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Citation for published version Weston, Lindy (2018) Gothic Architecture and the Liturgy in Construction. Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) thesis, University of Kent,.
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Enquiries For any further enquiries regarding the licence status of this document, please contact: [email protected] If you believe this document infringes copyright then please contact the KAR admin team with the take-down information provided at http://kar.kent.ac.uk/contact.html Gothic Architecture and the
Liturgy in Construction
Lindy Weston
Ph.D. Architecture 98.132 words 231 pages
University of Kent School of Architecture
2018
Abstract
Medieval Christian action, which is sometimes venerational, provides the embodiment of Christian narrative within relics. Abbot Suger saw masonry stones as if they were relics, and there must therefore be a corresponding Christian veneration and collective Christian working, i.e. liturgy, specifically to do with construction. Though the articulation of this collective Christian action in construction has not been attempted because masons left no written record of their work, it is certain manual construction was seen as a spiritual process of edification. This liturgy in construction is here explored through the idea of sacred geometry , applied geometry, and stone masonry craftsmanship.
The cosmological presuppositions accepted by the medieval mind allowed for religious answers to questions of building and construction in the medieval cathedral, but contemporary literature often provides an insufficient narrative of the role of religion for the daily tasks required in stone masonry. While past scholarship has asserted the cathedral was built by theologians, such notions are now seen as suspect. To what extent did religion influence these lay builders? Although it is certainly reasonable for thinkers of the 21st century to assume a secular and technological workforce, it remains somewhat of an oversight, given the weight of the religious and written tradition in medieval culture, to assume religion played no role in design and construction. The removal of key philosophical and theological notions, such as virtue, charity, the idea of uncreated being, and miracles from debates dealing with medieval architecture result in an insufficient and inauthentic account of the Gothic cathedral.
To explore the question of religious building methods in the medieval cathedral, an interpretation of the cosmology of the period is here articulated, and the work of the mason is discussed within this cosmological approach. Despite the absence of written documents which might reveal the presuppositions and motivations of the masons, the task of stone masonry is undertaken experimentally within this thesis in order to demonstrate how cutting stone with hand tools fits within the medieval cosmology. Thus, the processes of medieval stone masonry and of organizing a workforce without construction documents, lent themselves to easy assimilation by the medieval mind.
Contents 1.1 Acknowledgments ...... - 1 - 1.2 Introduction ...... - 3 - 1.2.1 Contemporary Habits of Thought and Ancient Knowledge ...... - 4 - 1.2.2 Networked Computers and Manuscripts ...... - 13 - 1.2.3 Standardization and Craftsmanship ...... - 22 - 1.2.4 Contemporary Problems in Gothic Architecture Scholarship ...... - 27 - 1.2.5 Limits ...... - 32 - 2 Academic Scholarship and the Craft of Masonry ...... - 35 - 2.1 A Unique Rendering of Liturgy ...... - 37 - 2.2 Contemporary Scholars of Gothic Architecture: Simson ...... - 39 - 2.3 Contemporary Scholars of Gothic Architecture: Panofsky ...... - 40 - 2.4 Contemporary Scholars of Gothic Architecture: Frankl ...... - 43 - 2.5 Contemporary Scholars of Gothic Architecture: Mâle ...... - 45 - 2.6 Sacred Architecture in Contemporary Discussion: Lindsay Jones ...... - 46 - 2.7 Contemporary Scholar of Religion: Eliade ...... - 53 - 2.8 