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Tours Cathedral ( French : Cathédrale Saint-Gatien de Tours ) is a Roman Catholic church located in Tours , Indre-et-Loire , France , and dedicated to Saint Gatianus . It is the seat of the Archbishops of Tours , the metropolitan cathedral of the Tours ecclesiastical province . It was built between 1170 and 1547. At the time construction began, the church was located at the south end of the bridge over the river Loire , on the road from Paris to the south-west of France . It has been a classified monument historique since 1862. Since 1905 it has been owned by the French State, with the Catholic Church having the exclusive rights of use.

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77-491: Three earlier cathedrals existed on the same site. The first, dedicated to Saint Maurice , was built by Bishop Lidorius from 337 to 371. It burned in 558, and was rebuilt by the Bishop Gregory of Tours and rededicated it in 590. Its location, at the south-west angle of the castrum , or old Roman walls, resulted in the cathedral entrance being part of the old Roman city wall. Beginning in about 1160 another structure

154-752: A personal union that enabled France to avoid total encirclement by Habsburg territories . To secure his rights to the Neapolitan throne that René of Anjou had left to his father, Charles made a series of concessions to neighbouring monarchs and, due to his revolutionary artillery, conquered the Italian Peninsula without much opposition. A coalition formed against the French invasion of 1494–1498 attempted to stop Charles' army at Fornovo, but failed and Charles marched his army back to France. Charles died in 1498 after accidentally striking his head on

231-714: A Baptist church that had been displaced following the hurricane. On 19 July 1941, Pope Pius XII declared Maurice to be the patron saint of the Italian Army 's Alpini (mountain infantry corps). The Alpini have celebrated Maurice's feast every year since then. The Synaxarium of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria does not mention Maurice, although there are several Coptic churches named for him. The Our Lady of Laus apparitions included an apparition of Saint Maurice. He appeared in an antique episcopal vestment and told Benoîte Rencurel that he

308-709: A conflict known as the Mad War (1485–1488), which resulted in a victory for the royal government. In a remarkable stroke of audacity, Charles married Anne of Brittany in 1491 after she had already been married by proxy to the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I in a ceremony of questionable validity. Preoccupied by the problematic succession in the Kingdom of Hungary , Maximilian failed to press his claim. Upon his marriage, Charles became administrator of Brittany and established

385-616: A dark-skinned man in knight's armour was sculpted in the mid-13th century for Magdeburg Cathedral; there it is displayed next to the grave of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor. Jean Devisse, author of the book The Image of the Black in Western Art , laid out the documentary sources for the saint's popularity and documented it with illustrative examples. The Magdeburg cathedral in the 13th century presumably had other images of Maurice that did not visibly represent him as being an African, though with

462-615: A gathering of the entire populace of the city and of their fellow countrymen. They are still venerated there, to the salvation of the homeland. Maurice is traditionally depicted in full armour, in Italy emblazoned with a red cross. In folk culture he has become connected with the legend of the Holy Lance , which he is supposed to have carried into battle; his name is engraved on the Holy Lance of Vienna , one of several relics claimed as

539-408: A local saying: "... not until the cathedral is finished", to mean something particularly long and difficult to achieve. It also meant that the building presents a complex pattern of French religious types of architecture from the 13th century to the 16th. In 1787, responding to Vatican doctrines calling for making interiors of churches more open and welcoming, the jubé, or choir screen, which separated

616-691: A revolt by the bagaudae . The Theban Legion was dispatched with orders to clear the Great St Bernard Pass across the Alps . Before going into battle, they were instructed to offer sacrifices to the pagan gods and pay homage to the emperor. Maurice pledged his men's military allegiance to Rome . He stated that service to God superseded all else. He said that to engage in wanton slaughter was inconceivable to Christian soldiers. He and his men refused to worship Roman deities . When Maximian ordered them to murder local Christians, they refused. Ordering

693-529: A stairway; and a library with a vaulted ceiling, where several frescoes from the 13th and 14th centuries can be seen. This was an early appearance of the French Renaissance style , which had recently been introduced in the stairway the Chateau of Blois in the nearby Loire Valley . To the south of the cathedral is the former archbishop's palace, built in the early 18th century, which has now become

