Department of the
History of Art and Architecture
Spring Term 2005
(05-2) Thursdays
6:00--8:30 p.m., Frick 203
Professor Franklin
Toker HA&A
0221, CRN 40022
Syllabus for
MEDIEVAL ARCHITECTURE
Welcome!
Oddly, perhaps, for someone who has worked with and
excavated medieval architecture for almost forty years, I've never taught
medieval architecture in a one-shot course before. It's something I've wanted to do for years,
but I was always held back by the absence of a good text that would cover the
whole of the Middle Ages and amply illustrate its architecture besides. Now
that book exists, in your required course text, Robert Calkins's Medieval Architecture in Western Europe,
and it comes with a CD that illustrates literally hundreds of buildings.
As I wrote in the abstract
to this course, medieval architecture takes many forms over its 1200-year
lifespan, but there are many links among the four main divisions: Early
Christian and Byzantine (approximately 300 to 600); Early Medieval
(includes Carolingian and Ottonian, 600 to 1000); Romanesque (1000 to
1150, with overlaps); and Gothic (1150 to 1500, with overlaps). These links will make the subject
comprehensible to us, and the masterpiece buildings we will be studying (Old
St. Peter's, S. Vitale, Hagia Sofia, Torhalle at Lorsch, Palace Chapel in
Aachen, Tournus, Cluny, Toulouse, Notre-Dame in Paris, Amiens, S. Croce and
Florence Cathedral, to name a few) will make it all worthwhile.
The class is your doorway
into a fabulous territory. Like the
Hobbit, or maybe Harry Potter, there are a few talismans or passwords to get
through this territory: keep up with the readings, don't miss the lectures
(attendance is mandatory, anyway), and keep fitting the pieces together all
term long, not just when the midterm and final show up. Enjoy yourself!
--Frank Toker
Class
meetings:
Please note: class members need to read the cited
chapter in Calkins, Medieval Architecture
in Western Europe, before coming to class. Our lectures and the chapter divisions in
Calkins will be closely similar (though not identical), so you need to read the
chapters in Calkins in their entirety.
All but a half-dozen of the "key works" are illustrated in the
Calkins book, on or following the page number given below. The CD that comes with the Calkins text gives
you an unparalleled chance to get to know the key buildings well, with up to 30
detailed views of the same structure.
About 90% of the "key works" are on the CD, but beware that
Calkins also includes scores of buildings on the CD that are mentioned nowhere
in the text, which can get confusing. Also occasionally confusing is the way
Calkins abbreviates his image filenames.
On the CD they are alphabetical, but sometimes by building name
[SVITALE], most often by town [
Week 1. (6
January) Physical and social context for medieval architecture; characteristics
of the Late Antique style [read Calkins
chapter 1: pp. 1--13]
key works:
3.
3.
7.
9.
11. Spalato (
13.
works in context:
Palestrina (ancient Praeneste), near
Week 2. (13
January) Constantine and the Invention of the Christian Basilica [Calkins chapter 2: pp. 14--33; readings
for tonight:
01) Turpin C. Bannister: "The Constantinian
Basilica of Saint Peter at
key works:
16.
17.
19.
21.
29:
31.
31.
31.
works in context:
16.
31.
Week 3. (20
January) Justinian and the Byzantine tradition: the return of imperial
magnificence [Calkins chapter
3, pp. 34--49; reading: 03) Joan R. Branham: "Sacred Space under
Erasure in Ancient Synagogues and
key works:
24.
21.
25.
34. Constantinople [=
35.
38.
works in context:
27. Bosra [more commonly: Bostra],
50. Hosios Lukas: Katholikon, early 11th c.
Week 4. (27
January) Northern and western neighbors: "Dark Ages" buildings in
Germany, France, Spain, and England [Calkins
chapter 5. pp. 56--65; chapter 8, pp. 91--99; first part of chapter 12, pp.
