Sacred Sunday: 15th Century Architecture, Part 2 of 2

This is the final part of a two-part series on 15th century architecture. While last week focused on Italy, this part will bring you various structures in Great Britain and mainland Europe. Some architecture is Christian in nature; others were inspired by such design or were designed and built by those associated with 15th century Gothic cathedrals and churches.

Exterior view
1446-1515
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King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, England

King’s College Chapel is the chapel to King’s College of the University of Cambridge, and it is considered one of the finest examples of late Perpendicular Gothic English architecture. The chapel was built in phases by a succession of kings of England from 1446 to 1515, a period which spanned the Wars of the Roses. The chapel’s large stained glass windows were not completed until 1531, and its early Renaissance rood screen was erected in 1532–36.

The picture shows the King’s College Chapel (partially obscured by the Gibbs’ Building), seen from the Backs (a picturesque area where several colleges of the University of Cambridge back on to the River Cam).

Side view
1446-1515
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King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, England

Interior view
1466-1515
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King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, England

During the 14th and 15th centuries Gothic architecture ceased to be international and split into definable regional styles. In England the first Gothic style (Early English) was succeeded by Decorated and Perpendicular styles. The King’s College Chapel, shown here, represents the Perpendicular style at its most lavish, with vast windows divided by grid-like mullions and that uniquely English speciality, the fan-vault.

Interior view
1466-1515
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King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, England

View of the fan-vault
1466-1515
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King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, England

Exterior view
1490-1512
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Cathedral, Sens, France

The Sens Cathedral (Cathédrale Saint-Étienne de Sens) was one of the earliest Gothic buildings in France, and the largest of the early Gothic churches. The choir was begun in 1140. As was typical in cathedral construction, work progressed westwards, building the nave, with the west front completed around 1200. The structure was finally completed in the 16th century.

During the 14th and 15th centuries Gothic architecture ceased to be international and split into definable regional styles. In France, this is characterized by its curvilinear, flame-like window tracery – hence the name Flamboyant.

Exterior view
1490-1512
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Cathedral, Sens, France

The picture shows the south transept with its huge Flamboyant window.

Town Hall
1448-65
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Grote Markt, Leuven, Belgium

Leuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium. It is located about 25 kilometres east of Brussels, close to other neighboring towns such as Mechelen, Aarschot, Tienen, and Wavre.

The first stone of the Town Hall was laid in 1439, the designer was the architect Sulpitius Van der Vorst. He died shortly afterwards and architect Keldermans continued his work. When Keldermans died in 1445 a third architect, Mathijs de Layens, continued the construction from 1448 until 1468. It was Mathijs de Layens who gave the flamboyant Gothic look to the building. He is therefore also considered the creator of the town hall.

This building is a superb display of decorative sculpture.

Belfry
completed 1486
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Cloth Hall, Bruges, Belgium

Bruges, the capital of West Flanders in northwest Belgium, is distinguished by its canals, cobbled streets and medieval buildings. Its port, Zeebrugge, is an important center for fishing and European trade. The city-center Markt features horse-drawn carriage rides and 17th-century houses converted into restaurants and cafes, as well as the 13th-century belfry with its 47-bell carillon and 83 meter (272 foot) tower with panoramic views. The immensely tall  belfry dwarfs the surrounding buildings.

The belfry of Bruges is a medieval bell tower in the historical center of Bruges. It is one of the city’s most prominent symbols. It was added to the market square around 1240, when Bruges was prospering as an important center of the Flemish cloth industry. After a devastating fire in 1280, the tower was largely rebuilt. The octagonal upper stage of the belfry was added between 1483 and 1486.

Main ward of the hospital
c. 1450
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Hôtel-Dieu, Beaune, France

The Hôtel-Dieu was founded on 4 August 1443 by Nicolas Rolin, the Duke’s Chancellor, and his wife Guigone de Salins, when Burgundy was ruled by Duke Philip the Good. It was intended to be a refuge for the poor. The main ward, called the Room of the Poors, measures 50x14x16 meters. On the ceiling, the exposed painted frame is in an upside down boat-skiff shape and in each beam are sculpted caricatures of some important Beaune inhabitants. The pieces of furniture were brought together in 1875 by the son in law of the architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc. Each bed could welcome two patients.

