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Pierre Abelard
short
biography of Abelard of Le Pallet
“Logic has
made me hated amongst men”
the logic of ethics,
including Pierre (Peter) Abelard on ethics
Le Pallet,
birthplace of Pierre Abelard
where
Pierre Abelard taught: Sainte Geneviève and Saint
Etienne, Paris
cathedrals
introduction:
reading
stained glass
gothic
cathedral and church construction
stained
glass - development and techniques
history
of art relating to stained glass
rouen
cathedral illuminated
analysis
of a stained glass story window
dax
and church iconography
poitiers,
neglected masterpiece
angers,
at the heart of the angevin empire
laon,
the midst of the gothic transition, with added oxen
cathedrale
saint-jean-baptiste de lyon
Cathedrale
Notre Dame of Lausanne
Lausanne
rose window - photo-analysis
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- france
- île de la cité, paris: in the context
of abelard and of french cathedrals
contextual dates
the cathedral
of notre dame and its predecessor, the basilica of st. étienne
- dimensions of notre-dame
the south rose
the north and west roses
- sainte-chapelle
jules maigret
end notes
France - île de la cité, Paris:
in the context of Abelard and of French cathedrals
In the time of Pierre Abelard, the Île
de France - which is now known as the Île de
la Cité - was a small, growing centre of the rising
power of Paris. This eventually developed to become France.
This page a companion and background to the cathedrals
section and the section about Abelard.
Virtually nothing remains of the original Île de
France from the time of Abelard. There is just a small
section in the Cluny Museum. In fact, very little of Paris
extends back to Abelard. There is an abbey tower across
the river, and that’s about the lot.
Notre-Dame cathedral, in the photo below, was started
after the death of Abelard, replacing an earlier cathedral
dedicated to St. Stephen (St. Étienne). That cathedral
extended forty metres forward of the west front of the
modern cathedral. It was narrower than the present structure.
I believe that the old cloister where Abelard would have
taught is probably on the north side and to the north
of the current cathedral. The island was, essentially,
divided between church and state, with the church at the
eastern end of the island where the cathedral now lives.
 contextual
dates
- Bernard of Chartres (Bernardus Carnotensis)
died c. 1130
- Pierre Abelard:
1079-1142
- Pope Alexander III:
c. 1100/1105-1181
- Bernard of
Clairvaux: 1090-1153
- Abbot
Suger, founder of St. Denis: circa 1081-1151
- Maurice de Sully, founder of Notre-Dame:
c. 1120-1196, bishop of Paris, 1160-1196
- 1140: Dedication of Saint-Denis
- 1160: Notre-Dame foundation stone laid by Pope
Alexander III
- 1248: Sainte-Chapelle
construction finished
- 1250: Notre-Dame mostly
complete
- Philip I: 1052-1108; King of France: 1060-1108
- Louis VI [Le Gros: the fat]: 1081-1137; King
of France: 1108-1137
- Louis VII [Le Jeune: the young]: 1120-1180;
King of France: 1137-1180
- Philip II Augustus: 1165-1223; King of France: 1180-1223
- Louis IX [Saint Louis]: 1214-1270; King of France:
1226-1270
- Henry
II: 1133-1189; King of England: 1154-1189
- Eleanor/Aleinor
of Aquitaine: 1122-1204. She first married Louis
VII, then Henry II, mother of Richard and John
- Richard
I [the Lion heart]: 1157-1199; King of England:
1189-1199
- John
[Lackland]: 1167-1216; King of England: 1199-1216
If you look at this chart, you will see that the French
kings invented a marvellous way of becoming important.
They managed to rule for unusually long periods. The Angevins
(or Plantagenets) had spent several generations marrying
the right people. This culminated in Henry II, an immensely
effective ruler who dominated the western half of France,
holding it against his weak Capetian rivals.
Meanwhile, as you see in the chart, the great innovators
on the Ile de France were building the intellectual hothouse
of Europe.
But Henry II had a fatal flaw. His child-raising skills
left much to be desired. So when Richard I took over,
he was far more interested in adventure and becoming one
of the greatest generals of all time. In the end, this
got him killed. Poor John tried his damnedest to hold
together the huge empire his father had built, but those
pesky French kings with their long experience steadily
outmaneuvered the Angevins and their successors, slowly
eroded the Norman grip in what is now France.
You might surmise that, if you were an English nationalist,
that it was the French who were better at being perfidious,
or you might call it crafty.
the
cathedral of notre-dame and its predecessor, the basilica
of st. étienne
The basilica of St Etienne existed for about six hundred
years before Maurice de Sully, the new bishop of Paris,
decided to raze the dilapidated building and construct
and much bigger and more beautiful edifice, dedicated
to Our Lady.
Church administrative offices, student accommodation,
cloisters and the nascence of the University of Paris
grew out of this melee to the north of these cathedrals.
Today, this area comprises small roads, such as
- Rue Chanoinesse
- Rue d’Arcole
- Rue de la Colombe
- Rue des Chantres
- Rue Massillon
- Rue des Ursins
- Rue du Cloître-Notre-Dame
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Satellite view, cathedral of Notre Dame
de Paris. Image: google.com
1160: The foundation stone for the vast new Gothic cathedral
of Notre-Dame was laid by Pope
Alexander III on a visit to Paris
1250: Cloister portal to the north completed
1345: Construction completed
Notre-Dame is
one of the earliest
gothic cathedrals, constructed as a very solid, stolid
building, as gothic cathedrals go. However, the problems
were still not worked out fully and some structural weaknesses
occured, especially in the south transept. By the time
the builders were working on Reims, experience allowed
the building of an even more solid structure. So much
so that the main building of Reims cathedral even withstood
the vandalism of the German
batteries in the First World War. It is said that
Reims cathedral was hit by an estimated 1,700 missiles.
