its rescue by an extraordinary team rived nearly eight centuries ago
after a long and arduous journey from Con-
RIðUHðJKWHUVWKH&URZQRI7KRUQVZLOOHQWHU1RWUH stantinople (via Venice). In Paris, the event
Dame de Paris once again for its installation in a new was marked by a multi-venue procession
reliquary on 13 December 2024. Today, the cathedral with a significant stops on the Ile-de-la-Cité
and ritual festivities at Notre-Dame de Paris.
is known around the world as a special place of de-
votion to the Virgin Mary, but it also holds three rel-
800

Holy Paris
ics of Christ’s Passion: The Crown of Thorns, a Holy It was King Louis IX (1214–1270), later Saint
Louis (canonised 1297), who received the
Nail, and part of the Holy Lance. Each of these sacred
Crown of Thorns in 1239, whereupon he in-
items has a long and distinguished history of devo- stantly earned a widespread reputation for
tion that connects the cathedral and the civic iden- his piety. His opportunity to acquire the relic
had emerged during a crisis in the Latin East;
tity of Paris with a chapter from its medieval past.
the Crusader state of Constantinople was on
the verge of collapse and (the last) Latin Em-
The most precious relic in the
peror, Baldwin II (1217–1273), had pledged
Notre-Dame treasury, the Crown of the relic as debt collateral during various
Thorns, is preserved in the loan negotiations with Venetian allies. In
400

form of a circle, about 21

the end, Louis IX agreed to pay off the total
centimetres in diameter.
The current crystal and gold amount of debt, and thus became the custo-
case dates to 1896. dian the Crown by default. Despite the inher-
© Photononstop / Alamy Stock Photo

28 Medieval World 15
© OSTILL is Franck Camhi / Flickr

ently political (and economic) circumstances He paraded the relic in this humble
surrounding its acquisition, for Louis IX and manner through throngs of adoring people
his kingdom, the Crown of Thorns would be that lined the streets. They were joined by
enshrined in Paris as a divine gift. soldiers (who removed their boots), innu-
A text known as Historia Susceptionis merable lay people (men, women, and
Coronae Spineae, attributed to Archbishop children too), and countless clerics carry-
Gauthier Cornut of Sens (d. 1241), provides ing the reliquaries of city’s saints – in this
a detailed account of how the Crown of sense, the heavenly protectors of Paris also
Thorns came to Paris, retracing its transport participated in the royal parade.
over the Mediterranean. Contemporaries praised the king’s hu-
Cornut frames this act of relic transla- mility on this occasion, with Gérard de Saint-
tion as a divine coronation. He also presents Quentin, another eyewitness to the ceremony,
an authoritative, eyewitness account of the saying Louis IX had become “our David”:
ceremonies staged in Paris to welcome the When, therefore, on the blessed day, in-
Crown relic, which included a spectacular numerable people of both sexes from all parts
royal parade across the city, culminating in a of the kingdom, as well as priests dressed as
service at Notre-Dame. pastors of different churches, both religious
!ਡLHC SGHQSDDMSG BDMSTQXਡ and secular, from not only the city of Paris
RS@HMDCਡFK@RRਡEQ@FLDMSਡ but also of the congregations of nearby plac-
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#NQMTSਡNEਡ3DMRਡCHROK@XHMFਡ es, present among them is our David – King

This thirteenth-century linen tunic
SGDਡ#QNVMਡNEਡ4GNQMR Louis – not borne on a precious and large is believed to have belonged to
©ਡ-DSQNONKHS@Mਡ-TRDTLਡNEਡ!QS
horse, not adorned with ornament, but walk- King Louis IX. We can imagine a
ing barefoot, as if he were about to bring the simple garment like this one on the
Royal parade body of the king during the 1239
We learn from Cornut, who Ark of the Lord into his city with joy.
procession in Paris.
Here, the Crown of Thorns is aligned
had organized various cer- © Schweiz41 / Wikimedia Commons

with the Ark of the Covenant – and Paris is

emonies for the Crown
transformed into a New Jerusalem through its
throughout his province,
very own jubilee.
that this special proces-
Together, the parade continued west-
sion began at dawn at the
ward until it reached the Specula, a large
palace of Vincennes on 19
open field outside of the eastern city gates,
August 1239. Marching
situated near the Cistercian
at the head of was a sol-
abbey of Saint-An-
emn figure: Louis IX had
toine (where Bas-
removed his royal crown,
tille is located to-
donned only a linen tunic,
day). Here,
and walked barefoot while he carried the
sacred reliquary in a double-bier on his
shoulders, sharing the burden with his
brother, Robert d'Artois.

Serving at Notre-Dame
Those who served at medieval cathedrals
can be distinguished by their garments and
duties. The cathedral canon (left) is respon-
sible for the cathedral's legal business,
alongside other canons. A committee of
canons and a dean usually ran the medieval
cathedral. An archdeacon is a clergy member
who serves as the bishop's administrative as-
sistant and is responsible for the cathedral's
worship, including the distribution of alms. A
bishop, in turn, is responsible for presiding
over the celebration of the liturgies and for the
worship activities of the cathedral. A bishop
usually wears the most elaborate vestments.

© Julia Lillo

Medieval World 15 29
In 1239, King Louis IX, in a demonstra-
tion of power and piety, processed the
newly-acquired relic of the Crown of
Thorns through Paris with a special
stop at Notre-Dame cathedral. There,
a jubilant service was staged to
welcome and celebrate this special
relic of Christ. In addition to the king,
members of his court, clerics and
RWKHUUHOLJLRXVðJXUHVIURPHYHU\RUGHU
and every local church, people from
all walks of life gathered outside and
inside the cathedral to partake in the
celebrations.
© Rocío Espin
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Medieval celebrations at Notre-Dame

In addition to the famed procession of the Pas- The sixteenth
sion relics in 1239 and the services of yearly century also saw
holy feasts, Notre-Dame was a site of other several marriages con-
major celebrations during the Middle Ages. firmed at Notre-Dame: Mary Stuart, Queen of
In 1431, Henry VI of England was crowned Scotland, and Francis II, son of Henry II tied the
King of France at the cathedral as the Hundred knot in 1558; Elisabeth of France wed Philip II
Years’ War (1337-1453) was nearing its end. of Spain (the Duke of Alba stood in for the king)
He may have chosen the cathedral as a way in 1559; and Marguerite de Valois (known as
legitimize his rights against Charles VII, who Queen Margot) wed Henry of Navarre (future
was also crowned King of France in 1429 in Henry IV) in 1572. We can only imagine the
Reims. In 1447, Charles VII celebrated the re- cathedral transformed during these festive times
capture of Paris from the English at the end of with luxurious textiles, icons, and liturgical ob-
the Hundred Years’ War with a Te Deum (hymn jects that would have accentuated and magni-
of festivals and triumphs) at the cathedral. fied the importance of the celebrated events.

An illumination from the mid- Louis IX, his family, and Cornut ascended the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, where
ðIWHHQWKFHQWXU\Chroniques a gigantic tower decorated with gilded trac- clerics from every order and every local
d'Angleterre showing the corona-
tion of King Henry VI of England
ery and covered with pictures of the saints. church had congregated for a jubilant service.
at Notre-Dame cathedral on 16 After Cornut delivered a rousing sermon, he Although work was still underway at
December 1431. then removed the golden reliquary circlet the cathedral, the interior was prepared for
© BnF, MS Français 83, fol. 205r
from its casket and revealed it to the crowd the festivities and to welcome the king and
below – who shouted out praise and gave his newly acquired holy relic. The proces-
thanks for the Crown as a blessing. As soon sion entered the cathedral through the main
as the relic reached Paris, it seems that it be- western portal, down the main nave, and to-
longed not only to the king but all of those ward the choir, with the relic landing on the
in his kingdom, too. main altar upon arrival. Archbishop Cornut
(Left) A detail from the Vie et miracles would have presided over the service wear-
de monseigneur saint Louis (The life A jubilant service at Notre-Dame ing his pallium and a splendid robe, which
and miracles of Saint Louis), depict-
Next, the parade continued into the city, and the king himself had paid for.
ing Louis IX bringing the Crown of
Thorns to the Sainte-Chapelle. when the cortege passed through the gates, While we do not know the precise li-
© BnF, Français 2829, fol. 17r we read that everyone started singing, “Bless- turgical sequence used to commemorate
(Right) A detail from the Horae Jo- ed is he who comes in honour of the Lord.” the coming of the Crown of Thornes to the
hannae reginae Navarrae (The Hours This psalmody evokes that which was chanted cathedral, we can assume that in addition
of Jeanne de Navarre), published to the king, members of his court, clerics
during Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem (Ps 118:
between 1330 and 1340, showing
Archbishop Cornut and King Louis 16); again, the typological significance for this and other religious figures, people from all
IX of France carrying the Crown of choreography in Paris would have been both walks of life gathered outside and inside the
Thorns in the royal parade. intentional and meaningful. And when they church to witness the event, partake in the
© BnF, MS NAL 3145, fol. 102r
reached the Ile-de-la-Cité, the parade entered celebrations, and gaze upon one of Chris-
tendom’s most famous relics. In the heart
of Paris, at Notre-Dame, this celebration
would have been a religious act but also a
public demonstration of the king’s power
and devotion.
We can also imagine luxurious textiles
decorating the interior and precious liturgi-
cal objects on the altar, as well as a special
set of sermons and chants flooding the Goth-
ic choir. This cele-
bration would have
been staged with
the latest innova-

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32
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Medieval World 15
 !ਡLHC SGHQSDDMSG BDMSTQXਡ&QDMBGਡ for the 1239 procession offered a model for A view of the fourteenth-century
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how other relics and important events could sculpted wall on the south side of
©ਡ4GDਡ7@KSDQRਡ!QSਡ-TRDTL
the choir enclosure at Notre-Dame
be religiously celebrated, bringing together
tions in choral music: composers cathedral with scenes from the life
royal and courtly figures, clergy, and citi- of Christ.
like Léonin and Pérotin had only
zens. Such gatherings would showcase the © Robert Sarnowski / Shutterstock
recently invented their mellifluous diverse, spiritual, and civic nature of the
polyphonies at Notre-Dame. rituals within the grandiose space of Notre-
The Gothic façade, festooned Dame and its surroundings.
with hundreds of figurative sculp- Until the Revolution, the Crown of
tures, would have been complet- Thorns stayed at the Sainte-Chapelle – a re- 7KHHQJUDYHGñDJVWRQHRI&DQRQ
ed just a few years beforehand, splendent two-storied Gothic edifice that still Étienne Yvert from Notre-Dame ca-
and from its two towers, the peeling thedral. He died in 1468. A cathedral
stands in the heart of the Île-de-la-Cité, conse- canon is a member of the group of
of its bells would have resounded with the joy crated on 26 April 1248 to protect and glorify FOHUJ\DQGRτFLDOVZKRDUHUHVSRQ-
of the relic’s arrival, transmitted sacred music the Crown of Thorns. It was then moved to the sible for the cathedral's administra-
throughout the entire cityscape. Finally, the cathedral of Notre-Dame. Although it was the WLRQDQGOHJDODσDLUV
royal palace on the Ile-de-la-Cité marked the jewel in the private collection of the kings
© Mbzt / Wikimedia Commons

parade’s end with a private service inside the of France, today the Crown of Thorns
royal chapel (Saint-Nicolas), where the relic belongs to people of Paris – where any
would be locked away for safekeeping. visitor to the newly reopened cathedral
of Notre-Dame is able to see it in its new
A relic for the people reliquary. The building itself once again
The ceremony of 1239 is often mentioned in serves as a repository for this important
hagiographic and biographic studies of Louis Christian relic, and its walls and spaces
IX, underscoring the king’s humility and his resonate with a rich history of celebra-
extraordinary piety in the public sphere. tions, rituals, and processions. MW
Such relic parades foregrounded certain sites
within and around the city – Notre-Dame ca- Emily Davenport Guerry is a Tutor and
thedral being one such prominent religious Lecturer in Medieval History at St. Pe-
landmark in the heart ter’s College, Oxford. Her research ex-
of Paris. The service amines medieval visual, material, and
the cathedral hosted ceremonial culture.

