#The Scourge of the Clergy by Sidney Painter

[ardenrosegarden]

Brother.

[ardenrosegarden]

Dame Alix would be for us merely a name on a few timestained charters, the nebulous progenitrix of a noble line of Breton dukes, had she not married a man who while he may well have been a fond husband and devoted father, was certainly an ambitious and arrogant baron. But some fortunate mixture of affection, piety, and pride moved Peter to enshrine his family where he, his wife, and his two elder children would shine forth in varied colors from the lancet windows of the south transept of the cathedral of Chartres to rejoice the eyes of countless generations. In the lower part of the central lancet glow Peter's arms-alternate squares of blue and gold which designated the house of Dreux quartered with ermines which were Peter's personal insignia. The two lancets to the right of the center are occupied by Peter and John, those to the left by Alix and Yolande. Peter, kneeling in prayer in an armorial surcoat, looks far from comfortable and prepared for instant flight from his pious environment. As the feelings of a Christian martyr must have been very similar to those of Peter in prayer, it would be useless to probe the mind of the artist for his model. Peter looks unhappy-but so do the saints above him. Alix, John, and Yolande with their attending saints seem far more content.

-Sidney Painter, The Scourge of the Clergy: Peter of Dreux, Duke of Brittany

[ardenrosegarden]

> Me and my son are summoned to the King of France

> I lie right to his face

> ???

> Profit