October 24th, 2022
I knew I’d like this book. It’s got the Henry Adams writing style that I enjoyed so much in his Education. The preface is a nice little note for his niece, assuming one knows that he originally wrote this for his nieces. The first chapter is about Mont-Saint-Michel and a discussion on the Normans. Adams wants the 11th century to feel alive, and he brings us back to the Normandy of 1050 and what we, the common peasant, would do as part of this community. He really makes the Norman energy come alive, which their vast construction projects and vast war of expansions, with neighbors, England, and Italy. He weaves this in an out of describing the church itself. This is hardly a church for Christ or the Virgin, but of God’s warrior angel. He stands guarding the ever violent sea, high above all the surroundings. I looked up a picture of it and it really is beautiful. I assumed it was on the coast, but it is literally on an island. It is walkable at low tide, but isolated at high. It is a small island too and a wonder they could build something so tall on it. Really an amazing sight, even in pictures.
October 25th, 2022
The first chapter continues on the buildings itself. Adams describes how the certain parts have collapsed and were rebuilt in later centuries, creating a mixture of Romanesque and Gothic, of Norman and French, yet it still works. As per his Education, Adams is really into “energy”, that is, what is the spirit that propelled the Normans to create such a building. It was described as naif or natif, before the meaning of naïve became derogatory for unintelligent. He then goes on a little tangent about prose and verse and the Song of Roland, which leads to the second chapter. Adams wants us to become pilgrims as of the old days, pilgrims who believe in the necessity to visit the site on the Saint’s day. Then we jump back to the 11th century and the time when Harold Godwinson came to William the Bastard to release his hostage family. As told in the Bayeux Tapestry, he joined William (or was forced to accompany) an expedition against the Bretons. On this journey, they stopped in Mont-Saint-Michel to pray to the warrior’s saint.
October 26th, 2022
Adams imagines that in the refectory of the abbey, William the men on the expedition to Brittany are entertained by a juggler, who recites the Song of Roland. Adams paints a vivid picture of the juggler performing the song and the parallels that would have been felt by the audience. The battle spirit of Roland and his comradery with Oliver would have been deeply felt by the French veterans. The man who betrays Roland may have been Harold if he chose to not follow his oath. Most of these men present would live and die in battle and probably knew it. Roland’s sword, clad with relics from Saint Peter, Saint Basil, the Virgin, and Saint Denis would have awed the monks. The lines about St. Michael and his town on the shore would have struck an emotional nerve, and in the end Roland is brought to heaven by Saints Michael and Gabriel. There is no mention of Christ or the Virgin, only the Lord God and his militant servants. There is no female character. This is a pure military poem with the power to rouse the militant spirit, and at Mont-Saint-Michel, its power is amplified.
October 28th, 2022
This 3rd chapter so far isn't too interesting. Adams is moves on to talking about the 12th and 13th century aspects of Mont-Saint-Michel. As usual, Adams writes well and it is his the way he writes that is interesting. Descriptions of buildings typically just don't do it for me, though.
November 1st, 2022
Adams lingers in Normandy a bit longer and mentions some other towns, compares them, but moves onto French architecture. We move towards the Ile-de-France and stop on its northwestern border. At Mantes, we see its Notre Dame. It, its cousin Notre Dames in Paris and Chartres, were built around the same time, end of the 12th century. Adams comments how these concurrent buildings learned from the mistakes of each other, in regards to windows etc. Adams notes that the towers, along with in Paris, are unique in that they seem to be the only churches of this era without fleches, or pointy roofs from their twin towers. I thought Notre Dame in Paris had them, but I guess not. It has one clocher, or steeple, but not part of its towers. Adams makes the point that we are not ready to go to the 13th century because there is not returning from that point. We must ignore all the other schools of architecture in the Mediterrean, along the Rhine, in the west, etc and focus on trying to feel what the Middle Ages were trying to express in its buildings. Then, we move to Chartres, a couple dozen miles west of Paris. I didn’t know we’d go there so soon.
November 3rd, 2022
No time to write yesterday. Adams marvels at the peacefulness of the Cathedral at Chartres. This is a unique church as it is mainly a church for the Virgin and partially for Christ. There are no depictions of punishment or crucifixion. It it’s a place for peace. There are two towers, one medieval and short, one Renaissance and tall. The medieval tower is a thick tower that somehow blends its squareness into the octagonal cocher. It is full of statues which seem to be portraits of people of the era, Blanche the queen, mother of St Louis IX. Also shown, it seems, are Louis’ half-uncle and his wife, who warred with Blanche over regency. Somehow they both find a home here.
