Nicolas Rolin

Nicolas Rolin,
painted by Rogier van der Weyden , (1450), as a donor picture on the back of the Last Judgment altar

Rolin, ranked among the male saints in the Altar of the Last Judgment by Rogier van der Weyden. Rolin differs from them in the direction they are facing

Nicolas Rolin (* 1376 in Autun ; † 1462 ibid) was Chancellor Philip the Good , Duke of Burgundy , and one of the richest and most powerful men of his time. His third marriage was to Guigone de Salins , with whom he founded the Hospices de Beaune .

He is sometimes described by his contemporaries as a tough man who cares for his own benefit. He had already served Duke Johann Ohnefurcht since 1408 , then his son Philip the Good, who knighted him in 1424 for his loyal service.

The Burgundian court of its time was a center of art and culture. This bloom was made possible by the great wealth that flowed to the dukes from their inherited lands in Flanders . The wealth also aroused political ambitions. It was the goal of Philip the Good - who came directly from the French royal family - to create a new Kingdom of Burgundy between the Kingdom of France and the German Empire . Rolin was involved in these endeavors. They led Burgundy to side with England against France in the Hundred Years War . Rolin was instrumental in ending this war in the Treaty of Arras (1435) .

Nicolas Rolin,
Rolin-Madonna by Jan van Eyck (around 1437)

To this day, Rolin is famous for some works of art on which he is depicted. He had himself portrayed on altarpieces as donors by two of the most famous painters of his time, Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden . Van der Weyden depicted him on the world court altar, which is located in the " Hôtel-Dieu " in Beaune , founded and financed by Rolin in 1443 , one of the few surviving medieval hospitals. At this hospital he founded in 1452 with the "Sœurs Hospitalières de Beaune" a new order that took over the nursing in his hospital. The sick were obliged to pray for him.

Nicolas Rolin died in 1462. He left behind his son Jean Rolin . The house where he was born and where he lived, the Hôtel Rolin, now houses the Autun City Museum, the Musée Rolin .

literature

• Hermann Kamp : Memoria and self-presentation. The foundations of the Burgundian Chancellor Rolin (= Francia. Research on Western European History. Volume 30). Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1993, ISBN 3-7995-7330-5 ( online at perspectivia.net ).
• Jean Richard: Rolin, Nicolas, Chancellor of Burgundy († 1461) . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 7, LexMA-Verlag, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-7608-8907-7 , Sp. 963.

Web links

Commons : Nicolas Rolin  - collection of images, videos and audio files