Establishing the Tradition of Masonry within a Religious Metaphysic ...... - 56 - 2.9 The Problem of Sacredness in Contemporary Discussion ...... - 58 - 2.10 Conflict: From Divine Being of Medieval Cosmology to the Divine Will of Enlightenment Theology ...... - 62 - 2.11 Resolution: Immanence and Transcendence ...... - 63 - 2.12 René Guénon and his Importance for Contemporary Discussion ...... - 66 - 3 Medieval (c. 500-1200) Christian Cosmology from Late Antiquity (c. 200-500) Precedent - 70 - 3.1 H A L ...... - 74 - 3.2 God as Uncreated Being for Late Antiquity and Medieval Cosmology ...... - 76 - 3.3 Interpretation of John: An Example of Uncreated Being within Christian cosmology - 80 - 3.4 Johannes Scotus Eriugena and His Text in Christian cosmology ...... - 83 - 3.5 Maximus and the Importance of Laity and Labour in Christian Cosmology ...... - 86 - 3.6 The Geometry of Christian Cosmology ...... - 91 - 3.7 Tenth Century Geometrical Precedents ...... - 98 - 3.8 The Role of Human Craftsmanship in Medieval Christian Cosmology ...... - 100 - 4 The Work of the Medieval Master Mason Described ...... - 104 - 4.1 The Vocation of Masonry ...... - 104 - 4.2 The Importance of Religious Rituals ...... - 106 - 4.3 Religious Ritual in the Absence of Written Instruction ...... - 107 - 4.4 The Intentions of the Medieval Master Masons ...... - 108 -
4.5 The Argument Against Geometry as Subordinate to Theology ...... - 110 - 4.6 Creating Geometry ...... - 112 - 4.7 The Absence of Construction Documents Before the Thirteenth Century ...... - 115 - 4.8 The Illiteracy of the Masons ...... - 118 - 4.9 The Workers ...... - 120 - 4.10 The Medieval Mason and His Craft ...... - 122 - 4.11 Creation without Construction Documents ...... - 125 - 4.12 Fabrication ...... - 126 - 4.13 Masonry Construction ...... - 131 - 4.14 Tools of the Medieval Master Mason ...... - 136 - 4.15 An Authentic Example of Stone Masonry ...... - 140 - 4.16 An Example of Rib Vault Design ...... - 150 - 5 Gothic Style ...... - 170 - 5.1 Pointed Arch and Uncreated Being ...... - 170 - 5.2 Carolingian and Capetian Glosses before Authorised Translations ...... - 172 - 5.3 The Miracles of Relics and Rib Vaults ...... - 174 - 5.4 What are Relics? ...... - 179 - 5.5 Abbot Suger & the Abbey at St. Denis ...... - 181 - 5.6 Common Interpretation ...... - 182 - 5.7 The Translation of the Chronicles of Abbot Suger ...... - 186 - 5.8 A I A “ C ...... - 187 - 5.9 Cult of Carts ...... - 190 - 5.10 Gothic Form & Tradition ...... - 192 - 5.11 Tacit Understanding ...... - 195 - 5.12 God in the World ...... - 196 - 5.13 Pointed Arch Prior to St. Denis ...... - 197 - 5.14 Inverted Structure ...... - 198 - 5.15 Boss Loading & Buttressing by Loading ...... - 199 - 5.16 Teleology of Rib Vault ...... - 201 - 6 Conclusion ...... - 205 - 7 Bibliography ...... - 210 -
1.1 Acknowledgments I wish to say thank you and express gratitude to my first and second supervisor, Prof. Fontana- Giusti and Dr. Timothy Brittain-Catlin, respectively. Their support, advocacy, patience, and skill during my time as a graduate allowed for a focus that would not have been possible otherwise. The knowledge base and encyclopaedic grasp of architectural theory and history were a never- ending resource.
I would also like to thank my friends and family for the support from so many miles away, and I would also like to thank my beautiful wife, Karlea, for the love, encouragement, and unending devotion. Her gracious commitment to my Doctoral success was a guiding light through the difficulties of writing a research thesis.
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1.2 Introduction The importance of renewed scholarly interest in Gothic1 architecture is best understood by first establishing why a new study is necessary. A considerable time separates today from the year 1144, when the first Gothic basilica was completed.2 During the almost nine-hundred-year interim, many developments and historical episodes have shaped the world in different ways.
