The marking of monastic space: inscribed language on Romanesque capitals

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THE MARKING OF MONASTIC SPACE:
INSCRIBED LANGUAGE ON ROMANESQUE CAPITALS

by

Kristine Tanton

________________________________________________________________________

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(ART HISTORY)

May 2013

Copyright © 2013 Kristine Tanton
i

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The completion of this dissertation would not have been possible without the
financial, intellectual, and personal help from many institutions and individuals. My field
research was generously funded by grants from the Borchard Foundation and the
University of Southern California’s Department of Art History. I am grateful for the
Barbara Robinson/Wallis Annenberg Fellowship/Tema Claire- Phi Delta
Gamma/Manning Fellowship and the Dissertation Completion Fellowship provided by
the Graduate School and Provost’s Office at the University of Southern California, which
provided financial support during the final research and writing stages. I would also like
to thank the librarians, curators and archivists at a number of institutions—the Getty
Research Institute, Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Centre d’Etudes supérieures de
Civilisation Médiévales (CESCM) at the University of Poitiers, and Avery Library at
Columbia University.
The constant encouragement I received from many friends, mentors, and
colleagues is truly what made the completion of this project possible. The faculty
members in the Department of Art History and the History Department have been an
invaluable resource, and I am grateful to have studied with Malcolm Baker, Daniela
Bleichmar, Jason Glenn, Paul Knoll, Karen Lang, Sonya Lee, Carolyn Malone, John
Pollini, and Ann Marie Yasin. A seminar on language and power in the Middle Ages with
Patrick Geary at UCLA was instrumental in formulating my dissertation project.
Professor Geary’s intellect and generosity profoundly affected my work. I am also
indebted to Professor Stephen Murray at Columbia University. Professor Murray’s
ii

extraordinary visual memory and his eloquent descriptions of monuments first sparked
my interest in medieval architecture. I hope some day to be able to ‘fit a building into my
head’ like Professor Murray.
I cannot possibly begin to express my gratitude to my advisor, Carolyn Malone.
Her discerning and critical eye, her encouragement, and her patience have provided me
with a scholarly model. Her knowledge and interest in architecture, sculpture, and liturgy
have been extraordinarily helpful. I would not have been able to complete this project
without Professor Malone’s efforts, and I cannot begin to describe how much I have
benefitted from her insights and critiques. I can only hope that she has some sense of how
lucky I feel to have been her student.
I must also thank the other members of my dissertation committee, both of whom
have provided wonderful examples as scholars and people. Professor Ann Marie Yasin
has been a generous and enthusiastic supporter of my project from the very beginning.
Her careful and thorough comments on my chapters have helped me clarify my thoughts
on sacred space and improve my writing. Professor Jason Glenn of the History
Department has consistently challenged my reading of the documents. He has encouraged
me to think broadly and to consider the wider implications of my project. My
committee’s insights have enhanced the project; any errors that remain are entirely
my own.
The list of individuals who have helped me is long, but a few names must be
mentioned. My graduate school colleagues at USC have been a source of encouragement,
friendship, and intellectual exchange. I thank especially Catie Besancon, Becky Cerling,
iii

Catherine Clark, Andrew Fogelman, Sarah Hollenberg, Jason Goldman, Brian Jacobson,
Anca, Lasc, Aleca Le Blanc, Rachel Middleman, Leta Ming, Virginia Solomon, and
Candace Weddle. My fellow medievalists at UCLA were lively comrades during the
dissertation writing process. I thank especially Leanne Good for her good humor and
thoughtful commentary. I am grateful to Alison Perchuk for her kindness, friendship, and
interesting brain. Alison befriended me upon my arrival to Los Angeles, and she has been
a patient listener during long discussions on Romanesque architecture and sculpture.
I also thank my CESCM colleagues at the University of Poitiers who made my
time in France both productive and fun. My work has greatly benefitted from
conversations with Sébastien Biay, Annick Gagné, Estelle Ingrand-Varenne, and Emilie
Mineo. Professors Eric Palazzo, Cécile Treffort, and Vincent Debiais were generous with
their time and expertise, offering helpful suggestions during critical junctures of my
research.
Finally, I thank my family for their encouragement and belief in me. My French
family always gave me a home during my travels in France. Sunday lunch with Agnès,
Thierry, Adèle, and Remy Charlemagne sustained me through bouts of homesickness and
gave me needed research breaks. Words cannot express my gratitude to my patient,
wonderful husband, Andrew. I would not have been able to complete this project without
his love and support.
iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments i

List of Illustrations vi

Abstract xii

Introduction 1
Scope of the project 15
Sources 18
Project Overview 19

Chapter One: ‘This place is rightly called Galilee’:
Inscribed Capitals in the Narthex 21
Sainte-Marie-Madeleine de Vézelay 37
Saint-Philibert de Tournus 59
Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire 62

Chapter Two: Chorus Psallentium: Inscriptions in the Choir 73
Defining the Choir 76
Defining Sacred Zones 77
Hemicycle Capitals 84
The Apocalypse 84
Chant at Cluny 87
Choir of Angels 95
Altars 99
The Main Altar 104
Secondary Altars 114
The Crypt 115
Transept Chapels 116
The Tribune 118
Choir Screen and the altar of the Holy Cross, Vézelay 125

Chapter Three: The Inscribed Capitals in the Cloister 133
The Chapter House 139
Moissac 157
Iconographic Program 157
East Walk 163
South Walk 171
North Walk 181
West Walk 184
La Daurade, Toulouse 196
v

Conclusion 206

Illustrations 220

Appendix 316

Bibliography 401
vi

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Fig. I.1 Map of France with sites containing inscribed capitals. 220

Fig. 1.1: Sainte-Marie-Madeleine de Vézelay. Interior of narthex
before entrance into body of the church. 221

Fig. 1.2: Saint-Philibert de Tournus. Interior narthex. Christ in Majesty
painted in the vault above the entrance into the church. 221

Fig. 1.3: Saint-Philibert de Tournus. Interior narthex.
St. Paul painted to right of entrance into the body of the church. 222

Fig. 1.4: Saint-Philibert de Tournus. Interior of nave looking west.
Projecting upper chapel is now obscured by organ. 222

Fig. 1.5: Floor plan of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine basilica, Vézelay. 223

Fig. 1.6: Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, Vézelay.
Temptation of St. Benedict (capital #11). 224

Fig. 1.7: Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, Vézelay. Temptation of St. Benedict
and Broken Bell episode in nave (capital #31). 225

Fig. 1.8: Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. Temptation of St. Benedict capital
located on the northwest crossing pier. 226

Fig. 1.9: Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. Broken Bell episode capital located
on the southwest crossing pier. 226

Fig. 1.10: Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, Vézelay. Detail of inscription on the
Temptation of St. Benedict capital (capital #11). 227

Fig. 1.11: Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, Vézelay.
Meal of Ss. Anthony and Paul capital (capital #13). 227

Fig. 1.12: Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, Vézelay. Trumeau. 228

Fig. 1.13: Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, Vézelay. Ss. Peter and Paul capital
in the narthex, west face (capital #9). 229

Fig. 1.14: Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, Vézelay. Isaac Blesses Jacob (capital #7). 230

vii

Fig. 1.15: Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, Vézelay.
David Rex capital in the north aisle of the narthex tribune. 231

Fig. 1.16: Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, Vézelay. Raphael and Tobias capital
in the south aisle of the narthex tribune. 231

Fig. 1.17: Floor plan of narthex tribune at Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, Vézelay. 232

Fig. 1.17: Saint-Philibert, Tournus. Drawing of narthex elevation. 233

Fig. 1.19: Saint-Philibert at Tournus. Interior of upper narthex looking east.
Doorway to upper narthex chapel. 234

Fig. 1.20: Saint-Philibert, Tournus.
Drawing of doorway to upper narthex chapel. 235

Fig. 1.21: Saint-Philibert, Tournus. Relief of figure to right of doorway 235

Fig. 1.22: Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. Tower porch.
UNBERTUS capital (capital #6). 236

Fig. 1.23: Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. Tower porch exterior from across plaza. 236

Fig. 1.24: Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. Interior of church.
Trace of doorway at south side of nave. 237

Fig. 1.25: Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. Tower porch.
Apocalypse capital (capital #11). 238

Fig. 1.26: Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. Floor plan (ground floor) of tower porch. 239

Fig. 1.27: Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. Tower Porch. Reliquary capital. 240

Fig. 2.1: Saint-Quentin-Baron. Inscribed choir capital. 241

Fig. 2.2: Chauvigny hemicycle capital #5. St. Michael and
the Weighing of Souls and the Whore of Babylon. 242

Fig. 2.3: Saint-Nectaire. Hemicycle. Last Judgment capital with detail. 243

Fig. 2.4: Cluny III hemicycle. Seasons and Virtues capital (C5). 244

Fig. 2.5: Arrangement of hemicycle capitals at Cluny III. 245

viii

Fig. 2.6: Cluny III hemicycle. Tones 1-4 capital (C7). 246

Fig. 2.7: Cluny III hemicycle. Tones 5-8 capital (C8). 247

Fig. 2.8: Sainte-Foy at Conques. Angels in cupola. 248

Fig. 2.9: Sainte-Foy at Conques. Angels on capitals at the angles
of the crossing tower. 249

Fig. 2.10: Sainte-Foy at Conques. Capital at an angle of the crossing tower. 249

Fig. 2.11: Plan of Sainte-Foy, Conques with altars and
inscribed capitals indicated. 250

Fig. 2.12: Plan of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire with altars
and inscribed capitals indicated. 251

Fig. 2.13: Main altar at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. View looking west. 252

Fig. 2.14: Main altar at Saint-Sernin, Toulouse. 253

Fig. 2.15: Capital at Saint-Hilaire in Melle. 254

Fig. 2.16: Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. Triforium capital (capital #41d). 255

Fig. 2.17: Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. Triforium capital (capital #42d). 256

Fig. 2.18: Sainte-Foy, Conques. Sacrifice of Isaac capital. 257

Fig. 2.19: Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. North transept capital #8. 258

Fig. 2.20: Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. North transept capital #7. 259

Fig. 2.21: Elevation of Sainte-Foy, Conques. 260

Fig. 2.22: Sainte-Foy, Conques. North tribune, looking west. 261

Fig. 2.23: Sainte-Foy, Conques. South entrance into church transept
from cloister. 262

Fig. 2.24: Signature capital in south transept at Sainte-Foy, Conques. 263

Fig. 2.25: Capital depicting avarice in north tribune at Sainte-Foy, Conques. 264

ix

Fig. 2.26: Plan. Thetford Priory, Norfolk, England. 265

Fig. 2.27: Conspectus ecclesiae Cluniacensis, floor plan and elevation
of Cluny III 266

Fig. 2.28: Floor plan of crypt at Vézelay 267

Fig. 2.29: Floor plan of Charlieu 268

Fig. 2.30: Floor plan of Anzy-le-Duc 269

Fig. 2.31: Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, Vézelay.
Daniel and the Lions (capital # 34). 270

Fig. 2.32: Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, Vézelay.
Meal of Ss. Anthony and Paul (capital # 75) 271

Fig. 2.33: Floor plan of Sainte-Marie Madeleine,Vézelay
with inscribed capitals indicated. 272

Fig. 2.34: Proposed footprint for Sainte-Marie Madeleine at Vézelay
ca. abbacy of Artaud (1096-1104). 273

Fig. 2.35: Floor plan of Canterbury Cathedral in 1174. 274

Fig. 3.1: Moissac, Cloister, Southeast corner. 275

Fig. 3.2. Plan of St. Gall. 276

Fig. 3.3. Catus, Cluniac priory, chapter house, façade 277

Fig. 3.4. Marcilhac-sur-Célé, Cluniac priory, chapter house, façade 277

Fig. 3.5: Arles, Saint-Trophîme monastic complex plan (ca. 1100--1200). 278

Fig. 3.6: Arles, Saint-Trophîme chapter house in north walk of cloister. 279

Fig. 3.7: Arles, Saint-Trophîme cloister plan with inscribed capitals
indicated in north walk. 280

Fig. 3.8. Catus, Cluniac priory, chapter house, interior: Traditio clavium 281

Fig. 3.9: Moissac, Cloister, East walk: Durand pier. 282

x

Fig. 3.10: Moissac, Cloister, Interior of Chapter house looking into east walk.
View of Durand pier. 283

Fig. 3.11. Moissac, Abbey of Saint-Pierre.
Reconstruction of cloister and conventual buildings. 284

Fig. 3.12: Moissac, Cloister, East walk, Dives and Lazarus capital. 285

Fig. 3.13: Moissac, Cloister, East walk,
Washing of the Feet (Mandatum) capital. 286

Fig. 3.14: Moissac, Cloister plan 287

Fig. 3.15: Moissac, Cloister, View of northeast corner. 288

Fig. 3.16: Moissac, Cloister, example of fragmentary stone work. 289

Fig. 3.17: Moissac, Cloister, South walk, Martyrdom of Fructuosus, Eulogus,
and Augurus (Spanish Saints) capital. 290

Fig. 3.18: Moissac, Cloister, East walk, Marriage of Cana capital. 291

Fig. 3.19: Moissac, Cloister, East walk, Adoration of the Magi capital. 292

Fig. 3.20: Moissac, Cloister, East walk, The Fall capital. East face. 293

Fig. 3.21: Moissac, Cloister, South walk, Psalm and Alphabet capital. 294

Fig. 3.22: Moissac, Cloister, South walk, looking south.
View of reliquary and alphabet capitals. 295

Fig. 3.23: Moissac, Cloister, East walk, Martyrdom of Peter and Paul,
Reliquary capital. Detail of south face. 295

Fig. 3.24: Moissac, Cloister, East walk, looking north. 296

Fig. 3.25: Moissac, Cloister, South walk, looking west. Bench and armoire. 297

Fig. 3.26: Petri clavigeri kari pangamus, from Moissac Troper/Proser. 298

Fig. 3.27: Moissac, Cloister, South walk, David and His Musicians capital. 299

Fig. 3.28: Moissac, Cloister, Southeast corner, view from church entrance. 300

xi

Fig. 3.29: Moissac, Cloister, North walk, Eagles capital. Detail of inscription. 301

Fig. 3.30: Moissac, Cloister, North walk, Miracles of St. Benedict capital. 302

Fig. 3.31. Plan of abbey at Saint-Philibert de Tournus. 303

Fig. 3.32. Restitution of the monastic buildings at Sainte-Marie-Madeleine
at Vézelay ca. 12th century. 303

Fig. 3.33. Plan of St. Gall. Detail showing pauperium. 304

Fig. 3.34: Moissac, Cloister, West walk, Doorway and stairs leading
to upper narthex. 305

Fig. 3.35: Moissac, Cloister, West walk, Beatitudes capital. 306

Fig. 3.36: Moissac, Cloister, West walk, Cain and Abel capital. 307

Fig. 3.37: Moissac, Cloister, North walk, Daniel and the Lions,
and the Announcement to the Shepherds. 308

Fig. 3.38. Detail of inscribed Leviathon relief
in the elymossynarium at Tournus. 309

Fig. 3.39. Saint-Philibert, Tournus. Doorway from elymossynarium
to north walk of cloister. 309

Fig. 3.40. Saint-Philibert, Tournus. North walk of cloister, looking west
from elymossynarium to the east. 310

Fig. 3.41: La Daurade, Toulouse. Christ and the Canaanite capital. 311

Fig. 3.42: La Daurade, Toulouse. David and His Musicians capital. 312

Fig. 3.43: La Daurade, Toulouse. Transfiguration capital. 313

Fig. 3.44: Top: La Daurade, Toulouse. Daniel in the Lions’ Den capital.
Bottom: Moissac, Daniel in the Lions’ Den capital. 314

Fig. 3.45. Toulouse, La Daurade, medieval church and cloister. 315

xii

ABSTRACT

The period between 1080 and 1140 saw an explosion in monastic construction
throughout Western Europe. Such architectural refurbishment frequently went hand-in-
hand with monastic reform and the creation of spaces for spiritual renewal. These
projects coincided with the understanding of the church building as a representation of
the community of the faithful (the Church). Since the eleventh century, every facet of the
church building and its decoration was subject to encyclopedic allegorical exposition, yet
there was no mention of the many monumental inscriptions. This is a striking omission if
one considers the numerous monumental inscriptions produced in monasteries between
1080 and 1150, particularly inscriptions on capitals. There has been no broad study of
inscribed capitals in relation to architectural space and ritual activity.
This dissertation examines the interaction of text and image on inscribed capitals
in order to understand the ways in which religious orders defined monastic space. I
compare the capitals’ placement, iconographical, and inscriptional content in seventy-six
French Romanesque monasteries with evidence of ritual performance in customaries,
hymnals, cartularies, and chant manuscripts. I propose that the relationship between text
and image within architectural space provided performative cues for both the monastic
and lay audience. I argue in this study that the inscriptions on these capitals did more than
identify a scene or figure; they transmitted the monastic mission, highlighted the
liturgical function of an area, and bounded sacred space. The interpretations developed in
this study draw from the fields of epigraphy, art history, history, archaeology,
musicology, and liturgical studies.

1

INTRODUCTION

The heads of the columns are the minds of the bishops and teachers; just as the members
of the body are directed by the head, our words and deeds are directed by our minds. The
capitals of the columns are the words of sacred Scripture upon which we must meditate
and which we are obliged to follow.
1
William Durand of Mende

In his allegorical reading of the church building and its decoration, the thirteenth-
century liturgist, William Durand, equated the capital atop a column or pier with the
minds of the Church doctors.
2
As a representation of their thoughts, the capital was
understood to transmit the words of sacred Scripture that the faithful were meant to
follow. In reading the church building as if it were a text, Durand does not mention the
many epigraphic texts that decorated church buildings in the eleventh and twelfth
centuries. During the twelfth century, capitals, in particular, were frequently decorated
with carved images and texts, which provided the capitals with a voice. This study
focuses on the inscriptions and accompanying images carved onto capitals in French
Romanesque monasteries: the minds and words of the Church's doctors.
3

1
William Durand, The Rationale Divinorum Officiorum of William of Mende: A
New Translation of the Prologue and Book One, transl. Timothy M. Thibodeau (New
York: Columbia University Press, 2007), 19. William Durand was the bishop of Mende
from 1285 to 1296.
2
In the thirteenth century, Durand adopted and expanded on Jean Beleth’s
Rationale divinorum officiorum (c. 1162). In book one of the Rationale, Durand provides
the most detailed description of the various parts of the church and its ecclesiastical
ornaments. Durand also synthesized and compiled liturgical commentaries dating back to
the Patristic era, drawing most heavily on the work of Hugh of St. Victor (active during
the first half of the twelfth century) and Honorius of Autun (ca. before 1125). Durand’s
liturgical commentary is the best known of the genre. For more on medieval liturgical
commentary, see Timothy Thibodeau's introductory essay in The Rationale Divinorum
Officiorum of William Durand of Mende, xvii-xxvii.
3
Dominique Iogna-Prat, Order and Exclusion: Cluny and Christendom Face
Heresy, Judaism, and Islam (1000-1150), trans. Graham Robert Edwards (Ithaca, N.Y.:

2

The period between 1080 and 1140 saw an explosion in monastic construction
throughout Western Europe. Such architectural refurbishment frequently went hand-in-
hand with monastic reform and the creation of spaces for spiritual renewal. These
projects coincided with the understanding of the church building as a representation of
the community of the faithful (the Church).
4
This concept was formally articulated at the
Synod of Arras (1025), when the church building was officially recognized as a
representation of the Church.
5
During the twelfth century, liturgical exegetes equated the
stone of the material church to the living stones (viva lapidus constructa) on which faith
was built, with Christ as the cornerstone.
6
Since the eleventh century, every facet of the
church building and its decoration was subject to encyclopedic allegorical exposition, yet
there was no mention of the many monumental inscriptions. This is a striking omission if

University of Cornell Press, 2002), 161-163. Iogna-Prat has noted that in the
Romanesque period, God was seen as an architect and Scripture was the building.
Architecture reflected the doctrinal coherence of the divine word, suggesting that there
was an official interpretation for church decoration. See also, Walter Cahn, “Architecture
and Exegesis: Richard of St. Victor's Ezechiel Commentary and Its Illustrations,” Art
Bulletin 76 (1994): 53-68; and Richard Krautheimer, “Introduction to an ‘Iconography of
Medieval Architecture,’” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, V (1942): 1-
33; reprinted in Studies in Early Christian, Medieval, and Renaissance Art (London and
New York: New York University Press, 1969): 115-50.
4
For more on the church building as a representation of ecclesia, see Frans
Carlsson, Iconology of Techtonics in Romanesque Art (Hässleholm: Am-Tryck, 1976);
Dominique Iogna-Prat, La Maison Dieu. Une histoire monumentale de l’Église au moyen
âge (v. 800-v. 1200) (Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 2006); and Dana Polanichka,
"Transforming Space, (Per)forming Community: Church Consecration in Carolingian
Europe," Viator 43 (2012) 79-98.
5
Dominique Iogna-Prat, Order and Exclusion, 159.
6
Boyd Taylor Coleman, The Theology of Hugh of St. Victor: An Interpretation
(New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 111. Coleman notes that Hugh is
referencing 1 Peter 2:4-5 in his DeSacramentis, 2.5.1. Honorius of Autun also articulated
this concept, relating the living stones to the actual stone of the terrestrial church. See
Honorius of Autun, Speculum Eccleciase, PL 172:843-850.

3

one considers the numerous monumental inscriptions produced in monasteries between
1080 and 1150.
7

M.F. Hearn has noted that a new tradition of figural stone sculpture for
architectural decoration appeared in the eleventh century, and historiated capitals were
commonly used in the twelfth century.
8
The capital, as a structural element atop a column
shaft or pier, is a point of transition between the supporting pier and the springing of
arches. Visually it provides substantial opportunity for decoration on its fields, despite its
relatively small size (approximately twenty inches high). The capitals' faces were
frequently decorated with figures of humans, animals, or birds, and usually referred to a
narrative or had symbolic meaning. Significantly, inscriptions carved onto the capital's
face or impost block served as tituli or commentary to these figural scenes.
This study focuses on carved inscriptions; it does not include those that were
painted. Although there are traces of painted inscriptions from the period, most notably at
Vézelay, inscriptions carved in stone connote permanence and are part of the materiality
of the building, whereas painted inscriptions can easily be changed.

7
The preponderance of epigraphic texts in eleventh- and twelfth-century
monasteries is not surprising because monks produced much of the period's written
culture. For monastic writing practices, see also Hugh Magennis, "Audience(s),
reception, literacy," A Companion to Anglo-Saxon Literature, ed. Phillip Pulsiano and
Elaine Treharne (Oxford; Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2001), 84-101; and Steven
Vanderputten, "Monastic literate practices in eleventh- and twelfth-century Northern
France," Journal of Medieval History 32.2 (2006): 101-26. For musical notation, see
Katherine Bergeron, "Chant, or the politics of inscription," Companion to Medieval and
Renaissance Music, ed. Tess Knighton and David Fallows (New York: Schirmer Books,
1992), 101-103. Bergeron argues that the writing down of words and melodies at
monastic centers represents the Church's ownership of written culture.
8
M.F. Hearn, Romanesque Sculture: The Revival of Monumental Sculpture in the
Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1985), 41.

4

There has been no broad study of inscribed capitals in relation to architectural
space and ritual activity. My study grew out of questions concerning the numerous
inscribed capitals in the cloister at Moissac. Because it is one of the few extant
Romanesque cloisters, Moissac, with its extensive sculpture and intact architectural
frame, has become a reference for the typical Romanesque cloister. Some scholars have
tried unsuccessfully to identify a cohesive iconographical program for the capital
sculpture at Moissac, while others have dismissed the possibility of a cohesive program
because of refurbishments. The number of inscribed capitals at Moissac, which appear in
all four cloister walks, but which are more plentiful in the east and south walks, suggests
that they could play a significant role in understanding how the monks conceived of and
used the cloister. Although art historians have studied Moissac's cloister inscriptions, they
have not addressed the capitals in relation to the multiple uses, both liturgical and
mundane, of the cloister.
9
In her dissertation, Leah Rutchick provided an analysis of the

9
Scholarship on the Moissac cloister is extensive. See Meyer Schapiro, “The
Romanesque Sculpture of Moissac-I,” in Romanesque Art: The Selected Papers, (New
York: George Braziller, 1993); Peter K. Klein, “Topographie, fonctions et programmes
iconographiques du cloîtres: la galerie attenante à l'église,” in Der mittelalterliche
Kreuzgang: The medieval Cloister—Le cloîtres au Moyen Age, ed. Peter K. Klein
(Regensburg: Verlag Schnell & Steiner GmbH, 2004), 105-156; Leah Rutchick, “Visual
Memory and Historiated Sculpture in the Moissac Cloister,” Der mittelalterliche
Kreuzgang: The medieval Cloister—Le cloîtres au Moyen Age, ed. Peter K. Klein
(Regensburg, 2004), 190-211; Ilene Forsyth, “Word-Play in the Moissac Cloister in
Romanesque Art and Thought in the Twelfth Century. Essay in Honor of Walter Cahn,
edited by Colum Hourihane, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008), 154-78; and
Quitterie Cazes and Maurices Scelles, Le Cloître de Moissac, (Bordeuax: Sud ouest,
2001).

5

sculpture in the southeast corner of Moissac's cloister in relation to the liturgy.
10
But there
has been no broad study of inscribed capitals in the cloister at Moissac, or at other French
Romanesque cloisters.
While investigating inscribed capitals in other French Romanesque cloisters, I
discovered that inscribed capitals were also plentiful in other areas of the monastery,
specifically, in the monastic choir and the narthex, that is the porch at the west end of the
church. This discovery led to two overarching questions: who was meant to read the
inscribed capitals; and what purpose did they play in French Romanesque monasteries?
The inscriptions were more than labels identifying a scene or figure; they transmitted the
monastic mission, highlighted the liturgical function of an area, and bounded sacred
space.
Previously, medieval inscriptions played a subsidiary role to sculpture in art
historical analysis. The transcription of inscriptions and their importance for iconographic
analysis is rooted in the antiquarian practices of the nineteenth century that have persisted
into the twentieth-first century.
11
Inscriptions have also been used as evidence to date a

10
Leah Rutchick, “Sculpture Programs in Moissac: Benedictine Culture, Memory
Systems and Liturgical Performance,” (Ph.D. Dissertation, The University of Chicago,
1991).
11
The nineteenth-century tendency to use inscriptions for iconographic
identification continues in twenty-first century art historical studies. The studies are too
numerous to note here. See Ernest Rupin, Abbaye et les cloitres de Moissac (Paris:
Picard, 1897); Arthur Kingsley Porter, Romanesque Sculpture of the Pilgrimage Road. 2
vols. (Boston: Marshall Jones, Co., 1923); Walter Muir Whitehill, Spanish Romanesque
architecture of the eleventh century. (London: Oxford University Press, 1941); Marcello
Angheben, Les chapiteaux romans de Bourgogne. Thèmes et programmes (Turnhout,
Belgium: Brepols, 2003).

6

building campaign or changes in workshop, or to track the hand of the artist.
12
Meyer
Schapiro, in his studies of Romanesque sculpture, discussed inscriptions only in terms of
epigraphic and aesthetic style in order to establish the dates of various building
campaigns and workshops.
13
When discussing the cloister sculpture at Moissac, Schapiro
also noted that inscriptions provide epigraphic evidence of the carver’s skill.
14

Paul Deschamps produced one of the earliest broad studies of medieval lapidary
paleography, which focused primarily on the use of dated inscriptions to determine the
chronology of the works that they adorn.
15
Deschamps collected a large amount of data
concerning the forms of inscribed letters from the Merovingian period to the twelfth
century in order to illustrate the history of the lapidary alphabet. His study focused on the
development of epigraphic letterforms and the definition of a teleological trajectory that
peaked in the twelfth century. Beyond his insistence on an all-encompassing theory,
Deschamps did not allow for stylistic differences in various regions.

12
Much has been written on the mason’s signature as evidence of individual
artists. To name just a few, see C. Edson Armi, Masons and sculptors in Romanesque
Burgundy. The new aesthetic of Cluny III. (University Park; London: Pennsylvania State
University Press, 1983); Pierre Alain Mariaux, "Quelques hypothèse à propos de l'artiste
roman," Médiévales 44 (printemps, 2003): 199-214. Anne-Marie Pêcheur, Clartés de
Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire (Saint-Léger-Vauban: Zodiaque, 1997); Linda Seidel, Legends in
Limestone: Lazarus, Gislebertus, and the Cathedral of Autun (Chicago, Chicago
University Press, 1999); and Eliane Vergnolle, Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire et la sculpture du
XIe siècle (Paris: Picard, 1985). Patrons have also been included in inscriptions; see
Abbot Suger at St-Denis.
13
Schapiro does this at St.-Gilles, Silos and Moissac. Meyer Schapiro,
Romanesque Art: Selected Papers (New York: Braziller, 1977).
14
Schapiro, “The Romanesque Sculpture of Moissac-I,” 155-156.
15
Paul Deschamps, Étude sur la paléographie des inscriptions lapidaries de la fin
de l’époquee Mérovingienne aux derniéres années du XIIe siècle. (Paris, Société générale
d’Imprimerie et d’Edition, 1929). For a critique of Deschamps’ book, see Meyer
Schapiro’s review in The Art Bulletin, 12, no.1 (March, 1930): 101-109.

7

Robert Favreau of the Corpus des Inscriptions de la France médiévale suggested
that there was more to be gained from epigraphic analysis. He noted that a systematic
study of medieval inscriptions, especially multidisciplinary studies of the inscriptions
within their architectural context, would provide a better understanding of the historical
and social context for the inscriptions' production and, thus, would provide insight into
the producer's intentions.
16
More importantly for my purposes, Favreau noted that
inscriptions were used to mark limits or boundaries, a tradition which dates back to
antiquity and a theme I pursue in this study.
17

Recent art historical scholarship has been more attentive to the role inscriptions
play in regard to questions concerning sources, author intention, audience reception, and
ritual activity.
18
Stefano Riccioni developed the term epiconography to describe the
visual discourse between images and words. He stressed that the integration of epigraphic
and iconographic analysis results in an iconological analysis that goes beyond the

16
Robert Favreau, Les Inscriptions Médiévales (Turnhout: Brepols, 1979), 126.
See also, idem, “Fonctions des Inscriptions au Moyen Âge,” Cahiers de Civilisation
Médiévale 32 (1989): 202-32.
17
Favreau, “Fonctions des Inscriptions,” 213. For the role of boundaries within
churches as a social function, see Jacqueline E. Jung, “Beyond the barrier: the unifying
role of the choir screen in gothic churches,” Art Bulletin 82, no. 4 (December, 2000):
622-657. In her study of thirteenth-century Gothic choir screens, Jung explores the social
function of the screens, noting that the choir screen should not be viewed as exclusionary
of the laity but was part of a conscientious effort on the part of clerics to engage the laity
in preaching.
18
Inscriptions in Liturgical Spaces, ed. Kristin B. Aavitsland and Turid Karlsen
Seim (Scienze e lettere, 2011); Dorothy Glass, "Otage de l'historiographie: l'Ordo
prophetarum en Italie," Cahiers de civilisation médiévale 44 (2001): 259-73; and Neil
Stratford, "Verse "Tituli" & Romanesque Art," Romanesque Art and Thought, ed. Colum
Hourihane, 136-53.

8

dichotomy of text/image by placing the work within the field of visual perception and the
cognitive historical and cultural contexts in which the work was produced.
19

Art historians and historians have studied the many portal inscriptions found on
eleventh- and twelfth-century ecclesiastical buildings. Most notably, Calvin Kendall has
studied the use of verse inscriptions on the portals of Romanesque churches.
20
He
observed that the use of leonine verse on the portal was typical in the Romanesque period
and largely absent in the Gothic. He argued that inscriptions signified the Romanesque
church as a material allegory and that the portal spoke this allegory. The inscriptions’
location on a public portal addressed both a lay and monastic audience. By relating
inscriptions to performative utterances, Kendall identified the portal as a site for the
enactment of Christ’s voice.
21
This significance of the portal was explained to a medieval
audience by the accompanying verse inscriptions. Through his acknowledgement of the
performative role of inscriptions, Kendall demonstrated that inscriptions provided the
building with a voice. Kendall's interpretation draws attention to the oral and aural nature
of inscriptions.
22
Yet Kendall did not address the plentiful sculpted imagery surrounding
the portal inscriptions.

19
Stefano Riccioni, “Épiconographie de l’art roman en France et en Italie
(Bourgogne/Latium). L’art médiéval en tant que discours visuel et la naissance d’un
nouveau langage,” Bulletin du Centre d’édudes médiévales, (2008): 289. See also, idem,
“Epigrafia, spazio liturgico e riforma gregoriana, un paradigma: il programma di
esposizione grafica di Santa Maria in Cosmedin a Roma,” in Hortus artium medievalium
6 (2000): 143-156.
20
Calvin Kendall, The Allegory of the Church: Romanesque Portals and their
Verse Inscriptions (Toronto; Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, 1998).
21
John 10:9: I am the doorway.
22
For a discussion of the fluidity between written and oral records in the Middle
Ages, see Brian Stock, Implications of literacy: written language and models of

9

Like Kendall, Jean-Claude Bonne identified poetic portal inscriptions as a type of
sermon that had a performative value.
23
Yet Bonne 's goal was not to produce an analysis
of the inscriptions' text; instead he focused on the disposition of the inscribed words and
sculpted images, as in the tympanum at Sainte-Foy at Conques, noting that the hexameter
verse of the inscription, along with its position amongst sculpted images on the
tympanum, serve to emphasize the theological significance of the tympanum’s subject
matter: the Last Judgment. The tone of the inscribed poem, and most importantly its
structure, mirrored the sculpted imagery. The unpleasant warnings of the poem are on

interpretation in the eleventh and twelfth centuries (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press, 1983); and Joyce Colman, Public Reading and the Reading Public in Late
Medieval England and France (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996). Stock
remarked that written and oral records were rarely separated in the eleventh century. For
the expanding role of literacy in the training of a monk in the eleventh century, see Susan
Boynton, "Orality, Literacy and the Early Notation of the Office Hymns," Journal of the
American Musicological Society, 56/1 (Spring, 2003), 101. For increase in customaries,
cartularies, and chronicles produced in monastic scriptoria as evidence of the transition
from oral to written traditions in the eleventh century, see Michael T. Clanchy, From
Memory to Written Record: England, 1066-1307 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press,
1979); and Susan Boynton, "Oral Transmission of Liturgical Practice in Eleventh-century
Customaries of Cluny," Understanding Monastic Practices of Oral Communication
(Western Europe, Tenth-Thirteenth Centuries), ed. Steven Vanderputten, Utrecht Studies
in Medieval Literacy (Turnhout: Brepols, 2011), 63-78. For the role of epigraphy in
medieval textual culture, see Vincent Debiais, Messages de pierre. La lecture des
inscriptions dans la communication médiévale (XIIIe-XIVe siècle) (Turnhout, Belgium:
Brepols, 2009).
23
Jean-Claude Bonne, L’Art Roman de Face et de Profil: Le tympan de Conques,
(Paris: Picard, 1984). Prior to Bonne's semantic analysis of portal inscriptions at
Conques, art historical analysis of portal inscriptions have focused on formal analysis.
For example, see Walter Cahn, The Romanesque Wooden Doors of Auvergne (New York:
New York University Press for the College Art Association of America, 1974).

10

Christ’s left hand side, the side of the damned, and the positive aspirations are on the side
of the blessed.
24

My study builds on Bonne and Kendall’s work by exploring the interaction
between text and image on capitals in relation to ritual activity within monastic spaces.
25

I propose that the relationship between text and image within architectural space provided
performative cues for both the monastic and lay audience. I argue in this study that the
inscriptions on these capitals did more than identify a scene or figure; they transmitted
the monastic mission, highlighted the liturgical function of an area, and bounded sacred
space.

24
On the side of the blessed: “The blessed are given to the elect, united for the
joys of heaven. The glory, peace, and perpetual light.” [SIC DATVR ELECTIS AD
CELI GAVDIA VINCTIS | GLORIA PAX REQVIES PERPETVVSQVE DIES]. On the
side of the damned: “Thieves, liars, tricksters, the guilty, and the greedy, are also damned
together with the wicked” [FVRES MENDACES FALSI CVPIDIQVE RAPACES | SIC
SVNT DAMPNATI CVNCT SIMVL ET SCELERATI].
25
There have been many studies that have fruitfully explored the relationship
between architecture and the liturgy. Carol Heitz has most notably explored the
connection between the two. See Carol Heitz, L’architecture religieuse carolingienne.
Les formes et leurs fonctions (Paris: Picard, 1980); idem, Recherches sur les rapports
entre architecture et liturgie à l’époque carolingienne (Paris, 1963). Other notable
studies include: Art, cérémonial et liturgie au Moyen Âge : actes du colloque de 3e Cycle
romand de lettres, Lausanne, Fribourg, 24-25 mars, 14-15 avril, 12-13 mai 2000, ed.
Nicholas Bock, Peter Kurmann, Serena Romano, Jean-Michel Spieser (Rome: Viella,
2002); Anselm Davrile, La liturgie monastique au XIIe siècle," L'Architectur gothique au
service de la liturgie Actes du colloque organisé à la fondation Singer-Polignac (Paris)
le jeudi 24 octobre 2002, ed. Agnès Bos and Xavier Dectot (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols,
2003), 67-83; Carolyn Marino Malone, Façade as Spectacle: Ritual and Ideology at
Wells Cathedral (Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2004); idem., Saint-Bénigne de Dijon en l'an
mil, totius Galliae basilicis mirabilior. Interprétation politique, liturgique et théologique,
(Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2009); and Nicholas Reveyron, "Architecture, liturgie et
organisation de l'espace ecclésial: essai sur la notion d'espace dans l'architecture
religieuse du Moyen Age," Cahiers de Saint-Michel de Cuxa 34 (2003): 161-76.

11

Epigraphic studies have primarily focused on portal inscriptions and dedicatory
plaques, which have been discussed in terms of sermons and historical evidence of
donations and consecrations. An examination of inscribed capitals in relation to their
location within the architectural space, neighboring imagery, and the liturgical events
provides a way to understand how text and image conveyed meaning in relation to ritual
activity. It expands on Jerome Baschet's call for a “relational inquiry,” an approach that
studies an object within its larger context through analysis of an object's formal and
material qualities as attached to specific places and situations.
26
I propose that a
consideration of sculpted word/image dynamics in relation to monastic perceptions of
architectural space and ritual performance form a part of a “relational inquiry” that
expands the kinds of meaning derived from a textual referent.
27
Rather than attempt a
reading of a possible iconographical program for the capitals, my focus on the capitals’
location within the monastery suggests a spatial program related to the liturgy.

26
Jérôme Baschet, “Iconography beyond Iconography: Relational Meanings and
Figures of Authority in the Reliefs of Souillac,” Current Directions in Twelfth-Century
Sculpture Studies, ed. Robert A. Maxwell and Kirk Ambrose (Turnhout, Belgium:
Brepols, 2010), 27. Baschet stresses a “relational inquiry that does not isolate form from
the production of meaning, that is attentive to the nuanced relations constructed by each
specific work (as well as serial relations that connect different works) and, finally, that
apprehends image-objects as attached to specific places and situations where social
functions and the power of forms merge.”
27
Brigitte Miriam Bedos-Rezak, "Medieval Identity: A Sign and a Concept," The
American Historical Review 105.5 (2000): 1489-1533. Bedos-Rezak has noted that a
semiotic anthropology is a valuable means to explore material that eschews logocentric
meaning and does not reduce culture to a "single model of a linguistic code." I am
suggesting that word/text studies that include non-verbal components, such as an object's
spatial relationship to multiple ritual activities, provide multivalent meanings of a
linguistic code.

12

The inscribed capitals that comprise this study are in no way meant to be ‘read’
like a book; rather they should be viewed as interacting with ritual activity; the
inscriptions encouraged longer engagement from the viewer and endowed the
accompanying images with greater importance.
28
The relatively small size of the
inscriptions—ranging in height from 0.75 to 2 inches adds to my interpretation,
especially if one considers the height at which some of these epigraphic texts on capitals
were located. For example, in the choir, capitals stood approximately fifteen to eighteen
feet from the ground. The inscriptions on these capitals were visible, but not necessarily
legible. Even at such a height, the inscriptions, usually short and descriptive phrases,
were visible from the ground. Like the narratives carved on each face, the inscriptions
could be viewed sequentially or in a dialogue with surrounding images and inscribed
texts. In contrast, capitals in cloisters stood approximately 7.5 feet from the ground,
allowing the monks to contemplate closely the epigraphic texts and images, as was
appropriate to the contemplative nature of the space. Regardless of the height of the
capital's placement, viewers could construct multiple alternative connotations depending
on each capital’s spatial relationship to specific ritual activities, adjacent imagery, and the
role of the viewer.
29
This demonstrates the medieval tendency to 'multi-think,' as defined

28
Richard Brilliant, “The Bayeux Tapestry, a stripped narrative for their eyes and
ears,” Word & Image 7 (April-June, 1991): 102. Brilliant noted that the embroidered text
on the Bayeux Tapestry functioned beyond commenting on the scenes; they provided a
moment for the viewer to pause.
29
A novice or oblate may have constructed a different meaning than would a
senior monk. Similarly, a lay viewer may not have had the same response to an inscribed
image as a monk who had spent more time in the space and, thus, had been conditioned
by monastic structure.

13

by Richard Krautheimer: different meanings were intended for the same theme depending
on the context.
30

The theoretical background for this study is drawn from work on sacred space and
spatial perception in the fields of art history and anthropology.
31
Analysis of monastic
spaces provides a framework for understanding how people in the Middle Ages
constructed communities and gave meaning to their world. As Henri Lefebvre has noted
in his influential work The Production of Space (1985), people create space, and in turn
their behavior is affected by it.
32

Similarly, performance addressed the “physical practices of social life.”
33
By
examining inscribed capitals in relation to the liturgy, this study draws on performance
theory and cultural anthropology. Pamela Sheingorn has noted how an understanding of
liturgical performance within medieval spaces can yield a richer understanding of the

30
Paul Crossley, “Medieval Architecture and Meaning: The Limits of
Iconography,” The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 130, No. 1019 (Feb. 1988): 116-121. Cites
Krautheimer, “Introduction to an Iconography of Medieval Architecture.”
31
In her study of church spaces in Late Antiquity, Ann Marie Yasin provides a
helpful model for dealing with a large corpus. See Ann Marie Yasin, Saints and Church
Spaces in the Late Antique Mediterranean: Architecture, cult and community
(Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009). For the significance of
the display of writing in a church, see chapter 3, "Topographies of honor and piety:
praying for the Christian benefactor."
32
Henri Lefebvre, The Social Production of Space, trans. Donald Nicholson-
Smith (Oxford: Blackwell, 1991).
33
Mark Franko and Annette Richards, Acting on the Past: Historical
Performance Across Disciplines (Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press, published by
University Press of New England, 2000), 5. Emile Durkheim and Clifford Geertz's work
in particular have emphasized that religion and ritual should be viewed in social terms.
See Emile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of Religous Life, trans. Joseph Ward Swain,
(New York: New York: Free Press, 2008); and Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of
Cultures: Selected Essays (New York: Basic Books, 1973).

14

period by grounding performance study in local and historical contexts.
34
By
reconstructing the liturgical events that take place within the monastic spaces of my
study, I can expand the iconographic readings of the material. I do not mean to suggest a
functionalist approach, nor am I suggesting that the monumental sculpture merely
reinforces themes that address the activities that are carried out in these spaces. Rather, an
examination of the relationship between inscribed sculpture and performance within
architectural space provides for multiple interpretations as well as for an exploration of
authorial intention and audience reception.
35

Recent studies of text/object relationships have yielded interesting results. In her
study of reliquaries and shrines, Seeta Chaganti noted that inscriptions on reliquaries
functioned as performances of the divine. Just as the church building was a representation
of heaven on earth, relics of the saints also formed a connection between the two realms.
Chaganti argued “inscription and performance existed dialectically,” the act of inscribing
working in tandem with the audience's act of reception, weaving a “poetics of

34
C. Clifford Flanigan, Kathleen M. Ashley, and Pamela Sheingorn, “Liturgy as
Social Performance: Expanding the Definitions,” in The Liturgy of the Medieval Church,
ed. Thomas J. Heffernan and E. Ann Matter (Kalamazoo, MI: Published for The
Consortium for the Teaching of the Middle Ages, by Medieval Institute Publications,
Western Michigan University, 2001), 695-714.
35
Reception-oriented work on inscriptions and liturgy in Late Antiquity provides
a useful model. The literature is extensive. In particular, see Ja´s Elsner, Art and the
Roman Viewer: The Transformation of Art from the Pagan World to Christianity
(Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995); and Robert F. Taft,
Through Their Own Eyes: Liturgy as the Byzantines Saw It (Berkeley, CA: InterOrthodox
Press, 2006). For the variety of medieval audiences and their polyvalent readings, see
Barbara Abou-el-Haj, "The Audiences for the Medieval Cult of Saints," Gesta 30/1
(1991) 3-15; and Karen Rose Mathews, "Reading Romanesque Sculpture: The
Iconography and Reception of the South Portal at Santiago de Compostela," Gesta 39/1
(2000): 3-12.

15

enshrinement.”
36
Examining inscribed capitals within architectural space represents a
similar phenomenon. The inscribed capitals circumscribed spaces to emphasize sanctity
and created framing boundaries within a terrestrial space that represented the Heavenly
Jerusalem.

SCOPE OF THE PROJECT
The scope of my study is defined largely by the Corpus des inscriptions de la
France medievale (vols 1-25).
37
Started in 1974 by Robert Favreau at the Centre d’Études
supérieures de Civilisation médiévale (CESCM) at the University of Poitiers, the Corpus
records inscriptions produced between 750 and 1300, with each volume organized
geographically by current administrative departments.
At present, 75% of France has been catalogued by the C.I.F.M.
38
I have
augmented items not included in the C.I.F.M. through my own discoveries during visits

36
Seeta Chaganti, The Medieval Poetics of the Reliquary: Enshrinement,
Inscription, Performance (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), 7. Chaganti's study
explores the relationship between material culture and literature. In fact, it is the only
literary study of reliquaries. Nonetheless, it builds on Cynthia Hahn's assertion that
reliquaries engage metaphorically with the objects that they contain and are forms of
representation. See Cynthia Hahn, Strange Beauty: Issues in the Making and Meaning of
Reliquaries, 400- ca.1204 (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press,
2012).
37
Corpus des inscriptions de la France médiévale (Paris: Éd. du Centre national
de la recherche scientifique, 1974-2010) [hereafter referred to as C.I.F.M.].
38
I have tracked the dates of medieval inscriptions in France in the C.I.F.M. In
the 25 volumes that I have reviewed, most of the inscribed sculpture is dated to the late
eleventh and twelfth centuries. Dates for the inscribed capitals in the C.I.F.M. are based
on epigraphic, stylistic and historical evidence, thus providing what I consider one of the
most careful sources for dating that we have. Although the C.I.F.M. records inscriptions
through the thirteenth–fourteenth centuries, the inscriptions from this later period tend to
appear predominantly on tombs and epitaphs.

16

to various monasteries and museums.
39
In my appendix, I have listed all inscribed
capitals in France, dating between 1080-1160 and included in the C.I.F.M., along with
additional instances I found during my visits to various sites and museums.
40
My data
source is by no means exhaustive. Nevertheless, my corpus consists of seventy-six
churches and monasteries, and provides ample data for a study that examines the capitals
as part of a larger group rather than as isolated objects, something that has not been done
previously. This allows for a richer understanding of text/image relationships in
Romanesque French decorative programs.
The churches and monasteries with inscribed capitals are located in Paris and
southwards, concentrating most heavily in the Auvergne and the southwest of France
(Fig. I.1). Of the seventy-six churches in my study, fifty-seven are monastic, and of these
fifty-seven monasteries, twenty-four are Cluniac, twenty-seven are Benedictine, two are
canonical houses, and four are of unknown affiliation. Only five are cathedrals. The
number of Romanesque cathedrals may have been greater during the twelfth century

39
Inscribed capitals in the Romanesque period are not limited to France. They are
found in Italy, Northern Spain and Germany. Unlike Italy, which still had antique models
for monumental writing at hand, however, epigraphy in France seems to have been sui
generis. Armando Petrucci has noted that in Italy between the eleventh and thirteenth
centuries, there was an urban revolution that consequently resulted in the rediscovery of
the civic and political functions of outdoor urban space. He attributes the imitation of
ancient epigraphic models as the result of this rediscovery. For more on epigraphy in
Italy, see Armando Petrucci, Public Lettering: Script, Power, and Culture, trans. Linda
Lappin (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993).
40
Saint-Nectaire and Saint-Priest in Volvic, dating to the 1160s, provide the latest
instances of inscribed capitals. Both churches, located in the Auvergne and stops along
the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, possess inscribed capitals in the
hemicycle. I have included these in my study because these churches, linked to
pilgrimage and held up as examples of Romanesque and pilgrimage architecture, are
analogous to earlier instances listed in my study.

17

because many cathedrals were rebuilt in the thirteenth century, particularly at the east
end. Approximately 36% of surviving Romanesque churches in France have inscribed
capitals. In Burgundy there are forty-five Romanesque churches—monasteries, parish
churches, and cathedrals—that have sculpted capitals dating between 1080-1150.
41
Of
these forty-five churches, sixteen have inscribed capitals. A similar percentage, 36%, is
found for Cluniac sites in France. There are sixty-eight Cluniac Romanesque churches (or
remnants), and twenty-four of those churches have inscribed capitals. Nonetheless, the
percentage of inscribed capitals located in the choir, cloister, and narthex diverges
significantly. Approximately 58% of the inscribed capitals cataloged in the appendix are
located in the choir, 13% in the cloister, and 7% in the narthex. The relatively small
percentage of inscribed capitals located in the narthex can be ascribed to the few that
were originally built or that survive. Similarly, there are relatively few intact cloisters
from the Romanesque period in France, thus a small percentage of inscribed capitals. It is
logical to assume that the actual number of inscribed capitals from the Romanesque
period is much higher because many sites have been rebuilt in later periods or have been
destroyed.
In addition to the material evidence, this study draws upon documentary evidence
from exceptional building campaigns, i.e., Cluny, Conques, Moissac, Saint-Benoît-sur-
Loire, and Vézelay, and examines them in conjunction with lesser-known sites. Many of
these monasteries were not hermetic, closed off from any contact with the laity, but rather

41
I arrived at this number by counting the number of Romanesque churches that
are catalogued in Marcello Angheben's study of Romanesque capitals in Burgundy. See
Marcello Angheben, Les chapiteaux romans de Bourgogne.

18

were monasteries within populated areas that attracted a large number of visitors; hence,
both the monks and the laity shared the church space. Therefore, I explore how the
inscriptions, as markers of monastic production and authority, impacted the laity’s
experience of the space.

SOURCES
As I have mentioned above, the capitals themselves are my primary evidence.
Because the monasteries in this study have been restored over time, particularly by
Viollet-le-Duc in the nineteenth century, I have reviewed the restoration documents to
determine whether the floor plans and sculpture of these sites have been altered since the
twelfth century.
In order to understand and reconstruct how people moved through monastic
spaces and what they saw, I rely on monastic customaries, charters, cartularies, and
chronicles produced in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The customaries provide the
most informative source for reconstructing and understanding how the liturgy was
practiced. In particular, the Cluniac customaries provide a thorough account of life at
Cluny, including both liturgical and mundane practices at the abbey.
42
This enables us to

42
Susan Boynton, Shaping a Monastic Identity: Liturgy and History at the
Imperial Abbey of Farfa, 1000-1125 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2006), chapter 3;
“The Customaries of Bernard and Ulrich as Liturgical Sources,” in From Dead of Night
to End of Day, ed. Susan Boynton and Isabelle Cochelin (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols,
2005), 109-129. Liber tramitis was produced at the abbey of Farfa (ca. 1050-1060) but is
a record of Cluniac early-eleventh century customs. The customary written by Bernard
ca. 1080 provides us with extensive descriptions of eleventh-century Cluniac liturgy
written by a monk at Cluny. See Bernardus Cluniacensis [Bernard of Cluny], "Ordo
cluniacensis," Vetus disciplina monastica, ed. Marquard Hergott, (Siegburg: Apud F.

19

understand the liturgy within the entire scope of monastic life. As I have noted above, the
increased production of monastic customaries not only provides evidence of the increased
number of foundations during the period, but also demonstrates the reliance on written
texts to preserve institutional memory and practice. The interpretations developed in this
study draw from the fields of epigraphy, art history, history, archaeology, musicology,
and liturgical studies.

PROJECT OVERVIEW
Chapter One, “‘This place is rightly called Galilee’: The Narthex,” and Chapter
Two, “The Inscribed Capitals in the Choir,” address the social environment of the church
building as a site of both monastic and lay use. Chapter One demonstrates that the

Schmitt, 1999), 136-164 [hereafter referred to as Bern]. Ulrich of Zell’s contemporaneous
version of the customs of Cluny was produced for Abbott William of Hirsau. Susan
Boynton considers Ulrich's customary to be less valuable than Bernard's for
understanding the liturgical practices at Cluny. Ulrich was writing for a monastery far
from Cluny, and as a result, he synthesized information and compared Cluny's liturgical
practices to those practiced elsewhere. Furthermore, Ulrich came to Cluny as an adult,
unlike Bernard who was raised at Cluny. This explains some of the discrepancies found
between Ulrich's accounts of Cluniac liturgy and that recorded by Bernard. See Susan
Boynton, "Orality, Literacy and the Early Notation of Office Hymns," 137. For Ulrich's
customary, see Udalricus Cluniacensis [Ulrich of Zell], Antiquiores consuetudines
Cluniacensis Monasterii Collectore S. Udalrico Monacho Benedictino, in Spicilegium:
sive, collectio veterum aliquot scriptorum qui in Galliae bibliothecis delituerant, ed. Luc
d'Achery (Farnborough: Gregg, 1968) 641-703; repr. PL 149:643-778 [hereafter referred
to as Ulr.]. I also consult customaries from Saint-Benoît-sur Loire Consuetudines
Floriacenses saeculi tertii decimi, ed. Anselme Davril, CCM 9 (Siegburg: Apud
Franciscum Schmitt Success, 1976) [hereafter referred to as Cons. Floriacenses], and
Canterbury, The Monastic Constitutions of Lanfranc, ed. David Knowles and Christopher
N.L. Brooke (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002). These customaries share many
similarities to the Cluniac customaries; at times, entire passages are identical. This speaks
to the intense influence Cluny wielded in the High Middle Ages, as well as the
similarities in Benedictine monastic practice, regardless of order.

20

inscribed capitals in the narthex are located along the monks’ processional route and,
thus, marked and addressed primarily the monastic presence in a space that was also used
by the laity.
Chapter Two, "The Inscribed Capitals in the Choir," examines how inscribed
capitals framed the choir, where the monks alone celebrated the Divine Office. These
inscribed capitals commemorated and activated liturgical events in this most important
and private space, framed and protected altars, and placed the Divine Office within the
framework of sacred time.
Chapter Three, “Inscribed Capitals in the Cloister,” examines the role that the
written word played in this second most important center of a monk’s life: the cloister.
The abundant inscribed texts found in the cloister and in the chapter house relate to the
many functions of these spaces. An analysis of the location of inscribed capitals in the
cloister sheds light on how the monks may have used inscribed text and image to
construct their communal identity and promote it to outsiders admitted on business to the
chapter house.

21

CHAPTER ONE:
‘THIS PLACE IS RIGHTLY CALLED GALILEE’: INSCRIBED CAPITALS IN THE NARTHEX

The inscribed capitals located in the narthex seem especially to relate to monastic
processions. As the site of passage into the main body of the church, the narthex was a
location of great liturgical significance, and the inscribed capitals merit special attention
within the context of the contemporaneous liturgy. The narthex was a space used by both
monks and the laity. Nonetheless, the monks' were the primary users of the space, and the
inscribed capitals that are the focus of this chapter were located along the their
processional routes.
Before turning our attention to the inscribed capitals, we must understand
contemporary monastic conceptions of the narthex. The words of Rupert of Deutz serve
as a starting point for this investigation. In his Liber de divinis officii (ca. 1111), he
stated:
When going forward in processions, we always follow our prelates
(priests), as though they are the Lord going in Galilee, and this place,
where we stop the procession at the highest station, is rightly called
Galilee by us.
1

Rupert's exegesis provides us with two key elements for interpreting the importance of
the narthex for both monks and laity. First, the narthex is equated to a particular
geographic location, and second, a station that took place in the narthex was considered

1
Ruperti Tuitiensis, Liber de divinis officiis, 5.515-60: Unde semper in huiusmodi
processionibus praelatos nostros praeeuntes quasi Dominum in Galilaeam sequimur, et
locus ipse, quo processionem suprema statione terminamus, recte a nobis Galilaea
nuncupatur. Ruperti Tuitiensis, Liber de divinis officiis, ed. Hrabanus Haacke (Turnhout,
Belgium: Brepols, 1967), 158. Rupert of Deutz wrote his Liber de divinis officiis around
1111, while living in the monastery of Saint-Laurent in Liège where Cluniac customs
were adopted before 1107. All English translations are my own unless otherwise
indicated.

22

highly significant.
2
The narthex, which Rupert referred to as Galilee, was for the monks
both a stopping point in the liturgical procession and simultaneously the place where
Christ said he would meet his disciples after his resurrection. Physically, it was a
polysemic space serving for reception, passage, and ritual performance.
3
In his study of
Sainte-Marie-Madeleine de Vézelay, Francis Salet characterized the role of the narthex as
above all liturgical: “the place where processions formed before entering the main body
of the church, a point to stop and sing.”
4
The famed tympanum above the door between
the narthex and the church in this Cluniac abbey united the themes of Pentecost and the
Mission of the Apostles, announcing to all viewers that the monks understood the earthly
mission of the apostles as a precedent for their mission to the lay community (Fig. 1.1).
5

2
Suprema is most frequently translated as 'last.' According to Bernard's
customary, the station in front of the entrance to the church is not the last. The fifth
station was before the altar of the Holy Cross and, therefore, Rupert most probably meant
'highest' or 'greatest' station in this instance. See Bern, 236.
3
The function of the narthex in the late eleventh to mid-twelfth century had
evolved from its original use as a royal audience hall in the Carolingian period. See
Kristina Krüger, Die romanischen Westbauten in Burgund und Cluny. Untersuchungen
zur Funktion einer Bauform (Berlin: Gebr. Mann Verlag, 2003); idem, “Architecture and
liturgical practice: the Cluniac galilaea,” in The White Mantel of Churches. Architecture,
Liturgy, and Art around the Millennium, ed. Nigel Hiscock (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols,
2003), 138-159; idem, “Tournus et la fonction des galilées en Bourgogne,” in Avant-nefs
et espaces d'accueil dans l'Église entre le IVe et le XIIe siècle: actes du colloque
international du CNRS, Auxerre, 17-20, juin 1999 (Paris: CTHS, 2002), 414-23; and
Friedrich Möbius, Westwerkstudien (Jena: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität, 1968).
4
Francis Salet, “La Madeleine de Vézelay et ses dates de constructions,” Bulletin
Monumental 95 (1936): 2-11: “Cette destination ne pouvait être qu’accessoire; le role
essentiel du narthex reste avant tout liturgique: c’est le lieu où les processions se forment
avant de se déployer dans l’église; le dimanche des Rameaux, elles s’y arrêtent pour
chanter, devant les portes fermées de la basilique, les répons du Gloria, Laus, auxquels
les voix du choeur font echo de l’intérieur de l’édifice.”
5
Scholarship on the Vézelay tympanum is vast, and identification of the
tympanum's scene has been contested. Most agree that the tympanum represents
Pentecost when the apostles receive their mission of salvation. The identification of

23

Just as Christ instructed his followers to meet him in Galilee, the monks, processing
through the narthex and followed by the laity, engaged with the eternal Christ depicted on
the tympanum as they entered the body of the church, the earthly equivalent of the
celestial Jerusalem.
This chapter examines the significance of the location and subject matter of the
inscribed capitals in the narthex, the manner in which they defined the processional path
during the liturgy, complemented the psalms and chants sung during the procession,
addressed local concerns, and, finally, emphasized the understanding of the narthex as
Galilee, the site to meet Christ Eternal. In addition, the inscribed narthex capitals can be
interpreted on the basis of material and textual evidence as emphasizing the primacy of
the monastic presence in this shared space.
The understanding of the narthex as Galilee is reinforced by contemporary textual
descriptions of the space. Eleventh- and twelfth-century customaries, in particular,

Pentecost as the theme represented on the Vézelay tympanum is based on the similarity
between the tympanum and an image for Pentecost in an early-twelfth-century Cluny
Lectionary (Paris, BnF, MS nouv. acq. lat. 2246, fol. 79v). Both instances include the
figure of Christ, who is not traditionally part of Pentecost imagery because he had already
ascended to heaven, and, thus, suggests Cluniac influence for the sculptural theme at
Vézelay. Katzenellenbogen interpreted the tympanum in relation to Christ's Mission to
the Apostles and related the theme to the First Crusade. See Adolf Katzenellenbogen,
"The Central Tympanum at Vézelay: Its Encyclopedic Meaning and its Relations to the
First Crusade," Art Bulletin 26.3 (1944): 141-151. See also Peter Diemer "Das
Pfingsportal von Vézelay—Wege, Umwege, und Abwege, einer Diskussion," Jahrbuch
des Zentralinstituts für Kunstgeschichte 1 (1985) 74-114, specifically 88; and Eric
Palazzo, “L’iconographie des portails de Vézelay: nouvelles données d’interprétation.”
L’Ecrit-Voir 4 (1984): 21-32. For an alternative interpretation, see Peter Low, “‘You
Who Once Were Far Off’: Enlivening Scripture in the Main Portal at Vézelay,” Art
Bulletin 85.3 (2003): 469-489. Low noted that the tympanum represents an image of
Pentecost fused with a visualization of Ephesians 2:11-22 and that the scenes sculpted on
the lintels represent the Mass itself.

24

elucidate the ritual use of the narthex.
6
The liturgical importance of the space is
especially evident in customaries related to the Burgundian abbey of Cluny
7
where,
during the Easter and Sunday processions, the monks stopped before the central portal
between the narthex and the church.
8
The earliest extensive account of daily life and
liturgy at Cluny is found in the Liber tramitis, a Cluniac customary that was copied at the
imperial abbey of Farfa in the mid-eleventh century.
9
It is in this customary in a

6
The term ‘Galilee’ appears in the three Cluniac customaries used in this study:
the Liber Tramitis, Bern, and Ulr. Nonetheless, the term ‘Galilee’ is not used exclusively
by the Cluniacs. The term appears in the thirteenth-century customary from Saint-Benoît-
sur-Loire, in which a description of the Easter feast notes that the monks would leave
through a gate below (at the west end of) the Galilee. Consuetudines Floriacenses saeculi
tertii decimi: Et sic ordinate procedendo exeuntes per portam australem subtus Galilee
monasterii, itur per portam castri cimiterii ad capellam sancti Iohannis. (text: Cons.
Floriacenses, 165 [hereafter referred to as Cons. Floriacenses]. In a customary from
Saint-Bénigne in Dijon, the term Galilee is used in a description of the procession for the
lay dead and for the clamor. Yet the Saint-Bénigne customary uses the term vestibulum
when describing the Easter and Sunday procession in the same space. See Carolyn
Marino Malone, Saint-Bénigne de Dijon en l’an mil, 215, 223. Although neither Saint-
Benoît-sur-Loire nor Saint-Bénigne was a Cluniac monastery, they were influenced by
Cluniac customs.
7
Cluny was founded near Mâcon by William, duke of Aquitaine in 910. In the
foundation charter, William stipulated that Cluny follow the Rule of Saint Benedict and
answer only to the papacy in Rome, thus removing Cluny from local secular interference.
8
Kristina Krüger. “Monastic Customs and Liturgy in the Light of the
Architectural Evidence: A Case Study on Processions (Eleventh-Twelfth Centuries,”
From Dead of Night to End of Day: The Medieval Customs of Cluny, ed. Susan Boynton
and Isabelle Cochelin, (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2005) 195; Bern, 235: "also, the
fourth (station) in the vestibule (narthex) of the church." (quartam ...in vestibulo
ecclesiae).
9
For a detailed analysis of the Liber tramitis, see Susan Boynton, Shaping a
Monastic Identity, especially Chapter 3. The Liber tramitis included innovations
introduced during Odilo's abbacy and was in use at the church now known as Cluny II.
Most importantly, unlike the monastery's older customs described in the Consuetudines
antiquiores, the Liber tramitis included a description of daily life as well as liturgical
observance. The Consuetudines antiquiores of Cluny contains the earliest recordings of
the abbey's liturgy and focuses exclusively on the liturgical life of the monastery. Its
exact date of composition is unknown, however, Kassius Hallinger suggested a date

25

description of Cluny II (ca.1010) that we first encounter the use of the term ‘galilee’ for
the narthex.
Rupert of Deutz provided exegesis on the word galilea in his interpretation of the
station in front of the west entry to the church during the Sunday and Easter procession,
referring to the fourth station in the narthex as supreme and, thus, suggesting that the
station in the narthex at the entrance to the body of the church had unusual significance.
10

He emphasized that this station evoked the memory of the Resurrected Christ and the
Mission of the Apostles, as defined in Matthew 28:16, "And the eleven disciples went
into Galilee, unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed them."
11

Rupert also noted that the priest/abbot assumed the role of Christ and as such
stood at the head of the monastic community before the entry to the church with the
monks assuming the role of the disciples.
12
In her study of the reception of the local
public in relationship to the promotion of the cult of saints, Barbara Abou-El-Haj noted

somewhere in the 990s. See Consuetudines Cluniacensium antiquiores cum redactionibus
derivatis, ed. Kassius Hallinger, (Sieberg: Apud Franciscum Schmitt Success., 1983).
10
Bern, 235-6. At Cluny, Bernard’s customary notes that the first station took
place in Saint Mary’s church, the second in front of the dormitory, the third before the
refectory, the fourth in the vestibule of the church, and the fifth was before the altar of the
Holy Cross.
11
All biblical passages are from the Holy Bible: Douay-Rheims Version
(Rockford, IL, 1899). Latin passages are excerpted from the Bibla Sacra Vulgata:
editionis juxta exemplaria ex Typographia apostolica vaticana, Romae 1592 et 1593,
inter se collata et ad normam Correctionum Romanerum exacta auctoritate summi
Pontificis Pii IX (Ratisbonnae, 1872-1973).
12
Rupert of Deutz, Liber de divinis officiis, 7.24 (1105-1175): "For our Lord,
whose person the priest represents in his office (as was said earlier), both before he was
to suffer and after he arose, said on this day that he would go before his disciples into
Galilee" (Nam Dominus noster, cuius personam sacerdos in suo gerit officio, et
antequam pateretur et postquam resurrexit, hac die discipulos suos in Galilaeam
praecessurum se dixit).

26

that the liturgy offered a hierarchical structure.
13
The Sunday and Easter procession, with
the monks at the head and the laity following, enhanced the monks' authority for all
participants of the ritual. The monks' reenactment of the roles of Christ and his disciples,
as defined in Rupert of Deutz's interpretation, corresponds to monastic conceptions of
their role as salvific intercessors, and this understanding of the monastic mission is part
of the meaning of the tympanum depicting the Mission of the Apostles at Vézelay and
that representing Christ in Majesty at Cluny III, Charlieu, and Tournus.
From Cluniac customaries, in which the narthex or vestibulum is called galilea,
we learn that it was considered to be both the land of Galilee where Christ appeared after
his resurrection and the land where he began his ministry.
14
This concept is emphasized
by the prevalence of the theme of Christ in Majesty in sculpture and wall paintings above
the door between the church and the space of the galilee. Christ in Majesty depicts Christ
after his resurrection and represents the transition from death to life eternal. The gesture
of the enthroned Christ in Majesty as Christ eternal is not one of judgment at the end of
times, but one of benediction.
15
This interpretation is enhanced by the location of the
image at the entrance to the sacred space of the church since it was in Galilee that the
risen Christ instructed his disciples as described in Matthew 28:16-20:

13
Barbara Abou-El-Haj, "The Audiences for the Medieval Cult of Saints," 9.
14
Matthew 26:32: "But after I shall be risen again, I will go before you into
Galilee."
15
Peter Klein, “Entre paradis présent et Jugement dernier: les programmes
apocalyptiques et eschatologiques dans les porches du haut Moyen Âge,” Avant-Nefs et
espaces d’accueil dans l’église entre le IVe et le XIIe siècle, ed. Christian Sapin (Paris:
CTHS, 2002), 466. Klein points out this distinction in his examination of the wall
paintings in the porch at Saint-Savin-sur-Gartemps. The enthroned Christ’s arms at Saint-
Savin are stretched outward in a welcoming gesture. The objects of the passion are not
present indicating that this is not a representation of Christ the judge.

