Romanesque
(France/No Europe, Holy Roman Empire, Italy, Normandy and England)
France and Northern Spain
Time Period
11th and 12th century
Key Terms:
 Tribune: Upper gallery over the aisle
opening onto the nave
 Crypt: A vaulted underground
chamber
 Radiating Chapels: Semi-circular
chapels opening onto the ambulatory
which could house relics
 Engaged Columns: Attached halfcolumns
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Bestiaries: Collections of illustrations of real and
imaginary animals
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Tympanum: Semi-circular lunette above the
doorway
Voussoirs: The blocks that form the archivolts
Lintel: The horizontal beam above doorway
Trumeau: Center post supporting the lintel in the
middle of the doorway
Jambs: The side posts of the doorway
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Saint-Etienne
Vignory, France
1050-1057
Saint-Sernin
Toulouse, France
1070-1120
Last Judgement (Gislebertus)
West Tympanum of Saint-Lazare
1120-1135
Pentecost and Mission of the Apostles
Center Tympanum of La Madeleine
1120-1132
Christ in Majesty (Bernardus Gelduinus)
Relief in Ambulatory of Saint-Sernin
Ca. 1096
Holy Roman Empire:
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Architects in the Holy Roman Empire built structurally innovative churches, and Speyer
Cathedral and Sant'Ambrogio in Milan are two of the earliest examples of the use of groin
vaults in the nave.
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The central aim of northern Romanesque architects was to develop a masonry vault system
that admitted light and was also aesthetically pleasing. Painting artwork was mostly in the
form of illuminated manuscript.
Sant'Ambrogio:
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Located in Milan, Italy, late 11th to early 12th century.
Features a campanile, or a bell tower.
Italy
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It is said that the gem of Florentine Romanesque architecture is the baptistery of San
Giovanni.
The regional diversity of Romanesque art and architecture is especially evident in Italy where
the ancient Roman and Early Christian heritage was strongest.
Romanesque churches in Pisa and Florence have wooden roofs in contrast to the vaulted
interiors of northern buildings.
Church campaniles were usually freestanding, and baptisteries were independent centralplanned buildings facing the cathedral.
diaphragm arches: divide the nave into 3 equal compartments (seen in the Sin Miniato al Monte).
incrustation: wall decoration consisting of bright panels of different colors, as in the Pantheon's
interior.
Cathedral Complex, Pisa:
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Located in Pisa Italy, begun 1063; baptistery begun 1153; campanile begun 1174.
Normandy and England
After the Viking conversion to Christianity in early 900s, the Vikings settled on the northern
coast of France (Normandy) and in Northern Europe.
Architecture
Saint-Étienne:
 Located in Caen, France and begun in 1067 by William the Conquerer.
 West Façade shows influence of Carolingian and Ottonian westworks, but is different in the
usage of buttresses to divide the façade into three separate bays.
 Interior features six sectioned groin vaults (sexpartite) held up by alternating engaged half
columns and compound piers.
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Durham Cathedral:
 Located in Northern England, begun in 1093.
 Characterized by the alternating pattern of large, simple pillars ornamented with abstract
designs and compound pillars.
 Featured long, slender proportions, and pointed groin vaults, a precursor to a hallmark of
Gothic architecture.
 Earliest example of a ribbed groin vault placed over a three-story nave.
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Painting and Other Arts
Bayeux Tapestry:
 Located in Bayeux, France ca 1070-1080. Is a continuous, frieze like, pictorial narrative of
the Norman Defeat of the Anglo Saxons.
 Constructed of wool embroidered on linen, and features animal motifs, registers.
 Two famous episodes in the Tapestry include the Funeral Procession of King Edward, and
the Battle of Hastings.
 Is unique in the fact that it was constructed very shortly after the Defeat took place. This
makes the Tapestry a very early form of a historical documentation.
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Bury Bible:
 Located in Cambridge, UK ca 1135 by Master Hugo.
 Exemplifies the elegant illustrations common to large,
expensive Bibles of the time period.
 Features patterned, colorful illustrations of Biblical stories;
often contains motifs relating to the messages of the stories.
 The creator of the Bury Bible, Master Hugo, is identifiable
as a member of the emerging class of professional artists,
who worked off of commission.
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Eadwine Psalter:
 Located in Cambridge, UK ca 1160-1170 by Eadwine the Scribe.
 Resembles the style of the Bury Bible, however contains much smoother drapery and body
forms.
 True author of Eadwine Psalter is King David, who created the fictional character as an
“ideal evangelist.”
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