{"id":1047,"date":"2015-10-09T23:04:40","date_gmt":"2015-10-09T23:04:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.candelalearning.com\/zelixart101\/?post_type=chapter&p=1047"},"modified":"2015-10-30T00:23:21","modified_gmt":"2015-10-30T00:23:21","slug":"blanche-of-castile","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/atd-herkimer-arthistory1\/chapter\/blanche-of-castile\/","title":{"raw":"Blanche of Castile","rendered":"Blanche of Castile"},"content":{"raw":"[caption id=\"attachment_1048\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"350\"]\"Each Figure 1. Blanche of Castile and King Louis IX of France; Author Dictating to a Scribe<\/em>, Moralized Bible, France, probably Paris, c. 1230, 14 3\/4 \u00d7 10 1\/4 inches \/ 37.5 \u00d7 26.2 cm (The Morgan Library & Museum)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nIn 1226 a French king died, leaving his queen to rule his kingdom until their son came of age. The 38-year-old widow, Blanche of Castile, had her work cut out for her. Rebelling barons were eager to win back lands that her husband\u2019s father had seized from them. They rallied troops against her, defamed her character, and even accused her of adultery and murder.\r\n\r\nCaught in a perilous web of treachery, insurrections, and open warfare, Blanche persuaded, cajoled, negotiated, and fought would-be enemies after her husband, King Louis VIII, died of dysentery after only a three-year reign. When their son Louis IX took the helm in 1234, he inherited a kingdom that was, for a time anyway, at peace.\r\n
\r\n

External Link<\/h3>\r\nView this painting up close in the Google Art Project.<\/a>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

A Manuscript Illumination<\/h2>\r\nA dazzling illumination in New York\u2019s Morgan Library could well depict Blanche of Castile and her son Louis, a beardless youth crowned king. A cleric and a scribe are depicted underneath them. Each figure is set against a ground of burnished gold, seated beneath a trefoil arch. Stylized and colorful buildings dance above their heads, suggesting a sophisticated, urban setting\u2014perhaps Paris, the capital city of the Capetian kingdom (the Capetians were one of the oldest royal families in France) and home to a renowned school of theology.\r\n

A Moralized Bible<\/h2>\r\nThis last page the New York Morgan Library\u2019s manuscript MS M 240 is the last quire (folded page) of a three-volume moralized bible, the majority of which is housed at the Cathedral Treasury in Toledo, Spain. Moralized bibles, made expressedly for the French royal house, include lavishly illustrated abbreviated passages from the Old and New Testaments. Explanatory texts that allude to historical events and tales accompany these literary and visual readings, which\u2014woven together\u2014convey a moral.\r\n\r\nAssuming historians are correct in identifying the two rulers, we are looking at the four people intensely involved in the production of this manuscript. As patron and ruler, Queen Blanche of Castile would have financed its production. As ruler-to-be, Louis IX\u2019s job was to take its lessons to heart along with those from the other biblical and ancient texts that his tutors read with him.\r\n

King and Queen<\/h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1050\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"350\"]\"no Figure 2. Louis IX, a trefoiled open crown atop his head, returns his mother\u2019s glance. In his right hand he holds a scepter, indicating his kingly status. It is topped by the characteristic fleur-de-lys on which, curiously, a bird sits. A four-pedaled brooch, dominated by a large square of sapphire blue in the center, secures a pink mantle lined with green that rests on his boyish shoulders.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nIn the upper register, an enthroned king and queen wear the traditional medieval open crown topped with fleur-de-lys\u2014a stylized iris or lily symbolizing a French monarch\u2019s religious, political, and dynastic right to rule. The blue-eyed queen, left, is veiled in a white widow\u2019s wimple. An ermine-lined blue mantle drapes over her shoulders. Her pink T-shaped tunic spills over a thin blue edge of paint which visually supports these enthroned figures. A slender green column divides the queen\u2019s space from that of her son, King Louis IX, to whom she deliberately gestures across the page, raising her left hand in his direction. Her pose and animated facial expression suggest that she is dedicating this manuscript, with its lessons and morals, to the young king.\r\n\r\nIn his left hand, between his forefinger and thumb, Louis holds a small golden ball or disc. During the mass that followed coronations, French kings and queens would traditionally give the presiding bishop of Reims 13 gold coins (all French kings were crowned in this northern French cathedral town.) This could reference Louis\u2019 1226 coronation, just three weeks after his father\u2019s death, suggesting a probable date for this bible\u2019s commission. A manuscript this lavish, however, would have taken eight to ten years to complete\u2014perfect timing, because in 1235, the 21-year-old Louis was ready to assume the rule of his Capetian kingdom from his mother.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1051\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"480\"]\"Mary Figure 3. Coronation of the Virgin, tympanum of central portal, north transept, Chartres Cathedral, c. 1204\u201310[\/caption]\r\n