The disconnect with the past is evident in current studies of Gothic architecture. Authors and scholars of today look out at the world very differently than the authors and scholars of the past, and sometimes motivations are misattributed to thinkers from long ago. One such misattribution can be found in the writings of the well-known architectural historian Eugène Emmanuel Viollet- le-Duc (1814-1879), where he sought to describe French nationalism as a motivational consideration in the construction of Notre Dame Cathedral.3 Many of t , like Viollet- le-Duc,
Three recent developments have created a need for looking at Gothic architecture again. The first development took place over hundreds of years. The habits of modernity , by which I mean many of the habits of thought which are taken for granted today, need to be addressed because these habits of thoughts are, in some ways, inverted from Gothic habits of thought. The second development is the ubiquitous technological invention that is the Internet. While not itself the subject of the current study, it needs addressing because of its ubiquity. The third development is the modern way of building and working. Standardization has had great influence on how things are built, and a mindful sense of what is unique and appropriate is no longer a significant concern of the construction industry.
It follows that apart from these habits and circumstances of modernity, we can articulate what the medieval builders were asked to do by entering into the medieval mind. Insofar as possible, and as will be described in the coming section on method, a medieval system of thought will be
1 The term Gothic was first used by Renaissance authors to describe ecclesiastical buildings erected during the Middle Ages; 5th century to 15th century. Gothic was thought to be synonymous with barbaric, and therefore pejorative, by these classicising Renaissance authors. The disparaging treatment of Gothic architecture continued until the 19th century, when a Neo-Gothic revival began to emerge. In the context of this thesis, Gothic architecture of the period between 1100-1250 is looked at adjacent to the theological cosmology, which will be shown to have a significant bearing on the architectural and construction practice of the period. 2 Basilica of St-Denis, completed 1144 AD. 3 Van Santvoort, L., Maeyer, J. D., & Verschaffel, T. (2008). Sources of regionalism in the nineteenth century: architecture, art and literature. Leuven, Leuven University Press, N - N -Dame cathedral was completed in 1345, but Violet-Le-Duc was removed from the cosmology of the Middle Ages. For Violet-Le-Duc, the epistemological argument was between rationalism and empiricism, which presupposed a thinking man in a material and causal universe. The argument Violet-Le-Duc presented was that a French proto-nationalism caused the iconography and architectural forms.
- 3 - adopted with which to look at Gothic architecture. In short, the methodology applied in the course of this thesis shall not presume to test a hypothesis, but instead shall adopt medieval in order to understand medieval architecture
1.2.1 Contemporary Habits of Thought and Ancient Knowledge O from the medieval world is a perception and philosophical understanding of the locus of ideas. Contemporary thinkers assume ideas are mental objects, created by the human brain, while for ancient thinkers, ideas were part of the universe.4 This fundamental distinction, briefly discussed here, is a significant philosophical and theological notion upon which this thesis is based.5
Today it is understood that personal thoughts are the source of knowledge. Mind exists within the organic material network of brain cells. The thinking individual looks out upon the material of the universe, and theorizes about material phenomena by using his personal material network of brain cells. Theory is a re-presentation of material phenomena, and ideas are mere models of reality, but material reality itself keeps some distance from thought. This premise, often unstated, can be found in many contemporary arguments and modern essays.6 The characterization of of this premise, and the modern scientific method of hypothesizing, testing, and theorizing, is another example.
In the ancient world, and during the Gothic episode, this premise was not yet developed. In fact, the opposite premise was taken to be true. Mind exists within what modern thinkers would call I well-known F P
4 Dupré, L. (1993). Passage to modernity: an essay in the hermeneutics of nature and culture. New Haven, Yale University Press I N followers usually do [the epoch of Socrates]. Its seeds lie buried not in the sands of ancient or early medieval rationalism but in a set of assumptions newly formulated at the closing of the Middle A T heological speculations of nominalist thought where formal ideas held nominal status only, but did not exist in reality. These nominal ideas would later influence Ren D C 5 A brief entry on mental representation in medieval philosophy can be found at the Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy. Lagerlund, Henrik, "Mental Representation in Medieval Philosophy", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2011 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL =
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