Norman architecture
The term Norman architecture is used to categorise styles of Romanesque architecture developed by the Normans in the various lands under their dominion or influence in the 11th and 12th centuries. In particular the term is traditionally used for English Romanesque architecture. The Normans introduced large numbers of castles and fortifications including Norman keeps, and at the same time monasteries, abbeys, churches and cathedrals, in a style characterised by the usual Romanesque rounded arches (particularly over windows and doorways) and especially massive proportions compared to other regional variations of the style.
Origins
These Romanesque styles originated in Normandy and became widespread in northwestern Europe, particularly in England, which contributed considerable development and where the largest number of examples survived. At about the same time, a Norman dynasty that ruled in Sicily produced a distinctive variation–incorporating Byzantine and Saracen influences–also known as Norman architecture (or alternatively Sicilian Romanesque).[1]
The term Norman may have originated with eighteenth-century antiquarians, but its usage in a sequence of styles has been attributed to Thomas Rickman in his 1817 work An Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of English Architecture from the Conquest to the Reformation. In this work he used the labels "Norman, Early English, Decorated, and Perpendicular". The more inclusive term romanesque was used of the Romance languages in English by 1715,[2] and was applied to architecture of the eleventh and twelfth centuries from 1819.[3]
Although Edward the Confessor built the original Westminster Abbey in Romanesque style (now all replaced by later rebuildings), its construction predates the Norman Conquest: it is still believed to have been the earliest major Romanesque building in England. No other significant remaining Romanesque architecture in Britain can clearly be shown to predate the Norman Conquest. However, historians believe that many surviving "Norman" elements in buildings–nearly all churches–may well in fact be Anglo-Saxon elements.
Norman arch
The Norman arch is a defining point of Norman architecture. Grand
Normandy
England
In
The buildings show massive proportions in simple geometries using small bands of
After a fire damaged Canterbury Cathedral in 1174 Norman masons introduced the new Gothic architecture. Around 1191 Wells Cathedral and Lincoln Cathedral brought in the English Gothic style, and Norman became increasingly a modest style of provincial building.
Ecclesiastical architecture
- Oxford Castle 1074: church tower doubles as a place of refuge
- St John's Chapel (c. 1078), Tower of London
- ribbed vaultsystem with pointed arches
- Winchester Cathedral (from 1079)
- Ely Cathedral (1083–1109)
- Peterborough Cathedral (from 1118)
- Kilpeck Church, Herefordshire
- St Nicholas Church, Pyrford, Surrey (c. 1140)
- Southwell Minster
- St Mary the Virgin, Iffley, Oxfordshire (1170)
- St Swithun'sin Nately Scures, Hampshire (1175), an example of a Norman single-cell apsidal church.
- Norwich Cathedral (1096–1145)
- St Edward's Church (eleventh century)
- St Botolph's Priory, Colchester
- St John's Abbey, Colchester
- Tewkesbury Abbey (c. 1102)
- St Germans Priory, Cornwall (12th Century)
- Church of St Peter and St Paul, Trottiscliffe, Kent
- St Peter's Church, Tickencote, Rutland – Norman chancel
- Dunstable Priory
Bibliography
- Sedding, Edmund H. (1909) Norman Architecture in Cornwall: a handbook to old ecclesiastical architecture. With over 160 plates. London: Ward & Co.
Military architecture
- White Tower (Tower of London)
- Rochester Castle
- Norwich Castle
- Colchester Castle, the largest Norman castle built and the first stone Keep in England[6][7]
- Hedingham Castle, Essex
- Carrickfergus Castle, the best preserved Norman castle on the island of Ireland. Though it was heavily renovated, the keep, land walls and gatehouse are reasonably intact.
Domestic architecture
- Lincoln
- Boothby Pagnell Manor, Lincolnshire
- Oakham Castle, Rutland
- Moyse's Hall Museum, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk (c. 1180)[8]
Scotland
Ecclesiastical architecture
- Dunfermline Abbey, Dunfermline (founded about 1070 by St Margaret) grid reference NT089872
- St Andrew Cathedral (from about 1070) grid reference NO516166
- Dalmeny parish church (from about 1130) grid reference NT144775
- Jedburgh Abbey, Jedburgh (founded about 1138 by David I) grid reference NT650204
- St Athernase Church, Leuchars (12th century) grid reference NO455215
- Kirkliston Parish Church, Edinburgh (late 12th century)
Ireland
The Normans first landed in Ireland in 1169. Within five years earthwork
Italy
Mezzogiorno
The Normans began constructing castles, their trademark architectural piece, in Italy from an early date.
Besides the encastellation of the countryside, the Normans erected several religious buildings which still survive. They edified the shrine at Monte Sant'Angelo and built a mausoleum to the Hauteville family at Venosa. They also built many new Latin monasteries, including the famous foundation of Sant'Eufemia Lamezia.[10] Other examples of great importance are the portal of the Shrine of Mary Queen of Anglona and the ambulatory and radiating chapels of the Aversa Cathedral.
Here is a list of Norman architecture in the Mezzogiorno :
- Castle of Circello.
- Castle Monforte (Campobasso).
- Basilica of St. Peter Alli Marmi(Salerno)
Sicily
Sicily's Norman period lasted from c. 1061 until about 1200. The architecture was decorated in gilded mosaics such as that at the cathedral at Monreale. The Palatine Chapel in Palermo built in 1130 is perhaps the strongest example of this. The interior of the dome, (itself a Byzantine feature), is decorated in a mosaic depicting Christ Pantocrator accompanied by his angels.
