The Year 1300 and the Creation of a New European Architecture

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Architectura Medii Aevi Vol. I

Series Editor Prof. Thomas Coomans (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)

Advisory Board Prof. Caroline Bruzelius (Duke University) Prof. Paul Crossley (Courtauld Institute of Art, London) Prof. Christian Freigang ( Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main) Prof. Dany Sandron (Université de Paris Sorbonne – Paris IV)

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The Year 1300 and the Creation of a New European Architecture Edited by

Alexandra Gajewski & Zoë Opačić

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list of authors Tim Ayers, University of York Klára Benešovská, Ústav dejin umění, Akademie věd České republiky, Prague Robert Bork, University of Iowa Christoph Brachmann, Technische Universität, Berlin Caroline Bruzelius, Duke University Thomas Coomans, Vrije Universiteit Brussel Paul Crossley, Courtauld Institute of Art, London Michael T. Davis, Mount Holyoke College Christian Freigang, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main Alexandra Gajewski, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Yves Gallet, Université de Bretagne Occidentale Norbert Nussbaum, Universität zu Köln Zoë Opačić, Birkbeck College, University of London Marc Carel Schurr, Université de Fribourg Suisse Achim Timmermann, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Tomasz Węcławowicz, Papieska Akademia Teologiczna, Kraków Christopher Wilson, University College London

Cover photograph: York Minster, chapter house (Christopher Wilson, 2006).

© 2007 Brepols Publishers n.v., Turnhout, Belgium and the authors. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. D/2007/0095/133 ISBN 978-2-503-52286-9 Printed in the E.U. on acid-free paper

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CONTENTS

Foreword and Acknowledgements

7

Paul Crossley, Introduction

9

Michael T. Davis, The Visual Logic of French Rayonnant Architecture

17

Yves Gallet, French Gothic 1250-1350 and the Paradigm of the Motet

29

Alexandra Gajewski, Saint-Bénigne at Dijon around 1300, “La province qui s’endort”?

39

Christoph Brachmann, The Church of the Order of St Antony at Pont-à-Mousson and post-1300 Gothic Architecture at Metz

53

Christian Freigang, Changes in Vaulting, Changes in Drawing. On the Visual Appearance of Gothic Architecture around the Year 1300

67

Marc Carel Schurr, The West Façade of Strasbourg Cathedral and its Impact on Gothic Architecture in Central Europe

79

Robert Bork, Stacking and “Octature” in the Geometry of Cologne Plan F

89

Christopher Wilson, Not without Honour save in its own Country? Saint-Urbain at Troyes and its Contrasting French and English Posterities

107

Tim Ayers, Remaking the Rayonnant Interior: The Choir of Merton College Chapel, Oxford

123

Achim Timmermann, Microarchitecture and Mystical Death: The Font Ciborium of St Mary’s in Luton (circa 1330-1340)

133

C ontents

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6

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Norbert Nussbaum, Hybrid Design Strategies around 1300: Indications of a “Post-Classical” Gothic Architecture?

143

Klára Benešovská, Architecture at the Crossroads: Three Examples from Bohemia circa 1300

151

Zoë Opačić, Bohemia after 1300: Reduktionsgotik, the Hall Church, and the Creation of a New Style

163

Tomasz Węcławowicz, The Bohemian King, the Polish Bishop, and their Church: Wenceslas II’s Cathedral in Kraków (1295-1305)

177

Thomas Coomans, Belfries, Cloth Halls, Hospitals, and Mendicant Churches: A New Urban Architecture in the Low Countries around 1300

185

Caroline Bruzelius, The Dead Come to Town: Preaching, Burying, and Building in the Mendicant Orders

203

Index of persons

225

Index of places

231

Contents

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Foreword and Acknowledgements

The concept for this book has germinated at the international architectural conference held at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London in May 2005, under the title The Year 300 and the Creation of a New European Style. The aim of the conference – and of the book – was to convene an international cast of scholars with a focus on diverse architectural issues affecting the decades around the year 300, often seen in traditional classifications as an “in-between” period of European Gothic. The illuminating quality of papers delivered on that occasion and the relative lack of scholarly publications in this area, have convinced the conference convenors (now the book’s editors) of the need to commemorate that event with a dedicated volume which also marks the beginning of a new venture: a much-needed series on medieval architecture, published by Brepols. Alongside the editors, Professor Paul Crossley was the prime mover of the conference, which coincided with his sixtieth birthday. Although not conceived as a Festschrift, the present publication, by a consensus of all its authors, is warmly dedicated to Paul Crossley in honour of that memorable occasion and of his scholarship. Having been one of the first to draw attention to the importance and complexities of architecture around 300, many of the papers pay tribute to his ideas. It is therefore fitting

that Crossley’s introductory essay should inaugurate the volume, just as his opening remarks set the scene for the conference, thereby placing him among colleagues, friends, and former students, who, over the years, have shared and often benefited from his phenomenal scholarly expertise, infectious enthusiasm, and his inexhaustible kindness and good will. We would also like to record our deep thanks to Professor Thomas Coomans, the series editor who was instrumental in bringing this volume to fruition, and whose help and advice were essential. Professor Christopher Wilson kindly provided the cover photograph. Dr Kathleen Doyle, Professor Megan Holmes, Christopher Masters, Dr Agnieszka Rożnowska-Sadraei, and Dr Nick Lambert, offered valuable editorial and technical assistance. We are also grateful to Chris Van den Borre and Brepols Publishers, to the British Academy, whose grant helped the funding of the conference, and to the Courtauld Institute, the conference’s generous host. The Editors London and Jonquières, 9th July, 2007

Foreword and Acknowledgements

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York Minster, chapter house (Christopher Wilson, 2006).

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