November 4th, 2022
Adams spends more time on the exterior. There are two porches, a northern and a southern. The northern porch, in the shadows is a porch for the Virgin and follows the theme of the cathedral. The southern was built by a second cousin of Louis VIII. Through marriage he became Duke of Brittany and thus powerful. He was a crusader and his southern porch defied the theme. It shows Christ, not as a child in the arms of Mary, but as a man with stigmata, judging those who enter. Mary is a side character before Christ on this face of the Notre Dame and little glory is given to Mary. Adams mentions something about the total churches built in France during between 1170 and 1270 or maybe 1270 and 1370 or possibly not a 70 at all, but within a century, adjusted for 1900s inflation, $1billion. That’s a lot of dedication to one idea, to buy favor for the afterlife and the favor of heaven. Adams claims that no era had such passion for a subject, and this goes with his idea that this era represents unity. He also talks about how the church officials do not look so positively on such dedication to Mary as opposed to the doctrine of Christ, but what can they do about it? Since Byzantium people have favored her. The next chapter enters the church. I read some but don’t remember if he talked much about it yet.
November 8th, 2022
I don’t really remember what I read the last couple days. We’re still at Chartres. I think Adams was talking about the thoughts and feelings of those who built the cathedrals. The design was not for the Virgin Mary, but guided by the Virgin Mary. She was present at all times. Obviously Adams is trying to create a sense of emotion in the building as opposed to dry academic dimensions, and he does a decent job. You have to read it and be in the moment to feel it. He mentioned something about the Notre Dames all having the “requirements” from Mary: light, space, color, and something else. This goes on for a bit. Then he talks about the rose windows and more Gothic vs Romanesque stuff. There was something about, especially at Chartres, there is only Mary. The Son is part of the Virgin, the Father is a background character, and the Holy Spirit is hard to find. Mary is the house for the trinity, it exists within her envelope. Obviously this is not standard doctrine.
November 9th, 2022
I don’t remember how the chapter ends, but the 8th chapter moves on to discuss stained glass. I kind of remember now, something about apses. I’m not that interested in the layout of a church, to be honest. It was kind of a drag. Stained-glass, however, is cool. It really is the main attraction of any church, other than maybe a nice façade. It sounds like there are a few windows that will be discussed at Chartres, and the first is a Tree of Jesse (western window I think). It’s pretty cool looking and has a very complicated and colorful frame. The tree and its men are surrounded by blue, which Adams says is the test for a true stained glass artist. Light from the sky is blue, so the use of blue in the window is tricky, or something like that. It must be framed in a way with other colors and borders to expound the blue. Also, the glass can have no background. There is no perspective; it is truly 2D, like a rug hung on a wall.
November 11th, 2022
We go about the glass for quite some time. Across from the tree is the Passion, with evidence that this was likely made by a Greek or inspired by a Byzantine piece. There are some Greek images and an scene where the nails are removed from Christ, which is not seen in Western art. In the center is the Virgin Mary herself in her imperial glory. Crowned, scepter in hand, with the Christ child sitting on her lap. Adam puts a lot of work in making the reader feel the Virgin in the building, that, like the people of the 12th century may have believed, she guided the building herself. She was, and may still be, present in this place, her temple. He probably says some other stuff, and the next chapter is about more glass. This seems to be talking about other stained glasses of the 13th century, and not religious ones. People donating windows in honor of someone who died, like a cousin of Louis VIII or Philip Augustus who died in the Battle of Lincoln against another half-relation, Henry III. Seems there was a fire in the church in 1194, don’t know how much of it was destroyed, but that may explain why a lot of windows are 13th century.
November 15th, 2022
We talk more and more about stained glass, which I don’t blame Adams for. It’s definitely the best part of a church. He compares the different centuries of stained glass and comments that the 13th century may be disappointing. A lot of it is not religious. Some of it is obscure Spanish saints for Blanche, some of it is from the Golden Legend of Saint Anne (Mary’s mother). Then there are a series of windows about Charlemagne and Roland. This will be interesting.
November 16th, 2022
Adams tries to drive the point that the church was not built for Rome, but for Mary. All of the choices made in its design were guided by Mary herself, or some the architects and artists believed. Charlemagne and Roland are in the window because she was entertained by the stories. Saints Eustace, Thomas, James were included because they are her favorites. Some stories have rival tellings in other churches, so as the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan. Many windows are donated not by the aristocracy, but by the common people. Signatures of guilds or guild members point out which window was donated by bakers, wine makers, tanners, etc. They take prominent positions also, not just hidden away. It is a people’s church because the Virgin loves the people.
