The cathedral church of St Mary and St Chad at Lichfield stands within an approximately rectangul... more The cathedral church of St Mary and St Chad at Lichfield stands within an approximately rectangular precinct on the northern slope of a shallow valley fed by the Trunkfield and Leamonsley Brooks. The valley supports two pools, one to the south of the cathedral known as Minster Pool, and a second some 700 metres to the east at Stowe. Both are thought to be natural features which were deepened during the middle ages so as to drive mills and serve as fisheries. Though 20th-century development has eroded the divisions between the cathedral precinct, the town and Stowe, the extent to which these formed distinct settlements remains clear, particularly when it comes to the boundary between Lichfield’s market area and the cathedral precinct. Both John Leland and Daniel Defoe commented on how Minster Pool divided Lichfield and separated the town from the cathedral.
The following chapter considers the implications of this topographical situation, and describes the architectural history of the cathedral between its origins and the English Civil War.
The following paper is concerned with two buildings in southern Italy; the cathedral of Acerenza,... more The following paper is concerned with two buildings in southern Italy; the cathedral of Acerenza, and the unfinished monastic church (l’incompiuta) attached to the east of the Santissima Trinità at Venosa. Both churches are in the modern region of Basilicata (ancient Lucania) and were begun under Norman patronage to a virtually identical plan. That plan, an apse ambulatory with three radiating chapels, unaisled transepts and eastern stair vices, is so unusual in southern Italy that a variety of possible sources have been proposed, for the most part consisting of lists of 11th-century buildings with apse ambulatories in France. It will be argued here that there is nothing ‘generalised’ in the realisation of this plan, but that its detailing, in particular the wide spacing and method of receiving pairs of transverse arches on the aisle side faces of the apse piers, suggest the churches share a common Anglo-Norman model. The sculpture has elicited less comment in the critical literature, but despite the capitals having been carved by quite different workshops, both similarly point to an awareness of Anglo-Norman carving. The plan and sculpture suggest that both churches were started at some point between c. 1080 and c. 1100. However, there is a potential formal objection to this date; the extensive use of spur bases. These are of a type which surviving examples suggest were not used in England or Normandy before c. 1110. This is not irreconcilable with a late 11th-century date in southern Italy, but it needs to be borne in mind and it hints at a more complex picture than that of the straightforward reception of an Anglo-Norman plan. From a historical and political perspective, the documents referring to Venosa have been well published. There is far less diplomatic or archival evidence for Acerenza. However, there are no clear points of contact between this documentary evidence and the building archaeology and the two are best considered separately. The paper is divided into four sections, dealing respectively with the architecture, sculpture, documentary history and the southern Italian context.
The following paper considers the composition and working methods of a sculptural atelier active ... more The following paper considers the composition and working methods of a sculptural atelier active in the southern Welsh Marches over the second quarter of the 12th century. Known as the 'Herefordshire School', the workshop specialised in small-scale commissions, producing portals, corbel tables, chancel arches, tympana, and fonts. Notwithstanding a general workshop tendency to favour repetition, the sculpture was inventive and open to external influence, a susceptibility which may be due to the way the workshop operated. It regularly collaborated with other masons, while its constituent workforce seems to have been flexible, expanding or contracting according to circumstance. It will be argued that the workshop's origins can be traced to Hereford Cathedral but that once formed all the churches for which the sculptors worked were either small or required relatively little carved stonework. In this it was essentially a child of the boom in masonry parish church construction. The type of sculptural workshop organization adopted by the 'Herefordshire School' was probably relatively common in early to mid-12th-century Europe.
Emerging Naturalism: Contexts and Narratives in European Sculpture 1140-1220, 2020
The underlying chronology of English great church building did not favour late Romanesque sculptu... more The underlying chronology of English great church building did not favour late Romanesque sculpture. Every English medieval cathedral was constructed or reconstructed in the decades following the Norman Conquest of 1066, and virtually all seem to have been complete by circa 1150. Matters change if one includes monastic churches, though even here many of the wealthiest monasteries were pre-Conquest foundations and had been replaced by the early twelfth century. Thus, the evidence for late Romanesque work tends to be confined to a handful of new foundations, the replacement or renovation of cathedral and monastic conventual precincts, or is a response to disaster, as with the reconstruction of Rochester cathedral following the fire of 1137, Canterbury after 1174 or Glastonbury after 1184. Even so, little survives in-situ, and any sense of the stylistic and iconographical idioms of late Romanesque sculpture in England is heavily dependent on archaeological methodologies. The larger picture suggests that Romanesque geometric and decorative forms persisted through the last quarter of the twelfth century and that this long-established repertoire could be used alongside French-derived early Gothic forms. The paper concentrates on architectural sculpture, a category here interpreted to include carved stonework of all types, regardless of whether it is the work of specialist stone sculptors.
Described by Gregory of Tours as a bishop sent to Gaul by Pope Clement and martyred at Mediolanum... more Described by Gregory of Tours as a bishop sent to Gaul by Pope Clement and martyred at Mediolanum [Saintes], Eutrope [Eutropis/Eutropius] was widely believed to have been the city’s founding bishop. A church was built in his honour in the late 6th century by Bishop Palladius, which enshrined his tomb at a spot outside the city and above the Roman road to Bordeaux. This church was made over to Cluny in 1081 and was reconstructed with an exceptionally spacious crypt and raised presbytery – enjoying a dual consecration on the octave of Easter, 1096, celebrated by Pope Urban II and Bishop Ranulf of Saintes.
The eastern parts of the late 11th-century church survive, as does the plain stone sarcophagus of St-Eutrope, though the destruction of the nave in 1803 complicates efforts to reconstruct the original access arrangements to the transepts and east end. This paper discusses the background to the late-11th-century rebuilding and assesses the relative merits of the type of double-decker design adopted at Saintes.
On the evidence of surviving buildings, the forms and styles of architectural sculpture developed... more On the evidence of surviving buildings, the forms and styles of architectural sculpture developed in Aquitaine between c. 1070 and c. 1140 were widely admired, most notably in England and Spain where significant numbers of sculptural compositions are western French in origin. For the most part these compositions are imitative, or at least that is the case in England. They are the work of locally-based masons, and the sculpture is subordinated to a set of aesthetic and architectural preferences that are purely Anglo-Norman. However, there are instances where the relationship between the English ‘imitation’ and the western French ‘source’ suggests a more complex modus operandi. One such example was potentially identified by George Zarnecki over half a century ago, and the following article reviews the evidence for the foundation and construction of the first church at Shobdon (Herefordshire). It argues that an experienced sculptor from the Poitou probably did work at Shobdon, though it is likely that he arrived after the church had been started, and that he worked alongside an established Anglo-Norman workshop. It is appreciably less likely that this sculptor worked elsewhere in Herefordshire or the Welsh Marches.