During Sicily's later Norman era early Gothic influences can be detected such as those in the
- Edifices in Palermo
- Norman palace with its Palatine Chapel
- Zisa
- Cuba
- Castle of Maredolce
- Cathedral of Palermo
- San Giovanni dei Lebbrosi
- San Giovanni degli Eremiti
- Martorana
- San Cataldo
- Church of the Holy Spirit (Sicily) also known as Chiesa del Vespro
- Santissima TrinitàChiesa della Magioneknown as
- The Admiral's Bridge ("Ponte dell'Ammiraglio")
- Benedictine cloister
- Cefalù Cathedral
- Edifices in Messina
- Messina Cathedral
- Church of Chiesa di Santa Maria della Valle
- Church of the Santissima Annunziata dei Catalani
- Erice the Venus Castle and the main church ("Duomo dell'Assunta")
- Castelvetrano, Church of the Santissima Trinità di Delia
- Casalvecchio Siculo, Church of Santi Pietro e Paolo d'Agrò
- Itala, the Arabic Norman Church of Saints Peter and Paul
- Montalbano Elicona, Palatine Chapel
- Sciacca, Church of San Nicolò la Latina and Church of Santa Maria della Raccomandata
- Caltanissetta, Abbey of the Santo Spirito
- San Fratello, Shrine of the Tre Santi
- Maniace, Norman bridge and Castle of Nelson (old Abbey of St. Mary in Maniace)
- Syracuse, Church of San Nicolò ai Cordari and Church of San Giovanni alle catacombe (St. John the Catacombs)
- Nicosia (Sicily), Norman castle
- Castle of Milazzo
- San Marco d'Alunzio, Ruins of the Norman Church of St Saviour (S. Salvatore) and ruins of the Norman castle
- Adrano, Norman castle
- Aci Castello
- Motta Sant'Anastasia, Norman tower (Dongione)
- Caronia, Norman castle
- Catania Cathedral
- Ponte dei Saraceni (Norman bridge), Adrano
- Ponte Calatrasi (Norman bridge), Roccamena
- Ponte di Cerami (Norman bridge), Cerami
Malta
After its Norman conquest in 1091, Malta saw the construction of several Norman pieces of architecture. Many have been demolished and rebuilt over the years (especially after the
Transitional style
As
Neo-Norman
Neo-Norman architecture is a type of Romanesque Revival architecture based on Norman Romanesque architecture. There is sometimes confusion, especially in North America, between this style and revivalist versions of vernacular or later architecture of Normandy, such as the "Norman farmhouse style" popular for larger houses.
Romanesque Revival versions focus on the arch and capitals, and decorated doorways. There are two examples in Manchester: the former Stock Exchange building and a synagogue in Fallowfield.
Gallery
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Castle at Raviscanina: redoubt of the rebel Andrew of Rupecanina
-
The Palazzo dei Normanni in Palermo
-
TheCathedral of Cefalùin Sicily
-
TheCathedral of Palermo was erected in 1185 by Walter Ophamil, the archbishop of Palermo and King William II's minister
-
New Romney church tower, an example of English small-town Norman architecture
-
Winchester Cathedral, an example of Norman architecture in England
-
St Bees Priory, Cumbria, west door, c. 1160
-
St Michael's church at Mickleham in Surrey, c. 950-1180
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Archway in St Leonard's church, Hythe, Kent
See also
References
- ISBN 9781108488167.
- OED "Romanesque": in French a letter of 1818 by Charles-Alexis-Adrien Duhérissier de Gervilleseems to be the first
- ^ OED same entry; in French by Gerville's friend Arcisse de Caumont in his Essaie sur l'architecture du moyen âge, particulièrement en Normandie, 1824.
- ^ Bloxam, Matthew Holbeche (1841). The Principles of Gothic Ecclesiastical Architecture. Oxford: John Henry Parker. pp. 52–57.
- JSTOR 44245200.
- ISBN 1 897719 04 3)
- ISBN 978-0-7524-3214-4)
- ^ "Moyse's Hall museum". Moyseshall.org. Retrieved 2011-06-11.
- ISBN 978-0-415-22853-4
- ^ "Abbazia Benedettina di Sant' Eufemia". Retrieved 10 April 2017.
- ^ "Gothic Architecture in England". Britainexpress.com. Retrieved 2011-06-11.
- ^ "Norman Gothic". Racine.ra.it. Retrieved 2011-06-11.
Sources and literature
- Clapham, Alfred William (1934), English Romanesque Architecture after the Conquest, Oxford
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Clifton-Taylor, Alec (1967), The Cathedrals of England, London
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Cook, George Henry (1957), The English Cathedrals through the Centuries, London
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Escher, Konrad (1929), Englische Kathedralen, Zürich
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Fernie, Eric (2000), The Architecture of Norman England, Oxford
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Pevsner, Nikolaus; Fleming, John; Honour, Hugh (1971) [1966], Lexikon der Weltarchitektur, München
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Wagner-Rieger, Renate (1953), "Studien zur mittelalterlichen Architektur Englands", Wiener Kunstwiss. Blätter, Jg. 2
- Short, Ernest H. (2005), Norman Architecture in England
- Webb, Geoffrey (1956), "Architecture in Britain: The Middle Ages", Pelican History of Art, London
External links
- CRSBI (The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain and Ireland) website
- The Normans, a European People.