November 18th, 2022
We are still discussing glass. The main topic is the rivalry between Queen Blanche and Pierre de Dreux. The Duke of Brittany’s southern windows are like his porch. The rose window features an adult Christ, who is the one King. There are some very odd windows beneath it. It’s litterally Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John on riding on the shoulders of Old Testament prophets. It looks like they are playing chicken. Beneath them are the de Dreux family members kneeling in prayer. It looks like Mary is in the center of these 5 lower windows. Not very prominent for a Notre Dame. Blanche’s northern rose window features Mary with Christ the child on her lap in the center. Below the rose window are another 5 windows. Front and center is Saint Anne holding the child Mary. Flanking her are some big names of the OT: David, Solomon, and I don’t know the others. This is more in line with the idea of the Virgin’s church. Adams likes to make the point that in all this space, Blanche is alone. The Virgin may sympathize with her, but the remaining men in glass are rebels. The church was funded by literal enemies, all in the name of the Virgin Mary.
November 21st, 2022
Adams writes more to try to recreate the feeling of the 12th or 13th century Christian. He tries to make us feel that we are the peasant looking for solace in a hard life, and we find it here in the presence of the Virgin’s sympathy. A mother who lost her child, as many did back then, can picture him or her in the company of the Holy Mother with the child Jesus, awaiting their eventual reunion. He tells a good story. After many days, we leave Chartres. I do not know our next destination. We stop for a history lesson. Adams claims that this medieval era was a time of strong women, exemplified by three queens. There was Elanor of Aquitaine, Blanche of Castille, and I can’t remember the third one. Possibly Saint Louis’ wife, but I forget her name. Margaret? The strong men of the era are William the Bastard, Henry II, and Saint Louis, with Richard the Lionheart as a potential add-on. I guess you get one for each century, or maybe Phillip Augustus would make the list. The point is, behind these men was a stronger and power-seeking woman. Elanor, despite being imprisoned by Henry, controlled her sons and used them against Henry. That family was constantly at war with itself. Saint Louis was quite afraid of his mother Blanche, and his wife had no fear of Blanche. I guess this all ties into the cult of the Virgin. A nice side story is that chess, learned during the Crusades, did not have a queen but a weak vizier (ferz). At some point in history, this became the all-powerful queen, possibly modeled after Isabella, though this may push us out of the medieval era a bit.
November 23rd, 2022
The remainder of the chapter is mostly spent on poetry. Some of the kings and counts of the era were pretty good poets, like Richard the Lionheart. His prison poetry is very famous. Another poet was Thibaut (or Theobald) IV, Count of Champagne. This is the grandson of Marie of Champagne and thus great grandson of Eleanor and Louis VII. Queen Blanche, I am surprised to learn, was descended from Henry II and Eleanor. Their daughter, also Eleanor, was Queen of Castile, and her daughter Blanche became queen of France and then regent. Thus Saint Louis was the great grandson of Henry II and Eleanor, and Thibaut’s second cousin through both Eleanor and Louis VII. I always get caught up in the genealogy stuff. Since Saint Louis is the common ancestor of all the following French kings, all French kings are directly descended from Henry II. There are probably more recent common marriages that make the last French king a closer relation to the English monarchy. Anyway, this Thibault was a poet and sided with Blanche against Pierre de Dreux’s rebellion. I don’t know if he was rewarded. He certainly did not get his image at Chartres. Rumors were abound that they were lovers. He may have written poems to her; we will never know. He also wrote poems about the Virgin that were oddly similar in style.
November 29th, 2022
Chapter 12 looks like it will be about more poetry. It starts off with Aucassin et Nicolette, an old French chantefable known only from one manuscript found in the 18th century. It is a mix of verse and prose. Adams the tourist guesses it’s from the early 13th century, after the deaths of Christian of Troyes and our Marie of Champagne. It is kind of a mockery of French literary form, but nevertheless, it follows the love of the court. Aucassin refuses his father, the threat of war, and the threat of Hell until he can get Nicolette. He fought the invaders of his father the Count’s castle only upon the promise of a kiss from Nicolette, who was locked away from him. After slaughtering the enemy, he was imprisoned. Nicolette escapes to the woods, there are some comedic interactions with peasants, and Aucassin follows. He’s a bit of a dope, but finds her and they remain in love.
December 2nd, 2022
Adams writes more to reiterate the point I wrote about yesterday. Mary is the queen of heaven and, as queen, she gets to break the rules. There are more poems discussed, various little manuscripts. He’s got an emotional way of writing. Almost makes you want to pray to Mary herself.
