Saint Denis Basilica Cathedral: Cemetery of Kings

SAINT DENIS, PATRON SAINT OF PARIS

Saint Denis, the first bishop of Paris, was martyred around 273 A.D., almost two millennia ago. The Romans, who then occupied Paris, were busy fighting off barbarians when this charismatic Christian began preaching Christianity, a new and unusual sect whose doctrine denied the divinity of the Roman emperor. According to legend, Roman soldiers decapitated Saint Denis on the slopes of Montmartre. He then picked up his head and walked northward almost four miles until he collapsed on the site where the cathedral is now located.. As a patron saint of Paris, the likeness of Saint Denis may be seen in many Parisian churches, paintings, museums, and parks. He is instantly recognizable as the saint who is holding his head in his hands

 

 

The martyred Saint Denis

 

Basilica posters of Saint Denis

 

A wooden sculpture of Saint Denis, Bishop of Paris

 

ARCHITECTURE

In the 12th century, the Basilica Cathedral of Saint Denis was the first cathedral essentially Gothic in construction. It was built under the leadership of Abbé Suger, the abbot of Saint-Denis and a minister of Louis VI and Louis VII. The pointed arch in Gothic architecture distributed the weight onto the bearing columns at a steep angle so that vaults could be much higher than was possible in Romanesque architecture. A characteristic of Gothic church architecture is its height in proportion to its width; the main body of a Gothic church is considerably taller than it is wide. Saint Denis preceded the construction of both Notre Dame de Paris, begun in 1163, and Sainte Chapelle, begun in 1239.

 

 

Basilica of Saint Denis

 

Entry Sign

 

Entry portal

 

 

Flower towers by the basilica

 

 

Portal from the inside

Overhead you can see the vaulted, ribbed ceiling.

 

 

A side altar with the Blessed Virgin and Christ child

The votive candles are lit by those who intend to say a prayer for another person or to pray for the dead. (You usually leave a donation, as well.)

 

 

View down the nave of the basilica, the central aisle that extends from the entrance to the altar.The apse is the domed, semi-circular recess at the far end of the basilica.

 

 

Above the stained glass windows is a vaulted ceiling which has ribs added for structural support and decoration and allows for efficient channeling of weight.

 

Windows developed from simple openings to complicated stained glass designs, which usually incorporated Biblical stories. Abbot Suger was sometimes criticized for spending large sums of money on stained-glass windows, while his parishioners were largely illiterate and poor; however, these "illiterates" could "read" the stories depicted in the stained glass windows. They must have been awestruck by the beauty and grandeur of the basilica.

 

 

The ambulatory is the passage (walkway) around the apse in the basilica. An ambulatory curves behind the altar and a series of small chapels radiate from the ambulatory. In Saint Denis, seven chapels encircle the main altar, accessed by a short flight of steps on either side of the altar.

A funerary monument to Dagobert I (died 639)

KING DAGOBERT I

The Basilica of Saint-Denis was founded on the site where St. Denis fell and was buried. In 626, King Dagobert I built a Benedictine abbey near the chapel housing the tomb. This abbey grew rapidly as a place of pilgrimage and became the richest and most famous in France. Royal burials began here in the 6th century and continued until the Revolution.
 

Dagobert was the first king to be interred in the abbey . His tomb shows the king lying on his side (at the base of the monument) with his wife Mathilde standing on the left, and his son Clovis II, standing on the right. The carvings on the tomb tell the story of the vision of the hermit John. After Dagobert’s death, the king’s soul is carried off to Hell by a pack of demons (in a boat, it looks like) on account of his unpopular practice of disposing of the property of certain churches. In an upper panel, Saint Denis, Saint Martin and Saint Maurice seize Dagobert’s soul from the hands of the demons and take it to Heaven, where it is granted entry to Paradise.

 

FUNERARY SCULPTURES

Since the burial of Hugh Capet, King of the Franks and great grandson of Charlemagne in 996, all but three of France's kings have been interred in Saint Denis. Their tombs are in the northern and southern transepts (arms of a cross-shaped church): forty-two kings, 32 queens, 63 princes and princesses and 10 nobles were laid to rest there. With over 70 recumbent figures and monumental tombs, the basilica has the most important collection of funerary sculptures from the 12th to the 16th centuries. Every part of this basilica has a story to tell. I recognized some of the personages buried here, but I found myself wishing I knew more about their life stories and their place in French history.
 

