Dear Gary,

Many thanks for the references and thoughts.

And, espcially, for the consensus summaries: just cut to the chase, in future,
please. (I've decided that I definitely need another lifetime to answer all
the idle questions I can think up, so I'm actively looking for a handsome
teen-aged donor for a full-body transplant; should any kind soul on the list
know of such an one, I would be very greatful to hear of it.)

>The consensus is that differentiation [among annals, chronicles and
histories] cannot be formulaic.

Suspected as much. 
Could probably draw a fairly smooth line between all the dots, from the
dullest of Annales to Orderic, and yet the difference between the two extremes
is, well, extreme. 
Just that, to my ('Merican) ear, calling Orderic a "chronicler" just 
doant sound quite right, somehow.

Bach was a "composer", I suppose, but still....

But, my wretched knittpiquing aside, the essential point remains as you made
it: the Chartres region is fairly well beggared as far as *any* sort of
non-charter sources goes, beyond the few that I mentioned earlier. 

I *think*. 

To what extent that this is an unusual (surely it is not unique?) situation, I
can't begin to say, being utterly ignorant of other regions, much less other
countries.

Of course, there's no telling what we've lost--easy to imagine
annales/chronicles, even histories existing in unique mss and just not making
it into modern times. 

------------
I read *some*where (Lucien Merlet's introduction to the Cathedral cartulary,
or to his Inventaire Sommaire of the Cathedral "G" documents 
in the AD??) that, at the time of the Revolution the chapter's paper 
goods were hauled to the _place_ before the Cathedral and set afire. 

It is said that the fire burned for 3 days.

I really should try and run that story down--surely I couldn't have made up
such a tale from whole cloth (I hope).

Sounds even more incredible (literally) when one considers the *large* amount
of St. Mary material which survies in the Archives today, the largest _fonds_
there by far and one of the largest Cathedral _fonds_ in France, I believe. 

To say nothing of the fact that (even used) paper and parchment were not
valueless commodities in c. 1790: the preface to the appropriate volume 
of the Inn. Somm. in Versailles which catalogues the pitifully few surviving
records from St. Mary's of Étampes notes that the documents 
were indeed collected from the church and sent to the _Chef-lieu_ of the
newly-organized massive _departement_. of the Seine-et-Oise, where they were
"received in proper order and receipts were signed" (or somesuchlike
bureaucratic phrase--I love it). 
Then they were apparently promptly shipped off to the Army (Napoleonic Wars
going on, full-tilt), to be used *as canon wadding* and never heard of again.
-----------

Curious that a relatively small place like Morigny (a Benedictine house just
North of Étampes, founded shortly after 1100 by monks from St. Germer-de-Fly,
near Beauvais) would produce a reasonably decent (though quite limited in time
and scope--but what can you expect from a mere Benedictine chronicle)
narrative source (the _Morigny Chronicle_, 
written. in part, by Abbot Thomas, contemporary of Abelard); 

while St. Peter's of Chartres--*much* older (6th c.?), *much* larger, and
arguably a more prestigeous and resouce-full by far--produced *nothing* 
of the sort, aside from the monk Paul's narrative, which, though it does
contain quite interesting historical bits, I don't believe would qualify as
either a chronicle or a history (and which I've been meaning to have a serious
look at since this string started; I can furnish, off-list, a digitized copy
to anyone who might be interested).

And thanks for the references to the Barnes article and your own--I'll go take
a look in a minute. I haven't visited that problem in 30 years and then only
briefly and superficially. 

Those "cart" references and the obit entries in the Cathedral necrology are,
apparently, the only contemporary mentions of the construction of 
the West front (and Jan van der Meulen is of the extraordinary 
belief--for which, as far as I know, he has yet to offer convincing, or even
detailed, proof--that the "ad opus turris" references in the obits 
do not refer to the West towers at all); 

and, presumably, its _portam regiam_ (first mentioned in the 13th c. Cathedral
Ordinary published by Delaporte).

>On pilgrimage: ... where are the English sources? 

You repeat *my* question. That's no good. I asked you first.

I've never seen reference to any (not saying much), and have even forgotten
the French source for the Tour--I don't think that I paid any attention to
such mundane things as running down original souces in that incarnation, being
an empyreal Art historian. 
Von Simson was probably my "source" back then. 

It was just a question that popped into my head, never having thought of it
before (duh). 

The lack (if there is, indeed, such a lack) of any non-Chartrain-originating
mentions (even in France, for goodness sakes) 
of the arrival in town of those Guys From Chartres (they went to Laon, too, if
I remember? and, if there, surely Soissons) *might* make one 
think that it was no big deal to the locals, though this is, I suppose, a bit
of a stretch, methodlogically, and uncredible factually. 

No newpapers en ces temps-là, but, still and all, you'd think that *some*
plodding Annalist on the route, *some*where, would bother to jot it down? 

"1196. Yadda, Yadda, Yadda... And, oh yes, in this year the Sacred Tunic of
the Most Blessed Virgin, Mother of God, which She wore whilst nursing her Son,
blew through town. It is said that some went to see it."

Surely the Canons (and a Dignitary or two?) wouldn't have just come in on the
night train, held a rubber-chicken dinner, hit up a few prominent citizens for
a cheque and left the next morning? 

It was a *Fund* *Raising* tour, for goodness sake--dependant for its success
upon publicity and photo-ops, news conferences, posters, searchlights,
baloons, candles ("Can't you seen the candles," said 
Eor)... 

AND, considering the (ahem) Importance of the Relic--which *must* have been
universally acknowledged and recognized, if the "pilgrimage" idea 
has *any* relevance to Chartres at all--they had in tow, surely we should
expect that they would have been met at the city gate by no less than the
resident Bishop (if he was in the neighborhood), Cathedral Dignitaries,
Abbots, Cannons, Fireworks, Courthouse Bench Sitters, Slackers and Shirkers...
and taken *in solemn procession* to the spiffiest church in town, welcomed by
High Masses, Whatnot and Fallderall. 

Not every day such a relic comes to town--especially to the smaller 
places which they *must* also have stayed in, or at least passed through, on
their way round to the Centers. (St. Louis commissioned the fine "gothic"
portal of the modest village church of Villeneuve-l'Archévêque when he met the
Crown of Thorn relics incomming from Constantinople and destined for the
soon-to-be-built Ste. Chapelle.)

And yet, NOT A WORD written down by Anyone???? Anywhere?????

Curious (if true), is all.

>Doesn't Jean le Marchant's vernacular *Miracles de Notre-Dame de Chartres*...
hold pilgrimage clues?

Have to let Jim field this one, being Marchantically challenged, myself.

>(this is an accent-free zone)

If this really bugs you--or if you want to impress your friends--try 
this: with the number lock on, punch in the ASCII code for the letter you want
on the number keyboard, while holding down the "Alt" key.

Tedious as hell, but it works (on most machines/email systems, I think):
128 yields  "Ç"
129 yields  "ü"
130 yields  "é"
etc.
No rime nor reason to the numbering that I can see, so arbitrary memory 
or having handy a table of the codes (printer manuals usually have them) is
the only way to go.

Good luck.

Best to all from here,

Christopher






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