The Queen of Sicily and Gothic Stained Glass in Mussy and Tonnerre (review)

290 Short Notices of the century, the Alexandre decasyllabique, the Fuerre de Gadres, the Alexandre en Orient by Lambert le Tort, the Mort Alixandre, versions from the manuscripts in the Arsenal and Venice, the Roman de toute Chevalerie attributed to Thomas of Kent, the Venjance Alixandre of Jehan de Nevelon and the Roman d'Alexandre. H e identifies those parts of the book that have not already been exposed to critical analysis. Of those, the most useful part is Chapter Two, entitled 'La legende', which chronicles the historical events with a chronology of versions and a comparative table of episodes in the various versions. This is the section of the book most likely to be consulted by scholars wishing to place the texts in their hierarchy. The author situates these texts firmly in an epic tradition, rather than that of romance, and posits a late date for the Roman d'Alexandre, which he places after the appearance of most of Chretien's romances, at 1184-85. This implies that Chretien influenced the writer of the Roman d'Alexandre and not vice versa. Moreover, unlike the other three romances identified as the romans d'antiquite, the account of the life of Alexander is late to the romance tradition and is therefore likely to have been influenced by those which precede it. The font of the book is generous, and there are copious footnotes. A surprise is the format of the bibliography where the authors' names are given prominence on the left-hand margin, with the date of each publication below and the details of the title and place of publication. Margaret Burrell Department of French University of Canterbury Lillich, Meredith Parsons, The Queen of Sicily and Gothic Stained Gl Mussy and Tonnerre (Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 88, Part 3), Philadelphia, 1998; paper; pp. x, 131; 55 b/w illustrations; R.R.P. US$20.00. There is always a suspenseful quality to Meredith Parsons Lillich's writing, as she presents her artistic research in the manner of an investigation, resembling a detective story. In this monograph she Short Notices 291 concentrates on two Gothic buildings, the church ofSaint-Pierre-es-Liens in Mussy-sur-Seine in southern Champagne, and the Hopital at Tonnerre some fifty kilometres south-west of Mussy The Hopital had been firmly dated to 1293-95 and the identity of its patron waS established. She was Marguerite de Bourgogne, Burgundian princess and Queen of Sicily through her marriage to Charles d'Anjou, brother of Saint Louis, and who retired from the world after the construction of the Hopital. Lillich argues persuasively that earlier attempts to identify a patron for Saint-Pierre in Mussy were unconvincing, and that Marguerite emerges as the most likely candidate from a study of the stylistic features which Mussy and Tonnerre have in common, in addition to the heraldic evidence which survives atMussy (the daisyborders ofmarguerites being the most significant). There is a wealth of fascinating detail about the various kinds of glass which survive (Lillich's area of specialisation), and over fifty illustrations which enable the reader to follow her argument very closely. Both buildings have been badly damaged over the centuries (less than thirty of the Tonnerre stained glass panels survive from approximately five hundred) and much of Lillich's argument rests on drawings and early photographs. Her reconstruction is painstaking and careful and each n e w detail genuinely exciting. Lillich concludes that Marguerite de Bourgogne, widowed in 1285, concentrated her attentions first at Mussy before conceiving the plans for the Hopital at Tonnerre, her last great project. The Mussy glass is in the brabantine style, named for Marie de Brabant, queen of Philippe le Hardi. She was also widowed in 1285 and was Marguerite de Bourgogne's first cousin and close friend. Lillich believes that the brabantine glass, which was still quite a n e w style in the late 1280s, is another strong indicator of the Queen of Sicily's patronage of Mussy. A n Appendix exposes the false attribution of the patronage of Mussy by the Jesuit Jacques Vignier (1603-1669) to his mythical crusading ancestor Gilles Vignier, and a second Appendix discusses two wooden...