770-613: Is also the patron saint of the Brotherhood of Blackheads , a historical military society of unmarried merchants in present-day Estonia and Latvia . In September 2008, certain relics of Maurice were transferred to a new reliquary and rededicated in Schiavi di Abruzzo (Italy). He is also the patron saint of the town of Coburg in Bavaria , Germany . He is shown there as a man of colour especially on manhole covers as well as on

847-459: Is now Saint-Maurice, Switzerland , site of the Abbey of St. Maurice . So reads the earliest account of their martyrdom , contained in the public letter which Bishop Eucherius of Lyon (c. 434–450), addressed to his fellow bishop, Salvius. Alternative versions have the legion refusing Maximian's orders only after discovering innocent Christians had inhabited a town they had just destroyed, or that

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924-862: The Canton of Lucerne , four in the Canton of Solothurn , and one in Appenzell Innerrhoden can be found (in fact, his feast day is a cantonal holiday in Appenzell Innerrhoden). Particularly notable among these are the Church and Abbey of Saint-Maurice-en-Valais, the Church of Saint Moritz in the Engadin , and the Monastery Chapel of Einsiedeln Abbey , where his name continues to be greatly revered. Several orders of chivalry were established in his honour as well, including

1001-567: The Clos Lucé in Amboise. There still remained the matter of Charles' first betrothed, the young Margaret of Austria. Although the cancellation of her betrothal meant that she by rights should have been returned to her family, Charles did not initially do so, intending to marry her usefully elsewhere in France. Eventually, in 1493, she was returned to her family, together with her dowry – though

1078-519: The Crusades , most of which had been failing at the time. Frederick seemingly wanted to symbolically state that, even though Christians cannot reconquer Africa, Christianity once triumphed in Africa before the arrival of Islam . Given that Maurice was a Christian, his foreignness could not be depicted with iconographic vocabulary such as curved swords, insignia on shields or headdresses. As such, Maurice

1155-462: The Duke of Brittany Jean V . In 1484 the lower portals were completed. The two new towers were erected just outside of the old city walls. The late-Roman surrounding wall is visible in cross section at the rear of the towers from the north. The first tower was finished in 1534 and the second in 1547, with French Renaissance features in their crowns. The very slow construction of the cathedral led to

1232-678: The Kingdom of Spain , the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Naples, appeared to have trapped Charles in southern Italy and blocked his return to France. Charles would have to cross the territory of at least some of the League members to return home to France. At Fornovo in July 1495, the League was unable to stop Charles from marching his army out of Italy. The League lost 2,000 men to Charles' 1,000 and, although Charles lost nearly all

1309-525: The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Tours . It also was originally built against the GaLLO-Roman city wall of the 4th century. It contains one hall from the 11th century, and another from the 12th century. On the wall of the second hall is a balcony from which the judgements of the ecclesiastical court were announced. Saint Maurice Maurice (also Moritz , Morris , or Mauritius ; Coptic : Ⲁⲃⲃⲁ Ⲙⲱⲣⲓⲥ )

1386-563: The Order of the Golden Fleece , Order of Saint Maurice , and the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus . Additionally, fifty-two towns and villages in France have been named in his honour. Maurice was also the patron saint of a Catholic parish and church in the 9th Ward of New Orleans and including part of the town of Arabi in St. Bernard Parish . The church was constructed in 1856, but

1463-671: The lintel of a door at the Château d'Amboise , his place of birth. Since he had no male heir, he was succeeded by his second cousin once removed and brother-in-law at the time, Louis XII , from the Orléans cadet branch of the House of Valois . Charles was born at the Château d'Amboise in France, the only surviving son of King Louis XI by his second wife Charlotte of Savoy . His godparents were Charles II, Duke of Bourbon (the godchild's namesake), Joan of Valois, Duchess of Bourbon , and

1540-542: The 13th century, the artists working on Tours Cathedral launched a small revolution in the design of stained glass windows. Instead of having the entire window filled a multitude of small scenes made of tiny pieces of deeply-coloured glass, the Tours artists began making windows with a mixture of types of glass; the traditional iconographic scenes with Biblical figures were surrounded by panes of clear or lightly coloured glass decorated with ornamental and vegetal themes. This served

1617-468: The Affable (French: l'Affable ; 30 June 1470 – 7 April 1498), was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. He succeeded his father Louis XI at the age of 13. His elder sister Anne acted as regent jointly with her husband Peter II, Duke of Bourbon until 1491, when the young king turned 21 years of age. During Anne's regency, the great lords rebelled against royal centralisation efforts in

