marked by spatial unity, luminosity, and rich rhythms of tracery forms meticulously
organized in depth. In the Virgin Chapel, his combination of fully colored windows with
grisaille glass was the first example of a concept of glazing generalized in the later 13th
century. A 1247 document naming Pierre as a cementarius (or stone mason) at Saint-
Denis suggests that, although active at the abbey, he did not head its workshop and
cannot be credited with the design of the Rayonnant structure. Referred to as “mason,
master of the works at Notre-Dame of Paris” (cementarius, magister operum Beate Marie
Parisiensiis) in 1265, Pierre built the cathedral’s south-transept façade. This brilliant
work was inspired by Jean de Chelles’s north transept but achieved greater unity through
the physical linkage of different zones and the formal relationships produced by new
motifs, such as the pointed trilobe. Pierre de Montreuil died March 17, 1267. The
inscription from his tomb in the Virgin Chapel of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, which lionizes
him as “a teacher of masons,” testifies to contemporary recognition of his architectural
abilities.
Michael T.Davis
Aubert, Marcel. “Pierre de Montreuil, architecte de Saint-Germain-des-Prés et de Notre-Dame de
Paris, de Saint-Denis et de la Sainte-Chapelle.” In Festschrift far Karl M. Swoboda. Vienna,
1959, pp. 19–21.
Branner, Robert. Saint-Louis and the Court Style in Gothic Architecture. London: Zwemmer, 1965.
——.“A Note on Pierre de Montreuil.” Art Bulletin 45 (1963): 355–57.
Bruzelius, Caroline A. The 13th-Century Church at St-Denis. New Haven: Yale University Press,
1985.
Grodecki, Louis. “Pierre, Eudes, et Raoul de Montreuil à l’abbatiale de Saint-Denis.” Bulletin
monumental 122 (1964):269–74.
Prache, Anne. “Pierre de Montreuil.” Histoire et archéologie. Dossiers 47 (1980):26–39.
Suckale, Robert. “Pierre de Montreuil.” In Les bâtisseurs des cathédrales gothiques, ed. Roland
Recht. Strasbourg: Éditions les Musées de la Ville de Strasbourg, 1989, pp. 181–85.
PIERRE DE PROVENCEET LA BELLE
MAGUELONNE.
A short hagiographical account in prose of the founding of a hospital at Maguelone, south
of Montpellier. Cast as an idyllic romance, Pierre de Provence was composed in the first
half of the 15th century. It exists in two Middle French redactions (the second and longer
dated 1453), a 1480 printed edition, as well as several German adaptations.
William W.Kibler
[See also: IDYLLIC ROMANCE]
Biedermann, Adolphe, ed. Pierre de Provence et la Belle Maguelonne. Paris: Champion, 1913.
Medieval france: an encyclopedia 1392