Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. The term "Romanesque" is usually used for the period from the 10th to the 12th century with "Pre-Romanesque" and "First Romanesque" being applied to earlier buildings with Romanesque characteristics. Romanesque architecture can be found across the continent, diversified by regional materials and characteristics, but with an overall consistency that makes it the first pan-European architectural style since Imperial Roman Architecture. The Romanesque style in England is traditionally referred to as Norman architecture.
The commonest surviving Romanesque buildings are churches, of which many are still standing, more or less intact and frequently in use.Bannister Fletcher, A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method. Many of these churches were built as abbeys, to serve religious communities. The living quarters and other monastic buildings of these abbeys constitute a significant part of the remaining domestic architecture of the Romanesque period.
The second most common type of surviving Romanesque building is the castle, of which the great majority are in ruins, as a result of war, or the practice of dismantling castles that might later be used in uprisings. A number of ruined or much altered imperial palaces, some of them within castle walls, others unfortified, have also survived in Germany and Alsace.
Examples of purely domestic architecture include the great hall of a fortified manor in England, and a small number of large town houses in France and Germany and several palazzos in Venice. A great many more small houses are spread across Europe, often greatly altered by the insertion of later windows, and sometimes with their antiquity unrecognised and unrecorded.
History
The following is a summary of essential points from the section History in the article cited above.
Origins Romanesque architecture was the first distinctive style to spread across Europe since the Roman Empire.Helen Gardner, Art through the Ages. Architecture of a Romanesque style developed simultaneously in the north of Italy, parts of France and in the Iberian Peninsula in the 10th century.
Politics and religion The Romanesque period was a time of frequent conflict. Much of Europe was affected by feudalism in which peasants held tenure from local rulers over the land that they farmed in exchange for military service and employment on building projects. This resulted in the building of castles at strategic points, many of them being constructed as strongholds of the Normans, descendants of the Vikings who invaded northern France in 911. The invasion of England by William II, Duke of Normandy, in 1066, saw the building of both castles and abbeys which reinforced the Norman presence. Political struggles also resulted in the fortification of many towns, or the rebuilding and strengthening of walls that remained from the Roman period. One of the most notable surviving fortifications is that of the city of Carcassonne. The enclosure of towns brought about a lack of living space within the walls, and resulted in a style of town house that was tall and narrow, often surrounding communal courtyards, as at San Gimignano in Tuscany.Rolf Toman, pp. 114–117Copplestone, pp.188–89
In Germany, the Holy Roman Emperors built a number of residences both castles and palaces, at strategic points and on trade routes. The Imperial Palace of Goslar (heavily restored in the 19th century) was built in the early 11th century by Otto III and Henry III, while the ruined Palace at Gelnhausen was received by Frederick Barbarossa prior to 1170.Rolf Toman, pp. 70–73 The movement of people and armies also brought about the building of bridges, some of which have survived, including the 12th-century bridge at Besalú, Catalonia, the 11th-century Puente de la Reina, Navarre and the Pont-Saint-Bénézet, Avignon.Rolf Toman, pp. 18, 177, 188
The system of monasticism in which the religious become members of an order, with common ties and a common rule, living in a mutually dependent community, rather than as a group of hermits living in proximity but essentially separate, was established by the monk Benedict in the 6th century. From this time onwards, monasteries were established across Europe, bringing about not only the construction of large churches, but also cloisters, domestic quarters and other buildings associated with community living such as hospitals, barns, and forges.Holmes, pp. 130–148Banister Fletcher, p. 308
The Crusades, 1095–1270, which were intended to wrest the Holy Places of Palestine from Islamic control, resulted in the building of castles in Syria and Palestine. The Crusades brought about a very large movement of people and, with them, ideas and trade skills, particularly those involved in the building of fortifications and the metal working needed for the provision of arms, which was also applied to the fitting and decoration of buildings. The continual movement of people, rulers, nobles, bishops, abbots, craftsmen and peasants, was an important factor in creating a homogeneity in building methods and a recognizable Romanesque style, despite regional differences.Gardner, p. 302
Characteristics
Walls and materials Most domestic buildings of the Romanesque period were built of wood, or partly of wood. In Scandinavian countries, buildings were often entirely of wood, while in other parts of Europe, buildings were "half-timbered", constructed with timber frames, the spaces filled with rubble, wattle and daub, or other materials which were then plastered over.Moffett, Fazio, Wodehouse, pp. 263–264 Stone was often used for basements. The building material differs greatly across Europe, depending upon the local stone and building traditions.Banister Fletcher, p. 303-04
While in most countries stone is the usual material for substantial buildings such as castles and palaces, in much of Poland, Germany, northern Italy and the Netherlands, brick is more commonly used. Where stone has been used for domestic buildings, it is often in comparatively small and irregular pieces, bedded in thick mortar. Smooth ashlar masonry was used where easily worked limestone was available.Rene Hyughe, p.263 For defensive buildings such as castles, the walls are massively thick. In all Romanesque architecture, the windows tend to be small. The general impression of Romanesque architecture is of solidity and strength.
