Sainte-Chapelle, Ile-de-la-Cite, Paris, France

Sainte-Chapelle arising from the midst of the Palais de Justice on Ile-de-la-Cite.  The spire is a 19th century design by Viollet-le-Duc,

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West entrance to Sainte-Chapelle.  The lower story was the parish church for people living and working on Ile-de-la-Cite.  The upper entrance is for the king and court to enter the palatine chapel.

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The lower chapel was a parish church.

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 The eastern end (chevet) of the upper chapel of Sainte-Chapelle.

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The Jesse Tree window is the eastern lancet of a two lancet window with tracery above. Window J.

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     In the middle of the Palais de Justice on the Ile-de-la-Cite in the middle of the Seine River in the heart of Paris stands the Sainte-Chapelle.  This royal chapel was built between 1239 and 1248 by King Louis IX of France to house his growing collection of relics, especially the Crown of Thorns.   In 1239, Louis IX paid 135,000 livres to a consortium of Venetian merchants who acted as moneylenders. The Venetians had taken possession of the Crown of Thorns relic when Latin emperor of Constantinople, Baldwin II (ruled 1228-61), needed security for a loan of 12,135 gold hyperperi.  (The hyperperon was a gold coin of the Byzantine Empire weighing 4.45 grams and containing 20.5 carat gold.)  In 1241, Louis IX obtained other objects from Baldwin of Jerusalem. The list of items that Louis IX bought:

1. - A piece of the cross

2. - Blood of Christ
3. - The "nappies" of the infant Jesus
4 - Another piece of the cross
5. - Blood from a picture of Christ
6. - The chain
7. - Sacred cloth inserted in a picture (Mandylion)
8 - Stone from the tomb
9. - Milk of the Virgin Mary
10. - The spear
11. - A victorious cross
12. - The purple mantle
13. - The reed
14. - The sponge
15. - A part of the shroud (sudarii) in which Christ's body was wrapped in
the sepulcher
16. - The towel used to dry the Apostles' feet
17. - Moses’ rod
18. - A part of John the Baptist’s head
19. - St. Blas’[Blaise's] head
20. - St. Clement’s head
21. - St. Simeon’s head (Cesar Barta. The Shroud sent to Louis IX of France by Baldwin II, the Latin Emperor at Constantinople. <https://www.shroud.com/pdfs/n56part5.pdf>)

Peasants mowing hay from June in Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry. Sainte-Chapelle is on the upper right.  Made about 1410-1489. 

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     King Louis IX built his jewel of a chapel to house his collection of relics including the Passion relics that he may have intended to become a pilgrimage site.  It was built in what the 19th century art historians called the Rayonnant (radiating) style named for the radiating spoke in a rose window.  The masonry walls all by disappear, replaced with the red and blue jewel colors of stained glass.

     The chapel was built on two levels.  The lower chapel functioned as a parish church.  But the tall splendid upper chapel was a royal chapel for the use of the king and court. The stained glass windows feature many scenes of coronations.  One art historian has suggested that Louis IX, the most Christian of kings, intended the chapel as a pilgrimage site not for a saint but for the concept of sacred kingship,  The French king controlled only a fraction of modern day France directly.  About half the territory was controlled by others as fiefdoms, and England directly controlled south-west France.  So the cult of the king needed to be bolstered to strengthen the monarchy. (See: Meredith Cohen. The Sainte-Chapelle and the Construction of Sacral Monarchy: Royal Architecture in Thirteenth-Century Paris. (2014) New York: Cambridge University Press.)

     In 1794 a Parish mob broke into the chapel and dispersed or destroyed the relics except for the reed base of the Crown of Thorns now house at Notre-Dame in Paris and many of the individual thorns that were disbursed as gifts including a pair of thorns to Mary Queen of Scots when she married the French Dauphin in 1560. (Several of the Holy Thorn Reliquaries were on exhibit at the British Museum in the fall of 2011. See: <http://www.learn.columbia.edu/treasuresofheaven/relics/The-Holy-Thorn-Reliquary.php >
<http://www.learn.columbia.edu/treasuresofheaven/relics/Reliquary-Pendant-for-the-Holy-Thorn.php> < http://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20110923_1.htm>)

     In the 1840s the Sainte-Chapelle was restored.  The stained glass windows were again restored from 2008-2015.

