Overview
Reims is 152 kilometers or 95 miles ENE of Paris by road, in the departement of Marne. It is situated on the right bank of the Vesle River, on the western margin of Champagne, overlooked from the SW by the Montagne de Reims, the highest part of the Ile de France. On its lower slopes, and further south to beyond the Marne Valley, are the vineyards that provide grapes for the Champagne wine industry, of which Reims and Epernay are the chief centres. The wine is prepared in vast caves.
Situated at the intersection of the main route leading north from the Rhone Valley to the Low Countries with that from the channel ports to the Rhine, Reims (in Latin – Durocortorum) was the chief node of the Roman road system in northern Gaul, a much more important route focus than was Paris. It became, early on, a centre of ecclesiastical organization and, from the third century, an archbishopric. According to tradition, the Frankish king Clovis, ancestor of Charlemagne, was baptized by Saint Remi (Remigius), archbishop of Reims, and from this event derived the later prerogative of archbishops to consecrate successive kings of France in Reims Cathedral. With few exceptions, French monarchs from Philip Augustus to Charles X were consecrated there. The most famous of these ceremonies was that on July 17, 1429, when Charles VII (The Dauphin) was crowned in the presence of Joan of Arc, who literally forced him to claim his royal right. The Hundred Years War was on and his longevity as man at the helm was questionable, as death at the hands of the enemy sometimes proves. Reims, the traditional crowning place of monarchs, was well within the territory held by his enemies. As long, however, as he remained unconsecrated, seven years after his father’s death, leadership in the war, and the rightfulness of his claim to be king of France, to continue the Valois dynasty, was in grave question.
From the advantages of its geography, the Great Fairs of Reims developed in the 12th century, and the town received a communal charter in 1139.
The woollen industry flourished in the Middle Ages, and was stimulated in the 17th century by Jean Baptiste Colbert, Louis XIV’s Minister of Finance, a native son, who is commemorated by a statue in the Place de Colbert. The textile industry is now represented especially by the manufacture of flannels. Engineering, glass-making and biscuits are also important.
The cathedral of Notre Dame, built in the 13th century to replace an earlier building that had been burned, was one of France’s greatest Gothic edifices, with an especially impressive facade. It was destroyed by German shelling in WWI, (the War to End All Wars), and very narrowly escaped damage in WWII (which engineered the motion to change the previous war’s name). Reims was occupied briefly by the Germans in their offensive in September 1914, and after evacuating the city they held the surrounding heights of the Montagne de Reims, from which they intermittently bombarded the city during the next four years; and nearly all of its buildings were destroyed. The two Romanesque towers and early Gothic facade of the church of St Remi (11th–15th centuries) survived, however, as did the Roman Triumphal Arch, the “Porte Mars”. The Fine Arts Museum (Musee St Denis), which houses a wonderful collection of tapestries and Corot paintings, occupies the buildings of an 18th century abbey.
Clovis / St Remi
St Remi, who was the bishop of Reims and friend of Clovis (whom he converted to Christianity) was appointed to his post in 459. Clovis was then the pagan king of northern Gaul, and he had married Clotilda, the daughter of the Christian king of Bourgogne/Burgundy. He had resisted all attempts of conversion by his father in law (Chilperic). According to legend, however, during his war against the Alamanni (a Germanic “Tribe”) he promised he would be converted if Clotilda’s God would grant him a victory. He was successful, and Clotilda, therefore, summoned Remi (he wasn’t a saint at the time…) who instructed Clovis and baptized him in either 496 or 506 (such badly kept baptismal records!) Later his sisters and 3,000 men of his army were also baptized.
A later legend tells us that a dove (both a symbol of divinity and peace) brought to Remi a vial of oil from heaven for the baptism of Clovis. Clovis inherited the Merovingian Empire and title King of the Franks from his father Childerec I at the age of 15 in 481 or 482. Over the course of 30 years he conquered and combined most of the existing tribes and areas of what is now considered France. Overcoming the Visigoths was his most extensive battle, in about 507. He made Paris the “Seat of his Kingdom” and his normal place of residence, on November 27, 511. He was buried in what is now the church of St Genevieve, near the Pantheon in Paris, overlooking the Ile St Louis where his palace stood. (Charlemagne was anointed king at St Denis by Pope Stephen III, the old tradition breaker).
Coronations
The Frankish kings originally began their reign by being raised on a shield and acclaimed. Pepin, son of the emperor Charlemagne, first king of the Carolingian dynasty, partly in order to sanctify his superceding the Merovingian kings, was twice anointed, first possibly by St Boniface, then by Pope Stephen II.
From the 11th century onward coronation customarily took place at Reims. The unction, or ointment, was given first on the top of the head in the form of a cross, on the breast, between the shoulders and at the joints of both arms. Then, standing up, the king was dressed in the tunic and royal robe of purple velvet, sprinkled with gold fleurs-de-lis. Kneeling again, the king was anointed in the palms of the hands, after which the gloves, ring and sceptre were delivered. The archbishop of Rome, taking the so-called crown of Charlemagne from the altar, then set it on the king’s head. After this the enthronement and showing the king to the people took place.
As previously mentioned, there was a legend that the Holy Dove had descended from heaven, bearing a vessel of holy oil (afterward called the Sainte Ampoule) and had placed it on the altar for Clovis’ coronation. Ever afterward, a drop of oil from the Sainte Ampoule, mixed with chrism, was used for the anointing of French kings. To rival the French story, another “miracle” was related that the Virgin Mary had appeared to Thomas Beckett and had given him a vessel with holy oil, which was to be used at some future moment for the anointing of English kings.
