Classified as a historic monument, this very precious chest will soon be exhibited in Rouen
By Joe Hue
Published on
“We are very happy to have it! » Nicolas Hatotheritage curator, in charge of the medieval and Renaissance collections of the antiquities museumlooking forward to exhibiting The Mortain chrismalwhich will be one of the centerpieces of the future exhibition ” The normands. Migrants. Conquerors. Innovators » which will be held from April 14 to August 13 2022, at Rouen (Seine Maritime).
Francisation of Medieval Latin Normannus we northmanncoming from the Anglo-Scandinavian and meaning “man of the North”, the word “Norman” was initially used to designate viking pirates invading the Frankish Empire. And these “assimilated Vikings” were great travellers, passing cheerfully “overseas”: “From Scandinavia to the Mediterranean basin, from the Byzantine and Muslim East to the Levant, they had contacts all over the world. »
The chrism of Mortain (Manche) is a casket 13 centimeters long, five centimeters wide and 11.5 centimeters high, in the shape of a house, made of beech wood covered with strips of gilded copper. It is decorated on one of the two sides with a Christ framed by the archangels michael and Gabrielle. On the other side, an inscription in runic characters: “May God help Eada, he made this Krismaal. ” Class monumentits origin dates back to End of VIIe century. It would have been brought from England in the XIe century by the half-brother of William the Conqueror. Robert of Mortain founded the college Saint-Evroult de Mortain where the millennial object is usually kept.
An aesthetic from both sides of the English Channel
Here, the treasure is the chest. A container that contained hosts, relics? In any case, “this little box was used to transport something precious“, says Nicolas Hatot. If it has its place in the exhibition, it is because it is the product of “Anglo-Saxon civilization between the end of romanity and the time of the dukes of normandy, contemporary with the Merovingians and the Carolingians”. Found on the continent, it is “proof of the anteriority of the exchanges between the British Isles and the Normans before the conquest (or the invasion, it depends on the point of view) of England by William the Conqueror in 1066. We do not wait for the Crusades to exchange”. So much so that we talk about the “channel style”, a common aesthetic on both sides of the Channel.
The exhibition shows a medieval world pre globalized with many cultural exchanges. And many objects come from further than this chrismal. The international nature of the subject of the exhibition involves lenders who are also international. This is
therefore also from Germany, Denmark, Italy, the Vatican, Norway, the United Kingdom and Sweden that will be gathered on 625 meters2 (125m2 to the Antiquities Museum and 500 m2 at the Museum of Fine Arts) approximately 350 objects.
Documents, reliquaries, illuminations, ivories, weapons, objects of domestic life and trade “which oscillate between Christianity and paganism” will be exhibited for a “real journey” of VIIIe until the XIIIe century.
The Lambeth Bible leaves London for the first time
If the chrism is one of the oldest piecesyou can admire many other historical marvels: the lambeth bible who leaves for the first time London ; the bible ‹‹ byzantine ›› of San Daniele del Friuli in Italy ; the remains of the heart Richard Lion’s Heart with the casket crowned with Roger II, King of Sicilylent by the treasury of the basilica Saint Nicholas of Bari in Italy ; a chess piece in walrus ivory from the figurines of Lewis dating from the twelfthe century in Scotland for example.
And then a full digitization of Bayeux embroidery will be presented. Because it is “an embroidery, embroidered, and not woven like a tapestry! »
Practical information :
The exhibition “The Normans. Migrants. Conquerors. Innovators” will take place from April 14 to August 13, 2022, at the Antiquities Museum, 198 Rue Beauvoisine, in Rouen.
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