Medieval World 15 33
 A PORTAL THROUGH TIME By Jennifer M. Feltman
THEME: Notre-Dame de Paris

and ca. 1230 style, while the tympanum and

lintel show the most variation. The head of the
figure of Christ as Judge bears striking similarity
to the head of Childebert, made for the Saint-
Germain-des-Prés around 1239. The style of
the drapery on the angel holding nails from the
When viewed from a distance, the portal of Passion next to the kneeling Virgin Mary is strik-
the Last Judgment seems to present an un- ingly different to that of the angel holding the
Cross. The latter angel stands on carved wedge,
FKDQJHGXQLðHGZKROH7KLVKRZHYHULV placed at an awkward angle, presumably to
the product of the restoration that began in keep this figure in plumb with the others. The
the 1840s under architects Jean-Baptiste- halo behind the head of Christ is of a twelfth-
1600

century style and seems to have been reused

Antoine Lassus and Eugène Emmanuel from an earlier, but now discarded portal. The
Viollet le-Duc. Closer scrutiny reveals that portal’s sculptures seem to have been made
over several decades, independent of the ar-
the portal has been altered many times.
Paris, FRANCE: ca. 1220 – present

chitecture. and only installed together in the

doorway around the year 1240.

T
he portal is comprised Starting in the eighteenth century, the por-
A statue of King of sculptures of several tal underwent a series of changes. Initially, these
Childebert (r. styles. The earliest from
511–558) that
were the result of changing fashions and prac-
was made for the
around 1208, can be tical considerations. Later, during the French
Saint-Germain-des- seen in the sculptures of Revolution, ideological reasons came to the
Prés in ca. 1239. the Virtues and Vices along the em- fore, resulting in a stringent remodeling cam-
1200

© Jebulon / Wikimedia
Commons
brasures. The sculptures of the ar- paign. Much of the original medieval sculpture
chivolts are primarily of a ca. 1220 was removed and destroyed (see below).

4VKPÄJH[PVUZHUKT\[PSH[PVUZ
© Public domain

The eighteenth century was not kind to the

Gothic sculptures of the cathedral of Notre-
Dame. Their style had largely fallen out of fash-
ion in the age of the Enlightenment, which fa-
vored Neoclassicism. Changes in the liturgical
use of the building also required modifications
that today would be considered mutilations. In
1771, Jacques-Germain Soufflot, then head ar-
800

chitect for the cathedral of Notre-Dame, had a

large Gothic-shaped opening cut into a scene
of the Resurrection of the Dead on the lintel
of the Last Judgment portal. These sculptures
along with the jambs and the central statue col-
umn of Christ were removed, and remain lost.
Why exactly was this seemingly drastic
change made to what is the very center of the
public façade of Notre-Dame? The answer is
pragmatic and underscores the priorities of this
era. A ceremony was being planned
that would involve carrying
400

the king of France into the

cathedral on dais. To do
The central west portal of Notre-Dame, before the nineteenth-century restorations. this exactly on axis and

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34 Medieval World 15
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Remnants of

© Musée de Cluny, inv. Cl. 12595.3 / J. Feltman

painted blue with azurite either look up
red polychromy
Visualizing the portal to Christ or look toward a large angel in
around the eyes
the archivolts who points them toward
The sculptures of the central of a noble man
the serene depiction of heaven as the
portal of Notre-Dame depict and women
Bosom of Abraham.
underscore
the culminating moment in
their tears and
history according to Christian the- anguish.
ology: the Last Judgment.
In thirteenth-century French %HDXWLIXOO\IRUPHGðJXUHV
portal sculpture, this vision of fi- wearing long-sleeved
tunics rise from their sar- To Christ’s left, the
nal justice, emphasized the po-
cophagi. Included among damned are chained
tential of salvation through the the risen, on the side of and led by a beastly
figural sculpture of Christ show- the Blessed, is an African demon toward a ter-
ing his wounds in his hands and ðJXUHZKRORRNVRXW rifying Hellmouth.
toward viewers.
side. Intercessory figures and
angels, placed to either side
of Christ further emphasize the possibility.
However, the sculptures still represent a
separation of humanity into the Blessed and
Damned, as described in Matthew 25.

On lintel above the doorway, the Resurrec-

tion of the Dead is represented. An angel
ZLWKðQHO\FDUYHGXQGXODWLQJFXUOVIRUFHIXOO\
blows a trumpet to wake the dead.

The mouth of Hell swallows a wavy-haired

QREOHðJXUHGLJHVWLQJKHUKHDGðUVWLQWRD
FDXOGURQHQJXOIHGLQñDPHV7KHVFXOSWRUV
have conveyed the frenetic nature of this scene © Dietmar Rabich / Wikimedia Commons

WKURXJKGHIWO\HFKRLQJZDYHVRIKDLUDQGñDPH
The 19th-century restoration
without needing to lower the dais upon en- The central portal, as visible today, bears
try, the decision was made to remove these the imprint of the restoration begun in
portions of the central portal. Other modi- 1843 under by Lassus and Violet-le-Duc
fications were made to the building in the and carried out by sculptor Geoffroy de
same era. In 1793, shortly after the French Chaume. The slight difference in colora-
Revolution, the cathedral was made a Tem- tion of the stones that were added makes
ple of Reason, and orders from the Com- their restoration apparent to the trained
mune to “destroy all signs of superstition eye. Their design proposed to restore the
and feudalism,” resulted in acts of political central portal to its pre-1771 state. This
iconoclasm. Many of the sculptures of kings, required the removal of several original
saints, and apostles were reduced to rubble fragments of sculpture on the first and
before being sold as construction material. second level of the lintel, to either side
Removing the large limestone sculp- of the Gothic arch that had been cut
© Public domain

tures from the cathedral's façade required by Soufflot. This was because the new
contractors. Documents kept in the Archives lintel needed to be made from a single
nationales de France describe how iron piece of stone. The sculptures that were
ties that held many of the figural sculptures removed were carefully replicated by de Design to recreate
the central portal of
in place needed to be cut. This was most Chaume, while the architects completed Notre-Dame by Viollet-le-Duc and Lassus,
treacherous at the height of the Gallery of what was missing using their artistic im- engraved by Leon Gaucherel in 1843.
the Kings. Below, in the central portal, work agination. Other elements recreated lost
was still very dangerous. These larger-than- sculptures by using presumed models related to Notre-Dame. An exampl
e is the
life-sized figures had to be taken down at trumeau of Christ, which was replicated using a combination of the Christ
trumeau
heights of at least fifteen to twenty feet. from the Last Judgment portals of Amiens and Chartres.

Medieval World 15 35
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(M[LY[OLÄYL
The fire on 15 April 2019 did
not affect the sculptures of the
west façade. However, the res-
toration provided the occasion
for a team of researchers to study
and document these sculptures.
From autumn of 2021 until sum-
mer of 2024, researchers were able to
conduct photogrammetry surveys that have
been used to create 3D models of the sculp-
tures. The research projects also extended to
the sculptures that had been fragmented away
from the cathedral in other periods. However,
most of these sculptures are housed today in
the Musée de Cluny in Paris or in its reserve.
Many of these sculptures had never been
cleaned, they retain valuable traces of poly-
chromy. A collaboration among the Musée de
Cluny, Centre de recherche et de restauration
des musées de France, and the Laboratoire de
recherche des monuments historiques has al-
lowed these sculptures to be carefully cleaned
and for the layers of polychromy to be ana-
lyzed chemically.
Also recently, through a Villa Albertine
Transatlantic Partnership between the Centre
Chastel, and University of Alabama and with
the support of the Musée de Cluny, 3D photo-
grammetry and scan models of the fragments
from the central Last Judgment portal have
been made. These provide a detailed docu-
mentation of the surface textures, colors, and
the morphologies of the sculptures. Research-
(Top) Sculptures of heads of kings, ers will use these in a digital reconstruction of
Rediscovery of the sculpture
dated to ca. 1220, from statues the central portal. MW
that decorated Notre-Dame and Much of mutilated sculptures of the west façade
were decapitated during the French of Notre-Dame was used as rubble in-fill in oth-
Revolution.
Jennifer M. Feltman is Associate Professor of
er construction projects throughout the city of
© xiquinhosilva / Flickr Medieval Art and Architecture at the Uni-
Paris. In 1839, the first of these fragments were
(Bottom) The author photographing versity of Alabama. Her research focuses on
discovered, leading to the creation in 1843 of
the sculptures of the Last Judg- French Gothic sculpture and architecture, in-
ment portal at Notre-Dame from the the Musée de Cluny. This museum, which still
cluding the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris.
VFDσROGVHWXSGXULQJWKHUHFHQW houses the fragments today, would acquire
UHVWRUDWLRQHσRUWV additional fragments over the years.
© Jennifer M. Feltman Make the stones talk
The head of Saint Paul was found in Medieval sculptures of Notre-Dame
the rubble of another church in 1845, From 19 November 2024 to 16
other fragments came from Viollet-le- March 2024, an exhibit, curated
by Damien Berné of the Musée de
Duc’s restoration. Then in 1977, when
Cluny, will feature many of these
searching for a plumbing leak in the in- works alongside fragments of the
terior courtyard of the Banque Française jubé, or choirscreen, of Notre-Dame
du Commerce extérieur (the old Hôtel that were excavated in 2022 by the
Inrap (Institut national de recherch-
Moreau), 364 blocks of stone sculptures es archéologiques préventives).
from Notre-Dame were discovered.

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36 Medieval World 15
THE GARGOYLES OF NOTRE-DAME By Murray Dahm

THEME: Notre-Dame de Paris

MONSTERS TO WATCH OVER US ALL One of
Notre-Dame's
many gargoyles.
Limestone was
One of the most recognizable features of Gothic architecture, originally used to create
and indeed of Notre-Dame Cathedral, are its many gargoyles – these carvings; unfor-
tunately, this material
monstrous figures carved in stone, usually to decorate a spout is quite susceptible to
weather damage and
by which water was carried away from the roof and the sides of pollution. By the nine-
the building to prevent erosion and water seeping into the stone. teenth century, most of
the original medieval
sculptures were barely

T
recognizable and re-

1600
echnically, a stone-carved mythical others have lumpy, bloated, demon-bodies.
quired replacement.
figure fixed to the walls or roof of a Others have muscular bodies often combined
© Sébastien HOSY /
building is a chimera or grotesque. with animal elements – like the half-man, half-

Paris, FRANCE: ca. 1220 – present

Wikimedia Commons

The gargoyle is a subset with a lion. Although most lack any kind of lower
practical purpose: to drain rainwa- body, some suggest gender and have often
ter. Thus, they are usually placed at the end of been interpreted as projecting sexual energy.
gutters and lean out, away from the buildings Some gloat, laugh, glare, some scream but they
so that the water falls away from the wall. Their all look down on the people and streets of Paris.
name comes from the Old French gorge and Gargoyles often have monstrous forms;
gueule meaning “throat” and “mouth” respec- those on Notre-Dame were conceived as such
tively. Medieval literature sometimes describes but were not only decorative but also symbolic
them as babewyn – from the Italian for baboon. elements. Their 360 degree, all angle view of

1200
Many of the figures on Notre-Dame are Paris may represent the concept of evil and re-
not, in fact, functional gargoyles, but decora- mind the faithful of perils of sin. They may also This famous early
photograph from 1853
tive grotesques. Several were carved in the form be apotropaic in function – their monstrous captures Le Stryge, one
of chimeras, one of the most famous of Notre- forms warding off evil from the building, the of Notre-Dame's most
Dame’s is just such a creature in fact: a mythi- city and its inhabitants. well-known chimeras.
cal beast made of the parts of several animals Many of the gargoyles we see on Notre- 'HVSLWHWKLVðJXUH V
iconic status, it was
– typically a lion with a goat's head protruding Dame today are, in fact, relatively modern, sculpted during the
from its back and a tail ending with a snake's or have modern elements – put in place dur- cathedral's nineteenth-
head and sometimes with a dragon’s wings. ing restaurations between 1843 and 1864. By century restoration.
© Public domain
On the balustrade extending around the that time, many of the original grotesques and
outer circumference of Notre-Dame, fifty-four gargoyles had suffered significant damage
different monsters and demons can be found. due to exposure to the elements and the
Many are identified by creative modern names passage of time. A daguerreotype from
(e.g. ‘the pensive demon’, also called ‘the Vam- ca. 1839 shows an almost unrecognisable
pire’, and ‘the Devourer’) but their original western façade. Some originals (or origi-
significance (and even their names) have been nal elements) do remain in situ, however.
lost. So too, what they may have originally The replacements were carefully carved
been intended to mean symbolically – that is, to reflect the originals and to maintain the
if they originally had any specific meaning. historical integrity of the cathedral.
The actual gargoyles, carved in limestone, Since the 2019 fire, the building’s
were placed both lower and higher than the gargoyles and grotesques (several of
grotesques on the balustrade (depending on the which were lost or damaged in the fire)
height of the rooves and drains). The forms of have come to represent the resilience of
these creatures are varied. Some are birds, in the building, watching over the restora-
masks with eyeholes, or they resemble passer- tion and rebuilding. MW
ines with pointed ears, perched as if they
have just landed. Winged creatures Murray Dahm is the assistant editor of
have the heads of cats and leopards, Ancient Warfare magazine.

