Eustache de Saint Pierre, by Jean-Simon Berthélemy Eustache de Saint Pierre is the best-known figure of the group of six known as

The Burghers of Calais ''The Burghers of Calais'' (french: Les Bourgeois de Calais) is a sculpture by Auguste Rodin in twelve original castings and numerous copies. It commemorates an event during the Hundred Years' War, when Calais, a French port on the English Cha ...

, the first to volunteer and surrender, wearing "a shirt and a rope around his neck" to the King of England at that time, Edward III, to save the people of Calais (August 1347). According to the chronicler

Jean Froissart Jean Froissart (Old and Middle French: ''Jehan'', – ) (also John Froissart) was a French-speaking medieval author and court historian from the Low Countries who wrote several works, including ''Chronicles'' and ''Meliador'', a long Arthurian ...

, the king pardoned him at the request of his wife,

Philippa of Hainault Philippa of Hainault (sometimes spelled Hainaut; Middle French: ''Philippe de Hainaut''; 24 June 1310 (or 1315) – 15 August 1369) was Queen of England as the wife and political adviser of King Edward III. She acted as regent in 1346,Stricklan ...

. The scene of the surrender of the mayor of Calais was immortalized in a bronze statue by Rodin and can be seen in twelve copies, including the Belfry square in Calais, the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

in New York, the

Victoria Tower Gardens Victoria Tower Gardens is a public park along the north bank of the River Thames in London, adjacent to the Victoria Tower, at the south-western corner of the Palace of Westminster. The park, extends southwards from the Palace to Lambeth Brid ...

adjoining Parliament in London, or at the art museum Glyptotek in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

(Denmark), and the

Rodin Museum The Rodin Museum is an art museum located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that contains one of the largest collections of sculptor Auguste Rodin's works outside Paris. Opened in 1929, the museum is administered by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. T ...

in Paris. A cast of the figure representing Saint Pierre is in the

Museo Soumaya The Museo Soumaya is a private museum in Mexico City and a non-profit cultural institution with two museum buildings in Mexico City — Plaza Carso and Plaza Loreto. It has over 66,000 works from 30 centuries of art including sculptures from Pre- ...

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

. A cast is also in Memorial Plaza at The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA.

References

* {{cite book , last1=Miller , first1=J. V. , last2=Marotta , first2=G. , title=Rodin: The B. Gerald Cantor Collection , publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art , year=1986 , isbn=978-0-87099-443-2 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nYYD8amhfGAC&pg=PA53 , access-date=2021-05-01 14th-century French people People from Calais