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1694-1044: The Duchy of Burgundy was retained in the Treaty of Senlis . Around the king there was a circle of court poets, the most memorable being the Italian humanist Publio Fausto Andrelini from Forlì , who spread Renaissance humanism in France. During a pilgrimage to pay respects to his father's remains, Charles observed Mont Aiguille and ordered Antoine de Ville to ascend to the summit in an early technical alpine climb, later alluded to by Rabelais . To secure France against invasions, Charles made treaties with Maximilian I of Austria (the Treaty of Senlis with Maximilian of Austria on 19 January 1493), Ferdinand II of Aragon (The Treaty of Barcelona (1493) ), and England (the Treaty of Étaples with England on 3 November 1492), buying their neutrality with large concessions. The English monarch Henry VII had forced Charles to abandon his support for

1771-560: The Elder (1472–1553) in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art . The city of Coburg 's coat of arms honoured the town's patron saint, Saint Maurice, since they were granted in 1493. In 1934, the Nazi government forbade any glorification of the "Black" race, and they replaced the coat of arms with one depicting a vertical sword with a Nazi swastika on the pommel. The original coat of arms

1848-588: The French Army took Naples without a pitched battle or siege; Alfonso was expelled, and Charles was crowned King of Naples. There were those in the Republic of Florence who appreciated the presence of the French king and his Army. The famous friar Savonarola believed that King Charles VIII was God's tool to purify the corruption of Florence. He believed that once Charles had ousted the evil sinners of Florence,

1925-563: The State. The speed and power of the French advance frightened the other Italian rulers, including the Pope and even Ludovico of Milan. They formed an anti-French coalition, the League of Venice on 31 March 1495. The formation of the League of Venice, which included the northern Italian states of Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Venice, the Duchy of Mantua, and the Republic of Florence in addition to

2002-549: The Valais (Switzerland) as well as of soldiers, swordsmiths, armies, and infantrymen. In 1591 Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy arranged the triumphant return of part of the relics of Saint Maurice from the monastery of Agaune in Valais. He is also the patron saint of weavers and dyers. Manresa (Spain), Piedmont (Italy), Montalbano Jonico (Italy), Schiavi di Abruzzo (Italy), Stadtsulza (Germany) and Coburg (Germany) have chosen Maurice as their patron saint as well. Maurice

2079-429: The [black] Moors". As such, according to her, Alfred took cognizance of this new idea of the saint as a dark-skinned Moor and commissioned a "black St. Maurice" in the context of a new building program after a fire devastated the old cathedral in 1207. Devisse had also raised this idea because it "would be negative psychological reactions on the part of the populace to the sudden arrival of a [black] saint substituting for

2156-451: The affairs of other Italian states was continued by his successor, Pope Alexander VI (1492–1503), when the latter supported a plan for a carving out a new state in central Italy. The new state would have impacted on Milan more than any of the other states involved. Consequently, in 1493, Ludovico Sforza , the Duke of Milan , appealed for help to Charles VIII. Charles then returned Perpignan to Ferdinand II of Aragon to free up forces for

2233-483: The booty of the campaign, the League was unable to stop him from crossing their territory on his way back to France. Meanwhile, Charles' remaining garrisons in Naples were quickly subdued by Aragonese forces sent by Ferdinand II of Aragon , ally of Alfonso on 6–7 July 1495. Thus in the end, Charles VIII lost all the gains that he had made in Italy. Over the next few years, Charles VIII tried to rebuild his army and resume

2310-402: The campaign, but he was hampered by the large debts incurred in 1494–95. He never succeeded in gaining anything substantive. Charles died in 1498, two and a half years after his retreat from Italy, as the result of an accident. While on his way to watch a game of jeu de paume ( real tennis ) in Amboise he struck his head on the lintel of a door. At around 2:00 p.m., while returning from

2387-812: The capital of the New Kingdom of Egypt (1575–1069 BC). He was brought up in the region of Thebes ( Luxor ). Maurice became a soldier in the Roman army . He rose through the ranks until he became the commander of the Theban legion, thus leading approximately a thousand men. He was an acknowledged Christian at a time when early Christianity was considered to be a threat to the Roman Empire . The legion, entirely composed of Christians, had been called from Thebes in Egypt to Gaul to assist Emperor Maximian in defeating

