Everything suggests that the west portals were completed quite rapidly without major revisions, starting soon after 1220 in the south portal of the Mother of God, proceeding in the 1230s to the north portal of the saints, and concluding in the central portal towards 1240: we have here a coherent body of thought, expressed visually.   Visitors may enter into this complex program as a kind of puzzle, engaging with the minds and the creativity of the makers in their attempt to comprehend, visualize and propagate the Divine Plot.  Based upon the written evidence of the later Middle Ages we may assume that a small group of clergy led by the cathedral dean constituted an iconography committee, entering into extended conversations with the master mason and with a select group of gifted sculptors or tailleurs d'images.  In these conversations we might expect the dean to take the lead, projecting his own preoccupations and objectives, which might then be modified in the ensuing give-and-take. 

The Amiens dean at the start of work was a noted theologian and churchman destined for an illustrious future.  Jean d'Abbeville, born north of Amiens around 1180 studied theology in Paris in a context where the future pope Gregory IX might have been amongst his classmates and Peter the Chanter and Stephen Langton amongst his sources of inspiration.  D'Abbeville's tenure as dean at Amiens was brief: he left in 1225 to become archbishop of Besançon.  Having been nominated patriarch of Constantinople he was called into papal service by Gregory IX as cardinal-bishop of Sabina.  His engagement with Amiens continued after his departure: he founded the first cathedral chapel in 1233 dedicated to the Conversion of Saint Paul (located to the east of the south transept).  The Dean's affection for Saint Paul is expressed in that saint's position to the right of Christ in the central portal--and indeed, the sculpture of the central portal is saturated with Pauline thought especially relating to the centrality of the Resurrection of the body in Catholic dogma.  Our dean died in 1237.  (Note: remind students that Columbia's patron saint is Paul.)

In his Paris studies, Jean d'Abbeville would have spent countless hours considering the multi-level reading of the Scriptures.  Students were encouraged to embrace four levels: the literal reading as an historical account of what actually happened, second, the extraction of the underlying symbolic or allegorical meaning, often involving the interpretation of the prophets and the exploration of the typological links between Old and New Testaments, third, the tropological or moral application of the textual message to the life of the reader and the wider public, and, finally, the anagogical or upward-lifting approach, leading to a perfect union with God.  In the Amiens sculptural program our difficulty in following the literal Biblical narrative (particularly the position of the central portal in the storyline) results from the emphasis placed upon allegorical and tropological levels of understanding.  We have already noted the allegorical underpinnings of the image of the Coronation of the Virgin in the Old Testament Song of Songs--this was a favorite theme in Jean d'Abbeville's sermons.  However, the most important level of understanding in our program is the moral or tropological one: the program was designed as a mechanism to induce change.  Change may be understood as an affective rush--for example the burning heat generated in the winter miracle of Saint Firmin, the affective transformation of lovers described in the Song of Songs, or as sudden blindness followed by astonishing restoration of vision as in the Conversion of Saint Paul.  It may also be understood as a carefully-devised plot intended to produce good people. (Note: Columbia University may be understood as an educational plot intended to produce educated people.  Our campus plot is a double-square).

By extraordinary good fortune, we have the text of a contemporary sermon delivered in the near vicinity of Amiens at the time of the completion of the portal program where the preacher calls for human change in a way that matches the portal program.  The persuasive mechanism employed by the preacher was a common one: to begin by scaring his audience with the prospect of Final Judgment (central tympanum) pointing to the origin of sin in the disobedience of Adam and Eve (south portal).  As children of Adam and Eve we are all contemned to final judgment: Sinner, said our Lord, there where I find you, there I shall judge you.  Know therefore and doubt not that the men and women who stayed away [from church] as I said will be taken in an evil hour.  Know in good sooth that if they were taken on their land without having confessed their sins and repented they would be condemned to death and suffer the pangs of hell, as God is God, he shall not spare them.

Despite this dreadful prospect, the preacher weaves together three most efficacious strategies for the listener who wants to make a new contract in order to avoid the horrible certainty of damnation.  The first path of salvation comes with repentance and a life following virtue and eschewing vice.  In inviting the visitor to avoid vice and pursue virtue in emulation of the Apostles who have themselves been formed according the image of Christ, the central portal provided a powerful mechanism of behavioral change.  Second, we have the efficacy of the Church with its saints, clergy and sacraments (left portal).  And finally, there is the agency of the Virgin Mary who is the Church (right portal).  Particularly interesting is the preacher's repeated references to vows and contracts.  We can break the contract with death and Final Judgment with a new contract--a great bargain since, unlike the Apostles and Christ, we do not have to actually lay down our lives.  And although he is initially a little coy, our preacher progressively makes it clear that a cash contribution will help ease the way.  (Note: this kind of contract became known as an indulgence: remember that the end of the Life of the Gothic cathedral comes with the revolt against indulgences led by Martin Luther).  Each of the three great trumeaux figures: Christ, Mary or the bishop who stands for Christ on earth, can break your bad contract.  In order to illustrate Mary's contract-breaking power the preacher recounts the story of the clerk Theophilus who was rescued from the clutches of the devil by the Virgin Mary.  There can be no doubt that the icon-like image of the Virgin in the right portal assumed apotropaic powers for many medieval users.  This is conveyed both by the evidence of the lantern suspended in front of the image to facilitate devotional activities as well as the words of our anonymous preacher: The Mother of God, Saint Mary of Amiens, is your lady of all ladies; she is the lady of the world, she is the queen of the glorious heavens, she is the treasure of sinners, she is the savior of souls, she is the spouse of our Lord, she is the mother of Jesus Christ, she is the temple of the Holy Spirit.  This Lady calls back to her those who have strayed, she sets the fallen on their feet, she is rescue to the captives, she comforts the sad, she strengthens the weak, she prays for the people, she sustains the despised, she guards women.  Remember that sin entered the world through woman and that good is brought back into the world through woman.