Medieval architecture

Medieval architecture was the art of designing and constructing buildings in the Middle Ages. Major styles of the period include pre-Romanesque, Romanesque, and Gothic. The Renaissance marked the end of the medieval period, when architects began to favour classical forms. While most surviving medieval constructions are churches and military fortifications, examples of civic and domestic architecture can be found throughout Europe, including in manor houses, town halls, almshouses, bridges, and residential houses.

Guilds were formed by craftsmen during this period to organize their trades. Architects were usually master masons (Magister lathomorum), and were typically responsible for the structural engineering of their buildings, for ensuring that they were stable, unlike in later periods.

Styles

Pre-Romanesque

The pre-Romanesque period of medieval architecture lasted from the beginning of the Middle Ages (around 500AD) to the emergence of the Romanesque style in the 10th century. Much of the notable architecture from the period comes from France and Germany, under the Merovingians and the Carolingians and the Ottonians. Nonetheless, other regions have strong architectural heritage from this period, including Iberia (especially in Asturias), Croatia, and Great Britain. In Lombardy, the pre-Romanesque style included many Romanesque features and is therefore known as the First Romanesque.

Romanesque

Romanesque, prevalent in medieval Europe during the 11th and 12th centuries, was the first pan-European style since Roman Imperial architecture and examples are found in every part of the continent. The term was not contemporary with the art it describes, but rather, is an invention of modern scholarship based on its similarity to Roman Architecture in forms and materials.^[1] Romanesque is characterized by a use of round or slightly pointed arches, barrel vaults, and cruciform piers supporting vaults. Romanesque buildings are widely known throughout Europe.

The spread of Romanesque architecture through Europe has been described as "revolutionary"^{[by whom?]}. This style is sometimes called Anglo-Norman, though it continues under the Angevin and Plantagenet rulers. Motifs of Roman origin were common to Norman and Anglo-Saxon architectural styles. Though usually classed broadly as "Romanesque", the period of architecture can now be divided into two stages. The first stage from 1070 A.D. to 1100 A.D. saw the style emerge during the rebuilding of many great churches, Full boxes, and monasteries (surviving examples include the Durham Cathedral, Norwich Cathedral and the Peterborough Cathedral). The second stage lasted from 1100 A.D. to 1170 A.D. when many smaller churches were built and renovated. During this time, the style became more detailed and ornamental. Identifying these latter churches is made difficult due to something called the Saxo-Norman overlap, where many Anglo-Saxon aspects are present in the masonry. The Church at Kilpeck is identified as 12th century based on its shallow and flat buttresses, emphatic corbel table and apse.^[2]

Gothic

The various elements of Gothic architecture emerged in a number of 11th and 12th century building projects, particularly in the Île de France area, but were first combined to form what we would now recognise as a distinctively Gothic style at the 12th century abbey church of Saint-Denis in Saint-Denis, near Paris. Verticality is emphasized in Gothic architecture, which features almost skeletal stone structures with great expanses of glass, pared-down wall surfaces supported by external flying buttresses, pointed arches using the ogive shape, ribbed stone vaults, clustered columns, pinnacles and sharply pointed spires. Windows contain stained glass, showing stories from the Bible and from lives of saints. Such advances in design allowed cathedrals to rise taller than ever.

Functions

Religious architecture

The Latin cross plan, common in medieval ecclesiastical architecture, takes the Roman basilica as its primary model with subsequent developments. It consists of a nave, transepts, and the altar stands at the east end (see Cathedral diagram). Also, cathedrals influenced or commissioned by Justinian employed the Byzantine style of domes and a Greek cross (resembling a plus sign), with the altar located in the sanctuary on the east side of the church.

Military architecture

Zvolen Castle in Slovakia strongly inspired by Italian castles of the fourteenth century

Surviving examples of medieval secular architecture mainly served for defense. Castles and fortified walls provide the most notable remaining non-religious examples of medieval architecture. Windows gained a cross-shape for more than decorative purposes, they provided a perfect fit for a crossbowman to safely shoot invaders from inside. Crenellated walls (battlements) provided shelters for archers on the roofs to hide behind when not shooting invaders.

Civic architecture

While much of the surviving medieval architecture is either religious or military, examples of civic and even domestic architecture can be found throughout Europe. Examples include manor houses, town halls, almshouses and bridges, but also residential houses.

