Cathedral of Saint Maurice, Angers, Maine-et-Loire (in the former province of Anjou), France

     The city of Angers used to be the capital of the province of Anjou ruled by counts.  In 1127, Count Geoffrey married the widowed daughter of Henry I of England, Matilda or Maud.  Their eldest son, Henry became Henry II of England, the first of the Plantagenet kings.   As such it was the home town of the Plantagenet family though Geoffrey was born and buried at nearby Le Mans.

     The story of the building of the cathedral at Angers is one that is familiar by now.  A Romanesque cathedral was built to replace a much smaller church.  The new Romanesque church burnt to the ground in 1032.  The same bishop, Hubert de Vendome, who oversaw the consecration of the Romanesque church started the rebuilding some time after the fire.  This Romanesque church was consecrated in 1096.  The retrofitting and rebuilding of the church in the Gothic style was begun under Bishop Ulger (1123-1149) and continued under his successor Bishop Normand de Doue (1149-1153). The west front of the Cathedral retains the darker stone of the older Romanesque church at the lowest level.  The church took centuries to build and the tower and west facade were not finished until the Renaissance.

West front of the Cathedral of Saint Maurice, Angers, France.  The present cathedral was built over centuries.  The darker stone at the lowest level is from the 12th century Romanesque church.

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The lower half of the walls of the nave are retained from the Romanesque church as can be seen in the photograph below.  The walls were reinforced to accommodate the weight of the vaulting covering the nave,  The cathedral has no aisles.  So the windows that light the church are at the clerestory level.

Looking east down the nave.  The lower half of the wall was retained from the older Romanesque church and retrofitted.

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West entrance to the cathedral with large tympanum of Jesus Christ seated in majesty and the four living creatures that surround the throne of God in the Revelation of John. It was St. Jerome writing about 398 in his preface to the Commentary on Matthew when he established the symbols as we know them today: Matthew-human or angel, Mark-lion, Luke-ox, and John-eagle. This entrance was built about 1170-1180.

The remains of the Gothic porch as be seen in the stone work but it was demolished in 1807.

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     The rounded east end of the choir, the chevet, required that the old town wall be demolished to make room for the addition.  This addition was built in the period of 1225-1240 during the time Guillaume de Beaumont was bishop (1202-1240).  The windows in the chevet are doubled lancet windows with an oculus at the top.  The Cathedral of Saint Maurice had the advantage of many other cathedrals in that it was much less dependent of money from pilgrims to make additions and repairs. Boulanger is her analysis of the windows at Saint Maurice notes a unity of iconography among the windows that is not found in many other cathedrals dependent on the money from pilgrims and gifts from wealthy donors.  Donors did pay for window repairs, and this is documented by the inclusion of the arms of the donor family in the window.  David King noted in a article for Vidimus, "The St John the Baptist window in the choir, for example, given in the thirteenth century by Richard de Tosny, the cathedral treasurer, was restored in the early fourteenth century by the Chaumont family, whose arms were inserted in the border"

The east end of St. Maurice with the double windows and oculus at the top.

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Bay 103 on the north side of the choir has a Jesse Tree window on the right and the martyrdom of St. Lawrence on the left.

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     The Jesse Tree window in Bay 103 at Angers is a few years earlier that the Jesse Tree window of Saint-Chapelle in Paris. The window at the Cathedral of Saint Maurice has more in common with lower clerestory window at Cathedral of St. Julian at Le Mans or the Cathedral of St. Stephen in Auxerre, than with Sainte-Chapelle. The Jesse window is one of eleven windows in the chevet that were glazed during the period 1230-1235 that still exist.  A couple of the lost windows are known from fragments.  So the chevet retains a remarkably complete set of 13th century windows made with a  cohesive scheme, the lives of saintz and Virgin Mary.  The windows did undergo restoration at a intervals and some of the windows have been moved.  Replacements for lost windows has continued into the 20th century to repair damage done during the bombardment of World War II.  Unfortunately the Jesse Tree window at Angers needs cleaning since the detail has been lost and many of the colors have been muted by grime and perhaps glass corrosion.

The whole Jesse Tree window in Bay 103.

Photo credit for Jesse Tree windows (unless noted): Painton Cowen

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Jesus Christ seated with seven doves.  Right hand is held in blessing. In his left hand is a blue book There are two flanking unidentified prophets. 

