The church of Notre-Dame is a forgotten masterpiece, its past glory ruthlessly suppressed. The crusaders had brought back eastern techniques to transform Notre-Dame into a beacon of mystical exploration. They longed to join the angels in passionate union with the divine and built this church to make that possible.
Notre-Dame was provided with vast sums of money to turn the promise of transcendence into a daily reality. Yet today we sense the contradiction between the magnificence of the architecture and its present role as the local parish church. We know it must have been more.
What it was has been taken.
After only 70 years, Notre-Dame’s mission was brutally suppressed, its unique beauty silenced, the Glory window sealed, sightlines erased until it became a shell of its former self. Yet the secrets in the architecture whisper still. They describe the clash between a very personal search for mystical union and the hierarchic policies of the Church that insisted only the clergy knew how to guide the soul.
What one king had cherished his successor deemed heretical and ruthlessly suppressed. Why the brutal reversal? Why the violent resistance from the congregation? Why suppress its mystical ambitions and why hide the facts? Was it a heresy that was too dangerous to tolerate? The clash between faith and power remains etched in the silence of the masonry, so we may still unravel the distant echoes of their quest for spiritual union, a quest that still resonates in the shadows of this remarkable church.
‘Glory and Tragedy in Notre-Dame d’Etampes’ unravels the forgotten saga of a silenced masterpiece, where religious intrigue and architectural brilliance collided. It remains a poignant reminder of the persistent struggle between institutional power and individual enlightenment. It is a tale of breathtaking triumph with devastating consequences.
Notre-Dame was provided with vast sums of money to turn the promise of transcendence into a daily reality. Yet today we sense the contradiction between the magnificence of the architecture and its present role as the local parish church. We know it must have been more.
What it was has been taken.
After only 70 years, Notre-Dame’s mission was brutally suppressed, its unique beauty silenced, the Glory window sealed, sightlines erased until it became a shell of its former self. Yet the secrets in the architecture whisper still. They describe the clash between a very personal search for mystical union and the hierarchic policies of the Church that insisted only the clergy knew how to guide the soul.
What one king had cherished his successor deemed heretical and ruthlessly suppressed. Why the brutal reversal? Why the violent resistance from the congregation? Why suppress its mystical ambitions and why hide the facts? Was it a heresy that was too dangerous to tolerate? The clash between faith and power remains etched in the silence of the masonry, so we may still unravel the distant echoes of their quest for spiritual union, a quest that still resonates in the shadows of this remarkable church.
‘Glory and Tragedy in Notre-Dame d’Etampes’ unravels the forgotten saga of a silenced masterpiece, where religious intrigue and architectural brilliance collided. It remains a poignant reminder of the persistent struggle between institutional power and individual enlightenment. It is a tale of breathtaking triumph with devastating consequences.
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Table of Content
Chapter 1 – From Glory to Suppression 1Chapter 2 – Set and Setting 5
The experience 6
In practice 9
Can words express this experience? 12
Pilgrimage13
Crusades 14
The Cistercians 16
Cistercian lords of war 18
Chapter 3 – A visionary theology 21
Consequences of meeting the east 22
Centralised spaces for group worship25
The Glory axis 28
The Glory axis takes priority 29
The Way was not direct 30
To summarise 30
Chapter 4 – Darkness and the worship of the dead 33
Darkness enhanced the light 34
The sepulchre and the bones 36
Chapter 5- Architecture – the story in the masonry 39
Architecture with purpose 40
The evidence for the story 41
The mysterium on the cross axis 44
Notre-Dame and the First Gothic 48
Chapter 6 – Politics – the promise and the reality 61
Consequences of the second crusade 64
All gone by 1200 65
Singular journey or spiral labyrinth? 66
What was their heresy? 67
Whitewashing heresy 68
The end of the commune 69
Chapter 7 – Sculpture and sculptors 67
Workshop methods 69
Organisation of the data 71
Defining stylistic boundaries 71
The Transition of the 1170s 73
Chapter 8 – Construction 75
Concerning mortar and measure76
Concerning campaigns 78
