Romanesque Europe, 950-1200
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Built in the Pyrenees beginning in 1001, St. Martin de Canigou is a fine example of an isolated Christian monastery built in the early Romanesque style. The buildings are small and cramped, the decoration simplistic and minimal, and the building techniques based on late antique models that were revived from local models.

The Dream of King Henry I, c. 1130. Ink and paint on parchment. Chronicle of Florence. England’s Henry I is visited in his dreams by members of the three social orders (from top): peasants with farming tools, knights with swords, spears and shields, and bishops and monks. From a maunscript of John of Worcester, c. 1140, MS CCC 157 pp. 382 and 383. Corpus Christi College Library, Cambridge.

Modern redrawing of the so-called Plan of St. Gall, c.828. Original is red ink on parchment, 44 x 30 in. Stiftsbibliothek, St. Gall, Switzerland. This monastery layout, dominated by the church with its several altars and round towers, was drawn at Reichenau Monastery and sent to Abbot Gozbert of St. Gall about 828. Although its purpose remains unclear, it probably represents the ideal of Carolingian monastic reformers.

Cluny III monastery church and complex plan, 1157. The scale of the church and the overall layout are certainly reminiscent of St. Gall. The great Romanesque church with its very complicated east end was imitated in many twelfth-century Cluniac churches, though never on so grand a scale. Most of the complex was destroyed during the French Revolution’s assault on the Church and the nobility.

Consecration of the unfinished third church at Cluny by Pope Urban II (left of center, blessing) in 1095. Paint on parchment. MS 17716, fol. 91r. Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. On the left the ranks of candles, monks, bishops, and layfolk – probably patrons – suggest the complexity and pomp of Cluniac ceremony. Note also the symbolic rendering of the church itself that nevertheless accurately places the altar under the crossing tower and rounded apsidal chapels at the east end (right).

The modern Carthusian monk enjoys some conveniences, but his life is still very ascetic and centered around prayer and self-denial.  Though part of a community he lives in his own cell and prays kneeling at his prie-dieu, feeding himself on food prepared by the communal cook.

The thirteenth-century Cistercian church of Tintern Abbey, in the Wye Valley. Founded in 1131 by the Anglo-Norman lord of Chepstow, Walter de Clare, it became the richest Welsh monastery. Its sturdiness, rural setting, and simplicity of form remain testaments to the ideals of Cîteaux and St. Bernard. Left to decay by order of Henry VIII in 1536, its ruins have long attracted painters and poets, like Joseph Turner, William Wordsworth, and David Sneyd (1709-1769), who beckoned: “Enter with reverence her hallowed gate, and trace the glorious relics of her state.”

Founded in Burgundy in 1118 by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Fontenay Abbey was one of the premier Cistercian monasteries in western Europe. In 1147 Pope Eugenius consecrated the monastery church, which was begun in 1139, and in 1269 the French king named Fontenay the Royal Abbey.

Former St. Michael’s Abbey Church, Hildesheim. 1010-1033. Note how the Ottonian master mason constructed the building by putting together a group of geometric solids rather than by creating a coherent, unified structure. This would remain typical of Romanesque architecture.

Former St Michael’s Abbey Church, Hildesheim. Interior. The low nave arcade and small, round-headed windows in the clerestory and apse are typical of Ottonian architecture, as is the flat, wooden roof, which was very susceptible to fire. The architect here attempts to establish some rhythm in the arcade by alternating two columns with a square pier, a technique copied by others.

The Presentation of Christ in the Temple. A bronze panel from the doors of St. Michael's, Hildesheim, cast by Bishop Bernward (960-1022). Both the figural and architectural conventions derive from late classical  models. The highly symbolic building, a church or temple, is extended  in ways reminiscent of pre-Carolingian depictions. Though this is meant to be the Temple in Jerusalem, note the cross atop the facade.

