Chapter 15

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William the Conqueror (1066)
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Capetians in France and the Plantagenets in England
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Local rulers only in Germany and Italy
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Church is the guiding force in the Middle Ages, begins to decline
• Monasticism…Why?
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Jerusalem, Rome, and the Santiago de Compostela
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Crusades in 1095

• “Romanesque” is the first international style since the Roman Empire.
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Competition among cities for the largest churches, which continues in the Gothic period via a “quest for height.”
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Masonry (stone) the preferred medium. Craft of concrete essentially lost in this period.
Rejection of wooden structures or structural elements.
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East end of church the focus for liturgical services. West end for the entrance to church.
• Church portals as “billboards” for scripture or elements of faith.
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Cruciform plans. Nave and transept at right angles to one another. Church as a metaphor for heaven.
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Elevation of churches based on basilican forms, but with the nave higher than the side aisles.
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Interiors articulated by repetitive series of moldings. Heavy masonry forms seem lighter with applied decoration.
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Bays divide the nave into compartments
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Round-headed arches the norm.
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Tripartite division of the elevation continues from the earlier periods.
11 Characteristics that make "Romanesque" what it is:

• transept
• crossing
• apse
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Choir
•
Gallery
• ambulatory
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Baptistry
•
Campanile
•
Sanctuary
• monastic orders
• groin vault
• compound pier
• cruciform plan
•
Portal
•
Romanesque
• reliquary
• tympanum

Abbey Church of Conques, France
Late 9 th Cent.
Silver gilt over wood with gems and cameos
Why isn’t this an idol? How is it different than a Venus statue?

Apse, church of San
Climent, Catalunya,
Spain
Byzantine meets
Mozarabic

Nave vault
Abbey church of Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe, France c. 1115

South portal and porch
Christ in Majesty
Priory church of
Saint-Pierre,
Moissac, 1115Ce

Christ in Majesty tympanum
Priory Church of Saint-Pierre

Trumeau,
Priory
Church

Reliefs of left wall