December 5th, 2022
The next chapter is nominatively about Pierre Abelard, a French theologian and philosopher who came to prominence around 1100. The university did not exist yet, but there were still students. Paris was an old and prominent, though only a handful of objects still stand that Abelard would have seen. The students congregated in the Latin quarter, because they spoke in their Medieval Latin, and attended lectures at the Notre Dame (the Romanesque one that is long gone). No books, no notes, only memory and the chance to argue. William of Champeaux was the teacher, young man of barely 30. Then it gets in to the weird philosophy of existence. Universalism vs nominalisms, Plato vs Aristotle. Does the triangle exist or only in the mind as a conception? Crazy stuff that ultimately means nothing. But this is all they hard. They didn’t have much education in science or math. All they could do is argue about whether all of humanity is indivisible or if only the Trinity is and other garbage. But Abelard argued the nominalist point of view and shamed his univeralist professor William. Adams makes up a little dialogue that may have resembled their argument, in front of hundreds or a few thousand other students.
December 7th, 2022
The metaphysical nonsense continues until it becomes a tit-for-tat on who’s a heretic. William is promoted out of the job into an bishopship and Abelard continues teaching and annoying the church. He eventually goes after the Trinity by taking the odd stance of promoting the Holy Spirit. After having a work banned and destroyed by the church, we founded a hermit site dedicated to the Ghost. He was found and continued teaching, until he was offered a church job far away. He did this for a decade, while his wife or something Heloise. She is a nun and is offered a role at the Holy Spirit site. Nobody really knows what the Holy Spirit is and Adams talks about how it is meant to shatter the standard trinity of father, son, and mother. Thus the Holy Spirit has some maternal tendencies, like consolation. Abelard’s site is Paraclete, or “one who consoles”.
December 12th, 2022
I know I read on the 9th and probably the 8th, so I missed a couple days. The Abelard stuff wrapped up, I don’t think there was a whole lot of interest there. Then I read the next chapter which is about “mysticism”. The theme seems to be how does one reach God: love or logic? The scholars chose logic and we saw the inane metaphysics last chapter. The love path is well known through the Virgin Mary, or for Abelard, the Holy Spirit. There’s some poems by a guy named Adam and then it talks about Saint Francis of Assisi. There’s a lot of Latin in here and I’m pretty happy that I could get the gist of most of it. Adams claims that these men, had they been 15th century instead of 12th century men, would have been burned at the stake for heresy. But the 12th century allowed some oddities. The remaining section is about Francis and his love of all things in existence. He thinks even fire, water, and air and his brothers in God. He preaches to birds. He’s one weird guy, but exemplifies the belief the God is love and can only be found through respect and appreciation of his creations. He had little patience for the scholastic methods. Somehow the Catholics made this guy a saint. There is one chapter remaining.
December 13th, 2022
The final chapter is about Thomas Aquinas, but other than that I’m not really following it so far. I assume all the metaphysical discussion has been leading to this as some ultimate point. Does Aquinas reject the Abelard school and the Franciscan? It seems possible. If I understand what has been said, which I don’t, then Saint Thomas is disregarding these ideas and claiming that all things exist because God wills it. There is no power outside of God’s will. Things happen, thus there must be something driving them, which is God. It sounds very childish and nonsensical, but I guess this is the dogma of the church. I guess this is the unity Adams is looking for in contrast to modern multiplicity.
December 14th, 2022
It’s a pretty underwhelming chapter for a book that started off so great. It’s a lot of nonsense about theological debates. I don’t even really remember what was talked about. It’s still Thomas and how everything comes from God’s will. Somehow this is not enough for people and they still have to debate it. It goes on and on about this, which is not interesting to me. Hopefully it changes tune in the last 20 pages.
December 15th, 2022
Adams still talks about Thomas and his God. To put it in simple terms, God is the motor that sends energy and all things happen through his action. He cannot not act. All things happen through his action. So what of free will? There is none for God. And for man? Due to his high functioning mind, it can use or “reflect” this energy. Thus is can act in its own way. When man arrives at a fork at the road, it can halt and “accumulate” until a decision is required. Utter nonsense, but whatever makes these guys happy. I think we’ve come to accept that the universe is chaos and that there is no need for unity.
December 16th, 2022
Turns out there were only like 4 pages left. Adams ties theology back to architecture. Thomas’ work was a complete plan. Compare it to the Beauvais Cathedral, which was never finished due to being too grandiose. Both men were artists. As time went on, art separated from theology and architecture. Unity turned to multiplicity. The unity of form of the Gothic cathedral gave way. No longer were the lines smooth and undiverging. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Church and unity of the universe were facts, unquestionable truths. The art and sculptures of the cathedral added weight both for support and the eye. Thomas’ system also had no waste and every curve led to a single origin. He and the Gothic were complete expressions that wholly encompassed Christianity. The Gothic cathedral always looks as if it is on the brink of collapse and is supported by faith alone. It reaches for the heavens for support. The pain and suffering of the broken arches and flying buttresses are the sufferings of man, and no building will ever express man on Earth like that again.