North Portal of Notre Dame: Virgin, Zodiac & Golden Legend

The North Portal of the cathedral, also known as the Portal of the Virgin or the Coronation Portal, features significant sculptural details.

Trumeau and Doorposts

• Trumeau: At the center, the trumeau displays the Virgin and Child. To the left, Saint Denis is depicted holding his head in his hands, flanked by angels and a king. To the right, figures of Saint John the Baptist, Saint Stephen, Saint Genevieve (the patron saint of Paris), and Pope Sylvester are present.
• Doorposts and Sides of the Trumeau: These areas are adorned with signs of the zodiac and depictions of the works of the months.
  • Upper Right (clockwise): Cancer, Virgo, Libra, a vintner with his barrel, and a harvester sharpening his scythe.
  • Other Side (bottom to top): Aries, Taurus, Gemini, and Leo, alongside rural labors associated with fall and winter.

Significance of Rural Depictions

Two key points emerge from the inclusion of rural activities:

1. 13th-Century Paris: The presence of sowing and planting scenes indicates that 13th-century Paris was not entirely disconnected from its surrounding countryside.
2. Liturgical Calendar and Seasonal Cycle: The cathedral served as a community hub for celebrating holidays according to the liturgical calendar. This calendar incorporated both local and universal saints' days, thereby linking the community to the yearly cycle of the seasons, a practice with roots in pagan traditions.

Lintels

• Lower Lintel: This section features Old Testament kings and prophets surrounding the Ark of the Covenant, situated beneath a tabernacle.
• Upper Lintel: This depicts the Dormition-like Assumption of the Virgin.

The Golden Legend and the Virgin's Assumption

Understanding the sculptural freeze, particularly the Dormition, Assumption, and Coronation of the Virgin, is enhanced by consulting James of Voragine's Golden Legend. These scenes are not found in the Bible but are detailed in an apocryphal book attributed to Saint John the Evangelist, which describes the manner of the Blessed Virgin Mary's Assumption.

James of Voragine attempts to calculate the Virgin Mary's age:

• According to figures like Epiphanius, she was 14 when she conceived and 15 at Jesus's birth.
• Jesus lived 33 years, and Mary lived 24 years beyond his death, making her 72 at the time of her Dormition and Assumption.
• However, James also presents a more probable account: Mary lived 12 years after her son's ascension, making her 60 years old at her death. This demonstrates a scholastic method of comparing sources to arrive at a synthetic truth.

The Narrative of the Assumption (According to James of Voragine)

The Golden Legend recounts the events leading to Mary's Assumption:

1. Mary's Desire: While the apostles were spread throughout the world preaching, the Virgin Mary was deeply moved by the desire to be with her son, Jesus Christ.
2. Angel's Message: An angel appeared to Mary, informing her that her son awaited her.
3. Mary's Requests: Mary made two requests:
   • That her "sons and brethren," the apostles, be assembled with her so she could see them before she died.
   • That her spirit, upon leaving her body, would not encounter any "horrible nor wicked spirit nor fiend," and that no power of the devil would come against her.
4. Apostles' Assembly: John the Evangelist, along with the other eleven apostles, was miraculously carried on a cloud to Mary's house.
5. Jesus's Arrival: As the apostles gathered, Mary blessed the Lord. Around the third hour of the night, Jesus Christ arrived with "sweet melody and song," accompanied by orders of angels, companies of patriarchs, assemblies of martyrs, convents of confessors, and carols of virgins. These saints were arranged before Mary's bed, making sweet music.
6. Mary's Departure: The narrative, as told in the book attributed to Saint John, describes the funeral rites performed for Mary.
7. Jesus's Question and Apostles' Advice: On the third day, Jesus Christ returned with a multitude of angels. He asked the apostles for their advice on how to honor his mother. The apostles suggested that just as he had vanquished death and reigned eternally, he should also raise his mother's body and place it at his right hand in eternity.
8. The Assumption: Jesus granted their request. The archangel Michael presented Mary's soul to the Lord. The Savior then spoke, saying, "Arise up, haste thee, my culver or dove, tabernacle of glory, vessel of life, temple celestial, and as thou never felt conceiving by any touch, thou shalt not suffer in the grave any corruption of body." Mary's soul returned to her body, and she gloriously emerged from the tomb, received into the heavenly chamber with a great company of angels. Her body suffered no decomposition.
9. Burial and Relics: Three virgins washed her corpse, and the apostles carried her body to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, placing it in a jeweled tomb. This tomb was reportedly seen by medieval crusaders in Palestine.
10. The Holy Tunic: Interestingly, Jacques of Voragine notes that Mary left behind her clothes, specifically mentioning the holy tunic. This tunic would later appear in Chartres approximately ten centuries later, brought by Charlemagne's grandson, Charles the Bald.

Final Depiction

The portal concludes with a depiction of the apostles laying Mary in her tomb, and at the very top, Mary is shown at the right hand of her son, crowned by an angel.

The next exploration will focus on the central portal of the west facade of Notre Dame, along with the magnificent stained glass windows on the west, south, and north sides of the cathedral.