The hospital at Beaune is one of the largest and best preserved of medieval hospitals. Originally there would have been simply rows of beds without canopies.

Beaune is the wine capital of Burgundy in the Côte d’Or department in eastern France. It is located between Paris and Geneva.

Old Town Hall: Clock
c. 1410
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Old Town Hall, Prague, Czech Republic

Prague is the capital of the Czech Republic, and is nicknamed “the City of a Hundred Spires.” It is known for its Old Town Square, the heart of its historic core, with colorful baroque buildings, Gothic churches and the medieval Astronomical Clock, with a popular show. Completed in 1402, pedestrian Charles Bridge is lined with 30 statues of saints.

The fantastic clock on the Old Town Hall of Prague was made by Magister Hanus, the university astronomer. The big outer ring, with Arabic numbers, relates to the Bohemian 24-hour day (which began at sunset), and the face with Roman numerals to the motions of the stars and planets. The smaller ring shows the position of the sun and moon in the Zodiac. At the top, at each hour, the mechanical figures of the Apostles, Death and allegorical Virtues process out of one opening and into another.

The mechanism of the clock was renewed in the 16th century and its face had been restored on a number of occasions in later times.

Next week, we return to Italy for 16th Century Architecture for Sacred Sunday.

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Sacred Sunday: 11th and 12th Century European Cathedral Architecture

Interior view
c. 1050
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San Miniato al Monte, Florence

Italy remained closest to the classical language of architecture. San Miniato al Monte in Florence uses Corinthian columns and marble veneer.

Exterior view
c. 1080
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Saint-Nectaire, Puy-de-Dôme

This Romanesque church was built in the middle of the twelfth century in honor of St. Nectaire by the monks of La Chaise-Dieu. It was built on the site of the shrine erected by Nectaire Auvergne on Mount Cornadore. It features 103 magnificent capitals. In the mid-nineteenth century, the church was still surrounded by walls, a cemetery, a castle and a small chapel. These parts were destroyed shortly after, at a church restoration. Now surrounded by forests, the church was in the Middle Ages to the early twentieth century, at the heart of a densely populated region, where wood was scarce.

The building is a typical church of the Auvergne, with an octagonal crossing tower and a round apse with radiating chapels.

Pantheon of the Kings of León
1063-1100
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Royal Basilica of San Isidoro, León

The Royal Pantheon in the basilica is a funeral chapel of the kings of León. It is one of the examples of surviving Romanesque art in León. The columns are crowned with rare Visigothic capitals (re-used Roman capitals), with floral or historic designs. The 12th century painted murals are in an exceptional state of preservation and consist of an ensemble of New Testament subjects along with scenes of contemporary rural life.

Chapter house
c. 1100
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Monastery, Osek

The Cistercian monastery in Osek was the spiritual centre of the region of Northern Bohemia between Decin and Karlovy Vary. It has a history of more than 800-year.

The picture shows the chapter house where the abbot presided. The administrative matters were settled here.

Sainte-Foy Abbey Church: Exterior view
12th century
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Sainte-Foy Abbey Church, Conques

The 12th-century Romanesque church at Conques, in central France, was a stopping-place on the road to Compostela. The church contains the relics of Sainte-Foy, which arrived in Conques through theft in 866.

The original chapel was destroyed in the eleventh century in order to facilitate the creation of a much larger church as the arrival of the relics of St. Foy caused the pilgrimage route to shift from Agen to Conques. The second phase of construction, which was completed by the end of the eleventh-century, included the building of the five radiating chapels, the ambulatory with a lower roof, the choir without the gallery and the nave without the galleries.

The third phase of construction, which was completed early in the twelfth-century, was inspired by the churches of Toulouse and Santiago Compostela. Like most pilgrimage churches Conques is a basilica plan that has been modified into a cruciform plan. Galleries were added over the aisle and the roof was raised over the transept and choir to allow people to circulate at the gallery level.