!ਡ&QDMBG ਡFHKSਡBNOODQਡ@KKNX
x

RBTKOSTQDਡNEਡ@ਡFQNSDRPTD
EQNLਡSGDਡEHESDDMSGਡBDMSTQX
©ਡ4GDਡ-DSQNONKHS@Mਡ-TRDTLਡNEਡ!Q
S

Medieval World 15 37
MEDIEVAL ARMOUR
2000
WESTERN EUROPE: ca. 1800 – 1990

Tales of medieval knights and chivalry captured the imagination of the Victorians, as in this painting in by Edwin Austin Abbey in Bos-
ton Public Library, which depicts Galahad receiving his spurs from Sir Bors and Sir Lancelot. Both are dressed as Norman knights.

THE LEGACY OF MEDIEVAL ARMOUR By Robert Jones

1600

KNIGHTLY NOSTALGIA
architectural movement and Romanticism
contributed to it. Art and literature used the
medieval period as a backdrop and harkened
back to medieval archetypes, as found in the
With a few exceptions, metal armour largely fell out of work of the novelist Sir Walter Scott.
use in the early modern period. However, its legacy — The presence of a suit of armour in the
hall of the Victorian stately home also be-
both practical and symbolic — remains strong to this day. came a stereotype. The collection and dis-
play of medieval arms and armour was so

T
he development and widespread adoption of increasingly pow- popular that there was a vigorous trade in
erful handguns diminished the usage of armour on the battle- such items on the continent, and a roaring
field. Although the armourer’s art had been good enough to market in the production of fakes.
keep pace with the development of armour-piercing arrows
1200

For some, displaying their collections was

and crossbow bolts, armour that was ‘proofed against shot’, not enough. Tournaments occurred across Eu-
was both expensive and heavy. As a result, full armour was worn by fewer rope and Scandinavia. In a pinnacle of Victo-
and fewer troops. By the eighteenth century, it had all but disappeared. For rian medievalism, Archibald Montgomerie, the
those troops that continued to wear it, the armour was a mark of distinction thirteenth Earl of Eglinton, organised a medieval
and status, much as it had been for the medieval man-at-arms. pageant at his Scottish home, the highlight of
which was a tournament of forty knights dressed
A Victorian revival in armour provided by the dealer Samuel Pratt.
There was a resurgence in interest in all things medi- The event proved remarkably popular, with an
eval in the nineteenth century. The Gothic Revival estimated hundred thousand spectators making
their way to the Ayreshire estate.
A German Maximillian armet, dated to ca. 1510. Dur- In the end, the spectacle turned into some-
ing World War I, the United States army asked the
thing of a farce, with the participants finding the
curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's arms
and armour collection to help design a distinctive single road to and from the tournament field
battle helmet. One of his prototypes was an almost too narrow for them to pass each other. Tor-
direct copy of the armet. rential rain also left many of the pageant’s par-
© The Metropolitan Museum of Art

6HBSNQH@MਡBQ@ESRLDMਡVDQDਡGD@UHKXਡHM
EKTDMBDCਡAXਡ@KKਡSGHMFRਡLDCHDU@Kਡ4GHRਡ
x

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V@RਡBQD@SDCਡHMਡ,HLNFDR ਡ&Q@MBD ਡVGHBGਡ
G@RਡADDMਡ@ਡBDMSQDਡENQਡDM@LDKVNQJਡ
RHMBDਡSGDਡ-HCCKDਡ!FDR
38 Medieval World 15 ©ਡ4GDਡ-DSQNONKHS@Mਡ-TRDTLਡNEਡ!QS
 ਡ3@C@Lਡ(TRRDHMRਡO@Q@
/MDਡNEਡSGDਡGDKLDSRਡTRDCਡAXਡSGDਡ&DC@XDDMਡ3@C@L QSGਡ6@CDQRਡGDKLDSਡEQNLਡ
© Boston Public Library / Flickr

LHKHS@QXਡFT@QCਡ4GDRDਡGDKLDSRਡVDQDਡHMR OHQDCਡNMਡ$@
ਡ'DQL@Mਡ77)ਡ@MCਡ7))ਡ

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3S@Qਡ7@QR ਡVGHBGਡHMਡSTQMਡSNNJਡHMROHQ@SHNMਡEQNMਡSGD G@CਡLDCHDU@KਡNQHFHMRਡ
GDKLDS ਡSG@SਡHSRDKEਡ
©ਡ'DMHਡਡ7HJHLDCH@ਡ#NLLNMR

ticipants stranded by floodwaters. Lampooned This paramilitary guard, formed by Iraqi dicta-
by the press and criticised as extravagant at a tor Sadam Hussein’s son Uday, were issued
time of economic difficulties, the tournament with a helmet based on that of the Star Wars
was nonetheless emblematic of the continued villain Darth Vader. Darth Vader’s helmet in
fascination with a romantic view of the knight turn took its inspiration in part from the Ger-
in shining armour in the nineteenth century. man stahlhelms of World Wars I and World
War II, which in turn, as we have seen, were
Armour for the Great War inspired by the fifteenth-century sallet.
The experience of trench warfare in World War In an added twist the Iraqi helmet – based
I, where head wounds from rifle fire and shrap- on the design of a piece of sci-fi costume, that
nel were far more prevalent than they had been was based on a practical piece of modern mili-
in the wars of the nineteenth century, caused tary equipment, in turn based on a practical (Top) A 1906 painting by Édouard
all nations to look again at armour. The French Detaille showing the death of
medieval helm – was made of plastic, offering Henry II during a tournament.
general Louis August Adrian championed a hel- little protection itself, and so was, to all intents Detaille's romantic paintings from
met that was based on that worn by the firemen and purposes, as much a theatrical prop as the history inspired French military
!ਡਡO@SSDQMਡ'DQL@Mਡ – the sapeur-pompi- Sith Lord’s iconic headgear. MW leaders during World War One.
RS@GKGDKLਡ4GDRDਡGDKLDSRਡ er – consciously re- © Public domain
VDQDਡCDUDKNODCਡAXਡ$Qਡ
&QHDCDQHBJਡ3BGVDQC ਡVGNਡ calling France’s glo- (Bottom) A view of the lists that
x

Robert Jones is a Visiting Scholar in History

V@RਡHMROHQDCਡAXਡSGDਡLD rious military past as were set up for the tournament
CHDU@KਡR@KKDS at Franklin and Marshall College, PA, and held by the Early of Eglinton at his
©ਡ!TBJK@MCਡ7@Qਡ-DLN
recorded in the work
Alumni Association Coordinator and Tutor at Scottish estate in 1839.
QH@Kਡ-TRDTL of the artist Édourad
Advanced Studies in England. ĝ5RJHU*ULτWK:LNLPHGLD&RPPRQV
Detaille.
The English re-
sponse was a little more
practical: the ‘Brodie’ helmet,
named for its inventor, was designed
for the simplicity of its manufacture as
much as its ability to protect. Its similarity
to the medieval iron hat, or chapel de fer,
was really a case of parallel evolution.
In Germany and America, however, there
was a conscious decision to go back to me-
dieval archetypes. Dr. Friedrich Schwerd, the
engineer who designed the German stahlhelm
with its distinctive ‘coal scuttle’ shape, was in-
spired by the medieval sallet, whilst the Curator
of Arms and Armour at the Metropolitan Mu-
seum of Art, Dr. Bashford Dean, conducted a
close study of surviving examples of medieval
helmets as the basis for a series of designs put
forward to the US army, the prototypes
for which were built by the museum’s ar-
mour shop. His ‘Model Seven, Sentinel’s
Helmet’, for example, was an almost di-
rect copy of the armet, but proved too
heavy for practical use on
the Western Front.

Back to the future?

Perhaps one of the most bizarre
examples of medieval armour influ-
encing modern warfare is that of the
helmets of the Fedayeen Sadam.

4GNTFGਡHSਡ@OOD@QRਡLDCHDU@K ਡSGHRਡ
AQD@RSOK@SD ਡBNLOKDSDਡVHSGਡK@MBDਡ
QDRS ਡV@RਡBQD@SDCਡHMਡSGDਡMHMD
x

SDDMSGਡBDMSTQXਡ4GDਡ6HBSNQH@Mਡ
BQ@YDਡENQਡBNKKDBSHMFਡLDCHDU@Kਡ
LHKHS@QH@ਡ@KRNਡF@UDਡQHRDਡSNਡ@ਡ
K@QFDਡMTLADQਡNEਡE@JDRਡ
©ਡ4GDਡ-DSQNONKHS@Mਡ-TRDTLਡNEਡ!QS Medieval World 15 39
MIGHTY MEDIEVAL WOMEN
1600
AUSTRIA: 1378 – 1425

The ruins of Engelsburg Castle above Thann. Built in 1224 by Count Frederick II of Ferette, it was one of Catherine's favorite residences.

AN EXCEPTION TO THE RULE? By Susan Abernethy

1200

CATHERINE OF BURGUNDY Catherine and Duke Leopold IV’s rela-

tionship was reportedly a good one, although
they were childless. He treated her with kind-
ness, and even allowed her to keep her dow-
There are many exceptional women in medieval history,
ry. When her father did not pay her dowry as
but Catherine of Burgundy (ca. 1378–1425), Duchess of planned, Leopold transferred the country of
Austria, appears to be remarkable for several reasons. Ferrette to her in lieu of the missing payments.

The daughter of Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy,

Balancing duties
Catherine was so charismatic and persuasive, she As governor of Alsace, Catherine preferred to
carved out a mini empire for herself. In addition, live in her favorite castles of Ensisheim and
800

Thann. She carved out a role as a diplomat,

she made a secret marriage against all the odds.
or on behalf of other diplomats, in the ser-
vice of her brother John the Fearless, and af-

B
orn ca. 1378, Catherine was the second daugh- ter his death, her nephew Philip the Good.
ter of Philip the Bold and his wife, Margaret III,
Her brother-in-law Frederick sought to dis-
Countess of Flanders. Philip had a deliberate
place Catherine as the governor of Ferrette,
strategy of making politically astute marriage al-
causing her difficulties.
liances for his daughters and other female rela-
The stress of the complications in Aus-
tives. Not long after Catherine’s birth, her father espoused
tria caused Duke Leopold to die an untimely
her to Leopold, the son of Duke Leopold III of Austria. They
death in 1411, leaving Catherine a widow
deferred the marriage until 1387, and her parents delayed
and dependent on her brother and later her
her departure to Austria until late 1393.
nephew to maintain her position. Frederick
400

impounded her jewelry and seized all of her

A statue of Catherine of Burgundy in the guise of a female
mourner from the mausoleum of Isabella de Bourbon, which was castles except for Belfort and Rougemont,
built in Brussels between 1475-1476, but destroyed in 1566. both of which were garrisoned by John the
ĝ=ELJQLHZ'ROLŃVNL:DUVDZ0XVHXP

40 Medieval World 15
© Florival fr / Wikimedia Commons

Fearless. Following a detente between Fred- cess to great power. Catherine found
erick and Catherine’s brother, she continued Smassmann an indispensable servant;
her diplomatic efforts and wielded power in perhaps she even found him dashing
the Upper Rhine in her own right. Early in and fell in love with him. They forged
her reign, she established a parallel structure to an alliance and conquered several
the existing administration which allowed her fortresses, sharing in the spoils.
brother and her nephew to exploit her presence Catherine’s brother-in-law, Duke
in the Holy Roman Empire to pursue an expan- Frederick, feared Smassmann and
sionist military policy in the region. formed a plan to use him to push
As with any ruler in the fifteenth cen- Catherine out of Alsace with an of-
tury, Catherine needed to cultivate mem- fer to return his family property. Fol-
bers of the nobility to maintain control and lowing a brokered peace between all
exercise authority. Known for being con- parties in June 1412, Frederick sent
tentious, she struggled with balancing rela- Smassmann to the court of the duke
tions between various parties, including the of Burgundy and to the king of France
nobles of her domain, those in Austria, her with the mission to secure Catherine’s
brother-in-law, Frederick, and her own estates after her death. This portrait of Catherine of
family. A certain Austrian nobleman But Smassmann looked out for his own Burgundy was created by the
4GHRਡBNHMਡEQNLਡ entered her orbit, of- interests, acting as Catherine’s man of confi- Flemish painter Anton Boys in the
0GHKHOਡSGDਡ sixteenth century.
"NKC ਡC@SDCਡ fering his dedicated dence, diplomat, and business manager. More
© Public domain
ADSVDDMਡਡ service, Maximilian and more, she relied on Smassmann to look out
x