Concerning geometry 79
Crusades impact on construction 81
Chapter 9 – Dating and the model 83
Building campaigns in the model 84
Concerning precise dates 86
Chapter 10 – The First Church 89
Three small remnants 91
Chancel in front of the apse 92
Entry into the south aisle 94
Cornices in the sky 96
Size of the east tower 100
How old is the ossuary? 101
The First Church 102
Two stories on the western tower 103
Chapter 11 – Interlude 1 – Papillon a local carver 111
Chapter 12 – Second Church I – the nave 113
Summary of the nave 115
Nave arcade, first phase 115
Nave arcade, second phase to 1113 118
The ‘Cistercian’ bases 1114 121
Concerning stability of the nave 1115 122
South aisle 1113-1116 124
Misplaced south doubleau 1113-1116 124
North aisle 1116-1118 126
Maintaining services while building 128
South clerestory wall 1116-1118 128
North clerestory wall 1117-1119 130
The strut 1118 132
Transverse arches and groin vaults 1118-1121 132
Building the groin vaults 138
Junction between tower and nave 139
Chapter13 – Second Church II – the lesser chamber 141
Lower chamber and the canon’s door 143
Straighten the aisle entry 1114 144
Sepulchre window, the ‘Glory’ 147
The sepulchre 1115 149
North aisle: the other wide windows 1115 151
North clerestory window 1119 154
Chapter 14 – Second Church III – pilasters-S and -N 159
Pilaster-S 164
Pilaster-N 167
West pilaster 171
Chapter 15 – Second Church IV – the choir 179
Priority to the chamber 1128-1135 180
Two bays in the choir 182
Pilaster-E 1126-1131 184
To separate or to merge? 185
Choir paused at the clerestory 1129 187
Concerning stability in the choir 1128 190
Chapter 16 – Second Church V – the greater chamber 193
Cornices under the roof <1090 and 1132 194
Vault over the east crossing 1132-35 196
Demolish the eastern tower 197
Leadership and decision-making 198
The roofs 200
Master Plans 201
An unlikely alternative 201
The church when Louis and Eleanor arrived 202
Chapter 17 – Interlude 2 – Palmier carver and master 203
Controlling details as well as templates 205
Mature work 206
Look-alikes 207
Palmier as master mason 209
Chapter 18 – Third Church I – portal and alignments 211
Two axes, not one 213
Erecting the south portal 1137-1140± 217
Discrepancies in the portal 219
The obstruction dates the portal 221
The lost column figures 224
Chapter 19 – Third Church II – masonry 227
Site conditions 1137-1144± 228
Rate of construction 229
Complexity in a season 230
Join the north to the south 1138-42± 230
Rubble walls covered 231
THE BASES
For groins in the east 1138± 232
For ribs in the transepts 1138± 233
Band of gold 1138-1141± 234
Decorated bases 236
Compound piers, drums and canopy of paradise 237
North chamber buttresses 1135-1138± 238
THE CHAPELS
South boundary crossed 239
Eastern chapels 1138-44± 239
Changed plan for southern chapels 1142-45± 241
Chapel walls and arcades 242
The Mysterium 1139± 242
The consoles in s3 246
South transept door 1143± 248
Chapter 20 -Third Church III- capitals and vaults 251
When were the choir capitals carved? 252
Concerning the choir capitals 1124± or 1129± 254
North vaults 1143-46± 257
North vaults and adjacent choir ribs 258
Placiong the choir capitals 258
Explanations 260
Chapter 21 – Third Church IV – after the crusade 263
Rate of construction 264
Rib vaults everywhere 267
Two roses 270
Plated capitals, mid-1150s± 270
The roofs 1160s and later 272Decision-making and multiple contracting 272
Chapter 22 – Fourth Church – the Restoration 275
Blocking the mysterium with two vaults 276
Blocking the inner Camino 282
Consequences 288
The westworks 289
Opening the nave clerestory 293
Symbols of triumph – the spire 295
Symbols of triumph – the fortress 295
Later saints 296
A historical coda 296
A personal coda 297
Chapter 23 – Bibliography 299
About the author
John James has studied medieval construction for the past 68 years. He practiced as an architect before following his true love of Gothic. Over the years he has published a dozen books and almost a hundred articles and studies, all on the architecture he loves. At the same time he founded and ran the Crucible Centre in the mountains west of Sydney to fulfil his personal longing for the sacred, and it is utterly appropriate that this last book should amalgamate these two strands of his life, hard as it was for him to complete the last chapterBuy this ebook and get 1 more FREE!
Language English ● Format PDF ● Pages 320 ● ISBN 9781805435136 ● File size 181.5 MB ● Publisher Boydell & Brewer Ltd ● City Woodbridge ● Country GB ● Published 2024 ● Downloadable 24 months ● Currency EUR ● ID 9485082 ● Copy protection Adobe DRM
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