Sainte-Foy Abbey Church: Exterior view
12th century
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Sainte-Foy Abbey Church, Conques

Abbey of Saint-Gilles: Façade
c. 1150
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Saint-Gilles-du-Gard, Provence

The façade of the church bears witness to the presence of Roman temples in the vicinity.

Interior view
1140s
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Abbey Church, Saint-Denis

The picture shows the east end of the abbey church of Saint-Denis. The technique of Gothic architecture allows spaces to flow freely into one another instead of being compartmentalized.

Exterior view
12th century
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Cathedral, Durham

Durham Cathedral was built between the late 11th and early 12th century to house the bodies of St. Cuthbert (634-687 AD) (the evangelizer of Northumbria) and the Venerable Bede (672/3-735 AD).

It attests to the importance of the early Benedictine monastic community and is the largest and finest example of Norman architecture in England. The innovative audacity of its vaulting foreshadowed Gothic architecture. The Cathedral lies within the precinct of Durham Castle, first constructed in the late eleventh century under the orders of William the Conqueror.

Interior view
1100-20
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Cathedral, Durham

Durham Cathedral has thick circular piers with incised (and originally painted) patterns and one of the earliest rib-vaults in Europe.

Exterior view
12th century
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Cathedral, Ely

Ely Cathedral is the principal church of the Diocese of Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, and is the seat of the Bishop of Ely and a suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon. It has a cruciform plan with central crossing tower, and it was likewise one of the largest buildings under construction north of the Alps at the time.

The construction was started in 1081 and was completed in the 1180s. The 66 m high west tower of the cathedral represents the last, profusely ornamented, stage of Romanesque. The porch and upper parts are already Gothic.

Interior view
12th century
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Cathedral, Ely

Exterior view
c. 1150
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Abbey Church, Maria Laach

Maria Laach Abbey is a Benedictine abbey situated on the southwestern shore of the Laacher See (Lake Laach), in the region of the Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. The church exemplifies a particular German form of Romanesque with apses and round towers at both east and west ends.

Exterior view
c. 1160
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Colegiata de Santa María la Mayor, Toro

The Collegiate church of Santa María la Mayor (Church of Saint Mary the Great) is a church in Toro, Spain. It was begun around 1100, and was finished in the mid-13th century. It is one of the most characteristic examples of transitional Romanesque architecture in Spain. The crossing tower is a Spanish specialty – an octagon of repeated arches with four tourelles at the corners.

Refectory
1180-1200
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Monastery, Alcobaça

Monasteries were places of peace and order in the disturbed medieval society, organized round a routine of liturgy, work, study, and regular meetings, in which a man could spend his whole life. In the refectory, during meals a monk read from the raised pulpit.

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Crash Course: More Little Known History

Once a Beatle

June 1964 : Jimmie Nicol sits alone in the Melbourne airport, waiting for the plane that will take him back to obscurity.

When Ringo was ill with tonsillitis, Jimmie substituted on drums for 8 concerts & lived a superstar’s life for 10 days.

The Beatles would greatly boost his career but instead found that the spotlight moved away from him once Starr returned to the group. His subsequent lack of commercial success led him into bankruptcy in 1965.

Buchenwald Concentration Camp

General Patton was so incensed by what he saw when his forces reached the Buchenwald Concentration Camp, that he ordered that a thousand civilians be collected and made to see what their leaders had done. The MPs were so enraged that they brought back 2,000.

Sir Henry Morgan, Pirate

In 1671, the pirate Henry Morgan attacked Panama’s Fort San Lorenzo, which is now in ruins.

Sir Henry Morgan (1635-1688) was a Welsh privateer who fought for the English against the Spanish in the Caribbean in the 1660’s and 1670’s. He is remembered as the greatest of the privateers, amassing huge fleets, attacking prominent targets and being the worst enemy of the Spanish since Sir Francis Drake.

