with the result that each constituent space is related to the larger whole. In a similar vein,
Carolingian construction achieved a greater degree of precision as builders turned
increasingly to stone as the primary building material in contrast to the irregular rubble
technique of previous centuries. At Saint-Philibert-de-Grandlieu (814–ca. 847), which
combined stone, brick, and rubble, the masonry is laid in regular courses and ashlar
blocks are used to articulate piers and arches. Despite these advances, however, the
essential structural characteristics of Carolingian architecture remain virtually unchanged.
While walls grew more massive, the main interior spaces were roofed in timber. The
combination of groin and barrel vaults, small domes on squinches, and horseshoe arches
at Theodulf’s oratory at Germigny-des-Prés (806) hints at the absorption of external
influences, probably from Byzantine architecture, but the Carolingian masons of Neustria
never developed a structural complexity and spatial monumentality comparable with that
of their eastern Mediterranean counterparts.
The quickening of France in the 11th and 12th centuries stimulated a burst of building
that produced rapid technical development. Although each region of France tended to
develop its own more or less distinctive traditions, Romanesque architecture can be
characterized by massive walls and a complex structure that supported stone vaults. As
the term “Romanesque” implies, this architecture approaches that of Rome in its
monumental scale and its mastery of masonry construction. Related to the Roman opera,
its muscular walls were built of rubble faced with brick or ashlar blocks and articulated
by applied shafts and arcades.
The realization of many buildings must be understood as a collaboration between
learned clerics and stonemasons. Cluny III, begun in 1095, was planned by the monks
Gunzo and Hezelo, who drew upon their sophisticated knowledge of geometry, music,
Vitruvius, and number symbolism to create a design whose order at once ensured
stability, achieved beauty, and symbolized divine perfection. But once these
programmatic decisions were made, the master mason set out the plan at full scale by
means of ropes, a measuring rod, or simple pacing off, and his workshop then raised the
structure according to long-established masonry traditions that did not require the
guidance of intellectuals. While there were infinite variations, in general southern French
Romanesque employed continuous courses of uniform bricklike masonry articulated by
corbel tables and bands and emphasized vertically continuous elements. On the other
hand, northern Romanesque techniques differentiated stone types, distinguishing frame
from fill, tended to break the elevation into separate parts and stressed horizontal
divisions.
Architectural ideas were transmitted over significant distances, as shown by the
appearance of the “pilgrimage roads” plan and elevation at Saint-Martin in Tours, Saint-
Martial in Limoges, Sainte-Foy in Conques, and Saint-Sernin in Toulouse during the last
third of the 11th century. However, the repetition of this scheme, in which the main choir
space was ringed by an ambulatory and radiating chapels and the elevation was
composed of an arcade and gallery, was likely the result of patronal interchange rather
than of migrating gangs of masons. To the contrary, Romanesque workshops, so far as
we know, maintained a regional focus. One of the ateliers at Cluny III can be followed
throughout Burgundy, where they built sections of churches at Charlieu, Anzy-le-Duc,
Macon, Perrecy-les-Forges, Vézelay, and Paray-le-Monial.
Medieval france: an encyclopedia 490