27

And the eleven disciples went into Galilee, unto the mountain where Jesus
had appointed them. And seeing him they adored: but some doubted. And
Jesus coming, spoke to them, saying: All power is given to me in heaven
and in earth. Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them
to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am
with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.
16

The medieval monk understood himself as representing the Pentecostal spirit and an
embodiment of the Universal Church. His role was to continue Christ’s mission to his
apostles.
17
At Vézelay, the sculpted tympanum unites the themes of Pentecost and the
Mission of the Apostles, as does the above verse that references the narthex. The monks
understood the earthly mission of the apostles as a precedent for their role within the lay
community. They lead the faithful towards salvation to meet Christ Eternal.
18
Just as
Christ instructed his followers to meet him in Galilee, the monks processing through the
narthex engaged with the eternal Christ depicted on the tympanum before entering the
body of the church,
19
which represented the celestial Jerusalem.

16
Matthew 28:16-20.
17
Michael D. Taylor, “The Pentecost at Vézelay,” Gesta, 19/1 (1980): 11. Citing
Hallinger, Taylor noted: ‘To be a monk is to make present the Pentecostal church. In it
(monasticism) the Pentecostal spirit brings about a state of community of the soul
(animus socialis)… As in the community at Pentecost everything is held in common.’
18
For a historiographical summary of the debate surrounding the iconography of
the narthex tympanum at Vézelay, see Kirk Ambrose, The nave sculpture of Vézelay: the
art of monastic viewing (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2006); and
Judy Scott Feldman, “The Narthex Portal at Vézelay: Art and Monastic Self-Image,”
Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Texas, Austin, 1986, 9-31.
19
Twelfth-century theologians, such as Honorius of Autun and Hugh of St.
Victor, reinterpreted the Church Fathers and equated the Church as including both the
faithful and the building in which the faithful were contained. Hugh of St. Victor (active
in the first half of the twelfth-century) explicitly linked the body of Christ to the temple
and stated that Christ is the temple of Solomon; thus the ecclesia universalis is the
Church.

28

The representation of Pentecost and the Mission of the Apostles at Vézelay is an
unusual one. As mentioned above, images depicting Christ in Majesty were more
commonly found in late-eleventh- and twelfth-century narthexes. At the Benedictine
abbey church of Saint-Philibert of Tournus, there is a fragmented wall painting of Christ
in Majesty with an inscription to the right of the door that leads into the nave (Fig. 1.2).
20

On the south side of the portal, beneath this painting, is the painted image of Saint Paul
bearing the inscription: S PAVLVS (Fig. 1.3). There was probably a representation of
Saint Peter with an inscription on the north side of the doorway, to Christ’s right,
although there is no trace of painting. A painted foot is visible above Paul’s head
suggesting there were also figures in the register between the saint and Christ, most
probably the remaining apostles; as a result, the painting could indicate Christ meeting
his disciples in Galilee after he had risen.
21
Hence, both Vézelay and Tournus may

20
Marie-Gabrielle Caffin, “Images et Polychromie médiévales a Saint-Philibert
de Tournus”, in Saint-Philibert de Tournus: histoire, archéologie, art. Actes du Colloque
du Centre International d’Etudes Romanes, Tournus, 15-19 juin 1994, ed. Jacques
Thirion (Tournus: Centre International d'Etudes Romanes, 1995), 645-664. The paintings
in the narthex were discovered under plaster in the twentieth century. For more on
Romanesque wall painting see: Marcia Kupfer, Romanesque Wall Painting in Central
France: The Politics of Narrative (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993).
21
The location of Saint Paul to the right of the door, suggests that he had special
significance. Peter and Paul are frequently depicted near the central portal of a church.
They need not be the patron saints of the church, and the church need not be affiliated
with Cluny. At the Cluniac abbey, La Madeleine in Vézelay, the saints appear together
four times in the narthex: three times in the portal sculpture and once on an inscribed
capital. Salet, Adhemar, and Sazama have ascribed this prevalence to the abbey’s papal
affiliation. The inscribed capital is found in the south aisle, facing west, and is in
alignment with the central portal. This visual arrangement is similar to that at Tournus.
See Kristin Sazama “The Assertion of Monastic Spiritual and Temporal Authority in the
Romanesque Sculpture of Sainte-Madeleine at Vézelay,” Ph.D. Dissertation,
Northwestern University, 1995, 79; cf. Francis Salet, La Madeleine de Vézelay, Étude
iconographique par Jean Adhemar (Melun: Librairie d'Argences, 1948).

29

provide an instance of imagery and inscription corresponding to the station during the
Sunday procession.
22

An understanding of the narthex space as Galilee is implicit in the chant, Christus
resurgens, which the monks sang during the Easter and Sunday processions as they
stopped in front of the entrance to the church in the narthex and then proceeded through
the nave to the choir:
23

Christ rising again from the dead, dies now no more; death shall rule over
him no more; for in that he died to sin, he died once; but in that he lives,
he lives unto God. Alleluia, alleluia.
24

The chant emphasized that Christ has passed over from death to life with God in heaven.
An early eleventh-century manuscript from St.-Maur (F-PN. lat. 12044, f. 101r), an abbey
reformed by Cluny in the tenth century, explicitly connects the chant, Christus resurgens,
to a geographic location, Galilee. A passage at the top of the folio, preceding the chant,
noted "he spoke to you, while he was still in Galilee."
25
Like Rupert of Deutz's exegesis
on the fourth station, the text on folio 101r related Galilee to a particular liturgical event:
the fourth station in Galilee, the place where Christ would meet his disciples after his
resurrection.

22
Bern, 235.
23
Ibid, 319: "From the entrance of the church, the antiphon Christus resurgens,
which is finished at the cross [altar of the Holy Cross]." (Ad introitum ecclesiae, Ant.
Christus resurgens, quae ante crucem finitur…).
24
Paris, BnF, F-Pn lat. 12044, fol. 101r: Christus resurgens ex mortuis, iam non
moritur: mors illi ultra non dominabitur quod enim mortuus est peccato, mortuus est
semel: Quod autem vivit, vivit Deo [Rom. 6.9-10], alleluia, alleluia.
25
Paris, BnF, F-Pn lat. 12044, fol. 101r: qualiter locutus est vobis dum adhuc in
galilea.

30

Like the monks, the laity understood Galilee as the site to meet the risen Christ,
an understanding which was reinforced by the liturgy and sermons.
26
Although we do not
have written sermons for the laity from Cluny or its dependencies in France, Aelfric of
Eynsham, an eleventh-century abbot in England, did record his sermons to the laity.
27
In
his Easter sermon, Aelfric noted that Galilee is interpreted as passing over. He explained
that just as Christ passed over from death to life, the faithful who pass from sins to holy
virtues would meet Christ after they have passed over from this earthly life.
28
The
concept of the narthex as a point to pass from one existence to another is enhanced by
descriptions in Cluniac customaries of the procession for the dead through the narthex. A
description of this procession in the Cluniac customary of Bernard (1080) specifically
refers to the narthex as Galilee:
Therefore from among these [psalms], two or three, or as many as the hour
requires, are sung, [and then] all go out into the Galilee. When, however,
the prior comes in the procession near the body, which should be placed at
the entrance of the Galilee, the psalms are left off and the Paternoster is
said by all.
29

26
Julien of Vézelay, a monk at Vézelay (1131-1161), composed his sermons at
the behest of the monastery's abbot, Pons (1131-1160). See Julien of Vézelay, Sermons
de Julien de Vézelay, vols. 1-2 (Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 1972).
27
Helmut Gneuss, Aelfric of Eynsham: His Life, Times, and Writings, trans.,
Michael Lapidge (Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan
University, 2009). Aelfric of Eynsham’s sermons date to his abbacy (ca. 1005-1020).
28
Aelfric (Abbot of Eynsham), The homilies of the Anglo-Saxon church: The first
part, containing the Sermons catholici, or Homilies of Aelfric, trans. Benjamin Thorpe,
F.S.A. (London: Printed for the Ælfric Society, 1844), 225. Aelfric's sermons were
written in the vernacular, Anglo-Saxon. When writing to his fellow monks, as in his
hagiographical texts, Aelfric used Latin, thus demonstrating that in eleventh-century
England, different languages were used to address these two different audiences.
29
Ex his ergo duo vel tres, vel quot ipsa hora exigit, canuntur, exitur ab omnibus
usque in galileam; cum autem prope Corpus, quod ad galilaeae introitum positum esse
debet, venerit Prior cum processione, cessatur à Psalmis, dicitur Pater noster, ab
omnibus. Bern, 219.

31

Thus, the procession enacted the 'passing over' of the dead in a space designated for
meeting the risen Christ.
30

In addition to the Easter and Sunday processions and the procession for the dead,
the monastic customaries indicate that the vestibulum (narthex) of the church also had a
liturgical use during the Palm Sunday procession. During the Palm Sunday procession,
the monks would reenact Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem preceding his passion. At
Cluny, a sermon in another church would have been preached to the people before
entering the narthex.
31
The monastic community processed into the narthex, singing the
hymn Gloria laus praising Christ the Redeemer:
All glory, laud, and honor, To Thee, Redeemer, King
To whom the lips of children made sweet Hosannas ring.
32

The hymn emphasized Christ's role as redeemer as they entered the narthex. They then
paused in front of the entrance to the church, singing Ingrediente before proceeding
eastward to the choir,
33
as the laity followed them into the nave. The Liber tramitis noted

30
Cons. Floriacenses, 165, 246. Similar wording is found in the description of the
procession for the dead in the thirteenth-century customs from Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire.
Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire was not a Cluniac monastery, but was reformed by Cluny in ca.
930; it retained its own customs.
31
Bern, 307: “A sermon was held for the people” (habetur quoque sermo ad
populum.)
32
A Historical Companion to Hymns ancient and modern, ed. Robert Maude
Moorson (London: C.J. Clay, 1889), 92. The hymn was composed by Theodulph of
Orléans in 810. English translation by J.M. Neale. Gloria laus et honor tibi sit rex Christe
redemptor cui puerile decus prompsit hosanna pium.
33
Bern, 307: "Some cantors have gone before, having put on copes (and with the
same copes they are to rule the choir at mass); let them receive the procession in the
vestibule [narthex] of the church with such verses as these, Gloria laus; and when these
verses are finished, the responsory Ingrediente is sung at the entrance to the church”
(praecesserunt aliqui Cantores qui cappis induti recipiant Processionem in vestibulo

32

that the laity should wait outside in the atrium so as not to interfere with the monastic
procession from the narthex to the choir. The monks understood the earthly mission of
the apostles as the precedent for their role within the lay community. Their task was to
lead the faithful towards salvation to meet Christ Eternal. In turn, the laity understood
that the monks were to be followed as the inheritors of the apostles’ mission.
Based on textual and architectural evidence, the notion of the "narthex as Galilee"
appears to be a Cluniac phenomenon. Although the term is used in non-Cluniac
customaries, these customaries postdate Cluny II (1010), which provides the first mention
of the narthex as Galilee. Carol Heitz was the first to make this observation in his study
of the close relationship between architectural forms and liturgy.
34
The connection of the
meaning of the narthex as Galilee is reinforced in textual descriptions of the space. The
description of Cluny II, found in the Liber Tramitis, first uses the term ‘Galilee’ for the
narthex.
The Galilee is sixty-feet long and there are two towers arranged in front of
this galilee and beneath (i.e. to the west) is the atrium where the laity stand
so as not to impede the procession.
35

Here it refers only to the ground floor of the narthex. The function of the tribune level has
been the source of much scholarly inquiry, and the eleventh- and twelfth-century
customaries make no mention of its liturgical use. Nevertheless, the existence of an upper

ecclesiae cum hujusmodi versibus, & cum eisdem cappis regant chorum ad Missam,
Gloria, laus; quibus finitis, ad introitum ecclesiae cantatur Resp. Ingrediente).
34
Carol Heitz, “A propos de quelques ‘Galilées’ bourguignones,” Saint-Philibert
de Tournus: histoire, archéologie, art, 255.
35
Galilea longitudinis sexaginta et quinque pedes et duae turrae sunt ipsius
galileae in fronte constitute et subter ipsas atrium est ubi laici stant, ut non impediant
processionem. LT, 204.

33

story suggests that there must have been a function for the space. The upper narthex at
Vézelay (ca. 1140) was open and integrated with the ground floor. At Saint-Philibert at
Tournus (1019) and Romainmôtier (ca. 1100), the upper story was not open; however,
both churches had chapels that projected into the nave (Fig. 1.4).
36
The projecting chapel
at Tournus is no longer extant; however, an arch and doorway in the upper narthex frame
what was once the entrance to this chapel.
37
Carol Heitz believed that an upper story
existed at Cluny II; it was most probably destroyed after the construction of Cluny III (ca.
1115).
38
At Cluny III,

a projecting chapel takes on the role of the earlier upper story of the
narthex, and Cluny's influence explains the prevalence of a projecting chapel in
Burgundy.

Kristina Krüger and Kristin Sazama have argued that the upper level of the
narthex with an altar in the projecting apse was used to commemorate the dead. Krüger,
in her article on the upper narthex at Saint-Philibert at Tournus, discussed Abbot Odilo of
Cluny’s belief that communion hosts consecrated at the altar in the upper narthex would
purify deceased monks.
39
Sazama considered the sculpted capitals depicting dying figures

36
Krüger, “Tournus,” 419. Conant includes this projecting chapel in his
reconstruction of Cluny III. See K.J. Connant, Cluny, 1968.
37
Christian Sapin, “L’ouverture est de la chapelle Saint-Michel de Tournus,”
Bulletin de la Société des amis des arts et des sciences de Tournus/Centre internation
d’études romanes 86 (1987): 149-152.
38
Carol Heitz, “A propos de quelques ‘Galilées’ bourguignones,” Saint-Philibert
de Tournus: Histoire, Archéologie, Art, 255. See also Christian Sapin, “Vézelay
(Yonne),” Cluny à la découverte des sites clunisiens. Dossiers d’archeologie 275
(juillet/août 2002): 134-139.
39
Krüger, “Tournus,” 422. In this sermon, Odilon equates monks to the purity of
the Virgin. Krüger cites Dominique Iogna-Prat, Agni Immaculati: recherches sur les
sources hagiographiques relatives à Saint Maieul de Cluny (954-994) (Paris: Editions du
Cerf, 1988), 331-32. The Liber Tramitis specifies that hosts were offered for the souls of

34

in the tribune at Vézelay to represent monks tending to the dying, which in turn would
relate to the role of the tribune as a space to commemorate the dead.
40
For Sazama, these
depictions once again emphasized the right of the monks at Vézelay to perform pastoral
care. My investigation of how inscribed capitals in the narthex related to the customaries'
description of the procession for the dead, which took place on the ground floor of the
narthex, lends support to Krüger and Sazama’s hypothesis.
Although Cluniac customaries do not specify the use of the upper level of the
narthex, they reveal that the procession for the dead passed through the ground floor of
the narthex. A description of this procession in the Cluniac customary of Bernard (1080)
specifically refers to this space as Galilee, as is appropriate for the site in which the dead
meet the risen Christ.
41
While still in the narthex, the community sang Psalm 50 (the
psalm of David’s repentance), Psalm 53 (a prayer for help in distress), Psalm 54 (a prayer
praising God for deliverance from affliction), Psalm 66 (a prayer for the propagation of
the Church), and Psalm 119 (one of the gradual canticles, praising the steps or degrees by
which Christians ascend to virtue and thus to the Heavenly Jerusalem). The last psalm

the dead. See LT, 276-77: “The armarius wrote on a tablet six brothers by name, who
until the thirtieth day offered, without pause, the sacred hosts to God for those souls.”
Armarius scribat in tabella sex fratres nominatim qui usque ad tricesimum diem sine
intermissione cotidie offerant deo sacras hostias pro illa anima
40
Kristin Sazama, “Le rôle de la tribune de Vézelay à travers son iconographie:
Réflexions sur deux chapiteaux de la tribune et leur rapport avec la fonction
commémorative des chapelles hautes dédiées à saint Michel,” in Avant-Nefs et espaces
d’accueil dans l’église, 440-449. In the south aisle of the narthex tribune there is a capital
with a scene showing an abbot (designated by his crozier) and two monks accompanying
him, making a sign of blessing over a reclining figure. Sazama argued that this scene
illustrates the monks caring for a layman at the point of death outside of the monastery’s
walls.
41
Similar wording is found in the description for this procession at Saint-Benoît-
sur-Loire. See Cons. Floriacenses, 165, 246.

35

emphasizes the significance of this space as the place to meet Christ eternal. The
sequence of psalms draws a distinct parallel between the meaning of the liturgical
procession and the space in which the psalms are sung. After the monks sang these
psalms, the priest would sprinkle holy water on the deceased, and the community would
ask God to absolve the spirit of the dead. The procession, in which the body of the
deceased was carried between the priest and the younger monks, then entered the church,
stopping just before the altar of the Holy Cross.
42

In her study of Burgundian narthexes, Kristina Krüger confirmed Heitz’s
hypothesis that the galilea was a Cluniac phenomenon through a comparison of the
Cluniac customaries and Cluniac churches and dependencies. She noted that textual
sources from the first half of the century that used the word galilea to designate the
narthex are linked to either Cluny, monasteries that are dependants of Cluny, monasteries
reformed by Cluny, or monasteries that have either adopted the customaries of Cluny or
had an abbot who was aligned with ecclesia Cluniacensis.
43
Krüger concluded that the
transposition of the biblical name galilea to a precise location within monastic
topography coincided with the construction of the first edifice to be called a galilea, at
Cluny II.
44
There were numerous narthexes in Burgundy: Cluny, Saint-Philibert at

42
Bern, 219: “The deceased are placed between the younger and elder monks; the
younger monks stand with the Master next to the stairs of the cross to the left.”
(Defunctos ponitur in loco infantum inter priores; infantes vero cum Magistris stant juxta
marcheriam crucifixi ad sinistram partem).
43
Kristina Krüger, “Tournus,” 420. Krüger noted that galilees are found at
Cluniac priories both in and beyond Burgundy.
44
Ibid., 420. Customaries prior to the construction of Cluny II use the term atrium
for this space. See Annales Ordinis S. Benedicti., IV, 1. LIII, 192.

36

Tournus, Charlieu, Paray-le-Monial, Brioude, Vézelay, and Charité-sur-Loire.
45
Of these,
only Saint-Philibert at Tournus was not affiliated with Cluny.
Inscribed capitals are found in the narthex at four monastic houses (Brioude,
Carennac, Marcilhac-sur-Célé, and Vézelay), which were all related to Cluny but not
exclusively located in Burgundy.
46
These inscribed capitals, dating from the late-
eleventh to first half of the twelfth century, are in similar locations within the narthex and
can be related to the monastic processional movements that I have described above. The
texts and subject matter of these capitals, however, differs, perhaps because of local
monastic concerns.
47
Because of rich textual evidence, it is possible to interpret how
inscribed capitals in the narthexes of Vézelay and Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire functioned in
relation to the liturgy. Capitals in the narthexes of other monasteries provide supportive
evidence.
An examination of inscribed capitals and reliefs in the narthex of three
monasteries—Sainte-Marie-Madeleine at Vézelay, Saint-Philibert at Tournus, and Saint-

45
Inscribed capitals are not found in all Cluniac narthexes, but insufficient
physical evidence at many of these sites makes it impossible to determine whether there
were any at one time. Of the churches listed above, I have found inscriptions in the
narthex of only Brioude and Saint-Philibert, Tournus. Tournus was not a dependency of
Cluny. Charlieu has inscribed capitals in the cloister. This may be due to later changes or
destruction of the narthexes of Charlieu, Paray-le-Monail, and Charité-sur-Loire. There
are, however, no records or transcriptions of inscribed capitals in these churches. No
sculpture remains from the extant south wall of the narthex at Souvigny (a dependency of
Cluny), dating to the first half of the eleventh century.
46
See Appendix.
47
Inscribed capitals in narthex examples: Brioude: Avarice (MILE AR TIFEX
SCRIPSI TU [P] ERIS[TI] USURA, on the south pier of the narthex and tribune
inscribed on central figure’s banner; Carennac: artist’s signature with sculpted birds,
dated late eleventh century; Marcilhac-sur-Célé: LEO, Daniel in the Lion’s Den. Saint-
Benoît-sur-Loire: Artist’s signature and reference to Apoc. 1:20 (7 churches). See
Appendix.

37

Benoît-sur-Loire—demonstrates how word/text dynamics on a capital highlighted the
liturgical function of the space and transmitted the hierarchical structure of processions to
both a monastic and lay audience. Vézelay provides the richest example for this type of
inquiry because many of the inscribed capitals are in situ. Although Viollet-le-Duc
heavily restored the basilica from 1840-61, changes to the twelfth-century arrangement of
the sculpture have been carefully documented by the Monuments Historiques. The
inscribed reliefs in the narthex at Saint-Philibert at Tournus demonstrate that the narthex
as Galilee was not a solely Cluniac conception. The tower porch at Saint-Benoît-sur-
Loire, called an "example for all of Gaul" by Andrew of Fleury (ca. 1043), provides a
different architectural type at the west end of the church. Nevertheless, the inscribed
capitals at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire have much in common with the narthexes discussed in
this chapter, suggesting that the liturgical function of the tower porch was similar to that
of a narthex.

SAINTE-MARIE-MADELEINE DE VÉZELAY
The inscribed capitals on the ground floor of the narthex at Vézelay are all located
on its south side, the side of the now destroyed cloister and conventual buildings that
were on the south side of the basilica (Fig. 1.5).
48
There are two doors on the south side

48
There have been questions as to whether the doorway located in this first bay
on the south side of the narthex existed in the twelfth century. Francis Salet contends that
it always existed and was merely repaired by Viollet-le-Duc during his restorations of the
abbey. See Francis Salet, La Madeleine de Vézelay, 59. An examination of the restoration
documents confirms Salet’s assumption. MH, 81-089/85 contains a report of the actual
state of the church by Viollet-le-Duc dated March 21, 1840. The description of the
reparations on the south aisle portal are found in the accounting report, Monuments

38

of the church from which the monks would have entered the narthex during processions.
A door on the south side in the easternmost bay of the narthex would have connected to
the elymossynarium, and it is likely that the monks used the door between the narthex and
the elymossynarium, when batons were handed out for the Tribulation procession.
49
The
elymossynarium, the room next to the narthex and opened onto the cloister walk, was the
site for almsgiving throughout the year. The act of almsgiving took on ritual significance
during Holy Week when a group of poor were selected for the mandatum pauperum ritual
performed on Maundy Thursday in the west walk of the cloister. In addition, a wider
doorway in the south aisle of the nave is found five bays to the east of the narthex.
Archaeological evidence indicates that this nave doorway was probably in line with the
west walk of the cloister.
50
It is this entrance that the monks would have used for the
Sunday and Easter processions because this doorway opens into the cloister, where
stations prior to the fourth station took place in the narthex.
51

Historique, 81/089/86. A description of the abbey in 1668 describes the elymossynarium
adjacent to the church; however, the exact location of the west range is uncertain. See
A.D. Yonne H. 1949, Rapport des Massons experts, 9 octobre 1668.
49
Bern, 216.
50
The roof moulding above the north walk ends west of this doorway, indicating
the length of the north walk and, hence, the width of the cloister and the west walk. An
examination of the masonry of the five easternmost bays of the nave indicates traces of a
moulding that would have supported the roof covering the south walk of the cloister;
traces stop at the westernmost portion of the door in the nave. (Personal communication
with Christian Sapin, Auxerre, October 2009).
51
According to the restoration reports of Viollet-le-Duc, the south narthex
doorway was blocked when Viollet began his restoration project in 1840, and he had it
opened. During the restoration of the church, the opening of this door was necessary to
allow workmen and materials to enter the narthex without disturbing use of the main
body of the church for Mass by the local population. I noticed in my examination of the
restoration reports at the Monuments Historiques that there is a difference between the
term reparer and restaurer. Reparer refers to repairing something that already existed,

39

Whether the monks entered the narthex from the elymossynarium or from the
south aisle of the nave, the first inscribed capital they would have seen before the fourth
station in front of the doors is the capital depicting the Temptation of St. Benedict (capital
#11). The main face of the capital faces east and therefore would only have been seen by
the monks as they entered the narthex from the east, given that the laity entered the
narthex from the west.
Vézelay was founded ca. 858 by Count Gerard of Rousillon and his wife, Bertha,
and in 863 it was granted the privilege to answer only to the Church of Rome by Pope
Nicholas I.
52
According to the Pope's grant, local bishops, monarchs, and nobility had no
authority over the religious community at Vézelay. The abbey’s exception from local

while restaurer inferred a more creative use. Reparer is used in the reports to describe the
work done on the south narthex doorway. Restaurer is used for entrances that have been
proven to be creations by Viollet-le-Duc (i.e., the entrance to the tribune in the south aisle
of the narthex, now closed up but visible in the masonry). The restoration documents for
the narthex and the south doorway are housed at the Mediathèque de Patrimoine at
Charenton in MH 81/089/085. For more on Viollet-le-Duc’s restoration of Vézelay, see:
Francis Salet, “La Madeleine de Vézelay et ses dates de constructions,” Bulletin
Monumental 95 (1936): 5-25; Kevin D. Murphy, Memory and Modernity: Viollet-le-Duc
at Vézelay (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000); and Arnaud
Timbert, Vézelay: Le chevet de la Madeleine et le premier gothique bourguignon
(Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2009). According to Christian Sapin, Suzanne
Schlessinger is currently preparing a dissertation on Viollet’s restoration campaign of La
Madeleine at Vézelay. (Personal communication with Christian Sapin, October 2009).
52
M. Maximilien Quantin, Cartulaire Général de l’Yonne: Recueil de documents
authentiques (Auxerre: Perriquet, 1854) 84-86. Count Gerard of Roussillon and his wife,
Bertha, founded a convent for women (ca. 858). The nunnery was destroyed during the
Norman invasion (ca. 866) and refounded as a monastery in the 870s or 880s. For a
discussion of Count Gerard's motivation for the donation, see Rosalind Kent Berlow,
"Spiritual Immunity at Vézelay (Ninth to Twelfth Centuries)," The Catholic Historical
Review 62 (October 1976) 573-88. Gerard's donation protected his property from royal
confiscation at a time when he was in a protracted struggle with King Charles the Bald
(840-877), and the donation allowed the Count to maintain control over the land during
his lifetime.

40

ecclesiastical powers was underscored when it entered the fold of Cluny in 1058.
53
Pope
Pascal II expanded the foundation's privileges to include those enjoyed by Cluny.
54

Monasteries generally had contact with the laity, providing hospitality to pilgrims and
travelers, tending to the sick, distributing food to the poor, and providing education. The
papal privileges granted to the monks at Vézelay, however, included duties that were
central to salvation: the right to care for souls (cura animarum).
55
The cura animarum
comprised the right to preach, administer the sacraments of baptism, confession, penance
and the Eucharist for which the monastery received revenue. Since an ordained priest
under the supervision of a bishop typically performed these responsibilities, the monks'
spiritual independence from episcopal oversight resulted in a loss of revenue and

53
The monastic customs for Vézelay are no longer extant. Since Vézelay was a
Cluniac dependency, I am using Cluniac customaries to reconstruct the liturgy practiced
in its narthex.
54
Sazama, “Assertion,” 17; cites Quantin, Cartulaire Général de l'Yonne, 2:41.
Pascal II’s grant in 1102 to Cluny expands the foundation’s privileges: "Furthermore, we
establish that the consecration of the monastery, and the churches that are in the
surrounding town, and also the ordinations of monks and clerics... that they prefer on the
advice of the abbots of Cluny. They accept the chrism and the oil from the bishop that
they prefer" Praeterea statuimus ut consecratio monasterii ipsius, et ecclesiarum quae
sunt in circumadjacenti villa, ordinationes quoque monacorum et clericorum, consilio
abbatum Cluniacensium...abbates maluerint. Chrisma quoque et oleum sanctum a quo
maluerint catholico episcopo accepiant). (text in: Hugh of Poitiers, Monumenta
Vizeliacensia: Textes relatifs à l’histoire de l’abbaye de Vézelay, ed., R.B.C. Huygens
(Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 1976) 15.297.
55
Berlow, "Spiritual Immunity at Vézelay," 582-83. Berlow noted that the
foundation charter and early papal privileges to Cluny do not contain statements
regarding spiritual immunity as explicit as those found in Pope Nicholas I's privileges to
Vézelay in 863. Many scholars have emphasized the privileges claimed by Vézelay in the
twelfth century were due to Cluniac influence. Nevertheless, as Berlow observed, the
monks at Vézelay based their claims of spiritual immunity on documents related to their
monastery's foundation, not Cluny.

41

authority for the Bishop of Autun.
56
The level of tension between the bishops of Autun
and the monastery described in the Vézelay Chronicle and charters from the period
suggests that this loss was significant.
57

At the same time, the monks of Vézelay were also in conflict with the counts of
Nevers and the townspeople of Vézelay.
58
Tensions between these groups coincided with
the success of the pilgrimage to Vézelay and the extensive building program.
59
During
this time of prosperity, the counts of Nevers were trying to establish lucrative
jurisdictions so they could benefit from the increasing traffic to the area; the abbey
however, claimed these jurisdictions for themselves because of their papal privilege.
60

This impasse led to the counts impeding pilgrims from visiting Vézelay, which resulted

56
Giles Constable, “Monastic Rural Churches and the Cura Animarum in the
Early Middle Ages,” Settimane di studio del Centro italiano sull’alto Medioevo 28
(1982): 349-389. Constable noted that monks needed to perform pastoral services as
parish priests for their dependencies and to continue the work of regional evangelization.
See also Kristin Sazama, "Assertion," 18. In her study of the abbey, Kristin Sazama has
noted that the conflict between the monks of Vézelay and the Bishop of Autun was
typical of twelfth-century monastic and episcopal power struggles. The struggle over the
right to perform the cura animarum comprised not only spiritual capital but also the
revenue generated from these services. At the same time, the monastery was in conflict
with the townspeople, the local nobility, and Cluny.
57
See Hugh of Poitiers, The Vézelay Chronicle, ed. and transl. John Scott and
John O. Ward (Binghamton, NY: Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 1992).
58
The monastery at Vézelay was also at odds with Cluny. See John Scott and
John O. Ward, "The Abbey of Vézelay and its History," The Vézelay Chronicle, 17-21.
59
Rosalind Kent Berlow, "Social and Economic Aspects of the Early History of
Vézelay (Ninth to Twelfth Centuries) (Ph.D. dissertation, The City University of New
York, 1971) 254. Berlow noted that the population of Vézelay doubled ca. 1106-1137.
60
Barbara Abou-El-Haj, "The Audiences for the Medieval Cult of Saints," 7-9.
For an overview of the abbey's history, see John Scott and John O. Ward's introductory
essay, "The Abbey of Vézelay and its History," The Vézelay Chronicle, 1-14.

42

in reprimands from the pope in 1103.
61
The violence boiled over in 1106 when the
townspeople murdered the Abbot Artaud.
62

The inscribed capitals in the narthex at Sainte-Marie-Madeleine at Vézelay (ca.
1135)
63
were produced during this conflict, and art historians have interpreted the
sculpture as promoting the monks' spiritual and temporal authority within this historical
context.
64
Yet the inscriptions on the sculpture have not been related either to this conflict
or to the liturgical function of the space. An inscribed capital depicting the Temptation of
St. Benedict
65
can particularly be related to the strife over spiritual independence at
Vézelay (Fig. 1.6).

61
Monumenta Vizeliacensia, 297.
62
Berlow, "Social and Economic Aspects of Vézelay," 123. The motivations
behind the murder have been attributed to the abbot's insistence that the town's burghers
receive without compensation the monastery's guests during Easter and the Feast of Mary
Magdalene.
63
Neil Stratford and Lydwine Saulnier, Sculputre Oubliée, 79; and Neil Stratford,
Studies in Burgundian Romanesque Sculpture (London: Pindar, 1998), 1-21. The
tympanum most probably was produced shortly after the fire of July 21, 1120. The
narthex capitals can be dated to 1135. Dating is based on the contention that the sculpture
was carved before positioning (avant la pose). Stratford based the dating of the narthex
capitals on stylistic similarities to capitals found in the east of the nave, which was
constructed between 1130-35. See also C. Edson Armi, Masons and sculptors in
Romanesque Burgundy, 1.186-189. For a recent summary of the dates proposed for the
sculpture, see Kirk Ambrose, Nave Sculpture of Vézelay, 8-9, 13. Cf. Francis Salet and
Jean Adhémar, La Madeleine de Vézelay, 60-8; and Francis Salet, “La Madeleine de
Vézelay et ses dates de constructions,” 5-25; 142-145.
64
Kristin Sazama, “Assertion,” 12-13. See also Michael Taylor, “The Pentecost at
Vézelay,” Gesta 19 (1980) 9-15; and Barbara Abou-El-Haj, "The Audiences for the
Medieval Cult of Saints," 3-15. Taylor stated that the theme of Pentecost expressed on
the tympanum related directly to ideas about monasticism and reforming the Church.
Barbara Abou-El-Haj noted that the local public responded to the promotion of the cult of
saints. Both authors stressed the authority of the monks at Vézelay.
65
Kristine Tanton, "Inscribing Spiritual Authority: the Temptation of St. Benedict
Capital at Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, Vézelay," forthcoming in Viator 44 no. 3 (Autumn
2013). In this article, I examine the 'life' of a single sculpture of the Temptation of St.

43

The theme of Benedict's temptation appears only three times in monumental
sculpture from the period: twice at Vézelay—in the narthex and the nave—and once at
Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire on the northwest pier of the crossing.
66
The instance in the nave at
Vézelay includes a depiction of the Broken Bell episode with the saint's temptation
(capital #31) (Fig. 1.7).
67
There is a similar pairing of these two episodes at Saint-Benoît-
sur-Loire, with each appearing on a crossing pier. The Temptation of St. Benedict is
depicted on a capital at the northwest crossing pier, and the Broken Bell episode is
sculpted on a capital on the southwest pier of the crossing (Figs. 1.8 and 1.9).
68
Yet, only

Benedict in the narthex of Vézelay, especially with respect to its liturgical resonances. At
Vézelay, the sculpted narrative was located at a key liturgical juncture in the narthex.
Resisting sexual temptation to maintain spiritual independence was important to the
monks at Vézelay. The article also examines twelfth-century depictions of temptation,
specifically through female dress. The temptress at Vézelay wears a wide-sleeved dress.
A comparison between the woman on the Temptation capital at Vézelay with a clearly
positive female role model on other capitals in the narthex reveals that modest biblical
women wore dresses with narrower sleeves. The dress of the temptress is not only
extravagant but also clearly contemporary.
66
The Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire capital predates the one at Vézelay. For more on the
sculpture at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, see Elianne Vergnolle, Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire.
67
The first chapter of Gregory the Great's Dialogues, Book Two, recounts
Benedict's first miracle and his retreat to Subiaco. It is in this chapter that the Broken Bell
story appears. After performing his first miracle, Benedict retreated to Subiaco to lead the
life of a hermit. On his way to his retreat, Benedict met Romanus, a monk at a nearby
monastery. To help Benedict maintain his seclusion, Romanus provided Benedict with
bread, which he lowered to Benedict in his cave with a rope with a bell attached to it.
Gregory noted that one day the devil, envious of Romanus's aid to the saint, broke the
bell. Romanus was not deterred by the devil's interference. Through Romanus's help,
Benedict was able to maintain the life of a hermit for three years. The Temptation of
Saint Benedict is told in the next chapter, chapter two.
68
Ambrose, Nave Sculpture at Vézelay, 53. Kirk Ambrose has noted that the
similarity between representations of St. Benedict's Temptation at Vézelay and Saint-
Benoît-sur-Loire complement the fact that Vézelay did not recognize Montecassino's
claims to Benedict's relics, but instead recognized Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire's claims.
Vézelay was following Cluny's lead, since the Cluny calendar celebrated the
transportation of Benedict's relics from Montecassino to Fleury.

44

the capital in the narthex at Vézelay bears an inscription and focuses solely on the saint's
temptation.
Carved on the impost block of the Temptation capital in the narthex, the
inscription reads: DIABOLVS DIABOLVS SCS BENEDICTUS. Examination of the
capital’s impost block indicates that space was allowed for the inscription in its initial
design (Fig. 1.10). During the twelfth century the capital would have been painted and
therefore even more clearly visible to the monks. Placed directly in the path of the monks
entering the narthex during the Sunday procession, the capital depicts the Devil leading a
woman to tempt St. Benedict, the father of Western monasticism. Both she and the Devil
are labeled in the masculine DIABOLVS, seemingly warning that women, such as those
attending the Sunday service, must be guarded against as though they were the Devil
himself. The capital marked a site where the monks faced the laity at a moment when the
Devil could use the physical presence of women to contaminate monastic purity.
In his Dialogues, Gregory the Great recounted the story of St. Benedict's ascetic
retreat to the wilderness.
69
In Gregory's account, the devil sent a small blackbird to the
holy man. St. Benedict, unaware that the blackbird had been sent by the devil, made the
sign of the cross to ward off the bird that was flying close to his head.
70
Once the bird had

69
Gregory the Great's Dialogues is divided into four books, in which he recounts
the lives and miracles of saints in Italy. The life of St. Benedict is told in Book Two. It is
considered the earliest and most authoritative account of the saint's life.
70
Sazama, “Assertion,” 112. Representations of the Temptation of St. Benedict
usually show a bird acting as an agent of the devil, as seen in the Vita Benedicti from
Montecassino (Vat. lat. 1202, fol. 17v). For a discussion of the Montecassino manuscript,
see Beat Brenk, Das Lektionar des Desiderius von Montecassino. Ein Meisterwerk
italienischer Buchmalerei des 11. Jahrhunderts (Zurich: Belser, 1987), in particular 86-
87.

45

departed, Benedict was so overcome with sexual desire that he contemplated fleeing from
the wilderness, but he came to his senses through divine intervention. To thwart the
sexual arousal that the devil had sent his way, Benedict flung his naked body into some
nearby thorny bushes. Gregory stressed that through the wounds to his body, Benedict
cured the wounds to his soul and was free from the temptation of all pleasure. Gregory
concluded that by conquering sexual temptation, Benedict gained the right to be ordained
and be a doctor of men’s souls.
71

The story of Benedict's temptation, recounted by a pope who was a monk,
emphasized the importance of chastity in gaining spiritual authority. The Rule of St.
Benedict does not explicitly address chastity; however, it does state that a follower should
not “seek after pleasures” or “fulfill the desires of the flesh.”
72
In the eleventh and twelfth
centuries, clerical marriage and priestly celibacy were increasingly receiving the attention
of the papacy and the laity. By the late-eleventh century, celibacy and clerical conduct
were important issues in the papal reform movement.
73
Herbert E. J. Cowdrey has argued
that spiritual immunity granted by the papacy to Cluny enhanced the papacy's primacy at
the same time that it allowed Cluny to expand without local seigniorial and ecclesiastical

71
Gregory cites Numbers 8:24-26, in which God tells Moses that Levites who
were over fifty years of age were the ordained keepers of the holy vessels, because they
would be freed from the vice of pleasure.
72
RSB, 4.12, 59.
73
The scholarship on the eleventh-century papal reform movement is vast.
Scholarship has focused on Pope Gregory VII, thus skewing the historiography to focus
on his papacy. Yet the papal reform movement of the eleventh and early twelfth centuries
preceded and surpassed Gregory's reign. For a discussion of the papal reform movement
within its larger historical context, see Kathryn Cushing, Reform and the Papacy in the
Eleventh Century: Spirituality and Social Change (Manchester, NY: Manchester
University Press, 2005).

46

interference.
74
It can be argued that Vézelay employed a similar strategy by promoting
the monastery's ninth-century papal privileges instead of its ties to Cluny in order to
assert its spiritual independence. Vézelay, however, was a Cluniac dependency by the
twelfth century, and as such, was influenced by Cluniac liturgy and ideals.
75

The importance of clerical celibacy for gaining spiritual authority was a Cluniac
theme, famously expressed in Abbot Odo's Collationes.
76
In the eleventh and twelfth
centuries the sanctity of the altar and the efficacy of the sacrament were increasingly
linked to priestly purity. During the papacy of Nicholas II, a council agreed that any
cleric who continued to maintain a wife or concubine would be removed from office. The
laity became involved in judging priestly purity when Pope Leo IX (1048-1054) called
upon them to refuse the sacraments of any priest involved with a woman.
77
The First
Lateran Council (1123) explicitly forbade priests, deacons, subdeacons, and monks from

74
H.E.J. Cowdrey, The Cluniacs and the Gregorian Reform (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1970).
75
Ambrose, Nave Sculpture of Vézelay, 7. The sole liturgical document to survive
from Vézelay is a fourteenth-century breviary (Lyon, B.M., MS 0555). The breviary
includes calendars and homily readings that are similar to eleventh- and twelfth-century
lectionaries from Cluny, as well as a list of feast days for Cluny's saintly abbots. Ambrose
concluded that this manuscript suggests that Vézelay made a conscious effort to follow
the Cluniac liturgy.
76
Phyllis Jestice, "Why Celibacy? Odo of Cluny and the Development of a New
Sexual Morality," Medieval purity and piety. Essays on medieval clerical celibacy and
religious reform (New York: Garland Press, 1998): 81-115. See also Glenn W. Olsen, Of
sodomites, effeminates, hermaphrodies, and androgynes: Sodomy in the age of Peter
Damian (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2011) 282. Peter Damian
addressed a range of sexual offenses; however, he warned against heterosexual offenses
far more often than against homosexual acts.
77
Helen L. Parish, Clerical Celibacy in the West: c.1100-1700 (Farnham:
Ashgate, 2010), 97.

47

having concubines or to contract marriage.
78
For a monastery that had papal privilege to
ordain their own as priests and to conduct pastoral care, an emphasis on chastity would
have placed the monk/priests of Vézelay in stark contrast to priests under episcopal
supervision and, thus, would have made them better suited to perform the sacraments.
William of Poitiers in the Vézelay Chronicle and sermons produced at the abbey
recounted the sexual licentiousness of the abbey’s antagonists. Given this emphasis, the
promotion of monastic chastity as a source of spiritual authority was, no doubt, a
prevalent theme at Vézelay.
The depiction of the Temptation on the main face of the capital at Vézelay is
unusual not only because the narrative was rarely depicted, but also because it differs
from the textual description of the scene in the Vita. Representations of the Temptation of
St. Benedict usually show a bird acting as an agent of the devil, as in the eleventh-century
Vita Benedicti from Montecassino (MS. Vat. Lat. 1202 fol. 17v).
79
On the Vézelay
capital, the devil uses a woman, not a bird, to tempt St. Benedict. The carver juxtaposed
the inscription and the image of a woman to emphasize that sexual thoughts about women

78
Canons 3 and 11 forbid clerics and monks to marry or to have concubines.
Henri Leclercq, "First Lateran Council (1123)."
Canon 17 from the same council forbade abbots and monks from having the cura
animarum. Discomfort over monastic involvement in the cura animarum was also
expressed by Gregory the Great, who noted in a letter to Abbot Maurus that he
disapproved of using monks for pastoral care. Nonetheless, Gregory habitually used
monks for evangelization, such as Augustine in Canterbury. Over time Gregory came to
promote the use of monks for pastoral care. For a discussion of the tensions surrounding
monks' role in pastoral care, see Constable, “Monasteries Rural Churches and the Cura
Animarum,” 355-356.
79
Brenk, Das Lektionar des Desiderius von Montecassino Cod. Vat. Lat. 1202,
89. Brenk concluded that the Vézelay and Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire examples were an
iconographical convention exclusive to France.

48

were inspired by the devil. The use of this visual trope is significant in a space that the
monks shared with the laity at a time when the laity were given permission to judge
clerical conduct.
80
Although a bird appears on the south face of the capital, its role is
diminished because it is not on the same face as Benedict. Nevertheless, the bird’s beak
does break into the visual field of the main face and touches the woman’s shoulder, thus
connecting the blackbird, the agent in the narrative of Benedict’s temptation in the Vita to
the woman who is the temptation at Vézelay. As they entered the narthex from the
elymossynarium, the monks would have first encountered the south face of the capital
before focusing on the woman on the east face. Therefore the progression of images,
from the bird on the south face to the woman/temptress on the east face, linked the well-
known textual description of the scene in the Vita to the sculptural description presented
on the main face of the capital.
Stylistic similarities also link the woman to the devil: both the devil and the
woman are larger than St. Benedict, and their faces are more crudely carved.
81
In contrast
to the duo, St. Benedict’s nose is thinner and his lips and chin are more finely defined.
The role of the woman as the devil’s instrument is emphasized further by the similarity of
the devil and woman’s features, especially the nose and eyes; the mouths of both figures
grimace. Although the devil is using the woman to tempt the holy man, she does not

80
The emphasis on a woman as the source for Benedict's sexual temptation can be
linked to Leo IX's call for the laity to let "no one hear the Mass of priest whom he knows
with certainty to have a concubine or an unlawful woman."
81
All of the demons depicted on capitals at Vézelay have significantly larger
heads than human figures. The devil on this capital is naked, which is unusual.
Depictions of demons in sculpture from the period typically wear a dagged hem skirt
(e.g., devil in Temptation of St. Benedict scene in the nave at Vézelay (capital #31) and
the demons on the porch reliefs at Moissac).

49

appear to be a willing participant. The devil, at the center of the scene, tightly grips the
woman's wrist and drags her towards the saint. This gesture is traditionally interpreted as
a sign of force, thus, mitigating the woman's compliance in the temptation in order to
emphasize the power of the devil.
82

The formal similarities between the woman and the devil are not limited to the
carved figures but include the inscribed DIABOLVS above each figure.
83
A close
examination of the text and its disposition on the impost block above the heads of the
devil and the woman reveals the striking similarities of the letterforms, including the
backwards ‘S’. While the labeling of St. Benedict uses similar letterforms, the letters are
slightly smaller than the DIABOLVUS labels, just as the size of the figures’ heads are
different. Such cohesion of letterforms and spacing on a capital is unusual in medieval
epigraphy, particularly in the twelfth century. For example, the inscriptions on capitals in
the cloister at Moissac are varied in letterform type and arrangement on a single capital.
Thus, the inscription on the Temptation capital equates the woman and devil not only
through the same label, DIABOLVS, but also through formal similarities of the
letterforms.
Although twelfth-century sermons produced at the monastery and the Vézelay
Chronicle emphasized chastity as the basis for monastic authority, these sources did not
mention explicitly Benedict's Temptation. In fact, this episode of St. Benedict's life is not

82
François Garnier, Le langage de l'image au moyen âge (Paris: Léopard d'or,
1982), 202-205. Leading a woman by the wrist has also been used in depictions of
marriage scenes.
83
I thank Estelle Ingrand-Varenne, editor of Corpus des inscriptions de la France
médiévale, for pointing out the unusual uniformity of the letterforms at Vézelay.

50

included in chants for the Office of Saint Benedict.
84
It is logical that the scenes of the
saint's life would be found on capitals at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, given that the abbey
possessed the relics of Benedict of Nursia; none of these historiated capitals, however,
bear inscriptions. As mentioned, Gregory the Great related Benedict’s ability to care for
souls as the result of his resistance to sexual temptation. Sermons written by Julien, a
monk at Vézelay between 1131-1161,
85
stressed that celibacy was the basis of spiritual
authority. The capital located at a critical liturgical juncture in the narthex can thus be
interpreted in relation to the emphasis on pastoral care at Vézelay.
86

The cure for resisting sexual temptation, as outlined in the Vita, is represented on
the Vézelay capital's north face, which was visible to the monks as they stopped at the
fourth station of the Sunday procession. St. Benedict is shown flinging himself into
thorny bushes to thwart sexual temptation, stressing for the monks the importance of
chastising the flesh. In his sermon for the Last Supper, Julien addressed this cure when he

84
I thank Susan Boynton for suggesting that I compare the chants for the Office
of Saint Benedict to the sculpture at Vézelay and Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. Chants for the
Matins of St. Benedict are from Book 2 of Gregory the Great, Dialogues. The text is
found in Gregory I, Dialogi (Paris, 1978-1980). The order of the chants is found in Paris,
BnF lat. 12584 (from St. Maur-des-Fossés, eleventh century). See also Ruth Steiner, “The
Music for a Cluny Office for St. Benedict,” Monasticism and the Arts, ed. T.G. Verdon
(Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1984), 81-114.
85
Sazama, “Assertion,” 13. Abbot Pons (1131-1160) commissioned Julien’s
sermons. Kristin Sazama believes that the sermons should be viewed in tandem with the
Chronicle because the sermons complement the defense of the abbey’s spiritual authority
outlined in Book One of the Chronicle. For an analysis of Julien's sermons, see John F.
Romano, "Julian of Vézelay, a twelfth-century critic of his monastery's worldly success,"
Medieval sermon studies 50 (2006) 51-69. In his analysis of the sermons, Romano noted
that Julien's sermons were a criticism of his own monastery and its unhealthy attachment
to its newfound wealth in the twelfth century.
86
Ibid., 106.

51

cites Paul’s example: “I chastise my body and bring it under control.”
87
According to
Julien, chastity is what separates monks from lay people.
88
Hugh of St. Victor (writing in
the 1120s) also quoted this passage in his description of the necessary preparations for
preachers, who must “rouse themselves by virtues from the sleep of sin, and chasten their
bodies.”
89
Thus, spiritual authority was founded by disciplining desire, a concept
addressed in Julien's sermon for the Last Supper and in the Temptation capital.
Facing the Temptation capital is a capital depicting the Meal of Ss. Anthony and
Paul (capital #13) (Fig. 1.11). Like Julien's sermon for the Last Supper, this capital can be
interpreted in relation to the depiction of Benedict’s Temptation. The inclusion of
liturgical furniture and the depiction of breaking bread on this capital emphasizes the
celebration of the Mass.
90
The Eucharist is again highlighted on the adjacent trumeau on
which John the Baptist holds a paten with the lamb. The trumeau is directly on axis with
the altar at the east end of the church.
91
The lamb, in conjunction with the inscription

87
Ibid., 120. Julien cites Corinthians 9:27: "Castigo, inquit, corpus meum et
seruituti subicio" (text in: Julien, Sermons, sermon 7, “On the Last Supper,” 1.190).
88
Julien, Sermons, 1.190: "If you are unable to reign over such a small territory,
tell me how you would be able to reign over a larger one? How do you hasten to rule and
command, since you do not succeed in ruling even the one external man that you carry
[your own body] 'with a rod of iron' (citing Psalm 2:9)" (Si terrulam tantae paruitatis
regere non potes, quomodo, dic mihi, regere ampliorem? Et quomodo pluribus principari
et imperare festinas, qui ne unum quidem exteriorem hominem quem gestas regere
praeuales in uirga ferrea?).
89
Hugh of Saint Victor, Speculum de mysteriis ecclesiae: "Prudenter autem
antequam aliis praedicent, virtutibus se a somno peccati excitantes, corpus suum
castigant. Unde Apostolus: Castigo corpus meum et in servitutem redigo [I Cor. IX]"
(text in: Hugh of Saint Victor, Speculum de mysteriis ecclesiae: De Ecclesia, PL
177:336).
90
Sazama, “Assertion,” 104.
91
Eric Palazzo, “L’Iconographie des portails de Vézelay,” 21-32. Palazzo
describes the narthex tympanum as representing a theophany, a representation of Christ

52

around the paten: ES[SE] D[IC]ERIS [SALUS MU]NDI [You are said to be the salvation
of the world,] clearly relates to the Eucharist (Fig. 1.12).
92
Kristin Sazama has connected
this Eucharistic imagery with the monastery’s right to celebrate the Mass for the laity,
which is an essential function of pastoral care.
93

Yet, there may be another connection between these two capitals because
temptation is a major theme in the vita of St. Anthony. In Athanasius’ Life of St. Anthony,
a woman is explicitly named as the temptress. This saint, like St. Benedict, was also
tempted by the devil; he was attacked with evil thoughts and tempted by a demon in the
form of a woman. As in the story of the Temptation of St. Benedict, St. Anthony's only
means of resistance was his faith and the sign of the cross.
94
Eleventh-century monks
frequently invoked Anthony as both a monastic and pastoral model. As discussed above,
the depiction of a woman tempting St. Benedict on the Vézelay capital diverges from the
account of the written Vita. By adding the woman from St. Anthony’s temptation to the
capital depicting St. Benedict’s temptation, the monks at Vézelay explicitly linked the
two saints as models, who had earned in a similar way spiritual authority for pastoral care
and the right to administer the Eucharist. Significantly, the terminology used to equate
the devil and woman on the Temptation capital, DIABOLVS, seems to have also been
borrowed from the story of St. Anthony’s temptation. In his study of the Temptation of

as embodying the Trinity. The southern portal represents Christ’s incarnation and the
northern portal emphasizes Christ’s resurrection and the Eucharist.
92
C.I.F.M. 21, 232. Their suggested reading, ES[SE] D[IC]ERIS [SALUS
MU]NDI, replaces the earlier conjecture ES[T(?].. D… ERIS….. [MU]NDI. Presently,
the inscription is too abraded to read.
93
Sazama, “Assertion,” 68.
94
Athanasius, The Life of Antony and the Letter to Marcellinus, ed. Robert C.
Gregg (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1980), 33.

53

St. Benedict narrative in literary sources, Pearse Cusack has noted that Gregory referred
to the devil as antiquus hostis or malignus spiritus, whereas Athanasius referred to the
devil as daemon and diabolus.
95
The placement of the sculpted image of Anthony, a
model for the monastic role in pastoral care, opposite the Temptation of Saint Benedict,
and adjacent to the trumeau with the Eucharistic lamb and tympanum depicting Pentecost
and the Mission of the Apostles, stressed the importance of resisting temptation in order
to fulfill the monastic mission of pastoral care at Vézelay.
96

The laity’s alliance with the count of Nevers is recounted in the Chronicle. In fact,
the Chronicle specifically equated lay support of the Count with sexual sin.
97
Julien
echoed this sentiment in his sermon on “The Parable of the Ten Virgins” in which he
stated that the monastery is a sanctuary for the chaste, while the city is the equivalent of
Sodom.
98
Hence, the capital depicting the Temptation of St. Benedict can be understood
as emphasizing the importance of chastity to the monks for the cura animarum as well as
a way to demonstrate monastic moral and spiritual superiority over the abbey’s nemeses.

95
Pearse A. Cusack, “The Temptation of St. Benedict: an essay at interpretation
through the literary sources,” American Benedictine Review 27.2 (1976) 156.
96
Diemer, "Das Pfingsportal von Vézelay," 94. Diemer noted that a
representation of Penetecost at a portal was a manifesto against secular powers.
97
Sazama, “Assertion,” 122.
98
Sazama, “Assertion,” 120. Citing Julien, sermon 4, "On the Parable of the Ten
Virgins”: “This city, where Lot found greeting was a burning Sodom, this small city is
near (i.e., not far from the world) the monastery. Isn’t that to say that a comparatively
small city encompasses the whole world, in which there are many people and vices, who
are devoured by the flames of avarice, lust, and implacable hatred?” (Ciuvitas parua et
iuxta, id est non longe a saeculo, in qua Lot ardente Sodoma saluatur, monasterium est
Numquid non modica est respectu illius quae mundi latitudinem occupans populosa
ualde et malitiosa, cupiditatis, libidinis et implacabilium odiorum flagrat incendio?)
Julien de Vézelay, Sermons, 1.108-110.

54

The monks passed the inscribed Temptation capital every Sunday before the fourth
station and, therefore, this theme was reinforced on a weekly basis.
Opposite the Temptation of St. Benedict capital, a symbol of the abbey's
autonomy from local powers is found on a capital depicting Ss. Peter and Paul (capital
#9) (Fig. 1.13). The saints’ miraculous resuscitation of a youth is depicted on the west
face and their names are inscribed above their heads. The north and south faces of the
capital show the saints being led to martyrdom. This depiction of the patron saints of
Cluny would have reinforced the monks’ alliance with a powerful, reformed abbey that,
like Vézelay,
99
answered only to Rome and not to local ecclesiastical powers.
100
These
saints were invoked during the Procession of the Tribulations, which passed through the
narthex and into the church.
101
The capital’s location on the west face of the pier, with the
Temptation of St. Benedict on the east face, would have emphasized Cluniac protection
of the Benedictine monastery. Because the inscription faces west, it would have been
visible to the laity as well as the monks as they moved toward the entrance of the church
and faced the tympanum.
Isaac Blessing Jacob is depicted on the south westernmost pier of the narthex with
an inscription facing the south aisle (Fig. 1.14). Isaac, Jacob, and Esau are labeled. The

99
Maximilien, Cartulaire Général de l’Yonne, 85; Hugh of Poitiers, Chronicle,
105. See Nicholas I’s privilege for the monastery of Vézelay (May 863).
100
On the independence of Cluny see: H. E. J. Cowdrey, The Cluniacs and the
Gregorian Reform; Joan Evans, The romanesque architecture of the order of Cluny
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1938); Noreen Hunt, Cluny under Saint Hugh
(London: Edward Arnold, 1967); Barbara Rosenwein, To Be the Neighbor of Saint Peter:
The Social Meaning of Cluny's Property (909-1049) (Ithaca: Cornell University Press,
1989); Barbara Rosenwein, Rhinoceros Bound: Cluny in the Tenth Century (Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982).
101
Bern, 216.

55

monks would have seen the inscribed face while waiting in the south aisle as the priest
performed the fourth station in front of the entrance to the nave, before processing into
the nave and passing between the Temptation and Eucharistic capitals during the Sunday
procession.
The subject matter of Isaac Blessing Jacob (Gen. 27:1-30) was frequently invoked
in the twelfth century to illustrate the superiority of the New over the Old Testament. In
giving the blessing to Jacob, a second son, instead of to Esau, the eldest, Christianity (the
New Testament) was privileged over Judaism.
102
Honorius of Autun’s second sermon for
the dedication of the Church emphasized the suitability of Jacob over Esau, but did so in
very explicit terms:
The people of faith, as Jacob from Isaac, are blessed by Christ, since it is
said that he has been extremely tested: Come, ye blessed of my Father
(Matt.25:44). For the unfaithful, like Esau, are deprived of a blessing, and
are punished with the ultimate malediction: Leave from me (one says),
accursed, in eternal fire.
103

Esau is equated with the unfaithful and is considered to be deserving of eternal fire, while
Jacob represented those blessed by Christ, that is the Christian. At Vézelay, Julien's
sermons equated the faithful and unfaithful, respectively, with those who support the

102
Ambrose, Nave Sculpture, 97.
103
Honorius Augustodunensis, Speculum Ecclesiae: Jacob et Esau fuerunt filii
Isaac, qui fuit filius Abrahae. Per Abraham, Deus Pater; per Isaac qui gaudium dicitur,
Filius intelligitur, per quem fidelibus aeternum gaudium tribuitur; per Jacob autem et
Esau fidelis populus, et incredulus accipitur. Ex quibus fidelis populus ut Jacob ab Isaac,
sic a Christo benedicetur, cum ei in extremo examine dicitur: Venite, benedicti Patris mei
[Matth. XXV, 54]. Perfidus vero a Patre, ut Esau, benedictione privatur, cum ultima
maledictione mulctatur: Discedite a me, (inquiens), maledicti, in ignem aeternum.
Honorius Augustodunensis, Speculum Ecclesiae, sive Sermone. In Dedicatione Ecclesiae
Sermones Duo. PL, 172:1106-1107.

56

abbey and those who are the abbey’s nemeses, much as Honorius stated that Isaac chose
Jacob over Esau because Jacob was faithful.
Although the monks were the primary audience for such inscriptions, they would
have also served as a sign to the laity of the monks' authority and power as intercessor, as
they followed the monks during processions. Therefore, the laity was a secondary
audience whose reaction to sculpture and Latin inscriptions would have been shaped by
the monks' processional movements as they followed them into the church. Reinforcing
the monks’ presence and authority was important at Vézelay, since relations between the
laity and the monastery were marked with strife during this period.
In addition to the inscribed capitals at the ground level of the narthex, there are
two inscribed capitals located in the narthex tribune: David, Bathsheba, and Uriah; and
Raphael and Tobias (Figs. 1.15 and 1.16). The tribune level only covered the side aisles
and was open onto the center area of the narthex. The tribune, as a space removed from
the traffic on the ground floor of the church, suggests that access was limited to the
monks (Fig. 1.17). Much like the tribunes in the body of other Romanesque churches, the
narthex tribune at Vézelay is removed from the ground floor and common circulation;
however, it remained integrated with and was an integral part of the narthex.
104

As discussed above, the liturgical uses of the narthex tribune are not mentioned in
the Cluniac customaries. Nevertheless, the procession for the dead did take place on the
ground floor of the narthex, and it is possible that commemorations for the dead took

104
Klukas, Arnold W., “Altaria Superioria: The Function and Significance of the
Tribune-Chapel in Anglo-Norman Romanesque. A Problem in the Relationship of
Liturgical Requirements and Architectural Form,” Ph.D. Dissertation, University of
Pittsburgh, 1978, 131.

57

place in the narthex tribune chapel. The inscribed capitals at this level support this
interpretation.
An inscribed capital on the south side of the narthex tribune depicts a scene from
the book of Tobias and the inscription reads: RAPHAEL ANGE[LUS] TOBIAS
TOBIAS (Fig. 1.16). The book of Tobias is a common example of piety and reverence
for the dead.
105
The inscription referring to the angel Raphael also highlights the angel’s
role as intercessor. Another capital, showing David, Bathsheba, and Uriah bears the
inscription D[avi]DREX (Fig. 1.15).
106
A modern copy, without an inscription, is now in
situ. If the narthex tribune was used for prayers for the dead, the presence of David (the
supposed composer of the psalms) and Uriah in the tribune at Vézelay could be linked to
the penitential psalms sung for the dead below.
107
The image of Uriah draws a direct link
to Nathan’s rebuke of David, the subject of the first psalm in the liturgy for the dead
(Psalm 50). Nathan’s rebuke of David appears twice in the narthex at Vézelay: once in

105
The first book of Tobias outlines his early acts of mercy, particularly his
burying of the dead. Tobias 1.20: "He fed the hungry, and gave clothes to the naked, and
was careful to bury the dead, and they that were slain."
106
C.I.F.M. 21, 238. This capital is no longer in situ and is now housed in the
depot lapidaire. Based on Viollet-le-Duc’s restoration reports, this capital was originally
the first capital in the westernmost bay in the north aisle of the tribune. A modern copy,
without an inscription, is now in situ. Account records for the sculpture produced by
Michel Pascal, a statuaire from Paris, are found in Monuments historiques, 81/089/86. M.
Pascal did not repair or copy any of the inscribed capitals found in the narthex, with the
exception of the David Rex capital in the north aisle of the narthex tribune. The original
inscribed capital is now in the depôt lapidaire and the modern copy (without inscription)
is in situ. See also: Lydwine Saulnier and Neil Stratford, La sculpture oubliée de Vézelay
(Geneva: Droz, 1984); and Marcello Angheben, Les Chapiteaux romans de Bourgogne.
107
The seven penitential psalms are: Ps. 6, 31, 37: prayer for the remission of sins
by penitent; Ps. 50: the repentance and confession of David after his sin; Ps. 101: a prayer
for one afflicted; Ps. 129: a prayer for a sinner; Ps. 142: a call upon God for deliverance
from tribulation.

58

the tribune and again on the ground floor. The capital on the ground floor is without an
inscription and faces into the north aisle, the same aisle in which the inscribed David
capital is found in the tribune above. It is located at the west end of the north aisle. The
monks would have encountered this capital immediately upon entering the tribune from
the stairs at the northwest of the narthex.
108
The use of the themes of David's repentance
and Tobias's reverence for the dead on inscribed capitals in the tribune can be related
directly to the liturgy of the dead. The liturgy for the dead appears to have taken place on
both levels of the narthex: the funerary processions at the ground floor and remembrance
for the dead in the tribune.
The inscribed capitals in the narthex at Vézelay, located along the monks’
processional route, marked the monastic presence in a space that was also used by the
laity. The inscribed sculpture, which was produced during the abbey’s protracted battles
with the Bishop of Autun for the right of cura animarum and the violent battles with the
townspeople and Count of Nevers, provides a context for the inscriptions and the
liturgical practices of the abbey. The word written in stone connoted the monks'
permanent presence and authority within the community, and the inscribed capitals
within the narthex related to processional routes. In addition, the inscribed capitals
complemented the monks’ understanding of the narthex as Galilee and transmitted to the
monk his proper comportment in which to conduct the care of souls and to meet Christ
eternal.

108
The current stairs to the narthex tribune date to Viollet's restoration. Signs of a
doorway in the masonry on the south side of the narthex suggest that there was also
access to this side of the tribune. The restoration documents do not indicate that the copy
of the David Rex capital now in the tribune differs from the twelfth-century capital.

59

SAINT-PHILIBERT DE TOURNUS
The narthex at Saint-Philibert was begun ca. 1019, shortly after Cluny II (1010),
and had a similar configuration (Fig. 1.18). Unlike other porches discussed in this
chapter, such as Cluny II, Vézelay, and Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, there is no textual
evidence to suggest that the monastic community at Tournus referred to the narthex as
Galilee. Nevertheless, the architectural form of the space and its decorative program is
similar to this use of the narthex.
109
Christ in Majesty is painted above the doorway
leading into the body of the church, suggesting that the community at Tournus met Christ
eternal upon entry.
The upper story of the narthex at Tournus was not an open plan like that of
Vézelay (Fig. 1.19). The spaciousness of the upper story, however, suggests that it could
accommodate more than a few people (6.25 m high x 12.5m wide). Jacques Henriet dated
the chapel dedicated to Saint-Michel located in this upper story to the end of the eleventh
century. Christian Sapin has noted that this upper level was liturgically independent of
the nave, with its own altar and access.
110
Henriet noted that the narthex at Tournus had
more in common with massive Carolingian west ends, which included a sanctuary over a

109
Eric Palazzo, “La liturgie autour de Tournus au Moyen Age,” Saint-Philibert
de Tournus: histoire, archéologie, art, 87-104. Palazzo’s investigation of the office of St.
Philibert produced at the abbey indicates a liturgical independence from Cluny and Saint-
Bénigne in Dijon. Although an office for St. Philibert was celebrated at Cluny and Saint-
Bénigne, it differed from that celebrated at Tournus.
110
Christian Sapin, “Saint-Philibert et les débuts de l’architecture romane en
Bourgogne,” Saint-Philibert de Tournus: histoire, archéologie, art, 226; idem,
“L’ouverture est de la chapelle Saint-Michel de Tournus,” Bulletin de la Société des amis
des arts et des sciences de Tournus/Centre internation d’études romanes 86 (1987): 149-
52. See also Kristina Krüger, “Tournus,” 422-23.

