Chartres Cathedral (Part Five).

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English: The Western Rose Window of Chartres Cathedral, France.

Français: La rosace ouest de la Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres, France.

Photo: 7 February 2009.

Source: Own work.

Author: This photo was taken by Eusebius (Guillaume Piolle).

Attribution: © Guillaume Piolle / CC-BY-3.0.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Each Bay of the Aisles and the Choir Ambulatory contains one large Lancet Window, most of them roughly 8.1m high by 2.2m wide. The subjects depicted in these windows, made between 1205 and 1235, include stories from the Old and New Testament and the Lives of the Saints, as well as typological cycles and symbolic images, such as the signs of the zodiac and labours of the months. Most windows are made up of around 25 – 30 individual panels showing distinct episodes within the narrative – only the Belle Verrière includes a larger image made up of multiple panels.

Several of the windows at Chartres include images of local tradesmen or labourers in the lowest two or three panels, often with fascinating details of their equipment and working methods. Traditionally, it was claimed that these images represented the Guilds of the donors who paid for the windows. In recent years, however, this view has largely been discounted, not least because each window would have cost around as much as a large mansion house to make – while most of the labourers depicted would have been subsistence workers with little or no disposable income.

Furthermore, although they became powerful and wealthy organisations in the Later-Mediaeval period, none of these Trade Guilds had actually been founded when the glass was being made in the early 13th-Century. A more likely explanation is that the Cathedral Clergy wanted to emphasise the universal reach of the Church, particularly at a time when their relationship with the local community was often a troubled one.

English: Chartres Cathedral. Rose Window in the South Transept.

Français: Cathédrale de Chartres - Transept Sud - Rose et verrières de la façade.

Photo: August 2010.

Source: Own work.

Author: MOSSOT.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Because of their greater distance from the viewer, the windows in the Clerestory generally adopt simpler, bolder designs. Most feature the standing figure of a Saint or Apostle in the upper two-thirds, often with one or two simplified narrative scenes in the lower part, either to help identify the figure or else to remind the viewer of some key event in their life.

Whereas the lower windows, in the Nave Arcades and the Ambulatory, consist of one simple Lancet per Bay, the Clerestory windows are each made up of a pair of Lancets with a plate-traceried Rose Window, above. The Nave and Transept Clerestory windows mainly depict Saints and Old Testament Prophets. Those in the Choir, depict the Kings of France and Castile and members of the local nobility, in the straight Bays, while the windows in the Apse hemi-cycle show those Old Testament Prophets who foresaw the Virgin Birth, flanking scenes of the Annunciation, Visitation and Nativity, in the Axial Window.

North Transept Rose Window. Circa 1235.

English: Northern Rose Window of Chartres Cathedral. The Rose depicts the Glorification of the Virgin Mary, surrounded by Angels, twelve Kings of Juda (David, Solomon, Abijam, Jehoshaphat, Uzziah, Ahaz, Manasseh, Hezechiah, Jehoiakim, Jehoram, Asa et Rehoboam) and the twelve Lesser Prophets (Hosea, Amos, Jonah, Nahum, Zephaniah, Zechariah, Malachi, Haggai, Habakkuk, Micah, Obadiah and Joel). Below, the Arms of France and Castile (the window was offered by Blanche of Castile).

The five Lancets represent Saint Anne, Mother of The Virgin, surrounded by the Kings Melchizedek, David, Solomon and Aaron, treading the sinner and idolatrous Kings: Nebuchadnezzar, Saul, Jeroboam and Pharaoh.

Français: Rosace nord de la Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres. La rosace dépeint la Glorification de la Vierge, entourée des anges, de douze rois de Juda (David, Salomon, Abijam (Abia), Josaphat (Iosapht), Azarias (Ozias), Achaz (Acaz), Manassé (Mahases), Ézéchias, Joachim (Ioatam), Joram (Ioram), Asa et Roboam) et des douze petits prophètes (Osée (Oseas), Amos, Jonas, Nahum (Naum), Sophonie (Sephonias), Zacharie, Malachie (Malacias), Aggée (Ageus), Habacuc (Abbacuc), Michée (Micheas), Abdias et Joël (Iohel)). En-dessous, les armes de France et de Castille (la rosace a été offerte par Blanche de Castille). Les cinq lancettes représentent Sainte Anne, mère de la Vierge, entourée des rois Melchisedech, David, Salomon et d'Aaron, foulant les rois pécheurs et idolâtres : Nabuchodonosor, Saül, Jéroboam et Pharaon.

Photo: 7 February 2009.

Source: Own work.

Author: This photo was taken by Eusebius (Guillaume Piolle).

Attribution: © Guillaume Piolle / CC-BY-3.0.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Cathedral has three large Rose Windows:

The Western Rose Window, made circa 1215, and twelve metres in diameter, shows the Last Judgement – a traditional theme for West Façades. A central oculus, showing Christ as the Judge, is surrounded by an inner ring of twelve paired roundels, containing Angels and the Elders of the Apocalypse, and an outer ring of twelve roundels, showing the dead emerging from their tombs and the Angels blowing trumpets to summon them to judgement;

The North Transept Rose Window (10.5 m diameter, made circa 1235), like much of the sculpture in the North Porch beneath it, is dedicated to the Virgin. The central oculus shows the Virgin and Child and is surrounded by twelve small petal-shaped windows, four with doves (the 'Four Gifts of the Spirit'), the rest with adoring Angels carrying candlesticks. Beyond this is a ring of twelve diamond-shaped openings containing the Old Testament Kings of Judah, another ring of smaller Lozenges containing the Arms of France and Castile, and, finally, a ring of semi-circles containing Old Testament Prophets holding scrolls.

The presence of the Arms of the French King (yellow fleurs-de-lis on a blue background) and of his mother, Blanche of Castile (yellow castles on a red background) are taken as a sign of royal patronage for this window. Beneath the Rose, itself, are five tall Lancet Windows (7.5 metres high) showing, in the centre, the Virgin, as an infant, held by her mother, Saint Anne – the same subject as the trumeau in the Portal beneath it. Flanking this Lancet are four more, containing Old Testament figures. Each of these standing figures is shown symbolically triumphing over an enemy, depicted in the base of the Lancet, beneath them – David over Saul, Aaron over Pharaoh, Saint Anne over Synagoga, etc;

North Porch of Chartres Cathedral.

Photo: 31 August 2007.

Source: Own work.

Reference: 2007/4/3691.

Author: Andreas F. Borchert.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The South Transept Rose Window (10.5 metres diameter, made circa 1225–30) is dedicated to Christ, Who is shown in the central oculus, right hand raised in benediction, surrounded by adoring Angels. Two outer rings of twelve circles each contain the twenty-four Elders of the Apocalypse, crowned and carrying phials and musical instruments. 

The central Lancet, beneath the Rose Window, shows the Virgin carrying the infant Christ. Either side of this, are four Lancets showing the four Evangelists, sitting on the shoulders of four Prophets – a rare literal illustration of the theological principle that the New Testament builds upon the Old Testament. This window was a donation of the Mauclerc family, the Counts of Dreux-Bretagne, who are depicted with their Arms in the bases of the Lancets.

The Rose Window
In Gothic Architecture.
Available on YouTube at
http://youtu.be/pCLF4WivmZw.

PART SIX FOLLOWS.