Cultura y Civilizacin de los Pueblos de habla inglesa 1 Medieval Architecture

Gurrea Camila

MEDIEVAL ARCHITECTURE
Norman & Romanesque
Early English - 13

11th C 12th C

th

Gothic
Decorated - 14th C

Perpendicular - 15th C

General

Norman building: synonym for solidity.

Earliest phase of the Gothic style. The

The keynote of Perpendicular design is that of

Observations

The main characteristic of all Norman work

characteristic features of this period are the

a return to simplicity, especially in the exterior

is its massiveness and roundness. To the

form of the arch, which now became pointed,

of buildings. Cathedrals ceased to be the main

Norman designer, the square and the circle

the tall thin windows, and the general accent

building type, and were replaced by parish

were the most important shapes.

on height and verticality, and all the structural

churches.

NORMAN TOWER: flat-roofed, squat and

features arising from this.

square, w/a stocky appearance.

In the 14th C
the simplicity and economy of the EE
building gave place to a more highly
decorated style. The accent was on gaiety,
elaboration and comfort, for England was
becoming a prosperous nation. The buildings
from this period became more profuse in
decoration, with an over-elaboration in the
designs of carved work. It is a period of
development rather than invention.

In France, the
last stages of Gothic developed into a style
known as Flamboyant, all curves and carvings.
But in England, a return to simplicity and

Windows

austerity of design took place.

the windows are so large that the building

Norman narrow windows were small for

defence, round-headed openings in

seems a glass box. (filling the entire wall

thick walls.
Glass had not been invented yet. Only oak

space between even deeper buttresses with

simplification of tracery)

shutters to temper the icy winds.

Lancet windows: for

structural as well as social reasons

The main contribution of the

14th C to the ecclesiastical architecture

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(churches no longer places of refuge), W

was the development of the window. There

could now be much larger than previously.

is a new conception of the window on a

The typical window of this period was tall

scale of size, much bigger than in EE, and

and thin, with the new pointed arch as its

beauty, since the availability in glass

head like a lancet.

increased especially imported coloured

glass.
Rose window : a round window of a highly
complex design in tracery.
There is a stress on

Plate tracery: groups of

verticality and the W are characterized by a

lancets were arranged together between

grid of vertical and horizontal stone bars.

pairs of buttresses; above them a hood

This method divided the W into similar

moulding was placed to prevent rainwater

rectangular shapes that lent themselves well

from entering. Between the blank spaces

to repetitive or mass-produced glazing, and

left, holes were open with the circular form

each panel could be made to contain a

or trefoils or quatrefoils.

Doors

Doors were small for defence, roundheaded openings in thick walls.

Door arch: it
consisted of a series of concentric rings
of carved stones receding into the
thickness of the wall.

Doors had a pointed arch.

separate picture of a story or a separate

saint in a series, in stained glass.
Doors still had a pointed arch but were highly the 15th C designer made the hood moulds
decorated with natural patterns. (The fine

over his doorways square, filling in the

carving of the 13th C developed into a

triangular space between the hood mould

much more elaborate technique, the carver

and the arch with simple cusping or other

often trying to make in stone exact replicas

plain patterns, occasionally incorporating a

of natural foliage, with a consequent loss of

coat-of-arms but never indulging in

beauty and fitness of form).

naturalistic foliage or realistic scenes.

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Rectangular door: they filled in the arch
with a large, semi-circular stone called
tympanum. They decorated this with
spirited carvings and used low relief.
Secular carvings: mythological beasts,
horsemen, soldier, bishops..religion
mixed w/ everyday.

Arch

pointed or ogival arch

Adoption of new

Round-headed / Semicircular

arch: pointed or ogival arch, due to

arches

lower and flatter pointed

structural and technical needs to overcome

arch

certain vaulting problems.

Vaults

Roofs: timber and later w/ stone. Stone

FAN-VAULT: the beautiful development of rib-

inner vault and a steep, wooden roof on

vaulting into its last and most advantage

top of it; built solidly of thick masonry.

BARREL VAULT: most elementary sort of

stage, only seen in the most expensive

works of the period.
The fan-like springing of many ribs assumed

vault, simply a tunnel.

the form of an inverted curved cone.

