Champmol - Tombs of The Dukes

Tombs of The Dukes

The Valois dynasty of Burgundy had less than a century to run when the monastery was founded, and the number of tombs never approached that of their Capetian predecessors at Cîteaux - indeed there would hardly have been room in the choir of the church, where the monuments were. Only two monuments were ever erected, both in the same style with painted alabaster effigies with lions at their feet and angels with spread wings at their heads. Underneath the slab the effigies rested on, unpainted small (about 40 cm high) "pleurants" or mourners ("weepers" is the traditional English term) were set among Gothic tracery. These were described by Johan Huizinga in The Waning of the Middle Ages as "the most profound expression of mourning known in art, a funeral march in stone".

Philip the Bold died in 1404, and his wife Margaret III, Countess of Flanders the following year. She had decided to rest her remains with those of her parents in Lille, and Philip had been planning a single monument for himself for over twenty years, having commissioned Jean de Marville in 1381. Work did not begin until 1384, and proceeded slowly, with Claus Sluter being put in charge in 1389. At the Duke's death in 1404, only two mourners and the framework were complete; John the Fearless gave Sluter four years to finish the job, but he died after two. His nephew and assistant, Claus de Werve took over and finished the sculptures in 1410. The effigies were painted by Malouel.

John expressed a wish for his own tomb, this time a double one with his Duchess Margaret of Bavaria, to resemble that of his father, but nothing was done, even after his death in 1419, until 1435, and in 1439 de Werve died without having managed to find suitable alabaster. In 1443 a Spaniard, Jean de La Huerta, was contracted, and sent drawings for the effigies. He completed most elements, but not the effigies, before leaving Dijon in 1456. Yet another master was brought in, and the monument finally installed in 1470, by which time Philip the Good was himself dead. He seems to have made no provision for a monument for himself, and had initially been buried in Bruges, where he died. His son Charles the Bold had the remains brought back to Champmol after some years, but no monument was ever planned. Charles himself was relocated from Nancy to Bruges by his great-grandson Charles V in 1558.

The second tomb repeats the design of the first, but with their execution spanning almost a century, stylistic differences can be seen, although some of the "pleurants" of the second tomb copy those of the first exactly. It is recorded that Philip the Good had a portrait of himself placed in the choir, where there were already those of the previous two Dukes. None of these are believed to have survived in the original, but surviving portraits may be copies of them.

After the Revolution, and the sale of the monastery, the tombs were carefully moved to Dijon Cathedral in 1792, as their historic importance was recognised. But in the following year the cathedral was converted into a Temple of Reason and the effigies were vandalised, so that what are now seen are reconstructions. Many elements, including ten "pleurants", were removed by genteel looters.