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Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy

Chapter 28: FOOTNOTES
By Charles W. David
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About This Book

The narrative traces the life and career of Robert Curthose, eldest son of William the Conqueror, portraying a ruler overshadowed by family and misfortune: generous and affable yet lacking political vigor, he is depicted as losing a kingdom to more aggressive brothers, joining the First Crusade where his fame endures, and later suffering military defeat, deposition, and long imprisonment. The study situates his actions within the politics of Normandy and England, examines contemporary sources and their biases, acknowledges gaps in the evidence, and considers how personal temperament, exile, and changing alliances shaped an ultimately melancholy and complex historical figure.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Émile Mâle, in André Michel, Histoire de l’art (Paris, 1905-), i, p. 786. On the rebuilding of the church see Otto Cartellieri, Abt Suger von Saint-Denis, 1081-1151 (Berlin, 1898), p. 105, and the references there given; Michel Félibien, Histoire de l’abbaye royale de Saint-Denis en France (Paris, 1706), pp. 170-176; Paul Vitry and Gaston Brière, L’église abbatiale de Saint-Denis et ses tombeaux (Paris, 1908), pp. 9-10; and above all Anthyme Saint-Paul, “Suger, l’église de Saint-Denis, et Saint Bernard,” in Bulletin archéologique du Comité des Travaux historiques et scientifiques, 1890, pp. 258-275.

[2] “Vitrearum etiam novarum praeclaram varietatem, ab ea prima quae incipit a Stirps Iesse in capite ecclesiae, usque ad eam quae superest principali portae in introitu ecclesiae, tam superius quam inferius, magistrorum multorum de diversis nationibus manu exquisita, depingi fecimus.” Oeuvres complètes de Suger, ed. A. Lecoy de la Marche (Paris, 1867), p. 204.

[3] “Les plus anciens vitraux à date certaine qui subsistent encore… [Ils] furent mis en place de 1140 à 1144.” Michel, Histoire de l’art, i, p. 784. Nevertheless it may be doubted whether all the windows were actually completed at the time of the consecration of the choir and the translation of the relics, 11 June 1144. The windows, only fragments of which have escaped destruction, are most fully described by Ferdinand de Lasteyrie, Histoire de la peinture sur verre d’après ses monuments en France (Paris, 1853-57), i, pp. 27-37; ii, planches iii-vii.

[4] Les monumens de la monarchie françoise (Paris, 1729-33), i, planches l-liv, between pages 390 and 397. Montfaucon says (p. 384): “Cette première croisade est representée en dix tableaux sur les vitres de l’église de S. Denis, à l’extrêmité du rond-pont derrière le grand autel, dans cette partie qu’on appelle le chevet. Ces tableaux qu’on voit tous sur une même vitre, furent faits par ordre de l’abbé Suger, qui s’est fait peindre plusieurs fois dans ces vitres du chevet avec son nom Sugerius Abbas.” There seems no reason to doubt Montfaucon’s identification of this window with one of those executed at Suger’s order, and modern writers have accepted it without question. It ought to be noted, however, that no fragment of this particular window appears to have escaped destruction, and that Suger, although he describes two of the windows in detail and names a third, makes no specific mention whatever of this one. And, moreover, it is the very windows which he does describe which have in part been preserved. But on the other hand, Suger makes no pretence at a complete list or description of the windows; and he himself indicates that there were many. Oeuvres de Suger, pp. 204-206; Lasteyrie, Histoire de la teinture sur verre, i, pp. 27-37; ii, planches iii-vii.

[5] Montfaucon, Monumens, i, planche liii, opposite p. 396.

[6] Vol. ii, p. 261.

[7] “La croix des premiers croisés,” in Revue de l’art chrétien, 1890, pp. 298-300.

[8] “Robert Courte-Heuse à la première croisade,” in Comptes rendus de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 1890, pp. 207-208.

[9] Letter to Riant, printed in Revue de l’art chrétien, 1890, pp. 300-301; G. F., pp. 494-495.

[10] “M. Hagenmeyer … me semble être allé beaucoup trop loin, dans le cas qu’il fait de nos cartons pour l’explication des textes qu’ils représentent. Je ne saurais le suivre sur ce terrain, persuadé que les détails de faits qui se sont passés en Orient ont incontestablement été modifiés par des artistes qui n’avaient jamais quitté la France.” Revue de l’art chrétien, 1890, p. 300.

[11] Montfaucon, Monumens, i, planches liii, liv, opposite p. 396.

[12] See supra, p. 116; cf. Revue de l’art chrétien, 1890, p. 300.

[13] Supra, p. 116.

INDEX

Mediaeval names of persons are arranged alphabetically under the English form of the Christian name.