     On the northeastern side of the east end chevet is a two lancet window in bay J.  The right hand window is a Jesse Tree and the left hand window has scenes from the book of the prophet Isaiah. The tall Jesse Tree window contains 57 sections with figures.

Isaiah and Jesse Window in bay J with tracery at the top of the double lancet window.

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Whole Jesse Tree window in bay J.

Photo credits for all Jesse Tree window pictures: Painton Cowen

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Top two panels of the Jesse Tree window with six gold and white doves and 2 angels praying.  (I am not sure what happened to the seventh dove when the window was restored in the 19th century.) The two angels appear to be mirror images of each other.

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First panel below the top panels with  Jesus Christ seated.  He holds a cross scepter in his left hand and rest a book, the Gospels on his left knee.  The right hand is held up in blessing.  He is flanked by two unidentified prophets.  Each of the prophets in this Jesse Tree window has a blue nimbus.

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Second panel below the top has the Blessed Virgin Mary.  She is crowned and grasping the Jesse vine with both hands.  She is not holding any objects. Two unidentified prophets flank her.

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First panel below the Virgin Mary. The center section of the generic King of Judah is a replacement. This is the 14th king in the Jesse Tree window and 13th generic King of Judah.

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Second panel below the Virgin Mary.  Subject is a generic crowned King of Judah, the 12th generic king and the 13th king. The center section is a replacement panel. Note that the prophets are not identified.  They are repetitions of other prophets in the Jesse Tree window.

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Third panel below the Virgin Mary.  This is the 11th generic King of Judah and 12th king in the window  The prophets are not identified and their designs are repetitions of other prophets.

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Fourth panel below the Virgin Mary.  This is the 10th generic King of Judah and the 11th king in the window.  Prophet on the left is identified as Amos.

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Fifth panel below the Virgin Mary,  This is the 9th generic King of Judah and 10th king in the window.  The prophets are nor identified.  Their designs are repeats of other prophets in the window.

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Sixth panel below the Virgin Mary,  This is the 8th generic King of Judah and 9th king in the window.  The prophet on the left is Isaias (or Isaiah).  The prophet on the right is not identified.

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Seventh panel below the Virgin Mary.  This is the 7th generic King of Judah and 8th king in the window.  The prophet on the left appears to have something written on the scroll but it is not now readable.  The prophet on the right is a repeated figure.

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Eight panel below the Virgin Mary,  This is the 6th generic King of Judah and the 7th king in the window.  The king section of the panel is a replacement.  Neither flanking prophet is identified and both are repeated figures.

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Ninth panel below the Virgin Mary.  This is the 5th generic King of Judah and the 6th king in the window.  Neither prophet is identified and both are repeated designs.  Both the replacement king above and this king appear to have wings or something else beside an invisible chair behind them.

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Tenth panel below the Virgin Mary.  This is the 4th generic King of Judah and 5th king in the window.  Neither prophet is identified and both prophets are repeats of other prophets in the window.
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Eleventh panel below the Virgin Mary.  This is the 3rd generic King of Judah and the 4th king in the window.  Though both prophets appear to have writing on the scrolls that they hold, it is not now readable.
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Twelfth panel below the Virgin Mary.  All three sections of this window are replacements.  This is the second generic king of Judah and 4th king overall.  This king also appears to have wings as seen in one original and one replacement panel above.  The designs for the prophets are also repeats. 

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Thirteenth panel below the Virgin Mary. The flanking prophets in this panel are replacements.  This king who is immediately above King David should be King Solomon but there is no identifying iconography.  This is the second "original glass" panel that appears to have a king with wings.

