The Placement of Stained Glass in Relation to the Architecture of the Canterbury and Chartres Cathedrals
Kelsey Jamison
Professor Mark Johnson
ARTHC 316: Medieval Art and Architecture
March 24, 2011

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Stained glass has long been admired by historians and tourists alike. Beginning in the
Middle Ages, glass has been examined as a work of art and as a mechanism for teaching literate and illiterate members of society. Stained glass also has proven to be more important than just as a way of teaching the illiterate about the gospel. Further, stained glass has a symbolic connection to the architecture of the church– its placement also reflects meaning.
According to art historian Emile Mâle, there is a pattern to the placement of the program within the architectural framework of a chapel, which correlates to the meanings behind the architecture in a medieval chapel. Madeline Harrison Caviness and Gerald Guest, art historians and researchers, found these patterns in the Canterbury and Chartres Cathedrals, which cathedrals will be the primary focuses of the present architectural symbolism analysis.
This study will demonstrate that these stained glass programs of Canterbury and Chartres were placed in significant, and not arbitrary, places and that in considering these placements, a better understanding of the symbolic connection between the glass and in the chapel’s architecture will be achieved.
The Canterbury Cathedral and the Chartres Cathedral each have some unique characteristics that make them an important asset to this study. First, the Canterbury
Cathedral’s programs are unique as a result of being a part of a monastery. The first unique characteristic was the lack of sculpture in Canterbury, as opposed to many other churches, including Chartres. Because there was no sculpture, stained glass became the dominate artistic focus of the building.
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Another unique characteristic of this cathedral’s programs was that the programs all run book-style from top to bottom, left to right.
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This style of being patterned after books catered to the monks, who were literate and read in this book pattern.
Most of the other programs, such as those in Chartres, Sens, Bourges and Laon, read from

bottom to top. This is most likely because the more illiterate patrons would view the windows from the moment that their eyes were attracted to the glass (near the bottom), and
2 would then raise their heads to continue viewing the program. Additionally, the Canterbury
Cathedral has incurred much less damage over time, and is more complete than many other cathedrals. Most others have lost parts of their programs, which have made them more difficult to study, especially considering the required accuracy of the glass placement for this study.
While the Canterbury Cathedral is the primary focus of this study, the Chartres
Cathedral also provides great support and contrast for the connections that are drawn from the Canterbury programs. The two cathedrals were designed in a similar style at about the same time, in two different countries. The Chartres Cathedral was designed in the twelfth century for the royal family with the intention to teach them more about God and how to return to him. This is obviously counter to Canterbury being designed for monks who knew how to follow God. Chartres Cathedral also to provided a distraction from the worldly influences for the royals. They believed that the world was an exile from God, and that focusing on the church would help them return to him and not be stuck in this exile.
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The most talked-about program in Chartres, the Prodigal Son, was also designed to help the patrons see that the world was an exile, as the program only focused on the negative aspects, or the decline, of the son’s life.
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According to Caviness and Mâle, the architecture of these two cathedrals influenced the placement of the programs,. Mâle first studied the symbolism of the church walls in his
1908 book, Religious Art in France , mentioning that each of the walls of the church held particular significance. He states that the north wall was known as the cold region, and was

the symbol for the Old Law. As such, it was the place for the patriarchs and the prophets,
3 and the Old Testament subjects.
5 The south wall, being opposite of the northern Old Law, was the symbol of ardent charity and the Law of Love. The apostles, saints, and New
Testament references were all placed on the southern wall.
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This wall was the wall of light, and was symbolic of Christ
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.
In the Canterbury Cathedral, the north wall holds almost all of the Old Testament references, and the south holds the New Testament. The exception is in the Tree of Jesse program. Because this program contains the lineage of Christ, it fits better on the east wall, which focuses on Christological works. In the Chartres Cathedral, the popular scene of the
Prodigal Son is placed in the north transept. Guest, in his article on the piece on the Prodigal
Son, states that there was likely a reason for placing it there
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. He adds that the most significant meaning is in the structure of the program, because it leads from and to home 9 , which reinforces the idea of teaching the people about the ability to return to God. The arrangement of the portal sculptures in Chartres also have symbolism. Mâle states that those statues form a perfectly coherent system of ideas, and nothing like them are found from the fourteenth century on.
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In the Canterbury Cathedral, this coherent use of symbolism is still found. One of the most striking uses is the contrast of dark and light on the north and south walls, which shows the contrast between the scene of the Creation of Adam and the scene of the Virgin and
Child. Not only are these scenes on opposite walls in the cathedral, but they are in windows opposite each other, and show the beginning and ending of a series. Caviness states that the
“series thus began with Adam on the side of darkness, and ended with Christ on the side of light.” 11
This dark-to-light symbolism is important, as it also discusses how many Christians

