The Crusades: In an Illuminated Medieval Work of Art from the Famed French Illustrator Perrin Remiet, France Transfers Power to King Louis VII, Who Would Lead the 2nd Crusade and Reach Jerusalem

“There [in Paris] the ancients desired to make their assemblies and their parliaments, to treat the ordinance of the realm and of the church, just as they were found in the ancient histories.”

The 12th [chapter speaks about] how the Emperor Conrad came to Jerusalem visiting the holy sepulchres and the holy places. The 13th [chapter speaks about] how the King of France came to Jerusalem. The 14th [chapter] speaks about the great Parlement which was made in the city of Jerusalem and of the names of the great lords. The 15th [chapter speaks about] how the Christians sieged the city of Damascus. The 16th [chapter speaks about] how the Christians took the gardens of Damascus.

Medieval documents relating in any way to the Crusades are rarities, this being our first ever in our over four decades in this field.

For nearly the entire 12th century, King Louis VI and his son Louis VII ruled France, presiding over a strengthening monarchy but also one at war with its neighbor England. Louis VI did manage to marry his son off to Eleanor of Aquitaine, which increased his land, but he died just months later. His son sat on the throne for a full generation, founding the University of Paris and beginning work on Notre Dame Cathedral.

The 2nd Crusade:
Louis VII’s reign was famed for another monumental undertaking, the Second Crusade, the first to be led by European Kings. Louis and Conrad of Germany and the remnants of their armies reached Jerusalem and participated in 1148 in the noted attack on Damascus. The crusade in the east was unsuccessful for the crusaders and a victory for the Muslims. It would ultimately have a key influence on the fall of Jerusalem and give rise to the Third Crusade at the end of the 12th century.

The Crusades were a watershed in world history. They brought Europe for the first time into close contact with the Muslim world, the Eastern Christian (Byzantine) world, and indirectly with the Far East, thus exposing Western Europeans to the advances in literature, medicine, mathematics, and science being made in those places. The Crusades also brought together Western European Christians of numerous nations, spreading and mixing their various cultures. All of this changed the face of Europe, and as can be seen by contrasting the Europe of 1100 to that of the post-Crusades 15th century age of exploration. and had the same effect with contacts they made with

The Great Chronicles of France
The Grandes Chroniques de France is a manuscript book begun in 1270 that chronicles the history of France from the mythic Trojan period to the reign of the then-current King Charles V in the 14th century. Originally in Latin and written by the monks of Saint Denis, this vernacular translation became a very important touchstone for medieval French culture, and it was a status symbol to own such a luxurious book. As a piece of literature, at this time period in France’s history, it gave legitimacy to the expanding French empire and the power of her monarchy through chronicling the proud and often-bloody history of France.

Among the most striking elements of these books were the ornate illustrations, paintings to demonstrate visually the events taking place.

The Great Illuminator, Perrin Remiet

Occasionally, scribes wrote their name at the end of their work to claim it. This is called a colophon and they are precious to understanding the life of a medieval manuscript. However, there is a general absence of illuminators and illustrators signing their works. So, to that end we have nearly anonymous medieval Master illuminators, named after their works, their patrons, their locations, their notable styles, but not named with their own name.

How do we know the name of an artist who illustrated for high status patrons? Michael Camille, the art historian, revived this man’s story from the shadows of history, explaining that we know Remiet “not because of something he painted but because of something he did not paint.” In the margins of a manuscript housed in Paris’ Bibliothèque Nationale de France is the short set of instructions in French directed at our artist: “Remiet, make nothing here because I will make a figure which should be there.”

Born into the Black Plague

Thanks to the research of Michael Camille, we have a vivid picture of Perrin Remiet’s life in Paris at the end of the 14th century. Remiet was likely born as the first wave of the Black Plague washed its pestilence upon Paris in 1348, reducing the city’s population by a third. We can be even more certain that our artist began as an apprentice to the Boqueteaux Master, the Master of the Little Trees, known for his distinct arboreal style. After having become an illustrator in his own right, Remiet had a “house on the Rue de la Parcheminerie,” looking on to the “Rue Erembourth de Brie,” where other illuminators lived and worked alongside him. Likely, Remiet had his workshop on the ground floor and the tax records from 1428 indicate that he and his family lived above the shop. The location of his shop puts him right in the heart of the manuscript manufacturing trade in Paris, as well as the University. Remiet is listed among the “servants of the university of Paris,” a responsibility bestowed by King Charles V on 5 November 1368, along with several other illuminators, book-sellers, scribes, book-binders, and parchment-makers.

Books had become objects of art and art became collectable. This construct is apparent based on the collections of Charles V, Louis I d’Anjou and Jean de Berry, the latter of whom is well known for his richly illuminated manuscripts. This collecting habit was driven by socio-political reasons: the wealthy and powerful men in France were using their wealth and power to draw in important cultural works to bolster France’s status. As Camille explains, “Remiet’s commissions all seem to have been directed towards the upper stratum of the aristocracy.”

The medieval concept of Fortune is depicted as a wheel to remind the viewer that even when they are at the very top of the wheel, at some point, they will inevitably fall. Remiet, the illustrator, suffered a loss of vision, which becomes evident in his work. By 1440, his house, once central to the hustle and bustle of medieval Paris, is listed as empty and ruined, abandoned by Remiet’s heirs.

