The House at the Sign of the Rose

In rue de la Cathédrale in Poitiers there is a rather grand looking student residence at Number 49. It is popularly known as the Hôtel de l'enseigne de la Rose (the House at the Sign of the Rose). It has a plaque on one side of its grand gateway saying Joan of Arc stayed there in 1429. But in fact, it turns out that not only did she not stay there, as the building is not old enough, it is not even actually on the site of the building she did stay in. That's two doors up, and has a different plaque. 

 

Student residence, known as the  Hôtel de l'enseigne de la Rose, but not the building by that name, nor on the site, of where Joan of Arc stayed.

Joan had come to Poitiers to see the King, Charles VII. She was interrogated by a group of theologians, who established that her divine mission was legitimate. 

 

The building on the site of the original Hôtel de l'enseigne de la Rose, where Joan stayed.

The English and their Burgundian allies had taken control of Paris, so Poitiers had become one of the the capitals of the 'Kingdom of Bourges'. The Royal Parliament was operating from the current Courthouse. Joan (Fr. Jeanne d'Arc) stayed in the home of Jean Rabateau, President of the Parliament, for a month in March and April of 1429, before she went off to break the seige of Orléans. 

Not a Drinker

The other day I found what I first thought was a Drinker in the bank. That's a type of moth, not an alcoholic. It turns out it wasn't a drinker, but a Plum Lappet Moth, Odonestis pruni.

This is the Plum Lappet in the bank.

I photographed it then helped it outside.

The wing colour ranges between yellow and orange, with reddish and brownish markings. On each forewing, there is a distinct white dot in the centre, near which lie two darker bands. It's considered a bit of a pest, due to the larvae's consumption of various crops. In french it's known as La Feuille-morte du prunier.

Whereas....

The Drinker Euthrix potatoria (Fr. la Buveuse) is a nocturnal moth in the fabulously teddy bearish and furry Eggar moth family Lasiocampidae.

This male Drinker is from my archive, photographed in Essex in 2002, in our garden.

The curious name, the same in French and English, comes from the caterpillar's reputation for sipping the morning dew off leaves.

 

Male Drinker on Simon's hand, from my archive.

The species is present in the whole of Europe and as far as Japan. In France it can be seen everywhere except some of the Mediterranean habitats. The adults are in flight from June to August. Eggs are laid on the host grass species and the caterpillars emerge, grow a bit, then overwinter. They finish their growth in the spring then spin a yellow coccoon attached to a grass stalk.

 From the archives.

They like damp grassland and forests, heaths, woodland clearings and roadsides. The caterpillars eat sedges Carex sp and grasses such as Cock's-foot Dactyla glomerata, Couch grass Elymus repens and Barren Brome Bromus sterilus.

You can see why I was confused.

The Western Facade of Poitiers Cathedral

The facade sits recessed between two towers and dates from the middle of the 13th century. The main features are a 9 metre wide central rose window and three great doors set into gables. The style is Northern Gothic. The rose window resembles that of the south transept of Notre-Dame de Paris.

 

 Western facade of the Cathedral.

Over the central door is depicted the Last Judgement carved in three rows. The dead are rising from their tombs in a mass movement. Saint Michael, sword in hand, separates the damned, who are thrown into the monsterous jaws of Leviathan. Christ the Judge shows his wounds. Kneeling at his sides are the Virgin and Saint John as well as angels displaying the instruments of the Passion. Characters from the Old and New Testaments are carved around the mouldings. 

 

 Central door.

The left door is similar, but with two rows, depicting Mourning the Virgin and the Coronation of the Virgin. The characters who crowd around Mary, attending her deathbed at the moment of the Assumption, are remarkable for the elegance of the their silhouettes, by the depth of carving and fluidity of their drapes, and by the dignity of their poses. Above, Christ blesses his mother, crowned by angels. Taking their place in the mouldings are saints and clerics. 

 

 Left hand door.

 

The tympanum of the door on the right is dedicated to Saint Thomas. This choice of theme is rare in Gothic sculpture. If the scene of the incredulity of the Apostle is traditional, the iconography of the upper register uses the version of the story told by Jacques de Voragine in the Legende Dorée (the Gilded Legend) involving the celestial apparition of a palace which the Apostle must construct for an Indian king. You can make out a building in the form of a tabernacle above the scene showing Saint Thomas preaching, baptising and distributing alms. This scene shows that the real palace is spiritual and not material. In the mouldings are the figures of angels, saints armed as knights, as well as the parable of the Wise Virgins and the Foolish Virgins.

 

Right hand door.

Executed around 1250 by one or several workshops, certainly including those who worked at Charroux, the collection of sculptures around the great doors of Poitiers Cathedral rival those of Paris, Bourges and Reims.

The level above the tympanums is dominated by a great rose window.

The gallery and the gable above that were added in the neo-gothic style in the 19th century.

The Mystery Revealed

 What, we asked on Friday, is this object?  [link to be inserted]

Further rummaging around in the cupboard at the gîte revealed that the object had a twin, with an extra piece that explained all. 

It's a cruet set! The trilogy (triptych? triumvirate?) of little revolving bowls are for salt, pepper and mustard. No doubt you can pick them up at any broccante...

A Cut Glass Mystery

We were invited to apéros with the cousins of friends the other day. They were staying in the gîte that we had stayed in before our house was habitable. So it was intriguing to see how much the building has changed in 20 years, and with three successive owners. 

And there was another intrigue. In the kitchen cupboard the cousins had found a curious cut glass object. They brought it out and we discussed its possible purpose. Was it a bell that had lost its clapper? Turned the other way up, was it a specimen vase, of the sort that went in a wall bracket or even some models of old car? 

Eventually we figured it out, but you'll have to wait until Monday to see the answer. Please submit your guesses over the weekend in the comments or by email!

Fundraising Trunks

Many French churches have what they call 'un tronc' (a trunk). They are boxes with a slot so people can make donations in cash. It can be connected to lighting a candle and the money is often destined to be alms for the poor (generally managed by Caritas), or sometimes to cover expenses linked to the parish or the maintenance of the church. There will usually be a note somewhere saying what the funds collected are to be used for. Sometimes the collection box will be associated with a particular saint.

 

A typical 'tronc'. This one is in Poitiers Cathedral. It seems to be raising money for the Cathedral bookshop, but I don't know to what purpose the money will be put.

Because they are left for the public to access, without surveillance, they are vulnerable to theft. So they are often inserted into a wall or floor, and locked, with the key held by someone responsible in the church.

 

One of my clients hammering a tack into the trunk in Loches.

In some churches the trunk is a literal tree trunk and those who wish to give 'buy' a tack and hammer it in (in lieu of buying a candle). This had a resurgence in 2010 when a priest in Dordogne revived the practice, but Saint Ours in Loches is one of only two churches to have an 'original' trunk, dating from the 1960s.

 

The porch of Saint Ours in Loches, with the 'tronc' on the left.

I read an account of a man convicted in the 19th century of robbing a 'tronc'. Apparently he used a 'baguette' smothered in glu* and poked it through the coin slot to laboriously pick up a few coins at a time. It took me a few seconds to realise that in French a 'baguette' can be a variety of long thin things, not necessarily a loaf of bread. So of course he was using a stick, but in the meantime, before I remembered, I'd laughed out loud at the image in my mind.

*Glu is the dreadful sticky concoction that is used to trap birds such as thrushes. Notoriously, holly bark is the source of glu. The bark is left to ferment in spring water and after some manipulation a greenish water resistant paste is produced. This is mixed with poultry fat, vinegar, oil, and turpentine, boiled whilst stirring and when ready spread on fruit trees.