International Medieval Society, Paris
Société Internationale des Médiévistes, Paris

Symposium 2007 Abstracts

One of the most striking and compelling aspects of French Gothic architecture has been the addition of chapels to existing buildings, a trend that began at the cathedral of Paris in the 1230s, during the period commonly called the Rayonnant phase of Gothic.  Built along the side aisles of numerous cathedrals and churches, Rayonnant chapels served asloci for privately endowed Masses, which multiplied prior to and following the formalization of the doctrine of Purgatory in 1274.  These richly adorned appendages, filled with sculpted tombs, commemorative statues, and donor portraits of luminescent stained glass, also showcased the identity, wealth, and social status of their elite patrons.  Collectively, the rituals performed within the chapels and the objects they housed bespeak profound anxieties about the fallibility of memory and its implications for the afterlife.  This paper approaches chapels as multimedia ensembles, emphasizing their intercessory and commemorative functions.  It argues that the particular model of chapel design found in thirteenth-century France was an especially apt response to patrons’ fears of receding from memory.  The visibility of these chapels to both lay and clerical viewers as they circulated through buildings encouraged intercession, while simultaneously facilitating the display of identity, wealth, and rank.  In short, Rayonnant chapels responded to two distinct desires: The perpetuation of an individual’s memory on earth and the care for his soul.