A Link between Earth and Heaven<\/h2>\r\nQueen Blanche and her son, the young king, echo a gesture and pose that would have been familiar to many Christians: the Virgin Mary and Christ enthroned side-by-side as celestial rulers of heaven, found in the numerous Coronations of the Virgin carved in ivory, wood, and stone. This scene was especially prevalent in tympana, the top sculpted semi-circle over cathedral portals found throughout France. On beholding the Morgan illumination, viewers would have immediately made the connection between this earthly Queen Blanche and her son, anointed by God with the divine right to rule, and that of Mary, Queen of heaven and her son, divine figures who offer salvation.\r\n

A Cleric and an Artist<\/h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1052\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"560\"]\"no Figure 4. The illumination\u2019s bottom register depicts a tonsured cleric (churchman with a partly shaved head), left, and an illuminator, on the right. The artist dons a blue surcoat, wears a cap, and is seated on cushioned bench.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThe cleric wears a sleeveless cloak appropriate for divine services\u2014this is an educated man\u2014and emphasizes his role as a scholar. He tilts his head forward and points his right forefinger at the artist across from him, as though giving instructions. No clues are given as to this cleric\u2019s religious order, as he probably represents the many Parisian theologians responsible for the manuscript\u2019s visual and literary content\u2014all of whom were undoubtedly told to spare no expense.\r\n\r\nKnife in his left hand and stylus in his right, he looks down at his work: four vertically-stacked circles in a left column, with part of a fifth visible on the right. We know, from the 4887 medallions that precede this illumination, what\u2019s next on this artist\u2019s agenda: he will apply a thin sheet of gold leaf onto the background,\u00a0and then paint the medallion's biblical and explanatory scenes in brilliant hues of lapis lazuli, green, red, yellow, grey, orange and sepia.\r\n

Advice for a King<\/h2>\r\nBlanche undoubtedly hand-picked the theologians whose job it was to establish this manuscript\u2019s guidelines, select biblical passages, write explanations, hire copyists, and oversee the images that the artists should paint. Art and text, mutually dependent, spelled out advice that its readers, Louis IX and perhaps his siblings, could practice in their enlightened rule. The nobles, church officials, and perhaps even common folk who viewed this page could be reassured that their ruler had been well trained to deal with whatever calamities came his way.\r\n\r\nThis thirteenth\u00a0century illumination, both dazzling and edifying, represents the cutting edge of lavishness in a society that embraced conspicuous consumption. As a pedagogical tool, perhaps it played no small part in helping Louis IX achieve the status of sainthood, awarded by Pope Bonifiace VIII 27 years after the king\u2019s death. This and other images in the bible moralis\u00e9e explain why Parisian illuminators monopolized manuscript production at this time. Look again at the work. Who else could compete against such a resounding image of character and grace?","rendered":"
\"Each<\/p>\n

Figure 1. Blanche of Castile and King Louis IX of France; Author Dictating to a Scribe<\/em>, Moralized Bible, France, probably Paris, c. 1230, 14 3\/4 \u00d7 10 1\/4 inches \/ 37.5 \u00d7 26.2 cm (The Morgan Library & Museum)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In 1226 a French king died, leaving his queen to rule his kingdom until their son came of age. The 38-year-old widow, Blanche of Castile, had her work cut out for her. Rebelling barons were eager to win back lands that her husband\u2019s father had seized from them. They rallied troops against her, defamed her character, and even accused her of adultery and murder.<\/p>\n

Caught in a perilous web of treachery, insurrections, and open warfare, Blanche persuaded, cajoled, negotiated, and fought would-be enemies after her husband, King Louis VIII, died of dysentery after only a three-year reign. When their son Louis IX took the helm in 1234, he inherited a kingdom that was, for a time anyway, at peace.<\/p>\n

\n

External Link<\/h3>\n

View this painting up close in the Google Art Project.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A Manuscript Illumination<\/h2>\n

A dazzling illumination in New York\u2019s Morgan Library could well depict Blanche of Castile and her son Louis, a beardless youth crowned king. A cleric and a scribe are depicted underneath them. Each figure is set against a ground of burnished gold, seated beneath a trefoil arch. Stylized and colorful buildings dance above their heads, suggesting a sophisticated, urban setting\u2014perhaps Paris, the capital city of the Capetian kingdom (the Capetians were one of the oldest royal families in France) and home to a renowned school of theology.<\/p>\n

A Moralized Bible<\/h2>\n

This last page the New York Morgan Library\u2019s manuscript MS M 240 is the last quire (folded page) of a three-volume moralized bible, the majority of which is housed at the Cathedral Treasury in Toledo, Spain. Moralized bibles, made expressedly for the French royal house, include lavishly illustrated abbreviated passages from the Old and New Testaments. Explanatory texts that allude to historical events and tales accompany these literary and visual readings, which\u2014woven together\u2014convey a moral.<\/p>\n