Photo credit: Dr. Stuart Whatling

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 Crowned Virgin Mary with a scepter in her right hand.  She is flanked by two prophets and a knelling figure who is presumably the donor of the window.  The prophet on the right is wearing a blue cap. 

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Unidentified King of Judah.  He is flanked by two unidentified prophets.  Note that the head of the right prophet is a obvious later repair.

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Unindentified King of Judah holding a scepter in the left hand, flanked with two prophets.  Note that the prophet on the right is wearing a pointed Jew's cap in green.

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King playing a vielle on his left shoulder.  He is flanked by two prophets. Note that the prophet on the king's right is the same design as the prophet on king's right immediately above.

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 First King of Judah above King David.  In the usual iconography, this is King Solomon. The king is holding a scepter in his right hand.  He is flanked by a prophet on his left hand that is wearing a pointed green Jew's cap, as is the prophet to Virgin Mary's left.

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King David playing a celtic style harp. The prophet on the right is the same as the prophet above on the right of Virgin Mary.  He is wearing a blue cap.  The prophet on the left is wearing a pointed Jew's cap in red.

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Reposing Jesse as seen through a protective grille.  There is a large white trunk arising from the body of Jesse.  He is flanked by two prophets that appear to be much later replacements.

Photo credit: Dr. Stuart Whatling

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   Hopefully the reader has noticed the standardization of the colors for the background on the Jesse Tree windows.  It is either red or blue or a mixture with red or blue glass within the mandorlas that surround the figures and blue or red outside the mandorlas.

      There is the beginning of a standardized iconography that allows the identification of at least two of the kings that come after Jesse, namely Kings David and Solomon.  King David is playing a harp, a symbols associated with the David as the composer of the Psalms.  Also there are frequent references to harps or lyres in the story of David including his playing the harp for King Saul (1 Samuel 16.23) and  the frequent references to music made to honor God including harps (and lyres). 

     It is curious then that the king above David, Solomon, is only holding a scepter and not playing an instrument as is the third king above Jesse. Solomon is associated with the composition of the Song of Solomon or Song of Songs.  The stained glass windows of Saint Maurice suffered through periods of neglect followed by restoration and repair, and again long centuries of neglect or destruction as a result of iconoclasm or war.  It is possible to speculate that during one of these restorations the panel of Solomon and a generic king of Judah with scepter were reversed.  This argument is not sustained because the same pattern of king with scepter for King Solomon and generic king playing an instrument appears in another stained glass window from the same period.  The very large Jesse Tree window at the Cathedral of Our Lady at Amiens, Picardy, France, was made about 1260, with restoration in the 19th and 20th centuries.  In this window, King David is playing the bowed lyra, a Byzantine instrument.  The king above him and therefore Solomon is a sceptered king and the third generic king is playing a vielle in his lap.  So perhaps the iconography of Solomon also playing a instrument was not yet firm.

     Another curious feature of the Jesse Tree window at Angers is the kneeling donor dressed in purple petitioning the Blessed Virgin Mary. This seems to be the first Jesse Tree window that has survived in which the donor is shown beseeching the Virgin Mary. This portrayal of Mary as the Mediatrix between humans and Jesus was being developed as part of the cult of Mary.  A Jesse Tree window at the  choir of Cathedral of Saint Julien in Le Mans also has a kneeling donor.  This kneeling donor is placed in the choir Jesse window next to the reclining Jesse in the Le Mans cathedral.  Thus it seems as though the donor's petition isaddressed to all the figures above, not just the Virgin Mary.

    This Jesse Tree window has two blue capped prophets and three prophets wearing the pilleus cornutus,or Jew's hat ordered at the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215.  Similarly hatted prophets are found in the Jesse Tree window of the relatively near Cathedral of Saint Julian at LeMans.

