John James

Glory and Tragedy in Notre-Dame d'Etampes (eBook, PDF)

A forgotten mystic endeavour and its brutal suppression

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

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.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Abingdon Press
• Seitenzahl: 320
• Erscheinungstermin: 17. September 2024
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781805435136
• Artikelnr.: 72330071

Autorenporträt

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 chapter

Inhaltsangabe

1 From Glory to Suppression 1 2 Set and Setting 5 The experience 6 In
practice 9 Can words express this experience? 12 Pilgrimage 13 Crusades 14
The Cistercians 16 Cistercian lords of war 18 3 A visionary theology 21
Consequences of meeting the east 22 Centralised spaces for group worship 25
The Glory axis 28 The Glory axis takes priority 29 The Way was not direct
30 To summarise 30 4 Darkness and the worship of the dead 33 Darkness
enhanced the light 34 The sepulchre and the bones 36 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 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
7 Sculpture and sculptors 67 Workshop methods 69 Organisation of the data
71 Defining stylistic boundaries 71 The Transition of the 1170s 73 8
Construction 75 Concerning mortar and measure 76 Concerning campaigns 78
Concerning geometry 79 Crusades impact on construction 81 9 Dating and the
model 83 Building campaigns in the model 84 Concerning precise dates 86 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 11 Interlude 1 - Papillon a local carver 111 12 Second
Church I - the nave 113 Summary of the nave 115 Nave arcade, first phase
1105± 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 13 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 14 Second Church III - pilasters-S and -N 159 Pilaster-S 164 Pilaster-N
167 West pilaster 171 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 272
Decision-making and multiple contracting 272 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 23
Bibliography 299