@MCਡ ਡRGNVRਡ Smaßmann (Smass- for her affairs. The duke and duchess of Bur-
@ਡCNTAKDਡGDKLDS
©ਡ"M& mann) von Rappolt- gundy viewed Smassmann as the lynchpin who
stein. Smassmann belonged to the impe- kept Burgundy’s holdings in Alsace incorporat-
rial nobility and worked several times for ed. He served as Catherine’s right-hand man in
the dukes of Austria as bailiff in Alsace. her efforts to gain control of High-Alsace for the
benefit of the Burgundian dynasty and pursued
A new companion a plan to marry Catherine.
One of the most powerful lords in Alsace,
Smassmann was pleasant, elegant, handsome County of Ferrette
and of manly strength in his early thirties. As The County of Ferrette (or Pfirt) was a feudal
early as 1399, Catherine’s father had lured jurisdiction in the Middle Ages in Alsace,
Smassmann to his court, giving him the posi- roughly corresponding with the Sundgau
tion of cupbearer; he later worked for John the and comprising the lordships of the non-
Fearless as a chamberlain. contiguous territories of Ferrette, Altkirch,
Early in her reign as the duchess of Aus- Thann, Belfort, Rougemont, among oth-
tria, Smassmann contacted her, offering his ers. The county bordered territories of the
services to defend her against all enemies. dukes of Burgundy. During the reigns of
By 1407, Catherine had widened her powers the four Valois dukes, they attempted to
in her domain and been granted the right to annex Ferrette. Strategically located, Fer-
nominate and appoint Austrian civil servants rette switched hands between France and
in Alsace, Sundgau, and Brisgau. Soon after, Austria during the Middle Ages.
John the Fearless gave his marshal the order The county was established in the
to help Smassmann whenever he requested it. eleventh century. By the early fourteenth
Following Duke Leopold’s death, century, it was acquired by Austria through
Smassmann approached Catherine regard- the marriage of Jeanne, Countess of Ferrette,
ing an alliance, perhaps even a marriage, A drawing of the Castle of Ferrette
with Albert II, Duke of Austria. It then came by Daniel Specklin, created in 1589.
which would allow Smassmann to gain ac- under Catherine of Burgundy’s control fol- © Mathias Greuter / Wikimedia Commons

lowing her marriage to Duke Leopold

IV. The officers of Ferrette paid homage
to Catherine in February 1404. Ferrette
was officially ceded to France in the
Peace of Westphalia of 1648.

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©ਡ"@CHRBGDਡ,@
MCDRAHAKHNSGDJ ਡ#NCਡ3Sਡ'DNQFDMਡ ਡENKRਡU Q

Medieval World 15 41
 This Milanese Surprising news Smassmann in everything he asked of them
ivory mirror cover in the duchess's name. War broke out, but
of ca. 1410 shows
In the summer of 1414, war ap-
peared to be eminent when Duke Smassmann avoided pitched battle and the
two lovers with a
scroll that bears the Frederick received intelligence that Council of Basel concluded a truce that would
the letters PRENES. Smassmann had assembled 160 horse- last until June 1415. During the interim, they
This presumably refers to would negotiate a permanent peace.
the French motto "Prenez en gre le
men and prepared to use military force to re-
gain Catherine’s castle of Ensisheim, chase As early as February 1415, John the Fear-
don de votre amant" ("Take kindly
the gift of your lover"). away Frederick, and restore Catherine to her less received a letter from Duke Frederick with
© The Walters Art Museum
Alsatian possessions. some surprising news. Catherine had married
In November 1414, Catherine ordered Smassmann, dishonoring the House of Habs-
her officials, towns and subjects to obey burg. To prevent Austrian ties from falling into
foreign hands [meaning Smassmann], Freder-
ick occupied Catherine’s possessions and de-

© Patrick / Flickr
manded the duke of Burgundy apologize for
this hasty act on Catherine’s part.
If Catherine’s brother had known Cathe-
rine intended to marry, surely, he would have
argued regarding his rights to have a say in her
union. Upon being informed, John the Fear-
less made no moves to dissolve the union,
only urging Catherine’s return to Burgundy.
Either he did not believe that it was a valid
marriage or accepted it as the status quo.
The marriage could not have taken place
after November 1415, based on documents
showing Catherine gave Smassmann full pow-
ers in her name. Other than the Rappoltstein
family register, there is no direct evidence of
the marriage.

A dissolved marriage
Catherine departed for Dijon, and it appears
View of the main portal in the chapel where the tombs of Philip the Bold and John the the couple drifted apart. Catherine’s cause in
Fearless once stood. The sculptures show the kneeling donors before the Virgin Mary Alsace seemed lost and peace negotiations
with the Christ Child: on the left is Philip the Bold and his intercessory saint, John the
were ongoing. Holy Roman Emperor Sigis-
Baptist. On the right Margaret III is shown together with Saint Catherine.
mund ordered the towns once belonging to
The Chartreuse de Champmol Catherine to pledge obedience to Frederick
Upon her death, Catherine of Burgundy was buried at the famous Carthusian of Austria. Catherine lacked the necessary
monastery of the Chartreuse de Champmol, which was situated on the outskirts funds and any military backing. Smassmann
of Dijon, just outside the city walls. A royal project from the outset and intended would be forced to go up against the duke of
to serve as a mausoleum for the Valois Dukes of Burgundy, the Chartreuse was Austria’s determined resistance, as well as the
the ambitious commission of Duke Philip the Bold, Catherine’s father. opposition of the duke of Burgundy. Frederick
He founded the monastery in 1383. It was consecrated in 1388 and housed feared Smassmann would become a danger-
twenty-four choir monks. In time, key royal individuals were buried in the monas- ous rival and possibly defeat him in the future.
tery, including Philip the Bold, John the Fearless, and Margaret of Bavaria, among Smassmann capitulated. In a draft letter
others. Catherine’s burial at this monastery thus had a familial connection. from Smassmann addressed to ‘Claus,’
In addition to its impressive architecture and sculptural works – in- possibly Claus of Rosenfeld, a lord
cluding two major projects by the Flemish sculptor Claus Sluter (the who played a major role in the
church portal sculptures and the Well of Moses) – the Chartreuse de negotiations between Cath-
Champmol also amassed a vast collection of icons, paintings, and erine and Frederick, Smass-
religious objects in various media. Some were gifted to the monas- mann urged Catherine to
tery while others were produced in local workshops that fostered appoint an ecclesiastical
talented artists and craftsmen from France and norther Europe. judge before whom they

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x

"@MBਡCNDTUQDਡHMਡSGDਡ#G@Q
SQDTRDਡCDਡ#G@LOLNK
©ਡ-@QBਡ"@QNMMDSਡਡ7HJHLDCH@ਡ#NLLNMR

42 Medieval World 15
 The ruins of Ulrichsburg in
Alsace, France. This was one of
the three castles belonging to
the Rappoltstein family.
© Gzen92 / Wikimedia Commons

4GHRਡQDKHDEਡNMਡSGDਡ3Sਡ
'DNQFRAQTBJDਡHMਡ%RBGA@BGਡ summated. The bishop gave both parties a An artist's rendition of how Cath-
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ED@STQDRਡSGDਡBN@SਡNEਡ@QLRਡNEਡ certificate, allowing them to marry again. Al- erine of Burgundy may have ap-
SGDਡ,NQCRਡNEਡ2@OONKSRSDHM ਡVGNਡ peared during her lifetime.
QTKDCਡSGDਡQDFHNMਡEQNLਡਡ though there is no existing document with the © Julia Lillo
©ਡ!MCQD@Rਡ3BGV@QYJNOEਡਡਡ bishop’s final judgment, all parties agreed the
7HJHLDCH@ਡ#NLLNMR
matter was over. Smassmann outlived Cath-
could appear together. Al- erine, dying in 1451.
though this letter is undated,
an educated guess would Weary but powerful
place it sometime in 1418 By now, a weary Catherine perhaps regret-
or 1419, perhaps around the ted her decision to renounce her relationship
time of the assassination of John the Fearless, with Smassmann. In a dire position finan-
an act by which Smassmann lost his feudal cially, she longed for peace. She died on 24
lord in Burgundy. In the letter, Smassmann of- January 1425, at Gray, Haute-Saône in the
fered to sign a renouncement document, giv- region of Franche-Comté.
ing both himself and Catherine the ability to Many of the Burgundian women gov-
enter another match. erned in the name of their husbands during
There was no response from the Burgundi- their absences from court. In Catherine’s case,
an side until early 1420, when Alsace claimed she not only ruled for her husband and her
the attention of Philip the Good in the after- brother, but she also took the initiative and
math of his father’s murder. Philip opposed his ruled on her own behalf in certain limited cir-
aunt’s union with Smassmann. During a meet- cumstances and stood up to powerful men:
ing on 18 March, they drew up a document her brother-in-law, Duke Frederick IV of Aus-
made public by the plenipotentiaries, stating tria, her brother John the Fearless, Duke of
Catherine only committed herself to Smass- Burgundy, as well as the powerful Rappol-
mann temporarily, giving her vow stating it was tstein family of her chosen partner. MW
conditional upon the agreement of her brother.
Smassmann chose Charles of Poitiers, Susan Abernethy has been the author of
Bishop of Langres, as an ecclesiastical judge The Freelance History Writer blog since
to decide whether a marriage had 2012, and her first book will be
been contracted, held and con- published in April 2025.
x

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"TQFTMCX ਡC@SHMFਡSNਡMR NLLN
©ਡ0@TR@MH@Rਡਡ7HJHLDCH@ਡ#

Medieval World 15 43
MYTHS & LEGENDS

Hyujeong stoically sur-

veys the carnage after
seizing Moranbong Hill
from the Japanese.
© Marek Szyszko
1600
1200
NORTHEAST ASIA: 500 – 1600
800400

44 Medieval World 15
 ers reach enlightenment. The former, then, was cen-
569;/,(:;(:0(»:-0./;05.4652: tered on the individual’s journey while the latter seems

RIGHTEOUS
geared to the larger community of humankind.
For reasons that are still hotly debated among schol-
ars of religion around the world, Mahayana Buddhism
found greater acceptance in China than did Therevada.
Han Dynasty China provided the vehicle for transmission
to Korea’s three kingdoms – Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla
– all of which adopted the new religion. Baekje, in turn,
introduced Mahayana Buddhism to Japan, which built its
first temple, Hoko-ji, in its capital city Nara in 588.
Yet, within this major division of Buddhism, mul-
tiple sects emerged in Northeast Asia over the next
millennium, several of which would have a profound
As darkness fell on 6 February 1593, a sin- impact on the history of the region. In China, thirteen
NSL ÄN\YL Z\Y]L`LK H ZJLUL VM PUJYLKPISL JHY- major sects and many sub-sects developed. In Korea,
eleven sects arose, and in Japan, ten. All three peoples
nage. Bald and clad in grey robes and holding shared significant numbers of adherents to the late de-
wooden prayer beads of his order, he stepped veloping Chan Sect, called Seon in Korea, and Zen in
Japan. By the time of Japan’s invasion of Korea in 1592,
carefully over and between dead and dy-
most of the Buddhist soldiers in Hideyoshi’s invading
PUN 1HWHULZL *OPULZL HUK 2VYLHUZ >P[O army were adherents of Zen.
Zen, while sharing most of the teachings in com-
mixed emotions, Hyujeong – a Buddhist monk
mon with other Mahayana sects, emphasized the val-
of the Seon sect – surveyed the success he ue of repetitive physical actions to achieve a state of
and his 4,200 brothers had achieved on this meditation desirable for those on the path to enlight-
enment. That the practice of martial arts involved re-
MYVaLU YVJR 2L` [V [OL KLMLUZL VM 7`LVUN- petitive movements designed to instill muscle memory
`HUN 4VYHUIVUN /PSS ^HZ VUJL HNHPU PU 2V- and thus instinctive responses in its practitioners made
it wonderfully compatible. Interestingly, this sub-sect
YLHUOHUKZ(ÄYZ[ISVVK`Z[LW[V^HYKSPILYH[- of Mahayana Buddhism produced the vast majority of
ing all of Joseon from the Japanese invaders. Northeast Asia’s warrior monks.

