Sarcophagi at Notre Dame

I Digress

8 Jan

Today we digress from Notre Dame to talk about the two sarcophaguses found underneath the Cathedral during some excavation work.

Sarcophagi

Back in 2019 when the fire first broke out in the Notre Dame Cathedral, a lot of work was needed to get the place looking tip top again, so much work that they’re still going. But something that’s pretty crazy to happen from all of this, is the discovery of two sarcophaguses under Notre Dame. Both containing males, so you could even call them sarcophagi. Which we will actually be doing, because sarcophagi is the plural form. Although not to be confused with the topsy turvy world of plural dice, and the singular die.

Anyway, let us not digress from our digression.

So after the fire, those in charge called in France’s top archaeologists from the National Institute of Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) to have a look around and help with rebuilding and assessing the damage. Not a typical job for an archaeologist but with Notre Dame’s age, not unsurprising that archaeologists would be involved. And it’s a good thing they were, because they were asked to do a ‘preventative dig’ under a section of the cathedral’s floor to see what was down there, before massive scaffolding was put in to help with the spire’s reconstruction.

Now it wouldn’t be out of the question that they would find something, because we know that previous buildings have stood on the site of Notre Dame before the cathedral was built, so it would have been very exciting to start the dig.

And then what do we know but two lead sarcophagi were discovered, and not only that, they found statues, sculptures and parts of Notre Dame’s original rood screen from the 13th century, but those things aren’t that interesting so we probably won’t talk about them very much.

French scientists announced on the 9th of December, so quite recently, that the finds were starting to give up their secrets. Both finds were described as being of

remarkable scientific quality.

And did they have a couple of things to tell.

In November, both sarcophagi were sent to the forensic institute at the Toulouse University Hospital in, of course, Toulouse. It was here that medical imaging techniques were carried out to find out what they could about the inhabitants before opening them up and taking a closer look.

It was Eric Crubézy, a biological anthropologist at the University Hospital, who was the one to oversee the opening of the coffins. And it was he who made the assumption that both men must have been important people while they were alive to have been buried in such prestigious tombs and in such a prestigious location.

In time, they hope to learn everything they can about the two men, but for now this is what they have revealed so far.

The first guy

The first guy turned out to be a high priest who died in 1710 at the age of 83. Now you might be thinking, that’s pretty accurate for someone who’s been dead and long forgotten for several centuries. Well, it does help when there’s a name plate on the top of the sarcophagus to get you started. Here’s Crubézy telling us how it is:

The first subject is identified via an identification plate on his coffin

So the name plate identified the first bloke as Antoine de la Porte. In fact if you want to know the full details in the original French, then check out the full statement from the National Institute over on their website. They also have some pretty great photos, so make sure to check them out as well.

So it turns out that de la Porte was a pretty influential guy. He was rich and is known to have paid 10 000 livres, which is a lot of money these days, to have Notre Dame’s choir renovated. And just in case you hadn’t figured out that he was rolling in it, several works of art that he commissioned now live in the Louvre.

The fact that he was rich and known for helping the cathedral, and the possibility that he was either a canon or a member of the clergy, are probably why he was found buried in the centre of the transept, in fact that exact spot is often reserved for those who are deemed ‘elite’.

And despite his coffin becoming damaged, exposing his remains to the air and water from historic floodings of the Seine, de la Porte’s remains were in remarkably good condition. What they found when they opened the lid were bones, hair from his head and beard, and some textiles in the form of three medals that had been placed on top of his sarcophagus.

A further analysis of de la Porte’s remains show that he had astonishingly great teeth for an 83-year-old bloke living in practically medieval times. Not really medieval times but you know what I mean, they didn’t exactly have Oral B electric toothbrushes rolling around in the old boudoir, so the fact that he had all his teeth and they looked ridiculously good was quite a rarity.

Here's Crubézy saying what I just said, but more professionally:

[He had] extraordinarily good teeth. They were remarkable for his age. We see this very rarely, but he clearly cleaned his teeth and took care of them.

Now de la Porte must not have gotten out and about very often, because his bones didn’t really show any evidence of great signs of physical activity, so he most likely lived a pretty sedentary lifestyle, which again would have been quite rare for those in the 1700s. Although maybe not quite so rare for those living the high life, which de la Porte seems to have been a part of.

Probably not quite as uncommon for those sedentary lifestylists, was that de la Porte’s big toe seems to show signs of gout. A form of inflammatory arthritis, gout has often been referred as the ‘disease of kings’ mainly because back in de la Porte’s day those who suffered from it were those who would overindulge in food and alcohol, and those who had the money and time for such indulgences were often the nobility.

So now that we know what we do about the first guy, let’s find out what we can about the second guy.

The second guy

With the second sarcophagus, we were not quite so lucky with an identification, unfortunately this one did not come with a handy name plate. So the second guy so far is unidentified, but we do know that he was young, probably between 25 and 40, and based on where he was buried, a wealthy noble. Although they do think that this bloke lived further back in the past than de la Porte. Those at the University Hospital and National Institute are thinking the 14th century, so quite a way back.

And this guy’s coffin was a little different to de la Porte’s. It was moulded around the shape of his body, unfortunately there were also holes in the lead which has allowed the remains to deteriorate quite severely.

Also unlike de la Porte, this younger guy’s bones show that he lived quite a difficult life. And they can see from his pelvic bones that he most likely spent a lot of his time on the back of a horse. Leading to him being called ‘Le Cavalier’, or ‘The Horseman’ for those non-French speakers.

Here’s Crubézy’s two cents:

He shows signs of someone who has been riding horses from a young age…

Looking at how he was buried, it’s thought that Le Cavalier may have been an aristocrat at the very least. Not only was he in the coffin, but so were there flowers from a crown or wreath placed in there with him. And he looks to have also been embalmed. Let’s listen as Crubézy tells us what this would have meant:

The horseman’s skull had been sawn off and his chest opened to be embalmed. This was common practice in the nobility after the [mid-16thcentury].

But from how young he is, I think we all know he didn’t live the life of luxury that de la Porte was accustomed to. In fact, there are significant signs that he suffered from a chronic disease like meningitis from tuberculosis. Which would not have been a fun way to go.

…he lost most of his teeth in the years and months leading up to his death. He would have had a difficult end of life.

Thanks for that Crubézy. Losing all your teeth, that is my literal nightmare. I have actually had nightmares where I lose all my teeth. Great, now I’m not going to be able to get to sleep tonight.

The fact that both men were found in lead sarcophagi is probably a fairly good indicator that they weren’t you’re run of mill early Parisians, as lead sarcophagi were typically reserved for those who considered themselves the elite. And yet the two coffins are remarkably different, another strong indicator that they lived in vastly different times.

But there is still hope that Le Cavalier may one day be identified. Here’s Christophe Besnier, the archaeologist who lead the National Institute’s excavation team, to tell us how the identification could come about:

If the date of his death was around the second half of the 16th century or early 17th century, we may be able to identify him in the death register that we have. If it’s earlier than that, we probably won’t ever know who he was.

Thanks for the pep-talk Besnier, but at least there’s a little bit of hope of a possible identification floating around.

As we head into the end of this little digression we have to remember that this isn’t the end for de la Porte or Le Cavalier, over the coming months research and investigation into the two men will continue and with that possibly more information about the two men will become known. But we will have to be patient, because the final report of the study of these two won’t become public until roughly mid-2023. So we’ll just have to wait ‘til then to see if we learn anything more about these fascinating finds.

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