Jean Le Mée Chartres
Cathedral Studies
The Chartres Labyrinth:
Astronomy and Easter Computus
The structure of the labyrinth in the Cathedral at
Chartres points to its possible and probable use for
astronomical demonstrations and calculations. The numbers
and geometry involved may clarify the fundamentals of
celestial mechanics from the geocentric viewpoint
consistent with twelfth century knowledge as well as the
performance of the computus for determining the date of
Easter and all moveable feasts of the liturgical year.
Using an algorithm based on Bede’s De temporum ratione
(The Reckoning of Time) real people or pawns may be moved
on the labyrinth itself, or on a small or imaginary
replica of it, to calculate the date of Easter. It might
have therefore been used as an educational tool at the
School of Chartres in the early thirteenth century for
teaching astronomy and mathematics besides the liturgical,
mnemotechical and spiritual usages that we will explore
elsewhere.
>>The Chartres
Labyrinth: Astronomy and Easter Computus
The Labyrinth at Chartres, the Malachy Prophecy,
and Benedict XVI
Arnold de Wion, a Benedictine and a native of Douai in
the French Flanders, published at Venice in 1595 a
panegyric of the most illustrious members of his order.
Commenting on St. Malachy, a 12th century Archbishop of
Armagh, Ireland, and a friend of St. Bernard of Clairvaux,
de Wion mentions a prophetic vision regarding “the
succession of the popes from the 12th-century until the
end of the world,” said to have occurred to Malachy.
There has been considerable controversy over the
authenticity of this prophecy in the more than four
hundred years of its publicly known existence. The
official opinion of the Vatican nowadays is a “cautious
denial” of its authenticity. Nevertheless, the prophecy is
intriguing and has held the interest of would-be sleuths
of various persuasions and intentions for centuries. The
approach of its possible resolution in time has, of
course, heightened its interest among the apocalyptic
fringe.
It is generally accepted among serious scholars, however,
that the prophecy is not Malachy’s in the twelfth century
but more likely from someone else in the sixteenth
century, when it emerges in public view. Some consider it
entirely spurious; some, prophetic in
part. Authentic or not, the
concordance between numbers found in, or deduced from, the
prophecy and those in the Chartres labyrinth show the
prophecy as having a numerological structure that
conforms, as that of the labyrinth, to the cycle of
Easter. The theme of Easter— tribulation, passion, death
and resurrection—reinforces the apocalyptic message of the
prophesized reign of Petrus Romanus, the
presumed last pope, while making it resonate to the strong
note of hope of Easter.
In any case, the quasi-unprecedented gesture of Benedict XVI, through its own numerical symbolism, throws in a new twist and would appear to add credence to the probability of the realization of the Prophecy, though it does not affect its attribution to Malachy or someone else.
>>The Labyrinth at Chartres, the Malachy Prophecy, and Benedict XVI
Templars in the Chartrain
So many stories and legends presented as historical truth have been told, and still are told, about the Templars and Chartres that it is important to try to assess within our period of interest—the twelfth and thirteenth centuries broadly defined—who they truly were and what influence, if any, they may have had in the region and, in particular, on the design and building of the cathedral as is often stated.
As the Oxford historian Christopher Tyerman warns, we have
to guard against the myth surrounding the Knights Templar
— “their popular elevation into a sinister, cultic, secret
society, guardians of ancient mysteries.” This is not to
deny, however, that, at times, tradition and legends may
conceal elements that may lead to useful insight. But the
essential is to stay clear of what another historian terms
the “parallel universe of Templarism.” The historical
fresco synthesized from the findings of academic
historians is colored and tragic enough without
“parallelistic” accretions — as is often said “reality
surpasses fiction.”
In the following we briefly examine the origin of the
order in the early twelfth century at the dawn of the
crusades, and look at its development until its
suppression in the early fourteenth century. We then
consider in more detail its presence in the region of
Chartres during its existence and what influence this
might have had relative to the cathedral.