The majority of the monuments and tombs in Saint Denis' necropolis look like the ones pictured to the left over there. The three kings resting in tourist-ridden peace are from left to right Philippe the Tall, some other guy, and the infamous Charles the Bald. I looked up a bit of info on these guys, and there's really not much to say beyond the fact that they were Kings and had funny names. By the way, they say that Charles was actually a really hairy fella with a beard and everything, they called him bald to be sarcastic. Medeival humour is awesome. In case you were curious, French kings tended to choose their own names at coronation, like the pope, or had their name given to them after death. Just because you have Philippe the Fifth, does not mean he is the son of Philippe the Fourth. Of course, that doesn't mean he's not, either. I guess if your dad was a big jerk, you don't want to be his junior. Anyhow, here lie Phil and Chuck. Also, I should mention that commonly the Kings are buried with their favorite dog, that's why each of these statues has his feet atop a sleeping dog. Interesting, eh? The Necropolis is filled with these tombs.
No comments:
Post a Comment