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2464-403: The cathedral is unusual in that it has two additional buttresses to support the north front, with its rose window. The rose window also has an unusual bar attached to its face to give it additional strength. The two towers have heights of 69 and 70 meters. Portions of the bases of the towers date to the 12th century, The faces of the towers are covered with very elaborate tracery and decoration in

2541-496: The central block of the facade up to the triangular fronton date were built in sober Romanesque style, then, along with the buttresses, were covered with much more ornate and dense Flamboyant decoration. The sides of the cathedral are reinforced with massive flying buttresses, capped with spires to give them additional weight. The chevet of the cathedral, at the east end, is very unusual along Gothic cathedrals in not having any other structures attached to it. The north transept of

2618-552: The choir from the nave, was removed. In 1793, during the French Revolution, the Jacobins smashed the statues on the church portal. The church was nationalised and transformed into a Temple of Reason, until the reign of Napoleon I. In 1848, portions of the cathedral, including the portal sculpture, were restored. A major restoration of the cathedral began in 1993. The organ restoration was completed in 1996, and began of

2695-421: The city coat of arms. There he is called "Coburger Mohr" (English: "Coburg Moor" ). In the modern era, there has been debate surrounding Saint Maurice's race and physical depictions. The earliest surviving work portraying Maurice as a dark-skinned African dates from the 13th century. Before the 13th century, he was usually depicted with European features. The oldest surviving image that depicts Saint Maurice as

2772-608: The city would become a center of morality. Thus, Florence was the appropriate place to restructure the Church. This situation would eventually spill over into another conflict between Pope Alexander VI , who despised the idea of having the king in northern Italy where the Pope feared the King of France would interfere with the Papal States, and Savonarola, who called for the king's intervention. This conflict would eventually lead Savonarola to be suspected of heresy and to be executed by

2849-614: The disputed succession to Mathias Corvinus , King of Hungary . Anne of Brittany was forced to renounce Maximilian (whom she had only married by proxy) and agree to be married to Charles VIII instead. In December 1491, in an elaborate ceremony at the Château de Langeais , Charles and Anne of Brittany were married. The 14-year-old Duchess Anne, not happy with the arranged marriage , arrived for her wedding with her entourage carrying two beds. However, Charles's marriage brought him independence from his relatives and thereafter he managed affairs according to his own inclinations. Queen Anne lived at

2926-686: The emperor had them executed when they refused to sacrifice to the Roman gods. Maurice became a patron saint of the German Holy Roman Emperors . In 926, Henry the Fowler (919–936), even ceded the present Swiss canton of Aargau to the abbey, in return for Maurice's lance, sword and spurs. The sword and spurs of Maurice were part of the regalia used at coronations of the Austro-Hungarian emperors until 1916, and among

3003-525: The exception of a statue from c. 1220, none has survived. During the 11th century, before art of Maurice began depicting him as visibly dark-skinned, he was seen as "the symbol of the Germanic offensive against the Slavs". Devisse argues that Frederick II likely initiated the "black St. Maurice" trope, around 1240-1250. As a military saint, Maurice played an important role for the Holy Roman Empire during

3080-414: The exterior. The pipe organ is located in the south transept. The case and decoration date to the 16th century. The instrument now in place was made in the 18th century by the family firm founded by Robert Clicquot . The cathedral has four major bells located in the south tower. The bourdon , the largest and deepest-sounding, is Christus, made in 1749 and weighing 1,850 kilograms. It originally hung in

3157-489: The game, he fell into a sudden coma and died nine hours later. Charles bequeathed a meagre legacy: he left France in debt and in disarray as a result of his ambition. However, his expedition did strengthen cultural ties to Italy, energizing French art and literature in the latter part of the Renaissance . Since his children predeceased him, Charles was the last of the elder branch of the House of Valois . Upon his death,

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3234-634: The historical romances. Donald F. O'Reilly, in Lost Legion Rediscovered , argues that evidence from coins , papyrus , and Roman army lists support the story of the Theban Legion. Denis Van Berchem, of the University of Geneva , proposed that Eucherius' presentation of the legend of the Theban legion was a literary production, not based on a local tradition. The monastic accounts themselves do not specifically state that all

3311-506: The independence of her duchy against the ambitions of France, arranged a marriage in 1490 between herself and the widower Maximilian. The regent Anne of France and her husband Peter refused to countenance such a marriage, however, since it would place Maximilian and his family, the Habsburgs, on two French borders. The French army invaded Brittany, taking advantage of the preoccupation of Maximilian and his father, Emperor Frederick III , with

