Romanesque architecture and cultural transformation in medieval Europe

Romanesque_Construction

The term Romanesque is an architectural class that refers to the art and architecture of the Mid -- Late Medieval Period in Europe (1000 to 1240 AD). It was coined in the nineteenth century to describe features of the post-Roman Empire style. This period saw the decline and downfall of the Roman Empire. Romanesque elements comprise round-headed arches, barrel vaults, apses, and decorations, and in southern Europe are often blended with Byzantine elements (Atrisgerinko). Additionally, the Romanesque style developed to reflect a rebirth of art, science, and culture in the High Middle Ages. This European intellectual revival came with a great deal of social, political, and economic transformation (Benson).

The Romanesque architectural style coincided with the twelfth-century renaissance. One therefore expects to find evidence for cultural and scientific influences in construction technology. In cultural terms, the heavy, strong, and dark building that characterizes the Romanesque is reminiscent of Crusader castles. While Romanesque churches are religiously motivated, the style and motif take after the militaristic fortress. It is clear that influence has come back from the Crusades experience and combined with the new power of the Catholic Church to produce these monumental ecclesiastical structures. Perhaps sensing impending defeat at the hands of the Muslims as well as the devastation of the plague, there is a sort of defensiveness to the thick Romanesque style that reflects cultural awareness.

In terms of science, the Romanesque style is built on rounded arches, barrel vaults, and apses. The exterior walls and pillars are thick and heavy. These were constructed on Roman models that sought harmonious proportions, as well as symmetrical planning and design ratios based on the classical and Arabic mathematics recovered from the Crusades. They clearly represented the intellectual revival that was going on during the High Middle Ages and centred on the newly established universities brought over from Islamic models. In these universities, classical and Islamic texts in all fields of science and literature were being consumed. Through the education system that trained master builders within the nobility, all this knowledge was applied to the field of construction.

Beautiful craftsmanship is also in evidence in the renewed emphasis on building interior spaces that were comfortable. Indoor plumbing advanced as never before. Blind arches were used decoratively, along with small windows, arched roof supports, and painting. Walls were covered with Persian tapestries as much for aesthetics as for insulation. Stained glass was advanced, as evident at Chartres Cathedral (thirteenth century). Attention was paid to interior furniture that used skilled wrought-iron workmanship. None of this is surprising given the cultural advances during this time in enamel and ivory work (from exposure to trade with the East during the Crusades) and the wealth of the renewed church, which could pour its resources into building programs. There were also advances in bronze and gold sculpture, embroidery, and the illumination of manuscripts (Toman). All this signifies a period of tremendous vitality for crafts, at least in the construction of interiors, which would be expected to contribute to the ardent decoration of Romanesque architecture. It was the gentle side of military architecture that was carried over from castle interiors.

Pisa Cathedral (1063 -- 1118 AD) demonstrated both sides of early Romanesque architecture. The exterior was made of Tuscan marble. The cathedral had arcaded galleries, round-headed arches, a coffered ceiling over the nave, reused classical columns of granite or marble, and an ellipsoidal dome at the crossing. Around AD 1180 a bronze door with biblical scenes designed by Bonnano Pisano was installed. Inside, the decagonal white marble pulpit carved from AD 1302 to 1311 by Giovanni Pisano formed one of the most impressive features. The cathedral was clearly a synthesis of working labour and skilled artisanship.

Though in principle called Romanesque, the Cathedral of Pisa exhibits aspects of Romanesque, Islamic, Byzantine, and trans-Alpine architectural influence. The plan is more Early Christian, or even Roman, than Romanesque in nature. Each arm of the transept has its own apse, like two small basilicas fastened to a larger one. The Piazza del Duomo has archaeological beginnings that date back to at least the 6th century B.C. Remains of a Paleo-Christian church also exist underneath the foundations of the cathedral today.

The Basilica of St. Sernin is a church in Toulouse that was built in the Romanesque style between about 1080 and 1120. It is positioned on the site of a previous basilica of the 4th century which contained the body of Saint Saturnin or Sernin, the first bishop of Toulouse in c. 250 (Saint-Sernin basilica Toulouse, 2011). Because the region around Toulouse had very little building stone, the church was primarily built of local peach-colored brick. The builders utilized stone only for such special details as window-openings, doorways, corner-moldings and sculptural decoration.

In spite of being called a basilica, Saint-Sernin departs from the basilica plan of early Christian architecture in a number of ways. Saint-Sernin is much bigger compared to earlier churches. It is also built just about entirely of brick. It is a cruciform, or cross-shaped building. The ceilings are vaulted, dissimilar from a lot of the earlier churches. Saint-Sernin contains shining chapels which were utilized to display important relics. Another deviation from the earlier Christian churches is the addition of a walkway that goes around the nave and side aisles to allow viewing of the radiating chapels, which could be done while mass was being held without disturbing the ceremony. For these and other reasons, Saint-Sernin is frequently said to follow the Pilgrimage Plan as an alternative to the traditional Basilica plan (Saint-Sernin basilica Toulouse, 2011).