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Fourteenth panel below the Virgin Mary and first panel above Jesse.  This is King David bowing a waisted vielle.  Both prophets with indecipherable writing on the scrolls that they hold are replacements.

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The bottom panel with Jesse sitting up in bed.  The trunk of the white tree grows from his loins.  The center section and the two flanking prophets are all 19th century replacement panels.

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   Because of the complexity of the Jesse Tree Window at Sainte-Chapelle, I thought that a diagram might be helpful in keeping track of the replacement sections in the window and the repeated panels.  I assigned each row and column a letter and number designation to make it easier.  Row 1 and 2 represent the top of the lancet window and not the tracery above.

ROW	Column  A	Column B	Column C
1		2 golden doves
2	Angel mirror image of C2	4 doves	Angel mirror image of A2
3	Blue nimbed prophet pointing down.  Same as A6 & A9	Jesus Christ seated with cross halo. Right hand raised in blessing.  Book resting on left knee and cross-scepter in left hand.	Blue nimbed prophet with scroll in left hand and right hand across chest..
4	Blue nimbed prophet with arms across chest, pointing outward with left hand.  Same as A7	Crowned and seated Virgin Mary with both hands holding white Jesse Tree vine	Blue nimbed prophet holding scroll with both hands .  Same as C13, & C15
5	Blue nimbed prophet. Same as A13 &A14	King of Judah holding vine Modern replacement	Blue nimbed prophet with scroll.  Same as C9 &C11
6	Blue nimbed prophet pointing down. Same as A3 & A9	King of Judah holding vine Modern replacement	Blue nimbed prophet with scroll pointing to king.  Same as C7
7	Blue nimbed prophet with arms across chest, pointing outward with left hand.  Same as A4	King of Judah holding on to Jesse Tree vine. Same as B5 and B6 that are modern replacements.	Blue nimbed prophet with scroll pointing to king. Same as C6
8	Forward facing blue nimbed prophet Amos.  Amos written on scroll. Same as A10 A11, A12, & A16 .	King of Judah holding on to Jesse Tree vine.	Blue nimbed prophet with both arms pointing toward king. Same as C10, C12 & C14.
9	¾ forward facing, blue nimbed prophet. Similar to A3 & A6	King of Judah holding on to Jesse Tree vine.  Same as B10, B14 &B15	Blue nimbed prophet pointing to king.  Same as C5 & C11
10	Prophet Isaias (Isaiah). Same as prophet Amos, A8 and prophet A11, A12, & A16,.  Name written on scroll.	King of Judah holding vine.  Same as B9, B14 & B15.	Blue nimbed prophet with both arms pointing toward king, Same as C8, C12, & C14.
11	Prophet with name on scroll standing in same position as A8, A10, A12, & A16. Cannot decipher name.	King of Judah holding vine.	Blue nimbed prophet.. Same design as C9 &C5.
12	Prophet with scroll standing in same position as A8, A10, A11, & A16. No name of scroll	King of Judah holding on to vine.  19th century replacement	Blue nimbed prophet with both arms pointing toward king, Same as C8, C10, & C14.
13	Prophet with scroll pointing toward king. Same as A5& A14	King of Judah holding on to Jesse Tree vine.  Replacement B12 was copied from B13. Same as B17.	Blue nimbed prophet with scroll in both hands.  Same as C3 & C15,
14	Prophet with scroll pointing toward king. Same as A5 & A13	King of Judah holding on to Jesse Tree vine.  Same as B9, B10, & B15	Blue nimbed prophet with both arms pointing toward king, Same as C8, C10, &C12.
15	Blue nimbed thin bearded prophet holding scroll.  Name not readable.	King of Judah holding on to Jesse Tree  vine.  Same as B9, B10 &B14	Blue nimbed prophet with scrollin both hands. Same as C3 & C13,
16	Blue nimbed prophet with scroll. 19th century replacement. Same design as A8, A10, A11, & A12	King of Judah holding on to Jesse Tree vine.  19th century replacement.  Similar to B12 and B13.	Prophet with right hand pointing toward king and holding a scroll in the left hand.  19th century replacement.
17	Blue nimbed prophet holding scroll with both hands. 19th century replacement	King of Judah holdling on the Jesse Tree vine.  Design is similar to B12, B13	Blue nimbed prophet with scroll.  19th century replacement.
18	Blue nimbed prophet holding scroll with both hands. Modern replacement. Same as B19.	King David playing a waisted vielle with bow.	Blue nimbed prophet holding scroll in left hand. Modern replacement
19	Blue nimbed prophet holding scroll with both hands. Modern replacement. Same as B18	Jesse asleep in bed though sitting up.  Jesse Tree is growing from loins.	Blue nimbed prophet holding scroll in both hands. 19th century replacement.

