312 ANSELM(ANDGAUNILO)
The Romanesque Cathedral
a. Exterior view of the Abbey Church of the Madeleine, Vezelay, France,built in the twelfth century. This church typifies
the Romanesque style that flourished from about 1000 to 1200. The rounded arches above the portals are reminiscent of
the arches of Roman construction. The thickness of the stone walls, together with the relatively simple facade, gives the
structure the impression of solidity and solemnity. ( )
b. The nave. The rounded interior arches distribute the weight of the roof outward as well as downward, necessitating
thick stone walls. As a result, only a few small windows are possible in a Romanesque church—adding to the fortress-like
feel of the architecture. (
ANSELM:[III.]...It now seems obvious that a thing such that none greater can be
conceived cannot be thought of as nonexistent since it exists on such firm grounds of
truth. For otherwise it would not exist at all. If anyone says he thinks it does not
exist, then I declare that when he thinks this he either thinks of something than
which a greater is inconceivable, or else he does not think at all. If he does not think,
then neither does he think that what he is not thinking of is nonexistent. But if he
does think, then he thinks of something which cannot be thought of as not existing.
For if it could be conceived as nonexistent, it could be conceived as having a begin-
ning and an end. Now this is impossible. Hence if anyone thinks of it, he thinks of
something that cannot even be conceived to be nonexistent. Now whoever conceives
it thus doesn’t think of it as nonexistent, for if he did he would conceive what can’t
be conceived. Nonexistence is inconceivable, then, of something greater than which
nothing can be conceived.a. b.
Ivan Vdovin/Alamy Stock Photo©© Nat Farbman/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)