[Reims cathedral is thus almost entirely a modern restoration
job.]
As the form developed and experience was gained, the
builders realised that between the pillars there was very
little load-bearing. The structures then became increasingly
ambitious, and ever more airy and light-filled. This development
can be appreciated in the nearby Sainte-Chapelle,
started less than a hundred years later.
dimensions
of Notre-Dame
- Total length: 130 m/427 ft long
Transept length: 2.25 m/14 ft
Choir length: 11 m/36 ft
Total width: 48 m/158 ft wide
Height of roof: 43 m
Height of vault: 35 m/115 ft
Height of side aisles: 3 m
Height of spire: 96 m
Height of twin towers: 69 m/226ft
- Lancets: over 16 m/50ft high
South tower great bell:
13 tons, with 500kg clapper, tolled only on ‘solemn’
occasions
- Total floor area: 4,800 m²
Diameter of north and south [transept] rose windows:
13.1 m/42½ ft
Diameter of west rose: 9.70 m
1,300 oaks, representing 21 hectares of forest, were
used in the timbers and woodwork.
the
south rose
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The South Rose or Rose
du Midi was a gift from Louis IX. The structure
of the facade has been broken at least twice. The
whole facade was not built well and so was shored
up since 1543.
The facade was further damaged by a fire during
the 1830 Revolution, when Louis-Philippe of the
Orléans dynasty overthrew Charles X of the
Bourbon dynasty.
As a result, another reconstruction was made from
1861. To counteract the sagging masonry, the rose
was rotated 15 degrees so a load-bearing spoke was
in the vertical, and the facade rebuilt.
Later, in the 1880s, the glass was also repaired,
when the cohesive imagery and design of the stained
glass was scattered as the restorer randomly filled
gaps with salvaged medieval glass. |
Beneath the rose is a row of sixteen
prophets in lancet windows. The four cental ‘senior
prophets’ each have an evangelist sitting
at his shoulder, recalling Bernard of Chartres’
words: “If I have seen further, it is by standing
on the shoulders of giants”.
The four senior prophets are Elisha, Ezekiel, Elijah,and
Samuel. The four Evangalists are Matthew, Mark,
Luke and John. |
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the
north and west roses
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From the point of view
of the stained glass, the North Rose [to the left]
is probably the best.
The West Rose [below] is the oldest, but restored
to damnation.
It is difficult to see the West Rose from the interior,
organ pipes partially obscure the view. |
sainte-chapelle
Building of Sainte-Chapelle was finished in 1248, after
an incredibly rapid 33 months of construction. This is
a bit later than the medieval
glass to which I usually attend. But Sainte-Chapelle
is a very special place. Many of the great medieval cathedrals
do not have most of their original glass intact. The overwhelming
exception is Chartres, followed at a distance by Le Mans.
Some of the highly gilded, coloured
and decorated interior of Ste. Chapelle
To me, the great interest of Sainte-Chapelle is that
it has a full complement of glass, produced in the 13th
century and the oldest in Paris, and thus gives an amazing
impression of what could be done by the medieval craftsmen.
While Sainte-Chapelle is a tourist magnet, it is best
to go in off-season, on a weekday, and just find a place
to sit and let the incredible light into your soul. It
is like sitting in the midst of a magic lantern. Not a
place to do too much thinking, but just absorb and absorb.
The church really consists of two chapels, linked by
a spiral staircase. It is the upper chapel that is so
impressive.
This is what churches used to be like, before the more
modern Puritans, destroyers and ‘restorers’
got their hands on them, from Cromwell to Luther to the
French Revolutionaries to various tight-assed puritans
across the continent. In medieval times, churches were
meeting places which hosted markets and great church festivals,
full of colour and life.
15th century
Flamboyant
rose window surrounded by rich, soaring stained glass
and painted columns
With the thin piers, you will see that the construction
is almost a wall of glass
The glass has 1,134 scenes, with 618 square metres of
glass, forming a veritable illustrated bible.
Added lighting highlights the gilding
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| One of the twelve
statues of the apostles |
Even the floors
are decorated! |
jules
maigret
At the western tip of the island, is the secluded Place
Dauphine, a few steps from the police headquarters where
Maigret had his office. Simenon lived round the corner
and the Taverne Henri IV was his local. The Brasserie
Dauphine was probably the Taverne. Those who enjoy the
Maigret books and its main character may wish to visit
this real-life heart of his fictional world.
end
notes
- The inverted v-shaped
accent, called a circumflex, over the ‘I’
of Île, is used in French to indicate a silent
‘s’. Thus the French word ‘Île’
is very closely equivalent to the English word ‘Isle’.
- The name,
Île de France, has changed its meaning from its
orginal sense. Now, Île de France refers to a
region that includes the eight départements of
Ville de Paris, Haute-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-de-Marne,
Essonne, Yvelines, Val-d’Oise and Seine-et-Marne.
Back in the tenth and eleventh centuries, Île
de France refered to the domain of the Capetians, centred
on the Île de de la Cité. They were often
weaker than other great duchies in France
- This 15th
century Flamboyant window of the Apocalypse is a replacement
for a 13th century rose. There is an illustration of
that older window in the Belles Heures [Good
Hours - a illuminated book of hours] of the Duc de Berry.
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