The Sainte-Chapelle and the Construction of Sacral Monarchy

Royal Architecture in Thirteenth-Century Paris

Bibliographic Data

ID23171615
AuthorsMeredith Cohen (University of California, Los Angeles, corresponding author)
Year2014
Publication date2014-11-24
Open AccessYes
TypeBOOK
VenueSainte-Chapelle and the Construction of Sacral Monarchy (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherCambridge University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1017/cbo9781139198332
OpenAlexW4246761924
Open LibraryOL34556890M
ISBN9781139198332
LanguageEN
Citations received3

This book offers a novel perspective on one of the most important monuments of French Gothic architecture, the Sainte-Chapelle, constructed in Paris by King Louis IX of France between 1239 and 1248 especially to hold and to celebrate Christ's Crown of Thorns. Meredith Cohen argues that the chapel's architecture, decoration, and use conveyed the notion of sacral kingship to its audience in Paris and in greater Europe, thereby implicitly elevating the French king to the level of suzerain, and establishing an early visual precedent for the political theories of royal sovereignty and French absolutism. By setting the chapel within its broader urban and royal contexts, this book offers new insight into royal representation and the rise of Paris as a political and cultural capital in the thirteenth century.

Absolute monarchy · Ancient history · Art · Art history · Capital (architecture) · Chapel · Cult · Early Modern Europe · Fresco · Monarchy · Painting · Political science · Politics · Promotion (chess) · Representation (politics) · Sovereignty · Visual arts · Architecture · Classics · Historical and Religious Studies of Rome · History · Law · Medieval Literature and History · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity

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