151--154; reading: 04) Richard Krautheimer: "Introduction to an 'Iconography
of Mediaeval Architecture'"]
key works:
21.
58. Montecassino, founded by St. Benedict ca. 520; rebuilt by Abbot Desiderius ca. 1075 NCD
64.
93.
96.
98. San Miguel de Escalada,
151.
153. Earl's
works in context:
Week 5. (3
February) Carolingian and Ottonian: The Basilica Transformed and Reformed [Calkins chapter 6, pp. 66--79; chapter 7, pp.
80--90; readings: 05) Walter Horn; Ernest Born: "The 'Dimensional
Inconsistencies' of the Plan of Saint Gall and the Problem of the Scale of the
Plan"; 06) Richard Krautheimer: "The Carolingian Revival of Early
Christian Architecture"]
key works:
59. Ideal monastery plan for
66.
67.
71.
73.
75.
77. Corvey an der
80.
80.
82.
85.
works in context:
Week 6. (10
February) Midterm; after a break, class resumes with experiments in Romanesque
Engineering [Calkins chapter
9, pp. 100--110; readings: 07) Kenneth J. Conant: "The after-Life
of Vitruvius in the Middle Ages"; 08) Edson Armi: "Orders and
Continuous Orders in Romanesque Architecture"]
key works:
100.
103.
105.
works in context:
St.-Benôit-sur-Loire, monastery church, early eleventh
century.
Week 7. (17
February) Mature Romanesque style [Calkins
chapter 10, pp. 111--135 on
key works:
49.
60, 111, 115. Second and Third Abbey Churches of
86.
111.
112. Nevers, France: St.-Etienne, complete by 1097
NEVERS2--9
121. Autun: St.-Lazare, 1120--1146 AUTUN1--4
121. Velzelay: La Madeleine, 1120--1132 VEZEL1--3 for
the Romanesque church; VEZCH1--5 for the later Gothic choir
124.
127.
131. Périgeux: St.-Front, ca. 1047, then early 12th c.; NCD
132. Angoulęme: St.-Pierre, 1105--1128 ANGOUL1--3
134. Fontenay: Cistercian abbey, completed by 1147
FONT1--13
146.
146.
149.
works in context:
136.
136.
Week 8. (24
February) Experiments in vaulting, and the transformation to Gothic style [Calkins chapter 12, pp. 154--167; readings:
11) M. Wolfe, Robert Mark: "Gothic Cathedral Buttressing: The Experiment
at
key works:
154.
155.
158.
164.
works in context:
160ff. Anglo-Norman Romanesque in
Week 9. (3
March) Early Gothic [Calkins
chapter 13, pp. 168--197; reading: 12) John Summerson: "Heavenly
Mansions: An Interpretation of Gothic"]
key works:
172. St.-Denis, outside
178. Sens: cathedral of St.-Etienne, Gothic rebuilding
begun ca. 1140s; nave complete by 1180 SENS1--9
183. Laon: cathedral of Notre-Dame, begun ca. 1155; completed with new flat apse ca. 1205 LAON1--15
187.
works in context:
Noyon, Tournai cathedrals; choir of Vezelay.
[Spring
Break: no class on 10 March]
Week 10. (17
March) High Gothic [Calkins
chapter 14, pp. 198--218; chapter 16, pp 236--246; reading: 13) Erwin
Panofsky: Gothic Architecture and
Scholasticism]
key works:
198.
207.
211.
238.
241.
243.
works in context:
205.
236. St.-Denis: High Gothic nave, mid 13th c.
245.
Week 11. (24
March) Late Gothic building, mainstream and periphery [Calkins chapter 15, pp. 219--235; remainder
of chapter 16, pp. 246--252; chapter 17, pp. 253--289; readings: 14)
Franklin Toker: "Arnolfo's S. Maria del Fiore: A Working Hypothesis";
15) Marvin Trachtenberg: "Gothic/Italian 'Gothic': Toward a
Redefinition"; 16) Walter C. Leedy Jr.: "The Origins of Fan
Vaulting"]
key works:
219.
