The Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Reims
Machaut wrote his Messe de Nostre Dame while serving as a canon of Reims cathedral. The cathedral of Notre-Dame in Reims was built on the site where purportedly Clovis I was baptized by bishop Remigius (Remi) in 498 or 499. This first link between the kings of France and the cathedral of Reims was solidified when Louis the Pious, son of Charlemagne, was crowned there in 816 by Pope Stephen IV, and a later pope, Sylvester II, himself a former archbishop of Reims, confirmed the privilege.
Reims, in the eastern French region of Champagne, was a major city from Roman times By Machaut's time the city had outgrown its Roman walls, and new walls were completed in 1357, shortly before the English siege of Reims (December 1359-January 1360). These medieval walls included the abbeys of St-Nicaise and St-Remi, which had originally been built outside the walls, in the southern suburbs.
The present cathedral was begun in 1211, a year after a fire that consumed the previous church, and completed (save for the towers at the west end) by the end of the century. It is an excellent example of gothic style and has in many ways remained intact, save for much of its stained glass, despite the depredations of time, especially the near-destruction of the city during the First World War.
for further reading:
Pasch, Anne, et al. “Reims.” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T071246 , accessed 6 July 2015.
See also literature cited in the following pages.
See the following pages for more information:
back to The Messe de Nostre Dame
Reims, in the eastern French region of Champagne, was a major city from Roman times By Machaut's time the city had outgrown its Roman walls, and new walls were completed in 1357, shortly before the English siege of Reims (December 1359-January 1360). These medieval walls included the abbeys of St-Nicaise and St-Remi, which had originally been built outside the walls, in the southern suburbs.
The present cathedral was begun in 1211, a year after a fire that consumed the previous church, and completed (save for the towers at the west end) by the end of the century. It is an excellent example of gothic style and has in many ways remained intact, save for much of its stained glass, despite the depredations of time, especially the near-destruction of the city during the First World War.
for further reading:
Pasch, Anne, et al. “Reims.” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T071246 , accessed 6 July 2015.
See also literature cited in the following pages.
See the following pages for more information:
- the creators and the process of construction
- the plan and basic elements
- the sculpture of the portals: making meaning inb a medieval cathedral
- the altar of the rouelle and Machaut’s Mass
back to The Messe de Nostre Dame