Assuming historians are correct in identifying the two rulers, we are looking at the four people intensely involved in the production of this manuscript. As patron and ruler, Queen Blanche of Castile would have financed its production. As ruler-to-be, Louis IX\u2019s job was to take its lessons to heart along with those from the other biblical and ancient texts that his tutors read with him.<\/p>\n

King and Queen<\/h2>\n
\"no<\/p>\n

Figure 2. Louis IX, a trefoiled open crown atop his head, returns his mother\u2019s glance. In his right hand he holds a scepter, indicating his kingly status. It is topped by the characteristic fleur-de-lys on which, curiously, a bird sits. A four-pedaled brooch, dominated by a large square of sapphire blue in the center, secures a pink mantle lined with green that rests on his boyish shoulders.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In the upper register, an enthroned king and queen wear the traditional medieval open crown topped with fleur-de-lys\u2014a stylized iris or lily symbolizing a French monarch\u2019s religious, political, and dynastic right to rule. The blue-eyed queen, left, is veiled in a white widow\u2019s wimple. An ermine-lined blue mantle drapes over her shoulders. Her pink T-shaped tunic spills over a thin blue edge of paint which visually supports these enthroned figures. A slender green column divides the queen\u2019s space from that of her son, King Louis IX, to whom she deliberately gestures across the page, raising her left hand in his direction. Her pose and animated facial expression suggest that she is dedicating this manuscript, with its lessons and morals, to the young king.<\/p>\n

In his left hand, between his forefinger and thumb, Louis holds a small golden ball or disc. During the mass that followed coronations, French kings and queens would traditionally give the presiding bishop of Reims 13 gold coins (all French kings were crowned in this northern French cathedral town.) This could reference Louis\u2019 1226 coronation, just three weeks after his father\u2019s death, suggesting a probable date for this bible\u2019s commission. A manuscript this lavish, however, would have taken eight to ten years to complete\u2014perfect timing, because in 1235, the 21-year-old Louis was ready to assume the rule of his Capetian kingdom from his mother.<\/p>\n

\"Mary<\/p>\n

Figure 3. Coronation of the Virgin, tympanum of central portal, north transept, Chartres Cathedral, c. 1204\u201310<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A Link between Earth and Heaven<\/h2>\n

Queen Blanche and her son, the young king, echo a gesture and pose that would have been familiar to many Christians: the Virgin Mary and Christ enthroned side-by-side as celestial rulers of heaven, found in the numerous Coronations of the Virgin carved in ivory, wood, and stone. This scene was especially prevalent in tympana, the top sculpted semi-circle over cathedral portals found throughout France. On beholding the Morgan illumination, viewers would have immediately made the connection between this earthly Queen Blanche and her son, anointed by God with the divine right to rule, and that of Mary, Queen of heaven and her son, divine figures who offer salvation.<\/p>\n

A Cleric and an Artist<\/h2>\n
\"no<\/p>\n

Figure 4. The illumination\u2019s bottom register depicts a tonsured cleric (churchman with a partly shaved head), left, and an illuminator, on the right. The artist dons a blue surcoat, wears a cap, and is seated on cushioned bench.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The cleric wears a sleeveless cloak appropriate for divine services\u2014this is an educated man\u2014and emphasizes his role as a scholar. He tilts his head forward and points his right forefinger at the artist across from him, as though giving instructions. No clues are given as to this cleric\u2019s religious order, as he probably represents the many Parisian theologians responsible for the manuscript\u2019s visual and literary content\u2014all of whom were undoubtedly told to spare no expense.<\/p>\n

Knife in his left hand and stylus in his right, he looks down at his work: four vertically-stacked circles in a left column, with part of a fifth visible on the right. We know, from the 4887 medallions that precede this illumination, what\u2019s next on this artist\u2019s agenda: he will apply a thin sheet of gold leaf onto the background,\u00a0and then paint the medallion’s biblical and explanatory scenes in brilliant hues of lapis lazuli, green, red, yellow, grey, orange and sepia.<\/p>\n

Advice for a King<\/h2>\n

Blanche undoubtedly hand-picked the theologians whose job it was to establish this manuscript\u2019s guidelines, select biblical passages, write explanations, hire copyists, and oversee the images that the artists should paint. Art and text, mutually dependent, spelled out advice that its readers, Louis IX and perhaps his siblings, could practice in their enlightened rule. The nobles, church officials, and perhaps even common folk who viewed this page could be reassured that their ruler had been well trained to deal with whatever calamities came his way.<\/p>\n

This thirteenth\u00a0century illumination, both dazzling and edifying, represents the cutting edge of lavishness in a society that embraced conspicuous consumption. As a pedagogical tool, perhaps it played no small part in helping Louis IX achieve the status of sainthood, awarded by Pope Bonifiace VIII 27 years after the king\u2019s death. This and other images in the bible moralis\u00e9e explain why Parisian illuminators monopolized manuscript production at this time. Look again at the work. Who else could compete against such a resounding image of character and grace?<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t

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Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div>