Although he made numerous raids all along the Spanish Main, his three most famous exploits were the 1668 sack of Portobello, the 1669 raid on Maracaibo and the 1671 attack on Panama. He was knighted by King Charles II of England and died a rich man on Jamaica.

The Pollock Twins

In 1957, 11 year-old Joanna and 6 year-old Jacqueline Pollock were tragically killed in a car accident in Northumberland, England. They were sisters. A year later, their mother gave birth to twins Jennifer and Gillian.

The younger twin, Jennifer, had birth marks on her body in exactly the same place as Jacqueline had them. The twins then started requesting toys belonging to the deceased girls which they had no prior knowledge of. The twins even asked to go to a park they have never been to before (but their deceased sisters have).

A well-respected psychologist at the time, one Dr. Ian Stevenson, studied the case in-depth and concluded it was likely the twins were reincarnations of their departed sisters.

Shugborough inscription

Looking at the 18th-century Shepherd’s Monument in Staffordshire, England, you might take it as nothing more than a sculpted re-creation of Nicolas Poussin’s famous painting, “Arcadian Shepherds.” Look closer, though, and you’ll notice a curious sequence of letters: DOUOSVAVVM — a code that has eluded decipherment for over 250 years.

Though the identity of the code carver remains a mystery, some have speculated that the code could be a clue left behind by the Knights Templar about the whereabouts of the Holy Grail.

Many of the world’s greatest minds have tried to crack the code and failed, including Charles Dickens and Charles Darwin.

The Lost City of Heracleion

It was only a mythical legend. Appearing in a few rare inscriptions and ancient texts, the city of Thonis-Heracleion was not something anyone expected to find, and no one was looking for it.

So it was something of a shock when French archaeologist Franck Goddio, looking for 18th-century French warships, saw a colossal face emerge from the watery shadows. Goddio had stumbled upon Thonis-Heracleion completely submerged 6.5 kilometres off Alexandria’s coastline. Among the underwater ruins were 64 ships, 700 anchors, a treasure trove of gold coins, statues standing at 16 feet, and most notably the remains of a massive temple to the god Amun-Gereb, and the tiny sarcophagi for the animals that were brought there as offerings.

The ruins and artifacts made from granite and diorite are remarkably preserved, and give a glimpse into what was, 2300 years ago, one of the great port cities of the world. The harbor of Thonis-Heracleion (the Egyptian and Greek names of the city) controlled all the trade into Egypt.

Live Long and Prosper

Two hands, with middle and ring fingers separated, are the symbol of a Jewish blessing — this signifies a Kohen, a descendant of Aaron, such as this headstone in Worms, Germany.

On the Web: 13 Days as a Beatle

Shepherd’s Monument Mystery Solved?

Heracleion on Wikipedia

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Crash Course: Unknown History

A new feature comes to Crash Course every Thursday.  It will deal with little known history that somehow got missed by the history books.

Being Jewish: A Lesson in Repetitive History

It is said there is rarely an original thought, a new idea under the sun. The irony is the thought originally came from somewhere to spark an ideology, a practice, a behavior.

1290 AD : Some 680 Jews detained in the Tower of London, with more than 300 subsequently executed, on suspicion of coin clipping. All Jews were eventually expelled from Britain. Coins were once made of real silver or gold. People sometimes clipped tiny bits off the edges, effectively making the coins worth less than their weight. This is why modern coins now have a marked edge around the sides. Coin clipping also made for a tidy almost untraceable profit, these small clippings could be smelted into gold or silver nuggets and be easily tradable among merchants.

On November 17, 1278, all the Jews of England were subjected to arrest and search of their homes on suspicion of coin clipping and counterfeiting. Eventually, some 680 were imprisoned in the Tower of London, where it is believed that more than 300 were actually executed in 1279. At the time, the Jewish population of England is believed to have been some 3,100.

During the 11th century, Jews from Italy, Spain, and Russia migrated over to England. They built a large place of worship, known as “the great Synagogue” just a little way down from the Tower of London. The Synagogue was used for worship, as well as file claims against Christian debtors and charging how to settle their debts. When corruption was found within Jewish money lenders, they were put under scrutinized investigation.