   Jesse Tree of Sainte-Chapelle by the numbers:

• 34 Old Testament figures all blue nimbed.  This is more than the 4 major and 12 minor prophets included in even the largest presentations of the Jesse Tree.  So one has to assume that the artisans who drew the figures were also including Old Testament figures such as Moses and Aaron and Old Testament patriarchs such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob/Israel among others.
• 14 Kings of Judah including the only identifiable king in the window, King David who is playing a waisted vielle in his lap.
• 13 sections of panels that were replaced in the 19th century.(This might not be completely accurate.  Medieval glass made north of the Alps has a significantly different  chemical composition from modern soda-lime-silicate glass and from glass made using the Roman techniques that continued in the Mediterranean area. The northern glass has a much higher potassium or potash content and calcium content. This allows analysis of the glass using various spectroscopic techniques as well as chemical analysis.  Techniques such as specialized spectroscopy suggest that the identification of medieval and 19th century glass by inspection may not be that accurate.)
• 6 doves.
• 8 figures including the Virgin Mary and seven kings posed in the same frontal manner
• 5 prophets with scroll in left hand. 
• 5 prophets with banderoles across chest
• 4 kings facing forward and grasping the vine in the same manner.
• 4 kings, 2 original glass and 2 replacement sections that appear to have wings.
• 4 prophets pointing
• 3 prophets holding scrolls with both hands. 
• 3 prophets pointing toward the king. 
• 2 angels
• 2 prophets who are named, Amos and Isaias.
• 1 Jesse figure
• 1 Blessed Virgin Mary
• 1 Jesus Christ seated in majesty.

      For all its height, the Jesse Tree window at Sainte-Chapelle is not especially complex.  The center panels contain static forward facing figures except for King David playing an instrument.  The prophets and Old Testament figures are drawn in more positions, but even here, the designs are repeated to simplify the assembly of the window from the various pieces of glass.  The two most distinctive features of this window are the large number of crowned kings and the multitude of Old Testament figures who are unidentified for the most part.  As has been noted in the past, this window is a celebration of kings and kingship.

  

Cathedral of St Gervais (or Gervase) and St. Protais (or Protase), Soissons, Picardy

     

Exterior of Cathedral of Saint-Gervais and Saint-Protais, Soissons, Picardy

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East end of choir with Jesse Tree window in the center upper choir.

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     Cathedral Basilica of St. Gervasius and St. Protasius, Soissons, Picardy, France was built in the Gothic style beginning about 1177.  It was mostly completed in the 13th century, though building did continue through the 15th century.  Unfortunately the cathedral suffered many natural and man-made vicissitudes though the centuries. (See Madeline H. Caviness. Modular Assemblages: Reconstructing the Choir Clerestory Glazing of Soissons Cathedral. The Journal of the Walters Art Gallery (1990) 48: 57-68.) This included the loss of the original much of the stained glass in the cathedral that had survived for hundreds of years, iconoclasm by Huguenots during the Wars of Religion, wars including Franco-Prussian in 1870, and a large explosion. The window glass was removed in the 19th century for restoration.  Instead of restoration, the stained glass was sold to collectors. Parts of the original windows now are found as far away as the United States in the Waters Art Gallery in Baltimore, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, the Glencairn Museum, Bryn Athyn, PA, and in Russia, as well as the Louvre.  Much of the glass that was left was then destroyed in World War I.  Even so, a Jesse Tree window survived in the choir clerestory.