RÉSUMÉ
En Angleterre, la plupart des grands monastères clunisiens ont été fondés globalement entr... more RÉSUMÉ En Angleterre, la plupart des grands monastères clunisiens ont été fondés globalement entre 1080 et 1110. Ils ont tous été dissouts au cours du XVIe siècle, si bien qu’il ne subsiste aujourd’hui que cinq sites conservant des vestiges substantiels. Dans cette communication je souhaite reconsidérer trois d’entre eux, les anciens prieurés de Castle Acre, Wenlock et Lewes, afin d’évaluer le développement de leur architecture jusqu’aux environs de 1200. J’en déduirai qu’à l’exception de Wenlock, où les indices sont limités, l’architecture de ces églises monastiques est remarquablement inventive. L’agencement des espaces monastiques peut être comparé à celui des monastères bénédictins en général mais, dans le contexte spécifiquement anglo-normand, ce sont des constructions tout à fait innovantes.
ABSTRACT Most of the larger Cluniac monasteries founded in England were established in a relatively short period, between c.1080 and c.1110. All were also dissolved in the 16th century, leaving no more than five where the remains are substantial. This paper will review three of these – the former priories of Castle Acre, Wenlock and Lewes – with a view to assessing their architectural development up to c.1200. It concludes that with the exception of Wenlock, where the evidence is limited, the architecture espoused by their monastic churches is remarkably inventive in character. The designs adopted in their monastic precincts can be compared to 12th-century Benedictine monasteries more generally, but may have been pioneering in an Anglo-Norman context.
Bien qu’elle ait été fortement endommagée en 1944, la grande salle de l’Échiquier, à Caen, est le... more Bien qu’elle ait été fortement endommagée en 1944, la grande salle de l’Échiquier, à Caen, est le mieux préservé des bâtiments séculiers de statut élevé et à fonction non-défensive de la Normandie romane. Élevée dans la partie nord-ouest de la basse-cour du château, elle mesure 13,16m sur 32,90m, l’entrée se faisant par le pignon et des fenêtres étant placées dans la partie supérieure des murs latéraux. A la fin du XIIe siècle, on ajouta un petit bâtiment sur sa face orientale, et, au XIVe siècle une cheminée murale et une annexe au nord. D’autres modifications furent apportées au bâtiment après qu’il ait été relégué au rang d’édifice à vocation militaire, au cours du XVIe siècle ou d’une période antérieure; les transformations les plus importantes datent de 1881, mais elles furent supprimées lors de la restauration menée en 1960. Les données que l’on peut retirer de l’étude des structures, des documents picturaux et de la comparaison avec d’autres bâtiments similaires montrent cependant qu’il était, à l’origine (et c’est aussi le cas aujourd’hui), constitué d’un seul volume, ouvert du sol à la charpente, sans étage, comme on le croit depuis les années 1960. On attribue traditionnellement cette grande salle à Henri I, mais, selon nous, sa conception générale et sa décoration le placent à la fin du XIe siècle, et nous sommes d’avis qu’elle fut créée par Guillaume Rufus, afin de servir à certaines cérémonies. Nous supposons enfin que sa construction marqua l’introduction (ou la réintroduction) en Normandie des grandes salles hors normes, isolées des autres bâtiments et pourvues d’une architecture distincte, et qu’elle encouragea l’aristocratie normande à l’adopter au siècle suivant.
At the end of his survey of the early monastic buildings at Westminster, William Richard Lethaby ... more At the end of his survey of the early monastic buildings at Westminster, William Richard Lethaby wistfully remarked ‘a full and clearly illustrated account of eleventh and twelfth-century Westminster would be a romantic contribution to English history’. What follows is neither full nor well illustrated, nor is it possible to write a comprehensive account of the monastic precinct as it appeared c.1200. However, in the spirit of Lethaby’s romantic enterprise the authors have assembled what is known or can reasonably be deduced of the monastery at Westminster between the creation of the existing precinct, during the reign of Edward the Confessor, and the late 12th century.
Not a single English Romanesque great cloister arcade survives in-situ. Despite this, the existen... more Not a single English Romanesque great cloister arcade survives in-situ. Despite this, the existence of a number of 11th- and 12th-century rear walls, and the discovery of quantities of stonework likely to have originated in cloister arcades, make it possible to recover something of the likely appearance and character of the cloister in Anglo-Norman England. The following paper considers that evidence, and assesses how our understanding of the underlying topography and archaeology of Anglo-Norman cloisters might enable us to reconstruct their lost walks. It concludes with an appraisal of the chronology of English cloister building.
The monastic church of Christ (St-Sauveur) at Charroux was one of a number of buildings in the La... more The monastic church of Christ (St-Sauveur) at Charroux was one of a number of buildings in the Latin West that were intended to evoke the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. This is clear both from the unusually precise correspondences between the respective rotundas, and the important christological relics the rotunda at Charroux was designed to enshrine. The main building campaigns probably date to the 1060s and 1070s, but in a strikingly simple and effective modification, the rotunda was remodelled within a generation at most by the insertion of a crypt. Historically, this is most likely to have coincided with the consecration of the high altar by Pope Urban II on 10 January, 1096, some six weeks after the Council of Clermont and in the course of a journey which went on to see important consecrations of altars dedicated to the Holy Cross at Marmoutier, Vendôme and Moissac. Charroux was not alone in recreating Jerusalem in the West, but it is remarkable in realising a church of such symbolic potential at a moment of religious anxiety.
Notwithstanding attempts to equate the art and architecture of Romanesque Europe with larger hist... more Notwithstanding attempts to equate the art and architecture of Romanesque Europe with larger historical movements and events, expressions of interest in the past during the 11th and 12th centuries can be diffi cult to understand. By way of an introduction, the following paper concentrates on architecture, and the allusive potential of sites and stonework. 1
The presbytery vault at St Albans is one of only two thirteenth-century wooden vaults over a main... more The presbytery vault at St Albans is one of only two thirteenth-century wooden vaults over a main span to survive in England. A programme of cleaning and conservation carried out between 1997 and 2002, coupled with an analysis of the source and date of the timber used in its construction , significantly advanced our understanding of both the late thirteenth-century presbytery campaign at St Albans and thirteenth-century timber vault construction generally. As the inevitable density and restricted circulation of the final report on that work has hindered its wider reception, the following paper offers a summary, drawing attention to two features that may have wider implications for an appreciation of vaulting in timber. The first is that, although the general form adopted at St Albans is one associated with masonry vaulting, the wooden boards used for the vault webbing required a junction between the wall and the ridge rib, meaning that shallow liernes were originally deployed to run parallel to the central ridge. It is difficult to see this as imitative of vaulting in stone; rather it is likely to be the result of carpenters developing their own solutions to the constraints imposed by timber. Secondly, the late medieval remodelling of the vault replaced these liernes with false tiercerons, and rather nicely illustrates the ease with which timber vaulting could be modified. The dendrochronology gives a date range of 1273-93, and a date of around 1285 is suggested for the primary build. The major late medieval alterations are here associated with the second abbacy of John of Wheathampstead (1452-65).
