Description
The panels of the Charlemagne Window are as follows (bottom to top, left to right):
- Donor/signature panel: a furrier shows a fur to a customer. The furriers also donated the St. James the Greater Window (next to this one) and St. Eustace Window.
*** Jerusalem Crusade***
- Charlemagne sits between two bishops. The one on the right holds a book and likely represents an emissary from Constantine, telling him about the vision in panel 3. The one on the left may be from Charlemagne's court and is possibly Archbishop Turpin of Reims.
- While Constantine sleeps, an angel shows him in a dream that Charlemagne (shown on horseback in full armor) will defeat the Muslims who hold Jerusalem.
- Charlemagne's troops defeat the Saracens in Jerusalem. The Christian crusaders wear flat-topped helmets and carry triangular shields; the Muslim warriors wear conical helmets and carry round shields. Charlemagne himself is shown stabbing a Saracen king in the neck with a sword.
- Constantine receives Charlemagne at the gates of Constantinople after Charlemagne's return from Jerusalem. On Charlemagne's left is a beardless man in courtly garb, who also appears in panel 7; this is probably Roland.
- Constantine offers gifts to Charlemagne in gratitude for his help; Charlemagne may be saying that he will accept only relics, as is told in the legend.
- Charlemagne offers relics to the altar at Aachen. The young man with him is identified as Roland by the oliphant (ivory horn), which is his attribute.
Spanish Crusade 1 8. Charlemagne and two companions look up at the Milky Way. 9. Saint James appears to Charlemagne in a dream, instructing him to follow the Milky Way to Santiago and free the saint's shrine from Muslim control. 10. Charlemagne and five other mounted men set off on a crusade to Spain. Among them are Archbishop Turpin (in bishop's mitre) and Roland (the beardless youth). 11. Charlemagne kneels in prayer near a tree, probably for destruction of the walls of Pamplona as described in the literary sources. His knights stand with their helmets closed; the one with the banner is Roland. 12. A Christian soldier chases a Saracen warrior through a city gate. Above, a man blows a horn to raise the alarm. This represents the other Spanish cities that were taken by force after Pamplona.
Spanish Crusade 2 13. Charlemagne orders the construction of a church, on which masons are shown working. This may represent an expansion of the existing church at Santiago de Compostela or the founding of the monastery church dedicated to Saint Facundus and Saint Primitivus. Though much less famous than Santiago today, it was important and powerful in the early Middle Ages and described at length in the legend of Charlemagne. 14. Christian knights defeat Saracen warriors. In the foreground, a warrior receives a mortal blow from a sword; in the background is a chase on horseback. The legend says that Saracens were either killed or put to flight; both are represented here. 15. While Christian knights sleep, flowering lances mark the those who are destined for martyrdom.
Spanish Crusade 3 16. This panel was mistakenly switched for panel 22 (at the top center) in 1921. Roland and the Saracen king Marsile are shown in battle. 17. Roland kills Marsile, or the giant Saracen warrior Ferracutus, or a conflation of both events in one scene. 18. Five mounted figures on horseback. Charlemagne is distinguished by his crown; the one on his right with his hand on the horse's neck is the traitor Ganelon; the one of the left wearing a calotte cap is Archbishop Turpin. The literary text mentions only these three. 19. Two events involving Roland, who now has a nimbus around his head, after the battle of Roncesvalles: he tries and fails to break his sword Durendal on a rock; he sounds the oliphant horn to Charlemagne. The Hand of God between the scenes may represent the angel who carried the sound to Charlemagne. 20. Baudouin returns with an empty helmet after searching for water to give the wounded Roland, who slumps on his shield under a tree at Roncesvalles. 21. Baudouin speaks to Charlemagne and an unidentified figure, while resting his right arm on the emperor's horse. Charlemagne raises his left hand in greeting, visually echoing the bishop's gesture in panel 2. 22. This panel was originally in position 16 and depicts the Mass of St. Giles, in which Charlemagne seeks forgiveness through the saint's intervention for a sin "too terrible to confess." This was an incestuous relationship with his sister, which resulted in the birth of Roland. An angel gives the saint a scroll, on which the sin and its forgiveness was revealed to the saint. The figure between Charlemagne and the saint is probably a deacon assisting at the mass.
by Holly Hayes