The Age of Faith

Setting the Scene

500-1000 AD –the “Dark Age” Regions plundered Centers of learning destroyed

900AD- A new spirit rose in the church as they began to reconstruct themselves and create new centers of worship

The Age of Faith

Monasteries lead the reform Cluny in France led the push to return to

Christian principles. Needed to establish a new religious

orderRestored and expanded the churches

power and authority creating a new age of religious feeling

Problems with the Church

Many priests were illiterate and could bairly read their prayers

Many popes were men of questionable morals.

Many bishops and abbots cared more about their positions as Feudal Lords than about their spiritual duties

3 Main Issues

Many village priests married and had families which was against Church rulings

Bishops sold positions in the Church- Simony

Using the practice of lay investiture, kings appointed church bishops and Church reformers believed only the Church alone could appoint the bishops

Reform and Church Organization Pope Leo IX and Gregory VII enforced laws

against simony and the marriage of priests 1100’s-1200’s the Church was reconstructed

to resemble a kingdom, with the pope at the head.

The pope had a group of advisors known as the papal Curia which acted like a court developing the canon laws.

The Church collected taxes in the form of tithes that money was used for things like caring for the sick

New Religious Order

1200’s wondering friars traveled from place to place preaching and spreading Church ideas Friars generally owned nothing and lived by

begging Dominic founded 1st group of friars, the

Dominicans Stressed the importance of study end education Francis of Assisi founded the Franciscan order for

women Women lived like friars but were not allowed to

travel from place to place

Cathedrals

Most people worshiped in small churches near their homes but larger churches called Cathedrals were being built in city areas

Built to represent a city of God and decorated with all the richness that Christians could offer

800-1100 AD churches were built in the Romanesque style

Early 1100’s thanks to the growing wealth of towns a new style known as Gothic develops

Gothic

The term Gothic comes from a Germanic tribe named the Goths

Unlike the heavy, gloomy Romanesque buildings, Goth cathedrals were tall, open, bright with huge stain glass windows

Notre Dame – famous cathedral in France

11 important aspects of Romanesque architecture

1.“Romanesque” is the first international style since the Roman Empire. Also known as the “Norman” style in England

2.Competition among cities for the largest churches, which continues in the Gothic period via a “quest for height.”

3.Masonry (stone) the preferred medium. Craft of concrete essentially lost in this period. Rejection of wooden structures or structural elements.

4. East end of church the focus for liturgical services. West end for the entrance to church.

ROMANESQUE ART

5.Church portals as “billboards” for scripture or elements of faith.

6.Cruciform plans. Nave and transept at right angles to one another. Church as a metaphor for heaven.

7. Elevation of churches based on basilican forms, but with the nave higher than the side aisles.

ROMANESQUE ART

8. Interiors articulated by repetitive series of moldings. Heavy masonry forms seem lighter with applied decoration.

9. Bays divide the nave into compartments

10.Round-headed arches the norm.

11.Small windows in comparison to buildings to withstand weight

ROMANESQUE ART

Pointed Arch

One of the defining characteristics of Gothic architecture is the pointed arch.

Look at the façade of this Gothic building.

Notice that none of the arches are rounded. Each of them comes to a point.

Why do you think the architects did this? What did they like about this design? What do you think about this design?

The pointed arches are the intersecting halves of arches that create the Gothic vault, which we will look at next.

Ribbed VaultThe intersection of two or three barrel

vaults (a vault that is shaped like half of a barrel) produces a ribbed vault. Can you see the intersection in this photo?

Ribbed vaulting was new in the eleventh century when Gothic Cathedrals were built.

These vaults provided extra structural support to the buildings and allowed the cathedrals to be very tall.

Ribbed vaulting also allowed for the addition of more windows high up in the building. You will see later how important light was in Gothic cathedrals.

Flying Buttress

Flying buttresses are used as structural support in Gothic Architecture. The buttresses are actually used to hold up the walls.

The buttresses also allowed for more windows in each wall because the buttresses are the structural support of the building.

Before buttressing, the wall itself would hold the whole weight of the building, so the walls had to be thick and solid.

Buttressing allowed the walls to be thinner and taller than ever before.

Bourges Cathedral

Bourges Cathedral Interior

Bourges Stained Glass

Chartre

Flying Buttresses

Layout

Gothic churches are laid out in a cross shape, called a cruciform plan.

Why do you think the architects did this? Was it an accident, or did they do it on purpose?

Chartres Cathedral

Dedicated in 1260, this Cathedral in Chartres (pronounced sharte) just outside of Paris is considered one of the finest examples of Gothic architecture in the world.

Notice that the 2 spires are different. The plainer one was built in the 1140s while the more ornate spire was built in the 1500s on top of an older tower.

There has been a church on this site since 876. The church was destroyed by fire and rebuilt many times. It came to look much as it does today during construction in about 1200 when about 300 men would be working on site at any time.

How can you tell that this is a Gothic Cathedral?