The ''opus gallicum'' (
Latin for "Gallic work") was a technique of construction whereby precise holes were created in stone masonry for the insertion of wooden beams to create a wooden infrastructure. The technique was so named because, though its presence is attested in protohistoric times, its use was common enough in
Gaul to merit mention in
Julius Caesar's ''
Commentarii de Bello Gallico'' and was frequently employed in the
Merovingian era. The technique was imported by the
Normans into the
Molise, where it was used extensively in the raising of
castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
s in a short time. Gaulish masons are even known to have brought the technique from Merovingian Francia to
Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
England during the 7th and 8th centuries and employed it in
church architecture
Church architecture refers to the architecture of buildings of churches, convents, seminaries etc. It has evolved over the two thousand years of the Christian religion, partly by innovation and partly by borrowing other architectural styles as ...
.
The ''opus gallicum'' served not only as an infrastructural base, but also a
superstructural
In Marxist theory, society consists of two parts: the base (or substructure) and superstructure. The base refers to the mode of production which includes the forces and relations of production (e.g. employer–employee work conditions, the t ...
binding element designed to strengthen the masonry. While the arrangement of some of the holes found in preserved structures is often perplexing, leaving doubt as to the exact function of the beams, modern scholarship has largely moved away from the theory that the ''opus gallicum'' was a rare and inefficient method. Overall the technique was not uncommon in the Middle Ages.
Sources
*
European Commission: Raphaël Programme. ''The Normans, a European people: The Norman heritage, 10th – 12th century''. Architectural Heritage: Italy — the Molis
§8 Fortifications and castles: Fortifications — The opus gallicum in the fortifications.2004. Contains photographs of Molisian examples.
*Gravett, Christopher, and Nicolle, David. ''The Normans: Warrior Knights and their Castles''. Osprey Publishing: Oxford, 2006.
*Gilbert, Edward
"Brixworth and the English Basilica."''The Art Bulletin'', Vol. 47, No. 1. (Mar., 1965), pp 1–20.
Roman construction techniques
Masonry
{{architecture-stub