Despite the attention of a number of scholars over the last half-century, the origins and early h... more Despite the attention of a number of scholars over the last half-century, the origins and early history of the chantry remain obscure. The following paper considers several examples of early medieval commemorative practice which may have been significant in the development of the chantry, and concludes with an attempt to establish something of an institutional, liturgical and architectural context for the medieval chantry as it found expression in later medieval England and Wales.1 MOST popular accounts of the monumental legacy of the English medieval chantry tend to identify it with small-scale forms: chapels attached to parish churches, tiny bolton annexes set outside the aisles of larger churches, or exquisite cage-like structures englobed within the larger space of a host institution.2 These enclosures, and the constitutional arrangements that caused them to be made, variously came into being in the 13th and 14th centuries, but they were only one set of responses to the religious impulses that underlie chantries and they should be set alongside a number of much larger, socially useful foundations -like academic colleges, almshouses and hospitalswhich often also had chantry functions.3
There are an uncountably large number of medieval cloisters in various states of
preservation su... more There are an uncountably large number of medieval cloisters in various states of
preservation surviving in mainland western Europe. In order to make sense of this
material, and tease it into acting as a continental context for claustral design in
England and Wales, the following paper concentrates on four aspects of the Latin
medieval cloister: its origins, uses, architecture and imagery. None of these exist in
watertight compartments, and they will flow into and out of each other, but one —
the origins of the medieval cloister — is fundamental and might be cauterised and
treated separately, if only briefly. The rest of the paper concentrates on the cloister
between the 11th and 13th centuries. There is little in it that has not already been
published, but it was felt it would be useful to bring some of this material together in
English. The paper was originally written to be read aloud, hence its rather colloquial
presentation, and the detail which should have turned it into an article is in the
endnotes.
The cathedral church of St Mary and St Chad at Lichfield stands within an approximately rectangul... more The cathedral church of St Mary and St Chad at Lichfield stands within an approximately rectangular precinct on the northern slope of a shallow valley fed by the Trunkfield and Leamonsley Brooks. The valley supports two pools, one to the south of the cathedral known as Minster Pool, and a second some 700 metres to the east at Stowe. Both are thought to be natural features which were deepened during the middle ages so as to drive mills and serve as fisheries. Though 20th-century development has eroded the divisions between the cathedral precinct, the town and Stowe, the extent to which these formed distinct settlements remains clear, particularly when it comes to the boundary between Lichfield’s market area and the cathedral precinct. Both John Leland and Daniel Defoe commented on how Minster Pool divided Lichfield and separated the town from the cathedral.
The following chapter considers the implications of this topographical situation, and describes the architectural history of the cathedral between its origins and the English Civil War.
The following paper is concerned with two buildings in southern Italy; the cathedral of Acerenza,... more The following paper is concerned with two buildings in southern Italy; the cathedral of Acerenza, and the unfinished monastic church (l’incompiuta) attached to the east of the Santissima Trinità at Venosa. Both churches are in the modern region of Basilicata (ancient Lucania) and were begun under Norman patronage to a virtually identical plan. That plan, an apse ambulatory with three radiating chapels, unaisled transepts and eastern stair vices, is so unusual in southern Italy that a variety of possible sources have been proposed, for the most part consisting of lists of 11th-century buildings with apse ambulatories in France. It will be argued here that there is nothing ‘generalised’ in the realisation of this plan, but that its detailing, in particular the wide spacing and method of receiving pairs of transverse arches on the aisle side faces of the apse piers, suggest the churches share a common Anglo-Norman model. The sculpture has elicited less comment in the critical literature, but despite the capitals having been carved by quite different workshops, both similarly point to an awareness of Anglo-Norman carving. The plan and sculpture suggest that both churches were started at some point between c. 1080 and c. 1100. However, there is a potential formal objection to this date; the extensive use of spur bases. These are of a type which surviving examples suggest were not used in England or Normandy before c. 1110. This is not irreconcilable with a late 11th-century date in southern Italy, but it needs to be borne in mind and it hints at a more complex picture than that of the straightforward reception of an Anglo-Norman plan. From a historical and political perspective, the documents referring to Venosa have been well published. There is far less diplomatic or archival evidence for Acerenza. However, there are no clear points of contact between this documentary evidence and the building archaeology and the two are best considered separately. The paper is divided into four sections, dealing respectively with the architecture, sculpture, documentary history and the southern Italian context.
The following paper considers the composition and working methods of a sculptural atelier active ... more The following paper considers the composition and working methods of a sculptural atelier active in the southern Welsh Marches over the second quarter of the 12th century. Known as the 'Herefordshire School', the workshop specialised in small-scale commissions, producing portals, corbel tables, chancel arches, tympana, and fonts. Notwithstanding a general workshop tendency to favour repetition, the sculpture was inventive and open to external influence, a susceptibility which may be due to the way the workshop operated. It regularly collaborated with other masons, while its constituent workforce seems to have been flexible, expanding or contracting according to circumstance. It will be argued that the workshop's origins can be traced to Hereford Cathedral but that once formed all the churches for which the sculptors worked were either small or required relatively little carved stonework. In this it was essentially a child of the boom in masonry parish church construction. The type of sculptural workshop organization adopted by the 'Herefordshire School' was probably relatively common in early to mid-12th-century Europe.
Emerging Naturalism: Contexts and Narratives in European Sculpture 1140-1220, 2020
The underlying chronology of English great church building did not favour late Romanesque sculptu... more The underlying chronology of English great church building did not favour late Romanesque sculpture. Every English medieval cathedral was constructed or reconstructed in the decades following the Norman Conquest of 1066, and virtually all seem to have been complete by circa 1150. Matters change if one includes monastic churches, though even here many of the wealthiest monasteries were pre-Conquest foundations and had been replaced by the early twelfth century. Thus, the evidence for late Romanesque work tends to be confined to a handful of new foundations, the replacement or renovation of cathedral and monastic conventual precincts, or is a response to disaster, as with the reconstruction of Rochester cathedral following the fire of 1137, Canterbury after 1174 or Glastonbury after 1184. Even so, little survives in-situ, and any sense of the stylistic and iconographical idioms of late Romanesque sculpture in England is heavily dependent on archaeological methodologies. The larger picture suggests that Romanesque geometric and decorative forms persisted through the last quarter of the twelfth century and that this long-established repertoire could be used alongside French-derived early Gothic forms. The paper concentrates on architectural sculpture, a category here interpreted to include carved stonework of all types, regardless of whether it is the work of specialist stone sculptors.
