Lecture 30: Cathedrals and Chapters

Cathedrals and Chapters................................................................

Lecture 30

A

ll across Europe, the 11th and 12th centuries saw Christians

undertaking ambitious building projects that revealed both self-

confidence and the economic means to take on truly large projects.

The weather was good; the crops were substantial; the population was

growing; and a sense of new possibility was in the air. One expression of

this ambitious construction was the castle, and a second, as we saw in the

last lecture, could be found in monasteries. But perhaps most emblematic

of Europe’s becoming “Christendom” in a fully self-confident fashion was

the building of huge and artistically compelling cathedrals as centers for

Catholic life in cities and towns. These magnificent edifices symbolized a

society constructed around the worship of God.

Cathedrals as Architecture

•    The cathedrals impress us today, first of all, simply as magnificent

buildings. As architecture, they reveal both a startling ambition

in a culture supposedly dedicated to humility and an ability and

persistence that still astound observers. The two main styles of

cathedral show, on one side, continuity with tradition and, on the

other side, innovative breakthroughs.

•    The Romanesque style builds on the Roman tradition of architecture,

especially in its use of the Roman arch, but in this period, the style

was often also influenced by Byzantine architecture. This Byzantine

influence is especially well represented in Italy, as in the cathedrals

of San Vitale and San Gennaro in Ravenna.

o St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice (1071) is definitely

Romanesque but shows the strong influence of Byzantine

style in its architecture, whereas the cathedrals of Pisa

(1063) and Mont Saint-Michel in France (11th century) are

typically Romanesque.