 

“Merci de ne toucher qu’avec les yeux,”  

 (Please, look, but don’t touch)

 

 

 

Isabelle of Aragon

Isabelle died prematurely in 1271 while crossing a ford during her return journey from a crusade, while she was pregnant. This tomb from the late 13^th century was the beginning of a style which was to last throughout the 14^th century. Her tomb is realistic in that it shows the flowing folds of her clothing. The white marble is on a black marble plinth on which is carved a rhyming epitaph in French. In the photo, you can see the inscription winding around the tomb. Her husband, Philippe III, wrote soon after her funeral to ask members of the religious order at Saint Denis to keep in their prayers the queen Isabelle, “whose life was pleasing to God and to men.”

Tomb of the Ducs d'Orleans

“Duc d’Orleans” was a title reserved for the oldest brother of the king. Known as “princes du sang,” (princes of the blood), they had a right to succeed to the throne should more senior princes of the blood die out. The 24 sculptures in the niches around the base of the tomb represent the apostles and saints.

Charles V (1338-1380) and his wife Jeanne de Bourbon (1338-1377)

Charles V, king from 1364-1380 of the House of Valois, was the first king to have his funerary effigy made while still alive. He was known as “the Wise” and was a great patron of the arts. His is the first official portrait in the history of funerary statuary. Look closely at the recumbent statue of his wife. It shows her holding her pouch of entrails (now you know) close to her heart. From the 13^th century on, there evolved a custom of dividing up a royal corpse and using several different burial sites for body parts--bones, entrails, hearts--as specified by the monarch.

 

Louis de Sancerre (1342-1402), a marshall of France, with sword and shield

 

 

Charles VI (1368-1422) & Isabeau de Baviere (1371-1435)

Departing from the custom of dividing up the corpse was Isabeau de Baviere, wife of Charles VI, who requested in her will for her body to be buried in the earth, “whole, without division, opening or incision whatsoever.”

Charles, Comte d’Alencon (1297-1346) & wife Marie d’Espagne (d 1379)

There is a royal lion at Charles’ feet, and loyal dogs at Marie’s feet. 

 

 

Marie de Brienne (?)

This figure in black marble is thought to be Marie de Brienne, the last Latin Empress of Constantinople. She is wearing gloves and a ring, in keeping with the rites of coronation, and her crown is Greek in style.

 

Beatrice of Burgundy, Lady of Bourbon (1257-1310)

 

It is through her that her distant male descendants of the French House of Bourbon got their name.

Infant grandson of King Louis IX (1276-1277) and Philippe d’Alencon, infant son of the Comte d’Alencon and grandson of Louis IX (1278-1279). At his feet is a dog with a rabbit in its mouth. (It may be because Alencon has a long history of breeding hunting dogs--many of the tombs have dogs at the feet of the royals, symbolizing faithfulness, but this is the only one that has a dog with prey in its mouth.)

MONUMENTAL MONUMENTS

Two of the most elaborate and imposing tombs of Saint Denis are pictured here,

one in front of the other. They both resemble small temples.

 

 

 

The tomb of Louis XII, king of France from 1498 to 1515,

and his second wife, Anne de Bretagne

This small temple in Carrara marble is surrounded by the twelve Apostles and the four cardinal virtues, Prudence, Courage, Justice and Temperance. Inside the mausoleum, the royal couple are portrayed as bodies in the final throes of death. This double-level funeral monument, depicting a corpse in the open tomb below and the sovereigns in all their earthly finery above, was common from the 1440s onward. The rendering of the cadaver is meant to show how transient earthly glory is, even for monarchs, and the image of the sovereigns above shows them kneeling, praying for the life to come.

 

 

The cadaver of Louis XII from the side of the tomb

 

The nude corpses of the king and queen are depicted realistically and dramatically; even the signs of evisceration are shown on the body. These sculptures are in contrast to the many other effigies simply laid out on their tombs--the Italian Renaissance influenced the sculpture of these elaborate tombs of royalty in the 15^th and 16^th centuries. This tomb was sculpted by Antonio and Giovanni Giusti, sculptors from Florence, Italy.

