Rouen, Saint-Ouen. Photograph
courtesy of Whitney S.Stoddard.
manesque building. Construction began in 1318 at the east end and continued into the
15th century. The long, narrow structure is composed of ten bays in the nave with single
aisles, three bays in the choir with radiating chapels, and a compact transept. The three-
story elevation is filled with eighty bays of stained glass dating from the 14th and 15th
centuries.
The church of Saint-Maclou, just east of the cathedral, is the third edifice on this site.
Built between 1436 and 1520, it is a beautiful example of Flamboyant Gothic style as
seen in the exterior silhouette with crocketed gables, arcades, and pinnacles with
openwork tracery. The plan of nave, transept, and choir with surrounding aisle chapels
forms a cross with equal arms that center on the crossing. The convex five-bay western
porch echoes the curve of the eastern radiating chapels. Wooden door panels are carved
with an extensive iconographic program.
Karen Gould
[See also: HENRY V; JEAN D’ANDELYS; JEANNE D’ARC; NORMANDY;
PHILIP II AUGUSTUS]
Blois, Guy. The Crisis of Feudalism: Economy and Society in Eastern Normandy ca. 1300–1550.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984.
Cheruel, Adolphe. Histoire de Rouen sous la domination anglaise. 1840; repr. Geneva: Slatkine-
Megariotis, 1976.
Lanfry, Georges. Cahiers de Notre-Dame de Rouen. Rouen: Cerf, 1956–63.
Lefrançois-Pillon, Louise. Les portails latéraux de la cathédrale de Rouen. Paris: Picard, 1907.
Medieval france: an encyclopedia 1556