*OPUH»ZÄNO[PUNTVURZ
By M. G. Haynes Made famous in modern Kung-Fu movies, the fighting
monks of the Shaolin Monastery in Henan Province,
China, were no exception. The Shaolin Temple prac-
tices Chan (Zen) Buddhism and has since its founding
in 477 AD. The monks of Shaolin, as every Kung-Fu
enthusiast knows, pair a disciplined monastic lifestyle

B
uddhism itself originated in India in the fourth to with the practice of martial arts, leading to truly amaz-
fifth century BC. Introduced to Han Dynasty Chi- ing fighters that have gone down in real – and cinemat-
na in the third century, Buddhism was prevalent ic – legend. Shaolin staff-fighting techniques were, and
across that empire by the year 50 AD. Over the are, especially revered.
next 500 years, the religion flourished, becoming The monastic lifestyle encouraged by the Shaolin
widespread through multiple Chinese dynastic cycles, mak- Temple resulted in itinerant monks wandering the coun-
ing its way to Korea in 372 AD and then to Japan in 552 AD. tryside, teaching, proselytizing, and in general, doing
what they could to relieve the suffering of the downtrod-
Buddhism in Northeast Asia den. In this way, the Shaolin monk saw his role in soci-
At this point in history, Buddhism was divided into many ety as defending the poor and the dispossessed; in short,
sects and off-shoots, but the main branches were Therevada those experiencing difficulty in this life-cycle.
and Mahayana. The Therevada school generally sought to Thus, while the individual monk might be called
help a practitioner reach enlightenment through meditation upon to use his highly developed fighting skills in the
and the recitation of scriptures. The Mahayana school sought defense of a local cause, it was rare for Shaolin Monas-
to free practitioners from human suffering and to help oth- tery to raise an organized force of fighting monks and

Medieval World 15 45
 employ them in battle. That said, this did happen on several Korea’s Buddhist temples saw it as their duty to ward off
occasions. The first was in 610 when the monks banded to- natural disasters, protect the kingdom from foreign invaders,
gether to ward off the privations of a particularly vicious group and bring good fortune to the people. Yet, nowhere would this
of bandits intent upon sacking the temple. The second hap- be put to the test more than during the Imjin War, Japan’s inva-
pened at the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, when a rival sion of Korea, 1592–1598. Despite Joseon royal disapproval of
sought to destroy Shaolin and so the monks joined the Tang Buddhist efforts – to include a 1416 official registration system
more-or-less en masse in order to defend once again their way for monks that greatly discouraged the growth of that popula-
of life. Finally, in 1553 the monks of Shaolin were called upon tion – once King Seonjo was forced to flee his capital, he was
several times to deal with marauding Japanese pirates. Despite desperate for help wherever it might be offered.
repeated successes during the campaign, Shaolin Monastery Seonjo sent for Hyujeong, an influential Seon (Zen)
reportedly lost interest in battles and war when its men were master, begging for his assistance. Hyujeong responded by
squandered by an incompetent Ming commander. essentially calling up Joseon’s repressed monks for military
As such, the legacy left by the fighting monks of China service. This call to arms would eventually lead to Hyujeong
was the enduring image of the itinerant monk, wandering himself – 70 years old by this time – leading a force of 5,000
the world within which he lived. These men lived hard, dis- armed, disciplined, and very dangerous warrior monks.
ciplined lives and generally sought the betterment of those More than that, monks everywhere up and down the penin-
they encountered, especially those less fortunate. sula took up arms and formed “Righteous Armies”, a generic
term for Joseon guerrilla bands that seems more appropriate,
Korea’s warrior monks somehow, when applied to these armed clergy.
Buddhism in Korea, despite being accepted by all three At Pyeongyang in February 1593, Hyujeong’s monks
kingdoms at the time of introduction, had its ups and took the dominant terrain of Moranbong Hill, the northern
downs. The “new” religion flourished throughout Korea’s key to the city’s extensive walls. This followed gritty, hand-
turbulent Three Kingdoms period (57 BC – 668 AD) and to-hand combat between the monks and the Japanese troops
then during the Unified Silla (668–935) and Goryeo (918– hardened by a lifetime spent fighting during Japan’s Warring
1392) periods. Things became more complicated, how- States period. It took the monks two full days to clear the
ever, when the Kingdom of Goryeo was replaced by the hill, but their hard-won victory boosted the morale of the
Kingdom of Joseon (1392–1897). In Korea, the spread of Ming-Joseon army assaulting the city below. The surviving
Seon (Zen) Buddhism coincided with the decline of the Japanese troops evacuated the city the following night.
Unified Silla period, and the sect served to legitimize both As the war moved south with the retreating invaders,
that state and the Goryeo, which followed. Hyujeong realized he was too old to fight. He passed leader-
The rising Yi Dynasty of Joseon – dependent upon a ship of his army of monks to Yujeong, one of his students. Yu-
Confucian class of scholar and bureaucrat that competed jeong would fearlessly lead his righteous army in the tough
with the temples and many clergy across the kingdom – be- sieges of Ulsan and Suncheon Castles in 1598.
gan to persecute adherents of Buddhism. This resulted in a No fewer than three times in the next two months,
sharp decline in the number of monasteries from several large bands of warrior monks successfully attacked Japanese
hundred to a mere thirty-six. Nonetheless, Korea’s monks troops, forcing them to withdraw back into Seoul, isolating
stepped into the spotlight at various times of crisis. the occupied capital. The beleaguered defenders of Haengju
While little is written about the activities of warrior Fortress – just 2,300 strong – included 600 monks and
monks in general prior to the Joseon period, one can assume wreaked absolute havoc upon 30,000 attacking Japanese in
a wider role based on these sporadic appearances. These March of 1593. Again and again throughout the course of
noteworthy activities begin with the rise of Jurchen power in the well-documented Imjin War, Korea’s monks were in the
Manchuria and continue through nine Mongol invasions of thick of the fighting, contributing in no small way to the ulti-
Korea, a time of incredible suffering for the Korean people. mate Japanese defeat and withdrawal in 1598.
In 1135, the monk Myo Cheong led a rebellion against Yet, like the monks of Shaolin, once the war was over,
King Injong of Goryeo, as a protest against what he consid- one never hears of Korea’s warrior monks again. They
ered to be soft policy in dealing with the newly established achieved their goal, defended the kingdom and its peo-
Jin (Jurchen) Empire. He briefly established the state of Dae- ple with incredible, often unstoppable violence, and then
wi at Pyeongyang and his rebellion had to be put down with returned to their monastic way of life. However, there is a
government troops the following year. noticeable increase in the scale of monk-related military
In 1232, at the Battle of Cheoin, 100 Korean monks ap- activities between the Chinese and Korean experiences. But
pear within the fortress walls, ready to fight. One of their neither compares to that of Japan’s martial orders.
number, Kim Yun-hu, shot and killed Saritai, the Mongol
commander of the entire invasion force. A single arrow, Japan’s militant clergy
loosed by a Korean monk, resulted in peace talks and the Among the nations of Northeast Asia, Japan received Bud-
withdrawal of Mongol forces from the peninsula. dhism last, owing to its location farthest to the east from the

46 Medieval World 15
epicenter in India. That said, and despite many different sects Following Nobunaga’s betrayal and ritual suicide,
finding homes in the archipelago, the tenets of Zen would Toyotomi Hideyoshi picked up the mantel of his mas-
come to resonate most, it seems, with the growing samurai ter’s drive for national unification. Once establishing
class. While never more than ten percent of the population, his legitimacy, Hideyoshi immediately turned his atten-
the samurai were, nonetheless, the armed portion of the tion to cleaning up remaining sohei elements, attacking
populace and, as such, exercised a great deal of power. That the monastery at Negoro-ji, and burning the temple to
said, it was not from Zen factions that you see the emergence the ground in 1585. He then took Ota Castle, where
of warrior monks and militant clergy in Japanese history. many of Negoro-ji’s sohei had retreated.
From the Heian Period (794–1185) onward, one finds In 1588, Hideyoshi ordered a “sword hunt” in-
mention of Japanese Buddhist orders creating armies of So- tended to remove the means by which peasants and
hei, or armed clergy, in order to defend fortified temples the clergy might challenge his authority, making it
and, when necessary, enforce their desires upon a weak even harder for monastic orders to build and main-
central government. This growth in temple armies, how- tain military forces. By the time of Hideyoshi’s death
ever, coincided with a general increase in the number of in 1598, none of Japan’s long-standing militant orders
warriors across the empire – and the establishment of ruling still retained significant martial power. The era of Ja-
military governments headed by Shoguns – leading to ever pan’s militant clergy had finally passed.
more friction with secular authorities. Japan’s experience with martial clergy was quite
The Heian period was dominated by the influence different than that of its neighbors. Its fortified monas-
wielded by Japan’s Buddhist sects, interesting since one of teries were actively involved in national-level politics
the primary reasons to move the capital from Nara to Kyoto to a degree rarely seen in Korea or China. As well, the
in 784 was to escape the impact of the local powerful tem- tendency to not only employ trained clergy as war-
ples. The Tendai sect established Enryaku-ji on Mount Hiei riors but to hire or recruit laymen – even mercenar-
as early as 788, within easy marching distance of the impe- ies – into the armies of sohei marked a very different
rial palace at Kyoto. At the height of its power, Enryaku-ji variation on the theme. Finally, the scale of Japan’s
controlled over 3,000 sub-temples and wielded a formida- monastic armies dwarfed even the nationwide call-up
ble army of sohei, against other sects or, just as often, as a of Korean monks during the Imjin War, making it by
demonstration of monastic political desires to the Imperial far the largest example of the phenomenon.
family or ruling shogunate. More to the point, perhaps, one never gets the
At the end of the Genpei War (1180–1185), fought sense that Japan’s sohei were fighting for anything
primarily over imperial succession between two branches more righteous than the orders of their monastic supe-
of the ruling line, temples such as Mii-dera in Nara were riors. In effect, then, the warrior monks of Japan come
burned for their adherents’ enthusiastic participation in the across looking very much like the samurai with whom
conflict. In fact, many of the temples that had dispatched they were fighting, in terms of discipline, military acu-
troops were similarly handled in the aftermath as the mo- men, and sense of duty. Appropriate, perhaps, since
nastic orders suffered the wrath of the Minamoto family, their usual adversaries in the samurai class had gen-
victors of the bloody civil war. erally gravitated toward Zen Buddhism themselves,
But even as powerful as Enryaku-ji might appear, it was hoping to achieve both the spiritual and martial ben-
nothing compared with what would follow during Japan’s efits associated with that sect.
Sengoku Jidai, its “Warring States” period. More militant tem-
ples emerged across the country than can easily be reflected Conclusion
here, but suffice it to say that by the time Oda Nobunaga com- Although the itinerant Buddhist monk remains the
menced his campaign of national unification in 1568, he con- persistent image in all three countries – China, Ko-
sidered these monastic armies a serious threat to that effort. rea, and Japan – it is clear that holy men who feared
Nobunaga finally ended the reign of Japan’s most in- neither death nor torture made rather exceptional sol-
fluential monastic army in 1571 with a successful assault diers. As such, the existence of warrior monks among
upon Enryaku-ji, killing everyone found there and destroying the various Buddhist sects of Northeast Asia remains
all the religious iconography. In a series of bloody military an interesting study in human behavior. A religion that
campaigns from 1570 to 1580, Nobunaga destroyed the abhors the shedding of blood – even animal blood –
Ikko-Ikki, a powerful coalition of Buddhist Jodo Shinshu sect created over the course of 800 years some of the most
sohei and peasants opposed to samurai rule. Nobunaga be- formidable fighters the region has ever seen. Right-
sieged Nagashima three times, losing countless men fighting eous indignation, indeed. MW
the Ikko-Ikki there, before finally succeeding in 1574. This
led to success at the Ikko-Ikki’s primary fortress at Ishiyama M. G. Haynes is a long-time soldier, historian, and
Honganji in Osaka in 1580, bringing an end to an amazing author of historical fiction with degrees in military
ten-year siege of that seaside bastion. history and Asian studies.
SPECIAL
1600
CASTILE AND GRANADA: 1300 – 1500

7KHIDÍDGHRIWKHðIWHHQWKFHQWXU\3DODFHRI(O,QIDQWDGRLQ*XDGDODMDUDEXLOWIRUWKHVHFRQGGXNH ŅLJR/ʼnSH]GH0HQGR]D\/XQD
showing the coat of arms of the Mendoza family between two wild men.

