'A' of Charlemagne

Last updated September 13, 2023

The 'A' of Charlemagne is a relic purportedly gifted to the Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy by the emperor Charlemagne himself. It is a gold and silver open triangle with ornate jewels on the arms. The base is stronger and serves more of a structural purpose rather than an aesthetic purpose. The piece served a greater purpose over time as the attraction to the church became more focused on visiting the relic that Charlemagne presented to the church rather than its original function of honoring Saint Faith. The church itself was a common destination of medieval pilgrimage, and the change in purpose for these pilgrimages became highly focused on visiting this relic and attracted a different audience than before.

Structure

The 'A' of Charlemagne is an open triangle made of wood that is varnished with silver-gilt. At the peak of the triangle is a circular piece that houses a large, polished gem on the frontal side. Below the gem sit two angels made by repoussé metal working. Both angels glance upwards toward the gem, and one angel holds an object perceived to be a lamp. The rear side of the gem is molded in a similar fashion to the angels.^[1] In the early 1950s, Jean Taralon disassembled the piece for cleaning purposes and made many discoveries about the history of the work. The wood was determined to be walnut but various sections of the "A" dated to two distinctly different time periods. He determined the base and gem to be much older, and, therefore, the arms of the piece were considered replacements on which the gems were carefully replaced.^[1]

The stark contrast between the architecture of the base and the attached arms of the piece is evident. With the exception of the angels, the base serves more of a practical purpose rather than contributing to the larger purpose of the work. The arms and the gem at the apex are more ornate and display the extravagance of Charlemagne's gift, which signifies its influence.^[1] Reliquaries are intended to house physical relics, but the "A" is unique in that its symbolic importance is more tightly linked to its political and economic power.^[2]

For images of the 'A', see the external links below.

Transforming the Abbey Church of Saint Faith

When the Abbey Church of Saint Faith declared that Charlemagne gifted to them the "A," the church also welcomed the authority of Charlemagne's name. A small church was legitimized by one proclamation in the beginning, but once Charlemagne was at the pinnacle of his power, the entire purpose of pilgrimages to the church changed.^[2] The relic became independent of Saint Faith and what the church was supposed to represent. Charlemagne's influence single-handedly accomplished this, and he was rewarded with a mutualistic relationship between himself and the church. The church honors this attachment, by placing him at the right hand of the Christ in its Last Judgement sculpture above the entrance.^[2]

The legend of how the "A" ended up at the Abbey Church of Saint Faith says that Charlemagne actually founded twenty-three churches, each of which were given a letter in the order by which they were founded. By this legend, the Abbey Church of Saint Faith was given the "A" and thus was the first church to be founded, but there is no way to be sure because not all of the twenty-three churches received letters.^[2] Another reason to question this theory of assigning prestige by a stunning, gold relic is that whether it appears to be an "A" is in the eye of the beholder because there is no crossbar of the "A."^[1] This calls for interpretation as to why the church touts this specific relic. The answer lies in what a relic of this importance would physically produce for the church.^[2] Medieval pilgrimages were important to the success of the church because pilgrims were often expected to make offerings to the saints at their respective churches. By having a relic that pilgrims desired to see, they are able to attract a new, larger audience.^[2]

Pilgrimages to the "A"

Pilgrimages in the medieval time period had an unspoken mutual agreement between the pilgrims and the churches or abbeys to which they visited. Pilgrims were expected to make offerings to the respective patron of each church or abbey, and in return, they received the benefits of spiritual guidance and miracles, as well as some type of physical safety.^[3] The "A" and many other reliquaries became sources of income for the churches. Although the money was ultimately used for practical up-keep and caring for the needs of pilgrims, it became important for the reliquaries to be upheld in the highest regard in order to keep a steady income flow.^[3] The prominence generated by the "A" heightened the major conflict between The Abbey Church at Conques and the nearby church, Figeac. They were known to be in constant conflict with one another and they often called to their reliquaries to lament their status upon each other.^[2] By having the "A," they could legitimize the belief that the reliquary is prestigious and impose this influence over pilgrims who would then become more likely to visit Conques, instead of Figeac.^[3]

Related Research Articles

In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains or personal effects of a saint or other person preserved for the purpose of veneration as a tangible memorial. Relics are an important aspect of some forms of Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, shamanism, and many other religions. Relic derives from the Latin reliquiae, meaning "remains", and a form of the Latin verb relinquere, to "leave behind, or abandon". A reliquary is a shrine that houses one or more religious relics.