Described by Gregory of Tours as a bishop sent to Gaul by Pope Clement and martyred at Mediolanum... more Described by Gregory of Tours as a bishop sent to Gaul by Pope Clement and martyred at Mediolanum [Saintes], Eutrope [Eutropis/Eutropius] was widely believed to have been the city’s founding bishop. A church was built in his honour in the late 6th century by Bishop Palladius, which enshrined his tomb at a spot outside the city and above the Roman road to Bordeaux. This church was made over to Cluny in 1081 and was reconstructed with an exceptionally spacious crypt and raised presbytery – enjoying a dual consecration on the octave of Easter, 1096, celebrated by Pope Urban II and Bishop Ranulf of Saintes.
The eastern parts of the late 11th-century church survive, as does the plain stone sarcophagus of St-Eutrope, though the destruction of the nave in 1803 complicates efforts to reconstruct the original access arrangements to the transepts and east end. This paper discusses the background to the late-11th-century rebuilding and assesses the relative merits of the type of double-decker design adopted at Saintes.
On the evidence of surviving buildings, the forms and styles of architectural sculpture developed... more On the evidence of surviving buildings, the forms and styles of architectural sculpture developed in Aquitaine between c. 1070 and c. 1140 were widely admired, most notably in England and Spain where significant numbers of sculptural compositions are western French in origin. For the most part these compositions are imitative, or at least that is the case in England. They are the work of locally-based masons, and the sculpture is subordinated to a set of aesthetic and architectural preferences that are purely Anglo-Norman. However, there are instances where the relationship between the English ‘imitation’ and the western French ‘source’ suggests a more complex modus operandi. One such example was potentially identified by George Zarnecki over half a century ago, and the following article reviews the evidence for the foundation and construction of the first church at Shobdon (Herefordshire). It argues that an experienced sculptor from the Poitou probably did work at Shobdon, though it is likely that he arrived after the church had been started, and that he worked alongside an established Anglo-Norman workshop. It is appreciably less likely that this sculptor worked elsewhere in Herefordshire or the Welsh Marches.
RÉSUMÉ
En Angleterre, la plupart des grands monastères clunisiens ont été fondés globalement entr... more RÉSUMÉ En Angleterre, la plupart des grands monastères clunisiens ont été fondés globalement entre 1080 et 1110. Ils ont tous été dissouts au cours du XVIe siècle, si bien qu’il ne subsiste aujourd’hui que cinq sites conservant des vestiges substantiels. Dans cette communication je souhaite reconsidérer trois d’entre eux, les anciens prieurés de Castle Acre, Wenlock et Lewes, afin d’évaluer le développement de leur architecture jusqu’aux environs de 1200. J’en déduirai qu’à l’exception de Wenlock, où les indices sont limités, l’architecture de ces églises monastiques est remarquablement inventive. L’agencement des espaces monastiques peut être comparé à celui des monastères bénédictins en général mais, dans le contexte spécifiquement anglo-normand, ce sont des constructions tout à fait innovantes.
ABSTRACT Most of the larger Cluniac monasteries founded in England were established in a relatively short period, between c.1080 and c.1110. All were also dissolved in the 16th century, leaving no more than five where the remains are substantial. This paper will review three of these – the former priories of Castle Acre, Wenlock and Lewes – with a view to assessing their architectural development up to c.1200. It concludes that with the exception of Wenlock, where the evidence is limited, the architecture espoused by their monastic churches is remarkably inventive in character. The designs adopted in their monastic precincts can be compared to 12th-century Benedictine monasteries more generally, but may have been pioneering in an Anglo-Norman context.
Bien qu’elle ait été fortement endommagée en 1944, la grande salle de l’Échiquier, à Caen, est le... more Bien qu’elle ait été fortement endommagée en 1944, la grande salle de l’Échiquier, à Caen, est le mieux préservé des bâtiments séculiers de statut élevé et à fonction non-défensive de la Normandie romane. Élevée dans la partie nord-ouest de la basse-cour du château, elle mesure 13,16m sur 32,90m, l’entrée se faisant par le pignon et des fenêtres étant placées dans la partie supérieure des murs latéraux. A la fin du XIIe siècle, on ajouta un petit bâtiment sur sa face orientale, et, au XIVe siècle une cheminée murale et une annexe au nord. D’autres modifications furent apportées au bâtiment après qu’il ait été relégué au rang d’édifice à vocation militaire, au cours du XVIe siècle ou d’une période antérieure; les transformations les plus importantes datent de 1881, mais elles furent supprimées lors de la restauration menée en 1960. Les données que l’on peut retirer de l’étude des structures, des documents picturaux et de la comparaison avec d’autres bâtiments similaires montrent cependant qu’il était, à l’origine (et c’est aussi le cas aujourd’hui), constitué d’un seul volume, ouvert du sol à la charpente, sans étage, comme on le croit depuis les années 1960. On attribue traditionnellement cette grande salle à Henri I, mais, selon nous, sa conception générale et sa décoration le placent à la fin du XIe siècle, et nous sommes d’avis qu’elle fut créée par Guillaume Rufus, afin de servir à certaines cérémonies. Nous supposons enfin que sa construction marqua l’introduction (ou la réintroduction) en Normandie des grandes salles hors normes, isolées des autres bâtiments et pourvues d’une architecture distincte, et qu’elle encouragea l’aristocratie normande à l’adopter au siècle suivant.
At the end of his survey of the early monastic buildings at Westminster, William Richard Lethaby ... more At the end of his survey of the early monastic buildings at Westminster, William Richard Lethaby wistfully remarked ‘a full and clearly illustrated account of eleventh and twelfth-century Westminster would be a romantic contribution to English history’. What follows is neither full nor well illustrated, nor is it possible to write a comprehensive account of the monastic precinct as it appeared c.1200. However, in the spirit of Lethaby’s romantic enterprise the authors have assembled what is known or can reasonably be deduced of the monastery at Westminster between the creation of the existing precinct, during the reign of Edward the Confessor, and the late 12th century.
Not a single English Romanesque great cloister arcade survives in-situ. Despite this, the existen... more Not a single English Romanesque great cloister arcade survives in-situ. Despite this, the existence of a number of 11th- and 12th-century rear walls, and the discovery of quantities of stonework likely to have originated in cloister arcades, make it possible to recover something of the likely appearance and character of the cloister in Anglo-Norman England. The following paper considers that evidence, and assesses how our understanding of the underlying topography and archaeology of Anglo-Norman cloisters might enable us to reconstruct their lost walks. It concludes with an appraisal of the chronology of English cloister building.