60

lower room with access to the nave.
111
Henriet goes on to say that galilees in Burgundy,
such as Cluny III and Vézelay, date later than Tournus. Nevertheless, the chapel in the
upper story at Tournus had doors that opened out to the nave. This allowed for rituals
performed in the upper chapel to be audible in the nave.
There is an ambiguously worded inscription on a relief to the right of the doorway
of the upper chapel (Fig. 1.20). It has been attributed to a donor and is located to the right
of the entrance to what was once the chapel for the altar at which prayers for the dead
were said that projected into the center of the nave. The inscription is no longer visible
but earlier transcriptions place it on a block of stone south of the opening of the chapel
into the nave. It bears the inscription: GERLANNUS ABATE ISTO MONETERI
UMEILE (Gerlannus, monetarium for this abbot [umeile?]).
112
Below the inscription is a

111
Henriet, “Saint-Philibert de Tournus les campagnes de construction du XIe
siècle,” Saint-Philibert de Tournus: histoire, archéologie, art, 198.
112
Heitz, “Galilées,” 258. The relief of the robed figure is still in situ but I could
find no trace of the inscription. For a transcription and date of the inscription, see
C.I.F.M. 19, 138. It is difficult to pinpoint a date for this inscription—the C.I.F.M. places
it somewhere between the tenth and beginning of the eleventh centuries, but
dedochronological studies place the date of the upper narthex between 1030-1040. Virey,
agreeing with Canat de Chizy’s opinion, found in the Cluny and Saint-Vincent de Mâcon
charters (ca. 1000) a Gerlannus, who may be identified by this inscription. Clanat de
Chizy noted that Gerlannus and his brother Ardagnus were inscribed in the cartulary of
Cluny for their successive donations to Saint-Philibert between 987 and 1031. He bases
his hypothesis on the chronology of abbots: Wago was the abbot at the time of the fire
that destroyed the abbey and the church (1007-1008), Bernier was Wago’s successor and
thus was most probably responsible for the church’s reconstruction (consecration date
1019 of the church, which coincided with the probable completion of the choir and south
transept construction), and Ardagnus (commonly called Ardain) succeeded Bernier in
1028 (1028-1056). Clanat de Chizy believed that Ardagnus, along with his brother,
Gerlannus, were the donors. This Gerlannus had ties to Chardonnay near Tournus. See
Marcel Canat de Chizy, "Notices sur Saint-Philibert de Tournus," Congrés
archéologiques de France (1850): 92. The inscription in the chapel of Saint-Michel could
relate to a patron (donor) or a master of the work. See C.I.F.M 19, 138. The “autel Saint-

61

figure dressed in a robe holding a chisel or an axe and making a sign of blessing (Fig.
1.21). The meaning of this text is uncertain. Jean Virey has hypothesized that Gerlannus
worked in the monetary market (moneterium) and made a donation to the abbey of
Tournus (abate isto) for the construction of the church. Virey posited that Umeile was an
incorrect spelling of humilis; therefore, the inscription describes Gerlannus as a humble
monetarius. Virey based his hypothesis on Canat de Chizy’s examination of the charters
of Cluny and Saint-Vincent de Mâcon (ca. 1000) in which a Gerlannus and his brother
Ardagnus are noted to have made donations between 978 and 1031.
113
Because the
tribune is considered the site for commemorations to the dead at Tournus, the inscription
suggests that it refers to the monetarius, who either made money for the abbot who built
the narthex or for whom the monks prayed. This hypothesis coincides with dating the
narthex construction around 1019.
114
Dendochronological studies of the wood beams in
the upper level of the narthex date to 1030-1040.
115
This is not the only appearance of the
title, monetarius, in an inscription. Another inscription naming a monetarius is found on a

Michel” was not mentioned before 1562. Henriet, Saint-Philibert de Tournus, 94. Jean
Virey, Des différents époques de constructions de Saint-Philibert de Tournus (Paris:
Picard, 1903), 556-61. See also Marcel Canat de Chizy, “Notes sur deux inscriptions
romanes mentionnant des architectes de l’église abbatiale de Tournus,” in Bulletin
Monumentale, 38 (1872): 86-93.
113
Jean Virey, “Saint-Philibert de Tournus,” Congrés archéologique de France,
Dijon, 1928 (Paris: Picard, 1929), 33.
114
Bernier was the abbot during at the time of the dedication in 1019. The Corpus
notes that this may be the case, unless the relief was re-used and thus could date to the
tenth century.
115
Krüger, “Architecture,” White Mantle of Churches, 142. These dates
correspond to the abbacy of Ardain, and therefore give credence to Clanat de Chizy’s
interpretation of the charters. cf. 13 n.56.

62

capital in the southeast apsidal of Saint-Hilaire in Poiters. The inscription reads: UGO
MONEATARIUS.
116

An inscribed name located near an altar is not unusual. The inscribed name on a
capital functioned similarly to a plaque next to an altar that names a donor, a concept that
is discussed in more detail in chapter two. At Tournus, the name and a figurative
representation of the person are carved at the doorway to the chapel. Text and image are
not united on a capital, but their proximity to an altar strongly suggests that it served to
commemorate Gerlannus and reminded the monks to pray for him.
117

SAINT-BENOÎT-SUR-LOIRE
An inscribed name is also found in the tower porch of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, but
it is at the entrance to the lower level. The capital reads: UNBERTUS ME FECIT
(Unbertus made me) (capital #6) (Fig. 1.22). Scholars, such as Eliane Vergnolle, believe
that the UNBERTUS capital is an artist’s signature.
118
This designation is based upon the

116
C.I.F.M. 1, 66-67. The Corpus notes that the name is found on six charters
dating between 1060-1097 in the cartulary of Saint-Jean-d’Angély.
117
Names inscribed on capitals are frequently found in the choir. For example, at
Saint-Hillaire at Melle: FACERE ME AIMERICVS ROGAVIT; and Saint-Pierre le Haut
at Chauvigny: GOFRIDUS ME FECIT. See Appendix.
118
Favreau, Les inscriptions médiévales, 21-22. Robert Favreau has noted that the
use of words such as fecit and fecerunt may be translated as both made or had made (as in
commissioned) and, therefore, is difficult to parse as a designation for a designer, donor,
or artist. Much has been written on the mason’s signatures as evidence of individual
artists. See C. Edson Armi, Masons and sculptors in Romanesque Burgundy; Anne-Marie
Pêcheur, Clartés de Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire; and Eliane Vergnolle, Saint-Benoît-sur-
Loire. Linda Seidel, challenges the assumption that an inscription of a name followed by
me fecit constitutes an artist’s signature and suggests that at Autun, Gislebertus is the
patron. See Seidel, Legends in Limestone. A discussion of artists’ workshops and the
identification of the various hands are beyond the scope of this dissertation. For more on

63

stylistic unity of the tower porch sculpture, and, hence, the assumption that a single artist
was responsible for the sculptural program.
Andrew of Fleury’s Vita Gauzlini, (ca. 1043) placed the construction of the tower
porch at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire after the 1026 fire and credited its construction to
Gauzlin’s abbacy (ca. 1028) (Fig. 1.23). Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire's tower porch postdates
the narthex at Tournus by about a decade. More substantial in size and decorative
program than the narthex at Tournus, Andrew of Fleury described the tower porch thusly:
The abbot Gauzlin, bringing out the nobility of his race with visible marks
of his wisdom, decided to construct a tower to the west of the abbey, with
blocks of stone that had been transported by boat from Nevers. When the
king asked about the work, he [Gauzlin] exclaimed that “The work will be
an example for all of Gaul” and the masters of the work were of the
highest quality.
119

this topic see: Henri Focillon, L’art des sculpteurs romans: recherches sur l’histoire des
formes (Paris: Leroux, 1931); Bernhard Degenhart, Autonome Zeichnungen bei
mittelalterlichen Künstlern (Munich: Prestel, 1950), 93-158. For UNBERTUS
specifically, see Vergnolle, Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, 114-121; Eliane Vernolle, “Un carnet
de modèles de l’an mil originaire de Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire (Paris, B.N. lat. 8318 +
Rome, Vat. Reg.),” Arte medievale 2 (1985): 23-56. For more on artists’ signatures see:
Pierre Alain Mariaux, “Quelques hypothèses à propos de l’artiste roman,” Médiévales, 44
(Printemps, 2003): 199-214.
119
Vita Gauzlini: Porro Gauzlinus abbas, nobilitatem generis probitatis exornans
titulis, turrim ex quadris lapidibus construere statuit ad occidentalem plagam ipsius
monasterii, quos navigio devehi fecerat a Nevernensi territorio. Hunc etiam
benignissimum cum princeps interrogasset artificum quodnam opus juberet
adgrediendum: “Tale, inquit, quod omni Gallie sit in exemplum.” (text in: Andrew of
Fleury, Vie de Gauzlin, abbé de Fleury. Vita Gauzlini, abbatis Floriacensis monasteri,
ed., and transl., Robert-Henri Bautier and Gillette Labory (Paris: Éditions du Centre
national de la recherche scientifique, 1969), 44.80-81.) Andrew credits Gauzlin in the
Vita with several other projects: a bronze lecturn, gold censures, a gazofilatium, oratories
for Saint-Jacques, Saint-Jean, and the Savior, the painted crucifix of Nivard, the bronze
choir enclosure, the abbot’s chair, altars remade in marble, a south door from the cloister
to the church, also remade in marble, and stone vaulting for the sanctuary. See Vita
Gauzlini, 134. The square porch consists of two vaulted storeys and measures
approximately 17 meters wide by 14.5 meters long. Ashlar blocks were used to construct

64

Based on the date provided by the Vita Gauzlini, the tower porch/narthex at Saint-Benoît-
sur-Loire predates extant monastic narthexes observing the Cluniac liturgy by more than
sixty years, although it is later than the Cluny II narthex (ca. 1010). Eliane Vergnolle
noted that the tower porch is similar to the now destroyed tower porch of Saint-Martial at
Limoges. Tower porches at other monasteries dating to the beginning of the eleventh
century do not have the same grand scale as that at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire.
120

An examination of the customary for the abbey demonstrates that the function of
the tower porch was similar to Cluniac narthexes. Although Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire
retained its independence, it was reformed by Cluny in 930. This may explain why there
are numerous similarities between the customaries of Cluny and Saint-Benoît-sur-
Loire.
121
Similar to narthexes discussed in this chapter, the tower porch at Saint-Benoît-
sur-Loire consisted of two stories, with a chapel in the upper story. Eliane Vergnolle has

thick walls (2.8 meters thick), and the stone vaulting of both the first and second stories
highlight the ambitiousness of the building program.
120
Vergnolle, Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, 31. The tower porch at Saint-Benoît-sur-
Loire is 17 meters wide. Tower porches at Meung, Saint-Julien at Tours, Cormery,
Lavardin, Preuilly-sur-Claise, Loches, Saint-Hilaire at Poitiers, Lesterps, Saint-Étienne at
Limoges, Saint-Savin, Vouillon, Évaux, Ébreuil, or Germigny-L’Exempt do not exceed
12 meters in width.
121
Anselme Davril, “Introduction,” Cons. Floriacenses, xlix. This thirteenth-
century customary incorporates direct passages from the Cluniac customary of Bernard
(ca. 1080). Anselme Davril noted that although the Consuetudines Floriacenses shows a
literary dependence on Bernard’s customary, one should not assume a direct influence of
Cluny at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. He relates the similarity of the customaries to both
literary tropes and to Benedict of Aniane (747-821) as the source of both abbeys’
customs. A customary from Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire ca. 1000 meticulously describes the
communal life at the abbey. Unfortunately, the text ends abruptly before describing
liturgical observances at Fleury. See Thierry de Fleury, L'Abbaye de Fleury en l'an mille,
ed. and transl., Anselme Davril (Paris: CNRS Editions, 2004).

65

suggested that the upper story was used as chapel, but, except for the mention of bells,
the customary makes no explicit mention of the space.
122

There is no elaborate facade sculpture at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. Each of the three
facades of the porch (west, south, and north) is pierced with three large arcades on both
stories, and historiated capitals adorn the piers. The east facade of the porch contains a
central doorway, which was not open until 1648.
123
It is suggested that it was originally a
large niche framed by two high and deep niches. Doorways flanking the central portal
access stairs to the upper story; they are not clearly visible from the plaza, suggesting that
they were not supposed to be seen from outside the tower porch. In his introduction to the
thirteenth-century customary for the monastery, Anselme Davril notes that the entrance
used for monastic processions into the church at the galilee monasterii was not the central
doorway into the nave that we see today, but was instead a doorway in the south wall of
the first bay from the west. This doorway communicated with both the upper story of the
tower porch, the cloister, and the nave. The doorway is blocked today, but a trace remains
visible in the interior of the nave (Fig. 1.24). The laity would have entered the church
through a doorway on the north side of the church; thus, they would have not used the
hidden doors in the tower porch. But since the porch had large open arcades, the laity
would have been able to see the monks’ processional movements.

122
Vergnolle, Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, 31. Vergnolle posits a third storey for the
bell, and perhaps even a fourth storey since bells in the tower porch are mentioned in the
abbey’s thirteenth-century customary. See Cons. Floriacenses, 12, 71, 87.
123
Cons. Floriacenses, li. Cited in F. Chazal, Historia coenobii Floriacensis 2:
642 (Bibl. d'Orléans, ms. 490, fol. 270 bis).

66

The upper level of the tower porch, like the ground floor, is subdivided into nine
bays with large piers. While the sculpted capitals in the upper level contain figures, there
are neither historiated capitals, nor inscriptions as in the lower level.
There are two inscribed capitals on adjacent piers at the west end of the tower
porch, the Unbertus capital and a capital depicting a scene from the Apocalypse 1:11.
Because a textual source, the Vita Gauzlini, identifies Gauzlin as the patron, the
inscription in the tower porch, which reads: UNBERTUS ME FECIT, most probably
refers to the artist of the tower porch sculpture. Therefore the UNBERTUS inscription
should be viewed as an artist’s signature.
124
A similar artist’s inscription is found on a
capital in the narthex at Carennac near the west portal leading into the church. The
inscription reads: GIRBERTVS CEMENTARIVS FECIT ISTVM PORTARIVM
BENEDICTA SIT ANIMA EIVS [Girbertus, a mason, made this porch so that his soul
would be blessed]. Girbertus is clearly identified as a mason, a cementarius, and not a
patron.
125

124
As mentioned, Andrew of Fleury (ca. 1043) in his Vita Gauzlini, credits Abbot
Gauzlin with building the tower porch at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire.
125
If an inscribed name is identified as a patron, it is usually supported by textual
evidence recording the donation. For example, Abbot Suger of Saint-Denis noted his
patronage of the abbey’s construction in account of the construction, as well as on an
inscription at the west portal. This inscription, no longer extant, is recorded in Suger’s
account of the abbey’s famed building program. Suger noted clearly that the purpose of
the inscriptions on the door and lintel were to commemorate the work, “lest it be
forgotten,” thus linking himself clearly as the patron for the abbey’s building campaign.
The inscription reads: "Futher we ordered the year of the consecration, lest it be
forgotten, to be inscribed in copper-gilt letters in the following manner" (si opportunitas
exigeret, variari condiximus; litteris etiam cupro deauratis consecrationis annum
intitulari, ne oblivioni traderetur, praecepimus hoc modo). Text in: Suger, Abbot Suger
On the Abbey Church of St.-Denis and Its Art Treasures, ed., transl., and annot. Erwin
Panofsky (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979), 47. Linda Seidel compares the

67

Unlike the inscribed names in the upper narthex at Tournus, the Unbertus
capital at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire is not located near an altar. Its location at the
westernmost part of the tower porch suggests that it was meant for public viewing
rather than for commemoration or prayers, but the monks would have seen this
capital during processions, as well as the laity waiting in the plaza before entering
into the church on the north side. Therefore, as Pierre-Alain Mariaux has
suggested, the inscribed Unbertus capital at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire may be
interpreted as an artist proudly signing his work and showing it to the public.
126

At Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire the juxtaposition of Unbertus’s name with the adjacent
capital depicting the Seven Churches of the Apocalypse (capital #11) is no doubt
significant. An inscription on the west face of this capital reads: SEPT ECCLESIAE (Fig.
1.25).
127
On the south face a figure identified as John, the supposed author of the book of
Apocalypse, holds an open book that bears the inscription: QUE VIDERIS ET AUDERIS

placement of the Gislebertus inscription on the tympanum at Autun to Suger’s inscription
on the lintel at Saint-Denis to argue that Gislebertus was the patron of Autun. See Seidel,
Legends in Limestone, 15. Many do not agree with Seidel’s conclusion. Pierre Alain
Mariaux commends Seidel’s questioning the attribution of a single ‘great’ artist as
responsible for the tympanum, but he finds her attribution of the duke of Autun,
mentioned two hundred years earlier as the patron, to be farfetched. Mariaux takes issue
with Seidel’s vague definition of a stone charter, “words inscribed on buildings” as being
too vague and incorrect. See Mariaux, “Quelques hypothèses à propos de l’artiste
roman,” 201.
126
Mariaux, "Quelques hypothèses à propos de l’artiste roman," 212.
127
Vergnolle, Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, 297 n.315. Vergnolle notes that the current
inscription on the north face, SEPTEM ECCLESEAE, is modern and replaces the older
inscription that has since disappeared (SEPT ECCLAE). She cites Dossier Marchand,
Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, archives de l’abbaye.

68

SCRIBE IN LIBRO (Write in a book what you may have seen and heard).
128
This capital
appears on a pier in which the Apocalypse is the theme of three of four capitals: capital
#8, which faces the UNBERTUS capital, depicts the horsemen of the apocalypse, capital
#9 on this pier is a lamb in a medallion, and capital #10 shows the Last Judgment (Fig.
1.26). Before St. Benedict’s relics were translated to their current location at Saint-
Benoît-sur-Loire (originally dedicated to the Virgin), they were housed in the church of
Saint-Pierre at the abbey. At Saint-Pierre, Abbot Gauzlin commissioned an extensive
fresco cycle depicting scenes from the Apocalypse on the interior west wall of the nave.
This no longer extant cycle is described in Andrew of Fleury’s Vita Gauzlini.
129
The
inclusion of scenes from the Apocalypse on the westernmost capitals of the porch at
Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, which was constructed after a fire devastated Saint-Pierre in
1026, suggests Gauzlin’s emphasis on the use of apocalyptic imagery at the west end of
the church was incorporated into the sculpture in the tower porch. In contrast to the
earlier fresco cycle at Saint-Pierre, which was on the interior of the church, the
Apocalypse capitals at Sainte-Marie of Saint-Benoît faced outwards at the west end of the
open porch, now visible to both the monks within the community and to the laity who
came to venerate St. Benedict’s relics.
Facing this is a capital (capital #12) with a small, deep, rectangular cavity flanked
by two human figures (Fig. 1.27). Capitals with this type of cavity have been referred to

128
Apocalypse 1:11: "What thou seest, write in a book, and send to the seven
churches which are in Asia, to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamus, and to
Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea." (quod vides scribe in libro
et mitte septem ecclesiis Ephesum et Zmyrnam et Pergamum et Thyatiram et Sardis et
Philadelphiam et Laodiciam).
129
Andrew of Fleury, Vie de Gauzlin, 120-133.

69

as reliquary capitals and are found in the cloisters of Saint-Pierre at Moissac and Sainte-
Foy at Conques.
130
There is no mention of a relic within this capital at Saint-Benoît-sur-
Loire. The similarity with the cavity to that at Moissac, however, suggests a similar
function, although the Moissac and Conques reliquary capitals are located in the cloister.
The proposed presence of relics in the tower porch would suggest that this was a sacred
precinct.
131
The location of this “reliquary” capital at the western most point of the tower
porch might be related to the movements of processions such as the Procession of
Tribulation, that took place in the galilea monasterii, according to the Cluniac
customaries. During this procession the saints of the monastery were invoked during
times of trouble:
All the bells are struck just as the brothers carry the amulets before
entering the church near the relics. Similarly when they return to the
entrance of the church, two servants of the elymossynarius are provided
with batons in hand towards the exit of the galilaea of the Monastery, from
there and thenceforth. Then when having finished singing of the saint, the
antiphons for the tribulation are begun, and are sung until near the church,
to which the procession advances.
132

130
Leah Rutchick, “A reliquary capital at Moissac: liturgy and ceremonial
thinking in the cloister,” Decorations for the Holy Dead: Visual Embellishments on
Tombs and Shrines of Saints, ed. Stephen Lamia and Elizabeth Valdez Del Alamo
(Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2002), 129-150. Rutchick related the Moissac reliquary
capital to the liturgy for feasts of Ss. Peter and Paul at the abbey. There has been no
mention of the reliquary capital at Conques in scholarly literature. Only the Moissac
reliquary capital has an inscription.
131
Relics denote consecrated ground.
132
sicut cum Fratres filacteria portant, antequam egrediatur ab ecclesia, propter
Reliquias, similter cum redeunt ad introitum ecclesiae; ad exitus vero galileae Monasterii
sunt parati duo famuli Eleemosynarii, hinc & inde cum baculis in manu. Finito autem
cantu de Sancto, incipiuntur antiphonae de tribulatione, & cantantur usquequo veniatur
prope ecclesiam, ad quam vadit Procession. Bern, 216.

70

The location of the “reliquary” capital at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire could have
contained a relic of one of the saints invoked during the Tribulation procession,
and its proximity to capitals depicting scenes from the Apocalypse might also be
related to the processions.
Certainly, the pairing of an artist’s signature and a scene from the Apocalypse, in
which John is ordered to write that which he sees, and its location at the west entrance to
the porch, facing the square, emphasizes the importance of inscriptions and writing. The
first book of the Apocalypse emphasizes the importance of writing, reading, and hearing:
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to make known
to his servants the things which must shortly come to pass: and signified,
sending by his angel to his servant John, Who has given testimony to the
word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, what things so ever he
hath seen. Blessed is he that reads and hears the words of this prophecy;
and keeps those things, which are written in it; for the time is at hand.
133

The sculpted text and image on the west face of the Apocalypse capital—two figures
holding a book on which the inscription is carved—illustrates the scriptural passage and
highlights the importance of the Church for salvation.
The central location of the inscribed capitals at the west end of the porch
addressed not only the monastic audience who would have passed between these capitals
during processions (as prescribed by the customaries), but also lay people. The tower
porch is referred to as galilea in the thirteenth-century customary (as in the customaries
of Cluny), and the correlation of this terrestrial space with a celestial one is emphasized
by the inscriptional and iconographical content of these capitals as a place where the
apostles met the risen Christ and John’s vision. The procession for Palm Sunday would

133
Apocalyse 1:1-3.

71

have stopped at the westernmost end of the tower porch, and the monks would reenact
Christ’s entry into Jerusalem, en route from the gate of the town to the church.
134
They
would have halted outside the church singing Gloria laus. A sermon would have been
delivered to the people at one of the previous stations during the procession, thus
clarifying that the laity would have been present at this liturgical event.
135
Therefore
Christ’s impending Passion and the end of times would have been made explicit to both a
monastic and lay audience during the Palm Sunday procession, with the apocalyptic
imagery and text found on the westernmost capitals at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire reinforcing
this theme. The presence of images and writing in stone ensured that the messages of
these liturgical processions were continuously remembered.

This chapter has examined the location of inscribed capitals within the narthex
and related them to the function of this liminal space. The inscriptions, along the monks’
processional route, marked the primacy of the monastic presence in a space that was also
used by the laity. The use of inscribed language and its interaction with imagery
addressed the interests and concerns of specific monasteries and reinforced an
understanding and memory of particular liturgical processions. As demonstrated at
Vézelay, the abbey’s protracted battles with the Bishop of Autun for the right of cura

134
Matt. 21:1-17; John 12:12. The Lanfranc Decreti contains the most explicit
description of the Palm Sunday processional route through the town. See Lanfranc, The
monastic constitutions of Lanfranc. Decreta Lanfranci. Monachis Cantuariensibus
Transmissa, ed. and transl., David Knowles (London: T. Nelson, 1951), Appendix B,
151-152.
135
Bern, 307. "Where the sermon is held for the people." (habetur quoque sermo
ad populum).

72

animarum and the violent battles with the townspeople and Count of Nevers provide a
context for the inscriptions and the liturgical and theological practices of the abbey. The
Temptation of St. Benedict capital in particular, located at a stopping point during the
Sunday procession, addressed the abbey's conflicts over their right to pastoral care. Ritual
performance, sermons, sculpted image and inscriptions warned the monks against
temptation and promoted their territorial and spiritual independence and authority. Most
importantly, the inscribed capitals in the narthex marked and addressed primarily the
monastic presence in a space that was also used by the laity. Inscribed capitals located
along processional routes transmitted a hierarchical structure to both a monastic and lay
audience as well as highlighting the liturgical function of the space. In contrast, the
inscribed choir capitals that are discussed in the next chapter framed the choir where the
monks alone celebrated the Divine Office.

73

CHAPTER TWO:
CHORUS PSALLENTIUM: INSCRIPTIONS IN THE CHOIR
Since Late Antiquity, monumental inscriptions (tituli) invoked a holy presence
and served as commentaries on the monument and its imagery.
1
By the twelfth century
the role of tituli expanded to include references to the rituals that took place within the
church. Epigraphic references to ritual activity expanded from altars, walls, and floors, to
include capitals. This chapter considers how the inscribed capitals found in the choir of
medieval monastic churches framed and activated the space where the monks performed
the Divine Office. These inscriptions, sometimes with an image, commemorated and
interacted with the liturgical events in the choir, while at the same time provided a visual
exegesis on the Divine Office and its place within the sacred wheel of time.
The term ‘choir,’ as understood in monastic customaries, refers to a specific place
reserved for the monks within the church, between the altar and the nave. More than half
of the monasteries and churches in my corpus have inscribed capitals in or surrounding
this space.
2
This chapter explores the numerous types of inscriptions in the choir, their
polyvalent meanings, and the reason that the lengthiest inscriptions in this study are
carved on capitals framing the choir.
The most common inscriptions on choir capitals are the names of artists and
patrons; they are found in sixteen of the churches in my corpus. Inscribed capitals

1
Dominique Iogna-Prat, La Maison Dieu, 74. Iogna-Prat references a letter from
Paulinus of Nola in which Paulinus noted that late fourth-century tituli not only called
upon a holy presence but also served as a commentary on a monument and its decoration.
2
There are seventy-six churches in my corpus and forty-four of them have
inscribed capitals in the choir.

74

depicting the life of Christ are found in fifteen churches. Daniel in the Lions’ Den,
3
the
Evangelists,
4
and the Sacrifice of Isaac
5
follow as the most frequently inscribed themes
on choir capitals. The inscriptions are almost entirely in Latin, with only two exceptions
in which the inscriptions either combine Latin and the vernacular or are in an early
version of French. One of these at the cathedral of Orcival, which depicts the sin of
avarice, is located on the westernmost pier in the nave, an area where the laity entered the
body of the church.
6
On the east face of the capital is a figure personifying avarice with a
sack tied around his neck and flanked by two demons. The inscription on the impost
block reads: FOL DIVES. The text combines the vernacular, FOL, and Latin, DIVES,
and thus may be interpreted as an inscription that transmitted a popular theme in the
region to an audience familiar with both rudimentary Latin and the vernacular. The
church at Orcival, as a cathedral and not a monastic church, was an episcopal seat and
would have attracted a wide range of visitors. The other at Saint-Quentin-Baron,
depicting a figure holding a book and singing is carved on a capital atop an engaged
column (Fig. 2.1). On the book is inscribed: CANTTA DEBE DE. ‘Cantta’ has been
attributed to langue d'oc (l'occitane) and can be translated to ‘sing’ or ‘singing.’
7
The

3
Six locations.
4
Five locations.
5
Four locations.
6
The theme of avarice was widespread in the Auvergne and is found at Besse-en-
Chandesse, Ennezat, Notre-Dame-du-Port de Clermont-Ferrand, but only the capitals at
Conques, Orcival and Notre-Dame-du-Port de Clermont Ferrand are inscribed. All but
Orcival are monasteries.
7
I thank Estelle Ingrand-Varenne, editor of Corpus des inscriptions de la France
médiévale, at the CESCM, University of Poitiers for pointing this out. See Algirdas Julien
Greimas, Dictionnaire de l'ancien français (Paris: Larousse-Bordas/HER, 2007).

75

words debe, debe correspond to musical notes and may relate to the scales of music.
8
The
use of the langue d'oc in the choir near the altar is surprising, especially since all other
inscriptions that I have found in this location are in Latin. Nevertheless, the meaning of
the inscription coincides with the visual theme carved on the face of the capital. Other
capitals in the choir at Saint-Quentin-Baron, without inscriptions, are carved with
narrative themes common to monastic churches during this period. These themes will be
discussed in more detail below.
9

As a framing device these capitals marked off this space dedicated to the monks,
either as boundary markers, as in the case of hemicycle capitals, or as apotropaic devices
around the choir that repulsed evil from this most sacred part of the church. The capitals
are atop freestanding columns, at least fifteen feet above the ground and, therefore, were
not always legible from the ground.
My analysis of the location of inscribed capitals not only shows the connections
between liturgical rites that took place within the architectural space of the choir but may
also identify spatial markers that are no longer in situ, such as altars and choir screens.
Although the images on inscribed capitals vary from church to church, there are some
consistent motifs, such as angels. The monastic customaries tell us the prescribed
liturgical events that took place in the choir. Through an examination of these liturgical
events, we can better understand how these images conveyed meaning to a medieval
audience.

8
C.I.F.M. 5, 124-5. A manuscript from Montpelier (ca. eleventh century) uses
these Latin alphabet characters to translate the differences between notes.
9
Daniel in the Lions' Den, and Sacrifice of Isaac.

76

DEFINING THE CHOIR
To better understand the significance of inscribed capitals located in the choir, we
must first address how this space was conceived and used. The word ‘choir’ referred to
both an architectural space and the choir of singers.
10
Because the architectural choir, or
chorus, framed the main altar, it was the principal destination for processions in the
customaries. It comprised several bays east of the crossing, the crossing, the transept, and
one or two bays west of the crossing. The choir was often separated from the sanctuary
proper, where the main altar was located, by one or two steps, with the sanctuary
surrounded by an ambulatory. There was frequently a second altar, east of the main altar
at a level higher, where the matutinal mass was celebrated.
11

The spatial arrangement of the material church’s interior was also described in
symbolic terms. The twelfth-century liturgist John Beleth defined degrees of sacred space
in his liturgical commentary, Rationale divinorum officiorum (ca. 1162).
12
Beleth defined
sacred spaces as those that had been dedicated in a ceremony by a bishop, as was a

10
John Harper, The Forms and Orders of Western Liturgy from the Tenth to the
Eighteenth Century (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991), 41. For an overview of "choir" in
the Early Christian period, see Sible de Blaauw, "Origins and Early Developments of the
Choir," La place du choeur: architecture et liturgie du Moyen Âge aux temps modernes;
actes du colloque de l'EPHE, Institut national d'histoire de l'art, les 10 et 11 décembre
2007 (Paris: Picard, Campisano, 2012), 25-32.
11
The matutinal mass was celebrated before the principal mass and was sung after
Prime. It was the mass in which the laity received communion. See LT, 89. This
arrangement was found in most Romanesque churches in France (e.g., Saint-Benoît-sur-
Loire, Saint-Denis, and Conques).
12
John Beleth, Summa de ecclesiasticis offices, ed. H. Douteil, (Turnhout,
Belgium: Brepols, 1976). William Durand (bishop of Mende from 1285 to 1296) adopted
and expanded on Beleth’s Rationale in the thirteenth century.

77

church.
13
The sanctuary, as the site of the main altar, was the most sacred site within the
church.
14
Before examining specific inscribed capitals, it will be helpful to examine how
medieval theologians conceived of the sacred space of the church building and how the
rite of consecration for the church and altars defined both sacred spaces and time.

DEFINING SACRED ZONES
Patristic authors defined the Church as the community of the faithful, and twelfth-
century theologians, such as Honorius of Autun and Hugh of St. Victor, reinterpreting the
Church Fathers equated the Church to both the community and the consecrated building,
which, itself, was understood as representing the Heavenly Jerusalem. Prayers for the
consecration of the church building and the celebration of the anniversary of the
consecration date equate the church space as both a gate to heaven and the New
Jerusalem.
15
The church building was also a remembrance of Solomon’s Temple, the

13
Durand, Rationale divinorum, 54. Holy (sancta) places are those that have
immunity or privileges, and they are assigned to the clergy of the church. They include
the atrium, the cloister, and the dwellings of canons. Burial sites are considered religious
(religiosa) places, and they include non-Christian burial sites according to legal statutes.
Durand’s source for this is almost entirely John Beleth’s Summa de ecclesiasticis offices.
See also Eric Palazzo, L’espace rituel et le sacré dans le christianisme: La liturgie de
l’autel portatif dans l’Antiquité et au Moyen Age. (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2008),
26.
14
This term refers to the Holy of Holies, the inner sanctuary of the Tabernacle,
the location of the Ark of the Covenant in the First Temple. It is literally the sanctuary of
sanctuaries. As the site of Yahweh, only the high priest was given access to this space
and access was allowed only once a year at Yom Kippur. See Exodus 26:33.
15
Isabelle Cochelin, "When the Monks were the Book: The Bible and
Monasticism (6th-11th centuries)," The Practice of the Bible in the Middle Ages:
Production, Reception, and Performance in Western Christianity, eds. Susan Boynton
and Diane J. Reilly (New York: Columbia University Press, 2011), 63. Cochelin notes
that both Genesis 28:17 and Apocalypse 21:2 comprise the prayers for the consecration.

78

First Temple in Jerusalem.
16
This link is made explicit in capitals at Champeix and
Abbaye des Moreaux, Champagné-Saint-Hilaire. At Champeix a capital situated at the
entrance to the choir is inscribed: CIACHIN and BOOT. The inscription refers to Jachin
and Booz, the two named pillars in the porch of Jerusalem Temple.
17
An inscribed
archivolt at the west portal of Abbaye des Moreaux reads: “The entrance exists as a holy
Temple of Solomon.”
18
Thus the church building referenced both Solomon’s Temple and
the New Jerusalem that the faithful believed would descend to earth in the future.
The consecration of a medieval church delineated sacred space from secular
space,
19
and writing played an important role in the process. The church was considered
sacred only after it was consecrated by a bishop according to a precise ritual.
20
During the
dedication of the church ritual—the writing of the alphabet on the ground (abecedarium),

Genesis 28:17: “And trembling he said: How terrible is this place! This is no other but the
house of God, and the gate of heaven.” Apocalypse 21:2: “And I John saw the holy city,
the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned
for her husband.” For more on the church building as a gate to heaven and a
representation of the New Jerusalem, see Amy G. Remensnyder, Remembering kings
past: monastic foundation legends in medieval southern France (Ithaca, NY: Cornell
University Press, 1995), 50; Jennifer A. Harris, “Building Heaven on Earth: Cluny as
locus sanctissimus in the Eleventh Century,” From Dead of Night, eds. Susan Boynton
and Isabelle Cochelin (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2006), 131-51.
16
Rabanus Maurus, "Homily 30," In dedicatione templi, PL 110:73-74. In his
ninth-century homily on the Dedication of the Temple, Rabanus Mauraus related
Solomon’s Temple as a type of Holy Church, and he explicitly linked the construction of
new churches to the ninth-century reform movement, noting that the new churches
symbolized the moral renewal of society. See also, Brian V. Repsher, The Rite of Church
Dedication in the Early Medieval Era (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1998), 31.
17
3 Kings 7:21.
18
VT | FVIT | INTROITVS | TEMPLI | SANCTI | SALMONIS. See Appendix A
19
Remensnyder, Remembering kings past, 34.
20
Eric Palazzo and Anselme Davril, La vie des moines au temps des grande
abbayes, Xe-XIIIe siécle (Paris: Hachette littératures, 2000), 214. The ceremony of
dedication, or consecration, is found in the Roman Pontifical.

79

the cross marked upon the main door, the repeated circumambulations, the marked
crosses on the wall—all enclosed the church, warding off demons and marking the space
as sacred. The writing of the Latin and Greek alphabets on the ground recalled
Apocalypse 1:8: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, saith the Lord God,
who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” The rituals that comprise the
dedication ceremony both prepared the building for the service of the divine and
reminded the assembly of the coming Apocalypse. A ninth-century liturgical exposition
on the church dedication interpreted the abecedarium as representing the fundamentals of
church doctrine and the beginning of the faith.
21

In an explication of the dedication ceremony attributed to Remigus of Auxerre
(ca. ninth century), the alphabet is considered an indivisible element of knowledge,
whose combinations of letters revealed the Word and transmitted divine knowledge. The
letterform was an elemental building block necessary for understanding Scripture.
22
As
we have seen, both the Greek and Latin alphabets are written during the consecration
ceremony, but the only instances of inscribed alphabets found during the Romanesque
period are in Latin. In his exegesis on the dedication of a church, Honorius of Autun
explained that the writing of the Greek and Latin alphabets (in the shape of a cross)

21
Repsher, The Rite of Church Dedication, 70.
22
Cécile Treffort, “Opus litterarum. L’inscription alphabétique et le rite de
consécration de l’église (IXe-XIIe siècle),” Cahiers de civilisation médiévale 53 (2010):
162. Originally cited in, Pontifical romano-germanique du dixième siècle, ed. Cyrille
Vogel in collaboration with Reinhard Elze. Text with the utilization of collations by
Michel Andrieu, vol. 1, (Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1963), 97-99.
Remigus made this connection in his exegesis on the dedication ceremony, Quid
significent duodecim candelae.

80

unified all, namely the Jews and Gentiles, in one faith through Christ.
23
The Greek
represented the Patristic wisdom, and the Latin represented the power of the Church.
24

The writing of the alphabet during the consecration, like most rituals, is an ephemeral act.
It is tempting to link alphabet inscriptions on capitals and reliefs to the dedication
ceremony. Yet these inscriptions are located outside of the areas where the abecedarium
would have taken place,
25
and it is more likely that the inscribed alphabets signified the
building blocks of Scriptural knowledge. That is not to say that the inscriptions were not
also remembrances of the dedication ceremony. The importance of Latin in Western
monastic life is commemorated by inscribed alphabets. Cécile Treffort noted recently that
the abecedarium was first attested to in a Gallican context, and liturgical exegetes amply
commented upon it in the ninth through thirteenth centuries.
26
The meaning of the
abecedarium was fixed by the Carolingian liturgical reforms, and liturgical exegetes,
such as Remigus of Auxerre, expanded the importance of the ritual to include the
fundamentals of Church doctrine. Remigius noted that the Greek alphabet represented
Patristic wisdom, but the Latin alphabet represented the fundamentals of Church

23
Durand, Rationale divinorum officiorum, 67.
24
Jean Michaud, “Les inscriptions de consécration d'autels et dédicace d'églises
en France du VIIIe au XIIIe siècle. Epigraphie et liturgie” (Ph.D. Dissertation, Université
de Poitiers, 1978), 36. Cites Honorius of Autun, Gemma animae, PL, 172:591-592.
25
Examples of inscribed alphabets are found on the exterior arm of the south
transept at Saint-Pierre le Haut at Chauvigny, Monthoirion (on a wall with the date
1160); Daumazan-sur-Arize (a series of letters inscribed on the base of a bell tower
complete a commemoration of the recapture of Jerusalem by the Franks); Saint-Blaise de
Bauzon (several lines of the alphabet are inscribed on the south wall of the church); and
in the cloister at Moissac (east walk). See Appendix.
26
Treffort, “Opus litterarum,” 155.

81

doctrine.
27
The inscribed alphabets found in my corpus suggest that this understanding
frequently was fixed in stone during the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
The importance of the church’s dedication
28
was indicated in the annual
celebration of the dedication during which the consecration of the church would be re-
enacted. It was one of the many liturgical celebrations, along with the Divine Office,
which observed time within a renewable cycle only to be terminated at the end of time.
The anniversary of the church’s consecration placed the terrestrial church building in the
sacred wheel of time, and the building was both a surrogate for and a reminder of the
coming heavenly Jerusalem.
The understanding that the material church building was a surrogate for the
heavenly Jerusalem is evident in hymns and prayers for the anniversary of the church’s
dedication. A hymn sung at Nocturns notes that “this place…is called…the snowy-white
gate of heaven (caeli porta) which receives all those seeking the country of life.”
29
The
anniversary of the dedication echoed the Apocalypse, as in an eleventh-century prayer for
the anniversary of the consecration: “I saw the holy city of the New Jerusalem
descending from the sky as a bride splendidly adorned for her husband” (Apoc. 21:2).
30

The understanding of the splendor of the New Jerusalem and its relation to the material

27
Ibid., 158.
28
Earliest description of a dedication is that of Solomon’s temple, described in
3Kings 8.
29
Remensnyder, Remembering kings past, 35.
Stanza 7:
Hic locus nempe vocitatur aula
Regis immensi niveaque caeli
Porta, quae vitae patriam petentes
Accipit omnes;
30
Ibid., 35.

82

church building is also referenced in a hymn from Cluny sung at Matins for the
anniversary of the dedication:

The city, blessed Jerusalem, is said to be a vision of harmony, which is
constructed in heaven from the living stones and the bride adorned by
angels with a crown.
31

Thus the space of the church was considered a terrestrial representation of the heavenly
Jerusalem, and the consecration of this sacred space was commemorated by the liturgical
celebration of the dedication anniversary.
The casting out of demons from the building was included in the dedication rite,
and was considered part of the purification and sanctification process. A bishop
performed the first exorcism upon entering the church during the rite, using salt and
blessings to chase spiritual enemies out of the space.
32
The apotropaic qualities of this
exorcism were recalled in a hymn for the anniversary, which declared that the savage
attacks of demons die in the church and stubborn monsters retreat to the shadows.
33

31
Bern, 298. The hymn text is from F-Pn lat. 12601, a Cluniac breviary dating
from between 1064-1095 used in the monastery of St. Taurin l’Echelle. (Urbs Jerusalem
beata dicta pacis visio quae construitur in caelis vivis ex lapidibus angelisque coronata
sicut sponsa comite.)
32
Marcello Angheben, Les chapiteaux romans de Bourgogne, 139. Cites PRG
XXXIII, 10-13.
33
Remensnyder, Remembering kings past, 34. In footnote 70 she cites Analecta
Hymnica Medii Aevi 51, ed. Hermann Adalbert Daniel, (Leipzig, 1908), 112-114, no.
103, In Dedicatione Ecclesiae, Ad Nocturnas. Stanza 6:
Daemonis saeva perit hic rapina,
Pervicax monstrum pavet et retenta
Corpora linquens fugit in remotas
Ocius umbras.
This hymn appears in many tenth- and eleventh-century manuscripts, including one from
Moissac.

83

Images of demons and battles between virtues and vices, frequently found at the edges of
the choir, recall the casting out of evil during the consecration.
34

In his study of Romanesque capitals in Burgundy, Marcello Angheben noted that
the depiction of angels at portals represented the angel’s role as guardian and combatant
of evil. Like these sculpted guardians, which cast demons out of the church, I would
suggest that the inclusion of epigraphic texts provided additional security around the
choir and near altars. Since the material church building was only a representation of the
celestial Jerusalem, it could be corrupted. Therefore it needed continuous protection from
demons even after the exorcisms at the dedication ceremony had been performed.
Sculpted images of battle between angels and demons, and virtues and vices showed
demons that their defeat in this sacred space was imminent. The inscriptions that
accompany such sculpted imagery both recall and enact the liturgy, such as the dedication
of the church, and they continuously re-instantiate the consecration of a space that could
be contaminated. For example, in the battle between the virtues and vices depicted on an
inscribed capital in the choir at Notre-Dame-du-Port at Clermont Ferrand, the figures
personifying the virtues—charity and generosity—are dressed in military garb. The
accompanying inscription proclaims that a demon is fighting virtues: DEMON CONTRA
VIRTUTES PUGNAT.
35
On the north face, anger is portrayed nude and disorderly with a
sword at its throat. The inscription notes that anger kills itself (ira se occidit). The

34
Saint-Pierre (Aulnay), Saint-Pierre (Chauriat), Cluny, Notre-Dame-du-Port
(Clermont-Ferrand), Maringues, Parthenay-le-Vieux, Saint-Nectaire, Saint-Révérien,
Vézelay, and Saint-Priest (Volvic). See Appendix.
35
"Demon fights against the virtues" (Demon contra virtutes pugnat). See
Appendix.

84

sculpted images and inscriptions highlight the difference between the two camps of
combatants. The virtues are organized, executing battle with military precision. In
contrast, the vices are disorderly, and anger actually defeats itself. Although there are no
liturgical curses or protection spells inscribed on capitals in this area of the church, the
epigraphic texts provided a type of protective incantation that continually marked the
sanctity of the space as well as providing protection.
36

HEMICYCLE CAPITALS
The Apocalypse
The hemicycle is a group of columns, arranged in a semicircle in order to divide
the east end of the choir from the ambulatory. The hemicycle framed the high altar and
reliquary shrines, providing a barrier from outside contamination. The ambulatory
allowed visitors to pass up the side aisles of the nave and around the high altar without
interfering in the Divine Office taking place within the choir.
The anniversary of the dedication stressed the apocalyptic vision of the heavenly
Jerusalem for which the church was its earthly equivalent. Accordingly, the sanctity was
surrounded by inscribed capitals atop the hemicycle columns and in ambulatory chapels,
sometimes with representations of themes related to the end of days (e.g., the Last

36
Edina Bozoky, "Les moyens de la protection privée," Cahiers de recherches
médiévale (XIIIe-XVe siècles) 8 (2001): 175-92. Bozoky examines apotropaic and
prophylactic practices used by the laity: benedictions, charms, gems, talismans, images
and ritual practices. See Ruth Mellinkoff, Averting demons: the protective power of
medieval visual motifs and themes (Los Angeles: Ruth Mellinkoff Publications, 2004).
See also, Lester K. Little, Benedictine Maledictions. Liturgical Cursing in Romanesque
France (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1993).

85

Judgment, the Heavenly Jerusalem, the Four Winds, and scenes from the life of Christ).
37

The apocalyptic themes on the inscribed capitals found in these areas both transmitted the
purpose of the Divine Office—to sing praises to God and to intercede for the salvation of
the world—and warned viewers (both human and non-human) that Judgment was
approaching.
38
Apocalyptic scenes must be understood within an eschatological
framework
39
and referenced the passage of time on earth. The inclusion of the life of
Christ, especially his Incarnation, references liturgical time as well as the impending end
of days. This is evident in the pairing of Last Judgment motifs with apocalyptic scenes
and references to Christ's Incarnation. On the same capital at Chauvigny, Saint Michael
and the Weighing of Souls is paired with the Whore of Babylon and also includes an
inscribed scene referencing the Announcement to the Shepherds (Fig. 2.2). At Saint-
Nectaire, the scenes are depicted on adjacent capitals: the Weighing of Souls (capital #5)
and the Horsemen of the Apocalypse (capital #4) (Fig. 2.3). At Saint-Nectaire the
inscription harkens the role of the angel as casting out demons. DISCEDITE (Scatter) is
inscribed near angels on both the south and west faces of the Last Judgment capital; it

37
Peter K. Klein, “The Apocalypse in Early Christian Monumental Art, “ The
Apocalypse in the Middle Ages, ed. Richard Kenneth Emmerson, Bernard McGinn
(Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1992), 169.
38
Inscribed capitals in the hemicyle and ambulatory chapels at Chauriat, Cluny,
Maringues, Notre-Dame-du-Port (Clermont-Ferrand), Saint-Révérien, Saint-Nectaire,
Saint-Priest (Volvic) and Saint-Pierre de Chauvigny include apocalyptic imagery.
Chauriat: an angel; Cluny: Seasons and Virtues, and the Rivers of Paradise; Maringues:
Archangel Michael; Notre-Dame-du-Port: Annunciation; Saint-Révérien: Weighing of
Souls; Saint-Nectaire: Transfiguration, Last Judgment; Saint-Priest: Evangelists; Saint-
Pierre de Chauvigny: Annunciation, Announcement to shepherds, Adoration of Magi,
Presentation at the Temple, Weighing of Souls.
39
Peter Klein, "Introduction: The Apocalypse in Medieval Art," The Apocalypse
in the Middle Ages, eds., Richard Emmerson and Bernard McGinn (Ithaca, 1992), 169.

86

thus provides an example of text and image of an angel casting demons out of the sacred
center of the church. Most importantly, depictions of apocalyptic scenes in the hemicycle
place the impending end of days within terrestrial time. The circular form of the space
recalls the cyclical nature of the liturgical calendar, and thus the architectural form and
the decoration of the space provide both a framework for the liturgy of the hours and a
countdown to the arrival of the Heavenly Jerusalem as described in Apocalypse 21.
40

The importance of time and its relationship to the apocalypse is also evident in
depictions of the Seasons, Virtues, and Vices. The pairing of Seasons and Virtues is
found on one of the famed ambulatory capitals of Cluny III (capital #5) (Fig. 2.4).
41
A
personification of each season and its associative virtue is paired on each face of the
capital in leonine hexameter.
42
The epigraphist Jean Michaud has noted that this meter

40
William J. Travis, “The iconography of the choir capitals at Saint-Lazare of
Autun and the anagogical way in Romanesque sculpture,” Konsthistorisk
Tidskrift/Journal of Art History 68 (1999), 238. Travis noted that the capitals at Autun
“[with the exception of the Four Rivers and Paradise] refer to “historical” events, past or
future (i.e., The Life of Christ or fulfillment of a prophecy at a specific, though unknown,
moment).”
41
According to Conant’s proposed restitution of the capitals’ placement around
the altar, these four capitals would have occupied the south side of the hemicycle, across
from the chapels dedicated to Ss. Clement and James the Major. Their placement on the
south side is significant because the rest of the monastic complex was adjacent to the
church on the south side, and thus the location of these capitals emphasizes their
relevance to a monastic audience. The subject matter depicted on the capitals, as well as
the content of the inscriptions, also resonated with this audience.
42
The inscriptions are contained within a mandorla and read as follows:
VER PRIMOS FLORES PRIMOS P(RO)DUCIT ODORES
Spring produces the first flowers and the first odors.
DAT COGN[OSCEN]DUM PRUDENTIA Q[U]ID SIT AGENDUM
Prudence gives understanding to that which should be done.
[FALX RESECAT SPICAS FER]VENS Q[U]AS DECO[QUIT ESTAS]
The scythe cuts the wheat that burning summer ripens.

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frequently was used both for hymns and inscriptions.
43
Conversely, the punishment of
vices are also found in the hemicycle, as seen at Notre-Dame-du-Port at Clermont-
Ferrand, in which a usurer is punished after the Last Judgment. The battle between
virtues and vices also appears on inscribed capitals in the ambulatory at Notre-Dame-du-
Port, anticipating the rewards and punishments that wait at the Last Judgment. The
relationship between the cardinal virtues and music is evident if one considers Hugh of
St. Victor’s treatise on the important areas of knowledge, Didascalicon, composed in the
late 1120s. Hugh of St. Victor noted, “music is characteristic of the soul partly in its
virtues, like justice, piety, and temperance.”
44

Chant at Cluny
The role of singing in the choir, and its importance, is expressed both in the
monastic customaries and in the decoration of the choir. The monks were seated on two
levels parallel to the piers of the choir. Customaries note alternating singing between the

43
Jean Michaud, “Les inscriptions romanes des musées Ochier et du Farinier à
Cluny,” Cahiers de civilisation médiévale, Xe-XIIe siècles 38/2 (1995), 168. Michaud
noted that the missing summer and fall inscriptions also would have been in leonine
hexameter. Francis Hueffer has noted that leonine hexameter was a favorite of “monkish
scholars” as well as Provençal troubadours, and it is used in the hymn, Dies irae, dies
illa, traditionally sung during funeral masses and the mass for All Souls’ Day. For more
on the use of leonine hexameter in the Romanesque period see, Kendall, The Allegory of
the Church, 71-9. Calvin Kendall has demonstrated that this meter was also popular for
Romanesque portal inscriptions. Kendall noted that this meter was suited for brief
inscriptions since its poetic structure was evident in a single line. See also Francis
Hueffer, The troubadours: a history of Provençal life and literature in the middle ages,
(London: Chatto & Windus, 1878).
44
Hugh of St. Victor, Didascalicon. Jerome Taylor, The Didascalicon of Hugh of
St. Victor (New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, 1991), Book Two, Chapter 12,
69.

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right and left choirs. In his description of the choir, Honorius of Autun, a twelfth-century
theologian, corroborated the physical arrangement of the monks in the choir as seen in
the customaries and elaborated on the meaning of the space:
Two choirs singing the psalms denote angels and spirits of justice
(offerings?), as though going backwards and forwards with tone/voice
praising the Lord. The chancel in which they stand, designates the many
mansions in the house of the Father (John XIV: In my Father’s house there
are many mansions.) Because they go to the choir by means of procession
some toward the altar, and there they sing standing, it signifies that the
spirits from this life are coming, they are coming toward Christ, and they
are singing in the consort of angels for God.
45

In the first book of his Rationale Divinorum, the thirteenth-century liturgist, William
Durand echoed Honorius's description of the space and noted its origins in the Early
Christian Church:
The choir is so called from the harmony of the clergy in their chanting or
from the multitude collected at the divine offices. The word chorus is
derived from chorea, or from corona. For in early times they stood like a
crown around the altar, and thus sung the Psalms in one body…The two
choirs [antiphonal method] then typify the angels, and the spirits of just
men, while they cheerfully and mutually excite each other in this holy
exercise.
46

The significance of the choir as the place where the monks celebrated the Divine Office
was thus articulated as a place to excite divine experience by medieval ecclesiological

45
Honorius Augustodunensis, GEMMA ANIMAE SIVE De divinis officiis et
antiquo ritu missarum, deque horis canonicis et totius annis solemnitatibus. PL
172:588A. Section on the choir. (Quod aliquando de choro cum processione ad aliquod
altare vadunt, et ibi in statione canunt, significat quod animae de hac vita euntes, ad
Christum perveniunt, et in consortio angelorum Deo concinunt.)
46
Durand, Rationale divinorum, 17: (Sane chorus clericorum est consensio
cantantium vel multitudo in sacris collecta. Dictus est autem chorus a chorea vel a
corona: olim enim in modum corone circum aras stabant et ita psalmos concorditer
concienbant.)

89

descriptions of the space. It is referred to as the chorus psallentium because of the psalms
sung during the Divine Office.
47

The importance of singing and music in a monk’s spiritual life is clearly
expressed in the capitals from the hemicycle of Cluny III, which depict the eight modes
of Gregorian chant.
48
Three of the eight capitals from the Cluny III hemicycle are
inscribed. The capitals are no longer in situ but scholars have attributed them to the
hemicycle and believe that they once occupied the first two columns on the south side of
the hemicycle (Fig. 2.5). The first four tones of chant are depicted on each face of capital
#7, and each is represented by a figure playing music within an inscribed mandorla (Fig.
2.6). The inscriptions clearly identify the musical mode illustrated on the capitals’ face,
and the types of instruments that the figures are playing relate to contemporary
discussions of music. Hugh of St. Victor noted in his chapter on music in the
Didascalicon that:

47
The choir is labeled chorus psallentium on the Plan of St. Gall. The term is also
used to describe the choir in a description of an abbot's ordination in the Liber Tramitis.
See LT, 209.
48
The capitals are displayed at the Musée Farinier. While we are certain that they
come from the hemicycle, the order of their arrangement is not certain. The scholarship
on the hemicycle capitals at Cluny III is extensive. For discussion of the Cluny capitals’
iconographic identification with the eight modes of Gregorian chant, see Barbier de
Montault, “Théorie et symbolisme des tons de la musique Grégorienne,” Annales
archéologiques, 24 (1869); Kathi Meyer, “The Eight Gregorian Modes on the Cluny
Capitals,” Art Bulletin, 34 (1952): 75-94; Kenneth J. Conant, Cluny, Les églises et la
maison du chef d’ordre, (Mâcon: Impr. Protat Frères, 1968), 84-92; Édith Vergnolle,
“Les chapiteaux du déambulatoire de Cluny,” Révue de l’Art, XV (1972): 95-101;
Charles E. Scilia, “Meaning and the Cluny Capitals: Music as Metaphor,” Gesta 27, 1/2
(1988): 133-148. For the most recent formal analysis and interpretation of the Cluny
hemicycle capitals see Sébastien Biay, Les chapiteaux du rond-point de la troisième
église abbatiale de Cluny (fin XI
e
-début XII
e
siècle): étude iconographique, Ph.D.
Dissertation, Université de Poitiér, 2011).

90

Instrumental music consists partly of striking, as upon tympans and
strings; partly in blowing, as upon pipes or organs; and partly in giving
voice, as in recitals and songs.
49

On the face of the capital that is attributed to the first tone, a seated man is playing a lute.
A dancing woman holding small cymbals illustrates the second tone. The third tone
shows a male figure playing a cithara. The fourth tone is depicted by a male figure
carrying the tintinnabulum, a set of small bells. These images on the first plainchant
capital are playing similar instruments to those noted in Hugh of St. Victor’s text. The
inscriptions (tituli) on each face read:
HIC TONUS ORDITUR MODULAMINA MUSICA PRIMUS
(Here, the first tone, musica, arranges melodies)
[S]UBSEQU[IT]UR PTONGUS NUMERO VEL LEGE SECUNDUS
(It is closely followed by a musical sound, the second by the number and
the law)
TERTIUS IMPINGIT CHR[ISTU]M QUE RESURGERE FINGIT
(Springs and the third represents the resurrected Christ)
SUC[C]EDIT QUARTUS SIMULANS IN CARMINE PLANCTUS
(The fourth follows, imitating mourning (planctus) in song).
50

The inscriptions that frame each figure clearly identify each of the four tones of chant and
relate these tones to a corresponding mood. Christ’s resurrection is related to the third
tone. The inscription on each face defines its sequence: primus, secundus, tertius, and
quartus. Thus, the inscriptions build upon each other much like the ordered tones of the
monks’ voices as they sang.

49
Hugh of St. Victor, Didascalicon, 69-70.
50
Sébastien Biay, “Appendix 2: Les inscriptions. Transcriptions, éditions et
traductions révisées,” “Les chapiteaux du rond-point de la troisième église abbatiale de
Cluny (fin XIe-début XIIe siècle). Étude Iconographique,” 458.

91

The remaining four tones of plainchant appear on the next capital (capital #8), and
this capital differs stylistically from the capital depicting the first four tones (Fig. 2.7).
The damaged, headless figures on this capital are not contained within an inscribed
mandorla but are bound behind a band of inscriptions encircling the middle of the
capital.
51

Like the previous capital, the inscriptions both identify and contain the musical
tones depicted on the capital. They read:
OSTENDIT QUVINTVS QUAM SIT QUISQ[U]IS TUMET IMUS.
(The fifth shows how each treble swells)
SI CUPIS AFFECTUM PIE[T]ATIS RESPICE SEXTUM
(If you want to affect piety, consider the sixth [tone]).
INSINUAT FLA[T]U(M) [C]U(M) DONIS SEPTIMUS ALMUM
(The seventh penetrates the breath of the Spirit and gifts)
OCTAVUS [S]ANCTOS OM(NE)S DOCET ESSE BEATOS.
(The eighth teaches that all the saints are blessed.)

Likewise, the inscriptions on this capital elucidate the meaning of tones, here five
through eight, providing a reference to the meaning of the singing emanating from the
choir.
Art historian Charles Scilia has suggested that the imagery and inscriptions of the
figurative Cluny hemicycle capitals resemble a musical treatise. He convincingly argued
that the capitals are related to Boethius’s Consolatio. The Consolatio included Boethius’s

51
Whitney Stoddard, “The eight capitals of the Cluny hemicycle,” Gesta 20
(1981): 51-58. Stoddard notes that the stylistic differences between the two capitals
provide evidence of two sculptors. Although the stylistic differences between the two
chant capitals have been used to identify sculptors’ hands, the themes are related and
therefore the capitals work in concert to transmit the importance of chant in the choir at
Cluny.

92

de Musica, and it was bound with Aurelian’s Musica disciplina in Cluny’s library.
52

According to Boethius, the celestial choir sang ceaselessly around the throne of God.
53
In
a letter to Abbot Hugh of Cluny, Peter Damian praised the Cluniac way of life, especially
the perseverance of the monks in their performance of the extended divine office.
54
The
monks at Cluny, known for the extraordinary length of their liturgy, were a terrestrial
reflection of this heavenly choir of angels, seeming to sing ceaselessly on earth just as the
angels sing ceaselessly in heaven. Indeed, the Cluniac liturgy was particularly arduous,
occupying most of a monk’s day. Therefore it only makes sense that the monks at Cluny
would have wanted to circumscribe the choir with references to their dearest pursuit:
singing the Divine Office.
Music was more than the combination of vocal and instrumental sounds: it was
part of creating harmony within the cosmos.
55
In his tract De muscia, Boethius organized
the different levels of music into a hierarchy that was produced from above, and thus

52
Scilia, “Meaning and the Cluny Capitals,” 136. Cites “Volumen in quo
continetur Boethius de consolatione philosophiae, et regule musice discipline Aureliani,
monachi Sancti Johannis Reomensis,” Delisle, II, 477, no. 464.
53
Ibid., 133. Heiric of Auxerre inverts this and states that the choir of angels sings
in the eight tones of Gregorian chant.
54
Irven M. Resnick, “Peter Damian on Cluny, Liturgy, and Penance,” Journal of
Religious History 15/1 (1988), 172. Peter Damian, Ep. IV, 5, PL 144:380 B: "Nam tanta
erat in servandi ordinis continua jugitate prolixitas; tanta praesertim in ecclesiasticis
officiis protelabatur instantia, ut in ipso cancri, sive leonis aestu, cum longiores sunt
dies, vix per totum diem unius saltem vacaret horae dimidium, quo fratribus in claustro
licuisset miscere colloquium."
55
C. Stephen Jaeger, The Envy of Angels: Cathedral Schools and Social Ideas in
Medieval Europe, 950-1200 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000), 165.
Jaeger notes that music, which was central to Hellenic philosophy, mirrored the relation
of body to soul and was a means of moral instruction. While Boethius’s De institutione
musica was the major transmitter of Hellenic musical theory, Cicero’s Tusculan
Disputations was also known in the Middle Ages.

93

demonstrated how terrestrial music was an expression of the celestial. Boethius explained
that the highest level was musica mundana, a level that incorporated the composition of
the heavens and earth. The next level, musica humana, addressed the physical and
spiritual characteristics of human nature; and musica instrumentalis was concerned with
the sounds of musical instruments. All three levels were necessary to create harmony
within the cosmos, and these themes were illustrated on the Cluny III hemicycle capitals.
Thus, inscribed capitals in the “deambulatorium Angelorum” created a microcosm
of terrestrial and celestial realms. The inscribed capitals in the choir framed the
consecrated space of the church, while at the same time commemorated the sanctification
of that very space; they contained the harmonic singing in the terrestrial choir within a
sacred zone to mirror the harmony of the celestial choir. Aurelian’s Musica disciplina,
which was bound together with Boethius’s treatise in Cluny’s library, explicitly links the
singing of the office to the choir of angels:
We read further that in the heavenly cities the rites of this art are
celebrated as in the Apocalypse, “having the harps of God:” and
elsewhere, “as harpists strumming on their harps.” Thus, we can conclude
how pleasing is the singing of the Office to God, if it is performed with an
alert mind, since in this we imitate the angels, who, as it is said, sing
together the Lord’s praises without ceasing. Indeed, the construction of
this world and its natural order contain a harmonious balance. For if you
look at how other things rejoice together, as the sun climbs higher, the air
is made more pure, and the face of the earth puts forth an adornment of
flowers, and how the sea rests from its seething, you will see that every
created thing is related to each other in wonderful harmony.
56

56
Scilia, 136. Translated by Charles Scilia. Originally from Musica disciplina, 1
(Gerbert, Scriptores, 1, 30). Quid plura? Etiam apud supernos cives legimus huius artis
insignia celebrari, ut in Apocalypsi: habentes citharas Dei; et alibi: sicut citharaedorum
citharizantium in citharis suis. Hinc ergo colligendum est, quam gratum sit deo officium
cantandi, si intenta mente peregatur; quando in hoc angelorum choros imitatur, quos
sine intermissione Domini laudes concinere traditur. Nempe mundi istius compago,

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Aurelian noted that the singers/monks must remain alert to sing as perfectly as the angels.
He then explained that reading and writing helped with the “proper sonority of tone”
where memory and hearing alone could not be relied upon.
57
Singing needed to be in
concord in order to replicate a heavenly atmosphere. Therefore, the inscribed capitals at
Cluny were more than a singing aid for the monks singing in the choir. Rather, I would
like to suggest that they provided the moral message that harmonious singing was related
to a harmonious soul.
Another inscribed capital that referenced explicitly the singing and music in the
choir is found at Saint-Quentin-de-Baron (26 km east of Bordeaux in the Gironde) (Fig.
2.1). A capital on the north wall at the entrance to the choir shows a figure holding a
book. It is the inscription that identifies the figure as singing. CANTTA is inscribed on
the book with markings that resemble neumes. With the exception of the eight modes of
plainchant depicted at Cluny, this capital provides the only other instance of singing

convenientiaque naturalis harmonicam quodammodo continet congruentiam. Si enim
rimeris, qualiter sole altius procendente caetera congaudeant; qualiter scilicet aer purior
fiat, terrae facies floribus venustatem pubescat; mare a suo fervore requiescat:
deprehendis, quod omnis creatura, mira harmonia sociata, sibi conveniat.
57
Leo Treitler, “Reading and Singing: On the Genesis of Occidental Music
Writing,” Early Music History 4 (1984), 148. He cites Aurelian: “At this point it pleasing
to direct the mind’s eye together with the point of the pen to the melodies of the verse to
investigate in a few words what is the proper sonority of tone for each on in its lettering,
so that the prudent singer may be able to distinguish the varieties of verses that turn
harmoniously upon the tenor, since there are some tones that retain in their inflection an
arrangement of verses almost in one and the same way, and unless they are invested by
the eye beforehand with a cautious inspection or discernment either in the middle or at
the end, the tone of one mode will be changed into that of another.” Aureliani Reomensis
Musica disciplina, ed. Lawrence Gushee ([S.l.] : American Institute of Musicology,
1975), 118.

95

explicitly referenced both visually and textually on capital sculpture that I have found in
my corpus.

CHOIR OF ANGELS
The use of sculpted text and image to contain the sacred sounds of music also
provided a link to celestial music produced by angels. The eight modes of plainchant
depicted on the inscribed hemicycle capitals at Cluny III demonstrate the integral role of
singing, not only in a monk’s life but also in the composition of the cosmos. The monks
singing praises to God in the choir imitated the angels singing in heaven and, thus,
singing during the Divine Office created a link between the two realms. The author of the
Life of Abbot Hugh of Cluny referred to this perceived link in his description of the choir
at Cluny: the deambulatorium Angelorum.
58

The equating of monks singing in the choir to the choir of angels not only
demonstrated the importance of singing, but also monastic preparation and anticipation of
the celestial Jerusalem. For Gregory the Great, one could not discuss angels without
discussing men, because although their natures were different, they would be united in
the celestial Jerusalem, with man taking the place of fallen angels and, thus, restoring
perfection in heaven.
59
Gregory also related the social hierarchy of men on earth to the

58
Scilia, 133. Cites Vita Hugonis, Marrier, 458. The author of the Life of Hugh
(abbot of Cluny d. 1109) used this term to describe the choir at Cluny III.
59
Dominique Poirel, “L’ange gothique,” L’architecture gothique au service de la
liturgie (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2002), 122. Poirel is referring to Gregory’s
Homiliae in Evangelium, PL 76, 1252C. (Sed quid prodest nos de angelicis spiritibus ista
perstringere, si non studeamus haec etiam ad nostros profectus congrua consideratione
derivare? Quia enim superna illa civitas ex angelis et hominibus constat, ad quam

96

order of angels in heaven.
60
By the eleventh century it was understood that monks were
destined to take their place with angels at the end of time. These concepts were repeated
during the eleventh century at Cluny, in which heaven is equated to a monastery, the
monastery of heaven (coenobia coelorum).
61
Apocalypse 21 notes that the measure of a
man will be the same as an angel in the New Jerusalem, and thus men and angels will be
equals in the new holy city.
62

Medieval monks understood that angels had many roles: they were the attendants
of God's throne, God's messengers to mankind, guardians, and divine agents governing
the world.
63
The numerous angels depicted on inscribed capitals reflected these many
roles, and none more so than at the abbey church of Sainte-Foy at Conques.
64
The
importance of inscriptions accompanying images of angels is evident in a description of
the New Jerusalem: "And it had a wall great and high, having twelve gates, and in the

tantum credimus humanum genus ascendere, quantos illic contigit electos angelos
remansisse, sicut scriptum est: Statuit terminos gentium secundum numerum angelorum
Dei (Deut. XXXII, 8), debemus et nos aliquid ex illis distinctionibus supernorum civium
ad usum nostrae conversationis trahere, nosque ipsos ad incrementa virtutum bonis
studiis inflammare. Quia enim tanta illuc ascensura creditur multitudo hominum, quanta
multitudo remansit angelorum, superest ut ipsi quoque homines qui ad coelestem patriam
redeunt ex eis agminibus aliquid illuc revertentes imitentur.)
60
Ibid., 122.
61
Dominique Iogna-Prat, La Maison Dieu, 511. Iogna-Prat is citing Pierre de
Maillezais’s eleventh-century account of the foundation of the Cluniac abbey, Maillezais.
Pierre was writing at the behest of Abbot Goderan (1060-1074), who came from Cluny.
62
Apocalypse 21:17: “the measure of a man, which is of an angel.”
63
Angels identified by inscriptions as archangels in the choir are found at:
Maringues, Conques, Chauvigny, Saint-Révérien, Figeac, Colombiers, and Saint-Benoît-
sur-Loire.
64
There are seventy carved figures in the church at Conques (this includes
capitals and reliefs). Of those seventy figures, twenty-eight are angels. Ten are inscribed,
and two hold a banderole that most probably had a painted inscription that is no longer
visible. Sixteen angels are not inscribed.