References:

Karine Boulanger, Les Vitraux de la cathédrale d’Angers,((2010) Paris, Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques (CTHS), coll. « Corpus Vitrearum-France », vol. III,

David King. Angers Cathedral Vidimus Vol. 48. February 2011.  < http://vidimus.org/issues/issue-48/feature>

Angers, Cathédrale Saint-Maurice.  Mapping Gothic Europe <http://mappinggothic.org/building/1212>

Monuments historique: Inventaire général du patrimoine culturel <http://www.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistral/merimee_fr?ACTION=CHERCHER&FIELD_1=REF&VALUE_1=PA00108866>

Cathedrale de Saint-Julien, Le Mans, Pays de la Loire region, (Maine) France

   

Gothic east end of Cathedral of St. Julian, Le Mans, Pay de la Loire (Maine), France.  The long axial chapel is the Chapel of the Virgin.

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The nave of the Cathedral of St. Julian is Romanesque with its rounded arches and thick pillars.  The size of the east end is not immediately obvious since the ambulatories and chapels are not visible from the central Romanesque nave.

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The Gothic east end of the Cathedral is an elaborate chevet with double ambulatories and 13 projecting chapels.  Note that there are upper and lower clerestory windows.  

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Looking into the axial chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary.  Jesse Tree, window # 9, is on the left. It is one of two Jesse Tree windows at the Cathedral of Le Mans.

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     The city of Le Mans was a Roman city, Civitas Cenomanorum.  It became Christian in the 4th century, and Julien was the first bishop of Le Mans.  An 11th century Romanesque church had been built on the site.  

      It was in this Romanesque cathedral that Geoffrey V (Plantagenet), Count of Anjou married Matilda, the daughter and heir of King Henry I of England in 1128. She was 11 years Geoffrey's senior and already the widow of Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor.  Though she was claimant to the throne of England after the death of her father Henry I (and youngest son of William the Conqueror), her cousin Stephen of Blois became king of England.  She invaded and a protracted civil war called The Anarchy ensued from 1139 until 1148, when she withdrew to Normandy. The eldest son of Matilda or Maud and Geoffrey, Henry, was baptized at the Le Mans cathedral in 1133.  He became King Henry II of England in 1154.  After Geoffrey of Anjou died in 1151, he was buried at the Cathedral of St. Julian.

     The cathedral at Le Mans was damaged by fires in 1134 and 1137.  The repairs were completed about 1158.  But as the 13th century began, the Cathedral seemed to be too small and too dark.  A new bishop was consecrated in 1216, Maurice.  So in 1217, permission was sought from King Philip II Augustus to demolish part of the city wall of Le Mans so the the east end of the Cathedral could be much enlarged during the bishopic of Maurice.  Work on the chevet began in 1217 and continued to 1254 when the relics of St. Julian were transferred and the new choir dedicated by Bishop of Le Mans, Geoffroy de Loudon, on April 24, 1254. The Gothic rebuilt choir was expanded outward with a double ambulatory. Then 13 projecting chapels were built on the east end of the cathedral.  The height of the choir was extended upward as well requiring new bifurcated flying buttresses. The floor plan of the cathedral looks on paper rather like a lollipop with the large rounded east half of the church attached to a narrow nave stick.   

        The axial chapel is the longest and is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The chapel is usually called the Chapel of the Virgin, but if the church were English, it would be called the Lady's Chapel.  In this chapel is the older of the two Jesse Tree windows, window #9. Made about 1235, this window has been severely damaged by corrosion.  Even with the limitations imposed by the damaged glass, the design and execution of the Jesse window is more sophisticated than the second Jesse Tree window, #110.

Window # 9 on the north wall of the Chapel of the Virgin.
Photo credits for window # 9: Painton Cowen

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Derail of the top of Window #9.  Jesus Christ is seated with his right hand raised in blessing and his left hand holding a book.  There are seven doves above his head. On either side are two figures with scrolls.  There is 19th century restoration.

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Detail of the the Virgin Mary.  She is holding on to the white Jesse Tree vine and holding a palm branch in her left.  She is accompanied by Isaias or Isaiah with obvious restoration.

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Detail of sleeping Jesse. At the bottom are the opening words of Isaiah 11.1 in Latin: egredietur virga de radice Iesse et (See the first blog on Radice Jesse.)

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     The Jesse figure is asleep in an elegant golden bed. Jesse is wearing a red Jewish cap. This may be the first Jesse Tree window that has the figure of Jesse spread into two sections of the panel. On the left is a kneeling figure who is probably the donor since there is no nimbus nor miter to indicate a saint or archbishop.