England implemented a badge rule for new Jewish settlers. Jews past the age of 7 had to wear a badge that signified their heritage.

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Thursday Reader: Ancient Skeletons in Paris and a Rare Roman Tombstone in England

Photo courtesy of BFM-TV

Hundreds of Skeletons Found Under a Paris Supermarket

Workers digging underneath a Paris supermarket have made an unsettling discovery: as many as 200 skeletons.

The grocery store, Monoprix, was doing some renovations in January and workers removing an underground wall discovered the bones. The area was apparently part of a cemetery for the Hospital of the Trinity, according to France’s BFM-TV. The cemetery operated from the 12th century to around the 17th century.

Photo courtesy of BFM-TV.

Photo courtesy of BFM-TV

Researchers and archaeologists are conducting carbon dating and DNA testing to try to figure out when and why the people died, the affiliate said. It’s clear they all died around the same time, lead archaeologist Isabelle Abadie told BFM-TV, because of the way the bodies were neatly arranged.

“What’s surprising is the bodies were not thrown in (the graves) but were carefully placed there in an organized manner. The individuals, men, women, and children, were placed head-to-toe,” to fit as many as possible in the grave, Abadie explained.

The bodies were found at the site of an ancient cemetery attached to the Trinity Hospital, which was founded in the 13th century. Paris suffered several plague epidemics during the times that the hospital was in operation, as well as a smallpox outbreak in the 17th century, not to mention Europe’s Black Death in the 1300’s.

Though it’s not clear exactly how these ancient people died, the trove of bodies could reveal insights into how people in the Middle Ages buried their dead during epidemics or famine, the researchers involved said.

Photo courtesy of BFM-TV.

Archaeologists working the site have found eight common graves in an area that is 100 square meters, with seven of the graves containing between five and 20 skeletons each and another site with more than 150 skeletons, BFM-TV said. The groupings suggest that whole families were buried together.

Abadie told BFM-TV that when the cemetery was shut down centuries ago, most of the remains were moved to the Catacombs of Paris.

“But apparently the job was not done well,” she said.

*      *      *      *      *

The Latin inscription memorializes the death of a 27-year-old woman. Credit: Cotswold Archaeology

Eighteen Thousand year Old Tombstone Found in England

A 1,800-year-old tombstone was discovered at a Roman cemetery in England this week. Because of its inscription, archaeologists know who was buried in the grave: a 27-year-old woman named Bodica.

“It’s incredibly rare,” Neil Holbrook, of Cotswold Archaeology, told BBC News.

For the last two months, Holbrook’s team has been excavating a Roman cemetery just outside the ancient city walls of Cirencester, a town in Gloucestershire, to make way for the construction of a new office park. They documented about 55 graves — some of which contained wooden coffins and copper bracelets — but only one was covered up with a toppled-over stone slab. 

The discovery comes on the heels of another Roman cemetery being found in the spring of 2013 in Leicester, England.

The excavators waited until February 25th to lift up the stone, discovering it was indeed a tombstone. The grave marker is among just nine other Roman tombstones found in Cirencester and about 300 found in the rest of Britain.

The grave dates to the second century, at a time when Cirencester was the second-largest city in Britain after London. The stone has very finely carved decorative details, Holbrook said, suggesting that Bodica had money or was married to someone with money. Inside the pediment, there’s a sculpture of the Roman god Oceanus, perhaps to mark the “watery journey” between life and death, Holbrook said.

The Latin text reads “D.M. BODICACIA CONIUNX VIXIT ANNO S XXVII,” or, roughly, “To the spirits of the dead, Bodica, loyal wife, lived 27 years.”

But the inscription has some archaeologists scratching their heads.

“The lettering and the writing is very poorly done — perhaps by someone who was illiterate,” Holbrook said.