Napoleon I in 1864, in a series of tradition-flouting moves, brought Pope Pius to Paris to anoint him in the Cathedral of Notre Dame as Emperor of the French, and placed the imperial crown on his own head.
The Cathedral
The High Gothic Cathedral of Reims was begun in 1210 and finished in 1430. It continued the tradition of Chartres, with its heightened aisles, flying buttresses, no gallery and lengthened windows. The first architect of Reims, Jean Worbais, standardized the windows into all rounded ones with single shafts in the four main directories.
The outside sculpture is truly outstanding. The “Apostles of the Judgment” portal, from about 1225, are big, burly, relaxed figures. The Last Judgment scene above contains naked figures rising from urns, and a group of holy virgins seated frontwards. Perhaps the most memorable figures by the sculptors of the Reims Cathedral are the group of The Virgin and St Elizabeth, her cousin, on the west front. They state on a grand scale, and with a salute to classicism, the humane and substantial figures, with flowing multiple pleated garments.
Inside one can see the celebrated Rose Window, which, in architecture, is a term applied to any decorated circular window. As a result of the crusades, towards the middle of the 12th century, the concept of richly decorating these once simple round windows was brought into French architecture. The general scheme consisted of a series of radiating forms, each of which was tipped by a pointed arch at the outside of the circle. The bars between these forms were joined at the centre by a pierced circle of stone. The most beautiful example of this type is that at the west front of Reims Cathedral. The radiating bars also furnished a diagonal bracing to contribute to structural strength.
The architectural feature for which Reims is justly famous is the pinnacle. It is a vertical ornament which usually tapers and crowns a tower or buttress. Reims’ most striking pinnacles crown the pairs of flying buttresses and, although they are primarily decorative, enhance the stability of the buttresses by their additional weight. Notice that these pinnacles are 80 feet with the spiralet and subsidiary pinnacles supported on the slender column of a niche containing the statue of an angel with outstretched wings.
Notre Dame de Reims was built on the site of a church that had burned the preceding year and was completed, except for the towers, in one century. This is a relatively short period, in terms of building a great church in the Middle Ages, and is the frequently cited explanation for the remarkable unity of style that this church displays.
Although German bombardment during WWI severely damaged the cathedral, restoration work was begun immediately, financed particularly by John D. Rockefeller. It was rededicated in 1938.
The Triple portal of the famous western facade presents a marvellous profusion of the above-mentioned statues and decorations. The centre portal is that of The Virgin, to whom Notre Dame de Reims is dedicated, flanked on either side by events of Christ’s life. On the left portal is the statue of the smiling angel known as Le Sourire de Reims – an unusual facial characteristic for a 13th century angel. She is actually St Nicaise, the Guardian Angel.
The stained glass windows of this coronation church constitute one of its special glories. The original windows dated from the 13th century, but were mostly destroyed during WWI. They have been reconstructed and restored and replaced, even by works by the contemporary French artist Marc Chagall.
The nave, lit by lancet windows, is immense, with ten bays. In the sacristy is the treasury, containing a 12th century chalice used for the communion of French monarchs, and a double-faced ampulla said to have been worn around the neck by Charlemagne and to contain a relic of the True Cross.
Some of the Cathedral’s tapestries date from the 15th century and depict episodes from the life of Clovis. In the summer, the Cathedral is often decorated with a series of 17 tapestries dating from the 16th century and depicting scenes from the life of The Virgin, many of which have been reduced to fragments.
Reims and WWII
The war in Europe came to an end officially at midnight on May 8, 1945, but in reality that was merely the final formal recognition of a piecemeal finish over the previous week. On May 2, all fighting had ceased on the Southern Front in Italy, where the surrender document had been signed three days earlier. On May 4, a similar surrender was signed, at Montgomery’s headquarters in Luneberg Heath, by the representatives of the German forces in Northwestern Europe. On May 7, a further surrender document, covering all of the German forces, was signed at Eisenhower’s headquarters in Reims – a larger, ceremonial finish carried out in the presence of Russian as well as American, British, and French representatives.
Reims was occupied by the Germans from 1940–1944. It later became an important supply base for the Allied troops in the last phase of the war. The Allied command, under Eisenhower, had its headquarters in the College Moderne near the railroad station. It was in the Map Room, or Salle de Guerre, where the above surrender took place. In this room, now a museum, are maps showing the positions of the opposing armies on the last day of the war.
Gothic
The Gothic period extended from the late 12th century through the 14th century. During the Gothic era towns grew in importance, partly as a result of their alliance with royal power against the feudal barons. As one approaches Chartres or Reims, the cathedral can be seen high above the roofs of the town. Its prominence symbolizes the dominant role played by the church in the community.
Even though the cost of these churches was met primarily by the bishop, the townsfolk bore their share in its building. Trade guilds or merchants often undertook the responsibility for a chapel, altar, or stained glass window, dedicated to their particular patron saint.
The achievement of the Gothic era was in lightening the massiveness of the Romanesque, increasing and dramatizing the height of the building, and refining the heavy walls with small windows to convert the buildings into cages of stone and glass. In the Gothic era, all of the formerly individual, distinct parts of the Romanesque church (nave, aisle, ambulatory, chapels) flow into one another.
The translucence of the vast window area creates a minimal separation of interior and exterior space. Greek temples were finite and complete, as definite and measurable as the Olympian gods to whom they were dedicated. They were proportioned to man. The Gothic cathedral, on the other hand, is indefinite in outline, as immeasurable as the infinity of the Christian concept of God, unearthly in the beauty of the multicoloured light pouring through its stained glass windows; man is, compared to the vast height of the cathedrals, not quite so significant. No nobler expression of this spirit exists than French cathedrals of the early 13th century, such as Reims and Chartres.