Chartres, Notre-Dame, west façade.
Photograph courtesy of Whitney S.
Stoddard.
Brétigny. The English occupied Chartres from 1417 to 1432, when it was recaptured by
Jean de Dunois.
Chartres was one of the leading intellectual centers in France in the 11th and 12th
centuries, renowned for its humanistic studies. Founded probably in the 10th century, the
cathedral school rose to prominence under bishops Fulbert (d. 1028) and Ivo (d. 1116).
The influence of Plato, Boethius, and Macrobius, as well as a solid grounding in the
classical authors, characterized humanistic studies here. The masters at Chartres sought
through their studies and writings to demonstrate the essential harmony between faith and
reason, between revealed truths and Platonic cosmology. In the universals controversy,
the Chartrians inclined to realism. Important masters at Chartres include Bernard of
Chartres, Gilbert of Poitiers, and Thierry of Chartres; among leading students were
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