Keith Tyler

Europe in the Middle Ages

November 19, 1998

It should be of interest to all of civilized Europe, to all who worship Our Lord in his many houses, to hear of the emergence of the new cathedrals appearing all over France. In my studies of the many new edifices being built according to the principles of the Modern Design, I have become appreciative of the splendor and magnificence of these new buildings which are becoming the mode for church construction and expansion throughout our kingdom.

The sight of each of these great buildings has given me a distaste for the barren and unassuming churches and modest abbeys commonly built in the earlier century. These borrow in many ways from the classical Roman and Greek construction, with their use of columns and arches. But in comparison to these new cathedrals, they are small, overwhelmingly flat, and boring. Memories of our older churches no longer appeal to me; Souvigny, with its dark brickwork and plain floors, now feels cold; Vezelay, with alternating colored bricks in its arches, now seems ugly. Outside, these churches have the appearance of castles or plain manor houses. The new style is more elaborate, and improves on that of these old buildings in many ways.

The new churches are built with the heavens in mind; their ceilings reach for the clouds, and attract the glorious light of the sky which God first created. One can be lost in the glory of their painted windows, with intricacy rivaling the most celebrated of the illuminated Gospels. Their ceilings rise so high that one must look straight up to see them. And the spaces they contain are not only airy and high, but also wide and vast. They are large enough that many people can worship at once. In some, there are many small side chapels so that there can be more than one celebrant in the church, saying the Mass for different groups of people at different altars, perhaps at the same time. And the light filters through tall and massive stained windows into many rays like beams of God's power.

The champion of this new wave of church building was championed by an abbot named Suger in St. Denis. Suger believed that light was the most important thing in human life. In rebuilding the church at his abbey, he desired to build it into a church which would inspire thougts of the beauty of Heaven. Height of ceilings and the presence of large, bright windows were prominent in his vision. The sunlight that shines into his church is at once beautiful, inspiring and mysterious. Large doors at the entrance are intended to represent the gateway into Heaven, and the inside of the cathedral is meant to envision the Heavenly City itself.

Suger took all the best innovations of the older Romanesque style and combined them into a new style which emphasizes intricacy and decorativeness. His idea of churches as embodiments of Heaven includes the use of fine materials such as gold, gemstones, silk, and bronze. In a cathedral of the new style, nowhere can the eye turn without focusing on some decoration, sculpture, picture, or design.

Advances on Suger's work are found in the new cathedrals throughout France, which employ many common aspects. Perhaps the most splendid are the windows of stained glass. They are used in two major forms, tall and thin, reaching for the ceiling, and large, round "rose" windows edged in bumps like petals of a flower. Commonly, they depict scenes from the Bible. In some places, as at Chartres, they show scenes from the life of the people in the town. At Amiens however, many of the windows are simple patterns. The window design is broken up into divisions, which employ circles, straight lines, and petal shapes. Within the segments are the individual scenes of the story they tell. The edges of the windows are commonly decorated with continuous patterns. The colors used are very strong, reds and blues being prominent. Figures and other objects, especially faces, are painted on the glass, but the basic shapes are formed by the arrangement of glass fragments. The windows are not so much openings in the walls but more like canvases of glass. Their artwork is reminiscent of that of the olden illustrated books.

Within the shape of the cathedral, windows like these are used all throughout the structure. Near the ceilings, in the clearstorey, tall windows can be found lining the sides of the central vessel. In the nave, these windows reach almost from the floor to the ceiling. In some cases, groups of these thin windows are topped by large circular or rose windows which expand between the tops of the lower windows, the arched ceiling, and the sides of the nave. Rose windows are more decorative than pictorial, and make heavy use of curves and flowery shapes. On the lower level, in the side aisles, shorter rectangular or top-rounded windows line the sides. The extent of the use of these windows is so great that these cathedrals are said to have not walls of stone but walls of glass.

These cathedrals are often built in the shape of a cross, with the "bottom" and entrance facing the west. At the east end is the central apse, with the choir area and main altar sits. This apse is sometimes curved. Behind this apse is an ambulatory, or corridor, off of which the side chapels extend. Flanking the nave which makes up the west arm are side aisles which are lower in height than the main arms. The sides of the nave are lined with columns separating the nave from the aisles. Above the level of the aisles, or main arcade, are the triforium and clearstorey levels. The triforium is often an elevated passageway that runs the length of the nave above the aisles, bordered by minor columns. The clearstorey reaches above that to the ceiling and is mostly made up of windows. This is similar to some Romanesque churches, such as Cluny, however there the clearstorey windows are much shorter, and the triforium is just a decorative facade of arches and columns.

