DEPARTMENT of ARCHITECTURE  College of Environmental Design

ARCH 170A  Fall 1997  S. Tobriner

Study Aid 21: November 11

LECTURE 22: EUROPEAN ARCHITECTURE IN THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES 

NORTHERN EUROPE. 
The migration period of the 1st millennium. Major "barbarian" groups: Germanic peoples, Celts, Slavs, Scandinavians (after c. 800, seafaring Scandinavian raiders are usually called Vikings). 
Similarities among the northern cultures. Houses. Pit houses vs. above-ground housing made of timber. [ Prototypical Farmhouse - Lower Saxony] The tradition of timber building unites houses of many different northern groups. Elite Life. Stratification in northern societies. Nobles' halls (ex.: 5-6C hall at Cadbury [Camelot?], England and Lojsta palace, c 1000. Boat burials (exs.: Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, Eng., M7C Anglo-Saxon burial; Viking burial at Oseburg, Norway). Military Construction. Ring forts (cashels, raths, and crannogs), Ireland; circular fortified houses and villages of the Slavs; Viking military camps. (ex.: Trelleborg, Denmark, [ model, aerial view]10-11C). Walls: Offa's Dike, 8C, England; Danevirke, begun 737, Denmark. 

NORTHERN CHRISTIANITY The Christianization of northern Europe. Irish monasticism: small monasteries in remote places: Skellig Michael, Co. Kerry, 8-9C (corbelled stone cells/clachains), Gallarus Oratory, Dingle (8C). Other elements of the Irish monastery: scriptoria, defensive towers (ex.: St. Kevin's tower, Co. Wicklow). Christian/pagan synthesis: post-in-the-ground construction Norwegian stave churches. Principal exs. shown: Saxon church at Greenstead, 1013, Lund cathedral, 12C, Lund, Norway; Bergund Church, Sogn, Norway, 12C. 

CAROLINGIAN EUROPE. The conscious return to Late Classical and Early Christian architecture as a political and religions symbol. The Frankish empire and the Battle of Tours, 732 or 733. Charlemagne, crowned 771; crowned Holy Roman Emperor, 800. 

Charlemagne's palace and capital at Aix-la-Chapelle/Aachen: draws on Byzantine and late classical architecture in palace and chapel for symbolic purposes. Charlemagne's palace, L8C. Note: audience hall, Palatine Chapel (792, Odo of Metz, architect). [model, model, plan, plan (w/ audience hall), aerial view] 

The "Torhalle", Monastery of St. Nazarius, after 767, a royal monastery at Lorsch, Germany. Torhalle possibly built as a gatehouse; modeled on Roman triumphal arch models. Note: classical decoration, painted interior. 

THE CAROLINGIAN CHURCH. St. Riquier, Centula, France, 799 (note westwork).[plan, exterior drawing] The Carolingian church: basilican plan with timber roof, westwork, painted decoration, multiple altars/ritual foci. THE MONASTERY IN CAROLINGIAN AND ROMANESQUE EUROPE. The rise of great monastic orders: The Benedictine monastery takes shape as a building type during the Carolingian era. Note parts: church, cloister, dormitory, refectory, chapter house, storehouse. The plan of St. Gall, Switzerland, ca. 820.[model] 

ROMANESQUE CHURCHES exs. of the diverse solutions to the problem of creating permanent stone and brick constructions. S. Martin du Canigou, France 1001-26, S. Miniato al Monte, [exterior - front facade, plan and modular diagram, facade] Florence, Italy, 1062-90, S. Savin sur Gartempe, France 1065-1155, S. Font, Perigueux, France, 12 C, S. Philibert, Tournus, France, 1050-1120. [perspective, nave, view west Polledri Side] 

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