 

 

 

The tomb of Henri II, king of France from 1547 to 1559, and his wife Catherine de Medici

Inside the temple, Henri II and Catherine de Médici lie in death, and on the top, the two kneeling figures in bronze symbolize the Resurrection and a new life in eternity. They are wearing coronation garments, signifying their roles both in the kingdom of France and the kingdom of heaven. At the corners are the four cardinal virtues in bronze. If this monument looks familiar, it is because it was inspired by the monuments of Louis XII and Francois I. Henri II died prematurely following a tournament in the Place des Tournelles in Paris, now the Place des Vosges. The queen ruled through her three sons for many years without ever putting aside her mourning dress.

 

 

The bodies of Henri II and Catherine de Medici from the front of the monument

 

The cadaver of Henri II from the side. His head is leaning back, and his rib cage is lifted, as if he is breathing his last breath.

 

 

The tomb of François I, king of France from 1515 to 1547
 and his first wife Claude de France, queen 1515-1524.

 

The tomb of François I, his wife Claude de France and three of their children was built in 1558, around ten years after the king’s death. The desire of Henri II, the son of the deceased king and the one who commissioned the tomb, was to ensure the memory of the knight-king’s successful battles, shown in bas-relief along the base of the monument. Inside the tomb, the royal couple are depicted life-size with great realism. On the upper tier, the kneeling sovereigns are accompanied by three of their children. They express hope in the Resurrection but also reinforce the family character of the mausoleum.  The king's heart and entrails were placed in an urn in the basilica. The practice of evisceration was to survive until the 16th century, continuing the ancient practice of placing heart and entrails in funerary urns.
 

 

 

The tomb of Francois I and Claude de France

 

 

A view of the cadaver of Claude de France from the side
 

 

A view of the cadaver of Francois I from the side

 

CHAPELS AND RELIQUARIES

 

The Reliquary of Saint Denis is located behind the main altar.
 

The martyred saints’ reliquaries are in small chapels radiating from the ambulatory (walkway around the apse.) The cathedral was originally built as a shrine for the relics of Saint Denis on the site where he actually died, as early as the 5^th century. During the Middle Ages, especially in France and Germany certain saints were credited with special powers of intercession. Their special powers of intercession are connected with incidents in their stories. “St. Denis is shown with his head in his hands; therefore, he was invoked against diabolic possession, headache, rabies, frenzy, and strife.”

 

 

Chapelle de la Vierge (Chapel of the Virgin) and Reliquary of St Louis
 

The Reliquary contains a jawbone of Saint Louis, King Louis IX (1214-1270.) He ruled France between 1226 and 1270.When Louis died, his body was boiled in wine and his bones were held in a silver casket. From 1308 the bones were shared among various churches and became even more highly valued following his canonization as Saint Louis at the close of the 13th century.

 

 

Chapel of Saint Peregrine

 

Peregrine of Auxerre was martyred around 261. He is honored as the Bishop of Auxerre, a town southeast of Paris, and the builder of its first cathedral. Peregrine angered the governor after the saint urged the populace to abandon pagan idols; the inhabitants had been dedicating a new temple to Jupiter.
 

 Chapel of Saint Cucuphas, a Spanish saint who was martyred in 304 for preaching his Catholic faith. His relics are enshrined in this reliquary.

 

Henri II and Catherine de Medici

 

The two effigies of Henri II and Catherine de Medici lie in a chapel in the northern chevet. They are wearing their coronation robes and have their eyes wide open. These depictions are much more dignified than the naked corpses in the mausoleum; Catherine thought so, too, and commissioned these effigies at a later date.

 

 

 Henri II and Catherine de Medici in the Valois Rotunda

 

 

In the Saint Louis Chapel are the “orants” (praying statues) of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

 

 

Louis XVI was the King of France, beheaded in January, 1793. His death brought to an end more than a thousand years of continuous French monarchy. Marie Antoinette was the Queen of France and wife of Louis XVI, beheaded in October, 1793.
 
 

The praying statues of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were commissioned by Louis XVIII when the ashes of the king and queen were returned to Saint Denis. The sculptures were completed around 1830.