222, 257. Wells: cathedral of St. Andrew, begun ca.
1200, nave complete ca. 1225
WELLS1/2
228.
231. Orvieto: cathedral, 1290--ca. 1310 (facade to 1330s) ORVIET1--4
232.
233.
246, 257.
247.
262.
275.
284.
285.
works in context:
contemporary church-building in
Week 12. (31
March) Secular and non-Christian buildings [Calkins chapter 18, pp. 290--304]
key works:
19.
71.
93.
290.
291.
292. Krak des Chevaliers,
295.
297.
299. Beaune: Hôtel-Dieu hospital, begun 1443
BEAUNE1--3
300.
302.
303.
works in context:
Synagogues in
Week 13. (7
April) The medieval city [review Calkins
chapter 18]
key works:
295.
300.
302.
works in context:
Medieval
Week 14. (14
April) Patrons and builders; the emergence of the architect [Calkins chapter 19, pp. 305--312, read with
particular care; reading: 17) Franklin Toker: "Gothic Architecture
by Remote Control: An Illustrated Building Contract of 1340"]
key works:
310. Villard de Honnecourt notebook, ca. 1225--1250 NCD
Giovanni di Agostino: facade drawing for Palazzo
Sansedoni,
Arnolfo di Cambio at S. Croce and S. Maria del Fiore,
Week 15. (21
April) Final examination: regular
time and place
Organization
and requirements for the course:
The primary course
objective is to train students in visual perception and integration of the
visual evidence with the social and cultural life of the Middle Ages. We begin chronologically with a look at the
Late-Antique style, examine the architectural consequences of the rise of
Christianity, then look at the early church building campaigns in the main
countries involved. Three emperors who
had a profound understanding of the power of architecture will catch our
attention in the first half of the course:
Requirements for the course
will be weekly readings (students will report on one of these in writing,
another orally), and a paper of about three pages on one particular building or
urban design from the period. Students
will pick their own topics for this "short analytical paper," but
these must be approved by the instructor for individuality and expectation that
the topic is in fact do-able. Students
will e-mail three possible choices to the instructor by the third week of
class; instructor replies yes, no, or "needs modification" within a
few days. A long paragraph with
preliminary bibliography is then due two weeks later; this will be returned the
next week. The completed paper to be handed in two weeks after that, and given
back at the next class.
Students are
expected to devote about two hours a week to the reading assignments, about
five hours to the short analytical paper, and the same for study for the
midterm and final exam. Students will be evaluated in a substantial fashion
before the deadline for Monitored Withdraw.
Grading Policy:
Relative weight of each requirement:
10% attendance
10% participation (two separate responses of 5%: see
below)
10% your reading response paper
10% your oral report (team of 3) on one of the
readings
10% your oral report (team of 3) on a preceding class
20% Midterm
30% Final Exam
Late work and make-ups:
University-approved reasons for a student's missing
work, classes, or tests (illness, family or personal emergency) are accepted,
but the make-ups have to follow promptly.
Late work can be submitted up to the class in which the instructor hands
back that assignment, unless emergency conditions still prevail for that
particular student. There is no
"extra-credit" work.
Students with disabilities:
If you have a disability for which you are requesting
accommodation, please contact the instructor and the Office of Disability
Resources and Services, 216 William Pitt
Cheating and plagiarism:
This course adheres to the following statement of the
Senate Committee on Tenure and Academic Freedom: "The integrity of the
academic process requires fair and impartial evaluation on the part of faculty
and honest academic conduct on the part of students. To this end, students are expected to conduct
themselves at a high level of responsibility in the fulfillment of the course
of their study. It is the corresponding
responsibility of faculty to make clear to students those standards by which
students will be evaluated, and the resources permissible for use by students
during the course of their study and evaluation. The educational process is perceived as a
joint faculty-student enterprise which will perforce involve professional
judgment by faculty and may involve--without penalty--reasoned exception by
students to the data or views offered by faculty." In simple terms, you'll get an F for the
class, and a recommendation for disciplinary action by the Dean of Students.
