medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
The figures in the six lancets of the east window in the St Piat Chapel are: St Turiaf,
St Thecla, St Piat, St Tugdual, an unidentifiable bishop saint, and another
unidentifiable bishop saint. I have tried to make a case for these six figures
referring to the "treasury" of relics that once stood in the axial arcade of the
sanctuary in Chartres Cathedral. This consisted of a raised platform, reached by
spiral stairs in the flanking bays, with a pyramid of six compartments, each of which
contained a reliquary. All of the identifiable saints are mentioned in this location in
the early treasury inventories, and the unidentifiable bishops were probably early
bishops of Chartres, whose relics are recorded in the same place, probably St
Soleine and St Bethaire. The presence of Breton saints is notable, not only St
Tugdual (or however one spells it), but St Turiaf, as well, a bishop of Dol. These
apparently came to Chartres during the Norman invasions, as did the relics of St
Piat. Although the latter eventually became confused with the more famous St Piat,
up in Belgium, he was apparently a completely separate saint who also hailed from
Bretagne.
> what you want to look at is his later work on the glass, _Les vitraux de la
> cathédrale de Chartres / histoire et description par Y. Delaporte
> reproductions par É. Houvet._ Chartres: É. Houvet, 1926. xx, 532 p., ill.
> ; and atlas. 3 v. 212 plates
Delaporte's article on the St Piat chapel glass is still the most definitive work on this
glass. Rather frustratingly, he did not include it in his 1926 monograph. The French
committee of the Corpus Vitrearum is currently, I believe, working on this glass, and
there should be more good studies appearing shortly.
Cheers,
Jim Bugslag
PS. My own work on this was briefly published as "Entre espace pictural et
architectural. La fenetre est de la chapelle Saint-Piat a la cathedrale de Chartres,"
in Representations architecturales dans les vitraux, Dossier de la Commission
Royale des Monuments, Sites et Fouilles, 9 (Liege, 2002), pp. 85-94.
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