The monastic church of Christ (St-Sauveur) at Charroux was one of a number of buildings in the La... more The monastic church of Christ (St-Sauveur) at Charroux was one of a number of buildings in the Latin West that were intended to evoke the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. This is clear both from the unusually precise correspondences between the respective rotundas, and the important christological relics the rotunda at Charroux was designed to enshrine. The main building campaigns probably date to the 1060s and 1070s, but in a strikingly simple and effective modification, the rotunda was remodelled within a generation at most by the insertion of a crypt. Historically, this is most likely to have coincided with the consecration of the high altar by Pope Urban II on 10 January, 1096, some six weeks after the Council of Clermont and in the course of a journey which went on to see important consecrations of altars dedicated to the Holy Cross at Marmoutier, Vendôme and Moissac. Charroux was not alone in recreating Jerusalem in the West, but it is remarkable in realising a church of such symbolic potential at a moment of religious anxiety.
Notwithstanding attempts to equate the art and architecture of Romanesque Europe with larger hist... more Notwithstanding attempts to equate the art and architecture of Romanesque Europe with larger historical movements and events, expressions of interest in the past during the 11th and 12th centuries can be diffi cult to understand. By way of an introduction, the following paper concentrates on architecture, and the allusive potential of sites and stonework. 1
The presbytery vault at St Albans is one of only two thirteenth-century wooden vaults over a main... more The presbytery vault at St Albans is one of only two thirteenth-century wooden vaults over a main span to survive in England. A programme of cleaning and conservation carried out between 1997 and 2002, coupled with an analysis of the source and date of the timber used in its construction , significantly advanced our understanding of both the late thirteenth-century presbytery campaign at St Albans and thirteenth-century timber vault construction generally. As the inevitable density and restricted circulation of the final report on that work has hindered its wider reception, the following paper offers a summary, drawing attention to two features that may have wider implications for an appreciation of vaulting in timber. The first is that, although the general form adopted at St Albans is one associated with masonry vaulting, the wooden boards used for the vault webbing required a junction between the wall and the ridge rib, meaning that shallow liernes were originally deployed to run parallel to the central ridge. It is difficult to see this as imitative of vaulting in stone; rather it is likely to be the result of carpenters developing their own solutions to the constraints imposed by timber. Secondly, the late medieval remodelling of the vault replaced these liernes with false tiercerons, and rather nicely illustrates the ease with which timber vaulting could be modified. The dendrochronology gives a date range of 1273-93, and a date of around 1285 is suggested for the primary build. The major late medieval alterations are here associated with the second abbacy of John of Wheathampstead (1452-65).
Despite the attention of a number of scholars over the last half-century, the origins and early h... more Despite the attention of a number of scholars over the last half-century, the origins and early history of the chantry remain obscure. The following paper considers several examples of early medieval commemorative practice which may have been significant in the development of the chantry, and concludes with an attempt to establish something of an institutional, liturgical and architectural context for the medieval chantry as it found expression in later medieval England and Wales.1 MOST popular accounts of the monumental legacy of the English medieval chantry tend to identify it with small-scale forms: chapels attached to parish churches, tiny bolton annexes set outside the aisles of larger churches, or exquisite cage-like structures englobed within the larger space of a host institution.2 These enclosures, and the constitutional arrangements that caused them to be made, variously came into being in the 13th and 14th centuries, but they were only one set of responses to the religious impulses that underlie chantries and they should be set alongside a number of much larger, socially useful foundations -like academic colleges, almshouses and hospitalswhich often also had chantry functions.3
There are an uncountably large number of medieval cloisters in various states of
preservation su... more There are an uncountably large number of medieval cloisters in various states of
preservation surviving in mainland western Europe. In order to make sense of this
material, and tease it into acting as a continental context for claustral design in
England and Wales, the following paper concentrates on four aspects of the Latin
medieval cloister: its origins, uses, architecture and imagery. None of these exist in
watertight compartments, and they will flow into and out of each other, but one —
the origins of the medieval cloister — is fundamental and might be cauterised and
treated separately, if only briefly. The rest of the paper concentrates on the cloister
between the 11th and 13th centuries. There is little in it that has not already been
published, but it was felt it would be useful to bring some of this material together in
English. The paper was originally written to be read aloud, hence its rather colloquial
presentation, and the detail which should have turned it into an article is in the
endnotes.
and weight-literal and symbolicshowcases the many ways that the concept of luxury was embodied in... more and weight-literal and symbolicshowcases the many ways that the concept of luxury was embodied in objects. The British Museum's precise investigation into these ideas is a welcome contribution to an increasingly global ancient art history.
Les strategies de la narration dans la peinture médiévale: La representation de l'Ancien Testamen... more Les strategies de la narration dans la peinture médiévale: La representation de l'Ancien Testament aux IV e-XII e siècles. Edited by MARCELLO ANGHEBEN. Turnhout, Brepols, 2020. 464 pp. 210 b/w figs, 66 colour plates. ISBN 978-2-503-58171-2. €105 (hb). Prompted by the 2005-08 restoration of the nave of Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe and the related research project organised by the centre d'études de civilisation médiévale (CESCM) in Poitiers, the volume under review is concerned with pictorial cycles and their spatial settings. None more demanding and unusual than a high barrel vault. A companion volume specifically dedicated to Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe is also foreseen, which will carry the important layerby-layer analyses of the vault paintings (relevés stratigraphiques) that enable one to discern the various modifications made in the course of laying in the paint, as well as to distinguish later over-paintings and restorations. The papers are variously written in French, Italian or English and the book is loosely divided into four sections, three of them arranged geographically-central Italy and Lombardy, Saint-Savin and 'northern' painting, and Sicily, respectively-plus an opening section which unites a group of disparate papers on early narrative, late Carolingian illustrated manuscripts, Catalan Bibles and the Salerno ivories, and 11th-century Byzantine feast cycles. This is topped and tailed by Marcello Angheben's introduction and Herbert Kessler's conclusion, this last provocatively titled 'La Gènese Cotton est morte'. It should be said at the outset that notwithstanding the title, the book is less about narrative strategy than it is about transmission. Strategy in the guise of scene selection is extensively discussed, but consideration of what might be described as narrative syntax-the positioning of imagery, compositional overlaps and repeats, the arrangement and prominence of inscriptions, their absence, frames and divisions, ways of handling spatial jumps across elevations or between registers-is largely subservient to the discussion of models. The one exception is a theoretical paper by Kai Ghattas-'Reanimating the Scripture: Movement and Body Memory in the Paintings of Saint-Savin'-which uses neurophysiological research to suggest that the depiction of the human (or divine) body in motion at Saint-Savin actively exploited the spectator's ability to reanimate the feeling of movement through 'muscular echo'-the ideomotor effect. Thus, the body was encouraged to work with the eye to experience the scenes depicted. But by and large we are immersed in a world of prototypes, recensions, imitations, and adaptations.
by giulio dalvit Lorenzo Ghiberti's Commentaries (c.1448-55), a text traditionally divided into t... more by giulio dalvit Lorenzo Ghiberti's Commentaries (c.1448-55), a text traditionally divided into three books, is the first history of Western art written since 2. Crypt ambulatory, Saint-Philibert de Tournus. 9th-11th(?) century. (Photograph Alain Guerreau).