Attendance:
Regular attendance at the lectures is required, and
will be taken after the break; one missed class will be excused, so
please do not e-mail instructor why you were away.
Participation:
The instructor usually has a good recollection of
class participation, but to make sure no one is overlooked, kindly turn in a
note at the end of at least two separate classes that will remind me, e.g.
"Professor Toker, I was the person who pointed out that the Bayeux
Tapestry building looked like a Roman arch," or whatever your contribution
was. Mark your name clearly. Also, write
your name out boldly on a
sheet of paper at your desk, so I learn your name early on.
Reading response paper:
During the term you will write one paper of a few
pages on one of the seventeen readings listed by number in the "course
meetings" information. This must be
your original, unassisted work, and it can only be on the reading(s) for that
particular week. You need to hand it in
at the beginning of class; anything later will not be accepted, since your
fellow-students are going to discuss it in class (see below).
Oral report (team of 3) on one of the readings:
During the term, you will join two other people in
giving an oral report on one of the readings for this class: about two or three
minutes each, please. Pick a reading, divide it up in some meaningful way, tell
the class what the argument is, how the scholar approached it, how convincing
or unconvincing the article is. You need
to form your own team, and tell the instructor before the preceding class
ends. Your written and oral reports
cannot be on the same reading.
Oral report (team of 3) on a preceding class:
During the term, you will join two other people in
giving an oral report on the preceding class: about a minute or two each. As above, you need to form your own team, and
tell the instructor before the preceding class ends. Get together with your team, and summarize
the points made in the preceding lecture.
This will not be possible for the final exam evening.
Midterm:
This will use no scans, and will probably be
multiple-choice ("probably," because it depends on how well the class
seems to be taking to the material). Example:
Both when it was founded and after it was modified soon after, the Church of
the Holy Sepulcher consisted of how many separate parts? a)one b)two
c)three d)four or The church of S. Lorenzo in Milan carries a
high similarity with the plan of which earlier building? a)Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine b)Church of the Nativity c)Piazza d'Oro at Hadrian's Villa d)Pantheon
Final exam:
No scans.
Factual material from the second half of the course only, but conceptual
material from both halves. Short-answer
factual questions (example: the nave vaults of St.-Étienne at
Other course information
Website for
this course: www.pitt.edu/~tokerism, click on "Medieval
Architecture"; you'll also be getting periodic e-mails from the
instructor.
Instructor:
Frank Toker; office on balcony of Frick Library reading room; student meeting
hours are normally Friday mornings 9 to 11.
Telephone 412.648.2419; e-mail ftoker@pitt.edu. You are most welcome to
drop in, call, or cyberchat.
Reserve Books
(PITTCAT also carries this under "course reserves"):
Robert Calkins: Medieval
architecture in
Roger Stalley: Early
Medieval Architecture
Whitney Stoddard: Monastery
and Cathedral in Medieval
Paul Frankl: Gothic
architecture NA440.F83g (also at Hillman)
Banister Fletcher: A
history of architecture on the comparative method.
Richard Krautheimer: Early Christian and Byzantine architecture. Harmondsworth, 1965.
NA360.K91 1967
Kenneth John Conant: Carolingian and Romanesque architecture, 800 to 1200.
Harmondsworth, 1959. NA390.C74.
John Summerson: Heavenly
mansions, and other essays on architecture.
