The Bishop’s Boundaries: Negotiating Authority in the Quatrefoils of the South Portal of Notre-Dame, Paris

Authors

• Elvira MIceli, University of OxfordFollow

Abstract

The historiated quatrefoils on the south portal of Paris Cathedral remain overlooked, even though they complete a renowned mid-thirteenth-century sculptural program. Contrary to their standing interpretation as depictions of student life, I argue that they address the legal prerogative of the local bishop, the doorway’s patron, and were installed at a time when this prerogative was scrutinized on multiple fronts. I also maintain that the relief set would have stimulated its most targeted viewers to reflect on both the nature of the bishop’s power and their roles in his order. Besides proposing that those viewers were his own administrators, this reading integrates the quatrefoils into the wider program of the portal, showing how they contribute to a rhetorically sophisticated defense of the episcopal hierarchy.

Recommended Citation

MIceli, Elvira () "The Bishop’s Boundaries: Negotiating Authority in the Quatrefoils of the South Portal of Notre-Dame, Paris," Studies in Iconography: Vol. 47, Article 6.
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/studies_in_iconography/vol47/iss1/6