The five-aisle plan translates into five west portals, producing one of the most
elaborate sculptural ensembles of the period. While the west-façade sculpture must date
close to the mid-13th century, there is clear evidence that the decisions as to subjects of
the portals was made much earlier, probably in conjunction with the planning of the
stained-glass program. Throughout, Bourges gives evidence of careful, integrated
planning of architecture, stained glass, and sculpture, including the jubé (most of which is
now found in the Louvre). The care in planning is illustrated by the decisions made
concerning quality of stone and quarry sources.
Of the many other medieval churches in Bourges, only the unusual tympanum of the
west portal of Saint-Ursin continues to fascinate. The royal palace, which once housed a
magnificent chapel, is known only through drawings and the statues preserved in the
local museum. In the house of Jacques Cœur, however, Bourges preserves the most
splendid surviving townhouse of 15th-century France. Many of the details, such as
fireplaces, stained-glass windows, and the painted ceiling of the family chapel, are well
preserved.
William W.Clark
[See also: AQUITAINE; BERRY; CHARLES VII; CŒUR, JACQUES; JOHN,
DUKE OF BERRY]
Bayard, Tanya. Bourges Cathedral: The West Portals. New York: Garland, 1976.
Blanc, Annie, Pierre Lebouteux, Jacqueline Lorenz, and Serge Debrand-Passard. “Les pierres de la
cathédrale de Bourges.” Archéologia 171(1982):22–35.
Branner, Robert. The Cathedral of Bourges and Its Place in Gothic Architecture, ed. Shirley
Praeger Branner. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1989.
Michler, Jurgen. “Zur Stellung von Bourges in der gotischen Baukunst.” Wallraf-Richartz
Jahrbuch 41(1980):27–86.
von Konradsheim, G.C. “La famille monumentale de la cathédrale de Tolède et l’architecture
gothique contemporaine.” Mélanges de la Casa de Velazquez 11(1975):545–63.
Wolfe, Maury, and Robert Mark. “Gothic Cathedral Buttressing: The Experiment at Bourges and
Its Influence.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 33(1974):17–27.
BOUVET, HONORÉ
(ca. 1340-ca. 1405). Long misnamed Bonet, this orator, diplomat, and administrator was
a long-time prior of the Benedictine abbey of Sellonet (Basse-Alpes). Associated with the
house of Anjou and a student at the University of Avignon, he became Doctor of
Decretals in 1386. His Arbre des batailles (1387), a commentary on the international
laws of war, influenced by the Bolognese law professor John of Legnano, was dedicated
to Charles VI. It included a portrait of the philosopher king as opposed to the tyrant. The
over sixty extant manuscripts show it as his most successful work. His Somnium super
materia schismatis (1394), on the papal Schism, led to a sermon on the subject that he
preached before Wenceslas, king of the Romans, as Charles VI’s representative (1399).
In the Apparicion maistre Jehan de Meun (1398), dedicated to the duke of Orléans, the
Schism and other contemporary problems are discussed in the hope that the prince would
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