HERALDRY, HISTORY, AND PROPAGANDA By Mark Lewis

THE SIGN OF THE CID

tleground and tourney field, toward a formal-
1200

ized system for the display of hereditary status,

essential to the pomp and splendour of the
noble class. In a time when temporal author-
,QWKHIRXUWHHQWKDQGðIWHHQWKFHQWXULHVWKH0HQGR]D ity descended by ancestral right, heraldry was
family rose from an obscure clan on the Basque fron- also the visual expression of politics. Donning a
new device, as Edward III of England did in pur-
tier to the pinnacle of Spanish nobility. As the wealth
suit of the French crown, was a claim to power
and power of the Mendozas grew, so too did the pres- and prestige, whether real or pretended.
tige of their purported bloodline. In prose and verse,
KDJLRJUDSKHUV DτUPHG WKH IDPLO\âV GHVFHQW IURP History and legend
Just as the art of heraldry colours our view of the
Spain’s greatest champion, the eleventh-century war- Middle Ages, so too did it shape how medieval
800

lord Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, known as El Cid. The proof Europeans imagined their own past. Historical
rulers were presumed to have been armiger-
of this claim was plain for all to see: the heraldry of the
ous, and the great battles of Antiquity were il-
Mendozas displayed the very arms of the Cid himself. lustrated as clashes between mounted knights,
complete with armorial shields and surcoats.

T
he medieval knight, bedecked in his Heraldic devices, no matter how anachronistic,
heraldic finery, is one of the most en- were ideal for identifying key figures. For ex-
during images in European history. ample, Charlemagne can often be recognized
After its emergence in the twelfth by his divided arms, showing the French lilies
century, heraldry evolved from the and the German eagle, symbolizing his role as
customary use of personal insignia on the bat- a founding father of both nations.
Chivalric literature, such as the popular
400

The coat of arms of María de Mendoza y

Arthurian romances, likewise reflected the
Figueroa, countess of Molares, from La Cartuja contemporary mores of their aristocratic au-
Monastery in Seville. dience, and its protagonists were portrayed
© Jl FilpoC / Wikimedia Commons

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48 Medieval World 15
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accordingly. The devices attributed to count- combined arms of

less knights of the Round Table are compiled both families, quar-
in later rolls-of-arms, as diligently as those of tered diagonally, or
the great and the good of the land. The Iberian per saltire. Upon
kingdoms had their own cast of literary heroes, his untimely death
first among them Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, whose a decade later, the
semi-historical deeds are recounted in the admiral was reput-
Cantar de mio Cid. This epic poem, composed edly the richest man in the kingdom.
The autograph signature of El Cid,
around 1200, does not attribute any insignia to Through deft politicking, the admiral’s heir, ego Ruderico, appears on the re-
Rodrigo Díaz, but this lacuna would be filled Íñigo López (1398–1458), defended his family’s cord of a donation he made to the
in Castilian chronicles a century later: the sign position during the turbulent reign of Juan II. In cathedral of Valencia in 1098.
© Public domain
of the Cid was a plain green field. 1445, timely support for the king earned him
!KAQDBGSਡ$TQDQRਡONQSQ@HSਡNEਡ promotion as the first marquis of Santillana.
#G@QKDL@FMDਡB@ਡ ਡHMਡ
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While his military resources made him indis-

SGDਡQDF@KH@ਡNEਡSGDਡ(NKXਡ2NL@Mਡ
%LOHQDਡ@MCਡVHSGਡGHRਡ@SSQHATSDCਡ pensable, the marquis is remembered as a poet
BN@SRਡNEਡ@QLRਡ and humanist rather than as a soldier. After his
©ਡ0HQJGDHLDQਡਡ7HJHLDCH@ਡ#NLLNMR
passing, writers from the marquis’ circle began
Arms of a single colour were to aggrandize his reputation by associating him
borne in Arthur’s time by the with El Cid, fuelling an emerging mythology The Altarpiece of the Gozos de
worthiest knights, according to around his now preeminent family. Santa María by Jorge Ingles, created
Geoffrey of Monmouth, but they Like other noble houses, the Mendozas LQVKRZV,ŅLJR/ʼnSH]GH0HQ-
were rare in reality. Sir Tristan’s doza, Marquis of Santillana, kneeling
originally traced their lineage to the legend-
in prayer before the Virgin and Child.
father, King Meliodas, was also ary Judges of Castile, making them collateral © Museo del Prado
said to bear an all-green shield,
and Black, Red, and Green
Knights are recurring charac-
ters, whose modern incarna-
tions on the silver screen have
accosted Graham Chapman,
Robin Williams, and Dev
Patel. From such inspiration
apparently came the knight
in green – a Spaniard, no less – inserted in ac-
counts of Saladin’s siege of Tyre in 1187. In the
case of El Cid, two variations on this simple
theme later emerged. The monks of Cardeña,
who tended the champion’s tomb, added to
his heraldry a border of gold chain. But far
better known is the blazon of a red bend, or
diagonal stripe, worn by the Mendozas.

The House of Mendoza

The Mendozas originated from the Basque
province of Álava, absorbed by Castile in
the fourteenth century. In the civil war of
1351–1369, the family ultimately sided
with the usurper, Enrique de Trastámara,
and their loyalty to the new dynasty brought
the family court offices, desirable marriages,
and high titles. In 1394, Diego Hurtado de
Mendoza, the admiral of Castile, wed the
sole heiress of the ancient house of Lasso de
la Vega. His descendants thereafter bore the

Medieval World 15 49
 descendants of Rodrigo Díaz. However, as and a churchman: Pedro González de Men-
reported by Santillana’s contemporary, the doza (1428–95), the “Great Cardinal.”
historian Fernán Pérez de Guzmán, this fam- Like his acquaintance Rodrigo Borgia,
ily lore shifted to a claim of direct ancestry. Pedro González was a worldly cleric who
Two elegies for the marquis, composed by commanded troops in battle and fathered a
his secretary and nephew, cemented this ver- number of illegitimate children. From his be-
sion even further. Their allegorical verses de- ginnings as a royal chaplain, Pedro González
scribed the hero’s approval of his purported rose to become archbishop of Seville and
descendant, and declared that the Mendoza Toledo. He won his cardinalate in the bar-
arms were inherited from the Cid. This im- gaining that brought the Catholic Monarchs
age proved compelling, and the retroactive to power, and went on to serve as chancellor
attribution circulated widely thereafter. of Castile for twenty years. The cardinal’s in-
Later heralds clarified that El Cid’s red ordinate influence at court saw him dubbed
bend was bordered in gold, consistent the “Third King of Spain.”
with the Mendozas’ actual practice Like any secular prince, Cardinal Men-
and the rule of tincture. Around doza sought to secure the station of his eldest
1497, a final flourish was sup- son, Rodrigo, labelled by Isabella his “beauti-
plied by one Diego Hernández ful sin.” By this time, El Cid was regarded as
de Mendoza – an enigmatic a paragon of Christian knighthood, and more
figure of unknown relation. than one Castilian nobleman was hailed as
The arms of El Cid represented a “Second Cid.” Combined with the genea-
the blood of his Moorish enemies, logical claims that flattered his father, the
spilt upon the grassy Spanish plains. cardinal had the ideal role model for his son,
This ornate liturgical garment, who styled himself Rodrigo de Vivar, and later
preserved in Toledo Cathedral,
Cardinals and counts biographers called him Rodrigo Díaz. His ef-
belonged to Pedro González de
Mendoza, who was archbishop The mutual loyalty of Santillana’s ten children forts finally came to fruition with Rodrigo’s le-
between 1482 and 1495. made them a formidable power bloc during gitimization and creation as the first count of
© Album / Alamy Stock Photo the second half of the fifteenth century. Their Cid, and later as marquis of Cenete, endowed
The triumphal entry of the Catholic backing proved crucial in securing the Cas- with newly-conquered lands in Granada.
Monarchs into Granada, depicted tilian throne for Isabella and her husband, Rodrigo de Mendoza (ca. 1468–1523)
on the altar of the city’s Capilla
Ferdinand of Aragon, in 1474. Though the distinguished himself at a young age in the
Real. Escorting them are Cardinal
Mendoza and his nephew, the Mendozas were nominally led by Santillana’s Granada War, and went on to become a noted
Count of Tendilla. eldest son, the duke of the Infantado, the fam- patron of art and architecture. The marquis cut
© Bildarchiv Monheim GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo ily’s grey eminence was a younger brother a romantic figure, but his impetuous nature
often led him into scandal. In 1502, he fell in
love with María de Fonseca, and the two were
married in secret, against her father’s wishes
and without royal sanction. The couple’s later
exposure landed Rodrigo in prison and María
in a convent. The marquis was released upon
Queen Isabella’s death in 1504, but María
suffered for two more years before she could
make her escape. After their
elopement, the pair took
up residence in Granada,
but tensions between
Rodrigo and his cousin,
the governor, resulted in
his exile. Rodrigo and
María finally settled with
their daughters in Valen-
cia, where his brother
was appointed viceroy,

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50 Medieval World 15
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 4GDਡNODMHMFਡO@FDਡNEਡ Mendoza, the marquis of Cenete. The ac- A view of the castle of La Calahorra,
SGDਡNMKXਡJMNVMਡBNOXਡNEਡ
in Granada, built for Rodrigo de
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SGDਡ#@MS@QਡCDਡLHNਡ#HC ਡ companying escutcheon displays the marquis’

BNOHDCਡAXਡ0DQਡ!AA@SਡHMਡ Mendoza between 1509 and 1512.
unique heraldry, quartering the Mendoza arms
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family of his first wife, Leonor de la Cerda.
and their tomb can be
Though something of a rogue, and a rac-
seen there today in the
onteur, Colonel Mayne seems to have dutifully
Convent of Santo Do-
reported the Zúñigas’ legend as he learned it in
mingo.
Béjar. The suggestive inscription evidently cap-
tured the imagination of his comrades, and his
The sword of El Cid? reputation did for the rest. Victorian connois-
During the Napoleonic Wars, a remarkable ru- seurs later fared no better, taking the inscription
mour circulated among British officers serving to be the kind of chivalric fancy popular among
in Spain: one of their own had dared to burglar- cavaliers of the Spanish Golden Age. The arms
ize the castle of Béjar and escaped with El Cid’s of the marquis were assumed to be those of the
legendary sword, Tizona. The grain of truth in Zúñigas, regardless of the incongruity of its jux-
this unlikely story is that William Mayne, then taposition with an inscription referring to El Cid.
Rodrigo de Mendoza’s gilded
colonel of a corps of Anglo-Portuguese volun- So, the matters have stood for more than sword was probably made in
teers, really did acquire a medieval sword in two centuries, with Rodrigo de Mendoza’s around 1500. It was acquired in
Béjar, but honestly, as a gift from the town’s prized sword lying unrecognized in the Brit- 1810 by the future king of Eng-
provisional government. land, George IV. It was displayed
ish Royal Collection. Its confusion for a relic
in his residence of Carlton House,
The sword had been preserved in the du- of the marquis’ legendary namesake is the then in Windsor Castle.
cal armoury of the Zúñigas, where it was re- last, ironic fulfilment of Cardinal Mendoza’s © Royal Collection Enterprises Limited 2024 |
Royal Collection Trust
puted to be an heirloom of one of this fam- ambitions for his beloved son. MW
ily’s own distinguished forebears, a hero of the
great battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212. In Mark Lewis holds a PhD in mathematics and
fact, the weapon’s original owner is identified lives in Kingston, Ontario. His complete study
on the monogrammed blade: the “Marquis of the provenance of Rodrigo’s sword will ap-
Rodrigo de Vivar” – that is to say, Rodrigo de pear in Arms & Armour next year.

Medieval World 15 51
 ©
Sa
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MEDIEVAL MYTHS AND LEGENDS
1600
1200

This panel painting dating to ca. 1300-1330 is by the Master of Santa Cecilia and features Saint Margaret along with stories from her life.