The high ceilings of these cathedrals are accomplished through a number of innovations in arch design. The semicircular arches of Romanesque design are gone here, instead the tops of the arches curve up into a point. These are more sturdy as they direct more of the outward pressure from the ceiling into downward pressure. The pointed arch is used in the ceiling arches as well as the arches below the triforium, and some types of windows. The ribs across the arched ceiling, instead of relying on simple transverse ribs as in the old style, also stretch diagonally in a crisscross style. At intersections of these, a keystone, or boss, is put in place to hold the arch. There are variations to this, where more than two ribs may cross at the top. The lateral and diagonal ribs which support the ceiling connect with main shafts, or piers, which make up the columns in the nave. These roof arches are also supported by arms reaching out from outside towers, or buttresses. These aid in counteracting the force put on the piers by the weight of the roof, which might otherwise push outward on the piers and collapse. These ceilings reach extraordinary heights, such as Amiens at 139 feet.

Every inch of these new cathedrals are adorned with some sort of decoration. Repetition is a heavy aspect of the artistic design. Figures of saints, martyrs, and others figure prominently in these designs. The front doorways are often decorated with ornamental iron. The doorways are often surrounded by "stepped" arches, which extend out in successive layers from the shape of the doorway. Along these steps, or archivolts, are often statuettes and sculptures of human figures. At Amiens the doorways are flanked by figures of saints and martyrs. At Laon, the central doorway is topped by Mary and Jesus wearing crowns, and in the archivolts circling above them are dozens of Jesus' ancestors.

On the outside, the west entrance is usually the most decorated. Aside from the doorways, these sides often have large rose windows above the doorways as at Chartres and Paris. Straight lines, often reaching to the tops of towers or ending in finial ornaments, figure prominently on the outside, and make the cathedral appear even taller. The columns and towers of many west facades involve a leafy design called crocketing. The main towers at Rheims use crocketing to such an extent they look overrun with vines. Beasts also appear in the filial work on the outside of some cathedrals, like the lions' heads on Cologne, or the dragons hiding in foliage designs in the capitals of Rheims.

Much of the decoration inside the church comes from the stained glass windows, as the walls are mostly windows. The columns within the church are topped by leafy capitals as in the Greek Corinthian style. Stepped arches are often used to some extent in the arches along the nave as at Rheims. In many places the main piers are supported by thin pillars surrounding them, which has a practical purpose but is also decorative. Repeating all these patterns of columns, windows, and arches on a finer scale makes for a more ornate interior.

The earliest cathedrals in the new style are found in France, in the lands ruled by the King. Abbot Suger was a charismatic figure, and was able to gain the friendship of many, including the King. As St. Denis became more powerful through Suger's political prowess, he felt it important to improve on the abbey church. As Suger, the King, and the Church became more aligned with each other, and each grew in popularity, so did the popularity of the new style used in Suger's church improvements.

Shortly after becoming abbot of St. Denis, Suger had reformed his monastery at the call of his friend, the reformer Bernard of Clairveaux. It is believed that Bernard gave some of the architectural suggestions for the improvements of Suger's church. Although Bernard had differences with Suger's desire for splendor and extravagance, Suger explained his perspectives in terms that Bernard could agree with.

Bishop Henry of Sens was also a good friend of Bernard, and this may have influenced his decision to build his cathedral in the style of St. Denis. It was Henry who gathered a synod at Sens which resulted in Bernard's greatest success in his reformation efforts. Around that time, Henry began construction on a cathedral at Sens, which is perhaps the first cathedral in this new style.

Bishop Geoffrey of Chartres is another member of Bernard's clique, who inspired Henry to accept Bernard's reform philosophy. Like Suger, he was in good favor with the king. Geoffrey was scholarly minded, and respected the academic principles of Peter Abelard, who was Bernard's nemesis. Geoffrey named Bernard as one of the chancellors of the Cathedral School at Chartres, which went through its most successful period under Geoffrey. Bernard was able to write some of his more controversial work while he was at Chartres. During this time, Geoffrey began work on rebuilding Chartres Cathedral.

Chartres was already a major pilgrimage site, where local Christian martyrs are said to have been thrown into a well. Pilgrims attributed healing powers to the well, and were also attracted by Chartres' collection of Christian relics. Since the new structure was completed, it has been a major refuge for weary pilgrims, who live there during their visit. The nave of Chartres is often host to gameplay, and merchants have taken up positions on the edges of the nave and the back of each aisle.

This new style is now being witnessed throughout France and is even spreading through Europe. The large, open spaces of these new cathedrals can hold crowds of people, and their design allows for many different groups to come and worship. They are becoming major gathering places in their towns, and are even attracting commerce. The bold colors of their stained glass windows and their majestic structures are beauties to which people from all walks of life in our towns are attracted.

St. Denis said that the only fitting place for the keeping of God's holy relics and for the worship of our glorious Lord, is a place of glory and holiness. The style of churches which he helped introduce are these things and more. They are monuments to the people's faith and to the strength of our cities. No more shall a man in search of the magnificence of God need look upon anything but a tribute to His magnificence such as these new cathedrals.