bay chevet, was constructed between 1150 and 1250 and shows the transition in
Cistercian architecture from Romanesque to Gothic. In the austere Cistercian manner,
there is no sculpture on the capitals or façade and no stained glass.
The conventual buildings, grouped south of the church in typical Cistercian fashion,
include cloister, chapter house, and the monks’ dortoir (with a wooden ceiling), refectory,
and warming room (chauffoir). The particularly harmonious chapter house (late 12th c.)
has six bays spanned by ogival vaulting resting on polygonal pillars. The rectangular
cloister (125 feet by 109 feet), although much mutilated, still preserves its six-part
vaulting, which requires alternating strong and weak supporting columns. Structurally,
this is solved by colonnettes dividing the arches into two lancets surmounted by an
oculus. Its rich ornamentation, including sculpted capitals with floral motifs, contrasts
with the austerity of the church.
William W.Kibler/William W.Clark
[See also: CISTERCIAN ART AND ARCHITECTURE]
Aubert, Marcel. L’abbaye cistercienne de Noirlac. Paris: Société Générale d’Imprimerie et
d’Édition, 1932.
Crozet, René. L’abbaye de Noirlac et l’architecture cistercienne en Berry. Paris: Leroux, 1932.
Meslé, Émile, and Jean-Marie Jeun. L’abbaye de Noirlac. Paris: CNMHS, 1980.
NORBERT OF XANTEN
. See PRÉMONTRÉ
NORMANDY
. The medieval duchy of Normandy dates from the early 10th century, when the king of
the Franks granted territory in the lower Seine Valley to the Viking chieftain Rollo (or
Rolf), who had settled with his followers around the city of Rouen. In the century that
followed, Normandy (i.e., “Northmannia,” the lands of the Northmen) gradually
expanded until it stretched east of the Seine to the River Epte and west to the Atlantic
shore of the Cotentin. The area ruled by the Norman dukes conformed roughly to the
diocesan boundaries of the ecclesiastical province of Rouen, which had been drawn in the
days of the Roman Empire. Political, ecclesiastical, and economic development
accompanied this expansion, so that by the mid-11th century a dynamic and coherent
state had emerged in this corner of northwestern France. In 1066, the duke of Normandy
conquered England, laying the foundations for a cross-Channel realm that fused Norman
customs and language with Anglo-Saxon, marking a turning point in the history of both
the French duchy and the English kingdom. But the Normans did not restrict their
ambitions to France and England. In the 11th and 12th centuries, Norman adventurers
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