DEFEATER OF DRAGONS, PROTECTOR OF MOTHERS By Kathryn Walton

THE MIGHT OF SAINT MARGARET

Saint Margaret held power across the Middle Ages because of her connection with motherhood
800

DQGGUDJRQV,QKHUVKRUWOLIH0DUJDUHWQRWRQO\GHðHGDW\UDQQLFDOUXOHUZKRWULHGWRWRU-
ture her into submission but also burst forth from the belly of the dragon who tried to eat
her. This combination made her one of the most popular saints in the medieval world.

T
he story of Margaret begins in fourth her story held tremendous appeal across the
century Antioch, during the time when Middle Ages. Here is how one version from
Christians were persecuted and mar- fourteenth-century England relays it…
tyred in the reign of the emperors Dio- The girl who would become Saint Marga-
cletian and Maximian. While it is un- ret was born in Antioch to a powerful pagan fa-
likely that Margaret was a historical individual,
ther. She was sent away from her family shortly
after her birth and soon converted to Christian-
ANTIOCH OF PISIDIA: ca. 289 – 304 (supposedly) 400

This alabaster sculpture dated to 1475 shows Saint

Margaret with the dragon at her feet. It once ity. One day when she was fifteen years old,
featured gilding and polychromy, which has Margaret was in a field tending sheep when the
largely been worn away. emperor Olibrious spotted her. Olibrious was
© The Metropolitan Museum of Art

52 Medieval World 15
 Dਡ
ਡG@KEਡNEਡSGDਡENTQSDDMSGਡBDMSTQXਡVHSGਡRBDMDRਡEQNLਡSG
!ਡKD@SGDQਡ@MCਡHQNMਡRGNDਡQDKHPT@QXਡEQNLਡSGDਡRDBNMC DਡANWਡL@XਡG@UDਡADDMਡTRDCਡSNਡRTRODMCਡSGDਡQDKHPT@QXਡ
KHEDਡNEਡ3@HMSਡ-@QF@QDSਡ4GDਡKNNOਡ@SਡSGDਡA@BJਡNEਡSG TKCਡQDBDHUDਡ-@QF@QDSRਡOQNSDBSHNMਡCTQHMFਡBGHKCAHQSG

x
@ANUDਡ@ਡVNL@MਡHMਡK@ANTQਡRNਡSG@SਡRGDਡBN ©ਡ4GDਡ-DSQNONKHS@Mਡ-TRDTLਡNEਡ!QS

the powerful, wicked, tyrannical ruler of Anti- part, Olibrious gave up. He com-
och and Asia. Delighted by her beauty, Olibri- manded her execution.
ous commanded Margaret to be his wife. The executioner led Marga-
Margaret asserted in no uncertain terms ret out of town, but just before he
that she had dedicated herself to Christian- chopped off her head, Margaret prayed to God
ity and would never consider marrying such to help, in her name, all women who strug- (Top) This fresco detail from the
a “foul” man. Furious, Olibrious commanded gled during childbirth. Margaret was executed, chapel of Saint Margaret in the San-
that she be locked in prison until she relented. ascended to heaven, and her name went down tuario della Madonna di Crea shows
He took her home with him, and day after day, in Christian legend. Saint Margaret tortured in a cauldron
of boiling water.
he tried to convince her to marry him. © Laurom / Wikimedia Commons
First, he offered her the best of everything: Popularity
(Bottom) The ruins of the great ba-
all of Asia and Antioch to rule, clothes made of Saint Margaret’s legend was one of the most
silica in Antioch of Pisidia, the town
purple silk, and the best food in the land. When popular during the Middle Ages. The earliest in which Saint Margaret was sup-
that did not work, he turned to torture. He com- surviving version was written in Greek in the posedly born. This structure dates to
manded his servants to hang her from her feet ninth century. From this point, the legend slow- the late fourth century, making it one
of the oldest Christian churches in
and beat her with scourges until she relented. ly spread across Europe, becoming prominent
all of Anatolia.
!ਡAK@BJਡV@WਡRD@KਡHL Margaret never did. in the Western Church from the twelfth century. © SinanDogan34 / Shutterstock
OQDRRHNMਡNEਡB@ਡਡ Frustrated and
x

VHSGਡ3@HMSਡ-@QF@QDSਡ
RS@MCHMFਡHMਡ@Mਡ@QBGH furious, he bound
SDBSTQ@KਡRDSSHMF her and cast her into
©ਡ4GDਡ-DSQNONKHS@Mਡਡ
-TRDTLਡNEਡ!QS prison to rot. There,
Margaret was visited
by an angel who comforted her
and gave her a staff carved from
the cross to use to protect herself.
As soon as the angel depart-
ed, a loathsome dragon appeared
before Margaret. It was a terrify-
ing creature: a demon in the shape of a
dragon. His eyes shone horribly, and his mouth
yawned widely. It charged Margaret and swal-
lowed her whole. She slid into its belly, but the
dragon was no match for her. It almost immedi-
ately burst. Margaret emerged from the dragon
unharmed and stood atop him in triumph.
Then, another horrible fiend appeared. It,
too, tried to entrap her. Unafraid, she caught
it, tied it up with her wimple, and stood upon
its neck, demanding it tell her who sent it and
why. It relented, explained that the devil had
sent it to insnare her, and departed, leaving
Margaret in peace.
Having conquered the dragon and the
fiend, Margaret waited until Olibrious called
for her. When he did,
he once again com-
manded her to marry
him. Once again, she
refused. Once again,
she was tortured.
Finally, after days
of torture and no wa-
vering on Margaret’s

4GHRਡ"XY@MSHMDਡHBNMਡEQNLਡSGDਡ
STQMਡNEਡSGDਡEHESDDMSGਡBDMSTQXਡ
RGNVRਡ3@HMSਡ-@QF@QDSਡ@F@HMRSਡ
x

@ਡFNKCਡA@BJFQNTMC ਡGNKCHMFਡSGDਡ
L@QSXQRਡBQNRRਡHMਡGDQਡQHFGSਡ
G@MC ਡ@MCਡQ@HRHMFਡGDQਡKDESਡG@MCਡ
HMਡ@ਡFDRSTQDਡNEਡHMSDQBDRRHNMਡ
©ਡ'DNQFDਡ%ਡ+NQNM@HNRਡਡ7HJHLDCH@ਡ#NLLNMR Medieval World 15 53
 It was especially popular in England, and rather than something to be taken seriously.
numerous Middle English versions of Others tried to exclude or temper the moment.
the legend survive. Many of the most These concerns did little to restrain her
famous poets of medieval England popularity. Margaret is almost always depicted
produced accounts of her story. with the dragon, and popular versions of her
It also circulated widely in popu- legend written in the vernacular often dwell on
lar, vernacular form. The version the exciting encounter between a dragon and
summarized above survives in the of a woman with the power to master it.
Auchinleck manuscript produced
in or around London sometime be- Protector of mothers
tween 1330 and 1340. Margaret's final prayer for the protection of
Margaret’s image also frequently mother and child during childbirth allowed her
adorned churches, painted on walls or to become patron saint of childbirth.
on panels. More than 200 churches were Saint Margaret consequently played a
dedicated to Margaret in England alone, and significant role in some religious and pseudo-
A birth tray from ca. 1410 painted magical rituals surrounding birth. For example,
numerous others had side altars and guilds
by the Master of Charles of Du-
devoted to her. So why was she so popular? women in labour were encouraged by mid-
razzo (Francesco di Michele) with
an interior setting following the wives to call upon her to reduce
birth of a child. Defeater of dragons 4GHRਡO@QBGLDMSਡNEਡB@ਡ

x
© Francesco di Michele / Wikimedia Commons  ਡSHSKDCਡ3@HMSਡ-@QF@
Her defeat of the dragon was one of the most QDS ਡ6HQFHMਡਡ-@QSXQ ਡL@Xਡ
popular elements. Many surviving images de- G@UDਡADDMਡTRDCਡ@Rਡ@ਡ"HQSGਡ
FHQCKDਡ4DMਡDW@LOKDRਡNEਡ
7KLVPLGðIWHHQWKFHQWXU\SDLQWLQJ pict her popping triumphantly from the belly of RTBGਡLDCHDU@KਡFHQCKDRਡ
likely comes from the Dominican that fearsome beast. This was in spite of the fact G@UDਡRTQUHUDCਡ
monastery Unterlinden in Colmar, ©ਡ7DKKBNLDਡ#NKKDBSHNM
that some writers and church authorities had
France. It shows the beheading of
Saint Margaret besides her dragon qualms about the authenticity of this moment. their pain. She had also
and martyr cross. Jacobus de Voragine, who wrote a collection promised in numerous
© Daderot / Wikimedia Commons of saints lives, called the incident apocryphal, versions of the legend that no
deformed children would be born
to any house that possessed a copy of
her legend. If it was read aloud to a woman in
labour, she would give birth safely. So, numer-
ous, compact examples of her legend survive
on scrolls or other small bits of parchment.
Birth girdles were a popular form of pro-
tective amulet. These girdles were strips of
parchment onto which part or all of Saint Mar-
garet's legend was written, and which were
wound round the belly of a woman in labour.
Women used these physical representa-
tions of Margaret’s legend as a way to protect
themselves and keep themselves motivated
during the difficult and dangerous process of
giving birth. Margaret’s perceived ability to pro-
tect mother and child ensured her popularity.
In the Middle Ages, as today, the com-
bination of motherhood and dragon-mastery
seems to have been a powerful one, as the
legend of Saint Margaret reveals. MW

Kathryn Walton holds a PhD in medieval lit-

erature. She is currently a professor of medi-
eval literature and popular culture at Lakehead
University in Ontario.

!Mਡ@LTKDSਡED@STQHMFਡ3@HMSਡ-@QF@QDSਡNEਡ!MSHNBGਡ
@F@HMRSਡ@ਡENKH@SDਡA@BJFQNTMCਡ4GDਡNAIDBSਡBNLDRਡ
EQNLਡSGDਡLDCHDU@KਡSQD@RTQDਡNEਡ/HFMHDR ਡ.@LTQ
x

"DKFHTL ਡVGHBGਡBNMS@HMRਡL@HMKXਡSGHQSDDMSG BDM ਡ

STQXਡQDKHFHNTRਡNAIDBSRਡ
54 Medieval World 15
©ਡ0@TKਡ(DQL@MRਡਡ7HJHLDCH@ਡ#NLLNMR
REVIEWS