felt about those biblical times. The Christian people felt that the Old Testament and the Old
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Law that had passed away, and was the darker times. The New Testament was the focus of the Catholic church, both because of the introduction of the New Law and eucharis, and because of the promise of salvation that was seen in Christ, Mary, and the various saints.
Additional uses of this symbolism are found in the clerestory windows of the Canterbury
Cathedral. Moses and Synagogue, surrounded by four Virtues and four Prophets, are situated on the north side, which are juxtaposed with Christ and Ecclesia and the surrounding four
Evangelists on the south side of the church
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. As the evidence shows, there is a connection of where the standard of placement is for these north and south walls. Not only do these programs and portraits teach about gospel subject, but the amount of light on the side of the church and their juxtaposition with each other would influence how a patron viewed and felt about the particular scene.
The east windows of the churches are given the greatest importance, both in the orientation of the church, and in the placement of the programs within these walls. The churches of the time were oriented from east to west, but the viewer did not necessarily have to read them in that order. The east wall in Canterbury is where the scenes of the Tree of
Jesse, Becket’s Crown, other genealogical medallions, the Ascension, the Passion, and the
Pentecost were placed. The wall also had scenes such as the Crucifixion or the Redemption placed there. With the high concentration of the most important Christian scenes, it makes sense that Caviness describes those famous east walls as having “the greatest importance.”
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Interestingly enough, she also mentions that occasionally the west wall would hold the Last
Judgment, 14 because it is the wall that is on the side of the setting sun.
15 For the most part, however, the east walls held the Christological subjects.

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In the Canterbury Cathedral, the pattern of Christological subjects dominates the east windows. It is in the east wall where the viewer finds the Tree of Jesse and the genealogical figures. The Tree of Jesse is the program that shows the lineage of Christ, and is the only program in the Cathedral arranged from bottom to top, but because genealogical scenes can be read either direction, it is not necessarily out of the pattern of the church. The Tree of
Jesse acts as a reminder to the patrons that humanity has long been preparing for the coming of Christ 16 . This idea of prior preparation lends itself well to the other ideas that wrap with the Tree of Jesse in the east window: Becket’s Crown and the scenes from the life of Christ.
The Becket’s Crown features twenty-four medallions that show the miracles and lives of the saints that performed them. It is placed near the Tree of Jesse because the
Becket’s Crown figures are seen as Christ’s spiritual descendents 17
, just as the Tree of Jesse featured his literal ancestors. This arrangement causes an interesting spiritual and physical juxtaposition within a single wall. This arrangement at Canterbury is similar to the one in
Chartres 18 , with the physical and spiritual juxtaposition.
The Becket’s Crown and Tree of Jesse programs are on the same Christological east wall as the Passion, Ascension, Pentecost and Christ in Majesty scenes
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in the Canterbury and Chartres Cathedrals. The scenes from the life of Christ- Passion, Ascension, Pentecost, and Christ in Majesty – serve to remind the viewer of the reason Christ is celebrated, the reason for the church and its services, and the reason for the preparatory acts. In the
Canterbury Cathedral, these scenes from the life of Christ are shown with other scenes and figures from the Old Testament in the medallions. Some of these types in the medallions include the Sacrifice of the Passover, Moses striking the rock in the desert, and the Sacrifice

of Isaac. These Old Testament scenes were intentionally mixed in with scenes from Christ’s
6 life, because of their ability to teach as types and antitypes to Christ.
20,21
The placement of these three types of scenes together on the Christological east wall helps the viewer to connect these scenes into their place in Christian chronology. The viewer connects in the programs’ importance into the three periods: the Tree of Jesse as the preparatory period of Christ’s ancestors, the scenes from the actual life of Christ, and the
Becket’s Crown, which feature Christ’s spiritual descendants. These east window programs are the most important in the church, because of the things that they teach about Christ and his life. This east wall, especially in the Canterbury and Chartres Cathedrals, uses its symbolic importance to the fullest.
The Last Judgment, in the Canterbury and Chartres Cathedrals, is also on the
Christological east wall. In the Canterbury, the Last Judgment is placed in a very logical location – next to the Redemption. As Canterbury’s logic shows, it does make sense to be able to have the entirety of Christ’s acts in the same spot, because it teaches about life after death. The Last Judgment placed just above the Redemption scene teaches that the Last
Judgment is the more important scene, but that it is allowed to happen because of the
Redemption.
It is interesting to note that the Last Judgment does not always have its place on the east wall, as mentioned previously. In discussing this phenomenon, both Mâle and Caviness speculate as to why it might be moved. Mâle hypothesizes that it is placed there on the west wall “perhaps [because of] the etymological association of occidere and occidens
.” 22
This is a possibility, as is Caviness’s hypothesis. She mentions that the west wall may hold the Last