Erwin Panofksy: Gothic
Architecture and Scholasticism
Hans Erich Kubach: Romanesque
Architecture
Louis Grodecki: Gothic
Architecture
Buildings
Across Time (will join reserves
later; excellent chapters on medieval architecture)
Nicola Coldstream: Medieval
Architecture (
Reserve articles in chronological order of subject: (these articles are all on reserve in hardcopy; but
the website version of this text allows you to click on them directly, to view
and/or print them out):
01) Turpin C. Bannister: "The Constantinian
Basilica of Saint Peter at
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037-9808%28196803%2927%3A1%3C3%3ATCBOSP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Y
02) Gregory T. Armstrong: "
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037-9808%28197403%2933%3A1%3C5%3ACCSAS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Q
03) Joan R. Branham: "Sacred Space under Erasure
in Ancient Synagogues and Early Churches," The Art Bulletin, Vol. 74, No. 3. (Sep., 1992), pp. 375-394.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0004-3079%28199209%2974%3A3%3C375%3ASSUEIA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Q
04) Richard Krautheimer: "Introduction to an
'Iconography of Mediaeval Architecture'," Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 5. (1942),
pp. 1-33.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0075-4390%281942%295%3C1%3AITA%22OM%3E2.0.CO%3B2-5
05) Walter Horn; Ernest Born: "The 'Dimensional
Inconsistencies' of the Plan of
06) Richard Krautheimer: "The Carolingian Revival
of Early Christian Architecture, " The
Art Bulletin, Vol. 24, No. 1. (Mar., 1942), pp. 1-38.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0004-3079%28194203%2924%3A1%3C1%3ATCROEC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-1
07) Kenneth J. Conant: "The after-Life of Vitruvius
in the Middle Ages," The Journal of
the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 27, No. 1. (Mar., 1968), pp.
33-38.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037-9808%28196803%2927%3A1%3C33%3ATAOVIT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-1
08) Edson Armi: "Orders and Continuous Orders in
Romanesque Architecture," The
Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 34, No. 3. (Oct.,
1975), pp. 173-188.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037-9808%28197510%2934%3A3%3C173%3AOACOIR%3E2.0.CO%3B2-3
09) Walter Horn: "Romanesque Churches in
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0004-3079%28194306%2925%3A2%3C112%3ARCIFAS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-D
10) Franklin Toker: "A Baptistery below the
Baptistery of
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0004-3079%28197606%2958%3A2%3C157%3AABBTBO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-5
11) M. Wolfe, Robert Mark: "Gothic Cathedral
Buttressing: The Experiment at
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037-9808%28197403%2933%3A1%3C17%3AGCBTEA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-S
12) John Summerson: "Heavenly Mansions: An
Interpretation of Gothic," in
Summerson, Heavenly Mansions,
pp. 1-28.
13) Erwin Panofsky: Gothic Architecture and Scholasticism
14) Franklin Toker: "Arnolfo's S. Maria del
Fiore: A Working Hypothesis," The
Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 42, No. 2. (May,
1983), pp. 101-120.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037-9808%28198305%2942%3A2%3C101%3AASMDFA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-H
15) Marvin Trachtenberg: "Gothic/Italian
'Gothic': Toward a Redefinition," The
Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 50, No. 1. (Mar.,
1991), pp. 22-37.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037-9808%28199103%2950%3A1%3C22%3AG%22TAR%3E2.0.CO%3B2-W
16) Walter C. Leedy Jr.: "The Origins of Fan
Vaulting," The Art Bulletin Vol.
60, No. 2. (Jun., 1978), pp. 207-213.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0004-3079%28197806%2960%3A2%3C207%3ATOOFV%3E2.0.CO%3B2-E
17)
Franklin Toker: "Gothic Architecture by Remote Control: An Illustrated
Building Contract of 1340," The Art
Bulletin, Vol. 67, No. 1. (Mar., 1985), pp. 67-95.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0004-3079%28198503%2967%3A1%3C67%3AGABRCA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-3
The following two articles are of related interest,
but do NOT count as reading
assignments:
18) Franklin Toker: "Excavations Below the
Cathedral of
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0016-920X%281975%2914%3A2%3C17%3AEBTCOF%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Q
19) Franklin Toker: "Amid Rubble and Myth:
Excavating Beneath
http://www.neh.gov/news/humanities/1999-03/toker.html