Pope St. Gregory the Great and monk-scribes, from Metz, c. 975. Ivory, 20.5 x 12.5 cm. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. This Ottonian plaque reflects the era’s revival of late antiquity in both its evocation of  late imperial style and its depiction of the Benedictine monk and pope. It was probably created to be part of a book cover. Note the similarities in the architecture with the plaque by Bernward.

Book Cover with Byzantine Icon of the Crucifixion, Icon carved about 1000, in Constantinople; setting made before 1085, Spanish; From the Monastery of Santa Cruz de la Serós, Jaca. Gilded silver on a wood backing, inset with ivory icon, sapphire, glass, and crystal; 10 1/2 x 7 1/2 in. (26 x 19.1 cm)

Crucifixion scene from the Weingarten Gospels, Canterbury (?), c. 1050-1065, late Anglo-Saxon. Paint and gold foil on vellum, 11.5 x 7.5 in. MS 709, fol. 1v. Pierpont Morgan Library, New York. The Sun and Moon weep in the a darkened sky above; Mary reaches to wipe the blood away, while John the Evangelist records the scene.

Scenes from the life of David as depicted in the Winchester Bible, c. 1175, which was commissioned by Henry of Blois, the Bishop of Winchester, England.  The tightly controlled knot pattered in the lunettes that edge the border contrast with the sinuous and loosely intertwining lines of the tree limbs in the bottom panel.  At top, King Saul looks on as David defeats Goliath; in the center David delights the king with his harping, and at right is anointed king by the judge; at bottom David's son Absolom dies while escaping his father on horseback, and David famously laments his loss at right.

Roman and Romanesque arches and vaulting. The barrel vault exerted enormous outward pressure, requiring that the walls supporting it be massive. The X-shaped lines of intersection of the groin could be reinforced and themselves become ribs, which, when extended to the ground by columns or piers, created a kind of skeleton that took pressure off the walls, allowing for lighter construction and bigger windows.

Barrel-vaulted and frescoed ceiling, St. Savin, St. Savin-sur-Gartempe, c. 1100. Scenes from OT from Creation to Moses. Note lack of clerestory, carved capitals and groin-vaulted aisles. The frescoes reflect very closely contemporary manuscript style, suggesting close ties between the two arts.

Cluny III, c. 1140; a reconstruction drawing, view from the north. Destroyed in the eighteenth century, we have only drawings and descriptions to help us understand this most influential Romanesque structure.

Workers milling grain for flour, attached column capital, Vezelay, c.1120. The figure at left pours grain into the grinder, while the other holds the sack into which it pours. Scenes like this either stood alone as depictions of human labors, or were associated with the calendar through months of the year or the zodiac. In this particular instance the scene is theological, The Mystic Mill: a Hebrew Prophet pours the Law of the Old Testament into the Mill for refining, while St. Paul collects the result. As Paul was considered an Apostle, the scene complements that on the main tympanum

Tympanum sculpture of Christ commissioning the Apostles, Ste-Madeleine, Vezelay, 1120-1132. Rays of light extend from Christ’s hands to the Apostles, who are strengthened for their task. In the curved voussoir scenes and lintel frieze below are figures representing people of various races, including the so-called monstrous races (##5-12) described in his Natural History by the ancient Roman Pliny, and people in need of physical healing.

Reliquary statue of St. Foy, 10th c. Gold, gems, classical cameos, and semi- precious stones over wood, 33.5 in. high. Cathedral Treasury, Conques. The seated and crowned image derives from the biblical Book of Revelation, and symbolizes her exalted spiritual status as one who died a martyr.

Plan of the monastery church of St. Foy, Conques, later 11th c.  Note how the ambulatory is created by utilizing the two outer aisles and a semi-circular walkway around the apse.  The pilgrim proceeds along this route, stopping to pray at the chapels that "radiate" out from the ambulatory and view the relics that are displayed there.  They can do all of this without ever entering the central, liturgical portion of the building.

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