Inspired by a desire to provide anglophone students with an accessible account of recent research... more Inspired by a desire to provide anglophone students with an accessible account of recent research into art and architecture in the Iberian peninsula between the Imperial Roman period and c.1100, Rose Walker has produced a remarkably fresh and penetrating overview of a highly contested subject. Strikingly well organised and riven with personal insights, her book is far more than a summary of the state of the question. It sustains an underlying argument. Above all the author treats the Iberian peninsula as a whole. Exchange and material interdependence take precedence over religious difference, and the art of al-Andalus is seen to have had a decisive impact on both sculpture and architecture in the north between the 9th and mid-11th centuries. Not the least of Walker's achievements is the decision to end the book with the death of Alfonso VI in 1109, meaning that the 11th century is seen as a climax to a time of experiment and cultural exchange rather than as a prelude to the explosion of mature Romanesque building in the 12th century.
Patterns of survival for Romanesque building in England are very uneven. Not only is the geograph... more Patterns of survival for Romanesque building in England are very uneven. Not only is the geography and typology distorted. The chronology is off-balanceor at least we think it is. Cathedrals and established Benedictine abbeys tend to be earlymostly begun before 1100 --while parish churches, along with Augustinian and Cistercian houses, are late. The result is that general surveys of English Romanesque architecture are front-loaded, and devote much more space to the period between c. 1070 and c. 1120 than they do to the following half century. Somewhere around the time those periods intersect, English Romanesque changes character, and a sculpturally enriched architecture of great rhythmic sophistication emerges. Reading Abbey is one of several sites at which this change of ornamental register took hold, and may have been crucial in creating an appetite for evermore elaborate surface effects. Notwithstanding scholarly agreement that the architectural sculpture of Romanesque England underwent a revolution between c. 1120 and c. 1135, the nature of the transformation has never been clearly laid out. Exposure to contemporary work in Normandy and western France was demonstrably important, but what other factors were at play? Even on the narrow question of continental influence, were western French approaches to sculptural composition introduced over a very short period and then diffused from a Figure 1 Matthew Paris, Historia Anglorum (1250-59). Each king holds a building with which he is associated. William I (top left) holds Battle Abbey, William II (top right) holds
Structures. Edited by Jackie Hall and Susan Wright. 300 mm. Pp xvi + 193, 202 colour and b/w illu... more Structures. Edited by Jackie Hall and Susan Wright. 300 mm. Pp xvi + 193, 202 colour and b/w illustrations. Museum of London Archaeology, London, 2015. ISBN 978 1 907586392. £25 (hbk) Between 1997 and 2003, the nave ceiling at Peterborough Cathedral underwent a systematic programme of inspection, cleaning and conservation, coupled with chemical analyses of the surviving paint layers and extensive sampling of both the roof timbers and ceiling boards. The results were then brought together under the
Century. By ELIZABETH VALDEZ DEL ÁLAMO. Turnhout, Brepols Publishers 2012. xx plus 532 pages, 139... more Century. By ELIZABETH VALDEZ DEL ÁLAMO. Turnhout, Brepols Publishers 2012. xx plus 532 pages, 139 colour and b/w plates, 176 b/w figures. ISBN 978 2 503 51711 7. €150.
Notwithstanding a sea-change in perceptions of the architecture of the English medieval parish ch... more Notwithstanding a sea-change in perceptions of the architecture of the English medieval parish church since Warwick Rodwell's pioneering excavations at Rivenhall, Hadstock and Barton-on-Humber some thirty years ago, the subject remains very
Full set of abstracts for the eighth in the British Archaeological Association's International Ro... more Full set of abstracts for the eighth in the British Archaeological Association's International Romanesque Conference series in Valladolid
Programme for the eighth in the British Archaeological Association's International Romanesque Con... more Programme for the eighth in the British Archaeological Association's International Romanesque Conference series
Full set of abstracts for the seventh in the British Archaeological Association's international s... more Full set of abstracts for the seventh in the British Archaeological Association's international series of Romanesque conferences
Programme for the seventh in the British Archaeological Association's International Romanesque Co... more Programme for the seventh in the British Archaeological Association's International Romanesque Conference series
Set of abstracts for sixth in the BAA's series of International Romanesque confences, to be held ... more Set of abstracts for sixth in the BAA's series of International Romanesque confences, to be held in conjunction with the Dommuseum in Hildeshim. The conference has been postponed as a precaution against the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), and will now be held online from 7-10 September, 2021
Programme for the sixth in the British Archaeological Association's International Romanesque conf... more Programme for the sixth in the British Archaeological Association's International Romanesque conference series. It was originally intended to hold the conference in Hildesheim in April 2020, but having been twice postponed it was finally decided to hold the conference online.
The Regional and Transregional in Romanesque Europe considers the significance of regions in the ... more The Regional and Transregional in Romanesque Europe considers the significance of regions in the creation of Romanesque, particularly in relation to transregional and pan-European artistic styles and approaches. The categorization of Romanesque by region was a cornerstone of 19th and 20th scholarship, albeit one vulnerable to the application of anachronistic concepts of regional identity. Individual chapters explore the generation and reception of forms, the conditions that give rise to the development of transregional styles and the agencies that cut across territorial boundaries. There are studies of regional styles in Aquitaine, Castile, Sicily, Hungary and Scandinavia, workshops in Worms and the Welsh Marches, the transregional nature of liturgical furnishings, the cultural geography of the new monastic orders, metalworking in Hildesheim and the valley of the Meuse, and the links which connect Piemonte with Conques.
Complete set of abstracts for the British Archaeological Association's 2018 'Regional and Transre... more Complete set of abstracts for the British Archaeological Association's 2018 'Regional and Transregional in Romanesque' conference
Programme for the fifth in the British Archaeological Association's biennial International Romane... more Programme for the fifth in the British Archaeological Association's biennial International Romanesque conference series
The 23 chapters in this volume explore the material culture of sanctity in Latin Europe and the M... more The 23 chapters in this volume explore the material culture of sanctity in Latin Europe and the Mediterranean between c. 1000 and c. 1220, with a focus on the ways in which saints and relics were enshrined, celebrated, and displayed. Reliquary cults were particularly important during the Romanesque period, both as a means of affirming or promoting identity and as a conduit for the divine. This book covers the geography of sainthood, the development of spaces for reliquary display, the distribution of saints across cities, the use of reliquaries to draw attention to the attributes, and the virtues or miracle-working character of particular saints. Individual essays range from case studies on Verona, Hildesheim, Trondheim and Limoges, the mausoleum of Lazarus at Autun, and the patronage of Mathilda of Canossa, to reflections on local pilgrimage, the deployment of saints as physical protectors, the use of imagery where possession of a saint was disputed, island sanctuaries, and the role of Templars and Hospitallers in the promotion of relics from the Holy Land. This book will serve historians and archaeologists studying the Romanesque period, and all those interested in material culture and religious practice in Latin Europe and the Mediterranean c.
