We hosted a dinner last night. The menu was ersatz Japanese – California rolls, classic Benihana steakhouse salad, braised daikon and lotus root, Yakinuki pork belly charcoal-grilled at the table on our indoor BBQ – all prepared by my family, and all for my birthday. For the cake, my eldest daughter and one of my best friends made a
Bravo, Chris, for getting medieval stained glass into the picture. But you're a hundred years out in your dating of the Good Samaritan window at Chartres, which was made in the early 13th century, c.1205-15. And if the window was donated by prostitutes, congratulations - you are the first to have suggested it! It wouldn't however, have been a guild of prostitutes, since guilds were civic institutions, and Chartres didn't have a civic charter until the end of the 13th century. Coincidentally, around the end of the 12th century or beginning of the 13th, the prostitutes of Paris offered a stained glass window for the cathedral of your fair city, but the bishop at the time, Maurice de Sully I believe, turned them down. This was right around the time that the monastery of Saint-Antoine-des-Champs was founded, just outside the walls of Paris (just east of the Bastille on the present-day rue Saint-Antoine), by the popular preacher, Foulque de Neuilly, as a refuge for repentant prostitutes. Obviously, it didn't work.
wonderful evocation of the neighbourhood...I can picture it all so clearly, especially thanks to your writing. happy birthday to you, (thinking of Kevin's too) Happy New Year to you and love to the gang.
Great juicy read and I took my time. ♥️♥️♥️
Bravo, Chris, for getting medieval stained glass into the picture. But you're a hundred years out in your dating of the Good Samaritan window at Chartres, which was made in the early 13th century, c.1205-15. And if the window was donated by prostitutes, congratulations - you are the first to have suggested it! It wouldn't however, have been a guild of prostitutes, since guilds were civic institutions, and Chartres didn't have a civic charter until the end of the 13th century. Coincidentally, around the end of the 12th century or beginning of the 13th, the prostitutes of Paris offered a stained glass window for the cathedral of your fair city, but the bishop at the time, Maurice de Sully I believe, turned them down. This was right around the time that the monastery of Saint-Antoine-des-Champs was founded, just outside the walls of Paris (just east of the Bastille on the present-day rue Saint-Antoine), by the popular preacher, Foulque de Neuilly, as a refuge for repentant prostitutes. Obviously, it didn't work.
Your correspondent in Winnipeg,
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wonderful evocation of the neighbourhood...I can picture it all so clearly, especially thanks to your writing. happy birthday to you, (thinking of Kevin's too) Happy New Year to you and love to the gang.
Interesting and thought-provoking as always, thanks Chris. And Happy Birthday.
Another vivid piece.
Many Happy Returns.And now the peace and quiet of deep winter.
Another eclectic gem to brighten a grey minus ten Montreal day...thanks much!