Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Sunday 6 November 2011

King Charles X


Today is the 175th anniversary of the death in exile in 1836 of that oft-maligned monarch King Charles X of France.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Charles_X_Roi_de_France_et_de_Navarre.jpg

King Charles X

Image:Wikipedia

There is an online life of the King here and an account of the revolution which led to his exile here. This was, in many ways, yet another Parisian 'Day of the Barricades'. His actions in July-August 1830 are reminiscent of those of King James II in 1688.


The homage of the Dauphin at the coronation of King Charles X
Rheims Cathedral May 29th 1825

François Gérard 1827
Musee des Beaux Artes, Chartres

Image:Lib-art.com

He is often remembered for his Coronation as King at Rheims in 1825, fifty years, a revolution and a world war away from the previous one in 1775 of his brother King Louis XVI. It can also be seen as a pendant to that of King George IV in 1821 at Westminster. This was the decade of lavish coronations, alas never repeated in France, and regrettably curtailed in Britain by King William IV, and gradually re-enhanced in the twentieth century, but still shorn of the Westminster Hall ceremonies and banquet.


http://www.terminartors.com/files/artworks/5/3/1/53133/Ingres_Jean-Auguste-Dominique-Charles_X_in_his_Coronation_Robes.jpg

King Charles X in his Coronation robes.
The similarity to clerical vestments in the robes is clear.
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres 1829-30

Image:terminartors.com

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you not consider the Orleanists legitimate?

Once I Was A Clever Boy said...

Only after the death of King Henri V, and then they were not, alas, able to exercise authority within their realm. They are, I consider, the legitimate line thereafter, so I would consider King Henri VII rather than King Louis XX to the French monarch at present.