The St. Sernin, Toulouse is one of the earliest examples of stone vaulting, and was a stop on the pilgrimage route through southwestern France to Santiago de Compostela. The architects designed this church to meet the demand of the large amounts of people who came through on their pilgrimages. The architects did a number of things to make sure that there would be enough space available. They augmented the length of the nave, doubled the size of the side aisles, and added a transept, ambulatory, along with radiating chapels.

Durham Cathedral has been portrayed as one of the great architectural experiences of Europe. It is well-known as a masterpiece of Romanesque architecture. It was started in 1093 and mostly finished within forty years. It is the only cathedral in England to keep hold of roughly all of its Norman craftsmanship, and one of the few to protect the unity and integrity of its original design.

William St. Carileph was the man who was responsible for constructing the Cathedral of Durham. Carileph designed the biggest part of the Cathedral of Durham as it stands today and started its construction in the year 1093. Living in the site of the old stone minster built by Uchted, the new building was finished to the bishop's designs in about forty years. Regrettably Carileph did not live long enough to see the conclusion of his cathedral in 1135 (Durham Cathedral Carileph's Cathedral, 2009).

Building technology throughout this time lagged behind that of the early Romans, the Muslim people and the Chinese. During this time a number of cathedrals of exceptional size and height were constructed. In order to achieve these stunning dimensions, mostly noticeable in the roomy interiors, the cathedral buildings utilized three technical innovations. These were the ribbed vault, the pointed arch and the flying buttress. These three elements were first utilized together at the Durham Cathedral. Even though the ribbed vaults were essential to the first design and the pointed arch was added over a quarter of century later, the fundamental structure of the Durham Cathedral was replicated soon afterwards in a number of cathedrals all across Europe (Bunch & Hellemans, 2004).

This building is notable for the ribbed vault of the nave roof, with pointed transverse arches supported on moderately slender composite piers varying with massive drum columns, and flying buttresses or lateral abutments hidden within the triforium over the aisles. These features emerge to be precursors of the Gothic architecture of Northern France a few decades later, undoubtedly due to the Norman stonemasons responsible, although the building is considered Romanesque overall. The skilled utilization of the pointed arch and ribbed vault made it possible to cover far more complicated and complex ground plans than ever before. Buttressing made it feasible to build taller buildings and open up the dominant wall spaces to generate larger windows (Clifton-Taylor, 1967).

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5. Conclusion

The skilled labour was astute during the Romanesque period. All the previously mentioned ornamentation indicated a high level of craftsmanship. Perhaps many of the workers came out of the cottage industry style of organisation that had developed during the twelfth-century renaissance. This social arrangement of industry was like a collective workshop where families who lived adjacent to one another gathered in a specialised division of labour to make a particular product. This foreshadowed later Industrial Revolution techniques. Each house represented a different step in the production process. There was no centralized authority and the work was divvied up among the members, each contributing their own set of skills to the final product. The advantages in efficiency were evident, as are the ways of apprenticing younger members slowly into the family trade.

The more probable model is that the skilled labour was taken from the guilds, whose power was on the rise throughout Europe after AD 1100. Artistic and trade guilds selected their members. Such pooled labour provided training, experience, a career trajectory, and security for the craftsman, who could eventually work through the stage of journeyman to master craftsman. This system allowed for the concentration of skilled labour and guaranteed quality controls. Non-members were excluded from building projects. It was an early form of labour union. At times these guilds had a monopoly on trade labour. Out of some system like this it is likely that the labour came to work on buildings like Pisa Cathedral. The master builders themselves would have been influenced by knowledge generated in the intellectual revival at the universities. The Catholic Church was their principal patron. Pisa Cathedral was built over time by a number of master architects, including Buscheto, Diotisalvi, and Pisano, although not much is known about their experience or management techniques.

The Romanesque master builders integrated structural advances in technology into their architecture to facilitate larger and taller buildings with new features and decorative styling. For example, the arch was utilized in a new form. The semi-circular arch, which evolved into the Gothic style, was the first major development in building techniques since the Roman Empire. This structure of arch increased building strength and load-bearing capability. The stone vault ceiling and buttress were also used on a wider scale. Likewise, the use of symmetrical planning and ratio in design established a keen application of mathematical knowledge to building technology (Fletcher).