     The Jesse Tree window in the choir clerestory at Soissons has had much repair and restoration. The window is unusual in that Mary is flanked by two non-biblical sibyls. Two angels flank Christ in majesty instead of the usual two prophets.  How did two sibyls come to be in a Jesse Tree window since sibyls are female oracles from ancient Greece thought to have prophetic power in telling the future?
     
     The first sibyl is the Sibyl of Cumae, a character in Virgil’s Eclogue 4 who predicts “the Virgin returns,” and speaks of the birth of a boy who “shall have the gift of divine life.”  The early church interpreted this prophesy for a coming messiah (Virgil lived 70-19 BCE).  (Virgil. Eclogues, Georgics, Aeneid. Translated by Fairclough, H R. Loeb Classical Library Volumes 63 & 64. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1916)

     The second sibyl is the Erythraean Sibyl. St. Augustine of Hippo who lived from 354-430 CE wrote in his book, City of God, Chaper 23, “Of the Erythraean Sibyl, Who is Known to Have Sung Many Things About Christ More Plainly Than the Other Sibyls.” According to St. Augustine, the Erythraean sibyl referenced Jesus as Messiah through an acrostic poem about the coming judgment day when the earth would be utterly destroyed as would all persons on the earth in great fire and brimstone when the sun is eclipsed.  The first letter of each line in Greek spells out “‘Іησους Χοιστος Θεου υιος σωτηο,’ which means, Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Savior.” The first letter in Greek also spell ICHTHYS or fish, an early symbol of Christianity and Christian worship.   

     The money needed for making the Jesse Tree window at Soissons  as well as the other choir windows seems is the result of a convoluted story.  King Philippe “Auguste” also referred to a Philip II who reigned from 1180-1223 gave the money before his death in 1223, but almost certainly about 1210. 

     After the death of Philip II’s first wife in childbirth, Philip married in 1193 the 18 years old sister of the King of Denmark, Ingeborg of Denmark. He repudiated Ingeborg the day after the marriage at her coronation. She was confined to Convent of St. Maur-des-Fossés near Paris and then the abbey of Cisoing or Cysoing, in the diocese of Tournai near Lille. From Cysoing, Ingeborg wrote to Pope Celestine III in 1195 and again in 1196 begging for help.  Philip obtained an annulment from an group of bishops but this had never been approved by the Pope. Philip then married a third wife, Agnes of Meran, who died in 1201 after five years of marriage and two children.  As a consequence of the unwillingness of Philip to take back Ingeborg, Pope Innocent III imposed a interdict over France from December 1199 to September 1200.

     A council was called in Soissons in Lent 1201 by the papal legate, Cardinal Octavian of Ostia, to resolve the issues of the legitimacy of Phillip’s marriage to Ingeborg and listen to Philip's reasons for requesting an annulment of the marriage. When it became clear that Philip was going to lose his case, Philip capitulated to the council.  During the council in 1201, Queen Ingeborg stayed at a convent at Soissons where Philip met with her.  After the conclusion of the council at Soissons in 1201, Philip II retracted his pledge to take back as his wife. Instead from 1201, Ingeborg was confined to the donjon d’Etampes for six years in the cellars during which time she again begged for help from the pope given her appalling living conditions.  Ingeborg lived above ground at Etampes for a further six years. Philip II did not take back his wife until April 1213 on the insistence of Pope Innocent III, and because he needed the political support of Denmark and Pope Innocent III for a potential invasion of England then ruled by King John. Philip II never lived with his wife.  He died in 1223. After the death of Philip II, Queen Ingeborg was well treated by Louis VIII, the son of Philip II by his first wife and Louis XI as befitting the wealthy widow of a king.