Complete set of abstracts for the British Archaeological Association's 2016 'Romanesque Saints, S... more Complete set of abstracts for the British Archaeological Association's 2016 'Romanesque Saints, Shrines and Pilgrimage' Conference
Programme for the fourth in the British Archaeological Association's biennial Romanesque Conferen... more Programme for the fourth in the British Archaeological Association's biennial Romanesque Conference Series to be held in Oxford: 4-6 April, 2016
The twenty-five papers in this volume arise from a conference jointly organised by the British Ar... more The twenty-five papers in this volume arise from a conference jointly organised by the British Archaeological Association and the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya in Barcelona. They explore the making of art and architecture in Latin Europe and the Mediterranean between c. 1000 and c. 1250, with a particular focus on questions of patronage, design and instrumentality.
The third in the BAA’s biennial International Romanesque conference series was held in conjunctio... more The third in the BAA’s biennial International Romanesque conference series was held in conjunction with the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC) in Barcelona on 7-9 April, 2014. The theme was Patrons and Processes, and the aim was to examine patronage – and agency - in their broadest senses during the Romanesque period. Thus, in addition to more traditional prosopographical approaches to patronage and papers on individual patrons, there were papers dealing with institutional patronage. Does institutional patronage differ from individual patronage, and was it understood by contemporaries as being different? The conference also addressed the people and processes involved in commissioning buildings or works of art – the mechanics of design – authorship - intermediaries and agents – and the extent to which patrons are designers. The conference convenors were Manuel Castineiras and Jordi Camps
The third in the BAA’s biennial International Romanesque conference series was held in conjunctio... more The third in the BAA’s biennial International Romanesque conference series was held in conjunction with the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC) in Barcelona on 7-9 April, 2014. The theme was Patrons and Processes, and the aim was to examine patronage – and agency - in their broadest senses during the Romanesque period. Thus, in addition to more traditional prosopographical approaches to patronage and papers on individual patrons, there were papers dealing with institutional patronage. Does institutional patronage differ from individual patronage, and was it understood by contemporaries as being different? The conference also addressed the people and processes involved in commissioning buildings or works of art – the mechanics of design – authorship - intermediaries and agents – and the extent to which patrons are designers. The conference convenors were Manuel Castineiras and Jordi Camps
The sixteen papers collected in this volume explore points of contact across the Latin, Greek and... more The sixteen papers collected in this volume explore points of contact across the Latin, Greek and Islamic worlds between c. 1000 and c. 1250. They arise from a conference organised by the British Archaeological Association in Palermo in 2012, and reflect its interest in patterns of cultural exchange across the Mediterranean, ranging from the importation of artefacts – textiles, ceramics, ivories and metalwork for the most part - to a specific desire to recruit eastern artists or emulate eastern Mediterranean buildings.
The individual essays cover a wide range of topics and media: from the ways in which the Cappella Palatina in Palermo fostered contacts between Muslim artists and Christian models, the importance of dress and textiles in the wider world of Mediterranean design, and the possible use of muslim-trained sculptors in the emergent architectural sculpture of late-11th-century northern Spain, to the significance of western saints in the development of Bethlehem as a pilgrimage centre and of eastern painters and techniques in the proliferation of panel painting in Catalonia around 1200. There are studies of buildings and the ideological purpose behind them at Canosa (Apulia), Feldebrő (Hungary), and Charroux (Aquitaine), comparative studies of the domed churches of western France, significant reappraisals of the porphyry tombs in Palermo cathedral, the pictorial programme adopted in the Baptistery at Parma, and of the chapter-house paintings at Sigena, and wide-ranging papers on the migration of images of exotic creatures across the Mediterranean and on that most elusive and apparently Mediteranean of objects – the Oliphant. The volume concludes with a study of the emergence of a supra-regional style of architectural sculpture in the western Mediterranean and evident in Barcelona, Tarragona and Provence
Résumés des conférences qui seront données lors des 49es Journées romanes de Saint-Michel de Cuxa... more Résumés des conférences qui seront données lors des 49es Journées romanes de Saint-Michel de Cuxa (66500 Codalet), sur le thème : Les grandes abbayes et l'art roman. Résumés en français et en anglais.
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Papers by John McNeill
The following chapter considers the implications of this topographical situation, and describes the architectural history of the cathedral between its origins and the English Civil War.
https://courtauld.ac.uk/research/research-resources/publications/courtauld-books-online/parish-church/
The eastern parts of the late 11th-century church survive, as does the plain stone sarcophagus of St-Eutrope, though the destruction of the nave in 1803 complicates efforts to reconstruct the original access arrangements to the transepts and east end. This paper discusses the background to the late-11th-century rebuilding and assesses the relative merits of the type of double-decker design adopted at Saintes.
En Angleterre, la plupart des grands monastères clunisiens ont été fondés globalement entre 1080 et 1110. Ils ont tous été dissouts au cours du XVIe siècle, si bien qu’il ne subsiste aujourd’hui que cinq sites conservant des vestiges substantiels. Dans cette communication je souhaite reconsidérer trois d’entre eux, les anciens prieurés de Castle Acre, Wenlock et Lewes, afin d’évaluer le développement de leur architecture jusqu’aux environs de 1200. J’en déduirai qu’à l’exception de Wenlock, où les indices sont limités, l’architecture de ces églises monastiques est remarquablement inventive. L’agencement des espaces monastiques peut être comparé à celui des monastères bénédictins en général mais, dans le contexte spécifiquement anglo-normand, ce sont des constructions tout à fait innovantes.
ABSTRACT
Most of the larger Cluniac monasteries founded in England were established in a relatively short period, between c.1080 and c.1110. All were also dissolved in the 16th century, leaving no more than five where the remains are substantial. This paper will review three of these – the former priories of Castle Acre, Wenlock and Lewes – with a view to assessing their architectural development up to c.1200. It concludes that with the exception of Wenlock, where the evidence is limited, the architecture espoused by their monastic churches is remarkably inventive in character. The designs adopted in their monastic precincts can be compared to 12th-century Benedictine monasteries more generally, but may have been pioneering in an Anglo-Norman context.