RIBBED VAULT:
the EE vault is merely an elaboration and

GROINED CROSS-VAULT: making two

barrel vaults intersect at right-angles.
Proper arches or stone ribs were built
btwn. the columns first, then the space

STAR-LIKE

improvement of the Norman system of

VAULT: Early English vaulting developed in

vaulting. The pointed arch is used in the

the Decorated Period only in its greater

vaulting and additional ribs were

technical efficiency. The panels between

introduced between the main cross ribs

the ribs were made lighter and the number

and the diagonals.

of ribs was increased forming star-like

now to be a pointed tunnel intersected by

geometrical patterns on the roof.

other similar pointed tunnels and became a

The vault ceased

curved shell of great complexity.

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was filled with stone panels.

HAMMERBEAM ROOF: highly elaborated

timber roof

Columns

Massive cylindrical columns.

columns were made with solid blocks and Columns are taller and more slender than
those of the Early English period, better
built, and with no free standing shafts.
Shafts: These shafts have now become
joined to the parent body of the column to
make a cluster of piers.

Method: to skins or
panels of cut stones filled in with rubble.
NOT SO STRONG!
Shafts: columns were

Pillars were made of several shafts that were

merged together that seemed mere
mouldings on one shaft.

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Capitals: usually it consists of a large flat

decorated with detached shafts of polished

square stone (abacus), on which to build

limestone or marble. The shafts were

the arch spring, and beneath it a there

supported with small bonding stones that

was a deepcushion cap, which turned

make the characteristic rings seen in

the square shape of the arch spring into

intervals up their length.

the round shape of the column.

Shafts: In the more highly decorated
buildings the shafts of the columns were
carved with big zigzags and spirals.
Capital and bases: they tended towards
straight-sided polygons, and the abolition of

curves.

Capitals and bases:

The chisel was introduced in this period,

Base: The
feet of the columns were normally very

were decorated with foliage, in a very

simple, with a wider course of stones at

formalised pattern of leaves.

the bottom to spread the weight, carved

into a round-shaped moulding, sitting on a
square of masonry.

Other
Structures

Walls: immensely thick; they used only a

few shallow buttresses.

. Walls: The structural principle of the

Buttresses: the thickening of the wall to

Walls are finished so fine as to seem infinitely

Early English church is that walls are only

support the thrust of the vault, resulted in a

thin, while the windows are so large that the

built thick enough to withstand the

short cross wall or buttress.

building seems a glass box supported by fine

sideways pushing of the arches at those

points where the arches join them.

Flying buttresses: these were needed in

higher buildings, to transfer the thrust of

shafts of stone.
Mock battlements and parapets are a very
usual feature of the geometrical style of

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Between these points, the wall may be

the nave roof and vaulting to the great

thinner.
Buttresses: the thickening of the wall to

buttresses on the outer wall.

building during the perpendicular period.

Pinnacles: were put on top of the thin

support the thrust of the vault, resulted in

buttresses walls to give them added

a short cross wall or buttress.

weight.
The screen of decorated cathedral, whether
projected beyond of the plan of the
cathedral, was characterized by surface

decoration
Flying buttresses: these were needed in
higher buildings, to transfer the thrust of
the nave roof and vaulting to the great

buttresses on the outer wall.

Pinnacles: were put on top of the thin
buttresses walls to give them added

Connections

Religious and political aspects: The

weight.
Religion: during this period the ideology of

with the period

majority of buildings in this period were

the church became fully developed; Intense

in England reached latter in art. Thus, in

Perpendicular reflects a change in economy

ecclesiastical (to establish and reorganize

desire for salvation. They built their

relation to the decorated period we can

and society (Capitalism). There was a

the church), though castle building was

cathedrals as high as they dared, a symbol

relate the architectural features with the

preference for reasonableness/ a practical

very wide too (to make the country

of man reaching to heaven (desire for

social and religious context of the previous

approach to life

secure).

salvation, life after death).

century (Ver EE)

Economic aspect: with the boom in wool trade,

God-centred philosophy: desire for the

Education: Outside the clergy, people were

many farmers could now build their own

churches to have a sense of mystic

illiterate (Church monopoly of learning),

manor-houses, which included privately own

magnificence and reaching for the

thus, medieval builders symbolised their

parish churches.

heavens.

religious beliefs in their carvings

Architecture had an educational purpose,
since it helped people know the history and
the Bible through the walls carvigns and
stained glass.

The deterioration of the power of the church

The comeback to simplicity in the

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Education: great stimulous to building colleges

and schools, founded by lay people with a new
technical aim in education.