97

gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes
of the children of Israel."
65
The inscribed names on the angels protecting the perimeter of
the choir at Conques can be related to this description of the New Jerusalem. Hence,
representations of angels within twelfth-century church buildings highlighted the
understanding of the church as a representation of the heavenly Jerusalem on earth.
At Conques, music and the modes of chant are not expressed as elegantly as they
are in the hemicycle at Cluny III. Nevertheless, the proliferation of sculpted and inscribed
angels around the choir at Conques transmitted the understanding that the choir was a
deambulatorium Angelorum. What is surprising about the inscribed angels at Conques is
that many are located above the tribune level. In addition to the many angels carved onto
capitals at Conques, sculpted angels holding inscribed banderoles are located in the
cupola, high above the ground (Fig. 2.8). The text would not have been easily visible to
the monks at the ground level. Were the monks meant to read these inscriptions? Perhaps
it is best to understand these inscriptions as giving the angels a voice so that they could
sing with the monks to God on high. In addition to singing with the monks, the inscribed
angels protected the sacred space of the choir and kept demons at bay.
During the Romanesque period, angels often replaced the four beasts in
representations of the Gospels, as was the case at Conques.
66
Capitals located in the
angles of the crossing tower are representations of the four Evangelists with their names

65
Apoc. 21:12.
66
The Evangelists are depicted as angels on inscribed capitals in seven of the
churches in my corpus. They are: Saint-André (Besse-en-Chandesse), Conques, Notre-
Dame-du-Port (Clermont-Ferrand), Le Puy Cathedral, Moissac, Mozac, and Saint-Priest
(Volvic).

98

inscribed on the books that they hold (Figs. 2.9 and 2.10). Paired with the evangelists are
angels depicted with names, i.e., Gabriel and Raphael (archangels), seraphim, cherubim
and angelus. These named angels face east towards the choir. The inscriptions
differentiate the angels from the Evangelists in the crossing tower, and also, identify them
as part of the celestial hierarchy.
67
Seraphim were the attendants of God's throne, and as
such did not interact with the earthly realm. Their inclusion at Conques indicates the link
between the terrestrial building and heaven.
The numerous angels on capitals in the choir—inscribed with names, i.e.,
seraphim, cherubim, and angelus—related to monastic preparation and anticipation of the
celestial Jerusalem. The church building was understood to be an earthly representation
of the heavenly Jerusalem, and at Conques the monks and angels together sang praises to
God in the choir. The inclusion of so many sculpted angels in the space of the choir
explicitly connected the choir of monks to the choir of angels, reminding the monks that
during the Divine Office the celestial Jerusalem was united with its terrestrial
counterpart. Thus, the inscribed angels in the choir created a microcosm of terrestrial and
celestial realms. The inscriptions accompanying the carved angels not only gave the
angels a voice so that they could join the singing of the monks, but also adopted the
language of the Church, Latin, and thus embodied an earthly as well as heavenly
authority at Conques. In addition, angels, as protectors and guardians shielded the choir,
the site of the sacred center of the church: the altar.

67
In the Middle Ages the angels were organized into different orders (sometimes
referred to as Angelic Choirs: seraphim, cherubim, thrones, dominions, virtues, powers,
principalities, archangels, and angels. This organization is discussed by Gregory the
Great in Homilia, and St. Isidore of Seville in Etymologiae.

99

ALTARS
As the site of the sacrifice of the Mass (Eucharist),
68
the altar was the sacred
center of the church where the liturgy culminated. Its importance was often emphasized
by an elevated position within the church, atop several steps above the choir. Likewise, a
second altar, located east of the main altar atop several steps, contained the relics of the
church’s patron saint.
69
This configuration is seen in many Romanesque abbey churches
such as Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire and Sainte-Foy de Conques. At Sainte-Foy the
arrangement dates back to the eleventh century and at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire to the
twelfth century (Figs. 2.11 and 2.12).
70

At the heart of the choir the consecration of the high altar defined the space as
sacred. The inscriptions framing the consecrated stone or found on inscribed slabs set into
the adjacent wall of the choir, are frequently inscribed with the dedication date. These
inscriptions commemorated the altar’s consecration and, in recalling the consecration,

68
Earliest mention of altar is I Corinthians 10:18-21. Paul referred to it as the
“table of the Lord,” whereas the table of the devils was a pagan altar.
69
Pope Leo IV, Leonis Papae IV Homilia, PL, 115:677. (Corporale mundissimum
sit. Altare sit coopertum de mundis linteis. Super altare nihil ponatur nisi capsae, et
reliquiae, et quatuor Evangelia, et pixis um corpore Domini ad viaticum infirmis; caetera
in nitido loco recondantur). Pope Leo IV approved the custom of displaying relics on the
altar in the mid-ninth century.
70
The altar to Sainte Foy is now found in the former chapel dedicated to St. Peter
in the south transept, as evidenced by the three capitals depicting his life. These capitals,
depicting the Liberation of Peter, Arrest of Peter, and crucifixion of St. Peter, are located
on the east side of the south transept and frame the entrance to a chapel. There is an
inscribed capital depicting the upside-down crucifixion of Peter at the entrance to the
chapel. The inscription runs along all three sides of the capital's impost block. The text is
abraded and has not yet been transcribed. Nevertheless, one can make out the words:
INSCENSOR SIMON NERO[?].

100

activated the liturgical space.
71
Eric Palazzo’s study of portable altars has demonstrated
clearly that the mere presence of a consecrated altar was enough to designate a space as
sacred.
72

A church could only be consecrated if an altar was also to be consecrated. An
altar could be dedicated alone, as when it was a new main altar, such as the altar
dedicated by the pope at Saint-Sernin de Toulouse in 1096,
73
or the altar prepared for the

71
Jean Michaud, “Culte des reliques et épigraphie. L’exemple des dédicaces et
des consécrations d’autels,” Les reliques: Objets, cultes, symboles. Actes du colloque
international de l’Université du Littoral-Côte d’Opale (Boulogne-sur-Mer) 4-6
septembre 1997, eds., Edina Bozóky and Anne-Marie Helvétius, (Turnhout: Brepols,
1990), 210. An inscription found at Saint-Hilaire de Poitiers from 1162, references not
only the names of the saints whose relics are contained within the altar but also the
moment of their placement within the altar on the day the church’s dedication. The
inscription reads: HEC RELIQUIE IN HOC ALTARI FUERUNT IN DEDICATIONE
ECCLESIE REPOSITE PETRUS AURIENSIS EPISCOPUS CANONICUS SANCTI
HILARII CONSECRAVIT ECCLESIAM.
72
Eric Palazzo, L’espace rituel et le sacré dans le christianisme: La liturgie de
l’autel portatif dans l’Antiquité et au Moyen Age (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2008).
Once consecrated, the portable altar created a sacred space on which to perform the Mass
outside the confines of the church building. Like table altars within the church, portable
altars were made of consecrated stone and contained relics. Often, metalwork inscribed
with the saints’ names, whose relics were contained within the altar, bordered it. Palazzo
noted that medieval canonists and theologians justified the use of portable altars by citing
the Song of Jacob in Genesis 28:10-22. Genesis 28:16 is a Cluniac antiphon sung at the
anniversary for the dedication of the Church at Vespers: And when Jacob awaked out of
sleep, he said: Indeed the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not (cumque evigilasset
Iacob de somno ait vere Dominus est in loco isto et ego nesciebam). F-Pn lat. 12044, fol.
206, from the monastery at St. Maur-des-Fosses (1100s).
http://cantusdatabase.org/node/144956 (accessed December 21, 2012).
73
Inscribed around the edge of the altar tabletop: + IN NOM... IXV XPI HOC
ALTARE FEGERUNT CONSTITVI CONFRATRES BEATI MARTIRIS SATURNINI
IN QUO DIVINV CELBRATVR OFFICIV AD SALVTE ANIMARV SVARV ET
OMIVM DE FIDELIV AM + SATVRNINE DEI CONFESSOR ET INCLITE MARTIR
NOMINE PRO XPI QVI TAVRO TRACTVS OBIISTI VRBE TOLOSANA DV
CORRIPIS ACTA PFANA VOTA TVAE PLEBIS FER AD AVRES OMPTIS
VT...GRATIS QVOD IN HAC ARA CELEBRATVR BERNARDVS GELDVINVS ME
FEC.

101

translation of relics as at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire in 1108.
74
Frequently the consecration of
new altars and building programs would coincide with the visit of dignitaries, as for
example, Pope Urban II’s dedication of numerous churches and altars during his visit to
France in 1095, which is witnessed by inscriptions.
75
The importance of the main altar
dedication warranted the attention of a pope and, thus, underscores the significance of the
altar in cult spaces.
Since the Early Christian period, altars had been considered both a table and a
tomb.
76
Over the course of the Late Antique period, altars in churches began to contain
relics.
77
It was not until 787, during the Second Council of Nicaea, that the inclusion of

74
The altar at Saint-Sernin was consecrated on 16 May 1096. The consecration
ceremony is mentioned in two documents: the Chronicon Sancti Saturnini (1875, V, col.
49-50) and a letter from Urbain II dated the same year, 1096 (C. Douais, Cartulaire de
l’abbaye de Saint-Sernin de Toulouse (844-1200), (Paris-Toulouse, 1887, App. 1, 3n476.)
The relics of Saint Benedict were placed in the central pillar of the crypt on March 21,
1108. They were extracted on July 11, 1207 by the archbishops of Sens and Bourges and
placed in a reliquary, which was placed in the main altar. The new church at Saint-
Benoît-sur-Loire was dedicated on March 21, 1108, which was the same liturgical
anniversary of the dedication of the old church, and so the church at Saint-Benoît-sur-
Loire maintained the same anniversary of the dedication date as the church that was
destroyed in the fire of 1026.
75
Urban II’s visit coincided with Cluny’s renewal of its papal privileges and its
confirmation of dependencies. Although Urban II mainly visited Cluny and its
dependencies, he also consecrated altars outside of the Cluny sphere, such as the high
altar at Saint-Sernin de Toulouse, a house of Augustinian canons.
76
Sacrosancta concilia 4:1579. Canon 26: (Altaria nisi lapida chrismatis unctions
non sacrentur). The Council of Epaon (Gaul) in 517 prohibited the use of wood altars,
noting that only stone altars may be consecrated.
77
Jean-Pierre Caillet, “Reliques et architecture religieuse aux époques
carolingienne et romane,” Les reliques: Objets, cultes, symboles. Actes du colloque
international de l’Université du Littoral-Côte d’Opale (Boulogne-sur-Mer) 4-6
septembre 1997 (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 1999), 177. Jean-Pierre Caillet mentioned
the placement of altars over the tombs of saints. Old St. Peter’s is one example of an altar
positioned above the apostle’s tomb. San Paolo fuori le mura is another.

102

relics in an altar was required and that no church could be consecrated without relics.
78

Relics served as mediators between heaven and earth.
79
The presence of the saints,
particularly martyrs who suffered for their faith and earned a place in heaven, petitioned
the divine on behalf of the faithful. The martyrs, in giving up their lives for Christ,
became Christian heroes, witnesses for Christ. Relics were believed to affect the physical
space around them and to radiate sanctity.
Relics of saints and instruments of the passion were included in the altar, and
inscriptions on the altar frequently listed the relics contained within the altar (Fig. 2.13).
80

Since relics were entombed in the altar at the time of dedication, the liturgy for
consecrating an altar was similar to a funeral liturgy.
81
The significance of relics
contained in altars can be related to Apocalypse 6:9:
And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of
them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony, which
they held.
82

According to scriptural interpretation, the altar refers to Christ and the relics placed under
the altar refer to the souls of the martyrs living in heaven.
83
The use of inscriptions to

78
Yasin, Saints and Church Spaces in the Late Antique Mediterranean, 154. For
more on the relationship between altars and relics, see pages 151-156.
79
See Jennifer A. Harris, “Building Heaven on Earth,” From Dead of Night to
End of Day: The Medieval Customs of Cluny, 131-151; and Alain Guerreau, “Espace
social, espace symbolique à Cluny au XIe siècle,” L’Ogre historien: autour Jacques le
Goff, ed. Jacques Revel and Jean-Claude Schmitt (Paris: Gallimard, 1999), 167.
80
Michaud, "Les inscriptions de consécration d'autels," 8. In his catalog of altar
inscriptions, the earliest relic inventory inscribed on an altar is from the sixth century.
81
The prayers for the consecration of the altar are found in the Gelasian
Sacramentary: Liber Sacramentorum Romanae Ecclesiae, ed., Henry Austin Wilson
(1894), 133-134.
82
Michaud, “Culte des reliques et épigraphie," 199.

103

attest to the martyrs under the altar is visible on the main altar at Saint-Denis
(consecrated by Pope Stephen II on 28 July 754):

HIC ABENTUR FELICITER CORPORA MARTIRIUM DIONISII,
RUSTICI ET ELEUTHERII.
Here the bodies of the martyrs Dionysus, Rusticus, and Eleutherius are
happily held.

Excavations under the altar have uncovered reliquaries containing relics attributed to
these martyred saints based on the inscribed reliquaries.
84
Inscribing the saints’ names on
or near an altar provided both an inventory of the relics and a symbolic invocation of the
saints’ aid.
85
Inscriptions frequently testified that a church or altar was dedicated in honor
of a saint and, thus, emphasized the important role of saints as intercessors and models
for behavior.
In the Middle Ages, the number of altars within a church increased because an
altar could not be used for more than one mass per day.
86
The different types of altars can

83
There are two main categories of saints: martyrs and confessors. Martyrs were
put to death for their Christian beliefs, whereas confessors avowed their Christian beliefs
but were not killed for them.
84
Michaud, “Culte des reliques et épigraphie,” 208.
85
The examples are too numerous to note here. But one example is an inscription
found in the wall of the choir at the Ancien prieuré Saint-Marcel in Chalons-sur-Saône.
The inscription states that the church and the principal altar are consecrated in honor of
the Apostles Peter and Paul, the relics of all the saints whose relics are within the altar
(HEC ECCLESIA : ET PRINCIPALE ALTARE : CONSECRATA SUNT : IN
HONORE : APOSTOLORUM : PETRI : ET PAULI : IN QUO SUNT; RELIQUE :
SANCTORUM : DENS : SANCTI; JULIANI : DE PULVERE; SANCTI : MARCIALIS
: SANCTI MARTI; NI).
86
Davril and Palazzo, La vie des moines, 223. Davril and Palazzo noted that
secondary altars in the church proliferated during the Carolingian period and these altars
were reserved for the celebration of votive masses. Alcuin (d. 804) introduced votive
masses to the Carolingian court. Alcuin’s missal, compiled between 794 and 804,

104

be discerned through terms used in the monastic customaries. In the Cluniac customaries,
the term altare usually referred to the main altar; however, when there was the possibility
of multiple altars visited during a procession, the altars were designated as maius or
principali for the main altar and minora for secondary altars. This designation is seen in
the prescriptions for the feast of the Nativity in Liber Tramitis:
At the full hour a total of ten candles are lit in front of the principal (main)
altar and similarly one for each secondary [altar].
87

The Main Altar
As discussed above, an altar could be consecrated alone, and the main altar was
considered the sacred center of the church. The importance of the main altar’s dedication
was recognized and made permanent by inscriptions on the altar.
88
If there was not an
inscription on the altar itself that commemorated the altar’s consecration, or a list of the
names of the saints whose relics are within the altar, there sometimes was an inscribed
slab next to the altar. During his exile at Saint-Germain-d'Auxerre, the Benedictine
chronicler, Raoul Glaber (ca. 1000) composed and restored inscriptions on altars at the
church.
89
The need for inscriptions bearing dedication names was explicitly mentioned in
the Liber Tramitis. The customary contains a list of the altars and relics at Cluny II

included votive masses that Alcuin composed. For Alcuin’s votive Masses see, J.
Deshusses, “Les messes d’Alcuin,” Archiv für Liturgiewissenschaft 14 (1972): 7-41.
87
LT, 18, line 16. [A completae hora decem candele per totam noctem ante
principale altare ardeant et per unumque ex minoribus une similiter.]
88
Michaud, “Culte des reliques et épigraphie,” 208.
89
Raoul Glaber, Les cinq livres de ses histoires (900-1044), ed. Marcel Prou
(Paris: Picard, 1886), 120. Preterea egomet, quondam rogatus a conservis et fratribus
nostris ejusdem loci, ut altariorum titulos, qui a scolasticis viris compositi olim fuerant,
sed vetustate, ut pene cuncta, fatescente minime comparebent, reformarem.

105

(consecrated in 981),
90
and the text specifically states that tablets, inscribed with the
dedication names, should be made and affixed to the wall next to each altar.
91

In some instances the artist inscribed his name on the altar. One well-known
example is the main altar at Saint-Sernin in Toulouse. Pope Urban II consecrated the altar
on May 16, 1096. Within the lower right frame of the altar is the artist’s inscription:
BERNARDUS GELDUINUS ME FECIT (Fig. 2.14).
92
Bernardus’s name occupies a
position on the altar similar to that of the inscribed names of saints framing the tabletop
on which the Eucharist would have been celebrated. This position placed his name at the
most sacred point in the church; however, he was not equating himself with the saints but
placing himself in proximity to the saints in order to establish a link with the saint. Just as
the saints were believed to be physically present within altars through their relics, the

90
Cluny II was consecrated in 981 and was apparently in use until 1122. The
church was demolished by abbot Pons de Melgueil (1075-1126), and then Cluny III was
the monastery’s primary church. The list of relics in the Liber Tramitis lists the relics at
Cluny II, and therefore it is logical to assume that the relics at Cluny II would have been
translated to Cluny III. LT, 259-260. On the continued use of Cluny II during the
construction of Cluny III see Kristine Krüger, "Monastic Customs and Liturgy," 191-220;
Neil Stratford, “The documentary evidence for the building of Cluny III,” in Le
gouvernement d'Hugues de Semur à Cluny, 283-301. On the uses of the Liber Tramitis
see Susan Boynton, “On the Uses of the Liber Tramitis at Farfa,” in Studies in Medieval
Chant and Liturgy in Honor of David Hiley (Cambridge: Harvard University Dept. of
Music: Distributed by Harvard University Press, 2007): 87-104; and idem, Shaping
Monastic Identity.
91
LT, 259. De tabulis quos debent fieri per unumqemque altare suis nominibus
dedicatis in parietibus scriptis
92
As discussed in Chapter 1, the term ‘me fecit’ may be translated as ‘made me’
or ‘had me made.’ In the case of the main altar at Saint-Sernin, it is widely accepted that
Bernardus Gelduinus was the artist and not the patron. This is based on the lack of any
documentation of a donation made under that name. See Frances Terpak, “Pilgrimage or
migration? A case study of artistic movement in the early Romanesque,” Zeitschrift für
Kunstgeschichte 51:3 (1988): 414-427; Thomas W. Lyman, “La table d’autel de Bernard
Gilduin et son ambiance originelle,” Cahiers de Saint-Michel-de-Cuxà 13 (1982): 53-73.

106

inscribed artist’s name ensured that the artist would be remembered perpetually in
prayers at those altars. A name on an altar made that individual present within the most
sacred zone of the church: at the site of the Eucharistic celebration when past, present and
future members of the Church were believed to be united as one in Christ. In her
examination of the role of inscribed names, Cécile Treffort posited that necrologies from
the Carolingian period in which the names of deceased monks were listed for
remembrance in prayer demonstrated the importance of the name in remembering the
dead. The inscribed name made present the one who was absent.
93
The simple act of
placing the book of names upon the altar would be sufficient to recommend the souls of
the dead to God, as seen in a prayer from a necrology from Salzburg:
Lord, deign to remember your servants who are recommended by our
sacred prayers or to confessors, your servants who through their alms are
entrusted to the venerable place of saints, they whose names are inscribed
in the book of life and placed on the holy altar.
94

93
Cécile Treffort, “Inscrire son nom,” Cahiers de Saint-Michel-de-Cuxà 34
(2003): 147-60. See also, Treffort, "Appels à la prière et oraisons de pierre dans les
inscriptions funéraires des viiie -xie siècles," La prière en latin de l'Antiquité au XVIe
siècle: Formes, évolutions, significations, ed. Jean-François Cottier (Turnhout, Belgium:
Brepols, 2007), 273-89.
94
Ibid., 154. "Daigne te rappeler, Seigneur, de tes serviteurs et de tes servantes
qui se sont recommandés à nos oraisons sacrées ou aux confesseurs, de tes serviteurs et
de tes servantes qui, par leurs aumônes, se sont recommandés aux vénérables lieux saints,
eux dont les noms sont inscrits dans le livre de vie et déposés sur le saint autel."
(Memorare digneris Domine formulos et famulos quique se nobis sacris orationibus vel
confessionibus commendarunt, et qui elymosinis suis se commendaverunt venerabile loca
sanctorum quorum nomina sunt scripta in libra vitae et supra sancto altario sunt posito
famulorum famularumque tuarum). Originally in Liber memorialis de Salzbourg, ed.
MGH, Necr. Germ., II, 6. Latin to French translation by Cécile Treffort; my French to
English translation.

107

This prayer emphasizes that the names contained in the book should be remembered and
placed into the company of the saints.
95
It also refers to the Book of Life, in which the
names of the just are placed on the altar in heaven.
96
As Treffort noted, the inscriptions
activated the space and performed liturgically.
97
Inscribing names on an earthly altar was
a type of necrology that continuously asked for heavenly remembrance.
In addition to the inscriptions on altars, inscribed capitals frequently frame the
altar. Donor and artists’ signatures are the most frequent inscriptions within the choir, and
I would argue that inscribed capitals located around the edges of the choir (e.g.,
hemicycle and ambulatory), framed the high altar in much the same way as inscriptions
placed directly on it. The inscribed artist/donor name on a capital asked for remembrance
in much the same way as the artist/donor name inscribed on an altar (i.e., Bernardus’s
name on the main altar at Saint-Sernin). For example, at Saint-Hilaire in Melle a capital
bears a donor inscription: FACERE ME AIMERICVS ROGAVIT (Aimericus asked to
make me) (Fig. 2.15). The capital is in the north aisle of the ambulatory and the monks
would have seen the capital upon entering the church from the conventual complex on the
south side of the church. The visibility of the name to the monks was important because it
was a constant reminder of Aimericus’s request to be included in their prayers. The
ambulatory columns do not block the capital from the monks' view as they entered the

95
The prevalence of inscribed names near an altar may be related to the Book of
Life, in which the names of the predestinated are listed.
96
Apoc. 20:12, 15. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing in the presence
of the throne, and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the
book of life; and the dead were judged by those things which were written in the books,
according to their works…And whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was
cast into the pool of fire.
97
Treffort, “Inscrire son nom,” 153.

108

choir from the conventual complex. Aimericus’s name, and therefore Aimericus himself,
was able to view the altar and to ask the monks to remember him in their prayers.
At Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire (originally known as Fleury), the dedication of the
main altar and the abbey's abbot are commemorated on inscribed capitals in the blind
triforium of the choir. These capitals, located on the south side of the church (the side
closest to the monks' entrance from the cloister), overlook the sanctuary (Fig. 2.12). The
relics of St. Benedict, the father of Western monasticism, arrived at Fleury from
Montecassino in the late-seventh century (ca. 673). The church, formerly dedicated and
named for Saint Mary, was damaged by fire in 1026, and it was rebuilt through most of
the eleventh century. In 1107/8 the altar was dedicated to St. Mary and the church to St.
Benedict. Both the Virgin and St. Benedict are depicted on the inscribed blind triforium
capitals overlooking the main altar and, thus, provide figural and textual remembrance of
the church’s patron saints.
98

Three key figures are depicted and inscribed on these capitals: the Virgin, Saint
Benedict, and the monk Hugh. On a capital closest to the main altar (capital #41d),
99

Saint Benedict, seated and facing into the sanctuary, is surrounded by Hugh and his

98
The scholarship on Fleury is extensive. The most comprehensive study of the
church and its decoration in the Romanesque period is by Eliane Vergnolle, Saint-Benoît-
sur-Loire et la sculpture du XIe siècle. For the iconography and hagiography of the
sculpture, see also Jean-Marie Berland, "Hagiographie et iconographie romane à Saint-
Benoît-sur-Loire," Cahiers de Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa 16 (1985): 117-74. For a discussion
of liturgy at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, see Anselm Davril The Monastic Ritual of Fleury
(Orléans, Bibliothèque Municipale, MS 123) [101] (London, 1990); and “Le cadre de vie
à Fleury au tournant des Xe-XIe siècles,” Abbon, un abbé de l'an mille, eds. Annie
Dufour and Gillette Labory (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2008), 15-23.
99
The numbering system used to identify the capitals at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire is
that in Eliane Vergnolle’s monograph cited above in n. 99.

109

fellow monks, who are paying homage to the saint (Fig. 2.16). Hugh is identified as Hugh
of Sainte-Marie, the twelfth-century chronicler of the abbey and the author of the
Miracles of Saint Benedict, and he appears inscribed on two capitals in the church (in the
blind triforium and in the north transept). The inscription runs along the impost block and
labels the figures on each face: HITERIUS HUGO [de] SCA MA S BENEDICTUS
FR[atre] S. HUGONIS (Hiterius, Hugh of Sainte-Marie, St. Benedict, Brother St. Hugh).
Only the monk labeled ‘HUGO’ on the east face has physical contact with St. Benedict;
Hugh reaches towards the main face of the capital and touches the crosier in St.
Benedict’s hand, as St. Benedict turns his head towards Hugh. On the basis of St.
Benedict’s position on an abbatial seat and the key in the hand of the figure labeled
Hiterius, the capital has been interpreted as an investiture scene, which suggests that St.
Benedict himself selected Hugh and chose the abbot of Fleury.
100

West of this capital another capital in the triforium again features Hugh and St.
Benedict and also includes the Virgin (capital #42d) (Fig. 2.17). The Virgin is featured on
the main face, facing towards the main altar below, and she is labeled MAT[er] D[e]I
(Mother of God). To emphasize her role as the mother of God, the Christ child is seated
on her lap in the Maiestas pose.
101
On the east face St. Benedict presents a kneeling Hugh

100
Hugh of Sainte-Marie became abbot of Fleury in 1107 after the death of Simon
(1096-1107). The work on the chevet, which was begun during the Guillaume’s abbacy
(1067-1080), was completed during Simon’s abbacy although he died a few days before
the consecration ceremony on March 21, 1107. Vergnolle, Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, 11, 19.
101
For a discussion of this theme, see Ilene H. Forsyth, The Throne of Wisdom:
Wood Sculptures of the Madonna in Romanesque France (Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1972). Forsyth examined how the style and form of this sculptural
theme embodied the theology of the Incarnation. Forsyth also demonstrated that the wood
Throne of Wisdom sculptures served as proxies for the Virgin and Christ Child, and in

110

to the Mother and Child. Hugh, reaching over to the main face, offers a book to the seated
Christ child. Both St. Benedict and Hugh are labeled (BENEDICTUS HUGO
MO[nachus]) in the arch above their heads. There is a third figure on the west face, which
is not labeled, but is nimbed; it has been suggested that he is one of the apostles.
102
The
figures on each face of the capital are contained within arches that converge on twisted
columns at the corners of the main face. The figures that are represented and labeled are
directly related to the local context of the church and to the altar. Abbot Hugh succeeded
Abbot Simon, and the capitals provide a record of his role in the dedication of the altar.
An 1108 written account from the abbey describes the dedication of the main altar to St.
Mary and the translation of St. Benedict’s relics. Although it lists the important attendees,
including Louis VI and the bishop of Autun, it does not mention Abbot Simon or his
successor, Hugh.
103
Nevertheless, Hugh is mentioned on a stone document, the inscribed
capitals. Hence it is highly significant that both of these capitals are positioned just a
couple feet west of the main altar dedicated to the Virgin.
104
The inscribed capitals in the

some instances served as sacred props in liturgical dramas. In the instance of the capitals
at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, I would argue that the Hugh and St. Mary capital in the
triforium anticipated the sacrifice performed below at the main altar, because the sacrifice
is made possible only because of the Incarnation.
102
Les chapiteaux de la basilique. Renaissance to Fleury 222 (2007), 29. This
figure has been identified as the Apostle John, the evangelist, who is traditionally
associated with the Virgin. However, there are no other attributes on the figure to confirm
this identification.
103
The description of the dedication of the main altar to St. Mary is recounted in
the Chronicon Sancti Petri Vivi Senonensis, ANNO MCVIII. For a transcription see,
Vergnolle, Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, 279.
104
In another church dedicated to the Virgin, Eglise Notre-Dame at Colombiers, a
statue placed in the blind arcade on the north side of the church overlooks the sanctuary.
It bears the inscription GABRIEL. In the next bay east of the one with Gabriel is a
representation of the Virgin. Representations of the archangel Gabriel and the Virgin are

111

blind triforium at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire frame the main altar and commemorate not only
St. Benedict and the Virgin but also the importance of the monk Hugh. No other abbot
involved in the construction of the church has his name inscribed within the church. The
location of Hugh’s name and image within the same sculptural sequence as St. Benedict
and the Virgin sent the message that they sanctioned him as the successor to Simon.
105

The height above the ground of the inscribed triforium capitals at Saint-Benoît-
sur-Loire's poses two interesting questions. One: could a viewer read the inscriptions
from the choir? Placed more than twenty feet above the ground, the epigraphic texts
would have been difficult to read, and the nature of a blind triforium means that there is
no passageway (as seen in triforia and tribune galleries) at that level from which one
could easily view the capitals. Second: who were the intended readers for the
inscriptions? The sanctuary was a privileged space that did not experience much traffic. I
would like to propose two possibilities. First, although these capitals were located high
above the main altar, they inhabited the most sacred space of the entire church. Second,
the optimal reader of texts within the church, especially those placed high above the
ground, would have been God. This was also the case of the carved angels at the crossing
tower at Conques. The inscribed capitals both communicated and linked the earthly

integral in depictions of the Annunciation. The significance of this pairing near the main
altar links the importance of the Incarnation of Christ to the Eucharistic sacrifice
performed at the main altar.
105
Vergnolle dates the production of the Hugh capitals and the capitals depicting
the miracles of St. Benedict to 1080-1090 (the abbacy of Joscerand). Vergnolle does not
discuss the significance of the Hugh capitals other than relating them to possible
donations made by Hugh and his family. Vergnolle, Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, 256-8. Given
the subject matter depicted on the capitals, the Hugh capitals may provide the only record
of donations made by Hugh and/or his family to the abbey, or they may represent a sort
of visual campaign promoting Hugh’s abbacy.

112

church building to the heavenly kingdom. I will discuss this concept in more detail later
in this chapter.
We have seen that inscribed names can be related to necrologies placed on an
altar, however, other themes (both narrative and epigraphic) are found on or near altars.
These themes most commonly allude to the Eucharist. The most common narrative
themes are: The Sacrifice of Isaac and Daniel in the Lions’ Den. The earliest extant
instances of inscribed capitals depicting these scenes are found in the late seventh century
at San Pedro de la Nave on the crossing piers next to the main altar. The representation of
this theme reached its apogee in the twelfth century. In late eleventh- and twelfth-century
France, the Sacrifice of Isaac appears on capitals fifteen times.
106
Six of these instances
are inscribed, with four located in the choir.
107
Daniel in the Lions' Den was also popular
in the Romanesque period. Eleanor Scheifele confirmed the theme's popularity, providing
a catalog of ninety-five examples throughout France.
108
Ten of these examples are
inscribed capitals, with four located next to an altar.
109
In the case of both of these
themes, the inscriptions either identify a figure or contain a short phrase that identifies the
narrative.

106
Index of Christian Art
107
Conques, Notre-Dame-du-Port (Clermont-Ferrand), Saint-Austremoine
(Issoire), and Eglise Saint-Seurin (Bordeaux).
108
Eleanor Scheifele, “A Romanesque French capital of Daniel in the Lions’
Den,” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 81/3 (1994): 46-83. The list of
locations with examples of the theme of Daniel in the Lion’s Den from the twelfth
century in France appears on page 83.
109
See Appendix. The instances found at La Madeleine de Vézelay, Saint-Benoît-
sur-Loire, Saint-Lucie de Jaillans, and Sorde-L’Abbaye are near altars. The instances at
Marcilhac-sur-Célé, Saint-Eptade de Cervon, Saint-Sardos, and Saint-Porchaire are at the
west portal to the church. Capitals depicting Daniel in the Lions’ Den at La Daurade,
Toulouse and Moissac are found in the cloister.

113

The Church Fathers viewed Isaac as a pre-figuration of the sacrifice of Christ. The
theme is sculpted and inscribed on a capital on a pier on the south side of the church at
Sainte-Foy in Conques (Fig. 2.18). The inscription reads: O A[BR]AHAM IBI
OBTVLIT SVAM PROL[EM] Ω MACTANDVS OM (Abraham offers his offspring,
God is about to be honored).
110
During the celebration of the Eucharist, this capital's
location to the south of the high altar, facing the monks as they entered the choir from the
conventual complex, regularly reminded the celebrant of God’s willingness to sacrifice
his own son.
111

Daniel in the Lions’ Den was also viewed as a prefiguration of the Eucharistic
sacrifice and its promise of resurrection, and therefore complemented the actions taking
place at an altar.
112
Medieval commentaries on the Book of Daniel reveal that theologians
regarded Daniel as a prototype of Christ, salvation, and resurrection.
113
The Daniel
narrative symbolized a demonstration of faith in the face of persecution and trial;
deliverance of the righteous and punishment of the wicked; and conversion through
witnessing the triumph of faith. In Speculum ecclesiae, Honorius of Autun (ca. before

110
The inscription is very similar to a seventh-century inscribed capital depicting
the Sacrifice of Isaac located at the crossing of San Pedro de la Nave. The inscription
reads: + UBI HABRAAM OBTULIT ISAAC FILIUM SUUM OLOCAUPSTUM
DOMINO (Where Abraham offered his son Isaac as a holocaust to the Lord). The
apostles Peter and Paul appear on the sides and are identified with inscriptions.
111
Inscribed capitals depicting the Sacrifice of Isaac appear six times within my
corpus. Of these six instances, four are in the space of the choir, and they are found at
Conques, Notre-Dame-du-Port (Clermont-Ferrand), Saint-Austremoine (Issoire), and
Eglise Saint-Seurin (Bordeaux).
112
Rupert of Deutz, De Trinitate, PL 167:746b-799c. Rupert of Deutz in his
commentary on the trinity explicitly links Daniel to sacrifice.
113
See: Jerome, Commentariorum in Danielem, PL 25:526; Augustine,
Questiones Veteris Testamentum, PL 35:899-904; and Rupert of Deutz, De Trinitate, PL
167:1509-12; Honorius of Autun, Speculum ecclesiae, PL 172.

114

1125) related Daniel’s chastity to saving him from harm by the lions.
114
The importance
of chastity near an altar would also have resonated for a monastic audience.
The main altar, as the site of the Eucharist, was the sacred center of the medieval
church. We have seen that inscriptions commemorated the altar's dedication and provided
an inventory of the relics contained within. These inscriptions have been linked to
remembrances of the dead and recommending the souls of the dead to God. Artists'
signatures and donors' names inscribed on or near an altar functioned similarly, asking to
have their souls recommended to God in prayers of remembrance. In addition to
inscriptions related explicitly to the dedication of an altar, narrative themes related to the
Eucharist are also found near the main altar. These inscriptions did more than identify the
narrative theme; they perpetually performed the Eucharistic sacrifice. Furthermore, the
location of the inscribed capitals near the main altar functioned similarly to inscriptions
carved along the edges of the altar tabletop. These inscriptions framed the sacred space,
and both designated the space as sacred and actively protected it.

Secondary Altars
The main altar was not the only altar in the church framed by inscribed capitals.
Inscribed capitals also framed secondary altars within the church. These secondary altars,
or minor altars according to the customaries, were also dedicated and contained relics
and, therefore, provided an appropriate location for inscribed capitals.

114
Honorius of Autun, Speculum ecclesiae, PL 172:1082.

115

The Crypt
The main altar, discussed above, contained relics and was the site of the
Eucharist. The crypt, an underground chamber for relics and tombs, was located beneath
the sanctuary. Often the body of the saint to whom the church was dedicated was located
in the crypt directly beneath the high altar and, thus, the crypt is linked spatially and
conceptually to the choir and main altar above.
The Cluniac customaries confirm that the crypt was a site for processions, altars,
and prayers.
115
The themes of inscribed capitals in the crypt do not differ from those
found on or near the high altar. They include artist and donor names, hagiographic, and
martyrdom scenes.
116
The most common inscription found in the crypt however, is an
inscribed name. At Cruas the name HAIREBOIDUS is inscribed on a capital near the
entrance to the crypt on the south side, and at Saint-Savinien an honorific to the mayor
and his wife is inscribed on a capital at the entrance to the crypt: VIR CLARUS
BALDUINUS ET PETRONILLA UXOR EJUS HA[nc].
117
In the case of Saint-Savinien,
the inscribed names are also mentioned in the text of a chronicle.
118
Much like the
inscribed names on capitals near the high altar discussed above, the inscribed names in

115
LT, 162
7
, 206
15-21
, 213
8
, 215
17
.
116
The inscribed capital at Saint-Girons, Hagetmau depicts the Deliverance of
Peter and is the second capital from the axial bay on the south side of the crypt. It reads:
FEREA QUID—CVSTODES— MIRVM SIC CEDVNT HOSTIA PETRO—SOLVE
RE ANGELVS PETRVM (A miracle. The guards—The gates of iron opened for Peter.
An angel frees Peter).
117
Balduinus, a distinguished man, and his wife, Petronilla.
118
The chronicle dates to 1070-1080, and I am placing the production of the
capital after this date.

116

the crypt relate to the liturgy for the commemoration of the dead and asks for
remembrance in the Kingdom of Heaven.
The locations of the inscribed capitals in crypts are often near an altar, such as at
Vilhosc, which commemorates the dedication of an altar in the crypt, noting the date of
the dedication and the saints buried below the altar.
119
At Saint-Savinien, the location of
inscribed capitals frame the entrance to the crypt much like inscribed capitals located in
the choir above.

Transept chapels
The space of the monastic choir included the transept, which is a rectangular area
that cuts across the main axis of a basilica-type building and projects beyond it. This
space is sometimes referred to as the transept arms because it resembles arms extending
from the body of the church. The transept gives the basilica the form of a Latin cross. The
transept, separating from the sanctuary and the main altar, provides an ideal location for
subsidiary chapels with secondary altars.
Inscribed capitals with similar themes to those at the high altar are also found near
these secondary altars. An inscribed capital commemorating a possible donation is found
in a chapel in the north transept at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire (capital #8). The scene
represents figures paying homage to Christ, and the figures are named as the parents of
Hugh (mother Oda, father Hugues) and his three brothers (Hugh, Cleopas, Petrus) (Fig.

119
The inscription reads: VII KALENDAS MAR[CII]/ DEDICACIO. …]
ALTARIA. SANCTI / SEPULCRI./ ET SANCTI BER[…]

117

2.19).
120
The inscription reads: HUGO MILES. GUGO M PETRUS MILES: III FRS
RVIIZ SCX HUGO MACVS OD.
121
Hugh and his brothers are labeled and depicted
kneeling in supplication at the feet of Christ, who is inscribed with Ω. The prostrated
figure of Oda is labeled on the east face. Hugh, a monk and chronicler of the abbey, is
also depicted and inscribed on a capital in the blind triforium overlooking the main altar.
This capital at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire shares a pier with an inscribed capital
depicting Daniel in the Lions’ Den (capital #7), a popular theme found near main altars
(Fig. 2.20). The main action of the narrative, Daniel with his arms raised in prayer,
flanked by two lions, faces into the transept chapel that contains an altar. The figures on
each face are labeled: DANIEL GABRIEL ABACEAS (for Habacuc). The scene on the
capital at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire references Daniel 14, and closely resembles other
sculptural instances from the period.
122

120
Hugues de Sainte-Marie wrote one of the Miracles of Saint Benedict (ca.
beginning twelfth century), and he also recounted the history of the abbey, which he
integrated into his Historia nova Francorum (PL 163:873-976), col. 903B refers
explicitly to Abbot Guillaume’s building program at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. For a
discussion of Hugues de Sainte-Marie’s Historia as evidence for dating the abbey, see
Eliane Vergnolle, Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, 18. I found no references to the names Hugo,
Petrus, Cleopas, and Oda during the period of the church’s construction (abbacy of
Guillaume 1067-1080) in the Recueil des chartes de l’abbaye de Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire
(Paris, 1907).
121
Hugh, a soldier. Hugh, a monk. Peter, a soldier: three brothers (? Saints) Hugh
monk, Oda.
122
The narrative of Daniel in a lions' den appears twice in the Book of Daniel, in
books 6 and 14. Daniel 6:1-24. According to the Book of Daniel, Daniel was thrown into
the lions’ den twice. Once by Darius the Mede for going against the king’s edict and
praying three times a day (Daniel 6), and again by Evilmerodach, for sedition (Daniel
14). It is the narrative from Daniel 6 that is represented at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, King
Darius appears on the side face, gesturing Daniel into the lions’ den. On the main face of
the capital Daniel sits unharmed within a mandorla. Chapter 14 of the Book of Daniel
does not appear in the King James’ version of the Bible, and only in the Douay-Rheims

118

The inscribed capitals in the north transept at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire not only
relate to the secondary altars within the transept chapels but also are on a direct axis with
the main altar (Fig. 2.12). Like inscribed capitals near the main altar, the inscribed
capitals near a secondary altar depict a prefiguration of Christ, the names of donors, and
Christ. Their location on the same pier suggests that these inscribed capitals were
working in concert to comment on the altars contained within their respective chapels and
to activate the liturgical space of the chapel.

THE TRIBUNE
We have seen that inscriptions are found frequently on altars, and that inscribed
capitals frequently frame altars and interact with the site of prayer and sacrifice. And
much like transept chapels and their secondary altars that I have discussed above,
tribunes provided adequate space to accommodate liturgical functions. The tribune is an
upper story over an aisle and opening onto the nave; it corresponds in length and width to
the dimensions of the aisle below (Fig. 2.21). Tribunes are a common feature in so-called
pilgrimage churches. It has been suggested that the large tribunes found in many
Romanesque churches provided additional accommodation for the influx of pilgrims. Yet
access to this story in churches was restricted, which suggests that the tribune was a
privileged area. Indeed, in many monastic churches with tribunes, access is only gained

version (Catholic). Chapter 14, the narrative of Bel ridicules the worship of idols. A
depiction of Daniel in the Lions’ Den that includes Habacuc, such as that at Saint-Benoît-
sur-Loire, is referencing Daniel 14: 28-30.

119

from a tower staircase that communicated between the cloister and the tribune.
123
In his
study of the function and significance of the tribune chapel in Anglo-Norman
Romanesque monastic churches, Arnold Klukas noted that it is best to think of tribunes
as “tribune-chapels” that, although removed from the ground floor and common
circulation, remain integrated and integral to the interior space of the church.
124
Based on
the significant number of inscribed capitals near altars in the choir on the ground level, an
examination of inscribed capitals found in tribunes sheds light on the function of the
space.
During the Romanesque period, tribunes frequently extended beyond the narthex
and the nave and continued into the transepts and the choir. The tribune in Romanesque
churches has been the subject of much debate amongst architectural historians. As I
discussed in my chapter on the narthex, the liturgical function of the tribune in the
narthex has been related to the cult of St. Michael and commemorations for the dead.
125

The prevalence of the tribune within the main body of the church during the Romanesque
period suggests that there was a purpose for this space, however, the textual sources make

123
This is the case at Sainte-Foy at Conques and Saint-Pierre at Moissac.
124
Arnold W. Klukas, “Altaria Superioria: The Function and Significance of the
Tribune-Chapel in Anglo-Norman Romanesque. A Problem in the Relationship of
Liturgical Requirements and Architectural Form,” (Ph.D. Dissertation, University of
Pittsburgh, 1978), 131.
125
In a story recounting the third restoration of Gerbert’s sight in book 2 of the
Book of Sainte Foy, an upper chapel dedicated to Saint Michael at the west end of the
tenth-century church is described as vaulted, and the narrative also mentions that there
was a monastic procession to the chapel after vespers, thus describing the chapel as a
liturgical destination for the monastic community. Pamela Sheingorn, The Book of Sainte
Foy (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995), 114.

120

no such claim.
126
One of the few literary sources that mention the tribune is the Pilgrim's
Guide to Santiago de Compostela, which mentions the tribune in its description of the
pilgrimage church at Compostela.
127
The Pilgrim's Guide author noted:
For indeed, whoever visits the naves of the gallery, if he goes up sad, after
having seen the perfect beauty of this temple, he will be made happy and
joyful.
128

As the author noted, the tribune provided a vantage point to enjoy the entire church,
likening its height to elevating one's mood. Sadly, the author does not explain how the
tribune was used. The monuments themselves, however, provide the most abundant
evidence as to their possible function.
Klukas in his examination of the tribune-chapel in his 1978 dissertation noted that
evidence of decoration, e.g., wall paintings or sculpture, was a sign of use.
129
I would like
to propose that inscribed capitals found in the tribune marked the site of an altar no
longer in situ. Unlike the inscribed capitals in triforia, inscribed capitals in tribunes
afforded the possibility of interaction with human players since the tribunes had solid

126
For the number of churches with tribunes post 1066 see Klukas, “Altaria
Superioria,” 507-513.
127
The Pilgrim's Guide to Santiago de Compostela. Critical Edition v. II, ed.
Paula Gerson, Annie Shaver-Crandell, Alison Stone, and Jeanne Krochalis (London:
Harvey Miller, 1998) 69. The Guide forms Book V of a five-part compilation of texts
relating to the shrine of St. James at Compostela dating to the late 1130s. The manuscript
is commonly called the Codex Calixtinus after Pope Calixtus II, who is mentioned in the
opening words of the Book I.
128
The Pilgrim's Guide, 70-1.
129
Klukas, 128, 132-3. Klukas also notes that by the late eleventh-century, altars
were accompanied by secreria or piscinae for ablutions that were poured after Mass. He
sees the locations of these drains as certain sign of altar placement. Nevertheless, their
absence does not rule out the existence of an altar. Another sign of activities that may
have taken place in the tribune are the neumes found in the tribune at the Carolingian
church at Corvey.

121

floors and outer walls with windows and, thus, provided a suitable space for congregation
as well as circulation (Fig. 2.22). As I have suggested earlier, inscribed capitals often
framed liturgical activity and, thus, interacted with liturgical performance; they also
commemorated it, and I would also add, anticipated it. Therefore the inscribed capitals
can be seen to provide a link to past, present, and future liturgical activities.
The Cluniac customaries do not offer information about the purpose or possible
use of the tribune, nor do the customaries discuss it as a space. Monastic customaries use
the term solarium to refer to any upper level, whether in the church or other buildings in
the conventual complex.
130
The Liber Tramitis mentions a solarium,
131
but this references
the second floor on the north side of the cloister, where the servants slept. Klukas
identified the tenth-century English monastic customary, Regularis Concordia, as textual
evidence for antiphonal singing in the tribune on Maunday Thursday.
132
However, a close
examination of the Regularis does not support this.
133
Klukas noted that the use of the

130
LT, 206, line 7. “et desuper sit solarium ubi famuli aedant atque dormiant et
mensas habeant ibib ordinatas longitudinis octaginta pedes…” Gervase of Canterbury
used the term “triforium” to describe the tribune in his description of Conrad’s choir. See
Robert Willis, The Architectural History of Canterbury Cathedral (Oxford, 1845), 43. In
her article on the early buttresses at Canterbury Cathedral, Yoshio Kusaba notes that the
tribune (gallery) on the south side of Canterbury Cathedral is vaulted and lit by outer
windows, and thus may accommodate chapels. The north side is more appropriately
called a triforium as it is not vaulted and dark. See Yoshio Kusaba, “Some Observations
on the Early Flying Buttress and Choir Triforium of Canterbury Cathedral,” Gesta 28/2
(1989), 186.
131
Solarium is the term most frequently used for the tribune according to Klukas
132
Klukas, “Altaria Superioria,” 217.
133
Regularis Concordia. The Monastic Agreement, ed. and trans.,Thomas Symons
(London; New York: Nelson, 1953), 36. "…when the antiphon of the Gospel is finished
and all the lights put out, then two boys should be appointed who stand at the right side of
the choir and sing Kyrie eleison with a clear voice; two more shall stand on the left who

122

tribune for antiphonal singing is implicit, although he conceded that the Regularis did not
explicitly specify an upper story in this prescription. He based his claim on the numerous
references to boys singing from galleries in Lotharingian-related sources (ca. ninth and
tenth centuries).
134
This assumption is not without merit because the use of the tribunes
for singing was probably not limited to the Lotharingian churches. Singing was an
integral part of the Divine Office, and therefore an essential element of monastic life.
Although the Cluniac customaries do not shed light on the use of the tribune space, it
should not be assumed that these large spaces were not used, especially if the access to
these upper levels were predominantly monastic, and communicated with other spaces
mentioned in the Cluniac sources (i.e., the chapel of Saint Michael at the west end). I
would argue that the existence of inscriptions in these upper levels suggests that there
was an audience to see them, unlike the inscribed capitals in the blind triforium at Saint-
Benoît-sur-Loire. Within the tribune, the inscribed capitals were no more than seven feet
from the ground and, thus, at a similar height to inscribed capitals in the cloister. As I
have mentioned above, access to the tribune is located in areas accessible primarily to the
monks—adjacent to monastic thoroughfares from conventual buildings—and visitors
from outside of the monastic community would have needed special permission for
access. Very likely, this would have happened only during special events. Like the
cloister (discussed in chapter three), access to the tribune by outsiders would have been
highly restricted.

shall answer Christe eleison; and to the west another two shall say Domine, misere
nobis."
134
Klukas, “Altaria Superioria,” 218. Klukas was referencing mentions of the
chorus angelicus at Centula and Corvey.

123

An evaluation of the degree of accessibility is an essential criterion in determining
the liturgical use of tribune chapels. If we consider the accessibility of the tribunes at
Conques, we will note that the tribune circumscribed the entire basilica, with access for
the monks through the west tower at the west end, and the south tower at the east end, all
of which are connected to the conventual buildings on the south side of the church (Fig.
2.23).
135
This suggests that the tribune was to be used by the monks. The spacious tribune
allowed for an unobstructed view into the ground level of the church, including the choir
and the sanctuary. As Klukas has noted, this interconnection of spaces suggests that the
tribune was integrated with activities in the main body of the church.
But what is the purpose of the two inscribed capitals in the tribune at Conques? I
would argue that these capitals relate to altars much like the inscribed capitals at the
ground level. The capital in the south transept tribune depicts an angel holding a
banderole (Fig. 2.24). Inscribed on the banderole is BERNARDUS ME FECIT. This
inscription follows the typical formula for artists' signatures discussed earlier in this
chapter. Artist/donor signatures frequently appear near altars on the ground floor. It is
logical to assume that the name in the south transept tribune at Conques would be within
close proximity to an altar. Although artists' signatures are also found on portals and
outer porches (e.g., Autun Cathedral, Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, and Modena Cathedral), I
have demonstrated that those found within the church relate most closely to altars and
functioned as a type of necrology.

135
I have similarly argued in chapter two that the upper story at the west end at
Saint-Philibert and Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire was restricted to monastic use based on the
access points to the space in the conventual complex.

124

A capital depicting the vice of avarice in the northwest corner of the tribune
crossing at Conques seems to serve an apotropaic function (Fig. 2.25). The inscription on
a banderole, held by grimacing demons, reads: TV PRO MALVM ACIPE MERITVM O
(You, accept the pay for evil). The sin of avarice is represented by the figure on the main
face who wears a purse around its neck and is surrounded by four grimacing demons
holding the banderole. I have discussed representations of vices paired with virtues on
inscribed capitals in the hemicycle. This is not the case at Conques. The tribune at
Conques continues along the entire perimeter of the church without interruption.
Therefore, the representation of a vice, both iconographical and inscriptional, located just
west of the crossing, suggests that the inscribed capital was meant to prepare the viewer
before he entered the space of the choir. As I discussed above, representations of vice had
an apotropaic function, and in this instance the avarice capital may be interpreted as a
point in which the viewer would exorcise his evil behavior in preparation for a sacred
site.
136

An inscribed capital at Sainte-Lucie de Jaillans provides another possibility for
the location of an altar. The main face of the capital, facing into the aisle of the north
tribune, depicts a figure flanked by two beasts. The inscription on the impost block reads:
QUANTA : DEI : PIETAS : QUANTUM : MERITUM BESTIA : PLENA : DOLI :
NON EST (That the goodness of God is greater than the merit of Daniel is great. The

136
An apotropaically charged image is not necessarily negative. It signals to the
viewer that a realm of sacred space lies ahead. Although forbidden to the non-believer,
the Church is a space of sanctuary and salvation for the believer. See Joan R. Branham,
“Sacred Space under Erasure in Ancient Synagogues and Early Churches,” in The Art
Bulletin 74 (Sept., 1992): 379.

125

beast is not full of trickery.) The inscription and sculpted image on the capitals does not
relate directly to the episode of Daniel in the Lions' Den but instead relates more closely
to Daniel's triumph over the idol Bel and the Dragon.
137
The inclusion of Bel on this
capital addressed the local context at Jaillans by recalling the local legend of a monster
known as 'jaille' who devastated the area.
138
The mention of a beast in the inscription also
linked the biblical account to the local legend of Sainte-Lucie. As I have discussed above,
the Daniel in the Lions' Den episode referred to sacrifice and chastity and, thus, was
deemed an appropriate theme to place near an altar. The location of this capital in the
tribune supports my assertion that an inscribed capital marked the site of an altar or a
liturgical event.

CHOIR SCREEN AND THE ALTAR OF THE HOLY CROSS, VÉZELAY

I have suggested that inscribed capitals may be related to the placement of altars
in tribunes that are no longer in situ. The location of inscribed capitals in a church in
relation to liturgical performance may aid in reconstructing destroyed parts of the church.
In general it is difficult to pinpoint the exact location of Romanesque choir screens, since
most choir screens built before 1150 were destroyed or moved during the extensive
rebuilding of chevets between the late twelfth and fourteenth century.
139
The choir screen
and the altar of the Holy Cross were a significant liturgical meeting point for monks and
the laity. Choir screens (pulpitum) traditionally stood under the western arch of the

137
Daniel 14:17.
138
C.I.F.M. 16, 144-5.
139
The term “chevet” derives from the Old French word for “head,” and it refers
to a semi-circular east end with radiating chapels. This form was commonly found in
Gothic churches, but also existed in Romanesque churches, most famously at Cluny III.

126

crossing or a few bays westward in the nave.
140
The solid choir screen, traditionally found
in monastic churches, provided refuge for the monks performing the office in the choir
without being disturbed by the laity in the nave. The laity stood in front of the screen and
took part in the Eucharist at the altar of the Holy Cross located just to its west.
In England, Thetford Priory provides an example of a comparable arrangement in
a Cluniac monastery (Fig. 2.26).
141
In another Romanesque church, Christ Church at
Canterbury (before 1067), a singer noted that ‘the quire of the singers was extended
westwards into the body (aulam) of the church, and shut out from the multitude by a
proper enclosure (decenti fabrica a frequentia turbae seclusus).’
142
Placed to the west of
the choir screen, which provided a dividing point between the lay and clerical parts of the
building, was the altar of the Holy Cross. The customaries refer to this area as in medio
ecclesiae, and it is the area in which the laity would have stood.
143
The thirteenth-century
customary from Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire noted that the laity remained before the cross
altar as the monks processed into the choir; after the monks' procession, two monks
would give a sermon for the people at the cross and then the monks would sing Christus
resurgens in the choir.
144
The Cluniac customaries also noted the presence of the laity in

140
W.S. Hope, "Quire Screens in English Churches, with Special Reference to the
Twelfth Century Quire Screen formerly in the Cathedral Church of Ely," Archaeologia
(1917): 68.
141
Thetford Priory was not begun until 1107. Therefore it postdates the
Romanesque church at Vézelay.
142
Hope, "Quire Screens in English Churches,” 69. Eadmer, a singer at
Canterburgy, is describing the church before the 1067 fire.
143
Eric Fernie, “The Use of Nave Supports in Romanesque and Early Gothic
Churches,” Gesta vol. 23, no. 2 (1984): 113.
144
Cons. Floriacenses 164. The thirteenth-century customary from Fleury
confirms that the laity were present at the end of the monks’ procession into the body of

127

front of the altar of the Holy Cross during the matutinal mass, during which the laity
would have received communion (Fig. 2.27).
145
It was also the site where the monks at
Cluny would have exhorted the general populace to give alms during times of trouble for
the monastery. This would take place after the Creed was sung, which was only sung
before the laity.
146

Before discussing the possible location for the Romanesque choir screen and altar
of the Holy Cross at Vézelay, I will attempt to reconstruct the length and form of the
Romanesque east end by examining the common forms of east ends in the region at this
time. The extant chevet at Vézelay is Gothic, and Arnaud Timbert has dated the start of
its construction to 1165.
147
During this phase of construction, the east end at Vézelay was
extended, both at the crypt and ground floor levels, to its current length of 26.6 meters.
The form of the Gothic chevet at Vézelay is similar to that at Saint-Denis (mid-twelfth
century) with its ambulatory and radiating chapels.
148
Through a careful stylistic analysis
of the crypt columns, masonry, and the geologic nature of the stone, Arnaud Timbert was
able to determine that the length of the crypt constructed during Artaud’s abbacy (1098-

the church, but also that a sermon was made for the people in front of the Cross. "[…]
canitur ante crucifixum a duobus fratribus versus Crucifixum. Deinde fit sermon ad
populum." The Liber Tramitis also notes that at Cluny the laity would have received
communion at the altar of the Holy Cross. See also, LT, 206: "The abbot orders that one
of the brothers sing another mass at the altar of the Holy Cross and give communion to
the laity." (Abbas namque iubeat, ut aliquis ex fratibus aliam missam canat ad altare
sanctae crucis communicaturus laicos).
145
LT, 89
146
Bern, 230-1.
147
Arnaud Timbert, Vézelay: Le chevet de la Madeleine et le premier gothique
bourguignon (Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2009).
148
Eliane Vergnolle challenges the emphasis on Saint-Denis and the Île de France
as the locus for the first wave of Gothic. See Eliane Vergnolle “Preface,” in Timbert,
Vézelay: Le chevet, 10.

128

1106) consisted of the first three pairs of columns (Fig. 2.28).
149
The crypt was extended
four bays towards the east during the abbacy of Gautier, coinciding with the raising of the
actual transept between 1207 and 1216. It is reasonable to hypothesize that the east end,
during the abbacy of Artaud, terminated in the middle of the second bay east of the
crossing of the current chevet and measured approximately 17 meters. (Fig. 2.33). I
arrived at this measurement by considering how much space was necessary for the early
twelfth-century monastic population at Vézelay, believed to be between sixty to seventy
monks.
150
As noted by Jean Vallery-Radot, the Romanesque east end at Vézelay most
probably terminated with a staggered apse (en echelon).
151
This form was common in
Burgundy, as demonstrated at Anzy-le-Duc, Perrecy-les-Forges, and Charlieu (Figs. 29
and 30).
152
C. Edson Armi has argued that Anzy-le-Duc and Perrecy-les-Forges pre-date

149
Timbert, Vézelay: Le chevet, 43. According to my measurements, Abbot
Artaud’s crypt measured approximately 12 meters, and was extended to just under 20
meters during Gautier’s abbacy.
150
Rosalind Kent Berlow, “Social and Economic Aspects of the Early History of
Vézelay (Ninth to Twelfth Centuries), 211. The monastic footprint that I am using to
determine how many monks could fit in the choir is two and a half feet, a module
(standard unit) used at St. Gall. According to the celebrated plan of St. Gall, beds
measured two and a half feet wide by seven and a half feet long; this is the width that
Horn found would have accommodated the same number of monks on benches depicted
in the plan of the refectory. Walter Horn and Ernest Born, The Plan of St. Gall: A Study
of the Architecture and Economy of, and Life in a Paradigmatic Carolingian Monastery 3
vols. (Berkeley/Los Angeles/London, 1979), 86-7, 92-3.
151
Jean Vallery-Radot, “Les analogies des églises de Saint-Fortunat, de Charlieu
et d’Anzy-le-Duc. Églises bourguignonnes.” Bulletin Monumentale (1929): 243-267.
152
Vallery-Radot, “Analogies,” 261. Vallery-Radot related the apse echelon to a
Martinian liturgy practiced at Saint-Martin d’Autun, but he provided no liturgical
evidence for this assertion.

129

Cluny III and therefore provide a more accurate building type for the region.
153
The
priory of Anzy-le-Duc (second half of the eleventh century) provides us with an extant
example of an east end that is similar to that of Cluny II. It has five apsidals: two off the
transepts and one off the choir. Another chapel extends from the central apse. While
Anzy-le-Duc was not affiliated with Cluny but with Saint-Martin in Autun,
154
its east end
is identical to that of the Cluniac dependency, Charlieu.
155
Therefore, it is logical to
suggest that the early twelfth-century east end at Vézelay would have also been a
staggered apse.
Although there are no traces of the Romanesque choir or choir screen at La
Madeleine, Vézelay,
156
the location of two inscribed capitals in the nave, the Daniel in
the Lion’s Den (capital #34) and the Meal of Ss. Anthony and Paul (capital #75) may
help us locate the position of the altar of the Holy Cross and, hence, the Romanesque
choir screen.
157
The inscribed Daniel in the Lions’ Den capital is located on the second

153
Edson Armi also argued that the sculpture at Anzy-le-Duc (lintel, capitals and
archivolts) and in the narthex at Vézelay predate the famous choir capitals at Cluny III.
See C. Edson Armi, Masons and Sculptors in Romanesque Burgundy.
154
Elizabeth R. Sunderland, “More Analogies Between Charlieu and Anzy-le-
Duc,” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 16/3 (October, 1957), 16.
155
The floor plan of Charlieu is considered to be closely related to Cluny II.
Studies of the church buildings types in Burgundy provided by Vallery-Radot and Armi
suggest that art historians have overemphasized the importance of Cluny III on
architectural and sculptural styles in the early twelfth century. Although Cluny was a rich
and powerful abbey in the region and beyond, it is imprudent to suggest that it is the
source for all building types in France. Cluny is simply the best known and documented
example of a style that was prevalent in the early twelfth century.
156
This division would have dated to the abbacy of Artaud (1095-1106). No
fragments of a choir screen from Vézelay have been found.
157
There is not much evidence of Romanesque choir screens in France. England
has the best physical evidence of choir screens, see W. S. Hope, “Quire Screens in
English Churches,” 43-110 and Francis Bond, Screen Galleries in English Churches

130

pier west of the crossing on the south side of the church, and it faces east.
158
The Daniel
capital is re-used and dates to 1100.
159
The inscribed Meal of Ss. Anthony and Paul
capital is parallel to the Daniel capital and faces south. Taking into consideration that the
length of the Romanesque choir at Vézelay during the abbacy of Artaud most probably
measured 30 meters,
160
the location of these two inscribed capitals corresponds to the
usual location of a choir screen with the altar of the Holy Cross to the west. (Fig. 2.34).
Considering the probable length of the Romanesque east end and the monastic
population at Vézelay, the choir screen most probably extended into the nave by two
bays. William St. John Hope has noted that every monastic choir studied in England was
either located under the western crossing arch or, more commonly, farther westward in
the nave.
161
At Vézelay this placement of a choir screen is supported by the location of a
doorway in the south transept where the monks would have entered the choir from the
east walk of the cloister (Fig. 2.33).
162
The positioning of the Meal of Ss. Anthony and

(1908). See also C. Edson Armi and Elizabeth Bradford Smith, “The Choir Screen of
Cluny III,” Art Bulletin 66/4 (Dec., 1984): 556-573; Dawn Cunningham, “One pontile,
two pontili: the choir screens of Modena Cathedral,” in The Biography of the Object in
Late Medieval and Renaissance Italy, ed. Roberta J.M. Olson, Patricia L. Reilly and
Rupert Shepherd (Malden, PA: Blackwell Publications, 2005), 93-105.
158
As I have already discussed in Chapter 2, the cloister and conventual buildings
were located on the south side of the church at Vézelay.
159
Neil Stratford, "Verse 'Tituli' and Romanesque Art," Romanesque Art and
Thought in the Twelfth Century, 138. See also Saulnier and Stratford, Vézelay, 116-117.
Stratford states that the capitals were re-used in the new monks' choir, which extended
three bays into the nave to the west of the crossing.
160
17 meters including the crossing to my proposed end of apse plus 13 meters
for the two bays west of the crossing.
161
W.S. Hope, "Quire Screens in English Churches," 68.
162
The east walk is all that is left of the cloister at Vézelay. For Francis Salet's
comments on Viollet-le-Duc's restoration of the cloister, see Francis Salet, La Madeleine
de Vézelay, 94.

131

Paul (#75) and the Daniel in the Lion’s Den (#34) capitals can be seen as marking the
position of the no longer extant choir screen and the altar of the Holy Cross that stood
against the west side of the screen. According to the liturgical movements described in
the customaries, the two inscribed capitals in the second bay west of the crossing would
have been positioned to the east of the choir screen, and therefore they were not meant
for a lay audience. The screen would have had either a central door or two doors opening
into each aisle, similar to the arrangement of the portals leading from the narthex into the
church. The altar dedicated to the Holy Cross, located to the west of the screen, is where
the laity would have received communion.
163
In addition to marking the location of the
altar of the Holy Cross and the choir screen, the inscribed Meal of Ss. Anthony and Paul
capital (capital #75) may have marked an altar in the north aisle at Vézelay.
164
This
hypothesis is based on a similar altar arrangement at Canterbury in the early twelfth
century, where there was an additional altar in the north aisle that was parallel to the
central altar of the Holy Cross in front of the pulpitum (Fig. 2.35).
The position of the altar, and subsequently the choir screen, marks the division
between the clerical and secular audiences in the body of the church. In his 1984 article,
Eric Fernie has noted that the break in the pattern of supports in the east end of eleventh-
and twelfth-century naves may not be simply a sign of a change in a building campaign,
but could have been “intended to act as pointers or labels of a liturgical or architectural

163
Willis, The Architectural History of Canterbury Cathedral, 37. Gervase
described the altar to the Holy Cross located in the nave in front of the pulpitum at
Canterbury.
164
There is no documentary evidence to prove this. This is merely a hypothesis
based on what inscribed capitals can tell us about the layout of a monastic church.

132

nature.”
165
An examination of the support piers at Vézelay reveals that they have a
consistent appearance, and therefore I would suggest that the inscribed capitals at the
second pier west of the crossing were "pointers" that marked the position of the altar of
the Holy Cross. The capitals are located less than fifteen feet from the ground and the
carefully carved inscriptions and images are clearly visible. I am not suggesting that the
monks would have been looking up at the capitals during the Divine Office, but the
location of the capitals and their content, along with their visibility, served as markers or
pointers to liturgical events and, thus, marked the location of the choir screen in front of
which the altar of the Holy Cross was located.
The themes represented on these two inscribed capitals relate to the Eucharist.
The theme of Daniel in the Lion’s Den demonstrated salvation, and Daniel was viewed as
a prototype for Christ. As I have discussed above, this theme frequently was located near
altars, such as the inscribed Daniel in the Lions’ Den capital at a north transept chapel at
Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. The significance of the inscribed Daniel capital at Vézelay as a
marker for the choir screen is enhanced if we consider that there is another capital
depicting Daniel in the Lions’ Den (capital #27) located one pier west of the inscribed
capital, however this capital does not have an inscription. I have suggested that the
inscribed Daniel capital would have been located to the east of the choir screen and,
therefore, within a space accessible only to the monks. The Daniel capital (capital #27),
without an inscription, is located west of my proposed choir screen location and faced
into the south aisle. This capital would have been visible to the laity and monks using the

165
Eric Fernie, “Nave," 118.

133

south aisle. As discussed in the chapter on the narthex, during the Easter and Sunday
processions, the monks would have entered the church from the cloister at the doorway at
the fifth bay on the south side of the nave and then processed along the south aisle to
enter the narthex for the fourth station.
The repetition of the Daniel theme at Vézelay, one inscribed and one not, suggests
that the inscribed capital at Vézelay had a specific function. As discussed above, Daniel's
salvation from the lions was contingent upon his chastity, a theme with resonance for the
monks at Vézelay. As discussed in chapter one, the Temptation of St. Benedict capital
located in the narthex was related to the community's spiritual immunity from
ecclesiastical and seigniorial intervention. The inscribed Temptation capital in the
narthex marked the fourth station for the Easter and Sunday procession and the narrative
emphasized the importance of chastity in gaining spiritual authority. An uninscribed
capital depicting the Temptation of St. Benedict is located in the nave on the pier one bay
west of the inscribed Daniel capital. The Temptation capital, without an inscription in the
nave (capital #31), faces east. As the monks stood at the altar of the Holy Cross facing
westward, as they ministered to the laity, they would have seen this image. The
importance of chastity to merit the care of souls is noted by Gregory the Great in The Life
of St. Benedict, and in sermons by Julien of Vézelay.
166
While chastity was one of the
vows that a monk took, the repetition of themes related to chastity found at Vézelay, such
as the Temptation of St. Benedict and Daniel in the Lions' Den, took on added

166
Gregory the Great, Book Two of the Dialogues: The Life of Saint Benedict,
Chapter Two. Julien de Vézelay, Sermons. Introduction, Latin text, translation and notes
by Damien Vorrex. (Paris, 1972). See sermons 7: 170-193; 14: 286-301; 19: 399-421; 20:
422-449; and 23: 506-537.