Some letters seem to be missing, and the spelling of “Bodica” — a Celtic name that means “victory” — as “Bodicacia” is somewhat puzzling. It might be a misspelling. Maybe Bodica selected this skillfully made tombstone before her death, but when it came time to actually inscribe it, the stone fell into the hands of someone who wasn’t entirely equipped to do so. Or perhaps part of the Latin word “acacia,” meaning “ax,” was intentionally tacked onto her name to deter vandals, Holbrook said.

“We’ve only had it out of the ground 24 hours, but already it’s created a massive amount of interest and debate,” Holbrook said.

The archaeologists, who are wrapping up their excavation this week, found a skeleton associated with the grave. Eventually, an analysis of the woman’s bones should reveal more details about the woman’s life.

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King Richard III Gets a Spinal Exam and a New Grave

The skeleton of Richard III lies in a trench at the Grey Friars excavation site in Leicester, central England

The Twenty-First Century Autopsy of Richard III…
King Richard III of England was killed in August 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field, the clash that ended the War of the Roses. He was thought to have been buried beneath Greyfriars, a now demolished monastery in Leicester, England.

Last year, archaeologists recovered a skeleton from the site that dated to the correct time period and exhibited scoliosis, a curvature of the spine known to afflict Richard. DNA analysis has now confirmed that the bones belong to the long dead monarch. These images of his bones open a window into the life and grisly death of the last English king to die in combat.

Research led by the University of Leicester, working with the University of Cambridge, Loughborough University and University Hospitals of Leicester, has finally uncovered the truth about Richard III’s spinal condition.

“The physical deformity produced by Richard’s scoliosis was probably slight as he had a well-balanced curve of the spine”

– Dr Piers Mitchell

Historical and literary references to the physical deformities of Richard III, who ruled England from 1483-1485, are well-known, but debate has raged for centuries over the extent to which these descriptions are true. Various historical and literary references refer to Richard III as “crook-backed” or “hunch-back’d” , but until now, it was unknown whether these descriptions were based on Richard’s actual appearance, or were an invention of later writers to damage his reputation.

Early examinations of the remains of Richard III, discovered in 2012 by archaeologists at the University of Leicester, showed that the king had a condition called scoliosis, where the spine curves to the side. The latest analysis, published in The Lancet, reveals that the king’s condition would have had a noticeable, but small, effect on his appearance, and is unlikely to have affected his ability to exercise.

Site of Greyfriars, shown superimposed over a modern map of the area. The skeleton of Richard III was recovered in September 2012 from the centre of the choir, shown by a small dot.
Courtesy of University of Leicester.

Professor Bruno Morgan, and the forensic imaging team at the University of Leicester, created both physical and computer-generated replicas of the king’s spine by performing CT scans at the Leicester Royal Infirmary, and using 3D prints of the bones created by the Loughborough University from the CT image data. This allowed the study authors to carefully analyse the remains of Richard III’s skeleton to accurately determine the nature of his spinal condition and the extent to which it would have affected his appearance.

The results show that Richard’s scoliosis was unlikely to have been inherited, and that it probably appeared sometime after he was 10 years old. The condition would today be called ‘adolescent onset idiopathic scoliosis’, and is one of the commonest forms of scoliosis.

According to study author Dr Piers Mitchell, of the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology: “The physical deformity produced by Richard’s scoliosis was probably slight as he had a well-balanced curve of the spine. His trunk would have been short relative to the length of his limbs, and his right shoulder a little higher than the left. However, a good tailor to adjust his clothing and custom-made armour could have minimised the visual impact of this.”

“The moderate extent of Richard’s scoliosis is unlikely to have resulted in any impaired tolerance to exercise from reduced lung capacity,” says study co-author Dr Jo Appleby, Lecturer in Human Bioarchaeology at the University of Leicester, “Moreover, there is no evidence to suggest Richard would have walked with an overt limp, as his curve was well balanced and the bones of the lower limbs symmetric and well formed.”

The Dig for Richard III was led by the University of Leicester, working with Leicester City Council and in association with the Richard III Society. The originator of the Search project was Philippa Langley of the Richard III Society.

On the Web: Exhumation of Richard III of England

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