Arches, arcades, piers and columns Arches in domestic architecture across Europe during this period are always semi-circular, with the only exceptions occurring in palatial buildings in Sicily where Norman architecture was influenced by the Islamic style. Arcades (rows of arches) occur in the interior of large buildings such as the great hall of a castle, supporting the timbers of a roof or upper floor. Arcades are also used to create cloisters and loggias. Arcading on a large scale generally fulfils a structural purpose, but it is also used on a smaller scale, as a decorative feature, both internally and externally.
In Romanesque domestic architecture, arcades were most often supported on piers. They were built of masonry and are of square or rectangular section, generally having a horizontal moulding representing a capital at the springing of the arch. Columns were also used to support arcades and vaults, but are a feature of palace, civic and monastic architecture, rather than smaller houses. Colonnettes and attached shafts are also used structurally and for decoration. The capital on top of a column is usually cut so that it is round at the bottom, where it sits on the column, and square at the top where it support the arch. A capital might be undecorated, or else have foliate or figurative carving.
Vaults and roofs Timber was used extensively in building. The majority of buildings have open wooden roofs. When building have stone undercrofts, or basements, this lower floor may be vaulted, with a barrel or groin vault. Vaulted domestic spaces are particularly found in monastic buildings, castles and palaces where skilled master masons were employed. Towards the end of the period, vaulted spaces in monastic buildings employed the ribbed vault, as it was used in abbey churches.
Doors and windows Narrow doors and small windows are often square topped, being bridged by a solid stone lintel which may be supported on projecting brackets. Some stone buildings have retained wooden lintels. Larger doorways and windows are topped with semi-circular arches, as are arcades and vaults. Large doorways in more elaborate dwellings are often set within three archivolts or mouldings and may also have corbels or colonnettes and capitals, as at the Jew's house at Lincoln. Square-topped windows are often set in groups, with two or three beneath a single lintel. Round-topped windows are often paired under a wide arch, and separated by stone mullions or colonnettes. In Sicily there are a number of palaces and churches where the pointed arch is used during this period, apparently adopted from Islamic architecture.
Architectural embellishment and sculpture Stone buildings are often ornamented with projecting courses which may be flat fillets or rounded mouldings. These are sometimes carved with patterns, particularly chevrons. An arched doorway that is set into a thick wall may be deeply recessed, and have three or more bands of moulding around it. Doorways sometimes have colonnettes with small capitals, as are also found on the transoms that divide paired windows. Sometimes capitals and corbels are carved with floral motifs or figures.
Arcading is a significant decorative feature of Romanesque architecture, occurring most often in domestic architecture as a Lombard band which is a row of small arches that appear to support a roofline.
Colour Colour was used in a variety of ways to enhance buildings during this period. Rendered walls could be coloured, with different fashions prevailing in different regions. Stone buildings sometimes had external details picked out in colour. In Italy buildings were often constructed with alternating bands of brick and stone. In Venice, the palaces of wealthy families had veneers of marble which contrasted with the painted stucco. Internally, the large wall surfaces and plain, curving vaults of the Romanesque period lent themselves to mural decoration and traces of them have been found in castles and wealthy homes.Banister Fletcher, p. 310 However, the vast majority of these paintings, like the buildings themselves have been destroyed by rebuilding and redecoration, damp, war, neglect and changing fashion. The few exceptions of secular decoration have mostly survived because they were in the care of the church. Very rare survivals of high quality are the paintings from Arlanza in Spain, which are now dispersed to museums in Barcelona and America. These frescos of about 1210 come from a monastery, but have secular subject matter, and presumably are similar to those that existed in some palaces. There are a number of huge real and mythical animals reflecting the world of heraldry and illuminated bestiaries.Dodwell, 268
Tapestries and other textile hangings were also used to decorate palaces, with the Bayeux Tapestry much the best known example – though now in Bayeux Cathedral it was very probably originally made to decorate Bishop Odo's palace hall in the 1070s, and other such hangings are recorded. The narrative tale of a heroic victory in war was another theme no doubt often repeated. The 11th-century Cloth of St Gereon may always have been in a church, but its adoption of designs from figured Eastern textiles was also probably a style used in grand homes. Textile hangings helped to keep draughty stone buildings warm, and had the great advantage for those with many homes of being relatively easy to carry between them.Dodwell, 11–15
Monastic buildings