Judgment,
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because it is the wall on the side of the setting sun
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. This present study agrees
7 that symbolically, it makes sense that Last Judgment would be on the west wall. In the symbolic sense, the setting sun represents the close of a person’s life. At death, this person is now faced with the Judgment, just like the earth must be faced with the darkness of night.
The individuals participating in the Judgment hope to escape the darkness, but they do not know which way they will be judged. This program’s placement, however, does change from church to church. But, when the artist chooses to use the west wall for the Last
Judgment, it makes symbolic sense to place it there, despite the fact that it is going again the placement of the rest of the Christological subjects.
As clearly demonstrated, placement of the stained glass programs within the
Canterbury and Chartres Cathedrals do, in fact, play into the significance of the walls of the cathedrals. Caviness, in paraphrasing Mâle, stated that
“the south side of the building was often reserved for New Testament subjects, being flooded with light, whereas the north was usually reserved for
Old Testament figures. The east windows were given greatest importance, generally containing Christological subject, such as the Crucifixion or
Redemption, and the west occasionally had a Last Judgment…” 25
After looking at these two cathedrals, this present study would also promote that this generalization proved to be correct.
Caviness does note, however, that exceptions to these generalizations were common.
Exceptions were a common factor in the medieval period, because of the movement of peoples and the constant flux of stylistic changes throughout the continent. There were also

few solid rules on how to build and decorate a church, because of the various ruling bodies
8 at the time, and because of the various ruling divisions throughout Europe. This constant movement and experimentation in churches would cause there to be a wide variation among similar types of buildings with similar types of decoration. Caviness also notes that these changes were a result of adjustments for a specific structure, in placement and in function.
This was seen to be true by the artist of the Canterbury Cathedral when they chose to paint the glass top to bottom instead of bottom to top. This idea of glazing the programs in a different pattern than normal was experimental, like many changes in the period, but it was designed to make viewing the programs more logical for the individuals using it. In the
Chartres Cathedral, because there was not this issue of complete literacy, the artisans created the programs in the usual way that the royalty would be used to, rather than experimenting.
Although it was common to have exceptions to these rules, it can still be argued that the Canterbury Cathedral is the best example to use to judge the relationship of program placement and architecture. Because the Canterbury Cathedral has the most complete surviving program, it still is the best example of the typical pattern of program placement within architecture
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. Additionally, because the programs have almost all of the original glass intact, it has been easy for restoration work to be done accurately. This has prevented restoration inaccuracies, which are somewhat common in other churches.
Throughout the study of the Canterbury and the Chartres Cathedrals’ glazing programs, it had been noted time and again that they match perfectly against the symbolism that was established in the walls of the period churches. The north wall contained the Old
Law and Old Testament subjects which juxtaposed with the south wall’s Law of Love, the new law, and the New Testament subjects. The east wall is not only the most important wall

for where it is located, but it also contains the life of the most important subject – Christ.
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Christ is why people attended worship services, and is why there was a need for churches at all. The west wall is the symbol of the setting sun, and often contains the Last Judgment, which also matches the symbolism of the walls themselves.
To conclude, the walls of the churches are significant, and so is the artwork that is placed on them. As Mâle says, “the thirteenth century believed the world to be a vast symbol, a kind of divine hieroglyphic.” 27 As the people viewed the world, so did they view their churches. Nothing happened in a church that was arbitrary – everything was symbolic.
As with everything, the glazing programs within these churches were not placed arbitrarily, and followed the symbolic meaning of the wall they were placed on.

1 (Caviness 1977, 102)
2 (Caviness 1977, 102)
3 (Guest 2006, 48, 53)
4 (Guest 2006, 47)
5 (Male 1986, 211)
6 (Male 1986, 211)
7 (Caviness 1977, 104)
8 (Guest 2006, 47)
9 (Guest 2006, 48)
10 (Male 1986, 211)
11 (Caviness 1977, 104)
12 (Caviness 1977, 104)
13 (Caviness 1977, 103)
14 (Caviness 1977, 103)
15 (Male 1986, 211)
16 (Arnold 1913, 102)
17 (Caviness 1977, 105)
18 (Arnold 1913, 72)
19 (Caviness 1977, 105)
20 (Arnold 1913, 73)
21 (Caviness 1977, 104)
22 (Caviness 1977, 103)
23 (Caviness 1977, 103)
24 (Male 1986, 211)
25 (Caviness 1977, 103)
26 (Caviness 1977, 103)
27 (Male 1986, 211)
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Clark, 1913.
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Guest, Gerald. "The Prodigals' Journey: Ideologies of Self and City in the Gothic
Catherdral." Speculum , 2006: 35-75.
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