3388-413: The interior, across the middle of the window, which divides it into two. The window is also supported by flying buttresses on the outside. The south transept also has a rose window, and contains the original case of the 16th century organ, It was donated by Martin de Beaune, and built by Barnabé Delanoue. It now contains an 18th-century organ built by Cliquot. The nave contains a monumental tomb, that of

3465-553: The invasion of Italy. The next year in 1494, Milan faced an additional threat. On 25 January 1494, Ferdinand I, King of Naples , died unexpectedly. His death made Alfonso II , king of Naples. Alfonso II laid claim to the Milanese duchy. Alfonso II now urged Charles to take Milan militarily. Charles was also urged on in this adventure by his favorite courtier, Étienne de Vesc . Thus, Charles came to imagine himself capable of actually taking Naples, and invaded Italy. In an event that

3542-439: The later Flamboyant style. The top sections of the two towers, which completed the structures, with heights of 69 and 70 meters, are early examples of French Renaissance architecture . The nave has the traditional three levels; a gallery on the ground floor with large pillars supporting the ribs of the vaulted ceiling; a mid-level gallery, or triforium , with windows; and an upper level, or clerestory , with tall windows filling

3619-402: The lives of Christ, Apostles and Saints, as well as windows which depict the professions of the guilds which contributed to the financing of the windows. The rose window in the north transept, built in the early 14th century, has an unusual design. It was placed into the center of a square already filled with stained glass. This later caused difficulties of stability; a buttress had to be built in

3696-543: The most important insignia of the imperial throne (although the actual sword dates from the 12th century). In addition, some of the emperors were anointed before the Altar of Saint Maurice at St. Peter's Basilica . In 929, Henry the Fowler held a royal court gathering ( Reichsversammlung ) at Magdeburg . At the same time, the Mauritius Kloster in honour of Maurice was founded. In 961, Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor ,

3773-524: The nearby Abbey of St. Paul in Cormery . In 1793, during the Revolution, most church bells were seized and melted down to make cannon and other armament. Towns were allowed to have only a single bell to warn of a fire. The inhabitants of Coermery resisted and rolled the bell to another town to preserve it. Finally, in 1807, it was taken to Tours and installed in the tower. The other three bells are: To

3850-471: The north of the cathedral is a small cloister , built during the Renaissance, known as the cloître de la Psalette , in reference to its function as a school where the chanting of psalms was taught. It was built between 1442 and 1524. It has three galleries, placed against the north wall of the cathedral. It also has a scriptorium , where manuscripts were created, which was built in 1520, and is served by

3927-489: The novel The Sultan's Helmsman . In the 2011 Showtime series The Borgias , Charles VIII is portrayed by French actor Michel Muller . In the 2011 French-German historical drama Borgia , Charles VIII is played by Simon Larvaron. The event of the king's death is depicted in the TV series Borgia with a small twist: in the episode, Charles himself plays a game of jeu de paume with Cesare Borgia and loses; while leaving

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4004-432: The old Maurice at an inopportune moment, and also because of the financial costs involved". Images of the saint died out in the mid-16th century. Suckale-Redlefsen suggests that this was due to the developing Atlantic slave trade . "Once again, as in the early Middle Ages, the color black had become associated with spiritual darkness and cultural 'otherness ' ". There is an oil-on-wood painting of Maurice by Lucas Cranach

4081-525: The pretender Perkin Warbeck by despatching an expedition which laid siege to Boulogne . He devoted France's resources to building up a large army, including one of Europe's first siege trains with artillery . In 1489, Pope Innocent VIII (1484–1492), then being at odds with Ferdinand I of Naples , offered Naples to Charles, who had a vague claim to the Kingdom of Naples through his paternal grandmother, Marie of Anjou . Innocent's policy of meddling in

4158-461: The purpose of bringing a much greater quantity of light into the interior, and also highlighted the chosen subjects, which otherwise were lost among hundreds of other images. This style of window, introduced at Tours in about 1265, was soon followed at Troyes Cathedral , and then spread quickly to other cathedrals in France and then England. This revolution in the format of display was accompanied by an even more important revolution in technique, with

