medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Charlemagne (814). "Carles li reis, nostre emperere magnes" (the opening words of the _Chanson de Roland_) was canonized in 1165 by the pro-imperial antipope Paschal III. Although all of Paschal's ordinances were annulled in 1179 by canon two of the Third Lateran Council, Charlemagne nonetheless received a later medieval and early modern cult in parts of the empire and in France. One reads in some potted notices that this cult was confirmed by Benedict XIV (1740-1758) but Charlemagne's unusually detailed notice at the "Santi Beati" site <http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/91756> is careful to point out that Benedict was not yet pope when he observed in his _De servorum Dei beatificatione_ that Charlemagne's traditional cult was the equivalent of a beatification. That said, Charlemagne's liturgical celebration continues, with papally permitted propers and with the designation "sanctus", in the dioceses of Aachen (translation feast on 27. July; principal feast on 28. January) and Osnabrück (feast on 27. January). It continues as well at the abbeys of Metten (Lkr. Deggendorf) in Bavaria and Müstair (Münster; founded by Charlemagne) in Graubünden, where it is "tolerated" by the Sacred Congregation of Rites. Charlemagne has yet to grace the pages of the Roman Martyrology.
Some medieval images of Charlemagne:
a) Charlemagne as portrayed on a silver denier struck by him (Paris, BN, Cabinet des Médailles, M-G 317, Prou 983; photographs courtesy of Genevra Kornbluth):
http://www.kornbluthphoto.com/images/37-111.jpg
http://www.kornbluthphoto.com/images/37-112.jpg
b) Charlemagne as portrayed on a seal from August 807 (photographs courtesy of Genevra Kornbluth):
http://www.kornbluthphoto.com/images/Char%20seal%20807.jpg
http://www.kornbluthphoto.com/images/Char807.jpg
c) Charlemagne (at far left, being blessed by St. Giles) as depicted in a twelfth-century fresco on the north wall of the crypt of St. Clement in the cathédrale de Notre-Dame in Chartres:
http://tinyurl.com/y9yojjo
d) Charlemagne as portrayed in a late twelfth- or early thirteenth-century relief over the north door of the facade of the cattedrale di San Donnino in Fidenza (PR) in Emilia-Romagna (in legend Charlemagne, instructed by an angel, unearthed the hidden body of the martyr Domninus and had him buried in a predecessor of this church):
http://tinyurl.com/ycnel6k
e) Charlemagne (at center, betw. pope St. Leo III and archbishop Turpin of Reims) as portrayed on his early thirteenth-century reliquary shrine (1215) in the Dom St. Marien in Aachen (image greatly expandable, showing C.'s designation _SANCTVS_ very clearly):
http://tinyurl.com/pghrxyg
Detail view (Charlemagne):
http://tinyurl.com/kqh4pvb
f) The early thirteenth-century Charlemagne window (ca. 1225) in the basilique cathédrale de Notre-Dame in Chartres:
http://tinyurl.com/lgjvx5a
Larger image:
http://tinyurl.com/ylkmbwm
Detail views (starting from bottom and reading up):
http://tinyurl.com/7reo525
http://tinyurl.com/7vgva6f
http://tinyurl.com/7u2szs3
http://tinyurl.com/7kvqda9
http://tinyurl.com/n2fv7wo
g) Charlemagne as portrayed in his mid-fourteenth-century reliquary bust (ca. 1349) in the treasury of the Dom St. Marien in Aachen:
http://www.bonnensia.de/geschichte/karl034.htm
http://tinyurl.com/qg2wrhe
http://tinyurl.com/qaw3qgl [image greatly expandable]
h) Charlemagne, nimbed, as depicted by Theodoric of Prague in a later fourteenth-century panel painting (ca. 1360-1364) in the chapel of the Holy Cross at Karlštejn Castle, Karlštejn, Czech Republic:
http://tinyurl.com/lqs9738
i) Charlemagne, nimbed, as depicted in a late fourteenth-century pontifical and missal (ca. 1388) for the Use of Luçon (Paris, BnF, ms. Latin 8886, fol. 400v):
http://expositions.bnf.fr/fouquet/grand/f628.htm
j) Charlemagne, nimbed, as depicted in grisaille by Jean Tavernier in the later fifteenth-century Hours of Philip of Burgundy (ca. 1450-1460; Den Haag, KB, ms. 76 F 2, fol. 266r):
http://manuscripts.kb.nl/zoom/BYVANCKB%3Amimi_76f2%3A266r_min
k) Charlemagne, nimbed (at right center; at left center, St. Louis IX) as depicted in a later fifteenth-century copy (ca. 1460) of the _Grandes chroniques de France_
(Châteauroux, Bibliothèque municipale, ms. 5, fol. 282v):
http://www.enluminures.culture.fr/Wave/savimage/enlumine/irht2/IRHT_054382-p.jpg
l) Charlemagne, nimbed (at right) presenting a model of the imperial "cathedral" of Frankfurt to its titular, St. Bartholomew, as depicted in an _Amstbuch_ (register) of the chapter from 1482, now in the Stadtarchiv Frankfurt am Main:
http://tinyurl.com/qxx7eg7
m) Charlemagne, nimbed, as depicted in the originally late fifteenth-century St. Catherine window in the basilique cathédrale Notre-Dame de l'Annonciation at Moulins (Allier):
http://tinyurl.com/7luqd9a
n) Charlemagne, nimbed, as depicted on a wing of a late fifteenth- or very early sixteenth-century triptych (ca. 1495-1501?; St. Louis IX on the other wing) in the Cappella del Santissimo Salvatore in Naples:
http://www.ilportaledelsud.org/images/casati/ss01.jpg
Detail view (Charlemagne):
http://www.ilportaledelsud.org/images/casati/ss07.jpg
o) Charlemagne (center, at rear) with other saints as depicted by Jean Bourdichon in a miniature from the now dismembered late fifteenth-century Hours of Louis XII (1498/1499; Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, ms. 79A recto):
http://tinyurl.com/ptr4vtl
p) Charlemagne, nimbed (at right, with his also nimbed queen St. Hildegard), as depicted in a late fifteenth-century copy (1499) of Johannes Birk's _Kemptener Chronik_ (Munich, BSB, Cgm 9470, fol. 32r):
http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/bsb00058206/image_65
q) Charlemagne, nimbed, as portrayed on a very late fifteenth- or very early sixteenth-century Dicken (ca. 1500-1503) from Zurich:
http://www.muenzenwoche.de/images/303_67ce9a28.jpg
Best,
John Dillon
(matter from an older post revised)
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