CHARTRES
The Temple Out of Light
Chartres Cathedral In the late 12th century, there are two groups of philosophy of Platonists that characterized the School of Chartres and the Clairvaux monastic houses personified by St. Bernard. Art historian Otto von Simson believes that Gothic architecture came from the influence of these two great intellectual movements in France, the embodiment of Platonic cosmology such as those of St. Augustine in the School of Chartres and the ascetic spirituality of Clairvaux. (von Simson 1988, pg. 26). Thierry of Chartres took this one step further, to claim the rules of geometry for the heavenly body. From this stance, Abelard assisted by theology of the School of Chartres extrapolated that the cosmic builder who is God endowed dimensions in heaven which could be revealed by the mere physical eye as the masters of Chartres equated kosmos with ornamentation of matter that also composes the soul. The metaphysics of “measure, number, and weight” reign upon the knowledge of the Tabernacle and the vision of harmony, as in that of music. To the Abbot of Clairvaux, St. Bernard, the use of images was once again not in current with monastic piety. Christian Platonists also sought, through the representation of Jerusalem, to convey the nature of the Godhead in mere symmetry and harmony. (von Simson 1988, pg. 40-49). This follows with St. Augustine’s argument that Christ is the cornerstone and the “Trinitarian” overlapping of walls and piers was born (von Simson 1988, pg. 212).
Name: Chartres Cathedral
Artist: Bishop Fulbert of Chartres, Bishop Thierry, Geoffrey of Leves, John of Salisbury, Renaud Moucon et al
Material: Limestone, mortar, marble, glass, wood, metal
Date: 1194 – 1220 AD
Culture: French Gothic
Scale: Height: 34 meters (112 feet); Length: 130 meters (427 feet)
Current Location: Chartres, France
The hierarchy of stone that relates celestial beings, angels and saints, to an architectural feat at Chartres is an ancient thought in the liturgical life elucidated by Bishop Fulbert of Chartres, who dedicated a tower to William the Conqueror. Dionysian motifs portray on the southern portal of Chartres a sculptured choir of angels. Geoffrey of Leves directed the west façade of Chartres making it an icon of the new Gothic style. The School of Chartres produced her own geometers and philosophers who often involved the Golden Ratio in proportioning the angles and squares of the building especially at the jambe figures.
The Basilica of Chartres was the center of the cult of Mary in France, and even that of Western Europe. The great booties of relics from the Holy Land allowed the bishops to convene business transactions that would lend objects for exposition in order to raise fund for the new building. Notre Dame depended on the sacred gifts abroad to bolster the economic exchanges of the whole town especially from pilgrims everywhere in the world. Privileged patrons endorsed the political issues raised by a custom of close alliances and issuing of the influential. In order to raise large sums, the power of the saints and the Virgin Mary was invoked upon as ample ground for the stake of the new building, in other words, for the dignity of the diocese. The first version of the Church built by Bishop Fulbert had been destroyed in the fire of 1194. With the death of Thierry, the geometricizing metaphysics school of Chartres ended. (von Simson 1988, pg. 188-192). Neoplatonism cultivated a flowering for religious art in which communion is much found in architecture as it is found in the “City of God” by Saint Augustine. Peter of Celle wrote an exegesis on the Tabernacle of Moses which had been communicated to posteriority over centuries. By drawing parallels between the ancient Tabernacle and the continuous planning of the cathedral, the elects and patrons of such projects esteem themselves among the history of the Church. But Peter noted that this Tabernacle is invisible, eternal but spiritual. The archetype of the sanctuary is considered in their age a “theological reality”. By eliminating walls and incorporating large windows, the idea behind Peter’s exegesis is that the architecture’s true legacy is in its use for the spirit also light. His reforms included high vaulting and after him, Peter of Roissy defined the major and minor key of the columns as a kind of symphony prefiguring the shape of the square that makes Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple perfect under the directions of the Holy Spirit. The rose windows, by diffusing light in between the sides of the church prefigure the new beginning to come after the Last Judgement. (von Simson 1988, pg. 219-221). Using a system of tas-de-charge, Chartres is able to make the clerestory fully translucent with its rose windows. (von Simson 1988, pg. 224). When Philip Augustus in 1188 departed for the Holy Land, he appointed a regency council composed of the House of Chartres-Champagne to manage the alliance and the prestige of the See of Chartres. As a descendant of both royalty and bishop, Philip Augustus used this alliance to create the wealth and cultural epitome of the Chartres Diocese. Such administrative flourishing allowed large sums to be raised. “Dionysia” motifs and ordering of the saints prescribed by the Pseudo-Areopagite made references to St. Denis encompassing the ancient architecture of the windows and walls of the portal and transept.