     The reasons for the gift of money to Soissons cathedral certainly include political considerations such as the conflict with England over English control of large areas of western France (the Angevin empire controlled by King Henry II and then Richard I the Lionheart), and the Fourth Crusade, and the diplomatic issues relating to Philip’s treatment of his wife. The money was apparently put promptly toward the fabrication of the stained glass windows since the choir was in use by May 1212. When  King Philip II was in Soissons in 1213, scholars assume the upper levels of the choir were being finished. 

     What then is the tie between angels and sibyls in the Soissons’ Jesse Tree window and Queen Ingeborg? While the Queen was confined under deplorable conditions, a beautiful psalter was made for her with lavish gold illuminations including a full page Jesse Tree. The Ingeborg Psalter thus dates to 1193-1200, probably about 1095 or perhaps was made on the occasion of her marriage in 1193. The psalter is now housed at the Musee Conde in Chantilly, Oise. 

     The psalter was made in northern France in the Picardy region near or in Soissons or Noyon It is not known who commissioned the psalter since it was named for the Queen but not commissioned by her since she lived in abject poverty. In the Jesse Tree in the psalter, Jesus Christ is flanked by two angels and the Virgin Mary has a sibyl standing  right edge of the page. The sibyl is Virgil’s Sibyl of Cumae. Thus, the designer of the Jesse Tree window in the Cathedral at Soissons seems to have knowledge of the Ingeborg Psalter. This is just one of many examples of a small illuminated Jesse Tree for private use apparently being the foundation for a larger Jesse Tree in stained glass intended for instruction of the public.

     Nothing is known about the Master of the Ingeborg Psalter, the name given to the illuminator of the Ingeborg Psalter, a few things can be inferred. He must have been a monk who had studied extensively and had access to Virgil’s Eclogues and Augustine’s City of God.  There is no clue as to why the Master of Ingeborg Psalter chose to add angels and a sibyl to the elegantly illuminated psalter. Sibyls appear in later Jesse Trees such as the one carved into the façade at the cathedral at Ovieto. The only obvious contemporary source is the Ordo Prophetarum or Procession of the Prophets play(s). But none of the several versions of the play that are extant date from the early 12th century. Yet, there is a 13th century Ordo Prophetarum from Laon, not far from Soissons or Noyon. (See: Robert C. Lagueux.Sermons, Exegesis, and Performance: The Laon Ordo Prophetarum and the Meaning of Advent. Comparative Drama (Summer 2009) 43:197-220.). So one might suppose that the monk making the Jesse Tree psalter and perhaps designing the Soissons Jesse Tree stained glass window was thinking of the Procession of the Prophets instead of or in addition to the rich psalter that he might have seen.

Jesse Tree from Ingeborg Psalter, c. 1193-1200. northern France. Musée Condé MS.1695, Chantilly, Oise, France The vielle player is King David and the harp player is King Solomon.  (Usually it is David who holds the harp, but not so in this illumination.  A harping Solomon recalls that Song of Songs is attributed to him.) The top figure is Jesus Christ enthroned between two angels and surrounded by seven doves.  Below him is Virgin Mary with a red prayer book .  The prophets on the left, top to bottom are Malachi, Daniel, and Amos.  The figures on the right are Sibyl of Cumae, Ezekiel, and Joseph holding stem of lilies in bloom.  Jesse is reposing at the bottom.

<http://www.domainedechantilly.com/domaine-de-chantilly/biblioth%C3%A8que-et-archives-ch%C3%A2teau/chefs-doeuvre.>  <http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/meditations/jessetree.htm>

 Jesse Tree window (Cowen Number 100) at the east end of the choir of Soissons Cathedral.  Two kneeling angels flank Jesus and the Virgin Mary and two female sibyls flank the seated Virgin Mary and the unidentified king of Judah.  Neither  King David nor Solomon hold identifying symbols.  The generic King of Judah holds a scepter. The six nimbed prophets cannot be identified. The Jesse figure is missing. Window was made probably about 1212 and extensively repaired during the centuries especially in the 17th and 19th centuries

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