134

significance for the monks in regards to their right to perform pastoral care (cura
animarum). The production of the sculpture at Vézelay coincided with challenges to the
monks' right to perform the cura animarum by external forces: namely the Count of
Nevers and the Bishop of Autun. I would argue that the inscribed Daniel in the Lions'
Den (capital #34) in the nave also marked a significant liturgical moment, where the
monks would have paused before exiting the choir to attend to the laity at the altar of the
Holy Cross. The inscribed capitals in the body of the church are also related to the
location of the altar of the Holy Cross. As in the narthex at Vézelay, we see in the nave
that an inscribed capital depicting chastity is aligned with a capital depicting the Meal of
Ss. Anthony and Paul, and thus marking an appropriate location for an altar.

This chapter has sought to understand how inscribed capitals framed the choir in
which the monks celebrated the Divine Office. The iconographical and inscriptional
content of these capitals commemorated and activated the liturgical events in the space
and, in so doing, provided a visual exegesis on the Divine Office. The apocalyptic themes
expressed on inscribed capitals related to both the cyclical nature of the liturgy as well as
the impending end of time. The inscribed choir capitals contain the lengthiest inscriptions
per capital, and, in several instances, the inscriptions refer to specific liturgical chants. At
Chauvigny, a hemicycle capital depicting Gabriel and the Announcement to the
Shepherds, Christ’s Temptation, and St. Michael Weighing Souls is located at the
entrance to the choir on the south side. The side depicting Gabriel and the Announcement
to the Shepherds faces into the sanctuary. The inscription reads: GABRIEL ANGELVS

135

DIXIT GLORIA IN EXCELSIS DEO, and it is a responsory verse sung on Nativitas
Domini (Nativity Sunday).
167
In this case, the image and text relate directly to the liturgy
for Christmas, and its location next to the main altar emphasized the necessity of Christ’s
human birth for salvation. The connection between Christ’s Incarnation and salvation is
also found on inscribed capitals at Issoire and Arnac-Pompadour. The chant, Spiritus
sanctus superveniet in te, is inscribed on choir capitals at both churches and was sung at
Matins for the feast of the Annunciation. At Issoire, the inscription is located on an
engaged column in the ambulatory, and at Arnac-Pompadour, it is located at the entrance
to the choir (in the nave) facing west. The Issoire capital's location suggests that the
inscription references the Mass, whereas the Arnac-Pompadour capital relates to
processions approaching the choir.
In contrast, the inscriptions on the Cluny III hemicycle capitals provided a visual
musical treatise. The monks' singing of the Divine Office was equated to the angels
singing simultaneously in heaven. The inscriptions supplied a visual representation of
sound in a space designated for singing praises to God. In addition, the inscribed capitals
provided a moral message that harmonious singing not only signified a harmonious soul,
but also was necessary to participate in this anticipation of the celestial Jerusalem.
Although singing was an integral function that took place in the choir, the space
contained the sacred center of the church: the altar. The inscribed capitals adjacent to
altars highlighted their meaning as a site of sacrifice, and in the case of inscribed names,
recalled the altar's dedication and necrologies. Therefore, inscribed capitals located near

167
The full response is: Gloria in excelsis deo et in terra pax hominibus bonae
voluntatis.

136

altars resonate with the purpose of the altar, and the inscribed names were a type of
prayer. Moreover, in the tribune they may also provide the location of altars or choir
screens that are no longer extant and, thus, shed light on the liturgical use for the tribune.
The height of the inscribed capitals in the choir (more than fifteen feet from the
ground) suggests that these inscriptions were not intended solely for a human audience
but also provide a link to heaven. The inscribed capitals that I will discuss in the next
chapter stand only approximately seven feet from the ground and, therefore, were more
visible to a human audience.
133

CHAPTER THREE:
THE INSCRIBED CAPITALS IN THE CLOISTER

But...in the cloisters, before the eyes of the brothers while they read—what is that
ridiculous monstrosity doing, an amazing kind of deformed beauty and yet a beautiful
deformity?... In short, everywhere so plentiful and astonishing a variety of contradictory
forms is seen that one would rather read in the marble than in the books, and spend the
whole day wondering at every single one of them than in meditating on the law of God.
1

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Apologia, XII. 29

Bernard of Clairvaux famously decried the use of sculpture in the cloister, calling
it a spiritual distraction.
2
But what of sculpture that contained inscribed texts? The written
word played an important role in the life of a monk, particularly in the cloister, the site of
the lectio divina.
3
Monastic life revolved around the memorization and recitation of
Psalms, Scripture, and patristic texts. Consequently, the inclusion of inscribed language
on capitals in the cloister should not be surprising. These capitals, standing no more than
seven feet above the ground, were more visible to a human viewer than the inscribed
choir capitals discussed in chapter two. Due to the contemplative use of the cloister and

1
Bernard of Clairvaux, Apologia, XII, 29. Cited in Conrad Rudolph, The “Things
of Greater Importance”: Bernard of Clairvaux’s Apologia and the Medieval Attitude
Toward Art (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990), 283.
2
St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Cistercians and Cluniacs: St. Bernard's Apologia to
Abbot William, ed. Michael Casey (Collegeville, MN: Cistercian Publications, 1970).
Conrad Rudolph proposed that the Apologia should not be viewed as a critique of the
Cluniac order per se, but rather Bernard’s discussion of monastic art provides a basis for
understanding how art operated in medieval society. See Conrad Rudolph, The “Things
of Greater Importance.” Cf Neil Stratford, “St. Bernard and the Visual Arts,” Studies in
Burgundian Romanesque Sculpture (London: Pindar Press, 1998), 415-430. Stratford
believes that Bernard's Apologia is not a response to Cluny III, thirty years after the great
abbey's construction, but rather a rationalization for the conservative style of Cistercian
buildings, as well as their rejection of sculpture in the 1120s through 1150s, which was at
odds with the richly sculpted and grandly constructed monasteries of the High
Romanesque period.
3
The lectio divina is the monastic practice of prayerful reading of the Bible. It has
four components: reading, meditation, prayer, and contemplation.
134

its multiple functions, the monastic viewer also spent more time here. It is tempting to
correlate the inscribed capitals in the cloister with monastic reading habits. Yet the
location of the inscribed capitals examined in this chapter relate most closely to the
liturgical processions and activities that took place in the cloister.
This chapter will examine how the location of inscribed capitals in Romanesque
monastic cloisters marked special areas for the monks. Carved inscriptions were not
merely captions or labels indentifying figures. The carved words formed images
themselves, graphic signs that signaled particular areas of signification. Through an
analysis of the liturgical activities that took place in each walk of the cloister, this chapter
explores how the monks used inscribed text and image to construct their communal
identity and promoted it to their ranks and to outsiders.
As discussed in the previous chapters, inscriptions proliferated in the Romanesque
period. Interpretation of their locations suggests both how they engaged with the rituals
performed within the space that they defined, and how viewers understood them at other
times.
4
Like prescriptions in monastic customaries, an inscription can define proper
comportment in the cloister.
5
For example, in adherence to the Rule of St. Benedict, the

4
Expanding the view that iconography is merely the matching of written text to
visual image, Baschet calls for the inclusion of place (lieu). He notes that place
encompasses ritual practice, and along with written text and image, would allow for a
richer interpretation of a work of art. See Jerome Baschet, L’iconographie médiévale,
(Paris: Éditions Gallimard, 2008).
5
Anselme Davril, “Fonctions des cloîtres dans les monastères au Moyen Âge,”
Der mittelalterliche Kreuzgang, 22-23. Because half of the cloisters in this chapter are
located in Cluniac monasteries, the Cluniac customaries will be a primary source for
documenting liturgical activity within the cloister.
135

customaries note that silence must be kept in the cloister.
6
An inscribed capital in the
cloister at the Cluniac abbey of Saint-Fortunat in Charlieu reads: TROQUO: LUDE:
ALIAS: FUGE (Troquo, play elsewhere, flee).
7
There is no other carving on the capital
except for the inscription on the impost block. Consequently, the inscription is clearly the
focus of this capital and provides commentary on the sage demeanor that ought to be
maintained in the cloister.
The cloister is second only to the choir in the number of inscribed capitals it
contains.
8
Nine of the seventy-six congregations studied in my corpus inscribed capitals
in their cloister. The monastic cloister at Saint-Pierre in Moissac has received the most
scholarly attention because of its wealth of sculpture and the fact that it is one of the few
intact Romanesque cloisters in France.
9
In this chapter, I expand the scope of cloister
studies beyond Moissac by including eight additional French Romanesque instances of
inscribed cloister capitals.
10
This allows for a more complete understanding of the role
that inscribed text and image played in highlighting the activities that took place in the

6
RSB, Chapter 7. For an examination of the codes of communication that monks
developed while maintaining the discipline of silence, see Scott Bruce, Silence and Sign
Language in Medieval Monasticism: The Cluniac Tradition, c. 900-1200 (Cambridge,
UK; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007).
7
The meaning of the word troquo is unclear. It most probably relates to a trochus,
a trundling-hoop for children and, thus, refers to games, which are unsuitable for the
cloister.
8
See Appendix.
9
Meyer Schapiro, “The Romanesque Sculpture of Moissac-I,” in Romanesque
Art, 131-200. Schapiro's study of the cloister has been the most influential. Other
prominent studies include: Quitterie Cazes, Le Cloître de Moissac; Marcel Durliat,
L'Abbaye de Moissac (Rennes: Ouest-France, 1985); and Leah Rutchick, “Sculpture
Programs in Moissac.”
10
Catus, Charlieu, Conques, La Daurade, Le Puy Cathedral, Marcilhac-sur-Célé,
Moissac, Saint-Gaudens, and Saint-Trophîme. See Appendix.
136

cloister as well as making it possible to establish a broader concept for the use of
sculpture to define monastic identity.
As I have argued in the previous chapter on the choir, inscribed capitals function
as a framing device, marking off areas of significance. The inscribed cloister capitals in
this study tend to be located near the entrance to the chapter house, which is typically in
the east walk. The chapter house was the site for meetings relating to the community’s
administrative affairs, both internal and external, and the sculpted images and inscriptions
on these capitals related to the apostolica vita. After examining the eight cloisters
included in my corpus which have only a few inscriptions, I will turn my attention to the
many inscribed capitals in the cloister at Moissac and distinguish what aspects are similar
to the other eight and which are specific to Moissac. This comparison will also aid in
interpreting inscribed capitals no longer in situ, such as those from La Daurade, now
housed at the Musée des augustins.
The cloister served multiple functions depending on the time of day and year. The
walkways, corresponding to cardinal directions, were the site for spiritual and ritual
activities such as the instruction of novices,
11
liturgical processions, rites, reading, and
meditation. Mundane activities also took place in the walkways, such as shaving,
refreshment, bookbinding, drying laundry, and passage to the other conventual
buildings.
12
Yet the inscribed capitals do not reference these activities. Instead these
capitals relate most closely to processions in the cloister. The cloister was an important

11
See Bern, 202, 207 for mentions of the children in the cloister.
12
Anselme Davril, "Fonctions des cloîtres," Der mittelalterliche Kreuzgang, 23.
Anselme Davril views the cloister as a type of monastic living room.
137

thoroughfare for processions. Most notably, the first three stations of the Sunday
procession were in the cloister.
In order to understand contemporary monastic views of the cloister, I turn again to
Bernard of Clairvaux. In one of his sermons, he equated the cloister to paradise. To be a
monk was to die to the world and enter into heaven.
13
This enclosed garden was
surrounded by covered walkways that connected the monastery’s domestic buildings to
the church. In a typical monastic plan the chapter house, inner parlor (auditorium),
camera, refectory, cellar, and elymossynarium consistently open directly onto the cloister
walkways.
14
From the cloister, the monks would have entered into the church through a
doorway in the east corner of the transept. Sometimes the dormitory communicated
directly with the church through a stairway descending into the transept. The
elymossynarium, the room next to the narthex, which opened onto the cloister walk, will
be examined in this chapter as it relates to almsgiving, and more specifically the
mandatum pauperum ritual performed on Maundy Thursday.
The containing walls of the buildings around the cloister ensured its separation
from the secular world and thus maintained religious purity. In essence, the cloister was

13
St. Bernard of Clairvaux, "Sermon for the feast of St. Nicholas," 183, 247. Vere
claustrum, inquit, paradisus est. Bernardus Claraevallensis, Sancti Bernardi Abbatis
Clarae Vallensis Sermones de Diversis, XLI - LXXX Opera Omnia, PL 183, 274.
Honorius of Autun also equates the cloister with paradise. Honorius of Autun: "Porro
claustrum praesefert paradisum, monasterium vero Eden securiorem locum paradisi."
Honorius Augustodunensis, Gemma Animae, 1, 149, PL, 172, col. 590.
14
Carolyn Marino Malone and Walter Horn, “The Plan and its Effect on Later
Monastic Planning,” Walter Horn and Ernest Born, The Plan of St. Gall, A Study in the
Architecture, Economy, and Life of a Paradigmatic Carolingian Monastery 2 vols.
(Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1979), 315-357.
138

the heart of religious life. Its symbolic model was the Porticus Salomonis.
15
Writing
about the cloister in his Gemma Animae, Honorius of Autun noted:
The construction of a cloister next to the monastery is supposed to be
constructed as the portico of Solomon. In there all apostles are constantly
present and they are convening in the temple to pray. And the multitude of
believers had but one heart and one soul: neither did any one say that
aught of the things, which he possessed, was his own; but all things were
common unto them. (Acts 4:32). According to this they pass their time
harmoniously in the form of the devout in the cloister, night and day they
convene in the monastery in the service of God. And the faithful
relinquish the world at this point. They lead a communal life in the
cloister.
16

This passage by Honorius emphasized the link between the monks in the cloister and the
apostles in the Temple of Jerusalem. As the center of monastic communal life, the
cloister symbolized the monks’ role as latter-day apostles.
17
The marble reliefs depicting
the apostles in the cloister at Moissac make this link explicit (Fig. 3.1).
18
The marble
reliefs not only portray the apostles at a scale larger than any of the other sculpture in the
cloister, but also depict them on the piers. Thus the apostles literally support the center of
monastic life. Carved depictions of the apostles with identifying inscriptions on all four

15
Léon Pressouyre, “St. Bernard to St. Francis: Monastic Ideals and Iconographic
Programs in the Cloister,” Gesta 12, no. 1/2 (1973), 74.
16
Honorius of Autun, Gemma animae, I, 148, De Claustro, "Claustralis
constructio juxta monasterium est sumpta a porticu Salomonis constructa juxta templum.
In qua apostoli omnes unanimiter commanebant, et in templo ad orationem
conveniebant, et multitudini credentium cor unum et anima una erat, et omnia communia
habebant (Act. IV). Secundum hanc formam religiosi in claustro unanimiter degunt, nocte
ac die in monasterio ad servitium Dei conveniunt. Et fideles adhuc saecularia reliquunt,
communem vitam in claustro ducunt." PL 172, col. 590.
17
Wayne Dynes, “The Medieval Cloister as Portico of Solomon,” Gesta 12, no.
1/2 (1973), 61.
18
Chantal Fraïsse, Moissac. Histoire d'une abbaye (Cahors: La Louvre editions,
2006), 222-27.
139

sides of a capital, another structural element, are found in the cloisters of Saint-Gaudens
in Toulouse, at Catus, and again at Moissac.
19
The faces of these capitals are
approximately twenty inches high and the letterforms between one to two inches high,
and the apostles are depicted as a group, dominating and unifying the four sides of the
capital to create a visual symbol of communal life.
Located at the center of the monastery, the cloister was the center of the monks’
world,
20
to which its covered walks provided access to the conventual buildings as well
as the church. On a daily basis the monks processed between these buildings. The capitals
bounding these walks highlighted the monks’ understanding of their identity as latter-day
apostles, a theme most frequently expressed on inscribed capitals located by the chapter
house.

THE CHAPTER HOUSE
It is not surprising that most inscribed capitals depicting monastic identity would
be located in the walk containing the chapter house. Because the community’s
administrative affairs were discussed each day in the chapter house, the walk next to the
chapter house provided an optimal location in which to transmit themes important to the

19
The capital depicting the twelve apostles from Collegiate of Saint-Gaudens in
Toulouse is now located in the Musée des augustins. Durliat and Rivière determined the
provenance of this capital. Previously, the capital was believed to have come from Saint-
Pons-de-Thomières. See Marcel Durliat and Gérard Rivière, “Le cloître de la collégiale
de Saint-Gaudens et cloître commingeois,” Revue de Comminges (1978): 17-18.
20
Harold W. Turner, From Temple to Meeting House: The Phenomenology and
Theology of Places of Worship (The Hague: Mouton, 1979), 20.Turner emphasizes the
concept of sacred place as center, and the cloister, which is surrounded by the conventual
buildings, provides both a literal and figurative center for the monastery.
140

community’s identity as inheritors of the apostles’ mission. The monastic community
would assemble daily for the administration of the community’s affairs, for discipline,
and to read a chapter of the Rule of Saint Benedict. For this reason the daily communal
gathering was referred to as chapter (capitulum) in the customaries.
21
Inscribed capitals
are sometimes located at the entrance to the chapter house, or inside on the central pillar,
or more commonly, located in the arcade directly across from the chapter house entrance.
It is possible to draw historical links between the walk adjacent to the chapter
house and that next to the church. Prior to the building of separate chapter houses,
chapter meetings took place on the banquettes in the gallery adjacent to the church.
22
The
earliest cloisters, such as those in the Carolingian monasteries of Fontenelle and
Reichenau-Mittelzell, as well as the ninth-century ideal plan of Saint Gall, did not have
separate chapter houses (Fig. 3.2).
23
It is not until the eleventh century that we find
extant chapter houses. The earliest known chapter houses were located at Saint-Bénigne
in Dijon (ca. 1031) and at Cluny II (ca. 1032).
24
The Liber Tramitis, a Cluniac customary
copied at Farfa, which provides us with an account of daily life and liturgy at Cluny II,
describes the chapter house:

21
Chapter is mentioned 177 times in the Cluniac customaries alone (LT, Bern,
and Ulr.).
22
Peter K. Klein, "Topographie, fonctions et programmes iconographiques des
cloîtres," Der mittelalterliche Kreuzgang, 123. See also Walter Horn and Ernest Born,
The Plan of St. Gall, 1:248 and 3:81).
23
Ibid. Chapter meetings took place on the banquettes in the gallery adjacent to
the church.
24
Carolyn Marino Malone, Saint-Bénigne et sa rotonde. Archéologie d'une église
bourguignonne de l'an mil (Dijon: Éditions universitaires de Dijon, 2008), 175-177.
Although its customs were based on those of Cluny, Saint-Bénigne was an independent
Benedictine monastery.
141

The chapter house was 45 feet long and 34 feet wide. Four windows face
east, with three facing north. Against the west side [of the chapter house,
facing the east walk of the cloister] are twelve balcones,
25
with two
columns affixed to each one.
26

This description, as well as the arcade that remains in Dijon, provides an example of a
building type with a facade consisting of window arcades (balcones) opening onto the
cloister walk as was seen later in Cluniac and Cluniac-influenced monasteries (i.e.,
Charlieu) (Figs. 3.3 and 3.4).
27
This configuration would have allowed monks not
permitted into the building to still hear the chapter meeting from the cloister (e.g.,
novices and errant monks), and also sometimes to hear the daily mass from the chapter
house when being punished for a crime.
28

25
Balcones has been translated as window arcades by Neil Stratford and Heidrun
Stein-Kecks. See Heidrun Stein-Kecks, “"Claustrum" and "capitulum": Some Remarks
on the Facade and interior of the Chapter House,” Der mittelalterliche Kreuzgang, 157-
89; and Neil Stratford, “Les bâtiments de l'abbaye de Cluny à l'époque médiévale. Etat
des questions,” Bulletin monumental 150 (1992): 383-411.
26
"Capitulum uero quadraginta et quinque pedes longitudinis, latitudinis triginta
et quattuor. Ad oriente fenestre quattuor, contra septemtrionem tres. Contra occidentem
duodecim balcones et per unumquemque afixe in eis dueo columpnae." LT, 203-204.
27
Charlieu was a dependency of Cluny and the abbot of Saint-Bénigne, William,
had adopted Cluny's reforms.
28
Malone, Saint-Bénigne et sa rotonde, 177. A late twelfth-century customary
from Saint-Bénigne explains that although being punished for a serious fault, a monk was
permitted to sit down in the corner of the chapter house next to the church to listen to the
daily mass. Expulsion from chapter was a punishment for older monks, and they would
have had to wait outside in the walk while waiting to be called in for their sentence.
Ulrich's customary describes confession and the chapter house. See Ulr., CAPUT XII.
Quomodo veniat ad confessionem. "Si opus habet ad confessionem pro aliquo excessu
venire, accedit ad sacerdotem ad quem potissimum voluerit; et stans ante eum, dexteram
de manica extractam ponit super pectus, quod est signum confessionis. Surgit sacerdos,
quem praecedentem sequitur in capitulum, et primum ante eum petit veniam toto corpore
prostratus; a quo jussus se levare, postquam consederit, loquitur quod habet." Ulr., PL,
149:0706D-0707A.
142

Not all Cluniac dependencies used this model, and the arrangement was not
exclusive to Cluniac monasteries. The chapter house at Saint-Trophîme in Arles, which
was a community of canons, strongly resembled the description of the chapter house at
Cluny II, whereas the chapter house at Moissac, an important Cluniac dependency, did
not resemble at all its motherhouse. Unfortunately, the Liber Tramitis, which describes
Cluny II, does not refer to sculpture or inscriptions located at or near the entrance of
Cluny II’s chapter house. Regardless of the architectural form used for the chapter house,
inscribed capitals are most frequently located in the walk’s arcade opposite the entrance
to the chapter house. This is the case at Saint-Tropîme at Arles, Moissac, and Charlieu.
Only at the entrance to the window-arcaded chapter house at Marcilhac-sur-Célé is there
an inscribed capital.
Chapter houses are usually found in the east walk of the cloister, a configuration
that is found at Cluny II, Moissac, and Marcilhac-sur-Célé, although ultimately,
topography determines the arrangement of monastic buildings. The positioning of the
cloister in the north walk at Saint-Trophîme at Arles is unusual (Fig. 3.5). Because Saint-
Trophîme has a cloister that projects to the east of the presbytery, the chapter house is
located in the north walk.
29
Nonetheless, three of the five inscribed capitals in the north
walk at Saint-Trophîme are positioned in a row between the entrance into the south

29
Other Romanesque churches with east-range cloisters are: the Priory at
Rochester, Old Sarum Cathedral, S. Sofia at Benevento (Campania), and Saint Pere de
Rodes (Catalonia). As John McNeill has noted in his study of Rochester Priory, the
reason to adopt an eastern position for a cloister is site specific. See John MacNeill, “The
East Cloister Range of Rochester Cathedral Priory,” Medieval art, architecture and
archaeology at Rochester, ed., Tim Ayers and Tim Tatton-Brown (Leeds: British
Architectural Association, 2006), 185-6.
143

transept of the church and the chapter house. Double columns support the arcaded walks
at Saint-Trophîme, and the inscribed capitals are positioned atop the columns facing the
north walk of the cloister (Fig. 3.6). The inscriptions were visible to the monks as they
processed between the church and the chapter house.
Old and New Testament themes are found on the inscribed capitals at Saint-
Trophîme at Arles (Fig. 3.7).
30
The medieval tradition of pairing Old and New Testament
narratives was meant to demonstrate how the Old Testament prefigured the New
Testament.
31
The first inscribed capital the monks would have seen when processing
from the church to the chapter house depicts the Resurrection of Lazarus (#11) and
echoes the theme of both Christ's resurrection and the resurrection of Christians at the
Last Judgment. The scene depicts Lazarus walking out of his tomb between Martha and
Mary, with each of the figures labeled. The figure of Lazarus is inscribed on the
northwest base of the capital (astragle), LAZARE, in the vocative case, thus linking the
sculpture to its Scriptural reference John 11:43, which begins: Lazarus come forth
(Lazare veni foras). The inscription faced onto the north cloister walk and would have
been visible to the monks as they processed from the chapter house to the church. This

30
For a close analysis of the sculpture in north gallery at Saint-Trophîme, see
Marilyn Armstrong Schneider, “The Sculptures of the North Gallery of the Cloister of
St.-Trophîme at Arles” (PhD Dissertation, Columbia University, 1983). Schneider
established a chronology for the sculptures of the north gallery at Arles and dates the
capitals on the north façade of the early chapter house to 1130-1135. This is based
primarily on their stylistic relationship to capitals at Sant’Eufemia in Piacenza. Schneider
posits that Italian sculptors would have traveled to Arles along the Via Tolosana, one of
the four pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela that traversed France.
31
Elizabeth Sears, Thelma K. Thomas, and Ilene Forsyth, ed., Reading Medieval
Images. The art historian and the object. (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan, 2002)
13.
144

capital’s emphasis on resurrection, and therefore salvation, underscored the monks’
purpose: to pray for the living and dead. As Peter the Venerable, abbot of Cluny (d. 1156)
noted:
The power of raising the dead belongs to all the other faithful who believe
in Christ. The grace of raising the dead has been conceded to the living.
By the prayers of the living, the dead are raised. [they achieve salvation]
32

The monks would have understood that through their prayers the dead would benefit, and
the services of the monastery were necessary for salvation.
Next to the Resurrection of Lazarus capital is an inscribed capital showing
Abraham about to sacrifice his son Isaac (#13).
33
It is located between the church and the
chapter house. The figure of Abraham with a raised sword dominates the face of the
capital. Isaac is located on the corner of the capital, straddling two faces just as he
straddled life and death. The figure of Abraham is the only one with an inscription
(ABRA[HA]M) and, thus, his importance is highlighted in the scene. Christians
interpreted the narrative as a prefiguration of Christ’s crucifixion and Abraham’s

32
Jean French, “The Innovative Imagery of the Beaulieu Portal Program: Sources
and Significance” (PhD Dissertation, Cornell University, 1972), 120; Translation by Jean
French, cited Peter the Venerable, Tractus Contra Petrobrusianos Hereticos, PL,
189:833.
33
Genesis 22:1-3: “And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt
Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said,
Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of
Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which will
tell thee of. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two
of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering,
and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.” The Bible, Authorized
King James Version, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), 23.
145

willingness to sacrifice his son exemplified obedience to God. St. Augustine expounded
on this concept in a passage from The City of God:
It is a reminder that not every trial is to be reckoned a temptation, but
rather a probation. . . . For the Scripture says, “Abraham stretched out his
hand and took the knife to kill his son. But an angel of the Lord called to
him from heaven: Abraham, Abraham! He answered Here I am. He said:
Do not lay a hand on the boy; do nothing to him. I know now that you fear
God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.”
34

The importance of obedience in coenobitic life is outlined in chapter seven of the Rule of
St. Benedict, where it is noted that “Man submits to his superior in all obedience for the
love of God, imitating the Lord, of whom the Apostle says: ‘He became obedient even to
death.’”
35

Prophecies of the Messiah’s arrival continue in the depiction of Balaam on his ass
on a capital (#15) which faces the entrance to the chapter house. On the same side of the
capital a sword-wielding angel stops Balaam. The sons of Israel are depicted on the same
face as Balaam and the angel, and they are labeled (FILII HISRAEL). Patristic literature
from the second through fifth centuries associated Balaam with the Three Magi.
36

There are two more inscribed capitals in the north walk at Saint-Trophîme. They
are located east of the chapter house. Therefore the monks would have seen these capitals

34
Michael Camille, “Mouths and Meanings: Towards an Anti-Iconography of
Medieval Art,” in Iconography at the Crossroads: Papers from the Colloquium
sponsored by the Index of Christian Art, Princeton University, ed. Brendan Cassidy
(Princeton: Index of Christian Art, Dept. of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University,
1993), 50. Cites Augustine, The City of God, XVI, 32, trans., G.G. Walsh and G.
Monahan, (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1952), 544.
35
RSB, Chapter 7, "On Humility".
36
Schneider, “The Sculpture of the North Gallery,” 457. The story of Balaam is
recounted in Numbers 24, and both Irenaeus and Origen attributed a messianic sense to
the story.
146

as they processed between the chapter house and the dormitory. The Annunciation to
Abraham and Sarah is depicted on capital #22. Abraham appears on the northeast corner
of the capital, and Sarah is on the north face, facing the cloister walk. This scene has
traditionally been linked with the Entertainment of the Three Worthies and thus
references the Trinity and the Eucharist. At Saint-Trophîme, the labeling of Sarah
(SARRA) emphasizes the news borne by the three travelers that Abraham and Sarah
would bear a child. Schneider has noted that the iconography of this scene diverged from
traditional earlier representations that referenced Trinitarian symbolism (e.g., at Santa
Maria Maggiore in Rome) and instead refers to the Annuncation of the Virgin.
37
Like the
Abraham Sacrificing Isaac capital, the typological association between the Annunciation
to the Virgin and the Annunciation to Abraham and Sarah emphasizes the medieval
monastic tradition of pairing Old and New Testament themes in order to demonstrate the
perfection of the New Testament and Christianity.
Another inscribed capital depicting an Old Testament theme is located in the
north walk east of the chapter house at Saint-Trophîme: Moses Receives the Law (capital
#33). This capital, located east of the entrance to the chapter house, would have been seen
by the monks as they moved between the dormitory and the chapter house. On the
capital's north face Moses is shown receiving tablets from Christ. The tablets read:
TABUL[A] / MOYSY. The inclusion of both Moses and Christ on the face of this capital
emphasizes again the relationship between Old and New Testament themes. In the
Middle Ages, the theme of Moses Receiving the Law was viewed as a prefiguration of

37
Ibid., 494.
147

Pentecost or the Traditio Legis because Christ, the Law Giver of the New Covenant,
which supplanted the Old Covenant, is associated with Pentecost. As discussed in the
previous chapter, the tympanum at Vézelay, depicting Pentecost and the Mission to the
Apostles, emphasized the monks’ understanding of their role within the lay community as
the successors of the earthly mission of the apostles. In the Saint-Trophîme cloister, the
Moses capital similarly emphasized this concept to the monks.
The chapter house was the pivotal point for the inscribed Old and New Testament
scenes on capitals in the north walk. The inscribed capitals representing New Testament
themes are located closest to the monks’ entrance into the church, the site of Christian
salvation. The Old Testament themes are depicted on inscribed capitals between the
entrance to the chapter house and the day stairs to the dormitory to the east. Therefore the
monks would have passed inscribed depictions from both the Old Testament to the New
Testament as they processed from the dormitory to the church. The location of these
themes in relation to the chapter house stressed the monks’ role in praying for the world’s
salvation as well as the monks’ importance as latter-day apostles.
The chapter house also served as a site for commemorating the dead of the
monastic community, a function that informs scenes of death and resurrection located
near the chapter house entrance. Names from the necrology were read during chapter.
38

38
LT, 229. "Post capitulum cantent quinque psalmos pro defunctis, deinde pro
ipso fratre qui absolutus est psalmum Miserere mei deus secundum magnam, Kyrie,
Christe, Kyrie, Pater noster, Et ne nos, capitulum Saluum fac, Mitte ei domine, Dominus
vobiscum, oratio Omnipotens sempiterne deus miserere famulo tuo." See also Ulr., PL,
149, Col.0647A: Post capitulum pro defunctis, quorum anniversarius in ipso capitulo est
recitatus, iidem psalmi dicuntur, qui et pro triginta cujuscunque defuncti sunt dicendi,
excepto 141, qui ea vice de medio aufertur.
148

The links between the liturgy for the dead and the reading of the necrology during
chapter were expressed architecturally at Cluny, where the infirmary chapel was
accessible through the chapter house. After chapter, the community would move to the
chapel and sing the penitential psalms for the dead.
39
Sculpture found in and at the
entrance to the chapter house from the cloister walk identified it as a site for the
community to commemorate its dead. Sculpted and inscribed capitals depicting the Risen
Christ are found at the chapter houses at Marcilhac-sur-Célé and Catus.
40
Christ in
Majesty is depicted on a capital at the entrance to the chapter house at Marcilhac-sur-Célé
facing the cloister walk. REX is inscribed on a cruciform nimbus. At Catus, the inscribed
capital of Christ's Appearance to the Apostles, or the traditio clavium, is located on a
column at the center of the chapter house (Fig. 3.8).
41
Here the figures of eleven apostles
are depicted on the south face of the capital; only Peter is identifiable by the keys he
carries. The keys form a pictogram that resembles the letters 'PE' for Petrus. Thus the
keys not only identify iconographically the figure as Peter, but also form the first two
letters of his name. This graphic symbol allows for the scene to be identified as the

39
Heidrun Stein-Kecks, “"Claustrum" and "capitulum,"” Der mittelalterliche
Kreuzgang, 166.
40
At Marcilhac-sur-Célé, an inscribed capital depicting Christ in Majesty is
located at the south portal of the church. These inscribed capitals recall depictions of
Christ in Majesty found in the narthex at Saint-Philibert in Tournus and Cluny III. As
discussed in chapter one on the narthex, the image of Christ in Majesty is related to
monastic understandings of that space as Galilee, the site where the apostles would meet
Christ Eternal, and thus represented the transition from death to life eternal. This analogy
had particular significance during processions in the narthex related to the Office of the
Dead. It was also in Galilee that the apostles received their mission from Christ.
41
The Christ in Majesty capital found at Catus is inside of the chapter house. The
monastery at Catus was dedicated to Saint Denis, therefore we cannot deduce that the
labeling of Peter identified him as the monastery's patron saint.
149

traditio clavium, in which Christ gives Peter the keys to heaven, a symbol of salvation.
The location of this symbol in the chapter house where the monks read the chronology
references salvation after death. Kathryn Horste has noted that the iconography of this
capital refers to the communal nature of Christ’s relationship with the apostles.
42
The
location of this scene within the chapter house enhances this meaning, and the
interpretation of the scene as a sign of salvation after death marks the chapter house, like
the narthex, as a site for the liturgy for the dead.
At Moissac, the use of inscribed imagery to promote monastic identity relates
directly to the monastery’s refurbishment and spiritual renewal after its reform by Cluny.
In 1048, Pons, the Count of Toulouse, invited Odilo, abbot of Cluny, to reform the
monastery.
43
Odilo sent Durand, one of his monks from Cluny, to be the new abbot of
Moissac. In his role as abbot, Durand introduced Cluniac liturgical and vocational
customs to the monastic community. Moissac officially united with Cluny in 1053, and
the fourth ecclesiastical council in Toulouse ratified this union in 1059. At this same
council, Durand was named bishop of Toulouse while maintaining his duties and title of

42
Kathryn Horste, Cloister Design and Monastic Reform in Toulouse. The
Romanesque Sculpture of La Daurade (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992), 182.
43
Aymeric de Peyrac noted that Moissac had become a ‘den of thieves’ prior to
its reform. Aymeric de Peyrac (1377–1406), an abbot of Moissac, wrote a chronicle of
the abbey known through two copies of the manuscript: one fragmentary and the other
divided into four parts. The four parts are: a history of popes; a history of the counts of
Toulouse, who were often lay abbots in conjunction with the abbots of the monks of
Moissac; a history of the kings of France, from Clovis onwards; and a history of the
abbey since its origins up until the abbacy of Aymeric. Fraïsse, Moissac histoire d’une
abbaye, 16. The complete copy of Aymeric’s chronicle is in the Bibliothèque nationale
de France, latin 4991-A, and the fragmentary copy: B. n. F., lat. 5288, fol 61-65v.
150

abbot of Moissac.
44
The inscribed life-size marble plaque located directly across from the
chapter house door emphasizes his importance for the monks of Moissac (Fig. 3.9).
45

Durand represented a political, genealogical and historical claim for the monastic
community at Moissac; the community’s reform and ties to Cluny were important to its
success as a political and cultural center.
46
The building of the new cloister, which was
dedicated in 1100, capped Moissac’s reform under Cluny. As the monks exited the
chapter house they were greeted by the abbey's most influential abbot (Fig. 3.10). Hence
the location of the Durand plaque linked the administrative function of the chapter house
to its spiritually and politically influential abbot, reminding the current abbot of his
lineage, as well as the monks of theirs as they exited each meeting.
There are eight inscribed capitals in the east walk of the cloister at Moissac; five
are located between the Durand plaque on the central pier and the entrance to the church
in the south transept (Fig. 3.11).
47
For now I will focus on two inscribed capitals located

44
Axel Müssigbrod, Die Abtei Moissac 1050-1150 (Munich: W. Fink, 1988).
45
The current chapter house at Moissac dates to the thirteenth century. Like most
of the conventual buildings that remain at Moissac, they do not represent the cloister at its
dedication in 1100; however, the east and west walls at the periphery of the cloister have
masonry that dates to before the eleventh century suggesting that the location of the
chapter house did not change from the twelfth to the thirteenth century. Quitterie Cazes,
“Le cloître de Moissac,” 910 Cluny 2010 Onze siècles de rayonnement, ed., Neil
Stratford, Harmut Atsma, and others, (Paris: Editions du Patrimoine Centre des
monuments nationaux, 2010), 160.
46
Maria Cristina Correia Leandro Pereira, “Syntaxe et place des images dans la
cloître de Moissac,” Der mittelalterliche Kreuzgang, 215.
47
All of the Moissac capitals are cited according to Meyer Schapiro’s numbering
system. The five capitals, located between the Durand plaque on the central pier and the
entrance to the church in the south transept, are: The Parable of Lazarus and Dives
(capital #31), The Washing of the Feet (capital #29), The Fall of Man (capital #26), the
alphabet and psalm (capital #25), and the Martyrdom of Ss. Peter and Paul (capital #24).
The three capitals with inscriptions to the north of Durand and the northeast corner pier
151

closest to the entrance of the chapter house: The Parable of Lazarus and Dives (capital
#31) and The Washing of the Feet (capital #29). These capitals reference specific
liturgical functions that took place in and near the chapter house. The four faces of the
Parable of Lazarus and Dives capital cohesively represent the narrative found in Luke
16:19-31, which constituted the Gospel lecture on the Thursday after the second Sunday
in Lent (Fig. 3.12).
48
The Parable of Dives and Lazarus illustrated the dangers of the love
of wealth. It was concerned with exemplary behavior, such as caring for the poor and
suffering, as preached by Christ. Dives is not portrayed as particularly wicked, but his
indifference to the poor results in his punishment in the afterlife. The Parable, which was
read during the penitential season of Lent, also emphasized a related important function
of a monastery: almsgiving. The words [PAVP]ER DIVES LAZARVS (Pauper, Rich
Man, Lazarus) are inscribed above the figures on the capital's north face. Lazarus's death
is represented on the capital's east face without an inscription. The damnation of Dives
faces the eastern walkway, accompanied by the text ‘DI EI ANA (DI[VITIS] EI
AN[IM]A)’ (the soul of this rich one is delivered). On the south face Abraham is seated
in the center of the scene holding Lazarus in his lap. The face is inscribed: [A]NIME
T[ENET] ABRAAM (Abraham holds the soul). The key themes of the parable are
depicted through text and image on the sides of the capital that were visible to the monks
from the cloister walk.

depict: the Marriage of Cana (#35), the Adoration of the Magi (#37), and the Martyrdom
of Ss. Fructuosus, Augurus & Eulogus (#42).
48
C.I.F.M. 8, 159
152

Although there is no specific reference to the parable of Dives and Lazarus in
either the Liber Tramitis or Ulrich’s customary,
49
the inscription on the abacus is Psalm
53:3: Deus in nomine tuo salvum me fac et in virtute tua iudica me (Save me, God, by
your name, and judge me in your strength).
50
Vulgate Psalm 53:3-5 formed the introit of
the Monday following the fourth Sunday in Lent,
51
and Psalm 53 is one of the penitential
psalms in the Office of the Dead.
52
Ulrich’s customary notes that during the Easter Vigil
Psalms 53, 54, 59, and 79 were to be sung as the monks processed from the chapter house
to the church on the way to the choir during the procession of the new flame.
53
At

49
Both customaries state that on the Sunday (Easter) after Maundy Thursday,
Psalms 53, 54, 59 and 79 are to be sung in the choir, when returning into the church.
50
Psalm 53:3. [Save me, O God, by thy name, and judge me in thy strength]
51
C.I.F.M. 8, 57-59.
52
The seven penitential psalms are: Ps. 6, 31, 37: prayer for the remission of sins
by penitent, 50: the repentance and confession of David after his sin, 101: a prayer for
one afflicted, 129: prayer for a sinner, 142: calls upon God for deliverance from
tribulation. I discuss this in chapter 2 on the narthex.
53
Ulr., 149, 0659a-b. "Before the procession the cross, blessed water and a
thurible are carried, still without the fire, as the new fire, after it will have been
consecrated, it is sprinkled and incensed for blessing. Oratio, Dominus Deus, Pater
omnipotens, then they are returned to through the middle of the church singing Psalms
53, 56, 59, and 79." (Ante processionem portatur crux, aqua benedicta et thuribulum,
tamen sine igne, ut novus ignis, postquam consecratus fuerit, aspergatur et incensetur ad
benedicendum. Oratio, Domine Deus, Pater omnipotens. Per mediam autem ecclesiam
revertuntur in chorum cantando psalmos LIII, LVI, LIX, LXXIX.) PL, Ulrich, col. 0659a-
b. This would take place on Holy Thursday (CAPUT XII. De Coena Domini.) For a clear
description of the blessing of the new fire, see The Church at Prayer: The Liturgy and
Time, ed. Irénée Henri Dalmais, Aimé Georges Martimort, and Pierre Joune
(Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1986), 38. Lanfranc's customary notes that the new
fire was prepared in the cloister. The monks light the Easter candle on Holy Saturday and
process around the cloister before entering the choir. The customary also notes that many
other monasteries make this procession on Holy Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. See The
Monastic Constitutions of Lanfranc, 67; and Willis, The Architectural History of
Canterbury Cathedral, 54. Leah Rutchick noted that in his Gemma Animae Sive,
Honorius of Autun commented on Ps 53, stating that this psalm was sung during Easter
Sunday as the community processed into the church after having encircled the cloister.
153

Moissac, the Lazarus and Dives capital is one of two capitals inscribed with fragments of
Psalm 53. While it is located in the east walk of the cloister between the chapter house
and the southeast corner of the church, the other capital inscribed with a fragment of the
psalm is located closer to the entrance to the church and will be discussed later in this
chapter. The inscribed text of Psalm 53 highlights the function of the chapter house as the
site for communal meetings, remembrance of the dead, and penance. The entrance to the
chapter house was also the site of confession for oblates.
54
An inscribed capital depicting
the importance of penance and following Christ's example in caring for the poor within
close proximity to the site of confession would have had a pedagogical function for the
novices. It emphasized the importance of the monastic community over the individual,
the necessity for penance, and the monks' role in praying for the souls of the dead.
The capital depicting Christ Washing the Feet of the Apostles (capital #29) is
located two capitals south of the Parable of Lazarus and Dives capital (Fig. 3.13). The
inscription on the faces of the capital labels the apostles and includes the word
MANDATUM. The scene of the Washing of the Feet is recounted in John 13:1-7 and is
part of a particular liturgical ceremony that took place on Maundy Thursday.
55

See Rutchick, "Sculpture Programs in Moissac," 277. Originally cited in Honorius of
Autun, Gemma Animae Sive, PL 172:635.
54
LT, 238 (line 2). Confession for the boys takes place at the entrance to the
chapter house. [Ipso surgente magister ante capituli sedere debet introitum. In loco uero
quo infantum solet esse capitulum illic et confessionem debent agere.] Ulrich’s
customary, Chapter 26, [De confessione et petitione novitiorum, Postea, cum ei visum
fuerit, jubet eos iterum ante se in capitulum venire.] Bern., 179, [In vita quoque
saeculari, quaecumque contra salutem animae suae commiserint, omnia D. Abbati ad
confessionem manifestant; postea cum ei visum fuerit, jubet eos ante se in Capitulum
venire.]
55
Ulr., 149, col. 0658A; and Liber Tramitis, 253-255.
154

Before the festival day of the Pasch, Jesus knowing that his hour was
come, that he should pass out of this world to the Father: having loved his
own who were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And when supper
was done, (the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the
son of Simon, to betray him,) Knowing that the Father had given him all
things into his hands, and that he came from God, and goeth to God; He
riseth from supper, and layeth aside his garments, and having taken a
towel, girded himself. After that, he putteth water into a basin, and began
to wash the feet of the disciples, and to wipe them with the towel
wherewith he was girded. He cometh therefore to Simon Peter. And Peter
saith to him: Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered, and said to
him: What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.
56

For Benedictine and Cluniac monks, the mandatum fratrum, the weekly washing of the
monks’ feet by the abbot, took place in front of the entrance to the chapter house.
57
The
abbot, as a sign of humility and charity, re-enacts the role of Christ by washing the
monks' feet. In turn, the monks take on the role of the disciples. At Moissac, the Washing
of the Feet capital has frequently been related to the mandatum pauperum ritual because
of its proximity to the penance and almsgiving themes associated with the Lazarus and
Dives capital.
58
The mandatum pauperum, a ritual that took place on Maundy Thursday,

56
John 13:1-7.
57
Klein, "Topographie, fonctions et programmes iconographiques des cloîtres,"
124. In Bernard's customary the mandatum fratrum is noted to have taken place weekly
in the chapter house. See Bern, 236-7: "Cum autem percutietur tabula ad Mandatum,
continuo congregentur ante Capituli introitum, ac succincti de pendum tersoriis, cum
viderint praeire coquos trasactae hebdomadae cum aqua, singuli singulos subsequantur,
tergantque Fratrum pedes. See also Bern., 314 & praefatis adjutoribus, & cocis, post
ipsam lavationem pedum, extra Capitulum ad scamna (stool) prope introitum lavent
pedes..." (Bold text is my emphasis.)
58
Rutchick, “Sculpture Programs in Moissac," 256, 263, 274; Anselm Davril,
"Fonction des cloîtres dans les monastères au Moyen Âge," Der mittelalterliche
Kreuzgang, 24-6; and Peter K. Klein, "Topographie, fonctions et programmes
iconographiques des cloîtres," Der mittelalterliche Kreuzgang, 124-6, 141-2. The
mandatum pauperum consisted of a selection of poor laymen brought into the cloister,
where the abbot and senior members of the community would wash their hands and feet,
and distribute bread, wine and money.
155

consisted of the monastery providing food, drink, and money to a number of elected poor,
and culminated with the abbot washing the poor's feet. The assumption that the
mandatum pauperum took place in front of capital #31 is based on Pressouyre's
discussions of the practice at the Benedictine abbey of Sant Cugat del Vallés in Spain.
Pressouyre stated that the mandatum pauperum took place in the east gallery of the
cloister by the chapter house.
59
This would be the same location as the area in front of the
capital representing the Washing of the Feet at Moissac. A close examination of the
Cluniac customaries, however, indicates clearly that the mandatum fratrum took place at
the entrance to the chapter house (ante Capitulo introitum).
60
The mandatum pauperum,
which I will discuss in more detail later in this chapter, normally occurred in the west
cloister gallery near the elymossynarium next to the church. Bernard's Cluniac customary
identifies the corner of the cloister that was closest to the elymossynarium as the site of
the ritual.
61
It is unlikely that the rite at Moissac would have differed from Cluny. Hence,

59
Pressouyre, “St. Bernard to St. Francis,” 75. Pressouyre stated that this is
mentioned in the customary for Sant Cugat del Vallés, but he gives no citation or
quotation.
60
Both Bernard and Ulrich’s customaries note that the mandatum fratrum took
place in the entrance to the chapter house. Bern., 236-7. Cum autem percutietur tabula ad
Mandatum, continuo congregentur ante Capituli introitum, ac succincti de pedem
tersoriis... & coccis transactae hebdomadae ab inferiori lavantibus; and Ulr., PL 149,
col. 0660c: "Quibus omnibus simul cum ipso domno abbate priusquam aquam ministrent
ad manus fratrum, lavantur pedes foris capitulum a fratribus qui ab hoc fuerint
nominati. Illi autem soli qui prima vel secunda vice laverunt pedes fratrum, in medio
capituli ante faciunt et retro priusquam sedeant, quorum cum sit unus domnus abbas,
tunc ipsi primum sedem suam petenti assurgunt fratres, et datur ei locus a priore parum
secedente qui in sede sua sedebat." (Bold text is my emphasis.)
61
Bern, 312. "nam in illo angulo Claustri qui proximus est Eleemosynariae domui
extra trisantias."
156

it would seem that the Washing of the Feet capital, based on its location in the east walk
of the cloister at Moissac, could only relate to the mandatum fratrum.
Inscribed capitals near the chapter house stressed the monks’ understanding that
they had inherited the apostles’ mission: the theme of Christ in Majesty, Christ’s
Appearance to the Apostles, or labeled images of the apostles appear in the majority of
cloisters with inscribed capitals. The typological narratives at St. Trophîme not only
demonstrated the superiority of the New Testament over the Old Testament, but they also
can be interpreted historically. The monks, as salvific intercessors, were part of the
Christological timeline that began at creation and would terminate at the end of days. The
inscribed Christ in Majesty capital in the chapter house at Marchilhac-sur-Celé related to
remembrance of the dead during the reading of the necrology in chapter as well as the
transition from death to life eternal. The cloister at Moissac has the greatest number of
inscribed capitals that can be related to both the monks’ association with the apostles and
specific liturgical events, such as the mandatum fratrum or confession for the oblates,
which took place in the walk of the cloister by the chapter house. At Moissac, the
penitential themes and inscriptions can be related directly to confession for the oblates.
The themes represented on the inscribed capitals located near the chapter house relate to a
general understanding of the community's purpose: to reenact the apostles' mission and to
promote their services for salvation.

157

MOISSAC
Iconographical Program
The cloister at the abbey church of Saint-Pierre at Moissac is the only example in
my corpus that has inscribed capitals located in walks other than those adjacent to the
chapter house. Its cloister, measuring approximately 38 meters by 41 meters, has eight
carved piers and seventy-six carved capitals, thirty of which have carved inscriptions
(either labels, phrases, or both) (Fig. 3.14). Before discussing these inscribed capitals, I
would like to address how the cloister at Moissac has dominated our understanding of
iconographic programs in Romanesque cloisters. As discussed above, the inscribed
cloister capitals located in the walk adjacent to the chapter house relate to monastic
identity as latter-day apostles and their role as salvific intercessors. This pattern is also
apparent at Moissac. There are eight inscribed capitals located in the walk adjacent to the
chapter house at Moissac. Nevertheless, Moissac diverges from the other cloisters in this
study because inscribed capitals are located in all four walks of the cloister; its south
walk, which was adjacent to the church, contained the most instances of inscribed cloister
capitals.
Because it is one of the few extant Romanesque cloisters, Moissac, with its
extensive sculpture and intact architectural frame, has defined the typical cloister. The
buildings that surround it define its layout (Fig. 3.11). The church adjoins the southern
gallery. The eastern range once included the sacristy, chapter house, Chapel Saint-
Férreol, Chapel Sainte-Marthe, and a second-floor dormitory; the north range the
158

refectory; and the west a chapel dedicated to St. Julian.
62
The refectory, dormitory,
chapter house and chapel have been destroyed. There is a fountain and the remains of a
fountain house in the northwest corner of the cloister. The remains of an arch of what
would have been the northeast corner are all that remains of the fountain house (Fig.
3.15).
63
The fountain was reputed to have the power to heal lepers.
64

The pointed arches of the cloister arcades are part of the thirteenth-century
reconstruction carried out by the abbot Bertrand de Montaigut (1260-1295). It is this
refurbishment that has led many scholars to dismiss the notion of a cohesive iconographic
program. Although the columns and capitals finished in 1100 were reemployed, scholars
believe that they were rearranged during the refurbishment.
65
According to Meyer

62
Cazes, Le cloître de Moissac, 16; and Peter K. Klein, “Topographie, fonctions
et programmes iconographiques du cloîtres,” Der mittelalterliche Kreuzgang, 118-119.
63
One complete capital and two impost blocks are all that is left of capitals
attributed to the fountain house ‘portiques.’ These pieces are now located in the depot
lapidaire (Musée de Moissac) in the east walk, and they have been dated to 1100, same
as the capitals in the main cloister walks. The decorative floral and geometric patterns
carved on the two remaining impost blocks are analogous to other impost blocks in the
cloister. Birds populate the basket of the complete capital from the fountain house, and
its impost block is populated with sea monsters and mermen holding fish. The style of the
figures on this capital is similar to those found elsewhere in the cloister.
64
The Parable of Lazarus and Dives sculpted on the porch and in the cloister
focuses on the leper, Lazarus, who on the porch is covered with sores being licked by a
dog. Dog saliva was purported to heal skin ailments (Discussion in Geary seminar,
"Language and Power in the Middle Ages,” UCLA, Fall 2006).
65
Meyer Schapiro and Leah Rutchick dismiss this idea. See Schapiro, “The
Romanesque Sculpture of Moissac-I,” 257; and Rutchick, "Sculpture Programs in
Moissac," 75. Pamela Patton noted that an unpublished dissertation presents material
evidence that the thirteenth-century refurbishment resulted in little change to the
arrangement of the cloister material. See Pamela Patton, Pictorial Narrative in the
Romanesque Cloister: Cloister Imagery and Religious Life in Medieval Spain (New
York: Peter Lang, 2004, 2008), 17n2. Cites Stefan Trümpler, “Neue Forschungen zu
Moissac,” (Ph.D. Dissertation, Universität Bern, 1987); see abstract in Das Münster 43
(1990), 166-7.
159

Schapiro, there is no mention in the cartularies that the cloister was not used during the
thirteenth-century work.
66
Moreover, he noted that continuous use of the cloister by the
monks would have necessitated the masons to work in sequential, concentrated sections;
thus making the misplacement of capitals highly unlikely.
67
In addition, an examination
of the inscriptions on the impost blocks show that they relate directly to the imagery as
well as to inscriptions found on the faces of the capitals. This suggests that the capitals
and imposts were not separated. Nevertheless, it is possible that the capitals may have
been turned during the thirteenth-century refurbishment, and as a result the sides of some
capitals may not face in the same direction as they did prior to the refurbishment. This is
more likely to happen on a capital above a freestanding column, like those in cloister
walk arcades, than to capitals atop an engaged column or pier.
Some scholars hypothesized that, prior to 1100, there was an earlier cloister in the
same location.
68
Archaeological investigations of the walls bordering the cloister support
this hypothesis.
69
Sections of the bordering walls are made up of small stone fragments,
which are similar to fragments of sculpture attributed to the Late Antique or pre-
Romanesque periods (Fig. 3.16). These openings are filled in with alternating brick and
stonework that is remarkably similar to windows from the small moissagaise church of

66
Schapiro, "The Romanesque Sculpture of Moissac-I,"
67
Rutchick, “Liturgy and Ceremonial Thinking in the Cloister,” 134.
68
Cazes, Le cloître de Moissac, 14; and Fraïsse, Moissac, histoire d’une abbeye,
163.
69
There has been no extensive archaeological analysis of the abbey. For the most
recent recounting of archaeology in the cloister, see Cazes, Le Cloître de Moissac; and
Chantal Fraïsse, “Les bâtiments conventuels de l’ancienne abbaye Saint-Pierre de
Moissac,” in Mémoires de la Société archéologique du midi de la France 59 (Toulouse,
1999): 93-122.
160

Saint-Martin (ninth century). The buttresses on the east side of the cloister are believed to
date from constructions shortly before the eleventh century. Vestiges of brickwork on the
north wall of the cloister also predate the thirteenth-century work. The west wall is also
comprised of irregular stone rubble. The irregularity of the stonework makes it difficult to
attribute these walls to what Fraïsse terms the belle epoque of the abbey (eleventh-
twelfth century). Stonework of this period was substantial in size and of high quality,
suggesting there was a cloister of the same size and in the same location prior to 1100.
70

One can also deduce that the thirteenth-century refurbishment maintained the dimensions
of the Romanesque cloister, as evidenced by the condition of the earlier bordering walls
and the number of late eleventh-century carved capitals.
The rich sculpture in the cloister has preoccupied art historians' search for an
iconographic program for the Moissac cloister. Meyer Schapiro was one of the earliest
scholars (1931) to put forth the idea that there was no cohesive sculptural program at
Moissac.
71
Because of this hypothesis, Schapiro focused on a formal analysis of the
sculpture and emphasized compositional and stylistic innovations.
72

70
Fraïsse, “Les bâtiments conventuels,” 96-7.
71
Schapiro, “The Romanesque Sculpture of Moissac-I,” 155-57, 197-98.
Schapiro’s seminal study of the Moissac cloister, published in The Art Bulletin in 1931,
focused on the sculpture’s style and form. For Schapiro, the cloister inscriptions helped to
establish the dates of various building campaigns and workshops and to provide
epigraphic evidence of the carver’s skill. It is in the unpublished second volume of his
dissertation that Schapiro addressed the lack of a coherent iconographical program and
the liturgical and social context in which the Moissac cloister sculpture was produced and
viewed. See Meyer Schapiro, “The Romanesque Sculpture of Moissac” (Ph.D.
Dissertation, Columbia University, 1929, deposited 1935). For scholars who are still
imposing a cohesive program upon Moissac’s cloister, see Peter K. Klein, “Topographie,
fonctions et programmes iconographiques de cloîtres,” Der mittelalterliche Kreuzgang,
161

In her essay “Word-Play in the Cloister at Moissac,” Ilene Forsyth discussed the
inscriptions in the Moissac cloister and noted again that there was neither a coherent
program nor apparent order for the capital sculpture.
73
Still, she provides one of the rare
studies that attempts to interpret the arrangement of the inscribed letters found in the
cloister.
74
Forsyth believes that because the monk could not normally leave the cloister, it
was a prison as well as a paradise and that this allowed the monk much time to
contemplate the sculpted imagery and make connections between the imagery and
biblical exegesis.
75
Forsyth rightly noted that the nonlinear arrangement of the
inscriptions on the capitals at Moissac illustrates the medieval fascination with acrostics,
anagrams, and word puzzles.
76
Because the inscriptions in the cloister and their

105-158; and in the same volume, Pereiro, “Syntaxe et place des images dans le cloître de
Moissac,” 212-219.
72
Alexandre Du Mèges in his Voyage littéraire et archéologique dans le
département de Tarn-et-Garonne (1828); and Taylor and Nodier’s Voyage pittoresques et
romantiques dans l’ancienne France (1833-1839). Adrien Lagrèze-Fossat published the
first archaeological study of the monument in volume three of his Études historiques sur
Moissac (1874); and Ernest Rupin’s study of the abbey in 1897
73
Ilene Forsyth, “Word-Play in the Cloister at Moissac,” in Romanesque Art and
Thought in the Twelfth Century. Essay in Honor of Walter Cahn, ed. Colum Hourihane,
(Princeton: Index of Christian Art, Dept. of Art and Archeology, Princeton University,
2008) 154-78.
74
For a formal analysis of the capitals' inscriptions, see Meyer Schapiro included
some discussion of the capitals' inscriptions. Meyer Schapiro, "The Romanesque
Sculpture of Moissac” (Ph.D. Dissertation, Columbia University, 1929, deposited 1935);
and Leah Rutchick, "Sculpture Programs in Moissac."
75
Jean Leclercq, "Le cloître, estil une prison?" Revue d'ascétique et de mystique 47
(1971): 407-11. Leclercq explored this contradictory relationship and concluded that the
duality was a crucial part of monastic life.
76
Forsyth, "Word-Play," 176. For more on epigraphic word and letter games, see
Robert Favreau, "REX. LEX, LUX, PAX, Jeux de mots et jeux de lettres dans
l'inscriptions médiévale," Bibliothèque de l'Ecole des chartes 161 (2003): 625-635.
162

relationship to the sculpted image required time and knowledge to understand, she
believed that the lack of a program confirmed her hypothesis about the cloister.
77

Forsyth suggested that word play was the reason for the many inscriptions at the
Moissac cloister and was indicative of the multivalent functions of the cloister. Yet this is
not the case at the other cloisters in this study. There are fewer inscribed capitals in the
other cloisters in this study. Sometimes there is only one inscribed capital in the entire
cloister, which would not provide a monk with much material for word play. While the
cloister provided a paradox—both a paradise and a prison—I would argue that monastic
life was anything but ambiguous. Instead, the monastic commitment to leave behind the
secular world to pray for the world’s salvation was a continuation of the mission of the
apostles. Although the medieval tendency was to construct multiple meanings for any
given theme, the overarching interpretation was that the monks’ job was to pray for the
world’s salvation.
An examination of how the inscribed capitals related to activities—particularly
liturgical activities—that took place in the cloister yields a richer understanding of how
the monks marked their space and transmitted their identity at Moissac. In her
dissertation, Leah Rutchick examined how the historiated capitals and inscriptions in the
southeast corner of the Moissac cloister related to liturgical observance of the Feast for
Ss. Peter and Paul.
78
Rutchick advanced the idea that disparate arrangement of the themes
and inscriptions on the Moissac cloister capitals do not suggest the lack of a coherent
program but instead were intended to stimulate exegetical associations and mnemonic

77
Forsyth, "Word-Play," 156-7.
78
Leah Rutchick, “Sculpture Programs in Moissac.”
163

techniques on the part of the monks.
79
I will expand on Rutchick's study through an
examination of the inscribed capitals located in other walks of the cloister. For Rutchick,
the dispersal around the cloister of the inscribed capitals emphasized both specific rituals
and more general monastic ideals, namely that the monks were the inheritors of Christ’s
Mission to the Apostles.

East Walk
Moissac's location in the southwest of France was of great importance to Cluny. It
provided the powerful Burgundian abbey with an outpost along the pilgrimage route to
Santiago de Compostela.
80
Cluny had ties to Spain, most notably King Alfonso VI of
Leon and Castille, whose annual donation to Cluny comprised a large portion of the
monastery’s budget.
81
Upon Moissac's subjugation by Cluny, it acquired several
dependencies in Spain.
82
The abbey's ties to Spain can be seen in a capital depicting the
Martyrdom of Ss. Fructuosus, Augurus and Eulogus (capital #47) located in the northeast

79
Ibid.
80
Fraïsse, Moissac: histoire d'une abbaye, 42, 147, 156. Moissac, due to its
proximity to Spain, was an important outpost for the Cluny.
81
See John Williams, “Cluny and Spain,” Gesta 27 1/2 (1988): 93-101. G. Duby,
“Le budget de l’abbaye de Cluny entre 1080 et 1155. Economie domaniale et econome
monetaire,” Hommes et structures du moyen age, Recueil d’articles (Paris: Mouton,
1963), 61-83.
82
Fraïsse, Moissac: histoire d'une abbaye, 45. For example, Abbot Hunaud of
Moissac, a monk from Cluny, acquired Saint-Pierre de Camprodon (Catalonia) in 1078
through his cousin. The abbey also had numerous dependencies in the diocese of Gerona
(Spain). See also Jean Dufour, La bibliothèque et le scriptorium de Moissac (Geneva:
Droz, 1972), 101. Moissac acquired the following abbeys in Spain and Portugal:
Cubières, 1073; Camprodon; Sant Pau de Vallosa or Fenollet and Arles-sur-Tech: all
given to Cluny through Moissac in 1078. See Hunt, Cluny Under Saint Hugh 1049-1109,
127. In fact, a monk from Moissac, Gerald, became Bishop of Braga in 1100.
164

corner of the east walk near the day stairs from the dormitory (Figs. 3.17 and 3.11).
83

Fructuosus was the bishop of Tarragona; his deacons were Augurus and Eulogus. They
were burned alive in 259 during Christian persecutions by the Roman emperor Valerian
(253-260).
84
Although these saints were not frequently venerated in France, one of
Moissac’s dependencies in Toulouse was dedicated to St. Fructuosus.
85
In his study of
manuscripts produced at Moissac, Jean Dufour noted that certain ligature and tildes in the
charter for this donation coincide stylistically to those found in the cloister inscriptions.
86

The text identifying the saints and their martyrdom is inscribed on all four faces of the
capital. The saints' names are inscribed on the capital's east face. The saints' martyrdom is
inscribed on the south face of the capital. The monks would have been able to see the
inscriptions as they moved between the chapter house and the northeast corner of the
cloister towards the dormitory stairs. The inscription reads: Martyrs in flames. Deacon
Augurus. Deacon Eulogus (MARTIRES IN FLAMIS AVGVRIVSA DIACO
EVLOGIVS DI). The inscriptions on the three capital faces visible to the monks appear
to serve two functions. First, they function as a label for the narrative. Second, they
indicated the importance of Spain for the abbey and its role as Cluny's representative in
the region. The inscription can also be interpreted as a reference to the charters produced

83
The day stairs, located in the north walk at the northeast corner, communicated
between the dormitory in the upper floor of the north range and the cloister.
84
The feast day for these saints is January 21, and it is not part of the Cluniac
tradition. C.I.F.M. 8, 165. Their vita is found in Vies des saints et bienheureux des
bienheureux selon l'ordre du calendrier avec l'historique des fêtes, ed., Jules Baudot,
Léon Chaussin, Bénédictins de Paris I (Paris, 1935-1959), 413-415.
85
C.I.F.M. 8, 165. St-Fructuosus de Toulouse became a Moissac dependency on
November 2, 1073.
86
Dufour, La bibliothèque et le scriptorium de Moissac, 100. Dufour cites A.D.
Tarn-et-Garonne, G 570.
165

at the abbey, which documented Moissac and Cluny's ties to dependencies in Spain. The
monks would have been reminded of their ties to Spain during their daily passage
between the dormitory and the chapter house.
The other inscribed cloister capitals located in the east walk between the chapter
house and the dormitory stairs are the Marriage of Cana (capital #35) and the Adoration
of the Magi (capital #37) (Figs. 3.18 and 3.19). Both of these themes are closely related
to Epiphany. Christ’s first miracle—turning water into wine—was performed at the
marriage of Cana in Galilee. The miracle is recounted in John 2:1-11. The refrain for the
benediction and communion on the second Sunday of Epiphany consisted of verses 7-9.
87

These inscribed capitals recalled the liturgy of Epiphany, which celebrates Christ's
Incarnation and recognizes his divinity.
Inscribed themes related to martyrdom and Epiphany are located in the northeast
walk between the chapter house and the dormitory stairs, and the importance of penance
is indicated by a concentration of inscribed capitals with penitential themes in the
southeast corner of the Moissac cloister. These inscribed cloister capitals depict The
Parable of Lazarus and Dives (#31), The Fall of Man (#26), and a decorative capital with
Psalm 53:3 inscribed on the impost block (#25). Each face of the Fall of Man capital (#
26) renders the narrative found in Genesis 3:1-25 (Fig. 3.20). On the east face, Adam
hides his nudity, and he is labeled. Labeling the nude figure, Adam, seems redundant,

87
C.I.F.M. 8, 161-2. See John 2:7-9: “Jesus said to them: Fill the waterpots with
water. And they filled them up to the brim. And Jesus said to them: Draw out now, and
carry to the chief steward of the feast. And they carried it. And when the chief steward
had tasted the water made wine, and knew not whence it was, but the waiters knew who
had drawn the water; the chief steward called the bridegroom.”
166

since a male figure hiding his nudity is easily associated with Adam. Adam's nudity
reminds the monks of how sin entered into the world through Adam and Eve and, thus,
the necessity for penance.
88
Adam’s shame would have been clearly visible to the monks
as they processed from the chapter house towards the southeast entrance into the church.
Penitence played an important role in monastic life, and barefooted-penitential
processions took place in the cloister of some monasteries from Pentecost to Lent,
although they are not mentioned in Cluniac customaries.
89
Unfortunately, no customary
specifies the route of the penitential processions through the cloister. The capital's
location between the chapter house and the entrance into the south transept of the church
suggests that these processions might have, at least in part, taken place in this walk.
Penitence is echoed on the next capital (capital #25) moving toward the entrance
to the church. This capital is not historiated, but it is carved with floral patterns and the
impost block is inscribed with a large portion of the Latin alphabet and a fragment of
Psalm 53 (OMINE TVO SALVVM) (Fig. 3.21). Scholars have suggested that the
alphabet inscribed on this capital referred to the writing of the Greek and Latin alphabets
on the floor of the church during the dedication ceremony.
90
This is a distinct possibility.
Yet the inscribed alphabets in this study, whether carved onto a capital or a relief are all
in Latin. Therefore the Greek alphabet, an integral component of the abcedarium, is not
represented. It is more likely that the inscribed alphabet capital at Moissac is related the

88
Gen. 3:7-10.
89
Davril, "Fonctions des cloîtres," Der mittelalterliche Kreuzgang, 26. Davril
cites customary from Bec and Eynsham. I could find no reference to barefoot penitential
processions in the Cluniac customaries.
90
Rutchick, "Sculpture Programs in Moissac," 288-90; and C.I.F.M. 8, 153-4.
167

monastic liturgical training. The capital is located near the south transept entrance into
church, which led to the choir. Susan Boynton has noted that monastic liturgical training
during the eleventh and twelfth centuries was primarily oral; however by the late eleventh
century, written graduals began to be produced for choirmasters and soloists.
91
Singing
instruction took place in the chapter house, and the location of the alphabet capital linked
the singing rehearsals in the chapter house to the door into the church.
92

In her study of the cloister sculpture, Leah Rutchick noted that the inclusion of
Psalm 53 on the impost block of the alphabet capital represented a remembrance of the
church's dedication ceremony, noting that while Psalm 53 was not part of the “standard”
chants sung by many Benedictine communities at the dedication ceremony, it was
specific to Moissac, and thus it should be viewed as characteristic of liturgical
performance at the abbey even though she could not find any evidence that Psalm 53 was
part of Moissac’s dedication liturgy.
93
I would argue that the inscribed alphabet most
likely referenced Apocalypse 1:8: Ego sum alpha et omega.
94
This is likely because of

91
Susan Boynton, "Oral Transmission of Liturgical Practice in the Eleventh-
Century Cluniac Customaries," 68, 75. Boynton references the late-eleventh-century
gradual produced at Cluny. She notes that these choir books were most probably used for
technique and rehearsal. She also points out that in his customary, Ulrich refers to an
antiphoner. See p. 75.
92
Susan Boynton, "Training for the liturgy as a form of monastic education,"
Medieval Monastic Education, ed. George Ferzoco and Carolyn Muessig (London; New
York: Leicester University Press, 2000), 8.
93
Rutchick, "Sculpture Programs in Moissac," 335. The liturgical books from
Moissac include chants that were specific to Moissac (i.e., the introit to nunc scio vere) so
it seems unlikely that a chant specific to the moissagaise Dedication ceremony would not
be found.
94
C.I.F.M. 8, 154. Sicard, Bishop of Cremona in the twelfth century, explains this
usage: After this, he [the pontifex] traces the alphabet, through which either knowledge
of the Testaments or knowledge of Hole Scripture, namely understanding the alphabet
168

the prevalence of Christological and apocalyptic themes that appear nearby on capitals
located in the southeast corner of the cloister.
95
Nonetheless, the letters inscribed on this
capital do not begin with ‘A’ and end with ‘Z.’ Instead the sequence of letters on the east
face, which faces directly onto the east walk, reads: MLYZABCDEFGHI. The letters
continue on the north face: KLMNOPQRSTVZ. AXBVCT is inscribed on the south face.
Ilene Forsyth has noted that shifting the alphabet's sequence was a method of learning
used by Quintillian that dates to antiquity.
96
The practice was meant to strengthen mental
agility. I would like to suggest an alternative interpretation: the letters of the alphabet
were an elemental building block towards understanding Scripture. The inscribed letters
of the alphabet would have signified the importance of knowing Scripture. As I have
discussed in the previous chapter, medieval liturgists, in fact, identified letterforms as the
necessary building blocks for understanding Scripture. Inscribed letters of the alphabet
illustrate this concept. Furthermore, the lack of figurative sculpture on the capital
emphasizes the importance of the carved letters as a graphic symbol that represented
Scriptural knowledge. Since learning the alphabet was linked to learning Scripture, which
is essential in perfecting the soul, its location in the cloister can be related to the cloister
as a site for education.

and the soul. Indeed there are few letters; nevertheless, the fullness of all knowledge may
be encountered in them. [Post haec in pavimento duo alphabeta describit [pontifex], per
quae utriusque Testamenti scientiam vel sacrae scripturae intelligentiam, scilicet litteram
et spiritum intellegimus. Paucae quidem litterae sunt, veruntamen in eis omnis plenitudo
scientiae continetur.
95
Christ Washing the Feet of the Apostles, Baptism of Christ, Transfiguration,
Vision of John, Temptation of Christ, Three Miracles of Christ, and the Pit of the Abyss.
96
Forsyth, "Word-Play," 172. Cites Mary Carruthers, The Craft of Thought:
meditation, rhetoric, and the making of images, 400-1200 (New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1998).
169

The inscribed capital depicting the Martyrdom of Ss. Peter and Paul (capital #24)
is located in the first arch next to the south entrance to the transept (Fig. 3.22). Located
next to the piers at the southeast corner and close to this entrance, the capital accentuates
the significance of the patron saints of Cluny and the patron saint of the abbey. The abbey
was dedicated to St. Peter prior to its union with Cluny. Further enhancing the importance
of these saints, the capital contained a rectangular cavity on the south face of the capital
with the decapitation of Paul represented above the cavity (Fig. 3.23). Leah Rutchick
suggested that the cavity contained the relics of Peter and Paul.
97
The abbey’s inventory
states that Moissac possessed relics of Peter and Paul.
98
When Pope Urban II arrived in
Toulouse in May 1096, he added to the monastery’s collection of relics by bestowing a
relic of the True Cross. The placement of the relic of the True Cross was most probably
within the church; Rutchick posited, however, that a piece of the relics of Peter and Paul
might have been placed in the cavity located in the southeast corner of the cloister (Fig.

