Romanesque Questions
1. What is the social structure of the Romanesque world?
2. What is the religious structure of the Romanesque world?
3. What is the big deal about monasteries and abbeys?
4. What is a Romanesque church like?
5. What part does sculpture play in the Romanesque church?
6. How is church music different in the Romanesque period?
7. How is “worldly Romanesque” different from monastic life? How is it similar?
8. What is the Bayeux tapestry?
9. What is Norman style?
10. What arts are for “the common man” during the Romanesque period?
11. What are the major ideas of the Romanesque period?
12. Do we see these ideas today?
Romanesque Period 900 – 1150
1. What is the social structure of the Romanesque world?
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Feudalism / Vassalage & Fief / Manorialism
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Predetermination
Hierarchy of Feudalism
King
protection
food, $, work
Baron
Knight
(artisans)
serf
During this time, some towns re-form, national monarchies arise.
2. What is the religious structure of the Romanesque world?
Pope
Bishop
Abbot
Monk
Friar
Parish priest
Laity
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Monastic movement begins in 535 with St. Benedict
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Benedictine monks -- poverty, obedience, chastity
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Church separates from state due to the Concordat of Worms (1122)

Church preaches charity
“It is easier to fit a camel through the eye of a needle
than for a rich man to enter the City of God.”
3. What is the big deal about monasteries and abbeys?

Monastery -- community of monks

Abbey -- community of monks headed by an abbot

Rules set up by St. Benedict
The monastery is a place of Refuge
Sanctuary
Peace
Education
Libraries
Agriculture
Scriptoriums
Pilgrimages
Hospices (guest houses)
Hospitals
“Manufacturing”
. . . a city unto itself!

Monastery life centers around the cloister and the church

Cloister -- arcaded passage surrounding the atrium (courtyard) for meeting,
contemplation, etc. Cloister often becomes a synonym for monastery.
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Largest example -- Cluny
3 churches, huge! Beautiful! Sacked and burned in 1798
Carthusian Monastery in Clermont-Ferrand, France
4. What does a Romanesque church look like? _________________________
Arches, vaults, stone ceilings, arcades, heavy vaulted ceilings, bays, clerestory
windows
The floor plan changes due to
a. new requirements on mass
b. pilgrimages/ relics
5. What part does sculpture play in the Romanesque church?
a. tympanum -- demilune
b. sculpture -- high & low relief
c. capitals -- parables, stories, medieval life
tympanum at Autun Cathedral
low relief carving by Gisleburtus, the dream of the Magi
low relief by Gisleburtus at Autun, the death of Judas
high relief at Autun by Gisleburtus, Eve
6. How is church music different in the Romanesque period?
a. Odo of Cluny -b. Guido d’Arezzo –
c. Early polyphony
d. Hildegard de Bingen – given to convent, becomes Abbess, writes poetry,
hymns, medical books, illumination, and morality play!
Illustration from a collection of her visions (1151)
7. How is worldly Romanesque different from monastic life? How is it similar?
Monastic Life
Churches, Abbeys
Church’s Arts -Sculpture
Gregorian chant
Illumination
Poverty, chastity, obedience
Spiritual life –
Contemplation, intangible
Outside World
Castles, Fortresses
People’s Arts –
embroidery
epic poems
oral tradition
Loyalty & bravery
Physical life -labor, battle, tangible
8. What is the Bayeux tapestry?
 Pictorial story of the events leading up to the Battle of Hastings and the
battle itself
 William the Conqueror
 King Harold
 William invades England, battle Oct 14th, 1066
 Harold killed on battlefield
 Results of the battle:
The Tapestry -o Embroidery, natural dyes, canvas
o Sewn by the English
o Commissioned by the French
o 79 panels, 203 ft. long, 18” high, last 25 ft. blank!
o Completed in 1077 (?)
o What does it show: Fables
Detail of the battle
Violence of the battle
Left to right reading
Time
9. What is Norman style?
 Romanesque in England
 Motte and Bailey
 Keep
 Curtain wall
 Bailey
 Portcullis
 Drawbrigde
 Moat
 Parapet
 Walkway
 Tower
 Arrow Slit
 Best examples of worldly Romanesque are in England. . .
THE TOWER OF LONDON
 Built 1078 – 98 by William the Conqueror & William II
 Inside old Roman wall
 Good protection and placement
 Includes: chapel, apartments, guards’ rooms, prison, crypt
 “White Tower”
 Historically intriguing happenings
10. What arts are for the common man in the Romanesque Period?
 Music/ Oral Literature – the two are intertwined!
Beowulf -- Anglo Saxon
Nibelungenleid -- German
Le Chanson de Roland -- French
 Minstrels, jongleurs, trouveres, minnesingers, troubadours
 Generally about miracles of saints, scripture, fables, and “chanson de geste”
about “good Christian heroes.”
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Le Chanson de Roland
Not history! Legend!
Written in 1100s about events in 778
Charlemagne -- fabulous adventures, militant Christian leader
Roland -- Charlemagne’s nephew
When Charlemagne ruled, Muslim influence in Spain is spreading. Spain is a
rich, splendid Muslim stronghold. Charlemagne’s men try to make inroads
against Muslim rulers in Spain. One such battle is in the Pyrenees at Roncesvals.
Ideology fits time of first Crusaders
Chanson then serves as propaganda for the First Crusade.
11. What are the major ideas of the Romanesque Period?
 The separation of worldly and religious life
 Obedience and Courage
 Hierarchy
 “Traditional Innovations”
12. Do we see these ideas today?