4235-508: The soldiers were collectively executed; the 12th-century bishop Otto of Freising wrote in his Chronica de duabus civitatibus that many of the legionaries escaped and only some were executed at Agaunum, though the others were later apprehended and put to death at Galliae Bonna and Colonia Aggripina . In 1907, Henri Leclercq noted that the account of Eucherius "has many excellent qualities, historical as well as literary." L. Dupaz countered Denis Van Berchem's assertion by sifting through

4312-610: The spear that pierced Jesus ' side on the cross. Maurice gives his name to the town St. Moritz as well as to numerous places called Saint-Maurice in French-speaking countries. The Indian Ocean island state of Mauritius was named after Maurice, Prince of Orange , and not directly after Maurice himself. Over 650 religious foundations dedicated to Saint Maurice can be found in France and other European countries. In Switzerland alone, seven churches or altars in Aargau , six in

4389-546: The stories, carefully matching them with archeological discoveries at Agaunum, thus concluding that the martyrdom is historical and that the relics of the martyrs were brought to Agaunum between 286 and 392 through the office of the bishop Theodore. Thierry Ruinart , Paul Allard , and the editors of the "Analecta Bollandiana" were of opinion that "the martyrdom of the legion, attested, as it is by ancient and reliable evidence, cannot be called in question by any honest mind." Charles VIII of France Charles VIII , called

4466-399: The teenage Edward of Westminster , the son of Henry VI of England who had been living in France since the deposition of his father by Edward IV . Charles succeeded to the throne on 30 August 1483 at the age of 13. His health was poor. He was regarded by his contemporaries as possessing a pleasant disposition, but also as foolish and unsuited for the business of the state. In accordance with

4543-516: The throne passed to his brother-in-law and second cousin once removed, Louis XII . Anne returned to Brittany and began taking steps to regain the independence of her duchy. In order to stymie these efforts, Louis XII had his 24-year childless marriage to Charles's sister, Joan , annulled and married Anne. Charles and Anne had: The 1671 English play Charles VIII of France by John Crowne depicts his reign. Charles VIII's invasion of Italy and his relations with Pope Alexander VI are depicted in

4620-512: The two children of King Charles VIII of France and Anne of Brittany , who died as infants. It was made in 1506 by Guillaume Regnault or Girolamo da Fiesole, and originally was located in the church of St. Martin, and was moved to the cathedral after the French Revolution. The tomb is made of Carrara marble , in the Italian style . The recumbent statues are reminiscent of the 15th-century French medieval tradition (school of Michel Colombe ). In

4697-565: The unit to be punished, Maximian had every tenth soldier killed, a military punishment known as decimation . More orders followed, the men refused compliance as encouraged by Maurice, and a second decimation was ordered. In response to the Theban Christians' refusal to attack fellow Christians, Maximian ordered all the remaining members of the legion to be executed. The place in Switzerland where this occurred, known as Agaunum ,

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4774-503: The upper walls in the later Rayonnant style. At the end of the 14th century, the transept was completed. In 1356, the cathedral was re-dedicated to Saint Gatianus . Further work and the construction of the towers was interrupted by the Hundred Years War (1337–1453). The nave was only finished during the 15th century by architects Jean de Dammartin , Jean Papin and Jean Durand. with financial assistance from Charles VII and

4851-415: The upper walls with glass. The nave has a height of 29 meters, but a width less than many cathedrals, probably due to the re-use of an earlier Romanesque foundation. The vaults are covered with the original roof structure, built of wooden beams from the 13th century in the choir, and from the 15th century in the nave. The choir still has its original fifteen 13th-century windows, which feature both scenes of

4928-404: The upper windows, Between 2010 and 2013 the restoration of the north transept and is rose window was completed, restored, and two hundred square meters of new windows, dedicated to Saint Martin, were added to cathedral. A new main altar was dedicated in 2018. The west front of the cathedral displays three very different styles of architecture harmoniously combined. The lower walls of the towers and

5005-483: The use of silver stain , a method for painting onto glass with enamel paints, which were then heated and fused onto the glass. This allowed the more expressive figures, shading and three-dimensions, closer to paintings than to mosaics. The sizes of the pieces of glass became larger, and the amount of lead bars in the window smaller. The figures in stained glass windows began to resemble those in medieval miniature paintings in realism. The cathedral has three rose windows in