cuaderna vía were adapted from the these scattered communities. Indeed,
norms of French to that of Castilian. as Kaplan writes, cuaderna vía poetry
Kaplan is particularly lucid in de- was valued precisely “for its capacity
scribing how we can recognize this to disseminate information through
process developing. a metrical form whose rhyme facili-
By the time the Camino de San- tated memorization.” The communal
tiago – or Way of St. James – became nature of Jewish worship also likely
one of the most popular pilgrimage encouraged the use of cuaderna vía
routes in Europe, monasteries and poetry in liturgical settings.
towns grew up along the route, and Kaplan not only finds Jewish
Jews (whether long-time residents or sensibilities in the earliest surviving
recent arrivals from Islamic-controlled cuaderna vía written by Jews – in
southern Spain) became important which many of the poems presuppose
parts of the pilgrimage bureaucracy. a knowledge of Midrash and Talmud
Quoting another scholar, Kaplan that Christian clerics were unlikely to
writes that in such a milieu “real isola- share, or in the Hebrew terms scat-
tion was simply not possible… These tered throughout the poems – but he
Jewish Poetry and Cultural smaller urban enclaves fostered en- has also uncovered the long afterlife
Coexistence in Late hanced contact between Jews and many of these poems have enjoyed.
Medieval Spain their Christian contemporaries.” In Quotations or adaptations of Jew-
By Gregory B. Kaplan the thirteenth and fourteenth centu- ish cuaderna vía poetry are found in
ISBN: 978-1641891479 ries, several of these Jews became documents of the Spanish Inquisition
ARC Humanities Press, 2019
proficient authors of cuaderna vía po- in 1496, in poems and prayers only
$95.00 (hardback)
etry, and Kaplan concludes that they written down in the eighteenth centu-
www.arc-humanities.org/
could have only done so by learning it ry, and in poems that circulated orally
from Castilian monks. In other words, among Moroccan Jews not recorded
cuaderna vía as written by Jewish au- until the early 1900s.
The idea that a relatively tolerant co- thors is “literary testimony of coopera- Most fascinating, another piece
existence developed between Jews, tion between Christians and Jews.” of poetry from the Moroccan Se-
Christians, and Muslims in medieval This conclusion is the heart of phardic community of Tetuan – and
Spain has exercised the imagination Kaplan’s book, and the rest of it uses which contains elements from a
and hope of scholars and readers for linguistic evidence, historical anec- cuaderna vía poem from medieval
some time. While the question of how dotes on the pilgrimage route, and Spain – was recognized as recently
real any kind of Convivencia actually Cluniac ideas surrounding educa- as the 1980s. The practical value of
was tends to inspire extreme reactions, tion, to bolster this main point. The cuaderna vía poetry as a container
Gregory Kaplan’s brief book is content author also shows that Jewish schol- for information and cultural memory
to find evidence for it in an unassum- ars took up cuaderna vía poetry de- is best illustrated by this long survival,
ing and otherwise overlooked place: spite the genre being, in Christian from twelfth-century Cluny where
a genre of poetry that originated in hands – and especially in the con- it facilitated daily private and public
twelfth-century French monasteries text of a religious pilgrimage – a ve- readings at the monastery, to exiled
and later spread to northern Spain, hicle for various anti-Semitic libels. Jewish communities eight centuries
centering on the Camino de Santiago. Jews, Kaplan writes, were frequently later, where pieces of these rhyming
Cuaderna vía poetry was com- grouped with “the Devil, lepers, quatrains have still not been forgotten.
posed of rhyming quatrains (the Muslims, and sorcerers,” and yet Gregory Kaplan’s small book
name means “the fourfold way”), Jews recognized the pedagogical, – and the many photos included –
and in the hands of Cluniac monks liturgical, and indeed the propagan- shows how the technical mastery
it was initially used to compose nar- distic possibilities of the genre. of a particular poetic form could, in
rative poems on the life of Alexander Following the expulsion of the monastic schools along the Camino
the Great, as well as other subjects Jews from Spain in 1492 and the dis- de Santiago, become “places for in-
from antiquity. When the monks of persal of Sephardic Jews to Amster- teraction and, by extension, toleration
Cluny traveled to Spain and taught dam, the Ottoman Empire, and be- between two cultures during the thir-
this measure to their Castilian coun- yond, pieces of cuaderna vía poetry teenth and fourteenth centuries.” MW
terparts, the metrical requirements of composed centuries earlier lived on in – Tim Miller

56 Medieval World 15
 local stories of saints’ lives mentions example, the Byzantine Emperor Jus-
“bastions of the cross,” and these tinian’s monumental aisled cruciform
churches were created as material churches from the sixth century were
Christian symbols embedded within still admired in the eleventh century,
the landscape, representing holy pro- and were widely copied (p. 144). By
tection and sacred space (p. 206). the eleventh century, Tigrayans also
The main cruciform (cross- had extensive contact with many
shaped) churches in this study are other artisans, including Fatimid
called Abreha wa-Atsbeha, Wuqro Muslims in Egypt whose engineer-
Cherqos, and Mika’el Amba. This ing prowess enabled new ideas for
group of monuments also features vaults and domes in the ceilings of
vaulted ceilings that curve upward to rock cut monuments (p. 146). The
create a sense of airiness and gran- wide network of ideas resulted in lo-
deur in overhead spaces. Discussed cal churches like Abreha wa-Atsbeha
thoroughly in Chapter 2, these three that reflect knowledge of the late an-
churches serve as case studies to tique past as well as recent innova-
explore broader concepts, such as tions. Multi-faceted Tigrayan exam-
Bastions of the Cross: regional styles that emerge from a ples provided inspiration, in turn, for
Medieval Rock-Cut Cruciform global exchange of ideas. As is com- later churches in Lalibela, Ethiopia.
Churches of Tigray, Ethiopia
mon in scholarly monographs, the In discussing Tigray’s role in the
By Mikael Muehlbauer author’s approach is to provide an Indian Ocean World System, Mue-
ISBN: 978-0884024972
overview and historical context in the hlbauer explains the important legacy
Dumbarton Oaks Press, 2023
£75.95 (hardback) first chapters. Subsequent chapters of northern Ethiopia as a stop on the
include case studies that broaden our antique trade route connecting Rome
www.hup.harvard.edu
understanding of the larger topics. to India and China (p. 166). We see
Muehlbauer makes fruitful com- evidence of shared ideas in textiles,
parisons between Tigrayan monu- both in materials (such as silks and
Readers may already be familiar with ments and their contemporaries in linen) and also in the patterns woven
rock-cut medieval architecture in re- Venice, Byzantium, and Egypt (pp. or embroidered into fabric. These or-
gions such as Cappadocia, Turkey, 24-25). It is tricky to do comparative namental motifs can also be found
where millions of tourists ride hot-air research because disparate examples on architecture across regions, dem-
balloons over valleys that conceal without adequate context can create onstrating the exchange of ideas that
Byzantine-era churches and under- false equivalencies. This could, for were displayed on immoveable struc-
ground cities. Many historians are instance, flatten the nuances of a re- tures after being carried on portable
also aware of churches in Lalibela, gional or local style when compared objects like silk cloth. With these ex-
Ethiopia, that have been pilgrimage to a more widely known phenom- amples, it becomes clear how the lo-
sites since they were carved out of enon. However, the author success- cal history of this region is inherently
the landscape in the thirteenth centu- fully avoids hierarchal narratives of global in scope.
ry. With a new scholarly book, archi- influence by focusing instead on the The book’s vocabulary is dense,
tectural historian Mikael Muehlbauer concepts of “cross-pollination and and readers who are new to architec-
introduces readers to another group citation” (p. 200). By taking this ap- tural history may wish to keep a glossa-
of rock-cut monuments. The church- proach, Muehlbauer enables readers ry handy. But even for casual readers,
es in Muehlbauer’s book were carved to see how buildings and portable the hardcover book is a treasure trove
in northern Ethiopia during the elev- objects are material examples of cul- of visual information. Diagrams help
enth century of the Common Era and tural exchange. us envision how visitors would move
are still in use. Around the year 1000 CE, art- around the interior spaces; color pho-
Written sources indicate that ists across the Mediterranean, Eu- tography shows the ingenuity of medi-
the mountainous region of Tigray has rope, and the Middle East engaged eval masons and painters. The author’s
been Christian since the fourth centu- with previous styles of architecture, comparative methods offer new ways
ry, and the worship centers discussed reimagining the past in order to to consider how trade and pilgrimage
by Muehlbauer were all commis- channel historical political power facilitated creative exchange in a pre-
sioned during multiphase processes and cultural clout toward their own industrial world. MW
by elite patrons. One of the earliest contemporary contexts (p. 160). For – A.L. McMichael

Medieval World 15 57
 Medieval World readings
FURTHER READING

NOTRE-DAME DE PARIS Want to learn more about the iconic French cathedral that has sur-
vived the centuries? Here are some books and articles to check out.

The Gargoyles of Notre-Dame: Faire parler les pierres:

Medievalism and the Monsters of Modernity sculptures médiévales de Notre-Dame
By Michael Camille Edited by Damien Berné
University of Chicago Press, 2009 Éditions Faton, 2024
ISBN: 978-0226092454 ISBN: 978-2878443820

Notre Dame de Paris Sculpture from Notre-Dame, Paris:

By Alain Erlande-Brandenburg A Dramatic Discovery

Martiniere Bl, 2015 By Carmen Gómez-Moreno

ISBN: 978-2732473956 The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1979
ISBN: 978-0300201291

The Hunchback of Notre Dame Notre Dame Cathedral:

By Victor Hugo Nine Centuries of History

Introduction by Isabel Roche By Dany Sandron and Andrew Tallon

Barnes & Noble Classics, 2008 The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2013
ISBN: 978-1593081409 ISBN: 978-0271086224

Music and Ceremony at Notre Restoring Notre-Dame de Paris:

Dame of Paris, 500-1550 Rebirth of the Legendary Gothic Cathedral
By Craig Wright By Patrick Zachmann and Olivier de Chalus
Cambridge University Press, 2008 Schiffer, 2023
ISBN: 978-0521088343 ISBN: 978-0764367274

Other books, articles, and publications

• Berné, Damien, and Philippe Plagnieux, eds. Naissance de la • Lassus, Jean-Baptiste and Eugène-Emanuel Viollet-Leduc [sic].
sculpture Gothique 1135-1150: Saint-Denis, Paris, Chartres. Paris: Projet de restauration de Notre Dame de Paris: Rapport adresse'
Éditions de la Réunion des musées nationaux – Grand Palais, 2018. a M. le Ministre de la Justice et des cultes, annexe au projet de
• Bork, Robert. “The Design Geometry of Notre-Dame in Paris.” restauration, remis le 31 janvier 1843. Paris: de Lacombe, 1843.
Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 81 (2022): 21–41. • Reiff, Daniel D. “Viollet le Duc and Historic Restoration: The
• Bruzelius, Caroline. “The Construction of Notre-Dame in Paris.” West Portals of Notre-Dame.” Journal of the Society of Architec-
The Art Bulletin 69, no. 4 (1987): 540–569. tural Historians 30 (1971): 17–30.
• Cahn, Walter. “The Tympanum of the Portal of Saint-Anne of Notre- • Sandron, Dany. “Observations sur la structure et la sculpture
Dame de Paris and the Iconography of the Division of the Powers des portails de la façade de Notre-Dame de Paris.” Monumental
in the Early Middle Ages.” In Studies in Medieval Art and Interpre- (2000): 10–19.
tation, edited by Walter Cahn, 15–46. London: Pindar Press, 2000. • Sandron, Dany. “Notre-Dame in Paris Before the Gothic Pe-
• Cook, Lindsay Shepherd. “The Image of Notre-Dame: Architec- riod.” In Paris: The Powers that Shaped the Medieval City, ed-
tural and Artistic Responses to the Cathedral of Paris.” In The ited by Alexandra Gajewski and John McNeill, 1–7. London:
Analysis of Gothic Architecture: Studies in Memory of Robert Routledge, 2023.
Mark and Andrew Tallon, 264–287. Leiden: Brill, 2023. • Scher, Stephen K. “Iconoclasm: A Legacy of Violence.” In Set in
• Erlande-Brandenburg, Alain. “Les remaniements du portail cen- Stone. The Face in Medieval Sculpture, edited by Charles T. Lit-
tral à Notre-Dame de Paris.” Bulletin monumental 129 (1971): tle, 18–45. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006.
241–248. • Stanford, Charlotte A. “The Body at the Funeral: Imagery and
• Erlande-Brandenburg, Alain. “Nouvelles remarques sur le por- Commemoration at Notre-Dame, Paris, 1304–18.” The Art Bul-
tail central de Notre-Dame de Paris.” Bulletin monumental 132 letin 89 (2007): 657–673.
(1974): 287–296. • Stanley, David J. “The Plan of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame: His-
• Erlande-Brandenburg, Alain with Dominiqe Tibaudat. Les sculp- tory and Ideology in Twelfth Century Paris.” Arte Medievale 5,
tures de Notre-Dame de Paris au Musée de Cluny. Paris: Éditions no. 1 (2006): 83–96.
de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 1982. • Taralon, Jean. “Observations sur le portail central et sur la façade
• Follett, Ken. Notre-Dame: A Short History of the Meaning of Ca- occidentale de Notre-Dame de Paris.” Bulletin Monumental 149
thedrals. New York: Viking, 2019. (1991): 341–452.

58 Medieval World 15
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DUMBARTON OAKS MEDIEVAL LIBRARY
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Literary Works The Arundel Lyrics; Parisiana poetria

by Alan of Lille The Poems of Hugh Primas by John of Garland
Edited and translated by Edited and translated by Edited and translated by
Winthrop Wetherbee Christopher J. McDonough Traugott Lawler
DOML 22 DOML 2 DOML 65

A product of the cathedral This volume presents two The Parisiana poetria, first
schools that played a complementary medieval published around 1220 by John
foundational role in the anthologies containing lyrics by of Garland, a prominent teacher
so-called Twelfth-Century Peter of Blois and Hugh Primas, at the University of Paris,
Renaissance, Alan of Lille was two outstanding Latin poets of expounds the medieval theory
the most important poet of the second half of the twelfth of poetry and summarizes early
the great age of Medieval Latin century. thirteenth-century thought
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