Conques is a former commune in the Aveyron department in Southern France, in the Occitania region. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Conques-en-Rouergue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holy Prepuce</span> Purported product of the circumcision of Jesus

The Holy Prepuce, or Holy Foreskin, is one of several relics attributed to Jesus, a product of the circumcision of Jesus. At various points in history, a number of churches in Europe have claimed to possess Jesus's foreskin, sometimes at the same time. Various miraculous powers have been ascribed to it.

According to the New Testament, a woven crown of thorns was placed on the head of Jesus during the events leading up to his crucifixion. It was one of the instruments of the Passion, employed by Jesus' captors both to cause him pain and to mock his claim of authority. It is mentioned in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and John, and is often alluded to by the early Church Fathers, such as Clement of Alexandria, Origen and others, along with being referenced in the apocryphal Gospel of Peter.

A reliquary is a container for relics. A portable reliquary may be called a fereter, and a chapel in which it is housed a feretory.

Saint Faith or Saint Faith of Conques is a saint who is said to have been a girl or young woman of Agen in Aquitaine. Her legend recounts how she was arrested during persecution of Christians by the Roman Empire and refused to make pagan sacrifices even under torture. Saint Faith was tortured to death with a red-hot brazier. Her death is sometimes said to have occurred in the year 287 or 290, sometimes in the large-scale persecution under Diocletian beginning in 303. She is listed as "Sainte Foy, Virgin and martyr", in the martyrologies.

The Basilica of Saint Servatius is a Roman Catholic church dedicated to Saint Servatius, in the city of Maastricht, the Netherlands. The architecturally hybrid but mainly Romanesque church is situated next to the Gothic church of Saint John, backing onto the town's main square, Vrijthof.

Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne is a commune in the Corrèze department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, central France. Beaulieu is a medieval city, originally dominated by its great abbey of St Pierre, of which only the abbey church remains. On 1 January 2019, the former commune Brivezac was merged into Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne.

UNESCO designated the Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France as a World Heritage Site in December 1998. The routes pass through the following regions of France: Aquitaine, Auvergne, Basse-Normandie, Bourgogne, Centre, Champagne-Ardenne, Ile-de-France, Languedoc-Roussillon, Limousin, Midi-Pyrénées, Picardie, Poitou-Charentes, and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. UNESCO cites the routes' role in "religious and cultural exchange", the development of "specialized edifices" along the routes, and their "exceptional witness to the power and influence of Christian faith among people of all classes and countries in Europe during the Middle Ages".

The Basilica of St. Martin is a Roman Catholic basilica dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, over whose tomb it was built. It is located in Tours, France.

The Holy Thorn Reliquary was probably created in the 1390s in Paris for John, Duke of Berry, to house a relic of the Crown of Thorns. The reliquary was bequeathed to the British Museum in 1898 by Ferdinand de Rothschild as part of the Waddesdon Bequest. It is one of a small number of major goldsmiths' works or joyaux that survive from the extravagant world of the courts of the Valois royal family around 1400. It is made of gold, lavishly decorated with jewels and pearls, and uses the technique of enamelling en ronde bosse, or "in the round", which had been recently developed when the reliquary was made, to create a total of 28 three-dimensional figures, mostly in white enamel.

The Girdle of Thomas, Virgin's Girdle, Holy Belt, or Sacra Cintola in modern Italian, is a Christian relic in the form of a "girdle" or knotted textile cord used as a belt, that according to a medieval legend was dropped by the Virgin Mary from the sky to Saint Thomas the Apostle at or around the time of the Assumption of Mary to Heaven. The supposed original girdle is a relic belonging to Prato Cathedral in Tuscany, Italy and its veneration has been regarded as especially helpful for pregnant women. The story was frequently depicted in the art of Florence and the whole of Tuscany, and the keeping and display of the relic at Prato generated commissions for several important artists of the early Italian Renaissance. The Prato relic has outlasted several rivals in Catholic hands, and is the Catholic equivalent of the various relics held by Eastern Christianity: the Cincture of the Theotokos of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Holy Girdle of the Syriac Orthodox Church.

<i>Pilgrimage</i> (2017 film) 2017 film by Brendan Muldowney

Pilgrimage is a 2017 Irish medieval film directed by Brendan Muldowney, and starring Tom Holland, Richard Armitage and Jon Bernthal. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2017.

The Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy in Conques, France, was a popular stop for pilgrims traveling the Way of St. James to Santiago de Compostela, in what is now Spain. The main draw for medieval pilgrims at Conques were the remains of Sainte-Foy, a young woman martyred during the fourth century. The relics of Sainte-Foy arrived in Conques through theft in 866. After unsuccessful attempts to acquire the relics of Saint Vincent of Saragossa and then the relics of St. Vincent Pompejac in Agen, the abbey authorities set their sights on the relics of Sainte-Foy at the ancient St. Faith's Church, Sélestat. The Conques abbey opened a priory next to the shrine in Sélestat. A monk from Conques posed as a loyal monk in Agen for nearly a decade in order to get close enough to the relics to steal them. The abbey church is a listed monument since 1840.

