Figures 1-2. The Chant for the Fest of the Crown of Torns, illuminated. The Breviary of Étienne Becquart. Manuscript in Latin on vellum, illuminated by the Méliacin Master. France, Paris, c. 1290-1300.
On folio 210r of the manuscript (fig. 2), a bishop is depicted in prayer before a crown-shaped reliquary on an altar. Upon closer inspection, we can see a green longitudinal object inside the reliquary: this mysterious object, is the Holy Crown, represented as a green wreath. This historiated initial opens the chants for the Fest of the Crown of Thorns (11th August), partially composed by Gautier Cornut (1221-1241), a former archbishop of Sens and a direct predecessor of the Breviary’s commissioner. This minute historiated initial in our breviary may, in fact, be the earliest known representation of Saint Louis’s Crown of Thorns reliquary and possibly the only one produced outside the French royal curia. To better understand the significance of this image, let us go back a few decades in time, to the Paris of King Louis IX, whom history remembers as Saint Louis.
In 1239, Louis IX performed one of the most significant acts of his reign: he purchased from the Venetians, who had obtained it from the Byzantines, a most distinguished relic—Christ’s Crown of Thorns. To store it, he built a chapel within his palace on the Île de la Cité, considered one of the most remarkable masterpieces of Gothic art: the Sainte-Chapelle, a reflection of the Heavenly Jerusalem and a giant stained-glass and stone reliquary for the Holy Crown (fig. 3-4).
Figures 3-4. The Sainte Chapelle of Paris, commissioned by the King Louis IX to keep his most precious relics (1241-1248).
In the famous reception of the Crown of Thorns in Paris, the Archbishop of Sens, Gautier Cornut, played a major role: not only did he write an account of the translation of the Crown (the relocation of relics is called a translation), but he also participated in the translation celebrations, which began in Sens on 11th August 1239. The archbishop participated in the translation liturgy in Paris and probably (as he was the metropolitan bishop) was the main celebrant (fig. 5). Cornut even obtained a thorn from the King, a most precious gift that served as a relic for his cathedral.
Figure 5. The Bishop of Sens and Louis IX leading the translation of the Crown of Thorns. Paris. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des manuscrits, NAL 3145 (image Source gallica.bnf.fr / BnF).
Following Prof. Jerzy Pysiak (Warsaw University) and his fascinating research on French kingship and the cult of relics, the reliquary of the Crown of Thorns resembled an ostensorium (a vessel intended for the exposition of the Host) on a foot, with the royal crown at the top, as seen in our initial and, with great detail, in one of the most beautiful miniatures from the Hours of Anne de Bretagne, illuminated by Bourdichon two hundred years later (fig. 6).
Figure 6. Two Angels holding the reliquary of the Crown of Thorns. Paris. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des manuscrits, Latin 9474 (image Source gallica.bnf.fr / BnF).
The exceptional manuscript in our collection was commissioned by the Archbishop of Sens, Étienne Bécquart de Panoul (1292-1307), as part of a set of liturgical books. His coat of arms, gules, two axes addorsed or, quartered with the shield of Sens (azure, a cross, four crosiers gules and or), appears seven times in the manuscript. In addition to our Breviary, both the Festal Missal (Auxerre, Trésor de la Cathédrale, ms. 8) and the manuscript containing the Gospels and the Epistles (Sens, bibliothèque municipale, ms. 5) from the same series are still preserved. For the decoration of such an ambitious commission, the archbishop entrusted a noted Parisian illuminator, dubbed the Méliacin Master, considered one of the most remarkable illuminators of the last decades of the 13th century (fig. 7-8).
Figure 7. King David and Heraldic initial, details from: The Breviary of Étienne Becquart. Manuscript in Latin on vellum, illuminated by the Méliacin Master. France, Paris, c. 1290-1300.
Despite their small size, all the miniatures contain the minutest details, gestures, and attributes. The figures are rendered with inked outlines and uncoloured skin tones, allowing the whiteness of the vellum to show through. In stark contrast to this black-and-white depiction of the flesh are the colourful clothes and diapered backgrounds. In our Breviary, one can fully appreciate the Méliacin Master's artistic idiom in the final phase of his career, marked by the creation of frail, small-scale figures in courtly, mannered postures. The strong graphic style that marks his youthful illuminations here tends towards a fragile and ethereal refinement, aptly defined by François Avril as "elastic mannerism."
This exceptionally rare iconography and the very early text celebrating the Festum Sanctae Coronae (ff. 210-215) underscore the historical significance of this already spectacular example of Parisian Gothic art.
We would like to thank Prof. Jerzy Pysiak for his insight and we highly recommend his recent book on this subject, we are sure that our manuscript will be a significant part of his forthcoming research.
Pysiak, Jerzy. The King and the Crown of Thorns: Kingship and the Cult of Relics in Capetian France. Berlin: Peter Lang, 2021, available here:
https://www.peterlang.com/document/1114364.
The Breviary of Étienne Becquart. Manuscript in Latin on vellum, illuminated by the Méliacin Master. France, Paris, c. 1290-1300 • 280 x 193 mm. iii + 389 + iii ff., complete. — 20 historiated initials, 7 initials presenting the coat of arms of the first owner; abundant decorative initials on coloured diaper, diaper and gold or tooled gold backgrounds. — 17th century red velvet binding, edges gauffered. — Lower right corner of f. 1 repaired, some patches in the margins of the same folio, no text loss; gold occasionally a little rubbed, the miniature with St Michael (f. 274r) slightly retouched; otherwise in excellent condition. Price on request.
To learn more about the Méliacin Master, see:
Gaborit-Chopin, Danielle, ed. L’Art au temps des Rois Maudits: Philippe le Bel et ses fils 1285-1328. Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais 17 March - 29 June 1998. Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1998.
Stones, Alison. Gothic Manuscripts, 1260-1320: A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in France. Vol. I, 1. London/Turnhout: H. Miller/Brepols, 2013.
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