During this time trade guilds were formed by skilled tradesmen, including leather goods makers, furniture makers, and blacksmiths. These guilds which were precursors to labour unions, organized the specialized labour that was necessary for society to stay in operation. Characteristically the craftsmen worked out of their shops, which were positioned in or next to their homes (History of Organization of Work). The guild system reached a mature state in Germany circa 1300 and held on in the German cities into the 19th Century. By the 15th Century, Hamburg had one hundred guilds in operation. The latest guilds to develop in Western Europe were the gremios of Spain (Burton and Marique). These guilds shaped labor, production and trade. It was often seen that many industries developed specialized guilds. The appearance of the European guilds was thought to be tied to the emergent money economy, and to urbanization. Prior to this it was not possible to run a money-driven organization, as commodity money was the usual way of doing business during this time (Braudel).

Founders of guilds were normally free, independent master craftsmen and it was only these select few who were allowed to become full members. It was only after a period of apprenticeship and journeying that artisans join a guild (Guild). Apprentices would typically not learn more than the most fundamental techniques until they were thought to be able to keep the guilds secrets. This system of apprenticeship first developed in the later Middle Ages and came to be governed by craft guilds and town governments.

There were some cities that did not use guilds and were deemed free. The pooling of labour in the trades made the guilds a very powerful force. Part of the notion was job security, so that out of the guilds developed the idea of lifetime progression within a particular trade or craft. The progression was from apprentice through journeyman to master craftsman, just as it is today. The trouble with a guild was that non-members were excluded from the trade. There were historical cases of struggle between greater guilds and the lesser artisan guilds. What is noteworthy is that in the places where the guilds functioned they held a monopoly on trade in that particular craft. Additionally, master builders often apprenticed their sons and grandsons to their projects, allowing for continuity and a sort of family craft to carry on.

The Romanesque master builders often integrated structural advances in technology into their architecture in order to facilitate larger and taller buildings with new features and decorative styling. For example, the arch was utilized in a new form. The stone vault ceiling and buttress were also employed on a wider scale. Similarly, the utilization of symmetrical planning and ratio in design confirmed a keen application of mathematical knowledge to building technology (Fletcher). The master builders took into account interior factors as well when developing plans. Concepts of the utilization of space were changed (Carlsson 91 -- 114). Interior planning utilised mathematics, knowledge of materials, and specialized tools in order to create personal living spaces inside fortified buildings.

This led to a new idea in the design of comfort that forced master builders to think about technical issues such as indoor plumbing, water, and insulation from heat and cold. Objects and architectural features frequently had both functional and aesthetic value together. During the Crusades, the use of Middle Eastern rugs became very stylish. At first they were used for decorative purposes rather than to cover floors. The stone walls began to be plastered in order to insulate them against both heat and cold, which in turn made possible the painting of frescoes for decoration (Erlich 85 -- 93). Aesthetically, the master builders utilised enamel and ivory work, as well as detailed bronze and gold sculptures, as stylish adornments. Stained glass and embroidery were extensive and detailed (Toman). The Normans builders also hung their walls with tapestries. These utilities mitigated to some degree the frequently harsh, dark, and heavy stone appearance of the Romanesque period.

The length of time that was required to complete the grand Romanesque cathedrals gives some indication of how enormous these projects were. Frequently they took generations to build, exceeding by a lot of years the time it took to finish the Roman projects. The techniques were massive as well, exceeding those used in several hundred prior years. The builders used large-scale machinery alongside human capital and material resources (Sacred Destinations). Due to the prolonged existence of the construction process and advances that were made in architectural techniques, there were recurrent additions to the original plans. These design changes resulted in a mixed look within the structure (Conant). Generally the Romanesque period was important in introducing a heavy and bulky construction style of building into Western architecture that included the semi-circular arch while retaining ties with the past.

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5. Conclusion

The amount of labour used on Gothic cathedrals was large and required many skilled masons. In terms of workforce, a robust army of at least 5,000 craftsmen and several hundred craft masters was employed from the guilds on Notre-Dame (Temko 107). Labour was needed for quarrying stone, dressing it, hoisting it, and loading it for transportation. Temko describes the Notre Dame site on the Ile-de-France as containing a planning office and a bustling workshop full of machines and skilled operators (Temko 140). Fitchen has shown how scaffolding, shoring, and centring were used by Gothic builders (Fitchen 17 -- 8). In other words, there was plenty of skilled labour for the job, all organized in a rational way and with clear divisions of labour.

Due to the length of time the Gothic cathedral took to complete, often many master builders were involved. At Notre Dame, for example, it is estimated that there were four or five anonymous master builders. With each new builder, different standards, calculations, and designs took effect. Earlier work was altered, refined, or revised. At Notre Dame, for instance, the design was altered with the addition by the second builder of flying buttresses and chapels (Bruzelius). Therefore, planning was necessary to retain coherence and continuity in design, and to prevent additional costs and delays. There were inefficiencies and work occasionally stopped. Finally the design process matured to include small-scale modelling that tested the stability of a proposed design before it was built (Branner). This reflected the experimental and courageous nature of Gothic architecture, and foreshadowed the Baroque period when Wren's models became essential to the process.

