The Stained-Glass Spolia in the South Transept of Reims Cathedral and Rémois Ecclesiastical Seals

Abstract

Among the transept clerestories of Reims Cathedral, glazed in grisaille, is one containing four spolia: the Virgin and Child, an enthroned archbishop-saint, John the Baptist, and a facade-image designated as Reims Cathedral. The location of these spolia is somewhat obscure: the west wall of the south transept. Scholars have held that these windows originally glazed the Gothic cathedral's axial bay and were replaced by Archbishop Henri de Braine (d. 1240), whose image now appears there. This study proposes that the spolia were part of the embellishment of the facade about 1220, in anticipation of Louis VIII's coronation. The Gothic cathedral had by then been under construction for a decade, but the earlier facade built by Archbishop Samson still stood; the original plan was to join it to a new Gothic nave. When later it was decided to replace the facade, the baptismal font-at Reims always at the west-had to be moved. It was relocated to the west aisle of the south transept, directly beneath the present loc...