The Blutritt is an equestrian procession in honor of a relic containing the blood of Jesus Christ. There are several cities in Germany holding Blutritte, however, the dates are not unified.

Liber miraculorum sancte Fidis, literally the "Book of the Miracles of Saint Faith", is an account of the miracles attributed to Saint Faith, the patron of the Abbey of Conques in the County of Rouergue in southern France. The Liber consists of four books in Latin, the first two of which were written by Bernard of Angers during and following his three pilgrimages to the shrine of Saint Faith in the 1010s and 1020s. The last two were written by three different anonymous authors.

The Pilgrimage of the Relics or Maastricht Septennial Pilgrimage is a seven-yearly Catholic event in the Dutch city of Maastricht. Originating in the Middle Ages, it developed from a pilgrimage to the grave of Saint Servatius into the present-day religious, historical, cultural and commercial enterprise. Highlights in the programme are the displaying or unveiling of the relics in the main churches and secondly, the processions with the town's main relics. The next pilgrimage will take place in 2025.

The Treasury of Saint-Denis, kept at the Basilica of Saint-Denis in Paris until the French Revolution, was the main repository of the regalia of the Kingdom of France, including the ancien régime portion of what are now known as the French Crown Jewels. Its surviving items are presently scattered between the Louvre, the Cabinet des Médailles of the French National Library, and other museums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">House-shaped shrine</span> Type of portable reliquary in the shape of a house

House-shaped shrine are early medieval portable metal reliquary formed in the shape of the roof of a rectangular building. They originate from both Ireland and Scotland and mostly date from the 8th or 9th centuries. Typical example consist of a wooden core covered with silver and copper alloy plates, and were built to hold relics of saints or martyrs from the early Church era; a number held corporeal remains when found in the modern period, presumably they were parts of the saint's body. Others, including the Breac Maodhóg, held manuscripts associated with the commemorated saint. Like many Insular shrines, they were heavily reworked and embellished in the centuries following their initial construction, often with metal adornments or figures influenced by Romanesque sculpture.

Furta sacra refers to the medieval Christian practice of stealing saints' relics and moving them to a new shrine. Trade in and thefts of relics led to the creation of a new genre of hagiography that aimed to legitimize the actions that brought relics to their new homes; in these writings, the translation of the relics is often portrayed as morally necessary, or even requested directly by God. Sometimes, hagiographers would try to downplay the theft, but in general it was believed that a relic could not be stolen without the permission of the saint; a successful theft thus indicated saintly approval of the action. Saints Marcellinus and Peter are a famous example. Saint Faith is another. A monk from Conques brought her relics to the Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy after spending ten years undercover as a secular priest in Agen, where her relics had previously been housed.

References

1 2 3 4 Cahn, Walter (2006). "Observations on the "A of Charlemagne" in Treasure of the Abbey of Conques". Gesta. 45 (2): 95–100. doi:10.2307/25067134. JSTOR 25067134. S2CID 192836127.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Remensnyder, Amy (1996). "Legendary Treasure at Conques: Reliquaries and Imaginative Memory". Speculum. 71 (4): 884–901. doi:10.2307/2865723. JSTOR 2865723. S2CID 162605280.
1 2 3 Bell, Adrian; Dale, Richard (2011). "The Medieval Pilgrimage Business". Enterprise and Society. 12 (3): 602–624. doi:10.1017/S1467222700010235. S2CID 154006008 – via JSTOR.

External links

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[:0-1] 1 2 3 4 Cahn, Walter (2006). "Observations on the "A of Charlemagne" in Treasure of the Abbey of Conques". Gesta. 45 (2): 95–100. doi:10.2307/25067134. JSTOR 25067134. S2CID 192836127.

[:1-2] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Remensnyder, Amy (1996). "Legendary Treasure at Conques: Reliquaries and Imaginative Memory". Speculum. 71 (4): 884–901. doi:10.2307/2865723. JSTOR 2865723. S2CID 162605280.

[:2-3] 1 2 3 Bell, Adrian; Dale, Richard (2011). "The Medieval Pilgrimage Business". Enterprise and Society. 12 (3): 602–624. doi:10.1017/S1467222700010235. S2CID 154006008 – via JSTOR.

[1]

[2]

[3]