Camille notes the importance of these works, which exist, among other places in the:
London, British Library, Add. MS 21143
London, British Library, Add. 15269
Lyons, Bibliothèque Municipale, MS 880
Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, MS 5223
Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, MS fr. 2813
Paris, Bibliothèque Sainte-Genviève, Ms. 783
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Ms. Fr. 2616-2617
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Ms. Fr. 2606
Paris, Jena, Thüringer Universitäts-und Landesbibliothek Jena, Ms. Gallica, fol. 87

The Illuminator’s style

Remiet’s style is evident. The text would have already been present, as would the ruling, or frame, for his illustration. The landscape in Remiet’s work tends to, but does not exclusively, incorporate a curve, rather than a straight horizontal line, with the figures occupying approximately two-thirds of the height of the miniature. The characteristic gauntness of Remiet’s figures can be seen particularly well in cheeks of the King and his retinue in the bifolium of Louis returning to Paris from Aquitaine.

Illuminated manuscript and historical account, 2 folios, double sided, approximately 8 x 5.5 inches, no date but very early 1400s, illuminated in the hand of Remiet himself; Set at the death of King Louis the Fat (VII) in 1137, explaining the political tensions between England and France at this moment in history. England lacks a rightful, true-born heir, as does the Holy Roman Empire, since Henry V has died childless. On Louis’ death, they bury him, and his son takes over, and the manuscript lists many of the events during his reign, including the Second Crusade.

… From Orléans he [Louis VI] went to Paris, which is the royal seat, because here the ancients desired to make their assemblies and their parliaments, to treat the ordinance of the realm and of the church, just as they were found in the ancient histories. And this new king did it in this way, which the time and his new age required. All the realm was well paid for their having such a long-standing, good lord, the good king Louis the Fat, and such as the noblemen would sustain and nourish, and the evil felons would cut down and destroy, and of such they had, the most great joy and the most grand delight of having this rightful heir, for the realm to govern of this peace and honor brought by them, when he saw the empire of Rome and the realm of England which for lack of rightful heir had received much great sorrow and much great disturbance and which was right then dethroned of their noble state at that time. For the truth was that after the death of the Emperor Henry, who died without heirs, came a great contest of the great court which was held at Mainz, where he had, just as in the testimony, nearly 60 thousand knights…

“… it was neither right nor custom to move nor to weed the Kings nor the Emperors of there where they place the sepulchre. After this they tried out of the curiosity of all, where he had much coveted to be put, just as they had many times heard these words: If they are very careful that this place was encumbered by any king or any high prince but of those who searched, found as many empty places, neither more nor less befitting, as it would have been properly done for him. Here was he put and interred obediently, where he waits the Communal Company of the Resurrection of the Saints.

“And so much nearer is the spirit in the company of the saints as he was near the saints and martyrs being on earth waiting to have their aid such that the soul devotes by merit to the saints, able to be in the enduring Joy by the merit and the passion of Jesus Christ who was put in his life and his body in the passion of the Cross for the salvation of age, and who lives and reigns without end for all ages of ages.

“Here ends the History of Charles the Fat. Here begins the chapters about King Louis, son of the King Louis the Fat.

“… The 7th [chapter] speaks about how the King of France comforted the Emperor after his destruction. The 8th [chapter speaks about] how the King of France and the French fought the Turks and destroyed them. The 9th [chapter speaks about] how the Turks destroyed the French. The 10th [chapter speaks about] how the King Louis escaped his great destruction. The 11th [chapter speaks about] how the King Louis came to Antioch and how he was received honourably and how he left Antioch. The 12th [chapter speaks about] how the Emperor Conrad came to Jerusalem visiting the holy sepulchres and the holy places. The 13th [chapter speaks about] how the King of France came to Jerusalem. The 14th [chapter] speaks about the great Parlement which was made in the city of Jerusalem and of the names of the great lords. The 15th [chapter speaks about] how the Christians sieged the city of Damascus. The 16th [chapter speaks about] how the Christians took the gardens of Damascus. The 17th [chapter] speaks about how the Turks were destroyed before the city of Damascus. The 18th [chapter speaks about] how the Christians were betrayed before Damascus…

“This speaks of the beginning of good King Louis, and how he returned from Aquitaine to Paris when he heard the news of the death of King Louis the Fat, his father. First Chapter.

“From now on, since we are acquitted to leave in French the life and the doings of the good King Louis the Fat, who has suffered such pain in his living and his times and so many battles he made against his enemies, and so hard he suffered to defend his reign, if we are content to continue to hear the doings of his son, Louis…”

Other information

PERRIN RÉMIET (FL.1386-1428)
Louis VII returns to Paris from Aquitaine, miniature cut from a Grandes chroniques de France.  France [Paris, c.1400-1410]. Miniature: 75 x 90mm on a cutting: 195 x 357 mm, depicting Louis VII ‘le Jeune’ returning to Paris from Aquitaine on horseback, the miniature above a five-line illuminated initial with extended border flourishing, two columns of text (central vertical crease and prickings evident where previously used as a wrapper, the miniature in very good condition). 75 x 90 mm illumination on 255 x 190mm support, 180 x 95 mm text block with 5-line initial at 30 x 25mm. Illumination depicting the return of Louis VII to Paris from Aquitaine on horseback with retinue on diapered blue and gold background. Three-level ruled framing in gold, blue, and white around miniature. Gold shell on 5-line initial D, with intricate penwork with in the bowl and extended border flourishing with blue and shell gold; single 1-line initial. Single column of text on each folia. 5 central prickings evident of sewing stations in centre. Dry point ruled. Gothic bâtarde script with minimal abbreviations. Text in Middle French. Four full lines of rubrication indicating chapter beginning. Text slightly trimmed along the top, bottom slightly trimmed. Provenance: Acquired from a Belgian private collection in 1999, and from thence to us in 2022.