Description
Mass of St Giles and an unidentified archbishop saint.
Charlemagne (bearded, crowned) kneels on the left, identified by the inscription KAROLVS, blessed by Giles (inscription EGIDIVS, with hanging lamps below). Giles, tonsured and robed as a priest, holds an inscribed scroll and stands behind an altar covered with a patterned altar-cloth, with a chalice and two candle-sticks on it.
According to the Life of St. Giles, Charlemagne had committed a sin too terrible to confess-- incest with his sister, resulting in the conception of Roland. At the mass celebrated by St. Giles, a scroll was brought from heaven by an angel on which the sin was written. Through the intercession of the saint the words were miraculously erased and the sin was remitted. This subject is also depicted in the Charlemagne Window in the choir.
On the right stands an unidentified archbishop saint (wearing a pallium), posed as though watching the event to his left.
Subject
Cathédrale de Chartres--Pictorial works.;Church decoration and ornament--France--Chartres--Pictorial works.;Church architecture--France--Chartres--Pictorial works.;Christian art and symbolism--France--Chartres--Medieval, 500-1500--Pictorial works.