  The CRYPT

 

 

 

Descent into the Crypt

During the Reign of Terror at the height of the French Revolution (1789-1799), the tombs of the royalty were attacked as symbols of the monarchy. The bodies were removed from the tombs and dumped in two large pits nearby and dissolved with lime. The bodies of the beheaded King Louis XVI, his wife Marie Antoinette of Austria and his sister Madame Elisabeth, guillotined on what is now Place de la Concorde, were dumped in the churchyard of the Madeleine, where they were covered with quicklime. The body of the Dauphin (the King‘s young son and heir to the throne) died of an illness and was buried in an unmarked grave in a Parisian churchyard near the Temple. After Napoleon was exiled and the Bourbons were restored to the throne, a search for the corpses of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette was made. The purported remains were found on January 21, 1815, brought to Saint-Denis and buried in the crypt. In 1817 the mass graves containing all the other remains were opened, but distinguishing any individual was impossible. The remains were placed in an ossuary in the crypt of the church, behind two marble plates bearing the names of the hundreds of members of successive royal dynasties interred in the church.

Barred gate with coat of arms of the Kingdom of France

 

 

Wooden caskets
 

After the 1789 French revolution, people from the royal family were buried again in Saint Denis. These tombs are the only ones that actually contain a body. The coffins are made of lead and put in a wooden box. Urns in the back of the room contain parts of the bodies of various kings and royal family members, such as the hearts of kings Louis XIII (1601-1643) and Louis XVIII (died in 1824).

 

 

Vestiges of very early crypts and stone coffins.

This area was the location of the tombs of the martyred Saints Denis, Rustique and Eleuthere.

 

Six Royal Coffins

The six royal coffins were created in 1975. They are:
Louise de Lorraine (1553 - 1601) wife of Henry III
Louis VII (1120 - 1180) King of France
Marie Antoinette (1755 - 1793) Queen of France and wife of Louis XVI
Louis XVI (1754 - 1793) King of France
Louis XVIII (1755 - 1824) King of France, reclaimed the throne after the Revolution and the defeat to the Emperor Napoleon I.
The sixth tomb (on the lower left) was for Charles X (1757-1836) brother of Louis XVI and of Louis XVIII. Charles X fled France in 1830 and was exiled to Slovenia, where he died and is still buried. He was the last of the French rulers from the senior branch of the House of Bourbon descended from King Henry IV. His tombstone remains nameless.

Depictions of St Denis in the open arcade of the crypt

 

 

Entrance to the Chapel of the Bourbons, a 20^th century creation.

It contains cenotaphs-- funerary monuments which do not contain a body.

 

 

Close-up of the medallion

THE HEART OF THE DAUPHIN

 

The tomb of Louis XVII

In 2004, the heart of the 10-year-old heir to the French throne, Louis XVII, was entombed at Saint-Denis Basilica, near the graves of his parents, Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI. The future Louis XVII never escaped prison. He died of tuberculosis in 1795. The child's corpse was dumped into a common grave, but not before a doctor secretly carved out his heart and smuggled it out of prison in a handkerchief. The heart of the dead boy was compared with DNA of hair trimmed from Marie Antoinette during her childhood in Austria. It was a perfect match. In 2004 the mummified heart of the Dauphin, the boy who would have been Louis XVII, was sealed into the wall of the crypt, and placed under the medallion bearing a portrait of the young king.

 

The preserved heart of the Dauphin

 

 

A close-up of the Dauphin’s heart, verified to be authentic by DNA

THE BOURBON CHAPEL

 

 

 

Henry IV, the first king of France from the House of Bourbon

 

Henry became king in 1589, and his descendants ruled France until 1793. He was a very popular king with both his subjects and with the ladies, as well--he was known as the “Vert Galant,” (eternally young ladies’ man).  The park at the tip of the Ile de la Cite, a favorite rendez-vous for lovers, is known as the Square du Vert Galant.

 

 

 

Charles de Valois (1573-1650) duc d'Angoulême, natural son of Charles IX et Marie Touchet

Left to right: Elisabeth de France (1764 - 1794) sister of Louis XVI; Adélaïde de France (1732 - 1800) and Victoire de France (1733 - 1799) daughters of Louis XV

 

 

Duc d’Orleans

 

 

A splendid tomb for the Sun King, Louis XIV

 

 

Close-up of the angel above Louis XIV

 

 

A stone sculpture of Saint Denis encased in glass