statut élevé et à fonction non-défensive de la Normandie romane. Élevée dans la partie nord-ouest de la basse-cour du château, elle mesure
13,16m sur 32,90m, l’entrée se faisant par le pignon et des fenêtres étant placées dans la partie supérieure des murs latéraux. A la fin
du XIIe siècle, on ajouta un petit bâtiment sur sa face orientale, et, au XIVe siècle une cheminée murale et une annexe au nord. D’autres
modifications furent apportées au bâtiment après qu’il ait été relégué au rang d’édifice à vocation militaire, au cours du XVIe siècle ou
d’une période antérieure; les transformations les plus importantes datent de 1881, mais elles furent supprimées lors de la restauration
menée en 1960. Les données que l’on peut retirer de l’étude des structures, des documents picturaux et de la comparaison avec d’autres
bâtiments similaires montrent cependant qu’il était, à l’origine (et c’est aussi le cas aujourd’hui), constitué d’un seul volume, ouvert du sol
à la charpente, sans étage, comme on le croit depuis les années 1960. On attribue traditionnellement cette grande salle à Henri I, mais,
selon nous, sa conception générale et sa décoration le placent à la fin du XIe siècle, et nous sommes d’avis qu’elle fut créée par Guillaume
Rufus, afin de servir à certaines cérémonies. Nous supposons enfin que sa construction marqua l’introduction (ou la réintroduction) en
Normandie des grandes salles hors normes, isolées des autres bâtiments et pourvues d’une architecture distincte, et qu’elle encouragea
l’aristocratie normande à l’adopter au siècle suivant.
preservation surviving in mainland western Europe. In order to make sense of this
material, and tease it into acting as a continental context for claustral design in
England and Wales, the following paper concentrates on four aspects of the Latin
medieval cloister: its origins, uses, architecture and imagery. None of these exist in
watertight compartments, and they will flow into and out of each other, but one —
the origins of the medieval cloister — is fundamental and might be cauterised and
treated separately, if only briefly. The rest of the paper concentrates on the cloister
between the 11th and 13th centuries. There is little in it that has not already been
published, but it was felt it would be useful to bring some of this material together in
English. The paper was originally written to be read aloud, hence its rather colloquial
presentation, and the detail which should have turned it into an article is in the
endnotes.
The following chapter considers the implications of this topographical situation, and describes the architectural history of the cathedral between its origins and the English Civil War.
https://courtauld.ac.uk/research/research-resources/publications/courtauld-books-online/parish-church/
The eastern parts of the late 11th-century church survive, as does the plain stone sarcophagus of St-Eutrope, though the destruction of the nave in 1803 complicates efforts to reconstruct the original access arrangements to the transepts and east end. This paper discusses the background to the late-11th-century rebuilding and assesses the relative merits of the type of double-decker design adopted at Saintes.
En Angleterre, la plupart des grands monastères clunisiens ont été fondés globalement entre 1080 et 1110. Ils ont tous été dissouts au cours du XVIe siècle, si bien qu’il ne subsiste aujourd’hui que cinq sites conservant des vestiges substantiels. Dans cette communication je souhaite reconsidérer trois d’entre eux, les anciens prieurés de Castle Acre, Wenlock et Lewes, afin d’évaluer le développement de leur architecture jusqu’aux environs de 1200. J’en déduirai qu’à l’exception de Wenlock, où les indices sont limités, l’architecture de ces églises monastiques est remarquablement inventive. L’agencement des espaces monastiques peut être comparé à celui des monastères bénédictins en général mais, dans le contexte spécifiquement anglo-normand, ce sont des constructions tout à fait innovantes.
ABSTRACT
Most of the larger Cluniac monasteries founded in England were established in a relatively short period, between c.1080 and c.1110. All were also dissolved in the 16th century, leaving no more than five where the remains are substantial. This paper will review three of these – the former priories of Castle Acre, Wenlock and Lewes – with a view to assessing their architectural development up to c.1200. It concludes that with the exception of Wenlock, where the evidence is limited, the architecture espoused by their monastic churches is remarkably inventive in character. The designs adopted in their monastic precincts can be compared to 12th-century Benedictine monasteries more generally, but may have been pioneering in an Anglo-Norman context.
statut élevé et à fonction non-défensive de la Normandie romane. Élevée dans la partie nord-ouest de la basse-cour du château, elle mesure
13,16m sur 32,90m, l’entrée se faisant par le pignon et des fenêtres étant placées dans la partie supérieure des murs latéraux. A la fin
du XIIe siècle, on ajouta un petit bâtiment sur sa face orientale, et, au XIVe siècle une cheminée murale et une annexe au nord. D’autres
modifications furent apportées au bâtiment après qu’il ait été relégué au rang d’édifice à vocation militaire, au cours du XVIe siècle ou
d’une période antérieure; les transformations les plus importantes datent de 1881, mais elles furent supprimées lors de la restauration
menée en 1960. Les données que l’on peut retirer de l’étude des structures, des documents picturaux et de la comparaison avec d’autres
bâtiments similaires montrent cependant qu’il était, à l’origine (et c’est aussi le cas aujourd’hui), constitué d’un seul volume, ouvert du sol
à la charpente, sans étage, comme on le croit depuis les années 1960. On attribue traditionnellement cette grande salle à Henri I, mais,
selon nous, sa conception générale et sa décoration le placent à la fin du XIe siècle, et nous sommes d’avis qu’elle fut créée par Guillaume
Rufus, afin de servir à certaines cérémonies. Nous supposons enfin que sa construction marqua l’introduction (ou la réintroduction) en
Normandie des grandes salles hors normes, isolées des autres bâtiments et pourvues d’une architecture distincte, et qu’elle encouragea
l’aristocratie normande à l’adopter au siècle suivant.
preservation surviving in mainland western Europe. In order to make sense of this
material, and tease it into acting as a continental context for claustral design in
England and Wales, the following paper concentrates on four aspects of the Latin
medieval cloister: its origins, uses, architecture and imagery. None of these exist in
watertight compartments, and they will flow into and out of each other, but one —
the origins of the medieval cloister — is fundamental and might be cauterised and
treated separately, if only briefly. The rest of the paper concentrates on the cloister
between the 11th and 13th centuries. There is little in it that has not already been
published, but it was felt it would be useful to bring some of this material together in
English. The paper was originally written to be read aloud, hence its rather colloquial
presentation, and the detail which should have turned it into an article is in the
endnotes.
The individual essays cover a wide range of topics and media: from the ways in which the Cappella Palatina in Palermo fostered contacts between Muslim artists and Christian models, the importance of dress and textiles in the wider world of Mediterranean design, and the possible use of muslim-trained sculptors in the emergent architectural sculpture of late-11th-century northern Spain, to the significance of western saints in the development of Bethlehem as a pilgrimage centre and of eastern painters and techniques in the proliferation of panel painting in Catalonia around 1200. There are studies of buildings and the ideological purpose behind them at Canosa (Apulia), Feldebrő (Hungary), and Charroux (Aquitaine), comparative studies of the domed churches of western France, significant reappraisals of the porphyry tombs in Palermo cathedral, the pictorial programme adopted in the Baptistery at Parma, and of the chapter-house paintings at Sigena, and wide-ranging papers on the migration of images of exotic creatures across the Mediterranean and on that most elusive and apparently Mediteranean of objects – the Oliphant. The volume concludes with a study of the emergence of a supra-regional style of architectural sculpture in the western Mediterranean and evident in Barcelona, Tarragona and Provence