Regions

Central Europe

Byzantine Empire

Bulgarian Empire

Scandinavia

Kievan Rus

References

^ Bleeke, Marian (2012). "Romanesque". Studies in Iconography. 33: 257–267. ISSN 0148-1029.
^ Cannon, Jon (10 July 2014). Medieval Church Architecture. ISBN 9780747815327.

External links

[1] Bleeke, Marian (2012). "Romanesque". Studies in Iconography. 33: 257–267. ISSN 0148-1029.

[2] Cannon, Jon (10 July 2014). Medieval Church Architecture. ISBN 9780747815327.

[1]

[2]

v t e History of architecture
Architectural timeline History of construction
BCE	Neolithic Mesopotamian Ancient Egyptian Aegean Minoan Mycenaean Etruscan Classical Ancient Greek Ancient Roman Herodian Pre-Islamic Persian Achaemenid
1st millennium	Sasanian Byzantine East Slavic Kievan Rus' Muscovite Islamic Umayyad Moorish Abbasid Fatimid Islamic Persian Medieval Scandinavian Pre-Romanesque Carolingian
1000–1500	Romanesque Galician Ottonian Norman Indian Hoysala Vijayanagara Western Chalukya Islamic Great Seljuk Anatolian Seljuk architecture Mamluk Timurid Ottoman Indo-Islamic Romano-Gothic Gothic Sondergotik Incan Aztec Renaissance Plateresque
1500–1750	Manueline Palladian Spanish Colonial Portuguese Colonial Mughal Sikh
1750–1900	Baroque Andean Czech Dutch Edwardian English French Italian Maltese Petrine Elizabethan Naryshkin Portuguese Siberian Ukrainian Industrial British Revivalism Byzantine Russo-Byzantine Serbo-Byzantine Colonial Egyptian Gothic Mayan Mediterranean Mission Monumentalism Baroque Rococo Neoclassical Moorish Neo-Manueline Pueblo Queen Anne Britain America and Australia Renaissance Romanian Russian Spanish Colonial Territorial Tudor Art Nouveau Jugendstil Liberty style Modern Style Modernisme
1900–1950	Rationalism Mycenaean Modern Prairie School Expressionism Cubism De Stijl Bauhaus Constructivism New Objectivity Streamline Moderne Totalitarianism Rationalist-Fascist Nazi Stalinist International style Functionalism Futurism Organicism Art Deco Stripped Classicism Postconstructivism PWA Moderne Googie
1950–2000	Brutalism Structuralism Postmodern Blobitecture High-tech Arcology Critical regionalism Neo-futurism
2000–present	Deconstructivism Neomodern New Classical Contemporary
Regional	Chinese Colonial Indian Dravidian Hindu Japanese Korean Mesoamerican Maya Newari Portuguese Russian Spanish Somali

v t e European Middle Ages
Early Middle Ages	Migration Period Decline of the Western Roman Empire Barbarian kingdoms Late antiquity Decline of Hellenistic religion Christianity in the Middle Ages Christianization Rise of Islam Papal States First Bulgarian Empire Frankish Empire Kingdom of Croatia Anglo-Saxon England Viking Age Carolingian Empire Old Church Slavonic Rise of the Venetian Republic Civitas Schinesghe Kievan Rus' Growth of the Eastern Roman Empire Reconquista
High Middle Ages	Norman Conquest Holy Roman Empire Second Bulgarian Empire Georgian Empire Kingdom of Poland Feudalism Rise of the Republic of Genoa Great Schism Investiture Controversy Crusades Republic of Florence Scholasticism Capet–Plantagenet feud Monasticism Communalism Manorialism Medieval Warm Period Mongol invasion of Europe Kingdom of Portugal
Late Middle Ages	Hundred Years' War Wars of the Roses Hussite Wars Burgundy Milan France England Castile Western Schism Fall of Constantinople Rise of the Ottoman Empire Swiss mercenaries Chivalry Renaissance Humanism Universities Crisis of the late Middle Ages Great Famine Little Ice Age
Culture	Agriculture Architecture Art Church and State Cuisine Crusading movement Dance Demography Domes Hastilude Household Hunting In popular culture Itinerant court Literature Medicine Minstrel Music Philosophy Poetry Science Slavery Technology Theatre Warfare Women
Related	Dark Ages Disability in the Middle Ages Basic topics list Land terms Medievalism Medieval reenactment Medieval studies Misconceptions Neo-medievalism Post-classical history Timeline Historiography in the Middle Ages
Portal Category WikiProject