5082-481: The visibility of his most strikingly “different” subjects". Gude Suckale-Redlefsen gives another view on the subject, arguing instead that it wasn't Frederick who transformed Maurice into a "black man," but rather archbishop Alfred I of Käfernburg , after 1220, or his half-brother Wilbrand later on. Suckale-Redlefsen reasons that Alfred had read the Kaiserchronik which described Maurice as "the leader of

5159-411: The west front and the two ends of the transept. The most original is that of the north transept, installed in the beginning of the 14th century. The rose was installed in a square section of window already filled with glass. where the rose was installed, problems of stability appeared, and it had to be reinforced by a vertical stone bar behind the window, dividing it in two, and by additional buttresses on

5236-571: The wishes of Louis XI, the regency of the kingdom was granted to Charles' elder sister Anne , a formidably intelligent and shrewd woman described by her father as "the least foolish woman in France". She ruled as regent, together with her husband Peter of Bourbon, until 1491. Charles was betrothed on 22 July 1483 to the 3-year-old Margaret of Austria , daughter of the Archduke Maximilian of Austria (later Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I ) and Mary, Duchess of Burgundy . The marriage

5313-494: Was "turned" into a "black" or darker-skinned man to specify his geographic provenance with racial characteristics of color and physiognomy. Paul Kaplan, agreeing with Devisse's thesis, additionally argues that Frederick II also wanted to propagandistically emphasize how "All races are equal before God, and... the Christian mission is universal", and also that one of his goals was to "advance his claims to global rule by promoting

5390-561: Was an Egyptian military leader who headed the legendary Theban Legion of Rome in the 3rd century, and is one of the favourite and most widely venerated saints of that martyred group. He is the patron saint of several professions, locales, and kingdoms. According to the hagiographical material, Maurice was an Egyptian, born in AD 250 in Thebes , an ancient city in Upper Egypt that was

5467-454: Was arranged by Louis XI, Maximilian, and the Estates of the Low Countries as part of the 1482 Peace of Arras between France and the Duchy of Burgundy . Margaret brought the counties of Artois and Franche-Comté to France as her dowry, and she was raised in the French court as a prospective queen. In 1488, however, Francis II, Duke of Brittany , died in a riding accident, leaving his 11-year-old daughter Anne as his heir. Anne, who feared for

5544-532: Was begun, in the Angevin style. It was badly damaged by a fire, and never finished. The work recommenced with the choir in about 1220, and received financial assistance in from Louis IX , or Saint Louis. The choir and transept were rebuilt between 1240 and the beginning of the 14th century, using portions of the lower walls of the Romanesque structure. The lower portions were largely in the early Gothic style,

5621-522: Was building and enriching Magdeburg Cathedral , which he intended for his own tomb. To that end, in the year 961 of the Incarnation and in the 25th year of his reign, in the presence of all of the nobility, on the vigil of Christmas , the body of St. Maurice was conveyed to him at Regensburg along with the bodies of some of the saint's companions and portions of other saints. Having been sent to Magdeburg, these relics were received with great honour by

5698-407: Was devastated by the winds and flood waters of Hurricane Katrina on 29 August 2005; the copper-plated steeple was blown off the building. The church was subsequently deconsecrated in 2008, and the local diocese put it up for sale in 2011. By 2014, a local attorney had purchased the property for a local arts organization, after which the building served as both an arts venue and the worship space for

5775-412: Was restored in 1945 at the end of World War II . Today, the silhouette of Saint Maurice can be found mainly on manhole covers as well as the city coat of arms. There is a difference of opinion among researchers as to whether or not the story of the Theban Legion is based on historical fact, and if so, to what extent. The account by Eucherius of Lyon is classed by Bollandist Hippolyte Delehaye among

5852-579: Was the one to whom the nearby chapel was dedicated, that he would fetch her some water (before drawing some water out of a well she had not seen), that she should go down to a certain valley to escape the local guard and see the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus , and that Mary was both in Heaven and could appear on Earth . Maurice is the patron saint of the Duchy of Savoy (France) and of

5929-595: Was to prove a watershed in Italian history, Charles invaded Italy with 25,000 men (including 8,000 Swiss mercenaries ) in September 1494 and marched across the peninsula virtually unopposed, using gunpowder artillery powerful enough to rapidly reduce Italian fortifications not designed to endure it. He arrived in Pavia on 21 October 1494 and entered Pisa on 8 November 1494. The French army subdued Florence in passing on their way south. Reaching Naples on 22 February 1495,

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