97
Rutchick, “A Reliquary Capital at Moissac,” 129. In his study of the abbey
Rupin mentions this cavity. See Ernest Rupin L’Abbaye et les cloîtres de Moissac, 250.
"On voit sur la face méridionale, entre le martyr et ses bourreaux, une petite cavité,
mesurant cinq centimeters sur les côtes. Cette cavité, recouvrait un verre, renfermait les
reliques des deux saints apôtres. Le chapitre de l’abbaye, le jour de la fête de ces
beinheureux, venait tous les ans, en procession, encenser ces reste précieux. Les troubles
revolutionaries firent disparaître à la fois et les reliques et l’honneur qu’on leur rendait."
98
Rutchick, “A Reliquary Capital at Moissac,” 138. In the appendix, “Inventaire
des reliques vénérées à Saint-Pierre de Moissac à l’époque des pèlerins de Santiago,” in
the Pelerinage et confrérie de Saint-Jacques de Compostelle, published by Camille Daux,
Montauban, Archives départmentales, G585. Peter’s relics: [One part from his [Peter] jaw
bone, a number of his fingers or toes, his arm, and other of his remains. Una e maxillis
beati Petri apli et de quinque digitis ejus et brachiis ejus et aliis reliquis ejus.] [Paul’s
relics: his shoulder and [some] of his vestments. Espatula beati Pauli et vestimento ejus]
170

3.24).
99
This side of the capital not only faces the entrance into the church but also an
opening into the center of the cloister garth. It is at this corner of the cloister that
processions to and from the chapter house and the entrance into the church would have
ended.
100
Therefore, the reliquary cavity would have been accessible for
circumambulation and close inspection by the monks. Relics are no longer contained in
the cavity, and scholars have been skeptical that the capital was truly a reliquary. Still, the
cavity was purpose-built and therefore had significance for the monks. Moreover, its
importance was marked by the prime location of this capital: it not only faced the monks
whenever they exited the choir, but it marked the corner of the cloister where processions
began.
In sum, the repetition of Psalm 53 in the east walk of the Moissac cloister
referenced penitence and the liturgy of the dead as preparation for the final judgment at
the end of times. The location of this inscribed psalm on a capital between the chapter
house and the entrance to the church in the south transept bridged the liturgical activities
that took place in both the cloister and the choir. As stated above, the necrology was read
in chapter, and, therefore, it is not surprising to find in this area of the cloister instances
of the Psalm 53, which was sung during the office of the dead. The repetition of the
psalm with images related to judgment and death (i.e., Lazarus and Dives and the Fall of

99
Ibid., 137n48. Rutchick bases the abbey’s possession of the True Cross and the
relics of Ss. Peter and Paul on a thirteenth-century document from the abbey.
100
An inscribed capital of the evangelists is found in this same location at Le Puy
Cathedral. At Le Puy the cloister is located on the north side of church, and the
evangelists capital is located at the north and east galleries. The history of the cloister at
Le Puy is not certain. The imprecision of the texts only allow approximate dating for the
work on the claustral buildings of the cathedral to the beginning of the twelfth century.
See C.I.F.M. 18, 117.
171

Man) were appropriately situated along the route of processions between the chapter
house and the entrance to the church at the south transept. The inscribed images in the
east walk of the Moissac cloister referenced the processional route between the dormitory
and the entrance to the church as well as liturgical activities in the chapter house. The
inscribed capitals in the east walk also transmitted the monks' identity as latter-day
apostles, as seen at other monasteries discussed in this chapter.

South Walk
There are ten inscribed capitals in the south cloister walk at Moissac, suggesting
that this walk was an appropriate site of inscriptions. At Fleury, the collatio (biblical
lectures) took place in the walk adjacent to the church.
101
Peter of Blois (writing in the
mid-late twelfth century) remarked on the meaning of the specific sides of the cloister,
noting that the side adjacent to the church was meant for the lectio moralis.
102
Although
Peter of Blois was describing the ideal cloister, his description of the function for this
side of the cloister corresponds to real cloisters. The Cluniac customaries do not specify

101
Peter Fergusson, Canterbury Cathedral Priory in the Age of Becket (New
Haven: Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art by Yale
University Press, 2011), 47. A bench for contemplation is also found at Canterbury.
Stone banquettes have been noted in the Benedictine cloisters of Saint-Denis, Saint-
Blaise (Forêt-Noire) and Saint-Emmeram at Ratisbone. See also McNeill, “The East
Cloister Range,” 11.
102
Edmond Martène, De antiquis ecclesiae ritibus I (Hildesheim: Olm, 1967), 18:
"In latere claustri occidentali est scholaris subjecto; in eo quod contigit ecclesiam, lectio
moralis; in ipsa ecclesia meditatio spiritualis; ad orientem in capitulo, correctio
materialis." See also Peter Klein, "Topographie, fonctions et programmes
iconographiques des cloîtres," 123; Louis Pressouyre, "St. Bernard to St. Francis:
Monastic Ideals and Iconographic Programs in the Cloister," Gesta 12 (1973): 75; and
Leah Rutchick, "Sculpture Programs in Moissac Cloister," 264-5.
172

the location of the collatio, only noting that it took place in the cloister.
103
Yet, the
presence of a stone banquette in the southern gallery at Moissac, along with an armoire,
suggests that it was an ideal location for this activity (Fig. 3.25). Armoires were also
located in the walk adjacent to the church at Cluny
104
and Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire
(Fleury).
105
Moissac, as an important cultural academy in the eleventh and twelfth
centuries, possessed a solid library of patristic authors (thanks to its Cluniac affiliations),
and its culture, according to Anselme Davril, was anchored in the tradition of the patristic
lecture “founded in Scripture” and the message of Christ.
106
Therefore the large niche and
the stone banquette found in the south walk at Moissac suggest that this was the site for
reading. The numerous inscribed and historiated capitals in this walk relate to Abbot
Suger's belief that the hermeneutics of art was an extension of the monastic lectio.
107

Prior to Suger's justification for the lavish art program at Saint-Denis, images were

103
LT, 219. Sed cum in die semel exituri sunt ad opus manuum, cum reuersi
fuerint in claustrum, legatur de collationibus uel uita patrum lectio, sermone etiam facto
dicto uersu colloquantur.
104
Bern, 212: ut aliquando sit ecclesiam intrando vel exeundo, vel quando libros
in armariolum, quod est in Claustro, reponunt, vel accipitunt. The armoire is described in
Bernard’s customary.
105
Davril, “Fonctions des cloîtres,” 23. Davril notes that the armariolus
(measuring 1.75 m wide, 1.65 m high, and 1.8m. deep) at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire still
exists and is located in the wall south of the church at the corner of the transept. There is
also a door that links the church to the cloister in the west wall of the south transept.
106
Ibid., 25. For a study of Moissac’s library and scriptorium holdings, see Jean
Dufour, La bibliothèque et le scriptorium de Moissac.
107
Conrad Rudolph, Artistic Change at St-Denis: Abbot Suger's Program and the
Early Twelfth-Century Controversy Over Art, (Princeton: Princeton University Press,
1990) 71.
173

considered the "bible for the illiterate,"
108
whereas epigraphy, inscribed words and texts,
were accessible to the litterati.
Furthermore, the location of inscribed images in the walk next to the church
reinforced liturgical memory. Multiple liturgical processions from the church
congregated at the southeast corner. In addition, the stairs to a chapel in the upper level of
the narthex were located at the southwest corner of the cloister. Inscribed themes that
punctuate liturgical movements would have resulted in what Jean Leclercq has called a
"muscular memory of the words."
109
For example, the fragments of Psalm 53 inscribed
on capitals in the southeast cloister walk would have linked the penitential processions to
a fragment of a penitential psalm. The movements through space, along with the
pronouncement of words, provided the monk with a complete sensory exercise in
memorization. Richard Brilliant noted in his study of the Bayeux Tapestry that
inscriptions imbued a scene with ceremonial importance.
110
If we consider that the two
entrances into the church are located in the south walk, into the choir at the southeast
corner and that a staircase leading to the upper narthex is in the northeast corner, then we
may consider the decoration in this walk as appropriate to cue liturgical performance.
Several of the inscribed capitals found across from the stone banquette depict
apocalyptic themes: the Vision of John (capital #17), Evangelists (capital #13), The Pit of
the Abyss (capital #12), The Heavenly Jerusalem (capital #10), and Babylon (capital #4)

108
Gregory I, "Letter to Serenus, Bishop of Marseilles, July 599," The Letters of
Gregory the Great, ed. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval
Studies, 2004), 674.
109
Jean Leclercq, The Love of Learning and the Desire for God: A Study of
Monastic Culture (New York: Fordham University Press, 1982), 73.
110
Brilliant, “The Bayeux Tapestry,” 102.
174

(Fig. 3.14). These themes would have had particular resonance to a monastic audience
whose role in society was to provide prayers and alms to prepare mankind for
salvation.
111

The numerous inscribed capitals in the south walk at Moissac also may be related
to novice education.
112
According to the Liber Tramitis, novices attended school in the
walk next to the church.
113
In the monastic customaries, sometimes the term scola refers
to an established physical space and sometimes to the group of boys and their master.
114

Susan Boynton has noted that books were used to train novices, but they were not used to
train the young boys (pueri).
115
The term novice applied to anyone new to the monastic

111
Inscribed capitals addressing these themes in the walk adjacent to the church at
Moissac are: Vision of John, Evangelists, Pit of the Abyss, Heavenly Jerusalem, and
Babylon. See Appendix.
112
C.I.F.M. 8, 57-9. Yves Christe has noted that the capitals in the south walk at
Moissac should not be viewed as a narrative cycle but as a series of narrative episodes.
See Yves Christe, "Les chapiteaux apocalyptiques de la galerie sud du cloître de
Moissac," in Hauts lieux romans dans le sud de l'Europe (XIe-XII3 siècles) (Cahors: La
Louvre Éditions, 2008) 71-89.
113
LT, 46. "Maiores per claustrum, quod iuxta aecclesia est; infantes iter agant
per scolam." More is mentioned on page 76 about the school and the mandatum
pauperum. Page 97 mentions that the servants went through the school towards the
oratory of St. Mary. Conant's plan of Cluny II indicates that the only access to the oratory
from the cloister was through the chapter house. Therefore the customary seems to
suggest that the school was in the chapter house, where the boys read. Constitutions of
Lanfranc also mention the novices’ role in the mandatum pauperum and in this
description suggests the location of the school in the cloister walk. The Monastic
Constitutions of Lanfranc, 49 “As they leave the refectory the children shall turn aside to
their school with their masters; these shall stand among the children before the poor who
are allotted to them."
114
Boynton, “Training for the liturgy,” 8. The Liber Tramitis and Constitutions of
Lanfranc refer to a physical space. In her study on liturgical training, Susan Boynton has
noted that the term scola does not refer to an established physical space but instead to the
group of boys and their master.
115
Ibid., 9. Boynton noted that Bernard’s customary stated that the boys (pueri)
read in the chapter house.
175

community, whereas pueri referred to a young boy given to the monastery. While it is not
possible to locate the exact location for the scola, the customaries do note that it did take
place in the cloister.
116
The location of an armoire containing the monastery's books in
the south walk at Moissac suggests that this walk would have provided an optimal
location for the training of novices. The inscribed capitals in the south walk would have
emphasized the monks' salvific role to the novices. As Miriam Gill has noted in her study
of late medieval English wall paintings, monastic education was above all a preparation
for living a religious life rather than simply a way to acquire knowledge, and it was a
continuous process for the whole community.
117
Therefore the inscribed capitals at
Moissac would have had meaning for all monks, young or old.
The inscribed capitals in the south walk also emphasize themes of music and
singing in monastic life. In an analysis of entries from the Moissac Troper/Proser,
118
Leah
Rutchick proposed that the cloister sculpture referenced the chant tradition of the

116
Lanfranc’s customary again suggests the location of the novices’ school in the
cloister: “After chapter they shall sit in silence in the cloister until the bell rings for
Terce; the children likewise, coming down from the dormitory after their chapter, shall sit
during this interval in their school and read.” (p. 21). Lanfranc’s customary is an
appropriate citation because Lanfranc, a monk from Bec, produced customs at
Canterbury that are similar to those produced in monasteries in France. An analysis of the
text indicates that the wording in the Cluniac and Canterbury customaries, in regards to
the novices’ school, is very similar (almost verbatim).
117
Miriam Gill, “The role of images in monastic education: the evidence from
wall painting in late medieval England,” Medieval Monastic Education, 119.
118
Schapiro, "The Romanesque Sculpture of Moissac," note 157. In the
unpublished portion of his dissertation, Schapiro noted that a troper from the cathedral of
Autun (dated 977-1024) included miniatures of the Nativity, the Shepherds, the
Lapidation of Stephen, Death of St. John the evangelist, Massacre of the Innocents, Magi,
the Resurrection, the martyrdoms of Paul, Vincent, etc. and the Deliverance of Peter (a
rare subject, as in Moissac), the Ascension and Pentecost, (Paris Arsenal Library ms.
Latin 1169). All of these themes are found on the capitals in the Moissac cloister with the
exception of the martyrdom of Vincent, the Resurrection, Ascension, and Pentecost.
176

monastery.
119
The Troper/Proser, a chant book, contained textual tropes that were sung
immediately before the Introit on important feast days. Musicologists consider tropes to
be particularly representative of a regional style.
120
Rutchick related chants sung during
the celebration of the Feast of Saint Peter and the dedication ceremony to the sculpture in
the southeast corner of the cloister, where there is a concentration of images of Saint
Peter.
121

Because there is a close relation between the Troper/Proser and the sculpture in
this area of the cloister, the sculpture can be considered an integral aspect of liturgical
celebration at Moissac.
122
The antiphon Nunc scio vere, a scriptural reference to Peter’s
imprisonment, is inscribed on the west face of a capital depicting this scene (capital
#19).
123
This antiphon is used for the feasts of Peter, the patron saint of Moissac (and all
Cluniac houses), the feast of Peter and Paul, the patron saints of all Cluniac houses, and

119
Rutchick, “Sculpture Programs in Moissac,” 331-8.
120
Richard Crocker, "The Troping Hypothesis," The Musical Quarterly 52.2
(1966): 184. Crocker quotes William Durand's definition of a quote: "A kind of versicle
that is sung on important feasts (for example, Christmas) immediately before the Introit,
as if a prelude, and then a continuation of that Introit. Tropes include three parts [parts of
the Introit], namely antiphon, verse, and Gloria Patri." Crocker cites Blume in Analecta
hymnica 47: Tropi graduales. Tropen des missale im Mittelalter, I. Tropen zum
Ordinarium Missae (Leipzig, 1905), 7-8.
121
According to the CANTUS, Nunc scio vere is sung at Matins for the feast of
Peter and the feast of Peter and Paul. Nunc scio vere ait Petrus ad se reversus quia misit
dominus angelum suum is the full text of the chant. (CANTUS: A database for
ecclesiastical chant,
http://cantusdatabase.org/node/284111?source=374101&folio=070v).
122
Rutchick, “Sculpture Programs in Moissac,” 333.
123
Acts of the Apostles 12:11: "And Peter coming to himself, said: Now I know
in very deed (nunc scio vere), that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out
of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews."
177

for the anniversary celebration of the dedication of the abbey.
124
Rutchick argued that the
relationship between the patron saint and the dedication ceremony is not limited to the
antiphon but is also articulated in the capital imagery. Her study of this inscribed capital
in relation to the sculpted imagery and to a specific liturgical event is key to
understanding the engagement of cloister sculpture in monastic ritual.
Nevertheless, there is more to be gleaned from the Moissac Troper/Proser.
Planchart noted that because tropes were additions to standard chants, they were
particularly representative of regional style.
125
In her study of Aquitainian music culture,
Andrea Recek compared the text of the Moissac trope, Petri Clavigeri to others produced
in Aquitaine.
126
In the late eleventh century after Cluny's intervention, the trope, Petri
Clavigeri, introduced the introit Nunc scio vere for the feast of St. Peter in PA 1871,
which was produced at Moissac (Fig. 3.26).
127
The text of this trope differs from typical
tropes in that it is not a biblical paraphrase. The last line of the trope reads: Conscio
precelsa nobis cum voce ipsius duorum laudes sonat ita boando (May the heavenly choir
together with us in one voice praise the two and sing like this). The conclusion of the
trope emphasizes the singing choir and sets up the choir, not the apostle, to proclaim the

124
Rutchick, “Sculpture Programs in Moissac,” 334.
125
Alejandro Enrique Planchart, “On the Nature of Transmission and Change in
Trope Repertories,” Journal of the American Musicological Society 41 (1988): 220.
126
Andrea Recek, “The Aquitanian Sacred Repertoire in its Cultural Context: An
examination of Petri Clavigeri Kari, In hoc anni circulo, and Cantu miro summa laude,"
MA Thesis, University of Oregon, 2008.
127
The contents of the Moissac Troper/Proser are surprising, in particular the
large number of tropes in the manuscript. Cluny in general did not advocate tropes.
Recek, “The Aquitanian Sacred Repertoire in its Cultural Context," 89-90.
178

introit to the main chant, Nunc scio vere (Now I know truly).
128
The text for the Petri
Clavigeri trope at Moissac emphasizes singing and the purifying function of chant.
129
The
introit to the main chant is: Nunc scio vere (Now I know truly). Yet it is not the trope
that is inscribed on the Deliverance of Peter capital (#19) but the introit of the main
chant. Therefore the capital with the inscription nunc scio vere, contrary to Rutchick’s
assertion that the inscription on the capital referred to liturgical practice only at Moissac,
actually referred to a specific liturgical event that took place during the feast of the Ss.
Peter and Paul, no matter the church. The inscribed introit on the capital most likely
served as a mnemonic for the entire liturgy of Ss. Peter and Paul.
The importance of music and singing is highlighted by another capital in the same
walk: David and his Musicians (capital #9) (Fig. 3.27). David, his musicians, and their
instruments are labeled on the faces of the capital. The names of several of the musicians
established by David to sing praises to Yaweh in Jerusalem Temple are found in
Scripture.
130
Like the Deliverance of Peter capital with its reference to the chant Nunc
scio vere, the David and his Musicians capital linked the walk next to the church to music
emanating from the choir or during processions.
The David and his Musicians capital also marks a turning point, from depictions
of Old to New Testament themes in the south walk. The capital east of it is inscribed
SANCTA IERUSALEM and depicts the holy city (capital #10). The pairing of these two

128
Rutchick only noted the introit to the trope, Petri clavigeri kari pangamus. If
she had included the last line of the trope, she would have been able to make a stronger
case for the regionally specific links between sculpture in the cloister at Moissac and the
liturgy. See Rutchick, “Sculpture Programs in Moissac,” Table 1, 310.
129
Recek, “The Aquitanian Sacred Repertoire in its Cultural Context," 97.
130
C.I.F.M. 8, 142-4. Scriptural reference: 1 Paralipomenon 15:16-17.
179

inscribed capitals, much like the pairing of inscribed Old and New Testament scenes in
the cloister of Saint-Trophîme, demonstrates how the Old Testament prefigured the New
during the Middle Ages. This concept is enhanced in the south walk of the cloister at
Moissac because the inscribed Holy Jerusalem capital is located east of the David and his
Musicians capital and, thus, is located closer to the altar within the body of the church.
The remaining capitals heading toward the entrance to the church in the south walk,
inscribed or not, depict New Testament themes. All of capitals in the south walk at
Moissac, whether inscribed or not, show a transition from Old to New Testament themes
from west to east, probably to demonstrate the Christian understanding of the perfect
resolution that the New Testament provides. The clustering of New Testament themes
near the entrance into the south transept of the church emphasizes the necessity of the
Church (and church building) for salvation.
Although the inscribed capitals in the walk adjacent to the church at Moissac
linked the cloister walk to the music produced in the church and to the monks' role in
preparing for the end of times,
131
as Yves Christe noted in his study of the cloister, there
is no iconographic program per se, but rather a series of narrative episodes. Nonetheless,

131
The only other cloisters besides Moissac that have such a concentration of
inscribed capitals in the walk adjacent to the church are: the collegiate cloister Saint-Orso
in Aosta, San Juan de la Peña, and Monreale Cathedral in Sicily. These cloisters postdate
Moissac. The capitals from the now destroyed cloister at La Daurade, which is
contemporaneous with Moissac, also contained a number of inscribed capitals, but their
location within the cloister is uncertain. Although there are numerous inscriptions in the
cloister at Santo Domingo in Silos, they appear on carved pier reliefs. Werckmeister has
related these inscriptions to pilgrimage liturgy. See Otto K. Werckmeister, “The Emmaus
and Thomas Pillar of the Cloister of Silos”, El Romanico en Silos: IX Centenario de la
Consagracion de la Iglesia y Claustro, 1088–1988, Studia Silensia Series Maior I,
(Spain: Abadia de Silos, 1990), 149-161.
180

it should be emphasized that the narrative episodes accompanied by inscribed text in the
south walk particularly related to processions for the Feast of Ss. Peter and Paul.
According to the Liber Tramitis, the monks would process into the church after leaving
chapter and, hence, would have congregated in this area (Fig. 3.28).
132
Leah Rutchick, in
fact, noted that the corners of the Moissac cloister, and the southeast corner in particular,
promoted congregation, not circumambulation.
133
Although she did not cite the Cluniac
customaries specifically, she noted that the entrance into the church from the cloister
through the transept was the monks' route during daily processions.
134
Quitterie Cazes has
attributed the positioning of the Peter and Paul reliefs in the southeast corner of the
cloister to a representation of the Traditio legis, i.e., Peter receiving the law of Christ in
the presence of Paul.
135
Peter was the patron of the abbey of Moissac before its
subjugation to Cluny, and Peter and Paul were the patrons of Cluny. The significance of
an inscribed reliquary capital in the southeastern corner of Moissac can, thus, be related
to the apostles' role as the patrons of Cluny, as well as to daily monastic processions into
the church.

132
Sed mox ut exierint de capitulo, sonet squilla custos aecclesia. LT, 131. See
Bern., 245 for feast processions through the cloister after Terce. [Post Tertiam agitur
processio festiva per Claustrum, vel si Dominica dies fuerit, post matutinalem Missam;
quae nimirum processio hoc disponitur ordine.] Bern., 341-2 describes the feast for Ss.
Peter and Paul. The chant, Nunc scio vere, is not sung during the Feast of Ss. Peter and
Paul; it is only sung for the Feast of St. Peter.
133
Rutchick, “Sculpture Programs in Moissac,” 327.
134
Ibid., 328.
135
Cazes, Le cloître de Moissac, 23. See also Yves Christe, "Apocalypse et
'Traditio legis," Römische Quartalschrift für Christliche Altertumskunde 71 (1976): 42-
55.
181

North Walk
The themes represented on the six inscribed capitals in the north walk at Moissac
relate to miracles (Ss. Peter #51, Benedict #49, and Martin #62 capitals), and to the
preservation of the body (Three Hebrews in the Furnace, capital #61).
136
With the
exception of Daniel in the Lions' Den (capital #56), which is not inscribed, all of the
capitals depicting miracles in the north walk are inscribed. The buildings in this range
include the refectory, kitchen, and the day stairs to the dormitory located to the east (Fig.
3.14).
137
The monks would have used this walk daily to access these structures, would
have walked by these capitals several times a day for meals, and would have lined up for
processions on their way to the west walk (i.e., mandatum pauperum and mandatum
hospitum to receive guests).
138
Four of the six inscribed capitals are concentrated east of
the central pier in the north walk. The concentration of inscribed capitals in the eastern
most part of the north walk suggests that this area of the cloister was marked with greater
significance for the monks. The inscribed capitals are (east to west): Stylized birds
(inscribed AIGLES) (Fig. 3.29), Two Miracles of St. Benedict (Fig. 3.30), Healing of the

136
There are six inscribed capitals in the north walk at Moissac (moving east to
west): Eagles and fish (capital #47); Miracles of St. Benedict (capital #49); St. Peter
Heals a Paralytic (capital #51); The Celestial Choir (capital #53); The Three Hebrews in
the Furnace (capital #61); and The Story of St. Martin (capital #62). The source for the
inscriptions on the St. Martin capital is Sulpicius Severus’s Vita sancti Martini (ca. 360-
420). The two miracles depicted on the St. Benedict capital are found in Gregory the
Great's Diaglogs.
137
The refectory was rebuilt during Abbot Bertrand de Montaigut’s thirteenth-
century reconstructions of the cloister. The buildings in the north range were destroyed in
the 1850s to make room for the railroad. Cazes, Le cloître de Moissac, 15.
138
LT, 75
17
-76
2-7
Exeuntibus de refectorio fratribus sonet prior tabulam,
conueniant omnes in claustrum iuxta promptuarium, stent ibi sicut sunt priores ordinatim
ut mos est ad processionem stare. See also Bern, 310.
182

Paralytic by St. Peter, and Celestial Choir. With the exception of The Healing of the
Paralytic by St. Peter, these inscribed capitals include winged figures that relate to heaven
and, therefore, also to the apocalypse. Again these references to the apocalypse within the
cloister emphasized the monks' role as salvific intercessors. In addition, two of the
inscribed capitals depict miracles performed by monks: Saint Martin is shown healing a
dead catechumen on the east face of capital #62, and Saint Benedict's miracles are shown
on the four faces of capital # 49. Hence the importance of monks preparing for the
apocalypse, as well as their role in facilitating miracles, is emphasized on the inscribed
capitals in the north walk.
The emphasis on miracles and the preservation of the body found on these
inscribed capitals can be related to two structures found in this walk: the refectory and the
fountain house located in the northwest corner of the cloister. Meals were served in the
refectory, and while the monks ate in silence, either biblical passages or other texts were
read.
139
Therefore, the refectory provided the monks with nourishment for both their
bodies and soul. Furthermore, it was next to the refectory that the pueri and other monks
would have waited while the mandatum pauperum took place in the west walk. There
was once a fountain, which was reputed to have the power to heal lepers,
140
and the
remains of the fountain house are visible in the northwest corner of the cloister. Traces of
the arches of the fountain house’s openwork frame are evident on the interior face of the

139
This custom can be found in the Rule of St. Benedict. RSB, Chapter 38.
140
Thomas Dudley Fosbroke, British monachism: or, Manners and customs of the
monks and nuns of England, 1843, 8. Originally cited in Peyrac, Chronique des abbés de
Moissac—Notices ut supr. VII. 12. An emphasis on the healing of lepers can also be seen
on the south porch of the abbey where Lazarus is shown covered with sores, and a dog is
licking him.
183

central pier of the north walk and under the fifth capital in the west walkway (Fig. 3.15).
The fountain house had disappeared by 1780. Two of the six inscribed capitals in the
north walk are located within the fountain house: The Three Hebrews in the Furnace and
the Story of St. Martin. St. Martin resuscitating a man who has not yet been baptized is
depicted on the east face of the St. Martin capital, and can be directly related to the
importance of water for baptism.
The fountain and the fountain house are described as a site for healing and
miracles according to Aymeric de Peyrac's fourteenth-century chronicle of the abbey.
Besides the healing properties attributed to the fountain, Aymeric noted that the fountain
was the site of a miracle performed by God through the Abbot Ansquitil (1085-1115).
141

Water from the fountain was turned into wine.
142
Perhaps, because of the purported
healing capabilities and miracles attributed to the fountain, a concentration of miracles
and depictions of the preservation of the body occur on the capitals located in the north
walk. The apostle figures on the northwest piers of the cloister have also been associated
with miracles. In her study of the cloister, Leah Rutchick hypothesized that the apostle
figures—Andrew (brother to Simon Peter) and Philip (who came from Bethsaida like
Simon Peter and Andrew
143
)—distinguish a theme of almsgiving as well as miracles
within the north gallery
144
because of the inclusion of both Andrew and Philip within the
narrative of Christ’s miraculous feeding of the masses. Although Andrew and Philip are

141
Ansquitil (1085-1115) is credited with building the cloister.
142
Aymeric de Peyrac, Chronique des abbés de Moissac. ed. and trans. Régis de
la Haye, (Maastricht-Moissac 1994), fol. 160va., p123.
143
John 1:44.
144
Leah Rutchick, “Liturgy and Ceremonial Thinking in the Cloister,”
Decorations for the Holy Dead, 135.
184

not mentioned frequently in Scripture, they are included in the Gospel According to John
in episodes concerning the public teaching of Christ:
145

When Jesus therefore had lifted up his eyes, and seen that a very great
multitude cometh to him, he said to Philip: Whence shall we buy bread
that these may eat? And this he said to try him; for he, himself knew what
he would do. Philip answered him: Two hundred pennyworth of bread is
not sufficient for them, that every one may take a little. One of his
disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, saith to him: There is a boy
here that hath five barley loaves, and two fishes; but what are these among
so many?
146

I will argue that the apostles Andrew and Philip at the northwest corner of the cloister
provide a transition between the inscribed miracles depicted in the north walk and the
importance of almsgiving that is emphasized in the west walk.

West Walk
The west walk of the cloister at Moissac contains the fewest number of inscribed
capitals; there are only four.
147
In a search for a possible iconographic program for the
sculpture in the cloister at Moissac, Maria Cristina Correia Leandro Pereira has suggested
that the capitals in the west gallery focus on sacrifice and martyrdom.
148
Yet, an
examination of the sculpted themes on the capitals in this walk does not indicate a

145
John 12:21-23; John 14:8-9.
146
John 6:5-9.
147
Birds (capital #70), Daniel in the Lions’ Den and Announcement to Shepherds
(capital #71), The Beatitudes (capital #82), and Abel & Cain (capital #84). Daniel in the
Lions’ Den appears twice in the cloister at Moissac, once in the north gallery (#56) and
once in the west gallery (#71). Only the one in the west gallery is inscribed.
148
Pereira, "Syntaxe et place des images dans le cloître de Moissac,” Der
mittelalterliche Kreuzgang, 212-219.
185

prevalence of martyred or sacrificial themes. Instead, the inscribed capitals enhance the
liturgical events that took place this gallery.
According to the customaries the mandatum hospitum and mandatum pauperum
took place iuxta promptuarium or cellarius (next to the storeroom).
149
The storeroom, or
cellarium, is typically located in the west walk of a monastery’s cloister.
150
Since the
west walk of the cloister typically provides passage between the cloister and the outside
world, its location allows for the cellarius, the monk in charge of the storeroom, to bring
supplies into the monastery. The monastic buildings in the western range at Moissac have
been destroyed, but it is likely that the cellar was located there. 1989-surveys of the
cloister suggest that there was a building attached to the north wall of the church's
northwest tower, and, thus, it was part of the cloister's western range. There is a trace of
the attachment of the wall to the tower porch. Chantal Fraïsse has indicated that this may
be the location of the Chapel of St. Julian.
151
However, it is more likely that the structure
located here was the elymossynarium.
152

Before discussing the inscribed capitals in the west walk at Moissac, a discussion
of how the elymossynarium related to the mandatum pauperum will shed light on the
importance of almsgiving for monastic identity. Although there are no extant inscribed
capitals in elymossynaria, there were inscriptions that speak to the liminal nature of the
space at Tournus. As mentioned above, the elymossynarium, sometimes referred to as the

149
Bern, 310. The LT also indicates that the mandatum pauperum took place here.
LT, 76.
150
This is the case at Saint-Philibert de Tournus, Cluny II, Castle Acre Priory, and
the celebrated plan of St Gall.
151
Fraïsse, "Batîments conventuels," 111.
152
It is possible that the Chapel of St. Julian was once the elymossinarium.
186

locutorium, was a place adjacent to the narthex with a door connecting the two spaces in
which the monks could interact with people outside the monastic community and was
sometimes part of the Sunday and Easter procession, and it also opened to the cloister.
153

Its location alongside the narthex is described in the Liber Tramitis’ description of Cluny
II and can be seen in the plans of Saint-Philibert at Tournus and La Madeleine at Vézelay
(Figs. 3.31 and 3.32).
154

The elymossynarium was the site for almsgiving throughout the year, but
almsgiving obtained ritual significance during Holy Week. On Maundy Thursday the
poor selected for the mandatum pauperam gathered here before entering the cloister for
the ritual. The ritual entailed washing the feet of the elected poor, a reenactment of Christ
washing the feet of his disciples, followed by almsgiving in the form of dispensing food,
drink, and some money. Bernard's customary noted that:
They are all united at the station in front of the door of the church in the
cloister, and having begun with Psalm 50 (one of the seven penitential

153
There has been some confusion in naming this space. Today, at Saint-Philibert
in Tournus, signage calls the space the locutorium, parloir, and the chauffoir. A
sixteenth-century processional calls the space a locutorium. But an examination of
Benedictine customaries determines that the space is more appropriately called an
elymossynarium. See Carolyn Marino Malone, Saint-Bénigne de Dijon and l’an mil, 39;
Carolyn Marino Malone and Horn, in The Plan of St. Gall, 337; Didier Méhu, Paix et
communautés autour de l’abbaye de Cluny, Xe-XVe siècle (Lyon: Presses universitaires
de Lyon, 2001).
154
LT, 204: “The elymossynarium was obviously a ten foot wide room, sixty
[feet] long, similar to the width of the cellar.” (Aelemosynarum quippe cella pedes
latitudinis decem, longitudinis sexaginta ad similitudinem latitudinem cellarii). This
description of the size of the elymossynarium at Cluny II locates it within the same range
as the cellar, which was next to the narthex. The arrangement of the conventual buildings
in Victor Petit’s plan of Vézelay is based on the plans of other monasteries in the region
(i.e., Saint-Philibert de Tournus and Cluny II), as well as the eighteenth-century plan of
the monastery. See Victor Petit, Descriptions des villes et campagnes du département de
l’Yonne (Auxerre, 1870).
187

psalms), they proceeded to the elymossynarium, singing the same Psalm,
in the middle (as is the custom) the collect is said; … the superior washed
the feet of his poor men.
155

The superior of the monastic community washed the feet of the poor, demonstrating that
through this act of humility he was assuming the role of Christ. At the same time, the
abbot established himself as spiritually superior because in tending the poor he was
demonstrating the utility of almsgiving. Christ was believed to manifest himself in the
poor, but only the truly faithful could recognize him in this form.
156
Because almsgiving
and penance were closely linked throughout the Middle Ages, the elymossynarium was
also a site for penance.
157

In his study of the Plan of St. Gall, the elymossynarium is a narrow room located
between the church and the cellar.
158
The inscription on the plan, pauperium, designates
this room for tending the poor (Fig. 3.33).
159
In some monasteries, this room was also a
point of passage between the conventual complex and the church. For example, at Saint-
Benoît-sur-Loire (originally known as Fleury Abbey), a thirteenth-century customary
noted that on Sunday from Pentecost to the Nativity the monastic community passed
through the cloister and the elymossynarium before reentering the church to head back to

155
De mandato trium pauperum post coenam:…statim in Claustro adunantur ante
ostium ecclesiae, & incepto Psalmo quinquagesimo, pergunt ad eleemosynariam,
cantando ipsum Psalmum, illo medio (ut mos est) qui Collectas dicturus est;… Superior
lavat pedes suo pauperi]. Bern, 241.
156
Eric Shuler, “Almsgiving and the Formation of Early Medieval Societies, A.D.
700-1025” (Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Notre Dame, 2010), 146.
157
Washing the feet of the poor was not always considered desirable. Notker
recounted that one Frankish bishop considered touching the poor to be an act of penance.
See Einhard and Notker, Gesta Karoli Magni, (New York: Penguin, 1979), 1.21, p. 28.
158
Horn labeled this space the parlour.
159
Horn and Born, The Plan, 1.245: “For the purpose of talking with guests.” (ad
conloquendum cum hospitibus).
188

the choir.
160
It was also where flasks of water for the rite of blessing holy water were
prepared.
161
Bernard's customary noted that the elymossynarium was also a point in
which batons used in processions outside the monastery were distributed, as for example,
during the tribulations, a procession that took place when the monastery was in distress or
under siege.
162

As a site that negotiated between the outside, secular world and the church and
cloister, the elymossynarium, much like the narthex, was a liminal space. Unlike the
narthex, which was the site for processions, the elymossynarium functioned as a space to
prepare for rituals: where the famuli passed out batons to the monks before the procession
of the tribulation, and where the poor chosen for the mandatum pauperum gathered
before the ritual washing of their feet. The use of inscriptions and accompanying
apotropaic imagery between the elymossynarium and the church or monastic cloister can
be interpreted as negotiating possible secular contamination as the monks returned to the
cloister.

160
Cons. Floriacenses, 246: “Then they may cross through the cloister and
through the elymossynarium just like on Sunday. At the end they begin Ps. 50 while the
priest casts blessed water with a baton through the whole cemetery and through the
cemetery of the brothers. The cantor starting towards the entrance to the choir responds
Libera me domine with the verse, Dies illa.” (Quibus finitis incipient quindecim psalmos
sacerdote interim iaciente aquam benedictam cum bacillo per totum cimiterium castri et
per cimiterium fratrum. Deinde transeant per claustrum et per elemosinam sicut in die
dominica. Ad ingressum chori incipiat cantor responsorium Libera me domine cum versu
Dies illa).
161
Cons. Floriacenses, 246: “The flasks full of water having been prepared in the
elymossynarium, the priest blessed the water.” (Et preparata ab elemosinario lagena
plena aqua benedicat sacerdos aquam).
162
Bern, 216: "Two servants of the elymossinarius are provided towards the exit
of the galilaea of the Monastery, from there and thenceforth with batons in hand" (ad
exitus vero galileae Monasterii sunt parati duo famuli Eleemosynarii, hinc & inde cum
baculis in manu).
189

The customaries note that the mandatum pauperum took place next to the
storeroom and the elymossynarium. The elymossynarium,
163
usually located next to the
narthex, is where the elected poor would have gathered before being led into the walk for
the ritual washing of their feet.
164
An examination of the floor plan at Moissac indicates
that there was an entrance into the north side of the narthex, i.e. between the
elymossynarium and the narthex. There is also a staircase in the southwest corner of the
cloister that leads to the upper level of the narthex, just to the east of the door (Fig. 3.34).
A capital inscribed with the Beatitudes (capital #82) is located three columns
north of the southwest corner of the cloister, and the location of this capital enhances the
function of the buildings in this southwest part of the western range (Fig. 3.35). Sculpted
figures whose hand gestures suggest speech populate each face, and segments of the
Beatitudes are dispersed in what appears to the modern eye a haphazard fashion. Yet, the
letters and the figures together suggest action. Christ’s proclamation that the meek, poor,
and disenfranchised are blessed is proclaimed in a space where the monks would have
washed the feet of the poor on Maundy Thursday. The inscriptions on each face reference
Matthew 5:3-10 but do not provide a complete quotation. Interestingly, the beatitude
referencing the poor and hungry is on the east face of the capital and, thus, faces the
interior of the cloister, even though the mandatum pauperum would have taken place in

163
Carolyn Marino Malone, Saint-Bénigne et sa rotonde, 184. Malone notes that
the customaries of Saint-Bénigne identify the position of elymossinarium as next to the
western part of the church. A similar configuration is seen at Tournus. The Liber Tramitis
states that the storeroom and the elymossinarium at Cluny II were next to each other and
had the same width. LT, 204: "Cellarii uero longitudo septuaginta, latitudo sexaginta
pedes. Aelemosynarum quippe cella pedes latitudinis decem, longitudinis sexaginta ad
similitudinem latitudinem cellarii."
164
Bern, 312.
190

the cloister's walkway, not in the middle of the cloister.
165
It reads: BEATI PAVP[ER]ES
SP[IRIT]V ESVRIVNT BEATI Q[V]I (Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those
who are hungry.) The north face refers to monastic charity and reads: BEATI MITTES
BEATI Q[V]I LVGENT Q[VONIAM] I[S]T[I] C[ON]SOLABV[NTVR] (Blessed are
the meek. Blessed are those who mourn because they will be consoled.) The south face
reads: B[EAT]I PACIFICI Q[VONIAM] F[ILII] D[EI] V[OCABVUNTUR] B[EAT]I
Q[V]I PERSECVTIONE[M] P[ATIVNTVR] (Blessed are the peacemakers because they
will be called the children of God. Blessed are those who suffer persecution). The south
face points towards the south walk. The west face reads: B[EAT]I MISERICORDES
BEATI CORDE MVNDO (Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the clean of heart.) The
inscribed text does not follow the order found in Matthew 5:3-10; the second and fourth
verses have been inverted.
166
While the Washing of the Feet (capital #29) located in the
cloister’s east walk near the entrance to the chapter house would have reminded the
monks of their role as latter-day apostles, an inscribed capital listing the Beatitudes would
have reminded the monks of their duty to care for the poor and disenfranchised.
Therefore the inscribed Beatitudes capital in the west walk can be related directly to both
Christ's Sermon on the Mount and to the ritual of the mandatum pauperum.
The sin of man is represented on the inscribed capital two capitals south of the
Beatitudes. This capital depicts Cain murdering Abel (Genesis 4:2-9) (Fig. 3.36). The

165
The capital may have been turned during the thirteenth-century refurbishment,
as I suggested earlier in this chapter.
166
C.I.F.M. 8, 179-81; and Cazes, Le Cloître de Moissac, 81.
191

capital's location near the elymossynarium would have served as a warning against sin
and evil.
The remaining capitals in the west walk are concentrated in the northwest of the
walk, in the fountain house: these two inscribed adjacent capitals are Capital #70, which
labels birds, and Capital #71, the Announcement of the Shepherds and Daniel in the
Lions' Den. The inscribed Birds capital has been related to the moment in Genesis when
Adam named animals.
167
The inscribed Capital #71 Daniel in the lions' den is recounted
in Daniel 6:7-27, and the announcement to the shepherds is found in Luke 2:8-12 (Fig.
3.37). Daniel is considered a prefiguration of Christ and the Resurrection. Because Daniel
is also the last of the great prophets to predict the birth of Christ (Daniel 9:24), it is fitting
that he is paired with the announcement to the shepherds. Therefore the pairing of these
capitals relates the first Creation to the Incarnation.
The inscribed capitals in the west walk accentuated distinct liturgical events that
took place in this walk (i.e., the Beatitudes capital and the mandatum pauperum), and
emphasized the community's role in salvation. The west walk was where outsiders would
have entered the cloister, and it has the fewest inscribed capitals. This could be expected
given that I have suggested elsewhere in this study that inscribed capitals marked off
space privileged by the monks, and marked the area as sacred. This is especially the case
if we consider that the elymossynarium, which provided access to the cloister’s west
walk, was a liminal space that connected to the cloister and the narthex.

167
Cazes, Le cloître de Moissac, 54. Genesis 2:20: And Adam called all the beasts
by their names, and all the fowls of the air, and all the cattle of the field: but for Adam
there was not found a helper like himself.
192

The liminal nature of the elymossynarium is highlighted at Saint-Philibert at
Tournus, where the room is to the south of the narthex and connects to the cloister. Saint-
Philibert at Tournus is one of the few surviving medieval elymossynarium in France. An
inscribed relief warning of evil is located to the right of the door connecting the
elymossynarium to the cloister. Although it is not a capital, the relief encased in the east
wall bears the image of a sea monster with the accompanying inscription: LEVIATON
(Fig. 3.38).
168
The relief is upside down within a band of ashlar above the doorway to the
south walk of the cloister (Fig. 3.39).
169
The inclusion of the inscription, LEVIATON,
negates this suggestion. The term Leviathan was used for Satan exclusively in the Middle
Ages.

168
Restoration of the abbey took place from 1908 to 1915, under the direction of
André Ventre, chief architect for the Monuments historiques during this time. Henri Curé
noted that the relief is upside down and asked whether the sea monster suggested the
zodiac symbol of the scorpion. See Henri Curé, Saint-Philibert de Tournus (Paris: A.
Picard, 1905), 435-37.
169
Ibid. In his 1905 study of the abbey, Henri Curé included J. Martin’s 1898
archeological analysis of the abbey, and noted that Martin called this vaulted room the
chauffoir in the 1898 archeological analysis. The relation of the inscribed text and the
carved monster, however, demonstrate that the two elements were designed to work
together and the inscription was not added at a later date. The room was plastered and
whitewashed during the eighteenth century, and the plaster was not removed completely
until the 1960 restorations (under the direction of chief architect Michel Berry.
Monuments historiques, 081/071/0517/02). Vincent Debiais, ingénieur recherche au
CNRS and author of Corpus des inscriptions de la France médiévale since 2005, dates
the inscription to before the twelfth century. Jacques Henriet dates the wall that contains
the relief to the late-eleventh century. The eighteenth-century restorations may account
for the damage to the masonry and the rough appearance of the relief, as well as its
position. Monuments Historiques, 1990. A restoration report (ca. 1990) notes cement and
whitewash were applied to various areas of the church in 1901. The chauffoir/locutorium
is not mentioned specifically in this report; nevertheless, the present physical state of the
wall suggests that it was part of the 1901 work. There are no descriptions of the
Leviathan relief, or any other sculpture in the church previous to twentieth-century art
historical studies of the site.
193

The earliest mention of this space at Tournus is by Juénin in 1733, in which he
described processions in the north aisle of the cloister entering into the elymossynarium,
which he called the locutorium.
170
The monks processed along the north gallery (called
the cloître de S. Ardain) and entered into the elymossynarium before entering the narthex
of the church during one segment of the Sunday and Easter procession.
171
Juénin makes
no mention, however, of the Leviathan relief.
172
Jacques Henriet dated the
elymossynarium and the north walkway at Tournus to the eleventh century, and more

170
Elzbieta Dabrowska, “La sépulture et les usages funéraires de l’abbaye Saint-
Philibert à Tournus,” Les Actes des rencontres de Tournus: 14 et 15 septembre 2000:
histoire, littérature, archéologie, art (Tournus: ALRT, DL, 2002), 59. Originally cited in
Pierre Juénin, Nouvelle histoire de l’abbaïe royale et collegiale de saint Filibert, et de la
ville de Tournus (Dijon, 1733), 92-93. Juénin noted: two processions were made on the
day of Easter: a small one, and which was performed after the matins Mass, only through
the cloister, which passed through the cloître de S. Ardain, as well as through the three
other [walks]; and the large [procession], which was made after the offices of Terce that
passed through the three other aisles after [passing through the cloître de S. Ardain], as
the small [procession]; but the place in the so-called little cloister, passed through the
locutorium, which is contiguous to the [little cloister] from where one reenters the church
through the old nave. (“…deux processions que l’on faisoit le jour de Pâques; sçavoir la
petite, que l’on faisoit après la Messe du Matin, par le cloître seulement, & qui passoit
véritablement par le cloître de S. Ardain, aussi bien que par les trois autres; & la grande
qui se faisoit après les offices de Tierce, laquelle après avoir passé par les trois autres
aîles, ne revenoit pas à Eglise, par le cloître de S. Ardain, comme la petite; mais entroit
dans le prétendu petit cloître, passoit par le parloir (Locutorium) qui lui est contigu, d’où
elle rentroit dans l’Eglise par la vieille nef.”) This procession is also recounted in Père
Chifflet in his 1664 history of town of Tournus. Cf. P. Chifflet, Histoire de l’abbaye
royale et de la ville de Tournus (Dijon, 1664), 157.
171
This differs from descriptions of the Cluniac Sunday procession as described
in Bernard's customary; cf. Bern, 234.
172
Jean Vallery-Radot, Saint-Philibert de Tournus (Paris: M. Girodias, 1955),
219. After Curé’s 1905 study, Vallery-Radot’s 1955 study next mentions the relief.
Vallery-Radot noted that inscriptions frequently accompany this subject and were typical
in the Rhone Valley, Lyon, and Provence.
194

specifically to the building campaign of Abbot Ardain (c. 1028-1056).
173
Archaeological
analysis of the locutorium and north walk of the cloister dates these areas to the eleventh
century (Fig. 3.40). Abbot Ardain was buried adjacent to the locutorium in the northwest
corner of the cloister’s north walkway ca. 1056.
Assuming the relief was always part of this wall but originally right side up, the
location of the inscribed Leviathan relief, to the right of the doorway, implies that the
relief marked a moment for the monk to pause and mentally compose himself before
entering the cloister. The principal entrance into the narthex from the cloister was through
the locutorium (Fig. 3.40).
174
Therefore, the Leviathan relief would have served as a
frequent reminder to the monk of this perpetual battle.
The Leviathan, a symbol of the devil, is mentioned in the Book of Job: “Let them
curse it who curse the day, who are ready to raise up a leviathan.”
175
Gregory the Great’s
exegesis on the scriptural text, Moralia in Job, was found in the libraries of most
medieval monasteries.
176
Therefore the term ‘leviathan’ would have been well known to a
monastic audience. Not only did the image of Satan confront the monks before re-

173
Jacques Henriet, Saint-Philibert de Tournus: l’abbatiale du XIe siècle, (Paris:
Société française d’archéologie, 2008), 10-22. Henriet provides the most current dating
chronology for the abbey. He dates the narthex, locutorium, and the north aisle of the
cloister to the abbacy of Ardain (d. 1056).
174
This entrance was at the north wall of the elymossynarium and has been closed
up. For analysis of the archaeology, see Henri Curé, Sainte-Philibert de Tournus, 419-20;
Jacques Henriet, Saint-Philibert de Tournus, 32; and Benjamin Saint-Jean-Vitus, “Les
bâtiments claustraux de Saint-Philibert au moyen age,” Saint-Philibert de Tournus:
histoire, archéologie, art. Actes du Colloque du Centre International d’Etudes Romanes,
Tournus, 15-19 juin 1994 (Tournus: Centre International d'Etudes Romanes, 1995), 235.
175
Job 3:8.
176
Conrad Rudolph, Violence in Daily Life. Reading, Art, and Polemics in the
Cîteaux Moralia in Job (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997), 4.
195

entering the sanctity of the cloister, but its labeling in Latin, the language of the Church,
emphasized to the monks that Satan was always lurking. Naming evil served an
apotropaic function and aided the monk in his spiritual battle. Jean Leclerq, in his study
of the motivations of liturgical prayer, noted that the monk became a warrior fighting to
liberate souls from the Devil.
177

The placement of tombs in the elymossynarium and the cloister at Saint-Philibert
demonstrates the differentiation between degrees of sanctity at Saint-Philibert.
178
During
the 1898 archaeological study of the monastery, remains were found in a fourth- to fifth-
century sarcophagus located in the elymossynarium. These remains were identified as that
of a pilgrim because of the contents of the sarcophagus: pieces of a skeleton, pierced
scallop shells, a staff, and a leather patch.
179
Based on the scallop shells, which are
associated with pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella, Elzabeta Dabrowska dated the
remains to between the eleventh and twelfth century, due to the popularity of piligrimage
to Santiago de Compostella during this period.
180
There were no lay burials in the north

177
Jean Leclerq, “Prayer at Cluny,” in Journal of the American Academy of
Religion, 51/4 (December, 1983): 657. Although Leclerq focused on the Cluniac liturgy
in this article, he noted that prayer against evil, or the Devil, was common in monasteries
and not specific to just Cluny. For more on liturgical curses and maledictions see Lester
K. Little, Benedictine Maledictions.
178
Curé, Saint-Philibert, 381-82; Dabrowska, “Sépulture," 57-65. Dabrowska has
reconstructed the location and dates of burials within the church and cloister.
179
Curé, Saint-Philibert, 436-37.
180
Dabrowska, “Sépulture,” 62. Dabrowska’s dating is logical if one considers the
date of the Calixtus Codex (Pilgrimage Guide). The literature on the four main pilgrimage
routes to Santiago de Compostella (Via Tolosana, Via Lemovicensis, Via Turonensis, and
Via Podiensis) and the popularity of pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella in the
eleventh and twelfth centuries is vast. See Esther Cohen, "Roads and Pilgrimage: a Study
in Economic Interaction," in Studi medievali 21 (1980): 321-41; Serafin Moralejo, “The
Codex Calixtinus as an art-historical source,” in The Codex Calixtinus and the Shrine of
196

walk of the cloister, suggesting that the wall with the Leviathan was a boundary between
the semi-secular space of the elymossynarium and the cloister.
181
The relief, as a sign to
both the lay visitor and monk that Satan and sin were always present, emphasized the
necessity for care in their interaction in this space. At Moissac, the inscribed capital
depicting the murder of Abel by Cain in the west walk near the entrance to the
elymossynarium also represented sin and may have served as a warning in addition to its
message of penance in relation to the mandatum pauperum in the west walk.
The distribution of the inscribed capitals in the cloister at Moissac demonstrates
that the inscribed capitals addressed the monks and related to monastic movements
through the cloister. An examination of the disposition of inscribed cloister capitals also
makes it possible to suggest the original arrangement for the sculpture in the now
destroyed cloister of La Daurade in Toulouse.

LA DAURADE, TOULOUSE
As discussed above, the Moissac cloister contains an exceptional number of
inscribed capitals in the cloister compared to the other cloisters discussed in this
chapter.
182
Next in number are the six inscribed capitals from a cloister closely related to

St. James, (1992): 207-27; The Pilgrim’s Guide to Santiago de Compostela: Critical
Edition, ed. Paula Gerson, Annie Shaver-Crandell, Alison Stones and Jeanne Krochaslis,
2 vols. (London, 1998).
181
Dabrowska, “Sépulture,” 59. Dabrowska posited that Abbot Ardain is buried in
the north walk of the cloister, next to the doorway at the locutorium.
182
In fact, Moissac has the most instances of inscribed capitals within my entire
corpus, regardless of location.
197

Moissac: La Daurade in Toulouse, a Moissac dependency.
183
Its sculpted capitals have
been stylistically related to Moissac.
184
Only twenty-four capitals remain from the La
Daurade cloister, and they have been housed in the Musée des augustins since the
monastery's destruction before 1817.
185
The capitals are generally identified as coming
from two distinct phases of production: eight are from what is identified as the First
Workshop, and sixteen from the Second Workshop.
186
The six inscribed capitals are part
of the earlier First Workshop and depict: Daniel in the Lions’ Den, The Transfiguration,
Christ Meeting the Canaanite (Fig. 3.41), The Last Judgment, David and His Musicians
(Fig. 3.42), and The Rivers of Paradise. The themes of Daniel in the Lions' Den, The
Transfiguration, and David and His Musicians also appear in the cloister at Moissac.
With the exception of the Transfiguration and Rivers of Paradise (Fig. 3.43), the
inscribed capitals at La Daurade are also found inscribed at Moissac. In fact, the

183
Horste, Cloister Design, 15-6. La Daurade was given to Moissac in 1077 by
Isarnus, Bishop of Toulouse. Kathryn Horste notes that it is unclear whether the clergy
serving the church prior to the donation to Moissac were secular canons or Augustinian
canons. The canons of St. Etienne contested the rights of the moissagais monks long
after.
184
The similarities between the Moissac cloister capitals and the capitals
produced during the First Workshop at La Daurade have led scholars to conclude that the
capitals were produced by the same group of sculptors. Horste, Cloister Design, 78.
185
Linda Seidel, “The Facade of the Chapter house at La Daurade in Toulouse,”
The Art Bulletin 55/3 (Sept. 1973): 328. For a description of the Musée des Augustins
inventory from La Daurade, see Alexandre Du Mège, Notice des tableaux, statues,
bustes, bas-reliefs et antiques composant le Musée de Toulouse, (Toulouse, 1818).
186
Kathryn Horste, “The Passion Series from La Daurade and Problems of
Narrative Composition in the Cloister Capital,” Gesta 21/1, 32, and Horste, Cloister
Design, 78-9. The first sculptural campaign, referred to as the First Workshop, according
to Horste, dates to after 1100 and, thus, postdates the Moissac cloister capitals (cloister
dedicated in 1100). The Second Workshop dates to ca. 1120.
198

similarity between The Daniel in the Lions' Den capitals in each has led scholars to call
the La Daurade Daniel capital a copy (Fig. 3.44).
Many scholars have focused on the formal aspects of the La Daurade capital
sculpture, especially its relationship to Moissac.
187
Kathryn Horste's 1992 study has
provided the most detailed examination of the sculpture within a social, political, and
religious context.
188
She has noted that the iconography of the cloister at La Daurade
should be understood within the framework of twelfth-century monastic ideals—i.e.,
imitation of the apostles, a theme I have discussed in relation to the inscribed capitals
found in chapter houses at Catus, Marcilhac-sur-Célé, as well as Moissac.
189

In the previous chapter I have discussed how inscribed capitals in the choir,
particularly in the tribune, may suggest the former location of altars. In the case of the
cloister, inscribed capitals may suggest a possible arrangement of the sculpture in the
now destroyed cloister of La Daurade. Because capitals are no longer in situ, attempts to
interpret the carved narratives within their architectural context have been difficult, if not

187
Lafargue, “Les Sculptures du premier atelier de la Daurade,” (1938), 195-216;
Durliat, “La Date des plus anciens chapiteaux de la Daurade,” Estudios dedicados a
Duran y Sanpere (Barcelona: [s.n.], 1967), 195-202; Linda Seidel, “The Facade of the
Chapter House at La Daurade in Toulouse,” Art Bulletin, 55 (1973), 328-33; Kathryn
Horste, “The Capitals of the Second Workshop from the Romanesque Cloister of La
Daurade, Toulouse,” Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Michigan, 1978; and Serafin
Moralejo, “La Facada de la sala capitular de la Daurade de Toulouse: datos iconograficos
para su reconstruccion,” Annuario de estudios medievales 13 (1983): 179-204.
188
Horste focuses on the capitals produced by the Second Workshop and its
narrative cycle. She does not address, nor even mention, the epigraphic evidence on the
capitals. Kathryn Horste, Cloister Design and Monastic Reform in Toulouse. See
especially, Chapter 7.
189
Horste, “A New Plan of the Cloister and Rampart of Saint-Étienne, Toulouse,”
JSAH (1986), 8n6.
199

impossible.
190
Marcel Durliat has suggested that the First Workshop capitals, which
include the only capitals with inscriptions, were most probably located in the east walk
by the chapter house, since decoration of the cloister normally commenced on the east
side (Fig. 3.45).
191
As discussed in this chapter, the earliest dated capitals at Saint-
Trophîme are located in the northeast end of the walk near the chapter house, and this is
the only walk that contains inscribed capitals. Thus Durliat's hypothesis seems plausible.
The inscribed capitals found near other chapter houses discussed in this chapter
address themes related to the apostles' mission or salvation. If we consider the themes of
the La Daurade inscribed capitals—Christ and the Canaanite, The Transfiguration, The
Last Judgment, and the Rivers of Paradise—they correspond to the themes found near
other chapter houses, i.e., Christological themes and salvation. Only the Daniel in the
Lions' Den and the David and His Musicians capitals do not fit this pattern as neatly.
Daniel in the Lions’ Den has been interpreted as a prefiguration of Christ’s crucifixion
and, therefore, can be related to the other Christological themes; however, the David and
His Musicians capital does not.
Because it is generally accepted that the same sculptors who produced the
Moissac cloister capitals also produced the La Daurade capitals and because La Daurade
was a dependency of Moissac, it is possible that the arrangement of the La Daurade

190
The medieval church and the adjoining north walk of La Daurade were
destroyed in the 1760s. The remaining monastic buildings were demolished after the
French Revolution.
191
Kathryn Horste, “The capitals of the second workshop from the romanesque
cloister of la Daurade, Toulouse,” 290-8. Cites Marcel Durliat, “La Date des plus anciens
chapiteaux de la Daurade.” Linda Seidel has also considered a reconstruction of the
capitals in the cloister at La Daurade. See Linda Seidel, “Installation as Inspiration: The
Passion Cycle at La Daurade,” Gesta 25/1 (1986): 83-92.
200

inscribed cloister capitals were dispersed throughout the cloister as at Moissac. We may
not be able to reconstruct the arrangement of the capitals from the La Daurade cloister
with certainty, due to the lack of documentation and the fact that much of the sculpture is
missing. Nevertheless, the remaining inscribed capitals date to the earlier workshop (ca.
1100),
192
and thus postdate the numerous inscribed cloister capitals produced at
Moissac.
193
None of Moissac's other dependencies possess such bountiful sculptural or
epigraphic programs. I have discussed other Cluniac abbeys with inscribed cloister
capitals in this chapter (Charlieu, Catus, and Marcilhac-sur-Célé), but Moissac and La
Daurade have the most inscribed cloister capitals, which begs the question: why?
Moissac was one of the few Cluniac dependencies that maintained the status of
abbey, not priory and, thus, elected its own abbot. Under Cluny, an abbey became a
priory belonging to Cluny unless an older privilege prevented this, as was the case at

192
Horste, Cloister Design, 122. Horste noted the stylistic differences between the
First and Second Workshops. She pointed out that the stylistic similarities between the
First Workshop at La Daurade and the Moissac cloister sculpture leaves no doubt that the
same sculptors were responsible for both cloister decoration. The Second Workshop,
according to Horste, developed a new conception of visual narrative. The narratives are
conveyed with a dynamism and emotional intensity that is not evident in the First
Workshop capitals. The figures are grouped closely together and interact with each other.
The only features that the First and Second Workshop capitals share are the dimensions
of the capitals and imposts and the occurrence of single and double capitals.
193
Durliat, “La Date des plus anciens chapiteaux de la Daurade,” 195-202. This is
based on the 1100 date for the Moissac cloister consecration. Marcel Durliat suggested c.
1100 as an appropriate date for the sculptors at Moissac to begin work on sculpture for
the La Daurade cloister. Prior to Durliat's dating, the La Daurade sculpture had been
dated to 1067-1080 by Marie Lafargue. Durliat pointed out that this dating seemed
precocious considering that La Daurade had not become a dependency of Moissac until
1077, and thus it seems unlikely that a major decorative program would be begun before
1077. Cf. Marie Lafargue, “Les Sculptures du premier atelier de la Daurade,” Bulletin
monumental, 93 (1938) 195-216.
201

Moissac.
194
As mentioned previously, Moissac's location in the southwest provided
Cluny with an outpost along the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, as well as
access to Spain during the Reconquista (1000-1250).
195
Furthermore, it placed Cluny's
interests closer to Toulouse and, thus, helped to control the wayward counts of the
region.
196
During the eleventh and twelfth centuries Moissac participated in the Church's
reform movement in the southwest of France and engaged with local powers over secular
matters,
197
necessitating the production by the abbey of charters, letters, and treaties.
198

The scriptorium at Moissac produced numerous spiritual and administrative texts,
although the production rate declined after 1135.
199
The written culture at Moissac may
have extended beyond the scriptorium onto the sculpture decorating the cloister, and this
practice may have been repeated in its daughter house, La Daurade. Ilene Forsyth has
also suggested that the numerous inscriptions in the Moissac cloister may be related to
the abbey's role as an intellectual center.
200
Since the sculpture and epigraphy in these
cloisters were produced in the last years of the eleventh and the first decade of the twelfth
century, the practice of cloister inscriptions coincides with the apogee of Moissac's
written production.

