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Rose Window, or the Marygold

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

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was derived from the round window called the eye in the basilica, pierced through the gable over the entrance, and imitated in the Norman period at Canterbury in the transept, and at Southwell in the clerestory, but is unknown in Rhenish architecture. About the 13th century the rose became of large dimensions. There are fine examples at Paris (1220-57), Nantes (1220), Laon, Rheims (1239), Amiens (1325), St. Denis, Seez, Clermont, and Rouen. The mullions of this window converge towards the center, something like the spokes of a wheel; hence they are sometimes called Catherine, or wheel, windows. They also bore the names of the elements the northern being called the rose of the winds; the west, of the sea; the south, of heaven; and the east, of the earth. When there were two of these transeptal windows in a cathedral, that on the north was called the bishop's, and the southern one the dean's eye, as representing their respective jurisdiction — one watching against the invasion of evil spirits on the north, and the latter as presiding as censor morum over the capitulars and close. At St. Paul's, exceptionally, the Lady Chapel had a superb eastern rose, and one still adorns the nine chapels of Durham. (See WINDOW).