Chartres Cathedral Chartres, France
1-18
/
18
- -1C
- According to legend, a pagan sacred spring and shrine to a mother goddess exists on the site (historians doubt the shrine but confirm a sacred well)
- 5C
- First record of a bishop of Carnotum (Chartres), meaning its church was a cathedral; it would have been a simple wood structure
- 8C
- Earliest record of Chartres Cathedral's dedication to the Virgin Mary, in a royal decree from Pepin's court
- 876
- According to tradition, Charles the Bald gives Chartres the Virgin Mary's tunic (Sancta Camisa), given to his grandfather Charlemagne in Constantinople; Chartres becomes a pilgrimage destination
- 911
- Chartres is besieged by Vikings led by Rollo(n); Bishop Gantelme orders the relic shown from the ramparts; the army flees; Rollo converts and becomes the first Duke of Normandy
- c. 980
- Fulbert of Reims arrives in Chartres to lead the cathedral school, which becomes one of the major education centers in Europe
- 1020
- Chartres Cathedral is destroyed by fire; Bishop Fulbert begins a grand rebuilding program funded by royal donations (the crypt survives from this building)
- 1119
- King Louis VI prepares to attack Chartres, where his enemy is camped; a procession of clergy with the Sancta Camisa changes his mind
- 1134
- After Chartres Cathedral's west end is damaged by fire, Bishop Geoffrey de Lèves commissions the Romanesque west end that survives today
- 10 Jun 1194
- Chartres Cathedral is mostly destroyed by fire; the Sacred Tunic is believed to be lost, leading to widespread despair and no plans to rebuild