194
Vézelay also retained the right to maintain its own abbot based on the
monastery's papal privilege of 858.
195
James O'Callaghan, Reconquest and Crusade in Medieval Spain (Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003).
196
Fraïsse, Moissac historie d’une abbaye, 39. See also Régis de la Haye, Apogée
de Moissac. L’abbaye clunisienne Saint-Pierre de Moissac à l’époque de la construction
de son cloître et de son grand portail (Maastricht-Moissac: De La Haye, 1995), 75.
197
Ibid., 147-49,151-52, 154-55.
198
Paris Bibliotheque nationale MS. Doat, v. 128, fol. 19, 21, 49, 64, 243, 245,
248, 253, 259. See also Paris Bibliotheque nationale MS. Doat, v. 129, fol. 11.
199
Dufour, La bibliothèque et le scriptorium de Moissac, 10.
200
Forsyth, "Word-Play," 176.
202

The many charters recording donations to the abbey at this time were produced in
the monastery’s scriptorium. A record of these donations suggests that Moissac had
numerous visitors to the abbey. For example, Pope Urban II came to the abbey in May
1096. It is reasonable to assume that local nobility and bishops would have been present
for this important visit.
The possibility of outsiders visiting the cloister at Moissac puts pressure on
medieval descriptions of the cloister as a protected and secluded space. These
descriptions have obscured the fact that people from outside the monastic community
were allowed in the cloister.
201
Access was controlled, but outsiders did gain entry into
the cloister, such as during the mandatum pauperum and mandatum hospitum rituals that
took place in the west walk. Donation charters suggest that outsiders were not limited to
the west walk. A document describing an oath given by Richard Viscount of Carlat to
Abbot Gausbert of Aurillac (ca. 1119-30) noted that the event took place in the middle of
the cloister at the Aurillac monastery, on the grass.
202
This suggests two things: one, elite

201
Mayke de Jong, “Internal Cloisters: The Case of Ekkehard’s Casus Sancti
Galli,” Grenze und Differenz im frühen Milttelalter, ed. Walter Pohl and Helmut Reimitz,
(Vienna: Verlag der Ôsterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2000): 209-22. See
also Otto K. Werckmeister, “The Emmaus and Thomas Pillar of the Cloister of Silos,” El
Romanico en Silos: IX Centenario de la Consagracion de la Iglesia y Claustro, 1088–
1988 (Silos: Santo Domingo de Silos, 1990), 160. Werckmeister questioned whether the
public might have had more access to the cloister than the textual sources suggest. He
noted that Peter the Venerable's statute 23 prohibiting the laity and outside clergy from
entering the cloister was a sign of a public invading monastic space.
202
Carol Knicely, “Decorative violence and narrative intrigue in the Romanesque
portal sculpture at Souillac” Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles,
1992), 85-6. Originally cited: Roger Grand, “Les plus anciens textes romans de le Haute-
Auvergne,” Revue de la Haute Auvergne (1900): 194-200. secundum igitur hanc
consuetudinem, Ricardus, vicecomes, Berengarii flilius, Gausberto abbati Aurihacensi,
more solito, in medio claustri, super herbam, ante cameram abbatis, hominium fecit
203

laymen were allowed access into the heart of the cloister and were not restricted to the
west walkway; two, the oath did not take place in a walkway but on the grass at the
center of the cloister. The difficulty of maintaining monastic calm within the cloister was
enough of an issue that Peter the Venerable, abbot of Cluny (1122-56) addressed it
explicitly in Statute 23 of his Statuta Petri Venerabilis.
203
The abbot complained of the
disturbance caused by clerics from outside the community and laity in the cloister. He
noted that the influx of clerics, laity, and especially the famuli (servants) in the cloister
resulted in the cloister becoming as busy as a public street. Through this statute, Peter the
Venerable expressed his anxieties over the loss of claustral serenity. He was moving for
the cloister to return to its secluded, contemplative state. One can hypothesize that this
statute was written in reaction to an increase in traffic—both monastic and lay—within
the cloister.

This chapter examined how the location of inscribed capitals in Romanesque
monastic cloisters marked areas of significance for the monks and highlighted the
activities that took place in the cloister. Inscribed capitals are located near the entrance to
the chapter house, and the visual and epigraphic themes depicted on these capitals relate

203
Consuetudines Benedictinae Variae 6, ed. Giles Constable, (Siegburg, 1975),
60. [De Clausura Regularum Domorum: Statutum est, ut in claustrum, vel in reliquas
regulares domos, nullus clericorum aut laicorum ingrediatur, nisi aut causa operas
alicuius, aut causa videndi domos, ut honesti hospites facere solent, aut causa medendi
infirmis in infirmaria iacentibus.
Causa instituti huius fuit, clericorum aut laicorum, et maxime famulorum, adeo
frequens per claustrum, quibuslibet de causis, transitus ac regressus, ita ut paene in
stratam publicam claustrum vertisse, et in eundo ac redeundo, fere iam a monachis nihil
distare viderentur.]
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to the monks' role as latter-day apostles and the importance of Christ for salvation. The
viewer/monk was able to engage actively with the carved images and texts because the
cloister capitals were closer to the ground than those located in the church and narthex,
and therefore were more visible. They mark the areas of greatest importance to the
monks, such as the walk containing the chapter house and the walk adjacent to the
church. Furthermore, the inscribed capitals punctuated and explicated the liturgical events
that took place in these walks, (e.g., The Washing of the Feet capital at Moissac that
signaled the mandatum fratrum at the entrance to the chapter house or The Christ in
Majesty capital at Marcilhac-sur-Célé that related to the necrologies read at chapter).
Most importantly, the inscribed cloister capitals related to monastic processions in the
cloister, much like the inscribed narthex capitals related to processions in the narthex.
The twenty-eight inscribed capitals in the Moissac cloister are exceptional in
number. The inscribed capitals are located in all four walkways of the cloister, although
the largest concentration is in the east walk by the chapter house and in the walk adjacent
to the church. The number of inscribed capitals per walk at Moissac suggests a hierarchy
of sanctity/importance within the cloister (i.e., ten inscribed capitals in the east walk;
eight in the south walk; six in the north walk; and four in the west walk). The
concentration of inscribed capitals in areas that would have been used primarily by the
abbey's community—chapter house, church, day stairs from dormitory, refectory—
indicate that the moissagais monks were the audience for these inscriptions. Even the few
inscribed capitals in the more public west walk at Moissac highlighted the monastic
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liturgical function of the space in a way that would only have been meaningful to the
community's monks.
Because of the wealth of sculpture in the cloister at Moissac, it has received the
most scholarly attention. However, the examination of six other Romanesque monasteries
discussed in this chapter has allowed for a more complete understanding of how inscribed
capitals highlighted the function of the cloister and transmitted concepts of monastic
identity.

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CONCLUSION
This study has focused on inscribed capitals in French Romanesque monasteries
in relation to the use of architectural space, especially for ritual activity. These capitals,
which Durand equated to the minds and words of the Church's doctors, were not simply
decorative adornments but performed more complex functions. Their location
circumscribed monastic spaces and framed altars. They solicited and represented the
presence of the divine through their interaction with the liturgy, and, as such, are
performative objects.
Inscribed capitals are found almost exclusively in the narthex, the choir, and
cloister—areas used primarily by monks.
1
By examining the liturgical function of these
spaces, I have been able to understand the capitals not only as part of sculptural programs
within individual monasteries but also as part of a larger pattern that sheds light on
monastic concerns in Romanesque France. Geoffrey Koziol recently employed a similar
method in his study of Carolingian royal charters.
2
He noted that by reading them en
masse and not individually as isolated texts, one can discover patterns and groupings that
lead to a richer understanding of the charters. This approach has allowed me to discover a
spatial program for the inscribed capitals in this study instead of an iconographical
program.

1
Fifty of the seventy-six monasteries and churches studied in this dissertation
have inscribed capitals in the choir. This tally includes the crypt because it is linked
spatially and conceptually to the choir above. Ten monasteries have inscribed capitals in
the cloister, and five in the narthex.
2
Geoffrey Koziol, The Politics of Memory and Identity in Carolingian Royal
Diplomas: The West Frankish Kingdom (840-987) (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2012).
Koziol examined the performative uses of the diplomas in order to gain insight into West
Frankish politics.

207

As performative objects in relation to ritual activity, inscribed capitals spoke the
mind and words of the Church doctors. The act of inscribing words on the capitals
suggests that there was a deliberate intention for these words to be heard. We see a
striking example of this when studying inscribed cloister capitals. The cloister was the
site of the lectio divina (contemplative reading), which was a form of private reading
performed in silentio.
3
Yet these inscribed cloister capitals do not refer to this activity,
instead they relate to the liturgical processions and activities in the cloister (e.g., the
mandatum pauperum and mandatum fratrum). The inscribed choir capitals, which had
the lengthiest epigraphic texts, are located in a space not known for contemplative
reading but for the performance of the Divine Office. This suggests that the monks
related inscribed capitals to liturgical performance rather than to the activity of reading.
Furthermore, these capitals transmitted the monks' communal identity.
If a capital's inscription is interpreted as its voice, the inscription could be said to
have an oral/aural nature in relation to liturgical performance. Audience response to these
speaking capitals would have been conditioned by the local context in which the liturgy
was performed. We see this effect when we consider the inscribed capital in the narthex
at Vézelay depicting Ss. Peter and Paul's miraculous resuscitation of a youth. This capital
was produced during the abbey’s protracted disputes with the local episcopate, nobility,
and the townspeople. The saints' names are inscribed above their heads on its west side,

3
For a discussion of the role of private reading, see Paul Saenger, Space Between
Words: The Origins of Silent Reading (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997), 203.
Saenger notes that reading in silentio did not necessarily imply silent, visual reading, but
rather it required quiet reading. Anselm of Canterbury (ca. 1033-1089) noted that private
reading stimulated meditation.

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which faced the laity as they entered the narthex on their way into the church. The
inscriptions of these Roman saints signaled that the monastery answered only to Rome
and not to local ecclesiastical powers and, thus, would have transmitted the monastery's
spiritual independence and authority to its visitors. The saints were also the patron saints
of Cluny, and the inscribed names highlighted the abbey’s alliance with the powerful
Burgundian abbey. Furthermore, the capital’s location corresponded to the monks’
processional movements on Palm Sunday and during the Procession of the Tribulations,
when the monks would invoke the names of these saints to protect the abbey and punish
enemies, as they stood barefoot outside the church. The monks, followed by the laity,
would then enter the narthex and process into the body of the church. The procession
would end in front of the altar of the Holy Cross, where the monks would announce the
abbey’s troubles to the townspeople assembled before them. The first inscribed capital
that the monks and laity would have seen upon entering the narthex was the Ss. Peter and
Paul capital. The capital was a visual reinforcement of what had just taken place outside
the church—the invocation of the saints’ names for aid—and what was about to take
place in the church at the altar of the Holy Cross. It is reasonable to expect that these two
audiences would have understood this capital differently. For the monks, the inscribed
names represented their ability to call upon the saints for aid in times of trouble. For the
laity, during periods of rebellion in the town, the capital would trigger the knowledge that
some of their neighbors were the source of the abbey’s troubles. This is one example of
how an inscribed capital and liturgical performance provoked a response from their
audience.

209

The form of a capital, itself, presented some interesting issues and possibilities.
Because a capital is an integral architectural component, it offers unique challenges for
presenting a narrative, whether through pictorial or textual means. Frequently square, the
capital's format provides the possibility of presenting narrative reliefs on each of its four
faces. Positioned atop a column, which was either freestanding or engaged to a wall or
pier, the capitals could be viewed from multiple sides, but all four sides were not visible
from a single viewpoint and, thus, did not necessarily present a sequential narrative.
Therefore, the images and texts carved on each side would would present only one aspect
or unfold in different sequences depending on the direction in which the monk
approached the capital, with meaning actively constructed in relation to liturgical activity.
Although these capitals could yield polyvalent meanings, there was one overarching
interpretation: the monks' purpose was to pray for the world’s salvation.
The inscribed capitals located in the narthex seem especially to relate to monastic
processional movements and, most importantly, addressed primarily the monastic
presence in a space shared with the laity. The relatively small number of monasteries
with inscribed capitals located in the narthex—six—would suggest that it was not the
most important location for inscribed language on capitals, perhaps because portals
leading into the church frequently had carved or painted inscriptions on tympana and
trumeaux; for example, the inscriptions on the tympanum at Conques were both carved
and painted, but they were only painted at Vézelay. Inscribed capitals were located in
portals of nine of the seventy-six monasteries in this study, and they function similarly to
inscriptions found on tympana and at portals, marking the transition between secular and

210

sacred space. Like inscriptions on tympana, the inscribed capitals framing the portal gave
the doorway a voice, which spoke to those entering the church. In contrast, the inscribed
capitals located in the narthex interacted more with the liturgy and addressed monastic
spiritual authority in a space shared with the laity. The capitals in conjunction with the
monks' processional movements emphasized to both a monastic and lay audience the
monastic understanding of the narthex as Galilee, the site to meet Christ eternal.
Although this monastic understanding of the narthex as Galilee has been
identified as a primarily Cluniac phenomenon, Cluny's intense influence during the
eleventh and twelfth centuries resulted in the spread of this conception to independent
monasteries that had accepted Cluniac reforms and customs, as for example at Saint-
Benoît-sur-Loire. The narthex as Galilee reinforced for the ritual participants that they
were entering into a topographical location in which they could anticipate meeting Christ
eternal. In the Cluniac liturgy, the fourth station of the Sunday procession took place in
the narthex in front of the door to the nave of the church. For the monks, it was both a
significant stopping point in the liturgical procession, the place where Christ said he
would meet his disciples after his resurrection and, by extension, a site that ritually
identified and unified them as the latter-day apostles with a past biblical event. For the
laity, it was the place where they waited for the monks to lead them into the body of the
church for celebration of the Eucharist. The understanding of the narthex as Galilee was
enhanced by chants, liturgical processions, and sculpture within the space, preparing the
community of monks and laity to enter the body of the church, which was considered to
be the earthly equivalent of the celestial Jerusalem.

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The choir, referred to as the chorus psallentium because of the psalms sung during
the Divine Office, was a space reserved only for the monastic community. It contains the
greatest instances of inscribed capitals. Forty-four of the seventy-six monasteries,
churches, and cathedrals in this study have inscribed capitals in the choir. Located at least
fifteen feet from the ground, these capitals framed and activated the space where the
monks performed the Divine Office, marking this area as particularly sacred and
stimulating a spiritual union between the Earthly and Heavenly spheres during ritual
activity.
Given the height of the capitals from the ground, one might expect the
inscriptions to be short and descriptive. Yet this is not the case. For example, the verse
inscriptions on the hemicycle capitals at Cluny III are the lengthiest epigraphic texts in
my corpus. Consisting of multiple lines of verse, the inscriptions on these capitals framed
the sanctuary and provided a veritable musical treatise that commented on the chant
emanating from the monks' choir. But the inscriptions on the Cluny hemicycle capitals
are exceptional.
4
Nevertheless, if we exclude the Cluny hemicycle capitals from the
equation, the inscribed choir capitals still contained more words per capital than inscribed
capitals located elsewhere. On average, the inscribed choir capitals contained over 10
words per capital, whereas the inscribed narthex and cloister capitals contained 4.5 and
3.5 words per capital, respectively, perhaps, because the choir was the most sacred site in
the abbey, the site of the Divine Office and the main altar.

4
Other churches with lengthy inscriptions on hemicycle capitals include: Saint-
Pierre at Chauvigny, Saint-Nectaire, the cathedral at Cathédrale Saint-Vincent, and
Notre-Dame-du-Port at Clermont-Ferrand.

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Many of the lengthy texts on hemicycle capitals relate to apocalyptic themes that
transmitted the purpose of the Divine Office—praise of God and intercession for the
salvation of the world—and warned viewers (both human and non-human) that Judgment
was approaching. The life of Christ, especially his Incarnation, was the crucial
component for salvation and, as such, was an appropriate theme for choir capitals. In
several instances, the inscriptions on these capitals consist of words and phrases from
liturgical chants, most commonly chants from the feasts of the Annunciation and Advent.
At Issoire and Arnac-Pompadour, a responsory verse for the feast of the Annunciation is
inscribed on a choir capital: Spiritus sanctus superveniet in te.
5
The Annunciation was
celebrated twice during the year: once at Advent (December 1-24) and once on March 25
(Annuntiatio Mariae). The inscribed fragments of liturgical chants on choir capitals
related to the liturgy of the Divine Office, not the act of singing.
The inscribed capitals in the choir commemorated and interacted with the
liturgical events in the choir and at the same time provided visual exegesis on the Divine
Office. As the site for the high altar, the choir was the center of a monk's life. The
inscribed capitals framed and protected altars and placed the Divine Office within the
framework of sacred time. Inscribed capitals recalling the names of artists or patrons
framed altars in much the same way, as did inscriptions on the altar. Therefore, inscribed
capitals located near altars resonate with the purpose of the altar, and the inscribed names
were a type of prayer.

5
Inscribed choir capitals at Arnac-Pompadour, Chauvigny, and Issoire reference
chants from Advent and the Annunciation. See Appendix.

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They also framed and divided sacred space, as for example on capitals in the
hemicycle and around the choir screen. Apocalyptic themes and the life cycle of Christ
especially are annotated with inscriptions on capitals of the hemicycle. These inscribed
scenes placed the impending end of days within the framework of the liturgy of hours.
These images formed a protective barrier between pilgrims and visitors circulating in the
ambulatory around the high altar and choir and in the nave before the altar of the Holy
Cross, which was located in the front of the choir screen. In addition, the numerous
inscribed capitals depicting the battle between virtues and vices and sins, such as avarice,
served an apotropaic function that repulsed evil from this most sacred part of the church.
The inscribed capitals located in the ten cloisters of this study contained visual
and epigraphic themes related to the monks' role as latter-day apostles and to the
importance of Christ for salvation. These themes were most frequently expressed at the
entrance to the chapter house in order to construct and promote the monks' communal
identity. The inscribed capitals frequently depicted and named the apostles or were
related to themes of death and resurrection, as on the inscribed image of Lazarus on a
capital near the chapter house at Saint-Trophîme. The cloister, as the physical center of
the monastery and, therefore, the center of monastic communal life, provided an ideal
location for emphasizing the monks' salvific mission, which included prayers for the
dead. Still, these capitals relate most closely to processions in the cloister. Most notably,
the daily processions between the dormitory, chapter house, and the church, as well as the

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first three stations of the Sunday procession and feast days, at which the processions
stopped as it went around the cloister.
6

Because of the multiple functions of the cloister, but particularly as the site for
monastic reading, one would expect the inscribed capitals in the cloister to contain the
lengthiest texts, especially because they are clearly legible, located approximately seven
and half feet from the ground. As we have already seen, in most monasteries the choir
capitals had the lengthiest inscriptions. The inscribed cloister capitals in most monasteries
tend to be short labels identifying figures by name. Nonetheless, the Moissac cloister
contains the most inscribed capitals with longer texts than those found on cloister capitals
in other monasteries. The production of the Moissac cloister inscriptions coincides with
the apogee of Moissac's written production, a practice that seems to have been repeated at
its daughter house, La Daurade at Toulouse.
In some instances the spaces examined in this study share a liturgical activity. For
example, commemorations for the dead were observed in the chapter house and in the
narthex. The chapter house was the site for commemorations of the dead when names
from the necrology were read during chapter. The procession for the dead passed through
the narthex, and commemorations for the dead took place in its upper story. As a result,
themes related to this ritual activity are found in both areas. At Marchilhac-sur-Célé,
Christ in Majesty is depicted on inscribed capitals in the chapter house and at the south
portal entrance to the narthex. In each case the theme is found at the entrance to a sacred
space used for liturgical commemoration of the dead.

6
Bern, 235.

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Similarly, the inscribed relief of the Leviathan located in the elymossynarium at
Tournus marks the entrance into the north and west walks of the cloister. As a site that
negotiated between the outside, secular world and the church and cloister, the
elymossynarium, much like the narthex, was a liminal space. It was a room adjacent to
the narthex and the cloister with a door connecting the two spaces or opening to the least
private area west of the cloister. Here the monks could interact with people outside the
monastic community, and it sometimes was along the path of the Sunday and Easter
procession. The use of inscriptions and accompanying apotropaic imagery between the
elymossynarium and the church or monastic cloister can be interpreted as negotiating
potential secular contamination as the monks returned to a more sacred space.
Inscriptions located in the elymossynarium and in the west walk of the cloister where the
mandatum pauperum took place emphasized the necessity for vigilance against sin; at the
same time it transmitted a message of penance.
I have discussed in chapter two how capitals inscribed with the names of artists
and patrons frequently appear in the narthex or near altars, which are related to prayers
for remembrance of the dead or the necrology. None of the inscribed cloister capitals in
this study had names of an artist or patron. The absence of capitals with these names may
be due to the fact that, although a privileged few of the laity may have been buried in the
cloister, burial here was mostly reserved for the monks.
The data I have gathered suggests that the choir contained the greatest instances
of inscribed capitals. Forty-four of the seventy-six churches, monasteries, and cathedrals
in this study have inscribed capitals, whereas only six narthexes and ten cloisters have

216

inscribed capitals. This conclusion, however, may be deceptive because this survey is not
and can never be complete because of what has been lost over time. The paucity of
narthexes and cloisters from the period (either due to survival or infrequency in
construction) in contrast to the many churches with still intact choirs may negate my
finding that there were more inscribed capitals in the choir. Nevertheless, based on the
surviving evidence, it can be said that the inscribed capitals in the choir contained more
words per capital than those located in the narthex and cloister, thus suggesting that these
capitals marked the area as significant.
In addition to shedding light on monastic attitudes towards their spaces, and the
liturgical function of those spaces, inscribed capitals may also have been spatial markers
and, thus, today provide material evidence for altars and choir screens no longer in situ.
Inscribed capitals in the choir frequently framed altars, and in the case of Vézelay, the
location of inscribed capitals two bays west of the choir may suggest the location of the
now destroyed choir screen and the altar of the Holy Cross. Similarly, inscribed capitals
located in the tribune may indicate the liturgical function of the space. Because tribunes
were large spaces capable of accommodating people and liturgical furnishings, such as
altars, inscribed capitals located in this area may suggest the use of this space. Based on
the significant number of inscribed capitals near altars in the choir on the ground level,
inscribed capitals found in tribunes suggest that this area of the church, a type of chapel,
once accommodated altars.
My investigation of inscribed capitals may also suggest a possible arrangement
for the sculpture in the now destroyed cloister of La Daurade at Toulouse. As seen at

217

Moissac and the other cloisters examined in chapter three, inscribed capitals are most
frequently located in the walk adjacent to the chapter house. Therefore, the inscribed
capitals from La Daurade may have similarly been located in the east walk by the chapter
house.
Studying inscribed capitals in relation to architectural space and liturgical activity
not only suggests broader patterns in which to understand how monks used word/text
dynamics to animate and shape their spaces but also can yield new insights for
understanding the 'life' of a single sculpture. For example, in the narthex at Sainte-Marie-
Madeleine at Vézelay, a rare depiction of the Temptation of St. Benedict on a capital
faces toward the tympanum depicting Pentecost and the Mission of the Apostles. Across
the east face of the capital images of the Devil, a woman, and St. Benedict are aligned
beneath an inscription that reads: DIABOLVS DIABOLVS SCS BENEDICTUS. Both
the monastic and the lay communities used the narthex, a site of passage into the main
body of the church, but this capital was placed directly in the path of the monks entering
the narthex from the east in order to meet the laity during the Sunday and Easter
processions.
The inscribed Temptation of St. Benedict capital in the narthex at Vézelay was
strategically located to warn the monks during the fourth station of these processions of
their moral responsibility as they led the laity into the church. The inscription served as a
warning to the monks that women, such as those attending these services, must be
guarded against as though they were the Devil himself. At Vézelay, the sculpted narrative
emphasized the importance of resisting sexual temptation in order for the monks to

218

maintain their salvific mission and their spiritual independence. The devil in the form of
female temptation in the narthex can be related to monastic purity at a time when the laity
also scrutinized clerical celibacy. The location of the Temptation capital opposite the
Eucharistic imagery of the Anthony and Paul capital and the inscribed trumeau with the
Eucharistic lamb corresponded to the monks’ understanding of the narthex as Galilee
through which they conducted souls in their care to meet Christ eternal as the procession
entered the church for the Mass. Moreover, in relation to the tympanum it underlined that
the cura animarum was the monastic equivalent of the Mission of the Apostles.
Uncertainty about literacy rates in the Middle Ages has raised questions about the
identity of the intended readers of these epigraphic texts and has led to assumptions that
an interlocutor or narrator would have been present to transmit the meaning of the
inscriptions to an illiterate or semi-literate audience. Viewers did not necessarily read
these inscribed capitals sequentially, but rather the inscriptions cued a response or
triggered an interpretation. The inscription gave the capital a voice and served as a device
that engaged the viewer to reflect on a specific message as it related to ritual activity. The
inscriptions, in Latin with only a few exceptions, addressed the monks as the primary
audience. Latin, the language of the Church, was also the official language of the
monastery, but not the laity.
In medieval culture, written text had the potential to create presence,
7
as was the
case with the numerous names inscribed on capitals in the choir. A culture of presence is

7
Almut Suerbaum and Manuele Gragnolati, “Medieval Culture 'betwixt and
between': An introduction,” Aspects of the Performative in Medieval Culture, ed.
Manuele Gragnolati and Almut Suerbaum (Berlin and New York, 2010), 3.

219

similarly important in the conception of the narthex as Galilee, the cult of saints and
relics, and also in epigraphic texts. Because the inscribed capitals are predominantly
related to liturgical performance, epigraphic texts on capitals were performative rather
than descriptive. For example, the inscribed cloister capitals related most closely to
processions in the cloister rather than to the contemplative act of reading. The cloister,
although a place of multiple functions, was an important place for processions on feast
days and every Sunday. It provided a conduit between the various conventual buildings,
movements that were highly ritualized.
The number of inscribed capitals diminished drastically by the end of the twelfth
century. Calvin Kendall has suggested that the reason the number of verse inscriptions on
portals then declined was because the portal was no longer the sole focus for artistic
attention. Monumental decorative programs expanded to include the entire facade of the
building. I would also argue that monumental decoration became more standardized by
the late twelfth century, and the themes were less diverse than during the Romanesque
period. Perhaps by the end of the twelfth century the inscribed capitals no longer spoke
because it was no longer necessary.

220

Fig. I.1 Map of France with sites containing inscribed capitals.

221
Fig. 1.1: Sainte-Marie-Madeleine at Vézelay. Interior of narthex before entrance into
body of the church. (Photo: author).
Fig. 1.2: Saint-Philibert at Tournus. Interior narthex. Christ in Majesty painted
in the vault above the entrance into the church. (Photo: author).
222
Fig. 1.3: Saint-Philibert at Tournus. Interior narthex. St. Paul painted to right of the
entrance into the body of the church. (Photo: author).
Fig. 1.4: Saint-Philibert at Tournus. Interior of church, in choir looking west.
Projecting upper chapel is now obscured by organ. (Photo: author).
223
Fig. 1.5: Floor plan of
Sainte-Marie-Madeleine
basilica,Vézelay
after Francis Salet.
Sunday and Easter
processional route indicated
with black arrows.

Inscribed capitals on
ground floor of narthex:
Capital #11: The Temptation
of St. Benedict
Capital #9: Ss. Peter and
Paul Resuscitate a Youth
Capital #7: Isaac
Blesses Jacob
224
Fig. 1.6: Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, Vézelay. Temptation of St. Benedict (capital #11) in narthex. Left: North face.
Middle: East face. Right: South face. (Photo: Sébastien Biay)
225
Fig. 1.7: Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, Vézelay. Temptation of St. Benedict
and Broken Bell episode in nave (capital #31). (Photo: Sébastien Biay).
226
Fig. 1.8: Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. Temptation of St. Benedict capital located
on the northwest crossing pier.
Eliane Vergnolle, Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire et la sculpture du XIe siècle (Paris, 1985).
Fig. 1.9: Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. Broken Bell episode capital located on the
southwest crossing pier.
Eliane Vergnolle, Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire et la sculpture du XIe siècle (Paris, 1985).
227
Fig. 1.10: Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, Vézelay. Detail of inscription on the
Temptation of St. Benedict capital (capital #11). (Photo: Sébastien Biay).
Fig. 1.11: Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, Vézelay. Meal of Ss. Anthony and Paul capital
(capital #13). (Photo: author).
228
Fig. 1.12: Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, Vézelay. Trumeau. (Photo: author).
229
Fig. 1.13: Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, Vézelay. Ss. Peter and Paul capital in the narthex,
west face (capital #9). (Photo: C.I.F.M.).
230
Fig. 1.14: Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, Vézelay. Isaac Blesses Jacob capital (capital #7) in narthex.
Left: East face. Right: South face. (Photo: C.I.F.M.).
231
Fig. 1.16: Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, Vézelay. Raphael and Tobias capital in the south aisle
of the narthex tribune. (Photo: C.I.F.M.).
Fig. 1.15: Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, Vézelay. David Rex capital in the north aisle
of the narthex tribune. (Photo: C.I.F.M.).
232
Fig. 1.17: Floor plan of narthex tribune at Sainte-Marie-Madeleine,Vézelay
after Francis Salet.

Inscribed capitals in narthex tribune:
Capital #37: Raphael and Tobias
Capital #42: David, Bathsheba, and Tobias
233
Fig. 1.18: Saint-Philibert, Tournus. Drawing of narthex elevation.

Henri Curé, Saint-Philibert de Tournus (Paris, 1905), 116.
234
Fig. 1.19: Saint-Philibert, Tournus. Interior of upper narthex looking east.
Doorway to upper narthex chapel. (Photo: author).
235
Fig. 1.20: Saint-Philibert, Tournus. Drawing of doorway to upper narthex chapel.
GERLANNUS relief to right of arch. (Drawing by J. Busch).

Henri Curé, Saint-Philibert de Tournus (Paris, 1905), 424.
Fig. 1.21: Saint-Philibert, Tournus. Relief of figure to right of doorway, above column.
(Photo: author).
236
Fig. 1.22: Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. Tower porch. UNBERTUS capital (capital #6).
(Photo: C.I.F.M.).
Fig. 1.23: Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire.
View of tower porch from
across plaza. (Photo: author).
237
Fig. 1.24: Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. Interior of church. Trace of doorway at south side
of nave.
Eliane Vergnolle, Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire et la sculpture du XIe siècle (Paris, 1985), 38.
238
Fig. 1.25: Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire.
Tower porch.
Apocalypse capital
(capital #11).
Top: West face.
Bottom: South face.
(Photo: C.I.F.M.).
239
Fig. 1.26: Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. Floor plan (ground floor) of tower porch.
Capital #6: UNBERTUS; Capital #11: Apocalypse capital;
Capital #10: Last Judgment; Capital #12: Reliquary capital
Floor plan after Eliane Vergnolle, Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire et la sculpture du XIe siècle
(Paris, 1985), 63.
6
11
10
12
240
Fig. 1.27: Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. Tower Porch. Reliquary capital, cavity faces north.
(capital #12).
241
Fig. 2.1: Saint-Quentin-Baron. Inscribed choir capital. (Photo: C.I.F.M.)
242
Fig. 2.2: Chauvigny hemicycle capital #5. St. Michael and the Weighing of Souls
and the Whore of Babylon. (Photo: unknown)
243
Fig. 2.3: Saint-Nectaire.
Hemicycle.
Last Judgment capital
with detail.
(Photo: unknown)
244
Fig. 2.4: Cluny III hemicycle. Seasons and Virtues capital (C5).
(Photo: Sébastien Biay)
Inscription:
VER PRIMOS FLORES PRIMOS P(RO)DUCIT ODORES
DAT COGN(OSCEN)DUM PRUDENTIA Q(U)ID SIT AGENDUM
(FALX RESECAT SPICAS FER)VENS Q(U)AS DECON(QUIT ESTAS)
245
Fig. 2.5: Arrangement of hemicycle capitals at Cluny III. After Conant.
246
Fig. 2.6: Cluny III hemicycle. Tones 1-4 capital (C7). (Photo: Sébastien Biay)
Inscription:
HIC TONUS ORDITUR MODULAMINA MUSICA PRIMUS
(S)UBSEQU(IT)UR PTONUS NUMERO VEL LEGE SECUNDUS
TERTIUS IMPINGIT CHR(ISTU)M QUE RESURGERE FINGIT
SUC(C)EDIT QUARTUS SIMULANS IN CARMINE PLANCTUS
247
Fig. 2.7: Cluny III hemicycle. Tones 5-8 capital (C8). (Photo: Sébastien Biay)
Inscription:
OSTENDIT QVINTVS QUAM SIT QUISQ(U)IS TUMET IMUS
SI CUPIS AFFECTUM PIE(T)ATIS RESPICE SEXTUM
INSINUAT FLA(T)U(M) (C)U(M) DONIS SEPTIMUS ALMUM
OCTA VUS (S)ANCTOS OM(NE)S DOCET ESSE BEATOS
248
Fig. 2.8: Sainte-Foy at Conques. Angels in cupola. (Photo: author)
249
Fig. 2.10: Sainte-Foy at Conques. Capital at an angle of the crossing tower.
Capital is facing east. (Photo: author)
Fig. 2.9: Sainte-Foy at Conques. Angels on capitals at the angles of the crossing tower.
Capital at left faces east; capital at right faces north.
(Photo: Andrew Tallon, Mapping Gothic France)
250
Avarice
Sacrifice
of Isaac
Crucifixion
St. Peter
Signature
St. Foy
Altar
St.Peter
Altar
Virgin
Altar
Main
Altar
Monks’
Choir
in
Crossing
Fig. 2.11: Plan of Sainte-Foy, Conques with altars and inscribed capitals indicated.
Altar placement after A. Erlande-Brandenburg, ca. 1100.
251
7 8
42
41
Main
Altar
Monks’
Choir
in
Crossing
Altar
Altar Altar
Fig. 2.12: Plan of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire with altars and inscribed capitals indicated.
Capital #7: Daniel, Gabriel, and Habacuc (located in north transept)
Capital #8: Hugh and brothers (located in north transept)
Capital #41d: Hugh offering a book to St. Benedict (located in blind triforium)
Capital #42d: Hugh, St. Benedict, and the Virgin (located in blind triforium)
252
Fig. 2.13: Main altar at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. View looking west.
Relics are visible under altar tabletop.
La basilique de Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. Histoire et symboles.
(Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, 2008). Text: Anselme Davril, Lin Donnat, Bertrand Lefebvre,
Louis-Marie Gantier (monks of Fleury). Photography: Bruno Wadoux, Abbey of Fleury.
253
Fig. 2.14: Main altar at Saint-Sernin, Toulouse. (Photo: author)
Artist’s name: BERNARDVS GELdVINVS
254
Fig. 2.15:
Capital at Saint-Hilaire, Melle
Top: Detail of capital
Inscription:
FACERE ME AIMERICVS
ROGA VIT
(Photo: author)
Bottom:
View of capital from south entry
into church.
(Photo: author)
255
Fig. 2.16: Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. Triforium capital (capital #41d).
La basilique de Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. Histoire et symboles.
(Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, 2008)
Text: Anselme Davril, Lin Donnat, Bertrand Lefebvre, Louis-Marie Gantier
Photography: Bruno Wadoux, Abbey of Fleury
256
Fig. 2.17: Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. Triforium capital (capital #42d).
La basilique de Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. Histoire et symboles.
(Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, 2008). Text: Anselme Davril, Lin Donnat, Bertrand Lefebvre,
Louis-Marie Gantier. Photography: Bruno Wadoux, Abbey of Fleury
257
Fig. 2.18: Sainte-Foy, Conques. Sacrifice of Isaac capital. (Photo: author)
258
Fig. 2.19: Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire.
Capital #8 in
north transept.

(Photo: C.I.F.M.)
259
Fig. 2.20: Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire.
Capital #7 in
north transept.
(Photo: C.I.F.M.)
260
Fig. 2.21: Elevation of Sainte-Foy, Conques. (Monuments historiques)
261
Fig. 2.22: Sainte-Foy, Conques. North tribune, looking west. (Photo: author)
262
Fig. 2.23: Sainte-Foy, Conques. South entrance into church transept from cloister.
South tower affords access to tribune level.
(Photo: author)
263
Fig. 2.24: Signature capital in south transept at Sainte-Foy, Conques.
Inscription:
BERNARD(US) ME FECI(T) (Photo: C.I.F.M.)
264
Fig. 2.25: Capital depicting avarice in north tribune at Sainte-Foy, Conques.
Inscription:
TV PRO MALVM ACIPE MERITVM O
(Photo: author)
265
Fig. 2.26: Plan. Thetford Priory, Norfolk, England.
The Plan of St. Gall, 2, pl. 517, 344.
266
Fig. 2.27: Conspectus ecclesiae Cluniacensis, floor plan and elevation of Cluny III
(ca. 1685-1713), engraving by Pierre-François Giffart.
Corpus de la sculpture de Cluny, Neil Stratford (dir.,) Birgitte Maurice-Chabard, David
Walsh et alii (Paris, 2011) 1, fig. 1, 74.
267
Crypt ended here during abbacy of Artaud.
Fig. 2.28: Floor plan of crypt at Vézelay
Arnaud Timbert, Vézelay: Le chevet de la Madeleine et le premier gothique bourguignon
(Rennes: 2009), 40.
268
Fig. 2.29: Floor plan of Charlieu
Marcello Angheben, Les chapiteaux romans de bourgognes. Thèmes et programmes
(Turnhout, 2003), 477.
269
Fig. 2.30: Floor plan of Anzy-le-Duc
Marcello Angheben, Les chapiteaux romans de bourgognes. Thèmes et programmes
(Turnhout, 2003), 456.
270
Fig. 2.31: Sainte-Marie Madeleine, Vézelay. Daniel and the Lions at Vézelay
(capital # 34). (Photo: C.I.F.M.)
271
Fig. 2.32: Sainte-Marie Madeleine, Vézelay
Meal of Ss. Anthony and Paul at Vézelay (capital # 75).
(Photo: author)
272
choir
31 13 34
75
11 9
7
NARTHEX TRANSEPT CHEVET NAVE
cemetery
Fig. 2.33:
Floor plan of
Sainte-Marie Madeleine,
Vézelay with inscribed
capitals indicated.
Plan after Salet.
Inscribed capitals:
#7: Isaac Blesses Jacob
#9: Ss. Peter and Paul
#11: Temptation
of St. Benedict
#34: Daniel and the Lions
#75: Meal of Ss. Anthony
and Paul
Capitals without
inscriptions:
#13: Meal of Ss. Anthony
and Paul
#31: Temptation
of St. Benedict
East end would have
terminated here during
abbacy of Artaud.
273
choir
31 34
75
altar Holy Cross
Fig. 2.34:
Proposed footprint
for Sainte-Marie Madeleine
at Vézelay ca. abbacy of
Artaud (1096-1104).
K. Tanton
274
Fig. 2.35: Floor plan of Canterbury Cathedral in 1174.
Robert Willis, Architectural History of some English Cathedrals: a collection in two
parts of papers delivered during the years 1842-1863 (Newport Pagnell, 1972), 38.
275
Fig. 3.1: Moissac, Cloister, Southeast corner. Left: St. Paul pier. Right: St. Peter pier.
(Photo: author).
276
Fig. 3.2. Plan of St. Gall.
http://www.stgallplan.org/recto.html
277
Fig. 3.3. Catus, Cluniac priory, chapter house, facade (photo: Monuments historiques)
Kathryn Horste, Cloister Design and Monastic Reform in Toulouse. The Romanesque
Sculpture of La Daurade (Oxford, 1992), Plate185.
Fig. 3.4. Marcilhac-sur-Célé, Cluniac priory, chapter house, facade (photo: K. Horste)
Kathryn Horste, Cloister Design and Monastic Reform in Toulouse. The Romanesque
Sculpture of La Daurade (Oxford, 1992), Plate186.
278
Fig. 3.5: Arles, Saint-Trophîme monastic complex plan (ca. 1100--1200).
Andreas Hartmann-Virnich, “Les galeries romanes du cloître de Saint-Trophîme d’Arles,”
Der mittelalterliche Kreuzgang. Architektur, Funktion und Programm.
(Regensburg, 2004), 287.
Chapter
house
Dormitory
279
Fig. 3.6: Arles, Saint-Trophîme chapter house in north walk of cloister.
Andreas Hartmann-Virnich, “Les galeries romanes du cloître de Saint-Trophîme d’Arles,”
Der mittelalterliche Kreuzgang. Architektur, Funktion und Programm.
(Regensburg, 2004), 292.
280
11 13 15 33 22
Fig. 3.7: Arles, Saint-Trophîme cloister plan with inscribed capitals
indicated in north walk.
Capital #11: Resurrection of Lazarus
Capital #13: Sacrifice of Isaac
Capital #15: Balaam
Capital #22: Abraham and angels
Capital #33: Presentation of the law to Moses
Zodiaque, Provence (1980-1), 326-29.
281
Fig. 3.8. Catus, Cluniac priory, chapter house, interior: Traditio clavium
(photo: K. Horste)
Kathryn Horste, Cloister Design and Monastic Reform in Toulouse. The Romanesque
Sculpture of La Daurade (Oxford, 1992), Plate177.
282
Fig. 3.9: Moissac, Cloister, East walk: Durand pier.
(Photo: author).
283
Fig. 3.10: Moissac, Cloister, Interior of Chapter house looking into east walk.
View of Durand pier.
(Photo: author).
284
Fig. 3.11. Moissac, Abbey of Saint-Pierre. Reconstruction of cloister and conventual
buildings. (Drawing by Quitterie Cazes).
Quitterie Cazes and Maurice Scelle, Le cloître de Moissac. (Bordeaux, 2001), 12.
1. Chapelle Saint-Julien
2. Location of fountain house
3. Refectory (destroyed)
4. Kitchens
5. Stairs to dormitory
6. Chapelle Saint-Ferréol
7. Chapelle Sainte-Marthe
8. Treasury
9. Chapter house
10. Sacristy
11. Possible location of All Saints
Chapel
285
Fig. 3.12: Moissac, Cloister,
East walk,
Dives and Lazarus
capital.
Top: South face.
Middle: East face.
Bottom: West face.
(Photo: author).
286
Fig. 3.13: Moissac, Cloister, East walk, Washing of the Fee (Mandatum) capital.
Top left: East face. Top right: North face. Bottom left: South face.
Bottom right: West face.(Photo: author).
287
East Walk
South Walk
West Walk
North Walk
4. Babylon
6. Song of Nebuchodonosor
7. Martyrdom of St. Stephen
9. David and his musicians
10. Heavenly Jerusalem
12. Pit of the Abyss: Apocalyptic Vision
13. Symbols of the Evangelists
15. Parable of the Good Samaritan
17. Vision of St. John
19. Deliverance of St. Peter
23. Samson and the lion
24. Martyrdom of Ss. Peter and Paul
25. Alphabet and Psalm
26. The Fall of Man
29. Washing of the Feet (Mandatum)
31. Parable of Lazarus and Dives
35. Marriage of Cana
37. Adoration of the Magi
42. Martyrdom of Ss. Fructuosus,
Augurus & Eulogus
47. Eagles and Fish
49. Miracles of St. Benedict
51. St. Peter Heals a Paralytic
53. Celestial Choir
61. Three Hebrews in the Furnace
62. Story of St. Martin
70. Birds
71. Daniel in the Lions’ Den
and Announcement to the Shepherds
82. The Beatitudes
84. Abel and Cain
Inscribed capitals:
Fig. 3.14: Moissac, Cloister plan. Capitals numbered according to CNRS. (K. Tanton)
288
Fig. 3.15: Moissac, Cloister, View of northeast corner. Remnants of fountain house supports indicated.
(Photo: author).
289
Fig. 3.16: Moissac, Cloister, example of fragmentary stone work.
(Photo: author).
290
Fig. 3.17: Moissac, Cloister, South walk, Martyrdom of Fructuosus, Eulogus,
and Augurus (Spanish Saints) capital. Top: North face. Bottom: South face.
(Photo: author).
291
Fig. 3.18: Moissac, Cloister, East walk, Marriage of Cana capital.
Top: East face: Marriage banquet.
Bottom: South face, Christ’s miracle: turning water into wine.
(Photo: author).
292
Fig. 3.19: Moissac, Cloister, East walk, Adoration of the Magi capital.
Top: North face. Bottom: South face. (Photo: author).
293
Fig. 3.20: Moissac, Cloister, East walk, The Fall capital. East face.
(Photo: author).
294
Fig. 3.21: Moissac, Cloister, South walk, Psalm and Alphabet capital. Left: West face. Middle: North face. Right: East face.
(Photo: author).
295
Fig. 3.23: Moissac, Cloister, East walk, Martyrdom of Peter and Paul, Reliquary capital.
Detail of south face. (Photo: author).
Fig. 3.22: Moissac, Cloister, South walk, looking south.
View of reliquary and alphabet capitals. (Photo: author).
296
Fig. 3.24: Moissac, Cloister, East walk, looking north.
Stairs to dormitory through door on right. (Photo: author).
297
Fig. 3.25: Moissac, Cloister, South walk, looking west. Bench and armoire.
(Photo: author).
298
Fig. 3.26: Petri clavigeri kari pangamus, from Moissac Troper/Proser.
Marie-Noël Colette, Tropaire Séquentiare Prosaire Prosulaire de Moissac (Troisième
quart du XIe siècle). Manuscrit Paris, Bibliothèqe nationale de France, n.a.l. 1871.
[colour facsimile].
299
Fig. 3.27: Moissac, Cloister, South walk, David and His Musicians capital.
(Photo: author).
300
Fig. 3.28: Moissac, Cloister, Southeast corner, view from church entrance.
(Photo: author).
301
Fig. 3.29: Moissac, Cloister, North walk, Eagles capital. Detail of inscription
(Photo: author).
302
Fig. 3.30: Moissac, Cloister, North walk, Miracles of St. Benedict capital. Top: South
face. Bottom left: East face. Bottom right: West face.
(Photo: C.I.F.M.).
303
Fig. 3.31. Plan of abbey at Saint-Philibert de Tournus. Elymossynarium indicated with
red circle. (Drawing by J. Martin).
Henri Curé, Saint-Philibert de Tournus (Paris, 1905), 116.
Fig. 3.32. Restitution of the monastic buildings at Sainte-Marie-Madeleine at Vézelay
ca. 12th century. Elymossynarium indicated with red circle.
Victor Petit, Descriptions des villes et campagnes du département de l’Yonne
(Auxerre, 1870), 271.
304
Fig. 3.33. Plan of St. Gall. Detail showing pauperium.
http://www.stgallplan.org/recto.html
305
Fig. 3.34: Moissac, Cloister, West walk, Doorway and stairs leading to upper narthex.
(Photo: author).
306
Fig. 3.35: Moissac, Cloister, West walk, Beatitudes capital. Left: East face. Middle: North face. Right: West face.
(Photo: author).
307
Fig. 3.36: Moissac, Cloister, West walk, Cain and Abel capital. East face.
(Photo: author).
308
Fig. 3.37: Moissac, Cloister,
North walk,
Daniel and the Lions,
and the Announcement
to the Shepherds.
Top: North face.
(Photo: author).
Bottom: South face.
(Photo: C.I.F.M.).
309
Fig. 3.39. Saint-Philibert, Tournus. Doorway from elymossynarium to north walk
of cloister. Leviathon relief to right of doorway. (Photo: author).
Fig. 3.38. Detail of inscribed Leviathon relief in the elymossynarium at Tournus.
(Photo: author).
310
Fig. 3.40. Saint-Philibert, Tournus. North walk of cloister, looking west from
elymossynarium to the east. (Photo: author).
311
Fig. 3.41: La Daurade, Toulouse. Christ and the Canaanite capital.
Now housed in the Musée des augustins. (Photo: author).
312
Fig. 3.42: La Daurade, Toulouse. David and His Musicians capital.
Now housed in the Musée des augustins. (Photo: author).
313
Fig. 3.43: La Daurade, Toulouse. Transfiguration capital. Detail of inscription.
Now housed in the Musée des augustins. (Photo: author).
314
Fig. 3.44: Comparison of Daniel in the Lions’ Den capitals at La Daurade and Moissac.
Top: La Daurade, Toulouse. Daniel in the Lions’ Den capital.
Bottom: Moissac, Daniel in the Lions’ Den capital.
(Photo: author).
315
Fig. 3.45. Toulouse, La Daurade, medieval church and cloister. Tracing after plan by
François Franque of c.1764-5 (Toulouse, ADHG, Plan ancien 102).
Kathryn Horste, Cloister Design and Monastic Reform in Toulouse. The Romanesque
Sculpture of La Daurade (Oxford, 1992), Fig. 5.
Chapter
House

316

APPENDIX

Town: Agen
Name: Cathédrale Saint-Caprais
Type: Cathedral
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
1 Choir Martyrdom
of St.
Caprais
The first line of text is
written on the face above
the figures. The second line
is written on the astragal.
The text on the astragal
forms a leonine hexameter.
North? DACIANVS MILES
SANCTVS/
CAPRASIVS

PRECIPIT OCCIDIT
MORITVR CELESTIA
SCAN[DIT]

Dacien the soldier, orders
St. Capraisto be killed
dead, he ascends to
heaven
Four scenes are depicted on this capital.
Each one is summed up by an inscribed
verb on the corbeille. The older passio of
St. Caprais is not before the ninth
century. Most of the hagiography
associates the martyrdom of Caprais with
that of St. Foy. According to the sources,
Caprais, fleeing the persecution of
Diocletian, took refuge in a cave.
Learning of the arrest of St. Foy, he
presented himself before the judge,
Dacien, who sent a donkey. In the vitae
the same words, Dacianus, praecipit and
milites are found. This capital, which
includes only Caprais, draws from the
same sources: Dacien signifies the arrest
of the dead, a soldier executes the
sentence, and Caprais, through his
martyrdom, reaches paradise. The
inscription dates to the beginning of the
twelfth century.
Vol. 6, Gers, Landes,
Lot-et-Garonne,
Pyrénées-Atlantiques,
112-113
2 Choir Raguel and
Tobias
Capital of the transept,
north side, east pier, west
and east. Faces above the
bishop's chair.
West side,
on impost
against
wall
TOBIAM

Tobias
This capital illustrates a scene from the
story of Tobias. Steered by the archangel
Raphael, who came to heal his blindness,
Tobias goes to the house of Raguel.
Raguel's daughter, Sara, was accused of
being responsible for the death of seven
husbands. But her husbands had been
killed by the demon Asmodeus. Tobias
destroyed Asmodeus and freed Sara
(Tobias 3:7-17).
Vol. 6, Gers, Landes,
Lot-et-Garonne,
Pyrénées-Atlantiques,
113-114

317

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
Apart from the biblical text, patristic
sources give Tobias a double meaning.
For Isidore of Seville, Raban Maur, and
Hugh of St. Victor, Tobias is the image
of the ancient Jewish law and a
prefiguration of Christ. Capital dates to
the beginning twelfth century.
2 Choir Raguel and
Tobias
Capital of the transept,
north side, east pier, west
and east, Faces above the
bishop's chair.
Opposite
side
RAGVEL

Raguel
See above. Vol. 6, Gers, Landes,
Lot-et-Garonne,
Pyrénées-Atlantiques,
113-114
Town: Albussac
Name: Albussac
Type: Priory
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
1 Choir Mention of
work and
signature?
Capital north of entrance to
choir, approx. 3 meters
from ground. On the impost
and continues at top of west
face.
West INCEPI E ou F (?)
NIS
ECLESIAM dss
AETERNAM
Incipi eclesiam aeternam
I started the Church
eternal
The term ecclesia aeterna does not
appear in the Bible. The Corpus suggests
that the text appears to be a liturgical
inspiration. Yet I could not find the text
in any liturgical manuscripts.The
inscription may be dated to the first half
of the eleventh century.
Vol. 4 (II), Limousin:
Corrèze, Creuse,
Haute-Vienne, 1
Town: Anzy-le-Duc
Name: Église prioriale
Type: Priory/Benedictine
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
1 Choir/
altar
Dedication
(eleventh
century)
Stone encased behind altar
(86 x 32 cm. Height of 1st
letter: 5.2 cm. = 2 in.)
1. + HEC ARA EST
CONSECRATA
2. IN HONORE SUMAE
ET INDIVIDUAE
3. TRINITATIS ET
CRUCIS VENE
The formula used for the consecration of
this altar is not very developed and only
includes the act of consecration and the
patronage of the altar. The inscription is
dated to the eleventh century based on
paleographic and linguistic evidence.
Vol. 19, Jura, Nièvre,
Saône-et-Loire, 54-
55

318

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
4. RANDAE : ATQUE
SANCTAE DEI
5. GENITRICIS ET
VIRGINIS MARIAE

This altar is consecrated
in honor of the highest
and indivisible Trinity
and the venerated cross,
as well as the Blessed
Mother of God and
Virgin, Mary.
Town: Arles
Name: Saint-Trophîme
Type: Priory/Benedictine

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
1 Cloister Resurrection
of Lazarus
North Gallery. Capital of
pier that precedes the
northwest angle. 2 meters
from ground. Letters
between 0.7-1 cm.
Dates to second half of
twelfth century.
There are also plaques in
the cloister: Resurrection,
St. James, an apostle, St.
Stephen, and Gamaliel.
On
astragle
LAZARE

Lazarus
Lazare is in the vocative case, forming
the beginning of the quote: Lazare, veni
foras (John 11:43).
Vol. 14, Alpes-
Maritime, Bouches-
du-Rhône, Var, 46-47
1 Cloister Resurrection
of Lazarus
See above. Above
figures
MARTA/ MARIA

Martha
Mary
See above. Vol. 14, Alpes-
Maritime, Bouches-
du-Rhône, Var, 46-47
2 Cloister Sacrifice of
Isaac
North gallery. Third
column from the northwest
corner. Letters approx.
1 cm. high. Dates to second
Over
figure's
head
ABRA[HA]M

Abraham
The Sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22:9-14). Vol. 14, Alpes-
Maritime, Bouches-
du-Rhône, Var, 47

319

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
half of twelfth century.
3 Cloister Balaam North gallery. Third
column from the west. 2.2
m from ground. Epigraphic
field = 6.7 cm. Height of
letters = 0.7 cm Dates to
second half of twelfth
century.
On the
rim of the
tower
FILII HISRAEL

Son of Israel
The iconographic source for this capital
is found in Numbers, in which the story
of Balaam is recounted (Numbers 22-24).
A camp of Israelites was represented by
two rows of heads, which create a
fortification.
Vol. 14, Alpes-
Maritime, Bouches-
du-Rhône, Var, 48
4 Cloister Abraham in
the forest
of Mambre
North gallery. First column
from the east. 2.3 m. From
ground. Height of letters =
0.7 cm. Dates to second
half of twelfth century.
Above
figure's
head
SARRA

Sarah
The Meeting of Abraham (Gen. 18:1-15).
Abraham is shown serving a young calf
to his guests on another face.
Vol. 14, Alpes-
Maritime, Bouches-
du-Rhône, Var, 48-49
5 Cloister Moses
receives the
Law
North gallery. Third pier
from the east. 2.1 m from
ground. Letters = 1 cm.
Dates to second half of
twelfth century.
On the
tablets
TABUL[A] / MOYSY

Tablets of Moses
This scene shows the tablets with the
Law Moses received from Yahweh at
Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:1-29).
49
Town: Arnac-Pompadour
Name: Arnac-Pompadour
Type: Monastery/Cluniac

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
1 Nave Holy spirit
and Virgin
In the nave, south side,
third bay. The church is 2
km northwest of
Pompadour. It was an
ancient priory of Saint-
Martial de Limoges,
consecrated in 1028. A
second building was
consecrated in 1102 under
the patronage of the Holy
Trinity and Saint Pardoux.
The inscribed text is
arranged vertically on the
North [SPS S]CS SVPERVEN
[I]ET IN TE

Spiritus sanctus
superveniet in te.
The Holy Spirit will
come onto you.
The inscription quotes the beginning of
Luke 1:35: Spiritus sanctus superveniet
in te et virtus Altissimi obumbrabit tibi,
the angel's answer to Mary's question:
Quomdo fiet istud, quoniam virum non
cognosco?

The inscription is similar to one found at
Issoire. Spiritus sanctus superveniet in te
is the responsory verse for a chant sung
at the Annunciation of the Virgin.
Vol. 4 (II), Limousin:
Corrèze, Creuse,
Haute-Vienne, 2

320

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
glory surrounding an angel
and the Virgin.
2 Choir St. Peter South entrance of sanctuary
The 'S' is in the form of an
inverted ‘Z’, which is
representative of eleventh
century epigraphy.
West PETR
PASCUNT [MEAS
OVES]

Petrus pascunt meas
oves.
Peter, they graze with my
sheep.
Pierre, Ils font paître mes
brebis.
The text is close to John 21:15-17, in
which Christ says twice to Peter: Pasce
agnos meos and the third time: Pasce
oves meas. In the inscription, the verb in
the third person plural (pascunt) refers to
the three figures represented on the
capital. These figures could well be the
three pastors of souls who were the
principal patrons of the church at Arnac
(St. Pardoux, Abbot of Guéret, and St.
Martial). The inscription can be dated to
the end of the eleventh century. (See
Camus, "Deux témoins de la sculpture
romane du Bas-Limousin en Poitou: les
chapiteaux de la chapelle de Saulgé",
BM, 134, 1976, 98.
4-Mar
Town: Aulnay
Name: Eglise Saint-Pierre, Aulnay
Type: Unknown

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
1 Choir Elephants Capital in the south aisle,
last bay of nave (towards
east). Dates to second half
of twelfth century.
North and
West
HI SVNT
ELEPHANTES

Here are elephants
Elephants are referred to as animals of
war in Scripture. This animal is not
represented in Early Christian
monumental decoration; however, it was
a popular motif in Romanesque
sculpture. In Poitou-Charentes, as well as
Aulnay, the animals are sculpted on the
facade of Notre-Dame-la-Grande and in
the ambulatory of Saint-Jean de
Montierneuf in Poitiers. Hugh of St.
Victor viewed these animals as symbols
of the battle against evil; he also viewed
them as a sign of man and woman before
Vol. 3, Charente,
Charente-Maritime,
Deux-Sèvres, 81

321

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
original sin. This comparison is of
interest when one considers a
neighboring capital at Aulnay that
represents the offering and murder of
Abel, consequences of Original Sin. It is
evident that the sculptors had never seen
an elephant with their own eyes. The
sculpture was probably modeled after
fabric or an ivory from the East.
2 Choir Abel &
Cain
Capital of the square of the
north transept, nave-side.
West &
South
CAIM ABEL

Cain Abel
The capital's iconography represents the
offering of Abel, but not that of Cain,
as well as Abel's murder by Cain
(Genesis 4:3-8). A similar theme is
found at Saint-Savin.
Vol. 3, Charente,
Charente-Maritime,
Deux-Sèvres, 82
3 Choir Samson Crossing, southwest pier,
western capital.
East, on
impost
block
SAMSONEM VINCIT
COMA V[I]NC[TV]S
CRINE MO[VETVR]

Samson conquered
removing a lock of hair
The story of Samson is depicted on this
capital. The scene represented here
illustrates the ruse of Delilah from Judges
16:19: At illa dormire eum fecit super
gena sua et in sinu suo reclinare caput,
vocavitque tonsorem et rasit septem
crines ejus.
Samson conquered
removing a lock of
hair, 83
Town: Avignon
Name: Notre-Dame-des-Doms?/ Musée du Petit Palais
Type: Unknown
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
1 ? Job Letters are 1 cm high.
Museum acquired the
capital in 1837.
JOB (on astragal) The entire story of Job is represented on
this capital. Capital dates to twelfth
century.
Vol. 13, Gard,
Lozère, Vaucluse,
133-134
1 ? Job See above. HELIPHAT
[SO]PHAR (on face and
astragal)
See above. Vol. 13, Gard,
Lozère, Vaucluse,
133-134
1 ? Job See above. ELIUT (on astragal) See above. Vol. 13, Gard,
Lozère, Vaucluse,
133-134

322

Town: Besse-en-Chandesse
Name: Église Saint-André
Type: Unknown
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
1 Choir Evangelists Last capital in south bay at
entrance of transept.

Two figures represented
with angelic traits, holding
a banderole in their hands.
East-
south-east
face on
banderole
[J]OHA[N]NES LISTA
EVANGE

John the Evangelist
Angels represent the two evangelists. The
only remnants of the Romanesque church
are the nave, aisles and the transept.
Probable date of the inscription is the
first half of the twelfth century.
Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
149
1 Choir Evangelists See above. West-
north-west
face on
banderole
LUCAS
E[VANGELISTA]

Luke the Evangelist
See above. Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
149
2 Choir Passion of
Saint
Andrew
Southwest pier of transept.

Scene represents the
Passion of St. Andrew.
West face,
on a
cartouche
above the
saint's
head
PASIONEM

Passion
This capital depicts the crucifixion of St.
Andrew, the older brother of St. Peter.
According to John 1:40, Andrew and
Peter were the first to follow Christ, at
the same time as Peter (see also Matthew
4:18 and Mark 1:16). According to
hagiographic legend, Andrew was
crucified at Patras in Peloponesia, on the
orders of the proconsul, Egeas. Andrew
is crucified in a similar manner to Peter.
Until the fifteenth century, Andrew was
usually represented as tied onto a Latin
cross by ropes seen here.
Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
150
2 Choir Passion of
Saint
Andrew
Southwest pier of transept.

Scene represents the
Passion of St. Andrew.
West, on
the
astragal
SANCTI ANDREE
APOSTOLI

Pasionem Sancti Andree
Apostoli
Passion of St. Andrew
See above. Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
150
3 Choir Minotaur Capital on the northwest
pier of the transept.
Western face.

The sculpture represents a
West MINARTA / URUS This capital demonstrates the confusion
between the centaur and minotaur in the
Middle Ages. This confusion is also
found in two other areas of the Puy-de-
Dôme: Maringues and Saint-Myon.
Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
150-151

323

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
centaur, but the word
minotaur is written on its
chest. It appears to be
something between an
inscription and graffiti.
Town: Bordeaux
Name: Église Saint-Seurin
Type: Unknown
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
1 West
Entry
Sacrifice of
Isaac
Capital is at west entrance
to church, under the porch,
first column on north side.
270 cm. from ground.
South ABRA
HAM
ET HY
SAHAC

Abraham and Isaac
The scene depicts Abraham about to
sacrifice Isaac, when an angel appears
and restrains Abraham's arm (Genesis
22:9-12).
Vol. 5 Dordogne,
Gironde, 93
Town: Brioude
Name: Basilique de Saint-Julien
Type: Monastery/Cluniac
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
1 Narthex Avarice South pier of narthex and
tribune, east capital. The
central figure is a winged
demon seated on a throne,
surrounded by two human-
like, winged acolytes. The
central demon is holding an
opened book, which bears
the carved inscription.
East MILE AR TIFEX /
SCRIPSI TU
[P]ERIS[TI] USURA

The master of a thousand
[tricks] wrote: you
perished through usury.
At Brioude, like at Clermont-Ferrant, the
words mile (mille) artifex refers to a
demon. The translation of artifex as
"master" or artisan, relates to the demon
as a type of anti-Majesty, or anti-Christ.

Seated on a throne of flames, surrounded
by eagles, the pose is similar to the
composition of Christ in Majesty. The
parody of the demon in a Christ in
Majesty pose is emphasized by the
inscribed term artifex, which was
employed by Tertullian and Minucius
Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
96

324

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
Felix to define God as the "Creator" or
"Author." In a tenth-century Life of St.
Martial (BnF ms. lat. 3851A, fols. 30-
33), the devil, prodded by St. Martial to
give his name, referred to himself as
mille artifex. The devil explained that he
had a thousand arts to bring down man
[Mille habeo artes ad decficiendum
genus humanum.]
Town: Brive
Name: Ancien prieuré Saint-Martin
Type: Priory/Benedictine
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
1 Choir Christ in
chains
The capital depicts Christ in
chains between two
soldiers. An angel comforts
Christ, while the soldier
presents him with a stick as
a scepter. The inscription is
inscribed on the upper
branch of the cross in his
nimbus. The capital is on
large column at the
northernmost point of the
north transept. A cast was
taken of the capital during
the restorations of 1890-91,
and is now in the Musée de
la Ville.
IHESVS CHRISTVS
(HIS XPS)

Jesus Christ
The inscription is visible from the
ground. The capital has been dated to the
twelfth century, but there is no mention
of the inscription in any descriptions.
Vol. 4 (II), Limousin:
Corrèze, Creuse,
Haute-Vienne, 21

325

Town: Carennac
Name: Carennac
Type: Priory/Cluniac
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
1 Narthex Artist's
signature
Inscription is on the impost
block of two capitals
decorated with sculpted
birds, located to the left of a
door.
West on
impost
block
GIRBERTVS
CEMENTARIVS
FECIT ISTVM
PORTARIVM

Girbertus, a mason, made
this portal.
Capitals date to the end of eleventh
century, beginning of twelfth century.
The formula, Benedicta sit anima ejus,
frequently accompanies artists' signatures
and is interpreted as a request for eternal
life (salvation).
Vol. 9, Aveyron, Lot,
Tarn, 94
1 Narthex Artist's
signature
See above. South on
impost
block
BENEDICTA SIT
ANIMA EIVS

Bless his soul.
See above. Vol. 9, Aveyron, Lot,
Tarn, 94
Town: Catus
Name: Catus
Type: Priory/Cluniac
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
1 Cloister Figure ID Chapter House. Capital
depicting Christ's
appearance to the apostles.
Peter holds two keys that
form the letters P E.
South P E (Petrus) Only the chapter house remains of the
Romanesque priory. It is on the north
side and the sculpture is of a high quality.
Dates to the twelfth century. The chapter
house at Catus dates to ca. 1140.
Vol. 9, Aveyron, Lot,
Tarn, 95. See also
Horste, 97n182.
Town: Cervon
Name: Ancien prieuré Saint-Eptad
Type: Priory/Benedictine
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
1 West
Portal
Angel
and Daniel
Capital left of tympanum,
2.6 m from ground. Dates
to the twelfth century.
ANGLS

Angels
The narrative of Daniel in the Lions' Den
(Daniel 6:2-29) is a popular theme in the
Middle Ages. It is difficult to date this
Vol. 19, Jura, Nièvre,
Saône-et-Loire, 27

326

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
capital because the inscription is not
legible. Jean Dupont thought that the
name read: Danihel.
Town: Chalon-sur-Saône
Name: Cathédrale Saint-Vincent
Type: Cathedral
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
1 Choir Disciples
of Emmaus
Capital on pier separating
the two arcades of the north
bay. Dates to the beginning
of the twelfth century.
West AP[P]ARENS BINIS
POST
The source for this inscription is found in
Luke 24:13-32, the only gospel to tell the
story of the disciples of Emmaus. The
inscription does not cite the biblical text
exactly.
Vol. 19, Jura, Nièvre,
Saône-et-Loire, 76-
77
1 Choir Disciples
of Emmaus
Capital on pier separating
the two arcades of the north
bay. Dates to beginning of
the twelfth century.
South PASCHAM DOMINUS
PEREGRINIS IN
MEDIO RESIDENS
DEDIT HIS PANEM
BENEDICENS
See above. Vol. 19, Jura, Nièvre,
Saône-et-Loire, 76-
77
1 Choir Disciples
of Emmaus
Capital on pier separating
the two arcades of the north
bay. Dates to beginning of
the twelfth century.
East VISIBUS AMBORUM
[E]X[C]EDIT (?)

Apppearing to two
pilgrims after Easter, the
Lord sits between the
two and gives them bread
for blessing. He avoids
their regard.
See above. Vol. 19, Jura, Nièvre,
Saône-et-Loire, 76-
77

327

Town: Champeix
Name: Champeix
Type: Unknown
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
1 Choir References
the two
columns
built for the
vestibule of
the Temple
of
Jerusalem.
Impost blocks of two
capitals situated at the
entrance to the choir.

Text field for the north
capital = 50 cm.
Impost of
north
capital
CIACHIN The two names carved on the impost
blocks refer to the two columns erected
in the vestibule of the temple of
Jerusalem, named Jachin and Booz
respectively (3Kings 7:21). This
comparison places the church as a
successor to the temple of Jerusalem.
Jachin signifies "he strengthens" in
Hebrew. The word is used in several
other books in the Bible: Genesis 46:10;
Exodus 6:15; Numbers 26:12. Booz can
be interpreted as "in him the force". The
same name with a similar meaning is
found in Ruth 2:1.Together the names
were interpreted as: God establishes in
strength. The early symbolism applies to
the origin of the temple of Jerusalem and
the people of Israel; it is reprised here in
favor of the Church, the temple of God,
the Church, and the people of God.
Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
156-157
1 Choir References
the two
columns
built for the
vestibule of
the Temple
of
Jerusalem.
See above. Impost of
the south
capital
BOOT :

Booz
See above. Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
156-157, 156-157

328

Town: Charlieu
Name: Ancien prieuré Saint-Fortunat
Type: Priory/Cluniac
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
1 Cloister No scene On the impost of a capital
in the cloister's east gallery,
at the chapter house. The
impost of the capital of the
sixth arcade turning toward
the gallery. Length of
epigraphic field = 55.5
cm.; Height of 1st letter =
3 cm.
TROQUO : LUDE:
ALIAS: FUGE

Troquo. Play. Elsewhere.
Flee.
This inscription was discovered in 1886
and is considered a commentary on the
serious nature that must be maintained in
the cloister. It does not date any later than
the beginning of the twelfth century.
Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
62
Town: Chauriat
Name: Église Saint-Julien
Type: Priory/Cluniac
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
1 Choir Angel Capital of engaged column
at opening of the
ambulatory; north side
Figure holds a banderole.
Probable date: twelfth
century.
Northwest
capital
ANGELUS Another angel, holding an uninscribed
banderole, is found on the other angle of
the capital. The angels could represent
the evangelists, as at Brioude, Notre-
Dame-du-Port (Clermont-Ferrand),
Volvic, or the capital from Mozac now
found in the Victoria and Albert Museum
in London.
Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
159

329

Town: Chauvigny
Name: Saint-Pierre le Haut
Type: Benedictine
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
1 Choir Babylon
Announce-
ment to
Shepherds
Archaeologists typically
date the capitals at
Chauvigny to the twelfth
century. The epigraphic
evidence does not
contradict this dating, but
suggests that the date is in
the first half of the century.

