On 11 June 1144, the Basilica of Saint Denis was completed and dedicated by Abbot Sugar in an area now part of Paris. The Basilica would become an important place of pilgrimage, the burial place of the French kings and the model of Gothic architecture in Northern Europe.
Saint Denis is the patron saint of France and, according to French tradition, was the first bishop of Paris. As such, his shrine at the Basilica of Saint Denis was a popular place for Catholics to visit.
Another reason for visiting the Basilica was to see the first major example of the “French Style” (Opus Francigenum) as it was known before it was more commonly called Gothic. Many of the memorable characteristics of the Basilica such as the Rose Window, the radiating chapels, and the flying buttresses had been used in Romesque style architecture before but Abbot Sugar was the first to pull these architectural characteristics all together. His placement of the Rose Window will be imitated in the construction of other French basilicas such as the Basilica of Chartres.
All but three of the French monarchs from the 10th century to 1789 are buried at the Basilica of Saint Denis. These monarchs were buried tombs containing effigies or images of the former king or queen contained in the tomb. Unfortunately, during the French Revolution the bodies of these monarchs were all removed from their tombs and buried in a common grave and after the revolution it was impossible to separate one body from another. Thus, the bodies of the French monarchs up to the French Revolution are now buried in a common ossuary. Fortunately, the effigies were preserved.
The art and architecture of Saint Denis
On 7 June 1304, Pope Benedict XI excommunicated Guillaume de Nogaret, the minister of French king Philip IV, and several Italians who had played a part in the seizure and abuse of Pope Boniface VIII in the bull Flagitiosum scelus. Boniface and Philip had come into serious conflict regarding the power of the papacy versus the power of the secular ruler. This conflict had led Boniface to issue the bull Unam Sanctum proclaiming that salvation required that one be subject to the Roman pontiff and Philip to send Guillaume and his army to arrest Boniface in the hopes of putting him on trial. While Boniface had escaped, he died soon after regaining his freedom.
Benedict after a pontificate of only eight months and while there was some suspicion that Guillaume may have had him poisoned, there is no direct evidence for this. After Benedict’s death, Clement V will become pope and under French pressure will lift the excommunication of Guillaume de Nogaret. Guillaume will also be very active in Philip IV’s persecutions of the Knights Templar.
On 9 May 1911, the Vatican placed on the Index of Prohibited Books all of the love stories and dramatic works of Gabriele d’Annunzio, but not his poetry.
What led the Vatican to take this step was d’Annunzio’s collaboration with Claude Debussy on the musical play Le martyre de Saint Sébastien [The Martyrdom of St Sebastian]. The Jewish actress Ida Rubinstein had been cast to play the role of Saint Sebastian, indeed d’Annunzio had written the part of Saint Sebastian specifically for her. But the fact that the Christian saint would be played by a Jewish women outraged French Catholics. Moreover, d’Annunzio’s play identified Saint Sebastian with the pagan figure of Adonis and neither d’Annunzio nor Debussy were Catholic. Needless to say, neither the Vatican nor Parisian Archbishop, Cardinal Leon Adolphe Amette, expected the play to present an account of Saint Sebastian which would promote Catholic faith and spirituality.
While there was some question as to whether the Vatican prohibition would, in fact, encourage more people to see the performance; the Vatican believed that it would be giving greater moral authority to the Archbishop in regards to his response to the play. Indeed shortly before the opening night of the production, the Archbishop issued a statement reminding Parisian Catholics about the Vatican’s prohibition and that they should not attend any play which “offended Christian consciences”.
The play was not successful, though it is not known whether that was because of or in spite of the actions of the Vatican and Cardinal Amette.
New York Times article about the Vatican and Amette response to d’Annunzio’s play
On 2 May 1312, Pope Clement V issued the bull Ad Providum which gave all the land and wealth which formerly belonged to the Knights Templar to the Knights of Malta so that it could continue to be used for the aid of pilgrims. Clement wanted to ensure that the wealth of the Templars did not fall into the hands of French king Philip IV who had been the driving force in the movement to suppress the Templars and very much desired their property. However, in many parts of Europe the property of the Templars was simply confiscated by the secular authority and not given to the Knight of Malta/Hospitallers.
It is generally believed that the primary reason for the attack against the Templars was the economic situation of Philip IV who owed the Knights Templar a large sum of money. Philip also need additional funds for his war against England. He therefore accused the Knights of heresy and pressured Clement V to dissolve the order on 22 March 1312 in the hopes of not only no longer having to pay back his loan but of also being able to confiscate Templar property.
Knights Templar
On 29 April 1429, Joan of Arc arrived to begin lifting the siege of Orléans and turn the tide of the Hundred Years’ War.
France and England had been fighting for control of France off and on since 1337 and after the English victory at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 the advantage in the struggle was definitely on the side of the forces of English regent John Plantagenet. The city of Orléans was the last fortress preventing access of the English forces into central France.
The English forces began the siege of Orléans on 12 October 1428 and so had surrounded the city for six months before Joan arrived in apparent fulfillment of the prophecies that an armed maid would deliver France.
Prior to her arrival, Joan sent the English forces besieging Orléans two letters demanding that the siege be lifted and that the English return to their homeland or else she would lift up a “…war cry against them that would last forever.”
When Joan arrived at Orléans she quickly began to pushing back the English forces, lifting the siege on 8 May 1429. This success would inspire many other French to join the army of the dauphin Charles. However, Joan would not live to see the end of the Hundred Years’ War. She would later be captured and killed by the English army on 30 May 1432. The last battle of the Hundred Years’ War would be fought in 1453.
More on the siege of Orleans
On 13 April 1598, Henry IV of France issued the Edict of Nantes which granted the Huguenots [French Calvinists] the right to public worship in certain French cities and ended the French Wars of Religion [1562-1598]. It was one one of the earliest decrees instituting religious toleration in Modern Europe.
Henry IV himself had been a Huguenot before becoming king and had converted to Catholicism because it had been required for him to take the French throne – supposedly saying “Paris is worth a Mass”.
Because Henry IV’s ability to protect Protestants against Catholics, who continued to desire religious uniformity in France, was limited the right to public worship granted by the Edict was restricted to specific “places of safety”. In addition to granting right to worship and full civil rights, the Edict also protected French Protestants from the Inquisition. Catholicism was retained as the established religion of France and Protestants still had to pay the Church tithe and respect Catholic holidays.
After the death of Henry IV, the tolerance offered to the Protestants in France would diminish until in October 1685, when Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes and declared Protestantism illegal with the Edict of Fontainebleau. As a result as many as 400,000 Protestants left France. Since these were from France’s merchant class, this would have a devastating effect on the French economy.
For more on the Edict of Nantes
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