     The second Jesse Tree window in the Le Mans cathedral is found on the south side of the choir in the lower clerestory windows that have five lancet panels in each window. The Jesse Tree is the center panel of window #110. The panel has the basic five figures of the stacked pattern of Jesse Tree, from the top-Jesus Christ, Virgin Mary, King Solomon, King David and Jesse.

Picture of the full five panels of clerestory window #110.  The Jesse Tree is the center panel

Photo credits for window# 110: Stuart Whatling

 Jesus Christ seated with seven blue and white doves.  On either side of him are two angels swinging thuribles very vigorously. (At that height there should be some charcoal or incense falling out.)  This may be the first window where Christ is accompanied by censing  angels.

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     The next panel down is Virgin Mary crowned and carrying a palm branch in his left hand.  At some point in time when I write about the representation of St. Mary, I will comment more on her iconography.  Sometimes she hold a prayer book, at other times a palm branch, sometimes a lily and sometimes a scepter in her role as Queen of heaven.  Meredith Lillich in her book, Armor of Light, comments that presenting St. Mary holding a palm occurs several times among the stained glass windows at Le Mans Cathedral.  The source for this is a legend recounted by Gregory of Tours in De Gloris Martyrum about the death of Virgin Mary.  The palm is given to her by the angel announcing her death.  Mary subsequently passes the palm to John. Lillich noted that in western art, Mary is sometimes shown with a palm at her Assumption, though sometimes it is a scepter.  In the Le Mans Jesse window in the nave, St. Mary is holding to the white Jesse Tree vine with her right hand.  She is accompanied by an unidentified saint with a green nimbus and an Old Testament prophet with the green pointed hat. Note that the cartoon for the figures of the prophet (pointed hat) and saint (nimbus) are reversed and reused alternately with the second king (King Solomon), the first king (King David), and yet again with Jesse.  The reuse of the cartoons undoubtedly reduced the cost of making the window.

     A pointed hat or Jewish cap, pilleus cornutus, was used in the Middle Ages to identify Jews. It was not required until 1215. The Fourth Council of the Lateran was convoked by Pope Innocent III in 1213 and convened in Rome in 1215. Among the canons passed was Canon 68 that decreed "that such persons [Jews and Saracens] of either sex, in every Christian province and at all times, are to be distinguished in public from other people by the character of their dress..." ( Fourth Lateran Council (1215) <https://www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/LATERAN4.HTM#67). In stained glass windows the Jewish cap is often made with yellow glass to make it easier to identify. An example is the figure on the right in the first king above Jesse panel.

 Detail of the panel with crowned Virgin Mary  

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     The two kings below St. Mary both hold scepters in the left hand and grasp the white Jesse Tree vine with the right. Nothing distinguishes the two kings from each other. Only tradition names the first king above Jesse as David and the second king as Solomon. The side figures hold banderoles but nothing is written on them to identify the figures.

Detail of second generic king of Judah above Jesse, usually King Solomon.  He holds a scepter as does King David.

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Detail of first king above Jesse, usually King David, though here the figure is a generic king.  King holds a scepter.  Note the the halo and hat are both yellow in this panel.

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   Jesse is asleep in bed with the white Jesse tree coming from his body. This Jesse Tree window is usually dated later, about 1250 or so, than the window in the Chapel of the Virgin. This window with its repeated figures and primary color palette is simpler and much less elegant that window #9. The only new element the window adds to the iconography of the Jesse Tree window are the two angels with thuribles.  

     This Jesse Tree window uses much more red glass than the previous Jesse Tree windows discussed. There is plenty of blue in the mandorlas and in the fabric.  The background color though is red and now blue.  On the south side of the choir, the person viewing the window will notice the brighter red given the presence of more sunlight.  I am sure though that the impression of whether this is a red window or a blue window will depend on the angle of the sun by season as well as the time of day.

Detail of Jesse asleep

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     In the floor plan of the chevet at the bottom the page, the sites of the two 13th century Jesse Tree windows are marked with purple lines. Window # 9 is located on the north wall of the axial chapel and window #110 is among the lower clerestory windows on the south side of the choir.

References

Meredith P. Lillich. The Armor of Light: Stained Glass in Western France, 1250-1325.(1994). Berkeley and Los Angeles. University of California Press.

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