Capital height = 1.05 m.
West BABILONIA
: (three points) MAGNA
ME
RETRIX
PASTOR BONVS
Babylon, the great
prostitute
The Good shepherd
The text for the Announcement to the
Shepherds comes from Luke. The text
inscribed here comes directly from the
liturgy, [Gloria in excelsis Deo et in terra
pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.] It is the
responsory verse during Matins for the
Nativity. The inscriptions referring to
Babylon can perhaps be related to two
passages from Apocalypse:17:5 and 19:2.
The south face of this capital illustrates
the Weighing of Souls and cites
Scripture.
Vol. 2 Poitou-
Charentes and
Département de la
Vienne (excepté la
ville de Poitiers), 25-
26
1 Choir Babylon
Announce-
ment to
shepherds
See above. East BABILO
NIA DE
SER
TA
PASTORES

Babylon deserts
Shepherds
See above. Vol. 2 Poitou-
Charentes and
Département de la
Vienne (excepté la
ville de Poitiers), 25-
26
1 Choir Announce-
ment to
shepherds
See above. North GABRIEL ANGELVS
DIXIT GLORIA IN
EXCELSIS DEO

The angel Gabriel
He says: Glory to God on
high
See above. Vol. 2 Poitou-
Charentes and
Département de la
Vienne (excepté la
ville de Poitiers), 25-
26
1 Choir Weighing
of Souls
See above. South MICAEL
ARCHANGELVS
IC EST DIABOLVS

Archangel Michael
This is the devil

See above.
Vol. 2 Poitou-
Charentes and
Département de la
Vienne (excepté la
ville de Poitiers), 25-
26

330

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
2 Choir Annuncia-
tion
Inscription on three faces of
capital at fourth column of
the hemicycle on the south
side.
Capital height: 1.05 m.
Inscriptions are carved onto
the face of the capital and
around the Virgin's halo.
Inscription on Virgin's
nimbus.
South SANCTA MARIA

Saint Mary
Inscription references the Annunciation
as recounted in Luke 1:42: "Ave gratia
plena, Dominus tecum". Ave Maria
gratia plena" is part of the liturgy for the
Offices for the Virgin: alleluia et
offertory on March 25 (and other offices
for the Virgin). This chant is a response
to Spiritus sanctus superveniet in te,
which is sung during Matins at the
Annunciation of the Virgin.
Vol. 2 Poitou-
Charentes and
Département de la
Vienne (excepté la
ville de Poitiers), 25-
26
2 Choir Adoration
of the Magi
See above. West AVTA MARIA (on nimb
of Virgin)
GOFRIDVS ME FECIT
…Marie

Gofridus made me.
The Gofridus cited on the west face could
well be a donor or a sculptor.
Vol. 2 Poitou-
Charentes and
Département de la
Vienne (excepté la
ville de Poitiers), 25-
26
2 Choir Presenta-
tion at the
Temple
See above. North SIMEON
IHESVS
SANCTA MARIA
The Presentation at the Temple is found
in Luke 2:22-38).
See above.
Town: Clermont-Ferrand
Name: Notre-Dame-du-Port
Type: Monastery/Benedictine
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
1 Choir Sacrifice of
Isaac
Capital supporting a fallen
arcade in the middle of the
south transept facade.
Dating for Notre-Dame-du-
Port is ca. 1185. The
Corpus dates the
inscriptions to the second
half of the twelfth century.
Impost
block
ABRAAM : ISAAC : ET
IMMO

Abraam, Isaac, et
immolacio. [Abraam,
Isaac, et le sacrifice]
The relatively late development of
uncials in the Auvergne, and Notre-
Dame-du-Port in particular, suggest that
the inscription can be attributed to the
second half of the twelfth century.
Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
193
1 Choir Sacrifice of
Isaac
See above. Under
impost
block
LACIO

The sacrifice
See above. Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
193

331

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
2 Nave Evangelists North side, third pillar from
the transept. Western
capital.
East MARCUS (angel to left)
JONAHC (angel on
right)

Mark
John
Angels representing the evangelists, and
not the symbols of the tetramorph, is a
common iconographic variation in the
Auvergne (Mozac, Volvic). Archangels
and evangelists are represented in much
the same way at Conques at the
beginning of the twelfth century.

The proposed dating for the inscriptions
on this capital and the other capitals in
the choir remain hypothetical, but both
the sculpture and the inscriptions suggest
that the capitals date slightly earlier than
the inscriptions and scenes that adorn the
south portal.
Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
194
3 Choir Punishment
of usurer
Capital at south side entry
to ambulatory.

On the three faces of the
capital is a representation of
the punishment of the
usurer. On the principal
face, a nude figure kneels
between two demons
pulling on a cord around
the nude figure's neck. A
banderole stretches across
the three faces.
MILLE ARTIFEX
SCRIPSIT TU PRISIST;
USSURA S.R.E.

The master of a thousand
[tricks] wrote: you
perished through usury.
The Latin is clumsy and incorrect: prisist
in place of periisti, ussura for usura.
The last three letters are enigmatic. The
commentary that accompanies this scene
is almost identical to that which identifies
an analogous scene at Saint-Julien
at Brioude.
Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
195
4 Choir Virtues and
Vices
Capital of the second
column in choir, northeast
side.
Two armed virtues, one
with a shield, the other with
a lance pointed at two
Vices. A nude and
disheveled woman with a
sword stuck in her throat.
Southwest
on the
impost
block
ANGELUS

Angel
Full translation: An angel. In honor of St.
Mary, Stephen ordered me to be made.
Generosity. Charity. Anger kills itself.
The demon fights against the Virtues.
Charity. Avarice. It hides in his treasury.
Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
195-196
4 Choir Virtues and See above. Southwest IN ON ME FI/ ORE See above. Vol. 18, Allier,

332

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
Vices on the
book
SANCTA / ERI /
MARIA JUS / : STEF
SIT / ANUS

In honore sancta Maria
Stefanus me fieri jussit
In honor of St. Mary,
Stefanus ordered me to
be made.
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
195-196
4 Choir Virtues and
Vices
See above. Southwest
Inscription
starts on the
impost
block and
follow on
the shields
:LARGI CARI:/; SAT
TAS;

Largitas, Caritas
See above. Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
195-196
4 Choir Virtues and
Vices
See above. Northeast
face on
the impost
block
IRA SE OCCIDIT

Anger kills itself
See above. Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
195-196
4 Choir Virtues and
Vices
See above. Northwest
face, on
the book
DEM / ON CO N/ TRA/
VIRTUTE/ S PUG/
NAT

Demon contra virtutes
pugnat.
Demon fights against the
virtues.
See above. Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
195-196
4 Choir Virtues and
Vices
See above. Northwest
face, on
the shield
of the
virtue
figure
CARITUS;

Charity
See above. Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
195-196
4 Choir Virtues and
Vices
See above. Northwest
face, on
the shield
of the vice
figure
AVARICIA

Avarice
See above. Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
195-196

333

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
4 Choir Virtues and
Vices
See above. Northwest
, on both
shields
ABSCON TESAURO

Abscon[dit in] tesauro or
Abscon[dito] tesauro
Charity. Avarice. It hides
in his treasury.
See above. Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
195-196
5 Choir Announce-
ment of the
Precursor
and the
Redeemer
Capital on the 4th column
of choir, northeast side.
An angel announces to
Zachariah the birth of John
the Baptist while pulling
Zacharias's beard.
Southwest
face two
bands run
along
either side
of
Zacharias
NE
TI
ME
AS
ZA
CA
RI
A
H
C

Ne timeas Zacaria.
Fear not Zachariah
This capital comprises three
annunciations and visitations. The first
annunciation concerns Zachariah, who
learns from an angel that he will have a
son named John (Luke 1:11-13). The
iconography is faithful to the biblical
text; the angel is represented to the right
of the altar's incense, where Zachariah
officiates. When John the Baptist is born,
Zachariah, who was told what to name
the newborn, carried a tablet on which
he wrote: Joannes est nomen ejus (Luke
1:63), the verse found on the next scene.
The Visitation is simply evoked by the
word reported by Luke 1:39-46.
The second annunciation described on
the capital is the ultimate Annunciation,
that of the angel Gabriel to the Virgin,
inspired by the text at the beginning of
Luke 1:28. The words on the capital
condense the text of St. Matthew 1:19.
The Rotbertus who signed the capitals
could also be the author/artist of the
neighboring capitals--the style is very
close.
Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
197-199
5 Choir Announce-
ment of the
Precursor
and the
Redeemer
Capital on the 4th column
of choir, northeast side.
The same angel continues
to address Zacharias, who
is nimbed and dressed as a
priest with a censor in his
hand. Between the two
Southeast
face on
the impost
block
EX SAUDI TA EST
ORATIO TUA

exsaudita est oratio tua
your prayer is granted
See above. Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
197-199

334

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
figures are figures of a
temple and an altar.
5 Choir Announce-
ment of the
Precursor
and the
Redeemer
Capital on the 4th column
of choir, northeast side.
Zacharias is on the left,
forming an angle with the
southeast face, holding a
tablet in his hand.
Northeast
face
JO : / AN/ NE :/ S ES/ T
NO/ MEN / EJUS

John is his name.
See above. Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
197-199
5 Choir Announce-
ment of the
Precursor
and the
Redeemer
Capital on the 4th column
of choir, northeast side.
On the same face is the
Visitation.
Northeast
face on
the impost
block
SALUTACIO

Greetings
See above. Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
197-199
5 Choir Announce-
ment of the
Precursor
and the
Redeemer
Capital on the 4th column
of choir, northeast side.
A nimbed angel, holding a
baton, addresses the Virgin.
Northeast
face on
the impost
block
AVE MAR . IA

Hail Mary
See above. Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
197-199
5 Choir Announce-
ment of the
Precursor
and the
Redeemer
Capital on the 4th column
of choir, northeast side.
Next to Zachariah's
announcement, an angel
appears to Joseph.
Southwest
on the
impost
block
JOSEP : VOLUIT

Joseph wished
See above. Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
197-199
5 Choir Announce-
ment of the
Precursor
and the
Redeemer
Capital on the 4th column
of choir, northeast side.
Southwest
on the
banderole
OCCUL/ TE/ DI/ MI/
TER/ E E / AM/
R[O]T/BERT/US/ME/FE
/CT/I

To dismiss the secret.
Rotbertus made me.
See above. Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
197-199
6 Choir Original
Sin
Choir.
Capital of 5th column of
choir, counting from the
north.

On the northeast face is Eve
at the center, presenting
grapes to Adam. At the
Northwest Left page:
ECCE
ADAM
CAS
I UN

Right page:
US E
The text carved on this capital is from
Genesis 3:22: Ecce Adam quasi unus ex
nobis factus, sciens bonum et malum.
Unfortunately, the carver made a mistake
that contradicts the biblical text. In short,
the replacement of nobis for vobis
stresses the human nature of Adam,
whereas the biblical text emphasizes his
Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
199-200

335

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
center a figure is holding a
book with the inscription.
X VO
BIS ;
FAC

Ecce Adam casi unus ex
vobis fac[tus].
Behold, Adam came
from one to amongst you
desire to be equal to God.
The fruit depicted on the northeast face is
a bunch of raisins, and not the traditional
apple or fig.
7 Choir Assump-
tion
Choir.
Capital of 6th column in
choir, counting from north.
The southwest face
represents the resurrection
and assumption of the
Virgin. Christ, in heaven,
carries her to heaven in his
arms. The Virgin is
resuscitated, as shown by
her open eyes. Underneath
is an empty sarcophagus.
Southwest
On the book held by an
angel:
MA RI
A; H
O; N

On the right, an angel
holds a censor and a
book:
IN CE :
LU M

Maria hon[orata]
in celum
Honorable Mary in
heaven
The book of Life, in which the names of
the predestined are written, is mentioned
in Apocalypse 3:5; 13:8; 20:12-15; and
21:27.
Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
200
7 Choir Assump-
tion
Choir.
Capital of 6th column in
choir, counting from north.
The southeast face depicts a
winged angel holding an
open book with an
inscription.
Southeast ECCE LI BRO;
VITE ; ECCE
; MARIA G[RATIA]
(?) A NOBIS ASUMTA

Ecce libro vite. Ecce
Maria gratia a nobis
asunta.
Behold, the book of Life.
Behold, Mary, through
grace, is held far from us.
See above. Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
201
7 Choir Assump-
tion
Choir.
Capital of 6th column in
Northwest
no
See above. Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-

336

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
choir, counting from north.

An angel carrying a lance
sounds a trumpet and heads
towards heaven.
inscription Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
201
7 Choir Assump-
tion
Choir.
Capital of 6th column in
choir, counting from north.

Paradise.
Northeast,
no
inscription
See above. Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
201
8 Nave/
Choir?
Heads
(artist's
signature?)
Capital in nave, south side,
just before the crossing.
East on
impost
block
BERNARDUS This name most probably corresponds to
that of the sculptor.
Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
202
Town: Cluny
Name: Cluny III
Type: Monastery/Cluniac
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
1 Choir Tones of
plain chant
Hemicycle.
Capitals are no longer in
situ but have been
attributed to ambulatory.
They are currently housed
in Musee Farinier.
Each face
contains a
sculpted
male
figure
within a
mandorla.
Text
inscribed
on base of
mandorla.
1st tone: HIC TONUS
ORDITUR
MODULAMINA
MUSICA PRIMUS
2nd tone:
SUBSEQU[ITU]R
PTONGUS NUMERO
VEL LEGE SECUNDUS
3rd tone: TERTIUS
IMPIGIT
CHRISTUMQUE
RESURGER FINGIT;
4th tone: SUCCEDIT
QUARTUS SIMULANS
IN CARMINE
PLANCTUS

See K. Meyer article, "The Eight
Gregorian Modes of the Cluny Capitals,"
The Art Bulletin 34 (1952): 75-94.
Dates to the first quarter of the twelfth
century.
Vol. 19, Jura, Nièvre,
Saône-et-Loire, 92-
93

337

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
The first tone organizes
musical harmonies
The one who follows is
the second by number or
law
The third celebrates and
depicts Christ’s
resurrection
the fourth follows
imitating mourning in
song
1 Choir Tones of
plain chant
Hemicycle.
Capitals are no longer in
situ but have been
attributed to ambulatory.
Currently housed in Musee
Farinier. Two capitals are
inscribed and are thought to
have occupied the 7th and
8th columns when turning
from left to right in the
ambulatory (south side).
Text is
inscribed
on a band
across the
middle of
each face
5th tone: OSTENDIT
QUINTUS QUAM SIT
QUISQ[U]IS TUMET
IMUS; 6th tone: SI
CUPIS AFFECTUM
PIETATIS RESPICE
SEXTUM; 7th tone:
INSINUAT FLATU[M]
CU[M] DONIS
SEPTIMUS ALMUM;
8th tone: OCTAVUS
SANCTOS OMNES
DOCET ESSE BEATOS

The fifth shows how
each treble swells)
If you desire to prepare
your soul to piety
consider the sixth [tone]
The seventh penetrates
the breath of the Spirit
and its gifts
The eighth leads all the
saints to bliss
See above. Vol. 19, Jura, Nièvre,
Saône-et-Loire, 92-
93
2 Choir Seasons &
Virtues
Capital is no longer in situ
but has been attributed to
the hemicycle. Currently
Text is
inscribed
along
VER PRIMOS FLORES
PRIMOS PRODUCIT
ODORES; DAT
Seasons and Virtues are personified on
the faces of the capital and are contained
in mandorlas. The inscriptions run along
Vol. 19, Jura, Nièvre,
Saône-et-Loire, 94-
95

338

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M. pg. #
housed in Musee Farinier.

mandorlas
.
COGN[OSCEN]DUM
PRUDENTIA Q[U]ID
SIT AGENDU[M];
[FALX RESECAT
SPICAS FERV]VENS
Q[U]AS DECO[QUIT]
A[E]STAS
the interior of the mandorlas. The text
accompanying Spring and Prudence are
still legible. However, the inscription for
Summer is fragmentary and the text for
Justice has completely disappeared.
Town: Colombiers
Name: Église Notre-Dame
Type: Unknown
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
1 Choir Gabriel Choir, blind arcade on left;
letters between 4-5.8 cm.
GAB RIEL

Gabriel
As a corollary to the statue of the
archangel, a statue of the Virgin occupies
the blind arcade on the right. Both statues
were defaced and disfigured, especially
that of the Virgin, when they were
painted in the fourteenth century. The
inscription dates to the twelfth century
Vol. 2 Poitou-
Charentes and
Département de la
Vienne (excepté la
ville de Poitiers), 35
Town: Conques
Name: Église abbatiale Sainte-Foy
Type: Monastery/Benedictine
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
1 Choir Sacrifice of
Isaac
South side.

The inscription is in the
cruciform nimbus.
West Ω; MACTANDVS OM

Sacrifice
The sacrifice of Isaac (Gen. 22:1-14) is
among the most represented in religious
sculpture. The theme reached its apogee
in the Romanesque period, specifically
throughout the twelfth century. The
Church Fathers viewed this scene as a
prefiguration of Christ's sacrifice. This
interpretation is enhanced when the scene
is sculpted on capitals near the sanctuary,
as at Conques.
Vol. 9, Aveyron, Lot,
Tarn, 26-27

339

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
1 Choir Sacrifice of
Isaac
South side.

On impost.
South O A[BR]AHAM IBI
OBTVLIT SVAM
PROL[EM]; Mactandus
omo Abraham ibi obtulit
suam prolem.

Abraham offers his
offspring
See above. Vol. 9, Aveyron, Lot,
Tarn, 26-27
2 Choir Crucifixion
of St. Peter
South Transept; capital at
entrance to first chapel
south of main altar. Chapel
was dedicated to Ss. Peter
and Paul and is now
dedicated to St.Foy.
West TK Not in C.I.F.M.
3 Choir Artist's
signature
Angel holding a banderole,
which bears inscription.
Located in the south
transept tribune, right
colonnette. Dates to twelfth
century.
Tribune;
South
Transept
BERNARDUS ME
FECIT

Bernardus made me
The expression me fecit is often used by
an artist/author, or a donor.
Vol. 9, Aveyron, Lot,
Tarn, 33
4 Nave Avarice Tribune; nave, first pier
west of the north transept.
A figure depicting the sin
of avarice (moneybag
hanging from neck) is
surrounded by four
grimacing demons. The
figures hold a banderole.
Dates to the end of the
eleventh century.
West TV PRO The theme of the sin of avarice is known
particularly in the Auvergne. It is found
at Brioude, Clermont-Ferrand (Notre-
Dame-du-Port), Ennezat, and Orcival.
The capital at Conques is very similar to
the one at Notre-Dame-du-Port, including
the inscription.
Vol. 9, Aveyron, Lot,
Tarn, 30-31
4 Nave Avarice See above. South MALVM ACIPE
MERITVM O

O, you accept the pay for
evil
See above. Vol. 9, Aveyron, Lot,
Tarn, 30-31
5 Choir Evangelists
and Angels
Angels labeled as
evangelists and angels
adorn the four capitals on
Capitals
located at
springing
SANCTVS MARCVS
(on book to left)

Representations of the evangelists as
angels are not unusual and were found
most often in the Auvergne. This
Vol. 9, Aveyron, Lot,
Tarn, 31-32

340

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
the two piers at the crossing
(northwest and southwest).
The capitals are dated to the
end of the eleventh-
beginning of the twelfth
century.
of vault at
crossing

Northwest
pier, south
capital
SANCTVS MATHEVS
(on book to right)

Saint Mark

Saint Matthew
iconographic analogue is found at Notre-
Dame-du-Port (Clermont-Ferrand),
Volvic, and Mozac.
5 Choir Evangelists
and Angels
See above. Capitals
located at
springing
of vault at
crossing

Northwest
pier, east
capital
SANCTVS LVCAS
(banderole on left)

SANCTVS IOHANNES
(banderole on right)

Saint Luke

Saint John
See above. Vol. 9, Aveyron, Lot,
Tarn, 31-32
5 Choir Evangelists
and Angels
See above. Capitals
located at
springing
of vault at
crossing

Northwest
pier, north
capital
SANCTVS GABRIHEL
(banderole on left)

SANCTE RAPHAEL
(banderole on right)

Saint Gabriel

Saint Raphael
See above. Vol. 9, Aveyron, Lot,
Tarn, 31-32
5 Choir Evangelists
and Angels
See above. Capitals
located at
springing
of vault at
crossing

Southwest
pier, west
capital
SANCTVS | RV
CHE | BIN
(book on left)

SANCTVS SERAPHIN
(book on right)
See above. Vol. 9, Aveyron, Lot,
Tarn, 31-32
6 Cloister David
and His
Musicians
Capital came from cloister
and was transferred to the
Musée Lapidaire. It is now
conserved in a chapel in the
north transept. Dates to the
Main face
on impost
block
EMAN + ASAPH

Eman and Asaph
A similar capital, citing four names of
musicians other than David, is in the
cloister at Moissac. The names are in
Scripture, but the sculpture at Conques
and Moissac does not reflect exactly the
Vol. 9, Aveyron, Lot,
Tarn, 36-37

341

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
first half of the twelfth
century.
instruments.
6 Cloister David
and His
Musicians
See above. Opposite
face on
impost
block
DAVID + IDITHVN

David and Idithun
See above. Vol. 9, Aveyron, Lot,
Tarn, 36-37
Town: Cruas
Name: Ancienne Abbaye Notre-Dame
Type: Monastery/Benedictine
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
1 Crypt Name Western crypt, south side,
capital next to door. Dates
to the twelfth century,
period when western part of
the crypt was built.
East HAIREBOIDUS or
HATIREBOIDEUS (?)
Repeated by Michel Joly, the abbot of
Bour proposed that this inscription read,
frater Benedictus Christo devotus, and
Robert Saint-Jean suggested that it read
frater Beotidus. Either one of these
interpretations of the carved inscription is
possible. It appears to be a name
inscribed on the impost, but both
transcriptions are hypothetical. Marie-
Thérèse Morlet suggests the following
possibilities, Hariboldus, Hairiboldus, or
Hairboldus, which are close to what is
carved on this capital.
Vol. 16, Alpes-de-
Haute-Provence,
Hautes-Alpes,
Ardèche, Drôme, 78
Town: Duravel
Name: Duravel
Type: Priory/Cluniac
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
1 Crypt Interlace
with name
Crypt; south side. South face BERNARDVS According to Rey, a Duravel specialist,
the inscription refers to Bernard IV,
Bishop of Cahors (1068-1070), who most
probably consecrated the crypt. The
abbey's affiliation with Moissac by 1055.
Quercy-Roman, 67

342

Town: Figeac
Name: Église Saint-Sauveur
Type: Priory/Cluniac
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
1 Nave Consecration
of altar
Located in the south aisle
on a pier separating the first
and second bays. The
inscription is inscribed on
the wall and column,
approximate 5.5 m high.
South
aisle, pier
separating
the first
bay from
the
second.
1. + IIII : IDVS :
APRILIS : HOC :
ALTARE :
CONSECRATVM :
EST : A DOMINO :
GERALDO : CATVR
2. CENSE : EPISCOPO
: IN : HONORE •
SANCTE MARIE : ET
: SANCTI :
MICHAELIS ET
SANCTE : MARIE :
EGIPTACE
3. ET BEATI : BLASII

On the 4 ides of April Le
[10 avril] this altar was
consecrated by the
seigneur Géraud, bishop
of Cahors, in honor of St.
Mary and St. Michael
and St. Mary the
Egyptian and the Blessed
Blaise.
Follows the formula for altar
consecrations of the period:
Date + act of consecration + consecrator+
patronage.

The church of Figeac was consecrated in
1093. Geraud III of Cardaillac was
bishop of Cahors from 1093 to 1112. It is
probable that he consecrated this altar.
Vol. 9, Aveyron, Lot,
Tarn, 99
Town: Hagetmau
Name: Crypte de Saint-Girons
Type: Unknown
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
1 Crypt Deliverance
of St. Peter
Capital depicts St. Peter's
deliverance from prison by
an angel. The text is
East FEREA QUID—
CVSTODES—

The commentary of this scene forms a
hexameter. One must read ferrea in place
of ferea and ostia in place of hostia. The
Vol. 6, Gers, Landes,
Lot-et-Garonne,
Pyrénées-Atlantiques,

343

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
inscribed on arches
surrounding figures on each
face. The capital is 2.3 m
from the ground. Southside,
2nd capital from the axial
bay.
A miracle. The guards end of the inscription identifies the scene,
using the infinitive for the narrative.
The carved text on the capital narrates the
imprisonment of Peter and his
deliverance by an angel. The episode is
reported in Acts (12:3-12). Inscription
dates to twelfth century.
94-95
1 Crypt Deliverance
of St. Peter
See above. South MIRVM SIC CEDVNT

The gates of iron opened
for
See above. Vol. 6, Gers, Landes,
Lot-et-Garonne,
Pyrénées-Atlantiques,
94-95
1 Crypt Deliverance
of St. Peter
See above. South HOSTIA PETRO—
SOLVE

Peter.
See above. Vol. 6, Gers, Landes,
Lot-et-Garonne,
Pyrénées-Atlantiques,
94-95
1 Crypt Deliverance
of St. Peter
See above. West RE ANGELVS
PETRVM

Solvere angelus petrum
An angel frees Peter
See above. Vol. 6, Gers, Landes,
Lot-et-Garonne,
Pyrénées-Atlantiques,
94-95
Town: Hérault
Name: Saint-Pons-de-Thomières
Type: Priory/Cluniac
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
1 Cloister The Marys
and the
Angel at
the Tomb
Now in the Musée du
Louvre.
ANGELUS Visitatio Sepulchri. Fig. 160b in Joan
Evans, Cluniac Art of the Romanesque
Period (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1950).
Not in C.I.F.M.

344

Town: Issoire
Name: L'abbatiale Saint-Austremoine
Type: Monastery/Benedictine
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
1 Choir Annuncia-
tion
Capital of column at left of
entrance to apse, on the
south arm of the transept.
Two angels look to the
Virgin. The angel on the
left makes a gesture of
salutation, and the angel on
the right holds an open
book with inscription.
AVE NA
DOMINUS
MARIA TECUM
GRACIA SPIRITUS
PLE SANCTUS
SUPER[VENIET]

Hail Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with you.
The Holy Spirit will
come to you.
The angelic greeting is in Luke (1:28) but
this is the liturgical formula. The second
part of the text, Spiritus sanctus
super[veniet in te] is found in Luke 1:35.
It forms the responsory verse for a chant
sung during Matins at the feast of the
Annunciation of the Virgin.
The capital can be dated to the twelfth
century. See Skubiszewski, "Une
Annonication à deux anges à Issoire,"
dans De la création à la restauration.
Travaux d'histoire de l'art offerts à
Marcel Durliat pour sons 75e
anniversaire, Toulouse, 1992, 307-317.
Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
217-218
Town: Jaillans
Name: Sainte-Lucie
Type: Priory or Parish
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
1 Tribune Daniel Church tribune, capital on
North wall. First letter = 3.5
cm. Height of B in bestia =
6.5 cm. Dates to twelfth
century.
South, on
impost
block
QUANTA : DEI :
PIETAS : QUANTUM :
MERITUM
BESTIA : PLENA :
DOLI : NON EST

That the goodness of
God is greater than the
merit of Daniel is great.
The beast is not full of
trickery.
The iconography of this capital comes
from two sources: the Bible and legend.
The figure, surrounded by two beasts, is
labeled Daniel. This configuration is
usually attributed to Daniel and the
Lions. But the carved scene does not
relate directly to the episode of Daniel in
the lions' den. The sculpted scene most
probably relates to Daniel’s triumph over
the idol Bel and the dragon, the episode
for which he was thrown into the lions'
den. The inscribed text, Bestia plena doli
Vol. 16, Alpes-de-
Haute-Provence,
Hautes-Alpes,
Ardèche, Drôme,
144-145

345

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
non est is close to King Astyage's
exclamation to the idol Bel in Daniel
14:17:Magnus es, Bel, et non est apud te
dolus quiquam.
This biblical passage relates to a local
legend. A dragon named Jaille devastated
the local countryside and the town took
its name from this monster.
1 Tribune Daniel See above. East, on
impost
block
DANIELIS

Daniel
See above.

Town: Jou-Sous-Mon
Name: Église de l'Assomption
Type: Priory or Parish
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
1 Choir Seated
figure
On the impost block of a
capital on the south side of
a triumphal arc at entrance
to choir. 2.63 m from
ground; length of
inscription = .80 cm; height
of 1st letter = 12 cm.

Inscription is dated to not
before the first half of the
eleventh century.
South ESTOTE ERGO
SANCTI QUIA EGO
SANCTUS SUM DICIT
[DOMINUS]
The text carved onto the impost block is
very close to Leviticus 9:44: Ego enim
sum Dominus Deus vester: sancti estote
quia ego sanctus sum. But the inscription
inverts estote and sancti and adds ego,
which is neither in the Vulgate nor in the
vetus latina. Estote may come from
Matthew 5:48: Estote ergo vos perfecti
sicut et pater vester caelestis perfectus
est. The Matthew passage is part of the
liturgy for the Saturday after Ash
Wednesday.
Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
42

346

Town: Le Puy
Name: Cathedral Notre-Dame
Type: Cathedral
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
1 Cloister Evangelists Capital is at corner of the
east and north galleries
(double-column). Height of
letters = approx. 2 cm.
1st
capital,
one face
[M]ATTEU[S] The history of the cloister is not well
known. The imprecision of the texts only
allow approximate dating of the work on
the claustral buildings to the beginning of
the twelfth century. The epigraphy on the
two capitals dates to the first quarter of
the twelfth century.
Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
117
1 Cloister Evangelists See above. On a
banderole
held by an
evangelist
LIBER
GENERATIONI[S]
See above. Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
117
1 Cloister Evangelists See above. On the
abacus of
another
face
MARCUS See above. Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
117
1 Cloister Evangelists See above. 2nd
capital, on
the abacus
of one of
the
capital's
faces
LUCAS See above. Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
117
1 Cloister Evangelists See above. On the
abacus of
the other
face
JOHANNES See above. Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
117
2 Steeple Cardinal
Virtues
See above. Over the
head of
one of the
Virtues
PRUD[ENCIA]

Prudence
The Virtues are depicted carrying a
breastplate, arms and shields, inspired by
St. Paul (Ephesians 6:13-17).
Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
134-135
2 Steeple Cardinal
Virtues
See above. Over the
head of
the
TEMPERA / N/ C[I]/ A

Temperance
See above. Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,

347

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
following 134-135
2 Steeple Cardinal
Virtues
See above. Over the
head of
the third
JUSTICIA

Justice
See above. Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
134-135
2 Steeple Cardinal
Virtues
See above. Over the
head of
the fourth
FORTI[TUDO]

Fortitude
See above. Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
134-135
3 North
Portal
Cardinal
Virtue
Capital from the Charity
portal of the Cathedral.
Now housed in the Musée
Crozatier. The portal was
known as the Hôtel-Dieu.
Portal is located on the
north side of the Cathedral
Notre-Dame. A seated
woman, dressed as a nun, is
located on the center of the
capital. She holds a sack of
money, symbolizing alms,
in her right hand.
Central KARITAS

Charity
On another face of this capital is a
bearded apostle which has been identified
as St. James, also seen on the cathedral's
portal Bourg-Argental. The inscription on
the banderole identifies the figure at the
portal.
Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
133-4
Town: Lescar
Name: Cathedral
Type: Cathedral
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
1 Choir Announce-
ment to the
Shepherds
and
Adoration
of the Magi
Capital of an engaged
column between the choir
and north apsidal chapel.

Inscription is on the
astragle.
ANGELVS PASTORES/
MAGI MVNERA
CRISTO DEFERVNT
The Adoration of the Magi (Matthew 2:
1-12) was a popular theme, but it is rarely
associated in sculpture with the
Announcement to the Shepherds. (Luke
2:8-20). Nevertheless, there is a
liturgical justification for this association:
Epiphany. The Announcement to the
Shepherds and the Adoration of the Magi
are mentioned at the same time on
Vol. 6, Gers, Landes,
Lot-et-Garonne,
Pyrénées-Atlantiques,
155

348

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
Epiphany (cf. Bréviaire, Ier Nocturne, 4e
et 5e leçons). The Virgin and Child are
placed between the shepherds and the
Magi. Dates to twelfth century.
Town: Lescure-d'Albigeois
Name: Église Saint-Michel
Type: Priory/Benedictine
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
1 Choir Daniel in
the Lions'
Den
Inscription is framed within
a rectangle above the
figure's head. Capital is
located at the entrance to
the apse, on the south side.
It is a double column.
Over the
head of
central
figure
DANIEL (?) Horste, Pl. 74
2 Choir Meeting of
Jacob &
Esau
Entrance of choir on north
side. Two bearded old men
embrace.
Over head
of figures
(Left): IA[COB]
(Right): [ES]AV
Jacob
Esau
The biblical source for the scene is
Genesis 33:4.
Dated beginning of the twelfth century
Vol. 9, Aveyron, Lot,
Tarn, 137
Town: Lubersac
Name: Lubersac
Type: Priory/Cluniac
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
1 Choir Jesus
among the
doctors
Inscription is above the
heads of the figures. They
are not visible from the
ground.

North apsidal, north capital.
South GAMALIEL
NICODEMVS
This is a rare depiction of two doctors of
the Law. These lawyers chosen to talk
with Christ, Nicodemus and Gamaliel,
are not mentioned in Scripture in relation
to this scene, but their names appear
several times in Scripture.
Inscription dates to the twelfth century.
Vol. 4 (II), Limousin:
Corrèze, Creuse,
Haute-Vienne, 45-50

349

Town: Mâcon
Name: Ancienne cathedral Saint-Vincent
Type: Cathedral
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
1 West
Portal
Armed
angel
confronting
a demon
Capital at the right of entry
to church.
Inscription is on the impost
of two faces of capital.
(Probably 1st quarter of the
twelfth century).
Angel
fighting a
demon
[DEMONIUS
COGNATUR INTRARE
VETATUR] ANGELUS
OBSTAT EI PREDITUS
EN[SE]
A demon prepares to
enter but it is stopped.
An angel armed with a
sword blocks him [the
demon].
The inscription does not form a classical
verse. There are several errors in the
meter. Cognatur is incorrect; it should
read conatur.
Vol. 19, Jura, Nièvre,
Saône-et-Loire, 115
Town: Marcilhac-sur-Célé
Name: Abbaye Saint-Pierre
Type: Priory/Cluniac
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
1 South
Portal
Christ in
Majesty
At the summit, Christ sits in
Majesty, making a gesture
of blessing and holding a
book. On each side of
Christ, at the same height as
his knees, are two reliefs of
angels. At the feet of the
angels are two reliefs that
depict St. Peter at Christ's
right and St. Paul at Christ's
left.
APOSTOLVS /
PET[RVS]
ADVENIAT…TORIS
FI(?)

The apostle Peter arrives
at…?
Dates ca. twelfth century. Vol. 9, Aveyron, Lot,
Tarn, 102
2 Narthex Daniel in
the Lion's
Den
Capital on left, against west
facade.
LEO

Lion
The scene of Daniel in the lions' den is
one of the most represented biblical
episodes (Daniel 6:2-20). Christians view
the deliverance of Daniel as a symbol of
Resurrection. The scene is represented 39
Vol. 9, Aveyron, Lot,
Tarn, 103

350

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
times in the catacombs in Rome. The
liturgy for the dead references Daniel,
who is referenced in an ancient
commendatio animae (Libera Domine
animam servi tui sicut liberasti Danielem
de lacu leonum). The capital is dated to
the twelfth century.
3 Cloister Christ in
Majesty
Chapter House.
Capital on the left side of
door.
On the
Cruciform
nimb
REX

King
Rex is the word most frequently used in
biblical and liturgical language to
designate God or Christ. It is generally
used for Christ, as the three letters appear
on numerous halos on crucifixions. It is
also associated, on the cross with the
words lex, lux et pax. The capital is dated
to the twelfth century.
Vol. 9, Aveyron, Lot,
Tarn, 104
4 Cloister The Elect Chapter House.
Capital of first arcade on
the right. The inscription is
on a roundel that contains a
figure with covered hands.
North face LITICIA +

Laetitia = Joy
The inscription is dated to the twelfth
century.

Town: Maringues
Name: Église Notre Dame
Type: Priory/Benedictine
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
1 Choir Minotaur Ambulatory, south chapel.
North and south faces of
the corbel represent two
monsters facing each other
and the bust of a human
with an animal's body. The
figures are horned.
North, on
the
shoulder
and chest
of the
monster
MEDIO/TAU/RI

Minotaur
This capital is similar to one at Besse-en-
Chandesse, where the monster is
represented and labeled by the inscription
Minortaurus. However, the figure has the
attributes of a centaur. The inscribed
minotaur capital at Brioude conforms to
mythology. The monks of La Chaise-
Dieu at one time served at the church of
Maringues. The church was one of the
possessions of La Chaise-Dieu at this
time. The capital dates to the twelfth
Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
219

351

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
century.
1 Choir Minotaur See above. South,
on the
shoulder
and chest
of the
monster
MEDIO/TAU/RI

Minotaur
See above. Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
219
2 Choir Archangels Choir/ axial chapel
of chevet, capital on
south side.
Winged archangels are
sculpted on the south and
north impost blocks. The
angels hold a banderole
with their name carved on
it.
North ANGELUS MICAEL

Angel Michael
The noun angelus is employed frequently
for Archangels.
Dates to the twelfth century.
Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
220
2 Choir Archangels See above. South GABRIEL See above. Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
220
3 Choir Healing of
Lepers
Choir/ axial chapel of the
chevet, third capital of the
hemicycle.
A man is kneeling with his
hands reaching towards
Christ, who is offering a
blessing. The inscription is
on a cartouche above the
scene.
North 1. NONE DECE[M]
MUNDAT[I] SUN[T]
2. ET NOVEM UB[I
SUNT].
The ten are not cleansed?
And where are the other
nine?
The text comes from Luke 17:17, which
reports Jesus' healing of ten lepers. Only
one of them, a Samaritan, returns to give
thanks for his healing.
Dates to the twelfth century.
Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
220

352

Town: Melle
Name: Saint-Hilaire
Type: Priory/Cluniac
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
1 Choir Decorative,
donor
signature
(dates late
11th-early
12th
century)
Hemicyle on the north side
Rondier wrote that the
Aimeri II, abbot of Saint-
Jean-d'Angély, founded the
priory of Saint-Hilaire
between 1018 and 1030.
Impost
block
facing
south
FACERE ME
AIMERICVS ROGAVIT

Aimericus asked to make
me
Paleographic and architectural analysis
prohibits dating the inscription earlier
than the late eleventh century. A
proposed identification of Aimericus as a
donor can be found in two donation
charters: one for the Abbey of Saint-
Jean-d'Angély, the other for the Abbey of
Saint-Florent de Saumur, between 1090
and 1100 (Cartulaire de l'abbaye royale
de Saint-Jean-d'Angély, éd. G. MUSSET,
t. II, Paris/Saintes, 1904, n° 435, p. 99
(Archives historiques Saintonge et Aunis,
33), et Chartes poitevines de l'abbaye de
Saint-Florent près Saumur, ed. M.
MARCHEGAY, vol. 2, Poitiers, 1873, n°
LXXXIV, p. 122 (Archives historiques
Poitou, 2).
Vol. 3, Charente,
Charente-Maritime,
Deux-Sèvres, 134
Town: Melle
Name: Saint-Pierre
Type: Priory/Cluniac
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
1 South
Portal
Identifica-
tion
The texts are barely legible. Inscriptio
ns are
carved on
the south
portal's
corniche
moldings
[LVCAS] IOHANNES
[IESVS] [MATEVS]
MARCVS

John Mark
It is not possible to date this inscription
based solely on epigraphic evidence. The
building was constructed in the twelfth
century.
Vol. 3, Charente,
Charente-Maritime,
Deux-Sèvres, 135

353

Town: Melle
Name: Saint-Savinien
Type: Unknown
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
1 Choir Donor/
sculptor?
The capital is located atop
an engaged column at the
southeast angle of the
crossing. (Ht. of corbeille:
approx. 35cm).
West face
West
On book
PAX / V / O / BIS
Peace to you
Pax vobis: words pronounced by Christ
when he appeared before the apostles
after his resurrection. This is found in
Luke 24:36 and John 20:21, 26. The
inscription is attributed to the late
eleventh or beginning twelfth century.
Vol. 3, Charente,
Charente-Maritime,
Deux-Sèvres, 137-
138
2 Choir Donor/
sculptor?
See above. West
To right
of figure
NI / CO / LA / VS

Nicholas
See above. Vol. 3, Charente,
Charente-Maritime,
Deux-Sèvres, 137-
138
3 Choir Passion of
Saint
Savininen
of Troyes
The capital is located atop
an engaged column at the
northeast angle of the
crossing.

The inscription is engraved
on the capital's south face.
(Ht. of corbeille: approx. 35
cm).

Figure holds the left arm of
executioner.
South EST SAVINIA
NVS . QVEM SIC .
NECAT AVRELIAN
VSA

Here is Savinien, whom
Aurelian killed in this
way.
The author of the inscription was inspired
by the Passion of St. Savinien of Troyes,
the only Savinien who was beheaded
(cephalore=head-carrier). Not one of the
three vitae can be considered historically
accurate, but the inscription does place
Savinien's martyrdom under the reign of
Aurelian and mentions how he was
killed. S. Savinianus, apprehendens caput
suum, portavit illud pedes quadraginta
novem. The story of the Passion of St.
Savinien of Troyes was popular at the
end of the eleventh century, and it was
included in the Golden Legend.
Vol. 3, Charente,
Charente-Maritime,
Deux-Sèvres, 138

354

Town: Menat
Name: Abbaye de Menat
Type: Monastery/Cluniac
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
1 Choir Signature Capital of the first arc
between the crossing and
nave, towards the west, on
the south side. Approx. 5 m
from ground. Lions are on
the faces. Dates to late
eleventh century.
North face LEO

Lion
Marie-Thérèse Camus, in her study of
twelfth-century Poitevin sculpture,
specifies that at this time the Poitevin
atelier participated in constructions in the
Limousin and the Auvergne, in which a
bas-relief in the church at Menat is
analogous to this sculpture. The
epigraphy agrees with this and limits the
date of the inscription to the end of the
eleventh century.
Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
221
1 Choir Signature See above. North
impost
block
[G]IRALDUS CAM I :

Giraldus
See above. Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
221
1 Choir Signature See above. West
impost
block
E.. V. FECIT OPERA

made (or had made) the
work
See above. Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
221
1 Choir Signature See above. South
impost
block
Text is illegible. See above. Vol. 18, Allier,
Cantal, Loire, Haute-
Loire, Puy-de-Dôme,
221
Town: Moissac
Name: Saint-Pierre
Type: Abbey/Cluniac
Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
1 Cloister Babylon South gallery; inscription is
carved above the gates.
Southeast
angle
BABILONIA (SE angle)
MAGNA (NE angle)
Great Babylon
See Apocalypse (14:8; 16:19; 17:5; 18:2,
10, 21)
Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 140-141

355

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
1 Cloister Babylon See above Northeast
angle
BABILONIA (SE angle)
MAGNA (NE angle)
Great Babylon
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 140-141
2 Cloister Song of
Nabuchodo
nosor
South gallery; city of
Babylon with two guards is
represented on the north
face.
Impost
block;
North
NON[N]E HAEC EST
BABILON MAGNA
QUAM
That is not the great
Babylon that
Daniel 4:25-30. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 141-142
2 Cloister Song of
Nabuchodo
nosor
South gallery;
Nebuchaddnezzar is
changed into an animal.
Impost
block;
West
EGO HEDIFICAVI :
TIBI DICITVR
NABVCHODONOSOR
I built: It is said to you,
Nabuchodonosor
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 141-142
2 Cloister Song of
Nabuchodo
nosor
South gallery;
Nebuchaddnezzar regains
his throne. He holds a
phylactery on which his
name is inscribed.
South NA BV CO DO NO
[SOR]
King Nabuchodonosor
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 141-142
2 Cloister Song of
Nabuchodo
nosor
South gallery. Impost
block;
South
REX REGNUM TUUM
TRANSIIT A TE

your reign crossed over
from you
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 141-142
2 Cloister Song of
Nabuchodo
nosor
South gallery; Daniel
explains the song to the
king.
Impost
block;
East
FENVM VT BOS
COMEDES ET
SEPTEM TEMPORA
MVTABVNTVR
SVPER TE

you will eat hay like a
cow and seven times will
change over you
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 141-142
3 Cloister Martyrdom
of St.
Stephen
South gallery; inscription is
to the side of the tomb.
South SEVLCRVM
BEATI : STEPHANI

Tomb of St. Stephen
East face shows the saint preaching on a
throne; north face shows his arrest for
blasphemy by false witnesses; west face
shows the saint kneeling in agony; south
face shows the discovery of his tomb and
Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 142-143

356

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
his translation to Jerusalem.
4 Cloister David
and His
Musicians
South gallery; David
playing the cithara.
South DAVID CITARAM
PERCVTIEBAT
IN DOMO DOMINI

David striking the cithara
in the house of the Lord
The names of several musicians
established by David to sing praises to
Yahweh in Jerusalem Temple are found
in Scripture. However, these four names
are never found together in the same
passage, and the instruments attributed to
these names are specific to Moissac and
not Scripture. Ethan and Eman are named
as descendants of Judah (1Paralipomenon
2:6); Asaph is usually shown with a harp,
lira, and cymbals (1Paralipomenon
15:16-17). The rota is a medieval
instrument similar to a psalterium.
Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 142-144
4 Cloister David
and His
Musicians
South gallery; Asaph with
lira.
South;
under
David
VC: HPASA
LIRA
Asaph with a lira
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 142-144
4 Cloister David
and His
Musicians
Eman shown with a rota;
the name of the musician is
written backwards.
East NAME
CVM ROTA

Eman with a rota
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 142-144
4 Cloister David
and His
Musicians
Ethan with a tambourine. North ETAN
CVM TIM
PHANO
Ethan with a tambourine
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 142-144
4 Cloister David
and His
Musicians
Idithun with cymbals. West ET IDITVN
CVM CIM
BALIS
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 142-144
5 Cloister Jerusalem South gallery; inscription
carved on all four faces, on
walls.
West IHERV
Holy Jerusalem
Jerusalem is called a holy city in several
places in the Bible.
Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 144-45
5 Cloister Jerusalem See above. South SAL
Holy Jerusalem
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 144-45

357

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
5 Cloister Jerusalem See above. East EM SA
Holy Jerusalem
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 144-45
5 Cloister Jerusalem See above. North NCTA
Holy Jerusalem
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 144-45
6 Cloister Pit of
the abyss
South gallery; chained
serpent.
East face SERPENS
ANTICVS
QVI : EST
DIABOLVS

Ancient snake who is the
devil
Scene from Apoc. 20:1-3, 7. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 145-46
6 Cloister Pit of
the abyss
South gallery; St. Michael
driving the snake towards
the pit of the abyss.
South SANCTVS : MICHAEL
St. Michael
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 145-46
6 Cloister Pit of
the abyss
South gallery; the pit of the
abyss and the deliverance
of a demon.
West; on
the right
PVTEVS : ABISSI
Pit of the abyss
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 145-46
6 Cloister Pit of
the abyss
South gallery; the pit of the
abyss and the deliverance
of a demon.
West; on
the left
GOLIAS
Golias (Goliath?)
Scene from Apoc. 20:1-3, 7.
The name Golias, to identify the dragon,
is not mentioned in Apocalypse. The only
mention of this name is in relation to the
giant killed by David.
Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 145-46
6 Cloister Pit of
the abyss
South gallery. North face GOG ET MAGOG

Gog and Magog
Scene from Apoc. 20:1-3, 7. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 145-46
7 Cloister Symbols
of the
evangelists
South gallery; winged man,
inscription on book.
South L[IBER] •
G[ENERATIONIS]
I[ESV] • X[PISTI]
F[ILII] D[AVID]
F[ILII] A[BRAHAM]

Opening lines to Gospel of Matthew. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 147

358

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
The book of the
generation (of Christ).
Jesus Christ, son of
David, son of Abraham
7 Cloister Symbols
of the
evangelists
South gallery; winged lion,
inscription on book.
West I[NITIVM]
E[VANGELII]
I[ESV] C[HRISTI]
F[ILII D[EI]
Opening lines to Gospel of Mark. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 147
7 Cloister Symbols
of the
evangelists
South gallery; winged bull,
inscription on book
North

Q[VONIAM]
Q[VIDEM] M[VLTI]
C[ONATI SVNT]
O[RDINARE]
N[ARRATIONEM]
Opening lines to Gospel of Luke. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 147
7 Cloister Symbols
of the
evangelists
South gallery; eagle,
inscription on book.
East I[N] P[RINCIPIO]
E[RAT] V[ERBVM ET]
V[ERBVM]
E[R]A[T]
Opening lines to Gospel of John. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 147
8 Cloister The Good
Samaritan
South gallery; the traveler
falls into the hands of
robbers.
West

ET INCIDIT : IN
LATRONES
And he happened upon
robbers
Parable of the Good Samaritan found in
Luke 10:30-35.
Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 148-9
8 Cloister The Good
Samaritan
South gallery; compassion
of the Samaritan.
South : SAMARITANVS :
QVIDAM
A certain Samaritan
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 148-9
8 Cloister The Good
Samaritan
South gallery; the
indifference of the priest
and the deacon.
East SACERDOS : CVM
LEVITA :
PERTRANSIIT
A priest with a deacon
passed on by
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 148-9
8 Cloister The Good
Samaritan
South gallery; the
Samaritan leads the
wounded traveler to an inn.
North CVRAM : ILLIVS :
HABE :
You managed care of this
one
Parable of the Good Samaritan found in
Luke 10:30-35.
Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 148-9
9 Cloister Vision of
St. John
South gallery; John visited
by an angel; inscription is
on the thimble of the
capital.
South ANGELVS
SANCTVS IOHANNES

Angel
Text references Apoc. 1:10. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 149

359

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
St. John
9 Cloister Vision of
St. John
South gallery; nimbed
angel.
North No inscription Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 149
9 Cloister Vision of
St. John
South gallery; two nimbed
and armed knights,
representing the armies
mentioned in the vision.
East No inscription Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 149
9 Cloister Vision of
St. John
South gallery; two nimbed
and armed knights,
representing the armies
mentioned in the vision.
East No inscription Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 149
10 Cloister Deliverance
of Peter
South gallery; narrative is
depicted on the capital's
four faces. Scene of Peter
appearing in court before
Herod.
South No inscription References Acts of the Apostles 12:11.
This verse forms the introduction to the
feast of St. Peter and Paul and Vincula
Petri. It is also the fourteenth chant of
vespers and lauds of the same feasts.
Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 150
10 Cloister Deliverance
of Peter
South gallery; Peter in
prison.
East No inscription See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 150
10 Cloister Deliverance
of Peter
South gallery; sleeping
guards.
North No inscription See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 150
10 Cloister Deliverance
of Peter
South gallery; deliverance
of Peter by an angel. The
apostle holds a phylactery
with the following
inscription.
N[VNC] S[CIO]
V[ERE]
Q[VIA] M[ISIT]
D[OMINVS]
A[NGELVM SVVM]
E[T ERIPVIT ME DE
MANV]
H[ERODIS]
Now, I truly know that
the Lord sent an angel
and removed me from
the hand of Herod.
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 150

360

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
11 Cloister Samson
and the
Lion
East gallery; identification
of depicted figures; angel
guides Samson.
East no inscription References Judges 14:5-7. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 151-2
11 Cloister Samson
and the
Lion
East gallery; Samson takes
down a lion.
North SAMSON See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 151-2
11 Cloister Samson
and the
Lion
East gallery; Figure is
holding an object, possibly
a club.
West No inscription See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 151-2
12 Cloister Martyrdom
of Ss. Peter
and Paul
East gallery; Nero
condemns the apostles to
death; inscription on face.
East NERO The phrase, "Saul, Saul…" is from Acts
9:4. The carved scenes depict the well-
known Passion narrative for the two
apostles, especially that of St. Paul,
whose eyes are covered.
Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 152-3
12 Cloister Martyrdom
of Ss. Peter
and Paul
East gallery; Nero
condemns the apostles to
death; inscription on impost
block.
East MARTIRIO : SANCTVS
PE
Martyrdom of St. Peter
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 152-3
12 Cloister Martyrdom
of Ss. Peter
and Paul
East gallery; crucifixion of
St. Peter; inscription on
impost block.
North TRE : MARTIRIO :
SANCTVS : P
Martyrdom of St. Paul
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 152-3
12 Cloister Martyrdom
of Ss. Peter
and Paul
East gallery; triumph of
martyrs who are lifted to
heaven by an angel;
inscription on impost block.
West face AVLE : SAVLE : SA
Saul, Saul
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 152-3
12 Cloister Martyrdom
of Ss. Peter
and Paul
East gallery; decapitation of
St. Paul; inscription on
impost block.
North face VLE QVONIAM
PERSEQ[V]ER[IS]
why do you persecute
me?
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 152-3
13 Cloister Alphabet
and psalm
East gallery; floral décor. East on
impost
block
MLYZABCDEFGHI The alphabet may reference the
dedication ceremony, in which the
alphabet is traced on the floor. Psalm 53
is not usually sung during the dedication
ritual.
Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 153-4

361

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
13 Cloister Alphabet
and psalm
East gallery; floral décor;
Alphabet and beginning of
Psalm 53:3.
North on
impost
block
KLMNOPQRSTVZADE
VS IN N
Alphabet and Save me, O
God, by thy name
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 153-4
13 Cloister Alphabet
and psalm
East gallery; floral décor;
Beginning of Psalm 53:3.
West on
impost
block
OMINE TVO SALVVM

Save me, O God, by thy
name
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 153-4
13 Cloister Alphabet
and psalm
East gallery; floral décor;
letters.
South on
impost
block
AXBVCT[ ] See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 153-4
14 Cloister The Fall East gallery; Adam and Eve
before the Fall; no
inscription.
North No inscription Genesis 3:1-25. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 154-5
14 Cloister The Fall East gallery; Adam, hiding
his nudity, appears before
God.
East ADAM See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 154-5
14 Cloister The Fall East gallery; Adam and Eve
are chased out of paradise.
South No inscription See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 154-5
14 Cloister The Fall East gallery; Adam and Eve
must work and search for
food.
West No inscription See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 154-5
15 Cloister Washing of
the Feet
Mandatum
East gallery; Christ
kneeling before a basin,
preparing to wash the feet
of the apostle, Peter;
Andrew and Paul included
on this face.
South IESVS
SVRTEP
AN
DR[EAS]
PAVLVS
Jesus
Peter
Andrew
Paul
The Washing of the Feet is found in John
8:1-7. Mandatum is the term for the
liturgical ceremony on Holy Thursday.
The antiphon for the ceremony is:
Mandatum novum do vobis, ut diligatis
invicem sicut dilexi vos (John 13:34).
Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 155-7
15 Cloister Washing of East gallery; two apostles East BERTOLO[MEVS] See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute

362

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
the Feet
Mandatum
seated holding books. The
closed book represents the
old law, the open book, the
new.
MATHEVS
Bartholomew
Matthew
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 155-7
15 Cloister Washing of
the Feet
Mandatum
East gallery; four apostles,
standing.
North IACOB[VS]
I
O
A
N
[N]
[ES]
FI
LIPI[S]
TO S
M
A
James
John
Philip
Thomas
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 155-7
15 Cloister Washing of
the Feet
Mandatum
East gallery; the three
apostles, who are not
inscribed, most probably
represent James the Minor,
Judas, and Simon.
West; on
the face
MANDATVM

Mandatum
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 155-7
16 Cloister Lazarus
and Dives
East gallery; Dives is at the
table while Lazarus is at the
door. The dogs lick
Lazarus's sores.
North;
inscription
below
each
figure.
[PAVP]ER
DIVES
LAZARVS
Pauper
Rich Man
Lazarus
LENT: The parable is the Gospel reading
on the Friday following the second
Sunday of Lent, and the two verses of
Psalm 53 form the introduction for the
Sunday following the 4th Sunday of
Lent.
Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 157-59
16 Cloister Lazarus
and Dives
East Gallery; Death of
Lazarus.
East No inscription See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 157-59
16 Cloister Lazarus
and Dives
East gallery; Lazarus in the
bosom of Abraham.
Abraham holds Lazarus's
South [A]NIME T[ENET]
ABRAAM
Abraham holds the soul
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-

363

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
soul, which was delivered
by an angel.
Garonne, 157-59
16 Cloister Lazarus
and Dives
East gallery; Damnation of
Rich man.
East face DI EI ANA
(DI[VITIS] EI
AN[IM]A)
The soul of this rich rich
one is delivered
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 157-59
16 Cloister Lazarus
and Dives
East gallery; impost block. North on
impost
block
DEVS IN NOMINE
TVO SA[L[VVM
Save me, O God, by thy
name
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 157-59
16 Cloister Lazarus
and Dives
East gallery; impost block. West, on
impost
block
ME FAC ET IN VIRTV
and judge me in your
strength
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 157-59
16 Cloister Lazarus
and Dives
East gallery; impost block. South, on
impost
block
TE TVA IVDICA ME :
DEVS E[X]

judge me in your
strength. O God
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 157-59
16 Cloister Lazarus
and Dives
East gallery; impost block. East, on
impost
block
SAVDI ORACIONEM
hear my prayer
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 157-59
17 Cloister Marriage at
Cana
East gallery; site of the
marriage.
East no inscription EPIPHANY: The miracle at Cana is
recounted in John 2:1-11. It is read on the
second Sunday of Epiphany. Verses 7-9
are the refrain for the benediction and
communion.
Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 161-2
17 Cloister Marriage at
Cana
East gallery; the Miracle—
Christ places his right hand
over three urns as Mary
stands behind him.
South [IMPLETE] A[QVA]
IDRINAS

Fill the water urns
(John 2:7)
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 161-2
17 Cloister Marriage at
Cana
See above. South SANCTA MARIA
St. Mary
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 161-2

364

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
17 Cloister Marriage at
Cana
East Gallery; water changes
to wine. A servant refills a
cup.
West VIN[V]M CANA
Wine Cana
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 161-2
17 Cloister Marriage at
Cana
East gallery; the room for
the celebration. To the left a
person holds a cup over
which is the inscription.
North VINO VE FATA I
I[n] vino ve[re] fa[c]t[a]
[aqua]
Water is truly made into
wine
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 161-2
17 Cloister Marriage at
Cana
East gallery; the room for
the celebration. The bride
and groom are inscribed.
North ARCITICLINVS
MVLIER
master of feast, wife
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 161-2
18 Cloister Adoration
of the Magi
East Gallery; gate of
Jerusalem where Herod is
seated with two aides. He
meets with the Magi who
are leaving for Bethlehem.
West; on
the gate
IH
ERV
SL
AE
M
Jerusalem
Matthew is the only gospel that tells the
story of the Adoration of the Magi
(Matthew 2:1-12).
Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 162-3
18 Cloister Adoration
of the Magi
East Gallery; Mary, on a
throne, holds the Infant on
her knees. The three Magi
offer the gifts they carry.
North;
inscription
on the
face
SCA MARIA CR
OR[IENS]
Sancta Maria cum
regibus.
St Mary with the King of
the East
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 162-3
18 Cloister Adoration
of the Magi
East Gallery; on the gate of
Bethlehem.
East B
ET
LM
E

Bethlehem
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 162-3
18 Cloister Adoration
of the Magi
East Gallery; Massacre of
the Innocents.
South No inscription See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 162-3
19 Cloister Martyrdom
of
Fructuosus,
East Gallery; identification
of represented scenes and
characters.
North,
figures are
identified
AVGVRIVS FRVCTV
EVLOGIVS
OSVS EPI
Feast Day: 21 Jan. Fructuosus was the
bishop of Tarragon, and Eulogus and
Augurus were his deacons. They were
Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-

365

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
Eulogus,
and
Augurus
SCOPVS
Augurus, Fructuosus, and
Eulogius
Bishop
arrested and burned alive in 259 during
Valerian's persecution of Christians. The
saints are not frequently venerated in
France; however, Moissac had numerous
possessions in the diocese of Gerona
(Spain) and one of its dependencies in
Toulouse was dedicated to St.
Fructuosus.
Garonne, 163-5
19 Cloister Martyrdom
of
Fructuosus,
Eulogus,
and
Augurus
East gallery; Governor
Emilianus, a musician
playing a lyre is behind
him. He orders two
executioners to put the
saints in the fire.
East [E]MILIA
NVS
PRE[SES]
I D C E N
Emilianus, governor
Lyre player
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 163-5
19 Cloister Martyrdom
of
Fructuosus,
Eulogus,
and
Augurus
East Gallery; The martyrs
in the fire. Inscriptions
identify the figures.
South MARTIRES IN FLAMIS
AVGVRIVSA DIACO
EVLOGIVS DI
Martyrs in flames
Deacon Augurus
Deacon Eulogus
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 163-5
19 Cloister Martyrdom
of
Fructuosus,
Eulogus,
and
Augurus
East gallery; Apotheosis of
the three martyrs. Their
souls are represented in a
mandorla, lifted by two
angels. The hand of God
emerges from a cloud and
grabs hold of the mandorla.
West A Ω
Alpha Omega
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 163-5
20 Cloister Eagles and
Fish
North Gallery; Four eagles
are carved on the four
corners of the capital. The
inscription in carved on a
horizontal bracket
(modillon) in the middle of
each of the faces.
South A The fish is a symbol of Christ (ichtus),
which formed the initials of Jesus Christ,
Son of God, Savior. Christ and the
apostles were fishers of men. The eagle is
a symbol of resurrection.
Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 166-7
20 Cloister Eagles and
Fish
See above. East [QI] See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 166-7

366

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
20 Cloister Eagles and
Fish
See above. North L See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 166-7
20 Cloister Eagles and
Fish
See above. West A

AQUILA
Eagle
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 166-7
21 Cloister Miracles of
St.
Benedict
North Gallery; inscription
is on the impost block.
South face shows a winged
demon carrying a monk.
South;
impost
block
VIR DEI :
BENEDICTVS VIRGA
Man of God. Benedict
struck a monk with a
staff, and the Lord healed
him through him
The capital illustrates two of St.
Benedict's miracles. In the first, a monk
is possessed by a demon and Benedict
chases the demon out of the monk by
beating the monk with his staff. The
second miracle is at Monte Cassino,
where Benedict overturned an ancient
temple to Apollo and dedicated a church
to St. John the Baptist in its place.
Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 167-8
21 Cloister Miracles of
St.
Benedict
North Gallery; inscription
is on impost block. West
face shows St. Benedict
striking the monk who is
held by a demon with a
staff.
West on
impost
block
PERCVSSIT :
MONACHVM
Man of God. Benedict
struck a monk with a
staff, and the Lord healed
him through him
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 167-8
21 Cloister Miracles of
St.
Benedict
North Gallery; inscription
is on the impost block.
North face shows Monte
Cassino.
North on
impost
block
ET : SANAVIT : EVM
Man of God. Benedict
struck a monk with a
staff, and the Lord healed
him through him
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 167-8
21 Cloister Miracles of
St.
Benedict
North gallery; inscription is
on impost block. East face
shows healing the monk
and bringing him to his two
companions.
East on
impost
block
DOMNVS : PER :
ILLVM
Man of God. Benedict
struck a monk with a
staff, and the Lord healed
him through him
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 167-8
22 Cloister St. Peter
Heals a
Paralytic
North Gallery; inscriptions
illustrate the scenes and
identify the characters.
North face shows St. John
North IOHANNES PETRVS
John Peter
The miracle is found in Acts 3:1-2. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 168-9

367

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
and Peter, nimbed.
22 Cloister St. Peter
Heals a
Paralytic
North Gallery; inscriptions
identify the characters.
West face shows Peter
ordering the paralytic to
walk. Jerusalem, the site of
the miracle, is on the angle
of the face.
West CLAVDUS
IHERVSALEM
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 168-9
22 Cloister St. Peter
Heals a
Paralytic
North Gallery; inscriptions
identify the characters.
South face shows a figure
holding an enormous rock.
South No inscription See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 168-9
22 Cloister St. Peter
Heals a
Paralytic
North Gallery; inscriptions
identify the characters. East
face shows Sanhedrin's
tribunal.
East No inscription See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 168-9
23 Cloister Celestial
Choir
North Gallery; four angels
are depicted on each face.
East GABIHEL
(Gabrihel)
Only the archangels are named. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 169-70
23 Cloister Celestial
Choir
See above. North CHERVBIN See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 169-70
23 Cloister Celestial
Choir
See above. West MICALEL See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 169-70
23 Cloister Celestial
Choir
See above. South SERAPHIN See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 169-70
24 Cloister Three
Hebrews in
the Furnace
North Gallery; inscriptions
identify the characters. The
furnace occupies the central
part of the capital. An angel
and each of the three
Hebrews are shown on the
North ANGELVS
DOMINI
ET ABDENGALO
Angel of the Lord
and Abdenago
Daniel 3:1-97. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 170-1

368

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
angles of the capital. Their
names are inscribed over
their heads.
24 Cloister Three
Hebrews in
the Furnace
See above. West MISAELIS
MISAC
Misaeli Misach
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 170-1
24 Cloister Three
Hebrews in
the Furnace
See above. South ANANIAS
IGNIS IN FORNACE
Ananias
Fire in the furnace
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 170-1
24 Cloister Three
Hebrews in
the Furnace
See above. East AZARIAS
SIDRAC

Azarias
Siddrac
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 170-1
25 Cloister Story of St.
Martin
North Gallery; inscription
is on impost block. West
face shows St. Martin
tearing his cloak. The
inscription is on the impost
block, and the other is on a
medallion on the west face.
West;
impost
block and
medallion
MARTINVS DIRITVM
(on a medallion in
middle of face)
MARTINVS ADHVC
CATECVMINVS
Martin divides (his
cloak).
Martin still a
catechumen.
The source for the inscriptions is the
Vita sancti Martini by Sulpice Severus.
Martin was the bishop of Tours
ca. 370-1, and later retired to a monastery
in the Poitiers region.
Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 172-3
25 Cloister Story of St.
Martin
North Gallery; inscription
is on impost block. South
face shows the gates of
Amiens where Martin met
the destitute. Inscription is
on the impost block.
South on
impost
block
HAC ME VESTE :
CONTEXIT
Here with my cloak. He
protected
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 172-3
25 Cloister Story of St.
Martin
North Gallery; inscription
is on impost block. East
face shows Martin
resuscitating a young clerk
who has not received
baptism.
East;
impost
block
HIC MARTINVS :
ELECTVS
Here Martin elected
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 172-3
25 Cloister Story of St. North Gallery; inscription North on DEI PONTIFEX See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute

369

Cap. Loc.
Subject
matter
Description Face Inscription Reference C.I.F.M.pg. #
Martin is on impost block. North
face shows Christ
presenting Martin with a
cloak.
impost
block

Elected pontif of God
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 172-3
26 Cloister Birds West Gallery, eight birds
occupy the four faces of the
capital. The inscription
covers two faces.
AVES

Birds
Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 174
27 Cloister Daniel in
the Lions'
Den and
the
Announce
ment to the
Shepherds
West Gallery; inscriptions
identify the characters.
North face shows Daniel
thrown into the lions' den.
Two lions appear on the
corners of the capital.
North LEO LEO
DANIELE[M]
M[ISERUNT IN]
LACUM LEONIS
They threw Daniel into
the lions' den
Daniel in the lions' den is recounted in
Daniel 6:7-27. The announcement to the
shepherds is found in Luke 2:8-12.
Daniel is considered a prefiguration of
the Savior and the Resurrection. He is
also the last of the great prophets to
predict the birth of Christ (Daniel 9:24).
Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 175-6
27 Cloister Daniel in
the Lions'
Den and
the
Announce
ment to the
Shepherds
West Gallery; inscriptions
identify the characters.
South face shows the
Announcement to the
Shepherds. An angel
appears to the shepherds.
The shepherd is at the
center of the capital,
surrounded by a dog, an
ass, and two cows.
South ANGELI
PASTORES
ASI[NVS]
BOVES
Angels, shepherds, ass,
cows
See above. Vol. 8 Ariège, Haute
Garonne, Hautes-
Pyrénées, Tarn-et-
Garonne, 175-6
27 Cloister Daniel in
the Lions'
Den and
the
Announce
ment to the
Shepherds
West Gallery; inscriptions
identify the characters.
West face shows the
shepherd wi