Social Class and Residential Architecture in Medieval Europe

I. Medieval urbanism: cities after the fall of the Roman Empire   A. Main lines of city morphology (form) in Europe: 1. the old rural pattern

Open field village: Wharram Percy (East Anglia), England1.

Continuous occupation of Roman gridded colony

Florence, Italy

Fosdinovo, Italy

New village springs up near a castle or monastery

New town deliberately founded by a patron

Montaubon (bastide), France

3.

I. A. 2. three basic patterns of the medieval town

I. B. A partiality for regular, urban-based geometric plans in the Middle Ages: the pitfalls of thinking that similar forms have similar significance  1. In spite of similar form, how were medieval bastides in France unlike Roman towns?

Medieval bastide

Montaubon, France

Roman colony

Timgad, Algeria

Law of the Indies plan

New Orleans, LA

6.8.

I. C. Purposefulness of the medieval organic towns, a rural, topography-based “plan”  1. Influence of topography on form: why did faubourg type towns often conform to topography?

Friesbach, Austria, 12th century

4.

Faubourg in German-speaking lands Faubourg in England

Farnham, England, 12th century

Friesbach, Austria, 12th century

I. C. 1.

I. C. 2. How did the influence of economic considerations shape informal medieval town plans?

Siena, Italy (free commune)

I. C. 3. How could intelligent decisions based on accidents of site become part of the aesthetic identity of an organic town?

Siena, Italy – view over town square (the Campo)

II. Middle Ages in Northern Europe: the culture of the hall

Great Hall at Oakham Castle, Oakham, England, 1180-90

II. A. Functions: What functions did a great hall serve?

Halls and the Great Hall of the Saxon royal court at Yeavering, England, 7th - 9th cen.

Remains of a byre in Ezinge, Netherlands2nd cen. BC

II. A. Origins of the rural North European timber hall 1. Vernacular

Saxon royal hall at Cheddar (c. 1100), England

Halls and the Great Hall of the Saxon royal court at Yeavering, England, 7th - 9th cen.

II. A. 2. Roman basilicas

Great Hall at OakhamConstantine’s Aula or Basilica

Trier, Germany, c. 300

II. C. Evolution of a northern architecture for the elite: making the hall an architecture of power

Great Hall at Oakham Castle

bailey (grounds)

earthen banks w/ stone walls

“Here below, some pray, others fight, still others work.” (11th century, Bishop Adalbero of Laon)

“From the beginning, mankind has been divided into three parts,

among men of prayer, farmers, and men of war.”(11th century, Bishop Gerard of Cambrai)

II. C. Feudal context of the substantial great halls: why did great halls become more monumental beginning in the 11th century?

Great Hall at Oakham

II. C. 2. How were architectural languages combined to distinguish great halls with pretensions from other halls?

II. C. 2.

Great Hall at Oakham

Great Hall at Oakham

Figure playing a viol

II. C. 2.

Keep (donjon) of Loches Castle, Loches, France, 1030s

III. Signature architecture of the feudal aristocracy: The keep an un-Roman vertical status dwelling➝

Tower of London, 1078

Royal residence of William the Conqueror

Keep of Durham Castle

III.

Remains of motte-and-bailey castle at Pleshey,

England

wood hall → future masonry keep

III. A. Origin of the keep in north European motte-and-bailey earthwork fortifications motte (mound) and bailey (enclosed grounds)

great hall and other buildings

Loches Castle

III. B. Rural landscape setting: Why would the idea to live in a vertical house not have occurred to the elite Roman?

Hall at Oakham Castle Stacking of halls seen in Bayeux Tapestry, 11th cen.Stacking of halls seen in Bayeux Tapestry, 11th cen.

III. C.

a keep

Loches Castle

III. C. Architectural program of the tower, keep, or donjon

4 floor levels inside the keep at Loches

Plan of the keep at Loches

great hall

chambers

armory

chambers

III. C. 1. keep as stacked feudal halls for feasting, entertaining, sleeping, praying

The great hall (2nd floor)

III. C. 1.Loches Castle

Loches Castle

The chapel in the small keep (3rd floor chamber level)

III. C. 1.

III. C. 1.

III. C. 2. thick walls (idea found also in Romanesque churches)

Loches Castle Loches CastleDwarf gallery at Durham Cathedral

III. D. Aesthetics: non-defensive statements made by the castle and keep

Loches Castle

III. D. 1. Its relationship to the grandeur of Romanesque church design

Engaged shafts at Loches Castle Romanesque Speyer Cathedral

Engaged shafts, passageways in walls, and ashlar masonry: already appear at Loches before they become widespread in church architecture

Tower of London, 1078 Keep of Castle Rising, England, 1140

More complex massing and/or exterior articulation

III. D. 1.

Étampes donjon, Étampes, France, 1130-50

III. D. 1. Evolution away from the rectangular hall toward more visually flashy keeps