By the norms of the period and due to the fact that there was limited development of technology, Europe was overpopulated in relation to its land base by the early-14th Century. Starting in 1347, plague and famine hit a population that was already poor and malnourished, and the plague recurred in the 1360s and in waves up until the 18th Century (Medieval Economics). Urban development in the absence of mechanization and industrialization was limited to more than likely no more than twenty percent of the population. Heavy taxation and lack of arable land contributed to the poverty and misery of the peasants and serfs, and this hierarchical society was not particularly open to innovation (Medieval Economics).

Nonetheless, dduring the Gothic Period, trade guilds flourished. These guilds sent men to work on construction projects. Already with superior literacy, more precise record keeping, and a system of patronage, the reputation of some artists was mounting (Cahill). In order to see an indication of the challenge that master builders had during this time it is helpful to look at where they worked. A possible scenario that might have taken place at the construction site for a Gothic cathedral included excavation with shovels, carts, hoists, and sledge hammers. After this was completed the master mason would use his level and plumb line to make sure that the foundation was level. Once the foundation had dried, the walls would begin to be put up. This task required many masons and labourers to be present, mixing mortar and laying stones. Machines would be present all over the site. Cranes, winches and pulleys, ramps, levers, and wheel-driven machinery were used. As the cranes moved stones, skilled workers who stood on scaffolding with tools would use hoists to pull materials up to the walls. The vaults and arches would appear over the course of the years. Supervising this entire operation was that of the master builders.

Among the Gothic master builders, there are three masters that demonstrate the knowledge and education of a typical medieval architect. These master builders were Abbot Sugar, Villard de Honnecourt and Albertus Magnus. Suger was one of the first great patrons and supporters of Gothic architecture in France. Suger and his masons often used several of the new features which had come about during this time period. These new features included the pointed arch, the ribbed vault, the ambulatory with radiating chapels, the clustered columns supporting ribs (Panofsky 1-17). Due to the fact that the Angevin monarchs had lent so much influence this new Gothic style was introduced to England and quickly spread throughout France, the Low Countries, Germany, Spain, northern Italy and Sicily (Harvey).

Villard de Honnecourt was an artist from France. He was very famous for his drawings of buildings, machines, animals and the human figure. Even though he was probably never an architect or builder in his own right, he was very interested in the construction of great Gothic buildings. He often made sketches of saws, cranes, lifting machines, and various military weapons, as well as the new pointed arches that had been brought back from the Crusades.

Magnus was a Domincan theologian who also had a strong interest in architecture and Gothic building methods. He taught many of the great master builders and stonemasons of the period. Later many of these men named their lodges after him and referred to his methods as the "Albertus System." Magnus is often referred to in texts as the great teacher and inspiration for many of the famous architectural monuments that were built during the Gothic era.

In the late twelfth century, wealth and prosperity drove great economic progress. New commercial centres began to spring up everywhere. This period was dominated in Western and Northern Europe by ecclesiastical construction projects taking place in towns. Over several hundred years, cities in Western Europe attempted to outdo each other in generating the most splendid Gothic cathedral. There was an almost a commercial component to this competition. Building a grand cathedral was one way to draw pilgrims, and therefore wealth and importance to a city. Consequently, the merchants added their wealth to those of the Catholic Church. This lends to the idea that cathedral construction was influenced greatly by economic motives. Simultaneously because of the time invested in building Gothic cathedrals, enormous funding was required along with supervision by way of a project governance structure. It is believed that that the Chartres Cathedral project cost around $1 billion by today's standards, and the project was subject to a steady cycle of stops and starts as funding became scarce (Lesson-from-History). Along with funding issues time management issues were another important management consideration. Because of the lack of technological know how, Gothic cathedral projects often took generations to complete. It was not unusual for work to continue for over 100 years (Lesson-from-History).

A good example of this was the construction of the Cathedral of Santa Maria Fiore in Florence, Italy. This project was started in 1296. Its first architect, the sculptor Arnolfo di Cambio, never had a plan for finishing it. He had no idea how to dome-over the enormously wide crossing, but began to build it anyway. It is thought that he might have planned on coming up with something to finish it as he went along, but that did not appear to happen. The problem was that none of his successor did either. For over the next hundred years the problem remained unresolved. It seemed that nobody knew how to finish the project (Ramroth xiii).

The administrative team who was overseeing the design and construction of the church, the Opera del Duomo, was stumped. So in 1418 the Opera del Duomo announced a competition with the hope of receiving creative ideas for solving the great puzzle of how to finish the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore. The prize was two hundred gold florins. As it turned out, the winner also received the commission to complete the church. The genius Filippo Brunelleschi won the competition and under his leadership, the design and construction process for the magnificent octagon-shaped dome began. The dome was finally completed in 1436; nearly one hundred and forty years after the project had started.